You know that feeling you get when you get out of the shower and realize you forgot to bring a towel or go to the bathroom and reach for the tp and there is none? That’s how I feel every time the cable channels cut to video of Trump talking. Disgust, anger, and despair over the situation, and a little bit of self loathing because it’s my fault the tv is on MSNBC/I forgot a towel.
Reader Interactions
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Andy
You better hope the coasts pull it out for Hillary.
Trump stickers everywhere in flyover.
Cermet
Let me understand this – by ‘giving’ tRump so much free air time, these stations/cable outlets get more revenue via standard commercials in the long run? This is wrong.
LAO
@Andy: You sound like Peggy Noonan.
fedupwithhypocrisy
#MSNBCsoAbusive We should change the channel to Law and Order reruns.
bago
If you turn to CNN you’ll get both sides of the debate. On the one hand you’ll get the advice of the Trump campaign manager they paid half a million dollars for, and on the other hand you’ll get the much advertised Paul Ryan town hall, where he still supports Trump.
Anoniminous
Infotainment Mediums need a horse race to get the clicks and eyeballs to sell to advertisers so by galldamndumb there will be a horse race!
Andy
@LAO: Just sayin. I hadn’t really seen that many bumper stickers, either way, except “Bernie”. I’m not thinking Pence is a big draw. I’m in most 48 every couple weeks, except the Eastern seaboard.
Keith G
If you choose to keep hitting yourself over the head with a hammer, please don’t complain to others that you have a headache.
I can think of very few reasons in the world why one would turn on any of the 24-hour news services.
Worse, the fact that you are watching them is giving them a market-based reward for continuing to do what they are doing.
Just fucking stop it
CONGRATULATIONS!
This is why I simply got rid of cable. Can’t watch that crap.
PST
So it’s Pence, they say. I was a little disappointed to hear that Trump chose the least bad of a bad lot. But my Hoosier friends say that Pence is more terrible than we realize, and that when we get to know him better we will understand that he’s the most extreme of the three, if not the most repulsive.
Keith P.
It used to be that I couldn’t stand to look at his hair (it really is just ridiculous. I hate to tear someone down on physical appearance, but walking in public with that thing represents some serious delusional thinking; it’s a symptom of something worse). Now, I can’t watch his rallies because of his hand gestures. He has only 3-4, but he uses them so damn prominently that that’s all I can focus on. And they’re accompanying 3rd-grade-level oration (“I’m going to do really, really…good.”), so it makes them even more infuriating to watch – like Rick Perry suddenly wearing glasses. Doesn’t make the material any better.
trollhattan
@LAO:
It’s RtR yet again.
TriassicSands
Towel? TP? The feeling I get is more like the one when I’ve just been told I have cancer. Way, way worse that no towel or no tp.
Roger Moore
@Cermet:
Pretty much. The free airtime they give Trump counts as programming, so they weren’t going to earn money on it anyway. Also, too, it’s cheaper to send a couple of people to report on the latest Trump follies than it is to do actual investigative journalism, so they’re also saving on production costs.
schrodinger's cat
You don’t need to watch cable, get all your news from BBC and Balloon Juice like I do.
SixStringFanatic
What Keith G. said.
PST
I see that Matt Yglesias has withdrawn his claim that Pence was the dumbest Congressman. He says that he was naive when he reached that conclusion. He did not yet know just how dumb Our representatives could be.
Amir Khalid
I hope this bit of classic Asian pop cheese from the 1970s will help cheer you up.
Punchy
@Andy: Nope. I’m in Red State Central, Flyover HQ, in the middle of the reddest county in the state, and nary a Trump sign anywhere. Nowhere. No bumper stickers, no orange hair dye jobs, no trucker hats, nada.
These peeps most certainly aint pro-Hill, but they aint in love with the orange and jaundiced.
Fair Economist
I’ve found this really great site for screening the news. It’s called Balloon Juice. I just read the comment threads. I can ignore the news sites and if something significant happens, it comes up in the comment threads and I can go google up info on it. I stay informed, and my blood pressure stays down. It’s great, you should try it sometime!
Keith G
@Andy: It’s called flyover country for a reason. People count more than sheep. It’s all about the electoral votes. Skip counting yard signs and check in with Sam Wang, for one example.
I see that Ginsberg has apologized for her unfortunate statements. I value her passion and her service, I just wish she had not spoken out and made her behavior the issue and not the candidate she spoke out to publically oppose.
Villago Delenda Est
Let me guess, the mustard is still missing in action, as well.
Major Major Major Major
So what you’re saying is, you’re not a hoopy frood.
dmsilev
I gather John has been mopping again.
gindy51
Only one Trump sign in my town, hung on the Verizon cell phone tower so who knows who put it there. I already contacted them to get it removed…
Uncle Cosmo
@Andy: Fuck off & die, you imbecile. Anyone with an IQ > 75 knows how much stickers signify: Nada, niente, rien, nichts, etc. Gabeesh?
Matt McIrvin
@Punchy: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: If you want to see Trump yard signs, go to Massachusetts. The people who love him most are blue-state Republicans; he is crushing in the yard-sign war here. And Trump is way, way, way behind in every poll in Massachusetts.
Uncle Cosmo
@Anoniminous: How can you have a horse race when the GOP only enters the back half of the horse?
scav
@Amir Khalid: Distracting, along with another d-word, so it may have achieved its goal, but I’m not sure I’m cheered. It’s more the usual befuddlement.
(back to figuring out what willow I may be dealing with.)
Face
@Uncle Cosmo: Tell us how you really feel!
RaflW
I’m disappointed that Notorious RBG backed down. I was furious at the NYT editorialists for pearl-clutching. I think it is really because she called out the lame-ass press as much as she did Trump that she got jumped on. The Village and their friends are so fucking fragile they have to punch out a 90lb old lady. Shesh.
Bill E Pilgrim
Mike Pence, future answer to the sure-fire trivia game stumper “wait who was Trump’s running mate in 2016? I just can’t come up with it…”
Cermet
So, after Hillary becomes President – does one address her as Mr. President (as in the military “Sir” can be used for female officers) or as Madam President?
Villago Delenda Est
@RaflW: Me too. Fuck the vermin of the Village. Drumpf is fascist pigshit. Fuck him and the entire neo-Nazi GOP.
Immanentize
@LAO: also too, “Flyover?” Who actually talks like that?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t think I’ve seen one Trump bumper sticker. I think I saw one Trump cap at the airport a few weeks ago. Could be I’m not paying enough attention. Definitely Bernie! has won primary of bumper sticker I myself have noticed walking and driving around, and he still lost my flyover state’s primary, and nationally by over three million votes.
On the R side, Ben Carson definitely has the support of most people that I have noticed who give enough of a fuck to put a bumper sticker on their car. That primary awarded no delegates.
scav
@Uncle Cosmo: I think they’re going for a mixed-species race (so long as they pee in separate enclosures, of course) because they’ve entered not half an ass, but 115% of one.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cermet: Madam President. And while you can use “sir” with female officers, in my experience most preferred “ma’am”.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
I had one of those great moments just this morning. I was headed to a far away court in Western Kentucky, cruising along at 90, and luckily spotted that a state trooper had whipped a uturn in the median and was going my way, leading me to hit the brakes. Some car behind me passed by as I frantically tucked myself in the right lane, and he settled in to his. Trooper got behind him and flashed him, then I noticed a nondescript older sedan rolling down, now blue lights blazing swing in behind. Trooper in cruiser stomps to pulled over car in middle of lane, I thought he was going to flag me in; instead, he’s angrily motioning me into the passing lane.
I thought I was going to collect a big ass ticket. I’m thinking they mistook the poor pulled over slob for the radar return I was generating – either that, or he was simply sucked into following my lead and wound up being the sacrificial lamb to my lawbreaking….
Bill E Pilgrim
The 2016 Republican National Convention, the empty toilet paper holder of 21st century politics.
Keith G
@RaflW: She was right to back down. She made a mistake. Even though she is someone who I absolutely adore, I think her comments while actually correct were quite unprecedented for a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court to utter.
I believe he backtracked. because she became aware of the error she had made.
eric
@Immanentize: this year it will be combover country
Immanentize
@Keith G:
I do understand your regret, but isn’t there some point when everyone — everyone! — is obligated to speak out? Isn’t that time now?
Bill E Pilgrim
@Cermet: I use Veep as my guide, especially the time Amy told her “Okay come on it’s election night, it’s time to Ma’am up”
JMG
The only people whose opinions a Supreme Court Justice has to give a damn about are his/her colleagues. I assume Ginsburg took heat from other justices yesterday.
Felonius Monk
That’s called Taking a Dump
foron Trump.Cermet
@Villago Delenda Est: Thanks – didn’t know
Bjacques
Yeah, well that’s how we feel about seeing Boris Johnson, Agent Of Chaos, on the news all the time. But, yeah, the Giant Circusized Peanut is rated nvs gold over here too.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I got rid of all TV in the ’80s and it still gives me anxiety attacks by mere proximity.
