Believe it or not — and I had a hard time believing it myself — I saw David Brooks speak yesterday, and I enjoyed it.
One of the organizations I work for, the policy group, wrapped its pre-election work, and yesterday was an uncharacteristically light day. So I decamped for the CityLab conference downtown. There wasn’t much news being made, but the speakers moved through quickly and some were interesting, and then, whaddaya know, here’s David Brooks, and he’s talking about mending the social fabric.
Apparently he’s joined the Aspen Institute as some sort of adjunct, and his initiative is called Weave — get it? Fabric? — and he gave the 20-minute version of his speech about it. There were a lot of impossible-to-verify statistics (35 percent of Americans are lonely), and some heartwarming anecdotes about communities coming together to lift up children, but at the end, you couldn’t help but think: Mensch. I mean, yeah, you can pick it apart and think we need a truth and reconciliation commission before we can start weaving, or whatever. But on a Monday afternoon, after a gruesome week? I was happy to let it wash over me.
Maybe a balm of bullshit. But it beat the alternative, i.e., reality.
So, a few items of bloggage today:
When I heard Whitey Bulger was dead in prison at 89, of course I figured he’d had a heart attack or stroke or something. Nope, a beatdown. Mercy. What does it take to kill at 89 year old man? I wouldn’t think much. Tough old bastard to last that long in the first place.
Did you ever think you’d see a time when the president of the whole damn U.S. of A. would arrive in a city, and the usual bigwigs would pass on even meeting him? Remember Jan Brewer’s finger in Obama’s face? Seems like a kiss on the cheek.
Two women from Detroit were raped in a Jamaican resort last month. Today, the reporter who wrote the story in the Freep followed it up with a piece on how often that happens in Jamaica, even in gated, all-inclusive resorts, where guests presumably feel safe. A terrifying story that I’d consider if I were planning a Caribbean vacation.
Dexter Friend said on October 31, 2018 at 1:33 am
Whitey was found beaten, yes, but The Times neglected to include that Whitey’s eyes were gouged out, according to a report I heard just after the news broke .
Trump in Fort Wayne, yes, it’s true. https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/security-plans-in-motion-for-trump-s-fort-wayne-visit/1562754260
Reagan came to see the ’82 flood and Ford came in 1976 and I rounded up the wife and kids and my brother just to say we had seen a President, then eventually I saw him 2 more times, at a Michigan football game and also in 1975 in D.C. as he flew over the Mall near The White House during the kick-off to the USA Bicentennial. No other President who was sitting on the throne ever came to Fort Wayne.
David Brooks used to come onto the Imus in the Morning Show frequently and he usually made sense; my progressive friends dissed me for saying so, but he wasn’t then nor is now a MAGA goon as far as I can tell.
One more plug for the new season of Ray Donovan: it’s pure dynamite, best show on TV.
Sports talk: my Detroit Pistons went to Boston and damn-nearly beat the vaunted Boston Celtics. Hope springs eternal….
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susan said on October 31, 2018 at 2:00 am
Ha haha ha! Morongate. Is this the October surprise?
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David C. said on October 31, 2018 at 6:03 am
The thing with Brooks is that he would have made the same speech when Obama was President. All the while, Obama was trying to do just that (to a fault) and the Rs were telling him to fuck off.
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Suzanne said on October 31, 2018 at 6:44 am
David Brooks, from what I can tell, is a smart man, writes well, and thinks deeply but I think is also quite clueless about the world outside his bubble. He does not grasp that there are people out here who truly absolutely believe that Muslims are moving to the US to take over & make us all follow Sharia Law, that the Clintons put hits on the likes of Vince Foster and many others, that Obama is an African born Muslim, and that the Holocaust is a myth. How do I know? I have had these conversations with co-workers and colleagues.
He supported the conservatives and still, from what I have read, still can’t quite distance himself from them and what they have wrought. I don’t subscribe to the Times, so maybe I am wrong, but I read his columns and am almost always struck by his naïveté.
