FSM save us, this may be a contender for most self-awareness-free criticism of a malignant narcissist by a ghoulish toady in the annals of human communication, let alone Twitter:
Re-upping from Nov 29:
The second reason I've come to loathe Trump: He's soiling the robe of conservatism and dragging it through the dust.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 7, 2015
Meanwhile, in a WaPo interview, the malignant narcissist says “I. Will. Never. Leave. This. Race.”
Don’t feel obligated to discuss Trump. I’m sick of the bastard too. Just thought Kristol’s tweet was noteworthy for its astounding chutzpah. Open thread!
The Republic of Stupity
And don’t forget conservatism’s undergarments, Bill…
The Donald’s busy soiling them too…
Anthony
Bloody robes would be particularly vulnerable to having dust clinging to them, in his defense.
Brachiator
Krtistol certainly lacks self-awareness.
Shlemazel
In his defense, bloody bill thinks conservatism is all about the rober barrons.
Sasha
Not chutzpah. Utter obliviousness.
MattF
Whereas Sarah Palin… There’s an extremely fine line in Kristol’s Conservative hierarchy between heroes and robe-soilers. In fact, I confess, it’s invisible to me.
dmsilev
Running this through the standard “Bill Kristol Is Always Wrong” filter, his tweet really means ‘Trump is loudly pointing out that the Emperor’s New Cloths are badly soiled. And that he’s the Emperor.”
Percysowner
Scalia has just opened his racist offensive mouth with this during oral arguments on the Texas affirmative action case. He must be really charming in person, because Ruth Bader-Ginsburg is BFFs with him.
JGabriel
Bill Kristol:
This from the jackass who brought us Sarah Palin.
Kylroy
He’s staining the robes of conservatism by…pulling back the veil? I’m not good at this metaphor thing, but Trump’s only sin relative to the rest of the GOP field is honesty.
JPL
@Percysowner: I just saw that. I’m embarrassed to be white at this point.
Between Scalia and Trump, this country is showing what color on the flag is important to them.
ugh
Frankensteinbeck
Yes. This, THIS, is why they hate him. Bill Kristol is the crowned king of pretending that racist, mean-spirited, warmongering, fuck-the-hippies decision making is actually mature and reasonable, while helping people is childish. The section of the Republican Party that desperately wants to think of itself this way is convulsing in horror that Trump has revealed that bigotry is what actually drives them.
p.a.
Paging Dr. Dunning! Paging Dr. Kruger!
Frankensteinbeck
@Percysowner:
Ho. Ly. Shit. I mean, yeah, I knew they believed this stuff, but hearing them say it is always cringe-inducing.
JPL
@Frankensteinbeck: Hey we have a black president so that means, there is no racism.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
The thing we on the progressive side should fear about Kristol’s moment of insight is: how reliably wrong Bill Kristol has proven to be.
WereBear
Sad as it is, let it all be out in the open. Time was, all kinds of oppression was discretely hidden away, not spoken of, subtly denied.
It’s not like we didn’t know this stuff went on, right? It was just plausible deniability.
Part the veil, or however it goes…
p.a.
@Percysowner: Fuckin’ goombah. Fuckin’ collegiality. They’re all lifers, what’s stopping one of the ‘good 4’ from calling him an asshole in public? A congressman called the POTUS a liar during the SOTU. Show some fucking stones.
Ridnik Chrome
“When I woke up this morning, I looked upon the wall
The Bed-Shitters and the Robe-Soilers were having a game of ball…”
Zinsky
I don’t think American conservatism has been respectable, responsible or dignified since the Eisenhower Administration. Bill Kristol is an imbecile, a coward and a hypocrite.
Chris
Don’t feel obligated to discuss Trump. I’m sick of the bastard too. Just thought Kristol’s tweet was noteworthy for its astounding chutzpah.
Yeah, there’s something breathtaking about how completely full of shit all these people are who are suddenly now discovering that there’s a racist in their party. As Cole said a little while ago.
Meanwhile, in a WaPo interview, the malignant narcissist says “I. Will. Never. Leave. This. Race.”
And thank God for that. No, GOP, you’re not getting off that easy. You’ve spent the last fifty years trying to raise an entire nation of Donald Trumps, and now it’s time to deal with the consequences. God willing, you’ll carry this burden through the entire election and then choke on it. You have no one to blame but yourselves.
JPL
It’s unfortunate that Scalia didn’t read this study before opening his mouth.. NYTimes…
Diversity Makes You Brighter
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Yeah, this is nothing new. He just dropped the dog whistle and now the world is shocked, shocked I tell you, that the hard core of racism is still alive and well in this country. It is on the wane, slowly but surely, but it is still a long ways from dead.
NotMax
Not only the robes, the pointy white hoods too.
JGabriel
@Kylroy:
By spurting the ejaculate of hategasm all over it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This is from the Washington Post about Paul Ryan’s statement on He That Cole Does Not Want Named:
Ryan got all kinds of praise for standing up to Trumpism in this statement, and in a weak field this was one of the better statements, but I do find it interesting that this is cited in a political-media world where Very Respectable People tell us Obama is ridiculous (or worse) for saying that Daesh doesn’t represent Islam. And I’m pretty sure Trump has a lot higher level of support in “this party” than al Bagdhadi does among Muslims.
