Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Books are my comfort food!

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

“woke” is the new caravan.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

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Reader Interactions

164Comments

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    In what universe does this make sense. A proudly unprepared co-conspirator in Britains worst FP debacle since Suez as Foreign Secretary?

    Oy

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    I suggest Boris work on protocols for his first meeting with the ambassadors from Scotland and newly reunited Ireland.

    As much as I look forward to this, independence will not happen that quickly. Neither will reunification.

  4. 4.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Book recommendation: David Taylor’s Night Life. The main character is a policeman in NYC during the 1950s. He gets crossways with the Hoover/McCarthy crowd. Even though I knew about the McCarthy hearings, there’s nothing like a novel to make you feel what being at one was like. And Hoover makes me deeply grateful for someone like Comey, even if he did go off on HRC.

  6. 6.

    Princess (now General) Leia

    What an ***hole. Boris Johnson on Hillary Clinton: “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.”

  8. 8.

    Warren Terra

    Among some of Foreign Minister Boris’s greatest hits:
    • Saying Pres. Obama hates the UK because of his Kenyan heritage – in a newspaper column, that had an editor. Not an off-the-cuff error.
    • Writing a poem about the President of Turkey having sex with a goat, to win a contest in a British tabloid. Erdogan is a brutal would-be dictator, but this isn’t a great thing to have on the resume of the foreign minister, especially less than two weeks before their appointment. Also, it was a terrible poem.
    • Saying the British Commonwealth supplies the Queen with “regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies” – again, in a newspaper column. The same column talked about their “watermelon smiles”.

    Basically: this is a bigoted buffoon who won’t be welcome in the US, in Africa, in Europe (as he’s a leading Brexiteer; also, as a newspaper correspondent in Brussels earlier in his career he was infamous for his numerous fabrications), or in Turkey. Let’s make him Foreign Minister. After all, he speaks Latin, that’ll help!

  9. 9.

    Emma

    As I found out (and posted in the other thread) he’s not only in charge of foreign relations, but also of Commonwealth relations and MI6.

    I have a feeling the Civil Service will close ranks on this one.

    ETA: and Mr. Johnson will find out what it is to have to deal with people who aren’t afraid of him.

  11. 11.

    BR

    Tim, I hope your re-emergence means you’ll be leading some Balloon Juice phone banking in the near future.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    If anyone was hoping Theresa May had the makings of a decent PM, I guess that’s the end of that.

  15. 15.

    Brachiator

    Congratulations to Boris Johnson for being named Britain’s new foreign secretary.

    Wow. I guess that Frankie Boyle said it best in a recent Guardian column:

    Theresa May has vowed to unite Britain – my guess is against the poor

    A couple of May’s other choices have really cheered the leading UK immigrant bashers and friends of cronyism.

    Her new line-up includes big jobs for prominent Leave campaigners Mr Johnson – who was initially tipped as the next prime minister after the Brexit vote – Mr Fox, and Mr Davis, whose job title is “secretary of state for exiting the European Union”.

    UKIP leader Nigel Farage tweeted that the appointments of Mr Fox and Mr Davis were “inspired choices”, adding: “I feel more optimistic now….”

    Liam Fox has taken on another newly created position as secretary of state for international trade. He was made secretary of state for defence in 2010 but resigned in 2011 over allegations he had given a close friend, lobbyist Adam Werritty, access to the Ministry of Defence and allowed him to join official trips overseas.

    I can imagine Republicans whining, “We need a government like they have in Britain.”

  17. 17.

    Trollhattan

    In a world full of assholes, Log Cabin Republicans retain their title as most pathetic assholes of all.

    Summer has really arrived in California, the air is resplendent with wildfire smoke. Let’s all make jerky in our backyards!

  18. 18.

    Cacti

    Theresa May has vowed to unite Britain

    England for the English.

    Scotland for the English.

    Northern Ireland for the English.

    Just as God intended.

  20. 20.

    Msb

    Maybe May is ensuring that foreigners will hate the Foreign Secretary more than the PM, or has she ensured that Boris will indeed hold the bag for the mess he’s made?

  21. 21.

    Warren Terra

    @Amir Khalid:

    If anyone was hoping Theresa May had the makings of a decent PM, I guess that’s the end of that.

    A commenter at LGM is suggesting that this and her equally insane pick for Brexit Minister (the guy she’s picked has indicated he will negotiate trade deals with individual EU countries, suggesting he doesn’t know what the EU is) are May setting these buffoons up to fail, solving her own problems and halfway to getting rid of them. I don’t buy it, really.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    @Tom Levenson: I assume this was a “You wanted this. You worked for this. Enjoy” statement. It also probably prevents him from plausibly gunning for PM down the road (on the theory that no matter what, Brexit will be a debacle in some form or another).

