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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

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They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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Accountability, motherfuckers.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread: Keep Hope Alive

Friday Evening Open Thread: Keep Hope Alive

by Anne Laurie|  September 15, 20177:00 pm| 160 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture, Daydream Believers

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Balloon Juice is loading r-e-a-l-l-y…. s – l – o – w – l -y for me right now, but then, why should it be more functional than anything else today?

What’s on the agenda as we (thank goddess) look forward to the immanent weekend?

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Previous Post: « That’s Not 90%, It’s 9/10ths You Idiots!
Next Post: I Feel A Woo Coming On, Cuz »

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  1. 1.

    HinTN

    September 15, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    Slow? Moi aussi

  2. 2.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    I spent all afternoon writing a giant regular expression. I am completely braindead! I can’t wait to get home and color in some ghosts I drew. Spoiler alert: there are ghosts in my horror comic.

    Actually I’m non-braindead enough to know that you used the wrong ‘imminent’, AL.

  3. 3.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:09 pm

    Great. Now we’ll get to listen to hordes of wingnuts tell us how Obama is stealing money to enrich himself, and raising money for terrorists. If we’re really lucky, we’ll be treated to 70 years of Congressional hearings whenever the Republicans have one house. Thanks, Obama…

  4. 4.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    Maybe BJ should consider a no ad subscription service.

  5. 5.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    September 15, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    44 will always be my President.

    Taboola has to go. Seriously.

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    September 15, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    BJ is loading fine for me. Of course, I have AdBlocker.

    The Obama video is stunning for the lack of white male faces in it. Uh huh.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    September 15, 2017 at 7:14 pm

    It’s the You May Like ads above the comments.

  8. 8.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:20 pm

    fucking nihilist dogshit glibturd tuntwuffler

  9. 9.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I’m at the point no one has credibility to talk about Hillary Clinton. As far as I’m concerned, she has transcended the Village.

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    September 15, 2017 at 7:23 pm

    @Baud: Transcended the Village. That’s a nice thought. I hope so.

  11. 11.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @Baud:

    As far as I’m concerned, she has transcended the Village.

    I thought she said, “It Takes a Village”.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    @Elizabelle: We’ll see. My opinions are not always widely shared.

  13. 13.

    A Ghost to Most

    September 15, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: regular expressions can do that. Indispensable for certain things, though.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:26 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I think she meant to say, “Let’s Raze The Village.”

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I hope that fucking fuck wakes up on fire one morning.

  16. 16.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    @Baud: Maybe that will be in the 2nd printing of “What Happened”.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m a little upset she didn’t title the book WTF Happened?

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    @Baud: She’s not Joe Biden.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Too bad we can’t meld the two somehow.

  20. 20.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 7:31 pm

    @A Ghost to Most: If this wasn’t one of those things I wouldn’t have used them. You know the old joke. A young programmer has a problem. They decide to solve it with regular expressions. They soon find that they have two problems.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    September 15, 2017 at 7:32 pm

    @Elizabelle:
    That is a good thought

  22. 22.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:33 pm

    @Corner Stone: Worse than even Cillizza. Dana Houle knows what time it is.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    September 15, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    The news of the day has left me spiting mad, so I am going to self-depot from BJ for the evening. Somebody wake me if this has all been just a bad dream.

  24. 24.

    Raven

    September 15, 2017 at 7:39 pm

    Well , I got to my hometown about 4pm. I’ve driven around and seen most of what I wanted to including the house my dad grew up in. There’s supposed to be an informal gathering at tavern but no one is here so I guess it’s the Illini from Tampa!

  25. 25.

    PhoenixRising

    September 15, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    Speaking of weekend and Hillz staying a hero under conditions that may require us to raze a village…

    She spoke at Edie Windsor’s funeral today. It was beautiful. Torah, laughter, and talking about octogenerians having sex. This clip starts with “all rise for the gay national anthem”:

    https://soundcloud.com/alexsilverman/edie-windsor-goodbye-to-a-pioneer

  26. 26.

    PhoenixRising

    September 15, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    self-depot

    is that a logistics function?

