Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s finish the job.

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

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

This fight is for everything.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Everybody saw this coming.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Open Thread: The Peasants Are Revolting!

Open Thread: The Peasants Are Revolting!

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“Well, we don’t actually test it… See that little camera up there? The boss just likes to watch.”

***********

Apart from the obvious jokes (and the President-Asterisk is an endless source for those!), what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

188Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    Proposal: in exchange, the WHCA could oversee random drug tests of White House staff.

    Narcissism is a hell of a drug, but I don’t think it shows up in urinalysis.

  12. 12.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Anyone else following this Betsy Devos hearing?

    What a slap in the face to the american people to nominate this ridiculous person to oversee such an important institution.

  13. 13.

    Yarrow

    Corporate donations are nearly double the record for an inauguration. Drain that swamp!

    Chevron, the oil giant, has given $US500,000 ($663, 189) for the dayslong festivities. Boeing, which has been a target of Trump, pledged $US1 million ($1.3 million). And Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, giants of the gambling industry, are said to have donated more than that by themselves.
    …
    All told, the group planning the inaugural festivities says it has raised more than $US100 million ($133 million), which would be nearly double the record for an inauguration, with much of it coming in six- and seven-figure cheques from America’s corporate suites.

    In exchange, Mr Trump’s most prolific donors will gain access to what amounts to a parallel inauguration week, carefully planned and largely out of public sight, during which they can mingle with members of the incoming administration over intimate meals and witness Mr Trump’s ascension from the front rows.

    Oligarchy. Kleptocracy.

    George W. Bush did not place restrictions on who could donate, but he did cap gifts at $US100,000 in 2001 and at $US250,000 in 2005.

    Barack Obama went further in 2009, banning all gifts from lobbyists and corporations, and capping individual gifts at $US50,000, even as his fundraising team amassed $US53 million, then a record. He relaxed those restrictions in 2013, generally accepting corporate gifts up to $US1 million and individual gifts up to $US250,000.

    Mr Trump’s team said it would not accept gifts from registered federal lobbyists or solicit corporate donations over $US1 million. The committee did not cap contributions from individuals.

    Totally draining the swamp. No swamp here. You’re the swamp!

  14. 14.

    lamh36

    Couldn’t stand it no mo’…had to get me a new cheap but good laptop!!!

    Next up…transferring my old files to the new laptop

    A cheap lil HP Notebook from Wallyworld…cost $299 + tax and $45 extended warranty

    15.6 inch screen…enough to keep me going until I get everything settled and am able to get another PC

    I also went ahead and bought the Roku Express + streaming device. I’m not at my moms tonight, but when I get to her house I’ma give it a try and see how I like it.

    If I like it, I’ll keep it, if I don’t whenever thing gets settled and when I leave my mom’s house, I’ll let her have it and get me something else

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Watching Chris Hayes. The prior segment was about how people now support Obamacare. In the black for the first time. I hope it helps, but at the same time, screw the switchers.

  18. 18.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: You, Sir, win the Internets for a year!

    I am finding the taunting of the White House Press Corps pretty amusing. I’m being short sighted and childish. A Trump tweet would call this “Sad”.

  20. 20.

    GregB

    @Dog Dawg Damn:

    I just saw one question at the tail end from new NH Sen. Maggie Hassan drilling down about the ADA. Ms. DeVos will be sensitive about federal law, yes she will.

    The question is important to Hassan as she has a son with serious physical challenges.

    Who is the next candidate in Trump’s Ask a Plutocrat?

  21. 21.

    Peale

    @Baud: I’ll just stand over here, waiting for widespread drug testing. Hopefully it’s not just for welfare queens any longer.

  28. 28.

    Peale

    @Baud: wait until it sinks in that it’s not just immigrants who’ll be getting Medicare vouchers and blacks who’ll be required to work until 73.

  30. 30.

    Yarrow

    @debbie: The Trump who had his crazy doctor sign his name to a letter that proclaimed Trump the healthiest person ever? Yeah, he’ll submit to a drug test. Sure.

  33. 33.

    lamh36

    Alright… Hidden Figures was the #1 movie this past weekend. And I think there are still folks who haven’t seen it yet…wouldn’t it be something if it was in the top 5 or even #1 for a 3rd week?

    So whoever hasn’t seen it…go ahead and check it out this weekend. You will NOT be disappointed.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Murphy: Do you think guns have any place in or around schools?
    DeVos: That is best left to locales and states to decide. If the underlying question is —
    Murphy: You can’t say definitively today that guns shouldn’t be in schools?
    DeVos: I will refer back to (Wyoming) Senator (Mike) Enzi and the school he was talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the schools to protect from potential grizzlies.

