Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

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

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it’s a trap.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Books are my comfort food!

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Saturday Morning Open Thread

Saturday Morning Open Thread

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Since I know some of you are G&S aficionados. One has to grant the Combover Caligula a certain talent: He really puts the embarrassment in an embarrassment of riches.

Meanwhile, among the serious people, the Clinton campaign has released a preview of the convention speakers:

Monday: United Together
Featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders and DREAMer Astrid Silva
Monday will focus on putting the future of American families front and center and how we’re stronger together when we build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top and when everyone has a chance to live up to their God-given potential. DREAMer Astrid Silva will share her story and her fight to keep families together.

Tuesday: A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families
Featuring President Bill Clinton and Mothers of the Movement
Tuesday will feature the roll call vote and how Hillary has spent her entire career working to make a difference for children, families, and our country. The Mothers of the Movement participating include Gwen Carr, Mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, Mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, Mother of Dontré Hamilton; Lucia McBath, Mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, Mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, Mother of Sandra Bland.

Wednesday: Working Together
Featuring President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
On Wednesday speakers will take an in-depth look at just how high the stakes are in this election and how Hillary has the experience and steadiness to bring people together to tackle the big challenges and get real results.

Thursday: Stronger Together
Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton
On the final day of the convention, Hillary will speak about her vision for our country – her belief that we are stronger together and that America is at its best when we work together to solve our problems…

Of course the RNC released its preliminary speakers list on Thursday: Veterans, Political Outsiders, Faith Leaders, Trump Family Members Lead Non-Conventional Speakers Line-Up Emphasizing Real World Experience. The most recognizable names seem to be Peter “Gawker Must Die” Thiel (NYMag: “All aboard the Straight Talk Express 2, which is now a privately funded space shuttle whose engine fails in low orbit”), Chairman Reince “It’s In My Job Description” Priebus, Speaker Paul “Just Shoot Me” Ryan, Mitch “I Already Got the Job I Want” McConnell, Scott “Remind Me” Walker, Chris “Worst Night in A Bad Month” Christie, Newt “You Think I Can’t Hold A Grudge?” Gingrich, and… Ted Cruz.

Were I in the Secret Service, I would most certainly search that guy for sharp implements and rare untraceable poisons…

…Mr. Cruz, who hasn’t endorsed presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, will speak to delegates at the convention, the Republican National Committee announced on Thursday.

Before he accepted Mr. Trump’s invitation to speak at the convention when they met last week in Washington, Mr. Cruz’s team had considered holding a large event in Cleveland. In 2008, Ron Paul rented a 15,000-seat arena to speak to supporters in Minneapolis while John McCain was nominated at a different arena in nearby St. Paul, Minn…

Here’s Cruz’s self-professed “best friend” Mike Lee:

… Lee, a U.S. senator from Utah, stood and voted with a group of Republicans who were trying to allow all 2,472 delegates to vote according to their conscience and not necessarily for the candidate to whom they were pledged…

It didn’t work. A well-organized effort by a squad of veteran Republican operatives, working on behalf of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, dealt the “conscience vote” effort a stinging defeat in the convention Rules Committee. The motion didn’t get anywhere close to enough votes to send it to the full committee. Trump’s supporters on the committee and at the RNC went out of their way to ensure the effort’s defeat, preventing Lee and the other supporters of the measure from debating it, and not even allowing anything more than a voice vote…

In the committee meeting, Lee did not concede that Trump — who is now all but certain to be named the GOP’s nominee next Wednesday night — will in fact be the party’s choice… He seemed to hint at the prospect of a demonstration on the floor of the convention, noting that “as we will see in a few days” the “angst” among many anti-Trump delegates or those with serious reservations about Trump “isn’t just going to go away.”

When I asked Lee if there would be an attempted revolt on the floor of the convention, he was evasive, likely because he needs to collect his thoughts and also perhaps keep Trump’s campaign off balance. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said. When I asked if he would speak out over the next few days, before the convention starts Monday, to protest the RNC’s strong-armed treatment of the “conscience vote” delegates, he was again noncommittal. “We’ll see,” he said…

It’s gotta be frustrating for the #BernieOrBust holdouts. Given the Repubs’ previous achievements in anarchic risibility, mere journeyman attempts like a “fart in” on the DNC convention floor are liable to come off as second-rate, or even imitative.

