Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

The revolution will be supervised.

Second rate reporter says what?

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You cannot shame the shameless.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

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

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Reader Interactions

163Comments

  10. 10.

    Comrade Colette, no longer a Collaboratrice

    Yay! Jackals! I’m still at work in San Francisco but I’ll be right over, just as soon as I find the keys to my Tardis. Save me a mocktail!

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): See, Cole has learned about taking photographs! All those tips that he should hold a treat up as he is taking a photo so all the critters are looking at the camera obviously paid off.

    What do we think the photographer is holding to captivate their attention? Adult beverage? Some yummy appetizer? Steve?

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: With all the talk of shaving asses, I wonder if this is the best time for you to be thinking you would show up in your birthday suit…

  14. 14.

    zhena gogolia

    One of them is wearing a MAGA hat? WTF?

    ETA: I guess that’s at another table. Beware!

  16. 16.

    Miss Bianca

    What fine-looking bunch of jackals!

    Wait…”herd” of jackals? “Snarl” of jackals?

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    After reading some of the earlier threads, I am truly astonished that they managed to agree on a restaurant.

  23. 23.

    MazeDancer

    Picture: Fabulous.

    Captions: Would be fabulous-er.

    Envy: High

    May a spectacular evening be had by all.

  24. 24.

    NorthLeft12

    How about a live audio feed?
    This might be more entertaining than an episode of Better Call Saul. Eh, probably not. Have fun anyhoo!

  26. 26.

    M. Bouffant

    Let’s not get nervous; a red ball cap isn’t necessarily a Me A Great Asshole hat. Although his wearing it inside would indicate a certainTrumpian attitude.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NorthLeft12:

    How about a live audio feed?

    That would be nice, but probably challenging to set up and unintelligible to hear. I’m happy with live-blogging and photos for now.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @hovercraft: It’s just you. :-) I think that fellow looks really interesting. And genuine. I would say more but I don’t want to start a food fight.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    I was just catching up on the song thread, and I misread this: ‘Update – The White House says President Trump has now signed the two trade orders’ as: The White House says President Trump has now resigned.

    Be still my beating heart.

  42. 42.

    hovercraft

    @WaterGirl:

    I think that fellow looks really interesting. And genuine. I would say more but I don’t want to start a food fight.

    Say more! We need something to take our minds off of our jealousy ;-)

    I didn’t mean my comment as a negative, our fellow is well groomed and seems to know that one should comb ones hair before you go out in public.

  47. 47.

    hilts

    @WaterGirl:

    I could not conceive of Trump getting elected, so I blatantly underestimated the number of stone cold stupid voters. Despite that miscalculation, I still find it hard to imagine that Trump has the mental/emotional stability to serve out his full term.

    Hopefully, the Dems will find a smoking gun and unearth sufficient evidence to get this ratfucker removed from office.

  54. 54.

    Pogonip

    You know, Cole’s been doing a lot of traveling lately. I had no idea panhandling paid so well.

  56. 56.

    Pogonip

    @chigail: LaPorte, Indiana? Did you know you guys are reputed to have the worst weather in the country? Look up the “LaPorte weather anomaly.”

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @hilts:

    I could not conceive of Trump getting elected, so I blatantly underestimated the number of stone cold stupid voters.

    I am totally with you on that. I completely agree with whoever said earlier today that it’s not just Trump – it’s all the voters who put them there. Stupid, malicious, gullible, hateful, uncaring. The perfect storm.

    Not only does Trump have to go, but Pence and pretty much the entire administration and all the republican leaders who are willing to put a psychopath in the white house. Country before party, my ass.

    edit: Sorry, I don’t mean to spoil this lovely thread about the meet-up.

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    Based on that photo, it is impossible to verify that pants are being worn. I am concerned.

  61. 61.

    Pogonip

    @WaterGirl: At least you were only half wrong. I predicted Trump would get the most votes but that Hillary would be installed as president through the arcane machinations of the Electoral College. Gotta get the crystal ball serviced.

  63. 63.

    humboldtblue

    @Pogonip:

    Youse would been better off with Colonel Sanders but whoever it is can have a kiss. Cole didn’t fall down on the way to the joint and break an ear bone did he?

  69. 69.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @WaterGirl: it’s not just the other side,it’s also the lazy asses on our side who couldn’t be bothered to show up to vote. We only needed an extra 3-4 percent showing up on our side to win. We are not talking 10-20 percent more.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    After reading the music thread, I just listened to April Come She Will. I always liked Simon & Garfunkel, but seeing Art Garfunkel singing that song – the Live in Central Park version – I could just feel that it was an outdoor concert and I could feel my breathing slow and I felt more calm. I have tears in my eyes at the beauty of his singing and the lovely guitar playing by Paul Simon.

