Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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On Thursday night in Castle Rock, Colorado, a group called “FEC United” (FEC stands for faith, education, and commerce) held a “town hall” meeting that featured a potpourri of GOP candidates and election conspiracy theorists. Most notably, the event included John Eastman, the Claremont scholar who authored the notorious legal memos that purported to justify the decertification and reversal of the 2020 election results.
During the meeting, a man named Shawn Smith accused Colorado secretary of state Jena Griswold of election misconduct. “You know, if you’re involved in election fraud, then you deserve to hang,” he said. “Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.”
The moment, almost entirely ignored by the national media, is worth noting on its own terms, but perhaps the most ominous aspect of the evening was its location—a church called The Rock.
If you think it’s remotely unusual that a truly extremist event (which included more than one person who’d called for hanging his political opponents) was held at a church, then you’re not familiar with far-right road shows that are stoking extremism in church after church at event after event.
French goes on:
So we have to be careful. When dealing with a potentially insurrectionary subculture, it’s important to separate it from the population. Wrongly tie them to the mainstream, and members of the mainstream may wrongly see the insurrectionists as allies.
But underreaction can be dangerous too. We know that fanatical religious subcultures can do an immense amount of damage to the body politic. We know that they can be both deadly and destabilizing. A Christian political movement that’s so focused on the threat from the left can often unwittingly facilitate the rise of radicals, through sins of both commission and omission.
I think the politicians and mainstreamers are afraid to tackle this subject. But we need to.
As Sinclair Lewis probably did not say: “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
A shop supervisor back in college told of working in a shop, and a guy missed with the nail gun and shot an 8d sinker through his finger. Boss rushes him off to the ER, and the doctor who comes to treat him just stares for a while, then looks at the carpenter and asks “Why didn’t you stop hammering?”
April may be the cruelest month, but February straight up sucks. This is the “news” that was broken by local reporter Kevin Killeen of St Louis’s KMOX, in a 2016 video segment declaring February “an honest month” because it is one that “doesn’t hold up life any better than it really is”.
The segment mixes Killeen’s straight-faced, deadpan local news delivery with an almost avant garde absurdity. At one point, Killeen stands atop a parking garage in St Louis, gesturing at the dark office buildings behind him and says, “Something great happened here but it’s over with.” In a voiceover describing images of the city’s downtown, he declares, “This looks like a place where people who are being punished are sent.”
When the camera cuts to a shot of bare trees against a gray sky, things get a bit weird – and existential. “The trees that once cheered us, they’re hard to look at this month,” he intones. “It’s as if there is some awful truth out there in the trees. It’s hiding in the branches. Look at them. Something that’s been bothering you for a long time is out there. What is it? You can almost see the shape of it when all the color is gone and life is stripped down to the starkness of February.”
In my opinion March is the worst month. It can snow one day and rain the next, never quite warm but never really cold, just a slippery chilly muddy mess. April is right around the corner with it’s dogwood and redbud blossoms, spring beauties and trout lilies covering the ground and morel mushrooms to be savored. If only you can get thru March.
@OzarkHillbilly: Just March? I think the whole Midwest has awful winter weather. I spent 5 years in Dayton, Ohio. From Nov to Mar along the I-70 corridor was weather that was 33 degrees and drizzle. Gray skies, gray ground, gray people. No wonder I self medicated.
The, February is the worst month, meme is ripping through newspapers and TV stations. A couple of weeks ago it was a feature on the Boston Globe website. But it is true, February is awful. But given how miserable March, April and May can be in the northeast, February is still only winter, so the weather should be expected. (he types, watching snow flakes fall)
@Just nutha ignint cracker: February is colder than March here, far colder, but March isn’t warm except for a day here and there, it’s just blech! I prefer an honest winter’s day than something that isn’t winter any more but not quite spring either.
@Scott: I live in the state of Misery. We come by our name honestly.
I much preferred spring in Minnesota to NH. And come to think of it, why is someone in StL complaining about February? When I was there, I looked for the green shoots of my crocuses and tulips around now.
Yesterday’s forum included a discussion of home shops with Mu teasing us with pictures of his. Below are links to my shop. I’m in the assembly stage of an Adirondack chair project, the first chair is in the background complete but for the arms that need to wait till I get them out of the basement to install. The second is on the bench top. The chairs are made of quarter sawn white oak, finished with oil and held together with brass, slotted head screws that fussily have the slots in alignment.
True, but I won’t see them here for a month and that only means that the remainder of March and April will be mostly damp and cold or wet and cold. They may bloom for Mother’s Day.
