Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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

Come on, man.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hearts & Flowers Brickbats

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hearts & Flowers Brickbats

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122Comments

  1. 1.

    Central Planning

    Is Flynn’s 24 days the shortest employment for an advisor/cabinet member of a president?

    During the president’s term, there has to be some place taking bets on whether someone will be there less than 3 weeks, 3 days. If I knew anything about betting in Vegas I would check there.

    Also, I wonder if we can come up with a chant around 3-3 or 24. “24 and out the door” or “3 and 3 is your destiny” or “Work for the shitgibbon, you get fired” although that last one doesn’t really have the cachet I’m going for.

  6. 6.

    opiejeanne

    People I read on Twitter are asking if Flynn’s passport has been pulled. Several of them think he might leave the country in a hurry.

  7. 7.

    Mustang Bobby

    Manafort was sacrificial. Carter Page was coincidence. Flynn makes a trend.

    It reminds me of the line in the play “The Boys in the Band” about gay sex: “The first time it’s an experiment. The second time it’s a phase. The third time: You Like It.”

  9. 9.

    TS

    So I haven’t watched Morning Ho for a long time – now they are making out the shitgibbon has just been receiving “wrong advice” All will be well if he just gets the right people in place. Hahahaha – this is Trump, he has no idea about “the right people” and none of them would want to work for him.

    Also too – they are blaming the woman – will this never change. They ALWAYS blame the woman.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The end of the long dark tunnel is near. I can see a glimmer of light ahead. Happy Pitchers and Catchers day everyone.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    two possibles futures. a) Flynn is sacrificial, “normalcy” reasserted; b) Flynn is the first brick pulled down as it all starts to crumble.

    Flynn is big to me because it’s the first overt sign of the new administration caving to outside pressure. Keep up the pressure.

  14. 14.

    Mustang Bobby

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hope springs eternal with spring training. Go Tigers. (My first trip to a major league ballpark was Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis in 1956, but we moved to Toledo a year later and I grew up with the Detroit Tigers.)

  18. 18.

    raven

    I got flowers yesterday but I had to hit Walgreens at 5:30 for cards and a little chocolate! (she gets cards from the dogs).

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, valentines. Google has an interactive doodle for you today. Pangolin Love. http://www.google.com

    Nice to wake up and find Flynn resigned. I don’t want their troubles with him, and Russian ties, to be over though. Drip drip drip, splash!

  21. 21.

    TS

    @rikyrah: Nah – Kellyanne – not that she doesn’t deserve angst – but her lies sure didn’t make Gen Flynn talk when and where he should have been quiet

  22. 22.

    JPL

    So Flynn was fired, because the Washington Post was going to release information about conversations between the White House and Sally Yates. Who else might be vulnerable to black mail by the Russians?
    What’s the likelihood that Comey is compromised? Yates has been dismissed but Comey is still around.
    hmmm

  25. 25.

    Waldo

    Best-case scenario for the GOP:

    After months of getting pooped on by Twitler, folks in the intelligence community consider the score settled.

    Twitler stops pooping on them.

  27. 27.

    JPL

    @TS: Wait until they blame Hillary, for allowing him to win. It will be her fault, when our democracy as we know it, disappears.

  30. 30.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    From the HuffPo article (Matt Fuller tweet above)

    a repeal was already in some degree of trouble, as Republicans struggle to come up with a replacement. Now that conservatives are demanding the repeal meet that 2015 standard, it could be even more difficult for GOP leaders to find coalitions in the House and Senate.

    But conservatives don’t see it that way.

    They noted Monday night that Republicans had already voted on the 2015 repeal ― at least the ones who were here last Congress ― and they believe it would be hypocritical for Republicans to balk at the plan they supported a year ago.

    Excellent. Killed (hopefully) by right-wing purity ponies. Can we send these guys supportive messages? “Dear [insert your congressional loon here]: Yes, any repeal of the ACA should repeal the Medicaid expansion and while you’re at it abolish Social Security Disability payments. And farm subsidies. Stick to your guns!”

  31. 31.

    amk

    @JPL: the loony left and the pundtwits have already blamed the kenyan for the twitler’s rise, so he has got that covered.

  32. 32.

    satby

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Glad Nikki is on the mend. I’m about to become carless too, younger son is heading back to Kentucky with mine after his fuel pump went south on his gigantic truck. He reports to work for the first time tomorrow, so he needs something reliable. And in a university town, I have public transportation options.
    But I hate not having a car either.

  34. 34.

