• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

We still have time to mess this up!

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Putin’s Poodle Attacks John Lewis

Putin’s Poodle Attacks John Lewis

by Betty Cracker|  January 14, 20178:51 am| 183 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

FacebookTweetEmail

Last night, Anne Laurie posted about the principled stand of Rep. John Lewis, who refuses to recognize Trump’s legitimacy. Lewis knows something about opposing evil regimes.

March 7, 1965: State troopers use clubs against participants of a civil rights voting march in Selma, Alabama at foreground right, John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, is beaten by a state trooper. The day, which became known as “Bloody Sunday,” is widely credited for galvanizing the nation’s leaders and ultimately yielded passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (AP Photo/File)

This morning, Twitler fired back:

Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

Of course, Trump is lying about the district, which includes areas ritzy enough for Trump to hold fancy private fundraisers. “Falling apart” and “crime infested” are signals to Trump’s racist followers, just as wingnuts’ constant invocation of “Chicago” is a code.

But man, the fucking stones on that silver-spoon crybaby, to accuse a genuine American hero like John Lewis of being all talk and no action. That fucker has more projection than Carmike.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Saturday Morning Open Thread: Good Thing Trump’s So Prolific!
Next Post: The spy who loved us »

Reader Interactions

183Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    January 14, 2017 at 8:54 am

    PHUCK that muthaphucka.

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    January 14, 2017 at 8:55 am

    and going after him on MLK weekend???

  3. 3.

    Another Holocene Human

    January 14, 2017 at 8:55 am

    But Trump being elected had nothing to do with racism.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    January 14, 2017 at 8:56 am

    John Lewis almost gave his life several times for this county.

    Phuck Cheeto Benito????

  5. 5.

    Another Holocene Human

    January 14, 2017 at 8:56 am

    @rikyrah: One winners if Lewis was trolling. “Lord, Grant me this one petition:make my enemies ridiculous. “

  6. 6.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 8:58 am

    @rikyrah: Trump’s attacking a civil rights icon, is nothing new. He has no moral compass.

  7. 7.

    Alesis

    January 14, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Another Holocene Human:
    Okay so mayyyybe he appealed to racists but surely he isn’t personally racist and will stop pandering to them as soon as he is elected? Right?

    This country’s denial on race is simply astounding. If I didn’t see it in action everyday it would be too absurd for science fiction.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    January 14, 2017 at 9:07 am

    I can think of no better thing Lewis can do to help is district than to take on Donald Trump.

  9. 9.

    JordanRules

    January 14, 2017 at 9:07 am

    Disgraceful.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    January 14, 2017 at 9:09 am

    The man is certifiable.

    What’s even sadder is how many people will continue to applaud and cheer him for the lunacy.

  11. 11.

    evap

    January 14, 2017 at 9:09 am

    Hey! I live in John Lewis’s district and I’m proud to be represented by such a great man.

  12. 12.

    Waldo

    January 14, 2017 at 9:10 am

    Really dreading the normalizing coverage this inauguration will generate. On the other hand, recent revelations suggest things may end a lot less ceremoniously than they began.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 9:12 am

    @evap: Aren’t you frightened by all the crime? My son used to be in his district before the line was redrawn. He’s a great man!

  14. 14.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 9:14 am

    OT
    Betty have you seen this?
    Chickens changed the world
    To think the article is about Trump, is an insult to chickens.

  15. 15.

    GregB

    January 14, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Trump’s red-hat shit-heel militia must be teeing up Congressman Lewis for the two minutes of hate.

    John Lewis could have retired from life in 1970 and would still have accomplished and put more on the line than Cheese Whiz Ceaucescu.

  16. 16.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2017 at 9:18 am

    @rikyrah:

    That’s no accident, I believe.

  17. 17.

    dr. bloor

    January 14, 2017 at 9:18 am

    I think we’ve already determined that the Tangerine Shitgibbon has no “fucking stones.” He’s a pathetic old fuck with an iPhone, hiding behind the muscle of a foreign mafia and complicit media.

  18. 18.

    Mary G

    January 14, 2017 at 9:19 am

    Our president-elect is racist scum.

  19. 19.

    dr. bloor

    January 14, 2017 at 9:20 am

    @Alesis:

    This country’s denial on race is simply astounding.

    It’s the story of our country. It will be on our national tombstone at the end.

  20. 20.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 9:20 am

    Matt has an excellent side by side comparison of Trump and Lewis
    https://twitter.com/mattyglesias

    Maybe Betty can add that to the front page..

  21. 21.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 9:22 am

    Lewis has made American much greater than Trump ever will.

  22. 22.

    NeenerNeener

    January 14, 2017 at 9:23 am

    The rotating tag line I’m seeing right now is “enormous, mendacious, disembodied anus”. I think it’s a better description of Trump than its original use.

  23. 23.

    Oldgold

    January 14, 2017 at 9:23 am

    If the IC has something, it needs to disclose it now.

    And, not in a translucent limited modified hangout manner. The public needs be told everything the IC knows, including sources and methods.

    Yes, I realize there is great cost in doing so, but if the IC is not prepared to the price for this, when would it be?

  24. 24.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 9:24 am

    @JPL:

    I can’t find the tweet you referenced, but this was nice to see:

    Matthew Yglesias Retweeted
    Ed O’Keefe ‏@edatpost 14h14 hours ago
    JUST IN by @emmersbrown: Betsy DeVos omitted $125,000 anti-union political donation from Senate disclosure form

  25. 25.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 9:25 am

    @JPL: Fascinating. I’ve observed in my flock that chickens have complex social interactions that seem to closely resemble those of adolescent girls. They form cliques and designate outcasts. Their allegiances shift.

    If I say something to one of my chickens, she’ll respond. I don’t understand the response, of course, and I assume they don’t understand what I say either. But it seems like they’re too polite to just ignore a greeting.

  26. 26.

    bemused

    January 14, 2017 at 9:27 am

    Last night Rachel Maddow had good segment on Russiagate and Lawrence O’Donnell guest was David Corn whose source was Steele. Now eager to watch Joy Reid.

  27. 27.

    Denali

    January 14, 2017 at 9:32 am

    Joyce Carol Oates has an on-going question – what would Trump have to do to get his followers to disown him? He has already lowered the bar to the ground. His latest insult of John Lewis is simply typical of his behaviour, and also a great distraction from his real problem of Putin’s hold over him.

    The Republicans are following his example and repealing health care while holding confirmation sessions with prospective Cabinet members. After taking last year off, they are suddenly very busy -too busy.

  28. 28.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @Betty Cracker: Sometimes it’s best not to know.

    This is another side by side comparison of Trump and Lewis

    https://twitter.com/RobertMaguire_/status/820274295834288128

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 9:38 am

    @Betty Cracker: One of my new roosters is a complete dick, does not like my silver lace wyandotte hens, at all. Waits in ambush for them, doesn’t even try for sexual gratification, just attacks them. I was unable to catch him and wring his neck, so he spent 2 nights outside of the coop as coyote bait. The 3rd night I remembered to grab my .22 when I went to put them up but he was nowhere to be found. Went into the coop and there he was, all snuggled up with the hens. He looked at me with one eye and I’m pretty sure he was saying, “Please, I be good rooster, really, I be good rooster.”

