416 thoughts on “So it begins…”

  1. Somewhat sad that Sessions didn’t have the guts to say:
    “I will not resign. Fire me if you you can find the courage, you pathetic pussy!”
    Who knows, Trump might have had a stroke.

  2. Somewhat sad that Sessions didn’t have the guts to say:
    “I will not resign. Fire me if you you can find the courage, you pathetic pussy!”
    Who knows, Trump might have had a stroke.

  5. Sessions was a made guy in the Trump Mob. Made guys don’t call the Boss a “pathetic pussy”, not even when they’re getting whacked. Mobsters philosophically accept their fate, reflecting that it’s business, not personal.
    –TP

  6. Sessions was a made guy in the Trump Mob. Made guys don’t call the Boss a “pathetic pussy”, not even when they’re getting whacked. Mobsters philosophically accept their fate, reflecting that it’s business, not personal.
    –TP

  7. Yes, such thoughts assume Sessions is a man of anything we might vaguely recognise as principle.
    Expect an indictment soon, I guess.

  8. Yes, such thoughts assume Sessions is a man of anything we might vaguely recognise as principle.
    Expect an indictment soon, I guess.

  9. I wish Sessions had forced Trump to fire him, only because the Vacancies act treats that differently.
    But I’m definitely more nervous now than I was yesterday.
    *I think* that Rosenstein can say that the new Acting AG has a conflict on the Meuller case, and refuse to turn over control of it–setting himself up to get fired (or, I can’t believe I’m writing this, killed). That sounds like a lot to ask of someone, so I wish we didn’t have to. Argh.

  10. I wish Sessions had forced Trump to fire him, only because the Vacancies act treats that differently.
    But I’m definitely more nervous now than I was yesterday.
    *I think* that Rosenstein can say that the new Acting AG has a conflict on the Meuller case, and refuse to turn over control of it–setting himself up to get fired (or, I can’t believe I’m writing this, killed). That sounds like a lot to ask of someone, so I wish we didn’t have to. Argh.

  13. Nope:
    https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/415591-acting-ag-to-take-over-oversight-of-russia-probe
    “The Acting Attorney General is in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement to The Hill.
    The move means that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will no longer oversee the federal Russia investigation…
    Trump will not tolerate questioning or investigation – as his press conference made abundantly clear.
    (A White House aide yesterday described his talk of bipartisanship as “totally trolling”.)
    This is war – but the fight is for public opinion, as much as a legal one. What disturbed me about yesterday’s results is just how many people are prepared to vote for a man clearly determined to subvert the institutions of US democracy.

  14. Nope:
    https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/415591-acting-ag-to-take-over-oversight-of-russia-probe
    “The Acting Attorney General is in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement to The Hill.
    The move means that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will no longer oversee the federal Russia investigation…
    Trump will not tolerate questioning or investigation – as his press conference made abundantly clear.
    (A White House aide yesterday described his talk of bipartisanship as “totally trolling”.)
    This is war – but the fight is for public opinion, as much as a legal one. What disturbed me about yesterday’s results is just how many people are prepared to vote for a man clearly determined to subvert the institutions of US democracy.

  19. Balls…
    Current count in Arizona:
    Martha McSally
    Republican
    856,848
    Kyrsten Sinema
    Democrat
    839,775
    Angela Green
    Green
    38,978
    Shame the green candidate couldn’t have endorsed Sinema just a little earlier.

  20. Balls…
    Current count in Arizona:
    Martha McSally
    Republican
    856,848
    Kyrsten Sinema
    Democrat
    839,775
    Angela Green
    Green
    38,978
    Shame the green candidate couldn’t have endorsed Sinema just a little earlier.

  21. Two things. First, this won’t be a surprise to Mueller: he’ll have a plan.
    Second, there will be a fair number of R senators who (privately) don’t support Trump on this. Yes, they’d rather have Mussolini as President than any Democrat. But they’d prefer Khomeini to Mussolini.

  22. Two things. First, this won’t be a surprise to Mueller: he’ll have a plan.
    Second, there will be a fair number of R senators who (privately) don’t support Trump on this. Yes, they’d rather have Mussolini as President than any Democrat. But they’d prefer Khomeini to Mussolini.

  33. “Trump is starting to look a bit like Nixon, no?”
    No.
    Armed federal troops, some of them whipping out red MAGA hats and refusing orders, or worse, turning on their own commanders, were not required to smoke Nixon and his loyalists out of La Casa Pacifica, the western White House, at gunpoint, and with tens of thousands of rounds of gunfire exchanged with right wing militias, after months of armed standoff when, and this a big “IF” with the current anti-American filth running the Senate, mp is impeached.
    There will not be a blubbering farewell speech and a helicopter ride from the White House lawn into shamed resignation and halfway burnished emeritus years and relative quietude, perhaps a couple of book deals and down low meetings with foreign dignitaries.
    There is no majestic Supreme Court any longer to turn away mp’s legal challenges to anything the fucking neutered and fake rule of law in this beclowned country might enact to remove him peacefully from the reigns of power.
    There was no 24-hour propaganda broadcast network in 1974 and hundreds of smaller like-minded lickspittle sycophants rallying tens of millions of miserable, deplorable howling loyalists to violence against all liberals and RINOs in support of their fuhrer.
    There is no Billy Graham with whom mp can feign receiving the counsel of a higher power to release the reigns of earthly power for the greater good. These scum no comprende the “greater good”. There are only the ruthless murderers of today’s brute, lying, money-grubbing mp evangel to urge him to do his worst, and believe me, this monster relishes the worst.
    There is no functioning “ship” of deep state from which the rats will jump at the last minute. Today’s conservative vermin, millions of them, will scuttle up the sides of mp’s ship, knives clenched in their teeth, to join him in apocalyptic fury.
    There was no Vladimir Putin in 1974 to instigate Russian troop and military asset movements at flash points around the globe to threaten America if we attempted to remove their major traitorous mole, Richard Nixon, because that was one trick Tricky Dicky could not count on, in the long-gone world in which in our domestic enemies, when the chips were down, were different than our foreign enemies.
    Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

  34. “Trump is starting to look a bit like Nixon, no?”
    No.
    Armed federal troops, some of them whipping out red MAGA hats and refusing orders, or worse, turning on their own commanders, were not required to smoke Nixon and his loyalists out of La Casa Pacifica, the western White House, at gunpoint, and with tens of thousands of rounds of gunfire exchanged with right wing militias, after months of armed standoff when, and this a big “IF” with the current anti-American filth running the Senate, mp is impeached.
    There will not be a blubbering farewell speech and a helicopter ride from the White House lawn into shamed resignation and halfway burnished emeritus years and relative quietude, perhaps a couple of book deals and down low meetings with foreign dignitaries.
    There is no majestic Supreme Court any longer to turn away mp’s legal challenges to anything the fucking neutered and fake rule of law in this beclowned country might enact to remove him peacefully from the reigns of power.
    There was no 24-hour propaganda broadcast network in 1974 and hundreds of smaller like-minded lickspittle sycophants rallying tens of millions of miserable, deplorable howling loyalists to violence against all liberals and RINOs in support of their fuhrer.
    There is no Billy Graham with whom mp can feign receiving the counsel of a higher power to release the reigns of earthly power for the greater good. These scum no comprende the “greater good”. There are only the ruthless murderers of today’s brute, lying, money-grubbing mp evangel to urge him to do his worst, and believe me, this monster relishes the worst.
    There is no functioning “ship” of deep state from which the rats will jump at the last minute. Today’s conservative vermin, millions of them, will scuttle up the sides of mp’s ship, knives clenched in their teeth, to join him in apocalyptic fury.
    There was no Vladimir Putin in 1974 to instigate Russian troop and military asset movements at flash points around the globe to threaten America if we attempted to remove their major traitorous mole, Richard Nixon, because that was one trick Tricky Dicky could not count on, in the long-gone world in which in our domestic enemies, when the chips were down, were different than our foreign enemies.
    Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?

  45. Plenty of uncounted ballots, though…
    I don’t know what the statistics look like in Arizona. In California, the last-minute mail ballots break heavily Democratic and shift the results by about two percentage points. It’s so consistent that this year a couple of Republicans have conceded while they were still leading.

  46. Plenty of uncounted ballots, though…
    I don’t know what the statistics look like in Arizona. In California, the last-minute mail ballots break heavily Democratic and shift the results by about two percentage points. It’s so consistent that this year a couple of Republicans have conceded while they were still leading.

  47. Shame the green candidate couldn’t have endorsed Sinema just a little earlier.
    It does suggest that Maine may be on to something with ranked choice voting.

  48. Shame the green candidate couldn’t have endorsed Sinema just a little earlier.
    It does suggest that Maine may be on to something with ranked choice voting.

  57. I think Trump will appoint Roy Moore to replace RBG given the opportunity, and there is nothing Democrats can do to stop it.

  58. I think Trump will appoint Roy Moore to replace RBG given the opportunity, and there is nothing Democrats can do to stop it.

  59. I agree. To a SCOTUS containing a pervert, a perjurer, and a receiver of stolen goods, adding a pedophile would be no novelty.
    Whether such a SCOTUS would retain any semblance of legitimacy is a different question.
    –TP

  60. I agree. To a SCOTUS containing a pervert, a perjurer, and a receiver of stolen goods, adding a pedophile would be no novelty.
    Whether such a SCOTUS would retain any semblance of legitimacy is a different question.
    –TP

  61. WTAF
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/getting-ugly-fast
    Things are getting ugly fast in Florida. Rick Scott, clearly thinking he’s going to fall behind in the vote count and lose his campaign for Senate, is both filing lawsuits to stop the vote counting in South Florida and using his police powers as governor to do so….
    Scott actually said this …
    “Late Tuesday night our win was projected about 57,000 votes. By Wednesday morning that lead dropped to 38,000 votes. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000 votes. This morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000,.”

  62. WTAF
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/getting-ugly-fast
    Things are getting ugly fast in Florida. Rick Scott, clearly thinking he’s going to fall behind in the vote count and lose his campaign for Senate, is both filing lawsuits to stop the vote counting in South Florida and using his police powers as governor to do so….
    Scott actually said this …
    “Late Tuesday night our win was projected about 57,000 votes. By Wednesday morning that lead dropped to 38,000 votes. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000 votes. This morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000,.”

  63. The Scott version:https:
    //weartv.com/news/local/watch-live-governor-rick-scott-to-make-statement-about-elections

  64. The Scott version:https:
    //weartv.com/news/local/watch-live-governor-rick-scott-to-make-statement-about-elections

  67. The Florida thing is a mess. As much as I would like the Democrats to win the races that are in question, I have my doubts about how things are being run there. I don’t think there’s anything dishonest going on. I’m just not terribly confident about the competence of the people running things.
    Of course, that’s me looking at it through a rubber chicken from a thousand miles away. Perhaps I’m being influenced by false propaganda, even if I don’t put any stock in the suggestions of cheating, or pretty much anything else that comes directly out of most Republicans’ mouths on the subject – especially Trump’s.

  68. The Florida thing is a mess. As much as I would like the Democrats to win the races that are in question, I have my doubts about how things are being run there. I don’t think there’s anything dishonest going on. I’m just not terribly confident about the competence of the people running things.
    Of course, that’s me looking at it through a rubber chicken from a thousand miles away. Perhaps I’m being influenced by false propaganda, even if I don’t put any stock in the suggestions of cheating, or pretty much anything else that comes directly out of most Republicans’ mouths on the subject – especially Trump’s.

  69. And there’s also the fact that, if the races weren’t so close in the first place, this stuff wouldn’t matter, and no one would be talking about it – at least not outside of people directly involved with conducting the elections in Florida.

  70. And there’s also the fact that, if the races weren’t so close in the first place, this stuff wouldn’t matter, and no one would be talking about it – at least not outside of people directly involved with conducting the elections in Florida.

  71. So NOW the lying, thieving, cheating Scott takes his forked tongue back from the cat:
    https://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/politifact-did-rick-scott-invoke-the-fifth-amendment-75-times/2185493
    His brow-furrowed physician should ask him if he keeps his weapon in a cool, dry place at home, because the man sounds desperate and I fear for what he might do to those around him.
    Republicans have emptied the electoral process, the rule of law, of all legitimacy across the country.
    They are chads. Hang ’em high.

  72. So NOW the lying, thieving, cheating Scott takes his forked tongue back from the cat:
    https://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/politifact-did-rick-scott-invoke-the-fifth-amendment-75-times/2185493
    His brow-furrowed physician should ask him if he keeps his weapon in a cool, dry place at home, because the man sounds desperate and I fear for what he might do to those around him.
    Republicans have emptied the electoral process, the rule of law, of all legitimacy across the country.
    They are chads. Hang ’em high.

  73. That said, when visiting Broward County, Florida, always count your change …. twice:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d13X9VYxiIw
    Limbaugh is right at home in Palm Beach.
    One wonders, given the moral turpitude of the base material we’re working with, if we could somehow go back and re-count, accurately, no cheating, like Imelda Marcos counted her shoes, the votes in every single election at every level of government since 1787, what the outcomes would look like.
    That would be one colossal reboot.

