Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

T R E 4 5 O N

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Republicans in disarray!

It’s a doggy dog world.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

This fight is for everything.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

People are complicated. Love is not.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Let there be snark.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Candlemas Day

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Candlemas Day

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In a world lit only by fire, making it to the halfway point between the shortest day of the year and the Spring equinox was something worth celebrating… even if all you could do was to light a candle…
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via commentor MaryG:

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What’s on the agenda as we (hopefully) turn away from Winter towards Spring?
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Reader Interactions

122Comments

  2. 2.

    low-tech cyclist

    Some are mathematicians, some are carpenters’ wives…

    This mathematician is looking forward to marching with the scientists on April 22.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A Muslim in America:

    When the roll of toilet paper ran out this morning, I stood there, staring at my bathroom shelf for a full minute. There are three rolls left. How many new ones should I buy? The question is so difficult it makes my throat close up. I stand naked, perfectly still, staring at the remaining rolls of toilet paperHow long will I stay in America?

    This rented apartment is the first home I’ve ever felt was mine. I’ve filled the space, stocking it like I’m a mother of five. The bathroom shelves are lined with spare shampoo bottles, razor blades, toothbrushes, condoms, moisturizer pots, nail files, tubs of Tylenol, sunscreens of various factors, roll-ons and, normally, lots and lots of spare toilet rolls. Somewhere around November I must have stopped buying TP stocks to invest in my future here.

    Everything is on hold.

  12. 12.

    Ken

    I live in Dhaka, teacher at the international school. Most people assume a majority of Americans voted for Trump and that is why he is Pres. When I show them the popular vote and start to explain the electoral college, they look at me like I am crazy. I just keep explaining this over and over again that Trump is not the peoples president.

  13. 13.

    cosima

    Is the Koch Bros’ statement regarding the immigration EO the warning shot from the ‘powers behind the GOP?’ I’m afraid that I’m becoming far too cynical — Koch Bros vs. Vulgarian/Tillerson/Putin — is it all for show while they rape & pillage behind the scenes? Or have they realised that their tax cuts for the 1% & drilling in Nat’l Parks is going to be useless when the US is a pile of rubble? How much value does the dollar have to lose (nullifying their tax gains) for them to demand that their paid-for congresscritters move to impeach?

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Spanky: My wife, who always votes (the right way), is not very political. Growing up in Franco’s Spain, it was a good way to end up in prison, so it is hard for her. She always knew Trump would be a disisater. As a naturalized US citizen, she is still an immigrant and this past wkend didn’t just scare her, it kind of pissed her off.

  15. 15.

    cosima

    @Ken: What is the make up of your school? Is it primarily children of oil industry parents? Our daughter went to the IS in Aberdeen, and it was probably 90% children of oil industry parents. Back in GWB days there was such heated discussion amongst the children that the school had to put out letters reminding the children (via their parents) to be civil.

    We lived far out in the countryside — a decision that we made specifically to remove ourselves from the majority of the IS community. We were both oil company employees, but also tree-hugging liberal types who did not support GWB — we were outnumbered 10 to 1 easily, maybe twice that. We avoided IS mixing opportunities like the plague, same with company dinners/parties/etc. Fortunately, the changes in the oil industry have led to a marked decrease in US expat families here, and my chances of having to interact with those sorts of people are almost zero.

    That said, amongst our UK friends, there are still many who want to discuss the situation with me (which I’m willing to do, with the proviso that the discussion be limited, because there’s only so much that I can take, and I don’t really feel the need to ‘educate’ them as you are quite correctly doing in your area). I was heartened by the fact that although the French that my husband is mixing with right now (for work, in Paris) were horrified, they acknowledged that they have similar problems. If it had been me I’d have asked what they were planning to do to combat that, but my husband doesn’t go down that road with people.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer stated: “No American citizen will ever be targeted” in counter-terrorism operations, though it was unclear if Spicer was announcing a new policy or was freelancing.

    Link

    Welcome to the new normal.

  20. 20.

