Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The revolution will be supervised.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

We still have time to mess this up!

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

No one could have predicted…

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

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Reader Interactions

88Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    It’s a click-based business model. The only shocking thing is that it wasn’t published in Salon.

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    Trump’s other response today to HRC and her speech was just infantile and incoherent.
    A murderer I get. But calling her a thief? WTF?

  4. 4.

    Vickie Feminist

    You have many readers who adore or like you. You have a houseful of amazing animals. And damn, John, you have created a damned good blog. If that doesn’t cheer you up, remember that you are NOT Howard Stern–that should sure as hell cheer you up!!!

  6. 6.

    Humdog

    Try to unplug at least until Sunday. Limit yourself to sports and go out with your pack. Clean air and views of nature will refresh you back to just cranky, not depressed.

  7. 7.

    TheMainGaucheofMildReason

    You’re down after Hillary (to my amazement) knocked it out of the park yesterday?

    I’m confused.

  8. 8.

    singfoom

    God that article is disappointing. I’ve long respected Yves Smith and nakedcapitalism.com. They did real good work exposing the fraud and bullshit that went on in the financial collapse of 2008/2009. A lot of really well researched and well argued posts that gave a lot more insight to the crimes that went on then that any other media source.

    But to see her embrace Bernie or Bust so wholeheartedly gives me a sad indeed. I think it all stems from the

    the old “Hillary Clinton would govern exactly like Bill Clinton did 20 years ago” scam.

    mentioned in the LGM link. Once you accept that, it all flows that she’s evil.

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    Trump is what he is. Trump’s a buffoon, an infant. Trump is a thin-skinned ninny who has no grasp of basically anything. Trump got torched by HRC very clearly, very quickly. Trump really isn’t anything to worry about, Francis.
    I can’t wait until PBO is on the road free and clear and just mocking Trump non-freakin-stop.

  11. 11.

    magurakurin

    John, dont worry be happy. You’re sober, you got you pets, it is June, and Hillary Clinton is going to be president. Look at EV maps. You will feel better.

  12. 12.

    TheMainGaucheofMildReason

    @singfoom:

    The thing I don’t get about that argument is that it also accompanies seeing the Clintons as opportunists.

    If they’re opportunists, why wouldn’t they govern more liberally now in a vastly more liberal time?

    I think all those criticisms forget how conservative things were in the 90s. I was just a kid, and I can draw the contrast between then and now just by remembering.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @singfoom:

    God that article is disappointing. I’ve long respected Yves Smith and nakedcapitalism.com.

    I’ve never followed that site. But something like this would cause me to question the credibility of everything that came before it. But that’s me.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    @singfoom:

    I’ve long respected Yves Smith and nakedcapitalism.com.

    Yves and that entire site are geared for conspiracy theory nutterdom.

  16. 16.

    cokane

    I dunno Cole. I think you need to be more optimistic. Frankly a Rubio or a Bush would be running much better against Clinton. Be thankful it’s Trump and focus instead on thinking about winning back Congress as well.

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    I am so sick and tired of hearing about Trump

    At least now they’re talking about him because Hillary’s speech really left a mark. It appears that a bold and direct attack by another candidate actually can get the media asking some less-than-fawning questions about him.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @redshirt: Yeah, but Cole does reply to the occasional comment on BJ. It happens just often enough for me to think it’s worth it to try.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    Have yet to meet a single person willing to say they want to vote for Drumpf, and we live in an area full of old white people from NY and NJ.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Roger Moore: I have to wonder if there isn’t a little voice that haunts some of those supposed-journalists in the night… “see what you have created? it’s not too late to change course.”

  23. 23.

    singfoom

    @Baud: @Corner Stone: Read it for the commentary on specifically financial dealings around fraudclosure and all that. It was reaaaaally good in 2008/9/10 when other outlets weren’t talking about all the mortgage shit that went down.

    But yeah, HDS is prevalent over there. Like I said, sad.

  26. 26.

    Turgidson

    @singfoom: Bill Clinton would not govern now the way he did 20 years ago either, I don’t think. And Hillary has always been more liberal than he is, at least on domestic and economic policy.