  41. 41.

    Truegster

    @Baud: I think that they support “Obamacare” not because it’s in the Black now, but because it’s called the Affordable Care Act and it’s run by “whites” now. /snark

  46. 46.

    Mike J

    @Major Major Major Major: And don’t use your primary phone if you’re worried about the gubbmint reading your stuff.

    If you’re organizing protests, they’re almost certainly in your network. Just don’t take your phone with all your contacts in to a protest where you might be arrested even if you’re not doing anything wrong. Get a burner phone and put nothing but stuff you need for the protest on.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan: She wants to protect the little Wyoming children at recess, when they pour honey over their heads and drape themselves in roadkill carrion.

    It’s a local tradition.

  48. 48.

    PsiFighter37

    The only joy I gain from the upcoming kleptocracy is that I will likely personally benefit at the expense of Trump voters’ idiocy. Of course, that dance only lasts so long.

    As for everyone else, I am really sorry. It will be up to us living in the out-of-touch states where the majority resides to figure shit out. Too bad for CA that they are about to get someone who likes their self-perceived image more than doing the right thing (Newsom).

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    Finally getting into a “normal” routine here in Las Vegas. Came out last Thursday to house- and dog-sit for three weeks while my RWNJ brother takes a motorcycle trip in Chile and Argentina. The dogs—whippet Polly and greyhound Woody—have quickly adapted to Uncle Steep’s regime. They laze around most of the day but are punctilious about keeping me to the mealtime schedule. Polly sleeps on the bed with me at night. Woody seems to prefer one of the couches in the family room, although he has a big dog bed in the master bedroom.

    Going to Wahoo’s for dinner in a bit: slightly trendy taco chain, I think. Never been there, but a friend said it’s worth checking out.

    The weather is great: mid- to high 50s, lows around 40°. Sunny, of course, although we did get a shmitz of rain on Friday.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    I had a depressing evening listening to the DeVos hearing. She’s terrible. She can’t answer a single specific question on any issue.

    I almost felt bad for her. She’s simply not qualified in any way for that job and it shows. “Almost” felt bad for her, because there’s real arrogance in accepting a job you are in no way qualified for- a normally prudent person would have said “thanks, but I’m not qualified for that, obviously”.

    I love how that is now unimaginable- that a person would voluntarily decline to take a job based on having the ordinary humility to admit “I have no fucking idea what they even do at this place, let alone me running it”.

    We have low quality elites. They look like elites, they have the money and trappings of elites, but they lack basic essential qualities, like a recognition of their own limits.

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The public ed community seems slowly, finally, roused to try and run Betsy DeVos to earth…she’s just about the most ignorant person Trump has nominated so far and as we all know, that’s saying something.

    – thinks the federal IDEA law should be left to the states to enforce
    – thinks guns in schools are ok (as you noted)…because GRIZZLIES! (Colbert is going to have a fucking field day with that one)
    – won’t commit to not enforcing Title IX in higher ed
    – had to have Al Franken explain to her the difference between ‘proficiency’ and ‘growth’
    – won’t commit to defunding public schools(!)…yes, seriously…

    She’s unbelievably appalling. She and her family have given over $200M(!) (!) (!) to the GOP over the years – pay for play anyone? – but it all hasn’t been specifically for vouchers and other crap like that. They’re mostly such big givers because they hate unions (of any kind, not just teachers)

    I hope she goes down in flames, but given how poorly she’s handling her own hearing, she’s not likely to get a whole lot accomplished at DoE. Thank. God.

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Great angle Kay – great point. Why would she take the job, indeed?

    Another Bannon “burn it all down” pick.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Jeffro: The one thing that gives me comfort is that had Hillary won, the majority of us (excluding BJ) would not have appreciated her.

  57. 57.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    How is a man who walks into a church and murders 9 innocent people the same as a person who blew the whistle on things she felt were illegal, the same? Chelsea may have been misguided in how she went about disseminating the info, but she did not deliberately murder anyone. EE is as vile a piece of shit as he has ever been. Don’t think I don’t see the implication that the only reason Roof has no chance at commutation, is that he murdered black people. Racist fuck, always has to reduce everything to race.

  59. 59.