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    I read somewhere that the theme of the first night of the GOP convention will be “Benghazi: Because You Didn’t Hear Enough About It in the Four Congressional Hearings!” and the next night will be “Bill Clinton Used to Be a Big Ol’ Horndog in the 90s!”

    This tells me that Trump is setting the agenda himself. Anyone who knows how to win a general election would have said you have to focus on the future. They will be beating the dusty spot where dead horses were atomized ages ago. Please proceed, Republicans!

    Unrelated whining: I’ve got the most horrible cold and was up coughing and sneezing half the night. I hate being sick in the summer. It’s worse, somehow.

  4. 4.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I’ve had a great predictive record on this primary, but I’ve got to admit, I whiffed on this one. I thought the RNC would support any attempt to overturn Trump, that they see him as actually worse for their prospects than open revolt. Maybe Pence and Trump shutting up the last few days was their price? If so, they’re fools. Trump has shown he can’t stay on message for long.

  7. 7.

    Keith G

    Were I in the Secret Service, I would most certainly search that guy for sharp implements and rare untraceable poisons…

    Nah.

    Cruz is a young man whose sharp eyes are on 2020. He will behave from here on out and collect chits. I expect that he will be getting some advice to moderate his Senatorial behavior enough to to take a bit of an edge off his reputation. Will he follow it? We will know if we see him helping other Senators with their fund raising.

    Cruz is being told that when taking the history of the US presidency into account, 2020 will be a strong year for the opposition party. It will be interesting to see if or how this influences his behavior.

  13. 13.

    BC in Illinois

    I really can’t see the Fart-In picking up steam. It sounds like nothing more than hot air. Even Saul Alinsky didn’t actually buy the 100 tickets to the Rochester Symphony that he talked about. It was more useful as an attention-getting threat. And, in his work in Rochester at the time, there were real-life goals in mind. The goal of a Democratic Convention Fart-In? To embarrass Hilary Clinton and the Democrats? To what end?

    A Fart-In would be a real asshole move.

  15. 15.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    I don’t use Netipot, but I do something similar by shooting warmed saline solution into my sinuses with a large syringe. It isn’t to deal with bacteria; it’s to dislodge congestion that I then spit out. Even when allergies aren’t in season, I have horrible sinuses that a rhinoplasty fifteen years ago helped with but didn’t entirely solve. So, it can be very useful.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Terror attacks in Nice… Failed coups in Turkey… Trump forced to shit or get off the pot… Anything else happen while I was stuck in the 19th century?

  20. 20.

    Aleta

    @Betty Cracker: What I like is a classic hot water bottle, not too full, so it can rest on the chest or the sinuses and wherever might ache. My mom used to say that the heat kept things flowing instead of settling in your chest or head.

  22. 22.

    Aleta

    @OzarkHillbilly: Some animal shelter has asked Pokemo Go players to come walk the shelter dogs while they’re at it. (True)

    Our dog found an exhausted and terrified little Pokemo hiding under some bushes in the park and carried it home.

  23. 23.

    Shalimar

    NEW: Ted Cruz to hold event for supportive RNC delegates Wednesday at Shooters, a Cleveland waterfront bar

    That is hilarious. The linked Wall Street Journal article doesn’t even name the bar. I guess they assumed people would think it was satire.

  24. 24.

    bystander

    Somehow a fart-in seems sadly apropos the berniebro mentality.

    Neti pots always seemed like an express train to sinus infection. Sterile saline, if you must, but I definitely treat myself to a big juicy Nyquil cocktail when I have a cold.

  25. 25.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @BC in Illinois: I don’t see this happening, honestly. Even the batshit crazy Bernie guys I know wouldn’t be able to sell this fiasco with a straight face. It’s a different story if they’re sock puppets hired by the Kochs, however.

  26. 26.

    Scapegoat

    Surprise visit from a very close, old friend 2.5 hours away last night out on a moto jaunt.

