Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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

Peak wingnut was a lie.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Agonize - Organize / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Blasts from the Past

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Blasts from the Past

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Trumpet call, via the Washington Post:

The moderator lauded Michelle Obama for her achievements over the past eight years and touched on the former first lady’s plans, but Tuesday’s conversation also veered into uncomfortable territory.

It was Obama’s largest public appearance since the 2016 election — speaking in front of more than 8,000 people at the Women’s Foundation of Colorado’s 30th anniversary celebration — and she touched on personal attacks that she faced again and again. Many had the same theme.

“The shards that cut me the deepest were the ones that intended to cut,” Obama said, according to the Denver Post. “Knowing that after eight years of working really hard for this country, there are still people who won’t see me for what I am because of my skin color.”

She added that she wouldn’t pretend the attacks didn’t hurt, because that would give those inflicting the pain a pass, according to the Post.

“We are living with small tiny cuts, and we are bleeding every single day. And we’re still getting up,” she said….

Despite Tuesday’s detour into dark territory, many of Obama’s comments went high.

She told the audience that she is “a strong woman because of other strong woman,” according to statement on WFCO’s website. “You don’t mother alone, you don’t grandparent alone, you don’t struggle alone. You find your community.”…

Butt trumpet [fart noise] — news of our old Hoekstroika punching bag :

Hoekstra’s parents, IIRC, left the Netherlands because it was turning into a “Sodom and Gomorrah”, where the righteous were brutally required to respect other peoples’ opinions — kinda like the Puritans, back in the day.

(Speaking of history… somewhere on the Internet, there’s gotta be a link to the Gore Vidal essay about Ronald Reagan appointing the founder/owner of TV Guide as Ambassador to Great Britain, in case anyone thinks Trump’s people are capable of anything more original than copying 40-year-old insults from brighter administrations.)

Reader Interactions

198Comments

  1. 1.

    Trentrunner

    Fuck John McCain & Co. Just gave a self-promoting press conference for future plausible deniability. CNN et al reporting that they “are voting no,” but they are not. I can’t believe–but I can–that I understand this shit better than they do.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    @Trentrunner: They’re voting no unless they receive “assurances” about going to conference. Since McConnell is every bit as reliable and trustworthy as Trump, anyone with more than two functional neurons should realize just how much any “assurance” would be worth.

  9. 9.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Samples from BJT’s link at #2.

    “They’ll all be fired by me,” he said. “I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I’ll fire tomorrow. I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus—if you want to leak something—he’ll be asked to resign very shortly.” The issue, he said, was that he believed Priebus had been worried about the dinner because he hadn’t been invited. “Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac,” Scaramucci said. He channelled Priebus as he spoke: “ ‘Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the fucking thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.’ ” (Priebus did not respond to a request for comment.)

    I got the sense that Scaramucci’s campaign against leakers flows from his intense loyalty to Trump. Unlike other Trump advisers, I’ve never heard him say a bad word about the President. “What I want to do is I want to fucking kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people,” he told me.

  13. 13.

    lurker dean

    what a trainwreck.

    Lachlan Markay‏ @lachlan
    Anthony Scaramucci refers to himself as The Mooch because of course he does
    https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/890680072000204801

    He cryptically suggested that he had more information about White House aides. “O.K., the Mooch showed up a week ago,” he said. “This is going to get cleaned up very shortly, O.K.? Because I nailed these guys. I’ve got digital fingerprints on everything they’ve done through the F.B.I. and the fucking Department of Justice.”

  14. 14.

    Turgidson

    @dmsilev:

    I think the assurances need to come from Paul “Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver” Ryan.

    His word might…might mean more than McConnell’s. But he lies as easily as he draws each wants-to-murder-the-poor breath he takes, so….

    Those guys just got up and preened about how distasteful this is without committing to doing anything other than voting Yes when it matters. Just like they did on Tuesday. Fuck em.

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Iowa Old Lady: They could try taking a deep breath and, you know, like, writing a bill in the way every other bill has been written in the history of American governance. Instead of a half-assed plan with cockamamie assurances that it won’t actually happen to buy time so that something else can happen and then be subject to a vote whose outcome is uncertain.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @Major Major Major Major: He really is a thoroughly repulsive person in every way. If I found myself trapped on a plane with that leering prick, I think I’d have to fashion a homemade parachute out of seat covers and bail!