    Mike in NC

    Went out to dinner tonight and glanced up at a TV, where they were quoting the bloated narcissist as claiming he’ll have the biggest crowd ever to attend an inauguration. More likely the smallest on record even though the Park Sevice no longer estimates numbers.

  62. 62.

    Lizzy L

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: FOR REALS? The woman is worried about grizzly bears in Wyoming schools? According to Wikipedia, there are about 600 grizzlies in Wyoming; they live in the Yellowstone-Teton area, i.e. in the mountains. Nah, she isn’t worried about a grizzly bear wandering into a Wyoming school, she’s worried about the NRA.

    GMAB.

    @Kay: Yes. She simply isn’t qualified.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    By the way…folks, earlier I mentioned that the Drive-By Truckers are heading out on another leg of their “Darkened Flags” tour in support of their latest and truly greatest album, AMERICAN BAND (with “What It Means”, “Ramon Casiano”, and “Surrender Under Protest” among other instant classics)

    For you NoVA/DC-area folks, they’re going to be at the 9:30 Club on Fri April 21 and Sat April 22. I’m going to catch the Friday 4/21 show, and if anyone else ends up going that night, please let me know – 1st round’s on me! Unless there are like 20 of you! And then restrictions apply! =)

    I looked and there appears to be a pre-sale link here, effective sometime tomorrow (10am or noon, so check it out at 10:01!) If you miss the pre-sale, you should be able to get them through the 9:30 Club’s site starting noon on Friday. Don’t wait too long as I’m sure they’ll sell out!

    Thanks

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    I would be terrified if I were her and you know, a lot of fears are rational. They’re a warning. They mean “don’t take this job because you don’t know the first thing about it”.

    Never worked in a school or college, never had a single employee reporting to her, never served in any government role of any kind, not even a school board. That voice inside her head that tells her “you’re not qualified”? That’s not something to be overcome. That’s true, what that voice is saying.

    You know, normal people don’t aspire to start at the top. Normal people wouldn’t want to do that because it’s crazy and they’ll fail. Normal people say “I should study this for a while, get better at it, and maybe take an entry level job, like president of a university or something” :)

  68. 68.

    PsiFighter37

    @Baud: Wyoming kids don’t have a future in fuck-all if they don’t move somewhere that has some goddamn jobs outside of tourism.

    Angry PF37 +7 IT”S LIEK THE GLORY DAYS

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Edward-Isaac Dovere @ IsaacDovere
    Trump speaking to 147 ambassadors tonight. First 4 topics covered: how he picked Pence, Tillerson, bikers for Trump, # of counties he won.

    Feel the dignitude.

  72. 72.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Stupid people are stupid, now that the media are starting to point out what they will lose the prospect of losing benefits is no longer an abstract. Fuck them and fuck the media for spending the last seven years spreading GOP lies about Obamacare.

  74. 74.

    GregB

    I believe in egalitarianism and I fully feel that the soft bigotry of low expectations should apply to plutocrats and oligarchs too.

  77. 77.

    SiubhanDuinne

    (WTF, WP?)

    ‘Twas the night before Friday, and all through the Nation,
    The people were braced for Trump’s inauguration.

    The tickets were hustled and given away
    In hopes that a crowd would assemble that day.

    The G.O.P. stalwarts had gathered at dawn
    While normal folks shrugged, gave a “meh” and a yawn.

    Melania tried to give Barron a wake up
    Before spending hours applying her makeup.

    While Marla and Tiffany pimped “Go Fund Me,”
    Because their hair stylist would not work for free.

    And Ivana, the mother of Don’s adult kids,
    Tried to figure what quos she could ask for her quids.

    (With memories of nonconsensual sex,
    She held out to be an envoy to the Czechs.)

    Ivanka and Jared were thinking “Ka-CHING!”
    As they pondered their influence in the West Wing.

    Don Junior and Eric were not the least sorry
    That they’d soon be doing another safari.

    And up on the dais the LDS Choir
    Were clearing their throats for some brimstone and fire,

    While Radio City’s high-kicking Rockettes
    Hoped that they would be paid, but afraid they’d be debts.

    The sun, as it rose on the Capital fair,
    Seemed to challenge the day, saying: “No! Don’t you dare!”

    Away to the teevee I flew like a flash,
    Every channel had Trump, like a genital rash.

    To my scandalised eyes came the Lord of the Midgets
    With two miniature hands and ten tiny wee digits.

    More rapid than typists his fingers they came,
    And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

    “On Teeny, on Tiny, go Fingerlings, Thumbkins,
    Go all my small fingers, the color of pumpkins,

    You can’t hold a scalpel to do surgery,
    But with hand on the Bible, commit perjury!”

