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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

No one could have predicted…

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

No Justins, No Peace

“woke” is the new caravan.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

We still have time to mess this up!

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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You are here: Home / PR is a Thankless Job

PR is a Thankless Job

by John Cole|  December 16, 201612:24 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Go Fuck Yourself

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fuckhim

Also, I am a touch alarmed that I look like a fucking Trump voter or angry Santa:

badsanta

Off to spread my special brand of holiday cheer on an unsuspecting public.

Oh, Steve is home. The bastard never left. He just wasn’t coming when I called. I saw him at 7pm last night.

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Previous Post: « Christmas Comes Early – Tech Style
Next Post: President Obama’s Presser »

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    December 16, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ueA8nAwc5jQ

  2. 2.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    December 16, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    ANGRY SANTA.

  3. 3.

    gogol's wife

    December 16, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Yay Steve! You’re cute as a button.

  4. 4.

    Botsplainer

    December 16, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    We can give you a MAGA cap and have you infiltrate Twitler rallies. Try and refrain from choking the shit out of everyone in arm’s reach.

  5. 5.

    Tom Levenson

    December 16, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Steve has you right where he wants you.

  6. 6.

    Tokyokie

    December 16, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    I think he’s the Santa from Rare Exports.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 16, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    I know Boteach. Good call.

  8. 8.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    December 16, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    In all these years, I believe this is the first, direct picture you’ve posted of yourself.

  9. 9.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 16, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    @Tom Levenson: Just like his Tikkaness and my boss kitteh!

  10. 10.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 16, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @Botsplainer: Capital idea!

  11. 11.

    Culture of Truth

    December 16, 2016 at 12:37 pm

    So the NC lawmakers kicked everyone out so they can conduct their coup in private and China has seized a US Navy underwater drone in international waters.

  12. 12.

    BigHank53

    December 16, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    Aw, you just need to be Dark Santa. You know, the guy who brings the presents people deserve, not the ones they want. We’ll get you a cap in black fabric and black fur, and instead of a pompom it’s got an animal skull dangling off the end. A real one, not some cute little plastic thing.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 16, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    Oh, Steve. You crazy, zany, madcap kitty.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    1. I am so glad Steve is home.
    2. Seriously…start up a collection, I’d help pay to put a chip in Steve.
    3. Cole, you are our curmudgeon. Not a demented Santa :)

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 16, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    So the NC lawmakers kicked everyone out so they can conduct their coup in private and China has seized a US Navy underwater drone in international waters.

    And Sweden is going into a defensive prepare-for-war crouch.

    We’ve tried this “peace on earth” thing for a couple of thousand years now, and it doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction.

  16. 16.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @Culture of Truth: About that China thing.

    Anyone who doesn't realize that this is a planned and deliberate response to Trump's series of provocations doesn't understand China. https://t.co/hieXzjyiVc— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) December 16, 2016

    Yep. And Trump is still over a month away from taking office. WASF.

  17. 17.

    Percysowner

    December 16, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    Cats for the win! Browser the Cat Ruined a City Councilman’s Political Career.

  18. 18.

    SenyorDave

    December 16, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    There is definitely a movement among right wing Jews to legitimize Bannon by saying he’s a big Israel supporter and not anti-Semitic at all. I notice they don’t address his overt racism/white nationalism. I don’t consider these people Jews at all, they are JINOs (Yews in name only). They certainly don’t seem to have any Jewish values that I’ve ever heard of. The great Jewish thinkers throughout history (Hillel, Maimonides, Akiba, etc.) would tell them to go study the Torah, the Talmud and other commentaries for some guidance on how to treat other people.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 16, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    @SenyorDave: The term you’re looking for is Jews without mercy,
    https://www.amazon.com/Jews-without-mercy-Earl-Shorris/dp/0385178530/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481910613&sr=1-1&keywords=Jews+without+mercy

