Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

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

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

So many bastards, so little time.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Our messy unity will be our strength.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

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

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Perfect!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Perfect!

by | 165 Comments

This post is in: ,

Somebody should absolutely turn this tweet into a nice clean forwardable gif, IMO. Seems to summarize the current state of the race nicely… in every sense of that word.

Apart from the neverending electoral contest, what’s on the agenda as we start another week?

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  1. 1.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    You could always believe that “Shit is Broken”, blame “Republicans” and have “Clinton” as the answer.

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    What, no Dyngus Day thread??

    FYI, Easter Monday is a national holiday in Norway. Everything closed. Except for the mountains.

  5. 5.

    satby

    yeah, I’m still team Baud. And that picture irritated me when one of my doofus Bern friends put it on FB. Because it did recapture the simpleton nature of this election season.

  6. 6.

    gene108

    @BGinCHI:

    FYI, Easter Monday is a national holiday in Norway. Everything closed.

    Fucking socialists, how can they make money, if shops and offices aren’t open? All the time, everyday of the week?

    Losers.

    USA! UAE!

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    Plus, I always thought Easter Monday was a big Showoff for Christians.

    OK, your man rose from the dead! Got it! Was there something else you wanted to show us?

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    Its back to purgatory for me again this week & we are only 1/3 of the way through. Another plane trip with all its attending BS, another nun’s cell as hotel room for a week. The only change is this week we are getting religious training. From the church of FranklinCovey. For those not familiar with the church (you lucky bastards), it goes well beyond the day-planner, which they teach as a religion. They also teach classes in how to build trust, the 7 habits of highly defective people and others. All are taught as religion: you have to BELIEVE HALLELUJAH, PRAISE COVEY!! They include videos from Steve Covey, the son of the previous owner who has the orange sheen and blinding white teeth of a televangelist as well as the smarmy fake charm they all seem to display.

    So I am going into this with a positive attitude as you can see.

  19. 19.

    Mustang Bobby

    Back to work today. They shut off the air handlers for the week over break so the office is as humid as a shower stall and everything is slightly sticky. All other systems are functioning within normal parameters.

    @Phylllis, it’s time for me send out the Period 2 Time and Effort reports (the new version of C-A-87). It’s all electronic now, but it still causes major twitterpation for new principals. Sometimes I hate being a bureaucrat.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    @Phylllis:

    We have a school involved in their ‘Leader in Me’ offshoot.

    Yeah, my philosophy is, “you want me to lead, promote me or STFU.”

  23. 23.

    satby

    About to take the girls to school. After a three day weekend, people are struggling to get it together. Going to be a chilly rainy day too.

  27. 27.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Baud:
    12 weeks of this crap. The why is tougher to discern. We got new leadership at the top and this new leader may want to have some sort of formal academy to train all his minions to the same level or he just may want us all out of the way while he does what it is he is going to do. There are valid arguments for both views and I vacillate between them.

    It is clear they have given no thought to what it is they want us to learn during these 3 months as they have changed / added / deleted classes during the process & several of the ones we have had are outdated and infantile. This weeks adventure was just added a couple weeks ago.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I was foreman on a job once (about $40 a week more- pizza money) All the headaches, all the blame, and control over very little. Never again.

  34. 34.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    Have you ever taken pictures up by Julian and Santa Yasabel on CA78? We got sidetracked years ago on vacation when I learned of the Salton Sea while at San Jacinto Monument. We drove down the West side (it was an interesting drive and I have read a lot about the place since then that makes it more fascinating) then through the mountains back to LA. I found those towns to be really charming & the area some of the most beautiful in Southern California. There was a lot of gorgeous scenery.

  35. 35.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Baud:
    Thank Pasta that is one thing they can not do, these jobs have to be in the US But they are bringing in a bunch of contractors from beltway bandit inc to fill in while we are all away and then to support us when we get back.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    I hear Cruz would replace the Annual White House Easter Egg Hunt with a live action crucifixion and resurrection play.