John we love you and want you to be happy. Please turn that shit off.
D58826
Nat Silver is giving Trump a 34% chance of winning the election. Last week it was 20%. The Comey hit job is working.
LAO
@trollhattan: Boy, am I a schmuck! I try never to engage the trolls.
@Immanentize: LOL. Peggy Noonan? That’s going to be my answer for everything this afternoon.
patroclus
Well, here in Illinois, which is strong Clinton country and is nowhere hear the coasts, I haven’t seen any Trump signs (although there are still a lot of Bernie signs/bumperstickers). On the other hand, Trump has gone about a week or so with no major gaffes and the Quinnipiac polls just came out and the horserace polls seem to be narrowing a bit. I think this period over the next two weeks is going to be as good as it can get for Trump and he’ll get a convention bounce so the race will be close to even leading into the Dem convention. Then, I expect Hillary will also get a bit of a bounce and we’ll be back to where we were going into the Olympics, which will put everything on hold for 3-4 weeks and then Labor Day will come and the real race will be on. I think Hillary will win but the issue is whether it’ll be enough of a wave to get 30 House seats. The DCCC chair was on C-SPAN and he said there are 48 close House elections. So we’ll see.
Felonius Monk
@Bjacques:
When I first read that, I saw “the Giant Circumcised Peanut”.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
I was wondering where mine went.
Can you use that power and get rid of all people who use “begs the question” without knowing what it means?
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Felonius Monk:
The invisible Hand of the Market giving you the finger while it giggles.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Bill E Pilgrim: You want Mitch Altman, inventor of the TV-B-Gone device.
eric
@D58826: sigh, Hillary’s strength is GOTV, so Trump will need to be plus 2 in all of the states that matter to win. that means he is only 18 points away. I would not trade places for a million bit coins.
scav
@Immanentize: She spoke out — and seems to have expressed regret for saying the words to the press (which has some merit) but doesn’t seem to have retracted or expressed regret for thinking them. Circumspect just means not swearing around the parents.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this could become amusing…
the hits include:
also, too:
in fairness, that was over six months ago
Elizabelle
@PST: Thinking Pence will make people think “Dan Quayle was the smart Hoosier.”
Keith G
@Immanentize: She has chosen to occupy a position that has a specific set of traditional requirements / behaviors. Publicly condemning the candidate of an opposition partisan group is something that has not yet been done by members of the Supreme Court. I would just as soon it is something that not be introduced to our politics.
I really dislike Samuel Alito, but at least he hasn’t taken to a public forum and condemned Hillary Clinton as being someone whose behavior is too dishonest to be considered as a viable president of the United States.
I wish my side hadn’t been the first to cross thst bridge.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, that was then, and this is now, and Pence has a new very small penis to suck.
eric
@Elizabelle: you used “thinking” and “Pence” in the same sentence — two demerits for you.
Major Major Major Major
@D58826: Sam Wang has Trump at 20%, Clinton by 3. And he’s better. Her EV margin dropped hard by 20 and then bottomed out, though.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Polls had Romney beating Obama the week before the election. It’s mid July. Jeebus, people, get a fucking grip.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: The boat sailed on that a long time ago, and Mitch McConnell was screaming “I’m the king of the world!” at the bow of it.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
I’m disappointed in her for apologizing in any way. He takes it as weakness.
I’m not sanguine about him at all, and think him so disastrous as an executive that I’m anticipating that it will take at least 15 years for the radioactivity to settle down enough after the Ruuso-European-Japanese-Chinese preemptive strikes on DC, the navy bases and the missile silos for the true progressive paradise to settle in among the 100,000,000 surviving citizens…
patroclus
@Keith G: Actually, the first Chief Justice, John Jay, ran twice for Governor of New York while sitting on the bench and made a lot of negative partisan comments. Abe Fortas was a regular WH visitor during LBJ’s presidency, O’Connor said Gore winning the election “would be terrible” and Scalia made all kinds of statements that were fairly partisan (homosexuality is immoral and should be illegal) as well as going duck hunting with Cheney. So RBG is nowhere near the first. That said, it’s impolitic for her to do it and I’m glad she’s walked it back.
Elizabelle
WRT Pence: is he there to be the presidential candidate if they manage to wrest it away from Trump?
Anything could happen.
trollhattan
@LAO:
He did try to stick the landing by throttling back the CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! (is r trolls learning?) but the line of thinking leaks through. Been reading him far too long, that’s for sure.
Major Major Major Major
@patroclus: It doesn’t matter what other people do. A liberal did something bad, so it’s the first time anybody’s ever done that bad thing.
jacy
@Fair Economist:
That’s how I get my news. Balloon Juice makes a great filter. I figure if a front-pager or one of our many fine commenters haven’t mentioned it, I don’t really need to know. At least it helps to keep my stress level in check.
Immanentize
@Keith G: unprecendented? Hardly. Ever hear of John Marshall? Public ally opposed Jefferson and later Jackson. So it is a time-honored practice.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: I’ve seen Andy around before actually. He’s a concern troll.
sukabi
@bago: lewdandloudski is also still paid by Trump,
bystander
I’m struck by how often the creeps on MSNBC have to call Tim Kaine bland and boring. Forget that it’s Chuck Toad and Andrea “Spackle Face” Mitchell demeaning the man. Does one of them ever mention that Mike Pence is mashed potatoes in a suit?
Trollhattan
@eric:
Boy howdy, stolen for re-re-reuse.
ThresherK
@PST: Ginny Fox is still there, ain’t she?
SiubhanDuinne
@Andy:
I really fail to see what Pence would bring to the ticket.
But I will confess to a little fantasy about The Grand Announcement tomorrow morning. You know how the pundits have been saying things like “we may not even know who it is until we see him coming down the escalator of Trump Tower,” and I started thinking, wouldn’t it be funny, and very much like Trump, to get Newt, and Pence, and Kris Krispy, and maybe Ivanka and a couple of others to all descend the escalator, one after another. Just keep the head-fake on the media going as long as possible.
Cat48
Yes, John, get BBC World. I can only watch msnbc at night & that might not be for long. They also have diverse anchors, not 99% white like US channels.
Kay
@Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill:
OTOH, who cares how he takes it? She’s not running against him.
A Supreme Court justice said he’s a fake, everyone heard it, and her saying she shouldn’t have weighed in doesn’t change that everyone heard it. I don’t know if there are a lot of people who think her opinion is credible or has weight, but if there are some she got her point across. Once it’s said it can’t be unsaid :)
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne:
Exactly.
@Kay: Just like when John McCain ‘misspeaks’ and says Obama hates America (or whatever), then walks it back. It’s a good tactic, if that’s your thing.
Trollhattan
Somewhere in this story is a metaphor applicable to the Republican Party.
patroclus
@SiubhanDuinne: Well, Pence has as much sperience as Jack Kennedy did when he ran for President, so there is that. And Ouday and Kusay apparently like him a lot.
D58826
@Immanentize: Funny how Ginsburg is getting racked over the coals for stating the obvious while Comey as FBI director acted as judge/jury/execution on the e-mails. His comments will have a much bigger impact on the election that what RBG said. He knew exactly what the impact would be and as a Clinton hunter from the Starr witch-hunt he finally got his shot.
Mike in NC
In 30 years I never saw anybody address a female officer as “sir”.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Anoniminous:
It was a smidge before I was paying attention… Did the last big presidential blowouts feature the media telling us it was gonna be close? (Nixon vs. McGovern, e.g.)
RaflW
@Andy: Colorado is leaning heavily HRC if recent polls have any validity (they may not!). My parenthetical notwithstanding, I think many states with growing Latin@ populations will surprise pollsters and the GOP.
James E Powell
Two things bother me and remind me of campaigns past.
1) The press/media are pounding the “Can’t truth Hillary” line in the same way they pounded “Gore is a liar” back in 2000. I get that a lot of people got tired of Somerby talking about it, but that doesn’t make it untrue and it doesn’t make it something that the Clinton campaign or the rest of us should just sit & watch, like most everyone did in 2000.
2) The press/media are in love, and when I say they’re in love I mean L-U-V luv, with Donald Trump the Thing the same way they loved Arnold for Governor back in 2003. Watch the cable shows. When they are about to go to Trump story, they are all smiling. When they talk about how ridiculous he is, they are smiling, I don’t mean the designated partisan talking heads, I mean the regulars or anchors or reporters. They smile. They send the message – this is a show, this is fun, no matter how ridiculous he sounds, this is not something you need to be worried about. Enjoy this.
If we are looking for indications of how the press/media is going to aid in the presentation of Trump for President, we will see it in the two conventions. They know, like they knew with Bush in 2000, that if they can keep the election close people will keep watching.
