Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

… gradually, and then suddenly.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

In after Baud. Damn.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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91Comments

  1. 1.

    cbear

    Hilarious.

    I wonder if they’re associated with the fine attorneys at Dewey, Cheatam & Howe.

  3. 3.

    Mike J

    Walked in the house 1.5 minutes ago, just back from the LD caucus. WE picked up one more delegate than we expected going in, so I’m calling it a moral victory.

    BTW, I left my house to go to the caucus at 11:50 to get there by noon. It’s now 8:55. Jesus Christ.

  6. 6.

    burnspbesq

    Is there an over/under on how many minutes after the polls close before New York is called for Clinton?

  12. 12.

    dww44

    Just returned from a 5 day trip deep into the heart of Florida to visit family. Must confess that I thought we were conservative in my state just north, but if one goes by the numbers of billboards that are anti-abortion (graphically so, almost), anti gay (we perform marriage for one man and one woman!) and fundamental religious themes (Have you read the Bible? If so, it will scare the hell out of you!) then Florida wins hands down. Also saw more Trump stickers on vehicles. I now understand why the state has elected the sort of Republicans it has elected. Moderate is not even a twinkle in their eyes. Way way conservative.

  13. 13.

    burnspbesq

    Would it be in poor taste to send a Black Knight t-shirt to my nephew who is a hard-core Berniac?

  18. 18.

    Mike J

    @burnspbesq: We were read a letter from Smith, our Dem congressperson from the 9th. He said that even though he was personally supporting Hillary, he promised to cast his supervote for whoever had the most delegates. Berners went wild. I don’t think they paid any attention to what he said, and seemed to think he said he’ll vote for whoever won the CD.

  20. 20.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Mike J: how will this be over Tuesday?

    I mean he and his innumerate followers will still go on pretending he can win.

  23. 23.

    Tom Q

    @efgoldman: NY polls close at 8.

    They’ve actually been reluctant to call races right at the hour this year, since exit polls have been sometimes wrong (OH, I seem to recall, read as Clinton/Sanders dead heat, but it was quickly clear Clinton won by double-digits); they wait for at least a few sample precincts, and, if they back up the exits, then they make the call.

    MSNBC, however, generally “characterizes” right on the hour, and they’re very likely to say “Clinton and Trump well out in front”.

    Or maybe not; MI flashbacks make me wary of any over-confidence this year.

  24. 24.

    MomSense

    It is school vacation week so I’ve been cooking and fixing snacks for a bunch of middle schoolers. The characters in the movie kept saying Cape Horn which caused much laughter.

    If you say Cape Horn out loud to yourself and think back to being age 12, you will understand.

    They don’t seem to want to sleep which means I’ll be dragging some cranky kids up a mountain tomorrow. National parks are free this week so I’m going to two of them. Tomorrow Acadia and Friday Lowell.

  25. 25.

    Mike J

    @MikeBoyScout: @MikeBoyScout: Thank you for your service. I stayed at mine until the last dog died. I didn’t run for CD caucus delegate, but our Hillary volunteer who whipped ran and won a delegate seat, so I volunteered to whip at the CD caucus. I may switch it up and nae nae though,

  26. 26.

    MobiusKlein

    @dww44: I see the anti-abortion & pro bible billboards in the great heathen west of San Francisco. I think it’s just that billboards are cheap.

  27. 27.

    burnspbesq

    Two weeks from tonight at this time, I will be on a plane heading home from ATL. Going down for the ACC men’s lacrosse tournament.

  30. 30.

    burnspbesq

    Some of my favorite billboards are the homemade ones along I-5 in the Central Valley, blaming Obama and Pelosi for the drought.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Betty Cracker: Is that National Alliance billboard still up on 75? If so I’ll see if I can get a pic when I drive up to Gainesville on Tuesday.

  36. 36.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, I know you hope to win here in New York. Polls show you behind right now.

    The question I has this, is do you really have a viable path forward going if you do not win here in New York?

    You’d have to win all the remaining states by huge, huge landslides.

    SANDERS: This is — this is — the answer’s we do have a viable role. And, no, that’s not quite accurate that we have to win by huge landslides. You know, you have California, which is a very large state and we could pick up a lot of delegates there. And I hope, by the way, we’re going to do better than the polls indicate here.

    I think a lot of the delegates, both pledge delegates and super delegates, are looking at one very important fact: turns out that Hillary Clinton is not all that strong a candidate running against Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich. In poll after poll, nationally and in statewide polls, we do a lot better than Clinton does against Trump, against Kasich and against Cruz.

    I think a lot of people are saying, well, I may not like Bernie as much as I like Hillary. But at the end of the day, we must defeat Trump. We must not allow a Republican to get into the White House. Some of those people who will come over to us as the stronger candidate.

