.
Buzzfeed reports:
Early in the 2016 primary race, comedy screenwriter Etan Cohen began to notice some similarities between the Republican candidate, mendacious former reality star Donald Trump, and Cohen’s 2006 movie Idiocracy, which features fictional wrestling champ-turned-president Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews). Ever since, those similarities have only grown, leading to Cohen and Mike Judge, who wrote and also directed Idiocracy, now working on a series of anti-Trump ads with Crews reprising his role.
The 2006 satire shows a semi-distant future in which the world has been overrun by dummies and, as a result, is falling apart. At first, the parallels to the real primary race were “just a general lizard brain kind of thing: The presidency is all about entertainment value,” Cohen, who also directed and wrote the 2015 comedy Get Hard and co-wrote the 2008 hit comedy Tropic Thunder, told BuzzFeed News over the phone. “Then it started to get, as the year went on, weirdly specific. People pointing out things like, ‘Oh, Camacho was a wrestler and Trump was a wrestler.’ … It’s like, the more things go on, the more it actually seems to be kind of merging in a very specific, eerie way.”…
Throughout the process, Cohen and Judge have struggled to satirize Trump because he is already so outrageous. “If you’re making Idiocracy 2, and you’re trying to write whoever’s the heir to Camacho, if you put in Trump, it would be too silly to be in a movie,” Cohen explained.
But they worked through it — Cohen felt a call to action, saying these ads are very important to him. “This is what satire is for … to be able to hold up a mirror and say, ‘This is crazy,’” he said. “Idiocracy was like that, but this all of a sudden felt like a very immediate need for the true meaning of satire and what it can actually do.”…
“The most dangerous contrast to Trump is that Camacho actually realizes he needs advice from other people, and knows that he’s not the smartest guy in the room,” Cohen continued, noting that he would “definitely” vote for Camacho over Trump. “Also, not a racist.”
I’m actually kinda looking forward to those ads. Will Baby Donald bitch about the totally inaccurate, very biased, very unfair comparisons? Or will he embrace it as another form of celebrity endorsement?
Geoduck
My standard reply to Trump vs Idiocracy: Comparing President Camacho to Trump is an insult to Camacho. The man realized he was facing a serious problem he didn’t know how to fix, sought out literally the smartest man on the planet, and then listened to his advice.
MattF
There’s been a lot of heavy pondering about ‘Why Trump?’ but this NYRB article, Why Trump Was Inevitable says it’s all sorta simple. Their polls show that Trump has a constituency that agrees with him and that this constituency thinks he’s the most electable. QED.
Iowa Old Lady
Am I the only one who didn’t realize that Trump doesn’t have an MBA from Wharton? Just today I learned he went to undergrad at Fordham for two years, then transferred to the U of Penn, where he took classes in real estate that were apparently run by Wharton.
This is like undergrads at U of Iowa who take creative writing classes claiming they went to the Writers Workshop. No, they didn’t.
lamh36
Been away from the computer most of the morning… and now sitting here spending time with Maddie.
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/739184313153921024
Iowa Old Lady
@lamh36: I am so jealous.
Corner Stone
He’s being treated very unfairly by this comparison. Very unfairly.
And he will probably spend 25% of each of the next few speeches telling you just how unfair this is to him.
A Ghost To Most
Tom Toles is an American treasure. Trompe is a carnival barker. Looking forward to the ads; strange what a cultural touchstone Idiocracy has become.
Corner Stone
Could there be anything worse for a relationship than competing on Chopped as a couple? Talk about divorce on a plate.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: But don’t ever claim that he has thin skin. He’s the opposite of thin-skinned, as he will tell you repeatedly and extensively.
geg6
@Corner Stone:
Heh, seriously. Watching that, too.
On topic, glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks we’re living in that film.
ETA: That young couple competing are adorable.
hovercraft
The lack of self awareness is breathtaking, and it’s spreading.
Villago Delenda Est
Teh Donald is the most crybaby crybaby to ever cry.
I loathe him.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Iowa Old Lady: Also, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence the Trump was a great student. He didn’t seem to have graduated from Penn with honors.
A Ghost To Most
With no respect due, GFY, Halperin.
MattF
@hovercraft: And his strong, very thick skin is invulnerable and has orange spots.
eric
@hovercraft: Nagourney’s tweet is some high level snark.
lamh36
So I’m catching up some of the tributes and news and reports on the death of Muhammad Ali, and I’d just wanted to make a point that it seems a certain segment of folks are trying to forget and not acknowledge about Muhammad Ali…
Muhammad Ali was unabashedly Black, unabashedly Muslim and unabashedly political. Saying he “transcended race” is to not acknowledge what Ali stood for and fought for, even if meant in the “best” way.
Don’t let #MuhammadAli’s story get whitewashed
As someone said on tv, a number of folks did not like Ali. Ali lost a good bit when he changed his name and became Ali. It wasn’t until later, when Muhammad Ali “lost his voice” to Parkinsons, that he maybe no longer became a “threat” for some folks. Imagine if Ali had not lost his voice. What made MLK easy to sanitize was his death. Ali of course was not dead, but Parkison’s essentially was the “death” of the flashy voice that folks liked and yes folk HATED about Ali. Imagine what Muhammad Ali would have had to say if not for Parkinson’s stealing his voice…
Imagine this if Parkinson’s hadn’t stolen his voice from him
RIP Champ
“I am America, I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: I’m surprised those couples from the amazing race don’t usually divorce.
Major Major Major Major
@MattF: the orange spots are his weak points, especially if they’re flashing.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
The latest winners, I thought for sure they were going to kill each other. But they won, so they must work together better than it seemed (and/or was portrayed) at the time.
