Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

This fight is for everything.

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

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

He really is that stupid.

This blog will pay for itself.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Come on, man.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: It’s A Start

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: It’s A Start

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Apart from preparing for tonight’s Phoenix campaign rally (don’t forget the anti-nausea meds), what’s on the agenda for the day?

***********
One last farewell. Look backwards — but don’t stare at the eclipse!…


But Fox News is ON IT!!!1!!!..

(Somebody needs to get President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi to do a widely-distributed PSA imploring people not to drink bleach or stick forks in electrical outlets.)

(Looks like the fainting goats… did not faint.)

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    Exhausting Monday. Borrowed a friend’s pick-up for a dump run. Nearly 4 hours spent breaking up some junk furniture, collecting various and sundry items (old warped rain gutters, termite eaten pallets and such like), fully loading the truck up, then unloading it at the landfill. Solo, in 90 degree heat.

    Then a run to the laundromat followed by shopping for gifts to bring on NY trip.

    When I returned the truck, first thing out of friend’s mouth was “You look like hell.”

    I’m gettin’ too old for this.

  2. 2.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @NotMax: That would have been brutal, the humidity was pretty oppressive too. You get any of the thunderstorm?

  5. 5.

    patrick II

    “perhaps the most impressive thing a president has ever done”.
    I thought Tucker Carlson had to be speaking ironically when I heard that — but then I thought, no, it’s Tucker Carlson and his audience is the same group that thought Stephen Colbert really was a sincere republican.

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m a guitar and music student now. The Girl and I are fairly busy. Chords, scales, music theory lessons at this website. Barre chords are a challenge — sometimes my index finger feels too irregular in shape — but they don’t seem all that daunting.

  9. 9.

    raven

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: My astrophotographer cuz said he “screwed up” at totality in Carbondale. It’s pretty cool since, in his article, he stressed how difficult it is and recommended that people just enjoy the moment.

  10. 10.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Looks like I picked the wrong week to invest in a chain of Nazi themed barber shops.

  11. 11.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Since I work on a shoestring budget, I set my camera up and every 5 minutes repositioned and took a pic. Of course, only about 60% here.

    ETA: Now if I had a equatorial mount for my camera I could have automated the process.

  12. 12.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Jon Cooper‏ @joncoopertweets

    ??Source who’s been accurate in past tells me there have been some preliminary talks in WH re POTUS resigning. Mostly hypothetical what-ifs.

    8:36 PM – 21 Aug 2017

    162 replies 502 retweets 1,333 likes

    He’s going to propose resigning in return for no jail time. Agnew Redux

  13. 13.

    raven

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: He got decent stuff of everything but totality. I decided to put the filters I bought on my binoculars and it worked great. I also forgot my SD card so, when we got out there, I couldn’t have shot if I had wanted to.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I’ve always got a little wallet with several SD cards and I carry extra batteries. I was a boy scout. Next photoshoot with the Glendale folk is Sunday in Pasadena and I may make a trip up to Lockwood Valley again for some more Milky Way shooting.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    Disappointed Obama Trump failed to call what we are fighting in Afghanistan as Radical Islamic Terrorism last night. Obama’s Trump’s political correctness will not win the War on Terror.

    If right-wing media actually believed their bullshit.

  24. 24.

    Phylllis

    @raven: I think we saw the space station as well–just in the sky, not across the sun. We thought it was a plane at first, but it was moving right slow to be a plane.

  25. 25.

    gene108

    @PST:

    I think it is Melania trying to allow Baron to be more normal than the average Trump. His dad goes to baseball games in a suit and tie. His dad never appears in public other than in a suit and tie. One of his dad’s odder, less talked about, oddities.

    I think she might want Baron to dress like normal people in public.

  28. 28.

    Lapassionara

    Good morning. I had big plans for gardening this morning, before the heat, but the long-awaited rain just started. I know I should be grateful, but working outside is the best way for me to lighten my mood and escape the dreadful events of this maladministration. At least the storm waited a day, so we had great eclipse viewing yesterday.

  33. 33.

    Quinerly

    @PST:
    Speaking of Barron, the Daily Caller had a screaming headline that the 11 year old should dress better. The piece (yes, I read it..thought it was a joke given the source, so I clicked while wearing my eclipse glasses so the click didn’t count) went on to praise Trump’s fashion sense and “tailored” suits.

  34. 34.

    Peej01

    I set my iPhone on a mini-tripod and put it in movie mode to capture the environment around me before, during, and after totality, while I watched the sun. None of my camera lenses are long enough to capture anything I could see better with the naked eye.

  36. 36.

    Quinerly

    @Lapassionara:
    You and I were going to do the same thing today in the St. Louis area. My little city courtyard and goldfish pond has been neglected. We sure need this rain but I didn’t need to full Poco panic waking me up at 3:30. I still wonder how he survived on the streets. Never seen a dog so fearful of rain. Totally fine riding in the car in the rain, though. Strange. Have a great post eclipse day!

  37. 37.

    Nelle

    We went to eclipse in the morning (totality eclipsed by clouds but perfect view afterwards. The darkness was impress, though. Same thing happened in 79 when I lived in Seattle ).

    On evening, we were with over 750 people crammed into Topeka Methodist church for revival of Poor People’s Campaign and Rev William Barber. Church rocked inside by fierce singinh, speaking and outside by fierce storm. Driving home with passengers on each side watching for lane lines..rain was blinding. No power at home. Power now has been out eight hours.

    My daughter is on NY f-ing Times team covering Trump tonight in Phoenix but as a stringer doesn’t have institutional protection, to my way of thinking. I don’t like this. May be driven to prayer. Just want this mess to be over.

