White House on edge as 100-day judgment nears https://t.co/N05bQ9zVSk via @ShaneGoldmacher pic.twitter.com/DSkkUHKTpa
— POLITICO (@politico) April 11, 2017
Anybody else reminded of a certain (often quite gruesome) vintage television show? I’m just barely old enough to remember the title sequence…
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock’s rotund profile. As the program’s theme music, Charles Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette, plays, Hitchcock appears in silhouette from the right edge of the screen, and then walks to center screen to eclipse the caricature…
More likely, in this degraded parody, the caricature will eclipse the actor — assuming that didn’t already happen, possibly as long ago as the 1980s.
'We’ve got essentially 2 1/2 weeks to turn everything around,' says one Trump staffer. https://t.co/nbJkBziYQw pic.twitter.com/VCUso2wHiJ
— POLITICO (@politico) April 11, 2017
… The symbolic 100-day mark by which modern presidents are judged menaces for an image-obsessed chief executive whose opening sprint has been marred by legislative stumbles, legal setbacks, senior staff kneecapping one another, the resignation of his national security adviser and near-daily headlines and headaches about links to Russia.
The date, April 29, hangs over the West Wing like the sword of Damocles as the unofficial deadline to find its footing — or else.
But however real Trump’s frustrations are with the three rival power centers he has installed — chief of staff Reince Priebus, son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon — top officials inside and around the White House don’t expect Trump to make any drastic changes until after 100 days, lest staff-turmoil stories swamp a key stretch of media coverage…
There’s a plethora of detail on the who’s-up, who’s down machinations of the Trump Eternal Campaign Cartel, in Politico‘s best horse-race-tout style. Never mentioned in the longish article: April 29th is also the date of a potential government shutdown, barring a budget agreement… but who cares about dull minutia like that?
Have James Cameron turn it into a movie? pic.twitter.com/9veiaxkNlV
— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 11, 2017
Abyss, Terminator, Titanic. They all work for this joke.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 11, 2017
rikyrah
Good Morning,,. Everyone ??
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Sab
I am not into fat-shaming so I cannot comment about our *president*
Lapassionara
@rikyrah: @Baud: good morning.
Baud
April 29 is also the Climate March, which is occurring one week after the Science March.
OzarkHillbilly
Bleeccchhh.
Baud
Trump is the United Airlines of presidents.
p.a.
WTF is Donnie’s problem? He always wanted a top rated show and never cared about the content having any discernable quality. Mission Accomplished.
Immanentize
@p.a.: it’s not just that the show has to be watched because it’s on, Trump personally needs to be popular. He needs to be adored.
Joyce H
A bright note is that the Trump “Modeling” Agency is folding. There was always something rather skeevy about a “modeling” agency whose business plan was to import attractive young adolescents from Eastern Europe, IMO. Get them away from family, friends, and a support network where they would maybe more susceptible to rich old men who might be ‘generous’?
Chris T.
@p.a.: Yes, he has us all by the
pu∬yTV now…Some Dude
@Sab: The *president has no shame, so he may appreciate you giving him some…
geg6
On Maddow’s show last night, she discussed the arrest of a major Russian troll in Spain at our FBI’s request. He is apparently responsible for much of the fake news targeting that Russia has been indulging in the last few years. I’m interested in knowing if this is as significant as she seemed to imply. Perhaps Adam will have an opinion on that at some point.
Schlemazel
@Sab:
GIven his ego-driven belief that he is hansom and sexy, his fat shaming women including a skinny Miss Universe contestant added to his “doctors” note that he is the healthiest POTUS everI will make exception in his case
@Some Dude: LOVE IT!
NotMax
The opening sequence. Not eclipse so much as replace.
Must see TV at the time. His somber, measured “Goood eeevening” each week was something to look forward to.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: Plenty more where that one came from.
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
I loved the macabre little jokes he tossed out
I was saddened to find out later he has some very twisted & sick relationships with women . . . so maybe MotherFuckingTrump is a good stand in
JPL
I’m off to wave signs for a local council election, and then I’m going to vote early for the a council member and district 6th. They opened an early polling site for council, and put in one booth for the 6th. I heard that yesterday that it took about an hour for twenty people to vote. People were not happy and a few discussed Trump.
NotMax
Was saving this Passover treat for Adam, thus will likely repeat the link on another thread where he pops in.
Gotta be a version among them which tickles your own fancy.
NotMax
@NotMaxM.a<
Wrong linky above. Would appreciate that comment being 86'd. Try the second:
Was saving this Passover treat for Adam, thus will likely repeat the link on another thread where he pops in.
Gotta be a version among them which tickles your own fancy.
NotMax
@NotMax
Okay, the cosmos obviously has it in for me tonight. Third time’s the charm.
Was saving this Passover treat for Adam, thus will likely repeat the link on another thread where he pops in.
Gotta be a version among them which tickles your own fancy.
debbie
“Two and a half weeks to turn everything around”? Typical corporate speak. You can’t turn around the many, many lives that have already been affected by your bullshit. Those lives matter a whole lot more than your approval ratings, you jackass.
gene108
@Schlemazel:
One of the misogynistic things about the last election that was taken for granted was Trump’s accusations that Hillary “had no stamina” and that she was weak.
No one seemed to point out that Trump is not a vigorous, fit, 70 year old. He blustered about how strong he is and the media just moved on to the next shiny object, letting those baseless accusations linger.
I think, when Hillary came down with pneumonia and tried to tough it out at the 9/11 ceremony, Donnie’s lies got vindicated for enough people to make a difference.
