The Times They Are A-Changin’ — Open Thread

by

by wj

We’re way overdue for another Open Thread, so this is it.

On the nominal subject, this just cries out. From the LA Times:

Nevada’s Department of Taxation declared a state of emergency over a diminishing supply of marijuana. The drug was decriminalized in Nevada just two weeks ago but retail dispensaries are already running dangerously low, threatening to deprive the state of tax revenue to be used for schools and general reserves.

Got that? Lack of marijuana sales is a state-wide emergency. Can you picture something like that a decade ago? I sure can’t.

328 thoughts on “The Times They Are A-Changin’ — Open Thread”

  3. So can we get rid of all the NBA, MLB and NFL all-star games? What’s the point again?
    How many days until punters and kickers report?

  4. So can we get rid of all the NBA, MLB and NFL all-star games? What’s the point again?
    How many days until punters and kickers report?

  5. Just to clarify (also from the LA Times article:

    With about 100 growers in operation across Nevada, there is plenty of wholesale marijuana. The crisis has to do with distribution and state rules over who is allowed to transport marijuana.

    So the solution is in Nevada’s own hands. If they want to fix it.

  6. Just to clarify (also from the LA Times article:

    With about 100 growers in operation across Nevada, there is plenty of wholesale marijuana. The crisis has to do with distribution and state rules over who is allowed to transport marijuana.

    So the solution is in Nevada’s own hands. If they want to fix it.

  11. That involvement of state rules about transport reminds me of a situation back when I lived a bit north of Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan.
    Someone up the road started to build a jetty (out of massive amounts of fill) in an attempt to stop erosion on his property. Because of the way sediment moves along that shore, properties south of him then started getting increased erosion. (The “jetty” was huge, a small peninsula.)
    The neighbors banded together to try to stop the construction, but it was complicated. Although my memory is hazy as to the details 30+ years later, it went something like this:
    The Feds (Army Corps of Engineers) were involved because Lake Michigan is a navigable waterway.
    The state was involved because the state regulates the lake bed to a certain distance away from the shore.
    The county was involved … I forget why, but they were.
    The town was involved because the town was in charge of whether trucks loaded with fill could drive over its streets.
    It happened that this mess was just heating up when I moved back to Boston with a newborn, so I never did hear how it all evolved.
    *********
    It’s interesting that Nevada has already budgeted all that tax revenue from marijuana….
    Heh.

  12. That involvement of state rules about transport reminds me of a situation back when I lived a bit north of Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan.
    Someone up the road started to build a jetty (out of massive amounts of fill) in an attempt to stop erosion on his property. Because of the way sediment moves along that shore, properties south of him then started getting increased erosion. (The “jetty” was huge, a small peninsula.)
    The neighbors banded together to try to stop the construction, but it was complicated. Although my memory is hazy as to the details 30+ years later, it went something like this:
    The Feds (Army Corps of Engineers) were involved because Lake Michigan is a navigable waterway.
    The state was involved because the state regulates the lake bed to a certain distance away from the shore.
    The county was involved … I forget why, but they were.
    The town was involved because the town was in charge of whether trucks loaded with fill could drive over its streets.
    It happened that this mess was just heating up when I moved back to Boston with a newborn, so I never did hear how it all evolved.
    *********
    It’s interesting that Nevada has already budgeted all that tax revenue from marijuana….
    Heh.

  15. And how is it that I copied and pasted the link – as a link – without doing any HTML?

  16. And how is it that I copied and pasted the link – as a link – without doing any HTML?

  17. So what you’re saying is that, if I could somehow get rid of my rest-mass, I could be teleported, too?
    Just remember that we could bounce radar off the moon for some time before we could get a man there and back again. Baby steps.

  18. So what you’re saying is that, if I could somehow get rid of my rest-mass, I could be teleported, too?
    Just remember that we could bounce radar off the moon for some time before we could get a man there and back again. Baby steps.

  19. They were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when they ran out of weed.
    “As your lawyer, I advise you to stop near Vegas and score some drugs.”
    “We can’t stop here, this is bat country!”

  20. They were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when they ran out of weed.
    “As your lawyer, I advise you to stop near Vegas and score some drugs.”
    “We can’t stop here, this is bat country!”

  21. Okay, but have they also run out of munchies? Cause if they replenish the dope supply without having enough snacks on hand, they’re just going to have another emergency.

  22. Okay, but have they also run out of munchies? Cause if they replenish the dope supply without having enough snacks on hand, they’re just going to have another emergency.

  23. “We’re going to Vegas… to croak a scag baron named Savage Henry.
    ….
    And you know what that means. Savage Henry has cashed his check.
    …
    we’re gonna rip his lungs out. And eat them…”

  24. “We’re going to Vegas… to croak a scag baron named Savage Henry.
    ….
    And you know what that means. Savage Henry has cashed his check.
    …
    we’re gonna rip his lungs out. And eat them…”

  27. there is plenty of wholesale marijuana. The crisis has to do with distribution and state rules over who is allowed to transport marijuana.
    I suspect some bogarting is involved.

  28. there is plenty of wholesale marijuana. The crisis has to do with distribution and state rules over who is allowed to transport marijuana.
    I suspect some bogarting is involved.

  29. The old-timers & celebrities slow-pitch softball game was kind of fun to watch. Andre Dawson jacked one that almost made it over the baseball left field fence (344ft. down the line).

  30. The old-timers & celebrities slow-pitch softball game was kind of fun to watch. Andre Dawson jacked one that almost made it over the baseball left field fence (344ft. down the line).

  31. Can you picture something like that a decade ago?
    Not exactly.
    But I do distinctly remember the annual “dry season”, back in the ’70s, during which none was available from the usual sources, and which inspired Freewheelin’ Franklin’s famous mot about getting through times of no money.

  32. Can you picture something like that a decade ago?
    Not exactly.
    But I do distinctly remember the annual “dry season”, back in the ’70s, during which none was available from the usual sources, and which inspired Freewheelin’ Franklin’s famous mot about getting through times of no money.

  33. So what you’re saying is that, if I could somehow get rid of my rest-mass, I could be teleported, too?
    Quantum teleportation involves the transfer of information, and has already been demonstrated with particles having non-zero rest mass. But it’s just information. The problem is that given a sufficiently detailed description of the state of hairshirt, assembling a physical duplicate from the atoms up is… difficult.
    Myself, I’m inclined to think that we are more likely to develop a software substrate that can run an emulation of hairshirt’s mind and transfer that data. If you can bounce up to orbit, or the moon, or Mars, do you really care that “you” are executing on an android?
    The practical questions are hard. Is extracting a copy of “hairshirt” as data (including code) a one-way street? Ie, can we load the modified “hairshirt” back into an organic brain? The legal questions are harder. If “hairshirt” as software is transferred to an android body on Mars, is that a new legal entity? Does the copy on Earth have to be destroyed once the second copy is running?

  34. So what you’re saying is that, if I could somehow get rid of my rest-mass, I could be teleported, too?
    Quantum teleportation involves the transfer of information, and has already been demonstrated with particles having non-zero rest mass. But it’s just information. The problem is that given a sufficiently detailed description of the state of hairshirt, assembling a physical duplicate from the atoms up is… difficult.
    Myself, I’m inclined to think that we are more likely to develop a software substrate that can run an emulation of hairshirt’s mind and transfer that data. If you can bounce up to orbit, or the moon, or Mars, do you really care that “you” are executing on an android?
    The practical questions are hard. Is extracting a copy of “hairshirt” as data (including code) a one-way street? Ie, can we load the modified “hairshirt” back into an organic brain? The legal questions are harder. If “hairshirt” as software is transferred to an android body on Mars, is that a new legal entity? Does the copy on Earth have to be destroyed once the second copy is running?

  35. And how is it that I copied and pasted the link – as a link – without doing any HTML?
    RTFM, or at least the text under the comment box: “URLs automatically linked.” You only have to resort to HTML if you want to hide the link itself behind text.
    One of the things that I’ve observed is that for the URL to be successfully hidden, you have to write fully conformant anchor tags. If you leave out the quotes, an oversight that all browsers will handle so long as the values have no embedded blanks, the site software doesn’t recognize things properly.

  36. And how is it that I copied and pasted the link – as a link – without doing any HTML?
    RTFM, or at least the text under the comment box: “URLs automatically linked.” You only have to resort to HTML if you want to hide the link itself behind text.
    One of the things that I’ve observed is that for the URL to be successfully hidden, you have to write fully conformant anchor tags. If you leave out the quotes, an oversight that all browsers will handle so long as the values have no embedded blanks, the site software doesn’t recognize things properly.