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 9:39 am

    @GregB: “Cheese Whiz Ceaucescu” — ooo, consider that stolen!

  31. 31.

    Mary G

    January 14, 2017 at 9:40 am

    GOP elected official in Greenwich, CT called a city employee a “bloodsucking lazy union employee,” then grabbed her by the pu$$y, telling her he was happy that in this new world he no longer needs to be politically correct.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 9:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Damn! My dad always says get the meanest rooster because they’re the best protectors, but that one sounds like a real dick. Hopefully he’s reformed.

    Looks like we might move further out in the boonies fairly soon, in which case we’ll bring our current flock to the new place and perhaps expand it. I do worry about adding new hens to a flock of mean old hens and how a rooster would be received. Would he quell squabbling among the hens? How would old hens who’ve never even seen a rooster deal with having one come in and attempt to rule over them? My husband thinks it’s silly to worry about such things, but I can’t help it.

  33. 33.

    GregB

    January 14, 2017 at 9:45 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Re-gifted!

  34. 34.

    Suzanne

    January 14, 2017 at 9:46 am

    If one ever finds oneself attacking John Lewis, who is as close to Gandhi as we have in our time, one should do some self-examination.

    Every morning, I wake up, check out the news, and think, “What fresh hell is this?”

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    January 14, 2017 at 9:46 am

    But you guuuyyysss, there’s no way Trump can be racist! Don’t listen to his words, listen to what’s in his hhheeeaaarrrttt!
    .
    .
    Oh, wait. What’s in his heart is some sick racist shit, also too. Thanks, KAC!

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    January 14, 2017 at 9:48 am

    @bemused:

    Now eager to watch Joy Reid.

    I can’t wait! But I am also dying for some donuts.

  37. 37.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2017 at 9:49 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I HATE THAT PIG

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    January 14, 2017 at 9:51 am

    I find it hilarious that to make fun of Obama most cartoonists exaggerated the size of his ears. To mock Trump the give him an accurate portrayal of his butthole mouth and teensy tiny lil hands.

  39. 39.

    Elmo

    January 14, 2017 at 9:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I ended up with a couple of roos from the last batch of chicks, and I was okay with them for a while – they were sweet and vigilant and gentle – but their clocks somehow got broken. They started crowing at 2:30 am and competed with each other until after dawn.

    They went to freezer camp after a couple weeks of that.

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    January 14, 2017 at 9:53 am

    @zhena gogolia: Shame on you! The pig is a glorious animal that has given society so much joy and wonder, usually on a daily basis.
    Compared to Trump, the pig is a near god-like creature in its wisdom and benevolence.

    ETA, or did you mean to reference KAC? It’s basically impossible to tell anyone around Trump apart anymore as they are all so gross and deplorable.

  41. 41.

    geg6

    January 14, 2017 at 9:54 am

    As rikyrah would say, phuck that mothaphucker. He is a disgrace to humankind.

  42. 42.

    Eric S.

    January 14, 2017 at 9:55 am

    Honest question, do you think Cheeto Benito knows anything about John Lewis’ history as a civil rights activist?

    I’m not letting him off the hook for this attack, not by any measure, but I remain unconvinced he knows anything about anything.

  43. 43.

    Trentrunner

    January 14, 2017 at 9:55 am

    @Suzanne: Any public official, including John Lewis, can be “attacked” for their positions or rhetoric. No elected official, including John Lewis, is beyond critique or accountability.

    That said, Trump is, once again, a moral and political idiot on this.

    Economic anxiety!

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 9:56 am

    @Suzanne:

    If one ever finds oneself attacking John Lewis, who is as close to Gandhi as we have in our time, one should do some self-examination.

    If That Evil Fucking Asshole had ANY ability to self-examine, he’d have committed suicide by now.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 9:57 am

    @Betty Cracker: I got 2 barred rock roosters by accident (ordered 5 pullets-1 rooster) and I’m of the opinion that he is the unintended one. The other one is a dream: Very attentive and protective, if there is a disagreement amongst the hens he always comes running and settles it. I think that’s why it took me so long to spot the total meanness in this one. I suspect before long his natural dickishness will reassert itself and I will have to come up with a final solution. I have too many roosters anyway, was shooting for 3 and ended up with 5.

    On the introduction of new birds, I’m with your husband, they’ll work it out.

  46. 46.

    Corner Stone

    January 14, 2017 at 9:57 am

    @Eric S.:

    Honest question, do you think Cheeto Benito knows anything about John Lewis’ history as a civil rights activist?

    His father probably taught him to despise John Lewis.

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    January 14, 2017 at 9:58 am

    @Corner Stone: When Kellyanne Riefenstahl said that “look at what’s in his heart” bullshit, I just about threw up. NOTHING the man has ever said publicly has expressed concern for the welfare of others. It’s all been about chasing women and money and power and being the Platonic ideal of trailer trash who gets money. He doesn’t do ANYTHING for society at large, not even the patronage shit that most rich New Yorkers do, like the Met Ball or Central Park Conservancy.

  48. 48.

    CM

    January 14, 2017 at 9:58 am

    Tweets such as these from the Twittle-fingered Tweetler (AKA Hair Furor) make me think that this entire fustercluck of a campaign and now transition stems from his desire to seek revenge against against President Obama for that Correspondents’ Dinner roasting.

    In other words, this attack on Lewis makes the Moscow golden shower scene more credible. Trump is a narcissistic bully, all about gratifying himself and getting even. Two things he’s good at (maybe the only two beyond going into debt to acquire hotels and golf courses) are using twitter and abusing women (or maybe it’s abusing twitter and using women).

    Meryl Streep. John Lewis. My fellow Americans, I’m proud to say. As someone once said, more or less, “We really are stronger together.”

  49. 49.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 9:59 am

    @Mary G: The person’s name is Chris von Keyserling, and according to the article linked to, his excuse is it was a joke. I’m not sure that admitting it and calling it a joke was the correct thing to do, but his choice.

  50. 50.

    Suzanne

    January 14, 2017 at 10:00 am

    @SFAW: I know. His complete lack of morality just horrifies me. The fact that the evangelical community lined up behind him tells me everything I need to know about them and their credibility.

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 10:00 am

    @Denali:

    Joyce Carol Oates has an on-going question – what would Trump have to do to get his followers to disown him?

    Good one!

    One assumes that was not a serious question.

    The only way they’ll “disown” TEFA is when they die as a result of losing their health insurance, and I don’t consider that to be an actual “disowning,” except in the sense that they can no longer tell rational people “suck it, libtards!”

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 10:06 am

    @Suzanne:

    The fact that the evangelical community lined up behind him tells me everything I need to know about them and their credibility.

    Yeah, but in fairness, we knew they were that way a long time ago.

    For them, it’s all about having the power to prevent “those people” from doing all those unapproved things that “those people” like to do — looking out for their fellow humans of all types, not trying to impose a non-Christ-ian type of “Christianity” on others, having “unapproved” sex, etc.

