Valentine's Day Open Thread

A good day to avoid the news.

Comments

[maryrose]

Happy Valentine’s Day to all.
CH:
Smart move sending flowers.

[maryrose]

Today I am first!

[PDinDetroit]

Rubio sounds like an idiot talking about the Parkland Shooting. 16 dead. Likely Preventable! Very sad.

[Sue]

16 dead?

[daddy]

On the Porter thing which I know nothing about, wasn't Priebus the Chief Of Staff when the first reports came in? How come Priebus doesn't have to grovel? Shouldn't he have to grovel? Have I missed his groveling?

[Threadkiller]

No kidding, TM.

I'll bet the prick picked today because it is Valentine's Day.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

From very end of last thread, so repeating:

daddy,

I am so glad you enjoyed our impromptu recitation of part of The Admiral's Ghost. Sister had a lovely time and was quite impressed. (I gave her the tin from Paris as she is a tin collector.) Daughter is excited to try the chocolate I brought home.

BUBAROONI!! daddy will be here again in March and it would be great if you could head up 37 and join us!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Threadkiller,

If the shooter was fascinated by guns and crime, quite likely he picked this day.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Ryan Saavedra
🇺🇸
‏Verified account @RealSaavedra
22m22 minutes ago

#BREAKING: Fox News is reporting that suspected gunman Nicholas de Jesus Cruz was a member of "Resistance" groups on Facebook.

[PDinDetroit]

17 dead

[Another Bob]

Yeah, it's "Truepundit", but it's credible sounding: FBI and DOJ used their own sources in the Rusdian underworld to drum up dossier material for Steele.

How bad does this get?

[Jim Eagle]

May your start of Lent keep your Valentine's day in perspective.

Men's hocke team up 2-1 on Slovenia. Better do better than then that with OAR and Slovakia in their group. No miricale on ice this year.No NHL pros.

[Another Bob]

JIB, that's a tape delay from this morning. You want a result?

[rse]

peter--there are a few links at the end of the previous thread I was directing at you on the links to mindfulness

[Frau Scheidungsueberraschung]

Re: photo of black eye on one of Porter's denied the accusations and stated that *he* took the photo. No one choses to look into that? WTH?

I know of some dirty tricks played in divorce court on unsuspecting men who thought they were going into a friendly situation. In one extreme case, a very mellow young friend was accused in court--without any warning--of child abuse and worse. He was floored. (In the end he was lucky to be rid of the woman.)
The wife had asked for the divorce. Yes, it was years ago, but some women are vengeful.

It seems like the media is setting up a pattern of female abuse by the administration. Or is my tinfoil hat too tight?

[henry]

changing subjects, my niece just got a great job offer. She's a college senior computer science major. Does some interesting projects with haptic interfaces (acoustic touch feedback combined with motion sensors). A bit of good news for balance.

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

Just aboot to ask that AB.

[Another Bob]

Nice, Henry. That's an area of HMI's where the surface has only been scratched.

[henry]

AB, from what she told me, the acoustic touch device is brand new. Very cool tech.

[clarice]

Happy Va;entine's Day to all my favorites/

[Sue]

The ARcin AR15 is not assault rifle. Sheesh. Reporters are idiots.

[Rocco]

There's a local kid playing for the USA Hockey team, Butler #15.

[Jack is Back!]

AB,

Thanks but hell no. I can’t always watch in real time. I would respect all to allow us to watch as if real time.

Burger night at Little Red. Yummy!

[maryrose]

Rocco:
That is great news.
Frau:
Liked your post and agree more information is needed before we tar and feather someone and ruin their life.

[anonamom]

reposting for maryrose. Henry posted it this afternoon

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/02/14/utahs-republican-chairman-slams-mitt-romney-and-his-expected-senate-bid-compares-him-to-hillary-clinton/

[maryrose]

Henry:
Congrats to your niece and you.

[maryrose]

Anonamom:
Saw it on the other thread and just scrolled on by.The title is ridiculous and a waste of time in my opinion.
The fact that he mentions Hillary Clinton in the comparison is a joke and not accurate.

[Jack is Back!]

henry & catsmeat,

Really enjoyed Yale, Really different than Harvard and MIT as locals goes:)

More later when I have a bigger keyboard but Frederick bought aYale Football T,

[henry]

Glad to hear that JiB.

[henry]

Thank you Maryrose

[Bubarooni]

Dang

I gotta make one of these Shapiro gigs.

Off to Ash Wednesday Mass now...

[GUS]

Jack, it's Ash Wednesday.

[maryrose]

Gus:
I believe JIB is old enough that he doesn’t have to abstain from meat.I found out that Mike Mulvaney and Martha McCallum both had ashes on their forehead today.

