Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

No Justins, No Peace

This blog will pay for itself.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

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lincoln memorial vacated toles

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
.

What if they gave an “Anti-Beyonce Protest Rally” and nobody showed up? Deadspin explains at length how it might’ve been a social media hoax all along… which is, of course, exactly what they would say, under the circumstances.

I think that we can all agree that Rudy “decent, wholesome entertainment” Giuliani remains a genuine douchebag, regardless.

***********
Apart from the usual malign idiots, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  3. 3.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Killer Mike, a rapper, ignited a controversy after he said that “a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be president” during an event hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders in Atlanta.

    Now who can argue with that?

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    Meanwhile…

    [Pope] Francis also planned to visit the border with El Paso, Texas, where he was expected to stop at the fence, give a blessing in honour of migrants on the other side and pray for those who died trying to get there.
    [snip]
    On the eve of Francis’ trip, Trump criticized the pope’s border stop.

    “I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico,” Trump said in an interview with Fox. “I think Mexico got him to do it because they want to keep the border just the way it is. They’re making a fortune, and we’re losing.” Source

  11. 11.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Via valued commentator @MomSense

    A great interview with Mike Dukakis exposing Scalia for the fraud he was:

    didn’t know who Scalia was until the last semester of my last year, when I took a class called Federal Courts and the Federal System, with a great man named Henry Hart. It is 1960. We are in the middle of the civil rights revolution. And there’s this guy in class who begins engaging Professor Hart every day in these long dialogues over whether it was appropriate for federal judges to reach in and take cases away from Southern criminal courts, in cases where, as everyone knew, if you were a black defendant, forget it. And this went on for about three weeks. [Laughs.] I finally turned to the guy next to me and said, “Who the hell is that guy?” He said, “That’s Scalia, he’s on the law review.” And I said, “Does he know what it’s like to be black in the South?”

    He was no more an originalist than the man on the moon.

    What was originalist about Bush v. Gore? What was originalist about the Second Amendment decision? What was originalist about Citizens United for God’s sake, Isaac? We have been regulating campaign contributions since the late 19th century. Where in the Constitution does it say that money is speech? Originalism? Are you kidding me?

  26. 26.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: The Korea pics are older pics so I call the older pics, “From the Archives”(Yellowstone and Yosemite too).

    ETA: I think the next “From the Archives” will be Alaska.

  28. 28.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @NotMax:

    There must be some whining about this trip in right wing circles. Two days ago, out of the blue, Mom started whining that this pope “doesn’t get it” and “is too nice, and willing to forgive”. I just simply said I think he’s great, that his two predecessors were criminal thugs and changed the subject.

    She’s always adored white bully boys.

  33. 33.

    bystander

    Just heard MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, light of Westen thought, say that Obama is “picking a fight” over the court nomination. It’s one thing to see Mika groveling, but Roberts? I have to wonder if he’s transforming into a Log Cabinite.

  37. 37.

    bystander

    @Baud: You may need an Anticipator-in-Chief to help on the campaign. They seem to be the sine qua non the Successful Executive.

    Admiring colleagues refer to him as an unsung hero of the administration — the man behind the man, without whom Obama arguably would not have such a universal reputation for cool.

  41. 41.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Baud:

    I’m happy to help spin your inevitable craven catering to crony corporatism and your sellout advisors.

  42. 42.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Baud:

    He was a pussy with all that “first stone” thing. A real Son of God would’ve said “give me a big pointy one, and watch my fastest pitch….”

  43. 43.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Baud:

    He was a pu55y with all that “first stone” thing. A real Son of God would’ve said “give me a big pointy one, and watch my fastest pitch….”

  46. 46.

    Alain the site fixer

    Sorry for the overnight site crap; I am working on a test server and when I updated the theme on it, it somehow also updated it here (I suspect it’s related to the theme registration number and their update mechanism). I woke up early and noticed things didn’t look right, and just finished restoring the files as they were.

    I’ll be making a post in the next day or two with news; the new commenting system is about to be released and I’ll be testing it one more time on the test server, then we’ll launch it on the live one. It was supposed to be out early-mid December, but they decided to push back necessary features until now.

    Sorry again, Alain (and I won’t be reading responses to this today, but when I make a post, I’ll read those!)

