Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Bark louder, little dog.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Consistently wrong since 2002

The revolution will be supervised.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / The Jokes, They Write Themselves

The Jokes, They Write Themselves

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There’s lots more serious stuff to blog about today (and everyday!), but this is too good not to use to chum the Balloon Juice lagoon:

Numerous members of the British parliament have complained that they have received multiple emails from the Trump campaign asking for a donation.

Het_aanreiken_van_een_brief_in_een_voorhuis_Rijksmuseum_SK-C-147

“Members of Parliament are being bombarded by electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump,” Sir Roger Gale said on Tuesday, according to Politics Home. “Mr Speaker, I’m all in favour of free speech but I don’t see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam.”

Sir Roger seemed to have trouble even deleting the Trump emails.

“Efforts to try to have these deleted have failed. I wonder if you’d be kind enough to intercede with the Digital Services Department to see if they may be blocked,” he lamented.

“Somebody called Donald Trump…”

Perfect.

Image: Peter de Hooch, Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House, 1670.

Reader Interactions

104Comments

  2. 2.

    jon

    Adding someone to Trump’s email list sounds like a violation of the Geneva Convention. Not sure if England had a re-vote on that issue, but I’m certain such depravity wouldn’t have great popularity.

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    Illegal to boot. Campaign finance laws generally prohibit donations from auslanders. And before you ask — they have no first amendment right to Mao ey-speech.

  4. 4.

    Keith G

    The above reproduction of a Peter de Hooch painting inspired me to look the artist up. The images found on Google Images under his name are very worth the time spent considering them. Many of them are variations on the above theme.

    Moving to another topic: I have a question involving technology. Has anyone divorced themselves from the use of iTunes as a music storage and playing software. I would like to do this and I’m cognizant of the fact that there will be problems since I have several years worth of iTunes music purchases from the (years before I stopped purchasing music from that company) which are protected. I would appreciate any suggestions or insights.

  5. 5.

    CarolDuhart2

    Good lord, the ineptitude, it stings. Couldn’t someone have just looked at those emails and noticed that they must have a.co.uk extension? But they are probably down to Trump U graduates right now.

  6. 6.

    Brent

    I read this story over at TPM. Laughed out loud for a solid 5 minutes. The best is the letter from MP Natalie McGarry who seems genuinely puzzled as to why this “repugnant” anti-foreign campaign would even think it appropriate to beg from Foreign Nationals. Its a great letter.

  7. 7.

    J R in WV

    Isn’t it illegal for a political campaign in the USA to solicit donations from political leaders abroad?

    I know the Clinton Foundation can legally accept donations from anyone, it isn’t a political organization in any way (except its name perhaps), but “Team Trump” is most definitely a political organization. I suppose The Donald may have gotten a list of MPs while over in Scotland, handed the list to someone, and said, “Here, put these guys on the email list for me.”

    It may be that simple, and just that easy to commit campaign fraud by soliciting foreign contributions to his presidential campaign.

    “Scarlet Scumbag with Hair Attached, 2016”

  8. 8.

    catclub

    “Efforts to try to have these deleted have failed. I wonder if you’d be kind enough to intercede with the Digital Services Department to see if they may be blocked,” he lamented.

    Upper class twit of the year contestant does not know how to work a computer. Also, dog bites man. Downton Abbey showed how useless so many of the British upper class are/were.

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    Thinking its a joke because everyone knows foreign nationals can’t donate through the Trump website.

    They have to launder their contributions through Sheldon Adelson’s casinos, like everybody else. Citizens United, bitchez.

  11. 11.

    The Other Chuck

    @Keith G: Unless you have really obscure tracks from over 10 years ago that are no longer in the iTunes catalog, none of them should be copy-protected anymore. Just download them and move them out of the iTunes folders into your new player.

    I’m still looking for something decent to replace iTunes with, but I’ve been too lazy to make the switch. iTunes actually has good functionality, it’s just the interface that’s a disaster, and I’m mostly used to it (it’s the iOS player that I truly detest). Vox is so far the best competitor, but there’s no Android version, and I’d like that flexibility going forward.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    Whoops. Used the g a m b l in g word. Rescue me, Tom.

    ETA: in moderation. Help! Gracias.

  15. 15.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Keith G: I did a little googling for you. Wikihow Article.

