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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2601 – 2800 of 3526 Newer› Newest»It's a Catch-22. You have to be on US soil to request asylum. The Border Patrol turns away everyone that approaches the Port of Entry and tells them that there are no available slots that day. If they go and cross the border the rules say they have to surrender immediately to the Border Patrol which then arrests them for illegal entry (a misdemeanor). Only after they have been processed on that charge can their asylum claim be processed. But then they have been convicted for a crime and can be immediately deported if their claim is not recognized. And if they ever enter again they can be prosecuted for a repeated entry (a felony).
The child stripping occurs while they are detained on the illegal entry charge since the children of someone who is in custody must be turned over to child services. Previously families claiming refugee status were NOT arrested so there was no need to separate the children.
The system is being deliberately gamed by DHS and HHS to be as cruel as possible.
Our administration is really good at figuring out how to hurt people.
Thanks for the explanation.
Bureaucratic meanness is pretty much the thesis of Waldman’s editorial today.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/06/21/how-the-trump-administration-is-weaponizing-government-bureaucracy-against-those-it-doesnt-like
Perhaps this means we can give up the delusion that the first lady is trapped in the Trump White House. She may not like him, but she's part of it.
HF, perhaps Cecily Strong as Melania can join Scarlett Johansson's Ivanka for a Complicit perfume fake ad on SNL.
Greetings, everyone! I lost this page and it took me a while to find it again. I have a lot of reading to catch up with. I hope all is well.
Great to see you again, pj! Got any travels and/or musical events in the offing?
Here, a nearly silent (copyright) look at a night fountain show a week ago at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Mostly "I heard it through the grapevine" in an all-Motown program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPhIpnB9cA4
An overly large collection of photos from Longwood is at https://flic.kr/s/aHskAeJzDa
Smaller, less gaudy photos from the Mount Cuba Center, a sort of native plant oriented botanical garden at a 1930s mansion (DuPont relatives) in northern Delaware. https://flic.kr/s/aHskAeHjyc
Politics gets weirder. For whatever reason, it seems impossible for Congress (mostly Republicans) to approve an immigration bill, and Trump more or less refuses to do anything rational without one, with the excuses changing whenever there's a possibility of legislation passing. I've supposed that every last Dreamer will be deported. Still looks to be the scenario.
No upcoming travel, NP. I might just do some travel around Virginia for my next trip, but I don't have anything specific planned.
When we get incensed about the Republicans and Trump, we should remember than a lot of our fellow citizens, our neighbors, the family across the street, support the unreservedly. Not a majority of the population or voters, but a large number, large enough to elect Trump POTUS given how the system works. I think the main problem is the fellow citizens and neighbors, while Trump, etc., is merely a consequence (although given his current position he can have a tremendous influence going forward). So how did the neighbors get that way, and how can they be turned around? IMO that is the question.
Both the Post and NY Times have analyses of Trump's seemingly robust, if somewhat narrow popularity.
The economy is fine for now, the Tea Party is thriving and so is Evangelical support. The hard line on immigrants is a big success so far.
What's to watch is Catholic voters and well-educated Republicans who may be getting disturbed at the nasty attitudes, the lack of coherent policy, except to attack our foreign friends, and the war on technology and science. The US economy will start looking like Argentina before we realize it, except that Argentina can sell soybeans cheaper than we can. Was Jeff Bezos considering Toronto for #2 HQ? Good idea, except the city's become unaffordable. How about Montreal? There's worse things than having to learn French.
I fear that Florida will remain, politically, East Oklahoma until the beaches are covered in oil or algae.
I do not know how to sell reduced energy consumption, better public education, more affordable, more nearly universal health care, and sane economic and foreign policies.
I re-read Paul Waldman's Plum Line commentary.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/06/22/the-media-machine-supporting-trump-is-even-worse-than-we-thought/
"While 2020 seems like a long time away, we should understand that the media machine that supports Trump is going to mobilize in ways we can’t yet predict. What kind of stories is it going to spread about Trump’s Democratic opponent? What sorts of scandals will it invent? I can promise you that Trump is going to run the most vicious campaign any of us has ever seen. How are we going to deal with it? We in the media don’t yet know. But we had better start thinking about it."
Anne Applebaum is if anything more worried.
A while ago I read that confronting Trump supporters with facts will not lead you anywhere because they have alternative facts, propagated by the aforementioned media machine. The author suggested to show understanding and avoid confrontation and only gently mention that there are alternative points of view to maintain a cordial relationship. People tend to be more prone to listen to you when they feel acknowledged and understood.
I have a friend who communicates with Trump supporters exactly that way but for me personally that method is asking too much.
More atrocious policies such as the family separation could have an effect IMHO, but that is not really what I am hoping for.
There have been news articles to the effect that while liberals are likelier to be swayed by facts and logic, conservatives (and especially Trumpistas) respond emotionally, hence Trump's success stirring up his base's basest instincts (see what I did there?). Of course, that phenomenon backfired on Trump this past week with the widespread news videos and photos of children separated from their undocumented parent at the US-Mexican border, which tugged at even many Republicans' heart-strings.
Now Trump is trying to lather up his base by saying he wants these immigrants deported without trial, thus depriving them of due process. I wonder what other issues his base would thrill at punishment without due process: not standing for the anthem, speaking ill of Trump, supporting women's rights, and (in general) being non-white?
I heard an interview (Some NPR show?) where they were talking to a conservative broadcaster who supported the Chold Separation policy. She adminished the interviewer not to make decisions based on emotion immediately after bringing up the case of a woman who was killed by an “illegal immigrant”. Do as I say not as I do.
Along similar lines, HF, whenever there's a mass shooting, the NRA-huggers say it's "too soon" to discuss any sort of laws, essentially because people are too emotional at first. So yeah, conservatives can be real hypocrites when it serves their purposes.
I ask, "How did the neighbors get that way?" I think the answer is, they have always been that way, for the most part. But some events in the past decade or two have flipped a lot of them in addition. Those are the things that Trump is getting traction from and the Dems don't seem to have any response to.
Sometimes you feel quite stupid. Tonight at dinner, preceding my first taste of some nice gazpacho, I blew on the spoon. Immediately following that the bartender asked how our food was. I confessed my stupidity. And 24 hours previously I managed to burn all five fingers on my left hand by grabbing a masher tool (that I knew was hot) at the glass shop. Minimal harm done, but...
<facepalm>
Not the easiest read, but the introduction to "A Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War" by Williamson Murray and Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh is sobering reading. Subduing the South was a gigantic task. Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman were the fast learners, but barely won, and did so at an extremely high cost.
http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/i11301.pdf
Another book from Princeton, coming out this fall, argues that Boston was a big loser from the American Revolution onward. Went from a major center of commerce (in collusion with the slave trade) to a city whose interests were badly suppressed by the US national government that was dominated by southern interests. So much for Southern whining about needing a country of their own because the national government was run by nasty Yankees.
Perhaps the USA wasn't such a great idea after all.
For the last thirty years I held that Lincoln made a mistake and should have let the South go. Aside from the slaves we would be better off. Sorry, Virginians, and even more sorry for the not-white population.
HeadFool, some days are like that and you cannot win. But those days pass, until the next time.
Harley Davidson moves their production destined for Europe out of the US because the tariffs on their bikes manufactured in the US would make them too expensive there. That's what you get when you start a trade war, a loss of jobs.
A North America with a larger Mexico, a Canada extending into present-day Oregon, and maybe three somewhat British-related countries south of Canada might have been a nicer place, though under those circumstances I can't imagine California growing into its present-day economic importance.
Without the more or less successful new US, the horribly difficult wars for Latin American independence might not have happened, or fizzled.
Trump's base will concur with his proposal to deprive undocumented immigrants due process, since they're already quite rabid against Latin Americans. I wonder if he's "grooming" his base for suspension of due process on many other issues. I also wonder if he's planning at some point to declare martial law and suspend November's elections (or at least 2020's).
