Boy, this really says it all about the miraculous Middle East peace plan, doesn’t it?
“My vision presents a win-win opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security,” the president said at a White House ceremony that demonstrated the one-sided state of affairs as he was flanked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel but no counterpart from the Palestinian leadership, which is not on speaking terms with the Trump administration.
We are truly living in the stupidest of all possible worlds, with the exception of the one that will arrive tomorrow.
So let’s get stupider, then, shall we? Mixed grill!
If you have boobs like this, you shouldn’t wear a neckline like this. Actually, no woman should wear this neckline, ever, unless you have something underneath it. Cleavage is one thing, but these are mashed pancakes. Shudder.
I will never, ever, ever understand Sandy Hook truthers. Every last one belongs behind bars. This one should be there for life:
We're not supposed to appearance-shame, but rarely does a mugshot so perfectly match the crime and the individual charged with it.https://t.co/JZbkQoWQ0l
— Nancy Nall Derringer (@nnall) January 28, 2020
There’s been a lot of smart stuff written about Kobe Bryant in recent days, but this is the best I’ve seen to address That Incident:
Why would we find the need to ignore a piece of Bryant’s biography that reflected and shaped our entire culture? If the argument is that we’re not ignoring it, we’re just postponing it out of respect — what are we doing to make sure the postponed discussions actually happen, and happen in a way that’s respectful not only to those who were inspired but also anyone who was harmed? How can we become more empathetic if we insist that only evil men do bad things, and thus our heroes must be perfect, and thus we must punish people who want to talk about the ways in which they were not?
Can you find Ukraine on a map? I could, but only on the second try, because I accidentally clicked the map in trying to expand it.
And now, for a second crossword of the day, followed by bed.
alex said on January 28, 2020 at 10:08 pm
My first thought on seeing the Tom and Lorenzo post was:
What is that woman doing rolling around naked in my grandmother’s bed spread?
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susan said on January 28, 2020 at 10:25 pm
Looking at the profile views of Mr. Halbig and Mr. Alex Jones, I’m beginning to think there is some validity in O.S. Fowler’s Phreno-Organic Science (1869). There is a strong resemblance to No. 127, Idiot, who has a small Intellectual Region and “low, retiring forehead.” Also, No. 140, Conceited Simpleton. Possibly No. 186, Hewlett, Actor: …deficient in reasoning and planning power and sense; need perpetual telling and showing; seldom arrange things before hand and then poorly; should work under others; lack force of idea and strength of understanding.
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Dexter Friend said on January 29, 2020 at 2:28 am
Two elections down and Netanyahu, under indictment, will shortly be challenged again. He’s a damn crook and a terrorist , and of course it is he, not Volodymyr Zelensky having a White House meeting. All this hideous proposal did was incite uproar amongst the Palestinians, wanting to provide a scrap of land way out on the edge of Jerusalem for their capitol, and generally expanding settlements and fences on previously bartered land awarded to Palestinians over the years.
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David C said on January 29, 2020 at 6:02 am
I could pick out Ukraine on a blank map. Most of the other former Soviet republics I’d be hard pressed. I’d do well with the rest of the world except, I’m ashamed to say, Africa. In school geography, Africa was a single thing and not that important of a thing either. I hope geography is better at it now but I doubt it.
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Bitter Scribe said on January 29, 2020 at 6:46 am
I understand the Sandy Hook truthers quite well. They’re petulant gun-loving morons who couldn’t process or rationalize the fact that children were slaughtered in a hideous tragedy, so they had to invent a conspiracy to explain it.
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alex said on January 29, 2020 at 8:09 am
Wonder what the Phreno-Organic Science book has to say about the profile of the narcissist-in-chief.
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Suzanne said on January 29, 2020 at 8:48 am
I thought that was a picture of Alex Jones until I read the blog post. I think you are right Bitter S. The horror of kids being slaughtered in school is too awful to consider so conspiracy nuts convince themselves it didn’t happen.
Yet another GOP Senator was on NPR this morning (Lankford, I think) with the now normal GOP circular reasoning regarding impeachment: There is not enough credible evidence to convict Trump but we refuse to call witnesses and get more because there just isn’t any need for that.
Makes me want to take a hammer to my own head.
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Jeff Borden said on January 29, 2020 at 9:49 am
I rate myself as well above average in my cynicism about American politics, but folks, those calls and emails to senators are clearly having some impact. Moscow Mitch McTreason has admitted he currently lacks the votes to prevent a call for witnesses in the impeachment trial, even though Republican senators are the most spineless sycophants ever seen in public office. Then again, we have a couple of Dems –notably the always elastic Joe Manchin of West Virginia– considering a vote against witnesses, presumably to protect them from the wrath of Magats back home.
