Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

This really is a full service blog.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

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77Comments

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    We don’t have announcements like this on the LRT in Kuala Lumpur. RapidKL has absolutely no sense of humour. Pout.

  6. 6.

    peej

    If we had announcements like this on the Washington Metro, we wouldn’t be able to hear them (as usual).

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    I’d call it a tie between No. 6 and No. 10. But oh, hearing that cultured, ladylike voice call London a “stinking shit-hole of a city” — I could listen to that one again and again.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    ALEC Spearheads Effort To Steal From Employees to Give to Corporations
    By: Rmuse more from Rmuse
    Saturday, February, 8th, 2014, 6:38 pm

    A contract is generally a written agreement, often concerning business, tenancy, or employment that is intended to be enforceable by law and because it is an agreement it is safe to conclude that two sides negotiated the contract’s conditions which are why they are enforceable by law. Around the nation public sector employees are seeing their defined retirement benefits from protected pension funds being slashed because Republicans claim deficits are unsustainable and that states and the federal government are broke. And yet the deficits are not enough to stop corporate tax subsidies that exceed the cost of funding retirement benefits.

    In a new analysis from taxpayer watchdog group Good Jobs First, 10 states claimed they were drowning in budget deficits to justify Draconian retiree benefit cuts, but in those 10 states “the total annual cost of corporate subsidies, tax breaks and loopholes exceeds the total current annual pension costs.” The practice is part of a tactic an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sister organization funded by the Kochs, the State Policy Network (SPN), is ramping up to eliminate public sector pensions on a nationwide scale. The idea that pension and retirement funds are fair game for the wealthy is a Koch brother and Wall Street philosophy that Republicans in states are willingly implementing with impunity because they utter the term “deficit.”

    For example, in Louisiana Republicans claimed the state’s annual pension contributions of $348 million is unaffordable and used the alleged shortfall to call for cuts to public employees’ negotiated retirement incomes. However, while claiming they are broke the same Republicans support giving subsidies, loopholes, and tax breaks to corporations at five times the cost of the state’s obligation to retirees every year. In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat, just signed legislation to cut state workers’ pensions even though the state spends $500 million more each year on corporate subsidies than it cost to fund its pension system. in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to propose similar cuts to municipal employees’ retirement benefits and cited a budget shortfall to close schools, but supports $300 million in spending on corporate subsidies, including a massive gift to a private university to construct a new basketball arena.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/08/alec-spearheads-effort-steal-employees-give-corporations.html

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    And they gave this woman a non-White child to adopt?

    ……………………….

    Fox News Contributor Laura Ingraham’s Idiocy: Puerto Ricans Are Not U.S. Citizens
    By: Tim From LA
    Saturday, February, 8th, 2014, 9:01 pm

    Just when you thought Fox News had hit rock bottom, Laura Ingraham bore even deeper into the depths of stupidity of unimaginable proportion. Ingraham called Puerto Ricans immigrants…huh?

    On her radio show, Ingraham said Sotomayor’s “allegiance obviously goes to her [Puerto Rican] immigrant family background and not to the Constitution of the United States.” Again I say huh?

    http://www.politicususa.com/2014/02/08/foxs-laura-ingrahams-idiocy-puerto-ricans-u-s-citizens.html

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    State blocks use of UF student union as early voting center
    Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
    Thursday, February 6, 2014 3:07pm

    Election supervisors and the League of Women Voters have a new complaint with Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature over early voting.

    After years of complaints by supervisors who struggled with historically long lines at the polls in 2012, lawmakers last year expanded the list of early voting sites to include fairgronds, civic centers, courthouses, county commission buildings, stadiums, convention centers and government-owned community centers.

    But when the city of Gainesville — which is heavily Democratic — asked if it could use the University of Florida student union for early voting in next month’s municipal elections, the state said no.

    ……………………………..

    “I’m very upset about this,” said Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards, president of a statewide supervisors’ group. “I just can’t understand why they feel the need to be so restrictive about where people are allowed to vote … This is strategic. They’re worried about young people voting.”

    The union, named for former UF President J. Wayne Reitz, is used as a regular voting precinct in county, state and national elections. About 50,000 students attend UF, and the city said the request to use the Reitz Union for early voting came from a group of students.

    http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/state-blocks-use-of-uf-student-union-as-early-voting-center/2164465

  18. 18.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    4 and 7 for me. Skewers Americans and Brits on an equal opportunity basis, and I like that.

