His Last HaHa

By PatD, a Trail Mix Contributor

Thank you, PBS Newshour, for your segment last night on one of the Trail’s favorite people.

Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain: "Cats"
Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain: “Cats” “Congress” “Lawyers” “Exercise” “Old Age”
PBS: Mark Twain once said that “hunger is the handmaid of genius,” and he was speaking from personal experience. By 1894, Twain was an esteemed writer, an international celebrity — and dead broke thanks to a few bad investments. To stave off debt, he embarked on the world’s first stand-up comedy tour, chronicled in Richard Zacks’ new book, “Chasing the Last Laugh.” Zacks joins Jeffrey Brown for more.

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blueINdallas
8 years ago

Yep, I saw that report; it looks like a good read.  I really need to read Joan of Arc since Twain thought that was his best work…some day.

Pogo
8 years ago

If hunger is the handmaid of genius, Twain must have been starving.

jace
8 years ago

Patd,

Great Post. One of my favorite Twain quotes. Probably because it is mostly true.

In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards.”

Pogo
8 years ago

Jamie, the chart you posted on the last thread is interesting.  If I read it correctly, under no scenario does Bernie do better than the gap he currently has in pledged delegates, best case being 298 delegates behind.  And that makes sense – Hillary has over 3 million more votes than he has.  I am perplexed that he and his campaign don’t get that in a two candidate race, under any scheme they might think is fair, the only fair outcome is that the person getting the most votes becomes the nominee.  I do understand that under the current rules Hillary is doing much better than under any of the other scenarios because of the super delegate commitments to her. Of course what I believe Bernie is seeking is to have the DNC adopt his view of what is fair (no super delegates I suspect) and imposing that and whatever other restrictions, such as open primaries, on the state organizations.  Maybe the DNC sees his leverage as being enough to get that through the Rules Committee or whatever committee would deal with those changes, but I doubt that very much.

Pogo
8 years ago

So I can’t wait for bernie to start crowing about the Fox and Rasmussen polls that came out today showing trump with a lead in the general election hypo match up over Hillary, but he leads over Trump in the Fox poll. Well, in 2016, the only pres polls that have shown a lead for trump over Hillary are Fox and Rasmussen – that’s 5 total polls of the 33 reported by RCP. And I will note that the last two polls follow trump becoming unopposed, which Hillary does not have the benefit of.  And her average in the last 5 polls is 3.3 over trump. And in the last month Sanders’  Fox poll advantage over trump has dropped from 14 to 4, following trump becoming unopposed.

Flatus
8 years ago

Pogo, this probably explains everything, “…act like an adult.  (A lot to ask of a septuagenarian.)”

We’ll have to ask the newest member of our septecial cohort, Jamie, what she thinks.

Flatus, who has passed the 3/4 of a century mark

craigcrawford
8 years ago

They get it Pogo but so long as the money comes in they’ll keep going. Candidates generally don’t quit until the funding stops.

jace
8 years ago

Pogo,

So Sanders is going to go out and say he can get more votes than Trump but he can’t get more votes than Clinton. Pretty flimsy argument in my opinion.

Jamie44
8 years ago

I was totally in the “let him finish” column.  Every candidate deserves to hang in there for as long as they like.  Then Bernie started the rabble rousing of his cult of epithet screaming followers and making demands on a Party who had nicely allowed him to run in the first place even though he wasn’t a member.

He has now reached the stage of incitement to violence and that is totally unacceptable.  If there were any way to prevent his nomination at the Convention I would be in favor of it.  Let people committed to voting for him from the floor do so, but he has ceased to be entitled to a laudatory introduction.

Put the cranky old man in a permanent time out.  I hope when he returns to the Senate, none of his Democratic cohorts speak to him and work for a primary candidate to replace ASAP

And yes, I am unreasonably pissed off.

 

Jamie44
8 years ago

Oh and for age, I follow the inside/outside rule.  Can’t do a thing about the outside.  It is currently 72.  The inside varies on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.  Today I’m somewhere in my 40s.

Bernie Sanders is a two year old having a fist pounding, foot kicking meltdown in the sugared cereal aisle of the supermarket.

Pogo
8 years ago

Yes, poobah, I understand – mother’s milk of politics and all.

sjwny
8 years ago

“Candidates generally don’t quit until the funding stops.”

Gives a new meaning to the Energizer Bunny. Beating his drum, spinning in circles …. not going anywhere. Just keepin’ on keepin’ on.

 

Pogo
8 years ago

Jace, yep, that’s about it.  I’ve said from about March that he can’t (a) skip the step where he has to get more delegates than Clinton, (b) expect to be chosen as nominee if he hasn’t gotten more voters to vote for him than Clinton or (c) change the rules so that he gets to avoid (a) and (b).

Jamie44
8 years ago

Peace Break:  The DC Eagles are eating

Flatus
8 years ago

Depending on what BS would have named his party/movement had DW-S declined allowing him to run as a Dem, he could have imploded or…

whskyjack
8 years ago

And of course the money is not stopping because Robots never stop donating. And they all donate just under the reportable limit.

3/4 of Bernies donations were under the reportable limit.

 

When it is to good to be true it usually is.

 

Jack

Flatus
8 years ago

A nice rainy day here. We’ve passed an inch for the morning which takes us up to 3.8-in for the month. Just right. The horrendous weather of the south/mid-west has bypassed us so far but mirrors what we had last October. Pls, you folks over there, be safe.

craigcrawford
8 years ago

I decided Bernie was scamming donors weeks ago

Jamie44
8 years ago

Not sure where I saw it in passing, but it noted that the FEC had questioned one of the reports that showed the same person donating about 30 times on the same day.  Not exactly Kosher.