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 7:41 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): The whole thing makes me want to choke him to death but these two pull quotes:
    “The deeper I read into What Happened’s email chapter, the more convinced I became that the press was right to pressure Clinton on the story. She believes what she did was dumb. She believes she owns what she did. She takes responsibility. With all that being true, the press was right to make a racket about it.”
    …
    “But who fed the press corps’ appetite? Clinton. She stonewalled the press on the emails for five months, and that will make any reporter hungry. “

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    @Corner Stone: “She shouldn’t have been wearing such a short skirt…”

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    @PhoenixRising: Well, she is spiting mad for Pedro’s sake.

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    September 15, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    I miss Obama. I miss having that beautiful family in the White House showing the world Americans at our best.

  31. 31.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: “She answered every question the press had about this for months. But the stonewalling was just too much. The press was right.”

  32. 32.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    It’s the same lame defense that the only legitimate journalistic criticism is newsworthiness.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: This.

  34. 34.

    efgoldman

    September 15, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    “She shouldn’t have been wearing such a short skirt…”

    Not to mention the slutty makeup and FM pumps.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    @MomSense: This doesn’t come up as often, but I miss a Democratic Congress.

  36. 36.

    ET

    September 15, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    God I miss him. I was watching videos of him on YouTube – the Joe Biden medal surprise, at a couple of schools, when he was having dinners with the raffle winners during the campaign and all I could think of was how I wanted a rational grown-up as president again AND IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN ONE FULL YEAR of him yet.

  37. 37.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    @Corner Stone: If these reporters had gone down and talked to folk in their own fucking IT department, this would have been a non-story. But those folk are weird and have strange piercing and tats.

  38. 38.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:47 pm

    @Corner Stone: He’s like Brendan O’Neill, only without the accent ever having left pretensions superficially interesting arguments…actually no, he’s exactly like Brendan O’Neill.

    You’ll be unsurprised to know he supported Bloomberg 2016 for reasons somehow even pettier than you were probably thinking of. How CNN (or failing that, the FTFNYT) hasn’t picked him up yet boggles the mind.

  39. 39.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 7:48 pm

    @Baud: @efgoldman: And everybody knows it just drives a man wild when you try to resist him.

  40. 40.

    dm

    September 15, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    Listening to the Hillary interviews lately, I think — what a great commentator she would make. Looking forward to her replacing John McCain on all the talk shows. That’s what happens with failed presidential candidates, right? They show up every weekend on the news talk shows?

    ETA: strike-out “failed”. She won the popular vote, after all.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    @Baud:

    This doesn’t come up as often, but I miss a Democratic Congress.

    I miss waking up on a day ending in Y and not having someone scream at me that I better call my elected officials or 30M Americans are going to die in the next 12 months. I know that’s their point but geez it is freaking exhausting to have to fight all three branches of government every day to keep them from hurting people.

  42. 42.

    MomSense

    September 15, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    @Baud:

    Absolutely!

  43. 43.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    You notice she’s still not locked up, right? Boy, it’s a good thing the media spent a year wringing its hands about emails.

  44. 44.

    efgoldman

    September 15, 2017 at 7:51 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    everybody knows it just drives a man wild when you try to resist him.

    I guess it’s weird, but I thought no meant no before I met mrs efg, when I was in college.

  45. 45.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 7:53 pm

    @dm:

    strike-out “failed”.

    Strike-out is “[del]…[/del]”.

    (Of course replacing brackets with greater-than, less-than’s.)

  46. 46.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini: Firefox for Android + uBlock Origin. I finally installed both today. Problem solved.

    ETA: Annnnd I just realized that you’re using a Mac Mini. Oops.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    @Corner Stone: More exhausting than Clinton Fatigue? Pshaw.

  48. 48.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    September 15, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Annnnd I just realized that you’re using a Mac Mini. Oops.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    September 15, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    Kind of amused at the tracking data for a package sent to just a hop, skip and jump outside NYC border this Tuesday. Within the span of less than 8 hours today, mostly during the wee post-midnight hours, it arrived at the “Metro NY Distribution Center” then was sent on to the “Nashua NH Distribution Center” and then from there to and arrived at the local post office at its ZIP code destination for final delivery.

