Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

People are weird.

In my day, never was longer.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

So many bastards, so little time.

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

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

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

How stupid are these people?

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

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Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Kropadope

    How did that photo gain such infamy. It’s not like it’s wrong to wear a tiara. Unless, of course, everythingone of them does is inherently wrong, owing to that person being the one doing it. Must be the pale one…

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Souza and his staff are top notch.

    They really are. Kudos to them for their contribution to the historical record.

  3. 3.

    Yatsuno

    I get the feeling Souza has loved this gig. Though it seems sad it will end when Obama leaves because he really does have an eye for photos.

  8. 8.

    Kropadope

    I liked the one where he was helping Michelle down from a stage. It kind of looked like it was from a fairy tale.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    I will buy whatever Obama books Pete Souza sells. Pete has been wonderful getting out the images of this Administration when the MSM couldn’t be bothered.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    I loathe the media also, but on this, I do think they have a different role to play than the official White House photographer does.

  11. 11.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Sometimes it’s easy to forget Obama is just an eight year old blonde girl on the inside.

  12. 12.

    srv

    Hillary’s lamestream ninjas strike first:

    Washington (CNN) — The first man out the gate in the 2016 race for the White House is already facing scrutiny over payments his PAC made to his wife and daughter.

    A political action committee headed by Former Sen. Jim Webb, the Democrat who launched a presidential exploratory committee last month, has paid more than $90,000 to his wife and daughter since late 2006 — with close to half of that amount doled out in 2014 alone, according to FEC filings. The information was first reported by Business Insider.

    A Webb spokesperson defended the expenses in an email to CNN, explaining that payments to Webb’s wife and daughter increased in 2014 to a total of $37,000 to revamp Webb’s personal website and create his 2016 exploratory committee page before he announced his plans to fundraise for a prospective presidential bid.

    Up next, countertop pics.

  14. 14.

    Tree With Water

    In his book ‘Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend, author James Hirsch chronicled the unhinged reaction the time Willie appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with Mr & Mrs Leo Durocher. It was just the three of them, all with big smiles, the brilliant young phenom with his mentor and his wife. But Willie had his arm around the missus shoulder, which meant he was touching her. A great many people across the country went absolutely ape shit, and a great many more were undoubtedly sympathetic. Now flash forward to that group of little girl scouts having their photo taken with a POTUS, a photo which will surely remain a treasured memento of them all throughout their entire lives. As I recall, Willie has since been an honored guest of the Obama’s on a few different occasions. I like that.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    Threats seem to expose a political plot against the NYC mayor and the BlackLivesMatter movement.
    December 29, 2014

    When hundreds of cops from around the country and as far away as Canada turned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during the funeral of Officer Rafael Ramos, the NYPD officer shot to death alongside his partner Wenjian Liu by a deranged gunman, they fired the first salvo in a carefully coordinated political operation aimed at discrediting the liberal mayor and shattering the ongoing anti-police brutality protest movement.

    AlterNet has obtained emails revealing plans to organize a series of anti-de Blasio protests around the city until the summer of 2015. Billed as a non-partisan movement in support of “the men and women of the NYPD,” the protests are being orchestrated by a cast of NYPD union bosses and local Republican activists allied with Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor who recentlycalled on de Blasio to “say you’re sorry to [NYPD officers] for having created a false impression of them.” The first rally is planned to take place at Queens Borough Hall at noon on January 13.

    Joe Concannon, a failed Republican State Senate candidate and current president of the Tea Party-aligned Queens Village Republican Club, is the main organizer of the burgeoning anti-de Blasio protest effort. The retired NYPD captain and former Giuliani advisor is a close ally of Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch. Lynch generated national headlines — and cheers from rank and file cops — when he claimed that de Blasio “has blood on [his] hands” just hours after Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

    In an email exchange with a supporter, Concannon said he and his allies had filed papers to found a non-profit to fund the anti-de Blasio campaign. The January 13 Queens demonstration would be among the largest, according to Concannon. Major rallies in March in Breezy Point, Queens and at City Hall were also in the works, he said.

    http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/emails-and-racist-chats-show-how-cops-and-gop-are-teaming-undermine-de-blasio

  19. 19.

    KG

    @srv: Not to restart this particular flame war, but: I would think that playing the nepotism card would be a less than ideal strategy for Hillary.