  39. Michael Cain, I read a story on the very question you raise at the end of your penultimate comment, and then saw a play based on it. The story was, I think (I am on my phone so cannot check properly), in this very excellent book, by a neuropsychologist much influenced by Oliver Sacks, and which I highly recommend:
    https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Silent-Land-Travels-Neuropsychology-x/dp/1843540347&ved=0ahUKEwjEz9usiIXVAhULKcAKHW07BTIQFggcMAA&usg=AFQjCNHWfqaLZn_35fIe0YK0ctLgSXCo9w

  40. Michael Cain, I read a story on the very question you raise at the end of your penultimate comment, and then saw a play based on it. The story was, I think (I am on my phone so cannot check properly), in this very excellent book, by a neuropsychologist much influenced by Oliver Sacks, and which I highly recommend:
    https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Silent-Land-Travels-Neuropsychology-x/dp/1843540347&ved=0ahUKEwjEz9usiIXVAhULKcAKHW07BTIQFggcMAA&usg=AFQjCNHWfqaLZn_35fIe0YK0ctLgSXCo9w

  41. URLs automatically linked
    Somehow, I never noticed that, or at least didn’t process it. Was it always that way? Sometimes I’ll post a link that is just the URL, but I use the tags around the URL with the URL also inside the quotes of the first tag. All of which is to say that, in those cases, I’ve been wasting my time.
    Thanks for the info, MC.

  42. URLs automatically linked
    Somehow, I never noticed that, or at least didn’t process it. Was it always that way? Sometimes I’ll post a link that is just the URL, but I use the tags around the URL with the URL also inside the quotes of the first tag. All of which is to say that, in those cases, I’ve been wasting my time.
    Thanks for the info, MC.

  43. OK, being in bed on phone means I screwed up the link. The book is called Into the Silent Land and it’s by Paul Broks.

  44. OK, being in bed on phone means I screwed up the link. The book is called Into the Silent Land and it’s by Paul Broks.

  51. It’s just a matter of time until the eGOP wakes up to polyamorous het/bi/gay marriage, meaning that they can all join into a great big steamy fuster-cluck and legally avoid testifying against each other.
    It’s that last part that will put it over the edge.
    2016-7 proves that all that ‘traditional values’ crap is just a convenient bludgeon for implementing Cleek’s law.

  52. It’s just a matter of time until the eGOP wakes up to polyamorous het/bi/gay marriage, meaning that they can all join into a great big steamy fuster-cluck and legally avoid testifying against each other.
    It’s that last part that will put it over the edge.
    2016-7 proves that all that ‘traditional values’ crap is just a convenient bludgeon for implementing Cleek’s law.

  55. This is a 2005 interview with the director of the play which deals with the problem posited by Michael Cain. Reading it will, I think, make clear why I was so underwhelmed by The Real Problem, by Tom Stoppard (I rather thought Stoppard must have seen the earlier play), which seemed superficial compared, at least on a philosophical level, not to mention suffering from his frequent problem of cypher-like characters.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/mick-gordon-the-ego-has-landed-517694.html

  56. This is a 2005 interview with the director of the play which deals with the problem posited by Michael Cain. Reading it will, I think, make clear why I was so underwhelmed by The Real Problem, by Tom Stoppard (I rather thought Stoppard must have seen the earlier play), which seemed superficial compared, at least on a philosophical level, not to mention suffering from his frequent problem of cypher-like characters.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/mick-gordon-the-ego-has-landed-517694.html

  59. I’m writing this from my parents’ place in northeastern Connecticut.
    My father had a stroke Monday at 2am. Fortunately they were both awake at the time, so he was being seen by EMTS within 20 minutes, then on the way to Hartford Hospital (40min-1hr away).
    He’s got Broca’s aphasia, fairly restricted as these things go: he was soon saying words again, and is now up to sentence fragments and even full sentences/paragraphs. He goes to the rehab center today.
    I drove up Tuesday to be with my mom, be her driver, intercept phone calls, etc. Everything is VERY emotionally exhausting, but I am as hopeful as one could be about a 90-year-old parent with a stroke, and a 92-y.o. trying to deal with it.
    Maybe I’ll distract myself with writing about the Hugos, maybe I won’t.

  60. I’m writing this from my parents’ place in northeastern Connecticut.
    My father had a stroke Monday at 2am. Fortunately they were both awake at the time, so he was being seen by EMTS within 20 minutes, then on the way to Hartford Hospital (40min-1hr away).
    He’s got Broca’s aphasia, fairly restricted as these things go: he was soon saying words again, and is now up to sentence fragments and even full sentences/paragraphs. He goes to the rehab center today.
    I drove up Tuesday to be with my mom, be her driver, intercept phone calls, etc. Everything is VERY emotionally exhausting, but I am as hopeful as one could be about a 90-year-old parent with a stroke, and a 92-y.o. trying to deal with it.
    Maybe I’ll distract myself with writing about the Hugos, maybe I won’t.

  63. Doc — sending good thoughts your way. I hope things go smoothly for your parents (and you) from here on out.

  64. Doc — sending good thoughts your way. I hope things go smoothly for your parents (and you) from here on out.

  65. Yes, Doc, hoping for the best possible outcome. Speaking as someone whose 82 year old father had a terrible stroke in 1995, it was so frustrating to find from the NEJM that shortly afterwards they developed medication protocols which, in many cases, mean there is little or no long-term damage (particularly if it’s caused by a clot). Hopefully, this will work in your Dad’s favour, and the speed with which he was seen, and the speed of improvement you report sound very encouraging. Fingers, and everything else, crossed for you all.
    (I will now look at your link, and see how much I remembered of our previous exchange).

  66. Yes, Doc, hoping for the best possible outcome. Speaking as someone whose 82 year old father had a terrible stroke in 1995, it was so frustrating to find from the NEJM that shortly afterwards they developed medication protocols which, in many cases, mean there is little or no long-term damage (particularly if it’s caused by a clot). Hopefully, this will work in your Dad’s favour, and the speed with which he was seen, and the speed of improvement you report sound very encouraging. Fingers, and everything else, crossed for you all.
    (I will now look at your link, and see how much I remembered of our previous exchange).

  67. The Trump administration gets a lot of bad press here. So it’s worth acknowledging when the (eventually) get something right:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/13/afghan-girls-team-can-travel-to-u-s-for-robotics-contest-after-visas-denied-twice/?utm_term=.019f5bd0a6a6
    It was never obvious how a bunch of Afghan girls constituted a threat. (Well, except to the Taliban’s worldview, of course.) But at least we now have figured out that they don’t

  68. The Trump administration gets a lot of bad press here. So it’s worth acknowledging when the (eventually) get something right:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/13/afghan-girls-team-can-travel-to-u-s-for-robotics-contest-after-visas-denied-twice/?utm_term=.019f5bd0a6a6
    It was never obvious how a bunch of Afghan girls constituted a threat. (Well, except to the Taliban’s worldview, of course.) But at least we now have figured out that they don’t

  75. From this article, which is mostly about new Russia revelations, but including the quoted paragraph below that jumped out at me:
    http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-s-morning-clips-more-trump-jr-revelations-n782871

    And, as the Washington Post points out, Trump isn’t exactly selling the GOP agenda to voters. “Trump’s sporadic salesmanship on the bills and ambitions lingering on Capitol Hill has become a defining characteristic of the complicated relationship between the president and congressional Republicans. Although Trump routinely proclaims his desire for political victories, he has yet to make a full-throated case to the country about legislation that Congress is pursuing and has spent a modest amount of time attempting to twist arms in the House or Senate.”

    The dude has no clue what being the president is. He’s doing the “fake it ’till you make it” thing, possibly without even realizing it.

  76. From this article, which is mostly about new Russia revelations, but including the quoted paragraph below that jumped out at me:
    http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-s-morning-clips-more-trump-jr-revelations-n782871

    And, as the Washington Post points out, Trump isn’t exactly selling the GOP agenda to voters. “Trump’s sporadic salesmanship on the bills and ambitions lingering on Capitol Hill has become a defining characteristic of the complicated relationship between the president and congressional Republicans. Although Trump routinely proclaims his desire for political victories, he has yet to make a full-throated case to the country about legislation that Congress is pursuing and has spent a modest amount of time attempting to twist arms in the House or Senate.”

    The dude has no clue what being the president is. He’s doing the “fake it ’till you make it” thing, possibly without even realizing it.

  77. Trump wasn’t even in charge on The Apprentice.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/12/clay-aiken-says-trump-didnt-make-the-decisions-to-fire-people-on-celebrity-apprentice/

    According to one former competitor on the “Celebrity Apprentice,” Trump didn’t actually decide when to fire a contestant.
    “He didn’t make those decisions, he didn’t fire those people,” said Clay Aiken, 38, who competed on the show in 2012 and was also a contestant on “American Idol.”
    The show’s producers from NBC made those calls, giving Trump instructions through a teleprompter on his desk that looked like a phone, Aiken said in an interview on Domecast, a podcast from the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., his hometown.
    It isn’t the first time the veracity of “The Apprentice” has been questioned. As The Post has reported, Trump frequently offered to give away thousands of his own dollars, often to console a fired or upset celebrity. The Post examined all of the “personal” gifts that Trump promised during 83 episodes and seven seasons, and could not confirm a single case in which Trump actually sent a gift out of his own pocket.

    he’s a fraud, through and through.

  78. Trump wasn’t even in charge on The Apprentice.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/12/clay-aiken-says-trump-didnt-make-the-decisions-to-fire-people-on-celebrity-apprentice/

    According to one former competitor on the “Celebrity Apprentice,” Trump didn’t actually decide when to fire a contestant.
    “He didn’t make those decisions, he didn’t fire those people,” said Clay Aiken, 38, who competed on the show in 2012 and was also a contestant on “American Idol.”
    The show’s producers from NBC made those calls, giving Trump instructions through a teleprompter on his desk that looked like a phone, Aiken said in an interview on Domecast, a podcast from the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., his hometown.
    It isn’t the first time the veracity of “The Apprentice” has been questioned. As The Post has reported, Trump frequently offered to give away thousands of his own dollars, often to console a fired or upset celebrity. The Post examined all of the “personal” gifts that Trump promised during 83 episodes and seven seasons, and could not confirm a single case in which Trump actually sent a gift out of his own pocket.

    he’s a fraud, through and through.

