From commentor Emily S:
Here are two shots of Lenny. My French teacher in the 9th grade, Miss Ellard, had kittens to be adopted and that’s how I got Lenny. She was a wonderful cat who purred any time you picked her up and loved to be petted and combed with a metal comb.
***********
My biggest laugh of the day was this David Letterman tale, as reported by NYMag:
…[A] few weeks ago, I got very excited because the Obamas invited myself and my wife to a state dinner, and I said, “Oh my god, Regina, we’ve been invited to a state dinner!” And she says, “Oh, I love steak.” I said, “No.”… So we go to the steak, state dinner, and it’s for the heads of the Nordic states, and President Obama was giving remarks before he introduced the heads of state. And he was talking about how cooperative their union was, the Nordic states. Yes, they have differences, but by and large, they all felt and had the same beliefs, and they were good for mankind, and believed in the right thing, and they were strong allies for the United States. He said, “Don’t misunderstand me, they do argue. They do have … as a matter of fact, there is still an ongoing fight in the Nordic States about which country is happiest.” And then the prime minister of Iceland got up, and he said, “We are working on a defensive weapons system right now.” And this gets everybody’s attention! Like, Iceland, really? Working on a defensive weapons system? And he said, “Yes, volcanoes. We just haven’t figured out how to aim them yet.” So I’m seated at dinner next to a man who is the assistant chief of staff to the prime minister of Norway. And I’m feeling like a big shot. And we’re chatting, and we’re chatting, and we’re chatting. And when it comes about dessert time, and the guy says to me, “Excuse me. Why are you here?” And I said, You know what? I think I picked up somebody else’s mail. And he said, “So you’re here by mistake?” And I said, Yeah. And he said, “Oh.” So there you go — you get invited to the state dinner, nobody knows why. That’s the sum total of being retired…
From my admittedly parochial viewpoint (among other factors, my mother-in-law is Norwegian), one should keep firmly in mind that Scandinavians have a sense of humor so dry it could be used as a dessicant in designer sneaker boxes…
Mustang Bobby
Lenny was a beauty. And that stare — borrowed, it seems, from a Great Horned Owl — is hypnotic.
Big R
Good morning, rikyrah.
Major Major Major Major
@Big R: I see what you did there.
Night y’all!
Applejinx
I just ran across this one on Facebook. http://sourceplanet.net/politics/bernie-sanders-write-in-states-what-you-need-to-know/
My Facebook bernfeelers consider that useful information but I think they’re a leetle scared to actually look into the abyss. Bitter old buzzkill me, I couldn’t help but start with a ‘battleground states’ map, give away the states guaranteed to go R in this scenario, and see what we’d end up having to deal with should Bernie be getting written in. I’ll assume doing that means having him split the D vote and lose states in which he’s not write-inable but would be campaigning anyway, because he couldn’t be running such a campaign without running against Hillary nationwide.
So this is BEST case scenario if you’re a bern-or-buster.
So, start with the 2016 battleground states, give away California and Nevada and Illinois and Hawaii and New Mexico and Georgia and North Carolina at which point the Republicans start with 296 electoral votes already and can win just holding states expected to go Republican already plus states in which Bernie can’t run.
Add to Bernie’s write-in slate everything expected to go Democratic and we get Oregon and Minnesota and Michigan. We’re at 133 electoral votes and have to win literally everything that’s up for grabs: Colorado, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire (which are all contested: all of them) and then have to flip a state such as Texas or a combination like Alabama, Tennessee AND Kentucky plus something else (big chunks of the South we can’t even have and we can’t have California).
http://www.270towin.com/maps/MmZEB
I don’t know what the hell’s supposed to happen if Hillary runs, loses everywhere that’s safely Democratic and write-in-able but wins states like California and Illinois to keep them out of the paws of the Republicans. Is that supposed to combine with the Bernie-write-ins or something? Because if it just removes those states from contention that leaves the mighty Bernie write in revolution at 242 electoral votes after winning LITERALLY EVERY BATTLEGROUND STATE. What happens if nobody gets 270 electoral votes?
Also, do that and lose Florida, Ohio and just about anything else in contention like Wisconsin or Virginia, and boom, done.
Let’s not mkay? D:
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
David Brooks wrote a column on “why is Hillary so disliked”.
I actually nearly threw my phone at the wall, and I just had paid $230 to replace its cracked screen on Sunday. It was that fact only that led me to not destroy it….
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby:
More like stolen from Kaa:
“I have seen all the dead seasons,” Kaa said at last, “and the great trees and the old elephants, and the rocks that were bare and sharp-pointed ere the moss grew. Art thou still alive, Manling?”
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
satby
Lenny was (is?) majestic! Beautiful boy!
Good morning everyone. Promises to be a lovely day for yard work here, so I guess I’m out of excuses.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
44 years to day Nixon terror bombed Hanoi, Vietnam is in the grips of Obama-mania.
The crowds are staggering. It’s like those photos of Kennedy at the Berlin Wall.