    Can’t wait to see the look on the kids’ faces.

  41. 41.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Phylllis: Good for you! Over my break I emptied the TiVo, did a bunch of crossword puzzles, cleaned out the master bedroom closet, found 20 lbs of dust bunnies under the bed, and started on a research paper for a theatre conference in late April.

  45. 45.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    Those are good too. The Salton Sea is a location for lots of artsy-fartsy desolation shots of mans failed dreams. Its been done to death. But until we stumbled on those little mountain towns I was unaware the Southern mountains could be so beautiful.

    Welp, time for me to leave for the airport. Security is more active in the last couple of weeks – note, I did not say better, just more active. Flying these days make me long for train travel. I’ll try to check in with ya’ll between novenas.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I think Rubio would be better.

    “Father, let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that they don’t know what they’re doing. They know exactly what they’re doing.”

  48. 48.

    Keith G

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, shit is broken and while no candidate in this cycle seems to be a good enough match to deal with the deepening injuries to our body politic, HRC is likely the better bandage.

    The mentality behind that flow chart is the type of elitist-based thinking that gives energy to Trump and his ilk.

    It is a stupid bit of doodling.

    Edit: And this is evidence that there there are still Democrats who just don’t get it and are a danger to our progress as a party.

  51. 51.

    Phylllis

    @Mustang Bobby: Sounds like the week I have planned; substitute mani/pedi for research paper though.

    Off to the ATL next week for a training on UGG and enterprise risk management.

  54. 54.

    gene108

    @BGinCHI:

    March 28, 2016 at 6:04 am
    Plus, I always thought Easter Monday was a big Showoff for Christians.

    OK, your man rose from the dead! Got it! Was there something else you wanted to show us?

    50% off CHOCOLATE!!!!! Mmmmmmmmmm….

    @BGinCHI:

    Apparently, they have these things so they can spend time with “their family.”

    We all know what that means, don’t we?

    Families are a socialist / communist construct, where people live by the doctrine “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”.

    Baby can’t feed himself, goes to the bathroom in his diapers, etc. is no big deal, because hey “taker” baby, go ahead and take from my productivity to eat, avoid diaper rash, get clothed, etc.

    Families are a breeding ground for moochers…

  58. 58.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): What industry are you in that you need 12 weeks of leadership training to do a job that you’ve obviously been doing for a long time? Who at the top of your company is getting a kickback from Franklin Covey?

  66. 66.

    PurpleGirl

    Heard a story on NY1 this morning about a tombstone found in Central Park (near the Sheep Meadow). It was a tombstone for the Donald. I will keep trying to get a picture of it. The story is at

    http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2016/03/28/trump-tombstone.html

    An eerie “tribute” to Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump that popped up in Central Park is now gone.

    A tipster sent NY1 a photo of a tombstone with a cross and Trump’s name, just north of Sheep Meadow.

    It showed Trump’s date of birth, but no date of death.

    The epitaph on the marker said “Made America Hate Again.”

    The Parks Department says it was removed Sunday night.

    It’s unclear who put the tombstone there in the first place.

  67. 67.

    lowercae steve

    Shit IS still broken….which is why we need to vote for Hillary and keep working on fixing it.

  68. 68.

    FlipYrWhig

    @lowercae steve: Yeah, that’s the thing I don’t like about the graphic, which is undeniably witty — its endorsement of the wrong-headed but rampant suggestion that people who support Hillary Clinton are content with the status quo.

  69. 69.

    satby

    I love Booman, but his place has really gone south this election season. Nice try at injecting some sanity, Scott.

  71. 71.

    Mike J

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    From the church of FranklinCovey. For those not familiar with the church (you lucky bastards), it goes well beyond the day-planner, which they teach as a religion. They also teach classes in how to build trust

    The guy who taught the one I was forced to go to told us that in his last class of twenty people, 98% did blahblahblah.WHen I pointedly asked, “98%? Of Twenty people?”, he didn’t understand why this was a problem.