  74. That said, when visiting Broward County, Florida, always count your change …. twice:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d13X9VYxiIw
    Limbaugh is right at home in Palm Beach.
    One wonders, given the moral turpitude of the base material we’re working with, if we could somehow go back and re-count, accurately, no cheating, like Imelda Marcos counted her shoes, the votes in every single election at every level of government since 1787, what the outcomes would look like.
    That would be one colossal reboot.

  75. Can I just say that IMO this wins the Brett Kavanaugh “Gee, maybe that shit we pulled way back when was a bad idea” award for ex-post-facto meeping. Hands down.
    I don’t want to poach on the count’s turf, but I’d really, really, really like to kick Matthew Dowd in the freaking nuts.
    Uncivil, that, I’m sure. So be it.

  76. Can I just say that IMO this wins the Brett Kavanaugh “Gee, maybe that shit we pulled way back when was a bad idea” award for ex-post-facto meeping. Hands down.
    I don’t want to poach on the count’s turf, but I’d really, really, really like to kick Matthew Dowd in the freaking nuts.
    Uncivil, that, I’m sure. So be it.

  77. https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/11/09/the-latest-coffee-boy/
    Probably couldn’t pick out Whitaker in a lineup:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMUVB5kM-z8 ***
    mp’s attorney, to mp’s face, explaining to the lout why he would advise not submitting to an interview personally with Mueller’s team:
    “Because you’re a fucking liar!”
    *** If you watch that video closely, spot the tell that Contestant #2 is definitely not who he sez he is. He’s actually Brett Kavanaugh.

  78. https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/11/09/the-latest-coffee-boy/
    Probably couldn’t pick out Whitaker in a lineup:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMUVB5kM-z8 ***
    mp’s attorney, to mp’s face, explaining to the lout why he would advise not submitting to an interview personally with Mueller’s team:
    “Because you’re a fucking liar!”
    *** If you watch that video closely, spot the tell that Contestant #2 is definitely not who he sez he is. He’s actually Brett Kavanaugh.

  81. the real outrage is when lefties accuse conservatives of being racist.

    A Kansas Republican official is under fire for a social media post in which he called a Democratic congressional candidate a “radical socialist kick boxing lesbian Indian” and predicted she would “be sent back packing to the reservation,” The Kansas City Star reported.
    Michael Kalny, a Republican who holds the elected position of precinct committeeman in Kansas, was referring to Sharice Davids, an openly gay Native American lawyer running to unseat Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder. Davids is an amateur mixed martial arts fighter.
    Kalny sent the language in a direct Facebook message to Anne Pritchett, president of the Johnson County Democratic Women’s north chapter.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/10/gop-official-sharice-davids-kansas/1589389002/?fbclid=IwAR3ei_HYE0AbL1X29lHlzWELOlHJ6RL35O3KMdyMUWvtQRd6JgoqGABBvJg

  82. the real outrage is when lefties accuse conservatives of being racist.

    A Kansas Republican official is under fire for a social media post in which he called a Democratic congressional candidate a “radical socialist kick boxing lesbian Indian” and predicted she would “be sent back packing to the reservation,” The Kansas City Star reported.
    Michael Kalny, a Republican who holds the elected position of precinct committeeman in Kansas, was referring to Sharice Davids, an openly gay Native American lawyer running to unseat Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder. Davids is an amateur mixed martial arts fighter.
    Kalny sent the language in a direct Facebook message to Anne Pritchett, president of the Johnson County Democratic Women’s north chapter.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/10/gop-official-sharice-davids-kansas/1589389002/?fbclid=IwAR3ei_HYE0AbL1X29lHlzWELOlHJ6RL35O3KMdyMUWvtQRd6JgoqGABBvJg

  83. Limbaugh is right at home in Palm Beach.
    Personally, I suspect Limbaugh votes Democratic. Two reasons:
    First, it makes his shtick easier when the Democrats are in power and doing things to rail against.
    Second, he is (from what I can gather) about as sincere as the Colbert Report. Just with less talent. (Bear in mind that when Stephen Colbert got invited to the Bush White House for a gig, some of the folks there were shocked because they had thought he was serious on his show. Even with the subtle hint that it was on the Comedy channel. Amazing, but apparently true.)

  84. Limbaugh is right at home in Palm Beach.
    Personally, I suspect Limbaugh votes Democratic. Two reasons:
    First, it makes his shtick easier when the Democrats are in power and doing things to rail against.
    Second, he is (from what I can gather) about as sincere as the Colbert Report. Just with less talent. (Bear in mind that when Stephen Colbert got invited to the Bush White House for a gig, some of the folks there were shocked because they had thought he was serious on his show. Even with the subtle hint that it was on the Comedy channel. Amazing, but apparently true.)

  85. the real outrage is when lefties accuse conservatives of being racist.
    But it’s not all dark. It appears that complaining because “political correctness” means that you can no longer refer to a woman as a “slut” won’t get you re-elected. Too bad for Congressman Lewis.

  86. the real outrage is when lefties accuse conservatives of being racist.
    But it’s not all dark. It appears that complaining because “political correctness” means that you can no longer refer to a woman as a “slut” won’t get you re-elected. Too bad for Congressman Lewis.

  89. “some of the folks there were shocked because they had thought he was serious on his show.”
    I couldn’t find the priceless first interview Colbert did with Georgian republican rep Jack Kingston, in which the latter was so absolutely clueless that Colbert was doing a parody conservative (Kingston’s facial expressions were bovine, barely registering, as if he was a cow who thought he was going to be milked by Rush Limbaugh, but it turned out to be Fidel Castro on the stool next to him) but here’s the last one, in which he’s on to Colbert, and is a good sport, but you can tell he’s not quite sure yet if Lena Horne is white or black:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNsToGp_yUc

  90. “some of the folks there were shocked because they had thought he was serious on his show.”
    I couldn’t find the priceless first interview Colbert did with Georgian republican rep Jack Kingston, in which the latter was so absolutely clueless that Colbert was doing a parody conservative (Kingston’s facial expressions were bovine, barely registering, as if he was a cow who thought he was going to be milked by Rush Limbaugh, but it turned out to be Fidel Castro on the stool next to him) but here’s the last one, in which he’s on to Colbert, and is a good sport, but you can tell he’s not quite sure yet if Lena Horne is white or black:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNsToGp_yUc

  91. I think it’s time to remove the “m” in “mp”, so he shall henceforth be referred to in my posts as “p”:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dSpBbTWigE
    At some point, I will begin adding letters again to the other side of the “p”, first “u”, then a “t” …. as the greatest traitor in American history and his 70 million republican dupes are exposed, do I have to spell it out for ya?
    But we still have a stock market crash, the arrest and beatings of journalists, the killing of liberal demonstrators and conservative hispanics seeking asylum, the indictment of Hillary Clinton, and the worst nuclear brinksmanship since Cuba in 1962, and an armed, bloody months-long standoff at Mar-a-Lago to live through.
    To answer Sebastian’s question again, no, there will not be one second’s rest until this Civil War is over.

  92. I think it’s time to remove the “m” in “mp”, so he shall henceforth be referred to in my posts as “p”:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dSpBbTWigE
    At some point, I will begin adding letters again to the other side of the “p”, first “u”, then a “t” …. as the greatest traitor in American history and his 70 million republican dupes are exposed, do I have to spell it out for ya?
    But we still have a stock market crash, the arrest and beatings of journalists, the killing of liberal demonstrators and conservative hispanics seeking asylum, the indictment of Hillary Clinton, and the worst nuclear brinksmanship since Cuba in 1962, and an armed, bloody months-long standoff at Mar-a-Lago to live through.
    To answer Sebastian’s question again, no, there will not be one second’s rest until this Civil War is over.

  93. Here’s a fun fact:

    There were more than 600,000 mail-in ballots left to process statewide as of Wednesday, about 75 percent in Maricopa County. That huge amount has put pressure on a system that spends a lot of time already verifying the mail ballot signatures.
    Fontes said his office’s 1980s-era computer system is partly to blame. It was put in when Maricopa was far smaller and only a handful of its residents voted by mail.
    He said the system only allows his office to tally about 75,000 votes a day. There are another 375,000 votes outstanding in Maricopa County alone as of Thursday night.

    A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….

  94. Here’s a fun fact:

    There were more than 600,000 mail-in ballots left to process statewide as of Wednesday, about 75 percent in Maricopa County. That huge amount has put pressure on a system that spends a lot of time already verifying the mail ballot signatures.
    Fontes said his office’s 1980s-era computer system is partly to blame. It was put in when Maricopa was far smaller and only a handful of its residents voted by mail.
    He said the system only allows his office to tally about 75,000 votes a day. There are another 375,000 votes outstanding in Maricopa County alone as of Thursday night.

    A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….

  95. The Commodore 64 is churning away to the delight of fans of what has become known as “neo-steampunk.” They’re lining up in their ill-fitting OP corduroy shorts and tube socks to get a glimpse of obsolete machine at work.

  96. The Commodore 64 is churning away to the delight of fans of what has become known as “neo-steampunk.” They’re lining up in their ill-fitting OP corduroy shorts and tube socks to get a glimpse of obsolete machine at work.

  99. Russell, don’t be misled by their 40s attire into thinking them conservatives. Those women pictured are college educated, and therefore probably pro-Democratic and likely to create programs with a partisan bias. (Hey, I can invent conspiracy theories with the best of them. )

  100. Russell, don’t be misled by their 40s attire into thinking them conservatives. Those women pictured are college educated, and therefore probably pro-Democratic and likely to create programs with a partisan bias. (Hey, I can invent conspiracy theories with the best of them. )

  101. A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….
    Two of many links. I remember reading somewhere that Congress is still using 3.5 diskettes.
    “It’s hard to believe these magnetic, 8-inch data storage devices are what’s propping up the most fearsome weapons humanity has ever created. But the Department of Defense is still relying on this technology to coordinate key strategic forces such as nuclear bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a new government report.”
    The real reason America controls its nukes with ancient floppy disks: America’s nuclear arsenal depends on a surprising relic of the 1970s that few of us may recall: the humble floppy disk.
    “A backup nuclear control messaging system at the U.S. Department of Defense runs on an IBM Series 1 computer, first introduced in 1976, and uses eight-inch floppy disks, while the Internal Revenue Service’s master file of taxpayer data is written in assembly language code that’s more than five decades old, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.”
    U.S. government agencies are still using Windows 3.1, floppy disks and 1970s computers: Some U.S. government agencies are using IT systems running Windows 3.1, the decades-old COBOL and Fortran programming languages, or computers from the 1970s.

  102. A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….
    Two of many links. I remember reading somewhere that Congress is still using 3.5 diskettes.
    “It’s hard to believe these magnetic, 8-inch data storage devices are what’s propping up the most fearsome weapons humanity has ever created. But the Department of Defense is still relying on this technology to coordinate key strategic forces such as nuclear bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a new government report.”
    The real reason America controls its nukes with ancient floppy disks: America’s nuclear arsenal depends on a surprising relic of the 1970s that few of us may recall: the humble floppy disk.
    “A backup nuclear control messaging system at the U.S. Department of Defense runs on an IBM Series 1 computer, first introduced in 1976, and uses eight-inch floppy disks, while the Internal Revenue Service’s master file of taxpayer data is written in assembly language code that’s more than five decades old, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.”
    U.S. government agencies are still using Windows 3.1, floppy disks and 1970s computers: Some U.S. government agencies are using IT systems running Windows 3.1, the decades-old COBOL and Fortran programming languages, or computers from the 1970s.

  105. Well after all, it’s better to spend billions on flashy new planes that the military says it doesn’t really need, but which look cool in airshows, than on computers that the public will never see. Priorities!

  106. Well after all, it’s better to spend billions on flashy new planes that the military says it doesn’t really need, but which look cool in airshows, than on computers that the public will never see. Priorities!

  111. I was always disappointed no one ever released a FORTRAN compiler used COMEFROM instead of GOTO statements. 🙂

  112. I was always disappointed no one ever released a FORTRAN compiler used COMEFROM instead of GOTO statements. 🙂

  113. Hmmm.
    https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/415892-trump-have-not-spoken-to-whitaker-about-russia-probe
    Trump defended Whitaker as a “very well respected man in the law enforcement community” but claimed he does not know him personally.
    “I didn’t speak to Matt Whitaker about it. I don’t know Matt Whitaker,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a trip to Paris….
    Whitaker, who formerly served as chief of staff to ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reportedly met with Trump roughly a dozen times in the Oval Office.
    In an Oct. 11 interview with Fox News, Trump said “I can tell you Matt Whitaker’s a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker.”…

  114. Hmmm.
    https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/415892-trump-have-not-spoken-to-whitaker-about-russia-probe
    Trump defended Whitaker as a “very well respected man in the law enforcement community” but claimed he does not know him personally.
    “I didn’t speak to Matt Whitaker about it. I don’t know Matt Whitaker,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for a trip to Paris….
    Whitaker, who formerly served as chief of staff to ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reportedly met with Trump roughly a dozen times in the Oval Office.
    In an Oct. 11 interview with Fox News, Trump said “I can tell you Matt Whitaker’s a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker.”…

  115. Some U.S. government agencies are using IT systems running Windows 3.1, the decades-old COBOL and Fortran programming languages, or computers from the 1970s.
    i do postal address processing software for a living, and so i have to write a lot of code that implements USPS standards. USPS provides all their sample code in COBOL.

