Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

How stupid are these people?

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Covfefe Happens

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Covfefe Happens

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Sometimes ya gotta laugh, just to allay the pain, however briefly.

Apart from SSDD, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  2. 2.

    BlueDWarrior

    Oh boy I can’t wait to hear what JoeScar has to say to tut-tut HRC, as she deigns to speak of the election and not taking full and total blame for losing and then announcing she is going to spend the rest of her life in a monastery.

    Because honestly, I think that is what some of these people (both on camera, in print, and online) want out of her. And maybe taking Chelsea with her so they don’t have to think of the Clintons anymore.

    *sigh*

  4. 4.

    Arclite

    So will they be arresting Gianforte for assault? I guess it’s good that he wasn’t black, or he’d have been shot dead.

  5. 5.

    Quinerly

    @BlueDWarrior:
    I wanted to slap Ruth Marcus yesterday when she was slamming HRC on the afternoon MTP. Michael Steele actually defended Clinton on her misogyny claim. The two privileged white women (Marcus and a much younger woman…didn’t catch her name) on the panel and Chuck Todd just didn’t get it.

  6. 6.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Quinerly: Well I was riled up about it because I was having to talk around some BernieBros on another website and how there is this impression they give, where Clinton, for the sin of losing to DJT, has to spend the rest of her life in political exile, before of course saying that Bernie was right all along and the DNC need to completely acquiesce to his demands (whatever those demands even are).

    It is so tiring, it is.

  7. 7.

    JPL

    House of Cards season 5 was released on Tuesday, so I binged watched it over two days. There should have been a warning that watching the Underwoods f.k up America during the Trump era may be harmful to your health.

  8. 8.

    The Nameless One

    After starting to get sucked in by Louise Mensch and that other guy (not Schindler, the other one) I’m hesitant to trust anyone I don’t know so I’m hoping the BJ collective can steer me true.

    Is Scott Dworkin someone worth paying attention to? These documents he posted are supposed to show that Marco Rubio and Scott Walker took $1 million each from a “pro-Putin Ukrainian businessman” in the last election cycle. Are they real? If they are, are those donations legal and why are they only coming out now?

    https://twitter.com/funder/status/867114045266165760

    https://twitter.com/funder/status/867110768029949953

  9. 9.

    Kansi

    So glad to hear we are giving the Russian spies their cozy compounds back. “Come back home. All is forgiven.”

  11. 11.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Jared Yates Sexton‏ @JYSexton

    James Comey will testify that he was pressured by Trump to end the FBI’s investigation into Russian collusion.

    14 replies 58 retweets 229 likes

  12. 12.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton

    People in covfefe houses shouldn’t throw covfefe.

    20,211 replies 192,160 retweets 410,564 likes

  14. 14.

    Aleta

    I like this one:
    Al Franken: “A ‘covfefe’ is a Yiddish term for ‘I gotta go to bed now’”

  15. 15.

    satby

    Good morning? ?
    Seriously, who knew the entire nation should have had training in how to deal therapeutically with chaotic mental illness in our leaders? It’s just exhausting to hear or read news these days. Brain-numbing assaults daily.

  20. 20.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @BlueDWarrior: things are usually lite around 3 day weekends.

    Kinda like how networks usually show reruns during the xmas period – not wanting to waste new programing when viewers are traveling and tied up with visiting family.

  21. 21.

    evodevo

    @JPL: Yeah, we were halfway through the 3rd season on DVD and I had to take a pause … it became all too emotionally real,, as opposed to objectively instructive…..

  24. 24.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @The Nameless One:

    that other guy (not Schindler, the other one)

    You mean Palmer Report? I’m skeptical so far. Haven’t seen any bombshells that panned out, but I admit I haven’t been paying close attention.

    As for the Dworkin stuff, I have no idea. I think election law is pretty much “all donations are illegal if you’re a Democrat and legal if you’re a Republican” at this point.

  25. 25.

    Betty Cracker

    @The Nameless One: I follow Dworkin, and he seems legit. He gets his material from public records almost exclusively, so you can verify it for yourself. I double-checked some info he posted about Rubio a while back, and it checked out. That said, I wish Dworkin would post links to his sources. I’d be more inclined to share it if he did. Also, and this is a personal prejudice, I find it annoying AF when every goddamned tweet says “RETWEET.”

