Coppertone baby.

There are people in the world, most of them women I expect, who put on sunscreen every morning, rain or shine. In fact, I read about one once — a dermatologist, and she lives in Michigan, no less. But she lathers up, face and hands and neck and any other area that might see a ray of sun, every single day. Winter, summer, spring and fall.

Then there is me.

I got the sunscreen memo, but I live in Michigan. Sun is only a rumor for months at a time. I try to remember, once summer comes, to apply and reapply. But I always forget. I usually get at least one Rudolph nose in summer, and it’ll catch up with me. It already is. I have a brown perma-freckle on my nose and another one or two threatening. But I neglect my arms and legs, sometimes on purpose, because I grew up in the ’70s and in my opinion a little color makes them look better. The other day I caught sight of my shoulders in a mirror and thought, they look much better now than in January.

It is vanity, yes. A deadly sin. And still, the sun beckons me to frolic beneath it, to swim and sail and cycle and don’t stress about the Coppertone, here’s some nice Vitamin D for you.

I don’t care if I wrinkle. I’d rather be a wrinkled tan than one of those weird porcelain-faced old women. At least I’d look like I got outside once in a while.

I recall an early scene in “Gone With the Wind,” when Scarlett is getting dressed for the party at Twelve Oaks, which you might recall as Corset Scene I in the movie. Scarlett wants to wear an off-the-shoulder dress, and Mammy pitches a fit:

“No, you ain’. It ain’ fittin’ fer mawnin’. You kain show yo’ buzzum befo’ three o’clock an’ dat dress ain’ got no neck an’ no sleeves. An’ you’ll git freckled sho as you born, an’ Ah ain’ figgerin’ on you gittin’ freckled affer all de buttermilk Ah been puttin’ on you all dis winter, bleachin’ dem freckles you got at Savannah settin’ on de beach.”

(Man, can you believe that? All the black characters’ dialogue is rendered thusly. It is cringeworthy.)

Later, Mammy commands her to keep her shawl on, and her hat, lest she come home looking brown, like the white-trash women in the neighborhood. There’s your class hierarchy, right there, at least in Margaret Mitchell’s telling. Which you shouldn’t trust. Although I’ve long believed GWTW was a fine feminist novel.

OK, then, with that let’s transition into the bloggage. Because vanity is not just a feminine vice, let’s start with this fine profile from Bridge, about a lawyer who made his reputation defending Detroit police at the height of the city’s violence and their own arrogance. He’s pretty vain, too. But a great lawyer, which he states more than once. With the Kathryn Bigelow movie about 1967 opening in a few weeks, he’s waiting for his moment of being played by John Krasinski. Or at least a character based on him. If you want to understand why Black Lives Matter happened, read a little bit about how this guy worked, and what he had to defend.

Moving on, I think the best single comment I read about this guy was a tweet showing him in a photo array with Trump’s doctor and Steve Bannon: Why does everyone connected with Trump look like the scene-stealer in a Coen Brothers movie?

Is Mike Pence trolling us? Ahem:

During a speech at the National Student Leadership Conference, Pence said in order for a leader to be like the president, they must listen, be humble, have a character people respect, work to serve others and learn from other leaders.

Finally, not to leave you with a disturbing story, but hey, the world is what it is, I found this via an obituary of a talented Miami Herald writer. This piece is 20 years old, but I’d never heard any of it. The perp died a decade ago, the mother he tortured some years before. It’s a modern horror story for our time, and an answer to the question of “what did trolls do before the internet?” Some of them did stuff like this.

A summer weekend ahead — make sure you use sunscreen.

Posted at 12:03 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

107 responses to “Coppertone baby.”

  1. Jakash said on July 14, 2017 at 1:28 am

    Sunscreen is right there in the category of medical issues where you can read one story and come to one conclusion, read another and come to the opposite one. Some dermatologists will tell you — no sun on your face, ever, at all. Put sunscreen on your arms and hands before you leave the house — every day — as NN referred to. Then you’ve got the Vitamin D deficiency brigade telling you 15 minutes of midday sun per day is not only okay, but preferred.

    I recall when the advice was “avoid the sun between noon and 2,” which became 11 and 3 and is currently 10 and 4, the last I checked. Hard to work in 18 holes of golf around that schedule, unless you’re riding shotgun with the greens-keepers. Or have much outdoor fun during the summer at all, for that matter. The kicker is that the Chicago Tribune lists, every day during the summer, sunburn times provided by a dermatologist for 7 a.m., 1 p.m. (“peak intensity” during daylight savings time), and 4 p.m. This time of year (close to the summer solstice) the “time of exposure before sunburn begins” on a sunny day can be about 2 hours at 7 in the freaking morning and less than 45 minutes at 4 p.m. It can certainly be a mighty fine line between the 15 minutes to get your dose of Vitamin D at 1 p.m. and the 18 minutes “before sunburn begins” at that hour.

    Then there’s the whole issue of sunscreen, itself. Uh, the Coppertone baby ain’t gonna cut it with the Environmental Working Group, I can tell you that. No major brand is, as far as I can tell. Perhaps something that you’ve never heard of that costs $25 for 4 ounces might be pure enough, but… maybe not. Some of those pesky ingredients are bad news, indeed. Fake news? How would I know?

    My point? Uh, I don’t think I have one. Given that I was born in the 50s and probably got more than a lifetime of unmitigated UV exposure by the time I was 15, I try not to think about it. (Which is hard to tell from this comment, I realize.) ; )

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  2. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 4:23 am

    As I’ve said here a million times I grew up in Miami, FL so I had plenty of sun as a kid who never heard of sunscreen. I sat out on the beach using baby oil with iodine in it as a teenager, still no sunscreen. Every year I have to get something burned off of my face by my dermatologist. I try to remember to wear sunscreen and hats every day in NM where the sun is brutal, but my Dr says most of the damage was done because of my childhood with fair skin in Miami.