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    @Warren Terra:

    After all, he speaks Latin, that’ll help!

    So send him to Latin America? Maybe Caracas, where he can insult Hugo Chavez’s memory.

  24. 24.

    Alex.S

    In open thread news, Trump is suing a former campaign staffer for ten million dollars for allegedly breaching a non-disclosure agreement.

    Which apparently was a minor news item that almost everyone ignored. But now that it has a lawsuit attached to it, time to talk about rumors of an affair between two Trump staffers (Lewandowski and Hicks).

    In completely unrelated news, the RNC is next week and Trump still needs to pick a VP.

  25. 25.

    JMG

    It is never a bad move for a leader to put potential rivals in a job where they’re bound to fail and do so spectacularly. The Leave crowd wants the rest of the Conservative party to do the dirty work of actually leaving and telling the voters, “yeah, guess what? The EU told us to get lost. No more cheap vacations in Spain for you. No more German investment here. You’ll lose your job, but hey, we kicked out the Polish kid who empties bedpans down at the home. There’s an opening.” Now Johnson will be Mr. Bad News.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    @Alex.S:

    In open thread news, Trump is suing a former campaign staffer for ten million dollars for allegedly breaching a non-disclosure agreement.

    New innovations in campaign fundraising!

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    I, for one, would love to see RBG quadruple down on her criticism of Trump and just blast him out of the water. All the god damned handwringing by the media and pundits is making my ass chafe.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    to quote the political philosopher Lucille Bluth, this does not bode well….

  31. 31.

    chopper

    and the raving monster loony guy demanded crocodiles in the Thames before he’d consider the job

    Jethro Q. Walrustitty wasn’t available I guess.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    @David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:

    Senate confirms first black and first female librarian of Congress

    Hopefully, this will be the beginning of something good. It’s sad to learn the degree to which the LOC has been a hotbed of discrimination.

    The LOC has been working to limit discrimination and bolster minority representation. But some, including a union president, believe the institution still has a long way to go.

    Darryl Clark, president of AFSCME Local 2477, has heard the library referred to as “the last plantation,” given that parts of the building were segregated in the mid-20th Century….

    Two decades ago, the library made history with the largest settlement by a U.S. agency for a discrimination case.

    In 1996, the library began paying $8.5 million in cash payments and $1.6 million in legal fees to roughly 2,000 plaintiffs. The case, known as Cook v. Billington et al., stemmed from a 1975 administrative complaint filed by the Black Employees of the Library of Congress and Howard Cook, who worked for the Congressional Research Service. The group alleged discriminatory practices, including denying promotions due to race.

    There have also been horrible stories of discrimination against women and transgender persons. I really hope that good comes of this promotion. And damn the Republicans who opposed Carla Hayden’s confirmation.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @Alex.S:
    The Trump campaign is not just a dumpster fire; it’s a fractal dumpster fire. Every flame in the dumpster is a dumpster fire of its own, and so on ad infinitum.

  37. 37.

    David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch

    In a surprise move, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Luke Russert said Wednesday he is leaving the network.

    ***
    “I look forward to taking some time away from political reporting and focusing my efforts on other endeavors that I’ve long wanted to pursue.”

    he got canned. Must of did something he shouldn’t have.

  38. 38.

    Barb2

    I wonder how this appointment will impact on the colonies or overseas territories – like Caribbean Islands? PM May isn’t well thought of in the colonies. I haven’t heard much positive about her from my British and Canadian friends. I think they are in shock.

    Time to email friends.

  39. 39.

    patroclus

    Well, this appointment, coupled with the creation and an appointment of a Secretary of State for the Withdrawal of the U.K. from the EU, means that this will truly be a Brexit government. PM May almost certainly will trigger Article 50 by means of the Royal Prerogative rather then go through Parliament and they’re really going to go through with this nonsense. It’s too bad Labour is led by Corbyn, who only tepidly opposes Brexit and they can’t get their act together to force a vote of no confidence and do a new general election.

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @JMG:

    It is never a bad move for a leader to put potential rivals in a job where they’re bound to fail and do so spectacularly.

    From a political standpoint, yes. It has its failings as a policy if those jobs are actually important and you don’t want them screwed up. I would think Foreign Secretary would be among the jobs in the “best not to screw up” category.

  43. 43.