  116. Some U.S. government agencies are using IT systems running Windows 3.1, the decades-old COBOL and Fortran programming languages, or computers from the 1970s.
    i do postal address processing software for a living, and so i have to write a lot of code that implements USPS standards. USPS provides all their sample code in COBOL.

  121. I have been saying since last millennium that if the Starship Enterprise ever gets built, it will be running Windows 2300. But I digress.
    My real question is: how do you get out of the legacy problem?
    The question is relevant to all sorts of circumstances, not just computer and software systems, which is why I ask it in such general form.
    Do you keep repairing the old car, or buy a new one? Do you keep patching and remodeling the house, or do you tear it down and rebuild it? Do you keep tweaking your constitution, or write a new one?
    And do you answer differently if you’re “conservative” or “liberal”?
    –TP

  122. I have been saying since last millennium that if the Starship Enterprise ever gets built, it will be running Windows 2300. But I digress.
    My real question is: how do you get out of the legacy problem?
    The question is relevant to all sorts of circumstances, not just computer and software systems, which is why I ask it in such general form.
    Do you keep repairing the old car, or buy a new one? Do you keep patching and remodeling the house, or do you tear it down and rebuild it? Do you keep tweaking your constitution, or write a new one?
    And do you answer differently if you’re “conservative” or “liberal”?
    –TP

  123. Everything they touch.
    That’s not really accurate. Because it’s backwards. It’s not that they corrupt whatever they touch so much as that those eager to join them are corrupt already.
    After all, would you be willing to work for/with Trump? Or anyone like Trump?

  124. Everything they touch.
    That’s not really accurate. Because it’s backwards. It’s not that they corrupt whatever they touch so much as that those eager to join them are corrupt already.
    After all, would you be willing to work for/with Trump? Or anyone like Trump?

  125. USPS provides all their sample code in COBOL.
    There are lots of more sophisticated languages since COBOL. All of which share one characteristic: they are notably less efficient in execution. If you don’t actually need all the fancy bells and whistles, the old ways actually make sense.

  126. USPS provides all their sample code in COBOL.
    There are lots of more sophisticated languages since COBOL. All of which share one characteristic: they are notably less efficient in execution. If you don’t actually need all the fancy bells and whistles, the old ways actually make sense.

  127. COMEFROM
    Actually implemented in Intercal
    FORTRAN
    For some kinds of numeric-heavy computing, you don’t need objects or inheritance, and can live without encapsulation: what you need is the world’s fastest double-precision complex floating point implementation of the math library, for SIMD array processors. That, FORTRAN has, but Python does not.
    The NASA Ames supercomputer lab at Moffett Field used to specialize in benchmarking this kind of stuff.

  128. COMEFROM
    Actually implemented in Intercal
    FORTRAN
    For some kinds of numeric-heavy computing, you don’t need objects or inheritance, and can live without encapsulation: what you need is the world’s fastest double-precision complex floating point implementation of the math library, for SIMD array processors. That, FORTRAN has, but Python does not.
    The NASA Ames supercomputer lab at Moffett Field used to specialize in benchmarking this kind of stuff.

  129. The Florida recount thing seems ridiculous. WTF, seriously. How did we not fix this 18 years ago? Which is one of the few things that I’m really a little bit conspiracy minded about. At least since the 1960s it has been super clear that the voting craziness in the US is crazy. Both sides have been in charge at various times, and neither every fixes it. I semi-seriously believe that it is because both sides think they cheat better than the other side.

  130. The Florida recount thing seems ridiculous. WTF, seriously. How did we not fix this 18 years ago? Which is one of the few things that I’m really a little bit conspiracy minded about. At least since the 1960s it has been super clear that the voting craziness in the US is crazy. Both sides have been in charge at various times, and neither every fixes it. I semi-seriously believe that it is because both sides think they cheat better than the other side.

  133. How did we not fix this 18 years ago?
    We?
    Florida’s (and every other state’s) election system is governed by Florida. Florida’s state government is R.
    Neither I nor you have anything to do with Florida. As I’m sure you lknow.

  134. How did we not fix this 18 years ago?
    We?
    Florida’s (and every other state’s) election system is governed by Florida. Florida’s state government is R.
    Neither I nor you have anything to do with Florida. As I’m sure you lknow.

  135. I’ve forgotten where you live Seb. Somewhere in the midwest maybe? Check out your own election situation.
    I live in Virginia. Virginia does pretty well. I worked as a Democratic poll watcher, and have done for quite a few elections. VA is pretty freaking honest. People don’t wait in lines. If there’s a line for more than 1/2 hour, we report it, and people try to fix it. People in other states (GA, FLA) wait hours and hours. Why? VA has a D governor and a bipartisan (2/1 depending on guber party) electoral board. Yeah. VA is turning blue because voting rights are protected. Never more than 1/2 hour at the very busy polling place where I worked.
    Have you worked at the polls? I highly recommend it.

  136. I’ve forgotten where you live Seb. Somewhere in the midwest maybe? Check out your own election situation.
    I live in Virginia. Virginia does pretty well. I worked as a Democratic poll watcher, and have done for quite a few elections. VA is pretty freaking honest. People don’t wait in lines. If there’s a line for more than 1/2 hour, we report it, and people try to fix it. People in other states (GA, FLA) wait hours and hours. Why? VA has a D governor and a bipartisan (2/1 depending on guber party) electoral board. Yeah. VA is turning blue because voting rights are protected. Never more than 1/2 hour at the very busy polling place where I worked.
    Have you worked at the polls? I highly recommend it.

  137. California’s election system is absolutely trustworthy because we had an excellent secretary of state that de-certified all the hackable computer systems and pushed the entire state onto paper ballots. It still takes considerable time to count absentee and early-vote and provisional ballots, particularly the latter, but our Dem government prizes accuracy and fairness above electoral advantage, so does its best to make sure that everyone gets a chance to vote, and every possible vote is counted.

  138. California’s election system is absolutely trustworthy because we had an excellent secretary of state that de-certified all the hackable computer systems and pushed the entire state onto paper ballots. It still takes considerable time to count absentee and early-vote and provisional ballots, particularly the latter, but our Dem government prizes accuracy and fairness above electoral advantage, so does its best to make sure that everyone gets a chance to vote, and every possible vote is counted.

  139. joel hanes, that’s my experience in VA. We have paper ballots that are scanned, so that the scans are read first, but if there’s any question, a paper trail exists. The only thing about VA’s system that I would change is that early voters need an “excuse”. Some of these are squishy, so there is early voting for those who understand that they can do it. It should be more obviously universal.
    But, yeah. Notice that the screwed up jurisdictions are voting rights nightmares. There’s a reason for that.

  140. joel hanes, that’s my experience in VA. We have paper ballots that are scanned, so that the scans are read first, but if there’s any question, a paper trail exists. The only thing about VA’s system that I would change is that early voters need an “excuse”. Some of these are squishy, so there is early voting for those who understand that they can do it. It should be more obviously universal.
    But, yeah. Notice that the screwed up jurisdictions are voting rights nightmares. There’s a reason for that.

  141. I live in Virginia. Virginia does pretty well. I worked as a Democratic poll watcher, and have done for quite a few elections. VA is pretty freaking honest. People don’t wait in lines. If there’s a line for more than 1/2 hour, we report it, and people try to fix it.
    I was a poll worker in California Tuesday. We had a few times when we would have had lines. Not to get ballots, but just to get a booth to fill them out in. Fortunately, we were in a school library, so people could just use the shelves. And did.
    We did have a queue for the (one) electronic ballot marking device. Mostly, people opted back to straight paper rather than wait. In my post-poll write-up, I noted that we could use a second one.
    But when it comes to lining up to get a ballot? A couple times we had 3 people lined up. For under 5 minutes. We were configured to handle lines of upwards of a dozen people (in each of 3 groups of first letter of last name), but it never happened.
    It may be noteworthy that we had lots of people drop in briefly to deposit their “vote by mail” ballots. I think they are basically using that approach just to allow themselves time to fill out the ballot at leisure.
    FYI, people voting in person, whether on paper or using a machine to generate the paper, get their ballots scanned on-site. At the end of the night, we generate a list (copy posted on the door, second copy turned in to the county), pull the chip from the scanner and send it to the county, and gather all the ballots (scanned, provisional, by mail) and send them in to the county as well. The result is that, as soon as the chip gets to the county, they have the in person numbers available. The vote-by-mail ballots turned in on site still have to be scanned. (As previously noted, we count anything postmarked by election day. Which means those keep straggling in for several days.) And the provisional ballots checked to see why the individual wasn’t on the voter roster — mostly people who signed up for vote by mail, but didn’t bring their by mail ballot with them.
    Nothing is connected to the Internet (i.e. hackable remotely). There is a paper copy of every ballot, so anyone who distrusts the count can go thru and manually recount.

  142. I live in Virginia. Virginia does pretty well. I worked as a Democratic poll watcher, and have done for quite a few elections. VA is pretty freaking honest. People don’t wait in lines. If there’s a line for more than 1/2 hour, we report it, and people try to fix it.
    I was a poll worker in California Tuesday. We had a few times when we would have had lines. Not to get ballots, but just to get a booth to fill them out in. Fortunately, we were in a school library, so people could just use the shelves. And did.
    We did have a queue for the (one) electronic ballot marking device. Mostly, people opted back to straight paper rather than wait. In my post-poll write-up, I noted that we could use a second one.
    But when it comes to lining up to get a ballot? A couple times we had 3 people lined up. For under 5 minutes. We were configured to handle lines of upwards of a dozen people (in each of 3 groups of first letter of last name), but it never happened.
    It may be noteworthy that we had lots of people drop in briefly to deposit their “vote by mail” ballots. I think they are basically using that approach just to allow themselves time to fill out the ballot at leisure.
    FYI, people voting in person, whether on paper or using a machine to generate the paper, get their ballots scanned on-site. At the end of the night, we generate a list (copy posted on the door, second copy turned in to the county), pull the chip from the scanner and send it to the county, and gather all the ballots (scanned, provisional, by mail) and send them in to the county as well. The result is that, as soon as the chip gets to the county, they have the in person numbers available. The vote-by-mail ballots turned in on site still have to be scanned. (As previously noted, we count anything postmarked by election day. Which means those keep straggling in for several days.) And the provisional ballots checked to see why the individual wasn’t on the voter roster — mostly people who signed up for vote by mail, but didn’t bring their by mail ballot with them.
    Nothing is connected to the Internet (i.e. hackable remotely). There is a paper copy of every ballot, so anyone who distrusts the count can go thru and manually recount.

  143. We have paper ballots that are scanned, so that the scans are read first…
    Same in MA. Scan for efficiency, paper ballot for accountability.
    You get checked in my name and address, you get a ballot, you fill it in, scan it, get checked out by name and address, and go on about your day.
    It’s never taken me more than 15 minutes to vote here.

  144. We have paper ballots that are scanned, so that the scans are read first…
    Same in MA. Scan for efficiency, paper ballot for accountability.
    You get checked in my name and address, you get a ballot, you fill it in, scan it, get checked out by name and address, and go on about your day.
    It’s never taken me more than 15 minutes to vote here.

  145. Meanwhile back at the swamp

    At the White House as well as the Justice Department, senior aides were taken aback by news accounts of Whitaker’s work on the advisory board of Miami-based World Patent Marketing, which was accused of defrauding its customers. Officials said they were particularly stunned by emails showing Whitaker invoked his former job as a U.S. attorney to threaten a man who had complained about the company.
    Whitaker also rebuffed an October 2017 subpoena from the Federal Trade Commission seeking his records related to the company, according to two people with knowledge of the case.

    Isn’t it wonderful how careful vetting ahead of time can assure that you get the best people. Ones without embarrassing baggage — of the kind that the media will be able to uncover in a day or two.

  146. Meanwhile back at the swamp

    At the White House as well as the Justice Department, senior aides were taken aback by news accounts of Whitaker’s work on the advisory board of Miami-based World Patent Marketing, which was accused of defrauding its customers. Officials said they were particularly stunned by emails showing Whitaker invoked his former job as a U.S. attorney to threaten a man who had complained about the company.
    Whitaker also rebuffed an October 2017 subpoena from the Federal Trade Commission seeking his records related to the company, according to two people with knowledge of the case.

    Isn’t it wonderful how careful vetting ahead of time can assure that you get the best people. Ones without embarrassing baggage — of the kind that the media will be able to uncover in a day or two.

  147. Kavanaugh, in hind-sight, thinks that perhaps his rat-f***ing pursuit of Bill Clinton was not such a great idea. Presidents shouldn’t be subject to that kind of naked political harassment.
    Dowd, in hind-sight, considers that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to prevent ballots from being counted in 2000.
    In about 10 or 15 years, we will be treated to the regrets of all of the Trump supporters and enablers, who, in hind-sight, ponder whether it was a good idea to let Trump and his merry band of punks, chiselers, and creeps run amok in the Executive.
    It’s not like this crap is all that hard to discern in real time, folks.