Keith G
@patroclus: I don’t mind the candidacy (200 yrs ago) or the hobnobbing with friends. If I recall correctly, Justice O’Connor’s comments were made among friends at a party being held election night. It is different by many levels of degree then sitting down in from the New York Times and making a much more aggressive statement.
NotMax
@Keith G
Except for those who ran for president while on the court and continued to sit on that bench after not succeeding in their runs, among other examples of exceptions as precedent.
It may fall outside the usual expectations of decorum, but is far from a first.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wonder if they don’t just know Ivanka is smarter than they are– and I’m just assuming she has to be– so they’re deferring to her. Seems to me that to those lunkheads, Christie and Gingrich would seem like totally cool bro’s, for a couple of old dudes.
ETA: and I think RBG’s comments would have been more effective if she had only alluded to Trump while talking about the destruction of norms and the dangers of appeals to the demons of our lesser nature
TriassicSands
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Ah, a fellow hater of all those who use “begs the question” without having any idea of its meaning. I doubt if many journalism or communications majors take Logic in college. I expect the problem to get worse, not better.
Cermet
@Mike in NC: One can by military rules, not aware that it is generally done.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cermet:
Boy howdy, I sure hope that’s the most critical issue of her first term. Or even her first week.
patroclus
@Major Major Major Major: USSC Justices have been political animals since the dawning of the Republic. Everyone knows this (or should know it). All the handwringing is nonsense. But RBG should have kept her mouth shut because she just gave Faux News something to talk about for weeks. Greta von Ribbentrop (er, Susteren) was all over it for a full hour last night.
schrodinger's cat
So it was OK for Scalia to pal around with Cheney, but its not OK for RBG to mention truths as obvious as daylight. MSM bought and paid for, by the GOP moneybags.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@bystander:
Can’t have the press being subjective when reporting on Repubs.
Trollhattan
@James E Powell:
Great post, and Trump’s braying over his “unfair treatment by the liberal mainstream media” only feeds their giggling fascination. As recommended above, I tend to listen to BBC World Service as I go about my day at home. They’re not tremendous fans of all things Trump.
RaflW
@Keith G: This is an interesting perspective from the Irish Times:
Ill advised and I regret indeed do fall short of apologizing. Though of course it’s reported as such here.
Mike J
@RaflW:
Hillary up one in Georgia in latest poll. I guess it counts as coastal, but not usually considered one of those evil coastal enclaves of liberal elites.
Miss Bianca
@D58826: this. for me, anyway.
Trollhattan
@TriassicSands:
As a datum point, my communications studies included argumentation, which revolved heavily around logical fallacy and moot court sessions. But mostly I studied this:
“Is this where I go for an argument?”
“I told you once.”
“no you didn’t.”
“I did, just now.”
raven
@patroclus: A bunch of the jackasses I went to high school with in the suburbs are big Trump loudmouths. These are guy who dealt dope like there was no tomorrow, now they are law and order fanatics. They also all avoided the military but they are all about “the troops” and “the police” now. They ain’t foolin me.
Dog Dawg Damn
Looks like it’s gonna be Mike Pence. A nasty bigot who wants to banish gays to die of AIDS. These guys pine for the 80’s so bad, but they’ll be confronted with the reality of an electorate firmly ensconced in 2016 and unwilling to relitigate all their pet grievances.
raven
@Mike J: Usually?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Roger that… Bill chatting up Lynch… Baaaad! (It was dumb, actually.). Wife of Clarence Thomas running a TP group? Nothin’ to see, folks… Move along… Show’s over….
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Dog Dawg Damn:
Yeah, but unlike the dreary Kaine, Pence is charismatic. He’s downright dreamy!
J R in WV
From an older, dead thread:
Mr Trump, where are your tax records? This question needs to be part of every interview, every press conference, every time he walks in front of a rope line with reporters in the crowd.
Until he gets well and truly sick of the question.
Where are your tax records?
When will you release your tax records?
Why should anyone vote for the only candidate in N years NOT to release your tax records?
Why won’t you release your tax records, is it because it would show your lack of available cash?
Would your tax records show your use of tax credits only available to people with income below $500,000?
Would your tax records show your business relationships with business partners unacceptable to the American people?
When will you show the voters your tax records in order to prove you aren’t a crook?
patroclus
@Keith G: You said it was the first time – it’s not. History is chock-full of examples. Douglas, Black, Frankfurter, Brandeis, Jackson, Vinson, Scalia – I even went to a judicial conference where John Paul Stevens made a bunch of political comments. Not to mention a bunch of Circuit Court Judges like Posner. It happens ALL the time. To say that its the first time is utter nonsense. As to the degree, yeah, most don’t blab to the NYT or if they do (like Fortas), it just wasn’t published. RBG should have just kept her mouth shut because gullible people will think it’s the first time it has ever happened.
Cat48
President Obama has spoken with PM May and he congratulated her on her new govt and assured her he would work with her to maintain the “special relationship” until he leaves office.
No, No, Sir, Please don’t Leave Us! You have spoiled us, stay!
chopper
@Dog Dawg Damn:
this is great, because you know drumpf doesn’t want to look like he’s following the news cycle instead of leading it. i’m sure he’s pissed as hell right now.
Major Major Major Major
@TriassicSands: Three logicians walk into a bar. The bartender says, “would you all like a drink?”
The first one says, “I don’t know.”
The second one says, “I don’t know.”
The third one says, “yes!”
scav
OK, I just lost it because suddenly Alaska is at an impossibly vast distance for La Palin to struggle all the way to the convention (and associated siren call of limelight and microphones).
Mike J
@raven: In December you’ll be hearing a lot about how the coastal elites in Georgia and Utah have always ignored heartland values.
Major Major Major Major
@scav: She only travels that far when she’s pregnant.
Matt McIrvin
@Cat48: Appointing Boris Johnson as foreign minister suggests that May is betting on a Trump win.
JPL
@Keith G: You mean like saying not true, to Obama during the State of the Union address… That Alito….
Barbara
@Keith G: No, Alito just made sure that he publicized the fact far and wide that he would not attend the state of the union address by a sitting president who just happened to be of the opposite party of the one who appointed him to the bench.
scav
@Major Major Major Major: gotta love those best-by dates in some instances I guess.
Major Major Major Major
@Matt McIrvin: I like the theory that she’s telling Boris “you broke it, you bought it” and setting him up to fail.
Joyce H
I live in a ruby red county in purple Virginia and I have yet to see a Trump yard sign or bumper sticker. I suspect my county will go Republican again, but without enthusiasm this time.
A weird thing. Politico has a lengthy article that’s supposed to be a Gingrich primer for millennials. So the target audience is people who don’t know or remember Gingrich’s career. It goes into a lot about the wives and the back-bencher bomb-thrower years and the two government shutdowns, but know what’s missing? The Clinton impeachment. I went back over to check and there was ONE mention, not even a full sentence, of the impeachment. I would have thought that ought to count as a fairly significant milestone in Gingrich’s career, wouldn’t you?
scav
@Matt McIrvin: Or that she just needs a constant supply of easy, news-obsessing internal mis-steps and news-sinks so that people are districted from other stuff being slipped through on the actual domestic agenda.
Trollhattan
@J R in WV:
Hasn’t he thrown out everybody not from Fox and Dead Andy by now? I expect every presser to basically be:
“Mister Trump, I heard it’s big, but how big is it?
“I have no problems with bigness, believe me. Thanks everybody!”
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major:
The other theory is that somebody wrote “F Off” next to his name and it was misunderstood.
Barbara
@bystander: Tim Kaine is actually not boring. Maybe they are confusing him with the other senator from Virginia, Mark Warner, who is truly and completely boring. I have attended several Kaine events and Kaine is optimistic and energetic and speaks very good Spanish. He was also the mayor of a majority African American city. I bet that Clinton’s calculus on VP is swinging towards the “safety” of white maleness. I am just being honest. It doesn’t make me happy.
Trollhattan
@Major Major Major Major:
Doesn’t that kind of screw the UK in the meantime WRT international relations? How long is this downfall supposed to take?
Shell
@Amir Khalid: Another thing to cheer youi up. Theres gonna be an
Absolutely Fabulous” movie.
Major Major Major Major
@Trollhattan: Maybe they’re expecting the permanent staff at the Office to rein him in. Maybe May is stupid. Maybe they genuinely want him to be the Officer. Who knows!
NotMax
BTW, Happy Bastille Day.
Trollhattan
Ah, Florida, entertaining us right up to the point it vanishes.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@scav:
Maybe she can’t afford it? Okay, I imagine the RNC would freight her keister to Cleveland, but I wonder what her actual financial picture looks like. Can’t you see her buying all sorts of stupid stuff: fur sink… Gasoline-powered turtleneck sweater….
Trollhattan
@Shell:
Have you seen the trailer? They kill Kate Moss, and it’s funny!