PurpleGirl
@Percysowner: I think the basis of the friendship is that they both love opera. Not sure how deep the friendship is but it involves common love of opera.
Frankensteinbeck
@Zinsky:
Reagan convinced a good 90% of the white population that it was. The old saying was ‘a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged’, implying we would all wake up from our childish delusions when hard reality hit.
Anoniminous
@JPL:
The thing is we can’t get rid of this bigot. He’ll be on the Supreme Court, handing down his racist decisions until he croaks.
PhoenixRising
“I. Will. Never. Leave. This. Race.”
Stay white, then.
goblue72
@Percysowner: My sense is that Scalia, while always a toad, has gotten to be more of a toad in his old age. Kind of how your sorta racist grandpa gets more set in his ways, more cranky, and more openly racist the more senile he gets.
On the other hand, Scalia always like to say outrageous things / make outrageous arguments as a means to push the argument during oral.
BGinCHI
“Rope” of conservatism works better.
Anoniminous
@Frankensteinbeck:
White population wanted to be fooled. They wanted to be comfortably lied to by people saying they were Special Little Snowflakes© in an Exceptionally Exceptional Country™.
They still do.
Shlemazel
@Zinsky:
Conservatives of the 50s are represented by tale- gunner Joe McCarthy. Wanna try for an earlier period to try to fibd respectable cons?
Redshift
@cmorenc:
I don’t think so. He’s as reliably wrong as ever. Bloody Bill thinks the problem is that Trump is making people think conservatism is something awful when it’s not. The reality is that it is, and Trump is just making it more obvious and harder to ignore.
Frankensteinbeck
@goblue72:
‘Because he’s an asshole who gets off on the minor power trip of forcing people to respond to questions that annoy them.’
EDIT – @Anoniminous:
I absolutely agree. Things like Reagan, FOX, and Trump, are symptoms caused by racism, not the causes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The Village could never admit that Birtherism was all about racism, much less that this was precisely why Romney– despite an initial disdain for Trump that was about the only point I ever felt some grudging respect for the man– brought Trump on as a surrogate. I’ll never forget Tom Brokaw, egged on by some near-pathological star-fucking by Lawrence O’Donnell, insisting there was no “pattern” of race-baiting or dog-whistling from the Romney campaign
Waldo
@JGabriel: Aside from Trump being more easily understood than Palin, I don’t see much difference. But maybe that’s Bill’s real problem with him.
p.a.
@Frankensteinbeck: A liberal is a conservative whose pension has been trashed, job offshored, health insurance dropped, public education gutted, water supply polluted… EXCEPT a conservative will still be too fucking stupid to react to these outrages in any positive manner.
goblue72
@Percysowner: Worst part is that Scalia is referencing an argument made in an amicus brief. This isn’t just one old racist Italian dude running his mouth at oral argument. Lawyers (and their clients) actually put that in writing, with forethought and plenty of time to reconsider it.
Joey Maloney
From the title and today’s current events I thought this thread would be about W talking about Scalia.
Ridnik Chrome
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The hell it’s not conservatism. It’s the same stuff that people like O’Reilly, Coulter and Limbaugh have been saying for over a decade. The only difference between them and Trump is that he’s explicit about what the next step is…
SiubhanDuinne
I must share this again (put it downstairs earlier, but it’s just as appropriate here if not more so).
Trump as your drunk neighbor.
Germy
I don’t know. That robe was getting pretty stinky. Throw it in the diaper pail.
b1narys3rf
Tom Brokaw can kiss my ass.
He and all the other talking heads can miss me with the new “mainstream” media and “mainstream” Republican talk of Trump’s “beyond the pale” statements and behavior. Not because I disagree, but because their spinelessness, ratings-seeking and intellectual dishonesty have helped lead to this moment.
When the Tea Party got taken over early on by deceptive cronyist lobbying billionaires who pushed what effectively is anarchy, did they call them out?
When birthers including Herr Trump started lying about Obama’s national origin and religion (and that was just one of their many smears and obstructions), did they call them out?
When “reasonable mainstream” Republicans effectively proposed bankrupting this country, by increasing military spending by trillions and destroying the social safety net, while raising taxes on the poor and middle class while the richest and corporations would receive huge tax cuts, did the MSM do the math and call them out?
Hardly. On these and many other issues, they stood by and listened to one group of people say that the Earth is empirically spheroid, another that the Earth is flat, and then effectively said “There appears to be some disagreement about the shape of our planet.”
They have allowed too many people to be entitled to not only their own opinions but “their own facts.”
This is where we are.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
From the man whose name is a by-word for “character” and “leadership” in the Beltway
daveweigel @ daveweigel 23h23 hours ago
but remember the time he back-pedaled from that crazy lady at a town-hall ?