    No one speaks for the Jews. .We are the people of the great fraction; the whole of us must always be described as the number of Jews divided by the number of Jews. Even Moses was permitted no role greater than that of messenger. We are a nation by belief, by ethics, and by history. We are difficult to lead, impossible to collect, a tribe of individuals, a brotherhood of critics. From time to time in our history men and women have come forward, claiming to speak as Jews for Jews. The temptation to proclaim oneself king or prophet in a nation of equals before God is enormous, for God does not seem to answer many prayers. Jews are not likely to turn away the self-proclaimed king or prophet without a hearing, for the life of a Jew offers little ease: History holds little promise, heaven remains in dispute; we are not hostages to fortune but to ethics. As each new challenge to our ethical existence arises, a chorus of Jewish voices answers. The current challenge comes from within the ranks of Jews. A group of men and women, claiming to be both Jews and neoconservatives, now proposes that Jews accept a new ethical definition of themselves, a definition contrary to much, perhaps most, of what has defined us since our historical beginning in the desert after we were Sojourners in Egypt. This book seeks to answer that proposal.

  20. 20.

    kindness

    December 16, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    Yeay Steve isn’t lost. This time of year my cats are very good about being inside come nightfall. While there are hidey holes they could curl up in out there, it’s much warmer in the house.

  21. 21.

    Miss Bianca

    December 16, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    And in other world news, I just found out via the Book of Faces that the man I was engaged to before I married my ex has died. Fuck this fucking, fucking year. I’d beg for it to be done, but next year promises to be even worse.

    However, the news has prompted me to finally make the appointment with the clinic here to get a colonoscopy referral. Because, fuck cancer. So, at least I have that to look forward to in the new year. Eh?

    Glad to hear Steve was just playing possum, rather than AWOL.

  22. 22.

    Chip Daniels

    December 16, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    Yay Steve! You’re cute as a button.

    No, that’s John in the picture.
    You’re getting your surly fat bastards confused.

  23. 23.

    p.a.

    December 16, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I would love this (in Merkin Muffley’s voice): “Hi, Donnie, it’s Obama… fine, fine, and your family? Good, good. Listen Don, since this China thing is the result of your phone call, we’re just going to sit back here and keep all our options open so you can handle it on day 1. Huh? No, no I don’t want to step on any toes Donnie. We’ll just hold down the fort and you can step right in as soon as you’re sworn in. Gotta run. Toodles…”

  24. 24.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    This woman is a danger to all of us.

    Kellyane Conway says President Obama could end his administration's Trump feud if he loved "the country enough" https://t.co/Ze7KKBV3T7 pic.twitter.com/BtyDC89fzN— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 16, 2016

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    There is definitely a movement among right wing Jews to legitimize Bannon by saying he’s a big Israel supporter and not anti-Semitic at all. I notice they don’t address his overt racism/white nationalism.

    Of everything this season, THIS has been one of the few things to surprise me.

    As a Black person, I know which way is up with White Supremacists. I don’t have any delusions. I know the harm they mean to me and mine.

    They seem to be under the delusion that Kushner means something. Kushner is a slave catcher. Now, if they don’t grasp that…oh well….

  26. 26.

    janeform

    December 16, 2016 at 12:57 pm

    John Cole — thanks for this photo. You have a kind look on your face that reflects your goodness as a human.

  27. 27.

    3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)

    December 16, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    No, John, you do not look like a Yam-supporter. You have a large (if curmudgeonly) heart, and those are in short supply among the ranks of the Trmpnzees.

    You need a rough-wool robe with a hood – to wear while you distill fine brandy, and grow blueberries in the abbey garden. (Cover them with dark chocolate – they are great…)

    And I didn’t sleep well last night, because I was afraid His Stevieness was out in the cold. I’m glad he never left, and was just being obstinate. Kind of like his “owner”. ;-D

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Senate to consider Trump nominees who haven’t been fully vetted
    12/16/16 11:21 AM
    By Steve Benen

    It’s been about six weeks since Election Day, and Donald Trump’s cabinet selections are still coming together, slowly but surely. The president-elect seems to enjoy making a spectacle of the process, but looking past the drama in the Trump Tower lobby, the truth is choosing the right nominees takes time – and the vetting process alone can be quite slow.

    But that assumes Trump and his team are scrutinizing his choices closely, which may not be entirely true. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that some of the president-elect’s picks “have been named without extensive reviews of their background and financial records.”

