Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

In my day, never was longer.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Let’s finish the job.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Timekiller Open Thread: Trump/Pence None the Richer

Timekiller Open Thread: Trump/Pence None the Richer

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This VP-announcement thing, it’s golden. Everybody wants a piece of it. No way is He, Trump gonna waste his big all-networks announcement if there’s any chance it will be preempted by “breaking news” from some place that is not even America. You media people can just suck on it…

Signals! The NYTimes:

Donald J. Trump’s campaign has signaled strongly to Republicans in Washington that he will pick Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, as his running mate, though Republicans caution the party’s mercurial presidential candidate may still backtrack on his apparent choice.

Mr. Trump’s advisers have told national Republican officials that they are preparing to make an announcement with Mr. Pence, according to three people with knowledge of the conversations, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. His campaign has said that it will unveil a running mate for Mr. Trump in New York on Friday.

Mr. Pence, a former congressman and radio host, emerged over the last week as the strong favorite of Mr. Trump’s political advisers and senior officials in the Republican Party.

But Mr. Trump himself has sent conflicting signals in recent days, as he has subjected his potential running mates to a final round of screening. He addressed a rally in Indiana alongside Mr. Pence on Tuesday night and met privately with him several times…

A low-key man largely defined in public life by his Christian faith, Mr. Pence, 57, is seen as a cautious choice of running mate — a political partner who is unlikely to embarrass Mr. Trump, and who may help him shore up support among conservative voters still wary of his candidacy.

His staunch conservative views on certain social issues, like gay rights and abortion, may inject a new set of concerns into the general election debate that have been largely overlooked with Mr. Trump at the top of the Republican ticket…

Translation from the weaselspeak: Pence would salve the wounded feelings of the Talibangelicals, while reminding normal human beings that the GOP is still the party of Gawd, Gunz, & Gomers. Wise choice! — if true.

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  2. 2.

    Alex

    In RNC news, the Republican party sent Sheldon Adelson a letter being for six million dollars (weird that they didnt get a loan from Trump). Also, Tim Tebow will not be speaking at the convention.

    The convention starts Monday.

  3. 3.

    JMG

    Tebow backed out? There goes Jacksonville for the Trump campaign. I know Tim gets a lot of crap around the world because of his status as a right-wing Christian hero and because he’s not an NFL passer, but he’s a sweet guy, really. Maybe not your ideal Jeopardy contestant, but he’s a good fellow.

  4. 4.

    Felonius Monk

    Mike Pence, probably the stupidest person ever elected to Congress, will enable Trump to legitimately wear that famous tee-shirt: ” I’M With STUPID“

  5. 5.

    Keith P.

    Funny, the Sixpence None the Richer album that has that song is actually one of my favorite albums (out of at least a few hundred). I usually listen to heavier stuff (I’ve got Tool, Pearl Jam Soundgarden, and Blind Melon albums higher on my pref list, but not by much), but somehow when that album came out I ended up with it, and it’s pretty damn good. I never, ever play it in the presence of anyone else because it would baffle them that I even listen to it, much less like it that much.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    @Alex: Was Tebow sacked from his convention slot, did someone block him, or was it just that the invitation was intercepted en route?

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    I always thought he would choose Pence or another non entity like him. Trump gets 100% of the attention or else. Christie and Gingrich wouldn’t be able to keep their mouth shut for five minutes and the Donald would have to use a food taster.

  8. 8.

    PST

    @Alex: if I were Adelson, a thought I hate to entertain, I would sit this one out. The racist scum who cling to the Trump candidacy are always, always antisemitic. It’s in their DNA. Look at their web sites and their commentary. No matter who they start with, no matter what form their hatred and resentment assumes first, eventually they get to the Jews. Any connection to the Trump universe will come back to haunt him.

  10. 10.

    Mike in NC

    a political partner who is unlikely to embarrass Mr. Trump

    Since Trump does such a good job of that all by his lonesome.

    Back when he was in the House, his nickname was Mike Dense.

