Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

This fight is for everything.

Everybody saw this coming.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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Reader Interactions

207Comments

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    “Gun control.” Because, yanno, if we don’t have dozens of guns in every American household, there’s no way we can prevent an island nation with fewer citizens than the entire state of Ohio from successfully invading us.

  9. 9.

    scav

    Reeeeligeous Frrreeeeeeedom, let alone a GI-Christ-approved Chiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaas! (with Mas Christ!)

  11. 11.

    Petorado

    … trade with those other damnable communists the Chinese. But it’s OK if Rusty gets to smoke a few of those Cuban cigars ’cause it lets him blow smoke in liberal’s faces.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I will be interested to see how Jorge Diaz-Balart reacts, his ‘wing-nut congress-brothers were both professional Castro-haters, IIRC. I’m sure Raul Labrador will be triple-dog opposed to immigration reform now.

  14. 14.

    MattF

    Rational foreign policy. Because it would mean having to distinguish between actual left-wingers and scary Kenyan Muslim teleprompter-readers.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Peace in our time?

    McCain On Obama-Castro Handshake: ‘Chamberlain Shook Hands With Hitler’

    How is this man considered a foreign policy sage, rather than our embarrassing national uncle. Yes, yes, I know: Boomer daddy issues and Vietnam guilt.

  28. 28.

    Yatsuno

    @Phil Perspective: How else do you think Grandpa Walnuts was allowed to keep flying after three crashes? Navy regulations ground you after one. And I’m not even going to get into the Forrestal incident.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    I heard it on the car radio. Wolf Blitzer. Big and Breaking.

    Can we do a graph? How many days out does it reach peak screech then head down?

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    How is this man considered a foreign policy sage, rather than our embarrassing national uncle. Yes, yes, I know: Boomer daddy issues and Vietnam guilt.

    No, it’s more the undying media search for “serious” Republicans. See: Ryan, Paul.

  35. 35.

    jl

    But in Florida, we can have Festivus!

    Residents Of Tallahassee May Air Grievances With ‘Festivus’ Pole At State Capitol
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tallahassee-to-celebrate-seinfeld-holiday-festivus

    I’ll have to look up where I can listen to Alex Jones, who will explain how it’s all connected, and what the real agenda of the Obama/Scott gang is, and how it connects up with sinister county child welfare agencies.

    Mistermix is part of the plot, how else can a reasonable person explain a post full of distraction about some handshake with the Hitler-Stalin-Mao of the U.S. with the new Hitler-Stalin-Mao of Cuba?

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @Kay: I’ll go with “peaks on Sunday”. Lets the gasbags voice their Outrage on the talk shows, and by early next week we should have the draft budget proposal as the latest Shiny Object to distract them.

  39. 39.

    I am not a kook (Supreme Thought Leader)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Peace in our time?

    McCain On Obama-Castro Handshake: ‘Chamberlain Shook Hands With Hitler’

    Err, I’m confused since Obama is sometimes both in the same sentence, but which is which in this case?

  41. 41.

    Yatsuno

    @dmsilev:

    we should have the draft budget proposal

    Heard tell Patty has beaten Paulie Boy up enough that a lot of the actual running the government budgets are done and they might try to pass that then come back to the rest of what needs to be settled. Can’t find the article now though. Doesn’t matter anyway: Nobummer shook a Communist’s hand!!!

  42. 42.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Obama shook Raul’s hand with the same hand he shook John McCain’s hand with so that’s just like John McCain shaking Raul Castro’s hand by the Transitive Property of the Law of Cooties.

  44. 44.

    Monkeyfister

    Obama shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have Conservative’s without exploded heads.

  45. 45.

    Patrick

    @Kay:

    I heard it on the car radio. Wolf Blitzer. Big and Breaking.

    This is beyond stupid, even for the dumbed down version of the pundits in DC.

    Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein, McCain himself shook hands with Quadaffi. Where was the outrage? Hell, where is today’s outrage that Reagan was for apartheid and had condemned Mandela?

    I could literally care less whether Obama shook hands with Castro since the media could care less that McCain shook hands with a mass-murderer.

  46. 46.

    Cervantes

    Obama shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have:

    A solution to the P vs. NP problem?

    A proof of the Erdős–Faber–Lovász conjecture?

    Or even a definitive sighting of the Loch Ness monster?

  49. 49.

    Patrick

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    How is this man considered a foreign policy sage, rather than our embarrassing national uncle

    Excellent question. This man was very much in favor of the idiotic, ill-fated Iraq war. Yet, some people think he is a guru. Go figure. It is rather like the Seinfeld episode; the US should start doing the opposite of what McCain wants to do.

  50. 50.

