Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Let there be snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This really is a full service blog.

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

White supremacy is terrorism.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

In my day, never was longer.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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97Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    I just received one of those DNC emails from Tom Perez asking for my input and it did not contain a donation request.

    Good work, Tom.

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Hmmm — I just got one, and since you said that, I put in a comment, and then it asked me to donate.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: shucks, wish I hadn’t automatically deleted it

    also, I can’t tell Perez he needs to figure out how to make climate change a winning issue when I can’t begin to figure out how. I just got off the phone with a friend in Chicago who said in passing that the weather’s terrible and he wishes it would get back to the sixties like it was last week. In fucking February. In Chicago.

    It was also in the sixties in Antarctica last week, which made me think LOL nothing matters

  12. 12.

    Keith P.

    I have no idea why she’s chosen to sleep on the cedar chest instead of the bed

    My guess is that it’s the denim. My cat almost always picks a new place to sleep every couple of weeks, UNLESS I have a pile of unwashed clothes somewhere, in which case, she’s sleeping on that. My dog was the same way…I think it gives them comfort, like sleeping next to a ticking clock.

  13. 13.

    sigaba

    I’m LOL’ing

    Before heading off to his so-called “winter White House” in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, President Donald Trump summoned some of his senior staff to the Oval Office and went “ballistic,” senior White House sources told ABC News.

    The president erupted with anger over the latest slew of news reports connecting Russia with the new administration — specifically the abrupt decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.

    Sources said the president felt Sessions’ recusal was unnecessary and only served to embolden Trump’s political opponents. The attorney general made his announcement Thursday just as Trump returned to Washington from a trip to the U.S.S. Gerald Ford in Virginia for a speech about his agenda as president.

    For the pendants, I doubt Trump went “ballistic,” if only because things that go ballistic will tend to act in predictable ways according to established physical laws.

    @Keith P.:

    My guess is that it’s the denim. My cat almost always picks a new place to sleep every couple of weeks, UNLESS I have a pile of unwashed clothes somewhere, in which case, she’s sleeping on that.

    I have observed this phenomena as well. The Lucy-dog will take the bed, unless there is laundry on the floor.

  14. 14.

    Just One More Canuck

    I have no idea why she’s chosen to sleep on the cedar chest instead of the bed

    Because she can

  16. 16.

    ArchTeryx

    It could be the denim, the pillows, or the cedar itself. Dog noses are extremely sensitive and all those things will smell of home, plus feel nice to sleep on. Then, a lot of times, animal decision making is extremely simple: “Oh, I’m here, this feels nice, *flop*”. Though both dogs and cats, once they get in the habit of doing something, tend to keep doing it, even if they aren’t aware of why. So do we, for that matter!

    TL;DR: Animals don’t think it through. They just roll with it. :-)

  17. 17.

    Wag

    I’ve been having the Paul Simon song Boy in the Bubble running through my head for the past few days, and suddenly it came to me. The Trump administration is a nicely and succinctly described as a LAOMABABA.

    A loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires and babies.

  18. 18.

    Juju

    @Baud: Really? I ignored mine because I figured it was just for fundraising. I may have to go and pull it out of trash and see what’s up.

  19. 19.

    Juju

    And I need to find a dog. I miss having a dog or two. Lily is so cute. Can I borrow her for a week or two?

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    That’s great. I’ve been kind of addicted to Tim Heidecker’s Trump song, but I’m not going to link it for fear Adam brings the hammer down on me. It’s not at all polite. But it is addictive.

  29. 29.

    LAO

    @raven: She’s currently snoring away under the couch ignoring me. I want to be offended but frankly, it’s been very peaceful. ?

  32. 32.

    JGabriel

    I’m pretty damn far from being a fan of Sally Quinn, and this quote is obliviously obvious projection on her part. But it’s also both true and a pretty sick burn of Trump:

    “I think that Donald Trump, clearly, is much more comfortable in Mar-a-Lago,” Ms. Quinn said. “That’s his idea of the perfect social setting, where he can kind of be like the maître d’.”

    Donald Trump, head-waiter wanna-be. That it’s a casual aside in an otherwise annoyingly smug article about selling Grey Gardens is even better. Kudos, Ms. Quinn.

  37. 37.

    ET

    She is so cute in that photo that if I passed I would, despite the fact it would disturb her, give in to the desire to cuddle.

  38. 38.

    Mike J

    President Trump “is expected to sign on Monday a new executive order on his controversial travel ban at the Department of Homeland Security,” Politico reports.

    “It is unclear how significant the changes to the current order will be or whether the White House will continue a court fight over its old order.”

    This is odd: “Employees at DHS were instructed to work from home on Monday morning.”

    Emphasis added.

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mike J: Reminds me, in an oblique way, of Pentagon workers being told during a snow emergency that “mission essential personnel only” were required to report in.

