Rand Paul's petitions are a scam to get your email address http://t.co/9OgGRGRZzJ
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) March 10, 2015
So many grifters, so many marks. Rand Paul, updating his old man’s “political” grift for a new generation… or, as the NYTimes puts it, “Rand Paul Is Capturing an Audience; the Challenge Is Winning Votes“:
AUSTIN, Tex. — While his rivals were slogging their way across New Hampshire this weekend, Senator Rand Paul was here, some 1,700 miles away at the South by Southwest festival, where he was competing for oxygen not with other Republicans but with a Judd Apatow premiere and with Grumpy Cat — the Internet meme, in the fur.
Mr. Paul dropped by a cocktail bar for a concert. He fielded questions in a Twitter “town hall” and almost filled two hotel ballrooms with intrigued festivalgoers who came to hear him speak on Sunday night. His staff made sure it was all documented for his Snapchat followers.
Who is the Republican front-runner for 2016? It is often hard to tell. But there is little debate about who is the biggest curiosity in the race: Mr. Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky, who has been building the most unorthodox campaign for the Republican nomination, bringing his brand of libertarian conservatism to audiences that are more inclined to vote Democratic…
Mr. Paul and his advisers have set a tentative date of April 7 to announce the campaign so they can take advantage of the second-quarter fund-raising calendar, which begins on April 1. Mr. Paul, like other prospective Republican candidates, has found that potential donors are reluctant to give to him until he formally declares a candidacy…
Roger Moore
Following in the family business, I see.
lamh36
hmmm…um…okay so the SS has reported that a package mailed to White House tested presumptively positive for Cyanide
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/white-house-mailed-cyanide/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Let’s hope Charlie Pierce’s five-minute rule remains in effect indefinitely.
Baud
Campaign slogan should be, “There is a sucker born every minute.”
beltane
@efgoldman: Ron Paul and his followers provided us with some grade A entertainment these past two elections. The son is just a garden variety wingnut coasting on the family name. No comparison.
Baud
@efgoldman: Rand’s audience is young white people.
kindness
Paul’s campaign gambit may be unorthodox but I think Huckabee selling snake oil magic cures is more so.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
Call me crazy, call me nuts, but I’m pretty sure that if I were going to mail cyanide to the White House, I wouldn’t put a return address on the envelope.
Howard Beale IV
That’s why when they ask for an email address you give them [email protected].
beltane
@SiubhanDuinne: You’re not crazy or nuts, but the person who sent the cyanide probably is.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: And that’s why you’ve never been caught.
Peale
@SiubhanDuinne: Not mine at least. I’d probably use yours.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@SiubhanDuinne:
You probably also wouldn’t have a 20-year history of doing it.
beltane
@efgoldman: They’ll have to make sure it’s not a case of the attempted murderer looking to frame the crackpot who was already known to the Secret Service. Remember the case of the wrongly accused Elvis impersonator.
samiam
No doubt “Rand Paul has some good ideas” Cole is on that list.
pseudonymous in nc
“No, I don’t want an emailed receipt.”
Iowa Old Lady
@Howard Beale IV: When my son was a teenager, he used [email protected] to fill in all internet surveys.
SiubhanDuinne
@beltane
@Baud
@Peale
@efgoldman
@Mnemosyne (tablet)
May I just say, I’m really disappointed in all of you. I was fully expecting someone to play off my “call me nuts” comment with a riff on “bitter almonds.” I expect better of the Juicetariat.
beltane
Once, when I worked for the federal courts, we had a pro se litigant mail us her colostomy bag.
mdblanche
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with an Irish ballad performed by Tom Lehrer.
Southern Beale
Our wingnut Lt. Gov. has appointed a known racist and nativist who tried to get Nashville to pass a referendum making English the official language of Nashville to the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.
MaximusNYC
Whose aren’t?
Seriously, does anyone fill out online petitions any more?
Frankensteinbeck
This is hysterical. The news media wants SO BAD for there to be a large portion of undecided centrist voters who really will understand that Republicans are right if they’re just talked to in the right language.
Rand Paul is not going to win any Democratic votes. He is not going to expand libertarianism, (which is really just fiscal conservatism without bigotry, we swear!) Just like Paul Ryan was not going to win over the common man with his budgetary genius.