    Wasn’t good for the trust.

  74. 74.

    bemused

    @PurpleGirl:

    Clever! I wonder what the tombstone was made from. Article doesn’t say how big it was but it’s hard to imagine it was actual granite or other heavy material which would be a chore to transport.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s newest dubious boast: ‘I do know my subject’
    03/28/16 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Last week, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump had a fairly long conversation with the Washington Post, which tried to explore his views on foreign policy in detail. The discussion made it abundantly clear that the GOP candidate simply has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s not just that Trump’s arguments are wrong; it’s also that he seems lost when it comes to basic details.

    On Friday afternoon, it was the New York Times’ turn. Alas, it appears efforts to teach Trump about international affairs aren’t going well.
    In criticizing the Iran nuclear deal, he expressed particular outrage at how the roughly $150 billion released to Iran (by his estimate; the number is in dispute) was being spent. “Did you notice they’re buying from everybody but the United States?” he said.

    Told that sanctions under United States law still bar most American companies from doing business with Iran, he said: “So, how stupid is that? We give them the money and we now say, ‘Go buy Airbus instead of Boeing,’ right?”

    But Mr. Trump, who has been pushed to demonstrate a basic command of international affairs, insisted that voters should not doubt his foreign policy fluency. “I do know my subject,” he said.

    It’s quite clear, of course, that he doesn’t know his subject. The full transcript has been posted online, and honestly, it’s hard to even know which parts to highlight – because so much of the interview is incoherent. Andrea Mitchell noted on “Meet the Press” yesterday that Trump “is completely uneducated about any part of the world.” The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg added on “Face the Nation” that it’s “remarkable to imagine that someone who shows so little interest in understanding why the world is organized the way it is organized is this close to the presidency of the world’s only superpower.”

  77. 77.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I won’t mention any names but does “Toilet and Douche” ring a bell? You can find better but you can’t pay more.

    Made it to the airport & through TSA both in record time, must be a lot of people already on vacation. I hooked up for the 45 minutes of free really slow internet

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Linnaeus: Pretty certain everyone here agrees with that. Even more certain that everyone over at Breitbart thinks we are on the verge of collapse.

  79. 79.

    FlipYrWhig

    @satby: I feel like Booman’s place has for years had the highest proportion of finger-wagging leftier-than-thou nutbars of all the “major” blogs — of course I quit DailyKos many years ago now so I can’t be sure.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    Wisconsin’s ‘war on voting’ leads to real consequences
    03/25/16 04:39 PM
    By Steve Benen
    Wisconsin’s April 5 primary is likely to be important for all kinds of electoral reasons, but the day will also be significant in terms of the voting process itself: it will be the first big test of the state’s ridiculous voter-ID law. Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed legislation to create the system in 2011, responding to a “voter fraud” scourge that did not exist, but following a series of legal disputes, this will be the first presidential election year in which the system is fully implemented.

    For supporters of voting rights, this isn’t good news. A report from Pro Publica noted this week, for example, that the law requires Wisconsin’s Republican-run state government to run “a public-service campaign ‘in conjunction with the first regularly scheduled primary and election’ to educate voters on what forms of ID are acceptable.”

    To date, it appears that public-service campaign has not happened and no money has been a set aside to educate the public. With literally hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin voters facing disenfranchisement, it’s a major problem officials are not even trying to fix.

    It’s also not the only step backwards Wisconsin has taken on voting rights. MSNBC’s Zack Roth reported today:
    A bill signed into law last week by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker could make it much harder for the poor and minorities to register to vote in the pivotal swing state just as the 2016 election approaches.

    The Republican-backed measure allows Wisconsinites to register to vote online. But voting rights advocates say that step forward is massively outweighed by a provision in the bill whose effect will be to make it nearly impossible to conduct the kind of community voter registration drives that disproportionately help low-income and non-white Wisconsinites to register.
    No other state, including states led entirely by Republican officials, has created a registration system that dismantled community-registration drives.