[GUS]

Sister Maryrose, are you saying that Jack is OLD???????

I'm betting you are SSND.

[Janeprobably about 10 minutes after getting there]

FYI: kiwi seems to be doing better. Thank you to everyone for. Your love and support.

[GUS]

Maryrose.

he fasting requirement begins at age 18 and continues until age 59. At that age, a person is automatically excused from the requirement to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, but, if health permits, may participate in the fast should he choose to do so.

I think Jack is nearly 40.

[Account Deleted]

If Donald Trump isn't getting head in the Oval Office or porking an 18 year old intern for months before getting bumped off, *THEN I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR JACK RABBIT SQUATTINI from the Lyin Swine Media about sexually inappropriate conduct or encouraging such bizarre behavior of that or any related kind.

JFK use to boff interns and playmates in his wife's bed for crissakes and everybody KNEW it.

I loathe these pathetic liars.

[narciso]

Yes forget about comandante tribe:

https://mobile.twitter.com/MollyMcKew/status/963818789199638528

[narciso]

According to the horde he identified himself as Nicholas Cruz makarov, who happens to be a villain from The call of duty games

[narciso]

Yrs that sounds about right:

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheLastRefuge2/status/963903848929775617?p=v

[Account Deleted]

The 40 day fast will teach one a lot about himself.

I was raised not to speak for women who engage.

It was how we were brought up, a mix of pre-Vatican II catechetics and All Nations ceremonies.

My birth numbers in Dineh ways are 3-12-21. The first 40 day fast was at 35 (i'd stopped praying from age 13-35, but at 19 did manage to take acid for 100 days in a row--- not always the same amount but it was every day. Plastic Medicine Man Castaneda swapped out my spiritual map with ideas you see.) At 36, it was 100 days for Leonard Peltier's family. And at 37, it was for Maneshkona, a Mohegan black at University where I was working, developing her conscience against inequitable treatment of black students on a white-dominant campus.

I resumed 40 day fasts in 2005 in an ill-advised and unsupervised method for stemming a growing diabetic complex. I did it again in 2006. And finally crawled into a doctor's office.

Now, there are quarterly 7 day water fasts.

All fasts were accompanied by "communion" with the Six Divine Aspects of God. Meditations. Sustained periods of silence. And while at work, retreating to the library to be quiet.

Food is a blessing. It's medicine. In industrial society it is largely anaesthesia that separates mind from The Sacred Heart, the Voice of Voices, the I Am That.

Fasting is a re-turning to the Source of Truth, Love, Light, Intelligence and other finery laid on each table of every two-legged (you know what I mean--whether these work or are present or not) on Earth.

The Passion and Death of Christ was an all-hands-on-deck affair for my 6 siblings and I coming up as Catlicks.

After a while I grew to love the ceremonies because I was an altar boy.

My sisters used to push their noses up at me to make themselves look porcine, or press downward on their foreheads to look like frowing comic book characters.

It was all rather Buckingham Palace like, trying to make the bushy helmet guy crack a smile in midst of so much self-indulgent solemnity.

Post Vatican II Good Friday attendance for the "3 Hours" fell off by a good 80% my pastor told me.

It broke my Maw's heart: "This was the most important thing He did for everybody ever born. And they turn their backs."

"...ah, but [she] was so much older then, [she's] younger than that now." Happy Valentines Day, Maw Priscilita. RIP. I miss you like I miss my childhood with you and the Paw. :>)

Happy Valentines Day everybody. $3.67 Billion will be spent at restaurants this evening. If yer goin out, eat tasty.

[Jim Eagle]

GUS,

Appreciate the complement but I am old enough under the rules to eat meat.]]

[Beasts of England]

I've been on a World War II binge in my reading as of late - mainly old books I've unearthed from storage, and mostly biographical. I'm interested in the campaign in North Africa at the moment, and if anyone could recommend a good book in that regard I'd be grateful.

[Dave (in MA)]

Our parrot Monkie usually shreds her toys beyond recognition, but here's what was left of a square block of wood that she was having fun with a couple of years ago.

[narciso]

Rick atkinson first volume, I think captain has read the whole series.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Ari Fleischer
‏Verified account @AriFleischer
12h12 hours ago

It’s day nine of the “how did the WH handle the Rob Porter” news and day zero of “how could the Deputy Chairman of the DNC meet with an anti-Semite” news. Bias isn’t only what’s covered. It’s also what the MSM refuses to cover.