    Gilead, here we come!

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    January 14, 2017 at 10:07 am

    A turd in a gilded rage.

  54. 54.

    kindness

    January 14, 2017 at 10:09 am

    Trump keeps whipping up the frenzy & hate in his Brownshirts. This isn’t going to end well, for any of us. At some point some idiot is going to kill someone and I only hope it doesn’t snowball from there but fear it will. And here I thought Jefferson’s “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants” was intended as a euphemism. How do they not see the tyrants part in that quote. It’s right there at the end. Must be the same reason they continually fail to see the ‘Well Regulated’ part of the 2nd.

    We are not blessed by our enemies.

  55. 55.

    bemused

    January 14, 2017 at 10:09 am

    @Mary G:

    Ugh. Glad he’s not getting away with it this time. Thanks to Trump there are a mess of these fucked up supposed adults who think they got a free pass to bully anyone, anytime, anywhere without consequences.

  56. 56.

    randy khan

    January 14, 2017 at 10:10 am

    @Corner Stone:

    When I saw she’d said that, my first response was to think looking into his heart wouldn’t be an improvement.

  57. 57.

    Chris

    January 14, 2017 at 10:11 am

    John Lewis is, in my opinion, one of the greatest living Americans. He’s dealt with racist pieces of shit like Trump his whole life, if anyone is strong enough and cool enough under pressure to deal with Trump’s attacks, it’s Lewis.

    Let’s see how this plays out, but my money is on Lewis.

  58. 58.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 10:12 am

    But man, the fucking stones on that silver-spoon crybaby, to accuse a genuine American hero like John Lewis of being all talk and no action.

    Trump is desperately manufacturing controversy to distract people/media from KremlinGate.

    Keep eyes on prize (indictment/impeachment/resignation)..

  59. 59.

    skerry

    January 14, 2017 at 10:14 am

    The Associated Press Verified account
    ‏@AP

    Donald Trump lashes out at a Georgia congressman who described the Republican as an illegitimate president.

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    January 14, 2017 at 10:15 am

    I post this in the dead thread downstairs, but it’s worth repeating:

    It’s impossible to know what people “believe” or “think”, we can only judge what they say and do.

    Jay Smooth (of the famous “How to Tell Someone They Sound Racist” video), created Trump’s America: This is What Happens Now (2:34). It’s well worth watching.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 14, 2017 at 10:16 am

    @GregB: And the Ceausescu treatment is precisely what is needed for the entire Drumpf clan.

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 14, 2017 at 10:17 am

    @SFAW: They are not Christians. They are Mammon worshipers.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 10:18 am

    @skerry: I want to know what Lewis’ learned from Comey, that made him feel that way. Some reporters probably know, but will they have the courage to inform us.

    Rep. Lieu said this
    For Members of Congress who attended classified Intel briefing today, I reiterate my call that you demand @realDonaldTrump to tell the truth

  64. 64.

    cokane

    January 14, 2017 at 10:20 am

    this dude isnt going to last six months

    seriously

    even R’s will see he’s hurting their crazed agenda

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 10:20 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Lots of folks on Twitter are saying the same thing…and have been saying the same thing about every other Twitter eruption from Trump — that’s it a manufactured distraction. Before this, it was the LL Bean thing. Before that, it was something else.

    I don’t buy it. Trump is a completely reactive creature. He tweeted about Lewis because Lewis questioned his legitimacy, and that enraged him. He tweeted about LL Bean because he saw Linda Bean boo-hooing about being bullied for supporting Trump on Fox News, so he thought he was rewarding her with his benevolence.

    We absolutely can and must stay focused on KremlinGate. But we can walk and chew gum.

  66. 66.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2017 at 10:20 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I meant DJT, and I agree, pigs don’t deserve the comparison.

  67. 67.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2017 at 10:21 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I’ll try again, since Putin ate my last comment. I meant Trump. And I agree, the swine don’t deserve the comparison.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @Betty Cracker: I think that John Lewis heard something tied to Kremlin Gate.

  69. 69.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @NotMax:

    Good one!

  70. 70.

    mike in dc

    January 14, 2017 at 10:22 am

    Yeah, Lewis’ district is neither poor nor particularly crime-ridden. Obvious dog-whistle.

    We’re going to wind up needing a new amendment enabling prosecution of sitting presidents for treasonous and other acts. Because impeachment doesn’t enable you to arrest them FIRST.

  71. 71.

    aimai

    January 14, 2017 at 10:23 am

    @CM: I like the portmanteau Hair Twitler.

  72. 72.

    amk

    January 14, 2017 at 10:24 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Yup. It will be outrage de jour every day with this kkklown. The only remedy is to channel all the anger into getting back the house and the senate in 2018.

  73. 73.

    aimai

    January 14, 2017 at 10:24 am

    @Betty Cracker: The press should create a twitter column for trump and just put it up every day “Noted, without comment” while letting the headlines that contrast to it speak for themselves. The contrast between serious, horrible, news like Trump’s various appointees and Trumps insistence on tweeting about personal pique would be instructive. But they should stop letting his tweets drive their coverage.

  74. 74.

    Mary G

    January 14, 2017 at 10:25 am

    @JPL: The minute he put his hand on her, it was assault, whatever he may have meant by it. Fortunately he was arrested, but I hate that 46% of the voters elected the person he chose for a role model.

  75. 75.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 10:26 am

    Louise Mensch ‏@LouiseMensch 2h2 hours ago

    [email protected] Because of the FISA case for treason against Trump I do not know for certain that IC has been explicit on everything.

    0 replies 9 retweets 14 likes

    Louise Mensch ‏@LouiseMensch 2h2 hours ago

    [email protected] When Americans know the full picture, the political advantage in the USA will go to those hardest on Putin and Russia.

    2 replies 6 retweets 20 likes

    Louise Mensch ‏@LouiseMensch 2h2 hours ago

    [email protected] there is no question whatsoever in my mind that @GovernorPenceIN will be President before the year is out.

    18 replies 8 retweets 29 likes

  76. 76.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 10:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I love animal behavior. Please keep us posted about that rooster’s reformation.

  77. 77.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 14, 2017 at 10:30 am

    Seriously, does this spray on tan fraking circus clown even understand he’s president spewing out crap like this? Even a banana republic dictator wouldn’t stoop to talk this.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 10:31 am

    @Suzanne:

    When Kellyanne Riefenstahl said that “look at what’s in his heart” bullshit, I just about threw up.

    I was sorry that whoever was interviewing her didn’t come back with, “But don’t people show you who they are?”

  79. 79.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 10:35 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    And most Twitter threads I’ve read in reaction to Trump’s eruptions confirm they too are focusing on KremlinGate.

  80. 80.

    dww44

    January 14, 2017 at 10:37 am

    I’ve been looking at transportation from my small city to D.C. for the Women’s March. The only bus departing from here has been filled and per my email to the march provided email contact, no additional ones are being added.