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    I’ve been thinking about why Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia went so well (aside from the unfortunate optics) and the rest of the tour went so badly. Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious, but I reckon that rather fishy deal was cut with the Saudis before he set foot on Air Force One. So he was in KSA only to do showy, reality-TV bits to camera, which he can manage if he’s already been told what to do.

    In Europe, however, he was there as a national leader meeting with other national leaders. He didn’t — and still doesn’t — realise it, but he was on his last chance to prove to them that he was a peer in their company, able to represent his country and talk serious business. Having failed miserably at that with Angela Merkel and others these past few months, he failed miserably yet again, and they saw no point in hiding their disappointment and frustration. They needed and expected an America they could work with, and Trump just threw that away.

  29. 29.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Quinerly: clinton derangement syndrome

    I saw Hills whole interview last night and she had a lot of fascinating next level info on the election, on collusion, and on ingrained prejudice against women that I hadn’t heard before, yet the gossip reporters focus on eghazi.

  30. 30.

    Keith P.

    Do we know yet that Trump has not had a stroke? Does he have any public appearances in the next day or 2?

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Keith P.: Announcing decision on Paris deal today. Ivanka wants us to stay in. We’ll see if she is good for anything except show.

  34. 34.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Re glowing globe–See on youtube video of Ecco Il mondo from opera Mephistophele with Samuel Ramey. Good commentary on Trump’s attitude.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Baud: GMA just now: Pulling out of the Paris deal “would be the biggest public split with Ivanka so far.”

  36. 36.

    Kay

    The state of Ohio launched a legal left hook Wednesday with a lawsuit aimed directly at Big Pharma and five of the biggest prescription painkiller manufacturers.
    The state’s lawsuit accuses the firms — Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Purdue Pharma, Endo and Cephalon — of “borrowing a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook” and downplaying the risks of using powerful drugs like OxyContin and Percocet.

    “We believe the evidence will also show that these companies got thousands and thousands of Ohioans — our friends, our family members, our co-workers, our kids — addicted to opioid pain medications,” Attorney General Mike DeWine declared. “These drug manufacturers knew what they were doing was wrong, but they continued to do it anyway.”

    This is really unusual from DeWine – suing a business, any business on behalf of consumers or the public- and an indication of how much this particular addiction has hit home with their base.

    Purdue Pharma, one of the companies named, is owned by politically active conservatives:

    The richest newcomer to Forbes 2015 list of America’s Richest Families comes in at a stunning $14 billion. The Sackler family, which owns Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma, flew under the radar when Forbes launched its initial list of wealthiest families in July 2014, but this year they crack the top-20, edging out storied families like the Busches, Mellons and Rockefellers.
    How did the Sacklers build the 16th-largest fortune in the country? The short answer: making the most popular and controversial opioid of the 21st century — OxyContin.

  39. 39.

    WereBear

    I do appreciate Trump for one thing: the incredibly obvious way he lays bare all the Republican nonsense for the nonsense that it is.

    See what happens when a political leader acts like all their crap is true! See how Republican propaganda claims work in the Real World! See just how stupid and clueless a person has to be in order to try it!

  41. 41.

    The Nameless One

    Ceci n est pas mon nym: Yes, Claude Taylor from Palmer Report was the other guy. Thanks. Couldn’t think of his name.

    Betty Cracker: Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on him. And I agree he should post links.

  42. 42.

    sm*t cl*de

    A one-A.M. tweet from el Jefe
    Went on about bad press #covfefe.
    To “What were you thinking?!”
    He explained he was drinking
    A blend of of cough mixture and Hefe.

  48. 48.

    bystander

    @different-church-lady:

    @Quinerly: Chuck Todd is pretty much a privileged white woman himself.

    Please. No woman as talentfree as Todd would ever be held up this way. Outside of Faux news.

    WaPo ran an article about how twitler brought us all together in laughter with covfefe blah blah blah. I was so happy to read the responses. Almost all were about how not funny it is and why is WaPo shilling for him.

  50. 50.

