37 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

Here's a difference J L.

In 1979, the small insurance company I was working for in Davis, CA are a 2nd shift computer operator. Since part of our job was to interact with him several times a day, it was easy to see that he was bright and pick up things much faster than the other operators. About 2 weeks after he started, he wasn't there at his usual time. Rumors flew about what happened.

As it turned out, he had lied about how long he had worked for one of his references and it took 2 weeks for HR to uncover this. The company that he had worked for actually gave him a decent reference, but because of this one misstatement of fact on his resume, he was immediately terminated.

Anyway, that's what we were told at the time and we never heard from him again.

Was this a significant lie? Gorsuch and Kavanaugh lied to the faces of several Senators including Susan Collins about whether they would uphold precedent. And Kavanaugh lied about being a sexual predator, but hey it's a white man's word against a woman's so it's apparently okay with MAGAs.

But, there is no oversight for SCOTUS, so Gorsuch and Kavanaugh will likely be on the court long after many of us have passed.

Expand full comment
lin•'s avatar

"For the past few days, I’ve felt like Homer Simpson after he accidentally turned a toaster into a time machine and came back to find that Ned Flanders was the unchallenged dictator of the world."

- Tom Nichols

"A searing reminder that Trump is unwell"

The Atlantic Daily, July 19

Expand full comment
lin•'s avatar

To keep myself sane, I've been taking breaks (from almost full time volunteering for Democrats and democracy) by listening to The SagaThing podcast.

John and Andy (American scholars of Icelandic and Medieval literature ) are the Car Talk Guys of literary studies. A good way to run your brain under water and clear your head. You can go for the greats Njal and Egil, listen chronologically, or skip around. They are all excellent. Enjoy.

https://sagathingpodcast.

wordpress.com/

https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/episode-archive/

Expand full comment
David B. Fisher's avatar

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been binging Vikings Valhalla. The SagaThing might be good background. It might also help understand what is going on with Thiel and Vance and their Tolkien obsession.

Expand full comment
CLS's avatar

Good heavens, how could Thiel and Vance NOT see Trump as a modern-day Sauron, obsessed with the ring of power?

Expand full comment
Nevoustrumpezpas's avatar

Presumably they think, like the Kings of Men to whom Sauron gave subsidiary Rings of Power, that they are entitled captains of their destiny, when in reality they are under Trump's ultimate control and will fall as he falls.

Expand full comment
Karen Jacob's avatar

I loved the Viking series. Republicans not much as it depicts some very strong female characters.

Expand full comment
Mim Eisenberg (NYer now in GA)'s avatar

The first link brought up a warning that the page is not private and that you should close the page.

Expand full comment
lin•'s avatar

My apologies. I cannot figure out the tech problem. This link always gets me there on my phone. But the link in the Comment did not. Maybe how it was formatted double space?

Hope this works.

https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/

Or google

Saga Thing podcast.

It's worth the effort

Expand full comment
Mim Eisenberg (NYer now in GA)'s avatar

That link worked, lin. Thanks a lot. I'll try to make time to listen.

Expand full comment
Marycat2021's avatar

Your new link is fine. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Gail Harris's avatar

Gosh!!! Thank YOU!!!!!

Expand full comment
Kate McMullan's avatar

LOL. Thank you for sharing this, lin. Gave me a much-needed laugh.

Expand full comment
Gail Harris's avatar

A friend referred me to Heather Cox Richardson and I referred her to the Bulwark… and the ‘comments’ to both are what are sustaining me…. Along with the “writing”

GOTTA take heart…. And I do….

Expand full comment
lin•'s avatar

Speaking of referrals.

Great CSpan guest scholar segment on the Founders and demagoguery

Eli Merritt

Author, "Disunion Among Ourselves: The

Perilous Politics of the American Revolution"