  12. 12.

    phantomist

    Pence has until noon tomorrow to choose to run for re-election as Gov., and Indiana rules forbid running for anything else.
    So, whether or not Trump cancels his press conference, we will likely know if Pence is his pick.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: he missed his (flight) connection. Basically the same problem he’s had with the Jets and the Broncos.

  14. 14.

    hovercraft

    @phantomist:
    So Drump has a dilema on his hands, does he pick the kids choice and forgo a big splashy press announcement, or does he see this as a sign from god that he should go with his gut and pick Christie or Noot who are closer to his own heart,

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    @JMG: Apparently it was just a rumor and Tebow had never agreed to speak at the RNC in the first place. Good. As a Gator, I would have been embarrassed for him. His parents are raving hellfire-and-brimstone God-botherers, but Tebow himself doesn’t seem to be a mean, judgey type of Christian. I bet he even prefers the Christmas Baby Jeebus to Bearded Grown Up Jesus.

  17. 17.

    hovercraft

    @Felonius Monk:
    Matt Yglesias who had made that same assessment has now rescinded the tittle from Pence due to the new crop of true conservative republicans now populating the house.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Those ice sculptures of Trump crossing the Delaware, Trump signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Trump piloting the Enola Gay and Trump giving Reagan a bear hug are not gonna last well through the weekend.

  22. 22.

    David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch

    GOP Cleveland organizers beg Adelson for $6 million

    ***

    two dozen prominent corporations and individuals who have reneged on a collective $8.1 million in pledged donations.

    ***

    Among those who have canceled their donations, according to the letter, are David Koch ($1 million), FedEx ($500,000), Visa ($100,000) and both Pepsi ($500,000) and Coca-Cola ($1 million).

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    probably not true, but fun and harmless irresponsible speculation, and we know Trump pays attention to twitter. Let’s hope this filled him with rage

    (((r subramanian))) ‏@ randomsubu 44m44 minutes ago Swissvale, PA
    No wonder @realDonaldTrump changed his mind about Mike Pence. Sheldon wants Newt on ticket. Trump doesn’t have 6mil.
    —-Shane Goldmacher @ ShaneGoldmacher
    —-BREAKING: GOP convention organizers beg Sheldon Adelson to fill $6 million shortfall.

  26. 26.

    gogol's wife

    By a strange coincidence, I’m watching a History Detectives episode about how big the KKK was in Indiana in the 1920s-30s.

  29. 29.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    @Alex:

    This upcoming convention is going to be so poorly organized it’s gonna make the morans who tried starting a wingnut revolution at that Oregon bird sanctuary look like a team of Napoleons.

  31. 31.

    germy

    Pence famously claimed there was no link between smoking and cancer.

    Some tobacco money was donated.

  33. 33.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @gogol’s wife: Did you see the one about the record recorded and stamped in Indiana for the Klan?

    It was done at Gennett Records, which was a studio for hire in that era. Gennett is considered the birthplace of recorded jazz.

  34. 34.

    Emma

    I’d forgotten how much I liked that song. And on the matter at hand… screw it. Whoever he chooses will be an almighty clusterfvck.

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @amk: That’s how you’re supposed to read “mercurial” in a Pravdastyle between the lines way.

  40. 40.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    @Betty Cracker:

    What I’ve heard happened was there was an invitation list of people who were asked, as opposed to the list of those who confirmed to appear…

    The problem here isn’t that Trump or Trump’s people were boasting / lying, they were so clearly disorganized they couldn’t distinguish between the lists when they made their announcements.

    So many of Trump’s campaigning actions are last-minute, hurried-up stumbled affairs as though he’s got no idea what he’s supposed to be doing, and half his staff doesn’t know either while the ones who DO know either jump ship after a week or can’t make themselves heard.

    The only thing really keeping Trump’s campaign going is the godawful media attention towards it. The only thing keeping the Republicans united as a political party (for now) is their mutual disgust for Democrats in general and Obama/Hillary in specific.