[narciso]

The amazon link has too much loose code

http://liberationtrilogy.com/books/army-at-dawn

[narciso]

Other more particular works:

http://telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3623008/Rehearsal-for-the-real-world-war.html

[Frau Scheidungsueberraschung]

Back-atcha, Clarice!

.....................

“Governor Romney and I spoke this afternoon. He was extremely gracious."

I liked that the last time Mitt ran for office but found out that a Rottweiler from Queens gets more done for our country. Anyhoo, it's again the Year of Those Who Identify as Female. Tough luck, Mittster.

[DebinNC]

Rick Atkinson - An Army At Down

[henry]

Beasts, one unique view covers Bedell Smith as Chief of Staff for Ike. It includes the North African campaign. Kind of a "how Beetle won the war single handed." That said it. Does cover a lot of the strategic discussion.

https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Staff-Military-General-Contributions/dp/0313274800

As a note, my grandfather did not like (or respect) Genl Smith. He thought the movie Patton was biased in favor of Smith and against Patton. My grandfather was the Genl in charge of supply that allowed Patton to relieve the Bulge so quickly. He knew the players (and gets trashed in this book). I am biased here.

[DebinNC]

Jack Coggins: The Campaign for North Africa ... Author is an artist, so this one's value is in its stellar graphics/maps.

[Captain Hate]

henry,

Congrats to your niece. Are you familiar with the company? Are colleges teaching anything useful for computer science majors; keep in mind I run hot/cold on them being glorified trade schools versus egghead contemplation.

[Catsmeat]

Willowed from before: Loved, loved "The Admiral's Ghost." That Drake could inhabit Nelson--what an idea! I highly recommend reading R.L. Stevenson's essay (not too long), "The English Admirals"----I am sure he was trying to put some stuffing back into the decadent Englishmen he saw all round him. Brilliant writing, brilliant patriotism. https://archive.org/details/virginibuspueri00stevS--this takes you to a pdf of "Virginibus Puerisque," which was a collection of essays, and then you want pp. 127-44. RLS was always an invalid, always unwell, but he had an admiral's swashbuckling heart.

Jack--Yale is prettier than Harvard because Gothic (even if inauthentic because made in the 20s) is prettier than Federal style. I remember the various gargoyles on my various balconies at Calhoun with great fondness. I'm glad it went well.

God bless the dead and wounded and their families in Broward--horrible news. Wickedness roams the earth, looking for whom to devour. God bless everyone on Ash Wednesday.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

My father was in the North African campaign. I still have photos he took in files. He was in charge of a quartermaster group so no real fighting, although lots of dodging of German planes bombing and strafing.

Fifth Army, all the way through North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.

[henry]

CH, some colleges are better than others. She is at UW Whitewater, and found a prof that does teach how to think. Sorry, the name of the sensor provider eludes me. However that company ran a contest for demos of uses of their haptic tech (Whitewater was a finalist). Presentation of results is in Italy, so an Italian tech firm. As for job offer(s), one at a bank, another at a Weapons Research Lab.

[Beasts of England]

Thanks henry and DebinNC!!

That's an interesting take, henry. I felt the movie was deferential to both Smith and Bradley - with Bradley an advisor to the film - although having read about everything available on Patton, I imagine both those generals had all they could stand of him during the war. :)

Which class was your grandfather at USMA? 1915?

[henry]

Beasts, yes. 1915. The author wrote a second book on the same topic, more story telling, less dry. If you click the author page on Amazon you will find its less costly too.

[Beasts of England]

Just found his bio, henry. 20th in his class, too!!

[Captain Hate]

Thanks henry, I'm very biased against banks because of a wretched, perhaps atypical, in house experience; although even at their best, they're still highly regulated and not free market oriented.

The thrill is finally gone:

https://pjmedia.com/trending/dems-finally-fall-love-bill-clinton/?utm_source=PJMCoffeeBreak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=February2018

The comments there are hilarious; Treacher was obviously a NeverTrump who has at least seen the light but judging from some, that drunken tirade at AoS, which was *really* ugly wasn't a one off.

[clarice]

so many descendants of distinguished people here!

[henry]

Beasts, a story he told for context: at one point while Normandy Base Section Command (all supplies routed through the beach were his), my grandfather moved his HQ to a chateau the SS had used (caverns of "strong wine" he said with a smile). He told Ike and the guys at the front, but not Smith. It took Beetle a week to track him down. My grandfather would laugh at how pissed Genl Smith was.

He also told great stories about the "officers still" at Ft Mead he ran during prohibition (logistics expert), and how he and Patton were quartered in adjacent houseboats in Anacostia in the run up to the war. He liked Patton.

[Bubarooni]

BoE, back in the 70s, Ballantine Books put out a lot of really outstanding ww2 books.

