…and a pic from Friday night. Not too many more nights like this until fall. (She’s only here for the body heat.)
Fresh comment thread for Jared Kushner’s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad Memorial Day weekend.
…and a pic from Friday night. Not too many more nights like this until fall. (She’s only here for the body heat.)
Fresh comment thread for Jared Kushner’s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad Memorial Day weekend.
coozledad said on May 27, 2017 at 9:02 am
They wanted the backchannel to discuss military strategy in Syria. That is the definition of treason. The military ought to be descending on the capitol right now to start putting the Republicans in black Marias.
https://twitter.com/MikeSacksEsq/status/868287931202633730
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Sherri said on May 27, 2017 at 9:37 am
I can’t tell if Syria is why he wanted the back channel, or if Syria is what he thinks will make the request for a back channel look okay and he’s leaking that. I’ve said all along that Kushner’s too stupid to play this game and doesn’t have enough independent wealth or backing to survive at this level. His father-in-law will toss him overboard without another thought to save himself.
Or maybe trump will just pardon everybody now, and declare everything done. What would Congress d to stop him?
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Deborah said on May 27, 2017 at 10:22 am
And the Republican congress will make no move to stop him.
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Sherri said on May 27, 2017 at 11:15 am
On a more positive, personal note: I’ve been on this meal plan set out by my trainer for 3 weeks now. Added to changes I had already made to my diet in the 5-6 weeks prior to starting on that, I’m down about 14 lbs, and you can see the muscle definition emerging from that layer of body fat. More importantly, since adding the third session a week with her, my mood has turned around, and in the last three weeks, whether it’s the change in food or the bedtime she put me on (no more night owl!), my energy level is much higher. Damn it, I hate when things like this work! That means I have to keep doing them.
The other thing I’ve noticed, unexpectedly, is that food tastes better. I know my mood affects my ability to taste, oddly enough; when I’m in a really bad state, everything tastes the same and flavorless. So even though I’m eating six times a day, and the food is has little to no salt, it all seems remarkably flavorful to me.
So, despite all my prior negative comments about personal trainers and nutrition, this is obviously working for me.
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Heather said on May 27, 2017 at 11:18 am
Interesting, Sherri! Tell us more about the meal plan.
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Deborah said on May 27, 2017 at 11:21 am
Sherri, when I’m spending the summer in NM I’m going on a health regimen. While I’m still in surgery recovery I decided I’m not going to worry about having chocolate ice cream etc. I can’t wait to start exercising again.
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beb said on May 27, 2017 at 11:45 am
Slashdot is a tech news aggregating site that I read every day. Occasionally I’ll read the comments. And every time I’m amazed by the volume of narrow-minded hostility and libertarian-ancharo-fascism. Recently the Department of Labor accused Goggle of discriminating against women in matters of pay. They requested Google to cough up data on what they pay their employees. Google’s main business, of course, is answering questions and pride themselves in generating the results in milliseconds. Not this time. Google claims it would take 500 person-hours and cost $100,000 to produce those results so they shouldn’t required to produce the data. The prosecutor kind of laughed at that. $100,000 is a rounding error for Google. I was going to post a humorous comment that maybe the DoL should just asked Alexa. I made the mistake of reading the comments. Such thuggery. It was like a “Men’s Rights” revival meeting. When Google was founded it’s motto was “Don’t Be Evil.” I’m beginning to think they’ve chisled “don’t” out of their motto.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/05/27/0348208/accused-of-underpaying-women-google-says-its-too-expensive-to-get-wage-data
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alex said on May 27, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Regarding the question from the last thread re: what is conservative anymore, the word certainly doesn’t mean what it once did. It has come to mean its polar opposite: Radical.
Years ago, conservatism represented (to me, anyway) old-moneyed people with a noblesse oblige attitude, an appreciation of western civilization and its high art such as opera and ballet and the literary canon of the university. They feared that these things were losing ground in a world dominated by pop culture. Such people were disposed toward the belief that poverty could be alleviated by education and acculturation and that it was their social duty to help uplift the less fortunate, even though their efforts were sometimes blinkered and misguided and they still embraced a rather undemocratic social hierarchy.
