Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Bark louder, little dog.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Republicans do not trust women.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I really should read my own blog.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

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125Comments

  1. 1.

    Zinsky

    Gotta be at work by 6:30 a.m. for a phone conference call with China. Other than that, another day closer to retirement. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…..

  3. 3.

    MattF

    Off to work. Fixed the last big bug in my calculation, so today is for repeating all the old calculations with the new code. Or at least as many as I can fit into an eight hour day.

  5. 5.

    Skippy-san

    Chuck Todd tried call Trump on his lies yesterday on MTP. As is typical for Todd he failed to drive he point home and make Trump admit his lies. And it boggles the mind that Hugh Hewitt is actually allowed a place on major network-when in reality he is nothing but a worthless hack.

  8. 8.

    Mustang Bobby

    Back to work, back to blogging, and speaking of back, mine is in pain from doing a little home repair yesterday… replacing the flapper valve in the biffy in the master bath. Bent over to peer inside and it was like Norm Cash took a Louisville Slugger to my kidneys. I’ve been walking around like Lon Chaney’s stand-in ever since, and if I didn’t have to download the data for the monthly projections and sit through a three hour webinar, I’d have stayed home. 980 days to retirement.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @Skippy-san:

    I’m pleased to say no one has successfully called me on my lies yet.

    As is typical for Todd he failed to drive he point home and make Trump admit his lies.

    Damn you for making me defend Todd, but it’s impossible to make any Republican front runner admit their lies. The reason they are front runners is because they are willing to lie without apology and blame the media whenever they’re confronted with the truth. Until non-Republican voters react negatively to this without blaming “both sides,” there’s little the media can do.

  10. 10.

    PurpleGirl

    Good morning folks. Thanks for the picture of the kitten, Marc. It took a moment to realize it was a kitten in a box.

    Debating going out for breakfast.

    ETA: I had wanted to have the living room decluttered of paper by today… might make it by tonight.

  11. 11.

    Scapegoat

    News from the Educational Nanny State (™):

    Penn State instructed faculty to cancel all field trips to New York City and Washington DC if students are unsupervised at any point during the trip.

    Unreal.

  12. 12.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    I’ve been playing with depth maps and making 3d photos. I’ve managed to make some pretty nice shots. I also broke down and bought the 45mm 2d/3d lens for the new camera.

  14. 14.

    Phylllis

    @Mustang Bobby: 570 days for me. Looks like reauthorization for ESEA may actually happen. I don’t think I have the energy (or give a damn, for that matter) for adapting to that and the changes the uniform guidance mean for administering our formula funds.

  16. 16.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Phylllis: Guess what our three-hour webinar is on today: uniform guidance. To paraphrase Hawkeye Pierce, the instrument has yet to be invented that can measure my indifference. The T&E reports have all been automated and keep rolling in. Yip-yah.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    Until non-Republican voters react negatively to this without blaming “both sides,” there’s little the media can do.

    Until the media informs the voters that “both sides” don’t in fact do it, voters will remain ignorant and confused about what the truth really is. The problem is the media no longer seems to be in the business of informing people but rather trying to promote ratings by telling people what they want to hear. Call it the FOX news effect if you like but liberals are every bit as likely to only want to hear what they want to hear.

    It’s really a chicken/egg question.

  18. 18.

    bemused

    Kitties can’t resist boxes. One of our kitties loves a 8×9 inch box, 6 inch high. She is 9#, fluffy, a bit chubby and watching her situate herself in it is hilarious. All that is showing is her fat tail and her resting her chin on the edge of box.

  23. 23.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @bemused: Why do cats rest the chin, their least-padded body part, on an edge like that?

    Also, I guess Marc’s kittens get along with each other to not right over a cardboard box. We lose more boxes that way!

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @amk:

    Agree. But the comment above suggested that Todd did try in this case. I didn’t see it, so I can’t judge how legitimate the attempt was.

  27. 27.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @PaulW: congrats! I’m always impressed by people who succeed at nano!

    Lovely summer evening here. Tomorrow I’m off to Sydney to interview for a big research fellowship. I don’t rate my chances but a night in a 5 start hotel will be fun. ☺

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Trump is the gold standard in that regard. Your difficulty with lying is your campaign’s greatest weakness. You need to up your game.