    In many cases, Mr. Trump has announced his prospective nominees without requiring a review of extensive paperwork about their background and financial records, including tax returns, people familiar with the process said.

    That leaves open the possibility that the first officials to study such material will be the Senate committees that next year will conduct the confirmation hearings, a process that can be grueling and disqualifying.

    The article added that Trump, in some cases, is making decisions “based on gut instinct and his chemistry with people.” At times, he’s even “revealed the name of a nominee before his transition team was ready for the announcement.”

  29. 29.

    Humboldtblue

    December 16, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He’s a fucking Kapo and a truly shitty human being. The fucking fuck.

  30. 30.

    manyakitty

    December 16, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    @BigHank53: A Krampus!

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    ‏@NYDailyNews 57 minutes ago
    Trump suggests Russian election hacking was justified because it targeted Hillary Clinton

  32. 32.

    Gretchen

    December 16, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    No, you look like you have a brain and a sense of humor, either of which would rule out your being a Trump voter.

  33. 33.

    jonas

    December 16, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Schmuley Boteach? There’s a name we haven’t heard (thankfully) for a while. And he has a literary agent who just cold-mails his shit to various blogs? That’s high powered.

  34. 34.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    December 16, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: He posted one a couple of years back that I remember, and he looks a lot happier and healthier here — if memory serves, he may even have looked older in the one he posted back then.

    John, you look great.

  35. 35.

    Miss Bianca

    December 16, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @p.a.: Oh, Lord…Obama as Merkin Muffley. I can hear it, all too clearly.

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @rikyrah: So he’s admitting it’s happened? That’s new, isn’t it?

  37. 37.

    jonas

    December 16, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Senate to consider Trump nominees who haven’t been fully vetted

    Trump himself was never really vetted either, so I guess what’s good for the goose…

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    The genial transition from Obama to Trump gets a lot less friendly
    12/16/16 12:48 PM
    By Steve Benen

    There are a variety of ways Donald Trump and his team can respond to allegations that Vladimir Putin’s Russian government attacked the American political system in order to help Trump win. Making it a test of patriotism, however, is a very bad idea.

    This morning on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to the president-elect, complained bitterly that President Obama and Hillary Clinton haven’t sided with Trump and shut down all conversation about Russia’s alleged crimes. “If you want to shut this down and you actually love the country enough to have this peaceful transition in our great democracy between the Obama administration and the Trump administration,” Conway said, “there are a couple people in pretty prominent positions, one’s named Obama, one’s named Hillary Clinton, since it’s people want to fight for her election, they can shut this down.”

    I’m hard pressed to imagine how anyone could take such an argument seriously. To hear Conway tell it, Team Trump thinks it has the patriotic high-ground in this scandal. Donald Trump appears to have benefited from illegal Russian intervention into our political system – intervention that the Republican publicly encouraged during the campaign – but if Democrats “actually love the country,” they’re supposed to look the other way.

    For the good of the country, Conway seems to believe, it’s best to ignore and stop all conversation about an attack on the country.

  39. 39.

    SenyorDave

    December 16, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    @rikyrah: They seem to be under the delusion that Kushner means something. Kushner is a slave catcher. Now, if they don’t grasp that…oh well….

    For the record, I am Jewish and the idea that Kushner has any special status because he is Jewish is ludicrous.

    1. Steve Bannon is racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, a bunch of ists. Basically he is like Trump, only smarter and with some self-control.
    2. I never understood why anyone is tolerant of any of racism, sexism, etc, especially if you are a minority yourself. I always assume the same people who use the N word use the K word and all the other words. I guess some people consider themselves to be “tolerant bigots”.

  40. 40.

    Debbie1

    December 16, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    John Cole: Regarding your superficial resemblance to a typical Trump voter (if you’ll pardon the expression), I wouldn’t be too concerned about that. After all, some dude once said we shouldn’t be judged by our outward appearance but by the content of our etcetera – can’t recall the guy’s name.

  41. 41.

