Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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

White supremacy is terrorism.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

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

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

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110Comments

  12. 12.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank You. I went to the Indian grocery store this evening and bought tons of stuff. I will make my Diwali goodies tomorrow. Also, put up lights, call my peeps here and in India. Much to do.
    I usually put my Christmas lights at Diwali and take them down after Christmas.

  14. 14.

    donnah

    I catch classic horror movies on Saturday nights on Me TV. Svengooli is a great host with vast knowlege of horror film trivia. It’s fun to see some terrible movies as well as some true horror classics, like the original Dracula, which creeped me out bigtime.

    There’s something about really terrible ones, though. Giant Spider Invasion, Night of the Lepus, The Head that Wouldn’t Die…awesome!

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    Hey Adam, I’m sure you’ve already written a post about this, but I’m sorry to admit,I missed the post and so, I’m sure I missed this detail of the story.

    Did I read correctly, that the body of Sgt Johnson’s remains were the last remains to be flown back because they “left him behind and went back for him”? Is that protocol? Because I felt some kinda way about it when I read it and now I’d just like to know what was proper protocol before process my feelings about it.

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    The new Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy pints are okay, but I think the Haagen-Dazs ones are better. Unfortunately, I can only get the HD at one specific Target. Feh.

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @schrodingers_cat: Happy Diwali.

    FWIW I don’t decorate for holidays. I am not anti-holiday, but I tend to celebrate my actually holidays at my other family members’ houses.

  19. 19.

    Calouste

    @lamh36: The moron in the adult day care center hasn’t sunk to Ronnie Raygun’s level of “AIDS only affects gays, so who cares?” level yet. Due to lack of opportunity I should say, not due to level of intent.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36: The US military does its best to bring back the remains of any soldier killed in combat. There are combat situations where a body cannot be brought back immediately – the mission and the lives of the still living soldiers take priority. If that happens, they try to get the remains as soon as they can.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    @donnah:

    Svengoolie is the guy I used to watch in Chicago when I was a kid, and I’m 48! Do they still do the big finale where he makes a bad pun from his coffin at the end and the crew pelts him with rubber chickens?

    And, yes, even then he had a really good mix of films. His show was where I first saw The Black Cat (1934), with Karloff and Lugosi. There’s a suprisingly graphic scene of Karloff being skinned alive by Lugosi, played in shadows, that gave me nightmares for weeks.

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36: Adam will answer better, but I think one huge problem with the Niger mission was the soldiers were sent out of range of those who could rescue them, unlike the French? Haven’t followed much, but it was a shadowy story. Maybe why there was a two-day delay in retrieving Sgt. Johnson.

    At least that’s what I think I heard on NPR…

  26. 26.

    lamh36

    @CaptainsLog2017
    Follow Follow @CaptainsLog2017
    More
    Per @maddow

    Not only did Obama contact families of fallen soldiers, also contacted families of vets who committed suicide

    #TrumpLiesMatter

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: They had to go back and recover his remains. His fellow Green Berets did NOT leave him behind purposefully or intentionally.

    From what I’ve read there was a great deal of confusion as a result of the ambush. Briefly an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA, A Team, and/or Small Team), which is 12 Green Berets (at least one will be an 18D/Shooting Medic), and their Nigerien host country partners that they were advising were ambushed by what is now believed to be an ISIS affiliated group in the Sahel. Because of the lack of US force structure and military assets in the Africa area of responsibility, there was neither close air support nor aviation based casualty evacuation available. The remainder of the 3rd Special Forces (Green Beret) Group back at the base had to mount up and move to contact to relieve the Green Berets and Nigerien commandos under attack. Ultimately French Special Operations Forces arrived by air to provide relief – they were several hundred miles away, but responded to requests for assistance (they’re good allies). 3 Green Berets and a number of Nigerien commandos were initially reported dead with significant wounded. In all the confusion it turns out that a fourth Green Beret killed in action, SGT Johnson, had not been recovered. Initially this was reported as a US Special Forces Soldier was taken hostage. It wasn’t until they went back to attempt a rescue that they found his remains.

    So that’s the brief roundup of what happened. The Green Berets are the best at this type of work with host country partners. But US AFRICOM’s and the Service Component Commands for the Africa area of responsibilities dearth of resources, make these types of train, advise, and assist missions much more dangerous. It is both strategic malpractice and tactical malfeasance to not have a couple of fast attack helicopters (Apaches or Kiowas) and a Blackhawk or two on hand to provide close air support and/or casualty evacuation if necessary.