Last week , Saturday or Sunday, we got some very unseasonal rain while the Sun was out. I rushed to a window facing opposite from the Sun, and sure enough there was a rainbow against the gray overcast skies.
Not a great rainbow, mind. There was no secondary bow. But it’s something.
I’m fortunate with that, the full basement is ~1100 sq ft and I’ve taken over perhaps a 1/3 plus wall space where I have storage shelving. In the pic that has the band saw on the left, behind me there is a lumber rack, a small particle air filter and a 1938 Sears table saw that I need to get running again, it needs a capacitor in the motor. That I’ll use either as a disk sander or leave set up for cross cutting, so I won’t need to change blades as frequently on the primary table saw.
edit: My only limitation with space is width, as I only have about 7′ on either side of the table saw blade. That occasionally has been a problem that required moving things around to cross cut long boards, i.e. baseboard etc.
@Sleeping Dog: The Adirondack chairs sound wonderful. You gotta love a piece of furniture whose design requirements are simply, “perfect chair for sitting on the edge of a lake with a hot or cold drink”.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Breaking: Conservative Governors across the country are signing Executive Orders prohibiting the teaching of the Super Bowl Halftime show in schools.
@OzarkHillbilly:
March here is a teaser. Spring days keep getting dropped in to make you think winter is over. As one wag put it, “Front Range people really love the first day of spring, so they have it over and over.”
Over the last 30 years April has become snowier, but alternating with nice weather. I’ve taken to describing it as, “Shovel the driveway, mow the grass. Shovel the driveway, mow the grass.”
May is a crap-shoot. Anything from thunderstorms to the occasional Mother’s Day blizzard to absolutely gorgeous.
One of my dreams is to file a Motion/Response/Reply as a pdf just absolutely filled to the brim with gifs. I’m pretty burned out being a litigator and I’d like to use that to be my final, fiery, exit.
While some of the donors did not provide their names—such as the person behind the current top donation of $215,000—the vast majority did provide them, including American software billionaire Thomas Siebel, who donated $90,000 to the “freedom convoy.”
Also included in the leaked data were the messages that some donors posted alongside their donations. The messages contained over 13,000 references to “God” or “Jesus” as well as thousands of references to “tyranny.”
While most of the users’ messages were relatively benign, there are a number of more troubling posts, like this from one user: “I look forward to the day you tyrants are swinging from a noose.”
Other messages flagged by Monmouth University extremism researcher Sara Aniano—and verified by VICE News—included: “We have 2A here in America send your mounties and see what happens,” “CABAL PIGLETS ARE CORRUPT CRIMINALS WHO NEED SEVERE PUNISHMENT UNDER LAW,” and “Death to all liberal traitors.”
I mean, it’s pretty similar… Just updated for contemporary times. I did just get an Amended Complaint from an opposing counsel. I can see that I really got under their skin by getting their last complaint dismissed entirely. They went overboard on this one. A couple of well placed, cutting gifs would probably push them over as well. I love being an attorney, but I really hate this part of it. lol.
Basements
Fifty three years ago when I was allegedly attending classes at Sleepytown U, I moved into a two bedroom rental house in town with three roommates. The house was in a neighborhood that was some student rentals but mostly single family homes. Our next door neighbors were a retired Illinois Central Railroad employee and his wife Harvey and Golda Drew. Harvey was an outgoing fellow who not only did not mind that his neighbors were long haired, dope smoking hippie freak college students I think he enjoyed it. He would even mow our lawn for us on occasion and when we offered to pay him he just smiled and said “no thanks”.
The Drew’s house was older but well kept up and by my very rough estimate was maybe 1000 sq. ft. One day not long after we met he invited me to see his basement.
“I dug it out by hand.” he said.
I had to see this. It was not a crawl space. I went down the steps to a full basement with a solid concrete floor and at least 7 ft clearance. It was wired for electricity. There were basement windows.
I know he told me how long it took him to dig it out with a shovel and remove the dirt with 5 gallon buckets but I can’t remember what he said. We were neighbors for the three years that I stayed at the address next door to his.
Years later I would drive down that street every now and then most likely when I was running a trouble ticket for the local landline telephone company. Other times just to see my old house. Don’t remember when but one time the windows were all boarded up at Harvey and Golda’s place next door.
Then one day a few years ago I drove down the street and their home was gone. The basement that Harvey Drew hand dug was filled in. It was an empty lot.
Damn. I said to myself. I sure am glad Harvey didn’t live to see that.
