So I guess the White House UFC match has come and gone. Some of the protestors tried to add gravitas to their objections by linking the event to actual violence carried out by the US government, but I doubt that anyone previously unaffronted by cage-fighting and/or militarism is suddenly gonna have a eureka moment because some egghead posits a connection between the two.
Just found what appeared to be a live-stream on YouTube. Trump seen chatting with some guys in the bleachers, while the PA system plays the song Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy.
I am beginning to wonder why a tarp is covering where the name of the Kennedy Center is. Could it be that Trump has decided if his name cannot be up on the center, no name should be shown on the center?
Meanwhile, it appears that the 'very big Settlement' might soon be signed, with the Strait of Hormuz open again - all thanks to Trump's diplomatic skills and general all-round Best President Ever-ness.
An end to the war he - the King of Fuckwits - started would be a good thing, of course, in line with the end of the dreadful war between Abkhazia and Andorra, a wonderful result which he also single-handedly stage-managed...
Other considerations aside, I do think that song is hilarious - they play it occasionally on Smooth Country.
Fair enough. For me, it immediately brings to mind some of the tacky slogans you'd see on iron-on decals that emblazoned t-shirts in the late 1970s, at least where I lived. One used the exact same format as the cowboy song, ie. a PSA-style suggestion to perform some otherwise innocent act on a particular individual, phrased as a risque double-entendre, with the throwaway line being a promise that it would "save" something or other.
Slightly more poetic were "Teachers Do It With Class", and its numerous reiterations, publicizing the alleged romantic styles of various job-holders.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Big & Rich, anyway. Don't think I'll be diving too deeply into their canon, but always neat to find out about stuff I was previously unfamiliar with. Some source from google lists them as a country hip-hop fusion sorta thing. Wonder how their audience generally falls on the sociopolitical spectrum running from, let's say, Lee Greenwood on the right to kd lang on the left.
I am beginning to wonder why a tarp is covering where the name of the Kennedy Center is. Could it be that Trump has decided if his name cannot be up on the center, no name should be shown on the center?
Is he that petty?
PBS reports the Kennedy Center Directors are saying tarp is up there until they are able to make repairs to the marble facade. In other words, the marble likely cracked either when they were putting the letters up or taking them down.
I'm not super surprised by the algae, this time of year it's almost impossible to avoid unless you pour tons of chlorine into the water. Still, embarrassing for everybody who's been making grandiose claims about defeating nature.
We find that the major issue in algae blooms in our ponds and acquariums is increased sunlight--and we are, of course, nearly at the solstice. Countering that has got to be hard.
Is there nobody in the White House with a functioning brain cell who could have told the silly old fart that making the bottom of the pool darker would encourage the algae?
Is there nobody in the White House with a functioning brain cell who could have told the silly old fart that making the bottom of the pool darker would encourage the algae?
You seem to assume he listens to anyone who tries to tell him anything. There’s a reason he surrounds himself with yes-men and yes-women.
Besides, this whole thing has been driven by his obsession with Obama. He’s gone on and on about how green the Reflecting Pool was when Obama was in office, and how pristine it is with him as president.
—even to the point of posting pictures comparing how the Reflecting Pool during Obama’s presidency and during his own. By a coincidence that can only be described as remarkable, the clouds in the two pictures are exactly the same, and birds cooperated by returning to the exact positions they previously held.
fertilizer run off from the lush lawn surrounding the pool.
bird poop. Lots of them flying by.
The park service is saying they have installed a nanoblubber technology that is supposed to kill off the algae.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, Trump is blaming the Obama administration for the reflecting pool problem. Obama spent $34mil on it during his administration because the pool had been sinking into the sediment the pool had been built on.
(I had intended to post this a little earlier but forgot.
"Fortunate Son" remains a misguided favourite (featured during the motorcycle display)
If it wasn't for Trump himself being a rich draft-dodger(*), that song would fit well with the self-pitying populism of MAGA.
I believe Trump was appealing to the same group sentiment when he opened some of his rallies with The Smith's Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, though I'll concede that Fortunate Son's inclusion might just have more to do with macho war-movie associations(**).