    He repeated the Oath, heard the Choir sing a ballad,
    Then delivered a speech that was purest word salad,

    And I heard him exclaim, with a scowl and a glower,
    “I’m not staying in D.C.! I’m off to Trump Tower!”

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    It’s like they’ve been told their whole lives they can “do anything!” and they were dumb enough to take that literally and to assume it meant “with no experience or training of any kind, just because you’re fabulous!”

    That’s not at all what it means. No, no, no. Wrong.

  86. 86.

    hovercraft

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Well you know grizzlies have been know to wander into populated areas. Why don’t you think it’s better to allow guns on the one in a billion chance that there is a grizzly, vs the much greater danger of a kid getting their hands on the gun.

  89. 89.

    ArchTeryx

    Okay, I’m angry, frightened, and more then a little tired, but I’ll put out a little positivity for a change.

    I’m engaging in a hobby I haven’t done for nigh-on 30 years: Worldbuilding. While I’m not anything like an Asimov or a Tolkien, I love worldbuilding and creating sci-fi alien races, and I and an artist came up with a winner.

    Sentient vuitures. Who aren’t just trusted but revered, mostly for their treatment of the dead and the survivors. Ethics are part of their religious bearing, and who happen to occupy a keystone role in their “Federation”. In a world where it seems human weasels, vultures, and other assorted monsters rule the roost, I thought it’d be nice for a change to create a race of vultures that was quite firmly on the side of “good” for a change.

    It isn’t without conflict, though. They have two factions, the “Reverents” which are rather monk-like, staid, and formal, and the “Irreverents” which believe in the Irish Wake style of honoring the dead. In either of their cases, though, you’d want ’em to be running your funeral parlor, because quite unlike their human counterparts, screwing over the living is considered the height of dishonor – and a mortal sin – against the deceased.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    Keith BoykinVerified account
    ‏@keithboykin
    Sen. Al Franken discovers Trump Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos doesn’t know the difference between proficiency and growth

    It’s not minor, because there’s a federal law that says public schools have to understand that. It’s not even hard to understand. We’re talking about 15 minutes prep with no education background.

    She also doesn’t know what the “gainful employment” rule is, if I interpreted that panicked smiling and lack of any response at all correctly. That’s the entire basis of another federal regulation.

    So you tell me. What kind of a person says “sure! I’ll take that job! I’ll just wing it”. The initial failure of these people is personal. They lack important..things, qualities, whatever. They’re quite old, too! Its not like they will be picking them up along the way. That ship has SAILED.

  95. 95.

    p.a.

    @Baud:

    61
    Baud says:
    January 17, 2017 at 9:14 pm
    @Major Major Major Major:

    use Signal on your burner too though.

    Everyone’s password will be “golden shower.”

    What’s the SS code for tRump? Chief Littlehands? AuWater? KremlinPipeline?

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The smiling was awful and inappropriate- because I knew it was Murphy and I knew he was talking about Newtown and the anger on his face was real.

    Painful to watch. But, you know, she’s a big grown up billionaire and pride goeth before a fall.

  100. 100.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud:

    Why do I have a feeling that there will be a false flag grizzly attack at a kindergarten soon?

    … in North Carolina.

    Look! A jackalope!

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @efgoldman:

    DeVos is the wealthiest Trump appointee. She’s never depended on a paycheck her entire life and either will her children or grandchildren or great grandchildren. She basically purchased the Michigan statehouse- one individual. She just bought it outright and she has PLENTY left over.

  102. 102.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Jeffro:
    First album on the headphones every morning at work. Puts me in the proper spirit to face an office full of wingnuts.

    Betsy Devos must have seen some grizzlies down by Pulaski’s candy store.

  107. 107.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:

    You know, normal people don’t aspire to start at the top. Normal people wouldn’t want to do that because it’s crazy and they’ll fail. Normal people say “I should study this for a while, get better at it, and maybe take an entry level job, like president of a university or something” :)

    So very very true. And that’s because most normal people have to get an education, then get a job, then work their way up in the world. She can’t picture starting at anything below SoE because, well, she’s been at the top her whole life.

  108. 108.

    eclare

    @lamh36: Excellent! Used to live in his district. Surprisingly, never noticed fires or an apocalyptic hellhole. Will look to see when my local channel will broadcast.

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @p.a.:

    President* is good too.

    Yep. I love the way Anne Laurie always refers to him as “President-Asterisk.”

