Morning in America: Butthurt Achieved

[R-V]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Could Chris Christie be the heir to Trump's abdicated throne of sensible moderation? This and more covered on the Huard O'Lunkhead podcast, available as soon as he figures out how to get this goddamn tape recorder to work goddammit.

[Slaky]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Could Chris Christie be the heir to Trump's abdicated throne of sensible moderation? This and more covered on the Huard O'Lunkhead podcast, available as soon as he figures out how to get this goddamn tape recorder to work goddammit.

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/dear_everyone_chris_christie_is_conservative/singleton/

[Brownie]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Not if he has the nomination. Not calling for a special election when the law allows for one would be malfeasance. He could have waited 10 days to issue his writ and the election would be on Election Day, the same day he's up for re-election. With Cory Booker the favorite to take the Dem nomination for Senate, would he want to share the ballot with him? Instead, he'll appoint Tom Kean Jr., whom he doesn't like, to the seat for the next four months, give Kean the power of incumbency, watch Kean leave the State Senate, watch Kean probably lose to Booker, who's an interesting guy in his own right, win his own re-election and not have to deal with Kean for another couple of years.

I like Christie generally, but this is politics and he seems to play it well. He definitely has his eye on 2016, and he'd be one of the top 3 favorites for the nomination. McCain wasn't exactly throwing bouquets at Bush in 2000 and 2004; Dole fought a nasty fight with GHW Bush in '88; Reagan was persona non grata with the Ford people and vice versa in '76. Clinton was almost booed off the DNC stage in '88 (and he was the DLC's response to Dukakis); Nixon and Eisenhower and Goldwater got along like oil and water.

[Gilgamesh]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Not if he has the nomination. Not calling for a special election when the law allows for one would be malfeasance. He could have waited 10 days to issue his writ and the election would be on Election Day, the same day he's up for re-election. With Cory Booker the favorite to take the Dem nomination for Senate, would he want to share the ballot with him? Instead, he'll appoint Tom Kean Jr., whom he doesn't like, to the seat for the next four months, give Kean the power of incumbency, watch Kean leave the State Senate, watch Kean probably lose to Booker, who's an interesting guy in his own right, win his own re-election and not have to deal with Kean for another couple of years.

I like Christie generally, but this is politics and he seems to play it well. He definitely has his eye on 2016, and he'd be one of the top 3 favorites for the nomination. McCain wasn't exactly throwing bouquets at Bush in 2000 and 2004; Dole fought a nasty fight with GHW Bush in '88; Reagan was persona non grata with the Ford people and vice versa in '76. Clinton was almost booed off the DNC stage in '88 (and he was the DLC's response to Dukakis); Nixon and Eisenhower and Goldwater got along like oil and water.

Would the zealous GOP partisans in Washington have preferred that Christie just appoint a GOPer to hold the seat until 2014?

[Quality Start Machine]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Not if he has the nomination. Not calling for a special election when the law allows for one would be malfeasance. He could have waited 10 days to issue his writ and the election would be on Election Day, the same day he's up for re-election. With Cory Booker the favorite to take the Dem nomination for Senate, would he want to share the ballot with him? Instead, he'll appoint Tom Kean Jr., whom he doesn't like, to the seat for the next four months, give Kean the power of incumbency, watch Kean leave the State Senate, watch Kean probably lose to Booker, who's an interesting guy in his own right, win his own re-election and not have to deal with Kean for another couple of years.

I like Christie generally, but this is politics and he seems to play it well. He definitely has his eye on 2016, and he'd be one of the top 3 favorites for the nomination. McCain wasn't exactly throwing bouquets at Bush in 2000 and 2004; Dole fought a nasty fight with GHW Bush in '88; Reagan was persona non grata with the Ford people and vice versa in '76. Clinton was almost booed off the DNC stage in '88 (and he was the DLC's response to Dukakis); Nixon and Eisenhower and Goldwater got along like oil and water.

Yeah, but he just giftwrapped the Senate seat for Booker & the Democrats. That's not going to sit well at all with the GOP money people, especially after he threw roses at Obama last year.

He's going to have a bitch of a time out-fundraising Rubio or Jeb Bush.

[Gilgamesh]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is increasingly becoming someone that I'd have absolutely no problems voting for, especially when he does something like this...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/04/christie-calls-for-october-special-election/?hpt=hp_t2

and when he says things like this...

The costs associated with having a special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate. I don't know what the costs are, and frankly I don't care.

So I'm guessing he won't be doing the keynote at the 2016 RNC.

Not if he has the nomination. Not calling for a special election when the law allows for one would be malfeasance. He could have waited 10 days to issue his writ and the election would be on Election Day, the same day he's up for re-election. With Cory Booker the favorite to take the Dem nomination for Senate, would he want to share the ballot with him? Instead, he'll appoint Tom Kean Jr., whom he doesn't like, to the seat for the next four months, give Kean the power of incumbency, watch Kean leave the State Senate, watch Kean probably lose to Booker, who's an interesting guy in his own right, win his own re-election and not have to deal with Kean for another couple of years.

I like Christie generally, but this is politics and he seems to play it well. He definitely has his eye on 2016, and he'd be one of the top 3 favorites for the nomination. McCain wasn't exactly throwing bouquets at Bush in 2000 and 2004; Dole fought a nasty fight with GHW Bush in '88; Reagan was persona non grata with the Ford people and vice versa in '76. Clinton was almost booed off the DNC stage in '88 (and he was the DLC's response to Dukakis); Nixon and Eisenhower and Goldwater got along like oil and water.