BTW, read up on the comments of the Magats attending the Orange King’s KKK rally in Jersey the other night. Fuck those fuckers. They honestly are deplorable. Hillary was right on the money.
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Sherri said on January 29, 2020 at 10:34 am
A president under impeachment does a deal with a prime minister under indictment that doesn’t include one of the parties, and calls it win-win. Maybe he can tweet out a photoshop of himself in a flight suit on a carrier with a big Mission Accomplished banner to celebrate.
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Julie Robinson said on January 29, 2020 at 10:38 am
For sure I resembled that guy when I dragged my fanny out of bed after a night of mouth breathing and clogged sinuses. The cold from hell has plagued me for over two weeks, and I’m nothing but a snot machine.
Anyway, one of the few pleasures has been sitting with a cup of tea and bird/squirrel watching. Our new place has a small wooded area with a ravine, or whatever you call it when it’s only 15 feet deep. At the bottom is a small stream, which may turn into a mosquito infestation in the summer; guess we’ll see.
But at this time of year it’s a playground for the squirrels and birds, and I have a terrific time watching them having a terrific time. We put up a feeder and have been visited by all the usual suspects along with–be still my heart–bluebirds. We’ve lived in four different places in town, and never had them before. They are so vivid, so charming, and for me, truly the bluebirds of happiness!
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alex said on January 29, 2020 at 11:27 am
Hope we can borrow the bluebirds back when they migrate this summer, Julie. We love them too.
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Deborah said on January 29, 2020 at 11:32 am
Julie, in Abiquiu we have mountain bluebirds, the males are positively cyan. They swoop low to the ground from one juniper bush to the next in a distinctive flight pattern. Unfortunately I’ve read that global warming will keep them up in the higher altitudes, we’re at 6500ft in Abiquiu.
LB has been making soap for the last few months, today she’s taking some to a shop in town that sold her lavender wands this summer. These soaps are heart shaped, she has them in packages of three each, all lavender scented. She has fun doing it, so if they don’t sell she can give them to her friends.
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Jakash said on January 29, 2020 at 1:17 pm
About the Ukraine thing. I’ve seen speculation that perhaps Pompeo meant to say that Kelly pointed to Belarus, when he implied that she picked Bangladesh. Which would at least be a mildly more plausible lie. Since the idea of *anybody* accidentally picking Bangladesh when looking for Ukraine is so preposterous. Not that these guys are known for being too strict about the standards for their gaslighting and lying.
Anyway, I was able to pick Ukraine on the first shot and I’m no Cold War scholar. I knew approximately where it is and that it had been one of the biggest Soviet states. Easy enough — I’d imagine notably easier if one has a master’s degree in European Studies from Cambridge, as Kelly does.
Interesting to me that 60% of the folks visiting the page Nancy linked to got it on the first try. Not a very random sample of folks playing the game, one would imagine.
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susan said on January 29, 2020 at 1:43 pm
Alex @6 –
Skimming Fowler’s tome (Ugh. It’s vile 19th C. racism. Although some of the descriptions remind me of the Minnesota Mulitphasic Personality Inventory…), I could not find the word (or variants thereof) of narcissist. Given that the psychological use of the term “narcissism” wasn’t even used until 1898-99, that wasn’t surprising. Some of the descriptions danced around the edge of that designation, though.
From my casual leafing through, and consulting the ceramic Phrenology Head I have on the shelf (doesn’t everybody have one on the shelf?), FatNixon could fit into several phrenological categories: Under #21 Benevolence: “Adapted to man’s capability of making his fellow-men happy. When Perversion,—misplaced sympathy, and maudlin philanthropy.” Area at the top front of a slopping brow: if “SMALL: Care little for the happiness of man or brute, and do still less to promote it; make no disinterested self-sacrifices; are callous to human woe; do few acts of kindness, and those grudgingly, and have unbounded selfishness.”
Under Moral Sentiments, again, at the top of a slopping brow: When area is “SMALL: Have weak moral feeling; lack moral character; and with large organs of the propensities [Ed. ??], are liable to be depraved, and a bad member of society.”
Under Selfish Propensities, if “SMALL: Accomplish little; lack courage and force, and with large intellectual organs, are talented, yet utterly fail to manifest that talent; and with large moral organs, are so good as to be good for nothing.”
That’s enough of that. Every part of FatNixon is small.
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Deborah said on January 29, 2020 at 4:34 pm
I would love to have a ceramic phrenology head on a shelf. I’ll have to google where to get one.
