me: *takes a deep breath*
me: i lo-
anyone who has spent five seconds around me ever: yes, you love the middleman, we know, you love the middleman so much, it’s the light of your life, you love it so much, you just love the middleman, we KNOW , you love the middleman you fucking love the middleman ok we know, we get it, YOU LOVE THE MIDDLEMAN. WE GET IT.
In a Thursday night interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s travel ban with what she would call “alternative facts” — the rest of us would call them lies.
Trump’s top adviser spoke of the “Bowling Green Massacre,” which she said was carried out by two Iraqi refugees.
She slammed the press for not covering the tragedy, which is why, Conway maintained, most people don’t know about it.
However, as the Washington Post notes, such a terrorist attack never occurred in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Conway seemed to be referring to the 2011 arrest of two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green who were charged with attempting to send money and weapons to al-Qaida. Read more
Conway is full of “alternative facts” — dismissing the truth while promoting Trump administration hires and policies.
Yesterday, Conway tweeted praise for Trump’s appointment of Gina Haspel to be second-in-command at the CIA, calling her the “first female” to serve in that role.
As former CIA spokesman George Little pointed out, that simply isn’t the case — Obama appointed Avril Haines as deputy director of the CIA in 2013. Read more
Here’s a relatively significant post script: today, the useless White House Press Corps didn’t ask Trump spokesliar Sean Spicer A SINGLE QUESTION about this.
i used to get self-conscious over the smallest things but friends let me tell you that today i had to smuggle a furious 8ft python onto the bus during the school rush and not a single person noticed. not one. if people don’t care enough to notice a shopping bag writhing and seething with barely-contained reptilian hatred then i promise you that no-one will pay any attention to that blemish you’re fretting about or how you’ve done your hair
Leo Herrera is making a project along these lines:
“Fathers is a sci-fi documentary set in an alternate universe where the AIDS crisis never happened. If our queer artists and activists had lived, who would they be today? What would our world be? Would we have a gay president? These are the questions Fathers explores in a short film that can only be described as “Cruising meets Black Mirror meets Beyonce’s Lemonade.”
Wanna see the shitty statement on the ACA from the shitty email my shitty R Representative sent me? "Because of the way Obamacare legislation was crafted, we cannot simply fix parts of it. Many of you have suggested doing that. Unfortunately, it was intentionally designed this way in 2010 to keep future Congresses from altering it, despite the fact it was not done in a bipartisan fashion whatsoever."
They really do think we're idiots, without the ability to remember a few years ago.
Republicans have gotten their new marching orders from Frank Luntz, who is telling them that they need to call Obamacare repeal "Obamacare repair," instead. No less than House Speaker Paul Ryan has been deploying it, though that gets him in a little trouble—a lot of trouble, actually—with the maniacs, so he's had to walk it back some and concede that, yeah, they're still talking repeal. But just to be sure, the maniacs are laying down a marker.
Two conservative House members issued a shot across the bow against any attempts to shrink the scope of Republicans' repeal of the Affordable Care Act, in a statement that "strongly" encouraged that the coming legislation to dismantle the law go at least as far as a 2015 Obamacare repeal bill.
That 2015 bill passed Congress but was vetoed by President Obama in 2016.
"There’s no reason we should put anything less on President Trump’s desk than we put on President Obama’s now that we know it will be signed into law," the statement, issued by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) Thursday, said. "We strongly encourage that this bill be brought to the floor for consideration as soon as possible so we can begin undoing this law that is hurting American families.”
There are plenty of reasons that they can't actually do that, one of which is the political disaster Luntz is trying to warn them against—they're now on the wrong side of public opinion on this. Many more Republicans, now forced into actually having to do something for real on this, understand that to not make the whole thing come crashing down on top of them in a really bad way, some of it has to be retained.
the most implausible thing about superhero movies is that these guys make their own suits, like seriously those toxic chemicals did NOT give you the ability to sew stretch knits, do you even own a serger
I feel like there’s this little secret place in the middle of some seedy New York business neighborhood, back room, doesn’t even have a sign on the door, but within three days of using their powers in public or starting a pattern of vigilanteism, every budding superhero or supervillain gets discreetly handed a scrap of paper with that address written on it.
Inside there’s this little tea table with three chairs, woodstove, minifridge, work table, sewing machines, bolts and bolts of stretch fabrics and maybe some kevlar, and two middle-aged women with matching wedding rings and sketchbooks.