Rand Paul is an even worse liar than Mitt Romney. Paul doesn’t even try to pretend there’s any consistency in his views. He just says whatever he thinks someone wants to hear at the time. It’s great for the media, who can see in him whatever they want. Put him in a national race, and that mask disappears like a puff of smoke.
Bobby B.
Rand is going for the young stoner vote, like Obama did. He’s also going to toss the stoners to the wolves, just like Obama did.
Howard Beale IV
@Iowa Old Lady: [email protected] is a takeoff on the following:
The Unix/Minix/Linux filesystem location /dev/null,
The IBM DOS/MFT/MVT/MVS/zOS JCL staetment DD DUMMY,
MTS‘s *DUMMY*
Various OS’s ‘recycle bin’
IOW, a Null Device-where bits go to die.
Mike in NC
The local rag today had a front page article about how the Republican “front runners” were planning to descend on Columbia, SC. That’s a city whose best days were spent being torched by General William T. Sherman.
JGabriel
via SiubhanDuinne:
I hope it’s Boehner or McConnell. Or Bibi.
Howard Beale IV
@Bobby B.: Close: Obama tossed everybody’s vote aside in deference to the corporate elite-how else do you think he managed to get ACA rammed through (and why there’s been a metric shit-ton of amicus briefs out of the hospital/pharama complex to keep ACA alive?)
Botsplainer
I’m suspicious. The dog’s breath smells like cat litter.
MomSense
Speaking of Republican assholes, did I hear correctly that the House passed a bill increasing defense spending, privatizing Medicare, repealing Obamacare and turning food stamps and Medicaid into block grants to states at lower funding levels?
I haven’t seen anything about it on the news but I got texts from my kids earlier today.
Howard Beale IV
@Frankensteinbeck: Paul the Lesser doesn’t even bother to hide the fact that like his father, he’ll sell out to whoever pays him donation-wise. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been such a stupid moron to sign on to the Iranian Letter.
The acorn doesn’t fall that far from the tree.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Silly of me, I know….
SiubhanDuinne
@mdblanche:
And a hearty “Rickety-ticketty-tin” to you and yours.
Alex
So in Israel election results, it looks like Netanyahu will remain Prime Minister with a rather large win (29 or 30 seats).
The biggest question is if he’ll need a member of the centrist parties or what concessions will be needed to form the coalition government.
Oh, and how he’ll walk back his anti-two state statements and his accusing Israeli Arabs of daring to vote. Minor issues that I’m sure no one really cares about. And pointing out that combining those two concepts will be Jim Crow to an apartheid state is the real racism.
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
IOW, Tuesday.
srv
@Baud:
Ageist Racist.
Southern Beale
@MaximusNYC:
I do, sometimes. I have a yahoo email account I never check for such purposes.
jl
@Southern Beale: People speak English in Nashville? WTF? But, been a few years since I’ve been there, so maybe they teach it in the schools now.
Southern Beale
@Mike in NC:
They’re all going to be in Nashville in about 2 weeks, to fellate the NRA which will be in town. Really wishing I could be anywhere else that week but unfortunately spring break is next week not the week after.
MomSense
@efgoldman:
Guess their inaction is a good thing in this case. I see it was only a budget committee preview.
@SiubhanDuinne:
Have they had a good idea in the last 30 years?
beltane
@Alex: In most countries, elections have consequences. The United States abstaining on a few key Security Council votes would be an appropriate consequence. Alas, Israel is not like most countries.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Perhaps it was too subtle for the day?
Botsplainer
@Alex:
That way, when Tel Aviv is a smoking, glowing crater and boats are evacuating refugees from the continuous shelling of Haifa (Jerusalem having been cleared of Israeli forces in the invasion), I won’t feel real bad about civilian collateral losses, because the residents of Israel brought it on themselves.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: OT: I just sent “Please Don’t Tell…” to my niece for her birthday. She better like it, you bastard. Wait, that came out wrong.
Little Boots
so many grifters. so few nominations.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Nice.
Frankensteinbeck
@Omnes Omnibus:
You’re good. I swear the first book is more popular than… things you probably would rather she be reading this book than doing anyway!
jl
@Frankensteinbeck:
” This is hysterical. The news media wants SO BAD for there to be a large portion of undecided centrist voters who really will understand that Republicans are right if they’re just talked to in the right language. ”
I have to wonder whether deluging them damn youngster libertarian leaning prospective GOPers semiweekly with obviously bogus petitions that would barely only fool senile Fox News viewers is the ‘right language’.
