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Waiting for the Snowpocalypse and Open Thread

The news in Colorado all week has been dominated by the massive and "historic" snowstorm expected to hit the state this weekend. At 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, downtown Denver has yet to see a single snowflake. I won't be surprised if it passes right over Denver and hits Ft Collins or Greely on its way north to Cheyenne.

I'll be upset if that happens. I want my Snowpocalypse. I braved the grocery and liquor stores Thursday where goods and foods and bottles of beverages were flying off the shelves faster than the employees could restock them. I got sucked into the mindset of the masses, stocking up on things I'll never use unless there's a big storm like flashlights, candles, an extra blanket. You better believe I want my snow storm. [More...]

If it arrives though, it won't be the pretty white fluff we love to make snowballs with and play in. It will be the wet kind . the heavy kind, that causes roofs to cave in and power lines to go out. I've been there and done that and I'm hoping that isn't what is instore for us these next few days.

These storms don't come around as much as you think. Christmas Eve 1982 is the one I remember most because the TL kid and I were flying home from New York during its aftermath and the minute we landed it went from a wonderful vacation to pure misery. So many people camping out on the floors of the airport. No luggage, no way to get home for many many hours, stolen luggage, stolen ID and credit cards and on and on. I did remember to give the TL kid two gold stars for his jacket because he had become an "A++ flyer" as I called it. He was happy as a clam walking around the airport, holding my hand with his chest all puffed up with pride.

If snow is in your forecast feel free to tell us a snow story. If not, tell us something else. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Smart (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 02:45:13 PM EST
    Only the people ON Sunday shows, and their friends and family,  still think they matter

    Playbook: "President Joe Biden just signed the first BFD of his administration -- a massive Covid relief bill to boost the fortunes of everyday Americans. But you barely heard a peep about it from his own administration on the Sunday shows. Yes, Biden is hitting the road this week to sell the package. But on his way out the door, he skipped a major audience on Sunday -- a day many people will actually sit back and watch something of substance, hence the gangbuster ratings for CBS' 60 Minutes."



    Sally Grossman has died.. (5.00 / 1) (#41)
    by desertswine on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 11:29:06 PM EST
    You'll recognize her picture.

    Ms. Grossman died on Thursday at her home in the Bearsville section of Woodstock, N.Y., not far from the house where the photograph was taken. She had long been a fixture in Woodstock, operating a recording studio, a theater and other businesses there after her husband died of a heart attack at 59 in 1986. She was 81.

    One of Bob Dylan's most important early albums, "Bringing It All Back Home" from 1965, has the kind of cover that can strain eyes and fuel speculation. It is a photograph of Mr. Dylan, in a black jacket, sitting in a room full of bric-a-brac that may or may not mean something, staring into the camera as a woman in a red outfit lounges in the background.


    She was apparently the wife (none / 0) (#43)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 10:28:06 AM EST
    of Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman. The photo was taken in the Grossmans' home. Many record album covers can be glimpsed in that cover photo from artists who were influences and inspirations to Dylan, including Dave Van Ronk, Robert Johnson, and the Motown group, the Persuasions.

    Parent
    Great (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 03:55:06 PM EST

    Ammon Bundy Arrested for Failure to Appear in Court

    March 16, 2021 at 4:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 110 Comments

    "Ammon Bundy, who was to go on trial after being charged with trespassing in the Idaho Statehouse last year, was arrested Monday after he refused to wear a mask in court," CNN reports.

    "According to Ada County Sheriff spokesperson Patrick Orr, the Idaho Supreme Court has a mask mandate for anyone entering a courthouse, but when Bundy showed up Monday morning for the first day of his jury trial he wouldn't wear one and was denied entry."



    It will change our understanding (5.00 / 1) (#134)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 07:51:59 AM EST
    of the universe and our place in it.

    And it's FINALLY going up in October.  Unless it's delayed.   Again.  By some stupid shite like the Space Farce.

    The James Webb Space Telescope

    Can't take a joke? (5.00 / 1) (#135)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 08:25:06 AM EST
    Who Would Believe Me?

    March 23, 2021 at 9:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 51 Comments

    "Facing more than $1.3 billion in liabilities over her post-election conspiracy theories, lawyer Sidney Powell told a judge that the defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems filed against her earlier this year should be dismissed because `no reasonable person' would believe that her well-publicized comments about an international plot against former President Donald Trump were `statements of fact,'" according to Law & Crime.

    She should be forced to explain this face to face to the dead policeman's family.

    She seems (5.00 / 2) (#136)
    by KeysDan on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 09:05:50 AM EST
    to have made a choice between potential  personal bankruptcy and possible disbarment.  Ms. Powell may wind up getting both.

    Parent
    It's not enough (5.00 / 3) (#137)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 09:14:36 AM EST
    What KeysDan said. Her defense to the Dominion (5.00 / 2) (#138)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 12:15:12 PM EST
    defamation suit is an open admission that she filed those "Kraken" election challenges in court without a good faith belief in their alleged factual basis. Which is a clear violation of lawyers' professional ethics rules. A desperate move.

    Parent
    She is also saying, I suppose, that (5.00 / 2) (#139)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 12:22:12 PM EST
    a clear majority of Republicans (including or not including herself? I'm confused) are not reasonable people, since the polling said that most Rs believed her b/s (including Rudy G) and did not believe the official Presidential election results.

    Parent
    Besides that, (5.00 / 1) (#151)
    by Peter G on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 08:20:13 AM EST
    "helpful" only needs one L at the end.

    Learning to sew (5.00 / 1) (#152)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 09:26:09 AM EST
    My cousin from Sonoma is coming to visit in May.  At some point I mentioned that I had always wanted to know how to sew and how I had bought a sewing machine at some and could not figure out how to use it and got frustrated and gave it away.  And that it seemed like a skill that might need a tutor to get started.

    That set her off.  Sewing is one of her passions and she is very good at it.  She has decided to make it her mission to teach me how to sew between May 23rd and 28th.

    Just used some stimulus money to buy a sewing machine.

    Wish me luck.

    oh that is very cool! (none / 0) (#153)
    by leap on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 09:41:39 AM EST
    Good for you for doing that! And your cousin.

    Because I had to take Home Ec (sewing and cooking) in the seventh grade, and was not allowed to take shop because I was a girl; I cannot get past my resentments. I wanted to make bird feeders and dust pans, as my brothers did. And do mechanical drawing. I did not want to make collars and dresses with zippers. Feh. Ever since, I have despised the act of sewing. That's many decades of irrational pique. Mom taught me cooking, so I love to do that. Sometimes I do wish I weren't so set, though, because I can sure see the value in knowing how to hem pants and fix tears so that they don't look like Frankenstein's monster's head.

    Does your cousin do anti-sewing therapy?

    Parent

    She might (5.00 / 1) (#154)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 09:57:41 AM EST
    She is kind of obsessive.  You might be sorry you asked.

    That's funny.  When I was in HS I also had to take shop and all that stuff which I found pretty boring. Oddly I might find it more interesting now.

    But I spent almost my entire senior year, and a good deal before that, in the HomeEc room.  Because there was no art teacher.  I was the resident artist, they actually hired an art teacher the year after I graduated because they needed to fill "my position", and the HomeEc room was where all art projects, for the various dances and sports teams,was done.

    Sadly I never learned much about anything HomeEc related.

    Worse I used to watch my mother sew and found it fascinating but never bothered to learn anything about it.  My mother was a seamstress.  She literally supported us that way.  Always regretted I did not learn from her.

    Parent

    My mother (5.00 / 2) (#155)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 10:57:28 AM EST
    was a seamstress and taught me how to sew. Mostly I got frustrated I could not sew as well as she could. Many decades later none of that would bother me. So I am planning to attempt to do some sewing when I retire.

    Parent
    This new GA election law (5.00 / 2) (#172)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 08:17:42 PM EST
    passed today seems unwise.  I'm sure they think it will help them but I think they are seriously underestimating the potential blowback.

    The worst part here is the changes to the certification rules the rest is just going to make people more determined to vote.

    And as a bonus it will probably become the primary argument to pass HR1.  Against all odds.

    Sweeping changes to Georgia elections signed into law



    This is all (5.00 / 3) (#173)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 08:34:09 PM EST
    they have. No ideas, no programs, nothing.  Voter suppression and election stealing are their organizing principles. Can there be any doubt that the Republican Party is fascist?

    Parent
    Makes it a crime to offer food and drink (none / 0) (#175)
    by Peter G on Fri Mar 26, 2021 at 03:29:16 PM EST
    to persons waiting on line to vote, or so I read. Could that be true? Seems bizarre.