  30. 30.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Morning Joe has tRump on, damn he’s STUPID.

    ETA: I had to turn it off, I was finding myself losing intelligence by the second.

  34. 34.

    Phylllis

    @Mustang Bobby: I imagine the 3-hours will be as delightful as the 2.5 hour one I was subjected to prior to the holiday on administering the WorkKeys exam to our 11th graders. It was so bad, I started tallying the # of times the woman presenting began a sentence with ‘So’. It was a lot.

  39. 39.

    Another Holocene Human

    So I suddenly got depressed again and felt unwell, but despite my suspicions I don’t seem to have a cold at all. So now I am wondering what is wrong with me. I got winded doing normal chores yesterday. Maybe I am just old and fat :(((( I do some walking but that doesn’t get my heart rate up. Actually, I’ve always detested any activity that got my heart rate up unless I was highly motivated. That’s why I played sports but could barely finish the required “run one mile” fitness in college. (Spoiler alert: I did not run one mile.) I guess I’m part domestic housepet because chasing that ball around would make me do about anything.

    I am seeing my doc for my psych meds THIS WEEK. Everything has gone really swimmingly until last week. I have been depressed all week. This sucks.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So is anyone else not buying the idea the homeowner had no idea there was a man stuck in his chimney when he built and lit a fire in the fireplace? I once got stuck in a cave for 2+ hrs and by the time I was pulled/wiggled out I was in an agony of pain from being in a restrained position for that period of time. This guy was supposedly stuck in the chimney for as much as 12 hrs or more. No way he wasn’t begging the homeowner to call 911 as soon as the man got home. My guess is he just wanted to teach him a little lesson.

  52. 52.

    gene108

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I view bouts of depression like internal weather. Just remember, like bad weather outside, the bad internal weather cannot last forever and good weather / better feelings will come in.

    So hang in there, things will get better.

  53. 53.

    Joel

    I was taking a peek at the 2012 republican primary, realizing that the not-Romney bounces were about a month a piece. Romney’s polling average never meaningfully fell below 20%, for that matter.

    Trump has been the clear leader in the republican polling since late July. So that’s four months and counting.

  54. 54.

    Central Planning

    My agenda for today is to get a rental car. My son and I were hit last night at an intersection – person turned left in front of us (I had a green light) and was able to swerve so they only clipped the back of the car. Driver side airbags deployed. Everyone is fine.

    Good times. I get to drive the minivan around all day today and down to a customer visit/lunch. That will be fun packing people into the van that has kids/teenagers written all over the inside.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    The biggest lie about Trump might be that he’s not a “conservative”. His answer on what he would do about climate change was standard GOP base- he wants “clean air and clean water”. They all say that. They make what amounts to a list of demands on air and water- “be clean so when I need to use…some it’s there for me!” Me, me, me. They’re the center of the fucking universe.

    Meanwhile, “air” and “water” scoff at their tiny, inconsequential clenched fists :)

  56. 56.

    bemused

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    Good question. Our kitty squashed in box, chin on hard box edge, doesn’t look comfortable to humans but she looks pleased with herself. Cats like to “hide” in paper bags, boxes, under furniture, etc while peeking out as if they are invisible. Maybe that’s part of the fun.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    @Iowa Old Lady: I uncharacteristically watched that Morning Joe segment, and Trump wasn’t as overtly hostile about Todd as he is with some reporters, but he was dismissive, and when the MJ crew tried to pin him down on the “thousands of Muslims in Jersey cheered the fall of the Twin Towers” lie, he refused to concede the possibility he was wrong. I’ll give the Joe crew credit for pursuing the issue — they did ask why there’s no video evidence.

    Trump had a novel defense on that one; he said 15 years ago was practically the Dark Ages in “cinema” and that you can’t just “push a button” and conjure up coverage on YouTube like you can today. Of course, that’s a lie; you can watch every minute of major and local network coverage of 9/11/2001 anytime you want.