    So, then I’ve checked into Amtrak from Atlanta (station in Lewis’s district) to Washington D.C. and departures on January 20th (overnight departure and arrival Jan 21 a.m.) is totally booked. So, when I entered departure on the 19th for arrival on the 20th, there ARE seats available. Good sign for attendance at the Women’s march, no?

  81. 81.

    Aleta

    January 14, 2017 at 10:37 am

    This is a threat that Pee J thinks he can get way with, but he needs to be called out hard on it. I’m going to ask my Congressional reps to denounce him for it. (I doubt they will.). Dangerous man who doesn’t care who he harms.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    January 14, 2017 at 10:38 am

    @cokane:

    I think this is why they are rushing it through.

  83. 83.

    Hal

    January 14, 2017 at 10:39 am

    I was wrong about Trump winning the primary, and obviously about having no chance at the presidency, but the more and more importantly convinced his presidency is a fluke. I’ll be truly surprised if Trump is president in two years.

    And if he goes down may he take everyone associated with him down. Or at least Conway, Bannon, and his immediate family.

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 10:41 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    there is no question whatsoever in my mind that @GovernorPenceIN will be President before the year is out.

    I think I see a problem with that ascension.

  85. 85.

    stinger

    January 14, 2017 at 10:41 am

    Maybe it’s just my naivete, but I don’t think the orangeman is either smart enough or political enough to intentionally use dogwhistles. I can’t account for his use of these terms, rather than saying what he really means, although I have a few theories.

    @GregB:

    John Lewis could have retired from life in 1970 and would still have accomplished and put more on the line than Cheese Whiz Ceaucescu.

    Amen.

  86. 86.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 10:44 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Who is she? Further down she defends Comey but accuses the FBI NY office of sedition. Steele delivered the info to that office.
    Not Comey. Very specifically Christopher Steele made the fatal mistake of taking his work product to the seditious FBI NY Field Office.

  87. 87.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 14, 2017 at 10:46 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    They are not Christians. They are Mammon worshipers.

    In my in-laws’ case, it’s all about the precious fetuses. Nothing else seems to matter in their ethical / political calculus. I am tempted to ask them about the death consequences of repealing the ACA. What about babies born with serious health needs whose parents can’t afford care? What about already-borned adult humans such as our own ArchTeryx who need the ACA for life-sustaining medications?

    I’m sure my in-laws will find a sanctimonious way to justify killing the ACA – and thereby their fellow citizens – while simultaneously bleating about the “sacredness of life” wrt precious fetuses. They don’t seem at all aware of their illogic or, from my perspective, their immorality and cruelty. They truly view themselves as loving and righteous people. My mind boggles and my gut retches.

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    January 14, 2017 at 10:46 am

    So when Flynn was communicating with Russian envoys around the time of the announced sanctions and expulsions of diplomats and agents, he was not authorized to do so. The White House confirmed that he was not authorized.

    Isn’t that a Logan Act violation?

    I just do not see how we can allow trump to take office knowing that his campaign was coordinating with a hostile nation while that hostile nation was engaged in cyber warfare activities meant to interfere in our election and for his benefit. And if Rogue FBI agents and/or an entire office and perhaps the freaking director were also colliding with one campaign to discredit the other candidate then I don’t see how we can allow that kind of a coup to just proceed.

    We need to hold a new election. The last one is so obviously corrupted as to make the president elect illegitimate.

  89. 89.

    El Caganer

    January 14, 2017 at 10:47 am

    @Betty Cracker: Clucker cliques?

  90. 90.

    gene108

    January 14, 2017 at 10:47 am

    @cokane:

    even R’s will see he’s hurting their crazed agenda

    What agenda?

    Repeal Obamacare
    Cut taxes for the rich
    Cut / Not enforce regulations on business
    And stack the courts with justices, who make Clarence Thomas look like a hippie

    Other than that, they do not have much of an agenda and they are going to rush it through before people can catch their breath and organize against it.

    After that: Mission Accomplished!!!

    And our tax dollars are just paying them to fart around D.C. and their home districts raking in money from lobbyists.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 10:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: If they have info about Trump, he should not be sworn in. It would probably throw the vote to the House, but then let it. Lewis is not the type to take legitimacy of the vote lightly. He knows something.

  92. 92.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 14, 2017 at 10:48 am

    @Denali: I don’t think there is anything Drumpf can do, anything, to include eating human flesh, that his hardcore supporters would disapprove of. They’re that racist and that fascist.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 10:48 am

    @debbie: I would have replied, “We are looking in his heart. Where the fuck are you looking?”

  94. 94.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 14, 2017 at 10:51 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Lots of folks on Twitter are saying the same thing…and have been saying the same thing about every other Twitter eruption from Trump — that’s it a manufactured distraction. Before this, it was the LL Bean thing. Before that, it was something else.

    One will note that when GW Bush had charges like this against him he would ignore and then do something presidential. That was a distraction. These midnight tweets from Trump are just smoke showing there is fire there. Buy his own actions he drawing attention to his own problems.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    January 14, 2017 at 10:51 am

    @MomSense: Agree.

    We need a new election.

    This is not just political opposition. We have been had, by treason and sedition. Plus, no pesky Voting Rights Act.

    It is appalling to be proceeding with inaugurating such a tainted and illegitimate president.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 10:53 am

    @JPL: I’m not getting the logic WRT Comey either. He put his thumb on the scale with the announcement of the investigation into Weiner’s email because a) he’s corrupt and wanted to swing the election to Trump; or, b) he’s such a shitty leader that he couldn’t control the NYC FBI office. Neither explanation covers him in glory, and I’m not seeing a plausible third explanation. Also, there’s no doubt in my mind that if we ever get to the bottom of this skullduggery, Giuliani’s fingerprints will be all over it.

  97. 97.

    Bobby D

    January 14, 2017 at 10:54 am

    @MomSense: “Isn’t that a Logan Act violation? ”
    Seems to be, though hard to prove without knowing the contents of the conversations.
    They were probably just making plans to play golf and coordinating their tee time/sarc.

  98. 98.

    Dog Mom

    January 14, 2017 at 10:55 am

    I’ve been debating what to call him.

    I keep coming back to The IM-Potentate – Illegitimate Manic-Potentate

  99. 99.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    January 14, 2017 at 10:55 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    When Americans know the full picture, the political advantage in the USA will go to those hardest on Putin and Russia.

    hmm so Peance and Neo-Con come back? gods., who would have thought?

  100. 100.

    GregB

    January 14, 2017 at 10:56 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Yep, bet they also supported the war enthusiastically and love guns and love the freedom of the tobacco industry.

  101. 101.

    Nelle

    January 14, 2017 at 10:57 am

    @Dog Mom: I just call him the Predator-Elect. If this goes on, he will become the Predator in Chief.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    January 14, 2017 at 10:57 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I have a theory about the fetus fans. I think they heard, Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me, and decided it was a shortcut. All they have to do is champion the very weakest and most defenseless and then they don’t have to do anything else, like help the poor or visit prisoners.

