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Monday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 10:19:18 AM EST
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I'm not having much fun with Pneumonia. Last week I spent five days in the hospital (Monday until Friday) getting fluids administered intravenously. The antibiotics were brutal. They did the job, I'm pneumonia free, but they wiped me out. I also didn't have a computer with me, so I couldn't blog (or work.)

I've got a lot of work to catch up on, so this will probably be a week of open threads. Hopefully, I'll get things back to normal in the next week or two.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Monday Open Thread | 200 comments (200 topical)
    Ouch! So glad you are OK. (5.00 / 9) (#1)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 10:53:34 AM EST


    Feel better J (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 10:57:49 AM EST
    personally I need comfort food.

    For lunch I am making chicken strips with white gravy and French fries.

    And vodka.

    I think I finally have the flu (none / 0) (#34)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 09:56:11 AM EST
    Not sure yet but it feels like it.  It's actually almost a relief.  Like the felon who gets caught and can finally relax.  I've tried so hard to avoid it.  It would almost be a relief to get it over with.

    I just went shopping for a wide assortment of soup and meds.  

    Bring it.

    Parent

    Hope it is not the flu... (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by KeysDan on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:10:56 AM EST
    maybe just a virus you caught from your computer.  All seriousness aside, be sure to keep hydrated (especially if vomiting/diarrhea), be a full-time couch potato, chicken soup always a blessing, and, maybe, someone to tuck you into bed. A good care giver is essential.

    Parent
    Maybe it's years of living alone (none / 0) (#38)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:18:05 AM EST
    But when I'm sick a "caregiver" is the last thing I want or need.  I don't want to see a living sole.   If necessary I can call my nephew the EMT

    Parent
    Goldens (5.00 / 1) (#81)
    by MKS on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 06:24:07 PM EST
    You have Goldens, I think?  Great companions.

    Parent
    I thought CaptHowdy had Siberian Huskies? (none / 0) (#137)
    by vml68 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:30:50 PM EST
    Capt, didn't you call them 'ghost dogs' because they were all white?

    Parent
    I have both (none / 0) (#147)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 12:55:30 AM EST
    :)

    Parent
    To be clear (none / 0) (#148)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 01:09:03 AM EST
    I have a golden and a white Siberian.  I used to have two white Siberian but sweet Daisy left us recently.

    Parent
    Oh, Howdy, be careful. This flu (none / 0) (#65)
    by caseyOR on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 02:14:31 PM EST
    means business.

    I echo everyone's advice. Fluids, rest, soup for some nutrition. Anne is right about Tamiflu. If you have the flu and get to the doctor in the first 48 hours the Tamiflu can significantly reduce your symptoms/suffering.

    Anne's advice to let someone know you are sick is also right on. I, too, have lived alone for many years and prefer to suffer alone, but it is a good idea to have someone checking in with you. Just in case. So, maybe give the EMT nephew a heads up.

    Hope this passes quickly.

    Parent

    I think it's to late for plan a (none / 0) (#67)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 03:14:52 PM EST
    But next of kin has been notified.  

    Thanks for the concern all. This is when it's good to have the local EMTs in your phone by name.

    Parent

    I have read (5.00 / 2) (#68)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 03:21:34 PM EST
    That if you got the flu shot it can make it less severe.  I'm hoping this is me.  It's been more than 48 hours since I first started feeling it and I'm not yet really really sick.

    Just feel like crap.  Fever body aches.

    I have a stockpile of soup and meds.  I will update.....

    Parent

    Those antibiotics will kick your butt (none / 0) (#94)
    by jondee on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:20:31 AM EST
    a doctor gave me the wrong one a few years ago that I took for a week and was sick for three months. Could've made a big stink about it, but I didn't.

    Get well soon. And think about trying some strong ginger root tea with honey and black pepper. I've gotten really good results with it.

    Parent

    I second the ginger tea with honey and black (none / 0) (#138)
    by vml68 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:36:21 PM EST
    pepper. And, if you want to skip the tea at night so you don't have to get up multiple times, make a paste of ginger, honey, pepper and turmeric and have that instead.
    Hope you feel better soon.

    Parent
    I (none / 0) (#39)
    by FlJoe on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:23:04 AM EST
    had my bout last week, it was pretty rough for about 48 hrs.

    Parent
    Go find out for sure and get (none / 0) (#52)
    by Anne on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:44:33 AM EST
    some Tamiflu - if taken early enough, it will help with the severity and duration.

    Meanwhile, let someone know your situation, just in case.  Even if you don't want anyone around, someone should be aware and give you a call to check in now and again.

    Fingers crossed it isn't the flu, but if it is, you  know what to do: lots of fluids (wouldn't hurt to get some Gatorade or even Pedialyte), broth for some nutrition, ibuprofen for body aches and fever.

    Keep us posted, please!

    Parent

    Sorry to hear this Howdy. (none / 0) (#60)
    by fishcamp on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:12:12 PM EST
    Don't forget that hot tea and Cointreau.  Not sure why it helps but they've been using it in Europe for a century or two.  Cointreau is strong at 86 proof.  It's not just a cordial.

    Yes KeysDan is correct; you need a caregiver.  Just getting through the morning bathroom events and a shower will leave you too exhausted to fix some food.  You've got family all over down there and even the ones that don't like you will help because you're family.  Just get well.  🌴

    Parent

    The best prescription for you, Jeralyn, ... (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 11:12:58 AM EST
    ... is plenty of rest. As you ease back into the swing of things, emphasis on the word "ease," don't overdo it. Listen closely to the messages from your body right now. If and when it tells you to slow down, heed its advice. Otherwise, you risk a relapse and setting yourself back even further.

    Good grief - that's terrible! (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by Anne on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 11:26:53 AM EST
    Glad you have managed to get rid of the pneumonia, but it sounds like it did not go without a fight.  These days, five days in the hospital is an eternity, not to mention that being there exposes your already-depressed immune system to all kinds of nasty stuff.

    I know you're probably tired of people telling you to take it easy, but I will add my voice to that chorus!

    Not only do we not bounce back as fast as we used to, but after some period of time feeling like death on a cracker, the temptation to jump back in with both feet as soon as you feel even a little like your old self is something you should resist, as much as you can.

    And if you can avoid being out too much in public until the worst of the flu and other respiratory viruses have passed, even better.

    Stock up on immune-boosting foods and what-not - Instant Pot is great for soups and such (I got one for Christmas and have been using it a lot - I love it).

    In the meantime, we pretty much know how to play nice around here, so as long as there are Open threads, we're happy!

    Feel better!

    The US Senate (5.00 / 3) (#11)
    by KeysDan on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 02:06:03 PM EST
    voted (81 to 18) to keep the government open for 18 days.  Much is being said about the Democrats capitulating, but it seems to be a reasonable decision given the circumstances.  The Democrats secured funding for CHIP for six years, received a public statement from McConnell that DACA will come to a vote, and they still have, or maybe, increased their leverage.  Of course, no one makes a decision on the basis of trust in McConnell, but back-tracking will play into and strengthen the leverage, and, the Democrats can vote accordingly, in 18 days.

    While there will be valid criticisms against Schumer and the Democrats for taking the deal (including from many respected Democratic Senators who voted against), the decision has been made, and divisiveness at this point is not our friend. And, I would expect, not only seriously upset Democrats to be filling the internet, but also, Russian trolls.

    I tend to agree (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by ruffian on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 02:14:53 PM EST
    The spin was not going the Dems way over the weekend. It's hard to spin out of the facts set that was in operation - they indeed would have been shutting down the government, affecting millions, to take a stand on DACA alone.

    They have another couple of weeks to make the argument that that is indeed the right thing to do, and will be helped by the obvious McConnell lying if he backtracks.

    Parent

    Yes, agreed. (5.00 / 2) (#14)
    by KeysDan on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 05:04:19 PM EST
    I did not always agree but the evidence of stupidity and self-promotion is overwhelming...qualifications for his gig at FOX.  He seems to have really gone off the rails after his partner, David Miranda, was interrogated for nine hours by British security at Heathrow, on connections with Ed Snowden.   While I continue to be sympathetic to Ed as whistleblower on illegal MSA bulk collection and reforms he triggered, he, too, has not lived up to my best hopes.

    I would give you a 5 (none / 0) (#16)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 05:14:03 PM EST
    But you missed the reply box because it was the bottom comment.  And it would separate the comments.   I do that sometimes.

    :)

    Parent

    Did Greenwald really think ... (none / 0) (#61)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:16:23 PM EST
    KeysDan: "[Glenn Greenwald] seems to have really gone off the rails after his partner, David Miranda, was interrogated for nine hours by British security at Heathrow, on connections with Ed Snowden."

    ... that he and Miranda would remain untouched and unscathed by the fallout from Edward Snowden's revelations? After all, it was his friggin' name on the story bylines in The Guardian. Any expectation by him that there would be no pushback from the powers-that-be on this matter is either naïve or stupid, or both.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    What (5.00 / 2) (#62)
    by FlJoe on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:34:29 PM EST
    kills me is that he appears to be standing up for Putin who would more than happy to give him and his partner a Polonium enema if circumstances were different.

    Parent
    Well the government, such as it is, (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 05:11:22 PM EST
    Is open once again.  And if you were not already desperate and despairing over the congressional democrats total inability to frame a debate you probably are now.   And rightly so.

    Look, I do not necessarily think the dems should have kept the gov shut down.  If for no other reason they would simply have once again been doormats and only made things worse.

    For example.

    Let's take that horrible ad put out by the white house calling them murderers.  That was such a ridiculous and crazy ad.   And nothing but a string of lies.  For example the BS about criminal immigrants,  did you ever ONCE see an elected democrat point out that if you commit a crime you are automatically excluded from DACA?  Even one?

    Consider for a moment what republicans would have done to democrats if they had put out such a hateful over the top thing about republicans.

    Consider that for just a moment.

    Look I do believe a wave is coming.  I believe it will sweep democrats into power in at least the House.  I believe it will happen in spite of their incompetence.

    I just hope there are maybe some of them who have some remote idea what to to with the power we give them.

    I have rarely been more discouraged and disgusted with "my" party.

    BBC winter olympics video (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 06:23:32 PM EST
    very cool

    They got the luge wrong, though. (none / 0) (#73)
    by leap on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:26:18 PM EST

    Lugers go down the icy course on their backs, feet-first, NOT head-first on their stomachs as depicted in the animation. Luge is one of the weirdest sports. Why would one want to do that? Except in the Olympics, I guess.

    Parent
    Epic problem: (none / 0) (#74)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:37:54 PM EST
    Make curling look exciting

    Parent
    Hi leap... (none / 0) (#76)
    by fishcamp on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 05:07:54 PM EST
    They do have a variety of luge and bobsled events.

