@Bencjacobs It’s nice to see Chris Christie is finding work.

— Glock H. Palin, Esq. (@GlockPalin) April 6, 2017

Why is it that comedians and satirists are the truth tellers?

Since I’ve never watched Spicer, is that truly how he does press conferences? Was that spliced together from multiple pressers?

Please say yes. I don’t think I could handle that level of embarrassment for my country.

Great insidery look at Bannon’s seemingly flagging fortunes in the West Wing, by @peterbakernyt and @maggienyt https://t.co/wniB8wDHkE

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 6, 2017

Great nugget: Trump reportedly hates it when people refer to #PresidentBannon. And you know what that revelation is going to unleash… https://t.co/tDqJLTgiiu

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 6, 2017

I think we know what to do.

New SNL this weekend. They have too much material to work with. How do you cull in this environment?

NYT: “…In addition to removing Mr. Bannon, the new order issued by Mr. Trump, dated Tuesday and made public on Wednesday, restored the Joint Chiefs chairman and intelligence director and added the energy secretary, C.I.A. director and United Nations ambassador. It also put the Homeland Security Council under General McMaster rather than making it a separate entity, as Mr. Trump’s original order had done.

Mr. Trump was angry over the fallout from his first order, feeling that he had not been properly warned about its implications.”
nytimes.com

Who knew presidenting was so complicated?

re: #4 jaunte

Maybe make every conspiracy about him…
All the voter fraud was Bannon write in votes.
Sessions perjured at Bannon’s request.
Bannon really wrote the AHCA.
Bannon instituted the wiretapping of TT.
Bannon screwed Flynn.
O’Reilly is a Bannon victim.
Syria got a thumbs up from Bannon.
Bannon unmasked Nunes and fed Rice.
Bannon, Bannon, Bannon…

re: #6 jaunte

Who knew presidenting was so complicated?

Seems the truth is he didn’t even know what he was signing. Implications is too big a word.

re: #8 allegro

So he let Bannon demote the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the DNI to occasionally visiting the NSC principals committee, without understanding what that meant. And Bannon still has a job.

re: #9 jaunte

So he let Bannon demote the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the DNI to occasionally visiting the NSC principals committee, without understanding what that meant. And Bannon still has a job.

He still doesn’t know what it means. He’s just pissed cuz he wants to be president and Bannon is stealing his limelight.

Top General: ‘Nearly All Elements of Nuclear Triad’ Outdated. Story: https://t.co/tmxbusyedr

— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) April 5, 2017

@US_Stratcom Good freaking grief. US Strategic Command is linking to Breitbart “News.” This is getting really bad, folks. https://t.co/UjIH4O7GMh

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) April 6, 2017

re: #11 Charles Johnson

WTF???

1. This astute @joshtpm touches on something I’ve been thinking about: the Rise the Generals under Trump: https://t.co/NkF32ZvxkJ

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) April 6, 2017

Generals ascendant.
Jeet Heer: “The bad news is their whole formation has been in military so by instinct they will look for military solutions to problems.”

I’d like to wake up from this nightmare now, please. Seriously.

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) April 6, 2017

Brietbart is now STRATCOM press. Russia Today is publishing it. US has ‘no defense’ against Russian cruise missiles https://t.co/Y9A01m0WPD

— ImpeachAgentOrangsky (@puppymnkey) April 6, 2017

re: #15 jaunte

DOUBLE WTF???

Isn’t there ANYONE in there with any sense at all???

re: #15 jaunte

Holy shit…

re: #14 Charles Johnson

I’d like to wake up from this nightmare now, please. Seriously.

Not all General are batshit crazy-Obama had the good sense to purge Flynn.

The REAL question is How sane is the rest of Joint Chiefs of Staff?

Then you see this on the JSOC’s Website: “Dunford, Kushner Examine Counter-ISIS Fight, Discuss Lessons for Strategy”

Godverdomme……

We honest to god aren’t even going to survive until the 2018 election, are we?

re: #20 Citizen K

We honest to god aren’t even going to survive until the 2018 election, are we?

Nope. Not unless Trump leaves in the next 4 months.

re: #2 Eric The Fruit Bat

There’s been news articles recently on how the humorists can address the Bullshit (and I am using the technical term here) far better than journalists can.

re: #11 Charles Johnson

@US_Stratcom Good freaking grief. US Strategic Command is linking to Breitbart “News.” This is getting really bad, folks.

The linking of the article probably has more to do with the journalist, than the publication.
Kristina Wong has covered the Pentagon and defense matters for CNN, Huffington Post, Washington Times, and The Hill prior to being hired by Breitbart in January.

re: #23 FormerDirtDart

I am not happy about it, nevertheless!

Yeah, imagine my surprise that the new Republican administration has brought with it a raft of generals suddeny arguing that we need to ramp up defense spending to counter a “threat” that exists largely on paper.

The cries for more money have begun.

There was a recent NYT article that noted the US spends about 1/3 of the world’s defense dollars. The next 7 countries spend the next 1/3. And the entire rest of the world spends the other 1/3.

nytimes.com

re: #25 Targetpractice

I wonder where the Russians got the idea they could force their enemies to spend themselves into defeat?

I just got back from watching Bladerunner at the local Studio Movie Grill. I’m full of Lagunitas IPA, delicious steak sandwich, french fries and ready to do battle with any and all player haters.

re: #28 goddamnedfrank

I just got back from watching Bladerunner at the local Studio Movie Grill. I’m full of Lagunitas IPA, delicious steak sandwich, french fries and ready to do battle with any and all player haters.

The Player Haters Ball Ice-T

re: #27 Kragar

I wonder where the Russians got the idea they could force their enemies to spend themselves into defeat?

As I’ve told a friend on more than one occasion, the US “won” the Cold War by virtue of the USSR hitting bottom before we did. The Russians have since begun to learn from their folly and are studying American history to realize that they don’t even have to have a credible force on the field, they just need to put enough rusting relics out there that the calls of our generals for more money seem genuine.

Has there been anyone more hated within the Democratic Party than Tulsi Gabbard at the moment?

re: #31 electrotek

Has there been anyone more hated within the Democratic Party than Tulsi Gabbard at the moment?

She’s reaping what she sowed. She’s one person I won’t be sorry to see get the boot in the next cycle.

re: #32 Eric The Fruit Bat

She’s reaping what she sowed. She’s one person I won’t be sorry to see get the boot in the next cycle.

Good riddance to that Hindutva fascist.

re: #30 Targetpractice

For example, the battle at Al Ghayil, Yemen last January.

We spent millions to train, equip and transport SEAL and Marine detachments, expended who knows how many thousands of dollars in munitions and fuel, and lost a $70 million dollar plane.

All in order to kill maybe a dozen peasants armed with ak’s and rpgs, a couple of dozen old men, women and children and, according to reports, about 120 goats and sheep.

Malaysian MP defends child marriage and rapists marrying their victims

Malaysian MP Shabudin Yahaya has drawn condemnation after appearing to suggest it was okay for rapists to marry their victims, and that those aged 12 were old enough to get married.

Mr Shabudin made the comments during a debate in parliament over a law criminalising child ‘grooming’ and establishing a special court to deal with child sexual abuse.

Despite a push from the opposition, the law does not ban child marriages. Mr Shabudin said banning child marriages was contrary to Sharia law.

“Some children who are aged between 12 and 15 years have bodies like 18-year-old women,” the former Sharia court judge said.

Mr Shabudin, from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, also said there was nothing wrong with a rapist marrying their victim.

“Perhaps through marriage they [the rape victim and rapist] can lead a healthier, better life. And the person who was raped will not necessarily have a bleak future,” he said.

“She will have a husband at least, and this could serve as a remedy to growing social problems.”

I’m at a loss of words here. This is fucking Malaysia here, not Pakistan!

re: #34 ckkatz

And they will hate us forever for it.

re: #28 goddamnedfrank

I just got back from watching Bladerunner at the local Studio Movie Grill. I’m full of Lagunitas IPA, delicious steak sandwich, french fries and ready to do battle with any and all player haters.

Theatrical release or the butchered “director’s cut”?

re: #34 ckkatz

For example, the battle at Al Ghayil, Yemen last January.

We spent millions to train, equip and transport SEAL and Marine detachments, expended who knows how many thousands of dollars in munitions and fuel, and lost a $70 million dollar plane.

All in order to kill maybe a dozen peasants armed with ak’s and rpgs, a couple of dozen old men, women and children and, according to reports, about 120 goats and sheep.