And Trump continues sowing distrust by his followers in the judiciary, proclaiming that he opposes hiring more immigration judges because the candidates might be "corrupt."
Paul Krugman at the NYT cited a Financial Times report that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had claimed soybean "price changes were the work of “antisocial” speculators engaged in “profiteering"". So he wants an investigation.
As Krugman notes, it's the kind of administration where people get jobs because they espouse conspiracy theories. Maybe that's how they're proven to be honest.
Does this“antisocial” speculators engaged in “profiteering" apply only to soybeans or to the stock market in general?
Oh, gmbka, let's just hope Humpty Trumpty winds up being as fragile as Dumpty:
https://www.bartleby.com/73/2019.html
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”
Nice quote, NP.
So much for public employee labor unions.
A recent news story cited polling information to the effect that a quarter of Trump voters specifically wanted Republican Supreme Court justices. So get prepped for a big wave of "he's not perfect but he's doing the right things for America!"
Almost makes a person wonder if McConnell actually knew nine months earlier that the "fix would be in" on the November 2016 Presidential election, prompting him to be so insistent on stopping Obama from filling the Scalia vacancy. Not that I'm paranoid, or anything...
And now that Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement, would McConnell likewise decline to allow the Senate to consider Trump's nominee for Kennedy's replacement because, yanno, there's an election for 1/3 of the Senate coming up this November. Nah...
After a week of crappy decisions...
I did not have a premonition of Justice Kennedy's retirement.
The odds were of Republican gains in the Senate because so many of the seats up for election are held by Democrats. The Cook Political Report shows how that works.
https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/senate-race-ratings
The Kennedy retirement is likely to bring more anti-abortion than pro-choice voters to the polls. I don't exactly see a red wave, but I think I see a lot of Trump hubris for 2019.
Trump's fool-in-a-minefield show continues to thrill. It's wonderful what he gets away with. He certainly learned how to be a celebrity of the shock variety, something that's new to US politics and that regular politicians can't cope with. But he's dealing with important, smart, often cunning outside actors who have every reason to take advantage of him. I'm sure a number of those actors are in contact with each other in ways to evade US intelligence (which Trump seems to view as hostile anyway). Even if those outsiders are as flummoxed as our domestic politicians, they are likely to eventually set up mines that, when kicked, will explode.
Evidently the Annapolis shooter regarded Capital Gazette factual coverage of his nuisance defamation lawsuit as "fake news," to his mind worthy of taking action to avenge by his own hand.
"Appellate court upholds ruling in favor of Capital-Gazette":
http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ph-ac-cn-jarrod-ramos-ruling-0923-20150922-story.html
Just hope this doesn't inspire copycats, given how Trump has whipped up "fake news" mania among his followers the past couple years.
And how disgraceful was it for Fox News to check first whether the Capital Gazette had what they might perceive as political bias, in order to determine how to report the story?
And no doubt Incels will now proclaim the shooter a "supreme gentleman" for his history of having stalked a woman who scarcely knew him and ultimately had to flee the area in fear for her safety.
The Miami Herald has remembrance of Rob Hiaasen.
A Post analysis makes it pretty clear that Trump will fidget through the NATO meeting then have a big hissy fit before stalking out early. Then off to Putinfest and perhaps a surprise visit to St. Petersburg. Is there a statue of Peter where he can lay a huge wreath?
Roger Cohen's column today in the NY Times, "Of Course It Could Not Happen Here" goes deliberately overboard, but not by too much, at least with respect to Trump. I've wondered about visiting Estonia while it's still there, and Ireland before Brexit.
"Der Spiegel" is on my daily reading list. Ever since this soccer event in Moscow, about 80% of its reporting covers soccer. When the Germans were kicked out I had hope that this percentage would change, but no, now they speculate about all the remaining teams.
From the looks of it, Spiegel online readers are mostly interested in the soccer championship and other topics are negligible
"Sad."
"..one of the most appalling mistakes made by a Union general during the course of the war occurred on the southern portion of the [Chickamaugua] battlefield. The cause of the disaster lay in a series of relatively minor incidents, which when combined, led to an error of major proportions. Rosecrans was one of those commanders who believe that the key to common effectiveness lies in humiliating subordinates by lengthy periods of shouting at them. The morning, admittedly under pressure, he had without reason chewed out Brigadier General Thomas Wood with a series of choice swear words in front of his subordinates for not having obeyed orders. " (A Savage War, Williamson Murray & Wayne Wei-Siang Hsieh. Princeton).
Despite Wood having proceeded to obey a manifestly flawed order, resulting in a Confederate breakthrough, Chickamaugua resulted in prohibitive casualties for the Confederates (34$ vs. 28% for the retreated Union forces), Union forces manifestly benefitted from new repeating rifles and ample ammunition, and Union military and logistical strength was growing.
Rosecrans seems overall to have been competent, if maybe too cautious. His army had seized middle Tennessee with few casualties. Bragg faced all sorts of problems and seems to have brought plenty more on himself.
____________________________________________
Perhaps the US can afford a president who spends a half hour screaming at a key cabinet member at a cabinet meeting. This week, Trump is actually looking pretty well organized with the Supreme Court thing. Looks like he won't appoint some real estate lawyer buddy.
Oooh, I bet Trump's gonna spend at least a half hour screaming at a key cabinet member at a cabinet meeting (if not sooner).
"North Korea working to conceal key aspects of its nuclear program, U.S. officials say":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-working-to-conceal-key-aspects-of-its-nuclear-program-us-officials-say/2018/06/30/deba64fa-7c82-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html
...The assessment stands in stark contrast to President Trump’s exuberant comments following the summit, when he declared on Twitter that “there is no longer a nuclear threat” from North Korea. At a recent rally, he also said he had “great success’’ with Pyongyang...
Now Germany too wants to warehouse refugees, they call them transit-centers. The ultra-right wing and sister-party of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union threatened to destroy the coalition. If the third coalition partner SPD will agree to that is still unknown.
Merkel and her party wanted a European solution, but it is unclear if that is even possible because some Eastern countries, such as Hungary and Poland, are not willing to take any refugees at all. It is a bit frightening how our president is so similar to the autocrats.
Presumably Trump feels about this roughly the same way he did about the Trump Tower statement re Charlottesville, which his staff apparently forced him to read aloud against his will. Am now waiting for Trump to undermine the following gesture with some disgraceful tweet or statement.
"Trump orders flags flown at half-staff to honor Capital Gazette victims":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-order-flags-flown-at-half-staff-to-honor-capital-gazette-victims/2018/07/03/2bdd6bba-7eb8-11e8-b660-4d0f9f0351f1_story.html
Excellent interview with Robert Baer. 35+ minutes.
https://soundcloud.com/user-830442635/is-trump-putins-manchurian-candidate-robert-baer
Saw an interview on the PBS Newshour with Kate Andersen Brower, author of the new book First in Line about Vice Presidents since Nixon:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-high-wire-act-of-being-vice-president
Judy Woodruff: You do write about the current — the Mike Pence-Donald Trump relationship. Even after Pence was chosen, the “Access Hollywood” tape comes out.
Mike Pence doesn’t — he’s still then the nominee. He doesn’t take Donald Trump’s calls at first. Really interesting high-wire act, as you said.
Kate Andersen Brower: It was one of the few times where the power was really in Mike Pence’s court. At that moment, he was — if he had pulled out, who would Donald Trump have gone to?
I mean, on that list, he had Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, who was persona non grata at that time. He even had Michael Flynn on that list for a while, no matter how many times people told him to get him off the list.
And something I thought that was also fascinating is that his top vetting lawyer said he is — quote — “It terrifies him” that there’s no FBI vetting for vice presidents or presidents. [My emphasis]
This warms my heart!
