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You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Let there be snark.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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This really is a full service blog.

We still have time to mess this up!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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People are complicated. Love is not.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: TrusTED (to Screw Over His Voters)

Open Thread: TrusTED (to Screw Over His Voters)

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cruz not trusted anderson

(Nick Anderson via GoComics.com)
.

First there was the “voter report card” fraud in Iowa, then the fake fund-raising checks. The Cruz campaign is obviously, publicly comfortable with skating as close to the ethical line as they can get away with. Now the AP is casting some light on Cruz’s data-collecting app… and its beneficiaries:

Protecting the privacy of law-abiding citizens from the government is a pillar of Ted Cruz’s Republican presidential candidacy, but his campaign is testing the limits of siphoning personal data from supporters.

His “Cruz Crew” mobile app is designed to gather detailed information from its users’ phones — tracking their physical movements and mining the names and contact information for friends who might want nothing to do with his campaign.

That information and more is then fed into a vast database containing details about nearly every adult in the United States to build psychological profiles that target individual voters with uncanny accuracy.

Cruz’s sophisticated analytics operation was heralded as key to his victory in Iowa earlier this month — the first proof, his campaign said, that the system has the potential to power him to the nomination…

Data-mining to help candidates win elections has been increasing among both Republicans and Democrats. Mobile apps by other presidential campaigns also collect some information about users. But The Associated Press found the Cruz campaign’s app — downloaded to more than 61,000 devices so far — goes furthest to glean personal data.

The Cruz app prompts supporters to register using their Facebook logins, giving the campaign access to personal information such as name, age range, gender, location and photograph, plus lists of friends and relatives. Those without a Facebook account must either provide an email address or phone number to use the app…

Cruz’s app also transmits to the campaign each user’s physical location whenever the app is active, unless a user declines to allow it. The campaign said it does this “so that we can connect you to other Cruz Crew users based on your particular geographic location.”

The campaign tells users it can share all the personal information it collects with its consultants or other organizations, groups, causes, campaigns or political organizations with similar viewpoints or goals.

It also shares the material with analytics companies. Cruz’s campaign combines the information with data from a group called Cambridge Analytica, which has been involved in his efforts since fall 2014. A Cambridge investor, Robert Mercer, has given more money than anyone else to outside groups supporting Cruz.

Cambridge has a massive 10 terabyte database — enough to fill more than 2,100 DVDs — that contains as many as 5,000 biographical details about the 240 million Americans of voting age. Cambridge considers its methodology highly secretive, but it may include such details as household income, employment status, credit history, party affiliation, church membership and spending habits. Cambridge uses powerful computers and proprietary algorithms to predict Americans’ personality traits…

Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, has been outspoken about protecting Americans’ personal information from the government, including the National Security Agency. “Instead of a government that seizes your emails and your cellphones, imagine a federal government that protected the privacy rights of every American,” he said when announcing his campaign.

Cruz campaign officials say it’s different for the government versus a campaign to collect data. Sickle said Cruz is building on the use of big data pioneered by the successful Democratic campaigns of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

“It’s not like we’re giving it to the NSA,” Sickle said.

A campaign spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, added: “Why wouldn’t we want to use every tool available to us to win?”…

I’m assuming, apart from disingenuous campaign disclaimers, data mining at this granularity would also be very, very valuable to any corporation large enough to pay either Cruz or Cambridge Analytica. But as long as it’s not the nasty, low-minded gubmint getting all up in your psychographics, it’s all good — right, Freedumb luvvers?

Reader Interactions

233Comments

  2. 2.

    MattF

    I think, maybe, there’s a need for a Kickstarter campaign to produce PSAs on how dangerous Cruz is. But then– you’d need another Kickstarter to produce PSAs on how dangerous Trump is. But then…

  6. 6.

    jl

    The Hadoop for Dummies book has a pic of an elephant on the front. With a wind-up key on its back.
    Coincidence?
    I report, you decide.
    This business might go deep, very deep.

  7. 7.

    Turgidson

    Hopefully Tailgunner Ted’s data mining trove has all the times I’ve called him a fucking asshole (or variants thereof) on the intertubes.

  8. 8.

    jl

    @efgoldman:

    Baud should sue Cruz for stealing top secret Baud! 2016! campaign PR tricks.
    But then Trump will sue Baud for stealing Trump! 2016! campaign tricks.
    Edit: and since reports are the Baud! 2016! is dead broke, Trump will have to collect from Cruz.
    Edit2: which Trump will have to wrest from the hands of the class action lawsuit against the Cruz campaign.

    Should make for some fun.

  10. 10.

    satby

    I can see I may need to stay off the tubes for the duration of both the primary and the general or no one will be speaking to me by the end. I’m not afraid of confrontation, but there’s just so much to confront and only one of me!

  12. 12.

    Disgruntled former Baud supporter

    @g: If, FSM forbid, we had a President Cruz (yecchh – I can’t believe I just typed that!), I don’t believe for a second that he wouldn’t use the NSA to keep a very close eye on all of us, and secretly sell the data to the highest bidder (I mean campaign contributor)…

  15. 15.

    gex

    Seems like there’s no contradiction by Cruz or the kinds of people who support him. Anything they hate the government doing to them they are more than happy to let private industry do to them.

