Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“woke” is the new caravan.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Let there be snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The revolution will be supervised.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Let’s finish the job.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

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

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

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

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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53Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    Any noticeable desire for stainless appliances, a home office and a kitchen that’s just perfect for entertaining?

    ETA, all on a budget of two 20-somethings who could not possibly afford that $750K mortgage?

  4. 4.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    I’ll just leave this here. Reuters:

    Exclusive: Republican politicians jumped the gun on terrorism suspect’s arrest – sources

    WASHINGTON | BY MARK HOSENBALL AND JULIA HARTE

    Two Texas politicians made public details of an investigation into a terrorism suspect while it was still in progress, potentially jeopardizing the inquiry, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released details from documents that were still under court seal, the sources said. A spokesman for Governor Abbott had no immediate comment. Patrick’s office was not available for comment.

    The suspect, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, appeared in court on Friday accused of providing material support to Islamic State overseas. He entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009 and lived in Houston, according to a court document.

    Abbott and Patrick are both Republicans and their party has been fiercely resisting Democratic President Barack Obama’s plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country over the next year, arguing that they pose a security risk to the United States. The Obama administration has rejected that assertion.

    One of the sources said investigators believe Abbott and Patrick may have learned confidential details of the investigation from the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Texas. The group’s members include local and state law enforcement officers. There was no immediate comment from the task force.

    The sources said the politicians’ statements on Thursday night disclosing a terrorism suspect’s arrest forced federal authorities to wrap up their inquiries and rush out public statements and court papers on the case earlier than planned.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    Nothing says “I’ll Keep You Safe!” like jeopardizing effective prosecution via political grandstanding.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    mclaren

    Ted Cruz’s problems just exponentiated.

    TPM just found out Tailgunner Ted’s mom’s name was on an official list of Canadian citizens eligible to vote.

    So if Ted’s dad was a Cuban citizen, and his mom was a Canadian citizen, that makes him a natural-born U.S. citizen…how, exactly?

    For years, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) has been dogged by a backburner controversy about whether he is eligible to serve as President since he was born in Calgary, Alberta Canada in 1970. But since Cruz’s mother was an American citizen, the place of his birth actually is irrelevant to his eligibility.

    Yet Cruz’s mother’s name appears on Canadian government document obtained by TPM in 2013 that lists Canadian citizens eligible to vote in 1974.

    TPM shared an electronic copy of the document with Sen. Cruz’s office when it originally obtained the document in 2013. Cruz’s then-communications director, Sean Rushton, emphasized that the document is not a record of people who actually voted in any election. He further pointed out that the document itself provides notice that “applications for corrections,” “deletions from,” and “additions to” the list may have been necessary.

    Of course Tailgunner Ted and his chums claim his mom was never a Canadian citizen. Despite this new evidence? Ohhhhhhhh-kay…so now we have to ignore yet more evidence to believe Ted.

    I’d say Ted’s prospects are going south fast. But YMMV.

  11. 11.

    Davebo

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    Sadly not surprising of either of those two. Getting stuck with Abbot (lawsuits for me but not for thee) is bad enough but Dan Fucking Patrick holds the most powerful position in the state government. Nice gig for a fired sportscaster, failed restauranteur and the guy who finally succeeded by airing Limbaugh.

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mclaren: His mother was born in Delaware in 1934. He has already produced her birth certificate. He was born in 1970. This voter roll is from 1974. Unless someone can produce a Canadian naturalization document indicating she was granted Canadian citizenship prior to his birth in 1970, this is all just sauce for the goose fun because we’ve had to watch eight years of President Obama being subjected to it.

    In short there’s no there there.

  13. 13.

    mclaren

    Great article by Berkeley economics prof Brad deLong on Huffington Post — Future Economists Will Probably Call This Decade the ‘Longest Depression.’

    What we need now is 1) debt relief to unwind the overhang and 2) much tighter financial regulation to prevent the growth of new fragilities. And if those prove inconsistent with full recovery, then we need massive government spending on infrastructure and other investments financed by money printing until full employment is reattained.

    The second task will be one of political organization. For until politicians, finance ministry technocrats and central bankers feel under pressure to respond to and in fact internalize the diagnoses of Stiglitz, Eichengreen, Wolf and others, our problems will remain, as Stiglitz puts it, “not rooted in economics, but in politics and ideology.”

    And it is only after those ideological and political blockages have been removed that the tasks of economic policy — and then of shifting policy to deal with the new problems that arise as consequences of fixing our current economic policies — can be seriously begun.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @mclaren: He is absolutely correct. He’s also been banging this drum very loudly for the better part of the last eight years.

  17. 17.

    magurakurin

    So, Martin O’Malley’s campaign is going to end with a whine not a whimper. He’s crying because he might be kept off the stage at the next debate. Damn, dude. You didn’t even get on the ballot in Ohio. I’d say that pretty much disqualifies you as a serious candidate for the nominee. Just go home already.

  18. 18.

    Suzanne

    I can’t watch HGTV very much anymore. I either hate the homeowners for being entitled shits, or I hate the designers. The dumbass on “Love It or List It” who cannot determine what is a structural wall before trying to knock it down makes me crazy. And it makes me nuts how people watch this shit and then think they can do my job and that construction will be done in two weeks. And every housewife thinks that they are an interior designer now. GOD, IT’S THE WORST.