  22. 22.

    germy

    Michelle Obama was offended by the stupid “satirical” fist bump New Yorker magazine cover. I found an old copy. It came out in the summer of 2008. It featured a long “profile piece” of Obama that accused him of being a flip flopper.

    Fortunately, Obama won. Despite their concerns.

  31. 31.

    germy

    I got the sense that Scaramucci’s campaign against leakers flows from his intense loyalty to Trump. Unlike other Trump advisers, I’ve never heard him say a bad word about the President. “What I want to do is I want to fucking kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people kill all the liberals,” he told me.

  32. 32.

    Percysowner

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Somewhere Richard Nixon is looking up and thinking that he just didn’t push HARD enough when he got caught.

    @dmsilev:

    They’re voting no unless they receive “assurances” about going to conference. Since McConnell is every bit as reliable and trustworthy as Trump, anyone with more than two functional neurons should realize just how much any “assurance” would be worth.

    Yes, they are going to make them pinky swear to go to Conference. Then they’ll braid each other’s hair and and try to figure out if the cute intern likes them or like, likes them. Then when the pinky swear gets broken they will be so hurt and tell everybody what a jerk Paul Ryan is for not keeping his promise. Then they will go home and cry in their pillow. Teenage girls everywhere will say “Get grip, you had to know they were lying!”

  33. 33.

    Iowa Old Lady

    So I’m reading that if the Senate passes this bill (whatever it is) and it goes to conference with the House, that means they’re negotiating in an attempt to marry the House and Senate versions. What I read said only things in one of those two bills can go in the result. This is horrifying.

    ETA: You remember the House bill. The one they passed while assuring one another that the Senate would fix it.

  35. 35.

    jl

    Sorry to hear Michelle say how much the racist BS hurt. I should nave expected it though. They sure stood strong while in office.

    On the Trump front, what a toxic fool. Just two points stand out that I heard on the news this morning.
    After claiming that the decision was made with his central casting generals’ expertise, heard that the decision was made in their absence and they were ‘informed’.
    So, Mattis and McMaster are not part of the military and national security experts that Trump relies on, or what?

    Trump apparently blasted out, via tweet or statement, that he is doing this as a wedge issue to rouse up support among his bigot base.
    Well, OK, if he wants to blow up his case in court as soon as he makes a decision that will be challenged, I guess that is good. Proceed, Mr. President!
    But is clear by now that Trump thinks the court system is a Deep State fake news plot, and he has some secret scheme to defeat it.
    What would that be?
    One good thing about Trump pissing off everyone, including the Senate, is that it does create some good arguments to use with persuadable GOP Senators when he put up toxic judicial nominees.

  39. 39.

    Paul W.

    Can the Netherlands refuse the ambassador? I wouldn’t want anyone who has no ability to keep information secret anywhere near this position.

  40. 40.

    amygdala

    @Iowa Old Lady: I’m reading that if it goes to the House, Ryan is going to schedule a vote without warning. And that “press conference” suggests that those Senators know it.

  43. 43.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I got the sense that Scaramucci’s campaign against leakers flows from his intense loyalty to Trump.

    Yes, that’s the sense he’s trying to sledgehammer into you. After the ‘It was Trump’ gaffe, I get the impression Skittles Muncher isn’t that bright, but he’s smart enough to have figured out Trump. Trump isn’t just an insecure, preening jackass. He’s an utterly classless insecure, preening jackass. Most people try to keep their compliments plausible, and not be obvious that it’s bullshit. Skillet Masher understands that for Trump, more flatter = better, and there is NO limit. Go on, tell the television audience Trump is more a man of God than the Pope! Trump will LOVE you.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    This is a cute story about Obama’s ambassador to Denmark:

    When rufus gifford, the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, won a Danish television award for his reality show, he ran onto the stage, beaming. “Oh man,” he said, surprised. “Wow.” The show, Jeg Er Ambassadøren fra Amerika (or I Am the Ambassador From America), was renewed for a second season (and will come to U.S. viewers this fall via Netflix). A Danish biography of Gifford was a best seller. At a music festival in June, the chart-topping Danish pop band Lukas Graham dedicated its song “Nice Guy” to him.
    “Rufus Gifford is a rock star,” Nicolai Wammen, a Danish MP and a friend of Gifford’s, told me. As an appointee of President Obama’s, Gifford is likely nearing the end of his diplomatic stint, though Danes frequently ask him to stay. His biographer, Stéphanie Surrugue, remembers walking alongside Gifford at a political gathering and noticing that he was getting as much attention as the nearby prime minister.

