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Monday Night Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 06:57:24 PM EST
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Just got home from work, and I'm on my way out again. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Monday Night Open Thread | 138 comments (138 topical)

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    This is amusing (to me): (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 07:22:08 PM EST
    Justice Scalia said he knew that some might be offended by the religious symbols in a church.

    "I can understand that attitude: It parallels my own toward the playing in public of rock music or Stravinsky," he wrote. "And I, too, am especially annoyed when the intrusion upon my inner peace occurs while I am part of a captive audience, as on a municipal bus or in the waiting room of a public agency."

    But that sort of offense, Justice Scalia continued, was not a problem under the First Amendment.

    "It is perhaps the job of school officials to prevent hurt feelings at school events," he wrote. "But that is decidedly not the job of the Constitution."

    But, but (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by christinep on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:07:31 PM EST
    The Rite of Spring is wonderful.  Yet, other Stravinsky ... maybe the fellow bus-riders could turn it down.

    Parent
    Have you ever heard any Stravinsky (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:10:25 PM EST
    on public transportation?  

    Parent
    Of course (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:19:43 PM EST
    You can't get on a bus without some kid blasting "The Rakes Progress" from a boom box

    Parent
    I would like to see the subway (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:40:27 PM EST
    dancers' take on "The Firebird."

    Parent
    Does (5.00 / 2) (#13)
    by lentinel on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 09:44:23 PM EST
    anyone really believe this bozo takes the bus?

    Parent
    Uncle. (none / 0) (#12)
    by christinep on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 09:17:49 PM EST


    Parent
    No, I haven't. (none / 0) (#17)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 02:13:51 AM EST
    I don't listen to Stravinsky at home. Why would I want to hear him while riding the bus?

    Parent
    Birdville (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:05:10 PM EST
    How One Student Uncovered Multiple Constitutional Violations at His High School

    Isaiah (Issah) Smith just graduated from high school after a very eventful year in which he exposed all sorts of religious violations at his school. It's as good a time as any to take stock of what he accomplished -- and what he sacrificed to do it.

    Earlier this school year, after being bullied for being gay, Isaiah decided to bring a Bible to school to explain to his classmates why the verses they cited didn't actually condemn gay people. In the process, he ripped out the pages from Leviticus.

    That caused Birdville High School Assistant Principal Glenn Serviente to pull Isaiah from class and warn him that he must not cause a "disruption" by ripping the Bible. (I guess the bullies were not seen as disruptive...?) Isaiah promised not to rip it up any more, but asked for (and received) permission to continue carrying that Bible with him.

    But a couple of days later, Serviente summoned Isaiah back to his office:



    Parent
    THe problem is this (none / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 03:57:48 PM EST
    The student didn't know what he was talking about.

    The Old Testament, which he  references, has been fulfilled by the birth, life, death and Resurrection of Christ. Christians live under the New Testament.

    So I hope he went down to the nearest Red Lobster and ranted against the eating of oysters and the nearest BBQ stand and ranted against the eating pork.

    Beyond that he can argue the various passages in the New Testament that may or may not condemn homosexuality any differently that it condemns fornication either before or after marriage.

    As for me I believe in letting God sort this out because it is beyond my pay grade.

    Parent

    The bigger problem is this (5.00 / 1) (#71)
    by Yman on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:40:08 PM EST
    Some Christians claiming to speak for all Christians.  Not all Christians believe that the Old Testament is abrogated through the New Covenant, despite your attempt to speak for them.

    Parent
    Do the christians who speak for all christians (5.00 / 1) (#77)
    by ZtoA on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:03:49 PM EST
    ever take into account the sociological conditions in Greece at the time the new testament was written in their views on homosexuality? The dominant accepted social structure in Greek culture was of men (meaning citizens only - a great minority of men actually) having male lovers and romances. The women were either slaves (like most of the men) or wives which were rather like a breeding animal - prized, yet not something a citizen would actually fall in romantic love with. In a way the invading christian morals elevated the status of women in that culture (not that it could have fallen much further).

    Now the big C christians forgot all that and denigrate both GLBT and women, and wish to, like the Greeks, concentrate all the power in the 'citizens' of today - the white men christian men.

    Parent

    Do they ever?? (none / 0) (#86)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:52:01 AM EST
    Some do and you can hear some good arguments over what various translations of various words mean.

    That's why I just back away and refuse to judge. Which is also a pretty good Christian concept.

    Parent

    It seems more like "C" christians (5.00 / 1) (#100)
    by ZtoA on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 11:57:35 AM EST
    are not interested in the meaning of words, only in the shouting of them. Yes, you are very "C"hristian.

    Parent
    Quit making things up (none / 0) (#83)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:41:17 AM EST
    It is called telling fibs.  Something covered in the Old and the New. ;-)

    I did not claim to speak for ALL Christians. I just noted what I believe and what many others believe.
    And I know no practicing Christian who believe otherwise.  

    And the point being that if the young man wanted to be effective he should educate himself.

    Parent

    Blessed are the peacemakers.. (5.00 / 2) (#98)
    by jondee on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 10:52:18 AM EST
    remember that one?

    Nothing in there about Blessed are the strutting, chest-thumpers.

    Parent

    I'm not making up a thing (5.00 / 1) (#102)
    by Yman on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 01:24:09 PM EST
    Read your 2nd paragraph.  You're staying it as a fact, and claiming that "Christians live under the New Testament."   Not you or some Christians.

    Parent
    There isn't enough money in the (5.00 / 3) (#103)
    by Anne on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 01:46:16 PM EST
    world to buy jim a point or a clue, which makes all of this an exercise in futility.

    Unless...you like your trolls fat and happy, in which case, I guess we should just keep feeding him.

    Parent

    Oh excuse me (none / 0) (#131)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:12:28 PM EST
    I didn't know you were so dumb you didn't know that we were talking about the vast majority..

    I'll try to keep it simple.

    Parent

    You always do (none / 0) (#133)
    by Yman on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:18:38 PM EST
    "Keep it simple", that is.

    But glad we've established that your first claim was false ...

    ... as usual.

    Parent

    No Yman (none / 0) (#135)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 10:20:10 AM EST
    in context it was correct.

    Parent
    "In context" (none / 0) (#137)
    by Yman on Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 06:02:19 PM EST
    Is not synonymous with "After I backpedal and try to qualify it".

    Parent
    The problem is that you can't see the (5.00 / 2) (#94)
    by Anne on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:51:57 AM EST
    forest for the trees.

    The problem isn't whether or if any of the parties were right or wrong about what the Bible - Old or New Testaments - say.  

    The problem was that Isaiah was punished for ripping pages out of a book that was his property, not the property of the school.  

    The problem was that the punishment was exacted because it was a Bible - a religious book.  

    The problem was that the principal confiscated the book (I'd like to note here the irony of Isaish being punished for ripping pages out of the Bible, but the principal having no problem slamming it on the desk himself), and suspended Isaiah for three days.