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Jolene said on October 31, 2018 at 7:54 am
I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of Brooks. He has been doing a lot of traveling and writing specifically oriented toward understanding the various currents of America. He’s also been very involved with All Our Kids, an organization that began as a family helping the struggling friends of their own adolescent children.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/opinion/the-power-of-a-dinner-table.html
I just read a longer, more expository article about this group, but can’t seem to find it again. There is, though, more at their web site. I suspect he is well aware of the lunatic fringe, but has decided that, rather than challenging them, his time is better spent binding up wounds and reaching the reachable.
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ROGirl said on October 31, 2018 at 8:20 am
Did Whity get the snitch treatment with the eye gouging?
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Suzanne said on October 31, 2018 at 9:09 am
I have read about Brooks’ dinner table initiative and I think it’s great! I appreciate the organization Better Angels as well (https://www.better-angels.org) and think these organizations are much needed.
That said, I think Brooks is naive in his thinking that you can sit and have a rational, enlightening discussion with someone who believes that, for example, the Holocaust did not happen and that the number of reported Jewish deaths during the war years is grossly exaggerated or that ALL Muslims are radicals who want to destroy us. I have been told both these things by men who hold or have held positions of authority (a township trustee and a retired Army Command Sgt. Major).
I applaud his efforts and I applaud the efforts of anyone who tries to change hearts and minds. It is hard work but it can be done!
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Sherri said on October 31, 2018 at 9:37 am
My biggest problem with Brooks is that he’s a type that is over-represented on our oped pages and speaker circuits: the oh so reasonable right of center white man who can always be counted on for a good both-sides piece. Give that space to a woman of color, and let’s hear her voice for a while.
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Sherri said on October 31, 2018 at 10:25 am
I’ve been reading about Jacob Wohl, the idiot trying to come after Mueller (surely there’s a good German word for the stupid equivalent of wunderkind!)
My question is, who will young Master Wohl be when he grows up?
A) James O’Keefe
B) Martin Shkreli
C) Don’t be silly, he’s too stupid to live long enough to grow up.
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Deborah said on October 31, 2018 at 10:29 am
Off topic: ugly churches https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1057310238431301632.html
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Heather said on October 31, 2018 at 10:42 am
Thanks for the funny link, Deborah. The Catholic church in my neighborhood falls into that category. Every time I ride my bike past it I just shake my head.
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Suzanne said on October 31, 2018 at 10:45 am
The church pics are great! I think the 6th one, the brick one with the multiple towers, is near Kalamazoo, MI. I remember passing it on the highway several times.
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Heather said on October 31, 2018 at 10:49 am
The Jacob Wohl story gives the lie to the myth that all youngs are Good at the Internet. Honestly I don’t even understand how he dresses himself if he’s that dumb.
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JodiP said on October 31, 2018 at 1:54 pm
Deborah, the church link was hilarious!Even better with the snarky “this is the church you go to if….”
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2018 at 4:06 pm
Oh screw David Brooks. Never forget that he came up at the National Review under William F. “Is it really wrong for white Southerners to keep Negroes in line by bashing their heads in?” Buckley.
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susan said on October 31, 2018 at 4:16 pm
Oh screw David F. Brooks. This mook taught a class in “humility” at Yale. What twit would think so highly of himself as to teach something of which he thinks he is a foremost authority, Humility. It should have been a course in Irony. Upperclass Twit. That, and Both Sides Brooks, for which see Driftglass, who really is the World’s Foremost Authority on David F. Brooks.
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Sherri said on October 31, 2018 at 4:44 pm
A counter to yesterday’s discussion about those darn kids not voting: https://twitter.com/OsitaNwanevu/status/1057455561036455936
We absolutely should make it easier to vote. State legislatures and state Secretaries of State matter here.
I still have no patience with “I don’t like the candidates” arguments. You want better candidates, you have to be part of the process, which means you have to vote before anybody is going to pay any attention to you.