    Talk turned to politics and UT AA decision (he’s worked for an R1 university all his life). Discovered that under his intellectually keen and sharp-witted facade he’s a closet racist and misogynist. Wonderful… :-(

    Nothing like sort of losing a close and trusted companion, when palatable topics are simmered into a bitter reduction of sorts.

  27. 27.

    Karla

    I wonder if the “Working Together” theme Wednesday night, when the VP candidate will speak, is a hint that Perez will get the nod.

  28. 28.

    Karla

    I think occasional use of neti pots is good as a preventative measure, especially for clearing out dust (or pollen if that’s an issue for someone). Once a cold is already there, a one-two shot of Afrin-(pause)-neti pot can be helpful.

  30. 30.

    Scapegoat

    @Betty Cracker: DayQuil gel caps during the light (more often than recommended during the first couple days, as desired). NyQuil during vampire hours. Afrin (aka “nasal draino”) if desperately stuffy, since the rebound effect the next day can be worse than the palliative.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    I think the memo went out from our corporate media masters that Obama is to be critized for being “surprised” about the Turkey coup. I’ve heard that theme several times since events began.

  36. 36.

    Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill

    That RNC speaker list is the whitest list of white people that could ever expect to be white when they see themselves in the bathroom mirror in the morning.

  37. 37.

    TriassicSands

    @Baud:

    I thought Warren was supposed to speak on the first night. I hope this is an oversight. It had better not mean HRC has chosen Warren for VP. That would be a terrible idea. We need Warren in the Senate, not wasted as the VP. This has to be an oversight.

    Or maybe HRC saw Warren’s speech and decided it was so exciting and inspiring that the delegates would forget all about Clinton and spontaneously nominate Warren for president. At that point Hillary decided it was just too risky to let Warren speak.

  39. 39.

    Scapegoat

    BTW: watching babies “boot up” after a night of sleep is the stuff that cheek-splitting grins are made of!

  41. 41.

    Randy P

    Back in the States and back to real life, starting with reading about Nice just before we left.

    But in happier news, Galway (where we were all week) won their bid to be 2020 Cultural Capital of Europe. There were posters about this all over, and locals told us judges would be in town on Tuesday and Wednesday with a decision to be made Friday, sometime while we were over the Atlantic.

    I’m thrilled for our hosts even though I’m not sure what they get out of it. Also I love that the picture of the crowd hearing the announcement is a familiar location, a shopping and tourist area where we spent many hours and many Euro.

  42. 42.

    Anya

    @Karla: I think HRC’s running mate is going to be a boring, non-threating white guy. You don’t want to scare the white people with too much change all at once. Incidentally, I don’t think Tim Kaine is a bad choice. He won elections, he can be passionate, he’s catholic and will appeal to the catholic voters. His pro-choice stand (personally apposed to abortion but believes it’s a woman’s choice) doesn’t bother me because he’s on the side of enforcing the laws.

    KAINE: People use labels all the time. But I’m kind of a traditional Catholic. I don’t like it personally. I’m opposed to abortion. And personally I’m opposed to the death penalty. I deeply believe, and not just as a matter of politics, but even as a matter of morality, that matters about reproduction and intimacy and relationships and contraception are in the personal realm. They’re moral decisions for individuals to make for themselves. And the last thing we need is government intruding into those personal decisions. So I’ve taken a position which is quite common among Catholics. I’ve got a personal feeling about abortion, but the right role for government is to let women make their own decisions.

  43. 43.

    JMG

    @Randy P: San Sebastian, Spain, where I was in June for a few days, is the 2016 winner. It means you host a bunch of arts and music events for the summer, as least as far as I could tell.

  44. 44.

    Hillary Rettig

    @Betty Cracker: omg yes! it’s the best. you can get a pot and some saline packets at a drugstore for like $10; you feel great afterwards and you can do it as often as you like.

    watch a youtube vid on how to do it.

    there’s a tiny chance of infection (sometimes serious) from bugs in the tap water, so if you want to be extra careful you boil the water first.

  45. 45.

    Randy P

    @Anya: Let’s not forget that Uncle Joe Biden is an old white guy, and the most beloved and admired VP of my memory. And seeing his obvious admiration and friendship with his boss has been all by itself a nice balm when I get over-exposed to Republican hate speech.

  46. 46.