  25. 25.

    beth

    Any photo of the president with babies or toddlers is adorable. I also love the one of Michelle and the girls at the Great Wall.

  26. 26.

    jl

    @Mike in NC: I don’t know why that photo was supposed to have become a bit infamous for awhile. But it was a bit infamous on social media, so it could be anything. I was thinking, maybe Putin is in a photo wearing a bigger tiara, and with a shirt off, bulging his pecs? So NoBummer humiliated The Empire, once again? But, it was on social media, so I guess both the wimmins and the inadequate crown and much much more. Oh, yeah, Girl Scouts are commies. That would make three.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    Thank you for the link and all the photos are wonderful. There are two pictures in September involving children that made me laugh. Leave it to the President to mention rabbit ears. The other one was a picture of a child, looking up in amazement.

  28. 28.

    JustRuss

    Great pics. My faves:

    Joe Biden in his Corvette. For some reason, that just feels so right.
    Obama getting up in tough-guy Putin’s grill. That’s some potent anti-Viagra for the Putin winger man-crush club.

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    @Davis X. Machina:

    That was such a sweet photo. One of the things I appreciate about our President is how present he is in the moment with all the activity that is constantly swirling about him. He noticed that child and made it special for him.

  39. 39.

    jl

    I noted the defensive notes of Souza for every pic where the prez was not stuffed into a buttoned up pin-stripe with tie inside the WH. And for feet up on some tacky (IMHO) WH coffee table.

    I think a pic of Obama wandering around in his jammies should have been in there, as a tribute to St. Ronnie (since I remember seeing a pic of St. Ronnie in his jammies in a WH office of some kind).

    Shit, can’t be any pics with Cheney now, snarling and revving his chainsaw in the background. That is more than enough respect for the WH right there, for me.

  40. 40.

    scav

    multiple good shots in that set, and it’s rather grand to see how many others are both relaxed and excited to see the man — that’s reassuring amidst all the on-line and media blah blah (and I very much like the one of him scooting over the counter at some lunch place).

    As a slight detour, are there many cats that develop a fetish for drinking out of a bath tub tap? It seems to be a cherished daily indulgence for the current local feline.

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    @jl: My wife plays some game called Mexican Train with a group of local old ladies, where the winner takes home a silly plastic tiara. She thought about Photoshopping some of their faces onto that picture but then realized many were Republicans who would feel downright offended.

    I just said “Screw ’em if they can’t take a joke”.

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    @JPL: Dubya the dry drunk insisted that the Oval Office needed to be respected by never appearing in it dressed informally. Which of course he neglected to do many, many times. IOKIYAR.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    @scav: Media insists that Obama is more unpopular than Hoover during the Great Depression. In fact, hundreds of Obamavilles have been documented across the country, filled with elderly white people wearing tricorn hats.

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    Evening BJ. been at work all day, so I missed the news. So the probably racist or just so dumb he didn’t realized he was speaking in front a bunch of racist fucks white dude, is gonna keep his leadership role amite.

    Racist white dude keeps his job…pretty common happening in USA… oh well.

    David Duke: I’ve Met With Steve Scalise Several Times, So What? @TPM http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-duke-steve-scalise-speech

    …In the interview with Fusion, Duke maintained that the two didn’t really have a professional, business or political relationship.

  47. 47.

    jl

    I’ll also remember Biden, clearly grumpy and becoming impatient waiting his turn to do the Shake Shack slide.

    The pictures of farewells to the staff were touching, like the SS officer’s son faceplanting himself into an Oval Office sofa.

    President welcoming Nina Pham after she recovered from Ebola was especially touching, for some reason.

    And those schoolkids giving Obama rabbit ears for the pic. And the epic pic of Easter Bunny and Obama looking out over DC. which I predict will go down in History.

  50. 50.

    jl

    @lamh36: Racist, or opportunist. Not dumb. Boehner can tell the crook Grimm to get lost, not this guy, might cause a ripple in his re-election chances for Speaker. Sad but expected development.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    It takes a secure man — who likes women — to pose with Girl Scouts. In a tiara.

    I heart Barack.

    Smiling here, at the photo.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    Back to the pictures…I love especially the ones of POTUS with the kids.

    The lil man with the stethoscope really gets to me. Soooooo cute!

