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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

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

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

He really is that stupid.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Giving up is unforgivable.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Planet? Fuck the planet!

Planet? Fuck the planet!

by Betty Cracker|  June 1, 20173:28 pm| 132 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

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I refuse to watch the orange cocksplat’s reality show reveal about the Paris climate agreement, but my news feeds tell me Trump opted to withdraw from the accord. He apparently called an agreement whose terms he wouldn’t be able to name on a fucking bet a “very bad deal” blah blah blah.

So now can we stop pretending Ivanka serves any purpose in the White House aside from providing eye candy to the lecherous old goat who sired her? Might as well reap one benefit from an incredibly irresponsible decision that may doom generations to inundation, food shortages and increased rates of disease.

In other news, my whiny little blue jay is still being a holy terror. Here it is having a toddler-like meltdown on the walkway, screeching and flailing for all the world like a two-year-old denied a gummy bear:

The parents are taking a tough-love approach, forcing the young jay to drag its lazy ass to the feeder instead of shoveling food into its maw. Think I’ll go out and ply it with peanuts and make friends before the earth’s heat-death.

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Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    Keith P.

    June 1, 2017 at 3:31 pm

    Is Pence making the announcement? Has *anyone* seen Trump since “Covfefe”?

    If they bring him out in sunglasses with a guy on either side of him, the jig is up.

    EDIT: OK, Trump is out, and he seems to have full motor function. “Covfefe” must have been an Israeli spy, not a stroke.

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    June 1, 2017 at 3:32 pm

    Think I’ll go out and ply it with peanuts and make friends before the earth’s heat-death.

    Meh. Evolution is way more creative than that. The fact that we might have made ourselves extinct but life will go on on this mudball is deliciously ironic.

    Also: this is just bombast. It will take until at least 2020 for us to leave the agreement formally.

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:32 pm

    I thought it was supposed to be “Hack the Planet!”

  4. 4.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 1, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    @Corner Stone: That’s Putin’s job.

  5. 5.

    LAO

    June 1, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    I feel for the blue jay, I feel like having a toddler-like meltdown myself.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    June 1, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    @Corner Stone: That comes when he starts pushing open-pit coal mining.

  7. 7.

    Punchy

    June 1, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    He claimed it was poorly negotiated by Obama. So withdrawal is more about “fuck that n#gger” than “Coal, bitches”.

    Any allies we had 10 minutes ago just left the building.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    June 1, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    Someone on twitter said that a jazz band was playing. No one mentioned whether or not hors d’oeuvres were being passed.
    This is good news for Putin.

  9. 9.

    Certified Mutant Enemy

    June 1, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    Tough new ethics rules?

  10. 10.

    LAO

    June 1, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    Current status: watching an orange old man give himself analingus.— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) June 1, 2017

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    The “fruits of our labor” ??

  12. 12.

    Quinerly

    June 1, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    He is singing his own praises. Gag me.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Every single person that clapped should be hung for treason.

  14. 14.

    Gravenstone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    On the (very limited) plus side, he did opt for the slow walking approach which will require at least four years to be completed. Had he exited the underlying UN framework agreement, that could have been done in a year.

  15. 15.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 1, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    The Rs that I am worried about are not Russians. They could not have gotten far if not aided and abetted by our domestic Rs.

  16. 16.

    donnah

    June 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    A big erasure of the Obama legacy. Trump more than likely has no inkling of what the accord says or does, but it represents collaboration between Obama and other countries, which Trump cannot let stand.

    Fuck Trump.

  17. 17.

    Certified Mutant Enemy

    June 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Every single person that clapped should be hung for treason.

    Only Ted Nugent can say that, apparently.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    June 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    On the way out the door, I heard from a TV in the other room Pence mewling about Trump’s great leadership. I think I hate that loathsome toady almost as much as I despise the shitgibbon.

  19. 19.

    Keith P.

    June 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    @Punchy: Yeah, that’s cute. “I’m withdrawing from the Paris Accord, but we will negotiate to re-enter the Paris Accord…or something else.”
    This guy has not only overplayed his hand, but he’s overplayed *our* hand.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    Hey now, we can always get back into the accords. Or at least follow them even if not signed up.

    Granted, we’d have to do it over the literal bodies of Trump, GOP Congress, GOP SC, GOP state legislatures, GOP governors and GOP foot soldiers.

    So look on the bright side of life.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:38 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Every single person that clapped should be hung for treason.

    Hanged!

    /pedant

  22. 22.