Mike R
@Major Major Major Major: Aren’t the orange spots used in his mating rituals, or is that the greenbacks. It sure isn’t is face, physique or personality that got it multiple wives.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
I was a young sailor in the USN in the early 1970s, when Ali was boxing, and winning. The lifers hated him, with a passion. I offered to take their money, and they were happy to make that bet. Not so happy to pay me, but still.
I admired Ali for his skills, his attitudes, his willingness to push the boundaries, the whole package. What a guy! I made good money betting on him, for a while. Then it dried up as the guys got tired of paying me after the fight. But that was OK, they learned their lesson.
RIP, champ.
PS: I bet Trump would have bet against Ali, at least the first few times. How long would it have taken for Trump to learn that lesson? Hmmmm. I’m thinking a looong time…
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike R:
EWWWW! Brain Bleach, now!
Gimlet
What happens with his staunchly loyal supporters if Trump is denied the Presidency?
lamh36
If you have a twitter account and you have Netflix, then maybe check this out:
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: My grandfather, a white Southern Baptist preacher from Mississippi, loved boxing and loathed Ali, whom he always called “Cassius Clay.” He (my grandfather) was a good man in most ways but also exactly the type who needed to hear the message Ali delivered in the quote you posted above.
PS: Looks like you and Maddie are having fun!
smith
@geg6:
Eh. It seems to me that “reality” TV is primarily about “Let’s you and him fight.” The contestants certainly know that and I’m sure they adjust their behavior to suit the agenda.
smintheus
H. L. Mencken’s skewering of Calvin Coolidge is as relevant now even if the math has changed:
Gimlet
In Media Home Entertainment’s The Elvis Files (55 minutes, $19.95), we’re told that Elvis Presley’s name still earns $500 million in revenue every year. Some small portion of that, apparently, is generated by the argument fostered in this curious videotape – that Elvis Presley is still alive and possibly in residence not far from his friend Muhammad Ali in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The video production is based on the book The Elvis Files and features its author, Gail Brewer-Giorgio, who is credited as the writer here. She is also one of a half-dozen people – including police officials, voice and handwriting experts, and Presley associates – who give their reasons for believing that Presley’s death in August 1977 was a hoax.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Maddie is too cute for words. And, she is growing up ?
Where has the time gone?
chopper
naw, I’m Beef Supreme or bust y’all.
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Ali was our Blackness.
It was as if the ancestors moved through him.
Iowa Old Lady
@smith: I don’t know. If you put Mr IOL and me together in stressful situations and turned a camera on us 24 hours a day, you’d get some pretty ugly footage, and we show no signs of impending divorce that I know of.
lamh36
@Betty Cracker: like this fucker…
I replied to his tweet: HIS NAME WAS MUHAMMAD ALI. KNOW IT, RESPECT IT…USE IT..
muthafucker
chopper
@Rolling Along:
QUICK CHANGE THE SUBJECT LET’S PROJECT OUR FUCKUPS ON SOMEONE ELSE
Corner Stone
Let’s not.
Geoduck
..And I now see my comment was covered in the original article. The point stands.
Rolling Along
@chopper:
Mark Halperin et all will just shrug their shoulders and say “both sides have a problem now!” You can hear the clocking of the keyboards as the articles are written…
hovercraft
@MattF: @eric:
Snark is the best way to go after him, he has no tolerance for people who do not revere his greatness. He still has not recovered from Obama roasting him. The last 72 hours he has been especially unhinged after Hillary mocked him with his own words, and then to add insult to injury she was given almost universal praise. That’s not how it’s supposed to be, he is the star not her.
chopper
@lamh36:
besides which, calling him a “skilled great boxer” is like saying MJ “was a good basketball player”.
Ali was the greatest of all time.
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
Trump buddied up with Tyson, demonstrating yet again his affinity for borderline and practising sociopaths. Ali would not have wasted his time, although there’s nearly zero possibility they never crossed paths.
Emma
@Iowa Old Lady: My parents lasted 62 years and it only ended with my Mom’s death in March, but the battles were epic. My sister and I actually had a system of codes that went from “the air is getting a little chilly” to “down periscope! down periscope!” So yeah, I think marriages can handle a lot more than people think.
lamh36
Le sigh…NPR…please…don’t do this…smh
The Thin Black Duke
@hovercraft: Trump is the rich white guy born on third base who gets a hit and tries to steal second.
trollhattan
@The Thin Black Duke:
Stolen, for further distribution. :-)
lamh36
For the comic book fans…
BillinGlendaleCA
@The Thin Black Duke: That seems to be the way he ran his casinos.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gimlet: I have no doubt that there will be a crybaby competition the likes you have never seen.
And fear there will be violence as well.
lamh36
I Can’t Stop Watching Muhammad Ali Dodge 21 Punches In 10 Seconds
BillinGlendaleCA
@Villago Delenda Est:
I think that will be the case either way. If he wins they will have the power of the state.
Villago Delenda Est
@chopper: It appears that someone has been banhammered. Again.
dmsilev
@The Thin Black Duke: You’re giving Trump too much credit. Got a hit?
Villago Delenda Est
@BillinGlendaleCA: Some of the military brass have been making noises about how Drumpf’s “policy” proposals will not go down well with those in uniform.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Villago Delenda Est: Twice in one day, that may be a record.
Omnes Omnibus
@chopper:
You could make a case for Sugar Ray Robinson…. Ali was certainly the greatest of his era and that’s despite losing some of his prime boxing years to his stand on the draft. I am not really a boxing guy, but dad is and he loved pretty much everything about Ali from the time he first saw him in the Olympics.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Villago Delenda Est: I’ve heard that as well.
Gimlet
@dmsilev:
Can’t be on third base and at bat simultaneously.
lamh36
WATCHING ROCKY II WITH MUHAMMAD ALI
by Roger Ebert
July 31, 1979 |
http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/watching-rocky-ii-with-muhammad-ali
SiubhanDuinne
Remember the other day when Trump called out to someone in his audience as “my African-American”? And got royally called out for that ownership language?