Not to mention the death of a Navy SEAL, a man who’s death has been turned into a bit of political theater, for no appreciable gain whatsoever. If you believe the White House’s claim (which I don’t) that the raid was to gain intel, then it was a horrendous waste of resources. And if it was (as I believe) a strike at a HVT, then the fact that we missed that target should mean somebody’s ass in a sling.

re: #37 William Lewis

Theatrical release or the butchered “director’s cut”?

There’s at least six different versions of Blade Runner. I’ve seen three of them. The definitive version is the ‘Final Cut.’ No voice-overs, original ‘not-happy’ ending, and the unicorn dream scene.

re: #31 electrotek

Has there been anyone more hated within the Democratic Party than Tulsi Gabbard at the moment?

Gosh I can think of a couple more like

Nina Turner
Jeff Weaver
Tim Canova
And there is a very special level of hell waiting for Susan Sarandon…

re: #37 William Lewis

Theatrical release or the butchered “director’s cut”?

Final Cut, the way Replicant Jesus intended. None of that sacreligious narration.

re: #39 teleskiguy

There’s at least six different versions of Blade Runner. I’ve seen three of them. The definitive version is the ‘Final Cut.’ No voice-overs, original ‘not-happy’ ending, and the unicorn dream scene.

Haven’t seen that one. While the voice overs were meh the rest of the changes in the first director’s cut stank, so I just stuck to the theatrical release.

re: #25 Targetpractice

Yeah, imagine my surprise that the new Republican administration has brought with it a raft of generals suddeny arguing that we need to ramp up defense spending to counter a “threat” that exists largely on paper.

Except that Gen. Hyten was placed in command of STRATCOM by President Obama

re: #11 Charles Johnson

The flag ranks are in essence politics. The O6 (colonels, naval captains) are the top of the pyramid of action officers.

As a senior flag officer one has to be a consummate politician.

If the CinC is a big Bratfrat, then guess what - you need to be also.

re: #43 FormerDirtDart

Except that Gen. Hyten was placed in command of STRATCOM by President Obama

I should note that the point wasn’t that these are Republican-appointed generals, but rather generals who see a Republican in office and pull out their wish lists to justify outrageous boosts in defense spending. We’re seeing the 21st century “missile gap” being pushed right now.

re: #42 William Lewis

Haven’t seen that one. While the voice overs were meh the rest of the changes in the first director’s cut stank, so I just stuck to the theatrical release.

Check it out. It’s remastered and looks gorgeous in BluRay. And after a few decades, director Ridley Scott got it right.

re: #38 Targetpractice

I agree with you that the claims of intel benefit sound less than convincing. And more like after-the-fact justification. I had also heard the goal was a HVT.

From what I recall, the HVT was supposedly some mid-level Al Queda affiliated chieftan who was likely a Saudi proxy anyway.

Our historic response had been to drone strike the more ‘obnoxious’ ones when they are away from collateral damage.

The dumb part is that the village was anti-Houthi (Houthi are Iranian proxies). And reading between the lines, it sure sounds like the village feared a Houthi attack, so invited the Al Queda’s there to help defend the village from Houthi attacks.

I was horrified at the treatment of the poor widow and bereaved family of the SEAL by Trump.

G’Night All

Politico reports on documents showing that SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch plagiarized the work of others. Behold: https://t.co/XQnCmd62Ia pic.twitter.com/ooc2TkG2bA

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) April 5, 2017

The kittens are getting large enough to play with their surroundings:

Gaia’s Kittens (fosters for Purrfect Pals)

They’re caged in, though. Only the mother can get in and out.

The world’s most expensive GOLF CART!! pic.twitter.com/IQ7nBPCeOL

— (((✨NicoleBonnet✨))) (@NicoleBonnet1) April 5, 2017

New Archer season premieres and already I has a sad.

Rock ‘n’ Roll.

re: #53 teleskiguy

Rock ‘n’ Roll.

[Embedded content]

Not recognizing the bottom left and center…the others are easily recognizable, even without their names on the boards:

Sinatra, Presley, Cash
Hendrix, Morrison, Bowie
?, ?, Cobain

re: #54 TedStriker

Not recognizing the bottom left and center…

Mick and Janis, I think.

re: #55 The Dude Abides

Mick and Janis, I think.

I thought that looked like Jagger, but the pic is really shit; that definitely isn’t his name on the board then. As for the bottom middle, now that you say that, I could see that it’s likely Joplin.

re: #56 TedStriker

I thought that looked like Jagger, but the pic is really shit; that definitely isn’t his name on the board then. As for the bottom middle, now that you say that, I could see that it’s likely Joplin.

Turns out that Mick was arrested for a scuffle with a photographer in Warwick, Rhode Island in 1972.

re: #57 The Dude Abides

Turns out that Mick was arrested for a scuffle with a photographer in Warwick, Rhode Island in 1972.

Ahh…looks like “Warwic” (sic) at the top of the board.

re: #58 TedStriker

righto

cbsnews.com

Rahm Emanuel: No High School Diploma without a Plan for Graduation

All right, I’m guessing this would be highly illegal if the Chicago mayor tried to implement it.

Does this cover people who go work from high school in their family’s business? Who start their own business? Who go straight to work without needing college, trade school, or the military?

Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared on “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday to discuss his new proposal, which would require students to develop a post-high school plan before receiving a diploma.

Chicago would be the first city to adopt such a requirement if the measure is approved by the city’s board of education.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual announced a proposal to require high school students to show an acceptance letter in order to graduate
CBS News

“We live in a period of time where you earn what you learn,” Emanuel said. “The school system of K through 12 is not applicable to the world and the economy and the world that our high school students are graduating to. So we’re moving to a pre-K to college model.”

Under the proposal, all Chicago Public School students starting with this year’s freshman class would have to show an acceptance letter to a four-year university, a community college, a trade school or apprenticeship, an internship, or a branch of the armed services in order to receive their high school diploma.

(more at CBS)

The FCC is now using “alternative facts” to justify the GOP’s corporate constituents:

arstechnica.com (long article worth reading about the BS the FTC and FCC chairs put out about repeal of privacy rules necessary for competition)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and his counterpart at the Federal Trade Commission today argued that strict privacy rules for ISPs aren’t necessary in part because the broadband market is more competitive than the search engine market.

Internet users who have only one choice of high-speed home broadband providers would probably scoff at this claim. But an op-ed written by Pai and Acting FTC Chair Maureen Ohlhausen ignored the lack of competition in home Internet service, focusing only on the competitive wireless broadband market. Because of this competition, it isn’t fair to impose different rules on ISPs than on websites, they wrote.

“Others argue that ISPs should be treated differently because consumers face a unique lack of choice and competition in the broadband marketplace,” Pai and Ohlhausen wrote in their op-ed for The Washington Post yesterday. “But that claim doesn’t hold up to scrutiny either. For example, according to one industry analysis, Google dominates desktop search with an estimated 81 percent market share (and 96 percent of the mobile search market), whereas Verizon, the largest mobile broadband provider, holds only an estimated 35 percent of its market.”

… more … this applies to places like where I live …

But for home Internet customers, the relevant point is whether they can choose from multiple providers at their home or apartment. And they frequently can’t, since ISPs often avoid each other’s territory.

The latest FCC report on this topic found that 76 percent of developed Census blocks had either zero or one fixed ISP offering speeds at the FCC’s broadband standard of 25Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. There’s more competition at lower speeds, but there were still 22 percent of developed Census blocks with only one or two ISPs offering the paltry speeds of 3Mbps/768kbps. (emphasis mine - that would me my area)

re: #60 Anymouse

cbsnews.com

Rahm Emanuel: No High School Diploma without a Plan for Graduation

German school system is rather different: nearly everybody goes on to an apprenticeship, academy or university, that is how the system is set up. Many people start their apprenticeships after the 10th grade with parallel vocational studies.

re: #62 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

German school system is rather different: nearly everybody goes on to an apprenticeship, academy or university, that is how the system is set up. Many people start their apprenticeships after the 10th grade with parallel vocational studies.

I had the opportunity when I was in Schwäbisch Gmünd to tour a school specifically set up for gifted students by the state. The German state paid for the whole thing. The students worked in parallel with the local university or employers whilst still in school. It was really quite remarkable.

re: #63 Anymouse

I had the opportunity when I was in Schwäbisch Gmünd to tour a school specifically set up for gifted students by the state. The German state paid for the whole thing. The students worked in parallel with the local university or employers whilst still in school. It was really quite remarkable.

Only problem I have with the German system is that students are tracked very early, starting with the fifth grade. If you are not selected for study in a Gymnasium, then you have little chance of going to to a university.

I used to teach English at a school that trained kindergarten teachers and home health care workers. I pointed out to them that in the US, they would all be attending a university or community college and majoring in education, child psychology or health care.

re: #64 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Only problem I have with the German system is that students are tracked very early, starting with the fifth grade. If you are not selected for study in a Gymnasium, then you have little chance of going to to a university.