Hillary’s about the same age as my mom. They are a few months apart. Like my mom, Hillary may not be particularly athletic, but she does take care of herself by watching what she ate, doing yoga, and whatever cardio/strength training she felt comfortable with.
Donnie, on the other hand eats fast food, well done steaks smothered in ketchup, and only exercise he got was gesticulating wildly at his campaign events.
But Hillary was the weak, low energy, no stamina candidate.
One of the many things that irked me about the last election.
Baud
Tillerson heading to Moscow. No Ivanka, so Putin is threatening not to meet.
Baud
@gene108: Yep.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: 3rd times the charm.
Patricia Kayden
He successfully got a SCOTUS Justice seated with help from Republican Senators and their blatant act of stealing the vacant seat from President Obama so that’s a huge accomplishment for him.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: That was preordained on election day.
ETA:. The only way he could have failed was to nominate a liberal.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
SHOCKER: Trumps AWOL at Passover dinner.
Trump and his Jewish son-in-law and daughter-wife failed to attend WH dinner tradition begun by predecessor.
satby
@Baud: still too depressing to contemplate.
@rikyrah: Good morning, beautiful!
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
I knew their religiosity was bogus.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Weaselone
I don’t know why Trump is sweating this 100 day thing. All he has to do is launch an air strike on an empty field somewhere in the Middle East on the evening of the 99th day and the news media will crown him the most Presidential President with the hugest hands since George Washington. It’s true. It’s true.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Even after a nap, still bleary eyed from the monthly bill paying and grocery shopping expedition to town on Monday.
Added to the mix this time was a too long stretch spent going up and down the aisles at Kmart, which closed at the end of March and is having a storewide liquidation sale (except no discount on liquor).
MomSense
Morning everyone. I’m going to leave my house without a coat today! Well I did that a couple weeks ago because I was sick of wearing a coat and then it hailed on me walking from my car to the office. This time I’m not just being stubborn.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
What a disgrace. From the photo, it looks like they held the dinner in the basement on folding tables on top of a picnic table cloth, using metal office chairs.
Trump dinner (photo) vs Obama dinner (photo)
Peale
Well, I guess as long as we can convince Trump that after 100 days, it’s pointless to try to do anything because “tradition” says so, we’ll make it through OK. Also, wait till he finds out that after Memorial Day, The 2018 election season will “officially” start based on another tradition, and therefore Congress can’t be expected to pass or even consider major legislation until the lame duck session.
Cermet
Until the orange fart is either dead from health issues, or impeached the media is always going to chase the latest shiny metal object that jackal throws down. Here is looking forward to his death by heart attack or choking to death on his own bile … .
Humboldtblue
Take a break from watching the Trumpster fire and instead take a look at the Ferndale Owl Cam as momma incubates about a half dozen eggs!
Peale
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: trump has probably already sold the tables and pocketed the money.
NotMax
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Unable to tell (perhaps someone with younger eyes can) whether any of the wines are from sonny boy’s vineyard.
And who serves white wine at a Seder?
satby
@NotMax: wine bottles, but no food that I can see on the table. Odd.
NotMax
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Oh, and take note of the painting of a Crusader (with cross on his shield) on the wall, overlooking the proceedings.
NotMax
@satby
As every single bottle is turned so the label faces the camera, assuming they were
donated bypurchased at a substantial mark-up from sonny boy’s vineyard.Patricia Kayden
@Baud: And he’s fully enjoying administering the beatdown to all of us 99%-ers. And we’re just reaching his first 100 days. Huge Sigh.
SFAW
Shitgibbon would have a ratings BONANZA if he committed seppuku during primetime.
Raoul
Good morning! Up really early (out of bed at 5:40!) because my body thinks it’s noon. But that’s OK, I enjoyed a lovely trip to France, with nary a peek at BJ for a week (I missed it, but not enough to take time away from croissants or mildly cheesy Seine river tour boats).
Anyway, a thought this morning: visiting the Normandy American Cemetery a couple days ago, and pondering the fields of crosses (and a few stars of David) as well as the memorials, inscriptions of gratitude for sacrifice and hopes for future peace, and then thinking about the massive, long and complex cross-Atlantic campaign to secretly plan and then run D-Day and beyond at Omaha Beach with our allies, I felt such a deep pit of dread and fiber-of-being worry over our current governmental crises.
Trump and his Tv-villain-level minions cannot even manage an Easter Egg roll smoothly. And here we are participating in ‘destabilizing’ Syria. I just fvking can’t. Well, I can, and I will, but it is just awful to contemplate.
Gindy51
@Joyce H: AKA human trafficking.
Weaselone
@satby:
Lots of differences. The Obama picture also shows the clear use of Presidential China. It looks like the plates in the Trump photo have no pattern.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: No offense to you, but too many of the 99% voted for Trump for that term to have any meaning left for me.
Patricia Kayden
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Were Trump, Kushner and Ivanka even in attendance? I heard they weren’t.
SFAW
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Where the First Lady? Off having a “special meeting” with her “other husband”?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Please… Somebody ask me if I want off this flight.
Raoul
PS. I woke up to a white blanket of snow here. It was 75 degrees on Omaha Beach and Paris on Sunday. Now half a world away, but roughly similar latitude, snow! Spring is funny that way.
Splitting Image
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Now be fair. The most respectful thing Trump can do to mark an occasion is to not show up.
SFAW
@Patricia Kayden:
You mean that isn’t Kushner facing the camera? I really gotta work on my Kremlinology.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Patricia Kayden: No. None of them.