@Mister Bluster: @Flat Earth Luddite: How quickly we forget the story of the kid who won a scholarship to med school that resulted in needing to have his child support extended. If I’ve got it right, both Orygun and Washington have support through 25 in special cases now. (At least that’s what I told the kids in the “don’t have drunken sex on prom nite” sermon I was asked to give to senior classes the 2 years I substituted in that district. And I was so hoping I wouldn’t get called back the second year. 🙁 )
@Sleeping Dog: Needs more clamps. But then don’t we always? I’ve got maybe 50 bar clamps in lengths of 5′ to 6″ and I still find myself coming up 1 or 2 short from time to time.
One never has enough clamps, nor the perfect ones for the job. In total, I have about 18, eight of those are pipe clamp variety of different lengths. Not visible in a far corner are eight, 6′ lengths of pipe for large glue ups. If I ever build a large table top, I’m prepared.
Every now and then I consider building a boat, nothing too large, about 16-18′ that can be built in the garage, but I’d need many more clamps and expensive ones at that.
@Sleeping Dog: A buddy of mine built a cedar canoe. A beautiful piece of work and almost useless in the Ozarks. One might paddle it around a lake but there is no way one would ever put it in one of our chert bottomed streams.
@just nutha:
Hey, you were WAY more likely to be called back for that class than they were to call me back to teach Bible school the second term, remember?
It’s a canoe, not a piece of furniture. You need to think of it as a tool for adventure. It doesn’t matter if it scrapes the creek bottom or bounces off a rock in the rapids that is what it was made for.
I meet people who’ve spent $20-25K on a BMW or KTM adventure motorcycle who won’t go down a dirt road and people who have spent over $50K on a Jeep Rubicon who are afraid to leave the paved roads. Maybe they’ll get a scratch in the paint. Why bother paying for capability if you won’t use it. Posers.
BTW, that tree brush pin striping and rock rash is something that you should be proud of.
I meet people who’ve spent $20-25K on a BMW or KTM adventure motorcycle who won’t go down a dirt road
Ha, not a problem in this household…the common comeback here is “well, it SAYS it’s an Adventure bike so…”
On another topic entirely, the NYT piece on Bob Saget’s autopsy report is how conspiracies are born.
Some neurosurgeons said that it would be unusual for a typical fall to cause Mr. Saget’s set of fractures — to the back, the right side and the front of his skull. Those doctors said that the injuries appeared more reminiscent of ones suffered by people who fall from a considerable height or get thrown from their seat in a car crash.
The autopsy, though, found no injuries to other parts of Mr. Saget’s body, as would be expected in a lengthier fall. The medical examiner ruled that the death was accidental. The local sheriff’s office had previously said there were no signs of foul play.
“This is significant trauma,” said Dr. Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist. “This is something I find with someone with a baseball bat to the head, or who has fallen from 20 or 30 feet.”
Dr. Britz noted that the autopsy described fractures to particularly thick parts of the skull, as well as to bones in the roof of the eye socket. “If you fracture your orbit,” he said, referring to those eye bones, “you have significant pain.”
@Sleeping Dog: This is new–to me at least–when you click on the article, you get a popup that appears dead center on the page declaring that you’ve been SELECTED to receive a special subscription rate (!!!). Most of these ads can be dismissed so that you can at least read the article, but this one will only return you to the article if you subscribe.
And the real beauty of this design is that anywhere you click on the page takes you to the subscription offer. Boston Globe has joined WSJ, FTFNYT, and WAPO as sources of articles it makes no sense to try to read. Well done, gentlemen!
I meet people who’ve spent $20-25K on a BMW or KTM adventure motorcycle who won’t go down a dirt road and people who have spent over $50K on a Jeep Rubicon who are afraid to leave the paved roads. Maybe they’ll get a scratch in the paint. Why bother paying for capability if you won’t use it. Posers.
I had to cut the plastic ends off the front bumper of my Jeep (when I had it) because one of them got smushed all out of shape trying to pull a tree out of the ground. 😀 I had it up in the woods (pulling a trailer) to load it up with wood for the fireplace. I have not clue how many things got strapped to the roof or piled in the back.
And… doing deep into that farmer’s field out away from any lights… The roll bar is nice her to hang on to, but the seatbelt receptacles can dig into the knees a bit. 😉
@Beth:
The entertainment value is what brought me back to working for “all y’all” after I finished chemo and recovery. Frankly, I thought Shatner in Boston Legal really nailed the personality of many attorneys I’ve known here in Puddletown. Watching opposing counsel have a complete melt down leaves me feeling sorry for their staff.
Many people say I’m a sick puppy. It’s likely true. OTOH, I am reformed and rehabilitated.
It should be the most expensive ice cream people will ever have.
It might make more sense on a larger scale, so ice cream stores, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. could freeze their ice cream on the spot, rather than having the sub-zero chain form manufacture to delivery.