    Not a rant, not a complaint, not a biggie; simply found the seemingly extra New England leg of its journey a small chuckle.

  50. 50.

    schrodingers_cat

    September 15, 2017 at 7:57 pm

    I don’t want to fucking read one more word about Hillary’s emailz from a villager. They can all DIAF as far as I am concerned.

  51. 51.

    Bex

    September 15, 2017 at 7:58 pm

    “YOU may like” these awful ads, but I hate them. Cheap clickbait that I see on other sites. And I thought Larry King was bad. Tiger Woods? Gimmeafeckingbreak.

  52. 52.

    schrodingers_cat

    September 15, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @Corner Stone: Well at least you know that no one is going try to deport you unlike the DACA kids or immigrant army recruits.

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @efgoldman: don’t worry, DeVos is working on fixing that.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Nope, they sure ain’t.

  55. 55.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Shafer’s time in the woodchipper should take the longest.

  56. 56.

    gene108

    September 15, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    They must be ravenous for Trump’s tax returns, and disclosure of financial conflicts of interests.

  57. 57.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Maybe not, there’s Sen. Graham’s amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that lets the Sec. of DHS strip people of their citizenship.

  58. 58.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:08 pm

    @gene108: No that’s private, not like Hillary’s emails about planning Chelsea’s wedding or her mother’s funeral.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:09 pm

    I can’t stand how much I miss Barack Obama, President of the United States of America.

    So much miss.

  60. 60.

    japa21

    September 15, 2017 at 8:10 pm

    @NotMax: That happened to me recently. It was delivered to the distribution center 10 miles from my house, then suddenly it showed up 100 miles away in Wisconsin, then back to the earlier distribution center than to local office , then delivered.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Spoiler alert: there are ghosts in my horror comic.

    Long as there are no clowns, you’re cool.

  62. 62.

    eemom

    September 15, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    immanent weekend

    imminent. Yr welcome.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    September 15, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    there’s Sen. Graham’s amendment to the Defense Authorization Act that lets the Sec. of DHS strip people of their citizenship.

    As noted a thread or two back, probably unconstitutional, and probably subject to filibuster.
    Here’s what Wiki says:

    The Fourteenth Amendment does not provide any procedure for revocation of United States citizenship. Under the Supreme Court precedent of Afroyim v. Rusk, loss of 14th-Amendment-based U.S. citizenship is possible only under the following circumstances:[29]
    Fraud in the naturalization process. Technically this is not loss of citizenship, but rather a voiding of the purported naturalization and a declaration that the immigrant never was a U.S. citizen.
    Voluntary relinquishment of citizenship. This may be accomplished either through renunciation procedures specially established by the State Department or through other actions (e.g., treason) which demonstrate an intention to give up U.S. citizenship.[30] Such an act of expatriation must be accompanied by an intent to terminate United States citizenship

  64. 64.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @NotMax: @japa21: i can think of scenarios where a bulk freight vehicle containing what you ordered might get shuttled here and there over the course of being unloaded, optimized by some algorithm.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:16 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    fucking nihilist dogshit glibturd tuntwuffler

    But EMAILS !!!

  66. 66.

    mapaghimagsik

    September 15, 2017 at 8:18 pm

    @Baud: no fucking kidding.or at least clickbait I care
    about

    I mean “what happens to you body when you stop eating sugar”? Sugar gets pissed off.

  67. 67.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Well, I have neither, but I would love to get the Chinchillas of the world together in one place and explain it to them.

    Provided I could bring Villago along.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    “But who fed the press corps’ appetite? Clinton. She stonewalled the press on the emails for five months, and that will make any reporter hungry. “

    Obviously. Look how they’ve followed up on Trump’s tax returns!

  69. 69.

    burnspbesq

    September 15, 2017 at 8:20 pm

    @Baud</a

    Too bad we can’t meld the two somehow.

    Kristen Gillibrand.

  70. 70.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:21 pm

    @Kay: California just passed a law requiring tax returns in order to be on the ballot. Crickets.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:21 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Strike-out is “[del]…[/del]”.

    (Of course replacing brackets with greater-than, less-than’s.)

    Can also use [strike]…[/strike], replacing square brackets with angle brackets.