  148. Kavanaugh, in hind-sight, thinks that perhaps his rat-f***ing pursuit of Bill Clinton was not such a great idea. Presidents shouldn’t be subject to that kind of naked political harassment.
    Dowd, in hind-sight, considers that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to prevent ballots from being counted in 2000.
    In about 10 or 15 years, we will be treated to the regrets of all of the Trump supporters and enablers, who, in hind-sight, ponder whether it was a good idea to let Trump and his merry band of punks, chiselers, and creeps run amok in the Executive.
    It’s not like this crap is all that hard to discern in real time, folks.

  153. Whitaker will not survive the weekend.
    Combine Trump’s famous loyalty to those around him (nonexistent) with him now saying that he doesn’t know Whitaker (no matter what he said a few days ago). Whitaker probably shouldn’t waste any effort on moving into DoJ quite yet.

  154. Whitaker will not survive the weekend.
    Combine Trump’s famous loyalty to those around him (nonexistent) with him now saying that he doesn’t know Whitaker (no matter what he said a few days ago). Whitaker probably shouldn’t waste any effort on moving into DoJ quite yet.

  155. Real life may be preventing those of our fellow commenters who supported Kiss-Ass Kavanaugh from piping up in support of consiglieri Whitaker, but if Ugh is wrong they will probably get around to it eventually.
    –TP

  156. Real life may be preventing those of our fellow commenters who supported Kiss-Ass Kavanaugh from piping up in support of consiglieri Whitaker, but if Ugh is wrong they will probably get around to it eventually.
    –TP

  161. Changing the topic a bit, is this true (it seems persuasive) ?
    http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-neither-republicans-or-democrats.html
    Republicans have seemingly never understood that Obamacare has worked well for low-income people who get the biggest premium and out-of-pocket subsidies. It has worked well for those eligible for Medicaid in the states that have expanded it. And, it has been critically important for those with preexisting conditions. And, that three deep red states–Nebraska, Utah, and Idaho–voted last week to expand Medicaid clearly says that even in the reddest states what people want is health insurance security not only for themselves but for their neighbors.
    But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    The Republicans tried to take away these health insurance security benefits and it cost them dearly in 2018.
    Just like the Democrats so ham-handedly tried to reform the system in the first place only to see it cost them dearly in prior elections.
    It’s not about Obamacare guys, it’s about health insurance security–for everybody.

  162. Changing the topic a bit, is this true (it seems persuasive) ?
    http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-neither-republicans-or-democrats.html
    Republicans have seemingly never understood that Obamacare has worked well for low-income people who get the biggest premium and out-of-pocket subsidies. It has worked well for those eligible for Medicaid in the states that have expanded it. And, it has been critically important for those with preexisting conditions. And, that three deep red states–Nebraska, Utah, and Idaho–voted last week to expand Medicaid clearly says that even in the reddest states what people want is health insurance security not only for themselves but for their neighbors.
    But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    The Republicans tried to take away these health insurance security benefits and it cost them dearly in 2018.
    Just like the Democrats so ham-handedly tried to reform the system in the first place only to see it cost them dearly in prior elections.
    It’s not about Obamacare guys, it’s about health insurance security–for everybody.

  163. My understanding is that all the attempts at Republicans trying to screw up obamacare have been concentrated on ignoring expanding the risk pool and that’s why the middle class has gotten screwed over. Claiming that obama and the Dems weren’t ‘bold’ enough is revisionist thinking.

  164. My understanding is that all the attempts at Republicans trying to screw up obamacare have been concentrated on ignoring expanding the risk pool and that’s why the middle class has gotten screwed over. Claiming that obama and the Dems weren’t ‘bold’ enough is revisionist thinking.

  165. But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    This is only true (to the extent it is true) because of Republican sabotage of the ACA.

  166. But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    This is only true (to the extent it is true) because of Republican sabotage of the ACA.

  167. -for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    Yes. I remember those halcyon days when the individual health insurance market worked so well./snicker

  168. -for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    Yes. I remember those halcyon days when the individual health insurance market worked so well./snicker

  169. From Nigel’s link:

    This means 4.5 million people lost their individual health insurance in just two years.

    Actually, it means that 4.5 million fewer people get their health insurance from private individual markets relative to two years ago.
    Those two statements are not equivalent.
    I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    It has also extended health insurance to many many millions of others. Many. And dramatically reduced the number of people who end up in financial distress or ruin as a result of unplanned medical expenses.
    So, good for lots of people, not very good for some. It’s not a perfect law. It needs fixing. Or, replacement, if that floats your boat.
    FWIW, the ACA was not the (D)’s first choice. It’s not a plan that originate with (D)’s. It’s what we ended up with, in order to get anything at all.
    It’s not about Obamacare guys, it’s about health insurance security–for everybody.
    Yes, it is, in fact, about health insurance security – for everyone. And that’s a puzzle that has been solved, and solved, and solved, and solved, and solved. We can take our pick of tried and true solutions, according to whatever mix of public and private actors we want to include in the mix.
    So let’s just freaking do it. Get’er done.
    Why hasn’t that happened? Do you think the (D)’s are standing in the way?

  170. From Nigel’s link:

    This means 4.5 million people lost their individual health insurance in just two years.

    Actually, it means that 4.5 million fewer people get their health insurance from private individual markets relative to two years ago.
    Those two statements are not equivalent.
    I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    It has also extended health insurance to many many millions of others. Many. And dramatically reduced the number of people who end up in financial distress or ruin as a result of unplanned medical expenses.
    So, good for lots of people, not very good for some. It’s not a perfect law. It needs fixing. Or, replacement, if that floats your boat.
    FWIW, the ACA was not the (D)’s first choice. It’s not a plan that originate with (D)’s. It’s what we ended up with, in order to get anything at all.
    It’s not about Obamacare guys, it’s about health insurance security–for everybody.
    Yes, it is, in fact, about health insurance security – for everyone. And that’s a puzzle that has been solved, and solved, and solved, and solved, and solved. We can take our pick of tried and true solutions, according to whatever mix of public and private actors we want to include in the mix.
    So let’s just freaking do it. Get’er done.
    Why hasn’t that happened? Do you think the (D)’s are standing in the way?

  171. “Do you think the (D)’s are standing in the way?
    60 votes in the Senate passed the law, so yes, they su ck too. Try not to forget that. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.

  172. “Do you think the (D)’s are standing in the way?
    60 votes in the Senate passed the law, so yes, they su ck too. Try not to forget that. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.

  173. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.
    Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!! The grave that Joe Lieberman will lie in some day so I can go spit on it mocks that statement. Just like Republicans could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed over the last two years and…somehow didn’t. All they coughed up was a hairball: A big tax cut for the wealthy.
    Just finishing up Remedy and Reaction by Paul Starr on the history of the struggle for health care reform in this country. I recommend to all.

  174. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.
    Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!! The grave that Joe Lieberman will lie in some day so I can go spit on it mocks that statement. Just like Republicans could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed over the last two years and…somehow didn’t. All they coughed up was a hairball: A big tax cut for the wealthy.
    Just finishing up Remedy and Reaction by Paul Starr on the history of the struggle for health care reform in this country. I recommend to all.

  175. I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    What do you base this on? It might be true, but I’m not sure why.
    Is it because insurers must cover anyone, with community-rated premiums, and that drives rates up? I can see that, but after all, as you say, many previously uninsured individuals were able to get insurance, so it doesn’t suck for everyone who was in the individual market, only some.
    Of course, one solution, among many, to that would be government-funded reinsurance, so that the insurer doesn’t bear the full cost of catastrophic cases.

  176. I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    What do you base this on? It might be true, but I’m not sure why.
    Is it because insurers must cover anyone, with community-rated premiums, and that drives rates up? I can see that, but after all, as you say, many previously uninsured individuals were able to get insurance, so it doesn’t suck for everyone who was in the individual market, only some.
    Of course, one solution, among many, to that would be government-funded reinsurance, so that the insurer doesn’t bear the full cost of catastrophic cases.

  177. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.
    Yes, now that you mention it, that’s just the way it was.
    What do you base this on? It might be true, but I’m not sure why.
    My understanding is that people who bought health insurance in private markets, not via an employer or other group membership, saw their premiums go up.
    If they made enough money to not qualify for federal $$$, that came out of their pocket.
    As far as the cause-and-effect dynamics of what moved the premiums up, that is above my pay grade. I’m just stating what I understand the salient facts to be.
    And, I could be wrong, and am open to being shown to be wrong.

  178. They could have passed anything they wanted and got it signed.
    Yes, now that you mention it, that’s just the way it was.
    What do you base this on? It might be true, but I’m not sure why.
    My understanding is that people who bought health insurance in private markets, not via an employer or other group membership, saw their premiums go up.
    If they made enough money to not qualify for federal $$$, that came out of their pocket.
    As far as the cause-and-effect dynamics of what moved the premiums up, that is above my pay grade. I’m just stating what I understand the salient facts to be.
    And, I could be wrong, and am open to being shown to be wrong.

  179. 60 votes in the Senate passed the law
    60 votes in the Senate passed that law. that doesn’t mean they could have passed any law.
    they barely got that one passed.

  180. 60 votes in the Senate passed the law
    60 votes in the Senate passed that law. that doesn’t mean they could have passed any law.
    they barely got that one passed.

  181. But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    As far as I can see, the only folks whose finances have been “devistated” are those who didn’t buy health insurance at all. The individual mandate forced them to get health insurance instead of rolling the dice on staying healthy. Whether that would have been a good bet is debatable. But since we force those with automobiles to get insurance in order to drive them, it’s not like it’s a radical innovation.

  182. But what Democrats have never been willing to admit is that the program has been devastating for the middle class–those who get no subsidy, or a relatively small subsidy–for the way it has wrecked their individual health insurance market.
    As far as I can see, the only folks whose finances have been “devistated” are those who didn’t buy health insurance at all. The individual mandate forced them to get health insurance instead of rolling the dice on staying healthy. Whether that would have been a good bet is debatable. But since we force those with automobiles to get insurance in order to drive them, it’s not like it’s a radical innovation.

  183. I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    This partly depends on how narrowly you set your parameters, doesn’t it? If you just look at straight out-of-pocket insurance premiums, then yeah, possibly. But consider that, when those folks without insurance got really sick, or badly injured, they ended up in emergency rooms. Which a) are required by law to treat anybody who comes in, b) are way more expensive than other treatment options, and c) and subsidized by a combination of higher costs for others and tax dollars.
    Net/net, I’m not at all convinced that the total cost, even for the middle class, was that significant. (Feel free to point me to a thorough analysis which says otherwise.)

  184. I agree that for people who purchase their own health insurance from private markets, and who make too much money to qualify for subsidies, the ACA has in general sucked.
    This partly depends on how narrowly you set your parameters, doesn’t it? If you just look at straight out-of-pocket insurance premiums, then yeah, possibly. But consider that, when those folks without insurance got really sick, or badly injured, they ended up in emergency rooms. Which a) are required by law to treat anybody who comes in, b) are way more expensive than other treatment options, and c) and subsidized by a combination of higher costs for others and tax dollars.
    Net/net, I’m not at all convinced that the total cost, even for the middle class, was that significant. (Feel free to point me to a thorough analysis which says otherwise.)

  187. Marty: 60 votes in the Senate passed the law
    The Democrats did not need 60 votes to pass the law.
    They needed 60 votes to break the Republican filibuster.
    I wonder what Harry Reid could have passed, had he been a McConnell-level asshole.
    –TP

  188. Marty: 60 votes in the Senate passed the law
    The Democrats did not need 60 votes to pass the law.
    They needed 60 votes to break the Republican filibuster.
    I wonder what Harry Reid could have passed, had he been a McConnell-level asshole.
    –TP

  191. And from Maggie Haberman’s twitter feed on the same subject:

    @maggieNYT
    1h1 hour ago
    Churchill’s grandson weighs in on canceled Trump and FLOTUS American cemetery visit in France
    @NSoames
    They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen #hesnotfittorepresenthisgreatcountry

    Since so much of the GOP worships Churchill, this will probably sting at least some of them, despite having drunk the Kool-aid.

  192. And from Maggie Haberman’s twitter feed on the same subject:

    @maggieNYT
    1h1 hour ago
    Churchill’s grandson weighs in on canceled Trump and FLOTUS American cemetery visit in France
    @NSoames
    They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen #hesnotfittorepresenthisgreatcountry

    Since so much of the GOP worships Churchill, this will probably sting at least some of them, despite having drunk the Kool-aid.

  193. A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….
    With my old budget staff for the state legislature hat on… One of the hardest things to convince the legislature of is that the current software system needs to be tossed and replaced. This is true across partisan lines. California’s software is as old and buggy as Texas’s.
    Part of the problem is size: they’re all big complex systems with lots of interfaces. Part of it is that there are only a handful of companies that have been qualified to do this kind of work: EDS, IBM, and a few others. Combine those and the price tags are big (the low bid when my state put out an RFP for a new Medicaid system was $400M). The history isn’t good: the expectation is that the delivered system will range somewhere between buggy as hell and doesn’t work at all (some years back, IBM delivered one of those to Texas). So legislatures are reluctant to spend money unless the existing system is really broken.
    My conclusion after attending a lot of post-mortems on failed or seriously overbudget systems was that state governments simply can’t specify their way out of a paper bag. Since they typically hire out the development and the acceptance testing to different companies, a bad spec guarantees big problems.