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy

    Meeting women from the local women’s March today, we are looking to establish more organization and more people at protests so there are no more lone women protests. Still can’t believe I did that. But I hope I can help pick this community’s brain trust, how do you all talk to Trump supporters without letting seething contempt and anger filter through? I am not good at poker faces and while people tell me they didn’t like him they felt they had no other choice. Not to mention the ones who have black, Muslim (insert favorite minority here) friends but the country suffered under Obama and let’s not mention Hilary and her emails.I can’t hide my rage and contempt at people I consider Nazis or at best Nazi enablers when I discuss things with them. The ones who say “not a fan but no choice” I say with as much didain as possible, “well, it’s we can finally get some sunshine on your beliefs, it must have been so difficult to hide them for so long.”Yeah that doesn’t go over very well. Any thoughts? Because if I keep it up with my KY office people I am going to be on a CAP for hostile work environment.

  22. 22.

    tokyo expat

    @cosima: I work with an Aussie, a New Zealander, two Canadians, two Brits and a Scot. The Aussie couldn’t believe Trump had managed to give his fellow country folks a reason to support their leader. Meanwhile the Scot and Brit the Younger made a wager on how long Trump would last. Brit the Younger bet a thousand yen that he’d be out within a year. The Scot thinks longer. After that the conversation descended into deciphering the Scottish language. As the only American, I appreciate the humor because it’s all too frightening otherwise.

  25. 25.

    bemused

    No doubt Schooley is right. It will be even more chaotic when GOP decides prez FUBAR is a liability to them but I not confident that will be when but question if they ever will. How far will they go with their high risk machinations to get what they want? I’m not seeing any indication they know or care the whole ship is listing with just minutes from sinking. Monsters.

  28. 28.

    Inmourning

    Good morning. I am thinking of changing my nym. I chose it while in despair mode. Now I am pretty much enraged. Do I have to get permission from someone, or can I just pick a new one?

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @Inmourning

    You can just choose a new one, however the very first comment made under the new nym will automatically go to moderation. Once that one is released, you’re good to go.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: I am shocked, shocked I tell you. At least during the Obama years we could acknowledge their existence even if we were not allowed to actually quantify their threat.

  31. 31.

    cosima

    @tokyo expat: Aussies must have a much more optimistic view of Americans than Brits do. Our English friends are quite a bit more forthcoming in their views than our Scots friends — somehow Scots have managed to be quite a bit more thoughtful? cynical? resigned? about it. Don’t really know how to describe it. I suspect that many of them feel that having a large group of people, with whom they vehemently disagree about all things political, driving the car off of the cliff is familiar. And they are not the biggest fans of Americans. We have zero American friends in our social circle — the very few that we had back when there were many here have all moved away.

    The humour does help. And working in ways, small or large, to effect positive change. I’m glad you’ve found a good tribe.

  32. 32.

    Spanky

    @bemused: There’s no indication they’d be competent enough to cleanly remove him. They do everything half-assed.

    No, I’m betting some Sqeaky Fromme wanna-be gets close enough to fuck things up, then we’ll have to deal with all the blowback and overreach from that, on top of the current shitty mess.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Would be proud to support the scientists but ancient legs and knees preclude marching.

    Draw the line at wearing a pink bowtie, however. ;)

  40. 40.

    Waldo

    I’m sure Ryan and Yertle are hoping to ride this bronco through the midterms. Any attempt to force Trump out sooner than that will blow up the party and cost them their majorities. That their gamble might result in all of us being blown up is just a risk they’ll have to take. WASF.

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    @amk: Anything in particular that put Berkeley into his little pea brain last night, or is it just a minor eruption of the ever-brewing resentment?

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “We wanted to let you know that Uber shares your views on the immigration ban,” the new reply reads: “It’s unjust, wrong and against everything we stand for as a company.”

    Why, oh why, would Uber all of a sudden feel the need to release such a statement? Oh I know,

    #DeleteUberwas trending for much of the weekend after Uber lifted surge pricing around John F Kennedy airport during protests about Trump’s ban on migration from seven Islamic nations. Whether Uber was actively attempting to counter the strike is a matter of dispute – the company ended its “surge pricing” shortly after the end of the protest – but its actions, combined with a number of other aspects of perceived support for Trump including chief executive Travis Kalanick’s membership of a presidential advisory board, proved the final straw for many.

