Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

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

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

This really is a full service blog.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

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

Bark louder, little dog.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

You are here: Home / Justice / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / Hirsutes with your Parachute Flutes

Hirsutes with your Parachute Flutes

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There’s a great long read in the NY Times by Caitlyn Dickerson today about how fake news rocked and roiled a small Idaho town, with Jihadwatch, Fox, Drudge, and the rest of the usual suspects whipping the town in to a damned frenzy about Syrian refugees and rape mobs (Brown is the local reporter):

“We have been made aware of a situation,” said the first speaker, an older man with a scraggly white beard who had hobbled up to the lectern. “An alleged assault of a minor child and we can’t get any information on it. Apparently, it’s been indicated that the perpetrators were foreign Muslim youth that conducted this — I guess it was a rape.” Brown recognized the man as Terry Edwards. About a year earlier, after The Times-News reported that Syrian refugees would very likely be resettled in Twin Falls, Edwards joined a movement to shut the resettlement program down. The group circulated a petition to put the proposal before voters. They failed to get enough signatures to force a referendum, but Brown was struck by how much support around town the movement attracted. In bars after work, he began to overhear conversations about the dangers of Islam. One night, he heard a man joke about dousing the entrance to the local mosque with pig’s blood.

After he finished watching the video, Brown called the police chief, Craig Kingsbury, to get more information about the case. Kingsbury said that he couldn’t discuss it and that the police reports were sealed because minors were involved. Brown made a couple phone calls: to the mayor and to his colleague at the paper who covers crime. He pieced together that 12 days earlier, three children had been discovered partly clothed inside a shared laundry room at the apartment complex where they lived. There were two boys, a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old, and a 5-year-old girl. The 7-year-old boy was accused of attempting some kind of sex act with the 5-year-old, and the 10-year-old had used a cellphone borrowed from his older brother to record it. The girl was American and, like most people in Twin Falls, white. The boys were refugees; Brown wasn’t sure from where. In his article about the meeting, Brown seems to anticipate that the police chief’s inability to elaborate was not going to sit well with the people whose testimony he had just watched.

There’s just way too much to the story to quote, so you really need to read it all, but this part stuck out:

That weekend, Brown was on his way to see a movie when he received a Facebook message from Jim Dalos Jr., a 52-year-old known to Twin Falls journalists and police as Scanner Man. Dalos is disabled; he works six hours a week as a dishwasher at a pizzeria but spends most of his time in his apartment, sitting in a reclining chair and drinking Diet Pepsi out of a 52-ounce plastic mug, voraciously consuming news. He reads the local paper, old issues of which litter his living-room floor, and keeps the television blaring — usually Fox News. He got his nickname because he constantly monitors an old police scanner, a gift he received as a teenager from his father, and often calls in tips to the media based on what he hears. He also happens to live at the apartment complex, Fawnbrook, where the laundry-room incident occurred.
Continue reading the main story

Dalos told Brown that he had seen the police around Fawnbrook and that the victim’s mother told him that the boys had been arrested. He also pointed Brown to a couple of Facebook groups that were created in response to the crime. Brown scrolled through them on his cellphone and saw links flying back and forth with articles that said that the little girl had been gang raped at knife point, that the perpetrators were Syrian refugees and that their fathers had celebrated with them afterward by giving them high fives. The stories also claimed that the City Council and the police department were conspiring to bury the crime.

There is your GOP base, and there is where the wingnut puke funnel starts- in a barcalounger by some soda guzzling moron who listens to nothing but Fox News and the scanner. Someone like him burps up some sort of racist conspiracy bullshit, and before you know it, like in this case, it’s a fucking headline at Drudge and the top story on Hannity.

America, fuck yeah.

Reader Interactions

272Comments

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    @Major Major Major Major: Seriously, they have made Bill into the rapist. They have been tearing down his reputation, over and over and over, while building up Saint Reagan. (Conveniently forgetting when RWR said inconvenient things.)

    Bill Clinton left office with a pretty good approval rating. They don’t ever want you to remember that.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    “soda guzzling moron who listens to nothing but Fox News” and goes to Mar-A-Lago almost every weekend to play golf.

  13. 13.

    FlipYrWhig

    Dalos is disabled; he works six hours a week as a dishwasher at a pizzeria but spends most of his time in his apartment, sitting in a reclining chair and drinking Diet Pepsi out of a 52-ounce plastic mug, voraciously consuming news.

    And you know what I’ll bet he hates more than anything?

    “Welfare.”

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    Works six hours a week? The rest of his income is from SSI disability, right? But I’m sure that’s not a handout, nosirree, not like those black bucks with their Obamaphones and t-bone steaks.

    I try to be charitable, but I hope this guy’s diabetes ( you know he’s got it) kills him soon.

  18. 18.

    Ocotillo

    In an earlier thread someone spoke about Trumpista’s defense of Russian interference is we have interfered in other nations elections. While that is wrong and does not justify ignoring what Putin did, I would ask the morans, we have also bombed suspected terrorist camps in other countries, if another nation bombed a suspected terrorist camp here would it be ok to shrug it off saying we have done the same sort of thing ourselves?

  22. 22.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    and you don’t want to have to explain that to your daughter.

    My daughter is 36, and knows all the words and variations. Her mother taught her well.

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: What I meant was that you don’t want to have to explain to your daughter why her daughter is suddenly fond of saying “fuckem.”

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    @opiejeanne: My granddaughter still has a very limited vocabulary, as she is not yet 2 1/2, but she seems to have learned how to say “Chill out, dude” to her new(ish) baby brother when he cries.