  81. 81.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Immanentize:
    It is the whole team all at once & we have been ordered not to do any part of our job, but of course that is not possible as the contractors have no clue on so many issues.

  83. 83.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    Yes, I zone out for periods of time & then sob quietly in my room every night. I’d bale as I can easily find other employment but I really need one of the retirement benefits this place offers that nobody else does. Gotta do at least 2 more years to get that. “Golden handcuffs” indeed

  84. 84.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Just One More Canuck:
    only parts of it are leadership based. Most of it is IT security because the new boss thinks it would be cool if we all had the same level of training. So I have 25-30 years of real live security practice but have had to sit through 2 IT security 101 for dummys classes. I almost hope someone is getting a kickback at least that would justify their thinking in some way

  85. 85.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @MattF:
    I love Brewster! It is often very funny and the recent run of political debate strips was too close to reality.

  86. 86.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): Toilet and Douche – now it all makes sense. I worked for them (a couple of times, once by choice, the second time by merger) and this is perfect for the D&T (sorry, T&D) management mentality – meaningless inspiration poster type platitudes dressed up as some sort of great insight.

  87. 87.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Mike J:
    The trainer for the security stuff is a total fake. He keeps telling us “When I had to do X” stories it is obvious to anyone who has actually done it that he doesn’t know shit from shinola. He has zero credibility in the room because 98% of the 20 of us know better.

    First rule of gaining trust in training, DON’T LIE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE!

  88. 88.

    bemused

    My book shelves need thinning out, donated to thrift shop and I came upon one I don’t remember reading much of. Has anyone read The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer? This book and a couple of others he wrote are about how people construct beliefs which we reinforce as truths. He writes about when he was in his late teens/early 20’s, he became a born again, in your face evangelical and later changed to basically an atheist and founded Skeptic magazine. He self describes as a social libertarian.

    He seems to be all over the map and I’m leery of people who go from one rather hard core belief system to one on the other end of the spectrum. I’m not sure I want to take the time to read it before I discard it.

  89. 89.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Just One More Canuck:
    I have likened T&D to lampreys to my management (they were not amused). Lampreys are vicious, ugly things that attach themselves to fish and suck blood. They are rare in the world of parasites in that they are one of very few that will not release a host until it is dead, they drain them dry.

    They keep sending us these kids right out of college whose only visible skill is creating power point slides and whose goal appears to be bringing in more of their kind. We are paying them while we are training them.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    So old that can remember when the verb to blog didn’t mean appropriating some random twit’s tweet.

  91. 91.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): there had to have been a way to make that somewhat meaningful – not only to you but to everyone. Having an outsider knowing nothing about your company come in and talk about your problems is condescending. I hope the rest of the training is actually helpful. I know from personal experience that D&T’s (again, sorry, T&D’s)IT security could be ………… hmm, shall we say, hypothetical, at least where I was working

  92. 92.

    aimai

    I agree with whoever pointed out upthread that the real breakdown after “is shit broken” is three sided

    Is Shit Broken (Yes)
    Who Broke It?

    Muslims/Immigrants/Democrats==> Trump

    Republicans/Banks/Rich People/White People==> Hillary or Bernie

    Rich People/Republicans/Democrats ====> Bernie

  94. 94.

    Bob In Portland

    In FLA at the bedside of my dying mother. Staying with my sister, whose bathroom is overflowing, and who thinks she’s got strep throat. Don’t know if it’s the power of suggestion but my head feels a little “streppy” today. If it is, then do you or don’t you visit Mom? Put her at risk for strep or miss her last breath?

    Where is the nearest Kaiser Hospital?

