Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Stay strong, because they are weak.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

This fight is for everything.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

“Alexa, change the president.”

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

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

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

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: Yes, We Are Laughing At Your Mighty Sword, Mr. Gorka…

Open Thread: Yes, We Are Laughing At Your Mighty Sword, Mr. Gorka…

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I’m very glad the military is choosing to publicly ignore Lord Smallgloves’ tweets about transgender service members, and not just because it gives me hope they’ll also ignore any future tweets wondering why America is spending so much money on nuclear weapons that “we” don’t even get to use.

Savvy analysts say Trump’s early-morning outburst was an attempt to shore up his base, aka The Deplorables, but of course one of his least useful “advisors” had to overshare the queasy homoerotophobia common to preadolescent boys and those whose emotional development was arrested at that age…

Reader Interactions

259Comments

  1. 1.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump

    Tune-in next Friday for the next episode of Celebrity Apprentice — White House Edition, to see who I will fire

    9:49 AM – 29 Jul 2017

  2. 2.

    MattF

    I’m with Drezner. The White House staffing strategy seems to be to replace ordinary successful Republican party apparatchiks with morons and psychopaths. And… there’s a flaw in that strategy, if you think about it.

  3. 3.

    kilo50

    They keep forgetting that the military is the most socialistic institution in the nation. What did they think they were f*****g with?

  6. 6.

    schrodingers_cat

    What do we know about Kelly? Why is he so willing to debase himself as T toady. His reign at the DHS was frightful and anti-immigrant groups want to replace him with Kansan Kris Kobach.

  8. 8.

    smintheus

    I think we need to consider the possibility that the Trump White House is populated by morons.

    Done. Next?

  9. 9.

    germy

    Am I wrong in believing the military is simply waiting for a direct order, rather than a tweet? I mean, they’re not resisting him, just following regular protocol.

  10. 10.

    Quinerly

    @Jeffro:
    I, too, thought it was real. It sent me straight to Trump’s stupid twitter feed. I need another morning shower.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    They’re all such nasty people- nursing grievances, lashing out, harkening back to some time when they were in charge of absolutely everything, instead of most things. Most isn’t enough. It has to be ALL.

    Al Gore did an interview on the radio where he said he’s “confident” Americans will reject this meanness and pettiness but I’m not so sure. I’m sort of amazed Al Gore is so sure, frankly, considering what happened to him.

  13. 13.

    MattF

    @germy: Well… there is a chain of command. It’s possible that the powers that be in the Pentagon are sending a message that they would like to see it used.

  15. 15.

    kilo50

    @MattF: From a military outlook why wouldn’t you want the widest possible population pool to recruit from? Course the chiefs are never going to say that aloud.

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: I gave my thoughts downstairs:

    129
    Another Scott says:
    July 29, 2017 at 9:22 am
    @tobie:

    I think we make this too complicated for ourselves. Kelly took the job because he’s a true believer in Trump/Trumpism, as his brief tenure at DHS shows.

    There’s that.

    But I think that even if he weren’t (and I agree that he must be or wouldn’t have taken the job and run DHS and ICE the way he has), he’s a military guy. “Up or Out.” If you’re a general and you’re given a job offer or a “promotion” opportunity, there’s little opportunity to refuse. If the President says he wants you to do something, you say “sir, yes sir!”

    I agree with others that Kelly is likely to have a short term there, and he seems to have little if any power to control the situation. Given who Trump is, it probably doesn’t matter who has the position – it’s a hopeless job. Bannon and Javanka and Pence and Sessions and all the rest are going to continue to push their own agendas no matter who is CoS. But he had to take the job.

    Or resign.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    bemused

    @Quinerly:

    Your link to Daily Beast piece on Mooch’s self-help books was hilarious. I was intrigued by his disdainful description of a “wall street leader” who had pics of himself with famous people and quotes dominating his office walls. Hmm, sounds like someone else we know with a huge ego fixated on celebrity status.

  18. 18.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: Actually I share Al Gore’s assessment. I see people who were apolitical being appalled by this mess and becoming more proactive, making phone calls etc. Just in the five mile radius around my zip code there are more than 10 indivisible groups.

  21. 21.

    Montysano

    Ah yes…. Sebastian “I’m obviously brilliant; my accent proves it” Gorka. Fuck that guy.

  22. 22.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Another Scott: I am more unfavorably disposed to the good general than you. It was his plan to separate minors from their parents at the border. His tenure at the DHS has seen ICE descend into an inhumane organization that targets minors.

  23. 23.

    Quinerly

    @bemused:
    I looked at his Amazon reviews out of curiosity(hey, it was raining here at the beach, I was bored). A lot of suckers out there.

  25. 25.

    kilo50

    “And that is why the president is doing this out of the warmth of his consideration for this population”

    What utter horseshit. Who is this supposed to make them feel better for supporting this slouching orange beast.

  29. 29.

    germy

    It’d be funny to see a debate between Andrew Sullivan and Gorka.

    washingtonpost.com/opinions/nostalgic-for-the-good-old-polysyllabic-time/2015/08/21/8c2cf75c-4832-11…

    You could just show up one day on the East Coast and talk like a pleasantly soused Encyclopaedia Britannica and people went with it. “That’s probably how people talk,” they said to themselves. It’s like the passage from Evelyn Waugh — they were always quoting Evelyn Waugh — where two people are staring at a piece of horrible purple prose. “Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole — would that be it?” “Yes,” said the managing editor. “That must be good style. At least it doesn’t sound like anything else to me.”

    Erudition! Abstruse, recondite erudition! What eristic discipline they brought to their sciolistic quibbles, though prone to occasional bursts of rodomontade!

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m not at all favorably disposed to him. Sorry I left that impression.

    Anyone who takes a political appointment with Trump is a monster, and abetting a monster, IMHO.

    But once they sign on with him, they’re stuck. They either have to do what he asks, or they have to quit.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    Yellowdog

    @MattF: What’s the flaw? There is no shortage of morons and psychopaths. This can continue indefinitely.

  32. 32.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Why is it that I always see Gorka as Krieger from Archer?

  34. 34.

    Kay

    Which group will the sneering, nasty President bring out the absolute worst in today? Let’s see- boy scouts, cops, who else is he scheduled to address?

    He has a real gift for making everyone who even brushes up against him worse. It doesn’t even benefit them! They have to apologize and clean up after him. Is it worth it? Is it worth going along with him, going down to his level?