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  3. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 4:53 am

    Oh that Miami Herald story was creepy. Why did I read it at 2:30am NM time? I hope I can go back to sleep. I don’t remember that story at all, I moved away from FL a couple of years before it all happened. Shudder.

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  4. David C. said on July 14, 2017 at 6:07 am

    I’ve become an old guy in a baseball cap because of the sun, but I hate feeling lubed up with sunscreen so I’ll take my chances.

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  5. basset said on July 14, 2017 at 6:47 am

    Me too, I can’t stand lotion, hair product, anything like that.

    If you want that real summer color, try detasseling for a few days.

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  6. coozledad said on July 14, 2017 at 7:28 am

    Now Miss Peter, you knows how you gets when you been talking to the WSJ bout them Hillary emails we promised you. Why you’s just as like to talk to some o’ them federal agents gonna set fire to the whole damn Republican plantation!

    So slide this here bag over your head and we’ll hold it on reeeeal tight for ya while we writes you up a suicide note. That’s right, Miss Peter. Keep a breathin.

    Lapses into native accent: Summer time, and the livings are being easy.
    Feesh are doing the jumpings
    and the cotton makes tall
    Oh your daddy’s rich
    and you can’t escape him
    so hush my babushka
    here’s your fall.

    https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/885644075050967040

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    • nancy said on July 14, 2017 at 8:57 am

      OK. Genius. Genius, right here.

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  7. Suzanne said on July 14, 2017 at 7:42 am

    Surprised I don’t 50 shades of skin cancer as I too grew up in the baby oil & iodine years, when the summer competition winner was the one who got burned the worst. I rarely remember to put on sunscreen when I’m out working in the garden, etc. Anybody remember spraying Sun In on your hair to try to make it lighter?

    Our Senator in Indiana, I guess to show he’s a regular guy who likes to have fun, yesterday afternoon tweeted a pic of some suntanned guys in pastel rompers, tagged Rep Jim Banks saying something about @SpeakerRyan modernizing the dress code. On the day the revised health plan (which could effect how many people?) is unveiled. Sen Young heard from me via email immediately and strangely enough, unlike almost any other emails, he (well, duh, his staff) replied before the day was done! I was surprised. I told him how sad I was to watch the party I supported for years become a bad joke. Probably I’m on some enemies list…

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  8. alex said on July 14, 2017 at 7:44 am

    I don’t know that Pence is trolling us so much as he’s gaslighting the gaslighter in chief, who he knows will turn a deaf ear to reports of his impending mutiny as long as he keeps blowing sunshine up Trump’s ass.

    Funny you should mention sunscreen today. I think the marketing plays on the same psychology. People buy the shit in its various formulations and SPF levels based on what they want to believe, never mind that none of it’s worth shit.

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  9. Suzanne said on July 14, 2017 at 8:09 am

    https://twitter.com/sentoddyoung/status/885583358075387904
    Because clearly, there was nothing important going on in the Senate yesterday. Just guys having fun!

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  10. Peter said on July 14, 2017 at 8:54 am

    Cooz, you are so right. I saw that stuff and I kept thinking that if this was Obama they’d be all on this like Vince Foster.

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  11. Jolene said on July 14, 2017 at 9:09 am

    I’m in the same “fair-skinned tan-seeker” contingent that many of you have mentioned and have already had one episode of melanoma. Scheduled to see dermatologist to get new spots inspected soon.

    But, hey, why worry about cancer and politics when we can admire
    the first photo of Beyoncé’s twins
    . Be sure to show this to your grown children so they can plan ahead for the first photos of your grandchildren.

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  12. 4dbirds said on July 14, 2017 at 9:14 am

    I’ve had skin cancer many times. I’ve had hunks of flesh sliced off, grafted, Mohs and if I’m lucky frozen off with liquid Nit. Most of my damage was done as a child living in sub-topical Okinawa and as a teenager in Texas. I’m very fair, freckled and red-headed. I’m probably the last generation to grow up without sunscreen. I see the dermatologist every six months and there is always something to freeze or biopsy. I’ve used sunscreen everyday since it came out. I like the Neutrogena Dry Touch 100 spf heloplex sunscreen. Doesn’t leave a greasy film.

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  13. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 9:18 am

    Well they are already on it like Vince Foster, the RW is saying that Hillary had Smith killed because he was too close to her emails.

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  14. Sherri said on July 14, 2017 at 10:07 am

    When we lived in California, putting on sunscreen was just part of getting ready in the morning. Now that I go seemingly months at a time without seeing sun, it’s not part of my routine anymore, and so I do sometimes forget and get burned. Fortunately, my skin isn’t as fair as my husband’s or daughter’s, so I don’t get usually get much of a burn. And yes, I like a little color, and even though I’m taking vitamin D supplements, after the dark winters here, I want to soak up sunshine.

    I second the recommendation for Neutrogena Dry Touch sunscreen, though.

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  15. Deggjr said on July 14, 2017 at 10:28 am

    Scene stealers from the Coen Brothers movies. Trump’s doctor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rxe6b7rDr8 is the younger brother of the doctor in Cannonball Run https://media1.fdncms.com/riverfronttimes/imager/u/original/2584969/nikolas_van_helsing.jpg

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  16. Charlotte said on July 14, 2017 at 10:38 am

    That Peter W. Smith story has been very weird since the beginning — my Lake Forest friends and I (and my Mom) have been trying to figure out who the hell he is, and no one seems to know either him or his kids. If he worked for the Fields like it says he does, or even if he’s just a garden-variety LF rich guy, we should know him. Crickets. And the original obit, which didn’t mention that he died in Minnesota, had a weird funeral home we’ve never heard of. Everyone is buried by Wenban — the whole thing is stupendously weird.