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    this one, which has become a bit infamous on social media

    Heckuva job, Brownies.

    Non-political, but a favorite picture stumbled upon this year.

    And a not new but recent cartoon which elicited a smile.

  58. 58.

    Tommy

    Chalk this up to first times and I hope the only time. I just got accused of trying to steal a car.

    The local 7/11 like store is only 2.5 blocks from me. Almost every time I walk to it. Cause I don’t know maybe walking is healthy. I get to the place. Only one car in the parking lot. A truck right in front and running. The owner in playing lottery. I get my milk and walk out and the guy gang rushes, pushes me, saying he saw me looking at his car. Right up in my face.

    I am about the most non-violent person you will find but I can defend myself. I said step back or we are going to have a problem. As he does I pull my phone out. He asks what I am doing. I said calling 911. He just got in his truck and sped off.

    I didn’t place the call. Now in hindsight, but I guess hindsight is always 20/20 I should have made the call to the police. Took a picture of his license plate.

  66. 66.

    PurpleGirl

    Souza’s phots are really good. I like the ones with President Obama interacting with a baby or a child. His grin (it’s so much more than a smile) is so big and bright. His face lights up. He’s a cool president.

  67. 67.

    Tommy

    @efgoldman: I got some issues with Obama, but I always felt like he cared. That I wasn’t this “little” person to him. This caption from one of the photos makes me think that even more.

    “Chief of Staff Denis McDonough came to the Oval Office one afternoon and said to the President, ‘let’s take a walk.’ So they proceeded outside the White House gates to a Starbucks on Pennsylvania Avenue. On the way back, the President stopped to greet street vendor Saied Abedy, who was born in Afghanistan. I later selected this photograph to hang as a ‘jumbo’ print on the walls of the West Wing. Several months later, after the jumbo print had been replaced with a newer photograph, we were tipped off that a White House staff member was giving Mr. Abedy and his family a tour of the West WIng one night. So we retrieved the jumbo print of him and hung it back on the walls of the West Wing. I later heard how emotional his family became when they saw the photograph on their tour.

  69. 69.

    David Koch

    a two-year-old boy shot and killed his 29-year-old mother in a Walmart store after finding the woman’s weapon in her purse

    Hopefully he’s tired as an adult.

  74. 74.

    Tommy

    @efgoldman: Just a response. No offense to you. Not directed at you in any way not respectful. I see how my response wasn’t to the post I wanted to respond to. My bad!

  80. 80.

    Mike in NC

    @TaMara (BHF): When we were touring Saint Petersburg in May, a number of Russians acted truly embarrassed about Putin’s antics. Not unlike lots of Americans and Bush #43.

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    Earth Wind and Fire, Jennifer Hudson for the Al Green tribute!

    #KennedyCenterHonors.

    JHud singing “Simply Beautiful” for Al Green #KennedyCenterHonors Hell yeah!

    EWF singing Love and Happiness

  83. 83.

    Tommy

    @lamh36: I don’t want to ever say I put on some Al Green hoping to score.But maybe I put on Al Green hoping to score. Al Green and a good meal, well you have a better chance :).

  85. 85.

    JPL

    @David Koch: Since the mom had a concealed weapon permit, she won’t be charged either. It did seem ironic that the news mentioned the permit, as if it mattered at this point.

  90. 90.

    Belafon

    @rikyrah: The miscalculation in this is the police thinking that the protests are tied to the mayor. They are not, as was demonstrated when they ignored the mayor’s call for them to be suspended.

  91. 91.

    Mike in NC

    @Tommy: One time at a 7/11 in Falls Church, VA (near our condo) I was accosted by a nasty drunk in the parking lot. I was going in to buy a six-pack but decided if I went inside he’d vandalize my car, so I just got back in and drove on.

  96. 96.

    PurpleGirl

    @JPL: Well, saying she had a CC permit means the gun was legal for her to have. Supposedly, we shouldn’t complain about it because it was legal.

    ETA: That it was still irresponsible for her to have in the purse shouldn’t mean anything.

  98. 98.

    scav

    @Belafon: I rather imagined that detail was added as a coded message that it was legitimate to grieve for her as the victim of a “tragic mistake” — she was clearly the “right” sort of person. Lacking that detail, some ammosexuals may have mocked her.

  99. 99.