  95. 95.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    incoherent. Andrea Mitchell noted on “Meet the Press” yesterday that Trump “is completely uneducated about any part of the world.” The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg added on “Face the Nation” that it’s “remarkable to imagine that someone who shows so little interest in understanding why the world is organized the way it is organized is this close to the presidency of the world’s only superpower.”

    A candidate with a demonstratable lack of understanding of foreign affairs and a lack of intellectual curiosity has not stopped the MSM from fawning all over George Bush, Jr in 2000 or for whitewashing how terrible his Presidency has been for America and the world.

    In short, the MSM are hypocrites for piling on the Donald’s ignorance while covering for so many other clueless Republicans.

  97. 97.

    Bartholomew

    @Elizabelle: “98%? Of Twenty people?”
    Well done, sir. Well done. ”

    LOL for the example of how groupthink makes people, well, like what has been put on example for the world to see here. I laughed because it’s so stupid–critically thinking folks would think you’re joking–but of course it’s not meant to be funny; it is meant to be ugly and mean. Clap Harder!

    I do agree with Anne that only people who think (or should I say, ‘feel’) things aren’t broken in this country would ever vote for Clinton. Clap HARDER!

    Meanwhile, good people are trying very hard to warn the spitegrifters of the firebug. I would say carry on but please don’t…

    Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Resigns From DNC To Endorse Bernie Sanders

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @Bob In Portland: Best to you, Bob. That’s rough.

    Wonder if you should wear a face mask, in event you do have strep (exposure, at least), to protect not only your mom but other patients at her hospital. Sounds important to be with your mom.

  100. 100.

    Bob In Portland

    @Elizabelle: Yeah. This situation makes me feel like the grim reaper.

    How you feeling this morning? Let me fluff up your pillow. Excuse me while I clear my throat.

  102. 102.

    japa21

    @Bob In Portland: Sorry to hear that. Not an easy thing to go through. Went through it with both my mom and MIL. Being there for her and with her is more important to both of you that the possibility of strep.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Bob In Portland:

    If it is, then do you or don’t you visit Mom? Put her at risk for strep or miss her last breath?

    In all honesty, it sounds to me like strep is the last thing she will worry about. FAR more important that you be there for her.

  104. 104.

    Bobby Thomson

    Women can fix things, too. Even capitalist running dogs who use a pipe wrench instead of a thermal.

  105. 105.

    Peale

    @rikyrah: republicans seem to want to hold onto power 10 times more than Democratic voters want to hand power to their party. At this point, im hoping that democrats break the law and engage in community registration drives on their own. If they’re not willing to risk anything when faced with a challenge to their existence, perhaps it is time to pull the plug on them and hope the other side of single party rule looks nester.

  107. 107.

    WereBear

    @gene108: I spent the weekend reading the chapter roundups of Atlas Shrugged on Daylight Atheist.

    So now when I hear the word “moochers” I shudder — your description is exactly right!

    It is a delightful takedown of the basic logical fallacies of Objectivism, and far far easier to take than actually reading the novel, which I did as a teen.

    And did not fall for it.

  108. 108.

    japa21

    @Peale: I have been trying to figure out how much this will hurt either Sanders of Clinton in the primary and have decided it will probably impact bot, but maybe Clinton a little more.

    College IDs are out and that may impact some of Sanders’ turnout. But the new law also impacts the poor and people AA to a great degree and that can hurt Clinton. What it means is that the results are going to be somewhat skewed either way.

    However, I can imagine a couple lawsuits coming out of this because they did not follow the law about educating people as to what is required and that could prevent the law from being used in November.

    The WI GOP is an example of what is the worst part of the anti-democratic party. At least in some states they are more open about their disdain for the voter. In WI they try to do it under the radar.

  111. 111.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Bob In Portland: There are no easy choices at this juncture, but I think being there for your mother is something you don’t want to miss. Wish you and her peace however this unfolds.