    Quinerly

    June 1, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    I have never ever wished a slow painful death on anyone before. Not my normal nature. I hate what this fucking SOB has done to me.

  23. 23.

    Turgidson

    June 1, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    cleek’s law is now official US climate policy.

    What a fucking asshole.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    June 1, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    @donnah:

    A big erasure of the Obama legacy. Trump more than likely has no inkling of what the accord says or does, but it represents collaboration between Obama and other countries, which Trump cannot let stand.

    Yep. But this Whitey’s Revenge crap is getting tired.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    @Quinerly:

    He is singing his own praises. Gag me.

    That won’t get him to shut up. Try it the other way around.

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    Points after touchdown, down 17%!

  27. 27.

    Certified Mutant Enemy

    June 1, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    “As someone who cares deeply about the environment.”

  28. 28.

    Quinerly

    June 1, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    Point well taken! Touche! I needed the smile your comment provided.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @Turgidson:

    cleek’s law is now official US climate policy.

    Humanity’s tombstone: “BUT HER EMAILS!”

  30. 30.

    debbie

    June 1, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    Unbelievable. As I just posted on FB, “Never thought I’d live to see the leader of the Free World allow this country to become a second-rate has been. What a chump.”

    He likes coal and cement so much? He should be buried in both.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 1, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @Keith P.:

    “If it works, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine.”

    Shrug. Bqhatevwr, covfefes.

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:42 pm

    @Quinerly: Happy to help.

  33. 33.

    Montysano

    June 1, 2017 at 3:43 pm

    “Clean coal. New US mines are opening up, very quickly.”

  34. 34.

    bupalos

    June 1, 2017 at 3:43 pm

    @Gravenstone: Doesn’t matter at all. The agreement is nothing more or less than a reduction target. Clearly as long as the Trumpublicans are in power the target is effectively and immediately NO REDUCTIONS AT ALL EVER. This little song and dance is an attempt to increase open conflict with the president* so it’s more plausible to the rubes when they all start insisting that all the Russian evidence is a librul agenda 99 deep state jew-plot.

    Seriously. Trump going on TV to make mouth noises about environmental stuff in any direction is completely meaningless, it’s only meaning is the politics. They are already full steam ahead on a complete carbon energy agenda and have been for some time.

  35. 35.

    Turgidson

    June 1, 2017 at 3:43 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    There can be no discussion of the EMAILZ until Hillary Clinton commits nationally televised seppuku after a fifteen minute speech explaining how she is the most worthless person in history.

    That whole ritual would then be criticized as inauthentic, and “shadows” would remain.

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:43 pm

    @Certified Mutant Enemy: That’s his nod to Ivanka for her PR effort. He’s hoping she’ll still blow him later.

  37. 37.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    @Montysano:

    “The mines are opening up, very quickly.”

    They dug too deeply in their greed. And found shadow and flame…..

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    @Turgidson: “Raises more questions than it answers”

  39. 39.

    SatanicPanic

    June 1, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    I think this matters less than we think. Coal is done. Solar is going to continue to eat its lunch from now til basically forever and that’s not even accounting for whatever is beyond solar. Trump and the right can continue to be babies, and they can roll coal or whatever to show us they’re not liberal p*ssies, but I think it’s out of their hands now.

  40. 40.

    LAO

    June 1, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    Even by the standards of Trump this is monstrously disingenuous. But again these are all pretty standard GOP/conservative talking points— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 1, 2017

  41. 41.

    tobie

    June 1, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    This is not an accord you can withdraw from over a four year period. You’re either a signatory to it or not. Period. And you can’t unilaterally renegotiate an agreement involving 195 nation states. We’ve become a pariah nation.

  42. 42.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    Tell me again how Trump isn’t doing that much damage while in power.

    /Yes, I know it was only a few people, but the point stands.

  43. 43.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 1, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    I’m just going to assume that Trump decided to pull out of this after Macron dissed him because he thinks it has something to do with France.

  44. 44.

    The Dudeist

    June 1, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    @Punchy: Poorly negotiated lol. If he’s such a gifted negotiator why not stay in and negotiate for things he believes in…oh yes he sucks at negotiation since Carrier is leaving. Idiot orange fool.

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    June 1, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    @Keith P.:

    “Covfefe” must have been an Israeli spy, not a stroke.

    He was just suffering an acute caffeine shortage, since he hadn’t had his daily covfefe.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “Raises more questions than it answers”

    And it would be irresponsible not to speculate!

    Certainly the optics are questionable.