(*) And draft-dodging per se doesn't figure into the lyrics of Fortunate Son. Plus, thinking about it, given that two of the three stanzas describe the villain as a politician while only one characterizes him as a rich man, a lotta MAGA could prob'ly imagine the guy as a Democratic bigshot, especially given how right-populists tend to perceive politicians as among those with unjustified riches.
(**) As far as I can tell, the only 'Nam movie with Fortunate Son on the soundtrack is the establishment-allied Forrest Gump, but the Bush-era resistance appropriated it as a satire on a pampered draft-dodger, and that's been its calling-card ever since. I'm sure Fogerty doesn't mind.
The Smith's Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, doesn't apply to the real trump. His position has always been, "It's mine - give it to me". Have you ever heard him say 'please' sincerely?
The Smith's Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, doesn't apply to the real trump. His position has always been, "It's mine - give it to me". Have you ever heard him say 'please' sincerely?
Well, yeah. I was talking about how the song accurately reflects the audience's self-perception(the "group sentiment" I referenced). My impression is the song was played before the rallies, as sort of anti-warmup, to re-enforce in the crowd the idea that THEY are the ones constantly kicked down and neglected, and then something way harder cranks onto the PA and Trump comes on stage as the guy who's gonna DEMAND of the "elites" that everyone else finally gets what they are owed.
Apparently, soldiers at UFC 250 were saluting some Medal of Honor recipients who were entering the arena with some of the fighters, thus giving the impression that it was the fighters being saluted.
Not sure what the protocol is on saluting civvies, but I will say that if people outside the proper hierarchy are gonna get the honours, I'd rather it be MMA fighters than, say, Netanyahu.
Also, it seems UFC was using the venue to advertise Power Slap, a new sport that entails two fighters standing face to face and hitting each other on the side of the head until one of them passes out. Off to YouTube for further research...
As far as I can ascertain via wiki, this sport was invented by UFC in 2022, and does not appear to have any antecedents. Overall, I think I'd prefer lingerie football, both for moral and entertainment considerations.
I'm trying and failing to remember where I saw a journalistic piece about power slap. Anyway, suffice to say that it is very, very dangerous for the health of the participants.
The alleged terrorist cell who were supposedly planning drone and sniper attacks on UFC 250 appear to be far-right anti-"zionists". One of them is a teenager whose mother is reported to be the one who called the cops on them all.
The alleged terrorist cell who were supposedly planning drone and sniper attacks on UFC 250 appear to be far-right anti-"zionists". One of them is a teenager whose mother is reported to be the one who called the cops on them all.
That "teenager" is a 19 man by the name of Tycen Proper from Knox County, Ohio. His parents became concerned because all of the sudden he was collecting weapons, body armor and tactical gear. He is being charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the US and the attempted murder of federal officers or employees. Other terrorism charges are pending.
Reports say he had a normal social life growing up, but then he started isolating in is room staying online. He met others in the conspiracy group through Tik Toc and they formed the group through Signal.
The alleged terrorist cell who were supposedly planning drone and sniper attacks on UFC 250 appear to be far-right anti-"zionists". One of them is a teenager whose mother is reported to be the one who called the cops on them all.
That "teenager" is a 19 man by the name of Tycen Proper from Knox County, Ohio. His parents became concerned because all of the sudden he was collecting weapons, body armor and tactical gear. He is being charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the US and the attempted murder of federal officers or employees. Other terrorism charges are pending.
Reports say he had a normal social life growing up, but then he started isolating in is room staying online. He met others in the conspiracy group through Tik Toc and they formed the group through Signal.
Thanks.
The story is being somewhat underplayed, I've found. I think the standard progressive's explanation would be that the establishment media tends to downplay right-wing violence, but I think there also might be the factors like: the scheme never being carried out(I struggle to name the pro-Ukraine guy who tried to kill Trump in Florida), plus this sorta stochasticky schtick is possibly becoming slowly normalized in the collective awareness.
The info I posted about it came from ESPN, who actually had the most ideologically detailed coverage I could find in the legacy press via google. Whether this is because they've got a coupla sharp PoliSci grads on their intern team this year, or because their base audience just naturally have a deeper interest in all aspects of the case, I wouldn't care to speculate.
