Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

No one could have predicted…

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Let me file that under fuck it.

In my day, never was longer.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

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84Comments

  1. 1.

    RobertDSC-Quad Intel Mac

    I just think of the American flags left on the moon. That is my fondest thought about being an American.

  2. 2.

    lollipopguild

    You do not have to love every single American in order to love and treasure a country where people from all over the planet have proven that they can live in peace with each other.

  5. 5.

    Trentrunner

    Rumors swirling that because Sen Bob Corker is campaigning w/Trump tomorrow in North Carolina–where Obama & Clinton make their first joint appearance–Trump will be announcing Corker as his VP then and there, too.

    Would be the first not-completely-politically-idiotic thing Trump has done in about two months.

  6. 6.

    Elie

    YESSSSSSSS — Happy 4 of JUUUU — LY my friends on B-j — and to our country….

    May we stay strong and believe in the true dream of liberty and love….

  7. 7.

    Schlemazel Khan

    The flag is a symbol not a blindfold. It can serve as a backdrop for the emotion of patriotism but should never blind a person to the things we still need to work on.

    I love my country. I love my kids too but that does not mean I ignore their faults and pretend they are perfect. I want my kids to do better & I know they can. I feel the same way about my country, very proud when they do well, happy to share their success but want them to always try to do better while they enjoy what they do well.

  8. 8.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Why the hell would Corker consent to do that? The guy is a low life, but he’s about as near to a sane Republican as we have left here now. What the hell could he be hoping to get out of this? He’ll spend the next five months or whatever it is trying to control Trump, and then having to answer for him when he can’t. It seems like it would be beneath him to run with Trump. I don’t know; maybe I’m misreading the guy, but he’s been about as critical of Trump as any Republican has been this last year.

  10. 10.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    I have to admit that I don’t love America. I don’t not love it, either. To be honest, the concept of loving a country doesn’t make any sense to me. I can love people, but only ones that I know. I can’t love an abstract concept like a country. I just can’t wrap my head around the idea.

  12. 12.

    Mnemosyne

    We’re spending our 4th of July like all right-thinking people should: watching the “Twilight Zone” marathon on SyFy. William Shatner’s finest half hour is on now in “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.”

  14. 14.

    seaboogie

    I am minutes from checking in on NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter, in solidarity with me pa (me in CA, Dad in SW Ontario) who is a big fan of physics and all things space and planetary.

    Also 15 days away from qualifying for a senior discount – and it just so happens that my 55th birthday falls on a Tuesday, which is senior discount day. I will celebrate by shopping a bit more heavily than my usual daily foray, and will call my Dad to tell him that his eldest is now officially a senior. Since Dad is only 77, it’s fun to remind him that while he may not be that old, his kids are getting up there in years.

  17. 17.

    PurpleGirl

    Often when I think about the country I hear in my head the ending speech in the movie The American President. I’d insert it here but it is a long speech. But every time I watch the movie that speech just hits a spot. (Yes, I’m in love President Shepard. If only he was real.)

  18. 18.

    hilts

    @Trentrunner:

    “Rumors swirling that because Sen Bob Corker is campaigning w/Trump tomorrow in North Carolina”

    There should be a special place in Hell reserved for Corker and other Republican assholes in the Senate and House of Reps who understand that Trump is completely unqualified to be President, but who cravenly believe in putting the interests of their fucking political party ahead of the interests of America.

    @lollipopguild:

    “You do not have to love every single American” – Fuck that goddamn motherfucking Donald Trump and his pathetic fucking hairpiece.

  19. 19.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Mnemosyne: I asked the little fortune telling machine in the greasy spoon, “Is that Shatner’s finest hour?” and it answered, “Results inconclusive”.

    They’d better get my car fixed soon or I may never leave.

  20. 20.

    chris

    @lamh36: At times like this I’m glad I voted for Justin. Other times I just despair because I’m just another “hard leftist” who got spun by a pretty face and some promises. He reminds me so much of Obama, Hope and (a few minor) Changes, as the neoliberal train keeps a’rollin’.

  21. 21.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    Spousal ThresherK and I happened to be in Hyde Park for Memorial Day, and that gave me a good feeling about my country.

  22. 22.

    PurpleGirl

    @Mnemosyne: Enjoy it Mnem. I will be staying up to watch 1776 on TCM. Also on TCM before 1776, Yankee Doodle Dandy. I know the movie isn’t true to James M. Cohan’s real life but Cagney was so good in it; who can not watch Cagney tap dancing down the White House steps. Dance scene filmed in one take with no rehearsal. Cagney was one hell of a tap dancer.

