Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

People are complicated. Love is not.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Saturday Morning Open Thread: #NotAllPatsPlayers

Saturday Morning Open Thread: #NotAllPatsPlayers

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(Nick Anderson via GoComics.com)
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From NYMag, “‘I Don’t Feel Welcome in That House’: At Least 6 Patriots Plan to Skip Visit With Trump“:

Just five days out from the Super Bowl, the number of New England Patriots who have declared their intention to skip the team’s celebratory visit to the White House has jumped to six. So much for the Patriots being Trump’s team.

The first two players to say they’d sit out the White House reception did so shortly after the win. And both tight end Martellus Bennett and safety Devin McCourty made it clear that Trump was the reason why. Asked if he was concerned about the response from Trump-supporting Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Bennett said he wasn’t “worried at all.”

The four players who have since joined Bennett and McCourty have given a range of reasons…

Then there’s Chris Long, the only white Patriots player to publicly announce his plans to skip the White House. The defensive end, who publicly spoke out in favor of 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his national-anthem protest earlier this year, wrote on Twitter that he’s “skipping” the visit…

At this rate, Tom Brady might have to go see his pal all alone.

I’d expect President-Asterisk Smallgloves to throw a tantrum and cancel the whole event, but I don’t think he can bear to skip a chance to be on the teevee hugging even a C-list celebrity Tom Brady. Maybe he’ll ask Tom to bring Mrs. Brady (who, since she seems to be the smarter one in that relationship, would no doubt find herself ‘busy with other commitments’).
***********

Apart from jeering the opposition, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Good for them. I hope enough don’t show up that Trump publicly trashes Brady’s teammates in front of him.

  2. 2.

    Immanentize

    Hello Baud. My hope is that the group that goes is all white. That probably won’t happen but how sweet it would be.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Heh:

    WASHINGTON—In an effort to respond to the vast and ever-changing dangers faced by the nation’s commander-in-chief, Secret Service administrators announced Wednesday the creation of an Emotional Protection Division to safeguard President Donald Trump’s psyche.

    The new unit’s three dozen agents, who have undergone rigorous training to prepare for their challenging role, will be charged with defending the 45th president’s psychological well-being around the clock, investigating foreign and domestic threats to his self-esteem and quickly intercepting any spoken or written criticisms before they can harm his pride.

    “After conducting a full review of the operational procedures available to us, it became clear that adding this new division was the only way to meet President Trump’s emotional security needs,” said Secret Service director Joseph Clancy, noting that the president’s detail is specially trained in assessing risks and minimizing any opportunity for him to feel insecure or belittled. “His psyche could be put in grave danger from unfavorable poll numbers or suddenly come under attack from a White House press corps heavily armed with uncomfortable questions.”

    “All of our agents stand ready to lay down their lives to ensure nothing can hurt President Trump’s feelings,” he added.
    …….
    “It’s incredibly demanding work because his ego is such a big target,” said Roger Mercer, 36, an agent in the Emotional Protection Division. “There are new threats emerging every hour, and if even one of them gets through to him—really gets through to him—it’s all over.”

  4. 4.

    ThresherK

    The cartoon could only be funnier if the Pats won the SB over…

    The Bears! (puts on sunglasses.)

    I was not sure how many winning pros skipped visiting GWB in the WH and didn’t know how I felt then. But the rules of decorum are basically shot to hell in DC, even on a most surfacing veneer level.

    Will Barack Obama be the last Prez to host a complete Super Bowl/World Series/NBA champ/Stanley Cup winning team?

  8. 8.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Things are going so bad I fully expect them to start invoking color coded terror alerts.

  9. 9.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from Cerrillos, NM! Another great day in Santa Fe with friends…a bit of shopping and eating….and sitting in the sun in the Plaza with Poco, the traveling dog. It was close to 70 degrees here yesterday. Today, I hang out with a vendor friend at her booth at the Winter Flea Market at the Rail Yard and drink cheap margaritas at Del Charro. Tomorrow, it’s on to Abiquiu for a couple of nights. A Book of Faces friend who doesn’t know me as well as I thought saw the posts on my page and thought I was on tour with the band “Poco.” He will be teased relentlessly. Thanks for all the well wishes yesterday. Have a great day!

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @ThresherK: Brady skipped the visit to the Obama White House. Honestly the athletes I worry about most with the Trump White House are female championship teams. At best, the nasty old lecher in the Oval Office will leer at them and/or stare at their boobs the whole time; at worst, he’ll try to cop a feel.

  16. 16.

    bystander

    @Cornerstone from another thread, apropos Betty Cracker’s use of MOON as an allusion to The Stand:

    Stephen King’s The Stand at this point.it’s all too fucking real.

