Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / The Only Commercial Clinton Needs

Reader Interactions

259Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    This so called Dr person has about as much credibility as RGIII does as a starting QB in the NFL.
    HEEEYYY-OOOO!!

  12. 12.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    When the next iteration of this election’s “Game Change” is made, Sean Penn should play this doctor. Helen Mirren as Hillary, Darrell Hammond as Trump.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud:*Fires up my internet protest keyboard and slips on the carpal tunnel wrist braces*
    Oh, fuck no! It is on!

  16. 16.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    @Hunter Gathers: Gizmodo:

    Why does it matter if Dr. Bornstein is using an outdated operating system? Well, it could be a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP back in 2014 and HIPAA requires doctors to make continued security updates to their systems to protect the privacy of the information they collect on their patients.

  17. 17.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Trump will release more information, if Clinton does first!

    She already did, dipshit. That’s the point. She has actual records out, you have a letter that contains no details whatsoever and looks an awful lot like you wrote it yourself and got a useful idiot to sign it.

    EDIT – @Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
    Holy crap. This is actually a big deal. HIPAA is the demon god worshipped and feared by all American medical providers. You do not get on HIPAA’s bad side.

  21. 21.

    redshirt

    @Corner Stone: Hi Corner Stone! Sad to inform you but everything will be remade in the fullness of time.

    Can someone share my comment with Corner Stone? And also let him know how deeply hurt I am he has me pied? :(

  28. 28.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    Here, I am going to have to correct your snark. Assange has been quite plain that he’s not about unbiased information. He specifically wants to sink the Clinton candidacy, and he wants to humiliate the American government. He doesn’t claim to be neutral.

  30. 30.

    Corner Stone

    While I agree with RG Cheese’s decision to slide and not take a hit, it’s just another example of how poor an NFL QB he is.

  33. 33.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    I’m pretty sure I saw news reports saying what I said. My google fu is pathetically weak. Can anybody find out which of us is right? I could totally be misremembering.

    EDIT – Okay, here’s one about Assange wanting to stop Hillary from becoming president.

  34. 34.

    The Dangerman

    @weaselone:

    Why not let Trump play Trump?

    Hollywood uses such high intensity lights that Trump and his hair spray might turn into a Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial.

  36. 36.

    Hunter Gathers

    @Baud: I imagine that somebody will beat Assange to it. His admin password is probably ‘password’ or ‘12345678’. Or ‘Yuge!’

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Haven’t seen his kids lately. I wonder if Bannon and Kellyann locked them out of the room.

    And honestly, this is something I think that has not been properly explored during this scampaign season. He has to have his kids regulate his behavior? Approve his decisions?
    What would happen if Chelsea was the stalking horse campaign manager for HRC?
    I think the kids have been banished because he was furious about all the “being managed” commentary we saw right before Manafort got canned.

  39. 39.

    Aleta

    This seems like an Elvis’ doctor sighting. (The crooked media tried to claim he died exactly 6 months ago.)

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    Certainly likely. I will never forget MC’s lectures about the righteousness of the world-changing Assange, and how Wikileaks has ended the concept of government secrecy forever.

  47. 47.

    Keith P.

    @Villago Delenda Est: Can CNN join them? Every goddamn day, it’s 3 talking heads on one side, 3 on the other, a “moderator”, and then an hour of them all talking over each other with the same talking points ad nauseum. With almost no followup. I mean, just today, I heard FOUR Trump supporters say Bannon’s domestic abuse “incident” was irrelevant because no charges were filed, yet not one was asked how, then Trump can insist that Hillary Clinton’s email server makes her guilty as hell (no charges filed, and no police being called to her office/home)

  49. 49.

    jl

    @Baud: How did the Baud! 2016! campaign lose that guy? Talk about the target demo.

    Except, he does seem to have visible means of support, but he could have been an inspirational figure. The campaign needed at least one of those.

  50. 50.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Thrilling@burdentruth
    Trump staff:
    Wife beater-Bannon
    Sexabuser-Ailes
    Assaulter-Lewandowski
    Bridgegate-Christie
    Russian Spy-Manafort
    Thief-Pierson
    Luggage-Omarosa

    and Dr. Emilio Lizardo.

  55. 55.

    jl

    Story says Rudy G is a key figure advocating for and advising on a pivot to the center. No wonder it’s been a train wreck. Hope Rudy G keeps up the good work. And Ailes is in the mix. Expect more leggy babe spox for Trump campaign. Mostly blonde, I’d expect.