  38. 38.

    different-church-lady

    After alt-right organizers saw huge counter-protests in Boston…

    Like I told ya, folks, we know how to handle terrorists!

  40. 40.

    Kay

    Yashar Ali‏Verified account
    Louise Linton, Sec Mnuchin’s wife, posts photo that tags Hermes/Tom Ford/Valentino as she leaves Air Force Jet then replies to a critic

    Linton is horrible. Of course. They all are.

    Far Right people here just hated that Obama got Air Force One. They so resented that he got the use of the plane. It’s amusing since the Trump people behave like royalty. Betsy DeVos has an obscenely expensive security detail of US Marshals. The Secretary of Education! 95% of people couldn’t pick the Sec of Ed out of a line up. She flatters herself if she thinks that many people care what she does.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?! How’s your sister doing?

    @Amir Khalid: The most enjoyable part of a hobby (for me anyway) is the beginning when it’s new and you’re building skills. Glad that you and The Girl are having many happy hours together.

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    Partial eclipse of the butt

    DAMMIT, you could have blinded that poor doggie’s rear end!

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Far Right people here just hated that Obama got Air Force One.

    Well, I know how they feel.

    @satby:

    Oh, she’s running. #HateBait

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    @satby: I agree w/ Chelsea, but I also remember seeing the pic of Barron arriving for his first day at the White House in a crumpled T-shirt and thinking back to how Michelle Obama got pummeled by the deplorables for wearing an A-shirt once when they were departing for vacation. The Obama daughters got shit every single day from the creeps.

  48. 48.

    satby

    @Lapassionara: I woke up the much needed rain this morning, which is a relief! And I even had a chance to glimpse the eclipse after all, because our store team was outside with the special glasses to share if we saw people sneaking peeks without them.

  49. 49.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay:

    ouise Linton, Sec Mnuchin’s wife, posts photo that tags Hermes/Tom Ford/Valentino as she leaves Air Force Jet

    It’s a populist administration, donchaknow…

  51. 51.

    satby

    @different-church-lady: and even the Bush daughters defended the Obama girls. Kids are stuck with the choices their parents make, they should be off-limits for commentary until they’re adults. I’m just surprised that the raging hypocrites of the right said anything at all about Barron.

  52. 52.

    Quinerly

    @Kay:
    I read the WAPO piece on Linton this AM. They just had a huge wedding in June and she’s some sort of Scottish actress. Her response to the criticism was saying “adorable” several times and then changing her social media status to private. Apparently she is glued to his side and goes everywhere with him. Then tags fashion designers and products on her social media pages.

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    I can see that I am going to have to take some voice lessons to keep up with you, Amir. Maybe I should take up the harmonica, too.

  56. 56.

    eclare

    @Nelle: Hope you get power back soon (was out for three days in May, it sucks) and I hope your daughter is safe in Phoenix. I would be worried too.

  58. 58.

    satby

    @Nelle:

    Just want this mess to be over.

    You speak for millions. Tell your daughter to watch out for her safety. In spite of how we slag on the NYT (and they deserve it) individual reporters are often in dangerous situations getting the story and deserve our gratitude.

  59. 59.

    clay

    @Quinerly: So Mnuchen marries wife #3, who is a blond actress 18 years his junior… I wonder if she feels like a trophy?

    Anyway, she sounds like a real winner:

    In 2016, Linton self-published a book about her experience, titled In Congo’s Shadow, co-authored by Wendy Holden.[7] Linton withdrew In Congo’s Shadow from sale after many readers took offence over her portrayal of Zambia. The book has been criticised for its inaccuracies and promotion of the false narrative of “the white saviour”.[10][11][12][13][14][15] She later apologised for causing offense and promised to donate all profits from the book to an appropriate charity.[16] The Zambian High Commission in London condemned her for falsely presenting Zambia and for violating the confidentiality of children with HIV by publishing their pictures.[17]

    EDIT: This is fun, too:

    She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Pepperdine University and received a law degree (J.D.) from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law[8], a for-profit school that is not accredited by the American Bar Association.[9]

  62. 62.

    satby

    @clay: not familiar with the book, but there are strict rules in most legit volunteer missions that you not photograph the people at the project in such a way that they can be identified. Local shots of random people not affiliated with your volunteer efforts only with permission. She sounds like a self-aggrandizing piece of work, but then the entire DOLTUS team is.

  63. 63.

    Quinerly

    @clay:
    Thanks for posting this. I’m so out of the loop where these blonde wives are concerned. They kinda all look alike to this salt and pepper old hippie chick.?

  66. 66.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning! Ms. O and I are enjoying our morning coffee and oatmeal. The sofa has been occupied by a fluffy white West Highland terrier (Gershwin) and a mini-me Maltese (Pippin), preparing for their post-breakfast nap.

  67. 67.

    Quinerly

    Confederate Drive in Forest Park (St. Louis) being ripped up as I type. I was waiting for Ozark to put this up but I think he had a full day of eclipsing out there in the country yesterday. I’m loving these daily local victories all over the country. And, yes, they are VICTORIES.

  68. 68.

    Betty

    @gene108: Did you see the story about his college days when his father smacked him for dressing casually for a baseball game? That’s why he wears suits to ball games. The man is damaged goods.

  69. 69.

    Jinchi

    BREAKING: After alt-right organizers saw huge counter-protests in Boston, they’ve canceled 67 “America First Rallies” scheduled in 36 states

    Until Charlottesville, the press had been pretty bad about describing counter-protests as “shutting down” free speech. In Boston, at least, they started adding ‘air quotes’ (“Boston ‘free speech’ rally ends early amid flood of counterprotesters” – Washington Post).