  17. 17.

    MattF

    @gex: Cruz believes he is the Chosen One– which puts him beyond ordinary morality. We wag our fingers at him and say “Bad Ted!”, but that’s not going to daunt him. Or should I say Him.

  19. 19.

    Redshift

    But as long as it’s not the nasty, low-minded gubmint getting all up in your psychographics, it’s all good — right, Freedumb luvvers?

    Whether they admit it or not, that is basically the libertarian argument. Evil government invading your privacy is unacceptable, having criminal penalties for not paying taxes is “stealing your money through threats of violence,” but you’ll never need government to protect you from corporations invading your privacy or sending goons to break your kneecaps if you don’t pay them. If you don’t like it, get your own goons.

    Cruz won’t say that, of course, but it’d be nice if someone pointed it out.

  21. 21.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I have never been too terribly concerned about the government having my data (save that they give it away to hackers constantly). That could change if a religious maniac got into office and decided to kill everyone he considered an unbeliever, and could get the entirety of the armed forces to go along with that program, but I consider that fairly unlikely.

    They certainly couldn’t fuck you as hard as, let’s say, your health insurer. Or your mortgage holder. Or your credit card company. Or your employer.

    All the citizens screeching about how government is the enemy are wrong. Corporations are the enemy. They have the power and the money.

  22. 22.

    jl

    @Redshift: If you have no goons, or yours don’t stay bought and turn on you, then you’ve revealed your preference, and would have had paid for better goons, and everything is optimal, and everything is good.

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: but they have it optimally, by definition. Whatever happens in libertarian land always makes sense, that is why they are all so dang smart.

  23. 23.

    Disgruntled former Baud supporter

    @jl: Sorry, just a long time lurker who decided to use his ‘nym to give Baud a hard time. :)

  29. 29.

    FlipYrWhig

    Uh, wasn’t John Cole just praising the Bernie Sanders campaign for how well they were microtargeting him?

  32. 32.

    jl

    @Baud: Some Fuckhead said you were too young to be President.
    Baud Fraud!

    If you are going to win when you are unqualified, you sure have to think of something more interesting than that. Cruz has you beat there too.

    How much free media you get out of being too young?
    What a pathetic campaign.

    Edit: some ideas free of charge. Plant a false death certificate and then when it comes out, claim it is true. Or wipe your ass with it and stuff it in a glory hole next time you’re in a public restroom. Something like that would put you in contention with a pro like Cruz.

    Edit: I can see why you are not in the GOP primary. No way you could compete.

  36. 36.

    Splitting Image

    Jim Gilmore has apparently suspended his campaign.

    This leaves just six candidates in the race, which means things are getting real. Whoever finishes below Ben Carson in South Carolina will be out. Kasich, Bush, and Rubio will all have to work double-time to make sure that this isn’t them.

  37. 37.

    Gimlet

    Open Thread Topic – This might do for the Front Page

    http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/

    Yesterday the DCCC brought back their Red-to-Blue program, almost a decade after Debbie Wasserman Schultz had so damaged its brand by backing 3 Republican pals of hers while she was head of the committee.

    “The DCCC just named Monica Vernon to our Red to Blue program,” he wrote in big bold type, neglecting to mention that Vernon is a “former” Republican, who, along with her husband– still a Republican– have given thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and that she’s running against the former Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, Pat Murphy, a very accomplished progressive.

    “The DCCC’s Red to Blue program supports Democrats running in Republican-leaning districts across the country,” continued the deceptive Luján, who neglected to mention that the district is not a “Republican-leaning district” but one with a D+5 that Obama won both times, in 2008 with 58% and in 2012 with 56%.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    @Splitting Image: Katich and Bush started sniping at each other, which I think makes fourth place in the GOP primary race the most heated contest we’re seeing right now.

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    @Baud:
    How is “soft porn” even a thing? Didn’t a SCOTUS justice maintain he couldn’t define porn but “knows it when he sees it”?

    Russ Meyer approves this message.

  41. 41.

    The Golux

    Cruz needs to branch out, sell some merch using the -Ted suffix:

    ErecTed — boner pills
    UnconstipaTed — stool softener
    DemenTed — a mirror (since all his supporters are)

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    Since is open thread, a quick lesson on “how not to end a drought” from the middle of California:

    Last seven days high temperatures– 62, 65, 70, 75, 73, 71, 71; rainfall–0
    Next five-day forecast– 71, 71, 75, 77, 75

    A message from the Council on Why Your Lettuce Costs So Damn Much.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Uh, wasn’t John Cole just praising the Bernie Sanders campaign for how well they were microtargeting him?

    Targeting him based on information he’d explicitly given them — his address. That seems rather different to me.

    It is also true that the Obama campaign was big into microtargeting, including correlating supporter information with commercial databases they purchased. However, they weren’t asking for broad access to mine your Facebook profile, tracking your location, and they didn’t wholesale hand over the rights to your data to a data mining campaign contributor.

  47. 47.

    Calouste

    Cambridge has a massive 10 terabyte database — enough to fill more than 2,100 DVDs — that contains as many as 5,000 biographical details about the 240 million Americans of voting age.