NotMax
@SFAW
A blue version of hide the afikoman, perhaps?
SFAW
@Splitting Image:
Why, just because he’d be making jokes about “camps” and “ovens”? It’s all in good fun. You Lie-berals and your political correctness.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: True but that just means that the good will suffer with the bad because many of us 99%-ers didn’t vote for the Liar-in-Chief. But we’re stuck with him for at least four years.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: True. Maybe we need to coin the term “the 48%.” Wasn’t that Hillary’s popular vote share?
SFAW
@NotMax:
I’ve never seen “salami” — well, in Shitgibbon’s case, “cocktail wiener” — written that way.
It’s good to learn new things.
Patricia Kayden
@gene108: Trump has loads of energy — look how often he plays golf. That requires a lot of hitting and walking. /s
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: I believe so. It would be good for us to be able to distinguish ourselves from the idiots who voted against their interests and put a corrupt, hustling Con Artist Billionaire into the White House, who in turn has appointed corrupt, inexperienced Billionaires to key Cabinet positions to erode the federal government.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@SFAW: and discussing how a group of Jewish international bankers control the media (Elders of Zion).
SFAW
@Patricia Kayden:
A) Assumes facts not in evidence
B) Put quotation marks around that — unless you’re talking about Mark Cuban, of course.
JPL
@Raoul: Unless you send Alain, pictures we won’t really know that it happened. Welcome back from the depths of socialism.
SFAW
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Thanks, I had forgotten about that one.
Soros!
NotMax
@Patricia Kayden
Walking? Only the best golf carts. “The best, believe me.”
zhena gogolia
@Schlemazel:
At least he was a great artist. There’s that.
NotMax
Tomorrow’s news today.
Secret Service tackles, restrains the prophet Elijah, hustles him off White House grounds.
Bannon overheard muttering something about “pushy Jews.”
ThresherK
@NotMax: Okay, now I want to wager a beer that Trump owns a golf cart with a fake Rolls-Royce grille on it.
hillary would have lost
psst!!!
Nobody fucking cares. The functionality of the executive branch is irrelevant to someone without a worthwhile job. Some clusterfuckartist in a bad toupé promising the right things will get enough goodwill just for saying those things (and even-less-than-convincingly-acting-like-he-cares) to get a second term. Strategize accordingly.
Or, you know, Cory 2020 because he hits you right in the wonks.
Ella in New Mexico
@Patricia Kayden: THIS is the ONLY reason he was allowed to become President. It was the ONLY reason the Republicans had to put up with his shit show, and I’m betting we see the wagons circling and the knives coming out to get rid of him pretty shortly.
After all, ANY Republican can sign their turdboats of legislation. They don’t need to associate with Trump’s bizarro-world clown car anymore.
NotMax
@ThresherK
“And there he is, ladies and gentleman, about to climb aboard Duffer One.”
Baud
@Ella in New Mexico:
The same is true of supreme court nominations.
Raoul
@JPL: Here’s a couple shots from Plymouth MN, in the west metro.
And yes, I seem to have managed my visit to deep socialism fairly well. Funny thing, though, they have these damn privatized toll roads over there. Stunningly expensive given the also high (not complaining, ours is too low) gas prices. One surprise toll plaza was €8.50, good thing we’d been saving coins for days.
If anyone is interested, we spent about €100 (107 usd) on gas for 550 miles of driving (I’m guesstimating 19 or so gallons?). Imagine the screams of agony over here if we had $6/gal gas. Granted, we were in a sort of micro-minivan that could in theory seat seven (if they didn’t have luggage). Such are the joys of two middle aged gay men vacationing with two 70+ y.o. ladies … luggage for days! Still managed close to 29 mpg including several stretches at 80+ mph. A six-speed manual + high octane/high compression little engine = fun, even in an MPV.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: Suits me. I feel no solidarity with those people.
MomSense
@Splitting Image:
I think it was held at the Executive Office Building. It didn’t look like the White House especially the chairs.
NotMax
@Raoul
Creeping back up close to $4 a gallon here.
efgoldman
@Patricia Kayden:
Does he walk? I bet he uses a motorized cart with extra padding on the seat.
ETA: And I’m sure as shit that he doesn’t carry his own bag, even to put it on and off the cart.
And I’m also sure he stiffs his caddie(s) with an embarrassing tip.
Major Major Major Major
Fucking metaphors, how do they work? Or is the sword of Damocles one of those things now that everybody uses wrong, like splitting the baby meaning coming to a compromise?
efgoldman
@ThresherK:
Nah. More likely it has his logo in gold plastic on all sides.
Amir Khalid
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Having the Passover Seder at the White House, where he lives, and not showing up for it is probably the only thing Trump could have done that is ruder than not having a Seder at all.
JMG
I have to think the White House is obsessing about the 100-day mark because Trump thinks that when he hits it, work is over and he can spend the summer on the golf course rather than just the weekends. Best place for him, actually.
efgoldman
@Amir Khalid:
Hey, Amir. Been too long.
He doesn’t think he lives at the WH; his legal wife isn’t there; for the most part, he’s not there on weekends. To the extent he “thinks” at all, my take is he thinks of the WH as an office that happens to have living quarters upstairs.
NotMax
@JMG
No matter what, Dolt 45 will tweet about it as “the most successful first 100 days in presidential history!”
Raoul
@NotMax: Wow, where is that? I mean, sure, once can find a rip-off sation in SoMa San Francisco with super at $3.79, but even the L.A. basin is looking like averages around $2.79-$3.09 for regular.