    Counter-protests are free speech.

    Whether it is Milo Yannopoulos, Richard Spencer, Charles Murray, neo-Nazis or any of a hundred other preachers of racism and hatred, we are not required to surrender public spaces or sit quietly and listen politely.

    Thanks to all the counter-protesters in Boston and Charlottesville. You’ve shown America’s best side.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Quinerly:

    I know a lot of people hate social media and I don’t even use much of it myself but I do love it when it’s egalitarian like that – where the peons get to jab at the Trumpster royalty.

    OTOH I hate the pile-ons so I hope they don’t go crazy and have 35,000 people target this woman or something. One at a time.

  73. 73.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Far Right people here just hated that Obama got Air Force One. They so resented that he got the use of the plane.

    He was President of the United States…what’s he supposed to fly around in…Spirit Airlines?

    It’s amusing since the Trump people behave like royalty.

    There’s a tweet going around about Dolt45 and the Secret Service, since he’s bankrupted it.

    The Clinton’s treated the SS like friends.
    The Bushes treated the SS with the utmost respect.
    The Obamas treated the SS like family.
    Dolt45 and family treat them like SERVANTS.

  76. 76.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Quinerly:

    How was your birthday at Ojo? Love that place.

    It was wonderfully relaxing. I love how they’ve made it so attractive and inviting, and yet affordable for all manner of people. It feels like a democratic luxury.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    OTOH I hate the pile-ons so I hope they don’t go crazy and have 35,000 people target this woman or something. One at a time.

    She took her account ‘ private’ to get away from the little people.

  78. 78.

    Interrobang

    I got my cats back!

    Back story: I had to move to another city in a hurry because I got a job here, and my parents, who were helping me coordinate with the move, decided that it would be best if the cats came after I was moved in and settled. For complex reasons, my boy cat was living with them, and the girl was living with my grandma. Now they’re back with me.

    Gypsy has barely left my side since last night, except for about half an hour when she decided she had to do the pro forma “hide in the box spring” thing, and Izzy has decided he really likes my front casement windows, where he can lie on the sill with his butt sticking out into the fresh air.

    Me, I’m just happy to have them back. I had missed them so very much. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because of a small, insistent tortoiseshell bugging me for attention about every 15 minutes, but I’ll live. Working from home today, and going to leave shortly to go out and get some caffeine. :)

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    @Quinerly:

    Speaking of Barron, the Daily Caller had a screaming headline that the 11 year old should dress better. The piece (yes, I read it..thought it was a joke given the source, so I clicked while wearing my eclipse glasses so the click didn’t count) went on to praise Trump’s fashion sense and “tailored” suits.

    That was ridiculous. He’s 10-11 and he’s not in school, and this was a fun event.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    @Quinerly:

    How’s your sister doing? Meant to ask yesterday but kept missing you on the threads.

    She’s doing much better. Crossing my fingers, but I think they will let her come home today. But, I’m not going to believe it until she’s in the car on the way home.

  88. 88.

    But her emails!!!

    @rikyrah:

    Update for accuracy.

    There’s a tweet going around about Dolt45 and the Secret Service, since he’s bankrupted it.

    The Clinton’s treated the SS like friends.
    The Bushes treated the SS with the utmost respect.
    The Obamas treated the SS like family.
    Dolt45 and family treat them like SERVANTS CONTRACTORS.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    Treasury secretary’s wife boasts of travel on government plane, touts Hermes and Valentino fashion

    By Damian Paletta
    August 21 at 10:48 PM

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s wife, Louise Linton, boasted of flying on a government plane with her husband to Kentucky on Monday and then named the numerous fashion brands she wore on the trip in an unusual social media post that only became more bizarre minutes later.

    When someone posted a comment on Linton’s Instagram picture that criticized the way Linton touted the trip, the treasury secretary’s wife swung back hard, mentioning the extreme wealth she and her husband control.

    “Did you think this was a personal trip?!” Linton wrote on her Instagram page, responding to the person who had written “glad we could pay for your little getaway.”

    Linton continued in her response to the critic: “Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country? I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours.”

    Linton added, “You’re adorably out of touch … Thanks for the passive aggressive nasty comment. Your kids look very cute. Your life looks cute.”

    The fashion companies Linton “tagged” in her Instagram post were Hermès, Roland Mouret, Tom Ford and Valentino.

    …………………………

    Typically, Treasury secretaries only fly government planes when they go on international trips. They usually fly on domestic carriers when they are traveling inside the country.

    Mnuchin and Linton recently returned from their honeymoon, though they have not revealed where they went. Linton is a Scottish actress and has raised eyebrows within the White House for accompanying Mnuchin to congressional hearings and on other trips that spouses don’t often take.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah:
    Actually, the RWNJ rag was calling him out for all appearances. The writer was especially irked with the way Barron dresses when coming down the steps of Air Force One. It was a strange piece given who runs the Daily Caller. (isn’t it still Tucker Carlson’s outfit?)

  92. 92.

    rikyrah

    EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE
    EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE
    EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE

    This sort of shyt makes me LIVID.
    The thought.. of what would have happened if 44 or Hillary had done this…

    Republican committees have paid nearly $1.3 million to Trump-owned entities this year

    By Matea Gold and Anu Narayanswamy
    August 21 at 12:13 AM

    ………………………

    The nearly $1.3 million spent by Republican political committees at Trump entities in 2017 has helped boost his company at a time when business is falling off at some core properties. Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Fla., lost at least 10 of the 16 galas or dinner events it had been scheduled to host next winter in the wake of Trump’s controversial response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

    The market has been much more bullish for the president’s new hotel in Washington, which has emerged as the go-to venue for GOP power brokers and groups on the right. Trump International, whose room rates appear to be the most expensive in the city, generated nearly $2 million in profit in its first four months, as The Washington Post previously reported.