  23. 23.

    chris

    First comment in moderation because I posted a link? To a pet picture? Did I miss a memo?

  24. 24.

    Miss Bianca

    Looks like the rain is clearing up, so it’s probably fireworks viewing and then some more writing and then an early-night crash. Wrapping up the Shakespeare plays has left me feeling oddly enervated.

  25. 25.

    The Dangerman

    I’m still saying it’ll be Gingrich. Adelson money gotta look good to Trump.

  26. 26.

    Davis X. Machina

    Reading — actually listening to an audiobook of — the American-est book there is: Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs.

  28. 28.

    Anne Laurie

    @chris:This iteration of FYWP has decided that all ‘naked’ links are spam. If you can use the link button on top of the leave-a-comment box (highlight a brief description, e.g., ‘weekend’s not over’; click ‘link’ button; enter the URL; press okay; post comment as usual) you won’t have to wait for one of us front-pagers to fish it out of the filter.

  29. 29.

    PurpleGirl

    @PurpleGirl: Menem — I wasn’t quite finished with my comment…

    I’ve done the Twilight Zone marathons before and watch a few of them this afternoon. But somehow The comment closed and I couldn’t get back to it in time.

  30. 30.

    Anne Laurie

    @The Dangerman:

    I’m still saying it’ll be Gingrich. Adelson money gotta look good to Trump.

    Two potential landmines: Newt says something Lord Short Thumbs interprets as disrespectful; or Adelson decides a guy who loves the alt-Reich as much as Trump just ain’t his kinda candidate.

  31. 31.

    geg6

    My poor pups are on the verge of a nervous breakdown, poor things. There’s a special hell reserved for all the assholes who insist on producing their own fireworks extravaganzas. This is three nights in a row. It has made Lovey so upset, she’s thrown up in bed the last two. Hopefully, it won’t happen again tonight. I hate this part of Independence Day.

    Plus, I think I’m coming down with some sort of respiratory crud. People are going to be pissed if I call off tomorrow.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:
    I think they’re making a distinction between loving all Americans and loving each and every American. The idea is that loving all Americans means treating all citizens equally, i.e. not thinking your kind of American is superior to all other kinds. That’s different from loving each American, which is the kind of thing only a saint or a delusional person could do.

  33. 33.

    The Dangerman

    @amk:

    Why the automatic assumption…

    The media has Newt and Adelson as BFF’s; can’t tell you why.

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    @PurpleGirl:

    We ended up not watching “1776” this year. G had homework and he was feeling a little down since it’s the 4th anniversary of his dad’s death this year. But we’re going to hike up into the hills and see a few fireworks displays since you can see a few different cities’ displays from up there.

  39. 39.

    Tenar Darell

    @PurpleGirl: My favorite Cagney apocrypha is that for all the acting only parts he did, he considered himself a hoofer first & always, so it feels perfect to hear it only took one take without rehearsal to get the White House steps scene.

  41. 41.

    Villago Delenda Est

    At least 27% of the population of this country can’t do what Cena asks.

  42. 42.

    PurpleGirl

    I was able to see about 2/3 of the Macy’s fireworks display. My terrace has lines of sight to Manhattan, Brooklyn (almost to Coney Island and the display they do there. This year there was a display in Maspeth (I think) that was smaller but had some of the same fireworks as Macy’s. So I was sitting outside to watch. Didn’t see the lower bursts but the high ones were great. I saw the fireworks the first year on the Hudson at the park with friends. Now I’m hearing random explosions.

  49. 49.

    lamh36

    Finally getting around to watching Marvel’s Jessica Jones on Netflix. It’s def a weird one…David Tennant is both creepy and hilarious and charming and sinister as hell…all at the same time.

    Well done David!

  50. 50.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @efgoldman: They met in December and apparently got along swimmingly.

    While the mega donor didn’t disclose his degree of backing for the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination, he did say he found Trump to be “very charming” and called his standing in the crowded candidate field “unheard of.”

    “It was very nice,” the gambling tycoon told Reuters in a rare interview in Macau when asked if he had met Trump, who leads in opinion polls of Republican voters. “He was very charming.”

    Hours later, Trump returned the compliment to Adelson, telling Reuters, “Sheldon and I have been friends for a long time. He is an amazing man. I am the only one who doesn’t need his money. But I would love his support.”

    On the subject of Israel, Trump added, “Sheldon knows that nobody will be more loyal to Israel than Donald Trump.”