Minnesota is still around $2.29.
ETA: I did see a friend in Santa Cruz complaining on FB last night about gas prices. But then Santa Cruz is IMO a completely insane place to live in terms of real estate/rental costs. Like nutso-land. YMMV, it seems!
Baud
@NotMax: This is true.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah dealing with fucked up metaphors is a long road to hoe.
NotMax
@Raoul
Maui. High gasoline prices go with the territory. Hasn’t been below three bucks since last century. Pretty sure I saw diesel prices posted at above $4 yesterday.
Ufda!
clay
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
The problem is that way too many people on the right-wing (and in the media) think that “friend of the Jews” = “friend of Israel” = “uncritical support of everything Israel does”.
efgoldman
@NotMax:
For some meanings of “success”.
Nobody’s gotten close enough to kick him in the knee or the cojones. Yet.
He hasn’t lost any of the lawsuits. Yet.
Apparently nobody’s been able to score his tax returns. Yet.
He’s got the secret service to protect him from Russians with teabags.
He’s got the grift going full blast. Who knows, for instance, what he’s charging Uncle Sam for food and lodging for all the necessary staff and secret service when he goes to Florida Uglyland.
SUCCESS!
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: Stop being such a Cassandra.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Glad you added the qualifier.
SFAW
@NotMax:
Given his customary attention to detail and accuracy, he’ll tweet that on April 18.
Eric S.
Good morning, all.
Checking in from Chicago’s Red Line again. It was a great game at Wrigley last night, even for this Cardinals fan. The 2 hour rain delay though meant I wasn’t in bed until 1:30. It’s going to be a long day.
efgoldman
@SFAW:
Far be it for me to cast aspersions on another man’s marital relationships.
Hell, I can’t even lift the aspersions, let alone cast them.
Just another point on the “live there / don’t live there” scale.
SFAW
@NotMax:
His price would be higher, but “Fast and Furious 37” kinda bombed at the box office.
Another Scott
It’s a good thing that Donnie’s 120 day Immigration
PauseBan is also ending soon. That means they know “what the Hell is going on” about “it” now, right? And everything will be back to normal with ICE and TSA and Green Cards and Refugees and all the rest soon, right?(sigh)
So much “winning”. How can we survive, so much “winning”.
Cheers,
Scott.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Sab: Are you suggesting Trump casts a large shadow over the nation, looms large over the political scene.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
It’s all in the wrist.
[Take it from me — someone who has never caught a fish in his life, probably wouldn’t know which end of the fly rod to hold, etc. But I have “the best” something something.]
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW:
The pointy end goes in the other man.
SFAW
@Another Scott:
Whenever I see a line like that, I keep thinking of Adam Baldwin in “Chuck,” saying “Russians. So many Russians.” Unfortunately, it’s more applicable than I ever would have thought.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
You wouldn’t be leading me on, would you?
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Bangkok related quip?
Ah, Phuket.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gene108:
Well put it this way; picture what it must be in real life It’s clear anyone calls Trump on his bullshit Trump is will just spew more of it. If you are going to do anything more than just punch him in the face you got to say “what ever dude” and move on.
It’s like that silly scowl Trump has all the time. Just more bluster from the guy.
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting Techniques</a.
Believe the technical medical term is Mussolini Mouth.
marcopolo
Posted this in a thread last night…but…
For all the blogfolk who live in and around St. Louis, at my local Indivisible meeting last night I found out Senator McCaskill has scheduled a town hall meeting for tomorrow (Wed) at the Jefferson College Fine Arts Theater building in Hillsboro. Doors open at 8 am with a 9 am start time. Hope some folks can make it there.
And here’s hoping for a good KS result, which might not necessary mean we need to win.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Sure, they weren’t serving hamburger so Trump wasn’t interested.
StringOnAStick
I have a question for the BJ hive mind. Yesterday I received a DVD from an ex-friend, someone I cut loose over many things but the embrace of the men’s rights movement was the final straw. At least I cut off communication before the election so I didn’t have to listen to his old hippie enhancing the contradictions BS. The DVD is “the red pill, a feminist’s journey into the men’s rights movement”. Do I return it and risk that it might be resold and convince someone that this movement is somehow feminist, or just trash it? /s
Seriously, the fact that he thinks I need further ” education” in this matter just pisses me off. I’m meaning hard towards trashing it.
gene108
@Raoul:
But don’t they sell it in Euro’s/Liter? It’s like you’re paying 1.50 per unit, which feels like less per unit than hear. ?
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting Techniques
Quasi-apropos.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: He is such a flirt.
amk
After hauling his ass all the way to the twitler’s whorehouse to kiss his ass, bet Xi feels like a twit today.
danielx
@Patricia Kayden:
@Baud:
All true. I’ve been trying to come up with an appropriate label, but “Not An Ignorant Dipshit” leaves something to be desired.
NotMax
@StringOnAStick
It may as well serve some useful purpose.
Hang it dangling on a string from the eaves to deter birds from flying into the window?
OzarkHillbilly
@StringOnAStick: Why not both? Trash it, and then return it to him.
danielx
@StringOnAStick:
That would be wasteful. They make excellent coffee table coasters and this one could be a conversation piece as well.
Splitting Image
@StringOnAStick:
Personally, I’d trash it.
hovercraft
@Sab:
How about I do it for you. I’m short and fat, and he’s a big fat orange blob.