  27. 27.

    hueyplong

    @Gin & Tonic:
    “I try to be charitable, but I hope this guy’s diabetes ( you know he’s got it) kills him soon.”

    So the “charitable” part is having him die fairly quickly (soon) instead of having it be a drawn-out affair?

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @The Moar You Know:

    Serious question: why the fuck not?

    Because reality would quickly outstrip parody.

    There is no sin you could accuse Republicans of that they wouldn’t manage to escalate over.

    And unlike them, we can experience peak outrage.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    Wait a minute

    he works six hours a week as President of the United States in Washington, D.C. but spends most of his time in his Tower apartment or the White House, sitting in a reclining chair and drinking Diet Pepsi out of a 52-ounce plastic mug, barely grasping the mug with his tiny hands, voraciously consuming news. He reads the Enquirer, old issues of which litter his living-room floor, and keeps the television blaring — usually Fox News.

    The President and his fans are in sync, living lives of quiet desperation, hopped up on flim flummery and conspiracy theories.

  33. 33.

    Another Scott

    Over the weekend I was scanning the Google News headlines and I saw some blurb about “Iran tests ballistic missile” and figured Trump would go nuts over it and then it would be all over the news. But the self-feeding blowup and news feeding-frenzy didn’t happen. And then it got harder and harder to find the story.

    I thought, “that’s weird”.

    Drum explains it all.

    Fake news isn’t just for obsessives in tiny towns in Idaho. It contaminates everything and is a threat to everything that made civilization possible.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    kindness

    I refuse to get a NYT subscription so I have to use the 10 ‘free’ viewings with great care. Honestly I tend to use them up more at Rachael Maddow’s place since they don’t identify where the links in their articles go. (so I click less over there now as well).

    I will play Kreskin and assume the article says ‘Both Sides Do It’ and ‘Democrats Are Worse’ because that is all the God Damned NYT ever says.

    Sorry, you caught me at a curmudgeon state.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    Know there are some B-Jers in Missouri. What the bloody hell is in the water there?

    Austin Petersen is running for U.S. Senate in Missouri as the “opt out” candidate: He firmly believes Americans should be able to forgo any government service or program they don’t want, whether it’s Social Security or Obamacare.
    [snip]
    “Bitcoin is one of those issues that has actually got a huge community,” said Petersen, a musical theater major turned activist and media producer at Fox News.…

    Petersen said his ultimate goal would be “the complete and total abolition” of the Federal Reserve System.

    “But barring that,” he said, “at a minimum I would like to introduce legislation that would decentralize the monetary unit, the dollar, in such a way as to legalize competition: Gold silver and cryptocurrencies, so that they can compete. That would cause a spike in the prices.”

    Money, he said, should be a creation of the marketplace, not the government. Source

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax:
    Jeez, he could be Rand Paul’s boyfriend.

    I’d like to opt out of paying my share of the F-35, ICE, the border wall, and the Trump administration’s security details. Check, please.

  41. 41.

    Brachiator

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

    You know, I know it’s wrong, but I kind of wish somebody would start some liberal version of this, spinning horseshit stories about Donald Trump raping goats and beating babies, and make the bastards deny it all.

    I know, I know. We can’t do that. But it’s nice to think about…

    They tried this once before. I think it was called Pacifica radio.

    More seriously, I hear Bill Maher raging all the time that the Democrats need to fight dirty, just like the Republicans. And every now and then someone mentions a liberal version of Fox News. Of course, historically, Democrats have been as nutty as other political parties.

    But I would hope that most liberals are not interested in lies and propaganda. I do know some types who believe that all people are dopes, and that Democrats just need a convincing “narrative” which they can use to prod the “masses” to do what is best for them, but these people are insufferable fools who are a lot more like the worst Republicans than they would ever be willing to admit.

  43. 43.

    germy

    @Brachiator:

    You know, I know it’s wrong, but I kind of wish somebody would start some liberal version of this, spinning horseshit stories about drumpf raping goats and beating babies, and make the bastards deny it all.

    Why bother? The truth is damning enough, when it comes to people like him.

  44. 44.

    kindness

    @debbie: – I make due with a digital WaPo subscription. I get the SF Chronicle & the Modesto Bee in dead tree form. I do feel bad about the dead trees though.

  45. 45.

    Miss Bianca

    @NotMax:

    a musical theater major turned activist and media producer at Fox News.…

    Tis clown is going to give the rest of us theater majors a bad name!

  47. 47.

    germy

    @NotMax:

    a musical theater major turned activist and media producer at Fox News

    I will hazard a guess that he is unpopular with most if not all of his former classmates.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @germy

    Would not be the least little bit surprised to read somewhere down the line that he’s been brought up on tax evasion charges.

  52. 52.

    Capri

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
    There was an article about the folks who start the fake news on Facebook shortly after the election. One of the people that was quoted said that they originally tried to do fake stories on both the left and right. However, on the left the lies were debunked quickly and not spread. On the right they were passed along uncritically. If the right wingers had any common sense, and even rudimentary research skills this wouldn’t be an issue. It doesn’t help that Fox News and other propaganda outfits have primed them to believe anything.

  53. 53.

    Cathie from Canada

    A year or more ago, when many refugees were being resettled in Europe, I noticed that several of the least credible British tabloids (Mirror, Independent) seemed to be constantly running stories about how raging gangs of Muslims in obscure German or French or Italian towns that nobody ever heard of, were rioting in the streets, raping women, murdering children etc etc. So the contagion seems to have spread to the United States now.
    Edited to add: needless to say, the tabloid stories were all just BS; none of these crimes ever happened.