    So that’s his next fantasy. He’s going to lose the pledged delegate count and say elected pledged delegates should switch their votes, because what is more progressive than voter suppression (overturning the will and instruction of underlying voters).

  38. 38.

    Mike J

    @MomSense: Having volunteers on hand who understood what was going on, herded the cats, kept everybody including alts from leaving, was tremendously helpful. When rules arguments broke out, we had one person to go to who was not afraid to go forcefully argue our side. I’m convinced that at one point the others just started filibustering arguments because they thought they had an edge on alts and the longer they drug it out the more they’d pick up. We held our people for the most part. We did a better job proportionally anyway.

  41. 41.

    Bob In Portland

    Other lobbyists listed as top Clinton bundlers on the reports filed Friday include:
    • Frederick Humphries ($48,345), one of Microsoft’s top lobbyists.

    • David Leiter ($54,825), who federal records show has lobbied for ExxonMobil, Dow Corning and Cablevision.

    • Steve Elmendorf ($ 23,275), who federal records show has lobbied for Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and a Wall Street trade association that says it is comprised of the “CEOs of 16 of the largest and most diversified financial services institutions with business operations in the United States.”

    • Tony Podesta ($35,560), a lobbyist who is the brother of Clinton’s campaign chairman and who federal records show has represented the healthcare industry, major financial conglomerates, Walmart and oil giant BP. Podesta’s eponymous firm, The Podesta Group, also recently registered to lobby on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia, according to filings with the Department of Justice.

    • Irene Bueno ($27,560), who federal records show has lobbied for Theranos, an embattled blood-testing company that has faced criticism from federal health regulators.
    …In a recent interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Clinton said she offers donors only the potential of help– but not a promise of action– when they make public policy requests.

    “I always say I will look into something, but I always tell people there is no guarantee that if I look into something that you are going to like my answer,” she told the newspaper. – See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/#sthash.fkfnDnkz.dpuf

  42. 42.

    MomSense

    @Mike J:

    Good for you. The stories I’m hearing from you, Miss Bianca, and others remind me of some of the things the Ronulans tried at Republican State Conventions in 2012. I’ve been wondering if there is a contingent of Paul supporters who have switched to Sanders this cycle.

  44. 44.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Major Major Major Major: Shhhhhh. Obama controlling the weather is a secret.

    Conspiracy theorists are abuzz about the news, given that HAARP (short for High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) has long been the center of wild speculation that the program is designed to control the weather — or worse. In 2010, Venezuelan leader Huge Chavez claimed that HAARP or a program like it triggered the Haiti earthquake.

    This is actually the plot of a James Bond movie “Diamonds are Forever” and a Steven Seagal rip off “Under Siege 2 – Dark Territory”

  45. 45.

    danielx

    @cbear:

    Or possibly the equally well known firm of Gutt, Cutt and Flense.

    Speaking of flensing, just finished doing taxes.

  47. 47.

    Felanius Kootea

    That phone number made me laugh…

    Still trying to wrap my head around the Dilma Rousseff impeachment proceedings in Brazil. Don’t know much about politics there but I’ve heard that she used some accounting gimmicks to make the economy seem better than it was before her re-election (this is the basis for her impeachment). Apparently, other Brazilian presidents have used the same gimmicks in the past and not been impeached. She isn’t being accused of personal corruption but some of the politicians impeaching her are. I’m wondering how much of it is political ineptness on her part and how much the fact that she’s a woman. Even her vice president is in favor of impeachment (but could later face the same charges!!!).

  52. 52.

    ? Martin

    @Felanius Kootea:

    Still trying to wrap my head around the Dilma Rousseff impeachment proceedings in Brazil. Don’t know much about politics there but I’ve heard that she used some accounting gimmicks to make the economy seem better than it was before her re-election (this is the basis for her impeachment). Apparently, other Brazilian presidents have used the same gimmicks in the past and not been impeached. She isn’t being accused of personal corruption but some of the politicians impeaching her are. I’m wondering how much of it is political ineptness on her part and how much the fact that she’s a woman. Even her vice president is in favor of impeachment (but could later face the same charges!!!).

    I think the likely answer is that this is yet another low oil price domino to fall. Countries with state-owned oil companies relied on high commodity prices to prop up their national economies and state budgets. When those commodity prices fall – and fall hard – it can topple governments. I’m sure there are all kinds of other rationalizations for the impeachment, but had the cash been rolling in, I’m sure those would have all been overlooked.

    For all of the complaints from the left and right, one of the stronger aspects of the US economy is that our tax base is pretty loosely coupled from any particular market sector and not having any nationalized sectors avoids temptations to rely too heavily on some oil or mineral discovery paving the way to an economic expansion.