  29. 29.

    The Midnight Lurker

    When I was in film school, one of my instructors was Norman Herman who produced this picture, and many others, for American International Pictures (AIP). He once told a story about shooting at night on this epic, how every time they turned on the lights the frogs would jump into the water. So the grips asked Norman if they could nail the frogs to the pier. He gave them the thumbs up. Ahhhh, the good old days before PETA.

  30. 30.

    donnah

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, sure! He usually does a mock musical number, too. Very silly, but all good fun. When I was a kid, we had a local guy, Dr Creep and Shock Theatre on Saturday nights. I always loved it.

    I am 59 and I still love schlocky horror films.

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mike in dc: Conservatives do that all the time wrt the military. “It’s all volunteer.” Fuck that. I volunteered. There was a deal. I show up and do my bit and the Gov’t takes care of me and my family if something bad happens is part of that deal.

  35. 35.

    mike in dc

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    He said that to the widow. Dubya once placidly let a widow scream at him and hit him, and then held her as she sobbed. This response spikes the psychopath/narcissist meter.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: @mike in dc: He’s also a moron. When Senator McCain passes, the President’s eulogy at the state funeral that the Congressional GOP majorities are going to insist on is going to be epic!

  38. 38.

    Ohio Mom

    Has anyone been following Cole’s twitter? I don’t know what inspired it but he’s on a tear of home-made adages and maxims. Very amusing.

  39. 39.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Somebody said that they seriously think that the WH didn’t want Dolt45 talking about the Niger soldiers because they were worried about Dolt45 mispronouncing Niger as Niclang. I think that is a possibility.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    @lamh36: There is an epidemic of suicides by veterans in this country. Does anybody seriously think Trump has given half a thought to them, unless it was to sell a discounted MAGA cap?

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ultimately French Special Operations Forces arrived by air to provide relief – they were several hundred miles away, but responded to requests for assistance (they’re good allies).

    Good enough allies/friends that they said that the Iraq invasion was cray. I was opposed to the invasion, and I felt quite comforted by the fact that a country that will sign on to just about any war said no on Iraq. Mine was a minority view.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Old news for some (it’s from 2008) – watched The Gamers: Dorkness Rising last night.

    Still chuckling. Nailed RPG groups absolutely pitch perfect without being in any way demeaning or condescending.

    And boy oh boy, was sorely in need of some laughter.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I wasn’t a big fan of the invasion either. The timing made no strategic sense given the stated objectives we were trying to achieve, and still have not done so, in Afghanistan.

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, I’m sure I’ve asked this before, but if so I apologize.

    With Obama, I felt like he took the counsel from his military advisors, but when it came down to decision making, he decisively decided what which course of action he’d order followed. The buck truly stopped with him.

    IDK, but I just fully believe that with these military decisions like these, the Generals around Trump are the ones makes these decisions like this and are adept at getting Trump to agree with them and give his order.

    I think, with things like the Transgender ban, and the Dreamers stuff, that Chump may make those decisions based on others and will will cater to his base or his non-military advisors.

    I know you have no way to really know, but do you think that it’s likely that these strategic missions are Chumps own reasoned makings?

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: I only know what the decision making process is right now based on what is being reported. The reporting is that the President only wants one option presented to him for every possible decision point. This is very unusual. Normally a policy proposal would have a minimum of 3 options: status quo, and two others, each with a feasibility, acceptability, and suitability (FAS) assessment. My understanding from the reporting is that the folks around the President are often attempting to slow walk him. That he says he wants X, whatever X is, and his senior staff (minus Stephen Miller) no X is a bad choice. So they slow walk it hoping he forgets or ask him if they can reapproach this a week later when he cools off. Things like that. I’m not that there, so I have no idea what is actually going on.

    That said the DOD leadership is always looking to roll the president, regardless of who the president is, on decision making if they have the chance. Some of what got GEN McChrystal in trouble with President Obama was an attempt to do this. But they’ve done this with every president as far back as I can remember.

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    @marcushjohnson 1m1 minute ago
    More
    If Niger happened under President Hillary Clinton it would be Benghazi.

  55. 55.

    NorthLeft12

    @lamh36:

    Gay Republicans finally admit the Trump admin. is the “most anti-LGBT in history.” In other news, water is wet.

    Whooocouldanone?

    I guess the next thing, and the only thing I would want to hear from this group, is an admission that they sold their souls and hard won freedoms for the promise of freaking tax cuts. Period. Full stop. I am sorry, but that is absolutely the only thing that makes any sense for their support of Republicans. Greed trumps all.