    I’ve watched most of the miniseries twice since election night. They keep rerunning it on some channel, so somebody’s watching. Randall Flagg, indeed.

  19. 19.

    JMG

    In 1984, when White House visiting was relatively new, the Celtics went to see Reagan the day after their Boston title parade. Larry Bird didn’t show. This then-young sports reporter got a call from the New Republic, inquiring if this was a political decision on Bird’s part. I told the truth (was very tempted not to so as to see what came next) that Larry was probably just too hung over to get out of bed. Also he didn’t care about politics.
    Athletes who skipped Obama’s ceremonies were right-wing militia/survivalist types, like former Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. It was seen as more an individual quirk than a political stand. So this is different in both degree and kind.

  23. 23.

    danielx

    Pointing and mocking seems like a decent start to the day. I’d say confusion to our enemies, but at this point they couldn’t be more confuzzled if they were blindfolded and turned around three times.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    Meanwhile, Utah’s unique “resistance” movement is still sorting things out. Among the dedicated Facebook groups that helped get protesters to the town hall, the chatter Friday morning was mostly celebratory—but not entirely. According to one member, there has been extensive hand-wringing “about how we weren’t polite enough [to Chaffetz] and whether that’s good or bad.”
    “Gotta love Utah!” the member cracked

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They have signs that say “disagree”. That’s polite enough.

    “We” (well, people in general) bitch about Facebook a lot but it’s been pretty central to this “resistance”. I’m in touch with a city council member in NW Ohio who has 1000 people signed up for her FB resistance page. That would be a lot of people to sign up for anything where she lives. It’s a “swing” county too- 50/50 R/D.

  32. 32.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    I was hoping Chris Long wouldn’t go – he’s woke. His organization Waterboys, which I regularly donate to, is wonderful, and proves that the boy was brought up right. By a Masshole, btw. We do produce our fair share of good citizens, but I could really do without Bob Kraft and Ernie Boch Jr., our local billionaire Trumpies. I can’t even guess which other white player wouldn’t go – if there is one, it’s an offensive lineman no one will have heard of unless you’re a Pats fan.

  33. 33.

    danielx

    One would think that any domain name including “trump” would be locked up in some fashion, given lord shortfingers’ talent for self-promotion – the only talent he has, from what I can make out.

    One would be wrong, as a quick visit to http://www.whytrumpisgreat.com will show. It’s worth the trip.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Kay: Facebook and other social media was also responsible for spreading anti-Hillary lies, but so was the mainstream media.

    It is what it is.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Heh:

    Chaffetz has said he will investigate Trump if he feels compelled to do so, but that he won’t go on a “fishing expedition” in search of wrongdoing. Ancell dismissed this reasoning as a weak excuse. “This fish has now jumped in the boat and is biting his leg.”

  38. 38.

    ThresherK

    I’m on the border of the New England/New York fan wars.

    @Betty Cracker: I had forgotten that about Brady. He’s not gonna become wiser as he gets older, is he?

    @JMG: I also forgot that. But I would like to remember Tim Thomas as a “misunderstood lone wolf” like all that lot which get the benefit of being rural whites.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Right. Double edged. I heard the “Obama banned the pledge of allegiance” lie from several normal people. I went to dinner with people who told me that earnestly. It’s awkward because I was thinking “Jesus- how dumb are these two?”

    That’s the thing about debunking. In person there’s an unspoken judgment about gullibility which makes people defensive. That’s when they throw up the wall. I wouldn’t bother worrying about it but these two are probably persuadable.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I heard the “Obama banned the pledge of allegiance” lie from several normal people.

    No, Kay, you didn’t.

  44. 44.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    You know, I’m starting to feel a little bad for Ivanka. She and her clothing line have become an item of political contention and she didn’t ask for that. She’s probably not entirely blameless, but her commercial ventures predate the pumpkin headed doom goblin’s political ambitions. Though certainly she benefited from the family name. It makes me feel awkward when people mock her for being marked down at TJMaxx. Whatever the benefits of being the president’s daughter, there are big drawbacks as well, and she didn’t have a choice in that.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I know everyone is sick of this, but I blame media too. Jake Tapper trumped up Benghazi. There is no other word for what he did. He is almost solely responsible for that insanity. He claimed a “scoop” with that boilerplate diplomat statement from Rice and that started the witch hunt. They had NOTHING on Benghazi. Nothing. They THOUGHT they might have political spin by the Obama Administration but that was all they EVER had. Political spin isn’t a crime. It isn’t even worth investigating. This is the accusation on Benghazi: “the Obama White House spun it”. That was the sum total of the “crime”. Big fucking deal. All White House’s spin.

