Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

People are complicated. Love is not.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

The words do not have to be perfect.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

The revolution will be supervised.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Nope, nothing megalomaniacal to see here…

Nope, nothing megalomaniacal to see here…

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Meanwhile, President Obama drops a truth bomb on the bulbous, tangerine-hued, evil shower-drain genie for casually suggesting that the US should put aside decades of international cooperation to curtail nuclear proliferation:

Thwack!

Also, Trump tweeted this image of a meeting of his national security brain trust:

trump fp braintrust

I don’t know about y’all, but somehow, a photo of Trump doing his duck-face frown at 12 white dudes doesn’t make me feel very secure.

Reader Interactions

233Comments

  2. 2.

    piratedan

    Wonder if Trump’s plan to help Wisconsin involves indicting Scott Walker and the GOP controlled lege for malfeasance and high crimes…. that would be one way to help…. or perhaps arrest the Koch Brothers for treason.

  3. 3.

    Punchy

    Are those supposed to be electrons orbiting a nucleus? They dont appear to be their proper subshells. Also, too, I see Obummer has moved to the dark side and accepted Flag Lapel Pin Orthodoxy. Where are the goddamn clouds to shout at?

  4. 4.

    Captain Oblivious

    With all this “winning” Trump promises, perhaps Charlie Sheen can be his VP choice. The all mysoginist ticket!

  5. 5.

    Mike J

    @Punchy: Electrons aren’t teeny tiny billiard balls anyway. it’s silly to complain that the points representing electrons aren’t drawn properly when a fuzzy cloud of probability would get you closer, but nobody would understand the icon.

  6. 6.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Mike J:
    WHAT?!?!? Are you trying to tell me that all electrons don’t look exactly like that? YIKES! all my science education is for not.

  7. 7.

    Bob In Portland

    Do these waters lap anywhere near Clinton Global Initiatives and John Guistra?

    Two federal statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 and the Patriot Act of 2001, make it a crime for banks to knowingly process transactions related to illegal activity or to ignore red flags that they may be allowing illegal cash to flow through the financial system. Whether Citibank or HSBC broke the law depends on whether investigators determine that Unaoil’s deals were illegal and whether the banks knew or should have known about that.

    Thousands of internal Unaoil emails obtained by HuffPost and Fairfax Media make clear that both HSBC and Citibank were intimately involved in Unaoil’s complex finances.

    In Kazakhstan, Unaoil helped U.S. energy conglomerate KBR and British oil company Petrofac secure millions of dollars of work on the Kashagan oil field, one of the biggest fossil fuel discoveries of the 21st century. The joint contract was facilitated by huge payments that Unaoil made to a consultant working for Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company. That arrangement could potentially run afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies that do business in the United States from paying bribes to foreign government agents.

    In a statement to HuffPost and Fairfax Media, Unaoil founder Ata Ahsani denied that his firm bribed public officials. “The answer is absolutely no,” Ahsani said.

    The KBR money went through HSBC’s Private Bank subsidiary in Monaco, according to emails. The Petrofac funds went through Citibank’s affiliate in Geneva, Switzerland, until late 2008, when they began flowing through HSBC. HSBC also executed trades in shares of Petrofac stock on behalf of Unaoil. On the Kazakhstan deal alone, HSBC processed millions of dollars in payments to Unaoil from KBR.

    Unaoil deliberately structured bank accounts to obscure its dealings from other companies and legal authorities. In September 2008, for instance, the firm was negotiating a contract with Weatherford, a U.S. chemical company that was paying Unaoil to help it get business with the Iraqi government. Unaoil finance manager Sandy Young sent an email to the firm’s leadership explaining why the firm wanted to shield as many bank accounts as possible from Weatherford, which was required to perform due diligence on Unaoil under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Unaoil eventually secured a lucrative deal with the Iraqi government on behalf of Weatherford that involved paying kickbacks to senior Iraqi officials.

    “Restricting the audit rights to the bank account where [Weatherford] monies have been transferred into is certainly preferred with advance warning and inspection during normal working hours,” Young wrote. “As it stands today we use such several sub-accounts only to collect money from principals (we do not make payments from these sub-accounts other than to transfer funds out to our main account from which all payments are made). So with such restrictions all Wfd. would be able to see will be their payments coming in and subsequent transfers of funds out of this account to our main account.”

    In other words, money from major Western corporations went into one account, which was then transferred to other accounts, which in turn was used to pay various officials. This made it harder for outsiders to track Unaoil’s funds. It is not clear from the emails what the company’s bankers knew about the legality of Unaoil’s activities. But it is very clear that Unaoil trusted both HSBC and Citibank with the detailed orchestration of its accounts.</blockquote

    Hmmm. Citibank. Where have I heard that name before?

  8. 8.

    bystander

    tl; dr

    Why is it everytime Sarah Palin starts freestyling, all I can think is Dr. Seuss with no brains?

  10. 10.

    MattF

    …but if I win, all of the bad things happening in the U.S. will be rapidly reversed!

    How could anyone doubt that?

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    I see that the one slightly tan guy has been carefully positioned to face the camera.

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    A table crammed with old, balding white guys is precisely what America needs to rapidly reverse all of the bad things happening in the U.S.

  14. 14.

    Applejinx

    @Bob In Portland: Not gonna bite, Bob. This is a ‘WTFTrump’ and ‘damn are we gonna miss Obama’ thread. There are plenty of threads directly about the primary which are fair game, it’s way too uncivilized to drag unrelated threads into it.

    I’m really, really going to miss Obama. Sad that we can’t just make him keep going: I’d absolutely prefer that to our available options, including the one I like. Obama really is an impossible act to follow.

  15. 15.

    Amaranthine RBG

    I don’t know about y’all, but somehow, a photo of Trump doing his duck-face frown at 12 white dudes doesn’t make me feel very secure.

    IKR? White guys are such assholes!

  16. 16.

    MattF

    Bunch of guys sitting around a makeshift conference table after lunch. I feel so safe now.

  17. 17.