    Parent
    You may get your wish Jeralyn. (none / 0) (#1)
    by fishcamp on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 08:34:39 AM EST
    They are preparing for big snow in Aspen, and the Snowmass ski area has extended their closing date for a week, as has Vail.  I remember back during my traveling days we could get all the way to Aspen from Europe in one day...sometimes.  It was difficult to check the Denver weather from Paris or Geneva, and it was always a bummer to leave a nice European hotel to get stuck wandering the hallways of the old Stapleton airport in Denver if Aspen Scareways was not flying.

    I enjoyed our snowpocalypse (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 09:00:13 AM EST
    But it was very cold and very powdery snow.  I heard yours is going to be the the wet kind that brings down trees and power lines.

    Good luck.

    By the time it gets to me it's all rain.

    Next up (none / 0) (#3)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 10:54:41 AM EST
    Following passage of President Joe Biden's relief plan, Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement where she "called upon the Chairs of the Committees of Jurisdiction to work with their Republican counterparts to craft a big, bold, transformational infrastructure package."



    The Democrats (none / 0) (#5)
    by KeysDan on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 11:35:53 AM EST
    will attempt, once again, a bipartisan effort  But, that seems fanciful even though bridges and roads would benefit red and blue constituents.  To pass the senate, projects that impact revenue or spending will require reconciliation; other parts are unlikely to survive.  

    Democrats can talk bipartisanship, but surely they know now, if not before, that Republicans are there to cause failure. While infrastructure is necessary, voting rights (HR1 and John Lewis Voting Advancement) is a priority if we want to not only ride on smooth roads but also, do so while traveling on them in a democracy.  

     That means, at least, carving out filibuster exceptions for voting rights or changing rules on filibuster such as first vote 60, after three days, 55, and after two more days, majority vote-- this gives the cherished bipartisan debate before action.

    Parent

    Read something about (none / 0) (#6)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 11:43:03 AM EST
    A "background check for guns" bill that might test Manchins commitment to his protection of the filibuster.

    Apparently it's something he has worked on for years so it might be important enough to him.  It would never get 60 votes.

    Parent

    This (none / 0) (#9)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 02:30:34 PM EST
    Manchin (none / 0) (#157)
    by MO Blue on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 12:29:53 PM EST
    has stated that he does not support the House bill on background checks.

    Parent
    I'm three episodes into the Woody Allen/Mia Farrow (none / 0) (#4)
    by McBain on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 11:31:36 AM EST
    HBO documentary.  Very one sided so far against Allen.  

    Finished another HBO doc, The Lady and Dale, about conman turned conwoman (Elizabeth Carmichael) who tried to produce a fuel efficient car in the 70s. I didn't know anything about this.  Even with her criminal past Carmichael comes across as sympathetic, and in multiple ways, ahead of her time.

    Anybody Watching "Reframed" on TCM? (none / 0) (#14)
    by RickyJim on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 04:56:34 PM EST
    I am a stubborn cord cutter who refuses to spend any money to watch anything that I can't get for free over the air.  But from the description by Richard Brody in the New Yorker, this series seems to be a very interesting reexamination of some classic Hollywood films from a contemporary woke perspective.  I was watching a DVD (library borrow) of the classic "Annie Get Your Gun" with Betty Hutton recently and my jaw dropped during the scenes of extreme mockery of Native Americans but I can tolerate shows and historical figures that mixed good and bad.

    Parent
    I am now (none / 0) (#15)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 05:27:44 PM EST
    BTW
    this is easy to miss I only recently discovered it.  HBOMAX has links to other stuff like Sundance etc.  TCM is one.  I was happy to discover this because my current SLING package does not have it.

    There is a series running now on STARZ I like very much.

    Luminaries

    Parent

    Frisky Dingo (none / 0) (#16)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 05:44:17 PM EST
    other stuff you find on HBOMAX

    If the staplers in "The Office" were replaced by laser guns, and the sitcom were directed by Quentin Tarantino, the results would look a lot like "Frisky Dingo," an outrageous animated series that makes its debut on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup tomorrow night.

    In traditional superhero cartoons the battle is between good and evil. In "Dingo" it's not so much Manichean as market-driven. "Dingo" is about survival -- and product placement. It's a corporate fight to the death.

    The boss is Killface, who has a skull for a head, cloven hoofs for feet and a way with a phrase.

    --

    "Dingo" (the name apparently means nothing here) plays with tone and audience expectations at every turn. The bad guy can be endearing; the good guy can be a horror. The violence makes the jokes funnier, and the jokes divorce the violence from a moral context. With a light comic touch, "Dingo" expresses some terrifying truths about the corporate world. Not to worry, though. It's just business.



    Parent
    Finished the final episode of Allen/Farrow (none / 0) (#34)
    by McBain on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 11:42:44 AM EST
    It was mostly Farrow's side of the story.  There were video clips of Woody Allen giving press conferences, audio from a memoir and recorded phone conversations where he gives his side but no direct interviews.  I thought this was the worst episode as it felt more like activism than journalism.

    In my original post I referred to the documentary as Woody Allen vs Mia Farrow.  That was true of the first two episodes.  The final two were more about Dylan Farrow and her accusations. Other than here words there isn't much evidence of a crime.

    Since It's impossible for me to know what actually happened, I don't like the movement to cancel Woody Allen films.  

    Parent

    "Cancel" culture (5.00 / 2) (#36)
    by MKS on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 04:21:35 PM EST
    More than 100 years ago, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called non governmental sorting of ideas as the "free trade in ideas" and "the competition of the market," later referred to as the "marketplace of ideas."  Some ideas are tossed in the dustbin of history--by private actors.

    The First Amendment does not guarantee you an audience, that your idea will be respected, or that you will not be criticized.

    Many screaming about "cancel" culture have no problem with the private marketplace weeding out and discarding bad products.  Edsel, anyone?  Eight track tapes?   Cassettes?  CDs?  Anyone crying about eight track tapes being discontinued?

    But when social conservatives' ideas are rejected by the private marketplace, they just whine and moan.  Who are the real snowflakes here?

    Parent

    I have (5.00 / 2) (#38)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 07:35:16 PM EST
    long said conservatives are the real snowflakes. Even when they win elections they whine. Basically they think that everybody else in the country is put here to serve them and should have no rights other than those they are allowed to have by conservatives.

    Parent
    I haven't seen many of Allen's films (none / 0) (#42)
    by McBain on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 08:28:42 AM EST
    in the past 20 years.  In fact, I think he started going downhill about the time Mia Farrow stopped appearing in his work.  But I bet people in this county would still enjoy his new films. The documentary made it seem like decision not to release those wasn't based on true market demand.

    Good to know HBO Max will not remove Allen's older films from it's catalog.

    HBO Max will not remove Woody Allen films from its catalog following the premiere of the streamer's docuseries Allen v. Farrow, which addresses the allegation that the Oscar winner sexually abused his adopted daughter -- an allegation that Allen has steadfastly denied.


    Parent
    FYI, Woody Allen won an Academy Award ... (5.00 / 1) (#75)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 01:48:05 AM EST
    ... for best original screenplay with HIS 2011 film "Midnight in Paris," which received rave reviews and enjoyed great box office. He also received two other Oscar nominations for the same film, Best Picture and Best Director. Two years later, he directed Cate Blanchette to an Oscar-winning performance in the critically acclaimed drama "Blue Jasmine." Both these films post-date his personal / professional relationship with Mia Farrow by 20 years, so your notion that "he started going downhill" is obviously not shared by a lot of people.

    Parent
    A little suprised to hear you say that (none / 0) (#86)
    by McBain on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 01:06:16 PM EST
    Donald, as you have a good knowledge of film. Picking a few exceptions doesn't make a good argument. Even if you add Match Point and Vicky Christina Barcelona, his post 1992 work still doesn't compare to his prior in terms of critical review.  Check out this breakdown on Rotten Tomatoes.

    In the 70s he made classics such as Bananas, Sleeper, Annie Hall and Manhattan.  In the 80s he did Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors (my favorite) among others. Not everything was great but there was a general consistency of quality starting with Take the Money and Run (1969) and ending with Husbands and Wives (1992)

    Part of the decline might have been the loss of Farrow.  Another part might be he got a little too old to play the leading character so he started using other actors.  Even great actors can't play Woody as well as he played himself.  


    Parent

    Your opinion is not sustained by fact. (none / 0) (#90)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 08:06:34 PM EST
    Woody Allen has always been a rather prolific filmmaker in his life, with over 50 movies to his credit as writer, producer or director, sometimes all three at once. Over the past three decades, he's written and directed on average about one picture per year.

    Allen's last film with Mia Farrow was 1992's "Husbands and Wives," for which he received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay. Since then, he's has written and directed about one picture per year. During that period, he's earned eight Oscar nominations for either writing or directing, winning once for the aforementioned "Midnight in Paris".