  54. 54.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): There are, in fact, a lot of fake-news websites out there that just spin hoax stories that flatter the prejudices of liberals. A few well-intentioned people in my Facebook feed propagate these incessantly.

    The sites usually label themselves as “satirical” in a fine-print disclaimer somewhere, even though their hoaxes don’t have much content that could be called satirical. Frequently the stories get passed on by other sites that get duped and don’t copy the weak “satire” disclaimers, so it’s difficult to tell without following the trail to the source that the stories are fake.

    Occasionally I get fooled by one of them for a little while when the obvious indicators of a hoax have been filed off. (This happened just the other day, with a fake story about a woman getting arrested in a public restroom because someone mistook her for trans–the story was plausible because I know similar harassment incidents have happened. The Facebook link wasn’t to the originating site, it was to somebody else copying the story as if it were true. Someone posted a Snopes debunking pretty quickly.)

  56. 56.

    different-church-lady

    @Capri:

    However, on the left the lies were debunked quickly and not spread.

    Hell, we’re not even good at spreading the truth.

  58. 58.

    germy

    @NotMax: I was wondering the same thing.

    So many times they jump into politics to fix some personal pet peeve. This is common on the local level. For example, Owner of car dealership runs for office, says a bunch of things, but his main, quiet goal is to eliminate a pesky regulation or tax on car dealerships.

  60. 60.

    germy

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the timing of nearly $2 million in contributions to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign by three American donors with “significant Russian business connections,” ABC News reports.

    Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News the contributions could be of interest to investigators—even if they were not directed by a foreigner (which would make those donations illegal).

  62. 62.

    HeleninEire

    Watching Grace and Frankie on Nexflix. First show. Lily Tomlin went past the liquor and went for the candy and icecream. Nope. I’d go right for the liquor. But you all knew that about me.

    Looking forward to this series. Jane Fonda rocks. And she is fecking gorgeous at 80 something.

  64. 64.

    Matt McIrvin

    @The Moar You Know:

    Serious question: why the fuck not?

    It’s not actually a hypothetical: people do spread liberal hoax stories all the time, but they quickly get exposed and sometimes backfire as examples of how stupid and gullible liberals are. Because we generally care a lot more about whether our tales are true.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @Cheryl Rofer

    Why do I anticipate that under this administration one will be required to provide proof of adequate, acceptable and paid up insurance to avail him/herself of its services?

  70. 70.

    ThresherK

    @Major Major Major Major: To answer your question about my Wilmerites reposting Hillary-slags from the NYObserver: Yes, that is Jared Kushner’s newspaper.

    My acquaintances don’t know who to not listen to*. So fcking open-minded that their brains fell out.

    *Well, beyond the part where the mainstreamers like CNN and NYT and such were in the tank for Hillz.

  71. 71.

    germy

    NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is back in New York raising money for his 2020 re-election campaign and the Republican Party.

    Trump will speak at what has been dubbed an “RNC finance dinner” at the upscale Le Cirque restaurant.

    He’ll also participate in a round-table discussion with top Republican donors and meet with the Republican National Committee’s chairwoman before the dinner.

    Reporters will not be allowed to hear the president’s remarks to donors.

    Trump is also meeting with the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and other U.S. diplomatic officials.

  73. 73.

    Shalimar

    @NotMax: Not to defend Missouri too much, but any nut can run for senator by putting up a small filing fee, or even telling a newspaper that wants to run a crazy story that he’s running. When he starts out-polling the incumbent, it might be time to worry.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    Terrific story that John highlighted. I’ve got to get ready to go out, so will check back in later.

    But toward the end of the NY Times article (totally worth a click).

    Part of the reason a fear of Islam has persisted in Twin Falls is because the local leadership refused to defuse it, according to Matt Christensen, 36, the editor of The Times-News. While [reporter Nathan] Brown wrote articles that sorted out the truth about the Fawnbrook case, Christensen was publishing commentary that castigated the people who were spreading falsehoods. He told me that he had closed-door meetings with city officials, in which he asked them to write guest editorials doing the same, but none of them did. Christensen suspected that they were afraid of one of the most reliable political dangers in the region, the same force that leads would-be Democrats there to register as Republicans: being outflanked on the right is the quickest way to lose your job.

    “Behind closed doors, they would all tell you they were pro-refugee, and we wanted them to step forward and make that declaration in a public arena, and it just never really happened,” he told me. “That was frustrating to us especially at the beginning because it really felt like the newspaper was out there all alone.” He continued: “There were days where we felt like, Godammit, what are we doing here? We write a story and it’s going to reach 50,000 people. Breitbart writes a story and it’s going to reach 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 million people. What kind of a voice do we have in this debate?”

    Working the refs, and whining constantly, has paid off for the rightwing.

    Twin Falls is a one-party town — article says that liberals register as Republicans, so they can have some influence in the primary. Its council and mayor — who behaved pretty well here, and were constrained all along in what they could say because the incident involved juveniles — were overtaken by lies and slander jumping into the vacuum.

    The politicians fear an opponent from the right. What people have been saying to the mayor and others is cruel and almost beyond belief. Really well done article.

    We need to develop more balls. We need to confront the bad actors and liars more.

    Which might be why some “centrist both siders” types don’t like Hillary coming out with no fucks left to give. But good on her, for being so forthright.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: Over/under on how soon the remarks leak from an audio recording made on someone’s phone who was in the room?