    Jewish Steel

    Cuban 1st baseman Jose Abreu will be playing for the White Sox this year. Coincidence? You decide!

  52. 52.

    Petorado

    @Patrick: Narratives have to be maintained, and every instance that can be exploited to further the narrative must be seized. Otherwise, people might be inspired by Obama’s speech if that was what the media would allow to be covered.

  53. 53.

    Yatsuno

    @Patrick: How DARE you! Don’t you know that John Sidney McCain III was a Prisoner of War™? He has GRAVITAS on that basis alone! We should be worshiping the very ground he strides upon and fawn over his every utterance!

  55. 55.

    PaulW

    Obama shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have:

    food for impoverished families,
    a functional federal government,
    an end to unlawful imprisonment of innocent men in the Guantanamo prisons,
    Dick Cheney and John Yoo taking their rightful place in prison,
    a genuinely good Wonder Woman movie instead of a hoped-for cameo in the Superman/Batman blockbuster,
    a miracle pill that keeps the fat off our guts and thighs without turning us into mutated zombies or something,
    pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows,
    Greg Schiano fired from Bucs coaching,
    and emotional and spiritual balance for myself and thousands of other introverted, love-shy, possibly Aspergers afflicted persons.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    Obama’s shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have

    a mainstream media that we take seriously.

  58. 58.

    some guy

    Mona Charen is aghast that an American spy is sitting in a Cuban jail cell? did we lose a war or something?

  59. 59.

    TopClimber

    We can’t have faith in Obama’s patriotism.

    His handshake was meant to thank the Castros for supporting his surrogate daddy Mandela when red-blooded types like Reagan and Cheney were doing their best to keep him locked up.

  60. 60.

    Roger Moore

    @Patrick:

    Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein, McCain himself shook hands with Quadaffi. Where was the outrage?

    Buried under the outrage at whatever stupid thing the Republicans have drummed up this week. That’s the whole point of the right wing perpetual outrage machine. The goal is to get people to ignore the bad stuff the Republicans have done/are doing by throwing up a constant stream of accusations against the Democrats.

  61. 61.

    dedc79

    Can’t wait for the national journal to tell us how/why this handshake sunk the Congressional budget agreement that was nearly finished.

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @some guy: Mona Charen is still with us? The Obama-Castro handshake is why I can’t maintain my blissful oblivion of this fact.

  63. 63.

    Cassidy

    @Napoleon: The tobacco shop I used to frequent had a really good cigar selection. I asked the owner about Cubans and he told me that all the Honduran and Dominican tobaccos came from the Cubans immigrants bringing their seeds and that the soil quality was very similar. So, while not exact, the Cubans really aren’t that different. In his opinion, they weren’t better cigars and he preferred Honduran.

  65. 65.

    some guy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    yes, she’s the In-House Granny over at NRO, and according the the paragraph Drum cited, she is ashamed to be American. I too am ashamed she is an American, so we share that, at least.

  74. 74.

    Keith G

    @Baud:

    Gay marriage, because that’s what men shaking hands leads to.

    In my day, we usually shook something else first.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @I am not a kook (Supreme Thought Leader):

    Err, I’m confused since Obama is sometimes both in the same sentence, but which is which in this case?

    Apparently, Obama’s Official Schedule for this week lists who he’ll be on which day:

    Today: Chamberlain
    Tomorrow: Hitler, the Obamacare tyrant
    The day after that: Chamberlain, the Iran appeaser
    The day after that: Hitler, the Butcher of Benghazi
    The day after that: Kenyan Mooslim usurper (hey, it’s a day of semi-rest)
    The day after that: The Anti-Christ (*because it’s Sunday, the Lord’s day, or some such)

    Next week: TBA, but he’s looking at how to become Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, or FDR.
    Stay tuned!

  80. 80.

    Aji

    @The Red Pen: Hmm. I think they thought they could get it out of the starting gate a little faster using McCain. Who, of course, just looks even more than usual like the sad pathetic resentful old asshole that he is.

    But it’ll play perfectly to their base.

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    @PaulW:

    pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows,

    Hey, the rest of us here have ’em – where were you when Cole handed them out last week?

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @beltane:

    Uh-oh, now Raoul Castro will feel empowered to invade the Sudetenland.

    Hey, better there than The Village, where the Cuban Chinese expats are being persecuted.

    (No, not the “Village” of “Villago Delenda Est” fame; we’re talking lower Manhattan.)

  88. 88.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Trollhattan:

    …a hot-tub-and-oil session with Penelope Cruz. Darn you, Obamastro!

    No, you can still have that. (“Penelope” is Ted’s code name, right?)

  89. 89.

    Paul in KY

    @Phil Perspective: It took every string those 2 admirals could pull to get Grumpy McCrappypilot commissioned in the 1st place. Best thing that happened to his career was being a POW.