I used to teach English at a school that trained kindergarten teachers and home health care workers. I pointed out to them that in the US, they would all be attending a university or community college and majoring in education, child psychology or health care.

On the flip side in our system, it didn’t matter how well I did in school. I didn’t have the money. (My family is going in reverse: I was the first person in three generations not to go to college, followed by my sister and all my cousins.) Scholarships and such would not come close. Continual gutting of state education funds so we can fund Wealthcare for Billionaires pretty much ensured that the military was my only choice. (I don’t regret the military, which is why I was in the Navy so long. But that was the only real choice I had.)

re: #65 Anymouse

On the flip side in our system, it didn’t matter how well I did in school. I didn’t have the money. (My family is going in reverse: I was the first person in three generations not to go to college, followed by my sister and all my cousins.) Scholarships and such would not come close. Continual gutting of state education funds so we can fund Wealthcare for Billionaires pretty much ensured that the military was my only choice. (I don’t regret the military, which is why I was in the Navy so long. But that was the only real choice I had.)

I was lucky that we had Social Security funding my undergrad studies at a state university. And BEOG grants to make up the difference. I paid my graduate studies by working as a TA and was able to graduate without debt.

Mr. Super Integrity Neil Gorsuch Just Upholding Trump Administration Plagiarism Traditions (Goes to Wonkette)

This month on the ethical fuckery wheel: Neil Gorsuch. Now. I sat through the first Gorsuch hearing, and golly gee willikers let me tell you if he got any folksier I was going to build a scale model of Mayberry in his home district and burn it down in front of him. But as it turns out, Mr. High And Mighty Judicial Ethics ain’t exactly pure as the driven snow after all, given that it appears he plagiarized part of his book.
Read more at wonkette.com

Hippos hanging out, with nothing else to do:

African Watering Hole Camera powered by EXPLORE.org

A more distant view:

African Animal Lookout Camera powered by EXPLORE.org

re: #64 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Only problem I have with the German system is that students are tracked very early, starting with the fifth grade. If you are not selected for study in a Gymnasium, then you have little chance of going to to a university.

I used to teach English at a school that trained kindergarten teachers and home health care workers. I pointed out to them that in the US, they would all be attending a university or community college and majoring in education, child psychology or health care.

China has a similar track system. Everyone gets a free education up to grade 9, then they take the zhongkao, the high school entrance exam. Kids who don’t make the cut — or opt out of the exam — are sent to vo-tech colleges to learn a trade. Once there, they have no option to sit the college entrance exam.

For those students who pass zhongkao, but don’t quite make the cut for university admission, there are the equivalents of junior colleges (zhuan ke), where they learn some white-collar trades, like primary school teaching, accounting, etc. It’s a three-year program, but they have the opportunity take another two years at university and earn a bachelor’s degree. Those that pass that series of subject exams enter as juniors at university, so their path to a bachelor’s takes five years.

I’ve taught many zhuan ke students, and most of them seriously want to learn, but struggle in China’s rigid education system, which is dominated beginning in their teen years with exam after exam. Screw up one exam, and the die is cast for your future life.

TBH teaching those students was sometimes more fun than teaching the four-year students, because I could offer them chances to prove themselves in a Western-style classroom setting.

President Donald Trump has ordered the flag to half-mast today for the interment of Senator and astronaut John Glenn at Arlington National Cemetery today, as a mark of respect for his achievements in space. (John Glenn died in December at age ninety-five.)

whitehouse.gov

When I read the proclamation (as I wear the flag committee chair hat in town, I follow both the state and Federal proclamation sites for such things), I couldn’t understand it. It is poorly written - I was unsure what day the proclamation meant. I had to go searching across the Internet for articles about Sen. Glenn’s upcoming interment to understand that it will be later today. (I then hiked out to the village flagstaffs in the middle of the night to lower the flags.)

Ohio Governor John Kasich’s proclamation is straightforward and clear. I do wonder who’s writing these things in Washington these days.

statesman.com (goes to the Austin Statesman)

Oh boy. Energy Department head Rick Perry has been added to the National Security Council. I hope his smart glasses help him out… .

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been added to a core group within the National Security Council in a shakeup of members announced on Wednesday.

Perry, the secretary of energy, was one of several officials added to the principals committee, the primary group of policy-makers for national security.

Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, was removed from the principals committee.

(more at the Statesman)

re: #70 wheat-dogg

China has a similar track system. Everyone gets a free education up to grade 9, then they take the zhongkao, the high school entrance exam. Kids who don’t make the cut — or opt out of the exam — are sent to junior colleges to learn a trade. Once there, they have no option to sit the college entrance exam.

Yeah, in America, you can fuck off all you like until the 10th grade, at which point you have to start buckle down and start taking college prep courses if you want to go on.

At least the standards for acceptance in Germany and China are objective and clearly defined.

America has this weird system of weighting in extracurricular activities, which serves to put a lot of pressure on students to do more and more and even more to stand out if they want to be accepted by an elite university.

Or you can just have your parents pay to build a new dormitory or science lab for the university of your choice…

re: #73 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Yup, the heaviest weight is given to the extra-cirriculum activity known as “money.”

It appears Steve Bannon joined a Faceplant group that issued death threats against President Obama and offered up numerous racist memes.
motherjones.com

re: #73 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Yeah, in America, you can fuck off all you like until the 10th grade, at which point you have to start buckle down and start taking college prep courses if you want to go on.

At least the standards for acceptance in Germany and China are objective and clearly defined.

America has this weird system of weighting in extracurricular activities, which serves to put a lot of pressure on students to do more and more and even more to stand out if they want to be accepted by an elite university.

Or you can just have your parents pay to build a new dormitory or science lab for the university of your choice…

I read a report a few days ago about exchange students’ reactions to American high school education in 2004 and 2016. Nothing really has changed in those 12 years. Foreign students still regard American HS education as a walk in the park, with way too much emphasis on sports and extracurriculars at the expense of serious learning. Fro example, US schools wait way too long to introduce higher level math (algebra, trig, logs, etc.) and over-compartmentalize biology, chemistry, and physics, compared to schools in the other OECD and Asian nations.

OTOH Chinese high school students have no chance at extra-curriculars, because their final three years of HS focuses solely on the college entrance exam (gaokao). Plus, no music, art or other creative arts are in their curriculum. So, while US students need greater academic challenges in middle school, Chinese kids need more time to relax and spread their wings in their senior high school years.

I’m not sure to what extent Common Core (which may be doomed under Trump and DeVos) will influence high school education.

re: #74 Anymouse

Yup, the heaviest weight is given to the extra-cirriculum activity known as “money.”

People were fond of belittling Obama’s accomplishments as being all a product of affirmative action. Whereas they believe that GW Bush got into Princeton based solely on his academic achievements…

re: #76 wheat-dogg

When I was an exchange student in Brazil (in the eleventh grade about ten centuries ago), foreign language was mandatory (French, English, or Latin, but the school put me in English because they wanted a native speaker in the class), trigonometry and such maths classes were mandatory, world history was mandatory, physics and chemistry were mandatory, &c.

When I got home, after my school transcripts from Brazil were translated, I’d earned enough credits to graduate without attending my senior year in high school (except I had missed Michigan’s mandatory 11th grade US History, so I had to take it - though I went the whole day anyway). My school gave me two years credit for foreign language (Portuguese), since I took second-year high school Portuguese (for native speakers, that was a tough row to hoe) and passed. (The Brazilian school told me I was the first American student they’d had that ever passed the course.)

re: #78 Anymouse

When I was an exchange student in Brazil …

…did you get a Brazilian?

re: #74 Anymouse

Yup, the heaviest weight is given to the extra-cirriculum activity known as “money.”

Speaking as someone who’s played a role in Ivy League admissions, this is not entirely true. I can only speak for my alma mater’s process, but applications are sorted into A, B, C piles based at first on test scores. Then the admissions officers review GPAs and the kind of course taken in HS, extracurriculars, personal essays, and recommendations. Everything at this point is need-blind. Star athletes and “legacy” students do get some special attention, but if their marks and SATs suck donkey balls, they will not be offered a place. Rich “C” students are often admitted though, because happy rich parents make for happy rich donors. OTOH, I know some rich “C” students who were kicked out of school for goofing off and flunking their classes.

The idea that money can buy you a place in a top university seriously rubs me the wrong way, because the system is designed to discourage that kind of bribery. Since the 1990s (IIRC) Princeton began offering generous financial aid to middle-class kids who were wary of ginormous student loans. The university has a fat endowment, so the trustees said let’s give that money to students so they can come here. Otherwise, the student body would have ended up once again as a collection of very rich kids mixed with a smattering of full-scholarship kids, and hardly any middle class kids.