    Trump and advisers remain split on how far to move toward the middle
    WaPo
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-and-advisers-remain-split-on-how-far-to-move-toward-the-middle/2016/08/26/e94f5eb4-6ba1-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @hovercraft:

    The two other nominees are younger and apparently in good health, but less is known about their medical history. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, 47, the Democratic presidential nominee, released a one-page, undated letter from his personal physician in May stating that he was in “excellent” health. Late last week, his campaign released the results of standard laboratory tests and electrocardiograms from his checkups in June 2001, November 2004 and January 2007. The findings were normal.

    So the reports have always been perfunctory. What liars!

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Apart from anything else, how does any kind of gastroenterologist come off speaking publicly about a patient’s mental health? The man is not credentialed in psychiatry and is surely in violation of all manner of medical ethics by offering a medical opinion on a subject so far out of his own specialty.

    (Oh wait. Trump’s head has been up his ass forever, so maybe it’s a reasoned expert medical opinion after all.)

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    @jl:

    The conversations in recent days have featured voices from a range of Republican views, all jockeying to tilt the businessman’s politics in their direction, according to those involved. Trump tends to echo the words of whomever last spoke to him, making direct access to him even more valuable, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal campaign discussions.

    Congratulations, GOP primary voters, in selecting an overgrown toddler as your nominee!

  61. 61.

    jl

    @Baud: You cut and paste the raw info feed into pre-established narratives and story arcs. That is how you maximize corporate profit and produce reliable, new-cycle friendly news information product that won’t interrupt the ad clicks.

    Your comments reveal communist sympathies.

  62. 62.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @eric:

    yes, Christie needs to have his own category for personal humiliation, before he’s actually indicted.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    @jl: Interestingly, someone here said the Communist Party is throwing its support (3 people?) behind Hillary because Trump has to be stopped. So they’ve risen quite a bit in my estimation.

  65. 65.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: SOMEONE learned from the “Nach Hitler, Uns” example. Wasn’t Ralph fucking Nader or Jill fucking Stein.

  67. 67.

    FlyingToaster

    Okay, here’s for today’s unexpected weirdness:

    My twitter timeline is being inundated with Trump ads. It was already fairly odd, with all of the men’s clothing and razors (HerrDoctor wears a beard, and he shops at Casual Male XL), but Trump is paying for twitter ads targeting known liberals.

    I can’t even…

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: I originally, as I was glancing at it saw RGIII and read it as RBG. And thought to myself: is someone expecting Associate Justice Ginsburg to compete for a starting position this year?

  83. 83.

    redshirt

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: What’s amazing is his mouth breathing supporters will be defending all this vociferously.

    Maine has no recall mechanisms FYI, and an impeachment would require the bare majority R Senate go along with it. Which they might – believe it or not he’s pissed off plenty off local Repukes too. But not enough, and not for this. He’d actually have to commit some serious offense for an impeachment. Like shooting a legislator.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    Did I miss it today when they reported that Bannon said he didn’t want his child going to school with Jews?

    Maddow just reported it.

  89. 89.

    jl

    @rikyrah: Whew boy. Don’t be pulling my leg.

    If true, will this help the media from getting out of their ‘he-said-she-said’ ditch on Trump bigotry and racism?

  90. 90.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Well in ’08 they were ‘unknown’, this year they are old. And I’m pretty sure that’s when ace reporter Jake Tapper was assigned to ‘quitgate’, Can Obama prove that he hasn’t had a cigarette since he said he quit? The American people have a right to know.

  93. 93.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: Yes. LePage threatened to pull the funding for a private school if they hired the ex-Dem Speaker of the House as Chancellor. They had actually offered him the job but then pulled the offer once LePage threatened them. There was a lawsuit that somehow held up LePage’s side for reasons I do not understand. I believe now in appeal.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: It was the standard 2 page release.
    http://www.politico.com/story/2008/05/obama-releases-health-record-summary-010686

    Obama releases health-record summary
    By POLITICO STAFF 05/29/08 12:09 PM EDT
    The Obama campaign released this summary of the senator’s health records on Thursday and does not plan to make additional records available:

    DAVID L. SCHEINER, M.D.

    Hyde Park Associates in Medicine, Ltd.