  47. 47.

    The Dudeist

    June 1, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    @TenguPhule: Right? All these Sanders kids who couldn’t vote Hillary are losing everything they claim to support. Argh.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    June 1, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    The 14 year olds I know – NOT a scientific sample, the few who just randomly show up in my house – seem genuinely interested in climate change. It’s really heartening. I think it’s partly that there are scientists who are also sort of pop culture people and partly because public schools really push STEM so they have figured out that knowing something about this stuff is valued- means you are smart. It’s not what I would have predicted. This area is really Right wing.

  49. 49.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 1, 2017 at 3:49 pm

    @Roger Moore: I always heard he was more of a Coke guy. (Sniff, sniff.)

  50. 50.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:49 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I’m just going to assume that Trump decided to pull out of this after Macron dissed him because he thinks it has something to do with France.

    I’m just going to assume that Trump is an incompetent murderous dickhead con man who owes Russians a lot of money.

  51. 51.

    The Dudeist

    June 1, 2017 at 3:49 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Is it me or does Pence seem to be in love with Trump?

  52. 52.

    Ocotillo

    June 1, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Republicans are just bastards, it’s hard to hate one more than the other.

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    June 1, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    Sadly, I like the Gizmodo headline:

    The Climate Deniers Have Won

  54. 54.

    D58826

    June 1, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    Same doom and gloom, the world is out to destroy the US stick as in the inauguration speech. Now he is beating up on NATO.

  55. 55.

    debbie

    June 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    @Punchy:

    Even Mara Liasson of NPR noted that Trump couldn’t negotiate with himself.

  56. 56.

    Montysano

    June 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    I’m old and my memory isn’t what it used to be, but I don’t seem to recall other presidents dragging in a fawning, applauding audience for Rose Garden speeches. Am I wrong?

  57. 57.

    Redshift

    June 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    One thing I haven’t heard an answer to – is the four year withdrawal process something that can be cancelled by another administration? I would think so, since I’ve heard it described as a “cooling off” period, but I haven’t seen a definitive statement.

  58. 58.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    @TenguPhule: where’s the fun in that?

  59. 59.

    The Dudeist

    June 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    @debbie: Are we tired of all this winning yet? Wow.

  60. 60.

    Certified Mutant Enemy

    June 1, 2017 at 3:53 pm

    “At what point do they start laughing at us?”

    November 8, 2016

  61. 61.

    Juju

    June 1, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    @debbie: well, the president is a second rate has been, so it just seems to follow that we as a nation should follow suit.

  62. 62.

    Archon

    June 1, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    If somebody’s goal as President was to intentionally destroy American credibility and prestige within the legal (and extralegal) areas of executive power, how would that person behave differently then Trump is right now?

  63. 63.

    ? Martin

    June 1, 2017 at 3:55 pm

    California has your back.

    “It is a little bold to talk about the China-California partnership as though we were a separate nation, but we are a separate nation,” Brown said of the state, with nearly 40 million residents and the world’s sixth-largest economy. “We’re a state of mind. I include Silicon Valley, I include the environmental activism, the biotech industry, agriculture. This is a place of great investment in innovation.”

    Now, with Trump’s expected withdrawal from the Paris accord to curb climate-warming emissions – an agreement owed largely to the cooperation of the Obama administration and China – the latter is left with no formal governmental structure with which to work.

    Enter Brown, and his nation of California.

    Brown predicts Trump’s actions will not reverse the momentum of states and other countries to advance sensible climate policies. On Friday, the Democratic governor departs for a week-long swing through Chengdu, Nanjing and Beijing in China to further bolster climate, clean energy and economic ties. While he’s practical about his place in the world, the 79-year-old politician is pushing into the void left by America’s retreat.

    There are a few bills working their way through that set CAs emission goals to be more strict than what the US committed to for Paris, and they’re almost certain to pass now. The state cap and trade program is set to expire in 2020, but my guess is that it’ll either be renewed or modified to be stronger. SB 775 would replace it with a stronger program that would set a price collar for carbon emissions, increasing in cost each year by a fixed amount.

    Don’t be deluded into thinking this is all charitable, though. Over half of all green tech VC is invested in California. The bulk rate for solar and wind is now dipping below the operational cost for coal (that is, if you could build the coal plant for free, it’d still be more expensive). California is making massive capital investments in energy forms that will carry very little in the way of operating costs down the road, which means that in the future energy prices will likely be much lower in CA than elsewhere. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs in CA in the clean energy sector, many of the companies are based here, manufacturing is here, and the other industries like the direction – it helps them.