Crowd Photo #1
Crowd Photo #2
Crowd Photo #3
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Selfie Mania (photo)
Walking in the rainy streets of Hanoi with Anthony Bourdain (photo)
Here’s an amazing clip of Obama being mobbed in the streets by the Vietnamese. (Video)
I’m so proud to have supported him from day one.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Obama stops off for $6 dinner at streetside restaurant in Vietnam
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Unlike George W Bush, Richard Bruce Cheney, H Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney, Frank Gaffney, Donald Trump, and a legion of tough talking RWNJ pundits, Obama has now actually gotten Vietnamese dirt on his shoes…
BillinGlendaleCA
I’m watching Morning Joe and just took a hit of my vape thingie, Mark Haperin is making sense. What is in the fucking juice* I put in this thing!
(Allegedly it’s ‘Red Hots'(cinnamon).)
ETA: Halperin said that the media needed to not say ‘both sides’ and quit acting ‘theater critics’.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@OzarkHillbilly:
What is amazing about those photos is that the other diners are minding their own business.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Call your doc. If Halperin is making sense, you may have had a stroke or mental breakdown.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@BillinGlendaleCA:
On your edit, that sounds like the desperate plea of an obtuse man who is finally becoming aware of the scorn, disdain and mockery he is treated with in the wider world, and is looking to restore lost credibility.
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: That’s because of his arrogance, he thinks he’s better than everybody else and it pushes them away.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: The whole Morning Joe crowd is ragging on Trump(Mika’s in the ‘South of France’).
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@OzarkHillbilly:
And he is clingy and narcissistic, needing attention all the time…
Just like he is conniving and brilliant, coming up with plans to enslave white Christian conservatives, all while being feckless, imbecilic and weak…
JPL
That was a beautiful cat.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Turn the tv off and enjoy the moment.
NotMax
Top Ten reasons Letterman requires writers:
#10 – NYMag excerpt.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I assume he means the media hasn’t been hard enough on Hillary.
Patricia Kayden
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: All those photos/videos of President Obama in Vietnam are heartwarming. He dies such a great job of representing us abroad and he’s still a rockstar.
When I look at Lenny’s photos, all I can think of is Fat Tuesday. That’s one big cat.
PurpleGirl
Awwwww, that is one floofy cat. His ruff is magnificant.
NotMax
@PurpleGirl
Took your advice and sent Mom an Alvar bag for Mother’s Day (although not in purple).
Awaiting her reviews.
JPL
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Actual headline at the NYTimes Kenneth Starr, Who Tried to Bury Bill Clinton, Now Only Praises Him link
Maybe it’s April first, again.
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I’ve always been a little puzzled by the ‘arrogance’ charge, and not just because I can’t see it in any way shape or form. It finally occurred to me that what Republicans call arrogance, the rest of the world calls ‘being correct’ on whatever issue is in discussion. He is supposed to respect their very wrong opinions just because they hold them.
Kind of like Paul Ryan is a policy wonk because he uses numbers. Never mind that they don’t add up, NUMBERS!
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: arrogance=uppity
NotMax
@Applejinx
Silliness.
No way is Hawaii going into the R column this election. Not under any circumstances.
Ditto California. Not no way, not no how.
NotMax
@Baud
Yup and yup again, as in being allowed to work in the Massa’s big house and acting like it’s his.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: How dare that ni**er be right. We gotta show him!
LAO
@PurpleGirl: morning Purplegirl, it was very nice to meet you last week.
Good morning to everyone else, too
sm*t cl*de
“It was a joke. Do you have them in Sweden?”
MomSense
Lenny is an impressive cat.
Loving the photos of our Pres in Vietnam.
BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: If Trump wins CA, we’re FUCKED!
Lounger
This is going to make some heads explode. Actually, even as a Hillary supporter I find this surprising, and somewhat disappointing in that the study indicates that the youngs are actually to the right of the olds.
Princess
bemused
I miss Letterman. Letterman has a pretty dry sense of humor but he’s no match for Scandinavians. This I am very familiar with. All my grandparents were immigrants from Finland and I grew up in NE MN with a large percentage of immigrants and descendants of Finns, Swedes and Norwegians. Reserve, dry humor and understatements were the norm and still noticeable.
Conan O’Brien did running jokes about his resemblance to then Finland female red-haired president Halonen. Conan filmed his visit to Finland and featured some hilarious examples of the Finnish reserved personality.
Finns are crazy about Tango dancing and have many Tango halls and ballrooms to prove it. 60 Minutes did a segment on the Finnish Tango obsession and I was not surprised to see these Tango lovers thoroughly enjoying themselves but with very serious straight faces, not one smile among them.
rikyrah
The cat creeps me out?
Mustang Bobby
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I wrote a comment to Brooks’ piece suggesting that twenty-five years of relentless demonization by the right-wing noise machine plus the endless sexism, misogyny, and blatant snobbery might have something to do with it. Just a guess.
Baud
Who is Matthew Dowd? He’s a putz.
Iowa Old Lady
@Princess: My first reaction to that tweet was it had to be fake, but no. What an unselfaware buffoon.
amk
@BillinGlendaleCA: The bernbots’ concern trolling is just that.
Princess
@Iowa Old Lady: What an anti-semitic racist (note: spellcheck wanted to correct that to “fascist.” Why not both?). I am surprised though — I thought it would take him a few months more to let the anti-semitism out of the bag.