    I’d estimate that 80% of that data is worthless rubbish, but it sells well to easy to fool marketeers and people like that.

  48. 48.

    bystander

    Am I alone in feeling that if you become a member of the KruzKrew and download the app, you deserve everything you get and more?

  49. 49.

    jl

    @Redshift: IIRC, Sanders campaign knew what cities were near where Cole was when he sent in his contribution.

    Let’s see what happens if Cole gets pitches for Sanders netti pot, kitty litter, and naked mopping campaign gear.

  50. 50.

    Gimlet

    Interesting snippet of news

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/black-caucus-pac-donna-edwards-219214

    The political action committee behind the Congressional Black Caucus passed on endorsing Rep. Donna Edwards in her Maryland Senate primary — a public snub of the African-American lawmaker who has a contentious relationship with many of her colleagues.

    “This result does not come as a surprise given that former congressman-turned lobbyist Al Wynn, whom Donna defeated in a Democratic primary in 2008, is an active member of the PAC board,” said campaign spokesman Benjamin Gerdes.

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    Well I’m doing just great taking only ibuprofen after my root canal today. The worst part was the novacaine and the music. Whoever suggested headphones this morning is brilliant but mine have been pilfered by my kids. Michael Buble really?

    Donated to Hillary’s campaign today because I’m solidly team no fucking Republicans whatever it takes.

    Some friends are coming over for a takeout potluck which is the greatest invention in dinner parties for busy people. Happy Friday everyone.

  53. 53.

    Calouste

    @Splitting Image: I thought Gilmore’s strategy was to wait for all but one of the other candidates to drop out and then cruise to victory as the only non-Trump (or non-Cruz) left in the race.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    @satby:

    Tell me about it. I’m so over the Sanders fans on my FB feed. One (white, male) FB friend of a friend was just sliming John Lewis, saying that he has done more damage to the civil rights movement than anyone ever. It’s sickening. Can’t stand the arrogance of too many of these people.

  57. 57.

    Keith G

    @efgoldman: I hate an issue being made of the past, lawful conduct of someone who is not running for office. This is especially the case if the issue is being voiced by liberals.

    Fvck Pierce (and other liberals) for laughing and pointing at the Buzzfeed (no point in criticizing that shit pile) article.

    “But Teddy is such a moral scold”

    Yes he is, but this is not about that. It is about private individuals being able to seek employment without undue barriers.

    This episode will not damage Ted, but it damn sure will change the hiring practices of agencies shooting political ads. This really stinks.

  58. 58.

    Soylent Green

    The Bundy Ranch Facebook page exhorted all true Patriots to march on downtown Portland today, but their demonstration is a nothingburger. There are about a dozen people standing quietly in front of the federal courthouse holding large American flags (and one Don’t Tread On Me) while office workers pass by disinterestedly. These folks appear to be local Bundy sympathizers, not outside agitators. No one is wearing camo and there are no weapons on display. Michele Fiore was supposed to be presiding but I think she is in a nearby Starbucks reassessing the political optics.

    Yesterday the only protester here was one goofball in the park across the street, blowing his ramhorn vuvuzela.

    I would say that, for now, these cow lovers have been cowed.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @satby:

    I’m still snickering at the fragile flower yesterday who was insisting that calling a guy a “bro” is just as bad as calling a woman the c-word. Uh, yeah, good luck with that.

  60. 60.

    Raven Onthill

    The Obama 2012 campaign a database of every potential voter in the USA. This is sleazier, but still a logical development. Building a database of personal information about, literally, everyone is within the reach of any moderately wealthy person or group, and supporting it with an app like this is entirely legal in the USA. The paranoid nightmare of someone watching has been realized. Not only is someone watching, everyone is watching.

    Shoulda listened to the cipherpunks when they warned us.

    (More here, with links.)

  61. 61.

    Mike in NC

    @Gimlet: But Jim DeMint gave up his senate seat for a gig at Heritage Foundation that probably paid ten times the salary. Cruz will eventually drop out of politics for a similar lucrative deal collecting wingnut welfare for the rest of his life.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    If you have a good dentist or endontist, a root canal isn’t that bad (though you need to keep up the ibuprofen for at least three days). I always wear headphones for dental work (even a filling) because I’m a dental chicken.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    Going to pick up our first fish fry sandwiches, coleslaw and fries of the Lenten fish fry season! The only reason this recovered Catholic still looks forward to Lent.

  68. 68.

    chopper

    @geg6:

    One (white, male) FB friend of a friend was just sliming John Lewis, saying that he has done more damage to the civil rights movement than anyone ever.

    jesus christ inna chicken basket, that’s just sad.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    @WarMunchkin: That ad seems to be getting a lot of buzz. Is it more effective than I think it is? What I remember most from that movie is Gary Cole and Milton Waddams.

  72. 72.

    Keith G

    @efgoldman:

    Well, gee; then why did he pull the ad so quickly

    Because that was the appropriate to prevent a larger issue from being made of it. Things like that further dumbs down our politics and sets precedents for others.