Major Major Major Major
@StringOnAStick: @danielx: snail-mail him a picture of it trashed/microwaved.
low-tech cyclist
Actually, the 100-day mark is at noon on Sunday, April 30.
His list of accomplishments, so far:
1. Got Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
(Big fucking deal. That was one place where the GOP is united, and could push it through by sheer force. And Mitch the Turtle had already done the heavy lifting last year by blocking Garland.)
He might manage:
2. Signed a CR to keep the government functioning through the end of the fiscal year.
Or then again, he might not. (Especially given that once Congress is back from its recess, they’ll have less than a week to get the CR together.) But when you control the White House and Congress, this should be routine.
After that, it’s down to signing dipshit executive orders. And a pointless and ineffective bombing of a Syrian airport.
Yep, a first 100 days for the history books.
hovercraft
@Baud:
I know they’re terrible, but that’s a low blow! They at least get people from A to B eventually, and unhappily, what has Twitler done for anyone besides give them license to release the darkness within?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Wow, just the constrast is pretty stark, The Trump one they all look like “*(sigh) work party, when can we get out of here?” and the Obama one everyone at that table looks pleased to be with Obama.
NotMax
@StringOnAStick
Not my bag, but if you’re the vindictive type, could smear a thin coating of vegetable oil on the outside rim of the non-label side and send it back with instructions that he watch it to please double check that what’s on it is what he intended you to see.
That will essentially permanently destroy his disc player.
artem1s
another blast from a better past. Trump’s team of rivals are all positioning themselves to knife one another. Obama’s team of rivals ran against him and then put away their personal concerns and got down to the real work of running the government. Hillary faced the almost impossible task of rebuilding the reputation of the state department and this country with other world leaders. There was a reason the GOP worked so hard at spreading their lies about her. She was good at it as she has been at everything she has ever put her mind to. Biden especially impressed me with the way he used his experience to take the first hit on policy and deflect initial criticisms. He was far and away the best, most effective Vice President of my lifetime. And he chose to be the perfect partner to his boss, not a cockblocking asshole. the obvious friendship and easy manner between Biden and Obama says a lot about them. I hope they have lots of opportunities to work together again.
ThresherK
@NotMax: M^4 has been posting from Bangkok for a couple days now. The city don’t know what the city is getting.
(I have resisted that mightily for a looong time.)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@NotMax: Good lord, and Trump thinking he’s the American Mussolini is Trump dumb too.
Jeffro
I still love those initial stories about Trumpov padding around a darkened White House in his bathrobe, calling people late into the night and channel surfing.
The loneliness suits you, Trump. Hopefully the shame and disgrace will too.
rikyrah
From The Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4401444/Name-man-hauled-United-flight-Chicago-revealed.html
Excerpt:
The passenger who was dragged from an United Airlines flight is 69-year-old David Dao.
Footage of the Vietnamese-American being hauled off the overbooked flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday caused outrage on Monday.
Dao was heard in videos captured of his shocking eviction saying he needed to get home to Louisville so he could see patients of his.
DailyMail can reveal Dr Dao is a father of five and a grandfather, who specializes in internal medicine. Four of his five children are doctors.
Ksmiami
@Patricia Kayden: and in the not so distant future we will remove Gorsuch
hovercraft
@Splitting Image:
Actually, not sending Bannon in his stead was the most respectful thing he did.
rikyrah
Paul Manafort’s role on Team Trump faces new scrutiny
04/10/17 04:28 PM
By Steve Benen
The story of how Paul Manafort ended up leading Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has always been a strange one. As the Russia scandal continues to unfold, questions surrounding Manafort’s role in the Republican operation are of growing importance.
Initially, you’ll recall, Manafort wasn’t Trump’s campaign chairman, but rather, was brought on to help Trump secure the necessary number of delegates at the Republican convention. This wasn’t a ridiculous role for Manafort – he’s played a similar role at previous GOP conventions – but his relevant experience was nearly four decades ago. If you were a leading Republican presidential candidate looking for a hand wrangling delegates, Paul Manafort probably wouldn’t be on any major contender’s list.
But it wasn’t long before Manafort started climbing the rungs of the Trump campaign ladder, and the candidate eventually put Manafort in charge of the entire campaign. That, too, is difficult to understand – because he was such an odd fit for the job. The Republican lobbyist nevertheless maintained his position as campaign chairman for much of 2016, through critical points in the campaign.
How’d this happen? The New York Times had an interesting report over the weekend on Manafort’s successful sales campaign, from himself to the man who would eventually become president.
Major Major Major Major
@ThresherK: so many songs about Bangkok.
Rob in CT
@StringOnAStick:
Throw it away.
Optional: send him a note that simply says “you are a fool.”
rikyrah
S-T-O-L-E-N S-E-A-T
Trump on Gorsuch’s confirmation: ‘You think that’s easy?’
04/11/17 09:20 AM—UPDATED 04/11/17 09:32 AM
By Steve Benen
……………………………
But the president’s question need not be rhetorical. Trump believes he “got it done,” and it wasn’t “easy.” Is that right?
The fact that Senate Republicans had to use the so-called “nuclear option,” changing the institution’s rules in order to get Gorsuch onto the bench, obviously means this wasn’t an easy process. Indeed, the fact that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had to execute a 14-month scheme, with no precedent in the American tradition, effectively stealing a high court vacancy from one administration in order to hand it to another, reinforces the complexity of this dynamic.
But what rankles is the president’s boast: “I got it done in the first 100 days.” I’m sure it made Trump feel nice to say this, but let’s not forget that Trump didn’t actually do any real work.