    The problem was that it does not appear that the bullies were reprimanded, punished, talked to or otherwise informed of the inappropriateness of their bullying behavior.

    The problem was that the school was full of obvious religious symbols.

    The problem was that the school sponsored a religious service and participated in it in their roles as part of the public school system.

    The problem was that the school was holding retreats at a Christian church.

    The problem is that when public school officials and staff sponsor Christian religious services, and permit displays of Christian religious symbols, and elevate the Christian Bible in importance over other materials, those public officials can be viewed as favoring one religion over another, which is seen by some legal scholars as violating the Establishment clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, and has been the subject of much litigation over the years.  See here for more.

    That's the problem, jim, not whether Isaish was right or the bullies were right or whether the Bible is the definitive word on what is or isn't permitted.

    You're entitled to believe whatever you want about the Bible, what the Bible does or doesn't say - as are the administration and staff at our public schools in their capacity as private citizens.  What they are not entitled to do in their official, state-sponsored capacity, is create an atmosphere that promotes one religion over another.  You can proselytize all you want; public schools, through their administrators and staff,  cannot, even if the proselytizing is accomplished only by the use of the prominent and plentiful display of one religion's symbols and the use of one religion's religious facilities.

    I don't expect you to get that, but you could if you tried.

    Parent

    The problem is also this (none / 0) (#99)
    by jondee on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 11:00:02 AM EST
    you're pretending that you don't know that in the real world the fundamentalist members of the wingnut coalition cite and abuse and abuse others with the tribal rules of the Old Testament all hours of the day.

     

    Parent

    Amazing factoid: (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 10:51:30 PM EST
    In 107 career at-bats against Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, Gwynn hit .415 -- and never struck out.

    "Tony Gwynn was the best pure hitter I ever faced," Maddux said via Twitter on Monday.

    I do know he killed the Cubs every time (none / 0) (#68)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:13:26 PM EST
    Guess it was largely during the Maddux years.

    What a great player and sportsman.

    Parent

    My friend Stephanie's photography (5.00 / 2) (#24)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 12:36:40 PM EST
    included in the Brooklyn Fence to be unveiled tomorrow the 18th

    Dear Friends,

    It has been a busy few weeks for all of us here at the UPI Headquarters, making plans for Photoville while our jury deliberated on the final FENCE 2014 selection, soon be unveiled in Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Atlanta BeltLine.

    Before we share the fantastic group of photographers that will be gracing this year's Brooklyn and Atlanta FENCE, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who submitted - for sharing in our passionate belief in the importance of bringing photography into the public domain, for sharing it with our jury and our community, and above all for entrusting us with your work.

    We also want to give a great big shout out to our tireless jury, and also to our wonderful partners in Boston, Brooklyn, and Atlanta for all their hard work and support in introducing the work featured on the FENCE to an ever-growing audience. So here's to the great folks at the Flash Forward Festival, the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Photo District News, Atlanta Celebrates Photography, and the Atlanta BeltLine!

    Without further ado, please join us in extending a hearty round of applause for this year's Brooklyn and Atlanta FENCE 2014 photographers (listed in alphabetical order):
    She takes these beautiful photos (5.00 / 1) (#67)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:03:11 PM EST
    That usually but not always involve neon.  She gave me this one because she said it reminded her of me.  Very funny.

    Excuse the terrible iPad pic.

    Parent

    Airstrikes (5.00 / 3) (#42)
    by Slado on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:46:27 PM EST
    Does it bother anyone else how casually politicians, pundits and the press just toss around the idea of airstrikes?

    Both Dems and repubs have no problem saying things like..."We should at the very least help the Iraqi's with strategic Air Strikes".

    I think I've read and heard some form of this from multiple morons 100 times in the last few days.

    Who exactly are we going to bomb?  Who else is exactly going to be killed?

    They act like it's a big video game and our pilots can just go cruising around and see the bad guys in their pickup trucks and blam all is solved.

    It's so annoying.    Either go in and kick some ass or stay the hell out of it.

    We shouldn't have been there in the first place, we shouldn't have left it in such a mess but it's too late now to do anything about it.

    Just like Syria the time to fix the mess has long since passed and only the crazies are in charge now.

    It's too bad the Al Qaeda and Militant Islam isn't on the run or near death as the politicians like to tell us but dropping bombs willy nilly isn't going to fix that.

    Has 13 years of non stop war and drone strikes taught us nothing?

    Stay out and stop talking tough about something you don't know anything about.

    Amen (none / 0) (#44)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:49:04 PM EST


    Parent
    Piece of cake (none / 0) (#60)
    by MKS on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:15:34 PM EST
    We provide Close Air Support for the Iranian Quds forces, giving them access to our technology and maybe letting them borrow some of our equipment.

    Then, we actively fight against the ISIS troops--because we really, really do not like them.

    We can then decided to bomb Iran, just as McCain wants (bomb, bomb, bomb Iran....)

    Or we could just cut to the chase and just bomb everybody, everywhere now......That should make the conservatives giddy.  Every bomb will necessarily have to hit a target.

    Parent

    IRS Emails (5.00 / 1) (#46)
    by Slado on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:51:48 PM EST
    Does anyone find this believable?

    Hot Air

    I mean really?  First Lois' emails go poof and now 6 more employees have no emails from a specific time period.

    I'm sorry Mr. IRS auditor.  I'd love to help you but my hard drive crashed and I just can't find the emails.

    LOL

    Accountability in the government is dead (5.00 / 1) (#73)
    by republicratitarian on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:51:15 PM EST
    Republicans will only look when there is a Democrat in the White House. Democrats will only look when there is a Republican.
    Each side cries that it's a witch hunt and people are playing politics (which they are), but the truth always stay hidden or obscured.

    In the end the government always wins because they are not accountable to the citizens.

    Parent

    Just like with the rash (none / 0) (#48)
    by christinep on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 05:01:32 PM EST
    of this-is-really-the-real "scandals" supposedly unearthed by this Repub House heretofore, it might be premature to get too breathy ... before all the facts are in.  The usual helpful advice applies here: Wait a bit as the facts emerge and we can draw a conclusion based on facts.  (That would be a good practice, slado.)

    BTW, if you are looking for a focus:  Don't you think that it is a good day for all Americans to recognize the superior efforts and coordination of the WH, military forces, and all agencies that led to the apprehension and detention of a principal suspect in the Benghazi tragedy?  ('Thought that a pivot back to that matter would be appropriate considering your strong interest in matters Benghazi and considering also your attempted pivot above to the "but-looky-over-here" IRS matter.)

    Parent

    Nice pivot to Benghazi (none / 0) (#74)
    by republicratitarian on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 09:12:35 PM EST
    on an IRS comment. It's nice that we have one of the terrorists that started the attack over that Islamic video.

