Some familiar faces have returned to take us on a journey through a magical world that is eternally creating itself.
If you like what I do and enjoy reading, here’s a book I wrote:
amazon.com
Any Clampers here?
The Clampers: A historical drinking society or a drinking historical society?-
It is, most definitely, a drinking society rife with pranksterism. And they do a little history stuff to keep it respectable. I joined 1989 but it’s been a while. No chapters in HI.
I had my leather vest patched up. My favorite:
‘Don’t tell Mom I’m a Clamper. She thinks I play piano in a whore house.’
This is an excellent idea. https://t.co/v2RyAO7NaZ
— Matt Ford (@fordm) December 15, 2019
On the topic of water damage from last thread, my landlord is pretty good about taking care of stuff, but if I mention water he’s here yesterday. He installed a dehumidifier in the sort-of half basement and lowered our rent to offset the electricity bill increase for running it.
I think we can unplug the internet now.
Fox News Condemns 2020 Election As Partisan Witch Hunt Orchestrated By Democrats To Unseat President https://t.co/iFvFcOpdT9 pic.twitter.com/lUNQh3Gv8F
— The Onion (@TheOnion) December 15, 2019
re: #5 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀
I think we can unplug the internet now.
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Just give it until after the Dem Convention and a nominee is chosen. This will be the actual GOP talking point.
From Jen Rubin (even though she spelled JAIME’s name wrong, I’ll take it):
Don’t worry, Sen. Graham. No one thought you’d be fair.
And for all his suckuppery to Trump, Graham is only two points ahead in the latest polling against Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison. Maybe South Carolinians would like a senator they need not be embarrassed to represent them.
And speaking of South Carolina asshats, my rep wrote this fact-free pathetic attempt at Huckabee-like humor today. Don’t quit your day job, Tommy—although you do a shitty job at it, it’s all you have.
Tom Rice: Speaker ‘Poll’osi’s political circus
myrtlebeachonline.com
Fishermen eagerly begin commercial season as demand for fresh Dungeness crab spikes https://t.co/NAN30nIiJZ pic.twitter.com/UxG2aUshLf
— KTVU (@KTVU) December 15, 2019
ALLIE FOR THE WIN
I hate that @mattgaetz and I have similar last names.
— Allie Goertz (@AllieGoertz) December 13, 2019
Now promise you’ll never drive your dad’s car drunk again, Matt. https://t.co/Lf7bNrzcTW
— Allie Goertz (@AllieGoertz) December 14, 2019
re: #3 makeitstop
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Seeing some pushback on this, but I think it’s a fine idea. No, we shouldn’t put him in charge of anything, but we should absolutely let him speak and argue in favor of conviction. There are ten spots for House Managers. Let’s put Amash in one of them.
I refuse to become numb to Trump’s revolting misogyny https://t.co/WKk3xxzo4D
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) December 15, 2019
Just…what the fuck
And in similarly revolting news…or perhaps bullshit mythologizing masquerading as news:
Oh come the fuck on, this is a reporter—@reidepstein—and his editors demonstrating that they didn’t bother to actually read the hacked emails (or didn’t understand them) but instead were suckers who allowed themselves to get manipulated by Wikileaks. https://t.co/ewnI6JVeW4
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 15, 2019
re: #9 Dread Pirate
It’s been some time but there ain’t nothing like fresh dungies, hot sourdough, and cold chardonnay at Pier 39 in San Franciso.
This whole thing ends with Tulsi Gabbard pocketing $1 million in donations for a fake recount https://t.co/Zg9G2VbpAD
— Thanks For Sharing Jerk (@Thx4SharingJerk) December 15, 2019
F9XjaQI/+k/H/3OtMWwlttMkSHCthOE+f0c59ADi9dZuRUz8BJt1BeBqStA7tJZxqxw5N6wsLf1PBq2trI5OVQaDwyLltiDJlDB0W0SVuemJ8ey3HFvywvNqirHAQIZ/UujkIAUpO0iZd5dyABd+iAotuqhfzNGdv4UfATkSFCLegV8zBmAbK8MXmy5IAPpV3yqLOsywGpy3PNSnxuT+6KZMCykvmBwQZzXq+zb0kiCohPsaiIpRFOxfWG4CpgubfQnIgqAkBQ7yNbIMraYnBLZ6oo+OQnvbFiyG+eLTJBJ9FSqdjHza8kzVt5qfZrlnvGtpCkin3SMhvj8l/pGVsWaCzY0wZpE8ir0NMX0gRFwQFnEEgiC0k10SsgYUCrSv966LnsyRKNF2OnRxFiK2gw==
re: #13 BigPapa
2 out of 3 aint bad (I don’t eat dungies). I’ll double up on the sourdough and wine, and hop over to Ghirardelli Square for chocolate.
re: #16 lawhawk
2 out of 3 aint bad (I don’t eat dungies). I’ll double up on the sourdough and wine, and hop over to Ghirardelli Square for chocolate.
Then get some chowda. Though there may be crab in it.
I’ve never wanted to pull off a mob style heist. Until now. Who’s with me???pic.twitter.com/hYMG4ZyiNo
— Leonidas (@FightDaPower) December 15, 2019
I’m lucky with my landlord. When we were shutting the biz down we got booted out of our condo and had to find a new place, stressful because my credit is now shot and we don’t have much dough. Found an apt near my work, good price. Wife shoots out to meet… the landlord knows me because he owns a cabinet shop and we’ve worked together. Bam! Told him about the credit sucking and biz closing and he said don’t worry about it, as long as you guys can make rent I’m good. Turn out it’s a downstairs end unit, the people upstairs are ghosts, and we have 5 mango trees outside. They’re going to start fruiting again in a few months then this lizard will be eating mango daily again, for free.
I just cancelled a cheapo golf club membership and signed up for WaPo and Judd Legum’s Popular Info. Not sure if any other media sources are worth paying for. NYT won’t get a dime from me. Might squeeze out another LGF membership and one more newspaper, if anybody has any recs besides WaPo and PI. And not NYT.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The @foxnewPolls, always inaccurate, are heavily weighted toward Dems. So ridiculous - same thing happened in 2016. They got it all wrong. Get a new pollster!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019
heh
Congressional Do Nothing Democrats are being absolutely decimated in their districts on the subject of the Impeachment Hoax. People that voted for them are literally screaming in their faces. Crazy Nancy is finding defending Shifty Schiff harder than she thought! #2020Election
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2019
re: #23 Backwoods_Sleuth
Democrats have passed:
election security;
voting rights;
gun control.
GOP has blocked everything; McConnell is the obstructionist in chief. You lie and commit crimes.
Democrats can multitask you right out of office.— lawhawk (@lawhawk) December 15, 2019
re: #20 BigPapa
Mother Jones? Esquire?
Oh, didn’t think about Mother Jones. Thought about Vanity Fair. But MJ might be a better choice. Irony: when I first started commenting online, Mother Jones comments section was where it all started. They shut it down and I looked for other places… leading me here.
re: #12 Citizen K
God blesh tay United Schhhhtatez
So the local food store chain (part of the Albersons-Safeway megacorp) wants to give me a free candy bar, a “Kinder Bueno”.
Sure, why not. I take free food.
But it appears to be another one of those European hazelnut creations. I’m not so hot on hazelnuts, but they seem to get in everywhere in European desserts.
I thought about Rolling Stone but remembered Taibbi. Nope.
re: #29 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Yes. The same here with the local Acme. They are part of the Albertson’s chain. Last week it was peppermint bark.
re: #31 PhillyPretzel
Food retail in this country pretty much is in the hands for four megacorps:
Albertsons-Safeway
Kroeger
Walmart
Amazon.
re: #25 A hollow voice says, Impeachmoot now!