So the next day he apparently tweeted a photo of an AA family labelling them as his supporters. Only problem is, he used a picture he found on line of a family celebrating a reunion last year — a family which has nothing to do with him and which explicitly disavows any support of or interest in Trump.
Cannot wait to hear all the Sunday morning hosts pin him to the wall on this tomorrow morning. As if.
dmsilev
@Gimlet: First, assume a really really wild pitcher…
BillinGlendaleCA
@Gimlet: That is just evidence of the system being rigged against Trump.
trollhattan
@Gimlet:
He has people for that.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Be thankful he didn’t tweet a photo of a white family in blackface….yet.
moonbat
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh good Lord! Is it wrong of me to hope that Drumpf slows down on his implosion until after the convention because Hils is going to annihilate him. If he craters too soon the GOP might draft someone who at least looks the part.
Betty Cracker
Elizabeth Warren roasts Trump again at the MA Democratic Convention:
He’ll pop a ‘roid over that for sure. Maybe he’ll have another news conference with fake labels on some other company’s steaks.
trollhattan
Tuesday should be a doozy, California’s voter roll is the largest for a primary in history, up nearly 650k since April. Hopefully not 650k knuckle-draggers.
NotMax
@Baud
The Duggars might jump in on that.
Each holding a big slice of watermelon.
john fremont
@lamh36: I wonder what he’ll say when Ted Nugent dies. Oh, wait, they don’t care because GUNS and 2nd Amendment. IOKIYAR.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
This is profoundly beautiful, the more so because of who wrote it to whom.
Thank you, from a white woman who, like Muhammad Ali, was born in 1942.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: OT: To answer your question from a few days ago: I asked the kid when her boards are, she said middle of next month. She also got a job at the hospital that she did her clinical in this quarter, starting in August(contingent on passing her boards, of course).
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
It’s almost guaranteed to happen, isn’t it?
Ultraviolet Thunder
So, a point of form. In 1975 Cassius Clay converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Is it proper to refer to him in describing things he did before 1975 as Cassius Clay (because he was then) or do we refer to him at all times in his life as Muhammad Ali? Did Cassius Clay or Muhammad Ali win an Olympic Gold Medal in boxing in 1960?
I’m seriously asking.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: I expect his inauguration party will feature an Al Jolsen impersonator.
SiubhanDuinne
@moonbat:
Yes, that’s my worry as well. I have almost no doubt at this point that by November he will not be on the ballot, but I agree that timing is crucial.
Yutsano
@Mike R: Money is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
“The minstrels love me!”
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
“Hey, look! There’s my minstrel!”
Iowa Old Lady
@SiubhanDuinne: That he expected to get away with that is a sign of how insulated his world has been. Apparently, he lies and everyone says “Yes, Mr Trump.”
ETA: IOW, he thinks everyone else is stupid and/or incompetent.
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
Sounds like a crackerjack bumper sticker to me!
Baud
@trollhattan: Weren’t a lot of Latinos registering because of Trump?
lamh36
@Ultraviolet Thunder: the vast majority of the folks calling Muhammad Ali by Cassius Clay are NOT doing so for some historical accuracy. If you believe they are, then I have a road to nowhere to guide you to
Do you think this guy is calling his Cassius cause he want to be ‘Respectful” of boxing history –>
trollhattan
@Iowa Old Lady:
It’s as though they’re reprising Willard, only with 75% more vulgarity.
The bubble abides.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ultraviolet Thunder: 1975?
Ultraviolet Thunder
@SiubhanDuinne:
Speculating wildly on a Trump flameout and epic fail, if that happens then 2016 will be the year that 3rd parties get significant numbers of votes in the general election. His HRC hating supporters will have to go somewhere if they don’t stay home, and the GOP’s chosen substitute may not be to their liking.
Gelfling545
@lamh36: I think that opinion can be discounted as Ali was very talented in his chosen profession whereas Trump……
trollhattan
@Baud:
Anecdotally yes, I’d imagine quite a few young Berners too. Hoping exit polling and district participation give specific demographic details. Mail ballots must water down usefulness of exit polling.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sez Wikipedia. I googled around a bit this morning because I didn’t recall the timeline of his career. Someone (a former editor of mine) wrote on FB that Muhammad Ali won a gold medal in the Olympics so I had to go find out if he was Cassius Clay when that happened (he was). And that got me to wondering.
NotMax
@Ultraviolet Thunder
Courtesy is to use the name favored by the person as opposed to birth name, but sometimes the context might abrogate that.
When it comes to awards, championships and such, one could use a qualifier, for example, “Caitlyn (then Bruce) Jenner won Olympic medals in track and field” or “Wendy Carlos first hit the pop music charts as Walter Carlos, with Switched-on Bach.”
Baud
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
According to this MoJo article, the Greens aren’t happy because Sanders is poaching their voters.
debbie
@lamh36:
I remember as a kid listening to the fight with Liston on the radio (you could hear the punches landing!). One of my brothers idolized Ali’s bravado and since I didn’t like my brother, I wasn’t liking Ali either. Until he refused to go to Vietnam and risked his career, fame, and freedom for his faith. That made a real impression on me. And he only got better as a human being as time went on.
hovercraft
@lamh36:
You know this morning as I was watching a tribute, I thought some moron is going to make the mistake of saying that Ali’s bragging is the same as Trump’s. I just knew it. Ali overcame real life challenges and fought real life boxers, he proved he was the ‘Greatest”. Trump is a moron who slaps his name on buildings and says he is the greatest, when he’s not even the best in NYC let alone the world. For anyone to mention them in the same breath is insulting, unless it is to say how much Ali disdained Trump.
Heywood J.