    In a sane reality Trump should be polling in the high 20s. In a world where voters honestly pay attention to what the hell is happening, they’d be fleeing the Republicans in droves and registering as No-Party-Affiliates.

  41. 41.

    Woodrowfan

    went to college with Pence. he’s always been a self-righteous dweeb, dumb as a box of even-dumber-than-average rocks, and disliked by almost everyone who knew him. Even the righties among the alum are dismayed. Two tiny details
    1. his senior thesis was on how Abraham Lincoln was a rightwing evangelical Christian.
    2. when he met his future wife he struggled with having to “forgive her” because she’d gone on a date with another guy. This was a small church-related liberal arts school. “Going on a date” meant probably going to a movie and maybe a snack at the coffee shop in the student center. Maybe she went to a dance held in a dorm or at one of the Greek houses. We were not one of the evangelical schools with draconian rules, but it was a quiet campus and parties were far more innocent that at the big state schools. But he thought that made her morally questionable.

    tl:dr he’s always been a prick.

  42. 42.

    Capri

    Pence needs Trump more than Trump needs him. He’s in a very tough fight for Gov. in Indiana, he is extremely unpopular across the entire political spectrum. In the Republican primary, he ran unopposed and 25% of Republican voters left the slot blank rather than put the check next to his name. It is probably a tiny bit more face-saving to lose as VP were at least you can blame Trump than all by himself with nobody else to blame.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    there oughta be a law against cable news running hours old footage of events like today’s over a chyron that says “Breaking News”

  50. 50.

    Iowa Old Lady

    How long can the disorganized Trump campaign keep tottering along like this without a major dip in the polls? Can the free media counter the ineptitude forever? If so, it makes you wonder about the effort every other politician makes. Did they need to do that only because they’re not a racist, xenophobic reality TV star?

  52. 52.

    dmsilev

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    This upcoming convention is going to be so poorly organized it’s gonna make the morans who tried starting a wingnut revolution at that Oregon bird sanctuary look like a team of Napoleons.

    However, there will likely be more dildos at the convention.

  54. 54.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Capri:

    Pence needs Trump more than Trump needs him. He’s in a very tough fight for Gov.

    Pence has to remove his name from the ballot for governor in Indiana by midday tomorrow if he’s going to be on the ballot for VP. He hasn’t yet done so. It involves filing signed paperwork with the Sec of State at the statehouse. If Tr*mp has indeed delayed the announcement, either Pence has to withdraw from the governor’s race ahead of the announcement or, um, dunno.

  55. 55.

    Eric S.

    RE: Trump Disarray

    There have been multiple stories on the Chicago NPR affiliate about Trump convention delegates either A. not attending the convention or B. being shocked they had to pay their own way in Cleveland and that being 1000s of dollars.

    The first group wasn’t well pinned down. A couple interviewed said they weren’t going because the IL GOP wasn’t fully supporting Trump. It was not clear if the 2 interviewed are included in the list of 5 delegates the attorney for the IL GOP knows are not attending.

    The second group are at least partially made up of non politicians who were just looking to support Trump. The campaign couldn’t get politicians to sign on so they recruited average supporters. One or both sides didn’t know about the costs associated.

  57. 57.

    amk

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    The only thing really keeping Trump’s campaign going is the godawful media attention towards it.

    yup, can’t be said enough, the fifth columnist fourth estate.

  58. 58.

    RaflW

    @pseudonymous in nc: Ideally, Trump announces Pence after Pence goes ahead and files for Gov, and then Trump has to un-nominate him a few hours later.

    Trump’s tiny, struggling campaign performance troupe is quite likely to fvk this up. Hoping so, anyway.

  61. 61.

    Trentrunner

    @Baud: I think the polls will shift significantly back to the Dems after their convention:

    Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton…

    That IS an actual all-star line-up, and the overlap of their supporters/admirers is actually a big, big percentage of voters.

  65. 65.

    Anoniminous

    @Baud:

    We’ll need to keep a close eye on the actual numbers behind the Top Line. Gallup in 2012 was polling as if the white vote would be 82% (IIRC) of the voters when they were actually 72%. That’s why they were reporting Romney would win the election.