    I think what happened is that Trump saw coverage of Palestinians cheering in the streets of East Jerusalem / the occupied territories and got it mixed up in his mind, and now he won’t admit he was wrong. He lamely offers as evidence the fact that he gets tweets from people who also supposedly remember seeing Muslims in Jersey celebrating. He knows he’s wrong. He wants it to go away.

  63. 63.

    Scapegoat

    @PurpleGirl:

    Response in moderation due to nekked link. Maybe it can be set free by a Mod?

    (Link button crashes iOS Safari repeatedly and I was too irritated and lazy to look up the html code, so I foolishly pasted it in.)

  64. 64.

    PurpleGirl

    @Betty Cracker: I have a neighbor who insists that the students in an Islamic school a few blocks from my development were let out early and were celebrating as they left the school to go home. I do not know if it really happened. That morning I was home, being sick with intestinal problems and wasn’t aware of what was happening. Oh, and, I might have seen the planes fly into the buildings because while my complex in Queens is a few miles from downtown, the curvature of the earth does weird things to sight lines. Trump couldn’t have seen the Towers from his apartment, but I might have.

  68. 68.

    Manyakitty

    Does anyone know if there’s going to be a pet calendar this year? I can’t find anything about it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss the information.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    It’s such bullshit. It’s this small, pundit-centered “serious” conservative claim, where they get to define “conservative”. Conservative, as a movement, is defined by the rank and file members of that movement and they want Trump.

    Rand Paul is exactly the same as Donald Trump on the environment anyway. They “want” – clean air, clean water, beautiful places to look at or enter once a year. They just don’t “want” to sacrifice anything or pay for any of it.

    In this case it really doesn’t matter what they say. “Water” is indifferent to Trump’s demands. It will rise up and swallow his luxury hotel just like the shack down the road.

  71. 71.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Maybe this is Trump’s pyramids = silos moment.

    I don’t think so, many Republicans think tRump is right, it actually happened.

    ETA: Anyway, Jersey City, West Bank. Isn’t Jersey City on the west bank of the Hudson, see?

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @PurpleGirl: Trump claims he could see people jumping out of the Trade Center towers from his apartment, which just isn’t possible given the distance from his building to the towers, unless he was watching through a telescope, which would be creepy beyond belief. He just flat makes shit up.

    @Iowa Old Lady: Maybe, but it’s a point that resonates with the GOP base, so I doubt it. Even if they realize on a fundamental level that it’s a lie, they agree with the sentiment, so they probably don’t mind the lie.

  74. 74.

    PurpleGirl

    @Betty Cracker: Trump’s claims — Yup. Now I can see parts of lower Manhattan from my terrace, because of the curvature of the earth. But I couldn’t have seen a detail like people jumping from windows. There’s one spot at the South Street Seaport where I can see my building. It’s just weird.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @MattF: I’d want one if I lived in a Manhattan penthouse. But Trump didn’t mention a telescope when he told the crowd he saw people jump out of the towers. He told the story to underscore his close personal proximity to the terrorist attack. I guess mentioning a telescope would have undermined his point a little. I read this somewhere (Vox maybe?), and the view from an apartment in the same or an adjacent building illustrated the article. It was about five miles away.

  78. 78.

    Scapegoat

    @BobS:

    An indictment, which was approved by the Tarsus High Criminal Court in July, seeks a life sentence

    Well, at least they’re only seeking a life sentence (instead of execution) for the temerity of telling the truth.

  79. 79.

    Satby

    Ugh, woke up at 4:30 this morning. My sleep schedule seems to be all messed up. Drove the girls to school and have to get to work packing orders (thanks to all you know who).
    I just got a second gong letter that I won’t be considered for a job I applied for, so I’m apparently still in the running for two. Hope so, fingers crossed!

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    Naw, it was Sister Lutherine who told the Pastor that her tithing envelope might not be in the plate this week or future weeks.

    ………………………………

    AP Politics ✔ @AP_Politics

    Trump suggests black pastors meeting him Monday were persuaded not to endorse him by Black Lives Matter activists: http://apne.ws/1Q8fCf3

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    @PurpleGirl: Now I can see parts of lower Manhattan from my terrace, because of the curvature of the earth.