https://www.c-span.org/series/?washingtonJournal

Expand full comment
Mike Wicklein's avatar

When BK was going through his hearings and the woman came out with the drunken attempted rape story, I wrote about that, to support her, because I had a similar experience to hers. I was playing in a rock band and was about 19. We had a gig at a club in WV, I think I remember which one, but I'm not totally sure. After the gig at about 2:30 AM, we stopped at someone's house on the way home...which was 30 minutes from our homes. We had never been there before...it was dark and they invited us over for drinks and some fun. We were all pretty drunk by 4 AM. I'm a sleepy drunk...and I found an unused bed to lay down on. After a bit a girl I did not know curled up next to me. She wanted some "action" and I was not interested...she REALLY was not my type. I just hugged the wall and turned away from her. I realized during the BK hearings that if I had been a girl and she a boy, I very likely would have been raped. I wrote about this on FB to illustrate to my conservative friends how her story could be true. I could remember approximately where the house was, but not exactly...because the band dropped me at my sisters house on the way home...so from that I could give an agency like the FBI a radius of about 2-5 miles. My sister called my parents to tell them I was there...I needed to work off the alcohol before going home. My sister covered for me and my parents never knew how drunk I was that night...or that I had been to a party where there was at least attempted sex...there were other bedrooms...and I never asked what happened. Our band also played frat parties...so I know how drunken that scene becomes. One was shut down by campus police...and the floor tiles were were coming up because there was so much draft beer from the kegs on the floor. I can imagine BK being one of those guys.

Expand full comment
GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

Mike, I too played in rock bands and I too get tired when I smoke or drink. I just hit a wall and I'm done. I've had similar experiences with "groupies" but I was too scared of getting the clap or getting someone pregnant. Not that I wasn't interested, it's just that my paranoia always won out. Plus I was usually stoned, not drunk.

Anyway, I worked in New Haven, CT where the BK incident(s) occurred and like with any college there are always parties going on. But, if I recall correctly, BK was in high school as well as college, so WTF, why did his parents allow him to get in those situations before he was even 18. He went to a prep school and from his testimony he was drunk a lot and didn't show very good judgment and obviously felt like he could get away with anything that happened.

I have no reason not to believe Dr. Ford's testimony and she had absolutely nothing to gain from telling her story in front of the assholes on the judiciary committee like Grassley and Graham.

And for five years we have 2 sexual predators on the Supreme Court both of whom have taken money from billionaires. The Party of Trump is the party of quid pro quo. The billionaires have their agenda as Biden has pointed out.

Did you know that if you commit rape or incest in Texas resulting in pregnancy of the victim you have less than a five per cent chance of being convicted of rape or paying any compensation to the victim or their family.

Rape is a violent crime, not a crime of passion, and the GOP could care less about prosecuting these crimes or even sending rape kits to the lab.

Expand full comment
Mike Wicklein's avatar

Gary, my experience with "wealthier" people is they don't care if their kids get drunk or stoned as long as nothing "bad" reflects on them. My X wife's sister who I love and get along with married into a VERY wealthy family. Her step daughter had her "sweet 16" party at their VERY large house with a pool. Many of the kids were in the basement game room, with pinball machines, video games, pool table etc. Many more were outside. There was a keg of beer provided by the parents. (this was pre-social media) and a lot of uninvited kids were showing up. My Niece's parents asked Uncle Mike to go take a walk through and see how things were. I was younger, hipper...and they felt I was a good "spy".

Having been to Grateful Dead shows and made some pot brownies in my life, I recognized the smell of weed as soon as I opened the basement door. I confiscated 3 pot pipes from the stunned party goers....and told them the parents were ok with the beer, but not pot in the house. (I guess that level of bust, was too much risk) I gave the pipes to the collected parents who were knocking down martini's at a pretty good rate. Then they asked me to go troll outside.

WOW, the scene rivaled anything I had seen at a gig. Drugs, sex and rock & roll in an ever expanding parking lot. The word had gotten out and this was pre or very early cell phones. The liquor stores must have thought it was New Years Eve.

This party was in a DC suburb where a lot of elected and "influential" people live. I didn't witness any teenage rape that night...but all of the elements were there to make it easy.

I can't remember if the parents pulled the plug early...but they blamed the pot on "other kids", "outsiders"...not their sweet babies.

Expand full comment
Marycat2021's avatar

My best friend's graduation party was so boozy that guys were vomiting all over their front lawn. Back then, parents didn't get busted for serving underage kids, and back then the legal age was 21. In fact, the parents bought the booze and retired to their bedroom. I sloshed down tequila sunrises all night. 49 years later and I still don't remember how I got home.

Being a young woman, and being drunk, high, or both, or neither, is a dangerous thing. This is because of the patriarchy that still says Dr. Ford either lied or deserved to be raped. By extension, Kavanaugh said via the Supreme Court chorus that women's bodies don't really belong to them.

Expand full comment
Mike Wicklein's avatar

I had one of those I don't know how I got home nights. I had driven into Baltimore to the Marble bar to see the blues legend Muddy Waters and I had brownie and then drank a lot...I was missing my girlfriend who I knew was leaving town...and I might never see her again. I was trashed and drove home about 10 miles. Thank the spirits I didn't hurt anyone.