    I’m glad to see that LGM takedown point out that the Bernie or Busters would inevitably “discover” that he is a dreaded “neoliberal” as soon as his pie-in-the-sky agenda hits the jagged rocks of the Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver’s Congress and dies of massive obstruction-induced head trauma. They’d bail on him nearly as fast as they did with Obama. Bernie’s grace period might make it all the way to his inauguration as long as he farts in Rahm and Larry Summers’ directions and avoids nominating any obvious “neoliberals”, but not much beyond that.

  27. 27.

    Mary G

    Think of your Pens. I don’t follow hockey, but I look up their score in honor of you and geg6. They’re winning.

  28. 28.

    Corner Stone

    @Roger Moore:

    It appears that a bold and direct attack by another candidate actually can get the media asking some less-than-fawning questions about him.

    IMO, she could not have timed that speech any better. After his utter debacle at the press Q&A where he singled out people and called them “sleaze” and told them they would get a face full of STFU if he were elected president I think they snapped to and said, “What, ho? I could get better press and clicks by blowing this fucking buffoon up? Hmmm.”
    They aren’t playing with him anymore, they are playing him.

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    @singfoom:

    It was reaaaaally good in 2008/9/10 when other outlets weren’t talking about all the mortgage shit that went down.

    I used to visit quite a bit but it started going off the rails a few years ago.

  30. 30.

    Mainmata

    @Humdog: I spend a lot of time out doors when not working (envt and climate change) and it is good therapy but I’m still politically engaged. Stakes are huge in this election.

  31. 31.

    msdc

    @Corner Stone: I know nothing at all about nakedcapitalism.com, but I know “Lambert Strether” from 2008. If he’s blogging there as Lemieux indicates, then I know everything I need to know about nakedcapitalism.com.

    (Gosh, who could have predicted that the PUMAs of 2008 would become the Bernie-or-Busters of 2016?)

  32. 32.

    Turgidson

    @Corner Stone:

    I hope it lasts. Not confident about it though. The Village media’s need to soak every story in Both Siderism and The Narrative is so deeply engrained, I don’t think they can kick the habit, even to scrutinize someone as unhinged as the Short-Fingered Vulgarian.

    It’s the end of the week. The Sunday show circle jerk will reset the discussion to Hillary’s emails, which are just as bad as [whatever atrocity Trump/GOP committed today] and are going to sink her campaign any.day.now. Then The Narrative will resume its “wow how about that Trump guy? And HRC is such a bitch amirite?” coverage on Monday.

  33. 33.

    Corner Stone

    Holy Fucking Christ. The entire panel on Tweety’s show just went to great lengths to emphasize how much everyone on both sides of the aisle have such great respect for Paul Ryan. He’s “earnest”.
    FUCK!

  35. 35.

    tobie

    Could someone tell me why anyone would read Yves Smith? The woman is a born contrarian, who loves being the truth-teller in the face of straw men she constructs that supposedly represent the consensus. I checked out her site during the Greek crisis last summer until I couldn’t stomach it any longer. Yves Smith, the so-called great liberal, was a vehement defender of Merkel and Schäuble who, if you listened to her, were trying to do the right thing by a serially dishonest, lazy, incompetent, corrupt Greece. Smith absolutely refused to consider what years of austerity had done to the Greek economy. The whole thing was objectionable so I stopped checking out her site after a week. My sense was she had 5 loyal readers. One thing I did notice, though, is that she loves to refer to her many unnamed sources giving her the inside scoop on everything. Sounds like she’s up to the same old trick.

  36. 36.

    gogol's wife

    “I want no grave for him, no marker. His body is to be burned and his ashes scattered.” Laurence Olivier just now on TCM. Poor Spartacus.

  38. 38.

    John Cole

    @redshirt:

    Cole doesn’t read Balloon Juice. Tweet him if you’d like him to read something.

    Why do you say shit like this? I read the website. I read many of the comments. Unlike some people, I just don’t talk unless I have something to say or know what the fuck I am talking about.

  39. 39.

    Thoughtful David

    My depression about the state of the Republic just got a little better. I just heard a story on NPR about down-ballot races, and they brought up a point I hadn’t thought of: Republican candidates are in a real bind. If they don’t adopt a lot of Trumpian ideas, they’ll get screwed over by their wingnuts on their right, and maybe by Trump himself. But if they do, the Democrats will hang Trump around their necks (which, of course the Democrats are trying to do anyway). Could put a lot more House seats in play than I originally thought.