    I agree with you on the IRS "scandal" that we should wait until all of the facts are in, if that ever happens. At this point I'm calling BS on the IRS for supposedly losing two years worth of emails that go from a computer, to a server to other inbox's and are backed up nightly or more often.

    Anyone who thinks this explanation is legit needs to go to drug testing, ASAP.

    Parent

    Not if they're actually aware ... (none / 0) (#80)
    by Yman on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:40:04 PM EST
    ... of the IRS email archiving procedures.

    Parent
    Agreed, and part of the explanation is in the (none / 0) (#115)
    by republicratitarian on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:14:35 PM EST
    article. The article only touches a piece of it, allow me to expand with what limited knowledge I have.

    When you send an email, it's created on your email client, sent by your server (whatever.whatever.irs.gov)to the destination server. In this case we'll say whatever.whatever.DOJ.gov or whoever else she was obviously, excuse me, allegedly, coordinating (communicating) with. Now that email sits on both servers so that you can access the email from any computer that has access to that server until you pull your emails off into a .pst file where it resides on your local hard drive. Even if you pull that email off onto your local machine it would still exist on the server backups of each server for each time that drive was backed up. So if you left email in your inbox for a year and pulled it off at the end of the year into a file, it would still exist on every backup for as long as you left in on there. If you deleted if immediately, it would only show up for a short amount of time.

    In this case, the investigating party would need an idea of what other servers to search. If they suspect someone was coordinating with DOJ from the IRS to prosecute decent, law abiding citizens during an election year, then they should search all of DOJ's email servers, or anyone else's servers,  during the time frame they suspect.

    Did Lois Lerner keep hard copies considered "official record"? I have no idea. Even if her hard drive crashed I have a problem believing that the government hasn't been able to forensically recover data from the machine. Was it all data or just the emails? If she were a terrorist or dealing in child pornography I bet they would've already secured the data and be offering her a plea.

    I know, I know, it's conspiracy theories. I do like a good conspiracy, just not one created by my government.

    Lot's of questions still to be answered, I still call BS, but I wait for all evidence to be provided before I draw a conclusion.

    *If my explanation is a little off I apologize, but I'm sure you get the gist.


    Parent

    Ther fact that you ... (none / 0) (#117)
    by Yman on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 10:21:27 PM EST
    ... "have a problem" believing it is irrelevant.  I understand skepticism, but I'm not sure how you can "call BS" for an explanation for which you admittedly have "limited knowledge" and for which you have more "questions" than facts.

    Parent
    Are you really (none / 0) (#127)
    by Slado on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 01:27:29 PM EST
    giving the administration the benefit of the doubt on this?

    Come on.

    It'd be believable if they said 1,000 IRS employee's emails are lost as some sort of huge bureaucratic F up.

    But just Lois and 6 people congress wants to look at?

    They are hiding something.   I'd even be willing to believe they are going to all this trouble to hide something that is simply embarrassing vs. illegal.

    But they've already been caught lying, or misleading when they assured us it was just a local office going rouge.  

    What's so stupid about all this is Republicans are such bubmling fools they can't even get to the bottom of this.   They should have given Louis immunity right off the bat, should have had someone other then Isa running the thing etc...

    It's almost as if they don't really care what Obama did they just want the politics of it.

    No matter what the IRS targeted conservatives.  The only real question is how up the chain of command did it go.   Looks like we'll never find out because the this congress is too stupid to get to the bottom of it.

    Parent

    That's funny (none / 0) (#129)
    by Yman on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 07:41:33 PM EST
    It'd be believable if they said 1,000 IRS employee's emails are lost as some sort of huge bureaucratic F up.

    But just Lois and 6 people congress wants to look at?

    Who said it was "just Lois and 6 people Congress wants to look at?

    It seems impossible to some that in this age of digital dominance, emails relating to a controversy involving federal government officials could simply vanish.

    But transparency advocates and experts in retrieving email from antiquated government computer systems say they're not at all surprised. The reason: The IRS's record-keeping procedures -- like erasing backup tapes every six months -- have been known for years as critical weaknesses in government record collection. These observers say all of the warning signs were there for years before large troves of messages from as many as six IRS employees caught up in the tea party scandal were destroyed through a combination of equipment failures and inadequate archiving procedures.

    "How do you possibly have backup tapes and then not even use them and recycle them after six months? ... How typical this is," said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "So many people are acting like, `Oh, this is an attempt to subvert the truth.' ... But this is a governmentwide problem."

    Same problem as when 22 million emails were lost in the Bush administration.

    But they've already been caught lying, or misleading when they assured us it was just a local office going rouge.

    Really?  Because you say so?

    You know how many times you've made that same accusation and it's been debunked?  (Hint - somewhere in the range of the number of lost emails).  It's a little hard to tell, since you never actually post links to support your claims, but please do.  It's a lot of fun bursting winger balloons.

    Parent

    Maybe it's not just those emails... (none / 0) (#70)
    by unitron on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:36:19 PM EST
    They know they can't immediately lay their hands on those emails because they went looking for them.

    What about all the other emails about different topics or from different timeframes?

    Do we know if all of those are easily findable?

    In other words, maybe there's a problem with the emails that has nothing to do with the reason for which they are being sought.

    Parent

    I think the IRS should have (none / 0) (#78)
    by ZtoA on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:06:46 PM EST
    investigated the tea party organizations MORE. And that the 'scandal' is just a distraction to stop legit investigations.

    Parent
    Slado (none / 0) (#128)
    by jondee on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 04:28:39 PM EST
    are you alarmed that the IRS investigated left-progressive groups as well?

    Enough with the exactly-by-the-numbers Fox-talk radio talking points.

    Parent

    Finally, the Metropolitan Opera will produce John (5.00 / 1) (#81)
    by oculus on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 12:39:56 AM EST
    Adams' opera "The Death of Klinghoffer," but, although the schedule included a HD broadcast, that has been cancelled. John Adams is not happy about this.

    LAT

    This just in (5.00 / 1) (#91)
    by CoralGables on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:09:34 AM EST
    The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team's name "disparaging to Native Americans."
    Excellent. Good for them. (none / 0) (#93)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:25:01 AM EST
    Good news coming from surprising places.  Was just hearing last night that the AMA may play a roll in stopping injection executions by threatening to take away the license of any medical professional that participates in one.

    Parent
    Where decency fails... (none / 0) (#97)
    by kdog on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 10:38:49 AM EST
    money will prevail...get to work knock-off jersey makers and Snyder will trademark a new name by Friday.

    Parent
    Actually, kdog, he may already have. (none / 0) (#107)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 06:26:40 PM EST
    Last October, Aris Mardirossian of Potomac, MD filed an application with the U.S. Patent Office to trademark the name "Washington Bravehearts."

    Who's Mr. Mardirossian, you ask? Well, he's the next-door neighbor of Dan Snyder -- that is, if you consider two guys living on adjoining ten-acre estates surrounded by security fences to be "next door" to one another.

