.
Here come the cheap thugs in their ill-fitting, flag-pin-bedazzled suits…
Priebus on OGE director Shaub: "The head of the government ethics aught to be careful because that person is becoming extremely political."
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 15, 2017
The White House Chief of Staff threatening the head of Government Ethics is absolutely Nixonian https://t.co/izwV7wfmzl
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 15, 2017
.@danpfeiffer We both know this sort of thing belongs in private. It is more effective that way. https://t.co/kateT3HjVM
— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) January 16, 2017
Is it too much to ask for Joe Biden to just cold cock sucker punch Reince Priebus at the inauguration?
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 15, 2017
.
Apart from uplifting fantasies, what’s on the agenda for the day?
.
Inauguration Day is turning out to be even bigger than expected. January 20th, Washington D.C. Have fun!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2017
Reality check: 700K expected to attend; Obama had 2M+. 16 Reps boycotting for 1st time ever. Artists lame or cancelling. #Inauguration2017 https://t.co/DMhvF3fWLa
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 15, 2017
Yoda Dog Democrat
4 more days of having a President. God help us all.
Also, good morning.
NotMax
Last time I looked,there were 25 Congresscritters who stated they will not be attending.
Pity the poor schlub who drew the short straw and had to stand in for the umber bumbler during rehearsal.
laura
Anne Laurie, thank you for the Moms!
God I loved her and her sly boots way of speaking truth to power.
Morning everyone.
Any guesses in whether Cole rolled out of/was pushed his groovy new bed and busted a shoulder? And if so, Steve or Thurston as the culprit?
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone???
rikyrah
@Yoda Dog Democrat:
Morning ???
BillinGlendaleCA
@laura: I think the great move is later this week.
laura
@BillinGlendaleCA: Doh! Over eager, too clever by half cluster-fail. That’s me.
OzarkHillbilly
Don’t you love farce?
My fault, I fear.
I thought that you’d want what I want –
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don’t bother, they’re here.
-Stephen Sondheim
Baud
@rikyrah: Morning.
Mai.naem.mobile
Somebody suggested having Obama resign a day early and have Biden be POTUS for a day to mess with Lumpy’s predone stationery,banners etc. because he would be the 46th not the 45th president. Talk about Twitter meltdown .
Baud
Here’s an advanced look at Trump’s inauguration day speech.
Yoda Dog Democrat
I would love to see Obama continue to perform non-official duties, such as hosting the championship sports teams, as a form of protest against a stolen election and illegitimate puppet.
I know I’m dreaming, I just still can’t believe this is really happening..
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”~ John 8:32
Baud
@Yoda Dog Democrat: I have a feeling he’ll very visible and will drive Trump crazy
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Why am I afraid to click thru?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Yoda Dog Democrat: Obama will be hosting the Chicago Cubs today. The Cubs were originally scheduled to visit the White House on June 26th, but after Trump won the team moved up their visit 5 months to avoid meeting the racist.
satby
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Then I wish they’d get on it and blow it wide open.
p.a.
Rumor has it the contractors have warned tRump the viewstands are sabotaged and could be collapsed unless they get paid in full up front. It would be irresponsible not to speculate…
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Well, he gave himself the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That Obummer guy knows no shame.
satby
Ok, I get a banner ad that offers me a free inaugural ticket…too funny. They can’t give them away.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s ok. I checked the link. I didn’t accidentally link to the one of me in the shower again.
p.a.
@satby: Big question: is anyone who was stupid enough to vote for tRump given what we saw of him ‘live’ likely to change because of some reports, even if coming directly from CIA, FBI *cough* *hack* *Comey’sCoverup*, or any other entity?
Immanentize
@p.a.: No
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: But is it Trump in a golden shower? Singing?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Only one way to find out.
CarolDuhart2
Some were sincerly duped. We tend to underestimate the information gap between urban and rural America. Others were told by their preachers he would end abortion.