    Further, four actors in Allen's post-Farrow work (Dianne Wiest in "Bullets Over Broadway", Mira Sorvino in "Mighty Aphrodite", Penelope Cruz in "Vicki Christina Barcelona" and Cate Blanchette in "Blue Jasmine") have won Academy Awards under his direction. And another four actors earned Oscar nominations - Jennifer Tilly and Chazz Palminteri for "Bullets Over Broadway) (1996), and Sean Penn and Samantha Morton for "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999).

    Frankly, we should all be so lucky professionally to be "going downhill" like that. In total, Woody Allen has an astounding 24 Academy Award nominations to his credit and has won four Oscars (three for screenplays, once for directing). One-third of those nominations were earned post-Mia Farrow. 14 actors have either won Oscars or received Oscar nominations for their work in Allen's films. No other filmmaker in American history comes even close to him in terms of critical accolades and peer recognition.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I showed you the facts (none / 0) (#95)
    by McBain on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 05:13:54 PM EST
    His work after Husbands and Wives has not been as favorable reviewed as his work before that.  Yes, he's been an amazing filmmaker but there was an obvious peak for him in the 70s to early 90s.  Many filmmakers do their best work when they're younger.

    My original point was that, while he's not making consistently good films like he used to, there's probably still an audience for him and his films should be released in the US. Perhaps we can agree on that.  

    Parent

    Watching (none / 0) (#7)
    by KeysDan on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 11:47:34 AM EST
    Un Village Francais, a French drama of German occupation of a French village.  A thriller of collaboration, resistance and survival. In English sub-titles that are not intrusive. Seven seasons, one for each year of occupation, except for the first which takes in the lead-up and the first two years. Recommended.

    Nazi Germany's occupation of France ... (none / 0) (#78)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 02:47:28 AM EST
    ... formally began on June 22, 1940 with the French government's surrender at Compiègne. Adolf Hitler deliberately rubbed salt into the French wound by insisting that their formal capitulation take place in the very same railroad car in the very same town where nearly 22 years earlier on Nov. 11, 1918, the Imperial German High Command had formally accepted the Allies' armistice terms to end the First World War.

    The German occupation of France ended for all practical purposes on August 25, 1944 with the formal surrender of the 17,000-strong 325th German Security Division in Paris to General Philippe Leclerc, commander of the French 2nd Armored Division, and General Matthew Barton, commander of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. Meanwhile, all remaining units of the Wehrmacht retreated eastward to their fortifications at the Siegfried Line along the German border with France and the Low Countries.

    The original American battle plan was to bypass Paris altogether in pursuit of the retreating German divisions after the decisive Allied breakout from their Normandy beachhead on July 31. But a spontaneous civilian uprising against the German garrison in the French capital, which began on August 19, coupled with the public squawking of French Gen. Charles De Gaulle, compelled commanding Gen. Omar Bradley of the 12th U.S. Army Group to order the aforementioned French and American divisions to break off their pursuit of elements of the German 1st Army, and instead redeploy northward to liberate the city.

    So, how'd the show's producers come up with a 7-year German occupation?

    ;-)

    Parent

    I just love this Colorado candidate (none / 0) (#8)
    by MKS on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 12:00:24 PM EST
    Kerry Donovan

    Great start.  And she is running against a really awful Republican.

    Yes. Boebert needs to go. (none / 0) (#20)
    by Chuck0 on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 07:38:22 PM EST
    Along with Greene.


    Parent
    Unfortunately (none / 0) (#21)
    by Ga6thDem on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 08:25:11 AM EST
    congress is going to be stuck with Greene for quite a while

    Parent
    This! (none / 0) (#10)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 02:40:24 PM EST
    Did you see the story about the JPEG selling fir 69 million?

    Sound like the first line of a joke but it's not

    Market Manipulation Chatter Rises as Digital Art Scene Explodes

    (Bloomberg) -- A digital artwork by Beeple set auction records Thursday when it sold at Christie's for a mind-bending $69 million.



    Here (for free) (none / 0) (#11)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 03:02:35 PM EST
    NYTimes (none / 0) (#13)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 03:23:32 PM EST
    No snow. Lots of rain. (none / 0) (#12)
    by oculus on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 03:08:44 PM EST
    Obsessed with Gov. Cuomo's fate.  The NYT is really dishing the dirt.

    Send some rain (none / 0) (#18)
    by Zorba on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 07:28:28 PM EST
    Here.  It's been so dry, we're under a fire warning.

    Parent
    Just when my governor (none / 0) (#17)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 06:40:58 PM EST
    was doing so well in the anti Trump and Covid wars he signs this which is intended to get abortion back before the "new" Supreme Court

    Arkansas near-total abortion ban certain to face legal showdown
    The bill does not include exceptions for rape and incest.



    they (none / 0) (#22)
    by Ga6thDem on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 08:30:01 AM EST
    appear terrified that their voters are going to sit home. Kemp did a similar bill here in Georgia and it did a lot of damage to the GOP.

    Parent
    Do attacks on women's bodily autonomy (none / 0) (#24)
    by Peter G on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 12:05:06 PM EST
    and freedom of choice really work significantly to Arkansas Republicans' electoral advantage? Is this really a high priority item for a lot of conservative voters? Because it's not genuinely "intended to get abortion back before the 'new' Supreme Court." Lots of other states have passed such bills in the last several years, but all have them been invalidated by lower courts, with the Supreme Court then declining to intervene.

    Parent
    Wish I could say (none / 0) (#27)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 02:30:16 PM EST
    I thought it would hurt them.

    I don't.  Sadly.

    Parent

    About intentions, NPR (none / 0) (#28)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 02:42:00 PM EST
    No exceptions for rape (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by jondee on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 04:01:08 PM EST
    and incest? Are you seriously effing kidding me?

    When we all know if the woman's name was Hutchinson, Huckabee, Sanders or whatever, she'd be on the next plane to wherever like yesterday?

    Parent

    Every Arkansas politician (none / 0) (#68)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 06:40:20 PM EST
    who voted for this abomination should be stepping up to raise every child born of a pregnancy forced to term.

    Parent
    Let me rephrase that (none / 0) (#30)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 02:52:09 PM EST
    I don't think it will hurt them MUCH.

    it might marginally around the edges but it will not endanger their hold on the politics of this state.  This ain't GA.  We got no Atlanta.

    Love to be wrong about that.

    Parent

    China has won. (none / 0) (#19)
    by Chuck0 on Sat Mar 13, 2021 at 07:35:44 PM EST
    Bill Maher was spot on last night in his last "new rules" bit. He reminded everyone it's been 1117 days waiting his solar power.

    He is right. The US can't get anything done because we're too busy with tribalism, wokism, and just plain hating "the other."

    It's why my sister lives in China with no intention of returning to this country. When she first moved there, it took 9 hours to get from Nanjing to Beijing by train. You can now make the trip in 3.5 hours. China has the largest network of high speed trains in the world. Number of high speed trains in the US. Zero.

    If they need a highway, they build a highway. If they need a bridge, they build a bridge. Bill reminded everyone that The Big Dig in Boston took 16 years. There is an interchange just south of me on I-83. They've been working on it for 7 years. The work is 4 or 5 years past due. Ridiculous.

    I think that is because (none / 0) (#25)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 01:03:43 PM EST
    China does everything with an eye towards the future. I've been to Shanghai twice and was amazed at the completely empty airport in Pudong which had recently opened or expanded and the malls with designer stores and no customers. It was explained to me that China builds according to what it projects it will need in the future not its present needs. It could care less if if its airports and malls (and I forgot to mention the miles of empty warehouses) stay vacant for years. They will be there and ready to go when it needs them.


    Parent
    Yeah. We're too busy (none / 0) (#33)
    by Chuck0 on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 11:12:54 AM EST
    arguing about yesterday's problems. Fighting yesterday's war.

    Parent
    With not much concern for individuals (none / 0) (#45)
    by Steve13209 on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 12:04:15 PM EST
    https://www.fastcompany.com/3029421/inside-the-forgotten-chinese-cities-destroyed-by-the-three-gorge s-dam

    It's much easier to build high speed trains from city to city if you don't need to worry about silly things like property rights.

    That said. Upgrade the AMTRAK lines for high speed rail!!

    Parent

    Since when did property (5.00 / 1) (#46)
    by Chuck0 on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 12:46:33 PM EST
    rights ever stop government from building infrastructure in the United States? Can you say eminent domain? Government (and even private companies) have been using and misusing eminent domain in this country for decades. See Kelo vs. City of New London (CT) for a grand abuse of eminent domain the interest of private enterprise.

    Parent
    The Northern Pacific Railroad (5.00 / 1) (#48)
    by leap on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 02:31:29 PM EST
    The Great Northern Railway. Union Pacific. Etc. Etc. When you drive across Snoqualmie Pass in Warshington state, for example, you can see "checker-board" clear-cuts. That's the legacy from the NPRR to which the US gummint gifted every other section (square mile) in the late 1800s so they could build their trans-continental rail line. Eventually, of course, they sold off those parcels to companies such as Weyerhauser, Plum Creek, etc., because that timber was so valuable.