    For me, this issue is part of a larger issue I fought against when I worked with a community nonprofit. Part of our mission was helping folks return to the workforce and one of our challenges was overcoming defensive hiring policies. So, yeah, this woman will be fine, I imagine, but this episode strikes a nerve when I think of the employers that I dealt with who had unnecessarily picky employment screening.

  74. 74.

    WarMunchkin

    @Felonius Monk: I think they call that “TedX”.

    @Jim, Foolish LIteralist: I don’t think it’s effective except among Republicans and BernieBros. I just note how not-so-subtly he’s trying to tie Clinton’s e-mail issue with scary blackness. These folks are so goddamn smarmy.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    Why isn’t the Cruz campaign’s lies about Carson withdrawing from the campaign right before the vote in Iowa included in this post? I think it’s more egregious than the bogus mailers and I think it shows the RNC’s depravity for not protesting these tactics vociferously.

  76. 76.

    geg6

    @efgoldman:

    The best are the local church fish fries. One local church has a large number of congregants of Polish descent. We get the fish there for Friday night and also pick up a bunch of their homemade pierogies for another meal over the weekend. They just melt in your mouth. You bring a container and they fill it up for you. No container, no pierogies. You have to know the local mores to get the most delicious food at church fish fries.

  78. 78.

    Luthe

    Once again, I am ever so glad I never signed up for Facebook.Makes it that much harder for these assholes to data-mine me.

  79. 79.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @satby:

    I feel like Buffy the Bro Slayer. I feel your pain. Invasion of the Body Snatchers comes to mind.

  80. 80.

    Felonius Monk

    @geg6:

    The only reason this recovered Catholic still looks forward to Lent.

    Bless you. Teach a woman to fish and they can eat forever.

  81. 81.

    geg6

    @efgoldman:

    It’s infuriating. I think steam was coming out of my ears when I read the comment. I mentally composed a long screed but chose to refrain and just said that smearing John Lewis wasn’t winning any friends for his candidate.

  82. 82.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    I heard earlier today that Lewis had said he never saw Sanders involved with the civil rights movement. Maybe that comment was a reaction to this?

  83. 83.

    p.a.

    Been an interesting few days of posting by the blogmeister here. When did he declare as a Democrat? Was it before ’04 or after? He seemed at times to realize that the national Democratic Party is a cock-up, but Obama and his people, and Nancy Hammer, have for the most part spoiled us all. It’s just harder I guess on newbies like John compared to us long time suffering Dems who know the true face of the national party resembles Alfred E. Neuman’s.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    @geg6:

    I know I’m fully recovered because I had roast beef for lunch today.

    But, then, I never liked fish, so I always ended up eating vegetarian on Lenten Fridays.

  86. 86.

    jl

    @Felonius Monk:

    ” Where’s the FuckTED sign? Did I miss it? ”

    All of these types of questions will be answered in the new TED Talks, after he takes that over.
    Slightly less exciting than before, since we will always know who will be speaking.
    But they can be micro-targeted to specific demographics to always say what he thinks you’d like to hear.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    Part of the problem is that there’s a photo going around of a crowd of protesters that appears to include both Sanders and Lewis, but the “Sanders” in the photo is a different guy who looked similar at that age. So, because this misleading and misidentified photo is available, Berniebros decided that Lewis was outright lying. Hang on, I’ll come back with the Snopes link.

  88. 88.

    jl

    @p.a.: Needs to be a process whereby Barack, Harry and Nancy can be invoked and their wisdom infused into whatever goofballs are running things for the DNC.

    We need a DNC Parthy Medium.

  92. 92.

    Marc

    @Mnemosyne: Lewis implied that Sanders was lying about being in the civil rights movement. This pissed off his suppoters, because it isn’t correct. Someone can have a distinguished past and be wrong about something. And their past isn’t a shield against criticism.

  94. 94.

    p.a.

    @John PM: You sure you don’t mean brought to you by Vivid Adult Entertainment? (I’m cruddy enough to know about it, but not so cruddy to include a link.)

  95. 95.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    Thanks for that link.

    At the bottom, it says that “even Sanders himself hasn’t claimed he took part in the march.” This is like Swiftboating all over again. Between the rabid Sanders followers and the over-zealous supporters of Clinton, the craziness is getting out of hand.

    To be honest, I found Madeline Albright’s remark incredibly offensive. Steinem’s maybe a bit less. But sadly, I can say both sides do it and I’ll be right. It should all stop.

  96. 96.

    debbie

    @debbie:

    I’ll also say that anyone old enough to remember the Civil Rights era wouldn’t disparage John Lewis. I assume the smears came from young’uns?

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    @Marc:

    Sanders was not at Selma. Full stop. Claiming that Lewis is “lying” when he says he didn’t see Bernie Sanders is itself a lie.

    According to the Sanders campaign, Sanders attended the March on Washington in 1963 and then concentrated on student organizing with the SNCC at the University of Chicago for the next 3 or 4 years, so it’s not surprising that Lewis never heard of him since Lewis was doing different work, like getting the shit beaten out of him on the Edmund Pettis Bridge.

    But, hey, continue to insist that a revered civil rights figure who still bears the scars he got in Selma isn’t giving Bernie enough credit for his student organizing. That’s going over really, really well outside your bubble.

  100. 100.