The attendance at the Inauguration is a tell. If you are a do-or-die supporter, wouldn’t you take time off even at a loss to go. Yes, it’s right after Xmas, but unless you burned though all your vacation time, there should be some time left.
‘m sure certain dictators had no trouble filling the seats even with Party members, let alone supporters. He’s doing something unprecedented-giving away free inauguration tickets through banner ads.
I’m working with a troll on Twitter who refuses to believe me and is bringing out the old, “we have to work”, or “we work”. So do I, but I do know unless you are flipping burgers or working temp, there is some flexibility here. I mean the people who could afford to go can get days off. And not everybody has a job-retirees and students shouldn’t have a problem. And what about those churches who are going to be at the March for LIfe-can’t they tack on a couple of days for some people to go?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Comrade Scrutinizer
Venceremos?
Baud
@CarolDuhart2:
That’s true at least.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: shudder
Comrade Scrutinizer
Apparently they are also our goals nowadays.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
bladder
satby
@p.a.: I don’t know. It seems like the people at work who voted for him are pretty quiet about it now, but they’ve always been in the minority at my job so they weren’t very vocal before. It’s complete radio silence from the wingers I know on FB. If they admit to themselves they made a mistake, I still doubt they’d ever say so publicly.
Edited to add: I think the silence is a bit of a tell, usually they’re much more ready to gloat or argue with me. The only suckers picking fights on my feed now are still the die hard Bernistas.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You mean he’s not going to pay for any more abortions?
OzarkHillbilly
@CarolDuhart2:
Don’t most companies reset the vacation schedule on Jan 1st?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Only in Canadian dollars.
evodevo
@CarolDuhart2: “Some were sincerly duped. We tend to underestimate the information gap between urban and rural America. Others were told by their preachers he would end abortion.” Yes. This. None of my Fox Viewer co-workers, and no one at the small grocery I patronize had even heard about the prostitute thingy, and over the last several years it became apparent to me that their alternative source for “news” is their preacher/fellow church members. They react with horror at the idea of the Repubs repealing Obamacare (known as KyNect here) and tampering with SS and Medicare on which they and most of their relatives/friends depend. They are SO uninformed it is astounding.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
On a fun note, it looks like it’s gonna be pissing rain like a Russian hooker on a Ritz Carlton bed in DC on Friday.
Fitting.
CarolDuhart2
@OzarkHillbilly: Forgot about that. I’m a Fed, and unused days carry over. But even still, this was expected for 2 months. I remember people booking plane tickets the day after Obama won, and booking rooms shortly after that. I also think it’s a tell about the party. In earlier years, if nothing else, the party would had out tickets as a reward for hard working and long service. Every city councilman, state senator, party apparatcik got tickets, or could help you get them, which meant that at least it was a full house ticketwise. The seats were at least full. Neither Bush had to resort to this: I doubt Reagan ever gave it a thought. Nixon? That the Party machinery couldn’t even do this is a real tell as to what is really going on here.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Ah… no worries… It’s Sam Bee talking about Trump’s shower habits. Thanx.
bystander
@Baud: That is as close to the real thing as I can bear.
I was happy to hear about the march in NYC on Inauguration Eve starting at the Trump Hotel. Many leftie libbies like Mark Ruffalo and Mayor de Blasio. Then the follow up march on Saturday. Therapy!
satby
@CarolDuhart2: we should all tweet the “can’t give tickets away” news to Twitler. Maybe it will put him in enough of a snit that he cancels.
On the other hand, if his handlers are hiding this from him, he may get wiggy right on stage as he looks at empty seats and protesters.
p.a.
@BillinGlendaleCA: No. Just cause more. Buy wire coathanger stock.
Betty Cracker
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Ha! And sunny and relatively mild for the Women’s March the next day! I hope that forecast holds.
