Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

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

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Republicans in disarray!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Giving up is unforgivable.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

This blog will pay for itself.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

You are here: Home / Climate Change / The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

by | 149 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , ,

While we focus on the various obvious bathetic catastrophes (from blowing secrets to the Russians to the big man’s collapsing in a heap after a mere one day on the road) committed by the shitgibbon and his band of merry (but never gay — oh no! not that) men, it’s important to keep at least some attention on the rolling, very real damage the Trump administration wreaks on a daily basis.

I’m so far behind on a book project that I can’t really keep up, and I certainly can’t blog with anything remotely resembling depth and insight, so I’m going to try instead to throw up quick posts as various bits of policy news cross my magpie’s field of vision.

This morning’s treat comes via a Saturday story in FTFNYT.*  Under Scott Pruitt, it seems, the EPA has become the Captain Renault of environmental regulators: everything has its price, and the Captain is always eager to make a deal:

Devon Energy, which runs the windswept site, had been prepared to install a sophisticated system to detect and reduce leaks of dangerous gases. It had also discussed paying a six-figure penalty to settle claims by the Obama administration that it was illegally emitting 80 tons each year of hazardous chemicals, like benzene, a known carcinogen.

But something changed in February just five days after Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general with close ties to Devon, was sworn in as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Devon, in a letter dated Feb. 22 and obtained by The New York Times, said it was “re-evaluating its settlement posture.” It no longer intended to move ahead with the extensive emissions-control system, second-guessing the E.P.A.’s estimates on the size of the violation, and it was now willing to pay closer to $25,000 to end the three-year-old federal investigation.

The administration’s response?

The E.P.A. has not yet made a public response to Devon’s new posture, and Mr. Pruitt declined to comment for this article.

Want to bet on how it will turn out?

In just the last three months, with Mr. Pruitt in charge, the E.P.A. postponed a long-planned rule requiring companies like Devon to retrofit drilling equipment to prevent leaks of methane gas — a major contributor to climate change — and to collect more data on how much of the gas is spewing into the air.

The Interior Department, meanwhile, announced this month that it would reconsider a separate rule limiting the burning of unwanted methane gas from wells drilled on federal and Indian lands, a process called flaring. That announcement came the same day the Senate narrowly rejected industry calls to repeal the same rule.

Interior officials have also announced their intention to repeal or revise a contentious rule requiring companies like Devon to take extra steps to prevent groundwater contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, a drilling technique in which chemicals and water are forced into rock formations.

You get the idea. Pruitt has a history of working with Devon Energy; the administration has both a pro-extractive industry bias and powerful faction and the always reliable motive of f**king with anything that Obama accomplished.  Some of what the shitgibbon’s people aim to do can, no doubt, be delayed, obstructed, tied up.  Much, perhaps most will go through, at least over the next year or so, up until the pressures of the next election begin to bite.

So:  constant vigilance and trust no Republican. They’ll load up anything they can on anything they can, transferring public goods (clean air, clean water, anything not nailed down) to private hands.

Over to y’all.

*Publication of such stories  is why I continue to subscribe. Their political desk is…dodgy…but they still field more fine reporters than just about anywhere else I can think of. YM, as always, MV.

Image: Elihu Vedder, Corrupt Legislation, mural in the Library of Congress, 1896.

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    When this is all over, Pruitt should be locked in an oil rail car as his punishment.

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Speaking of Free Markets, and also filed under Every Thing Trump Touches Turns to Shit:
    Ford CEO Fields Ousted in Massive Shake-Up
    ” Facing increasing pressure as its sales, earnings and stock price all slide, the Ford board of directors has ousted CEO Mark Fields.

    The 56-year-old Fields, who attempted to lead Ford in a new direction focusing on high technology, will be replaced by former Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett, according to those sources and reports. Hackett, who joined the Ford board last year had also served as interim director of the University of Michigan’s athletics program. ”

    Am loving the pictures they decided to use for the article.

  3. 3.

    The Moar You Know

    The 56-year-old Fields, who attempted to lead Ford in a new direction focusing on high technology, will be replaced by former Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett, according to those sources and reports. Hackett, who joined the Ford board last year had also served as interim director of the University of Michigan’s athletics program. ”

    @Corner Stone: Ford has a great product line, they might survive this, but I’m selling my stock. This was stupid.

  5. 5.

    clay

    *Publication of such stories is why I continue to subscribe. Their political desk is…dodgy…but they still field more fine reporters than just about anywhere else I can think of.

    I feel the same way about NPR. Sure their political coverage is bad — full of both siderism and “some say” horse race optical bullshit — but most of their other stuff is very solid and informative. Just this morning they had a piece on dissidents in Iran that you simply won’t find on any other nationally broadcast news network.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    Apparently Trump is Breaking News in Israel. Saying he never said the word “Israel” during the visit by the Russians. This is like McMaster saying no “sources & methods” were revealed.
    No shit. Neither of those things was ever asserted in initial reporting.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    I am sure it is programmed with no irony whatsoever, but I see one of the Starz channels is showing “In Like Flint” right about now.

  11. 11.

    jacy

    @clay:

    The boys and I listen to NPR in the car on the way to and from school when I have them (it’s an hour-long drive, so we hear quite a bit). For all the stupid bothsiderism, there’s a ton of really lnformative reporting on a vast array of subjects that the kids find really interesting. They always learn something and it always sparks discussion. When you can get an 11-year-old discussing refugee camps in France in a really involved manner, that’s a very good thing.

  12. 12.

