Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The revolution will be supervised.

After roe, women are no longer free.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I really should read my own blog.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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166Comments

  3. 3.

    Jim Parish

    The puppy seems remarkably calm. Every puppy I’ve ever known would be wriggling.

  4. 4.

    amk

    Stop cheating the poor puppy. It’s not a spa, it’s just a damned kitchen sink.

  8. 8.

    Eric S.

    Softball team won our 3rd game for a 3-0 start to the season. Bitter sweet for me as I can’t play after rotator cuff surgery. But i can’t think of any place is rather be at this time of year than on the field with my friends. Even if that means I only coach 3rd and keep the book.

  9. 9.

    lamh36

    I’ve been trying for past couple of weeks to start thinking about my next vacation trip…but with the new job and new surrounding, money’s been delegated for other things…but soon, very soon…I’ll be able to start some planning.

    Going to see Guardians of the Galaxy tomorrow and I can’t wait!

  10. 10.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    Open question: If a formerly-good — or at least passable — political writer so thoroughly shits the bed for the duration of a “credibility acid test” (e.g., the 2016 election), is said bed-shitting made retroactively worse if they revert to their former mean relatively quickly (Alex Pareene), stay just as worthless as they were during said bed-shitting (Jack Shafer), or, if their bed-shitting was awful but not fully discrediting, to accelerate their descent into derpitude (Matt Taibbi)?

  14. 14.

    CaseyL

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I think it does discredit them in retrospect, because you look back on what they wrote before and wonder if it was just as lazy and dishonest but you just didn’t notice.

    2016 was a lesson – continuing into 2017 – on how widespread the rot is, and how what we think of as “our side” isn’t really a whole lot better than theirs. I haven’t thought very highly of political commentators/pundits for a long time, but the past year has put me into a constant state of bafflement on how it is possible for people to make so much money doing something that apparently requires little effort, honesty, or intelligence.

  15. 15.

    satby

    Just finished watching the new version of TMC Essentials with Alex Baldwin and some Santa Claus impersonator. I miss Robert Osborne.

  16. 16.

    sharl

    Adam, would you have any idea on what advantage(s) the Russian government would see in having a broadcast outlet in the Washington DC market for Radio Sputnik? It’s on 103.5_HD-2 in this area, bandwidth owned by the biggest news/traffic/weather(/commercials) station in this area, WTOP-FM.

    I’m sure WTOP’s ownership is happy to take rent money from the Russian government for that bandwidth, but beyond a relatively small number of us radio dorks, I doubt that hardly anyone owns a high-definition radio, and among those who do, I doubt many would tune in to that station. I can’t see their ratings being very good, although maybe some junior analysts at the various spook agency HQs may have it on in their offices.

    The only purpose I can figure is old fashioned trade craft, i.e., embedding coded messages into their broadcasts for their operatives in the area. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  18. 18.

    efgoldman

    @CaseyL:

    it is possible for people to make so much money doing something that apparently requires little effort, honesty, or intelligence.

    Especially honesty.
    Maybe Fournier and Cilliza made more money than any of them, and they’re hopeful.

  19. 19.

    efgoldman

    @sharl:

    I doubt that hardly anyone owns a high-definition radio

    There’s a technology that went right down the crapper. Introduce a new kind of radio tech just when radio is becoming obsolete, that’s the ticket.
    Reminds me of Quad in the 70s.

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sharl: I have no idea. Maybe they think someone will tune in by accident, think it’s some other form of talk/news radio, and get hooked.

  21. 21.

    ArchTeryx

    In the “instant karma” department (and no, sadly, no politics in it).

    We had two housekeepers stop in to clean our room at Portofino Bay. Both were the usual – kindly immigrants who barely spoke English but were quick, efficient and skilled. We thanked them (in Spanish) and made a point to call their supervisor and compliment them by name for their work.

    Today, we were greeted by a surprise: A free basket of candy and snacks, and a handwritten note by the housekeeper supervisor thanking us.

    (Comcast actually is paying for $25 tips for the housekeeping staff, so that at least is already taken care of).