  90. 90.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @Jewish Steel:

    Cuban 1st baseman Jose Abreu will be playing for the White Sox this year. Coincidence? You decide!

    Along with Cuban SS Alexei Ramirez and Cuban LF Dayan Viciedo.

  91. 91.

    scav

    See ubermanly Rumshakes with Husseins and codpiece-swinging sweet hand-holding with Saudis for proper international touching of fingerflesh. The celebrated face-slap-fest diplomacy of Ronnie is what brought down the Berlin wall, single-handedly no?

  93. 93.

    Melissa

    Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, the Aga Khan, and Leonard Cohen were pallbearers at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral. I don’t remember anything in the press about Fidel & Carter, but he was no longer president.

  94. 94.

    Melissa

    Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, the Aga Khan, and Leonard Cohen were pallbearers at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral. I don’t remember anything in the press about Fidel & Carter, but he was no longer president.

  95. 95.

    PhoenixRising

    @Paul in KY: Si, claro. I don’t WANT all of you to be able to go. Just the cool ppl who think the embargo is crap who also like to swim to the reef from the beach. Because Commie Cuba doesn’t have power boats to trash the coral, right?

    (my kid once videotaped men in masks who appeared to be doing a drug deal between cigarette boats, to document their intrusion of the no-wake zone in the Yucatan; I’ve never experienced actual fear for my life, aside from that moment as the proud parent of 47 pound self-appointed eco-cop. The end of the story: they thought she was cute.)

  96. 96.

    Botsplainer

    This is better than any comedy going.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cornyn-tea-party-sets-an-impossible-standard

    Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told Texas Monthly that members of the Tea Party set an “impossible standard” for the GOP a couple of weeks before Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX), a Tea Party firebrand, decided to run against Cornyn in the 2014 Senate primary.

    The comments were made in a November interview with Texas Monthly that was published on Tuesday.

    “I don’t know how we got off on this track, where some people are welcome in our party and some people are not,” Cornyn said when asked if his November comments about the “big tent” GOP were directed at the Tea Party. “Hence my reference to Ronald Reagan’s line, ‘What do you call someone who agrees with you eight times out of ten? An ally, not a twenty-percent traitor.’ Well, we’re at a point where you can agree with someone 98 percent of the time, but they think of you as a 2 percent traitor, which is just an impossible standard.”

    Cornyn also said that he doesn’t believe the GOP should use the term RINO.

  97. 97.

    Paul in KY

    @some guy: God, Mona Charen is still alive! The Barbara Evilsneer lady who died on 911 was probably more nasty, but Mona Charen is a repulsive, scumbag, harridan who would have been right there beside Madame DeFarge in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’

  104. 104.

    Paul in KY

    @PhoenixRising: Her cuteness might have been what saved the camera from a salt water bath! Hope you get to snorkle there some day.

    If you want to, I hear you just go up to Canada & then take a plane down there as no other nation does this stupid embargo.

  106. 106.

    Ash Can

    @Botsplainer:

    “I don’t know how we got off on this track, where some people are welcome in our party and some people are not,” Cornyn said

    That’s priceless. If he’s going to keep spouting howlers like this, this could be the best primary campaign EVAR.

  108. 108.

    Suffern ACE

    As an aside, everyone at my funeral will be cordial. It is expected. I demand 90 minutes of pleastant greetings, followed by refreshments in the basement.

  109. 109.

    Thymezone

    Obama shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have marriage between one man and one really gorgeous Cuban woman.

  111. 111.

    Ash Can

    @Cassidy: He insists he wants to come back to the US. And I’m sure he will, as soon as the statute of limitations for aiding and abetting an act of espionage runs out.

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ash Can: It is truly amazing. Tweety and Howard Fineman were bemoaning the fate of poor Mitch McConnell, facing a primary for being willing to save the world from the consequences of US default. IIRC, McConnell was the biggest voice in favor of the block everything strategy Dec ’08/Jan ’09, when some squishes were advocating cooperation with Obama.

  113. 113.

    Suffern ACE

    I think Obama should have used the funeral to get some of our so called allies to beef up sanctions against Cuba–or else. Mandela wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

  115. 115.

    Mike in NC

    @Paul in KY: Actually, some US travel agencies now have excursions to Cuba, but they’re billed as people-to-people cultural interactions rather than vacations. Most importantly, you’re not supposed to spend money on the local economy and you sure as hell aren’t allowed to bring anything back, like rum or cigars.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @dmsilev:

    I’ll go with “peaks on Sunday”. Lets the gasbags voice their Outrage on the talk shows, and by early next week we should have the draft budget proposal as the latest Shiny Object to distract them.

    Wolf Blitzer was all chirpy. They love this shit.