  53. 53.

    benw

    I’m glad this is an open thread so I can leave some METAL UP YOUR ASS. Note: I don’t think that link will work indefinitely, but for now Metallica’s performance of “Four Horsemen” should be near the top. I love how happy James looks during the breakdown.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    I’ve been wondering if there is a contingent of Paul supporters who have switched to Sanders this cycle.

    I think that’s where the worst internet and Facebook loudmouths have been coming from (present company mostly excepted).

  55. 55.

    WarMunchkin

    @MomSense:

    I’ve been wondering if there is a contingent of Paul supporters who have switched to Sanders this cycle.

    Yes, a significant number.

    The Constitution is both genius and a mess. Also, does anyone know how to get data about local Hillary offices (contact info)?

  56. 56.

    MobiusKlein

    @MomSense: @Mnemosyne: Yes, I have many of the Paul => Bern folks in my facebook feed. Some friends I’ve known for a while, in fact.
    Mostly idealistic and disenchanted with status quo folks, with a libertarian bent.
    Some we can pry away come November, some not so much.

  60. 60.

    magurakurin

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    This is how they will continue pretending they can win.

    From ABC This Week:
    STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, I know you hope to win here in New York. Polls show you behind right now.
    The question I has this, is do you really have a viable path forward going if you do not win here in New York?
    You’d have to win all the remaining states by huge, huge —
    (CROSSTALK)
    SANDERS: But this is — this is — the answer’s we do have a viable role. And, no, that’s not quite our — we have to win by huge — you know, the California, which is a very large state and we could pick up a lot of delegates there. And I hope, by the way, we’re going to do better than the polls indicate here.
    I think a lot of the delegates, both pledge delegates and super delegates, are looking at one very important fact: turns out that Hillary Clinton is not all that strong a candidate running against Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich. In poll after poll, nationally and in statewide polls, we do a lot better than Clinton does against Trump, against Kasich and against Cruz.
    I think a lot of people are saying, well, I may not like Bernie as much as I like Hillary. But at the end of the day, we must defeat Trump. We must not allow a Republican to get into the White House. Some of those people who will come over to us as the stronger candidate.”

    Bernie’s response to the question about a must win in NY is initially a brush off of incoherent word salad. “the California?” “we could pick up a lot of delegates there?” But then, when he hits the second part his voice sharpens and the sentences and thoughts become clear. This part is disturbing: “I think a lot of the delegates, both PLEDGE delegates and super delegates, are looking at one very important fact.”
    Uhm, the pledged delegates aren’t looking at any facts other than they are bound to vote for the candidate they are assigned to. Bernie is delusional at this point. The super delegates are never going to turn for him if his loses the pledged delegate count and the pledged delegates are not going to change their vote…they can’t. This is sad watching this man go down this path. The convention is going to be a whole lot of suck for them if they think they honestly have a chance of provoking some sort of floor fight for the nomination. Straight up crazy talk.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    @Felanius Kootea

    That’s a very sketchy synopsis, skimming the surface and missing most of the backstory. This has been building for a while. And Lula (former president) is her very new vice-president, the previous one having resigned.

    Massive (numbering over 3 million, over a half million in São Paulo alone) protests and the deepest recession there since before WW1, which Brazil has been suffering since late last summer, plus the international drop in oil prices, were far more of an impetus than anything even remotely to do with the fact that Rousseff is female. The middle class and privileged upper middle class are essentially up in arms, demanding something major be done (politicians being a more ready target than a behemoth like energy company Petrobras, the epicenter of the crisis). The opposition parties are on the receiving end, too, of as much blame and ire as is Rousseff’s party. Cherry on the top (although not in and of itself a source of the opprobrium) – Brazil boasts the most expensive cell phone rates on the planet.

  63. 63.

    Felanius Kootea

    @NotMax: Lula is not her new vice president – her vice president is Michel Temer. She tried to put Lula in her cabinet to avoid him being arrested but the supreme court blocked the appointment. I watched the impeachment proceedings live on BBC world news and was struck by the fact that they mentioned that some of the politicians impeaching her faced corruption charges themselves.

  65. 65.

    Felanius Kootea

    @efgoldman: I know right? I kept thinking about that. Wouldn’t want to be an athlete heading to Brazil this summer.

    ETA: I have visited Brazil before – it’s a beautiful country but this situation is a mess.

  66. 66.

    magurakurin

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    I watched the clip as well. It was disturbing. I think Bernie has checked out and left no forwarding address at this point. Tomorrow will be interesting. I imagine Clinton will win, but who knows, really. It seems like a large portion of the electorate flat out doesn’t give a single fuck about policy or process at all. Slogans and righteous anger is the order of the day.