    While a Washington team spokesperson denied at the time of the above-linked TMZ report that Snyder even knows Mardirossian, the public record actually indicates otherwise. In fact, the two men had filed a joint lawsuit against the National Park Service back in 2005, in an effort to have some large trees removed that were on NPS property removed, and which were ostensibly blocking resplendent views of the Potomac River from their respective properties.

    Their case was dismissed for lack of standing, but like any determined wealthy person who believes that money should rightfully inoculate the well-to-do from the adverse effects of rules which are otherwise applicable to everyone else, the d!ck-swinging Mr. Snyder just went right on ahead and had all those trees chopped down anyway.

    And then, for good measure, he also made a few phone calls to some highly-placed friends in the Bush administration, who subsequently did a real number on the career aspirations of the NPS ranger who had stood so resolutely in Snyder's and Mardirossian's way.

    (I posted about that particular story a few months ago, but I'll again include a link to it, because it's really worth a read, if you didn't catch it the first time.)

    To be sure, Dan Snyder is the Donald Sterling of the sports world on the eastern seaboard.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    The Bravehearts? (5.00 / 1) (#124)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:27:23 AM EST
    Does Mel Gibson know about this?  

    "You can take our trademark, but you'll never take our freeeeedommm!!!"

    Parent

    Hillary has a sense of humor and a bit of (5.00 / 2) (#108)
    by caseyOR on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 06:56:10 PM EST
    style. The RNC, in a move of dubious sense, has sent a squirrel to follow Hillary to her appearances, book signings, speeches, etc. The idea, I think, is to make people think that voting for Hillary is NUTS.  

    Since the squirrel looks very much like it should be walking the sidelines as the mascot at a small college football game, I think it may be failing to deliver the desired message.

    Ever gracious, Hillary struck up a conversation with the squirrel at a book signing, generously inscribing a copy of her book to the squirrel. She then personally handed the book to the RNC rodent.

    Hillary- 1
    RNC - 0

    Tho it (almost) goes without saying (5.00 / 1) (#109)
    by christinep on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 07:17:08 PM EST
    I'll say it anyhow.  Where the Repubs & the RNC are involved, you really have to have a sense of humor.  Thank goodness that Hillary has always had that sense ... because she is going to need it in the months ahead.  So, her sense of humor will be good for us all.

    Parent
    Clean water (none / 0) (#6)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:28:02 PM EST
    How Dean Kamen's Invention Could Bring Clean Water To Millions
    Michael Hastings new novel (none / 0) (#8)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 08:51:45 PM EST
    Good Maddow segment on this tonight.  The book is a satirical look at the run up to the war in Iraq.  Shiving all the neocon voices that are once again being fawned over by the idiot media as they agitate for war like the first time never happened.

    The book comes out tomorrow.

    His new novel, "The Last Magazine," to be published on Tuesday by Blue Rider Press, has a lighter touch than his reported pieces but can be every bit as cutting. A satire of Mr. Hastings's experiences as an intern at Newsweek in 2002-3 as the Iraq war approached, the book skewers characters who seem to be thinly disguised portraits of his bosses there, while serving up a humorous but damning indictment of the mainstream news media's role in the march to war.

    LINK

    "[S]hiving" doesn't seem to be the (none / 0) (#9)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 09:06:56 PM EST
    correct term here, although it is defined in the urban dictionary.

    Parent
    More than (none / 0) (#10)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 09:13:36 PM EST
    one entry

    SHIV

    1. Slang for a knife or any other small cutting/stabbing weapon, often homemade; think inmates with sharpened toothbrushes.
    2. The act of utilising the aforementioned small cutting/stabbing weapon to cut/stab someone.
    "I'ma shiv you, b!tch!"


    Parent
    I think I heard Scalia... (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by desertswine on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 10:57:59 PM EST
    say that on the last city bus I was on while playing Stravinsky.

    Parent
    Well, "shiv" is a term (none / 0) (#14)
    by oculus on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 10:08:45 PM EST
    frequently encountered in the field of representing correctional officers. "Shiving" is new to me.

    Parent
    See (none / 0) (#18)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:17:45 AM EST
    Even someone with your encyclopedic knowledge of slang can learn something new

    If you had scrolled down the link I gave you -

    Shiv
    It another type of move with a knife. Shanking is stabing. SHIVING is slashing or cutting.
    Give me your money or i will Shiv you.
    by bob god July 11, 2011

    Parent

    Which is exactly what he did and what (none / 0) (#19)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:25:29 AM EST
    I intended to say.

    I had hoped someone might comment on the incredibly timely apperance of this particular book at this particular time instead of a pointless back and forth about the perfectly appropriate use of a particular word.  I guess that window has closed.

    Parent

    They were not (none / 0) (#11)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Jun 16, 2014 at 09:15:33 PM EST
    Skipping school

    Parent
    Please watch (none / 0) (#20)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:48:54 AM EST
    Last nights Maddow segment on the new Michael Hastings novel.  Great segment on what looks like a great and very timely book.  She gives the lowdown on the book and then interviews his wife.  Hastings died in 2013.

    it's the video third from the left "characteristic courage shown in Hastings novel

    Can't link to a specific video unfortunately.

    WaPo (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 09:06:44 AM EST
    REVIEW

    By James Rosen June 16 at 6:41 PM
    "Perhaps," wrote Michael Hastings, in the last sentence he ever published, "more information will soon be forthcoming." For a short life devoted feverishly to the pursuit and disclosure of information, there can be no more fitting epitaph. The article, published on BuzzFeed and headlined "Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans," was a characteristically full-throated jeremiad against excessive government secrecy; it mentioned me, among other reporters, as a target of the Obama administration in its war on leaks.

    I never met Hastings, who died in an automobile accident in Los Angeles a year ago. But I was intrigued by him. Who was this hotshot gonzo reporter for Newsweek and Rolling Stone who famously loved, lost and went long-form in war zones; took down one of the nation's highest-ranking generals with a single scathing profile; and wiped out in a blur of drugs, speed, twisted metal wreckage and conspiracy theories -- all before the age of 34? Hastings's legacy has grown even larger in the past month, as his seminal 2012 story for Rolling Stone about the life and e-mails of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has attracted renewed attention.

    Now, with the posthumous publication of "The Last Magazine," a first novel stashed in Hastings's files, more information is indeed forthcoming for readers and colleagues who, like me, want to rescue the man, extract him with jaws of life, from the trappings of mythology. The first-person protagonist, an ambitious young intern at a Newsweek-like periodical called the Magazine, bears the name Michael M. Hastings. But many readers, in and out of the industry, will see the real Michael Hastings in the novel's superstar war correspondent, A.E. Peoria, a gifted, cynical and reckless careerist given to drug-and-alcohol binges and avid indulgence in Bangkok nightlife.