    Benghazi was bullshit. I read everything I could find on it and there was NOTHING there. Thank Jake Tapper’s careerism for that fiasco. He invented a story.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @danielx:

    That mom has a ridiculously loud purr. And yes, she looks exceedingly smug. With good reason — her stripey kittens are very cute.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    she didn’t have a choice in that.

    She could have left the useless POS pwssygrabber a long time ago. She didn’t. In fact she monetized her relationship with him. She had all the choices and made them. I have not one iota of sympathy for the worthless moneygrubbing….

    I’m going to stop right there.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    I completely disagree. I would agree if Ivanka and her husband weren’t at WH meetings and planting stories in the media about how they influence Trump. Decisions have consequences. She can’t have both. She can’t benefit from the connection and not take the downside risk.

    Family members do get left alone when they don’t seek out publicly. How much have you read about Michelle Obama’s mother? She lived in the White House. I haven’t heard a peep about Tiffany Trump.

    Ivanka wanted to benefit from the relationship and not take the downside. That isn’t how this works.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: I don’t have any sympathy for her whatsoever. She’s not an innocent bystander; she actively worked to put her vile, unqualified father in the White House and evidently approves of her unelected husband being put in charge of diplomatic portfolios despite having zero experience. Even if her ventures in crap-fashion go belly up, she’ll be fine financially since she’s a beneficiary of the Trump organization, which is currently exploiting massive conflicts of interest to loot the U.S. Treasury. I’ll reserve my sympathies for the millions of people who will be hurt by her father’s policies.

  53. 53.

    XTPD

    @Kay: Just this Thursday Chris Cuomo called “fake news” a career equivalent of the n-word, as if journalism was a hereditary caste.

    I liked CNN a lot better when Khadafi was featured as a regular correspondent.

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That’s been the one downside for joining resistance groups for me: I have to go on fucking Facebook, which I utterly despise. :)

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    I recently listened to Tommy Vietor interview Jake Sullivan and they discussed Benghazi at length. The conspiracy never made any sense especially the whole lied about a video thing. As Sullivan noted, they had first hand accounts of a protest about the video. The non troversies about Benghazi and emails were designed to harm someone who was incredibly popular before the election.

  56. 56.

    geg6

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Ummm, yes she did choose this. She chose to support his decision to run. She campaigned for him. She tried to use her “branding” as a “working woman” as a policy point in his favor. She pulled up stakes and moved to D.C. in order to cash in/be de facto First Lady. She sat in on diplomatic and policy meetings. And she shilled her product line throughout it all. Fuck her. Fuck her kapo husband. Fuck her shitty merchandise. Fuck her sideways with a rusty chainsaw. I hope she ends up so broke and untouchable by polite society that she’s forced to live on the streets with all her shittty polyester merchandise in a shopping cart with one bad wheel. I’d spit on her right now if she was anywhere nearby. Just fuck her. No sympathy. At. All.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    @MomSense: Also, didn’t the Benghazi nothingburger lead to the discovery that Clinton was using a private email server? So that pig-faced shithead Chaffetz convened a partisan witch hunt, and it paid off handsomely, with a huge assist from Tapper and friends and the FBI. That’s a big part of the reason we now have an unhinged demagogue in the White House. They should all rot in hell.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    Ivanka better get used to it. She’s hired a policy adviser from Goldman Sachs on “women in the workplace” so she’ll be rolling out her child care policy soon.

    No one is stopping her from minding her own business. She could start today. Her contribution on “women in the workplace” is really invaluable? Why? How does she have some special insight?

  61. 61.

    germy

    Here’s a real hero:

    http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/tishaura-jones-slams-post-editorial-board-while-declining-interview/article_bf690c28-eee9-11e6-a351-1f4dd2a2e28d.html

    Tishaura Jones isn’t taking any crap from her local newspaper, and told them exactly why.

    We do not need to invent new programs for much of what I plan to change. There are programs all over the country we can learn from and that we can adopt. I know this because I’ve traveled to see them. I know that galls your writer who wrote that I am “high-flying” and should be grounded. I suspect she meant that I was “uppity” or had a “bad attitude,” but didn’t have the honesty (or courage) to be that overt.

    I plan to work hard as your mayor, but I do not plan to waste time ignoring things that are working well elsewhere. We have too much at stake in this community to do any differently, and we have too much to do.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I have stopped blaming the media. They thrive on chaos and outrage. The GOP played that fact to their advantage by making that need work for them. How many investigations did they do on Benghazi? 7? 8? And the media dutifully reported on all the hearings and every salacious leak and at the end of each investigation duly reported that nothing was found. And nobody noticed because THERE’S SO MUCH SMOKE and…..LOOK! SHINEY THING!