    I don’t even recall why they split up, but I wish they hadn’t. Such beautiful music.

  73. 73.

    Pogonip

    @Mike J: I think at those, they wear pants. Those are optional at Cole-style rallies.

    (“Waiter! Please, we need mustard!)”

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: @Pogonip: Unless they’re zoned for a cabaret license, everyone is wearing pants or skirts or hakama or kilts or some outer covering of their lower extremities.

  76. 76.

    Pogonip

    @WaterGirl: Art Garfunkel was definitely the best castrato of the 20th century.

    Is he deceased? I have heard nothing about him for many a moon.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @Mai.naem.mobile: In my more optimistic moments, I believe that the pendulum can’t possibly swing any more to the right and that maybe this will be a teachable moment and after a huge bit of ugliness we can perhaps get back to remembering what this country stands for and start acting like a democracy.

    It’s now or never.

  81. 81.

    Pogonip

    @Gin & Tonic: West Deplorable was in the ’60’s just long enough to start the grass growing, now we are heading for the 30’s.

    Stupid jet stream.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mike J: I spent some time scanning the website for that rally and his 501(c)4 looking fruitlessly for the word “Democrat.”

  85. 85.

    Pogonip

    @Mike J: Well, I hope he takes a firm stand on nude mopping, especially in New England, which, I gather, has weather like that of Westeros, with winter lasting several years.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: It’s newtonian. There is always a course correction. As I’ve written before: there has never been a period of progress in the US that has not been met with an immediate, reactionary, often violent attempt to reverse. Not the Founding or the 2nd Founding with the drafting of the Constitution. Not the immediate post Civil War era and the even watered down reconstruction that occurred because Lincoln was not alive to implement whatever plans he had. Not the New Deal or the Great Society. And certainly not the Obama progressive reforms.

  89. 89.

    Spanky

    Meanwhile, elsewhere in Boston:

    Our Revolution Rally with [Wilmer] & Elizabeth Warren
    Sens. [Wilmer] and Elizabeth Warren headline our rally at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, MA to present strategies to not just resist, but to grow our movement.

  90. 90.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @dmsilev: If it gets you out of wearing pants, you’d think they’d be lining up for them. Not that you’d want to actually see that line of course..

  91. 91.

    Pogonip

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Why not? Cole’s a traveling hazard zone.

    Speaking of mopping, I can’t even get Pogonip Jr to mop with his clothes on. Says I have to be out of the house for him to do that. I hope he hasn’t been reading this site and learning Stupid Mop Tricks. I’ll show him. I’ll get a small fluffy dog, let it play in the bathtub, and voila!–Instant Mop!

  93. 93.

    Currants

    Waving and blowing kisses!
    Probably won’t make it. Still sitting with my kiddo’s littles while she goes to a Boston Public School fundraiser. Which thanks to Trump/DeVos will probably be more necessary every year.

    Have fun!!

  94. 94.

    Pogonip

    @Kristine: Is Due’s still there? That was the longest restaurant wait I ever had (this was when “Chicago pizza” actually meant Chicago). I remember wondering why it was called Chicago pizza when it was obviously delivered from Italy.

  95. 95.

    mai naem mobile

    @Pogonip: he’s still around. He’s on a concert tour currently. He was in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago. My eldest sister had the Bridge Over Troubled Water album and,me, not knowing who Simon and Garfunkel was, would play the album. Anyhow the album cover didn’t identify who was who and I assumed the taller guy was Paul Simon and the short guy was Art Garfunkel. Took me several years to figure out it was the other way around.

  96. 96.

    Mayim

    Sorry to miss it…. but I had work obligations in Maine that ruled out a trip to the big city. Since Cambridge is my home town, I’m always glad to head that way {although the demise of Schoenhof’s physical location is a major blow to my excitement about dealing with the traffic!}.
    Hope all of you have a wonderful time!

  97. 97.

    Pogonip

    @Kristine: P.S. The last time we were in Chicagoland Junior insisted on chain restaurants through the whole visit. There oughta be a law.

  102. 102.

    mai naem mobile

    @WaterGirl: you’re more optimistic than i am. The young people I talk to don’t believe government can do anything. The RW meme about the big bad useless government has really soaked in. Furthermore, our civics education is sorely lacking because people barely out of HS don’t even understand the concepts of filibuster and separation of powers.