    Immanentize

    The table is too small for this well fed group. Is Trump out of money and conference rooms?????

  19. 19.

    Germy

    Looking at that photo of Trump and his Wise Men, I can imagine the dialogue:

    “Bomb them?”

    “Yes. Bomb.”

    “So it’s unanimous, then? We bomb?”

    “Yes. We commence bombing immediately.”


    (And they’re discussing a BLM protest)

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    I have my suspicions as to just who is in the picture. Is the white dude at the far end of the table from Donald, the one pointing to himself, anyone well-known in foreign policy/national security circles? Or is he just one of a bunch of anonymous older male models?

  24. 24.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    Anybody recognize any of those guys in the photo? The guy with his back to the camera looks like Jeff Sessions ( a policy genius of Drumpfian levels) and the shiny nob to Drump’s left looks like Looie the shiny nob Gomert. I wouldn’t trust those clowns to get my 10 year old grandson off to school safely in the morning let alone prep the Trumpster fire for higher office.

    EDIT: I started typing & then got tasked by the missus – I see Amir got to the question before I got back.

  27. 27.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Amir Khalid:
    Don’t you know the Kings English?

    Sure, so’s the queen.

    Also too – I don’t speak English – I speak ‘MURICAN! :)

  29. 29.

    Thoughtful David

    The entire point to taking that photo and releasing it was to show that they are ALL OLD WHITE GUYS. Don’t want anyone to think that a wimmen or a brown is in the group. As everyone knows, only old white guys know anything.

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Magatha:
    I learned from reading gawker this week that people who recognize grammar, spelling & usage issues are jerks! They cited a study & everything!

    I admit I didn’t really think about the post & Amir is exactly correct although in these troubled times when you can’t tell your ACs from your DCs “not” probably is close enough – certainly when you are trying to stay under 140 characters!

  40. 40.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @gogol’s wife:
    No, he is that guy

    When the fire department shows up because a neighbors house is on fire he complains that ALL HOUSES MATTER! and demand that they not pay attention to just his neighbors house but to his house too.

  41. 41.

    RaflW

    I win, all of the bad things happening in the U.S. will be rapidly reversed!

    So, I don’t think he’ll win, but if he does, of course this is utter bullshit, so what happens when all these bad things don’t suddenly fear The Donald and slink away? I assume he declares presidential bankruptcy, gets bought out, and goes away? If so, who is the debtor-in-possession? China? India? Canada won’t want us, even at cents on the dollar.

    Who pays the golden parachute? (Well, that one is easy, the voters are the suckers who gonna pay).

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    There’s an old superstition that it’s bad luck to have 13 guys seated at a table, isn’t there?

  43. 43.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @bemused: They are the Angry White Men, and they want to rule the world in an Angry White Male way, like
    1.NUKE MECCA!
    2.NUKE MEXICO
    3.NUKE ASIAN COUNTRIES THAT TOOK OUR JERBS
    4.NUKE HARLEM, DETROIT, FERGUSON, MO and all other places where those uppity people live.
    5. Finally NUKE KENYA! (but first send that Muslin(sp) Usurper Barry Sotero Husain Obama!)

  46. 46.

    gogol's wife

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    So you missed the black guy and the woman in that room? I realize they may be hard to pick out. They’re the President of the United States and the Secretary of State.

  48. 48.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @gogol’s wife: Actually there are two women in that picture.

    So, if you want to be a condescending asshole, you should practice on getting the basic stuff right first.

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    @RaflW: His supporters are people who know with absolute certainty that Obamacare is a disaster, the economy is in shambles, and people and leaders around the world who had the highest respect for America during the previous administration (run by a guy whose name they’ve mysteriously forgotten) now hate and despise us.

    They’ll have no trouble at all believing that Trump had made everything perfect within six months of taking office. Black is white, up is down, 2+2=5, etc.

  53. 53.

    bemused

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    Yeah, that is their true desire. They just want to beat someone, anyone, bloody and mangled and totally destroy the government and the country they claim to love so much, the more spectacular the better.

  54. 54.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @geg6: What? That’s crazy talk. There’s no way that 2% of white guys are not assholes. It’s more like one in a thousand in my experience.

  57. 57.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Applejinx:
    I was quoting Firesign Theater. Don’t crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers

    Also, in looking at the picture to try and identify people I am reminded of the great Lazarus Long,

    “A motion to adjourn is always in order.”

  61. 61.

    Richard Fox

    I am a photo editor, and a large part of my working day is spent looking at stock photos.. Let’s just say I’m fantasizing on how the poor photographer got all those pasty mean looking fellows to be positioned just right, to have it all cushioned by that great head of orange fluff at the top of the image. See how the blue bottles climax with Donald’s blue tie, forcing you to feel his powerful mug before you see it? What power of imagination! And such an ugly frown, denoting gravitas! Heaven help us all if he gets near the White House. So many cheap staged pictures! And oh yes the end of the republic as well. Can’t forget that bit. Ugh

  64. 64.

    Redshift

    I’m visiting my father in law in the hospital, and the African American guy in the next bed (or his visiting family) weirdly have Fox News on, though fortunately the audio is at bedside, do I don’t have to hear it.

    They had a Trump spokeswoman on, and while she was talking to the blonde anchorbot, they were totally sandbagging her with the infographics – “67% of women are unfavorable toward Trump,” stuff about his shifting abortion statements, etc.

    Then they had about 30 seconds of a Bernie rally, stuff about Hillary complaining about Bernie, with a clip only about 5 seconds long of her speaking. Then a long segment about the emails. (Surprise!)

    Now they’re back to showing Bernie again.

    Subtle, they’re not.

  70. 70.

    James E Powell

    @bystander:

    Why is it everytime Sarah Palin starts freestyling, all I can think is Dr. Seuss with no brains?

    She always reminds me of a heavy drinker explaining how he finally figured it all out.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    Either there’s a Hamilton reference in an email I just got from a yarn company, or I’ve reached a point of insanity where I’m seeing those references everywhere. Not sure which.