  66. 66.

    gogol's wife

    @efgoldman:

    When I told my husband it looked as if Pence was the choice, so Christie was out, he said, “Maybe he can be Secretary of Transportation.”

  67. 67.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    The only thing really keeping Trump’s campaign going is the godawful media attention towards it.

    The desire of news executives for a fucking ratings-generating contest to the bitter fucking end is the kind of thought process that ends with them being led off in handcuffs by the Tr*mp Thought Police for being subversives.

  68. 68.

    hovercraft

    @PaulWartenberg2016:
    Yes this bodes so well for how efficiently our country will be run. His organizational and planning prowess will be a sight to behold.
    America this convention is exhibit of a business mans ability, it is a well oiled machine.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    @efgoldman:

    Speaking of Christie, anyone notice this

    David Samson – the embattled former chairman of the powerful Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to using his considerable clout to coerce one of the nation’s largest airlines to accommodate his desire for a regularly scheduled, non-stop flight to his South Carolina summer home.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: But only the chocolate ones. Those vanilla whipped cream and strawberry things are nice, but they’re not a Napoleon. They may be a deGualle or a Chirac, but not a Napoleon!

  76. 76.

    hovercraft

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    He has consistently polled in the high 30s to low 40s, I think that’s where he’ll stay. What has fluctuated are Hillary’s numbers, many republicans will just never leave him for her, they may stay home instead. As much as I know that there is no way I would vote for any republican ever, they will never vote democratic. He will get at least 40 % of the vote. Scary.

  77. 77.

    SiubhanDuinne

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

    Tebow says he never agreed to speak at the convention and he had been in the Philippines until today. Sounds like Trump was just doing another false press release. Earlier in the week he said golfer Jack Nicklaus was speaking and he also had to come out and deny it.

    If our media were smart (hahahahaha Iknowrite?), you’d think after being noisily faked out so often, they would learn to confirm this stuff before giving it a megaphone. I’m sorry I didn’t start making note from Day One of all the YOODGE excellent famous best people who were “going to speak at the Convention” according to Drumpf, almost all of whom knew nothing about it, or had other things on their schedules.

    And here is really where I just plain don’t get the point of Trump’s grandiose pronouncements with such a record of being proven wrong. Even for a narcissistic egotistical self-centered lying boor — wouldn’t you want to be shown to be right, once in a while?

  80. 80.

    Tracy Ratcliff

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ve seen the NRA pro-Trump commercials a couple of times, and maybe some other PAC, while watching Jeopardy with my mother on the Columbus TV station .

  81. 81.

    hovercraft

    @pseudonymous in nc:
    Someone on msnbc said earlier (before the postponement) that if no decision was made before the deadline he would withdraw his name from the veep stakes.

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

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

    I feel as though I read someplace, but damned if I can remember where, that corporations generally like to give approximately equal amounts to both conventions. So if they’re pulling out like mad from the RNC, does that mean the DNC will suffer from fair-and-balanced corporate largesse (or lack thereof)?

  84. 84.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Your mouth to the Goddess’ ear.

    I’ve been seeing a number of posts by my more wingnutty acquaintances on my idiotbook feed talking about how their man Trey Gowdy is going to be the catalyst for getting most of the Obama Administration locked up for various offenses, mostly related to Benghazi.

    I think a lot of white Christian America would be more than fine with Trump jailing political enemies and journalists. It is how they roll; we know them by their fruits.

    I’m planning on hitting Hillary with the max $2700 right at the close of the GOP convention. I’ve thought long and hard – I think it’s important enough to do this cycle.

  86. 86.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Adam L Silverman: I think the only TV ads I’ve seen in this entire campaign were for Jeb Bush (attacking Marco Rubio! Remember those guys?) and for Bernie Sanders. But I don’t see a lot of TV ads these days.

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Woodrowfan:

    when he met his future wife he struggled with having to “forgive her” because she’d gone on a date with another guy.