"Trump got a dose of Dutch bluntness from visiting prime minister":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/07/03/trump-got-a-dose-of-dutch-bluntness-from-visiting-prime-minister
...About a minute into his remarks, Trump suggested that leaving the [EU] trade dispute unresolved could still be “positive.” [Dutch Prime Minister Mark ] Rutte responded by raising his eyebrows, laughing and cutting in to say, “No.” When Trump kept going, Rutte said while smiling to reporters: “It's not positive ... We have to work something out”...
Somehow I missed it, but a cousin to whom I sent the article re the Dutch President replied with this. "Jerk off! The president of Portugal surprised Trump with an aggressive handshake of his own":
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/28/1776301/-Jerk-off-The-president-of-Portugal-surprised-Trump-with-an-aggressive-handshake-of-his-own?detail=emaildkre
At the Post, columnist Max Boot (shared with Foreign Policy) has jumped from Republican to Democrat. He doesn't want to be with the party of the child snatchers.
"Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump" by John Fea (historian, Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, Pa.) just arrived. It spans everything from medieval court life (I read an anecdote about an encounter with the spectre of St. Severin, who it seemed had been kept out of heaven for neglecting daily prayers in favor of activities at his prince's court) to American history. It looks like Liberty University and Donald Trump do not come out well.
Fea has previously written at book length on Thomas Jefferson, in part to expose evangelical pseudo-historian David Barton of Wallbuilders. Which is probably where Trump got his obsession, albeit I don't think Barton was quite thinking of walling off his home state of Texas.
The book is from Eerdmans, a Christian publisher in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Ding, dong the corrupt one's gone.
You are going to have to be more specific than that.
j/k
I know you are talking about Scott Pruitt who sets a subterraneanly low bar for what a Trump cabinet official can get away with.
I liked the conspiracy theory, floated in the Post, that Pruitt was being kept around so Trump could fire Sessions and use legislation that allows him to move any Congressionally-confirmed official into a vacant slot for some 210 days. So Pruitt could become Attorney General, fire Muller and a bunch of other perps and retire in glory from public life. It would have been a spectacle.
I favor the conspiracy theory that Trump was the biological father of Playboy Model Shera Bechard's aborted fetus, and that Trump and Michael Cohen offered "RNC bigwig and Trump donor Elliott Broidy" opportunities for major business profits in return for "taking the fall" for Trump.
After all, Broidy seems an unlikely client for Cohen, certainly not in the same category as Trump and Hannity. One can only wonder how much Cohen has "sung" to Mueller about this arrangement. And IIRC, Mueller has subpoenaed guest records of the Beverly Hills Hotel, which could potentially place Trump there at the time Bechard got pregnant:
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/05/who-did-playboy-model-shera-bechard-really-have-an-affair-with
Pruitt's resignation letter whined about "unprecedented personal attacks." He's redefined chutzpah.
Another day, another entry in the Trump-land chutzpah derby. "Paul Manafort wants trial moved to Roanoke, says Northern Virginia too liberal":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/paul-manafort-wants-trial-moved-to-roanoke-says-alexandria-too-liberal/2018/07/06/0b6b72c6-8167-11e8-b658-4f4d2a1aeef1_story.html
The North Korean official described the conversation with Pompeo as deplorable, where as the latter deemed them to be a success.
“unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization” and called it “deeply regrettable,” hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his two days of talks in the North Korean capital were “productive.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/asia/mike-pompeo-north-korea-pyongyang.html
A NY Times story suggests that publicity about the Pruitt-suggested scheme for him to become acting Attorney General after firing of Sessions was the last straw for Trump, who likely as not liked the idea but not it being bandied about in public.
At least one commentator has suggested that Pence's persistent presence in the White House (it seems Cabinet members have lunch privlieges there and at least limited permission to wander around the West Wing) and persistent flattery of Trump (reference his resignation letter) served to keep him in office. Dante had a special ring in the Inferno for flatterers, near the bottom.
The NYT has a powerful review of Kathleen Belew's "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America." The website has lots of links. The accusation is that white terrorists have been treated with kid gloves. Heaven help us if Trump leaves office in an even slightly "irregular" way.
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674286078
EPA's inspector general hasn't yet released a report on Pruitt but several are forthcoming.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/pruitt-epa-ethical-woes-resignation-674370
And via suesea, a useful item on Trump and language. Best call him a limp nitwit.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/trump-wants-to-be-called-tough.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_ru
Characteristics of teenage bullies:
Impulsive
Anger management problems
Tries to control other people, rather than inspiring others to follow
Easily frustrated and annoyed
Lacks empathy, isn't sympathetic to anyone's needs or desires but their own
Blames a victim for his own behavior by saying things like, "If that geek didn't look so stupid, I wouldn't have to hit him."
Difficulty following rules and little respect for authority
View violence in a positive way, such as a form of entertainment or a good way to get needs met
Boys who bully tend to be physically stronger than other children
Girls who bully tend to be perceived as popular
https://www.verywellfamily.com/characteristics-of-a-bully-2609264
I've caught up to political cartoonist David Horsey. He disappeared from the Los Angeles Times, now he's at the Seattle Times, and posting on Twitter. @davidhorsey
David Horsey used to be at the Seattle P-I, went to LA Times when the P-I nearly went under (it's online only). Didn't realize he was back at the Seattle Times.
seasea
I badly missed him. His back-to-Seattle video reminds me of Portland, writ larger. Downtown Portland is having a building boom, likely the biggest in its history, just as homelessness is worse than ever. And I lived in a neighborhood where a house (old cheap rental, occupied by Reed students) burned down because someone had lighted a fire on the porch.
...blabbering of a traveling salesman. That's how Der Spiegel characterized our president's tirades against Merkel. They know that the senate stands behind Nato, no matter what Mr Trump says.
Pres. Trump may have ruined the political career of Boris Johnson and saved Prime Minister Theresa May’s.
I'm waiting with bated breath to see how many faux pas Trump commits against QE II tomorrow (and how severe they are). Doubt that Prince Philip will be there, but I bet he could put the Donald in his place but good!
With all the Euro press I keep remembering this Tracy Ullman skit. She's Angela Merkel being trained not to roll her eyes at the stupidity surrounding her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5WPVLljm1A
Paging Dr. Freud...
Dreamt last night that I went to dinner at a very nice restaurant in Baltimore with five strangers, and at the end of the meal was presented a bill for $315 and change. Thought to myself how reasonable our meal was, until it dawned on me it was prix fixe per person, and didn't even include the tip. I awoke trying to think of how I'd explain this charge on my credit card to Mr. P. I suspect the most plausible explanation for my dream is that I've spent too much time reading Sietsema lately, combined with a strong sense of getting [screwed] by the Trump administration.
Speaking of dining away from home: Anyone else wonder if it was actually Trump who was outraged by being served only pastries and cheese at breakfast (instead of, say, several Egg McMuffins?), and that Kelly was merely being used as Trump's fall guy, since he (Kelly) is said to be leaving the White House soon anyway?
Pacifica and Jim, would either of you (or your family members) be interested in this?
"How Big Sing California aims to bring joy to six cities and 10,000 performers":
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article214642605.html
...Big Sing California will feature approximately that many singers in a simulcast performance connecting six major venues: Sacramento, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Fresno, Riverside and San Diego...
Big Sing California starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 21...
Free songbooks will be distributed at the Thursday rehearsal, or can be obtained for a modest fee via an online order.
The program for Big Sing California will have something for everyone, with an emphasis on accessibility for the thousands of participants who are enthusiastic amateurs. Familiar sing-alongs include “Lean On Me,” “Hey Jude” and “This Land Is Your Land”...
Apologies for being a bunker-hog, but as Mr. P just opined, "Oh, is Trump gonna be pissed!" I wonder if Trump will fire Rosenstein and Mueller between now and when he meets with Putin.
"Mueller probe indicts 12 Russians for hacking Democrats in 2016":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/rod-rosenstein-expected-to-announce-new-indictment-by-mueller/2018/07/13/bc565582-86a9-11e8-8553-a3ce89036c78_story.html?utm_term=.e18e2c5a7198
I expect Mueller is already being accused of sabotaging Trump's diplomacy. Fire him!