Barbara
@D58826: Yep. What he said was actually outrageous. He is not even a prosecutor — just the highest federal equivalent of chief of police.
Brachiator
@patroclus:
I can understand why she walked the statement back, but Trump is a fraud, and should be derided as such, early and often.
Soylent Green
@Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: My best break was getting caught speeding dead to rights. I’m sitting there waiting while cop is sitting in his car punching in my license and registration. Suddenly he trots back to my car, throws my documents at me through the open window, runs back to his cruiser and peels out. Had a bigger fish.
James E Powell
@Keith G:
True that the comments were made at a party, but she revealed a strong preference for the outcome and should have recused herself from Bush v Gore. But, as it is with everything else, IOKIYAR
D58826
@Joyce H:
Rather helped end it in the House atleast
Groucho48
@Keith G:
citywatchla.com/index.php/archive/4121-alito-rising-what-to-expect-from-the-supreme-court-s-new-alph…
scav
@Major Major Major Major: I still keeping thinking Zaphod Beeblebrox. That and the monkey with the organ grinder often wears as fancy as uniform as a captain, while the guy with the grinder turns the crank and walks off with the profits.
Trollhattan
@NotMax:
[Spoiler alert!] Bastille Day did not treat Froomy kindly.
Used to celebrate it yearly at Domaine Chandon in Yountville, who threw a great party. Still may for all I know.
Barbara
@Keith G: Not really. It’s really not that different. The judge I worked for had obvious political views but he told us how guarded he felt he needed to be among his friends and extended family members. SDO was out of line and should have recused herself, especially since her thinking was essentially personal — that she wanted her successor to be chosen by a Republican and she wanted to retire soon.
Trollhattan
@James E Powell:
Yup, the ole double-standard stands tall, polished and ready for the election. Lucky us.
Major Major Major Major
@scav: Douglas Adams? Oh, but my joke was too old.
At least Zaphod had something interesting inside his brain(s).
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: The ones that stay red in November (damn few one hopes), can we start calling them Combover States?
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
He will not distract from the Trump, which is the major point.
schrodinger's cat
I think Trump is going to choose the Muslim baiting military guy as the VP. Pence is too boring.
eric
@Major Major Major Major: awesome
James E Powell
@J R in WV:
Romney in 2012 laid the foundation for refusing to release tax records. If you are a Republican, you can tell the press/media to pound salt and, after a week or two, they stop asking. Cf. Bush in 2000 with his party-boy past, his inexplicable financial fortune despite never really having a job, and his failure to produce proof that he completed his TANG service. No Democrat would ever get away with those things.
Keith G
@Barbara: I think the SOTU spectacle is stupid and needs to be eliminated. If not eliminated, since it comes down to partisan cheer squads then the Joints Chiefs and the Justices need to be given the expectation to be elsewhere.
@JPL: What Alito did was trashy, but two wrongs….
Also, re: Alito and the rest….I have an issue with partisan apparatchiks going from a presidential administration (as a political appointee) to the federal bench. Maybe a 5-10 year delay is possible. Maybe there would be no way to work it out. Maybe the alternative would not be an improvement.
Immanentize
@Barbara: this cannot be said enough.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: Watching Trump is like watching a train wreck in slow motion, nothing can distract you from it.
Soylent Green
Anybody know how we can commandeer a couple of predator drones and take out all the cable news headquarters? It’s the only hope for our democracy.
scav
@Major Major Major Major: Oh dear, total catastrophic pop-culture failure. Business as usual on my part, in other words. Be kind and snarl.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
Nobody is sure what this means at all. Johnson has been known to put his foot squarely in his mouth when speaking about foreign matters. On the other hand, she has appointed two other ministers into positions which involve specifically dealing with BREXIT negotiations, which is extremely important to Britain’s future.
And while I guess that Johnson would get along with a President Trump and a Trump Secretary of State, it will be interesting to see how Johnson deals with Canada and other Commonwealth countries, and former colonial possessions. Will he insult Kenyans as he insulted Obama?
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
“Objection, your honor!”
“Objection sustained. The jury will ignore the statement they all just heard the witness say under oath.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Trollhattan:
I’m a female, and that story made me clench my knees really hard.
Trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
Since Notorious RBG is aware of all internet traditions, she should have merely Tweeted: “JK”
Timurid
So what’s up with Pence? He has cancer or something? He wants to go out in a blaze of glory?
Why does a guy who has (had?) something of a future in the Republican Party decide to sign up for a suicide mission?
Major Major Major Major
@Timurid: He didn’t have a future. This is his best hope.
RaflW
On the theme of flyover country: Good lord, how is this not illegal search and seizure?
JPL
@Brachiator: Johnson is on record as saying Trump is stupid, so I’m not sure how that helps. Although he doesn’t speak fondly about Hillary, he’s hoping to see Bill in the White House.
Shell
Yeah, surprised at that myself. And no Joe the Plumber?
rikyrah
Cole, sometimes you are hilarious.
Barbara
@Brachiator: Well, she obviously did not consult me, but if you are the mostly anti-Brexit new PM you definitely want to put pro-Brexit people in charge of coping with Brexit. First, if it turns out badly, you don’t want to give anyone the excuse that the negotiators really didn’t want Brexit so refused to make it work. Second, all those pro-Brexit people who scattered like cockroaches in the light after the referendum actually passed should be made to put their money where their mouth was. Seriously, they wanted this so they should be the ones to prove that it can work.
Trollhattan
@RaflW:
What the holy hell?
rikyrah
New cabinet may signal Britain’s retreat as a Western power
By Anne Applebaum July 14 at 8:43 AM
In fact, I get the logic. Theresa May’s first set of appointments — Liam Fox will become minister for international trade, David Davis will run the exit negotiations, and Boris Johnson will be foreign secretary — make a lot of sense. She has put hard-line Brexit proponents in charge of negotiating Britain’s retreat from European politics. It will be impossible, from now on, for anyone to argue that voters were cheated. If these three men can’t manage the United Kingdom’s divorce proceedings, then nobody can.
At the same time, May has deftly eliminated an obvious source of internal disharmony. Like Barack Obama appointing Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, she has given her potentially most damaging critic a huge task that will prevent him from writing nasty articles in the Daily Telegraph. Johnson, bored and sidelined, would have had plenty of time to think up jokes about her and her government; now he’ll be on a plane to Timbuktu instead.
But May’s choices also suggest a more profound change, visible for some time but only just now swimming into focus: Britain, or at least Tory Britain, no longer aspires to be a leading Western power. Surely May knows that Johnson is a hated figure in Brussels. Surely she guessed that the reaction to his appointment would be laughter in Washington. But she doesn’t care because — like the leaders of all small countries without aspirations to international leadership — her concerns are more parochial. She doesn’t need a foreign secretary who is taken seriously in foreign capitals.
schrodinger's cat
@Brachiator: No one really cares about Boris Johnson in particular or the foreign minister of the UK, in general. UK needs those countries more than they need it.
LAO
@RaflW: I read the article, the police obtained a search warrant from a Judge to obtain the sample. I’m no great fan of coercive police tactics but they presented probable cause to obtain the sample to a Judge, not “an illegal search and seizure.”
Major Major Major Major
@LAO: Wow, they really buried the lede.
Julie
Traveling in WV, NC, TN, KY and OH, have seen only 1 Trump bumper sticker. TRUMP in very large letters on a giant pickup truck. Have seen enough Bible billboards to last a lifetime.
Emma
@Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill: The thing is, she didn’t apologize. From what I’ve heard, she “regretted speaking to the press” but nowhere did she back down from her statement. Amused me that she used the Republican-style phrasing.
schrodinger's cat
@rikyrah: Do we really have to care what the Fascist’s wife says?
Trying again, since WP won’t let me edit my comment.
Keith G
@Matt McIrvin:
2+2=26?
If PM May is being the wise insider that I have heard described, this appointment, like many such, might be more about Tory intra-party dynamics than happenings across the pond. Boris still wants to be PM. With no portfolio, he could be a pain in the arse free agent. With a difficult portfolio, he will be kept busy and he might fuck up enough to get sacked and show once again how limited he is.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Barbara:
I don’t mind Tim Kaine at all, and most importantly it should all come down to how she feels working beside him – it’s safe and comfortable, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I wasn’t a fan of Joe Biden as the pick, but look how great those two ended up being together.
LAO
@Major Major Major Major: Indeed. Also, I can’t imagine the defense will win this motion to suppress the results of the urine test. If the state obtains a warrant for your urine, you can’t just close your legs and say “nah hah,” It would be like refusing to let the police enter your home with a valid search warrant, then the police break your door down and then you move to suppress any evidence the police find in the house, on the grounds that the police broke your door down. Not going to happen.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@RaflW: Was legal in CA until a few weeks ago for felony DUI. The cops did it to the girl in the bed next to me last time I was in the ER. Really wasn’t needed, the flipped SUV at 2AM and the injured people would have been enough for a conviction anywhere, I think.
schrodinger's cat
@Keith G: Don’t you know that the world revolves around the US? From cabinet appointments to popular uprisings they are all about US.