    It’s basically the lazy person’s ticket to heaven. But if I understand the Bible correctly, it doesn’t work that way. Re-read the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats — God gives the goats a list of what they didn’t do, not a choice of one.

    Seriously, if my fundie cousin pisses me off one more time, Imma call her a goat who thinks she’s a sheep.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 10:58 am

    @JPL: If Pence is a member of the Trump team, shouldn’t he have to prove what he knew of these connections to Russia? Was he not duty bound by his own sacred oath to defend his country and constitution?

  104. 104.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 11:00 am

    @MomSense & @Elizabelle: I agree with y’all, but I don’t see how that happens. The institutional momentum so far seems like it will carry the illegitimate piece of shit demagogue to the Oval Office. But this has been one crazy-ass election. Maybe some bombshell will drop this week and take the whole rotten shebang down with it. Honest to Christ, nothing would really surprise me at this point.

  105. 105.

    laura

    January 14, 2017 at 11:02 am

    @rikyrah: with a rusty shovel sideways.
    Fascist racist mysogenist douche-canoe serial bankruptcy artist, con man fool.
    YMMV

  106. 106.

    Tokyokie

    January 14, 2017 at 11:03 am

    Trump has said that he’s the least racist person he knows. And given his abominable circle of acquaintances, that may, frighteningly enough, be true. But if one is widely perceived as a racist and one wants to change that perception, then one does not Twitter-flame JOHN FUCKING LEWIS. The utter lack of self-awareness in this 70-year-old man-baby is astonishing.

  107. 107.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 11:04 am

    @Dog Mom: The IM-Potent.

    FTFY, no charge as you are a first time customer.

  108. 108.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 11:04 am

    “forget the myths the
    media’s created about the White House–
    the truth is, these are not very
    bright guys, and things got out of
    hand.”

    Deep Throat. 1972

  109. 109.

    Tokyokie

    January 14, 2017 at 11:06 am

    @Betty Cracker: My guess for several weeks now is that the Russians have Kompromat on Comey as well.

  110. 110.

    LookingForACanadian

    January 14, 2017 at 11:07 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Yes

  111. 111.

    Mary G

    January 14, 2017 at 11:08 am

    Boing-Boing: James O’Keefe caught trying to bribe protesters to riot at inauguration next week.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 11:09 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Was he not duty bound by his own sacred oath to defend his country and constitution?

    I tells ya, one of the reasons I keep coming back here is the snark and humor.

  113. 113.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 14, 2017 at 11:09 am

    @GregB: Yes, they supported the Iraqi misadventure and are against all government regulation. They are aggrieved victims of the War on Christmas, proper Christian martyrs, they are.

    @Mnemosyne:I’ll have to give your theory some thought. Perhaps that “least of these” shortcut originated from leadership. I just don’t see enough thought process for them to have come up with it themselves. They like doing good deeds – for their own tribe or when they can feel self-congratulatory about their “Christian” charity. I wonder if it’s a little simpler, though. Fetuses can be sentimentalized and don’t require anything from anyone, except the mother. Borned humans are much messier and demanding. So, maybe you’re right: fetus-protection as the cheap way into heaven. Frickin’ goats.

  114. 114.

    NickM

    January 14, 2017 at 11:10 am

    At base, one political faction received aid from an outside dictatorship to defeat another faction of fellow citizens. That is what the Republicans accused American Communists of and what they just did themselves. And it’s pretty close to a declaration of civil war.

  115. 115.

    Machonacho

    January 14, 2017 at 11:11 am

    http://www.theblaze.com/news/2014/04/10/whos-really-responsible-for-the-civil-rights-act/

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 11:12 am

    @SFAW: I live to serve. (bows with deep and abiding humility)

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 11:15 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Maybe some bombshell will drop this week and take the whole rotten shebang down with it.

    It would have to be an actual bomb, because there is nothing we could learn about that would prevent TEFA from taking the oath.

    We learn that he shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die? So what? The guy probably deserved it!
    We learn that the FSB actually DID adjust voting counts in WI, MI, PA, FLA, etc? Fake news, lying Demon-rats!
    Shit-tons of uncounted Hillary votes discovered in boxes in Rancid Priapus’s garage? Placed there by Crooked Hitlary’s operatives!

    And so on.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    January 14, 2017 at 11:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Humility? That shit is RIGHT OUT in the Great Again America, you know.

  119. 119.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 11:16 am

    @JPL: Well connected British MP. She was the first to disclose on November 7th of FISA warrants on Trump’s gang. She hasn’t been wrong yet on KremlinGate☭

    Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.

    …..

    the FBI was reportedly alarmed at Carter Page’s trip to Moscow and meetings with Russian officials, one week before the DNC was hacked.

    (Link)

  120. 120.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    January 14, 2017 at 11:16 am

    @Denali:

    Surely you know insulting Lewis won’t change Trump fans’ opinions about the Cheesy Menace. Hell, he went after Real American Hero* John McCain and was applauded.

    *YMMV

  121. 121.

    MomSense

    January 14, 2017 at 11:16 am

    @Bobby D:

    I think the second the White House comment about the Flynn phone calls was their they hadn’t authorized him to do so, they were signaling that it was a Logan Act violation. That’s a pretty specific thing to say and it wasn’t even referencing content which I’m sure they have.

  122. 122.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 11:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m going to be so pissed if they arrest Trump and his team, shortly after inauguration. If they have info of treason, they need to stop this now.

  123. 123.

    MomSense

    January 14, 2017 at 11:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One would think so! This is what has me awake at 3 am! They have all sworn oaths!

  124. 124.

    eclare

    January 14, 2017 at 11:19 am

    @Tokyokie: I have also wondered that for a while

  125. 125.

    Msb

    January 14, 2017 at 11:20 am

    Does anybody else hear some high-pitched yapping? Sort of like a poodle, or one of those rats in dog suits?

  126. 126.

    Kathleen

    January 14, 2017 at 11:21 am

    @Another Holocene Human: Maggie Haberman of NYT tweeted that sentiment – would Democrats continue to “bait” or was Lewis’ comment a one off. She has to frame everything in political terms and can’t accept that a brave American hero spoke truth.

  127. 127.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 11:22 am

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Well my stomach is in knots.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    January 14, 2017 at 11:23 am

    @Mnemosyne: There’s a very long history of how contraception, abortion, education, obscenity, religion, and even pornography have been jumbled together in the USA, as I’m sure you know (maybe better than me).

    NPR’s Fresh Air (from 2011):

    Lepore’s latest New Yorker piece chronicles the history and politicization of birth control in America. “From the start,” she writes, “the birth-control movement has been as much about fighting legal and political battles as it has been about staffing clinics, because in a country without national health care, making contraception available to women has required legal reform.”

    Sanger was well aware of the legal battles. Before she opened her birth control clinic, she wrote a letter to New York’s district attorney, informing him that she planned to provide printed pamphlets about contraceptive options. Passing out such information was illegal under the 1873 Comstock Law, which prohibited the distribution of any printed information deemed obscene.

    “[The Comstock Act] classified all sorts of printed material as obscenity and specified contraception as obscene so that it [was] illegal to send through the U.S. mail … information, even in a philosophical sense, about reducing a woman’s fertility,” says Lepore.