    Once in St Moritz ABC had me film the bobsled event way over on the other side of the mountain.  All the many disciplines were firing off continually for practice runs.  I finally got a ride on a four man bobsled.  It was very frightening.

    Parent

    Made me look (none / 0) (#77)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 05:08:26 PM EST
    I couldn't believe they would get something do obviously wrong

    Skeleton is almost like riding a luge sled, just while lying face down and head-first instead of feet first and using a differently modified sled. Also, the racer does not begin in the sled, but runs for about 40 meters before jumping face-first on the sled for the remainder of the ride. Like luge, athletes have to use body angles to guide the sled because there is no steering mechanism, and speeds can hit 90 mph.


    Parent
    oh, whoops, what do I know! (none / 0) (#84)
    by leap on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:53:09 PM EST
    "Skeleton," then? I never heard of that one. It's even crazier than luge. Going headfirst down an icy slope at 90 mph on a stomach sled. Jeepers that is nuts. As kids, we were always warned about going headfirst down the snowy hill in our yard, how dangerous that could be, and just don't do that. These people need parents.

    Parent
    Good work, Pennsylvania Supreme Court (5.00 / 5) (#25)
    by Peter G on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 08:55:25 PM EST
    Holding our absurdly gerrymandered congressional disrict map, drawn on a purely partisan basis by the State Legislature in 2011, to be unconstitutional under the State Constitution. That approach is an attempt to insulate the decision from review and interference by the U.S. Supreme Court. Imposed a deadline of Feb. 15 for the Legislature to adopt a new and valid map, or the Court will issue its own on 2/19, so there will be time for the new map to control for the May primary. No more will we have 13 of 18 seats locked in for Republicans, while the electorate splits nearly 50-50. Or at least so it seems.

    To be clear, from a national POV (none / 0) (#29)
    by Peter G on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 08:08:49 AM EST
    This could by itself lead to a 4-seat swing in the House.

    Parent
    Another House seat in Pennsylvania (5.00 / 1) (#197)
    by Peter G on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 09:53:44 PM EST
    just became a much more likely flip from R to D, as Rep. Pat Meehan announces he will not seek re-election, in the wake of a sexual harassment "furor."

    Parent
    Read this morning that PA GOP (none / 0) (#30)
    by caseyOR on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 08:17:25 AM EST
    intends to appeal this to US Supreme Court. Does the USSC have jurisdiction over a case involving a state constitution?

    Parent
    Ordinarily, no. There would be no jurisdiction. (none / 0) (#80)
    by Peter G on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 05:32:39 PM EST
    But the Republican dissenter came up with a clever argument suggesting that the Democratic justices' majority ruling exercises power that the U.S. Constitution confers on the state legislature, suggesting that a state court cannot be the final arbiter of the district lines. I don't think that's a winning argument, but it's not necessarily "frivolous," and so might be enough basis for them to attempt an appeal (not from this order, which is not "final" as required for jurisdiction, but from the anticipated final order on Feb. 19).

    Parent
    I never thought (none / 0) (#32)
    by MKS on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 09:41:49 AM EST
    of Philadelphia as being part of Pennsylvania.   I used to live in Youngstown, Ohio, which was closer to Pittsburgh in many ways than Cleveland.  

    "Pennsylvania" always meant Pittsburgh and the mountains and forests of Western Pa. "Philadelphia" was part of the Eastern Seaboard and in a different world.

    Parent

    I went to college in Pittsburgh (none / 0) (#40)
    by CST on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:34:01 AM EST
    My freshman roommate was from California.  She would routinely refer to Pittsburgh as "the east coast".  Coming from Boston myself, I just kept wondering where she thought the coast was.

    Western PA is a whole different beast.  That said, I actually really like both Pittsburgh and Philly, they each have a certain charm and manage not to beat you over the head with it (NYC, DC, I'm looking at you).  As for the 4 tunnels between the two - it sure makes a long drive.

    On that note, go Pats!

    Parent

    Odd, because I've always thought of (none / 0) (#43)
    by Zorba on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:52:19 AM EST
    Philadelphia as part of Pennsylvania.  We are about equidistant from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, just a few miles closer to Philadelphia.  But we've travelled to the Philadelphia area much more than to Pittsburgh, mainly because the former has more to offer that we are interested in.
    You could also think that St. Louis and Kansas City don't seem to be part of Missouri, that Atlanta doesn't seem to be part of Georgia, or Austin part of Texas, and on and on.  
    The diversity in a lot of states is often an interesting case study in cultural, social, and economic differences.

    Parent
    Austin (none / 0) (#71)
    by MKS on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:20:28 PM EST
    could be in California...Really different from the rest of the state, that is so true.

    Even the shopping centers in Austin look like California--maybe because they are so new?

    Parent

    2017 Academy Award nominations announced: (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:12:38 AM EST
    "The Shape of Water," Guillermo Del Toro's exquisite homage to the horror movies of his youth, leads all comers with 13 nominations. It was followed by "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" with 9 nominations, and "Dunkirk" with 7 nominations. And Meryl Streep once again broke her own record with her 21st acting nomination for "The Post."

    88-year-old Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar nominee in history, after being nominated as best supporting actor for his performance as oil baron J. Paul Getty in "All the Money in the World," in which he stepped in as an 11th-hour replacement for the scandal-embattled Kevin Spacey.

    2017 proved a banner year for Laurie Metcalf, who earned a best supporting actress nomination as the title character's harried mother in "Lady Bird"). She had earlier won Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actress in a Drama for "A Doll's House, Part II." This year, she's reprising her role as Jackie in the reboot of the much-honored '90s TV sitcom "Roseanne."

    Longtime pop music diva Mary J. Blige was nearly unrecognizable as family matriarch Florence in the racially charged Southern tragedy "Mudbound," and her moving performance was also honored today with a supporting actress nomination as well.

    And Rachel Morrison made history today by becoming the first woman ever nominated by the Academy for best cinematography, thanks to her work as director of photography on "Mudbound." This category had heretofore been monopolized entirely by men for the entire 90-year history of the Academy Awards.

    I've listed the main categories. The complete list of nominees can be found HERE.

    Best Picture:

    • "Call Me by Your Name"
    • "Darkest Hour"
    • "Dunkirk"
    • "Get Out"
    • "Lady Bird"
    • "Phantom Thread"
    • "The Post"
    • "The Shape of Water"
    • "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

    Best Actress:
    • Sally Hawkins, "The Shape of Water"
    • Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
    • Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
    • Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"
    • Meryl Streep, "The Post"

    Best Actor:
    • Timothée Chalamet, "Call Me by Your Name"
    • Daniel Day-Lewis, "Phantom Thread"
    • Daniel Kaluuya, "Get Out"
    • Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
    • Denzel Washington, "Roman J. Israel, Esq."

    Best Director:
    • "Dunkirk," Christopher Nolan
    • "Get Out," Jordan Peele
    • "Lady Bird," Greta Gerwig
    • "Phantom Thread," Paul Thomas Anderson
    • "The Shape of Water," Guillermo del Toro

    Personally, if I had a vote today, I would have chosen "All the Money in the World" and "Mudbound" in the Best Picture category. The otherwise pedestrian "Darkest Hour"was carried almost entirely on the back of Best Actor nominee Gary Oldman's magnificent performance as Sir Winston Churchill. Without him, the film might just as well have been part of the rotation for PBS's Masterpiece series. And while Paul T. Anderson's "Phantom Thread" was beautifully photographed, I found myself looking at my watch after a little over an hour into the film, a sure sign of tedium.

    Aloha.

    The only one I've seen is Dunkirk (5.00 / 1) (#48)
    by CST on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:17:10 AM EST
    Which I was surprised by.  It wasn't until after the movie was over that I really appreciated just how different it was from other war films - mainly that we didn't see a single shot fired offensively by any "good guys" other than the pilots.  It was a bit disorienting at first and nothing is explained - but that is clearly intentional too as it puts you right in the chaos.  All in all it was exceptionally well done.

    Parent
    "Dunkirk" is an unconventional war film. (5.00 / 1) (#58)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 12:26:28 PM EST
    I found it to be much more of an action-escape film, not unlike "The Poseidon Adventure," in which the audience wonders who will get out alive. Another thing you might notice about "Dunkirk" is that save for the Luftwaffe aircraft, you don't see any of the German military antagonists. The closest you get to them is in the opening scene, when they first drop those "Surrender!" leaflets upon those British soldiers meandering in the town -- just before firing on them from off-camera, killing all but one.

    A most deserving nominee, Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" captures the raw essence of Britain's quandary in May 1940, much more so than "Darkest Hour," which was almost entirely a political drama. In many respects, the heroes of Dunkirk are not the soldiers trapped on the French beaches, but those brave thousands of civilians who unhesitatingly answered Prime Minister Churchill's call to action, and boldly sailed across the English Channel to rescue their fellow countrymen while enduring a withering enemy fire.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    3 billboards (none / 0) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:33:14 AM EST
    Is going to sweep

    Parent
    That would be a good choice. (none / 0) (#55)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:54:10 AM EST
    I really liked "Three Billboards." Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell are marvelous, and Frances McDormand never fails to surprise me with the nuance and depth of her performances.

    But I wouldn't count out "The Shape of Water," a beautiful film that was not originally on my list of films to see. We ended up there only because we had misread the showing time of another film, and we didn't want to wait two hours until the next showing. I was very pleasantly surprised by "Water," and would definitely recommend it to everyone. Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer all received well-deserved  nominations for their respective performances.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Not seen (none / 0) (#69)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 03:24:29 PM EST
    SHAPE OF WATER yet

    I wanted it to win the globe.  Looking forward to it.

    Parent

    I much preferred Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (none / 0) (#79)
    by McBain on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 05:31:54 PM EST
    to his Shape of Water.  I always enjoy Jenkins and wouldn't mind seeing him win. I also like Michael Shannon but his character was over the top.  Lots of stereotypes in this film....
    Sensitive gay man
    Sassy African American woman
    Sadistic military/corporate bad guy
    ....Maybe that was was part of Del Toro's homage but it felt too much like other films I've seen lately.    

     

    Parent

    Yeah, but the entire film was over the top. (none / 0) (#85)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:12:57 AM EST
    McBain: "I also like Michael Shannon but his character was over the top.  Lots of stereotypes in this film."

    And it was a very well done over the top. Sure, the main characters were straight out of central casting and somewhat cliché, but they were also very likeable - save for Shannon's sadistic military-industrial complex stooge, of course. And with him, you just knew instinctively halfway through the film that he was destined to meet a fate that he richly deserved.

    "The Shape of Water" was a well-crafted, well-written and well-acted film. I walked out of the theatre smiling.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I was really disappinted in 3 Billboards (none / 0) (#90)
    by ruffian on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:37:23 AM EST
    Which means you are probably right.