Conservative activists helped the Trump campaign put together a list of possible justices before the election; the White House chose a name from that list after the election; and then Senate Republicans used their majority to do all the heavy lifting. As accomplishments go, the president spent vastly more time golfing and tweeting about stuff he saw on television than shepherding Neil Gorsuch through the confirmation process.
As for the audience that heard Trump’s curious boast, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern had a good piece noting one of the attendees at yesterday’s event in the Rose Garden.
The fact that Mitch McConnell is one of Congress’ fiercest opponents of campaign-finance reform puts a nice little bow on the entire affair.
Iowa Old Lady
@StringOnAStick: Throw it away. You have better things to spend your time and emotional energy on.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: For your next vacation may I suggest the lovely island of Nantucket?
rikyrah
Young women view Ivanka Trump negatively: poll
The Hill
Olivia Beavers
A new SurveyMonkey poll released Monday reveals that a majority young women share a negative view of Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s daughter and special counselor.
The poll found the first daughter is much more popular among women ages 34 and over than she is among young women.
According to the survey, 40 percent of women between the ages 18 and 34 find the first daughter unfavorable, compared to only 32 percent who see her favorably.
Sixteen percent of women between the ages of 34 and 64 found her more favorable than the younger women did, with 48 percent favorable and 29 percent unfavorable.
And women 65 and older gave the highest approval for the first daughter, at 53 percent, with 28 percent disapproving.
Ivanka Trump is also more popular among men than women. While 44 percent of men view her favorably, only 35 percent of women do.
Her favorability ratings among men and women are almost identical to those of first lady Melania Trump.
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah:
Why not all five? Huh? Fucking moochers.
rikyrah
Jared Kushner and the Bipartisan Bog
by Martin Longman April 10, 2017 5:50 PM
…………………….
don’t know how good her legal advice really is, considering that her client managed to bungle his paperwork:
As Charles Pierce astutely asks, “who among us hasn’t forgotten about the times we met Russian spies who own banks?”
It would have been nice if the election of Donald Trump actually signaled an end to the kind of incestuous relationships that allowed the Democratic nominee for president to praise the man who committed war crimes for Nixon, or for Jared Kushner to hire a Cheney-approved “Democratic” 9/11 commissioner as his personal pro-nepotism representative who will cover for his high-level national security lapses.
Alas, that was not the case.
There’s a swamp to be drained, certainly. Trump and Kushner just aren’t the ones to do it.
Tenar Arha
@StringOnAStick: I would not mail it back. I would destroy it. I’d probably film myself shredding it and send him the video link. But that depends if you think you’ll ever be able to talk to him again or if you think he’s gone so MRA that that could set him off.
rikyrah
In moderation…please help.
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: my favorite limerick is about a man from Iraq.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@NotMax:
And he’ll do it on day 85…
rikyrah
Why Does Jeff Sessions Want to Reinvigorate the Failed War on Drugs?
by Nancy LeTourneau April 11, 2017 8:00 AM
I’d like to remind you of that day when Trump’s OMB Director Mike Mulvaney told us that the reason this administration’s budget cut funding to programs like Meals on Wheels and after-school initiatives for kids was because they could no longer defend spending tax dollars on programs that don’t work.
Let’s put aside the fact that feeding seniors and children is a self-defined success: hungry people are no longer hungry. It’s really that simple.
My reaction to Mulvaney was that if we’re going to defund programs that don’t work — the best place to start is by ending the so-called “war on drugs.”
………………………………………….
In the last 46 years we’ve spent over $2.5 trillion on that war and all we’ve got to show for it are a lot of dead bodies and the highest incarceration rate on the globe. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the No. 1 nation in the world in illegal drug use.
…………………..
Apparently AG Sessions and his top lieutenant Steven Cook think that we can arrest and incarcerate our way out of the drug problem, even though both science and recent history tell us that is nonsense. It is worth asking why this administration would cling to one failed federal initiative while proposing to eliminate so many others. Ava DuVernay answered that question with a documentary titled simply: “13th.”
Whether it is Sessions’ move to pull away from police reform, his history of opposition to voting rights, or his plans to ramp up the war on drugs, there is one key element that binds his approach on all of these issues…racism. While we’re in the business of breaking taboos, let’s get rid of the one that keeps us from naming exactly what’s going on here.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
I like the cut of your jib.
A Ghost To Most
@StringOnAStick: Take a Sharpie, draw a pile of stinky shit and a swastika on the DVD, and send it back.
Fuckem
rikyrah
@gene108:
The only people who believed that about Hillary WANTED to believe it.
I thought her going to the 9/11 memorial WITH PNEUMONIA was about as clear an example of her being a woman than anything on the trail. It burned me, watching all those phucking male pundits think that they could purse their lips to criticize Hillary, when, as a woman, I completely recognized Hillary and why she was at the event.
Pissed.me.off!
Mike in DC
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
“Why is this night no different from any other night?”
Woodrowfan
@hovercraft: I’m his same height and weight within a few pounds and he’s an frelling whale.
rikyrah
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
The Jews didn’t attend the Passover dinner?
WHAT THE PHUCK?!?!?!?!?!?!??
I keep on saying this, and will continue to say it…
KUSHNER IS A SLAVE CATCHER.
All Lives Mattering the Holocaust…NOT attending the WHITE HOUSE Passover Seder…..
catch the clues, people.
hovercraft
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
The thing that chafes his ass I think more than anything else is that Obama is more popular. Remember that even when Obama’s job approval numbers were “low”, he was still personally popular, Twitler is not likeable and disapproved of. SAD !