Mother Jones? Esquire?
Agree on Esquire. Charlie Pierce is worth it.
I’ve followed Charlie Pierce for a bit. Good fella.
re: #29 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
So the local food store chain (part of the Albersons-Safeway megacorp) wants to give me a free candy bar, a “Kinder Bueno”.
Sure, why not. I take free food.
But it appears to be another one of those European hazelnut creations. I’m not so hot on hazelnuts, but they seem to get in everywhere in European desserts.
You can send them to me. I LOVE them.
Aldi trying a push in the US, but I’m not sure if the fact that they mostly sell their house brands is going to help or hurt them. Frankly, I have no problem paying a few pennies more for a name brand if the packaging is better, etc.
re: #32 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Yes. I can see that. That is why from time to time I will head out of the city to go to Wegman’s. They have their own chain of stores. At least when you make a complaint they will listen.
jfc
On 15 December Russia observes Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty. Eternal memory to those who sacrificed their life performing their professional tasks. pic.twitter.com/DiKqlrZVFd
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) December 15, 2019
re: #20 BigPapa
I’m lucky with my landlord. When we were shutting the biz down we got booted out of our condo and had to find a new place, stressful because my credit is now shot and we don’t have much dough. Found an apt near my work, good price. Wife shoots out to meet… the landlord knows me because he owns a cabinet shop and we’ve worked together. Bam! Told him about the credit sucking and biz closing and he said don’t worry about it, as long as you guys can make rent I’m good. Turn out it’s a downstairs end unit, the people upstairs are ghosts, and we have 5 mango trees outside. They’re going to start fruiting again in a few months then this lizard will be eating mango daily again, for free.
I just cancelled a cheapo golf club membership and signed up for WaPo and Judd Legum’s Popular Info. Not sure if any other media sources are worth paying for. NYT won’t get a dime from me. Might squeeze out another LGF membership and one more newspaper, if anybody has any recs besides WaPo and PI. And not NYT.
mango ice cream for sure
mango juice cocktail (mango, oj, water, sugar)
re: #21 Backwoods_Sleuth
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
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shorter: any poll that doesnt have me ahead is wrong
re: #23 Backwoods_Sleuth
heh
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“Congressional Do Nothing Democrats are being absolutely decimated in their districts on the subject of the Impeachment Hoax. People that voted for them are literally screaming in their faces. Crazy Nancy is finding defending Shifty Schiff harder than she thought!”
Trump: I’m gonna stay with “Shifty Schiff” because that’s a beaut. But “Nervous Nancy” didn’t make a dent. How about “Crazy Nancy”? Let’s run it up the flagpole and see who salutes! Ok, “Crazy Nancy” it is. Am I genius or what?
Traveling around this big country, I believe the best grocery stores are the employee-owned types, the Woodman’s in Wisconsin, or even better, the Hy-Vee in Iowa and surrounding states.
Trader Joe’s has its moments but it insists are locating itself in tight spots, and their penchant for squeezing people at the end of the counter is just maddening.
I remember when Henry Boney had his old large market in downtown San Diego. Unfortunately in recent years Henry’s legacy has fallen prey to the vulture capitalists.
Snail eggs hatching https://t.co/eDYpBATjGH
— Animal Life (@MeetAnimals) December 15, 2019
they’re getting there:
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler accused Senate Republicans of violating their oath to be impartial jurors in an impeachment trial, as GOP senators defended their right to work for President Trump’s acquittal, the Washington Post reports.
Said Nadler: “That’s in violation of the oath that they’re about to take, and it’s a complete subversion of the constitutional scheme,”
re: #42 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Traveling around this big country, I believe the best grocery stores are the employee-owned types, the Woodman’s in Wisconsin, or even better, the Hy-Vee in Iowa and surrounding states.
Trader Joe’s has its moments but it insists are locating itself in tight spots, and their penchant for squeezing people at the end of the counter is just maddening.
I remember when Henry Boney had his old large market in downtown San Diego. Unfortunately in recent years Henry’s legacy has fallen prey to the vulture capitalists.
I’ve become a fan of Market Basket since moving to New England. Our move was just before some in the family of owners tried to sell it off and the workers—non-union—walked off the job to ensure that it stayed in the family under control of the cousin who was more devoted to the legacy. They finally settled. Their produce is often a little on the “pre-picked” side (IMO), so we go to Shaw’s for that. There’s a Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s about 10 miles away. I don’t feel the need to travel that far.
re: #43 Backwoods_Sleuth
Sure, they seem cute, but they’re among the most destructive things on the planet.
Laurence Tribe said, “What it looks like is that the majority leader is going to conduct this trial as though he’s a member of the defense team.”
“You know, it’s an ancient principle, actually over a millennium old, that you can’t be a judge on your own case, and effectively to allow Trump to call the shots, violates that principle.”
“However, Tribe said the approach, ‘may backfire’ because an exoneration — if that’s what emerges by a Senate that is essentially rigged and fixed….. really doesn’t clear the name of the accused so that the president will go down in history as having been essentially found guilty by the House in a proceeding where he had a chance to defend himself but didn’t. …… and then blockaded the inquiry as though he were a dictator.”
re: #47 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Sure, they seem cute, but they’re among the most destructive things on the planet.
I was amazed that the little shit literally ate itself out of the egg
re: #42 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Traveling around this big country, I believe the best grocery stores are the employee-owned types, the Woodman’s in Wisconsin, or even better, the Hy-Vee in Iowa and surrounding states.
Trader Joe’s has its moments but it insists are locating itself in tight spots, and their penchant for squeezing people at the end of the counter is just maddening.
I remember when Henry Boney had his old large market in downtown San Diego. Unfortunately in recent years Henry’s legacy has fallen prey to the vulture capitalists.
If you want a grocery story full of intrigue, check out Market Basket and the DeMoulas family story:
re: #42 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
I agree. A few years ago Philly had a large storm coming in and I managed to get the day before the storm came in, off. Everyone in Center City was rushing to Trader Joe’s to stock up before the snow storm. I was at my credit union getting some money to do my shopping and I saw the line outside Trader Joe’s and I heard from one of the tellers that they were only letting 10 people in at a time. I went to the local gourmet food store Di Bruno Bros and got all the food I wanted. The only thing they were sold out of was white eggs. The brown ones made great hard boiled eggs and I did not have to wait in any line.
and schiff:
“I think there are any number of witnesses that should be called in the Senate trial, and many witnesses the American people would like to hear from that the administration has refused to make available. And perhaps of equal and if not greater importance are the thousands and thousands of documents that the administration refuses to turn over. I would hope that every senator of both parties would like to see the documentary evidence.”
re: #42 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Trader Joe’s has its moments but it insists are locating itself in tight spots, and their penchant for squeezing people at the end of the counter is just maddening.
Around here anyway, they really seem to love inadequate parking.
re: #36 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Aldi trying a push in the US, but I’m not sure if the fact that they mostly sell their house brands is going to help or hurt them. Frankly, I have no problem paying a few pennies more for a name brand if the packaging is better, etc.
They’re doing well enough here in the Metroxplex that Rockwall has two, along with two Kroger’s, two Tom Thumbs, a Walmart and a Walmart Market, and a Target with a food section (not quite a Super Target since it was added well after the store opened).
re: #46 Barefoot Grin
I’ve become a fan of Market Basket since moving to New England. Our move was just before some in the family of owners tried to sell it off and the workers—non-union—walked off the job to ensure that it stayed in the family under control of the cousin who was more devoted to the legacy. They finally settled. Their produce is often a little on the “pre-picked” side (IMO), so we go to Shaw’s for that. There’s a Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s about 10 miles away. I don’t feel the need to travel that far.