In the interest of securing a few extra votes, Ronald Reagan signed a Faustian deal with the very people Barry Goldwater had warned against and this is why the word conservative no longer means what it did, but rather its opposite: Radical. People who take pride in their ignorance and eschew anything that smacks of noblesse oblige. Or perhaps, as they see it, they have a noblesse oblige of their own: Evangelical Christianity.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 27, 2017 at 12:15 pm
I asked Siri “what do women make in salary at Google” and got:
https://www.google.com/diversity/women/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 27, 2017 at 12:15 pm
I asked Siri “what do women make in salary at Google” and got:
https://www.google.com/diversity/women/
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coozledad said on May 27, 2017 at 12:38 pm
Now a bunch of Republicans are going to start showing up with polonium poisoning. I think they’ve already been feeding it to McConnell. He looks ill.
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Sherri said on May 27, 2017 at 12:47 pm
Read the original article that slashdot points to: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/26/google-gender-discrimination-case-salary-records
The DoL has already found evidence of a pay gap from a snapshot of wages in 2015, and as a federal contractor, Google is required to abide by equal opportunity laws and comply with government audits. The DoL wats more wage data to understand the extent of the wage gap.
Google admits that a woman hired in at a lower salary than a man at the same position/experience will continue to lag even if they perform equally, though eventually salaries will converge over time.
If you’ll recall, Google was one of the companies that conspired with Apple not to recruit each other’s employees, which worked to depress salaries and opportunities. There’s also an ongoing age-discrimination case against Google. Separately, a friend of mine settled an age discrimination suit against Google a few years back after a protracted legal fight.
“Don’t be evil” was a bad motto from the beginning.
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brian stouder said on May 27, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Regarding the great photo, the first thing I thought was “Lucky dog!”
Regarding the current unpleasantness, I now really think the Trump presidency will end in resignation.
His choice seems to be – fire his son-in-law, and revoke his security clearance (what are the odds of that?)….or stand impeachment/conviction, or resignation
Even if the Kushner thing goes away somehow (and I don’t see how it can ‘go away’) – the Emoluments Clause looms ever larger
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David C. said on May 27, 2017 at 1:12 pm
I’ve often wondered what I would do if I saw a Muslim woman being harassed or threatened. I hope I would do what these guys did. I don’t think I could just sit back and watch something like this, no matter the consequences. But I wish I was sure I would.
http://katu.com/news/local/witnesses-say-triple-stabbing-aboard-max-train-may-have-been-racially-motivated
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Sherri said on May 27, 2017 at 1:39 pm
On the meal plan, Heather:
The concept is metabolic reset. Now, I remain skeptical of the claims behind it, but that’s okay, I knew that going in. I decided that some discipline and accountability were what mattered to me. I eat 5-6 times a day, on a schedule, roughly 3 hours apart. The timing is worked around any standing commitments I have and my workouts with my trainer, and I can adjust around other things that come up as long as I don’t go too long without eating. I take my food with me when I’m running around during the day, and eat where I am; if I’m meeting someone for coffee, I’ll take my food and eat it. When I was at the political luncheon where Jimmy Carter dropped by, I had brought my own food and ate that at the table. I prepped and packed my food for the trip to Walla Walla last weekend.
So, it is a lot of work, though it’s getting easier as I figure out what works best for me. I spend a lot more time in the kitchen than I have the past few years; with Susan gone and David and I busy and many nights a week not home at the same time for dinner, I wasn’t doing a lot of daily cooking and there was a lot more takeout in our lives.
Overall, at least initially, it’s no lactose, no sugar, low sodium, lots of berries and green veggies, and a pretty strict carbs/protein/fat ratio. That ratio varies some over the course of the week, carb cycling around my workouts. As time passes and she sees how my body responds, some of those things my change.
There’s one free meal a week, which my young perky trainer calls a “happy meal”, where you can eat anything you want, including dessert. I had a to pick a day and stick to it, because it affects the rest of the plan.
From what I can tell, this is what is popular among bodybuilders these days, at least when they aren’t in a cut phase; my trainer is a bodybuilder.