    Gimlet

    Same issues different contestants.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/269283-harry-reid-calls-on-alan-grayson-to-drop-out

    Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday pressed Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) to drop his Senate bid amid scrutiny surrounding his hedge fund. Reid challenged Grayson’s progressive credentials and criticized the Florida congressman’s “moral compass” based on the recent reports about his fund.

    “Sen. Reid may well prefer corrupt Establishment errand boy Patrick Murphy, who routinely sells his vote to Wall Street lobbyists, and just last week hid from voting on his own bill providing amnesty to white-collar criminals,” Grayson said in a statement.

    The fund, which was created in 2011 after Grayson lost reelection, has dogged his campaign. In late October, he met with an ethics investigator regarding accusations surrounding the account.

    In emails from June 2015, Grayson’s former campaign manager, Doug Dodson, pressed him to close the account to avoid media scrutiny that could imperil his Senate campaign.

    But Grayson refuted the advice, pushing back that closing the account could make him look guilty.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    OT but the WaPo has an article up where George W is “mystified” where all this anger came from on the GOP side and why those voters aren’t flocking to his brother Jeb…truly, the mind boggles.

    It’s almost like there was something going on in 2001-2007 that resulted in an earthshaking event in late 2008, to be followed by 7 years or so of those GOP voters seething and ranting hard…I just can’t put my finger on what it is…

  105. 105.

    Keith G

    @Mnemosyne:

    isn’t giving Bernie enough credit for his student organizing.

    And here I thought that student/community organizing was an important path to the presidency.

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @Keith G:

    If Bernie was smart, I think that’s how he could tamp down the controversy: I didn’t meet Mr. Lewis while he was marching with Dr. King because I was a community organizer in Chicago at the time. Hopefully someone on the Sanders team is smart enough to do that before this gets any nastier.

  107. 107.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Soylent Green:

    The Bundy Ranch Facebook page exhorted all true Patriots to march on downtown Portland today, but their demonstration is a nothingburger. There are about a dozen people standing quietly in front of the federal courthouse holding large American flags (and one Don’t Tread On Me) while office workers pass by disinterestedly. These folks appear to be local Bundy sympathizers, not outside agitators. No one is wearing camo and there are no weapons on display. Michele Fiore was supposed to be presiding but I think she is in a nearby Starbucks reassessing the political optics.

    I love that you are posting this stuff. It’s a reminder that real people are affected by this lunacy; it’s not just LARPing.

    Note: “real people” in this context includes imaginary internet friends such as Soylent Green. Which may or may not be her real name.

  113. 113.

    Mnemosyne

    @efgoldman:

    I do think a big part of the problem is that the Berniebros thought they had proof that John Lewis was lying, but they didn’t verify it, and now it’s gotten so nasty that they can’t back down and admit the error.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish LIteralist: With so many talented people on BJ… someone should definitely do a little video for Baud! 2016! (baud, are you listening?)

    @Baud: That made me laugh. It’s easy for me to laugh about that, though, since I saw you at Selma.

  117. 117.

    Nate Dawg

    @WaterGirl: did we every decide what to call the nasty, vitriolic @Baud supporters?

    I am more in line with his policy proposals, but have been completely turned off because of them!!!!!!

  119. 119.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman:
    @Baud:
    Blog commenter (possible undercover conservative? It would be wrong not to speculate) uncovers CV falsification of candidate Baud!

    Blaming of intern in 3… 2…

  123. 123.

    Gimlet

    Donald Trump supporters filed a lawsuit Feb. 3 at a district court in Alabama, seeking a judgment “declaring that Rafael Edward Cruz is ineligible to qualify/run/seek and be elected to the Office of the President of the United States of America” due to his Canadian birth.

  125. 125.

    p.a.

    @Gimlet: Supplied police dogs. He notes he had no control over how dogs were used. We’ve come a long way; even Selma didn’t think to sue marchers for police overtime payments and firehose water like Cleveland has gone after the Rice family for Tamir’s ambulance use. Fuckers.

  128. 128.

    EdinNJ

    @WarMunchkin:

    Hate Cruz with a passion, but you’re reaching here. It’s actually a very funny ad. This is a parody of a scene from Office Space. The music is the same, with the words changed from It Feels Great to Be a Gangsta, replacing Gangsta with Clinton.

  130. 130.

    frosty fka Bro Shotgun etc etc

    @Calouste:

    I’d estimate that 80% of that data is worthless rubbish…

    My only experience is clicking on that “Instant Checkmate” ad that mines all public data and profiles you. Not very good, they didn’t pick up the fact I’ve had a PE for 25 years and I’m on 4 state websites. I expect Ted’s database is no better.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    My back is bugging me today. I decided to drink wine instead of taking advil. Seemed like a good choice for a Friday night.

  135. 135.

    Mandalay

    @efgoldman:

    If Grayson costs the Democrats a winnable senate seat in Florida, he needs to be pushed out to sea in a rowboat with no oars.

    He won’t – our DINO Rep. Patrick Murphy will be using Grayson as a floor mop – but I still endorse your proposal (sans rowboat of course).