  83. 83.

    Brachiator

    An August 1 news story:

    The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said in an email to staff members over the weekend that President Trump had “condoned police misconduct” in remarking to officers in Long Island that they need not protect suspects’ heads when loading them into police vehicles.

    This just in:
    From WaPo, etc

    Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration who has found himself and his agency at odds with the Trump administration in recent months, told staff members Tuesday that he is planning to step down from his post.

    Rosenberg, a holdover from the administration of President Barack Obama, wrote that he would leave his position as the DEA’s acting administration on October 1. In an email to his staff, Rosenberg said he was proud to have led the “remarkable agency.”

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Elizabelle: Why anyone would use Robert Spencer as a credible source on any religion, let alone Islam boggles the mind. He’s a medical doctor. That’s like trusting me to credibly and accurately write about heart surgery.

  85. 85.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Elizabelle: Develop some balls you say?
    Some in the BJ comment section are already predicting a T win in 2020, couple of threads below. My BP must have spiked just by reading that statement.
    I don’t think I am particularly brave, but preemptively telling myself negative stories of how all is lost is so not my thing.

  86. 86.

    sharl

    OT, Alabama political commentator Kyle Whitmire weighs in on Roy Moore in a (IMO) well produced video (8:45):

    Dear America, Here's a sample of what's coming. Don't say I didn't warn you. t.co/lhNj5O0aRk— Kyle Whitmire (@WarOnDumb) September 26, 2017

    Moore truly does sound awful. If he wins the GOP primary – and he is strongly favored to do so – I hope Democrat Doug Jones will beat the odds in that deep red state and defeat Moore.

    The only consolation I would have with a win by Moore in the general is the misery he would likely cause Mitch McConnell.

  88. 88.

    ThresherK

    @schrodingers_cat: Please, please tell her about the exciting political movement made just for her: No Labels!

    Seriously, Jon Chait just took another on, well, “anyone leftwards of Bill Clinton c. 1996” today, and we need people like him to meet up with people like your friend.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @kindness: I’ll be out for the evening until late, but have thought about doing an annotated version of this NYTimes story, with quotes, because it really is good. I understand that many here who are paywalled don’t want to use up their clicks on this story. (You want to save them for when Mueller speaks or Trump strokes out. Either could happen, any day now ….)

    Will have to be tomorrow, unless insomnia tonight, but I’d be happy to work up a version of this article with the local color, quotes, and its facts.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    @germy

    Le Cirque chef prepares dry-aged steak well done, plates for service with a ramekin of ketchup, promptly shoots self. Film at 11.

  92. 92.

    J R in WV

    @kindness:

    There’s a tool you can use to erase your cookies from the “NYTimes” or “MSNBC” at which point your 10 reads is reset to Zero. Also browsers have Incognito modes which don’t save cookies, does the same thing.

    You didn’t hear it from me!! Got it?

  94. 94.

    germy

    @Adam L Silverman: I was wondering the same thing. I suspect all waitstaff will be frisked and will surrender their cellphones. I’m not sure if republican donors would leak him; maybe I’m wrong. One of them may decide enough is enough.

  95. 95.

    schrodingers_cat

    @ThresherK: I cut her out of my life because replying to her cray cray emails with tons of lies was giving me increasing heartburn.

    ETA: Obviously, I still feel bad about it because we were good friends for a long time. I hope she wakes up .

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah, I saw that. Stayed out of that thread.

    Personally, I’d guess it’s 50/50 Trump is even alive (or officially mentally competent) by 2020. Find something else to keep you up nights.

    Defeatism sucks.

  98. 98.

    debbie

    @sharl:

    Bonus if Moore wins: Trump’s humiliation. Word is that he’s already blaming staffers for forcing him to support Strange. The tweets will be marvelous!

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: They can frisk all they want. There are ways around these things. I’m not saying it will definitely happen. I’m just saying it could happen.

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Brachiator: He lasted pretty long given that I wouldn’t last one day working for the Trump administration in such a high ranking position. Sadly, now Trump will replace him with Sessions-lite.

    @J R in WV: Great info. I’ll start using the incognito window from now on for the rare times I read the NYT.

  102. 102.

    NotMax

    @HeleninEire

    Turned Mom on to it when was there. She adores it and has discovered this new to her thing called binge watching.

    Presume Netflix in Ireland carries it – give Still Game a try for a few episodes. You might like.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @different-church-lady:

    Money laundering. That’s what going to get them.

    Yeah, something like that. Just the way we always nod wisely and say “You know, they got Al Capone on tax evasion, not on all the murders and racketeering,” so too, decades from now, well-read people will nod wisely and say, “You know, they got Trump on money laundering, not on encouraging the death of American citizens and bombing North Korea and completely dismantling the framework of U.S. institutions.”

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @germy:

    I’m not sure if republican donors would leak him; maybe I’m wrong.

    He may get slapped around a bit. They’re pretty ticked about the failure of C-G.

  109. 109.

    HeleninEire

    @NotMax: Yup. I didn’t have Netflix in NY. Just got it here cuz TV kinda suks here. Anyway. Mary Kay Place just showed up. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Ask your Mom about that.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    And here’s the well buried lede in the story. Emphasis mine:

    As the summer came to a close, The Times-News was bombarded with threatening phone calls and email from all over. After it received a threat that was deemed credible enough to engage the F.B.I., the editor of the paper told Brown and the other reporters to conduct their interviews outside the office and ordered the entire staff to walk in pairs when going out to their cars. For months, the reporters covered protests around town, which were widely hyped on social media but, for the most part, sparsely attended. At least once the Police Department deployed plainclothes officers into the crowds, with instructions to look after the journalists. Later, it turned out that fake Facebook accounts linked to the Russian government helped to spread stories about Twin Falls and even organized one of the rallies there. The event was also poorly attended but is the first known Russian attempt to spark a demonstration on American soil.