    Sometimes, doing good can come back to you in unexpected ways. It really made our day to see that.

  22. 22.

    Shalimar

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): With Pareene, I really liked his writing in the past but don’t even know who he works for now and didn’t read anything he wrote last year or so far this year. IMO, speaking generally because I don’t know the specifics other than that he apparently had a Hillary issue, if his writing has become good again, then it is your choice whether to read it now or not. I wouldn’t blame him exactly for what he wrote last year, but never, ever forget that he has a normally hidden issue or bias where he disagrees strongly with you. His new output should always be evaluated accordingly based on this new info.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    Couple of lazy weekend links.

    Who knew?

    Thankfully, the Queen is still alive and well. She also has her own mobile phone that possess a secret Facebook account. According to Royal author Brian Hoey, the Queen is up to date on social media. Her phone, however, is impossible to hack into, as well as her Facebook account. So, you won’t get any dirt about the Queen until after her passing. She even knows how to text, and loves to surf the internet. Source

    Meanwhile, in poop news:

    Mr. Floatie, the mascot associated with the region’s practice of releasing sewage into the Salish Sea is heading to Seattle to retire officially. Source

  25. 25.

    efgoldman

    @Shalimar:

    he apparently had a Hillary issue

    An awful lot of pundits turning into frogs last year was/is Clinton Derangement Syndrome, in addition to chronic and incurable Broderism.

  27. 27.

    wkwv

    I want to thank Bill E Pilgrim for linking to the BBC Magazine article on the French election. I read it and then clicked a link on the sidebar about women’ surfing and there was my niece’s photo (toward the end) and a little bit of background about her involvement with the Mavericks surf competion. I never imagined a harbor commissioner from California would be interview by the BBC. Serendipity.

  29. 29.

    lamh36

    This Alien:Covenent film looks crazy azz fuq.

    I’ve never been into the Alien movies…so I’m not the market for this film, but anyone else love the new prequels?

    ETA: I got my annual Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview Guide in the mail like 2 weeks ago and still trying to work through it…lol.

    I need some respite from the news so this summer I’m gonna try to make a summer of movie watching.

    First up for May: Guardians…

    Next up, maybe King Arthur if I can find a free screening or matinee…hmm

  30. 30.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    Her phone, however, is impossible to hack into

    Wonder if Wikileaks will take that as a challenge

  31. 31.

    sharl

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks. Thinking about it a bit more, I wonder if it’s just a Russian government-funded boondoggle provided to the idiot child of one of Putin’s oligarch pals, who put a relatively small amount of money into the thing and parked the rest of the funds in an offshore bank account.

    A couple weeks after Adrian Chen’s long report on the Russian troll farm came out, a self-described Russian democracy activist explained that operation with an argument along these lines.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    From France, and not about the election.

    A new law entered into force on Saturday, May 6, which compels all models operating in France to provide a doctor’s note certifying that their Body Mass Index (BMI) is not too low and that they are in overall good health.

    Under a second law, to come into force in October, all pictures of models that have been altered or photoshopped will have to carry a disclaimer to that effect.

    The health ministry said the two measures aimed “to avoid the promotion of unattainable ideas of beauty and to prevent youth anorexia” as well as to protect the health of models, who are especially at risk from being underweight.

    The doctor’s note will be valid for two years and will look particularly at a model’s BMI, with a reading under 18.5 classed underweight and liable to suffer from health problems. Source

  33. 33.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @Shalimar: He was the editor-in-chief for Gawker Media, and is still working at its successor Gizmodo/Fusion. His election cycle work really was much worse than his previous norm; one of the LGM regulars, Halloween Jack, hypothesizes that this falling-off was in large part due to the catastrophic stillbirth of First Look Media.

    @CaseyL: Does reversion lighten the magnitude of their wrongness or make it even less forgivable? ‘Cause I was thinking that at least in a case like Shafer’s you could at least clearly write them off as having nothing worth listening to.