    Raoul

    I have come to the same conclusion, for now, that the very lamentable bothsiderism and other weaknesses of the NYT political coverage is offset by their deep work in other areas vital to an informed and (hopefully!) progressive world.

    As far as the EPA being a pile of bullshit under Trump? Of course.

    Unfortunately, our state legislatures are noticing. Minnesota’s GOP has passed a wretched environment bill in the past 24 hours. In fact every budget bill they are passing is wretched (and has deep policy impacts if allowed to become law). So far, we have a highly popular (62% approval rating) Dem Governor who is pretty darn veto-ready.

    Not sure how it all will play out. But it is a rough year in MN, and the state GOP seems to be having a go-for-broke, Trump will destroy us all in 18 months so burn it down now mentality.

  13. 13.

    jacy

    @Corner Stone:

    Was listening to The Score on NPR yesterday evening, where they play scores to films — the theme for yesterday was films about corruption and scandal, and they ended with Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Chinatown.

  14. 14.

    Punchy

    So the next get-rich no-brainer is to be a bottled water distributor out of Casper and Jackson Hole?

    Only a matter of months before I’m out of stock and doubling the price of my commodity.

  16. 16.

    Cheryl Rofer

    So much this. But I think I will have a longer piece wrapped up later this morning.

    I’m so far behind on a book project that I can’t really keep up, and I certainly can’t blog with anything remotely resembling depth and insight, so I’m going to try instead to throw up quick posts as various bits of policy news cross my magpie’s field of vision.

    It’s hard to work while Trump is doing his thing. Just like the dysfunctional family member who keeps provoking some crisis. And we are all in this family.

  17. 17.

    clay

    @Corner Stone: What’s the context? Did someone ask him about it? (There wasn’t a press conference scheduled, I don’t think.) Or is it him just blathering on whatever sand has gotten up his pee hole? (If so, so much for the on-message discipline that the trip would supposedly enforce.)

  18. 18.

    randy khan

    @Corner Stone:

    First, it’s hard to imagine anyone in Israel buying that.

    Second, if he really did say it, he’s confirmed that Israel was the source. So, doubly stupid.

  21. 21.

    schrodingers_cat

    Continue defending Vichy Times, they only threw the election to T after relentlessly going after HRC’s emailz. I have come to the conclusion why Rs win more the Ds do. So many of us are so willing to forgive and make nice.

  22. 22.

    But her emals!!!

    @clay:

    It’s too bad he can’t have a news network that actually covers this useful stuff without engaging in this useless “both sides”, “some people say” crap. Is it really impossible to scrape together a couple of million people to watch/listen/read that type of content, or some billionaire to pay for it?

    There’s a need for a actual fact-based media, with honest, deep analysis of the actual issues.

  26. 26.

    Spider-Dan

    The “good” news is that the prospect of huge fines and expensive reoutfitting on every change of administration may make some of these violators decide that it’s not worth the effort to build environmentally unsound rigs in the first place. This is largely what has happened with the auto industry so far, who has recognized that any relaxation in fuel economy requirements during the Trump administration are likely to be undone by his Democratic successor, so they might as well just stay the course.

  28. 28.

    swiftfox

    Love the new “Today Show” opening segment on NPR. The gushy patter between David Greene and Rachel Martin. And when I hear the names Domenico Montanaro and Mara Liasson, I know I can switch to jazz or classical music for a few more minutes. Too bad they have muzzled Christopher Joyce and Richard Harris – no stories on ME for five weeks.

  31. 31.

    p.a.

    hmmmmmmm:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina because race played too large a role in their creation.

    The justices ruled Monday that Republicans who controlled the state legislature and governor’s office in 2011 placed too many African-Americans in the two districts. The result was to weaken African-American voting strength elsewhere in North Carolina.

    Both districts have since been redrawn and the state conducted elections under the new congressional map in 2016.

    Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    There have been a few positive-on-the-surface-at-least SC decisions on voting rights lately. IANAL, and I haven’t checked the SC blogs lately, but I am surprised.

  36. 36.

    germy

    @swiftfox: Liasson puts the “Republican” in “Nice Polite Republicans”

    She does a poor job of hiding her agenda behind a “just reporting the facts” facade.

  38. 38.

    germy

    @p.a.: I wonder how gorsuch would have voted if he’d had the opportunity on this one.

    Actually no I don’t.

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    New: @dccc expands their list of GOP house seats to target. Bold-faced names now in Dem crosshairs: Nunes, Hunter, Brat pic.twitter.com/nSD9wRvn4r

    — Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) May 22, 2017

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    @clay: I see Cheryl has posted the video. I was watching on mute and they said a few remarks, then Trump got up and walked away from Bibi without the ceremonial handshake. He was then told to come back for it. After he said some things and used his stupid hand gestures and from the way Bibi was reacting you could tell he was saying a variation of, “So I had my tongue up this chick’s ass.” (Old Andrew Dice Clay bit).
    Then MSNBC cut back to it and added a chyron headline so I was like, damn, this man is fucked in the head.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    Has anyone made the point yet that Trump’s current international tour is, for the nations hosting him, a first exercise in the suddenly-important art of Big Toddler Appeasement?

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    Trump White House clashes with federal ethics watchdog
    05/22/17 11:20 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Up until quite recently, Walter Shaub worked in relative unanimity. Shaub is the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, an independent, non-partisan office, which tries to prevent conflicts of interest among high-ranking federal officials, and he’s worked off and on at the office for 20 years.