Idiocracy is starting to come up short in keeping up with this circus. It’s almost impossible to parody at this point. Clownstick makes Elizondo look brilliant and sane in comparison.
I peered to my crystal ball and saw John Miller’s RNC acceptance speech.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@NotMax:
Thanks. That makes sense, if complicating the matter for copy editors.
rikyrah
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
His name, of his own choosing, was Muhammad Ali.
Period.
NotMax
@Yutsano
It follows, then, that you labor for the sexiest government department.
;)
Omnes Omnibus
@Ultraviolet Thunder: IIRC he converted and changed his name in 1965. In 1975, he left the Nation of Islam and became a mainstream Sunni.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Mammy!!
debbie
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
That can’t be right. He changed his name before refusing to go to Vietnam, and Vietnam was over (for this country) by 1975. From what I’ve found online, it was 1964, but I’m not sure what sports sources can be relied on. There’s this:
http://actionspeaksradio.org/1964-cassius-clay-changes-his-name/
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
Lied and cheated his way there.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Wow. I sure hope Hillary wins, even though it’ll be academic at that point. If Sanders prevails, even in a squeaker, the Beltway media will go apeshit and the primary will drag on…
The Thin Black Duke
@Betty Cracker: As I said in an earlier thread, keep your hands off my senator. Get somebody else to be VP, she’s ours.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: It’ll be a very classy minstrel show. Very, very classy.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@debbie:
You may be right. Possibly I misread in a hurry. ’75 does seem late for his conversion to Islam. But it was after the Olympics, which was the original point.
Gotta go look it up now…
ETA: More complicated than I remembered. From Wikipedia:
“he won the world heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston in an upset in 1964. Shortly after that, Ali joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name. He converted to Sunni Islam in 1975, and then embraced the teachings of Sufism[8] in 2005.”
Luthe
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I would go with “Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay).” Accurate, but also respecting the name he chose.
Splitting Image
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
According to the wiki article, he changed his name “soon after the Liston fight” in February 1964. I think the confusion is that he joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 and converted to Sunni Islam in 1975.
So yeah, he won the Olympic medal and became champion as Cassius Clay, but changed his name almost immediately afterward. Everything else he is known for, he did as Muhammad Ali. Since it’s the name he chose for himself, that’s what people ought to call him.
Betty Cracker
@The Thin Black Duke: For the record, I never suggested Warren should be the VP pick — just pointed out her general awesomeness in Trump bashing. I’d love the opportunity to vote for her, but she’s needed in the senate, which we must retake. I’m Team Tom Perez for VP. ;-)
Iowa Old Lady
@Betty Cracker: The focus on “winning” a D primary is so misleading too, since the delegates are awarded proportionally.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Your Wikipedia and mine differ. Mine says that he affiliated with Nation of Islam in 1964 and received the name Muhammad Ali shortly thereafter.
What it does say about 1975 is this:
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Obama lost something like 9 of his last 11 primaries in 2008.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: That was a fun read!
ThresherK
I had no idea that the fellow who wrote Idiocracy co-wrote Tropic Thunder. A couple of sharp movies that (I hope) are too popular to be cult items.
lamh36
Interesting article. Should go without saying, please read past the title.
geg6
@smith:
On most reality shows, yes. Amazing Race, not so much. The drama teams usually get eliminated early on. It’s a good show and usually awards teamwork.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker:
I think I’m actually on board that party wagon also, too.
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36:
As I was reading the first couple of paragraphs, Jordan’s very different approach came mind and then lo and behold…
ETA: Dr King’s assassination triggered something similar in a lot of white people. Once he was dead, they could recast him as someone safe.
? Martin
@Ultraviolet Thunder: He joined Nation of Islam just after winning the gold medal in 1964 – that’s when he changed name. He had already converted in the photos with Malcolm X, who died in Feb 1965 so it was within months, He switched from Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam in 1975 and then to Sufism in 2005. He refused the draft in April 1967, went to trial in June and was sentenced to 5 years.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
I know kids hate when adults say this, but OMG she’s grown so much! I remember your pictures of her as a toddler.
WaterGirl
@The Thin Black Duke: Hey, we (in Illinois) lost our Senator Obama by sharing him with the nation,
but you don’t hear us whining about it. Okay, I whine all the time about :: shudder :: Senator Mark Kirk (R-Crazy). Never mind.The Thin Black Duke
@Betty Cracker: Oh no, I didn’t mean to imply that you did. I was just commenting on the transcendent glory that is Senator Warren and, as a citizen of Massachusetts, how proud I am of her. However, those pesky “Warren For VP” rumors won’t go away, unfortunately.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Last Field Poll, highly regarded hereabouts, showed a near dead heat. They’re both romping through the state like a couple of college kids on spring break, although spring is currently entertaining us with sizzling heat. I worry for Bernie’s New England constitution, poor guy might spontaneously combust. Am genuinely surprised Donny didn’t in Redding while discovering his new black friend. 105 yesterday.
NotMax
BTW, for any who might be unaware, the abolitionist namesake: Cassius Marcellus Clay.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: As I mentioned the other day, I have heard from meatspace sources, the Clinton campaign just hired a top Castro staffer – one of Joaquin’s, I believe. It may or may not mean anything.
magurakurin
@Betty Cracker: no it won’t. Obama and Warren are poised to shut this down. If Sanders continues after Tuesday all he will do is make a fool of himself. This thing is over. California does not matter.
Corner Stone
@The Thin Black Duke:
Not going to happen. I’m confused by the supposedly experienced political people who keep mentioning it as possible – in this case Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer in their Keeping it 1600 podcast the other day.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
The guy gives a great interview, confess to not know much about his cabinet stint, although his grasp of policy and jerbs seems deep.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: I like Castro as a future party builder but see it as very difficult that he’d tie into HRC if he had any future WH ambitions.
lamh36
Ali in his own words when asked how we wanted to be remembered
Off the cuff poetry…the skill that Parkinson’s stole from him…damn.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
I agree. From everything I know about him (admittedly, not all that much yet), Perez would be a fine choice.
