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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Adult Diapers for Puling Adult Infinks

Adult Diapers for Puling Adult Infinks

by Betty Cracker|  June 30, 201611:00 am| 329 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

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Political correctness has imposed a terrible burden on wingnuts. First PC demanded that they stop openly treating minorities and women as ignorant savages and children or risk social censure. Then it required them to bake cakes or pizzas for icky gays.

And now it demands that they relieve themselves inside a public restroom facility that may or may not contain a transgender person. That’s a pissoir too far for conservative radio personality and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham, who stands athwart an incontinence pad, yelling PEE-PEE!

Oh we have a new transgender update for you as well. Oh no new transgender news for all of you who are bathroom-goers and public — you use public restrooms? I think a lot of people are going to be walking around with just Depends on from now on. They’re just not going to use the bathroom. Adult diapers, diapers for everybody. No one’s going to be going to the bathroom. You have little kids, there’s going to be no bathrooms. We’re just going to all wear Depends. Everyone will just be happy. Then you’ll be in your own bathroom. Everyone’s bathroom is just their own clothes, OK? So this is what we’re going to go to.

Sounds like an ideal solution to me — let sane people have the bathrooms while deranged bigots like Ingraham and her listeners marinate in their own bodily waste. Not only would this approach be über-convenient for staunch conservatives like “Diaper Dave” Vitter, it would bring a pair of metaphors to life as grownup conservative crybabies skulk around public places developing literal butt-hurt in the form of diaper rash. Win-win!

Open thread!

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Reader Interactions

329Comments

  1. 1.

    Keith P.

    June 30, 2016 at 11:03 am

    Most of her audience probably wears Depends already anyway.

  2. 2.

    jeffreyw

    June 30, 2016 at 11:05 am

    Harness the tingle that ran down Vitter’s leg and power a Metro bus!

  3. 3.

    Cluttered Mind

    June 30, 2016 at 11:06 am

    For conservative men of fighting age this doubles as a way to avoid ever being drafted should the draft ever come back. They can be just like Ted Nugent!

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 11:08 am

    These sorts of fixations tell a lot more about the fixated than they inform about…anything useful.

  5. 5.

    Fellatio Alger

    June 30, 2016 at 11:08 am

    I recommend she wears the diaper on her head, where it would be most useful.

  6. 6.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 11:11 am

    When I was in college, one of the fraternities “sponsored” a day of drinking while wearing Depends: the goal being who could go the longest without using the bathroom. Ah, the joys of an Ivy League education! Also, not to rain on Ingraham’s parade — but investing in astronaut diapers seems a better bet than Depends.

  7. 7.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    June 30, 2016 at 11:12 am

    Why are their fixations so infantile? I’ve come to believe that toilet training is most likely the defining act of most people’s lives. Sad!

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 11:12 am

    @Fellatio Alger:

    I recommend she wears the diaper on her head, where it would be most useful.

    Considering where her head is usually located, wearing the diaper normally should work just fine.

  9. 9.

    ruemara

    June 30, 2016 at 11:13 am

    I’m fairly sure we’re in bizarro universe.

  10. 10.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 30, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Carlos Yu’s prediction from 2010 is becoming reality faster than I could have ever expected:

    Soon, deliberate failure to control one’s bowels will become a sign of adulthood among these people. It’s in the Constitution, folks!

  11. 11.

    SFAW

    June 30, 2016 at 11:16 am

    @LAO:

    not to rain shower on Ingraham’s parade

    What was that about “a stream of bat’s piss”?

  12. 12.

    Lolis

    June 30, 2016 at 11:16 am

    I just got back from Mexico City, and they have special women only cars on the metro since it is a common occurrence for women to get groped on the subway. The cops come around and do searches to make sure no men are in the special cars. There was a transgender woman on the women only car, and nobody had a problem with it.

  13. 13.

    Felonius Monk

    June 30, 2016 at 11:18 am

    If there was ever any doubt that Laura Ingraham was both a bigot and an idiot, all doubt has now been erased.

  14. 14.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 11:18 am

    @SFAW: The minute I posted I realized I missed an opportunity. Thanks for fixing.

  15. 15.

    Belafon

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    @Cluttered Mind: That was exactly my thought when I read this.

  16. 16.

    Fellatio Alger

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    @Roger Moore: Point taken.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    As soon as I finished posting in the last open thread, I knew there’d be a new one up, as this seems to be a knack of mine. So here are my pearls from downstairs.

    I’m reading that Mike Ditka turned down the offer to speak at the Republican convention.

    Seriously, how are they going to fill the time? I read a piece recently where the reporter asked almost everyone who had a speaking slot at the 2012 convention, and most won’t even be in attendance at the 2016 convention, having other pressing business elsewhere.

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    a pissoir too far

    Did you really just type that?
    Brava, B Crack! Bravissima!

  19. 19.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    This is for the hand ringers worried about democratic complacency.
    Drump is ahead by 4 points

    Thursday, June 30, 2016

    The tables have turned in this week’s White House Watch. After trailing Hillary Clinton by five points for the prior two weeks, Donald Trump has now taken a four-point lead.

    The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump with 43% of the vote, while Clinton earns 39%. Twelve percent (12%) still like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

    Last week at this time, it was Clinton 44%, Trump 39%. This is Trump’s highest level of support in Rasmussen Reports’ matchups with Clinton since last October. His support has been hovering around the 40% mark since April, but it remains to be seen whether he’s just having a good week or this actually represents a real move forward among voters.

    Trump now earns 75% support among his fellow Republicans and picks up 14% of the Democratic vote. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Democrats like Clinton, as do 10% of GOP voters. Both candidates face a sizable number of potential defections because of unhappiness with them in their own parties.

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    June 30, 2016 at 11:19 am

    If the MSM weren’t so compliant, they would run an endless series of items re: how the Rethugs act victimized every single day, in hundreds (at least) of ways. The “Party of Personal Responsibility”? More like the “Party of WATBs About Everything.”

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 11:22 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Seriously, how are they going to fill the time?

    Moar Trump! SATSQ.

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 11:22 am

    @SFAW: Now they’re going to be the DATBs.

    Diaper Assed.

    They’re just losing it, aren’t they?

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    June 30, 2016 at 11:22 am

    @LAO:

    Glad to be of service.

  24. 24.

    Emma

    June 30, 2016 at 11:22 am

    And from the other side of the pond, Corbyn steps in it up to his ankles .

    Don’t nobody knows how to play the game?

    (added) and Boris is out of the race. Dead girl or live boy?

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    June 30, 2016 at 11:23 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Fair enough.

  26. 26.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 11:25 am

    @jeffreyw:

    Harness the tingle that ran down Vitter’s leg

    and up Chris Matthews’ leg. Need any brain bleach?

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    June 30, 2016 at 11:25 am

    To carry over a thought on rikyrah and Kay’s mention of Trump’s campaign “loans” – not only will he do everything he can to get his “donations” repaid, he’s going to inflate the F out of every item so that in the end he actually makes a profit off getting “repaid”. He’s a cheap little chiseler, looking to grift the last dime back into his pockets that he can.

  28. 28.

    Eric U.

    June 30, 2016 at 11:26 am

    @Corner Stone: I think he signed something that made those loans into contributions, so they can’t be repaid. But much of it was in-kind donations anyway, so that just means he’s not going to make money on the deal

  29. 29.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 11:27 am

    @hovercraft: I think somebody recommended not looking at individual polls but overall polling trends.

    Rasmussen an outlier? Who knew?

  30. 30.

    dexwood

    June 30, 2016 at 11:27 am

    @Fellatio Alger:

    Beat me to it. It would be a great way to soak up her verbal effluents.

  31. 31.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:28 am

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Drump still has the option of going back to his plan A speaking every night. And then he also has his other high profile endorsers like Sarah Palin, Jon Voight, Ted Nugent, Booby Night, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Victoria Jackson, Stacey Dash, the list is endless. The convention will be spectacular.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 30, 2016 at 11:29 am

    @Eric U.:

    I think he signed something that made those loans into contributions

    He says he did, but there is no actual evidence of that.

  33. 33.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 30, 2016 at 11:29 am

    Political correctness has imposed a terrible burden on wingnuts.

    It sure has. Being polite and nice to your fellow human beings is apparently far too much to ask out of more than half the population.

    And boy, do they get defensive when you frame it as an issue of politeness.

  34. 34.

    nutella

    June 30, 2016 at 11:29 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    most won’t even be in attendance at the 2016 convention, having other pressing business elsewhere.

    I’ve heard that many of them have to wash their hair that day….

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 11:31 am

    NYTimes headline:

    Standing Behind Trump, Christie Gains Influence

    We can still see you, Chris.

  36. 36.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 11:32 am

    @Eric U.:

    I think he signed something that made those loans into contributions, so they can’t be repaid.

    It looks (so far) much more like he has CLAIMED to have signed those papers, and wants credit for that, but there is much less evidence that he has ACTUALLY signed those papers. Much like when he claimed to make a donation to Vets, but did not actually make it until he was repeatedly asked by the press, who had confirmed that no donation had shown up.

  37. 37.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:34 am

    @Eric U.:
    What he can do however is inflate the cost of using his facilities where he holds many of his campaign events even further to get back as much money as he can. He was spending 10 % on Drump affiliated businesses he could up that to 20 or 30 %. By hook or by crock he will figure out a way to get paid. That’s what he does. Period.

  38. 38.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    June 30, 2016 at 11:34 am

    @Emma: I think Boris is out of the race so he can avoid figuring out what to do now that the dog has caught the car. Could be wrong, though.

  39. 39.

    bemused

    June 30, 2016 at 11:35 am

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Ingraham has 3 children who must be at least pre-teen age. No doubt, they will be thrilled that mom makes them diapers when not in the safety of their home.

  40. 40.

    Revrick

    June 30, 2016 at 11:36 am

    When did the virtue of kindness become an oppressive burden? Because basically those who complain about political correctness are just pissed that being mean to others is frowned upon.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 11:37 am

    @Eric U.:

    I think he signed something that made those loans into contributions

    As I understand it, he claims to have signed such a document, but nobody has actually seen it on the FEC website yet. It wouldn’t be the first time he had said he was doing something that would cost him money and then failed to follow through.

  42. 42.

    Calouste

    June 30, 2016 at 11:38 am

    @Emma: Surprisingly, David Cameron and Boris Johnson seem to have more self-awareness and a more realistic view of the strength of their current political position than Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    June 30, 2016 at 11:39 am

    @hovercraft:

    Booby Night

    Any chance we could work this out to more than one night an election cycle? And a friend was asking me where this event might be held?

  44. 44.

    Shell

    June 30, 2016 at 11:40 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Well, it seems like Lauras got a lot to say and share.

  45. 45.

    randy khan

    June 30, 2016 at 11:40 am

    @catclub:

    We’ll know for sure about the loans turning into contributions (or not) when the next FEC report is filed.

    Not that it really matters, of course – as noted elsewhere, much of the “loaned” amount actually was in kind, and he’s already charged the campaign millions for use of facilities he owns.

  46. 46.

    Shell

    June 30, 2016 at 11:43 am

    Victoria Jackson

    Now THERES some prime-time viewing!

  47. 47.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 11:43 am

    @Roger Moore:

    Fill the slot with Bernie…

  48. 48.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 11:44 am

    Wasn’t there an SNL skit called Oops I crapped my pants?

