2.20.2016

And what about the blame?

More Hillary Clinton emails released on eve of Nevada caucuses

"The State Department released more than 1,100 additional pages of Hillary Clinton's emails Friday night, shedding light on her handling of diplomatic crises and detailing her team's efforts to make sure President Barack Obama didn't get all the credit for U.S. foreign policy."

[Emphasis mine.]

Warming the global

Last weekend we had minus degrees here, today we’re pushing 60. Go sun.

I’m developing a severe case of spring fever.

2.19.2016

The buck ends here

Hillary Clinton: 'I Don't Believe' I Have Ever Lied - NBC News

 

Marshmallow glop on my iPhone screen

Really.

About half a century ago I read a New Yorker short story called “When Your Honey’s on the Phone,” about a guy who was eating toast and honey for breakfast when the phone rang. Honey got on the phone, and in trying to clean it up he got honey on the kitchen faucet handles, and in trying to clean that up he got more honey on a drawer pull, and one thing led to another until in the end he had to junk all his furniture and move to a new apartment.

Now, this.

Bernie's criminal record



The whole story's here.

Shenanigans!

Pro-Clinton PAC desperate to make Sanders look bad | New York Post

"Team Clinton launched a harsh attack Thursday on what it called Bernie Sanders’ 'troubling history of campaign shenanigans'"

No wonder she’s winning the geezer vote. That’s a geezer word if I’ve ever heard one. I haven’t heard it myself since some time in the last century/

Where is The Donald when we need him?

Utah bartender says 'I can't serve Polynesians' - NY Daily News

As soon as he gets done with the Mexican Wall he can start on the Great Pacific Wall. And what about Canada?

A long, long time ago (yes, one of those, but keep reading)…

…in the mid-1930’s to be exact, the Feds were developing a new program to help geezers—it was called social security. And in order to do this, everybody had to be given an ID number.

Now, ID numbers were not a popular idea in the land, since so much news was circulating about Nazis in Germany giving people numbers making people carry ID papers, and the citizens were unhappy with all this (and of course the “conservatives” were unhappy, but then they’re unhappy with everything all the time). And so the government addressed the subject of ID numbers thusly:

They said, your social security number will forever be a secret between you and the Social Security Administration, and nobody else will ever know what it is.

They said that. No kidding. You can see how it turned out.

Everybody knows what what your social security number is. Any government agency you’ve ever come in contact with, any financial institution, any health care provider, and 83.6 percent of all the hackers in China. 

This is why you need to be suspicious of the Feds’ insistence, now, that Apple hack just one iPhone to aid in a criminal investigation. Before you can say “encryption” your entire personal life will be publicly posted on Facebook.

Oh, wait…

Superdelegates are there to let the Democratic establishment to put its collective thumb on the primary scale

Democratic voters split between Clinton, Sanders - NY Daily News

"After the initial contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders has a small 36-32 lead among delegates won in primaries and caucuses. But when superdelegates are included, Clinton leads 481-55, according to the AP count. It’s essentially a parallel election that throws Clinton’s lopsided support from the Democratic establishment into stark relief."

It’s working.

And doesn't care

'World's Fastest Stoner' finishes last at Olympic qualifying - NY Daily News

"It was the slowest men’s or women’s time at the trials since 2000, though the pro-cannabis contestant, who works as a distributor for California medical marijuana dispensaries, was just happy to finish the race by the end."

She thinks I'm stupid (probably you too)

MSNBC’s town hall style show last night, the one with the two Democratic presidential candidates, had more than a few bugs, IMHO. But it also offered a perfect example of how the Clinton du jour slithers out of tight spots by blurring the lines defining them. It centered around her secret Wall Street speeches.

Here’s what she was asked by an audience member (according to NBC’s transcript of the event):
"As the Democratic presidential candidate who has delivered speeches to the largest U.S. financial institution in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, why are you hesitant to release transcripts, or audio-video recordings of those meetings in order to be transparent with the American people regarding the promises, and assurances that you have made to the big banks?"
Pretty clear, right? And here was her response:
"I'm happy to release anything I have when everybody else does the same, because every other candidate in this race has given speeches to private groups, including Senator Sanders."
But the question was not about speeches to private groups. It was about speeches to Goldman freaking Sachs and other big financial corporations. Wall Street.

Nobody cares (certainly I don’t care) what she said to the Puppy Lovers of America, even though a great many of her supporters and donors may be puppy lovers. (Although if it was worth $250 G’s it must have been pretty entertaining.)

I don’t care what Bernie said to them either.

2.18.2016

You've probably already seen these photos; you want to see them again

How one group of photographers saw America’s Great Depression - The Washington Post

(And yes, the “conservatives” were against this too.)

If we get to read Hillary's speeches who knows what else we might want to know?

Brock warns of ‘slippery slope’ on Clinton disclosures

"'I think that could be a slippery slope and we could end up asking for all sorts of things,' David Brock, the founder of the pro-Clinton Correct the Record PAC, said in an interview with MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe.'"

“She got fair market value for her speeches,” says Brock. We bet she did.

See here.

2.17.2016

ESPN aims cameras at referees' butts for entire basketball game

ESPN basketball camera angle: Bad.

"There's a phenomenon in media where being consistently wrong—or, technically speaking, 'bad at your job'—can make you popular and successful because dummies will think you're great and non-dummies who can't help themselves will tune in/click to see how wrong you are. "

Bernie is just like The Donald, and it's Obama's fault

And best of all, Charles Krauthammer. 