I don’t think it would work for supermarkets. People prefer to pick up their goods and foodstuffs packaged. I recall for a while some stores had coffee grinders in the coffee aisle. You picked a package of whole beans and opened it, then fee it to the grinder to be ground to your specification, then poured into the same package. It wasn’t used much.
Palin lost, for now. I guess she and her lawyers will try to find a pro-Trump judge.
Judge dismisses Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times in the middle of jury deliberations.
The judge overseeing Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against the New York Times dismissed it in the middle of jury deliberations.
He ruled that Palin didn’t prove the Times acted with “actual malice,” the standard for defamation against public figures.
Palin is expected to appeal the decision and is considering challenging the “actual malice” standard.
I thought of your hubby as I wrote that. Knowing that not only will he take a late model GS into the dirt, he’ll gladly take a vintage one out there as well.
@Sleeping Dog: I will definitely do so! He is desperate for spring to arrive so he can get out on the bike. Sent me a 10-day weather report today, noting that no snow in the forecast.
A mutual friend of your hubby and I, has the Joneses to do the Northeast Back Road Discovery Route this spring. I’m trying to dissuade him and wait until later in the summer. Those roads will be too muddy and more than likely torn up by 4WD trucks that are out to play.
Even on some of the Class VI roads near your house, I’ve decided the combination of stream crossings, mud and truck tracks had me realizing that discretion should be chosen.
@Sleeping Dog: That is definitely a muddy venture, especially the portion through VT. Hubby was involved in some of the development of that route, and came home with some *spectacularly* filthy gear…
The BDR people have this rated as the 2nd most difficult route of the 10(?) that they’ve created around the country. Noting that depending the road conditions, that is, how wet its been, it can be difficult to near impossible.
In late breaking, “oh my Gawd” news… Gumby is getting rebooted with multiple projects in development after the rights were acquired by Fox.
Gumby is getting the reboot treatment. Per Deadline, Fox has acquired the rights to the classic green character made of clay who first appeared on TV screens in the 1950s. The company will reportedly “reimagine” Gumby with multiple new shows on various linear, digital, and blockchain platforms. Both a new animated series and live-action projects are said to already be in development with Fox in talks with “A-list creatives” to come aboard.
Fox negotiated the deal with the estate of Joseph Clokey, son of creator Art Clokey. The company acquired all rights including film, TV, and streaming, as well as consumer products, licensing, and all other categories. They’ve also picked up the full library of Gumby content, including past animated shows, specials, movies, and other various content. This will be used to expand Tubi’s offerings of Gumby content.
Words fail me. Fortunately, ethanol thinly disguised with tonic never does.
It’s so ridiculous. I think you’re right about Boston Legal. I’ve had two screaming matches with opposing counsel this month. The first was when an attorney was showboating for his clients and poorly insinuating that I was a liar*. The second was when me and opposing counsel got off on a bad foot and then every time I tried to de-escalate it made it worse. Until she realized that her email server was blocking my emails. Then we went back to being calm frenemies.
*I get sometimes you have to put on a show for the client, that generally doesn’t bother me. However, when you aren’t subtle or imaginative about your insults I’m going to take it personally. I had also moved heaven and earth to get to that closing table and he was going to blow it up over something insignificant.
I’m not sure, but I think a translation into plain English would read more or less as “We’d rather be dragged into court as witnesses than co-defendants.”
@Beth:
In the day, I used to tell baby paralegals and baby lawyers I was responsible for training, that if after their first year, they hadn’t met Denny Crane, they needed to go into the bathroom, lock the door, lean in close to the mirror, and do Shatner saying, “I’m Denny Crane!”
Most looked horrified, but years later I still hear, “you know, you were right.”
@Sleeping Dog: Easier to just use keywords in a interwebs search for me. If only one outlet has it, it may not be worth finding. Beyond that, MSN or somebody usually has a link from their own system that will bypass the paywall. The important thing to me is identifying another source that I don’t want to put up with the annoyance of.
@CSK: “Suppose the jury decides in favor of Palin?” Then FTFNYT will appeal? They’ll ask to go to arbitration to get whatever award is made vacated? I’m sure they’re not without options.
@just nutha:
Oh, I’m sure they have plenty of options. It’s just that I’ve never heard of this happening during jury deliberations. Why didn’t the judge dismiss at the beginning of the trial? Or before.
I came up with a quantum physics joke. I’m not sure I should share it because I didn’t laugh at it, but here goes:
A photon walks into two bars. He orders a Bloody Mary and a Virgin Mary. As he sips the Virgin Mary, he sighs, “Why does my wave function never collapse in the drink with booze?”
