And We’re Back!

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Just in case it was another blitz attach, we will remain at JuiceCon 1! Please report to the armory and then to your duty stations!





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Global Lipstick Inventories Plunge as GOP Seeks Cosmetic Miracle

by 8:11 am. It has 116 Comments.

This past week — as we Democrats were bickering over which of our two presidential candidates has the better strategy for ameliorating wealth inequality, addressing structural bias, reducing student debt and securing world peace — Republican poobahs were hearing a new campaign chief’s presentation on plans to repackage the short-fingered vulgarian for general election purposes. From the NYT:

Addressing about 100 committee members at the spring meeting here, many of them deeply skeptical about Mr. Trump’s candidacy, the campaign chief, Paul Manafort, bluntly suggested the candidate’s incendiary style amounted to an act. “That’s what’s important for you to understand: That he gets it, and that the part he’s been playing is evolving,” Mr. Manafort said, suggesting that Mr. Trump was about to begin a more professional phase of his campaign…

“Fixing personality negatives is a lot easier than fixing character negatives,” said Mr. Manafort, claiming that Hillary Clinton suffered from negative. “You can’t change somebody’s character. But you can change the way somebody presents themselves…”

Sorry, Republicans. There’s just isn’t enough lipstick in the world to beautify the oinker who is your frontrunner. Trump hasn’t merely pretended to be a repulsive pig to appeal to the GOP’s swinish base. He is and always has been an embarrassing, racist, chauvinist pig.

It’s not like we don’t know this person. Thanks to Trump’s insatiable need for attention, we’ve been involuntary witnesses to his tacky spectacle long before he ran for president. As Jim Newell at Slate observed:

Trump believes that a woman’s worth directly correlates with her looks and that a man’s worth directly correlates with the eye candy on his arm.

I was struck by a similar thought the other night while watching Trump’s post-NY primary victory speech, which the Beltway press deemed a magnanimous pivot to a more presidential tone. But it wasn’t anything Trump said that caught my attention — it was the visual image:

Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Speaks At New York Election Night Event

Nothing against tall, willowy, blond, white ladies who wear their hair long and part it in the middle: I was one myself before I started going grey. But can you see that photo and NOT imagine a Trump stage manager herding all the short, visibly middle-aged or portly women — if such women there be with power connections at a Trump event — to the rear of the dais, or better yet, backstage? What would it look like if Hillary Clinton tried to pull off a similar power tableau? Maybe something like this?

clinton fabios

Ridiculous. Anyway, the NYT article had more on campaign chief Manafort’s makeover plans:

Mr. Trump intends to deliver a foreign policy address at the National Press Club in Washington next week, Mr. Manafort said, and that he would also hold similar events to address his “gender gap.”

“You’ll start to see more depth to the person, the real person,” Mr. Manafort continued, referring to more Trump appearances in “formal settings.”

I can’t wait to see what type of event these morons come up with to address Trump’s gender gap issue. Maybe a Ronald Reagan Memorial Miss Republican pageant? Doesn’t matter. We’ve seen “the real person” that is Donald Trump. And he’s a pig.


Saturday Morning Open Thread: One Makes Room for More

by 6:11 am. It has 86 Comments.

The Democratic delegate count for New York has been finalized — Clinton 139, Sanders 108 (full pledged delegate count: Clinton 1444, Sanders 1207). Reporters are feeling secure enough to start pestering Clinton surrogates about her VP choices. John Podesta promised the Boston Globe that Hillary’s short list would include a woman (because of course they asked, and what else was he gonna say?) The Washington Post‘s premier horse-race tout Chris Cillizza likes Amy Klobuchar, Tom Perez, Tim Kaine, Sherrod Brown, and Julian Castro, and his explanations are reasonable enough to consider them the Conventional Wisdom picks.
.

But apart from nitpicking the backup Prom Queen/King, Ann Friedman at NYMag has pointed out that there’s more women running for office than ever:

… There are currently 27 women in the running for the U.S. Senate, and 216 are vying for U.S. House seats. Plus six women running for governor. Not all of them will win their primaries to make it to the ballot in November. But there are hundreds of women campaigning right now — you’re just not hearing much about them.

The silence is a real shame, because in 2016 we could see a record-breaking number of women elected to the Senate. There are nine pro-choice Democratic women running for Senate this year, most of whom have a good shot at election. Compare that to the supposedly watershed “Year of the Woman” in 1992, which only saw four women senators elected. And, this year, four of the nine contenders are women of color, which is huge because only two women of color have ever, in history, been elected to the Senate…

Not all of these women candidates, it’s worth noting, have endorsed Clinton. And for those of us who are just voters — whether we’re Clinton superfans, merely lukewarm on her, or Sanders supporters who care about electing women — it’s time to look down the ticket. A lot of signs point to 2016 being a big year for women voters — especially if Donald Trump, who seems to actively hate women, is the Republican nominee. If we’re smart, we’ll use the wide gender gap among voters to lift women candidates at all levels of politics.