Charles Krauthammer: After Obama, magic sells - NY Daily News

If we just put a cabaret tax on politics we could balance the budget and pay off the debt. By the end of the year.

Killing two stones with one Cruz

GOP candidates would filibuster any Obama-appointed justice - NY Daily News

"A petulant Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday he will 'absolutely' block anyone President Obama names to the Supreme Court, no matter who the nominee is."

Obama should nominate Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court. Cruz would have to run back to Washington to filibuster himself, which would be even more entertaining than a Republican “debate,” as hard as that might be to believe. Plus, he would be tied up by endless hearings, leaving him no time for further campaigning. 

Imagine the joy.

Assaulted by sandwich meat

N.J. mailman locks himself in truck as wild turkeys attack - NY Daily News

"A second postal worker also said that wild turkeys have become a problem in the area and are quite dangerous and snappy towards people."

Wherein I bust a squirrel and maybe a neighbor or two as well

This morning I discovered a squirrel eating our house. It was sitting on the insulator where the phone cable (or possibly the cable cable) attaches, munching away. The hole was already big enough for it and a few friends to come and go through.

I scared it away by opening a window and reciting a substantial number of bad words, loudly. The squirrel fled. The squirrel defense corps has been summoned. The neighbors will just have to live with it.

Apple's Cook responds to US magistrate judge's order concerning encryption

Customer Letter - Apple

Maybe if we just banned the letter "K"…

Kato Kaelin: Kardashians even infest ‘O.J. Simpson' series - NY Daily News

 

South Dakota to world: Hold it

S.D. pols awaiting gov approval for anti-trans bathroom bill - NY Daily News

"'Do you feel it appropriate for a 13-year-old girl to be exposed to the anatomy of a boy,' Greenfield said while debating the bill on the Senate floor. '...or for a boy to be exposed to the anatomy of a girl…?'"

L’horreur!

2.16.2016

Also forgot to proofread it

Anti-Beyonce rally is the worst-attended protest ever | New York Post

"Roughly five anti-Beyonce protesters arrived in total, including Ariel Kohane — whose sign was destroyed in the rain because he forgot to laminated it."

Look, I screw up sometimes myself. But I expect better from the New York Post.

If you're not confused enough already

XKCD

So many questions, so little sanity

Meet the Scalia Death Truthers: Was He Murdered by Obama or Aliens? - The Daily Beast

"Is it also possible that an evil murdering homosexual communist President with only 10 months left in office could have ordered a hit so that he could drive that final nail into America’s coffin? Why not?"

Hey that's not rain, that's ice!

No way. It was supposed to rain today (still might, I suppose) and it looks like it’s raining but it’s not. We’re still a couple of degrees below freezing, and it’s ice. And I’m not walking in it if I don’t need to (I don’t need to). I shoveled for half an hour this morning—that’ll just have to do. 

I’ve made it this far through the winter without landing on my butt and I’m not going to do it now.

Only five weeks til Spring, and four til Pi Day.

The word for the day is…

Antiestablishmentarianism

2.15.2016

Feel the Bern

For Sanders supporters, a vote for Clinton means giving into fear - Quartz

"I’m going to set aside all of the standard issues I might have with Clinton. This isn’t about policies with which I disagree, or the fact that she’s never met a war she didn’t like, or that she has turned her back on her own policy goals for the sake of political expediency, or that I have the real sense she sold me out three times today before I even got out of bed. Push all of those issues off to the side, and focus on the ask ."

New York on the phone

Wednesday One-Liners Suit Up

Suit on cell: I expected pus, but it’s got little black specks in it.
–Pelham Bay Park, the Bronx
Overheard by: HelenA.Handbasket

Suit: When I said “fairy tale” I meant like Mother Goose–not Miss Dirty Martini!

And more.

Get real, weather app; it's no 1


It's 7 at least, maybe 8. What's more, in 36 hours it'll be 50. Try to keep up.

Today is Presid Day: The grocery store was half closed. The produce department, the meat department, and the freezer case were closed; what was open was the middle. And me already pretty well stocked with Spam. I settled for a can of corned beef hash. It's decent if you take the time to fry it till it's crispy. But it would be cheaper to just buy lard. Also I scored a grapefruit.

The hunter must not come home empty handed.

(My dad was a terrible fisherman and I an attentive student. We would go fishing together and stop at a grocery store on the way home to buy the fish.}

2.14.2016

Sounds like our kind of party

Remembering Coney Island's nearly-forgotten Mardi Gras - NY Daily News

"—a weeklong celebration that was called ‘an orgy of cheap glitter and thrills’"

What? Goldman Sachs involved in a scandal? We are shocked!

Goldman Sachs banker embroiled in massive overseas money scandal | New York Post

"The FBI is reportedly investigating all the fund’s transactions in concert with wider probes of money-laundering allegations spanning five countries."

May lead to an investigation by Goldman Sachs’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Congress.

Go west, young man (but not to California)

The states people really want to move to — and those they don’t - The Washington Post

 

Republican candidates unanimous: Bernie should pick new Supreme Court justice

G.O.P. Candidates Call for 'Delay' in a Supreme Court Appointment - The New York Times

"Ted Cruz, who clerked for former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, referred to “80 years of precedent of not confirming justices in an election year,” but then seemed to get a bit lost when asked if it had actually ever come up in that period. He then launched into sky-gazing oratory about the importance of a new GOP president making the appointment…"