    And CA’s efforts aren’t toothless:

    In his last 18 months in office, Brown is encouraging governments to sign onto a pact limiting warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, the point at which scientists believe “dangerous” climate change will commence. The agreement, which now has the signatures of 170 jurisdictions in 33 countries such as Mexico and Canada, pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent to 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

    Sichuan and Jiangsu became the first Chinese provinces to join the Under2 Coalition in 2015, and 23 more provinces and cities have since come aboard, contributing to Brown’s belief that China is stepping into the role of the world’s “great hope” on climate change.

    This is basically a parallel to the Paris accord but at the regional level. I imagine after today we’ll get a number of US cities and states signing onto Brown’s leadership.

  64. 64.

    Redshift

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    @Montysano: I think it’s always been common to have a small group there and some polite applause. The fawning that 45* demands at any public event is new, though.

  65. 65.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Anybody trolled Dr St President Jill Stein or the US Greens yet?

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    @Archon: Pooped in the streets of Sicily?

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    @D58826:

    Same doom and gloom, the world is out to destroy the US stick as in the inauguration speech. Now he is beating up on NATO.

    Trump has been consistent. He has stuck with this bullshit ever since he first ran for president.

    And he is clearly playing to his dumb ass supporters who define American greatness as either sticking it to foreigners or … well, sticking it to foreigners.

    Except, of course, his buddy Putin.

  68. 68.

    GregB

    June 1, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Yep. No difference between Hillary and this mouth breathing liar.

    Not one bit of difference.

    Uugh. What a horror.

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    June 1, 2017 at 3:58 pm

    @Quinerly: Right there with you.

  70. 70.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    June 1, 2017 at 3:58 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:

    Remember when Susan Sarandon said Clinton was more dangerous than Trump? How’s that aging?

  71. 71.

    tobie

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    @Redshift:

    Is the four year withdrawal process something that can be cancelled by another administration?

    Trump has unilaterally decided that there’s a four-year withdrawal process. That is not how the world sees it. You’re either a party to this accord or you’re not. The slow retreat line is bullshit.

    By the way, no one will ever trust the US again in international agreements unless they’re ratified by the Senate (two-thirds majority). With this one move Trump and the GOP have shown our word is not our bond. We cancel agreements we make willy-nilly.

  72. 72.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    @D58826:

    Same doom and gloom, the world is out to destroy the US stick as in the inauguration speech. Now he is beating up on NATO.

    “I welcome our friends, the Russian peacekeepers who shall maintains a strong and stable presence on our streets to keep law and order that the loser Democrats were never able to.”

    That really is looking less like a joke each passing day.

  73. 73.

    p.a.

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    Sarandon’s revolution in 4…3… hello? hello? Susan? Susan?

  74. 74.

    bemused

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I heard Pence say “America is back again!” and went out the door. All down hill from there.

  75. 75.

    Montysano

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    Someone got him a fresh shipment of Peruvian flake, it would appear.

  76. 76.

    SatanicPanic

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    @? Martin: Gov. Brown gets a lot of crap for the high speed rail, but the man is hero.

  77. 77.

    LurkerNoLonger

    June 1, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    So what excuse did he give for this dick move?

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    June 1, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    So…we don’t have the money for whatever the Paris Accord will cost us, but we DO have the money for some big ol’ juicy tax cuts?

    Ok, got it.

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    He seriously thinks this agreement is about Paris, France.

  80. 80.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 4:00 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    where’s the fun in that?

    I’m not laughing.

  81. 81.

    bemused

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    @The Dudeist:

    Kiss ass. Listening to evil Pence gives me acid reflux.

  82. 82.

    Barbara

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Ivanka may serve no purpose but she cannot escape because Jared’s head is on the chopping block. That’s how the mafia works. You aren’t allowed to leave even if you really want to.

  83. 83.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    @LurkerNoLonger: it’s a bad deal, the worst deal, total disaster, I mean, have you SEEN paris?

    @TenguPhule: and where’s the fun in THAT? Not everything has to be blood and doom and gloom all the time every day.

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    @GregB:

    Yep. No difference between Hillary and this mouth breathing liar.

    Not one bit of difference.

    …but her EMAILZ.

  85. 85.

    Corner Stone

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    Shorter Scott Pruitt: “Sir, where is your taint so that I may lick it strenuously?”

  86. 86.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    So what excuse did he give for this dick move?