  67. 67.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    The astroturfing in this election is unreal. On he politico Facebook story about lewandorsky’ slamming the Florida GOP the same comment spears five times, slightly reworded, by different accounts.

    I imagine it’s only going to get worse.

    Reading about what is going on in Brazil, I wonder if “social media” will be used as propaganda when non-state actors can imitate crowds and generate “support” for “progressive reforms”. We as a nation are far too disinterested in changing our antiquated and inequitable election system, and we may regret it one day.

    There is no magic contract with God that ensures the US won’t suffer political upheaval. Hell, it has many times before and may well again. Soon.

  68. 68.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @magurakurin: the problem is he doesn’t know the current delegate count because his wife is too busy to print out a tally.

  69. 69.

    seaboogie

    @burnspbesq:

    Form 4868. And a big check.

    Playing catch up, and the Universe is on my side because I am NOT having an anxiety attack. Upside of being a hot mess in general and with the IRS in particular, and having a couple of past years to address, is that the IRS sends a nice lady to your door, and they leave you a note and you now have a personal assistant in the agency with direct contact numbers who works with you so that you can finally be in compliance. The agents are so helpful and respectful (shout out to you Yutsano, in whatever capacity you work there!), that my anxiety dissipates and I can become more functional again. Still last minute, of course – but even managed printer issues with a certain amount of equanimity.

  74. 74.

    cckids

    @MobiusKlein:

    I see the anti-abortion & pro bible billboards in the great heathen west of San Francisco. I think it’s just that billboards are cheap.

    For several years here in Vegas, there was a billboard at the South end of the Strip that said “What happens in Vegas? GOD KNOWS.”

    They finally moved it; turns out it was the focus for lots of deeply inappropriate pics & postings. (of course it was)
    No matter where you go in this country, you’ll find some god-botherer who’s just got to let you know you’re hell-bound.

  76. 76.

    magurakurin

    @BillinGlendaleCA: That’s definitely not basic strategy, but I guess if the count is right, some people will start to do that. I’ve heard it is one way pit bosses tell you are counting. Apart for counting, the math says you are better off with the 20, but I’m not much of a gambler or card player. I just memorized the basic strategy table for laughs. I only ever played for real a few times. During a stay at the El Cortez in Vegas. It was a thrill.

  79. 79.

    magurakurin

    @BillinGlendaleCA: In Vegas, that’s a feature not a bug. I’m not a gambler, but Vegas is an interesting place. Not sure if I’ll ever make it back there again, but I might.

  81. 81.

    magurakurin

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I can see that. I’ve been to Vegas six times. I was sober for the last four. Wasn’t in my right mind on the first two, but I wasn’t drunk either…not wanting to admit to interstate felonies. Three of the four were for rock climbing in the Red Rocks and only popped into town for the occasional shower and buffet gorging. The last time I took my Japanese father-in-law to gamble there. It was a gas. He played roulette. Kept betting 31 and 36 and won heaps of times. He later said he saw a police car in front with those numbers on it when we checked in, so that’s why he kept playing those numbers.

  84. 84.

    Darkrose

    @burnspbesq: Yes! We drove from Sacramento to San Diego a couple of years ago, and those billboards were boggling. Maybe Obama really is the Antichrist if he can keep it from raining in California for several years in a row?

  85. 85.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Darkrose: Listening to conservatives, Obama is quite amazing. He’s an inexperienced and ineffective buffoon, while at the same time is a dictator able to control the weather.

  87. 87.

    dww44

    @Betty Cracker: Went to Indian River County and their newspaper seemed very conservative. But it was just all the billboards going down the interstate and the turnpike that were revelatory for me. Perhaps we aren’t so issue focused in this state. Certainly we don’t appear to have such committed social issue followers that they are willing to pay for a big billboard.

  88. 88.

    dww44

    @efgoldman: @efgoldman: As a citizen of one of the 5 core traitor states, I think there’s a possibility for the Dem candidate this go round, provided that there is a STRONG GOTV operation here. If the AA vote turns out, we stand a chance, but believe that our candidate has to have a real ground operation of the sort that Obama had. Even then, all our voters have to show up and be counted.

  89. 89.

    chopper

    @seaboogie:

    I use turbotax this year instead of an accountant so nobody better ask me to print out a copy of my return cause we all know that shit is impossible.

  91. 91.

    Bob In Portland

    I was an extra in “The Right Stuff”. One of the guys with the white shirt and black pants thirty rows up in the Astrodome (?) scene. The scene was actually filmed in the Cow Palace in SF.

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