    TS

    @JPL: There are still a couple of women in the admin left to blame – once it is 100% male it will be Hillary – or maybe Michelle – surely they can blame her for something.

    They are finding it tough to blame Obama – he has to have been the cleanest President since forever – hearing that he told Trump that South Korea would be the country that could stop him sleeping highlights just how unprepared and unqualified for the job is this President .

  35. 35.

    Bruce K

    Last year, I remember the estimable Mr. Pierce noted that Martin Baron at the Post, late of the Boston Globe, was not someone you wanted as your enemy, as the Archdiocese of Boston learned to its dismay. Seems prescient at the moment.

    I don’t know whether Baron’s objective at this point is “save the country” or “take down the cheeto”, but at this point, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.

    On an unrelated note: it occurs to me that my telephone contains emails that fall under attorney-client privilege, although my firm is Greek, not American. Any thoughts on what sort of problems could arise if La Migra demand access to my phone when I come back to the US this spring and I decline citing attorney-client privilege?

  37. 37.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @satby: The problem is getting the bus and train schedules to hook up so I’m not at the train station for a hour or so. The buses to the train station only run every half hour or so and there’s the issue of getting back before the last bus(though I think there’s a couple of buses after the last train) and of course wait for the bus in the dark at our small local train station.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    WHOOOHOO! Washington County MO made the front page of The Guardian! The local Park Hills Daily Journal has actually been doing some good work on this story over the past week. One thing they refused to report on tho was his KKK ties. They finally acknowledged them thus:

    The story of Frank Ancona’s death spread around the globe over the weekend, not because of his disappearance or how or where he died, but because he had long claimed involvement in a chapter of an organization tied to the Ku Klux Klan. But seemingly any involvement with the KKK had little, if anything, to do with his death.

    It’s almost like they don’t want to acknowledge the fact. This bit of local color from the STL Post Disgrace caught my eye:

    James Russell, 58, who lives next door to the Ancona residence, said the couple had lived there for about five years. Russell said he frequently heard Malissa Ancona screaming at her husband. Russell said he did not hear any gunshots on the day in question. But he did hear the banging of metal on metal in the predawn hours. Russell said he presumes that Malissa Ancona was seeking access to her husband’s safe.

    He described Frank Ancona as a good man who was working to change attitudes about the Klan. Russell said Ancona hosted a few small Klan gatherings at the house in recent years, including one in which Ancona and perhaps 10 others wore robes and burned a cross.

    “Everybody is talking about the Klan thing, but they are living in the past,” Russell said, “Frank was trying to improve the Klan and make it a force for good.”

    Leadwood is on the other side of the county from me but yeah, this is where I live. And you wonder why we can’t have nice things.

  41. 41.

    opiejeanne

    @TS: Not to defend her, she’s really a horrible person, but how in God’s name is Kellyanne responsible for what Flynn did?

  43. 43.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    So you know that feeling you get at the Brazilian steakhouse when you’ve had your first bites of delicious meat and are looking for the gauchos to bring you more? The salivating?

    That is how the Flynn resignation makes me feel….

  45. 45.

    JPL

    @opiejeanne: Definitely not Kellyanne. She is still pivoting.
    Bradd Jaffy just posted this
    [email protected] asks Kellyanne 2x—DOJ warned WH last month Flynn vulnerable to blackmail. How could he have had Trump’s “full confidence”? Pivots.

  47. 47.

    Lapassionara

    @OzarkHillbilly: I wish just one time a reporter would ask a follow-up. What do you mean, a “force for good”? Hard to imagine a group of robe-wearing, cross-burning fellas being a “force for good.”

  48. 48.

    TS

    @opiejeanne: Your guess is as good as mine but MJ and friends are happy to blame her – she is a woman, which in the world of cable news – is a sufficient reason.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @JPL:

    How could he have had Trump’s “full confidence”?

    Trump is a bad judge of character. I hear he even has full confidence in himself.

  50. 50.

    JPL

    Here is the Today show link with Kellyanne pivoting. Wow she is good..

    link

    Did Kellyanne take lessons, or was she born that way?

  52. 52.

    MJS

    I want what Dana Houle is smoking. Every time I see someone suggest that the GOP is going to push for Trump’s impeachment, I start to list all the Republicans who have the guts to do such a thing. And every time, that list is completely blank. I don’t see the GOP ever pushing for his impeachment, and as sure as day follows night, if a Democrat attempted to do so, the GOP’s reaction would be to immediately declare Trump the best president ever, and begin carving his face on Mt. Rushmore.