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    It’s hitting a new mark this season, so who knows how much further it may elevate? Between BCS and The Americans I’m in teevee hog heaven (neglecting Fargo ATM, as there’s only so much time). Also, too, Veep is stabbingly funny this season and Silicon Valley is off to a good start.

  42. 42.

    piratedan

    @sharl: at this point sharl, you have to give credit to ol Vlad covering all of his bases in waging his IC war against the West. Now whether someone else starts getting pissed enough to start offing his hackers of fucking about in his own backyard remains to be seen. Pretty apparent that he’s taken “OUR” marker off the board for now. Unsure if this ushers in the old Sino-Russo competition or not or if we see the rise of other players on the great game board (and I hate categorizing the world this way, but that is how the other guys seem to see it/treat it). Is there anyone in a place to step up/in? The French? The Germans? India? Aussies? Canucks? Brasil?

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    @piratedan: Macron’s senior/chief foreign policy advisor made it clear today that when Macron wins, there will be consequences for Russia, including direct action. The German Foreign Minister has also stated something similar.

    It is also important to remember that the DGSE actually does, and is very good at doing so, almost everything that people think the Mossad does even though Mossad doesn’t.

  45. 45.

    Lyrebird

    @Adam L Silverman: People make fun of France either bc they have ill-informed stereotypes about the place or bc they have all too much experience with French coworkers who take their mission civilizatrice a tad too seriously. But to my knowledge, people in those two categories make fun of France in very different ways.

  46. 46.

    efgoldman

    @Caphilldcne:

    CAPS CAPS CAPS

    Prolonging the agony.
    And no, I’m not a Pens fan, just a realist.
    During the second intermission, Millbury tore Ovy a new one. How the hell can they sign anybody else of significance with that albatross of a contract – almost $10 mil a year. Even the buyout is over $33.3 mil.

  51. 51.

    Bill Arnold

    Just saw this, The Dangers of Empathy (Jonah Goldberg). Expect to see more of these in “Conservative”Land, all feeding off of one newish work (Paul Bloom “Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion”), all part of the Conservative/Libertarian project of thoroughly normalizing selfishness and painting alternatives as negative. FWIW there is a large and varied literature on empathy and related phenomena (e.g. altruism), and there are other arguments.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    From the same article:

    The new laws follow similar measures taken in Spain in 2006, which banned models with a BMI under 18 from Madrid Fashion Week.

    Israel has also banned agencies from employing models with a BMI under 18.5, as well as photo-shopping.

    In Italy, there is no precise law but the top agencies do not employ models with a BMI under 18.5.

  53. 53.

    seaboogie

    @Jim Parish: The mom stimulates a puppy’s or kitten’ bowels to evacuate by licking the lower abdomen when the animals are just born, so I imagine this is a mom/trust thing – kind of like how kittens go limp when mom carries them around by the nape of their necks, or puppies with their whole head in mom’s mouth.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman:

  55. 55.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Like Milbury has anything useful to say about how to run a hockey team.

    The contract was my contribution. He never mentioned it.
    He did OK as coach of the Bruins (plus contributing one of the great moments in the game’s history, whacking a fan in MSG with his shoe), but was way out of his depth with the Islanders.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Bill Arnold: From my understanding, the Pantload did his usual bang up job misreading, misunderstanding, and butchering the original author’s argument in order to make his.

  57. 57.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @lollipopguild: To me, at least, it’s especially heartbreaking when a writer/author’s sanity goes long before their skill does. Taibbi’s still a pretty talented writer, but for all the good his content does him he may as well be Canibus (and this deterioration had been going on for quite some time). And Terrence Nowicki Jr. has always been a good political cartoonist, but since last year’s election cycle he’s lost his total goddamned mind.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax:

    Israel has also banned agencies from employing models with a BMI under 18.5, as well as photo-shopping.

    Zaftig shiksas only…

  60. 60.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @Bill Arnold: No one is buying that shit. These 2 chuckle-fucks hate themselves more than other people. They live sad, lonely lives.

  62. 62.