And they invite you to sit down, and give you tea and cookies, and start making sketches of what you want your costume to look like, and you get measured, and told to come back in a week, and there’s your costume, waiting for you.
The first one is free. They tell you the price of subsequent ones, and it’s based on what you can afford. You have no idea how they found out about your financial situation. You try it on, and it fits perfectly, and you have no idea how they managed that without measuring you a whole lot more thoroughly than they did.
They ask you to pose for a picture with them. For their album, they say. The camera is old, big, the sort film camera artists hunt down at antique stores and pay thousands for, and they come pose on either side of you and one of them clicks the camera remotely by way of one of those squeeze-things on a cable that you’ve seen depicted from olden times. That one (the tall one, you think, though she isn’t really, thin and reminiscent of a Greek marble statue) pulls the glass plate from the camera and scurries off to the basement, while the other one (shorter, round, all smiles, her shiny black hair pulled up into a bun) brings out a photo album to show you their work.
Inside it is … everyone. Superheroes. Supervillains. Household names and people you don’t recognize. She flips through pages at random, telling you little bits about the guy in the purple spangly costume, the lady in red and black, the mysterious cloaked figure whose mask reveals one eye. As she pages back, the costumes start looking really convincingly retro, and her descriptions start having references to the Space Race, the Depression, the Great War.
The other lady comes up, holding your picture. You’re sort of surprised to find it’s in color, and then you realize all the others were, too, even the earliest ones. There you are, and you look like a superhero. You look down at yourself, and feel like a superhero. You stand up straighter, and the costume suddenly fits a tiny bit better, and they both smile proudly.
*
The next time you come in, it’s because the person who’s probably going to be your nemesis has shredded your costume. You bring the agreed-upon price, and you bake cupcakes to share with them. There’s a third woman there, and you don’t recognize her, but the way she moves is familiar somehow, and the air seems to sparkle around her, on the edge of frost or the edge of flame. She’s carrying a wrapped brown paper package in her arms, and she smiles at you and moves to depart. You offer her a cupcake for the road.
The two seamstresses go into transports of delight over the cupcakes. You drink tea, and eat cookies and a piece of a pie someone brought around yesterday. They examine your costume and suggest a layer of kevlar around the shoulders and torso, since you’re facing off with someone who uses claws.
They ask you how the costume has worked, contemplate small design changes, make sketches. They tell you a story about their second wedding that has you falling off the chair in tears, laughing so hard your stomach hurts. They were married in 1906, they say, twice. They took turns being the man. They joke about how two one-ring ceremonies make one two-ring ceremony, and figure that they each had one wedding because it only counted when they were the bride.
They point you at three pictures on the wall. A short round man with an impressive beard grins next to a taller, white-gowned goddess; a thin man in top hat and tails looks adoringly down at a round and beaming bride; two women, in their wedding dresses, clasp each other close and smile dazzlingly at the camera. The other two pictures show the sanctuaries of different churches; this one was clearly taken in this room.
There’s a card next to what’s left of the pie. Elaborate silver curlicues on white, and it originally said “Happy 10th Anniversary,” only someone has taken a Sharpie and shoehorned in an extra 1, so it says “Happy 110th.” The tall one follows your gaze, tells you, morning wedding and evening wedding, same day. She picks up the card and sets it upright; you can see the name signed inside: Magneto.
You notice that scattered on their paperwork desk are many more envelopes and cards, and are glad you decided to bring the cupcakes.
*
When you pick up your costume the next time, it’s wrapped up in paper and string. You don’t need to try it on; there’s no way it won’t be perfect. You drink tea, eat candies like your grandmother used to make when you were small, talk about your nights out superheroing and your nemesis and your calculus homework and how today’s economy compares with the later years of the Depression.
When you leave, you meet a man in the alleyway. He’s big, and he radiates danger, but his eyes shift from you to the package in your arms, and he nods slightly and moves past you. You’re not the slightest bit surprised when he goes into the same door you came out of.
*
The next time you visit, there’s nothing wrong with your costume but you think it might be wise to have a spare. And also, you want to thank them for the kevlar. You bring artisan sodas, the kind you buy in glass bottles, and they give you stir fry, cooked on the wood-burning stove in a wok that looks a century old.
There’s no way they could possibly know that your day job cut your hours, but they give you a discount that suits you perfectly. Halfway through dinner, a cinderblock of a man comes in the door, and the shorter lady brings up an antique-looking bottle of liquor to pour into his tea. You catch a whiff and it makes your eyes water. The tall one sees your face, and grins, and says, Prohibition.