    1515 East 52nd Place, Chicago, IL 60615

    To Whom It May Concern:

    I am David L. Scheiner, a board certified general internist licensed to practice in the State of Illinois. I am on staff at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Rush University Medical Center. I have been Senator Barack Obama’s primary care physician since March 23, 1987. The following is a summary of his medical records for the past 21 years.

    During that period of time, Senator Obama has been in excellent health. He has been seen regularly for medical checkups and various minor problems such as upper respiratory infections, skin rashes and minor injuries.

    His family history is pertinent for his mother’s death from ovarian cancer and grandfather who died of prostate cancer. His own history included intermittent cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success.

    Senator Obama’s last medical checkup was on January 15, 2007; he had no complaints. He exercised regularly often jogging three miles. His diet was balanced with good intake of roughage and fluids. A complete review of systems was unremarkable. On physical examination, his blood pressure was 90/60 and pulse 60/minute. His build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat. His physical examination was completely normal.

    Laboratory studies included triglycerides of 44(normal under 150), cholesterol 173 (normal under 200), HDL 68 (normal over 40), and LDL 96 (normal under 130). Chem 24, urinalysis and CBC were normal, PSA was 0.6, very good. An EKG was normal.

    In short, his examination showed him to be in excellent health. Senator Barack Obama is in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of President.

    Sincerely,

    David L. Scheiner, M.D.

  97. 97.

    dmsilev

    @hovercraft:

    Can Obama prove that he hasn’t had a cigarette since he said he quit?

    Hah.

    I lived in Hyde Park for some years and was chatting once with a neighbor who lived kitty-corner across an alley from the Obamas back before they bought their house; he mentioned that he and Barack were on more or less the same after-dinner-back-porch-cigarette schedule, and that they’d often nod to each other across the alley as they lit up. This was of course when he was still a State Senator, but still someone needs to let the national media know.

  99. 99.

    sidhra

    @redshirt:

    He’d actually have to commit some serious offense for an impeachment. Like shooting a legislator.

    Or actually perhaps allowing said legislator access to the Gubernatorial cock for suckage at prix fixée.

  109. 109.

    hovercraft

    @dmsilev:
    Congressional investigation now. Obama lied to the American people. Time is running out, must have a real scandal before he leaves.

  110. 110.

    Lizzy L

    @jl: It’s from a 2007 deposition in the divorce papers filed by his ex-wife; she also accused him of dv. Check out the NY Daily News. Lots of smoke; Fire? dunno.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: Sarah Gideon (D), the Assistant Minority Leader in one of the chambers of the Maine legislature, asked the Republican legislators to join with the Democratic minority to intervene with Governor LePage to get him medical (implied psychiatric/psychological) help.

  114. 114.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @efgoldman:

    Speaking of which, whatever happened to frequent commenter beltane? I always appreciated her comments. Being that she was from rural Vermont, and this place turned into a Hillbot fortress during the great Hillzilla v. Berniebro war of ’16, I wonder if she found another home.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @FlyingToaster: I got an appeal from Hillary for President that if I contribute today, because its Women’s Equality Day, they’ll send me a Woman Card! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m pretty sure I don’t qualify!

  117. 117.

    Baud

    As long as we’re talking about lost commenters, what happened to Dance Around in Your Bones?

  119. 119.

    SFAW

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    (Oh wait. Trump’s head has been up his ass forever, so maybe it’s a reasoned expert medical opinion after all.)

    I have SO missed your Mob Enforcer persona. Good to see you letting some of it peek out.

  123. 123.

    Corner Stone

    @Taylor: I am really happy I provided a platform for you to reach a release.
    It should be noted that you and the eternal spectre efgoldman both decided to respond in similar fashion.
    My question was really more about alt ads.
    Thanks, though.

  128. 128.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @redshirt:

    I know, right? I guess he’s going to appear with Hill on Labor Day at a union event. Still, what a fraud. We really dodged a bullet with that fucking guy. He spent 30 of his 45 minute podcast kicking off the “Our Revolution” super pac talking about how great his presidential run was, with no specifics about anything he was going to do with this new thing – apparently no one knows anything, except that Jeff Weaver, professional grifting asshole, is involved. Everyone quit because Bernie lied to them about that, and in typical Bernie fashion, he can’t organize a two car funeral without pissing all the people in the cars off and making it all about him, which it can’t be because it’s a 501(c)(4).