  103. 103.

    jl

    Looks like a great meet-up, worth all of the Cole-style chaos of making the arrangements. AL ever get a chance to stab Cole in the back? Everyone seems really happy, so I guess that means… Anyway, was there any drama?

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    @jl: There has been a curious silence – no posting from the meet-up. I wonder if we need to send in the cavalry.

  110. 110.

    PsiFighter37

    You should come pay a visit to NYC. We should also do a Juicer meetup here sometime…I’ve never been to one here, only in LA and Seattle…go figure. That was also 4-5 years ago, which is kind of insane.

  111. 111.

    jl

    @mai naem mobile: Wilmer was given a job by the Dems to do outreach, and I think that job description could reasonably be construed to involve rallies. If he says something people don’t like at the rallies that is certainly fair to criticize. But I think he would respond that is part of his new job description.

  113. 113.

    Pogonip

    @mai naem mobile: Is it true they don’t have Civics class in high schools any more?

    Our Civics text was called Problems of Democracy. The current edition is probably pretty heavy.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @WaterGirl: Yep. And every time for all the damage they do, for all the trouble they cause, the reactionaries never ultimately succeed.

  115. 115.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl:

    worth all of the Cole-style chaos of making the arrangements.

    It did seem that there was an expectation that Cole select the venue; being that he does not live in the area, I thought that a bit unfair.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    @Pogonip

    One public school which I attended actually called the course Citizenship Education.

    Well, it was the early 60s.

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: stupid mobile message mode – I can read emails, and draft ’em, but damned if I can figure out where “send” is. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Schumer is not now, and has not ever, been in charge of the DNC. He may have asked Perez and Ellison to do so, but he can’t simply order it.

  125. 125.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: I thought S&!#@!s was appointed to his new PR job before the DNC chair election and Schumer was involved. But then, Perez is a neoliberal corrupt corporate shill and craven front for Big Dem, as any sane person will rush to yell on the rooftops, so I think my point stands.

    Corrupt corporate Big Dem gave the Soviet spy and thug and thoroughly vile and disgusting S__*__s a job to go yell at people. So, it is a damned puzzle what to hate complain most about it.

    Edit: this comment may contain some snark related to my impatience with the rather stale but slightly hilarious HRC/Wilmer feud, which must never be allowed to fade away, but rather be nurtured, cherished and celebrated.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    @Adam L Silverman:
    @Baud:

    The Vermont independent will be the chair of “outreach” for Senate Democrats next Congress, Senate Democratic Leader-elect Chuck Schumer of New York announced Wednesday. He will be the first independent to hold a party leadership position since the modern leadership structure began in the early 20th Century, according to the Senate Historical Office.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/16/senate-democrats-tap-bernie-sanders-lead-outreach/93960822/

  128. 128.

    Aleta

    Victoria Herrmann (an Arctic researcher):

    At first, the distress flare of lost data came as a surge of defunct links on 21 January. The US National Strategy for the Arctic, the Implementation Plan for the Strategy, and the report on our progress all gone within a matter of minutes. As I watched more and more links turned red, I frantically combed the internet for archived versions of our country’s most important polar policies.
    …
    Since January, the surge has transformed into a slow, incessant march of deleting datasets, webpages and policies about the Arctic. I now come to expect a weekly email request to replace invalid citations, hoping that someone had the foresight to download statistics about Arctic permafrost thaw or renewable energy in advance of the purge.
    …
    The consequences of vanishing citations, however, pose a far more serious consequence than website updates. Each defunct page is an effort by the Trump administration to deliberately undermine our ability to make good policy decisions by limiting access to scientific evidence.

    We’ve seen this type of data strangling before.

    Just three years ago, Arctic researchers witnessed another world leader remove thousands of scientific documents from the public domain. In 2014, then Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper closed 11 department of fisheries and oceans regional libraries, including the only Arctic center. Hundreds of reports and studies containing well over a century of research were destroyed in that process – a historic loss from which we still have not recovered.

  129. 129.

    normal liberal

    @Kristine:
    There are a few of us jackals scattered about the Illinois red zone south of I80. Chicago is a fine destination, but not if it involves pizza heresy.
    Wander around the Chicago suburbs these days, and it’s just an endless river of chain restaurants. It’s kinda demoralizing.

  130. 130.

    jl

    @Baud: You better make sure Baud knows about that.

    I think the Big Dem outreach team could used a virtual hobo on it, but maybe that is just me.

  136. 136.

    WaterGirl

    @hilts: That’s sad. I was about to say that I don’t understand why people can’t work out their differences, but then I realized that it’s been over 4 months since the election and I still don’t feel warm and fuzzy toward my sister who voted for Trump. So who am I to judge?