Anyone see Senator Bill Cassidy's statement about the peace deal? Back to the old days of GOP neo-cons denouncing Trump's foreign-policy as a hyper-mcgovernite monstrosity.
(I struggle to name the pro-Ukraine guy who tried to kill Trump in Florida)
Of course, only allegedly did he do that.
I think I can say what I want about the guy who tried to kill Trump in Butler Pennsylvania, and I struggle to remember his name as well. Usually with more success, but factor in that his actions were, at least for me, far more memorable.
Anyone see Senator Bill Cassidy's statement about the peace deal? Back to the old days of GOP neo-cons denouncing Trump's foreign-policy as a hyper-mcgovernite monstrosity.
I should stand corrected...
Re-reading the statement, Cassidy does in fact frame his claim as the war itself, and not just the settlement, being a bad idea. But it's infused very much with the idea of Trump capitulating to a dangerous enemy of the USA. With "families [who] have paid billions at the pumps" being his avatar of the forgotten man, and no mention of dead Iranians.
You know that 14.3-million-dollar paint job in the reflecting pool? It is now peeling off the bottom of the pool.
While I am at it, people across the pond may not have heard of the screwworm infestation in Texas. The screwworm comes from a fly that will lay its eggs in mucus areas (such as the eyes of cattle). The resulting larvae then eats into the flesh of the host animal. Humans can also be infested too,
Anyway, in the process of Musk's DOGE cuts, a $15 million a year monitoring system designed to keep the fly and its larvae south of the border was eliminated. But, since the worm has reappeared in the US, we will now have to spend over $1billian to get it back under control.
Considering how Trump botched the initial COVID response, something tells me it will be much, much more.
Did I mention the $300bil reparations agreement Trump made with the Iranians? I remember when Trump cried to high heaven when Obama returned $14bil of Iranian money to them. Only losers of a war pay reparations. But, don't tell him who he is.
Did I mention the $300bil reparations agreement Trump made with the Iranians? I remember when Trump cried to high heaven when Obama returned $14bil of Iranian money to them. Only losers of a war pay reparations. But, don't tell him who he is.
The Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has described the US-Iran deal(such as it is) as "...a total humiliation...but...a neccesary humiliation". IOW "Trump's a goddam surrender-monkey, but we have no choice but to go along with his capitulation, because it's the only way to end the crisis he caused in the first place."
A commentator at MS NOW points out that the Democrats have to "walk a fine line" with such rhetoric, because demanding better terms for the USA might embolden those who want to resume the war.
Is there nothing, nothing good that can be reeemed from the ghastly months of conflict? Have we now no Trump apologist shipmate (meant without sarcasm)?
Is there nothing, nothing good that can be reeemed from the ghastly months of conflict? Have we now no Trump apologist shipmate (meant without sarcasm)?
Well, not that she's posting on the Ship, but a coupla days ago, Hillary Clinton praised Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza as the only way forward.
I don't actually know what's in Trump's plan. I'd wager, though, the more positive it is, the less likely he is to get it implemented.
This whole reflecting pool thing... and POTUS being 'led' to sign the MoA with Iran at Versailles of all places... and the searing, brutal clapback from Italy's PM Meloni...
Of course, the little dictator is saying the reflecting pool fiasco is the result of sabotage and law enforcement is investigating. Move over James Comey and John Kelly, you have another bedfellow.
Of course, the little dictator is saying the reflecting pool fiasco is the result of sabotage and law enforcement is investigating. Move over James Comey and John Kelly, you have another bedfellow.
Sabotage is possibly accurate, but of course the sabotage was committed by those who commissioned an ill-conceived project and gave the contract to a business with inadequate experience. Possibly aided and abetted by whoever decided to add harsh chemicals to the water.
If I told you I'd seen a fight in someone's front garden, where half of the house had been torn down and the pool was filled with algae, you'd probably think I lived in a pretty bad area.