    Caphilldcne

    @Adam L Silverman: LOL and no disrespect to our blog host or others. There was a cute young fellow (6ish?) and Dad rooting for the Pens behind me. He rocked the Pens cheers for the first half but I felt a bit bad that he spent half the game with his hands over his ears. It was ear splitting.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Caphilldcne: It was a good game. I’m not a big fan of either team, but I do like to watch good games. Especially in the playoffs.

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    These 2 chuckle-fucks hate themselves more than other people.

    Or, as was said about my late brother-n-law: He’s not prejudiced, he hates everybody.

  65. 65.

    sharl

    @piratedan: Yeah, I pretty much agree with most of that. Putin’s international activities are popular at home, from what I’ve read, in large part because they distract from serious domestic economic problems. Bringing back the glories of their superpower days and all that.

    I’d hate to see Cold War Part II, though; if we’re gonna go retro, let’s dial it all the way back to pre-1917 Great Game shit, sez me.

    ETA: just kidding on that last bit.

  66. 66.

    amk

    Pope Francis has criticised the naming of the US military’s largest non-nuclear explosive ever used in combat as “the mother of all bombs”.

    “I was ashamed when I heard the name,” the pontiff told an audience of students at the Vatican.

    “A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is going on?” he asked.

    Wonder how twitler’s meet with HH will go.

  67. 67.

    Caphilldcne

    @efgoldman: i’m just hoping that they may finally have gotten under Fleury’s skin. If they play the way they did in the 3rd for the next 120 minutes there’s hope. It’s what we got right now. Alex is indeed getting a bit long in the tooth but he’s a gamer.

  69. 69.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    …the Pantload did his usual bang up job…

    For sure. I’ll bet (better than even odds) that Paul Bloom isn’t happy at how his work is being abused. (But he set himself up for it.)

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t. Prop up the Western Front like France did, and it’s no wonder that there were no people left to fight just 20 years later.

  71. 71.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 6

    I have said this before here, but Henrik Lundqvist is a joke of a goaltender. He has been the New York Rangers’s biggest liability and I am tired of seeing him blow winnable games.

  72. 72.

    Caphilldcne

    @Adam L Silverman: yep. Fine game. I’m originally and still a Wings fan but I’ve been in DC for 20 years and share season tickets so I’m hanging on the edge with this one. Used to listen to the Wings with my great grandpa. Funny how stuff like that sticks with you. Love hockey.

  73. 73.

    efgoldman

    @Bill Arnold:

    Paul Bloom isn’t happy at how his work is being abused.

    Misappropriation, misquotation, and misinterpretation; it’s what they do.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @Adam L.Silverman

    Burlesque-era joke (complete with faux Italian accent).

    So the Pope has been laid low with a mysterious illness for many weeks. Finally, after contentious meetings and much consultation, the team of doctors agree on the best way to stimulate his system to elicit recovery.

    “You Holiness, we’re happy to report we have a plan for a cure.

    “Finally. Thats-a the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Explain-a to me, please.”

    (hesitatingly and sheepishly) “It – it – well, we agree you must have oral sex preformed on you. By a woman.”

    (long pause) “If that’s-a what you agree on, that’s-a what must be. But I have four conditions which i insist be followed.”

    “Yes?”

    “Number 1: So this stays entirely withing the church, she must-a be a nun.”

    “That can be arranged.”

    “Number 2: She must-a be blind so she cannot see who she is doing this to.”

    “Mm-hmm.”

    “Number 3: She must-a be deaf so she will not hear should-a I accidentally cry out in ecstasy.”

    “Of course. Difficult but we’ll no doubt be able to find someone who fits the bill. Your last condition?”

    “She must-a have really big bazooms.”

  76. 76.

    Timurid

    @lamh36:

    Covenant looks like the Alien franchise’s version of Force Awakens… a bigger and louder retelling of the original movie.

  77. 77.

    Bill Arnold

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Burneko’s refutation is definitive and also relatively old.

    Tx, interesting. My preference is to quick skim/read the actual literature, and I found a lot of varied arguments while doing so, including different taxonomies for empathy and related phenomena. (Not an expert by any stretch, just comfortable with e.g. scholar.google.com )

  80. 80.