    (The potential reference is the tag line “Stress Less. Smile More.”)

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bob In Portland:

    Everyone. Are you one of those people who thinks that bank tellers should be forbidden from making personal political donations based on who their employer is? Or did you not realize that those “industry” percentages are available because every donor is required by law to state the name of their employer when they make a donation?

  75. 75.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, gosh Bob, if you took away all of the donations from bank tellers, I bet the total Wall Street and financial industry donations would be, like, nothing, you know?

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    @dr. bloor:

    A table crammed with old, balding white guys is precisely what America needs to rapidly reverse all of the bad things happening in the U.S.

    To be fair, one of the guys looks young and a little naturally tanned.

    I’d like to know who these guys are and whether, for example, they are just members of the old neo-con stooge squad that previously led the US into foreign policy disasters, or something different.

  77. 77.

    Peale

    Citibank. I cower in fear.

    Seriously, citi, let HSBC and Barclays handle the global money laundering. The Brits are better at it. As are the Italians.

  79. 79.

    Keith P.

    Sweet Christ, that’s Trump at one end and Jeff Fucking Sessions at the other, with everyone listening intently on Sessions. When people muse that Trump will surround himself with smart people who know what they’re doing (sound familiar?), this is who he picks.

  80. 80.

    Peale

    @Brachiator: my guess is that the neocons are in cruz’s camp. Iran is about fifth on Donald’s list of priorities. With Cruz, they’d be at least number three, after Showing the World that the US will never get over Cuba, and tamping down on the Muslims within, making the Iranians regret the day they decided we might be able to negotiate in good faith is number three.

  83. 83.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Brachiator: There’s really no need to know who the guys are. They are white guys. Ergo they are all assholes. That’s all you need to know.

  86. 86.

    Ken

    Am I the only one who thinks that the President’s criticism of Trump is a ploy to shore up Trump’s standing with the Republican base?

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    @Keith P.:

    Sweet Christ, that’s Trump at one end and Jeff Fucking Sessions at the other, with everyone listening intently on Sessions. When people muse that Trump will surround himself with smart people who know what they’re doing (sound familiar?), this is who he picks.

    Wait, there’s more.

    A Trump campaign source confirmed to NBC News that [Florida Rep Jeff] Miller attended Trump’s meeting with national security advisers on Capitol Hill this Thursday. The Florida Republican, who’s retiring this year, is seen sitting at the front of a photo Trump sent out on Twitter after the meeting. It’s unclear what Miller’s actual role is, with a campaign source describing him as a “volunteer.”

    Miller serves as chairman of the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs and is a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services committees. He’s known as a prominent voice on national security issues —particularly on veterans’ issues— on Capitol Hill.

    It would be interesting to be able to put a name to all the faces.

  90. 90.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Baud: BAUD! That is the sort of nuanced thinking that will sink a presidential campaign. I expect more from BAUD! Which is to say, less thinking, more BAUD!

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @Peale:

    Wasn’t it a Brit who managed to crash the markets accidentally and lose a billion dollars for his bank? I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he’s in jail now.

  95. 95.

    Chyron HR

    Gee, guys, if you don’t leave poor Jeff “Slavery Forever” Sessions along, ARBG will have no choice but to continue whining at you.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    You’re probably right. I think my biggest mistake was trying to run as America’s first virtual candidate while appealing to people who aren’t assholes. Not nearly a big enough constituency online for that strategy to be successful.

  98. 98.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Yes, because a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t pan out, Kasich has proposed one in Iraq and Syria. Genius!

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    If I thought there were some way to up one’s game from half-wit to full witty, I’d try to steer you in that direction.

    No, no, that’s wrong … it must be that I just don’t appreciate how droll you are, along with your oh-so-cute nym.

  101. 101.

    Germy

    So…. is Ted Cruz in the D.C. Madam’s phone list or not?

    The suspense is killing me.

  103. 103.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Mnemosyne: You get mail-order YAMS?, I thought, until I looked closer.

    When I was taught to type it was Courier, and I didn’t make such kern-reading errors.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @Germy:

    I’m feeling kind of like when they tease on the news that a “sports star” or “TV star” was arrested. It always turns out to be some minor person, because if it was an actual star, they would have said the person’s name. So I think at this point the rumors will turn out to be unfounded, though I’ll be ecstatic if I’m wrong.

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    Oh, I’m a walking, talking cliche of middle age: I have three cats, I work as a secretary (that’s my actual union job title), and I knit. I did manage to get married, though, so at least I’m not a spinster, too.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    Well, I’ve noticed that white guys get a little cranky when their blood sugar gets low. A little snack or a cookie usually solves the problem.

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    @Germy:

    Unless this sex-scandal story blows up.

    Even if it does.

    Since Rafael Bienvenido el Segundo has been anointed by God, it matters not if some harlot(s) seduced him.

  111. 111.

    Germy

    Since Hillary Clinton has been compelled to release all her emails, I think it’s only fair Ted Cruz should release his phone records.

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    My best guess is that dude is George Papadopoulos.

    Yes, I think this might be right. Odd that some of his team were previously associated with Romney or Ben Carson.

    Politico has more on the Trump foreign policy team.

    Actually, I kinda take the headline of the Politico piece as a good sign: “Trump’s foreign policy team baffles GOP experts”

    GOP experts don’t exactly have a good track record.

    Another, seems a bit of a nut:

    Joseph Schmitz served as inspector general at the Department of Defense during the George W. Bush administration. … Schmitz also drew scrutiny for his unusual fascination with Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, a Revolutionary War hero who is considered the military’s first true inspector general. Schmitz even replaced the official inspector general’s seal in offices nationwide with a new one bearing the Von Steuben family motto, according to the documents and interviews.

    He later became a senior official at the Prince Group, the parent company of defense contractor Blackwater. In an article in The Washington Post covering the move, Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said, “The inspector general is a standard-bearer for ethics and integrity for the Pentagon. To see a person who has been holding that position cash in on his public service and go work for one of their contractors is tremendously disappointing.”