    Trollhattan

    @dmsilev:
    One wonders about the NDA language.

    “At no time and using no existing or future communications medium will I, the undersigned quote, paraphrase, describe or allude to Mr. Trump’s lack of couth, education, factual knowledge, perception of the existence of others nor his hatred of puppies and kittens and anybody not named Trump.”

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch: nah, some precious trust fund bro’ odyssey involving a sail boat or a vintage car, followed by a book about what he thought his Dad would’ve said if he’d been with Luckysperm as he drove the… Mustang’s too obvious…. T-Bird? I’m not a car guy …. drove that restored Dodge Dart through the Heartland-y Heartland and talked to white people about their hopes dreams and fears in this crazy election year.

  50. 50.

    burnspbesq

    Looks like we’re going to have to put Caesar down in the next day or so. Like the vast majority of Pyrs do at around age 10-11, he’s reached the point where his back legs no longer function.

    Thanks for nine years of first-class companionship, big guy. We’ll miss you.

  52. 52.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Roger Moore: My guess is that PM May is going to go to the polls after the conference season is over and she’s firmed up her position as leader of the Conservative party. She demanded Gordon Brown call an election after he took over from Blair back in 2007, after all. It’s quite common for a Cabinet reshuffle after an election and at that point, after a few well-placed shivs have been inserted in Boris’ back during the Tory conference he will be history.

  53. 53.

    Miss Bianca

    oops, last comment has been eated…why, I wonder? was it the dread word “Grizzly”?

  54. 54.

    burnspbesq

    @David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:

    if NBC canned people for sucking at their job Andrea Mitchell would have been gone decades ago.

    That depends on how you define her job. If her job is to annoy people enough to watch and/or click, she’s doing fine. It’s only if you define her job to include making sense that her performance starts to look shaky.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    @Davis X. Machina:
    For some reason, the page wouldn’t load or me. But let me guess: Hillary is indicted, the Democratic party turns its lonely eyes to Bernie, et voilà!

  62. 62.

    patroclus

    @Robert Sneddon: That’s certainly possible, and it would enable May to give Bojo a temporary perch from which she can remove him after the election, presuming the Tories win (which seems likely if Corbyn remains head of Labour). NOW would be the time for some Labour leader to emerge who could lead the anti-Brexit forces and make a late fall election a second referendum (plus other issues). The Lib Dems will certainly be pro-EU, as will the SNP – will Labour unite behind an EU agenda or will they equivocate all fall?

  68. 68.

    Chat Noir

    @burnspbesq: Sorry to hear that. It’s been two years since I had to put both of my cats down so I understand what you’re experiencing.

  69. 69.

    Tony J

    Couple of ways of looking at this.

    Boris thought he could slip away from the wreckage of his Brexit promises and avoid any involvement with its real-world fall-out. Fat chance of that with May dropping the the Foreign Secretary portfolio into his lap. Blustering arsehole will be front and centre of British foreign policy during the Leave negotiations, even if he’s not the main negotiator the Media will treat him as if he is, taking the blame and feeling the shame whether he likes it or not. What was he going to do? Turn down the gig and torpedo what’s left of his political career? Suck it up, fat boy.

    Or, May is as much of a scummy, Thatcherite piece of carbon-hearted crap as Boris, Cameron and all the other Tory front-benchers. She knows that Boris only jumped on the Leave bandwagon so that he could shiv his good friend and fellow pig-fucker Cameron, which enabled May to step in and take the Crown. No hard feelings, no real policy differences, why shouldn’t she give him a high-profile gig with plenty of opportunity for long-term grift and grandstanding?

    Or, they all got smashed on Pimms and Champagne and played spin the bottle. They’re Tories, they don’t really care what the little people think.

  70. 70.

    Patricia Kayden

    Just got an opportunity to see President Shrub dancing at the Dallas police memorial. Locks!! Hilarious. Poor Michelle and Laura.

    @burnspbesq: (( )).

  71. 71.

    Fester Addams

    @Alex.S:

    In open thread news, Trump is suing a former campaign staffer for ten million dollars for allegedly breaching a non-disclosure agreement.

    One wonders how he’s calculating his damages. Is that $10MM that he won’t be able to grift off the rubes because of the staffer’s actions?

  75. 75.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    @Tom Levenson:

    In what universe does this make sense. A proudly unprepared co-conspirator in Britains worst FP debacle since Suez as Foreign Secretary?

    We now know were our home grown conservatives learned their derp from. The Right, dumber than box turtles since the 100 years war.