  116. 116.

    different-church-lady

    @Patricia Kayden: Repeat from this morning: at another of my internet hangouts one of the truly reliable wingnuts said “I’m going to go for Strange because I hate him less than Moore, but I’ll probably vote for the Democrat in the general.” My jaw dropped.

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah. Fuck that.

    Corker is as sick of the Frankenstein’s monster as we are. LOL. No! YOU ride that tiger.

    We should look at who else is up in 2018 and might decide to spend more time with their family/get the hell out of CrazyTown.

  122. 122.

    HeleninEire

    @NotMax: Fernwood tonight was one of the best series ever. I SCREAMED watching it. Martin Mull was great but Fred Willard. SCREAMING LAUGHING!

  126. 126.

    schrodingers_cat

    @SC54HI: I have an A #, so big brother is watching all of you too!

    ETA: Its too big a group. I am sure there will be law suits.
    Yeah I know, Gorsuch and company are going to rule it constitutional. Ooga Booga scary music.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    My parents were relatively normal Rockefeller Republicans until they moved to Arizona. That plus Fox News plus (spit) Rush Limbaugh made my dad into an insane person I barely recognized during the 2000 election, and our relationship never really recovered.

  128. 128.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Capri:

    On the right they were passed along uncritically.

    It should be pretty apparent to everyone by now that the Right has no incentive to debunk falsehoods if those falsehoods further their agenda. Look at how many times Trump has lied. Ditto Spicer, Huckabee Sanders and countless Conservative commentators. Look at how the Right is spinning anti-Black racism by claiming that NFL football players who take the knee are doing so to disrespect the flag and the military even though Kaepernick clearly stated the reasons for his protests.

  130. 130.

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

    @schrodingers_cat:
    @SC54HI:
    That’s outrageous. Especially spying on US citizens, naturalized or native-born. What will they do if social media use among those target populations drops, as a result?

  132. 132.

    NotMax

    Head shaker of the moment.

    “Fracking is proof that God’s got a good sense of humor and he loves us,” [Interior Secretary] Zinke said without explanation. Source

  134. 134.

    Kay

    John Harwood‏Verified account @JohnJHarwood 4h4 hours ago
    More
    Bill Cassidy on why his bill will pass before long: “you cannot stop an idea whose time has come”

    I literally guffawed. What idea? There was no “idea” in that bill.

    “Bring back preexisting condition exclusions!” Is that the idea we can’t stop? I think we can stop it, frankly. Doing okay so far.

  135. 135.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: Is this only for those who are still legal residents or are they planning on applying it to A#s who are now naturalized US citizens?

    Regardless, they’re going to wind up in court.

  140. 140.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    And I can’t fight this feeling anymore
    I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for
    It’s time to bring this ship into the shore
    And throw away the oars, forever

  141. 141.

    Gravenstone

    @sharl: If Moore wins the Senate seat, I can see McConnell keeping a blank “Resolution of Censure” with Moore’s name filled in with him at all times. I imagine it’ll get lots of use judging by his tenure on the AL Supreme Court.

  142. 142.

    Doug R

    52 ounce container? I remember that size from the glass exploding bottles. Is it illegal to say 1.5 litres?

  152. 152.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I didn’t catch the name of the Republican Senator interviewed on NPR this afternoon, but when asked why the bill had failed (for the moment), he said it was because the Republicans were a bunch of free-ranging chickens who would not be herded.

  154. 154.

    sharl

    @Gravenstone: If Moore wins the Senate seat, I can see McConnell keeping a blank “Resolution of Censure” with Moore’s name filled in with him at all times. I imagine it’ll get lots of use judging by his tenure on the AL Supreme Court.

    That’s a plausible scenario. I wonder how always-pandering-to-his-base Twitler would respond in that situation?

  155. 155.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SC54HI: Am I missing something, because I just read that and it seems it is simply the notice that they’re moving everything to digits, how they’re doing it, why they’re doing it, who it applies to, who can access it, etc.

  156. 156.

    Gravenstone

    @Baud: You heartless fucking bastard! Fortunately I’m actively listening to something that will prevent your attempted earworm from taking root.

  158. 158.

    sharl

    LOL

    This is a small change, but a big move for us. 140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence! t.co/TuHj51MsTu— jack (@jack) September 26, 2017

    is there any way you guys can make it so that all the verified nazis on here actually enter my home and scream at me IRL— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) September 26, 2017

    i also want this for sam— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) September 26, 2017

  164. 164.

    HeleninEire

    @raven: You know I love you, but I just googled that and got zero hits. And I am only 15??
    years younger than you. But nevertheless it sounds familiar.

  170. 170.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    She must be spending a lot of time in hotels and restaurants — that started in hotels and it’s spreading to restaurant servers as well.

  176. 176.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Waiting for the liberal media to insist McConnell is great at passing legislation.

  177. 177.

    jeffreyw

    @SiubhanDuinne: Saw this on Twitter and was reminded of you:

    Limericking @Limericking
    .@Twitter, pursuing its goals,
    Is loosening up the controls,
    Thus aiding loquacious
    Diffuse, ostentatious,
    And sesquipedalian trolls.

  180. 180.