    MattF

    My homebrew treatment for colds is to sneeze as loud as I can. It’s surprising how that improves my mood.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    Turkish lefty I know saying “the better-informed people” in Turkey all agree that the failed coup was staged. Caveat: he is also a 9/11 truther.

  48. 48.

    JPL

    @Scapegoat: Fisher didn’t have standing, according to papers released by U.T.
    It’s unfortunate that your friend, decided to expose himself over a spoiled brat. That happened to me a few times, and it is like a punch in the gut. Someone that I thought I knew, really the color of ones skin, made all the difference. Sorry!

  50. 50.

    JMG

    @Baud: If Obama wasn’t “surprised” by the coup, it wouldn’t have happened, as he’d have told Erdogan about it. That’s just the silliest. No wonder Trump’s doing well. To the media, the President is the all powerful Oz.

  52. 52.

    TriassicSands

    @Aleta:

    Or alternatively:

    Night 1: 3rd rate athletes
    Night 2: 3rd rate celebrities
    Night 3: 3rd rate family members
    Night 4: Vlad Putin, dressed in a gold lame jumpsuit, open to the navel, introduces Trump and puts his name in nomination; Kim Jong-un seconds the nomination; and delegates dressed in golden clown suits vomit en masse and vote “Aye.” Trump accepts the nomination, standing atop a 60 foot wall in a darkened hall with 50 burning crosses behind him. The media agree “It was quite a show!”

  53. 53.

    JPL

    @TriassicSands: That great British racist, Nigel Farage will be attending. The party of making it more difficult for minorities to vote, invited foreigners…

  54. 54.

    germy

    @JPL:

    Common Dreams: ‘Shocking,’ ‘Plain Stupid’: Theresa May Shuts Climate Change Office – ‘This reshuffle risks dropping climate change from the policy agenda altogether—a staggering act of negligence for which we will all pay the price’ by Nadia Prupis

    May shuttered the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday and moved responsibility for the environment to a new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The decision comes the same week as the U.K. government’s own advisers warned in a report that the nation was not ready for the inevitable consequences of climate change, including deadly heat waves and food and water shortages.

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    So nice to see a satirical Gilbert and Sullivan pastiche that is not of “The Major-General’s Song.”

  56. 56.

    Anya

    @Matt McIrvin: Usually, I am not into conspiracy theory but it looks staged. It’s a poorly executed, leaderless coup with some random military guys feebly trying to take control of a country and it’s government with tanks and helicopter support but no infantry. Erdogan comes out the winner.

    Major caviat: I know nothing about Turkish politics. I am just learning their history of coups.

  60. 60.

    JMG

    @MomSense: I will confess that my primary focus in three days there was eating and drinking. Went to the best seafood restaurant I have ever experienced, Elcano (spelling may be wrong) in the town of Gateria about 20 miles out of the city down the coast. Expensive (it was around $700 for four, but we did have cavas) but worth every penny of the splurge).

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: The rich and powerful pulling the strings to ensure that nothing will change so they can continue to be the rich and powerful pulling the strings to ensure that….

    They aren’t going to give up without a fight. This should not surprise us.

  62. 62.

    germy

    @JPL: @amk:
    The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy? Holy shit, I wonder how they plan to combat climate change? Deny it exists?

  63. 63.

    MomSense

    @JMG:

    I was on a shoestring budget when I was there but I did get to enjoy some really nice family meals with different host families.

  64. 64.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They aren’t going to give up without a fight. This should not surprise us.

    And enough low-information people will look at Theresa and say “Girl Power!”*

    *The Spice Girls were thrilled with Maggie, and used the term to describe her rise. They sold more records than Elvis Costello singing “Tramp The Dirt Down” (about burying Maggie)

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: There is no climate change in those deep dark posterior regions where they have deeply imbedded their heads.

  67. 67.

    The Thin Black Duke

    And Now For Something Completely Different: here’s the last “Calvin and Hobbes” story. It brought tears to my eyes.

  68. 68.

    Matt McIrvin

    @germy:

    *The Spice Girls were thrilled with Maggie, and used the term to describe her rise. They sold more records than Elvis Costello singing “Tramp The Dirt Down” (about burying Maggie)

    They were also young children when Thatcher became PM, and only came to prominence after she was safely out of office, which probably affected their perspective.