    --

    "The Last Magazine" is tender and brutal, worldly and inbred, high-minded and gross, smartly rendered and rough around the edges -- and quite often hilarious. Its author had a gift for capturing the way his generation talks, as when the Thai government's public-service ad campaign for condoms is seen curbing the spread of HIV, "protecting its sex industry for at least another generation or two, until some new [expletive] supervirus came out." I've no doubt that, were he here, Hastings would denounce me as a cheap whore for saying so, but "The Last Magazine" is the funniest, most savage takedown of the American news media since "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," by his hero Hunter S. Thompson.

    This novel also amounts to an extended viewing of Hastings's soul, of a sort not on display in his three previous books (nonfiction based on his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and on the 2012 campaign trail). When Peoria describes the demented state of Baghdad in August 2003, after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the prose surely applies to Hastings himself, his lifelong ambivalence, in all its multifaceted and unrelenting forms: "Mental illness can give everything perceived the same exaggerated value, worth and worthless indistinguishable. It wasn't about value: it was about letting the mania take hold, allowing the mania to equalize all things considered, with the only solution for the hysteria to wind itself down, exhaustion the only cure. Following the mania there was a depressive crash."




    Parent
    There has been an arrest (none / 0) (#22)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:43:15 AM EST
    Related to the Benghazi attacks.  No web headlines yet.  Just heard it while I was on the stairmaster

    Here it is (none / 0) (#23)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:54:19 AM EST
    National Security
    U.S. captures Benghazi suspect in secret raid

    U.S. Special Operations forces captured one of the suspected ringleaders of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi in a secret raid in Libya over the weekend, the first time one of the accused perpetrators of the 2012 assault has been apprehended, according to U.S. officials.

    The officials said Ahmed Abu Khattala was captured Sunday near Benghazi by American troops, working alongside the FBI, following months of planning, and was now in U.S. custody "in a secure location outside Libya." The officials said there were no casualties in the operation, and that all U.S. personnel involved have safely left Libya.

    Khattala's apprehension is a major victory for the Obama administration, which has been criticized for having failed so far to bring those responsible for the Benghazi attacks to justice.



    Parent
    The FBI's involvement is giving me pause... (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Anne on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 01:45:57 PM EST
    more details will perhaps make that feeling go away, but for now the timing and the FBI's history of cooking up plots so they can break them up, to much fanfare, can't be dismissed out of hand.

    Hope I'm wrong.

    Parent

    Yep (none / 0) (#29)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 02:55:22 PM EST


    Parent
    The FBI works alongside (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:59:31 PM EST
    Special Operations now overseas on terrorist and terrorism problems as well as DEA as Jeralyn has pointed out in numerous postings.  I can't remember what the five man investigation teams consisted of any longer, but they started in Afghanistan and alongside military intel and CID was one FBI agent and one DEA agent.  It has been written about in a few places that the FBI has been working to train military investigators on how to thoroughly process crimes scenes.  That type of investigation process was not their forte in the past.

    And I'm pretty sure that it is common knowledge at this point that the FBI was who processed the Benghazi crime scene though it took them awhile to get there.

    Parent

    A lot has been written and said about the FBI (none / 0) (#49)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 05:05:56 PM EST
    Lately.  Rachel as usual does a good summary

    Parent
    That was from Feb (none / 0) (#50)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 05:23:53 PM EST
    This is from March

    FBI agent cleared in shooting of Todashev

    May

    Pension for FBI shooter of Todashev draws scrutiny in Oakland



    Parent

    I think every form of law enforcement (5.00 / 1) (#54)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 06:18:39 PM EST
    Will always suffer from unscrupulous doings, we will always have to remember that they may have hidden agendas operating at any given time.

    I can't be instantly suspect of the FBI simply because it is the FBI.  Law enforcement is a flawed science run by flawed human beings, but it is better than all the other alternatives.

    So nobody is going magically give us a perfect means of administering law and protection of citizens that leaves out human failings and short comings.  We will always have to not place those institutions on pedestals.

    But I need something a little more fact based to dismiss their arrest of a Benghazi suspect than the FBI sucks :). Just sayin :)

    Parent

    Certainly not dismissing it (none / 0) (#55)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 06:34:26 PM EST
    Only speaking for me.   That said, I also think it's very important for people to trust an agency as powerful as the FBI.
    Again speaking only for me, I don't.  Those things I linked to are just about one incident.  There's way more than one.

    Parent
    One other thought (none / 0) (#56)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 06:39:59 PM EST
    If you watched the video do you believe that out of 150 shootings that resulted in death or injury not a single one was the result of unjustified or unnecessary action by an agent?

    Parent
    Nope :) (5.00 / 1) (#57)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:09:18 PM EST


    Parent
    Me neither (none / 0) (#58)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:10:10 PM EST


    Parent
    Well, if one of them were to be... (none / 0) (#69)
    by unitron on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:26:41 PM EST
    ...as the result of unjustified or unnecessary action by an agent, I'm guessing it most likely would be the one where the explanation of what happened kept changing.

    Parent
    Now, whatever are they going to do??? (none / 0) (#26)
    by christinep on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 01:58:03 PM EST
    The Repubs, that is ... what kind of new "scandal" will they have to try to craft now that a major suspect in the Benghazi matter has been detained?  

    Good on the administration & the military forces who demonstrated such commendable, methodical resolve in apprehending this key suspect in the Benghazi tragedy.  

    Parent

    I might add (none / 0) (#27)
    by christinep on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 02:07:22 PM EST
    This is the kind of step-by-step resolve we've seen before.  In the matter of Osama bin Laden ... no prior braggadocio from the WH, no empty promises on how we are going to hunt 'em down; rather, delivering what should be delivered without hysterical arm-waving claims.  Again:  Good work today to all those instrumental government forces who did the work rather than the mouthing off.

    Parent
    Now if they (none / 0) (#28)
    by Slado on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 02:41:54 PM EST
    could just find those pesky IRS emails all would be right with the world!

    Parent
    Selective memory syndrome... (5.00 / 3) (#76)
    by Anne on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 09:58:09 PM EST
    Digby:

    It's also interesting how soon these conservative commentators forget a more recent "missing email" scandal. Remember that time when the Bush White House couldn't provide years worth of emails from the office of the President and Vice President involving Scooter Libby and kept it secret for years until it was finally forced to admit that the emails were destroyed and they hadn't kept a back-up? Apparently Krauthamer and company forgot about that. (You'd think his colleague at Fox would remind him -- she was the presidential press secretary at the time and the official who finally admitted publicly that they didn't have the missing emails.) They also forgot about that time when the Bush administration couldn't turn over emails in the US Attorney scandal because they had failed to follow the law and conduct government business on government email servers and had instead used private RNC email addresses.

    And then there was this:

       A videotape showing Pentagon officials' final interrogation of al-Qaeda suspect Jose Padilla is missing, raising questions about whether federal prosecutors have lost other recordings and evidence in the case...

        Prosecutors and the Pentagon have said they cannot find the tape despite an intensive search.

    But hey, that's nothing to the horror of a Tea Partier having to fill out some extra tax forms.