    I know I keep saying this, but WTF goes on in the bathrooms of their imaginations? I must lead a very boring life.

  49. 49.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:44 am

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    You are misunderstanding how not being politically correct works, it absolvers republicans from biting their tongues about how they feel about things, but it also inhibits your ability to call them on what they just said, because if you criticize them you are then impinging their free speech rights. See it’s a twofer.

  50. 50.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 11:45 am

    @Roger Moore:

    As I understand it, he claims to have signed such a document, but nobody has actually seen it on the FEC website yet.

    Disappearing gold ink?

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 11:46 am

    @catclub:
    The Rasmussen rule: Any post containing Rasmussen not also mocking Rasmussen shall not warrant clicking the Post key.

    Rasmussen: The Arby’s of pollsters.

  52. 52.

    Geoduck

    June 30, 2016 at 11:46 am

    I live in a state capitol, and while running an errand yesterday had to undergo the depressing and enraging experience of witnessing my state’s bigot brigade gathering on the capital campus to promote the transgender-hate initiative they’re trying to get on the ballot for November. Lots of older white people wearing caps reading something about “God will make America great again”. (It wasn’t Trump’s slogan, it specifically mentioned God.) Blargh.

  53. 53.

    Calouste

    June 30, 2016 at 11:47 am

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: It seems that the problem for Boris is that he was stabbed in the back by Gove, who was supposed to be his second in command.

  54. 54.

    Shell

    June 30, 2016 at 11:47 am

    Have any of the campaigns announced, ahead of time, who will be appearing at their conventions? Theres nothing at the official GOP website, but neither at the Dem one.

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 11:48 am

    @MomSense:
    Speaking as a dude American, it’s hard to overstate the appeal of spying on woman shoes via the airgap under the stall door. Hubba-hubba.

  56. 56.

    Calouste

    June 30, 2016 at 11:48 am

    @Geoduck: So why did their god ever let America slip from greatness? Isn’t he supposed to be all powerful and that?

  57. 57.

    Aimai

    June 30, 2016 at 11:49 am

    @LAO: must you use the phrase rain in parade in this context?

  58. 58.

    gogol's wife

    June 30, 2016 at 11:50 am

    as the kids say

    I CAN’T EVEN

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 11:50 am

    @Calouste:
    Can He, Himself make a country so Epic that He cannot lift it?

    That might need a bit more work.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    June 30, 2016 at 11:51 am

    @jeffreyw:

    Harness the tingle tinkle that ran down Vitter’s leg and power a Metro bus!

    FTFY

  61. 61.

    ? Martin

    June 30, 2016 at 11:51 am

    I totally don’t understand this reasoning. If you are worried about someone being attracted to your pee-pee in the bathroom, isn’t that already a concern with any gay or bi person in there? Or is it specifically a problem where someone isn’t attracted to your pee-pee but has the opposite pee-pee in the same general room but still behind some different lockable door?

    These people get hung up on the strangest things.

  62. 62.

    Keith P.

    June 30, 2016 at 11:52 am

    @MomSense: YES! “Oops I Crapped My Pants can hold over a gallon of feces!” “Thanks, Oops I Crapped My Pants!”

  63. 63.

    Emma

    June 30, 2016 at 11:53 am

    @Calouste: Well, Boris got himself stabbed in the back by his pal Gove — and honestly couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I just saw a news report of someone at one of the meetings saying that they would rather vote for Pol Pot than for Gove — which means there’s a good chance Theresa May is in.

  64. 64.

    Kay Eye

    June 30, 2016 at 11:54 am

    Political Correctness? I call it common human decency.
    And of course the obvious bathroom solution is to provide enough private bathrooms – sort of like car parking lots – so that each person in the country can have access to one. Some complicated logistics, some shit-sharing programs necessary, but what a great work program. Full employment at last! Start in Texas so our “lieutenant governor” can ratchet down his hysteria to its normal level of shrillness.

  65. 65.

    ? Martin

    June 30, 2016 at 11:55 am

    The whole diesel emissions thing is looking increasing like a case where regulators tightened standards, automakers cheated, regulators saw an opportunity to tighten more, automakers cheated more, etc. and now we (esp. California) have regulations which may be impossible to meet without cheating.

  66. 66.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:55 am

    @Calouste:
    And there are rumblings that dear old and I do mean old Rupert was not a fan of Johnson.
    Poor Boris

    Conservative MP forced to deny Rupert Murdoch ‘owns the Tory party’ after Boris Johnson withdraws from PM race

    12:41, 30 Jun 2016
    Updated 12:49, 30 Jun 2016
    By Ben Glaze , Sam Webb , Dan Bloom

    Michael Gove’s wife yesterday warned the newspaper mogul “instinctively dislikes Boris”

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    June 30, 2016 at 11:56 am

    @Gin & Tonic: And I will share my dead-thread response…

    I vote that Trump runs a Jerry Lewis style telethon for the time allotted to the convention….

    “Look at we’re walking….”

    ETA. I still get queazy thinking both about the parade of children and hooped up Jerry Lewis from my childhood TV. REALLY. it would suit Trump’s schtick perfectly.

  68. 68.

    raven

    June 30, 2016 at 11:57 am

    Dl Hughley “ISIS is not more dangerous than USUS”!

  69. 69.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 11:58 am

    @Shell:
    Not that I know of the problem for Drumph is that all the would be speakers have plans to wash their hair or do spring cleaning on all the nights of the convention.
    Hillary does not seem to have that problem for some reason, everyone is available, I wonder why.

  70. 70.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    @? Martin:
    Stop trying to figure out the twisted logic of their obsessions you will hurt yourself.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    @? Martin:
    Some makers meet the standards, notably the ones using blu tech systems, so it’s the ones pretending to meet standards via simpler, cheaper systems that evidently can’t.

    Diesel remains a relatively small fraction of the fuel supply in any case.

  72. 72.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    @? Martin: I feel constrained to point out (to conservatives, not you) that women’s rooms contain private stalls. Never, have I ever, seen a strangers privates in a public bathroom. Someone (I’m looking at you Ingraham) is doing it wrong. Or, this is just a cover for hate against those you don’t understand. Hmm…

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    They are pulling out all the stops for the new ‘we need to hate them’ group – the transgenders.

  74. 74.

    les

    June 30, 2016 at 12:03 pm

    @Kay Eye:

    And of course the obvious bathroom solution is to provide enough private bathrooms – sort of like car parking lots – so that each person in the country can have access to one.

    No, no, I like Laura’s solution. Shorter lines, cheaper public facilities for the rest of us who are not intolerant paranoid terrified assholes. Their discomfort is just gravy.

  75. 75.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    @srv:
    Give it up Romney, there are only 6 people who want you to run, your wife and kids, okay and their wives, and your siblings and their wives, okay and your other relatives, okay and your former staffers, and the serious money people, okay fine a 1000 people want you to run but that’s it. So go away.

  76. 76.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    @trollhattan:

    so it’s the ones pretending to meet standards via simpler, cheaper systems that evidently can’t.

    The VW diesel could meet the standards, via software controls, during the emissions testing regime. I suspect the problem is that mileage and performance under those software controls, would be abysmally below what they advertised.

  77. 77.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Ha! You must also lead a very boring life!

    @Keith P.:

    Hahaha! Perfect!

  78. 78.

    Joey Maloney

    June 30, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    Their discomfort is just gravy.

    Brain bleach, stat.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    @hovercraft:
    Do you think they’re just trying to get him out of the house(es)?

    Run, Mittens, RUN (far away).

  80. 80.

    Mike R

    June 30, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    @les: Also the thought of people giving Ingram the side eye, and a wide berth, when they catch of whiff of the contents of her diaper. Happy thoughts conservatives as pariahs.

  81. 81.

    Calouste

    June 30, 2016 at 12:13 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Diesel remains a relatively small fraction of the fuel supply in any case.

    In the States yes, completely different in Europe though.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    @catclub:
    Yeah, both mileage and power must plunge, otherwise they would have been able to reflash the computer and be done. Evidently the V6 turbo cars can be fixed, as they’re being handled separately.

    Truck engine makers were caught in a similarl, but less sophisticated scam several years ago. They tested legal but on the road would greatly exceed NOX standards by leaning out the fuel: air mixture.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    @Keith P.:

    Thanks, Oops I crapped my pants!

  84. 84.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Would you want to spend a lot of time with him ? The fact that their party is so pathetic that RMoney could be considered a savior shows how fucked they are. I can just see Anne praying every night that he decides to run. That way she gets to first lady like she’s always deserved and he will be busy and out of her hair.

  85. 85.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    On second thought, maybe they can fill the blank speaking time with infomercials for everything from Popeil products to the ShamWow.

    The commercial slot immediately after the infomercials can be devoted to McRib commercials.

  86. 86.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    WaMonthly complained that CBS called Obama’s long talk at the end of a press conference (I think) a ‘rant’.

    Well, given that Obama said it was a rant that he is allowed to make, now that he is nearing the end of his term,
    I think CBS was justified.

    I thought the rant was a little vague. Far better organized than a similar discussion I could make, but he can work on it.

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    @Calouste:
    Yup. IIUC the European refineries are configured to maximize diesel production and they even export gasoline because they don’t have demand for all they produce. Their emission standards are below ours so the cheating cars may be legal there. I haven’t kept track.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    @hovercraft:
    They would tear out Michelle’s garden and graze Rafalca instead. Where would the car elevator go?

  89. 89.

    lollipopguild

    June 30, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    @Corner Stone: Its a night filled with chair tossing and strangling asst coaches followed by taking his team off of the floor before the event is over.

  90. 90.

    PaulW

    June 30, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    The Bahama Breeze on international drive near the convention center is pretty good lunch place.

    Also, is it alright if I shill a new book?

  91. 91.

    Calouste

    June 30, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    @hovercraft: I think so far Bob Dole is the only former GOP Presidential candidate who will attend the convention.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    And boy, do they get defensive when you frame it as an issue of politeness.

    I usually ask myself, “What would Miss Manners do?” and since MM has been GLBT friendly since at least the 1980s, I feel confident that her answer would be that it’s rude to monitor anyone’s bathroom activities unless you’re trying to toilet-train a toddler.

    Really, this level of dysfunction is creeping me out. I realize that everybody poops, but I don’t need to be forced to think about it, thankyewverymuch. If you’re deeply concerned about how and where transpeople poop, you need to consult a professional therapist.

  93. 93.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    and this from Plum line:

    Since 1992, Democrats have run better in older and heavily white working-class Rustbelt swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio

    I thought Democrats won PA because there were urban districts where the Democrats won 90+% of the vote, while losing in the
    Pennsyltucky parts.

  94. 94.

    dmsilev

    June 30, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: Heresy! The ads will be for Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Timeshares, Trump action figures (with authentic Kung fu combover), Trump toilet paper, Trump flame throwers (kids love those), etc.

  95. 95.

    Doug R

    June 30, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    @? Martin: I agree with an opinion I saw that the federal government may offer Volkswagen a chance to invest what would otherwise be a fine into electric vehicles and making them affordable. Over 200 miles on a charge with a 20 minute fast charge is entirely reasonable.