    Parent
    Dont really understand (none / 0) (#110)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:54:13 PM EST
    I think it was outstanding and wonderful and totally deserves all the attention.

    Personally I would love to SHAPE OF WATER win,  which I have not even seen but know everything about, jus because Del Toro deserves it for all his past work.

    But my money would be on 3 billboards.

    Parent

    I saw Billboards a couple days ago. (none / 0) (#176)
    by oculus on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 05:25:47 PM EST
    The deeper meaning for America escaped me.

    Parent
    My vote: (none / 0) (#82)
    by linea on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 08:16:58 PM EST
    Lady Bird: I enjoyed this film and recommend it. I watched it twice. This wins my vote for best film of 2017. I liked Molly's Game too and don't know why it wasn't nominated.

    Darkest Hour / Dunkirk: Darkest Hour was well written and had excellent acting, if a bit long. I agree that it seemed like something one watches on PBS rather than a major motion picture. While a good film, it lacked drama and excitement. I didn't see Dunkirk but a friend told me it was good, if a bit long. Perhaps the two films should be combined and edited to run in under two hours?

    Get Out:  This film was written and directed by Jordan Peele of Key & Peele. It is considered revenge-humor or horror-comedy. There are a few mildly amusing exaggerations but overall this film is vapid with a tediously stupid plot and a bloody slasher-flick ending. This film isn't scary enough to be a horror film and isn't funny enough to be a comedy. This wins my vote for worst film of 2017.

    Parent

    Get Out (none / 0) (#83)
    by MKS on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 08:51:49 PM EST
    was different.  Not what one would expect.  In terms of being funny, it was more wry than laugh out loud funny.  

    The brutal exposure of racism of those who would never know they were racists, was worth it by itself.   A nice plot twist at the end too.

    Parent

    GET OUT (none / 0) (#109)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:48:25 PM EST
    Is one of the best movies of the year.  It was nominated for both a GLOBE and an OSCAR

    along with hundreds of other awards and nominations

    Parent

    "Dunkirk" was less than 2 hours long. (none / 0) (#86)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:22:50 AM EST
    "Darkest Hour" was 15 minutes longer. Gary Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill was a tour de force, reminiscent of Meryl Streep's turn as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" and Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II in "The Queen." It takes a tremendously talented actor to pull off a credible impersonation of a well-known public figure onscreen like that, without ever veering into caricature. I think the Best Actor race is likely Oldman's to lose.

    Parent
    Meryl Streep (5.00 / 2) (#88)
    by MKS on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:08:22 AM EST
    was very good in The Post.  I am not usually a big fan of hers, but her portrayal of Graham was understated and inspiring.

    Streep showed Graham to be a bit diffident and insecure but ultimately heroic and a hero to many women....Streep made you feel the pressure Graham was under, not only from the government but also the men in her own organization who doubted her.  

    I understand why Trump supporters would not like this movie--it is about the Press holding a President accountable and the power of women--a double negative for the supporters of the Grand Cheeto.

    Hanks as Bradley did not work so much.  Hanks is just not naturally brassy enough.

    Parent

    One of the best (5.00 / 3) (#95)
    by KeysDan on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:21:22 AM EST
    autobiographies is "Person History,"  by Katherine Graham. It was published in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.  As the title tells, it is a personal memoir and history---and the connections. If not already read, it is highly recommended.

    Parent
    A typesetting company I worked (none / 0) (#102)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 01:59:34 PM EST
    for in Bethesda, MD back in the day, set the type for the original galleys for that book.

    Parent
    Bradlee (none / 0) (#89)
    by MKS on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:15:35 AM EST


    Parent
    There's no denying Meryl Streep's talent. (none / 0) (#100)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 01:35:10 PM EST
    I first took notice of her in high school, when she played the long-suffering Christian wife of a Jew (James Woods) in Nazi Germany in the epic ABC miniseries "Holocaust," for which she won an Emmy in 1978 for Best Actress - TV Movie or Miniseries. From that, she was cast in director Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" as Linda, the emotionally needy love interest in a dysfunctional and mismatched triangle, for which she received her first Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

    She's had her share of misfires over the years, but she's also frequently been the saving grace who elevates what would've otherwise been a middling to mediocre film. (The aforementioned "The Iron Lady," "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Autumn: Osage County" come to mind.) Of all her Oscar-nominated roles (now totaling 21), the one I least care for is an early effort of hers in "The French Lieutenant's Woman," in which she appeared to be mimicking Faye Dunaway at her most "Eyes of Laura Mars" neurotic.

    I agree with your observation about Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee. I think he underplayed the role of the late Post editor, especially when one compares his performance to Jason Robards' Oscar-winning portrayal of Bradlee in "All the President's Men" from 40 years ago. But then, I would imagine that it was rather difficult to play a guy who often relished being his own best hardassed caricature. Nobody could do Ben Bradlee better than Ben Bradlee.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Loved French Lieutenant's Woman. (5.00 / 1) (#177)
    by oculus on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 05:30:05 PM EST


    Parent
    I KNEW there was one of you out there! (none / 0) (#193)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 09:15:52 PM EST
    I just knew it.
    ;-D

    Parent
    Two of us (none / 0) (#204)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 05:59:17 AM EST
    Me too

    Parent
    She has a pretty amazing range (none / 0) (#107)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:17:35 PM EST
    Watch DOUBT and DEATH BECOMES HER in one sitting.  You will see it.  She is scarier Louise Fletcher in COOCOOS NEST and funnier than Goldie Hawn in the latter.

    I had a very good friend who acted with her in DEER HUNTER, Shirley Stoler.  Who sadly died in 1999. But talked about what it was like to work with her.  That she could be both incredibly funny and incredibly bitchy but watching her work was sort of magical.

    I don't doubt it.  IMO her performance in that movie is one of the all time greats.

    She can be really funny.  I saw her recently (not that recently) on the Graham Norton show.   She told very funny stories about how she was turned down for the Jessica Lange role in KING KONG because she wasn't pretty enough.  And how when she was nominated for her first acting award she was nursing her daughter, wore a white dress and started leaking which she noticed walking up to receive the award.  Which she did with her arms crossed.

    Parent

    Nooze (none / 0) (#115)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:46:44 PM EST
    Meryl Streep will join HBO's Big Little Lies cast for its second season. She is slated to play Mary Louise Wright, mother of Perry Wright, the male lead in the show. The critically acclaimed series--starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, and Zoe Kravitz--recently took home eight Emmys and four Golden Globes. The show was originally going to be a close-ended miniseries, but the seven-episode second season will go beyond Liane Moriarity's book.


    Parent
    More TV news- Murphy Brown is (none / 0) (#116)
    by caseyOR on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:54:47 PM EST
    coming back. Candice Bergen will reprise her role as TV journalist Murphy Brown starting with the 2018-2019 season. Diane English, who created and produced the original MB, is returning as well.

    I love Bergen and loved Murphy Brown. In the new series Murphy is in cable news in the midst of our current craziness.

    Should be interesting.

    Parent

    And Roseanne (none / 0) (#117)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:56:40 PM EST
    Is returning.  Both have a political feel.  In a good way.

    Parent
    One of my favorite Meryl Streep movies ... (none / 0) (#142)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 11:32:34 PM EST
    ... is the 1989 comedy "She-Devil." It's not her best, but I'd categorize it as one of those films that she elevated by her performance. I remember a lot of critics openly wondering before its release whether La Streep -- who could do everything else -- could do comedy. I think she showed everyone a thing or two as the over the top, spouse-stealing romance novelist Mary Fisher, whose own pink-gilded life unravels in rather remarkable fashion after she winds up in the crosshairs of her lover's jilted wife (Roseanne Barr). "Miss Fisher! Up with this bullschitt I will not put!"

    Parent
    Meryl Streep (none / 0) (#132)
    by linea on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 08:30:43 PM EST
     
    ...was excellent in The Devil Wears Prada and I loved her as Aunt Josephine in A Series Unfortunate Events even though Jim Carrey ruined that film. The NetFlix series with Neil Patrick Harris was much better, except for Aunt Josephine of course.

    Parent
    Meryl Streep rocked in "Prada." (none / 0) (#143)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 11:51:11 PM EST
    "Oh, Don't be ridiculous, Andrea! Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us."

    And her haughty character Miranda Priestly was right, of course. Everybody hated her, everybody despised her and everybody resented her -- but everybody wanted to be like her.

    Well, almost everybody.

    Parent

    So much good stuff (none / 0) (#160)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:54:21 AM EST
    Just looking at the list of nominees.  An embarrassment of riches.  I don't think I saw a nominee that I thoughtful not deserve it.

    I would love to see SHAPE OF WATER win but it doesn't seem like the kind of movie the academy will pick.  

    I have one real hope.  I really really hope WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES wins for  visual effects.    They were absolutely amazing.  You completely forget you are watching digital actors.


    Parent

    Sick and bored (5.00 / 1) (#70)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:08:11 PM EST
    art history memes that prove nothing has changed

    Favorite on page 6
    When someone with the flu tries to give you a hug

    Out of the mouths of babes... (5.00 / 3) (#92)
    by Anne on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:49:27 AM EST
    This is so apropos of nothing, just a funny little anecdote from the other day that may make you smile:

    I went up to my daughter's last Saturday to watch the kids while she and my son-in-law went out for a bite to eat.

    We always do bathtime when I'm there for the evening, so off to the tub we went.  Got both boys (5 and 2)in the tub, and much water play ensued.

    At one point, the 5 yr old was getting pretty wild with the splashing, most of which was being directed at his 2 yr old brother, who was reaching the limit of his tolerance for it.

    I said to the older child, "you know, I'm all for lots of fun in the tub, but you do have to be nice about it."

    The response?  

    "I'm sorry, Grammy.  But...you know, Grammy, I'm still adjusting to being five years old."

    [He turned 5 in early December]

    I almost fell off the stool I was sitting on, but recovered fast enough to ask, "so, how long do you think this adjustment will take?"

    "Oh, about another three weeks, I think."

    Me: "I'll make a note on the calendar."

    Honestly, I have no idea where he comes up with these things, but this is a kid who has been highly verbal from an early age, so I guess it shouldn't have surprised me.

    And then I have my other daughter's 3-yr old, who has Face-Timed me two days in a row to tell me he pooped on the potty!  We forget, in our busy and oh-so-adult lives, the simple joys of little children, how proud they are of their accomplishments, and how big their hearts are.

    Being in touch with that seems more important than ever given the grim and deeply disturbing news with which we are assaulted every day.

    These kids may be saving my sanity!

    The hardest diaper to change (5.00 / 1) (#119)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 05:24:29 PM EST
    ...was the first one.  

    For a couple of years I got used to washing up after having s#!t smeared up to my elbows.  And then one day I never had to do that again.

