Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Republicans in disarray!

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Everybody saw this coming.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

We will not go back.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

T R E 4 5 O N

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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64Comments

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    @Tim F.: That would explain why my comment haz fail.

    @ant: The commenters go all in for Noot. I think I just strained my spleen from the chortling.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    @Tim F.:
    I was just going to comment on how gorgeous Max is in that photo and the thread vanished.

    Question on the site design: Why isn’t the timestamp for posts visible on the front page? The date has been returned back, but the timestamp is still only visible on the actual post page itself.

  7. 7.

    Raven

    Some of us record it because

    1. We go to bed at 10pm.
    2. We tape it so we don’t have to watch the commercials!

    ps I liked Great Expectations even though it seemed to get crummy reviews.

  8. 8.

    samara morgan

    i watched the Killing (season premier) and Full Metal Jousting (always).
    i’ll catch GoT tonight.

    Madmen? meh. nostalgie de la buie.
    ;)

  9. 9.

    jibeaux

    @ant:

    So after much soul searching I’ve decided to climb up on the roof, snuggle in beside Seamus, and enjoy the ride.

    Reports are that Seamus lost bowel control and as soon as he was free ran the fuck away from the Romneys. The unfortunate animal has been through enough, already, don’t subject him to Erick Son of Erick too.

  11. 11.

    calliope jane

    Yay, Mad Men.

    Is it wrong that I was irrationally excited for the Bewitched reference?

    Also, I’m apparently not paying enough attention to figure out what year it is — if The Rolling Stones did that ad “three years ago,” it’s 1966? 1967?

  12. 12.

    porter

    @Punchy: 5-4…shocking…NOT!

    Pretty depressing when just about every Supreme Court decision is 5-4. That’s basically a failed institution right there.

    So what is next now that the Supreme Court is failing. Revolution? Can the justices be impeached for any of this?

    Or is it just another sign the US is become another fallen empire?

  13. 13.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @ant:

    “I developed misgivings about my original strategy in January when Obama made patently illegal recess appointments. These misgivings have increased day by day as the EPA has essentially declared the coal industry illegal, religious liberty has been tossed under the bus in favor of consequence-free sexual gratification, Egypt and Libya have been turned over to either al-Qaeda or its sympathizers, billions of dollars have disappeared into the wallets of Obama donors in the guise of “green energy”, and our European allies have heard Obama tell a fellow kleptocrat that their security is up for grabs in a second Obama term.

    “On the other hand I have no doubt that the Romney’s will restore a dignity and grace to the White House and the Office of the President that has been trashed by the gauche, nouveau riche, and monumentally entitled Obamas, both the Mom-jeans, weenie-armed Barack and the hulking, hectoring Michelle.”

    Seriously?

  16. 16.

    Violet

    @Punchy:
    From the article:

    The court also noted that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was initially arrested for not having a license plate on his car and that one of the 9/11 terrorists was stopped and ticketed for speeding just two days before hijacking Flight 93. “People detained for minor offenses can turn out to be the most devious and dangerous criminals,” the court said.

    And with that logic, why don’t we require strip searching of anyone and everyone at all times? You want to drive your car? You might go over the speed limit by 1 mph and thus be a devious and and dangerous criminal. Strip search. You want to use your computer? You might download something illegally. Strip search. You want to sit on your couch watching TV? Maybe you did something we don’t even know about. Strip search. Anyone can be a criminal at any time.

  17. 17.

    Dork

    @porter: I expect every ruling this year to be 5-4 b/c of politics. In that MSNBC article, the guy was actually innocent of any crime, but was still held for a week. Also, the examples the Supremes gave for why a strip search is necessary were 1) McVeigh, and 2) 9-11 jackers, both of whom a strip search would have revealed……nothing. Complete nothingburger examples from the SC in their decision. This court is a farce.

  20. 20.

    Face

    @Punchy: How does this ruling jive with the ruling from a few years back of that school girl was strip searched at school? Wasn’t that 8-1 in favor of the girl’s privacy rights being intruded on, or did I miss something? Does this ruling have any effect on that decision, or are they completely different? Burnsy out there to explain?

  21. 21.

    chopper

    @Punchy:

    so on one hand, health care is teh invasion of our freedums, on the other hand gubbermint strip searches for everyone!

    jesus, apparently all the SG had to argue to straight-up win the ACA case was that it was a ‘security’ issue. then the 5 nuts on the right would have been stepping on their dicks trying to be the first to call it necessary.