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Deborah said on January 29, 2020 at 4:44 pm
Oh, this is the one I would want http://collection.folkartmuseum.org/objects/1596/phrenological-head;jsessionid=E8827EA8E30DC948AA4CC85B3D3614DD at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhatten. It’s painted wood, not ceramic and of course not for sale. Some of the ceramic ones on Google are downright scary.
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JodiP said on January 29, 2020 at 4:45 pm
Got Ukraine on the first try, too, for the same reason Jakash did.
Julie, how wonderful you’re seeing bluebirds. They seem like magic when one does see them!
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susan said on January 29, 2020 at 4:49 pm
Deborah @15 –
I just looked on eBay. There are lots of them. I imagine most are replicas. The one I have is an original that has the O.S. Fowler 1869 first edition book with it. It was my Mom’s. It was willed to her decades ago, from an old family friend after he died, because she always thought it was so interesting/awful. It had been in his family. Who knows where they got it, and when.
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susan said on January 29, 2020 at 4:57 pm
Wow, Deborah, that is neat. I like the history included with the photo.
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Dexter Friend said on January 29, 2020 at 6:29 pm
Julie Robinson: Whoa, I am in the same boat…I felt lousy and missed the family Christmas in Columbus. I recovered to go and spend two days later on, but then just felt worse and still do, like a light case of the flu but it is not flu, just a lingering virus I guess. I must have tissues in my pocket or within reach at all times. The doctor says my lungs are clear and it is not bronchitis, so I am going to ride it out, I hope. Damn, I hate reading of another friend’s death. I retired at age 52 so my co-workers sort of freeze in time, if you know what I mean. My 58 year old friend was 76 and he died in a “home” in Fort Wayne. He was from Metz, a crossroads place near Angola. His name was Doug. One helluva electrician and an upbeat friendly man. Adios, Doug.
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Julie Robinson said on January 29, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Magical is exactly how it felt to see the bluebirds. I’ve only seen them a few times before in person, and they caught my eye precisely because they’re so bright. If we had gotten one of the apartments across from us we would have been looking at some boring grass and a street. We feel very, very fortunate that this is the one that opened up first.
This cold has stayed in my head, no fever, so no point in going to the doc. The snot is even clear, just copious. Dexter, isn’t it aggravating to make all the effort of a doctor visit, only to be told it’s “just” a cold?
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beb said on January 29, 2020 at 9:22 pm
The Tom and Loranzo post — There must be a whole lot of two-sided tape holding that thing together. I kind of hate the whole idea of a dress trailing on the floor. It’s sure to geth v. dirty as well as making the woman look like she’s being devored by her dress. And just to be cruel, she looks like she has Peter Griffin’s side-boob.
Sandy Hook deniers. Why is it that some many republicans look so fat with rounded faces. Is it something in the water?
I found Ukraine on the map because I knew it had a large, round peninsula sticking out to the side of it. Besides it is not to the east of India.
How about a phrenology head that’s also a chia pet?
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susan said on January 29, 2020 at 9:25 pm
Julie, have you ever seen an indigo bunting? To me, that is a magical bird. I’ve only seen one once, flying across the Little Miami River, back when I was in high school. I’ll never forget that flash of blue as it darted and disappeared into the woods on the other side. More intense indigo than the mountain bluebirds I see where I live.
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Joe Kobiela said on January 29, 2020 at 9:49 pm
I live just south of Auburn Ind and in the past few days we have been visited by 3 Cardinals And 4 Blue Jays. We have Herrons and in the spring and fall buffel head ducks stop by on their migrations they are hilarious to watch dive under water. I have seen deer swimming in the pond,foxes and coyote but the best was last summer when I watched a eagle swoop the pond and grab a fish.
Pilot Joe
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basset said on January 29, 2020 at 10:18 pm
I was on a duck hunt once on Reelfoot Lake in far northwest Tennessee and saw eagles waiting in trees across the channel to snatch shot ducks out of the water before the retrieving dogs get to them. Quite a sight, particularly if the ducks fall on ice instead of open water.
Comic relief in the courtroom: Monday in a suburban county near here, within an hour in the same court an apparently overserved spectator passed out in his seat and some 20-year-old knucklehead in on a pot charge pulled out a doobie and lit up while standing at the podium. Serious case of dumbass, I have to say.
And, Susan, I have read that the Denver NBA team was almost called the Lark Buntings instead of the Rockets.
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basset said on January 29, 2020 at 10:26 pm
instead of the Nuggets, I should say. Shows how well I follow the NBA.