    I have fond memories of standing on platforms listening to a voice like that announce the arrival of the barking train.

  19. 19.

    Schlemizel

    @peej:
    The last time I was in DC I rode the Metro every day. The operator made announcements that included a rundown on last nights Carson show & tonight’s line up. It was Carson’s last week. Service & trains were great but I guess the years have not been kind.

  23. 23.

    PurpleGirl

    @Amir Khalid: NYC’s buses have the odd driver who will tell jokes and make wise-cracks. There was one driver on the Q-32 who I often rode with on my way home from work. He’d have me laughing with his comments. But they rotate drivers around routes and he went away.

  27. 27.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    In San Francisco our creative horsing around by drivers (or more precisely “gripmen” and “conductors”) tends to be the non-verbal kind.

    Actually they engage in the verbal kind also, but they only have the competition for the bell ringing.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    George Zimmerman’s boxing match with DMX is off. Not sure how I feel about that; a big payday for hm is cancelled, but the world won’t get to see someone knock his block off.

  30. 30.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @currants: When I took my French friend to Italy she kept thinking that we were at the wrong station “No this is “Uscita”, we don’t get off here do we?”

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    In other sports news, Manchester United are at home today to Fulham. United take to the field wearing black armbands; it is three days after the anniversary of the Munich air disaster, the plane crash that killed most of United’s starting lineup in 1958.

  33. 33.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Tom, I agree with Number Six.

    They really should use that in the DC Metro, but then again, no one of the VIllage would be caught dead on the DC Metro, because mass transit is for the serfs, you know.

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    @Schlemizel: Communities with resources are able to successfully fight Wal-Mart and not allow them to locate there.
    Other communities sell out the commonweal by granting subsidies to WM, which goes on to further impoverish the residents.
    IOW, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to identify that WM places stores in distressed and vulnerable areas. It’s their business model.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    The P.A. system in the bus station in Scranton, PA used to be (may still be, for all I know) particularly muddy, soundwise.

    Some of the bus routes from there stop at a community named Shickshinny.

    Whether deliberate or a result of the bad sound system (was never sure), it always sounded like Sh*t City over the speakers.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    Also there was the time back on the old, rickety Pennsylvania Railroad when the conductor opened the door of the car, stuck his head in and loudly announced “Next stop Philadelphia! Philadelphia, the Brother of Lov-e-ly-Sid will be the next stop!” then promptly pulled his head out and shut the door.

  45. 45.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    6 is of course wonderful, and it’s easy to see why 10 has its partisans. I rather like numbers 4, 3, and 9.

  48. 48.

    Jay C

    Maybe OT, but I came across this wonderful example of bold political courage in the diplomatic process via Daniel Larison’s blog:

    WV’s Senator Joe Manchin explaining his “position” on the (thankfully now-apparently-derailed) Iran sanctions bill:

    Manchin said he intended the bill to send a message of support for Israel and underscore a goal of upending Iran’s nuclear-weapons ambitions. But he said that a vote could actually cost his sponsorship of the bill.

    “I never intended for that bill to come to a vote and debate,” he said. “If they start moving it forward I might need to start making a decision about whether I stay on the bill or not.”

    Brave move, Joe….

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    @jeffreyw: I am the most sentimental sop in the universe, so of course that ad made me cry. (Also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes featurette, though wish there was information about the cast).

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    It appears we have another yet another local political douche to apologize to the nation for. Ladies and germs, principled Libertarian Chris Rufer!

    Rufer’s contribution to the anti-arena campaign is by no means his largest political expenditure.

    In 2012, he gave $490,000 to a Utah PAC that supported the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate, Gary Johnson. He has given thousands of dollars to conservative icons including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul and Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul. In 2010, he gave $34,000 to an unsuccessful ballot initiative that would have slashed sales-tax rates in Massachusetts. And in the late 1990s, he bankrolled a nationwide advocacy group, led by a former computer salesman from Fresno, that pushed the idea of ending all government funding for schools.

    …“We run a little tomato business,” he said. “Compared to major companies, we’re nothing.”