  40. 40.

    Gvg

    Well I can’t get it to copy but try googling kitten chasing ping pong ball. First hit is a gif on imgur by undercover giraffe. I think it will help cheer you up.

  43. 43.

    Cacti

    If you are willing to let people who aren’t you suffer to score a philosophical point, you are a worthless prig who should never refer to himself/herself as “progressive” in the present tense.

    That goes for Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Rosario Dawson, the unnamed friends of the Politico piece author, and every other issues tourist, champagne socialist, and gated community revolutionary out there spewing their brainless nonsense about not voting in November/voting for Trump because of their deep personal blah blah blah.

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    Gawd damn you 2016!

    Sending out love and light and prayers and good vibes to the Champ Muhammad Ali…

    Shit…

  49. 49.

    GregB

    My last dip over there revulsed me by the open racism among the commenters. There is a wierd left-right libertarian leaning nexus that had the common thread of old school white superiority.

  50. 50.

    Hungry Joe

    Never mind all this stuff. More to the point:

    “Oh, where were you on the night of June the third?
    Who were you with on the night of June the third?
    Were you with a stranger?
    Did you take a walk?
    Was your heart in danger?
    Come on, woman — talk, talk!”
    — Fats Waller

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Aqualad08: Among all the oddities of that piece, and WP ate my long comment: Why publish under a pseudonym when they’re going to give your real name and professional affiliation?

    but I do have to comment on the idea that Clinton has been meanie-meanie-mean to Bernie and his supporters. He’s been treated with kid gloves by everyone in the Democratic party, even the Prince of Thorns Barney Frank, who seemed to be feeling the physical strain of doing so on TV last week.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    It just came to me and I am sad to say so.
    Thread title: Fappit: The Desolation of Cole

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Media MattersVerified account
    ‏@ mmfa
    Mark Halperin says Trump’s attacks on a judge are not racist because “Mexico isn’t a race”

    I like to think that other guy is sometimes embarrassed to work with him.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    The heartbreak of psoriasis Trump fatigue.

    Take two aspirin pets and call us in the morning.

    ;)

  56. 56.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I like to think that other guy is sometimes embarrassed to work with him.

    Even though they are both worthless pundits you get the immediate impression that Halperin and Heileman despise each other.

  58. 58.

    Troublesome Carp fka Geeno

    @Cacti: Have you ever noticed how often trolls use “Truth” or some variation in their nyms? It’s bizarre.

  62. 62.

    Aleta

    A new study has shown that studies about the universe are causing it to expand faster.

  64. 64.

    qwerty42

    @Corner Stone: Yves and that entire site are geared for conspiracy theory nutterdom.
    I don’t think it used to be that way. I saw her on Blogging Heads and she was good. But times changed, and I haven’t been to the site in years. Some commenters at LGM made similar points (the conspiracy theory stuff especially).
    Sad to see Yves going that way. Hope she can pull out of it.

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @msdc:

    (Gosh, who could have predicted that the PUMAs of 2008 would become the Bernie-or-Busters of 2016?)

    It’s the PUMA Möbius Strip! Firedoglake was moving in that direction too before it closed down, wasn’t it?

  66. 66.

    Feebog

    Jesus, suck it up Cole. HRC just grutted Trump like day old fish. Plus new national poll out showing her up by double digits. It has been a great week!

  67. 67.

    bmoak

    @singfoom:

    This isn’t new for Yves Smith. I remember when she called Bernie Sanders a “quisling” for supporting some Obama program, when she cheered for the Supreme Court to overturn the awful Affordable Care Act, and her declaration that Warren’s decision to run for Senate was a “poisoned chalice” because it meant Liz was either 1) corrupt and willing to abandon her principles for power or b) naive and too blind to see that Obama and Rahm would stab her in the back and conspire to make sure she lost the election to push her out of public life.

  71. 71.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I hear you, Cole. I’ve been out of town without internet and I can’t believe how much good a break did me. Watch funny videos. Pet the animals. Tomorrow is another day.