    ETA: The board of “Our” Revolution consists of all white men from Vermont. The dudebro revolution lives.

  130. 130.

    Baud

    @hovercraft: How is that materially different from Obama’s in the level of detail? What utter Clinton Rules/both sides crap.

    It’s not like Clinton even raised Trump’s health as an issue. The media is simply doing his bidding.

  131. 131.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: I work for a medical device company repairing the machines. Many of our customer’s machines still have XP, much to my exasperation (in fact spent today reghosting a few XP machines,..) So this isn’t hardly uncommon and not surprising how cheep ass doctors are.

  133. 133.

    Baud

    @redshirt: Nah, he was neoliberal before being neoliberal was cool. And by cool, and I mean a totally meaningless term used to describe people to your subjective political right.

  134. 134.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman: I think the targetting is still wonky at Hilz’ joint. As opposed to Trump, who seems to be completely off the wall.

    I wonder if anyone in the Trump (dis)organaizaton is aware that Romney’s DB was whack (they were sending MA registered Dems mailers and solicitations, for pete’s sake), and that digital strategies only work when accompanied by a)data analysis of all that mined data and b)feet on the ground, ringing doorbells at dinner time or Saturday afternoon.*

    *Do NOT ring doorbells in Patriot’s Nation on Sunday afternoon during football season. Just…..Don’t.

  136. 136.

    hovercraft

    I just noticed that in Dr Feelgoods interview that he casually throws in that he knows Hillary’s “physician and some of Hillary’s health history and it’s not so good.” Isn’t that illegal under HIPPA ? Either her doctor violated her privacy in discussing her health with him, or if he consulted about something he’s doing the violating, right?

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @nutella: The issue he now faces is twofold. One, where did he actually vote/did he actually vote based on the prior, dubious registration. The second is whether he declared that as his official address, despite no one residing there, to avoid property taxes in California and/or DC. I’m sure that right now the department’s of revenue in both of those jurisdictions have an open file, opened just this morning, and will be looking into it. Especially as its unclear who really owns the DC townhouse. The Guardian reported today that it appears to be owned by a former member of Egypt’s legislature.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SFAW:

    I have SO missed your Mob Enforcer persona. Good to see you letting some of it peek out.

    I need to apportion it out very carefully over the next ten weeks. Wouldn’t want to blow it too early and end up having nothing in reserve by early November.

  143. 143.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: I hadn’t seen it until Maddow. Apparently everyone decided to do a deep dive into Bannon over the last few days and all the stories broke today.

  150. 150.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    People were saying in an earlier thread that the California Franchise Tax Board will be VERY interested in investigating whether he’s been evading his state income tax. And they do NOT play around.

    Oh, and it’s not that impressive that LaPage would know lines from “Hamilton.” Even Dick Cheney is a fan, FFS.

  151. 151.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @redshirt:

    Can you see Bernie making the speech Hill made about the alt-right? I can’t. If it isn’t about millyuhnaihs and billyuhnaihs, and Wall Street, it just isn’t as interesting to him in the way that having Obama’s coalition as your base makes it a passionate cause for Hillary.

  158. 158.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hovercraft:

    I just noticed that in Dr Feelgoods interview that he casually throws in that he knows Hillary’s “physician and some of Hillary’s health history and it’s not so good.”

    Where did you see/hear that? It’s not in the NBC piece linked above. Grateful for a link or source. Thanks.

  161. 161.

    schrodinger's cat

    I watched the Snooze Hour. Uriah Brooks was actually making more send Jowls Shields. Is there a more useless pundit on TV than Shields sputtering while slowly moving his jowls?

  169. 169.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I literally laughed out loud at that. So for once I can type LOL and not be exaggerating.

    (I am not, however, rolling on the floor laughing or even laughing my ass off, so ROTFL and LMAO will have to wait for you, or someone, to make an even more inappropriate-yet-hilarious comment.)

  170. 170.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    No. SATSQ. That goes for all the pundits, actually. There are so many more in touch, thoughtful, funny and sharp eyed observers of our media and politics on social media of both genders and all ethnicities than these stale old white men. I mean John McLaughlin got carried off his show feet first. I don’t understand the resistance to getting some fresh blood on these shows. Eleanor Clift? Really???

  171. 171.

    PhoenixRising

    @efgoldman:

    they grew up, now they’re whiny grown up Jews.