Damn—I was too late because I had to put a link to the wiki page!
re: #53 Jebediah, RBG
Around here anyway, they really seem to love inadequate parking.
It’s one of their hallmarks, just like inadequate space at the counter fronts.
I assume some psychologist told them long ago that people feel better not being alone in a large space or something.
re: #39 Dangerman (misuser of the sarc tag)
The Wife Unit and I have been adjusting our eating and trying to lose weight. One thing I want to do is oatmeal, the real kind without the added sugars, in the AM, and smush banana or ripe mango into it for sweetening. Sorta looking forward to that.
A friend recommended Sriracha on mango. Said that sugars and capsicum hit the same receptors, and at the same time, sugar wins over the capsicum. He pickles habaneros with rice wine vinegar which has a little sugar in it and says it deheats.
Who am I to argue? I’m now hungry.
re: #57 BigPapa
any capsicum source is a great match to any sugar.
but most folks find it too frightening to try
oh and BTW…we gots snow in the Ohio River Valley
re: #58 Backwoods_Sleuth
any capsicum source is a great match to any sugar.
but most folks find it too frightening to try
Yeah, but I like spicy food. Sriracha isn’t too hot either so Imma give it a go. Just need some mangos. Shit’s expensive, even in HI. Once you have friends or sources with trees nobody wants to pay for it.
Now if I could find a friend with a guava tree. That shit is crazy good. Never find it in the stores because it ripens so fast. That’s why they make jams/jellies and such.
Arghhhh
Republican sabotage, no doubt. https://t.co/qTdfo1Wlxa
— D’Ag due (@ag_due) December 15, 2019
re: #56 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
It’s one of their hallmarks, just like inadequate space at the counter fronts.
I assume some psychologist told them long ago that people feel better not being alone in a large space or something.
Maybe it was the same psychologist who told them to frequently discontinue items that shoppers have gotten fond of.
As for space, I have been in two with large-ish (by Trader Joe’s standards) interiors. I am so used to being squeezed in that I was temporarily discombobulated.
not The Backwoods, but Ohio River Valley
It begins #WinterIsHere pic.twitter.com/wozwd6QQj3
— Chris Renkel (@Chris_Renkel) December 15, 2019
pretty
for now…
Stunning. The WSJ editorial board, yes, the WSJ editorial board says Trump’s USMCA is worse than the original Nafta. Trump breaks things, then half-fixes them, and claims victory. #Incompetent. https://t.co/RLph3Xftdj via @WSJ
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) December 15, 2019
Once again, this is how you bankrupt a casino.
Now if I could find an avocado tree. I’ve found the ‘secret sauce’ to having fruit year round. Part of the problem with mango and avocado is that it takes a year to fruit, then it’s a glut, then it’s done for the year. The mango produces fruit over maybe a 1-2 month period then it’s done. Then there’s a lot of it.
The trick is to have a few trees but of different species. My landlord has 4 diff mango species, one tree of each. Same with the avocado. Now you have fruit for 6 months at a time as the diff species pop off at slightly diff times.
Papaya is another problem. It produces fruit year round, but the tree keeps getting taller and taller. After 3 years you have to cut it down and start over. So it’s a lot more work than the mango and avocado, which besides the occasional prune, you don’t need to do anything.
re: #64 PhillyPretzel
And this is what is coming to Philly. :(
weather.gov
most counties in the Wilmington OH NWS area are under a Winter Advisory for snow/ice (but TheBackwoods is in the clear for now)
re: #66 jaunte
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Once again, this is how you bankrupt a casino.
I can’t read the WSJ, so are their complaints that it now protects workers?
re: #66 jaunte
To be fair when the WSJ says worse, it probably just means that it doesn’t hose labor as much as the old version.
re: #67 BigPapa
Speaking as someone in the snowy midwest, you have a problem I wouldn’t mind having. As my father would have said, are you bragging or complaining?
re: #69 Belafon
re: #70 Weaselone
Basically that:
The shame is that in many respects the new deal is worse than Nafta, especially its bows to politically managed trade. The new deal tries to steer auto investment with new rules of origin that 75% of a car’s content must be made in North America, up from 62.5% under Nafta. This raises the cost of manufacturing, making North American products less competitive worldwide.
Also reducing North American competitiveness is a new rule mandating that 40% of an auto qualifying for tariff-free trade in the region has to be produced by workers earning $16 an hour. Mandating wage rates ignores the relationship between productivity and output and sets a bad precedent for future trade deals. Mr. Trump is using the mandate to make Mexico less competitive for car production.
The Trump Administration made these labor provisions worse in concessions to the AFL-CIO to get Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote on the House floor. The unions battered Mexico to allow a new enforcement process that will give American unions a new way to intrude in Mexican labor disputes.
re: #62 Patricia Kayden
Arghhhh
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If you try the website and can’t get through, call[no phone numbers allowed] and they will save your place.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) December 15, 2019
Dolly Parton statue may replace KKK leader memorial at Tennessee Capitol: https://t.co/qGhYUJZyhn
— Make the Yuletide Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) December 15, 2019
WSJ shocked to discover “politically managed trade.”
re: #73 Backwoods_Sleuth
Narrator: “They didn’t extend the deadline.”
re: #71 retired cynic
Speaking as someone in the snowy midwest, you have a problem I wouldn’t mind having. As my father would have said, are you bragging or complaining?
I’m complaining that I’m not able to brag as much as I would like to.
My dream, after we get our finances worked out, is to move to a little higher elevation and have mango and avocado trees, and guava.
This is Meadows’ response to a question about why bribery wasn’t included in the articles of impeachment. But, if you read the articles of impeachment, bribery is right there in Article I. Bribery, in these circumstances, is an abuse of power by the president. https://t.co/eBKcyC4nOE
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 15, 2019
re: #74 The Pie Overlord!
Love Dolly. I’ve tweeted at her twice to make a song called ‘Man in My Mentions’ with a Jolene vibe to it but alas, no bueno. I’ve also pestered Weird Al to spoof Cypress Hill with ‘Insane in the Ukraine.’ Sooner or later one of them will succumb to my pestering.
Is this the moment when Trump became presidential?
Conservatives? Hello? https://t.co/dK3c7jEsGc— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) December 15, 2019
blast from the past:
🔥🔥Sooo this is interesting. Trump’s dentures are trying to escape his mouth as this speech is ending. Join the club dentures! Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/QqYv7whxDF
— Power to the People (@KeepMyPowerOrg) December 6, 2017
In a Fox News poll today, 54% say they want to see Trump impeached with 41% opposed.
In a Gallup Poll in late July 1974, 51% said they wanted to see Nixon impeached, with 30% opposed.
The “smoking gun” tape came out a week after this article ran. Nixon resigned days later. pic.twitter.com/HxZRcsTrlR— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 15, 2019
re: #80 BigPapa
Love Dolly. I’ve tweeted at her twice to make a song called ‘Man in My Mentions’ with a Jolene vibe to it but alas, no bueno. I’ve also pestered Weird Al to spoof Cypress Hill with ‘Insane in the Ukraine.’ Sooner or later one of them will succumb to my pestering.
Dolly’s Imagination Library program makes me smile.
And I just want to say that Whitney Houston ruined “I will always love you.”