  137. 137.

    J R in WV

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    they’d either switch nametags with each other or all be John Cole.

    John Cole II
    John Cole III
    John Cole IV
    John Cole V
    John Cole VI
    .
    .
    .
    .
    John Cole NNN

  139. 139.

    hilts

    @WaterGirl:

    i’m thankful i don’t have a sibling who voted for trumpenstein. you have my sympathy. your sister and other trump voters is another story.

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    @hilts: both sisters and nearly my whole extended family!!!

    I am not a grudge holder and usually I am probably too forgiving for my own good, but this one is a struggle for me.

  142. 142.

    mai naem mobile

    @jl: I get mad at different Dem people at different points.Wilmer for not giving up earlier when it was obvious he had zero chance. HRC for taking stuff for granted.Obama for not overruling Ryan and Turtle and releasing the Russian info. I also realize I am blaming the victims here not the perpetrators.

  143. 143.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hilts: I have not resided in metro NY since 2007 when I went to work for the Army. I lived in Bethpage. Depending on what happens with my new orders (don’t ask), I may be in Manhattan in mid June for an aikido seminar. If so it may be possible to schedule one. But I won’t know for several weeks where I’m going next or when I relocate and that will effect things. I’ll let you all know, in advance, next time I’ll be in NY for an aikido seminar.

    And thanks for thinking of me.

  145. 145.

    mai naem mobile

    @Pogonip:u niece graduated from a good HS a couple.of years ago and they had goverment class but I was kind of disappointed from what I saw in her assigments. She’s a STEM kid and IMHO she really only became interested in politics in college because of her peers and social media.
    @Adam L Silverman: Dolt 45 definitely doesn’t understand how government works. Neither do a lot of the teabagger congress critters. And definitely not RWNJ media.

  149. 149.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Attending. If I’m able to, this will be Saotome Sensei’s last/final seminar at the Bond Street Dojo (which hasn’t been on Bond Street in a very long time!). I’ve never been asked to come and teach one and I don’t make an effort to try to establish myself on the seminar instructor circuit. I’m just about the senior enough point, but with what I do for work it really isn’t a priority for me. And since I try to avoid the politics within the aikido organization I belong to, because I just don’t have the mental energy to work on the stuff I work on for work and then deal with the egos of my peers and seniors, I most likely won’t get onto the seminar instructor circuit. Which is fine.

  150. 150.

    hilts

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Adam,

    Thank you for your consistently outstanding Maskirovka posts!! They’re among the most informative and insightful posts concerning our ongoing national nightmare.

  152. 152.

    hilts

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m holding out hope that the Dems can regain control of the Senate in the mid-terms. Maybe, the shock of that outcome would be enough to drive Trump to a nervous breakdown and he could be declared mentally incompetent and kicked out of the White House. I know Pence would be horrible, but I believe he is slightly less batshit crazy than Trump.

  153. 153.

    WaterGirl

    @hilts: I’m hoping for the senate and the house, but I have no idea whether that’s at all realistic. Either way, we have to try!

  154. 154.

    reality-based (the original, not the troll)

    @Pogonip: um – scuse me?

    Here in Sunny North Dakota, the only response to “winter is coming” is “no shit”. New England is the damn tropics, to us!

    Although it was sunny and 50 degrees here today. But it won’t last – i was digging out of an April 10th snowstorm last year –

  155. 155.

    seaboogie

    @Adam L Silverman: This. I read an interesting article on it somewhere (no idea, didn’t save a reference), and it makes complete sense.

    What gives me cause for optimism is the general trend towards greater enlightenment and inclusiveness – it is an overall positive-tending graph. It’s a trudge, and a worthy one, at that. Also, with Trump giving the resentful ones permission to give full voice to speak what is in their hearts, we have a pretty accurate measure of where resistance to progress lies.

  157. 157.

    seaboogie

    @Steeplejack (tablet): Oh, Steep – what a thoughtful and generous gift this is – like an arrow shot straight from DC to NorCal – and it hit me directly in my heart. You are so kind and compassionate.

    Yesterday I received a card in the mail from the emergency vet with a very sweet hand-written note, and a keepsake enclosure with Zoe’s actual (post-mortem) paw print on it with this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

    Grace comes from such unexpected places sometimes, and you are a part of the grace that I experience in my life.

    Thank you, my friend.

    P.S. I wore makeup today, so now I look a bit like a raccoon…

  162. 162.

    Smitty

    I would guess that I’m older than most at the get together. We had better get some youngsters to go along with us McGovern supporters .

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