    Shalimar

    @BlueDWarrior: Joe is saying the same old shit as always. Whatever HRC does or doesn’t do, it’s going to be wrong.

    Specifically, “she keeps on bringing this up.” She keeps blaming x,y and z, instead of herself. This is their basic slant.

    It doesn’t matter that she kept her mouth shut for months and months. It will never be time for her to talk and nothing she ever says will be considered honest.

    edit: They have Rep. Joe Crowley of New York on to basically criticize her and fellow Democrats. “chair of the Democratic caucus”, they keep calling him. According to his twitter, he is going on Morning Joe to discuss the Paris Accords and TrumpRussia. They only asked him about Hillary and her “attacks” on the DNC.

  53. 53.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Quinerly: They were seriously saying misogyny played no role in the election? Geez. Misogyny plays a role in everyday life, and it was right out in the open during the election. Trump that bitch, anyone?

  54. 54.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: Dworkin? Legit? The guy who posted one of the stupidest tweets in the history of Twitter the other day, referring to Saakashvili as a Putin ally? Yeah, no. That’s can’t-tie-your-own-shoes-level stupid.

  56. 56.

    GregB

    @Amir Khalid:

    Trump has exposed himself as an autocrat in training.

    Thumbing democracies in the eye over and over and sucking up to the shitheels of the world like Putin, Erdogan, the Saudi’s. Money and power and of course self reverence are all that matter to him. Nothing more.

    It is a national shame.

  57. 57.

    PPCLI

    @The Nameless One: remember when Al gore had some fundraiser, and a Chinese businessmen was somehow involved. That was one of the biggest scandals of the election. Seems like so long ago…

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    He’s always running for something. I thought we were rid of him after his Senate stint but he came back. I’m sure they’re hearing complaints from rural counties. This addiction is hugely expensive. It has cost counties hundreds of millions of dollars- most of the money comes out of county budgets- courts, child welfare, county health services. They have had to raise taxes locally to cover costs. A huge chunk of Ohio public health services money is raised by local levy.

  59. 59.

    Shalimar

    @Baud: More like having the criticism pulled out of him, in a “yes Democrats have these problems, but we need reform” kind of way, but the questions were slanted to get that criticism from him. I don’t think it was the type of appearance they told him it would be.

  60. 60.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Iowa Old Lady: I was watching last week and they had 6 men on and Mika. A 6 to 1 ratio. And Mika kept trying to enter the conversation, and she was making sense, but every time they would ignore her as if she wasn’t in the room. The vibe was definitely “Mika but out, this is man’s talk”.

    The whole is show is complete misogyny.

  61. 61.

    Patricia Kayden

    @BlueDWarrior: That’s Joe Scarborough’s problem. No one cares. I hold him partially accountable for the monster in the White House given all the cuddling and tongue bathing he administered to Trump during the election cycle. He can take several seats and shut the hell up. (Wish people would stop giving him good ratings).

  62. 62.

    Shalimar

    @Shalimar: Crowley’s twitter has a “watch me pile on Republicans” type of announcement right before his appearance. Morning Joe is dishonest even to it’s guests. Who knew?

  64. 64.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Kay: but, but….. he hands out cook books to the white working class

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I’m going to a Betty Sutton meeting next week, just because I like the person who invited me. So far I think Betty Sutton looks too much like Connie Pillich :)

    You know how people are – “which one is SHE?”

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @Shalimar: I think it’s tough for Dems. Be polite, and we are viewed as docile and weak. Be assertive, and we are viewed as uppity and arrogant.

  67. 67.

    WereBear

    @Kay: It always gets white people’s attention when it happens to white people.

    I keep not getting over the stark contrast in their responses. When it happens to people in the inner cities, it’s lack of moral fiber and the response is punishment. When it happens to their kids in Anytown USA, it’s an illness which needs treatment!

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @Kay: Well, I hope the lawsuit produces a good result but does not advance Dewine’s career. I’d also like a pony.

  69. 69.

    Patricia Kayden

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Secretary Clinton is on a roll!! Hilarious.

    @GregB:

    Money and power and of course self reverence are all that matter to him.

    And he and his sleazy family are probably making a whole lot of money off Trump’s prestigious position as an occupant of the White House. Trump has perfected the art of grifting. I’ll give him credit for that.