Mike J
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: California tumbles into the sea. That’ll be the day I go back to Annandale.
Peale
@Matt McIrvin: Good. Brought to you by the country that thought the Brexit plebiscite was gonna be a piece of cake win for “stay”, so why the hell not. They really don’t gauge public sentiment in their own country that well. Why should I worry that they understand ours?
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: I’m actually working on the campus of my old school now, it’s weird.
schrodinger's cat
@Julie: I just drove across upstate NY to Rochester from western Mass and back and I did not see a single Trump bumper sticker. Bernie stickers were the most numerous followed by HIllz.
I did see a car which had a huge American flag and a huge confederate flag painted on the rear windshield.
LAO
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Sure it was, The mere fact you are in an accident or that people were injured doesn’t establish that the driver was intoxicated.
Iowa Old Lady
I see very few bumper stickers here in Iowa, but today I saw a Black Lives Matter one.
Not everyone in flyover country is a racist cretin.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Not my issue, but when I’m in proximity to one, I realize that there’s an entire culture, mainstream American TV-based culture – that I’m no longer a part of and more to the point, do not understand.
Barbara
@Mike J: Are you crazy are you high or just an ordinary guy?
Gelfling 545
@schrodinger’s cat: didn’t he already decline?
rikyrah
Presumptive Republican nominee can’t shake ‘Trump U’ controversy
07/14/16 09:24 AM
By Steve Benen
There were quite a few surprises in the new lineup for Republican speakers at the party’s national convention, but the Tampa Bay Times flagged one of the names that stood out.
As we’ve discussed before, the details surrounding Florida’s conservative A.G. paint an unflattering picture. Bondi briefly considered joining a multi-state suit against the controversial “school,” but the Florida Republican dropped the investigation after the Trump Foundation made a $25,000 contribution towards Bondi’s re-election.
And while that raises serious ethics questions, the controversy became more serious when we learned Bondi “personally solicited” the money from Trump while her office was considering a case against “Trump University.”
charluckles
Just got back from reddest of the red Kansas. I did not see a single Trump sign, sticker or advertisement of any fashion. Not to suggest that they won’t pull the lever for him, but there is clearly a lack of enthusiasm. This is a demographic that was even intensely supportive of Romney over Obama and when I was in that area of Kansas and Bush was running for President you could not take a step without getting blasted in the face by some kind of marketing/messaging for the C+ Augustus.
rikyrah
At GOP convention, toy guns are banned, but real guns are not
07/14/16 10:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Four years ago, as Republicans were getting ready for their national convention in Tampa, Mayor Bob Buckhorn worked with law-enforcement officials to create as safe an environment as possible, including a ban on items that might be considered security threats. As we discussed at the time, that meant people outside the convention would face restrictions on things like water pistols and placards.
Under Florida law, however, officials couldn’t prohibit people from carrying real guns around the convention site, even if they wanted to. Tampa’s mayor asked Gov. Rick Scott (R) to use his discretion and make an exception to the state law in the interest of security and public safety. Scott refused.
Four years later, the Wall Street Journal reports on an eerily similar situation.
Brachiator
@JPL:
If this is true, then Johnson is truly stupid. What, would he snub Hillary, the actual president, and chat up Bill? Ain’t gonna happen.
It would be fun, though, to watch a president Trump deal with a UK representative who had called him stupid. But I suspect that Trump’s people would just keep Johnson away from him.
Barbara
@charluckles: I don’t know if that is due to an enthusiasm gap (which probably does exist) or to Trump’s utterly woeful campaign infrastructure. It is apparently pathetic.
J R in WV
@RaflW:
In my book, unless they have a valid warrant with evidence justifying it, this is rape with a foreign object.
Remember the story out of southern New Mexico, when two sheriff’s deputies took a guy in , claiming the dog reacted to where the “suspect” was sitting, got a warrant, took him to the local medical facility, which told them to go pound sand. So they went out of the jurisdiction to a “for profit” medical center, where the “suspect was given an anal digital inspection (gloved finger groping) no drugs found, then administered an enema and forced to pass his bowels publicly no more drugs found again, then given a colonoscopy, all involuntary, no drugs found the third time.
Then the medical center had the balls to send the suspect a bill for $9,000-odd dollars.
Pretty sure the million dollars he got in settlement of his legal suit didn’t make him happy about that night. Some things no amount of money will make up for, and repeated public anal rape is on the list. Seems like the medical staff should be looking for a new line of work, too. Also the management who thought it would be a good thing to send that bill for “services rendered”, needing to find a new job with no medical practice attached!
Rape with a foreign object is a real thing, and people go to jail for it. These cops should be doing time already.
Nancy
@fedupwithhypocrisy:
My thoughts exactly. I’ve made a habit of it and have learned not to turn on the tv until after Morning Joe.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@LAO: Certainly true. I didn’t express that well. I guess my point was that 10 seconds of bodycam footage would have made the case just as well. She was fucking wasted!
Barbara
@J R in WV: Well, a kid in Prince William County Virginia allegedly sent someone a text with a picture of his junk attached and the police tried to get a court order to force him to sit for a picture taken by them so they could confirm a match. I think the judge actually issued the order but the outcry was so loud and enraged they backed down.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@James E Powell: I have a similar reaction when I listen to NPR and they talk about the state of the race on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Too often the hosts laugh when they use some euphemism to talk about the latest thing that Trump said. The weekend political shows with the young hipsters are even worse.
They may privately recognize that Trump espouses monstrous, illegal, dangerous policies but their reporting of it doesn’t tell listeners how dangerous and unhinged he is, they treat it like all like a big joke.
It’s not a joke, people’s lives and the future of the US and the planet are at stake.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
joel hanes
@Andy:
Trump stickers everywhere in flyover
I just returned from two weeks in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois; road-tripped about 900 miles while there.
I can count the number of Trump stickers I saw in those two weeks on the fingers of one hand.
Cat48
@Matt McIrvin:
You think it’s bc she thinks Trump will win? Could be, the anchors thought it might be because he was a strong “Leave” guy. He’s going to get a lot of NO’s. He’s certainly doesn’t seem to be well liked anywhere in Europe or Africa. They were all smirking when asked about him.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@J R in WV: How about a state law saying it’s OK? CA did for decades.
LAO
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Nah, we defense attorneys can spin anything! Maybe she was in diabetic shock. ?
Emma
@Cat48: Please. It’s not always about the US. She’s setting him up for the ultimate crash.
cmorenc
@PST:
We can thank our lucky stars John Kasich was unable to get enough traction in the GOP primaries & caucuses to seriously challenge Trump & Cruz. The MSM loves to portray Kasich as a sensible “moderate” Republican, because in public at least he’s able to project a genially agreeable midwestern “everyman” persona – when underneath the surface, most of his actual policies are quite regressively conservative, as are his social policies, albeit he’s anywhere near so aggressively “in your face” about them as are Trump and Cruz. With the MSM cooperatively reinforcing the “Hillary is untrustworthy” meme, we could have been in serious risk of losing this election had he been the nominee. The MSM assumes that more than intermittent brief, superficial coverage of actual substantive policy bores most of the public, and prefers to cover elections as a hybrid of a dramatic play involving clashing characters (an adult unisex version of “mean girls” middle-school drama) and a horse race. That’s exactly how Trump has been able to so easily manipulate the media into so much and such continuous media coverage.
JPL
@Brachiator: Whoops, he actually said Trump was crazy.. NYTimes link
LAO
@J R in WV: According to the article, they had a warrant, issued by a judge.
RaflW
@J R in WV: As we have learned from the FISA court, getting a warrant is often rather easy. And just because a local judge says it is OK doesn’t always make things constitutionally acceptable (though the Roberts court would be happy to oblige, sadly).
Major Major Major Major
@RaflW:
Getting a warrant from the FISA court. Getting a warrant in this case (which they did) still requires the standard procedure. The FISA rubber-stamp is special.
JPL
@JPL: More of the Boris Johnson’s whoops moments
hmmm I wonder why MSM, only highlights the part putting, Hillary in a bad light.
Shell
I think the last time I saw a lot of lawn signs and bumper stickers was in 2008, for both sides. Gotta admit, seeing a lot of McCain signs made me a tad nervous.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@LAO: You’re good! Practice in CA? Always like knowing a good lawyer!
schrodinger's cat
@JPL: Because they are a media arm of the GOP, that’s why.
Villago Delenda Est
@bystander: Please. Mrs. Allan “Spackle Face” Greenspan.