Ok, and HOLY CRAP.
I keep an eye on some people Just Because. And this drifted through my Instagram feed this morning. Bethel Music is the moneymaking arm of Bethel Church Redding, which is trying to take over the city of Redding, California. I’m putting it behind the private button because not everyone is interested in pictures of a bunch of Trump-worshiping lunatics asking people to pray for a dead toddler to be resurrected. And they are Trump worshipers, as quite a number of Bethel and Bethel-affiliated people were in a picture with Trump from Friday, December 6 passed out by Bethel Music song leader and wannabe congressman Sean Feucht, who was also there.
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
I have so many questions I want to ask. As in, why is this particular toddler so special that thousands of people can be called upon to pray for her resurrection? What about other dead toddlers? And how is the funeral home handling what is probably an influx of people wandering in and wanting to lay hands on the child’s little coffin and tell God that she has to be raised from the dead. Is she even at a funeral home, or are the parents ignoring biological reality?
I feel terrible for the parents and any siblings or other relatives that are around. This is not going to end well and I hate to be THAT PERSON to say it.
It’s shit like this that makes me want to bag Christianity and Jesus completely. COMPLETELY.
re: #82 jaunte
From the typeface that looks like a NYT article.
If you want to look up a good Christmas movie that isn’t your typical ones, watch Tokyo Godfathers. The only place online that seems to have it for streaming is Sony Crackle, crackle.com.
re: #57 BigPapa
The Wife Unit and I have been adjusting our eating and trying to lose weight. One thing I want to do is oatmeal, the real kind without the added sugars, in the AM, and smush banana or ripe mango into it for sweetening. Sorta looking forward to that.
A friend recommended Sriracha on mango. Said that sugars and capsicum hit the same receptors, and at the same time, sugar wins over the capsicum. He pickles habaneros with rice wine vinegar which has a little sugar in it and says it deheats.
Who am I to argue? I’m now hungry.
When I do oatmeal, I get steel cut oats and cook it over night in a crock pot with heavy cream and dried fruit (apricot and apple are my favorite, ).
It blew a hole in the sky
International Space Station view of Sarychev Volcano near Japan pic.twitter.com/ygfpSQcRqD
— Space Explorer Mike (@MichaelGalanin) December 15, 2019
re: #89 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀
It blew a hole in the sky
OK, was tempted to delete, as the clip is like 10 years old
But, leaving it since it’s still an interesting clip
re: #87 William Lewis
When I do oatmeal, I get steel cut oats and cook it over night in a crock pot with heavy cream and dried fruit (apricot and apple are my favorite, ).
Damn, that’s a good idea. I don’t want to take the time to boil water in the am. The steel cut is the good stuff. Wifey wants to get an Instant Pot so maybe that’ll be the trick.
(checks steel cut oatmeal recipes online)
Hell yeah will check this out.
re: #67 BigPapa
Now if I could find an avocado tree.
You could make a fortune selling to millennial toast enthusiasts who apparently can’t afford homes due to their avocado addiction.
re: #84 mmmirele
It’s shit like this that makes me want to bag Christianity and Jesus completely. COMPLETELY.
SMH. All I can say to you is Amen to that. They’ve completely missed the boat.
In which Erick Erickson murders the ever living shit out of Irony, then digs up the corpse, rapes it, and sets it on fire. https://t.co/O8nQioYnwo
— soonergrunt 🇺🇸 (@soonergrunt) December 16, 2019
fucking snowflakes
Watch these two great people talk about the Impeachment Hoax. Will be by far the best hour on television! https://t.co/O8VmH3ipkw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2019
I’ve always said I’ll work with President Trump when he wants to help hard-working men and women, but I’ll also work to hold this Administration accountable #ForThePeople.
We can walk and chew gum at the same time. https://t.co/lky7NINkN1— Rep. Debbie Dingell (@RepDebDingell) December 14, 2019
Congressional Republicans have been complaining that we haven’t gotten testimony from firsthand eyewitnesses whose testimony would clearly contradict the “hearsay” offered by others, so I’m *sure* they’ll support this proposal entirely. https://t.co/RhuZ5X9PVy
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 16, 2019
This really is at the heart of America’s problems*:
*Edit to say, I didn’t mean to snark because I believe it’s symbolic of lots of other problems that adversely affect the powerless.
Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly. So… it’s not gonna. https://t.co/5DA9Eqytmu
— ProPublica (@propublica) December 15, 2019
re: #101 Barefoot Grin
“Why don’t you go where the real money is?”
“Because the poor are defenseless.”
re: #99 jaunte
In which all the testimony requested will be denied and then it will go the SCOTUS, am I correct?
re: #12 Citizen K
Oh stuff it, Diaper Man! pic.twitter.com/bLObNRwb7O
— The 3-D Zanti Regent (@josephebacon) December 16, 2019
re: #14 jaunte
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SO you defend a man who let Wayne Dumond out of prison to rape and kill again. And thanks for slapping the faces of 4 families who lost loved ones to cop killer Maurice Clemmons who also was let out of jail by that bible beating boob!
— The 3-D Zanti Regent (@josephebacon) December 15, 2019
re: #13 BigPapa
It’s been some time but there ain’t nothing like fresh dungies, hot sourdough, and cold chardonnay at Pier 39 in San Franciso.
For me, it’s She-Crab Soup made from scratch! My aunt knew how to make it so good with sherry!
re: #99 jaunte
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The response will (of course) be that they don’t need to hear from any more witnesses because they’ve enough “facts” to declare the whole thing a “hoax,” so they won’t “waste time” doing exactly what they insisted Dems refused to do and “negotiate” with the White House to secure testimony from Mulvaney or Bolton.
This country is drowning in assholery. In business, more and more managers increase productivity simply by bearing down harder on increasingly helpless workers. Too many managers are stupid, lazy and dishonest because they don’t have to be anything else. Our system allows, indeed rewards, this. Something has to give. As Nick Hanauer said 5 years ago, the pitchforks are coming.
Every proposal in here is imminently reasonable unless your goal is to sweep things under the rug for the president, which of course is what McConnell is promising. But that choice puts Collins, Gardner and other swing state R’s in a tough spot. https://t.co/K7vNgkBnC1
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) December 16, 2019
re: #110 jaunte
Susan Collins is also answering to her husband, and probably also realizes she’s going to lose next year. Who wants to do business with the husband of a woman who helped try the president?
re: #96 Backwoods_Sleuth
Best hour on television? Nah. Actually it was March 5, 2016 and it was 1 hour and 35 minutes. The last regular episode of Downton Abbey.
re: #110 jaunte
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In a sane world, it would also put the WH in a tough spot, arguing publicly against allowing any of its staff to testify but demanding that Dems agree to allow Schiff, Pelosi, and the WB to testify.
re: #111 Belafon
Susan Collins is also answering to her husband, and probably also realizes she’s going to lose next year. Who wants to do business with the husband of a woman who helped try the president?
Had to google. I had zero faith that she would do the right thing anyway, but now I’d call her pro-trump vote a certainty.
re: #109 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
This country is drowning in assholery. In business, more and more managers increase productivity simply by bearing down harder on increasingly helpless workers.
Still ceaselessly amazing to me that in the 80s we were sold a “trickle” and not only did we white people accept this as a great deal but 40 damn years later are on TV talking about civil war if we can’t keep our trickle system even though (the kicker) THERE NEVER WAS A TRICKLE.
— A.R. Moxon (@JuliusGoat) December 16, 2019
So I went and got my free Kinder Bueno candy bar… and, well, meh.