    Wherever Gifford goes these days, people want to talk about the American election. Jesper Steinmetz, a Danish correspondent in the U.S., says Danes have been “astonished” by Donald Trump’s success, but see Gifford as “the counterweight to that trend. He reminds Danes [of] the America that they like.”

    My son and his wife go to Denmark once or twice a year to see his wife’s friends and relatives and they told me about this. I never heard a word about it while it was going on.

  49. 49.

    Mike in DC

    I for one fully support Bannon’s ambition, and think he should resign his post so he can work towards it full time.

  50. 50.

    Trentrunner

    @lamh36: Someone retweeted it and Maggie–surprise!–got defensive AGAIN.

    Fuck her, too. She’s a real big part of the problem.

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    @Olivianuzzi
    Follow
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    Anthony Scaramucci tells me his statement will be coming shortly.

  54. 54.

    PPCLI

    Trump is worse than any other president ever in most respects. But no ambassador he has nominated so far is as bad as some of Reagan’s nominees. C-list Actor and Reagan buddy John Gavin to Mexico comes to mind. Assaulted a TV cameraman and generally made an ass of himself. Robinson, Reagan’s first ambassador to Canada saw fit to tell Canadians how to vote in their elections. And of course Mr. TV Guide as Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

    Callista Gingrich has the potential to be even worse than these, but she will need to make an effort to be even as bad…

  55. 55.

    david spikes

    No matter how low they fall. . . . . A majority of Repub. senators have convinced themselves that a reconciliation conference is the holy grail that will somehow produce not just a good bill but a GREAT bill that will please everyone.
    And that it will take hardly any time at all.
    But now they are demanding cast iron assurances that the nasty old House won’t just go ahead and pass the bill the senate wants to pass so that they can get a bill they actually want.
    If all that gives you a headache, it’s giving the repubs fits. Apparently the insurance industry switched to panic mode -finally.

  56. 56.

    jl

    @lamh36:

    Re reporters weird comment,
    ” Mooch isn’t a comms professional. But his messaging is smooth and and level-headed. ”

    The Joker is Trump’s Trump, or Trujmp’s mini-me. A perfect pair. The Joker yells that he will go after Priebus for felony leaking of publicly available documents.
    And I see just now in the news that Trump approved of the dumb ass move.

    Edit: Looks my suggestion to call Mooch The Joker has not caught on. But history will vindicate me. Behold, we see it unfolding now. The Joker he will be, believe me.

  58. 58.

    david spikes

    @PPCLI: Actually Annenberg was very well liked in London-scads of money and loved to give fabulous parties-which is what ambassadors to London and Paris are expected to do.
    In addition he put his terrific art collection in the residence and opened it to the public.
    I would trade Annenberg and some of the other Reagan millionaires for the Kochs and the rest of that crew any day.

  59. 59.

    JPL

    @Cheryl Rofer: The Bannon part was interesting also, and I read it to a friend. She said what and I said I’m not reading the Bannon part again. I’ll send you a link.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    “The Mooch” is clearly a drug user. Coke? Meth? Both? Something more exotic?
    The guy is a druggie and needs a test.

  63. 63.

    david spikes

    @lamh36: But at least we now know that unlike Bannon the Mooch doesn’t suck his own dick-or so he tells Ryan Lizza.

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    @Iowa Old Lady: It does not need to go to conference at all. The House could just pass what the Senate passed and WHHOOOOSH! off to Trump’s desk. That is what the discussion is about. Will the Senate ever have a chance to see this crap again?

    I doubt it.

  65. 65.

    mai naem mobile

    Rick Wilson thinks Scareadouche is doing some Bolivian travelling powder. I agree. I think he’s sharing with Dolt 45. Maybe that’s what they were.during that nine minute break of the transgender ban tweets.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    I hate men who flip their ties over their shoulder when they eat. Just be mindful, you jackal.

  70. 70.

    lurker dean

    so the guy famous for “you’re fired” is actually too chickenshit to fire anyone, and instead harasses (or has other people harass) them until they quit.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl Rofer: “never said a bad word about the president”.

    Willful Amnesia – it’s like a non-surgical lobotomy:

    During an appearance on Fox Business in August 2015, Scaramucci called Trump a bully whose campaign would “eventually implode.”

    In response to Trump’s criticism of hedge fund managers, who he said “move around papers,” Scaramucci called Trump “a hack politician” and said his comments were “anti-American.”