  96. 96.

    gindy51

    June 30, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: It’s going to be like the scene in Galaxy Quest where the GQ convention goers are waiting forall of the cast to arrive. They show scenes from other conventions hoping no one realizes how fucked up the current one is.

  97. 97.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Yes the garden will go but I don’t think the White House grounds will be big enough, they’ll need to commandeer the National Mall as well. You wouldn’t want those people getting too close.

    @Calouste:
    Yes he is, the poor old dear seems to think that standing by your party’s nominee is more important than standing up for what’s right for your country. And yes I know he is a veteran who has sacrificed for his country, but that is what makes his support of Drump more shameful IMHO.

  98. 98.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 30, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    Really, this level of dysfunction is creeping me out. I realize that everybody poops, but I don’t need to be forced to think about it, thankyewverymuch. If you’re deeply concerned about how and where transpeople poop, you need to consult a professional therapist.

    @Mnemosyne: Sadly, I work in a typical office building. I am forcibly confronted with poop issues frequently. I’ll tell you my problems with people and their poop:

    1. The “Mad Shitter” who’s dropping a deuce every few months in the middle of the bathroom floor. Person with issues. Wish they’d find another damn job.
    2. “Toilet Bowl that looks like someone threw a hand grenade into a bowl of cake batter”: For fuck’s sakes, people, eat some fiber.
    3. “The Mad Pisser” who, on a daily basis, pees all over the floor by the urinal. I know where this one works, as when they go on vacation – like this week, for example – the floor is dry.

    You will note that these real and legitimate bathroom concerns have nothing to do with the gender of any people using my bathroom. It has to do with them being uncivilized shitweasels whose parents utterly failed at life, and who should have at least drowned their horrid offspring at birth.

  99. 99.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    NSFW but proof that Trump has driven some people insane. LOL, except for the part where the guy hurt himself.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @srv:

    Mitt Romney said on Wednesday that his family wanted him to get in the presidential race early on — and that at least one member is still pushing him to mount an independent bid.

    “My wife and kids wanted me to run again this time,” he said during a discussion with John Dickerson at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “I got an email from one of my sons yesterday, saying, ‘You gotta get in, Dad. You gotta get in.’

    ”

    Willard is still hurt that he let the Bush Crime Family muscle him out of this race.

  101. 101.

    The Pale Scot

    June 30, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @? Martin:

    The whole diesel emissions thing is looking increasing like a case where regulators tightened standards, automakers cheated, regulators saw an opportunity to tighten more, automakers cheated more, etc.

    Uh.. no

    Volkswagon is paying out over 10 billion in claims because they tried to present themselves as rocket scientists that had overcome the need to use a Selective
    Catalytic Reduction process to remove the nitrides from the exhaust like every other car diesel.

    Because the SCR uses a liquid additive to work, and every 20G miles or so the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) reservoir has to be refilled.

    Because, I guess, opening the bonnet to refill the DEF tank once a year is too arduous a task for current new car buyers who are too young to ever have driven a ’70s era vehicle.

    Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid

  102. 102.

    Corner Stone

    June 30, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    @lollipopguild: That sounds delightfully kink. I am beginning to warm to the idea of this RNC convention!
    Safe word: Fluggaenkoecchicebolsen

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    @Emma: “and Boris is out of the race. Dead girl or live boy?”

    If you haven’t seen it already, this documentary video footage should explain it for you (but don’t let J Corbyn see it – NAZI REFERENCES!!)

  104. 104.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @MomSense: Nina Hagen explained it best in Auf’m Bahnhof Zoo. Hope your German is good: the translations I’ve seen don’t get it quite right.

  105. 105.

    The Pale Scot

    June 30, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    @? Martin:

    The whole diesel emissions thing is looking increasing like a case where regulators tightened standards, automakers cheated, regulators saw an opportunity to tighten more, automakers cheated more, etc.

    Uh.. no

    Volkswagon is paying out over 10 billion in claims because they tried to present themselves as rocket scientists that had overcome the need to use a Selective
    Catalytic Reduction process to remove the nitrides from the exhaust like every other car diesel.

    Because the SCR uses a liquid additive to work, and every 20G miles or so the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) reservoir has to be refilled.

    Because, I guess, opening the bonnet to refill the DEF tank once a year is too arduous a task for current new car buyers who are too young to ever have driven a ’70s era vehicle.

    Edit: I added a link incorrectly which may have put the first comment into the spam box, sorry if duplicates

  106. 106.

    hovercraft

    June 30, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Silly me I thought that the gop Benghazi report meant that it was over.
    Trey Gowdy is a traitor
    Fro the Washington Post

    “To say I was disappointed would be an understatement,” retired Adm. James “Ace” Lyons complained at a meeting Wednesday afternoon of the Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi,
    a coalition of far-right ­foreign- policy types. “Chairman Gowdy is not a stenographer. . . . He was there to make findings and conclusions. He had the information. He copped out, which is consistent that we’ve seen with all our congressional leadership.”

    Retired Gen. Thomas McInerney agreed that “the American people want to know from a group that spent almost two years on it what the conclusions are. That’s what we pay you for, Mr. Gowdy.”

    Charles Woods, the father of Ty Woods, one of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, lamented that “I really don’t have closure as far as who made the decision not to rescue.” And Roger Aronoff of Accuracy in Media, which convened the Citizens’ Commission at the National Press Club, complained that “they put a bunch of transcripts in there, interviews, but they didn’t weave it all together.”

    the group managed to produce a 73-page Benghazi report this week full of inventive accusations. They found “troubling evidence that Obama and Clinton were deeply and knowingly involved in running guns to al-Qaeda in Libya,” as well as “a clear case of official U.S. government submission to the Islamic Law on slander.”
    
    In September 2012, a U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, were attacked, killing four Americans.

    They determined that the Obama administration “switched sides in what was then called the Global War on Terror” and “benefited this country’s worst enemies.” They wrote that Clinton herself blocked U.S. military forces from attempting a rescue mission, and they attributed the decision to oust Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi in part to financial interests of the Clinton Foundation.

    They judged that Obama — one speaker referred to him as “Barack Hussein Soetero Obama” — had “an ideological commitment” to expanding the Muslim Brotherhood. They even gave longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal credit for the administration’s “support for the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood-led al Qaeda militias.” In one elaborate theory, they tied those guarding the U.S. facilities in Benghazi both to Blumenthal and to the wife of a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

    They even faulted Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died in Benghazi, saying he “rather romanticized the Libyan jihadis.”

    “We see a field of smoking guns,” Aronoff said.

    I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, the JFK assassination is still subject to many conspiracy theories and I guess Benghazi is destined to join it and crop circles and area 51.

  107. 107.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Doug R: that would be a cool way to deal with it! A win for all concerned!

  108. 108.

    The Pale Scot

    June 30, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    @catclub: I’ve been told it’s spelled “Penciltucky” by the natives.

    At least that’s what they say in Pittsburgh

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @LAO:

    I did have a toddler poke his head under the barrier between stalls to see what I was doing one time, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t do it because he was transgender.

  110. 110.

    Felonius Monk

    June 30, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    @Shell:

    Victoria Jackson

    Now THERES some prime-time viewing!

    via the Idiot-cam, no doubt.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    @Corner Stone

    Word on the street is that the fix is in for Christie to win the wet T-Shirt contest on night #2.

  112. 112.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    @LAO: He had a modeling career and studied at Stuyvesant and Columbia. I put had because he might have trouble finding work now. What a bod, and I hope that he’s okay.

  113. 113.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    @Calouste:

    So why did their god ever let America slip from greatness?

    Because we denied his will by failing to hate sufficiently on Those People. This general kind of thing- God will reward the country if it’s loyal to his teachings but withdraw his reward if it’s disloyal- is actually a common theme for the later Old Testament prophets.

  114. 114.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Dang! You’re making me glad I work in a small office with our own bathrooms. Unless the men are up to something,
    I don’t think we have any of those problems, probably because there’s no hope of anonymity.

  115. 115.

    Gordon, the Big Express Engine

    June 30, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: my office building has variations on all of those. One time I entered the men’s room only to hear the sounds of heavy straining coming from a stall. Real struggle. Before I could retreat the straining gave way to a concussive explosion followed by a loud “Praise Him!!”

    I live in Texas

  116. 116.

    Uncle Cosmo

    June 30, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Standing Behind Trump, Christie Gains Flatulence

    Fixtit for the Old Grey Mare.

  117. 117.

    Emma

    June 30, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @Miss Bianca: OHMYGAWD. I nearly destroyed my screen with Coke Zero.

  118. 118.

    Seanly

    June 30, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    I don’t understand the sudden outpouring of hatred & fear of transgender people. I know there are a myriad of issues with who counts or identifies with what, but we’re talking about about 0.5% of the population. Do the conservative see this as one of the last fronts in the culture wars? Same sex marriage is settled except for stupid fringe elements. Even the issue of the religious freedom (pretty wrongly defined in my book) isn’t getting the traction they wanted (and it has the potential to bite them in the butt).
    Does Ingraham actually think there will be large swaths of old, grumpy white people and stupid young people crapping in their pants to avoid the slim chance that they encounter a(n easily identified) trans person in a public bathroom?

  119. 119.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @Calouste:

    In the States yes, completely different in Europe though.

    Sure, but Europe has laxer emission standards for diesels than the US. The thing that triggered the whole VW scandal was an attempt to prove that Europe could tighten their emissions standards for diesels because the car makers could meet the much tougher US standards with reasonably priced cars like the VW diesels.

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @JPL

    “Police feared he was suicidal.”

    Uh huh, because he climbed atop a structure less than two stories high.

    Surprised anyone paid him attention, what with the 99% nudity of some of the street performers in and around Times Square.

  121. 121.

    Uncle Cosmo

    June 30, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    @srv: White Horse’s Ass Profitcy 2.0.

  122. 122.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    @Emma: I still think that Rupert said Boris, remember when….

  123. 123.

    Doug R

    June 30, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: Shift change where I work-the guy’s washroom has 4 urinals all about elbow’s width from each other. Usually a few shy guys will piss in the toilet stalls, but a lot can’t be bothered to lift the seat, so when a guy has to occasionally use the seat, often there’s piss all over it. Guy’s toilet seats should have a spring or gas rods like a hatchback so the seat stays up when no one is sitting on it.

  124. 124.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 30, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    Wow, just gotta be said, Bill Clinton is a fucking imbecile. You’d never see his wife do something this stupid, WTF?

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    @Seanly:

    I’m assuming that this is their last-ditch attempt to turn 2016 into 2004 and have a successful wedge issue at the polls. So far, though, most people’s reaction seems to have been, WTF is wrong with you?

  126. 126.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 30, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    Before I could retreat the straining gave way to a concussive explosion followed by a loud “Praise Him!!”

    I live in Texas

    @Gordon, the Big Express Engine: Of course you do.

    Damn.

  127. 127.

    Uncle Cosmo

    June 30, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: Last time I looked the ShamWow was the same color as Trumpolini’s head-ferret. Coincidence? I think not!

  128. 128.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @NotMax: Do you think it was a publicity stunt? I’ll have to watch the video again.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    Why Kneecapping Trump Won’t Work
    by BooMan
    Thu Jun 30th, 2016 at 08:47:14 AM EST

    The American Research Group (ARG) gets a C+ grade in Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight pollster ratings. They are punished modestly for having a slight Republican bias, and punished heavily for only calling the correct winner in 75% of the 260 polls that Silver analyzed. In other words, they’re less partisan hacks than just crappy pollsters. They do not appear to be good at their jobs.

