How rude.

What was it David Remnick wrote in that piece I linked to yesterday? “For most people, the luxury of living in a relatively stable democracy is the luxury of not following politics with a nerve-racked constancy.” To me, luxury would be one day, one stinking day, with no Trumps in it.

But how is that possible? If it’s not the president, it’s Princess Ivanka, First of Her Name, Whose Domain is Handbags, Shoes and Casual Separates, which of course qualifies her to sit down with a panel of very accomplished women in Berlin and talk about Issues.

The story here said the crowed “booed and hissed” when she told a big fat whopper about King Donald, whom she described as a friend to women and families and so forth.

I watched the video and was hoping for way more booing, frankly, something like the outburst in a town hall during Congress’ break earlier this year. It was more like a polite rumble, although unmistakably disapproving. Princess Ivanka turned her head, but for my money, the person to watch in that clip is Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, who looks at the princess with a sort of scornful amusement: Who invited you, handbag designer? And she smiles when the crowd jeers, because who wouldn’t? When a person lies, they deserve to be called on it. Lagarde’s skill in dressing is well-known, and I doubt she’d get caught dead in anything branded Trump. Check out that shoulder-scarf thing. The hell with you, Ivanka.

As bad as that moment was, though, this may be worse: Chris Cillizza, defending her because:

1) He’s her daddy, and that’s a daughter’s job:

But, it’s important to remember that Ivanka is, first and foremost, her father’s daughter. As such, she is going to defend him — as would almost every daughter in any situation in which her dad is under attack.

I didn’t see the whole thing, or whatever led up to this remark, but I don’t believe he was under attack. She just spontaneously offered the whole my-dad-is-the-best-dad thing. Cillizza goes on:

2) She knows him better than we do, and who knows? Maybe she’s right:

To walk away from that view would be to abandon what she spent the last 18 months telling us about her dad based on her own firsthand experiences.

Which seems to be some combination of the mafia family-first code and a realization that when you’re caught lying, you double down.

No wonder no one respects “pundits.” Or “pundints,” as Sarah Palin likes to say.

Finally, an analysis — nothing heavy — of how the administration is failing to take advantage of imagery, which is to say, photography. Or, to put it another way, the Trump presidency is producing crappy pictures;

The Obama imagery was so powerful not just because of how artful it was, but because of its apparent candidness. Obama and Souza gave us the impression we were flies on the wall, or part of the team—even part the family. In numbing contrast, photographs of Trump are often awkwardly, even painfully posed, with Trump almost always ensconced at the center. Like local chamber-of-commerce snaps or old corporate newsletter photos, they call attention to themselves as slavish, clone-like endorsements here accented by gratuitous thumbs-up gestures.

Shudder. On to the hump day we toil.

Posted at 9:08 pm in Current events |
 

68 responses to “How rude.”

  1. Sherri said on April 25, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    At least Cillizza is at CNN now and not the WaPo. Loser on loser.

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  2. Jeff Borden said on April 25, 2017 at 9:35 pm

    Class to crass.

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  3. alex said on April 25, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    Ivanka doesn’t have to walk away from her delusional view of her dad. She also doesn’t have to continue insulting people’s intelligence with it now that her dad’s campaign is over. If she’s expecting people to give her a pass, well she just learned it’s not happening and she persists at her own risk.

    If she were smart, she would know she wasn’t selected to sit on that panel for her brains.

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  4. Sherri said on April 25, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    White guys talking to white guys: http://oliverwillis.com/2017/04/25/the-medias-real-bubble-is-white-and-male/

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  5. Sherri said on April 25, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    What a shock. trump advisor Seb Gorka’s PhD thesis defense was far less rigorous than my daughter’s recent defense of her senior thesis for her BA.

    I’ve always said A people hire A people, while B people hire C people, but I guess we’re finding out that F people hire F people.