” Paul doesn’t even try to pretend there’s any consistency in his views. He just says whatever he thinks someone wants to hear at the time. It’s great for the media, who can see in him whatever they want. ”
Funny and infuriating that the NYT blandly reported just that fact without seeming to notice. Very little of the snide editorializing on the GOPer grifters in our miserably failed GOP-corporate media experiment. That seems to be reserved for Democrats.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: I gave it to a tween girl for Christmas. She read it in a few hours and declared it the best book she’s ever read. Seriously.
MomSense
@Frankensteinbeck:
That reminds me that I need to buy the second book.
Little Boots
was that a compliment? well, now.
Frankensteinbeck
@Violet:
My god, people like you make me so happy. Well, technically people like her, but like you for reporting it!
jl
Since it’s an open thread: how many BJers are heading to Svalbard for Friday’s eclipse? Where’s the meetup?
A very rare supermoon eclipse of the sun is happening this week that won’t take place again until 2034
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/very-rare-supermoon-eclipse-sun-164826472.html
mdblanche
@SiubhanDuinne: Making a proposal makes it a Tuesday. Lately actually passing a bill without Nancy Pelosi rescuing them from themselves only happens on days that don’t end in y.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: Eh, she’s my niece. I shall be indulgent and tolerant of her transgressions – if only to torment my brother and my s-i-l. “Come on, every pre-teen girl experiments with lesbian satanism these days. It would be weird if she didn’t.” She is a very goodie-two-shoes sort, so I don’t know that I will have the chance.
Gian
there must be something wrong with me, because all the mainstream coverage I see of the Israeli election seems to suggest the locals there only vote on US policy and there are no local issues.
Little Boots
@Gian:
yeah, it’s pretty amazing. israel actually gets to have real debates about itself. the U.S. pretty much only one view is allowed.
we’re sad and stupid.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: What age? Niece is turning 12. She is disturbingly conventional in movie and music tastes.
Her brother who is 17 months older is much more adventurous on those things – I hope to turn him into a hipster music snob. I shall work slowly and carefully – pushing his musically boundaries bit by bit until he can no longer stand to listen to top-40 radio. Don’t say I don’t have goals.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: I’ll report back, but only if the review is positive. If you don’t hear back, just assume that I forgot to report back.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
fine
beltane
@Little Boots: Maybe we’re sad and stupid, but at least we elected Obama twice. The chances of Israel ever doing something similar are zero to nil.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: @Violet: Shit, that was aimed at Violet.
Little Boots
@beltane:
true enough.
just in that one context, we are seriously so hemmed into one view, and one view only about one country.
it actually is sad.
Frankensteinbeck
@Omnes Omnibus:
Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain is the conventional book good for all but the most wildly repressed middle schoolers. That’s why it’s the one that took off. That and the great name.
EDIUT – @efgoldman:
People loving the book is the best thing. It’s AWESOME that people are buying so many I can keep doing this as a job, but make no mistake, it’s the good reviews that make me feel like this is worth it, and the bad reviews that crush me. Far more than sales going up and down.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Nothing wrong with beer snobs.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I am not actually a beer snob at all. A Miller or Bud after cutting a lawn is perfect. I think one should tailor one’s drink to one’s locale.
Alex s
@Little Boots: American Jews who care about the future of Israel and want it to be a model of democracy and freedom are the real anti-Semites.
jl
@efgoldman: Boehner has more to lose from the GOP House making an ass of itself from now until Nov 2016 than his reactionary loons in safe districts do.
Probably Boehner finally realized that the GOP loons in the House are incapable of organizing a hangover. If 25 GOPers try to oust him, 15 will be megalomaniac fantasists who run for Speaker themselves.
I wonder whether the our miserable press will finally notice that Boehner is not ever in a tight spot at all, with no difficult leadership dilemmas ever, unless he chooses to Hastert rule everything, including bathroom breaks. No, they won’t notice, or don’t care, or don’t want to even try to report any political news accurately or correctly.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: She was just barely 12.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: Honestly, I am sure she will love it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bought it for her.