Like so many of these European confections, palm kernel oil is a key component. Yuck.
It was ok as a freebie, but I won’t be buying any.
re: #115 jaunte
Necessary reading from @umairh: This is How a Society Dies - https://t.co/D7q2Zf4Gdh
— Carne Ross (@carneross) December 14, 2019
That brings me to arrogance. What’s astonishing about our elites is how…arrogant they are…and how ignorant they are…at precisely the same time. Finland just elected a 34 year old woman as a Prime Minister from the Social Democrats. Finland is a society that outperforms ours in every way — every way — imaginable. Finnish happiness is way, way higher — and so is life expectancy, mobility, savings, real incomes, trust, among others. And yet instead of learning a thing from a miracle like that, our elites profess to know a better way…while they’ve run our societies into the ground. What the? Hubris would be an understatement. I don’t think the English language has a word for this weird, fatal combination of arrogance amidst ignorance. Maybe cocksure stupidity comes close.
Read the whole thing - devastatingly accurate assessment of how America set itself on fire so “those people” would burn.
re: #110 jaunte
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Reading the comments to that tweet is absolutely illuminating, mostly in how wingnuts are so stuffed into their own little reality that they don’t get that McConnell’s leverage with regards to the Senate “trial” is limited at best and non-existent at worst.
In the minds of several of them, all McConnell has to do is impose Federal Rules of Evidence, declare that all the testimony heard in the House as “hearsay,” and move to either dismiss or acquit on the argument that no evidence exists to show Trump did anything wrong.
Feds bust illegal streaming service bigger than Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu https://t.co/Gh9Ae8Q0kG pic.twitter.com/L8bVMzWv7l
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 16, 2019
The Defense Department inspector general’s office announced that it has substantiated accusations that a former Trump appointee engaged in a “pattern” of sexual harassment of employees.https://t.co/J5RuQtG1gq
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) December 16, 2019
re: #109 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
This country is drowning in assholery. In business, more and more managers increase productivity simply by bearing down harder on increasingly helpless workers. Too many managers are stupid, lazy and dishonest because they don’t have to be anything else. Our system allows, indeed rewards, this. Something has to give. As Nick Hanauer said 5 years ago, the pitchforks are coming.
rant on…
No shit. My office is full of highly-compensated tech people, some of whom are specialists in networking, telecom, server management, that sort of thing, and some, like me, who are generalists very good at getting everyone on the phone and working through a (potentially) serious problem. But did they bother to ask us about the room they were building out for us? No!
So here we are, we have this huge room, desks all lined up in a row, with the monitors ALL AT THE SAME HEIGHT, and the room is freezing. (It was 66.5F on Friday.) Every day I finish with a major crick in the neck because I have to point my head in an unnatural fashion to look at the monitors. I HURT at night. Yet getting someone in to fix the height of the monitors is like asking for the moon or something, because this room was supposed to be perfect. It’s not.
I was at the optometrist’s on Saturday, picking out a new pair of frames for glasses and I just drooled at the optician’s setup—at the right height, very nicely done, and here I am working for a big employer that has a group that all they do is workplace ergonomics, but in order to get them in, I have to take a class and work to adjust my workspace myself. All I can do is raise or lower my chair and my desktop, and neither are my problem. I’ve got the chair all the way up and the desktop all the way down, but the monitor bottoms are still at a craptastic 8.5 inches from the desktop.
Yesterday, my brother got tired of me whining about how I needed a wool sweater and threw a catalog at me, told me to pick one out and he’d buy me one, so I did. At least when the major management comes in sometime early in the New Year to look at the new office, I’ll look spiffy in my charcoal gray wool sweater, my black fingerless gloves, my long sleeved shirt and my nifty red slacks and boots. Dressed more for a day outside, not for a day in a room that should not be 66.5 degrees with these damnable monitors.
/end rant
I liked The Dark Knight and I think Ledger’s Joker is one of the best. I had a thought, after seeing a clip of him being used as a meme: Imagine if it had been made after Deadpool and Logan and wasn’t afraid to go rated R.
We’re decades into this pathetic “can’t say Christmas” propaganda. Pretty much my entire adult life.
I’m here to tell you it has never ever been even the tiniest bit true. It’s just to stir up racism and rage. Kinda obviously, I guess.
Grotesque spectacle of a country. Shame. https://t.co/vWy4EPfz4K— Bill Corbett (@BillCorbett) December 16, 2019
Huh! “The ‘everybody-does-it’ defense falls flat: only about one in five, 22 percent, think presidents typically ask leaders of foreign countries to investigate domestic political rivals. Among Republicans, 33 percent think that is common behavior.” https://t.co/BYO2AJLwNZ pic.twitter.com/ZiCiYcqjEx
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 15, 2019
The narrative of the past week — that impeachment is hurting Democrats broadly — is refuted by this Fox poll.
👉The question has really been ab what independents think.
👉Also far more are viewing GOP conduct as political than Dem. conduct. https://t.co/1Ax6nuxzCy— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) December 15, 2019
re: #123 jaunte
We’re decades into this pathetic “can’t say Christmas” propaganda. Pretty much my entire adult life.
This isn’t tricky. If I know what you celebrate, I wish you a good Christmas/Hannukah/Fast/Festivus. If it’s not obvious, you get “Happy Holiday”. So has it always been.
re: #127 Decatur Deb
You would think at some point their audience would connect with their real life experience of always getting to say Merry Christmas without any pushback, but no.
“Merry Christmas saying must be forbidden somewhere, the news is always talking about it.”
re: #129 jaunte
“Merry Christmas saying must be forbidden somewhere, the news is always talking about it.”
It’s not about the mythology, it’s about the fucking good will.
re: #128 jaunte
You would think at some point their audience would connect with their real life experience of _______________________, but no.
always getting to say Merry Christmas without any pushback
walking out their door every day and not being robbed by blacks
seeing hardworking Latinos
seeing promises that tax cuts will make their lives better not happening
etc.
Rand Paul [Peanuts adult voice]: “wa wa waa waa wa” https://t.co/sm76zKLYVR
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) December 16, 2019
re: #123 jaunte
Christian friends of mine go out of their way to write “Merry CHRISTmas!!!” Such an annoying lot.
re: #133 Ace Rothstein
Christian friends of mine go out of their way to write “Merry CHRISTmas!!!” Such an annoying lot.
Ugh, what a bunch of self-centered assholes.
re: #132 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀
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The level of pretzelization that is going on in the GOP ranks to argue that Trump wasn’t trying to corrupt the 2020 elections by siccing Ukraine on the Bidens is just fascinating to watch. In six months, I expect them to be screaming that Trump never even mentioned the name “Biden” to Zelensky.
re: #133 Ace Rothstein
I hope they aren’t putting up any pagan fir trees.
re: #133 Ace Rothstein
Christian friends of mine go out of their way to write “Merry CHRISTmas!!!” Such an annoying lot.
I’m reminded that the anti-ChristMAS Puritan elders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony would have fined them or WORSE for their perfidy. To them, Christmas was popish foolery and not to be celebrated in the least.
re: #137 jaunte
Or singing carols, since that originated with drunken pagan Europeans dancing around stone circles.
re: #130 Decatur Deb
It’s not about the mythology, it’s about the fucking good will.
I had a right wing friend go ballistic from the abbreviation Xmas - never mind that was started by people trying to remind of Christ and the Cross :)
But really, maybe we would have been better off if the Puritans had won on it and it remained a purely religious holiday - as a nation we’d be over it by now.
re: #139 Ace Rothstein
Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays Merry Christmas!