Southern Beale
TRUMP HAS WHAT VOTERS NEED: ELECTROLYTES!
Couldn’t resist.
Heywood J.
@trollhattan: Yeah, I live near Redding, and I can tell you I had my fingers crossed for Miller to spontaneously combust all afternoon (as I sat in my air-conditioned office). No such luck.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
But Obama was (immediately) succeeded in the Senate by Roland Burriss (D). And he was never a potential VP anyhow. The analogy doesn’t really hold up.
Shell
Sweet Jesus, so so praying that Tuesday will be the final curtain on the primaries. That Bernie will finally see some sense and gracefully bow out, even if some of his followers will still be wailing.
lamh36
Schlemazel Khan
@lamh36:
That is so corny I can hardly believe it was the man himself! He certainly was an interesting guy. It is hard to say he will be missed because it seems like he has been missed for 30 years now. I don’t expect we will ever see anyone like him in my lifetime.
NotMax
@Shell
Well, today is the U.S. Virgin Islands D caucus and tomorrow is the D primary in Puerto Rico, so it’s possible that HRC’s count will pass or brush right up against the magic number (dependent on who is doing the counting) before the 5 primaries + 1 caucus on Tuesday. And then D.C.’s primary on the 14th is the definite conclusion of primary process.
lamh36
dmsilev
@Shell: I could see Sanders continuing on through the 14th, so that he can say that he fought for every vote, in every primary, or something like that. That wouldn’t bother me too much. After that, though, it’s time to admit defeat, take the silver medal, and stop (uselessly) trying to get the judges to give you the gold.
dmsilev
@NotMax: She’ll probably be 10 or 20 delegates shy of 2383 (counting pledged plus announced supers) by Monday, and I imagine her campaign will politely ask the remaining supers to hold off on public endorsements until Wednesday, so that she can go over the threshold on the strength of actual votes.
NotMax
Lordy, this new Saturday host on TCM is weak sauce.
Stilted delivery (that can improve as she learns how to more naturally read the ‘prompter). It appears the make-up whiizzes at TCM applied the entire counter from Bloomingdale’s to her face, though. Too much, much too much for bright studio lights.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: First off, I was kind of just being silly. Putting that aside for a moment, I wasn’t suggesting a direct parallel. The point is that taking a senator out of the senate for national office leaves a temporary appointment in place and then eventually an election for the seat. Doesn’t matter whether it’s for VP or a cabinet position, it’s risky business. But again, I was mostly just being silly.
NotMax
@dmsilev
IIRC, NJ is winner take all, so California is really moot. Even Sanders himself holds no illusions about winning NJ.
magurakurin
@dmsilev: Al Giordano was of the mind that any supers declaring now would be asking Robby Mook for permission. But Rachael Maddow did a bit yesterday highlighting how the AP called it for Trump simply by calling all the undeclared GOP supers (they call them unbound) and asked them who they were for. Then they had the number for Trump.
And Bernie won’t go away. He knows he won’t get 2026 from CA. The official talking point now is the supers don’t vote until the convention so their stated endorsement and opinion shouldn’t count until then. It is childish and petty and I really feel sorry for that sad little man now. But we have to forget about Bernie. He doesn’t matter. He will do what he does. Clinton has to move forward under the assumption that Sanders won’t help at all.
But, I’m with her. I think she has got this.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Now, I’ve noticed a tendency for this thread to get rather silly. Now I do my best to keep things moving along, but I’m not having things getting silly. Those two last comments got very silly indeed, and that last one about the VP was even sillier. Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do… except perhaps my wife and some of her friends… oh yes and Captain Johnston. Come to think of it most people like a good laugh more than I do. But that’s beside the point. Now, let’s have a good clean healthy outdoor thread. Get some air into your lungs. Ten, nine, eight and all that.
Baud
@NotMax: I didn’t think any of the Dem primaries were winner take all.
@dmsilev: Sanandon’s recent comments make me a little nervous that Sanders believes an indictment is coming and won’t drop out for that reason.
dmsilev
@NotMax: No, all of the Democratic primaries are proportional. All of the NJ polls have shown Clinton up by double digits, so she’s likely to pull in enough delegates there to go over the 2383 mark before the polls close in California. Getting over the 2036 majority of pledged delegates mark will take California though, as she needs about 250 right now, and would need something north of 95% of the non-CA vote to cross that point without CA.
Corner Stone
@Baud:
Of course it’s coming. It’s inevitable. It has to be.
dmsilev
@Baud: ‘Drop out’ is a bit of a misnomer, as people really just ‘suspend’ their campaign. So, if lightning struck and Clinton really was indicted, Sanders could resume his campaign.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: You and Monty Python apparently do silly much better than I do!
Baud
@dmsilev: My impression is that it’s good for down ballot Dems that California is somewhat meaningful this year.
Baud
@dmsilev: Right. I’ll take suspend.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I made the Olympic trials. If this were a less silly country in general, i think I could have made it all the way. But the competition, dear lord, the competition.
dmsilev
@magurakurin: That ‘super delegates don’t count until the convention’ talking point is really obnoxious, since it affirmatively ignores how pretty much all of the contested Democratic primaries for the last thirty or so years have worked. Obama, for instance, was declared the presumptive nominee right at the end of the primaries, based on pledged delegates and the announced support of a set of supers. I hope it’s just an attempt to keep his supporters rallied so that he does as well as possible on Tuesday, but I guess one way or the other, we’ll find out.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker: @trollhattan:
He’s done a good job at labour. And he delivers a shiv with a smile.
The standoff between the two sides grew more bitter during the first month after the strike began in April, and the unions came under particular strain when Verizon discontinued health care benefits for the striking workers on May 1.