@CSK: He probably didn’t throw it out at the onset because he didn’t want to participate in a judicial misconduct hearing. After that? No idea.
@Kathy: “On a larger scale,” the machine is called a “soft ice cream machine” or “frozen custard machine.” His breakthrough is making individual servings in multiple flavors. Mc Donald’s, for example is limited to three or four flavors–chocolate, strawberry (which they only use to make shakes, but could do as ice cream), and vanilla.
Ivan Reitman, 75, producer of Animal House, Ghostbusters, KIndergarten Cop, and a ton of other comedies, has died.
Money Laundering Watch
Yep, a trade magazine for the money laundering business… OK OK, not really for it, but about it.
A followup to last Thursday’s forum.
Christian nationalism and the
January 6, 2021, Insurrection.
The threat to this country from far right Christian nationalists.
The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church
French goes on:
I think the politicians and mainstreamers are afraid to tackle this subject. But we need to.
As Sinclair Lewis probably did not say: “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
Following up on the shop injuries discussion:
A shop supervisor back in college told of working in a shop, and a guy missed with the nail gun and shot an 8d sinker through his finger. Boss rushes him off to the ER, and the doctor who comes to treat him just stares for a while, then looks at the carpenter and asks “Why didn’t you stop hammering?”
@Mu Yixiao: Heh.
The video is pretty funny.
In my opinion March is the worst month. It can snow one day and rain the next, never quite warm but never really cold, just a slippery chilly muddy mess. April is right around the corner with it’s dogwood and redbud blossoms, spring beauties and trout lilies covering the ground and morel mushrooms to be savored. If only you can get thru March.
@OzarkHillbilly: Just March? I think the whole Midwest has awful winter weather. I spent 5 years in Dayton, Ohio. From Nov to Mar along the I-70 corridor was weather that was 33 degrees and drizzle. Gray skies, gray ground, gray people. No wonder I self medicated.
@OzarkHillbilly: March is bad, but up where I live in the PNW, February is traditionally the coldest month.
@OzarkHillbilly:
The, February is the worst month, meme is ripping through newspapers and TV stations. A couple of weeks ago it was a feature on the Boston Globe website. But it is true, February is awful. But given how miserable March, April and May can be in the northeast, February is still only winter, so the weather should be expected. (he types, watching snow flakes fall)
Happy VD Day!
Never forget
Love is fleeting
Herpes is forever
@Just nutha ignint cracker: February is colder than March here, far colder, but March isn’t warm except for a day here and there, it’s just blech! I prefer an honest winter’s day than something that isn’t winter any more but not quite spring either.
@Scott: I live in the state of Misery. We come by our name honestly.
@Sleeping Dog:
I much preferred spring in Minnesota to NH. And come to think of it, why is someone in StL complaining about February? When I was there, I looked for the green shoots of my crocuses and tulips around now.
@Sleeping Dog: They give one false hope.
Yesterday’s forum included a discussion of home shops with Mu teasing us with pictures of his. Below are links to my shop. I’m in the assembly stage of an Adirondack chair project, the first chair is in the background complete but for the arms that need to wait till I get them out of the basement to install. The second is on the bench top. The chairs are made of quarter sawn white oak, finished with oil and held together with brass, slotted head screws that fussily have the slots in alignment.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kS6zqha3bvnJ6Bbw9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/EGFjDDpo8rkGtCks7
@Sleeping Dog:
I’m impressed.
@OzarkHillbilly:
True, but I won’t see them here for a month and that only means that the remainder of March and April will be mostly damp and cold or wet and cold. They may bloom for Mother’s Day.
@CSK:
Thank you.
Perhaps in the spring the northeast contingent of OTB, can try them out while imbibing in a beverage or two or four.
@Sleeping Dog:
Sounds like fun. How much snow did you get yesterday?
@Sleeping Dog:
Nice set-up. I’m envious of the floor space. 🙂
Lousy mid winter weather is not all bad.
Last week , Saturday or Sunday, we got some very unseasonal rain while the Sun was out. I rushed to a window facing opposite from the Sun, and sure enough there was a rainbow against the gray overcast skies.
Not a great rainbow, mind. There was no secondary bow. But it’s something.
Breaking; Bengals refuse to concede…ask Mike Pence to do the right thing.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
😀
@OzarkHillbilly: Speaking of trying to money launder cryptocurrency….
Oops. It doesn’t work the way you think it does. I had to chortle.