    But Donald Trump’s election has brought Shaub into the spotlight in unexpected ways.

    It was Shaub who balked publicly in response to Trump’s decision to maintain ownership of his business ventures while serving as president. Soon after, he raised concerns about the president moving forward with cabinet nominees before the Office of Government Ethics could complete an ethics review process – and then blew the whistle when Trump’s nominees pushed back against the government’s ethics requirements with “a ferocity we’ve not previously seen.”

    Last week, we learned that it was Shaub’s office that stood its ground when Trump’s attorneys “wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true.” And this week, the New York Times highlights the latest skirmish in this ongoing saga.

    The Trump administration, in a significant escalation of its clash with the government’s top ethics watchdog, has moved to block an effort to disclose any ethics waivers granted to former lobbyists who have work in the White House or federal agencies.

    The latest conflict came in recent days when the White House, in a highly unusual move, sent a letter to Walter M. Shaub Jr., the head of the Office of Government Ethics, asking him to withdraw a request he had sent to every federal agency for copies of the waivers. In the letter, the administration challenged his legal authority to demand the information.

  45. 45.

    Corner Stone

    @Spider-Dan:

    This is largely what has happened with the auto industry so far, who has recognized that any relaxation in fuel economy requirements during the Trump administration are likely to be undone by his Democratic successor, so they might as well just stay the course.

    And as you say it’s cheaper in the long run to put out a superior product for the future, instead of herky jerky going along with this crazy shit. And, it’s what your customers want!

  46. 46.

    The Moar You Know

    I have come to the conclusion why Rs win more the Ds do. So many of us are so willing to forgive and make nice.

    @schrodingers_cat: There are a lot of reasons, but this is one of the big ones. There are others.

  48. 48.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @germy: There was a good article in the Atlantic by a former White House staffer on presidential trips. They’re action-packed and chaotic. A lot of work for everyone involved.

    I’ve done enough international travel to have figured out how to manage jet lag, but, given Trump’s general unawareness of his mind and body, he probably has been fighting off any suggestions or help that people try to give him on that. Also, he seems to need to sleep in his own bed and stick with his own kinds of food. Plus having been forced to read a speech probably not written by him, no deviations, which he also is reported to hate.

    From my pov, having traveled mostly coach with some upgrades to business class and having had to make most of my own arrangements, he’s got it easy. But the thing that makes it hard is his personal rigidity. If you look at foreign travel as an adventure and opportunity to learn new things, it’s great. But I think Trump is incapable of that.

    Edited to complete the thought in the first paragraph.

  50. 50.

    germy

    @The Moar You Know: In my opinion the NYTimes, in addition to their Hillary hatred, decided that eight years of a democratic administration was enough, and that it was time for a change.

    They think they know what’s best for us.

  51. 51.

    clay

    @Corner Stone: I can’t listen to the sound at work, but I can see the visuals in Cheryl’s post. I love how he just kind of wanders off in the beginning, like a slow-moving elephant who isn’t sure where he’s supposed to be.

    Then when he starts talking, everyone literally freezes like, ‘oh shit what’s he saying now?’

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat: R’s are absolutists. D’s are absolutists also. Well, most of the time. Ok, about half of the time. Some times D’s can be absolutists. If they choose to be.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Holy crapola, that entire clip is pretty scary. At the beginning Trump just went wandering off (he looked really befuddled) and someone had to push him back for what used to be known as a “grip-and-grin” back when we had presidents who knew how to smile. Trump can’t even fake a convincing smile. And then all the “I never said Israel.” Just wow.

    I keep thinking my gob can’t get any more smacked, and I keep being wrong.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    Here’s a video of his statement. Watch Netanyahu’s facial expressions and how he’s trying to move Trump along before he can do damage.

    @Cheryl Rofer: Trump appears to be on a staggering amount of anti-anxiety drugs there.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @Corner Stone: Last night my son told me this regarding his big take home math exam:. “I am 95% certain I got the test 100% right.”

    I love that boy. A Democrat all the way.

  69. 69.

    Mike in NC

    I decided to steal this phrase from a Letter to the Editor regarding Trump that was published today: “rotund repository of crippling neuroses”

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    Ha ha ha. Got this off Rick Wislon’s twit feed. Written a couple days ago, wonder how they feelin’ bout him now?
    Israeli Intelligence Furious Over Trump’s Loose Lips
    “But behind the public display of harmony, Israeli intelligence officers are angry and alarmed over the U.S. president revealing sensitive information in a May 10 meeting in the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

    Trump divulged classified information gathered by Israel about specific terrorist plotting by the Islamic State. The information reportedly revealed Islamic State advances in bomb-making that could be used to mask an explosive device inside a laptop, and also referenced the city where the unfolding plot was being hatched.”

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @Corner Stone:

    Israeli intelligence officers are angry and alarmed over the U.S. president revealing sensitive information in a May 10 meeting in the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

    Is that like John McCain getting angry, or are they actually going to do something about it?

  74. 74.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @schrodingers_cat: I’ve used the jet lag diet. Recent evidence is that it’s not as much as it was once said to be, but it seems to help me. I’ve experimented a little, and the most effective part seems to be a near-fast on the day or so before I leave, then eating at the normal destination times. I also try to move my sleeping hours closer to destination times as the travel day approaches. I then sleep on overnight flights and stay awake through daytime flights and make a point of getting out if it’s daytime when I get there or sleeping (lying in a bed feels SO good!) if it’s night. I also try to give myself a day or so to adjust before doing work.