But the tone appeared to shift in mid-May, after Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and Allison Beck, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, began to broker the talks.
Per the NYTimes
Mary G
Got my second-ever presidential primary robocall this afternoon from Bernie. Ballot already completed and mailed in = waste of time. I don’t know how you guys in Iowa keep from going crazy.
dmsilev
@Baud: It is. California has this weird ‘jungle primary’ system for Senate and House races, where all of the candidates, from all parties, compete on the same ballot, and the top two finishers go on to compete against each other in November. So, if there’s strong enough D turnout, you can end up with two Ds facing each other, and a guaranteed seat in the fall (the Senate race will likely end up like this). Of course, if turnout is poor, it can mean that a winnable seat might go away because there are two Rs on the ballot instead.
Baud
@dmsilev Good then. I hope it all works out for the best in the end.
Iowa Old Lady
@dmsilev: It makes me sad that Sanders now talks more about the primary process than about the maldistribution of income.
NotMax
@dmsilev
NJ is a byzantine case, winner take all plus unusually allocated proportionality.
So presuming a total raw vote win for HRC plus a worst case scenario of garnering half of the districts, that’s 42 + another 42.
magurakurin
@dmsilev:
I’d like to think that, too. But I doubt it. He has a martyr complex. He honestly believes he is the only one who can beat Trump and that he has been treated unfairly. It’s sad. And it will draw away some votes. But Clinton will just have to find them elsewhere. That’s what you do, you find the votes to win. And she is now, the winner. I have confidence that she and her team will get this done. Bernie no longer matters. And if he truly does force a floor vote (there will be a floor vote regardless) before he concedes he will only succeed in making himself look even more childish, petty and small than he already has. Pity.
Baud
@magurakurin: If he forces a floor vote, he won’t get a prime time speaking spot at the convention.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Well, I do completely agree that whenever an elected official is contemplated as a running mate or Cabinet secretary, part of the decision should be based on the political ramifications. Sometimes, it may be that the value of a given person as VP or AG or SOS is sufficient to risk a governorship or Senate/House seat. I trust Hillary and her advisors enough to believe that they will have weighed all likely scenarios before they make their picks.
Silly is fine. We could use more silly around here :-)
LAC
@lamh36: amen!!!!!!
dogwood
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
It took me a couple of years to get used to calling him Ali. Same thing with Kareem. It wasn’t out of disrespect, simply habit. But anyone who still uses their birth names is showing their racist, Islomophobic ass to the world.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know. I think silly takes away some of the gravitas people associate with Balloon Juice.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Trivia:
The original meaning of the word silly was “extremely religious.”
Ramping Up
Lib activist Susan Sarandon says Hillary more dangerous than Trump.
Obama coalition falling apart?
dmsilev
@Ramping Up: Just keep on fucking that chicken.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Go skull fuck a kitten.
Schlemazel Khan
[link] The political scientist who saw Drumpf’s rise coming
Norm Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute predicted Drumpf’s rise & the chaos in the GOP. He pretty much says what we all here already know but it is shocking to hear from a guy on the right-wing welfare train, If that is not enough to get you to read the interview I’ll add that it will make cramping up weep, even the people inside his beloved paymasters know they are fucked up
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
And “cute” used to mean “bowlegged.”
A Ghost To Most
@NotMax:
I still use it in that context, because it is accurate.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: Worse, he’ll have to pay off his campaign debts himself.
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel Khan: Ornstein is pretty centrist/reality based. He still has a job there because he provides some intellectual cover for the other folks.
The Thin Black Duke
@Ramping Up: Damn it, Janet!
Schlemazel Khan
@Ramping Up:
Yes, when Hilz has lost Susan Saranwrap, the person who campaigned for Jill Stein 4 years ago and is a Bernie or bust charter member it must be all over for her.
It is obvious that you are suffering from some pretty severe brain damage. I assume it is caused by methane poisoning, you really need to pull your head out and get some fresh air while there is still a chance you might recover enough to be a useful member of civilized society.
SiubhanDuinne
@A Ghost To Most:
(Testing) Franklin Graham is a silly man.
Yeah, that works.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke: Yep.
Corner Stone
@Baud: Ninja Nuns in Bondage 3: The Baudening
BDSM auteurs would like a word with you.
The Thin Black Duke
@magurakurin: Meanwhile, one of my favorite bloggers sees Bernie as Don Quixote, and not in a good way either.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Ramping Up: Ah, a quote from the SMOTI; I’M CONVINCED*!
*NOT.
Mike in NC
@Ramping Up: How is the loser coalition of low energy crybaby Jeb Bush holding up? Where are all the fucking Brinks trunks, moron?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Some Berniebro tried to make something of that here a few months ago.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I remember.
cokane
@Schlemazel Khan: Ornstein is not a wingnut welfare recipient. He does good work and has been bagging the GOP since probably the W Bush days. I get that 90% of think tank stuff is bs, but that still leaves some good ones.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: Not quite. At least not in Middle English. It was a sort of cross between “blessed” and “silly” when describing a person at least, much like we might say “touched” nowadays.
Schlemazel Khan
@Mike in NC:
That chicken died after repeated sexual violation by cramping up. Someone really should get the ASPCA out to his place to save the current poor fowl he is fornication.
SFAW
@? Martin:
1960, Rome Olympics.
1964 was when he beat Liston the first time.
Chyron HR
@Ramping Up:
When has anything you’ve ever predicted was “about to” happen actually happened?
Major Major Major Major
@cokane: I have it on good authority (BiP, PBUH) that think tanks are full of evil people who don’t care about the less fortunate.
SFAW
@Racist Hump:
Look, we realize you’re only riting what your johns pay you to rite, but try to keep it within the bounds of reality.