    This is not promising. I’ve reassured my kid that her worst behaved cousin will grow out of that problem…I lied?

  174. 174.

    hovercraft

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    It was in the clip Adam’s favorite Rachel played towards the end of her show, I just checked and it’s not on the web site yet. I’ll keep checking.

  175. 175.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: Yes and yes. The first one is unlikely because Secretary Clinton’s physician does not seem to be a cook. The latter unlikely because she wouldn’t be stupid enough to break the law. So we’re left with Bornstein just made it up. Probably because Trump pays him.

  176. 176.

    Matt McIrvin

    @redshirt: Bernie would have begun with a bigger head start and polling leads in places like Kansas, though, so he maybe still could have pulled it off.

  178. 178.

    FlyingToaster

    @hovercraft: I

    That 8.5 million in his latest FEC filing is for an outfit that does social media outreach and advertising, he’s trying to catch up.

    So I can reliably conclude that Trump’s cheap‽

    He’s also penny-wise and pound-foolish — one does not pay for canvassers, one pays the person who schedules the canvassers.

  179. 179.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Brownback’s Kansas? A socialist who wants the government to take over entire sectors of the economy, with the largest tax increase in peacetime ever? In what world does that make sense?

  180. 180.

    GregB

    You can find a satirical video lampooning Governor LePage if you search You Tube for Paul LePage’s Empire. A certain Ballon Juice regular plays the lead.;)

  182. 182.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: Dammit. I hinted one to many times and see what happened… I might as well just go stand in the bathroom and say Bloody Mary three times in front of the mirror!
    (Not that you’re anything like a ghoul or revenant or whatever the hell Bloody Mary is supposed to be in the legend)

  184. 184.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman: No, you sound a lot more like the data-analysis dude. Though I suspect less pierced and tatooed than the ones I generally worked with.

    It was a caution to all of “our” side’s canvassers. Don’t interfere with Football. It’s not worth it.

  185. 185.

    Adam L Silverman

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I read the comments over there before bed. This is not a comment/commentary on the quality of that site or its commenters, but I’ve found that if I can’t sleep and I read the comments over there with the screen on the iPad dimmed all the way down, the pattern of comment and response to comment seems to just lull me right to sleep. And since I don’t comment there, I don’t find the need to really focus because I’m not invested enough to respond.

  186. 186.

    Miss Bianca

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: So, I get updates from the pro-Colorado Care (Amendment 69) folks, and today they sent me an email with the screaming subject line: BERNIE ENDORSES COLORADO CARE!!

    Last night, Bernie Sanders made a YUGE announcement: as he launched his new grassroots organization, Our Revolution, to thousands of watch parties across the country, he told the national audience that he and his organization will be supporting ColoradoCare!

    Bernie is standing with Colorado families because he knows that Medicare for All will help Coloradans, and that when Colorado passes Amendment 69 on the ballot in November, the rest of the states will follow soon after.

    Will you stand with Bernie? Click here to recognize his game-changing commitment to ColoradoCare by chipping in $27 today. Welcome Bernie to Team YES and help take our grassroots campaign to the next level!

    And I thought: “Oh, great. We are so screwed.”

  188. 188.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: I read that, in some past election, Trump wandered around from polling place to polling place trying to find the right one, and filed a provisional ballot in at least one place, maybe more.

    And now his new campaign manager might have trouble with a fake voting address used for purposes of tax avoidance, or illegal tax evasion.

    So, I can see why the Trump camp is worried about rampant voter fraud.

  190. 190.

    Lizzy L

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Agree. But it’s not a new problem and it’s not confined to political punditry. Old folks (I’m old, BTW) in all professions, organizations, and communities find it difficult to cede their places with grace.

  191. 191.

    rikyrah

    Southside With You Turns First Couple’s 1st Date Into a Sweet Romance
    There’s a bit of politics and a lot of glimpses into what the Obamas would become.
    BY: TRACY L. SCOTT
    Posted: August 26, 2016

    How do great romances start? In most cases, especially in the days before the internet, there’s a meeting, a mutual attraction or interest, followed up by a first date. And that’s where we find Barack (Parker Sawyers) and Michelle Obama (Tika Sumpter) in the new film Southside With You.

    Writer-director Richard Tanne’s imagination fills in the blanks of the Obamas’ actual first date to offer a believable picture of what that initial outing might have been like for the professional colleagues who would, years later, become the first African-American president and first lady.