A couple of opinion writers have noted the futility (or stupidity) of holding Nato summits or hosting visits by President Trump. Nothing good can happen. Japanese prime minister Abe seems to have mastered the art of sneaking into Mar-a-Lago regularly and disappearing without a trace. Ninja.
From this weekend's On The Media on NPR. What I'd really love to know is how many OTHER Americans the Russians cultivated starting decades ago, and whether any of those investments also paid off for Russia, even if not as handsomely as Trump did. Maybe the Kushners? Harvey Weinstein? Other suspects?
"What Jonathan Chait Gets Right About Trump and Russia / Thirty years of contacts with Russia are hard to dismiss as a series of disconnected events.":
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/10/trump-russia-jonathan-chait-218966
...[C]onsider Trump not as a “recruit,” but as an investment. It is ridiculous to believe the Russians had a crystal ball, or a psychic who shook hands with Trump, like Johnny in The Dead Zone, and saw a future president. Rather, they took an interest in a wealthy American businessman with contacts throughout New York’s financial and political worlds. Indeed, as Chait notes, if the Russians hadn’t zeroed in on Trump — a man whose venality, vanity and vulgarity are like a menu of recruitable weaknesses — they’d have been guilty of intelligence malpractice...
The Finns are getting a double whammy and are preparing protests against both their guests. Must be fun. But our president can consider himself equal to Putin and that will please him.
I surmise that Helsinki survived the Trump's appeasement of Putin better than the American public has, at least emotionally.
Satire keeps becoming ever-harder in the Trump Era, but Borowitz has risen to the challenge. "Kremlin Names Trump Employee of the Month":
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/kremlin-names-trump-employee-of-the-month
I was out in a red state this weekend. Two data points that I did not expect. I went through Capon Bridge & Thomas, WV. Both are small towns that had grown significantly since I'd been there last. This seems to conflict with the image we've been told about small rural towns. Thomas can probably be explained away. It's a little artistic town in the Canaan valley and a big interstate-in-all-but-name, Rt 48, ends not far from there. So there's a lot of new traffic; it's easier for us urbanites to get there.
And next door, in Davis, they seem to be doing pretty well too.
Capon Bridge was a dying little town when I was there a decade ago. It still isn't that big, but I'd say the number of commercial businesses on the main drag had doubled. Capon Bridge also doesn't have any immediately obvious driver for the development. I don't have any answers here, but it struck me how these towns didn't fit the existing narrative.
Starbucks is planning a store where all the staff are proficient in American Sign Language, close to Gallaudet University, of course.
Miami Herald has a dismal report from Nicaragua. The Ortega government has turned to intimidating the Catholic Church, in the name of Christianity.
Dave, it appears that this fall Brazil could follow Trump's lead into bigotry and quasi-fascism too, since Lula might not be allowed to run again.
"Brazil far-right politician enters presidential race":
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44919769
If you type "Jair Bolsonaro" into the Google News search box, you'll find a whole mess of scary articles about him. He pines for the days of the military dictatorship, seeks greater availability of guns in Brazil (on the pretext of letting victims fight off criminals), he denigrates women, and mocks gay men.
https://news.google.com/topics/CAAqJAgKIh5DQkFTRUFvS0wyMHZNRFJuTlhFeU1CSUNaVzRvQUFQAQ?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
I don't understand this fresh clearance flap. As far as I understand things, none of the folks Trump wants to drop clearances from actually have clearances because they don't have a current cleared job.
I do understand that's just Trump lashing out at his critics without understanding what's going on. But unless there's some nuance I'm missing, anyone with a vague understanding of the process would know there's nothing to revoke.
It seems people like ex-CIA chiefs retain at least limited security clearances for a few years after they leave the job so they can converse with their successors. Of course Trump's accusing them of releasing secrets.
There seems to be a lot of nostalgia in Brazil for dictatorship, which is now distant enough to seem like the good old days.
Freedom House is showing concern about Trump and praises the two Politico reporters who stalked EPA's Pruitt (who didn't release his schedule so they did things like staking out airports), documented his lavish spending on himself, and prompted his "resignation." The political situation remains very strange. Trump is extraordinarily popular within his party and dissenters are being shown the door. Independent voters don't seem bothered by Trump. Democratic voters are outraged and motivated like never before. Cook Political Report is expecting a Democratic House and a Republican Senate for next year.
The Trump administration is accusing past security officials of having "politicized and in some cases monetized their public service.” As opposed to the real estate and other business interests of Trump, his three eldest children and son-in-law, eh? Sheesh, the irony is staggering!
The Kilauea eruption is taking Pohoiki, a rare surfing and general ocean access spot on the easternmost part of the island of Hawaii. It had already taken the beautiful Waiʻōpae Tidepools. More than 700 houses gone, and no reasonable prospect for re-opening most of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the state's second-largest tourist attraction.
The vent that had been producing lava in a moderate way, not threatening property, since 1984 or so collapsed in April, setting off major changes, including the long-lived, large lava flow that shows no sign of stopping. This report to the county Civil Defense gives an idea of what's happened and reasonable possibilities for the future, mostly discouraging.
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/file_mngr/file-185/USGS%20Preliminary%20Analysis_LERZ%20July%2015%202018.pdf
Very popular Oahu photographer Clark Little did a helicopter tour over the flow and has posted on Instagram an image that explains how skilled professionals are different from amateurs with cameras. Worth looking up. The image is also at his Facebook page, Clark Little Photography. The helicopter was from the company that Mick Kalber (Facebook: Tropical Visions Video) is with.
Fairy doors are spread around Orlando's Leu Gardens through late September.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/et-cetera/os-et-s2-enchanted-fairy-doors-leu-gardens-20180724-story.html
My congressman wants to impeach Rod Rosenstein.
Vote him out, Dave.
seasea
They empaneled a jury in the Paul Manafort case today and immediately started the trial. That's quick work!
Trump vs. the Kochs. Rooting for a Pyrrhic victory, I guess.
New Yorker's cartoon caption contest has a great Bliss drawing of a guy wearing a dress shirt and necktie, jacket neatly folded over a fence, talking happily on his phone while in mid flight, having just been bucked off a horse, also in flight, but in an upright position.
With the Koch brothers, it's down to Charles. His brother, in decline, has been ousted. Mr. Koch has a clear set of goals for the US. Having apparently decided that some of the political spending isn't so productive, he's turning toward reforming higher education, at least for the sorts of kids lined up to become doctors and lawyers and such.
I ♥ Dick Cavett:
The current president is perhaps the only celebrity over the age of 70 that Mr. Cavett has never met, other than being beaten by him to shrimp in a benefit buffet line years ago. [my emphasis]
A. Imagine Donald Trump’s library”
“B. You’d have to.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/04/style/who-is-dick-cavett.html
I wasn't familiar with him although I heard about that episode where the health food guru died on stage. Not surprising he mentioned Colbert.
I've been having health issues on top of a scheduled trip, so I really hadn't driven by here for over six weeks straight.
Hope everyone is doing well.
HP, it's so good to see you back. Am sorry to read that your past six weeks have at times been challenging, although am glad that you and Hastings got to travel.
Dick Cavett's various old series are rerun on Decades TV network; for us non-whippersnappers, the oldest ones in particular offer a journey back to our young adulthoods. However, I don't know whether you get any of the listed stations, or if the show is now close-captioned:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decades_(TV_network)#Affiliates
The Post's Retropolis, Avi Selk: "QAnon believers have a saying (we believe they coined it), “Follow the white rabbit.” The white rabbit will lead you through the twisted caverns of deception, to the underground burrows of warm, fluffy truth."
I suppose we'll be onto the next fad in September.
Am gratified to note that so-called "Right to Work" failed in Missouri yesterday by more than 2:1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/08/missouri-voters-defeat-gop-backed-right-work-law-victory-unions-associated-press-projects
My father would be so pleased.