    Not just white guys. Wild and crazy and corrupt white guys.

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, he’s naturally cranky. I assume this is the same genius, with a different nym, who incessantly tells us how much of a selfish asshole RBG was and continues to be.

  114. 114.

    Germy

    True story:

    Jesus came upon some men who were about to stone a harlot to death. Jesus told them “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!”

    There was an embarrassed silence from the crowd until Ted Cruz stepped forward and threw a large rock at the woman.

  117. 117.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Betty Cracker: As is mine – often a tad higher, in fact. Clearly the keeper of Lovey and Koda knows a better class of white guys.

  118. 118.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Germy: The woman, reeling from the tossed stone, says “it’s not my fault your weenie makes a Vienna Sausage look like Secretariat’s manhood!”

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @Germy:

    I would sort of like Cruz to be on the D.C. Madam’s list. I guess I am a bad person.

    Perhaps. But not because of that.

  122. 122.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Amaranthine RBG: It’s polite to readers to at least try to make it clear (as a seemingly new poster here) when you’re attempting a snarky post and when you want to be taken seriously.

    If you are looking for an example of extremely dry snark done by a master, check out Davis X Machina at Drum’s place.

    If you’re not attempting to post snark, well, never mind I guess.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    Mike in NC

    Disappointed that Drumpf’s circle jerk of foreign policy experts didn’t include Chuck Norris and Doug Feith.

  126. 126.

    John Revolta

    @Germy: The way I heard it, a stone came flying and hit the harlot on the head, and Jesus turned around and quoth: “Ya know Ma, you really piss me off sometimes”.

  129. 129.

    Mike R

    @Mike J: That would be special, but not in a good way. Once spent a night sitting in a typhoon, no shelter, no rain gear and that was special in its own way. Of course an evening with Cruz would be much worse.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Too good not to share, I only wish I could post the video

    Vaughn Hillyard
    ‏@ VaughnHillyard
    Palin on if crowd responsed well to her in Milwaukee: “Well I think so–I didn’t get booed. You know–I don’t know.”

    You betcha! Apparently things got awkward on the Tonight Show for Mrs Christie’s Bully Boy, too (Jesus, if Jimmy Fallon is putting you on the spot…).

  132. 132.

    Chyron HR

    @srv:

    This is exactly how presidents in third-world countries talk before they turn into dictators.

    A) I don’t think the photo is that damning.
    B) Trump isn’t actually president of anything.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @Mike in NC:

    Disappointed that Drumpf’s circle jerk of foreign policy experts didn’t include Chuck Norris and Doug Feith.

    Or Clint Eastwood’s chair, who would probably give better advice than anyone at that table.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    IIRC, Von Steuben was quite openly gay, which in the 18th century was not considered incompatible with being a military genius.

    So was one of Louis XIV’s brothers, who was a courageous general who wore paint and jewels to the front. I can’t remember the exact quote, but it was something like, Monsieur was more afraid of getting a stain on his coat than he was of bullets or cannonballs.

  136. 136.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @efgoldman: If you had to spend 4 hours in a chair every three weeks, I don’t think you would be making such of these jokes.

  138. 138.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @dogwood: I think he still pops in occasionally, but I see him most often at Drum’s place. Not that I’m a stalker or anything!! ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @dogwood: Some say, on still nights when the moon is full that you can sometimes still see him here, slipping between the shadows.

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    @PurpleGirl:

    Yarnspirations, which owns Bernat, Caron, and Patons. For non-yarnies, it’s like getting an ad from McDonald’s with a “Hamilton” reference in it.

  144. 144.

    benw

    How will Trump keep us safe?

    Setting the National Terrorism Alert System to ORANGE!

  145. 145.

    Cckids

    Well, I’m at the Clark County Democratic Convention. Holy God, I had no clue how many people are involved in this- there are probably 15,000 people here. The Bernistas have more swag, and are louder, but seem outnumbered & are starting to piss people off. When the candidates running for local/state office tell people how important it is to elect Democrats at all levels, they keep starting “Bernie!” chants. It’s more than a little off-putting.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    BTW, I just got a $2.99 Kindle book that might interest you called Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge. So far, it’s well-written and easy to read, and the author is yet another of the historians who are looking at the actual record and realizing what a shrewd politician Washington was. In fact, he was so shrewd, he had most historians snowed for over 200 years!

  149. 149.

    gwangung

    @Cckids: Hm. That’s something that comes from the top, too. And that’s not really not helpful, because a lot if our problem on the national level comes from inattention to the local level.

  150. 150.

    ? Martin

    What’s the matter with Indiana.

    ELKHART, Ind. — Seven years ago President Obama came to this northern Indiana city, where unemployment was heading past 20 percent, for his first trip as president. Ed Neufeldt, the jobless man picked to introduce him, afterward donned three green rubber bracelets, each to be removed in turn as joblessness fell to 5 percent in the county, the state and the nation.

    It took years — in 2012, Mr. Neufeldt lamented to a local reporter that he might wear his wristbands “to my casket” — but by last year they had all come off. Elkhart’s unemployment rate, at 3.8 percent, is among the country’s lowest, so low that employers here in the self-described R.V. capital of the world are advertising elsewhere for workers, offering sign-up bonuses, even hiring from a local homeless shelter.
    …
    In 2008 Mr. Obama won Indiana, the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so since 1964. In 2012 he did not even contest the state. Among those who opposed him was Mr. Neufeldt. Now 69, he holds four part-time jobs, but boasts that a daughter and three sons-in-law again have good jobs in Elkhart’s boom-and-bust recreational vehicle industry where he worked 32 years. His problem with the president is over abortion.

    Seriously, fuck these people. Jobs was the number one issue until they could breathe just enough to gasp out ‘abortion’.

  152. 152.

    Mnemosyne

    @PurpleGirl:

    It has a cute little stress ball pattern they’re calling the Lemon Drop. I scrolled down and was like, “Is it just me, or … ?”

  153. 153.