    But there is some cheerier news on the election front down here: DWS has a challenger, and he may present a serious threat to Her Awfulness:

    For the first time in her long congressional career, she faces a primary challenger for the Democratic nomination. He’s Tim Canova, a smart, articulate, sophisticated lawyer with a history of activism both with the Occupy movement (he’s against the Wall Street bailout for which Wasserman Schultz voted and the general excesses of big banks and crony capitalism) as well as a steadfast opponent of the Patriot Act (for which Wasserman Schultz repeatedly voted).

    Think of that: no DWS to stink up the joint!

  137. 137.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I had a porn star explain the difference between soft and hard porn. There is no difference in what happens, only what’s filmed(camera angles and close-ups).

    ETA: We call porn stars, “Hi neighbor”, around these parts.

  138. 138.

    WaterGirl

    @p.a.: “Blaming of intern in 3… 2…”

    Oh, dear. I read that as Banging of intern… I guess I’ve had enough wine. But my back is starting to feel better, so I hate to stop.

  143. 143.

    Admiral_Komack

    “But in talking about the struggles of middle- and lower-class America, Clinton was met with silence when he said President Barack Obama wasn’t a “change-maker” like Hillary. He clarified a few sentences later that Obama has had accomplishments, including the Affordable Care Act.”

    http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/government/bill-clinton-makes-memphis-stop-for-wifes-campaign-2b822367-7dc6-3729-e053-0100007f0adf-368546981.html?d=mobile

    -That’s the way you engage the voters, Bill Clinton (snark)!

    You bastard!

  146. 146.

    Gimlet

    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/henry-kissinger-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-debate-213626

    Kissinger usually gets a free pass in Washington, where celebrity has a way of overshadowing historical analysis, but it’s still jarring to see Hillary Clinton embracing him. After all, in her youth, she protested against the Vietnam war and served as a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee considering impeaching President Richard Nixon for Watergate. But in more recent days, she lauded Kissinger’s historic outreach to China in her 2014 memoir Hard Choices, and wrote a fawning Washington Post review of his latest book in September 2014, calling him a personal friend and adviser while praising the book as “vintage Kissinger, with his singular combination of breadth and acuity.”

    Despite Kissinger’s efforts to cultivate Clinton and other grandees, his reputation has been undermined by the realities revealed on the White House tapes. In 1969, he recommended a risky nuclear alert in 1969 to spook the Soviet Union. In September 1971, he privately told Nixon, “If we had done Cambodia in ’66, and Laos in ’67, the war would be history.” And in 1971, in one of the darkest American chapters of the Cold War, he and Nixon supported a brutal military dictatorship in Pakistan while it unleashed a devastating crackdown on what was then East Pakistan and is now Bangladesh. Both the CIA and the State Department conservatively estimated that about two hundred thousand people perished, while ten million desperate Bengali refugees fled into India. Kissinger joked about the massacre of Bengali Hindus, and privately scorned those Americans who “bleed” for “the dying Bengalis.”

    In the Milwaukee debate, Sanders announced that he had a “very profound difference” with Clinton. “In her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger,” he said with disbelief. “Now I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country

  147. 147.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    Madeline Albright has been using that line for decades. She says it in almost every speech she’s ever given. I find it offensive that people are offended by it.

    As for the Bernie bro asshole sliming John Lewis, he is a retired old white dfh who needs to shut his fucking pie hole.

  148. 148.

    Felanius Kootea

    Wellesley College picks its first African-American president, Paula Johnson, who’s been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health for eons. She said something about many Wellesley students supporting Hillary’s campaign (not surprising since Hillary is a Wellesley alumna).
    My friends who are also SevenSisters alumnae are thrilled.

  149. 149.

    Brachiator

    @efgoldman:

    Per Professor Pierce, Tailgunner Ted’s campaign also hired a soft porn actress for an odious commercial, which has been pulled.

    Pulled. The commercial or the actress?

  151. 151.

    jl

    @Admiral_Komack:

    The ” was met with silence ” is not in the link. Note says paragraph was edited to clarify a quote. But more editing done than that. Wonder if somebody saw that phrase and made a stink.

    Bill might help HRC more if he were reserved for the general election.
    Bill might have a problem losing his touch unless he is the star. Might be a ‘really big feud over small differences’ type of guy.

  153. 153.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Colbert was at the march on Washington(actually his parents were and his mom was pregers with Steven).

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: That’s how I tried to spell it but autocorrect kept changing it on me and I finally gave up. My will just wasn’t strong enough.

    I have a recipe from the person who made the best kolaches when I was growing up – I have tried to make it but the recipe is clearly not right because they just don’t come out the same. sigh. Eat some for me, along with the pierogis!

  155. 155.

    John Revolta

    @WaterGirl: I think it’s kolachkes. Anyway, who cares- just gimmee some!!
    Prune, cheese, apricot………….no poppy seed though. Eewww. Although hell, I might like ’em now- I haven’t had any since maybe the Carter administration. :^(

  156. 156.

    Brachiator

    @Marc:

    Lewis implied that Sanders was lying about being in the civil rights movement

    That was not the point of Lewis’ remarks.

    This is a battle that the Bernie bros cannot possibly win. And it puts Sanders in the position of having to do damage control when he could be doing more to expand his support.