Happy 44th anniversary of Nixon's resignation! Where has all that time gone?
Miller is, as Weingarten would say, a shanda for the goyim.
"Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle" by David S. Glosser:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351
Re the expression, see:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/gene-weingarten-defines-shanda-for-the-goyim/2011/05/17/AFaOBn5G_story.html
For whatever reason, Trump is popular in Florida according to polls conducted in July. Maybe enough white voters want to make the state white.
Hi, Dave! Good to see you. Hope all is well with you.
Re your post: Are there any demographic estimates yet as to how long before Florida's population becomes minority majority (like California already, and Texas soon)?
Florida demands photo ID with signature, meaning a driver license or county-issued non-diving equivalent. A passport won't work. Voter registration is fairly difficult, so the electorate seems to be far whiter than the citizenry.
Only a few counties were subject to the Voting Rights Act, so the state was something of a Southern dream.
Influxes of people from Mexico,Central America, and Puerto Rico have been countered by generally more conservative Cubans, Colombians, and Venezuelans Not to mention loads of midwestern retirees.
Dave, I posted a question to the WaPo travel chat re using a passport as a voter ID in Florida, and got a chatter's reply with this link. So yes, a passport is (still) allowed:
https://dos.myflorida.com/elections/for-voters/voting/election-day-voting
The signature thing is weird. My passport card did NOT suffice. I was carrying it during a period when I wasn't driving due to shoulder surgery. But a signature on a credit card was OK. Go figure. A lot of people don't have credit cards.
Thanks, Dave. My hunch is that some states'-rights vote-suppresser type wanted to disallow passports on grounds they're issued by the big bad Federal government (a/k/a the Deep State), rather than by the sovereign state of Florida. (I wish I could say I was being totally sarcastic).
Good God, all the late night comedians are on break. Shouldn't they work out a chart so they don't overlap.
Courtesy of a cousin:
If POTUS and Pecker paid a pack of pissed off porn stars, how many pissed off porn stars did a POTUS and Pecker pay?
Yeah yeah, I know, that's easy for me to say ;-)
Dave, I'll be watching tonight's Florida primary returns. Any sense yet on how big a voter turnout is expected?
Much of the voting already happened, early for a week. Turnout was low. The Democratic candidates for governor are an interesting bunch, but I think they're pretty much doomed. Sen. Bill Nelson seems very likely to lose to outgoing Gov. Scott, unless the red tide and Lake Okeechobee algae bloom mess makes Scott look irresponsible. The legislature looks near certain to remain radical right.
The winner of Florida's Republican primary for governor, DeSantis, is a 3-term congressman with a Harvard law degree who managed to get endorsed by Trump. Agriculture and concealed-weapons commissioner Adam Putnam, who had made a career of running for governor (and is a rather cute red-head) had diligently positioned himself as the gun guy and the number of places in the state issuing the popular permits went from eight, run by the Agriculture Department, to many more at county driver license offices.
It looks like Gillum is beating Gwen Graham, who had been expected to win the Democratic primary.
The governor race should be stark. My best guess is that DeSantis, with his anti-abortion and ultra-conservative credentials will win pretty easily. Trump is, as the Miami Herald puts it, "wildly popular" in much of the state.
Donna Shalala is running for the U.S. House? That's wild!
So you have Trump running against Bernie Sanders for governor, Dave? Yeah, I suspect Trump will win.
Yup, Shalala is 77 years old and was campaigning vigorously.
DeSantis praised Trump tonight.
Now we hear that Trump prophesied left-wing violence if they make gains in the November election. Red Wave!
"prophesied"
Excellent invocation of how Trump perceives himself.
Hey pj, howya feelin' these days? Any travels planned? We're off to Europe for a few weeks this fall (conference + vacation, including a music festival).
I'm feeling pretty good, NP, thanks. No trips planned for the rest of this year. Maybe next year.
Great that you can get over to Europe. Where are you going? Going there for a few weeks sounds great.
Trump seems to listen only to Fox and Bannon.
I think that Nicholas Kristof is onto something in pointing out that the Trump family's corrupt/dodgy business practices attracted little attention until Donald became president. Now, what was routine and ignored by law enforcement is now scrutinized.
https://static.nytimes.com/email-content/NK_5223.html?nlid=45616064
A fine op-ed by a Natural Resources Defense Council employee on the federal failure to assist Puerto Rico after its hurricanes points out the Trump administration's general neglect of the White House's essential role in coordinating the various government agencies. The White House persistently announces initiatives without first consulting "participating" agencies and makes little or no effort to arrange cooperation. The consequences for Puerto Rico were terrible. Houston was also ill-treated, not only by Washington but by the Texas state government. Does anyone want to be around if Trumps sets off a serious Russia, China, or Korea crisis?
The McCain memorials make me wonder whether they might be the finale for an old political and religious order. After the National Cathedral suffered millions in earthquake damage after having nearly gone broke during the Great Recession, I wondered whether its leafy grounds might become a forest of condos. I'm now wondering whether the site might get bought out by a billionaire with an incredible contemporary art collection. Episcopalians have divided and seem to be going extinct. United Methodists seem to be following, too.
At some points, McCain's friends and family seemed from an ancien régime, leftovers from a past era of political and social comity and conventions.
"I'm now wondering whether the site might get bought out by a billionaire..."
Maybe he'd put a hotel/resort there. Are its 59 acres enough for golf? :-(
Golf is past. In Florida, golf courses are the new developable land. Disney's been getting rid of its courses. Trump's Doral course would be prime.
The multi-billion vanity art museum is getting to be no joke. The Vuitton museum in Paris raised the stakes, and now a business rival to Vuitton is redoing a grand, historic stock exchange conveniently at Les Halles between the Louvre and the Pompidou.
There's been talk of Washington raising its building height limit, a respectful distance from the Capitol. I can imagine a Northwest transformed by sky busting condos.
Trump just gave Rodenstein (because Sessions' recused) generous incentive to encourage Mueller to bring indictments before the election.
Eugene Robinson's column on "why Trump is so frantic right now" is frightening in its tone, or would have been two years ago. We're living in unusual times. Nixon moped around the White House, drunk. Trump seems to be talking with friends.
This morning's Post update on the midterm election, with new polling data, is getting encouraging.
By the way, the National Museum fire in Rio de Janeiro is a catastrophe, the equivalent for Brazil of the Mall becoming toast. The fire was probably the worst single museum loss since Berlin in 1943 (Bremen lost most of its museum art collection to bombing and the misfortune of sheltering art works in an area taken by the Russians. National libraries were destroyed in Romania and Cambodia), we are not doing very well in the US. Natural history collections are being discarded or ruined through neglect at an alarming rate and history and art collections are not immune. The Detroit Art Institute's collections were nearly auctioned off.
One shudders to think what a Trump "multi-billion vanity art museum" would contain ;-)
While I'd welcome a Blue Wave come November, I'm terrified that so much talk of it now will lull too many Democratic voters into complacency, while spurring Republican ones to GOTV.
The Post has a story on Woodward'd book, Fear. I don't know that I want to read the story just now.
The quotes coming from this book are absolutely delicious. They are going to get everybody fired.
In one small group meeting, Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
Good to see ya, yello! Hope the jkts all had a good rest-of-summer, with travels, etc.
One of my favorite quotes from Fear: [Trump] once said McMaster dresses in cheap suits, “like a beer salesman.” Of course, no bespoke suit in the world can make Trump look like anything but the fat schlub he is.
Hey Dave! "World's best return to Central California's Surf Ranch" (Lemoore):
https://abc30.com/sports/worlds-best-return-to-the-surf-ranch/4158709/
We're supposed to get our very own Surf Ranch at a business park off of I-95 in northern Palm Beach County. Slater & Co. found a stray long, narrow parcel.
John Cassidy, New Yorker: "...we have a menacing dingbat in the White House, and nobody with the requisite authority seems willing to do anything about it..."