    As a result, Uber has confirmed it has had to install an automated process to handle account deletions. First noted by Mike Isaac of the New York Times, previously an Uber employee had to put through each account deletion manually.

    Uber has not confirmed exactly how many accounts have been deleted as a result of #DeleteUber, but in a statement to Mashable, they said:

    ” Anyone who requested that their account be deleted will have their account deleted, and reports to the contrary are false. Over the weekend we implemented a new automated process to handle an increased volume of requests and implemented a password check, a security best practice to avoid abuse and fraud.”

    The Guardian has contacted Uber for comment.

    Uber has attempted damage control since #DeleteUber gained traction, stepping up attempts to stem the flow of users abandoning the service in protest. .

    Hmmmm….. I think we have their attention now.

  43. 43.

    amk

    @Spanky: apparently some nazi was not given his 1st amendment hate speech right. so many conflicts around the world and other local issues to tackle, the scum is up bright and early doing nonsensical shite.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @amk:

    Good to see Fearless Leader up and at ’em so early in the day. Waking up with what seems to be anger will surely ensure his longevity.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @amk:

    They were protesting Milo Yiannopoulos’s planned appearance. It was canceled but they went ahead anyway. Some guys in black (I’d bet alt-right) got physical and set fires.

  51. 51.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’m impressed by Reuters decision to cover the Trump administration in the same way they cover authoritarian regimes elsewhere. Here’s a sample of some of their advice to reporters:

    Do’s:

    –Cover what matters in people’s lives and provide them the facts they need to make better decisions.

    –Become ever-more resourceful: If one door to information closes, open another one.

    –Give up on hand-outs and worry less about official access. They were never all that valuable anyway. Our coverage of Iran has been outstanding, and we have virtually no official access. What we have are sources.

    –Get out into the country and learn more about how people live, what they think, what helps and hurts them, and how the government and its actions appear to them, not to us.

  52. 52.

    bemused

    @Spanky:

    Always incompetent with no regard to consequences even to themselves. They are addicted gamblers betting it all, our whole country at stake, to win the mega lottery. They only want government to function enough for them to grab all the goodies but not to be concerned about drowning our national security in the bathtub along with other agencies keeping our food supply, etc, safe is pig stupid and twisted. I know they don’t care about anyone outside their own tribes but are they so delusional that they think they and their families will be untouched and just float blissfully above the certain chaos? I doubt they are capable of focusing on anything beyond the big “win”.

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    @Proudgradofcatladyacademy: I applaud your conviction and your willingness to stand up and speak your mind. But don’t put yourself in danger.

    It’s still early, and too many Trump voters aren’t really paying attention yet.

    My “Anyone But Clinton” friend is still quite happy with the election result. He hasn’t let the bad stuff sink in yet.

    Maybe keep track of the days and remind them, “You know, it’s only been 13 days. Look at all the chaos he and his team have caused, and their proud of it – the botched Yemen raid, Russia’s stepped-up war in Ukraine, the contradictory instructions about whether Permanent US Residents can return to their homes and families or not, the purges of senior civil servants at the State Department, the stifling of oversight by Congress and the Public, and on and on…. They don’t have the competence to run the White House without public infighting and refuse to even have the National Security Adviser, Secretary of Energy (who controls the nuclear weapons stockpile) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as members of the Principals Committee of the National Security Council and instead put a professional politician (Priebus) and a guy who ran a far right-wing web site (Bannon) on it. I would be very, very concerned and upset if I thought that Trump would surround himself with “the best people” and run things competently, and instead saw what he and his team was doing to America. Either they really are competent and “the best people” and they’re breaking things on purpose – and maybe that’s why there are so many ties between him and his team to Putin – or they’re incompetent liars. There really is no other choice. And it’s only been 13 days…”

    I know it’s kinda hard to fit all that on a bumper sticker or in an “elevator talk”.

    IOW, try to spin their innate “love of country” and “MAGA” and all the rest to make them see what he’s doing and how he’s breaking stuff that their parents and grandparents built. Will it work? Not instantly. If changing people’s minds about politics was easy then there wouldn’t be things like million-dollar political hacks and wars. ;-)

    Just my $0.02.