    I seem to be able to rearrange my sleeping times more easily than many people, so this may not work for everyone.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t have much problem going east, say a 6-8 hour difference. Fly overnight, get a few hours, but that puts you on the ground in the morning. So you go about your business all day – no nap, no matter how tired. Eat dinner at local dinnertime, drink no more than one glass of wine. Go to bed as late as your body will allow. By morning I’m mostly acclimated to local time.

    A 12-hour difference is hard, no matter which direction.

  76. 76.

    randy khan

    @Baud:

    @Corner Stone:

    Israeli intelligence officers are angry and alarmed over the U.S. president revealing sensitive information in a May 10 meeting in the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.

    Is that like John McCain getting angry, or are they actually going to do something about it?

    Personally, I wouldn’t mess with Israeli intelligence.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    What Can Brown Do for the Democratic Party?
    by D.R. Tucker
    May 21, 2017 11:00 AM

    Assuming, improbably as it may seem now, that Donald Trump survives and runs for a second term (hey, stranger things have happened), who will Democrats embrace as their post-Barack Obama, post-Hillary Clinton champion?

    It’s not too early to speculate: the 2020 Democratic presidential primary will be here before you know it, and we could once again bear witness to a street fight between the party’s “establishment” and “progressive” wings. Of course, it’s just as likely that Democrats will decide to avoid a divisive primary by uniting around a consensus candidate.

    If he chooses to run–and if he survives a right-wing effort to deny him a third term next year–one wonders if Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown will be embraced as the individual to unite the Democratic Party’s various factions. History has proven that a divided Democratic Party is ripe for the pickings–and if party members are brawling amongst themselves again, the White House will stay in Republican hands.

    Last year around this time, I speculated that Clinton would select Brown as her running mate. I noted:

    Brown is Bernie without the bombast, a bold progressive voice who understands that the Democratic Party has always stood for the interests of the disenfranchised, disparaged and downtrodden; like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, he can articulate the woes and frustrations of the put-upon middle class, and coherently explain how progressive policies can redress those grievances. The selection of Brown could accomplish two mutually important goals for Clinton: he could appeal to the more rational members of Sanders’s fan club while also attracting support from working-class voters who might respond to populist appeals, but who haven’t swallowed the last drop of Donald Trump’s Kool-Aid.

    Brown nailed the difference between earnest and ersatz populism in a USA Today op-ed earlier this month:

    Populism doesn’t preach hate. Populism preaches hope — hope that all workers will have the opportunity to build better lives for their families. I hear that same hope all over Ohio, from the young, diverse workers at a software company outside of Cleveland, to coal country, where people aren’t willing to give up on their hometowns.

    I heard it in Cincinnati, where I met with janitors who had just signed their first union contract. One woman told me this was the first time in her 30 years of working she would be able to take a one-week paid vacation.

    A true populist looks out for people like her, because populism values work and it respects the people who do it — every last one of them. Our society doesn’t value work the way we once did; Americans work harder and have less to show for it.

    If you want to call yourself a populist, you better be ready to stick up for the little guy — whether she punches a time clock or earns tips. Whether she works in a call center or a hospital or on a factory floor. Whether he is a contract worker or a temp.

    And you better be willing to be straight with the people you serve. A true populist tells the truth, because she respects people’s intelligence.

    Of course we’ve always had cynical politicians. They — and the media that cover them too — often confuse popularity with populism. Populism and popularity may share the same Latin root, but not the same political home. An opportunist politician divides people and kowtows to the powerful. He spreads blame instead of solutions, and lies about bringing back an idyllic past that never was. And he often treats those with less power and privilege with disdain.

  78. 78.

    germy

    A flight from Shanghai to Newark, New Jersey was extended by three hours on Sunday after a fan of President Donald Trump became unruly and had to be removed.

    United told KNTV that a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” took another passenger’s seat and then became disruptive.

    Shanghai law enforcement was called in to deal with the man.

    All of the passengers were forced to deplane and reportedly chanted “lock him up” at the man, a riff on the cries of “lock her up” that was often said about Hillary Clinton at Trump campaign events.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @randy khan: They’ve clearly already been messed with.

    @rikyrah: Hasn’t Kay said Brown will never run on the national ticket?

    ETA: They’ll also be gunning for Brown in 2018. Trump’s election might have saved his seat.

  81. 81.

    randy khan

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I think a lot of the standard advice makes sense – eat and sleep on the local schedule (ideally starting before you leave), in particular.

    The funny thing for me is that the trip with the longest time differential – DC to Tokyo and back – was one in which I experienced essentially zero jet lag. Part of it was that the trip was short, but I think it also helped that the way the trip worked out I left Tokyo at 7:00, had dinner, went to sleep over the Pacific, then arrived at LAX in the morning, changed planes and ended up at Dulles at night, so I sort of experienced a full day while I was traveling.

  82. 82.

    pamelabrown53

    @Gin & Tonic: #75.
    Some years ago my mother joined the spouse and me on a trip to Paris. She repeatedly opined that she didn’t believe in jet lag. Well, I have a picture of her lying down on a hard wood bench in the Musee D’Orsay fast asleep, mouth open. I captioned it “I don’t believe in jet lag” and framed it for her. It still makes me laugh.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    @The Moar You Know:

    I have come to the conclusion why Rs win more the Ds do. So many of us are so willing to forgive and make nice.

    @schrodingers_cat: There are a lot of reasons, but this is one of the big ones. There are others.

    I do believe that 2016 changed a whole lotta that.