  57. 57.

    different-church-lady

    @Ohio Mom:

    Many times when you think someone has changed for the worse, you’ve actually just changed for the better and they stayed the same

    This may be the single most brilliant insight I read on the internet all year.

  58. 58.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: ugh….makes me even sicker bout that Trump call..damnit…

    on the one hand, I wish he hadn’t called or she hadn’t accepted, but I can imagine, she was grieving and figured his the President certainly he can speak with empathy in the face of her grief…and she gets that…after learning she can’t even look upon his face…ugh.

    I can tell ya, an open casket at a funeral, is a BIG thing in many “homegoing” services…ugh

  62. 62.

    barbequebob

    @Elizabelle:

    As a herpetologist I loved Frogs, …, wildlife, especially frogs, snakes, turtles, and lizards on this island in the bayou turning on and attacking humans. Turns out the bayou had been polluted and now the wildlife was all discombobulated and attacking humans.

    One of many movies from that era premised on the theme of nature abused turning on the species that had befouled their environment. If only this were true, perhaps some people would be less inclined towards destroying nature.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: This whole thing is going to be a big self inflicted wound. It is, however, distracting from the larger story about having Special Forces throughout the world doing these missions when there isn’t support for them if something goes wrong. As it did in Niger. And this isn’t a sudden problem or issue. As I wrote the other day this has been the case with AFRICOM since it was stood up.

  64. 64.

    different-church-lady

    @Mnemosyne: Earlier today I found myself thinking, “How do conservatives look at Trump and not think, ‘That’s the same shit my four-year-old tries on me when he’s cornered,’?”

  65. 65.

    NorthLeft12

    @Mnemosyne: The guy I watched in Windsor, Ontario was Sir Graves Ghastly on a Detroit station. He wasn’t as campy as some others I have seen. There were some funny bits on it, but he generally did not make fun of the movies.

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, I just got home and I didn’t cheat. Read the original post and jumped down to comment.

    That looks like it could be an incredibly young Sam Elliott. And I have a vague memory of him being in some really cheesy horror movie that I can’t summon the name of—forgotten immediately in the aftermath of his groundbreaking collaboration with Anne Archer in the slightly less cheesy Lifeguard.

    Do I get half credit (assuming I’m right)?

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack: As a front pager, I deem you worthy of 1/2 a point for Elliott and a 1/4 point for cheesy horror movie. You do not get the final 1/4 point as you didn’t have the actual film title.

  69. 69.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: Phillip Rucker has a tweet thread up about his conversation with Rep Wilson about the phone call. She said she was so upset, because it was obvious he was going off the cuff, but he said it more than once and made the widow cry.

    The reason she was in the car was because apparently Rep Wilson was close to the family, and Sgt Johnson went through her mentoring program

    Here’s the thread:

    twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/920479372662005760

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @NorthLeft12:

    As I remember it, Svengoolie only makes fun of the movies that deserve it. He treats the actual classics with respect.

    “Mystery Science Theater 3000” is basically a gloss on that type of horror host and what would happen if the host had to watch the whole movie. Or are the Mads the host and Joel/Mike and the robots the audience surrogates? I may need to think about this some more. ?

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: I was on the teeth end, and the biggest problem I had (I was in a Cold War border tripwire unit) was that I would go through my unit’s basic load in a couple of hours. Resupply would take days. So we were good for two hours of gunnery and then we may have well been infantry.

    I mention this because that border got as many resources as anyplace ever did.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    @barbequebob: My nephew is an aspiring herpetologist. Will have to see if he’s ever seen Frogs.

    But yes, a very good environmental message. And didn’t it have a Big Daddy on the bayou character? B version of a Tennessee Williams character.

  75. 75.

    Mike J

    @Mnemosyne: There was a time when every city had a horror host, most with some sort of comedy angle.

    Memphis had Sivad, although I’m too you to remember him. I think Svengoolie is actually the second of his name.

    And of course you can’t forget Count Floyd.

  76. 76.

    Mike in NC

    @Adam L Silverman: My old Navy roommate is about to retire as a VADM and deputy commander of USAFRICOM based in Stuttgart, Germany. Obviously there was a lack of suitable DoD infrastructure in Africa itself, but there was a sizable Joint Forces unit based in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa that I’ve read about. (I visited Djibouti on deployment in 1984 and it’s not a place you’d ever want to visit.)