    Meanwhile, as the right fulminates over some missing IRS emails, it's clear that nobody is concerned about this:

       At the time that the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed videotapes of the interrogations of operatives of Al Qaeda, a federal judge was still seeking information from Bush administration lawyers about the interrogation of one of those operatives, Abu Zubaydah, according to court documents made public on Wednesday.

        The court documents, filed in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, appear to contradict a statement last December by Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, that when the tapes were destroyed in November 2005 they had no relevance to any court proceeding, including Mr. Moussaoui's criminal trial.

    Now, what else is there to say?  "Bite me" seems appropriate.

    Parent

    Because then what? (none / 0) (#63)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:34:26 PM EST
    Are you suggesting that we'd then somehow have answers to a phony issue that was never a real scandal in the first place, and was nothing more than a manufactured excuse for more ginned-up outrage from the right-wing Wurlitzer about that black man in the White House?

    Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested. Its expiration date passed a long time ago, and it reeks.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I am STATING (none / 0) (#84)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:43:53 AM EST
    that we would know what was in the Emails.

    It is called our RIGHT.

    Why are you so scared to find out??

    Parent

    The answer (none / 0) (#96)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 10:09:58 AM EST
    is 42

    Parent
    What they are doing so far (none / 0) (#30)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 03:04:27 PM EST
    Is a lot of hand wringing about "being read his rights".

    God forbid.

    Parent

    New scandal? (none / 0) (#31)
    by KeysDan on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 03:54:02 PM EST
    Christi, are you ready for it?    It's Hillary, a scheme to save her book tour.  

    Parent
    Fox News flash, (none / 0) (#32)
    by KeysDan on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 03:56:35 PM EST
    all to help Hillary.

    Parent
    They spelled (none / 0) (#38)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:18:38 PM EST
    Analist wrong

    Parent
    Excellent powers of observation, KeysDan (none / 0) (#40)
    by christinep on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:44:21 PM EST
    And, I've heard that Leader Reid (during his press conference today) tore into what he called a "disgusting" reaction from some Repubs who tended to look for conspiracies everywhere, etc., in order to criticize President Obama on anything, on anything.  But, darn, I didn't foresee their invented use of Hillary in this particular situation.

    You've got to stand in reverse tribute to the sheer chutzpah of the yahoos who can dream up a conspiracy-a-day.

    Parent

    Apparently the guy says it was the video (none / 0) (#59)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:15:05 PM EST
    crooks &  liars

    Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the suspect captured by U.S. special forces on Tuesday for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attack, reportedly said he was motivated in part by the anti-Islam online video made in America, according to the New York Times.

    "What he did in the period just before the attack has remained unclear. But Mr. Abu Khattala told other Libyans in private conversations during the night of the attack that he was moved to attack the diplomatic mission to take revenge for an insult to Islam in an American-made online video," Times reporter David Kirkpatrick wrote in a story on Khattala on Tuesday.

    Immediately following the attack, Khattala declined to say whether the video had anything to do with his role in the Benghazi attack, according to the Times.




    Parent
    Well let me see (none / 0) (#34)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:03:10 PM EST
    they have known all about this guy for months....

    and just as Obama's foreign policy is falling apart in Iraq....

    SHAZAM SHAZAM! Sgt Carter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    We get something "positive" to take people's minds off the beheadings.....

    And did I mention the dog are their emails???

    lol

    Parent

    And he says he was motivated (5.00 / 1) (#61)
    by MKS on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:19:32 PM EST
    by the video.

    Oh noise....The whole Benghazi war cry of the conservatives will need some reworking.....

    sorry, Jim, how's that impeachment strategy working out for you.

    Parent

    Time to move the goal posts (none / 0) (#62)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:21:33 PM EST
    Again

    Parent
    Example (none / 0) (#88)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:04:10 AM EST
    below.

    Parent
    What?? (none / 0) (#85)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:45:33 AM EST
    Do you think arresting this man explains why Obama and Rice lied???

    lol

    Shazam!

    Parent

    Style over substance (none / 0) (#105)
    by MKS on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 02:28:07 PM EST
    Jim, your reliance on exclamation points!!! and bold is remarkably unnerving.  

    It is like a chant, a chant for war.   Forget trying to reason....You just throw out slogans.....and now those slogans appear in bold.

    This is the same kind of war fever that led us into Iraq in the first place....

    Parent

    Well, at least he's admitting that (5.00 / 1) (#106)
    by Anne on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 02:31:32 PM EST
    Condoleezza Rice lied - that's progress, isn't it?

    And he says it over and over, so it must be true.

    Parent

    HEH (none / 0) (#120)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 07:31:24 AM EST


    Parent
    Gee MKS (none / 0) (#122)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 07:33:32 AM EST
    Why so serious??

    How's 'bout some fun???

    Okie dokie

    obama and rice died and men died

    Parent

    men died (none / 0) (#126)
    by jondee on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 10:47:31 AM EST
    just not 3,000 of them.

    Parent
    So a lie about 4 men is (none / 0) (#130)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:09:25 PM EST
    okay if issued by Obama and his minions??

    Hmmmmm... Strike up the band. Call the families..

    We can dig'em and they all be fine.

    Parent

    Not a "lie" (none / 0) (#132)
    by Yman on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:16:56 PM EST
    ... and it didn't cause their deaths ...

    ... unlike the lies about Iraq and WMDs.

    Parent

    Obama lied Rice lied (none / 0) (#134)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 09:55:05 AM EST
    And we all know it.

    Shame on you for denying it.

    Parent

    We all know it.. (none / 0) (#136)
    by jondee on Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 01:50:20 PM EST
    is that the Victorian Royal "we", the editorial "we", or the Elwood P Dowd and Harvey "we"?

    Parent
    Who is this "we"? (none / 0) (#138)
    by Yman on Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 06:03:40 PM EST
    The wingnuts pushing Benghazi lies on their silly websites/blogs.  Why would anyone listen to those debunked lies?

    Parent
    Jim, that horse you're beating ... (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:44:51 PM EST
    ... has been dead for so long that you're clearly disoriented, having been enveloped in the dust cloud arising from its stirred-up ashes.

    But then, why should today be any different?

    Parent

    Sorry Donald (none / 0) (#121)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 07:31:56 AM EST
    the facts will come out.

    Parent
    Still (none / 0) (#35)
    by lentinel on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:10:00 PM EST
    rolling on the floor Jim?

    Parent
    I was (none / 0) (#36)
    by lentinel on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:11:19 PM EST
    watching a documentary about prohibition.

    It seems to me that we learned absolutely nothing from that experience.

    Sure we did (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:15:06 PM EST
    We leaned illegal substances are a lot more profitable than legal ones.  And the police get no cut frm liquor stores

    Parent
    I find it fascinating (none / 0) (#39)
    by Slado on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:39:29 PM EST
    that the greedy Washington politicians haven't learned from the recall of prohibition how much money is to be made from the legalization of weed.