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam
If you want to be happy in a million ways
For the holidays Merry Christmas! you can’t beat home sweet home!
re: #141 jaunte
Oh, there’s no place like home for the
holidaysMerryChristCHRISTmas!
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam
If you wanna to be happy in a million ways
For theholidaysMerryChristCHRISTmas! you can’t beat home sweet home!
re: #140 William Lewis
I had a right wing friend go ballistic from the abbreviation Xmas - never mind that was started by people trying to remind of Christ and the Cross :)
But really, maybe we would have been better off if the Puritans had won on it and it remained a purely religious holiday - as a nation we’d be over it by now.
Our ancient nuns were mildly anti-“X”, said it was lazy. (Especially if not written fully in the Palmer Method.)
Really, people who go out of their way to be religiously obnoxious are doing it just to draw attention to themselves and appear pious in front of others. It’s every bit as hypocritical as Jesus accused the Pharisees of being in his day.
re: #133 Ace Rothstein
Christian friends of mine go out of their way to write “Merry CHRISTmas!!!” Such an annoying lot.
I deal with those radical Xtains on the job. “We’re going to say ‘Merry CHRISTmas’ no matter what…even at Starbucks”.
Doesn’t stop there with them. Once of them ordered food as “Mary Christmas” and when the guard desk called me I had no clue who ordered the food, so it went back…then the same thing with another food order…
“Happy Holidays” is a phrase that historical evidence shows has been around since at least the 16th century, and in popular American usage as far back as 1863. Companies have been using it to hock goods for the Christmas season as far back as the 1910s. So the idea that it’s a phrase of contemporary vintage created by corporations being “PC” is total horseshit.
What is a recent phrase? “War on Christmas,” with roots in the far-right freakouts of the early 00’s. Like so much of the projection that has gone on ever since the GOP rebranded themselves as the party of “family values,” the idea that “Happy Holidays” is an attempt to be “PC” is really all about whipping the evangelicals into an annual froth over a manufactured “War” that is portrayed as trying to reduce their influence on American culture.
re: #145 Joe Bacon 🌹
The real agenda is forcing other people to say it.
re: #124 Belafon
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So basically, after a month of WH/GOP “defense” of Trump (i.e., hysterical denialism, high-volume deflection, conspiracy-theory handwaving, etc.), they’ve succeeded in moving the needle on impeachment ONE percentage point. IN FAVOR of impeachment and removal.
Swell job, guys..
re: #149 Jay C
So basically, after a month of WH/GOP “defense” of Trump (i.e., hysterical denialism, high-volume deflection, conspiracy-theory handwaving, etc.), they’ve succeeded in moving the needle on impeachment ONE percentage point. IN FAVOR of impeachment and removal.
Swell job, guys..
How bad are the polls on impeachment for Trump? So bad that I’ve seen wingnuts forced to argue that the polls that really matter are the ones in swing states. That the national polls aren’t reliable because if Trump is doing well in the swing state polls, then it means impeachment is gonna hurt Dems in November.
re: #139 Ace Rothstein
Or singing carols, since that originated with drunken pagan Europeans dancing around stone circles.
Loved the way the Italian kids in our town did it. They combined Christmas caroling with Trick-or-treat while collecting lire “for the Church”. It went funny- bad one year because we weren’t on their postal system and our mailbox speaker was disconnected. When we didn’t notice them at the end of the long driveway, they put an M-80 in the box. That stirred up the carabinieri, because isolated American families were on their watchlist.
Here is the holy vandals Christmas carol:
there’s basically a self-imposed embargo in this information from DC press, which is running with Dems Failed Impeachment narrative
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) December 16, 2019
For those who are interested, Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced that John Frusciante is returning to the band.
re: #152 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀
The big difference is that Republicans were going to Nixon and telling him he had to resign or they would vote him out. The news control now is to keep GOP senators in line.
It kills me to hear grifter class entrepreneurs respond to critics by asking, “Have YOU ever had to make payroll?” as though you have to have people working for you to qualify for an opinion on economics, taxation, etc.
My response is, hell yes, I did make payroll and more importantly, making payroll is no great achievement and you are a sad excuse for a business manager if you have to sweat it every cycle. Making payroll is the very least you can do, the absolute minimum requirement, for staying in business. In Texas they have a surprisingly strict payday law, in that it has criminal as well as civil penalties, including jail time. As I told one grubber, they will seize not just you assets but your ass if you fail to pay people their due wages.
re: #149 Jay C
So basically, after a month of WH/GOP “defense” of Trump (i.e., hysterical denialism, high-volume deflection, conspiracy-theory handwaving, etc.), they’ve succeeded in moving the needle on impeachment ONE percentage point. IN FAVOR of impeachment and removal.
Swell job, guys..
Josh Marshall was writing the other day that for all of the people worrying about the boomerang effect, the public was against Clinton being impeached and responded by re-electing him.
As you pointed out, and as even a Fox News poll shows, the public wants Trump impeached, if not gone outright. Although I get the feeling far too many Americans think that impeachment is removal.
I really hope that’s the case. Because if it’s one thing that Trump, the GOP and the various and sundry MAGAts have show over the last three years, the Constitution doesn’t mean jack shit if one party is in a full-on power grab.
re: #154 Belafon
The big difference is that Republicans were going to Nixon and telling him he had to resign or they would vote him out. The news control now is to keep GOP senators in line.
It helps to remember that when Nixon resigned roughly a week after the 18 min of “missing” tape was turned over, the public was actually capable of being shocked about what the man had done and had ordered be done. We totally lack that here, to the point that I doubt even the release of the actual transcript from its password-protected hiding spot would do much to sway his supporters that he needs to go. When Nixon resigned, it was because even the party faithful believed he’d crossed the line. If Trump resigns, it will be despite the party faithful believing that he can do no wrong.
re: #156 Mattand
Half the country thinks impeachment is unconstitutional.
re: #140 William Lewis
I had a right wing friend go ballistic from the abbreviation Xmas - never mind that was started by people trying to remind of Christ and the Cross :)
But really, maybe we would have been better off if the Puritans had won on it and it remained a purely religious holiday - as a nation we’d be over it by now.
I purposely write “Xmas” anymore: partly to piss off any Xmas warriors out there, and partly because it’s faster.
I saw a War on Xmas meme today that, surprise, surprise, was a sentence entirely bereft of proper capitalization. I mentioned that author of the meme should ask Jesus to leave some remedial grammar lessons under the tree this year.
re: #156 Mattand
Josh Marshall was writing the other day that for all of the people worrying about the boomerang effect, the public was against Clinton being impeached and responded by re-electing him.
As you pointed out, and as even a Fox News poll shows, the public wants Trump impeached, if not gone outright. Although I get the feeling far too many Americans think that impeachment is removal.
I really hope that’s the case. Because if it’s one thing that Trump, the GOP and the various and sundry MAGAts have show over the last three years, the Constitution doesn’t mean jack shit if one party is in a full-on power grab.
Part of the reason Moscow Mitch is trying to avoid a Senate trial is having a presiding judge will make it look more formal, and I think some of the Republican voters - like my coworkers - who are confused by the current news coverage, will ending up getting a much clearer picture of what is going on.
I also think putting Amash on the House group arguing for impeachment would be a good idea.
re: #158 Ace Rothstein
Half the country thinks impeachment is unconstitutional.
More than half the country thinks “freedom of speech” means “freedom from criticism” and that “freedom of religion” translates into “the US is a Christian theocracy”.