    1. MORE JOBS IN COAL!

    2. FUCK YOU, WORLD!

    3. CLIMATE CHANGE IS A LIBERAL LIE!

  87. 87.

    patrick II

    June 1, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as “the truth” exists. … The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, “It never happened” – well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five – well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs.

    George Orwell, “Looking Back on the Spanish War” 1943

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    June 1, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    OMG FUCK SCOTT PRUITT

  89. 89.

    Captain C

    June 1, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    @TenguPhule: Your terms are acceptable.

  90. 90.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 1, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    Never forget that Arby’s employs more people than coal.

  91. 91.

    bemused

    June 1, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Macron really pissed him off.

  92. 92.

    Turgidson

    June 1, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    @Brachiator:

    And he is clearly playing to his dumb ass supporters who define American greatness as either sticking it to foreigners or … well, sticking it to foreigners.

    Don’t forget liberals. Who they prefer to think of as foreigners and would forcibly deport to make it so if they could.

  93. 93.

    The Dangerman

    June 1, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    He’s hoping she’ll still blow him later.

    We should be so lucky; if Ivanka got him off, it would be several decades of pent up frustration regarding his Daughter released for The Donald, and he might come and go at the same time.

  94. 94.

    Cacti

    June 1, 2017 at 4:05 pm

    The same fellow whose model predicted the exact year of the Soviet Union’s collapse says that the U.S. will be done as the world’s superpower by 2020.

    Given the way Trump is going hammer and tongs after the post-WWII pillars of western civilization, I’d say 2020 seems an overly generous estimate.

    Trump has firmly established the US as feckless and unreliable for the foreseeable future. Friends will lament, foes will take advantage.

  95. 95.

    Archon

    June 1, 2017 at 4:05 pm

    @tobie: Agreed, Trump in one swoop made any international agreement negotiated by the executive branch not worth the paper it’s printed on.

  96. 96.

    gene108

    June 1, 2017 at 4:06 pm

    I really think the billionaires, who run the Republican Party want to make America a second rate power, and sell the country off to the Chinese, Russians, etc.

    Everything Republicans propose, at the bidding of their pay masters, makes weaker globally. The isolationism, the gutting of the environment, the aggressive militarism, etc serves to keep us out from leading the world on the issues of the day, and creates openings for China and other countries to fill the void.

    I assume these billionaires are worldly wise enough to understand what they are getting their GOP puppets, and the rubes, who vote for them, into in the long run.

  97. 97.

    Paul W.

    June 1, 2017 at 4:06 pm

    Betty, I don’t get the obsession with centering so much of Trump’s world around Ivanka. She is just there, doing her thing, she’s nobodies savior and she’s not as evil as the man himself but she isn’t driving or stalling any part of Trump’s agenda.

    Sure the media make like her, but I don’t think anyone else is falling for it. The focus here is Trump is going to spend the rest of his term just living Cleek’s law to the fullest.

  98. 98.

    Captain C

    June 1, 2017 at 4:07 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I’m sure her portfolio is still doing fine.

  99. 99.

    tobie

    June 1, 2017 at 4:07 pm

    @Archon: I feel like the only thing we can do now is GOTV in Georgia and South Carolina and protest loudly, consistently and persistently this weekend at the March for Truth. Any BJers planning on going to the DC march?

  100. 100.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    @gene108:

    I assume these billionaires are worldly wise enough to understand what they are getting their GOP puppets, and the rubes, who vote for them, into in the long run.

    Most of them are old and plan to be safely dead before the angry mobs come for them.

  101. 101.

    Captain C

    June 1, 2017 at 4:09 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    it would be several decades of pent up frustration regarding his Daughter released for The Donald

    At least, we hope this is the case.

  102. 102.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 1, 2017 at 4:10 pm

    @gene108: Agreed, vulture capitalism wants to gut the nation for short term gain. Eating their seed corn is what they have been doing.

  103. 103.

    Peale

    June 1, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    So what would a “better deal” have looked like? Just take that money from the fund and put it in his pockets and be done with it.

  104. 104.

    Turgidson

    June 1, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Either that, or the Elysium spaceship well be ready for launch before the angry hordes overrun the security guards protecting their gated mansions.

  105. 105.

    Archon

    June 1, 2017 at 4:18 pm

    I just proposed this to some friends. Our we sure, absolutely sure Trump isn’t purposely sabotaging America? Not even just to help Russia but is it possible that deep down inside Trump has some nihilistic dark fantasy of personally representing some end point in the American experiment?