    Proudgradofcatladyacademy

    @satby:

    Does anyone else feel like Alec Baldwin is everywhere these days? Kid movie, SNL, radio, podcast?

    Rather him than the yo-yo Christians Steve Baldwin though. Just watched Firefly series again this week while waiting for internet, since I only stream content. Forgot how much I liked the Jayne played by the other Baldwin.

    Thank you to all the kind comments on the morning thread. To my NE MN neighbor if you are in driving distance between Cotton and Ely love to do a BJ
    Meetup The Northern lights Rural AF version.

  81. 81.

    efgoldman

    @Caphilldcne:

    I’m originally and still a Wings fan

    For these playoffs I’ve adopted the Edmonton Oilers as the little engine that could.
    At least tomorrow night’s game starts early enough so when it goes to three or four overtimes it will still be over at a a half-decent hour.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: Not well. Also, the Switzers do not fuck around. And I would put money on their skills over the Secret Service’s.

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I would put money on their skills over the Secret Services.

    There’s a once-revered organization who’s reputation has gone in the shitter the last several years.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Caphilldcne: I watched the one game a week on USA network as a kid with my Dad who was from Denver. We lived in Florida. Well before anyone even imagined you should have a hockey team here.

  87. 87.

    lamh36

    ok…I just cannot stay up any longer. I need to catch up on sleep I lost from work today…

    Peace out BJ…

  89. 89.

    Caphilldcne

    @efgoldman: I always root for Canadians when not playing my teams. I took some Leaf friends to the first series which was fun til they won. LOL

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    Adam, thought maybe this might be of passing interest to you.

    Considering the source, utilize lots of salt, but found it interesting what the state-affiliated news service chose to pick out of a NYT piece.

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    Just got home from an evening out that culminated in dessert at the best patisserie in the state. I am satiated. Or is it sated?

  92. 92.

    Caphilldcne

    And speaking of bedtime that’s where I’m headed. G’night folks. Btw I rarely comment but always read. Thanks to all of you. I so appreciate this place.

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: Upper management problems. Honestly the worst thing we did was set up DHS. They could have created an umbrella set up, like was done with DNI, without simply merging everything together.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @lamh36:

    Going to see Guardians of the Galaxy tomorrow and I can’t wait!

    You’re going to be so very, very happy afterwards! Just stick around for all 5 post-movie, during-the-credits scenes ;)

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Not surprising. Here too, like with everything else, anyone who believed a thing the President promised to do is a fool.

  100. 100.

    efgoldman

    @Caphilldcne:

    I always root for Canadians when not playing my teams.

    I became a fan thru my college team (Boston U), which is/was always very good. Because i was in the band (and led it one year) I went to about 20 games a year. I looked it up: there are nine former BU players in this year’s playoffs.
    Then, when the Orr/Esposito Bruins came along, most of the games were on free (UHF, wiggly ghosty, black & white) TV. Hockey was so popular in Boston then, that the Whalers were originally a Boston team, and the Bruins’ top AHL affiliate (the Braves) also played in Boston Garden. It looked for a while as if the Celtics would have to move, because they couldn’t get dates at the old Boston Garden (owned by the Bruins, and originally a dual-purpose hockey and boxing venue).

  103. 103.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: AND this “Valerian and the Thousand Planets” or whatever…looks quite cool!

    (we were subjected to 22 minutes of previews before seeing GOTG 2 – a 2 hour, 15 minute movie itself – today) “Valerian” better make up for that!

  104. 104.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    that culminated in dessert at the best patisserie in the state

    In Providence?
    I’m tempted to add the tag “The only patisserie in the state”
    How many can there be?

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: Skip the meeting and just shut down the Moscow power grid, or empty out Putin’s cronies’ electronic bank accounts. Let’s see if that registers with Vladimir.

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    @NotMax: Sounds like my kids are about to do a deep dive, a la “Tintin”! (which we have seven collections of and which they always circle back to, despite all the other books around here) Thanks NM!