    (Donny had an airplane,
    and through the air he’d frisk.
    Now wasn’t he a silly boy
    His little *?)

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman:

    Worse than Crefflo Carson for HUD?

    I would say so, yes. At least Carson had to work his way up in the world and get trained at something over many years. He’s a loon, but at least he has some accomplishments and knows what it means to work hard. It doesn’t qualify him to run HUD of course.

    This lady has done absolutely nothing in her life except have a shit-ton of money and use it to manipulate our democracy, against unions most especially but public education as well (which, yes, has unions).

    And no offense to people who work in housing, it’s very important, but compared to someone who can do real damage to one of the cornerstones of our democracy, good public schools…it’s no contest to me which one is more dangerous.

  112. 112.

    Cacti

    I just read that deplorable inauguration poem by some Trumpkin internet Shakespeare.

    I’ll never get that minute of my life back.

  113. 113.

    frosty

    @Kay:

    We’re talking about 15 minutes prep with no education background.

    Not even that. I’d never heard of it and had no idea what you were talking about. Type “education proficiency growth” into Google, click on second link, read. 3 minutes, tops. Now I know that growth is a relative measure of how well student achievement changes, and proficiency is an absolute measure of student performance.

    These people are clueless uncurious idiots, and you’re absolutely right that any sentient being wouldn’t interview for a job it knew nothing about.. WASF.

  114. 114.

    Steve in the ATL

    Thank God I went to private school so I never had to worry about grizzly bears on campus. Needless to say, there were no black or brown bears either….

    This woman is a fucking nutjob.

  115. 115.

    mai naem mobile

    So I clicked on the Inaugural ticket banner just so I could make John a little $$$ if he doesn’t get stiffed by whoever is paying the bills. Anyhow, I made up the email address etc. Just wondering can they mail the tix now? Isn’t it too late? I kind of wondering if we could prank them a little by ordering tickets and not showing up. Make them think they’re going to be packed and then empty stands and no crowd fillers because they won’t hire them?

  116. 116.

    TriassicSands

    Allowing conventional wisdom to substitute for thinking and reporting (from the NY Times):

    The last two presidents governed for long stretches with less than majority support, which clearly limited their capacity to advance major legislation.

    This is so obviously not true for Obama. Yes, his approval ratings were low, but any failure he had in getting legislation passed had nothing to do with his poll numbers and everything to do with Republicans in both the House and Senate dedicating themselves to making Obama a failure. In fact, when his approval numbers began rising in 2016, the Senate Republicans gave us their most outrageous example of obstruction — they refused to give Obama’s SCOTUS nominee any consideration at all.

    Jon Stewart has said he considers “laziness” to be one of the MSM’s worst attributes. I think the quoted material above gives a good example of that laziness. Conveniently, it also ends up with the conclusion of both sides being equal.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:

    DeVos is the wealthiest Trump appointee. She’s never depended on a paycheck her entire life and either will her children or grandchildren or great grandchildren. She basically purchased the Michigan statehouse- one individual. She just bought it outright and she has PLENTY left over.

    And that’s the other thing, right? Well, two things actually:
    1) What kind of family would spend $200M – unbelievable! – supporting think tanks and publications and candidates and parties just to try and dismantle working people’s unions?!? (I mean, I know the answer…”a family whose businesses and investments expect a return greater than $200M for that spending…but still. How do you have $200M and not spend it doing good things, instead of fighting people’s right to organize at work??

    2) How in the hell can anyone look at $200M in political spending by one family, noting the results they got (i.e., buying an entire legislature) and NOT find that completely anathema to democracy, ‘one person, one vote’, and equal representation under the law? It’s like a piccolo soloist trying to play their tune for someone, when a half-bright trombone player has hired an entire marching band or orchestra to play behind him: whose music’s going to get heard?

  118. 118.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Kay: Yet she owes OH how much? She’s just like her nominator – she’s a bad person. How dare she be flip about guns with Murphy?

    On the subject of Putin’s Circus Peanut, I saw this on twitter:

    John Fugelsang ‏@JohnFugelsang 3h3 hours ago
    Oh, and last year Donald Trump spoke at Liberty University, founded by a segregationist who defended apartheid.
    On MLK Day.
    Forgot that.

    I forgot it too.

  121. 121.

    mai naem mobile

    I saw the Al Franken/Devos clip. She had that Sarah Palin -stalling for time to make up bullshit because I have no idea what the hell hes talking about’ look. Embarrassing.