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  6. LAMary said on April 26, 2017 at 1:20 am

    Off topic. While I don’t think either my state’s governor or my city’s mayor are perfect, I like both of them. Mayor Garcetti who has told Trump to take his ICE agents out of our schoolyards among other things, accompanied aerial dancers this morning. It was La La Land day. The mayor played piano.

    http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/

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  7. LAMary said on April 26, 2017 at 1:37 am

    After you look at the Trump Whitehouse photos, take a look at these:

    http://proudemocrat.com/official-white-house-photographer-pete-souza-reveals-his-favourite-photos-of-obama/

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  8. Suzanne said on April 26, 2017 at 6:44 am

    I, too, wondered what the heck Ivanka was doing on that panel. I am so sick of the Trump saga already and it’s only how many weeks in? And dealing with it, as I am, surrounded by Trumpsters is even worse. They really do not see a problem with his behavior, although my elderly Obama-is-an-African-born-Muslim believer mom even told me she’s nervous about his sending in the bombs so much. So maybe there is some hope.

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  9. alex said on April 26, 2017 at 7:09 am

    I haven’t been following Dan Rather in his resuscitated career, but I’m tempted to pay more attention after reading this. I’d forgotten that he’d done a 60 Minutes segment many years ago on Trump, “a bigger bullshitter than Barnum,” who had heaped adulation on Rather for years in the hopes of winning Rather’s favor, or rather some favorable publicity, and then became Rather’s sworn enemy when the 60 Minutes piece was deservedly unflattering.

    I think the unswerving fealty of so many to Donald Trump is really pretty simple. He’s ignorant and bellicosely proud of it, and despite his gold-plated toilets he has more in common with the common man than anyone who has ever run for office.

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  10. Alan Stamm said on April 26, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Speaking of Princess Ivanka, First of Her Name, while we commoners slept, jesters entertained at the late-night court:

    * “Trump sent Ivanka to Berlin to participate in a women’s conference, making her the first Trump to attend a women’s conference that didn’t include a swimsuit competition.” — Stephen Colbert

    * “In Germany, Ivanka Trump told a crowd that her father is a champion of supporting families, and she got booed. Ivanka said she was surprised — she’s always been told to open with a joke.” — Conan O’Brien

    * “Ivanka spoke on a panel titled ‘Inspiring Women: Scaling Up Women’s Entrepreneurship.’ And the Trump family has a long history of inspiring women — to march, to sue, to flee from a dressing room.” — Stephen Colbert

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  11. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 9:23 am

    Say – Alex’s link at #9 is not to be missed; very good stuff

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  12. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 9:59 am

    (psssst: It’s Melania’s birthday, today! Is her husband even going to see her? Maybe offer some of “the most beautiful chocolate cake you’ve ever seen”?….well, it’s a school day, so she’s probably in NYC)

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  13. Suzanne said on April 26, 2017 at 10:04 am

    Speaking of privilege, Sheryl Sandberg has been all over the airwaves having written a book on grief and life as a single parent. I heard an interview yesterday and while she makes some good points, and she admits to her privilege, she still came across as hollow and dense to me. After all the lean in stuff, she just now realizes that being a single parent is hard, and grieving is hard, and is now instituting longer leave times for her workers who lose a loved one.
    How can you be that smart and gifted and successful and be so clueless? Could she not imagine having a job that allowed you a day or two mourning and the show back up or be fired? Or not being able to afford child care?
    It fell flat on my ears.

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  14. Deborah said on April 26, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Suzanne, I saw a bit of a video interview by Nicholas Kristoff with Sandberg yesterday when I was waiting for surgery. I thought she still seemed a bit clueless too, I didn’t see the whole thing so maybe she got better later.

    Why do you always feel worse than you think you will after surgery? Nothing is wrong or anything, everything just hurts more than I thought. I’ve had 3 previous surgeries in my life and after each one I was surprised that it would hurt that much, you’d think a person would learn after a while to expect the discomfort. Like I must think beforehand that I’m Wonder Woman or something, although after having the initial sciatica pain this is about the same as that. I had LB get me some ice-cream to eat before taking my pain meds, so that was a plus.

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  15. Heather said on April 26, 2017 at 10:33 am

    Suzanne, that Lean In book annoyed me in the first place. Admittedly I did not read it, but I did read tons about it, and it pretty much ignored the very real effects of gender/racial bias in the workplace. Sure, lean in and work harder than your white male coworkers, you’re going to have to fight harder for promotions and raises, and you’ll STILL probably end up making less than them. Sounds great. And yeah, her sudden realization about how tough single parenting is was grating.

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  16. coozledad said on April 26, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Here’s one way of being “not opposed to different outcomes.” Every Republican who ain’t in on the grift is fellating the grifters.

    https://www.vox.com/2017/4/25/15429982/gop-exemption-ahca-amendment

    It’s a lifestyle choice.

