S.H.I.T. Open Thread

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I’m a little too old to get excited about this movie. The G.I Joe I remember had “kung-fu grip” and fought Nazis.

I’m sure happy it’s Thursday. What’s on your mind?

Silly Video Open Thread

h/t tweet from Synchronize23

Has anyone seen Rico? I could use a seltzer with lime.

Ginger for President!

Change we can believe in, and she doesn’t even use a teleprompter!

And on top of that, she can yodel.

World in Chaos Open Thread

Brain fog

My brain isn’t working too well this morning, thanks to a nasty head cold. Still I got up as usual and surfed around to see what’s going on in the world. Is it just me, or are things even more chaotic out there than usual? Let’s see…

Robert M. Morgenthau, district attorney of Manhattan has indicted Li Fang Wei, a Chinese businessman, for selling nuclear raw materials to Iran and using U.S. banks such as Bank of America, Citibank and J.P. Morgan Chase to launder the financial transactions. Supposedly the banks were unwitting accessories. Hmmm… why don’t I buy that excuse?

Chinese and Russian “cyberspies” have infiltrated the U.S. electric grid.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, “If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on.”

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

Now isn’t that special?

Pirates have captured a U.S. flagged ship and taken 20 American crewmembers hostage off the coast of Somalia.

The container ship, the Maersk Alabama, was carrying thousands of tons of relief aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the company that owns the ship said.

The ship was taken by pirates at about 7:30 a.m. local time, 280 miles southeast of the Somali city of Eyl, a known haven for pirates, a spokesman for the United States Navy said. It is owned and operated by Maersk Line Limited, a United States subsidiary of A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, the Danish shipping giant.

The Maersk Alabama was at least the sixth commercial ship commandeered by pirates this week off the Horn of Africa, one of the most notoriously lawless zones on the high seas, where pirates have been operating with near impunity despite efforts by many nations, including the United States, to intimidate them with naval warship patrols.

The death toll continues to rise after the earthquake in Italy.

At least seven strong shocks hit the region during the night, killing one person and waking people from their sleep in the tent shelters.

The tremors brought down masonry from already damaged buildings and one tremor was felt as far away as Rome.

President Obama has finally returned to Washington, D.C. after his triumphant global tour. Will that help or hurt our economic situation? Will he finally wake up and realize that Geithner and Summers are wrecking our economic system in order to save their rich friends? Or does he already know that and think it’s a good idea? Will Obama’s wooing of Muslims in Turkey make a difference or is it “just words?”

A “turning point,” a “fresh breeze” — even a “light in the darkness.” Arabs and Muslims have been charmed by President Barack Obama’s first venture into the Islamic world.

Obama’s visit to Turkey this week was full of gestures calculated at showing he is a friend to Muslims, like his headliner sound bite that the U.S will never be “at war with Islam” and his mention of the Muslims in his family. Even throwaway lines like a comment that he had to wrap up a town-hall meeting with Turkish students “before the call to prayer” showed he was no stranger to Muslims’ way of life.

To many, the town-hall format for a meeting with students in Istanbul on Tuesday sent a significant message. The sight of a U.S. president being questioned by Muslims was dramatically different from the perception many had of Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.

What do you think? And what are you reading/hearing/watching this morning?

Open Thread: “Barack Obama is dumber than a bag of hammers.”

Now here’s a writer who tells it like it is. and he’s darkly funny too. David Michael Green writes:

Barack Obama is dumber than a bag of hammers.

I never thought I’d say that about the guy. I thought he would probably disappoint me with many of his policies. I thought he would probably fail to be bold enough for his times. I thought he might miss opportunities to do great things because of his seeming desire to be Mr. Rogers, complete with cardigan. But I never expected him to be really dumb.

But if you’re willing to risk the entirety of a potentially great presidency on making sure that a handful of already wealthy sociopaths who got rich destroying the global economy are not denied massive taxpayer-funded bonuses to keep them in jobs they’ve already completely mishandled, despite the fact that many of them took the money and left the job anyhow – if that’s you, and you’re the new president of the United States with a load of challenges and lots of public good will solidly behind you – well, then, you’re dumber than a bag of hammers.

Open Thread: Snow Day!!!

Late Season Nor’Easter Blankets Much of East Coast With Heavy Snow

From the Carolinas to the shores of Maine, a brutal late winter snowstorm has paralyzed much of the Eastern Seaboard….Up to a foot of snow piled up in places like Jackson, Tenn., which saw 12.5 inches — the heaviest one-day snowfall there ever. Even the Deep South saw snow, including parts of Alabama that received nearly six inches.

Connecticut, Long Island, N.Y., and points farther north are expecting upward of a foot of snow — up to 15 inches. Some places are expecting record snowfalls.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled along the East Coast, starting Sunday night and continuing into this morning, including more than 100 flights at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Hundreds more flights were canceled at the New York region’s three major airports, said Jennifer Friedberg, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

What are you doing instead of going to work or school? Or if you are in one of those places that doesn’t have snow, what’s happening where you are? If you don’t like snow, just remember that when March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. And if you are out and about during the storm, please be careful!

Girly Girl Open Thread – For Afrocity

Enough of this football stuff. Let’s talk about Hillary and the awesome job she is going to do as Secretary of State.

Aren’t you glad she’s going to be the foreign president, even though she won’t be inaugurated on Tuesday, as she so richly deserved to be?

Oh, and if you’re sad about the Ravens losing, here’s some Baltimore sports pr0n for you.

More Jim Palmer

Scarlett O’Hara and the Curtains

Gone With The Wind, Part I

Working off the gravy

Sister B. does the beaver machine

I worked off the last of the gravy today.  B. and I went to the local Y and did elliptical, weight machines, 10 minutes of treading water and sauna.  Ahhhhh.  Feels great.  What did you do to work off the peck of food you ate yesterday?

This is an open thread.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

For some reason we are immune to it. But family members, friends, and co-workers have changed. How did it happen? What can we do? We must stay together, hold hands, as RD always says, and keep ourselves safe. Maybe someday we can save the ones who haven’t drunk too deeply of the koolaid. Perhaps it’s some factor in our blood?

Be careful out there, Conflucians; and whatever you don’t don’t fall asleep!