    Oh — and Deborah, the Tribune piece says he had an apartment in the Hancock where it appears his wife did not live with him, and a “young man” who was his “assistant” — with no mention of the wife. Sounds too like he could be one of your closeted elderly GOP guys as well.

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  17. Julie Robinson said on July 14, 2017 at 10:41 am

    Oh how I longed for that sun-kissed look as a teen; blond hair artfully highlighted by Sun-In, golden tan, no freckles. But I have pale skin that only freckles, and black hair that doesn’t respond to Sun-In, or the lemon juice our neighbors used.

    Before good sunscreens I would regularly get blistering burns accompanied by fevers and chills. Plus those freckles turn into brown spots. I’m probably a candidate for skin cancer in the future.

    But I love that sun, too, and in the winter I get so pale people ask me if I’m sick. In the spring I feel like the sun heals my winter sickness (SAD). So I wear the sunscreen and hat and stay out of the sun at the worst times. And some sunscreens make me break out so I have to be careful with that too.

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  18. Heather said on July 14, 2017 at 10:43 am

    I’m one of those people who wears sunscreen every day, even in winter. It’s just a part of my makeup routine now, and I put some on my arms too, after noticing how much more freckled my right arm is since I have to drive to work every day. May I recommend La Roche-Posay’s Anthelios Ultralight Sunscreen in SPF 50 or 60 for the face? It really is ultralight and not greasy at all, and you can get it at CVS and Walgreens. Other than that I don’t worry about tanning too much. I do like a little color, and if you’re outside a lot in the summer, you’re going to get some unless you dress like a mummy. I am way more careful in tropical climes though and tend to wear a hat.

    I’m fair-to-medium and tend to be somewhat molely, but so far they are all benign.

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  19. Heather said on July 14, 2017 at 10:43 am

    Sorry, left arm! I do not drive in England.

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  20. Judybusy said on July 14, 2017 at 10:58 am

    Then there is just plain stupid: Coca-cola as sunscreen.

    Here are some absolutely stunning pictures of <A HREF="http://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2017/06/serena-williams-cover-story"<Serena Williams in Vanity Fair. What would it be like to have such a powerful body?

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  21. Judybusy said on July 14, 2017 at 11:01 am

    Ack. Here’s the Vanity Fair link

    Then there is incredibly stupid. As a co-worker said, “You’ve got to laugh, or you’ll go insane.”

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  22. Bitter Scribe said on July 14, 2017 at 11:14 am

    I have no use for GWTW –it was said to be one of Joseph Goebbels’ favorite films, which I have no trouble believing — but I’ve heard that thing about tan skin equaled low class from several other sources.

    I don’t think Pence was trolling anyone. I think he’s genuinely dumb/deluded enough that he sees no contradiction between saying shit like that and working for Trump.

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  23. Sherri said on July 14, 2017 at 11:19 am

    If you like to look at powerful bodies (and I do), then you should check out ESPN magazine’s Body Issue. Obviously a response to SI’s swimsuit issue, every year ESPN photographs athletes in a variety of sports, including para-athletes, in the altogether. This year’s edition just came out: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/body/espn-body-issue-2017

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  24. Connie said on July 14, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Fair, freckled, blonde (OK middle aged dirty blonde) love to tan. Have had a few memorable sunburns but have always been a careful tanner. My HS friends used to line refrigerator boxes with foil to use when tanning with baby oil. I grew up near Lake Michigan so there was a lot of beach time in my younger years.

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  25. Connie said on July 14, 2017 at 11:29 am

    For a previous issue we did discuss Prince Fielder’s nude pics in the ESPN body issue.

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  26. alice said on July 14, 2017 at 11:34 am

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/28/sunscreen-damage-coral-research-oxybenzone

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  27. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 11:38 am

    Regarding Judy Busy’s link about the wall: for solar panels to work effiently of course they would want to be angled to the south (10 degrees east of south actually), so they’d be on the Mexican side. If I were a Mexican citizen I’d be throwing rocks at those panels constantly because the wall is so offensive, so the US would need to have lots of tax paid officers down there guarding them (and what’s the point of the wall then?), and they’d be replacing them constantly.

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  28. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 11:45 am

    I have a friend who swears by this sunscreen http://tizofusion.com/product/tizo3-facial-mineral-sunscreen-spf-40/. I haven’t found a local place to buy it in Santa Fe yet.

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  29. brian stouder said on July 14, 2017 at 11:59 am

    For some reason, Fredo Junior’s troubles made me want to seek out this –

    http://nancynall.com/2008/02/29/copycat/

    But of course, that fellow wasn’t the Son of the President!

    (Lawrence O’Donnell argues that all the leaks are coming from Kushner [et al], thus furthering the Fredo parallel, while portending an all-out bar-fight in the White House)

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  30. coozledad said on July 14, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    This is the accountables clerk at your post office who collects all the skin mags that have lost their address labels.
    https://twitter.com/xeni/status/885881178254852096

    He has a lifetime membership at “Thee Doll House.”

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  31. coozledad said on July 14, 2017 at 12:27 pm

    I hope he talks like Underdog.