  77. 77.

    Felonius Monk

    @Corner Stone:

    I have come to truly despise Steve Kornacki.

    You seem to be addicted to MSNBC. Perhaps an intervention is in order before another TV set loses its life. :-)

  78. 78.

    Cacti

    @Fester Addams:

    One wonders how he’s calculating his damages. Is that $10MM that he won’t be able to grift off the rubes because of the staffer’s actions?

    Tort reform for thee, but not for me.

  79. 79.

    scav

    @Iowa Old Lady: Oh, there’s a glow in that direction too? I was too busy looking at the sun setting on the blazing bins of little England. No wonder it’s been so hot here.

  80. 80.

    J R in WV

    OT: ticked off. First world problems and all, but still

    So last week a relatively new dishwasher was running silently, when it made a groan, and stopped- for good. Called a repair guy who has done work for us before, and he looked it over, said he thought the motor/pump was stuck. The part was $480, and this opinion cost $80.

    Yesterday after spending time researching rankings and reviews of dishwashers, I went to the local appliance store and bought a $700 [german brand] dishwasher, which was delivered around noon by a guy who installed the dead machine about 4 or 5 years ago.

    After they left, we read the book, studied the controls, loaded some dirty dishes (imagine that, we had a supply of those!) and a little soap capsule, and worked for 20 or 30 minutes to get it to start.

    Now it sits, silent, displaying E:24 on the little read out. With many of the tools I use to cook locked inside.

    We have invited 7 friends to have dinner with us Saturday. I also ordered a new stove from the same guys, will cost way more than an order of magnitude more than the dishwasher. We need to fill an elderly 36 inch range’s void. The current stove works, kinda, but needs lots of work to be shiny. And they can’t appear to get parts for it, which it needs to be shiny. Do I still want that new stove? Cause I’m wondering, now. There are other dealers…

    Now I’m ticked off, and having a Gin&Tonic to drink. I have clean skillets, so dinner will be fried and simple. With G&Ts.

    Now I’m gonna read the thread. Sounds like Britain is as well off as we will be if Hillary loses…

  82. 82.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Davis X. Machina: So delusional! I’m sure that Senator Sanders has moved on and has made peace with not being President. We all need to move on and focus on defeating the Orange Headed Monster.

  85. 85.

    patroclus

    @Tony J: As weird as it may seem, I think we’re going to look back on Cameron, relative to his fellow Tories, as a decent PM. Up until his Brexit referendum fiasco, he seemed to live a charmed political life, lucking into a coalition government where he was able to bully the Lib Dems into accepting austerity, increased student fees and other bad stuff and being able to make them take the fall for it, lucking into the economic recovery which inevitably happened ater the 2007-08 crisis, barely winning the last general election, which enabled him to destroy Labour, who went all Corbyn and ceased to be electable and, with the Edinburgh Agreement and the subsequent referendum which he won (and destroyed Labour there), successfully bullying the Scots from their independence ambitions. Then, he stupidly caved into his right wing, scheduled the referendum and everything went to hell for him. His promise to keep the U.K.’s AAA credit rating gone, the recovery gone and U.K. stability gone.

    But, I think his successors are going to be far worse and nowhere near as lucky. So, in retrospect, I think he’ll look like a remarkably stable moderate Tory PM. His crowning achievement was full-blown legislative passage of marriage equality – that was what he was bragging about at his last PMQT this morning.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Warren Terra:

    Basically: this is a bigoted buffoon who won’t be welcome in the US, in Africa, in Europe

    Unless they’re betting on a Trump win, in which event he’d get along wonderfully with the US administration.

  89. 89.

    Trollhattan

    @J R in WV:
    Sounds like kidnap for ransom to me. Does it want Euros (the “E”) or Bitcoins?

    I can type this because away from the house–ours (also Deutsche) is 18 years old.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Patricia Kayden: I don’t hate him, but he does, in his earnestly nerdy way, hype every polls or bad news story as the end of this, that or the other campaign or career. I often enjoy his deep dives into political history, especially on the state level.

  95. 95.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Warren Terra: Wow. I had never heard that Boris was such a racist before. No wonder he was for BREXIT. Guess the existence of all those Black and Brown Londoners must have worked his nerves.

  97. 97.

    eclare

    @J R in WV: Did you get a Bosch dishwasher? Can’t help you with the message, but I’ve had one for about four years, and it works great and is absolutely silent when it runs. Sounds very frustrating.

  98. 98.

    Roger Moore

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Can’t read it now, but I see Vox is reporting that Lewandowski is still on Trump’s payroll.