  194. A 1980s computer system! And here I thought I was slow in updating my systems….
    With my old budget staff for the state legislature hat on… One of the hardest things to convince the legislature of is that the current software system needs to be tossed and replaced. This is true across partisan lines. California’s software is as old and buggy as Texas’s.
    Part of the problem is size: they’re all big complex systems with lots of interfaces. Part of it is that there are only a handful of companies that have been qualified to do this kind of work: EDS, IBM, and a few others. Combine those and the price tags are big (the low bid when my state put out an RFP for a new Medicaid system was $400M). The history isn’t good: the expectation is that the delivered system will range somewhere between buggy as hell and doesn’t work at all (some years back, IBM delivered one of those to Texas). So legislatures are reluctant to spend money unless the existing system is really broken.
    My conclusion after attending a lot of post-mortems on failed or seriously overbudget systems was that state governments simply can’t specify their way out of a paper bag. Since they typically hire out the development and the acceptance testing to different companies, a bad spec guarantees big problems.

  195. Just as John and Yoko were precisely correct that if everyone on Earth stayed in bed for a week, there would no war and killing for, well, that week (IF Al Capp could keep his conservative mouth shut, that is) so it is correct to point out that if World War I combatants had called their mutual, pointless slaughter off because the weather might muss their coifs, we’d have more longer living renowned World War I poets, for one thing, but Hitler may not have risen to power in Germany for another.
    https://sites.google.com/site/worldwar1class3a/life-in-the-trenches/weather-conditions
    Mothers from the European powers sent warm socks to their sons so they could avoid trench foot and amputation only to have the kids sent back in gassed pieces in bags.
    My kingdom for an umbrella.
    The American military needs to muster fighter jets and intercept Air Force One before it returns p to American airspace.
    Pelosi should give Mattis a call and float the idea.
    Maybe p could hold up in Iceland until his grandparents’ immigration parents are thoroughly vetted, and I would advise calling in veterinarians who specialize in poisonous, carnivorous, predatious reptiles for that job.
    Maybe Puerto Rico would like to host him for the rest of his lout life.

  196. Just as John and Yoko were precisely correct that if everyone on Earth stayed in bed for a week, there would no war and killing for, well, that week (IF Al Capp could keep his conservative mouth shut, that is) so it is correct to point out that if World War I combatants had called their mutual, pointless slaughter off because the weather might muss their coifs, we’d have more longer living renowned World War I poets, for one thing, but Hitler may not have risen to power in Germany for another.
    https://sites.google.com/site/worldwar1class3a/life-in-the-trenches/weather-conditions
    Mothers from the European powers sent warm socks to their sons so they could avoid trench foot and amputation only to have the kids sent back in gassed pieces in bags.
    My kingdom for an umbrella.
    The American military needs to muster fighter jets and intercept Air Force One before it returns p to American airspace.
    Pelosi should give Mattis a call and float the idea.
    Maybe p could hold up in Iceland until his grandparents’ immigration parents are thoroughly vetted, and I would advise calling in veterinarians who specialize in poisonous, carnivorous, predatious reptiles for that job.
    Maybe Puerto Rico would like to host him for the rest of his lout life.

  197. papers, not “parents”.
    You must carry your parents with you at all times when crossing zie borders, mein liebchen.

  198. papers, not “parents”.
    You must carry your parents with you at all times when crossing zie borders, mein liebchen.

  199. There are four things the US does differently from all other developed countries. None of them works well:
    1) Health insurance. No other system makes insurance costs depend on your risk; there’s always a pooling system. For the simple reason that most people can’t afford the expected cost of their treatment when they’re older and less healthy.
    2) Gun control.
    3a) Putting politicians in charge of running elections and drawing electoral boundaries.
    3b) Electing all sorts of minor officials. This sounds democratic, but it makes voting complicated, and it’s not actually a good idea to have for example law officers trying to win votes. When I vote in a general election I put a single cross against the candidate of my choice. That’s it, I’m done. Then counting the votes is straightforward and uncontroversial.
    4) Having a politicised Supreme Court which can block legislation on the basis of tendentious interpretations of a Constitution written 150 or more years ago, plainly without present circumstances in mind.

  200. There are four things the US does differently from all other developed countries. None of them works well:
    1) Health insurance. No other system makes insurance costs depend on your risk; there’s always a pooling system. For the simple reason that most people can’t afford the expected cost of their treatment when they’re older and less healthy.
    2) Gun control.
    3a) Putting politicians in charge of running elections and drawing electoral boundaries.
    3b) Electing all sorts of minor officials. This sounds democratic, but it makes voting complicated, and it’s not actually a good idea to have for example law officers trying to win votes. When I vote in a general election I put a single cross against the candidate of my choice. That’s it, I’m done. Then counting the votes is straightforward and uncontroversial.
    4) Having a politicised Supreme Court which can block legislation on the basis of tendentious interpretations of a Constitution written 150 or more years ago, plainly without present circumstances in mind.

  201. Michael,
    I’m sure what you say is true, but there is another issue that comes not from business rather than government experience.
    IT guys always want to replace the system. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong, but they never come in and explain how the current system is fine, or just needs some upgrades. So it’s easy to be skeptical.
    And, not only do new systems tend to be buggy, as you note, there are also risks of being over budget and late. That, I suspect, is easier to deal with in the private sector than the public.

  202. Michael,
    I’m sure what you say is true, but there is another issue that comes not from business rather than government experience.
    IT guys always want to replace the system. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong, but they never come in and explain how the current system is fine, or just needs some upgrades. So it’s easy to be skeptical.
    And, not only do new systems tend to be buggy, as you note, there are also risks of being over budget and late. That, I suspect, is easier to deal with in the private sector than the public.

  203. Pro Bono:
    Engraved into the southeast Portico of the Jefferson Monument:
    “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
    -Excerpted from a letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816.
    “barbarous ancestors” seems a fresh, but original(ist) slant on the Founders, but I tend to think our barbarians are rather today’s originalists.

  204. Pro Bono:
    Engraved into the southeast Portico of the Jefferson Monument:
    “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
    -Excerpted from a letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816.
    “barbarous ancestors” seems a fresh, but original(ist) slant on the Founders, but I tend to think our barbarians are rather today’s originalists.

  205. And, not only do new systems tend to be buggy, as you note, there are also risks of being over budget and late. That, I suspect, is easier to deal with in the private sector than the public.
    Yeah. Long ago I worked for a giant telecom company in Colorado that poured $150M (1990 dollars) into a new billing system project. Total failure — not one line of code ever got used for actual billing. Completely hushed up as well, not a single word in the papers or TV news. A decade later when the state bought a new system to handle public assistance client intake and benefit determination, every missed deadline or cost overrun or bug made the front page.

  206. And, not only do new systems tend to be buggy, as you note, there are also risks of being over budget and late. That, I suspect, is easier to deal with in the private sector than the public.
    Yeah. Long ago I worked for a giant telecom company in Colorado that poured $150M (1990 dollars) into a new billing system project. Total failure — not one line of code ever got used for actual billing. Completely hushed up as well, not a single word in the papers or TV news. A decade later when the state bought a new system to handle public assistance client intake and benefit determination, every missed deadline or cost overrun or bug made the front page.

  209. This conversation reminds me of an article I bookmarked years ago.
    1) I’m amazed it’s not a dead link.
    2) I would have guessed it was at most ten years ago, not eighteen and a half. Time flies.
    I’ve just spent to past eight(?!?) years of my working life helping my company “Get Out of DOS.” (AKA “GOOD.”) As appalling as that sounds, I don’t think that even now the powers that be would have given it as high a priority as they did if it hadn’t been affecting our ability to meet the data security requirements of our clients.
    It’s a wonder the world functions at all, not just with systems that rely on computers but also in relation to the workings of — e.g. and with a nod to Pro Bono — our health care/insurance system. It couldn’t have been designed with more or stupider inefficiencies if they’d tried.

  210. This conversation reminds me of an article I bookmarked years ago.
    1) I’m amazed it’s not a dead link.
    2) I would have guessed it was at most ten years ago, not eighteen and a half. Time flies.
    I’ve just spent to past eight(?!?) years of my working life helping my company “Get Out of DOS.” (AKA “GOOD.”) As appalling as that sounds, I don’t think that even now the powers that be would have given it as high a priority as they did if it hadn’t been affecting our ability to meet the data security requirements of our clients.
    It’s a wonder the world functions at all, not just with systems that rely on computers but also in relation to the workings of — e.g. and with a nod to Pro Bono — our health care/insurance system. It couldn’t have been designed with more or stupider inefficiencies if they’d tried.

  211. If you just look at straight out-of-pocket insurance premiums, then yeah, possibly.
    I think that, for people who raise this as an issue, straight out-of-pocket premiums is what they are unhappy about.
    I lack both the chops and the inclination to find, understand, and share an in-depth study that either proves or disproves that they have a solid basis for their complaint.
    The internet tells me things, sometimes I pass them along. Apply whatever grains of salt you feel is required.

  212. If you just look at straight out-of-pocket insurance premiums, then yeah, possibly.
    I think that, for people who raise this as an issue, straight out-of-pocket premiums is what they are unhappy about.
    I lack both the chops and the inclination to find, understand, and share an in-depth study that either proves or disproves that they have a solid basis for their complaint.
    The internet tells me things, sometimes I pass them along. Apply whatever grains of salt you feel is required.

  213. Apropos of Janie’s link, allow me to say that IMO the world would be a better place if all software engineers, and their managers, read Joel On Software as a daily practice.
    I might even go so far as to say, read Joel On Software instead of getting a CS degree, because anything you learn from Joel is something you’ll probably actually use about 100 times more than stuff you learn in class.
    But I’ll refrain from going quite that far.
    The world needs fewer geniuses, and more sensible people.

  214. Apropos of Janie’s link, allow me to say that IMO the world would be a better place if all software engineers, and their managers, read Joel On Software as a daily practice.
    I might even go so far as to say, read Joel On Software instead of getting a CS degree, because anything you learn from Joel is something you’ll probably actually use about 100 times more than stuff you learn in class.
    But I’ll refrain from going quite that far.
    The world needs fewer geniuses, and more sensible people.

  215. Have we noticed that immediately following the Pittsburgh murders and the pipe bomb mailings that the demands of the two conservative terrorists were immediately placed into law by p’s executive orders?
    And we’re told violence does not effect change.
    None of this is coincidence.
    While liberals were peacefully voting, conservatives were sending the message to their base that murder is just another ballot.

  216. Have we noticed that immediately following the Pittsburgh murders and the pipe bomb mailings that the demands of the two conservative terrorists were immediately placed into law by p’s executive orders?
    And we’re told violence does not effect change.
    None of this is coincidence.
    While liberals were peacefully voting, conservatives were sending the message to their base that murder is just another ballot.

  217. I’ve just spent to past eight(?!?) years of my working life helping my company “Get Out of DOS.”
    yuck.
    every available developer in my building has been torn off new work and is frantically working to convert years of web apps written to use Adobe Flash to do it all in HTML5. because Flash turned out to be a security nightmare.
    i just came across this article today:
    How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016. it’s not even a little exaggeration to say that i have conversations like this twice a week. i just want to make this f’ing thing work, so i ask a question; that opens the door to a labyrinth of frameworks and plugins and trendy programming techniques that some other team has built their little world upon. and i can either learn everything they know or roll my own. and if i roll my own, i’m at risk of running afoul of some company-wide standard that isn’t published anywhere but will turn out to be the most important thing in all of MyEmployerCo’s web development methodology.

  218. I’ve just spent to past eight(?!?) years of my working life helping my company “Get Out of DOS.”
    yuck.
    every available developer in my building has been torn off new work and is frantically working to convert years of web apps written to use Adobe Flash to do it all in HTML5. because Flash turned out to be a security nightmare.
    i just came across this article today:
    How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016. it’s not even a little exaggeration to say that i have conversations like this twice a week. i just want to make this f’ing thing work, so i ask a question; that opens the door to a labyrinth of frameworks and plugins and trendy programming techniques that some other team has built their little world upon. and i can either learn everything they know or roll my own. and if i roll my own, i’m at risk of running afoul of some company-wide standard that isn’t published anywhere but will turn out to be the most important thing in all of MyEmployerCo’s web development methodology.

  219. I’m kinda-sorta looking for a new job, so I’m bumping up against all the latest and greatest trends.
    SOLID, 12-Factor App, Dependency Injection, blahblahblah.
    Go to the whiteboard and code me up a quicksort, junior. Go balance an AVL tree, young fella.
    Smart-ass kids.

  220. I’m kinda-sorta looking for a new job, so I’m bumping up against all the latest and greatest trends.
    SOLID, 12-Factor App, Dependency Injection, blahblahblah.
    Go to the whiteboard and code me up a quicksort, junior. Go balance an AVL tree, young fella.
    Smart-ass kids.

  221. If it’s not too 2004 to use the phrase “money quote,” here’s the money quote from cleek’s link:

    I have no idea what you just said

    I’m glad I’m not the only one. 😉
    This was good too:

    Yeah, but apparently in the web we love making things complicated and then going back to the basics. We do that every year or so, just wait for it, we are going to do assembly in the web in a year or two.

    2016 is so….2016.