  53. 53.

    danielx

    @MJS:

    …..the GOP’s reaction would be to immediately declare Trump the best president ever, and begin carving his face on Mt. Rushmore.

    My understanding is that they’re still holding out for Ronald Reagan on that latter part.

  55. 55.

    Quinerly

    Good Morning and Happy Valentines Day from Abiquiu, NM! Poco, the ex city street dog, had a big late morning yesterday…. hiking and sniffing around Plaza Blanca. He was very responsible “off leash” since there wasn’t a soul around. Earlier I had walked the village, looking for any changes from my last visit 2 years ago. Drove up to the village cemetery and poked around. (I have a bit of a “thang” for these Northern NM cemeteries.) Giant Green Chile Cheeseburger at Bode’s for a pick me up. Sunset at Ghost Ranch, with a stop over before we arrived at Ghost Ranch, at Abiquiu Lake. A great day, indeed. At some point today, I’m hoping for lunch in El Rito, a detour to Cuba,and eventually we settle in after 4pm in the week rental in Bernalillo, NM. Have a great day! Thanks for all the interest in “The Fabulous Flying Quinerly Traveling Road Show.” One week down, 5 weeks to go!

  57. 57.

    Hal

    Flynn is a direct example of Trump’s bad choices in cabinet picks. There was plenty of warning ahead of time that Flynn was a troubled pick. Now here we are three weeks in and he’s out and Petraeus is a possibility? I think I have to officially retire “if this were Obama”.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    I’m seeing a couple of FB posts about Trump meeting with a Russian operative (their words) while in Florida. That Trump left Abe to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by himself while Trump flew down to Florida early to meet the operative. That the press was shepherded into a windowless room while this took place.

    Does anyone know if any of this is true?

  61. 61.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:
    He’s still above 50% (as you know). All this lunatic unconstitutional racist shit is why they voted for him. They’re happy.

  64. 64.

    randy khan

    @MJS:

    They’d impeach him when they’re more scared of having him in office than of the blowback from impeaching him. It’s really a question of what scares them more, not of courage.

  65. 65.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: I saw a photo of the windows with black plastic taped over them but thought it was while Trump was playing golf. There was no explanation of what was being shielded from the press, just speculation.

  66. 66.

    randy khan

    @Central Planning:

    I posted this last night, but so far as I can tell, the previous record for shortest time in an Administration by an official of any importance was 30 days for Jerry terHorst, Ford’s first press secretary. He resigned in protest when Ford pardoned Nixon, so obviously a much different situation.

  68. 68.

    danielx

    @Quinerly:

    If you get the chance, there’s a place in Madrid that serves the best margaritas in the world. So they claim and they may be right, although I’m still researching the issue.

  69. 69.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    Whose life? This has been my life for the month of February since 2011…rambling the roads of NM with a big inner city rescue dog… first in a beat up Subaru with Leo…now in what I am calling a “two bedroom (Ford) Escape with Poco.” Only thing different is I usually use Santa Fe as a base…this year after today mostly everything will be new to me. Limited time in the past re Albuquerque area. Am looking for hints and suggestions. Give me yours, Baud!

  70. 70.

    JPL

    @debbie: The windows were covered, so that part is true. Louise Mensch has been following a plane belonging to a Russian official with close ties to Putin. Several times including over the weekend, the plane landed near the location of a Trump visit. During the campaign they were in the same location in NCar and Las Vegas, NV.
    I’m hoping that Putin becomes frustrated with Trump, and releases some tapes. Not that I’d watch them, though.

  71. 71.

    TS

    @randy khan: I gather that bastion of courage – Speaker Ryan – is having a news conference at 10. No doubt he will advise all is now good & there is no need for further investigations.

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    5th-grade Catholic basketball team forfeits season rather than kick girls off

    Despite the warning, the whole St. John’s team showed up for Friday’s game against St. Bartholomew the Apostle, causing the tip-off to be delayed as parents and coaches tried to figure out how to proceed. Eventually, a parent put the question to the fifth-graders: “Is your decision to play the game without the two young ladies on the team, or do you want to stay as a team as you have played all season, with the girls on the team?”

    The children were asked to vote with a show of hands, and all 11 went up in favor of staying “as a team.”

    A mother of one of the girls, who is also a coach on the team, reminded the squad that “this would be the end” of its season, including the playoffs. “It doesn’t matter,” one boy said.

    After the St. Bart’s team left the gym, with some parents of those players expressing regret about the situation, St. John’s players split into two sides – girls included – and played a game that was meaningless, in terms of the league’s standings, but filled with significance for all involved.