  83. From cleek’s wiki link:
    Suicide bags were first used during the 1990s. The method was mainly developed in North America.
    Uh, thanks wikipedia?
    Also, too, I can’t decide if “Cleek’s wiki link” sounds dirty or would be a good band name. Probably both.

  84. From cleek’s wiki link:
    Suicide bags were first used during the 1990s. The method was mainly developed in North America.
    Uh, thanks wikipedia?
    Also, too, I can’t decide if “Cleek’s wiki link” sounds dirty or would be a good band name. Probably both.

  85. For whatever reason, wiki used to be a micro-sociolectic term for the pot among one of my circles back in the day.

  86. For whatever reason, wiki used to be a micro-sociolectic term for the pot among one of my circles back in the day.

  91. And what they said sounds like a stream of zingers at Trump and his behavior, even though they never mentioned his name once.

  92. And what they said sounds like a stream of zingers at Trump and his behavior, even though they never mentioned his name once.

  93. Who even has easy access to a “source of helium”?
    All Target stores in my area are shown to have small helium tanks in stock. Walmart will deliver larger tanks to my door. Most good-sized welding supply stores can provide tanks of helium (also argon and dry nitrogen, which are equally effective). The welding supply tanks will require a regulator, which they gladly rent/sell to you.
    So, pretty much everyone.
    When I worked at a lab that used large tanks of dry nitrogen I had to go through a couple of hours of training materials on safe handling. As I recall, nitrogen is the “most dangerous” industrial gas in the US in terms of deaths, almost all due to accidental asphyxiation.

  94. Who even has easy access to a “source of helium”?
    All Target stores in my area are shown to have small helium tanks in stock. Walmart will deliver larger tanks to my door. Most good-sized welding supply stores can provide tanks of helium (also argon and dry nitrogen, which are equally effective). The welding supply tanks will require a regulator, which they gladly rent/sell to you.
    So, pretty much everyone.
    When I worked at a lab that used large tanks of dry nitrogen I had to go through a couple of hours of training materials on safe handling. As I recall, nitrogen is the “most dangerous” industrial gas in the US in terms of deaths, almost all due to accidental asphyxiation.

  113. Since it’s an open thread: just saw the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time (one of the significant books of my childhood), and delighted to see that Meg and Charles Wallace are from a family of colour. But looking on Wikipedia, it seems that I was unaware of a) follow-up books, and b) a previous film. I will now investigate the sequels, unless advised otherwise….

  114. Since it’s an open thread: just saw the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time (one of the significant books of my childhood), and delighted to see that Meg and Charles Wallace are from a family of colour. But looking on Wikipedia, it seems that I was unaware of a) follow-up books, and b) a previous film. I will now investigate the sequels, unless advised otherwise….

  115. GftNC — A Wrinkle in Time was a big one for me when I was a child too, and I did read the sequels, probably more than once. (I’m a big re-reader.) But that was decades ago. The sequels are nowhere as vivid in my mind as the first one, but I remember liking them well enough. It will be interesting to hear what you think.

  116. GftNC — A Wrinkle in Time was a big one for me when I was a child too, and I did read the sequels, probably more than once. (I’m a big re-reader.) But that was decades ago. The sequels are nowhere as vivid in my mind as the first one, but I remember liking them well enough. It will be interesting to hear what you think.

  119. Just watched the trailer, then poked around and realized that there were actually more sequels. I had remembered it as a trilogy. Since the books were very spread out, it’s no wonder I’m confused.
    1962-1973-1978-1986-1989.
    I never read the fifth; and I read the fourth so long after the other three that I barely connect them in my mind. On the other hand, there are some passages in Many Waters (the 4th book) that are good enough to have made it into my quote-saving docs, e.g.:

    Alarid’s wings quivered. “Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.”

    Dennys felt chastened. He had not paused to listen, not for days. “They don’t tell you anything?”

    “To continue to listen.”

    This reminds me of a friend of mine, now gone, who was a Native American adopted into and raised by a white family. She discovered her heritage late, but then explored it for many years. She was once asked to be on the board of a local rights-related non-profit. Her reply — or so she told me later on — was that she couldn’t do it. “Someone,” she said, “has to stay at home and watch the clouds.”

  120. Just watched the trailer, then poked around and realized that there were actually more sequels. I had remembered it as a trilogy. Since the books were very spread out, it’s no wonder I’m confused.
    1962-1973-1978-1986-1989.
    I never read the fifth; and I read the fourth so long after the other three that I barely connect them in my mind. On the other hand, there are some passages in Many Waters (the 4th book) that are good enough to have made it into my quote-saving docs, e.g.:

    Alarid’s wings quivered. “Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.”

    Dennys felt chastened. He had not paused to listen, not for days. “They don’t tell you anything?”

    “To continue to listen.”

    This reminds me of a friend of mine, now gone, who was a Native American adopted into and raised by a white family. She discovered her heritage late, but then explored it for many years. She was once asked to be on the board of a local rights-related non-profit. Her reply — or so she told me later on — was that she couldn’t do it. “Someone,” she said, “has to stay at home and watch the clouds.”

  121. JanieM, lovely quotations, especially what your friend said. I’ll check out the sequels and report back in due course. I thought the trailer looked inappropriately glitzy, but then we all create our own visuals, and it is (I assume) a Hollywood movie. To the bemusement of some of my friends (and certainly my husband) I never stopped reading and rereading certain children’s books, among much else, so when the Harry Potter phase hit, I was never one of those adults who had to read them with adult covers. But I am nervous of sequels, they are so often disappointing. We shall see.

  122. JanieM, lovely quotations, especially what your friend said. I’ll check out the sequels and report back in due course. I thought the trailer looked inappropriately glitzy, but then we all create our own visuals, and it is (I assume) a Hollywood movie. To the bemusement of some of my friends (and certainly my husband) I never stopped reading and rereading certain children’s books, among much else, so when the Harry Potter phase hit, I was never one of those adults who had to read them with adult covers. But I am nervous of sequels, they are so often disappointing. We shall see.

  123. hsh, if my -our/or spelling gets to you, my English ise instead of ize must drive you crazy!

  124. hsh, if my -our/or spelling gets to you, my English ise instead of ize must drive you crazy!

  129. In an era when nutty conspiracy theories are all the rage, why would a revival of the Birchers be a surprise?

  130. In an era when nutty conspiracy theories are all the rage, why would a revival of the Birchers be a surprise?

  135. Since no one else has mentioned it, McConnell has had to put off the motion to proceed on the BCRA until Sen. McCain is able to return to Washington after surgery. Two weeks is the estimate I’ve seen. Given Arizona’s retiree population, and that two-thirds of the people in nursing homes there depend on Medicaid, I’ve been a bit surprised that McCain hasn’t been more outspoken on the cuts.

  136. Since no one else has mentioned it, McConnell has had to put off the motion to proceed on the BCRA until Sen. McCain is able to return to Washington after surgery. Two weeks is the estimate I’ve seen. Given Arizona’s retiree population, and that two-thirds of the people in nursing homes there depend on Medicaid, I’ve been a bit surprised that McCain hasn’t been more outspoken on the cuts.

  137. Sometimes, a beautiful summary turn up in the comments on a newspaper column:

    Trump ends up like a cheap movie that becomes a cult classic. Most are content to see it once if at all. But there are a few who never tire. They will dress up in costume and play the parts. Trump is the same. He could be impeached and thrown out of office and go out and hold a big rally. The attendees would do all the chants of “lock her up” and “build the wall” along with some new one attacking those who impeached him. Those people will never tire.
    The trouble for the GOP is the voters in the Trump cult are square in the GOP base.

    “Cult movie” is not an metaphor for Trump that I have encountered before. But it definitely resonates.

  138. Sometimes, a beautiful summary turn up in the comments on a newspaper column:

    Trump ends up like a cheap movie that becomes a cult classic. Most are content to see it once if at all. But there are a few who never tire. They will dress up in costume and play the parts. Trump is the same. He could be impeached and thrown out of office and go out and hold a big rally. The attendees would do all the chants of “lock her up” and “build the wall” along with some new one attacking those who impeached him. Those people will never tire.
    The trouble for the GOP is the voters in the Trump cult are square in the GOP base.

    “Cult movie” is not an metaphor for Trump that I have encountered before. But it definitely resonates.

  139. Michael Cain, it also says that McConnell has no hope for two GOP senators, since without McCain he can’t hold a vote. There’s been speculation that he might manage to buy off Rand or Collins if he had two, but apparently he knows better.

  140. Michael Cain, it also says that McConnell has no hope for two GOP senators, since without McCain he can’t hold a vote. There’s been speculation that he might manage to buy off Rand or Collins if he had two, but apparently he knows better.