    Da FUQ???

  92. 92.

    ? Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s called ‘treating women as property’. Pence seems like the kind of guy that would do one of those purity pledges with his daughter.

  94. 94.

    Anne Laurie

    @gogol’s wife:

    When I told my husband it looked as if Pence was the choice, so Christie was out, he said, “Maybe he can be Secretary of Transportation.”

    IMO Christie’s still holding out for the Justice Dept. He could use that platform to go after all his many enemies — a pathology Lord Short Thumbs would both understand & endorse.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Capri: @Tracy Ratcliff: Correct, but there aren’t a lot of them. Yet 1/2 the respondents in a recent survey indicated they’d seen Trump campaign commercials. Not commercial, commercials.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Eric S.:

    There have been multiple stories on the Chicago NPR affiliate about Trump convention delegates either A. not attending the convention or B. being shocked they had to pay their own way in Cleveland and that being 1000s of dollars.

    How much can it cost to pile a bunch of people in a car and drive from Chicago to Cleveland? They can stay in cheap hotels. If it was good enough for Imani Gandy and John Cole (missing pants notwithstanding) at the DNC in 2012, it should be good enough for Tru

    Sorry, I just choked up a lung laughing. Never mind.

  97. 97.

    Anne Laurie

    @hovercraft:

    I think that Cruz is actually intelligent, but just plays an ignoramus on TV.

    Cruz has a very high MENSA ranking, but he’s still not very smart.

    He could be the examplar for a popcult book on Gardner’s theory of “multiple intelligences”.

  98. 98.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @amk:

    You must be in seventh heaven about your sixth sense revealing the fifth columnist fourth estate.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    @Anne Laurie: I forget who was it that pointed out that Cruz had a reputation for being an ambitious asshole among his fellow Harvard Law students. That’s an accomplishment of sorts.

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    ETA: I bet HRC’s campaign has already readied the “if he can’t organize a convention, how can he run the country” commercials.

    I wish a motherfucker would just phone him at 3:00 a.m.

  103. 103.

    ? Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: I suspect not in most cases. They made pledges to both parties. That the GOP is toxic this cycle is the RNCs problem. My guess is they’ll honor the DNC pledge.

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @gogol’s wife: the classic mnemonic is “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, behead d, survived.” It doesn’t actually rhyme, and is lamentably lacking in detail. I much prefer this, by Herbert and Eleanor Farjeon:

    Bluff King Hal was full of beans
    He married half a dozen queens
    For three called Kate they cried the banns
    And one called Jane, and a couple of Annes.

    The first he asked to share his reign
    Was Kate of Aragon, straight from Spain
    But when his love for her was spent
    He got a divorce, and out she went.

    Anne Boleyn was his second wife.
    He swore to cherish her all his life,
    But seeing a third, he wished instead
    He chopped off poor Anne Boleyn’s head.

    He married the next afternoon
    Jane Seymour, which was rather soon,
    But after one year as his bride
    She crept into her bed and died.

    Anne of Cleves was number four.
    Her portrait thrilled him to the core,
    But when he met her face to face
    Another royal divorce took place.

    Catherine Howard, number five,
    Billed and cooed to keep alive.
    But one day Henry felt depressed,
    The executioner did the rest.

    Sixth and last was Catherine Parr
    Sixth and last and luckiest far
    For this time it was Henry who
    Hopped the twig, and a good job too.

  108. 108.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Omnes Omnibus: Given horndog Lazurus and time/dimensional travel, he probably sired the family.

    BTW- ever see The Hollow Crown? It’s a collection of the Shakespeare play Richard II, Henry IV 1 and 2, and Henry V. BBC production from 2013.Magnificent performances, esp Ben Wishaw, Jeremy Irons, and Tom Hiddleston.

  109. 109.

    dmsilev

    @Emma: That rings a bell, thanks. That was the same guy who basically apologized to the world for not smothering Ted with a pillow all those years ago.

  112. 112.

    Lyrebird

    Did I have too few words accompanying my URLs (to get both comments into moderation)?