    “These kids are doing the right thing,” a parent said, showing emotion at her “pure pride” in their decision. “We don’t have to tell them what to do. They just know. It’s amazing.”

    Too bad Trump is too busy watching Morning HO.

  76. 76.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @randy khan:
    I’m not as sure. Pence is a raging bigot. The evangelicals said openly they voted for Trump to get Pence. Pence is a controllable moron, and the establishment loves him for it. Trump’s foreign policy does scare the establishment. They might decide Pence will shutdown a rise in Democratic voting enthusiasm, while making The Base just as happy with his crushing minorities. Will The Base react that way? I don’t know, but I could see GOP congressmen believing it.

  78. 78.

    Quinerly

    @danielx:
    Love Madrid! Spent the entire month of February there in 2016 across from The Mine Shaft Tavern. Have friends who have shops there and in Cerrillos. I actually just spent 3 nights with a best gal pal and her husband…house outside of Cerrillos. She has an art and antique shop in Madrid. I launched to Abiquiu Sunday after spending the morning hanging with her at her shop…if in the area look her up…Lori Musil Art and Antiques. She did a couple of those life sized painted ponies for “The Trail of Painted Ponies.” One is out front. First store on the right pass the ball field.

  79. 79.

    ThresherK

    @Quinerly: A green chile cheeseburger in a place where they know their chilies sounds really good.

    Now I’m looking forward to sugaring season here in New England.

  81. 81.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    I fell in love with area on a fluke. I was turning 50 in February, 2011. Wanted a change..didn’t want to be doing the same thing at 50 that I had been doing at 25. Knew nothing about this area (grew up at the beach, live in St. Louis). Took off for Taos and Santa Fe that year. The rest is history❤ Now a once a year pilgrimage.

  82. 82.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Quinerly: Oh, I am so envious and wish I was along for the ride. We’d stop at Gilman Hot Springs just up the road from Jemez… it’s a little hike up to them, but it’s a great place to soak even in winter. One time when my ex and I went, it seemed to be the Ugly Naked People Festival, but with the contact high from the pot being smoked, everyone turned pretty after a couple of hits.

  85. 85.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Wait to you hear about the cheap steak I’m having at “Monte Carlo Steaks and Liquors” in Albuquerque. Love that place. I suspect it hasn’t changed since 1952.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: Bernalillo will be a great base of operations. And I’m glad you and Poco will wind up at La Posada in Winslow at some point. I say, as many nights (and meals) there as you can get away with. Jet fuel coffee, too.

    Keep us posted.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @Mustang Bobby:
    Been to Jemez a few years back. Great Green Chile Cheeseburger at that biker bar (the owner is married an Olympic athlete from Romania..he used to be a coach). Soaked at Giggling Springs in town. Was going to hike up to the ones you are talking about on another trip but the weather wasn’t good so did the public bathhouse in town…what a hoot. Have you ever hit those hot springs in Montezuma, right outside of Little Las Vegas, NM? I was feeling adventurous that day. Saw a row of pick up trucks of locals…some in bathing suits, some not. I had my suit.?

  93. 93.

    Quinerly

    @Mustang Bobby:
    #89…got my notebook out! Writing down. Thanks! Don’t mean to highjack the morning threads with our “tails of the road.” Still the same political junkie. It’s just nice to wake up to this thread and have a morning chat before Poco and I start our day. Thanks!

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: How is February in New Mexico? Bone chilling, or sunny enough it feels like a sweater during the day?

    Did a week’s bike trip around NM many years ago, and it was a life highlight. Chimayo, etc.

  96. 96.

    Quinerly

    @danielx:
    Old Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid is an institution. I guess I’m weird…since I essentially lived across the street from it for a month last year, I kinda got my fill. Probably in and out of it once a day…a check in with locals and friends at the end of the day. Only poked my head in there briefly Sunday. Wasn’t in the mood for it. There’s always next year. The restaurant across the street (The Hollar) is quite good. Did eat there Friday night with friends…fabulous lamb!

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mustang Bobby:

    it seemed to be the Ugly Naked People Festival

    Any “clothing optional” place I’ve ever been in my life never had people I’d actually like to see naked. Oh, except for one time at the hot springs in Ridgway, CO. A very attractive and very fit young lady there with her husband/boyfriend, but she looked as if he’d dragged here there at gunpoint and she’d rather be any other place in the world right then.