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Sherri said on October 31, 2018 at 5:00 pm
So, My Pants said, no, wasn’t me who invited the fake fake rabbi, it was Lena Epstein. Josh Marshall explores, and boy, what a wild story.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/never-go-full-trump-the-lena-epstein-story
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beb said on October 31, 2018 at 5:06 pm
I done read David Brooks but the liberal bloggers I do read all consider him what’s wrong with MSM. He’s a chronic bothsider, who believes that even so Democrats are worse. He refuses to believe that there are people who so hate other people that there is no talking to them. And he fails to realize that the Conservative policy is detrimental to social unity. And unfortunately he’s too oblivious to what a tool he is.
So was Whitey Bulger killed because he pissed off someone in jail or was this a long delayed retaliation for ratting on the Mafia? By the way, at when my dad was 89 I think he was still able put up a pretty good fight, if it ever came to that. He was active all his life till macular degeneration robbed him of his sight.
I’m still waiting for the time when a mayor disinvites Trump, then barricades the airport so he can’t leave the runway.
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alex said on October 31, 2018 at 5:08 pm
Brooks was hired as the NYT’s token conservative back when conservatism was just a bourgeois affectation. I don’t think his heart was ever really in it.
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beb said on October 31, 2018 at 5:25 pm
Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly says he’s open to Trump’s idea of ending Birthright Citizenship. This is completely unacceptable. Sadly, he’s a Dem. As bad as he is, the opponent is still worse.
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Jeff Borden said on October 31, 2018 at 5:59 pm
I can’t countenance David Brooks for reasons Sherri and Bitter Scribe already have noted. He’s the political equivalent of Paul Ryan, who plays a thoughtful policy wonk on TV, but is as empty as Eric Trump’s head.
It’s long past time we acknowledged that the “conservative Republicans” of the greatly overrated Reagan era have gone the way of the dodo bird. This is now a party defined by white nationalism, xenophobia, fear, resentment, hatred and utter fealty to the donor class. The Orange King is the result of the GOP, not the other way around. These fuckers have been playing one off the other since Richard M. Nixon launched his “Southern strategy.”
Men like Brooks sigh, and shrug and make excuses when there are none. Compare and contrast with Jennifer Rubin, a deeply conservative columnist at the Washington Post, who now loathes the GOP. Or Max Boot, who wrote some of the most inflammatory editorials and columns aimed at Bill Clinton, who has renounced the party. Or even, dog help me, George Will, long the prissy defender of the country club Republicans.
What kind of a conversation do you want to have a prick like Mitch McConnell? Or Orrin Hatch? Or Lindsey Graham? You want to share a beer with Steve King of Iowa, Devin Nunes of California, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Jim Jordan of Ohio? Please.
The Republican Party in its current incarnation needs to be burned to the ground. Then, maybe, we can talk.
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alex said on October 31, 2018 at 6:16 pm
Donnelly makes his predecessor, Richard Lugar (R), look like a flaming liberal by comparison, and I know people who are so pissed off they’d rather see him lose than win by appeasing fascists, but I’d be hard put to second-guess him in this unprecedented political climate. His boot-licking is truly cringeworthy and his own ads are actually more off-putting than the ridiculous attack ads purchased on behalf of both Donnelly and his opponent. He obviously thinks most Indiana voters are irredeemably stupid, and I can’t say I disagree with his assessment.
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Dexter Friend said on October 31, 2018 at 6:20 pm
Whitey was murdered by a 4-man hit-squad while in his wheelchair, in an area sans cameras. His killers were recorded walking with bloody clothing on, and later with new duds, walking back to the execution area with mops & buckets to “attempt to clean up the DNA…” This was indeed a hit , being killed by socks with rocks inside, and eyes gouged out with something , for Whitey’s snitching. The facility he was transferred to has been rife with all sorts of security problems lately. All this I just wrote is undocumented hearsay from radio news reports…s’all I know.