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Joe Kobiela said on January 29, 2020 at 10:58 pm
Seattle is getting a new hockey team, the Krakens is the hot rumour for their name, personally I would have voted for the sockeyes.
Pilot Joe
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Dexter Friend said on January 29, 2020 at 11:46 pm
Seattle Sockeyes. A winner. It’s much better than the NFL Seahawks as well. Well done. I love it.
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basset said on January 29, 2020 at 11:49 pm
Kraken? Why not just go a little further and call em the “Yog-Sothothen”… looks like the Sockeyes name still has a chance, though. And I still think “Macon Whoopees” is the best hockey name ever.
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Dexter Friend said on January 29, 2020 at 11:55 pm
I was leery about telling anyone I had spotted a bobcat just east of Bryan, Ohio by the drainage system ponds. I researched it, and indeed, there had been several reports of seeing bobcats that month . I never saw one again. We do have nesting eagles right in town, and plenty of hawks and owls around. There is frequently gunfire outside of town; the bobcats were likely wasted.
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susan said on January 30, 2020 at 12:02 am
Hunhh. The rumor I heard was that the Seattle hockey team was going to be named Rain City Bitch Pigeons. I like that one.
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Beobachter said on January 30, 2020 at 2:37 am
Two tries, first Belarus.
Oh well, it’s been 45 years since I navigated/drove from Kyiv to Lviv and then towards Warszawa..
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Jeff Borden said on January 30, 2020 at 7:25 am
My optimism over the American people having some sway over our Senate has crashed and burned. NYT, Chicago Tribune, CNN, etc. report the GOPers have embraced Alan Dershowitz’s insane theory that coercing foreign nations to help a political campaign and using taxpayer money as a cudgel isn’t an impeachable offense, even if true. And it appears Moscow Mitch has the votes to quash any witnesses from appearing. tRump will be unleashed if this stands, accurately reasoning that there literally is nothing he and his *administration cannot do without fear of repercussions. It is a terrifying abdication of power by the most spineless, morally reprehensible group of senators I’ve ever seen.
This is how democracies die. Not from foreign attacks. Not from internal revolutions. But when the lust for power is the only driving force of a political party wedded to a would-be authoritarian. I honestly fear for the future of our country.
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Suzanne said on January 30, 2020 at 8:18 am
During the 2016 election, I recall telling my husband that if Trump won, I thought 2016 would be the last presidential election we would ever vote in. He thought I was nuts. I believe that more firmly than before.
It’s over. It was a nice republic but it is over.
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Heather said on January 30, 2020 at 9:03 am
I suspect we’ll still have an election but it will be compromised, and even if Dems do win, the GOP won’t concede, claiming it was compromised. Then what?
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ROGirl said on January 30, 2020 at 9:05 am
Agreed on the pessimism and end of the republic. The headlines about not having enough votes to block witnesses was a threat to any republicans on the fence about going against the party line, and it worked.
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Julie Robinson said on January 30, 2020 at 9:07 am
And, if we weren’t concerned enough, word comes that Warren Buffet sees no profit to be made on newspapers and is selling his entire stake. Gulp.
Susan, I don’t think I have seen an indigo bunting, but what a beautiful bird.
Has anyone heard from Jolene?
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Dave said on January 30, 2020 at 9:10 am
Basset, it was his plan to light up, the people deserve better, etc., etc.:
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/tennessee-man-who-lit-joint-in-court-says-stunt-was-planned
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basset said on January 30, 2020 at 9:50 am
Knew there’d have to be video online somewhere, saw it on our own local news. Power to the people and all that.
Got through to Lamar Alexander’s office and left a message on the third try last night, lines were full till then.
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Deborah said on January 30, 2020 at 10:40 am
Julie, Jolene is a Facebook friend. She seems to have moved to Tucson, from the DC area. I told her that we missed her here at nn.c.
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Dorothy said on January 30, 2020 at 11:12 am
Ditto what Julie said about Jolene. Not sure why she hasn’t been heard from here in awhile. Perhaps this will draw her back in.
Once upon a time we had a hummingbird get trapped in our screened porch in Eighty Four, PA. I am kind of afraid of birds (wings flapping freak me out) so Mike went out to help the poor thing get back outside. It must have been exhausted by it’s entrapment because he coaxed it onto his finger, and walked slowly outside. I was standing by with a camera (this was way before cell phone cameras) and managed to snap a few before it finally flew away. It was mesmerizing!
Dexter I spotted a bobcat once while driving through Knox County, OH when we lived there. I’d also seen an eagle while driving home from work one afternoon. Both were magnificent. I sure miss living out in the country.