  22. 22.

    curiousleo

    Hey. I saw the ActBlue links from this wknd. I have one to add. The moneybomb to fight the anti-gay marriage (and anti-civil unions) proposed amendment in NC.

    Any contributions you make today will be doubled as there is a donor willing to match gifts made today up to $25,000.

    https://secure.actblue.com/page/ncmoneybomb

    The good guys CAN win in NC if we get enough money to inform voters. Please help by throwing in a couple of bucks. NC can defeat this stupid anti-gay, anti-person amendment.

  23. 23.

    chopper

    @Violet:

    what’s funny is, neither of those dudes the court brought up were strip searched, neither were they prevented by law enforcement from committing crimes. and strip searching would have done nothing; it’s not like that 911 hijacker had the ‘secret 911 plans’ shoved up his bum or something.

    what a stupid non-sequitur for the majority to bring up. maybe they could have imagined a ‘ticking time bomb’ in a suspect’s anus?

  24. 24.

    Punchy

    @Face: IANAL, but one is for crimes, and one was about suspicion of drugs at school. I’d guess the question is…can a 13 year old get stripped searched for a minor crime at school? That would appear to be the scenerio that melds these two conflicting rulings. Or maybe my memory sucks and I’m way off. I’ll wait for the docket jockeys to sound off.

  26. 26.

    Mark S.

    Next term, the Court will rule that pulling someone over for an expired tag and shooting them point blank in the head is constitutional because that person might be a 9/11 terrorist and McVeigh was pulled over for an expired tag.

  27. 27.

    amk

    @ant: another rs poster

    So he has about a 5 year advantage over his closest competitors. Funny that for all that… Romney supporters are scared to death. Can’t take any more primary. Please stop now!
    We got our guy… Whatsamatter? Chicken?

    cage fight, cage fight

  28. 28.

    jncc

    Calliope –

    It’s 1966.

    I saw an article this morning pegging it to July 4 weekend 1966, based on the Stones concert and the baseball player whose obit the guy was reading at the end.

  29. 29.

    mai naem

    as long as tbe wives of the conservatives justices get strip searched going into the court i m all for it esp alitos little woman. and dont forget the cavity searches.

  30. 30.

    amk

    gopolitico – nikky fucking haley would decline veep post if offered. Ah, mittbot’s loss.

  31. 31.

    PeakVT

    @porter: JSCOTUSes can be impeached for anything, but in this environment there will never be a conviction short of one engaging in beastiality on the Mall.

  33. 33.

    Jibeaux

    I saw Hunger Games instead. It was good. And read a quantum physics explanation of Rmoney on the NYT this morning. Also good.

  35. 35.

    Raven

    “Kellogg’s first started marketing Rice Krispies way back in 1928, and, ever since, we’ve grown accustomed to wholesome advertising campaigns that feature the cartoon mascots Snap, Crackle and Pop. (See ad from 1939.) For a brief moment in 1964, all of this wholesomeness was put aside when the J. Walter Thompson ad agency worked with the Rolling Stones to create a hipper, more inspired jingle. The resulting commercial aired briefly only in the UK…”

  37. 37.

    Ed Drone

    On a far different topic, here is one article from a newsletter issued in my office. The issuance was unusual — a Sunday (yesterday) — so the date was April 1:

    Plain Language Initiative Update

    The latest update to President Obama’s Plain Writing Act of 2010 will directly impact the FAFSA as well as other Federal Student Aid materials serving the public. The LOL TXT SPK ACT 13 requires FSA to provide duplicate versions of the FAFSA, written entirely in teen-friendly text speak for the 2013 FAFSA application season and beyond.
    “These are some of our primary customers. We need to reach them on a level they’re comfortable with, in order to be successful, IMO!” said FSA Chief Operating Officer.

    The most noticeable changes will be all instances of “you” changed to “u” and “to” replaced with “2” and “IRS Data Retrieval Tool” with “IRSDR2L”. Emoticons such as (: ): and (; can be used to report adjusted gross income.