  70. 70.

    Shalimar

    @Baud: Yeah, me too. I was pissed at him for the first few minutes. The message he was sending was negative. But that was what they were trying to get out of him, and he didn’t agree with all the leading questions. His message was more of a we’re not perfect but we’re working on it message.

    I feel sorry for Crowley after reading his twitter announcement. They used him, and didn’t even give him the appearance they promised to talk trash about Trump. It would have been difficult to go in unprepared for the questions like he was and do better.

  73. 73.

    aimai

    @Kay: IF anyone wants to know more about purdue pharma and the opioid epidemic I recommend Dreamland, by Richard (?) quinones. Great book about the intersection of the Sackler family, purdue pharma, and the crisis in the economy that drove people to need to get disability leading to major opioid epidemics throughout the country but especially in places like Ohio where the safety net was weak.

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @Gin & Tonic: Missed that one and can’t vouch for his “analysis” in general, but when he posts financial info, it appears to come from legit sources and has always checked out when I’ve done my own research. Which admittedly has not been often.

  77. 77.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: exactly. there is no one more conventionally unlikable than the stiff, snobbish, robotic, inauthentic Willard Mitten Romney. And yet the DC media treats Mr. 47%’s blathering with respect and deference; never requiring him to issue mea culpas for his mistakes.

  78. 78.

    Patricia Kayden

    Looks like Jared Kushner was always sleazy. Perhaps that’s why he was attracted to Ivanka “Daughter of Grifting Donald” Trump in the first place. Birds of a feather and all that.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @WereBear:

    This is 100% true. They have no defense as far as I’m concerned. 100% race-based.

    I went to a continuing legal seminar on it where the prosecutor presenting kept saying “these are kids from nice families” or things to that effect over and over. It was incredible how blatant it was. She’s literally a moron so it wasn’t surprising from her, but still. I was sitting next to a state representative so I made sure to bring up that this was a specific, targeted marketed and sales plan which caused him to defend free enterprise. He’s a fraud. I knew him and his wife before he ran for office and if they’re “pro-life conservatives” they coulda fooled me.

    The thing about it is they’re full of shit and they know it. These are not “kids from nice families”. They’re mostly poor white people, the same people who are always the underclass in white, rural counties. This is ABOUT them being white. This distinction they’re making is race-based.

  80. 80.

    Aleta

    @Baud: Thanks.

    @Patricia Kayden: Mind boggling. And I have to say, I read a NYT story about this maneuvering some years ago. (Don’t remember K’s name.). But no negative stories about Kushner appeared during the campaign.

  81. 81.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’ve been thinking about why Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia went so well (aside from the unfortunate optics) and the rest of the tour went so badly.

    It’s not complicated. The Saudis own him almost as much as the Russians do, and he gave them everything they asked for – including selling half the strategic petroleum reserve.

    And the Europeans don’t have brain damage.

  82. 82.

    Lapassionara

    @Kay: This.

    Did anyone see the Lebron James tape? Even his accomplishments and wealth don’t protect him from racism.

  83. 83.

    sherparick

    @WereBear: 35% is enthralled, although occasionally it breaks through that Trump will throw anyone under the bus on a whim. South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee are home to German auto plants. But apparently these are not jobs Trump is interested in saving or expanding.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @Lapassionara:

    I did see it. And now I am avoiding all comment sections on the subject after making the mistake of peeking at a few comments.

    Deplorable.

  86. 86.

    BlueDWarrior

    @Lapassionara: People desperately don’t want to be confronted with the fact that their own whitewashing of history will never, EVER absolve them of the guilt of what is done to their fellow man in the current day.

    The only time the unvarnished truth of what it was like to be a Person of Color can be told when it is told to shut someone up about the plight of their descendants.

    “Well at least you aren’t being lynched at high noon, so who cares if someone vandalizes your mansion?”