The other Ivies cried a river of tears when Princeton inaugurated this policy. Then they fell in line just to stay competitive.

re: #79 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

…did you get a Brazilian?

Nope. Besides that was invented in Manhattan anyway (by Brazilian sisters that owned a salon). Perhaps it should be named a Manhattan instead, though that might get confused with the mixed drink.

Bartender: You want a Manhattan? The drink or the wax?

re: #78 Anymouse

When I was an exchange student in Brazil (in the eleventh grade about ten centuries ago), foreign language was mandatory (French, English, or Latin, but the school put me in English because they wanted a native speaker in the class), trigonometry and such maths classes were mandatory, world history was mandatory, physics and chemistry were mandatory, &c.

When I got home, after my school transcripts from Brazil were translated, I’d earned enough credits to graduate without attending my senior year in high school (except I had missed Michigan’s mandatory 11th grade US History, so I had to take it - though I went the whole day anyway). My school gave me two years credit for foreign language (Portuguese), since I took second-year high school Portuguese (for native speakers, that was a tough row to hoe) and passed. (The Brazilian school told me I was the first American student they’d had that ever passed the course.)

Tudo bem feito! Agora você pode falar portugues?

re: #80 wheat-dogg

The idea that money can buy you a place in a top university seriously rubs me the wrong way, because the system is designed to discourage that kind of bribery. Since the 1990s (IIRC) Princeton began offering generous financial aid to middle-class kids who were wary of ginormous student loans. The university has a fat endowment, so the trustees said let’s give that money to students so they can come here. Otherwise, the student body would have ended up once again as a collection of very rich kids mixed with a smattering of full-scholarship kids, and hardly any middle class kids.

The other Ivies cried a river of tears when Princeton inaugurated this policy. Then they fell in line just to stay competitive.

Well, I can’t say what Ivy League (or any other college admissions) programmes are now, as I left high school in 1978. I do know my SAT score was insufficiently wealthy to go to an Ivy League school (or any school). It was more than enough to apply for the Naval Academy after I enlisted in the Navy (but I got turned down for the reason “we already have you”)

re: #80 wheat-dogg

This was in the news the other day:

The University of Virginia’s fundraising team for years has sought to help children of wealthy alumni and prominent donors who apply for admission, flagging their cases internally for special handling, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The records from the U-Va. advancement office, which oversees fundraising for the prestigious public flagship, reveal nearly a decade of efforts to monitor admission bids and in some cases assist those in jeopardy of rejection.

U-Va. denies that the advancement office held any sway over admissions decisions. But the documents show the office kept meticulous notes on the status of certain VIP applicants and steps taken on their behalf.

washingtonpost.com

re: #82 wheat-dogg

Tudo bem feito! Agora você pode falar portugues?

Mais ou menos. Muitos anos se passaram. Eu escrevo minha irmã adotiva embora.

Peter Warlock: Serenade to Delius (on his 60th birthday)

re: #84 Timothy Watson

This was in the news the other day:

washingtonpost.com

I cannot say I am surprised. Rich kids do get some extra attention at every private school, because money talks. The extent to which that money enables a crappy student to attend a uni varies with the professionalism of the admissions officers, and the willingness of the administration to deal with unhappy parents.

re: #85 Anymouse

Mais ou menos. Muitos anos se passaram. Eu escrevo minha irmã adotiva embora.

Eu estudava na universidade. Muitos anos passaram tambem. :-/

re: #87 wheat-dogg

I cannot say I am surprised. Rich kids do get some extra attention at every private school, because money talks. The extent to which that money enables a crappy student to attend a uni varies with the professionalism of the admissions officers, and the willingness of the administration to deal with unhappy parents.

I think it also depends on the school’s particular economic situation: if a school has a well established trust fund or other sources of income (patents, industrial partnerships, etc.) then it does not have to take on boneheaded scions of rich families.

On the other hand, that old science wing really needs to be replaced…

I’m off to bed … I’ll leave you with Chico Buarque - Vai Passar (this will pass):

In a moment
An unhappy page of our history
A passage that is faded in the memory
Of the new generations
Our homeland slept
So distracted
Without noticing that it was being subtracted
In sinister transactions

lyricstranslate.com
(from the English translation - link contains the original and English translation lyrics)

Vai Passar - Chico Buarque - Gravação Original (1984)

re: #27 Kragar

I wonder where the Russians got the idea they could force their enemies to spend themselves into defeat?

From the West. That’s how the West won the Cold War, or rather, how the Soviet Union lost.

Unfortunately the US is now saddled with leaders utterly bereft of historical and military knowledge so now the Russians can pull the same trick on them.

re: #56 TedStriker

I thought that looked like Jagger, but the pic is really shit; that definitely isn’t his name on the board then. As for the bottom middle, now that you say that, I could see that it’s likely Joplin.

I think bottom middle is Meatloaf.

re: #27 Kragar

I wonder where the Russians got the idea they could force their enemies to spend themselves into defeat?

The USA had a system that allowed the civilian economy to benefit from developments in the military and space science sector (I worked for a company that was founded on a patent a fellow had drawn up for NASA).

The USSR was unable to pull off that trick to any great extent. When we were starting joint ventures with the USSR in the late 80’s, I often would show some device to Russian specialists, who would remark that they had seen a similar prototype at some research institute somewhere in Minsk or Kharkov, while in the West, it was already in its second generation of serial production.

re: #92 John Carter

I think bottom middle is Meatloaf.

Or Axel Rose?

re: #94 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Or Axel Rose?

Could be. It might be hard telling them apart these days.

re: #92 John Carter

I think bottom middle is Meatloaf.

I’m pretty sure it’s not Janis. She was better looking.

nm. It seems it was Janis, according to the Interwebs which know all.

Here she is in 1969.
Image: janis-joplin-mug-shot-1969-photo-tony-rubino.jpg

re: #96 wheat-dogg

I’m pretty sure it’s not Janis. She was better looking.

nm. It seems it was Janis, according to the Interwebs which know all.

Here she is in 1969.
Image: janis-joplin-mug-shot-1969-photo-tony-rubino.jpg

nah, not with that hairstyle…

re: #97 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

nah, not with that hairstyle…

Mullets were not the rage in ‘63, and especially not for women. So, I’m still not sure who it is.

Janis is my guess, shoplifting, 1963.

re: #99 wheat-dogg

Mullets were not the rage in ‘63, and especially not for women. So, I’m still not sure who it is.

I still guess Axel Rose (or perhaps Meat Loaf)

re: #35 electrotek

“Some children who are aged between 12 and 15 years have bodies like 18-year-old women,” the former Sharia court judge said.

Mr Shabudin, from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, also said there was nothing wrong with a rapist marrying their victim.

“Perhaps through marriage they [the rape victim and rapist] can lead a healthier, better life. And the person who was raped will not necessarily have a bleak future,” he said.

Speechless.

re: #102 Patricia Kayden

“Some children who are aged between 12 and 15 years have bodies like 18-year-old women,” the former Sharia court judge said.

Mr Shabudin, from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, also said there was nothing wrong with a rapist marrying their victim.

“Perhaps through marriage they [the rape victim and rapist] can lead a healthier, better life. And the person who was raped will not necessarily have a bleak future,” he said.

Speechless.

This view makes perfect sense to people who look on women as chattels, first of their family and then to the husband of their (arranged or forced) marriage

re: #75 Anymouse

It appears Steve Bannon joined a Faceplant group that issued death threats against President Obama and offered up numerous racist memes.
motherjones.com

And everyone will shrug and ignore this. They get away with everything.

Jeff Bezos space fashion

Flanked by a New Shepard rocket featuring the telltale scorch marks of multiple flights, Mr. Bezos appeared before a gaggle of reporters during a conference here Wednesday to lay out his vision for Blue Origin LLC, the company he founded more than a decade ago to lower launch costs and make reusable rockets a reality.

From the small picture, the logo looks more like a flying erection.

re: #104 Patricia Kayden

And everyone will shrug and ignore this. They get away with everything.

If anyone calls them out, they will just respond by blathering on about freedom of speech and pc oppression gone rampant and then move on…

re: #107 Timothy Watson

Just got a Mark Ruffalo retweet :)

re: #108 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

Morning all…..

Russia challenges President Trump to set out his strategy on Syria after he said his views on Assad had changed https://t.co/1bML5e11Ga pic.twitter.com/nx61uhe6je

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 6, 2017

Uh oh. Donnie’s been called to the principal’s office. https://t.co/fxaCB4IbS8

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 6, 2017

One of President Trump’s central campaign promises was to build a “big, beautiful, powerful wall” along the border with Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants and drug smugglers. But according to John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary, this wall will not actually stretch across the entire border.