    This country is one big scam, and always has been.

    Parent

    Eminent Domain (none / 0) (#59)
    by Steve13209 on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 10:08:25 AM EST
    Oh, I get that. In Syracuse, an oil tank farm was taken by eminent domain so a private developer could build a mall...with tax breaks.

    Just saying it's not nearly as easy in the US.

    Parent

    They have to build new track. (5.00 / 3) (#60)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 10:21:44 AM EST
    Other than the northeast corridor, AMTRAK uses track owned and operated by freight companies. That's the main reason AMTRAK runs so slowly. BTW, 24 hours to get from Wash. DC to New Orleans. I fully enjoyed the trip, the sleeper, even had great food. But the reality of it is, that is way too long for that distance.

    I worked as an IT contractor for CSX in JAX, FL a few years back. I learned a lot about the rail industry and how it all works with regard to rails.

    I am a huge advocate for train travel. I rode the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan in 1970 to attend Expo 70 (I lived in Japan at the time). That train reached speeds of 115mph. IN 1970!!! Fifty years later, the US has nothing, zero, nada, zilch in comparison.

    I shouldn't haven't to arrive at an airport 1-2 hours early, to make take a barely 1 hour flight from BWI to Cleveland. I ought to be able to board a train in Harrisburg, PA and be in Cleveland in about 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Right now, I think it's an overnight trip because of bad connections through Pittsburgh. It's pathetic.

    It's mainly the fault of the oil companies in, I believe, the 20s. They killed train travel to force everyone in automobiles. But the government ever since has had no cojones to build any real infrastructure. Ahhh, capitalism at it's finest.


    Parent

    Even in the northeast corridor (none / 0) (#64)
    by CST on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 04:22:19 PM EST
    They still need more dedicated tracks for high speed trains. Right now taking the Acela is like taking a sports car through rush hour traffic.  That said at least you can take the train N-S, trying to go E-W is the true nightmare due to the freight issue you mentioned.  

    I used to go from Boston-Pittsburgh on the bus a lot and would have killed for a decent train route but the only option was expensive, long (24hrs), and at horribly inconvenient times like arriving or departing before public transit opens.

    Regional rail is really pathetic all over the country, even where it's "good".

    Parent

    Give Mnuchin a cookie (none / 0) (#23)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 09:52:27 AM EST
    Snowing heavily midday Sunday (none / 0) (#26)
    by Peter G on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 01:23:37 PM EST
    in the Stapleton area of Denver, according to our daughter and son-in-law, who live there with our three-year-old granddaughter. They are going outside every few hours to shake heavy wet snow off the evergreens in their back yard. You would not know, they say, that they were out shoveling the walk this morning.

    Go into the light! (none / 0) (#31)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 14, 2021 at 03:00:49 PM EST
    This is a fun read, though like everything at Republico there is a fair amount of BS, on how Trump is fading away.  

    Trump was supposed to be a political Godzilla in exile. Instead, he's adrift.

    Even allies say the president is lacking an apparatus and direction as he sorts out just what he wants to do in his post-presidency.

    It really just feels like everyone, friend and foe, is waiting for the indictments.

    Infrastructure week (none / 0) (#32)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 11:11:09 AM EST
    "Biden and his fellow Democrats hope to expand the definition of infrastructure beyond existing transportation architecture to include items aimed at tackling climate change and its effects, echoing the $2 trillion, 10-year `Build Back Better' proposal floated during his campaign."

    "That includes investments in electric vehicle charging stations, zero-emission buses and zero-carbon electricity generation by 2035, and directing dollars to minority neighborhoods and contractors, part of a pledge to increase racial equity."

    "Democrats have signaled they want to invest billions in creating and refurbishing affordable housing in any package and expand broadband internet access to all Americans, particularly in rural communities."



    52 inches (none / 0) (#37)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 07:17:38 PM EST
    IMO (5.00 / 2) (#47)
    by MO Blue on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 02:06:52 PM EST
    if I have to shovel the driveway, it is too much snow.

    Parent
    Our daughter reports 30 inches (none / 0) (#39)
    by Peter G on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 08:02:12 PM EST
    in the Stapleton area of Denver, whether they live, with drifts up to four feet.

    Parent
    *where they live (none / 0) (#40)
    by Peter G on Mon Mar 15, 2021 at 08:03:03 PM EST
    that is

    Just made a supply run (none / 0) (#44)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 10:38:52 AM EST
    the store lady said they were being told to expect tomorrow to be like a "national payday".  Extra staff.

    Funny (none / 0) (#50)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 05:00:03 PM EST
    This is very funny

    Probably half of cell phone activity.  No one will notice.

    Associated Press: "Conservative lawmakers in Utah have fired another salvo in their longtime campaign against online porn with a new requirement that all cellphones and tablets sold in the state automatically block pornography in a plan that critics call a significant intrusion on free speech."



    Utah citizens (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by BGinCA on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 06:06:27 PM EST
    are the number one consumers of porn in these great united states, according to this study:
    https://www.benedelman.org/publications/redlightstates.pdf

    Parent
    There is no automated filter (5.00 / 2) (#53)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 07:56:55 PM EST
    that can block p*rn and not also block breast cancer health information, a substantial amount of literature and art, and gay-affirming social or political websites. Nor otherwise distinguish between depictions of sexual activity that do or do not have "redeeming social value," which is key to the First Amendment definition of unprotected "obscenity." This law (was it signed by the governor?) will not survive 20 minutes in any court, state or federal. But hopefully will result in the State of Utah having to pay substantial attorneys' fees to the ACLU.

    Parent
    I see another great Mormon (none / 0) (#52)
    by jondee on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 06:55:39 PM EST
    migration in the offing.

    To the wilds of Alaska maybe?

    Parent

    This (none / 0) (#54)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 08:06:27 PM EST
    The living (none / 0) (#55)
    by KeysDan on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 08:59:29 PM EST
    definition of spooky.

    Parent
    His name (none / 0) (#56)
    by KeysDan on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 09:09:17 PM EST
    is Robert Aaron Long, age 21 of Woodstock, GA.   First massage parlor shooting in Cherokee County, about an hour north of Atlanta, second and third across.the street from each other on Piedmont St in north Atlanta.  

    Parent
    I never trust anyone who does not swear (none / 0) (#63)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 04:22:17 PM EST
    It's a life long principal

    A student who graduated from Sequoyah High School with Long in 2017 told the news outlet on condition of anonymity: "He was very innocent seeming and wouldn't even cuss.



    Parent
    Yes, (none / 0) (#83)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 10:08:09 AM EST
    he lives the next town over from me. He went to high school a couple of miles down the road from me. His father is a pastor at Crabapple Baptist Church, which from what I gather is very fundamentalist and has taken down all their social media accounts.

    This is the type of guy that there are way too many of here in Cherokee County. I hope the national spotlight will lead to reforms in county leadership here and maybe even get rid of our odious representative in congress.

    Parent

    My stepdaughter (none / 0) (#85)
    by Chuck0 on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 10:51:52 AM EST
    lives in Woodstock, GA. She is definitely not part of his crowd. She is Wiccan.


    Parent
    This would IMO be good (none / 0) (#57)
    by MO Blue on Tue Mar 16, 2021 at 10:42:16 PM EST
    Feinstein's Husband Up for Ambassadorship

    "Mr. Blum is eyeing a European capital, a posting that could pave the way for the 87-year-old Ms. Feinstein to leave the Senate."

    Talk already that Gov. Newsom would replace her with an AA woman.


    Agreed (none / 0) (#58)
    by jmacWA on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 05:35:09 AM EST
    There are WAY too many Democratic octogenarians in congress and they seem to be the primary 'we have to be bipartisan' freaks.  They should realize that they are not living in the government that existed when they first got elected.  Did they not pay attention from 1995 onward?  Or maybe the 60 year old brains they would have had then could not take in new information.

    Parent
    Funny (none / 0) (#61)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 11:25:23 AM EST
    Yesterday

    March 16, 2021 at 6:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 40 Comments

    "I'm perfectly willing to divide it equally between Republicans and Democrats, and so it will be up to them if they want it. If they don't, we'll just have it on the Democratic side. But I think enough of them would like to have it on both sides."

    -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), as quoted by Bloomberg, on what will happen with earmarks if Republicans choose not to engage with the appropriations process.

    Today

    March 17, 2021 at 11:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

    Jake Sherman reports that the House Republican Conference has voted to reverse its internal ban on requesting earmarks.



    So. What are people going to spend their (none / 0) (#62)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 04:05:57 PM EST
    stimulus checks on?

    My kids need clothes, a computer, and a snowboard.