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  32. Sherri said on July 14, 2017 at 12:50 pm

    I went to the doctor yesterday for an annual physical, something I usually avoid, but now I can’t. My psychiatrist retired suddenly, and rather than find a new psychiatrist in a hurry to manage my meds, I asked my primary care doctor if she’d be willing to do it since I’d been stable on them for years. She was, but that means I have to come in and see her regularly now.

    The good news is that my work with my new trainer has really paid off. I’m down almost 25 pounds, my cholesterol numbers have improved dramatically, my pulse rater has dropped like a rock, and I’ve dropped 3 pant sizes. The less good news is that despite all that work, my blood pressure remains stubbornly on the high side, and I need to increase my blood pressure medication. There are limits to how much you can fight genetics. If only Republicans appreciated that better! You can make all the right choices, put in all the hard work, and still, you don’t always get the outcomes you want.

    More important than any of that, though, is that my depression is better than it’s been in I don’t know how long. Considering everything going on, that’s amazing. The difference between now and even 4 months ago is incredible, and it’s certainly not because the external world has gotten any better. I feel so much better, and I’m so grateful for that.

    I just had to share this with all of you, who had to put up with my angry rants this past winter when I was in a much darker place.

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  33. Charlotte said on July 14, 2017 at 12:50 pm

    I never tan, and spent most of my childhood burning and peeling … and I’m not a sunscreen person. If i wind up leathery like my grandmother and that generation of horsewomen, so be it. They all had faces of great character. But I am dedicated to big hats and long sleeves made from lightweight linen in the summer — I just try not to expose very much skin to direct light. As for vitamin d — my doc tested me this spring and mine was in the low teens — so i’m on big doses to bring it up, and will probably have to do maintenence supplements. Sign. (But I do feel better, it must be kicking in, or placebo effect).

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  34. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    Brian, I just spent the last hour rereading that amazing post and comments when Nancy revealed the serial plagerizer. This has probably been discussed previously since that happened, what is Mr. Goeglian doing now? I could probably google it and also look up the proper spelling of his name but I’ve already spent so much time online, I’m way behind schedule on my plans for the day.

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  35. Brandon said on July 14, 2017 at 1:22 pm

    @Deborah: Tim Goeglein is vice president for external relations at Focus on the Family.

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  36. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    Of course he’s at Focus on the Family now, where else would he be?

    Where there’s smoke there’s fire, more people in the room, my my http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/donald-trump-jr-meeting/index.html

    Now I’ve gotta get off of the Internet!

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  37. susan said on July 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    cooz @30- I like this comment:

    Did he also tie a woman to the railroad tracks

    Heh

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  38. Heather said on July 14, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    Congrats, Sherri! That is truly impressive, and I’m glad you’re feeling so much better. I’m finding it challenging to even lose 10 pounds so I know how much effort it must have taken.

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  39. Jenine said on July 14, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    @Sherri: Good news — your rants are always well aimed but I’m glad you’re feeling less ranty in general. And yeah, we can make all sorts of good efforts but we have to work with the dna we ended up with.

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  40. LAMary said on July 14, 2017 at 3:16 pm

    I burn easily and serious skin cancer has happened on both sides of my family. The last big sunburn I got was in Hawaii on the big island. my shoulders had blisters on them and I felt ill. Since I have to wear some makeup to work every day so I don’t scare children, I use tinted moisturizer that has sunscreen in it. Weekends I use Kiehls plain moisturizer with sunscreen. The rest of me is covered up. I have freckles on my hands now since I don’t wear gloves but I sort of like the dowager look.

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  41. susan said on July 14, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Consumer Reports’ recent issue has a buying guide and ratings of sunscreens. I don’t any of the ones mentioned in the comments here show up on their recommended list…

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  42. susan said on July 14, 2017 at 3:38 pm

    I don’t THINK any of the ones…

    sheesh

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  43. Scout said on July 14, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    Living in Phoenix, only people with a death wish go without sunscreen. I’m careful and I’ve still had a bunch of spots that needed to be zapped with liquid nitro. I still get tan even with sunscreen, a big hat and care taken to stay in the shade during the most intense part of the day. Out here, the sun reflects off of absolutely everything.

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  44. Judybusy said on July 14, 2017 at 4:23 pm

    Sherri, that is awesome news! I am really happy for you that the depression is so much better. When it’s bad, it makes everything else so much more difficult. I always appreciate your “rants”: they are well-written and articulate.

    Also, Thanks for the ESPN eye candy. The athletes were truly impressive.

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  45. Dave said on July 14, 2017 at 4:33 pm

    I read that story about the Billig family and I wondered what kind of sentence that lowlife scum got for all the years of harassing phone calls. How viciously cold and brutal but I can’t find any record of what kind of punishment he received.

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  46. Julie Robinson said on July 14, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    My hubby got one of those burns when we went to the beach at St. Augustine, in the places where he wouldn’t let me slather on the sunscreen. He felt ill for about a week after that and even had trouble sleeping. Now I think he finally understands my sunscreen obsession. I bought a rash guard shirt that has SPF built in for swimming in Florida; I need to get him one too.

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  47. Dave said on July 14, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    I wrote too soon, for all those years of harassment, he served a two year prison sentence.

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    • nancy said on July 14, 2017 at 4:39 pm

      Appalling wrist slap, IMO.

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  48. David C. said on July 14, 2017 at 4:43 pm

    My problem with sunscreens is that when I’m outside in the sun, I’m usually doing something that makes me sweat so I all runs in my eyes and generally makes a mess. I tried the sport sunscreens, but they are, as far as I can tell, all zinc oxide or titanium dioxide in some binder that doesn’t want to wash off.

    Coca-Cola as a tan enhancer sounds plenty strange, but not as bad as Coca-Cola as a spermicide.