Penus
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Or to visit the president from Chicago. I’m all for sticking it to Trump, but a bunch of fucking baseball players (as a group, the dumbest and most conservative of our athletes) isn’t going to be the group to do it.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@CarolDuhart2: May be. But in four days, that scabrous pustule won’t need popular support to govern. He’ll just have to strong arm the GOP, which is disposed to go along with him anyway. People still don’t get it: we are ended as a democracy. That process started in 2000.
OzarkHillbilly
@CarolDuhart2: Their incompetence know no bounds.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Loon spending Loonies.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: and that may be what buys us enough time to mitigate some of the damage.
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: True. However there has been 2 months since the election, 1/6th a year, and if mattered that much to some folks…
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Cubs dislike Trump more than wanting to be seen celebrating at the White House with a famous ChiSox fan. That’s quite a tell.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: According to the weather report for here in CA, I should probably start building an ark.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Trump called Merkel’s decision to admit refugees “catastrophic.” Good to see this country will remain the beacon on the hill.
debbie
@satby:
They all seem to be active on Twitter, attacking everyone who criticizes their guy. All very juvenile, with ridiculous misspellings and abbreviations. Again, I can only blame public education for the fix we’re in now.
Tenzil Kem
Am I correct that there are only going to be three inaugural balls? That is far fewer than Obama or Dubya had. Sad!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
I like the idea of cold, wet wingnuts and their cold, wet wingnut spouses going from the misery of Trump’s shabby outdoor spectacle to the equivalent of a free show at the tail end of a State Fair.
Maybe it can get topped off with Roger Stone singing karaoke.
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
In the 40s and gray, perfect for a funeral (which it will be).
CarolDuhart2
DC Weather for Friday: Warmest on Record. 30% rain.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK:
I think there is a 6th stage of grief: Embarrassment. As Satby pointed out, their silence is deafening. When they say they aren’t paying attention? They’re lying.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
according to the weather underground, it starts pouring on DC (.32 of an inch) at 10 AM and lasts until 7 PM on Friday. (link)
yet weather will be perfect Saturday for the Mom protest.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Both forecasts are good omens.
MomSense
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Wonder if he will walk part of the parade route.
Elizabelle
Morning, all. Happy MLK Day. This one dedicated to the incomparable John Lewis.
Also: note the headlines our Grifter in Chief-Elect drew this weekend:
LA Times:
Trump kicks off Martin Luther King weekend with disparaging tweet against civil rights icon John Lewis
Article is marked “analysis”, but it’s a straight news story, actually, which fact-checks Trump’s insults against Lewis. So: “analysis.” Worth a click.
As the wingnuts on Facebook will learn, they cannot make us respect or admire this man or his incoming administration. Anymore than they could persuade us of Kenyan! or Benghazi!
Elizabelle
@debbie: The worst Inauguration Day weather I remember was Reagan’s second. It was so bitterly cold that a lot of the marching bands had to cancel their performances. Put quite a damper on the festivities.
aimai
@OzarkHillbilly: Where is the stage of grief? Is it near the stage where Three Doors Down is playing?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@MomSense: Well, he’s does get a kick out of showers.
Baud
@aimai: Heh.
Disappointed about them. I liked some of their music. Oh well.
MomSense
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Hahaha! Perfect.
Baud
I wonder if Nugent is feeling discarded.
Bex
@David Canadian Anchor Baby Koch: @David Canadian Anchor Baby Koch: There’s not enough hairspray in the world to make Trump’s combover stand up to that.
OzarkHillbilly
@aimai: Heh.
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
Usually, I think, the reset aligns with the company’s fiscal year, which isn’t always the calendar year.
p.a.
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
TALK, DONNIE! TALK!
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: I doubt he’ll walk more than 100 feet at a time. He’s an overweight, sedentary 70-year-old who eats junk food and gets most of his exercise from waving his arms around and yelling at people with his thumbs on Twitter. I bet he’d be huffing and puffing within a block or two if he walks, but I’ll have to rely on the reports of others as I’ll be driving to DC to protest his illegitimate ascension the next day.