  73. 73.

    Poopyman

    @germy:

    The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy? Holy shit, I wonder how they plan to combat climate change? Deny it exists?

    Rhetorical question is rhetorical.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m recovering from a viral infection that got both my head and my chest. It is taking forever to clear up. Afrin’s good for immediate relief, but I think Mucinex and Delsym is the way to go.

  83. 83.

    Barry

    @Frankensteinbeck: “I’ve had a great predictive record on this primary, but I’ve got to admit, I whiffed on this one. I thought the RNC would support any attempt to overturn Trump, that they see him as actually worse for their prospects than open revolt. Maybe Pence and Trump shutting up the last few days was their price? If so, they’re fools. Trump has shown he can’t stay on message for long.”

    Aside from everything else, backstabbing Trump at the convention would result in him staging a revolt, and taking down as many down-ticket races as possible. The chaos would also likely push a lot of independents away from the GOP in horror. Afterward, every GOP politician involved would be a Tea Party/Trump target.

    It’s much better to let Trump file miserably, while everybody else distances themsevles/hugs him as they think best. Then, afterward, purge the Trumpists as they can, and prepare for 2020.

    Besides, he might win!

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Bill E Pilgrim: My father-in-law has lost an eye to an amoeba infection because he rinsed it with tap water after he scratched his cornea with a contact lens. Tap water, even if it’s perfectly drinkable, generally isn’t good for forcing into places in your body that are vulnerable to that.

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    @Scapegoat:
    If someone actually thought that the UT case was a VALID one to discuss AA…Phuck.outta.here
    Fisher was a mediocre White woman either too lazy or too stupid to do what had to be done in order to be in the top 10% of her class, which would have gotten her into UT automatically.
    If someone who is in the group that had already benefitted most from AA-WHITE WOMEN. ..is whining, then they are beyond mediocre.

  89. 89.

    D58826

    @JMG: Supposed retired CIA agent on Faux news claims that Obama has ‘lost control of the middle east’. Gee didn’t know that he owned it.

    Best summary of Turkey seems to be from David Frum – an anti-democratic coup has been put down by an anti-democratic autocrat. No wonder Obama’s hair is grey.

  92. 92.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @The Thin Black Duke:
    Cool, thanks!

    I remember a few years ago someone doing a couple of strips with the premise that Calvin was coming home either from college or just after finishing. They were well done but I don’t remember where they were right now.

  94. 94.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @D58826: And no wonder Trump was unable to make any kind of statement. He doesn’t know who to bomb. Plus he was dithering about his VP choice. Being the decider is hard!

  96. 96.

    ThresherK

    Tuesday: A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families

    Or, as they call it a Trump’s house, “Thanksgiving dinner”!

    Seriously, are we not doing phrasing?

  97. 97.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    Every once in a while I read something that I wish I had written. Henry Rollins did just that in LA Weekly (Here’s a sample, but do go read the entire piece):

    If white America experienced a fraction of what black America deals with regarding law enforcement, incarceration, the court system, employment and countless other facts of life, they would immediately and collectively lose their minds.

  99. 99.

    Cat48

    @Baud:

    If Obama was surprised, it’s an Intel failure, not Obama’s. That’s why the US has lots of incognito Intel/CIA folks in Turkey. Doesn’t always work well though.

  101. 101.

    EZSmirkzz

    According to recent Internet rumor the government of Barryo O’Bummer is implementing a super crypto top notch top top secret secret program to confiscate American’s trucks. True patriots are being advised to stock pile trucks in secured, camouflaged enclosures with enough fuel to suit your perception of the imminent threat of big government.

    We’re Coming For Your Trucks

    YMMV

  102. 102.

    Hal

    @rikyrah: Not to mention she could have gone to another UT campus for a year and then transferred to her “dream” school as a sophomore. That just was good enough for Fisher.

  103. 103.

    Formerly disgruntled Clinton supporter

    @Aleta:

    Not a single member of the Trump University faculty has been asked to speak? I don’t understand.

    Does Pam Bondi count?

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cat48:

    If Obama was surprised, it’s an Intel failure, not Obama’s.