  94. 94.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah:
    Be sure to read the year old Jezebel piece I linked to @75 as a companion piece. I had never heard of this woman until today. Maybe I’m out of the loop. She’s a piece of work and deserves anything social media throws at her.

  96. 96.

    rikyrah

    @Quinerly:

    I know..I read the piece…and, I was still – eh.
    Until he’s in shorts meeting the Prime Minister of England……then, they have a point.
    Until then…he’s a kid.

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    From Charlottesville to Boston, Rightbloggers’ “Alt-Left” Story Falls Flat
    by ROY EDROSO

    AUGUST 21, 2017

    After the horrifying violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, many of us were anxiously bracing for the next big alt-right event, scheduled for Boston last weekend — particularly since top conservatives had been explaining all week that a super-violent “alt-left” was at least as much to blame as the Nazis and Confederates for the attack that injured nineteen and killed Heather Heyer. So the Boston result — forty thousand citizens overwhelming the right-wing ralliers, with violence largely avoided — came as a great relief, as did the relative quietude of the right afterward.

    After Nazi and Confederate throwbacks rampaged in Charlottesville and one of their number ran down a bunch of counter-demonstrators — a method of attack approved by alt-right trolls, Republican state legislatures, and at least one prominent rightblogger — killing social justice warrior Heyer, the Trump administration and its supporters found themselves caught flat-footed.

    Normal people sided against the Nazis and Confederates, but the president, a self-admitted believer in genetic superiority, instead made excuses for the Nazis and Confederates, portraying political violence at Charlottesville and elsewhere as a “both sides” sort of thing in which the “alt-right” is counterweighted by an alleged “alt-left” — which, accounts of left- vs. right-wing violence show, is a typically Trumpian view (i.e., bullshit).

  101. 101.

    danielx

    This morning I almost – almost! – read my man David Brooks’ latest effort, titled “What Moderates Believe”*. Then I thought no, there are only so many hours available to me and reading a David Brooks column is about as productive as waiting at an open door for a cat to decide whether to go in, go out, or just stand in the doorway for a few minutes. What Brooks know about the beliefs of anybody other than Villagers wouldn’t fill a thimble.

    *No link, if you want to actually read it you have to go there.

  102. 102.

    rikyrah

    MONDAY, AUG 21, 2017 06:00 PM CDT
    Black conservatives who backed Trump are suddenly offended — but they sold their souls long ago
    After Charlottesville, the Republican Party’s black boosters are full of regrets. So why don’t they quit?
    CHAUNCEY DEVEGA

    …………………………

    I must confess to a guilty pleasure. For me, the most “entertaining” part of the post-Charlottesville TV spectacle has been watching black conservatives with all their tears and feigned outrage and surprise at Donald Trump and the white supremacists, neo-Confederates and Nazis he coddles. The cognitive dissonance of today’s black conservatives in Trump’s America is almost awe-inspiring.

    ………………………………

    In today’s Republican Party, black conservatives — especially the professional cheerleaders who are trotted out on cable news shows — occupy a very specific role. In the post-Civil Rights era, displays of overt racism have largely fallen out of favor. However, the Republican Party is addicted to using white racism to win elections and advance its policies. To help make this strategy viable, black conservatives serve as a type of human shield for the cause of white supremacy. In essence, they are professional “best black friends.”

    As they blubber and bemoan their “pain” about Donald Trump and Charlottesville, black conservatives face a basic question which they will likely never answer.

    Where was this pain and surprise when Donald Trump encouraged violence against black and brown protesters at his rallies? Where was the pain and surprise when Donald Trump was sued for not allowing African-Americans and other people of color to rent apartments in the buildings he owned?

    Where was the pain and surprise when Trump disparaged the human rights movement Black Lives Matter as a group of “thugs”?

    Where was the pain and surprise when Trump chose apparent white nationalists and “alt-right” sympathizers like Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka and Michael Anton as some of his closest advisers?

    ……………………..

    Where was the pain and surprise when Trump selected Jeff Sessions, a man who has worked for decades to keep blacks from voting and was deemed too racist to serve as a federal judge — by the Republican Party, in 1986 — as his attorney general, the leading law enforcement official in the nation?

    Where was the pain and surprise when Trump and his administration launched a full-spectrum assault on the civil rights of African-Americans and other people of color?

    ………………………………..

    Black conservatives have supported Donald Trump specifically and the Republican Party more generally because being a professional black friend and racial mercenary is highly lucrative. It also pays a type of psychological wage where serving as the “special one” who is “not like the other blacks.” That makes many black conservatives feel better about themselves. Internalized white supremacy can be a powerful and dangerous thing.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    Trump wants credit for mission he opposed, had nothing to do with
    08/22/17 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    As far as Donald Trump is concerned, seven months into his presidency, he’s already implementing national security policies that are having a positive effect. This line from his speech last night on the war in Afghanistan was rather jarring:

    “As we lift restrictions and expand authorities in the field, we are already seeing dramatic results in the campaign to defeat ISIS, including the liberation of Mosul in Iraq.”

    In Trump’s mind, drawing connections between unrelated developments is a little too easy. Mosul has been freed of ISIS control, he’s “lifted restrictions” in the field, ergo Mosul has been liberated because of the changes he’s implemented.