  141. So, do we think McCain’s operation is tactical? If so, it seems cowardly but effective.

  142. So, do we think McCain’s operation is tactical? If so, it seems cowardly but effective.

  143. GftNC, assuming the docs’ description is accurate, I don’t believe anyone plays games around the timing for removing a 5cm clot/tumor from their head.

  144. GftNC, assuming the docs’ description is accurate, I don’t believe anyone plays games around the timing for removing a 5cm clot/tumor from their head.

  145. Ah, I read “a clot above his eye”, which could be susceptible of several interpretations, including something quite superficial. However, I think you’re probably right – and if so, he’s safe from any such insinuations.

  146. Ah, I read “a clot above his eye”, which could be susceptible of several interpretations, including something quite superficial. However, I think you’re probably right – and if so, he’s safe from any such insinuations.

  149. JanieM, lovely quotations, especially what your friend said.
    In light of that, you might enjoy Annie Dillard’s essay “Teaching a Stone to Talk” — if you don’t know it already.
    It’s the title essay of a small collection. (That’s an Amazon UK link and the cheapest price that came up. I couldn’t find an online copy of the whole essay.)

  150. JanieM, lovely quotations, especially what your friend said.
    In light of that, you might enjoy Annie Dillard’s essay “Teaching a Stone to Talk” — if you don’t know it already.
    It’s the title essay of a small collection. (That’s an Amazon UK link and the cheapest price that came up. I couldn’t find an online copy of the whole essay.)

  151. “Cult movie” is not an metaphor for Trump that I have encountered before. But it definitely resonates.
    I hadn’t seen the cult movie comparison before either, but certainly the whole phenomenon has seemed cult-like for a long time now. It’s hard not to think of North Korea and the dear leader….

  152. “Cult movie” is not an metaphor for Trump that I have encountered before. But it definitely resonates.
    I hadn’t seen the cult movie comparison before either, but certainly the whole phenomenon has seemed cult-like for a long time now. It’s hard not to think of North Korea and the dear leader….

  153. Thanks JanieM. The extraordinary poeticism of the Native American view of the world is incredibly seductive, but sometimes almost too much so. It’s maybe been debased by mass consumption hippy-lite stuff (Desiderata etc), and so I sometimes feel resistant to it (but not in the case of actual, reported speech like your friend’s). However, it seems to still be very much a part of the living culture: I recently read (can’t remember where, or many details) a famous war photographer/journalist saying that he had been with some US troops just about to engage in an extremely dangerous, almost suicidal operation, and that a Native American soldier had turned to him and said “It’s a beautiful day to die.” Under those circumstances, it’s impossible to view it as a cliche.

  154. Thanks JanieM. The extraordinary poeticism of the Native American view of the world is incredibly seductive, but sometimes almost too much so. It’s maybe been debased by mass consumption hippy-lite stuff (Desiderata etc), and so I sometimes feel resistant to it (but not in the case of actual, reported speech like your friend’s). However, it seems to still be very much a part of the living culture: I recently read (can’t remember where, or many details) a famous war photographer/journalist saying that he had been with some US troops just about to engage in an extremely dangerous, almost suicidal operation, and that a Native American soldier had turned to him and said “It’s a beautiful day to die.” Under those circumstances, it’s impossible to view it as a cliche.

  155. GftNC, I recommend Ian Frazier’s On the Rez. Frazier is a humorist and I got to him though a book called Coyote v Acme, a hilarious book, then read the book Dating your Mom, all pieces that appeared in the New Yorker and here is the precis for the epynomous essay in that last book
    Writer adopts style of the sex manual to explain the advantages of dating your mom. Since you are thrown together naturally, there is none of that tension that accompanies courtship. Many guys suffer from guilt over their dads, but dad just has to realize that women prefer sons to husbands. Dating is the inevitable outcome of 9 months of close physical contact. Dad should have dated his own mom. Writer describes his dates with mom. She pushes him in a motorized stroller. He keeps his typewriter on the tray and gets a lot of work done. He’d like someone to burp him when he’s had too much beer, but Mom would have to be 19 or 20 feet tall to fulfill all his desires. Making her work out with weights is asking too much.
    On the Rez is not funny (though there are funny bits), but it reinforces my opinion that only people with an enormous sense of humor can write about Native Americans in any way that is understandable to the rest of us.

  156. GftNC, I recommend Ian Frazier’s On the Rez. Frazier is a humorist and I got to him though a book called Coyote v Acme, a hilarious book, then read the book Dating your Mom, all pieces that appeared in the New Yorker and here is the precis for the epynomous essay in that last book
    Writer adopts style of the sex manual to explain the advantages of dating your mom. Since you are thrown together naturally, there is none of that tension that accompanies courtship. Many guys suffer from guilt over their dads, but dad just has to realize that women prefer sons to husbands. Dating is the inevitable outcome of 9 months of close physical contact. Dad should have dated his own mom. Writer describes his dates with mom. She pushes him in a motorized stroller. He keeps his typewriter on the tray and gets a lot of work done. He’d like someone to burp him when he’s had too much beer, but Mom would have to be 19 or 20 feet tall to fulfill all his desires. Making her work out with weights is asking too much.
    On the Rez is not funny (though there are funny bits), but it reinforces my opinion that only people with an enormous sense of humor can write about Native Americans in any way that is understandable to the rest of us.

  167. Thanks lj, have ordered it. Meanwhile, I’m going to recommend again, as I have recommended before, Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads by Richard Grant. I think it is a terrific book; it doesn’t just deal with Native Americans of course, but also with various other types of American nomadic experience, going back to conquistador types as well as Scots-Irish frontier-extenders (the story of the greatest of these is completely fascinating and very moving). So much of it is good, and interesting, that I almost don’t know where to start, but essentially the part about Native Americans is marvellous, and a real, iconoclastic eye-opener to anyone with a hackneyed view of the culture of the various peoples.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Riders-Travels-American-Nomads/dp/0349112681/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500321759&sr=8-2&keywords=Ghost+Riders

  168. Thanks lj, have ordered it. Meanwhile, I’m going to recommend again, as I have recommended before, Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads by Richard Grant. I think it is a terrific book; it doesn’t just deal with Native Americans of course, but also with various other types of American nomadic experience, going back to conquistador types as well as Scots-Irish frontier-extenders (the story of the greatest of these is completely fascinating and very moving). So much of it is good, and interesting, that I almost don’t know where to start, but essentially the part about Native Americans is marvellous, and a real, iconoclastic eye-opener to anyone with a hackneyed view of the culture of the various peoples.
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Riders-Travels-American-Nomads/dp/0349112681/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500321759&sr=8-2&keywords=Ghost+Riders

  171. CharlesWT: “The American nomads owned all they could see as far as they could see. And nothing.”
    Let us not be silly. The only real American nomads were the Great Plains tribes. As best we can reconstruct the history, “ownership” by the different groups was very much a thing, with regular fighting over it. At the end, to pick one example, the various subsets of the Sioux were perfectly willing to give away land that “belonged” to other Sioux. Which left the expanding US with some sort of claim to almost everything, and the non-nomadic resources to enforce that.

  172. CharlesWT: “The American nomads owned all they could see as far as they could see. And nothing.”
    Let us not be silly. The only real American nomads were the Great Plains tribes. As best we can reconstruct the history, “ownership” by the different groups was very much a thing, with regular fighting over it. At the end, to pick one example, the various subsets of the Sioux were perfectly willing to give away land that “belonged” to other Sioux. Which left the expanding US with some sort of claim to almost everything, and the non-nomadic resources to enforce that.

  173. “He’s dead, Jim.”
    This just in:

    Two more Senate Republicans have declared their opposition to the latest effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, potentially ending a months-long effort to make good on a GOP promise that has defined the party for nearly a decade and been a signature priority for President Trump.
    Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) issued statements declaring that they would not vote for the revamped measure.

    So, does McConnell reinstate the full August vacation?
    Or, radical thought, start work on the next (and real) deadline in prospect: the debt ceiling. Of course that one will almost certainly require him to work with (shudder) Democrats….

  174. “He’s dead, Jim.”
    This just in:

    Two more Senate Republicans have declared their opposition to the latest effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, potentially ending a months-long effort to make good on a GOP promise that has defined the party for nearly a decade and been a signature priority for President Trump.
    Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) issued statements declaring that they would not vote for the revamped measure.

    So, does McConnell reinstate the full August vacation?
    Or, radical thought, start work on the next (and real) deadline in prospect: the debt ceiling. Of course that one will almost certainly require him to work with (shudder) Democrats….

  175. and now they’re off to simple “repeal” !
    their bullheaded determination to take people off health insurance is impressive.

  176. and now they’re off to simple “repeal” !
    their bullheaded determination to take people off health insurance is impressive.

  177. Well, some of them (lead, unsurprisingly, by Trump, who is desperate for a “win”) are calling for that. But it seems unlikely that it will be possible to get that thru either. Certainly the more moderate Senators are not going to buy McConnell’s “Oh, we’ll get around to replace eventually.”

  178. Well, some of them (lead, unsurprisingly, by Trump, who is desperate for a “win”) are calling for that. But it seems unlikely that it will be possible to get that thru either. Certainly the more moderate Senators are not going to buy McConnell’s “Oh, we’ll get around to replace eventually.”