I wonder whether the Washington Post was hacked. Its website seems partially crippled today, no explanation.
Late last week the WaPo website was inaccessible to my computer several times, for a few minutes at a time. I assumed the problem was theirs, since I was able to open other websites just fine.
Dave, how far south is Hurricane Florence expected to affect surf?
The rainfall possibilities for Florence from NC north perhaps into Pennsylvania look awful, as the Post's Weather Gang point out.
The surf window for our part of Florida is rather brief, basically just Thursday and Friday with Friday the more impressive. This morning, there's a definite swell making small, very crunchy waves.
Is anyone here still in touch with Boodlers Mudge and Jack (and any others in the line of Hurricane Florence)? Sure hope they're all well, and out of harm's way.
mudge evacuated early Tuesday.
That's good news, yello. Hope all is well Chez Jkt.
How about that latest EGOT, John Legend? Not that I watched JCS, but I'm pleased for him.
I did watch JCS, and it was very good. I have a friend who absolutely detests John Legend, but I like him a lot, although I don't know him so much from his music career, but from the occasional movies and TV I see him in.
seasea
Yesterday started at 3 am with buying a ticket to Berlioz's "Les Troyens." It was within minutes of the website opening for sales. I was smart. The best and cheapest seats are already sold out.
When I got to Orlando at 6pm, the car had started making some odd noises. Partway home around midnight, I pulled into a Walmart parking lot and the electricity started going out. I parked at a Holiday Inn, stayed. This morning, all seemed normal, so I drove the rest of the way back, straight to the dealer, whose service department was happy to diagnose a failing alternator and failing battery. Ouch.
Orlando was Paul Simon and his large ensemble at the Basketball Palace. Seating good, but I was reminded of why I've never liked amplified live pop music. There was obviously excellent music going on, but I couldn't hear it for all the volume. I'm sure the technology exists for better large sound systems.
The Wilmington area has long had very serious beach erosion problems, and despite a much improved local economy thanks to an Interstate connection to Raleigh, it's still a poor region. I fear that Lumberton, a community wrecked by the last severe floods, may simply disappear.
BTW, it's starting to look like a Blue Wave may truly be taking shape. I've been skeptical. Trump's popularity was limited but genuine. Locally 5 foot waves around Cocoa Beach. Tomorrow's the big day.
I never remember to bring them but I steal ear plugs from construction sites. When I do remember them, it tends to filter out a lot of the high pitches and reverb which makes they lyrics nearly intelligible in an arena.
Either bands have gotten quieter or I'm going to mellower shows because I don't walk out with my ears ringing as often as when I was young. Of course, as an acoustic consultant told me once, hearing loss is permanent and cumulative.
I go to a lot of shows and pack ear plugs daily. I buy the foam plugs in bulk from the friendly local pharmacy. I keep a stash of them in the car, because I'm perpetually loosing them. I have friends that have the expensive "musicians" ear plugs that you need to get fitted at an audiologist. I'm hesitant to do that, see the aforementioned 'loosing' comment. I think some venues are becoming sensitive to the noise issue. I think audio design is getting better... noise absorbing materials, remote speakers, acoustic testing, etc. But there are certainly quite a few loud concerts... and why I carry the earplugs.
Yello, I'd say yes to all your suppositions. I think I fit the last option, of late I'm going to a lot of acoustic shows.
I saw Paul Simon at Wolf Trap three years ago. It was a wonderful show and the venue is open, so volume wasn't an issue. Wolf Trap's sound system is excellent, too, so I think that helped. He had 10 or 11 musicians backing him up and on his song "Rhythm of the Saints" half of them were playing percussion instruments. They made a bunch of noise but it wasn't a problem.
He's playing in DC tomorrow night. While it would be fun to see his farewell tour, I think I'll stick with the memories of the show I saw.
Wolf Trap is a strictly music venue. Orlando's Amway Center, tied by an umbilical to the Geico Garage, is basketball and multi-purpose. It's rather new, so you'd expect competent equipment and such, but I am a bit doubtful.
Looking forward to a busy acoustic season, with Berlioz's "Les Troyens" as the highlight, though in all likelihood, the production of Poulenc's "Dialogues of the Carmelites" that I saw by dumb luck in January was also attended by The Guardian's critic, who loved it, as did everyone else. Sometimes the best things are just a matter of curiosity and luck. So I should buy a ticket for the Goldberg Variations, if only to see the Philharmonie auditorium.
Volume problems aside, the Paul Simon show clearly showed why he'd remained a relevant figure for so long. Air fares from Orlando to Washington are persistently cheap, so it is not unthinkable to fly up for some culture. Last year's flight from hurricane Irma was an excuse for a first visit, ever, to the Kennedy Center (Aida) and the Wooly Mammoth theatre, (Frisch's "The Arsonists," which I had last seen at a production at Penn State when I was an undergrad).
We do it the other away around. We fly to the cities where it is most convenient to see a tour. This summer we went to Boston for U2 as the first leg of our vacation.
I've seen Paul Simon twice. Once at Georgia Tech for a Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour. Students got first chance at tickets so I had great seats.
The second time was when he did double-bill tour we Sting a few years back. We went and saw the show in Orlando and piggybacked it with a visit to Sea World to see killer whales before they get out of that business.
Washington is really easy to visit, at least until Metro collapses, and it has good theater, though Houston and Chicago are probably better.
I'll visit New York for only the second time as an adult in early May. Not exactly looking forward to local transportation, and lodging costs. The visit will be to re-see "Carmelites" with subtitles, albeit in a hall far too big, then Rigoletto from the first row of the nosebleed balcony for an extra $35. Other priority is to finally see the Frick Collection, which I've walked by many times (my mother grew up at the far east end of the street), the Franklin Roosevelt memorial or the Isamu Noguchi museum, and possibly the New York Botanical Garden.
BTW, a reason for the Paul Simon concert was that the event-attracting auditorium in Melbourne, the King Center at what is now East Florida State College, offered early access to tickets, so seating position was good. Next show at King is Jonny Lang, who I don't know anything about but has an interesting bio.
I haven't seen Jonny Lang in a while. He was a big deal a decade or so ago as a young blues guitar wunderkind. IIRC, Buddy Guy kind of took him under his wing. He was a pretty good performer back then, but I was certain he'd blow out his voice before long. Guess I was wrong about that.
I'd go see him, but HFGF doesn't have much tolerance for the guitar hero antics.
It's next year, but Bromberg is still pretty good.
Front row of the top balcony can be the best seat in the house. You hear the performer(s) directly and via the ceiling and both walls. Brilliant sound.
Is Mudge still among us? In the path of Florence?
Top & back of houses can be wonderful for sound. Orchestra level under the balcony can be deathly.
yello (or anyone else), did you ever see Marin Mazzie on Broadway? We only ever saw her perform on PBS, but she was spectacular. Such a tragic, early death.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/marin-mazzie-broadway-sensation-in-ragtime-passion-and-kiss-me-kate-dies-at-57/2018/09/14/25abf4d0-b795-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html
Every year the NEA awards "National Heritage Fellowships" to a variety of artists, dancers, musicians, and crafters for their lifetime of work. This year's list is out.
https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/2018
For DC area folks, there is a concert/show to honor the fellows. It is one of my favorite shows of the year. You get a wonderful variety of creative people. It's all free. This year the show is at the Shakespeare Theatre's Sidney Harman Hall on Friday Sept 28. You can reserve tickets in advance. Not sure if you need them; you could generally get in just by showing up when the shows were at Lisner or the Strathmore hall.
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/events/nea-national-heritage-fellowships-concert/
Quite a diverse group of honorees.