    Which meant that they had a lot of people reporting in because they didn’t want to be considered “non-mission essential”.

  43. 43.

    ruemara

    I am alternately dozing a bit on Percoset, struggling with the uncomfortable feeling of fullness eating & drinking causes me and consuming needed healing calories with a hot chocolate. I was about to try recording a mini-episode of my podcast, but I’m a bit tired. How do those surgery addicted ladies keep coming back? The resident cat squad has been very helpful. Walking on my face and abdomen, bashing open the bedroom door at night and releasing the heat, then nosing through my suitcase and removing interesting stuff.
    Like a producer.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    Lily would look good in a jeans jacket.

    @LAO: Maggie sighting!

    @JGabriel: Yeah, I saw that maitre d’ comment — slap! All he needs is the vest.

  46. 46.

    JGabriel

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I just got off the phone with a friend in Chicago who said in passing that the weather’s terrible and he wishes it would get back to the sixties like it was last week. In fucking February. In Chicago.

    Tell your friend a New Yorker who was here for Hurricane Sandy says, “Oh, sure, global warming is all fun and games until Greenland melts and you’re swimming up Broadway.”

  49. 49.

    Pogonip

    @Villago Delenda Est: That’s not how it works. You will be told when you’re hired whether your position is “essential” or “non-essential.” If it’s re-classified from one to the other, you’ll be told that too, and, as always with DOD, you’ll be given a form explaining same:

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    @ArchTeryx

    Animals don’t think it through. They just roll with it

    Reminded of a supposedly true (if not, it ought to be) anecdote about The Ed Sullivan Show.

    Final act of the evening was to be a group of trained chimpanzees. Frantic stage manager rushes up to the animal trainer.

    Stage Manager: Look, we’re running behind; instead of the original 8 minutes for your act you’re only going to have 5, so you’ll have to cut out whatever you can.

    Trainer: They’re chimps. They don’t edit!

    Solution was to have the chimps begin the performance at the originally allotted time, only behind a closed curtain. When the act was introduced and the curtain opened, they were already nearly halfway through their routine.

  52. 52.

    Pogonip

    @NotMax: *chortle*. “Hey, guys, Ed Sullivan just told me we have to adjust the act. Now don’t go bananas…”

  53. 53.

    LAO

    @Pogonip: that healed fine. This is a new injury. For a pit bull/beagle/indeterminate hound, she is a fragile flower. J/K, she’s tough as nails but walking and running on pavement every day, is tough on her pads.

  59. 59.

    Ithink

    @Major Major Major Major: How is it & the new Nintendo home system? They both look amazing though all my local Game Stops said they won’t be available for the next month or so ore-orders & wait list popular demand is such a fever pitch! I need anything at all to take my kind & attention off the neverendingly”Nero Fiddling Over a Burning Rome” nonsense.

  60. 60.

    sigaba

    @JPL:

    Sasse Statement On Wiretapping

    The President today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more information.

    If there were wiretaps of then-candidate Trump’s organization or campaign, then it was either with FISA Court authorization or without such authorization.

    If without, the President should explain what sort of wiretap it was and how he knows this. It is possible that he was illegally tapped.

    On the other hand, if it was with a legal FISA Court order, then an application for surveillance exists that the Court found credible.

    The President should ask that this full application regarding surveillance of foreign operatives or operations be made available, ideally to the full public, and at a bare minimum to the U.S. Senate.

    We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust, and the President’s allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health.

    Trump, of course, will just try to walk away from all of this, like the voter fraud bullshit. We’ll see how hard Sasse pushes, for what he’s asking he’d need McConnell’s support. I see nothing in this statement that would be repugnant to any Democrat, but some Republicans might rather the whole thing just go away. The FBI’s FISA application for Trump Tower, notwithstanding it’s part of an ongoing criminal investigation, is one hell of a rock to look under.

  61. 61.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Jeffro:That was pretty cool.

    The President should ask that this full application regarding surveillance… be made available ideally to the public…

    Link
    OT – in answer to your question, it was your idea for an “it’s a crime for a D but fine for an R” comparison minibook. Your exact description of which I can no longer find, of course, but I’m collecting the comps.

  63. 63.

    Yarrow

    @LAO: I can tell! She looks like she’s got plenty of experience with the pitiful look. I love her waterproof rain jacket. Too cute.

  65. 65.

    sigaba

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: I note on ZeroHedge and a few other RW sites that are covering this, the comments are positively giddy that this is the first nail in Obama’s coffin and now all the ugly evidence of Obama’s corruption and illegality will come out.

    Trump’s supporters are begging for Sasse’s trap to spring.

  66. 66.

    Yarrow

    Oh, the precious flower.

    Last night the @AP published my wife's private email address, violating her privacy and our security…— Vice President Pence (@VP) March 4, 2017

    And he’s been so out front in demanding privacy for those exposed by DNC hacks. And others. Uh huh.