    “Right out of Elizabeth Warren’s playbook,” the Wall Street financier said. “Are you a Democratic plant for Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren? Stand here and tell us otherwise.”

    Scaramucci challenged Trump to criticize him, saying he’ll be the president of the “Queens County bullies association.”

    “The politicians don’t want to go at Trump because he’s got a big mouth and he’s afraid he’s gonna light them up on Fox News and all these other places, but I’m not a politician,” he said. “You’re an inherited money dude from Queens County — bring it, Donald. Bring it.”

    Scaramucci went on to say that Walker wouldn’t launch attack ads on Trump because “he’s a smart guy and he knows [Trump]’s going to implode without him having to do attack ads. This sort of nonsense is going to cause him to eventually implode.”

    He may be right about that last bit. Kinda funny that The Mooch is helping “eventually” to hasten its appearance…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Paul W.: They can a persona non grata if he acts like to much of an ass on them and basically dump on the next plane back to the US. Likely dumbass Donne doesn’t get that concept

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: agreed. How do you feel about those that tuck them into their shirt to eat? I hate them too! They both say my tie is more important than you.

  76. 76.

    Robert Sneddon

    US Ambassadors are figurehead appointments, friends of the Great and Good, donors and supporters of the current Administration. The actual work of the Embassy is carried out by the permanent State Department staff while the Ambassador glad-hands people at receptions and is kept well away from sharp objects by the Chief of Protocol and the Charge d’Affaires. Nothing new here.

    Matthew Barzun, Barack Obama’s choice for Ambassador to the UK in 2013 was someone who worked on his election campaign in 2008 and ended up National Finance Chair for his re-election in 2012. Not a master diplomat by any means. Trump’s choice for the same position, someone named Woody Johnson owns a stickball club of some kind it appears.

    In contrast the British Ambassador to the United States, Sir Nigel Darroch is a career diplomat with forty years of experience in EU and foreign affairs, embassy postings and national security roles. His predecessor had similar qualifications.

  78. 78.

    delk

    @Major Major Major Major: Ha! Watching Futurama right now. The episode where Nixon’s head has Bender’s body.

    Fry: Professor, when did you become so obsessed with voting?
    Professor Hubert Farnsworth: The very instant I became old.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    I just looked him up on Wikipedia and he and his husband got married in Copenhagen while he was the ambassador. Everyone loves a wedding! ?

  90. 90.

    jl

    @mai naem mobile:

    ” do.not compare FDR to Dolt 45 in any manner. Seriously,no. Just no. ”

    Bill Clinton OK?
    Tony is ‘Big Snort’, based in his behavior so far.

  97. 97.

    jl

    Mooch did bring up the mystery of whether it is possible for a guy to suck his own.. is that a forbidden worship word here?
    That needs to be settled once and for all. Has important economic implications, would be a huge boost the yoga industry.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    The head of Boy Scouts of America has apologized following President Trump’s controversial speech earlier this week at the organization’s National Jamboree, saying he regrets politics were brought into the event.
    “I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree,” Michael Surbaugh, chief scout executive for the Boy Scouts of America, said in a statement on Thursday.
    “That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition. … It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies.
    “For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”

    “Politics were inserted” is like “mistakes were made”.

    The oafish President used a Boy Scout address as a campaign rally, is what happened, because he has poor judgment.

    Why do they keep subjecting children to the egotistical rambling of this douchebag? He goes out and brags about winning the election. How is that inspiring or worthwhile for them?

  99. 99.

    Major Major Major Major

    @delk: Yeah, there was a little back-and-forth about it on a thread here last evening even. Looks neat! From what little we know.

    I heard Billy West interviewed on Marc Maron’s podcast, really interesting guy, crazy life story.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: Grew up upstate but Brooklyn for a while when I was younger, Boston now. But Irish, Italian? Similar but different. I did go to college and maybe date a bit Joey Bonano’s granddaughter. Maybe, not saying. My favorite NY Daily News cover ever was when Crazy Joey G was killed in front of Umberto’s Clam and the headline was just: GREED.

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Paul W.: Are ambassadors more than just figureheads who represent their countries abroad? I’m sure the Netherlands can keep Hoekstra busy attending ceremonies and parades and giving tours of his residence. No need to tell him anything of consequence. Anything you tell him, you might as well tell Russia.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    @sm*t cl*de:
    Ur mah gerd, that was wonderful down to the last Scotty drop o’ flopsweat. Wonder if he’s self-aware enough to how long he was in the woodshed there?