@CSK:
Well it just stopped snowing and it looks like 2.5″
@Mu Yixiao:
I’m fortunate with that, the full basement is ~1100 sq ft and I’ve taken over perhaps a 1/3 plus wall space where I have storage shelving. In the pic that has the band saw on the left, behind me there is a lumber rack, a small particle air filter and a 1938 Sears table saw that I need to get running again, it needs a capacitor in the motor. That I’ll use either as a disk sander or leave set up for cross cutting, so I won’t need to change blades as frequently on the primary table saw.
edit: My only limitation with space is width, as I only have about 7′ on either side of the table saw blade. That occasionally has been a problem that required moving things around to cross cut long boards, i.e. baseboard etc.
@Sleeping Dog: The Adirondack chairs sound wonderful. You gotta love a piece of furniture whose design requirements are simply, “perfect chair for sitting on the edge of a lake with a hot or cold drink”.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Breaking: Conservative Governors across the country are signing Executive Orders prohibiting the teaching of the Super Bowl Halftime show in schools.
@Sleeping Dog: Sounds wonderful!
@OzarkHillbilly:
March here is a teaser. Spring days keep getting dropped in to make you think winter is over. As one wag put it, “Front Range people really love the first day of spring, so they have it over and over.”
Over the last 30 years April has become snowier, but alternating with nice weather. I’ve taken to describing it as, “Shovel the driveway, mow the grass. Shovel the driveway, mow the grass.”
May is a crap-shoot. Anything from thunderstorms to the occasional Mother’s Day blizzard to absolutely gorgeous.
@Michael Cain:
Massachusetts had a huge snowstorm on May 9, 1977. Some parts of the state got over 20 inches. It was heavy and wet: the worst.
You can now get a web URL made entirely of emojis.
Okay. It’s happened. I have officially crossed the threshold. Just bury me now.
@Mu Yixiao:
One of my dreams is to file a Motion/Response/Reply as a pdf just absolutely filled to the brim with gifs. I’m pretty burned out being a litigator and I’d like to use that to be my final, fiery, exit.
@Beth:
How about the document written in Egyptian hieroglyphs?
Hate to keep banging on my latest obsession but here’s more on the Christian nationalism threat.
Hackers Just Leaked the Names of 92,000 ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donors
@Kathy:
I mean, it’s pretty similar… Just updated for contemporary times. I did just get an Amended Complaint from an opposing counsel. I can see that I really got under their skin by getting their last complaint dismissed entirely. They went overboard on this one. A couple of well placed, cutting gifs would probably push them over as well. I love being an attorney, but I really hate this part of it. lol.
@Scott:
They sound like the Capitol rioters: “Hang Mike Pence.”
These people seem fixated on nooses.
Another opportunity to stay home.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/14/business/keurig-ice-cream-is-heating-up-fast/
Basements
Fifty three years ago when I was allegedly attending classes at Sleepytown U, I moved into a two bedroom rental house in town with three roommates. The house was in a neighborhood that was some student rentals but mostly single family homes. Our next door neighbors were a retired Illinois Central Railroad employee and his wife Harvey and Golda Drew. Harvey was an outgoing fellow who not only did not mind that his neighbors were long haired, dope smoking hippie freak college students I think he enjoyed it. He would even mow our lawn for us on occasion and when we offered to pay him he just smiled and said “no thanks”.
The Drew’s house was older but well kept up and by my very rough estimate was maybe 1000 sq. ft. One day not long after we met he invited me to see his basement.
“I dug it out by hand.” he said.
I had to see this. It was not a crawl space. I went down the steps to a full basement with a solid concrete floor and at least 7 ft clearance. It was wired for electricity. There were basement windows.
I know he told me how long it took him to dig it out with a shovel and remove the dirt with 5 gallon buckets but I can’t remember what he said. We were neighbors for the three years that I stayed at the address next door to his.
Years later I would drive down that street every now and then most likely when I was running a trouble ticket for the local landline telephone company. Other times just to see my old house. Don’t remember when but one time the windows were all boarded up at Harvey and Golda’s place next door.
Then one day a few years ago I drove down the street and their home was gone. The basement that Harvey Drew hand dug was filled in. It was an empty lot.
Damn. I said to myself. I sure am glad Harvey didn’t live to see that.
@Mister Bluster:
Back in the 60’s, Grandma’s refrain to me was:
@Mister Bluster: @Flat Earth Luddite: How quickly we forget the story of the kid who won a scholarship to med school that resulted in needing to have his child support extended. If I’ve got it right, both Orygun and Washington have support through 25 in special cases now. (At least that’s what I told the kids in the “don’t have drunken sex on prom nite” sermon I was asked to give to senior classes the 2 years I substituted in that district. And I was so hoping I wouldn’t get called back the second year. 🙁 )
@Sleeping Dog: Needs more clamps. But then don’t we always? I’ve got maybe 50 bar clamps in lengths of 5′ to 6″ and I still find myself coming up 1 or 2 short from time to time.