    If I had not done that I would not have a daily appreciation for the fact that at no time do I ever have s#$!t smeared up to my elbows.  

    I don't think it is possible to fully appreciate the latter condition without experiencing the former.

    Parent

    My aunt showed me how to change diapers. (none / 0) (#144)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 12:13:33 AM EST
    We were in SoCal with our then-newborn daughter, and while I wasn't exactly up to my elbows in sh*+, nevertheless I was making a real mess of things. She just laughed, and then pushed me aside and said, "Watch and learn." The key to a successful diaper-change, she told me, was to approach the job matter-of-factly with a sense of purpose, and to not be squeamish about it. She was right.

    Parent
    When we were in Honolulu last month, ... (none / 0) (#103)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 02:04:48 PM EST
    ... my wife tried to potty-train our grandson who had just turned two, only he wasn't having it! Seemed a wee bit too early for me, especially given his anxiety about his mother being in the hospital giving birth. I'm presently on Oahu, having returned from L.A. last night, and he appears to be overly clinging to his mother right now. I'm sure it's just a phase, which will pass as soon as he adjusts to the reality of a baby brother in the house.

    Parent
    Kids are funny about the whole (none / 0) (#104)
    by Anne on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 02:18:27 PM EST
    potty training thing.

    Older daughter just announced to me one day, right as she was turning 2, that she didn't want to wear diapers anymore, and that was pretty much it -  she was just ready.

    Younger daughter, though, could not have been less interested in getting out of diapers.  She was fully three before that started to change.

    My oldest grandson took after his mother - he pretty much trained himself not long after he was 2, and he was not even wearing them to bed before he turned 3.  His 2-yr old brother?  It's gonna be a while, lol.

    The 3 yr old is up and down with his potty training adventures; 2 days of pooping in the potty and then last night, he went in his diaper.  He does better with peeing on the potty, and is dry more often than not.

    But it's all so unpredictable.  

    I had a secretary once who bragged that her son was potty trained by the time he was 9 months old.  My reaction was to ask if he was also walking that early - when she responded that of course he wasn't walking yet, I offered the opinion that it was she who was trained, not her baby.

    She didn't much like that response, lol, but come on - who would brag about something so clearly ridiculous?  Well, she would - her son was perfect, you know?  She was pretty huffy with me for a while, but I guess she got over it (and stopped telling that not-to-be-believed story, too).

    Parent

    I am persuaded that my wife is right (5.00 / 1) (#111)
    by Peter G on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:54:56 PM EST
    She contends there is no such thing as "potty training." A given kid will start using the toilet when she is ready. You can "train" her for months, using whatever technique of positive or negative reinforcement, and she will start using the toilet at the time that is right for her. You then claim credit for "training" her. Same kid, left to her own devices with normal, no-pressure communication about how "big people" do it, will start using the toilet at the same time, that is, when she is ready. All you can do is traumatize them by pushing too hard, before their time.

    Parent
    Being a non parent (none / 0) (#112)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:02:22 PM EST
    I would be tempted to try reverse psychology.  Like telling them 'no, no, you have to poop in your pants.  That room is for grownups'

    Parent
    I have a close family friend (none / 0) (#113)
    by CST on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:15:22 PM EST
    Who does a lot of work with low income families, who said that essentially 100% of those kids are potty trained at 18 months.   The reasoning behind that is simple, diapers cost money.

    Not sure how that relates to your hypothesis, which certainly seems to be how it plays out for the rest of us.

    Parent

    I have heard older women (none / 0) (#114)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 04:19:25 PM EST
    Say it happened faster back when you had to wash diapers

    Parent
    My mom claims I was potty trained by the time (none / 0) (#139)
    by vml68 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:47:54 PM EST
    I was 18 months. She said that when I was a baby they got running water for only an hour each day. So all the water they had for washing, bathing, etc. for the whole day was what they could collect in buckets during that time. No baby wipes, no disposable diapers. So, potty training was fast tracked!

    Apparently, I liked company when I was doing my business. So, once when I was 3, I brought my potty to the dining room where mom and dad were having dinner with guests and proceeded to do my thing :-)!

    Parent

    Jackson Browne in Orlando (5.00 / 1) (#93)
    by ruffian on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:55:11 AM EST
    Last night I was very happy to attend the Jackson Browne concert in Orlando, which during the intermission I learned had come under death threats from some loon in Indiana. I guess the police presence at the entrance should have given me a clue - I was like really? For Jackson Browne? He's political but pretty darn mellow.

    I would have gone even if I had known about the threats since he is probably my favorite artist and I never miss a chance to see him. His voice still sounds the same as it did 30 years ago and the songs just get more meaningful as time goes by. He has many songs that talk about the loss of friends, and they were especially meaningful last night.

    He had an accompanying multitalented guitarist Greg Leizt (sp probably wrong)  who played beautiful slide guitar. Also a young Swedish woman bass guitar player named Maya (did not catch the last name) sat in on many songs. She was excellent - she is also touring with David Crosby.

    Encore was Little Steven's 'I Am A Patriot' with some added lyrics in the last "I aint no' section appropriate to the idiots that made the threats. I ain't no homophobe, I ain't no racist, etc...

    Anyway we all made it out alive and the better for it.

    Love JB... (none / 0) (#97)
    by desertswine on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:46:26 AM EST
    always a great and intimate show.

    Parent
    Love Jackson Browne (none / 0) (#153)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 04:17:42 AM EST
    I can't even count the number of his songs I know every word to. Glenn Frey told a funny story about living above him in the 70's when Jackson was writing a song in the Eagles' documentary a few years ago.

    "Every morning we'd wake up and we'd hear Jackson's piano coming through the floor from the apartment below. He would play one verse, then play it again, and again and again. Twenty times in a row, till he had it exactly the way he wanted.

    "Then he'd move to the next verse. Again, twenty times. It went on for hours. I don't know how many days we listened to this same process before it suddenly hit us: This is how you write a song. This is how it's done. "That changed everything for us."

    Lately my favorite song is For a Dancer: "In the end there is one dance you'll do alone"

    Parent

    Great story J (none / 0) (#166)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 11:01:10 AM EST
    A guy I used to know was/is Barbra Streisand's music producer. He used to tell me how when she works on a new song she will record the first line of the song 20 or 30 or more times.

    Each time she'd sing it a little differently, with subtle changes of intonation, rhythm, etc. Then she'd move on to the second line and do 20, 30, or more takes of it. Then on to line 3, etc.

    Then they'd sit down and listen to each take of line 1 and chose the one they liked best. Then line 2, then 3, etc.

    Parent

    Me too... (none / 0) (#169)
    by ruffian on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 12:13:47 PM EST
    I could have sung every one with him, and I was filling in the backing vocals in my head.

    He did 'For a Dancer' dedicated to the people in Montecito who died in the mudslides. I love the lines "perhaps a better world is drawing near, just as easily it could all disappear...don't let the uncertainty turn you round"  Certainly true of those poor souls in Montecito.

    I remember that story from the documentary too. It definitely shows - those songs have held up so well.

    Parent

    I'm jealous. (none / 0) (#168)
    by Chuck0 on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 12:03:22 PM EST
    My favorite has always been The Load Out/Stay.

    Parent
    The 150, are women now. But, quite a few of them (5.00 / 2) (#136)
    by vml68 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:25:29 PM EST
    were children/girls when the abuse started. A daughter of a family friend was 6 years old when he started abusing her.
    I am not losing any sleep over the Judge's comments.

    I am simply in awe.. (5.00 / 1) (#141)
    by desertswine on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:45:53 PM EST
    of the courage of the survivors.

    Parent
    By the way, the more that I read (5.00 / 1) (#173)
    by Towanda on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 03:05:41 PM EST
    about MSU, the more I see why the president had to step down.

    MSU had almost twenty years of warnings to fix this. MSU has withheld and still is witholding documents that it was ordeered to povide to the DoJ on several cases, not just this one.

    MSU already is facing lawsuits and will see more. And it looks like MSU ought to lose. It learned nothing from the Sandusky case.


    Game of Thrones (5.00 / 3) (#181)
    by Repack Rider on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 05:38:30 PM EST
    "Art of the Deal" White House to Guggenheim: "Say, do you have a Van Gogh you're not using?  Could we borrow it?"

    Guggenheim: "Nix on the VG.  We're coming back with an offer of a gold toilet, plated, not solid of course. Also used. We won't need it back."

    The Art of the Insult.

    He already had a gold toilet (none / 0) (#199)
    by Repack Rider on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 12:26:51 AM EST
    ...and a golden shower to match.

    Parent
    Interesting (5.00 / 1) (#190)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 08:00:19 PM EST
    Trump ordered Mueller's firing, then backed off: New York Times

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump last June ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired but backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than follow his directive, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing four people told of the matter.
    Ah, what could have been (none / 0) (#191)
    by MKS on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 08:16:02 PM EST
    An early cheeto exit would have been nice.

    Parent
    So this means (none / 0) (#200)
    by Repack Rider on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 12:38:04 AM EST
    ...when Mueller questions him, and he will, Mueller can ask him directly whether Trump tried to fire him in order to obstruct justice.

    Fool might even say yes.

    Parent

    Judge Aquilina (5.00 / 1) (#206)
    by ZtoA on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 09:50:24 AM EST
    From a non legal POV this case was so explosive and emotions ran so high the Judge had a very difficult part to play. I think she did brilliantly.

    She thanked the entire legal process and all the participants. She gave the defendant multiple opportunities to show remorse. She gave voice to the 100+ girls and women he had horribly abused, and to their families who love them. She pointed out a broken system that did nothing to support or even listen to the young athletes. She allowed Rachel Denhollender to speak.

    The legal process worked and actually diffused a very explosive situation and promoted justice. Who cares about a few words she spoke that some legal experts disagree with? The spirit of the law was followed and proved itself very strong.

    Oh no! (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 10:54:31 AM EST
    That sounds terrible.  I hope that you're much better now.  Don't work hard and relax as much as possible.  Respiratory diseases are everywhere this year and they're awful.

    Oh no, so sorry to hear that J (none / 0) (#5)
    by ruffian on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 11:16:35 AM EST
    Glad you are out and on the mend. I've never been in the hospital at all, can't imagine 5 days. Hope you had a good experience, aside from the just being sick part.

    Personally, I've long thought Megyn Kelly ... (none / 0) (#7)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 11:48:20 AM EST
    ... to be (arguably) the most seriously overrated journalist on our country's television airwaves right up there with her former Fox News colleague Geraldo Rivera.

    Kelly's first studio interview for NBC News with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford -- in which she posed a highly inappropriate personal question to Fonda about her plastic surgery in front of Redford, to which the actress bristled viscerally and took some justifiable umbrage -- showed off her rather dubious interview skills at their most shallow, two-dimensional and insensitive. She took a lot of flak for it, and rightly so.