You’re not sure whether the liquor is that old, or whether they’ve got a still down in the basement with their photography darkroom. Either seems completely plausible. The four of you have a rousing conversation about the merits of various beverages over dinner, and then you leave him to do business with the seamstresses.
*
It’s almost a year later, and you’re on your fifth costume, when you see the gangly teenager chase off a trio of would-be purse-snatchers with a grace of movement that can only be called superhuman.
You take pen and paper from one of your multitude of convenient hidden pockets, and scribble down an address. With your own power and the advantage of practice, it’s easy to catch up with her, and the work of an instant to slip the paper into her hand.
*
A week or so later, you’re drinking tea and comparing Supreme Court Justices past and present when she comes into the shop, and her brow furrows a bit, like she remembers you but can’t figure out from where. The ladies welcome her, and you push the tray of cookies towards her and head out the door.
In the alleyway you meet that same giant menacing man you’ve seen once before. He’s got a bouquet of flowers in one hand, the banner saying Happy Anniversary, and a brown paper bag in the other.
You nod to him, and he offers you a cupcake.
This is so awesome.
Actually, this is New York. Why hide?
Fun fact: that building above is 826NYC, part of the 826 National organisation that provides writing classes and tutoring services for kids. They make their money through those themed stores - from the first 826 in Valencia St, San Francisco, a Pirate Supply Store - and at the back of the store is a tutoring and writing space. The Pirate Supply Store actually does sell things like maps and sea salt and fun little merch, as well as books and zines made by the kids and supporters.
I volunteered for 826 Valencia for a while and they do great work! The writing the kids come up with is incredible, and the stores are really fun too.
Reblob for ‘Hero Supply Store’ pic & exemplary context commentary.
I have this exact problem. Fortunately, so does the bf. It keeps us out of the general population.
SINCERE! Dw, I know it’s not always clear. Whenever I try to say something nice to my friend Leo he looks at me suspiciously and I have to follow it up with “No, really” and he looks at me even more suspiciously.
Popular vote loser Donald Trump's economic advisers think Americans are too stupid to care that they're allowing financial advisers to rip us off again. They're counting out Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who is going to make it very clear just what's going on here. In an emailed statement, she blasts Trump:
"Donald Trump talked a big game about Wall Street during his campaign--but as President, we're finding out whose side he's really on. Today, after literally standing alongside big bank and hedge fund CEOs, he announced two new orders—one that will make it easier for investment advisors to cheat you out of your retirement savings, and another that will put two former Goldman Sachs executives in charge of gutting the rules that protect you from financial fraud and another economic meltdown. The Wall Street bankers and lobbyists whose greed and recklessness nearly destroyed this country may be toasting each other with champagne, but the American people have not forgotten the 2008 financial crisis—and they will not forget what happened today."
And Warren is very effective when it comes to getting this message out. Here's a reminder, from when she roasted Primerica President Peter Schneider for ripping off public employees—fire fighters, teachers—near retirement age who were suing his company for bad investment advice.
“Mr. Schneider, I just want to understand your company’s advice in these cases,” Warren began. “Do you believe that people like these firefighters from Florida who are near retirement and have secure pensions with guaranteed monthly payments should move their money into riskier assets with no guarantees, just before they retire?”
Almost no one who understands personal finance would give such advice in good faith. And Schneider never really answered the question, after being pressed by Warren three separate times. He said that regulators had signed off on the activity, that “each situation is very different,” and that it could make sense for someone on the verge of death.
“I’m sorry, are you suggesting that these 238 people were weeks away from dying, and that’s why they all got this advice?” Warren asked.
You can watch the exchange below the fold. Schneider had no answer to that, and Trump's going to have no answer to Warren, who spearheaded the rule to protect retirees with President Obama. We're talking about retirees and near-retirees being ripped off to the tune of $17 billion annually here. The American people are smart enough to get that. Warren is going to make sure of it.
OK, so you know that thing that happens when you try to image search something, but you don't find what you're looking for, but you DO find... Something?
I mean, I feel bad that her soul has been thoroughly corrupted, but at this point, she's just spreading a bad relationship with the devil around like a virus.
Here’s what Kellyanne Conway came up with to defend her invention of a nonexistent “massacre” to justify Donald Trump’s Muslim ban: She tweeted that “Honest mistakes abound,” and for example, “Last night, prominent editor of liberal site apologized for almost running a story re: tweet from fake account.” Oh, well then, that settles ... wait a minute. Almost? Almost running a story on a tweet from a fake account is just like going on national television and inventing a massacre to justify an actual policy that the White House has implemented, to the actual destruction of people’s lives? And let’s talk about the media’s role here.
