Too Venal for Words category archive
The Entitlement Society 0
They value their own family tree.
“Boys Will Be Boys” 0
Susan Estrich finds the free pass for predators to be somewhat disturbing.
More Mean for the Sake of Mean 0
Afterthought:
It occurs to me that the Trumpettes think everybody’s a crook because that’s the world they live i–oh, never mind.
A Brotherhood in Booze 0
Mike Kelly reports on a slap on the bended wrist.
The Seltzer King 0
David gets a telephone call from a fake IRS scammer during his show and decides to return the call.
Afterthought:
At a computer forum where I have participated for years, one of the regulars told of stringing along a phone scammer for about half an hour, and then revealing said stringathon. To his surprise, the caller responded, “But this was the only job I could find!”
Pulling the Plug 0
Headline: Justice Department sides with lower court, says Obamacare should end
Image via Job’s Anger.
Cohen Events 0
I gather that Michael Cohen’s testimony was quite the show, but I did not watch. As I’ve mentioned before, “read about it tomorrow” is my M. O.
Nevertheless, I agree with Elie Mystal. There was nothing of substance in it that anyone who has been paying attention did not already know, though there were a few new details and documents, and, no, it’s not going to sway the Trumpettes and may not even penetrate their Fox News bubble.
Aside:
Shaun Mullen watched and has the blow-by-blow.
Willful Ignorance 0
Dick Polman comments on Donald Trump’s council of climate change charlatans who claim that climate change cannot be, but, if it is, it’s benign and beneficial.
A snippet:
In related news, my local rag today had a long article about how rising sea levels are devastating rural coastal communities.
Inquiring Minds, Busted Dept. 0
Shaun Mullen digs deep into the National Inquirer’s attempt to extort Jeff Bezos.
(I use the term “extort” advisedly.)
Afterthought:
Although I use Amazon from time to time, I’m not a big fan of Jeff Bezos and his attempt to assimilate American retail.
I must commend him, though, for standing up to sleazeballs.
“The Bible Tells Me So . . . .” 0
The Las Vegas Sun concedes that Sarah Huckabee Sanders may have a point in stating that God wanted Donald Trump to be the American President. It examines the evidence. Here’s a bit:
- Plague of fiery hail. What is Trump’s Twitter account if not the modern, digital version of this form of torture?
- Plagues of flies and lice. See Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, the Mooch, etc.
Follow the link for more witness.
The Wall-Eyed Piker and Emerging Emergencies 0
Elie Mystal is deeply disturbed at how cavalierly the press and public is treating the talk that Donald Trump might declare a national emergency so as to foist his stupid wall on the polity. An excerpt; follow the link for the rest (emphasis added).
I commend the complete post to your attention.
David Delves into the Dinar Dodge 0
Normally, I would not post something like this.
But I know first-hand someone who buys into this sort of stuff (and you probably do too)–someone who should know better, but will believe obscure Youtube videos and web sites on the back roads and woodland paths of the inner webs before he would believe the handwriting on the wall, even if he himself had seen the moving finger having writ it.
The Rich Are Different from You and Me 0
The have money. Here’s an example:
Texas, like Virginia, is a two-license-plate state. The Austin, Texas, Statesman reports that someone wants to change all that, but only if you have the wherewithalls.
Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian (a small town in the Texas panhandle—ed.), is pushing House Bill 673, which adds one category to the current list of vehicles exempt from the front-plate requirement. In addition to “a road tractor, a motorcycle, a trailer, (and) a semitrailer,” King wants to add “luxury passenger car” to section 504.943 of the Texas Transportation Code.
Why? Because a constituent with a fancy car asked him to. If you can’t do stuff for constituents with fancy cars, who can you do stuff for?
Food for Naught 0
Farron discusses how the Trumpian temper tantrum is starting to take food out of the mouths of the hungry.
Honest to Pete, this is the Presidency of mean for the sake of mean.
IoT = “Internet of Targets” 0
In a demonstration of the wonders of internet connected everything . . . .
(snip)
After many panicked minutes and phone calls to 911 and to Nest, the couple learned they likely were the victims of a hacker. And that panic turned to anger when they found out that Nest knew that there had been a number of such incidents — none involving nuclear strike scenarios — but failed to alert customers. Lyons said a Nest supervisor told them Sunday they likely were the victims of a “third party hack” that gained access to their camera and its speakers. The company did not return a request for comment Monday.
One more time, “because you can” is not in and of itself a sufficient reason for doing something.
Much more at the link.