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  49. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 5:47 pm

    I find that sunscreen burns when I sweat and it gets in my eyes. Maybe I just need to buy better sunscreen. Plus some brands make my face break out.

    Sherri, I’m impressed, that’s a lot of weight to drop. I’ve gained 12 lbs since Thanksgiving, I can’t walk my usual 6 or 7 miles a day anymore, I’m only supposed to do 3 or 4 and I seem to have a hard time working myself up to doing that in NM. I keep blaming it on weather or something, anything. Maybe when my foot gets back to normal I’ll enjoy it again. I always think lack of exercise effects my ability to sleep well, and all sorts of other maladies.

    We finally had a good soaking rain yesterday, hopefully this is the long awaited start of monsoon season.

    I can’t believe that stalker only got 2 years.

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  50. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 6:14 pm

    Uh oh, even Fox is flummoxed https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/7/14/1680762/-Fox-anchor-stuns-co-host-into-silence-after-calling-out-mind-boggling-lies-of-Trump-s-inner-circle?detail=facebook

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  51. alex said on July 14, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    So why isn’t Fox flummoxed by the glass wall? Does Trump think life is like a Warner Bros. cartoon? Seriously, the chance of someone getting bonked on the head by a bag of drugs at the border wall is infinitesimally smaller than the chance of getting hit by an asteroid. Make that an asteroid piloted by an Islamic jihadist riding it with a saddle and stirrups.

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  52. Sherri said on July 14, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    You never know when you might need this: http://www.southernfriedscience.com/your-car-has-just-been-crushed-by-hagfish-frequently-asked-questions/

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  53. Deborah said on July 14, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    Alex, I think they’re trying to lower expectations about the wall. I mean a chain link fence that’s “transparent” is ok because of that ridiculous excuse about tossing bags of drugs over it. They’ve gotten criticized about the possibility of it being a fence instead of a wall. It’s all spin.

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  54. Rana said on July 14, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    Another fan of Neutrogena here. It smells nice, feels okay, and does what it needs to do. Between parents who show the results of many years camping and getting tan (and having divots of precancerous flesh removed) and a young child who is pale and blonde to take care of, I’m pretty attentive to sunscreen, at least for hands, arms, and face and neck. I also wear a lot of hats, both winter and summer. (This is the best solution to sunscreen sweating into the eyes, btw – I don’t put any on above my cheeks, since I wear glasses and hats cover my forehead.)

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  55. Rana said on July 14, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    My husband and I have also added an appointment with the dermatologist to the yearly roster. We’re both prone to freckles and moles, so want to catch any abnormal ones early.

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  56. Deborah said on July 15, 2017 at 7:37 am

    Absurdly desperate http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/media/trump-russian-lawyer-veselnitskaya-theories-obama/index.html

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  57. coozledad said on July 15, 2017 at 7:44 am

    Up against the wall, pasty traitor fuckstain:
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/michael-caputo-house-intelligence-committee-hearing/index.html

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  58. coozledad said on July 15, 2017 at 8:13 am

    Trump dialed in to the meeting. Vesylnitskaya was under surveillance for money laundering.
    https://twitter.com/PuestoLoco/status/885941182341287937

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  59. basset said on July 15, 2017 at 10:30 am

    I will join Sherri in posting something that has absolutely no connection to the Trump-Russia situation, although the far right would no doubt find some way to blame Hillary for it:

    https://www.aop.org.uk/ot/science-and-vision/research/2017/07/14/uk-surgeon-finds-27-missing-contact-lenses-in-womans-eye

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  60. Sherri said on July 15, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    This reminds me of a conversation I had in my old gym with an African-American guy who had been to see one of the Hobbitt movies and thought it was strange (I only saw the first one, so I couldn’t judge.). I asked if he’d seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies or read any of the books. No, he replied, ain’t no brothers in Middle Earth.

    http://www.theroot.com/the-black-persons-guide-to-game-of-thrones-1796847562/amp

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  61. brian stouder said on July 15, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    Sherri – you just gave me my best laugh of the day, so far!

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  62. beb said on July 15, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    A couple of thoughtful posts on slashdot. First there’s this:
    https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/07/13/2021224/amazon-is-getting-too-big-and-the-government-is-talking-about-it
    This is about the offer to buy Whole Foods for – what was it – $34 billion. This seems like a major market consolidation and a threat to grocery chains across the country. I’m not surprised that people are thinking that Amazon is getting too big. In fact there are a number of people and economists who are arguing that market consolidation is part of what is depressing the economy in this country and in particular, hurting rural America. (Think Walmart.)

    But what was interesting was the comments on this article. Slashdotters maybe nerds but they’re the same nerds as the Gamergate people. That is to say,the first thread begins by comparing this to Galt Gulch. Apparently if the government isn’t nice to Jeff Bezos he’s going to take upall his possessions and go away.

    The other weird story is:
    https://ask.slashdot.org/story/17/07/13/200201/ask-slashdot-why-do-so-many-of-you-think-carrying-cash-is-dangerous

    I have been afraid to look at the comments – I’m sure it’s a field day for alt-right/”sovereign Citizen” types. As a man of a certain age I prefer to have a certain amount of cash in my wallet at all times … just in case a store’s point-of-sale machines are down. And while I use a debit card for most purchases I would have to rate a fear of card/account hacking to be as high or higher than armed robbery. Who are these people who think that cash is a greater threat than cybercrime?