    I’m surprised they didn’t go with “gaffe” though. I think they like to pretend Obama is always offending diplomatic “conventions”, or something. Remember how much time they spent on bowing, early in his presidency? He was always bowing wrong. All of a sudden, the specific UN aspirational bowing norms were strictly enforced.

  119. 119.

    Mandalay

    @Sloegin:

    Florida in 2016

    As the Batista chickenrunners in Miami die off, so will hostility towards normalizing relations with Cuba, which has always been an infantile and worthless policy.

    I am hopeful that supporting the embargo against Cuba will soon become a surefire way to lose an election in Florida.

  120. 120.

    Patrick

    @Kay:

    I think they like to pretend Obama is always offending diplomatic “conventions”, or something. Remember how much time they spent on bowing, early in his presidency? He was always bowing wrong. All of a sudden, the specific UN aspirational bowing norms were strictly enforced.

    Which is utterly hilarious if one recalls when Bush did his awkward backrub to Merkel of Germany. But whatever, the black guy can’t do anything right – at least if one was to believe the media clowns in DC.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suffern ACE:

    Most funeral homes won’t let you have alcohol on the premises, so my father-in-law very thoughtfully planned his wake to take place at the funeral home across the street from his favorite bar.

  126. 126.

    hildebrand

    The Levin ward of the right-wing is working itself up into a lather about Michelle Obama looking displeased with something at the memorial. I didn’t bother to actually find out what they were wigging out about.

  127. 127.

    Cacti

    @Mandalay:

    He insists he wants to come back to the US. And I’m sure he will, as soon as the statute of limitations for aiding and abetting an act of espionage runs out.

    Not likely.

    That means he’ll have to start paying on those $100,000+ in tax liens and judgments against him.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Patrick:

    Which is utterly hilarious if one recalls when Bush did his awkward backrub to Merkel of Germany. But whatever, the black guy can’t do anything right – at least if one was to believe the media clowns in DC.

    I think the fact that Bush was a third generation politician and the son of a “foreign policy” President never got enough recognition as far as favorable media coverage of his presidency. He benefitted from an assumption that he knew what he was doing. They’ll never admit it, but that’s what happened.

    I do think Obama gets way more shit because he’s African American, so I’m not in the “they do this to every Democratic President!” camp, but they did treat Clinton like a used car salesman who had mistakenly wandered into the White House. They don’t now, but they did then. There was some class thing going on there with Clinton that was very disconcerting to me, like he had moved too far up. I read his (crazy long) biography, Clinton. He was very aware of it. My sense was he’s always been vulnerable there, wanting to “belong” in the places his incredible ambition took him.

  135. 135.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Botsplainer:

    Cornyn also said that he doesn’t believe the GOP should use the term RINO.

    Well, an obvious RINO would say that, after all.

  136. 136.

    Botsplainer

    @Mike in NC:

    Actually, some US travel agencies now have excursions to Cuba, but they’re billed as people-to-people cultural interactions rather than vacations. Most importantly, you’re not supposed to spend money on the local economy and you sure as hell aren’t allowed to bring anything back, like rum or cigars.

    I’ve looked at the itineraries, and they suck ass. Expensive, too, considering how suck the itineraries are. I have no desire to observe the methodology of collective sugar farms, experience life on a family tobacco farm, or see a community project for children. I especially have zero interest in experiencing a reading of and lecture on the importance of Afro-Caribbean poetry and its meaning in contemporary Cuban life, particularly as I’m generally disdainful of poetry.

    I want to go lay on a beach, eat local food, drink in local taverns, scuba dive, spend money and do all the things that Canadians, Brits and Europeans get to do there.

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: There was some class thing going on there with Clinton that was very disconcerting to me, like he had moved too far up. I read his (crazy long) biography, Clinton. He was very aware of it. My sense was he’s always been vulnerable there, wanting to “belong” in the places his incredible ambition took him.

    I absolutely agree on all counts. This goes back to thread of a week or so ago when we talked about race, class and politics. Clinton was viewed by his enemies– and by the skeptical– in a very different way than Obama. He’s kind of come out the other end now, sees himself as an elder statesman very conscious of his status. If you saw his appearance on Colbert– when Colbert started his twitter account under the name IIRC PrezBillyJeff– Bubba has very little sense of humor about himself. He was very stiff and wary

  141. 141.

    Botsplainer

    Here’s the National Geographic itinerary. Fun, fun, fun, right?