  72. 72.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    So now the auto-playing ads are back AND We’re stuck with Taboola on the site?

    Alain, why do you hate us so?

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:23 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    California just passed a law requiring tax returns in order to be on the ballot. Crickets.

    Expecting a federal court challenge to this.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    @TenguPhule: Good.

  75. 75.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    @Baud:

    This doesn’t come up as often, but I miss a Democratic Congress.

    Hell, I miss a working government not embroiled in a sea of fraud and scandal.

  76. 76.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    Since this is an open thread… My wife was flicking through the television and stopped on a channel where a guy was at the Frankford Car Show, and I said to here, “That seems like a weird place to have a car show.” And she said, “Germany?” And I said, “No, northeast Philadelphia. Wait, Frankford or Frankfurt? Oh, maybe that makes more sense.”
    Sometimes I don’t know what the hell is going on…

  77. 77.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Even Chinchilla eventually came around “the October 28th letter was a terrible/stupid idea”…albeit four months after it mattered, and focused on how it was an own goal for Comey. Shafer, to my knowledge, still stands by Comey’s election-cycle actions.

  78. 78.

    Teddys Person

    September 15, 2017 at 8:28 pm

    Feeling a little hopeless today. I think what sent me over the edge was my hairdresser informing me that there is no racism in the country. The MSM is just making it up and BLM is a Soros org just stirring up trouble. Sigh, I’m going to have to find a new hairdresser. To make myself feel better and off set the money I put in my asshole hairdresser’s pocket, I donated to the United We Dream DACA Renewal Fund.

  79. 79.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:28 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I don’t want to fucking read one more word about Hillary’s emailz from a villager. They can all DIAF as far as I am concerned.

    Come sit by Village and me.

  80. 80.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:28 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Or Frankfort, Kentucky?

  81. 81.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:29 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Sometimes I don’t know what the hell is going on…

    How can it only be sometimes if you’re married?

  82. 82.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:29 pm

    The deeper I read into What Happened’s email chapter, the more convinced I became that the press was right to pressure Clinton on the story.

    No one has ever said they shouldn’t have “pressured” Clinton on the story. People are looking for an admission that it was ridiculous and insane to cover emails and nothing else for 16 months.

    Also- the tax returns really are a double standard. They shut up about Trump’s tax returns because he told them to fuck off. They dropped it because he ordered them to drop it.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @mapaghimagsik:

    “what happens to you body when you stop eating sugar”? Sugar gets pissed off.

    *Rimshot

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: [strike]…[/strike] is deprecated and may not be in future specifications of HTML.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    I must say I love Nate Silver for periodically reminding them of the truth on the emails. They never dispute his facts, they just get all huffy and flounce away. I swear he has it calendered. Once a month. Forever, hopefully.

  86. 86.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    @TenguPhule: I know what’s going on a lot more since I’ve been married. Sometimes I can’t believe I made it as long as I did without killing myself some dumb way before I met her…

  87. 87.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    @Kay:

    People are looking for an admission that it was ridiculous and insane to cover emails and nothing else for 16 months.

    Her Emails and Clinton Foundation and Wall Street Speeches.

    Oh and she hurt their feelings by calling some of them deplorables.

    It actually was a sea of sewage, but the emails just got the most publicity.

  88. 88.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:34 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: gotta future-proof the BJ comment section!

  89. 89.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:34 pm

    @Kay: The Clintons released 38 years of tax returns.

  90. 90.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    @Teddys Person: A few months ago, an LGM commenter recounted an anecdote about his father’s barber, who would always rail against miscegenation – shit like, “you don’t see crows and parrots mixing together, do you?” Eventually his dad got fed up with this and one day blurted out, “Frank, you know those are different [species of] birds, right?”…which had apparently never occurred to Frank before.

    [insert “Elmo in hell” gif]

  91. 91.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    gotta future-proof the BJ comment section!

    What happened to the idiot proofing?

  92. 92.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Ya never know, FYWP may decided to get rid of deprecated HTML.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    That’s why it’s important to tell your side of the story. They don’t want anyone contradicting the story they want to tell.

    Tough shit. She was there and her account is a valuable addition to the record.