    The COO further commented “While we’re accepting the challenges and opportunities of the LOL TXT SPK Act of 2013, we’re already preparing for the #Short Act coming in 2014, requiring all financial data to be submitted in 140 characters or less. #bummer”

    … The other articles in the newsletter seemed pretty far-fetched (Arnie Duncan joined the Washington Wizards? Really? My son, the sports commentator in the family, didn’t say anything about that).

    My question is, is this some kind of joke?

    Ed

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Spartacus! Everyone should watch it – as long as you can handle sex and violence.

    When Americans cannot handle sex and violence, then the terrorists will have won.

  41. 41.

    quannlace

    For those who watched “Mad Men” instead of whatever that show is that John put up ten open threads about last night

    Does John have every Premium cable channel? Damn elitist!

    Yeah, enjoyed the ‘Tea Leaves’ episode. With all the references to speed in the show, I’m surprised they resisted playing ‘Mother’s Little Helper.’ at least once in the background.

  42. 42.

    Mike in NC

    @amk:

    gopolitico – nikky fucking haley would decline veep post if offered. Ah, mittbot’s loss

    But she has a new book coming out to pimp her popularity with the Tea Party. Oh wait, make that “former popularity” since now they’ve mostly decided she’s a turncoat to their glorious cause.

    Plus there’s that unfortunate talk of the DOJ indicting her for tax fraud.

  43. 43.

    handsmile

    Re Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders on permitting invasive strip searches

    Those of us lesser mortals who do not hold juris doctor degrees must remember that the most cherished concern of Supreme Court members is their “legacy.”

    From Kaplan Test Prep Daily’s story on this repellent decision:

    The case was brought by Albert Florence, a New Jersey man who said he was subjected to two invasive inspections in 2005 after being mistakenly arrested for not paying a fine.

    A state trooper pulled over Florence’s BMW in 2005 as he and his family were on the way to his mother-in-law’s to celebrate the purchase of their new home. He was handcuffed and arrested in front of his distraught, pregnant wife and young son.

    He spent seven days in jail because of a warrant that said, mistakenly, he was wanted for not paying a court fine. In fact, he had proof that the fine had been paid years earlier; he said he carried it in his glove box because he believed that police were suspicious of black men who drove nice cars.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-upholds-jail-strip-searches–even-for-minor-offenses/2012/04/02/gIQAsZB4qS_story.html

    [ETA: Paragraphs four and five should have been blockquoted as well. Seems the site’s redesign has invalidated the trick I learned to do that.]

  44. 44.

    Eastriver

    Is Mad Men on again this year? i wish somebody would’ve told me! Why doesn’t AMC advertise? And is that Hamm kid doing the show? I’m curious. A real mystery.

  45. 45.

    srv

    Justice Kennedy rules for strip searches for everyone.

    Banana Republic in every sense.

  46. 46.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @butler:

    And accurately pointing out that lots of members of a guy’s own party had less than great feelings about him is the same as savagely mocking him.

    Especially shocking that a character who works for Rockefeller would say anything disparaging about George Romney, isn’t it? It’s not like they were fighting over the same (now extinct) liberal GOP voters or anything.
    __
    Tune in next week, when Francis muses out loud over Easter dinner: I hope I’m still alive in 45 years, so I can vote for some Black guy with a funny-sounding name over George’s son!

  50. 50.

    Amir Khalid

    Here’s a good example of obtuseness from TIME’s Massimo Calabresi on the healthcare case before the US Supreme Court:

    For all the focus on the Obama in Obamacare, the constitutional question before the court is not whether the Executive Branch has the power to remake the health care market in the U.S. but whether Congress does.

    As I understand it, among the vast majority of legal experts the consensus is that PPACA lies well within Congress’ Commerce Clause powers. The question is not a legal one about its constitutionality, but a political one: whether partisan animus will drive the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority to overturn it.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @redshirt:

    Violence, sure. But sex? Usually not.

    From a 2009 news story:

    One key finding: The biggest consumers of online adult entertainment live in the great state of Utah. An average of 5.47 people per 1000 broadband subscribers pay for porn in Orrin Hatch’s home state. (Utah also leads in porn consumption among the general population and dial-up users, in case you’re wondering.)

    Americans love porn. Almost as much as some of them love hypocrisy.

  52. 52.

    Mouse Tolliver

    @Punchy: When Scalito was being confirmed, wasn’t one of the issues with him that he ruled in favor of police on a case involving an underage girl who was strip searched after being arrested for eating in a place where food and beverages weren’t allowed? I’m sure we’ll get a “whocouldaknowed” reaction from The Village.