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @kilo50:

    From a military outlook why wouldn’t you want the widest possible population pool to recruit from?

    The basic idea is that the military requires discipline and unit cohesion to be an effective fighting force. That’s why they have always kicked a few people out for being disruptive to good discipline even if they never did anything actually illegal. The argument against blacks/women/gays/transgender people is that they’ll never be accepted by other soldiers, so their mere presence is inherently bad for discipline. IOW, it’s OK for the military to enforce existing prejudice as long as it’s widespread enough.

  38. 38.

    kilo50

    @Kay: There really seems to be some lag time in the various establishment organizations to realize that Trump is bat shit crazy and that they should be adjusting to that fact. Shit Midas he is indeed.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: Where did Corner Stone go?

    Are he and baud off at some undisclosed location?

    ETA: Rainy day at the beach is the best reading weather. Real books.

  42. 42.

    kilo50

    @Roger Moore: Yup that is always their argument. Truman proved them wrong. Combat proves them wrong, but then reactionaries are usually wrong.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    He has a real gift for making everyone who even brushes up against him worse.

    I think Josh Marshall has this right. It’s not that Trump makes the people around him worse, it’s that he brings the rot that’s already in their cores to the surface. He gives license to people’s base instincts and by doing so exposes them for who they’ve always been but tried to hide being.

  46. 46.

    father pussbucket

    “And that is why the President is doing this out of the warmth of his consideration for this population.”

    Just … wow. Doubleplusgood duckspeaker.

  47. 47.

    Mom Says I'm Handsome

    Yesterday morning I was surfing conservative radio stations in search of schadenfreude (looking for meager nuggets of sustenance for my vulture soul) & was amused to find that all 4 stations — two nationally-syndicated, two local — were simultaneously running some version of, “Quelle horreure, this Scaramucci vulgarity is literally The Worst thing happening in the history of conservatism.” That’s what passes for so-called conservative morality: killings tens of thousands of Americans in the name of freedumb is okie-dokie, but we must draw the line at having to imagine what “c**k-sucker” spells. Wheel Of Misfortune, motherfuckers.

  48. 48.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Actually I share Al Gore’s assessment.

    I do too. Yes, we have a significant minority of Deplorables who have been unleashed by Mad King Donald…AND we see an upsurge in good, decent people getting involved to protect the vulnerable, whether it’s the medically needy and fragile, immigrants, or LGBT, to name a few. We won on Thursday night (Friday morning) because those good people marched and called and faxed and emailed and kept on doing it. They’re also doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work preparing for the 2018 and 2020 elections.

    We have reason to be optimistic…and to keep on fighting for what is right and good and true in our country.

  49. 49.

    kilo50

    @Quinerly: From your article: “At one point, Lynn Aronberg was about to dip into the GOP legal ranks for help with the divorce, according to the statement.

    “When the divorce seemed to be stalling last month, Lynn started interviewing nationally famous divorce lawyers and one, Larry Klayman, the right wing founder of Freedom Watch and Judicial Watch, was ready to pounce until the former lovebirds settled,” the statement reads.”

    Klayman? This woman makes mockery of the word delusional.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    Good morning, all! I’m in a little cabin on the Suwannee River and will be attending a family shindig later today. Almost zero cell service out here (you have to stand on the tallest cow and angle your phone just right). Wifi? LOL!

    Count me among those not comforted by CoS Kelly, who has implemented an authoritarian-style program to demonize immigrants at DHS. We have proof right there he has no problem carrying out orders from a crackpot. And Gorka’s WTF statement above… Christ in a canoe, these are scary times.

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    @kilo50:
    I’ve had a couple morning laughs. That article was the second. Apparently, there’s a whole genre of divorce out there….the Trump divorce. This is at least the 4th one I have read about…yesterday Scaramucci’s second wife of three years filed.

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    @O. Felix Culpa: Also too, conversations about T spontaneously come up at the pharmacy, hair salon, library etc, with people (mostly women) sadly shaking their heads in disgust. I do live in a blue corner of a blue state, though.

    ETA: Bumper sticker in the Target parking lot, Keep the immigrants, deport T.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @kilo50:

    Klayman? This woman makes mockery of the word delusional.

    Oh, she isn’t that bad — she only considered Klayman because Orly Taitz was “otherwise occupied.”

    PS: I just scanned some of Taitz’s Tweets (say THAT three times fast), good Christ what a moron and nut job. I guess I had assumed that her nuttiness was aimed mainly at birth certs, but she goes far beyond that. On the plus side, when Putin has Melania return to Lubyanka, Orly could become #4 right away. Or would, were she younger.

  59. 59.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle:
    I just love blurting that out indiscriminately on threads.? I think he is on vacation in Utah. But it’s been weeks now. He posted that he was thinking about driving around Southern Utah (maybe with his son). I offered up my email and travel tips since I just spent 3 weeks in that area in March. He bit my head off with an unprovoked caustic reply comment. Brought back memories of my lurking here for at least 10 years, and he accusing me of being a troll when I made one of my first comments a bit over a year ago.

  60. 60.

    Mike J

    @Betty Cracker: Anybody who accepts the title chief of staff knowing that there are staff members of whom he is not the chief is a moron. People who are that stupid deserve no sympathy.

  62. 62.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Betty Cracker:

    Almost zero cell service out here (you have to stand on the tallest cow and angle your phone just right). Wifi? LOL!

    Hah! it’s like that where I live, except with cholla cactus instead of cows. I recall there was a presidential candidate who was laughed at for proposing solutions to rural lack of connectivity. If I could only remember who that was….

    I’m eager to hear reports of your family shindig when you return. Have all the fun that’s possible!

  63. 63.

    kilo50

    @Quinerly: Opens a new avenue for legal separation! Neither side can be reconciled due to one side having ethics and values and the other side has no obvious soul.

  68. 68.

    StringOnAStick

    @Quinerly: I’m glad to know you were being sarcastic; I usually scroll right by his comments (and there are so many of them). I’ve been enjoying his absence tbh and maybe spending too much time here, his return will likely fix that.

  69. 69.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I do live in a blue corner of a blue state, though.

    I live in a bluish bubble in a purple state, but my in-laws are from red Ohio. They’ve gone very quiet on the T front. I think they’re embarrassed, as well they should be. I hope that is a broader phenomenon amongst R voters.

  70. 70.

    schrodingers_cat

    @O. Felix Culpa: My tiny town went 70% for HRC, the Commonwealth was about 60% for HRC. No one from the MSM has shown up to interview WWC here, funny, isn’t it. We have a fair number of working farms here. One even on the road I live.