  94. 94.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    @TenguPhule: @Baud: it’s also a swipe at Bernie, given that it was introduced by my state senator who feels suchwise.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: the failure mode of HTML is plaintext, so it’ll still be fine.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm

    @Kay: Agreed. No more silence.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:37 pm

    @Kay:

    They shut up about Trump’s tax returns because he told them to fuck off. They dropped it because he ordered them to drop it.

    Worse. They bought the “under audit line” and never fucking followed up on it.

    Then he told them they were never going to fucking see them.

    And they just bent the knee and took it.

  97. 97.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:37 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Heh.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:38 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    38 years of tax returns.

    Well, you can forget that. We’ll never see another politicians tax returns. Why should they? Trump didn’t and they dropped it.

    Who knew it was so easy?

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:38 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    it’s also a swipe at Bernie, given that it was introduced by my state senator who feels suchwise.

    I wrote him off at that point in the campaign.

    Its not that fucking hard a thing to do. Unless you have something to hide.

  100. 100.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:38 pm

    Hey braintrust! What’s a good contemporary American sci-fi book to read? Taking a break before part 3 of Seveneves and just finished a pile of Scalzi.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    September 15, 2017 at 8:40 pm

    @Major Major Major Major

    It was not an order, was a USPS parcel I mailed out from my local post office on Maui.

  102. 102.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    Having HRC last night and TNC tonight on MSNBC is mind blowing.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    My absolute favorite was when the Trumps appeared with those ridiculous empty file folders and they all played along.

    Remember that? Blanket coverage of that bullshit. It worked! He literally couldn’t have done it without them.

  104. 104.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    Oh FFS, They’re targeting the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge AGAIN?!

    I thought we’d staked this vampire back in the Bush junta.

    The Trump administration is quietly moving to allow energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in more than 30 years, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, with a draft rule that would lay the groundwork for drilling.

    Congress has the sole authority to determine whether oil and gas drilling can take place within’s the iconic refuge’s 19.6 million acres. But seismic studies represent a necessary first step, and Interior Department officials are modifying a 1980s regulation to permit this initial activity.

    The effort represents a twist in a political fight that has raged for decades. The remote and vast habitat, which serves as the main calving ground for one of North America’s last large caribou herds and a stop for migrating birds from six continents, has served as a rallying cry for environmentalists and some of Alaska’s native tribes. But state politicians and many Republicans in Washington have pressed to extract the billions of barrels of oil lying beneath the refuge’s coastal plain.

    These are the same bright lights that were trying to sell off the national oil reserve at record low prices.

    I fucking hate Republicans.

  105. 105.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    Andy Lack, or whatever your name is, pay the fuck attention.

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:42 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    [strike]…[/strike] is deprecated and may not be in future specifications of HTML.

    Fuck that shit. If I feel like using [strike]…[/strike] I will use [strike]…[/strike]. Deprecated, schmeprecated.

    (Scuse my nastiness. Not directed at you.)

  107. 107.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:42 pm

    @TenguPhule: Environmentalist Susan Sarandon will stop them.

  108. 108.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    @Kay:

    My absolute favorite was when the Trumps appeared with those ridiculous empty file folders and they all played along.

    Remember that? Blanket coverage of that bullshit. It worked! He literally couldn’t have done it without them.

    Oh yes, I remember. I believe that was when I finally started coming around to Village’s point of view of just executing the media en masse because trials would be a waste of time. They’re too stupid to live.

  109. 109.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I never knew you were so passionate about HTML.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    @PhoenixRising:

    I know it’s sad for anyone to die but, Jesus, it would be hard to match Edie’s life in terms of dreams fulfilled (save for the disappointment last November).

  111. 111.

    Corner Stone

    September 15, 2017 at 8:44 pm

    @Kay:

    We’ll never see another politicians tax returns. Why should they? Trump didn’t and they dropped it.

    Another R politician’s to office above school board. Every D down to the proverbial dog catcher will be *ahem* dogged for full disclosure.

  112. 112.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    @Baud: Baud 2020: Rubbing Salt into Open Wounds Since Always!