    Day 1 — U.S./Havana, Cuba
    Depart from Miami on a charter flight. Upon arrival in Havana, enjoy lunch and visit the Plaza de la Revolución before transferring to our hotel. Gather for a welcome reception and dinner tonight.
    Hotel Parque Central
    (L,D)
    Day 2 — Havana
    Learn about the restoration and changing landscape of Havana from a local preservation expert. Then, set out to explore Old Havana, stopping in at local businesses and meeting the workers. On Calle Obispo, meet some of Cuba’s cuentapropistas (self-employed), who are part of an expanding private sector.
    Hotel Parque Central
    (B,L,D)
    Day 3 — Havana
    Engage in a specially arranged question-and-answer session with Cuban professionals, discussing education, economics, the role of government, and other topics of interest. Later, meet the instructors and students at La Colmenita, an after-school program utilizing song and dance performance as a social development tool.
    Hotel Parque Central
    (B,L,D)
    Day 4 — Cienfuegos
    Leave Havana and head to Cienfuegos, a port city with architecture that reflects its French colonial roots. Enjoy an orientation tour of Cienfuegos and meet local residents in Parque Martí. See the statue commemorating José Martí, a renowned author and a leader in Cuba’s quest for independence from Spain. Engage local cuentapropistas on Cienfuegos’ main commercial street before enjoying a choral performance and discussion with a world-renowned a capella group, the Choir of Cienfuegos.
    Hotel Jagua
    (B,L,D)
    Day 5 — Trinidad
    Travel to Trinidad where we explore Cuba’s best preserved colonial city with a restoration expert and interact with local community members, including a Santería priest. Then meet Julio Muňoz, a local photographer and “horse whisperer” whose wife and niece were featured in an October 1999 National Geographic magazine article, and learn about his casa particular (guest house). Visit Julio’s colonial-era house and stables, the base for his program promoting equine care.
    Hotel Jagua
    (B,L)
    Day 6 — Cienfuegos
    Near Cienfuegos, visit Cuba’s oldest botanical garden with a botany expert. Stop in a former sugar mill town and interact with the town’s present day inhabitants. Later, visit Benny Moré Art School to meet with teachers and students of music, dance, and art.
    Hotel Jagua
    (B,L,D)
    Day 7 — Bay of Pigs/Havana
    Today, head to the historic Bay of Pigs. Set foot on the famous Playa Girón, one of the two landing sites for the 1961 U.S.–backed invasion. In the former sugar mill town of Australia, which served as the headquarters for Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion, meet with former mill workers and ride an old steam train through the sugarcane fields.
    Hotel Parque Central
    (B,L)
    Day 8 — Havana/Jaimanitas
    Explore a community project at Muraleando, where local and international artists have been changing a downtrodden neighborhood into a living work of art. After lunch, head to the charming fishing village of Jaimanitas to visit the workshop and home of ceramic artist José Fuster, called the “Picasso of Cuba.” Toast our new Cuban friends at a farewell dinner tonight, followed by a special musical performance.
    Hotel Parque Central
    (B,L,D)
    Day 9 — Havana/U.S.
    After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight back to Miami.
    (B)
    – See more at: http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/cuba-cultural-tour/detail#sthash.eGWu4Fcz.dpuf

  142. 142.

    jl

    @Botsplainer: Do they have any casinos left?

    Anyway, not sure why you have to stick with the tour.

    And where is the seminar on the importance of Afro-Caribbean poetry and its meaning in contemporary Cuban life held, and who are tutors? On a nice beach, by gorgeous hunks and hunkettes, I would hope.

    In other words, have you done your due diligence before you declared it an edu-tour drag?

  144. 144.

    jl

    @Botsplainer:

    ” Learn about the restoration and changing landscape of Havana from a local preservation expert. Then, set out to explore Old Havana, stopping in at local businesses and meeting the workers. On Calle Obispo, meet some of Cuba’s cuentapropistas (self-employed), who are part of an expanding private sector. ”

    What kind of self-employed workers? I see possibilities for that day.

  145. 145.

    Botsplainer

    @Cassidy:

    Take a boat. Worked for Colin Farrell.

    A guy I know used to run bootleg charters out of Key West when he had a sizeable sailboat, pre-divorce. According to drunken acquaintances, he’d sail in and bribe the Havana harbormaster so your passport wouldn’t get stamped. The downside was that if you got in any kind of a jam, you were on your own with no consular assistance.

    They apparently had a blast.

  147. 147.

    Botsplainer

    @jl:

    What kind of self-employed workers? I see possibilities for that day.

    Possibly some, ah, collective action. Collaboration and cooperation among compatible workers leads to outstanding results!

  148. 148.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Cassidy:

    So, while not exact, the Cubans really aren’t that different. In his opinion, they weren’t better cigars and he preferred Honduran.

    On the one hand, there’s the whole forbidden fruit thing. On the other hand, I’m not sure whether smuggled cigars have been handled as well as legal ones.