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @Lapassionara:

    I don’t follow sports but I love LeBron James for one reason- he gives kids bikes. So much of philanthropy is “I know what’s good for you, here’s your broccolli”. Bikes are a gift. Just pure, no strings attached fun. They deserve something frivolous and purely joyful.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: I haven’t clicked the link, but the debt ceiling deadline is coming up faster than the Treasury projected (because tax revenue is lower than projected) and Congress has a bunch of recesses coming up. They have the justified fear that things will be harder after the recess because they’re going to get screamed at by their constituents back home again.

    The Teabaggers saying they won’t accept a “clean” increase in the debt limit has a bunch of people worried that Ryan might have to compromise with the Democrats to pass a bill. (The Horroooorrrrrr!!111)

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    germy

    @MomSense:

    I did see it. And now I am avoiding all comment sections on the subject after making the mistake of peeking at a few comments.

    Deplorable.

    I made the mistake of reading comments on a news report about whoever hung a noose inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

    Quite a few commenters claimed (with no evidence of course) that the noose was left by a liberal to frame conservatives.

  90. 90.

    MomSense

    @germy:

    Oh yeah. The comments on the noose (wasn’t it the second one??) are guaranteed deplorable. The comments are post racial society mythbusters.

  93. 93.

    Josie

    @Lapassionara: I did see it. It made me sad to see how restrained he was and how even his wealth and acclaim don’t protect him from the pain of racism. His mention of Emmett Till almost made me cry.

  94. 94.

    Lapassionara

    @Kay: Yes. He knows, he remembers, and his actions show a generous heart.

    I heard an African-American federal court judge tell the story of his years in the army during WWII. He was stationed in MS, and he saw German Pow’s getting a hot breakfast inside a warm room, while he and the rest of his company were required to pick up their food at an outside window. I felt such shame then.

  95. 95.

    ThresherK

    @MomSense: “Post-Racism: Mythbusters” is a term I should have been using (with the appropriate sneer at them*) for several years now.

    (*Not the guys from the actual TV show, of course.)

  96. 96.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @BlueDWarrior:
    No. They want her to have never existed, like they want Obama to have never existed. They want to never have to think about a woman or black person in charge. It is exactly like how conservatives want to never have to think about queers.

    @Amir Khalid:
    Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia went well because they are paying him. Just like he now gets along great with China, once they granted him and his family (I.E., him) hundreds of millions of dollars in business deals.

  97. 97.

    japa21

    @Baud: No, don’t get carried away. Would be more appropriate to say “most of the people”. You make it sound like all the people here are decent.

  98. 98.

    glory b

    @WereBear: Yeah, but I thought the Kansas experiment under Brownback showed us this already.

    The MSM didn’t report enough on what a disaster that was/is I guess.

  99. 99.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @glory b:
    The vast majority of the MSM believe in conservative policies, especially giving everything to the rich and punishing the poor- sorry, I mean ‘entitlement reform.’ They would rather sweep all failures of these policies under the rug.

  100. 100.

    glory b

    @Kay: I love him for another reason, he has a major project involving rehabbing homes in the low income neighborhoods of Cleveland.

    I understand he’s become a major force in improving these areas.

    I had been afraid of how he would turn out, going to the NBA at such a young age. But, as my folks say, it seems his mama raised him right.

  102. 102.

    rikyrah

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Looks like Jared Kushner was always sleazy. Perhaps that’s why he was attracted to Ivanka “Daughter of Grifting Donald” Trump in the first place. Birds of a feather and all that.

    Glad you posted this. Totally sleazeball

  104. 104.

    manyakitty

    @Kay: A good friend of mine works for his foundation. Among other things, she’s helping to develop the curriculum for a trauma-informed public magnet they’re starting for Akron Public Schools. He is making a huge difference around here.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    @Amir Khalid:

    In Europe, however, he was there as a national leader meeting with other national leaders. He didn’t — and still doesn’t — realise it, but he was on his last chance to prove to them that he was a peer in their company, able to represent his country and talk serious business. Having failed miserably at that with Angela Merkel and others these past few months, he failed miserably yet again, and they saw no point in hiding their disappointment and frustration. They needed and expected an America they could work with, and Trump just threw that away.

    it wasn’t just him. They wondered if it was an exaggeration. They said – it can’t be THAT BAD..after all, these folks lived through Shrub.

    Then, they realized, it.is.worse.than.Shrub.