Well written, tons of pictures and lots of great maps. They were paperbacks so mine didn't survive but, you can still find them on amazon.

On their site search

Ballantine Books north africa

And you'll find Africa Korps. Well worth 6 bucks.

There is another on the birth of the LRDG/SAS/SBS which is a great read too.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/02/14/someones-doing-the-doj-and-fbi-interrogations-and-its-not-congress/

I think the IG's report is going to be a real humdinger.

[jimmyk]

so many descendants of distinguished people here!

Supposedly I am a Kohen, meaning of the priestly line descended from Aaron. (There's a genetic indicator, but I haven't done the test.) Beat that!

[Manuel Transmission]

Kev,

Followup on the Gundry stuff. We are only taking the Total Restore pills which are primarily tailored to the gut lining health. We are not suffering in any way, just looking for what may be subtle improvements. If by the end of this purchase we have not seen any discernible changes, I doubt we will continue.

Our buddy is also taking the Vital Reds and that is also what his buddy down in Santa Cruz has been taking. That guy is definitely suffering with IBS issues.

In the history issue discussed on and off the last week or two, my comments to jim_nj about Graham Hancock apply to your concerns. I have been struggling to finish his last book, the Magicians of the Gods, but he starts out with the "Clovis Comet" and how it nearly wiped out everything in N. America in 10,800 BC. Up in our neck of the woods, the world's largest toilet was flushed by the instant melting of cubic miles of ice and sending it out to the Pacific. All the clocks got reset and then 1200 years later, a second cataclysm struck that reset things again. He discusses a lot of NDN stories of that time that may have had different time calibrations, but it is pretty clear that that was the step function that affected at least the northern hemisphere and all the cultures that managed to somehow survive and start over.

[narciso]

I had really only read his book about the arc:

https://www.livescience.com/27565-did-comet-kill-clovis-culture.html

Regardless it shows what willfully arrogance we have in mastery of our planet

[Beasts of England]

Thanks, Bubarooni!

Great stuff, and I'm glad he liked Patton, henry. Few in history have willed themselves to greatness they way he did. I admire Ike, Smith, and later Bradley for having to command such a personality, but he was correct so often that it must have been unnerving for them at times.

And while not quite the 'officer's still', my Dad was known as the creator of the 'cadet deli' - having figured out a way to smuggle meats and cheeses up to his room and sell sandwiches to the starving underclassmen. lol

[narciso]

Et finis?

http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/13/settlement-fraternity-rolling-stonerape-hoax-saga-officially

[Beasts of England]

I think my anecdote as the son of the cadet deli incorporator has been superseded by Moses' nephew... :)

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe it wasn't sperm after all.
http://eelslap.com/

[clarice]

Probably been posted and I missed it--from zero hedgeoe DiGenova, a former Special Counsel who went after both the Teamsters and former NY Governer Elliot Spitzer, made the claim on a Monday interview with radio station WMAL.

DiGenova: “We’re going to see the [Democrat memo]. It will be heavily edited by the FBI and the Department of Justice and the CIA. The most important part of this story is that on Friday, February the 9th, Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray wrote a letter to the White House counsel Don McGahn that they could not agree to the publication of the Schiff memo because it contained national security and law enforcement concerns. It was actually the FBI and the Department of Justice says no [to releasing the memo]. The most important part of that letter is when it says… law enforcement concerns. What does that mean? It means, that there is a criminal investigation underway and release of some of the information in the memo by Mr. Schiff will affect that criminal investigation. I wonder who they are investigating? And the answer is pretty clear. They are investigating the people at the FBI and the DOJ who provided false information to the FISA court over a number of years, including, involving Carter Page.”

[Bubarooni]

My Dad was a seargeant major. Didn't suffer officers well.

Did his best to put up with my brother, the 0-6.

[Buckeye]

Buckeyette has accepted a job offer from Abbott Labs, she starts a week from Monday.

Columbus is the home of Ross Labs, part of Abbott. Ross invented Similac, and Buckeyette will be helping revamp aspects of the distribution channel, mostly foreign.

Maybe she will fill up her passports with stamps like her dad:)

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

This is a strange story.

http://www.mynbc5.com/article/missing-whiteface-skier-found-in-california/17764938

[Captain Hate]

Per Tammy Bruce, Melania Trump spent time with children undergoing experimental treatments, decorating valentines cookies and assembling gift bags completely under the radar.