    Davis X. Machina

    @dogwood: Still here, but mostly lurking. Too much level-headed discourse. Chum is needed if fishing for shark — and snark.

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    There are two big ones: The one that starts everything with “Once upon a time….” and the other one, that always starts with “When I was your age…”

    Well, when I was your age, we didn’t start yarns with “Once upon a time …”

    But once upon a time, I started stories with “When I was your age …”

  158. 158.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    You haven’t been my age yet, unless you rented Obama’s time machine.

    Ya know, your attempt to bring facts and truth into the discussion is kind of off-putting.

  159. 159.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Cckids: @gwangung: It’s really unhelpful – and you’ve both put it politely.

    @Davis X. Machina: Howdy!

    Too much level-headed discourse.

    Is the bolded part a typo? It must be some kind of autocorrect on your device gone awry if it isn’t.

  160. 160.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Germy:
    The big dog has never had to pay for it. Of his many failing hiring hookers is not on the list. That was more of a W thing & was why Jeff Gannon/Guckert was a regular there.

  163. 163.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    I noticed the other day that one of Jefferson’s lines after that one is, “The emperor has no clothes,” when of course it turns out that nudity is at the root of what Hamilton is really hiding.

    Damn, that’s good writing!

  164. 164.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Cckids:
    They remind me a lot of the Nader kids of 2000 or the McCarthy kids of 68. I greatly admire their dedication and their passion but pasta how I wish they understood how the real world works, how little power the President has & how important state legislators and US senators are.

    Susan Saranwrap showed real wealthy white comfort by saying she would vote for Drumpf if Bernie does not win the nom. RIGHT! fuck the poor, fuck people of color, fuck women who can’t afford to travel one state over and wait 72 hours for their health needs. Fuck all of them I have enough money and power and freedom to avoid the damage so lets make Drumpf POTUS!

  165. 165.

    Davis X. Machina

    @efgoldman: We shopped hard to get an Elkhart Conn horn for my daughter There are serial number lists and such on the internet to help distinguish them.

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I erased my comment cause I don’t want to start The Fight in every thread (no, really, I don’t– Cckids and parmesan rancor started it!) but it’s almost too perfect that followers of Senator We’ll See started chanting His Name, Blessed Be It, to drown out people talking about down-ticket races.

  168. 168.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @SFAW:
    Is that some sorta class way to say “I’m rubber & your glue”? Cuz that is sort of the level I operate at when dealing with assholes like Боб в Портленде. He does not deserve better.

    I love a good argument, a real exchange of ideas and an honest attempt to defend positions, but Боб just tosses shit and begs for attention. People like him I either ignore or taunt. Its not like you could change his mind or he could make an adult argument worth listening to. Just point and laugh.

  170. 170.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    I like the senator. Had I been in town on caucus night I might have voted for him. But I hate the cult of personality that has grown around him. I don’t blame him for it but it drives me nuts anyway. I have been involved in politics for 59 years and have seen the damage this sort of thinking does. We don’t have time for this foolishness, as a nation, as a civilization we do not have time for playing these stupid games. Some times you swallow hard and pick the least worst solution to buy time for the real fix. But that means you also have to stay in the game & work harder when nobody is looking, do the tough, unfun, unglamorous, gritty slog of continuing to fight instead of hoping for the magic unicorn fairy to save us all.

    BTW – I was not an Obama delegate in 08, he was to me the best option only because of the excitement he brought. He has been a great President given what he had to work with but not what I wanted. He has advanced the ball instead of running it backwards and that was all I hoped for. I am grateful for him & what he has managed to do,

  171. 171.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Germy:

    Jeff was there for the money, that he serviced Rove and W was not an issue for him.

  173. 173.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    IIRC, Von Steuben was quite openly gay, which in the 18th century was not considered incompatible with being a military genius.

    I don’t know. Von Steuben seemed to have come to America in part to escape prosecution for his homosexuality.

    In any event, he found success in America, and of course, Alexander Hamilton helped assist Steuben in drafting a training program for the Army.

    ETA: I will take a look at the book on Washington. I almost hate to say it, but I find it interesting that some historians think that both Washington and Reagan were dopes who just listened to their talented advisors, and a few others who think that both men were secret Machiavellians so shrewd that they fooled everybody.

  174. 174.

    SFAW

    @Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):

    No, it was just that your “appropriate and correct” reminded me of “Dulce and decorum est pro patria mori.” (Wilfred Owen, Horace, probably others.)

    I don’t get as annoyed by BiP as a lot of the regulars here do, but I figure that’s because I ignore him a lot. And, of course, I ignore him because he seems to piss off a goodly number of the commenters-I-like.

    Of course, if he pissed off Reich to Rise or Clueless Today, I might need to have Norman coordinate.

    Anyway: I wasn’t giving you a hard time. Sorry if it came off that way.

  175. 175.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @Raven:
    THE final 4 was weekend before last. Both semi-final games went to OT before Minnesota beat previously unbeaten Boston College 3-1 for the championship.

  176. 176.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    It was partly Washington’s own fault: he very carefully crafted his persona to draw deliberate parallels to Cincinnatus, but he was so good at it that his hagiographers just passed the story along without examining it. The cherry tree, and all that. Plus he was one of the shortest-lived Founding Fathers and died before he was 70. One wonders if Washington would have been able to talk Hamilton down from the fatal duel.

    I’m still pretty sure that Reagan was a dope, though. I’ve been to the Reagan Library and seen the proof.

    ETA: Washington seems to have had that talent that all great men share — the ability to recognize and promote really smart, talented people who made him look good. Reagan, not so much.

  177. 177.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @SFAW:
    Sorry, I was being a smart ass. I sort of knew what you were saying but wanted to make the joke. In my world all of life must bend to the punchline.

  178. 178.

    Cckids

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I know, I know. I admire the Bernie people’s enthusiasm too. But so many of them are so, so self-righteous, so hard, so impossible to talk to on a reality-based platform.

    And they are VERY defensive about the “vote for a Democrat” line. They always take it as a slam on Bernie; the rest of us see it as, you know, necessity.