  84. 84.

    Neldob

    And those boogers are going after net neutrality too. Time to email and call the FCC. May be an uphill battle, but been fighting a few of those lately so getting aclimatized to the attitude. Heh.

  85. 85.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Cheryl Rofer: I too eat little, on the flight itself, that does help a little. Adjusting food intake to be in sync with my destination is easier than adjusting my sleepy time. Lack of beauty sleep, makes this kitteh grumpy.

  86. 86.

    randy khan

    @Baud:

    (1) Yes, they have been, but recently enough that we don’t know their response.

    (2) (Not directed at me, but I’ll respond anyway). I know people who have very good reason to know, and they don’t think Brown is running for President. Of course, that could change once the 2018 elections are over; he’s definitely concentrating on that.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @germy:

    All of the passengers were forced to deplane and reportedly chanted “lock him up” at the man, a riff on the cries of “lock her up” that was often said about Hillary Clinton at Trump campaign events.

    Hahahahahahaha. That’s awesome.

  88. 88.

    JCJ

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I take a sleeping pill (triazolam) and a beer or glass of wine on the plane from the US to Tokyo, then for the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok I watch a movie and doze. The flights typically arrive in Bangkok around 11 pm local time. I take another sleeping pill the first night in Bangkok. That usually works well for me. You have to be able to sleep a good 6 – 7 hours, but the flights from the Midwest to Tokyo are about 13 hours so no problem. Going to Europe I take the sleeping pill as the plane is taking off so I have enough time to sleep.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    @Baud:

    @rikyrah: Hasn’t Kay said Brown will never run on the national ticket?

    ETA: They’ll also be gunning for Brown in 2018. Trump’s election might have saved his seat.

    You are right that Kay insists that he’ll never run for the top job.

    They spent a God awful amount of money against him last time. Now, maybe I’ve heard wrong, but I think the same weasel, who continues to be a weasel, is running against him this time. Kay will correct me, if I’m wrong.

  90. 90.

    Tom Levenson

    @randy khan: You want deranging? I once flew Shanghai to Boston via LA. Left in the evening in Shanghai, did as you did: ate dinner, went to sleep. Got into LA in late afternoon; my connection was another red eye. I had five hours, so I went out for dinner with my sister, went back to the airport, got back on another plane, having experienced a sunset, and tried to go back to sleep. Got maybe forty minutes, arrived in Boston around 6 a.m. and dragged my sorry ass around for a couple of days.

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    In Saudi Arabia, Trump Sounded Just Like Any Other Republican War Hawk
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    May 22, 2017 10:13 AM

    During the 2016 campaign, foreign policy was one of the areas in which Trump sounded different from traditional Republicans. He eschewed the whole idea of “regime change” and campaigned on the idea that the U.S. shouldn’t be inserting itself in Middle Eastern conflicts.

    On the other hand, he embraced the growing movement of Islamophobia in this country, including the idea that terrorism was a natural outgrowth of the Muslim faith. That was the basis for his proposed “Muslim ban” and his hints at the idea of developing a Muslim registry.

    Due to that background, many people are experiencing a bit of whip lash at his remarks in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, including things like this:

    ………………………

    That sounds an awful lot like the kind of thing George W. Bush said after 9/11. The key for Republicans has always been where you draw that line between good and evil. That’s where Trump began to sound an awful lot like the Republican war hawks.

    But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor, financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment. It is a regime that is responsible for so much instability in the region. I am speaking of course of Iran.

    From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias, and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region. For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.

    Rhetoric like that will allow Senators like Cotton, Graham and McCain to jump back on the Trump train. Seeing Iran as the evil force in the Middle East puts U.S. foreign policy back on track to take sides with Sunni Muslims (primarily in the Gulf States) in their ancient battle with Shia Muslims (primarily in Iran). It ignores a fundamental reality that the editorial board of USA Today identified.

    The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization, is Sunni. The same goes for al-Qaeda, the group founded by Osama bin Laden that brought down the World Trade Center on 9/11.

    The bulk of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi citizens. And the Saudi government has long supported an ultra orthodox form of Islam known as Wahhabism, which has been a kind of gateway drug to radical Islam.

    To be sure, much of the reason that Sunni extremism dominates the world of terrorism is that it is the much larger of the two predominant sects. But radical Sunnis have been more aggressive than militant Shiites, such as Hezbollah, in attacking Western homelands.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    President Pakled
    Liberal Librarian
    May 22, 2017

    Most mornings I peruse Twitter to see what fresh hell Donald Trump has unleashed on us. Today it didn’t take too long.

    Trump on reports he shared Israeli intel with Russia.. during meeting with Netanyahu: “I never mentioned the word Israel.”

    — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 22, 2017

    You can be forgiven for having a spit take. In one quote, Trump confirmed both that he told Russia about secret intelligence, and that the source of the intelligence was Israel. “Don’t worry, guys, I didn’t say it was YOU (wink).”

    It really is getting hard to write about this man. It’s almost as if he wants to get out of this job so badly he’ll do anything to get impeached, but his party in Congress still has to gut healthcare and the tax structure, so he’s stuck in the job.

    Oh yes, the broader GOP. While the Trump White House has become “Reservoir Dogs” as directed by Ed Wood, Jr., don’t forget that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell still have their Randian boners up, wanting to undo the New Deal and Great Society in their totality, as well as obliterate Barack Obama’s legacy, making him an unperson. Of course, Trump’s travails have sucked up all the oxygen from the political room, so that’s good; healthcare “reform” is as good as stalled in the Senate, and tax “reform” is a non-starter. However, they can still do a lot of damage on the periphery, by undoing regulation or keeping regulation and just not enforcing it. And then we have our friends in ICE who have been taking too many lessons from the Gestapo now that their hands have been freed by their Fuhrer.