  179. Huh, I could have sworn that when I used to see posters of Desiderata on the walls of (fellow-) hippies it was attributed to Black Elk, or some other famous font of Native American wisdom. But I see now it was written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. So maybe it was some other piece of cod-Native Americana, because I remember its purported source being debunked at some stage. Sorry to have misled….

  180. Huh, I could have sworn that when I used to see posters of Desiderata on the walls of (fellow-) hippies it was attributed to Black Elk, or some other famous font of Native American wisdom. But I see now it was written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. So maybe it was some other piece of cod-Native Americana, because I remember its purported source being debunked at some stage. Sorry to have misled….

  185. When Trump says: “impressive by any standard” he is quite correct. Of course, he doesn’t comprehend that it’s a negative impression…

  186. When Trump says: “impressive by any standard” he is quite correct. Of course, he doesn’t comprehend that it’s a negative impression…

  187. Steve Bannon missed his calling:
    How about the time Bannon raged at Speaker Paul Ryan as “a limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation”?

  188. Steve Bannon missed his calling:
    How about the time Bannon raged at Speaker Paul Ryan as “a limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation”?

  189. It’s pretty clear what Bannon’s main contribution is: next to him, Trump almost looks like a decent human being.

  190. It’s pretty clear what Bannon’s main contribution is: next to him, Trump almost looks like a decent human being.

  191. Hmmm: out of the mouths of creeps and scoundrels comes occasional wisdom….

  192. Hmmm: out of the mouths of creeps and scoundrels comes occasional wisdom….

  193. On twitter a while back someone remarked that in the movie about the Trump administration the part of Steve Bannon would be played by a burlap sack of maggots.
    Seems about right.

  194. On twitter a while back someone remarked that in the movie about the Trump administration the part of Steve Bannon would be played by a burlap sack of maggots.
    Seems about right.

  195. cod-Native Americana
    Is this a typo, or some idiom from that other English that I happen never to have run across?
    😉
    I’m going to see if the library has Ghost Riders; if not, I’ll order it. It sounds great.

  196. cod-Native Americana
    Is this a typo, or some idiom from that other English that I happen never to have run across?
    😉
    I’m going to see if the library has Ghost Riders; if not, I’ll order it. It sounds great.

  197. JanieM: look down to cod2:
    https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cod
    I’ll be so interested to hear what you think of Ghost Riders (although in the US it might have been released as American Nomads). I’ve ordered a single volume of the Wrinkle in Time quintet, but it’s coming from the States so will be a few weeks before I can get to it. I’ve also ordered On the Rez (ditto coming from the US) as recommended by lj, although I am utterly enchanted by the idea of Coyote v Acme, so will no doubt end up getting that as well!

  198. JanieM: look down to cod2:
    https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cod
    I’ll be so interested to hear what you think of Ghost Riders (although in the US it might have been released as American Nomads). I’ve ordered a single volume of the Wrinkle in Time quintet, but it’s coming from the States so will be a few weeks before I can get to it. I’ve also ordered On the Rez (ditto coming from the US) as recommended by lj, although I am utterly enchanted by the idea of Coyote v Acme, so will no doubt end up getting that as well!

  201. “On twitter a while back someone remarked that in the movie about the Trump administration the part of Steve Bannon would be played by a burlap sack of maggots.”
    Vincent D’Onofrio would be my casting choice:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQd2Rpv-f9c
    I don’t whether to just step on him or tell him to eat me and work from the inside:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFg8cKp-tc
    “a limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation”?
    Gotta say, though, no one can sum up a republican like a fellow republican.
    Have you noticed the republican party has pulled off a mighty feat? Combining the manly, sadistic, gunned-up alpha conservative men and Ann Coulter who are obsessed with dick size, with the grifting crypto-Christian right who are obsessed with keeping everyone else’s dicks in their place, except when the righteous, big-haired monied preachers of the prosperity gospel are rogering their parishioners in the cheap motel outside of town with their tiny equipment while passing around the offering plate.
    If incompetent attorney Jay Sekulow looks familiar, it’s because the alcoholic fake Christian was a regular on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club speculapontificating on the whereabouts of Bill Clinton’s at any particular time in 1990’s.
    Then he got on his knees for rump.
    We’re going to need more than Orkin to get rid of this republican infestation.

  202. “On twitter a while back someone remarked that in the movie about the Trump administration the part of Steve Bannon would be played by a burlap sack of maggots.”
    Vincent D’Onofrio would be my casting choice:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQd2Rpv-f9c
    I don’t whether to just step on him or tell him to eat me and work from the inside:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFg8cKp-tc
    “a limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation”?
    Gotta say, though, no one can sum up a republican like a fellow republican.
    Have you noticed the republican party has pulled off a mighty feat? Combining the manly, sadistic, gunned-up alpha conservative men and Ann Coulter who are obsessed with dick size, with the grifting crypto-Christian right who are obsessed with keeping everyone else’s dicks in their place, except when the righteous, big-haired monied preachers of the prosperity gospel are rogering their parishioners in the cheap motel outside of town with their tiny equipment while passing around the offering plate.
    If incompetent attorney Jay Sekulow looks familiar, it’s because the alcoholic fake Christian was a regular on Pat Robertson’s 700 Club speculapontificating on the whereabouts of Bill Clinton’s at any particular time in 1990’s.
    Then he got on his knees for rump.
    We’re going to need more than Orkin to get rid of this republican infestation.

  203. “On Monday, the federal government announced that it would be expanding its H-2B temporary-visa program. Citing a lack of Americans willing and qualified to do seasonal, non-agricultural jobs, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expanded the H-2B program to allow 15,000 additional foreign workers into the country for the summer to meet demand at such seasonal businesses as landscaping services, hotels, and amusement parks.”
    Someone remind me again how all those (not just illegal) immigrants are steeling jobs from American workers. Wonder why suddenly the administration thinks more visas are needed. Oh, yeah . . . these are the kind of workers that staff Trump properties.

  204. “On Monday, the federal government announced that it would be expanding its H-2B temporary-visa program. Citing a lack of Americans willing and qualified to do seasonal, non-agricultural jobs, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expanded the H-2B program to allow 15,000 additional foreign workers into the country for the summer to meet demand at such seasonal businesses as landscaping services, hotels, and amusement parks.”
    Someone remind me again how all those (not just illegal) immigrants are steeling jobs from American workers. Wonder why suddenly the administration thinks more visas are needed. Oh, yeah . . . these are the kind of workers that staff Trump properties.

  207. “Wonder why suddenly the administration thinks more visas are needed.”
    The US does have a dire shortage of underage Russian Pissrotutes, it’s true. Trump knows this.

  208. “Wonder why suddenly the administration thinks more visas are needed.”
    The US does have a dire shortage of underage Russian Pissrotutes, it’s true. Trump knows this.

  211. Hey lj, wrong thread I think. Don’t know if the doc is reading this one, given her family situation, and she might be the only one qualified to answer your question.
    I found the essay Coyote v Acme company online: sheer bliss! Thanks for the recommendation.

  212. Hey lj, wrong thread I think. Don’t know if the doc is reading this one, given her family situation, and she might be the only one qualified to answer your question.
    I found the essay Coyote v Acme company online: sheer bliss! Thanks for the recommendation.

  213. FWIW, I’m taking my money off of ‘stupid’ and putting it on ‘the money’.
    they shouldn’t have invited ike.

  214. FWIW, I’m taking my money off of ‘stupid’ and putting it on ‘the money’.
    they shouldn’t have invited ike.

  215. …at such seasonal businesses as landscaping services, hotels, and amusement parks.”
    i’m not generally a “They’re stealing our jerbs!” type, but i do have to wonder: where are all the American teenagers ?
    those are the jobs i worked at as a teenager.

  216. …at such seasonal businesses as landscaping services, hotels, and amusement parks.”
    i’m not generally a “They’re stealing our jerbs!” type, but i do have to wonder: where are all the American teenagers ?
    those are the jobs i worked at as a teenager.

  219. where are all the American teenagers ?
    Refusing to work for Trump, because they would likely get stiffed on their wages? Just a thought.

  220. where are all the American teenagers ?
    Refusing to work for Trump, because they would likely get stiffed on their wages? Just a thought.

  221. GftNC, I saw that report (at least the Washington Post version) and couldn’t help thinking: How dumb does someone have to be, to be in Trump’s situation regarding Russian influence and do something like that???
    Seriously, either he’s dumber than turnips (which seems increasingly possible), or his sense of immunity is truly awesome.

  222. GftNC, I saw that report (at least the Washington Post version) and couldn’t help thinking: How dumb does someone have to be, to be in Trump’s situation regarding Russian influence and do something like that???
    Seriously, either he’s dumber than turnips (which seems increasingly possible), or his sense of immunity is truly awesome.

  223. Or he’s so scared of their kompromat that he knew he had to grab the chance of a “private” word, whatever the risks?

  224. Or he’s so scared of their kompromat that he knew he had to grab the chance of a “private” word, whatever the risks?

  227. Did anyone see the Norwegian tv series “Occupied” (or “Okkupert”)? The Russian government freaked out about it. It’s quite good. I watched it before it became apparent what was happening here.

  228. Did anyone see the Norwegian tv series “Occupied” (or “Okkupert”)? The Russian government freaked out about it. It’s quite good. I watched it before it became apparent what was happening here.