  118. 118.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, yeah, but fabulous production. What was Will gonna do, anyway? “Fuck ’em, Bess. They was trash.” (Best closing line of any movie, any time, adapted for pluralness.) Yeah, that would work.

  119. 119.

    Punchy

    All y’all effers flipping out about HRC polls in July need to look at offshore book prices for a reality chizz’eck. HRC is minus three bills to win. Senate is easily over 2 bills to go donkey. Where the real $ is involved, HRC is fine. Hell, Ohio is “tied” yet money is -150 to go HRC.

    Everyone needs to calm the hell down.

  122. 122.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @dmsilev:

    Cruz should have gone to Oxbridge on a Rhodes or whatever, so he could learn arrogant condescension from the masters.

    You really think Tailgunner Ted would have lowered himself to attending a public university?

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I love Sharon Kay Penman (and am mildly thrilled to be part of her FB page, which has actual conversations, not just fandom). But I cut my Ricardian teeth on Tey.

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    @Punchy

    The only ones (and they are blessedly few) I’ve seen here white-knuckling their pearls are trolls, diehard Berniacs or those with a long established track record of dissing anything HRC might ever say or do.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Punchy:

    All y’all effers flipping out about HRC polls in July need to look at offshore book prices for a reality chizz’eck. HRC is minus three bills to win. Senate is easily over 2 bills to go donkey. Where the real $ is involved, HRC is fine. Hell, Ohio is “tied” yet money is -150 to go HRC.

    Variety just called about that political reporter job.

  135. 135.

    p.a.

    @dmsilev:

    Cruz should have gone to Oxbridge on a Rhodes or whatever, so he could learn arrogant condescension from the masters.

    Princeton/Harvard is a pretty good substitute.

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Remember when Newt Gingrich said something not-stupid last week?

    Fox NewsVerified account
    ‏@ FoxNews
    [email protected] newtgingrich: “We should…test every person here who is of a Muslim background, & if they believe in shariah they should be deported.”

  144. 144.

    Mike J

    @dmsilev:

    Cruz should have gone to Oxbridge on a Rhodes or whatever, so he could learn arrogant condescension from the masters.

    Like Rachel Maddow and Bill Clinton?

    I personally know plenty of oxbridge people that aren’t complete assholes. 90% of the Harvard types I know are ok too, but the other 10% more than make up for it.

  149. 149.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mike J:

    I personally know plenty of oxbridge people that aren’t complete assholes. 90% of the Harvard types I know are ok too, but the other 10% more than make up for it.

    You’re lucky. The 90/10 split of Harvard people I know is just the opposite.

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    well, I think we’ve solved the Mystery of the Missing Moron at Trump’s convention

    Charles Johnson
    ‏@ Green_Footballs
    Sarah Palin’s son Track has been remanded to jail on his domestic violence case

  151. 151.

    Lefthanded compliment

    @SiubhanDuinne: I first read D of T in high school, fifty years ago or so. It’s still one my all-time favorite mysteries (a list headed by The Nine Tailors).

  153. 153.

    TriassicSands

    Pence? I’ll believe it when it is official. It would be just like the clown-in-chief to get everyone believing his VP will be A (Pence) and then pull a switch and announce it is B. That would have to be worth thousands of lines and hours more coverage from the easily manipulated media. I could easily see Trump choosing someone who hasn’t even been mentioned as a serious candidate.

    I can imagine Trump, secretly, saying the murders in France were a great way to heighten interest in his VP choice by dragging it out. When Brexit passed, Trump’s first thought was how good a weaker pound would be for his golf course. He thinks of nothing but himself.

  154. 154.

    Felonius Monk

    @gogol’s wife:

    about how big the KKK was in Indiana in the 1920s-30s.