    They’re just saying that he’s still getting severance pay, not that he’s still on the payroll as an active employee.

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    @Warren Terra:

    After all, he speaks Latin, that’ll help!

    Many male Latin speakers appear to be members of an ancient organization founded to protect pedophilia as a religious rite.

    Is Mr. Johnson part of that group?

    Because that will help!

    Won’t it?

    And the guy who thinks he’s going to negotiate trade deals with individual European nations? Not going to happen, they (individual nations in Europe) aren’t allowed to have individual trade deals. They won’t even talk to him, meet with him.

    England is screwed so bad. They don’t even understand what they’re doing, nor what it will do to them… I should call a broker and instruct them to short the Footsie, because it is going down further than anyone imagined on Brexit won day.

    As if I had a broker I could call, and money to do a short call with. I do know what they are, but haven’t ever done one, nor plan to. But this is the time and the call to do it if ever you were going to.

  104. 104.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @burnspbesq: It’s never easy, but you know you’re doing the best thing for him. Take care.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  105. 105.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @Cacti:
    We don’t need that shit. That is the sort of post mortem smear the right uses against victims. It does not win friends, it does not justify the killing since it could not have been known by the shooter and it just comes across as tasteless and tacky. Even if true it helps nobody.

  106. 106.

    burnspbesq

    Thanks for the condolences, everyone. We’ve known for a few months that this was coming, but it always catches you off guard when it actually comes.

  111. 111.

    japa21

    @J R in WV: As mentioned above sounds like an installation problem. That code for Bosch relates to a drain problem. To be honest, I am surprised the delivery/installation people didn’t do a test cycle before they left.

  112. 112.

    J R in WV

    @burnspbesq:

    I’m sorry to hear that. Real problem as opposed to my “Ticked off” problem. We love our dogs so much. I remember every one like it was yesterday.

    Condolences.

  113. 113.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @burnspbesq:
    Sorry to hear that, it is never pleasant so I hope you can smile about all those good times and not focus on the loss.

  114. 114.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Becoming Foreign Secretary is, weirdly, the quickest and most effective way for Boris Johnson to give up his US citizenship, something which he still hasn’t apparently done in spite of promising to do so on multiple occasions.

    Whether the IRS sends him a final tax bill is an… interesting question.

  115. 115.

    Barb2

    @burnspbesq:
    So sad. Bart was our Kamadore, the big white livestock guardian dogs, looked like a walking mop. Loyal and a great friend. So yes I understand. It really really hurts. His best friend was a tiny Chihuahua. Gentle giants.

    Time goes too fast. I love the senior dogs.

  117. 117.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @J R in WV:
    The ‘E:24’ error means the drain pump is running but no water is being drained so look for a blockage in the drain line. If you’re sure the lines are not blocked (I assume the disposal plug is out since there was a dishwasher there before – the drain line goes to the disposal unity in case you didn’t know) and the drain pump runs and drains the water then it might be a control board problem. With the toe panel off you should be able to confirm by listening that the drain pump is running. I hope this helps.

    It does make me wonder if the line is blocked & your old unit was OK. A bit late for that I guess, sorry

  119. 119.

    raven

    @burnspbesq: Aw man, it’s the second best thing you can do for a pup but that doesn’t help now.

    We who choose to surround ourselves
    with lives even more temporary than our
    own, live within a fragile circle;
    easily and often breached.
    Unable to accept its awful gaps,
    we would still live no other way.
    We cherish memory as the only
    certain immortality, never fully
    understanding the necessary plan.
    — Irving Townsend

  120. 120.

    Punchy

    Michelle Beadle is on my TV, and lets just say it’s not her relatively attractive face that’s got my attention. Good lord, what a…..”dress”.

  121. 121.

    daves09

    @Cacti: And that is relevant to what?
    The man who was killed in Baton Rouge had a long petty crime record but I don’t think that is relevant to what happened to him.

  125. 125.

    Sloane Ranger

    I appreciate shadenfreude as much as the next person but some people on this site are taking entirely too much pleasure in the impending destruction of my country, the country I love.

    And just to let you know people here are keeping calm and carrying on and, contrary to what you may may have read, Eastern European immigrants are going about their business as normal not cowering in their homes fearful of being attacked.

    I am getting the feeling there are people here who hate the UK.

  126. 126.

    BobT

    I dunno…Trump, Brexit, Boris. Perhaps Putin has put something in the West’s water supply.