    There is a visit to an art exhibit, a movie, ice cream and a bit of tension, and not just the kind caused by attraction. A young Barack tries to hide his smoking habit at first, and Michelle is adamant about maintaining the lines of professionalism. The conflict, a mandatory element of any rom-com worth the popcorn, only serves to make their final kiss goodnight that much sweeter.

    Along the way, there are four notable elements that make Southside With You a film that sets itself apart from other romances:

  192. 192.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: She’s done some interesting stuff this week. Some of the persona irks the hell out of me, but tonight’s show was very good. And the intro didn’t require me to have a GPS, a printed map, a strip map, a compass, and a sherpa to figure out where the hell we were going.

  193. 193.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jl:

    I read that, in some past election, Trump wandered around from polling place to polling place trying to find the right one

    Yeah, I can’t remember now who shared it or how long ago it was, but a few weeks ago someone linked to a video showing Trump at one polling place after another, getting more and more pissed off. I think there was a hapless intern shadowing him that day, but my memory of it is pretty blurry. Anyone recall more details? The video is worth watching for the giggles.

  194. 194.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: You might have outed a BJ secret agent. Did the LGF transformation happen around the time that commenter went over there? Whatever happens, it’s all on your head, young man.

  195. 195.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    I have tentative plans to see it tomorrow. Have looked forward to it for months, ever since I saw the first trailers!

  196. 196.

    rikyrah

    Why Tika Sumpter Was So Nervous About Playing Future First Lady Michelle Obama
    The actress and producer of the film Southside With You, about Michelle and Barack Obama’s first date, reveals how she got over her fear of playing the role and why she thinks the film is special.

    BY: RONDA RACHA PENRICE
    Posted: August 25, 2016

    In coming months, we will be inundated with the endless highlights from our first black president’s historic two terms. One of the most delightful developments over the first family’s eight-year stay is the emergence of first lady Michelle Obama. Is there any doubt that she helped spark the #BlackGirlMagic that is our reality more and more every day?

    Over 20 years ago, though, today’s first lady was simply Michelle Robinson, living in her native Chicago when she and Barack Obama had their “first date.” It’s that one day that the film Southside With You captures on the big screen.

    This movie, from the Sundance Film Festival—starring Tika Sumpter of Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots and Ride Along fame, and relative newcomer Parker Sawyers, an American actor based in London, as the first couple—will finally be available for all to see when it hits theaters Friday. Sumpter came on board two years ago, before there was even a script, and is a producer on the film. During promotional rounds for the film, the very pregnant Sumpter sat down for questions following an advanced screening of the film in Atlanta. Here are some of the insights she shared:

  197. 197.

    Adam L Silverman

    @FlyingToaster: I’m a big believer that you can’t do proper analysis if you’re not out interacting with the research subjects. Whether semi-structured interviews, informal interviews, surveys, focus groups, participant observation, and/or process observation. Separating ops from analysis is, I think, one of our biggest problems. You can’t really get a feel for what’s going on, the context, the melody, unless you’re out looking at it.

  200. 200.

    redshirt

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I read the comments over there before bed. This is not a comment/commentary on the quality of that site or its commenters, but I’ve found that if I can’t sleep and I read the comments over there with the screen on the iPad dimmed all the way down, the pattern of comment and response to comment seems to just lull me right to sleep. And since I don’t comment there, I don’t find the need to really focus because I’m not invested enough to respond.

    I’m glad you post here because you are a unique and gifted voice.
    But I find it strange you late nite lurk LGF before bed. Why not soothing wave noises or repeated koans? LGF is your zen place?

  201. 201.

    rikyrah

    John Dingell ‏@JohnDingell Aug 25

    Donald Trump is a two-bit huckster, traveling the country with a fancy suitcase full of bad ideas and stupid hats.

  202. 202.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: That is correct. And he arranged to have a videographer and reporter with him while he did it. Also, he took the provisional ballot out of the precinct and filled it out while on camera in the comfort, privacy, and safety of his limo. This is illegal – it invalidates the ballot to take it outside of the polling place/precinct. So if he did take it back in, which is unclear, then he broke the election rules/laws. The mind it boggles.