    Hang in there!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    BellyCat

    LOL! A very smart and funny friend has been with NOAA for years and I like to believe (but don’t want to know) that they are behind this hilarious Groundhog Day tweet.

    Loving Reuters new position, too.

    Bright starts to the day!

  57. 57.

    Rob

    Good morning all. Can anyone point me to information about protests planned for this weekend in the Washington, DC area? Thanks in advance from a lurker.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I wonder what the over/under on Rex Tillerson’s stay at the State Department is:

    Every new US secretary of state comes to the office at Foggy Bottom to find a full in-tray waiting, but Rex Tillerson will find his overflowing on Thursday with looming new crises created in the first two weeks of his own administration.

    In the time it has taken for the former ExxonMobil executive to get his senate confirmation, Donald Trump has alienated allies in the Arab and Islamic world with his refugee ban, setting off a wave of dissent from more than a thousand US diplomats, whom the White House then angered further by inviting them to leave their jobs. The president has provoked a diplomatic storm with Mexico, apparently threatening to send US troops over the border, that led that country’s president to cancel a planned visit. The new US ambassador to the UN has drawn derision for threatening she would be “taking names” of countries that did not support US proposals. The administration green-lighted a special forces raid in Yemen that went horribly wrong. On Wednesday alone, the national security advisor set nerves on edge in the Gulf by sabre-rattling at Iran and Trump gratuitously insulted the leader of one of Washington’s staunchest allies, Australia. Apart from that, it has been plain sailing.

    ……

    Tillerson will start the day with a speech to the assembled staff, who will be looking for reassurance after nearly a week of trying to handle the fallout from Friday’s shock refugee ban. The diplomats and officials who used the department’s dissent channel, established during the Vietnam war to allow alternative views to be aired, were told by the Trump spokesman Sean Spicer to “get with the program” or get out. The threat ignored the fact that free speech through the dissent channel is strictly protected by the department’s foreign affairs manual.

    “The first thing he has to do is to tell the staff he will protect them,” said a former senior official. “Otherwise he is not going to have the support of the building.”

    And that is just the tip of the iceberg awaiting the First Mate 3rd Degree of the USS Trumpsterfire.

  70. 70.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @amk: Journalism 101 indeed, but I had a prof in college who said that if all doctors practiced the way they were taught to in med school, they’d all be outstanding. Just doing what you’re supposed to turns out to be hard.

  72. 72.

    Spanky

    @Spanky: Pulling from

    that article

    http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2017/02/02/Pennsylvania-groundhog-predict-whether-winter-ends-Punxsutawney-Phil/stories/201702020174:

    Records going back to 1887 show Phil has now predicted more winter 102 times while forecasting an early spring just 18 times. Nine years are missing from the record,.

    Sources have long presented conflicting information on the groundhog’s accuracy.

    Phil’s official website claims he has “of course” issued a correct forecast 100 percent of the time. But NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information notes that Phil’s forecasts have shown “no predictive skill” in recent years.

    AccuWeather finds the rodent has an 80 percent accuracy rate. But the StormFax Almanac reports that Phil has been right a lowly 39 percent of the time.

    Technically, the definition of “winter” depends on the declination (celestial latitude) of the sun in relation to the observer, so the rodent is wrong every time he predicts an early spring.

    (/ pedantic spoilsport)

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Wow, that’s interesting. And good advice. For journalists, not court stenographers.

    The Fuck the Fucking New York Times should take it, too. After cleaning house. Severely.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Immanentize:

    I am going to the March for science with my nerdly son. It’s his birthday present.

    Us too! You know the t-shirts and other swag are going to be AWESOME!

  83. 83.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly: This (boycotting Uber and others who wilt in the face of Trump Tea Party-ism) is the way to go. We can’t boycott every single business that does business with the Trumpov Organization…at once…but we can get started!

  84. 84.

    satby

    Well, I’m looking forward to the march for science and I plan on going to DC for this one. Though I hope there are “nerd sibling” marches all over the country just like for the Women’s March. It wasn’t just one big crowd that made them sit up and take notice, it was the range of places where marchers organized and showed up, so to make Congress realize this opposition will not blow over we need to do that again and again. With all the other calling and town halls too. They’re counting on protest fatigue.