    Time for the DEMs to do the same. The lions want red meat for dinner, throw it to them.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Chaffetz has said he will investigate Trump if he feels compelled to do so, but that he won’t go on a “fishing expedition” in search of wrongdoing.

    Cuz he tired from the Emails! Emails! Emails! nontroversy he ginned up on his committee’s 22nd pass through the Benghazi responses. As Betty Cracker pointed out.

    But there’s your tell. He said it cuz he knows he did just that, previously.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    The one and only question was whether the White House mischaracterized it immediately afterward. I don’t think they did- I think Rice spouted boilerplate blah blah which they all parsed into the most malicious meaning possible- but even if they did that’s a one day political story.

    There was nothing there. Tapper wanted to pretend he caught Rice in a lie because that would have justified further inquiry. He didn’t catch anyone in a lie. He hoped that by trumping something up he WOULD catch someone in a lie. It’s the definition of a fishing expedition. It was “1. they might be lying about something 2. which means there might be something there”. They never got past Part Once of that. They never found the lie, let alone the crime.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Good to see you back. Were you gone for a while?

    FWIW, I don’t feel badly for Ivanka or for Melania. There are members of the Trump family we have never heard of. They could have emulated that branch. They did not. They are benefiting.

  68. 68.

    danielx

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The daughter unit has been lobbying for two kittens for a while now. She saw the video and was all “dad, i want two kittens that look like them!”

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: I’m glad to see you slamming Jake Tapper. He gets held up as a brave truth teller on occasion, and he need never live down his part in Benghazi! He’s an opportunist and bottom feeder, when it serves his purposes.

    Caught a few minutes of the CBS Evening News last night. Scott Pelley is shrill.

    Have watched so little broadcast news that hearing “President Trump” was jarring.

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    I think they jumped on it fast because Rmoney had jumped on it to attack Obama. They were trying to create some drama and the Republicans decided to cynically exploit it. Then it gained a life of its own.

  73. 73.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Elizabelle:

    Cuz he tired from the Emails! Emails! Emails! nontroversy he ginned up on his committee’s 22nd pass through the Benghazi responses.

    He’ll never tire of the Emails. Maybe when he’s old and gray he’ll finally get to the truth about the Emails, but he will tirelessly investigate and investigate.

  74. 74.

    Waspuppet

    @Betty Cracker: That’s the REAL reason I doubt Tom Brady will bring Gisele.

    How many years was it between the Packers’ Mark Chmura loudly declaring he couldn’t visit the White House with that filthy sinner Bill Clinton in it, and Chmura getting caught in a hot tub with a 14-year-old? Great moments in social conservatism!

  75. 75.

    p.a.

    CNN: US intelligence sources have verified to CNN the accuracy of some of the contacts between tRumpists and Russia claimed in the 35 page former MI5 agent’s document.

    Drip…drip…drip…whoosh?
    Can’t happen fast enough. I know Dense or even Ryan will be as bad on policy, but our main aim as the minority party in both houses must be to destroy the brand for 2018 and beyond.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    @germy: I was hearing “President.” It made me sad.

    Also, I like the Tishaura Jones piece. We need more of her. Hope she wins her primary and is elected mayor. She speaks very directly. Also, endorsed by Jason Kander.

    And calls out some on the SLPost editorial board for parachuting in. From Texas.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    They imbued it with stern moral outrage which IMO is Jake Tapper’s specialty. He’s insufferable. The belief underneath it was “the WH is playing politics with a tragedy and we will punish them” which is not even news, it’s commentary. It’s an opinion because “playing politics” is a subjective call. Again, even if they were, that’s not even enough to investigate. Even if I buy the charge, so what? What’s to investigate? Whether or not they’re bad people who used the wrong word because they were trying to limit political damage? That’s a CRIME in DC? Since when?

  78. 78.

    ThresherK

    @germy: One style guide (AP?) is to use “President” in the first reference of a story and “Mr.” in subsequent ones.

    I’m not watching any Network Nitely Nooze to find out if that’s the case here.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    If they really cared about the WH “playing politics with a blunder” they would treat Trump’s Yemen raid like Benghazi. They haven’t. Why not? Where’s the moral outrage that was applied to Hillary Clinton?

    She hated them and I don’t blame her. They treated her unfairly from day one. Political media treatment of her bordered on contempt and I’d like to know where they get off with that, from which great moral heights they speak.

  80. 80.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: If she wins the primary she will be mayor. I think there are maybe 2 dozen Republicans in STL and 18 of them are in the closet.

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    So the infamous dossier is apparently gaining credibility. It was circulating among journalists for several months before the election and it was never discussed or released publicly. If the dossier had been about Clinton, does anyone here think the media would have sat on the information, especially the salacious bits?