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    Thanks for the drain advice, I got that from the Google – but the install folks or somebody from the shop where I purchased it is going to come and make it work, or take it home. I’ll be cancelling that expensive stove order too. There are other 36″ gas ranges out there.

    For what it’s worth, the sinks drain fine through the same line the unit is hooked to.

    And I’m sure Boris knows medieval Latin, after all that’s what they speak in Britain, right? That was a bad joke, for which I am (not) truly sorry.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    turned on the Halperin notHalperin show long enough to hear Halperin say the fact that the GOP convention is, as of this moment, unplanned would be a disaster for most candidates, but he thinks Trump’s “showmanship and family” can make it work. Has he seen Ousay and Quday? (I love that… is it a Betty Cracker original?)

  130. 130.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @Sloane Ranger:
    As far as I know nobody her hate the UK, nobody wishes them ill. We do hate the idea of and the people behind the brexit vote. They are people who are damaging the UK badly & there is anger (rightfully so) about the direction the nation is taking just like there are people angry here and abroad by the rise of Drumpfenstein monster, an ugly pustual we have been aware of but that nobody understood the size of until this year.

  131. 131.

    Elie

    @Sloane Ranger:
    You certainly have my empathy. I just think that the bitterness folks express is self protective to cover our disappointment and also not a little fear of our own about our impending leadership change. Not a total excuse but it was a total shock to me anyway that such an outcome could happen in such a reliably responsible country

  133. 133.

    burnspbesq

    The best explanation for Booris as FS comes from the ancient wise man Vito Corleone:

    Keep your friends close, and your enemies, closer.

    I also think that May is giving Booris every chance to fail spectacularly and remove himself from future consideration for any position of authority or responsibility.

  134. 134.

    patroclus

    @Schlemazel Khan: Yeah, we love the U.K. – they’re our strongest world ally and a LOT of us have relatives over there and follow events there closely. We like seeing Andy Murray win Wimbledon, we mourn when they lose to Iceland and we loved Diana and her children. But we want them IN Europe to make it function better and we don’t want Germany more dominant that it ever was there and we don’t want a worldwide trade war, or racism towards migrants/immigrants, or currency market instability or closed borders or the whole U.K. to break up. My diary over at the GOS had a poll and 81% of kossacks opposed Brexit – I think it’s the most massively stupid thing the U.K. has done since the Intolerable Acts. We hope that they get their act together, but it doesn’t look good now.

  135. 135.

    debbie

    @burnspbesq:

    My brother’s family has two of them (still sorta pups but huge). They really are sweet things. I’m sorry you’re faced with this.

  136. 136.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sloane Ranger: I would hope it’s not schadenfreude so much as bitter japing along the lines that Elie suggests – some of it is whooping past the graveyard, I believe, because of our dread that we could be driven by the same toxic stew of racism and anti-globalism to elect Donald Trump, who is an even worse disgrace to his country than a Johnson, Gove, Cameron or Farage.

    Speaking for myself, I love the UK and am bitterly grieved at the Brexit vote – I hope it doesn’t end up having a hugely destructive effect on the country, and on Europe, and the world. Wishing you well!

  137. 137.

    scav

    @Schlemazel Khan: Basically, this with a bit of additional grump because I’ve taken to hiding in the hiding in the depths of BBC radio for about 16 years (do the math). Add to that a whiff of “well, that might get you to take voting seriously” which also kicked in when France nearly voted in Le Pen that one time and most freaked on round two (at least their system allowed that second thought — faulty in other ways but they did manage a hasty trois-point turn that once). As for the football, that’s just appreciation for a divine accidental sense of narrative structure.

    ETA: I reserve my right to have no thoughts about Diana whatsoever except a general tedium. Friday Night Comedy however, HIGNFY, and Marcus Brigstocke.– John Finnemore is one for the planet though.

  138. 138.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Schlemazel Khan: Thanks for your and Elie’s comments. I was angry for a week after they announced the result of the referendum. I have to believe that May is playing the long game here to show up the Euroscepics for what they are. If I don’t I will spend the rest of my life in tears! As for Boris as Foreign Sec. we have a very professional Foreign Service and they will probably be able to stop him doing any real damage.

  139. 139.

    eclare

    @Elie: Agree very much with your assessment. I truly feel sorry for the 48% who were royally screwed by the 52%. And after two terms of W, terrified it could happen here.

  140. 140.