Germy
@p.a.: I’d like to frame your comment and hang it over my fireplace. I’d like to hire a skywriter to spell it over every red state in the U.S.
Brendan in Charlotte
@Percysowner: Unless the immediate response was “Well, Tony – you’ve got experience in that area. You’re in a job that’s far too advanced for you.” it was wasted.
Paul in KY
@JPL: Too bad Pres. Obama didn’t go to West Texas State instead of Harvard…might have amounted to something.
Roger Moore
@Frankensteinbeck:
And that we’d all become as racist as they are because of who it was doing the mugging. That was the part of the dog whistle I always missed.
maya
@BGinCHI:
And the Rehnquist frilly cuffs of conservatism: Are they not soiled by the snot of the malignant narcissist?
MattF
So, suppose a brown-skinned wannabe terrorist is at the border and is asked “Are you Muslim?” and… says “No”. What do you do? I suggest a polygraph test and a gun to the head. If he/she fails the test, bang. Simple.
Frankensteinbeck
@Roger Moore:
I only got that part, like, a year ago. There was a whole lot of subtext in that nasty little sentence.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Trump too racist for Bibi
In other quite possible news, Charles Krauthammer declares Bibi the new Neville Chamberlain.
JPL
@MattF: Please don’t give Trump any ideas.
It’s been a long time since a Supreme Court justice expressed such a racist attitude. I know this was the norm decades ago but Scalia’s statements really make me ill. He definitely would have benefited from a slower track.
catclub
The next level of nominative determinism. New Navy Ship is launched. Notice anything?
cmorenc
@Redshift:
No, the key part Kristol might have wrong is that the mud and dust Trump is dragging conservatism through are unattractive to the portion of the electorate inclined to support the GOP and conservatism. It’s a feature, not a bug, though Kristol thinks it the latter.
dedc79
Pushing past the complete lack of self awareness, I do think Kristol’s expressed horror/fear of a Trump presidency is genuine. I’d guess that if forced to choose between Trump and Hillary, Kristol would choose Hillary in a heartbeat.
Amir Khalid
@catclub:
Is the captain’s middle name Tiberius, by any chance?
MattF
@JPL: On the contrary, I think the obvious consequences of Trump’s proposal need to be made explicit. How do you enforce his policy with people who are not inclined to cooperate?
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
Why don’t I have permission to edit my comment?
ETA: All I wanted to add was that James Kirk must have taken a lifetime of teasing about his name, from well before he joined the Navy.
Mike in NC
Guessing that a Trump/Kristol 2016 ticket would attract a minimum of 27% of the electorate.
p.a.
@Germy: Let me get the copywrite. I’m not greedy, use fee will be minimal, but I can use the cash. Maybe some of the $ will go to the incessant prog fundraisers clogging my email (all I currently do is sign and forward petitions, and they’re making me regret that). I do the monthly tithing to PP, AI and ACLU, but it’s NEVER ENOUGH. They make me furious and guilty at the same time. Why does doing good make me miserable?! ;-P
JPL
@Mike in NC: That’s the minimum. I’m afraid at this point what the maximum would be.
p.a.
@maya:
Anti-Semite POS
SRW1
Apparently, El Trumpo has a yooooooge sad because Angela Merkel stole his nomination as person of the year.
Imagine, people, they coulda gone with a suuuper classy guy like him, and what do they do? They give it to a WOMAN!
Betty Cracker
@PurpleGirl: I read an article on Ginsberg awhile ago that mentioned her friendship with Scalia. They are both opera lovers, as you noted, but Ginsberg’s late husband was a foodie and a great cook, and apparently that was also something they bonded over, shared meals.
I’ve always found their friendship fascinating. I have many loved ones with absolutely appalling views (and they find mine appalling too), but we don’t discuss politics, religion or whatever it is that divides us so profoundly. It’s Ginsberg and Scalia’s JOB to hash out those issues, and they are polar opposites and yet remain friends. Not sure I could do that.
catclub
@p.a.:
Check out the book “Help” by Garrett Keizer.
‘Man was not made to suffer, but in order to get this one to suffer less, somebody else will probably suffer more.’ was one of the points it made.
Botsplainer
Netanyahu said that Derp Fuhrer is wrong on his Muslim ban.
At Frei Republik. He are sure he is a dhimmi supplicant…
catclub
@Amir Khalid: I figure a Capt in USN is about 45, so born in 1969 or so.
Star Trek ran 65-67?
The Republic of Stupity
@SRW1: And a foreigner at that…
dedc79
@Betty Cracker: My cynical view would be that it shows how removed both of them must be from the real-world consequences of their actions/votes.
I happened to be flying into and out of Hartford for work a year or so ago and Scalia was on both of my flights. He was allowed to pre-board both flights with his own security detail, and by the time I got onto the plane he was comfortably in first class, eyes shut, big headphones on his ears and smug grin on his face. This was just days after the court further dismantled campaign finance reform. It occurred to me that this was a great symbol of how he must go through life. I found myself wishing I had a roll of quarters to chuck at his head.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Living where I do, my amount of friends would be small, if I limited it to agreement on politics. The one thing I can’t handle though, is someone who things skin color defines a person.