Iowa Old Lady
@Princess: He’s perfectly willing to be himself in public. After all, what’s not to love?
rikyrah
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
The pictures are wonderful ?
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
What, what? All I’ve heard the past couple of days is how unified the Republicans have become.
Iowa Old Lady
I just went back and read the overnight thread. Who are these pleasant, interesting people? Where’s the spittle flecked rancor I was looking for?
rikyrah
@Applejinx:
In what world does Donald Trump win California ?
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Which blog were you on?
debbie
@Princess:
“I love the Jews!”
Baud
@rikyrah: Bernie and Hillary spilt the vote due to him going third party or a lot of people writing him in.
Iowa Old Lady
@Baud: I know!
Matt McIrvin
@Iowa Old Lady: Unselfaware? I think he knows exactly what he’s doing there.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: Trump’s tweets and the instagram video set Joe and Co off. They don’t think that going back to the 90’s is an effective strategy.
Princess
@Princess: Oops, the date. But still.
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Because they’ve been advocating for the 80’s?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Iowa Old Lady: I called srv a dickhead, hope that helps.
Princess
@debbie: “Watch me eat a blueberry bagel!”
debbie
@bemused:
I miss him too. His interviews were far superior to anything I’m seeing now on late night.
BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: No, bringing up conspiracy theories from the 90’s won’t be effective.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I went to bed, so I’m sure that helped limit the rancor.
BGinCHI
As a current resident of the fair (in all ways) country of Norway, I’ll acknowledge this to be the truth.
Norwegians are extremely friendly and warm, but you have to jostle them a bit. They are like those glow stick things: they don’t really light up unless you bend them a bit.
Less than a month to go before we return to the states. Mixed feelings. I’m ready to get back as I miss many things, but I’m also not looking forward to the political atmosphere and the tension, in the US generally and specifically in toxic IL.
It’s been a great year. Many, many things to recommend living in Scandinavia for a year.
debbie
@Baud:
You are a polarizing presence…
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: “Jews love me!”
Baud
@debbie: It’s a byproduct of the rough and tumble world of presidential politics.
bemused
@debbie:
I enjoyed watching his subtle, dry style of devil’s advocate interviewing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Matt McIrvin: So you think he is showing off his yoooooge latent insecurity on purpose?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: srv was going off about Katy Perry evicting some nuns so she’d have a new place here in LA. The facts were in fact quite different: the nuns had left the estate in Los Feliz at least a decade ago and moved to Hollywood, and it was basically a fight between the nun’s order and the archdioceses concerning who could sell the property.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
That was clear when you said “srv.”
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: True, but I started my reply by referring to srv as Dickhead.
MattF
@Mustang Bobby: Yeah, somehow Brooks managed to not notice the 25-year right-wing campaign against HRC. Grr.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Also clear when you said “srv.”
Patricia Kayden
@Princess: Is that an anti-Semitic joke? He can just say anything and get away with it because much of the media is rooting for him. Shame.
Patricia Kayden
@BillinGlendaleCA: Are we supposed to be shocked that srv misstated facts? That’s par for the course in the Conservative/Republican/Tea Bagger World.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’ll leave you all with a bit of a walk around Glendale(360 degree YouTube).
ETA: That’s on Brand from Harvard Street to Broadway.
D58826
My Norwegian mother-in-law’s sense of humor is so dry that it is non-existent. It did not matter how bad the joke was, it was always funny because Ruth did not get it. In fact she did not even recognize it as a joke. Fortunately the rest of her side of the family knew a good laugh when they saw it.
bemused
I read Lenny’s expression and stance in top photo as a cat who knows he is a spectacular being who stands out from the crowd.
Our two long-haired rescue cats have issues with puking due to hair in their stomachs, especially one and I give them laxatone regularly. Sigh. We rarely had this problem with our other long-hairs, even those who appeared to be part Maine coon. They are due for annual checkup/shots so will discuss with the vet then.
sherparick
@Applejinx: I am afraid there are not enough young, bitter, misogynistic white male voters out there to make up a plurality in most states when compared to all the old, white, male, misogynistic voters, who will be voting for Trump along with the 50% of white female voters who vote Republican out of tribal loyalty. Really, these folks need to be talked off the ledge, starting with Bernie.
By the way, since Bernie’s way to outreach to the Black community is to feature Cornell West, whose ticket to fame and guess appearances on Fox the last six years is to trash President Obama, the guy whose picture you can find in 90% of Black households as a role model and hero, I have been wondering who he has been using to reach out the Hispanic community in California and New Mexico, a community that recognizes in Trump an existential threat to their rights and status as Americans, with all this Trump may be better than Hilary nonsense. http://abc7.com/politics/poll-clinton-poised-to-defeat-sanders-in-california-primary/1351808/
One problem for Bernie and his campaign is that he continues to draw large crowds of young voters to his events. Also, the bubble he and they are in means that he thinks large crowds and “new voters” in California’s Presidential Primary will give him a vote. However, the parents and older brothers and sisters of these young people, Black, Hispanic, and Asian, working class and middle class, are going to vote for the party and candidate they see looking out for their interests.