    The meeting and Trump’s pro-Israel stance – coming after more ambiguous remarks a few weeks ago – could pave the way for a deeper relationship between the two men, a month and a half before the first Republican nominating contest in Iowa.

    […]

    “We like a lot of the candidates, some more than the others,” Adelson said during the interview in Macau, the world’s largest gambling hub, ahead of the formal opening of his new St. Regis hotel in the former Portuguese colony,

    “It’s changing every day. I saw in the news today that Trump said his percentage approval was 41 percent. Out of 14 candidates, 41 percent is unheard of.”

    Asked what characteristics he would like the Republican party’s nominee to embody, Adelson said, “They have got to be able to win.”

    If Trump continues to crash in the polls, Shelly may keep his money.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  51. 51.

    PurpleGirl

    @NotMax: Yes, he began walking down the steps and then began dancing. One year it looked like no TV station was showing the movie but the Museum of Modern Art was so I went there. There was another movie showing before YDD, so I let other people into the movie before me. (It was first come, first enter.) The guard let me do it when I told him I wanted to see YDD. Then a lady behind me heard what I was doing and she began staying with me. We got to talking and she said she was Cagney’s niece. She had stay in the City for some reason and couldn’t get to the farm upstate for the annual BBQ and showing of the movie. Uncle Jimmy’s favorite movie.

    Finally the time for YDD came and we entered the movie and we parted. So maybe she was Cagney’s niece or maybe not, but it was a nice conversation and she got to see the movie she really wanted to.

  54. 54.

    redshirt

    @chris:

    At times like this I’m glad I voted for Justin. Other times I just despair because I’m just another “hard leftist” who got spun by a pretty face and some promises. He reminds me so much of Obama, Hope and (a few minor) Changes, as the neoliberal train keeps a’rollin’.

    Jesus. I doubt anyone is good enough for you. Not in this reality.

  56. 56.

    CaseyL

    Listening to the Juno orbital insertion on another tab. Engine burn took place without untoward incident and will burn for 35 minutes, taking Juno into Jovian orbit. You could see the doppler on the screen in Mission Control, showing the sharp upward spike as the burn happened.

    It’s difficult to do a telecast about a space mission without actual images from the ship, so there’s a lot of interviewing people, talking about the mission, the reason Jupiter is so hot, etc. I’m really enjoying it.

  58. 58.

    redshirt

    @CaseyL: Go Juno!

    I wish this probe was also exploring the Jovian moons like Cassini, but alas. There is Europa mission in planning stages though, which is going to be incredible.

    The moons of the solar system are more interesting than most of the planets, and I suspect that’s the case with every solar system.

  59. 59.

    fuckwit

    @Anne Laurie: Is there a pool?

    here’s the square I’ll take: Troll will tap someone, like Gingrich, who has a mind of his own. That person will say or do something without Troll explicitly telling him to. And, Troll will fire him. And pick someone who’s going to lapdog him, like maybe Christie.

  60. 60.

    fuckwit

    @redshirt: That’s because Presidents and Prime Ministers don’t make the laws, control the economy, or speak for 100% of the people. My guess is that Canada has got so much neoliberal momentum, like the US, that no one person will or can be expected to change it. It’ll take generations of hard work. Don’t give up.

  64. 64.

    max

    Orbital injection completed! Woo.

    max
    [‘Juno did not go smack. And that doesn’t suck.’]

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mike J: That particular engine uses hypergolic propellants, hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide–they ignite on contact. The engine was actually made by a British company, Moog-ISP.

  67. 67.

    max

    “Welcome to jupiter”

    “Welcome to jupiter,” a voice said over the radio at Nasa’s JPL, with scientists cheering, clapping and hugging each other.

    The burn time was within one second of the predicted time, putting it in exactly the orbit it needed.

    “You’re the best team ever! We just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done,” shouted, principle investigator of the Juno mission, Scott Bolton.

    max
    [‘And now the little probe begins to have its brain slowly fried.’]

  68. 68.

    seaboogie

    @CaseyL: Me too. This was really interesting. I initially thought it would be immediate gratification with cool pics, but it was just about getting into Jupiter’s orbit with a solar powered vehicle. Pretty amazing stuff, and the interviews put the significance of this mission into perspective. Really interested in seeing what data is gathered over the course of the mission.

  69. 69.

    workworkwork

    @redshirt: Mind control is the scariest bad-guy thing as far as I’m concerned.
    I almost didn’t watch “Jessica Jones” because of that (glad I did, though). I knew David Tennant would be an amazing bad guy ever since I saw him in “Secret Smile”.