    Except that’s not how reality works. In this case, the mission in Mosul began before Trump was elected: Iraq’s second-largest city was liberated because of a mission launched by Barack Obama.

    Indeed, what Trump didn’t mention – and may not remember – is that he opposed the mission he now wants credit for.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy is missing a new strategy
    08/22/17 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Donald Trump’s speech last night was intended to present his vision for a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. After listening to the president’s remarks, I have no idea what that new strategy is going to be.

    President Donald Trump announced a new approach – but no details – for the U.S. war in Afghanistan on Monday, marking a major policy reversal for the man who in recent years had insisted America pull out of the war-torn country.

    Acknowledging that his “original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts,” Trump said in a prime-time address to the nation from Ft. Myer in Arlington, Virginia, that after becoming president he realized a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan would cede ground to terror groups.

    “We are not nation-building again,” Trump said before an audience of service members. “We are killing terrorists.”

    Of course, planning to go kill bad guys is an excellent strategy for a combat video game, but it’s not necessarily the basis for a sound policy for dealing with the longest war in American history.

    Trump and his national security team have reportedly been hard at work for months on overhauling the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, and while the approach outlined last night is certainly new for Trump – he effectively told voters he’d pursue the opposite tack – it’s not new for the country.

    The president, using language that was effectively identical to George W. Bush’s war rhetoric, presented a plan in which the war in Afghanistan will continue indefinitely, with undetermined troop levels, until we “win” – which is itself problematic, since Trump hasn’t explained what a victory would look like or how his latest strategy would achieve this goal.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    Bottom line: Trump has now expanded US military presence and/or airstrikes in EVERY combat theater he inherited from Obama.
    — Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) August 22, 2017

  111. 111.

    clay

    @rikyrah: The Emoluments Clause only covers foreign gifts. Republicans feeding money into the Trump Org is just using the Oval Office to enrich yourself. Horrible, but not unconstitutional.

    (Can we get some enterprising reporters to ask every Congressional Republican to state — on the record — if they think that the Presidency should be used to allow its office holder to make a buck?)

  112. 112.

    Quinerly

    @O. Felix Culpa:
    I was only there once in 2012. Need to get back. Heard there have been a lot of upscale changes. Let’s get a group of chicks together! I’m also putting a group together for a day at my favorite Albuquerque winery. I spent the day at it (gotta pull the name, tip of my tongue) on 2/15, last year. Had the place all to myself because everyone had celebrated the day prior. I’m repeating the visit on 2/15/18…need cohorts!

  113. 113.

    Mel

    @clay:

    Hmm. An unaccredited law school…

    When I worked at a small university, we sometimes had incoming freshman students who tried to insist that they should be exempt from the required standard placement test and writing sample. These pieces of info simply helped us to determine who would benefit from taking a course which taught critical reading skills and basic study skills needed for success in college level courses.

    Several of the students stated that they wanted to bypass the assessments because they “already [had] a religious degree” and getting a degree from an accredited college was just “red tape”.

    The “religious school” from which these students claimed to have earned degrees was a fly-by-night, completely unaccredited entity. Most of the course material was delivered via snail mail, and was so poorly written that it was almost unintelligible. In the few samples that we saw, what could be deciphered was a scary mix of anti-vaxxer style paranoia, sexism, bigotry, and a lot of yammering about Noah, Doomsday, and the evils of modern education.

    These students were seeking an actual religious studies degree because (surprise, surprise) no established mainstream church which paid a living wage would hire them as ministers without a (real) degree and training.

    One student was particularly, spectacularly irate b/c he had to take the placement assessment. He scored at appx. a third grade level in reading comprehension, and then went off on a screaming rant when he saw the results of the assessment.

    The conversation quickly devolved from “I shouldn’t have had to take this test! I don’t need that class or any class! I’m a man of God, so what some book or machine says doesn’t mean anything!” to “You’re a bunch of stupid, evil b*****s and c***s!!!”, etc. And that was just his opening volley. In a college admissions setting.

    So, yeah. Perhaps “Bigotry, Bad Manners, and Delusions of Grandeur” is a required freshman course at most unaccredited colleges?

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    September Will Be a Meat-Grinder
    by Martin Longman
    August 21, 2017

    Lindsey McPherson at Roll Call does a nice job of laying things out for you so you can begin to get a sense of the challenges Donald Trump and congressional Republicans will be facing when they return from vacation. As of now, there will be only twelve days in September when the House and Senate are jointly in session. The Senate has a few more legislative days on their schedule than the House, and they’ll surely need them.

    I’ve written a lot about the debt ceiling, which needs to be raised by September 29th to avoid a default, and the appropriations bills, which need to be passed by September 30th to avoid a government shutdown. Twelve legislative days in the House and a few more in the Senate might be adequate to handle those two pressing issues, but Congress also has to reauthorize spending for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the National Flood Insurance Program before they expire on September 30th. As I’ve mentioned, if they want tax reform, they need a new budget resolution. Somewhere in all of this, they need to figure out if they can reset the sequester so that they can fund Trump’s larger navy or get some funds for the border wall Mexico is supposed to be financing. Any change in the sequester’s spending caps would require a separate bill to amend the old Budget Act.

    If you think the Republicans have a plan for accomplishing this all in the time allotted, you’re quite mistaken. If anything, their plan is to ignore the committee work that has been done on the FAA, CHIP and Flood insurance and just punt by just passing short-term reauthorizations. The same will probably be the solution for the appropriations bills. Some kind of continuing resolution will be attempted that buys them time, although it’s uncertain that they could succeed in passing one. Weird, desperate ideas are cropping up:

    …………………………………

    They still won’t accept the fact that the leadership can’t accomplish any of this without Democratic votes, either because of the Senate filibuster or because the Republicans in both the House and Senate cannot agree among themselves. As for the leadership, they are also in denial:

    Given the conservatives’ position against a clean debt limit increase, GOP leaders would need a lot of Democratic support if they tried to push one through.