  56. 56.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Baud: Don’t be scared – embrace the future! ;)

    But seriously, we’re mulling over letting some folks take a look at the new system to get feedback before launch, but it might just make more sense to launch it and then do cleanup. I know either way there’ll be cleanup, so we shall see. But the good news is that this whole nightmare should be over in the next week.

  59. 59.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Baud:

    If you were more like Bernie, your potential cabinet would be composed entirely of outsiders:

    Defense – some 70 year old sociology professor from Manhattan, Cambridge or Berkeley

    Justice – Mumia Abu Jamal

    Commerce – A hackey sack playing, white dreadlock wearing guy who sells sandwiches and weed from an old grocery cart, known only as “Layers”. He shouted some interesting business ideas while buzzing on mushrooms at a drum circle.

    Transportation – Some Manhattan bike courier.

    Treasury – Alan Grayson

    Energy – The leader of a green commune in Northern California

    Labor – some guy whose last job was manning the “stop/slow” sign on a road crew. It was three years ago, and he never felt like looking for another job after getting fired for absenteeism. Lives in his mother’s basement, whines about demands for child support from the mothers of his two kids.

  62. 62.

    gene108

    Had a review scheduled for this morning. Just got an e-mail saying it needs to be rescheduled. Breathing sigh of relief.

    I was not entirely ready for it.

  67. 67.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Beautiful – some of the items photographed are super small – those sea horses and nudibranch photos are deceptive.

  68. 68.

    dr. bloor

    @Baud:

    I realized yesterday that my campaign is floundering because I don’t have a Baudsplainer.

    I hear Arsonist Mike, Extortionist Pam, and Jaywalker Frank are all still up for grabs.

  71. 71.

    Germy

    Saw the Black Panthers documentary last night. I didn’t know Fred Hampton coined the phrase “rainbow coalition” (he succeeding in doing the thing J. Edgar feared the most, bringing all people together, regardless of color).

    After they took Fred out, it seems like the whole thing collapsed.

    He was only 21! I knew vaguely about him, but I didn’t know he’d been so young when they killed him.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton

  74. 74.

    Chyron HR

    @Baud: We’ve already vetted several of your picks, one of them had ringworm and another needs eardrops twice a day.

  75. 75.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My eyesight sucks – generally, even if you point out a nudibranch or seahorse, I have to wait for photos to catch detail.

  77. 77.

    Peale

    @NotMax: exactly. We must be losing. The winner is Mexico. That’s why we need to treat so called “remittances” like the genocidal precursors that they really are.

  82. 82.

    Mandarama

    @Chyron HR:

    We’ve already vetted several of your picks, one of them had ringworm and another needs eardrops twice a day.

    In 2012, my youngest had to campaign for president in his 3rd grade class. He named our golden retriever as VP, and invented the slogan “Golden Party, Golden Rule.” I don’t know if that last part was suggesting “do unto others” or an ostensibly benevolent dictatorship.

    They both wore ties for their official campaign photo.

  87. 87.

    Germy

    @Baud:

    Why do God’s plans always seem so roundabout?

    Well, first HRC had to book a flight, then she had to find the right pillow, etc. These things take serious planning.

  89. 89.

    Germy

    Grassley blinked!

    The most significant defection came from Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel would hold confirmation hearings and vote on whether to let the full Senate consider Obama’s nomination. On Saturday, the Iowa senator stood firm with McConnell, saying, “Given the huge divide in the country, and the fact that this president, above all others, has made no bones about his goal to use the courts to circumvent Congress and push through his own agenda, it only makes sense that we defer to the American people who will elect a new president to select the next Supreme Court Justice.”

    However, Grassley softened his stance in an interview with Iowa radio reporters on Tuesday, possibly because he’s up for reelection this year and the Des Moines Register just published an editorial criticizing his position. Grassley said he would still prefer to see Obama’s successor make the pick, but he won’t rule out holding confirmation hearings for an Obama nominee. “I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decision,” he said. “In other words, take it a step at a time.” He denied the shift has anything to do with his reelection prospects, saying he has a “responsibility to perform” and must “do my job as a senator.”