    If you have the patience to do so, you can use Audacity to record the playing audio, which then can be turned into mp3,

    Also, look on YouTube for versions that can be converted into mp3 as well (not quite ethical, but if you are desperate)

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    Repeating from downstairs.

    From the FEC web site:

    Foreign nationals are prohibited from making any contributions or expenditures in connection with any election in the U.S. Please note, however, that “green card” holders (i.e., individuals lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the U.S.) are not considered foreign nationals and, as a result, may contribute.

  17. 17.

    catclub

    @J R in WV:

    Isn’t it illegal for a political campaign in the USA to solicit donations from political leaders abroad?

    Yes. Other have posted about that faster than I could. Maybe in the other thread.

    Actually, I do not know about the ‘solicit’ part. I was thinking more of the donation from foreign sources part.
    Never mind that all those 501C4 ‘public education’ PAC’s can keep their donations secret [Thanks Anthony Kennedy!]. Luckily none of them would ever break the law by accepting foreign cash and then influencing a political campaign.

  19. 19.

    sukabi

    Soliciting foreigners for campaign money smells like desperation wrapped up in a bit of Nigerian Prince phishing.

  21. 21.

    CarolDuhart2

    I still have ITunes, but only use it for some podcasts now.

    AIMP
    VLC (uses video, but can play audio too)
    Winamp
    Windows Media Player (still exists)

  22. 22.

    Keith G

    @The Other Chuck:

    but there’s no Android version, and I’d like that flexibility going forward.

    Exactly. I would like to use the same software on my desktop and on both of my Android devices. MediaMonkey makes claims that it can do just that. In my investigation of it, I went to their tech support community pages and saw that some users were having issues with older music purchased from iTunes. That’s one of the reasons I was asking this question.

  26. 26.

    Poopyman

    The Jokes, They Write Themselves

    Tell me about it! I learned in the thread down below that The Donald gave a speech from inside a trash compactor. How big a crowd can you get inside one of those anyhow?

  27. 27.

    Gene108

    Looked up Team Trump. They are some outside group that wants to elect Trump. In this illegal act, Trump may have actual plausible deniability.

  31. 31.

    Marjowil

    @Keith G: I lost hundreds of iTunes songs when I changed computers and could not find a way to move or restore them. I start from an anti-Applie bias anyway, but that killed it for me. Meanwhile, when I went to Amazon after a protracted period of alienation, I logged on and found every digital song I had ever purchased there waiting for me in the cloud. That was enough for me.

  35. 35.

    Gindy51

    @Keith G: Make CD copies of the albums or singles or playlists. That’s what my husband does since he does not use his ipod in the car.

  37. 37.

    Emma

    @Gene108: If you look at the story in TPM, one Scottish MP’s letter, which she shared on Twitter seems to come from Donald Jr. She fired back the grandmother of all NOs, also on Twitter.

  38. 38.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Immanentize: I’m surprised no one has covered this angle. TPM has a headline about the Brits complaining about these solicitations but nothing about the fact that soliciting funds directly from foreign nationals is a violation of campaign finance law. It would be one thing if they went to his web page and donated of their own volition (that may not be deemed the campaign’s fault), but actually sending them emails asking for money is a violation.

  41. 41.

    boatboy_srq

    @Keith G: There are a handful of apps that “manage” Apple’s DRM. Apple discontinued DRM for most of their content several years ago, so the impact should be less than you fear. Most MP3 and AAC encoded content should migrate to new player hardware and software without much trouble.

    Winamp does a decent job of managing content and talks to most non-Apple players. It’s not as easy to find as it used to be but you can still download it from a number of places.

  43. 43.

    Emma

    Uh-Oh.. I wonder if the Brits use “family reasons” like American pols do.

    UK Independence Party chief Nigel Farage has withdrawn from a planned live TV event to discuss the British EU referendum.
    The prominent “leave” campaigner’s office said Wednesday the decision was made for “family reasons.”

  46. 46.

    Mary G

    @Brent: @Emma: Nobody can throw shade like a Brit, and that letter from Nicole McGarry is a prime example. I wish I could copy and paste some of it. She tells Donald Jr. that the thought of his father having a seat at the world table is both surreal and terrifying.

    I’m wondering if the fundraising emails were even sent from the Trump organization. It almost seems like something a hacker would do.

  47. 47.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Emma: Given his performance earlier at the European Parliament, he’s no doubt been given a little talk about how he’s botching any hope of getting decent terms during #Brexit. Not to mention a lot of people who are unhappy about the way things are already turning out being more than usually pissed at him.