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Yeah. That’s the sickening part. Cool kids knew, but were screaming about Emails! Emails!

    Their publishers/company presidents are afraid of Trump, or support him, or both. Suspect they sold the country out for tax cuts.

    Also demeaned their own profession. Not journalism’s finest hour. A case study of hysteria and misdirection.

    They’re trying to blame it on “fake news” (look! teenagers in Macedonia!) but it was big American media that fanned the flames. And started the fire, in the case of execrable Mr. Tapper.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    @Kay: @Kay:

    Oh I’m totally in agreement with you. The only real story was that a Republican controlled Congress cut funding for embassy/diplomatic security after being briefed on increased security threats. There’s an aspect of Republicans trying to keep attention away from their gross negligence and our media were all too happy to assist.

  85. 85.

    GregB

    Listen people.

    Mike Flynn was simply sharing borscht recipes with the Russian embassy.

    Move along.

    Also the smart guy who’s uncle was an MIT scientist knows nothing about some call to Russia.

    OK?

  90. 90.

    ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy

    @ Betty Cracker I despise Facebook also. I created a throwaway account, once Zuckerberg’s privacy goons catch up with me, I will be okay seeing its back side. I only joined because that is where the resistance in my area posts meetings, protests, and makes plans for future actions. Because I hate Facebook and it’s inane idiocies, I haven’t told family/friends that I am on FB. It actually works out really well for me, I see the meetings and keep informed, and avoid all the other unpleasantness of FB.

    What I hate is the pressure to join FB! I work at home, but keep a running chat in our Slack program going with a colleague of mine. It’s sort of like hanging out at the water cooler only in my jimjams!(Okay joggers and converse sneakers but close enough!) This colleague heads to a 4-month training program and won’t be available for chat. She felt quite strongly I wasn’t on FB and is pressuring me to join her. I refuse and it’s really disturbing her. I get pressure every day now to join it, and it’s ruining my friendship. I am going to have to be very forceful in the next few days and just say I made a decision not to join, and you need to drop it. Luckily everyone views my work reputation of being a hardass with a heart of gold so being so blunt should not be so difficult.

    That all said, I took a vow of voluntary poverty when I resided at a Dorothy Day House, and part of my personal vow was to try not to buy anything new that I could get used. I picked up a great coffee pot and a vacuum off a FB garage type sale.

    Good morning to everyone! Dad’s birthday today, He picked Applebee’s for the celebration because it’s his favorite restaurant. A good breakfast after my NIA class should offset the mediocre dinner later. He’s eighty and food tastes are subjective, and tonight he is subjecting me to his taste!

  91. 91.

    MomSense

    I’m on my 12th hat and will try to put them up on Etsy today and link here.

    A bunch of my knitting friends in Mass are attending a training to help immigrant and undocumented families. I was going to try to drive down but the snowstorm is now bigger than expected.

    There is some talk about these knitters coming up to Maine to do trainings here. It’s kind of heartening to see what is happening in this fiber community. We are talking middle aged white women who have been really activated for the first time in their lives. There’s also been a lot of talk about needing to support BLM.

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: Don’t really know. There are 5 major candidates and 4 of them are black, raising fears of splitting the black vote such that Krewson can slip thru with the white vote. Of them I know Antonio French and Jones the best, liking them equally. I’m not really hooked into STL politics anymore as it’s a far different world I live in now.

    About once a month or so I have to go up there just so I can see a black face again.

  95. 95.

    XTPD

    @Elizabelle: Or alternatively they (such as Politico’s Jack Shafer) correctly admit ” fake news ” is a total non factor, but then still accept zero responsibility for any of their chickenfucking, and that if they did anything wrong it was only because they couldn’t help falling prey to the machinations of Meth-Popping Fuckshit, Media SUPERGENIUS. Just like George Wallace.

    My personal impression is that out of the Village stenographers, Shafer is at least worse than Cillizza in unadulterated evil (though tied with Halperin) and is easily top five material for said pundits who deserve to be fired into the sun.

  99. 99.

    germy

    @rikyrah:

    I think you were in Texas during Ferguson. If so, you may have missed what happened here: We woke up. Black people woke up. Allies stood up. Young people spoke up. Our best minds listened and produced a pair of remarkable documents, the Forward Through Ferguson report and the For the Sake of All report, that are blueprints for the next four years of a mayor.

  102. 102.

    Debbie1

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Yes, let’s all feel bad for Ivanka and her Made in China knock-offs. After all, we should all remember who the real victim is here. The woman who told her father to ‘fight back’ when it came to light that he had made the p*ssy grabbing remarks, the woman who happily sits in on economic & foreign policy meetings while telling the media that the family business is separate from politics. It’s fascinating to me that no matter what happens some people are so eager to defend the indefensible when it comes disguised in Aryan features. The Twitler would be proud.