Josie
Gorgeous kitty.
different-church-lady
@OzarkHillbilly:
He’s a black man who dares to act like a full-fledged human being. That drives them nuts.
different-church-lady
@debbie: Let’s be fair: Baud is also a polarizing absence.
different-church-lady
@Applejinx: The problem with Bernie-or-Busters is that they don’t seem to understand that “bust” is one of the possible results.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
They understand. They just don’t care.
Baud
@different-church-lady: at least I’m consistent.
OzarkHillbilly
@different-church-lady: Oh, I get that, I’ve always gotten that, but in what way did ‘arrogance’ fit him? That was what puzzled me.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: No, I’ve seen you say nice things about people from time to time.
Uncle Cosmo
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Which I guess makes Halperin sort of the pundit equivalent of Rasmussen’s pushme-pullyu polling,no? In the tank for Rethug talking points in hopes of twisting the narrative to the right, then returning to a modicum of sanity to preserve a figleaf of credibility. Another bozo that ought to be tossed into the septic tank of history.
Germy Shoemangler
Baud is the only authentic candidate in this race.
amk
the vietnamese hate the kenyan.
amk
@Germy Shoemangler: baud is so last week.
rikyrah
@different-church-lady:
Tell that truth
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ll try to do better.
Uncle Cosmo
@BillinGlendaleCA: Most actual heads of actual penises are more intelligent than the Shithead Rethuglican Vulture, despite the fact that they contain no brain cells.
Germy Shoemangler
@amk: I was paraphrasing Cornell West’s quote about Sanders.
I agree Baud is last week, but I’m optimistic the year 2020 will be the Year Of Baud.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: You would have done better if you had replied with a simple “Fvck you”. You really need to up your game.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, fvck me….
I mean you.
.
.
Maybe I should take a class.
different-church-lady
Can we now officially stop pretending Cornel West has anything of value to say to the world?
Uncle Cosmo
@sm*t cl*de:
Bjorn the Swede & Ole the Norwegian were neighbors on a small lake in northern Minnesota; with piers right next to one another.
One afternoon Ole walked out on his pier & saw Bjorn in his motorboat putt-putting home with his fishing rods up. “Hey Bjorn!” he called. “How many fish you catch today?”
“Well, I tell ya, Ole, if you can guess how many fish I caught today, you can have them both.”
“That’s so generous of you, neighbor! I guess five.”
(NB this story was related to me by a resident of Denmark…;^D)
In response to a steadily diminishing number of requests, here’s another:
(I don’t recall, but that might have come from the Danish resident as well…:D)
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I offer very reasonably priced** correspondence courses. I suggest “Remedial Assholish” for you as you have the basics down but seem to be slipping. After completing that we can go to more advanced courses.
**starting at as low as $250 for a 2 week webinar
ETA too much coffee
WereBear
I love Lenny!
Long haired cats need regular grooming, depending on their kinds of fur. Our two Maine Coon mixes have guard hairs mixed in with their floofy fur, which keeps it from getting tangled and makes our job easier.
The lone short hair will come around at grooming time, gets a few strokes on his behind, and he’s done. But he doesn’t want to be left out! And, if he had different fur, it might make all the difference in the world.
I recommend kitty grass (oat grass in a sunny windowsill) for all kinds of needs, and helping get rid of hair balls is one of them.
Patricia Kayden
@different-church-lady: I’m not even shocked that he would call Donald “The Bigot” Trump his Brother. West hates President Obama to the point where it has driven him bonkers. Not sure why Senator Sanders felt that West would be a good advocate for him.
WereBear
@NotMax: I adore mine!
sm*t cl*de
@Uncle Cosmo:
My understanding is that Danish humour consists largely of telling Ole-and-Bjorn jokes about the Norwegians. This is by way of revenge, since Swedish humour consists largely of telling the same jokes about the Danes.
The Weegies in turn tell the same jokes about Finns (pausing only to change the names). The Finns mull over it for a while, and finally tell the same jokes about Estonians.
Then Estonians tell the same jokes about themselves.
No-one bothers telling jokes about the Icelanders because they’re too far away, or about the Feroese because those poor miserable bastards have enough problems already.
schrodinger's cat
@Uncle Cosmo: My Norwegian friend (she is from Norway and married a Mainer) hates Swedes and everything Swedish including IKEA. She calls it Sweden’s Walmart.
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden: I think Bernie, like most white people(and that includes me)-especially those living in a white bubble, is really pretty clueless about people of color.
MattF
@sm*t cl*de: Danes (apparently) also tell jokes about Danes.
Kathleen
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Shorter NPR at 5AM thismorning: Should Hillarry try
y be more authentic like Donald Trump? Question from NPR bot to Ted Crux handler, who responded with, “If she knows what that is” and went unchallenged. One of many almost drove off the road while listening to NPR moments. I have to stop listening. to NPR.
Gin & Tonic
A very interesting Andrew Ross Sorkin article about the Hulk Hogan v Gawker lawsuit and where the money to run it might (or might not) come from.
Kay
I feel like all our creative energy is now channeled into ripping people off.
You can’t keep up with the edu-scams. It’s a full time job. When reality tv started did anyone anticipate it could bring down the country? They’re all absolutely horrible people on every level. This industry self-selects for greed and bad behavior. There are too many of them for this to be one-offs.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think you forgot the third part of that equation: arrogance=uppity=n*gger
In fairness to Baud, that last part is understood, which I guess makes it optional.