    Tony J

    @patroclus:

    Hardly. Cameron’s big success was in muzzling his own Party’s brutalist tendencies and presenting a PR friendly “We’ve learned our lessons, honestly” facade long enough to take advantage of the electorate’s disgust with Blairism and distain towards Gordon Brown for basically being a less charismatic Blair, despite what he’d promised for years. Even then it took the fallout from the 2008 Collapse to squeak him into a Coalition Government and the mind-blowing vanity of the Lib-Dem leadership to let that Coalition enact hard-line Thatcherite Policies that, as you say, the Lib-then took the blame for. His few socially progressive successes were sops thrown out to mask the axe his Party was taking to the underpinnings of society itself, and the price paid for them was having to buy back far-right support with the EU referendum itself, which meant the country got reforms it would have received from any other political Party but at a ridiculously inflated cost because, y’know, Tories are fricking nuts.

    Will he go down in history as a flawed success? I don’t see it. Despite the current tongue-bathing he’s getting from the Media as he exits Cameron will go down in history as the Tory leader who caused the break-up of the Union by totally mishandling the entire EU referendum from start to finish. From its genesis as a cowardly sop to his restless Eurosceptic right, through the form it took when he dismissed and refused all the common-sense ideas to settle on a ridiculous In-or-Out 50.1% of whoever bothered to vote system that allowed 1/3 of the population to decide the fate of the entire nation, to the campaign itself, which, lest we forget, he was the leader of. Cameron couldn’t even bring along a majority of his own Party, never mind the country. Not much of a legacy.

    Sorry, I can’t say I agree with you about Corbyn either. The New Labour project was wrecked by 2010, exposed as little more than a rebranding of Thatcherism with a hazy rose-gold sheen. The former Labour strongholds that abandoned Brown and rejected Miliband didn’t do it because they were too left-wing, and the 1/3 of Labour voters who went Leave last month had their minds made up long before Corbyn won the Leadership.

    Last year Labour’s actual Party membership were given an opportunity to vote against Blairism for the first time in a generation and they jumped at it by an overwhelming majority. They want the Party to change and voting for Corbyn was the only way of doing that. Is he the ideal standard bearer? Of course not, he’s a backbench Old Labour stalwart awash in a sea of Oxbridge educated lawyers and PR meal-ticketers all building up credit chits while on a gap decade from Proper Jobs in the City, but he’s all they were offered and the fact that he won so overwhelmingly shows that it’s the Parliamentary Party that is hopelessly out of touch with its voters, not the other way around. All the backstabbing and pleas for Unity from the current challengers doesn’t change the fact that Labour can’t start winning back the voters it’s lost by just rebranding Blairism, it simply won’t work.

    YMMV.

  143. 143.

    Gravenstone

    @Warren Terra: I believe we will get to learn all sorts of new diplomatic phrases that boil down to, “Boris, you’re an inbred imbecile” in the coming months. Especially when dealing with a Clinton administration.

  144. 144.

    patroclus

    @Tony J: Hardly. Gordon Brown, Chancellor for 10 1/2 years and PM for 2, took aggressive liberal action against the 200-7-08 crisis, effectively nationalizing all the banks and increasing government spending to the point that the U.K.’s debt ratio to GDP was approaching Portugal, Ireland/Italy/Greece/Spain levels. This was credited worldwide as the best reaction to the crisis and effectively saved the U.K.’s economy. Relative to the rest of the EU, the U.K. responded magnificently and set the basis for the recovery that Cameron took advantage of. That is hardly Thatcherism – not even remotely close. Corbyn’s sliming of him as equivalent to Blair is ridiculous. A good Labour leader would have fought Brexit with all s/he had; Corbyn, who opposed the EEC in 1975, was tepid at best, refusing to show up to campaign events and doing a grand total of 10 events in 7 weeks rather than the day-to-day campaigning a leader would do. And what’s worse, Corbyn has accepted Brexit! He’s not even mildly opposing it now! He’s pretending that the political battle, which has been ongoing since the early 50’s is over. He is the worst kind of leader imaginable – conceding when the going gets tough.

    Blair has been gone for 8 years. Why are Corbyn and his supporters still fighting him? What possible benefit will that get? Deliberately engaging in nonsensical infighting against a leader from 8 years ago is a textbook definition of a terrible leader. Labour needs to unite! Against Brexit! Corbyn won’t do it. Somebody else needs to. And it doesn’t matter what school they went to or where they worked. The PLP largely opposed Brexit – they are right on the most important issue facing the U.K. right now. Corbyn accepts the result – he is wrong. Labour needs to fight for the U.K. they believe in, in the EU, with free access to the single market and a say in EU affairs. If they don’t do it, and stay with Corbyn, the Tories will get their way – to the detriment of the U.K. and the world.