A somewhat encouraging beach report from the Charlotte Observer. The Los Angeles Times does report flooding concerns around Myrtle Beach.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article218496495.html
Brigthtline, the private express rail service currently connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with plans to expand to Orlando International Airport and perhaps Tampa, acquired a project to create fast rail from Las Vegas to the eastern parts of the Los Angeles metro area. https://www.floridatrend.com/article/25432/brightline-to-build-express-intercity-passenger-rail-connecting-southern-california-and-las-vegas
Dave,
Did you see Adrian Higgins's long article on the Bradford pear? It's in the Post's magazine this week. He discusses how it was developed and moved from a useful plant to a miserably invasive plant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/how-we-turned-the-bradford-pear-into-a-monster/2018/09/14/f29c8f68-91b6-11e8-b769-e3fff17f0689_story.html?utm_term=.d65cebee921a
I'd read Higgin's remarkably sophisticated story. Wednesday, there was a coral snake on the driveway a little before 8 am. It had crossed the street and was having a miserable time moving on the concrete. We no doubt have a population of them in the neighborhood, but they're extraordinarily shy; this is the second sighting in my yard in 18 years. Far more hazardous to try to kill it than to let it go its way.
I was careful in high school to avoid getting into any kind of dubious activity partly on the notion that I wanted credible applications to colleges. As it turned out, the selective ones evidently wanted athletes and perhaps evidence of competitive, aggressive, loutish behavior. Was Yale in he 1980s really a nest of Donald Trumps, only better athletes with better grades and perhaps better-placed parents? And in the 90s they all ran off to work for Goldman Sachs? Maybe the handful of observant Jewish refuseniks who avoided mandatory residence in the dorms had a moral point.
The American equivalents to the French Grandes Écoles look weirder and weirder.
(The New Yorker has published a further accusation against Judge Kavanaugh from his undergraduate years. "A dorm party gone awry.")
HeadFool,
Did you post a question/comment about Pittsburgh on Gene Weingarten's chat today? I have never been there and it sounds like a fun place. He said that Philadelphia is like Paris compared to Pittsburgh.
I've only been to Pittsburgh twice but been to Philly many, many times. They are very different cities. Pittsburgh just always seems to have a layer of grime on it in a comfortable low-key way. Philly is very frentic with just so many things going on all the time. I'm trying to think of another state with two such different but significant cities. Maybe California with LA and San Francisco.
Yeah, that was me. We really enjoyed the Pittsburgh week. I think HFGF was a little surprised at that. I didn't find it all that grimy. Certainly not like I guess it was in the steel city heyday.
The Pittsburgh Macaroni Company that was mentioned a couple times was one of the places we went in and got a lot of cheese... pounds of it. The list of cheeses there covered a wall. And we got a bit more from the Greek place nearby. HFGF and I devoured the blue cheese stuffed olives from there. We went back on the way out of town, but it was a Sunday and they were closed. We visited with gmbka and her husband while we were there, and had dinner with them another night.
On your different cities challenge, yello... a couple thoughts.
Louisiana: New Orleans vs. Lafayette (Cajun Country) vs. Baton Rouge (the south)
Florida: Miami vs. Orlando
Ohio: Columbus vs. the rest. Columbus is a govt town, the rest are (ex)industrial.
That sounds like a great trip, HF. My brother lives in Philadelphia, so I've been up there many times and like the city. I must make it to Pittsburgh sometime.
I applied to a couple of colleges near Philadelphia, didn't get in, so ended up with the proletariat at Penn State, where it seems I shouldn't have taken for granted getting in to the main campus for fall term (lots of freshmen were started out summer term). The culture differences between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were blatant.
Of course PSU at the time was lily white, so the Pittsburgh of August Wilson was entirely missing.
Wait, what? Penn State is in State College.
As an aside, went there this year. Stayed in a funky cabin a few minutes outside of town at Black Moshannon State Park. Cabin 20 was an small ski lodge in the 60s & 70s. It was built very industrially, lots of cement block construction. The entry looks like an American Legion or something. But walk in, go to the stairs, and you've got the view. A two story+ window looking down the old ski slope. Down into the lodge, there's a huge fireplace. And a bunch of couches that probably haven't been updated since the 70s. Nice big deck out back too, a little bit worse for wear. Anyway the two of us in this huge place that supposedly holds 8, but could handle dozens if they didn't mind bunking on the floor. And it was cheaper than any of the hotels in State College. We had some nice easy hikes there with all sorts of wildlife and interesting fauna.
And the Penn State Creamery rocks... the Roseberry in particular.
PSU was fairly evenly divided, but I think the western Pa. contingent dominated, in part because behaving friendly tended to make more friends.
It bothered me that the University of Georgia had a Creamery, but only a tiny one..
Circa 1970, Penn State had a very good (though not best-in-class) materials science program, very good electrical engineering, biophysics, and quite a lot of other programs with prospects for the state's post-coal, steel, and basic manufacturing economy. The state was already becoming a rust belt. The need for economic reinvention was obvious. From my perspective, it felt a lot like what happened, was that the new economy simply popped up in North Carolina instead.
Petri is in fine form this morning with Brett and Bart. Of course the poor kid must have been living in a genteel pressure cooker, needing to beat 3/4 of his classmates at athletics, most of them at grades, and seem personable, convivial, and community spirited (whatever Asians aren't). And his life might be impaired if he had to go to somewhere like William and Mary or maybe even Vanderbilt.
Think of the Tiger Mother who got plum clerkships for Yale Law students. I'm sure those students got the Tiger treatment.
I'm reading Bob Woodward's "Fear" and am impressed at the extent to which, at least at the beginning, the Trump administration was stuffed with people from the same sort of elite Yale-Harvard backgrounds. Haven't noticed any Princetons yet, maybe in part because they don't seem to have a law school. I've long suspected that Nixon must have gone to Duke law school because he didn't get into Yale-Harvard, and that he might have hated those who did get in for the rest of his life. I wonder whether Trump, having gone to Penn at a time when it wasn't thriving, might be happy to see Harvard suffer something worthy of Seuss's Grinch.
We truly do have a French-style system of Grandes Écoles, except the French admissions system is probably less opaque and a bit more open to the general public.
Oh, the humanity!™ strikes Petri's comments section:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/27/how-dare-you-do-this-to-brett-kavanaugh
I am not sure about the statute of limitations, but perhaps he should be put on trial for sexual assault.
That’s a tough one gmbka... as I understand it, there is no statue of limitations currently. But when the assault occurred it was a misdemeanor and the limit was one year. So? Lawyers in the house?
Even the possibility of being indicted for being a sexual predator should disqualify him for high office. But then we elected the president, so obviously it is okay to have this attitude towards women. I blame the Republicans because they put up with anything as long as it serves them to stay in power and I also blame the women voters. We are the majority after all, and we not only let it happen but many of us are supporting these men.
It took a British adventure tour company (they do places like Botswana) to assemble a visit to the Serengeti of the botanical carnivores. I didn't check, but they can see an introduced population of Venus fly traps in Apalachicola National Forest, Florida.
http://www.redfernadventures.com/adventures/gulf-coast/
We haven't been affected by the Red Tide. The state finally started to do effective sampling and quick posting of results as the disaster began to fade. The outbreak on the Atlantic coast is unusual, probably stuff floating from the Gulf.
http://myfwc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=87162eec3eb846218cec711d16462a72
So many other needs and I donated to Puerto Rico's Flamboyan Art Fund.
The prospective next hurricane looks like it will move fairly fast once inland, so presumably no new major floods.
We saw a couple pitcher plants at Black Moshannon. They were just off the boardwalk on their Bog Trail. One was in bad shape, the other just holding on.
I haven't been to Pa. since college, apart from Philly airport, Delaware border, and just across the NY border. I was around Black Moshannon but I don't recall the pitchers. The great pitcher savannah at Garcon Point across from Pensacola is sadly diminished.
I was just wondering whether the Red Sox and Yankees wear the same dark blue.