  103. 103.

    Elizabelle

    @germy:

    Ms. Jones pulls no punches.

    It’s the same way I have run the Treasurer’s Office. When I was elected, I found an office that did a lot of things inefficiently, and I looked for ideas for how to improve. Over the past four years, I modernized parking and launched a major effort to change lives practically with the Office of Financial Empowerment. You described that as “just doing my job” and wrote that the white guy you endorsed would have done the same thing. At least two of you have lived in Texas, so you will understand what I mean when I call that bullsh*t.

    I like her idea of including social workers on police teams.

    I’ll ask police officers and firefighters what would make their jobs easier. I’ll put social workers into the police department so that trained practitioners will be doing the jobs police officers aren’t trained to do.

  104. 104.

    germy

    @Elizabelle: All great ideas. And she gives credit to individual reporters on the paper, but calls out the passive-aggressive tone of the editorial board. I can just imagine how condescending they would have been if she’d agreed to an interview.

  105. 105.

    Debbie1

    @Kay: Well, for his troubles, Jake Tapper is stuck in CNN purgatory, desperately begging Kellyanne Conjob to assure him that CNN is not ‘fake news.” Poor Butterfly.

    And by the way, don’t EVER feel reluctant to remind anyone who will listen about the appalling job the so-called media did during the campaign season of Donald the Unready.

  106. 106.

    Corner Stone

    @Debbie1:

    Yes, let’s all feel bad for Ivanka and her Made in China knock-offs.

    I first read that as “her Made in China knockers”.. And I was like, “Wait…those are fake? And silicone packs are imported from China? I’m so confused.”

  108. 108.

    kindness

    As a Niner fan, I like Tom Brady. Yes, he’s a fool for supporting Trump as even the rich will suffer under the tyrant. But Tom’s a San Mateo kid who had Joe Montana as a childhood idol. So say we all out here (except I wasn’t a child in Joe’s era). I separate the player in this instance from his person. I like the player even though I’m not a Patriots fan. Don’t think much of his mind outside the arena. Let him go to the Circus with the tyrant ringleader. Even the rich will be forced to put on a show for the small handed cretin.

  112. 112.

    XTPD

    @Elizabelle: Since 2015, and he’s now one of about just two things that are consistently, actively bad about Politico. Scott over at LGM deemed Cillizza 2016’s biggest hack, but I’d argue that Shafer’s chickenfucking stenography during the campaign was worse, given that Shafer’s a) much smarter, so his shittiness was an active choice and therefore more actively evil; b) more thin-skinned [cf. his October tweets and his WATB rant about Obama’s criticism of the press]; and c) somehow even less capable of self-reflection (unlike Jack, even Chris eventually admitted Comey’s actions were indefensible, albeit that just happened last month).

    And he looks like an even douchier Aaron Sorkin, also, too.

  125. 125.

    bemused

    @danielx:

    Ahh, so sweet. The babies’ marking are gorgeous. Watching the video brings back childhood memories. Our family always had two female long haired calico cats not spayed. There were no small animal vets in the 50’s, not in rural america. The mom cats each had at least two litters each year and my mother would put them all in one big box and the two mom cats would alternately nurse all the kittens which were sometimes a month or more apart in age. We kids got to experience seeing the whole birth process, the nursing and playing with the kittens until we found homes for them.

  128. 128.

    mai naem mobile

    The GOP of all people should know that RW religious nuts can be wound up over the smallest dumbest crap. These are the people who think some stupid graphic on a Pepsi or Kelloggs container is a sign of the devil but somehow they don’t think Muslim wing nuts can’t be wound up over a Koran burning on a You Tube video. The same people who got wound up over a cartoonist doing a satirical cartoon about Mohammed got these people going but a YouTube video won’t elicit a similar reaction. Dumbasses. The media too.

  130. 130.

    Debbie1

    And, lest anyone feel tempted to throw Malaria on the pity pile, you should watch her on The View. A foreign-born person openly casting doubt on the American president who was born in Hawaii. They all deserve one another. May they all rot on FOX! (That’s the closest thing to Hell I can think of).

  136. 136.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @kindness:

    Since I’m a long time listener (never a caller) of the local sports talk radio here in Boston, in fairness to Brady, he started a relationship with Trump after his first SB win, when he was invited to be a judge at one of the beauty pageants. For years, on his call in segment on Monday mornings, he’d be asked about this and that, and occasionally Trump’s name would come up since he’d traveled in that social circle. His support is actually derived from being a friend. I also don’t think he’s that smart about the world around him, or smart in general since he’s had nothing but football to focus on all these years. His wife’s social circle is probably giving him a clue by four.