    I think certian hard drugs should remain illegal but the weed is a no brainer.

    Yes it's not good for you but neither is booze and regulating something like week and locking people up as much as we do is ridiculous.

    Plus all the tax dollars we could have!

    Parent

    Upton Sinclair (5.00 / 2) (#41)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:45:35 PM EST
    "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

    They are being paid lots of money to not get it by people lining their own pockets who don't give a damn about taxes or the good they could do.

    Parent

    True (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Slado on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:49:18 PM EST
    but they have no problem over taxing certain things while not taxing weed and spending billions to regulate and police it.

    It's like a double whammy of idiocy.

    But you're right.   Follow the money.   Somebody, somewhere wants the "War on Drugs" to continue and even the lure of tax dollars isn't enough to change that.

    Parent

    Follow the money (none / 0) (#51)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 05:39:19 PM EST
    spending billions to regulate and police it.

    Indeed

    Parent

    The only (5.00 / 2) (#52)
    by lentinel on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 05:55:57 PM EST
    thing I question is whether or not "weed" is bad for you.

    I don't like a value judgement about which escape mechanism an individual chooses.

    Is watching tv good for you?
    Is watching the evening news good for you?

    Is one fashion of wasting time worse than another?

    Is there any proof that weed deteriorates ones health?
    Is there some proof that it might, in some cases, perhaps in many cases, improve ones health? You've read  I would imagine about the medicinal uses of mj.

    Not to mention that people need to relax and unwind, and many find mj to be a most non-toxic means of doing so.

    But - I will go further.

    I think that keeping drugs illegal - including heroin - is cruel.
    It is also a function that I do not believe the state should be involved with. Do you believe that a country that will not permit the labeling of foods so that we know whether they contain GMOs is really out to protect us? A society whose leadership not so long ago told us that the way to protect ourselves from germ warfare is to put plastic over our windows. A society which treats its veterans like so much waste.

    No.

    Some great artists would be alive right now if they had been allowed to legally obtain a substance that would permit them to function on an even keel - and thwart the need to depend on alcohol to ease the pain of depravation.

    I cannot make moral judgements. And from what I know and from what I have read, I'm not in a position to even make a medical judgement.

    What I know is that the prohibition against drugs has spawned an evil empire - a repressive and corrupt regime reaching into our government - bloating our prison system - criminalizing our people - separating citizens from law enforcement - diverting needed law enforcement into harassment and corruption - and caused the needless deaths of many many people.

    Parent

    OK Go. Again (none / 0) (#43)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 04:47:36 PM EST
    The Writings On The Wall

    Video genius  

    BLOODY (none / 0) (#53)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 06:16:00 PM EST
    When E! Online asked him to describe the final episode, Noah Hawley, writer of "Fargo," had only one word to say.

    I know some stuff.....

    One thing, there is almost certainly going to be a season two.  Though it will not have the same cast and it has not been officially announced.

    "When I went in and sat down with FX, I said the movie was as powerful as it was, because at the end you knew she was going to wake up tomorrow and it was going to be a normal day. And we're saying it's a true story, which it isn't, but it's following a certain true story logic, and it would strain credulity I think to have the continuing adventures of Molly and Gus with [a new storyline of] `What crazy Coen Brother case are they going to catch next time?'" he said.

    "My feeling is we would explore new territory, but nothing is set in stone yet," he added.
    Wish I could stay up for the finale (none / 0) (#75)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 09:17:09 PM EST
    Just too tired, and long day ahead tomorrow. Will give me something to look forward to watching tomorrow night though. I will avoid the site till then, so spoil away!  I know it is hard to resist!

    Parent
    It was (none / 0) (#79)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 10:36:33 PM EST
    AMAZING.  No need for spoilers. I'm going to sleep to.
    Look forward to your review.

    Parent
    It really was great! (none / 0) (#112)
    by ruffian on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:08:00 PM EST
    Not as bloody as I feared, by Fargo standards. I will keep the Lorne Malvo first aid tips in mind if my leg ever gets caught in a trap. That part made me a little queasy.

    Gus and Lorne...do you remember what the riddle was? I did not save the old episodes. That scene was so well done. I was a little afraid Gus was pulling an Oberyn by going too close to the body near the end, but it was smart to get the sharp object out of reach.

    The snowmobile chase was perfect - Lester did not deserve anything more dignified.  I said regarding 'Inside Llewyn Davis' and all the Coen brothers projects that they film winter better than anyone else. This show was a great example.  They just capture it - I can almost breath that air. Hard to say from Orlando in June.

    Hard to lose Key and Peele, but not as heartbreaking as losing anyone else!

    All in all I would not have changed anything!


    Parent

    Lorne aske Gus if he knew why (none / 0) (#113)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:12:21 PM EST
    The human eye can detect more shades of green than any other color.  The answer is that we evolved to be able to spot predators.

    It was well done. Such a surprise.   Who expected mild mannered Gus to just open up on him.  Then when he started to rise up out of the chair it was like, oh sh!t, he really can't be killed.  I also love that no one even bothered to say anything like, he was just sitting there, why did you shoot him.  It was the only thing to do.

    I agree it was perfect.  Right down to the Fargo music to close out with them watching jeopardy.

    Parent

    Exactly. (5.00 / 1) (#116)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:58:16 PM EST
    It was all so unexpected, because I truly feared for Gus's safety and life when he spotted the red BMW by that remote cabin in the woods. Earlier, he had begged his pregnant policewoman-wife to not place herself in any situation with Malvo where she could possibly be killed. And even though she had protested that it was her job, she reluctantly acceded to his request and stayed behind at the station as he colleagues went out to search for Malvo.

    How ironic it was, then, that Gus himself would soon find himself in that very predicament! But rather than simply phone in his discovery to the police and then flee the scene, he very quickly came to terms with the mortal threat Malvo posed to his entire family, and channeled his own inner wolf. Thus, the hunter soon became the prey.

    Lorne Malvo's summary execution at the hands of the good-natured Gus rendered the show's climax somewhat anti-climactic, yet all the more satisfying and oddly appropriate. In the end, the sociopathic hitman had inadvertently unleashed the inner demons of one of the nicest guys in town, and he soon faced his own end in the same manner as had so many of his victims -- totally defenseless and wholly vulnerable.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I also loved (none / 0) (#123)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:17:42 AM EST
    That the sequence echoed Malvos story of the bear he observed in Alaska.  Caught in a trap it gnawed it's own leg off only to die 20 minutes later.
    But the bear being an innocent died as he said "on his own terms".  Malvo not so much.

    Parent
    Thank you! (5.00 / 1) (#118)
    by ruffian on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 05:48:12 AM EST
    I am really not good at TV watching - how could I forget that?

    I agree there was ample reason for Gus to think he only had one option with this guy.