NotMax
@Kay
What it did to the Loud family (wow, it really has been over 40 years since that aired) was the first warning sign.
MattF
@Kay: Gosh. Trump, Jenner, and Kardashian– who could resist that? Where does the line form?
liberal
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Me, too. He’s doing a bang-up job helping the Saudis destroy Yemen.
different-church-lady
@Patricia Kayden:
WEST: “I like you.”
SANDERS: “Okay, you’re in.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@liberal: You keep on keepin’ it real. Man. The way you anonymously post fractional truth to power is truly inspiring.
I think you grossly underestimate West’s capacity for hyperbole and Bernie!’s susceptibility to flattery, but yeah.
Kay
@NotMax:
I try not to judge parents but Christ almighty, mine acted differently when they were being photographed and that wasn’t anything near the intrusion of reality tv in their homes. People change when you’re recording their actions. They’re not hostages, children. They’re complete people themselves. You can’t just pile stuff on them because you need family income. It’s an ethics-free zone.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, I’m sure West went his typical high-degree-of-difficulty, but I haven’t had full-caf yet, so I slacked with the simplified version.
Kay
@MattF:
Raising grifting to “work” is probably a bad idea.
Kay
@NotMax:
I don’t know if it’s still on but the juvenile justice system show on MSNBC shocked me as a new low. What a great idea! Take a 16 year who is in trouble and put that on tv just to make sure it follows him the rest of his life.
They’re idiots. There’s a whole elaborate legal scheme to protect their records and the greed-crazed morons on “reality tv” exploit them. This is acceptable.
Bartholomew
LOL: “One problem for Bernie and his campaign is that he continues to draw large crowds of young voters to his events.”
Come get your groupthink here, carnies! Selfish insanity delivered with a ball of mind-spittle.
I’m sorry to have rattled this cage and poked it with truth (the ultimate provocation to the corrupt) … it was necessary to reveal your not-so-inner monkeyshines in order that decent liberal-minded folks could see what bolshies you really are. To be fair though, you all ARE on my side of the aisle, calling yourself ‘liberal’ … as if.
But really, folks. Even the ignorant and very stupid righties know better than to attack their allied supporters. All that is really inside the “Big Tent” is fear and loathing. Well, you’ve (over)done the loathing, now I guess what’s left is fear.
I do hope Cole isn’t a mole. I used to admire his clear writing, so I guess I’m a victim too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Haley Barbour is A Very Serious Man
Chyron HR
@Bartholomew:
So how does that relate to your incessant rants about how much you hate black voters?
different-church-lady
@Chyron HR: Not only that, but Bart appears to not understand that a carnie is someone who works at a carnival, not one that attends.
The Thin Black Duke
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nothing like staring into the abyss while standing on a banana peel, is there?
NotMax
@Kay
“Television ate my family.”
– Lance Loud
MattF
@The Thin Black Duke: Bouncing on a pogo stick is optional, though.
ruemara
@Applejinx: Congrats on discovering math. Why do you want to believe Dems won’t vote for the Dem? I don’t really care about your answer, I just think you may want to question your worst case scenario that you want to share with everyone so we can join in this fear fun.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: I f*cking love this president!
Bartholomew
WTF???: “So how does that relate to your incessant rants about how much you hate black voters?”
You must have confused me with someone else, or else you’re just making something up to hate with. I try not to hate anyone–okay, Kissinger and the neocons are difficult, but I especially do not hate black voters. Why would I? I’d be over on the rightie side if I was a bigot.
Good grief you people are conceited, smug, insipid fools. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ALLIES (emphasis on ‘were’). I know, hey, why don’t you get someone to spit on me and everyone else here can join in: you seem to think that makes a convincing argument.
Chyron HR
@Bartholomew:
You could at least change your name if you’re going to play the “Nothing I said in the past can be held against me” game.
burnspbesq
Just made my first campaign contribution of the 2016 cycle. Had to have one of those goofy Cooper t-shirts.
different-church-lady
@Chyron HR: Advantage: Chyron HR.
burnspbesq
@Bartholomew:
Who are you, and how did you come to mistakenly believe you have something useful to say?
D58826
@Applejinx: what! A write in campaign? That is in some other universe. The line I liked was
And If I was Brad Pitt I could marry Angelina Jolie. This folks are dreaming
MattF
@Chyron HR: But… that was two months ago. ‘Way past the short-attention-span limit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Bartholomew: you just make sure you finish that book report and take out the garbage before you do anymore saving democracy today
Betty Cracker
@Bartholomew: Didn’t you show up here quite some time ago to announce that you weren’t going to vote for the Democratic nominee for president unless it was Bernie Sanders, which it won’t be? If so, you’re no ally of mine. Allies are the folks who are going to work with me to keep a racist, sexist, narcissistic lunatic out of the White House.
StellaB
@rikyrah: Donald Trump winning California would be as impossible as a famous movie star winning the governorship. Four times.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@D58826: I don’t read that one’s drivel. Are there write-in rules in the Southern states that count, like West Virginia, or only in the ones that don’t, like Florida and Virginia?