PST
@RaflW:
Maybe it’s clever of her. She said it and we got the message, but she’s been big about it and expressed regret in an unequivocal way. The bonus was to give Trump an opportunity to demonstrate his usual small-mindedness by labeling her apology insufficient, suggesting again that she’s senile, and calling for her resignation. At the moment, he hasn’t risen to the bait, but give him time. The late night tweets are the best.
Trollhattan
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Better Call Saul!
p.a.
Did you have the mop?
? Martin
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Were those laws ever challenged on 4th amendment grounds? I can’t imagine a modern USSC would permit it after Safford.
LAO
@RaflW: I feel like I’m in opposite land, defending cops and prosecutors. The police established, to a Judge’s satisfaction, that there was probable cause to believe that a urine analysis would reveal the presence of illegal substances. The accused, for what ever personal reasons he/she may have had, refused to pee in a cup (probably because they did not want to incriminate themselves). What should the state do?
And the Constitution promises us — not that our privacy/homes/bodies won’t be invaded by the authorities — that the search be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.
Major Major Major Major
@Trollhattan: but he’s in NM…
LAO
@CONGRATULATIONS!: NYC — sorry!
Trollhattan
@JPL:
The French welcome for Boris will be epic
Steve in the ATL
@LAO: is there a rule for uncomfortable searches and seizures?
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: I’m with you — under normal circumstances, it makes sense for justices to stay out of politics. But this isn’t politics as usual. Trump is a dangerous demagogue who is trying to foment racial and ethnic hatred. Glad Notorious RBG didn’t walk back what she said, just sent her regrets for having spoken out of turn. Saw an account of Trump’s reaction, and it was obvious the narcissistic pig noticed the lack of apology to HIM. Good!
John D
@Keith G:
Well, *something* has to happen for the President to fulfill his Article II, Section 3 duties. Making it a televised speech that the country can listen to as well strikes me as a good idea.
Iowa Old Lady
My DIL is from Indiana. She and her parents loathe Pence, though I have no idea how representative their opinion is. My DIL is a teacher. Her father is a union worker from the steel mills. Her mother is housewife.
ETA: But hee, Josh Earnest praised Pence for expanding Medicaid. That’ll go over big.
? Martin
@LAO: Actually the 4th amendment says ‘unreasonable’. There are places exempt from warrants. Surely there are less invasive ways of achieving the goal. Perhaps slower, but the Constitution does not provide for a cost-effective legal system.
RaflW
@Major Major Major Major: OK, any idea what the percentage approval/disapproval of warrant requests in, say, conservative South Dakota in terms of drug searches? I admit I don’t know, but I suspect it is high. Maybe not quite the FISA rubber stamp, but warrant requirements have IMO become mostly window dressing in an increasingly powerful US police state.
LAO
@Steve in the ATL: Hey there. For or against?
schrodinger's cat
Appointing a leading Brexiter as the foreign secretary is a big fuck you to Europe. its a win for politics of spite.
? Martin
@John D: He should have to tweet the SOTU. 140 characters, emoji encouraged.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Watching a long MSNBC interview with D. Trumpy, Jr. Smug, arrogant d*****bag.
LAO
@? Martin: Obtaining bodily fluids, or handwriting samples (which irks me more) or voice samples are simply not considered “unreasonable” as long as the authorities obtain a warrant. Understand, I don’t make the rules and I’m not particularly happy about their application, but I tell clients all the time — if you are faced with a warrant, comply. If there is something wrong with the warrant — we can fight it out in court after the fact and move to suppress the evidence. Which, sadly, is usually months later. Individuals can’t unilaterally refuse to comply with a court order (and a warrant is a court order) without expecting some very negative results. Like having a tube stuck up their dick because they don’t want to pee in a cup.
Trollhattan
@Steve in the ATL:
Five Quatloos for vile pun-ishment.
RaflW
@LAO: I guess I am on the liberal end of things, but resisting the loss of bodily autonomy in police/legal situations is important to me. Maybe South Dakota is different, but I thought if one refuses drug tests, then one loses the presumption of innocence. That bugs me, but forced catheterization, or forced blood testing, etc, is a dangerous precedent.
How far is it really from a warrant-issued catheterization to folks turning a blind eye to the next Abner Louima?
Trollhattan
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
So, Thursday then?
Barbara
@Trollhattan: Well, if nothing else, Johnson will get a taste of his own medicine, having public potshots being taken at him with limited recourse. That’s the problem with being the guy who caught the tiger by the tail by shouting insults at everyone else. So now its YOUR turn to show how this is done. He might succeed, in which case, good for him, but one thing he can’t do is snipe at everyone else from the sidelines.
? Martin
I would point everyone to check out propublica’s reporting on drug tests/labs.
Is the public interest served in drug cases when extraordinary measures need to be undertaken to prove guilt in circumstances when there is little to no chance there is a threat to the public? I’m not saying to not pursue these cases, but if you need to violate the body of an accused person, with a pretty poor track record of testing and impartiality, and there is no immediate public threat, then why not just wait? You have a suspect, surveil them and catch them in a situation that doesn’t require the violation. What’s the immediacy?
RaflW
@LAO: In the current climate, I don’t doubt that this is correct legal advice. I guess I am morally outraged, not suggesting legal strategies.
Major Major Major Major
@RaflW: of course I don’t know that. And that’s a legitimate question, though the goalposts are now quite far from where they started.
Betty Cracker
Since we’re tallying up yard signs and bumper sticker anec-data, I can report that in my little Republican hamlet in Central FL, there are only two Trump signs that I’ve seen. There are folks who routinely have yard signs who have them up for state candidates but eschew displaying a Trump sign whereas they proudly displayed Romney and McCain signs in past years.
On the other hand, during my road trip to N FL last weekend, I saw lots of Trump signs, often displayed next to Confederate flags. I don’t think there were more of them than there were Romney or McCain signs though.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@? Martin: Not as far as I know. Cal state leg got rid of it, Brown signed just a few days ago.
hovercraft
@Matt McIrvin:
A girl can dream, Drump’s immigration policy seems tailor made to fit in with hers. Between that and her FU to Obama appointing Boris as Foreign Secretary she will have an interesting relationship with Hillary.
From al jazeera
Steve in the ATL
@LAO: Well, I reckon I’m against uncomfortable searches and seizures though, like you, I will grudgingly accept them if the legal and factual preconditions are met. Doesn’t come up a lot in the labor and employment law world, though. Companies generally have policies that they can terminate employees who refuse to take drug tests after a workplace accident or documented suspicious behavior.
Unrelated, if anyone needs healing I sat by an over-the-hill televangelist on a plane this week. He looked about 120 years old, was dressed like Johnny Cash, wore jumpsuit-era Elvis sunglasses, and over his frequently lifted face was a shock of jet black hair. Dyed? Gee, hard to say. I was googling events in Pittsburgh to see which musician who peaked in 1953 had an upcoming gig at third-tier casino, but when I finally caught his name it turns out he was a televangelist. Tell him I sent you and get 10% off long distance faith healing.
leroyjenkins.com/
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: time is a factor in some drug tests. I’ll bet delay could count as willful destruction of evidence.
? Martin
@LAO: No, I understand that. I’m just arguing that these laws should be considered unconstitutional and should be challenged. There needs to be a notion that yes, some law may have been broken, but the cost of proving that is too high relative to the benefits of enforcement. If a drug suspect consumed the drugs in question, at the very least they’ve been removed from the market and the suspect will take an economic punishment. If you get nothing more, you’ve at least removed the immediate risk. Consider it a break-even and move on. Instead of a warrant to violate the person, get warrant to surveil in order to obtain better evidence. This strikes me a little bit too close to the ‘torture them in a ticking bomb situation’ argument.
Brachiator
@schrodinger’s cat:
Well, the Guardian is reporting that “Europe has reacted furiously to Boris Johnson’s appointment as the UK’s foreign secretary,” with especially harsh comments coming from France and Germany. The German foreign minister called Johnson’s conduct regarding BREXIT as “deceitful and reckless.” Boris has his work cut out for him.
scav
@Barbara: Between the international tweets and many of the diplomat’s reactions to same (the choice of words and all the different approaches, oh fun). . . .“Breaking! Mr Bean to be British transport secretary.”
(still researching for one of the German diplomatic’s comments to preserve for posterity.)
Corner Stone
Just glancing at the thread title I was sure this was going to be about Roger Ailes.
? Martin
@hovercraft:
Well, Good Friday is already pretty fucked with Brexit, so that’s now just redundant.