    And next year, you'll be eligible for ... (5.00 / 1) (#79)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 04:01:14 AM EST
    ... a $3,000 federal tax credit per child. The American Rescue Plan increased the existing child tax credit by 50 percent. And for parents of any child age 6 and younger, that tax credit is $3,600.

    My wife's youngest sister in San Antonio, TX has a 14-year-old son who's legally blind with only limited peripheral vision. He's really smart and has done very well in public school, but the whole COVID distance learning curriculum really placed him at a fundamental disadvantage. His old computer was still operating on a Windows 8 platform, and his mother really couldn't afford to buy a new one.

    So we purchased a new computer system for him this past fall with the latest voice-activated / text-to-speech software and other assistive technology for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users, which allows him to actively participate in Zoom classes and communicate effectively with teachers and classmates. We bought it at a special discount through the assistance of a non-profit organization, Heritage for the Blind, which serves the BVI community in southern Texas, so the entire set-up was only about $4,500. He's worth every penny. The $2,800 we're getting (we file jointly) will help defray that cost in part.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I would have thought that the school district (none / 0) (#84)
    by Peter G on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 10:35:42 AM EST
    would be on the hook for the cost of your grandnephew's specialized computer equipment that was needed for him to have equal access to public education, under federal law (the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act). I'm not an expert on that, but they/you may be entitled at least to some reimbursement.

    Parent
    I would think so, too. (none / 0) (#91)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 08:41:46 PM EST
    But hey, we're talking about Texas. Hell, even here in Hawaii, a federal judge placed our state Dept. of Education under a consent decree and court-appointed special master for blatant violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Felix v. Hawaii DOE, 1993). And even then, we continued to openly violate that consent decree so routinely that we were further sanctioned by the court. It took us 11 years to finally and fully comply the court's directive.

    Sad to say, but states and municipalities - even the liberal ones - defy federal laws all the time. In those relative handful of cases where citizens file suit to compel compliance, it takes a lot of serious effort and determination on the part of the attorneys and their clients to eventually hold those state and local governments to account.

    In the meantime, a lot of damage to individuals, property, the environment, etc., can occur. And from what I've observed, it's not uncommon for courts to rule in favor of states and municipalities on the technical grounds that plaintiffs lacked standing to file, even if they're residents who are or have been affected by the government's action or inaction.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    If you are planning any (none / 0) (#66)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 06:02:56 PM EST
    construction projects that involve wood products and you have not priced it out since before the pandemic you should have a drink before you look.

    I sort of remember hearing about prices going up.  It's almost tripled.

    Plywood that's was 20ish is now 45 to 50ish.

    Parent

    yeah. A single 2" x 4" x 12' (none / 0) (#70)
    by leap on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 07:32:16 PM EST
    #2 D. fir is $13. One board. Not premium grade. Cripes. You want the same in cedar? $26. One eight-foot long 2 x 4 is almost eight bucks.

    Parent
    yikes (none / 0) (#71)
    by Peter G on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 08:10:52 PM EST
    We need to replace our 30 yr old rear deck. Thought that would be a good use of the stim money, hiring construction workers etc.

    Parent
    I was going to do some deck work (none / 0) (#72)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 08:26:34 PM EST
    right now it would cost roughly 2.5 times what it would have cost before.

     The guy said wait a bit.  What was 20 and is now 45 might come back to 30ish.  Eventually.  Or not.  

    Parent

    CNBC (none / 0) (#73)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 08:42:11 PM EST
    Thinking of a new wooden deck for spring? It may bust your budget

    Softwood lumber prices are now about 112% higher than they were a year ago and have jumped 10% in just the past week, according to Random Lengths.

    That was a month ago

    Parent

    New carpet. (none / 0) (#74)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 10:40:15 PM EST
    Downstairs and on the stairs themselves. Been putting it off way too long.

    Working at home for the past year has really worn on the dining room.

    I've been dreading it because I have two very large bookcases full of books. Need to unload them both to move them for carpet.

    Parent

    Interesting bit on Trumps flagging fortune (none / 0) (#65)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 04:25:46 PM EST
    losing money everywhere

    I confess I never heard of the Trump Worlds Fair

    Nice web design

    Haha... (none / 0) (#67)
    by desertswine on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 06:13:07 PM EST
    Tour de Trump Bicycle Race --  gimme a break.

    Parent
    Republicans reminded (none / 0) (#69)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Mar 17, 2021 at 07:03:29 PM EST
    to be careful what you wish for

    Open Secrets: "After years of dark money overwhelmingly boosting Republicans, this marks the first presidential election cycle where dark money benefited Democrats. That's a continuation from the 2018 midterm elections when Democrats benefited from more dark money than their Republican counterparts at the federal level for the first time since Citizens United."

    Key takeaway: Democrats and their aligned causes took in and spent $514 million in dark money, while Republicans took in and spent $204 million.

    link

    SITE VIOLATOR. (none / 0) (#80)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 04:03:39 AM EST


    Site Violator Redux. (none / 0) (#81)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 04:04:24 AM EST


    Tastes like water (none / 0) (#82)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 08:48:45 AM EST
    The City of Ash Flat brought home a national title following the results of the National Rural Water Association's best tasting water competition.

    The results, announced in late February, placed the City of Ash Flat third in the Best Water in the USA competition during the Great American Water Taste Test held by the National Rural Water Association. This followed just weeks after Tracy Breckenridge, Water and Sewer Superintendent for the city, was presented with an award for first place for Best Tasting Water by the Arkansas Rural Water Association in January.

    This is officially the next town over but we have the same water supply.

    The Snyder Cut (none / 0) (#87)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 01:25:56 PM EST
    If you do not know what that is you probably don't care.

    It really is good.  As good as anything MARVEL.  And it really is a completely different movie.  Which is weird because it tells basically the same story just in a way you understand and care about.   And at 4 hours with "chapters" it's almost like a limited series.  I'm only about 1/4 through.
    It's weird to see it in the old fashioned tv format. Square.  I read that is actually IMAX format.  This would be something in IMAX.  
    Also it's rated R.  Very unusual for a big budget superhero movie.

    Variety

    It takes an extraordinarily diverse skill set to direct a great comic-book movie. You've got to be a visual-effects wizard; a maestro of story and pace; a popcorn humanist who can find the relatable dimension of a bunch of freaks in capes and breastplates and spandex; and enough of an artist to tie the whole thing together into an indelible Big Vision. It's no wonder that in the years since Hollywood got eaten alive by comic-book culture, the superhero movies that have achieved a genuine sweeping transcendence can just about be counted on one hand: "The Dark Knight," "Spider-Man 2," "Black Panther," a few others.

    To that hallowed list I would now add "Zack Snyder's Justice League," the thrillingly restored four-hour-long director's-cut version of the 2017 DC Comics extravaganza. The new movie -- and make no mistake, it really is a new movie -- is more than a vindication of Snyder's original vision. It's a grand, nimble, and immersive entertainment, a team-of-heroes origin story that, at heart, is classically conventional, yet it's now told with such an intoxicating childlike sincerity and ominous fairy-tale wonder that it takes you back to what comic books, at their best, have always sought to do: make you feel like you're seeing gods at play on Earth.



    He even fixed Henry Cavills upper lip (none / 0) (#88)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 04:22:42 PM EST
    Thank god.  That was just painful for an effects person to watch.

    How Superman's Mustache Was Fixed in the Snyder Cut



    Parent

    Rose Betts (none / 0) (#100)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 10:36:39 AM EST
    lol (none / 0) (#89)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 05:56:10 PM EST
    A wax replica of former President Donald Trump currently being housed at Louis Tussaud's Waxworks in San Antonio had to be moved to storage because visitors kept punching it in the face, the San Antonio Express reports.



    Read that and found it extremely funny (none / 0) (#92)
    by MO Blue on Thu Mar 18, 2021 at 09:21:23 PM EST
    Need a lot more wax replicas for people to punch. Cruz, Hawley, McCarthy, Green, McConnell just to name a few. Might be a good money making endeavor.

    Parent
    just paste pictures of their faces on (none / 0) (#94)
    by leap on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 10:59:37 AM EST
    weighted punching figures of shmoos.

    Parent
    Q doc drops Sunday on HBO (none / 0) (#93)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 07:51:32 AM EST
    To reduce Hoback's documentary to simply a whodunit investigation of QAnon, though, would be to ignore the dizzying number of things Into the Storm is attempting. Yes, it's a basic primer on the unsupportable nuttiness that helped power Donald Trump, launched thousands of amateur sleuthing YouTube channels, spawned the ugliest insurrection in recent American history and left countless families estranged. At the same time, it's a complicated, globe-trotting thriller about the increasing hostility among three very odd men; an origin story for fledgling political voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert; and occasionally even a thoughtful treatise on absolute free speech and its discontents. It's a piece of absurdist prankster journalism and a detour into speculative reality so silly it's almost like '50s sci-fi.

    link

    Trump attracts another COVID outbreak (none / 0) (#96)
    by MO Blue on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 05:31:33 PM EST
    COVID outbreak at Mar-a-Lago shuts down part of Trump's resort: report

    Trump's lax COVID precautions have resulted in numerous outbreaks and he doesn't seem to care. Maybe since this may hit his pocketbook, he might actually be bothered for a nanosecond.