    Guess I don’t actually wonder.

  104. 104.

    frosty fred

    @Kay: Well, it does show then that anyone can be president, despite all lack of qualifications.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I’d have liked to see a sentence in there, something like, “We regret the President’s remarks didn’t rise to the level of the speeches of previous presidents, like, say, Obama. Or Clinton, or even Bush.”

  109. 109.

    sm*t cl*de

    @david spikes:

    unlike Bannon the Mooch doesn’t suck his own dick-or so he tells Ryan Lizza

    And I don’t drink all the beer in the house.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @frosty fred:

    He’s a moron. He commented on the size of the crowd. He thinks they came to see him. He went to address their jamboree. Idiot didn’t realize they were there for something unrelated to Donald Trump.

    This level of selfishness is like a mental illness. It’s “me, me, me”.

  112. 112.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Kay:

    Why do they keep subjecting children to the egotistical rambling of this douchebag?

    I was honestly surprised that he is allowed within a certain distance of pre-teens.

  113. 113.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Very funny.

    Men in the Midwest are big on flipping their ties. If I know them (it’s a small cow town), I roll my eyes at them and offer to pay for the drycleaning should they spill. They learn to be careful.

    This Muushy looks like a not-so-tall guy, so it’s this from the link above that tells me he’s no straight shooter; he’s a shrunken, desiccated girly boy:

    A few hours later, I appeared on CNN to discuss the overnight drama. As I was talking about Scaramucci, he called into the show himself and referenced our conversation. He changed his story about Priebus. Instead of saying that he was trying to expose Priebus as a leaker, he said that the reason he mentioned Priebus in his deleted tweet was because he wanted to work together with Priebus to discover the leakers.

    P.S. I loved the shots of Vinny the Horse rambling up and down his street.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Why can’t he do it? Why can’t he just show up and talk about the Boy Scouts like every other grownup does when they address groups of kids? He has to make a big fucking scene. How do you manage to make the Boy Scout Jamboree all about yourself? That takes work.

    No one else can ever have the limelight. All attention must be directed at the toddler, even if he has to make an ass of himself to get it. Show up, give a nice speech, go away. That’s the job. It’s easy. Trump has to turn it into some divisive hatefest where people have to apologize for him and clean up after him.

  116. 116.

    lamh36

    @yashar
    Following
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    Ryan Lizza just confirmed that he recorded his conversation with @Scaramucci

  117. 117.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I know, I know you won’t believe this, but a couple decades ago, he was just an asshole. How could his family have let it get this bad?

  118. 118.

    Steve in the ATL

    @debbie:

    I hate men who flip their ties over their shoulder when they eat. Just be mindful, you jackal.

    Ties are never the same after they’re cleaned, so this is a perfectly acceptable action. Unlike, say, putting your sunglasses on the back of your head.

  120. 120.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @chris: I think it’s the Vanity Fair piece you’re referring to? Yes, I have read it. It’s mostly not a surprise to me. I’m working on a front page piece on it, but the Scaramucci and Senate freakshows have blown me away.

    One of the things I decided on my vacation is that if something is worth writing about, I plan to stay on it until I have a finished post. I’ve been thrown off track too many times. The trouble is that it takes me longer to research and think through a post than it does for these guys to put on their clown show. So maybe tomorrow, maybe the weekend, but I’ll have something.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    Here’s Obama’s address:

    Hello everybody.
    I wanted to send my greetings to everyone taking part in the national Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill and congratulate you on the hundredth anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this year’s festivities.
    You know, for a century, scouts just like you have served your communities and your nation in ways both large and small. During World War II, scouts played a vital role in supporting the war effort at home by running messages and selling war bonds. Some of our nation’s greatest heroes have worn the scout uniform, including 11 of the 12 men who have walked on the moon. And today, scouts across the country continue the tradition of collecting food for those in need, improving our neighborhoods, and reaching out to those less fortunate.
    That service is worth celebrating. But there’s still more to do. Even though we face a different set of challenges than we did 100 years ago, they are no less important. And in the years ahead, we are going to depend on you, the next generation of leaders, to move America forward.

    Trump, on the other hand, led the scouts in booing.

    You look at Trump’s grown kids – how they take advantage and intrude in places they have no business being and don’t know how to behave like normal adults and you say “ah! Now I get it!”