  98. 98.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    The first February for me here was a fluke..my birthday month. Since then I did my research and have found it is the cheapest month to rent. Those casitas I have rented in the past in around Santa Fe are priced for a month what a week would be in season. What I love is there are no tourists..have the museums and restaurants to myself. I have met so many locals that I connect with every February. Joined the NM museum system so when I have stayed in Santa Fe did the membership events in February plus the art walks which are all locals. Love Chimayo…was there last year on Ash Wednesday. What a crowd! I had to chuckle at all the vending tables set up for the people coming out of mass to buy stuff. Only in Northern NM. Weather is changeable. Cold, but a dry cold. The wind can be tiring if you are out on Highway 14.

  102. 102.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    Now, that would be cool! I kid you not on rates if you do your research. Plus, there are great sales in the shops and restaurant deals. Merchants hungry for business. Plus, as a traveler, I support small, locally owned businesses. Made a ton of friends..from the volunteer docents in the museums to waiters/waitresses in the restaurants.

  103. 103.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Quinerly: I used to love to go to the Bobcat Bite out Old Santa Fe Trail. Alas, it closed and then reopened in downtown Santa Fe. The green chile cheeseburgers were great, but the ambiance of that old place was half the fun. When I was a ski bum out there in 1977-78 and could barely scrape two dimes together, Blake’s Lottaburger filled the need, as did Maria’s Mexican Kitchen.

  104. 104.

    Quinerly

    @Mustang Bobby:
    Ah, the big Maria’s debate rears it’s head! The friends that I stayed with in Cerrillos on this trip LOVE Maria’s. I prefer La Choza. Enough said.

  105. 105.

    Elizabelle

    @satby: I’m in, too. Salivating at the idea. Wow. And we’d be touristing in a blue state. That is starting to be a thing with me.

    @Quinerly: Great idea about joining the museums. Such respect for culture and art. I still haven’t seen the Wheeler; you can def get lost for hours in the others.

    And the fresh air and clear light and rugged landscape.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    I joined the second year out. I have found it worth it even though here a limited time. Supports the arts and the museum system plus it lead to being on interesting mailing lists (met Redford’s wife on a gallery walk one year..would have never known about that local event but got an email announcement)

  108. 108.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    The Wheelwright in Santa Fe is a very sweet museum. Got there last year after their huge expansion. Large jewelry collection on permanent display. Always try to time it to get a docent. Those volunteers there are some of the most interesting I have met. Cute little trading post in the basement.?

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: You and Satby are my spirit animals.

    True that, about the out of the sky wonderful invites that accrue to plugging into a museum or community of some type. And supporting the arts/community.

  113. 113.

    Quinerly

    @laura:
    6 weeks…but who’s counting?❤ Thanks for all the interest and kind comments. Catch you in the AM from Bernalillo. Can’t tell you how thankful I am for this community (Ozark,too?). Lurked for years…right after Cole saw the light and through the last 8 years. Feel like I know many of you…glad I threw out a comment during that Comey presser a few months back. Got me commenting more. Have a great day. Best wishes to all.

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    No. No secrecy. I’m bad with the “complicated” on line names. Been looking for her to pipe in. We have exchanged emails. I recall that she said she had met satby in person. Think she’s been really busy and hasn’t commented on the morning threads. Once I get to Bernalillo and get settled in, I’ll pull out that notebook. Wonderful breakfast Saturday with her and I’m sure we’ll stay in touch.

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: I love that the BJ community gets in touch in real life too. It’s been great.

    And we will make that meetup next February happen. It will be 2018. Maybe we can do our own voter reg drive too, while we’re there. (Under the aegis of actual New Mexico residents, yet.)

  119. 119.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: Are you going by Pecos? Tha’ts where my sister used to live, and I love that area. Some gorgeous hikes in the Pecos National Forest.

  120. 120.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Quinerly:

    Have you been to Taos? North of Taos? Chaco Canyon? Tent Rocks? Did you get to Bert’s Burger Bowl before it closed (one location world wide)? Also, green chile bagels from the Bagel place next door to that are amazing.

  121. 121.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @JPL: Jim Kunstler of kunstler.com has already been blaming the Democrats and Clinton for the fact that Trump is president*. When he said that, I commented that no, the people who voted for Trump are responsible for the fact that he is president*.

  122. 122.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You do live in a big lead-mining district, perhaps the water table is contaminated with heavy metals in some locations around the state?

    I have some wonderful Galena specimens from Missouri, that’s a lead sulfate mineral that often occurs in wonderful gleaming cubes, sometimes like a cityscape sculpted from gleaming silvery lead. I think all those mines are full of ground water now, long abandoned after being pretty much mined out.

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