  179. 179.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Brachiator: You need to be taking baby steps here, you’re dealing with someone who was surprised to discover that Spanish speakers from different parts of the world speak with different accents. So understanding historical attitudes about homosexuality is like hard, yo.

  181. 181.

    Brachiator

    @efgoldman:
    RE: I love a good argument
    — No you don’t!

    Receptionist: Mr. DeBakey’s free, but he’s a little bit conciliatory. Ahh yes, Try Mr. Barnard; room 12.

    Man: Thank you. (Walks down the hall. Opens door.)

    Angry man: WHADDAYOU WANT?

    Man: Well, Well, I was told outside that…

    Angry man: DON’T GIVE ME THAT, YOU SNOTTY-FACED HEAP OF PARROT DROPPINGS!

    Man: What?

    A: SHUT YOUR FESTERING GOB, YOU TIT! YOUR TYPE MAKES ME PUKE! YOU VACUOUS TOFFEE-NOSED MALODOROUS PERVERT!!!

    M: Yes, but I came here for an argument!!

    A: OH! Oh! I’m sorry! This is abuse!

    M: Oh! Oh I see!

    A: Aha! No, you want room 12A, next door.

    M: Oh…Sorry…

    A: Not at all!

    A: (under his breath) stupid git.

  183. 183.

    liberal

    @SFAW: that’s me.

    The ability to do a simple cost/benefit analysis on RBG staying long past 2009 makes me a genius? No, but flattering. It does show, though, that you are one stupid fuck.

  185. 185.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Betty Cracker:

    Obama with his national security team (photo) Dr Susan Rice, Deputy National Security advisor Avril Haines, and Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco

  186. 186.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Cckids: And they are VERY defensive about the “vote for a Democrat” line. They always take it as a slam on Bernie; the rest of us see it as, you know, necessity.

    The Democrats aren’t entitled to my vote!

  187. 187.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Washington seems to have had that talent that all great men share — the ability to recognize and promote really smart, talented people who made him look good.

    Actually, I think this is rare even in great men and women. And Washington dealt with men who had tremendous egos, and who often knew absolutely that they were smarter than he was, and yet was able to get these men to give him what he needed.

    I tend to agree that Reagan does not measure up, and yet …

    Anyway, I tend to think that Hamilton would have found a way to doom himself, even had Washington lived longer.

    Plus he was one of the shortest-lived Founding Fathers and died before he was 70.

    And yet he was able to accomplish all that was needed before he died at age 67. Won the war, presided over the Constitutional Convention, served as president (two terms), dropped the mic. Done!

  189. 189.

    Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)

    @raven:
    So you DO know how I feel when you talk basketball! Good now we have common ground

  190. 190.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Trump’s lead paid “advisors” Walid Phares was on PBS a couple days ago explaining Trump doesn’t know anything but he will get better.

    It’s so bad even his paid supporters couldn’t spin the clusterfuck.

  192. 192.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Actually, I think this is rare even in great men and women. And Washington dealt with men who had tremendous egos, and who often knew absolutely that they were smarter than he was, and yet was able to get these men to give him what he needed.
    I tend to agree that Reagan does not measure up, and yet …

    a question: You mean he got people smarter than him to give him what he needed/wanted?

    and a comment: With Washington at least, you could get into a discussion about the different kinds of intelligence– a subject that interests me but I don’t know much about. I was thinking about this today when I read a story about Al Franken campaigning for HRC and he said something like: “I’ve know Bill and Hillary Clinton for over twenty years..” Frankenish pause “… and she’s smarter”. I think they make an interesting case study of the different kinds of intelligence.

  193. 193.

    smith

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Trump doesn’t know anything but he will get better.

    Someone noted upstream that Trump said on (I think) Face the Nation, that abortion laws should stay exactly as they are, apparently in blissful ignorance of how this would play with his base. Of course, his people walked it back 10 minutes later. Can hardly WAIT to see how successful he will be in delicate negotiations with, say, North Korea. It will be yoooge!

  195. 195.

    Davis X. Machina

    @efgoldman: Non-playing horn player — small city apartment, and no real way to practice. There’s nothing like the basement of her old music department locally, where you can sign out a quiet room… Maybe she’ll pull a Sonny Rollins on the Casco Bay Bridge some day.

    She played a Conn 6D all through college — college orchestra, regional orchestra, chamber music, gigs — and loved it.

  196. 196.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @smith: I suspect whatever supporters he makes wobbly can be won back if he starts talking about immigration again.

    WRT the New York GOP primary: Anyone know if abortion is a big issue for the R primary there? I suspect it’s a bigger deal in Wisconsin

  197. 197.

    Betty Cracker

    @liberal: You’re not the only asshole who calls RBG an asshole. That’s a two-asshole club here at Balloon Juice. SFAW is likely referring to the other asshole, who used to go by Asshole of Antioch or Steve of Asshole or something like that.

  203. 203.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    a question: You mean he got people smarter than him to give him what he needed/wanted?

    Yes. Hamilton and Jefferson were undisputed geniuses, and each tried to politically undermine the other, and yet they deferred to Washington and did their best to serve them. And Washington seemed to know how to manage them.

    There is also the British admiral Horatio Nelson and the famous Nelson touch. He knew how to inspire his captains and how to get them to execute his strategy without being overbearing. Military people are still trying to understand this and teach it.

    I have used popular literature to try to explain this. King Arthur is not the wisest (that would be Merlin), or the greatest knight (that would be Lancelot and Galahad), and yet he is the inspiring leader around whom everyone rallies. The same is true of Robin Hood (who has Friar Tuck and Little John) and Captain Kirk, who has Spock, Bones McCoy and Scotty.

    and a comment: With Washington at least, you could get into a discussion about the different kinds of intelligence– a subject that interests me but I don’t know much about. I was thinking about this today when I read a story about Al Franken campaigning for HRC and he said something like: “I’ve know Bill and Hillary Clinton for over twenty years..” Frankenish pause “… and she’s smarter”.