Spanky
@MomSense:
No, but he will ride Christie like Putin rides his bear.
satby
Because I am evil, I clicked the banner ad to give John some minor coin, and requested my tickets via my new email: [email protected], zip code 66614
Even better: it took it and thanked me.
debbie
Would a baseball cap be considered appropriate headwear for taking the Oath of Office?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Probably shit his pants when he found out he wasn’t invited.
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
A real shame. Cat Scratch Fever is right up Trump’s alley.
debbie
A poem for MLK Day:
I, Too
Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
via-poem a-day @ poets.org
CarolDuhart2
Trump To Attend 3 Inaugural Balls Compared to Obama’s 10
Eager to get back to work, my ass. Either he doesn’t think he can do 10 or there’s just 3. When has Orange Cheeto ever wanted to work?
So far I haven’t found the number for the lowest Inauguration crowd in the modern era. But 700k seems pretty low to me. 200 buses for I-day? That’s 10k. True,that doesn’t include people driving in or staying overnight and walking to the event. And I have been a little shy of making predictions since 11/9 about turnout, but still nothing looks like a million to me, and possibly less than 700k.
But unlike the election, it’s possible to get hard numbers in real time for most of this.
Metrics: hotel rooms booked, cars rented, buses rented, ticket inquires. To go means a substantial financial outlay for most people, and the money has to have been spent by now. Merchants want deposits. Employers want notice of time off. Hotels want to confirm rentals. And even if buses are church buses, you have to book a space in advance to legally park or even to find a space. Even restaurants want notice in advance if you are going to have a group eat together on a day like this. Reservations for groups have had to been confirmed by now.
MomSense
A friend sent me this song this morning
your masquerade don’t want to be a part of your parade
OzarkHillbilly
9/11 Never Forget
11/9 Always Regret
AMinNC
@evodevo: This is why, even though it may not be the first thing we think of in the infowars, writing letters to the editor of local papers is so important. A lot of people still do read the local paper, and presenting another point of view from someone in the neighborhood at least gets the info out there. Otherwise, there’s nothing to penetrate the bubble. Plus a lot of times, a local voice (rather than a national spokesperson) can better speak to the concerns of other locals, while making the point that liberal/Democratic policies better alleviate those concerns.
Shalimar
@evodevo: A Trump supporter I know who is very dependent on Obamacare is just now finding out that Congress is going to eliminate it. Poor fool had no idea before yesterday who Paul Ryan is.
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: Ooh, point taken. Reminds me of 2006, when “nobody” (about 27%?) would cop to previously voting for GWB.
Quinerly
@CarolDuhart2:
The Western Journalism site is a RWNJ rag. I regret clicking and even giving them the click right then. I had a huge blow up with a now ex friend over the White Supremacist sh*t that site was peddling in 2008.
p.a.
@Shalimar: Tell him/her about GoFundMe, and point out s/he voted for it. Tell him to write Ryan and Limbaugh asking for help, so s/he can get advice on bootstraps.
Shalimar
@p.a.: I told her “he was the VP candidate 4 years ago. Why were you even allowed to vote if you don’t know that?”
debit
@Shalimar: Tell them not to worry, because the GOP has a plan to replace it. It’s called Hurry up and Die.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: Before the election, red MAGA hats were everywhere out here. I haven’t seen one in weeks. (I am still seeing bumper stickers and campaign signs tho)
Yoda Dog Democrat
@OzarkHillbilly: Yea, I noticed that as well. I noticed both my trump supporting neighbors took off their stickers too.
I was running at my lake right before the election. This guy comes jogging past me and gives me the typical ‘nod’ but he’s wearing a MAGA hat. I gave him a look that he damn well understood. I almost said something to him but the moment was over in an instant. Haven’t seen the MAGA hat since though.. fuck em.
Another Scott
@p.a.: Not only that, but it’s no longer the 1950s. Information and medication are out there and people will be able to get it if they need it, even if millions will needlessly suffer if they try to roll back the clock on women’s rights in the USA.