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    I just love blurting that out indiscriminately on threads.

    No kidding, I think you’re up to 22 or 23.

    He bit my head off with an unprovoked caustic reply comment.

    And you pulled a Sally Field in response. (“You like me! You really like me!”)

    and he accusing me of being a troll when I made one of my first comments a bit over a year ago.

    You’re not? OK, now I’m confused.
    Kidding of course — best to you and Poco.

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    @StringOnAStick:
    I guess it’s been my own little inside joke and have been just blurting that out once a day to see if anyone would take my bait or accuse me of Tourette’s (sp)….or if he is lurking…draw him out in a rage. I know his girlfriend Joy Reid left for vacation about the same time, but she’s been back several weeks now.?

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am so old that I remember people being comforted by the presence of military brass that T had selected. They were supposed to be the adults in the room.

    Le sigh. I remember sighing with relief that W would have Cheney to watch over him. That did not turn out well.

    Clearly, there is something wrong with John Kelly, much as cable 24/7 dragged out numerous serious people to vouch for what an upstanding character he is.

    Are we better off with someone who might improve Trump’s efficiency? I say “hell no”, since Trump’s inclinations are 180 degrees to “good for the American people.”

    Anyway, I don’t think Kelly will last the 189 days RNC PR BS did.

    And does anyone think Priebus woke up sad? My guess would be “relieved that it’s over.”

    Last, would you let your spouse take a job with the Trump administration? Recall: no loyalty from the shit Midas.

    There is something deeply wrong with all these people who take jobs with Trump, no matter how much they may have passed for normal previously.

  79. 79.

    Quinerly

    @SFAW:
    Actually, I think I’m at 30. I was pretty relentless with it in the beginning…maybe twice a day. Then I eased up when everyone just ignored me. The last few days I decided to go all Glenn Close on all of you (“I will not be ignored.”) Seriously, I hope nothing has happened to the Asshole known as Corner Stone. How would we know, though?

  82. 82.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Quinerly: Good morning! On a completely other note, let me know when your place is up for rental. Ms. O and I are always looking for holiday places near ocean. Not a lot of that in NM.

  87. 87.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Has he developed a sudden fondness for caviar? Baud has to be sure.

    Huh. I missed the Baud-caviar connection. New campaign slogan: Baud! 2020! – Caviar And Toast Points On Every Silver Salver!

  88. 88.

    Citizen Scientist

    In Philly for the weekend,and there are still people organizing for healthcare and single payer here. OFA is leading a session on a street corner and some jerk AF vet yelling at them across the street was busy being ignored by all.

  89. 89.

    Quinerly

    @O. Felix Culpa:
    Would love for you to rent my place. Discounts for friends (and Balloon Juicers). Let’s take the discussion over to a private message on the Book of Faces. I can give you details and you can talk possible dates.

  92. 92.

    tybee

    @Quinerly: and why would we care?

    dunno what he was like at first but when his wife left him (yeah, who would abandon a prince like that) he went off on several misogynistic rants and since i’m with the uncouth, i picked at him a bit which led to more rants. highly entertaining on late, dead threads.

  93. 93.

    Shalimar

    @Yellowdog: There actually does appear to be a severe shortage of morons and sociopaths who are willing to work for Trump and Trump is willing to hire. Witness their continued failure to fill 80%+ of the appointed positions available to them.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: America’s fetishization of the military has always alarmed me, and all the more so with an authoritarian stooge in the White House. Here’s hoping Kelly’s bid to impose order on West Wing chaos is a spectacular failure.

  97. 97.

    Quinerly

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Bogue Banks…near Morehead City and historic Beaufort. It was my mom’s condo…40 years, ocean side/just a short walk to pool and ocean/beach. 2 bedrooms, bath and 1/2. She never rented it so it’s equipped more like a second home. I’m not interested in putting it with an agency at this point. It was pretty dear to her. Lost her from a car accident in Oct, 2015. She was 92….in great shape…never had even been in the hospital except to have me. Ask a front pager for my email.

  98. 98.

    PPCLI

    @Mom Says I’m Handsome: Fun fact about the collapse of Republican support for Nixon: When the unedited (i.e. no “[expletive deleted]”) transcripts of the White House tapes were released, an astonishing number of Republicans reported that they were shocked by how much Nixon swore in the Oval Office, and they were abandoning him for that reason. Obstruction of justice, abuse of the IRS, systematic illegality, campaign finance fraud, …. all fine. Too much of the f-word? Unforgivable.

  101. 101.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No, no, no, you misunderstood me. Baud has to make sure that there are no Russkie connections leading to his potential running mate.

    Thanks goodness! We must keep his campaign pure.

  103. 103.

    Quinerly

    @tybee:
    You probably shouldn’t. I’m easily entertained. Guess it comes from being an only, lonely child.? It started out as my own little joke…then a test to see if the Asshole is lurking.?

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    Still assuming that Sessions and Tillerson will choose to spend more time with their families before Labor Day.

  105. 105.

    Gravenstone

    @Quinerly: If we’re lucky, the ghost of Gen. Stuck is haranguing him as he traverses the SW .That would be fine poetic justice.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Kitty Ivan. He came on this beach trip (loves to ride in the car). He just started new prescription food for his kidneys. Wanted to give him his own space. Kitty John Lennon bullies him over food. He is named after the vet (Dr. Laura Ivan) who rescued him before I adopted him. He was in bad shape. Someone had crudely declawed him and a flea collar had grown into his neck. My vet now thinks he was brain damaged. He’s a tiny orange tabby.

  109. 109.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Quinerly: So no connections to Vlad, then. Phew, I was getting a bit worried.

    ETA: I have an orange kitteh too, she is a generously proportioned tubby tabbeh. I sometimes put a scarf on her head and call her Olga.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    So I’m on a school committee and what we learned about bullies is, they affect the whole school. They cow some people who join in but even the people who don’t take part and just watch feel helpless and guilty because they know it’s wrong – they feel complicit but they find they can’t act- they don’t have the strength or integrity- so they feel lessened- like they should have said something so they get defensive and deny there’s anything wrong with the system that forms.

    Bullies poison the whole place – no one comes out ahead- and now one is President.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    @tybee: CS is the one who first “forced” me to install Cleek’s software magic.