“It’s unlikely that we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea to shining sea,” Kelly told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. A wall will instead be built where it “makes sense,” while other portions of the border might include high-tech fencing or other “technology.”

washingtonpost.com

Hahahahahahaha, stupid rubes.

re: #110 Timothy Watson

re: #111 Dave In Austin

Uh oh. Donnie’s been called to the principal’s office.

This is the hardest part of Presidenting, and one that Donnie has been spared to date: being forced to state what you mean clearly and in a legally binding manner, and not just babbling some word-salad nonsense, walking away and letting your underlings explain what you must have meant.

re: #105 The Crusher

Jeff Bezos space fashion

From the small picture, the logo looks more like a flying erection.

But it’s a re-usable erection.

re: #115 Decatur Deb

But it’s a re-usable erection.

Remember, it was the Germans who invented the V(iagra)-1 and 2

Trump: “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country”

NBC: 215 Trump product shipments from Asia since 1/16 https://t.co/43VgXHeOFZ pic.twitter.com/CZmY6EXBbE

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 6, 2017

re: #116 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Remember, it was the Germans who invented the V(iagra)-1 and 2

That was some good ol’ boy from Huntsville.

re: #117 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

China is “rap[ing] our country”? Well, I guess Trump is an expert on rape…

Imgur
Good morning!

re: #119 Timothy Watson

China is “rap[ing] our country”? Well, I guess Trump is an expert on rape…

again, this sort of thing was in evidence well before the election and did nothing to dent his popularity

re: #115 Decatur Deb

But it’s a re-usable erection.

Damn! At my age…….

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

re: #111 Dave In Austin

Morning all…..

[Embedded content]

This is the part in the cartoon where the “strong” guy screams “Why I oughta…” only for the person he’s trying to bully to stand up and reveal they’re a brick shithouse while asking “‘You oughta’ do what?”

Assshole is getting ready to take the stage for a Wounded Warrior event. This SOB has no business being on the same stage, much less city where these Heros are paid homage.

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

For the life of me, I can’t bring myself to feel any sympathy. I’m just sort of become numb to the plight of these people by this point. “Oh, you voted for the guy thinking ‘it won’t happen to me,’ but now it’s happening. Welcome to reality, pull up a chair.”

BBC has an article about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago junkets. Here’s the money quote:

Mr Trump has at his disposal the traditional presidential retreat of Camp David, in Maryland, where for decades presidents have hosted foreign leaders. Camp David is a short helicopter trip from the White House and, as an existing Naval base, security comes cheap.

But the retreat was apparently not to Mr Trump’s taste. “Camp David is very rustic, it’s nice, you’d like it,” he told a reporter. “You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”

bbc.com

Fckin’ snob, woosie, barnacle on the ship of state. Camp David was good enough for every other president since FDR, who himself had some moneys.

re: #126 Targetpractice

For the life of me, I can’t bring myself to feel any sympathy. I’m just sort of become numb to the plight of these people by this point. “Oh, you voted for the guy thinking ‘it won’t happen to me,’ but now it’s happening. Welcome to reality, pull up a chair.”

Seeing the bastard word “Karmafreude” come into use.

re: #125 Dave In Austin

Assshole is getting ready to take the stage for a Wounded Warrior event. This SOB has no business being on the same stage, much less city where these Heros are paid homage.

He has a Purple Heart, he thinks he earned it from suffering STD’s during [his own personal] Vietman.

re: #127 wheat-dogg

BBC has an article about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago junkets. Here’s the money quote:

bbc.com

Fckin’ snob, woosie, barnacle on the ship of state. Camp David was good enough for every other president since FDR, who himself had some moneys.

Also has layers of secure communications in place. Retired friend was an E-6 telephone operator there—has the patch.

re: #129 The Vicious Babushka

He has a Purple Heart, he thinks he earned it from suffering STD’s during [his own personal] Vietman.

I don’t think that’s a heart. Often confused.

re: #128 Decatur Deb

Seeing the bastard word “Karmafreude” come into use.

I can’t even really draw any sort of dark pleasure about this anymore. Mostly because I know that she’ll still vote Republican in the future because she sure as fuck won’t learn her lesson from this. And that’s something I think we need to bear in mind when we read these stories about Trump voters who are realizing their “error”: At best, their anger will rest entirely with Trump. Once he’s gone, they’ll blame every negative event that happened during his presidency to him, excommunicate him from the party, and then go forward acting as though they didn’t support him because he played all the right racist notes.

[Removed post because Jim Marshall passed away in 2012. Oops.]

Anyway, raining like a bastard here on LI. And I gotta go out on a boat tonight? Might be not good…

re: #79 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

…did you get a Brazilian?

A Brazillian, that sounds like a lot!

The US is beginning a $350 billion modernization program for the nuclear stockpile. That means new warheads that will safeguard the weapons’ reliability for another 50 years.

The amount of money also goes towards new delivery weapons, but the total cost including new delivery systems is closer to $1 trillion over the next 30 years.

We’re talking about new generation of cruise missiles, ICBMs, strategic bombers, and ballistic missile subs. None of these programs are cheap, and the fact that the US is still relying on the B-52 even after the B-1, and B-2 programs is rather telling. Despite how the military sells the new programs, sometimes the older gear is better and more flexible (and significantly cheaper).

B-52s don’t need to penetrate enemy airspace, and can fire off their cruise missiles from 100s of miles away, so that you don’t need to deal with stealth issues of a penetrating aircraft.

But the B-52s are over 50 years old themselves and new airframes are needed down the road.

Each of these new programs will cost billions all to maintain MAD with Russia.

Trump thinks that we need to abandon new START and warhead reductions (which make it cheaper to maintain the remaining stockpile). One of the biggest selling points for the US-Russia arms control treaties is that it helped both sides cut military spending costs - a bigger issue for the Soviet Union (now Russia) than the US, but both countries are feeling the strain.

All the talk about needing to spend billions more on defense is done in a vacuum and without emphasis on facts. Trump says the military is gutted; the military echoes this since bigger military means more ribbons and weapons systems and promotions. This is hardly the case, and spending on new weapons systems the US doesn’t need is a waste of limited resources.

The GOP misogynists and bigots and dumbassery in one bill:

GOP extremists think they’re scoring points by going after women who have had abortions. https://t.co/FhVXEbntbG

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

re: #114 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

This is the hardest part of Presidenting, and one that Donnie has been spared to date: being forced to state what you mean clearly and in a legally binding manner, and not just babbling some word-salad nonsense, walking away and letting your underlings explain what you must have meant.

Forget the Russian scandal and the legal and political ramifications for a moment. He is facing these other issues that are during the normal day to day governing.

He will never build a wall. The wall was a very simple message for simple people. He was very specific on how high and complete it was going to be and who was going to pay for it. The wall will be one of the many anchors he will carry around his neck.

Healthcare is the next anchor. The only thing they will be able to pass is something that takes benefits away from people who voted for him. They might not find out the day it passes but when they try to use it there will be hell to pay.

Foreign policy…the world is in turmoil. He can try to blame Obama but that makes him look weak since he said he would fix everything day one.

I think we can all take a deep breath that we did not elect someone capable of implementing any of his policies as stated in his campaign.

He will do significant damage to our reputation, environment and cause a lot of people who otherwise would be alive to die based on the things he can do unilaterally.

In the meantime he will destroy his brand and the republicans brand for the foreseeable.

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

again, again: this was all in evidence before the election…

re: #127 wheat-dogg

BBC has an article about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago junkets. Here’s the money quote:

bbc.com

Fckin’ snob, woosie, barnacle on the ship of state. Camp David was good enough for every other president since FDR, who himself had some moneys.

It reflects an attitude that the value of something is reflected only in how much money has been spent, not any inherent worth.

re: #137 John Carter

Forget the Russian scandal and the legal and political ramifications for a moment. He is facing these other issues that are during the normal day to day governing.

Health care repeal, the Wall, the Muslim ban: those are all at best empty, symbolic gestures to allow his supporters to believe he really represents in what they stands for.

re: #111 Dave In Austin

Morning all…..

[Embedded content]

Trump, who has previously argued against removing Assad from power, said Wednesday’s attack on a rebel-held town in Syria’s Idlib province was a “heinous” act that “crossed a lot of lines for me.”

I wonder if any of those lines were “red?”

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

Part of me wonders if she wanted to dump him…

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

“I didn’t think he meant MY husband!”

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

I thought that marrying a US citizen was enough to warrant residence…

re: #142 Joe Bacon

re: #143 Big Beautiful Door

re: #144 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

It is likely that he was picked because he is the last person one would expect. Grabbing him tells all the other undocumented that they are not safe.