I’m trying not to lose hope about the Senate trial. I’m Ollie Optimistic to the nth degree but it’s not easy.
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Julie Robinson said on January 30, 2020 at 11:26 am
Jolene, I hope you’re healthy and doing well. Tuscon is a lovely city, at least it was some 10 years ago when we visited friends there. We miss you around here.
The bluebirds came back this morning! They’re pretty skittish, and all I have anymore is a cell phone camera. But sitting still for about 15 minutes rewarded me with a few grainy pictures. We haven’t had any sun in forever and any bit of color is a balm.
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Jakash said on January 30, 2020 at 1:25 pm
I asked about Jolene months ago, but nobody responded. She had talked about moving and I wondered where she had ended up. I have noticed since then that she occasionally replies to tweets on Nancy’s and Gene Weingarten’s Twitter feeds. She is certainly well represented on the “Today in nn.c history” sidebar most days.
I’ve seen more than a hundred goldeneye ducks on the Chicago River several times lately. (Some expert birdwatcher specified that’s what they are; I just thought they were buffleheads.) Along with geese, mallards, other ducks which I don’t know the names of and a heron. For whatever that’s worth…
I love seeing bluebirds, as well, but very rarely do.
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Jakash said on January 30, 2020 at 1:47 pm
“We haven’t had any sun in forever…” Uh, yeah, same here, Julie.
“Chicago sees longest cloudy spell in more than 22 years”
“Wednesday will mark a full week with no official sunshine in Chicago, according to weather historian Frank Wachowski, who records sunshine data near Midway Airport on the city’s South Side.”
“The last time we had a dreary streak this long was 22 years ago, January 2-8, 1998.”
Why, it’s cloudy right now, too. D’oh!
http://wgntv.com/2020/01/28/wheres-the-sun-chicago-sees-longest-cloudy-spell-in-more-than-22-years/
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beb said on January 30, 2020 at 3:32 pm
Alan Dershowitz should lose his teaching position and be disbarred for arguing that Presidents are break the law, extort favors from foreign governments if “he thinks its in the national interest.” As if every dictator that ever lived doesn’t think that what they do is in the public interest. That he never stopped to think his argument through shows him to be bad teacher and worse lawyer.
Dan Froomkin writes for the blog PressWatch (also reprinted in Salon). He has a good column today on how bothsiderism is covering up the Republican cover-up of the president.
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Sherri said on January 30, 2020 at 3:38 pm
We haven’t had a full on sunny day since November 30. Every day since then has had at least 70% cloud cover.
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Julie Robinson said on January 30, 2020 at 4:55 pm
Sherri, I don’t know how you live there. I do not joke when I say I would be suicidal.
Guy at the grocery store said no sun since Jan. 8. Don’t know if he’s right but it damn well feels like it. Almost a month until the next Orlando trip.
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Sherri said on January 30, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Julie, it can be pretty rough sometimes. Lots of people still have their outdoor Christmas lights up even though it’s almost February, because it’s so gloomy.
When we first moved here from California, someone told us that it takes about 3 winters here to get used to it. This is my 17th winter here, so I’ve learned my coping mechanisms and no longer have to hop a flight to California every month in the winter, but occasional trips to sun are one coping mechanism.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/weather/seattle-gloomy-cloudy-rain-trnd/index.html
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Deborah said on January 30, 2020 at 6:49 pm
Now I’m even happier to be in NM instead of Chicago. It’s mostly always sunny here, even when the temps are low. Our parking lot in the condo building is always in the shade in the winter (on the north side). It gets what we call “frozen, icy, lumpy, fuck”. It’s lethal right now because it sort of thaws during the daytime and then refreezes at night. The lot is gravel so can’t be plowed. An upstairs neighbor’s wife has Parkinson’s and she fell on the ice out there this morning, even though her husband was holding her and he had pulled his truck up as close to the gate as possible. The wife is fine, she has learned how to fall without hurting herself, but still. I spent some time today going to places to find pet and environmentally friendly ice melt, which I found after the third place, then spreading nearly 30lbs of it on the parking lot. The neighbor’s son owns the unit they live in, so he can’t complain too much but I felt terrible as a new owner of a unit here. There never has been anything in place for what to do about the icy parking lot, it has never been this bad before, at least for the 7+ years we’ve been here.
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Sherri said on January 31, 2020 at 12:10 am
Lamar Alexander first took office following a corrupt governor who was selling pardons. He’s ending his political career carrying water for an even more corrupt office holder.