    This ties into another article on Slashdot:
    https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/07/14/1456241/visa-considers-extending-war-on-cash-business-incentives-outside-us

    Of course this is Visa talking, trying to do anything to increase the number of sales by card since they collect a hefty fee for each transaction. But the future they’re envisioning is one where the dollar bill — legal tender for all transactions — is no longer any good. I hate to sound like a luddite but seriously the future being offered to us sounds worse and worse.

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  63. Deborah said on July 15, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    I think I got this link on FB, but maybe it was here. Anyway, it basically says power causes brain damage. I found it very interesting https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/528711/

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  64. Joe Kobiela said on July 15, 2017 at 4:38 pm

    On the plane heading from Dallas to Detroit, spent the last 18 days at flight safety, I am now a qualified king air 350i Captain, will be flying for Wheels Up.
    Captain Joe

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  65. brian stouder said on July 15, 2017 at 6:10 pm

    Joe – congratulations!

    One thing I genuinely admire – and about which I increasingly understand the importance – is to live life to the fullest; press the bounds a bit; take a challenge and strive to succeed – always.

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  66. coozledad said on July 15, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    Dorks.

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  67. Jill said on July 15, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    Charlotte, the Smith who committed suicide was not one of THE Lake Forest Smiths. He was from Maine.

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  68. Dexter said on July 16, 2017 at 3:36 am

    I heard Jim Jeffries tell about the Oz sun…”…hole in the ozone, y’know, mite? If you go down there, the sun will be brutal. Sunscreen, yeah, but ya really hafta wear wide-brim hats and long sleeves or you’re gonna get bit by the sun…it’s awful and it’s deadly for sure.” First time I wasn’t laughing at Jim Jeffries, who is just one funny motherfucker.

    When Dad picked me up at Baer Field , me fresh outta Southeast Asia ,he said “look at you…brown as a berry!” Only time I ever heard that phrase. I was extremely tanned-to-the-absolute-max. Only time in my life girls on the beach gave me a second look…”you been down to Florida? Hawaii? ” Nope. Vietnam. I might as well have been slamming a steel door in my own face. I quickly learned to say “Baja.” Then the winter came and I turned white once more.

    I have taken one desert vacay, a few Cali trips, and a bunch of trips to Atlantic beaches from Massachusetts to Virginia to both Carolinas, Georgia , and I have been down to FLA ten times…I learned to apply the strongest damn sunscreen I could get. I ain’t used it in many years. I wear wide brim hats. Jim Jeffries taught me that.

    Here’s one: Grandpa died in 1959, born in 1874. As Chief Mail Clerk on the NYC probably a century ago, he was required to carry a firearm, a pistol. Over the years he accumulated several of these guns. When he passed, I was 9. I asked Dad for one of those guns to display and keep…of course, no. An older family member got ’em. Now as many years have passed, an overture has been made…”would you like this ancient pistol we found, that we believe was your grandfather’s gun?” Yes, yes I would. If I get it, it goes to a gunsmith to be made into a non-fierable display momento.

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  69. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 10:16 am

    While I’m sorta neutral on Bill Maher these days, I love Fran Lebowitz https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/fashion/bill-maher-fran-lebowitz-table-for-three-trump.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

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  70. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 11:09 am

    Got this from Facebook https://first-draft.com/2017/07/16/the-uncertainty-principle/amp/

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  71. alex said on July 16, 2017 at 11:40 am

    Here’s Bill Moyers on James McGill Buchanan.

    I need a skin check at the dermatologist’s office again. A basal cell thing that I had removed from my nose a few years ago is back with a vengeance. Not sure I want to return to the same office, though. They guy who cut the thing off last time was a male nurse practitioner who was talking loony right-wing politics, and perhaps he was less than diligent with me because I was unreceptive. Or maybe he’s just a fucking incompetent twit. Whatever the case, I regret that I didn’t make waves about it at the time, although I can’t imagine his superiors haven’t been made aware of his inappropriate bedside manner by others. He was off in Agenda 21 country.

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  72. nancy said on July 16, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    I’m glad you brought this up, Alex. Not skin cancer, the other thing. Alan is getting some oral surgery done in a couple weeks, and went for the initial consult with the doctor the other day. He said the waiting room is packed with right-wing reading materials — Mark Levin’s books fanned out on waiting room tables, etc. I’m escorting him as his driver/nurse when he gets this done, and I’m wondering how to respond to this.

    Personally, I think it’s unprofessional, but I am equally sure that no professional board would give a shit, not if they don’t give a shit about their members overprescribing drugs and actually harming patients, anyway. So I need something subtler than just bringing my own reading material to the appointment.

    It’s too hot for my pussy hat. Suggestions?

    And don’t say “find another oral surgeon.” You know how these things work — you go to the person your dentist recommends, it takes weeks to even get an appointment, and pulling the plug at this point would be way more of an inconvenience to us than him. I need guerrilla warfare tactics here.

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  73. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    Maybe bring a giant hand bag and sneak some of the offending reading matter into it and walk off with it and then throw it away somewhere. You no doubt can’t get it all but maybe if you have to go back for a follow up you can make a dent. If you get caught you can say you found it all so fascinating that you couldn’t stop yourself because you wanted to read more. Also turn the stuff over that you can’t take so at least the titles aren’t extremely visible.

    I just lose so much respect for people that I find out voted for Trump, it just makes me sick to find out they have such low standards.

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  74. Joe Kobiela said on July 16, 2017 at 12:22 pm

    How about just ignoring it?
    Or bring in your own reading material.
    Pilot Joe

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  75. Sherri said on July 16, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    That’s a situation where I’d pull out my “nasty woman” tshirt or one of my ACLU tshirts. Or, my “Hate Won’t Make America Great Again” button, or “No One Trumps The Constitution” if I wanted to go a littler quieter, since it’s a smaller button. To go quieter yet, I’d wear my ACLU lapel pin.