Trump just called these soldiers “real heroes”…. because they were not captured. pic.twitter.com/rgDqxtJ4oI

— Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) April 6, 2017

Trump also said “I call it [The Whitehouse] the people’s house”. He acts like he coined the phrase. Fucking douche bag.

— Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) April 6, 2017

Musical interlude by 10 norske kvinner

tenThing Brass Ensemble plays Medley from West Side Story

re: #123 Decatur Deb

Undocumented husband of Indiana Trump supporter deported to Mexico

cnn.com

I will read this story and enjoy it more than I should.

re: #146 Dr. Matt

[Embedded content]

Did Trump really just say they are “real heroes” because they weren’t captured?

Trump has never taken the subway in his life.

The president, to @maggieNYT and @GlennThrush, on the Second Avenue subway.

Not a word of this is true. pic.twitter.com/y9pOL3xCrP

— Ted Mann (@TMannWSJ) April 6, 2017

.@GlennThrush and @maggieNYT ask the question we’ve all been wanting to know: Has Donald Trump taken the subway? https://t.co/t85nekoSDZ pic.twitter.com/TMGqT4D7tP

— Emma G. Fitzsimmons (@emmagf) April 6, 2017

Please don’t ride between the subway cars. https://t.co/AVC4V1Nq2e

— Chief Joseph Fox (@NYPDTransit) April 6, 2017

re: #149 Big Beautiful Door

I turned the sound off like I alway do when he starts blathering.

re: #149 Big Beautiful Door

Did Trump really just say they are “real heroes” because they weren’t captured?

I added the captured part…because according to DJT, McCain isn’t a hero because he was captured. He’s over emphasis of “real heros” was gaudy.

This shit.

Donald Trump Jr. is talking about running for governor of New York: report https://t.co/QMXx5uW7xY pic.twitter.com/LaeeuTLUET

— The Hill (@thehill) April 6, 2017

And another one bites the dust

JUST IN: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes temporarily stepping aside from Russia investigation. https://t.co/8UupHPDBNs pic.twitter.com/tBPhNhsSdZ

— ABC News (@ABC) April 6, 2017

Nunes stepping aside from Russia investigation pic.twitter.com/Vf1sIlee42

— Stefan Becket (@becket) April 6, 2017

Good news: Nunes stepping away from Russia investigation with hilariously bad reasons for doing so:

Bad news: Gowdy? Are you fucking kidding me?

JUST IN: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes temporarily stepping aside from Russia investigation. https://t.co/8UupHPDBNs pic.twitter.com/tBPhNhsSdZ

— ABC News (@ABC) April 6, 2017

An attempt to quell attacks on GOP covering for Nunes. This isn’t enough. Nunes obstructed the investigation and should be stepping down. https://t.co/cSZ8kKheTA

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

re: #150 The Vicious Babushka

He’s supposedly lived in New York his entire life, and doesn’t know about the Second Avenue IND?

en.wikipedia.org

re: #151 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

NYPD continues to throw shade Trump’s way.

re: #154 Dr. Matt

Donald Trump Jr. is talking about running for governor of New York

He’ll get his ass cold kicked. Let him run, I’ll point and laugh.

re: #156 A wild WITHAK appeared!

[Embedded content]

Good news: Nunes stepping away from Russia investigation with hilariously bad reasons for doing so:

Bad news: Gowdy? Are you fucking kidding me?

Coming up next—Gowdy Doody subpoenas Hillary…

re: #159 Timothy Watson

NYPD continues to throw shade Trump’s way.

Because DT has still not grasped the concept that his words, coming from the mouth of a sitting President, have a different weight and meaning than those coming from a celebrity TV star and real-estate mogul.

Nunes already accomplished what the White House wanted, he’s given the GOP the cover to claim that they’re looking into the “real” crime of “unmasking.”

re: #150 The Vicious Babushka

@TMannWSJ @maggieNYT @GlennThrush I knew the Second Avenue Subway construction budget was expensive, but didn’t realize it went to $12 trillion. Explains all the fare hikes!

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

If you want a good background on the Second Avenue Subway, Ben Kabab’s Second Avenue Sagas is the place to go.

Phase 1 cost about $4 billion, which is significantly more than it had any right to cost. You can’t just explain it away by union involvement since European projects are union labor and are a fraction of the cost. Paris and London expansion projects are lower cost per km than the 2d Avenue or 7 line extensions and both have comparable underground issues (archaeological, soil, utilities, etc.)

Design build hasn’t gotten costs down in the US, and we can’t build as much new infrastructure when new stuff costs far more than elsewhere.

Related: House Ethics Committee Launches Investigation of Devin Nunes for Spilling Secrets —@thedailybeast https://t.co/7sRsDqRpsY

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 6, 2017

re: #165 A wild WITHAK appeared!

[Embedded content]

And the Ethics Committee will work on purely partisan lines to say that Nunes’ actions were totally kosher with the law and they won’t be taking action.

re: #151 The Vicious Babushka

Trump is talking about only a short section of the NYC Subway, from Jamaica 179th St. station to Forest Hills. Gets nowhere close to Manhattan. Or even Brooklyn.

Fckin poser.

Brave little Donnie rides the subway to school

re: #164 lawhawk

$12 trillion? Isn’t that like the entire federal budget now?

If anything, this whole mess has gotta be driving more than a few in the GOP leadership up the wall. What in any competent Republican administration might have been an easy cover-up is complicated because the incompetent ass in the Oval Office keeps causing problems that force the traditional firewalls to fail. First Sessions and now Nunes have had to recuse themselves, while the effort to spin this all into a “Dems did something far worse!” narrative has gone to shit.

re: #168 wheat-dogg

$12 trillion? Isn’t that like the entire federal budget now?

Trump got confused. That’s how much he’s in debt to Russia. It’s an easy mistake to make.

re: #169 Targetpractice

If anything, this whole mess has gotta be driving more than a few in the GOP leadership up the wall. What in any competent Republican administration might have been an easy cover-up is complicated because the incompetent ass in the Oval Office keeps causing problems that force the traditional firewalls to fail. First Sessions and now Nunes have had to recuse themselves, while the effort to spin this all into a “Dems did something far worse!” narrative has gone to shit.

That’s what happens when you hire amateurs.

You know those stories you hear about people who are notified they’re inheriting from a distant cousin?

re: #168 wheat-dogg

His entire comment is word salad. It is barely coherent.

SS/DD from Trump.

nailed it pic.twitter.com/bMjHfS4bie

— Thomas Gibbons-Neff (@Tmgneff) April 6, 2017

@LOLGOP Where’s FRANCIS?! pic.twitter.com/pTgTY8Kw5t

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

re: #174 lawhawk

No style, Jared. The vest goes under the blazer. All the cool kids at school wear it that way now.

re: #165 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Good. Republicans really think that they can pretty much get away with any dang thing. I hope Nunes gets in more trouble than just stepping down from a committee.

But Speaker Ryan’s statement does not mention Gowdy or Rooney. He says Mike Conaway, “a senior member of the Committee,” will lead it.

— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) April 6, 2017

So the guy replacing Nunes, who is from TX, thinks the Dems were “influenced” by Mexican soap opera stars. Not kidding.

re: #178 lawhawk

Conaway seems like even more of a clown than Nunes.

With Nunes stepping aside, this is the guy who’s now leading House Intel Committee’s Russia investigation https://t.co/mDSJoRKgzH pic.twitter.com/JKXhp6OJDr

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 6, 2017

Bet you didn’t know that mariachi bands had just as much influence on the election as Russian cyberattacks! But it’s true.

re: #180 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Conaway seems like even more of a clown than Nunes.

[Embedded content]

Bet you didn’t know that mariachi bands had just as much influence on the election as Russian cyberattacks! But it’s true.

I was promised taco trucks on every corner, damnit! Why do I have to settle for mariachi bands?!

//

re: #180 A wild WITHAK appeared!

The entire GOP is a clown show that will continue enabling the Trump cabal and obfuscating on Trump’s cronies’ criminal acts. They’d rather investigate the leakers than the substance of the leaks, or the facts that the IC has long known and has growing confidence in - that Trump’s people were in regular contact with Russians under regular surveillance because of who those Russians are.

re: #127 wheat-dogg

So it’s normal that a sitting President holds official government meetings at his private residence at tax payer expense? Why not just shut down the White House for the next 4 years then and let Trump live at Mar-a-Lago full time? That would at least save tax payer money in his travel costs back and forth to play golf.

re: #183 Patricia Kayden

So it’s normal that a sitting President holds official government meetings at his private residence at tax payer expense? Why not just shut down the White House for the next 4 years then and let Trump live at Mar-a-Lago full time? That would at least save tax payer money in his travel costs back and forth to play golf.