  48. 48.

    Elie

    Bernie got quite a few foreign donations which were part of report from FEC. Also from donors who were over their max.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    It would be one thing if they went to his web page and donated of their own volition (that may not be deemed the campaign’s fault)

    The campaign is required to screen out donors who aren’t US persons. All of them that I’ve donated to require you to certify that you’re legally allowed to donate, and I assume the sophisticated ones have stuff on the back-end to try to filter out people who are transparently lying. And if the campaign is caught accepting suspicious donations, they can be required to refund them. ISTR that there were complaints about Bernie accepting foreign donations that he had to refund.

  51. 51.

    Emma

    @Mary G: My absolute favorite is this:

    The U.S. elections are a matter for the American people, but I do send my warm hope that they reject your father fundamentally at the ballot box

    It’s one of the best examples of poisoned politeness I’ve ever seen.

  53. 53.

    cleek

    @Keith G:
    first you need to make sure you don’t have any Apple-encrypted music left in your collection. if you do, there are several ways to convert them to unencrypted versions.

    here’s what i did…

    (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7387027?start=0&tstart=0)

    sign up for Apple’s iMatch cloud music thingy, then let it scan your music. then back up all your music files. then delete the encrypted songs from within iTunes (you can identify them by sorting them by the ‘Kind’ column, IIRC). after that, you can tell iTunes to download the songs you just deleted and it will download unencrypted versions of (most of) your songs. some old songs might not get converted.

    the ones that it doesn’t download unencrypted versions of, convert with ye olde Burn-to-CD-then-Import trick.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    @Major Major Major Major: I know, but I’m here in Texas making huge typing mistakes on my phone. I really need a new phone and apropos of the above discussion, I’m getting an Android

    And, MP3 is a very thin format for music…. Flac is the way to go. We just got a SONOS and you can stream FLAC from your computer. I am in the process of converting right now — bought a separate drive to put all my cd’s on. Moving to my vinyl next. FLAC is much higher quality and you can always re-copy down to MP3 (to play on an iPhone) but you can never upgrade music sound once copied.

  57. 57.

    The Czar of All the Stupids

    HA!

    And I for one look forward to them complaining when they start receiving emails asking for donations to help retire the Donald’s campaign debts after he gets beaten like a tin drum this fall…

  58. 58.

    sherparick

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Perhaps the Donald has his friend’s Vladmir Putin’s FSA doing his solicitations for hm. This is funny, but:

    1. If Donald is elected, he will be strong decide what laws are convenient to obey and what are not. The Republicans will go along as long as he passes their tax cuts.

    2. Imagine the Donald with the NSA and CIA at his disposal. Imagine the Donald with the pardon power and the ability to hire contract with Constellis group for detentions, detention/work centers, and deportations plus other “anti-terror work with something like the Constellis group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellis_Group

    3. Imagine Donald as President knowing that if he left the office, he and/or children friends might face prosecution. i doubt he would ever leave.

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    As in, his wife said, I will fucking leave you if you don’t keep your goddamned mouth shut?

  61. 61.

    Emma

    @Mnemosyne: I was imagining the British version of a horse’s head on the bed… a brace of freshly shot grouse? But yours works much better

  62. 62.

    Trollhattan

    Good news everybody (except Clevelanders).

    A group of white nationalists and skinheads who held a rally in Sacramento over the weekend where at least five people were stabbed plans to show up at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month to “make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended.”

    The violent clash at the California state Capitol accentuates concerns about the Republican National Convention, with political tensions high and thousands of pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators expected to descend on Cleveland.

    “I think everybody is concerned about the potential for violence at the convention,” said Ryan Lenz, senior writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremists and hate groups.

    Sunday’s mayhem in Sacramento began as the white nationalist group Traditionalist Worker Party, along with the Golden State Skinheads, were setting up for a state Capitol rally the group characterized as a response to aggression against supporters of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Trump.

    Traditionalist Worker Party spokesman Matt Parrott, who blamed the anti-fascists for the riot, said about 30 members of his group would come to Cleveland.

    “We’re essentially just going to show up and make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs,” he said.

    Parrott said he expected Cleveland police to largely prevent violence with heavy security, although “there might be a couple of isolated skirmishes.”

    This aggression will not stand, man.