    3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)

    December 16, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Sorry for your loss. A good friend of ours succumbed to the same thing recently. I want 2016 to be over also, but yeah, I live in terror of what 2017 (and ’18, and ’19) will bring, if we live that long. However, please get the colonoscopy. Had my first one a couple of months ago. (Thanks, Obama!) It is virtually painless (the fentanyl takes care of that, and the Versad means you don’t remember a damn thing) and now I know at least that I don’t have a problem in that particular area. They told me see them again in ten years. The prep is way worse than the actual procedure. Knowing is better than not knowing. You won’t regret it.

    Now if I can get good results from another biopsy I just had, I might be healthy enough to survive “repeal and replace”…

  42. 42.

    Botsplainer

    December 16, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    So I just had a meeting on some routine matter with a potential client who, to me, appears to be a ticking time bomb of Islamic radicalization given outward appearance, life circumstances, nihilism regarding family concerns, dissembly about culture and misogyny (I’ve never reacted this way about any person who came in to see me before – it wasn’t that he was saying anything overt or even coded, it was just his set of attitudes to the circumstances that set off the creep alarms).

    I was contemplating breaking every standard of professional ethics and making contact with DHS to say “watch this fuckin’ guy”, but my review of his Facebook revealed that he’s already on their radar, so personal ethical crisis averted. I’d gone as far as to talk to one of the guys in the shop who had been JAG followed by DOJ; hadn’t gotten around to the office Muslims yet (we have a few).

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 16, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    @rikyrah: Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews view (and in this I think they’re correct) Judaism as solely a religion. From there we part ways really quickly as they extrapolate that anti-Semitism is an anti-religious issue, not a racist/racism issue. This certainly does not seem to be the case based on how anti-Semites actually view Jews (as a non-white racial group) and Judaism (not as a legitimate religion, but rather as a deviant, perverse, and destructive to whites culture). They also tend to be politically and socially conservative. The more Orthodox one gets, the less they care about Israel, because Israel shouldn’t exist until the messiah comes. This is why you have the most ultra-devout Israelis – the Haredim – who want, expect, and demand the full protection of the State of Israel, including social insurance support, while refusing to recognize its legitimacy.

    Boteach is simply a conman. The Lubavitcher movement has, essentially, ostracized him and made it clear he has no rabbinical legitimacy or authority and no one is to act as if he does.

  44. 44.

    Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA

    December 16, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    @rikyrah: Standard Republican playbook stuff (as you know). “If you criticize us, you’re unpatriotic.” Last time, we were unpatriotic because we didn’t want to bog the country down in an unnecessary war that killed hundreds of thousands, including thousands of American soldiers. Now we’re unpatriotic because we don’t feel like handing the country to Vladimir Putin on a silver platter. Fuck these people.

    (You know what else? Fuck any outlet that airs their bullshit. The media should have finally, once and for all, shut these people down after Trump’s “second amendment people” line. It wasn’t enough to put them on the air and then have their anchors or other guests refute them — anyone defending Trump after that should never have been given a forum to begin with.)

  45. 45.

    Miss Bianca

    December 16, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Aren’t the Lubavitchers part of that ultra-Orthodox movement that rejects the current state of Israel? At least the only ones I’ve talked to made the argument that if any country should be considered “the Promised Land”, it was the good old USA.

  46. 46.

    Lizzy L

    December 16, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    So this happened this morning, pretty damn close to me. Not close enough to smell, and the smoke’s gone now, but it was ugly.

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Lots-of-smoke-from-junk-yard-fire-in-Richmond-10800753.php

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 16, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    That sucks. I’m very sorry. (Oddly, I was just thinking a couple of days ago about the guy I was engaged to before I married my ex. He hasn’t been in my mind for years and I have no idea if he’s even alive. I checked FB for him [he’s not on] but haven’t tried further and not sure I will.)

    Fuck 2016 and fuck cancer, not necessarily in that order.

  48. 48.

    glory b

    December 16, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @BigHank53:”Hallelujah, noel, be it heaven or hell, The Christmas we get we deserve.”

    Coincidentally, since he also died this year, the line is from a dark Christmas song, “I Believe In Father Christmas,” by Greg Lake of Emerson Lake and Palmer.

    One of my favorites, it’s a bit dark.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 16, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    Ugh. Nasty.