You racist, misogynistic, lying asshole.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ramping Up: Weren’t you banned early today? You’re like a cockroach.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: So you’re saying you’re perfect for your new job?
Emma
@Chyron HR: So far nada, niente. Zip-ee-dee-do-dah.Worst record since Karl Rove.
SFAW
@Chyron HR:
All the time! Which is why we have President
Jeb BushMarco RubioJohn KasichTed CruzDeadbeat Donnieum, Someone Someonesmith
I imagine some poor intern deep in the bowels of the RNC whose sole job is to develop the scenario for the next Clinton scandal. Day after day, month after month, year after year. Of course that intern is getting a little long in the tooth now, and is starting to despair of ever getting a real job.
redshirt
@ThresherK: Tropic Thunder is a brilliant comedy. A Ben Stiller project too.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: that was probably Rofling Along. I think I actually saw the banning live in the reading thread. There was a RA post, then there wasn’t, now here it is verbatim as a RU post. Perhaps the objection is to sock puppetry, not idiocy the depths of which would make the prince of lies himself weep.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: ???
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
I think Ralphing Along and Racist Hump are the same person. If not, then one of them does his best at imitating the other’s style. Since neither of them seems smart enough to be able to pull that off, I’m going with “same moron.”
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: Oh, they’re the same. I’ve had a conversation with both simultaneously. It kept changing nyms at random. Too funny.
I think only *one* got banned. Hence: the banning was for sock puppetry, not idiotic trolling.
BillinGlendaleCA
@smith:
That was David Brock’s job in the 90’s.
dmsilev
@SFAW: I’ve lost count of how many name-changes the troll has undergone. Somehow, its unique writing style always manages to shine through.
Mnemosyne
I’m sure some comic book fan has long since beat me to this, but Superman vs Ali.
amk
That trump ‘university’ scam must be really hurting the donnie dreck’s already low numbers. Hence the troll’s tantrums.
Major Major Major Major
@amk: No, that’s pretty normal behavior.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Not so much with Balloon Juice per se as with the presidential campaigns conducted under its aegis.
Matt McIrvin
@Splitting Image:
Basically that happened to the whole core of the former Nation of Islam around that time. Warith Deen Mohammed became the leader of the group when Elijah Muhammad died, reformed the NoI to turn it into an orthodox Sunni Muslim organization, and changed its name, and most American Black Muslims went with him. Farrakhan’s group and others didn’t make the change.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
No offense to anyone, but that made me spit-laugh.
Miss Bianca
@The Thin Black Duke: good piece. thanks for the link!
magurakurin
@The Thin Black Duke: that was an interesting read. Thanks for that.
Mike J
Is this thing on?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Yes, and so are my pants.
Mike J
@Mike J: Last two comments eated. Well, not this one obviously. Or the one before it. But the two before that. Oh well. I guess all is well now.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: Why don’t I believe you?
Hurling Dervish
@lamh36: totally right. When I was a boy, just saying his name was a political act. “He’s Cassius Clay!” “No, he’s not, he changed his name!” “But his name is still Cassius Clay!” He was a giant of his time, bigger than the Beatles.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Okay, they are shorts.
Corner Stone
@Mike J: I…uh..actually do not have any pants on at the moment.
Although, that’s really not unusual for me tbh.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: Someone did, yes, but it was your link that made me decide to grab the book from the library – funny thing is, once I’d seen the cover, I remembered it coming out – but I’m not sure I read it back in the day. I’ll read it now, tho’!
Schlemazel Khan
@dmsilev:
Even over the Intertubes the crayola he uses shines through
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemazel Khan: Let me guess, Flesh?
Miss Bianca
@Hurling Dervish: and when I was a kid, I only knew him as Muhammad Ali, so I remember being very confused when there was a joke on a TV show (was it Good Times? Probably) about a character being so square that “he still thinks Muhammad Ali is called Cassius Clay!” I didn’t get that joke till several years later.
Schlemazel Khan
@Omnes Omnibus:
He is OK with any color lighter than a paper bag.
Mike J
Hillary Clinton has won Saturday’s Democratic caucuses in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the islands’ Democratic Party announced.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-wins-virgin-islands-democratic-caucuses/story?id=39613905
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I am young enough – born around the time of his conversion and name change – that I never knew him by any other name. I mentioned in a thread below that my dad was and is a boxing fan; he took to Ali immediately, in the ring and out.
ETA: We should probably move any Ali discussion to the dedicated thread a couple of floors up. And we should grab everything lamb36 has been posting all day and bring it up there too.
dmsilev
Sigh.
http://www.latimes.com/la-na-trailguide-bernie-sanders-insists-the-democratic-1465075117-htmlstory.html
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Like that counts.
/you know who
Bill Arnold
@Geoduck:
I was getting irritated about a Trump = Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho comparison brainworm by December 2015 (BJ comment. “I can’t shake the thought that D Trump is a highbrow version of President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in Idiocracy.“)
(gene108 responded “President Camacho was earnest and sincere in wanting to make America better for all Americans.“, along the lines of your standard reply.)
amk
@dmsilev: loss of momentum aka ea$y money.
raven
Well, I went to the celebration of life for my buddy and I’m glad I did. Saw some old friends and another close friend who lost his wife a couple of months ago. It was different because the dude basically wanted no one to know and there was no kind of gathering. I waited until he was alone and told him I knew he didn’t want anything at the time but that I was sorry he lost her. He seemed grateful that I let it lay at the time and more grateful that I said something to him now.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I remember when it was first pointed out to me how obliterating it was to non-Caucasians to have “flesh” color be specified as pinky-white. Then I realized that band-aids were all that color, too. That creeped me out.
Mike J
@dmsilev: You’re a physics guy, so I know you understand, but can somebody explain that if you remove Supers from the numerator, you have to remove them from the denominator.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: In kitchens, they are blue.