    A House Democratic leadership aide said there’s been no outreach from the Republicans or the White House on the debt ceiling or an appropriations package for funding the government.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Saw that yesterday. She’s better than me. I’d be like…BYE.

    I just spent time in the ER…do you think I cared what color or sex the doctors were that tended to my sister?

    HELL NO.

    I just cared that they knew how to do their jobs and could help her.

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    @chris:

    @rikyrah: Speaking of black Repubs, here’s a great piece on Ben Carson, his wife and his son at HUD. Yup, all three of them.

    Sigh…
    sigh..
    sigh…

  120. 120.

    Quinerly

    @Mel:
    If CA is still the same way, it’s one of the few states that allows a person to take the bar exam without a degree from a accredited law school. Obviously she couldn’t get in an accredited law school (her undergrad school Pepperdine has an accredited law school that Ken Starr was affiliated with a few years back). I assume there are few who manage to pass the bar who didn’t graduate from an accredited school…not many, I bet. CA is one of the toughest bars. I think Kamala Harris failed the first time around.

  121. 121.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @rikyrah:

    I just cared that they knew how to do their jobs and could help her.

    But you’re a SANE and DECENT person. These folks who turn down her expertise in the ER…they’re seriously not right in the head or the heart.

    ETA: Glad your sister’s doing better. Hope she can safely go home soon.

  125. 125.

    A Ghost To Most

    Father William Aitcheson has taken a leave of absence after revealing that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

    As a member of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, he wrote an op-ed in the Arlington Catholic Herald, admitting to his past involvement in the Klan, Fox5 reported. He said that what happened in Charlottesville last week “brought back memories of a bleak period” that prompted him to be honest about his past. He said that he left the group 40 years ago, but clearly his link still sits with him.

    “My actions were despicable,” he wrote. “When I think back on burning crosses, a threatening letter, and so on, I feel as though I am speaking of somebody else. It’s hard to believe that was me. We must condemn, at every opportunity, the hatred and vile beliefs of the KKK and other white supremacist organizations. What they believe directly contradicts what we believe as Americans and what we, as Catholics, hold dear.”

    Another radical white christian terrorist enabler. Religion of peace, my ass.

  127. 127.

    satby

    @Quinerly: I think I will be quitting my job at the doctor’s office come this January, so I may be down with that. I’m only staying to try to help them move to an all electronic records system, which has been pending for over a year due to the manager’s inability to handle it. Just rescheduled again, for next month.

  128. 128.

    Schlemazel

    Since the story is a couple of days old this may be a repeat but it is a happy thing so worth mentioning. Alexandria VA has decided to rename the Jefferson Davis Highway. They are asking for suggestions for a new name here:
    RENAME JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY

    While I wanted to suggest Wm. Tecumseh Sherman – Don’t make me come back down there again highway I offered Loving highway. It would honor Richard and Mildred Loving and the idea that a racist bastard was replaced by love made me smile

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    Trump Is the Ultimate Disaster Capitalist
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    August 22, 2017

    Towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, one of Trump’s favorite slogans was “drain the swamp.” With a wink and a nod from the candidate, a lot of people assumed that he was talking about a kind of populism where he would fight for “the forgotten man” against the monied interests in Washington.

    What we should have been doing is tying that slogan to something Donald Trump said on Fox and Friends way back in 2014. The relevant portion starts at about the 2:00 minute mark.

    The topic of conversation was how the Republicans have a messaging challenge because Democrats promise free stuff (i.e., Obamacare) that gives “those people” permission to not work for a living. Here’s what Trump said:

    You know what solves it? When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell and everything is a disaster. They you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great.

    …………………..

    I would also point out that in his exit interview with Peter Boyer of the Weekly Standard, Bannon lamented the fact that, with his departure, the president might be talked into signing a clean debt ceiling increase, thereby avoiding a global economic crisis.
    …………………………………………..

    Remember this little nugget?

    Trump declared “I alone can fix it,” but in order for him to fix it–that is, to consolidate his power under the guise of improving our nation–America needed to be broken, over and over again.

    All of that sheds light on the chaos being produced by this White House, the president’s choices for Cabinet positions, the fact that so many key positions in the federal government are not being filled and the divisive tone of almost everything Trump says. What this president shares with his former chief strategist is a desire for chaos and crisis. They see it as a feature, not a bug.

    What is clear is that their aim would be to use that chaos and crisis to restore “law and order” from above, not empower populism from below. The “I alone can fix it” signals that those rioting torch-bearers Trump alluded to in the clip up above would simply be fodder towards the ultimate goal of something that much more closely resembles fascism. In other words, he’s talking about peak “disaster capitalism.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    Is Anybody Home at HUD?
    A long-harbored conservative dream — the “dismantling of the administrative state” — is taking place under Secretary Ben Carson.