But remember, as others have noted, making abortion totally illegal isn’t really the national GOP’s aim. They just want to chip and chip and chip away at women’s rights and keep it in the news for decades. If they actually do away with abortion access, then they can’t use it anymore as a cudgel to beat up on Democrats. The goal is always to use it as a political weapon to win elections.
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: all they really wanted was that black family gone because it reminded them over and over of their own inadequacy and unwillingness to work as hard to achieve anything. Now the black guy is leaving and they’re finding out what they actually voted for.
satby
I just had a set to with a friend in Ireland (not Helen!) about Snowden, because the push is on in purity pony land to have Obama pardon him “before it’s too late”. I consider ES a traitor and said so, and dumped some links to try to educate my friend, who is positive that Snowden had legitimate fear for his life in this country. After a multi-entry response to him, my last statement was that in this day above all, he should try to remember that real patriots stay and face the consequences of their civil disobedience. The book wasn’t titled “Letters from a Russian Jail” and it was written by a man who had a much more realistic reason to fear (expect) to die in custody.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Combover Caligula is not well read. If he was, he’d know that Europe was in turmoil with multiple large scale conflicts involving large forces crossing the Rhine from the the time of the fall of Rome in the western half of the Empire to 1945 (roughly twice per century for Rhine crossings).
With the advent of NATO, the EEC and its successor EU, Europe has been able to talk out internal disputes and forge a positive economy over the past 70 years – the lengthiest unbroken peace in 70 years. Furthermore, we’ve gained long term strong economic allies and huge trade and diplomatic benefits beyond any military benefits. Plus, to be able to do anything militarily (like in the Middle East), forward based materiel and infrastructure are needed.
The regime that Trump wants is a return to the shifting short term alliances that brought about The Great War – the penultimate “what benefit do I get right now” thinking that marks the stupidity and hubris of the modern American CEO.
And while we’re at it, let’s talk about the scant benefit of allying with Russia, which brings little to the table, while turning our backs on our biggest trading partners and diplomatic allies. Russia gets market instability and energy price increases (which it requires to shore up its gangster-destroyed economy), and we get an incompetent chief executive and feckless cabinet that make Tsar Nicholas II and his ministers look like a brain trust in comparison.
HeleninEire
@satby: HI, SATBY!!
sigaba
@p.a.: Harrison caught a cold from the speech but his death was attributed to his inability to find a day of rest to recover, because office-seekers would barge into his office or his bedroom at all hours of the day or night begging for appointments. What we need to do is all go down to D.C. and demand a postmastership.
CarolDuhart2
sigaba
@satby: There’s no question that Snowden acted with the noblest of motives. So did Klaus Fuchs.
p.a.
@sigaba: I support ACLU but they are all in on Snowden.
satby
@HeleninEire: Hi! I got a friend in Dublin I may need you to go slap some sense into!
CarolDuhart2
From a post that’s in moderation: only 250,000 tickets have been given out to the Inauguration. By contrast, Obama’s Inauguration gave out 1.5 million tickets.
And it looks like rain, too. so I bet it’s even going to be lower than that.
Quinerly
Rep John Lewis speaking live from Miami. Both Senators Rubio and Nelson in attendance. MSNBC covering.I think I heard him say he has thrown out his prepared remarks after his welcome from Rubio and Nelson.
CarolDuhart2
Obama had 1 million for his second.
W had 300,000, but he had extenuating circumstances (the long count)
W had 400,000 the second time around.
NotMax
@CarolDuhart2
It will be the yoogest gathering of humanity in the entire 6000 year history of the Earth.
Just ask his sycophants and rubes.
Mnemosyne
@satby:
Tell your friend not to worry, Trump will pardon Snowden. After all, Snowden’s great work with the Russians got Trump elected, and Trump will be grateful.
opiejeanne
@sigaba: He also refused to put on a coat and hat during the inaugural speech, for some reason. Afraid it would signal weakness?