Mike J
@Barbara: At the moment just an ordinary guy, but Clinton was in Annandale, VA today with Kaine.
hovercraft
@Joyce H:
Are politico and Noot aware that the kids these days are very familiar with the google machine ? I mean I think that there thingy is like their bible, and the as one scrolls thru there is plenty of fodder for the youngs to chew on. Maybe the hope is that the moon colony will lure them in, it is an option for where to live once drump and noot finish destroying the earth.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@RaflW: CA doesn’t work that way. I’m not sure any refusal law could work that way, what with our “innocent until proven guilty” legal system. If you refuse the test, you’re guilty of a different crime. Not DUI. They’ll go after you for DUI anyhow, but getting that conviction wasn’t a slam dunk and so they just keep making the penalty for refusing harsher and harsher until it now FAR outweighs the already serious and awful penalty that a DUI incurs in this state.
schrodinger's cat
@hovercraft: So TM is a real bitch. Good to know.
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
lol
JMG
May appointed her rival for PM, Leadson as environmental minister, which somehow is also responsible for agriculture. Job one for Leadson will be explaining to British farmers what will make up for the EU subsidies that comprise over half their income. May really wants to rub the Leaves’ noses in their mess. I don’t know if she has any other plan but that.
? Martin
@Major Major Major Major: No, I get that. My point is that not every crime can be prosecuted, and for the reasons that capital punishment should be illegal (killing one innocent person should overrule all purported benefits of putting any number of criminals to death) this kind of forced evidence-taking should be similarly illegal.
Perhaps I’m a bit oversensitive because I have a family acquaintance that won a large jury award for damages after a hospital failed to properly administer Versed after a colonoscopy leaving her effectively disabled. Effectively, she was awake during the procedure and could remember the entire thing. I have a similar resistance to anesthesia and have woken up during surgeries before (I don’t typically remember dreams, but reliving the surgery and waking up is a fairly regular one for me to repeat). The notion that I could be accused of something, and even with warrant forced into a procedure that could be debilitating is simply unacceptable. In that situation, where I am presumably untrustworthy, would medical staff accommodate my anesthesia issue? I doubt it – it’s hard enough to get friendly doctors to accommodate it.
If the point of enforcing laws is to protect the public, then that needs to be considered in the broader arc of collecting evidence from people who turn out to be innocent.
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: The government gets to use (reasonable) violence to execute warrants, if they have to. It’s like an important part of the social contract. Could they have pumped him full of saline and waited for him to piss? That would certainly be less invasive, but it still involves forcible restraint and bodily entry. I don’t see how you get urine without those two.
Trollhattan
@scav:
Goodness, they’re having fun with this. Practicing in case Trump’s elected, I suppose.
Technocrat
@? Martin:
I tend to agree with your feeling on this. Bodily autonomy isn’t something to be taken lightly.
It’s also kind of odd that the 5th Amendment doesn’t apply to urine samples (for example).
Dog Dawg Damn
Off topic, but wondering if anyone has had success treating arthritis in pets?
My 10-year-old sheltie is overweight and now her hips are hurting her. Just picking her up elicits a rest if you put too much pressure on them. I’m very skeptical of veterinarians, so wondering if anyone has any experience with what works and what doesn’t?
LAO
@? Martin: I don’t mean to be an asshole, but I you were faced with a warrant for a urine sample, wouldn’t you agree to pee in a cup. The choice to use a catheter is predicated on the accused’s refusal to comply with a warrant.
LAO
@Technocrat: The fifth amendment has been limited to speech.
scav
@Trollhattan: Well, everyone is wrestling with idiot, scary politicians demestically, so it’s undoubtedly a relief to deal with a foreign one, especially a foreign one so well-primed with both personal and national TV material to work with.
Suezboo
The late, much missed Hoosier Sage, Doghouse Riley, must be spinning in his grave. He warned us about this character, Pence, even before he became governor. He is apparently filled with stupidity, ignorance and religious right propaganda and has but one talent : ass-kissing. Doubtless this is his attraction for Trump.
Central Planning
@Trollhattan:
I wonder if I call my local election supervisor to complain about voting in a church if they will move the polling place. I bet not.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Trollhattan:
You ol’ gamester, you!
jeffreyw
Cute puppeh alert! Here’s Gabe!
Trollhattan
@Dog Dawg Damn:
Before resorting to painkillers such as Rimadyl you might try glucosamine. The latter seems to be helping our doggie (now about 12 years old) and we also used it plus Rimadyl for her predecessor, who lived to nearly 16. The current dog seems to be magically cured with a squirrel sighting, or dinner, but reverts to old and stiff after. I can relate.
Good luck!
schrodinger's cat
@jeffreyw: Full of win and awesome! How did the kittehs react?
burnspbesq
@Keith G:
WADR, I think you’re being Chicken Little about Justice Ginsburg”s remarks.
if you think she violated any provision of any applicable rule, please cite it, cuz I’m not seeing it.
At worst, she gave Trump a reason for a lame-ass tweet.
Felonius Monk
@Dog Dawg Damn:
My 17 yo cat has arthritis and has been on miloxicam for several months and now moves like a new cat. I think Anne Laurie has a dog that is on this stuff, also.
JPL
@jeffreyw: Fun times!
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Dog Dawg Damn: Our Sophie has bad hips and arthritis in various joints. Normally she doesn’t let it bother her, and normally she knows when to quit, but occasionally she’ll do something running and jumping in the back yard and come up lame.
We have a stash of Rimadyl that we give her on occasions like that (1/2 a tablet). You’ll find lots of horror stories about it, and lots of people saying it’s a lifesaver. As always, YMMV. And I think you need to be sure it’s not damaging the kidneys, if the dog is on it a long time, but it does work for her. We usually stop giving it to her after a couple of days. Ask your vet to see what they might recommend.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
@Mike J: I should have known that, and I probably would have if I had read every one of the dozens of e-mails I receive daily from Democratic affiliated organizations.
Dog Dawg Damn
Thanks guys. Guess I’ll start with glucosamine and then head to the vet if she doesn’t improve. Poor thing never loses weight no matter how much I starve her and feed her diet food.
Miss Bianca
@jeffreyw: look at that face! Is he one of yours?
Bunter
@Dog Dawg Damn: We used both Metacam and adequan shots for Wimsey also a supplement from Wholistic Pet called Run Free. They all seemed to work but no doubt the adequan worked best.
eric
@LAO: strikes me that there should be a statutory irrebuttable presumption involved for refusing a warrant
Dog Dawg Damn
@srv: you have no idea what concessions and machinations are entailed. That you’re rooting for the Russian authoritarian against your own country says a lot about your character.
Emma
@srv: Funny. Every time Obama has dealt with Putin he has pretty much gotten what he wanted. What makes you think this is anything different?
jeffreyw
@schrodinger’s cat: So far only Bitsy has checked him out, all ok so far with her. He’s only been aboard for an hour. Not gonna force him on anyone. Hmm. Homer sees him but isn’t approaching… oops! gotta go pee
Amanda in the South Bay
Everyone is freaking the fuck out about Hillary today in liberal blogland.
Trollhattan
@Bunter:
With her delicate innards I’d never dare give my dog a food called “Run Free” IYKWIM.
jeffreyw
@Miss Bianca: Brand new today!
Emma
@Amanda in the South Bay: It’s what liberal blogland does best. Or don’t you remember the wild ululations when Romney supposedly pulled a couple of points ahead of Obama?
Trollhattan
@Amanda in the South Bay:
What? Where? What did we miss? Arrgh!
Like that?
LAO
@eric: I don’t see how that would work. Warrants are court orders. The Bundy Nevada standoff started with Cliven’s refusal to comply with several Court Orders. I certainly don’t want to let them off the hook for their behavior.
J R in WV
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I would be opposed to that rule/law. I think video, testing of excreted substances, etc would be far less intrusive. I don’t much like going to a doctor I selected and have been seeing for decades to have blood drawn, but having a blood draw would still be less intrusive than violent and coercive insertion of a catheter/colonoscopy – legalized rape pretty much any way you cut it from my perspective.
Fifth amendment – should it still mean anything, or is it antique?
Trollhattan
@Emma:
One thing Obama was clear about since the beginning was keeping us the hell out of Syria. As he pointed out back in the day, there were so many “rebel” factions we couldn’t readily identify those we might potentially arm and those we definitely needed to not. How about that?
Pootiepoo should have done the same, but it looks like he’s a big fan of Assad, what with his willingness to murder his own people to stay in power.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Trollhattan: According to the commenters at LGM email gate proves Hillary is untrustworthy and irresponsible or something.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Emma: Yep! It’s the silly season, exacerbated by residual Clinton hatred, even amongst the lukewarm Bernie curious.
Major Major Major Major
@jeffreyw: What did you do to give that puppy a hangover!
? Martin
@LAO: No, that’s a fair point. But I worry a bit that our eagerness to apply technology to efficiently solve these problems leads us to situations where it will be impossible to be so non-invasive. If I were accused of a drug offense that could only be proven by blood test, could I be forced to provide one? There’s no way to do that non-invasively.
J R in WV
@LAO: I saw that there was a warrant, I’m not sure judges can issue warrants for anything they want to.