Botsplainer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Krauthammer came out against Trump.
NotMax
@catclub
’66 – ’69.
Amir Khalid
@catclub:
I wonder why he didn’t hold out for the captain’s spot on the USS Enterprise. The US Navy’s ship of that name was mentioned in Star Trek IV.
Botsplainer
@dedc79:
That’s what a clumsily handled carryon bag is for. “Oops, sorry”.
Bill Arnold
@cmorenc:
He’s wrong when he makes predictions (or right, if you invert the prediction). Simple statements about current reality are sometimes correct.
philpm
@MattF: It all depends on the context of if it is something Bill agrees with. That’s the only line.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
I’m sure he did. And I bet 99% of the people who joked about his name thought they were being witty and saying something he had never heard before; at least that’s how it happens when people joke about my name.
raven
@catclub:
raven
@NotMax: Something abut those years. . .
p.a.
@dedc79:
Individually or as a roll? I’d go roll. Maybe use the drop down tray to play frisbee with his fat head.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
Because the Enterprise is inactive, so being her skipper is not a good career move. ETA: It’s in the process of being decommissioned, so it will be officially out of the service soon.
Steve in the ATL
@JPL:
Irish and Italian are considered white now? Not at my country club!
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
I did not know that. I guess it’s just as well; if the Enterprise were active and a Captain Kirk became its commanding officer, the teasing would have been exponentially worse.
jl
@Botsplainer: Netanyahu is smarter than Trump. He knows what not to say too loudly.
I still find it hard to believe that the Muslim panic is a real thing, because I don’t see it being much different from other home grown mass shooting attacks. Evidence I heard on this morning’s news was that the gunman was radicalized and contemplating an attack before he met his future wife. And I have no problem with investigations into where he got the loan, and if he was traveling in like minded circles, and may be a lead to more people like him.
My questions to the Muslim-panicked are:
Why don’t we have similar thorough investigations and extensive policy reviews when a bitter reactionay white guy shoots some people (or assassinates some random cops siting down for lunch break), or similiar horde of guns and ammos is found in a white cracker’s house? Or some mentally disturbed kid shoots up some people?
Name the plots that were conceived, planned and conducted by a refugee or short term visitors (yeah, sure, there was 911. But we got wind of that plot coming down beforehand, and the same type of fools yelling so loud now blew off the intelligence on that one)?
Can we think of a better propaganda win for Daesh than declaring, implicitly or explicitly, a war with Musilims? Or than declaring that group so dangerous and scary, we will try to keep them out until the ‘war is over’ or ‘we got them figured out’?
How many different types of bogeypeople per month do Trump and Fox News have to parade out in front of the country before people get wise to their game?
Edit: Trump was more on the mark when he said we have to watch mosques for homegrown terrorists. I can at least see the reasoning behind that the is consistent with fact that vast majority of attacks are from long term residents and native born people. But of course, that approach is very wrong, very stupid and very counterproductive.
But I wonder how long it will be before wingnuts and cynical manipulators come back to that idea.
dedc79
@p.a.: I was thinking a whole roll for a single painful shot to the forehead.
@Botsplainer: Alas, it was one of those small planes where they made all the plebes like me gate check our bags.
liberal
Would it be considered uncool or cheesy to tell Muslim acquaintances and coworkers that we stand with them an against fascism?
p.a.
@Steve in the ATL:
I tried discussing the changing definition of whitness at a Family Holiday Torture Meal tm.(h/t Eat Drink Man Woman) Might as well read Shakespeare to the birds at my feeder.
raven
@dedc79: It’s better in a sock.
delk
White House: No quota, but priority for LGBT Syrian refugees
? Martin
@Amir Khalid: Carrier command is pretty much the top of the stack. Good Mr. Kirk has to earn his way there yet.
WereBear
@jl: I think it is a basic problem of them knowing lots of cranky old white guys, none of whom have shot them, yet.
While skeery Others are the explanation for everything.
raven
@p.a.: Blowing air into that duck was awesome!
jl
@liberal: I don’t really think its fascism. Josh Marshall at TPM blog is trying to parse what kind of fascism the Trump phenom is, and has decided it is the original Italian Mussolini brew from the 1920s.
I think it is really cowardly ignorant bigoted racist xenophobic BS.
If there are no additional attacks that can be traced to al Qaeda or Daesh, another bogyperson will be rolled out when this frenzy subsides.
But,it is very important to fight against cowardly ignorant bigoted racist xenophobic BS too. That can be just as dangerous as anything else.
Paul in KY
@dedc79: Wouldn’t be too sure of that. He’s probably got his primary marching orders & he’s throwing the anti-Trump stuff out there.
However, in the general, he’ll come up with some reason to support Der Donald: “Well…the trains will run on time & I really like my new TrumpenKommando outfit…So…’
Botsplainer
@liberal:
Probably not. I’m pretty vocal – we have two lawyers and two support staffers; they seem to appreciate expressions that we got their back.