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Suzanne said on October 31, 2018 at 10:00 pm
Jeff, yes as I stated earlier. I can’t have a conversation with someone who believes the Holocaust never happened. That’s why I think Books is naive. I don’t think that deep down, he believes these people exist. They do.
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brian stouder said on November 1, 2018 at 12:16 am
Way back in the day, I was a National Review-subscribing conservative Republican. WFB was good stuff (and indeed, my dad always like his op-ed pieces in the News-Sentinel), and I belonged to the Conservative Book Club (really!) – and thought R Emmett Tyrrell (thanks to Google, I got all those double-letters in his name!) was clever/clever/clever, and witty!
At some point, I wrote to Our Proprietress, defending him from against whatever critical thing she noted about him in one of her columns, and she responded with incredulity that anyone would seriously argue against curb-cuts for handicapped people (for example).
Indeed, Tyrrell’s ‘wit’ got old soon enough, and the magical-‘thinking’ in all those conservative books – tax-cuts spur more creativity, budget cuts equal genuine virtue, “the market” is infallible and always just, public schools (or – “government schools’…!!!) mission is thought-control and subjugation – etc etc etc – all that got as old as watching Captain Kangaroo, and/or believing in the tooth fairy.
But time (and reading) continued marching on, until we arrived at a point where, quite simply put – I wasn’t in accordance with any of that stuff.
I’d say I’d vote for the best candidate, rather than the party of the candidate – but truth be told, I’ve pretty much voted only for Democratic candidates for local/state/national offices for the past couple decades, and cannot see that changing any time soon
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Sherri said on November 1, 2018 at 1:13 am
WFB was erudite, but he was also racist.
“I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point–race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything.” -Molly Ivins
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alex said on November 1, 2018 at 6:38 am
Suzanne, even living here in their midst I couldn’t fathom that such people existed either, and before Trump emboldened them, most kept it to themselves. I was just looking at the social media of a local town council member and I’m simply aghast. The level and tone of offensiveness is so off the charts it’s a wonder he hasn’t been fired from his day job. But what’s scarier still is that he’s friends with a lot of prominent people who comment on his Facebook page and give him attaboys.
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Connie said on November 1, 2018 at 8:19 am
Lena Epstein, who brought the Jews for Jesus rabbi to the Mike Pence event it the Republican candidate in my open congressional district, which has a major Jewish population. So I have been wondering if blaming her for the rabbi will lose her the Jewish vote.
My absentee ballot and my League of Women Voters guide are both on my desk today to get finished.
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Peter said on November 1, 2018 at 9:10 am
Sherri, I also read that Talking Points Memo article, and boy, is she a whackadoodle.
I read that Whitey also had a toungue-ectomy performed prior to his sendoff as a reward for snitching.
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Suzanne said on November 1, 2018 at 9:18 am
So, this is terrifying. Take note, David Brooks.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-spokane-politician-matt-shea-biblical-war-manifesto-20181031-story.html
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susan said on November 1, 2018 at 11:02 am
As I noted yesterday, which comment never showed up, oh screw David F. Brooks. This mook thinks so highly of himself that he taught a class in Humility at Yale. Should have been a course in Irony. Also, too, Bothsiderism. He’s the king of Bothsiderism. And driftglass is the World’s-Foremost-Authority on David F. Brooks. Driftglass will set you straight on DFB.
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susan said on November 1, 2018 at 11:03 am
Driftglass
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Sherri said on November 1, 2018 at 11:13 am
More on Lena Epstein: https://twitter.com/misopogon/status/1057972689124646913?s=21
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LAMary said on November 1, 2018 at 11:31 am
I remember the David Brooks humility phase. He did a book about too, didn’t he? I remember him shilling it on NPR.