  157. 157.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I’ve always been more concerned about what the private sector does with individual personal data than what the government does. This is an example of the private sector’s insatiable appetite for something they can monetize.

  158. 158.

    Steve in the ATL

    I don’t want to get ugly, but I’ve seen “try and” both here and on LGM today. Come on, people–we are better than that!

    Baud, what’s your plan to address grammar mistakes? Pedantry czar perhaps?

  164. 164.

    jl

    @Baud: Some Fuckhead says you are too young to be president. That true?

    #StopBaudFraud!

    Edit: Asking Baud! 2016! whether something is true is pointless, for a variety of reasons, though.

  167. 167.

    WaterGirl

    @p.a.: Baud! 2016! He gets it done!!

    (Fits on a bumper sticker, too!) I think we should make up a Baud 2016 bumper sticker. For real. I would put one on my car.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    @John Revolta: “Prune, cheese, apricot………….no poppy seed though.”

    Okay, that’s just wrong! Apricot is #1, followed by poppy seed, then sour cherry. Prune? Cheese? I will see you at dawn, good sir!

  174. 174.

    jl

    @Baud: OK, fine.

    As I said above, if you want to win and don’t meet the qualifications for the office, you need something more exciting than that. Yeesh.

    Cruz is more unqualified than you any day. You have an answer for that? You are ‘timeless’? How you going to get any cross-over GOP votes?

    Well, a virtual campaign for a virtual candidate. I guess it is what it is.

  175. 175.

    Poopyman

    @geg6: Dammit! Now you’re making me homesick.

    OTOH, I just had a more awesome Indian dinner than I think I ever could have before I emigrated to Maryland. I suspect there’s more parity these days.

  176. 176.

    Steve in the ATL

    @p.a.: Meanwhile, the speaker lineup at my alma mater tonight:

    Dick Cheney
    Ed Gillespie
    Grover Norquist
    Ann Coulter
    Matt Bevin

    Adding Kissinger is about the only way to make that worse.

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish LIteralist

    I see a lot of people saying that HRC called Kissinger her “mentor”. What’s the source on that?

  181. 181.

    Baud

    @jl:

    How you going to get any cross-over GOP votes?

    Didn’t you read upthread? Ads with porn stars. Republicans love porn.

  182. 182.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: It has become that, apparently!

    Washington and Lee. They do a mock convention every four years to try TO predict the nominee for the out of power party, and get speakers from that side. My year our keynote speaker was the up and coming governor of Arkansas, young William Clinton. And yes I have stories from that night, and no I’m not telling them here. But he is (was?) incredibly charismatic in person.

  184. 184.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud:

    Didn’t you read upthread? Ads with porn stars. Republicans love porn.

    If you really want to get Republican votes, it should be repressed gay porn

  185. 185.

    jl

    I can see that attack ads already

    Baud: not unqualified enough to be president!

    How’s he going to run against a GOPer after they come at him with that?
    Gonna get creamed.

  190. 190.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Baud: I would like to Grammar Czarina if there isn’t a high level spot for me at Justice.

  191. 191.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” Didn’t you read upthread? Ads with porn stars. Republicans love porn. ”

    How can a virtual candidate be in an ad ‘with porn stars’?
    You have not thought this through.

    Maybe a brave BJ commenter will volunteer to stand in for you.

  194. 194.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    Madeleine herself would disagree with you.

    “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” It is a phrase I first used almost 25 years ago, when I was the United States ambassador to the United Nations and worked closely with the six other female U.N. ambassadors. But this time, to my surprise, it went viral.

    I absolutely believe what I said, that women should help one another, but this was the wrong context and the wrong time to use that line. I did not mean to argue that women should support a particular candidate based solely on gender. But I understand that I came across as condemning those who disagree with my political preferences.

  197. 197.

    scav

    need (at least) another kolache front. Cream chese dough or yeast? Round or square? And let’s not even get into actual pronunciations. (Ko-latch-key, ko-lachks . . . )

  198. 198.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Baud: I was hoping you’d notice that. It’s how I’d know if I wanted to be your Grammar Czarina. Unless, of course, there’s a high level spot for me at Justice. Even loosely.

  199. 199.

    WaterGirl

    @Felonius Monk: Apricot or poppy seed are pretty much tied for #1 with me. But lemon? Never had lemon, but it sounds awesome – Is it like the lemon in lemon merengue pie? (first pie I ever made from scratch)

    Would you like to join me and John Revolta for a little dawn picnic of our respective favorites?

    Edit: scan, you are invited, too, as long as you follow the cream cheese & round rules.

  200. 200.

    Felonius Monk

    @jl:

    How can a virtual candidate be in an ad ‘with porn stars’?

    We could make it a virtual ad and raise campaign funds by selling virtual tickets to Republicans for Porn.

  202. 202.

    Feathers

    @Keith G: It is normal and expected for ad agencies to make sure that actors who appear in commercials haven’t done anything that would hurt the brand. I know this was the case back in the day when I had struggling actor friends. Doing an adult film was known to cut you off from opportunities with anything involving advertisers. It’s probably a toss-up as to whether it is better or worse now. You can’t count on anything remaining buried, but onscreen sexytimes are far more common and go higher up the food chain.