Here’s how to start: Rutgers’s Center for American Women in Politics has a list of women who are running in every state. Read it. Find a woman near you, or a woman on the other side of the country whose values you share. And decide to support her — financially, if possible. But in other ways, too. Volunteer. Talk her up. Do what you can. Many candidates are facing primary elections in May and June, so now is a great time to get onboard with their campaigns…

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Apart from bickering about terminology working towards change, what’s on the agenda for the day?


Friday Night Music Open Thread: Unique Spirits

by 9:18 pm. It has 265 Comments.

Come together, Boomers and Gen-X. Alyssa Rosenberg, at the Washington Post:

… We’re in a moment in American politics consumed by gender panic, from Donald Trump’s menstrual anxieties to the rise of and backlash to a movement for transgender rights. And now we’ve lost two men who had an expansive, almost luxuriant vision of what it meant to be a man and lived out that vision through decades when it was much less safe to do so…

Both Prince and Bowie often seemed more than merely human. Bowie was an ageless vampire in “The Hunger,” a human manifestation of an alien being as Ziggy Stardust, the rock star from “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” Prince left language behind to adopt what became known as the “Love Symbol” as his moniker; his death prompted many people to remark that mortality seemed like the only garment that didn’t fit him, that he had transubstantiated or ascended rather than truly died…

57 is awfully early for anyone to die, but it feels especially so for Prince; he never reminded us that he was growing older by trying to seem young. Now he’s gone before we could possess him as fully as he always invited us to. But we’ll continue on into the weirder, more beautiful world he seemed to be living in decades before the rest of us arrived there.

Link your musical favorites in the comments…


Friday Recipe Exchange: Mix It Up

by 9:15 pm. It has 22 Comments.

Cucumber Salsa

Happy Passover. I have in years past participated in Seder meals and loved the history and meaning in each item on the Seder plate.

I did quite a bit of cooking this week, but it’s been busy enough that I haven’t put together the recipes or taken a lot of photos. So tonight I’m highlighting some past favorites. From the blog:

Pictured above is Crisp Cucumber Salsa, always a hit when I make it. Recipe here.

Baked Ziti is my go-to for dinners to take to events or share when condolences are needed – I often take it unbaked so it can be fresh and hot when needed. It’s also a great make-ahead dinner for weeknights. Recipe here.

This week’s dinner menu is Cranberry Pepper Steak and Bleu Cheese Mashed Potatoes, click here for menu and recipes.

20160421_145922[1](1600x1200)

This yummy photo is from JeffreyW – it’s Bacon Dill Potato Salad – instructions here.

What’s on the menu for you this weekend? Grilling yet? Have anything fun planned?

Pasta Jambalaya_Snapseed2

Tonight’s featured recipe is another quick but tasty dinner entry. When I was a kid I used to love the Friday nights my mom said, I’m tired of cooking let’s just have hamburger goulash – which was basically hamburger, tomato sauce and elbow macaroni with some spices thrown in. This recipe is like an adult version of that, with some real flavor.  Still easy to put together.

Pasta Jambalaya

  • 12 oz penne pasta
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • 1 tsp to 1 tbsp Cajun or Creole seasoning
  • 15 oz can black beans
  • 14 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 4 oz can chopped green chilies
  • 4 oz smoked sausage, sliced (I like Andouille)
  • 4 oz shredded Mexican 4-blend cheese

saucepan

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well. In the saucepan, heat oil and then sauté onion, pepper, celery and carrots until onions are translucent and celery soft. Add garlic, Cajun seasoning, tomatoes, chilies, beans, carrots and sausage. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat, add pasta and let simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with cheese as garnish.

Note: When a recipe says to add 1 tsp to 1 tbsp, or to taste of a spice, add it in small increments, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp at a time. Remember you can always add more, but it’s pretty tough trying to remove what you’ve added. ;-)

That’s it for this week. We’ve finally gotten rid of the clouds and it looks like a great weekend to spend outdoors. Have a great weekend. – TaMara

p.s. click on any photo to see it full-size





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Friday Evening Open Thread

by 5:30 pm. It has 323 Comments.

Johnny Depp and wife Amber Heard smuggled their pet Yorkies into Australia, which is a big no-no. They were busted for it. After much legal wrangling, Depp and Heard agreed to do a PSA/apology video about why you really shouldn’t sneak critters into Australia. The pair did not seem happy about it.

Here’s the PSA remixed as a hostage video from YouTuber Natalie Tran:

Well done, Ms. Tran.