    Like Howdy (none / 0) (#97)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 08:11:59 PM EST
    said it's like he is just sitting around waiting for the indictments to drop. He is a shell of his former self and I imagine the grifting is not going all that well these days.

    Parent
    I wonder if this affects his dog (none / 0) (#98)
    by desertswine on Fri Mar 19, 2021 at 08:54:15 PM EST
    rescue charity scam.

    A dog rescue charity that has links to Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law, has spent almost $2m at Trump properties in the last seven years, according to US media reports.

    While other companies and groups have distanced themselves from the Trumps since the 6 January attack on the capital, the Florida-based Big Dog Ranch Rescue is expected to spend another $225,000 at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club for an event this weekend, according to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, which was reported by HuffPost.

    Big Dog Ranch Rescue indeed.

    Parent

    Lindseybelle (none / 0) (#101)
    by KeysDan on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 11:55:37 AM EST
    proclaims "Lara Trump is the future of the Republican Party".   That sounds about right.

    Parent
    He just loves (none / 0) (#106)
    by MO Blue on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 03:56:58 PM EST
    him some grifters. Lately he hasn't met a scammer that does send tingles up his spine.

    Parent
    Someday (none / 0) (#109)
    by FlJoe on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 06:15:09 PM EST
    there will be a whole branch of psychology dedicated to WTF happened to him, at the very least he should get a syndrome named after him, ala the Stockholm syndrome.

    Parent
    Where's My Roy Cohn (none / 0) (#99)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 08:20:53 AM EST
    I just saw this.  It's pretty good.  But I learned something I did not know and I'm curious how relatively uninformed I am.  I of course knew about the Army McCarthy hearings.  And I think I was vaguely aware of David Schine and rumors he and Cohn were closer than their public profile suggested.

    What I did not know was that the entire thing, Army McCarthy hearing, was because Cohn was mad the Army would not give his boyfriend special treatment.  That not only was McCarthy clearly aware of this but the senate committee was too.

    There was amazing archival footage of them making gay jokes.  There was discussion of fairies.  On tv.

     I never was aware of this being the central issue of the hearings and I definitely never saw video of the senate getting big laughs with fairy jokes while Cohn sat there squirming.  But it was right there on WIKI

    In 1953, McCarthy's committee began inquiries into the United States Army, starting by investigating supposed Communist infiltration of the Army Signal Corps laboratory at Fort Monmouth.[6] McCarthy's investigations were largely fruitless, but after the Army accused McCarthy and his staff of seeking special treatment for Private G. David Schine, a chief consultant to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and a close friend of Cohn's who had been drafted into the Army as a private the previous year, McCarthy claimed that the accusation was made in bad faith.[7]

    This part alone is worth watching the doc.

    Ebert.com

    The playwright Lillian Hellman (none / 0) (#102)
    by KeysDan on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 12:22:09 PM EST
    famously dubbed Cohn, Schine and McCarthy, "Bonnie, Bonnie and Clyde."

    Yes, that was my understanding for the reason McCarthy and the Army squared off in the first place: not a satisfactory response to favors for G. David Schine--Cohn's special friend after being drafted into the Army.  

    The Cold War, particularly after President Eisenhower signed the odious Executive Order 10450, co-mingled the Red Scare with the Lavender Scare, purging gays from government employment.  The Executive Order broadened "national security" to include morals, character, and sexual perversion. The ban was not lifted in full until an order by President Clinton in the mid 1990s.

    Roy Cohn is an evil, yet fascinating, historical figure, starting with the Rosenberg trial, the Army hearings, and on to his death of AIDS (which he denied, claiming liver disease). His network was extensive with contacts with Nixon, Reagan, LBJ, the Cardinal Archbishop of NY, Francis Spellman (referred to by Broadway chorus boys as Franny, reportedly), and J. Edgar Hoover (trading tips).

    G. David Schine went off to Los Angles, married a Swedish Miss Universe, and had six children. He was involved in movies (Executive Producer of The French Connection) and technology to sharpen color television. Schine died in 1996, age 68, in a private plane crash piloted by his son, a staff member of then Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (ironically, known as a Putin/Russia-friend). His son and wife were also killed in that crash.

    Parent

    If you have not seen (5.00 / 1) (#103)
    by Zorba on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 01:02:09 PM EST
    "Angels in America," you should.  Extremely well done.  Extremely depressing, too.

    Parent
    It definitely is (none / 0) (#104)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 03:47:14 PM EST
    It's a minor masterpiece.  But I learned a lot more about Roy Cohn from `Where's My Roy Cohn'.  
    Pretty much everything Dan mentioned was covered.  And much more.

    The thing I would say about AIA and Cohn is that as much as Al Pachino is a great great actor I would not have cast him in that role.   Pachino even old and haggard as he was at the time has a FACE.  A movie face.

    He has the cheekbones and the square jaw.  Cohn did not.  And the fact he did not, that he so wanted to be the all American male but he simply did not look the part with his doughy face and weak chin and dark circles under the eyes in a way his defining characteristic.  

    The doc talked a good bit about his bad cosmetic surgery.  That he started it as a preteen because of his mother.

    It's worth seeing.  Even Roger Stone

    Parent

    In any universe (none / 0) (#105)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 03:55:15 PM EST
    Does not (none / 0) (#107)
    by KeysDan on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 04:53:29 PM EST
    Seem to be on Netflix.  Maybe' Amazon Prime-- will give a try soon.  

    Parent
    Saw it on (none / 0) (#108)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 05:03:12 PM EST
    STARZ

    Parent
    Point of Order! (5.00 / 1) (#110)
    by BGinCA on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 06:48:24 PM EST
    The Emile D'Antonio doc on the Army Mcarthy hearings is available on Youtube. Compilation of original kinescopes. A classic.

    Parent
    We saw "Where's My Roy Cohn" about (none / 0) (#113)
    by Peter G on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 10:24:51 PM EST
    18 months ago at our local film society theater (we're members). It was a very good documentary, well done, but not revealing of anything we didn't know. The real point, obviously, was to highlight the Tr*mp connection (hence, the title).

    Parent
    Hey Howdy, (none / 0) (#111)
    by leap on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 09:28:51 PM EST
    was this anywhere near you?

    Ha (none / 0) (#112)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Mar 20, 2021 at 09:52:14 PM EST
    Not that I know of.

    But that could be my driveway it came out of.   With snow it's not getting out it's stopping at the bottom.

    Parent

    The Gloaming starts tonight (none / 0) (#114)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 09:01:23 AM EST
    The Gloaming Season 1 review: Riveting, slow-burn supernatural thriller

    STARZ has been on a tear lately.  The excellent series Luminaries would end tonight but they moved it to next Sunday so this premier could replace it.

    And American Gods which has to be the strangest thing on cable gets a season finale tonight.  Glad they are not calling it a series finale.

    Spouse will be enthused (none / 0) (#115)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 05:27:44 PM EST
    He's really cranky, I was this morning. Guessing this is what you get when you get spring fever while being locked up. It isn't pretty.

    Parent
    I get the second dose (5.00 / 2) (#116)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 06:06:48 PM EST
    April 6 at 7:30 am

    free at last
    free at last

    Parent

    I get my second dose appointment (5.00 / 1) (#118)
    by Peter G on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 07:49:49 PM EST
    tomorrow. It will given on 3/29. What time, is what I find out tomorrow.

    Parent
    Well, the expected email from the County (5.00 / 1) (#133)
    by Peter G on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 06:56:36 PM EST
    Dept. of Health did not come today. I still expect that by next Monday, my assigned date, I will have been invited to select and confirm, and will confirm a time for my second shot.

    Parent
    Email invitation arrived 6 pm Tuesday (none / 0) (#140)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 06:59:01 PM EST
    Second dose (Pfizer) now scheduled for this coming Monday at 11:30 am. Expecting side effects.

    Parent
    Second dose received this morning (5.00 / 2) (#190)
    by Peter G on Mon Mar 29, 2021 at 05:47:30 PM EST
    at 11:45 am. Pfizer. Seven hours later, so far so good. Perhaps feeling a little tired, but not extremely so. Could be the beer we had with dinner. No pain in arm, or other sickness symptoms. Fingers crossed for tomorrow, because we have an appointment at the shelter to meet a possible new dog for adoption around noon.