  122. 122.

    germy

    @Kay: I didn’t see footage of the jamboree speech; I couldn’t bear to. I’ve read a few transcript snippets.

    Were the boyscouts really chanting “USA! USA!” when he said he’d kill the Affordable Care Act? Were they really so enthusiastic?

  124. 124.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: What was most disappointing about the BSA rally was how the Boy Scouts themselves reacted to Trump’s inappropriate speech. Booing the former President and Secretary of State were crass as were the cries of “Trump! Trump!” I would love to see Trump give a speech among normal people and they react by folding their arms and glaring at him. That’s the kind of reception that he deserves.

  127. 127.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Kay:

    Here’s Obama’s address:

    That is unpossible, for we have Trump’s word for it that Obama never attended a Scout jamboree [booing from audience].

  129. 129.

    Kathleen

    @lamh36: Yes! I wonder how Maggie The Hack will spin this one. Oh, wait,

    “So Mooch allegedly kidded about killing Trump staffers. Who else wants a Wacky Mooch emoji stat!”
    @MaggieNYT

  130. 130.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @sm*t cl*de:
    In fact, God-Emperor Trump just signed an executive order declaring Obama an unperson just today! Checkmate libtards!

  131. 131.

    Cheryl Rofer

    The Scaramucci interview is giving me some real laughs for the first time in a while. I know the Senate is destroying healthcare, but we’ve gotta laugh sometime.

  134. 134.

    Patricia Kayden

    @mai naem mobile: Perhaps that explains why Trump would send out a crazy, discriminatory military policy via tweet without consulting any Generals. Sounds like something someone would do during a drug-induced haze. Mind you, as someone else pointed out, those anti-transgender tweets were well written so I assume that Pence wrote them up. I doubt Trump cares about who actually serves in the military beyond wanting them to goose step at parades in his honor.

  137. 137.

    lamh36

    @RichardEngel
    Following
    More
    US intel officials tell me they’re worried the chaos at WH leaves US in weak position to deal with any potential major int crisis

  138. 138.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    fed the machine meth & ayahuasca halfway through the build

    If I’ve told you people once I’ve told you a thousand times, DO NOT PUT KETAMINE IN THE CLONING VATS.

  139. 139.

    Kathleen

    @Kay: I want an apology from BSA for the fucking little Fascist chanters. Is BSA awarding merit badges for tripping little old ladies in crosswalks now too?

  140. 140.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: Yeah, no shit. “White House can’t find ass with both hands” doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their ability to accomplish ANYTHING, let alone something important.

  143. 143.

    TenguPhule

    @Immanentize:

    “The Mooch” is clearly a drug user. Coke? Meth? Both? Something more exotic?
    The guy is a druggie and needs a test.

    Is anyone else seeing the annoying mc from that movie “The Pest” in that asshole?

  146. 146.

    chris

    @Cheryl Rofer:Vanity Fair, doh! Read it with my first coffee and it’s haunted me all day. We have had some experience in Canada with the “conservative” attitude towards science but at least our morons didn’t have nuclear weapons to, um, play with.

    I don’t know how you front pagers do it but my hat’s off to all.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Tucking???? It’s like acknowledging up front they’re a pig.

    I truly say this as lovingly as possible, but: screw you.

    In my past life, wearing a tie was part of the uniform (business, not military). Ties sometimes have a mind of their own, so to speak, and keeping them out of one’s lunch/dinner 100 percent of the time means devoting more brain/attention cycles to them than they merit. Also, working around machinery (as I sometimes did) means tucking them.

    The alternative, of course, is a tie tack or tie clasp, but if you do that, you might as well do a clip-on tie. Which is OK if you’re four years old, I guess.

    I agree about the over-the-shoulder thing, however.

  148. 148.

    TenguPhule

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    You remember the House bill. The one they passed while assuring one another that the Senate would fix it.

    Yeah.

    And then the Senate actually managed to come up with a worse version.

    And now they plan to mate the two of them together in some unholy orgy of depraved virtue signaling in order to give birth to the new Chaos God Unchained. Its like we’re seeing the origin of Slaanesh in real time.

  151. 151.

    JGabriel

    @david spikes:

    But at least we now know that unlike Bannon the Mooch doesn’t suck his own dick-or so he tells Ryan Lizza.

    To be fair, Bannon really doesn’t look limber enough to pull that off. On the other hand, Scaramucci does. And you know what they say about the Trump administration and projection ….