    This could explain why they are the only polling outfit that sees Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire with a lead in her reelection bid against Democrat Maggie Hassan. ARG gives Ayotte a comfortable nine-point lead, outside the margin of error, while three other recent polls have shown the race essentially tied (Public Policy Polling: Hassan +2, WBUR/MassInc: Hassan +1, Boston Herald/FPU: Ayotte +1).

    In any case, Ayotte’s reelection prospects are a thin reed to rely on if you want to rationalize Mitch McConnell’s kneecapping of Donald Trump as an essentially rational decision to cut bait on the Oval Office and focus on preserving his Senate majority. Here’s Allahpundit of the right-wing blog, HotAir:

    Let’s recap McConnell’s choicer soundbites about Trump over the past two months. On May 4th, the day after Trump won Indiana and Cruz and Kasich dropped out, McConnell endorsed him, albeit tepidly. A month later, after watching Trump spend several weeks talking about the “Mexican” judge in his civil suit instead of Hillary Clinton, McConnell urged him at a press conference to get on message. Three days after that, he tore Trump apart in an interview with Bloomberg, admitting “it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know a lot about the issues” and hinting that he might yet rescind his endorsement. After that, he stopped taking questions about Trump at his weekly press briefings altogether. Then, two days ago, he was asked on “This Week” whether Trump is qualified to be president. He dodged, saying that’s for voters to decide. And so we arrive at today, with McConnell responding to a question about whether he thinks Trump is a “credible” candidate for the presidency with this withering backhanded reply: “He’s getting closer.”

    Question: Does Mitch McConnell want Trump to win? Before you answer, note that when he was asked about Hillary Clinton in this same interview, he described her as “intelligent and capable.” If I told you that Mitch the Knife had described one candidate in a certain race as capable and the other as not quite credible (yet), which one would you assume he’s supporting?

    The obvious explanation for his hedging on Trump is that he’s trying to protect his caucus. He had to endorse him for the same reason Paul Ryan did, because it’s unthinkable for a Republican congressional leader to hold out for long on a Republican nominee, but I’m sure McConnell cares more about retaining a Senate majority than he does about Trump winning the White House. If Trump falls far behind Clinton later this summer, McConnell and other top Republicans will shift quickly to a “Save the Senate!” message encouraging ticket-splitting. He’s laying the groundwork for that now: If you’re an independent who’s disgusted with Trump, well, just know that your friendly neighborhood Republican majority leader shares your disgust and strongly believes you shouldn’t punish Republican incumbents for Trump’s sins. So far, it’s working!

  130. 130.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    @Emma: Ahh…the Fountain of Joy. My work here is done. : )

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    @Seanly:

    Do the conservative see this as one of the last fronts in the culture wars?

    Yep. They gotta hate on someone to get their people out to the polls.

  132. 132.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 1:18 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:
    I’ve said it before, but I’m willing to bet that if we switched to unisex bathrooms, within a few years the issues would switch from “eww, I don’t want to share with the opposite sex” to “who takes too long/makes a mess/leaves the seat up/hogs the sinks/etc”. We should have called the anti-ERA people’s bluff and switched back in the 1970s.

  133. 133.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 30, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    There really is no peak to Conservative stupidity, is there? Why does Ingraham think that any sane American cares whether she and her ilk walk around in their own funk because they are too stupid to just go into an individual stall, lock the door, and use the toilet?

    No one cares, Ingraham.

  134. 134.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    Depends don’t come this large. link
    Is Ranier Beer that good?

  135. 135.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Doug R:

    There are WAY too many women who don’t want to put their delicate tushies on public toilet seats — even in perfectly clean bathrooms — and pee all over the seat. Because apparently it’s disgusting for them to have to touch a toilet seat, but not disgusting for me to have to clean up after them. Assholes.

  136. 136.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Felonius Monk:

    It makes some sense having Victoria Jackson speak, if you envision Trump as Toonces, and the car as the United States…

  137. 137.

    Uncle Cosmo

    June 30, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @Gordon, the Big Express Engine: if the product of that explosive expulsion had his Savior’s face on it, they could call it the Shart of Turin…

  138. 138.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @JPL

    Strictly personal take, but no, not publicity per se. More like he was either on an illicit mind-altering substance or sorely in need of a licit one by prescription.

    A tall person standing on tiptoe can touch the roof in spots (it’s slanted) from the sidewalk.

  139. 139.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t WANT to share the bathroom with women. They take too long, chat with each other (when every man knows you maintain silence) and they gripe about cleanliness….

  140. 140.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Pet peeve/skeeve of mine, I must say. It got to the point where I would reflexively wipe down any public toilet seat before using it myself.

    Kittens are being adorable this morning as they stalk flies – good kitties!

  141. 141.

    iLarynx

    June 30, 2016 at 1:29 pm

    Bravo.

    My understanding that in medieval England, the public toilets were basically elongated outhouses where both genders went side by side, hanging their rears over a bench next to a trough. Corrections to this recollection are appreciated.

  142. 142.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 30, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: Its a great place to gossip. Refresh your lip gloss and brush your hair.

  143. 143.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    A fresh thread would be lovely. Isn’t some pet or bird doing something worthwhile?

    In or out of diapers.

  144. 144.

    Felonius Monk

    June 30, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:

    It makes some sense having Victoria Jackson speak

    That is a humorous context — hadn’t thought about Toonces. OTOH, Victoria Jackson-speak is pretty much an un-intelligible language.

  145. 145.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @bemused: If a kid, teenager and such, had to where diapers because mommy made them, I’m sure there would be no teasing at all. Nosiree.

  146. 146.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    @MomSense: I’ve seen a Japanese game show where the contestants sat on blocks of ice & had to drink beverages. Last one to pee wins. Quite funny.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    @iLarynx

    It varied. Single holers, double, triple and more were all in style. Sometimes there were his and her privies (crescent moon carved into the door meant male, a star meant female).

    Look up “night soil” on Wikipedia for some pictures and related links.

    In parts of Australia, the dunny wagons* were still in use through the 1960s (in parts of Tasmania, even later).

    *wagons which would trundle down an alleyway between the back yards of houses in towns and cities, the dunny man tasked with emptying the contents of the pit of each house’s outhouse.

  148. 148.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @? Martin: They can meet them, it’s just that the car performance sucks.

  149. 149.

    Gelfling545

    June 30, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    @Emma: Pol Pot still dead? Just checking.

  150. 150.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:43 pm

    @NotMax: That gets him the veep slot, I hear.

  151. 151.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    @Paul in KY

    Yup. Also men in speedos standing in tanks of warm water while drinking lots of fluids.

    Then there’s the TV stunt where they sneak into people’s bedrooms, with cameras, when the inhabitants are asleep and wake them by firing a cannon.

    Friend has described Japan as “an entire country perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”

  152. 152.

    catclub

    June 30, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: I think you have been waiting YEARS to make that joke.

  153. 153.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    @Seanly: They are just using them as scapegoats to rail against & try to get their weirdos all in a lather.

    Straight out of Nazi 101: Blame the others for nation’s ills, demonize them, and profit!!!

  154. 154.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    @? Martin: Conservatist Whackjob Presumption: sexual minorities are all amoral monsters obsessed with children and bereft of self control, and public facilities are places where (gasp) one bares one’s dirty private parts (/gasp) anyway. So it’s only natural that places where Teh Poor Helpless Kiddies would go to do their business would be ideal places for predation by Those People.

    Says a lot more about them, their sexual fantasies, and their own self control than it does about us, IYAM.

  155. 155.

    Trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    @Felonius Monk: She and Sarah ™ could translate for one another. I would watch; hell, I’d record it for posterity.

  156. 156.

    Gelfling545

    June 30, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    @les: And where are they going to change those nasty things? Or will they just walk about like unattended toddlers all day?

  157. 157.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 30, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    @trollhattan: I think many European countries did optimize their emissions laws to prioritize promoting fuel-efficient diesels over air quality. But my impression is that the cheating cars aren’t legal there either, and that they were committing fraud everywhere anyway.

    The upshot is that diesel cars aren’t clean unless they’re the type that use the blue diesel emission fluid (the cheating models weren’t).

  158. 158.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: I did building management for many years and the things I saw in the restrooms. My gods. Decorum forbids me from mentioning it, but a certain percentage of people are filthy monsters.

  159. 159.

    JaneE

    June 30, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @Roger Moore: Last I saw it was the Trump family – wife, adult children, spouses of adult children.

  160. 160.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @NotMax: They are a funny lot.

  161. 161.

    RaflW

    June 30, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    The Pentagon just lifted the ban on openly Trans servicemembers. Wingnut freakout, part the MCXII !!

  162. 162.

    raven

    June 30, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    In “The Great Deluge”, about Katrina, Brinkley writes that people took dumps on desks in abandoned stores all over downtown. Make of it what you will!

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    @Gelfling 545

    “Oh, I’m supposed to change them? Who knew? Doesn’t say so on the box.”

    @Paul in KY

    Dunno. Weren’t (aren’t?) those candy rings shaped like pacifiers a thing with the acne set?

  164. 164.

    r€nato

    June 30, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    “if I don’t get my way, I’ll shit myself”

    Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the modern-day conservative intellectual.

  165. 165.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 30, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    public facilities are places where (gasp) one bares one’s dirty private parts (/gasp) anyway.

    I’ve never been to a public restroom where I had to bare my private parts to anyone. Conservatives live in an alternate universe and need to get out there more.

  166. 166.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    June 30, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    I did building management for many years and the things I saw in the restrooms. My gods. Decorum forbids me from mentioning it, but a certain percentage of people are filthy monsters.

    @redshirt: Tragedy is, it’s not a small percentage.

  167. 167.

    sukabi

    June 30, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: he got shivved by his campaign manager, Gove… at least thats what huffpost world was blasting breathlessly early this morning… they now all about Isis raid…

  168. 168.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 30, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @Elizabelle: LOL!! As you said that, my eyes went to my sleeping dogs and parrot who are always doing something worthwhile. I guess there is only so much you can say about delusional Conservatives and public restrooms.

  169. 169.

    Fair Economist

    June 30, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: You owe me a new keyboard.

  170. 170.

    Cermet

    June 30, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: Agreed; stupid isn’t just him, however. I expect more from an Attorney General of the US. She needs to resign ASAP.

  171. 171.

    Frankensteinbeck

    June 30, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    I would say there’s an American cultural assumption that given the chance, men will force sex on whoever or whatever they find attractive. Conservatives generally dump lots of fear and shame on sex, and assume everyone who is not themselves is a villain, and love the ‘I’m the one thinking of the children!’ righteousness – but that only makes them more eager to leap to that argument, so eager that they do it even when it’s blatantly stupid. The argument is still endemic.

    EDIT – It is worth noting that because they are assholes, conservatives believe MtF TGs are men, full stop, no qualifications. FtM TGs… they can barely grasp exist.

  172. 172.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:57 pm

    @raven: When you gotta go…

    The poor lady who died on Appalachian Trail was way too conscientious (IMO) and was going like 100 yards off trail to poop. Then couldn’t find trail & bad things happened.