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FDChief said on November 1, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Good discussion here about why Brooks is kind of like poison; he doesn’t use Trumpist violence to try and kill things he hates (like social justice and economic equity), he just both-sides the shit out of them, all the while trying to slide his conservative prejudices (Traditional hierarchy good! Independent individual decision-making bad!) under the door.
http://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/2018/10/but-does-it-enchant-in-your-mind.html
Best summation of the Problem of David Brooks is in the comments:
“Here, I learn that you can care about all of humanity OR have love for a place, but not both. It’s always a choice, and the choice is always fundamentally the same – adhere to Brooks’ essentially conservative views OR become something less than human, something without emotional bonds or sentiment or feelings of any kind.”
Yep. That’s our boy.
Oh, and the retired sergeant inside me is fulminating at the “code name” for this Trumpy send-soldiers-to-“fight”-the-caravan-of-Soros-funded-Honduran-mosstroopers is “Operation Faithful Patriot”.
Jesus wept. These people.
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LAMary said on November 1, 2018 at 2:43 pm
Operation Faithful Patriot. Every time I think I’m as disgusted as I can be, I’m wrong.
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JodiP said on November 1, 2018 at 3:35 pm
I’m reading Winds of War and what the Nazis were telling their people is so similar to what’s happening now. Just outright lies, easily disproved. (No news to anyone here, but it was striking.)
On a more positive note, I got the jail staff in charge of voting better connected with city and county election staff so that we can hopefully do a better job of encouraging voting in 2020. We do have a process here, but the incarcerated people have to ask. No GOTV effort–yet!
I also just picked up an order of brochures the library offers called “Going Home: A resource guide for people leaving correctional facilities.” We’ll get them on the book carts, in group and with the discharge planning nurse.
And I think the Randy Rainbow show we’re seeing on Saturday will be downright therapeutic!
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susan said on November 1, 2018 at 4:21 pm
JodiP – Ooooooo! Where and when is Randy Rainbow performing in Twin Cities? I have to let my family know, if they don’t already.
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Dexter Friend said on November 1, 2018 at 4:22 pm
Apparently the hit squad tried to extract Whitey’s tongue but abandoned the project as it got too messy and difficult.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2018 at 7:20 pm
As Joe Biden said recently, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”. I’m to the point of weeping every evening. I can’t wait until Tuesday, but I’m dreading Tuesday. If the democrats don’t win the house I will be devastated. I remember how I felt Nov 9, 2016. I don’t want to wake up on Nov 7, if I have to find out we didn’t at least take the house. I’m unable to pull myself away from the Internet,I realize it does no good but I can’t stop myself. My husband keeps telling me that things were much worse in the 60s with Vietnam, assassinations, Kent State all of that. It doesn’t make me feel better, not at all.
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Andrea said on November 1, 2018 at 9:57 pm
An excellent take down of David Brooks:
https://www.chumplady.com/2017/05/might-want-rethink-character-thing/
And another:
https://www.chumplady.com/2017/05/ubt-leaving-cleaving/
Moralizing hypocrite.
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basset said on November 1, 2018 at 10:08 pm
I have a dental appointment on Election Day, and going by the symptoms so far it’s probably going to end up with a root canal. You are all welcome to draw parallels with the electoral situation as you see fit.
And… Mrs. B doesn’t drive any more so I have to get myself home, which means I won’t get any of the usual calmer-downers. I usually have to be drugged stupid for anything more than a cleaning, and up till recently I’d get gas for those. Thank you, childhood dentists.
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Deborah said on November 1, 2018 at 11:00 pm
Basset, oh I’m with you on dentist visits, I hate them, will do anything to come up with an excuse not to go. Tomorrow I’m scheduled to go and find out what’s up with my front tooth after my fall. My lip is healed enough to open my mouth wide enough. I’m dreading going.
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Jolene said on November 2, 2018 at 12:29 am
Consider Uber or Lyft for your transportation to and from the dentist, basset. Being able to indulge in some of your favorite chemicals might make it worth the cost.
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connie said on November 2, 2018 at 7:13 am
Bassett, if you call Uber in Nashville my niece Heather could be your driver. She drove Steve Tyler recently.
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Suzanne said on November 2, 2018 at 7:53 am
Did not know that David Brooks traded in his wife for a newer model. Makes his sctick about inviting people over for family time around the dinner table seem a little less inviting.