Tenar Arha
@Woodrowfan: I believe he’s prone to inflating and deflating numbers as it suits him, so you’re probably not comparable. ;-)
rikyrah
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Those pictures are pitiful..The comparison
bemused
@rikyrah:
Sessions is a big fan of private prisons and two of his ex-staffers went to lobby for private prison corps. Another chapter of the rightwing mutual benefits party.
Betty Cracker
@StringOnAStick: I would find it hard to resist the impulse for a big “fuck you” gesture, but I realize that’s one of my least attractive qualities. :) The thing that would likely piss your asshole ex-friend off the most would be silence. Your dropping the friendship must bug him, or he wouldn’t have sent the DVD. Let him wait in vain for a response.
Uncle Cosmo
@Raoul: Filled up Saturday at a WaWa by I-95 just E of Baltimore city limits: $2.259/gal. Prices running ~ $2.30/gal in the area, slightly less in VA (where I attended my grandniece’s 2nd birthday party Sunday), ~$0.15/gal higher in Columbia MD (where the gas stations like everyone else pay astronomical rents). Though I would not be surprised to see $4/gal here by high summer as Trumpolini’s thankew to his BFF.
low-tech cyclist
And Congress is out of town for most of that time, so that’s gonna leave less than a week just to get that CR through, let alone ‘turn everything around.’
MomSense
@rikyrah:
As a woman I totally recognized it, too. We power through when it matters no matter how terrible we may feel.
Splitting Image
@hovercraft:
You’re right. I stand corrected.
StringOnAStick
@Tenar Arha: Oh, he’s gone completely and utterly MRA, and tried very hard to get me to see that being pro MRA was the correct feminist position; this “feminist” DVD is just so much crap. The guy’s a moocher; has no car, works as an adjunct at a community college and was my A&P instructor which is how I became friends with him because he asked the class for rides to the bus stop after class. He really is an old anarchist who views every political act as a chance to enhance the contradictions and was thrilled to be able to vote for Palin for that reason, and I have no doubt he voted for Dump and is super excited at this chance to really tear it all down, surely the Worker’s Paradise is at hand!
I want to thank everyone for their comments and advice; into the trash it goes. I’m not wasting any more time or thoughts on this guy. I’m someone who tends to not stand up for myself enough, this is where I draw the line. I’m hoping I learned something about accepting a friendship just because someone acted like a friend towards me; not everyone who acts friendly is someone who deserves your time or energy.
Woodrowfan
@Tenar Arha: thanks. But I have seen photos of him and ofme and we could share wardrobes. Except I dress better. ;)
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
The best phone call was when he woke Mike Flynn out of a deep sleep at 3:00 am and asked him to explain which was better for the U.S., a strong dollar or a weak dollar? And Flynn basically said “WTF, Mr President? How should I know? Go ask an actual economist.”
hovercraft
@Woodrowfan: @Tenar Arha:
That was my thought too. you can’t go by anything he or his Dr. Feelgood say about him, they’re both liars. Rachel had a segment last year showing that there was a good probability that he didn’t even examine him for that “physical” he released.
Phylllis
@StringOnAStick: Cut up or shred, then return.
StringOnAStick
@Betty Cracker: Thanks Betty, you are exactly, perfectly on point. No reaction would piss him off more. I just stopped answering his emails after the hike (which I drove too since he has no car and needs car owners to mooch off of) where he tried the MRA hard sell and I pushed back just based on what I’d read here. As my husband says, being a white male is about as easy as it gets as far as a base-class goes. I knew when I opened the package and saw the title that it was a way to try to restore the friendship and I am so, so not interested. He can indeed wait in vain for a response.
hovercraft
Your President America
Edited to clean up.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: This combined with reports of China massing troops on their shared border is a really excellent way to start the armageddon.
hovercraft
I guess he feels the afterglow from all those beautiful misiles is fading.
Someone’s desperate for approval, and as always, Fox is there to fluff him. SAD!!
germy
WaPo
amk
Southwest: We beat the competition. Not you.
Kropadope
@SFAW:
Well, in fairness, after all the winning it was “the most successful first 100 days in history” after two weeks.
?eric
@amk: Read with the voice of Ian McKellen: We no longer live in the time of Man, we live in the time of Shade.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Yesterday I linked to a TIME article, saying that Seoul is very nervous about the US moving navel assets closer to the Korean peninsular. Perhaps someone can explain to him that this is like negotiating a real estate deal, you play the heavy with the wrong people and many people will die.
I doubt “China” needed any “explanations” about anything from this moron. They probably laughed their asses off on the plane ride home over how much of what they said went straight over his head. Dumbass.
?eric
@Kropadope: Given God’s opening six days, gonna be tough to top that, even with 100.
Patricia Kayden
@amk: LOL!! Actually I love Southwest. No baggage fees. Too bad it doesn’t go everywhere.
chopper
@Major Major Major Major:
that was my first thought. Jesus guys at least put in an effort.
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: “I’ll name my son Donald in remembrance of a bigot who wouldn’t allow him into the U.S. to save his life. Nice!”
hovercraft
@germy:
Yeah that will be some stern warning!!
WSJ: If Tillerson Doesn’t Meet With Putin, Russia Trip Is Waste Of Time
As Harris explained, nothing much has changed between Assad, Russia or the US after the missile attack, Smith interrupted him and reported that the AP broke the news that Russia was aware before hand that Syria had chemical weapons and planned to use them.