    About 15% of the time he posts good stuff. About 10% of the time it’s OK. About 75% of the time he plays RAGEY RAGE TROLL MAN. It’s hard for me to tell whether it’s mostly an act or whether his meds aren’t quite adjusted right.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    So, he pops in and out of the pie machine. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s like when he returns.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  116. 116.

    sdhays

    @Mike in NC: I expect Sessions has been dreaming of being A.G. ever since he was denied a seat on the Federal bench (at least we dodged that bullet). I think there are only two ways he leaves: fired or in a box. If he gets fired, that will truly upset his buddies in Congress and might turn them fully against Trump.

    Of course, maybe that’s the plan. There are reports that the Trump White House is planning “all out war” on the Republican Congress. I am curious about what the Secretaries’ thoughts on the 25th Amendment are right about now. There’s got to be a few of them who would much rather work for Mike Pence if they thought that they could survive the process.

  119. 119.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sdhays: I think the R congress won’t openly defy him but work quietly to undermine him. Of course, they can shut down this shit show in 5 min if they want. But they are cowardly and afraid of the base, that we know.

  121. 121.

    Quinerly

    @raven:
    Yep. Really messed up the tourists who had to evacuate. I haven’t been over to Ocracoke in years…it was getting so commercialized 20 years ago. Poco, a couple of St. Louis friends who were visiting, and I did go over to Shackleford Banks (wild ponies) and Cape Lookout. Beautiful as ever…this was back in October after Hurricane Matthew had swept the coast. We had Lookout all to ourselves. Poco’s first and so far only boat ride. He was wary at first but no problems on the return.

  123. 123.

    Gravenstone

    @sdhays:

    There are reports that the Trump White House is planning “all out war” on the Republican Congress.

    While we fully understand that Trump is bug fuck crazy, I’m wondering how he and his coterie of sycophants think such a “war” will be to their advantage? Hard to actually accomplish anything without a legislative agenda, and impossible to implement an agenda when you piss off the majority party in Congress at the moment.

  125. 125.

    bystander

    @Quinerly:

    MSNBC still floating the rumor that Sessions will be moved to DHS.

    I hope that stands for Dungheap of Human Scraps.

  126. 126.

    raven

    @Quinerly: New island off of Diamond Shoals too! We’re going to Edisto in a couple of weeks. It’s just fir three days but I put down the xtra 50 for trip insurance.

  127. 127.

    Quinerly

    @raven:
    Yes on the new island! I’m going to check it out when I’m back in NC for the month of October. I’m usually never here in high tourist season…this was an impromptu trip. If you want a place sometime on Bogue Banks, let me know. It’s great for a couple or two couples. Two queen beds, with one room having a single with the queen. Ocean view from master bedroom deck. Aren’t you in Atlanta area? Seems like I picked that up somewhere.

  128. 128.

    Mike J

    (((Joshua Malina))) ‏Verified account @JoshMalina 35 minutes ago

    BREAKING: Trump to replace Scaramucci’s wife with General Martin E. Dempsey.

  130. 130.

    raven

    @Quinerly: Athens. We go to the Banks now and then, Topsail once in a great while and mostly the gulf coast. We honeymooned in Buxton 19 years ago, she sat on the beach with the pup and wrote thank you notes and I caught a big blackfin tuna!!!

  132. 132.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    There are a few of us. Usually if I post anything from NPR in the AM, there are a lot of “fuck NPR” comments…or similar comments. I still think the good outweighs the bad.

  133. 133.

    Quinerly

    @raven:
    Buxton area is beautiful. It’s probably 40 years since I was up there. I’m in the market for a beater, smallish 4 wheel drive pick up with an over the cab small camper shell. In a couple of years want to drive the beach after Labor Day up the coast, camping along the way. I have discussed it with Poco and he’s all in.? We’ll have to do it before Baud/Poco 2020 heats up.?

  134. 134.

    Redshift

    @Gravenstone:

    While we fully understand that Trump is bug fuck crazy, I’m wondering how he and his coterie of sycophants think such a “war” will be to their advantage?

    Yeah, apparently they failed to learn the really obvious lesson Lisa Murkowski taught them this week, that if the Executive Branch threatens Congress, they can block appointments and cut off funding.

    But it seems to be all they have. They’re bullies, who have spent their lives “winning” by threatening to sue people with less money when they couldn’t win in the merits, and they’re too dumb to figure out that doesn’t work when your opponent controls the purse strings to the Treasury.

  136. 136.

    sdhays

    @Gravenstone: The key to understanding the Trump Badministration, for me, is the realization that Trump’s agenda is money, personal flattery, and humiliation of others (friends or foes, it doesn’t really matter). He has no “policy agenda” as we would normally understand it. He’s a stupid, nasty man who has appointed nasty, incompetent people, and they’re pursuing nasty incompetence with some ad hoc guidance from the national Republican Party’s nasty policy platform, but Trump’s metric for how his badministration is doing is how much praise he’s getting, not actual results on any given issue.

    But for a guy who’s clearly deeply guilty of serious crimes, it is kind of amazing for him to seem to be planning on “going to war” with the one institution that actually has the power to send him to prison.

  137. 137.

    ThresherK

    @Quinerly: I know there are good things on NPR, but do they need all that bathwater for the baby?

    Allegorically speaking: Say you have a gunslinger QB. The exact characteristics which make him great are the ones which make him more likely to commit a big turnover when it’s the worst time to have it. Can’t have one without the other.

    Is that NPR? Do they need the countless hours of circle-jerking Both Sides inbreds, who can’t dismiss a RW talking point without rolling around in it like a dog in shit, and can’t punch their way leftwardout of tapioca, for these stories you mentioned?

  139. 139.

    Another Scott

    Glenn Thrush:

    Glenn Thrush‏ Verified account @GlennThrush

    Surprising: admin sources told me they think Kelly hiring makes it more likely Trump ousts McMaster (who annoys him)
    replaces him w Pompeo.
    7:37 AM – 29 Jul 2017 from Kensington, MD

    Hmm…

    Perfect time to replace the National Security Adviser – just as Kim keeps ratcheting up his missile program, just as tension with Iran increases, just as Daesh is on the ropes and we have to figure out what comes to the region afterwards, just as Putin kicks out a bunch of diplomats, …

    Heckofajob Donnie!!11

    ;-/

    (via PeteSouza’s twitter machine)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    sdhays

    @Redshift:

    Yeah, apparently they failed to learn the really obvious lesson Lisa Murkowski taught them this week, that if the Executive Branch threatens Congress, they can block appointments and cut off funding.