  222. If it’s not too 2004 to use the phrase “money quote,” here’s the money quote from cleek’s link:

    I have no idea what you just said

    I’m glad I’m not the only one. 😉
    This was good too:

    Yeah, but apparently in the web we love making things complicated and then going back to the basics. We do that every year or so, just wait for it, we are going to do assembly in the web in a year or two.

    2016 is so….2016.

  225. immediately following the Pittsburgh murders and the pipe bomb mailings that the demands of the two conservative terrorists were immediately placed into law by p’s executive orders?
    He calls them “focus groups”.
    asm.js
    Not to pick nits unduly, but that kinda looks like… C.
    If there are no opcodes or registers, is it really assembler? Or is it maybe just some JS folks trying to seem bad-@ss?
    Not that there’s anything wrong with C or C-ish.

  226. immediately following the Pittsburgh murders and the pipe bomb mailings that the demands of the two conservative terrorists were immediately placed into law by p’s executive orders?
    He calls them “focus groups”.
    asm.js
    Not to pick nits unduly, but that kinda looks like… C.
    If there are no opcodes or registers, is it really assembler? Or is it maybe just some JS folks trying to seem bad-@ss?
    Not that there’s anything wrong with C or C-ish.

  227. Yes, it is, in fact, about health insurance security – for everyone. And that’s a puzzle that has been solved, and solved, and solved, and solved, and solved. We can take our pick of tried and true solutions, according to whatever mix of public and private actors we want to include in the mix.
    So let’s just freaking do it. Get’er done.
    Agreed.
    And healthcare is, I think, the single most salient issue for a majority of US voters ?

  228. Yes, it is, in fact, about health insurance security – for everyone. And that’s a puzzle that has been solved, and solved, and solved, and solved, and solved. We can take our pick of tried and true solutions, according to whatever mix of public and private actors we want to include in the mix.
    So let’s just freaking do it. Get’er done.
    Agreed.
    And healthcare is, I think, the single most salient issue for a majority of US voters ?

  229. And healthcare is, I think, the single most salient issue for a majority of US voters ?
    if “majority of US voters” meant “majority of US elected representatives”, we’d be getting somewhere.

  230. And healthcare is, I think, the single most salient issue for a majority of US voters ?
    if “majority of US voters” meant “majority of US elected representatives”, we’d be getting somewhere.

  231. Ah. Since you said “Web”, I assumed that portability across the standard version of all major browsers running on at least x86 and ARM hardware was a requirement. A JavaScript engine (JSE) is pretty much the lowest-level general computing thing that meets that. Yes, the JSE directly “executes” code that looks C-ish. asm.js provides a set of functions, each of which invokes one of the operations supported by a standards-conforming JSE. You can write programs using those functions directly, which is about as much fun as writing in an unstructured assembly language. Or you can compile from some higher-level language.
    The video I linked shows an actual working implementation where someone wrote a back-end for gcc that emitted asm.js code, then compiled the CPython interpreter with it. The resulting (large) pile of JavaScript ran correctly, within the limits of the JSE (no local file system access, no general networking, etc).

  232. Ah. Since you said “Web”, I assumed that portability across the standard version of all major browsers running on at least x86 and ARM hardware was a requirement. A JavaScript engine (JSE) is pretty much the lowest-level general computing thing that meets that. Yes, the JSE directly “executes” code that looks C-ish. asm.js provides a set of functions, each of which invokes one of the operations supported by a standards-conforming JSE. You can write programs using those functions directly, which is about as much fun as writing in an unstructured assembly language. Or you can compile from some higher-level language.
    The video I linked shows an actual working implementation where someone wrote a back-end for gcc that emitted asm.js code, then compiled the CPython interpreter with it. The resulting (large) pile of JavaScript ran correctly, within the limits of the JSE (no local file system access, no general networking, etc).

  233. the world would be a better place if all software engineers, and their managers, read Joel On Software as a daily practice.
    The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”
    one saw
    mudge: startup: init_user_settings: ERROR: get_init_values_from_json_file( “/home/jrandomuser/.mudge.json” ) failed: no such file or directory.

  234. the world would be a better place if all software engineers, and their managers, read Joel On Software as a daily practice.
    The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”
    one saw
    mudge: startup: init_user_settings: ERROR: get_init_values_from_json_file( “/home/jrandomuser/.mudge.json” ) failed: no such file or directory.

  235. I’ve recently started using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017. When I close it down, it gives me the following error message, every time:
    “Something bad happened”
    Which makes me laugh, out loud, every time it happened. So, to some prankster wise-ass at MS, I say, thank you.
    What colleges seem to be teaching the kids these days is a bewildering pile of patterns and best practices and architectural models and what-all.
    What I would love to meet, and who I would hire on the spot were I a hiring manager, would be some young graduate who approached problems by asking:
    “What is you are trying to do?”
    “Why is it good to do that?”
    And then go from there.

  236. I’ve recently started using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017. When I close it down, it gives me the following error message, every time:
    “Something bad happened”
    Which makes me laugh, out loud, every time it happened. So, to some prankster wise-ass at MS, I say, thank you.
    What colleges seem to be teaching the kids these days is a bewildering pile of patterns and best practices and architectural models and what-all.
    What I would love to meet, and who I would hire on the spot were I a hiring manager, would be some young graduate who approached problems by asking:
    “What is you are trying to do?”
    “Why is it good to do that?”
    And then go from there.

  237. the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation”
    if only.
    the single integer error code which maps to a localized message string – a string which may or may not take parameters (but of course the parameters are never passed back! so don’t try using that string!) – rules my world.

  238. the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation”
    if only.
    the single integer error code which maps to a localized message string – a string which may or may not take parameters (but of course the parameters are never passed back! so don’t try using that string!) – rules my world.

  239. The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”
    Radical, new-fangled idea. It’ll never catch on.

  240. The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”
    Radical, new-fangled idea. It’ll never catch on.

  241. I’m working with a system now that signals successful Web service calls by returning the text “Okay” in the return message body. Some services return the full string, some the abbreviation “OK”.
    The way you tell which one to expect is by finding the source and running it down in there.
    See also, kinda-sorta looking for a new job.

  242. I’m working with a system now that signals successful Web service calls by returning the text “Okay” in the return message body. Some services return the full string, some the abbreviation “OK”.
    The way you tell which one to expect is by finding the source and running it down in there.
    See also, kinda-sorta looking for a new job.

  243. It seems like the least asked question, inside or outside IT, is “What are we actually trying to accomplish here?”
    It might well be necessary, for technical financial or political reasons, to compromise from the obvious answer to that. But at least it avoids starting from an imperfect answer with a whole bunch of (often erroneous) assumptions baked in.
    Also, if answered honestly, it gives insight into what people really care about. Instead of just seeing what is the cultural marker de jour.

  244. It seems like the least asked question, inside or outside IT, is “What are we actually trying to accomplish here?”
    It might well be necessary, for technical financial or political reasons, to compromise from the obvious answer to that. But at least it avoids starting from an imperfect answer with a whole bunch of (often erroneous) assumptions baked in.
    Also, if answered honestly, it gives insight into what people really care about. Instead of just seeing what is the cultural marker de jour.

  245. Re error messages… When the Mac first came out and people were singing its praises, I used to ask, “Why is a caricature of a bomb any better than a Blue Screen of Death?” Especially given that both of them were inferior to Unix’s “Bus error, core dumped” but the machine kept running.
    I lost bets because I thought both Apple and MS would be forced to make the (painful) jump to virtual memory and ring protection sooner than they did.

  246. Re error messages… When the Mac first came out and people were singing its praises, I used to ask, “Why is a caricature of a bomb any better than a Blue Screen of Death?” Especially given that both of them were inferior to Unix’s “Bus error, core dumped” but the machine kept running.
    I lost bets because I thought both Apple and MS would be forced to make the (painful) jump to virtual memory and ring protection sooner than they did.

  247. It seems like the least asked question, inside or outside IT, is “What are we actually trying to accomplish here?”
    Amen.
    I would scrap half the school curriculum to teach the kind of mindfulness that would help “us” know how to ask and answer this question, along with the self-awareness and communication skills needed along the way.
    Not gonna happen, of course. It’s not really how we’re wired, and it wouldn’t serve the powers that be or wish to be…….

  248. It seems like the least asked question, inside or outside IT, is “What are we actually trying to accomplish here?”
    Amen.
    I would scrap half the school curriculum to teach the kind of mindfulness that would help “us” know how to ask and answer this question, along with the self-awareness and communication skills needed along the way.
    Not gonna happen, of course. It’s not really how we’re wired, and it wouldn’t serve the powers that be or wish to be…….

  251. The first computer I did any programming on was an IBM System/360 Model 20 at a junior college. The RPG compiler was punched into about 2,300 cards. I once replaced some of the compiler error messages with snarky ones to mess with new students.

  252. The first computer I did any programming on was an IBM System/360 Model 20 at a junior college. The RPG compiler was punched into about 2,300 cards. I once replaced some of the compiler error messages with snarky ones to mess with new students.

  253. Did ya know Hillary Clinton was p’s ghostwriter as recently as 2013:
    https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/blast-from-past-trumps-globalist-agenda.html
    Civil War #2 needs to have some serious exponential increase in fatalities than the first lame one.
    Caption to the accompanying photo:
    “Either that’s the ball I drove off the tee that one of you Scotsmen in skirts should kick for me to a better lie/lie, or grab that pussy, boys!”
    Fuck all republicans and conservatives.
    Get the fuck outta my country.

  254. Did ya know Hillary Clinton was p’s ghostwriter as recently as 2013:
    https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/blast-from-past-trumps-globalist-agenda.html
    Civil War #2 needs to have some serious exponential increase in fatalities than the first lame one.
    Caption to the accompanying photo:
    “Either that’s the ball I drove off the tee that one of you Scotsmen in skirts should kick for me to a better lie/lie, or grab that pussy, boys!”
    Fuck all republicans and conservatives.
    Get the fuck outta my country.

  257. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/video-of-acosta-incident-posted-by-white-house-press-secretary-contains-extra-frames-2018-11-08?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
    This also caught my eye:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/evacuated-after-health-attacks-cuba-china-diplomats-face-new-ordeals-n920241
    In particular, this development:
    “Equally unsettling to the diplomatic evacuees: suspected incidents of harassment and break-ins they say have occurred since returning to the States. Four U.S. officials tell NBC that the FBI has investigated”
    Odd, ain’t it, that American diplomats to Cuba and China, doing their jobs, some having to do with trade with the enemies of the current, diabolical, evil, vermin, anti-American, republican, conservative, Bolton-esque, Putin-loving, gummint-hating filth now in power in our formerly American White House and Congress, have undergone this ordeal.
    Who the FUCK are these people?
    And WHY do we allow them to run this country?

  258. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/video-of-acosta-incident-posted-by-white-house-press-secretary-contains-extra-frames-2018-11-08?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts
    This also caught my eye:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/evacuated-after-health-attacks-cuba-china-diplomats-face-new-ordeals-n920241
    In particular, this development:
    “Equally unsettling to the diplomatic evacuees: suspected incidents of harassment and break-ins they say have occurred since returning to the States. Four U.S. officials tell NBC that the FBI has investigated”
    Odd, ain’t it, that American diplomats to Cuba and China, doing their jobs, some having to do with trade with the enemies of the current, diabolical, evil, vermin, anti-American, republican, conservative, Bolton-esque, Putin-loving, gummint-hating filth now in power in our formerly American White House and Congress, have undergone this ordeal.
    Who the FUCK are these people?
    And WHY do we allow them to run this country?

  259. Who is Sam Clovis?
    How does a fucking, stinking, subhuman, right wing talk show cocksucker from Iowa, and so many of his Russia-compromised filth get themselves installed in p’s foreign policy inner circle early on in the campaign and after the election?

  260. Who is Sam Clovis?
    How does a fucking, stinking, subhuman, right wing talk show cocksucker from Iowa, and so many of his Russia-compromised filth get themselves installed in p’s foreign policy inner circle early on in the campaign and after the election?

  263. I regularly observe people with solutions they prefer (for whatever reasons) seeking problems to which they can apply those solutions. What that means is that they tend not to prioritize problems very well, imagine problems that don’t actually exist, and at best only manage to partially solve actual problems that may or may not be worth solving in the first place.
    This usually comes with a preference for hypothetical theorizing about what could happen in endeavors that have been undertaken for decades without considering the mountains of empirical information that have accumulated over time. The question “Does that ever happen?” is met with a restatement of the hypothetical .

  264. I regularly observe people with solutions they prefer (for whatever reasons) seeking problems to which they can apply those solutions. What that means is that they tend not to prioritize problems very well, imagine problems that don’t actually exist, and at best only manage to partially solve actual problems that may or may not be worth solving in the first place.
    This usually comes with a preference for hypothetical theorizing about what could happen in endeavors that have been undertaken for decades without considering the mountains of empirical information that have accumulated over time. The question “Does that ever happen?” is met with a restatement of the hypothetical .