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  17. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 10:39 am

    Deborah, it always feels that way, every single time. Surgery is trauma, and your body reacts that way, while your mind thinks of it as treatment, and expects things to get better. Which they will, but instantly!

    I’ve had 8 surgeries as an adult, and I always get annoyed at the exhaustion and anaesthesia hangover I feel for days, even though the best thing for me is to rest!

    Rest! Recover!

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  18. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 10:52 am

    The problem with Sandberg is that she never realized just how privileged she was, so even as she begins to see a bit of it, she’s still far away. Take her first book, then consider applying its lessons to just an ordinarily privileged white woman in Silicon Valley, one who hadn’t gone to Harvard and had Larry Summers as an entree into power. Let’s say, Susan Fowler, the woman who exposed the sexual harassment mess at Uber. I think it’s fair to say that Fowler leaned in, advocated for herself, all that, and it got her nowhere. Fowler was privileged enough to be able to get out and go somewhere else before her reputation got trashed, but that story could have, and has, ended up much worse.

    There’s a reason women leave tech, and it’s not because they don’t lean in. It’s because leaning in doesn’t get rewarded in the same way, and once you recognize that, you start to question the cost.

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  19. Deborah said on April 26, 2017 at 11:03 am

    Sherri, that last paragraph in #18 holds true for women in architecture too, same difference.

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  20. Mark P said on April 26, 2017 at 11:16 am

    Sherri @4 — Old white guys. Yeah. I can’t stand them, any of them, and I am an old white guy. Oh, except my brother and the old white guys here, whoever they may be. Sometimes I think the world would be better off without us, or at least without most of us. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t an old white guy. Especially the “old” part.

    The photos of Obama make me hurt. How lucky we were to have a man like that in the White House. I didn’t necessarily agree with everything he did, but damn! He was a real man. I can’t even imagine Trump doing any of the things in those pictures, even the ones where Obama is simply interacting with other human beings in an ordinary, human way.

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  21. Andrea said on April 26, 2017 at 11:21 am

    Regarding the Trumpian’s lack of visual professionalism, let’s just remember that this individual and his party have an overwhelming distaste for expertise in general. Otherwise, why would they think that a person like himself, with no experience, should run the United States, and put into office hundreds of like people with no experience or expertise (starting with Javanka and going from there.) We see the results not just in the White House photos, but in the repeated failures in the courts to draft even remotely constitutional executive orders, in the various statements like “Who knew healthcare would be so hard?” and “Oh maybe the Iran deal was the best one we could get” and “Gee, the China – North Korea situation is more complicated than I thought.” (For all of the journalists here, these are not intended to be actual quotes, but paraphrasing actual quotes.)

    The photo analysis reminded me of the first failed Trump Pence logo — the penetrating one.

    We should not be surprised that they don’t value expertise in any area at all.

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  22. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 11:28 am

    What Andrea said!

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  23. Bitter Scribe said on April 26, 2017 at 11:37 am

    To me Ivanka Trump is very much in the mold of Republican first ladies like Laura and (the elder) Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Pat Nixon, etc. They’re alleged “good influences” on their husbands who supposedly will push them to be kinder and gentler, smooth out their rough edges, and advocate for more humane policies on this or that.

    Not only is this vaguely insulting to women in general—it plays into that whole stupid concept of women as “the better half” whose job is to “civilize” their men—nothing ever comes of it. If any Republican first lady ever influenced her husband to do anything that benefited anyone who wasn’t already a millionaire, I’m not aware of it.

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  24. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    Well, ol’ Mary leaned on the guy ‘at the Bardo’ to NOT get their son Robert killed in the war, thus landing him on the field-staff of US Grant … so there’s that

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  25. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    (lthough I think ol’ Robert when on to become – if not a millionaire – financially comfortable)

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  26. Bitter Scribe said on April 26, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Brian: Yes, and he paid her back by having her clapped in the crazy house the first time she refused him money for one of his many get-rich-quick schemes (after he’d lost tons of her money already). What a sweetheart.

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  27. Icarus said on April 26, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    anyone gonna watch the updated version of Handmaid’s Tale?

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  28. Jolene said on April 26, 2017 at 1:03 pm

    It’s gotten great reviews, Icarus, both NYT and WaPo. I’m planning to check it out.