    Part of me feels crazy for even broaching this but we are truly in crazy, surreal times. Personally I feel that there is nothing, absolutely nothing off the table when it comes to Trump’s behavior and the malignant actions of our government the next couple years.

    I know it sounds crazy and hyperbolic but everyone needs to start preparing for the worst.

  106. 106.

    PaulWartenberg

    June 1, 2017 at 4:18 pm

    The gist I’m getting from commentators on twitter is that what trump is REALLY doing is pulling the United States out of every possible leadership role on the planet.

    We’re likely to quit the UN’s Security Council permanent member status any day now.

    It’s insulting that trump is claiming this will save jobs, that we’re victims of a global conspiracy, when all the evidence points to 1) climate change being real 2) sticking to the accords would create MORE jobs than coal, and 3) we won’t benefit from quitting the Paris agreement, PUTIN (who gleefully wants the US out of global affairs) and China (who will take command of the eco-economy) will.

    trump isn’t doing this for us, he’s doing this to f-ck Obama’s legacy. Anything with Obama’s seal of approval on it is getting shredded, no matter the damage trump will create to do it.

  107. 107.

    ? Martin

    June 1, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    @donnah: I think it has less to do with Obama personally than I previously believed. In another area I’m going through an investigation of culture and how it shapes decision making and I think we’re really just seeing an end-state clash of cultures taking place in this country, one rivaling that which preceded the civil war.

    Democrats increasingly see the US taking leadership role in the international stage, forming multilateral agreements, supporting diversity and tolerance, and so on. Some of these ideas were championed by Republicans not that long ago, and some not championed by Democrats, but over time there’s been a consistent alignment of this globalist view with the Democratic party. That includes openness to trade and other issues, when balanced against civil and worker rights, etc. The whole neoliberal tag.

    Republicans increasingly see the US taking leadership role in the preservation of white Christian patriarchal culture, which most of Europe has steadily abandoned as well as most other countries, if they ever had that at all. There are a few other places here and there championing this cause, but the other big one is Russia under Putin. One of the biggest differences between Russia and the USSR is the rising prominence of the church in that nation today, and how their policies are increasingly being shaped by the church in much the same way they did in the US. Again, this was not always a clear Republican/Democratic split, but was sorted between the two parties in various ways. But as the white Christian population has declined to minority status, they’ve ramped up the volume to make up for the decline in their reach. They’re at a tipping point of needing to expand their coalition in order to maintain power (or to hold onto it via other means), and they are increasingly desperate. They know that once that power base falls, it’s never coming back. Blocking immigration and other policies are just a means of bailing out a sinking ship, but a means they feel is necessary. But it also means that no multinational deals can be tolerated, except those with nations with similar agendas. So the UN is out, the EU is out, Paris is out, NATO is out, NAFTA is out, etc. And in are deals with Russia, maybe Hungary, etc.

    Tax policy is only important to keep the campaign money flowing in. Healthcare is a threat by attracting non-white Christians, so they need to either tear it down or at the very least make it less attractive to non-white Christians, so birth control is out (ironically, given that birth control is the single BEST mechanism to keeping the white Christian birthrate up, as there are now more non-whites being born in the US than whites), etc. Trump is running that playbook to the letter. Now, Obama was both a champion of the globalist/tolerance culture, expressing that it represented American exceptionalism, but also advertised the very moment that white Christian culture lost their power, as the first non-white Christian president (and notice they even went after his Christianity in order to ramp up the base even more). To the right, American exceptionalism is best expressed by having a white Christian man as President, and undermining any and all institutions that threaten that. It’s why the courts are so important – they are lifetime positions that are being trusted to uphold white male patriarchy even if the electorate takes them out of power. They’re like the backup power supply – advancing the agenda even after the agenda setters have left.

    The right is treating this as an existential threat, but the left is not. Just as the Confederacy was preparing for years before secession while the north played it down, the same dynamic is playing out now. It’s going to get worse, and no matter how bad it gets, the GOP will never, ever give up their power, no matter how corrupt or authoritarian it becomes.

  108. 108.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    @Archon:

    I know it sounds crazy and hyperbolic but everyone needs to start preparing for the worst.

    You can’t do that. Everyone will accuse you of being me.

  109. 109.

    gene108

    June 1, 2017 at 4:21 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think it’s deeper than that. I think when the Adelson’s, Walton’s, Mercer’s, Mellon-Scaife’s, Murdoch’s, etc. get together they are actually planning how to divide up this country, buy all of it and then sell it to the highest bidder.