And bankrupt some of the businesses in the area.

re: #183 Patricia Kayden

Presidents will often work at their private residences - LBJ had the ranch in Johnson City, which included its own runway and comms station for the Secret Service (and they had phones everywhere, including the bathrooms).

Eisenhower’s farm in Gettysburg was also used for official business, including Khrushchev’s visit to the US.

That, by itself, isn’t a problem. It’s the frequency.

Oh, and Mar a Lago isn’t a private residence. It’s a golf club. And securing it for presidential needs is crazy (similar to the issues with securing Trump Tower).

re: #185 lawhawk

Presidents will often work at their private residences - LBJ had the ranch in Johnson City, which included its own runway and comms station for the Secret Service (and they had phones everywhere, including the bathrooms).

Eisenhower’s farm in Gettysburg was also used for official business, including Khrushchev’s visit to the US.

That, by itself, isn’t a problem. It’s the frequency.

Oh, and Mar a Lago isn’t a private residence. It’s a golf club. And securing it for presidential needs is crazy (similar to the issues with securing Trump Tower).

Started watching “All the Way” last night (fell asleep since I started the movie too late.)

1. Can confirm LBJ likes using the phone in the john.

2. Bryan Cranston is one of the best actors around.

re: #185 lawhawk

Presidents will often work at their private residences - LBJ had the ranch in Johnson City, which included its own runway and comms station for the Secret Service (and they had phones everywhere, including the bathrooms).

Eisenhower’s farm in Gettysburg was also used for official business, including Khrushchev’s visit to the US.

That, by itself, isn’t a problem. It’s the frequency.

Oh, and Mar a Lago isn’t a private residence. It’s a golf club. And securing it for presidential needs is crazy (similar to the issues with securing Trump Tower).

And that’s the distinction between what Trump does and what past presidents have done: Mar-a-Lago is not a private residence. It’s a private golf course/resort that Trump has control over the access to, but in the end it is still open to members of the public. Same deal with Trump Tower, it’s a commercial building that contains offices and rental properties in addition to Trump’s private floors. This isn’t Crawford Ranch, this is like if Dubya had set up shop in Caesers Palace and people expected it to have the same level of security as the White House.

re: #186 Franklin

I’ve been to LBJ’s ranch, and it’s exactly as described. All the bathrooms had phones. You could still smell the cigarettes smoked there after all these years. You can imagine a haze of cigarette smoke as Johnson intimidated Senators or Congressmen by hovering over them and exhaling smoke into their faces.

ONLY TEH LEFTIST CARES ABOUT THIS STUPID ETHICS THING!!!!11!!

Devin Nunes is blaming “left-wing activists” for filing ethics complaints & making him step down from House intel Russia probe. 🙃

— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) April 6, 2017

re: #180 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Conaway seems like even more of a clown than Nunes.

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Bet you didn’t know that mariachi bands had just as much influence on the election as Russian cyberattacks! But it’s true.

Yet another TexAssHole…

re: #187 Targetpractice

It’s also why it’s troubling that he continues running to Mar a Lago or his VA golf course instead of Camp David (which has its own golf course). There’s security, and then there’s security.

I don’t expect Trump to ever set foot in Camp David. He probably thinks it beneath him.

re: #191 lawhawk

It’s also why it’s troubling that he continues running to Mar a Lago or his VA golf course instead of Camp David (which has its own golf course). There’s security, and then there’s security.

I don’t expect Trump to ever set foot in Camp David. He probably thinks it beneath him.

i suspect if he could swing it, he would set up shop in one of his properties and rent out the White House, given the reports that he thinks it doesn’t suit his tastes. Plus the fact that Obama once resided there probably irks him to no end as well.

re: #187 Targetpractice

And that’s the distinction between what Trump does and what past presidents have done: Mar-a-Lago is not a private residence. It’s a private golf course/resort that Trump has control over the access to, but in the end it is still open to members of the public.

Basically, the SS should tell him that he can use Mar-a-Logo if he closes it off to public access during his stays there.

re: #193 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

What, and cut Trump off from the few people that might actually approve of Trump’s presidency? Those privileged few get unprecedented access to a guy wholly unqualified for the job.

re: #181 Targetpractice

I was promised taco trucks on every corner, damnit! Why do I have to settle for mariachi bands?!

//

These guys influenced my vote.

America’s Got Talent 2015 S10E05 Metalachi The Metal Mariachi Band

re: #129 The Vicious Babushka

He has a Purple Heart, he thinks he earned it from suffering STD’s during [his own personal] Vietman.

Donnie fought the battle of Poon Tang, across 5 boroughs in the 70’s.

re: #196 caseyjr

Donnie fought the battle of Poon Tang, across 5 boroughs in the 70’s.

I doubt Trump has visited all 5 boroughs. Well, maybe he went to a Yankees game, but Staten Island? I doubt it.

re: #197 wheat-dogg

He wasn’t a member of the bridge and tunnel crowd.

Trump & GOP claim that they need to extreme vet refugees (who already are vetted more than any other group entering US).

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

FAKE NEWS…FAKE NEWS…

Anyone else skeptical Elijah Cummings actually said this? https://t.co/lRIQZZlMk2 pic.twitter.com/naJ2uMFXaT

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) April 6, 2017

Cummings: I did not tell Trump he’d be one of history’s ‘great presidents’ https://t.co/DSvPkWwb6k @CNNPolitics https://t.co/SLL42nS9ux

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) April 6, 2017

Out for my hike this afternoon on the hillsides above the Rhine valley, I saw a C-130 flying by practically at eye level. Practicing keeping below the radar. Have not seen such a thing for some time. Gearing up for action somewhere?

It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

OK, some official government functions are embracing the twitter culture a little to much…
//

Troopers reporting a flock of 🦃 WB I90 near Pines interchange. Yes I said 🦃. ⌚️for🚓in area. We don’t want 🚗+🦃=🍗. #NotThanksgivingYet pic.twitter.com/hICBqILACO

— Trooper J. Sevigney (@wspd4pio) April 6, 2017

re: #197 wheat-dogg

I doubt Trump has visited all 5 boroughs. Well, maybe he went to a Yankees game, but Staten Island? I doubt it.

Isn’t Staten Island where his ‘Lawn Order’ base reside?

re: #203 Franklin

Isn’t Staten Island where his ‘Lawn Order’ base reside?

Probably. Though quite a few live on Long Island

re: #126 Targetpractice

For the life of me, I can’t bring myself to feel any sympathy. I’m just sort of become numb to the plight of these people by this point. “Oh, you voted for the guy thinking ‘it won’t happen to me,’ but now it’s happening. Welcome to reality, pull up a chair.”

Her husband is the one I have the most sympathy for her, followed by the children:

In an interview with the South Bend Tribune, she recalled her husband saying, ” ‘He’s going to get rid of the Mexicans.’ ” She told the Tribune her response at the time was that Trump would only deport the “bad hombres.”

He knew what was going to come, but she still insisted that it’s only the “bad hombres” that would get the boot.

re: #197 wheat-dogg

I doubt Trump has visited all 5 boroughs. Well, maybe he went to a Yankees game, but Staten Island? I doubt it.

Trump campaigned on Staten Island right before the NY primaries
Trump gets his NYC homecoming on Staten Island

History shows protests alone r not enough. In 1932, 100,000 ppl in Berlin demonstrated agst the Nazis. @Nein_zur_AFD pic.twitter.com/ofEVJRd7uO

— vlh (@coton_luver) April 6, 2017

Re. (R-UT) #JasonChaffetz (2018 reelection) largest donor is an illegal pyramid scheme that does business in Russia https://t.co/4kWP1NRQ9J

— vlh (@coton_luver) April 6, 2017

re: #205 electrotek

Her husband is the one I have the most sympathy for her, followed by the children:

He knew what was going to come, but she still insisted that it’s only the “bad hombres” that would get the boot.

She can’t admit she married a “bad hombre”

Former FLOTUS It has shaken me to my core. Do not stop retweeting and spreading this! pic.twitter.com/gI8wYW4Gf5

— vlh (@coton_luver) April 6, 2017

Rep. Conaway - Nunes’ replacement at the helm of the House’s Russia probe - does not seem to take Russia’s election meddling very seriously pic.twitter.com/fyMEMNMaZY

— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) April 6, 2017

The GOP fuckers are busy trying to obfuscate and deny the seriousness of the Russia-Trump mess. It’s all about making sure that they can retain a majority just long enough to push their extremist agenda through while enabling the worst president in our nation’s history.

re: #207 Birth Control Works

History shows protests alone r not enough. In 1932, 100,000 ppl in Berlin demonstrated agst the Nazis

Nazis never won more than a plurality in any popular election.

bbl

re: #207 Birth Control Works

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History shows protests alone r not enough. In 1932, 100,000 ppl in Berlin demonstrated agst the Nazis. @Nein_zur_AFD

BUT IF THEY ALL HAD GUNZ THEY WOULD HAVE DEFEATED TEH LUFTWAFFLE AND PANSIE TANKS, LIBATDRSZZZ!!!

re: #212 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Nazis never won more than a plurality in any popular election.