One of the lawyers, a lovely woman, came to this country as a Muslim refugee from Sarajevo, where Christians were killing.
? Martin
@srv: Man, it is astonishing how slow we are at building shit.
Roger Moore
@Amir Khalid:
There’s probably also some issue about his background. My understanding is that officers tend to get tracked into one kind of vessel, so that, for example, somebody with a background in submarines usually won’t be assigned to command a carrier. My assumption is that Captain Kirk has a background in surface ships (frigates, destroyers, and cruisers) rather than carriers, so he was never going to get the command of the Enterprise, anyway.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: Would be teasing from people higher in rank and/or other O-6s not under his command.
Sorta narrows it down a bit.
The Golux
@Anoniminous:
Why can you never lay your hands on a good aneurysm when you need one?
Paul in KY
@Roger Moore: Generally, they put someone who was a pilot as commander of a carrier. He/she will have had ship commanding in background too, but usually they are/were an aviator too.
Hal
Two radio DJs on my areas local station were talking this morning about Trump. All about how some of his ideas are common sense, but the issue is the way he says some of the things he says. I’ve heard this from people on Facebook as well, and I’m am completely perplexed. What is it trump says that’s acceptable, regardless of the way he says it? I think it says volumes about a person who likes Trump and just thinks the issue is his delivery.
dedc79
@Paul in KY: Hillary is far from his ideal choice from a foreign policy perspective, but she’s at least a known quantity for him. He’s at least thinking she’ll be “better” than Obama.
Not only is it impossible to predict what Trump’s FP will look like (other than that it will probably be disastrous), but there’s little to suggest that Trump is willing to take advice from anyone, let alone from Kristol.
catclub
@jl:
When will Emmanuel Goldstein get his turn?
catclub
@Paul in KY: Yeah, I figure there are about 9500 people on an aircraft carrier who don’t tease the Captain.
catclub
@Hal:
I suspect that whatever he says that is acceptable ( I’ll make America great again) has no meaning, and whatever he says that has meaning ( those you know) are unacceptable.
Botsplainer
@Hal:
Trump keeps pushing the envelope. Little by little, he’s proving that conservatives are exactly what the left always said they were, feeble protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.
So yes, he’s mainstreaming it again, but unintentionally peeling off the veneer of respectability.
p.a.
@raven: You’re really setting us up for some comments. :-) Best explain you’re talking about a kitchen movie scene! I liked the crepes scene. Unfortunate way to dispatch fish in that movie.
Amir Khalid
@? Martin:
In the US Navy’s defence, its aircraft carriers are the most complicated big ships in the world. I think only oil tankers and those superhuge container cargo ships are bigger, and neither type of ship has to serve as a floating airport.
MomSense
@Percysowner:
No. Just no. The man is a menace.
Just One More Canuck
@Roger Moore: At least his last name isn’t Crunch
jl
@catclub: Seems like when I see news of some dangerous nonsense issued by the overtly racist followers of GOP dogwhistles and Trumpismo, a certain group always gets mentioned along with the current bogeyperson. I guess it is unpolitic and impolite to give them top billing these days.
No question in my mind that regardless of what villain of the day you start with, LGBT, Mexican immigrants, Hispanics, uppity BLM protesters, Syrian refugees, Muslims in general, if you get some wise idea started on any one of them, the list and number of wise ideas will start to grow pretty fast.
D58826
I never thought I would say this but Trump might not be the most crazy one out there. According to the Austin newspaper, a group called Come and take it Texas is planning ‘the open carry walk and and crisis performance event’ on the UT campus. Among other events there will be a mock mass shooting in which actors using fake guns will shoot other actors using fake blood. They are protesting that the UT campus is a gun free zone. The new law allowing concealed weapons on campus doesn’t take effect until Aug. 1, 2016 which by some grizzly coincidence is the same date that Charles Whitman shot 43 people from the campus bell tower.
Beyond words if it is true and not simply a bunch of clowns trolling the rest of us
NotMax
Judge doesn’t mince words.
‘Evil’ Georgia woman gets 190 years in jail for abusing adopted daughter and locking her in chicken coop
Hoodie
The second reason I’ve come to loathe Trump: He’s soiling the robe of conservatism and dragging it through the dust, which makes us much less presentable to the sheep we want to fuck.
Paul in KY
@dedc79: Trump’s FP (God forbid that he ever gets one) sounds bellicose. Think Kristol Meth likes that.
Jeffro
Heck check it out, the GOP is now the party of civil liberties!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-no-fly-list-guns
How exciting! I can’t wait to see a big surge in donations to the ACLU!!
PurpleGirl
@D58826: When I began reading your comment I was thinking “but is there a connection to the bell tower sniper.” Investigation Discovery just broadcast a show on Charles Whitman. {Shaking my head at the idiocy of it all.}
Percysowner
@PurpleGirl: There is very little that would have me calling someone a friend if he was spouting racist tripe, no matter how many interests we have in common. I’m just hoping that the idea that they are BFFs is exaggerated and all that happens is they discuss opera, because you do need to talk with your colleagues at work.