  76. 76.

    JanieM

    @Iowa Old Lady: I hope John finds a few of them funny too. :-)

    I’m having to remind myself more often these days to get away from the internet on a regular basis. Even to go outside, for crying out loud! Summer in Maine is not to be wasted!

  77. 77.

    Juju

    @singfoom: if you want a real headache go and read the comments at the NC site related to the Politico article. Holy cow those people are nuts!! Did you realize Obama is a sellout and failure and that the ACA is in a death spiral and doesn’t help anyone? I sure as heck didn’t. At the age of 50 something I have health insurance for the first time in my life. It was outrageously expensive before ACA for me because of a minor pre existing condition, so I went without. Now that I have it I don’t want to lose it. I hope all those commenters figure things out before the election and suck it up and vote for Hillary, or they live in places where it doesn’t matter. Jeeeze!!!

  81. 81.

    Carl W

    @shomi:

    … they are Libertarians and there is no hope for any of those people anyways.

    Not necessarily true! I was a Libertarian in college, but I got better :)

  82. 82.

    PurpleGirl

    @lamh36: I had heard something about him earlier on the news but I hadn’t really listened. Ah, that makes me sad. He lead a mixed up life for many years but he tried to live well. I remember when he changed his name from Casius Clay and so many reporters and sports people were against him. I was in high school and while I didn’t follow sports, I thought I could understand how he felt about his name. I supported him when he refused to be drafted by the Army.

    I will send thoughts his way that he finds the peace/health he needs. And his health is complicated by the Parkinson’s.

  83. 83.

    PurpleGirl

    @Iowa Old Lady: That’s why I keep a kitten cam or two (or three) open in another browser. Kittens are cute even when they are not .scamps. They are so calming to watch.

  84. 84.

    pea

    i am sick of half truths, vague generalities, projection, deflection, “that’s what you are, what am i?”s, sophist CRAP
    i need a near death experience
    sure one would kill me

  85. 85.

    nutella

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Mark Halperin says Trump’s attacks on a judge are not racist because “Mexico isn’t a race”

    Only in America could an ignorant jamoke who doesn’t even speak English get a well-paying journalist job. What a country!

  86. 86.

    daves09

    @Baud: Thanks john, just spent an hour in the fever swamp of naked capitalism and related blogs. Although guns, lawyers, money had a good refutation. So yeah, thanx.

  87. 87.

    Jonathan Holland Becnel

    @John@John Cole:

    I’m having a great day! Clinton OTOH not so much. While Bernie stacks the arenas with actual people, Clinton packs the room with flags. There were more flags than people in that room listening to their glorious leader talk about her foreign policy!

    What foreign policy? Trump hasn’t done shit yet, and Clintons already bombed half the Middle East. Hell, she can’t even claim the greatest Obama FP goal yet – Iran – Kerry’s deal, AND Obamas already said that Libya (see SoS Clinton) was his greatest Fuck Up.

    It’s a fair question:
    Clinton, Warmongerer, or Trump, Potential Warmongerer?

    You’re a Vet, Cole, FUCKIN TAKE A KNEE, DRINK SOME WATER, AND FUCKING QUESTION YOUR BELIEFS FFS!

    You know why you’re not happy after the Clinton Mission Accomplish speech? BECAUSE YOU DONT TRUST CLINTON. Fuck, more than half the nation doesn’t trust her. Can you really blame others for shining a light on the “known evil” establishment which PUNCHES EVERY DIRTY HIPPY it can get its hands on?

    Clintons not going after very progressive people. She’s going after the right. I feel pity for you. Stand up for your beliefs, Cole. You’ll feel better, I promise!

    Naked Capitalism and Susan/Yves do a heckava job. Yves Smith runs that site singlehandedly and is one of the top economics blogs on the Internet. I’m one of her daily readers as I am on this blog. She’s more of a Socialist than anything. She stands for working class people against corporate NeoLiberal wall st bullshit. IOW, she’s one of us. One of the good ones. Like you used to be.

    What’s so disheartening is to see you become just another mouthpiece for the Clinton regime.

    Naked Capitalism Rules.

    Fuck Trump.

    YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS, COLE!!!

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