  124. 124.

    Jeffro

    @frosty:

    I’d never heard of it and had no idea what you were talking about. Type “education proficiency growth” into Google, click on second link, read. 3 minutes, tops. Now I know that growth is a relative measure of how well student achievement changes, and proficiency is an absolute measure of student performance.

    See for Betsy, the question is, “Is God in the classroom?” This whole proficiency/growth thing is just a distraction. It’s the same with all the Trump/Bannon nominees…their agenda is not even remotely related to what these departments do, especially the good that they can do…it’s either how to destroy them from within, or how to use them in the service of some corporation’s immense profits. Or both.

  125. 125.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: The Vulturekin aren’t nearly as overpowered as Tolkien’s Eagles. They’re just meant to bust a bad rep, rather like Anne McCaffrey’s Pernese Dragons originally were meant to. Vultures are generally awesome birds and serve a very valuable purpose in nature. My fictional race reflects more of their true nature then “vulture capitalists”.

    Us Democrats are vultures. We clean up the mess everyone else leaves behind, and get no thanks or gratitude whatsoever for it.

  126. 126.

    father pussbucket

    @Cacti:

    I just read that deplorable inauguration poem by some Trumpkin internet Shakespeare.

    Vogon poetry is now officially the fourth worst in the universe.

  128. 128.

    Millard Filmore

    @frosty:

    any sentient being wouldn’t interview for a job it knew nothing about

    On the other hand, if she thinks her job is to shutdown and close out the Department of Education, whats to know?

  130. 130.

    TriassicSands

    @Kay:

    …because there’s real arrogance in accepting a job you are in no way qualified for- a normally prudent person would have said “thanks, but I’m not qualified for that, obviously”.

    See Ben Carson, future head of HUD. He even publicly admitted that he isn’t qualified for the job, but then, after speed reading the Cliff’s Notes on “Running a Government Department” and giving “Cabinetry for Dummies” a look, which confused Carson because they kept talking about making stuff out of wood and the safe use of power tools, Carson reconsidered and realized that Republican “qualifications” depend on one’s devotion to bad governance and ensuring that your department fails.

    The most successful Republican department secretaries will leave their posts with their department either abolished or utterly incapable of carrying out its mission.

  132. 132.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack: Lately I miss the West. But I was only in LV once. It was 1978, and now I think of that neon as ‘classic.’ I remember the strip as easy to walk. The little place where I stayed was right near the center on it, but quaint even then.

  134. 134.

    ms_canadada

    @Kay: Please, NEVER feel anything for THEM. They would gleefully strip funding for special needs, increase classroom sizes, get rid of Ed. Assistants, Child & Youth workers, and so many more professionals who help our children learn.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I have to take Trumpkins in smaller doses. It’s very upsetting actually listening to them. Anyhoo, they rushed the DeVos hearing because they know damn well she’s not qualified for this job but she’s a far Right political hack so they’ll put her in charge of a giant portfolio of student loans, because who gives a shit about merit as long as she has the right ideological views. The whole thing was a shitshow. Another crappy Trump hire.

  137. 137.

    Cacti

    @ArchTeryx:

    Personally I think Trump hired a Vogon to ghostwrite that poem for him

    That poem is the worst adaptation of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” that I’ve ever read.

  138. 138.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:

    So you tell me. What kind of a person says “sure! I’ll take that job! I’ll just wing it”. The initial failure of these people is personal. They lack important..things, qualities, whatever. They’re quite old, too! Its not like they will be picking them up along the way. That ship has SAILED.

    They’re not in it to do the job. They’re in it for the money. Also promoting their racists, sexist, Christianist ideas. It doesn’t matter if they can do the job or not. The job itself doesn’t matter. It’s how much money they can make, steal, funnel to family members and how much they can force people to go backwards to the 1950’s. That’s what they want.

  139. 139.

    JordanRules

    Poor Betsy getting all the attention today because they didn’t have other hearings or any other fascist announcements scheduled today. She’s just as disgusting, conflicted and unqualified as 99% of the other appointments.

    Screw her and all of them!

  140. 140.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud:

    Why do I have a feeling that there will be a false flag grizzly attack at a kindergarten soon?

    Well played. Wish you were be inaugurated on Friday!

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: looks like, and this probably is, too

    Philip Bump ‏@ pbump 2h2 hours ago
    Trump, on the bikers coming to the inauguration, per the pool report: “That’s like
    additional security with those guys, and they’re rough.”