    I hear you on too much employment screening. I’m going through it now. People want interviews and to talk with your references for a temp position through an agency!

  203. 203.

    Gin & Tonic

    @scav: “Kolach” and its various cognates and derivations come from a Proto-Slavic root meaning “circle” or “wheel”, so it’s a word that occurs in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, all the way down to Bulgarian and Macedonian, and can be (and is) used for almost any sort of round baked good. Get 2-3 B-J’ers together, and they’re probably all talking about different styles of pastry, depending on where they grew up.

  205. 205.

    scav

    @WaterGirl: Those are the ertainly the traditional at home mulri-gen scav family ones. Yeast showed up at reastaurants and farmers markets at Iowa, which is also where I picked up an appreciation for the cheese fillings. But cream cheese, round, raspberry are the concentrated essence baked into the r-brain. (reds were the first fought over, then the orangey, blacks went last but was always made them.)

  206. 206.

    Steve from Antioch

    Cruz is a horrible, dishonest, skeezy fuck wad, almost as bad Hillary Clinton with her swift boat mascot John Lewis.

    Of course I’d vote for Clinton over Cruz every time, but let’s not kid ourselves about how “effective” politicians got that way.

  208. 208.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @efgoldman:

    I’m too old to be a bro

    That’s what you think, and you’d be wrong. Bro is a state of mind, and all that stands between you and your inner Berniebro is to FEELTHEBERN. FEELTHEBERN, BRO FEELTHEBERN. When mrs. efgoldman pushes back, just sneer at her in contempt and hand wave her away, then she won’t want to knife you. She’ll want to strangle you with her bare hands.

  211. 211.

    ThresherK

    @? Martin: Too much like the movie 300.

    Unless you meant it to be unknowingly homoerotic (which so many Juicers would accept because we don’t judge), which would be exactly like the movie 300.

  212. 212.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman:

    Baud said the job is mine, but he has to do interviews for appearances’ sake.

    Sadly, I’ve had a few of those interviews. On the other hand, it’s my one chance to feel like a black NFL coach.

  214. 214.

    scav

    @Gin & Tonic: And that brings us to the great prirohi pierogi . . . wars. We might need to schedual several meals.

    You know anything about any rational behind the houska / vánočka slippage? In my family, we ate the first at Christmas when technically we should be having the second (not that I can recognize differences in the recipes), but that term swap seems common in the new world.

  217. 217.

    geg6

    @debbie:

    That’s a non-apology apology if I ever heard one. She knew she had to write it but she hasn’t changed her mind. Neither have I. Liberal women who don’t support other liberal women are not my kind of women. I’m not a politician nor a surrogate for such, so I own it and am not a bit ashamed. I’m appalled that women are calling Hillary names. Makes me furious. I supported Obama back in ’08 but I never had the vitriol toward her that the Bernie supporters do. I find it sickening.

  218. 218.

    John Revolta

    @WaterGirl: Well, we’re Juicers, so I suppose we’d have to argue about something………………

    @scav: Round, Sir! A square Ko-lotch-kee is no kolachke at all!

  219. 219.

    Gin & Tonic

    @scav: Houska has no eggs or butter. Vánočka does, and is essentially like brioche, or like the Russian/Ukrainian/Polish “paska.”

  221. 221.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Yeah, I’m aware of them, thanks

    It’s funny, though, I’ve thought about this in a food-prep context, and while there are certain dishes that are best when prepared by professional cooks in professional kitchens, pierogies/pyrohy/varenyky are never, ever as good in a restaurant as when prepared by a grandmother.There’s something about loving, experienced hands with the dough that just can’t be replicated commercially.

  222. 222.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman: Exchange St. Cafe Pawtucket. I’m not Polish so my judgement is useless, but the owner Andy is, so I can only assume he knows what he’s doing. Stuffed cabbage also. For a nice drive Patty’s Pierogies in Fall River was recommended by Polish friends. C.F. Provisions also does the sausage for Blackbird Farm (Smithfield) free range beef & pork sausage. (The girl at the farm stand gave me a dirty look when I asked how she could be sure the meat they sent out was the same meat that came back ;-P)

  223. 223.

    boatboy_srq

    @efgoldman: Makes you wonder, if Cambridge has so much data available to the Cruz campaigh, whether they didn’t know her history and were surprised, or they thought nobody else had any information (their guys having so much) and believed they could pull a fast one.

  224. 224.

    Tommy

    @p.a.: I was raised, Scotish, in a family where my mother cooked every meal by hand. Think we were about the last on the block to have much less use a microwave oven. It was a very nice thing.

  225. 225.

    scav

    @Gin & Tonic: Ah. Thanks. Difference might be that Lent / fast thing, which my lot probably didn’t bother with being those Hussite/calvinists. Ours definitely have the braided shape and an egg wash, would have to double check the dough, but I think it did have eggs. So physically Vánočka but called houska.

  233. 233.

    Zinsky

    Rafael Eduardo Cruz is nothing but shit wrapped in skin! What is it about these conservative politicians that they never use the their real names? Willard “Mitt” Romney, Rafael Eduardo “Ted” Cruz, etc. Are they trying to hide something or what??

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