    Shrub at least surrounded himself with professionals. They had no morals, but they were professionals, and their professional class could talk to our professional class.

    Dolt45 has nothing but incompetent clowns..which is why Europe chucked up the DEUCES to America, after 70 years.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    @bystander:

    WaPo ran an article about how twitler brought us all together in laughter with covfefe blah blah blah. I was so happy to read the responses. Almost all were about how not funny it is and why is WaPo shilling for him.

    keep bringing receipts.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    @WereBear:

    @Kay: It always gets white people’s attention when it happens to white people.

    I keep not getting over the stark contrast in their responses. When it happens to people in the inner cities, it’s lack of moral fiber and the response is punishment. When it happens to their kids in Anytown USA, it’s an illness which needs treatment!

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

  109. 109.

    hovercraft

    @Amir Khalid:
    The arms sale was all finalized before he got there, which to be fair is standard, so that the president can announce something big when he gets there. There were stories about Jared playing hardball with defense CEO’s to get the Saudi’s a better deal. The Saudi’s and the GCC countries were glad to see the back of Obama for a number of reasons, first the Iran deal, only the Israelis hated the deal more than the Saudi’s, leaving aside the Shia Sunni issue, as long as Iran is a pariah, the Saudi’s are the only game in town, and they get away with a lot of shit because we need them. Secondly they feel Obama betrayed them by supporting the Arab Spring generally, and the uprising against Mubarak in particular, which leads into the third thing, his focus on human rights, which led him to refuse to sell some of the arms in the deal Twitler signed because they were being used in Yemen against civilians. That’s the matchbook version.
    They like the rest of the world know that the way to Twitler’s shriveled up pathetic heart is flattery, so they blew smoke up his ass, and got him to laud them and the other GCC countries who actually fund ISIL and AQ, while condemning Iran. They won bigly at very little cost.

    ETA: I think the press reports about treating him like a six year old with a short attention span pissed him off from the get go, and then the images of the Obama-Merkel lovefest, with that huuuge adoring crowd pushed him over the edge. After that he threw a tantrum, and it was all down hill.

  111. 111.

    Aleta

    @Kay:

    (October 2016) Richard Sackler was recently deposed in a lawsuit for the first time – in regard to Kentucky’s claims that Purdue continued its illegal marketing of OxyContin. …

    Sackler’s deposition is one of several sealed documents that a Kentucky judge ordered to be released to the public at the request of statnews.com. Purdue said it will appeal the ruling, meaning the documents will be withheld, pending the outcome of the appeal.

    In fact, it’s been public knowledge for at least a decade that OxyContin was misleadingly marketed and causing great damage. In 2007 the United States government sued Purdue and extracted $600 million dollars in fines in addition to an admission from company executives that the company was knowingly misleading doctors and patients. Surely that should have been a wake up call for its company co-chairman. It is hard to believe that Richard Sackler can offer even a shred of plausible deniability.

    Current efforts to make Sackler’s testimony public are crucial in strides to make the family accountable for the actions of the company. Purdue is a privately held company and all its profits go to the Sacklers in one form or another. In any fair world, Purdue and the Sacklers should be hit with multibillion dollar fines – the proceeds devoted to the compensation and rehabilitation of the millions of people they have harmed and to the reimbursement of the states (and their taxpayers) for the enormous public costs occasioned by the opioid epidemic.

    It makes no sense to allow the Sacklers free rein to accumulate ever more ill gotten profits, even if that money makes its way to museums and medical centers. The family should be forced to disgorge a significant portion of its fortune to help clean up the opioid mess they created.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    @Lapassionara:

    Did anyone see the Lebron James tape? Even his accomplishments and wealth don’t protect him from racism.

    he was so elegant is his speech, and so strong.

    People wonder why, even though there is a Black middle-class, why Black people tend to vote as a group. And, it’s about race. We can’t separate race from economics, because we know, it doesn’t matter the size of your bank account, the color of your skin matters most in America.

    Chris Rock’s bit about how none of you White guys would exchange places with me..and, I’m RICH…always hits home.

    Which is why this insistence by some, on the left, to push this economic populism bullshyt grates the nerves.