    I don’t do subtle so much anymore.

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  76. alex said on July 16, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    Nancy, the other thing is that this office has my chart and my history of mole checks, etc., so I feel like I should go back there. I suppose I could get it transferred to a new doctor. I’ve been patronizing this place forever because its principal, Dr. Gilbert, is an old college friend of my mom. And he’s old indeed — still practicing at 89 or 90.

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  77. David C. said on July 16, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    If there is a TV blaring Fox News, get a turn off any tv app for your phone. Edit the magazines that are sitting around, seeing as they probably weren’t edited the first time and/or erase the irises from the eyes of any pictures. Leave a Qur’an under a pile of magazines.

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  78. David C. said on July 16, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    Sherri @ 75. I wouldn’t suggest that until after the procedure is done. I wouldn’t want to tick off a dentist who was working on my mouth until afterward. Dentists are a fractious lot to begin with.

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  79. Jakash said on July 16, 2017 at 12:46 pm

    Deborah beat me to posting the NYT link with Fran Lebowitz and Bill Maher. But I was gonna throw this out there, so I’ll go ahead. A great run from her:

    FL: “The worst thing about this is that there’s always outrage over people in show business, who have no actual power. They’re entertainers. We would prefer that they agree with us, and do the right thing. But moral outrage should be reserved for Congress or the Supreme Court. To me, the fact that people can’t tell the difference between these things is why we have Donald Trump as president. People want to be entertained 24 hours a day. And they’re seeking from entertainment what they should be seeking from other branches of life.”

    PG: “Have you ever had to do a public apology?”

    FL: “No. This is very specific to people who have mass audiences. Remember that whole period when Charlie Sheen was news. That’s not news, O.K.? You can watch Bill; you cannot watch Bill. But you can’t not have this Congress. That’s the misplaced moral outrage.”

    PG: “Better to save it for Paul Ryan?”

    FL: “I’m glad you brought him up. Every time I see the sentence ‘Paul Ryan is the conscience of the Republican Party,’ I think: What is that? Is that like being the quarterback of the New York City Ballet? But yes, that is where your outrage should be.”

    Then, a few paragraphs down:

    FL: “I am so tired of hearing about what the Trump voters want. I don’t care what they want. How’s that? And you know what? We do know what they want. They want a Confederate flag. We all know what this is about. I’m tired of hearing people, particularly men, explain to me what Hillary Clinton did wrong. Donald Trump didn’t win because he did something right; he won because he did something wrong. We always knew you could win that way — appealing to the worst. You’re just not supposed to win the presidency that way.”

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  80. Heather said on July 16, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    Nancy, what about inserting some index cards into the books and magazines with a few salient points about their biased nature, and/or suggestions for more objective sources?

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  81. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 1:26 pm

    Yes Jakash, that was my favorite part too, especially the last paragraph, She’s such a well read, funny, articulate, urban liberal, lesbian (so woman, obviously) who speaks her mind, that must drive Trump supporters crazy.

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  82. susan said on July 16, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    Nancy, I take my old Progressive, Science News, Mother Jones, Consumer Reports, Archaeological Conservancy magazines, and place them about the place. And take a few of the offending mags with me.

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  83. susan said on July 16, 2017 at 1:34 pm

    …and toss them in the nearest dumpster. Helps if the dumpster is on fire.

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  84. Joe Kobiela said on July 16, 2017 at 1:40 pm

    So much for free speech.
    Pilot Joe

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  85. susan said on July 16, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    A professional office should not have any kind of political or religious crap on tables in waiting areas. If it does, I feel no compunction in spreading my free speech on the tables.

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  86. Jakash said on July 16, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    Well, this isn’t gonna win me any points here, but I gotta agree with Joe on this one. I certainly don’t respect the surgeon’s (or his staff’s) decision to put out partisan material like that, but I also don’t know what could possibly be accomplished by an act of subtle or abrasive sabotage, either. Are you going to be changing anybody’s minds? I doubt it — I can’t imagine, especially these days, that many are looking beyond their own phones or iPads for entertainment in the waiting area. I could be wrong.

    That material will resonate with denizens of the surgeon’s echo chamber, while repulsing most of the folks like us here at nn.c. Regardless, it’s *his* office and his stuff. If one sees a MAGA bumper sticker on a car, is one justified in keying the car or obliterating the offending image with a magic marker? I don’t think so, but I realize others disagree. Our dentist is a right-winger. I’m not happy about that, but it’s really none of my business and I’m also not happy that every social/professional interaction these days seems to need to be a skirmish in the culture war.

    IMH and unpopular O, one could just as well replace “entertainers” with “oral surgeons” in Ms. Lebovitz’s sentence above. “They’re entertainers. We would prefer that they agree with us, and do the right thing. But moral outrage should be reserved for Congress or the Supreme Court.”

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    • nancy said on July 16, 2017 at 1:58 pm

      I certainly agree that it’s his office, and he can do what he wants with it. I only want to indicate that not everyone lives in his bubble.

      My eye doctor, who works for a large, hospital-owned and practice, has not only magazines, but an actual bookshelf in the office. And the selection is much broader than you would think. The last time I was there I took a Tracy Chevalier novel home, and the next time I’m there, I will return it.

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  87. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 1:59 pm

    Yes, it is a violation of free speech to cover up or take away material that you disagree with. I admit that. However, putting partisan political info in a public waiting room is unfair and unprofessional, IMHO. The best thing you can do is to not use professionals whom you don’t respect for whatever reason. But that’s not always possible, I realize. I think susan’s advice to leave your own info or Heather’s to add index cards into them, giving another view etc are probably the most ethical things to do besides wearing buttons etc. Why do Trump supporters only care about free speech when their views are being challenged?