@OzarkHillbilly:
One never has enough clamps, nor the perfect ones for the job. In total, I have about 18, eight of those are pipe clamp variety of different lengths. Not visible in a far corner are eight, 6′ lengths of pipe for large glue ups. If I ever build a large table top, I’m prepared.
Every now and then I consider building a boat, nothing too large, about 16-18′ that can be built in the garage, but I’d need many more clamps and expensive ones at that.
@Sleeping Dog: A buddy of mine built a cedar canoe. A beautiful piece of work and almost useless in the Ozarks. One might paddle it around a lake but there is no way one would ever put it in one of our chert bottomed streams.
@just nutha:
Hey, you were WAY more likely to be called back for that class than they were to call me back to teach Bible school the second term, remember?
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s a canoe, not a piece of furniture. You need to think of it as a tool for adventure. It doesn’t matter if it scrapes the creek bottom or bounces off a rock in the rapids that is what it was made for.
I meet people who’ve spent $20-25K on a BMW or KTM adventure motorcycle who won’t go down a dirt road and people who have spent over $50K on a Jeep Rubicon who are afraid to leave the paved roads. Maybe they’ll get a scratch in the paint. Why bother paying for capability if you won’t use it. Posers.
BTW, that tree brush pin striping and rock rash is something that you should be proud of.
@Sleeping Dog:
Ha, not a problem in this household…the common comeback here is “well, it SAYS it’s an Adventure bike so…”
On another topic entirely, the NYT piece on Bob Saget’s autopsy report is how conspiracies are born.
@Sleeping Dog: This is new–to me at least–when you click on the article, you get a popup that appears dead center on the page declaring that you’ve been SELECTED to receive a special subscription rate (!!!). Most of these ads can be dismissed so that you can at least read the article, but this one will only return you to the article if you subscribe.
And the real beauty of this design is that anywhere you click on the page takes you to the subscription offer. Boston Globe has joined WSJ, FTFNYT, and WAPO as sources of articles it makes no sense to try to read. Well done, gentlemen!
@just nutha: The same article filtered through MSN so that (hopefully) non-subscribers can read it.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-keurig-of-ice-cream-is-heating-up-fast/ar-AATQ3Nk
@Sleeping Dog:
I had to cut the plastic ends off the front bumper of my Jeep (when I had it) because one of them got smushed all out of shape trying to pull a tree out of the ground. 😀 I had it up in the woods (pulling a trailer) to load it up with wood for the fireplace. I have not clue how many things got strapped to the roof or piled in the back.
And… doing deep into that farmer’s field out away from any lights… The roll bar is nice her to hang on to, but the seatbelt receptacles can dig into the knees a bit. 😉
Damn thing was nearly invulnerable. Loved it!
@Beth:
The entertainment value is what brought me back to working for “all y’all” after I finished chemo and recovery. Frankly, I thought Shatner in Boston Legal really nailed the personality of many attorneys I’ve known here in Puddletown. Watching opposing counsel have a complete melt down leaves me feeling sorry for their staff.
Many people say I’m a sick puppy. It’s likely true. OTOH, I am reformed and rehabilitated.
@just nutha: (Not) ETA: I don’t see it replacing DQ or Sweden machines, but who can tell?
@just nutha:
It should be the most expensive ice cream people will ever have.
It might make more sense on a larger scale, so ice cream stores, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. could freeze their ice cream on the spot, rather than having the sub-zero chain form manufacture to delivery.
I don’t think it would work for supermarkets. People prefer to pick up their goods and foodstuffs packaged. I recall for a while some stores had coffee grinders in the coffee aisle. You picked a package of whole beans and opened it, then fee it to the grinder to be ground to your specification, then poured into the same package. It wasn’t used much.
Palin lost, for now. I guess she and her lawyers will try to find a pro-Trump judge.
Judge dismisses Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times in the middle of jury deliberations.
The judge overseeing Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against the New York Times dismissed it in the middle of jury deliberations.
He ruled that Palin didn’t prove the Times acted with “actual malice,” the standard for defamation against public figures.
Palin is expected to appeal the decision and is considering challenging the “actual malice” standard.
@Jen:
I thought of your hubby as I wrote that. Knowing that not only will he take a late model GS into the dirt, he’ll gladly take a vintage one out there as well.
Say hello for me.
@Sleeping Dog: I will definitely do so! He is desperate for spring to arrive so he can get out on the bike. Sent me a 10-day weather report today, noting that no snow in the forecast.