Tequila is my alcohol of choice in a good margarita...Corazone rep or anjeo and Tres agave mix are my go to...and I don't drive drunk anymore.

The Supremes and GOP "leadership" have made it very plain that they totally believe that man is meant to control women...just as the big planters in the south believed...or justified that Africans were put on this planet by their God to serve them and be their property. They were VERY willing to break away and form a new, more perfect nation based on that "fact" and to fire the first shots in our most bloody war...using mostly single shot weapons.

That's the mindset we are dealing with.

Expand full comment
GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

Sounds like a scene from a Molly Ringwald movie complete with the parent's not giving a shit.

I've played a lot of frat and sorority parties and never witnessed anything like that. But, I'm not a very observant person.

My high school GF was the valedictorian of her 800 person high school class. Her SAT score was 780 math and 800 English. She is head of the pediatric unit at a major medical school. She introduced me to marijuana and alcohol. I would be shocked if she doesn't still smoke pot.

It is amazing to me that the GOP is fine with owning guns and drinking beer cause, you know, freedom, yet they are opposed to legalizing pot.

Expand full comment
Mike Wicklein's avatar

The "leadership" of the GOP just wants power...the rest, is the rest

Expand full comment
GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

I was listening to MSNBC this morning and they played a clip of convicted felon Donald Trump trying to distance himself from Project25 (sic) called them far right. He admitted that he knew some of the authors. Good luck with that Donnie.

Expand full comment
Carole Berkoff's avatar

FAceB fact checkers namely Alex Demas of the Dispatch is saying that most 2025 project does not have to do with the R party . This came from labeling a meme as "mostly false". It seems fb monitors some groups more than others & allows politicians to post false information & flat out lies.

Expand full comment
GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

They're counting on no one, especially those on the right, to read any of the 850+ pages.

Expand full comment
Riad Mahayni's avatar

I've read some of Alex Demas' fact checking. He states that some of the argued points are "partly false" which means, that they are also partly true. "Partly false" is not a good enough standard for Alex Demas to suggest that Project 2025 claims by the left are "mostly false." I have yet to read the full 900+ pages (and most likely will not be able to complete the reading.) I choose to take the advice of folks like Robert Reich, and other left of center commentators regarding this manuscript. I don't see Reich lying about any of this. His credibility is too high.

Expand full comment
Karen Jacob's avatar

Maybe so, but just before trump left office, he redesignated job classes which is one of the project 2025 tenets.

Expand full comment
Patrice Curedale's avatar

his alg has fav'd RW since it was invented as a way to rate women by their "hotness" We all fell for it. Just like we use google search, and forget to turn off the listening bro on our phone, and use google search, and buy from Amazon, and Audible (Amazon) and Whole Foods (Amazon) and store all our lives on the cloud (Amazon and 2 other guys)

How do we right this ship?

Expand full comment
Mike Wicklein's avatar

Don never knows anyone that he worked with or embraced as soon as he perceives that they cost HIM votes. He tries to walk some weird middle ground and embrace or deny as needed.

Expand full comment
Karen Jacob's avatar

He definitely is suffering from sort of cognitive problems. His memory is terrible. He doesn't "know" a lot of people even the ones he appoints to positions.

Expand full comment
Karen Jacob's avatar

140 former trump aides contribute to Project 2025. 6 are former members of his cabinet, 4 ambassadors, and people from the RNC who helped appoint. I saw a video of the guy who is doing the hiring. He said that he and trump were just chatting, and trump asks this 28 year old who carries trump's bags around to run this department.

2022 trump quote (sort of) "Our country is going to hell. The critical job of institutions such as the Heridge ( yep) is to lay the groundwork...They're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do." he then praised several of the leaders.

Expand full comment
Patrice Curedale's avatar

I'm going to venture a Guess that the other computer operators and their mediocre boss felt threatened and made sure to get rid of the guy that shined a light.

Expand full comment
Marycat2021's avatar

Generally, employers don't offer the job to an applicant until they check their references and history.

Expand full comment
Patrice Curedale's avatar

unless you're running for office. Especially as a Republican. forgive me if your comment was snark (as we say on DK)

Expand full comment
Marycat2021's avatar

LOL I was stating a fact.

Expand full comment
Karen Jacob's avatar

Barrett is there until the next generation at least.

Expand full comment