  113. 113.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Vox has a decent article explaining how Hillary’s “coal gaffe” ‘is a microcosm of her twisted treatment by the media’. You and I won’t learn much reading it but it might be worthwhile to share. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/9/15/16306158/hillary-clinton-hall-of-mirrors

  114. 114.

    Baud

    September 15, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    @TenguPhule: Salt is too generous.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    September 15, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Amen. strike and /strike are what I automatically use. Still not fully retrained to avoid i and /i.

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:48 pm

    Wow, Good news on a Friday.

    U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation (FREE) Act on Friday with the goal of giving control of credit and personal information back to consumers.

    Both were prompted by news of the Equifax hack announced last week, which compromised the personal information of as many as 143 million Americans.

    Now if we could just get this to pass into law.

    The FREE Act would create a federal requirement for credit reporting agencies to freeze or unfreeze access to credit files at a consumers’ request at no cost. It would also prevent credit reporting agencies from profiting off of consumers’ information during a freeze and refund any fees charged for credit freezes in the wake of the Equifax data breach.

  117. 117.

    ThresheK

    September 15, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    The grammar schooler who played a flute solo at our wedding 19 years ago is going to be a bride tomorrow.

    The invitation for me to bring my vintage Guild and amplifier must have got lost in the mail.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    Meanwhile, here’s a bill to the government for rooms at Mar-a-Lago.

    I’m old enough to remember Travelgate. Blanket coverage for months.

    The Trumps are direct beneficiaries of White House business every single day and no one says a word.

    The standards are lower. He is held to a much lower standard than any prior President in my lifetime. To deny that at this point is to compound the offense by lying to cover for him.

  119. 119.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    @NotMax: then I could definitely imagine that happening. That gets rid of one of the constraints I was worried about on the process in my head.

    ETA: then again, I don’t think the USPS probably uses such algorithms

  120. 120.

    Mnemosyne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    If you’re anywhere near Glendale, CA, I have a terrific hairdresser who’s an immigrant from Taiwan. She’s an even better colorist than she is a hairdresser.

  121. 121.

    efgoldman

    September 15, 2017 at 8:50 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    California just passed a law requiring tax returns in order to be on the ballot

    Clarify, please: Primaries, general election, or both.

  122. 122.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    @TenguPhule: And/or psychopathic.
    @Corner Stone: Plus he looks like an even douchier Aaron Sorkin.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    God, is that in Warren’s wheelhouse or what? IDEAL for her.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    @Kay:

    The standards are lower. He is held to a much lower standard than any prior President in my lifetime. To deny that at this point is to compound the offense by lying to cover for him.

    There are no standards at this point.

    Every conflict of interest Trump has is being systematically ignored by the Republicans and the media.

    We are not a country of laws anymore.

    We are a fucking banana republic.

  125. 125.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    @efgoldman: both, I think, but don’t quote me https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/sep/15/mcguire-bill-requiring-presidential-candidates-rel/

  126. 126.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 8:54 pm

    @Kay:

    God, is that in Warren’s wheelhouse or what? IDEAL for her.

    I could live with a second president from Hawaii. Or a woman president.

  127. 127.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 15, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Baud: SD’s a rebel.

  128. 128.

    worn

    September 15, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Baud: Seriously, this. I wonder if anyone has suggested the idea to John.

    Anybody with a couple of brain cells to rub together knows that Taboola links are always bullshit. And that their presence can slow the loading of web pages to a crawl. I gave up visiting TPM several years ago when the site became a hall of mirrors & links to stories that were literally nothing more than a repetition of the headline of the link, each and every one encrusted with gobs of that out traffic crap. When loading a page basically I would immediately hit the ‘x’ button when the page content appeared to keep it from endlessly reloading some mystery element; otherwise my browser would lock up.

    But shit, I guess folks are making money off the bullshit.

    I read BJ every day and have never run it through an ad blocker, figuring the revenue John receives makes the site possible. But to me, Taboola ads cross some nebulous bullshit line up with which I will not put. Time to reconsider my position on this, I suppose.

    ETA: Maybe I can ixnay the divs with yarip…

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    September 15, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    @Kay:

    Travelgate happened because the Clintons tried to fire someone who was embezzling money from the US government but Sam Donaldson liked the way the guy did his travel arrangements.