    Let me tell you, when I’m on an unfamiliar trail (as was she), I follow Gandalf’s rules on the trail thru Mirkwood: Do not leave the trail!!! He meant you sleep on trail, you crap on trail, you piss on trail, you eat on trail. YOU DO NOT LEAVE TRAIL. I would go 6 feet off to shit & stand on edge to piss.

    Feel sorry for this poor lady that she felt she had to do something foolish as that.

  173. 173.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @NotMax: Not in my day. They just took the acne like a man or woman. Always felt sorry for those with the bad outbreaks.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    I always do a wipedown. Apparently, Science says that if you remove any visible stuff, you’re good to, um, go.

  175. 175.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    @Cermet: What did the Att. Gen. do, pray tell?

  176. 176.

    Jay C

    June 30, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @Seanly:

    I don’t understand the sudden outpouring of hatred & fear of transgender people. I know there are a myriad of issues with who counts or identifies with what, but we’re talking about about 0.5% of the population. Do the conservative see this as one of the last fronts in the culture wars?

    To answer your last question first, the answer is almost certainly “Yes”. And the rest of the analysis, IMO, is fairly simple. Haters gotta hate (especially when they imagine God tells them to), and when this gets coupled with the standard Religious Right worldview that the laws of the land ought to conform to set “moral” standards (sex-obsessed Puritanism, usually, but never mind for now), it’s no surprise when they get hugely pissed off when the law tells them they can’t discriminate.
    I’ve always thought the recent obsession with transfolks and bathrooms is just displaced homophobia: a desperate attempt to salvage some sort of “moral” victory by focusing on what they see as too small and too bizarre a gender-noncomforming minority for anyone to care about.
    But as usual with the Bigot Brigade, the bit that “no one really cares about” is their fearmongering obsessions:
    which, unfortunately, typically makes them cling to them even harder…..

  177. 177.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: It’s not that you’re SHOWING them to anyone – it’s just that your clothes aren’t covering them. Closed doors aren’t relevant. These ARE the same folks that make twin beds and full-length pyjamas marketable even to couples.

  178. 178.

    Chyron HR

    June 30, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    CRIMINAL.

    ASSOCIATION WITH.

    A CLINTON.

  179. 179.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: I assume it’s no higher than 27% of the population.

    I’ve been working recently in an office with two unisex bathrooms and they are surprisingly (to me) clean and orderly. I wonder if the fact they’re unisex makes people behave a bit better.

  180. 180.

    Frankensteinbeck

    June 30, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    @Jay C:
    I would say that’s about right. They need their hate fix, TGs are a shiny new hate object, and of course it feeds nicely into the terror conservative men feel that someone will find out they once fantasized about performing fellatio.

  181. 181.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Not entirely a US phenomenon, although more Western Hemisphere than Eastern. Not untrue, though – and again, says more about them than about us.

  182. 182.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @Paul in KY: @NotMax: My mother (WWII adult) used to say, “The Japanese are a cruel people.” In the 70s we used to mess with her by using the phrase for things like the knobs falling off in a Toyota.

  183. 183.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    @Chyron HR: Ah…OK. The nerve of that person! Associating with a Clinton. Harrumph! Harrumph I say!

  184. 184.

    Emma

    June 30, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    @Paul in KY: Talk to a friend in an airport where they seem to have been visible the whole time. Gah. Whenever something happens with a Democratic politician the first instinct of Democrats is to throw them overboard. We are terrified of “optics,” “the media,” and “public opinion.” And then we bitch when Republicans eat our lunch.

  185. 185.

    The Lodger

    June 30, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @nutella: So what’s Rick Scott’s excuse?
    (And Betty C undoubtedly replies, “He’s never had one.”)

  186. 186.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @muddy: They were certainly cruel to anyone who fell into their clutches during WW II. Some of it is a warped ego (IMO). We are God’s chosen people, so how we do/think about things is the only way, etc. etc.

    U.S. has some of that too.

  187. 187.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    @Emma: Thanks for passing on crazy reason!

  188. 188.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    @redshirt: I told this story here once before, but after extensive surgery in my abdominal region I was unable to use the women’s bathroom in my office because it has elementary school size toilets from which I could not get up. So, I used a unisex, handicap bathroom that is usually only used by men — it was vile. And when a couple of men realized I was using that bathroom, they were unable to make eye contact with me. Which was funny.

  189. 189.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    @NotMax:

    In parts of Australia, the dunny wagons* were still in use through the 1960s (in parts of Tasmania, even later).

    They are not as popular as they used to be, but non-flush toilets still exist, so they still need vehicles to empty them. The most obvious use is for portable toilets as used on construction sites and outdoor events, but they’re also used in areas too remote to bring in plumbing, like semi-developed areas in National Parks.

  190. 190.

    RaflW

    June 30, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I’ve never been to a public restroom where I had to bare my private parts to anyone.

    You have been spared the men’s trough-style urinals. They are rather less than privacy-respecting. But manly men know to look at the cinderblock wall and never peek.

  191. 191.

    Cermet

    June 30, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @Paul in KY: Allowed Bill to board her plane to talk; that isn’t something heading an agency that is looking into the legalities of that person’s wife should do – ever. It was stupid.

  192. 192.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @Roger Moore: One of the worst places in the world is a porta-potty at a large event like a festival or football game. The horrors!

  193. 193.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @redshirt: Where I used to work they kept having issues with the cleaner. I was sick of hearing it, so I told the owner to pay me to do it at the end of the day (I did drafting ordinarily). When I went to clean the mens, I was surprised when I lifted the seat that the rim was spotless. I remarked on this to co-workers, wondering did guys peed more politely at the office, was it because they were not drinking beer at work, or did one of them go in and pre-clean so they wouldn’t hear me bitch about it?

    Turned out it was because they didn’t pee in the toilet ever, they used the urinal. Not being a guy, this had not occurred to me. The toilet was in a stall and the urinal was right by the door, I would have peed in the stall for privacy. Things that made me go, hmmm.

  194. 194.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    @Eric U.:

    @Corner Stone: I think he signed something that made those loans into contributions, so they can’t be repaid. But much of it was in-kind donations anyway, so that just means he’s not going to make money on the deal

    UH UH UH
    That was the story today. There is nothing IN PAPERWORK that proves he has ‘ forgiven’ the loans.

  195. 195.

    Seanly

    June 30, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    Your #1 & #3 have no excuses, but #2 might have the misfortune of taking Metformin.

  196. 196.

    The Lodger

    June 30, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    @srv: What in the name of Nikola Tesla is Mitt Romney doing at any event with “Ideas” in the title?

  197. 197.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 2:20 pm

    @Cermet: Isn’t all that over? Plus, I would think there would be staffers there & the whole thing might have been recorded.

  198. 198.

    The Lodger

    June 30, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @les: Please don’t use the word gravy.

  199. 199.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Paul in KY: It’s totally everywhere. It’s always interesting to hear from people in other cultures about things they think we do that are cruel that they would never allow for comparison. My mother was not generally interested in this sort of nuance, very black and white thinker.

  200. 200.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    So youngest daughter gets to meet the President of Greece sometime soon. He’s apparently taken an interest in their dig site.

  201. 201.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:22 pm

    @muddy: You’re braver than I. I never had to actually clean the bathrooms, thank FSM, just report the issues to the cleaning staff. But to this day there are some things I can never unsee, except with perhaps more head trauma.

  202. 202.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:

    That’s so cool!

  203. 203.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 30, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    @? Martin: Tom Friedman of Balloon Juice has spoken. Corporations can do no wrong, they can only be wronged!

  204. 204.

    Paul in KY

    June 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @muddy: Certainly agree, muddy. Hope you and other Juicers have a great weekend! Off to enjoy a nice one.

  205. 205.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: Awesome! Congratulations!

  206. 206.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @Emma: that’s my take on it. Honestly, my response to this was, “So what?” And then I wondered if I was being too blase. And finally, I thought, “F*ck it – ‘so what’ it remains.”

  207. 207.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 30, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    @redshirt: I was once at a large event in Eastern Europe that was modern enough to have US-style porta-potties which almost immediately became unusable to US-accustomed persons because the locals would use them not by sitting on the seat (as is customary in the US) but by climbing up onto the seat-level ledge and squatting over the hole. This was either the “ew, I don’t want my body to touch the seat” action, or simply the “I’m used to a squat toilet and will use this one that way even though it’s not designed for it” action. So every horizontal surface was covered with a mix of mud and shit. It was awesome.

  208. 208.

    Corner Stone

    June 30, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    @Paul in KY: Well you know Bill is a pretty smooth talker. Why, I recollect the time he scored in the sack with both Marge and then Homer Simpson. All in the same episode!
    Somehow I doubt LL allowed that to be recorded.

  209. 209.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    @The Lodger: It’s also got “Aspen” in the title. As in, Aspen, CO. Make more sense now?

  210. 210.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    @Cermet:

    I guess this is another of those times where it’s clear that IANAL, because I still don’t really get it.

  211. 211.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 30, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne: IAAL and my reaction is “meh.”

  212. 212.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    @RaflW: Never mind that, those stall doors are flimsy and will never withstand a Real Man®. So open space or closed stall is irrelevant. And @Jay is correct that they can’t distinguish between drag as an occasional costume, transvestism as a lifestyle and transsexual as a state of being and assume all MtFs are strapping young bucks with all the external plumbing intact and usable.

  213. 213.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    @redshirt: This was a small engineering firm with about 25 employees, so less deniability, maybe? It hardly got dirty. It took no time to vacuum, empty trash and clean bathrooms and I got extra $50 a week, this was 25 years ago, I made 10.25/hr, so the cleaning was good money for time spent, it was only about 30-40 minutes a week. Best of all was not having to hear people whine about the cleaner. Maybe they still had whines, but they didn’t say them to me at least.

  214. 214.

    Ben Cisco

    June 30, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Kung fu combover

    That would make an awesome band name.

  215. 215.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: The Republicans will hold hearings, though.

  216. 216.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 30, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    @JPL: I said, “meh.”

  217. 217.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Agreed. Was just going to post the same. People seem very wrapped up in the “appearance of impropriety,” which appears to have greater merit than actual impropriety.

  218. 218.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:33 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: When I was in Iran a common comic (and sold as framed watercolors, bizarrely) was a guy squatting on top of a toilet seat smoking a pipe. I have one hung above the toilet in my house.

  219. 219.

    Cal D

    June 30, 2016 at 2:34 pm

    I’m surprised no one said, “Pissy Pants!”

  220. 220.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:34 pm

    @muddy: No doubt number of people is a factor, as it goes up, cleanliness goes down. I wonder if there’s a subliminal motivation to be filthy when you see evidence of other people doing it.

  221. 221.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I get to go to Beijing in October (we’re taking a mileage run to preserve AA status for next year – that’s how we got free first class to Rome in May). We’re flying there, staying 3 nights, then flying back over the course of a weekend. I anticipate that our side visit to the Wall may find us in the vicinity of squat toilets.

  222. 222.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Add Native Americans to Team Trump’s list
    06/30/16 08:00 AM—UPDATED 06/30/16 08:01 AM
    By Steve Benen

    It can be challenging to keep track of every American constituency Donald Trump and his campaign have offended with insulting language. At various points, the Republican presidential candidate and his operation have alienated women, Latinos, African Americans, Muslims, veterans, and people with disabilities, among others.