  86. 86.

    Jeffro

    A quick note for everyone’s consideration: while we are doing pretty well with things like the marches, the Indivisible Guide and calling our MoCs, contributing to PP/ACLU/SPLC/etc, and signing up for Swing Left, I want to put out there that we ought to also coordinate and take out Mitch McConnell. Have weekly protests at his KY and DC offices, boycott companies that donate to him or the Rs’ Senate campaign committee, try our very best to win back the Senate in 2018 and defeat him in 2020.

    Because, seriously fuck this guy: “Democrats, ditch the apocalyptic rhetoric on Judge Gorsuch”.

    Of course, as history teaches, we already know that the far left will throw hyperbolic attacks at this nominee regardless of his credentials. It actually started before he was even nominated. While it might be difficult for Democratic senators to resist this siren song, for the sake of our country they must. This is not the time for further division. This is not the time for political revenge. This is the time for bringing our country together after a difficult election. As Biden recently implored his fellow party members, they should “give the nominee a hearing and a vote.”

    Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court does not belong to one president or one political party. It belongs to the American people.

    FU, Turtle.

    It’s such an incredibly hypocritical dick move, that even EJ Dionne is pi$$ed, and NOTHING gets EJ pi$$ed:

    Let this nomination also be the end of any talk of Trump as a pro-worker “populist.” Gorsuch is neither. Trump could have made things harder for Democrats and progressives by nominating a genuine moderate. Gorsuch may be nice and smart, but “moderate” he isn’t.

    At least I understand Republican and conservative hypocrisy on this subject: They are focused on power and who will wield it. I find it harder to understand well-meaning people who were appalled by the hyper-politicization involved in the Garland blockade but now claim that an effort to stop Gorsuch’s confirmation will only make matters worse.

    Worse? Really?

    If someone slugs you, should you be condemned if you defend yourself by swinging back? If a bully makes someone’s life miserable, will taking him on and calling his bluff only make matters worse?

    Perhaps you think the above is hyperbolic, and I accept that my line of thinking won’t appeal to pacifists. But if you are not a pacifist, ask yourself how this procedural extremism will be halted if one side is rewarded for violating all the conventions and rules of fair play and the other side just meekly goes along.

    The Rubicon was crossed with Garland. Conservatives complain about the treatment of Robert Bork when he was nominated to the court in 1987, and they turned the word “Borked” into a battle cry. But Bork got a hearing and a vote on the Senate floor, which he lost. To be “Merricked” is to be denied even a chance to make your case.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    “It was at the end of a long day & he was tired & fatigue was setting in.”
    CNN on White House’s response to Trump’s hanging up on Aussie PM.

    Trump’s supposedly such a great negotiator. Great negotiators don’t lose their shit. He’s weak. He’s weak because he’s in way over his head and smarter and more experienced people will manipulate and take advantage of him because they’ll all know it.

    His lack of discipline will get people killed. The only question is how many.

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    And I just want to add (re: taking out McConnell)…not only would it be a huge strategic blow to the GOP and its hypocritical embrace of Trump/Tea Party-ism…it would feel. So. GOOD.

  89. 89.

    msdc

    In a world lit only by fire, making it to the halfway point between the shortest day of the year and the Spring equinox was something worth celebrating…

    Don’t worry, we’ll be back there soon enough.

  90. 90.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Ken: Tell them about the voter oppression tactics which were used against minority communities (in N.C., for example) and exit poll discrepancies. In my mind, it’s questionable that Trump won fair and square given Russia’s interference.

  91. 91.

    MomSense

    One of the organizers of the science march posted a photo of a hand knit pink brains hat for pu_syhat knitters. Pretty funny. Definitely plan to march for science.

    Wow, Dolt45 sure was having a day yesterday. He was acting like a spoiled child who needs a sleep schedule and some structure. Can’t believe he went off on Australia and threatened military action in Mexico to get “bad hombres”.

    I’m not sure if his fuck up in Yemen was discussed much or not but when I read that 30 were killed including 10 women and children I couldn’t help but remember that he did promise during the campaign to kill the family members of terrorists. I’m not saying that is what happened but it should be investigated to make sure that this Tangerine Tin Pot isn’t committing us to a path of war crimes and blowback.