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/02/gop-rethinks-plan-to-obstruct-scotus-nominee.html

  98. 98.

    rikyrah

    Tell it, Mr. President.

    Tell it.

    Obama delivers unmistakable message to Republicans

    02/17/16 08:00 AM—UPDATED 02/17/16 08:16 AM
    By Steve Benen

    President Obama hosted a press conference at the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in California yesterday, which comes against a backdrop in which the future of the Supreme Court is dominating much of the domestic political conversation. The president is obviously aware of Senate Republicans’ plans for a total blockade against nominee, regardless of merit, so Obama took some time to remind GOP lawmakers about the constitutional process.

    “The Constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now. When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the President of the United States is to nominate someone. The Senate is to consider that nomination, and either they disapprove of that nominee or that nominee is elevated to the Supreme Court.

    “Historically, this has not been viewed as a question. There’s no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off years – that’s not in the constitutional text. I’m amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there. There is more than enough time for the Senate to consider in a thoughtful way the record of a nominee that I present and to make a decision.”

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    …………….
    02.16.16 11:01 PM ET

    Vermont’s Black Leaders: We Were ‘Invisible’ to Bernie Sanders

    He’s paying attention to the concerns of black America now, as a presidential candidate. Back when he represented Vermont? Not so much, local activists say.

    Back in 2006, the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, a Brattleboro area civil rights organization hosted a Candidate Night. The race for the open U.S. Senate seat between Bernie Sanders and Richard Tarrant, a Republican and one of the wealthiest people in the state, had grown increasingly acrimonious.

    The audience of African-American activists and other Vermonters of color should have been a friendly one for the socialist congressman.

    Instead, remembers Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the group, it became something of a showdown. Sanders “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality,” Reed told The Daily Beast.

    “He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”

    And since winning that race, Sanders’s approach toward Reed and his organization has been one of “benign neglect,” the activist added. “We are a major statewide organization. It would stand to reason that you would check in with your major constituents, but voters of color are simply not on his radar.”

  101. 101.

    MomSense

    I’m wondering what juicers think about the FBI v. Apple issue concerning Farook’s (San Bernadino shooter) Iphone.

  102. 102.

    rikyrah

    DES MOINES REGISTER EDITORIAL

    Editorial: Grassley’s Supreme Court stance is all about politics

    The GOP effort to block an Obama nominee from the court isn’t about letting voters have their say, or respecting past precedent, or demonstrating strict adherence to the Constitution. In fact, it’s precisely the opposite.

    This could have been a “profile in courage” moment for Sen. Grassley. This was an opportunity for our senior senator to be less of a politician and more of a statesman. It was a chance for him to be principled rather than partisan.

    He could have made it clear that he favors a Senate vote on the matter — a move that still would enable Republicans to accept or reject the eventual nominee based on merit — but he chose instead to disregard his constitutional duty by rejecting a nominee who hasn’t even been named.

    It’s wrong. It’s not unexpected, and it’s not a surprise, but it’s still wrong.

  103. 103.

    MattF

    @MomSense: Here‘s the view from Apple.

    I agree that the concept of a ‘back door’ is flawed, for the reasons that the Apple letter states. Doing security well is very hard and experience demonstrates pretty clearly that if you’re going to do security at all, you need to do it well and you need to go all the way.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MomSense: I am completely in support of Apple on this one. Unfortunately the technical details of info sec are hard, and will make for lots of uninformed discussion and, ultimately, probably, bad law.

  105. 105.

    bystander

    @Baud:

    I’ve already compiled a Cabinet short list from the ranks of Balloon Juice. I’m confident the vetting process will turn up nothing.

    I hope I’m under consideration for the exploratory committee on the commercial uses of medical marijuana. No need for a Cabinet post, so don’t bother to vet me.

  106. 106.

    ruemara

    @BillinGlendaleCA: just in case no one has said it, they both are Bernie’s black friends. Fulfilling the roles of Speaker to Negroes. Rather charming, both of whom have pretty resentful views on Obama and neither of them really good for that minority outreach.

  108. 108.

    SFAW

    In any other week, the worst person to have shuffled off this mortal coil would have been Nathan Barksdale, dead at 54.

    But, compared to a certain evil motherfucker Supreme Court Justice, Barksdale was chump change. It would be interesting to see which of them left behind a bigger body count.