    You’ve said something like this twice now, and I think you’re confusing other factors, like topography and the height of your terrace, with the “curvature of the earth,” which only accounts for about 8 inches per mile. If you are 5 miles from lower Manhattan, that’s only a bit over three feet, and working in the opposite direction from what I think you mean. In other words, lower Manhattan is 3 feet “lower” than you in Queens, not “higher.”

  85. 85.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Iowa Old Lady: I’m sure people who already want to like Trump remember seeing the celebrations in the footage too. In a confusing, emotionally fraught moment of history like that, you can convince people that they saw just about anything you like. If the video can’t be found, it only proves how deep the rabbit hole goes.

  86. 86.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Satby: Good luck with those two job prospects.

    @Betty Cracker: Wouldn’t we have even one story of angry Americans attacking cheering Muslims if such an incident actually happened? There is no way that scores of Muslims could have openly cheered the 9/11 attacks and simply walked home unscathed and without being confronted by furious onlookers. Not buying it.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Joel: If you want to argue that Trump will fade and some establishment candidate will get the nomination, the analogue to use is not 2012, because Mitt Romney was in at least a strong #2 position all through the 2012 clown-car period. When the fad candidates faded, there was never any doubt who was waiting to replace them.

    2008 would be better, or the Democrats in 1992.

  88. 88.

    Mike in NC

    Today is the dreaded time of year that I call “hauling 500 pounds of crappy Christmas decorations down from the attic”. Hope I’m not expected to continue doing this when I turn 80. Maybe by then we will all have virtual Christmas trees.

  91. 91.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Patricia Kayden:

    There is no way that scores of Muslims could have openly cheered the 9/11 attacks and simply walked home unscathed and without being confronted by furious onlookers.

    You forget, these are the same people who are terrified of 5 yr old children.

  92. 92.

    PurpleGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Could be, I can’t disagree with you. I do know that some of it also goes to a lack of buildings between me and the other end. Sight lines can be funny things.

  94. 94.

    bemused

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Recently I’ve seen on tv a couple of those reporter on the street setups. The reporters stop people on the street, ask them what they think about a totally made up story and the random people gave their opinions without hesitation as if they knew all about the fake story. These weren’t political fake stories at all. I don’t know if people don’t want to admit they had never heard that story and just pretend to know all about it and have a definite opinion but it’s strange. When it comes to political issues, I have no doubt Republicans have a much greater propensity to believe instantly and deeply in the fake stories.

  95. 95.

    Germy

    @Mike in NC:

    Maybe by then we will all have virtual Christmas trees.

    We already have the yule log on TV; it’s an old tradition.
    I assume at some point we’ll have a digital projection of a christmas tree, with candles and tinsel and other unsafe stuff.
    This season I’ve been seeing commercials for an alternative to all those outdoor lights. A single projector that displays a million flickering points of light onto your house. Sounds like an easy solution, but if I planted one of those things in front of my house I’m certain someone would walk off with it.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    @Patricia Kayden: Great point. Some of my friends worked at a local university with a fairly large Muslim student population when 9/11 happened, and the predominant reaction seemed to be horror about the attacks themselves followed by fear that they’d be scapegoats.

  97. 97.

    Schlemazel

    @Germy:
    I think it was the travel channel that had a 5 hour video on Thanksgiving where they just attached a camera to a train traveling across Alaska. No commentary only the occasional notation of mile marker or town.

    I thought that was a novel take on the video fireplace idea, 5 hours of snow, pine trees, mountains and train tracks.

  98. 98.

    catclub

    @Baud:

    Damn you for making me defend Todd, but it’s impossible to make any Republican front runner admit their lies.

    No, Todd is completely UNwilling to say: “As I see it, that is a lie. There were no thousands of people celebrating in Jersey City on 911.” But that would be uncivil. I ain’t defending Todd.

  99. 99.

    catclub

    @rikyrah:

    were persuaded not to endorse him by Black Lives Matter activists:

    That would be a huge (hooooge?) achievement for Black Lives Matter, if true.

  100. 100.

    catclub

    @PurpleGirl:

    I have a neighbor who insists that the students in an Islamic school a few blocks from my development were let out early and were celebrating as they left the school to go home.

    Well, of course, any kids who get to leave school early will celebrate.