  95. 95.

    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    @OzarkHillbilly: You know the thing about this that makes me shudder the most? Not that I think people are wrong to delete Uber, it’s that Lyft is a Thiel investment.

  98. 98.

    Morzer

    @cosima:

    The GOP’s dirty little secret on immigration is that their paymasters want more of it – cheap, easily abused labor, basically – while their base hates it, even though they don’t want to do the work that immigrants do.

  99. 99.

    Lapassionara

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy, I have been struggling with this myself. I lean toward asking them questions, and have been practicing some in advance, like: does it concern you that Trump’s chief advisor is a Leninist? That he wants to destroy everything? Do you think our country should keep its promises to other countries, through our treaties like NATO? Do you want to strengthen Medicare and Social Security, as Trump promised, or do you agree with Paul Ryan that these programs should be phased out? I could go on, but these are some examples. If they are enthusiastic about Bannon, destruction of NATO, etc., then I have no idea what to say next, but I would simply stop speaking to them, except as necessary.

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:

    His lack of discipline has already gotten people killed in Yemen

    I hear Trey Gowdy is on. the. case. and has 14 different committees looking into it already.
    NOT

    “Clinton Rules”…

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Proudgradofcatladyacademy: Tell them that they are lying when they say the country suffered under President Obama. Absolutely not true. Look at how well this country did under President Obama in terms of economic growth, healthcare expansion, lower unemployment rate, etc. Don’t let them get away with lying to your face without pushing back.

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @cosima: it used to be a lot of embassy kids, some kids whose parents were in textiles and locals, but after last July all the embassies pulled out. But there is still a good mix.

  103. 103.

    cosima

    @Morzer: The base has no idea how much easier their lives are due to immigrants. The small amount who do — through directly employing them to mow their lawns, clean their houses, etc — are still all in on this. Add in trade war, and bare shelves at the local Walmart, and they will lose & lose, but continue to dig themselves in.

    That sort of shite is why I hated every single second of living in Texas.

    However, I see it now as a fight to the death between Koch Bros (and their peers) and Putin/Vulgarian/Tillerson. Koch Bros paid for every one of those House GOP cretins, and they surely must be drawing up their marching orders for impeachment. One presumes that Pence was long since bought & paid for by the Koch Bros, so impeachment suits them down to the ground. I hope they do it to cut Putin & Bannon off at the knees. It won’t stop much of the shite that is going to go down in the US, but it could halt a LOT of the collateral damage throughout the rest of the world.

  104. 104.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jeffro: Just goes to show that Republicans didn’t care about the four Americans who lost their lives in Benghazi. Their fake outrage was strictly for political gain. Disgusting.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    He bragged about the size of his penis in front of 40 million television viewers. This has nothing to do with education or income levels of voters. NOT hiring the person who brags about penis size in a job interview doesn’t require having a graduate degree or a million dollar salary. It should have been obvious to anyone he would be a bad hire. He has no redeeming qualities- he’s dishonest, has a nasty personality, doesn’t prepare or even read anything AND he’s a bad manager.

  106. 106.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Lapassionara: Leninist, most people won’t understand. I’ve taken to calling Bannon the Joker.

    Some men just want to watch the world burn.

  107. 107.

    cosima

    @Ken: Sounds vastly preferable to our IS experience in an oil-industry-driven city — a much more diverse crowd. It was always amazing to me that kids who were living outside of the US, and traveling with their parents in new & diverse countries, could remain so myopic. Of course I realised that it was to do with their parents’ views, but surely at least some of them would have been able to open their eyes. Alas, no. The snobbery was off the charts, it was basically a huge group comprised entirely of privileged children — from very privileged to extremely privileged — most of them determined to create a privilege hierarchy. The children were a reflection of the parents, and it was all awful.

    However, the teachers were mostly fabulous, and the IB programme was a truly exceptional learning experience if the children were open to capitalising on that. A lot of the staff would say to us ‘Can’t wait until Little Cosima starts!’ (she was born here), and much as we liked most of the staff, we were determined that she would attend local schools, which is what we’ve done.

  108. 108.