    Wow. Thank you for this. I recall Bill Clinton and maybe Chelsea talking about how smart HRC is. And yet, this exactly why I have some small reservations about her. The best leader is not always the smartest person. The leader who is too caught up in a sense of his own intelligence might make the worst mistakes (maybe Patton and Montgomery come to mind here as military leaders who alienated their superiors by strutting their intelligence).

    Hillary chose to be the spouse of a great leader. She was never governor or president, and for years did not direct a political campaign for her own benefit or have to put herself out front as a leader. Now obviously society made it difficult for her to rise to power as directly as a man would have, and she seems able to inspire intense loyalty and trust in those who work for her, which is an important aspect of leadership.

    And yes, during the 2008 campaign, I compared her to a back seat driver to her husband’s gubernatorial and presidential achievements. It is always easy for the back seat driver to say, “this is how you should do it,” to be smart, but not the same thing when you are in the driver’s seat and have to be responsible for getting things done.

    In some ways, she has only recently entered into the arena, as a Senator, and later as a presidential candidate (as Secretary of State, she is a chief advisor, not the main leader). If she wins the nomination and wins the presidency, it will be very interesting to see what kind of leader she might be, and whether her undeniable intelligence is the kind that you want in a president.

  207. 207.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Brachiator: I meant Reagan, specifically. I’m trying to remember who was around him. Didn’t one of his intimates say, or at least strongly hint, at his own version of amiable dunce? Don Regan? a quick look at Wiki suggests it was Regan and Baker who were COS and Sec Treasury, respectively, and had come up with the idea that they should switch jobs– which seems much weirder now than it did at the time. They carefully prepared a presentation for Reagan, and when they went to him with the proposal, he gave his approval as soon as they broached the idea–pretty much ended the meeting right away, and one of them wrote at how shocked he was that the President really didn’t seem to care who did which job.

    I thought it was Regan who spilled those beans, he was the source of a lot of the dirt on Nancy, IIRC, but Baker is the ultimate Bush insider, rumor has it the only one Bar considers a peer, and not the help, so maybe it was him.

    As for HRC, I think her intelligence was on full display in last weeks interview with Maddow, one of her best moments, at least that I’ve seen. She gave the impression of having really thought about every issue that came up. Not Maddow’s best moment, as there were far too much time spent on process,, “Why don’t people like you?” stuff. But damn she’s an awful campaigner.

  208. 208.

    Emma

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: But damn she’s an awful campaigner.

    It’s funny. I am acquainted with two people in completely different parts of the country with completely different Democratic values, and they both say that in person she is a warm, charming, intelligent woman. It leaves me wondering whether we are only shown her missteps.

  213. 213.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Emma: I’ve heard/read a lot of people saying she’s much more effective in small groups than at big rallies. I scoffed at her “listening tour” back in 2000, but it worked. I remember somebody saying she talked to upstate dairy farmers like she’d been studying their business all her life.

    as to awful campaigner, the moment that’s stuck in my mind like an ear worm was a couple weeks back she said “We’re gonna put a lot of coal miners out of business”. Bill never would’ve put it that way, he would’ve said, “We’re gonna bring new jobs and new industries to places like Kentucky and West Virginia”
    ETA: And before anyone feels the need to tell me she’s not gonna win KY or WV, coal is a big part of the economies in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

  214. 214.

    SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer

    @Mike R:

    Once spent a night sitting in a typhoon

    Perhaps I’m misremembering but didn’t SP&T once spend a night sitting on a tycoon?

  215. 215.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    But damn she’s an awful campaigner.
    I wonder how many people have some preconceived notion of her from the 25 yrs of bullshit spread about her. They don’t really listen to her, they hear everything through that filter of bullshit. If you actually listen to her and what she says, not what you are told she says, you are surprised, because she is not what you expected.

  216. 216.

    Gravenstone

    @efgoldman: One of my best friends from college used to work at Conn-Selmer. And my mother and grandmother were both born in Elkhart. Odd seeing the occasional intersection of life with the various little bits of trivia that meander through this place.

  220. 220.

    Wolvesvalley

    @Mnemosyne:

    $2.99 Kindle book that might interest you called Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge

    Thank you for recommending this book! I looked for it, downloaded it, and have galloped through the first two chapters. It’s very hard to put down. And the Continental Congress sounds an awful lot like today’s Congress (obstructionist incompetents).

    I do wish Fleming would get his English titles right — I’m a bit irked by his repeatedly calling Admiral Lord Howe “Lord Richard” and the wife of Sir William Howe “Mrs. Howe.” (By the way, did you get my e-mail about English titles that I sent via your movie site?)

  221. 221.

    SFAW

    @liberal:

    The ability to do a simple cost/benefit analysis on RBG staying long past 2009 makes me a genius?

    You wouldn’t know a “simple cost/benefit analysis” if it shoved a spreadsheet wrapped around a roll of 100s up your ass, you clueless moron. But I guess you have at least one acquaintance who taught you the proper spelling of the term. Bravo for you, etc.

    It does show, though, that you are one stupid fuck.

    Well, coming from you, that certainly means a lot. In all the months I’ve seen your comments, I’ve yet to see one that bears any relation to what most sentient beings call “thought.” But at least someone taught you how to spell “stupid fuck,” which is about all you seem to be able to handle, vis-a-vis constructing any kind of rational argument.

    Now, why don’t you toddle off and ask yer momma for a nice hot chocolate before she reads “Goodnight Moon” to you. And maybe she’ll dry your tears, when you tell her that a big ol’ meanie on the Intertoobz was mean to you.

  222. 222.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    She should check out these guys.

    “Home base – Gorham, Maine”? Well, I guess that’s better than Sanford. Or parts of Westbrook.

  223. 223.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    You’re probably right. Although, “liberal” seems more than happy to re-demonstrate his cred as a dumbfuck, so who am I to argue.

    Oh, wait, ef (and Brachiator) already did the argument thing. Shee-it.

  224. 224.