    But now, thanks to her rant about Jane Fonda this morning, Kelly's effectively doubled down on stupid, and in the process has proved herself to be one of TV's most thin-skinned and emotionally immature on-air divas, as well. I mean, was it really necessary to resurrect Ms. Fonda's controversial trip to Hanoi during the Vietnam War -- for which she's long since apologized --  like some cantankerous, 70-something, right-wing old coots we all know? I think not.

    If Ms. Kelly doesn't get over herself, I bet that most of her audience soon will.

    An old age version of a childish feud. (none / 0) (#8)
    by fishcamp on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 12:15:49 PM EST
    Quite frankly I've never much liked either ot them anyway.  Well let me take that back...I did like Barbarella.

    Parent
    She broke the Orgasmatron. (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 12:25:15 PM EST


    Parent
    Sad to say, I never saw "Barbarella." (none / 0) (#22)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 07:26:26 PM EST
    The only cinematic Orgasmatron I remember was the one in which Woody Allen once tried to hide from the authorities in "Sleeper" - only it switched on accidentally.

    Parent
    see Barbarella (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 07:28:40 PM EST


    Parent
    Ohhhh, that scene (none / 0) (#33)
    by Towanda on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 09:46:31 AM EST
    as well I recall, made Barbarella a very weird fflick for a first date.

    Parent
    I can see that (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:07:18 AM EST


    Parent
    Ha! Definitely. (5.00 / 1) (#41)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:38:20 AM EST


    Parent
    OMG! (5.00 / 1) (#53)
    by Zorba on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:47:24 AM EST
    Can't imagine viewing that with a first date guy.  :- D


    Parent
    Hahahahahaha! (5.00 / 2) (#45)
    by Zorba on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:58:08 AM EST
    Somehow, I am not surprised.  😄

    Parent
    You all might like the (none / 0) (#10)
    by ruffian on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 12:38:46 PM EST
    "You Must Remember This" recent podcast series on Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg and their parallel lives and careers as actresses and activists. Very interesting and illuminating.

    Kelly could have used it as some good source material for her interview if she had any real interest in her subject.

    Parent

    could we maybe all admit now (none / 0) (#13)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 04:40:58 PM EST
    this guy is a stupid tool and a publicity wh0re.  and always has been?

    maybe?

    The reason is Russia. For the better part of two years, Greenwald has resisted the nagging bipartisan suspicion that Trumpworld is in one way or another compromised by a meddling foreign power. If there's a conspiracy, he suspects, it's one against the president; where others see collusion, he sees "McCarthyism." Greenwald is predisposed to righteous posturing and contrarian eye-poking -- and reflexively more skeptical of the U.S. intelligence community than of those it tells us to see as "enemies."

    And even if claims about Russian meddling are corroborated by Robert Mueller's investigation, Greenwald's not sure it adds up to much -- some hacked emails changing hands, none all that damaging in their content, maybe some malevolent Twitter bots. In his eyes, the Russia-Trump story is a shiny red herring --
    Greenwald bought in very early that (none / 0) (#17)
    by Anne on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 05:31:35 PM EST
    the Deep State was out to get Trump, and he hasn't moved much off of that position; he just doesn't seem to be able to wrap his head around the idea that while, yes, our intelligence agencies probably are overstepping their bounds in many aspects of our lives, it is entirely possible that Trump and the Russians were in it up to their collective eyeballs.

    What "it" is may be two different things: Russians may have been working to get Trump elected because they believed they could control him, while Trump was just this wholly corrupt person with a corrupt business who's always thought he was smarter than everyone else, believed he was going to outwit the Russians and never appreciated just how compromised he was.

    It just has always seemed to me that Trump was ripe for the Russians' picking - and Greenwald doesn't seem to be able to understand that we may well have a deeply compromised/flawed intelligence apparatus - but that doesn't make Trump the innocent victim of that apparatus.

    Parent

    The more we learn about the extent ... (none / 0) (#24)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 07:38:05 PM EST
    ... of the Trump-Russia connection, the more two-dimensional Glenn Greenwald appears to be as a journalist. He apparently doesn't do nuance very well. He can be regularly seen on Fox News, in the regular rotation of "analysts" on Tucker Carlson's show.

    Parent
    I'll repeat my earlier assertion. (none / 0) (#31)
    by Chuck0 on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 08:27:49 AM EST
    If the Deep State really existed, the dotard would already be gone. I had hoped there was such a cabal. I believed if a deep state cabal of intelligence types really existed, there is no way they would let this fool continue. Nothing of the sort has transpired. The deep state is a myth.

    Parent
    I think of the deep state as those in service (none / 0) (#42)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:45:57 AM EST
    Who believe in and have served/supported lawful governance and affective governance. Because of that lawful thing, Trump's moments of accountability will require process.

    I still think that the only way Trump impeachment is ever approached is if Democrats take both House and Senate in 2018. Democratic representatives current lack of public discussion, framing, and strategy though today make something like impeachment seem impossible. They can't even win meaningful debates with white supremacists.

    I think if we discover something of a mass that casts a deep state shadow, it will be in the recording of all the behind the scenes facts and climactic events during this administration.

    Parent

    It just has never made any sense to me, (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by Anne on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 02:35:13 PM EST
    that there could have been a concerted effort on the part of an anti-Hillary FBI to put its energy and effort into trying to bring Trump down.

    If the FBI was out to get Trump, wouldn't there have been more leaking about the fact that they had him under investigation during the campaign?

    Would we have had that late Comey announcement of further investigation of Clinton's e-mails?  I don't think so.

    The bigger problem, it seems to me, is that we have a Republican majority in Congress that is willing to excuse and defend any- and everything this president and this administration does, as long as it serves their agenda.  There is no line Trump can cross that will be bad enough for them.  

    I've tried to imagine the course of history had Richard Nixon been enabled and excused and defended the way Donald Trump and his minions have - where would we be?  What would we be?

    I shudder to think, I really do.  It makes me feel sick.

    This is not a Deep State problem.  This isn't "The Persecution of Donald J. Trump."

    This is elected members of the Congress, the president and members of the administration believing they can make a pact with the devil and no one will be the worse for it.

    We're already worse for it.

    Parent

    If the FBI had been out to get Trump (none / 0) (#72)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:20:53 PM EST
    It smells like there was plenty to get him with. Seems obvious nobody was gunning for him.

    With all of the Trump money laundering we know about already, how much more is really there? And if the Donald was doing it, he can't be alone. He's hardly brilliant. Someone smarter was doing it more and better.

    Parent

    Papadoulos' fiancee (5.00 / 1) (#75)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 04:50:13 PM EST
    says there is more than you can imagine. She said that we only know the tip of the iceberg.

    Trump is going to rue the day he called Papa a "coffee boy". I'm sure that narrative is going to be blown out of the water when the facts come out.

    Parent

    Listen, I am embarrassed (5.00 / 2) (#78)
    by Zorba on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 05:13:12 PM EST
    that a Greek guy worked for Trump.
    I will have to say that when Greeks are for you, they are for you all the way.  But if you stab them in the back, if you betray them, if you treat them like skata, well.........we Greeks hold grudges.  We don't hold them for months, or years, or decades, or even centuries.  We hold grudges for millennia.


    Parent
    Josh just got home (none / 0) (#105)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 02:52:45 PM EST
    His nose is out of control. He said all the kids at school seemed to be in phase 1 of the flu. Some teachers ran out of their Kleenex stock by the end of the school day. That's kind of scary, to have so many becoming ill at the same time.

    Stay warm, dry, away from bugs

    Parent

    Dunno (none / 0) (#108)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 03:27:32 PM EST
    A week ago I would have agreed with staying away from bugs.

    I tried really hard.  The other day I went to a funeral.  It was literally the first time in weeks I had been in a crowd t that involved touching and hugging.  It's where I got this.  No doubt.

    Now,in day three, dunno, maybe just live her life and get it over with.

    I'm not completely down.  But I got it.  The over the counter drugs are better than I remember.  

    I got Tylenol cold and flu and alka seltzer cold and flu.  The actually both seem to work pretty well.

    And you gotta love Nyquil

    Parent

    It doesn't sound like there is a way (none / 0) (#118)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 05:06:04 PM EST
    To avoid this year. Watching Josh like a hawk though. ERs are going to be packed here, maybe they already have been but I think we're about to hit an uptick.

    Parent
    Hey, come visit me (none / 0) (#120)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 05:34:43 PM EST
    We'll go to Peace House together. You can help me home.

    Parent
    Would so love to do that (5.00 / 1) (#121)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 05:36:32 PM EST


    Parent
    Trump's "Deep State" is just red meat (none / 0) (#96)
    by jondee on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:38:36 AM EST
    for the nutbar Sandy Hook Truther crowd and those who say evil puppet master "Soros" manipulates events from his mountain lair, in the name of secularism and globalism.

    Let it never be said Trump doesn't have his finger ever-pressed on pulse of his fan base..

    Parent

    Isn't stocking the FBI and DOJ (none / 0) (#99)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 11:36:01 AM EST
    With only those loyal to Trump really building a Deep State that is structurally identical to the Deep State Trump pretends is after him?

    Parent
    I find him tasting of constant anarchy (none / 0) (#44)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:57:16 AM EST
    No matter what dish he's cooking.

    And I did not know until this that he was a spray painting juvenile delinquent :)

    I tend to have a soft spot for them as long as they outgrow it.

    Parent

    Amen (none / 0) (#46)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:05:45 AM EST
    The thing is I have been noticing a disturbing uptick in Greenwald quotes on FB and other social media.  Among the extreme left/anarchist ranks.

    I just had to school on FB.

    It was not pretty.

    Parent

    Glenn Greenwald is ... (none / 0) (#50)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:40:03 AM EST
    ... a live-action exercise in self-marginalization. No doubt, he was the source of many important and consequential stories which he developed thanks to Edward Snowden.

    But the Pulitzer Prize Greenwald won for his work in that regard very quickly went to his head, thanks to a quarter of a billion dollars from internet billionaire Pierre Omidyar, who had quickly swooped him up as part of his own currently flailing effort to create a media empire for himself.

    Endowed as he is with Omidyar's moolah, Greenwald's since become nothing more than a bitterly caustic far-left scold, whose haranguing of the American masses from his comfy confines in the hills above Rio de Janeiro makes Bernie Sanders' call for revolution sound entirely sane and reasonable by comparison.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I have my suspicions (none / 0) (#56)
    by jondee on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 12:00:01 PM EST
    that Greenwald, like his friend Snowden, is at bottom more of a Reason magazine-libertarian purist than someone who'd be comfortable being associated with the left for any length of time.