    Fester Addams

    @MomSense:

    …he did promise during the campaign to kill the family members of terrorists.

    I expect you’re right about blow-back. No doubt recruiting videos for Al Qaeda, ISIL, etc. are already being made that juxtapose Big Cheeto saying just that with news reports about the Yemen action. Maybe that’s what acting president Bannon wants.

  109. 109.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    @cosima: I think we can say Both. Because they’re pissed–they’re conservatives who don’t care for rapid, unbalanced change; they see themselves as the American aristocracy who are meant to provide moral leadership and Trump as a short-fingered vulgarian; their father was a hard-core leading Bircher and anything from Russia must be very bad; they’re businessmen who can see the value of immigration to secure specific talents; and there’s no reason not to grab what you can while it’s available to grab, whatever else may be happening.

  112. 112.

    PaulW

    @Ken:

    The more other nations find out how fucked up the Electoral College is, the more their governments will push back against Trump because they’ll realize Trump does NOT have the will of his own people backing him.

  113. 113.

    Quinerly

    @Fester Addams:
    Haven’t read through all the comments so someone might have posted..Bannon definitely wants WWIII. Big Time Mag piece up. Looks like he got the cover. Wonder how Trump feels about that?

  114. 114.

    MomSense

    @Fester Addams:

    It was incredibly reckless and dangerous for candidate cheeto to say those things because he has no credibility to try and reassure the world that the family members were not intentionally harmed. I’m not saying they were not intentionally harmed because I cannot put it past him and the extremist cabal running our foreign policy now. During the campaign he called for a Muslim ban. Now he is saying that it isn’t a Muslim ban except Rudy spilled the beans that cheeto asked for his advice on how to do a Muslim ban legally (which of course cannot be done legally). There will be blowback.

  115. 115.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    @Proudgradofcatladyacademy: I tell people I voted for Hillary because I knew that despite her problems, I felt confident that she was competent, and I knew Trump wasn’t, and because since I was pretty sure the House would stay Republican I knew they’d watch her like a hawk. Then I add I couldn’t vote for Trump because of his record ripping off small businessmen and his financial problems–most are very surprised to hear about those, and many are appalled about his business record when they finally confront it. I leave my multitude of other reasons for and against out of it, because their view of the racial and gender issues isn’t going to ever be congruent with mine and arguing about it with them right now won’t work, however much I wish it would.
    When it gets to “the country suffered under Obama”, I ask for specifics. I mention the death of Bin Laden (always a cheering note), and then I mention that Obama reminded me of my father, who didn’t need to strut and raise his voice to get people to take him seriously, and add that a really strong man doesn’t have to make a lot of noise, because people know to take him seriously without any of that.
    Then I throw the New York Times to the wolves, because they don’t like the Times anyway (this is Tennessee, and the only reason to read the Times here is if you want to imbibe in the cultural output) and talk about how they’ve had a knife out for the Clintons since 1993.

  116. 116.

    JordanRules

    @Kay:

    It should have been obvious to anyone he would be a bad hire. He has no redeeming qualities- he’s dishonest, has a nasty personality, doesn’t prepare or even read anything AND he’s a bad manager.

    Yes! It’s ridiculous that people thought the tall business guy in a suit would be great at one of the hardest jobs just because.

  117. 117.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay:

    It should have been obvious to anyone he would be a bad hire.

    Smile. Whenever I see a reference to “bad hire” I know it’s you. And, you’re right of course.

  118. 118.

    Miss Bianca

    @efgoldman:

    I just remembered that I have a pink bow tie, cummerbund, and shoulder boards with big fringed epaulets.
    Long story, don’t ask.

    Oh, come on! You’re going to tease us like that and then say, “don’t ask”?

  122. 122.

    J R in WV

    @Miss Bianca:

    @efgoldman:

    I just remembered that I have a pink bow tie, cummerbund, and shoulder boards with big fringed epaulets.
    Long story, don’t ask.

    Oh, come on! You’re going to tease us like that and then say, “don’t ask”?

    It must be from the time he was inducted into the International Order of Odd Fellows – or perhaps some other lodge. But definitely an initiation ceremony, and an old fashioned one, for sure!

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