Elie
The appropriate verdict for Trump and the others will come at the ballot box — not before. The citizens of his party will decide the primaries . No matter what possum head thinks, its the citizens who will do the “decidin”. If they smack him down, he aint gonna do shit about it except slink off, despite threats to the contrary. If he loses the primaries, and goes all third party, all he will be doing is for sure running to lose again. Tissue paper thin skinned narcissists like him just can’t take that kind of punishment. I know, I know, everyone thinks he is just going to shine in state by state run downs, but like they say, lets play the game and see. Talk is entertaining but cheap.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: I have a friend who was commanding officer of a USN ship. That’s the type of person with whom you have to be very careful about “teasing.” They are accustomed, mostly, to hearing “yes, sir.”
Amir Khalid
@D58826:
I wonder what these people will say after the campus’ first student-on-student shooting, or its first gun suicide in a professor’s office.
jl
That any of the current GOPers, Trump or other, will probably get more than 40 percent of vote in general election makes me nervous, But on the other hand, fact that Trump trumpets what GOP sages wisely know to only imply and hint at does cause the party problems.
Two-thirds of GOP primary voters support Trump proposal to ban Muslims entrance to US. Among general voters, 18 percent say that proposal will make them more likely to vote for Trump, while 33 percent say it will make them less likely. And 44 percent said it will make no difference, and I hope for most of those it will make no difference because they would not vote for him anyway.
Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Likely GOP Voters Back Trump’s Muslim Ban
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/trump-muslim-ban-voter-support
p.a.
sigh
lamh36
Showing big protest in downtown Chi-Town on MSNBC now.
I see Rahm issues a “I’m sorry” to council board…yeah…right.
I now more than ever believe that someone in Rahm’s camp saw that tape and did all they could to keep it from getting out before Rahm’s re-election.
liberal
@jl: It’s an interesting question. I’ve mainly been following billmon1 at Twitter on this; he makes pretty convincing arguments that Trump (or his program) is fascistic.
Paul in KY
@srv: Think you are correct on that, so the ‘captain’ would not necessarily have any aviator experience. The CAG would be that guy/gal.
Peale
@Amir Khalid: He had it coming. He had it coming. He only had himself to blame.
liberal
@D58826:
Well, clearly he’s not the craziest, but he might be if we limit it to people of wide influence.
Re guns, some blog (eschaton?) linked to some east TX newspaper talking about some local sheriff encouraging everyone to be ready with their guns. The comment section was amazing. One woman boasted that she packed heat when she walked out to her mailbox. These people are f*cking deranged.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@Amir Khalid: The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise was just scaped last year. I gather the show took it’s name from the carrier since the carrier was bit of a break threw with nuclear power and all that.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: If the professor had a gun, he coulda stopped that suicide…
D58826
The profit motive is truly wonderful. Richard Engel of MSNBC just had a special report about the sale of forged US passports. Now that passports are stolen and forged isn’t exactly new but its the process that was jaw dropping. For about 5k (US) you can obtain a forged US passport using a real stolen passport. The amazing thing is that it doesn’t stop there. The forgoer will provide plane or train tickets, contact names of facilitators along the way, money for payoffs and when you are done with the passport a return address to get your deposit back. Amazing
? Martin
@Amir Khalid: No, I agree. However, part of the mission is to be able to respond. If it takes you longer to build an asset than the war lasts, doesn’t much help you, does it? I agree they are complicated – floating nuclear reactor, small city, airport, all that. But many of these aspects are independent of each other. The nuclear reactor aspect of the vessel is largely independent of the others and most of it is built independently and on a well proven platform. It would seem to me a good use of those defense dollars to invest in ways to speed the pace of construction – that should both reduce the cost to manufacture and allow us to reduce the amount of overlap. It would carry benefits to the rest of the US economy as well.
D58826
@Enhanced Voting Techinques: There have been US Naval vessels bearing the name Enterprise back to the Revolutionary war. The BIG E was one of the most decorated carriers in WWII. She was at sea delivering war planes to Wake Island on Dec. 7th. Her battle group was a key part of the battle of Midway.
Amir Khalid
@Enhanced Voting Techinques:
The US Navy has been naming ships the Enterprise for centuries, hasn’t it? I think Wikipedia says there have been eight of them, and the next Enterprise will be the third carrier of that name.
ETA: D58826 just beat me to it.
WereBear
I so wish someone would do a little exploring inside of those heads, but of course, explanations are verboten.
But there has got to be something wrong with someone who thinks that way.
? Martin
@D58826: Someone with an airsoft sniper rifle could make a real mockery of that mockery from the top of UT Tower.
Mike J
@lamh36: I think there have already been some changes because of the cover up. Seattle cops shot a guy the other day and released all the cam footage within a few hours.If the footage doesn’t come out immediately, people are going to think the cops are hiding something
p.a.