    I’m not a cigar smoker, though I have appreciated a R&J Petit Corona every so often, and at a wedding I went to a number of years back a box of Cohibas was placed on each table. All not in the US, of course. The embargo on Havana Club pains me a lot more.

  151. 151.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Cassidy:
    From the Sun article:

    Raschid released a statement on Yoho’s behalf reacting to the timing of the class: “The Congressman’s prayers will certainly be with the victims and families

    Prayers are cheap, Rep. Yoyo. How about some actual action on their behalf?
    My elected representatives are certainly not perfect, but I think I have been fortunate to have never been represented by someone like that.

  152. 152.

    Chris

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    How is this man considered a foreign policy sage, rather than our embarrassing national uncle. Yes, yes, I know: Boomer daddy issues and Vietnam guilt.

    And a worldview that judges our foreign policy by how well it lines up with the advice of documentaries like the Rambo movies, or maybe Transformers if you really like SFX. (I would include Rand Paul and the like in this worldview as well, only substituting Bourne and other conspiracy movies for Rambo).

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    If you saw his appearance on Colbert– when Colbert started his twitter account under the name IIRC PrezBillyJeff– Bubba has very little sense of humor about himself. He was very stiff and wary

    Oh, it was all class. It’s funny, because it backfired. I think people recognized it. Remember how completely nuts they were about “restoring dignity” to the White House, like the Clintons were really bad tenants who we were all just THRILLED to finally be RID of? I defended him much longer than I might have otherwise almost solely because of Peggy Noonan turning her nose up at him. Merit-based, my ass. They’re most comfortable with a pedigree.
    What’s amusing about it is how parochial and small-town it is. It’s not sophisticated at all. They sound like our local (ancient) magistrate, who tells me things like “her grandfather stole from his employer in 1971”. Oh, well, then! It’s in the blood! Let’s go right to sentencing!

  155. 155.

    hildebrand

    @dmsilev: I actually followed a link to one of the sites on the dark side – good lord, they are trying to work the whole ‘selfie’ thing up into some form of jealous fit that Michelle was having about the president hanging out with a white woman.

    Would it be bad of me to hope that Levin has a stroke on air?

  156. 156.

    Chris

    @Patrick:

    The entire establishment escaped with their Very Serious Person status intact, despite having been completely wrong on the Iraq War from front to back. Failing upwards is the way of Official Washington.

  157. 157.

    Cassidy

    @pseudonymous in nc: I wouldn’t know; I’ve never had a Cuban. When I was in Iraq, we could get them, but they looked dried out to me. When I smoked, I rolled my own and smoked a pipe with the occasional cigar and I always went for something I hadn’t tried.

  158. 158.

    raven

    The idea that something can be judged by a still photo is so fucking stupid it shouldn’t even be discussed.

  161. 161.

    scav

    @Jebediah, RBG: Funny how they ask for cash and not the all-important and all-powerful prayers when it comes to getting elected and their own butts into power. How selfless of them. The lectures from behind security barriers and in gated communities about the necessary unfettered freedum of guns is cute, too. Or, are they using prayers instead of metal detectors and wands now in federal buildings?

  162. 162.

    Mandalay

    @Botsplainer: There is a reason why that itinerary is necessary, and it is nothing to do with Cuba. While you may have intended your post to be an knock on Cuba, it is actually a withering indictment of your own government.

    From your link:

    Please Note: This trip is permitted by a special People-to-People license from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

    The US government is telling its citizens where they can and cannot go, and you lap it up, oblivious.

  165. 165.

    Gene108

    @Kay:

    I would say, in 1992, it was also Bill’s relative youth, the fact he smoked a joint in college, and generally – for whatever reason – was dubbed the embodiment of 1960’s counter culture versus Papa Bush’s serious life and traditional values; yes, for a lot of voters Bill was a DFH.

    Also, the Internet is really saving Obama from the media. The Internet allows a way to quickly get information to counter the media narrative, so the garbage does not stick like it did 20 years ago.

  167. 167.

    Belafon

    @hildebrand: The picture of the three leaders – Obama, Cameron, and Thorning-Schmidt – is pretty funny in part because Michelle is sitting so stern faced. But we’ve see that before, and I think that’s the dynamic between the two of them. Probably has something to do with the fact that they have two girls.

  168. 168.

    Botsplainer

    @Mandalay:

    While you may have intended your post to be an knock on Cuba, it is actually a withering indictment of your own government.

    Actually, I have no knock on Cuba, and blame my government for that shitty itinerary. Frankly, the Cubans that put it on are probably bored with it as well.

  169. 169.