Why is it that the people who opine the loudest about how great family is can’t seem to manage to keep their own family in good shape?
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Connie said on November 2, 2018 at 8:54 am
Looks like my local Republican candidate Lena Epstein has lost herself the local Jewish vote. That’s her own religious community. https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/11/lena-epstein-fake-rabbi-pence-michigan-jewish-voters.html
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basset said on November 2, 2018 at 10:24 am
Hmmm, didn’t think of that, have never used Lyft or Uber.
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Connie said on November 2, 2018 at 11:16 am
So Nancy, Charlie LeDuff is now your co-worker. Seems like that would make for interesting meetings.
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JodiP said on November 2, 2018 at 11:40 am
Susan @ 38: https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/randy-rainbow-pantages-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2018/
I didn’t have time to check if there ares still tix left….
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Sherri said on November 2, 2018 at 12:15 pm
I’m not a moderate. I used to think I was, but I looked around and realized that, no, really, I wasn’t. I wasn’t a centrist, I wasn’t in the middle, I had positions, and I was okay with that.
That makes me unusual. I swear, most people, no matter what positions they hold, think they are moderates. I know people to the left of me who think they are moderates, and I know people who are rabidly conservative who think they are moderate. Everyone complains that you “can’t be in the middle anymore.” Hey! You believe something! That’s okay, but that doesn’t mean you own the middle.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/8th-district-voters/
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susan said on November 2, 2018 at 1:22 pm
JodiP @50, looks like the 7:30 show is sold out. Still tickets left at the 10:00, though. I’ll send this along. Thanks!
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Scout said on November 2, 2018 at 1:29 pm
Andrea @41 – thank you for introducing me to my new favorite snarkster, Chumplady. I think her takedowns of Bobo may even surpass the brilliant Driftglass.
I am not a moderate. I am a proud and unapologetic liberal who believes that the high tide lifts all boats. I am for the underdogs of this world, and I am for the preservation of the planet. If that makes me some kind of radical, then so be it. I’d like to see sanity as ‘normal’ rather than the hateful ugliness that pervades the right and which has become the way the world now sees us.
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Deborah said on November 2, 2018 at 2:40 pm
I used to be more liberal, then I became more moderate. But I’ve circled back to being more liberal again. The current administration has cured me of moderation. My husband leans more liberal now as well, same reason.
I’m waiting my turn at the dentist now. Shudder. After this I’m getting a flu shot at my Dr office in the same building. I want to get it earlier than my scheduled regular physical.
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alex said on November 2, 2018 at 2:57 pm
Well, this would sure explain why Republicans cut off their noses to spite their faces:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/02/culture-war-liberals-conservatives-trump-2018-222095
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Julie Robinson said on November 2, 2018 at 3:37 pm
If you have a NYT subscription they have an article on how Randy Rainbow spends his Sundays. Should be a terrific show, Jodi.
Our daughter is in NYC on the first leg of her journey to London. She went to the Colbert taping last night and will see The Band’s Visit tonight. Oh, and she found a piano bar where all they sing is stuff from musicals, as well as MOMA this afternoon. I’m so jealous.
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JodiP said on November 2, 2018 at 5:00 pm
Julie, that sounds like a perfect day. I will also have to check out the RR article. Worth one of the free 10 I get a month!
Deborah, I hope you got through the dentist appointment without too much discomfort.
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Sherri said on November 2, 2018 at 5:08 pm
Alex, that was also an epic piece of both-siderism. Both sides are not equally at fault for the polarization today. Only one side opposes thing simply because the other side likes them.
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Deborah said on November 2, 2018 at 5:20 pm
I’m back from the dentist, and of course it wasn’t nearly as bad as anticipated. She poked around on my tooth (ouch), took X-rays etc nothing showed up cracked but now it’s a waiting game to see if the tooth turns dark, that means the nerve is dead and a root canal will be in order.