    My reaction to this was different from most. I question whether they actually care. These people were brought in to destroy their Federal agencies. Having Congress cutting off funding and leaving your ranks thinned seems like a win to me. But maybe Interior is simply a department to be looted rather than destroyed.

  144. 144.

    Redshift

    I’ve been kind of amused this week at the parade of GOP fake tough guys. Like Blake Farenthold, boasting about how he’d want to duel the female senators if they were male and from Texas — and then comparing it to the Hamilton-Burr duel in New Jersey, instead of the Wild West. And Scaramucci’s tough-guy rant, Gorka’s military talk, and more.

    I’m sure the Fox News crowd eats it up, but they’re so obviously play-acting it’s laughable.

  148. 148.

    Redshift

    @sdhays: I think they do care about Interior, since that’s where energy resources are actually handled (not Energy, sorry Rick Perry.) Obviously they don’t care much about staffing, but I think they care about power, and having people you personally appointed be blocked is an affront to power. Actually, I think Trump doesn’t care about staffing, but the rest want their fiefdoms; no one wants to be another lonely Tillerson.

  152. 152.

    bystander

    Al Franken: It may come down to “What did the President know and when did his son-in-law tell him?”

  153. 153.

    sdhays

    @Redshift: Someone in the White House clearly cares about staffing, that’s why no one can get their people appointed and department leadership remains mostly empty below the Secretary level in a lot of departments. But I agree it’s probably not the Preznit.

  155. 155.

    trollhattan

    @Mike J:
    Heh, Trump knows everything about firing workers and wives. Share the knowledge, sir. We’ll sign our NDAs shortly.

  157. 157.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Omnes Omnibus: There were two generals to start with, Kelly and Mattis. MM joined after Flynn was fired. There was much praise for both. If you want I can dig up those threads.
    ETA: IIRC both K and M were standing behind T like potted plants while he was signing the infamous travel ban.

  160. 160.

    Quinerly

    Speaking of mighty swords, a friend on FB just posted this. I know nothing of this site or of the male porn star Scaramucci is allegedly following. As they say, “it would be irresponsible not to speculate.” His wife is filing for divorce, he’s got some wide eyed fantasies about Bannon’s talents, and he’s on record expressing his love for another man: worldofwonder.net/breaking-news-anthony-scaramucci/

  162. 162.

    Shell

    Its the same bullshit argument they gave for not allowing gays to serve openly in the army. Or allowing women in combat situations. Or ending segregation in the army. Its always the “Hey, we’re only doing this for the troops own good.”

  164. 164.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    ..I am more unfavorably disposed to the good general than you. It was his plan to separate minors from their parents at the border. His tenure at the DHS has seen ICE descend into an inhumane organization that targets minors.

    I agree. ICE has stepped up its enforcement with uncommon zeal, and has emphasized tactics which degrade and humiliate the people targeted. The idea seems to be to intimidate people already here and to send a strong message to those who might attempt to come over.

    On the other hand, not much that I can see to deter exploitative employers.

  165. 165.

    Shell

    There are reports that the Trump White House is planning “all out war” on the Republican Congress.

    I keep envisioning that scene from the ‘Simpsons’, where the UPS guys are attacking Bart and Lisa’s cardboard box fort.

  166. 166.

    chris

    Blogging success story. Ed Burmila from Gin and Tacos has a recent Twitter account and he’s writing in rolling Stone and now the Washington Post.

    G&T has long been a semi-regular read for me. Ed’s a poli-sci prof and a funny guy, so his history and process posts are informative and amusing. Good to see someone doing well in the current shitstorm.

  167. 167.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think the R congress won’t openly defy him but work quietly to undermine him.

    If that’s the goal, the best approach is to keep the Russia investigations going while avoiding leaks. I’m confident that there’s enough there to hang him with, and probably even to get the base to abandon him. The big part is to keep from having it turn into a big show that will attract attention from Trump and his allies and get them to try to shut it down.

  168. 168.

    GregB

    McMasters appears to be the next disloyal apostate about to be tossed out inthe growing Trump purges. Trumps Twitter brownshirts are on him.

    I half expect a Saddam style meeting with naming and shaming any day.

  169. 169.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: The only worse candidate for DHS chief I can think of would be that insane Sheriff Clarke asshole who allowed one of his prisoners to die of dehydration in a jail cell. So Trump will probably pick him. Or maybe appoint him Water Czar. ?

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    @Redshift:

    .Yeah, apparently they failed to learn the really obvious lesson Lisa Murkowski taught them this week, that if the Executive Branch threatens Congress, they can block appointments and cut off funding..

    Great point. Trump fundamentally does not understand how representative government works. He really thinks it’s all about expressing his will via a Twitter message or a signed executive order.

    It’s also the insipid fantasy of those who voted for him because they wanted the country to be run like a business.

  171. 171.

    sdhays

    @Betty Cracker: Is it possible that we’ve turned a corner and the Senate won’t just confirm any old moron the Asshole appoints anymore? Dare we hope?

  172. 172.

    Mike in NC

    The morning new reported that it could take weeks to restore power to the affected islands of the Outer Banks.

  173. 173.

    sdhays

    @Brachiator:

    He really thinks it’s all about expressing his will via a Twitter message or a signed executive order.

    I wonder if he understands that, no, he didn’t remove transgendered troops from the military by tweet on Thursday.

  175. 175.

    Quinerly

    @Mike in NC:
    If you don’t mind my asking…where are you in NC? I grew up in Pitt County, went to undergrad at ECU. Been in St. Louis since 1982. I’m actually at Pine Knoll Shores right now…family place, Southern Outer Banks, Carteret County. Rainy day. My plans changed…seems like I am now hanging out on BJ all day.

  177. 177.

    StringOnAStick

    I hope the idiot does declare war on his own party; their continued chaos and infighting should slow them down plus is there any better chew toy for the beltway press than this? Other than emails of course, let’s not get crazy here.

  178. 178.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    On the other hand, not much that I can see to deter exploitative employers.

    Feature, not bug. Exploitative employers benefit from harsh crackdowns on immigrant workers, because they know they can abuse them with no consequences. Don’t like the way you’re being treated, Rosa/Quynh/Babita? Here’s ICE to take you away to a detention center.

  179. 179.

    Iowa Old Lady

    If Trump moves Sessions and Pompeo, don’t their replacements need Senate confirmation? For that matter, doesn’t Sessions need it again if he changes departments?