    It is utterly irrational to not realize everything the right-wing media puts out, everything the GOP does, and everything Movement Conservatism purports to believe in lead down one path and that is to make America a second rate power. And this includes the constant demonization of all things done by Democrats, no matter how minor, such as Obama wearing a tan suit to a press conference once or Bill Clinton getting a haircut on Air Force One, at LAX, which despite right-wing hysteria did not delay any flights more significantly than Air Force One normally does.

    They have to be a cabal actively trying to destroy America. There’s no other explanation for it.

    *********************************************

    I mean, I can sort of see where the Neo-Cons were coming from, in the 1990’s and spilling over into the early 00’s. The U.S. was the sole superpower, so why should we humble ourselves and wait for U.N. approval? We are the strongest country in the world and we should be able to bend the world to our will.

    It didn’t work in the long run, but I can see where that line of thinking comes from.

    ********************************************

    But where the current GOP’s agenda comes from, when it has proven to be a failure again, and again? The only reason to keep promoting failure is because you want the nation to fail.

  110. 110.

    ruckus

    June 1, 2017 at 4:23 pm

    @The Dudeist:
    He’s in love with the moron who selected him, probably because he doesn’t know how fucking stupid he is and thinks it was because of his success in Indiana.

  111. 111.

    tobie

    June 1, 2017 at 4:24 pm

    @Archon: I think this is plausible. Bannon himself has openly entertained fantasies of the US’s demise to rise again out of the ashes purified, stronger, etc. Maybe Trump really does just want to steer the ship of state into an iceberg. I dunno. He is unhinged, that’s certain.

  112. 112.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 1, 2017 at 4:26 pm

    @? Martin: The threat is existential, we can either fight or we can limply give up and believe that the Rs have won.

  113. 113.

    gene108

    June 1, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    @? Martin:

    The right is treating this as an existential threat, but the left is not.

    The Right is a top-down enterprise, where a few Christian preachers – Falwell, Robertson, Graham, etc – and some billionaires tell their people what to do and think. The people at the top have – for all intents and purposes – an endless supply of money, with which to dictate their agenda to the masses.

    The Left are a bunch of guys trying to get by and are too worried about daily problems to organize as effectively.

    Even the Indivisible / Resistance groups are hit and miss. Some pop up and some wind down. It’s good people want to get engaged, but the groups lack the focus of what a top-down organization provides for the Right.

  114. 114.

    ruckus

    June 1, 2017 at 4:34 pm

    @Quinerly:
    With the talk I’ve heard the fucksticks seem to be ready to cut SS and the VA. That fucks me in a very major way. I’m ready to hope every fucking republican develops stage IV cancer on the same day they lose their healthcare insurance. And not feel guilty about it in the least.

  115. 115.

    Brachiator

    June 1, 2017 at 4:42 pm

    @? Martin:

    I think it has less to do with Obama personally than I previously believed.

    You are very wrong here, with respect to Trump. He oozes a fear and loathing of Obama, and it is clear that he has played to and sought out racists as advisers and members of his cabinet. He loves Nigel Farage, Marie Le Pen, racists to their core.

  116. 116.

    Mnemosyne

    June 1, 2017 at 4:57 pm

    @GregB:

    But Hillary might not have immediately shut down all fracking operations the moment she was inaugurated, so clearly their stances are identical. //

  117. 117.

    SgrAstar

    June 1, 2017 at 4:57 pm

    @gene108: However, we outnumber the fuckers. Repeat: WE. OUTNUMBER. THE. FUCKERS. We can kick their asses from here to kingdom come if we want to. I think turning out on Saturday is a good gesture. As one of our favorite, bestest writers said: RISE UP.

  118. 118.

    kindness

    June 1, 2017 at 5:06 pm

    Betty, it’s time you added a cat to your menagerie. That lil toddler wouldn’t pull those stunts (for long) with el gato around.

  119. 119.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 1, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    @SgrAstar: Thank You.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    June 1, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Remember when Susan Sarandon said Clinton was more dangerous than Trump? How’s that aging?

    Well, in fairness, she did say he would “heighten the contradiction,” right? And he certainly IS heightening the contradictions between himself and someone who loves the country, its people, and the world. Plenty of other differences, too.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    June 1, 2017 at 5:16 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    You can’t do that. Everyone will accuse you of being me.