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coozledad said on May 27, 2017 at 2:05 pm
David C.: The killer’s a known white supremacist.
http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/05/27/the-man-accused-of-max-double-murder-is-a-portland-white-supremacist-who-delivered-nazi-salutes-and-racial-slurs-at-a-free-sp
This should be all over CNN, but he’s white, so he can’t be a terrorist.
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Deborah said on May 27, 2017 at 2:08 pm
For the second time we went in to the closest little town to where we’re staying in northern WI (50 miles from Lake Superior. The local people have been super nice and friendly to us total strangers from the big city. I looked up what the election results were in the county, about what you’d expect, 59% for Trump. It’s puzzling, do they have lumps of coal buried deep in their chest cavities instead of hearts or are they just gullible? Of course, the friendliness factor might be a different story if we weren’t white?
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David C. said on May 27, 2017 at 2:24 pm
What’s the over/under on how long it takes Fox to trot out the “oh, he must be mentally ill” dodge, Coozledad? Tomorrow morning at the latest is my guess.
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Sherri said on May 27, 2017 at 3:52 pm
My money’s on “he used a knife, not a gun, so see, gun control is useless!”
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basset said on May 27, 2017 at 4:04 pm
Gregg Allman has died.
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coozledad said on May 27, 2017 at 5:03 pm
Everything’s going to be fine! Tip top!
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/868535363605864448
Trump’s got blood on his hands, again.
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Jolene said on May 27, 2017 at 7:18 pm
A bit of background on the stabber here. There are other articles that describe his criminal history more precisely. He was, at one point, shot by the police while fleeing the scene of the crime. Seems to be an all-around creep.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 27, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Dammit,
Basset we lost another good one in Greg.
Pilot Joe
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Suzanne said on May 27, 2017 at 9:44 pm
I stopped to visit an elderly relative today. Fox News, of course, was on the tv. Mostly what they were covering was how Hillary talked smack about the president in her commencement speech and how the CBO’s analysis of the healthcare law was making passing the bill so hard for the GOP. And that maybe it was time to rethink the CBO. Very little about the white supremacist slashing people’s throats on a train or the Russia investigation.
But emails…
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Dexter said on May 27, 2017 at 11:18 pm
I just hooked up a new computer with Windows 10…seeing if my avatar makes it through…
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Dexter said on May 27, 2017 at 11:22 pm
The monitor is twice the size as the Dells I had been using for years…I like it so far.
This Kushner story is simply the stuff of really bad TV scripts.
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alex said on May 27, 2017 at 11:24 pm
Lookin’ good, Dex.
Suzanne, perhaps you’ll find this story as heartening as I did:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/fox-news-ratings-slip-as-the-network-minimizes-biggest-stories/
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Mark P said on May 28, 2017 at 1:26 am
I guess Google’s payroll is not computerized. That’s the only possible reason it would take so long and cost so much to cough up the records. I absolutely believe that, just like I believe they have an army of people with encyclopedias and a printed list of web site contents to respond to googling.
I think impeachment proceedings would be well underway if Hillary Clinton had half the suspicious goings-on that the Trump administration has. I realize that’s possibly the most obvious observation that has ever been made.
I also have to report that my US representative has not responded (other than an automated reply) to my question about how he squares his Christian beliefs with his love of Trump’s proposed budget.
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Jerry said on May 28, 2017 at 7:19 am
Yesterday was our Golden Wedding Anniversary. Fifty years – we both joke that you get a shorter term for murder! Looking at the group photo outside the church we reckon about two thirds are dead (or one third alive if you prefer to be positive). And most of the invitees were chosen by either my mother or Myra’s parents – friends of theirs and relatives we never or seldom saw. I think I actually invited three people off my own bat – how things change, in this case for the better.
We had hoped to have a meal with two of our sons but although one was in London, one of them was in Copenhagen for the weekend, dancing. And our eldest lives in Australia. But he, and our grandson, should be arriving in London in four weeks time. We are looking forward to it immensely and will celebrate then with all five of us together for the first time in over six years.