Just like Trump?

re: #215 Timothy Watson

Just like Trump?

Like a number of US Presidents, including GW Bush, Clinton and Abraham Lincoln…

@mic pic.twitter.com/XxwC5q41F3

— Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) April 6, 2017

Mitch McConnell just changed his “aye” vote to a “no” on Cloture…

Breitbart turns on Jared Kushner. Who is surprised?

Breitbart’s newest tactic to defend Stephen Bannon: opening fire on the president’s son-in-law https://t.co/6LC0hKmqe2 pic.twitter.com/O2S5kddgTw

— Media Matters (@mmfa) April 6, 2017

re: #218 Backwoods_Sleuth

Mitch McConnell just changed his “aye” vote to a “no” on Cloture…

I guess he figures he’ll have to do a motion to reconsider?

re: #217 Dr. Matt

Bill that would fine men for masturbating moves forward in Texas legislature

Every sperm is sacred…

re: #218 Backwoods_Sleuth

Mitch McConnell just changed his “aye” vote to a “no” on Cloture…

yes, he did just that.

It’s shenanigans time.

re: #218 Backwoods_Sleuth

Mitch McConnell just changed his “aye” vote to a “no” on Cloture…

He has to do that to be able to re-file the motion again after the change of the Senate rules.

@HeerJeet It’s already started… pic.twitter.com/DM0K3E6AnF

— IntoTheVoidScreaming (@DamselDisgusted) April 6, 2017

re: #221 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Every sperm is sacred…

The Vital Records Office is going to need thousands and thousands of new employees to create birth certificates for all those little swimmers. MAGA!

re: #185 lawhawk

Oh, and Mar a Lago isn’t a private residence. It’s a golf club. And securing it for presidential needs is crazy (similar to the issues with securing Trump Tower).

I am mortified to say that I know someone who is a member of Mar a Lago. She’s one of the nicest people and has an amazing backstory. But she lives in West Palm Beach, and apparently that’s a “thing” there.

re: #225 Dr. Matt

The Vital Records Office is going to need thousands and thousands of new employees to create birth certificates for all those little swimmers. MAGA!

At least force men to jerk off into a hole in the ground and put up a little cross…

re: #227 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

At least force men to jerk off into a hole in the ground and put up a little cross…

That sounds even dirtier than you think it does when you think about it…

re: #219 The Vicious Babushka

Breitbart turns on Jared Kushner. Who is surprised?

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They’re eating their own. Glorious.

re: #226 mmmirele

I am mortified to say that I know someone who is a member of Mar a Lago. She’s one of the nicest people and has an amazing backstory. But she lives in West Palm Beach, and apparently that’s a “thing” there.

re: #63 Anymouse

I had the opportunity when I was in Schwäbisch Gmünd to tour a school specifically set up for gifted students by the state. The German state paid for the whole thing. The students worked in parallel with the local university or employers whilst still in school. It was really quite remarkable.

I’m waaaay late, but I just wanted to respond that my father was stationed there for a bit at the end of WW2, and he thought it was the most beautiful place in the world.

re: #219 The Vicious Babushka

Breitbart turns on Jared Kushner. Who is surprised?

“Bannon being in Trump’s sphere was part of the reason I voted for him”

Duh, so was Kushner…

@Stonekettle I don’t think she understands how this filibuster thing works. pic.twitter.com/wQa4MbIdNB

— Chris Shaffer (@chr1s_shaffer) April 6, 2017

re: #227 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

At least force men to jerk off into a hole in the ground and put up a little cross…

Ah, there we go fellow entrepreneurs! There’s gonna be a mass market for tiny crosses in TexASS!

re: #226 mmmirele

I am mortified to say that I know someone who is a member of Mar a Lago. She’s one of the nicest people and has an amazing backstory. But she lives in West Palm Beach, and apparently that’s a “thing” there.

My niece says she was once there (she liked to hang out with sugar-daddy boyfriends) and says that Trump, noting her Eastern European fashion-model looks (she is blonde and highly photogenic), sidled right up to them and introduced himself.

re: #230 Interesting Times

re: #216 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Like a number of US Presidents, including GW Bush, Clinton and Abraham Lincoln…

didn’t W get a slim majority in 2004?

re: #235 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

My niece says she was once there (she liked to hang out with sugar-daddy boyfriends) and says that Trump, noting her Eastern European fashion-model looks (she is blonde and highly photogenic), sidled right up to them and introduced himself.

Did he start kissing her?

re: #237 danarchy

didn’t W get a slim majority in 2004?

was talking about 2000

re: #236 mmmirele

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re: #218 Backwoods_Sleuth

Mitch McConnell just changed his “aye” vote to a “no” on Cloture…

I’m confused. Does this mean the filibuster succeeded?

re: #241 Big Beautiful Door

I’m confused. Does this mean the filibuster succeeded?

It succeeded for now, he filed a motion for cloture which failed because there was not 60 votes.

He switched his vote when it became clear it was going to fail. They plan on changing the Senate rules and then he can file a motion to reconsider the cloture motion because he vote against it.

(I think.)

re: #241 Big Beautiful Door

It means that there’s now going to be a bunch of procedural moves and changes, leading to the end of the filibuster rule for the Supreme Court (the nuclear option).

re: #242 Timothy Watson

It succeeded for now, he filed a motion for cloture which failed because there was not 60 votes.

He switched his vote when it became clear it was going to fail. They plan on changing the Senate rules and then he can file a motion to reconsider the cloture motion because he vote against it.

(I think.)

OK, just part of obscure parliamentary rule gaming.

re: #243 lawhawk

It means that there’s now going to be a bunch of procedural moves and changes, leading to the end of the filibuster rule for the Supreme Court (the nuclear option).

Which will lead, I pray, to much wailing, tears and gnashing of teeth when several right wing justices die/retire during the next democratic administration with a senate majority. But it’s more important to destroy that “ni-clang’s” achievements to McConnell than it is to consider the future.

Raging Bull is raging!

Robert De Niro: Trump Is ‘A Mutt’ Who Has ‘Debased The Presidency’ | Crooks and Liars https://t.co/EokpNHcG14

— Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) April 6, 2017

@sahilkapur The GOP destroyed comity once and for all with that blatant obstructionism; they intended to block Clinton’s nominations too had she won.

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

@sahilkapur @SenateMajLdr It’s also tradition for the Senate to confirm qualified Supreme Court picks, regardless of what year in office.

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

@sahilkapur @SenateMajLdr It’s absolutely clear that the GOP has no regard for the rule of law, custom, or tradition in the Senate. Unlimited power and damn the rules

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) April 6, 2017

re: #205 electrotek

Her husband is the one I have the most sympathy for her, followed by the children:

He knew what was going to come, but she still insisted that it’s only the “bad hombres” that would get the boot.

Oops! I guess she never realized to Trump all Mexicans (which includes all Latinos, Hispanics and Portuguese-speaking peoples south of the U.S.) are bad hombres.

Trump doesn’t mess around. If you aren’t white or orange you are no good. It’s all very clear and simple…I don’t know how people could miss it.

re: #28 goddamnedfrank

I just got back from watching Bladerunner at the local Studio Movie Grill. I’m full of Lagunitas IPA, delicious steak sandwich, french fries and ready to do battle with any and all player haters.

The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can’t. Not with out your help. But you’re not helping…

Heck with it. I woke up in the middle of my night, I have a beer in hand and I’m listening to this guy shred the guitar. He’s pretty good. Maybe they ought to name a guitar after him?

HOW HIGH THE MOON LES PAUL MARY FORD 1951

Woodrow Wilson signed declaration of war against Germany, entering World War I, a century ago today: #NARA pic.twitter.com/Rnqv0Qj2fW

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) April 6, 2017

“Winter White House” a winning brand for President Trump’s business https://t.co/mOo8nEtmAu

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 5, 2017

There is no “Winter White House.” it is a private, for-profit business being used by a corrupt leader to sell $200k access to the president. https://t.co/rlCdUGUt5X

— A Once Great Nation (@USARedOrchestra) April 5, 2017

Emolumentally speaking, … https://t.co/ipM1Kq3BGm

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) April 5, 2017