    Simon Maloy ‏@ SimonMaloy 27m27 minutes ago
    seems like we’re taking the whole “president-elect welcomes vigilante biker gang inauguration security force” thing a little too blithely

  145. 145.

    Sad_Dem

    I think it is missing the point to mention that she is unqualified. She is there to wreck the place and help her friends steal everything worth taking.

  146. 146.

    amk

    whatev happened to the shitgabbon’s sidekick rabble rousers like that fat fucker from nj, racist rudey and oops moron from moroner tx? didn’t they all fellayte the lil dick for cabinet posts?

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @JordanRules:

    It would be one thing if she said she wanted to learn on the job and just try for competence, which will be difficult enough. Oh, no. She wants a “revolution”. She wants education to be like Google, whatever the hell that means. This isn’t confidence. It’s arrogance. It’s wildly overestimating her own abilities based on absolutely nothing.

  154. 154.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: She doesn’t care about the job. She wants the money.

    Let us also remember that she thinks children should work. To hell with those child labor laws.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    DeVos said she was not on board of her mother’s organization. The 2014 990 filing shows she was an org VP

    And, lying. So there’s a shocker in Trumpworld. The mother’s organization is controversial because it’s anti gay people. Just broadly. Opposed to gay people generally. Their existence.

  158. 158.

    joel hanes

    @PsiFighter37:

    Angry PF37 +7 IT”S LIEK THE GLORY DAYS

    I know Vegas and drinking are like mustard and wurst, but I hope you find another way to cope during the coming four-year clusterfuck, because it’s going to be so bad that if you rely on alcohol to dull the pain, the drink will kill you in short order.

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: O’Donnell is playing/reading clips of the Shitgibbon’s appearance in front of the assembled diplomatic corps. You figure the people other countries send to the US are their best and brightest. They come together now to watch that buffoon shoot word salad.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    Asked if she knows that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal law, DeVos says she “may have confused it.”

    They keep asking her if she will follow various laws and rules and she seems to believe they are optional or a matter of her discretion. Sometimes she tries to dodge with “states rights” but obviously that’s a non-starter because these are federal laws and rules. The problem with this is one of credibility. Every assistant principal knows these laws because they have to. This isn’t like “advanced level” here. They will know much, much more than her.

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I knew Baldwin hit pay dirt with the questions on gay students and civil rights protections. DeVos was visibly uncomfortable.

  163. 163.

    JordanRules

    @Kay: It would be better (her expressing a willingness to learn on the job), but we know that isn’t enough and shouldn’t be a standard for these critical federal positions.

    I know we agree here, just stating for emphasis. I’m kinda annoyed they all aren’t even trying to hide their contempt for us and our institutions better. It’s like all of their privilege and disgusting ideology finally gets a manifestation and they are just going for it. 0 to 100
    Let’s hope that dynamic contributes to their downfall.

  164. 164.

    Ksmiami

    The Scamway DeVos family are an affront to decent hard-working Americans. They can all go to hell. And really, we should increase the estate tax on more than 100 million. Extreme inequality has completely warped our Democracy.

  165. 165.

    jonas

    @Dog Dawg Damn: Shorter DeVos: “Education Department? Why, I’ve never even heard of this curious government agency until just now. I really can’t say how I’d run because I’m just so new here, oh me, oh my! I just can’t say what my opinions on federal education policy would be! Is there such a thing?”

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I feel like dismissing experience as unimportant or unnecessary is one of the many ways we devalue peoples’ work.

    I’m offended by it because experience is earned. It has value. It’s not true that anyone in any job is just as good as anyone else. That’s insane. I mean what are we saying here? People spend years, decades, working in specific fields and they learn nothing? They are at exactly the same level as the day they walked into work? Then why bother to learn anything or work hard at anything? There’s no point. There’s no cumulative gain. We can just draw numbers for jobs or something. Random assignments.

  167. 167.

    jonas

    Do people know that Betsy DeVos’s brother is Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater mercenary firm that so distinguished itself in Iraq? Yeah, we’re getting these people back again.

  168. 168.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Kay:

    Every assistant principal knows these laws because they have to. This isn’t like “advanced level” here. They will know much, much more than her.

    Of course they do, because it’s their profession, and they have experience. It isn’t widget boxing on an assembly line, and it is offensive to imply – as these nominations do – that experience is worth nothing and people are interchangeable bodies.

  170. 170.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:

    Every assistant principal knows these laws because they have to. This isn’t like “advanced level” here. They will know much, much more than her.