    NotMax

    @raven

    That shot right over this gray pate.

    REO Motor Co. was an automotive (later only trucks and buses) company begun by Ransom. E. Olds after he sold Oldsmobile to GM very early in the 20th century. REO Speed Wagon was a popular truck model for a couple of decades.

  182. 182.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax:
    A very weird bit of trivia. Guess it means someday Geely Motors could import Chinese-built REO Speedwagon-brand electric cars to the US.

  184. 184.

    ThresherK

    @Mnemosyne: I once tried to teach my three year old niece to reply in song, “Vilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome”.

    I was not asked to babysit after that.

  188. 188.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: The debate on healthcare between Bernie & Graham/Cassidy? Nope. Heard that Bernie pretty much went along with the trashing of the ACA though. Glad I didn’t waste my time.

  190. 190.

    ThresherK

    @rikyrah: I wasn’t near a TV.

    The big surprise is CNN had an Obama care supporter onstage! Not just one or two folks asking Qs at the mic. Senator Klobuchar, whom I don’t remember getting a lot of buzz.

    I asked my Wilmerite friends if she was there. They don’t remember.

  191. 191.

    NotMax

    @ThesherK

    Big smile picturing her saying

    Outside it is winter, but in here, it it so hot!
    Every night we have to battle with the girls to keep them from taking off all their clothes.
    So don’t go away.
    Who knows, tonight – we may lose the battle!
    Wir sagen willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
    Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret!

  192. 192.

    Davebo

    @Adam L Silverman: Why would she have to dock?

    I did two Med cruises on two different carriers and we of course never docked yet never had a problem shuffling thousands of sailors to and from shore.

  194. 194.

    rikyrah

    ABC News Politics
    ✔
    @ABCPolitics

    NEW: @SenAlexander says he’ll seek “consensus on a limited bipartisan plan” on markets, premiums, following collapse of GOP repeal effort.
    4:09 PM – Sep 26, 2017

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    @NotMax:

    G and I both swear that we saw a version of “It’s A Hard-Knock Life” from Annie done by the 1998-style Kit Kat Girls on a PBS special in the early 2000s, but we have never been able to find a clip online.

    It was probably from the same broadcast that had child star Anna Kendrick singing “Life Upon the Wicked Stage” with the Kit Kat Girls as backup, but we just can’t find the number with the Kit Kats by themselves.

    ETA linky

  200. 200.

    TenguPhule

    Republicans’ “unified” framework, which they will release and promote Wednesday during speeches and meetings, aims to cut taxes by more than $5 trillion over 10 years and recoup more than half of that lost revenue by eliminating numerous tax breaks.

    By refusing to specify on Wednesday which tax breaks could be jettisoned, GOP leaders make a calculated effort to try to postpone any backlash while they try to build a coalition, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal negotiations.

    Tomorrow is going to suck.

  206. 206.

    TenguPhule

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, that’s the only one confirmed as definite. They also want to eliminate the estate tax, but promise this won’t benefit the wealthy disproportionately.

  208. 208.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TenguPhule: “We’re presenting a plan but we won’t tell you what it is” is something that you’d THINK would be only in a comedy. Unfortunately, we’re in a tragedy instead.

  209. 209.

    Corner Stone

    @Eric S.:

    My shrink had been wanting me toy start a blog.

    To be honest, not my cup O tea but I guess there’s a market out there somewhere for that.

  211. 211.

    TenguPhule

    @Davebo:

    Good luck with that!

    It punishes responsible blue states in favor of shitty red states.

    Not something that would hinder Republicans from voting for it.

  213. 213.

    NotMax

    If your last paragraph is so, that would be (as per fast Googling) My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies parts of which were shown on PBS’ Great Pweformances. Full live concert at Carnegie Hall.

  214. 214.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I’m so old, I remember when the fact that the Clintons hired lawyers to deal with the various lawsuits they were getting hit with was PROOF POSITIVE that they were totally guilty of everything Republicans said they were guilty of, plus more.

  217. 217.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    The primary tax break that the White House and Republican leaders aim to target is a provision that allows families and businesses to take a federal deduction for state or local taxes they pay. Eliminating this provision would have an outsized impact on states with relatively high tax rates — such as New York, California, Illinois, and New Jersey — and it could, according to some estimates, raise $1.5 trillion in taxes over 10 years.

    Lawmakers from those states are expected to fight vigorously to block the change, but the White House has so far refused to budge.

    If it manages to get through the House, we’re probably in trouble.

  218. 218.

    TenguPhule

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “We’re presenting a plan but we won’t tell you what it is” is something that you’d THINK would be only in a comedy. Unfortunately, we’re in a tragedy instead.

    Its a black comedy directed by old white people.

  221. 221.

    Gin & Tonic

    @TenguPhule:

    but promise this won’t benefit the wealthy disproportionately.

    Right. Since the Federal estate tax only applies to estates valued over $5.5M.

  222. 222.

    Another Scott

    @Davebo: He’s poking at me for some of my comments in a thread or two last night. You’ll have to review those. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  226. 226.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    This makes me assume that Trump files his state income tax in Florida. Otherwise, he’s taking a pretty big tax break away from himself as a New York resident, and I don’t believe that for a millisecond.

  228. 228.