    About the only “person” to push Scalia out of the “evilest of the week” podium would be Cheney.

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Obviously, I don’t share Justice Scalia’s views, but this practice to commemorate his passing is really interesting.

    I guess they thought that confetti and streamers might not be as well-received.

  113. 113.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Matt McIrvin: where does it say that it’s terrible news for Democrats? It talks about how surprised progressives were that it became politicized so quickly

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: If that’s true, Bernie had better correct that or he will, rightfully, be held accountable for lies about that. If you’re the authentic candidate, it’s really best if you are not outright lying. Especially when the lie is as despicable as that one would appear to be.

    Edit: that’s definitely not stretching the truth or over promising.

  116. 116.

    Shana

    I’m on the first day of a 12 week medical weight loss program. Just had my breakfast strawberry shake. Looking forward to cream of chicken soup for lunch, lemon pudding shake for a snack, 4 oz. or lean protein and 1/2 cup cooked (or 1 cup raw) veggies for dinner and a bar for an evening snack. Plus 64 oz. of water and an hour of walking on the treadmill, plus other exercises. And no evening cocktail.

    I hope to lose 25 of the 50 pounds I want to lose over the course of the program.

    I think I can do it, but it seems daunting. Anyone else done this? Any advice?

  122. 122.

    J R in WV

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    And the MSM calls her stiff and formal !!!!

    How is that stiff and formal?

    She should do that at every campaign stop, use a different unbelievable Republican quote, there are a million of them, and thne bark at them for lying.

    Maybe not, maybe it was the force of that moment. But still, so not stiff and formal~!!

    That is what I love about her, she is just so real, even after all the slings and arrows and lies the Republicans and their media minions throw at her, she is still a normal person. Proven in that moment!!

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I was 17 and away at college, and we were in a shabby TV lounge in a dorm pressed into service when it was scheduled to be gutted and rebuilt. It was a hospital after Gettysburg, or they would have just torn it down and threw it away. And Martin Luther King had been shot, and then Bobby was shot!!

    After his older brother was shot!! Scary times.

    Turned me into a radical Democrat. I would rather have had Bobby.

    MY AGENDA for today:

    Lay the waterproof PVC layer into the future shower floor, and then mix the mortar to raise and slope the future tile floor towards the drain. I may do the mortar tomorrow, that stuff is HEAVY and I’m a disabled old.

    But cheer me on Balloon-Juicers, I’m about to get this construction task punched out!

  124. 124.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Shana:

    I did HCG a couple of years ago, followed by hormone replacement, dropped 40. It sucks, but is doable – keep to the water, and think creatively about things like soups (Tom Yon Goong is perfect if you like shrimp).

  125. 125.

    Shana

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Thanks for the advice. I was warned by the dietician to keep up with the water or I’ll get dehydrated. I’m also on Duavee for my hot flashes and it makes me thirsty so I don’t anticipate that it’ll be a problem.

    I love shrimp, but we keep kosher in the house (except for carryout) so I may have to substitute surimi-based seafood.

  126. 126.

    J R in WV

    @MomSense:

    To me this is obvious, Apple should join the FBI team and do whatever they can to open this phone.

    It isn’t like they are asking them to help with a helpless traveler’s phone which was confiscated by TSA with no evidence of any sort that the traveler is guilty of anything.

    In this case we pretty clearly have major criminals who may have been in contact with other would-be killers. Cut and Dried to me.

    On the other hand, they can’t accuse everyone these deceased criminals were in touch with of criminality without other clear evidence of intention to commit something. You can’t help who calls you, after all.

    ETA to make comprehensible

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    Best of luck.

    Reminded of having been pressed into service more times than care to remember to do the tile and grout work in bathrooms.

    While far from strenuous, a task I grew to loathe.

    Special little spot in Hell reserved for whomever decided the base of toilets should be rounded or sharply angled.

  129. 129.

    Paul in KY

    @Shana: Take it one day at a time, as far as the exercising/diet goes. Also, don’t fixate on whether you lost any particular weight on any day or not. Look at how you are doing after 1 month, then 2. You should look at this as a permanent lifestyle change (to maintain that coming slimness).

    Best of luck!

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