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  88. Sherri said on July 16, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Once again, a conservative demonstrates a lack of knowledge of what free speech means.

    The oral surgeon can say what he likes. Free speech, thanks to the First Amendment, means that the government can not abridge that right. It does not protect him from any consequences, or compel anyone else to ignore it. Personally, I wouldn’t remove his reading material, but that’s a personal choice; I’m not interfering with his free speech rights. You can argue that I’m stealing his property, but that’s pretty lame.

    My solution is adding my own free speech to counter his. Yes, I would be taking the risk that the surgeon is not enough of a professional to handle my free speech and still do his job. I would be choosing to treat him as a grownup capable of accepting that there are people outside his bubble.

    That’s why I don’t do subtle anymore.

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  89. Rana said on July 16, 2017 at 2:43 pm

    Personally, I’d leave the stuff there, and write a yelp review that noted it. Maybe it’d be a plus for some potential clients, maybe it will turn it off. But either way people will be able to go in and not be blindsided by it.

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  90. Rana said on July 16, 2017 at 2:43 pm

    *turn others off*

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  91. Snarkworth said on July 16, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    I wonder how we would react if the dentist’s waiting room featured Nazi propaganda or pictures of nooses and cartoons about swarthy witch doctors.

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  92. Heather said on July 16, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    I could be mistaken, but I don’t think we heard a peep out of Joe when the whole DJT Jr. news was blowing up. Joe, THIS is what gets you upset? People complaining about a dentist’s waiting room?

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  93. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 4:37 pm

    Jakash, I don’t think doing anything to counteract the oral surgeons offensive material will change anyone’s mind necessarily. But it may make you (or me) feel better about yourself, in some small way. That you tried to communicate another view point in a subtle or not so subtle way is not a bad thing. Progressives need to express their views too, and sometimes that means not being overly polite.

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  94. coozledad said on July 16, 2017 at 5:11 pm

    Every dead ender Republican is a willing accomplice in his own shakedown. It requires a crippling moral blindness, and a significant part of the con is the equation of power with whiteness; the equation of America itself with that whiteness. Trumpers see themselves as benefiting from the behavior of their President and his party, even though they’re clearly among the biggest targets of that criminal enterprise.

    “…the Western world pivots on the infantile, and in action, criminal delusions of possession, and of property. But just as love is the only money, as the song puts it, so this mighty responsibility is the only freedom. Your child does not belong to you, and you must prepare your child to pick up the burden of this life long before the moment when you must lay your burden down.

    But the people of the West will not understand this until everything which they now think they have has been taken away from them. In passing, one may observe how remarkable it is that a people so quick and so proud to boast of what they have taken from others are unable to imagine that what they have taken from others can also be taken from them.”

    James Baldwin: The Devil Finds Work

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  95. coozledad said on July 16, 2017 at 5:29 pm

    Roger Stone should be ground into paste.
    https://twitter.com/jjmacnab/status/886609899404222464

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  96. Suzanne said on July 16, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    I did switch to a different doctor of my lady’s parts several years ago after my doc spent most of the appointment (for much of which I was nekkid on the exam table) yowling about Obamacare and what a disaster it was going to be. There was some “People better wake up!” talk, and lots of grousing about how it would be too expensive, and on and on. I had gone to this doctor for years but I called soon after that appointment and switched to another doctor in the group. I didn’t feel like I got an exam but felt like I’d sat through a political speech while unclothed. I thought it was very unprofessional and I did not want to deal with it again. So I didn’t.

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  97. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 8:01 pm

    Good for you Suzanne.

    Heather, I don’t believe he’s said word one about healthcare either.

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  98. Joe Kobiela said on July 16, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    Was busy the last 3weeks at school in Dallas training on a new airplane for a new job,
    What happened?
    Did he meet with the attorney general on a tarmac? While investigating a crime or sell uranium to the Russians?
    Didn’t have the T.V. on.
    Pilot Joe

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  99. coozledad said on July 16, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    There’s your Confederate flag moron right there. A Shit spoonfed shell of a human being.

    Traitor. Slave of a piss gargler.

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  100. Heather said on July 16, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    Oh dear, Joe. Time to do some Googling.

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  101. Deborah said on July 16, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    I keep forgetting to comment about the Coppertone baby ads of my youth. There was one of those animatronic bill boards of an extremely tan, blond toddler, with a dog pulling down her pants revealing a white backside. The dog leapt up and the pants pullled down mechanically. It was strategically placed right before you crossed one of the bridges over the intercontinental waterway to Miami Beach. We thought it was hilarious when I was a kid. Wow, just think about how times have changed since the 50s. First, making a show of pulling down a toddlers pants way, way bigger than life size, creepy sex offender anyone? Then letting your toddler get crispy brown in the sun, who does that now? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppertone_(sunscreen)

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  102. susan said on July 16, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    Blow rhymes with…

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  103. alex said on July 16, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    A little girl showing butt cleavage was featured in the signage and advertising of a local automotive seat cover business for many years, and believe it or not there’s still one such billboard, very dilapidated, at the back of a parking lot on South Calhoun Street south of Williams.

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  104. basset said on July 17, 2017 at 8:18 am

    Congrats on the new rating, Joe! So it’s new company and you’ll just be flying the King Air?

    Mrs. B worked across the street from the Beech plant when we lived in Wichita in the early 80s, and right off the end of the runway for McConnell AFB and a big Boeing plant… liable to see pretty much anything landing out there.

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