Julie, it sounds like your daughter’s whole trip is going to be smashing. What fun.
Randy Rainbow is hilarious, and has a good voice too.
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David C. said on November 2, 2018 at 5:35 pm
The Rs latest dodge to deflect the fact that they’re Rs and terrible is to say “I’m a independent constitutional conservative”. I’ve never heard one claim they’re a moderate.
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Dexter Friend said on November 2, 2018 at 5:48 pm
Connie mentioned Steven Tyler…last night on American Pickers on cable TV, Mike & Frank discovered the original van that Aerosmith used back in 1973. The band’s original guitarist drove to this rural farm and confirmed it. For the rusted-out hulk, the boys paid the owner like $22K. https://www.gazettenet.com/getattachment/8bd5ea95-db3b-4a6b-925f-b82f2d2a6a6b/AerosmithVan-HG-080918-ph2
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Scout said on November 2, 2018 at 6:30 pm
I would have loved to have been at this wedding!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXBNaUOTvU
And now, for something completely different…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cozHT9QaFJo
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basset said on November 2, 2018 at 9:49 pm
Saw that Pickers episode while Mrs B was in the physical rehab place, it would have been an interesting van even without the Aerosmith connection… old International Metro iirc, might have been made in Fort Wayne.
Connie@45, I’d make at least two of Steven Tyler, maybe three. But this is Nashville, everyone local is cool around the famous people and it’s mainly the tourists who bother em. That said, if Mrs B ever gets within any reasonable distance of George Strait there’s no telling what might happen.
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Suzanne said on November 2, 2018 at 10:42 pm
Michael Cohen is now quoting racist things that he heard Trump say. Shock.
What the reporters and pundits don’t seem to want to discuss, or are ignorant of, is that a great portion of the population would say these racist things themselves and see nothing wrong with them.
Thus, the adoration of Trump.
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Andrea said on November 2, 2018 at 11:32 pm
Scout @53, you are welcome. I love Chumplady. She is an excellent writer and a person who can recognize gaslighting, bullshit, and obfuscation from miles away. The Universal Bullshit Translator on her site is a regular feature. Her UBT of Brooks’ condescending column about how his ex-wife should think, feel, and behave after being traded in for a younger model is a classic of the genre. Always glad to introduce her to a wider circle. Hope you are never in need of her particular specialty, however. BTDT and it sucks.
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beb said on November 3, 2018 at 1:49 pm
David C wrote “The Rs latest dodge to deflect the fact that they’re Rs and terrible is to say “I’m a independent constitutional conservative”. I’ve never heard one claim they’re a moderate.”
I’ve noticed this year that a lot of politicians from booth parties are not mentioning which party they are from. This gets particularly confusing when the Republican candidate start lying about protecting people with pre-existing conditions. I think it would help everyone if a candidate be required to not only approve their commercials but also announce their party affiliation during the commercial.
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Deborah said on November 3, 2018 at 4:30 pm
I read Twitter but I don’t want to sign onto it, so I can’t “like” this on Twitter, Nancy, that’s hilarious https://mobile.twitter.com/nnall/status/1058453857024520192. Everybody, read the article too.
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Deborah said on November 3, 2018 at 5:06 pm
I’m still trying to come up with easily chewable foods, dentist’s orders. So on the stove is a simmering stew, that one I learned of here with pork, leeks, fennel and prunes, I can’t wait until dinner time. Today we finally bought our new vacuum for Chicago. Also a Miele that my husband was very happy came in black. It’s the smallest one they make but still has ample suction power. Fits nicely in our closet so we don’t have to trek down to the storage unit when we want to vacuum. It is so much quieter than our monstrous Dyson and it has one of those gizmos that sucks the cord up into the innards, no wrapping around and around. I love it.
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basset said on November 3, 2018 at 11:41 pm
This, excerpted from an opinion piece in the current TIME, sounds exactly right:
“Average people believe what they hear on the evening news or read in the papers, but you are smarter, you know better, you see the patterns and plots behind these events, the globalists pulling the strings, the deep state undermining your mission. You can’t be fooled, you won’t be puppets. You know better, you know the truth.”