    Rufer said he doesn’t know what his net worth is, but he talked about being part of the “1 percent” that has been vilified by some liberal activists. He railed against government policies that he said confiscate money from the well-to-do.

    “We produce food for people,” he said. “Taxes punish me for doing that.”

    Deep down, he said, “99.99 percent of Americans are Libertarians.” They just don’t realize it yet, and that’s why Libertarians rarely win elections.

    “It takes millennia and centuries for people to change their mind-set,” he said.

    http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/09/6140539/why-agribusinessman-is-bankrolling.html#storylink=cpy
    He should open a bootstrap factory! Oddly enough, he may live next door to friends of ours. Going to have to check next time I see them. I at least know their neighbors are in the tomato bidnez and have a rather…lavish and eccentric lifestyle. Also, too, Mr. Rufer claims to receive no gummint subsidies for his tomato processing plants but we all know that’s not possible. More to the point, the farmers delivering his raw materials are directly and indirectly subsidized to the extent that without same, there would be no tomatoes to pastify at Mr. Rufer’s plants.

    Liberty!

  53. 53.

    low-tech cyclist

    My favorites are 11 and 7, with 10 getting an honorable mention.

    Even though as a math geek, I share part of the sentiment rather strongly (I really, really wish Sudoku used letters rather than numbers, since it doesn’t use the numbers as numbers, that would be Kakuro), I’m still surprised at the love for #10.

    I think of Sudoku as the sort of thing that secretaries would do on the subway if we still had secretaries, and I think that if there was a time when people thought they were impressing anyone by doing Sudoku puzzles, it was a very brief moment.

  54. 54.

    am

    @Tom Levenson:

    I think I’m somewhat versed in art history, and Loir is new to me. Thanks for that, what a nice surprise on a Sunday afternoon to be introduced to his work. Nice example of late impressionism. Hard to believe one could still be picked up for mid/low 5-figures if one had that much loose change in the couch.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @low-tech cyclist:

    I really, really wish Sudoku used letters rather than numbers

    I’ve seen Sudoku puzzles that used letters, words, photos, symbols, and abstractions of all kinds. If you had access to a produce department, you could draw a huge grid on the pavement and play it with different kinds of fruit. Sudoku isn’t a “math” or even a “number puzzle” so much as it is a type of logic puzzle.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    WE SEE YOU CLINTONISTAS!

    Schumer: Delay Date Immigration Overhaul Would Take Effect
    BY TOM CURRY
    A key Democratic senator proposed to delay implementation of a proposed new law until after President Barack Obama leaves office.

    The suggestion floated by Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., was an attempt to mollify Republican concerns about Obama not enforcing the law.

    “Let’s enact the law this year, but simply not let it actually start ‘til 2017 after President Obama’s term is over,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/schumer-delay-date-immigration-overhaul-would-take-effect-n25836

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    @Corner Stone:

    That, Hillary Clinton will be able to get immigration reform done because the GOP ‘ trusts’ her, unlike the Black man in the White House.

    These Clinton muthafuckas ain’t slick in the least.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    I didn’t see the interview, but from the reports I can also see it as an attempt to call the GOP’s bluff. Withholding judgment until I get more info.

  63. 63.

    Roxy

    @jeffreyw:

    Had me in tears and goose bumps on my arms. I loved the part where he is reading in bed with wife. The ad was able to say in two minutes what a movie may take two hours to say. So good I shared this on my facebook page.

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    FWIW, that story may be more than a bit truthy, given the website it originally came from. Still, if it didn’t happen, it should have.

  72. 72.

    cckids

    @Mnemosyne:

    Just a friendly warning for any fed-up snowbound Juicers — using a flamethrower to de-ice your front yard is illegal

    I laugh at this because my parents live in a smallish town west of Las Vegas; it is where the self-described rednecks of Nevada live. I have seen men clearing the weeds from their rock-covered “yards” with flame throwers.

    I thought it was a Nevada thing.

  74. 74.

    lol chikinburd

    You know that Jeff Orr shitbag will be a Fox News interviewee this week. Probably tomorrow. Calling a visiting black athlete “n*****” makes you a First Amendment hero in 2014, especially if doing so provokes an entirely human reaction.

    (Orr claims otherwise, of course (and clearly lies). Surrounded by sympathetic crackers in that section, he’s well-positioned to get away with lying outright and being corroborated by “witnesses”.)

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