    By Alec MacGillis

    In mid-May, Steve Preston, who served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the final two years of the George W. Bush administration, organized a dinner at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, D.C., for the new chief of that department, Ben Carson, and five other former secretaries whose joint tenure stretched all the way back to Gerald Ford. It was an event with no recent precedent within the department, and it had the distinct feel of an intervention. HUD has long been something of an overlooked stepchild within the federal government. Founded in 1965 in a burst of Great Society resolve to confront the “urban crisis,” it has seen its manpower slide by more than half since the Reagan Revolution. (The HUD headquarters is now so eerily underpopulated that it can’t even support a cafeteria; it sits vacant on the first floor.) But HUD still serves a function that millions of low-income Americans depend on — it funds 3,300 public-housing authorities with 1.2 million units and also the Section 8 rental-voucher program, which serves more than 2 million families; it has subsidized tens of millions of mortgages via the Federal Housing Administration; and, through various block grants, it funds an array of community-uplift initiatives. It is the Ur–government agency, quietly seeking to address social problems in struggling areas that the private sector can’t or won’t solve, a mission that has become especially pressing amid a growing housing-affordability crisis in many major cities.

    Despite its Democratic roots, Republican administrations have historically assumed stewardship over HUD with varying degrees of enthusiasm — among the department’s more notable secretaries were Republicans George Romney and Jack Kemp, the idiosyncratic champion of supply-side economics and inner-city renewal.

    ……………………………………..

    The tone was collegial, built on the hopeful assumption that Carson wanted to do right by the department. “We were trying to be supportive,” Henry Cisneros, from the Clinton administration, told me. But it was hard for the ex-secretaries to get a read on Carson’s plans, not least because the whisper-voiced retired pediatric neurosurgeon was being overshadowed by an eighth person at the table: his wife, Candy. An energetic former real-estate agent who is an accomplished violinist and has co-authored four books with her husband, she had been spending far more time inside the department’s headquarters at L’Enfant Plaza than anyone could recall a secretary’s spouse doing in the past, only one of many oddities that HUD employees were encountering in the Trump era. She’d even taken the mic before Carson made his introductory speech to the department. “We’re really excited about working with — ” She broke off, as if detecting the puzzlement of the audience. “Well, he’s really.”

    The story of the Trump administration has been dominated by the Russia investigations, the Obamacare-repeal morass, and cataclysmic internecine warfare. But there is a whole other side to Trump’s takeover of Washington: What happens to the government itself, and all it is tasked with doing, when it is placed under the command of the Chaos President? HUD has emerged as the perfect distillation of the right’s antipathy to governing. If the great radical-conservative dream was, in Grover Norquist’s famous words, to “drown government in a bathtub,” then this was what the final gasps of one department might look like.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I’m glad to hear that she’s doing better. It’s scary as hell when the doctors say things like her kidneys are failing but many times they can get them working again with the right treatment. (It’s obvious that I didn’t go to medical school, because I’m making it sound like the kidneys are an engine part that just needs to be jump-started!)

  133. 133.

    Schlemazel

    @germy:
    Why, it is almost as if nothing has happened since 1948 When Thurman and the boys stormed out of the DNC and became Republicans, as if the entirety of the 1960s with Dems pushing for civil rights and the GOP dragging it down never happened. Not surprised a white guy would not recognize this even if people of color do.

  135. 135.

    The Moar You Know

    If CA is still the same way, it’s one of the few states that allows a person to take the bar exam without a degree from a accredited law school.

    @Quinerly: Not any more. Hear that Melvin Belli was responsible. Can’t have some uneducated lout beat the shit out of lawyers who spent good monies on their legal schooling.

  136. 136.

    satby

    @Schlemazel: it’s constantly repeated on RWNJ email forwards and FB posts, as well as in their alternate universe media. It’s a central part of what they think is a defense against their obvious racism.
    Edited to add: some nutbag was on Cole (on FB) about the “southern strategy” being fake news. These are hopelessly deluded and mean people.

  137. 137.

    Schlemazel

    @rikyrah:
    I like that personally, there are several good choices, Mary Bowser is another. I like General Thomas a Virginian who served on the American side and after the was worked to protect ex-slaves from abuse and terrorism.

    They let you offer 3 or 4 names but I really like the whole package of Loving

  139. 139.

    Quinerly

    @satby:
    That would be so cool. I guess I’m understanding that you will be doing a NM trip? I’m usually in OFC’s neck of the high desert but this year I went with a much cheaper monthly rental in Bernalillo (Albuquerque area). Do you have my email? [email protected]. Let’s stay in touch. I like NM in February…no tourists, museums and galleries all to myself…no lines, no reservations needed for restaurants. If you want a museum day or two in Santa Fe, I have an annual DUAL pass. Can meet you and tour with you or just go in for awhile and then I can scoot and you are on your own. It gets us in the 3 downtown sites and my 2 favorites on Museum Hill. Be warned, I’m a planner!?

  140. 140.

    rikyrah

    Four Big Ideas for Tax Reform
    The coming debate over tax reform will likely be a wasted opportunity to fix the tax code for the good of the economy and working-class Americans.

    by Anne Kim
    August 22, 2017

    After the spectacular crash-and-burn that was the GOP’s prolonged effort this year to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Republican leaders in Congress are desperate to chalk up at least one legislative victory before the quickly-approaching 2018 midterms.

    Tax reform is now the life raft for these ambitions, and House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) recently promised that Congress is “on track” to deliver “transformational, bold tax reform” before the end of the year to boost the economy.

    Unfortunately, what the GOP is really after is an easy political win, which means that anything Congress delivers—if it delivers at all—will fall far short of Brady’s optimistic goal.

    Tax reform is really, really tough. The last major overhaul—in 1986—took years of bipartisan negotiation over multiple sessions of Congress. This Republican Congress, however is giving itself three months (if it tries to adhere to Brady’s deadline) to reform a system that touches the economic fortunes of every American household and business, and that could set the course of the American economy for decades. That’s less than half the time the GOP gave itself to draft (the failed) legislation intended to reorder U.S. health care system, which comprises one-sixth of the economy.