    Nine days after Sanger opened her clinic in Brooklyn, an undercover police officer came in, posing as a mother who couldn’t afford to raise more children. Sanger sold the officer a copy of “What Every Girl Should Know,” a pamphlet about contraception and STDs. Shortly after, Sanger was arrested and sentenced to 30 days in prison.

    “The courts … ruled against her and said ‘A woman’s right to life gives her the right to not have intercourse with a man,’ ” says Lepore. “Sanger’s argument is that a woman has a right to have sex without fear of death [during childbirth]. And the court rules against her.”

    […]

    “Planned Parenthood [is now] an organization that is very far from what Margaret Sanger intended it to be,” says Lepore. “By the 1960s, there’s this widespread panic in the United States about a population explosion, and so the watchword now is ‘population control’ and not ‘birth control.’ ”

    By the late 1960s, Richard Nixon was pushing Congress to increase federal funding for family planning. In 1970, he signed Title X into law. The bill provided federal government funds for family planning services. A year later, Nixon reversed his position on Title X, after his advisers suggested he could divide the Democratic Party by taking a strong stand against abortion services. (Though abortion was illegal at the time, some restrictions had been lifted and it could be performed, in some cases, on military bases.)

    “He begins talking about the sanctity of human life, and he then opposes Title X funding as part of his campaign to court Catholic voters when he runs for re-election,” says Lepore.

    […]

    These things go in cycles in the USA, and we have to remember that. No gain is ever permanent and we must be ever vigilant.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who notes that there have been Meese-like anti-pornography rumblings again from the Trumplings, also too.)

  129. 129.

    MomSense

    January 14, 2017 at 11:23 am

    @Msb:

    I think everyone can hear this one.

  130. 130.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 14, 2017 at 11:25 am

    @SFAW: I am veeeerrrryyyyy humble. Have I told you how humble I am lately? I could fill encyclopedias with recitations of my humble actions.

  131. 131.

    Bobby D

    January 14, 2017 at 11:26 am

    @Denali: “what would Trump have to do to get his followers to disown him? ”

    If he divorces the squinty plagiarizer and marries a black woman…that would make about half of them disown him. I wonder why that would be the case, they’re not racists or anything /sarc

  132. 132.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 11:28 am

    @Machonacho: The Blaze? LMAO!

  133. 133.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 14, 2017 at 11:32 am

    @evap:

    Hey! I live in John Lewis’s district and I’m proud to be represented by such a great man.

    Lucky bastard–I live in Tom Price’s

  134. 134.

    GregB

    January 14, 2017 at 11:36 am

    @Machonacho:

    The elephant in the room is that despite honorable roots of the Republican Party and Lincoln and all that, the modern day conservatives are the ones who embrace the Rebel flag and the supposed honor of the Confederacy. So while the modern day conflicted conservative runs around yelling about the Democratic Party and their roots in the Old Confederacy, it is not the Democrats of today who embrace the false honor and the cultural trappings of those opposed to Lincoln and fought in favor of the peculiar institution of slavery.

  135. 135.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 11:38 am

    Revealing photo of Trump’s intel briefings (photo)

    #KremlinGate

  136. 136.

    cokane

    January 14, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @gene108: Trump will actually buck any part of that agenda that polls badly / gets bad teevee coverage. He has no belief in the 11th commandment either. You’ll see

  137. 137.

    Kathleen

    January 14, 2017 at 11:40 am

    @Tokyokie: “Kompromat” The most annoying thing about this coup is that I will now have to learn Russian. That will seriously cut into my Law & Order franchise rerun time. (Tosses hair flouncily and resumes regular reading of the post.)

  138. 138.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 11:41 am

    @Steve in the ATL: As do I. I’m going to fight like hell, to stop Karen Handel from being anointed.

  139. 139.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    January 14, 2017 at 11:43 am

    Mr Steele produced a memo, which went to the FBI, stating that Mr Trump’s campaign team had agreed to a Russian request to dilute attention on Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

    Four days later Mr Trump stated that he would recognise Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

    A month later officials involved in his campaign asked the Republican party’s election platform to remove a pledge for military assistance to the Ukrainian government against separatist rebels in the east of the country.

    (link)

    Lock him up!
    Lock him up!
    Lock him up!

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    January 14, 2017 at 11:44 am

    @Bobby D: But Donnie loves Oprah. She was going to be his VP, remember?

    Naah, Donnie could dump Melania and marry Oprah and his minions would celebrate. Because he’s Donnie and he’s rich and he’s not a politician, donchaknow.

    His personal life and anything he says can be waved away – as they’ve done multiple times.

    What would cause his minions to get upset with him would be things like:
    1) Shaking hands with Obama and appointing him to some position of responsibility
    2) Nominating a clear liberal to the SCOTUS
    3) Actually protecting the social programs that have been built-up over the last 70+ years (SS, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, Title IX, FMLA, DREAM act, ADA, etc.).
    4) Strengthening the VRA with automatic voter registration, uniform voting access standards, etc.
    5) Implementing national non-partisan redistricting

    His minions claim to care about character and personal accomplishments. The[y] actually care about policy. Unfortunately for them, Donnie doesn’t care about policy. He only cares about personal wealth and the adulation that he thinks that brings.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    ET

    January 14, 2017 at 11:48 am

    John Lewis has gone up against scarier and worse in his life to be worried about what a nothing like Donald Trump thinks about him. Lewis has faced dogs, individual clan members, and southern law enforcement during the Civil Rights Movement. That Trump thinks he can bully someone like that via Twitter of all places, is another piece of evidence that he is a complete moron.

  142. 142.

    Kathleen

    January 14, 2017 at 11:48 am

    @GregB: I agree with what you said but I recall that Dirksen’s support was key in passage of the legislation.

  143. 143.

    Shalimar

    January 14, 2017 at 11:50 am

    @Betty Cracker: I agree with you about why Trump tweets, but I also think his staff figured out a year ago that his tweets could be used to dominate the news cycle and distract from news they didn’t want mentioned. Trump doesn’t have control of himself, or he would stop defending himself about Russia. But his staff does do what it can to focus the attention where they want it.

  144. 144.

    Bobby D

    January 14, 2017 at 11:51 am

    @Betty Cracker: This. He is not playing chess, he is pure id. Yes, his tirades distract, but not by design or intent. His crew are not that bright, and while they do scheme (esp Bannon), their protagonist has no discipline, nor could he follow their 15min explanation of a complicated strategy due to attention span. We can multi-task, but I am already feeling exhaustion kick in, and we’re only a couple months into this. It’s like a Gish Gallop on steriods.

  145. 145.

    Kathleen

    January 14, 2017 at 11:51 am

    @Another Scott: Funny how that dynamic plays out. The virulently anti Obama/notoriously racist voters in Kentucky elected an African American female as Lieutenant Governor. I was quite surprised, but she is a Republican so there’s that.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    January 14, 2017 at 11:51 am

    I try hard to always read the whole thread before commenting, but I’m gonna break my own rule.