  231. Just a little something for those of you (really, really too bad the Count is on vacation) who think all Republicans are hopeless on everything of importance:

    “California Republicans are different than national Republicans,” said Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley), who pushed members of his caucus to work with Democrats on the issue. “Many of us believe that climate change is real, and that it’s a responsibility we have to work to address it.”

  232. Just a little something for those of you (really, really too bad the Count is on vacation) who think all Republicans are hopeless on everything of importance:

    “California Republicans are different than national Republicans,” said Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley), who pushed members of his caucus to work with Democrats on the issue. “Many of us believe that climate change is real, and that it’s a responsibility we have to work to address it.”

  233. “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
    Seriously. The similarities are stunning.

  234. “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
    Seriously. The similarities are stunning.

  239. Seriously, either he’s dumber than turnips (which seems increasingly possible), or his sense of immunity is truly awesome.
    Why would that be an either/or ?
    And some of my best friends are turnips…..

  240. Seriously, either he’s dumber than turnips (which seems increasingly possible), or his sense of immunity is truly awesome.
    Why would that be an either/or ?
    And some of my best friends are turnips…..

  245. This seems like an absolutely amazing development, that doctors were able to reverse severe brain damage, with treatment starting a full 55 days after a child “drowned”:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/doctors-reverse-severe-brain-damage-in-a-toddler_uk_596f1df9e4b00db3d0f42200?utm_hp_ref=uk
    Admittedly, the fact that such a young child’s tissue presumably retained a very high capacity for healing and regeneration was a huge factor in this, but this still seems absolutely extraordinary.

  246. This seems like an absolutely amazing development, that doctors were able to reverse severe brain damage, with treatment starting a full 55 days after a child “drowned”:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/doctors-reverse-severe-brain-damage-in-a-toddler_uk_596f1df9e4b00db3d0f42200?utm_hp_ref=uk
    Admittedly, the fact that such a young child’s tissue presumably retained a very high capacity for healing and regeneration was a huge factor in this, but this still seems absolutely extraordinary.

  253. Doesn’t seem like Sessions has had a new thought, much less a change in point of view, since at least the 1980’s.

  254. Doesn’t seem like Sessions has had a new thought, much less a change in point of view, since at least the 1980’s.

  255. Can He, Trump be a Russian mole?
    First order answer: no. Read any John le Carre novel. The first rule of being a Russian mole is to NOT ACT LIKE A FCUIKNG RUSSIAN MOLE.
    But, but, but: how can anybody seriously suspect you of being a Russian mole if you do in fact go around acting like a Russian mole? In public, no less! It’s the best cover ever.
    And you thought the Kenyan usurper was playing 3-D chess 🙂
    –TP

  256. Can He, Trump be a Russian mole?
    First order answer: no. Read any John le Carre novel. The first rule of being a Russian mole is to NOT ACT LIKE A FCUIKNG RUSSIAN MOLE.
    But, but, but: how can anybody seriously suspect you of being a Russian mole if you do in fact go around acting like a Russian mole? In public, no less! It’s the best cover ever.
    And you thought the Kenyan usurper was playing 3-D chess 🙂
    –TP

  257. “Can He, Trump be a Russian mole?”
    I’m working up a unified crackpot theory of what is going on with these people.
    Maybe I’ll unveil it soon, but I’m leaving town again soon for a number of weeks.
    I believe the “Make American Great Again” slogan/mantra was hatched by Russian intelligence and fed to the dupes by rump and his fellow traitors.
    It may be that many of the “conservatives” who host conservative blogs are in fact Russian moles and many of the conservative commentariat who troll center and left political blogs are too.
    McConnell and Ryan are double agents. They have to be. Nothing else explains their behavior, unless one believes in the presence of pure Evil.
    If it is to be a movie, it will it be a hybrid of “Red Dawn”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, Fellini’s “Satyricon”, the TV show “The Americans”, and a Boris and Natasha spinoff from “Rocky and Bullwinkle”.
    A nightmare farce leading to mass Death.
    wj will point out flaws and exceptions in the theory and cite the reasonable conservative he met the other day who hasn’t yet succumbed to pulling the wings off butterflies while measuring his dick (that would be the guy wj will cite, not wj), but ignore how it is that every two year election cycle indulging these truly crazy bastards brings us closer to a savage American Apocalypse on the order of the darkest that Cormac McCarthy might offer.
    I kid, just barely, with that final paragraph.
    I also kid that Marty speaks English as a second language for our benefit because posting in Cyrillic would be a dead giveaway.
    See, all these years, the accusation has been by conservatives that it was the liberal, Democratic intelligensia that was massively infiltrated by Russian moles and fellow travelers, when all along it was and is the republican Party and the entire conservative movement that is the Front.

  258. “Can He, Trump be a Russian mole?”
    I’m working up a unified crackpot theory of what is going on with these people.
    Maybe I’ll unveil it soon, but I’m leaving town again soon for a number of weeks.
    I believe the “Make American Great Again” slogan/mantra was hatched by Russian intelligence and fed to the dupes by rump and his fellow traitors.
    It may be that many of the “conservatives” who host conservative blogs are in fact Russian moles and many of the conservative commentariat who troll center and left political blogs are too.
    McConnell and Ryan are double agents. They have to be. Nothing else explains their behavior, unless one believes in the presence of pure Evil.
    If it is to be a movie, it will it be a hybrid of “Red Dawn”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, Fellini’s “Satyricon”, the TV show “The Americans”, and a Boris and Natasha spinoff from “Rocky and Bullwinkle”.
    A nightmare farce leading to mass Death.
    wj will point out flaws and exceptions in the theory and cite the reasonable conservative he met the other day who hasn’t yet succumbed to pulling the wings off butterflies while measuring his dick (that would be the guy wj will cite, not wj), but ignore how it is that every two year election cycle indulging these truly crazy bastards brings us closer to a savage American Apocalypse on the order of the darkest that Cormac McCarthy might offer.
    I kid, just barely, with that final paragraph.
    I also kid that Marty speaks English as a second language for our benefit because posting in Cyrillic would be a dead giveaway.
    See, all these years, the accusation has been by conservatives that it was the liberal, Democratic intelligensia that was massively infiltrated by Russian moles and fellow travelers, when all along it was and is the republican Party and the entire conservative movement that is the Front.

  259. Wouldn’t you say that Bannon is the obvious mole?
    The others’ ideas (to use the term loosely) are merely what you’d expect from a bunch of over-privileged frat boys who have never had to deal with reality. But Bannon is just way too invested in nilhism to be one. If his “vision” for the nation were realized, the Russians would be the main victors; and nobody in the US would be a winner.

  260. Wouldn’t you say that Bannon is the obvious mole?
    The others’ ideas (to use the term loosely) are merely what you’d expect from a bunch of over-privileged frat boys who have never had to deal with reality. But Bannon is just way too invested in nilhism to be one. If his “vision” for the nation were realized, the Russians would be the main victors; and nobody in the US would be a winner.

  261. Sessions & civil asset forfeiture – so much for States’ rights…
    Trump – probably not a mole, but quite possibly financially compromised in relation to Russia (in all sorts of possible ways).

  262. Sessions & civil asset forfeiture – so much for States’ rights…
    Trump – probably not a mole, but quite possibly financially compromised in relation to Russia (in all sorts of possible ways).

  271. I’m working up a unified crackpot theory of what is going on with these people.
    to me, the simplest and most direct line that connects all the dots is that Russian kleptocrats own his ass. financially and also in terms of information that would probably send him and his kids to jail.
    Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate
    we’ll see how it all plays out.
    i’m jaded enough a this point to find it all amusing in a pass-the-popcorn kind of way, but to the degree that you take any of this stuff seriously, it’s miles beyond disturbing.
    the POTUS is exploiting his office to avoid personal financial and legal disaster, and to keep creditors who are themselves allied with an unfriendly foreign power off his ass.
    and, oh yeah, to enhance his personal and monetizable brand.
    the office of the POTUS as a chip in a junk bond play. i give him credit, the man has quite the cojones.
    the people who voted for this guy are fools. nice people, many of them, i’m quite sure. but utter fools.
    who learns, must suffer. unfortunately we all get dragged along for the ride.

  272. I’m working up a unified crackpot theory of what is going on with these people.
    to me, the simplest and most direct line that connects all the dots is that Russian kleptocrats own his ass. financially and also in terms of information that would probably send him and his kids to jail.
    Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate
    we’ll see how it all plays out.
    i’m jaded enough a this point to find it all amusing in a pass-the-popcorn kind of way, but to the degree that you take any of this stuff seriously, it’s miles beyond disturbing.
    the POTUS is exploiting his office to avoid personal financial and legal disaster, and to keep creditors who are themselves allied with an unfriendly foreign power off his ass.
    and, oh yeah, to enhance his personal and monetizable brand.
    the office of the POTUS as a chip in a junk bond play. i give him credit, the man has quite the cojones.
    the people who voted for this guy are fools. nice people, many of them, i’m quite sure. but utter fools.
    who learns, must suffer. unfortunately we all get dragged along for the ride.

  273. also, if you have any money with DeutscheBank, you might want to watch your behind.
    this sh*t is gonna leave a mark.

  274. also, if you have any money with DeutscheBank, you might want to watch your behind.
    this sh*t is gonna leave a mark.