  145. 145.

    vhh

    @Amir Khalid: Actually, it shows that she is brilliant, keeping her enemies even closer than her friends. If Brexit goes pear-shaped, the Foreign Minister can be replaced and the PM gets off scot free. Just take a look at some of the episodes of Yes Minister on Youtube to see how it works.

  146. 146.

    karen marie

    @Sloane Ranger: I think it’s just relief and giddiness knowing we’re not alone in having political clusterfucks. I doubt anyone here wishes GB anything but the best of luck.

  147. 147.

    Barney

    @Brachiator: Liam Fox had close ties to ALEC:

    Liam Fox resignation exposes Tory links to US radical right

    Fox’s organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming.
    …
    Werritty, the group’s UK director, was funded by a raft of powerful businessmen including Michael Hintze, one of the Tories biggest financial backers whose hedge fund, CQS, has investments in companies that have contracts with the Ministry of Defence; Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, who chairs a US munitions company; and the Good Governance Group, a private security firm set up by a South African businessman, Andries Pienaar, who also has an investment firm, C5 Capital, focused on the defence sector.

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/oct/15/liam-fox-resignation-exposes-tories

  148. 148.

    Pete Downunder

    Just read on the GOS that David Duke is considering throwing his hood into the ring challenging House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
    Trump still has not rejected his endorsement.

  153. 153.

    Amir Khalid

    @vhh:
    Really? I would be too fearful of the damage BoJo could do to even contemplate giving him a cabinet post. But I suppose that’s why Theresa May is a PM and I am not.

  155. 155.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t have anything against individual English/British people except people like Niall Ferguson who around singing ballads about the glorious Empire annoy me.
    As a nation UK has a lot of past sins to answer for. Not a distant past, either. Look around the trouble spots in the world today and tell me who has had their paw prints all over them.

  156. 156.

    vhh

    @Amir Khalid: You bet, that sort of thing takes political skill and courage. I know very little about Theresa May—but I did read that she was on the Remain side, but carefully kept her head down during the BREXIT campaign to keep her options open. Sure looks like a good call right now—her potential rivals folded their cards without a big vote. Of course, the whole PM thing itself could turn out to be a poison chalice. I recall that Churchill feared presiding over the dissolution of the British Empire. Any PM right now risks presiding over the devolution of Great Britain itself into Little England (and Wales). Crikey.

  159. 159.

    LiberalJuice

    State Department releasing HRC deleted work-related emails as part of a FOIA request. Not trolling…genuinely wonder what, if anything, will come of it…..seriously tired of it all…..

  160. 160.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    @Sloane Ranger: Don’t forget the obligatory Irish Americans whose last Irish ancestors left the Emerald Isle 150 years ago. I sorta kid, I have some of that Celtic blood in me too, but people hold onto grudges.

  161. 161.

    jeffreyw

    @J R in WV:

    The code indicates a drain problem. I would expect there to be a drain pump failure unless there is a loose connection at the drain pump. If the drain hose goes to a disposal make sure the plug in the disposal has be knocked out. The unit should be level. One thing about the E:24 error is that by definition the error means the drain pump is running but no water is being drained so look for a blockage in the drain line. If you’re sure the lines are not blocked and the disposal plug is out and the drain pump does run and drain the water then it might be a control board problem. With the toe panel off you should be able to confirm if the drain pump is running.

  162. 162.

    Original Lee

    @J R in WV: I read a piece today on how the U.K. needs to hire trade negotiators because they haven’t made a trade deal on their own hook in (I think) 50 years. All the good negotiators are staying with the EU. They are talking about global headhunting. Talk about unintended consequences.

    OTOH, the Rethugs have introduced a resolution urging President Obama to initiate negotiations on a bilateral U.S.-U.K. trade deal.

  163. 163.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Original Lee: There can be no bilateral US-UK trade deal or negotiations on such a deal until the UK actually leaves the EU, which hasn’t happened yet. It’s possible Theresa is playing a long game to keep the UK in the EU (the Boris gambit was either crazy or inspired) and if she pulls it off she’ll go down in history as one of the smarter PMs we’ve had alongside such notables as Gannex Wilson.

  164. 164.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: Speaking of Vogon-esque, I clicked over to the Wonkette story about Log Cabin Rethuglicans & found this line embedded in an in-line ad in the middle of the embedded copy of the LCR President’s letter to his membership:

    We install a solar system at no charge.

    I immediately wondered how many planets you got for free, & if they included a fully-stocked Kuiper Belt….

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