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  29. alex said on April 26, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    And it doesn’t have Faye Dunaway, who’d be unrecognizable in it anyway because of her face work.

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  30. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Bitter, indeed!

    Mark Neely, who used to be the curator of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne (when Fort Wayne had a Lincoln Museum!) wrote a book called The Insanity File (basically stuff Robert saved, with regard to Mary) – which is quite an interesting book.

    BUT – if one reads that, then one must must must then also read Jean Baker’s biography of Mary.

    The single most amazing thing I learned in that book (and not in the Neely one, or any place else) was about the day the former First Lady was found to be “insane”.

    She went shopping in Chicago (I believe it was) in the morning, returning before mid-day. When she arrived, she found the police waiting for her, with a summons – and they took her downtown to the court house.

    There, a jury (all men, of course) was empaneled, and – she saw her son Robert there, too. They proceeded to try the question – is she insane? – and the jury retired to their room and – fairly soon – returned with their verdict that yes, she was insane.

    Mind you, ALL of this happened in one single day! The widow of our national hero and martyred president – railroaded right into (essentially) minimum-security imprisonment.

    She spent the next several months of her life there, before a woman lawyer got that decision revoked, and sprung her from the asylum. It wasn’t long after that that she departed for France (if memory serves) .

    In Robert’s defense, I’d say he genuinely did care about his mom, and indeed – while the congress did vote her an annual stipend, they weren’t bound to, and she could have been cut off from that, which was what Robert was worried about…even despite having her husband , and the greatest president in our history, murdered into her lap….(Jackie Kennedy’s experiences have a few odd echoes)

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  31. Jakash said on April 26, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    Nancy says: “When a person lies, they deserve to be called on it.” Indeed, especially when the person they’re talking about is the president.

    At the end of the fine article Alex posted @ 9, Dan Rather says: “And one can only hope that the system of checks and balances that we hold so dear in this country can indeed hold.”

    Very sadly, that “system” is evidently quite inadequate in this political era. Bitch McConnell, Fuck Grassley and their minions flat-out STOLE a Supreme Court seat. Everybody knows it. Everybody has known it for over a freaking year. There was a disagreement between the executive branch and the legislative branch about what needed to happen when Scalia died. Neither branch budged, though Obama did compromise in his choice of nominee. So, when those 2 branches were at odds, how’s about a check or balance wherein the Supreme Court would weigh in and say: “Hey, this ain’t right. Play fair, Senators.” They seem to be big on precedent, after all. And it was the integrity of their own institution that was in question. But they never did. Now, likely for a generation, we’re stuck with an illegitimate Justice on the court. “It ain’t fittin’. It ain’t fittin’. It just ain’t fittin’. … It ain’t fittin’.” This injustice should NEVER be forgotten, and should be brought up constantly as long as that guy is on the court, since evidently nothing else could be done about it. IMHO, of course!

    Amazingly to me, out of all the things short of potential nuclear war that I’m upset about these days, this is the one that pisses me off the most, and ole Rumpy really wasn’t even close to being one of the main villains.

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  32. brian stouder said on April 26, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    What Jakash said!

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  33. Suzanne said on April 26, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    Looks like the revised health care bill that will be cheap because it covers nothing will be coming to the House floor soon. It’s now extreme enough that the Freedom Caucus likes it.

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  34. Jolene said on April 26, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    Looks like the revised health care bill that will be cheap because it covers nothing will be coming to the House floor soon. It’s now extreme enough that the Freedom Caucus likes it.

    Exactly. If your House member is a Republican, there’s never been a better time to let them know that you are opposed to the version of the AHCA now under consideration.

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  35. Deborah said on April 26, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    Does anyone have a link to the content of the latest version of the AHCA bill?

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  36. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    We were scheduled to have our first follow up meeting sat night on our truancy board, meeting with the two families we had set up plans with earlier. As I suppose shouldn’t be too surprising, both families cancelled, just a few hours before the meeting. Then staff screwed up communications, sending email to the wrong set of people and late, so that only one member of our group got notice that the meeting had been cancelled less than 15 minutes before the meeting. I didn’t get the email, which wouldn’t have done me any good anyway, since I live a 30 minute drive away at least at that time of day. I was a little perturbed, I’ll admit, since if I had heard even an hour before the meeting that it was cancelled, I could have made different plans, like going out to dinner with my husband.