    Chris

    @Kay:

    I only remember the nineties a little, but I feel like that was one of Clinton’s strengths – the “class” thing and the way Official Washington and the entire GOP reacted to it. Everything Republicans claim to be, to love and to represent, he was – the white, heartlander, salt-of-the-earth kid born in less than ideal circumstances, but who persevered, worked, studied and eventually climbed his way to the very top of the pyramid through his own hard work and talent. Everything the Bushes, McCains and Romneys of the world weren’t.

    And when he got to Washington, it turned out that a lot of these people were uncomfortable with the idea of a shitkicker from flyover country sharing the place with them. And Clinton got to say (or didn’t even have to say) “see? I’m the one who’s one of you. All these people were just full of shit the entire time.”

  170. 170.

    Anybodybuther2016

    @Elizabelle:

    Obama’s shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have

    a mainstream media that we take seriously.

    This. After that wonderful speech the sorry bastards in the media decided that what he said during the speech wasn’t important. The fact that he wasn’t a rude asshole to a head of state is what was news worthy. If the revolution ever gets here they should be first in line at the guillotine.

  171. 171.

    Suffern ACE

    @hildebrand: Let’s see. We can work this up. Having viewed one photo of this, it isn’t very good to pose for a self pic at a memorial service. But I imagine we’re going to here about how selfies wouldn’t be necessary if the president would allow greater access to pool photographers from the Fournier camp. And we’ll get to here the “white women” screeching from that set of clowns. And heck, the Greenwaldians can go off on how Michelle doesn’t like it when Barak is caught by cameras, but does nothing to step forward when the NSA has made your cell phone into a weapon against you. This should have a few legs.

  172. 172.

    jl

    @Belafon: The problem was caused by the Cameron boy. He’s a bounder. His fault. The Queen will deliver a stern talking to him when he gets back, but he’ll pay no mind,

  174. 174.

    Botsplainer

    @Ash Can:

    Are you kidding? That sounds fantastic! Fuck laying around on the goddamned beach and drinking; you can do that anywhere.

    I’m a complete hedonist. My travel experiences have to be done on my terms, and my interactions done on a whim.

  176. 176.

    Belafon

    @Belafon: I should also add that I don’t think she looks mad. She’s just the less excitable of the two. He’s the extrovert and she’s the introvert.

    Also, GWB had someone take a picture of him and Bono with his phone, which he posted on instagram.

  179. 179.

    jl

    @Belafon: Michelle has a nice eye-roll in one of the pics, after the hubby straightened up.

    Harding would have gotten up and tried to leave with a chick he met, but I guess that was the roaring twenties where anything went.

  180. 180.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    Obama shaking Raul Castro’s hand is why we can’t have _________________.

    An opportunity to see them comparing notes on who has imprisoned and tortured more political prisoners on Cuban soil.

  182. 182.

    jl

    @Belafon: ” Also, GWB had someone take a picture of him and Bono with his phone, which he posted on instagram. ”

    Nice that Dub could get a pic with a celeb!

  183. 183.

    Botsplainer

    @Belafon:

    I should also add that I don’t think she looks mad. She’s just the less excitable of the two. He’s the extrovert and she’s the introvert.

    I just figure that she’s like every other middle-aged woman – not only is she bound by rules of propriety that nobody but other middle-aged women care about, she expects her husband to give as much of a damn about those rules as she does and is irritated when he has a pleasant moment in seeming violation of those rules.

    This is a corollary to a household rule at my home, discovered by my children – the sound of laughing children makes mom angry.

    (Botsplainer ducks)

  184. 184.

    Chris

    @Anybodybuther2016:

    Wait until they find out that Reagan not only wasn’t a rude asshole to communist chiefs of state, but actually sat down and negotiated with several of them…

    … wait. Reagan was white, wasn’t he? Never mind, they won’t find out.

  185. 185.

    Ash Can

    @Suffern ACE: I can’t get too worked up about the selfie either, probably because I’ve grown up with a tradition of memorial events being equal parts solemnity and fellowship/celebration. During the service itself, yes, sit respectfully and listen and no i-phones. Before and after, however, by all means meet and greet. Since the Danish PM took the pic with Obama sitting there next to her (as opposed to on the stage waiting for his turn to speak or listening to the other speakers), it seems a good bet that there wasn’t anything of moment happening at the time. So why not?

  186. 186.

    Roger Moore

    @Belafon:

    He’s the extrovert and she’s the introvert.

    Which shouldn’t be the least bit surprising. Politics is ultimately about people, so extroverts have a built-in advantage. Highly successful introverted politicians are extremely rare.

  188. 188.

    Heliopause

    I’ll be honest, I was shocked by the handshake. The notion that you can shake hands with a country that has waged a 5 decade plus economic war on you, invaded you, attempted assassinations of your leaders, encouraged and shielded terrorists who have engaged in mass murder of your citizens is, well, shocking.

  189. 189.