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Jeff Borden said on January 31, 2020 at 10:57 am
When the GOP Senate votes to acquit this afternoon, we will have entered into a new realm, led by a “king” who answers to no one and who can justify any action he takes as being in the national interest. Imagine what the tangerine dotard will do with even those few, tenuous bonds on him severed. And dog help us if he wins reelection. I swear to dog, I never thought it would the Republican Party that strangled our democracy, but the GOPers are doing it with a gleeful smile on their smug faces. I see nothing but disaster ahead. I hope I’m wrong.
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Deborh said on January 31, 2020 at 11:06 am
I knew that Trump would be acquitted going in, but I honestly didn’t think in the end that they wouldn’t let witnesses and documents be part of the trial, because it makes them look bad. We all have to work our asses off to keep them from being re-elected.
Maybe Kate would like this video? https://mobile.twitter.com/tedgioia/status/1222058382498107392
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Suzanne said on January 31, 2020 at 12:13 pm
I am in total agreement, Jeff Borden
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Sherri said on January 31, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Lamar’s statement, distilled to its essence: IOKIYAR.
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Scout said on January 31, 2020 at 3:32 pm
I hope every last one of those hypocrites pays for this at the ballot box. The whole party is as corrupt as the THUG who was installed in the WH by Putin. RIP Democracy and the rule of law.
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David C. said on January 31, 2020 at 3:35 pm
I don’t know why anyone would be surprised that the Rs would be the ones to strangle our democracy. They sat on the sidelines during WWII until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. They were indifferent as France, The Netherlands, etc. lost their democracies. A not inconsiderable number of them would have been happy throwing our lot with Germany. This is who they are.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 31, 2020 at 3:48 pm
Well, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158037917014679&set=pb.811054678.-2207520000
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Deborah said on January 31, 2020 at 5:04 pm
Are a lot of people wearing face masks around where you live? I’ve been seeing about one or two a day, mostly at grocery stores etc in Santa Fe. I’m assuming it’s because of the coronavirus?
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Deborah said on January 31, 2020 at 5:22 pm
It seems like everyone associated with Trump is corrupt
https://apnews.com/9d2ed80ca912d18abd6650f55d2db935?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP_Politics
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beb said on January 31, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Since it looks like this mock trial will be over in time for the State of the Union address I wonder what Democrats will do? I suggest they boycott the address. Refuse to have anything to do with Trump while continuing to pass legislation in support of democracy, equality and multi-ethnicity.
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Sherri said on January 31, 2020 at 7:07 pm
Why should Nancy Pelosi even issue an invitation to trump to deliver a SOTU? There’s no requirement that she do so, or that the SOTU be delivered in person.
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Dorothy said on January 31, 2020 at 8:07 pm
Sherri I’m pretty sure the invitation was already sent. But boy I’d love to see no Dems in the audience that night. Or stone-faced reactions for the entire thing. I sure as sh** won’t be watching. I can barely stand snippets of his voice/face on the evening news, let alone an hour or more of just him.
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LAMary said on January 31, 2020 at 10:00 pm
Lots of facemasks here, but there always have been in Chinatown, Chinese tourist in Disneyland or some other crowded place…
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Dexter Friend said on January 31, 2020 at 10:19 pm
Lansing Lugnuts, Midwest League professional baseball , Class A. Winston-Salem Warthogs, Carolina League Class A professional baseball team. 🙂 https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F23010648069633187%2F&psig=AOvVaw1rp_mlN52cDXI83evKqgLe&ust=1580613407048000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOCq7fuxr-cCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
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alex said on January 31, 2020 at 10:23 pm
I’ll probably sit out the SOTU. I bet he’ll be feeling cocky and will go off script. Maybe it will be a train wreck of colossal magnitude. I don’t give a fuck.
I’m seriously starting to consider what a face-off with Bloomberg would look like. He’s not my fave ideologically but his ads are very concise and on-point and he’s obviously a much more intelligent, capable and resourceful candidate than Trump and frankly I think he’s besting the rest of the lineup in his clarity about who he is and what he hopes to accomplish. I’d sooner have him than Biden if it came down to it.
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susan said on February 1, 2020 at 12:27 am
Alex, here’s The Hater’s Guide to Mike Bloomberg.
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jerry said on February 1, 2020 at 3:17 am
Sorry as I am for your problems over Trump; I am devastated about Britain having left the EU. I dread the future and fear that rejoining will come long after I have died.
The bright spot yesterday was going to the Armando Ianucci’s film of David Copperfield. I recommend it highly. It wasn’t like any adaptation I’ve ever seen. It played fast and loose with the novel but it was great fun. Both Myra and I loved it and both of us found it necessary to wipe our eyes on occasion.