Attorney thinks you’re hot, can they get a warrant/order from a judge to let them at you in a room at the Hilton? Nope. My internals are mine, not the judges. If they only way they can see to convict me is from my insides, I think they should be screwed.
FlyingToaster
@Immanentize: Some of us who escaped, actually.
The Globe Corner Bookstore (RIP) used to have the Massachusetts Map of the US: facing west: Boston, Woostah, New York, Flyover Country (illustrated with cows), California, Pacific.
Miss Bianca
@Bunter: “Wimsey” and “Bunter”? H’mm….are you suggesting that you are/were your puppy’s manservant? Or even, dare I say, “dogsbody”?
@jeffreyw: Hearty felicitations!
Trollhattan
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Ah, well, if their ponies aren’t the right color I guess we need to panic then. I do so love love adrenaline.
In the meantime there’s a Trump to mock. Mock speed, Scotty!
FlyingToaster
@Matt McIrvin: I expect the crazy woman two doors up to put out her Trump sign in September. She had a Romney sign (shudder) four years ago.
eric
@LAO: it would work: “Upon presentation of a properly issued warrant, any person refusing to comply with the terms of the warrant shall be presumed irrebutably guilty of the crime upon which probable cause was established.” I thought that was the rule for DUIs.
FlipYrWhig
@Amanda in the South Bay:
LGM is home to A LOT of leftier-than-thou true believers and/or trolls and/or worrywarts. And Paul Campos is a dick.
Technocrat
@Amanda in the South Bay:
We’re going to have to deal with the SITY (See I Told You) crowd for the foreseeable future.
James E Powell
@Trollhattan:
I have a RW co-worker who swings back & forth between claiming that Obama is responsible for everything happening in Syria because he didn’t invade & depose Assad and claiming that Obama wanted to invade Syria but wiser Republicans prevented him from doing so.
LAO
@? Martin: You could be. It would be evasive. And unfortunately, Supreme Court approved.
Major Major Major Major
@Technocrat: I heard today that Bernie polled better against Trump. Why nobody pointed this out during the primary, I’ll never know.
LAO
@eric: I don’t do dui and you are generally correct about them. I’m thinking bigger picture and more serious offenses.
Technocrat
@Major Major Major Major:
Establishment media suppression. There’s no other possible explanation!
LAO
@J R in WV: Ok. Good luck with that.
James E Powell
@Amanda in the South Bay:
I’m pretty sure that the template stories were written as far back as 2010 – “How can we trust Hillary with this [some scandal-gate yet to be determined] thing?”
Curious what they’d be talking about if it wasn’t e-mails.
eric
@LAO: I dunno. it just seems to me that such a physical invasion is so stark a remedy for the government, that there should be a legally stark alternative such as a presumption. You are always free to challenge the propriety of the warrant.
1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)
@bystander: That’s insulting to mashed potatoes, which can be seasoned into a tasty side-dish, as well as serving as a vehicle for delicious gravy, or cheese (mmm, cheese!).
Carolyn Kay
It’s why I don’t watch it in real time. So that I can fast forward through the Dreadful Donald video.
Technocrat
@LAO:
We need a test case where some piece of putative evidence was surgically implanted, and only accessible by surgery.
I’d volunteer, but I’m allergic to incisions.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
Shh don’t tell anyone. There is a secret plan among true believers to spring this shocking news on the delegates at the convention, then the scales will fall from their eyes and they will vote for Bernie as the nominee unanimously.
Omnes Omnibus
@eric: Refusing to comply with a valid warrant should generate a contempt charge and nothing more.
LAO
@Technocrat: Come on! It may be my only chance to get to the Supremes!
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Dog Dawg Damn: Adequan Canine. Worked wonders for my dog (who was in bad shape), probably gave her an extra year of relatively decent quality life.
ETA: Also: she MUST lose weight. Not optional. I know she won’t like it but you both have no choice.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: So, a contempt charge, rather than forcible insertions of anything anywhere sensitive?
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: Well that’s certainly more believable than @Technocrat‘s theory, but you’re both neglecting the possibility (likelihood?) of lizard people.
Technocrat
@LAO:
Well, when you put it that way…
What’s a little elective surgery between friends?
ant
@Dog Dawg Damn: my old boxer is on Metacam. She been a lot happier since that started.
Regarding the court order, how about the cops just drop the issue. It was pot and meth.
WTF is the big deal? The man needs treatment, not felony charges.
eric
@Omnes Omnibus: why? is it not obstruction of justice?
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: btw, completely off-topic, but have I mentioned lately that Lefty Kitty is officially the cutest cat in the entire world? She even beats her brother Pancho.
@eric: There’s a really offal joke in there, somewhere…
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: Pics or it didn’t happen!
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: My opinion. FWIW.
Technocrat
@Major Major Major Major:
::looks around in terror::
Great JOKE, M4. Because obviously none of us believe in such a thing. We’ve never seen any evidence.
If we had, we’d never tell.
#TheFirstRuleOfLP
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: your opinion happens to be worth more than most folks’, in this particular instance…
@Major Major Major Major: If I could have got a camera out while she was perched on my chair, batting at the key-ring on my belt loop, I would have. I was too busy squirming as her little paws poked at me.
1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)
@SiubhanDuinne: He’s soothing to social conservatives and the religious end of the party, and he has no qualities that would in any way cause Trump to consider him a threat because he was more experienced, more outgoing, better trained, or a better speaker. Gingrich was always going to be a longshot because while he can suck up in a good cause (the advancement of Leroy Newton Gingrich being the best cause), he likes the spotlight a little too well and he is a little too accustomed to grabbing attention for himself, which won’t go over with the Circus Peanut. Pence would be soothing to the electorate and no threat as a competitor for attention.
chopper
@Technocrat:
say, you should try on these sunglasses.
Steve in the ATL
@LAO: Well, I reckon I’m against uncomfortable searches and seizures though, like you, I will grudgingly accept them if the legal and factual preconditions are met. Doesn’t come up a lot in the labor and employment law world, though. Companies generally have policies that they can terminate employees who refuse to take drug tests after a workplace accident or documented suspicious behavior.
Unrelated, if anyone needs healing I sat by an over-the-hill televangelist on a plane this week. He looked about 120 years old, was dressed like Johnny Cash, wore jumpsuit-era Elvis sunglasses, and over his frequently lifted face was a shock of jet black hair. Dyed? Gee, hard to say. I was googling events in Pittsburgh to see which musician who peaked in 1953 had an upcoming gig at third-tier casino, but when I finally caught his name (Leroy Jenkins) it turns out he was a televangelist. Tell him I sent you and get 10% off long distance faith healing.
Feathers
@J R in WV: Rape victims get billed for their rape exam and rape kit collection. It’s a medical procedure. Some jurisdictions may cover it, but it isn’t the norm.
Uncle Cosmo
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Road apple doesn’t fall far from the horse’s arse, duzzit?
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: so if I refused to allow officers with a warrant to search my home, they just go away and I’m faced with a contempt charge? Or a warrant to draw my blood blood? That’s it, just a contempt charge?
The warrant remains unexecuted.
debbie
@PST:
I think many RWNJs will label Pence a traitor if he’s the pick. I still don’t see a scenario where the more rabid (Glenn Beck et al.) will accept Trump, even with Pence. My money’s on their turning on him.
Meanwhile, Kaine is uninspiring. What happened to Julian Castro?
geg6
@Andy:
Not in this part of it, there aren’t.
Barb2
@Dog Dawg Damn:
Glucosamine, Chondrotin and MSM now taken by humans for arthritis was first given to dogs. The improvement in pets was so dramatic that humans started taking the suppliment as well.
The dog version can be found in pet stores and online . I would try that fordt. Put yor dog on a diet. I had to do that with our Chihuahua. Because he managed to hurt his back. We wanted to avoid surgery. There are veterinarian who are really good and will work with you. We drive an hour and a half to a vet near Seattle – they are that good.
The are stronger prescription strength med – some have side effects. Research these options on the Internet.
laura
@Keith P.: Race Bannon hair.
NotMax
@Steve in ATL
Totally different context for gamers.
Le-e-e-e-roy Jenkins!
Shana
@schrodinger’s cat: My daughter’s heading to Western Mass for grad school next month. Do you live in that area?
Shana
@Barbara: I just took a look at the campaign’s web site and Trump is charging $20 for 2 yard signs. That may explain why there are so few of them out there. That and the woeful campaign infrastructure.
Omnes Omnibus
@LAO: The officers are going to come in. Forcibly, if necessary. I was taking issue with the “Upon presentation of a properly issued warrant, any person refusing to comply with the terms of the warrant shall be presumed irrebutably [sic] guilty of the crime upon which probable cause was established” rule proposed by eric. If one wants to punish non-compliance with a court order, contempt is the accepted way to go.
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: Got it. My comment was part of a very long argument about whether you can be compelled via a warrant to give a urine sample. Which is how the conversation began.