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ohio Mom: Saw that. There’s a thing going around where you do 100 such tweets, which is far beyond my capacity. Ten, I could do. 100? I’d get bored and wander off. Cole’s are funny, though.

  78. 78.

    mai naem mobile

    @Adam L Silverman: not to sound morbid but there was a pic of George HW Bush somewhere since the election and,frankly, he looked frail. Anyway, it got me wondering how the Bushes would feel about Dolt45 delivering a eulogy for HW. Not to make light, but I think they would almost pull a Weekend at Bernies to avoid that.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    One other item, before someone asks, the reason SGT Johnson has a maroon (red) beret, not a green one, is that he is an Airborne Soldier. He is wearing the 3rd Special Forces Group crest on his beret in the official pictures they’re using.

  81. 81.

    Mike in NC

    This business with Trump and the Green Beret widow is a new low for him, but granted the week is still young.

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in NC: Task Force HOA at Camp Lemmonier. It is completely on the other side of Africa from where the ambush occurred. You couldn’t provide close air support or casevac from their to Niger.

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @Adam L Silverman: Jesus, I’d forgotten normal presidents do high-profile eulogies! OMFG, what a hash that buffoon will make of it — no matter whose it is! He’ll make it all about himself, of course. He’ll say creepy, inappropriate things. I don’t think I’ll watch. The non-stop cringing might induce a seizure…

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: It is unclear if he was working on his SF tab or just an Airborne tab assigned. When I was a senior SOF fellow at SOCOM I noticed that a lot of the ARSOF logies were maroon berets.

  96. 96.

    lamh36

    Despite how it may seem, I do try my best not to think in terms of Black & White when it comes to political stories and the like. If I did, I’d never be able to work in the environment that I do (I’m usually the only Black person in the laboratory sections I work) if I didn’t keep things like politics away from work.

    At the point when something so…ugh…does happen and I find myself unable to put things away to work comfortably, I take a day off from work. I’m trying my best to think that Chump’s attitude when it comes to comfort with people of color may have had something to do with the way this entire this with Sgt Johnson’s widow went down…it really sad when I have more comfort in hoping that he’s just an insufferable prick to EVERYONE.

    It really shouldn’t have to be that way…smh…but sadly since “his” election, I’ve found myself needed more of those “me” days, than I used to just last year…smh

    Anyway, I’ve got work tomorrow, so let me get to bed and try to clean my mind of the disgust I have for the Deplorables President right now…

    Good night BJ…see ya’ll mañana

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: i don’t go in for beret snobbery. I went through the school and never wore a beret at all. He was working with a SOF unit. He was killed in action. The correct beret and his PH should be given to his next of kin. There should be no bitching over maroon or green. The chairborne can do as they like. Hats don’t matter.

  98. 98.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I wasn’t trying to promote beret snobbery, I just figured someone would ask why he wasn’t wearing a green beret. He had the full 3rd SF Group flash. That’s all that matters.

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    @NorthLeft12: ah, Sir Graves Ghastly! And The Ghoul! Horror host for hipsters before we knew there was such a thing!

    I remember seeing a movie advertisement for “Frogs” when it first came out. (I would have been 8 or 9). A frog with a human arm sticking out of its mouth. Classy!

  106. 106.

    opiejeanne

    In Los Angeles we had the cadaverous Seymour. He was fun, the movies were almost all bad ones, and he always had a ghastly pallor. but no one knew he was sick until he died of stomach cancer.

    After his death we got Elvira. Pretty sure everyone here knows her.

  107. 107.

    Bjacques

    I actually saw Frogs in the theater when it came out. I was 10 or 11. I never could see how someone couldn’t outrun a snapping turtle.

  108. 108.

    henqiguai

    Way back in the day, in the greater Pittsburgh television market, it was Chilly Billy Cardell (sp). To those outside that market, better known as the TV announcer (he gave his actual name) at the tail-end of the original Night of the Living Dead. Years after I left that area (school, Washington, PA) I finally saw the movie and was actually excited about that appearance.

  109. 109.

    henqiguai

    Multitasking, two systems on one desk; misspelled my email and didn’t catch it. Then ran out my time banging away on the wrong keyboard, wondering why nothing was appearing on the monitor. I really should call in sick and go lie down.

    Way back in the day, in the greater Pittsburgh television market, it was Chilly Billy Cardell (sp). To those outside that market, better known as the TV announcer (he gave his actual name) at the tail-end of the original Night of the Living Dead. Years after I left that area (school, Washington, PA) I finally saw the movie and was actually excited about that appearance.

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