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David C said on February 1, 2020 at 7:06 am
We don’t need to despair yet. The next five days until the final vote on Wednesday will be a nightmare for tRump. Goombah Lev’s lips will be loosened considerably and he has the recordings and a smart as hell lawyer who can release them as a Chinese audio torture. Bolton is pissed and all the Sunday shows have him in their rolodexes. So why not start the book tour this weekend. tRump thinks he’s won but this will be the acquittal from hell.
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Deborah said on February 1, 2020 at 7:56 am
My condolences Jerry, these are certainly hard times in many places.
I have no faith now in the upcoming election being fair. If the Republicans have done what they’ve done already, just imagine the shenanigans that they’ll pull before November.
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alex said on February 1, 2020 at 9:18 am
If the guy writing the Hater’s Guide series can be as evenhanded with his glib mockery when taking on the rest of the field, it should be some fun reading. That said, Bloomberg’s histories with women and minorities will be hard to atone for in time for Super Tuesday.
Jerry, I’m sorry for England. From this side of the pond, it looks like the rabble have been snookered by Russian-engineered propaganda the same as is happening here; people susceptible to appeals to their racism and too stupid to understand the consequences of what they’re really voting for.
I was watching a BBC program last night and my takeaway — and correct me if I’m misinterpreting it — is that someone other than Jeremy Corbyn could probably have beaten Boris Johnson and that the course of history would be quite different right now.
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Jeff Borden said on February 1, 2020 at 9:40 am
At age 68, I feel sorriest for the non-Baby Boomer generations, both here and in Great Britain. The actions of foolish old farts –most of them white men– are compromising their future. We’ll gift them with a hugely degraded planet, where extreme weather is the norm rather than the exception. We’ll hand them an enormous debt, which has grown by $2 trillion even though the party of “fiscal responsibility” controls D.C. We’ll leave them with a more fractured world as we embrace isolationism and the profound stupidity of “America First.” They’ll find the lower federal courts packed with right-wing Federalist Society clones, ready to stomp on whatever efforts they might undertake to make our nation fairer. And, if the orange bastard wins reelection, they most likely will be living in a pariah nation. . .hated and resented around the world. It’s a similar situation in Britain, where the remainers were overwhelmingly younger, better educated and urban, focused more on an interconnected world than on the foggy dreams of past British power and glory.
The generation preceding mine was far from perfect, but it bequeathed to us a confident nation that was engaged with the world beyond our oceans. What are we leaving behind?
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Deborah said on February 1, 2020 at 11:18 am
Well said Jeff B.
Having said I have no faith in a fair election doesn’t mean I’m not going to work my tail off to help get a Democrat elected, I don’t even care if it’s Bloomberg. If we blow them out of the water with numbers, they can’t be manipulated. I will give as much $ as I possibly can to Democratic senate campaigns in states like Iowa, S. Carolina, Colorado and Maine. They have some good candidates running in those races. I will join as many organizations as I can find like Swing Left and Indivisible etc, I’ll have call parties and letter writing parties, whatever they suggest. I’ll participate in as many protests as I can find in both NM and IL. It starts in earnest today for me, I’m motivated like never before.
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Jakash said on February 1, 2020 at 1:21 pm
“…people susceptible to appeals to their racism and too stupid to understand the consequences of what they’re really voting for.”
Who’d have thought, living through the Cold War, that the Russians and the Republicans would become such good pals? What they both seem to have figured out, to the world’s detriment, is that it’s much easier to snooker people into voting *against* things than *for* them. As exemplified here by PJ, and his carefully considered “piss liberals like you off,” anti – “kanckels Clinton” political theory.
After all this time, the Rs have no “replacement” for Obamacare. But they sure can get folks to vote against it. Without immigrants, this country never would have existed in the first place and would not be as dynamic as it is. But they sure can get folks to vote against them. They’d say they vote “for” tax cuts, but that’s really a vote “against” programs and infrastructure for the public good — particularly when they might benefit people who don’t look like them. They’d say they vote “for” “unborn children,” but that’s really a vote “against” reproductive health care for women, of many kinds beyond abortion. Etc., etc.
Well, to be fair, they do vote “for” guns, coal and more pollution…
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Jeff Borden said on February 1, 2020 at 1:44 pm
Jakash,
Having dealt with numerous hospitals and clinics over the past 13 months as a result of my wife’s health issues, one thing that stands out is the outsized role immigrants play in our health care. My wife’s neurologist was born in South Korea. Her cardiac specialist is from Panama. He pulmonologist is from Poland. And, of course, the army of workers needed to keep a hospital running is loaded with African-American, Hispanic and Asian staffers.
