Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

The willow is too close to the house.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Petty moves from a petty man.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

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

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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39Comments

  1. 1.

    RossInDetroit

    I just woke up from a dream. Shape shifting aliens had learned to identify us quickly in photos on social media. Then they analyze our Facebook interactions to find out who we trust. They impersonate that individual to trick us into doing things. Sort of an ad hoc spoofing hack in person. Luckily the aliens haven’t figured out that our high school girlfriend wouldn’t look the same 35 years later and the con didn’t work.
    At least I think it was just a dream. In any case, look out for old friends who haven’t changed in years appearing and guiding you down a dark alley.

  3. 3.

    Linda Featheringill

    So we’re mourning ahead of time about the ACA?

    I realize that we are trying to insulate ourselves against grave disappointment on top of grave threats to our physical well being.

    If the court upholds the law, I would be happy to publicly admit that the optimists were right.

    On the other hand . . . .

    Interesting thing, though, that nobody things this will be settled by sober reflection of the law.

  4. 4.

    BGinCHI

    The Elvis lyrics you want here are the ones from “Beyond Belief”:

    History repeats the old conceits
    The glib replies the same defeats
    Keep your finger on important issues
    With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
    I’m just the oily slick
    On the windup world of the nervous tick
    In a very fashionable hovel

  5. 5.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ)

    That is a fantastic album start to finish – possibly Elvis Costello’s best. Another song from it that’s germane to our times is Possession – starting lyrics:

    If there’s anything that you want
    If there’s anything that you need
    There’s no need to be evasive
    Money talks, and it’s persuasive

  6. 6.

    4tehlulz

    OH SHI-

    Reports: Turkish warplane shot down by Syria

    Lebanon’s Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar television station said on Friday that Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish military aircraft, quoting Syrian security sources.
    …
    “Syrian security sources confirmed to a Manar correspondent in Damascus that Syrian defense forces shot down the Turkish fighter jet,” a news flash on the Beirut-based station said.

  9. 9.

    Hunter Gathers

    Politico just suspended one of it’s reporters for telling the truth.

    “Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him,” Williams said on Martin Bashir’s MSNBC show. “That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox and Friends, they’re like him, they’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.”

    This will send a message to the rest of Politico’s stenographers – never stop sucking Mitt Romney’s dick.

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The Chines are building their own space station and just successfully docked with it

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangong-1

    I have to say I am impressed that the Chines are able to do the work necessary for man space flight. One does not normally associate that level of quality with Chines workmanship.

    I am amused how this is a non-event. I predict a Sputnik moment in the near future complete with conservative screaming about how the damn liberals cut back on science.

  17. 17.

    Violet

    I wish I knew how to do good Photochops. Romney should be turned into the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz and the last few seconds of this clip (from 3:30) would be perfect:

    Cowardly Lion: “What do they got that I ain’t got?”
    Dorothy/Scarecrow/Tin Man: “Courage!”
    Cowardly Lion: “You can say that again!…..Huh?”

  18. 18.

    handsmile

    @Linda Featheringill: (#3)

    Myself, I’d be happy to petition for burnspbesq, eemom, and Omnes Omnibus to be declared Kings and Queen of this blog if their predictions that the Court will uphold ACA by a 7-2/6-3 decision prove to be true next week. (If it’s 5-4 then they only get to be Dukes and Duchess.)

    Until then, whistling in the dark and grim soothsaying will resound to deafening levels.

    As for “sober reflection of the law,” I believe the Roberts Court has rendered that notion “quaint.”

  19. 19.

    Davis X. Machina

    @4tehlulz: Ockham’s razor, dude. It’s the only parsimonious explanation that saves the phenomenon.

    Everything else is just too complex to be the case. This is the Middle East, where the simple explanation is likely to be the correct explanation.

  20. 20.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It’s a delicate tightrope to walk. You need the Chinese — their cheap workforce, their risible regulatory environment, and their excess capital seeking investments.

    You also need a boogie-man, and — we are talking conservatives here — Commies are traditionally just the boogie-man ticket.

    It’s not easy sometimes…

  21. 21.

    General Stuck

    Peg of the Long Knives, spins the spinners spinning.

    When the White House sends out spokesmen to make the case for him on the Sunday morning shows, it’s campaign operatives, like David Plouffe and David Axelrod. They more or less spin how he’ll win. Where are the heavyweights, the cabinet secretaries, the great men and women of the Democratic Party? Hiding? Unable to make the case? Not trusted to make the case? Or are the political guys the only heavyweights in the administration?