    Parent

    Also we should have known the trap was coming (none / 0) (#125)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 09:51:06 AM EST
    Based on "Chekhov's gun", or in this case "Chekhov's bear trap"

    Chekhov's gun is a dramatic principle that requires every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable, and that everything else be removed.[1][2][3]

    Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.

    --Anton Chekhov[3][4]
    Variations on the statement include:

    "One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep." Chekhov, letter to Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev (pseudonym of A. S. Gruzinsky), 1 November 1889.[5][6][7] Here the "gun" is a monologue that Chekhov deemed superfluous and unrelated to the rest of the play.
    "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." From Gurlyand's Reminiscences of A. P. Chekhov, in Teatr i iskusstvo 1904, No. 28, 11 July, p. 521.[8]

    But we didn't.  Or I didn't.  I forgot.   Credit to the writing.

    Parent

    I actually watched it again this afternoon (none / 0) (#114)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:14:02 PM EST


    Parent
    Obamacare NOT in the news (none / 0) (#65)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:47:04 PM EST
    VITTER OPEN TO MEDICAID EXPANSION? -- Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, says he isn't closing the door on Medicaid expansion in his state -- as long as it meets a slew of conditions. The Baton Rouge Advocate, Associated Press and other local media broke the news during Vitter's appearance Monday at the Baton Rouge Press Club. Vitter, who is running for governor in 2015, was cited as favoring expansion if it would improve Louisiana's Medicaid program

    Insurers flocking to ObamaCare

    Health insurance companies suddenly want in on the ObamaCare action.

    With a difficult launch year out of the way, insurers are seeing a moneymaking opportunity in the federal healthcare program and are lining up to offer plans on the ObamaCare exchanges in 2015.

    In the 10 states where data is available, at least 27 new insurers have indicated they will offer plans on the marketplaces in 2015. Each additional carrier will expand the number of plans sold on the exchanges, since none of the carriers already offering plans have indicated they will drop out.

    Also it was just pointed out that in two hours of interviews across two networks this afternoon Hilary was not asked a single question about the ACA.

    One more (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 07:58:12 PM EST
    95% of Minnesota residents insured

    Obamacare cuts Kentucky's uninsured by 40%

    Parent

    Well that just proves... (5.00 / 1) (#72)
    by unitron on Tue Jun 17, 2014 at 08:41:25 PM EST
    ...that Iraq and the Benghazi arrest are all smokescreens to keep people from thinking about how we absolutely have to repeal Obamacare because Kenyan Socialism, death panels, FEMA concentration camps, etc.

    Parent
    Fargo! (none / 0) (#82)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 01:38:16 AM EST
    What a great ending!

    It really was (none / 0) (#89)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:04:33 AM EST
    Still trying to figure out the glove story.

    Parent
    OK! (5.00 / 1) (#90)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:09:14 AM EST
    The finale offered a simple but stunning example of his nature in the form of a brainteaser. Lester is quite the riddle solver when there's something to be gained, but doesn't understand Molly's basic notion of thinking of others - is incapable of it. The man on the train that Molly described would rather a total stranger have two gloves than keep only one of the pair for himself. Lester simply does not compute. He'd never even consider that there might be another person in need of warmth. He'd only lament what he'd lost and count himself a victim. Why toss the second glove? What would be in it for him? The entirely self-focused Mr. Nygaard can easily unravel the mystery of how to keep three prizes like the fox, the rabbit, and the cabbage, however.


    Parent
    For the record (none / 0) (#95)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:56:55 AM EST
    I didn't get the cabbage one either.

    Parent
    Well said (none / 0) (#119)
    by ruffian on Thu Jun 19, 2014 at 05:51:49 AM EST
    He couldn't even help Molly when she was really trying to help him too. Just incapable of it.  That's what I was thinking - she was mostly sad because she knew it was not going to end well if he did not accept help.

    Ordinarily I cringe when a character stops to tell a story like that because people just don't talk like that...but I let Molly get away with it.


    Parent

    That quote is from (none / 0) (#92)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 09:22:22 AM EST
    an excellent review

    Fargo ultimately revealed itself to be a refreshing tale of good versus evil. It's a rare thing to find a story this rich and nuanced that also takes a definitive stance about the nature of morality. In the city of Bemidji - as Noah Hawley has imagined it - there are sturdy folks of solid character and there are those who are simply rotten to the core. Malvo served to flush out and/or unearth the true nature of those he encountered or targeted. He was a catalyst for the release of their inner demons or their highest potential. In the end, the wolf that Malvo had called upon as his spirit animal rose up to show him that his poisonous nature was all too human.

    Fargo ultimately revealed itself to be a refreshing tale of good versus evil. It's a rare thing to find a story this rich and nuanced that also takes a definitive stance about the nature of morality. In the city of Bemidji - as Noah Hawley has imagined it - there are sturdy folks of solid character and there are those who are simply rotten to the core. Malvo served to flush out and/or unearth the true nature of those he encountered or targeted. He was a catalyst for the release of their inner demons or their highest potential. In the end, the wolf that Malvo had called upon as his spirit animal rose up to show him that his poisonous nature was all too human.

    This is one that we'll likely be talking about for some time.



    Parent
    Great idea... (none / 0) (#87)
    by kdog on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 08:58:24 AM EST
    to improve prison conditions in Michigan foiled by a rag arm.

    Glass ceiling solidly in place (none / 0) (#101)
    by ZtoA on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 12:01:41 PM EST
    for female artists. A critic's view. link

    Well (none / 0) (#104)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 02:27:30 PM EST
    apparently Hillary slaughter Brent Baier on TV last night with his idiotic questions about Benghazi hence this explains the commands coming down from GOP central to talk about the IRS once again.

    It seems that the GOP voters would want more investigation into the Tea Party since they are literally fleecing them out of a ton of money. But like the saying goes a fool and his money are soon parted.

    Undead Ted (none / 0) (#110)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 07:39:26 PM EST
    Peek A Boo

    You can't unsee me

    Heritage Benghazi Freak Show (none / 0) (#111)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Jun 18, 2014 at 07:54:19 PM EST
    The right's hateful freak show: Dana Milbank vs. Heritage Foundation's abuse

    There is a link to the column and the video.  One of our commenters would have felt right at home -

    Thanks to Dana Milbank for attending the Heritage Foundation hatefest on Benghazi Monday so the rest of us didn't have to. As if a higher power wanted to underscore the group's irrelevance, the very next morning the Obama administration announced it captured the man it believes was the ringleader of the Benghazi attack.

    Milbank's column focused on the abuse suffered by Saba Ahmed, a Pakistani Muslim, when she suggested that some at the conference seemed to stereotype all Muslims as violent and anti-American. Rather unbelievably, conservatives and even some media critics are siding with Heritage and saying Milbank made the crowd look uglier than it was. Even after Media Matters released video of the clash between Ahmed and panelist Brigitte Gabriel of ACT! For America, criticism intensified.
    Monday Night Open Thread | 138 comments (138 topical)

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