    Republicans moreover have shunned the input of Democrats, while the White House has been no help. Aside from hectoring Congress for results, Trump’s White House has provided little direction, releasing a one-page “framework” in April and promising a 3-to-5 page document in September.

    Given all this, it’s highly doubtful that anything the GOP Congress puts forward this fall will truly count as “reform.” Rather, the likeliest scenario is a modest—or not so modest—set of corporate tax cuts aimed at placating the president and his base and, of course, squeezing vulnerable swing-state Democrats into making difficult pre-election choices. As Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway signaled as early as January, Trump would be just as happy with tax “relief” as he would be with “reform.”

    A tax cut package disguised as reform could do serious damage—such as by blowing a mile-high hole in the federal deficit while aggravating the blatant inequities of the current system. More significantly, it would be an enormous missed opportunity for genuine discussion about the kinds of reforms that could grow the economy and make it fairer for working-class Americans.

  141. 141.

    germy

    @Schlemazel:

    Not surprised a white guy would not recognize this even if people of color do.

    Diamond & Silk are two conservative black women, unfortunately.

  142. 142.

    Quinerly

    @The Moar You Know:
    Good to know. I’m an old phart. Saint Louis University (Jesuit, oldest law school west of the MS River?) law grad, 1985. We had some funky unaccredited law schools in KC and STL when I came through. The STL students at that school would study in our library..one guy, I remember, had big CA plans “since it didn’t matter where the degree came from.”

  145. 145.

    Schlemazel

    @germy:
    There is a term my black neighbors use for those types. It goes back to the slave days when the household servants thought they were better than the field hands. I won’t use it but it fits these two.

  146. 146.

    satby

    @Quinerly: I’m hoping to do a Quinerly and Poco kind of driving tour out west early in the year before it gets hot. I don’t do hot and I intend to do a lot of it camping.. So yes, I want to head out that way, maybe swing over to the Grand Canyon because I’ve never been there, visit O Felix and Mrs. Culpa and maybe we can do a meetup while we’re in the area. I’ll be in touch.

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: One of the best political cartoons of all time was from back when Clinton was president and there was the first hoopla about gays in the military. Simple cartoon: emaciated black woman holding her child as the marines landed on the beach, coming to the aid of their country. Maybe in Somolia?

    The caption reads “I hope they’re not gay”.

  149. 149.

    Mel

    @Quinerly: I did wonder whether or not she managed to pass the exam and get admitted to the bar in CA.

    You wouldn’t believe the number of students who sign up for (and pay large sums for) useless “degrees” and certificates. Most of the time, it’s due simply to lack of knowledge about how the higher education system works, and to slick (but not illegal) marketing and recruiting tactics. I am constantly frustrated by the fact that there is so little guidance and assistance out there for first gen college students and for non-trad students entering college, trade school, or university later in life. It’s infuriating.

    Other times, it appears that people use the “degree” status to build image or to engage in questionable business procedures. A relative of mine had a friend who was seeing a “Nutrition Specialist” but only seemed to be buying hundreds of dollars worth of vitamins/ herbs every month, and was not receiving any counselling about dietary changes or lifestyle changes.

    Relative was concerned, as her friend (although otherwise a reasonable person) tends to get taken in by a lot of New Age-y scams. Check out the always delightful “jade vaginal eggs” scam, for starters…

    Relative googled the supposed nutritionist’s website, and saw that he listed a degree from a school “of nutrition and natural health” of which nobody had ever heard. Unaccredited, as expected. Further internet searching revealed that it offered only correspondence coursework. Relative’s friend still refused to listen to her concerns.

    Relative and I later googled the “school” location on Streetview, and it showed an overgrown urban lot containing what appeared to be an abandoned, dilapidated container trailer partially covered with vining weeds. Many “Ivy League” jokes ensued.

  152. 152.

    Quinerly

    @satby:
    So wonderful! Grand Canyon season starts 3/1. Learned that in preparation for my 6 weeks tour this past February/March. That last week in February in Cameron, AZ at the Navajo place was great, just before rates almost doubled on March 1. (very nice, modest rooms, great restaurant and trading post) Close to the Desert View entrance of the Grand Canyon. Great state parks for camping in AZ and NM. There’s a wonderful guide book I bought a few years back that has them all in one place for both states. Indispensable. Stay in touch!

  153. 153.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: I’m going to repost, for your delectation, what I told Yarrow in another thread, because it’s just too good/awful not to repeat:

    a friend of mine actually went to college with this chick, and told me a surreal story about meeting up with her for drinks at the Trumpopolis in DC. This was before her wedding to the Mnooch, and she was on the phone the whole time with the people who were arranging for “Swan Lake” to be danced at the reception. Ooh-wee, how the other 1/2% live…

    Apparently Reince Priebus came in for air kisses while they were there. Ah, those were the days…back before the shit hitting the fan was set to spray *him*. How long ago was that now?

    That’s my Six Degrees of Separation from Scottish Bacon Story…

    @clay: oh, yes, I heard about the White Saviour story, too. It’s all coming back to me now.. *shudder*

  154. 154.

    Miss Bianca

    @O. Felix Culpa: I’m afraid that, Hippocratic oath or no, in her situation I’d be looking at these people thinking, “go anead and die, mofo. Get your “superior genes” out of the pool, PLEASE.”

  155. 155.

    satby

    @Miss Bianca: oh, come sit by me! Because that’s my reaction too. You want to choose a doctor that matches your color scheme? Too bad, go somewhere else.

    Edited to add: the doctor I work for is named Garcia (it’s her married name) and every once in a while we get some moron who’s worried about “her credentials” .

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