    Seriously.

  130. 130.

    ThresherK

    September 15, 2017 at 8:56 pm

    The tween who played a flute solo at our wedding 19 years ago is going to be a bride tomorrow.

    The invitation for me to bring my vintage Guild and amplifier must have got lost in the mail.

  131. 131.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    Well, all of Ohio Dems were waiting for Richard Cordray to announce his candidacy and he has not done so. I wish he would make a statement one way or the other. I think he’d be a great governor but it’s not really fair to the other people running that he’s holding them up.

  132. 132.

    gene108

    September 15, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Clintons released 38 years of tax returns.

    Clearly hiding something. Why not 40 or 45 or 50?

    I hate the Cljntons corrupt stuff. They have never abused power in office. They have been investigated for years and no evidence of abusing their offices had ever been found.

    Either they are super villains, who just have not been caught – like the Joker in the 1989 Batman movie, before the ending – or they are reasonably honest politicians.

  133. 133.

    Teddys Person

    September 15, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Unfortunately not, I’m in the Pacific Northwest.

  134. 134.

    ThresherK

    September 15, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: So, there’s a big number of us who want the right to strike?

  135. 135.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I periodically go back and look at the Clinton Scandals because the double standard is so glaringly obvious that it grounds me.

    Anyone denying this at this point is a hack or an idiot. They took Hillary Clintons fingerprints off file folders. Donald Trump and his family appeared with EMPTY file folders and everyone played along. I could go on forever like this. There’s just no comparison.

    Much lower standard. Undeniable.

  136. 136.

    Shana

    September 15, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    @Teddys Person: On the other side however, I had my annual well woman exam yesterday during which my doctor asked if anything has changed in the last year. I said “you mean aside from waking up every morning wondering what stupid thing the President* did/said overnight?” He laughed ruefully and said he knows what I mean. We had a nice chat about how worried we are about our government, etc. And then talked about my physical condition, which is doing fine. Cheered me up a bit.

    He also said his office got a ton of calls right after the election from women asking about IUDs.

  137. 137.

    worn

    September 15, 2017 at 9:03 pm

    @worn:Yay! yarip to the rescue! No more Taboola!

  138. 138.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 9:03 pm

    @Kay:

    Anyone denying this at this point is a hack or an idiot.

    Why not both?

  139. 139.

    Teddys Person

    September 15, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    I hate the Cljntons corrupt stuff. They have never abused power in office. They have been investigated for years and no evidence of abusing their offices had ever been found.

    Boy howdy, the press covered the investigations with glee. The results of the investigations, not so much.

    ETA: In response to gene108 @ #131

  140. 140.

    efgoldman

    September 15, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Expecting a federal court challenge to this.

    :

    Laws governing U.S. elections date back to Article 1 of the Constitution (PDF, Download Adobe Reader), which gave states the responsibility of overseeing federal elections.

  141. 141.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    Hahahaha! FUCK YOU SESSIONS!!!

    More good news.

    A federal judge on Friday blocked the Justice Department from withholding grant funds from places that do not provide immigration authorities access to local jails or give advance notice when suspected illegal immigrants are to be released — dealing a major blow to the Trump administration’s vowed crackdown on sanctuary cities.

    U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber in Illinois wrote in a 41-page opinion that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had probably exceeded his lawful authority when he imposed new conditions on particular law enforcement grants, requiring recipients to give immigration authorities access to jails and notice when suspected illegal immigrants are to be released.

    The judge blocked Sessions from implementing the conditions not just on the city of Chicago — which had sued over the matter — but also across the nation, writing that there was “no reason to think that the legal issues present in this case are restricted to Chicago or that the statutory authority given to the Attorney General would differ in another jurisdiction.”

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    @efgoldman: Since when has the law ever stopped Republicans from suing for bullshit?

  143. 143.

    Shana

    September 15, 2017 at 9:06 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I’m partial to Connie Willis. Doomsday Book, Bellwether, Blackout/All Clear.

  144. 144.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 9:07 pm

    @Baud:

    I never knew you were so passionate about HTML.