  53. 53.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @Amir Khalid:

    As I understand it, among the vast majority of legal experts the consensus is that PPACA lies well within Congress’ Commerce Clause powers.

    This, exactly.
    __
    Most of the intra-mural screaming last week was really about faith in SCOTUS: If they are still a serious body committed to the integrity of legal precedent, then I agree with the BJ in-house legal team that they absolutely must uphold, and by a large margin.
    __
    Some (Many? Most?) of us just don’t believe that SCOTUS is committed (or even interested) in performing their Constitutional function anymore.
    __
    It just sucks to have to wait until June to find out if we live in a banana republic or not.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    @samara morgan:

    Not to sound condescending or anything, but if anyone here could benefit from watching any tv show, it would be you and the show would be Mad Men. You seem to think it’s a show about nostalgia, but it is nothing of the sort. And it has a lot to say about a lot of subjects that young and arrogant people like you actually have no clue about or experience with. Perhaps you should give up the fairy tales you seem to like so much (GoT) and watch something that you might actually learn something from, instead of smearing it as nostalgia, which just shows that you aren’t as smart or insightful as you think you are.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Mouse Tolliver:

    When Scalito was being confirmed, wasn’t one of the issues with him that he ruled in favor of police on a case involving an underage girl who was strip searched after being arrested for eating in a place where food and beverages weren’t allowed?

    I’m not sure about the “food and beverage” aspect. But, remember google is your friend. Here is what quickly turns up.

    Scalito’s Way: Strip-search Little Girls Without a Warrant and Other Fun Stuff
    __
    Here’s one example of a Scalito ruling that gives you a taste of how he’ll rule when he’s on the Supreme Court. In Doe v. Groody (PDF file), police officers requested a warrant to search the house of a suspected drug dealer and “all occupants therein.” The warrant issued by the judge, however, only authorized the search of the suspect specifically and no one else.
    __
    When the police served the warrant, they found the suspect’s wife and ten-year-old daughter on the premises. From what I gather of the reports, no drugs were found on the suspect nor in the premises. The police therefore decided to strip-search the mother and ten-year-old daughter, who were taken upstairs after a female officer arrived, were told to remove clothing, and were searched. Nothing was found.
    __
    While the two other judges on the 3rd Circuit court ruled in favor of the defendants, Alito dissented, saying that the “best reading of the warrant is that it authorized the search of any persons found on the premises.” Alito reached out to a decision that ruled warrants as documents drafted by “nonlawyers” in the “haste” of an investigation. However, he did not demonstrate that this particular warrant was drafted by a “nonlawyer” or that there was any “haste” involved. Nevertheless, Alito judged that the “commonsense and realistic” reading of the warrant included all occupants of the residence.
    __
    But here’s the sticking point: the police had asked for a warrant including “all occupants,” but the judge who issued the warrant specified only the suspect. There’s no getting around that, no matter how you work the situation. But Alito is suggesting that the warrant should be read not by the letter of its wording, but rather by what the police would consider reasonable assuming that the judge was inexperienced and rushed and probably left out something.
    __
    Leave aside, then, the idea of your ten-year-old being strip-searched by police without a warrant. Consider the far more terrifying scope of police abuse should it ever become legal for police to interpret warrants in such broad terms. Hell, why have warrants at all, if police are allowed to re-interpret them in such a way?

  58. 58.

    Death Panel Truck

    I have this track on a German bootleg mono CD of The Rolling Stones No. 2. It looks like the original CD, right down to the Decca label. I’ve got bootleg mono CDs of every album from The Rolling Stones to Let It Bleed. They all have bonus tracks consisting of unreleased material.

  61. 61.

    Mouse Tolliver

    @Brachiator:

    I’m not sure about the “food and beverage” aspect. But, remember google is your friend. Here is what quickly turns up.

    Google sponsored the homophobic CPAC convention this year, so we’re no longer speaking.

  64. 64.

    Samara Morgan

    @geg6: It’s fifties nostalgie de la buie. The clothes make me Ill.
    We are at war…..that means mini skirts and platforms, not stillettos and bushy skirts.
    No return to value for me.
    At least, not enough to skip cheering for Praetorian and Paladin.

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