On the one hand, you have the “prominent editor of a liberal site” apologizing for something they almost did. On the other hand, you have Kellyanne Conway on television virtually every day despite the fact that she is a known liar. Despite the fact that she tries to pass off blatant lies as “alternative facts.” Yes, she’s a top White House aide … but anyone booking her for a television news spot knows that it’s overwhelmingly likely she will use their show to peddle lies. Why would you book her under those circumstances?
The one legitimate reason to do so would be to call out her lies aggressively, to push her to the limit of her ability to lie and to expose falsehood as the Trump communications policy. But that’s not what Chris Matthews did Thursday night. Conway made up a “massacre” and attacked the media for not having covered this thing that did not exist, and Matthews just moved on. He didn’t even stop to ask her what she was talking about. Or to ask why the concern for a fake “massacre” while Trump is silent on a mass shooting at a mosque.
News shows that book Kellyanne Conway do so knowing that she will use their platform to spread falsehoods. She has a proven track record on that front and shows no signs of changing. At this point, it’s on the producers and interviewers. Either they confront her lies or they own responsibility for them. Which will it be?
OK, I think this is actually cool, although it's one of those things that make people feel better instead of actually improving things. But I would definitely avoid that restaurant on whichever shift he's going to work.
In a classic job switcheroo, this year a Pizza Hut employee will enjoy the boss’s Super Bowl seats, while the company president covers her usual restaurant duties.
Pizza Hut President Artie Starrs says he felt guilty at least year’s championship game, having fun with his fellow Yum Brands pals while 150,000 workers were churning out pizza after pizza on the company’s busiest day of the year.
“I decided that next year we need to have one of our employees in the field come sit in these seats and have this experience,” Starrs told CBS MoneyWatch.
The company held a six-month contest where, at the end, the entrants with the best customer satisfaction scores had their names put into a bowl. Starrs drew a veteran employee of 20 years who oversees around a half-dozen restaurants in Alabama.
She and her husband will be attending the game, while Starrs will work in her stores, doing whatever needs to get done — folding boxes, making pizzas, and yes, even delivering pizzas. He says he can hold his own, but that managers are better at making pizzas simply because they do it more often.
“I think this is something that we are going to be doing going forward. It’s a new tradition,” Starrs said.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the presidential campaign is that so many down-and-out people voted for Donald Trump with the idea he would help them. No. Now, he is going to help rich people rob you.
OK, that's the weirdest headline I've read this week. And believe me, THERE WAS COMPETITION.
While plenty of movie trailers drop during the Super Bowl, this year Hulu is doing something unprecedented by releasing a teaser trailer for its original series The Handmaid’s Tale, according to The Verge. But you don’t have to watch the game to see the teaser; Hulu posted it online today.
At a little over 30 seconds, it’s as long as the first teaser, and has a lot of the same disturbing imagery. But it also builds upon the dystopian world with just a few striking images: Offred (Elisabeth Moss) and the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) after the Ceremony; barren Wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski); how other citizens of the Republic of Gilead interact with the Handmaids, from Aunts to doctors; and how the Handmaids enact their own justice.
And this exchange, between Offred and the Commander:
“We only wanted to make the world better.”
“Better.”
“Better never means better for everyone.”
The official synopsis:
Adapted from the classic novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism in its militarized “return to traditional values.” As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate the world. In this terrifying society, Offred must navigate between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids—where anyone could be a spy for Gilead—all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.
You'll note that the original message said it won't hurt anyone you know. So it's OK to these people that people they don't know are hurt and killed. As long as it isn't themselves, or anyone they actually know, anything goes.
a woman literally died yesterday because she needed medical treatment and couldn’t get back into the country she’s lived in since 1995. you utter. fucking. morons.
update: a four-month-old baby who lives in Iran but has family who are American citizens in Oregon was scheduled to undergo urgent heart surgery at a hospital in Portland on February 5; she and her parents are now being denied entry to the United States. these kinds of surgeries take months to plan, and doctors have advised the family that the procedure needs to happen as soon as possible to save the child’s life.
so far, the consequences of the executive orders that “aren’t going to take anything from you or hurt anyone” include the death of a 75-year-old woman and the denial of life-saving medical treatment to a 4-month-old baby. get your fucking heads out of your asses you insensate bastards.
Sources please
there are literally links right there in my comments. what do you want me to do, come to your house and click them for you?