  94. 94.

    clay

    ““I never mentioned the word Israel. All I said was ‘that big Jewy place in the middle of the desert.'”

  95. 95.

    Immanentize

    @clay: “you know, the one with really great undercover guys — also good bookkeepers And a great big population of ex-Russians. So smart!”

  96. 96.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @amk:

    Wow. Does she think PDA’s are verboten or does she do despise that walking pustule?

  97. 97.

    Nicole

    I’ve always done flights to Europe in the evening- with the time change, you arrive in the morning. I can’t sleep on planes, so I plan a day filled with sightseeing, and thus am REALLY tired by the time I go to sleep the first night. A heavy night of sleep gets my clock set and I’m on the new time zone by the morning.

    When it hasn’t worked: on a trip to Paris with my aunt, where I discovered her snoring had gotten much louder since the last trip we took. And when we took our 5-year-old to Spain. He was a marvelous trouper- only slept an hour or so on the plane, but stayed up all day and was happy to see whatever we wanted in Madrid. Conked out with us at 9PM local time, just like I hoped…and then woke us up two hours later because he was having the mother of all night terrors. Fortunately, kids have no memory of night terrors. Unfortunately, his dad and I were pretty groggy the next day.

  99. 99.

    bemused

    Trump looks like he feels like shit. No stamina, heh. Hillary could give him some tips.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    @rikyrah:

    While the Trump White House has become “Reservoir Dogs” as directed by Ed Wood, Jr.

    Not only would I love to see that, I might even be convinced to invest. I mean, of course, were it actually possible.

  102. 102.

    Corner Stone

    @bemused:

    Trump looks like he feels like shit. No stamina, heh. Hillary could give him some tips.

    “You’ve been to two fucking countries, you fucking jamoke! Count em, one motherfucking two. Try 120 sometime, you punk ass.”

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    @Spider-Dan:

    This is largely what has happened with the auto industry so far, who has recognized that any relaxation in fuel economy requirements during the Trump administration are likely to be undone by his Democratic successor, so they might as well just stay the course.

    There’s also an issue of lead times. It takes years to do a full refresh for a car, which is why they typically do 4-5 years between generations and 2 years between smaller refreshes, so many of the engineering decisions for cars sold during the 45 administration were made during 44. The can some changes just by adjusting their mix of models (change the ratio of big to small vehicles produced) and levels within models (4 vs. 6 cylinder models), but even there their flexibility is limited by the cost of production lines.

  104. 104.

    SenyorDave

    @Corner Stone:

    While the Trump White House has become “Reservoir Dogs” as directed by Ed Wood, Jr.

    Not only would I love to see that, I might even be convinced to invest. I mean, of course, were it actually possible

    In that version, instead of “Stuck in the Middle with you” during the torture scene, they play “Sugar, sugar” by the Archies.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @Raoul:

    and the state GOP seems to be having a go-for-broke, Trump will destroy us all in 18 months so burn it down now mentality.

    It’s not just the state republicans, it’s almost all of them. They scored the triple, they are taking advantage as they understand that if people are really exposed to and have to live, and die, with their ideas, they lose a large portion of support. Because their ideas fuck almost everyone. This is the opportunity that they have been looking for since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, (the shot across the bow) which was the culmination of 35 yrs of post WWII conservatives “taking back the country for the wealthy.” That concept hasn’t changed one iota in those 72 yrs. And because the world is now much better connected, those ideas have spread to and from all the industrialized world. Which is much more of it since then. Which is not to say that the wealthy have not through out time thought that they should rule the world with a hand in all your pockets, it’s just that currently they don’t have to kill you to take most of it. They don’t kill you, they just remove all the protections that might have kept you alive. You may easily die as a result of their exploits, but not at their (hired) hands.
    If they only understood that a healthy workforce produces more and can afford to purchase more and make them wealthier than their way of stealing maybe we could fix this bullshit. But they seem to like having that power over others. The money of course isn’t the whole story.

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    @p.a.:

    He’s gonna want one in all his buildings now. Palantrumpi.

    Unfortunately, they’re all locked on to the master Palantrump located in Barad Dur the Kremlin.

  108. 108.

    GregB

    I am going to assume that a wave of plagues and pestilence will follow Trump after he opened up the portal to hell with the global who’s who of monarchs, tyrants and dictators.

    Batten down the hatches.

  109. 109.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    When this is all over, Pruitt should be locked in an oil rail car as his punishment.

    Flaring methane optional?

    The oil of course will be mandatory.

  110. 110.

    sherparick

    Wilbur Ross let his freak flag fly today on CNBC and how much he liked Saudi Arabia where no protester dare stirred. A reminder that the business class in this country, who were all behind Trump, would be very happy with an authoritarian government, where they could do as they will.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-model-society

  111. 111.

    germy

    @El Caganer: The problem with melatonin is… who knows what you’re really getting? There’s very little oversight on supplements (thank you Orrin Hatch among others) so you could be getting melatonin or you could be getting something either worthless or toxic.

    I remember a few years back someone bought a variety of supplements and had them analyzed in a lab. The majority of bottles contained little or no actual supplements, and some of them contained dangerous substances.

  112. 112.