    Well, of course the story is going to be that that’s because he was too prissy to torture people like a macho man, which everyone knows is the Jack Bauer-approved way to get information.

  108. 108.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    “Say what you will about Hitler, he made the trains run on time.”

    “Trump: He makes the train wrecks run on time.”

    (stolen from someone or another; don’t remember where)

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    RWNJ voices angrily accusing HRC of politicizing the convention in 3… 2… 1….

    To those here who insisted I was a la-la- land when mentioned Sanders getting a primo spot a while back, neener-neener.

    Chelsea Clinton? Meh. (Did she keep her surname unaltered after marriage? Not that there’s anything wrong with that; just curious.)

  115. 115.

    Cat48

    Trump has a new hair style, it’s redder & parted in the middle. I don’t like this one either.

  116. 116.

    dmsilev

    @NotMax: Chelsea is probably just going to give a short speech introducing her mother. That’s not unheard of when a nominee has adult children.

  118. 118.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Shell:

    Non-Conventional Speakers

    Is that the new term for the “D-List?”

    Well, you wouldn’t want anybody conventional at your convention.

    Must be D-List, they couldn’t even afford that Kardashian in-law that’s been following Trump around.

  120. 120.

    Shell

    The Turkish coup was over so quickly, the RW didnt know which side to blame Obama for.

  121. 121.

    Major Major Major Major

    @OzarkHillbilly: I had somebody on Facebook who was being very, very annoying. Everything I posted, like literally almost everything, he would make some snarky comment about Hillary. On my thread about Nice, he started asking when Hillary was going to call for outlawing trucks and suing Peterbilt, and whether or not the Teamsters qualified as a terrorist organization. Anyway, two things, one, fuck that guy, I changed my privacy settings so he doesn’t see my posts any more; and two, you laugh, but this is apparently a talking point.

    As long as I’m complaining: yesterday, he found his way onto a different thread–I guess something reset my privacy settings–about Turkey, and commented, see, this is what happens when you elect somebody who everyone hates. So I deleted his comment and blocked him.

  123. 123.

    Shell

    Looks like the Trump campaign is capable of learning. They’ve trashed the infamous “TP” logo.

  124. 124.

    satby

    It’s cooler weather and will be a beautiful day; I have new picardin based bug repellent, a canopy bed mosquito net to hang over my deck table, and flowers to pot. But it’s my last cup of coffee and I’m in savor mode.

  128. 128.

    Chris

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Turkish lefty I know saying “the better-informed people” in Turkey all agree that the failed coup was staged. Caveat: he is also a 9/11 truther.

    Just got done reading a long email from one of my fellow international relations grad students, who was back home in Turkey for the summer. He doesn’t buy it, though he sympathizes with the mindset: his read of it is less “false flag operation” and more “the gang that couldn’t plot straight.” He does, however, agree with the already common view that Erdogan will use this to reinforce his power.

  129. 129.

    Shell

    being baked into the GOP Platform

    Speaking of baking, wanna watch the Great British Baking Show on the PBS website. For some reason, my local PBS channel doesnt show it till Sunday afternoon.

  138. 138.

    EZSmirkzz

    It takes good guys with trucks to stop bad guys with trucks.

    Speaking for this liberal only,

    When trucks are outlawed, only outlaws will have trucks.

  143. 143.

    The Thin Black Duke

    To everybody: you’re welcome. I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to share it. God, I miss Bill Watterson.

  144. 144.

    Emma

    @The Thin Black Duke: I had the sniffles myself. But whatever you do, don’t read the comments. Jesus, what is it about the internet that makes people happy to pee on someone else’s happy experience?

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    Nasacort Allergy 24hr spray. Doesn’t have quite the roto-router effect of Afrin but it also doesn’t have the rebound effect and can be used daily. Cleans out the nose pretty decently but time is your only real friend in the case of a cold. NyQuil will make you feel better for sure but the old time remedy of a shot of whiskey seems to work as well if you are so inclined. Maybe in tea with lemon if that sounds better. Of course mixing chemicals with alcohol is not highly recommended.

  146. 146.

    aimai

    @NotMax: I don’t know why Chelsea is doing it other than, perhaps, its customary for children or spouses to do the last minute intro. I think its a bit unfortunate but maybe its their way of not having Bill on stage with her at the last minute.