  19. 19.

    mzrad

    Hi @Johngcole. Thanks for the photo of Steve the Great. I liked the post o’ the year from your site that was recognized by Digby: right on the money.

    Because I have enjoyed reading so many posts on your site, I wanted to invite you over to read a few on my site, CentralCoastFoodie.com. Maybe make you feel better? After the stupid budget crisis ate my university teaching job (writing & literature plus a wine course with the Ag program at Cal Poly), I poured myself into developing a sustainable food and drink blog and index about the California coast region from Santa Cruz to Ventura, with my perspective as a Midwestern escapee in love with delicious. We present information that is 85% positive and 15% serious about the US food system. Given your foodie leanings, perhaps you might find something interesting at our site. I’ve been working on my site for 5+ years and enjoy luring people into a healthier, more delightful diet. Could you give us/me a list of your top 2-4 meals that are 1) fast, 2) healthy, and 3) easy that also appeal to your frat bros and family? Thanks! Good luck with the grumps and keep up the good work!

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    @Corner Stone: I watched an episode in which this princess convinced her husband to buy her a million-dollar beach house in Manhattan Beach. It was a dump and required extensive renovation and expansion, and he wanted a much nicer, newer, bigger home for half the price just five miles away. He conceded and said, “Happy wife, happy life”. I hated them both so much and I hope they get a divorce.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chopper: I’m on militia duty this week, not closet theocratic extremist kinship chart duty. I think you need to check with Cole for the duty roster.

  26. 26.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Adam L Silverman: Forgive me if I want our press corpse to do as half-assed a job countermanding Cruz’s birth
    Iffiness as they did with Obama’s before finally saying “there’s no scandal there”.

    I want several pounds of flesh delivered by our feckless assholes in the media, simply by Cokie’s Law of “It’s out there!” bullshit keeping this alive for months.

  32. 32.

    Rashi

    Don’t understand the rave reviews for Spotlight, a pretty lifeless docupic. (I’d say docudrama but it was dramaless.) Hillary needs an Aaron.

  37. 37.

    PurpleGirl

    @reality-based (the original, not the troll): I no longer read newspapers so I don’t know if it’s been mentioned in any story. A couple of people here at BJ have mentioned it. And it seems there is nothing written about what was to be used for or if Ammon Bundy has been paying it back.It’s been said he got the SBA loan because he had trouble getting a loan from other sources — banks didn’t like his credit history? Yes, it is maddening.

  38. 38.

    eemom

    Been busy past two days and not felt like writing

    It IS, in fact, grammatically correct, by the simple insert of a “have”. Thank you Cole.

  39. 39.

    who

    The primary conceit of Luther is that English cops are functionally retarded. It may be true. I don’t know, but I don’t actually live there…..and from watching the show, I’m very glad I don’t.

  42. 42.

    eyelessgame

    Wingnuts are going nuts over a Grassley targeted leak about a Clinton email. Stripped of context it sounds … like the sort of thing wingnuts go nuts over, but it’s on CNN and the heads are talking.

  43. 43.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I am the less-ill in my home so I’m womdering why my wife is able,to sleep now and I can’t. Hopefully balanced out the remedies, and pushing liquids. Trying not to ping-pong our illnesses back and forth.

  46. 46.

    Capri

    I have heard that for most episodes of House Hunters, the couple has already bought their house before they “tour” the other two. In the cases where one of the others is nicer in every respect than the house they already own, they have to make up some lame excuse for why they didn’t get it. My favorite was the complaint that the pool was “too big” even though it looked just like the pool in the house they bought.

    My biggest pet peeve is how they introduce capital D DRAMA into shows by inserting some arbitrary deadline. “OMG, the open house is 2 weeks away!” as if you can’t cancel and reschedule open houses with ease.

    One reason I appreciate HGTV shows is that they normalized inter-racial couples and same-sex couples years before anyone else dared touch the subject.

  47. 47.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @fuckwit: What were you planning on doing the rest of the day? Whatever it was, you should now expect a visit from the NSA for that. You gave up the Secret behind the Internet!!11

    :-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    yellowdog

    @Adam L Silverman: Cruz’s citizenship is now being questioned in the emails of 78 year old Republican grandmothers (as a read in a comment recently). Cruz is toast because 78 yo grandmothers are the main social networking arm of the GOP. Once you’ve lost them, Rafael, you’ve lost the game.

  49. 49.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Legal Eagles??!

    Legal Beagles don’t you mean ??

    Cause Eagles are majestic flying beasts , lethal, striking invisibly from above with no warning.

    While Beagles are cute puppies who run very fast with their noses to the ground until they fall over from total exhaustion in the suburbs, or in the wild, chase anything that will run, fly, or otherwise try to escape. Until they fall over from total exhaustion. Much more like Tejas politicians than eagles, if you ask me.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

    Remember that to those strong active men born before you, you will always be a sweet young girl, no matter haw many birthdays you have had!

    And remember that each year you get older, there are that many more strong young men for you to admire, or women, however you roll.

    The nicest thing about getting older is how many more sweet strong admirable youngsters there are out there now! Happy Birthday!!! and many more!

  53. 53.

    mzrad

    @Elizabelle: Thanks! I’m a Midwestern escapee in love with this part of the country. New podcast drops on Tuesday. I like being able to integrate some of my literary studies background into my blog since I’m in charge of it all. Here’s one of my favorite recent posts that might strike a chord with the BJ community: “Los Braceros: The Root of the Gourmet Kitchen”

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