@liberal: damn. Who was the blogger from the Seattle area who dealt with issues of nativism, aryan groups etc? Wrote a book on internment. David Niewart? He would have insight into Trumpism.
? Martin
@WereBear: They’re just cowards. Just complete chickenshit quivering cowards. Call them that at every opportunity – shame them. They think they’re powerful and that you should fear them but they’re just pathetic losers.
liberal
@Mike J: My brother said the chase went past his house, at the stage where the carjacker was starting to fire shots from his moving vehicle. He didn’t hear them but he definitely heard the chase.
Mike J
@p.a.: He had a long post the other day.
dedc79
Today’s quote of the day comes from Erick Erickson’s mom:
liberal
@p.a.: [deleted since Mike J already posted]
lamh36
@MotherJones
Justice Scalia suggests blacks belong at “slower” colleges
sharl
Just because the Good Ones should not be forgotten: from that guy who called himself “The Editors”,
~
Watching one privileged punk attack another provides only limited solace, alas. And unfortunately neither will ever have to sleep on the floor, though others certainly will by virtue of their actions (certainly true in the case of Kristol, at least).
beltane
@p.a.: Dave Neiwert is still blogging at Orcinus, though I think he was on hiatus for a while. His most recent post is a lengthy analysis of the Trump phenomenon.
Mike in NC
What’s known as a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in the US Army is called a “designator” in the Navy: Submarines, Surface Warfare, Aviation, Supply Corps, JAG, Dental, etc. and the career path is fairly straightforward, i.e. surface warfare types don’t serve on submarines, and vice versa. Since WW2 most commanding officers of aircraft carriers have been qualified naval aviators.
Repatriated
@D58826: I’m imagining a counter-troll event. While they’re doing their play-acting stunt, have someone with a videocamera-equipped cardboard gun (use a cellphone for the camera) slip in and yell “bang bang bang” while simulating shooting. Then go over the video and count how many people they “killed” before being stopped by the cardboard-packing vigilantes (if they even are). They’ll be looking for their friends playing simulated bad guys, not strangers, so it should be easy to surprise them.
Not practical or safe to try really, though.
max
@jl: I don’t really think its fascism. Josh Marshall at TPM blog is trying to parse what kind of fascism the Trump phenom is, and has decided it is the original Italian Mussolini brew from the 1920s.
And I just wrote a long, ridiculously rambling email about it.
Trump’s doing a CNBC style of Sinclair Lewis’s version of Huey Long:
Trump’s an American bullshitter, not an Italian megalomaniac or a German obsessive.
max
[‘And he fits in so well on Fox. And Limbaugh. And CNN, even.’]
Tim C.
So I don’t think this exists, but for this kind of situation, what’s needed is a GIF. Something where Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons is doing a kind of Dragonball Z lightning powerup that ends with a giant nuclear explosion style “HA HA” that spreads like a blast wave over the planet, combined with some stock footage of Kristol falling down a flight of stairs Gerald Ford style.
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
So that guy on the show JAG, the one who looked like Herman Munster, wouldn’t in real life have started out as an F-14 pilot and wound up working for the Judge Advocate General?
Felonius Monk
@lamh36:
And I suggest that Justice (and I use the term loosely) Scalia belongs in a slower court. Perhaps as Justice of the Peace in Bumfuck Alabama. He would probably feel right at home.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@WereBear:
My internet diagnosis is Paranoid Personality Disorder.
LauraPDX
@Paul in KY: Carrier COs these days almost always come from the aviation community, either pilot or NFO. They’ve served as a squadron CO, then may move to an air ops position, CAG, or shore command. After that it’s command of of two “out of type” vessels, one deep draft, before being given command of a carrier. So, Capt. Kirk could be on the path to carrier command. And, his nickname may very well be “Tiberius.”
jl
@max: I heard part of an interview with Trump this morning. Trump takes pains to paint himself as a very tolerant, non-bigoted person. He loves ‘the blacks’, Hispanics, Muslims, Arabs, he has very very close friends, fantastic smart good people all them, among those groups. Trump says he is a pragmatic guy, and he is very sorry and feels bad that any measures that could be falsely construed as discriminatory need to be even considered. It hurts him (maybe even more than it hurts others?).
Anyway, sounds more like Putin, who needs to disguise authoritarianism as sadly necessary, temporary, pragmatic measures to preserve pluralistic democracy. Not sure that is very comforting. Life under the Latin American authoritarian generals was pretty miserable, and they did immense damage to their countries in many ways. I don’t think any of those are, or were, fascists following the Mussolini or German Nazi mold.
Amir Khalid
@LauraPDX:
NFO= naval flight ops, right?
lamh36
Scapegoat
@Shlemazel:
Well done…
jl
@lamh36: Should do a similar investigation and policy review for Dear, just like the one for the San Bernardino shooter.
Gosh, I wonder where that one would lead? Would cause similar difficult questions about Constitution and civil liberties, since some of the inspiration lies in the GOP presidential contestant field, and some personalities on Fox News.
The Other Chuck
The “robe of conservatism” is the Emperor’s new clothes. The filth you’re seeing is the wearer.