    Lordy, what’s the world coming to. Campaigns sending out their campaign spokefolks in the midst of a campaign.
    And Heavyweights? She must mean Pat Caddell and Mark Penn.

    and very next paragraph

    Mr. Romney is looking good, as are his crowds. When the camera shows people in the stands behind him as he speaks, they no longer look as if they walked in off the street or put a bet on a horse and are straining to see if it breaks from the pack. Now they look like people watching their horse take the lead, with no one coming up the outside.

    The republicans don’t even wait till the hypocrisy dries on the shithouse wall. Spin Indeedy.

    Must be the Southern Comfort, when the horses ass looks like something else.

    Shorter me – Ms Noonan is piss’n her pants, another 4 years of blackety black in HER White House.

  22. 22.

    Dana

    Killer album! One of the best.

    Sing it:

    “I S T A N D A C C U S E D,
    I stand accused!”

    Oh yeah.

  23. 23.

    The Moar You Know

    This will send a message to the rest of Politico’s stenographers – never stop sucking Mitt Romney’s dick.

    @Hunter Gathers: Kinda glad this happened, actually, They’ll find it far harder to defend themselves credibly against future charges of partisan favoritism.

  25. 25.

    The Moar You Know

    I have to say I am impressed that the Chines are able to do the work necessary for man space flight. One does not normally associate that level of quality with Chines workmanship.

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Those who aren’t paying attention to what the Chinese are actually building might think that. I imported musical instruments from China for half a decade. The cheap ones were cheap. The expensive ones were world-class.

    The iPad/iPhones are built in China. Not a lot of folks screaming about how shitty the hardware is, are they?

    The last airplane trip you took? Half the parts in the plane were Chinese, including the engine turbines.

    The Chinese only make crap when it’s appropriate – as I always used to say of the cheap instruments, “good enough for who it’s for.” Their success is space is not at all shocking and you’re going to see them do a lot more. And what they will accomplish in the next 20 years will put the myth of American Exceptionalism into its grave, probably forever.

  26. 26.

    gbear

    Monday is my 58th birthday and I’m going to be using the day to take a long ride around Lake Pepin on my scooter. No radio all day. If the ACA decision comes down on Monday, I’m going to be curious about it all day but I only want to know about the outcome if it’s good news. I don’t want to spoil the trip.

    I really have no opinion on what the outcome might be other than to have no faith that the court will act in good faith.

    We desperately need to re-elect Obama this fall.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    I’ve listened to that album so many times that I see the cover and “Love For Tender” starts going through my head. Though “King Horse” is probably my favorite on that album.

  32. 32.

    Randy P

    Don’t know if this thread is dead.

    Does anyone have recommendations of good Spanish-language online media for coverage of the US elections and a good sampling of opinion from the spanish-speaking public? For instance reaction to Obama’s DREAM executive order.

    I’m not fluent. TV news is mostly too fast for me, and I’m interested in more in-depth stuff anyway. I’m a pretty decent reader.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    There has been a good deal of media coverage of the viral video of the school bus monitor in Upstate New York being bullied by students, and the aftermath. Apart from the outpouring of support that the monitor has received, I liked this bit of remorse by some of her tormentors.

    “I feel really bad about what I did,” one said in a statement to CNN. “I wish I had never done those things. If that had happened to someone in my family, like my mother or grandmother, I would be really mad at the people who did that to them.”
    __
    Another said, “When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that. I am sorry for being so mean, and I will never treat anyone this way again.”

    I got the impression that some of the kids got caught up in a silly, but increasingly destructive mob mentality. I hope that the introspection and remorse is sincere.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Moar You Know: I work with the Chines on a daily bases. Most of them were farmers before they were run threw some fast tract program that declared them an engineers in two years and the only time they produce quality stuff is when someone else is watching them like a hawk. I suppose the Chines Space Agency has figured out that trick.

  35. 35.

    Violet

    @Randy P:
    Post in the next thread and ask Valdivia. If no response, ask again in another thread that’s newer (we need a new thread). Valdivia had some good links last week to the immigration stuff.

  36. 36.

    andy

    Minnesota had a ridiculous amount of rain, but the worst hit was Duluth, which got damn near a foot of rain over a few days. If you know the geography of the place (mostly a sort of mini San Francisco) you would think it couldn’t flood, but it sure did. There’s a ton of pictures out (plug “Duluth flood” into google or flickr), but what really struck me was this youtube of a couple chuckleheads jetskiing in what used to be a mall development parking lot.

  37. 37.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ)

    @Omnes Omnibus: @Dana: Absolutely a great album. The Attractions, on the strength of this album, staked their claim (at least in my mind) to the title “best white rhythm section in rock” – with the possible exception of the Rolling Stones.

    The J.B.s get my vote for all time best rhythm section.

  39. 39.

    karen

    @Hunter Gathers:

    If one of Politico’s white reporters made the same comment, would they have been suspended? Just wondering, not trying to find racism everywhere but I’ve noticed a trend lately.

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