    We have another attempt at a meeting in two weeks, but at least this time we’re meeting whether the families show or not, to debrief the process in preparation for next year.

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  37. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    Dems: Do. Not. Fuck. With. The. Women. We’re pissed off now, and we don’t want to here your excuses anymore.

    https://rewire.news/article/2017/04/26/setting-record-straight-elevation-heath-mello-tells-us-democratic-party/

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  38. Julie Robinson said on April 26, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    And especially don’t eff with me by cancelling a meeting and not telling me.

    Deborah, I’m glad your surgery went well but hope you give yourself a break re the pain. Do you have follow-up physical therapy?

    I finally went wine shopping today and found a Duro from Portugal called Quinta de La Rosa. The description sounded like the friends we’re visiting this weekend when we go to see Hamilton. At any rate I hope they like it.

    In the two interviews I saw with Sheryl Sandberg she was sticking very closely to the same few talking points, and who’s gonna grill a grieving widow? Her psychologist co-author may have written most of it, which may be to the good. The idea that you can learn resiliency is well worth exploring, so I’m hoping positive comes from it, no matter how I may feel about her personally.

    Today was my last-ever official work event, in which I allowed myself to be feted with spinach lasagna. A good way to go out.

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  39. Bitter Scribe said on April 26, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    I don’t know about anyone else here, but I am getting really, really sick of Bernie Sanders. He’s snottily disdainful of issues relating to women and minorities, to the point of supporting an anti-choice candidate. His sarcastic contempt for Clinton undermined her. And the man doesn’t even identify as a Democrat! As far as I’m concerned, he can take his self-righteousness and just fuck off for good.

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  40. Deborah said on April 26, 2017 at 8:33 pm

    Julie, I’ve been taking the pain pills, I usually try not to because they make me queasy, but I’m not having that issue this time, maybe it’s because I’m eating with the taking of them. Since this whole episode started on April 1st, I’ve lost 6 lbs. not complaining because I had gained 10 lbs since Thanksgiving because of my other foot problem and not being able to walk as much as I usually do. It’s been weird physically.

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  41. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Too much even for Roberts, apparently.

    https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/us/politics/supreme-court-naturalization.html

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  42. Jolene said on April 26, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    Deborah, here is an article that describes the proposed changes to the AHCA.

    Essentially, they are proposing changes that allow states to offer policies that eliminate coverage for certain categories of care, such as emergency care, maternity care, or care for mental health and substance abuse. In addition, the AHCA would allow greater age differentiation, such that there are greater differences between the prices paid by younger people and those paid by older people. Finally, insurers would be able to offer policies that do not cover pre-existing conditions, but, if states want to do that, they’d be required to establish high-risk pools or some other mechanism so that such people could still buy insurance.

    The net result of this would be higher premiums for older people and for people who have pre-existing conditions. There’d be endless battles in the states re what counts as a pre-existing condition, how much particular conditions should add to one’s insurance premiums, and, because state budgets are always tight, general underfunding of those high-risk pools.

    All of this is in addition to various constraints on the Medicaid expansion.

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  43. Jolene said on April 26, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    Here’s where things stand politically right now. Seems unlikely that the version that has attracted Freedom Caucus support will ultimately be passed, but it’s still awful that they are headed in this direction. Will keep my eyes peeled for other good explanatory articles.

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  44. David C. said on April 26, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    Deborah, the text of the new AHCA doesn’t matter. It’ll go nowhere in the Senate. It’s just RW dick measuring for the rubes in their gerrymandered districts and I’m not all that sure even they’ll be excited by it. They were promised better insurance cheaper. I don’t think they are stupid enough to accept worthless insurance cheaper (if you don’t have a pre-existing condition). Although I could be wrong. It’s like they say they didn’t like the Obama part of Obama care. They like the care part just fine.

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  45. beb said on April 26, 2017 at 9:54 pm

    I developed a loathing from Chris Cillizza years ago when he was a regular on the Keith Olberman show. He was an smarmy, unctuous little toad. I’m not surprised that he would defend the First Princess of the United States. In a Coolzedad vein, he was born with a Republican cock in his mouth.

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  46. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 26, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    Sherri — the county attendance guy and I and two school staff in one district had 12 families scheduled this morning for “absence intervention plans,” letter sent and phone/email confirmed on Monday . . . we were 1 for 12.