    TenguPhule

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    It’s hard to work while Trump is doing his thing.

    Tell me about it. Motivation just to keep doing day to day things is hard when you have the impending sense that Trump is going to render all effort meaningless by destroying the nation by the end of this year.

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    @GregB:

    a wave of plagues and pestilence will follow Trump

    If you notice, in the Bible, the plagues and pestilence never seem to touch the people in power. Pharaoh was still sittin’ pretty when he let the Israelites leave,

    Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
    So that every mouth can be fed
    Poor me Israelites, ah

  114. 114.

    TenguPhule

    @Spider-Dan:

    This is largely what has happened with the auto industry so far, who has recognized that any relaxation in fuel economy requirements during the Trump administration are likely to be undone by his Democratic successor, so they might as well just stay the course.

    Oil industry is neither as smart as nor as far sighted as the car industry.

  115. 115.

    Felonius Monk

    @Elizabelle:

    And. He’s a home pooper.

    After holding it back for nine days, that 16 hour plane ride home is going to rather fragrant.

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    In the letter, the administration challenged his legal authority to demand the information.

    I know its been said that Trump couldn’t succeed in pulling off a fascist takeover.

    But he seems damn willing to try anyway.

  117. 117.

    Immanentize

    @TenguPhule: Oil industry understands its days are numbered, so all profit at any cost now is really the only position.

    meanwhile, what happened at Ford is so stupid. The SUV’s and Trucks are selling big, but they only exist because CAFE standards don’t apply to them. Yet. So, Ford fires the guy who sees that trucks and SUV’s are dead ends because their profits have slipped? The common wisdom that corporations exist only to create short term profits is a suicide pact in the long run. But wasn’t it Henry Ford Jr., when asked about pollution said something like, “Why should I care, I won’t be alive then.”

  119. 119.

    ruemara

    @sherparick: Protesting is punishable by death. Wilbur Ross is a moron and does everyone forget a key point on why Umbrella Corp was developing the T-Virus was to create a complacent, enslaved workforce? The upper-class set would happily destroy everyone beneath them on the wealth chart as long as they had some free labor to exploit. Can’t wait to see how robotics enhances the job economy.

  120. 120.

    Roger Moore

    @GregB:

    I am going to assume that a wave of plagues and pestilence will follow Trump after he opened up the portal to hell with the global who’s who of monarchs, tyrants and dictators.

    And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

  121. 121.

    TenguPhule

    @Immanentize:

    meanwhile, what happened at Ford is so stupid. The SUV’s and Trucks are selling big, but they only exist because CAFE standards don’t apply to them. Yet. So, Ford fires the guy who sees that trucks and SUV’s are dead ends because their profits have slipped?

    No argument from me. But the Oil industry is even dumber, because their shit is going to get people killed and they will still do it anyway.

  123. 123.

    TenguPhule

    @Ruckus:

    If they only understood that a healthy workforce produces more and can afford to purchase more and make them wealthier than their way of stealing maybe we could fix this bullshit.

    They can only enjoy great wealth with the knowledge that the many unfortunate poors are suffering because of it.

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    @ruemara: When you get right down to it, this is all Paul Proteus and Illium Works with microchips instead of vacuum tubes. Thanks, Vonnegut!

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Just traveling a lot seems to go two different directions depending on how the person reacts. When I first started to travel for my hobby it was about 8 times a year. An adventure. But that hobby turned into a full time gig and then I had to travel more than 6 months a year. A major pain in the ass is what I attacked it as. It took about 3 yrs of that till I adopted a much more laid back approach. It was still a major pain but my life and that of those around me, strangers and not became a lot easier. When the inevitable delays and rebookings happened I learned to just go with it, even if it was a major life interruption. I’d get better seats, upgrades and even better routing, just by not being a dick. I find the same thing at the VA, a very large bureaucracy which is much more involved in their clients lives than airlines. dumpf doesn’t have the ability for this. Along with all the other abilities that he lacks.

  128. 128.

    bupalos

    @The Moar You Know: I don’t think that’s it at all. The Republicans are the party of anger, insularity, backwardness, stupidity, cupidity, short-term thinking, and faith in big daddy. That is why they win, those are all really potent things and they are things that make their political playbook really simple and effective. They don’t need intelligent politicians, any dumb fuck with low enough standards can run their plays effectively.

    We just have a much harder task, running on good governance, policy, and long-term general welfare. We have to embrace complexity, common goals, openness, and progress. It’s just a much much harder lift politically. I’m in pretty profound disagreement with the hard-core moderates here who think the problem is we are too nice and forgiving and listen too much and don’t scream ‘fuck you’ enough. There’s always a faint whiff of Republican envy there to me. It won’t work. You can’t win like a Republican wins. Our platform isn’t stupid enough for that.

  129. 129.

    Corner Stone

    @TenguPhule:

    Oil industry is neither as smart as nor as far sighted as the car industry.

    I wouldn’t say that, exactly. They have known and been suppressing the truth about climate change since at least the ’60s. And they’ve toppled govts around the world that would not play ball with their exploration/extraction plans.
    It’s just now they can hear the clock ticking.

  130. 130.

    Ruckus

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    I sleep on plane trips. Set my watch to the arrival time zone, go to sleep, wake up on wheels extend and have very little jet lag. It sort of backfired one trip, I sat down in my window seat, fell right to sleep, woke up and looked out the window to see a red brick wall. Fortunately realized the we weren’t moving and wasn’t having a Twilight flashback. Asked the guy next to me if we were there. His reply – “You asshole, you are the only person on this plane that isn’t pissed off. They closed the door, we moved back about 10 feet and haven’t moved for 45 minutes. You missed everything by being asleep. Lucky bastard.” I just laughed and went back to sleep. Getting angry about things that you can’t effect or change is a waste of energy.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Is that like John McCain getting angry, or are they actually going to do something about it?