  68. 68.

    randy khan

    @sigaba:

    I appreciate the pedantry on “ballistic,” although I always have thought that this particular usage came from the notion of a missile in flight but no longer under control.

  72. 72.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @LAO: She’s such a fashionista, with vetwrap that matches her coat. Maggie is a star. Or as I described a pibble/beagle cross to Mr. Q: a noisy, opinionated, stubborn cuddlebug. The first 3 being the beagle heritage, of course.

  73. 73.

    Yarrow

    @randy khan: I agree. It was wrong if they did it. (Note: I haven’t read the AP article–just saw the tweet. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s wrong.) But he’s on record laughing as others’ contact gotten from hacking was made public. If he’d that was wrong I’d have a bit more sympathy now. Also, revealing an email address isn’t the same as even a phone number, let along a home address or Social Security number–all of which other people have been subjected to. And never a peep from Pence.

    @trollhattan: Yeah, that’s what I thought. It’s still a mistake and wrong, but not really doxing.

  74. 74.

    JMG

    @sigaba: Only takes three Republican Senators to go to McConnell and say,”investigate this now or Obamacare repeal (or tax cuts, or Judge Gorsuch, etc.) is dead.” They may not have the guts to do it, but it’s well within their power.

  76. 76.

    Pogonip

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Beagles do cling firmly to their opinion–“I love food!”

    I think the reason biggles are considered hard to train is not so much that they’re stubborn is that they’re so cute, particularly as puppies, that it’s very difficult to muster the appropriate teacherly sternness when they err. In any case they were never intended to be pets. Put one out in the field with rabbits and he’ll need very little training. It’s housedogly things like “Sit,” “Stay,” “Heel,” that they have a problem with.

  77. 77.

    Yarrow

    @JMG: The Republicans in Congress have the power to do any and all of that kind of thing, including getting rid of Trump. That they won’t call for even an independent investigation speaks volumes. The noose will continue to tighten as the IC works to make them do the right thing. And no matter how much Trump clamps down on the US IC, there is nothing he can do to control the intelligence services of our allies. They can leak to our press and their press all they want.

    The longer the Republicans in Congress drag their feet the worse it will be for them. They seem to think they can walk the knife edge and skate. It will not work out that way.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @sigaba:

    For the pendants, I doubt Trump went “ballistic,” if only because things that go ballistic will tend to act in predictable ways according to established physical laws.

    Yeah, he “went ballistic.”

    The image is redolent of Cold War fears, where the US and the Soviet Union would go nuts, launch their ballistic missiles and be unable to stop global destruction.

    So, I guess it’s the phrase “go ballistic,” not just the word “ballistic.”

  82. 82.

    Redshift

    @sigaba: Per the NYT:

    But a senior White House official said that Donald F. McGahn II, the president’s chief counsel, was working on Saturday to secure access to what Mr. McGahn believed was an order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing some form of surveillance related to Mr. Trump and his associates.

    The official offered no evidence to support the notion that such an order exists. If one does, it would be highly unusual for a White House to order the Justice Department to turn over such an investigative document, given the traditional independence of law enforcement matters.

    “Highly unusual” is the Grey Lady’s understated way of saying “highly inappropriate and probably illegal,” imho.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    @JMG: This has been my thought. It’s not as if three or four Republicans couldn’t deny McConnell and Ryan anything they want — Supreme Court, tax cuts, etc. They just have to refuse to sign on to anything and everything until tax returns and Russian influence/hacking/collusion are being handled by an independent investigator.

  85. 85.

    Redshift

    I was at the campaign office opening today for Karrie Delaney, our candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in the most pro-Hillary district currently held by a Republican. Good crowd, good candidate. Taking in an incumbent is always tough, but I like our chances!

  87. 87.

    cosima

    @Yarrow: Would this be the hacked email address? Why else would it have been used? Which means someone (him or wife) is still using the same email address after being hacked? Do people usually do that? If mine had been hacked I’d get myself a new one.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I distinctly remember at least one instance of some of the hacked “Clinton” e-mails being shown on MSNBC (Rachel’s show?) showing someone’s gmail address in the header. I think it took them a day or two before they started blacking those out of the images.

    Yeah, it’s annoying, but it happens. Pence bringing the Streisand Effect to bear on it shows that he’s not too bright (if he’s actually worried about her e-mail address getting out there), or he just is throwing crap against the wall to hope that he and she can play the victim and people will get distracted from the real issue. Or both/and, again. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @waysel: If so, I hope people have been wise about keeping their desks clear. I’m sure all the Obama-era employees are paranoid AF.

  97. 97.

    Juju

    @Skepticat: They are adorable. I’m looking for an older girl dog who would be suitable to live around an 84 year old woman. I would be the main caretaker of the dog, and I am quite a bit younger. It is certainly something to consider. Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve bookmarked the website. I’ve been approved for other rescue organizations and am looking for the right mature girl dog.

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