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    @bemused: Shermer is an interesting character. Back in the early 1980’s he was a very serious, very competitive ultra-long-distance bicyclist, competing numerous times in the sadomasochistic RAAM (Race Across America) event. It is the sensory deprivation/fatigue overload experiences (competitors routinely hallucinate and have almost out-of-body experiences) that led him to the skeptical/scientific side.

  115. 115.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Bob In Portland: Call the facility where your mom is – they can probably co-ordinate things so that you interact with other people as little as possible during your visit

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    ‘Calm’ May Not Fit Country’s Mood, but It’s Obama’s Only Choice
    Anger is an emotion that only the privileged, like Trump, can perform without criticism.

    BY: MARY C. CURTIS
    Posted: March 25 2016 3:00 AM

    Sometimes, even when I suspect that he knows it will hurt him, President Barack Obama does not follow the script. The evening of the day when terrorists struck in Belgium, the president and his family attended a Major League Baseball exhibition game in Cuba. Why didn’t he rush back to Washington, D.C., or to Belgium to show solidarity with our European allies? “The whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives,” he told ESPN during the game.

    Agree or disagree with the choice—and Republican critics didn’t hesitate to strongly disapprove—Obama showed the calm that has characterized his presidency but that may be out of step with Americans’ fear of terrorism reaching our shores again. (At least, that what’s GOP presidential candidates and their supporters are hoping.)

    When Obama was running for president in 2008, however, calm was one of the few emotions allowed in his public persona. If he had introduced himself in red-faced, hair-on-fire mode (think the current Republican front-runner), his campaign would have ended before it began. After President George W. Bush and a war that America had grown tired of, Obama’s mood fit the country’s.

    But just as important was the fact that the man who wanted to be elected the country’s first African-American president already saw how he and his family, without evidence to back it up, were being tagged with the go-to adjective of “angry.”

    Much has been said and written about “respectability politics,” and it has played out—most prominently for me—in the images of well-dressed, well-behaved civil rights demonstrators being called uncivilized by screaming, violent men, women and children. The contradiction was as plain as could be, but it hardly changed the minds of true believers in the way things—socially, culturally, politically—had always been and should remain.

    Civility is an expectation for some Americans; violently acting out is not an option, at least not one that will be tolerated.

  117. 117.

    PurpleGirl

    @Bob In Portland: I hope you don’t have strep throat. When I used to get it I felt it in my throat first as a raspy, straw taste and problems swallowing.

    ETA: I went through a period of having strep every 6 to 8 weeks. My doctor threatened to have my tonsils if I didn’t stop having strep. It seems the germs causing strep live in the tonsils. Luckily I changed jobs, my tension levels went way low and I stopped having strep. And I still have my tonsils.

  118. 118.

    Yutsano

    @Bob In Portland: Definitely visit Mom and definitely wear a mask. Also alert the hospital staff to your possible condition. And may you and your family have peace at this rough time.

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I did not know this was a thing on the right:

    TRUMP: But the president of the United States always says “ISIL,” and everyone else says “ISIS,” and I actually think he does it to bother people.

    So from now on I will always call them ISIL and I encourage everyone else to do the same.

  122. 122.

    CaseyL

    @Bob In Portland: Seeing your Mom, being there for her, is the more important factor. Ditto other suggestions about wearing a mask and notifying the medical staff.

    Best wishes to you, and hopes for a peaceful passing for your mom.

  125. 125.

    bemused

    @Gin & Tonic:

    That would fit with my theory of people with tendencies to go all in, to the max, living and breathing 24/7 whatever their “thing” is. Some stay with one obsession most of their lives while others jump from one to another. It’s all or nothing for them and the pattern stays the same. There’s not enough balance, imo for me to take them seriously, not when they can veer off into an entirely different direction with a whole new set of “reasons’ to do so.

  128. 128.

    Betty Cracker

    @Bob In Portland: I’m sorry to hear that. Strength and courage to you during this time. Echoing what the other folks said — alert the medical staff and be guided by their advice.

  129. 129.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF: I read that; a few comments.