    Parent
    Minor stiffness in arm, with minor pain (5.00 / 1) (#194)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 06:15:07 PM EST
    if I bump or lean on the injection site. Otherwise all good. And WE GOT THE DOG. Early this afternoon, we adopted a honey of a five-year-old male, mostly-Pomeranian from the local ASPCA shelter, called "Coco." We have had one or two shelter dogs at a time for the last 45 years, generally along with one chill cat. Probably between 8 and 10 of them over the years. My wife has really been bereft since our last old guy died around Thanksgiving time.

    Parent
    My grandson's dog is named Coco (5.00 / 1) (#199)
    by MO Blue on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 08:55:40 PM EST
    She is a rescue greyhound. A sweet dog. When she raced, she was wicked fast when she chose to race but more often than not she refused to leave the gate.

    Visits from Coco helped fill the void after the family's beloved beagle died right before his 15th birthday.

    Parent

    Need photos (none / 0) (#195)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 06:33:14 PM EST
    Of the dog (5.00 / 1) (#196)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 06:34:01 PM EST
    Not the injection site

    Parent
    Check your gmail (none / 0) (#197)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 07:59:22 PM EST
    address

    Parent
    Very very cute (none / 0) (#198)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 08:17:03 PM EST
    I've been thinking about a third.  

    Dog.

    Parent

    I'm scheduled for the Pfizer second dose, (none / 0) (#142)
    by desertswine on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 07:18:35 PM EST
    too, on April 2.  My only effects from the first dose were a sore upper arm and I felt really tired so that I had to take a 3 or 4 hour nap.  But I felt better when I woke up.

    Parent
    Josh gets his second (none / 0) (#124)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 04:12:56 AM EST
    Dose 4/14

    I'm so grateful.

    For a variety of reasons I am the only adult in our immediate family who has not had a first dose. Even my daughter has had the first dose because she had a bout of pancreatitis last year and Lyster military clinic had extra doses, so called her. Spouse received first dose at Walter Reed because he is on immunosuppressants for RA. We don't want him creating any variants.

    Parent

    Yeah, how about that? (5.00 / 1) (#191)
    by MKS on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 12:20:30 PM EST
    My wife qualified for a first shot and received it this last Saturday.   Not me.  Just miss any qualifying conditions.

    We went to a University for my wife's shot, and it was quite a scene.  Like traffic from a baseball game, etc.   And many. many people in line for a shot. Almost all of them younger than me.

    But anyway my age group is up here in California stating April 1....if I can get an appointment.

    Well, I can't grip too much.  It is just couple of more days.  

    Parent

    I am hoping to get in quickly (5.00 / 1) (#200)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 31, 2021 at 11:19:16 AM EST
    Once the Montgomery County mass vaccination site opens. Maryland went to 2B yesterday and that's my group!!!!

    I have vaccine envy

    Parent

    It took about 5 hours on the computers between the both of us.

    Parent
    Got mine on Friday (none / 0) (#204)
    by MKS on Sun Apr 04, 2021 at 04:33:17 PM EST
    But, had to search online for CVS stores all over the place in the middle of the night.....

    Parent
    We ended up at Cal State LA. (5.00 / 1) (#206)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Apr 05, 2021 at 02:38:12 PM EST
    one and done J&J vaccine

    Parent
    Have you found a way to identify (none / 0) (#192)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 03:50:19 PM EST
    who is offering the one-shot J&J in CA?

    I've been looking in LA County, and I can't find any specifics.

    Parent

    Nope (none / 0) (#193)
    by MKS on Tue Mar 30, 2021 at 05:51:04 PM EST
    Pfizer and Moderna only.

    Parent
    Well, depending on whether you (none / 0) (#143)
    by oculus on Wed Mar 24, 2021 at 07:21:25 PM EST
    heed the CDC re variants.

    Parent
    I had no side effects, except I was really tired by dinnertime and went to bed early that night. I woke up the next day perfectly fine. I had none of that pseudo-Charley Horse pain in my left arm which I had after the first dose.

    Parent
    See, if you weren't so d*** young,... (5.00 / 1) (#120)
    by oculus on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 10:36:16 PM EST
    Both of my children vaccinated (5.00 / 2) (#125)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 04:14:51 AM EST
    Before I am

    No fair

    Parent

    2 weeks from tomorrow (5.00 / 1) (#129)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 10:48:32 AM EST
    so I have one more month in solitary confinement.

    I'm hearing from quite a few people they are having more intense reactions to the second shot.

    Parent

    I'm getting J&J! (5.00 / 1) (#201)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Mar 31, 2021 at 07:19:28 PM EST
    Re Moderna second jab, just a slightly (none / 0) (#144)
    by oculus on Wed Mar 24, 2021 at 07:23:25 PM EST
    sore arm first day at injection site. Many friends:  same. A few did feel punk for a couple days.

    Parent
    I got my first (none / 0) (#202)
    by Zorba on Wed Mar 31, 2021 at 08:02:56 PM EST
    Moderna 3 1/2 weeks ago, getting the second one this Saturday.
    By that evening, my arm was quite sore, even more so the next morning, and then I started to feel really lousy, like I had a case of the flu.  Only lasted a day, though.


    Parent
    Go big (none / 0) (#117)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 06:11:30 PM EST
    I am in the hospital. (none / 0) (#119)
    by Chuck0 on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 08:39:43 PM EST
    I had stroke like incident this morning the required an ambulance ride. I have tested positive for COVID-19. They are telling me this brought on the neurological episode.

    I am really ticked off. I've been in quarantine since Feb 2020. I have avoided Dr offices and the like for over a year. But I had to go to the dentist last Tuesday. I started feeling sick Thursday morning. I have absolutely no doubts that I was infected there. I have had no contact with any humans for months except my wife. She is fanatical about taking precautions and mask wearing. Plus she got her first Moderna over a week before.

    I am afraid I am not going to survive this. I have too many adverse health conditions

    It was a pleasure being a part of the Talkleft community.

    Oh, so sorry. Fingers crossed for a smooth (5.00 / 3) (#121)
    by oculus on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 10:37:48 PM EST
    recovery.

    Parent
    oh man, Chuck (5.00 / 1) (#122)
    by leap on Sun Mar 21, 2021 at 11:25:27 PM EST
    yikes. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Please keep us up to date on what's going on. You are in my thoughts, for sure.

    Parent
    I am so sorry (5.00 / 1) (#123)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 12:21:54 AM EST
    Sending light and love.

    Parent
    I am so sorry. (5.00 / 1) (#126)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 05:19:06 AM EST
    A friend of mine had COVID and has Lyme Disease. She had neurological issues due to the combination of the two issues. She came out of it and I pray that you will too. She had a much longer recovery than most but she is on the way to regaining her previous health status.

    Parent
    Hang in there Chuck (5.00 / 2) (#127)
    by jmacWA on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 05:21:43 AM EST
    You are on of the good ones.  Will be sending good karma your way.

    Parent
    Hang in (5.00 / 2) (#128)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 07:01:59 AM EST
    I had a visit to a dentist about a month ago that I actually showed up for and decided not to go in.

    My 94 yo old aunt survived.  They are getting much better at treatment.

    Parent

    Stay strong Chuck... (5.00 / 1) (#131)
    by desertswine on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 02:06:52 PM EST
    You've got a lot going for you.

    Parent
    I'm so sorry, Chuck (5.00 / 1) (#132)
    by Zorba on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 02:28:43 PM EST
    But don't give up.  We're all pulling for you.  

    Parent
    Hey, ChuckO, are you on line? (5.00 / 1) (#141)
    by Peter G on Tue Mar 23, 2021 at 07:00:51 PM EST
    How are you feeling today?

    Parent
    Wow, really sorry to hear this Chuck. (none / 0) (#130)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Mar 22, 2021 at 01:03:42 PM EST
    Hang in there. I know it's easy for me to say, but they really are better at treating the covid these days.

    Parent
    Sorry to hear this (none / 0) (#156)
    by McBain on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 11:59:05 AM EST
    I hope you have the best recovery possible.

    Parent
    Chuck, can you let us know (none / 0) (#176)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Mar 26, 2021 at 04:09:23 PM EST
    if you are okay and online?
    I will also send you an email but since you registered back in 2009, I hope it's still your email address!

    Hang in there, we are all thinking of you and wishing you a speedy recovery.

    Parent

    You have my correct email. (none / 0) (#180)
    by Chuck0 on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 03:28:53 PM EST
    I am in the hospital on oxygen. Covid induced pneumonia. I'm kinda scared, mostly for my wife

    Parent
    Great to hear from you (5.00 / 1) (#182)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 04:24:09 PM EST
    Sending you good Karma (5.00 / 1) (#188)
    by jmacWA on Mon Mar 29, 2021 at 05:07:12 AM EST
    from close by in Lehigh county, so it should be able to reach you easily.  HOPE you get better soon.  Stay Strong.

    Parent
    Chuck, is there a way I can (none / 0) (#181)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 04:09:57 PM EST
    reach her? I will send you an email. So good to hear from you.