    But in case it wasn’t obvious before, Native Americans certainly belong on the same list.

    But while Trump was hammering trade and his should-be allies-turned-adversaries, it was his opening act that picked up the mantle of attack against Democrats, specifically Elizabeth Warren. Taking a cue from Trump’s nickname of “Pocahontas” for Sen. Warren, conservative New England radio host Howie Carr took the moniker once step further during the pre-rally show.

    “You know Elizabeth Warren, right?” Carr said, tapping his hand over his mouth in a mock tribal chant. The crowd loved it, some joining in with chants of their own.

    Slate’s Josh Voorhees raised an important point about all of this: “In the big bucket of Trump-sanctioned racism, a mock war cry from a guy who introduced the guy who introduced the candidate is but a drop. Still, if this were anyone but Trump we were talking about, he or she would be pressured to condemn the remarks. Trump, though, has dulled everyone’s senses with a year’s worth of controversy, so this barely registers.”

  223. 223.

    Iowa Old Lady

    June 30, 2016 at 2:35 pm

    Most of the public restroom stalls I’ve used in Europe have doors that go all the way to the floor. You have to look at the lock mechanism to see if the stall is occupied because it shows green when available and red when locked.

    In Cork one time, I went in search of the restroom in and art center/restaurant and a lady told me it was on the second floor. So first, it took me a while to figure out that she meant the OTHER second floor, the one that’s really the third floor. Then the stall was huge with a door to the floor. When I couldn’t find the right button to flush the toilet and tried pulling this string, an alarm went off. Apparently this was the handicapped stall and people could signal for help. Fun moments in travel.

  224. 224.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: CA regulators are either brilliant or their own special grade of stupid. There is a Superfund site in SF Bay Area that took three external consulting firms conducting five rounds of testing over six years to convince them that the levels of certain toxins were native to the location (specifically granite which has a measurable background radiation level above 10 e-6) and that remediating those levels to their standard would require evacuating most of NorCal and nuking the site out of existence. US EPA had no trouble with the initial explanation: CA EPA required all the extra testing (at all the extra expense and for all the extra delay).

  225. 225.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 2:37 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    and assume all MtFs are strapping young bucks with all the external plumbing intact and usable.

    And possessed of a strong desire to use it on any human being who falls into their clutches. That’s the big thing: they assume that heterosexuals would never do anything wrong, but that everyone else is a perverted sex fiend who will prey on anyone they find attractive.

  226. 226.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    June 30, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    @MomSense: I wonder how much of this is the result of spending too much time reading Penthouse Letters and the like back in the day and believing every word was true and it all really happened just like that.

  227. 227.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    Brexit backers took ‘an American-style media approach’
    06/30/16 12:50 PM
    By Steve Benen

    As the dust settled on the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” vote, it wasn’t long before observers started noticing that the Leave campaign succeeded thanks to some pretty brazen falsehoods. For example, Leave proponents repeatedly told voters that the country would save 350 million pounds a week by parting ways with the European Union – money that could be used to bolster the National Health Service.

    As it turns out, none of that was true, a detail U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage struggled to defend in a now-infamous interview the day after the vote.

    It was therefore of great interest yesterday when The Guardian published this report on insurance multi-millionaire Arron Banks, described as the “Brexit campaign’s biggest financial donor,” who shared some insights on his political tactics.

    Banks has been credited with professionalising Ukip’s referendum push through the Leave.EU campaign. He deployed senior executives and staff from his insurance companies and hired the Washington DC political campaign strategy firm Goddard Gunster on a multimillion-pound fee to sharpen its message.

    “It was taking an American-style media approach,” said Banks. “What they said early on was ‘facts don’t work’ and that’s it. The remain campaign featured fact, fact, fact, fact, fact. It just doesn’t work. You have got to connect with people emotionally. It’s the Trump success.”

  228. 228.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 30, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    everyone else is a perverted sex fiend who will prey on anyone they find attractive.

    Ir’s projection.

  229. 229.

    jonas

    June 30, 2016 at 2:39 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Ah, yes, that would be the so-called “Turkish toilet” — basically a hole in the ground and, if you were lucky, some bars on the sides of the stall to hang on to when you squatted. Used to be pretty common in southern Europe and even France, but I haven’t really seen them much any more in the last 10 years or so.

  230. 230.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 2:40 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Still, if this were anyone but Trump we were talking about, he or she would be pressured to condemn the remarks.

    He’d laugh in the face of anyone making that demand. The war whoop wasn’t something this guy added at random; he’s following Trump’s lead of questioning and ridiculing Warren’s Cherokee heritage.

  231. 231.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    No one’s brought up German toilets yet? The poop shelf?

  232. 232.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    @redshirt: It is absolutely so. I know they’ve done studies about handwashing in bathrooms, and people wash their hands more if someone else is in there. If they are alone and no one knows, many more don’t bother. Even if they didn’t see the other person and they are just a presence in a stall, they still act like they are “being watched”.

  233. 233.

    rikyrah

    June 30, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    Donald Trump’s fundraising takes an even more controversial turn
    06/30/16 10:07 AM
    By Steve Benen

    When Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign reported paltry fundraising totals last week, much of the political world was taken aback, and his woeful finances became a controversy unto themselves.

    But when it comes to the GOP candidate and fundraising, we’re just getting started.

    This week, for example, Team Trump thought it’d be a good idea to send out an appeal to donors telling would-be contributors they had a chance to “indict Hillary Clinton” on unidentified charges.

    Making matters worse, the Trump campaign has reportedly sent fundraising solicitations to elected officials in foreign countries. The Washington Post reported:
    [A] wave of fundraising pleas [were] inexplicably sent by the Trump campaign in recent days to lawmakers in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Australia and elsewhere. The solicitations prompted watchdog groups in Washington to file two separate complaints Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the Trump campaign was violating federal law by soliciting funds from foreign nationals.

    “The scale and scope of this does seem somewhat unprecedented,” said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, which joined Democracy 21 in one of the complaints.
    Worse still, some of the Trump campaign’s specific fundraising boasts appear to be literally unbelievable, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign argued that the Republican’s claims are very likely “total bunk.”

    All of which brings us to the new controversy surrounding Trump’s loans.

  234. 234.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 30, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: I was at a reception once in a tres fancy hotel, walked into the tastefully-lit, walnut-paneled men’s room, opened the stall and saw it was a squat toilet. Nice, clean white tile with footprint depressions and a hole. When you’re wearing black tie that really makes for an awkward, um, movement.

    I suspect your Chinese facilities will be lower on the decor ladder.

  235. 235.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @Roger Moore: Correction: they are aware of their own impulses to fvck anything moving and superimpose that on their perception of everyone else.

  236. 236.

    Eric U.

    June 30, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    @rikyrah: I was being naive. I’m sure there will be people pouring over his FEC reports and this will be one of the things that they look for

  237. 237.

    JanieM

    June 30, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    @Seanly:

    I don’t understand the sudden outpouring of hatred & fear of transgender people.

    Speaking as a 66-year-old gay person who grew up in an era, and in a cultural context, where I made it to young adulthood without really knowing there even was such a thing as “gay,” I think your framing oversimplifies the history and therefore makes it seem like there’s a mystery where there really isn’t.

    The outpouring may be sudden and new, but the hatred and fear are not. Fifty years ago, if you were gay you were likely in the closet. The closet, in turn, existed because the mindset and values of the people who hated and feared gay people was the dominant mindset in the culture, and if we defied it by trying to be out in the open, we were punished savagely, one way or another.

    Then gay people said: Enough of this sh!t, and started to demand a life outside the closet. That in turn brought the hatred and fear more out in the open – in a weird sort of dance, the hatred came out of the closet too, and in response.

    I think that’s happening with trans people now. The people who hate and fear trans people didn’t just start hating and fearing them; they always have. It’s just that as long as trans people stayed in *their* closet, there was no need to get in a lather about them.

    As I said during the many gay-rights and marriage-related statewide votes in my adopted state of Maine (8 or 9 votes in an eighteen-year period from 1995 to 2012 when marriage was finally voted in):

    It’s my world too.

    The people who have been spewing the hatred all along are people who are desperate to be able to say,

    “It’s my world.”

    No “too” about it.

  238. 238.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    @Roger Moore: It’s not all that surprising when you think about it, modern social conservatism appears (to me) to be based upon fear. They’re deathly afraid of immigrants, criminal-types (the gun nuts) and the LGBTQ community.

  239. 239.

    muddy

    June 30, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    @jonas: Where I was they had an actual porcelain fixture, not just a hole – except it was flat on the ground, a keyhole opening, and some raised bits for footing on the 2 narrow sides.

  240. 240.

    Bill

    June 30, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    When I was in Amsterdam last year I took my teenage son to a soccer match. Outside the stadium we used open air urinals as people of all genders walked by.

    Nobody was traumatized.

    We are puritanically f-ed up in the country.

  241. 241.

    Keith G

    June 30, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Your “Meh” noted, it was still a dumb move – dumb in it’s own right and dumb also since it fits into a preexisting, problematic notion.

    It’s 4th of July week end, so it will be an under-achieving “hot take” story.

  242. 242.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    Perhaps the open carryists can also pack along an entrenching tool.

    “Hey, buddy, in need of a hole? Ten bucks. Twenty if you want me to stand guard.”

  243. 243.

    D58826

    June 30, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    The latest Clinton ‘scandal’ :

    An impromptu meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch sparked controversy after questions arose about the content of the conversation. The meeting, in Phoenix, reportedly happened when Clinton was waiting to depart and walked over to Lynch’s plane. Lynch has said they did not discuss Hillary Clinton’s emails, which are the subject of an investigation—and much controversy. She said they spoke “a great deal about his grandchildren” and travel. Clinton had been playing golf in Arizona, she said. “There was no discussion of any matter pending for the department or any matter pending for any other body,” Lynch added. “There was no discussion of Benghazi, no discussion of the State Department emails, by way of example.” Still, some were skeptical of Lynch’s denial. “This incident does nothing to instill confidence in the American people that her department can fully and fairly conduct this investigation, and that’s why a special counsel is needed now more than ever,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn in a statement.

    I mean the degree of GOP stupid is stunning. There are simply so many ways that the ‘fix’ could be handled without it ever seeing the light of day and yet the ‘optics’ are bad because these two people met in an airport. Another article had the headline ‘Night before Benghazi report to be released’. without ever producing any proof that Clinton or Lynch knew that the report was to be released.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/06/30/clinton-lynch-met-on-private-plane.html

  244. 244.

    boatboy_srq

    June 30, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: I sometimes cannot tell whether Reichwing handwringing on this stems from prior unwillingness to spend adequately on public accommodations, resulting in flimsy facilities that a two year old could mangle, and that these complaints are actually that their paltry tax dollars bought cheap shoddily-constructed cr#ppers.

  245. 245.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    Random thought.

    If/when Caitlyn Jenner shows up at the R convention and needs to use a rest room…

  246. 246.

    Kay

    June 30, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    Is Donald Trump’s Story Of A Mysterious Banker Saving Him From Collapse Made Up?

    Is everything Donald Trump has ever said made up?

    It might save time go the other way – look for something he said that was true.