We ain’t the brightest bulbs on the planet at times.
re: #156 Mattand
Josh Marshall was writing the other day that for all of the people worrying about the boomerang effect, the public was against Clinton being impeached and responded by re-electing him.
As you pointed out, and as even a Fox News poll shows, the public wants Trump impeached, if not gone outright. Although I get the feeling far too many Americans think that impeachment is removal.
I really hope that’s the case. Because if it’s one thing that Trump, the GOP and the various and sundry MAGAts have show over the last three years, the Constitution doesn’t mean jack shit if one party is in a full-on power grab.
IIRC, the polls regarding Clinton’s impeachment never got above 45%, with a lot of disapproval over how the Repubs were handling the whole mess. And even at his worst, Bill’s job approval number dipped below 56% from the moment he denied having an affair til the day the Senate voted against his removal. While his personal approval numbers tanked and have never fully recovered, that wasn’t enough to sink his presidency.
re: #160 Belafon
Part of the reason Moscow Mitch is trying to avoid a Senate trial is having a presiding judge will make it look more formal, and I think some of the Republican voters - like my coworkers - who are confused by the current news coverage, will ending up getting a much clearer picture of what is going on.
I also think putting Amash on the House group arguing for impeachment would be a good idea.
I just read something in the last half hour that was along the lines of “Trump didn’t get a fair trial in House”.
Shoot me now…
A California-based immigrant rights group, Freedom for Immigrants, is suing the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for shutting down a toll-free hotline that gave detained immigrants the ability to report custody issues. The group filed a lawsuit last week to reinstate its National Detention Hotline, a free and confidential source.Freedom for Immigrants created the hotline in 2013 to allow immigrants in custody to not only connect with their families, but find resources, and report physical and verbal abuse. The hotline was shut down Aug. 7 by ICE, two weeks after it was featured in the final season of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.
Characters in the show discretely shared the number for the hotline and even warned one another to be careful. “You have to be careful, though. Apparently, if they figure out that you’re using the hotline, Big Brother shuts it down.” The warning became true when ICE later blocked all access to the hotline stating it was not a government-approved assistance provider.
According to Los Angeles Magazine, ICE told Freedom for Immigrants that toll-free numbers for pro bono attorneys and organizations must be approved by the Executive Office for Immigration Review and that those not on the list are removed from the system. ICE standards allow detainees to make free calls to make free calls to legal service providers on the approved list “for the purpose of obtaining initial legal representation.”
re: #164 Mattand
The hearings in the House are like a grand jury, for fuck’s sake.
Don’t know if anyone here saw this, but Newtown High School (CT.) won the state championship on a last-second play on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.
FINAL — Oh. My. God. Street hits Riley Ward for a 36-yard game winning touchdown as time expires in the fourth quarter. Newtown 13, Darien 7. The Nighthawks (13-0) are your Class LL state champions. pic.twitter.com/qCIF3E5Ruu
— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) December 14, 2019
Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly.
So… it’s not gonna. https://t.co/H9AAKGj3yc— ProPublica (@propublica) December 15, 2019
Here’s your feel good story, and something to keep fighting for: Single Dad Fostered 33 Kids, And Just Adopted Five Tots Before They Were To Be Forever Separated.. I am only going to copy the last part because you just need to go read it:
Single father of 12, Lamont Thomas.
A very good man.
re: #168 Dread Pirate
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I don’t qualify as poor, but this is why I report every penny that comes in. I figure that a small time freelancer is a more inviting, easier target than even a medium-sized corporation.
Regarding the Cyriak video.
Who knew the Elder Gods were teddy bears and some sort of sheep thingies?
re: #156 Mattand
Josh Marshall was writing the other day that for all of the people worrying about the boomerang effect, the public was against Clinton being impeached and responded by re-electing him.
Impeachment happened after he won a second term, though:
The impeachment of Bill Clinton was initiated on October 8, 1998, when the United States House of Representatives voted to commence impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, for “high crimes and misdemeanors”. The specific charges against Clinton were lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
So…I wonder what Josh Marshall actually meant?
re: #140 William Lewis
I had a right wing friend go ballistic from the abbreviation Xmas - never mind that was started by people trying to remind of Christ and the Cross :)
But really, maybe we would have been better off if the Puritans had won on it and it remained a purely religious holiday - as a nation we’d be over it by now.
Claire Connor described that very trope: Raging over “XMAS” was a John Birch ratfuck.
And Jesus is not the reason for the season.
BREAKING NEWS: Schumer’s proposal to McConnell. If he rejects these reasonable ground rules & insists on a non-trial, the House should consider treating that as a breach of the Senate’s oath & withholding the Articles until the Senate reconsidershttps://t.co/a9zbBywFBG
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) December 16, 2019
re: #172 Interesting Times
Impeachment happened after he won a second term, though:
So…I wonder what Josh Marshall actually meant?
It means I fucked up remembering the article. I think he was talking about the congressional elections where the Dems picked up seats. Sorry about that.
re: #172 Interesting Times
Impeachment happened after he won a second term, though:
So…I wonder what Josh Marshall actually meant?
I was wondering too: Josh should know his political history better than that. As I recall, Clinton’s impeachment (and subsequent inconclusive Senate trial) basically did little to affect his polling numbers one way or another. What it did do, IIRC, was affect Al Gore’s election chances in 2000: As I remember it*, he was loath to associate himself too closely with Clinton, and lukewarm about having Bill campaign for him, presumably because he was afraid the scandal-stink would cling to him (and having Designated Moral Scold Joe Lieberman as a running mate didn’t help much).
*quite possibly unclearly
re: #175 Mattand OK. Never mind.
re: #176 Jay C
I was wondering too: Josh should know his political history better than that: As I recall, Clinton’s impeachment (and subsequent inconclusive Senate trial) basically did little to affect his polling numbers one way or another. What it did do, IIRC, was affect Al Gore’s election chances in 2000: As I remember it*, he was loath to associate himself too closely with Clinton, and lukewarm about having Bill campaign for him, presumably because he was afraid the scandal-stink would cling to him (and having Designated Moral Scold Joe Lieberman didn’t help much).
*quite possibly unclearly
That’s what I remember of it too. A lot of it from his advisers basically steering him away from any sort of association with Clinton and being as milquetoast and inoffensive as possible to avoid any kind of attachment to the impeachment process.
re: #168 Dread Pirate
This isn’t exactly ground breaking. I’ve been seeing articles about the need to increase funding for the IRS for the last 2 decades. The underfunding is done deliberately to make it impossible for the IRS to do more than its basic functions. It doesn’t have the resources to hire the numbers of high caliber lawyers and forensic accountants it needs to go after the high dollar tax frauds.
I see a lot of people in the responses going, yeah but they could get lots of money from those big tax cheats. The problem is the IRS isn’t structured that way - they don’t get to keep the money they get from the audits, so hiring the expensive lawyers, auditors and accountants doesn’t do much for them. They’re better off with more boots on the ground to carry out the basic work of the organization.
There’s fixes to this - one is to just give them more money. Another is to allow the IRS to keep a portion of the funds obtained from high value cases to supplement their budget.
From downstairs:
re: #107 BigPapa
This piece in Rolling Stone is epic:
False Idol — Why the Christian Right Worships Donald Trump
By ALEX MORRIS
It’s articles like this that can persuade people that there was merit to Karl Marx argument that “Religion is the opium of the people”. There are so many who are inspired by their religion to help others but too many are captured by a prosperity gospel or by white evangelicals and other conservatives (such as William Barr) who have an outsized presence in the public arena and who use their religion to bludgeon others.
re: #178 Weaselone
This isn’t exactly ground breaking. I’ve been seeing articles about the need to increase funding for the IRS for the last 2 decades. The underfunding is done deliberately to make it impossible for the IRS to do more than its basic functions. It doesn’t have the resources to hire the numbers of high caliber lawyers and forensic accountants it needs to go after the high dollar tax frauds.