    Brachiator

    @hamletta:

    But as Sec of State, she led the State Department, and the lifers say she was the best they’ve ever worked for.

    Fair point. HRC showed admirable administrative skills. I don’t know about the best ever stuff, but I do know a few people fairly high up in the State Department, and they were very impressed by HRC. I will also say that she also was a kick ass diplomat. And admirably executed Obama’s foreign policy. Also, in the early years of the country, Secretary of State was a stepping stone to the White House.

    I can honestly say that it surprised me how well she did as Secretary of State. And she did it on her own. She may have cultivated some of the contacts she made as First Lady, but she was not in any way under her husband’s shadow.

    @Ruckus:

    I wonder how many people have some preconceived notion of her from the 25 yrs of bullshit spread about her.

    I categorically reject the nonsense that any negative judgement of HRC is because of the 25 years of bullshit spread about her, and she must be viewed as wonderful, marvelous.

    It’s not just that she is not as good a campaigner as Bill or Obama. She is not a natural politician, her political instincts seem to be weak at times, and she has been a weak campaigner. This does not say that she cannot be a good or effective president and sometimes she can be inspiring, but other times clumsy and obviously pandering.

  225. 225.

    SFAW

    @Brachiator:

    I can honestly say that it surprised me how well she did as Secretary of State.

    What a Hillbot.

    If she was so great, how come she didn’t get any legislation passed with her “name” (so to speak) on it?

  226. 226.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I meant Reagan, specifically. I’m trying to remember who was around him. Didn’t one of his intimates say, or at least strongly hint, at his own version of amiable dunce?

    I recall a couple of LA Times reporters suggesting, off the record, that Reagan was an amiable dunce. But then this creates a huge question about how he was able to accomplish anything as governor or president. This is a question that still has to be dealt with by some historian or biographer.

    As for HRC, I think her intelligence was on full display in last weeks interview with Maddow, one of her best moments, at least that I’ve seen. She gave the impression of having really thought about every issue that came up.

    No question that HRC is smart and thoughtful. This is a good sign, but we still don’t know how effective a leader she might be.

  227. 227.

    Brachiator

    @SFAW:

    What a Hillbot.

    Are you high? Even if you read only my comments in this thread, you would understand that I am hardly a Hilbot.

    If she was so great, how come she didn’t get any legislation passed with her “name” (so to speak) on it?

    I discussed here mainly her tenure as Secretary of State. What the fuck does this have to do with getting legislation passed?

  228. 228.

    SFAW

    Calm the fuck down, will you? It was a fucking joke.

    Amazingly enough, I actually DO FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT THE Secretary of State IS NOT PART OF THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, and neither passes nor sponsors legislation.

    Your entire comment (i.e., the one to which I replied) dealt with her tenure as SecState. Had you written anything about “Senator Clinton” in your comment, I would have made it (even more) obvious that I was talking about SecState. I would have thought that blockquoting your comment where you specifically talked about her as SecState would have been enough. Apparently not.

    I guess I’ll have to put a trigger warning for “attempted joke about to happen” from now on.

  229. 229.

    Brachiator

    @SFAW:

    Calm the fuck down, will you? It was a fucking joke.

    Calm the fuck down yourself.

    I apologize for not realizing that you were joking. There are some people here whose posting style I know and easily recognize. You are not one of them.

    And there are folks here who are eager to turn comments into “must love or hate” their candidate of choice sessions.

    Feel better now?

  230. 230.

    SFAW

    @Brachiator:

    Calm the fuck down yourself.

    Oooh! An “I know you are, but what am I?” response. First one I’ve seen today! How droll, how witty.

    You are not one of them.

    Oh, now I think I’m gonna cry.

    And there are folks here who are eager to turn comments into “must love or hate” their candidate of choice sessions.

    And there are some here who can look at the context — provided for your snarking pleasure — and figure out which is which.

    Feel better now?

    Oh, gosh, yes. Because being in the good graces of someone designated (perhaps by AL?) as the “most respected commentor evah in the history of Balloon Juice” is almost as important to me as knowing who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1917. Geniess ich jetzt den hoechsten Augenblick! Laudanum, here I come!

  231. 231.

    Brachiator

    @SFAW:

    And there are some here who can look at the context — provided for your snarking pleasure — and figure out which is which.

    No. Wit is hard, and is best left to professionals. There is nothing so boring as someone who gets butt hurt because their “context” was not figured out at first pass. Life is too short and you are not that funny.

    You cut and pasted my remarks and somehow missed the simple part where I said that I apologized for not recognizing your supposedly remarkable humor for what it was.

    Or are you trying to be humorous again? Jester or tiresome little shit. How ever can we know for sure?

    I will leave you to those who can best appreciate you.

  232. 232.

    SFAW

    @Brachiator:

    No. Wit is hard, and is best left to professionals. There is nothing so boring as someone who gets butt hurt because their “context” was not figured out at first pass. Life is too short and you are not that funny.

    “Spoken” like someone who is too embarrassed to admit he fucked up. The “context” was so blindingly obvious — as pointed out before, the phrase I blockquoted (“I can honestly say that it surprised me how well she did as Secretary of State.”) — that only the terminally stupid, or, to borrow your term, the terminally “butthurt,” could mistake it for something else.

    You cut and pasted my remarks and somehow missed the simple part where I said that I apologized

    Yeah, your trite little no-pology was certainly worthy of being ignored.

    for not recognizing your supposedly remarkable humor for what it was.

    My humor is hardly remarkable. But, humorless/clueless as you are, it must be difficult for you to tell.

    Jester or tiresome little shit. How ever can we know for sure?

    Well, if I donate about 50 IQ points to you, you might be able to figure it out. But, once again, you have truly cut me to the quick. I am ashamed that I ever considered the possibility that, intellectually, I might be in the same ballpark — nay, the same geographical region! — as you.

    So, quit whining. You really need to develop either more of a clue, or a thicker skin. Your garden-variety attempted-insults remind me why people here think so little of you.

Comments are closed.