    I don’t know if the video still exists on youtube, but, it’s one for me that haunts.
    By Mr. Bougie himself – Lawrence Otis Graham, and why he and his wife have their children dressed in a sort of ‘ uniform’.

    when that segment appeared on Nightline, a lot of people slammed him. I wasn’t one of them, because the last 30 seconds, seared me, when this very accomplished man explained why he did all of this.

    He was past the point of wanting his children to be treated the same as their peers. He just wanted to keep them ALIVE.

    For all the economic populists…find me a White Couple with FOUR HARVARD DEGREES like Graham and his wife…that express that level of desperation to want to protect their children..

    and, I might begin to listen to you.

  113. 113.

    OGLiberal

    @Baud: PR stunt to make Ivanka look good, like a true moderating influence, not the cold, heartless grifter she is in reality. Exxon shareholders just voted in support of the Paris Accords – that will play much more in a decision to stay in than any “Ivanka cares” BS.

  114. 114.

    Tenar Arha

    @Iowa Old Lady: There’s this weird disconnect I’ve noticed in people around 5-10 years younger than my age and older. It’s a combination of refusal to believe in and yet insistence that structural barriers aren’t insurmountable for most people.

    My aunts and my mother had to fight so hard for respect and advancement (Hidden Figures level pushing on doors that were closed in their faces). It seems almost like being ungrateful to criticize the invisible doors that are still there. I mean we’re the generation that grew up to Free To Be You And Me FFS! Yet there’s many people in my cohort who cannot live with the dichotomy of the direct legal barriers being gone but still having to be twice as good to succeed. It’s like they blind themselves to the misogyny in order to live with it.

    Anyway, my generation seems to have had three choices:
    1. Pretend it doesn’t effect us, and fall back on “it’s on the individual”
    2. Lean on gender essentialism (men do this…, women do that… stuff) for why we still don’t make the same $, or advance at the same rates
    3. Systems do need to change to prevent misogyny (racism, xenophobia etc) from making our choices for us

    The younger women are than me, the more likely they are to admit that #3 is true.

    (ETA I realize this only really applies to white feminists because as far as I can tell from reading and talking with people, black feminists never forgot about structural barriers).

  115. 115.

    hovercraft

    @Baud: Thanks for the link, can we get it to democrats and have them read it to every fucking asshole bitching about Clinton?

  118. 118.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    People wonder why, even though there is a Black middle-class, why Black people tend to vote as a group. And, it’s about race.

    Race is the defining issue of American politics, because Republicans made it their defining issue. Of course blacks can see it. Whites who wish the debate were about something else (like economic inequality) need to accept that we don’t live in that world. I didn’t want to see it, and the truth punched me in the face during Obama’s presidency. The last straw there was the freakout over a Coca Cola commercial with multi-racial people singing the national anthem. Christ, how can it be more obvious than that that half the country is freaking the fuck out that brown people exist?

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    The Democrats Need a Paradigm Shift
    by Martin Longman
    May 31, 2017 4:56 PM

    The Democrats seem to be caught on flypaper and unable to get out of an infinite loop of debate over whether they should focus on the needs and desires of their progressive base or the needs and desires of the more working class voters they lost in 2016 and which cost them election. You can see them flailing away anywhere you look, on Twitter or Facebook or on cable television and in newspaper columns. Cathleen Decker captures it nicely in her article for the Los Angeles Times:

    Democrats essentially remain in the box where Hillary Clinton spent the general election: able to unify Trump opponents, but unable to craft a message for those not motivated by distaste for him.

    “The Democrats are closer to where the electorate is headed, but have shown a tin ear and an inability to understand the groups that formed the backbone of the Democratic Party for decades,” said veteran Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.

    The deepest Democratic schisms involve whether to focus on liberal social issues or the economic struggles of blue-collar and middle-class Americans. During the presidential campaign, many voters saw the party as more intent on social issues, an image disputed by Democrats but pushed by Republicans.

    “The Democratic Party, especially the presidential campaign, lost its core economic message last year; Trump sort of outmaneuvered us among Democrats and independents,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper, who has spent the last few months in what he calls “kitchen conversations” with voters.

    Supporting the civil rights of Democratic voter groups is admirable, he said, “but we can’t let them bait us into getting away from our core message — and I think that does happen.”