    Oh, don’t worry, we won’t.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    June 1, 2017 at 5:23 pm

    @Jeffro:

    OMG FUCK SCOTT PRUITT

    No shit. I was wondering how he was able to give that speech with Shitgibbon’s “Little Shitgibbon” in his mouth, as seemed to be the case. Then I remembered that them good ol’ boys is able to talk with a toothpick in they mouth.

    But listening to that motherfucker, the frequency of “Fuck you, you lying motherfucker”s coming from me increased geometrically.

    I’m starting to feel like Villago’s and TenguPhule’s bastard child. (Of course, I got the “bastard” part down pat, but gotta work on becoming a child again.)

  123. 123.

    Quinerly

    June 1, 2017 at 5:32 pm

    @gene108:
    I had to step away from the tv and the internet for a bit. Felt physically sick while listening to Trump. Reading comments from bottom up. I’m inclined to agree with you, gene108. Really down and depressed today about our future. Had been optimistic for about 10 days. Emotional rollercoaster, I guess.

  124. 124.

    artem1s

    June 1, 2017 at 5:36 pm

    I have fucking had it with the MSM referring to these ACCORDS and TRADE AGREEMENTS and PACTS as DEALS. They aren’t fucking deals. They are formal, legal documents and agreements that have the full force of domestic or international law behind them. They aren’t some scheme dreamed up in 15 minutes by some D grade hollywood celebrity on a reality show. Thousands of researchers, policy makers, lawyers, health care workers, social workers, climatologists, scientists, and experts in thousands of different sectors have worked out the details over years and decades. THEY ARE NOT FUCKING DEALS.

  125. 125.

    Captain C

    June 1, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    @SFAW: Unless Sarandon’s volunteering to have the contradictions heightened on herself and her net worth, she’s not serious. Rather, she’s just another purity sadist with a platform.

  126. 126.

    Cacti

    June 1, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    @Captain C:

    Unless Sarandon’s volunteering to have the contradictions heightened on herself and her net worth, she’s not serious. Rather, she’s just another purity sadist with a platform.

    The best term I’ve seen that describes Sarandon and her ilk is “issues tourist”. She cares deeply about the people’s revolution as long as she can return safely to her gated mansion and servant staff at the end of the day.

    Looking at you too, Michael Moore.

  127. 127.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 5:54 pm

    @SFAW: You say that now. And then next month when Trump’s destruction of the western world continues…..

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    June 1, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    @SFAW:

    I’m starting to feel like Villago’s and TenguPhule’s bastard child.

    How do you think I feel?

    You’re only me at 1/20/17. Just wait till you catch up in five months to where I am now.

  129. 129.

    Mothra

    June 1, 2017 at 7:03 pm

    @Yutsano: Who cares? We’re not worried about the planet, we’re worried about the people.

  130. 130.

    SFAW

    June 1, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    How do you think I feel?

    Honored that I mentioned you?

    You’re only me at 1/20/17

    So, in other words, you’re two-plus months BEHIND me? Because I was that way on 11/9. (Well, maybe not QUITE as far gone as you, I’ll concede that.)

    ETA: And it hasn’t even been 4.5 months since 1/20/17. You kids, with your hippity-bippity-bop music and your “new math.”

  131. 131.

    SFAW

    June 1, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes:

    Anybody trolled Dr St President Jill Stein or the US Greens yet?

    Is saying “I hope you all fucking die for what your ‘purity’ bullshit has cost this country and the world” considered trolling?

  132. 132.

    HeartlandLiberal

    June 2, 2017 at 7:31 am

    That jay looks like he is doing typical sunning behavior, where birds spread and fluff their wings to expose themselves to the sun. Ventilation, helping expose varmints in the feathers, helping oils in the feathers develop. We watch the birds do this on the rail of our upper balcony where we feed them every day all the time. I found an article discussing this behavior on line, here are a couple of paragraphs.

    Sunning can help birds convert compounds in their preening oil – secreted from a gland at the base of the tail – into vitamin D, which is essential for good health. If the birds have been in a bird bath or swimming, sunning can help their feathers dry more quickly so they can fly easier, without being weighed down by excess water. It is even believed that some birds sun themselves for pure enjoyment and relaxation, much the same way humans will sunbathe.

    The most important reason for sunning, however, is to maintain feather health. Sunning can dislodge feather parasites because the excess heat will encourage insects to move to other places in a bird’s plumage. This will give the bird easier access to get rid of those parasites when preening, and birds are frequently seen preening immediately after sunning. It is essential to get rid of these parasites – the tiny insects that infect feathers can cause problems for a bird’s flight, insulation and appearance, all of which can impact its survival.

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