D58826
And this one falls into the ‘could not happen to a better person’ and the’mills of the gods gfrind slowly but exceedingly fine ‘
From Twitter today – The Baylor Univ. board of regents reportedly is planning on removing the university President Ken. Starr over poor handling of a sexual assault scandal involving an athlete . YES THAT Ken Starr. He was a sniveling little pervert in 1998 and nothing has changed
burnspbesq
@different-church-lady:
Didn’t that happen in about 2003?
MattF
@D58826: Regrets, he’s got a few.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@burnspbesq: Listening to the Stephanie Miller show (cause I like Charlie Pierce), and she’s got Joe Madison in the studio, and she said he rolls his eyes when West is mentioned. Also interesting, he says West was for HRC in ’08. So was Thom Hartmann, of all sanctimonious purity blowhards.
D58826
@MattF: Better late than never I guess. But if his inquisition helps give Trump ammo to beat Hillary in Nov., then one more GOOPER with blood up to their shoulders.
I can’t believe that we are talking about Vince Foster. Both because it is 2016 and not 1994 and because it’s only May 2016. If we have hit Vince Foster level already what depth is left to plumb between now and Nov.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@MattF: Remember in 94 when Hillary went off on the “great right-wing conspiracy” and everyone laughed at her?
Yeah, she had those fuckers dead to rights. It was one even back then. It’s much larger and stronger now.
D58826
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I think she used the term ‘vast’. At the time my only quibble was I thought ‘vast’ was an overstatement. Obviously, based on the past 25 years, it was an understatement.
Face
@D58826: Baylor is a complete dumpster fire of sex assault allegys and general football-related train wrecks. Briles will keep his gig because the team is winning but it must be strange knowing you’re coaching anywhere between 10 and 30 likely rapists and other criminals.
Another Holocene Human
@different-church-lady: Another Great Mind brought low by narcissism.
A veritable Lord Kelvin, as it were.
D58826
@Face: There is a certain sadistic pleasure in all of this. Not only do we have the chief inquisitor from 1998 involved but Trey Gowdy the JV inquisitor is an alumni. And as they never fail to tell us – Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas. Lets hear it for those good old bible based Christian family values.
schrodinger's cat
@Another Holocene Human: AHH, how have you been? Seeing you after a long time!
The Thin Black Duke
@Bartholomew: Do you want fries with that word salad?
Feathers
@Patricia Kayden: Bernie reminds me of people I’ve known who only take into consideration what people say to their face and what happens right in front of them. That this only covers about one billionth of what happened in the world that day only brings the reaction “Why would you say something like that to me?”
different-church-lady
@D58826: Bottom-feeders gotta bottom-feed.
rikyrah
Fueled By Young Voters, Asian-Americans Increasingly Identify As Democrats
May 24, 20168:00 AM ET
Asian-Americans are shifting toward the Democratic Party in record numbers, according to a new poll conducted by a consortium of Asian-American organizations — AAPI Data, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
In fact, since 2012, there’s been a 12 point increase in the percent of Asian-Americans who identify as Democrat — from 35 percent to 47 percent.
Asian-Americans overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama in 2012 — 73 percent to 26 percent — so these latest poll numbers suggest a crystallization of party ID among people who perhaps already lean Democrat.
D58826
And the pro-life, family-values are sacred, the zygote rulkes all are still playing games with the Zika virus funding, i.e. they havn’t passed anything.
But also true to form – its a national emergency if it happens in my state/district –
and
And Polman already made to obvious connection between the GOP and thinking:
While The Donald has said much on Zika he did have a choice comment or two about Ebola
I’ve always thought that most of the GOP had crawled out from under some rock. But I think I’m wrong on that. They didn’t ‘crawl’ out they were kicked out by what ever higher life form that was living there already.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/national-interest/item/93991-whiffing-on-zika-take-a-wild-guess-whos-imperiling-babies
Applejinx
@D58826: That was my contention, and that’s why I replied to the fellow with the reply I shared here.
_I_ will not be writing in Bernie’s name, thank you, even if I am ‘that one’ (wtf, man, are you literally John McCain?)
Good to hear California is not going to go into the R column under any circumstances, it’s more about ‘making arguments to alarm dead-enders’. Dead-enders who think all they have to do is run Bernie third party and that will flip Texas. Those people aren’t listening to me either but they’re listening to me a fuck of a lot more than they’re listening to YOU capitalist scum :D
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Applejinx:
If you were a Hamilfan, you’d know this.
The House of Representatives decides.
D58826
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I think that was a rhetorical question on @Applejinx’s part. As to the Bernie Bros pushing this pipe dream it will take more than a Broadway play to make them see what would happen
Geoduck
If you see a picture of what Letterman looks like anymore, it’s quite possible the guy didn’t recognize Dave. (He looks kind of like a thin Santa Claus..)
gogol's wife
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Same here except I don’t have a phone so had to crush my head against a brick wall.
gogol's wife
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I’ve got something in my eye!
Brachiator
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
I’m just getting started on a morning break and there are already a ton of comments here. Wow.
Brooks is one of those pundits who so rarely writes anything interesting or substantive that I stopped reading him long ago, and only look in when someone calls an op-ed piece to my attention. Brooks is incapable of understanding human emotions and motivations, so can I safely assume that his musings on Hillary’s lack of popularity are totally asinine?
glory b
@different-church-lady: Most black people did that a long time ago.