    Until they got the sh*t beat out of them by the Notre Dame student body:

    Seventy-eight years ago this week, on May 17, 1924, hundreds of Notre Dame students gathered at the train station in South Bend, Ind. They were waiting to greet a train, but the mood was anything but festive. For on the train were members of the Ku Klux Klan, heading for a mass Klan rally in South Bend. Their decision to hold the gathering in South Bend was no accident, for Indiana’s Klansmen looked upon Notre Dame as a symbol of rising Catholic power in America. The Klan event was intended to send a signal of intimidation to the university, its faculty and students that they were unwelcome in the American heartland. Instead, the only message delivered that morning came from Notre Dame’s students, who pummeled the Klansmen as they disembarked from their train.

    (Source)

  156. 156.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is the equivalent of testing Jews to see if they “believe in the Torah”.

    Gingrich again proves himself unworthy to hold any office under the Constitution of the United States.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    because the Nice attacker was probably from Dearborn or Brooklyn

    Fox NewsVerified account
    ‏@ FoxNews
    [email protected] RepPeteKing: “We have to surveil the Muslim communities. We have to watch them more carefully.”

  165. 165.

    Emma

    @Omnes Omnibus: You must. It’s the most amazing combination of War of the Roses, Byzantium, vampires… And at the same time it is completely solid, grounded on real history and politics.

    Of course, it was John Ford. I used to lurk in the Making Light blog on the off chance that he would post in the comments.

  168. 168.

    Emma

    @Omnes Omnibus: NO, NO, NO! Do not speak such travesty! In his worst day John M. Ford could write rings around Martin. I’ll give you an example. He wrote this as a blog comment, a throwaway thing:

    De vermis.
    The worm drives helically through the wood
    And does not know the dust left in the bore
    Once made the table integral and good;
    And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
    Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
    A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
    The names of lovers, light of other days —
    Perhaps you will not miss them. That’s the joke.
    The universe winds down. That’s how it’s made.
    But memory is everything to lose;
    Although some of the colors have to fade,
    Do not believe you’ll get the chance to choose.
    Regret, by definition, comes too late;
    Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.

  173. 173.

    Emma

    @Omnes Omnibus: No offense taken. The Dragon Waiting is hard to explain because it can be compared to so many things and then you have to say, well, actually, not quite like that. All I can say it’s fantasy but it feels solid and real.

  180. 180.

    Steeplejack

    @Lyrebird:

    FYWP does not currently like comments with naked URLs. Use the “Link” button above the comment box to dress them up with some explanatory text.

  181. 181.

    CaseyL

    @Emma:

    Have you ever read John Ford’s The Dragon Waiting? Won the World Fantasy Award.

    One of my faves. Everything Ford wrote was bliss to read. I’m still upset he’s dead.

    There’s also Laura Andersen’s Boleyn King trilogy, which is quite quite good. It’s not scifi or fantasy, but is alt.history. Ann Boleyn has a son, and outlives Henry. It’s very plausible alt.history – Andersen knows the Tudor court inside and out – except for the third book, which kind of goes off the deep end. Still a terrific read.

  182. 182.

    Anne Laurie

    @NotMax:

    Disappointed that Clint Eastwood won’t be debating an Easy Bake oven at the convention.

    Don’t worry, the /reddit neo-Nazis have their Anne Frank memes just waiting to be photoshopped. But only for the lulz, of course.

  183. 183.

    Emma

    @CaseyL: Interesting idea. I’ll look them up.

    As I mentioned upthread, I used to lurk in the Making Light blog just to see what he would come up with. After his death one of the front pagers collected all his entries into a kind of memorial. I sometimes go look at them again just because it’s like watching the best fireworks ever.

  184. 184.

    CaseyL

    @Emma: Hang onto your Fords, even if they’re falling apart. He left no will, his family owns his estate, and they didn’t approve of his work. They’re not letting anything be reprinted.

  185. 185.

    Origuy

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The first he asked to share his reign
    Was Kate of Aragon, straight from Spain

    Except she wasn’t “straight from Spain”, she’d been married to Henry’s brother Arthur. The whole English separation from the RCC hung on whether or not they’d done the dirty deed.

  190. 190.

    No One You Know

    I just want to say that the person who wrote the Trumpify software performed a public service. That is all.

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