Everything I have seen said it was 12% hydrogen peroxide used to try to kill the algae. I accept that "harsh" was a slight exaggeration, though it is a chemical that I need to fill out risk assessments to use at work as it's classed as hazardous. It's an oxidising agent, hazardous if ingested or contact with eyes, in the event of fire it can supply oxygen and fumes can be acidic, it should not be discharged to the environment. I don't know if a risk assessment was conducted for it's use in the reflecting pool with appropriate precautions taken to protect those conducting the work and the wider environment (is the reflecting pool considered a natural environment, with fish and other aquatic life to be protected? Or is it a largely sterile body of water?).
Comments
Is he that petty?
Does the Pope shit in the woods?
An end to the war he - the King of Fuckwits - started would be a good thing, of course, in line with the end of the dreadful war between Abkhazia and Andorra, a wonderful result which he also single-handedly stage-managed...
More here. (NYT gift link.)
Fair enough. For me, it immediately brings to mind some of the tacky slogans you'd see on iron-on decals that emblazoned t-shirts in the late 1970s, at least where I lived. One used the exact same format as the cowboy song, ie. a PSA-style suggestion to perform some otherwise innocent act on a particular individual, phrased as a risque double-entendre, with the throwaway line being a promise that it would "save" something or other.
Slightly more poetic were "Teachers Do It With Class", and its numerous reiterations, publicizing the alleged romantic styles of various job-holders.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Big & Rich, anyway. Don't think I'll be diving too deeply into their canon, but always neat to find out about stuff I was previously unfamiliar with. Some source from google lists them as a country hip-hop fusion sorta thing. Wonder how their audience generally falls on the sociopolitical spectrum running from, let's say, Lee Greenwood on the right to kd lang on the left.
PBS reports the Kennedy Center Directors are saying tarp is up there until they are able to make repairs to the marble facade. In other words, the marble likely cracked either when they were putting the letters up or taking them down.
Clowns,
Like this one?
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/hyde-park/diana-memorial-fountain
I love that people are encouraged to put their feet in it.
Here's a lovely photo -
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/hyde-park/monuments
1) It is a very shallow pool, no more than 2.5 feet. Therefore, the water can heat up quickly.
2) Painting the bottom of the pool blue caused the water to absorb even more heat than it normally would.
3. The circulation system is inadequate creating a lot of stagnate water.
4. The circulation system was not flushed out properly when the pool was drained leaving water that already contained the algae still in the system.
5. The pool containment walls were not properly scrubbed before it was painted blue.
14 million dollars. Can you say Boondoggle?
Besides, this whole thing has been driven by his obsession with Obama. He’s gone on and on about how green the Reflecting Pool was when Obama was in office, and how pristine it is with him as president.
—even to the point of posting pictures comparing how the Reflecting Pool during Obama’s presidency and during his own. By a coincidence that can only be described as remarkable, the clouds in the two pictures are exactly the same, and birds cooperated by returning to the exact positions they previously held.
fertilizer run off from the lush lawn surrounding the pool.
bird poop. Lots of them flying by.
The park service is saying they have installed a nanoblubber technology that is supposed to kill off the algae.
Time will tell.
In the meantime, Trump is blaming the Obama administration for the reflecting pool problem. Obama spent $34mil on it during his administration because the pool had been sinking into the sediment the pool had been built on.
(I had intended to post this a little earlier but forgot.
If it wasn't for Trump himself being a rich draft-dodger(*), that song would fit well with the self-pitying populism of MAGA.
I believe Trump was appealing to the same group sentiment when he opened some of his rallies with The Smith's Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, though I'll concede that Fortunate Son's inclusion might just have more to do with macho war-movie associations(**).
(*) And draft-dodging per se doesn't figure into the lyrics of Fortunate Son. Plus, thinking about it, given that two of the three stanzas describe the villain as a politician while only one characterizes him as a rich man, a lotta MAGA could prob'ly imagine the guy as a Democratic bigshot, especially given how right-populists tend to perceive politicians as among those with unjustified riches.
(**) As far as I can tell, the only 'Nam movie with Fortunate Son on the soundtrack is the establishment-allied Forrest Gump, but the Bush-era resistance appropriated it as a satire on a pampered draft-dodger, and that's been its calling-card ever since. I'm sure Fogerty doesn't mind.