  50. 50.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, what do you make of Sweden telling its citizens to prepare for possible war with Russia? Link.

  51. 51.

    ? Martin

    December 16, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    That’s a nice photo, John. You look good. You look like a homeowner.

  52. 52.

    Kathleen

    December 16, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @Yarrow: Chuck Todd said she is a good person so to quote from Theme From Shaft “Shut your mouth”! This is why Democrats don’t deserve nice things.

  53. 53.

    stinger

    December 16, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    This is, in every way, the best photo of you I have seen. Wish we were neighbors.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    Read this heinousness . Put them UNDER THE JAIL

    They tried to harm Eichenwald again

  55. 55.

    stinger

    December 16, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    @Percysowner: Now, if only the White Settlement city council would vote to change the city’s name. WTF?

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews view (and in this I think they’re correct) Judaism as solely a religion. From there we part ways really quickly as they extrapolate that anti-Semitism is an anti-religious issue, not a racist/racism issue.

    They can split hairs if they want to. I just know that when White Supremacists talk about meaning harm to Black people….I know that from the light, bright, damn near White, to the blue Black…

    THEY MEAN ALL OF US.

    Like I said… I live under no delusions about what they mean to me and mine.

  57. 57.

    Botsplainer

    December 16, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    Polling at what happened to Eichenwald and Lusztig, I see how the right on Twitter works.

    Criticism of any of their figures turns really ugly. Apparently, my objections to Evangelical support of the new Israeli ambassador make me an anti-semite. I used to delete tweets and retreat from conversations for a return to normalcy when goofy shit like that popped up, but this is decidedly abnormal. Fuck that shit. And if anybody wants to come find me in person, they better come strapped, because I will be.

  58. 58.

    stinger

    December 16, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @rikyrah: Good lord, that is absolutely sickening. “Deplorable” is far too mild a term. Hopefully, it will soon be “convicted criminal” for at least this one guy.

  59. 59.

    HRA

    December 16, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    That is a very nice photo John. You look like John Cole and no one else.

    Hate against any people disturbs me greatly. I was not raised to hate and I did not raise my children to hate.

  60. 60.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    @Botsplainer: Women and POC on twitter have been dealing with death threats and other threats like that for years. It doesn’t get much attention or if it does it isn’t taken seriously or seen as a real problem. It only seems to be taken seriously when it’s a white man. The whole “gamergate” things was treated like it was just women getting upset about stuff they should be able to deal with and what’s your problem, honey, can’t handle the heat stay in the kitchen. Elliott Lutszig wasn’t even that guy’s real name. He got death threats and walked. A white guy. What about all the women and POC who have been using their real names and taking that shit for years. Why doesn’t that get taken seriously? And kudos to them for sticking around. Tough to do. They’re brave.

  61. 61.

    glory b

    December 16, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    @Yarrow: That means the information about Trump and Russia is more horrifying than we thought.

  62. 62.

    Spanky (ex P-man)

    December 16, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    @HRA:

    I was not raised to hate and I did not raise my children to hate.

    Nor was I, but the Right Wing has taught me well. It used to baffle me as to how this country could have descended into civil war. No longer. I’m pretty sure I can well imagine how fed up with South Carolina’s shit the Union was in 1861.

    Requires no imagination, in fact.

  63. 63.

    glory b

    December 16, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    @glory b: I meant to say I’m a bit dark.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    December 16, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    I never understood why anyone is tolerant of any of racism, sexism, etc, especially if you are a minority yourself.

    Money. There is a lot of money to be made for turning your back on your people. Look at the history of spying for example. What amazes me is how CHEAP people can be purchased for.

    There is also the sense that if one is on the inside one will never be come for. That didn’t work for the very few Jews in the Nazi inner circle.

  65. 65.

    Nicole

    December 16, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    You look like a younger version of my cousin Mike, who is a Vietnam vet, smart, funny, and as hippy-dippy screaming liberal as they come. You’re in excellent company.

    ETA: I think he’s my cousin. Or maybe the brother of a really good friend from childhood of my aunt’s. I’m not sure. When you have a large extended family you start forgetting how everyone is connected. Which is fine. Easier, really. Whatever. He’s my friend on Facebook.