    (1) No one ever mentions at all the role of rightwing “entertainment” radio/TV/internet in disinforming and radicalizing its listeners.

    (2) I loved how they elided over not even considering switching to the Democrats: “Most of these voters had long since given up on an increasingly liberal and cosmopolitan Democratic Party.”

    From Foster “keep your knees closed, you wimmens” Freiss:

    Republicans and Democrats alike, Mr. Friess said, had neglected “the people who truly make our country work — the truck drivers, farmers, welders, hospitality workers.”

    Both sides. But is that true? Affordable Care? Equal pay for equal work? Not getting us embroiled in another war to suck the lifeblood and lives from Americans, and enrich the military industrial complex? Really?

    And from the article:

    While the party was drawing more of its money from an elite group of the wealthy, it was drawing more votes from working-class and middle-income whites. Between 2008 and 2012, according to the Pew Research Center, more lower-income and less-educated white voters shifted their allegiance to Republicans.

    These voters had fled the Democratic Party and were angry at Mr. Obama, whom they believed did not have their interests at heart. But not all of them were deeply conservative; many did not think about politics in ideological terms at all. A 2011 Pew survey called them the “Disaffecteds.”

    Older white voters with little education beyond high school, under enormous economic stress, the Disaffecteds surged to the Republican Party early in Mr. Obama’s first term. But they were as cynical about business as they were about government. They viewed immigrants as a burden and an economic threat. They opposed free trade more than any other group in the country.

    Why so harsh on Obama? It was 8 years of Cheney/Bush that brought the economy to its knees.

    These folks are getting their information — what they get — from compromised sources, and this fine NYTimes article will not address that AT ALL.

    Although I am glad to see people waking up about “free trade” (and is that a Republican-framed term, or not?)

    And this is to laugh: in the wake of the 2012 loss:

    Advisers to the Kochs, finding that Mr. Romney had increased the party’s share of elderly voters, concluded that proposals to overhaul entitlements were not hurting Republicans.

    Seriously. Adding Paul Ryan to the ticket absolutely doomed Romney, as did the 47% video. The Kochs will see what they want to see, though.

    Whole article is about a bunch of people with their heads up their asses, party “elites” and rubes alike, and the NYTimes writer leaves too much not mentioned at all.

  131. 131.

    MattF

    @Elizabelle: It’s fair to say that the RW elite has a peculiar view of Democrats. In fact, they have a peculiar view of anything outside their bubble. Their objection to Der Trump is that he’s not with the program– that he’s a proto-fascist is a detail.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL and raven: That’s wonderful.

    Think he heard, loud and clear, from the business community. The film industry’s concerns made NPR, quickly.

    Money talks way louder than us citizens. But thank goodness it did, here.

  133. 133.

    JPL

    @Raven: Do you think he’ll veto campus carry also? I don’t think he has it in him, to veto both bills. This legislative season has really sucked.

  135. 135.

    MattF

    @JPL: Also, the NC legislature + governor went out on a limb that’s now been sawed off.

    ETA: And the big corporations are now motivated to demonstrate in NC what Georgia just avoided.

  139. 139.

    JPL

    @MattF: When Deal’s term is up next year, they will try to pass the law again. Hopefully, the economy in NC suffers enough, it won’t pass again.

  142. 142.

    Mike J

    @JPL:

    Do you think he’ll veto campus carry also?

    Get Coca-Cola and the NFL to say they won’t do business in Georgia.

  144. 144.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Elizabelle:

    Money talks way louder than us citizens.

    But money is speaking with the voice of the citizens, the majority who believe in tolerance.and still like to go to the movies or watch football.

  147. 147.

    JPL

    @Raven: Most of the major corps in town came out against it, including HD and Coca Cola. I haven’t heard anyone at Coke or Home Depot threaten to move their headquarters, so depends on what you mean by active.
    I think some long term damage has been done, especially with the threat of reintroducing the law. Our next governor is going to be awful.

  152. 152.