Little Boots
@Alex s:
unless you love netanyahu … or cheney … or nixon …
oh good god, what a dreary formula it always is.
mdblanche
@Gian: Israel has plenty of local issues. The parties on the left emphasized the rising cost of living, the growing housing crisis, and an economy that only benefits a handful of oligarchs. The parties on the right emphasized the menace of a fifth of the population being goyim who are starting to get uppity and act like they’re equal to Jews. The early returns suggest the last issue was the one that most resonated with the voters.
Tonight’s fun fact: Bibi appears on track to become the longest serving prime minister in Israeli history.
jl
@Alex s:
Didn’t Martin Peretz of even-the-liberal New Republic excommunicate Josh Marshall from Judaism for his vicious anti-semitic screeds at TPM?
See? There you go.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: Cool. Same as my niece.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
thought you left.
music?
Suzanne
@Bobby B.: While I could not care less if people smoke weed, it bothers me that there is a sizable contingent for whom the legal right to smoke weed trumps all other considerations (outside of medical use). Like, I get that it’s fun, but it really is not the critical issue facing the republic today. And some of that that would give you the right to smoke weed would shit on all the other rights you have.
beltane
@mdblanche: To paraphrase Golda Meir, the Israeli people have shown that they hate their neighbors more than they love their economic well-being.
Wag
Some Pogues for the end of the day.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
In other words, the Ryan budget that they have been passing year after year.
jl
Uh oh! Presbyterian Church USA says same-sex marriage is OK. That was on top of news just now.
People will be upset.
I will talk with my many familial and other Presby connections to see if they understand the issue and why there will be upset. Not sure the frozen chosen associate sex with marriage. Sex is reserved for dour affairs, no touching allowed.
I’ll call my folks and congratulate them on the news, and discreetly inquire to see whether the Church properly understood the issue at stake. Synod, or whatever committee on committees that did it, probably more worried about the financials and due process of proceedings (Calvin was a damn lawyer, you know).
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: What gave you the idea that I left? I have been commenting. Fine. There will be a test on the 1950s Lefty trivia in this song later. Take notes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Wag: Bad link.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: Bobby B has been around before. He has an issue. Can you guess what it is?
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Same as it ever was.
Eric NNy
I had just assumed every petition I sign for Act Blue or DSCC was a way to get more emails/money. But gotta say, sometimes I’m all happy to sign them just to make me feel better.
mdblanche
@efgoldman: @jl: Meanwhile last I checked Loretta Lynch’s nomination is being held up in the Senate so that McConnell and company can die on the hill of sex trafficking not being a form of legitimate rape. I never thought I’d say this, but the Grim Weeper is actually doing a better job controlling his caucus than Yertle.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
I don’t know. didn’t you say, or do I just always kinda hope.
on the other hand, I like the song.
my lefty knowledge stops at 1792. is that wrong?
Violet
@Suzanne: Like in Colorado after they legalized weed and then in 2014 the guy running for Governor was against it being legal. They went and interviewed people buying weed and they were all, “I’m not interested in politics now I’ve got my weed.” Complete IGMFY. The article I saw, the people they interviewed didn’t believe the Republican candidate for Governor would do anything to take away their weed. Yeah, Republicans never take away rights. No precedent for that.
beltane
@mdblanche: This group of Senate Republicans are a bunch of divas, there is no controlling them.
MomSense
@Little Boots:
One of the greats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJA69C6SlRk
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots:
No, it doesn’t make you wrong. But, for example, the reference to Frank Ryan was a reference to an IRA leader who also served as an officer in the International Brigade in Spain against the fascists.
Omnes Omnibus
@MomSense: Lovely.
Suzanne
@Violet: Exactly. Honestly, those people who only care about their weed are LOSER STONERS. That’s it, I said it.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
see, that … is kinda interesting.
what else?
Omnes Omnibus
More Irish for those who care.
Suzanne
I ordered oatmeal from room service. $24. Good Lord.
jl
@Eric NNy:
That is true, individual pols and groups of all stripes harvest email lists from various kinds of solicitations for various kinds of future solicitations.
I have gotten on a lot more emails of politicians I don’t ever remember giving money to.
But typically, the come-ons are more honest: we want your money, we want your support, we are dong such and so for this legislative effort, give us money for our GOTV.
I don’t get bogus polls and fake crisis issues from them twice a week.
And if this is Rand Paul’s idea of how to bring a new younger more normal breed into the GOP, then Rand is a fool.