If you want to see how Myra and I have changed, I’ve posted some photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/paidetres/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 28, 2017 at 7:31 am
A lovely set of pictures, Jerry — blessings to both of you!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 28, 2017 at 7:34 am
Is that in Kent?
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Deborah said on May 28, 2017 at 8:29 am
Jerry, those photos are fantastic. Congratulations on fifty years of marital bliss.
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Jolene said on May 28, 2017 at 9:58 am
Great photos, Jerry. Same smiles on you and Myra.
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Sherri said on May 28, 2017 at 10:30 am
You and your bride look very happy, then and now, and such a handsome couple! May you have many more happy years together!
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susan said on May 28, 2017 at 10:39 am
Jerry, I love that tatted crab (no, no, the one further down the page!).
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Jerry said on May 28, 2017 at 11:06 am
Jeff at 31 – we married in Sidcup, and still live here in fact. The postal address is Kent but we are actually part of Greater London – if that makes any sense.
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Jerry said on May 28, 2017 at 11:11 am
Susan at 35. We visited the Turner Gallery in Margate and they had an exhibition called “Entangled”. I was rather doubtful as it sounded as though there would be a lot of weird stuff that I wouldn’t enjoy. In fact we loved it and there were some spectacular pieces. The two pieces by Christine Lohr were from a set of six – they don’t show up to their best effect. All of them consist of stems of plants with seed heads still attached and mounted to make mainly dome shapes.
Margate is somewhere we just don’t visit much but we’re determined to go again, soon. The Turner gallery alone is worth another visit.
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Jerry said on May 28, 2017 at 11:13 am
Thank you all of you commenting and wishing us well. We’re just back from a lunch out and groaning from our full stomachs and the heat. Both pretty much done for!
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coozledad said on May 28, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Happy Memorial Day.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/On-Memorial-Day-remember-these-2-who-died-fighting-todays-hate.html
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susan said on May 28, 2017 at 2:52 pm
And Dan Rather pops in with a Trump thump.
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Deborah said on May 28, 2017 at 5:58 pm
This is what Macron said about his handshake with Trump:
“I don’t believe in diplomacy of the public invective but in bilateral dialogues. I don’t let anything go. That’s how one makes oneself respected.”
Oh how I wish we had an articulate president again, like Obama. I miss him more and more, every single day.
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Suzanne said on May 28, 2017 at 6:04 pm
Gotta admit I am enjoying the irony of a Japanese man driving a foreign brand car (Honda, I believe) winning the quintessential American sporting event with VP My Pants in attendance. #MAGA
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basset said on May 28, 2017 at 7:07 pm
The car, like every other one in the field, is a Dallara, built in Indy by an Italian manufacturer and fitted with a Honda engine; other entries used Honda or Chevrolet, the only two options.
We were pulling for number 83, Charlie Kimball, a diabetic driver in a car sponsored by a manufacturer of diabetes meds – he led a few laps amd was running third when his Honda engine let go late in the race. I believe all the engine failures today were Hondas.
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Joe K said on May 28, 2017 at 9:59 pm
The winning car main sponsor was Ruoff mortgage based in Fort Wayne,
Their company plane is based in Auburn. Amazing that no one was was hurt in Dixons crash, he was lucky it hit on the side of the tub and not upside down.
Pilot Joe
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basset said on May 28, 2017 at 10:50 pm
exactly,,, three feet further and he would not have walked away.
What kind of plane is it, Joe? Several sponsors this year that I didn’t recognize, that was one of them.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 28, 2017 at 11:25 pm
They have a king air 100 and a challenger 600 jet,
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on May 29, 2017 at 8:21 am
Nah. Ain’t nothin’ gonna change. Everything will be cool. All the lord’s white people can go “chillin’ with the mouse.”
http://wncn.com/2017/05/26/durham-woman-deported-after-public-fight-to-stay-in-us/
All this because half the country is stupid trash who fell for a TV wrasslin’ dope.
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Joe K said on May 29, 2017 at 9:03 am
Basset,
How is the vibe down there in smashville?
Big time hockey tonight, I imagine the town is going crazy.
Pilot Joe
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basset said on May 29, 2017 at 9:26 am
Lots of people wearing yellow, streets blocked off downtown to make room for big tv screens, not interested in it myself but hockey is pretty hard to miss around here right now.