    Parent
    Wonderful (none / 0) (#183)
    by Ga6thDem on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 04:31:12 PM EST
    to hear from you. I hope you get better daily.

    Parent
    I went home last Tuesday night (none / 0) (#184)
    by Chuck0 on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 05:44:51 PM EST
    I had to come back yesterday (Sat.). My O2 level was too low and was have severe issues with breathing. So not improving at this point.

    Parent
    Still thinking of you and your family and (5.00 / 1) (#185)
    by oculus on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 05:55:42 PM EST
    wishing you improvement to good health very soon.

    Parent
    you have a LOT of people (5.00 / 1) (#187)
    by leap on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 10:00:17 PM EST
    pulling for you. And a lot of people working for you at the hospital. It's so good you checked in here. We've been worried.

    Parent
    Get better... (none / 0) (#186)
    by desertswine on Sun Mar 28, 2021 at 09:18:50 PM EST
    we still have nazis to bedevil.

    Parent
    Never a wrong day (5.00 / 2) (#205)
    by Chuck0 on Mon Apr 05, 2021 at 12:29:25 PM EST
    To smack a Nazi.

    Parent
    Hi, Chuck0! (none / 0) (#207)
    by leap on Mon Apr 05, 2021 at 02:53:54 PM EST
    So, are you up and about for smacking Nazis now?! Hurrah! Unfortunately, there are  plenty around to smack, so your help is sorely needed.

    Parent
    I hope they (none / 0) (#189)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Mar 29, 2021 at 01:50:56 PM EST
    keep you. My BIL had to get to the point where he was gonna die within 48 hours before his bout with COVID was taken seriously by doctors.  

    Parent
    Chuck, if you are online (none / 0) (#177)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Mar 26, 2021 at 08:02:33 PM EST
    and read this, check out this HHS link for hospitalized COVID patients and available clinical trials of new treatments to reduce severity. Maybe your doctors think one or more would be a good fit for you.

    Parent
    Hunters gun (none / 0) (#148)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 08:15:29 AM EST
    Weird story

    "On Oct. 23, 2018, President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, and daughter in law Hallie were involved in a bizarre incident in which Hallie took Hunter's gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone. Delaware police began investigating, concerned that the trash can was across from a high school and that the missing gun could be used in a crime."

    "But a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale... The gun store owner refused to supply the paperwork, suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter's ownership of the missing gun in case it were to be involved in a crime."

    "The Secret Service says it has no record of its agents investigating the incident... The incident did not result in charges or arrests. But the alleged involvement of the Secret Service remains a mystery."

    link

    ... for another episode of "White Wingbats on Silasibin 'Shrooms."

    Parent
    I guess (none / 0) (#168)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 07:07:04 PM EST
    I did not read the whole thing but what's more stupid, dropping a gun in a trash can by a school or going back to get it.

    Weird story.

    Parent

    Biden's press conference (none / 0) (#159)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 02:05:05 PM EST
    was very impressive--a command of facts and situations. Best line " every President was concerned with human rights", catching himself, "except one".   The press corps was unimpressive---it was like the professor emeritus tolerating the questions of some dense but full of themselves freshman.

    And, sorry Fox, no old timer gaffes.

    It really was (5.00 / 1) (#163)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 04:07:05 PM EST
    I watched the whole thing and was amazed with his command of the facts, his tone, the whole thing.

    It was impressive.

    And he didn't say a thing I disagreed with.   He had all the best answers on Trump (oh god, I miss him) and Mitch and everything.

    Parent

    Different style. (none / 0) (#165)
    by KeysDan on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 04:25:46 PM EST
    but better than the always competent President Obama.  When explaining what he means by "expecting to run for re-election" as being mindful of fate, he let the specter rise that maybe there would not even be a Republican Party in 2024.  

    Parent
    Obama's (none / 0) (#166)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 06:47:55 PM EST
    press conferences he would spend time talking in circles. For all his praise as a "communicator" I sure did not see it from Obama. They had to speaking of his speeches which in this bullet point world we live in don't get through to many people.

    Parent
    Obama was an orator (none / 0) (#167)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 07:04:07 PM EST
    Not the same thing Biden did today.  Obama could come off as aloof.  Biden was not aloof today.

    Parent
    Also (none / 0) (#164)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 04:13:06 PM EST
    It went a long distance toward normalizing both ending the filibuster and a 3 trillion dollar infrastructure bill.

    Both I would not have expected to be possibly with 50 senate votes

    Parent

    Would it surprise you to know (none / 0) (#171)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 08:09:14 PM EST
    this person is married to Peter Baker?

    Sometimes the big moments in our politics meet the very low expectations we have for them. Joe Biden's first Presidential press conference, on Thursday, was one of them. By the end of it, after an hour and two minutes that felt much longer, Biden had answered some two dozen questions. The majority of them were repetitive variants on one of two subjects: immigration and the Senate filibuster."

    "Biden had no actual news to offer on either subject. In case you missed it, he is really, totally, absolutely committed to fixing the terrible situation at the border, and also not yet ready--because he does not have the votes--to commit to blowing up the filibuster. There was not a single question, meanwhile, about the ongoing pandemic that for the past year has convulsed life as we know it and continues to claim an average of a thousand lives a day. How is this even possible during a once-in-a-century public-health crisis, the combating of which was the central theme of Biden's campaign and remains the central promise of his Presidency? It's hard not to see it as anything other than an epic and utterly avoidable press fail."



    Parent
    San Francisco Chronicle (SFGATE.com) | March 25, 2021
    Southwest pilot on hot mic goes on expletive-laden rant against the Bay Area - "'F--k this place, goddamn liberal f--ks. F--king weirdos, probably driving around in f--king Hyundais, f--king roads and s--t that go slow as f--k.' [San Jose Int'l control tower informs pilot that he's on a hot mic.] 'You don't have balls unless you're f--king rolling coal, man, goddamn it.'"

    No doubt, it's a great public relations coup for Southwest Airlines, which is only the dominant air carrier at the Bay Area's Oakland Int'l and San Jose Int'l airports, and further maintains a substantial presence at San Francisco Int'l as well.

    This guy will be lucky if the FAA doesn't bring the hammer down on him and suspend his license. Per agency regs, pilots are prohibited from engaging in extraneous conversations while the aircraft is either taxiing at the airport or is below 10,000 ft. altitude on either departure or approach. (I listened to the audio at ATC archives. The offensive comments can be found at 20:52 of the audio. It sounds like he was on the ground at SJC, awaiting permission to depart.)

    As for his job - well, Southwest has fired pilots for lesser infractions.

    ;-D

    That is a shame (none / 0) (#162)
    by MO Blue on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 03:03:03 PM EST
    Not for the pilot, who deserves any disciplinary actions taken against him, but for Southwest Airlines. SW, IMO, is one of the better airlines that serves our area. I always fly SW if that is an option.

    Parent
    Maybe Tom Cotton (none / 0) (#169)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 07:27:09 PM EST
    is not the AR pol we should worry about.

    Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson Thursday evening signed a sweeping anti-transgender bill into law. The ACLU says the legislation is "illegal."

    In a statement denouncing the new law the Human Rights Campaign says it "bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports (including extracurricular and school sports at the elementary, middle, high school and collegiate level) consistent with their gender identity."

    Governor Hutchinson, who is term limited and cannot run again next year, may be weighing a White House run, some have suggested.

    He could be a real threat.  He has really raised his profile since Covid and his anti Trump stuff.

    And unlike Cotton he is a very skillful politician.

    Remember he also just did this (none / 0) (#170)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Mar 25, 2021 at 07:30:41 PM EST
    Cotton (none / 0) (#174)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Mar 26, 2021 at 02:40:55 PM EST
    really has not been impressive once the spotlight focused on him. However Hutchinson is going to have to explain that legislation. While that might get him points with evangelicals I do not think it is going to do much for the rest of the voters or might even anger them into voting against him. It seems he has the typical GOP problem of you only can get out of the primary if play to the far right. then you get slaughtered in the general.

    Parent
    Half the country (none / 0) (#178)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Mar 26, 2021 at 09:55:21 PM EST
    Or close to it is going to be just fine with it.

    It's the reason he's doing it.  And apparently he's not done.

     GOP governor signs pro-religious discrimination bill allowing doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ patients
    Arkansas


    Parent

    It has always (5.00 / 3) (#179)
    by Zorba on Sat Mar 27, 2021 at 03:27:49 PM EST
    Amazed me (well, maybe "amazed" isn't the word I want, maybe it's "disgusted") that many, if not most, of the same people who are fine with (and would like) religious discrimination against LGBTQ people codified into law, are some of the same people screaming the loudest with their paranoid fantasies regarding "sharia law" here if we "don't do something about the Muslims in this country!"
    Considering that what they would really like is a type of Christian sharia law here.

    Parent