  63. 63.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Moving to another topic: I have a question involving technology. Has anyone divorced themselves from the use of iTunes as a music storage and playing software. I would like to do this and I’m cognizant of the fact that there will be problems since I have several years worth of iTunes music purchases from the (years before I stopped purchasing music from that company) which are protected. I would appreciate any suggestions or insights.

    @Keith G: I did this. I ate the loss, but mine wasn’t that big to start with. But still, you shouldn’t have to.

    I don’t know what the fuck they are thinking. It’s a horrible piece of software even on the Mac and on Windows it’s now completely unusable.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Trollhattan:

    I think they have their own brand of asshole anarchists in the Midwest, don’t they? I remember hearing they were showing up in Ferguson and making things worse.

  68. 68.

    MattF

    @Elizabelle: I’d guess the Trumpies bought their mailing lists from some scammer who preys on right-wing organizations. It’s a cruel world.

  69. 69.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Emma:

    I wonder if the Brits use “family reasons” like American pols do.

    British media have an entertaining variety of ways to describe Farage’s habitual drunkenness.

  71. 71.

    raven

    @Mnemosyne: Google “Days of Rage” and Richard Elrod, not Jake and Elrod.

    eta The Weather People did not have much of a sense of humor IIRC.

  73. 73.

    Calouste

    @Emma: I think this might be the first documented case where success is an orphan, but failure has many parents.

  75. 75.

    danielx

    @Emma:

    I wonder if the Brits use “family reasons” like American pols do.

    As in when a pol has stepped in shit of one sort or another but doesn’t want to flat out say so?

  76. 76.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    There is soft power, and then there is politics as erectile dysfunction.

    Once again, I stand in awe of the British skill at invective.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @D58826:

    Details are scanty — they don’t even have anyone claiming responsibility yet. ISIS is likely, but they can’t rule out Kurdish separatists.

  81. 81.

    D58826

    @Mnemosyne:Yep. they all seem to hate each other. Kinda hard to come up with allies against Daesh when the ‘allies’ hate each other more than than hate DAesh. (sighj) But ‘old little hands’ will get a huge deal. (sigh)

  84. 84.

    Calouste

    @Mnemosyne:

    The prominent “leave” campaigner’s office said Wednesday the decision was made for “family reasons.”

    Today is only still Tuesday, even in the UK.

  87. 87.

    clone12

    The only way this can be funnier is if EU has a law against political fundraising spam from another country but not UK.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    Bernie Sanders has an op Ed in the NY Times.

    Democrats need to wake up is title

    Sorry I don’t know how to link on iPad.

  90. 90.

    Chip Daniels

    @sukabi:

    smells like desperation wrapped up in a bit of Nigerian Prince phishing

    “Dear Honorable Mr. Member of Her Majesty’s Parliament:
    I am a corrupt American Businessman, attempting to swindle thousands of college students and gullible elderly white people…”

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    @Emma: The Brits are so MEAN. This is why Britain is my spirit country: grey, rainy, cold, bleak, dryly humorous, and sarcastic as hell. Love it.

  92. 92.

    Trollhattan

    @Poopyman:
    I may have buried the lede in my clip selections, but it’s skinheads who have announced they’re headed to Cleveland to “protect Trump voters.” That other lot, of course, will show themselves, too.

    Frankly, parsing Sunday’s photos it’s not easy to tell them apart, at least based on tattoo acreage.

  95. 95.

    MCA1

    And yet we’re constantly told Hillary Clinton’s the one with the e-mail problem, not Der Fuchspeltfuhrer.

  97. 97.

    SRW1

    This is what happens, Sir Roger, if you give your email address to a Nigerian prince.

    ETA:
    If you come to any thread on this blog late, all jokes are always already taken.

  98. 98.

    JaneE

    Is it wrong to hope that the people responsible for sending those emails get charged with the violations? They didn’t even have enough common sense to solicit from foreigners that might support them. Criminal stupidity. I would love it even more if some of them share the Trump surname.

  101. 101.

    Scott Alloway

    @Marjowil: I have this bad habit of backing up all music, video and images on another drive where I then replicate the folders on another drive on anther computer. Helps to have legacy computers needing the work We’re talking about back to the early 90s for this stuff. The music, videos and images still pop up. Old Mac addict here.

  102. 102.

    Paul in KY

    @Poopyman: Too bad it didn’t have a ‘malfunction’. In fact, if I was The Donald, I would stay away from being in places where things could happen…

  103. 103.

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