  275. McCain has brain cancer…..that sucks.
    I wonder whether this explains his recent confusion in those Senate hearings. Also, did you see Obama’s masterly tweet about it:

    John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.

    in which he a) graciously says the right thing and b) gets an excellent diss on Trump with “American hero”. Hats off, I’d say.

  276. McCain has brain cancer…..that sucks.
    I wonder whether this explains his recent confusion in those Senate hearings. Also, did you see Obama’s masterly tweet about it:

    John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.

    in which he a) graciously says the right thing and b) gets an excellent diss on Trump with “American hero”. Hats off, I’d say.

  277. “also, if you have any money with DeutscheBank, you might want to watch your behind.”
    Russell, if you have a moment, could you provide a link with the most recent bad news you reference.
    Thanks.

  278. “also, if you have any money with DeutscheBank, you might want to watch your behind.”
    Russell, if you have a moment, could you provide a link with the most recent bad news you reference.
    Thanks.

  281. From http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/donald-trump-deutsche-bank-russia – a nice tidbit.

    Apart from the Trumps and Kushners, Deutsche Bank also has deep ties to Russia. In addition to settling allegations earlier this year that it allowed $10 billion to be laundered out of Eastern Europe, Deutsche Bank had a “cooperation agreement” with Vnesheconombank, a Russian state-owned development bank that is the target of U.S. economic sanctions. Vnesheconombank, for those who need a refresher, was the bank whose chief executive, Sergei Gorkov, Jared Kushner forgot to mention meeting in December. Oh, and there’s also this:
    . . . in May, federal prosecutors settled a case with a Cyprus investment vehicle owned by a Russian businessman with close family connections to the Kremlin. The firm, Prevezon Holdings, was represented by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who was among the people who met during the presidential campaign with Donald Trump Jr. about Hillary Clinton. Federal prosecutors in the United States claimed Prevezon, which admitted no wrongdoing, laundered the proceeds of an alleged Russian tax fraud through real estate. Prevezon and its partner relied in part on $90 million in financing from a big European financial institution, court records show. It was Deutsche Bank.

  282. From http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/donald-trump-deutsche-bank-russia – a nice tidbit.

    Apart from the Trumps and Kushners, Deutsche Bank also has deep ties to Russia. In addition to settling allegations earlier this year that it allowed $10 billion to be laundered out of Eastern Europe, Deutsche Bank had a “cooperation agreement” with Vnesheconombank, a Russian state-owned development bank that is the target of U.S. economic sanctions. Vnesheconombank, for those who need a refresher, was the bank whose chief executive, Sergei Gorkov, Jared Kushner forgot to mention meeting in December. Oh, and there’s also this:
    . . . in May, federal prosecutors settled a case with a Cyprus investment vehicle owned by a Russian businessman with close family connections to the Kremlin. The firm, Prevezon Holdings, was represented by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who was among the people who met during the presidential campaign with Donald Trump Jr. about Hillary Clinton. Federal prosecutors in the United States claimed Prevezon, which admitted no wrongdoing, laundered the proceeds of an alleged Russian tax fraud through real estate. Prevezon and its partner relied in part on $90 million in financing from a big European financial institution, court records show. It was Deutsche Bank.

  285. Thanks, all.
    It would so republican that the next world banking crisis, buggering hundreds of millions of people once again, would not be because of lax, irresponsible regulation that looks the other way when financial manipulators roger the stupid, but because they actually elevated the corruption directly into the Oval Office.
    e pluribus fool me once and for all. Filth.
    It will be hilarious, like thermonuclear annihilation is hilarious, if bad trump paper has found its way into every pension, retirement account, and sovereign fund on the globe and goes kablooey, like a berg the size of Delaware going kerplop into the Southern oceans and being called a hoax.
    That and the upcoming massive theft of the voting franchise by rump’s thugs are going to result in literal bloody, savage vengeance coming down on republican/conservative decapitated heads and the heads of their misbegotten children.
    General, you go down there, if you’ve got the nerve, fuckers:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGAdzn5_KU
    Please.
    That New Yorker cartoon must have embedded itself in my memory to surface again here.

  286. Thanks, all.
    It would so republican that the next world banking crisis, buggering hundreds of millions of people once again, would not be because of lax, irresponsible regulation that looks the other way when financial manipulators roger the stupid, but because they actually elevated the corruption directly into the Oval Office.
    e pluribus fool me once and for all. Filth.
    It will be hilarious, like thermonuclear annihilation is hilarious, if bad trump paper has found its way into every pension, retirement account, and sovereign fund on the globe and goes kablooey, like a berg the size of Delaware going kerplop into the Southern oceans and being called a hoax.
    That and the upcoming massive theft of the voting franchise by rump’s thugs are going to result in literal bloody, savage vengeance coming down on republican/conservative decapitated heads and the heads of their misbegotten children.
    General, you go down there, if you’ve got the nerve, fuckers:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGAdzn5_KU
    Please.
    That New Yorker cartoon must have embedded itself in my memory to surface again here.

  287. the POTUS is exploiting his office to avoid personal financial and legal disaster, and to keep creditors who are themselves allied with an unfriendly foreign power off his ass.
    Well, he missed his best shot at that. Which would have been to manage to lose the election. In that case, a lot of this investigation would probably have never happened.

  288. the POTUS is exploiting his office to avoid personal financial and legal disaster, and to keep creditors who are themselves allied with an unfriendly foreign power off his ass.
    Well, he missed his best shot at that. Which would have been to manage to lose the election. In that case, a lot of this investigation would probably have never happened.

  289. I really hope Jay Ward et al (or their estates) are getting royalties for all the Boris and Natasha uses. Truly they created characters for the ages.

  290. I really hope Jay Ward et al (or their estates) are getting royalties for all the Boris and Natasha uses. Truly they created characters for the ages.

  293. “Exxon was violating sanctions on Russia while Tillerson was CEO.”
    Hey, sanctions are a PROFIT OPPORTUNITY, amirite?
    Just like Cheney/Halliburton/Iran.
    Okay, sure, they’ll settle (without admitting guilt), pay a nominal fine, and be contrite for a week or two.
    Remind me, why is it a bad idea to have summary executions for criminal CEOs? My electron microscope is on the fritz, so it’s hard to perceive the downside.

  294. “Exxon was violating sanctions on Russia while Tillerson was CEO.”
    Hey, sanctions are a PROFIT OPPORTUNITY, amirite?
    Just like Cheney/Halliburton/Iran.
    Okay, sure, they’ll settle (without admitting guilt), pay a nominal fine, and be contrite for a week or two.
    Remind me, why is it a bad idea to have summary executions for criminal CEOs? My electron microscope is on the fritz, so it’s hard to perceive the downside.

  301. Lighter note? How about more news from the Dismal Swamp (not literally, but he grew up close to it): http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/steve-bannon-donald-trump-tabloid-presidency/
    From the article: “On Wall Street Bannon idolized Michael Milken—the rogue junk-bond king and raider of blue-chip firms who was eventually sent to prison for insider trading. ”
    This is nice: “Bannon was also producing and writing political films of his own—crude armies-of-the-night clashes that were frankly modeled on Leni Riefenstahl: the gathering storm, the threat of violence, the Wagnerian soundtracks, the “technique of fear,” as his longtime screenwriting partner told Connie Bruck.”
    Okay, this is old news, but an occasional refresher is probably good.
    So, some people here were really annoyed at the US being a “hegemon”,and “world’s policeman”. Now that we’ve given that task to Putin (with our help, of course), it’s all good, right?
    How’re we going to rescue the country?

  302. Lighter note? How about more news from the Dismal Swamp (not literally, but he grew up close to it): http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/steve-bannon-donald-trump-tabloid-presidency/
    From the article: “On Wall Street Bannon idolized Michael Milken—the rogue junk-bond king and raider of blue-chip firms who was eventually sent to prison for insider trading. ”
    This is nice: “Bannon was also producing and writing political films of his own—crude armies-of-the-night clashes that were frankly modeled on Leni Riefenstahl: the gathering storm, the threat of violence, the Wagnerian soundtracks, the “technique of fear,” as his longtime screenwriting partner told Connie Bruck.”
    Okay, this is old news, but an occasional refresher is probably good.
    So, some people here were really annoyed at the US being a “hegemon”,and “world’s policeman”. Now that we’ve given that task to Putin (with our help, of course), it’s all good, right?
    How’re we going to rescue the country?