    He was pretty bullish on the Iraq invasion, as I recall. Now he's mad that he was lied to and is overcompensating for his previous credulousness.


    Parent

    Something I notice too (none / 0) (#57)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 12:25:18 PM EST
    Is that Edward Snowden knows exactly what tenants and trusts he violated. He didn't kid himself. He knew what structures he was punching through, he knew it would destroy his life as he knew it, but he weighed it all out as something he had to do. And the sort of spying that is going on on all of us, I don't necessarily disagree with Snowden. If every phone call I'm making is being stored, I need to know that. Perhaps Snowden needs to be able to come home and live free sometime in the future?

    Snowden seems to have a kind of peace though. He can even laugh when a joke is on him.

    Greenwald on the other hand lost his bearings. He went from being a coveted voice on all things Unconstitutional to an Anarchist? Someone who strokes Putin and kicks Obama?

    I remember being a little stunned that Greenwald made some of his first internet dollars in shock porn. And when confronted about that had a very Libertarian argument as to why what he did was okay....he didnt force anyone. But he posted some bombastic sh!t on Twitter about clenis hipocracy not long ago and I had to tape my fingers down. The middle one and my hen pecking one especially. Just walk away from the Greenwald Twitter.

    Parent

    I can't deal with tracking the alt right (none / 0) (#54)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:53:51 AM EST
    I get too emotional about it.

    One of the things Josh talked about the other night was the alt-right YouTube debate platform they've built. He said on the way home he felt that he wanted to study more and participate more in debate in college because Democrats are losing and losing and losing in this realm for lack of skills.

    I didnt say anything then, but I did think to myself that debate study wasn't all that punchy. Now we've been rolled on DACA? We were losing public support yet most Americans want Dreamers secured? I guess Josh is right. And it was Greenwald's initial focus and Glenn Greenwald did once swing a big stick.

    Josh is a crappy millennial though, he can't be right :)

    Parent

    For all the right's protestations... (none / 0) (#59)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    ...  to the contrary, the U.S. media has long tended to list to starboard. Our problems on the left are rooted in our own longstanding failure to create and carve out a corresponding media presence for ourselves. We have next to nothing to effectively counteract the corrosive presence of Fox News and AM squawk radio in the national dialogue.

    Parent
    True (none / 0) (#63)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:36:43 PM EST
    And why not?

    I know Ruffian is committed to supporting Dailykos radio. In the course of a day I forget to listen.

    Parent

    No one has been wiling to fund (none / 0) (#91)
    by ruffian on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:45:47 AM EST
    such a platform while it loses money until it catches on, if ever. Where is our Murdoch?

    I think the podcast world is where it is at right now, but that is very fragmented. No one is listening to the same thing at the same time, like they watch Fox News all day.

    But I do think truth wins out in the long run. That is where my hopes lie

    Parent

    Well, the truth came out about Ethel Rosenberg. (5.00 / 1) (#101)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 01:45:05 PM EST
    But unfortunately for her and her two then-young sons, that truth finally outed 64 years after the fact.

    Parent
    Chilling! (none / 0) (#106)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 02:58:40 PM EST


    Parent
    Everyone who opposes capital punishment ... (5.00 / 2) (#145)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 12:20:31 AM EST
    ... ought to bookmark that article.

    Parent
    Oxfam Again Reports (none / 0) (#19)
    by RickyJim on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 06:49:33 PM EST
    'World's richest 1% get 82% of the wealth'

    How much off can they be?  A Trump supporter commented to me (no fooling), "We need more fat cats to create more jobs. Keep it up Trump".

    you buried the lede (5.00 / 3) (#20)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 06:51:57 PM EST
    The three richest Americans have the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the U.S. population. And 82% of the global wealth generated last year went to just 1% of the world's population.


    Parent
    1% controlling 80% of the wealth.. (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by jondee on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 11:42:16 AM EST
    there's your real Deep State.

    They're the ones who supply the bulk of the campaign funds for the elected officials who in turn determine who wields power and influence in this hypothetical other "Deep State" that's supposedly out to get Trump.
     

    Parent

    I read that Tom Steyer is at a carrots and sticks (none / 0) (#64)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 01:45:00 PM EST
    Place too with Democrats and the feet dragging on impeachment, even though if Obama had done ANYTHING that Trump has done some wingnuts would have called for lynching.

    If Republican donors can get that insanity of a tax cut, can't Dem donors get some impeachment possibility on the table? Are they waiting for Mueller? Is waiting for Mueller a necessary requirement?

    Parent

    Baby Doc and Baby Don (none / 0) (#21)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jan 22, 2018 at 06:54:26 PM EST

    Haiti Accuses Trump of Laundering Money for Former Dictator 'Baby Doc' Duvalier
    Records show his condos were purchased through shell companies linked to the brutal despot.

    I hope you are on your feet and well soon Jeralyn (none / 0) (#28)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 07:04:53 AM EST
    Doesn't sound like it was fun at all

    SITE VILOOLATORS Trolls and bots are swarming (none / 0) (#35)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jan 23, 2018 at 10:05:59 AM EST
    Check the recent comments list.

    It's all old threads.

    I think I got them all (none / 0) (#151)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 03:33:13 AM EST
    there sure were a lot

    Parent
    Tammy Duckworth is Pregnant (none / 0) (#87)
    by CST on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:02:19 AM EST
    I desperately want this woman to run for president.  She's already shown her ability to deftly take down a racist in her senate race.  She might give cadet bone spurs a stroke.

    Did you know (5.00 / 2) (#98)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:48:11 AM EST
    ...that in the 230 year history of our country, no sitting Senator has ever given birth?

    Parent
    Not a fan of the nickname (1.00 / 5) (#131)
    by linea on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 08:13:28 PM EST
    There is a long list of legitimate reasons to mock and criticize Donald Trump - getting a deferment from the Vietnam War isn't one of them. No one my age considers anyone who avoided that war to be less patriotic or less of an American.

    Parent
    He got 5 deferments, not "a" deferment, (5.00 / 4) (#133)
    by Anne on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 08:38:01 PM EST
    and he got them for a fairly bogus reason, given his claims to have been a great athlete.

    But he doesn't seem particularly opposed to war and military conflict.  Doesn't seem concerned about making nuclear threats.

    So, as the wife of someone who didn't get any deferments and thus spent 13 months in Vietnam, I can only say that I don't particularly question Trump's patriotism, but I do find him to be lacking in courage, hypocritical in the extreme, and blind to the irony of believing himself to be too good - and too rich and too privileged - to have to fight a war and risk his life, "growing up" to be a bully and flirting with war and being willing to send other people's family members into harm's way.

    I will leave you with Tammy Duckworth's message to the Commander in Chief:

    "I spent my entire adult life looking out for the well-being, the training, the equipping of the troops for whom I was responsible," she continued. "Sadly, this is something that the current occupant of the Oval Office does not seem to care to do -- and I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger."

    "And I have a message for cadet bone spurs: If you cared about our military, you'd stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops, and millions of innocent civilians, in danger."

    "Cadet bone spurs" is a moniker he earned.

    Parent

    I spent the better part of six years of my (5.00 / 2) (#135)
    by Peter G on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 09:18:37 PM EST
    young life (from 1968 through 1973) helping men of my generation avoid being drafted for the War in Vietnam. Never other than honestly, and mostly by knowing the rules of the Selective Service System better than the draft board members and staff did. Never dishonestly. I do not condemn anyone for wanting to have nothing to do with that war. But I do not condone those who sought personal advantage dishonestly and not at all for reasons of principle, as appears to be the case with Tr*mp.

    Parent
    My late father's younger brother, ... (5.00 / 3) (#195)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 09:40:54 PM EST
    ... who was 19 years old at the time, received his induction notice in the mail in Illinois, while he was in Washington, D.C. attending my father's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Thankfully, although he was eventually sent to Vietnam in the fall of 1965, he worked in the U.S. Army supply depots at Cam Ranh Bay, which was a rear echelon position.

    The Vietnam War was a total clusterphuque, from beginning to end. There was a great comment from Joy Behar on "The View" the other day, in which she chastised Megyn Kelly for her noxious comments about Jane Fonda:

    "And also, why are people more angry with Fonda about the Vietnam War, than they are with Nixon and LBJ and people who lied about the war, and who sent boys as cannon fodder to that unjust and filthy war? It amazes me how you can focus on Jane Fonda!"

    Jane Fonda long ago copped publicly to the fact that she had made a big mistake by going to Hanoi in 1972, she acknowledged that her impetuous decision will follow and haunt her for the rest of her life, and she's apologized repeatedly to veterans for what she did and said.

    But Ms. Fonda wasn't the one who put our young men in harm's way. The people who were responsible for Vietnam quagmire were those political and military leaders of ours who lied for years about the reasons for our involvement there.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I won the lottery (none / 0) (#149)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 01:30:40 AM EST
    But had told my family I was not going and they should get right with that long before the lottery happened.

    I considered going to Canada but was leaning toward telling theming was gay.

    I would not have gone.  I know that.  I think I would have gone to a war I thought was really for the protection of my country.  Viet nam was clearly not that.

    That said, I had sooooo many friends go and saw what it did to them I would never disrespect those who went.

    Parent

    the lottery was one of (5.00 / 1) (#152)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 03:58:39 AM EST
    the worst experiences ever. I remember I was living in a house in Ann Arbor with 5 guys, and we all sat by the TV waiting for numbers to be called. One of the group got a really low number and just walked outside, I felt so badly for him.  I also remember the march in Washington on November 15, 1969. It was so awesome go to that, and see the buses lined up for blocks all with a different college name on it. No internet, just bulletin boards in campus cafeterias and dorms, and 500,000 came to D.C.

    Parent
    It was (none / 0) (#159)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:24:53 AM EST
    It really was. Even for the "winners".

    It was hard to face my friends who were going.  

    Very bad time.

    Parent

    With six brothers (none / 0) (#186)
    by Towanda on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:12:35 PM EST
    including four of them eligible for the draft on that first lottery -- including twins, so two could be called up for the same birthdate -- that remains a horrible memory.

    I wasn't home that night, but I was on the phone with my family.  I also was away at another campus, Harvard, stopping in to see a friend of my oldest brother and watched, with many of his friends, in a Harvard dorm.

    My brother's friend was a big guy, who had qualified for the Olympics in shotput. But that dream died, too, because he was so angry during the lottery, when one of his friends' birthdates was called early in the lottery, that my brother's friend slammed a wall . . . and, big as he was, his hand went through the wall.  He broke the hand, and it never was the same, so there went the Olympics.

    At least he didn't get drafted.  He graduated, did grad school, lived a good life.

    But dozens of guys from my high school did get drafted, as did a cousin of mine, and many died.  Even at only our fifth reunion, at the age of 22, you don't expect to see so many names on the "in memoriam" list.