Smith said, “Did this meeting with the Russians on the part of Rex Tillerson just take a dramatic turn?”
Harris replied, “Oh, most certainly it — and as you mention though, he is not meeting with Vladimir Putin.”
“Some people I’ve talked to in the past few days have suggested that this meeting is really a kind of waste of time,” he said.
“If he’s [Tillerson] not actually sitting down with the one decision maker in Russia, who he can exert some leverage on,” Harris said.
If the reports are true and Russia knew about the chemical weapons this obviously will force the Trump administration to confront Putin in a much more forceful manner than they have so far, which includes Donald Trump.
After the missile attack, the Kremlin has said that Putin will not meet with Tillerson, somebody he does know, on Wednesday.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday that no such meeting was planned, suggesting Tillerson will follow strict diplomatic protocol and only meet his direct counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Kropadope
@?eric: Trump knows way more than God and got a lot more accomplished, faster, believe me.
Corner Stone
@germy:
I think WaPo has some confusion there. Tillerson walked out of those negotiations due to a condition of enlarged prostate, and he kept having to go pee.
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: Wow.
What a childish fuckface.
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
While its true that if you search long and had enough, you’ll find lots of really dumb people, I reserve the right to doubt the veracity of these reports, it’s FOX.
rikyrah
Trump’s daughter helped sway the president to launch Syria strike
04/11/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s not exactly a secret the Pentagon encouraged Donald Trump to launch last week’s attack in Syria, but according to one of the president’s adult sons, Ivanka Trump played a key role, too.
Eric Trump, speaking to the British newspaper while visiting a Trump-branded golf course in Scotland, explained the behind-the-scenes situation at the White House. “Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence,” he explained. “I’m sure she said, ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff.’ My father will act in times like that.”
He will? Really?
Weaselone
@Corner Stone:
Also, It’s easier to pretend you didn’t notice people cramming money in your pockets if your back was turned.
Corner Stone
From that Southwest twit feed, this one was good too.
Raoul
@marcopolo:
Yup. I’d love it if Thompson managed a huge underdog win. But even a solid swing from the +31 that was the margin last time would be important.
Raoul
@gene108: $6 gas when you can take a train to a ton of destinations with frequent service isn’t really such a burden. And that’s the real problem in the US. We have airlines that treat us like hostages, and we have cars. Other than the NE Corridor, we have screwed rail transport for decades, so cheap gas is essential.
(And yes, gas was €1.40-1.5 per litre, and the car was telling me fuel econ in the inscrutable European x.x litres/100 kms style that they do, so it was all just like play money. Plus vacation, so who cares attitude).
Tenar Arha
@rikyrah: I wouldn’t call him a slave catcher. But that’s not generally in my idioms so….
I could certainly call him vichy or quisling. With the anti-semitism given free rein by his father-in-law, and his role in bringing in white supremacists and Nazis to this administration he certainly deserves it.
I tend to think of him as if he’s actually an ennobled Jewish German before Nuremberg who was too stuck-up to believe they would be affected by the growing targeting of Jewish people or even a collaborator in his own destruction like an Elder of Lodz.
Anyway, the idiomatically closest insult would be to call him a kapo. (FYI not common at all among American Jews, but among Israelis, whooo boy).
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
So we will conduct foreign policy based on a mothers emotions?
Can these people hear themselves? Do they think this is helping? WASF!!!
Corner Stone
@Raoul: That Ron Estes ad with him in a swamp is downright creepy.
Shakti
This is a non-story. It’s not as if his first 100 days sucks he gets cancelled and we get a new government.
Presidents don’t operate in a parliamentary system in which they get a no-confidence vote and can be bounced at any time. The asshole got his SCOTUS justice, I’m sure he thinks he’s a huge success.
Corner Stone
@hovercraft:
Oh, don’t be so dramatic about it. I am sure Ivanka will look into her heart and decide she needs to influence her “dad” to not provoke N Korea into starting WWIII.
I am quite confident of it. She has a lot of influence, you know.
prob50
they want to know how to “sell” the 1st 100 days?
As a badly conceived, cruel farce.
AxelFoley
@Weaselone:
Dixie plates?
bmaccnm
@rikyrah: I’m having trouble finding a word other than “boorish” for 45. How gracious the Obamas look, how inviting their table, paid for by the president, how welcoming. Nothing like that for his replacement. Doesn’t even have the courtesy to show up. Goofus and Gallant, they are
Brachiator
Good eeevening. On tonight’s show, a horrid showman will terrify the world with the impact of his mindless ill-considered whims. As many of you will no doubt notice, this was the same as last night’s program. The madness will begin shortly, but first a few words from our sponsors, about steaks.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@hovercraft: It’s not just the approval numbers – it’s people generally like Barrack Obama as a person but, heck, there is hardly any warmth towards Trump for even his own family.
J R in WV
@StringOnAStick:
Break it in half and send it back. Can’t be reused, your opinion is clear as glass, probably won’t hear from them again.
Win-Win-Win.
Jeff
Donald the first was DOA day one.
JustRuss
Honestly, 200 replies, and nobody thought to add Aliens? Wake up people!
different-church-lady
What, they gave up on bald-face lying all of a sudden?
Miss Bianca
@StringOnAStick: Send it back to him with a copy of “The Red Tent”. Or a nice pink pu$$y hat!
Ab_Normal
@StringOnAStick: David Futrelle of We Hunted the Mammoth has a lot to say about Ms. Jaye’s documentary. An Open Letter to Cassie Jaye is a good place to start.
(relurks)