    Ms. D. Ranged in AZ

    Here’s an interesting tidbit I learned in Bob Cesca’s podcast today–Lee Stranahan, a Breitbart “reporter” who lived in the small town and ginned up this bullpucky at the time and who now works in DC for RT.com, was Bob’s original podcast partner about 8 years ago. Turns out Stranahan was originally a libertarian, claimed to be a liberal for a while at the beginning of the Obamacare debate, then met Breitbart and was “converted” to conservatism. Suffice it to say…it’s all part of a pattern…true believer extremists and opportunists like Stranahan from all over the political spectrum are helping Putin destroy us from within. America, f*ck yeah indeed!

  230. 230.

    Jeffro

    My favorite tweet of the evening: “if the Republicans had a president who could focus for more than 15 minutes they would have legalized child labor by now“

  231. 231.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    This makes me assume that Trump files his state income tax in Florida. Otherwise, he’s taking a pretty big tax break away from himself as a New York resident, and I don’t believe that for a millisecond.

    Unless he doesn’t pay much NY state taxes, if any.

    Which would not surprise me at all.

  232. 232.

    TenguPhule

    “We’re doing a great job,” Trump said during a Rose Garden news conference with visiting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain. “Everybody has said it’s amazing the job we have done in Puerto Rico. This was a place that was destroyed. I think we’ve done a very good job.”

    Trump’s assessment was at odds with many reports on the ground and ran counter to a growing chorus of critics, including lawmakers in both parties.

    Definitely looks like this is Trump’s Maria.

  236. 236.

    Fair Economist

    @Mnemosyne:

    This makes me assume that Trump files his state income tax in Florida. Otherwise, he’s taking a pretty big tax break away from himself as a New York resident, and I don’t believe that for a millisecond.

    It’s been leaked that Trump takes a NY tax break only available to people who make less than a few hundred thousand a year. He doesn’t actually make that much money so filing in NY isn’t a big deal.

  238. 238.

    TenguPhule

    goddamnit can’t we get a break from this already?!

    Trump issued a familiar warning to North Korea on Tuesday, saying the US is prepared to use “devastating” military action if necessary — as two US defense officials tell CNN that the rogue nation has moved a small number of fighter jets, external fuel tanks and air-to-air missiles to a base on its eastern coast to boost military readiness.

    The officials would not go beyond saying a small number of assets had been moved by the regime to a known airfield in the eastern part of the country.

    The move was seen in US satellite imagery and is viewed by the US as a North Korean effort to boost its military readiness in the eastern sector. It would give the aircraft an ability to fly eastward further than its estimated 900-mile range. Imagery so far has observed Mig-29 aircraft at the site. Some missiles and fuel tanks are on the planes, but for now, no single jet is carrying both the external fuel tanks and the missiles.

  239. 239.

    Spanky

    @TenguPhule:

    “Everybody has said it’s amazing the job we have done in Puerto Rico. This was a place that was destroyed. I think we’ve done a very good job.”

    I’m interpreting that as Trump bragging that he destroyed Puerto Rico. Can’t argue with that.

  240. 240.

    germy

    @sharl: from the Mother Jones article:

    There is a vein of thinking right now that says that the best thing that could happen for the push for single-payer is for Obamacare to die. Disrupt the status quo by getting rid of the last major health-care overhaul and you clear the plate for a new and fresh health-care overhaul; it’s easier to build from scratch than to retrofit an old manse. In a sense, this is what Donald Trump has advocated at times on Twitter—let Obamacare whither on its own, and then start over.

    As a strategy, this view is possibly correct. But Sanders does not subscribe to it. Instead he has set out to acquire political power for his idea by championing the ACA at every venture. No one in the caucus has put as much skin in the fight against repeal as the Vermont senator, who kicked off the party’s health-care resistance with a rally in Michigan a week before the inauguration and has been touring the country and in opposition pretty much non-stop. It is, for someone who has been marked as a revolutionary, an uncynical theory of change—the best way for him to build the coalition he needs is to be the man who saved Obamacare.

  241. 241.

    NotMax

    @Spanky</a.

    Prescient exchange from a 60s (non-comedy) movie:

    "What would we do if we knew our world was going to be destroyed? Say, by climatic change?”

    “Nothing. Just go on squabbling as usual.”

  244. 244.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:
    @eclare:

    Entertainment people frequently have to file multiple state returns depending on where their business takes them. I would bet you that Trump has a Florida driver’s license and claims his primary residence is Mar-A-Loco to dodge as much NY state tax as possible.

  246. 246.

    eclare

    @Mnemosyne: I seriously doubt that. His residence is in Trump Tower, and NYS and NYC have very aggressive auditors. I’ve worked in state tax/tax for over 25 years. I’m sure he files in multiple states, but arguing NYS/NYC is not his primary residence would be a no-go.

  250. 250.

    chris

    @Fair Economist: During one of the hurricanes we learned that tRump has a house on St. Martin. It’s not a tax haven but Sint Maarten, the other half of the island is and so are most of the neighbouring islands. Hmm…

  252. 252.

    JAFD

    @kindness:
    Back in the mid ’60’s there was, IIRC, this radio comedy team, ‘Rege Cordic & Co – Better Things for Better Living Through Chicanery’.
    In that spirit, might mention a Firefox add-on, DownThemAll
    If you install that, and right-click a blank area on a webpage, you’ll see an option ‘dTa OneClick’. Click on that, and it’ll download _every link_ on that page to your hard drive.
    Now, if you, like me, have little cash and less ethics, you can go to the ‘nytimes.com’ and ‘washingtonpost.com’ every Sunday morning, do that, and have enough reading for the week. Or right-click on the link, click ‘Save link with dTa OneClick’, and it will download that to your computer. Just the HTML, though – not pictures

  254. 254.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Another Scott:

    Tennessee GOP will simply run a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, and it will win. They’ll install it in the spot of Tennessee’s Senate chair where it Will stand proudly mute in defiant opposition to all change.