    Which makes a sort of sense, but it’s frustrating since we’re the last stop before filings with the juvenile court. We’re very forgiving if folks call the school that morning and say “something came up” or “I got scheduled to work” even if we don’t quite believe them sometimes, but when no one shows up? [Sigh.]

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  47. Sherri said on April 26, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    Jeff(tmmo), I was mostly annoyed at the school staff for failing to communicate. I assume that when you’re dealing with families that have the kind of problems that have led to kids missing so much school that they’re one step away from court, flakiness will be the norm. At least our families did call, if at the last minute.

    I don’t expect to see one of the families show up at our next meeting, either. I think they’re beyond our help unfortunately. I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but I think that kid is either going to be in jail or dead by the time he’s 20. Smart kid, too.

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  48. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 12:28 am

    So much truth in this thread about Ivanka: https://mobile.twitter.com/erikaheidewald/status/856948395935580160

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  49. coozledad said on April 27, 2017 at 6:58 am

    One measure of how close the Russia/treason investigation is coming to Trump himself is the press going full court negro on Obama’s speaking fees. By the end of this thing they’ll have Putin as a regular on Meet the Press.

    https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/857055060144128002

    One Trump trip to Mar-a-Lago costs the same as eight Obama speeches.

    Difference is Cantor Fitzgerald isn’t paying.

    You are.

    One thing old white poor will never understand, is that once you have a certain amount of money, not only does life become magically cheaper; people start giving you stuff. And it’s the Republicans want to jack up the expense of being poor even more.

    People like Paul Ryan and his fanbois, the “bleeding heart” fascists, believe grace is inherent in wealth. That their comfortable existences are justified by the number of people they immiserate. It’s a fucked up way to be, but really, what about Republicans isn’t fucked up?

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  50. brian stouder said on April 27, 2017 at 9:14 am

    Sherri’s link at 41, about the Supreme Court of the United States and citizenship/naturalization, is not over-long, and is quite good….heartening, even

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  51. coozledad said on April 27, 2017 at 11:19 am

    Fucking traitor.
    https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/857611557240492032

    Chaffetz isn’t going to do jack shit. He’ll take your money, the Russian’s money, and the Turk’s money and go home.

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  52. brian stouder said on April 27, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Here’s an interesting little throwback article, about Fort Wayne, Indiana’s railroad elevation, from 6 decades ago.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/features/20170427/nickel-plate-railroad-elevation

    Worth mentioning because I believe the Husband-of-Our-Proprietress wrote a tremendously interesting series of articles about this same railroad elevation, and the HUGE effect it had on the city of Fort Wayne (economically, but also – and importantly – socially and culturally).

    (Long-story-short: all of those kind of people lived in the central city, and would be DISPLACED to…where the white folks lived!)

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  53. coozledad said on April 27, 2017 at 11:32 am

    DOD is opening their own investigation of Flynn. White House is stonewalling. They know if half of this shit comes out it’s the goddamn firing squad for every one of them. Putin owns sessions outright.
    https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/857602625474310148

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  54. Deborah said on April 27, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    Can anything be done legally about the Trump family’s business practices especially big daddy’s? Is anyone being sued? Or is it all just unethical but not illegal?

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  55. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    Deborah, there are a few suits that have been filed using the emoluments clause. That’s completely untested law, and those cases are still in the easily stages.

    Meanwhile, Burmingham suburbs have been trying to separate themselves from black students in every way they can for decades. One of them just got a court ruling that allows them to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/judge-says-mostly-white-southern-city-may-secede-from-its-school-district–even-though-the-effort-has-attacked-dignity-of-black-school-children/2017/04/26/4d654232-2a89-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html

    White suburban moms are the most significant barrier to school desegregation.

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  56. Scout said on April 27, 2017 at 1:24 pm

    They’re only sorry they got caught. NOW all of a sudden, it’s like, “What? How did THAT get there? Oh we must certainly fix it.”
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-republicans-exemption-waiver-ahca

    Like David C @44 said, this – New! Improved! Even Crueler Than Before! – attempt will likely die in the Senate anyway. As an old, I certainly hope it goes nowhere.