  66. 66.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 16, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @rikyrah: @stinger: Honestly given the fact that he’s been publicly saying these things happen to him I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

  67. 67.

    MaxUtil

    December 16, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    @rikyrah: They believe that the only thing troubling about foreign interference in our country’s election would be if it produced an “undesirable” outcome. They have so internalized “the end justifies the means” that they see nothing wrong with it and believe that everyone else does as well. They truly believe that the only reason anyone is talking about the Russia hack is as a partisan attack.

  68. 68.

    JustRuss

    December 16, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    I like the pic. It says “Here’s a dude I’d like to hang out with, as long as he promises to keep his pants on when he mops.”

  69. 69.

    Keith P.

    December 16, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    Also, I am a touch alarmed that I look like a fucking Trump voter or angry Santa:

    If you really want to perfect the look, shave your head and prop your glasses on your forehead.

  70. 70.

    RoonieRoo

    December 16, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    There have been so many times that Grumpy and I were walking our neighborhood calling the name of whichever cat was missing at the moment only for them to be sitting in the living room staring at us when we finally went back home. Cats are evil.

  71. 71.

    Spanky (ex P-man)

    December 16, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    More wonderful news (courtesy Kos):

    Democrats who spoke with Schumer that night and in the following days described him as making an immediate shift to strategizing about how to work with Trump while also identifying where he would oppose him — and trying to talk himself into the idea that the president-elect isn’t really a Republican, but a pragmatist with no apparent ideological mooring.

    …

    Privately, the soon-to-be Senate minority leader has opened up a back channel of communication with Trump and, according to Democrats who have spoken with Schumer since the election, he views Trump as someone he can try to maneuver […]

    But in terms of simply going full war on Trump, one Democrat close to Schumer said: “He will leave that to the external groups, and look for ways to work together.”

    Well, when you’ve lost Chuck Shumer … uh … it must be a day ending in “WHY?”

  72. 72.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    You look good, John. You remind me of the guy that runs the IT department – grumpy but ultimately willing to help you out. Glad Steve was okay.

  73. 73.

    Yarrow

    December 16, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @Spanky (ex P-man): Ugh. I miss Harry Reid.

  74. 74.

    RSA

    December 16, 2016 at 2:04 pm

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    ANGRY SANTA.

    And goddamn jolly.

  75. 75.

    SenyorDave

    December 16, 2016 at 2:04 pm

    @Yarrow: Women and POC on twitter have been dealing with death threats and other threats like that for years. It doesn’t get much attention or if it does it isn’t taken seriously or seen as a real problem. It only seems to be taken seriously when it’s a white man.

    I do think one difference is that Eichenwald is a reporter who specifically has been reporting on Trump in a negative way. Trump is president-elect and he has been attacking reporters for months. Doesn’t minimize the twitter harassment of POC, women and others. As someone who just got on twitter last month, I can’t even fathom that some people use it mostly to harass people, but then again Trump uses it largely for that purpose. What a fucking hideous person he is. I’m starting to be embarrassed for my country.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 16, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    @Keith P.:

    If you really want to perfect the look, shave your head and prop your glasses on your forehead.

    And wear a “Fuck Your Feelings” t-shirt.

  77. 77.

    Chat Noir

    December 16, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    Glad to hear that Steve was home all along. Also, if I saw you in public, I’d wager you didn’t vote for Hillary.

  78. 78.

    Major Major Major Major

    December 16, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    @Spanky (ex P-man): @Yarrow: Hasn’t Sanders pledged to work with Trump where they can find common ground, too? Seems to be going around.

  79. 79.

    Spanky (ex P-man)

    December 16, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: So’s a resistant strain of the clap. At this point it’s tough to tell which would do more damage.

  80. 80.

    Shell

    December 16, 2016 at 2:08 pm

    You need a rough-wool robe with a hood – to wear while you distill fine brandy, and grow blueberries in the abbey garden.

    He definitely could be Friar Tuck in the next version of ‘Robin Hood.’

  81. 81.