    Parent

    ME TOO (none / 0) (#155)
    by jmacWA on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:01:12 AM EST
    #286

    Parent
    I drew #327, as I recall (none / 0) (#184)
    by Peter G on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:09:34 PM EST
    Promptly abandoned my student deferment and asked the draft board to rule on my conscientious objector application. Which I knew they would not, as my number was never going to come up that year (1969). No one got drafted with a number higher than 120 or something like that. After my year of "exposure" was over, I was free of the threat. I continued, however, to work as a draft counselor for other guys for another four years or so. When people asked me later how I fared under the draft, I used to say "I had an astrological deferment."

    Parent
    I don't remember the exact number (none / 0) (#187)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:30:54 PM EST
    It was in the 300s

    I've always said I won the lottery the only time it really mattered

    Parent

    Better not read Born to Run. (none / 0) (#178)
    by oculus on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 05:32:48 PM EST


    Parent
    I won a "lottery" of sorts (5.00 / 2) (#164)
    by Repack Rider on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 10:41:32 AM EST
    February 15 will mark 50 years since the day I took off the uniform for the last time.

    I was drafted in 1966, assuming I would be handed a rifle.  Instead I was handed a series of aptitude tests, which happen to be my precise aptitude.  I have always been in the top 1% of people taking such tests. My score on those tests got me a very safe gig.

    I was assigned to one of the most complicated MOS specialties the military has to offer, medical laboratory technician (MOS 92B10).  That involved ten months of training, out of my two year obligation.

    By the time I was out of training, I only had 14 months to go. Then through a typo on a set of orders, I was mistakenly sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Since a Vietnam tour was 13 months, I figured if they didn't find me inside a month, I would skate.

    And I did.  Finished my service in Arizona.

    Despite the fact that I am a hippie through and through, I was never disciplined and reached the highest rank possible in two years, E5.  During the Vietnam era it was possible to make E5 in a couple of years, but now you can expect three to four years to make that rank.

    So in my metaphoric pocket I have an Honorable Discharge at a respectable rank, which is powerful ammunition these days in political arguments with conservatives, because almost no one in the current generation has served.

    I point out to my conservative interlocutors that I earned the right to my far left opinions, but I will defend the First Amendment rights of a conservative to hate the country that grants that right.

    Freedom.

    (A lot of my HS classmates from the Class of 1963 served in Vietnam, but none was killed there. After completing a tour, one of my classmates went fishing and was killed when he was swept off a rock by a wave.)

    Parent

    My husband's luck was in contracting a (none / 0) (#167)
    by Anne on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 11:35:30 AM EST
    serious staph or strep infection 3 months after he got to Vietnam, which sent him to the hospital in Chu Lai, for what turned out to be a long recovery - and from there, he got assigned to office work on the base there for the duration of his tour.

    He actually enlisted in the Army, because everyone he knew from his area who got drafted ended up in the Marines, and he knew that would not go well for him.  As it was, he got busted a rank when, after his sergeant told him to "Git!," he hopped up on a table and started to howl, because if he was going to be talked to as if he was a dog, he was going to act like one.  His approach was not appreciated.

    I didn't know him then - we didn't meet until 1978 - but the fact that he survived the Army was at least as impressive as his having survived Vietnam (the day they helicoptered him to his unit, they were running from a jungle fire).

    Parent

    none of my three brothers was drafted (none / 0) (#174)
    by leap on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 03:16:27 PM EST
    My older brother had a deferment because he was married, in graduate school, and had one child. My younger brother had/has a degenerative hip disease, diagnosed when was in kindergarten, and was on crutches for years. My oldest was a felon because he'd been busted three times for possession of weed. Ahhh, the '60s.

    So all were lucky, in a weird way. And me? Hey, girls are delicate flowers, dontcha know.

    Parent

    You have completely missed the context. (5.00 / 2) (#134)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 08:49:58 PM EST
    Consider his degradation of McCain. He dissed a POW from that war yet took a cowards way out of it. Same with "blood and guts" super macho gun freak Ted Nugent. Another blowhard who avoided the draft. As a Boy Scout in Yokosuka, Japan during Vietnam, I took wounded Marines and sailors to the chapel on Sundays but I in no way supported the war. In hindsight, older and wiser, I realize what a complete BS clusterf*** it really was. But I will never insult any of the men or women who did go. Especially not a POW who had both his arms broken. Too bad you don't like it, but cadet bone spur is being nice.

    Parent
    Well considering he called (5.00 / 2) (#161)
    by CST on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 08:02:19 AM EST
    Avoiding STDs in prep school his own "personal Vietnam" and that he prefers soldiers who "weren't captured"... I'll save my concern for someone who deserves it.

    It's the chickenhawk phenomenon - and the important thing to remember about that term is that the second half is the important half.  I would never think less of someone who sought a deferment.  But people who seem gleeful about the ability to send others into harms way - while personally doing everything they could to avoid that harm themselves?  And then comparing prep school to war, and insulting those who did serve? Utterly despicable.

    Parent

    I just heard Trump's new Mueller comments (none / 0) (#122)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 06:28:33 PM EST
    CNN then had 4 pundits who said this was great PR for Trump.

    Did I hear a different guy than they did? He sounded like a school bully who assaulted someone and was just told the police are on their way. "Yeah, I can't wait for them to get here. My dad's gonna sue them!"

    How does anyone take anything he says (5.00 / 1) (#124)
    by Anne on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:17:40 PM EST
    as being truthful?  Do these CNN folks not understand that tomorrow he will probably tweet something completely different?  Which will be different from whatever he says the day after that?

    "No collusion."  "No obstruction."

    R-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght...that's the ticket.

    What's going to be Trump's downfall is he still believes he's the smartest person in the room.  Which might be true if he's the only person in the room, but otherwise...not so much.  I don't think he has any idea, or any appreciation for, just what he's going up against in Mueller.

    Parent

    I can see Trump (none / 0) (#126)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:22:39 PM EST
    Really wanting to do it BECAUSE he thinks he's the smartest person in the room.

    Heard some interesting talk today speculating all the focus on obstruction, which is famously hard to prove and might lead Trump to imagine he can BS his way thru it, was really a head fake to get him in a room and nail him on conspiracy and/or money laundering.

    Parent

    Mueller could spot (none / 0) (#127)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:26:44 PM EST
    Trump the first three moves and still beat him at tic-tac-toe.

    I'm betting against the appearance. Trump's lawyers have to be opposed, but he might have a wee P.R. problem if he pleads the Fifth.

    It is now incumbent upon Mueller to taunt Trump on Twitter if he starts talking about backing out, to make sure he will overrule his attorneys.

    Parent

    It is hard to imagine (none / 0) (#129)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:32:19 PM EST


    Parent
    Maybe (none / 0) (#130)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 08:03:42 PM EST
    Mueller has hired Hillary's psychologist and a few choice words and Trump will be spewing all kinds of stuff.

    Parent
    And he still can't stop saying Hillary (none / 0) (#140)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 10:11:15 PM EST
    She's never been President of the United States. What does she have to do with anything President Trump? NOTHING

    Parent
    Nassar found guilty (none / 0) (#123)
    by McBain on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:13:03 PM EST
    Link
    As she sentenced Larry Nassar up to 175 years in prison for sexual assault, Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina ripped into the former USA Gymnastics doctor. "I just signed your death warrant," she said.
    More than 150 women came forward during his sentencing hearing to tell their stories of Nassar's abuse.

    I didn't follow this case much at all but I wonder if a judge should say things like this...

    "It is my privilege -- on counts 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 and 18 and 24 -- to sentence you to 40 years.
    Why not? (5.00 / 1) (#125)
    by Repack Rider on Wed Jan 24, 2018 at 07:22:10 PM EST
    I watched it live, and she went on at some length regarding what scum the defendant was.  She gave him a world-class scolding -- and 175 years to think about it.

    How do YOU address sadistic perverts that you are about to put behind bars for the rest of their life.  What normal person wouldn't be overjoyed at the power to take this useless individual off the streets?

    Part of the reason for her anger was his self-serving six page letter to the court in which AFTER being convicted, he denied any responsibility.  The judge had the last word on THAT.

    Parent

    I think its abnormal (5.00 / 1) (#154)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 04:20:26 AM EST
    for a judge to consider it an honor or privilege to be sentencing someone to life in prison. Sentencing is not a joyous occasion, no matter how heinous the crime or the offender.

    Parent
    I don't know...if I had sat and listened (5.00 / 1) (#157)
    by Anne on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:08:18 AM EST
    to one victim after another describe her experience, the lasting effects of the abuse, seen and heard the pain of these young women - 158 of them - I might not necessarily consider it an honor or a privilege to hand down a sentence that would keep someone like Nassar in prison for life, but I might feel a sense of justice being served, and been glad to be the one who got to close the prison doors on Nassar.

    It's hard to associate "joy" with anything about the Nassar case, especially not after seeing and hearing directly from his victims the consequences of Nassar's actions. Nassar's own letter to the court didn't leave room for anyone to feel even a twinge of sympathy or compassion.

    Nassar's long history of abuse isn't just an indictment of him, it's an indictment of all those who had the power to stop him.  It's an indictment of the institutional failure that enabled the abuse to continue for as long as it did.

    Whatever pain and sadness there is in the realization that someone's actions will render him a prisoner for life, I think it's fair to acknowledge the relief and yes, maybe even a little joy, at knowing this man will not only never abuse another young girl/woman again, he will never be able to reach or impose himself on his many victims.

    Parent

    Agreed, Jeralyn. (none / 0) (#196)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 09:48:23 PM EST
    Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's extraneous remarks, directed as they were toward the defendant, were gratuitous and over the top. I don't disagree at all with the sentence she handed down to Dr. Nasser. He deserves it. But she showed very poor form in what I saw as "rubbing it in." I don't care how outraged she was at his crimes. I thought it was unprofessional.

    Parent
    Judge Aquilina also said this... (5.00 / 1) (#165)
    by McBain on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 10:49:45 AM EST
    Link

    "Our Constitution does not allow for cruel and unusual punishment. If it did, I have to say, I might allow what he [Nassar] did to all of these beautiful souls--these young women in their childhood -- I would allow someone or many people to do to him what he did to others."

    I tend to agree with the opinion of Jenna Ellis, who wrote the article linked above...

    It is never appropriate for a judge to suggest and display such personal animus, or suggest that but for a constitutional restraint, a judge would herself desire to allow criminal acts of violence and assault against a defendant she is required to administer legitimate justice toward.

    I wonder if this will be grounds for some kind of appeal?