  247. 247.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 3:01 pm

    @JanieM:

    I think This Year’s Model of public hatred is specifically calculated for electoral effect, though. Transgender people are this year’s Ebola, and Republicans are hoping to ride that hatred to victory at the polls.

    Fortunately for all of us, it seems to be falling pretty flat so far except for some nuts on the fringes. Most people have used public bathrooms and realize how ridiculous this all is.

  248. 248.

    smith

    June 30, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: The parts of China where tourists are concentrated (including, most likely the section of the Wall you will see) have Western-style toilets. You may, however, be asked to put any paper in a wastebasket rather than flushing it.

  249. 249.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    @NotMax: They will have a port a potty, in his dressing room. At least I hope so, because the purity folks are going to be upset, if they have to share.

    While using a public bathroom, it never dawned on me to inquire about the person’s birth gender. The purity folks have to start wondering how many times, they already shared a public bathroom with a transvestite.

  250. 250.

    louc

    June 30, 2016 at 3:03 pm

    @Doug R: Honestly, women’s rooms need this too for the women who refuse to sit on the toilet seat. They squat over it and leave their urine on the seat. Why not lift the lid if you’re going to do that so you don’t leave a mess for the next woman? Argh.

  251. 251.

    smith

    June 30, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    @JPL: HER dressing room, please.

  252. 252.

    JanieM

    June 30, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think This Year’s Model of public hatred is specifically calculated for electoral effect, though.

    Yes indeed. All I was trying to say was that there are timing reasons why this issue is available to be misused in this way at this time. It didn’t come out of nowhere.

  253. 253.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    @JPL

    if they have to share

    “Get out, you freak! And can I have your autograph?”

    :)

  254. 254.

    J R in WV

    June 30, 2016 at 3:08 pm

    @trollhattan:

    The emission standards are less strict, but the VW diesels in trouble here are also in trouble over there, just not as far out of spec.

    As a person who bought and drove the hell out of a lot of VW diesels, probably more than 700,000 miles, it really pissed me off. While we don’t currently have a VW diesel, I very much doubt I will ever buy a vehicle from a cheating, lying company again. But then I think of the Ford Pinto… and my F-150 truck…?

    oops.

  255. 255.

    benw

    June 30, 2016 at 3:08 pm

    It’s all so clear now. This has nothing to do with fear of transgendered folks. That’s just a front (and to rile up the base) for the real conservative aim: it’s a war on public services! If we don’t use the public bathrooms, they can replace them with for-profit corporate bathrooms. It’s all part of their pro-big business, reduce-the-public-good mentality! SAVE THE PUBLIC BATHROOMS

  256. 256.

    NonyNony

    June 30, 2016 at 3:09 pm

    @LAO: But that’s the heart of conservatism, isn’t it? Fear of change and fear of the unknown? In the early days of democracy the elites used that fear to keep their hold on power in place as much as possible. And they continue to do so.

    That fear and hate overlap so much is what makes it pathological. A healthy fear if change is good to maintain skepticism, but when it gets mixed with hatred for “the other” it ramps up to 11 and soon you’re cutting off your own nose just to make one of the hated “others” miserable. (Like wearing a diaper because you think Transgender people are “icky” or voting yourself out of the EU to show Johnny Foreigner what for or voting for Trump to stick it to the liberals. It all comes from the same place…)

  257. 257.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    @J R in WV

    Ford far and away still holds the record as the auto company with the greatest number of cars recalled, total. Nearly 50 million, IIRC.

  258. 258.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 3:12 pm

    @JanieM: I am glad you lived long enough to see an arc of history; I wish it had come many decades earlier for you.

    I am glad to see what seems to be rapid change, and you remind me that it was generations in the making.

    Amazing today to see the bulletin that transgendered people can now serve openly in the Armed Forces. And why they hell not? PS: calling something a”social experiment” is one of the other last refuges of scoundrels.

    NY Times:

    The move has faced resistance from some at the highest ranks of the military, who have expressed concerns over what they consider a social experiment that could potentially harm the military’s readiness and effectiveness in combat.

  259. 259.

    jonas

    June 30, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    @redshirt: Ah yes — the good ol’ Flachspeulertoilette. They say it goes back to a time when doctors advised people to examine their stools each day for signs of illness or digestive problems. I don’t think anyone really does that anymore, but they still make the toilets that way out of a uniquely Teutonic sense of lavatorial Sittlichkeit.

  260. 260.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    Anyone else wondering about why the Popeye-speak in the post title?

  261. 261.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    @jonas

    Stool und drang.

  262. 262.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    @smith: Thanks. I have a trans relative, and I still have trouble with pronouns. I need to fix that.

  263. 263.

    jonas

    June 30, 2016 at 3:17 pm

    @benw: Of course large bathroom services corporations will insist that their bathrooms be “inclusive,” so privatizing public restrooms will probably achieve the opposite of what they think it will. Conservatives are quickly figuring out that the biggest force for (at least cultural) progressive change in the coming years is going to be large multinational corporations whose “brand” depends on being perceived as young and hip (= tolerant).

  264. 264.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    @benw: It did occur to me that if you had True Conservatives swanning around in diapers, eventually they would conclude there was no reason to fund public bathrooms.

    Also: another cool thing in Barcelona: in a park on Montjuic: a bathroom with a long glass wall fronting it (some of the glass is frosted, but still kind of transparent); the stalls are behind and offer privacy (with maybe a foot of open door at the bottom) and they are used on a first come, first serve basis. Unisex bathroom. I thought it was so cool. It’s attractive, modern, and well attended, gently but effectively lit, and clean.

    It’s like this pop up pod that offers public amenities, elegantly and safely.

  265. 265.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    Corey Lewandowski is at the Trump event. CNN really showed their bias by hiring him, and surely they can’t think this is a good idea.

  266. 266.

    nutella

    June 30, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    @Bill:

    When I was in Amsterdam last year I took my teenage son to a soccer match. Outside the stadium we used open air urinals as people of all genders walked by.

    They haven’t always been a model for urinary hygiene. The first time I visited there in the 70s the men would piss everywhere, on every building. It was hard to take a photo of a nice historic building without a crowd of local men huddled around it pissing on it.

    They seem to have reformed them so now they use street urinals, which is big step forward.

  267. 267.

    bemused

    June 30, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Maybe those women don’t care or simply haven’t had enough practice or possibly drunk considering some of the bathrooms in bars I’ve seen.

  268. 268.

    JanieM

    June 30, 2016 at 3:22 pm

    @Elizabelle: Thanks, and yes, the change has been astonishingly rapid in the last 20-30 years. Big subject, but I don’t want to go too far off-topic. Plus, work calls.

  269. 269.

    The Pale Scot

    June 30, 2016 at 3:22 pm

    @Miss Bianca: That was Great MB

  270. 270.

    benw

    June 30, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    @Elizabelle: I did a year of undergrad at a super-liberal college that had uni-sex bathrooms in most of the dorms. It just became normal. By the end of the first month it was weird to go someplace that had them separated.

  271. 271.

    J R in WV

    June 30, 2016 at 3:25 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    Evidently she spoke to an acquaintance in public, at the airport of some place like that. Horrors!1!

    I can’t make a faux pas out of that, much less criminal conspiracy. Hello, how are you? Fine, and you? I hope Hillary is holding up and feeling well, she certainly looks good! etc, etc.

    Anyone imagining anything else is on drugs, and I don’t mean the good ones!

  272. 272.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 3:27 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:

    Congrats! I have a friend who works on the staff. I’ll have to tell her to be there. The Greeks are really into archaeology. When they excavated to put in new train stations and tracks before the Olympics, they kept finding antiquities. Those train stations now have mini museums displaying some of the finds. It is pretty cool.

  273. 273.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    @J R in WV

    FOX chyron operators asleep at the switch.

    CLINTON’S LYNCH MOB CAUSES AIRPORT CHAOS would seem to be a natural for those buttwipes.

  274. 274.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    June 30, 2016 at 3:32 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:

    @Emma: I think Boris is out of the race so he can avoid figuring out what to do now that the dog has caught the car. Could be wrong, though.

    This. I don’t believe the Leavers really expected to win; they just wanted to shake things up enough to trigger new elections and win some seats for UKIP.

  275. 275.

    Gin & Tonic

    June 30, 2016 at 3:33 pm

    @JPL: He is as “fired” from Trump’s staff as I am on it.

  276. 276.

    J R in WV

    June 30, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    @Cermet:

    Like anyone is going to be rude to someone addressed as “Mr. President” or perhaps “President Clinton”! Give me a fuqing break!!!

  277. 277.

    Glennis Waterman

    June 30, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    Let her go on and poop her pants, if that’s what she wants to do.

  278. 278.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    June 30, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    OT, but gee, guess who asked for another 45 day extension to file their personal financial disclosure document with the FEC, again, because they’re too busy campaigning? Not Crooked Hillary, FYI.

  279. 279.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    @J R in WV

    Whole raft of spittle-flecked invective would be unleased should I ever be within earshot of Dubya.

  280. 280.

    Fair Economist

    June 30, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I was on a package trip to China some years ago and yes, they often had squat toilets even in places I’d have thought would have been upgraded (like the Great Hall of the People in Chongqing). My fellow American often refused to stoop so low, so to speak, and often chose to aim while standing up, resulting in a high frequency of misses. It was a luxury tour, supposedly exemplars of successful Americans – I can only wonder what it made the Chinese janitors think about Americans.

  281. 281.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    @The Pale Scot: Thank you! Someone else posted that clip here originally, and I cannot for the life of me remember who, or I’d give ’em a shout-out, but it’s been one of my go-to coping mechanisms for the last few days!

  282. 282.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 3:42 pm

    @jonas:

    Conservatives are quickly figuring out that the biggest force for (at least cultural) progressive change in the coming years is going to be large multinational corporations whose “brand” depends on being perceived as young and hip (= tolerant).

    Or simply that they want to be able to hire and sell to anyone. At some point they have to compare the number of LGBTQ people, racial and ethnic minorities, Muslims, etc. vs. the number of bigots who are threatening to boycott them if they don’t discriminate. The number of bigots keeps declining while the number of minorities they’re trying to exclude keeps growing, so that it doesn’t make business sense to try to please the bigots anymore.

  283. 283.

    Miss Bianca

    June 30, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    @MomSense: @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: speaking of Greeks and archeology, have y’all seen this article on Piraeus? Seems they’ve uncovered the ancient Greek naval dockyards!

  284. 284.

    Soylent Green

    June 30, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    @The Pale Scot: VW cheated on their 2009-2015 2-liter diesel cars. Only the 2015 models have SCR (aka Adblue) systems, but they needed to be in on the cheat because they were programmed not to use enough Adblue to meet emission regs. What VW wanted was for owners to let dealers refill the tank at 10,000-mile service intervals and not make the owners do it themselves and more often (often enough to meet the regs). The big design problem is that these cars are too small to accommodate a 5-gallon Adblue tank and plumbing such as go into diesel trucks and SUVs. If they could, they would in fact be the cleanest cars on the road, and except for NOx they still beat gassers on emission of CO2 and particulates.

    This fall I am taking the buyback on my Audi A3. Pretty good deal too as I will get back $30K on a 5-year-old car that cost me $36.5K.