  313. this is going to the mat.
    trump is, somewhat notoriously, a crook. for some benighted reason he decided to run for POTUS. he won.
    his general crookedness, and that of the members of his entourage, were and are sufficiently glaring as to draw the attention of federal investigators.
    he is not happy about that.
    so we are probably looking at a couple of years of horseshit, in which the POTUS employs all of the powers of his office to evade investigation and probable prosecution for what willlikely turn out to be decades of plain old garden variety criminal behavior.
    money laundering, fraud, plain old mobbed-up NYC bullshit. add whatever illegal conspiracies with a foreign power apply on top of that, like a nice red cherry.
    the legitimate business of the nation is going to be slow-walked or grind to a halt, because the executive will be spending all his time keeping his sorry crooked ass out of jail.
    his creepy rotten entitled bratty kids’ asses, too. unless it comes down to him or them, in which case they go first. even ivanka, if it comes to that.
    the fucking borgias are in the white house.
    i only say this here, because saying it in most other contexts only backs people into a defensive crouch, but the people who voted for this guy really need to do a head check.
    they fucked up. they need to figure that out, get over it, wise up, and start getting their asses in gear to improve their own lives and the lives of their neighbors.
    times are tough for them? no doubt. there’s a lot of that going around. they need to start thinking about why that is, and how that happened.
    and they need to stop feeling sorry for their damned selves and get their shit together.
    freaking W, who drowned whatever plain commonsense he ever had in a lifetime of boozing it up and then hired darth freaking cheney as his running mate.
    and now Trump, the most profoundly unqualified and inappropriate flaming asshole to ever hold elected office.
    WT f’ing F.
    get a brain, morans. put the asinine gadsden flag away, tear the “f your feelings” t-shirt up and use it for rags. and get your shit together, lose the self-pity, and start thinking about what the hell you are doing.
    the POTUS is a crook. a criminal, a shady dealer, a serial bankrupt and fraudster. he’s a creep, a bully, an abusive misogynistic sexual predator. he’s profoundly ignorant and has no interest in changing that.
    that’s who he is.
    and he’ll break the whole fucking coutry before he’ll stand for anyone calling him to account for any of it.
    we’re fucked until we sort this out, and it’s completely unclear how long that will take or what it will cost us.
    6 months down, 3 1/2 years to go.

  314. this is going to the mat.
    trump is, somewhat notoriously, a crook. for some benighted reason he decided to run for POTUS. he won.
    his general crookedness, and that of the members of his entourage, were and are sufficiently glaring as to draw the attention of federal investigators.
    he is not happy about that.
    so we are probably looking at a couple of years of horseshit, in which the POTUS employs all of the powers of his office to evade investigation and probable prosecution for what willlikely turn out to be decades of plain old garden variety criminal behavior.
    money laundering, fraud, plain old mobbed-up NYC bullshit. add whatever illegal conspiracies with a foreign power apply on top of that, like a nice red cherry.
    the legitimate business of the nation is going to be slow-walked or grind to a halt, because the executive will be spending all his time keeping his sorry crooked ass out of jail.
    his creepy rotten entitled bratty kids’ asses, too. unless it comes down to him or them, in which case they go first. even ivanka, if it comes to that.
    the fucking borgias are in the white house.
    i only say this here, because saying it in most other contexts only backs people into a defensive crouch, but the people who voted for this guy really need to do a head check.
    they fucked up. they need to figure that out, get over it, wise up, and start getting their asses in gear to improve their own lives and the lives of their neighbors.
    times are tough for them? no doubt. there’s a lot of that going around. they need to start thinking about why that is, and how that happened.
    and they need to stop feeling sorry for their damned selves and get their shit together.
    freaking W, who drowned whatever plain commonsense he ever had in a lifetime of boozing it up and then hired darth freaking cheney as his running mate.
    and now Trump, the most profoundly unqualified and inappropriate flaming asshole to ever hold elected office.
    WT f’ing F.
    get a brain, morans. put the asinine gadsden flag away, tear the “f your feelings” t-shirt up and use it for rags. and get your shit together, lose the self-pity, and start thinking about what the hell you are doing.
    the POTUS is a crook. a criminal, a shady dealer, a serial bankrupt and fraudster. he’s a creep, a bully, an abusive misogynistic sexual predator. he’s profoundly ignorant and has no interest in changing that.
    that’s who he is.
    and he’ll break the whole fucking coutry before he’ll stand for anyone calling him to account for any of it.
    we’re fucked until we sort this out, and it’s completely unclear how long that will take or what it will cost us.
    6 months down, 3 1/2 years to go.

  317. Everything goes to the mat with the horror show of the republican party. Rump is merely the latest aspect of its brutal, sadistic visage.
    They have plenty more like him and worse than him lined up to take his place.
    Pence will be no less ruthless, and despite his fake beatific bullshit righteousness, the American body count under him will be just as high.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-used-obamacare-money-to-run-ads-against-it?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
    When all is said and done, the mat will be soaked in republican blood.
    This is not a defense of the Democratic Party or the Clintons or a better future.
    The republican party must be terminated, just like ISIS.
    A big chunk of them lust for Civil War.
    Here it is, fuckers.

  318. Everything goes to the mat with the horror show of the republican party. Rump is merely the latest aspect of its brutal, sadistic visage.
    They have plenty more like him and worse than him lined up to take his place.
    Pence will be no less ruthless, and despite his fake beatific bullshit righteousness, the American body count under him will be just as high.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-used-obamacare-money-to-run-ads-against-it?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
    When all is said and done, the mat will be soaked in republican blood.
    This is not a defense of the Democratic Party or the Clintons or a better future.
    The republican party must be terminated, just like ISIS.
    A big chunk of them lust for Civil War.
    Here it is, fuckers.

  319. the legitimate business of the nation is going to be slow-walked or grind to a halt, because the executive will be spending all his time keeping his sorry crooked ass out of jail.
    Actually, I think a lot of it will keep rolling right along. A lot more than we are accustomed to will get slowed down or stop. but still only a tiny fraction of all the stuff that the (Federal) government does. And a part, maybe even a big part, of the slowdown will be the incompetents in Congress — granted a decent (in both senses of the term) President would be able to chivvy them along a bit, but still not completely.
    And bear in mind that, if Trump wasn’t distracted (and incompetent), he’d be achieving a lot more stuff that you would hate.
    As a side note, I would suggest that Trump was already under serious investigation, by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. I think it may even have been a factor in Trump deciding to run for POTUS: so he could fire the guy who was after him. Which, be it noted, he did (along with all 50 or so other US Attorneys). It won;t work, but I doubt he was (or is) capable of recognizing that.
    I expect we will get it sorted out. The cost will be non-trivial here at home. But once he’s gone it can be tackled relatively quickly — say 5-10 years. (That long because it will require both a new administration and a whole lot of new Congressmen and Senators. The latter, especially, take time to replace.)
    Internationally, the costs will perhaps be less obvious. But they will take far longer to overcome. A reputation takes a long time to build, but can be destroyed quite quickly, and that’s what we (as a nation) are doing right now. Building it back will take even longer than building it originally did.

  320. the legitimate business of the nation is going to be slow-walked or grind to a halt, because the executive will be spending all his time keeping his sorry crooked ass out of jail.
    Actually, I think a lot of it will keep rolling right along. A lot more than we are accustomed to will get slowed down or stop. but still only a tiny fraction of all the stuff that the (Federal) government does. And a part, maybe even a big part, of the slowdown will be the incompetents in Congress — granted a decent (in both senses of the term) President would be able to chivvy them along a bit, but still not completely.
    And bear in mind that, if Trump wasn’t distracted (and incompetent), he’d be achieving a lot more stuff that you would hate.
    As a side note, I would suggest that Trump was already under serious investigation, by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. I think it may even have been a factor in Trump deciding to run for POTUS: so he could fire the guy who was after him. Which, be it noted, he did (along with all 50 or so other US Attorneys). It won;t work, but I doubt he was (or is) capable of recognizing that.
    I expect we will get it sorted out. The cost will be non-trivial here at home. But once he’s gone it can be tackled relatively quickly — say 5-10 years. (That long because it will require both a new administration and a whole lot of new Congressmen and Senators. The latter, especially, take time to replace.)
    Internationally, the costs will perhaps be less obvious. But they will take far longer to overcome. A reputation takes a long time to build, but can be destroyed quite quickly, and that’s what we (as a nation) are doing right now. Building it back will take even longer than building it originally did.

  323. And bear in mind that, if Trump wasn’t distracted (and incompetent), he’d be achieving a lot more stuff that you would hate.
    Under the far-less-than-ideal circumstances we find ourselves under, I’d actually prefer he stay in office at least until the midterms. That’s not to suggest that I think it’s more likely than not that he’ll leave or be ousted before his term is up, but there is a greater-than-normal chance of it.
    At any rate, yes, he’ll do some damage in the meantime, but he’ll be, relatively speaking, ineffectual at enacting much of an agenda. And he’ll tarnish the Republican brand beyond repair for the generation that will begin participating politically more fully over the course of the next decade of so.
    (Sorry, wj.)

  324. And bear in mind that, if Trump wasn’t distracted (and incompetent), he’d be achieving a lot more stuff that you would hate.
    Under the far-less-than-ideal circumstances we find ourselves under, I’d actually prefer he stay in office at least until the midterms. That’s not to suggest that I think it’s more likely than not that he’ll leave or be ousted before his term is up, but there is a greater-than-normal chance of it.
    At any rate, yes, he’ll do some damage in the meantime, but he’ll be, relatively speaking, ineffectual at enacting much of an agenda. And he’ll tarnish the Republican brand beyond repair for the generation that will begin participating politically more fully over the course of the next decade of so.
    (Sorry, wj.)

  325. HSH, I actually agree with you.
    The Republican brand (like the American brand internationally) is going to take long years of work to repair, regardless. I think I only differ with some (a lot of?) people here about whether that is possible and/or desirable.

  326. HSH, I actually agree with you.
    The Republican brand (like the American brand internationally) is going to take long years of work to repair, regardless. I think I only differ with some (a lot of?) people here about whether that is possible and/or desirable.

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