    I am vast, I contain multitudes, blah blah yada yada ….

  145. 145.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    September 15, 2017 at 9:08 pm

    Oh, and Harry Dean Stanton died earlier this evening, because the Grim Reaper still hasn’t balanced out taking Ailes with him.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    September 15, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    This is my favorite example for the Obama’s:

    A grating reminder comes from our colleague, Andrew Zajac, over at the Swamp that Chicago’s Northern Trust Co., which is under heavy criticism for executive party-timing after taking federal bailout money, is the very same institution that loaned Barack and Michelle Obama $1.32 million in 2005 at very favorable rates.
    The Obamas used the money to buy their $1.65-million house in Hyde Park on Chicago’s South Side, now the Windy City White House.
    They got a 5.67% interest rate at a time when Chicago jumbo mortgage rates were 5.93 to 6%.

    Remember those days? When they all searched the Obama home mortgage records? A .26 lower rate! The Washington Post did a thorough expose.

    They literally don’t even know what Trump owns, let alone what or who he owes.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    September 15, 2017 at 9:11 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Baud 2020: Rubbing Pink Himalayan Salt into Open Wounds Since Always!

    McMeganized for ya.

  148. 148.

    Mary G

    September 15, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Listening to “A Closed and Common Orbit” by Becky Chambers right now and highly recommend it. The first one in the series was “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.” I was kind of meh about it, but this one is really good and I don’t think you need to have read the first one to enjoy it.

  149. 149.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 9:14 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    McMeganized for ya.

    Well played.

  150. 150.

    Major Major Major Major

    September 15, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: @TenguPhule: pink salt is tasty.

    @Mary G: I’ve heard similar, now that you mention it!

  151. 151.

    Mnemosyne

    September 15, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    @Kay:

    Meanwhile, Trump is selling Florida properties at inflated prices to Russian “investors” who just happen to have ties to Putin, and the story dies after the initial reporting. Just not something worthy of follow-up, because it’s not fucking e-mails.

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    September 15, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Meanwhile, Trump is selling Florida properties at inflated prices to Russian “investors” who just happen to have ties to Putin, and the story dies after the initial reporting.

    Even worse, its still happening and they’re taking money in overseas and not ONE FUCKING REPORTER can be bothered to chase after the story.

    Instead we get sop pieces about fucking pivoting by Trump.

  153. 153.

    Ohio Mom

    September 15, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @Kay: Sigh…I’d lost track of that. I had hopes pinned on Cordray because I’m not convinced that any of the other candidates are going to capture enough people’s imagination to win the governorship.

  154. 154.

    Mnemosyne

    September 15, 2017 at 9:25 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Oh, I’m pretty sure that there’s one reporter chasing the story. But that’s the point — these stories get written and the MSM doesn’t care. They couldn’t STFU about Hillary’s emails for 18 months, but can’t be bothered to do a follow-up on stories about actual corruption.

  155. 155.

    NotMax

    September 15, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    @Ohio Mom

    Do we want Dolt 45 to appoint a CFPB director (and eviscerate the agency) should Cordray leave in order to run?

    I vote no.

  156. 156.

    BruceFromOhio

    September 15, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    What’s on the agenda as we (thank goddess) look forward to the immanent weekend?

    Drinking, smoking, and generally fucking off as much as possible between getting other shit done before the weekend is over.

    ETA: and aging rapidly from watching baseball, oy

  157. 157.

    J R in WV

    September 15, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    There’s a new Laundry book by that guy who writes those books… I like them. Cory Doctorow? I forget, I have trouble with names.

    Tomorrow we fly home from Colorado via Atlanta..

  158. 158.

    SgrAstar

    September 16, 2017 at 2:12 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Does it have to be American? Strongly recommend The Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin.

  159. 159.

    Lurking Canadian

    September 16, 2017 at 7:20 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Recommendation #1: Don’t finish Seveneves. If you are through the first two parts, you’ve read all the good stuff already.

    Recommendation #2: I liked Stephenson’s new one (until the end, natch) and I second the recommendation for Stross.

  160. 160.

    Travels with Charley

    September 16, 2017 at 12:14 pm

    Long dead thread but just in case…. vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster bujold

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