  265. ‘The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”‘
    Windows for toilets. Should be fun:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-future-of-toilets-according-to-bill-gates/vi-BBPwd5l
    You have made a fatal sanitation error!
    Shut down your toilet before further damage is done. Please hobble to your desk with your pants down around you ankles and locate your PIN and security code.
    If Steve Jobs designed toilets, they would be sleek and stylish with beveled edges, but every time you barely touched them the wrong way, you’d get very wet.
    The other day I got $20 dollar bills out of the ATM, went to the car wash and had to re-insert THEM into another wall-mounted machine to get the quarters, but that machine was out of change.
    The security camera tapes show me using harsh language against an inanimate object. Like Basil Fawlty thrashing his stalled automobile with a tree branch he tore off a nearby tree.
    So convenient.

  266. ‘The world would be a better place if colleges taught “check for every returned error condition, and if one occurs, the error message must give all information available to the program about the situation” so that instead of instead of
    “Error abort”‘
    Windows for toilets. Should be fun:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-future-of-toilets-according-to-bill-gates/vi-BBPwd5l
    You have made a fatal sanitation error!
    Shut down your toilet before further damage is done. Please hobble to your desk with your pants down around you ankles and locate your PIN and security code.
    If Steve Jobs designed toilets, they would be sleek and stylish with beveled edges, but every time you barely touched them the wrong way, you’d get very wet.
    The other day I got $20 dollar bills out of the ATM, went to the car wash and had to re-insert THEM into another wall-mounted machine to get the quarters, but that machine was out of change.
    The security camera tapes show me using harsh language against an inanimate object. Like Basil Fawlty thrashing his stalled automobile with a tree branch he tore off a nearby tree.
    So convenient.

  269. How does a . . . right wing talk show [host] from Iowa, and so many of his Russia-compromised filth get themselves installed in p’s foreign policy inner circle early on in the campaign and after the election?
    Obvious answer: normal foreign policy experts didn’t want to have anything to do with him. And his daft ideas about the world. Most still don’t.

  270. How does a . . . right wing talk show [host] from Iowa, and so many of his Russia-compromised filth get themselves installed in p’s foreign policy inner circle early on in the campaign and after the election?
    Obvious answer: normal foreign policy experts didn’t want to have anything to do with him. And his daft ideas about the world. Most still don’t.

  271. Windows for toilets. Should be fun
    I just so totally misinterpreted this initially. Sat here puzzling over where the window would go. Duh!

  272. Windows for toilets. Should be fun
    I just so totally misinterpreted this initially. Sat here puzzling over where the window would go. Duh!

  273. Kudlow mouthpiece and shill Jim Cramer, whose mouth the world could use a lengthy respite from, sez this:
    https://finance.yahoo.com/m/1bf0e618-0e5a-3264-8608-f24968d25999/cnbc%E2%80%99s-jim-cramer-says-stock.html
    ….. about one hour after sezzing to start buying, a statement that I guess got taken down, for the time being, and will be put back up if the market bounces.
    That way, he can claim credit for whatever happens.
    Two sides of every mouth and then his ass will chime in.
    Also expect him to shill for p’s and kudlow’s total destruction of the Federal Reserve as yet another institution goes down in republican arsonist flames, like the Supreme Court and everything fucking thing they touch.
    There will be blood.

  274. Kudlow mouthpiece and shill Jim Cramer, whose mouth the world could use a lengthy respite from, sez this:
    https://finance.yahoo.com/m/1bf0e618-0e5a-3264-8608-f24968d25999/cnbc%E2%80%99s-jim-cramer-says-stock.html
    ….. about one hour after sezzing to start buying, a statement that I guess got taken down, for the time being, and will be put back up if the market bounces.
    That way, he can claim credit for whatever happens.
    Two sides of every mouth and then his ass will chime in.
    Also expect him to shill for p’s and kudlow’s total destruction of the Federal Reserve as yet another institution goes down in republican arsonist flames, like the Supreme Court and everything fucking thing they touch.
    There will be blood.

  279. The man who wrote the special counsel regulations is not happy at all with Whitaker’s appointment…
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/12/rules-are-clear-whitaker-cant-supervise-muellers-investigation/
    …Our founders recognized that “men were not angels” and that checks and balances in government were critical to avoid threats to the rule of law. The Whitaker installation does violence to our most basic principles — enshrined in the Constitution, laws enacted by Congress, the ethics rules that govern our prosecutors and the special counsel regulations themselves.
    It is lawless and unprincipled.
    It must be stopped.

  280. The man who wrote the special counsel regulations is not happy at all with Whitaker’s appointment…
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/11/12/rules-are-clear-whitaker-cant-supervise-muellers-investigation/
    …Our founders recognized that “men were not angels” and that checks and balances in government were critical to avoid threats to the rule of law. The Whitaker installation does violence to our most basic principles — enshrined in the Constitution, laws enacted by Congress, the ethics rules that govern our prosecutors and the special counsel regulations themselves.
    It is lawless and unprincipled.
    It must be stopped.

  281. This probably belongs on the Tuesday thread, but Sinema is in as AZ Senator.
    FL is in recount, MS is going to a run-off.
    So maybe not such a big (R) majority when all is said and done.

  282. This probably belongs on the Tuesday thread, but Sinema is in as AZ Senator.
    FL is in recount, MS is going to a run-off.
    So maybe not such a big (R) majority when all is said and done.

  283. MS is going to a run-off.
    And the gal who is the Republican in that runoff had the execrable taste to say (of one of her supporters) “If he invited me to a hanging, I’d be in the front row.” It the state that led the nation in lynchings during the Jim Crow era. With a black man as her opponent.
    I will still be surprised if she loses. But after that gaffe, I won’t be amazed. Talk about motivating your opponents.

  284. MS is going to a run-off.
    And the gal who is the Republican in that runoff had the execrable taste to say (of one of her supporters) “If he invited me to a hanging, I’d be in the front row.” It the state that led the nation in lynchings during the Jim Crow era. With a black man as her opponent.
    I will still be surprised if she loses. But after that gaffe, I won’t be amazed. Talk about motivating your opponents.

  285. The votes were already in before the gaffe, weren’t they?
    Gaffe? By the “gal”?
    an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder.
    “an unforgivable social gaffe”
    synonyms: blunder, mistake, error, slip, faux pas, indiscretion, impropriety, miscalculation, gaucherie, solecism;
    No, it’s what the KKK and slave owners said before lynching black human beings.
    Annie Oakley was a gal. This woman is a racist, cracker c*nt.
    If her opponent was Jewish, she would have mentioned attending a Jew-burning to toast her marshmallows.
    The woman should have Antifa, restaurant patrons, cake decorators, and the hounds of bloody Hell in her face everywhere she goes for the rest of her life.
    This shit will stop in America or there will be savage blood.
    We’re not doing this anymore. MLK said the good words, but this will be stopped forever, everywhere by means he would not approve of.
    Fuck you, republicans and conservatives.
    Fuck you.

  286. The votes were already in before the gaffe, weren’t they?
    Gaffe? By the “gal”?
    an unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator; a blunder.
    “an unforgivable social gaffe”
    synonyms: blunder, mistake, error, slip, faux pas, indiscretion, impropriety, miscalculation, gaucherie, solecism;
    No, it’s what the KKK and slave owners said before lynching black human beings.
    Annie Oakley was a gal. This woman is a racist, cracker c*nt.
    If her opponent was Jewish, she would have mentioned attending a Jew-burning to toast her marshmallows.
    The woman should have Antifa, restaurant patrons, cake decorators, and the hounds of bloody Hell in her face everywhere she goes for the rest of her life.
    This shit will stop in America or there will be savage blood.
    We’re not doing this anymore. MLK said the good words, but this will be stopped forever, everywhere by means he would not approve of.
    Fuck you, republicans and conservatives.
    Fuck you.

  291. “I fully anticipate in the next few days I will be indicted by Mueller for some form or other of giving false information to the special counsel,” Corsi said.
    If Corsi goes down, I will wear a tiny purple heart in honor of the occasion.

  292. “I fully anticipate in the next few days I will be indicted by Mueller for some form or other of giving false information to the special counsel,” Corsi said.
    If Corsi goes down, I will wear a tiny purple heart in honor of the occasion.

  293. I was in Phoenix just before the election, and I was sure that Sinema would not win. The vile ads against her in a republican state seemed likely to do the job.
    The anti-McSally ads were not equally awful, mostly just poking at her votes to end Obama-Care.
    My theory is that there are a lot more cord cutters than we credit. Lots of people probably still have cable but are effectively cutters, since ad-free Netflix and on demand streaming beats anything that carries ads.
    Or maybe Republican men just wont show up to vote for a woman.

  294. I was in Phoenix just before the election, and I was sure that Sinema would not win. The vile ads against her in a republican state seemed likely to do the job.
    The anti-McSally ads were not equally awful, mostly just poking at her votes to end Obama-Care.
    My theory is that there are a lot more cord cutters than we credit. Lots of people probably still have cable but are effectively cutters, since ad-free Netflix and on demand streaming beats anything that carries ads.
    Or maybe Republican men just wont show up to vote for a woman.

  307. RE: Baraboo – High school in WI was a constant stream of hazing and edgelord behavior even 30 years ago. I also remember the bigotry baked into the culture, which is mostly the weird sort that you get when the local demographics are 98% white and Christian (figuring that the local tribe members not living on reservations are passing). I heard generations worth of Black, Mexican, and Jew jokes told (mostly) openly and homophobic slurs were the insult of choice. The latter may have changed some, but FB shows me that the rest is still in place, helped along by resentment of That PC Bullshit ™.
    If any of them ever make it out of Baraboo and into a more diverse community, it’s likely that their bullshit behavior will wither away. But the local attitudes will persist like noxious weeds and vote in the same spirit. And any minorities that live in the area will be hazed until they accept the bullshit and go along to get along.
    But none of them are racist. Just ask them. It’s all just for shits and grins and there isn’t anything personal in it. They are just flipping the bird to all the normies.

  308. RE: Baraboo – High school in WI was a constant stream of hazing and edgelord behavior even 30 years ago. I also remember the bigotry baked into the culture, which is mostly the weird sort that you get when the local demographics are 98% white and Christian (figuring that the local tribe members not living on reservations are passing). I heard generations worth of Black, Mexican, and Jew jokes told (mostly) openly and homophobic slurs were the insult of choice. The latter may have changed some, but FB shows me that the rest is still in place, helped along by resentment of That PC Bullshit ™.
    If any of them ever make it out of Baraboo and into a more diverse community, it’s likely that their bullshit behavior will wither away. But the local attitudes will persist like noxious weeds and vote in the same spirit. And any minorities that live in the area will be hazed until they accept the bullshit and go along to get along.
    But none of them are racist. Just ask them. It’s all just for shits and grins and there isn’t anything personal in it. They are just flipping the bird to all the normies.

  313. Michelle Obama forced a multiracial group of unarmed children to slave away in her vegetable garden and eat their peas, mustard greens, and kohlrabi before dessert.
    How soon we forget.

  314. Michelle Obama forced a multiracial group of unarmed children to slave away in her vegetable garden and eat their peas, mustard greens, and kohlrabi before dessert.
    How soon we forget.

  315. Meanwhile, “Today, we gathered for Diwali, a holiday observed by Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains throughout the United States & around the world.”
    Did no one tell the ignoramus that Diwali is a Hindu festival?

  316. Meanwhile, “Today, we gathered for Diwali, a holiday observed by Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains throughout the United States & around the world.”
    Did no one tell the ignoramus that Diwali is a Hindu festival?

  317. Did no one tell the ignoramus that Diwali is a Hindu festival?
    At a guess, several people, several times. Although I suppose those who normally would may have just given up by now.

  318. Did no one tell the ignoramus that Diwali is a Hindu festival?
    At a guess, several people, several times. Although I suppose those who normally would may have just given up by now.

  323. I’m not sure if I came up with the same idea on my own while walking my dog (seriously), or if someone here mentioned it in the past, and I simply recalled it without realizing its provenance. Either way, link and excerpt:
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/11/12/the-problem-with-our-democracy-isnt-gerrymandering-its-integers/#2cd52f1f899c

    The solution: elect TWO representatives from each Congressional district, and award them each a fractional vote in Congress. Each of the top two vote-getters would have a Congressional vote that is proportional to the number of voters who supported them. Thus if a district elects a Democrat (D) with 55% of the vote, and the losing Republican (R) gets 45%, both of them go to Congress, and D gets 0.55 votes while R gets 0.45 votes.

    All my best ideas (not a high bar, mind you) come to me while walking my dog, taking a shower, or driving.

  324. I’m not sure if I came up with the same idea on my own while walking my dog (seriously), or if someone here mentioned it in the past, and I simply recalled it without realizing its provenance. Either way, link and excerpt:
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2018/11/12/the-problem-with-our-democracy-isnt-gerrymandering-its-integers/#2cd52f1f899c

    The solution: elect TWO representatives from each Congressional district, and award them each a fractional vote in Congress. Each of the top two vote-getters would have a Congressional vote that is proportional to the number of voters who supported them. Thus if a district elects a Democrat (D) with 55% of the vote, and the losing Republican (R) gets 45%, both of them go to Congress, and D gets 0.55 votes while R gets 0.45 votes.

    All my best ideas (not a high bar, mind you) come to me while walking my dog, taking a shower, or driving.

  327. No, but your dog has all of HIS best ideas as well when you are walking him, and the first one is “walkerless dogs…. hmmm”, followed by “when do I get to drive, woof?”