Yeah, but he just giftwrapped the Senate seat for Booker & the Democrats. That's not going to sit well at all with the GOP money people, especially after he threw roses at Obama last year.

He's going to have a bitch of a time out-fundraising Rubio or Jeb Bush.

Even that small bit is too much 2016 talk at this point.  And yes, I indirectly started that, so I have myself to blame in some part.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

This is good for a laugh:

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Republican author of the Patriot Act, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that says he is "extremely disturbed" by reports that the National Security Agency collected phone records from Verizon customers and insists it violates the law.

"These reports are deeply concerning and raise questions about whether our constitutional rights are secure," the Wisconsin Republican said in the letter, sent Thursday.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

DPD for MikeC ACORNscandalfail.

ACORN employees caught in those undercover videos advising a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to break the law acted unprofessionally and inappropriately, but did nothing illegal, an independent report has found.

The videos that have been released appear to have been edited, in some cases substantially, including the insertion of a substitute voiceover for significant portions of Mr. O'Keefe's and Ms. Giles's comments, which makes it difficult to determine the questions to which ACORN employees are responding. A comparison of the publicly available transcripts to the released videos confirms that large portions of the original video have been omitted from the released versions.

A new settlement drops...

James O'Keefe—the blonde bombshell who set the conservative world of hidden-camera YouTube movies ablaze—has just agreed to a $100,000 settlement to calm down the unjustly fired (and weirdly litigious about it) ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera.

Bonus quote...

According to the final 5-page agreement, signed by O'Keefe and his legal counsel Mike Madigan...

Wuh?

[Gilgamesh]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

[Chuck to Chuck]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

[ChuckD]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

You're like a compass that constantly points to "W."

[BH]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

You're like a compass that constantly points to "W."

Any time I read a this company is amazing and cares so much article I get more and more skeptical. This makes Costco seem to good to be true. There has to be a catch, right? They squeeze these companies on prices?

[Quality Start Machine]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

You're like a compass that constantly points to "W."

Any time I read a this company is amazing and cares so much article I get more and more skeptical. This makes Costco seem to good to be true. There has to be a catch, right? They squeeze these companies on prices?

Costco really is that good, especially in terms of it being an ideal workplace. Because of pay, benefits and job security, there are some Costcos that only have certain days of the year where they accept applications and conduct interviews, because people who work in other big-boxes want to get in there so badly - along with there being little to no employee attrition.

Along with making 100% profit on memberships, they buy in huge bulk, which keeps prices down, as well as having a lot of products under the Kirkland brand. Also, their model is built on low markup/high quantity - sort of like how Yeti knows there's only a 10-cent-a-board markup on drywall at Home Depot. And keeping overhead down, especially in terms of executive compensation, also helps them provide value to stockholders.

Oh, and the guy in his 50s making over $50K is probably a store manager. But as I recall, if you can get a job there you generally start out around $30K - really fucking good for retail.

[CBStew]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

You're like a compass that constantly points to "W."

Any time I read a this company is amazing and cares so much article I get more and more skeptical. This makes Costco seem to good to be true. There has to be a catch, right? They squeeze these companies on prices?

Costco really is that good, especially in terms of it being an ideal workplace. Because of pay, benefits and job security, there are some Costcos that only have certain days of the year where they accept applications and conduct interviews, because people who work in other big-boxes want to get in there so badly - along with there being little to no employee attrition.

Along with making 100% profit on memberships, they buy in huge bulk, which keeps prices down, as well as having a lot of products under the Kirkland brand. Also, their model is built on low markup/high quantity - sort of like how Yeti knows there's only a 10-cent-a-board markup on drywall at Home Depot. And keeping overhead down, especially in terms of executive compensation, also helps them provide value to stockholders.

Oh, and the guy in his 50s making over $50K is probably a store manager. But as I recall, if you can get a job there you generally start out around $30K - really fucking good for retail.

Our local Costco has a contract with a union.

[Internet Apex]

This is a mostly apolitical article about how awesome Costco is.  I enjoyed it.  I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on it.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

Costco sucks.

You're like a compass that constantly points to "W."

Any time I read a this company is amazing and cares so much article I get more and more skeptical. This makes Costco seem to good to be true. There has to be a catch, right? They squeeze these companies on prices?

Costco really is that good, especially in terms of it being an ideal workplace. Because of pay, benefits and job security, there are some Costcos that only have certain days of the year where they accept applications and conduct interviews, because people who work in other big-boxes want to get in there so badly - along with there being little to no employee attrition.

Along with making 100% profit on memberships, they buy in huge bulk, which keeps prices down, as well as having a lot of products under the Kirkland brand. Also, their model is built on low markup/high quantity - sort of like how Yeti knows there's only a 10-cent-a-board markup on drywall at Home Depot. And keeping overhead down, especially in terms of executive compensation, also helps them provide value to stockholders.

Oh, and the guy in his 50s making over $50K is probably a store manager. But as I recall, if you can get a job there you generally start out around $30K - really fucking good for retail.

They actually sell coffins there so if you die on the job, you're already hooked all the way up. They just wheel you out and usher in the next lucky soul. Of course this rarely happens because their pizza has magical healing powers like a grease fountain of youth. Santa's elves are jealous of these people.