Violet
@Suzanne: Yep. And selfish assholes.
Little Boots
@MomSense:
yup, with omnes on this. I love dicking around, but when people aren’t dicking around, it is beautiful around here.
Violet
@Suzanne: And you were worried about eating at that nice restaurant? Wow. That better be some artisinal oatmeal hand cut by elves.
Suzanne
@Violet: The room service here is expensive, but it will be at least as much if I go out. And I don’t feel like going out. And my company pays.
jl
Other issues than scoring weed? Don’t harsh on me, myaaannn…
i mean, staying home getting stoned and makin’ out with my babe, is, like, can be a political statement too, dude.
Does Uber deliver food….?
PIGL
@mdblanche: sing rickety tickety tin?
mdblanche
@beltane: The ability McConnell had to control them when in the minority will be hurting the country for years to come.
Omnes Omnibus
More pandering to you Mick bastards.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
everyone’s getting sleepy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: I tried. I will accept no blame.
Little Boots
doors?
MomSense
@Little Boots:
I read that there is a biopic in the works. Man what a voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CizmrHgmLvU
We have our moments here.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
And here’s the one for after the third whisky:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V-LyUCV80d8
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Only the third?
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
bagpipes bagpipes bagpips bagpipes! Irish Uilleann bagpipes!
Irish Uilleann Pipes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq3m_R3Lnu4
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Thought you said Knick bastards. But hey, they actually won tonight, beating the Spurs, if you can imagine. Although here’s the NYT’s lede: In an exercise that continued to defy rational human behavior, paying customers again filled Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Little Boots
still, we should have doors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq9oR9x171w
MomSense
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Some Irish brothers lived in the apartment above mine in Somerville, Mass and on many a weekend night they would come home falling down drunk, sing Danny Boy at full volume, and then sob.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Also, too, an episode of “Father Ted” for the Lenten season:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kay2v1ao9Xg
“Oh my God, I’m still on the fecking island!”
Omnes Omnibus
@MomSense: If I could go to the Crossroads to sell my soul, Sam’s voice is my price. Just saying. He is perfect. Even over Otis who is so damn near perfect that no human can tell the difference.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@MomSense: What a voice indeed. Thank you.
@Omnes Omnibus: And, what you just said.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
Bring Us More Beer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2kdC9LoH68&index=28&list=PLD4CBC3875B3C1255
Little Boots
more doors? omnes, don’t yell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKa0Par8Un8
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: Work with us….
Amir Khalid
@MomSense:
Puts me in mind of this classic.
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
how are doors wrong?
you are a little judgey.
MomSense
@Omnes Omnibus:
Over Otis? That’s a tough one. They both just kill me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaO50nWnvg
Omnes Omnibus
@Little Boots: No, mate, there is a flow in a certain way, just ride with it.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
HA!!
Little Boots
@Omnes Omnibus:
fine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C648sopLG1I
Wag
@Omnes Omnibus:
Another attempt.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O-OnS3LPt0w
MomSense
@Little Boots:
Doors weren’t the only band with mojo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEYwk0bypY
Suzanne
I miss my husband in that very specific way. Siiiiiiigh.
Little Boots
and sheets.
and goobs.
Wag
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=au30c9ZMIPg
More Pogues along with the Dubliners
Violet
@Suzanne: I get it. I’ve ordered room service as well because I’m tired and don’t feel like going out after a long day. It’s expensive, though.
Suzanne
@Violet: These restaurants near here are all pretty spendy.
Violet
@Suzanne: Yeah, the Riverwalk is touristy and thus pretty expensive.
The Ancient Randonneur
Still Saint Patrick’s Day west of here, so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@The Ancient Randonneur:
It apparently was an actual complaint on Twitchy today that Obama wore a green tie and dyed the White House fountain green. Because apparently celebrating an ethnic holiday is the worstest thing ever.
jl
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I hope they accused him of mocking the holiday and the Irish. I would find that too hilarious, as a half Irish person, since it would mocking the unmockable.
David Koch
I imagine Baby Doc is gonna run for president every open cycle for the next 25 years.
jl
@David Koch: Let him. He’ll never be a Harold Stassen. Not by a mile.
Steeplejack
@jl:
I thought Obama’s surname was Americanized from the original O’Bama.
cckids
@SiubhanDuinne:
In the spirit of the last thread, I’d use Cheney’s.