  328. No, but your dog has all of HIS best ideas as well when you are walking him, and the first one is “walkerless dogs…. hmmm”, followed by “when do I get to drive, woof?”

  337. i really love the fractional representation idea.
    plus, every time a House member gets quoted, they’ll have to include his/her voting weight along with party affiliation.
    “I really love this new fractional representation idea,” said representative Cleek O’Monkeyshines (D – NC – 0.518)

  338. i really love the fractional representation idea.
    plus, every time a House member gets quoted, they’ll have to include his/her voting weight along with party affiliation.
    “I really love this new fractional representation idea,” said representative Cleek O’Monkeyshines (D – NC – 0.518)

  339. “The problem with our democracy isn’t gerrymandering, it’s integers”
    Not to worry, the GOP is working hard to base our “democracy” on imaginary numbers.

  340. “The problem with our democracy isn’t gerrymandering, it’s integers”
    Not to worry, the GOP is working hard to base our “democracy” on imaginary numbers.

  341. Not to worry, the GOP is working hard to base our “democracy” on imaginary numbers.
    And the Democratic Party is working hard for irrational numbers. 🙂

  342. Not to worry, the GOP is working hard to base our “democracy” on imaginary numbers.
    And the Democratic Party is working hard for irrational numbers. 🙂

  343. I need to extend my pronoun neutrality to other species as well.
    I can’t even guess how many people tell me that. It’s a common problem these days. Everyone’s talking about it.

    And the Democratic Party is working hard for irrational numbers. 🙂
    This is getting too complex for me.

  344. I need to extend my pronoun neutrality to other species as well.
    I can’t even guess how many people tell me that. It’s a common problem these days. Everyone’s talking about it.

    And the Democratic Party is working hard for irrational numbers. 🙂
    This is getting too complex for me.

  345. “This is getting too complex for me.”
    I hear that Transcendental meditation can give calm, in that case.

  346. “This is getting too complex for me.”
    I hear that Transcendental meditation can give calm, in that case.

  351. Especially when discussing American politics today, this is telling:
    “Nimbers have the characteristic that . . . they are their own negatives”

  352. Especially when discussing American politics today, this is telling:
    “Nimbers have the characteristic that . . . they are their own negatives”

  367. Just to be clear, exceptional America has many more holes in which to be f*cked by the conservative/p movement than England does.
    We will neither be out-holed nor our holes out-f*cked.
    America under conservative/p misan-every-hole-thropy has surged ahead and closed the hole gap with Mexico, Canada, and China and we shall do the same with so-called Europe and England.
    We will excise tariffs on your holes, but we fully expect you to accept our far superior and f*cked holes without limit.
    Only conservative Russia will be co-equal with America in their arsenal of holes, as we seek the mutually assured f8ckability of our superior conservative/p holes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Rn_tUs5oU
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK0R272RjXI

  368. Just to be clear, exceptional America has many more holes in which to be f*cked by the conservative/p movement than England does.
    We will neither be out-holed nor our holes out-f*cked.
    America under conservative/p misan-every-hole-thropy has surged ahead and closed the hole gap with Mexico, Canada, and China and we shall do the same with so-called Europe and England.
    We will excise tariffs on your holes, but we fully expect you to accept our far superior and f*cked holes without limit.
    Only conservative Russia will be co-equal with America in their arsenal of holes, as we seek the mutually assured f8ckability of our superior conservative/p holes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Rn_tUs5oU
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK0R272RjXI

  369. Just back from a week in Malta, a republic where about 96% of voting age people actually go to vote and hospitals offer free rides to the polling places (and back) for patients.
    In-person-voting only.
    On the other hand they have the strictest anti-abortion law with not even an exception for the life of the mother.

  370. Just back from a week in Malta, a republic where about 96% of voting age people actually go to vote and hospitals offer free rides to the polling places (and back) for patients.
    In-person-voting only.
    On the other hand they have the strictest anti-abortion law with not even an exception for the life of the mother.

  373. Well (not!), that’s rather common in a lot of places these days, and it’s only a matter of time before this new fad reaches the US too. It’s not as if there were no guys with big megaphones calling for it or at least openly admiring places where it already is commonplace.
    [/cynic]

  374. Well (not!), that’s rather common in a lot of places these days, and it’s only a matter of time before this new fad reaches the US too. It’s not as if there were no guys with big megaphones calling for it or at least openly admiring places where it already is commonplace.
    [/cynic]

  375. The British PM, demonstrating that Trump isn’t the only one living in an alternate reality:

    a good Brexit, a Brexit which is in the national interest is possible. We have persevered and have made a decisive breakthrough.

    Or maybe she just thinks denial is all that will allow her to hold power (presumably for its own sake) a few months longer. Who cares that her party will pay the price after?
    It does occur to me to wonder what the impact in the UK will be if, as seems entirely possible, Mueller’s investigation finds in passing that the Russians intervened massively in the Brexit campaign as well.

  376. The British PM, demonstrating that Trump isn’t the only one living in an alternate reality:

    a good Brexit, a Brexit which is in the national interest is possible. We have persevered and have made a decisive breakthrough.

    Or maybe she just thinks denial is all that will allow her to hold power (presumably for its own sake) a few months longer. Who cares that her party will pay the price after?
    It does occur to me to wonder what the impact in the UK will be if, as seems entirely possible, Mueller’s investigation finds in passing that the Russians intervened massively in the Brexit campaign as well.

  377. Not one usually to predict things, I expect Mueller to release a report over the weekend providing little,not none, evidence of Trump collusion and a no finding of interfering with the investigation. He will be critical of the Comey firing but it wont rise to criminal level.
    Tons of other named people, facts and conclusions will keep Congress busy until 2020.
    Trump will not recognize it as the gift it is and will bluster forever about the underlying facts, then claim vindication in the same breath.
    He will resign. Not predicting when.

  378. Not one usually to predict things, I expect Mueller to release a report over the weekend providing little,not none, evidence of Trump collusion and a no finding of interfering with the investigation. He will be critical of the Comey firing but it wont rise to criminal level.
    Tons of other named people, facts and conclusions will keep Congress busy until 2020.
    Trump will not recognize it as the gift it is and will bluster forever about the underlying facts, then claim vindication in the same breath.
    He will resign. Not predicting when.

  379. He will resign. Not predicting when.
    Marty, assuming you mean Trump and not Mueller? And if so, why do you think he will resign?

  380. He will resign. Not predicting when.
    Marty, assuming you mean Trump and not Mueller? And if so, why do you think he will resign?

  381. Defense Secretary Mattis was visiting the troops deployed along the border yesterday. He, perhaps incautiously, asked: “Let’s have at it, young soldiers, What’s on your mind?” One response:

    “Sir, I have a question. The wire obstacles that we’ve implanted along the border… Are we going to be taking those out when we leave?”

    In short, even (especially) the guys doing the work can see that it’s of no practical use.

  382. Defense Secretary Mattis was visiting the troops deployed along the border yesterday. He, perhaps incautiously, asked: “Let’s have at it, young soldiers, What’s on your mind?” One response:

    “Sir, I have a question. The wire obstacles that we’ve implanted along the border… Are we going to be taking those out when we leave?”

    In short, even (especially) the guys doing the work can see that it’s of no practical use.

  383. i don’t think Trump is smart enough to have known how to collude nor is he disciplined enough to have been able to keep from bragging about it this long if he, personally, did. the rest of his team, though…

  384. i don’t think Trump is smart enough to have known how to collude nor is he disciplined enough to have been able to keep from bragging about it this long if he, personally, did. the rest of his team, though…

  387. One big reason to doubt that Trump will resign (i.e leave office an instant sooner than he has to): while the DoJ holds that sitting Presidents may not be indicted, that immunity does not apply to ex-Presidents.

  388. One big reason to doubt that Trump will resign (i.e leave office an instant sooner than he has to): while the DoJ holds that sitting Presidents may not be indicted, that immunity does not apply to ex-Presidents.

  389. “A walk thru the woods is free.
    As is a walk on the beach.”
    Showing your west-coast centrism, wj.
    In Joisey, you have to buy a “beach tag”. I think that’s because the Mob owns the Atlantic.

  390. “A walk thru the woods is free.
    As is a walk on the beach.”
    Showing your west-coast centrism, wj.
    In Joisey, you have to buy a “beach tag”. I think that’s because the Mob owns the Atlantic.

  393. “A walk thru the woods is free.
    As is a walk on the beach.”
    Showing your west-coast centrism, wj.
    In Joisey, you have to buy a “beach tag”.
    And this is better that Eastern centrism how?
    Because from the Mississippi nearly to the West Coast, the nearest woods are beyond the horizon.

  394. “A walk thru the woods is free.
    As is a walk on the beach.”
    Showing your west-coast centrism, wj.
    In Joisey, you have to buy a “beach tag”.
    And this is better that Eastern centrism how?
    Because from the Mississippi nearly to the West Coast, the nearest woods are beyond the horizon.

  395. Marty recently told me that he’s psychic, so I’m not surprised at his venturing a prediction. But I am surprised at its specificity. “Over the weekend”??
    Is there some Putin-Wikileaks-RWNJ meme floating around? I ask because I think Marty was kidding about being psychic.
    –TP

  396. Marty recently told me that he’s psychic, so I’m not surprised at his venturing a prediction. But I am surprised at its specificity. “Over the weekend”??
    Is there some Putin-Wikileaks-RWNJ meme floating around? I ask because I think Marty was kidding about being psychic.
    –TP

  399. I wonder where Marty heard Meuller will be issuing any kind of report this weekend?
    I’m guessing that Marty just took note of the increasingly frantic efforts by Trump to trash Mueller. Since Whittaker took over and provided him a window into what Mueller was doing in detail. It’s hardly a reach to figure that a final report, and unveiling of previously sealed indictments, might be in the offing.
    Personally, I would guess that Mueller has a couple more months of work in train. But I wouldn’t be shocked to see a report sooner.

  400. I wonder where Marty heard Meuller will be issuing any kind of report this weekend?
    I’m guessing that Marty just took note of the increasingly frantic efforts by Trump to trash Mueller. Since Whittaker took over and provided him a window into what Mueller was doing in detail. It’s hardly a reach to figure that a final report, and unveiling of previously sealed indictments, might be in the offing.
    Personally, I would guess that Mueller has a couple more months of work in train. But I wouldn’t be shocked to see a report sooner.

  401. The British PM, demonstrating that Trump isn’t the only one living in an alternate reality…
    An interesting one.
    Actually, the deal she has come back with is a quite good one (if one accepts that Brexit is inevitable). ie it’s crap, but far less crap than the alternatives… and better than I expected.
    The alternate reality she is living in is believing that the headbangers on the Tory benches will allow her to get it through the House of Commons.

  402. The British PM, demonstrating that Trump isn’t the only one living in an alternate reality…
    An interesting one.
    Actually, the deal she has come back with is a quite good one (if one accepts that Brexit is inevitable). ie it’s crap, but far less crap than the alternatives… and better than I expected.
    The alternate reality she is living in is believing that the headbangers on the Tory benches will allow her to get it through the House of Commons.

  403. The deal on offer may be the best possible Brexit, but it’s strictly inferior to staying in the EU.
    What the headbangers want is a Brexit which, under some set of priorities is better than being in the EU. Logically they’re right.

  404. The deal on offer may be the best possible Brexit, but it’s strictly inferior to staying in the EU.
    What the headbangers want is a Brexit which, under some set of priorities is better than being in the EU. Logically they’re right.

  407. The deal on offer may be the best possible Brexit, but it’s strictly inferior to staying in the EU.
    No kidding.
    What the headbangers want is the sheerest fantasy. Logic does not come into it.

  408. The deal on offer may be the best possible Brexit, but it’s strictly inferior to staying in the EU.
    No kidding.
    What the headbangers want is the sheerest fantasy. Logic does not come into it.

  413. Best outcome for the UK is to forceably relocate the “Leavers” to Rockall, where they won’t have to deal with immigrants, EU rules, or any of that stuff.
    Start with the UKIP leadership.

  414. Best outcome for the UK is to forceably relocate the “Leavers” to Rockall, where they won’t have to deal with immigrants, EU rules, or any of that stuff.
    Start with the UKIP leadership.

  415. Excellent idea, Snarki. And for anybody who has ever heard the Shipping Forecast on BBC radio (and for anybody who hasn’t, it is hypnotically worth listening to), the closing lines of the following poem by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy (written before the powers that be regrettably changed sea area Finisterre to Fitzroy) will resonate powerfully:
    Prayer
    Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
    utters itself. So, a woman will lift
    her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
    at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
    Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
    enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
    then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
    in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
    Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
    console the lodger looking out across
    a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
    a child’s name as though they named their loss.
    Darkness outside. Inside, the radio’s prayer –
    Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

  416. Excellent idea, Snarki. And for anybody who has ever heard the Shipping Forecast on BBC radio (and for anybody who hasn’t, it is hypnotically worth listening to), the closing lines of the following poem by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy (written before the powers that be regrettably changed sea area Finisterre to Fitzroy) will resonate powerfully:
    Prayer
    Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
    utters itself. So, a woman will lift
    her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
    at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
    Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
    enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
    then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
    in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
    Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
    console the lodger looking out across
    a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
    a child’s name as though they named their loss.
    Darkness outside. Inside, the radio’s prayer –
    Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

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