Never have followed spectator sports much, can’t make the connection and just don’t feel like this team or that has anything to do with me.
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Sherri said on May 29, 2017 at 10:24 am
I’ll be watching the Stanley Cup finals, but I’ll be rooting for the Pens. I love playoff hockey.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 29, 2017 at 11:32 am
After playing rugby, football doesn’t hold my interest, never was a baseball fan, and basketball was never on the radar, but hockey especially playoff hockey, nothing better.
Do yourself a favor tonight Basset and watch.
Pilot Joe
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Jakash said on May 29, 2017 at 12:38 pm
The older I get, the more I subscribe to the “rooting for laundry” school of thought when it comes to professional sports. Teams change cities, owners change, players change constantly — we’re just rooting for the uniform that theoretically represents our city. A classic case in point was last year when the Cubs signed Aroldis Chapman. Hell of a pitcher, but no favorite around baseball, due in large part to “an alleged domestic violence incident” that resulted in him being banned by MLB for 30 games. But, hey, the Cubs needed a freaking closer to win, so they signed him. Then, folks pretty much had to root for the guy, if they wanted the Cubs to live the dream. Awkward! Luckily he returned to the damn Yankees this year, so we can all go back to rooting against him. ; ) The laundry remains the same, though!
I don’t begrudge fans the thrill of their team being in the finals. Even the band-wagon jumpers who don’t know a thing about hockey who’ll be in the local bars wearing jerseys, (pardon – “sweaters,” I believe) getting over-served and shouting all night — whatevs. But the idea that one is doing themselves a favor to watch something that they have no interest in seems like a stretch to me, and doesn’t seem to apply in other contexts. Oh, you hate opera? — just watch “The Marriage of Figaro” and you’ll surely come around! I never gave a crap about hockey, but watched a fair amount of the Blackhawks during their 3 recent Stanley Cup Finals appearances, because that’s the kind of schmuck I am. More during the first run than the next two, because, though it’s exciting enough and very fast-paced, I still don’t give a crap about hockey. My favorite thing about it is the way the clock keeps on running — very refreshing compared to the interminable delays in other sports, I gotta admit…
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basset said on May 29, 2017 at 1:27 pm
Was gonna take Mrs. B on a river float today but the water’s too high… I’ll probably be working on a slideshow of vacation photos tonight, anyone know why I can only get one line of text on some slides in Apple Photos and two on others?
I don’t see how the Predators or any other team relate to me in any way. Just not good at belonging, I guess.
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Sherri said on May 29, 2017 at 2:39 pm
OMG, do I remember (and not miss!) those times!
https://mcsweeneys-internettendency.herokuapp.com/articles/are-you-sure-there-isnt-something-else-i-can-do-before-the-end-of-the-school-year
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Joe K said on May 29, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Basset,
Heck the team I follow the Blackhawks were beat by the Preds, so I don’t belong to anyone that’s playing I just watch to enjoy the athletism, skill, and hitting.
Saw the owner of Ruoff at the airport this morning to say he was happy would be a understatement we talked a bit, one happy guy.
Pilot Joe
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David C. said on May 29, 2017 at 4:01 pm
I’d also watch rugby over football any day, Joe. When I lived in Grand Rapids, I would often go to watch the Gazelles play at Douglas Walker Park in Byron Center. It’s too bad it isn’t a bigger sport here. Who wants to watch a bunch of guys stand around in a circle having a chinwag for three hours anyway. I do like me some baseball though. Sometimes you just want something that’s played at the pace of life.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 29, 2017 at 5:12 pm
Played in GRR many times in the 80s and 90s, always a tough match with those guys, but great parties.
My sister-in-law lives up by Sparta.
Pilot Joe
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Suzanne said on May 29, 2017 at 8:40 pm
Oh, Sherri (@54) that brought back some memories of when my kids were in school! At one point, I threatened to get a rubber stamp made with my signature to speed things up. How many forms did I have to sign every year??? Seemed like a million!
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coozledad said on May 29, 2017 at 8:49 pm
https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/869172921096425473
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