We were just waiting for the rest of you to catch up.
Miss Bianca
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Such awesome photos, thanks for sharing them!
les
@Bartholomew:
Christ on a zipline, these people raise self pity to an art form. “Hey, I’m incoherent, you must befriend me!”
rikyrah
Oh No…,..Luvvie’s done it again…
Another baby post.
Another LYAO, get stomach cramps baby post.
…………………………
Whose Precious Giant Newborn is This?
Awesomely Luvvie — May 24, 2016
All babies are precious and beautiful and all that good stuff. Let me state that out the gate. So yesterday, I was scrolling through Facebook when I came upon the picture of a newborn who came out the womb at 15 pounds. FIFTEEN POUNDS. Look:
Jesus be a fence around this baby’s mother’s Love Pocket. May it recover, in His MIGHTY name. I IMMEJATELY started doing kegels upon seeing the picture because I got stressed by proxy. Goodness. I mean.
Brachiator
@Kathleen:
Sweet boneless Jebus! Talk about Morning Idiocy Edition.
D58826
a bit more on the topic that it’s hard to get to single payer:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/medicare-for-all-isnt-as-easy-as-it-sounds.html
and from the vox explainer
http://www.vox.com/2016/5/23/11703190/single-payer-questions
This is the line I loved
Our system cannot even agree to help people floating out to sea after Superstorm Sandy or agree on 1.9billion to combat Zika. What makes any one think that
is even remotely possible
glory b
@Chyron HR: I wish I could remember where I heard/read it, but polling shows that southern black voters are just as liberal as other dems.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: I think he’s dog-whistling to Klansmen and neo-Nazis on purpose, in a quasi-deniable fashion.
liberal
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Fractional, dumb fuck? Tell me what’s wrong about the claim.
Oh, right—apologetics for destroying another country are only out of bounds when it’s GW Bush doing it.
Jacel
@bemused: When news of the state dinner invitation
came up in an online Letterman fan group, everyone was puzzled as to why he was invited
to a Nordic event. All we could think of was that Letterman’s Late Show had aired in Sweden
some years ago, and he had received a Swedish newspaper’s man-of-the-year sort of award.
And years before that, Letterman used to send a crew combing Manhattan streets, Looking For Swedes.
glory b
@rikyrah: I know, I loooove luvvie!
rikyrah
@StellaB:
Once again, how does Trump, with his approval rate with Latinos in the low double digits, win California?
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Brachiator:
Some people are just a little dumb, some stubbornly so. With Brooks, he’s just plain stupid and it goes bone deep.
He’s incapable of introspection. I think even Halperin is more self-aware.
liberal
@burnspbesq: That’s rich, coming from the blithering, drooling, sub-moron who thinks that treaties like the TPP need 2/3 of the Senate for approval, even after having been corrected on that matter numerous times.
EuniceCycle
@Kathleen: I heard that, too, and had the same reaction! I started listening in the middle so didn’t know who was being interviewed. It made sense once I heard it was Ted Cruz’s communications director. He also stated that Trumpster is OVERPERFORMING with non-white voters, and that he only needs to get 3% more of white male voters than Mitt did and he will win! Yeah, good luck with that!
liberal
@glory b: It ain’t the South, and it’s then, not now, but it is true that African Americans voted 70% in favor of Prop. 8.
glory b
@les: Kiss me while I kick you.
Okay…
glory b
@liberal: Yeah, and then they saw the light.
Like Ari Rabin-Havt said, “What part of “win!” don’t you understand?” You try to convince someone to take your side, then they take your side, and then you criticize them for not taking your side earlier.
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: Bu-but I heard that Asian-Americans were a natural Republican consistency because they like things like whatever “family values” means and education!
You know, just like Jewish people, that other well-known source of Republican votes!
Remember after 2012 when the right wing was scratching their heads over why these brown immigrants/children of immigrants might not find the GOP message appealing?
Chyron HR
@liberal:
Why oh why can’t people here be good allies to the Bernie boosters? :^(
Germy Shoemangler
@Major Major Major Major: Remember after 2012 when the right wing was scratching their heads over why these brown immigrants/children of immigrants might not find the GOP message appealing?
What part of lowered taxes and regulations for the wealthy and corporations don’t they like??
amk
berniebots are particularly nasty today. did any poll turn up today showing bs losing big in CA?
gwangung
@Major Major Major Major:
We WERE a natural constituency. The split was 50/50 a few years back
But the Republicans fucked it up. They refused to “pander”….meaning they totally ignored them as a bloc with some unique needs that their party could have solutions for. They essentially just wished they were white (that’s something a lot of progressives do with POCs).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Zoe Tillman @ ZoeTillman 1h1 hour ago
(1/3) Scene: Potbelly at 11th and F, just now
Me, waiting for my sandwich, doing nothing
Man next to me, to me: Smile
(2/3)
Me: Excuse me?
Man: Smile!
Me: It’s really not your business if I smile or not.
Man: Ohh, you’re one of them.
Me: I’m a human being, waiting to get a sandwich.
Man: This is why we gotta put Donald Trump in office.