    Trump can probably expect angry Palestinian problems in the near future, because if there’s one thing Israel’s IC knows, its how to kill at least two birds with every stone.

  132. 132.

    chopper

    @Immanentize:

    If you notice, in the Bible, the plagues and pestilence never seem to touch the people in power. Pharaoh was still sittin’ pretty when he let the Israelites leave,

    I guess if you ignore that last plague, then yeah.

  133. 133.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Ruckus: Exactly. And on an overnight flight, I put in earplugs, lower my eyeshade, and go immediately to sleep too. When I wake up early in the morning and open my window shade, I figure that if it annoys other passengers, it’s payback for their partying when they should be sleeping.

    Also, I’ve always found the total 12-hour night-to-day change easier than, say, nine or ten hours. That may be because I’ve experienced almost a full day travel and sleep and eating disruption. So I’m starting anew.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    I think I sat next to your young twin on a flight once — dude fell asleep while we were taxiing to the runway.

    The really annoying part was that we had to take some weird circuitous route to the correct runway, so he kept flopping onto my shoulder. Every time I got him shrugged off, the plane would make another sharp turn and he would flop back again.

    Once the actual takeoff started, he woke up slightly and leaned against the window, so at least I didn’t have to deal with his drool the rest of the way to LAX.

  135. 135.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think I sat next to your young twin on a flight once — dude fell asleep while we were taxiing to the runway.

    The really annoying part was that we had to take some weird circuitous route to the correct runway, so he kept flopping onto my shoulder. Every time I got him shrugged off, the plane would make another sharp turn and he would flop back again.

    Oops. Depending on how long ago that was, it might have been me. Or my spiritual twin. I have mastered the art of being able to sleep pretty much anywhere on little notice.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @TenguPhule:
    Exactly why there is more beyond what you quoted. You have to wonder if someone like the koch brothers is worth over 100 billion, an amount of money that seems impossible to spend, why more is needed. It isn’t, it’s desired and that 100 billion allows them to create that hell on earth that they think everyone else should live in. They already have more money than they can spend so having total control on even more lives is the only conquest they can think of. Many human beings suck beyond any description.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Yes, I always tried to respect the passenger next to me. Except the one couple who the wife was reading a rush limpdick book and gushing about it to her husband. They got the side eye the entire flight. OK them and the one rather large lady who sat down in the middle seat while I was putting my bag in the over head and wouldn’t move to let me get into the window seat. I walked on the arm rests with my butt in her face and just dropped into the seat. She was not amused. But I had no fucks left to give.
    I always got a window seat so I could lean against the wall with a pillow and not bother anyone else. I should have added that the guy that called me an asshole was laughing the entire time. I think he appreciated that someone could not give a shit about something as insignificant as a plane delay. I didn’t because my longest plane delay was 12 hours long. Sitting on the plane. We covered most every foot of taxiway of 2 airports that day. Plus adding an unplanned stop farther away from our destination than our initial flight should have taken. Now that was a fun day.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    @TenguPhule:

    I have mastered the art of being able to sleep pretty much anywhere on little notice.

    Learned this in the military. I could sleep at attention. or parade rest. Never got caught. A minute of awake is theirs. A minute of sleep is yours. Take what you can get. Unfortunately I seemed to have lost the talent.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    It wasn’t the sleeping that bothered me (because why would it?) but the fact that the weird route we were taking to the correct runway kept flopping his head onto my shoulder and he would not wake up.

    Having a total stranger drool on my shoulder is not my preferred way to fly.

  142. 142.

    J R in WV

    Recently flew from Firenze Italy to home in WV, via Charles de Gaulle and Atlanta, returning from a vacation trip. I was tired when we arrived in Italy, but I was a zombie when we got home, despite the upgrade to business class on Air France over the Atlantic.

    Seats were comfortable, food was great, customs and immigration was horrible compared to arriving in Europe! I was barely able to drive home, while in Italy I was able to drive on strange roads with foreign sigNagel.

    But I love travel, just not the getting there.

  143. 143.

    Ruckus

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    On short flights it’s sit, comfortable, sleep, close the door, taxi, takeoff, flight. On longer flights the sound of the drink cart would wake me. On really long flights, when they’d actually feed you I’d stay awake for that cart. Then back to sleep, or just keep sleeping (shorter flights) until the door was opened.

  145. 145.

    Shalimar

    @schrodingers_cat: You’re being very selective in what you read. Yes, the NYT and other media, especially television media, are trying much too hard to make all of this catastroclusterfuckery seem normal. On the other hand, many of the absolutely devastating Trump revelations in the past two weeks have been broken by the NYT. They aren’t operating as one gigantic, evil hive mind.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    @Ruckus:

    Learned this in the military.

    Learned mine in college. Nothing like studying for exams between required reading for oral presentations and holding a part time job for spending money to discover the joys of sleeping whenever you can get it.

  148. 148.

    No One You Know

    I hereby nominate War Pigs by Black Sabbath as the theme song for all Republican Party events. It’s…The perfect intro.

  149. 149.

    mere mortal

    “so I’m going to try instead to throw up quick posts”

    I see what you did there.

Comments are closed.