  101. 101.

    Germy

    @Schlemazel: Everything old is new again. In the early days of the motion picture, people like Edison would attach cameras to the fronts of trains. Footage still exists. Interesting historical documents.

    A few threads ago I posted a video: a movie camera mounted on a streetcar in pre-earthquake San Francisco. Just a leisurely film of travel through the streets, with pedestrians and horse-drawn merchants taking their time getting out of the way.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @PurpleGirl:

    Way up here in the San Fernando Valley about 30 miles from the ocean, there’s a street called “Oceanview.” I was always like, yeah, right, but it turns out that if it’s a clear enough day, the various valleys and mountains are arranged in such a way that you really do have a pocket view of the Pacific. I was pretty amazed the first time I saw it.

  103. 103.

    Iowa Old Lady

    On the way to the gym, I heard a local reporter interviewing evangelicals who attended the church where Cruz spoke yesterday. Mostly they love Cruz because he’s “honest.”

    One guy said he’d vote for Cruz, but if Trump was the R nominee, he’d stay home because Trump was an egoist “even bigger than Obama.” He’d also stay home if Bush was the nominee because Bush was “cut from the same cloth as Obama and Clinton.”

    This guy wanted what he wanted or he was taking his toys and going home.

  104. 104.

    Germy

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    This guy wanted what he wanted or he was taking his toys and going home.

    Based on his voting preferences, I hope he goes home and stays home on election day.

  106. 106.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: Trump encouraged supporters to physically assault a BLM protester, tweeted a lie about Blacks being responsible for the majority of White murders, is a Birther and has attacked President Obama’s educational achievements. Why would Black pastors think it would be a good idea to meet up with him? For what? The man hates Black people.

    I was mostly shocked to see Hezekiah Walker on the poster of Black pastors who were planning to meet Trump. I’d have to stop listening to his songs if he met with Trump.

  107. 107.

    Iowa Old Lady

    A writer friend of mine tweeted an account of the harassment she experienced working at a Planned Parenthood clinic. It’s blowing up all over the internet. I hope she’s not getting too many crazies.

  110. 110.

    MattF

    I’ve got very mixed opinions about Slate, and even more mixed opinions about their contributor Will Saletan… but if he keeps writing stuff like this, I might change my mind.

  112. 112.

    catclub

    @MattF: I knew which article you mean without even hovering over the link. I was VERY surprised to see it. Even more so, given Saletan’s history of mansplaining how abortion is wrong.

  113. 113.

    catclub

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I’d have to stop listening to his songs if he met with Trump.

    There was no evidence in the article that they are not meeting Trump. So you might have to drop him if meeting with Trump is a dealbreaker. The point was they were not endorsing Trump.

  116. 116.

    Calouste

    @Debbie: People take “honest” to mean “he says things I want to hear”. Where of course the real meaning is often the opposite.

  117. 117.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Rand Paul is exactly the same as Donald Trump on the environment anyway. They “want” – clean air, clean water, beautiful places to look at or enter once a year. They just don’t “want” to sacrifice anything or pay for any of it.

    Pretty much the definition of a Libertarian.

  121. 121.

    Patrick

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    One guy said he’d vote for Cruz, but if Trump was the R nominee, he’d stay home because Trump was an egoist “even bigger than Obama.”

    This guy is concerned about a politician’s ego? Where the heck was he when Cruz led the government shutdown with the Republicans in the house? It was all about Cruz and his ego.

  124. 124.

    Patricia Kayden

    @catclub: Trump has been very clear on how he feels about Black people so if Walker feels the need to meet with an open racist, I don’t need to listen to his music anymore. Easy decision. I don’t get why people cannot stand on principle when it comes to racists like Trump. I hope there is a huge backlash against the pastors who attend this meeting.

  125. 125.

    a different chris

    @Calouste: Or, they could mean that he’s not afraid to say out loud what he really believes. Maybe Cruz & Trump really believe the batshit things they say. Cruz really believes Democrats want to genocide all the good, patriotic Christianists. Trump really believes all 1+ billion Muslims danced for joy on 9/11. They aren’t lying about these things, they are stupid enough to believe they are true.

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