Lizzy L
@magurakurin: Ah, don’t say that! I filled out my mail-in ballot and mailed it in this week with real pleasure, because maybe, just maybe, my vote in the Democratic primary might have some significance! I would have voted anyway, of course, because there were important items down-ballot, but Californians are very tired of our primary votes meaning nothing.
dmsilev
@amk: It’s not going to matter. Maybe the networks and the AP etc. will listen and hold off announcing a winner until CA closes at 8 Pacific, but it really won’t make any difference in the long run. And you’ll notice the reporter openly calling bullshit on Sanders’ argument (“mathematical sleight of hand”). Nobody, inside or outside the party, is going to give Sanders’ “maybe I can flip 300 super delegates” theory any credence at all. Least of all the supers themselves; I can only hope that after the first or tenth or hundredth super tells the Sanders campaign to go piss up a rope on June 8th that he’ll get the message.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: At night, all cats are grey.
errr…in kitchens, *what* are blue? Bandaids?
dmsilev
@Mike J: Read the full article I linked; the reporter did exactly that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Yes, that way if someone loses one, it is easy to find.
Cat48
Ali changed his name in 1964 or 1965. I remember because he called “Cassius Clay his slave name,” when he announced the change. I think that’s one thing that rattled white people. He started the Nation of Islam conversion before.Malcom X was assassinated in 1965. He was seen with Malcom X on occasion & that also rattled white people or it could have been him saying, “I’m So Pretty!” :) That always cracked me up.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: You’d like my widower buddy, He and his twin were UW wrestlers and flew CH 21’s in Vietnam very very early in the war.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Ah. Spoken like a man who’s been around a kitchen or two.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: I don’t have Bandaids in the kitchen, the medicine cabinet is around the corner. I don’t live in a mansion like Omnes, just a small cave.
Brachiator
@MattF:
Coming late to the thread. Lots of good stuff.
I also like how this essay on Trump easily rebukes all the people who kept insisting that there was a hard ceiling on Trump’s support.
raven
@Cat48: My old man hated him. “How can he fight for a living and not fight for his country”?
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I used to watch Chef!
ETA: I recommend it highly. Watch the seasons in order.
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: Sigh, indeed. So…is he just an asshole? Is he just deluded? Or is he a delusional asshole?
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I was just going to ask! : ) Because we’ve got it at the library I used to work at, and well…Lenny Henry…(whose James Brown imitation had me rolling on the floor when I saw it on TV in England once).
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: A Shawnee pilot? Damn.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Pretty much what I heard from my dad as well.
The Thin Black Duke
@Miss Bianca: You’re welcome. Lance Mannion is a good writer.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Interesting book about his outfit called “Thunderbird Lounge: An aviator’s story about one early Transportation Helicopter company,”
Some good pics here.
When he met my old man it turned out he had played for South Milwaukee when my dad was the coach of Wauwatosa and SM won!
dmsilev
@Miss Bianca: He’s either delusional or is deliberately lying to his supporters. Neither option speaks well of him.
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: I did want him to parachute into California.
Cat48
@raven:
My dad did too, but he hated a lot of things I didn’t at the time, like most dads. :)
JWR
@Iowa Old Lady:
This had me confused the other day after hearing Bernie! claim that he’d won 20 “primaries”, (later, 20 “states”), and that he’d march into the Dem convention in Philadelphia, and march right back out with the Dem nomination! B fking S, Mr. also-ran.
divF
@BillinGlendaleCA: I keep disposable gloves in the kitchen, mainly for handling hot peppers and meats. However, they are also convenient when I cut myself – Band-Aid + glove contains any residual bleeding, as well as preventing loss of the Band-Aid in the food.
@Omnes Omnibus: Chef! was the first thing that came to mind when blue Band-Aids were mentioned. Great show.
A Ghost To Most
@Lizzy L:
Ah, but your GE votes mean so much more (that huge block of electoral votes).
Bill Arnold
@Ramping Up:
“Both sides do it!” Totally neutralizes Trump U.
You have racked up a poor prediction record, and so have very little predictive value. Need to work more on analysis, and less on wishful cheerleading. (Am assuming you’re not a simple or parody troll.)
dmsilev
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, it was too bad that didn’t happen. Mainly because seeing what Trump would do to one-up the stunt would have been hilarious.
Baud
@dmsilev: Jump sharks on waterskis?
Omnes Omnibus
@divF: I have since seen blue band-aids on people that I knew worked in kitchens. It reinforced the authenticity of the show.
divF
@Baud:
Burn due to water skis on fire ?
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
He was originally (i.e., when he was RtR) for being a racist asshole. Since that time, he’s shown himself to be a misogynist as well. One would hope that he would not get a lighter punishment than Jenrry Mejia, whose only crime was being a fucking moron.
dmsilev
@Baud: How do you get the sharks to wear the waterskis?
Omnes Omnibus
@dmsilev: Pay them.
Ian
@MattF:
I have been saying for months to the people I know, Trump is inevitable. It is who the Republicans are. Assholes.
Uncle Cosmo
@Schlemazel Khan:
The optic nerve has become attached to the anal sphincter; as a result, the patient’s outlook is shitty.
Uncle Cosmo
@The Thin Black Duke: Thanx X1000 for the link to that amazing piece. Half-sliding, half-stumbling down the scree slope of my latter sixties, this brought me up short:
Yes. Yes we do.
Applejinx
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I’m thinking it was Cassius Clay who won the gold Olympic medal.
Because HE chose, at a particular time. It was his to decide, he wasn’t going along with some fatalistic thing and acknowledging the rightness of his masters. HE made himself Muhammad Ali, and that implies he made Ali from something else that was also his.
‘Cassius Clay’ was his to discard, and the manner of discarding was his to own. To say he was never Cassius Clay is taking his power to choose.