The entire article: http://time.com/magazine/asia/?sa=X&ved=0CCoQ9QEwCTi0AWoVChMIz8PFj-z3xgIVycAUCh1lZQDPpage%2F5page%2F13page%2F7page%2F4page%2F7page%2F2page%2F8page%2F4page%2F16page%2F4page%2F22page%2F2page%2F4page/19
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basset said on November 4, 2018 at 10:15 am
Another link… Bill Clinton has nothing on these guys:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/liberte-egalite-infidelite-french-leaders-wont-be-beaten-on-cheating-q0q6nj7n5
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alex said on November 4, 2018 at 10:39 am
“Sleazy in the Elysee…” Not as icky to contemplate as the bumpsin in the Trump’s inn.
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beb said on November 4, 2018 at 1:53 pm
I;ve had to stop reading any of the horserace reporting of this election. I hope against hope that the Dems will take the House and maybe even the Senate but the thought that they might fall short is too depressing to contemplate. So I’d rather not know in advance what the likelihood of that happening are.
And while the Dems may stand a chance I think this year more than in many years past the Democratic National Party needs to have teams of lawyers ready to challenge any election that looks rigged because I am convinced that Republicans will lie, cheat and steal every election that they can, and with the use of so many paperless electronic voting machines stealing elections is just too easy.
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Deborah said on November 4, 2018 at 3:25 pm
I’m taking a short break from cleaning like a maniac, using the new vacuum which is a breeze. It’s so much nicer to move around our small space, so much quieter and the suction works so much better. I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen just about with a toothbrush. As Beb said about staying away from the horse race news, I’m trying to stay distracted. If it turns out to not be in the Dems favor at least for the house, I don’t want to wake up Wednesday morning. I will be watching movies instead of news reports.
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Jolene said on November 4, 2018 at 3:38 pm
Deborah, what model is your vacuum. There are lots of Mieles.
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brian stouder said on November 4, 2018 at 4:15 pm
So, our fine young son, who is weeks away from completing his marketing degree from IU Fort Wayne, and I rolled south toward Waynedale for a soda-pop/see the fall colors/gab about this-that-& the other thing, and when we were close to the airport waddaya think we saw?
That’s right – 6 or seven very large, shiny Cadillac SUVs plus several state police cars and uniformed folks standing hither and yon at the gas station.
We are assuming this is the advance for the president’s visit, and indeed, a quick pass by the airport revealed a C5-A on the tarmac…so there’s that.
one semi-non-sequitur that has been front-of-mind to me (I’ve used it in one conversation with a Trumpista, and it went unanswered) is this:
the president’s xenophobia is either willful ignorance, or breath-takingly genuine ignorance.
The man is from New York City! Leaving aside the Statue of Liberty and what she stands for, think of all the reflexive/know-nothing/”nativist” crap that he (presumeably) grew up with, there.
People from Poland are stupid (“pollack-jokes” and all that); people from Ireland are drunken nuisances (the police had “paddy wagons”, afterall, right?); Jews are slick money-grubbers; people from Wales are untrustworthy liars (“welshing” on their agreements or bets)….
and to the list he adds moms and dads and babies from south of the border as ‘gang members’ and drug-runners and the like…..and (worse?) – many are…..Catholic!!
But, we digress. Our door has been knocked on several times, and each time by either volunteers for Democratic candidates, or the candidates themselves. Our household (including our daughter in Bloomington, who voted absentee) will contribute 4 votes to the positive side – so we shall see
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David C. said on November 4, 2018 at 4:41 pm
We’ve been canvassed only once this election season. The Rs never send anyone. That’s good in one way in that I’d have a hard time being polite to them especially this year. But if I’m a definite Dem voter and everyone knows that, it seems like they have everyone pegged and that makes gerrymandering so much easier.
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