    Mnemosyne

    I was listening to the BBC World Service on the radio while running errands and they did a few “man in the street” interviews from Havana about The Handshake. It was basically what the rest of us are saying: it probably meant nothing, but it would be nice if it led to a thawing of relations. So who knows?

  190. 190.

    Mnemosyne

    @Heliopause:

    I’ll be honest, I was shocked by the handshake. The notion that you can shake hands with a country that has waged a 5 decade plus economic war on you, invaded you, attempted assassinations of your leaders, encouraged and shielded terrorists who have engaged in mass murder of your citizens is, well, shocking.

    And yet Mandela shook hands with deClerk. Coincidence?

  191. 191.

    Cervantes

    @Heliopause:

    I’ll be honest, I was shocked by the handshake. The notion that you can shake hands with a country that has waged a 5 decade plus economic war on you, invaded you, attempted assassinations of your leaders, encouraged and shielded terrorists who have engaged in mass murder of your citizens is, well, shocking.

    But perhaps less shocking at the funeral of one such as Nelson Mandela.

  192. 192.

    scav

    Let us set quietly and listen to our cultured betters lecture us on the necessary dignity of behavior required at memorial events (c.f. Snowblower Cheney at Auschwitz) and with female heads of state (c.f. Fingers Forty-Three).

  194. 194.

    Yatsuno

    @Mnemosyne: You know what kicked off the thaw with Iran? We returned a chalice to them that had been sitting in a customs warehouse that had been stolen from them. The little gestures matter, even if they’re not flashy.

  195. 195.

    Sloane Ranger

    Being British I was suprised by the informality of the entire event. Even on the platform people seemed to get up and wander around to chat with friends and acquantancies all the time even crossing behind the speaker. And the Stadium started emptying out after Obama’s speech. The BBC interviwed one guy who said that he had to go to work as the government hadn’t made it a National Holiday.The weather was awful too.

  196. 196.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Socially speaking, I wonder if it was considered more of a funeral/memorial service (which is formal and has a specific structure) or a wake/viewing, which is much more freewheeling because people wander in and out. You can still have speeches and prayers at a wake/viewing, so that wouldn’t necessarily turn it one way or the other.

    (Not sure what they call it in Great Britain, but the wake/viewing is usually a day or two before the funeral and the family basically has an “open house” at a funeral home. This is essentially what we did for my dad, but we called it a “memorial,” which it really wasn’t, but it also wasn’t a wake/viewing because neither he nor his ashes were there.)

  199. 199.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Mnemosyne: The Irish have wakes and some Scots may have as well. In England it’s more common for people to pay their respects privately at the undertakers before the funeral and then either return to the deceased home or a hired room for a cup of tea and a sandwich after the funeral. Alcohol may also be available but is not mandatory.

  200. 200.

    ruemara

    @PurpleGirl: cocoa mint chip cookies. This was a test of my emergency cookie recipe recall system. Went well. No recipe followed beyond memory and new flavor innovated.
    For those who like to bake:
    2 sticks butter
    2 cups brown sugar
    Cream together
    Add 1 teaspoon vanilla
    In a separate bowl mix
    2.25 cups of all purpose flour
    .5 cups of good cocoa
    .5 teaspoon of baking soda
    ~1 teaspoon sea salt
    Dash of pumpkin spice

    Add 2 large eggs to creamed sugar & butter. Fluff.
    Slowly integrate cocoa flour mix with eggs & sugar.
    Take about a cup or so of peppermint candies you smashed the bejeezus out of or be a fancy slacker with your fancy mint chips. Add that to the cookie dough. Mix well, bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes-just pay attention, slacker. Makes… a lot. Bag, give away, dominate world. Your welcome. Tweak recipe with dried cranberries, white chocolate chips & Orange zest-no cocoa, for another type I made.

  204. 204.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    I’m just saying, when the other thread breaks out the pitchforks and torches, don’t come cryin’ to me.

    ETA: I’m making figgy pudding tonight. We’ll see how it goes.

  205. 205.

    The Art of Compromise

    @Roger Moore: you are so right. So why don’t progressives; liberals stop following the outrageous shiny objects and make the narrative about Reagan, Cheney and the like supporting apartheid and calling Mr. Mandela a terrorist, etc. Our posts and storylines should be about President Obama inspirational speech, ACA good stories, unemployment benefits, SNAP, judges being nominated, you get the point. Democrats govern for the majority of people and republicans obstruct and say stupid and outrageous things constantly.

  207. 207.

    Paul in KY

    @Ash Can: Also, the memorial is about celebrating the life of a 95 year old man. Not like the funeral is for a child or young adult (a much more sad occasion).

    I edited this post! 1st time being able to in about 3 weeks. FYWP.

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