    What are the odds that the orange piece of shit knows nothing of the history of John Lewis, knows nothing of his district, and only knows what he believes – that this is some uppity black man who is “causing trouble”?

  147. 147.

    Bobby D

    January 14, 2017 at 11:54 am

    @JPL: “Mensch” is a right winger with ties (or pretends to have ties) to the IC. Personally, I think she is about 80% full of shit, and a poser. John Schindler, otoh, is connected, you can find him on twitter at @20committee

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    January 14, 2017 at 11:59 am

    @Kathleen: Yup. They’re anti-immigrant (and anti-non-WASP background) unless they’re on their side (“one of the good one’s”) and then their held up as a totem (Bobby Jindal, Nikki Haley, etc.). It’s all about who is on their “team” by supporting their policies.

    That’s why they don’t care about Putin interfering in the election. Putin’s on their team now (he opposed Hillary and Team D), so there’s no problem. If Kim had come out for Donnie, then Donnie would be making noises about eliminating sanctions on NK, also too.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  149. 149.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Is this something Flynn did, or is that a different issue? I can’t keep up.

  150. 150.

    StringOnAStick

    January 14, 2017 at 12:02 pm

    My boss is a gentle, liberal guy, and he “inherited” a winger employee when he bought the dental practice next door (he did so as a favor to a DDS diagnosed with RA). This employee always made it a habit to come over to our office in his spare time and spew FOX talking points at my boss; at one point several years ago I was a bit pushy and told my boss he was being far too nice to someone so disrespectful.

    Years pass, now the idiot works for us and is still Mr Talking Points, but I think my boss sort of likes sparring with him. How I know the trumpkins are nervous is that my boss was teasing this guy this week, telling him “hey, I can put Trump’s press conference up on audio so you can listen live”; I joined in, loudly saying “shouldn’t we wait for the RUSSIAN translation?”. Normally this sort of pushback would set this guy off all day, but he said nothing then or for the rest of the day. This guy is ex-military and talks about it all the time; I think the Russian connections are starting to penetrate even in FOX-land.

  151. 151.

    lol chikinburd

    January 14, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    John Lewis is my President.

  152. 152.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    @MomSense:

    You’re distracting yourself with the thought of a new election even better than Trump can distract you with Tweets. Not going to happen. Focus on going forward and seeing that a travesty like this never, ever happens again.

  153. 153.

    Mike in NC

    January 14, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    Will Putin be coming to Washington next Friday? If so maybe they could seat him in the same box as John Voight and Lee Greenwood.

  154. 154.

    Bobby D

    January 14, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    John Lewis was my Rep during my college years. I lived and studied in midtown ATL, before moving just outside the district (into Newt’s, FFS…got wise and left the south altogether soon after). Never got to meet Rep Lewis, but had the chance to talk many times with Rev Hosea Williams, another ATL civil rights icon and leader of the Wheat St Baptist Church and their annual feed the hungry event, which was probably THE biggest charity event in Georgia for decades.

    He often stopped into the package store where I worked in the 90s, for a cheeky little pint of vodka. If I had a nickel for every time one of my racist family members bad mouthed Williams, Lewis, Julian Bond, Andrew Young, I’d be retired on my own private island somewhere. The Rev took the time to talk to me, a random middle class white kid, about homelessness and race relations in Atlanta, when he surely had important things to do and a full schedule. I’ll never forget him, or the impact those few little encounters had on me.

    Fk this Tangerine Turd and his white hooded screeching.

  155. 155.

    hitchhiker

    January 14, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    The tell about anti-abortion Christians is that so much of the rhetoric comes from men. It’s the ultimate cheap grace ticket — being slobbery about “the unborn” costs these men nothing. Nothing. There’s no sacrifice of any kind. They pay no price for this position — just the opposite. It enhances their status within their own context in every possible way.

    In Medieval Europe men used to hand over coin to priests in return for “indulgences” — the idea was that giving money to mother church would buy some time out of purgatory. Ugly as it was, that practice at least involved a little actual exchange. The church got money out of the guy’s pocket.

    In the abortion conversation, the guy has no stake, nothing to offer, nothing to lose. He just gets to tell himself he’s good and get credit for sobbing over his weird fantasy.

  156. 156.

    Kathleen

    January 14, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    @Another Scott: Funny how that works, isn’t it?

  157. 157.

    Steve in the ATL

    January 14, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    @JPL: I think that Brandon Beach is our least bad option.

  158. 158.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 12:16 pm

    @Bobby D: What a nice story.

  159. 159.

    Betty Cracker

    January 14, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    I wish Democratic lawmakers — and Hillary and Bill Clinton, the Carters, etc. — would follow the lead of John Lewis and boycott the inauguration of Sunkist Stalin. It won’t happen, but it should.

  160. 160.

    StringOnAStick

    January 14, 2017 at 12:25 pm

    @Bobby D: You mentioned his attention span; this is where I’m unsure if it is long standing mental illness or some form of progressive dementia; maybe both. This iis also where he was/is a risk to Putin. It is no coincidence that he stopped doing pressers after publicly asking Russia to hack Hillary’s emails during the campaign, or that the recent so-called press conference was so nuts. I’m convinced he was told by his handlers last summer that they had the hacks, don’t worry, buck up Mr T weve got this in the bag, and with his weak mind he blurted it in public the very next day. I can imagine the alarms going off in Vlad’s office when that happened. At the time it happened it just stuck out as odd to me, but now we’ve seen the public report and Rep. Lewis has seen the classified one and made his opinion clear.

    Vlad cultivated this useful tool for years, but he rose higher than he can handle and is growing more erratic by the day. The race is on between Vlad (and his money honey Tillerson – both need that Arctic oil $), the rethugs trying to jam through their agenda, the IC deciding when they have iron clad evidence to move and going against institutional reluctance to meddle in US electoral results, and Hair Twitler’s mental decompression. Too bad we’re all having to live through it too.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    January 14, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    @Another Scott: Thanks, Scott, that was really great.

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    January 14, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: I wish I had the guts to send your comment to my very religious sister for whom EVERYTHING is about the fetuses.

  163. 163.

    WaterGirl

    January 14, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    @MomSense: I could not agree more. I bolded your final sentence because that’s exactly what we need to do.

    I just do not see how we can allow trump to take office knowing that his campaign was coordinating with a hostile nation while that hostile nation was engaged in cyber warfare activities meant to interfere in our election and for his benefit. And if Rogue FBI agents and/or an entire office and perhaps the freaking director were also colliding with one campaign to discredit the other candidate then I don’t see how we can allow that kind of a coup to just proceed.

    We need to hold a new election. The last one is so obviously corrupted as to make the president elect illegitimate.

  164. 164.

    tobie

    January 14, 2017 at 12:44 pm

    I don’t know if this counts as a third possible explanation for Comey’s behavior but my suspicion is that as a lawyer who rose to prominence in the Whitewater Investigation he burns with incandescent rage at the Clintons (plural). It could be he felt that Bill Clinton was thumbing his nose at him and/or the law by meeting with AG Lynch on the tarmac and he wanted to put him in his place after all these years. Mr. Goody-too-Shoes in short was baited and in his pride and self-righteousness decided to take the friggin country down with him. He fancies himself a profile in courage, speaking truth to power, but this is precisely what he is NOT.