    Parent

    Doubtful. Nasser pleaded guilty (none / 0) (#172)
    by Towanda on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 03:02:14 PM EST
    and the sentencing was commensurate with the law. And in his plea agreement, he also agreed to the victims giving their statements. Only after the first day did he weasel, writing the court to give him permission to not attend. Uhhhhh, no.

    As for those who question the judge's comments, I have seen far worse in traffic court. . . .

    And you may have missed the context. Go read Nasaar's letter to the court -- at least the parts that she read, as she said that she would not read other parts that slurred the victims.

    Nassar showed no remorse. Indeed, he criticized the judicial syste, the DA, the judge. That invites a judge to give a good smackdown, every time. And the judge, at that stage, represents society -- and tells such weasels what society thinks of them, why we have laws to put his like behind bars for a long time.

    Parent

    From the perspective of a former (5.00 / 1) (#180)
    by oculus on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 05:36:54 PM EST
    prosecutor, I think the judge overstepped. Not in the sentence she imposed. In her autobiographical comments.

    Parent
    From a very long Facebook post: (none / 0) (#188)
    by Anne on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:28:19 PM EST
    I see a lot of non-lawyers like Graeme Wood at The Atlantic (and other publications), as well as non-lawyers on social media criticizing Judge Aquilina's sentencing of Larry Nassar for being partial. As a real-world lawyer with nearly a decade of experience in appealing convictions, I'd like to undo some of the widespread confusion I'm seeing over a judge's role in the criminal justice system. Please note that I will only be discussing a judge's role in the context of a jury trial, even though here the defendant conceded guilt, since the jury trial is the format most people are familiar with.

    The average person rightly expects judges to be fair-minded and nonpartisan, however, judges are only neutrals from the inception of the case to the moment the judge accepts the jury's verdict. Once a jury has found a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, unless the judge has concerns over juror bias, believes that no reasonable jury could have reached the given verdict, or receives evidence of a procedural defect requiring her to set aside the verdict, the case moves on to sentencing. At sentencing, the judge's role shifts from disinterested to interested in order to effectuate the will of "the People."

    Here, Nassar conceded guilt, which had the same effect as conviction by jury insofar as Aquilina's role before the plea was to be disinterested and her role after the plea was to sentence Nassar in accordance with the will of "the People."

    [...]

    Sentencing guidelines in each jurisdiction take into account aggravating factors, such as victim impact and repeat offenses, and mitigating factors, such as impact on the defendant's family, the defendant's sincere remorse, the defendant's mental or physical illness, etc. The aggravating factors tend to reflect the people's belief that certain factors merit a more harsh sentence for the defendant, while the mitigating factors adjust a sentence downward because the people believe that certain reasons justify leniency.

    Regardless of whether a sentence is adjusted to be more severe or less severe, the judge's role at sentencing is to impose the will of the people. This means she speaks for the people -- including the victim -- giving voice to their shock, indignation, and outrage at the crime for which the defendant has been convicted.

    Judges are supposed to express empathy for victims. They are supposed to make a public statement justifying why the punishment fits the crime.

    [...]

    Once they're found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt as the result of a fair process or plead guilty as the result of a fair process, they're supposed to be sentenced according to the will of the people by a judge who considers the impact of the crime on the victim.

    Larry Nasser got ALL of that. Then Judge Aquilina did everything she was supposed to do by sentencing him to 175 years in prison.

    [...]

    TL;DR: Aquilina did her job precisely as she was supposed to. There's no concern that her speech during sentencing compromised Nassar's trial because he pleaded guilty. There was no jury for Aquilina to influence.

    Just another perspective, for whatever it's worth.

    Parent

    The quoted perspective is not correct (5.00 / 2) (#194)
    by Peter G on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 09:25:18 PM EST
    Not at all. Yes, a sentence is imposed from the perspective of accepting the defendant's proven or conceded guilt. And yes, it must take into account any aggravating or mitigating factors that are established by the parties. But the sentence is an expression of law, not of "the will of the People," at least not in the sense of the preferences of the mob. The sentence is a "judgment" in the formal legal sense and in the ordinary sense of the word as well. The judge is carrying out the law of the jurisdiction in imposing sentence, and should take no pleasure (and certainly should not express pleasure) in imposing punishment, however well deserved, on a fellow human. Nor is there any place for a judge to express the personal opinion that she would prefer to impose an unlawful or unconstitutional punishment, as this judge did.

    Parent
    Thanks for weighing in on this, Peter - (none / 0) (#203)
    by Anne on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 05:44:33 AM EST
    someone offered this up to me after I opined that I thought the judge should have handed down the sentence and allowed the very powerful victim impact statements to speak for themselves, and it just seemed kind of off to me.

    If nothing else, it takes away from the perception I think we want to have and believe - that judges are there as arbiters of the law, and it isn't personal.  Yes, I know even judges are human, and many do seem to skate close to the line - and heaven knows it had to have taken a toll listening to all those statements from victims - but in a way, I felt like the judge's comments took away from, rather than reinforced, the statements from the victims.  

    I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't want judges to be representative of the mob, not least because sometimes the mob gets it wrong.

    Parent

    Perhaps his sentece was appropriate (none / 0) (#175)
    by McBain on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 04:09:21 PM EST
    but Aquilina's comments came across more like social justice than legal justice.

    Nassar showed no remorse

    I'm not a big fan of the "he didn't act right" justification.

    Parent
    "Secret Society" (none / 0) (#150)
    by MKS on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 01:38:54 AM EST
    That term was found in the text messages of two FBI agents.  Something about a meeting of the Secret Society.  So, it is evidence of the Deep State according to Fox.

    Let's see, two lovers refer to a "Secret Society."   What could that possibly mean?

    These Fox people really have no imagination.

    First rule (5.00 / 2) (#162)
    by Repack Rider on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 10:21:33 AM EST
    ... of a Secret Society is don't call it a Secret Society when you talk about it.

    Second rule is that if you talk about it, it isn't a Secret Society.

    Parent

    Speaking of the Secret Society, ... (none / 0) (#202)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 02:01:47 AM EST
    ... weren't we supposed to reschedule last week's meeting? I mean, we're already behind schedule in planning for the Deep State's overthrow of the-- D'OH!! I'm sorry, I spilled the beans! Head for the hills, everybody!

    Parent
    That whole (none / 0) (#156)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:53:41 AM EST
    "secret society" thing brought peals of laughter and tons of snark all across twitter.

    Parent
    Listening to someone like (5.00 / 2) (#158)
    by Anne on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:11:06 AM EST
    Ron Johnson makes me wonder how it is we ended up with so many Senators and Representatives of such limited intelligence.

    It's embarrassing, really.

    Parent

    Ya gotta go back (5.00 / 1) (#171)
    by Towanda on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 02:51:51 PM EST
    to his first campaign and find out why we called him Senator Sunspots. . . . He was crazy then, too.

    But this is what happens whn the national Dems do not listen. Remember, that campaign was against Feingold -- and big Koch money in Wisconsin for Walker and Johnson. we begged the DNC for help. We were told that Wisconsinis a progressive state, so Feingold would win. We said that was a myth, even a century ago. . . .

    We finally did get the DNC aka Debbie Wasserman Schuktz -- Biden's pick for DNC -- to come to Wisconsin. But she did not being funding. Instead, she raised funds . . .  for other states.

    Parent

    They're stupid but dangerous. (none / 0) (#163)
    by desertswine on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 10:39:31 AM EST


    Parent
    Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens snubbed (none / 0) (#170)
    by McBain on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 02:12:10 PM EST
    by baseball's hall of fame again.

    For the sixth year in a row, baseball's home run king and a seven-time Cy Young winner have both been refused entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Neither Barry Bonds, the second-greatest hitter of all-time by fWAR, nor Roger Clemens, the best pitcher ever by that same stat, cleared the 75 percent vote threshold required by the BBWAA for induction into the Hall. Clemens got 57.3 percent, while Bonds received 56.4 percent.

    There are some good arguments why both should be in the hall of fame but every year I root against them making the cut. Call me petty. Call me a hater.  I'm just being honest.  They cheated and repeatedly lied about it.

    Yes, I know other cheaters have been voted in, I don't care.  Maybe some day I'll change my mind but not yet. I'm perfectly capable of acknowledging how great they were without a Cooperstown ceremony.


    We are pretty happy here in my part of Illinois (none / 0) (#185)
    by caseyOR on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 06:10:10 PM EST
    that local boy Jim Thome was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday.

    A great ball player and an all-around nice guy.

    Parent

    Seattle Mariners' DH Edgar Martinez ... (none / 0) (#198)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 10:31:52 PM EST
    ... also failed to gain election. I heard one sports pundit on the radio argue that he needed to have had better postseason success if he wanted to convince voters.

    Apparently, that pundit didn't remember Martinez's game-winning grand slam home run in Game 4 of the 1995 ALDS against the New York Yankees. (He had 7 RBIs that day.)

    Nor did he recall Martinez's walk-off, game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the 11th inning in the decisive Game 5 of that same series, the very next day. That particular hit is remembered to this day in Seattle lore, and is known simply as "The Double."

    Edgar Martinez was a one-man wrecking crew against the Yankees those last two games of the '95 ALDS. Clearly, we need better sports pundits.

    With

    Parent

    THE ALIENIST (none / 0) (#189)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 07:47:14 PM EST
    New series Monday's on TNT.  
    The reviews are mixed but I just watched the premier on the app and I'm definitely hooked.

    Sort of a mash up of HANNIBAL, TRUE DETECTIVE and UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS.

    Beautifully done and well acted.

    For me worth the time just for the social subtext.  A serial killer of young male prostitutes.

    Haven't seen it yet (none / 0) (#192)
    by Chuck0 on Thu Jan 25, 2018 at 08:20:19 PM EST
    but listened to the book on tape back in my truck driving days. I remember I quite liked it.

    Parent
    Will Trump face the Davos walkout (none / 0) (#205)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 06:13:28 AM EST
    While also dealing with the revelation that he tried to fire Mueller in June? Based on his past behavior this is all too much rejection for him to remain functional through.

    Been reading recently about Lenny Pozner (none / 0) (#207)
    by jondee on Fri Jan 26, 2018 at 12:05:43 PM EST
    and the ongoing harassment and threats he's been subjected to from Trump's Sandy Hook truther base. As if the man hadn't been subjected to enough already.

    And even after repeated requests in writing from the Sandy Hook families, the subhuman-in-chief still refuses to publicly denounce these irretrievably vile cretins who are being goaded on by the likes of Trump buddies Scott Baio and Alex Jones.

    Below the gutter is the sewer. That's truly the level that the every Republican complicit with this sh*t show has sunk to.

    There's a new open thread up (none / 0) (#208)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Jan 28, 2018 at 10:48:17 AM EST
    This one is closing. Thanks all for your patience.

    Monday Open Thread | 200 comments (200 topical)