  147. 147.

    Carolina Dave

    @Hillary Rettig: everything she said. My wife has great results with it when she gets a cold. My issues are more sinus related so it benefits me a little leas. I use it when I’m completely stopped up breathing thru my nose.
    Boil the water beforehand and allow to cool to avoid any microbial infection.

  148. 148.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Emma: I never read the comments, thankfully. And I think the reason why these jerks post hateful things is because nothing makes them happy, so they’re jealous of the people who are.

  150. 150.

    Doug R

    @Cat48: What do you think the NSA was doing? Of course Snowden revealing methods and techniques closed up a lot of information channels. Would have been nice if Saint Ed had revealed some Russian tricks, but I guess ex-KGB strongman Putin doesn’t do that kind of thing?

  151. 151.

    Doug R

    @EZSmirkzz: The only thing that stops a bad guy with a truck is more trucks-dump trucks full of sand with the brakes full on parked sideways.

  152. 152.

    Doug R

    @Tenar Darell: I’ve got a few Bernie or busters who refuse to follow St Bernard. I don’t have the heart to block them and I keep hoping they’ll come around. I’m starting to think the hatred of Shillary is coming from projection of some deep childhood trauma, probably a mother-figure.

  154. 154.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Doug R: I don’t know a single Buster who changed their mind as a result of Sanders endorsing Clinton. Either they denounced Sanders as a sellout or (more often) they just came up with a reason that he didn’t really mean it, and kept endorsing Jill Stein or refusing to support anybody. The Sanders supporters I know who were ever going to support Hillary Clinton have already said so.

    Which does make me wonder what the unusually large number of people stating they’re undecided about the election are going to do.

  155. 155.

    Matt McIrvin

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Yes, there’s a heartbreaking poignancy in Banksey’s cartoon.

    It strikes me that I’ve read a bunch of lefty rants against “late capitalism” that complain that it’s kept us in a perpetual state of arrested development, hooked on childish superhero movies and videogames and grown men wearing short pants yadda yadda… and this seems like an observation of the exact opposite.

  157. 157.

    ? Martin

    Geez. Pack some extra tissues for Tuesday. Mothers who have been failed by society.

  158. 158.

    EBT

    Zahn is returning to writing Star Wars books next year with a new book about Grand Admiral Thrawn.

  159. 159.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Matt McIrvin: Biologically, a prolonged adolescence is seen as an indication of evolutionary progress. But, sure, let’s get rid of the Pokemon and the hippity hop music and all go back to being farmer-philosophers and die of polio like Marx intended.

  160. 160.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    @Keith G: And if he does, he’ll get whomped by someone turning the Trump act up to 11. If not Il Douche going for round two himself. Ask iJeb! and Kasich how far being the ‘moderate sane voice’ of the party works out in these days and times.

    Assuming there is a GOP in 2020 and its not split into the Conservative and Trump parties…

  161. 161.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @aimai: How much d’ya wann bet that the GOP will refer to Chelsea as “Mrs. Mezvinsky” as loudly & often as they can? IMO they won’t even try to be subtle about the anti-Semitism. It’s the way they roll.

  162. 162.

    EZSmirkzz

    @Major Major Major Major: Troll?! How droll. I am merely reporting on super double top secret memos, which have outlined the liberals Global War On Trucks, or Gwot2. This after all an is open thread, and as a Democrat feel obligated to pass on information concerning right wing memes. Sometimes before they happen!

    Oh I used to be all the rage years ago
    but as good John well knows
    I only come here once in a while
    To infuse it with my style.

    Also too, panache.

    You?

  163. 163.

    Major Major Major Major

    @EZSmirkzz:

    Sometimes before they happen!

    As this one is happening now (no joke!), I had to check.

    In college, we had a toast. The person toasting would say, “Panache?” The toastee(s) would say “Panache!” And then there was drinking.

  165. 165.

    Woodrowfan

    @Aleta: @Betty Cracker:
    Night 1 Fear
    Night 2 Anger
    Night 3. Skin crawling
    Night 5. Big money dreams

    is that the RNC or the progress of a summer cold?

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