BTW, our white nationalist president’s latest list of countries barred from easily visiting the U.S. now includes Nigeria, which is the most populous nation in West Africa and a center of Africa’s emerging technology sector. Sadly for the Nigerians, their skin is the wrong color, so they won’t be entering American universities, research facilities, think tanks, etc.
The Roberts SCOTUS has allowed the earlier immigration/visa bans to stand, even though they are largely designed to keep out Muslims. No doubt that rubber stamp court will be just fine with this, too.
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Deborah said on February 1, 2020 at 3:48 pm
Yes, on the issue of immigrant healthcare people. Uncle J’s amazing Alzheimer’s Dr is from Poland and one of his caregivers is Mongolian. LB’s main surgeon is ethnically from India (don’t know if he’s first or second generation in the US). I’ve had various Drs from various countries over the years. I never give it a second thought except sometimes their names are hard for me to pronounce. Anand Giridharadas calls it the “Bob tongue”, we white people know how to say Bob, but if it has an ethnic pronounciation we tend to overlook it. I’m working on that.
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Dexter Friend said on February 2, 2020 at 2:51 am
Jeff Borden , good comments above. Where did you get so smart? Oh yeah, like David Allan Coe, you’re an Ohio boy. Ha! Coe is a vapid racist and you are the polar opposite. 🙂
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ROGirl said on February 2, 2020 at 8:30 am
This has been entertaining me recently and is a welcome distraction from the truly depressing news and awful people who make it.
A Tiny-ass Desk Concert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFiLdByWIDY
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LAMary said on February 2, 2020 at 12:37 pm
I hire people for healthcare and yes, many healthcare workers from the top levels all the way down are immigrants. That’s partly because it’s easier to get a visa if you’re a nurse or some other licensed professional. There are agencies that just bring in nurses from the Philippines and get them licensed and legal for the US. Nurses from African countries often come through UK, to Canada, to the US. Another route is through Saudi or one of the Emirates to the US.
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Sherri said on February 2, 2020 at 1:12 pm
Lamar Alexander: We know that the president shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, so there’s no need for witnesses. While this action was inappropriate, it doesn’t meet the high bar for impeachment, which is insurmountable if the president is of my party.
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Sherri said on February 2, 2020 at 1:39 pm
On the eve of the Iowa caucuses:
Caucuses are bad. If you’ve never attended one, you may not realize just how bad they are. We complain a lot about the vote suppression tactics of the GOP, but none of them hold a candle to the way caucuses discourage voting.
You have to be able to get to a particular place at a particular time, in the case of Iowa, on a school night, and hang around for a process of indeterminate length, and be harangued by your neighbors. If you have to work, too bad, if you have kids, well, bring them along, or too bad. There won’t be any accommodations for them, and it might or might not be done by their bedtime.
As if Iowa weren’t white enough, they use a system likely to suppress turnout among nonwhite voters.
Thankfully Washington won’t be using a caucus this time. I attended the caucus in 2016. My precinct is generally a high-voting precinct, and we had around 20 people show up on a Saturday, most my age or older. I was the representative to the legislative district caucus, which was on a Sunday and after 5 hours and no sign of voting being imminent, I gave up and left. I later heard it took 8 hours.
No party that believes in broad representation and improving access to voting should use caucuses. Period.
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Deborah said on February 2, 2020 at 4:57 pm
This guy makes a lot of sense, too bad his message isn’t well known https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/31/us/politics/andrew-yang-campaign-speech.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
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Deborah said on February 2, 2020 at 5:18 pm
So Bloomberg is 5’8″ and Putin is 5’7″. I’m taller than both of them. Who knew? And from what it looks like in photos I’m taller than Jim Jordan too.
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LAMary said on February 2, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Deborah, Jim Jordan is a short guy. He has that angry short guy thing going on. He’s also a creep who chose to not speak up about abuse on the college wrestling team he where he was the assistant coach.
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Suzanne said on February 2, 2020 at 6:18 pm
Perfect Sherri @79!
I found this interesting, too, from the very right wing online publication The Federalist
https://thefederalist.com/2016/10/25/gop-needs-elect-trump-impeach/
“The Republican Party does have an attractive candidate on its ticket. Socially conservative. Economically conservative. Conservative on national defense. Morally and religiously impeccable. The trouble is, that man is the Republican candidate for vice president, Mike Pence.
But if Trump were impeached immediately after he took office, the Republican candidate for vice president would become president in his place. Further, if Republicans take the lead in removing Trump from office, the party might regain some of its lost credibility in parts of the electorate that it is anxious to attract.”
And yet they say the Dems had it in for Trump from the beginning…
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