I see a lot of people in the responses going, yeah but they could get lots of money from those big tax cheats. The problem is the IRS isn’t structured that way - they don’t get to keep the money they get from the audits, so hiring the expensive lawyers, auditors and accountants doesn’t do much for them. They’re better off with more boots on the ground to carry out the basic work of the organization.
There’s fixes to this - one is to just give them more money. Another is to allow the IRS to keep a portion of the funds obtained from high value cases to supplement their budget.
You’d have to figure out a way to make it more costly for rich people to buy Congressmen than it would be to go through an audit.
re: #170 Mattand
As a freelancer myself, as long as you’re consistent every year, you’ll probably never get into any trouble.
re: #180 Belafon
You’d have to figure out a way to make it more costly for rich people to buy Congressmen than it would be to go through an audit.
You’d have to find a way to make most Americans care first. In general, they don’t like the IRS so the reality that it’s chronically underfunded doesn’t register with them.
re: #180 Belafon
You’d have to figure out a way to make it more costly for rich people to buy Congressmen than it would be to go through an audit.
The problem is that, as mentioned above, these tax returns are extremely complex and require excessive resources and extreme expertise to untangle efforts to deceive auditors. Indeed, it is possible that the accountants working for the IRS do not have the level of knowledge of arcane practices to untangle the returns.
“I never thought Leopards would eat *my* face, sobs broadcaster who mortgaged its integrity for the Leopards Eating Faces Party.” https://t.co/VhMxNrCToY
— Andrew James Christmasname (@Carter_AndrewJ) December 15, 2019
Forget that; they’re actually going to be for putting guns in civilian hands, aren’t they?
Really very few differences between English and American-Southerner mindsets, I fear (and a major argument that the Scots kept the UK sane for the last half-century).— Merry Chrysimas [no, Karen is my SISTER!] (@chrysicat) December 16, 2019
re: #145 Joe Bacon 🌹
Doesn’t stop there with them. Once of them ordered food as “Mary Christmas” and when the guard desk called me I had no clue who ordered the food, so it went back…then the same thing with another food order…
You know Mary - she married Warren Christmas.
re: #145 Joe Bacon 🌹
I deal with those radical Xtains on the job. “We’re going to say ‘Merry CHRISTmas’ no matter what…even at Starbucks”.
Doesn’t stop there with them. Once of them ordered food as “Mary Christmas” and when the guard desk called me I had no clue who ordered the food, so it went back…then the same thing with another food order…
I bet they followed up by giving the restaurant a bad review.
re: #185 Grunthos the Flatulent
You know Mary - she married Warren Christmas.
I met a woman named Carrie Grant. She had to explain to people that she married into that name.
re: #115 jaunte
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Trickle down really means golden parachutes for the rich and golden showers for everyone else!
re: #109 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
This country is drowning in assholery. In business, more and more managers increase productivity simply by bearing down harder on increasingly helpless workers. Too many managers are stupid, lazy and dishonest because they don’t have to be anything else. Our system allows, indeed rewards, this. Something has to give. As Nick Hanauer said 5 years ago, the pitchforks are coming.
Don’t get me started about the agency I work for where the motto is “Do More With Less” ever since I started working for it in…1978!
re: #158 Ace Rothstein
Half the country thinks impeachment is unconstitutional.
Meanwhile the Republican 24/7 Bullshit Machine is cranked up to 11 calling for the impeachment of Pelosi and Schiff!
re: #187 Belafon
I met a woman named Carrie Grant. She had to explain to people that she married into that name.
I went to college with a guy named Brook Trout.
I last saw him at a reunion; he brought his daughter Rainbow.
re: #189 Joe Bacon 🌹
Don’t get me started about the agency I work for where the motto is “Do More With Less” ever since I started working for it in…1978!
So by now you must be doing everything with nothing.
re: #179 Hecuba’s daughter
From downstairs:
It’s articles like this that can persuade people that there was merit to Karl Marx argument that “Religion is the opium of the people”. There are so many who are inspired by their religion to help others but too many are captured by a prosperity gospel or by white evangelicals and other conservatives (such as William Barr) who have an outsized presence in the public arena and who use their religion to bludgeon others.
Well, people are always looking for excuses to be dicks to other people.
And religion is a favourite excuse.
re: #189 Joe Bacon 🌹
Don’t get me started about the agency I work for where the motto is “Do More With Less” ever since I started working for it in…1978!
I started with the Feds in 1962 with the same motto. Actually, that motto was in effect every one of the 45 years I worked for them. Someone always asked “Where do I cut and what target(s) should I give up?” and there is never an answer.
re: #32 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Food retail in this country pretty much is in the hands for four megacorps:
Albertsons-Safeway
Kroeger
Walmart
Amazon.
Yeah, our local Giant Eagle is closing up. Walmart up the road has killed them.
re: #191 sagehen
I went to college with a guy named Brook Trout.
I last saw him at a reunion; he brought his daughter Rainbow.
Is that a true story?
Sounds fishy to me…
re: #191 sagehen
I went to college with a guy named Brook Trout.
I last saw him at a reunion; he brought his daughter Rainbow.
There’s something fishy about that story.
re: #36 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus
Aldi trying a push in the US, but I’m not sure if the fact that they mostly sell their house brands is going to help or hurt them. Frankly, I have no problem paying a few pennies more for a name brand if the packaging is better, etc.
They’re doing just fine here in my little NW PA town. They just renovated their store to add a little more space on the property.
re: #187 Belafon
I met a woman named Carrie Grant. She had to explain to people that she married into that name.
In California when I was a kid I lived next door to a kid named Charlie Brown. And I went to high school with a kid named Robin Hood.
Alone in a Bathroom: The Fear and Uncertainty of a Post-Roe Medication Abortion Angel tucked two white pills into each side of her mouth, bracing herself as they began to dissolve. Her deepest fears and anxieties took over. Angel had wanted to talk to a doctor before she took the pills to ...
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They Were Desperate to Get Pregnant. Then IVF Gave Them Extra Embryos. One morning last spring, Ashley Harrolle put her 1-year-old daughter down for a nap and went to the kitchen. She pulled up her fertility clinic’s contact information. It was time to make the call. In a freezer several hundred ... Cheechako
Joe Bacon ✅
March FavoritesYou've seen these all already but looking back, just because. These are my favorite shots of this last month. That 1937 Zeiss Sonnar is such a gloriously wonderful bit of glass. Thanks for looking.
William Lewis
Russia’s New Combat Robots Blown Up by Drones Near Avdiivka When we landed on the moon, I thought about how science fiction had become real. Now, the robot wars have begun. It's more poignant somehow on the ground than in the missile wars we have in the air as ...
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Why Did More Than 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force That Isn’t Meant to Kill? An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that, over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun guns, body blows and other force not intended to be lethal. More: Why ... CheechakoKGxvi
Abortions Outside Medical System Increased Sharply After Roe Fell, Study Finds The number of women using abortion pills to end their pregnancies on their own without the direct involvement of a U.S.-based medical provider rose sharply in the months after the Supreme Court eliminated a constitutional right to abortion, according ... Cheechako
Once Praised, the Settlement to Help Sickened BP Oil Spill Workers Leaves Most With Nearly Nothing When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired ... Cheechako
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ... Cheechako