  204. 204.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: Its caused something of an employment crisis, or, at least, exacerbated it in academia. The entire generation of academics that are in their 60s and 70s now has large sections, at least in the social sciences, that have decided they don’t need to resign. They’re mentally with it, enjoy teaching and interacting with the students, the job isn’t physically taxing, and they’ve got tenure so they don’t have to worry about publishing anymore. As a result this exacerbated the inability for junior PhDs to be able to get on tenure tracks, which also then dovetailed with the change in academia that has led to a vast reduction of tenure track positions (which will lead ultimately to phasing tenure out by attrition).

  206. 206.

    Anne Laurie

  207. 207.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: I’m not sure if they have the male lead’s accent under control. His pronunciation of pie in the trailer is definitely southern drawl. Yet President Obama didn’t grow up anywhere near the south.

  208. 208.

    Miss Bianca

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh, tell us about it if you do! Alas, I’m not likely to get to see it in the movie theaters here – will have to wait for the DVD! *pout*.

    Sometimes I miss living in the city…

  211. 211.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Hey it’s alright, my mom hates her too. I feel I have to apologize to you when I name check her, kinda like fuck LBJ for Raven. It’s all good. She has her good days and her bad, I hate how she genuflects to Mrs Greenspan and Dan Rather.

  212. 212.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: No, I’ve only been reading comments there for a year or so. My previous standby was repeats of Ancient Aliens. Whenever the narrator says “according to ancient astronaut theory…” I’m out like a light between astronaut and theory.

  213. 213.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman: It depends on what you’re analyzing, though. In this case, what you might want to observe is less door-to-door canvassing and more mall or man-on-the-street work. Unless you’re trying to drill down to the zip-code-plus-four level.

    In my work, I’d often go into the offices that the training software that we were about to develop would target. It helped get the point across to our instructional designers as to “this audience has no sense of humor; stop writing jokes into the content”* or “these people have the direst gallows humor — sick jokes are a good hook to engage them in the content”**.

    * a company of mostly ex-DEC employees
    ** a hospital department

  218. 218.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: It was an accident. I followed a link over there one night as I was late night browsing, read into the comments, and boom: right out like a light! So I figured since it worked, its a good cure for insomnia.

  220. 220.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodinger’s cat: I’m pretty sure I do. Do you still have my main email address? If so, send me an email at it. If not, send me one at the BJ one and I’ll send it to you. Or you can look up the one BettyC posted here a while back.

  222. 222.

    jl

    @schrodinger’s cat: I think the list of big corporate ‘donors’ (for PBS) and sponsors (for commercial networks) is quite long, and represents a big and broad chunk of the humongous international corporation world. So, one reason coverage of a whole range of topics is missing, or horrible. So, I don’t think it is just a Koch Bros. problem.

  225. 225.

    Cacti

    Trump can’t possibly be healthy. Besides his horrible complexion and bloated visage, he’s 70 years old and he’s got a dickey-do.

    For those who aren’t familiar with this medical condition, it’s when a man’s gut sticks out further than his dickey-do.

    :-)

  226. 226.

    sinnedbackwards

    @Adam L Silverman: Well Adam, you could always wear a shirt affirming women’s rights. Men can play the women’s card, you know. Agree that women’s health care is important, equal pay is important, child care is important.

    That is what repubs call the “women’s card”.

  228. 228.

    cmorenc

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Apart from anything else, how does any kind of gastroenterologist come off speaking publicly about a patient’s mental health? The man is not credentialed in psychiatry

    Actually, a gastroenterologist is the best of all possible choices to speak expertly about Trump’s mental health, because Trump pulls all his thoughts and words straight out of his ass.

  231. 231.

    MJS

    @Adam L Silverman: Yep, every 60 something that could retire but doesn’t means a 20 something that needs to work but can’t. And with the rapid disappearance of pensions, it’s only going to get worse.

  233. 233.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodinger’s cat: Doesn’t surprise me its other disciplines as well. Both of my dissertation chairs are now retired – the polisci one just this past April. I asked him if they were going to advertise his position and he explained to me that the university administration wouldn’t allow it. So a tenure track line is going poof by administrative fiat. And he didn’t put retirement off. He retired in his early to mid 60s.

  234. 234.

    dmsilev

    @schrodinger’s cat: I heard a story once about one poor grad student at Berkley who got Jackson himself assigned to their oral examination committee. He started to ask a question and the student, quaking in fear because of that book’s dread reputation, fainted dead away.

    Honestly, for all of it’s reputation as the epitome of difficulty, I didn’t find it to be that that bad to read (though the problem sets were another matter entirely…). Books written by Russian theorists were much much worse.