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    Quick Takes: Clinton On How Trump Might Have Coordinated With Russians
    A roundup of news that caught my eye today.

    by Nancy LeTourneau
    May 31, 2017 6:52 PM

    * Earlier today I pointed to one of the areas of inquiry the FBI is pursuing with respect to Jared Kushner – the fact that he managed the voter micro targeting work done by Cambridge Analytica. The question this raises is whether or not he cooperated with Russia to micro target voters—specifically in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania—by sharing data with them? While not mentioning Kushner in particular, today at the Recode Conference in Southern California, Hillary Clinton gave some examples of how that might have played out. In other words…she gets it.

    http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/05/31/quick-takes-clinton-on-how-trump-might-have-coordinated-with-russians/

  123. 123.

    Aleta

    @OGLiberal: She’s a stupid flat character with a fixed role in this fucking fake reality drama. To the Trumps and their communications directors (Jared just hired his from Hollywood) we’re a captive TV audience. They think their job is to improve the narratives that play over top of the money flowing.

  124. 124.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    the needs and desires of the more working class voters they lost in 2016 and which cost them election.

    A lot of things cost us the election. Chasing the votes of racists who will never vote for us seems like a terrible use of resources compared to, say, fighting voter suppression.

    able to unify Trump opponents, but unable to craft a message for those not motivated by distaste for him.

    Because they have no intention of voting Democrat, and nothing we say will change that. Heaven knows we spoke directly to their supposed issues, and they continue to pretend we didn’t.

    “The Democrats are closer to where the electorate is headed, but have shown a tin ear and an inability to understand the groups that formed the backbone of the Democratic Party for decades,”

    “Talking about bigotry makes me uncomfortable.”

    whether to focus on liberal social issues or the economic struggles of blue-collar and middle-class Americans.

    …who will never vote for us anyway, because ‘liberal social issues’ are everything except making minorities shut up and let white people decide everything.

    many voters saw the party as more intent on social issues

    IE, were uncomfortable that race and sexism even got mentioned.

    The Democratic Party, especially the presidential campaign, lost its core economic message last year

    IE, even mentioning race and sexism is totally unacceptable, no matter your economic positions.

    Supporting the civil rights of Democratic voter groups is admirable, he said, “but we can’t let them bait us into getting away from our core message — and I think that does happen.”

    “Stop admitting bigotry exists and only focus on white people’s issues!”

    …sorry, Rikyah. You got me started there, and I get steamed about this.

  125. 125.

    Kathleen

    @rikyrah: He needs to STFU . I’m so GD Dem bashing. His commenters have frried his brain. Know it’s dead thread but I had to vent.

  126. 126.

    Citizen Alan

    @PPCLI:

    Had Gore become president, there is serious talk that he would be impeached solely because at one point he used the wrong phone to talk to a Chinese donor.

  127. 127.

    No One You Know

    @Frankensteinbeck: I want to distill that last comment into my next Democratic Party survey. I think your spot-on. Not because I want to treat the white working class as hopelessly Republican, but because failing to see that done people insist on not seeing other humans as people violates who we are. IMHO.

  128. 128.

    JDM

    I finally got it. “Covfefe” is shorthand for “news coverage that hurt my delicate fee-fees”.

  129. 129.

    Applejinx

    @aimai:

    and the crisis in the economy that drove people to need to get disability

    Thank you. Even one little passing acknowledgement is better than nothing. Think about that one for a minute. Have you gone on disability, and if so have you gone on disability because there was no other option (barring, I suppose, moving across country somehow and hoping you’d get luckier somewhere else)?

    In no way am I suggesting racism isn’t a primary problem and a total crisis, because it obviously is. But it’s nice to see a brief passing mention of what lost us the Presidency, expressed as a problem and possible bad thing.

  130. 130.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah:

    Shrub at least surrounded himself with professionals. They had no morals, but they were professionals, and their professional class could talk to our professional class.

    Whatever else you could say about Dick Cheney, the man was a highly competent bureaucrat.

  132. 132.

    Bonnie

    Jacobs, I hope, will send his hospital bill, glasses bill, etc., to Gianforte.

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