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    Just be mindful, you jackal.

    Are you trying to start a fight here?

    Its not like we wear them because we like to, you know.

  153. 153.

    zhena gogolia

    Donald Crisp just told John Cassavetes off like the little punk he is, and Cassavetes blew him away. It reminds me of the Trump administration. (Saddle the Wind, TCM)

    ETA: And now Robert Taylor is going to take care of him, little brother or not.

  154. 154.

    TriassicSands

    @debbie:
    @Immanentize:

    Please, this is too harsh. As Steve in ATL says cleaning is not a great option. And then Immanentize piles on with hating men who tuck their ties inside their shirts. Why not just hate all men who wear ties? Or just all men? Or maybe all human beings?

    At least say you hate the act, not the men themselves. That seems like an incredibly superficial reason to hate anyone.

    Note: I don’t wear ties anymore. At one point in my life I went 22 years without wearing a tie once. Then, employment necessities intervened. And I never did anything with my tie when I ate. I did try not to spill.

  155. 155.

    Patricia Kayden

    @lamh36: Pretty ironic because Trump and his supporters claimed that if Secretary Clinton was elected, she couldn’t govern because she would be under constant investigation. Well, here we are with a President under multiple investigations and an incompetently run White House (and a Congress which can’t legislate).

  158. 158.

    SFAW

    beth can’t with this‏ @bourgeoisalien

    The Steve Bannon sucking his own cock comment was the moment Anthony Scaramucci truly became Presidential.

    Found on Cole’s Twitter feed

  160. 160.

    Steve in the ATL

    @TriassicSands: thank you, Brother TriassicSands.

    And for the record, I am a tucker, not a flipper. Flipping requires constant vigilance; tucking is low maintenance.

  161. 161.

    Brachiator

    @david spikes:

    ..But at least we now know that unlike Bannon the Mooch doesn’t suck his own dick-or so he tells Ryan Lizza.

    In more innocent times, conservative parents wailed that Bill Clinton’s White House escapades made children curious about oral sex.

    Today: Daddy, what is auto fellatio, and can the Mooch really do it?

  162. 162.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    Wonderful little exchange from a different movie with Crisp from earlier today (from memory, so not an exact quote) –

    SHE: Take this. It’s a lucky rabbit’s foot. My uncle carried it for 32 years.

    HE: Does it work?

    SHE: You bet. My mother made sure to get it from his body after he was hanged.

  163. 163.

    TenguPhule

    @TriassicSands: I would like to go back in time and punch whoever came up with the concept of it being fashionable to wear a portable noose around your neck, in the balls.

  165. 165.

    lamh36

    Son of a…Chris Hayes has Bernie Sanders on AGAIN…just change the show and give this segment a title…”Bernie’s Beef” or some shit…smh

  168. 168.

    MCA1

    @Kay: That “apology” was unsatisfactory in so many ways. Stand up and be a fucking man and call out Trump for literally subverting every single thing the Boy Scouts supposedly stand for. And implore the impressionable youth you’re supposed to be molding into responsible, honorable men to act with dignity instead of debasing themselves. It’s really not that much to ask of the president of an organization that is supposed to stand for patriotism, sobriety and responsibility, among other things. Call this m’fer out!

  169. 169.

    TenguPhule

    ZEGS !!! House speaker appears to give boost to Senate health-care push

    In a measured statement, Ryan said the House was open to a conference committee to continue talks on the “skinny repeal” being considered by the Senate. Earlier in the day, the House seemed to be considering bringing a Senate-passed bill directly to the floor Friday without any changes.

    “If moving forward requires a conference committee, that is something the House is willing to do,” Ryan said in a statement. “The House remains committed to finding a solution and working with our Senate colleagues, but the burden remains on the Senate to demonstrate that it is capable of passing something that keeps our promise.”

    Ryan’s statement came only hours after a group of Republican senators threatened to sink the bill.

    Fuckers. Fuckers. Fuckers.

    Man the phones tomorrow folks.

  170. 170.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TriassicSands: I neither tuck nor toss. I did end up having to throw away a tie i really liked because it hurled itself into bit of gravy it could find. It is the only tie I have ever had that did that.

  172. 172.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Watching Bowtie Boy complain about Hillary’s new book. Must be a slow news day on Fox

  174. 174.

    JDM

    @david spikes:

    But at least we now know that unlike Bannon the Mooch doesn’t suck his own dick-or so he tells Ryan Lizza.