I got an interesting bit of "sextortion" yesterday. It (rightly) got dropped into my junk folder. It was a basic threat that a key logger installed on my machine grabbed my password (to what was not specified), gained access to my contacts (across many platforms), and "via RDP" (Remote Desktop... which doesn't exist on any of my machines) was able to watch/record me during a visit to a porn site. None of this was true. And in exchange for $7K in bitcoin, they wouldn't send that video to everyone. The thing that did get my attention is that they did provide a password that I used in the past (for generally low risk sites). And there are some accounts, mostly unused, that still have that password. Krebs provides a detailed rundown:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07/sextortion-scam-uses-recipients-hacked-passwords/
They've apparently gotten a hold of data from one or more hacked logins. And used that as a way to trick folks that they had real data.
Anyway... be aware...
Mr. Hastings wishes to inform you he likes "Lucky Dog" on CBS, but not me yelling corrections at the dogs for countersurfing. Old reflex.
He's also due for his first dental cleansing on Halloween. They'll knock him out and have a rummage around and see what to keep and what to toss. C'est British dentistry, non?
After listing all the historical similarities between our current political situation and the events between the two world-wars in Europe, the historian Christopher R. Browning also writes about the dissimilarities, which unfortunately look equally threatening.
His conclusion: "Trump is not Hitler and Trumpism is not Nazism, but regardless of how the Trump presidency concludes, this is a story unlikely to have a happy ending."
These days I am really happy about being old and therefore unlikely to have to experience the really bad times my parents had to go through.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy/
HF, somebody threatening me would be a frightening experience. Not to mention the idea that somebody gets hold of the password for my bank account.
gmbka, it wasn't from anything as sensitive as a bank account. I kinda suspect it was from a Sears/Delta breach a while back. It did give me pause, and I spent a fair amount of time working through the possibilities (what machine, how, what account, was there a key logger there, etc.) before concluding something wasn't right. It was only then that I googled some of the message text and the Krebs article popped up.
Every so often I google phone #s when they bother me, and there always is consolation in finding out that I am not the only victim of this harassment. But nobody has yet tried to blackmail me for watching porn, yet.
Michael is quite a storm - from GA to out in the ocean by NJ all in one day.
Long Island is expecting just one day of surf from Michael, tomorrow, mostly no more than head high.
The demolition of Mexico Beach (and presumably Port St. Joe) is about what you'd expect of a near category-5 storm with a big storm surge. Unfortunately the storm intensified very rapidly and perhaps too late for the seriousness of the situation to completely sink in.
Hurricane Andrew of 1992 intensified pretty fast, catching lots of people somewhat unaware. It also caused wind damage that no one, at the time, was familiar with. Entire rows of the biggest concrete-rebar power poles snapped. The worst wind patches were indeed tornado-like, something that's sure to be noticed in Michael's swath. Florida State has a meteorology department, so I expect some special field trips for students.
Looks like the Washington Post's website is down, beyond the front page.
Dave, glad to know you're doing well, even though you're not in the Panhandle, a Cat 5 storm breezing past nearby can't be fun.
Mr. Hastings is pottering along. As for me, all I can say is 21 days and 3 hours to Election Day.
Michael is Andrew II, except bigger. It's likely to be promoted to category 5 when damage and other assessments are complete. A perfect swath of counties from landfall to the Alabama border are without power.
I sometimes check the Trip Advisor forums for Florida. Most queries are about Disney, where I don't know anything, but there's occasional interesting ones. Before Michael hit, I responded to one with examples of what Andrew had done. Turned out to be all too prescient.
Tallahassee, fortunately, wasn't badly damaged and the huge Florida State University is back in session, along with Florida A&M.
It appears that our county and Brevard to our north are developing red tide. Probably more information tomorrow. People are reporting respiratory problems near the beaches.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45894346
I see the US is leaving the International Postal Union. That suggests a Trumpian way to deal with climate change: have our own weights and measures system.
I should have gone to the beach to see the dead fish, mostly reef species. Abrupt, very bad red tide.
Jim,
Planet Money did a good episode on the IPU. It really needs to be reformed. So, much as it pains me, I agree with the administration. Basically, because of the IPU policies, it's cheaper to send something from China than it is to send it across the street. That just can't be right.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/01/634737852/episode-857-the-postal-illuminati
Home from Europe to this shocking WaPo headline: "Trump’s GOP allies quietly fuel a Khashoggi smear campaign."
Guess this must be Trump's notion of a mutually acceptable explanation with the Saudis. Joe McCarthy's ghost lives. Sad!
I will have to check out my Freedom Caucus congressman, the real estate salesman on the Science Committee.
The postal change makes sense if genuinely less-developed countries continue to get good postage rates. I wish it were cheaper to get stuff from Australia and New Zealand.
My semi-success in hardware was finding a way to squeeze two small LED bulbs into the compact kitchen ceiling light fixtures. They're a bit quixotic for a kitchen, Arroyo Craftsman with iridescent yellowish glass. They provide a bit of area lighting but most of the kitchen light is from under the counters, from the glass-front cabinets, over the sink, and other such sources. The ceiling fixtures don't look good with daylight LED bulbs but also don't look good with warm white or bright white. So I've found small "appliance" bulbs that can be fitted, one daylight, one warm. It makes for somewhat lopsided light, but the overall look is OK.
The living room is temporarily a test garage for 15 light controller boxes for the Botanical Garden's holiday light show. Fourteen of them operate clusters of eight small red-green-blue LED floodlights that can be programmed to change color--each one individually. One is supposed to dim and brighten string lights, but was unimpressive at that, and will instead be turning LED spotlights on and off. One big bamboo clump will get 13 multi-colored spots. The first try Wednesday evening was not exactly elegant, but pretty good spectacle.
ANY WORD FROM OUR HOST LATELY? HOPE ALL IS WELL CHEZ JUMPER. It's been a while, buddy, and we'd love to hear from ya!
Looks like the White House chief of staff (Kelly) and Home Security secretary (Nielsen) are on the way out, with Bolton-approved replacements. I don't suppose Joe Arpaio would be offered.
Then there's the Big November Tax Cut.
It looks like the Blue Wave is fading into a Blue Ripple. Trump is popular, sort of. Maybe the Caravan stuff is working.
A political analysis that will likely be helpful the day after the election. Trump may be a terrible president, but he's a smart politician, at least if you don't mind the wreckage.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/president-trump-theory-politics/573568/?utm_term=2018-10-22T10%3A00%3A58&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&fbclid=IwAR2wkSoAjzD2Wfjs85szdj524p9Sz4wQe7ZFlCM0q9Ggfj_04vwo9G0pSVU
Megyn Kelly is roughly my age. I don't believe she was unaware of the stigma of blackface. When we were 26, Ted Danson did something stupid. He was hosting a Friar's roast of Whoopi Goldberg (who he was dating at the time). He thought it would be funny to do it in blackface. Whoopi downplayed it, but it was a big deal. I didn't follow the celebrity thing and I heard about it. It was all over the news. Surely budding reporter Megyn would have heard it.
Oh yeaaah. Ted's career has recovered since but he's not about to do that again in this lifetime.
Some Florida counties (including mine) started early voting last Saturday. The rest start it tomorrow. Early voter counts by party registration indicate strong Republican turnouts, no sign of a blue wave.
Hearing our divider in chief talking about peace, love, and understanding makes me nauseous. Either that or too much rum in my tea.
Good to see you again, gmbka, even though the current political situation is so bleak.
Or too much tea in your rum, gmbka?
I have decided to tune him out. He can't manipulate my emotions if I don't let him. I mean, a man who wants to say he and Kim Jong-Il fell in love just because he hated the attention on Kavanaughty, that's a man who really needs the bully pulpit 24/7.
Remember the election fraud is so rampant in part because the GOP really know they could lose Congress (maybe not the Senate, but seriously the House.)
They wouldn't need to cheat if they were confident they could win on the strength of their platform, messaging, and terrific representation, including highly responsive constituent service including town halls on the drop of a pin.
gmbka, are you anywhere near Tree of Life synagogue? What tragic news. Hope you're safe, sheltering in place at home.
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