  137. 137.

    Aleta

    We now have a first lady whose job definition is “strike a modeling pose to define signature moments.”

  138. 138.

    Woodrowfan

    The entire trumpf family deserves everything bad that happens to them (except the little boy). They’re an entire family of crooks and grifters, of bigots and fools. In a universe with swift, fair justice, they’d all be living in cardboards boxes in a alley behind a deli somewhere in NYC.

  141. 141.

    JMG

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: Think of the bubble Brady has lived in all his life. He’s always been a handsome football hero. Doesn’t give him any exposure to much of reality. And to be fair, he doesn’t really want any. He’s not dumb by any means, but he’s not very worldly in that sense.

  143. 143.

    Corner Stone

    @Woodrowfan:

    The entire trumpf family deserves everything bad that happens to them (except the little boy).

    That poor bastard. There is no way he’s coming out of this without deep trauma.

  144. 144.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mai naem mobile:

    Also remember, these are the same people who go spastic over Piss Christ, go apeshit over prohibitions on using public offices and resources to proselytize, so yeah, I see it.

    The multitudes of Jerusalem were smart to pick Barabbas over a minor cult leader whose bullshit they’d seen through. It is a shame that the cult remnants invented a resurrection story which stuck – humanity paid a horrendous price.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    . I know that galls your writer who wrote that I am “high-flying” and should be grounded. I suspect she meant that I was “uppity” or had a “bad attitude,” but didn’t have the honesty (or courage) to be that overt.

    If I lived in that city, Jones would have my vote in a heartbeat.

    Hell, can I cast a Trump certified fake news illegal ballot for her?

  148. 148.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Woodrowfan:

    Nah – in a truly universe, Deadbeat Donnie would be running a pawnshop in Queens and weigh about 75 pounds more than he does now. He’d be in felony nonsupport status on the children by his first wife, Stella (a hardworking receivables clerk at a warehouse in Brooklyn) and his fuckbuddy Patty (he has two kids by her – she’s on disability). When he has extra money, he buys blowjobs from crack whores, which he finds by cruising his ’83 Sedan Deville around seedier neighborhoods.

  149. 149.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Baud:

    The roguePOTUSstaff twitter account tweeted out yesterday that the babyman was overheard complaining that they weren’t all coming, and that he’d lobby the owner to get rid of the ones who didn’t. If Edelman and Brady didn’t go, that would be an epic meltdown, but, it won’t happen. They’ll be there.

  150. 150.

    Corner Stone

    Rut Roh
    (Politico link)
    CIA freezes out top Flynn aide
    The agency denied a security clearance for a key aide to the National Security Adviser — ratcheting up tensions between Flynn and the intel community.

    “They believe this is a hit job from inside the CIA on Flynn and the people close to him,” said one source, who argued that some in the intelligence community feel threatened by Flynn and his allies. “Townley believes that the CIA doesn’t run the world,” the source said.

  152. 152.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @XTPD:

    That’s hilarious. Actually, my friend and I have had a long standing theory, yet to be disproved, that he’s an alien whose tribe will come to bring him back to his home planet soon.

  154. 154.

    Iowa Old Lady

    After reading about Trump’s comments on START in his call with Russia and his stupidly rude treatment of the Japanese PM, I am worried we really all are going to die.

  158. 158.

    XTPD

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: And he would’ve had a side gig as weed supplier for a pre-fame Nasir Jones. After the success of It Was Written, he would’ve then been hired as the Jones family butler, and in hip-hop circles his name will have forevermore been spoken with the reference points being as Fonzworth Bentley or Memphis Bleek, as opposed to Bill Gates or Robin Leach. (This is assuming, of course, that he isn’t shitcanned after an especially pointed name-drop on “Takeover.”)

  159. 159.

    germy

    @Brachiator:

    Hell, can I cast a Trump certified fake news illegal ballot for her?

    I just got off the phone with Soros. He says he’ll arrange for a bus if you need a ride to the polling place.

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    I hope he learns that guilt by association is a real thing.

    In the case of Trump, I think the proper spelling is “gilt by association.”

  166. 166.

    Gindy51

    @Corner Stone: The poor child is already deeply traumatized. You can see it in his face when ever he has to be near his sire. With mum he is smiling and has a naturally cute expression. With the sperm donor, he is wound up tighter than a drum, like a pup who has been beaten and/or screamed at.

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: I was not clear. You are not a wallower. Rather, someone who helps keep it light here, and I appreciate that greatly.

    And agree, best to fight. And enjoy the good in life that comes our way.