  235. 235.

    Cacti

    @cmorenc:

    Actually, a gastroenterologist is the best of all possible choices to speak expertly about Trump’s mental health, because Trump pulls all his thoughts and words straight out of his ass.

    Or possibly, he gets a lot of good looks at Donald’s brain from The Donald’s head being lodged so firmly up his own ass.

  236. 236.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: It is what it is and she is what she is. She does somethings very well. She’s clearly quite smart. I think she’s gotten less tough as an interviewer over the years, though she’s still better than almost everyone else on the air. I think when she first started the show she’d have left Conway a bloody pulp as opposed to just slightly worked over. And if she works for you or Raven or anyone else in terms of both enjoying the show and getting something from it, I think that’s great.

  237. 237.

    jl

    @cmorenc: I’m not sure Trump Super Doc’s comments were coherent enough to count as a release of confidential medical information, on Trump, or HRC or anyone else.

    “I’ve heard many people say, top people, that HRC, she’s got some big problems’ (paraphrase): Yeesh, how do we know Trump Super Doc is not Trump himself in a long hair physician disguise?

    And he can tell Trump’s mind works 24/7? What does that mean?

  239. 239.

    Adam L Silverman

    @FlyingToaster: Completely agree. But in my line of work there’s a tendency to divide things into operations and analysis. I’m a big believer in needing to be able to and actually doing both. Went round and round with one of my three research managers in Iraq about this. As far as he was concerned I was THE Thinker and needed to stay at my desk or in planning meetings or briefings and coordinate the research collection and analysis and let others go out and do the operational portion of it. Once he actually saw me go out and do it and then what I did with what I was doing he got what I was arguing and we were good to go.

  240. 240.

    Ruckus

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    No.

    Not sure it’s boredom though. Total disgust maybe, that even 2 of our fellow citizens think he might be worth a shit and will vote for him for president. GWB, IMNSHO makes it into the the worst or bottom 5 presidents of all time and he’s far better than Trump.

  244. 244.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodinger’s cat: Send me the email and I’ll take a look through the recipes. How quickly do you need the turn around? As in do I need to look through my recipes right now?

  245. 245.

    Keith P.

    Sweet! Someone on MSNBC (Charles Pierce) also made the connection with Donald Trump’s doctor and Brent Spiner’s character from Independency Day.

  250. 250.

    dww44

    @efgoldman: He’s recently been heard from over at Booman’s place, which is muchly appreciated cause most of the rest of the regulars have zilcho sense of humor and are still mourning the loss of their Bernie. Even to the extent of availing themselves of every opportunity to diss the current Dem nominee.

  251. 251.

    Miss Bianca

    completely o/t, but I am SO EXCITED!! Remember the kitteh bleg from a couple of weeks ago with the adorable fuzzbutts in Colorado Springs? I just heard from a friend I told about them, and she is adopting TWO of them! They are going to their new home in Salida tomorrow! Far out! Yay for Whereaway, Mimi and Earl Girl!

  254. 254.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Er, that was supposed to be a reply to #207, of course.

    See, if we had threaded comments then things like that wouldn’t happen. Maybe someday we will convince you folks of that…

    :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  255. 255.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @schrodinger’s cat: I was fortunate enough not to have to use that doorstop (didn’t take graduate E&M). Kung put me to sleep – one of the few books that I really wanted to finish but never could.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  257. 257.

    Steeplejack

    @nutella:

    From that Guardian story, about the Breitbart employee whose house Bannon used to re-register:

    [Andy] Badolato states on his website that he is an “entrepreneur, senior level executive, venture capitalist and seed stage investor” and claims to have founded companies that reached a total of $26 billion in market capitalization. According to federal court records, he has filed for bankruptcy four times since 2008.

    It always amazes me when people put complete, utter bullshit on their résumé and/or website. How stupid do they think everyone is?! Rhetorical question. “Yes, I founded companies worth $26 billion, but I work as a Breitbart minion because it’s just so darn fulfilling. The bankruptcies? I have a terrible time with paperwork. And I’m dyslexic. Yeah, dyslexic.”

  259. 259.

    bago

    The last time I worked in medical software, I was rather flabberghasted for the feature request for ui to control the syntactic expression of an array, right down to a checkbox for the oxford comma.

    That’s something you decide once per language, not once per document.

Comments are closed.