(Looks like I was beaten to it in #7 … I oughta read the comments first)
b1narys3rf
friendswholiketrump.com
Only one person eliminated from my friends list when using that while logged into Facebook. And I’m not surprised who it was. Others may choose to stick it out and will just have to endure the pain in their stomachs and/or hearts.
lamh36
Joe Biden: I Made ‘the Right Decision’
LauraPDX
@Amir Khalid: Naval Flight Officer, the person in the back or right seat
Germy
one of the LGM front pagers got scolded for playing the Hamilton soundtrack too loud.
Amir Khalid
@LauraPDX:
Thanks. My only knowledge of US Navy aviation is all from a certain 1980s movie. You know the one I mean.
lamh36
On the subject of Scalia, I’m inclined to agree with Keith Boykin
Mnemosyne (tablet)
I missed this when it happened back in October, people started posting this SNL clip of Michael Che on the Constitution.
Slightly paraphrased, but, The Constitution is kind of like your grandfather — you love him and you know he means well, but after a while you have to start talking about what you need to do about him.
ThresherK (GPad)
@D58826: Sounds like little bits of Casablanca, The Third Man, and Other Murky Espionage Story rolled into a ball. Except we’re not in a state of war or the following anarchic turmoil
Peale
@lamh36: We really can’t know for sure what he’s talking about. Clearly the voice of a deranged transsexual.
RaflW
I have only one thing to add: Choot-spa.
J R in WV
Pretty amazing that the most advanced ship in the USN will be Captained by James Kirk.
When I showed her a video of the DDG 1000 USS Zumwalt at sea for the first time, Mrs J thought it was a submarine. She’s seen a lot of ships, too.
It can lower itself deeper into the sea to stabilize as a long range gun platform, as well. Rail guns, lasers etc. Shame they blew so much money on the first one they built.
Peale
@jl: Trump: Closer to the philosopher king Pinochet than to departed martyr Somoza! The ads write themselves.
Roger Moore
@srv:
The captain may do the driving, but a quick look at the historical captains of the Enterprise (CVN-65, that is) says that they are almost exclusively former pilots anyway. Also, FWIW, neither the captain nor the CAG is really in charge; there is always going to be an admiral commanding the carrier battle group who will put his flag on the carrier and give orders to both of them.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
Sure, but there isn’t any war to put time pressure on, so things tend to drag on. The underlying problem is that the whole thing is much more an attempt to provide welfare to the MIC than it is a serious attempt at buying military equipment; it’s the same thing with other bloated, incredibly slow programs like the F-35. We don’t really need them, but we keep buying them- very slowly and wastefully- to maintain the capability to design and build things like them in the event a new cold war breaks out.
D58826
@ThresherK (GPad): Yep but I did think the refundable deposit was a nice customer friendly touch.
Scapegoat
@Percysowner: Did Scalia proudly offer up his toady, Clarence Thomas, as Exhibit A in support of the Amicus Brief?
(ETA: I see lam36 beat me to it!)
sharl
@J R in WV: There are always those contract cost overruns, that happen because of…y’know, reasons.
Docg
I feel badly that the robe of conservatism got drug through the dirt. I hope the mask and the pointy hat are ok.
Roger Moore
@LauraPDX:
Apparently not. According to his bio, he’s a career surface ship guy. That makes sense to me. The Zumwalt is supposed to be a groundbreaking new class of ship, and that means it’s going to be a real learning experience, even for people with a history in surface ships. It makes sense to put an experienced surface ship commander in charge, since he’ll be able to deal with unexpected teething problems better than somebody with less experience and he’ll keep his knowledge within the surface ship community. If you’re giving an aviator command of a surface ship so he can get some experience as a captain, you’d put him on an established ship where his inexperience can be compensated for by an experienced crew.
p.a.
@beltane: Thanks. Used to have Orcinus bookmarked, then he took a long hiatus an he got cut during one of my culls.
Roger Moore
@Roger Moore:
Addendum: the reasons I gave there are purely practical ones. There’s also the whole bureaucratic infighting side of things. Command of the first from a whole new class of ship is a prestige post, and the surface ship types aren’t going to want to give it to somebody from outside their community. That’s especially true because they’re less prestigious in general than the carrier and sub people, so prestige assignments are correspondingly rare. My guess is that Capt. Kirk is considered a rising star of the surface ship group, and this is his chance to shine and guarantee continued promotion to flag rank.
LauraPDX
@Roger Moore: I agree with this, especially after reading more about the USS Zumwalt. I missed all that the first time around.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: There’s a new carrier called Enterprise planned for construction, but it won’t be in service until 2025 at the earliest.
Matt McIrvin
@J R in WV: I was reminded of a Civil-War-era ironclad.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: He might have if he had stopped flying for some reason (and had a law degree).
If you get grounded for a medical reason, you have to do something else, or resign.
Paul in KY
@LauraPDX: Glad to know I was more right than I though!
Paul in KY
@J R in WV: It was either rail guns or the special undercoat, with curb feelers.