  170. 170.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Corner Stone:

    Oh, sure, you think that it is all wine and roses of a life until you learn that some of the hookers have nasty cold sores and mouth syphilis that he was too drunk to notice during his nocturnal forays….

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    As the poet/mortician Thomas Lynch likes to say, the mortality rate for the human race is holding steady at 100 percent.

    No one here gets out alive, so let’s not waste the time we have worrying, yes?

  173. 173.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Oh, and the daughter in that just universe that would be Ivanka’s age? The one he “touched” during a visitation?

    He’s on the registry for that one. She hates him, incidentally.

  175. 175.

    Gindy51

    @Woodrowfan: Exactly, it’s like the pair of them are trapped with the thing she married and cannot get out. No wonder she refuses to live with him anymore.

  177. 177.

    germy

    @aimai:

    OMG I am in LOVE. What a woman! I hope she has a long and glorious career as Mayor, and vaults from there to Senator. We could use her!

    I admire how she’s willing to pay her dues at a local level. Rather than (ahem) just jumping in as a presidential candidate (Stein). Instead, she’s putting in the hard work to understand how to fix her town. I’m not surprised the passive-aggressive editorial board wanted to put her down. I loved her response to them.

  178. 178.

    Boatboy_srq

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: If she didn’t want the scrutiny, then she should have been a bonfire careful about selling poorly made drec and slapping her “premium” brand and a hefty price tag on it. The couturiers are having field day with her bad designs. And high prices.

  181. 181.

    Wapiti

    @Corner Stone:

    That poor bastard. There is no way he’s coming out of this without deep trauma.

    Trauma, hell. I’m hoping to get through this without radiation burns.

  183. 183.

    Corner Stone

    @Wapiti: Well, knowing that your father was responsible for essentially ending the human race and bringing about the Age of Mutants…I could see how that would be traumatic for some.
    Feel a little something for somebody else, for a change! It’s called empathy you selfish jackal!

  184. 184.

    laura

    @Ultraviolet Thunder: Please rethink your sympathy for Ivanka. She was all in in her dad’s decision to run for President.
    I love and adore my dad. He’s smart, we’ll meaning and all. But he doesn’t have what it takes to be President and he’s old and ill. I’d have sat with him and talked him out of it and made clear that I couldn’t support his candidacy. My brothers and I would have been united in this.
    The Trump children, for whatever reason couldn’t bring themselves to do this. Quite the opposite. The grift is strong in them and the xenophobia. Remember the skittles example.
    You are kind, too kind in your concern for Ivanka. She’s not the sympathetic individual who merits your kindness.
    Her brand, and every other Trump business venture, legit and otherwise deserve the condemnation there getting. They earned it.

  186. 186.

    SWMBO

    @Corner Stone: I spare a moment of compassion for Tiffany. She’s just now hit adulthood (23) and her father is elected President. She was raised away from him and didn’t seem to like the attention during the campaign. Barron isn’t even through high school yet. Both of them, for the rest of their lives, are going to be marked by this. The Terrible Triumvirate (Jr., Eric and Ivanka) are in this up to their eyeballs. The two youngest, not so much. And they can’t escape now. They are going to be hit with Trumpsubstantiation for the rest of their lives.

  187. 187.

    The Lodger

    @Boatboy_srq: There was a link here two or three days ago to an article saying (tl;dr) women who don’t have waistlines like Ivanka’s know her designs don’t look good on them and won’t shell out triple digits to wear them when they can find more flattering clothes for less.
    Quality beats branding. Who knew?

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @Woodrowfan:

    Well, Tiffany, living on the west coast and remote from her Dad for the most part, seems bright and is perhaps honest. Stanford? That’s a pretty selective school…

    We will see, won’t we?

  189. 189.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kay: This is why Tapper, no matter what he does from now until the day Trump/Pence are out of office, can never be forgiven. He helped set up this mess. He needs to pay for that.

  191. 191.

    SgrAstar

    @Ultraviolet Thunder:

    I’m starting to feel a little bad for Ivanka

    Aieeee! Ivanka deserves all the opprobrium that’s coming her way. She and her vile brothers know exactly how ill-suited and dangerous their disturbed father is. Nonetheless they have enabled him and amplified his message. Imho they all deserve the humiliation and financial difficulties that are coming their way.

  192. 192.

    Donna K

    Dammit! I’ve been a loyal Patriots fan for 25 goddamn years! It goes to the core of my New England identity even though I now live in Upstate NY surrounded by Giants and Bills fans (everybody hates the Jets), and I am furious at Brady, Belichick, and Kraft for fucking with that cultural bond for the sake of their tawdry rich white guy interests. I am so proud of Bennett, McCourty, Long, et al. for standing up and being counted.

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