  180. 180.

    frosty

    @Quinerly

    My plans changed…seems like I am now hanging out on BJ all day.

    Yeah, funny how that happens. I really gotta get up, do the dishes, pay the bills, go get a haircut, pack for the next Road Trip, etc etc. At least the rain means no lawn mowing, weeding, hedge trimming, or assorted yard work today.

  181. 181.

    John Fremont

    @GregB: When is Mattis going to get fired? The White House has cut his legs out twice. First, with the travel ban and now with the transgender tweet.

  182. 182.

    Brachiator

    @sdhays:

    I wonder if he understands that, no, he didn’t remove transgendered troops from the military by tweet on Thursday.

    I think he finally got the message. We will see if he persists in this foolishness.

    But it is dangerous to have the military ignore a president, even an ignorant moron who thinks he is giving a lawful order.

  184. 184.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Feature, not bug. Exploitative employers benefit from harsh crackdowns on immigrant workers, because they know they can abuse them with no consequences.

    Actually, bad employers exploit illegal workers simply because their illegal status makes them vulnerable. This is especially true of the lowest skilled workers.

    A car wash might simply not pay a worker, knowing that he won’t complain and a replacement is easy to find.

  187. 187.

    Brachiator

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    They are not ignoring a president’s orders. They haven’t got any orders. .

    They also made clear that they were not looking to find a way to obey the orders.

    I agree that Trump’s utterance was abhorrent and best ignored.

    But we’ve got problems when we have a president who thinks he can issue gibberish like this as a directive to be obeyed. And it puts government organizations in a bad spot to have to think about whether the directives they receive are reasonable or nonsense.

    And Trump is clearly looking for people who will do his bidding no questions asked.

  188. 188.

    Quinerly

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    Yes. And yes on Sessions. Franken was talking about if Sessions goes over to DHS, there still will be confirmation hearings. Franken has questions for Sessions on Russia.

  189. 189.

    Fair Economist

    @sdhays:

    Is it possible that we’ve turned a corner and the Senate won’t just confirm any old moron the Asshole appoints anymore? Dare we hope?

    With McCain out, DeVos wouldn’t have been confirmedm but I think she’s the only one. So, no longer *anybody* although not very restrictive.

  190. 190.

    mai naem mobile

    I think this WH is so stupid that they could put some legislation in front of Dolt45 which would have some shiny object on the first 5 pages and then have stuff on page 21-24 with stuff completely undermining him and he would sign it,because nobody in the WH would review it.

  192. 192.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    The only worse candidate for DHS chief I can think of would be that insane Sheriff Clarke asshole who allowed one of his prisoners to die of dehydration in a jail cell.

    That’s just because you haven’t searched as hard as Trump has. I’m sure he can find somebody even worse than Clarke.

  193. 193.

    ??‍? Martin

    @sdhays: Depends on whether Trump is still listening to the Federalist Society and others, or whether in order to punish the GOP for their insolence he nominates Jill Stein, or since I don’t think there’s an age requirement for appointed office, maybe Barron because he’s incredible with the cyber.

  195. 195.

    ??‍? Martin

    @mai naem mobile: Don’t even need the shiny. Trump would declare freely available, unregulated abortion as a victory at this point. Winning is all that matters to him.

  199. 199.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @ThresherK:

    I hear ya, TK. I worked for an NPR affiliate in the 80s, and I think they’ve clearly moved rightward (starting when Shrub appointed a RWer to the top spot).

    The milquetoast BothSiderism is real and irksome, but I still listen, still find much of value — especially since Keillor and Car Talk are no more.

  200. 200.

    Gaffer

    NPR news just reported on Rump speech to cops and didn’t mention the encouragement to brutality.

  202. 202.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Gaffer:

    Well, yeah, but don’t you remember when Obama totally said cops should kill thugs with impunity and, uh, well… (sarcasm)

    Good example of an NPR failing, but they may comment on that aspect on a different show, too. We shall see.

  204. 204.

    PsiFighter37

    @Quinerly: That would be politically stupid to renominate Sessions for something else. Sessions, unlike the Moron-in-Chief, also is seeing that loyalty is a one-way street. He is going to stay in the AG seat until he is brought out in handcuffs.

  206. 206.

    Ruckus

    @Peale:
    LOL
    And yet it really isn’t funny. I mean reality can some times be funny, but there is too much truth to this reality.

  207. 207.

    Quinerly

    @Gaffer:
    For what it’s worth and I don’t know about this afternoon but had NPR on most of the afternoon yesterday. The police brutality portion of the speech was heavily covered. Also, I’m pretty sure “All Things Considered” had a dedicated segment on it. Could be wrong about the latter. I was in and out. It was covered…certainly not like MSNBC mentioning it 6 times an hour, though.

  208. 208.

    Redshift

    @Brachiator:

    They also made clear that they were not looking to find a way to obey the orders.

    I think they were more careful than that. One of the first responses from the Joint Chiefs (I think) was that they were awaiting guidance on how this was to be implemented. They may well have been expecting (and hoping) that Trump wouldn’t have the follow-through to figure out what real work needed to be done, but it’s not quite the same as looking for a way not to comply.

  209. 209.

    Ruckus

    @kilo50:
    Unit cohesion is dependent upon a sense of duty and loyalty, not on prejudice. The worst person for unit cohesion is the prejudiced person, because they create disrespect and a separate level of ideals that never fits within a random group of people. They look for their suspected worst in everyone, and find it, because it’s all in their minds, not in reality. That’s lack of unit cohesion.

  210. 210.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Redshift: I think this is about right, and there is a very important distinction between hoping not to implement the Twitter ramblings of a madman, which is just ethical, and looking for a way to disobey an order, which undermines civilian control of the military.

  211. 211.

    Roger Moore

    @Redshift:
    I think a better way of saying it is that they weren’t eager to obey. They may not be precisely looking for an excuse to disobey, but they’re not rushing to implement this now that they have the chance. I think a big part of this is that they want to make the point that they don’t accept tweets as a valid form of command.

  212. 212.

    Ruckus

    @Quinerly:
    Sorry about your mom but no hospitalization illness? That is pretty amazing. I got to watch my mom die in the hospital 25 yrs before we finally sent her off at 94. She’d had her gallbladder out and was in ICU/recovery, the ex and I were visiting and checking in on her when she flatlined. Man the entire crew come in to work on her, and rush us out of the room. Fifteen minutes later we were allowed back in and she was none the worse for wear, as the next 25 yrs showed. Mom was a tough old broad, said and meant as a definite complement.