    3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)

    December 16, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @glory b: My favorite also. RIP, Mr. Lake. (And I hope confusion won’t be our epitaph.)

    Most of my favorite “Christmas carols” are the ones with darker, more medieval tunes; a hangover from a Celtic / pagan era, when we didn’t know if we’d all survive the cold, dark part of the year to see light again. Seems like we’re getting ready for that in many ways.

  82. 82.

    Belafon

    December 16, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @Spanky (ex P-man): Anyone who’s a Schumer constituent needs to call him.

  83. 83.

    LanceThruster

    December 16, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    OK to use the term ‘schmuck?’

  84. 84.

    SatanicPanic

    December 16, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    @Belafon: Yes, if you’re in NY you have a job to do. Get this man replaced.

  85. 85.

    SatanicPanic

    December 16, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: If you live in Vermont, your job is to get Sanders replaced. NO WORKING WITH TRUMP.

  86. 86.

    Cckids

    December 16, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    Glad to hear about Steve. Hermione, my little one, plays this game. She’s a tortie, too, so has natural camouflage. Just being a PITA for the amusement value, apparently.

  87. 87.

    glory b

    December 16, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    @3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): I’ve been listening to “On Yoolis Night,” by Anonymous 4, four female singers, no instruments, medieval carols and motets.

    I recommend it for the voices, because they are beautiful, and a reminder of the dark mood of those times.

    Yes, I do embrace my nerdy black chickness, why do you ask?

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    December 16, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    @glory b:
    One of my favorite Christmas CDs. Kid doesn’t agree but what do teenagers know about music?!? #SoundExactlyLikeMyParents

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    December 16, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:

    Standard Republican playbook stuff (as you know). “If you criticize us, you’re unpatriotic.” Last time, we were unpatriotic because we didn’t want to bog the country down in an unnecessary war that killed hundreds of thousands, including thousands of American soldiers. Now we’re unpatriotic because we don’t feel like handing the country to Vladimir Putin on a silver platter. Fuck these people

    Amen

  90. 90.

    catclub

    December 16, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @Spanky (ex P-man):

    the soon-to-be Senate minority leader has opened up a back channel of communication with Trump

    Could it involve Goldman Sachs?

  91. 91.

    catclub

    December 16, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    @Spanky (ex P-man):

    I’m pretty sure I can well imagine how fed up with South Carolina’s shit the Union was in 1861.

    and they were still much more temperate than the SC haters.

  92. 92.

    Shell

    December 16, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    Obama’s last press conference on now. Do I need to repeat the obvious, “God, I wish he was still our president.”

  93. 93.

    Mothra

    December 16, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    N@Shell: Amen to that.

  94. 94.

    SFBayAreaGal

    December 16, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    So do I @Shell

  95. 95.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    December 16, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Conway is a loathsome, soulless husk of a human being. I’m gonna get seriously sick of her smug mug and pug-like underbite for the next four damn years.

  96. 96.

    3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)

    December 16, 2016 at 2:59 pm

    @glory b: Thank you – I will look that up, and add it to my music file. I find the music of human voices in harmony most appealing – the first time (oh, so many years ago) that I heard Sweet Honey in the Rock I was moved to tears. I’ll also admit to liking plainchant – I think because I don’t know much Latin that plainchant seems more like a group of instruments “playing notes” rather than voices singing words.

    Beautiful.

  97. 97.

    sukabi

    December 16, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    Adam, so with all the leaks coming out about Russian hacking the one thing I haven’t heard anything else about is the private server in drumpf tower that was directly communicating with Russian state owned bank….anything else on that?

  98. 98.

    TaMara (HFG)

    December 16, 2016 at 3:26 pm

    @Yutsano: That was uncalled for and pretty close to cruel.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    December 16, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Kushner is a slave catcher.

    Kushner is a kapo. A Jew who helped the Nazis kill other Jews to save their own hides.

  100. 100.

    EBT

    December 16, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Cole, you look like my high school biology teacher. Guy had a preserved baby shark he would show off. Also walked in the first day saying that it was honors biology and that meant studying evolution and if you had a problem with the facts of evolution your parents could change you to normal biology.