    For all the 2009 to 2014 cars, the yet to be developed “fix” is the other option, retrofitting an SCR system into the car, but most of us think it’s a bad idea, a kludge the cars these highly engineered cars weren’t designed for that the dealership mechanics will screw up. That’s if a fix is ever made available, which is doubtful.

  285. 285.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:48 pm

    @Roger Moore

    Case in point: Read that Chik-Fil-A abandoned their “closed on the Sabbath” rule to open up in Orlando on Sundays for the throngs standing vigil.

  286. 286.

    raven

    June 30, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    Mika Brzezinski: MSNBC Host Reportedly Divorces Husband After 22 Years of Marriage
    An MSNBC spokesperson reportedly confirmed the news to Page Six. Multiple outlets speculated on a possible relationship between Brzezinski and her “Morning Joe” co-host, Joe Scarborough.

  287. 287.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    @MomSense: Confession! Despite signs telling me otherwise, I took some artifacts from Greece home. In my defense, they were just a few pottery shards that were literally on the tour path and were being stepped upon and broken into smaller pieces.

    But I learned I would never be a good criminal as I was SO nervous leaving Greece that I would be discovered as an artifact thief.

  288. 288.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    @raven

    “reportedly confirmed”

    Yuck, what a weaselly construction.

  289. 289.

    Iowa Old Lady

    June 30, 2016 at 3:55 pm

    Holy crap. The Loras College Poll shows Clinton leading Trump by 14 points in Iowa. That poll is usually reasonably reliable, but these results seem too good to be true.

  290. 290.

    NotMax

    June 30, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    @redshirt

    “What’re you in for?”

    “Pot. smuggling”

    “Really? Marijuana?”

    “Um, no, not quite.”

    ;)

  291. 291.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    @raven: Watch your back Mika!

  292. 292.

    Trollhattan

    June 30, 2016 at 4:04 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    Promising myself to ignore all polls until a week after the last convention ends. It’s hard, but there’s such a tenuous relationship between early polls and election actuals. OTOH any bad news for Trump! is good news.

  293. 293.

    raven

    June 30, 2016 at 4:04 pm

    @redshirt: She’d never. . . oh wait.

  294. 294.

    gogol's wife

    June 30, 2016 at 4:06 pm

    @raven:

    Oh, wasn’t he her co-anchor here in Connecticut? They were a fairy-tale romance, as I recall from having it crammed down our throats when they got together.

  295. 295.

    Iowa Old Lady

    June 30, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    @Trollhattan: I saw the headline and thought “that can’t be true.” And maybe the poll is an outlier and for sure, it’s early. But wow.

    You know what really makes me smile? That would be so bad for Grassley.

  296. 296.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    @NotMax: lol. I went to great lengths to conceal the few shards.

    Anyone traveling to Greece should make a side trip to Crete. Crete was magical.

  297. 297.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 4:09 pm

    @raven: Thanks for the info. I was going to mention that you should update wiki, but someone else already did.

  298. 298.

    raven

    June 30, 2016 at 4:13 pm

    @gogol’s wife: It wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t such a fucking sanctimonious mackerel snapper.

  299. 299.

    bemused

    June 30, 2016 at 4:14 pm

    @raven:

    I second that.

  300. 300.

    gogol's wife

    June 30, 2016 at 4:18 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Untergang never gets old. Bruno Ganz FTW.

  301. 301.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 4:22 pm

    @redshirt:

    I once chaperoned a bunch of elementary school and pre-teen kids through Delphi. I was afraid they would break something big! We had lots of fun staging battle scenes at the ancient theater.

  302. 302.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 4:23 pm

    @raven:

    If I was an employee on that show, I would be sending my resume out toot sweet. Co-hosts + rebound romance = major drama. Not gonna be fun.

  303. 303.

    MomSense

    June 30, 2016 at 4:24 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Yes, super cool!

  304. 304.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 4:25 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    She’s talked about an interest in potentially doing marine archaeology, but I’ve told her she really needs to up her diving skill level quite a bit (nitrox, trimix, wreck and dry suit certs, along with rescue and master cards) which of course takes time she doesn’t have at the moment.

    I’ve actually wondered about doing that as a second career…

  305. 305.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 30, 2016 at 4:26 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: St. Sanders of Vermont, may his name be praised, on all of the intertoobz?

  306. 306.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 4:33 pm

    @MomSense: Fun! Delphi was amazing too. All of Greece is really.

  307. 307.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 4:35 pm

    @raven: I feel badly for Zbig. Knowing that your only daughter has fallen for that lunkhead, Joe Scarborough.

    Plus, he might like the son in law (and father to his granddaughters).

  308. 308.

    FlipYrWhig

    June 30, 2016 at 4:36 pm

    My take on why conservative nutbars are all worked up about transgender people and bathrooms is this: they don’t believe that there really are transgender people.

    They don’t think it’s an identity. They think it’s a trend or a fetish. What they’re worried about is that perverted predators will pretend to be “transgender” to manipulate muddle-headed liberals’ sympathies and thus get access, via bathrooms, to people with their pants down. So they don’t think transgender people are rapists. They think that rapists will pretend to be transgender and then commit more rapes.

    It’s a baffling thing to be concerned about because rapists have never been particularly deterred by signs or encouraged by proximity to excretory functions, but conservatives don’t really understand sexuality, or sex, or the human body, or consent, or people.

  309. 309.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    @gogol’s wife: Yeah, Ganz turned in an amazing performance. Saw that one in the theatres. Bruno Ganz is still alive; maybe there is still another great role in his future.

    Great mashup of Hitler’s bunker and Brexit. Very well done.

  310. 310.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    June 30, 2016 at 4:40 pm

    @redshirt:

    Oldest daughter is going to join her there next week. Youngest is going to show her all the neat stuff around her site, Pylos and Kalamata while working during the days, and I think they’re planning to move on to Mycenae and then go spend some time on Crete. Youngest speaks fair Greek, oldest is going to be challenged in the bus stations…

  311. 311.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 4:40 pm

    @Elizabelle: Thanksgiving should be fun.

  312. 312.

    JPL

    June 30, 2016 at 4:41 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: That is very cool!

  313. 313.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 4:46 pm

    @JPL: I hope they serve lutefisk or something.

  314. 314.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    That poll is usually reasonably reliable, but these results seem too good to be true.

    Outliers do happen with well-run polls. Again, this is the reason to look at multiple polls and take some kind of central measure like mean or median rather than responding to each poll individually.

  315. 315.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Co-hosts + rebound romance = major drama.

    What makes you think it’s rebound romance and not that their affair destroyed her marriage?

  316. 316.

    redshirt

    June 30, 2016 at 5:04 pm

    @Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: I speak zero Greek and had no problems in Greek bus stations. I’m sure your daughter will be fine.

    Congrats on raising two awesome women!

  317. 317.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 30, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    @Roger Moore: That would be my guess too. Their interaction on the show has been very couple-like and not co-worker like since forever. I am so not surprised by this reveal. I haven’t seen Joe of the Morning in more than 5+ years.

  318. 318.

    stinger

    June 30, 2016 at 5:14 pm

    “a pissoir too far” — Ms. Cracker, you may have outdone yourself with that one! Outstanding!

  319. 319.

    LAO

    June 30, 2016 at 5:16 pm

    O/T: Adnan Syed was granted a new trial today.

  320. 320.

    Roger Moore

    June 30, 2016 at 5:20 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    I wasn’t able to edit my comment on time, but one interesting thing I saw in the crosstabs was that there was a difference between people’s confidence in their vote between major and minor party candidates. About 80% of the Clinton supporters were in the “definitely vote” category vs 20% for “probably vote”; for Trump it was about 75% and 25%. FWIW, those are not statistically significant differences. In contrast, something like 40% of the Johnson voters were “definitely vote” vs about 60% “probably vote”, and about 30% and 70% for Stein. That’s something to keep in mind when people talk about the unusually large number of people saying they’ll vote for a third party; they aren’t as confident about how they’ll vote as the major party voters.

  321. 321.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 5:22 pm

    Googling, found a gushing profile of Mika from More magazine, about 4 or 5 years ago.

    Many years ago, she took a fall down a flight of stairs with her infant daughter in her arms; baby broke a leg; Mika was investigated for child abuse (and cleared). Because Mika was just working too hard; working all the time. (This was pre-Morning Joe.)

    [After being out of work for some months] Brzezinski told her agent to find her any TV job, even if it was low on the ladder: “Assistant to the assistant. Clean-ing toilets.”

    Her agent found an on-air, entry-level position at MSNBC as a substitute graveyard-shift news update reader. The job paid less than one-fifth what Brzezinski would have made at the PR firm. Despite that, “I was thrilled,” she says. She read updates on then Congressman Joe Scarborough’s weeknight program, at the end of which she’d lower her voice to a sardonic purr, “Now back to Scarborough Country.”

    In April 2007, when Scarborough was in New York putting together a morning show, the two met for the first time. “I know you’re making fun of my show every time you toss back to me,” he said.

    “How can I make fun of a show I’ve never watched?” she re-plied. Scarborough’s next thought was, I’ve found my cohost! They were both smart-asses. His conservative politics plus Brzezinski’s Democrat bona fides had the potential for stunning TV.

    The position was freelance, essentially a tryout, but Brzezinski went for it. When the red ON-AIR light blinked on for their first show, “I was, like, ‘Wow. Of all the thousands of wavelengths out there, [Joe and I] are on the same one,’ ” she says. “I felt I’d known him for 20 years and he was like one of my brothers at the dinner table, fighting the way we fought in our family.”

  322. 322.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 30, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    @Elizabelle: 4 or 5 years doesn’t seem right MJ has been on MSNBC since the 2008 Presidential campaign, with Mika and Joe as co-hosts.

  323. 323.

    Elizabelle

    June 30, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Didn’t realize they’ve been around that long. Poor us.

    Hard to say re article publication date; can’t find it on webpage. Might be from 2011. One clue from article:

    She tells me that two and half years ago, she was facing the most stressful day in a television newswoman’s life: her fortieth birthday.

    Yeah, right. But if Mika’s about 49 now … too much math, and not enough interest …

  324. 324.

    Mnemosyne

    June 30, 2016 at 6:56 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Either way, major workplace drama.

  325. 325.

    Cleos

    June 30, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    The Depends Solution sounds like a winner. Now we can identify the rightwingnuts just by smell.

  326. 326.

    Paul in KY

    July 1, 2016 at 8:03 am

    @D58826: I thought yesterday was Friday! That’s why I am back.

    Do wish Bill had not gone to see her, now that I have figured out what the Hell was going on about that.

  327. 327.

    Paul in KY

    July 1, 2016 at 8:06 am

    @J R in WV: Sounds like he went on her plane though. That’s less of a public place (IMO).

    That is if he did go on the plane.

  328. 328.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 1, 2016 at 9:54 am

    @catclub: As “Silent Cal” Coolidge once famously said, “You lose.” Elapsed time from initial inspiration (sic) to finished post < 5 minutes. :^p

  329. 329.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 1, 2016 at 11:52 am

    @redshirt: With the exception of Kalamata, where i was stuck one night when the last bus out had left before mine (from Sparta IIRC) arrived. Eponymous olives are delish, but the town is justifiably on Unc’s short list of “European cities only their mothers could love, & maybe not them” along with Catania in Sicily, Podgorica in Crna Gora (to give Montenegro its actual name), & Fulda & Bebra in Germany.

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