In other news, I’m going to be car shopping with my kiddo this weekend. She’s narrowed her list of desired vehicles to Nissans, Mazdas and Hondas. Anyone got good or bad things to say about those makes?

I had a Honda once that was very dependable, but this was ages ago. It may have had a rumble seat!

Got any big plans for the weekend? Open thread!

[H/T: Buzzfeed]


Yet Another Reason to Rejoice for the Tubman $20 (Open Thread)

by 1:28 pm. It has 403 Comments.

It may improve saving habits:

tubman money

Open thread!





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Major News on the Voting Front

by 11:21 am. It has 126 Comments.

This is a very welcome development:

Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia will use his executive power on Friday to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons, circumventing his Republican-run legislature. The action will overturn a Civil War-era provision in the state’s Constitution aimed, he said, at disenfranchising African-Americans.

The sweeping order, in a swing state that could play a role in deciding the November presidential election, will enable all felons who have served their prison time and finished parole to register to vote. Most are African-Americans, a core constituency of Democrats, Mr. McAuliffe’s political party.

“There’s no question that we’ve had a horrible history in voting rights as relates to African-Americans — we should remedy it,” Mr. McAuliffe said Thursday, previewing the announcement he will make on the steps of Virginia’s Capitol, just yards from where President Abraham Lincoln once addressed freed slaves. “We should do it as soon as we possibly can.”

The action, which Mr. McAuliffe said was justified under an expansive legal interpretation of his executive clemency authority, goes far beyond what other governors have done, experts say, and will almost certainly provoke a backlash from Virginia Republicans, who have resisted measures to expand felons’ voting rights. It has been planned in secrecy, and comes amid an intensifying national debate over race, mass incarceration and the criminal justice system.

Even if what he has done is a stretch of his authority, I commend him for this. This is a fight worth having.

I have never understood why it was legal or constitutional to strip someone of their most basic right, the franchise, simply because they at one time in their life were a felon. It makes no sense, it flies in the face of the concept of rehabilitation, and it, because of the systemic racism in our criminal justice system, is racist in its application.

So let the Republicans have their backlash. Let them take it all the way to the highest court in the land and let’s setle this once and for all.





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That’s Life, Man

by 10:17 am. It has 139 Comments.

Ok, this could get me banned.

More angles here and here.

Looks like we need an open thread.





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Churn and Medicaid

by 7:57 am. It has 6 Comments.

Arielle Levin Becker reports about churn in Connecticut:

What this means is in the past two months, people who had qualified for Medicaid either through Expansion or through the legacy process are moving to Exchange and seeing their deductibles be reset to zero.

Medicaid is a combination of income determined and condition determined.  People with fairly low incomes that qualify for Medicaid will often experience significant income volalitity.  Someone who is making 130% of Federal Poverty line and thus is qualified for Medicaid Expansion could pick up an extra shift or get a $.50 an hour raise that bumps their income to 140% FPL.  That moves them from Medicaid qualified to Exchange qualified.  Moving to Exchange has three major implications.  The first is the individual is paying out higher premiums and higher cost sharing if they live in a simple Expansion state.  It is a fairly significant marginal income tax rate.  Secondly, the Medicaid and Exchange insurers have almost no incentive to focus on preventive care as it is highly probable that this class of individual will have a fairly short stay on whatever policy they currently have.

Finally, the biggest problem in American health financing is that we pay too much for each unit of service.  Medicaid is usually the lowest level of payments to hospitals and doctors.  Exchange, if the pricing is based on Medicare plus a little bit, will often pay 20% or more for the same service, the same test, the same brand name prescription.  If the Exchange plan is paying based on commercial rates, the Exchange plan could be paying twice as much per unit of service.

What is the policy solution?

The ideal solution would be to allow people to lock in for a year in whatever system that the qualify for during an open enrollment period.  If someone is Medicaid qualified in January, they would be Medicaid qualified for the entire year even if they tripled their income during the course of the year.  There could be a work-around that people would have to pay premiums based on a sliding scale after they leave normal qualification range.  The same would apply to Exchange plans where subsidies would be wrapped around and cost sharing reductions would be applied as people saw their incomes dropped.





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Friday Morning Open Thread: Rile Up the Revanchists

by 5:10 am. It has 167 Comments.