    Tripod

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I like reading Martin (and don’t pay much attention to his commentariat), but he sure didn’t need a front pager going all emo at the dying of the Bernie light. There is definitely a segment of entitled man-children vested in the Sanders campaign, and that seems very much a reflection of the candidate. –shoves wife out of way–

  153. 153.

    Disgruntled former Baud supporter

    @Bob In Portland: Dang, that’s a tough situation – but you’ve got lots BJers advice already so I won’t offer any. I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to my mother down the road.

  154. 154.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Linnaeus:

    The version of this chart that a friend posted on FB this morning has another arrow under Is Shit Broken? that points to “yes, but the causes of our current political dysfunction are deep-rooted and complex, and broken institutions are best fixed by incremental change rather than pinning all our hopes on the election of a single messianic figure”, then an arrow that points to Clinton.

  156. 156.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Bob In Portland: I’m sorry. It’s a stressful situation.

    If your mother is not in a hospital/ facility with other people who are old/ill/dying, I’d skip the mask, as it might distress her. But I know how lucky I am that both my parents got to die in their own bedroom, and you know your mother.

  157. 157.

    Elie

    @Bob In Portland:

    My condolences through this hard time for you. I would go to your mom and wear a mask. Wash your hands or use one of those sanitizers scrupulously before you touch her. But I would go be with her…

  158. 158.

    The Lodger

    @Bob In Portland: Sorry to hear about your mother, Bob. Definitely wear the mask and use the sanitizer, as the hospital recommends. I went on a similar trip back home 2 weeks ago, but fortunately Mom’s most recent cardiac procedure came out better than the previous seven and she is recovering ok. Best to both of you.

  159. 159.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg added on “Face the Nation” that it’s “remarkable to imagine that someone who shows so little interest in understanding why the world is organized the way it is organized is this close to the presidency of the world’s only superpower.”

    I don’t know. Is being a superpower like being a supermodel? Who, exactly determines whether a nation qualifies for superpower status?

    I guess that Russia is not a superpower anymore, and yet seems to have helped Syria turn a corner on dealing with ISIS, while countering US efforts in the region.

    But on Trump. Sadly, neither the Post nor the Times has as much clout as they used to. They are no longer superpower newspapers. And worse, Trump supporters don’t care about the judgments of these institutions.

    Even worse, Trump may be able to make a case with his supporters that “ignorance is strength.” He claimed, out of ignorance or gut instinct, that “Belgium was just a mess! They didn’t know what they were doing at all!!!!”

    And it turns out that the Belgian security people were stupid and disorganized. A BBC news report quoted an analyst who said that it almost never happens that a terrorist cell in Europe remains operational after it has been discovered. The authorities roll it up. And yet, the terrorists were able to mount another attack after the one in France.

    Obviously, Trump stumbled into a valid criticism about anti-terror activities. The crazy thing is, he seems to be about to stumble into the GOP nomination. Can his luck hold out? It is crazy freaky to watch this continuing GOP trainwreck, doubly so since Trump keeps chugging along on a side track to victory.

    ETA: Trump is Sara Palin on steroids.

  161. 161.

    sherparick

    @BGinCHI: Remember, Ibsen wrote all his dark gloom plays about Norwegian families. For this reason it should be thought of as a Holy Day of Obligation and not a holiday.

  164. 164.

    J R in WV

    Bob,

    Sorry to hear about your Mom. No matter how we disagree about politics, I will always have sympathy for someone going through this. My Mom was fortunate enough to have been cared for at home by my Dad, and she died in his arms at about 5 am one morning back in 1997.

    Spend as much time with your Mom as you can, as long as she seems to be aware and appreciative of your presence. I was able to spend the last 3 weeks of his life with my Dad, just sitting beside him and holding his hand. He was in his apartment with Hospice care, and it was wonderful and caring treatment.

    It will do you a world of good to know you were there for her.

    Hang in there!

    JR

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