Well, yeah. I was talking about how the song accurately reflects the audience's self-perception(the "group sentiment" I referenced). My impression is the song was played before the rallies, as sort of anti-warmup, to re-enforce in the crowd the idea that THEY are the ones constantly kicked down and neglected, and then something way harder cranks onto the PA and Trump comes on stage as the guy who's gonna DEMAND of the "elites" that everyone else finally gets what they are owed.
Not sure what the protocol is on saluting civvies, but I will say that if people outside the proper hierarchy are gonna get the honours, I'd rather it be MMA fighters than, say, Netanyahu.
Also, it seems UFC was using the venue to advertise Power Slap, a new sport that entails two fighters standing face to face and hitting each other on the side of the head until one of them passes out. Off to YouTube for further research...
Yep. Pretty much as described.
As far as I can ascertain via wiki, this sport was invented by UFC in 2022, and does not appear to have any antecedents. Overall, I think I'd prefer lingerie football, both for moral and entertainment considerations.
Quite what makes people call this sort of dangerous Tosh 'sport', I know not.
Still, the UFC spectacle at the White House was fully in the tradition of failing, dysfunctional, and batty Roman Emperors...
That "teenager" is a 19 man by the name of Tycen Proper from Knox County, Ohio. His parents became concerned because all of the sudden he was collecting weapons, body armor and tactical gear. He is being charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the US and the attempted murder of federal officers or employees. Other terrorism charges are pending.
Reports say he had a normal social life growing up, but then he started isolating in is room staying online. He met others in the conspiracy group through Tik Toc and they formed the group through Signal.
Thanks.
The story is being somewhat underplayed, I've found. I think the standard progressive's explanation would be that the establishment media tends to downplay right-wing violence, but I think there also might be the factors like: the scheme never being carried out(I struggle to name the pro-Ukraine guy who tried to kill Trump in Florida), plus this sorta stochasticky schtick is possibly becoming slowly normalized in the collective awareness.
The info I posted about it came from ESPN, who actually had the most ideologically detailed coverage I could find in the legacy press via google. Whether this is because they've got a coupla sharp PoliSci grads on their intern team this year, or because their base audience just naturally have a deeper interest in all aspects of the case, I wouldn't care to speculate.
Of course, only allegedly did he do that.
I think I can say what I want about the guy who tried to kill Trump in Butler Pennsylvania, and I struggle to remember his name as well. Usually with more success, but factor in that his actions were, at least for me, far more memorable.
I should stand corrected...
Re-reading the statement, Cassidy does in fact frame his claim as the war itself, and not just the settlement, being a bad idea. But it's infused very much with the idea of Trump capitulating to a dangerous enemy of the USA. With "families [who] have paid billions at the pumps" being his avatar of the forgotten man, and no mention of dead Iranians.
While I am at it, people across the pond may not have heard of the screwworm infestation in Texas. The screwworm comes from a fly that will lay its eggs in mucus areas (such as the eyes of cattle). The resulting larvae then eats into the flesh of the host animal. Humans can also be infested too,
Anyway, in the process of Musk's DOGE cuts, a $15 million a year monitoring system designed to keep the fly and its larvae south of the border was eliminated. But, since the worm has reappeared in the US, we will now have to spend over $1billian to get it back under control.
Considering how Trump botched the initial COVID response, something tells me it will be much, much more.
Did I mention the $300bil reparations agreement Trump made with the Iranians? I remember when Trump cried to high heaven when Obama returned $14bil of Iranian money to them. Only losers of a war pay reparations. But, don't tell him who he is.
The Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has described the US-Iran deal(such as it is) as "...a total humiliation...but...a neccesary humiliation". IOW "Trump's a goddam surrender-monkey, but we have no choice but to go along with his capitulation, because it's the only way to end the crisis he caused in the first place."
A commentator at MS NOW points out that the Democrats have to "walk a fine line" with such rhetoric, because demanding better terms for the USA might embolden those who want to resume the war.
Well, not that she's posting on the Ship, but a coupla days ago, Hillary Clinton praised Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza as the only way forward.
I don't actually know what's in Trump's plan. I'd wager, though, the more positive it is, the less likely he is to get it implemented.
my god.
Only 2? I thought we were in triple digits at least.
But, I agree someone did not do due diligence about what should have been done in repairing the pool in the first place.