  101. 101.

    opiejeanne

    December 16, 2016 at 4:09 pm

    @3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): Are you by chance a fan of Louise Penny’s books?

  102. 102.

    Steve Holmes

    December 16, 2016 at 4:28 pm

    Angry Santas can do good work:

    #BREAKING: Santa gets arrested during #NCGA protests pic.twitter.com/jkrL4jHWfG— David Hurst (@DHurstWNCN) December 16, 2016

  103. 103.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    December 16, 2016 at 4:35 pm

    You should talk to my wife and commiserate. She, too, is unhappy because she thinks she’s too fat. More to love, I say.

  104. 104.

    Skepticat

    December 16, 2016 at 4:37 pm

    I’m alarmed to be touched by the fact you look like a taller version of one of the skippers I race sailboats with in New Orleans. It took me a while to figure out what he was doing on this site with us, the DFHs.
    And I’m immensely relieved to hear that Steve is and has been home.

  105. 105.

    Morzer

    December 16, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    “I ain’t fat – I’s globalized!”

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    December 16, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Reposting: what I now think must be one cat’s war cry on the subject of Xmas.

  107. 107.

    divF

    December 16, 2016 at 6:10 pm

    @Miss Bianca: That’s an old joke – Moses stuttered, so when he said that the tribes of Israel should settle in “Ca-Ca-Ca-” they took him to mean “Canaan”, where what he really intended was “California”.

  108. 108.

    3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike)

    December 16, 2016 at 8:00 pm

    @opiejeanne: Oh, yes, very much so. Hence the mention of blueberries in dark chocolate that Inspector Gamache and Jean-Guy enjoyed.

    Great to find another Three Pines resident!

  109. 109.

    EZSmirkzz

    December 16, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    Actually John, you look a lot like what many people thought Digby looked liked, before she was outed by conservative sleuths in the good old days.

  110. 110.

    RepubAnon

    December 16, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    @Tom Levenson: I find opening a cat food can (or opening a treat bag) tends to lure them out of their Fortresses of Kittyness

  111. 111.

    opiejeanne

    December 16, 2016 at 10:37 pm

    @3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): :-D The books are wonderful; the latest had me laughing quite a bit despite the very serious subject matter.

    Now I want to visit Montreal and spend some time wandering around Quebec. Maybe next summer.

  112. 112.

    The Lodger

    December 16, 2016 at 11:00 pm

    @3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (a/k/a Lorinda Pike): Dark chocolate, eh? Does anyone in the books ever call him Inspector Ganache?

  113. 113.

    3am

    December 16, 2016 at 11:27 pm

    Angry Santa is Best Santa.

  114. 114.

    shortribs

    December 17, 2016 at 2:42 am

    > Oh, Steve is home. The bastard never left. He just wasn’t coming when I called.

    Late to this thread but I have 2 cats and they do this all. the. fing. time. Drives me batty.

    I love, and at the same time, hate cats, in equal amounts.

  115. 115.

    laura

    December 17, 2016 at 9:56 am

    @Lizzy L: I bused past that yesterday on the way from Sacramento to the City for a staff meeting/holiday luncheon. It was ablazing, but otherwise what a gorgeous day after the major storm. If there’s a more beautiful city in the winter months, well, there just isnt.

  116. 116.

    Paul in KY

    December 18, 2016 at 10:45 am

    Glad Steve is OK! Great reply to the email.

  117. 117.

    Tehanu

    December 18, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Conway is a loathsome, soulless husk of a human being. I’m gonna get seriously sick of her smug mug and pug-like underbite for the next four damn years.

    One tiny silver lining: Kate McKinnon’s impersonation of her on SNL, although a bit kinder to Conway than I’d like to see — only last night, for example, implying that even she was startled at Il Douche’s ignorance and recklessness. Otherwise, I couldn’t agree with you more. Her, Ann Coulter, Pam Geller, Michelle Malkin, Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods, ex-Congresscreature Bachmann, the (hallelujah!) late Phyllis Schlafly — I don’t know where these women get spawned.

  118. 118.

    jame

    December 18, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    Evil little Sammy reacts to my heartbroken calls the same as your Steve; you are not alone, it just feels that way.

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