Eugene Robinson, at the Washington Post, pokes the snake…

Conservatives should be delighted that Harriet Tubman’s likeness will grace the $20 bill. She was a Republican, after all, and a pious Christian. And she routinely exercised her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, which she was ready to use against anyone who stood in her way — or any fugitive slave having second thoughts. On her long road to freedom, there was no turning back…

Critics who polluted social media with invective after Lew’s announcement seemed to look past Tubman’s deeds and focus on her identity. Yes, she was a black woman. If anyone can’t deal with that fact, and doesn’t want to use the new bills when they finally come out, feel free to send them to me…

Alyssa Rosenberg, the Post‘s popcult critic, also reports:

… You have to go back to 1978 to find a full-length treatment of Tubman’s life, when Cicely Tyson and Jean Foster played Tubman at different points in her life in the two-part (and unfortunately treacly) NBC miniseries “A Woman Called Moses.” Alfre Woodard played Tubman twice in the 1990s, once in a larger project about the Underground Railroad, and a second time in a children’s show. CCH Pounder portrayed Tubman in the satire show “Histeria!”…

A number of small independent movies have taken stabs at Tubman. But the biggest potential take on the Underground Railroad conductor and Union spy comes from a potentially unexpected quarter: Last year, “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin teamed up with Viola Davis and “John Adams” writer Kirk Ellis to adapt Kate Clifford Larson’s Tubman biography “Bound for the Promised Land” for HBO Films.

When I reached Ellin yesterday, he told me that Ellis was at work on the script and that he hoped they would be able to shoot the movie during one of Davis’s hiatuses from “How to Get Away With Murder.” Ellin fell in love with Larson’s book when he read it and was taken aback at how little the people he talked to seemed to know about Tubman, who he believes should be an internationally recognized figure…

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Apart from admiring strong women who take no guff, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the week?


Late Night Open Thread: Trust Your Intuition

by 10:41 pm. It has 162 Comments.

Ted Cruz aces the difficult task of being even creepier than Donald Trump.


RIP The Prince of Compassion

by 8:40 pm. It has 126 Comments.

prince compassionAlong with his many other excellent qualities, Prince was a vegan and supporter of animal causes. He wrote the song “Animal Kingdom” for PETA. Excerpt:

“No member of the animal kingdom nurses past maturity
No member of the animal kingdom ever did a thing 2 me
It’s why I don’t eat red meat or white fish
Don’t give me no blue cheese
We’re all members of the animal kingdom
Leave your brothers and sisters in the sea”

According to PETA’s memorial: “When people would ask him why he was concerned about animals in the face of widespread human suffering, Prince would respond, “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.”





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Everything that Worries Me about a Hillary Presidency in One Story

by 7:39 pm. It has 210 Comments.

It’s the militarism, stupid.


Evil Infests Augusta

by 5:43 pm. It has 108 Comments.

John Brunner said it exactly right in The Shockwave Rider:  “If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil it consists in treating another human being as a thing.”

With that in mind, let me give you the latest from Maine’s governor, the utterly odious Paul LePage:

Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill Wednesday that would allow pharmacists to dispense an anti-overdose drug without a prescription, saying that allowing addicts to keep naloxone on hand “serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.” [via Kerry Eleved at GOS]

That’s nonsense on its own terms, as the deeply valuable Maia Szalavitz — herself a former addict — has argued over and over again:

As with needle exchange, opposition to Naloxone distribution has mainly come from those who fear that reducing drug-related harm will lead to increased drug use.   Fortunately, also similarly to the data on needle exchange, the research doesn’t find this occurring.

But don’t let any actual experience bother you, LePage!

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote, repeating a contention that has caused controversy before. “Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.”

It’s a strong word to use, I know.  But this is evil.

Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_-_Christ_with_the_Sick_around_Him,_Receiving_Little_Children_(The_'Hundred_Guilder_Print')_-_Google_Art_Project

In LePage’s telling the addict isn’t a person.  He or she is rather just the worthless meat sack that locally reverses entropy between one overdose and the next.  He’s rather let those suffering an overdose die than live because, as he frames it here, the state of addiction robs the user of all other human attributes.

This is how a monster thinks.

I won’t say that this is the view that infects all of your modern Republican party, because on this issue it’s not. But it remains a perfectly mainstream one for the GOP — and this is a case of words (and inactions) that kill.

If you needed any more reason to go all yellow-dog Democrat on every line of your ballot, Governor (sic!) Paul LePage is exhibit (n)*

Last, to help wash the taste of tiny-minded misery out of your mouth, here’s Szalavitz again:

…one of the biggest misunderstandings we have about addiction is that tough love—is that being kind will fail and tough love will work. What really helps and why harm reduction, which is this idea that we will meet you where you’re at and we’ll help you whether you’re ready to stop or not—why that works is because when you have addiction, you tend to be very marginalized, self-hating. You might be homeless. You feel like a criminal. Nobody has any respect for you. And when somebody just hands you a clean needle or gives you access to naloxone and says, “I believe you deserve to live, regardless of whether you do what I want,” that’s a really powerful message of kindness.

And here a plug (full disclosure: she’s a friend) — here’s Maia’s new book on addiction.

*Where n is an arbitrary large number.

Image: Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ Preaching (The Hundred Guilder Print) c. 1649.