    Is that because he won’t or because, like Trump, he can’t? There’s a sizeable difference.

  175. 175.

    TenguPhule

    The boondoogle of a budget just passed the House.

    FSM fuck us all, its a fucking car crash. No way it gets out of the Senate the way it goes in.

    And still no debt ceiling vote scheduled.

  176. 176.

    david spikes

    According to Sippy Cupp, yes, she of The Liberal’s War on Christianity, Mooch the Noodge is going to be great for the Trump administration, and the country, because unlike all those other treasonous, leaking, auto-fellators in the West Wing he has the president’s ear and speaks with his voice because he believes the same things Trump does. And that’s a good thing.
    We aren’t supposed to wish people dead and in hell but. . . . . . .

  178. 178.

    david spikes

    @TenguPhule: They are all saying this is an awful bill that shouldn’t be passed but we have got to pass it because if we don’t. . . . . . what? Will the mooch call them pussies, will Trump tweet harsh words about them? I mean jesus, I’d be worried about how ridiculous I look and sound, but wingnuts.
    I guess its all just an effort to punt it forward in the hope that something will turn up-that Americans will suddenly demand the end of health care and the destruction of the insurance industry,

  180. 180.

    david spikes

    @JDM: Hey, Mooch the Noodge says Trump is just the greatest athlete ever, so you know, maybe?
    Combine that thought with the rear view of Trump in shorts with the unattractive visible panty line and try not to giggle at the resulting image.

  181. 181.

    TenguPhule

    @david spikes:

    They are all saying this is an awful bill that shouldn’t be passed but we have got to pass it because if we don’t. . . . . . what?

    They’ve moved on to “We have to pass it, but we have no idea what the fuck it actually is anymore. But Fuck Obama!”

    They are completely batshit insane.

  183. 183.

    Jeffro

    @Cheryl Rofer: Mooch is just amazing, isn’t he? My RWNJ dad emailed to say that Mooch was “tough” and I thought he was kidding…turns out he’s been following this assclown for 15 years on CNBC and thinks he’s a hoot.

    I told him “Mooch” makes me laugh – blowhard putzes like that are easy to beat, ’cause they beat themselves – and could we please get some quality opponents back, like Cheney or Jim Baker. No response thus far. You never really know what will finally make it real to RWNJs, or point out the depths to which they’ve sunk…

  185. 185.

    SgrAstar

    @germy: I was offended by that stupid cover too! I even wrote to the New Yorker to express my dudgeon. The Obamas got so much shit for that fist bump, and it was so unfair. They are far better people than I am, needless to say.

  189. 189.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @germy: I did. It was visually stunning and popcorn movie entertaining. I also say Dunkirk. If you can only see one, see Dunkirk.

  190. 190.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I can even tie a bow tie.

    ETA: And tie my own shoes.

    I shouldn’t spoil the secret and reveal that those use the exact same knot….

  191. 191.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Steve in the ATL: and I swear that I can do both as well, even though those of you spying on me through a hacked webcam know that I am wearing loafers and no tie.

    And no, anti-lawyerists, they are not tassel loafers.

    Or beef rolls. Yuck.

  193. 193.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I can even tie a bow tie.

    Moi aussi. I haven’t needed to in about 40 years, but the next time I’m invited to the Inaugural Ball, I’m good to go.

    ETA: The shoe thing, however, I’m still working on.

  195. 195.

    Anne Laurie

    @sm*t cl*de:

    That is unpossible, for we have Trump’s word for it that Obama never attended a Scout jamboree

    During the middle of the No Gay Scouts War, President Obama did a video greeting rather than break the boycott by showing up at the Jamboree.

    Political compromises are like camels — usually ugly, but functional.

  196. 196.

    Anne Laurie

    @TenguPhule:

    I would like to go back in time and punch whoever came up with the concept of it being fashionable to wear a portable noose around your neck, in the balls.

    Victorians picked up the concept from priests — and China’s mandarin class.

    Sumptuary law is that one wears a collar of the appointed style to indicate that one has status, but as a member of the servant class, not the highest/kingly class. The more expensive one’s collar, the higher one’s position in the hierarchy. Being expensive and useless (outside of status indication) is the point.

  197. 197.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @lamh36: Well, I for one haven’t called him that.

    I call him Rancid Penis. Repeatedly. Continually. Irrepressibly.

    (And FUCK YOU WORD PRESS!)

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