    Elie

    I just love this President — this very very human man. Personal favorites include the Brownies and the one with him all up in Putin’s grill. As Elizabelle said upstring, only a real manly man makes a tiara look sexy..

    He is the real deal. He is, however, a human being with flaws like the many other leaders in history — and the rest of us. Sad that I have to say that. He is sexy. I find his cerebral coolness mixed with this very approachable, earthy personality intriguing and would drive me gaga if I was meeting him in his 20’s. Now, I just trust his judgment and leadership. Michelle is lucky but we are also very very lucky to have him in that office at this time in history.

  100. 100.

    JPL

    @Belafon: Well unfortunately that is the case but at least the news media is letting me know that she was abiding by the law.
    Although, I’m making light of the story, it’s sad that there is a toddler that is going to need lots of therapy, to come to grips with the accident.

  102. 102.

    jharp

    @Elie:

    Well put. Coolest President ever. And Michelle and his 2 lovely daughters make it the coolest first family ever.

  103. 103.

    Ripley

    @lamh36:

    In the interview with Fusion, Duke maintained that the two didn’t really have a professional, business or political relationship.

    Just a hookup then? Explains a lot.

  104. 104.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @scav: My family has had a few. Anecdata, to be sure, but your cat is at least not too much of an outlier.

    @raven: It get’s my vote, for sure.

  106. 106.

    Mike in NC

    @jharp: Well, when President Obama retires, I think I’ll actually break down and write him a letter to thank him for all the good and decent things he tried to do for a seriously fucked up and ungrateful country, and wish him well living in his beautiful home state (I promised my wife to honeymoon in Hawaii and we finally did ten years after we got married when we could finally afford it). Also treasure his Certificate of Appreciation for the 30 years I served in the US Armed Forces (auto-signed of course) hanging on the den wall.

    Haters gotta hate.

  108. 108.

    LAC

    @Patricia Kayden: those baby pics are just adorable. He has a real way with children. I hope Pete Souza knows how much his work has been appreciated in covering this historic administration.

  109. 109.

    Elie

    @GregB:

    Not sure what you mean — but this is the guy who ordered his execution. Yeah. I am sure he is laughing – somewhere in hell…

  110. 110.

    GregB

    @Elie:

    Apparently my post didn’t convey enough snark for you.

    The point being, no matter what Obama does it isn’t enough for those who hate him.

    Sorry to have caused you to try and divine what I meant.

  111. 111.

    Valdivia

    @Elie:

    amen.
    I loved this picture. That’s what a true feminist and strong man looks like. Totally relaxed and happy with a pink tiara on his head.

  112. 112.

    Mike E

    @scav: Faucet sipping is a cat thing for sure, as is drinking in all sorts of locales…their wild cousins forage for water in many places, like up in tree branch crevices. Best to keep the toilet lid shut at all times!

  113. 113.

    Elie

    @GregB:

    No worries.. I don’t always have enough familiarity with the regulars to be sure. Its always worth a question for that reason…

  115. 115.

    Elie

    @sparrow:

    I agree with you on that coffee table — I looked a little harder. Gah! is right… what IS it? Maybe they feel they can set their drinks and their feet on it without worrying? Looks like a cardboard box covered with cheap wallpaper.

  119. 119.

    notoriousJRT

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I had the opposite reaction. I feel buoyed by all the black and brown faces that show such joy in the presence of PBO. Maybe I am just naïve, but I see inspiration. I hope it and the little boy live on and on and on.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Believe it or not, I actually went outside and did things today instead of hanging around on B-J all day. I won’t let it happen again. ;-)

    I actually don’t have an opinion on Luise Rainer, believe it or not. She’s one of those actors who were considered great in their time but were such chameleons that people don’t remember them today — Paul Muni is another example. They were great movie actors but not great movie stars, and people really only remember the stars.

  122. 122.

    Arclite

    “Why is the black man touching those white girls???”

    Did those words ever make Rush’s show?

  124. 124.

    JustRuss

    @scav: I have one that rushes into the bathroom and leaps to the sink when anyone walks by, begging for a drink. The only other place I’ve seen him drink is out of my water glass, when I wasn’t guarding it. I like to think he has a little Tunch in him. Hmm, that may be the first time I’ve seen the words “little” and “Tunch” put together.

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