  165. 165.

    PIGL

    January 14, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I’d go a lot further than that.

  166. 166.

    SgrAstar

    January 14, 2017 at 12:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    We absolutely can and must stay focused on KremlinGate. But we can walk and chew gum.

    Agree 100%, Betty. I think the constant tweeting just exposes his true ugliness and keeps the disloyal opposition- yay us- riled up. Tweet on, muthaphucka!

  167. 167.

    JPL

    January 14, 2017 at 12:58 pm

    The AJC is having folks from Rep. Lewis’ district send in pictures of their homes and neighborhood.
    http://www.ajc.com/news/local/john-lewis-fifth-district-residents-respond-trump-comments-with-photos-neighborhood/o9pmQet0wy8s9ucB8vi1GI/

  168. 168.

    Scotian

    January 14, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    You know, it is watching things like this for we non-Americans who actually follow your politics and know your history and major figures that really freaks us out. This is so far outside your social norms and even in your recent (quarter century) hyperpartisan political reality aside from the Trump corps loyalists (as opposed to the johnny/jannie come latelies) for someone like Lewis to do this in the first place without EXCEPTIONAL cause and then to be denigrated and dismissed so by the incoming President directly, whose own record is less than pristine and heroic unlike Lewis’s, that it is truly a terrifying things to see.

    It is really hard to add anything to that at the moment that isn’t almost pure fear ranting. Many of us on the outside are watching with incredible fear as it is, and things like this, for the more process and sober minded folks, terrifies. This is the sort of incident which horrifies those that are not hyper-partisans, who are not those that tend to inflame easily. It is but one such data point in a storm of such of course, the Trump transition has been horrific watching from the outside, but this element, this one in particular stands out even in such a massive and unprecedented hypercane.

  169. 169.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 14, 2017 at 1:42 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I agree.

  170. 170.

    Kay

    January 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    I would just quote Mr. Khan at Trump: “you have sacrificed nothing”

    What has Donald Trump sacrificed, ever, where he feels he can scold Lewis?

    Take, take, take. That’s the sleazy and disreputable Trump Like a giant coddled toddler- “me, me, me!” and “more, more, more!”.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    January 14, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    I know Trump was a lazy student and he doesn’t read anything, but why does he think the US Congress or President are in charge of crime-fighting?

    I’m embarrassed that the US President doesn’t know anything about how government works. How did he get thru those fancy schools his parents paid for and remain so ignorant and poorly-educated? Did he get special treatment because his daddy owned real estate?

  172. 172.

    Kay

    January 14, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    Susan Davis ‏@DaviSusan Jan 13
    Some #FridayNice: Jenna & Barbara Bush pen open farewell letter to Malia & Sasha Obama:

    That’s nice. What a shame that our new President is such a classless, graceless spoiled brat that he doesn’t meet basic “decent human being” behavior level. None of his employees will either. That’s how this works.

  173. 173.

    J R in WV

    January 14, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    @Mary G:

    GOP elected official in Greenwich, CT called a city employee a “bloodsucking lazy union employee,” then grabbed her by the pu$$y, telling her he was happy that in this new world he no longer needs to be politically correct.

    Hoping the asshole is arrested for sexual assault, spending several nights in jail before even starting the trial process. Despicable, loathsome, vile, subhuman beast! Did that cover it? Close, anyways.

    ETA: I see from the linked article, quotes from the “arrest warrant” so he has more to worry about than political correctness, he needs to worry about spending the rest of his life on a sexual predator database.

    ETA2: The ass is on video doing it!

  174. 174.

    opiejeanne

    January 14, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    Today I am digging out the black wreath from Hallowe’en, to display it on my door on Friday. I’d like to drape the front porch with black fabric, too.

  175. 175.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    @Kay:

    Exactly! Telling Lewis he’s never done anything totally pissed me off. I hope the commenters were vocal in condemning him.

  176. 176.

    debbie

    January 14, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    @J R in WV:

    This is interesting because Greenwich is a hot-bed of establishment GOP types (penny loafers, locked jaws, etc.); this guy sounds straight out of the Tea Party.

  177. 177.

    chopper

    January 14, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    @ET:

    indeed. lewis finds chunks of guys bigger than trump in his stool.

  178. 178.

    Lurking Canadian

    January 14, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @Kay: The letter really was a nice gesture. Eerily so. Like it comes from some alternate universe where Republicans and Democrats are two different groups of patriots with different visions of government, instead of a ruthless, criminal gang bent on power and those struggling to oppose them. As a result, the two Bush daughters are probably on Trump’s list now, along with so many others.

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    January 14, 2017 at 3:55 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    There are reasons John McCain was the first USN officer in his family to never make Admiral, not even Rear Half Admiral. He helped make the fire on the USS Forrestal more dangerous when he dropped his bomb load into the burning jet fuel on the deck, contrary to procedures he should have known by instinct.

    He was shot down over North Viet Nam because he didn’t follow his mission profile and was in the wrong place at the wrong time ON PURPOSE like the dumb-ass he is. And then he called his wealthy wife who paid for his political career a c**t in front of reporters. The wealthy wife who replaced his first wife. The wealthy wife who bought all those nice houses he couldn’t even give a count of.

  180. 180.

    Tehanu

    January 14, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    @StringOnAStick:

    Hi String, I hope you’re right about this; it does make sense. One thing you can say for Putin, he’s not an incompetent narcissist, and if there’s one thing he got from his KGB training, it must be, dump your assets when they stop being assets and start being obstacles.

  181. 181.

    Spaniel

    January 15, 2017 at 8:48 am

    The thing that gets me with this story is the double-standards to which the Republicans, whether they are the water-carriers on various right-of-center blogs or Government officials, treat Trump and his antics. They went out of their way to be disrespectful and at times treasonous towards Obama and Clinton over these last eight-years, but heaven have mercy when their candidate is slimed by his own words.

  182. 182.

    SWMBO

    January 16, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    @Lurking Canadian: ANYONE named Bush is on Trump’s list. And has been for years.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. A Dangerous Game Or Meaningless Prog Theater? - Bookworm Room says:
    January 15, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    […] his own district instead. Discussion: ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog, NPR, Balloon Juice, Lawyers, Guns & Money, TheBlaze, New Century Times, Shareblue, The Daily Caller, BizPac […]

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • David Anderson on Within metal domination (Mar 27, 2023 @ 10:07am)
  • rikyrah on Monday Morning Open Thread: Murphy’s Rock (Mar 27, 2023 @ 10:06am)
  • S Cerevisiae on Within metal domination (Mar 27, 2023 @ 10:05am)
  • Betty Cracker on What the Hell Is Happening In Israel? (Mar 27, 2023 @ 10:05am)
  • rikyrah on Monday Morning Open Thread: Murphy’s Rock (Mar 27, 2023 @ 10:04am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!