    This has me quite concerned.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-puts-out-new-video-showing-the-white-house-in-crosshairs-and-carriers-exploding/2017/04/27/6b6a9596-2b2b-11e7-a616-d7c8a68c1a66_story.html?utm_term=.4e710aa7be0f&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

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  57. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 2:02 pm

    The posturing by North Korea is disturbing, in large part because of how trump might react to it. North Korea does not have the capability yet to launch a nuclear missile to the US (http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/is-seattle-a-target-for-a-north-korean-nuclear-attack-well-not-quite-yet-insiders-say/), but Saddam Hussein didn’t have WMDs, either, and his posturing about them led to the US invading.

    I’m always a bit leery of arguments that say that Kim Jong Un won’t launch a nuclear attack because he would be destroyed in a retaliatory strike, because if he felt he were put in an untenable situation by a stronger power, who knows? If the world’s largest military power, led by a capricious madman, made him feel existentential,y threatened, what would he have to lose?

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  58. Jakash said on April 27, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    G. W. Bush included N. K. in the “axis of evil” in 2002. Somehow, things percolated along since then with nothing good happening, but at least we didn’t create the escalation of rhetoric that having our own impulsive, motorTweeting president matching up against N. K.’s loony Maximum Leader has resulted in. Recent references to the Cuban Missile Crisis are certainly not reassuring, as one can scarcely even imagine the cool-headed diplomacy from Rump that Kennedy displayed in that situation. Still, one would hope that, despite the bluster, N. K. is no more “existentially threatened” now than it has been for a long time, and that they’ll keep that in mind. Here’s hoping that I’m not giving the Rump administration more credit that they won’t do something brash and stupid in this situation than they deserve.

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  59. Julie Robinson said on April 27, 2017 at 5:26 pm

    This afternoon I’ve been on a happy errand that’s allowed me to crowd out negative political thoughts, at least for a few hours: bringing home a new cat for my mom. She mourned the last one all winter and at last said she was ready. She wanted a senior cat who might not get adopted, what with so many wanting adorable kittens. Today we picked up Flower, a feisty seven year old who captivated Mother in one moment.*

    I have to say I was impressed with the staff at the pet store where Flower and a few other cats were being housed. They put in a lot of time with all the paperwork and everything else, and were nothing but patient and kind, and spoke fondly of their interactions with the cat. Lovely people.

    *Have you seen the scene in Shrek where the cat wants something and makes his eyes huge and round and sad. That’s what Flower did when she saw Mother, who immediately started crying, “oh, dear, she needs a home!” It was very effective. No doubt she’ll deploy it every time she wants something, and she will get it. It’s good to feel needed when you’re 84.

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  60. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 5:27 pm

    “We need to smuggle these nuclear weapons we just acquired into the Great Satan. Can you help?”

    “No problem. We’ll just stick them into this marijuana bale. Nobody ever tries to stop marijuana crossing the border!”

    “Great!”

    “Oh no, I forgot! The Americans have built a big wall! Our smuggling business is dead!

    “Curses, foiled again!”

    I think some Republicans spent too much time watching Batman 66 as kids and didn’t get that it was a joke.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trent-franks-marijuana-border-nuclear-weapon

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  61. basset said on April 27, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    Coming up on 5 pm at the planning commission meeting and we haven’t even gotten to the agenda yet… a planner who’s usually pretty good at estimating predicts we’ll be done at twelve-thirty. Updates to come as my cognition fades…

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  62. Heather said on April 27, 2017 at 5:58 pm

    Aw, sweet story, Julie. Glad to hear your mom has a new companion and a cat has a home.

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  63. Deborah said on April 27, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Sweet, Julie.

    Little Bird is making a blood orange olive oil cake. These days I get whatever I ask for. My husband is going to the symphony tonight. I was supposed to go but he’s taking his uncle instead.

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  64. LAMary said on April 27, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    Deborah, I bet that blood orange olive oil cake recipe is from the NYT. I make the same one and it’s a keeper.

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  65. Deborah said on April 27, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    Yep that’s the one LAMary.

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  66. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 7:35 pm

    What’s the hot button item at the planning commission, basset?

    Of course, with a metro government, its such a large scope.

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  67. basset said on April 27, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    Restrictions on short-term rental properties… air b&b and so forth.

    On top of that, it’s just a long agenda… 32 items, hearing maybe ten and the reat deferred/consent.

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  68. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    Fucking asshole.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/tennessee-lawmakers-claimed-tricked-supporting-kkk-leader

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