@just nutha:
After you reach the subscription offer page, hit the browser’s back button and you get the news story.
@Jen:
A mutual friend of your hubby and I, has the Joneses to do the Northeast Back Road Discovery Route this spring. I’m trying to dissuade him and wait until later in the summer. Those roads will be too muddy and more than likely torn up by 4WD trucks that are out to play.
Even on some of the Class VI roads near your house, I’ve decided the combination of stream crossings, mud and truck tracks had me realizing that discretion should be chosen.
@senyordave:
Apparently the judge is letting the jury deliberations continue in the event his decision is reversed on appeal.
No doubt this happens, but I can’t recall hearing of it before this. Suppose the jury decides in favor of Palin?
@Sleeping Dog: That is definitely a muddy venture, especially the portion through VT. Hubby was involved in some of the development of that route, and came home with some *spectacularly* filthy gear…
Oooh, now this is an interesting development:
Accounting Firm Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements
@Jen:
Wow, you beat me to it. That is indeed very, very interesting.
According to the Mazars’ letter, “We have now reached the point such that there is a non-waivable conflict of interest with the Trump Organization.”
@CSK:
That “conflict of interest” is an indicator they may have flipped for the prosecution.
@Jen:
The BDR people have this rated as the 2nd most difficult route of the 10(?) that they’ve created around the country. Noting that depending the road conditions, that is, how wet its been, it can be difficult to near impossible.
@dazedandconfused:
Oh, indeed it is.
In late breaking, “oh my Gawd” news… Gumby is getting rebooted with multiple projects in development after the rights were acquired by Fox.
Words fail me. Fortunately, ethanol thinly disguised with tonic never does.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
It’s so ridiculous. I think you’re right about Boston Legal. I’ve had two screaming matches with opposing counsel this month. The first was when an attorney was showboating for his clients and poorly insinuating that I was a liar*. The second was when me and opposing counsel got off on a bad foot and then every time I tried to de-escalate it made it worse. Until she realized that her email server was blocking my emails. Then we went back to being calm frenemies.
*I get sometimes you have to put on a show for the client, that generally doesn’t bother me. However, when you aren’t subtle or imaginative about your insults I’m going to take it personally. I had also moved heaven and earth to get to that closing table and he was going to blow it up over something insignificant.
@CSK:
I’m not sure, but I think a translation into plain English would read more or less as “We’d rather be dragged into court as witnesses than co-defendants.”
But we’ve been disappointed before.
@Beth:
In the day, I used to tell baby paralegals and baby lawyers I was responsible for training, that if after their first year, they hadn’t met Denny Crane, they needed to go into the bathroom, lock the door, lean in close to the mirror, and do Shatner saying, “I’m Denny Crane!”
Most looked horrified, but years later I still hear, “you know, you were right.”
@Sleeping Dog: Easier to just use keywords in a interwebs search for me. If only one outlet has it, it may not be worth finding. Beyond that, MSN or somebody usually has a link from their own system that will bypass the paywall. The important thing to me is identifying another source that I don’t want to put up with the annoyance of.
@CSK: “Suppose the jury decides in favor of Palin?” Then FTFNYT will appeal? They’ll ask to go to arbitration to get whatever award is made vacated? I’m sure they’re not without options.
@Flat Earth Luddite: Classic Gumby is going to be on TUBI? That could be sort of cool for an occasional guilty pleasure.
@senyordave: I would think the real stumbling block for Palin would be showing harm. How can her reputation possibly be harmed?
@just nutha:
Oh, I’m sure they have plenty of options. It’s just that I’ve never heard of this happening during jury deliberations. Why didn’t the judge dismiss at the beginning of the trial? Or before.
I came up with a quantum physics joke. I’m not sure I should share it because I didn’t laugh at it, but here goes:
A photon walks into two bars. He orders a Bloody Mary and a Virgin Mary. As he sips the Virgin Mary, he sighs, “Why does my wave function never collapse in the drink with booze?”
@Kathy:
Hey, I used that all the time until we got our own grinder!
@CSK: He probably didn’t throw it out at the onset because he didn’t want to participate in a judicial misconduct hearing. After that? No idea.
@Kathy: “On a larger scale,” the machine is called a “soft ice cream machine” or “frozen custard machine.” His breakthrough is making individual servings in multiple flavors. Mc Donald’s, for example is limited to three or four flavors–chocolate, strawberry (which they only use to make shakes, but could do as ice cream), and vanilla.
Oh, and whatever flavor Shamrock is, in March.
@Kathy: And the store I shop at still sells bulk coffee beans–in about 40 or 50 varieties–and wears out a grinder about once a year.