  70. 70.

    CaseyL

    @Mike J: Here’s the description of her fuel:

    Juno carries six spherical propellant tanks – four containing fuel (called hydrazine) and two holding oxidizer (called nitrogen tetroxide). When the two propellants combine, they burn to give Juno thrust. Together, the propellants have a mass of just over 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds), accounting for 55 to 60 percent of the spacecraft’s mass at launch.

    Aboard Juno, there are also 12 thrusters that fire bursts of hydrazine to adjust its rotation and orientation in space. In addition, Juno has two tanks of liquid helium, which provide pressure to the fuel lines, allowing the propellants to flow.

  71. 71.

    Honus

    @Mornington Crescent: Lois Lane. She spoke at UVA 40 years ago, and came to the bar where my band was playing afterward. While she was dancing to Sweet Jane we changed the chorus to “Lois Lane” She loved it.

  72. 72.

    max

    @efgoldman: Yeah, since Shelley’s purpose in life is to get Netenyahu elected president of the US and turn the Republiklowns into Likudniks, I’ve got to think he’s got extra ultra-sensitive antennae for any whisper of Antisemitism. Or maybe he’s got such a huge blind spot it doesn’t matter.

    1) Trump yells a lot. Israelis’ Favorite Thing About Donald Trump? His Style (to Put It Bluntly)
    2) He’ll (likely) want to fund Israel the big bucks.
    3) He’s want to hit Muslims everywhere and anywhere. Also he doesn’t care about the Palestinians.
    4) Trump undoubtably loves BiBi. And the Russians like Trump.

    What, from Adelson’s POV, is not to like?

    max
    [‘What’s a little antisemitism between buds?’]

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @srv: Yes. The dipshit killed him. WITH A GUN.

    Fuck him. He should languish in a cell for his irresponsibility.

  74. 74.

    redshirt

    @workworkwork: Especially a psychopath with mind control powers. Some of the things he did on the show were shockingly horrific, not only because of what we saw, but what we could imagine. His offhand joke about telling a guy to “go fuck himself” is terrifying.

  75. 75.

    Lamh36

    @redshirt: it was “go screw yourself” and yeah creepy as hell. the idea that he was actually picking his words carefully and STILL ends up doing horrific shit!!!!

  78. 78.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @workworkwork: Tennant was great, but it was also the writing. As the series progresses, and Kilgrave’s character is slowly revealed, it all fits. There is a moment, when he describes what it was like having his power since he was a child, where you actually have sympathy for him, and then it dissipates as he cannot keep from being the evil monster he has become.

    I like it when superhero writers take the time to really explore what various powers do to the personality of those who have them. There was an issue of X-Factor, some 25 years ago during Peter David’s run, when someone asks Quicksilver why he’s such an asshole. His response was, “You know those times when you’re stuck in line at the ATM, behind the person who can’t figure out which button to push, and takes forever? That’s my entire life.”

  79. 79.

    PurpleGirl

    @Matt McIrvin: I was watching a Mythbusters that was made in line for the ending of the series. It was about a “new” fuel for a rocket. new fuel — gummy bears (in three forms) and another petrochemical. quite a funny episode.

  81. 81.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Trentrunner:

    Rumors swirling that because Sen Bob Corker is campaigning w/Trump tomorrow in North Carolina

    NC has two GOP senators, one of whom is newly-ish elected and has no, one of whom is up for election in November. Are they not prepared to stump with Tr*mp in their home state? To be fair, the far-west bits of NC are very much Vols country, but that doesn’t mean they’re Corkertown.

  83. 83.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @max: Direct from the website:

    “You’re the best team ever! We just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done,” shouted, [<-sic] principle [<-even siccer] investigator of the Juno mission, Scott Bolton.

    Geezypeezy, one lousy sentence & we get an out-of-place comma & a misused word (“principal investigator”). Idiocracy comes to planetary exploration. Either the budget left no room for hiring flacks who were, like, actually competent in English, or this came from the keyboard of some GOTea Congresscritter’s second-cousin’s son…

  84. 84.

    Prescott Cactus

    I am a bit out of the “scene” and had no idea who this John Cena was. Zero clue. Interesting guy. That video is 3.5 minutes of awesome and only a Democrat embrace a this type of inclusion. If you have told me his background I would have labeled him a Republican.

    Ironic this is co-sponsored by “Love Has No Labels”. . . Bad me !

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