  260. 260.

    SC54HI

    @Adam L Silverman:
    As I read it, here are the key issues:

    – DHS is proposing to “Redefine which records constitute the official record of an individual’s immigration history to include the following materials and formats…” Currently, these records include paper & electronic records such as the ‘Alien files’ and the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS).
    – DHS plans to “expand the categories of records to include the following: country of nationality; country of residence; the USCIS Online Account Number; social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results…”
    – These changes will be made to the way DHS records are kept for
    “CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM: Lawful permanent residents; Naturalized U.S. citizens;…”

    So, as I read it, even the immigration records & files of naturalized citizens will be subject to these changes.

    It’s not clear if DHS is going to go back & hoover the intertubez for social media data for existing naturalized citizens or or if they will require naturalized citizens to provide this information or if this is now going to be part of the application process as of 18 Oct 2017 when completing an N-400 or other USCIS forms.

  262. 262.

    SC54HI

    @schrodingers_cat:

    As of mid-2016, there was no mention of social media on the N-400 (application for naturalization). My spouse applied at that time & took the oath of citizenship last fall. For that matter, there were not any questions about social media in the spouse’s citizenship interview, which precedes the oath ceremony.

    Cannot speak to the other forms for various family visas (e.g., fiance K-1) many of which underwent considerable change & expansion after tRump took office.

  265. 265.

    boatboy_srq

    some soda guzzling moron who listens to nothing but Fox News and the scanner

    That’s a horrible way to describe Alex Jones – er, Michael Savage…. um, I mean, Rush Limbaugh… oh, heck, I guess it really IS all of them.

  266. 266.

    sharl

    So I went through the CNN rush transcript that was linked upthread by Baud at #243. I didn’t see any surprises from Bernie, relative to what he has already stated on numerous occasions: while his long term goal is some variation of Medicare-for-all, for now he is a supporter of making improvements on the existing ACA. Like those who are widely acknowledged to be stalwart ACA supporters, Sanders notes that it is a vast improvement over what existed before, but needs improvement. IIRC even Obama said that the ACA was a starting point that needs to lead to better things. Also, Sanders noted the political reality that what he wants for the long term isn’t possible with the existing GOP-ruled Congress and White House.

    I thought I might be missing something from the transcripts alone, so I found the full debate here, where it is split up into 5 parts. Real Clear Politics (RCP) has a generally right-of-center viewpoint, but they are generally considered to be a reputable outfit, so I assume they have CNN’s consent to put those videos on their site. But if RCP played pirate, expect those videos to be taken down (they were uploaded to YouTube).

    In following comments I’ll link to each separate YouTube.

  268. 268.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m a little surprised that Scanner Man’s 40-year-old analogue police-band scanner still works. The Royal Malaysian Police switched to digital radio 24 years ago; I’d have thought that in America, even small-town police and sheriff’s departments would have done it by the turn of the millennium.

  270. 270.

    sharl

    CNN Healthcare Debate Part 4 (17m36s): Bernie Sanders and Amy VS Graham Cassidy Bill

    Part 5 (12m6s)

    In addition to the usual YouTube ads that may show up, these last two parts include the ads that were part of CNN’s original broadcast.

    I thought Bernie was pretty well behaved, but since I don’t lay the preponderance of responsibility for the 2016 election disaster at his feet, no one should take my word for that. He did man-spread quite severely, but since his chair was well separated from that of Amy Klobuchar, she was not inconvenienced by this. Sanders and Klobuchar seem well matched for this task. At different times they complemented or reinforced one another. I hope Klobuchar gets some recognition for the good job she did in this forum.

    The GOP guys performed as one would expect. They did try to get Bernie to go all in his ☠️?socialist agenda?☠️, but he didn’t take the bait. He’s all in for the ACA, with necessary tweaks, while fully acknowledging that he wants something much more ambitious in the long run.

  271. 271.

    sharl

    Hahaha, I’m getting nailed by FYWP banned words lately! I hope I’ve done proper strategic misspellings in this repeat effort to avoid moderation hell.

    CNN Healthcare Debate Part 4 (17m36s): Bernie Sanders and Amy VS Graham Cassidy Bill

    Part 5 (12m6s)

    In addition to the usual YouTube ads that may show up, these last two parts include the ads that were part of CNN’s original broadcast.

    I thought Bernie was pretty well behaved, but since I don’t lay the preponderance of responsibility for the 2016 election disaster at his feet, no one should take my word for that. He did man-spread quite severely, but since his chair was well separated from that of Amy Klobuchar, she was not inconvenienced by this. Sanders and Klobuchar seem well matched for this task. At different times they complemented or reinforced one another. I hope Klobuchar gets some recognition for the good job she did in this forum.

    The GOP guys performed as one would expect. They did try to get Bernie to go all in his ☠️?soshulist agenda?☠️, but he didn’t take the bait. He’s all in for the ACA, with necessary tweaks, while fully acknowledging that he wants something much more ambitious in the long run.

  272. 272.

    sharl

    @Amir Khalid: Police communication technology has been a real problem in this country for years, and it’s not just poor small towns. One of the results of the 9/11 Commission study was that NYC’s police department – and maybe the fire department too (I can’t remember) – had really shitty technology for radio communications.

    Via a very half-assed search, I didn’t see any stories on problems with the police radios/communications equipment in Twin Falls, Idaho; can’t say one way or the other. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Comments are closed.