RebelliousRenee
8 years ago

patd…  I saw Hal Holbrook perform as Mark Twain live on stage here in NH about 15 yrs ago.  He was fantastic…  you’d swear he was really Twain.

What??!!….  you mean Bernie is really just another politician that loves money??!!….   ~~~~I’m shocked~~~~

Flatus
8 years ago

Yesterday afternoon I readied for service a new standby generator for our house. It’s larger than our old one and, most significantly, is multi-fuel meaning that it will run on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. I configured it to run on LP gas using the same tanks that the grill uses.

It was a complicated set-up. Lots of levers and knobs and switches on the control panel. The 50-page instruction manual was printed on excellent paper in a reasonably sized font. Unfortunately, it was in beginner’s Chinglish.

The generator is all hooked-up according to code, tested, runs as it should, and produces copious amounts of electricity. The old generator has been passed on to grandson Jasper to handle high amperage welding needs in his vehicle workshop.

Flatus
8 years ago

Morley Safer has died aged 84

blueINdallas
8 years ago

Never retire.

Jamie44
8 years ago

Morley Safer on Viet Nam.  Among the last of the great newsmen.  No vocal theatrics & hysterics a la CNN & MSNBC, jut tell the story.

https://youtu.be/mjP9C_fODfI

Jamie44
8 years ago

Bit Player Sanders Poised To Become A Senate Force

But the Vermont senator risks frittering away that newfound clout, Democratic senators said Wednesday, if he doesn’t move soon to unite the party and train his fire on Donald Trump.

Pogo
8 years ago

Renee I understand what you’re saying, but bite your tongue. 🙂

RebelliousRenee
8 years ago

Pogo…   ya…  hfataghfta…   googablataky…   ith my tong bleedin’…..

It looks like the mount you and I wanted for the Preakness, Gunrunner, isn’t running guns or the race.  I guess Nyguist has chased many away…

Pogo
8 years ago

Renee, LOL!  I misread that “never retire” message from blue.  Blue, bite your tongue.  Of course now I have to look at the horses running and choose one I guess. I think I’ll go with Abiding Star – sounds real nice (although at 30-1 I’m not going to plan to retire on my winnings.)

Jamie44
8 years ago

Abiding Star for Pogo.  Got it

Jamie44
8 years ago

Trump’s delegates are all “The Best People”.  First the white power guy in California and now in Maryland one arrested for child pornography and weapons charges.  

blueINdallas
8 years ago

That sounds about right.  The only way we’ll know for sure is if they get arrested and we find out who is backing them.

Who would benefit?  Trump doesn’t want to see unity in the Dem party (which there isn’t anyway). HRC hasn’t been able to put away the old man yet, and, Bill has been banging the “Bernie Bros” drumb for a few months now.

More than likely, it’s nobody directly affiliated with any candidate, but someone with money who wants to play chess using real people.

That’s not to say there couldn’t be some hotheads in camp Bernie, but some of this seems orchestrated rather than organic.

pogo – I’ve been working since I was 13, so I have no idea what retirement would look like.

 

RebelliousRenee
8 years ago

OKaaaa…   all the right wing propaganda stuff written about Hillary is absolutely true.  But anything that paints Bernie in a not so flattering light is kinda sorta made up….    okee, dokee….   gotcha.

Jamie44
8 years ago

Pogo, “Hillary has over 3 million more votes than he has.  I am perplexed that he and his campaign don’t get that in a two candidate race, under any scheme they might think is fair, the only fair outcome is that the person getting the most votes becomes the nominee.”

 

As Hillary mentioned today during the CNN interview, she actually had more total votes than Obama at the time she conceded.  What she didn’t have were the delegates and had no way of earning enough to defeat him.  She still resigned gracefully and supported him as the winner.

Pogo
8 years ago

Jamie,  true enough.   Bernie has neither.   Hillary was a victim of the rigged system Bernie whines about. Bernie isn’t. And if Hillary wins NJ & CA by any substantial margin  his supporters will be pissed and his leverage with the DNC will be eroded.

tony
8 years ago
whskyjack
8 years ago

Sanders is yesterdays news, liner for the bird cage.

Now he will be lucky to have a time slot before midnight on the second day.

Sanders totally screwed up yesterday

And if I was one of the Bernie superdelegates and I dreamed of a political future, Ya know it is time to move to the edge of the stage for a quiet diappearing act.

Cause one thing about the Clintons is they never f**king forget

 

Makes one wonder if Pogo doesn’t have something with the age issue

Jack

 

 

whskyjack
8 years ago

Last year we were  supporting a neighborhood leader for her run for the city council. Then she cussed out the mayor on a televised public hearing.

oooops,

People were wondering why we had a 4 by 6 ft banner  supporting  supporting her opponent and obvious winner.

I suspect you all understand.

What she didn’t understand with politics ya gotta be careful and not burn any bridges

 

Jack

jace
8 years ago

Watched Weaver on Chris hays tonight. Can somebody please share with me some of whatever it is he is smoking?

Jamie44
8 years ago

Bernie Sanders is Hurting Himself By Playing The Victim Joan Walsh

 The Vermont senator could turn from movement leader into the messiah of an angry white male cult with his claims of a “rigged” nomination process.

oldseahag
8 years ago

glad hillary put 2008 and this primary in perspective- that she had the popular vote yet not the delegates- then went on and worked hard to elect obama. bernie needed to be reminded and the bernie bros needed a history lesson.

tony
8 years ago

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