  213. 213.

    jonas

    @Redshift:

    they can block appointments and cut off funding.

    Does anyone in Trump’s cabinet really give a shit if Congress completely strips their budget? Trump put them where they are to destroy those agencies, not run them well.

  214. 214.

    MattF

    @Redshift: Also, as I said above, there’s a chain of command. And I don’t think there’s a box at the top of the diagram that says ‘Tweets from you-know-who.’ I mean, seriously, folks, is Trump the only person with access to his Twitter account?

  216. 216.

    Major Major Major Major

    @jonas:

    Does anyone in Trump’s cabinet really give a shit if Congress completely strips their budget? Trump put them where they are to destroy those agencies, not run them well.

    Some of them have their own agendas that actually require funding.

  217. 217.

    efgoldman

    @Roger Moore:

    They may not be precisely looking for an excuse to disobey, but they’re not rushing to implement this now that they have the chance.

    This is one of the zillion “with all due respect sir, but…” moments that anybody who has spent more than a day in the military has to deal with. It’s the services’ version of “bless her heart.”
    The generals, who didn’t get where they are without being politicians, are going to make damned sure they get the proper orders from the proper chain of command in the proper way before they take any action at all about anything. They’ll also have JAG people checking every bleat from up the chain to make sure all the commas are in the right place, all the “i”‘s crossed and all the “t”‘s dotted, first/

  218. 218.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    Notice though that this bully has little real support, unlike the school bullies you mention. Yes he can cause a lot of trouble but besides being a bully, he is an incompetent shit. The people who support him have a lot in common with him.

  222. 222.

    lgerard

    @Another Scott:

    Glenn Thrush‏ Verified account @GlennThrush

    Surprising: admin sources told me they think Kelly hiring makes it more likely Trump ousts McMaster (who annoys him)
    replaces him w Pompeo.
    7:37 AM – 29 Jul 2017 from Kensington, MD

    Isn’t Pompeo one of the guys that hangs out with him all day in his office? He seems to value these people more then those who actually attempt to do their job.

    It’s cute how he thinks he can move people around based on momentary whims as if the Senate has no role in any of this.

  223. 223.

    burnspbesq

    @MattF:

    If you’re trying to make me nostalgic for the days of ordinary Republican apparatchiks, I got four words in response.

    David Addington. Scooter Libby.

  224. 224.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Ruckus: Yeah, ‘NPR’ is a specific subset of ‘the sounds that come out of your public radio station.’ I like my local (KQED) a lot, they have a good morning interview show. And TBH most of All Things Considered is very good.

    @burnspbesq: So you’d prefer the current band of shitheads, then?

  226. 226.

    Quinerly

    @Ruckus:
    I had been to NC for my regular Oct visit. Left to drive back Fri, stopped for the night in Charleston, W VA. Cruised into St. Louis and kept trying to call her to tell her I was back at my home. Long story short, she had been in a car accident (she still drove, actually very well, plus small town stuff). She actually popped out of the car and tried to walk to the ambulance. Air bag broke 6 ribs but adrenaline was doing its stuff. Talked to over her on her cell phone in the ER and later ICU. She was insistent that I not drive back until we knew when she was going to be released. She was moved to a room on Thurs and I started back Fri AM very early. We had been talking on the phone several times a day. Someone was sitting with her close to 20 hrs a day. All was ok when I left. I got about 6 hrs into the 15 hr trip, driving and they called to say her heart stopped and she had passed. Only time she had ever been in the hospital except for having me. No illnesses prior, 92 years old. Thanks for asking and sharing your story.

  227. 227.

    MattF

    @burnspbesq: I shudder to think of what would be happening if Trump had any White House staff at the level of Cheney or Rove. But I don’t think either of them would last in the House of Trump. Different world.

  230. 230.

    Mom Says I'm Handsome

    @chris: I too am also pleased to see that Ed from Gin & Tacos is getting his due — like Cole he’s a curmudgeon with his heart in the right place, even if his body seems permanently stranded in, where was it, Bumfuk, Indiana?

  231. 231.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:
    It’s really amazing how quickly we’ve moved on this as a country. Less than 25 years ago, the military brass was able to effectively block Bill Clinton from letting gay service members serve openly, and it was considered a major improvement that they were allowed to serve as long as they stayed in the closet. Now, the military brass seems to be doing everything they can to keep Trump from kicking transgender service members out of the military, and getting considerable support from conservatives in Congress in doing so.

  232. 232.

    efgoldman

    @Major Major Major Major:

    it’s a question of how much competence you have to take off to balance out the equation

    In Velveeta Voldemort’s case, he over-compensated by offloading way more yuuge, bigly competence than any human needs to. The best.

  233. 233.

    efgoldman

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s really amazing how quickly we’ve moved on this as a country.

    We’ve remarked on that with our daughter (36 y.o.) who loves and understands history. This is an incredibly quick social movement. When Goodridge was decided by the MA state Supreme Court, I think the general assumption was it would be attacked at every turn, fought forever like Roe, and always in danger.
    As far as the military, all the generals and admirals can count. They know that losing 6000 – 10,000 trained personnel across the services and ranks will be a real problem in a time when they are having a tough time finding new recruits.

  234. 234.

    Ruckus

    @Quinerly:
    Sorry you couldn’t make it to see her. I’m still amazed about the lack of hospitalizations and illnesses, given my record, given the record of almost everyone I know. One guy, he passed at 104, I met him when he was 95, looked/acted like he was a very spry 70. I got the impression from him that he’d been healthy his entire life. At 95 he was the last living motorcycle board track racer. Was talking to my cousin yesterday and we talked about family a lot. I’m the second oldest of our generation left in both sides of both our families. All previous generations are gone and mom made it much farther than any body else.
    I hope that your mom passed on all the good genes, enjoy all your days.

  235. 235.

    Major Major Major Major

    @efgoldman: I completely agree! With Trump, the equation is more complicated with the “completely corrupted by a foreign enemy” bit. One must also factor in the corrosive effect on our norms and institutions you wouldn’t get under a Lawful Evil president.

  236. 236.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:
    It’s not just a matter of whether the top brass can count and are worried about the effects of losing a bunch of effective service members. It’s that they know the justification is bullshit. There was no disruption when DADT was repealed, and there was none again when Obama OKed transgender service members coming out. There’s absolutely no justification for reversing course on this.