On a related note, Nick Gilbert, son of Cav's owner Dan Gilbert, will undergo brain surgery this week for a genetic malady that causes tumors to grow seemingly randomly. Nick, who when you see is obviously suffering from something health wise, has been the public face of the franchise at draft lotteries, at which he's done quite well, and his upcoming surgery was mentioned on the ABC national broadcast on Sunday.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Bubarooni,

daddy will again be in town in March. I don't have the date yet, but you are welcome to join us at Shapiro's. It's great fun! (Also great food!)

[jimmyk]

Buckeyette has accepted a job offer from Abbott Labs, she starts a week from Monday.

Congrats, Buckeye!

[Sue]

Have they called the shooter a white hispanic yet?

[Manuel Transmission]

narc,

That article is so typical of the oneupsmanship in science. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is bullshart. So a comet breaks up and big chunks strike mile thick ice and leave no big craters? Well, darn, I guess it wasn't labeled with big neon signs.

[Bubarooni]

MM, that sounds awesome.

Today was valentine's day, my youngests bday and ash wednesday.

Such an odd confluence of events is unlikely next month

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Bubarooni,

I will try to get with daddy and get more organized. It could be Gentlejim drives down from the north, too.

[Buckeye]

Thanks Jimmyk.

I am very thankful that my children are capable, self-reliant and financially secure.

9/10 of the challenge as a parent.

[narciso]

They don't mind getting cut by occams razor

http://pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/17/1301760110.abstract

[exdemocrat]

Clarice - Sullivan's tweak to Mueler's protective order motion (1) requires Mueller to justify each document, and (2) gives Flynn 60 days after the case closes to destroy it. Interesting, no?

https://twitter.com/KGBTechnoFrog/status/963917606959927297

[Manuel Transmission]

CH,

will undergo brain surgery this week for a genetic malady that causes tumors to grow seemingly randomly.

Just found out a buddy I had just talked to a couple weeks ago was eating a meal and suddenly had trouble chewing and they all immediately assumed a stroke. But turned out to be a big tumor behind his ear that by the time they got done cutting his ear off and drilling in to dig it out (apparently benign), then sewing the ear back on, he is now deaf on that side and the eye on that side is mostly wonky and no sense of taste. Ugh.

Amazingly, he was totally normal in the phone conversation and other than trying to figure out how to manage the pain (he hates drugs), he is ready to get back to the grind.

[Sue]

Daily Beast is reporting he wore patriotic t shirts and once wore a Trump hat. He was arrested in JROTC T-shirt.

[Frau Delikatessenladen Köln]

Too bad we cannot have a JOM flash mob in Shapiro's when Daddy's in town.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Sue,

There is also a picture of him in an Antifa shirt.

I think he was just a deranged guy. What is sad is that while a lot of people apparently thought he was potentially dangerous, no one did anything.

[Captain Hate]

9/10 of the challenge as a parent.

Well done, Buckeye.

Tammy Bruce has offered to pay for Squaw Warren's genetic testing to prove her minority status claim.

[henry]

Buckeye, congrats to buckeyette! Abbott Labs corporate is not far from me.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.axios.com/doctors-without-borders-sexual-abuse-scandal--0276e2a6-dfdf-4f52-995b-82a90dabe0f9.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

Apparently they are also Doctors Without Boundaries.

[narciso]

What is the 100th time, like a macabre groundhog day?

[Sue]

Yeah but he once wore a Trump hat. Nothing else will matter.

[Captain Hate]

Ouch, MT; too bad there wasn't a less invasive way of removing it.

[Buckeye]

Henry, she expects to spend time there and a promotion would likely require moving there.

She is a spendthrift, so IL taxes will likely not sit well with her.

[Manuel Transmission]

For a strange coincidence, we are just now watching a Nova (S45 E3, First Face of America) that rather poorly, given what we've been talking about here, is showing the differences in skull features in the Younger Dryas era compared to the modern NDN. What is particularly frustrating is their inevitable presumption that Clovis Man was the first around here, even though that was dispelled a few decades ago when they had their noses rubbed in the people found in the southern regions of S. Am. that were a few thou. years older than that. Which, in turn, caused them to all go back where they found all the Clovis dudes and by digging deeper discovered, voila! even older dudes. (IIRC the older ones were the red ochre who may have come over from Europe.

[narciso]

What of cheddar man, who they supposedly found from an even farther vantage point?

[jimmyk]

Sorry to hear that about Dan Gilbert's son. Gilbert is also a big booster/developer of downtown Detroit, which needs all the help it can get.

[Captain Hate]

Too bad we cannot have a JOM flash mob in Shapiro's when Daddy's in town.

It's actually doable for me as a day trip and I could probably pick up maryrose, Buckeye and Ann. Particularly since it doesn't seem like the Tarhole is likely to have CLE as a destination.