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: Yep. Scary. I don’t normally frequent those sites. I live in a generally liberal, internationalist environment. I get creeped out by the Neo-Nazis.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: This is the key issue. While Russians may have suffered because of the sanctions, Putin has not. Nor have the oligarchs and senior officials and organized criminals he is the krysha for. Until we make them hurt, they won’t turn on him. Until we make him hurt, he won’t stop.

  116. 116.

    lamh36

    i really need to go to sleep…but i can’t stop watching Aladdin until I at least hear “Friend Like Me”
    RIP Robin Williams!

  118. 118.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: For some of my work I have to read them. The funniest are at TTAG where the comments to reviews of firearms often quickly devolve into the comments at Stormfront or Breitbart or the others.

  119. 119.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman:

    Or, as was said about my late brother-n-law: He’s not prejudiced, he hates everybody.

    I have had great success using this as a defense to discrimination claims. We call it the “equal opportunity asshole.”

  122. 122.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/

    The owner/publisher is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors. At least 1/2 his editors and writers and reviewers are as well. The comments are a neo-NAZI/white supremacist cesspool. There’s one regular commenter who references and cites his own manifesto (that no one has ever seen). He’s got some naturalized American as a commenter who claims to be a veteran who immigrated from the Balkans and makes Attila the Hun look like a commie squish. He’s so bad Twitter actually suspended his account. One of the other Jewish American front pagers, who is also the one that posts pictures of himself traveling to open carry states that are so creepy if I saw him near kids I’d call the cops, regular posts references to race realist studies on crime. This is just the highlights. It is a unique place.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: This was a big takeaway from “Winter Is Coming” by Gary Kasparov – if we want to hit Putin, we have to hit his oil oligarchs and related cronies in the wallet, where it truly hurts. And then unlike Sec. Tillerson’s comments this week, we have to remind the world that our priority is human rights..

  130. 130.

    efgoldman

    @Jeffro:

    we have to hit his oil oligarchs and related cronies in the wallet

    Like any part of this maladministration would allow that, let alone initiate it.

    ETA: On the other hand, the French and/or Germans….

  132. 132.

    CaseyL

    @Jeffro: I’m surprised no one’s already done this. Putin is destroying western democracy; you’d think someone, somewhere, in said western democracy would give enough of a damn to at least make it harder for him.

    Granted, so far he’s succeeded in places where the local oligarchs are happy to play along, but… I guess I just don’t understand why Obama (f’rex) didn’t unleash cyberhell on Putin & Co.’s finances. Particularly after November 8, when it wasn’t like Obama had to play nice with Putin so the incoming President would have smooth sailing.

    If France and Germany have the ability and the courage to take on the oligarchs, I’ll be eternally grateful to them.

  133. 133.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: Maybe it was the time that Obama sold us out like all the leftists said he would.

    We do have laws here. Should Obama have violated them?

  134. 134.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: We have laws protecting Russian oligarchs?

    No, I don’t think Obama “sold us out.” I do think his respect for and protection of institutional norms undermined his ability to respond effectively to opponents, foreign and domestic. And I think that particularly bit him (and us) in the ass when a Chaotic Evil was elected with a hearty helping of assistance from a foreign power.

  144. 144.

    CaseyL

    @Omnes Omnibus: I knew it was snark; I wasn’t sure you weren’t including me in the category of people who tend to say dumb stuff like that. I’m not, but I do believe if Obama had been of a more ruthless disposition, we’d all be better off today.

    @efgoldman: I think bedtime killed the thread. I should head that way myself; got an all-day art class tomorrow!

    ‘Night, y’all.

  146. 146.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CaseyL: If Obama had been more ruthless we would have been no better off. i think he surfed our zeitgeist pretty well.

  147. 147.

    EBT

    Getting that urge to stay up all night working on my project again.
    @efgoldman: He gets a shield to hide behind and he will like it.

  148. 148.

    Iowa Old Lady

    It feels very odd to be awake for this thread. We’re hanging out with some Canadians who are horrified by US politics, and the guy is a retired police officer. Also it’s raining

  153. 153.

    Origuy

    @efgoldman:

    I thought Cavaliers carried swords.