  237. 237.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Let us recall that in May Trump declared that he didn’t like the modernized aircraft catapult system (EMALS) on carriers and “ordered” the program canceled.

    In July he commissioned the latest carrier, which includes an EMALS.

  239. 239.

    Quinerly

    @Ruckus:
    Thanks for these posts. My mother could never believe she outlived my father (both my parents were only children, my dad’s people lived well into their 80’s and 90’s, her people died young..her parents both at age 52, 3 years apart). I have guilt that I didn’t immediately rush back but was listening to her wishes. She was very strong willed. We really have no family…I’m an only. I contacted a lady that had helped us with my dad…she was sitting with my mom and keeping in touch with me several times a day from her hospital room. The lady stepped out to get lunch. That’s when my mom passed.

  240. 240.

    Waratah

    Politico says trump talked Graham into trying again to kill the health insurance. Graham has lined up Heller to sponsor bill. Convenient to add him.

  241. 241.

    efgoldman

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I completely agree! With Trump….

    I missed the exclamation point first time around and read this as “I completely agree with Trump.”
    After I picked my jaw up off the floor I re-read it. Makes a lot more sense your way.
    As grifter-in-chief, he attracts other evil, incompetent grifters like a ship attracts barnacles. I mean, Gorka? Miller? Bannonazi? Mooch??

  242. 242.

    Yarrow

    @JPL:

    I don’t think that Trump stops with transgender people. The entire LGBT community is at risk, imo.

    I know a lesbian couple, together for a long time, that recently decided to get married. I didn’t ask why they decided to get married now but have wondered if fear that Trump and this conservative Supreme Court might take away their right to get married might have played a part. I hate that such a thing could even be an issue.

  243. 243.

    efgoldman

    @Waratah:

    Politico says trump talked Graham into trying again to kill the health insurance.

    Lindsay’s South Carolina big money people must have twisted his arm into a full Nelson. He’s not the sharpest knife in the chandelier, but he knows this bill is political suicide.

  244. 244.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @efgoldman: I would imagine South Carolina would be fertile ground for a really ugly trump-cum-tea-bagger primary challenge, but maybe between McCain’s dramatics and Collins’ holding out he thinks he has room to put on a slow show of “working to overturn Obamacare”

  246. 246.

    Mnemosyne

    @Quinerly:

    The lady stepped out to get lunch. That’s when my mom passed.

    I’ve heard stories like that so many times that I honestly think at this point that your mom was probably like, Alone at last, and I’m ready to go, so she did. Many people seem to want at least a little privacy for that final moment and will wait for their loved ones to leave the room, so I definitely would not feel guilty you weren’t there. IMO, she made her decision and stuck to it.

  247. 247.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Graham has enough heft in the Senate to slow walk anything until ‘election year fever’ kicks in and it withers on its own.

    One can hope.

  250. 250.

    Ruckus

    @Quinerly:

    The lady stepped out to get lunch. That’s when my mom passed.

    I’ve heard that this happens a lot. But not all the time. My dad passed while I was sitting on his bed in hospice with my arm around him. There were 5 of us in the room with him. No one else in the room believed me when I said, “He’s gone.” But I think there is a bit of “I don’t want to be a bother” to it all. We all go when we go, no matter if it’s six months old or 104, and I’ve know both. Live your life, don’t be an asshole, enjoy others, do your best, don’t worry about what you can’t change, make better what you can.

  251. 251.

    Quinerly

    @Mnemosyne:
    Thanks for your kind words. The entire saga (I guess I can call it that…I go over it in my mind close to once a day) was so strange. Out of habit, when I’m traveling from point A to point B, my mom always stayed home. This goes back to 30plus years when I went to St. Louis for law school…the whole being by the phone if something happened sort of thing. That never changed, even with cell phones. It was so odd she went to the store about the time I was getting back to St. Louis. If she hadn’t gone to the store, then no car wreck. I should have gotten my act together and immediately gone back to NC…she was so with it making decisions and giving orders, though. Very strong personality. I shouldn’t have listened to her. Something that I will have to live with. Don’t know if it would have changed any outcome…the longer she was in the hospital the more she seemed to deteriorate, plus the last two days she became very combative and uncooperative. Her mind was excellent upon admission…then she started sundowning, etc. Oh, look! A new thread…I’m off this subject. Thanks for piping in…I so enjoy your comments.

  252. 252.

    Quinerly

    @Ruckus:
    My dad died (pancreatic cancer) while I was holding him. My mother said she needed a break and went for a ride. She had barely gotten out of the drive way when he took his last breath in 2008. We had started hospice at home with him a day and half prior. I was dripping that small amt of morphine and the anti nausea drug into his mouth on the hour. He died 5 minutes to 9. I guess it’s a crazy cycle…my mom was very distraught that she wasn’t home when he passed. Oh, look! There’s that shiney new thread. Thanks!

  253. 253.

    Mnemosyne

    @Quinerly:

    I should have gotten my act together and immediately gone back to NC.

    You did what she asked, and she made her own decision. There’s no reason to feel guilty. It sucks to lose a parent, but I honestly don’t see any reason for you to hang onto the guilt when, from your story, it seems like she did exactly what she wanted right up to the very end.

  254. 254.

    Suzanne

    @Redshift:

    GOP fake tough guys

    No joke. Their anxious masculinity is obvious. I’m sure any of us could kick their asses. Especially Mooch. That’s a guy who asks his wives to open jars for him.

    I love Corner Stone. I know he can be obnoxious, but this place needs the flava.

  255. 255.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    He says good stuff often enough and he is of course entitled to his opinion like we all are but he is also often an ass. Not that I am an angel either but a lot of his comments seem to be there to inflame for no point at all other than just to inflame. I just don’t get that. Why would you try to be an ass? Especially when it comes so easy to many of us.

  256. 256.

    Miss Bianca

    @Peale:

    it takes a surprisingly long time to identify the normal morons from the new breed of super morons.

    OK, this made LOL. Internets won for the day, in my book!

  257. 257.

    No One You Know

    @Quinerly: I’m probably one of them, but I’ve been knocking off lately. NPR is ok, I am with you there, until they report on politics. I can remember when that wasn’t so. (I can remember when I just voted every election without worrying about the state of Western Civilization.)

    I am really tired of, and disappointed in, Cokie Roberts and Mara Liasson. They sound, to me, entitled, comfortable, and content…The voices of Nice Polite Republicans.

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