(End scene.)
71 retweets 49 likes
Major Major Major Major
@Germy Shoemangler: My favorite was, you saw some variations of the argument “But they [the Vietnamese diaspora] were fleeing communism! They of all people should know the dangers of [mumbo-jumbo about subsidized health insurance being communism] and the importance of free markets!”
Yeah, these are people fleeing re-education camps. They know what communism is.
They also tried to draw parallels to the Cubans in Florida being Republicans. They managed to forget the facts of which Cubans ended up forming the basis of the modern Floridian population…
@gwangung: 50/50 is not a natural constituency.
scav
Just to add to topics of glee and/or rancor and trolling, BBC is reporting that Crosby is to stand trial. ETA Guard has it too in one of those red unlinkable things.
ETA: Add talk like a Pirate Day Spelling :)
Chyron HR
@scav:
I thought he had cleaned up his life.
Oh, COSBY.
scav
@Chyron HR: Ohh dear, this isn’t talk like a Pirate day. My bad!
Matt McIrvin
@gwangung: In 2000, George W. Bush got a huge majority of the Muslim vote and was making a serious play for Hispanics. It’s amazing to think how completely they threw that all away.
D58826
@liberal: ok. I’ll bite.
So why doesn’t TPP require 2/3rds of the Senate to approve? or is TPP
hovercraft
@amk:
Yesterday Survey/USA had the race at Clinton 57 Sanders 39
Major Major Major Major
@D58826: You blithering, drooling, sub-moron. Fuck you.
Now coddle me or I won’t vote for that whore $hitlery in November.
Germy Shoemangler
@Matt McIrvin:
Bob Dylan
sung by Elvis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncXjZ3UDyW8
Gene108
@D58826:
Rubio is funny. Republicans will not fund it before Zika becomes a crisis. They will not fund it after Zika becomes a crisis.
Republicans are good at not funding or caring about things. We’ve seen this with AIDS, VA funding, 9/11 rescue worker funding, etc
Major Major Major Major
@gwangung: For the record, I’m white, so this is all “It is my understanding that…”-style.
I’ll agree with the wishing-they-were-white thing. Interestingly, the left seems to be doing the wishing-AA’s-were-white, or at least monolithic, thing as well right now in regards to things like affirmative action. But it does make sense that some AA’s would be a natural consistency for the business wing of the GOP, back before the party went completely insane and much of the non-sociopathic business community threw their lot in with the Democrats. My anecdata shows that the suit-and-tie, MBA AA crowd would be a natural constituency for Republicans of old, which is probably what the NRO types were confused by in 2012.
D58826
@amk: Can’t imagine why they are grumpy today after all
Bernie could pick up one whole delegate and that surely would open the gates for the super delegates to join the Bernie Band wagon and send Hillary packing.
Mike J
@amk:
They want a review of every voting machine and every mail in ballot in Kentucky, and the law is going to make his broke-ass campaign pay for it.
hovercraft
This morning on the Today show said that following the belief of Hillary supporters that she will in fact be the nominee, we may as well become a monarchy and forgo elections. Apparently using math and logic demonstrates authoritarian tendencies.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: Help! Help! My vote’s being suppressed!
gwangung
@Major Major Major Major: Well, that’s why they had an in with a lot of Asian Americans….their economics appealed to business types (there are a lot of MBA types in the Asian communities).
But I think their inherent biases led them to dismiss the very natural concerns of immigrant groups and racial minorities, and their view on education et al balances off the appeal of economic planks in their platforms. Gotta take into account ALL the issues a person might be involved with.
D58826
@Major Major Major Major: I take that personally. I don’t drool. I slobber. But what does any of that have to do with how Congress votes on TPP. (other than Congress is made up of blithering, drooling, slobbering, knuckle-dragging sub-morons)
Elie
I dunno what happens to logic but had an argument (stupid I know), with my voice teacher yesterday afternoon about how she thinks Bernie has been screwed… that he had no responsibility for knowing the rules about super delegates and according to her, he said that he would have never run if he had known. She is totally unable to see that he had access to all the rules an made his decision and too bad if he didn’t think that the rules either applied to him or he misinterpreted them… She could only identify one time when superdelegates went against the primary voters and that was in ’84 when Mondale was given the nomination over Gary Hart by the supers. She argued but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t now. I reminded her that Hillary is ahead in primary votes, but she said she had sources that said that Bernie actually was ahead in primary votes …
I tell you, this is no different than the right wing view point — There are no objective facts — Or you can have your own facts. I was pretty surprised because she seems and otherwise rational and normal person. There is no way to counter this kind of thing… you just have to walk away and let events eventually convince them — if ever…
Brachiator
@Elie:
Damn. So this individual transforms Bernie into an innocent victim of the malignant Democrats. Even as Bernie makes angry demands of a political party of which he is not a formal member.
Frankensteinbeck
@amk:
It’s not that. The remaining berniebots are just the folks who show up for the sole purpose of shitting all over Democrats anyway. BiP, liberal, and NR are fine examples. Kropadope and Applejinx throw up the occasional conspiracy theory, but they do know the score and that Trump is the real enemy, and should not be treated like the Democrats-Suck-Worse-Than-Republicans Brigade.