    Depends. The ones in the English Civil War also carried matchlock muskets; the ones in Cleveland carried basketballs.

  154. 154.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: I haven’t looked recently, but IIRC (corrections welcome), TTAG was founded by the guy who started TTAC – The Truth About Cars. He had a regular featured called “GM DeathWatch” which collected all the things that GM was doing wrong and how it was eventually going to kill the company. It had over 100 entries by the time the crash finally hit.

    He seemed like a bright guy, but he courted controversy and enjoyed putting the most provocative spin on his pieces. It seemed to me to be the most cynical and almost evil rationalization when he did his GBCW column to announce his selling of TTAC to found TTAG and take advantage of/fleece that “community”…

    I wonder how people like him sleep at night sometimes…

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  156. 156.

    donnah

    @ArchTeryx:

    If we speak up to thank people for good service, everyone wins. When we were overwhelmed by the options and choices of buying new kitchen appliances, a very patient and knowledgeable saleswoman walked us through and made sure we knew what we were getting. She was thoughtful and smart and very friendly and we were so grateful. I called the store management afterward and told them how impressed we were and he said he would make note of our comments.

    We were back in the store a few weeks later and stopped by to thank her again, and she was sporting an Employee of the Month pin. We told her we had called her boss and sang her praises and she gave us hugs. She said it meant a lot to her to be recognized for her work and we told her she was somebody special.

    I know we could go back there any time and she would give us the same level of attention. I’m glad to give good feedback when people do good work.

  158. 158.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    Anything – anything – has to be an improvement over their insipid Saturday host. Not only is she amateurish in extremis when it comes to reading the TelePrompTer, she actually manages to subtract from the sum total of informational and entertainment value of the movies she introduces.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    @donnah: Good on you. And that’s what we need to do, every single day of our lives under the Trump regime. Seek out the good. They’re out there.

    Resist, but reward and reassure too.

  160. 160.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    You mean Tiffany? She doesn’t bother me much. Nobody comes close to Osborne or I guess ever will.

  162. 162.

    Xenos

    @Jeffro: EU sanctions on top Russian oligarchs are already quite severe. Also, those oligarchs and Putinists lost a lot of money when Cyprus was allowed to let its banks fail. The EU has been the primary target of Putin – Brexit and Trump have been means to that end, mainly. Putin dislikes Clinton, but he really needs to bring the EU to its knees if he is going to survive.

  164. 164.

    artem1s

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Better Call Saul is almost as good as Breaking Bad.

    I am thoroughly enjoying it. In some ways I think the writing is better. The writers already know the end game. They have set themselves the interesting task of moving their characters from point A to point B in believable, yet surprising and interesting ways. I thought watching Mike’s backstory would be too sad, but BCS has just made him an even more endearing and tragic a figure.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    Maybe Fournier and Cilliza made more money than any of them, and they’re hopeful.

    Not sure I understand “hopeful” as a description of either, exp. Fournier, who is more of a right-wing propagandist who should never had been promoted by The AP into the Chief of Bureau in DC, where he oversaw the fomenting of an illegal war by the Bushies. A despicable piece of crap, not a journalist at all.

    I’ve managed to avoid reading Cilliza to amount to anything, and so won’t comment on his journalistic ethics.

  166. 166.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    Wow, those comments!?!? I’ve told the story before. We had an elderly farmer neighbor who was an infantryman in Europe in WW II. Don’s unit was one of those unlucky enough to be the first to “liberate” one of the more famous death camps. So I have heard first person from a witness about the Holocaust. You can’t lie to me about it.

    Many years ago there was a big old tube radio, with many bands of reception. Late at night I would sit and twist the dial listening from signals from all over the world. I stumbled on a station with someone slowly reading lists of numbers, random sounding, in small groups. Years later I learned that these numbers stations were passing messages in code.

    Glad I never had to learn to do that! Probably over with now, in the age of steganography and other computerized messaging. Amazing to think of a Russian FM station in DC, though. I guess the thinking is better to have them out in front of you than in the dark behind you…

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