    In Trump world this would be standard. You think the Trump kids know much about anything? No, but they’re still in charge. That’s how it works.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    If Betsy DeVos is qualified to do that job then I am, and I’m not. I know I’m not. She doesn’t. What is that, I wonder? Can she do my job, too? Yours? Anyone’s? That’s extraordinary. It’s unbelievable because it’s not true. It’s this weird mass fantasy that inexperience is actually a plus. It doesn’t even mean she’s “innovative”. She could be dull as dust and also be inexperienced. That’s actually MUCH more likely than her turning out to be some freak genius who is a “natural” and is just brimming with stuff people who know what they’re doing never thought of.

  172. 172.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Are we sure that DeVos wasn’t just concerned that Andrew Sullivan might wander into a classroom?

  173. 173.

    GregB

    @Kay:

    It is a plus because they want to destroy the Dept.of Ed.

    This woman will auto sign away the entire budget on field trips to the frigging Creation Museum.

  174. 174.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: She’s completely qualified to do the job as she sees it should be done: gut public education, loot the Treasury, funnel money into for-profit education outfits run by her friends and family and also funnel money into religious schools so she can force Christianist beliefs on everyone. That’s what she sees the job to be and she’s very qualified to do that job.

  175. 175.

    mai naem mobile

    @jonas: yes,I do and I think the gun thing is so that Erik Prince can get a federal contract “protecting” schools.

  178. 178.

    burnspbesq

    @Steeplejack:

    You’re likely to really dig Wahoo’s. It’s a SoCal chain, founded by a bunch of brothers in OC in the 80s; one of them was a tennis buddy of mine, so I had lunch at the initial location in Costa Mesa the day it opened. Very healthy Mexican food. Go for the blackened fish tacos.

  179. 179.

    burnspbesq

    @Jeffro:

    My favorite album of 2016, period, full stop. Will it stand the test of time like, say, Mahan Esfahani’s “Goldberg Variations?” Maybe yes, maybe no. We’ll see.

  180. 180.

    Peale

    @Kay: yep. That type of policy will be made quickly – the one where teachers and counsellors need to tattle about sexuality. Based on her background, a good ole focus on abstinence education for the straight kids, “homos can change if they want to” with a little “no gay propaganda near children” will be the order of the day. That may be the only curriculum change they’ll make, though. The rest will be funding related, to please those folks who hate that they have to pay for schools every year because they haven’t yet figured out that people continue to have new children who keep getting older by one year each year.

  181. 181.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I feel like dismissing experience as unimportant or unnecessary is one of the many ways we devalue peoples’ work.

    I’m offended by it because experience is earned. It has value. It’s not true that anyone in any job is just as good as anyone else. That’s insane. I mean what are we saying here? People spend years, decades, working in specific fields and they learn nothing? They are at exactly the same level as the day they walked into work? Then why bother to learn anything or work hard at anything? There’s no point. There’s no cumulative gain. We can just draw numbers for jobs or something. Random assignments.

    Kay,

    this is why the Steve Harvey thing pissed me off.

    Harvey needed to stay in his lane. He’s talk show host. A comedian.

    What he credibly knows about American Housing Policy would fit into a thimble. After all, he didn’t even know who Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III was.

    RME.

    So, when they use Carson and Harvey to put a BLACK FACE on the impending DECIMATION of housing policy…..they won’t care…they’ll be shinning and grinning. He’ll point to some insignificant crumb of a project that is maybe 1 or 2 buildings, while BILLIONS will be stolen and public housing PRIVATIZED, harming millions of low income people

    President Barack Obama went out and found Black professionals in every area. I always say- it’s Washington DC, not Idaho. There has been a Black professional middle class in Washington since generations before Brown. Within 2 hours of DC, you can find a Black person, who is a professional and trained for that area of expertise in just about any subject possible. There is absolutely NO excuse to find clowns like this, and push them out front, as representing ANYTHING serious about the Black community. It is an insult.

  185. 185.

    Yarrow

    @rikyrah: Do you know if Steve Harvey has taken any kind of a hit after his visit with Trump? I mean as far as his fans boycotting his shows or anything?

  187. 187.

    Gretchen

    @Kay: Yes, that was awful to watch – the cluelessness of talking to Sen. Murphy about guns and not even realizing that she was walking into shit. What a horrible, clueless, priveledged, entitled person who has never had to work for a single thing for a single day of her life. If she gets this job, I hope she goes down in an epic flaming dumpster fire of failure.

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