Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The lights are all blinking red.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Republicans do not trust women.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

T R E 4 5 O N

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

The revolution will be supervised.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / You know something is happening here but you don’t know what it is

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  5. 5.

    Mary G

    I was just coming here to tell you this, Doug. I am a big fan of not giving in prematurely. Even if the crazy judge ends up winning by a squeaker, it’s still gonna scare the shit out of Republicans, so I sent Jones another $10.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    I will say it again…

    if Democrats can’t go all out for someone WHO PUT THE KLAN IN JAIL…

    then, who WILL they support?

    I don’t care if it is Alabama. He deserves to be fully supported.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    These assholes:

    Army recruiters have been told to stop enlisting green card holders into the Army effective immediately https://t.co/4Q8NabdZtx— JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUΔL³³º¹ (@th3j35t3r) October 17, 2017

    My grandpa, the illegal immigrant from Sweden, obtained his American citizenship by enlisting in WWI. I have a picture of grandma in a pocket-sized leather case he told me he carried through the war; I imagined him looking at it in a muddy trench in France, but turns out he spent the war in a supply depot in Omaha, Nebraska, but he still served.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    DougJ: You’re not getting a damned cent from me until you quit doing that stupid LanceThruster persona. Not funny..

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:
    The best guess is this is an overreaction. The Army apparently just changed their rules regarding recruits with green cards. They’re supposed to have a background check before enlisting. In the past, they were allowed to go to basic training as soon as the background check was started, but the Army just changed their rules and said the check has to be completed, not just started. This is probably somebody overreacting and saying not to sign up anyone with a green card until the rule is clarified.

  15. 15.

    JPL

    @Fair Economist: I actually think Fox has an agenda, and they want the bigoted white supremacists to turn out for the republican. They want to scare the voters. I agree that close is better than nothing though. I do know that Handel will have a race next time also, because folks are fired up here, even though Ossoff lost. It’s because he lost close.

  16. 16.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Roger Moore: So you’re saying… we’re definitely going to win? /snark

    Seriously, we have to try and take every seat. Was never going to be easy, but Crump changes everything. I sent Jones $$, and I hope other Dems will too!

  17. 17.

    HeleninEire

    @SiubhanDuinne: LOL. So my tickets to the contemporary Ulysses will be refunded. The theatre was closed last night. They use music and puppets and “clowning?” What’s clowning? Huh? Is anyone here scared of clowns?

  18. 18.

    debbie

    @HeleninEire:

    As Will put it:

    All the world’s a stage,
    And all the men and women merely clowns;
    They have their exits and their entrances,
    And one clown in his time plays many parts,
    His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
    Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
    Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
    And shining morning face, creeping like snail
    Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
    Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
    Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
    Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
    Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
    Seeking the bubble reputation
    Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
    In fair round belly with good capon lined,
    With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
    Full of wise saws and modern instances;
    And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
    Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
    With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
    His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
    For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
    Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
    And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
    That ends this strange eventful history,
    Is second clownishness and mere oblivion,
    Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    Seriously, we have to try and take every seat.

    I definitely agree. A Senate seat is especially important because there are so few of them and the Senate is so close right now. Winning one seat means we only have to get 2 Republicans to go against Trump to block something instead of 3, and that’s a huge difference. I just don’t want people to go crazy based on one outlier.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Just donated.

    It’s a senate seat. The senate. That’s how we get it back one seat at a time. If you can afford it, I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t give. Sometimes we win the ones we don’t expect. Every single seat is worth trying for at this point.

    Even if the days of someone losing a race because they called someone macacca. (sp?)

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    Is anyone here scared of clowns?

    Heh. I’m not scared, although I don’t much care for clowns; but someone who shares my birthday is, I believe, quite terrified of them.

    That all said, I love Ulysses (although I love Finnegans Wake a great deal more) and I really envy you that theatrical experience, whenever it ends up happening. Hope you will be able to see a fresh performance soon. (A refund, pshaw! You’ll just piss it away in the nearest pub.)

  27. 27.

    HeleninEire

    @SiubhanDuinne: Coupla things. I’ve already pissed away my refund in a pub. Took me only one day.

    And that shared birthday person, scared of clowns guy, is his nym kinda like OO?

    Haven’t read Finnegan’s Wake. I shall now. Prolly. When I finish my beer.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    You never know what’s going to trigger the idea for a musical. Leaving aside The Musical That Must Not Be Named, I never imagined that Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home could be a musical, but the writers turned it into a Tony-winning one. We saw it this summer and it was amazing.

  39. 39.

    HeleninEire

    @Baud:They’re trying to make it “accessible” to the moobs. Like you and me. If they only knew!!!

    Truthfully I’ve never read any of the tough Irish assholes. I may try Dubliners, tho. Why not? I love this city.

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    @Baud:
    “Kids, you tried and failed. The lesson here is never try” Homer J. Simpson

    I kicked in $25. I don’t think I have ever sent money to a Dem in a former Slave State, too often it was a sucker bet. In this case it’ll pay dividends even if Jones does not pull it off.

  45. 45.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    Tightening polls make me nervous because that seems like the time when the Russians decide to interfere to tip the balance. And they are all in on creating chaos and division right now.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    @Roger Moore: According to this article, that was Friday’s position, but yesterday an email came out saying not to enlist or ship any foreign national’s [sic] at all.

    And the typo makes me believe it’s true, because this administration fails fifth grade grammar.

  48. 48.

    Schlemazel

    @Mary G:
    My Grandfather was illegal from Germany. He enlisted & was wounded in WWI. I think these stories are way more common than the asshole brigade thinks & many of them came from such people.

  49. 49.

    HeleninEire

    OK so, once again, y’all. Reading should not be a chore. Laundry is a chore. Reading should be lovely. It should (and is for me) that thing where you lay down in bed and then look up 2 hours later and oh holy cow, it’s 4 hours later. It should not be hard. It should take you away.

  50. 50.

    germy

    Georgia gubernatorial candidate holding a bump stock giveaway

    Republican Georgia state Sen. Michael Williams is holding a giveaway for a bump stock — the same type of device law enforcement officials say the Vegas shooter used to kill over 50 people during a concert in early October.

    In a statement published on a website for William’s gubernatorial run, Williams says the growing condemnation of bump stocks avoids taking action against gun violence. Williams also cites firearms experts claiming the bump stock prevented more deaths due to the device’s “inaccuracy” when attached.

    https://boingboing.net/2017/10/17/georgia-gubernatorial-candidat.html

  52. 52.

    Major Major Major Major

    @germy: of course.

    I find it helpful sometimes to think through the lens of that Onion article and substitute “gorilla” for “gun”. In wake of condemnation of gorillas on steroids, republican candidate holds giveaway of gorilla steroids.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): What’s your sense on the rest of the ticket?

    Mark Herring has been a great, great, great attorney general. He is up against Republican John Adams (good name, for low info voters) who makes a lot of libertarian noises.

    Up for Lt. Governor is Justin Fairfax, a young black attorney from NoVA, up against Jill Vogel, a dark money lawyer for the Republicans.

    Great article from The Root about Jill Vogel telling her debate audience that Fairfax cannot “talk intelligently” about the issues.

    … That’s what happened during Thursday night’s lieutenant gubernatorial debate in Virginia between lawyer Justin Fairfax and Virginia state Sen. Jill Vogel. It was a master’s course in conservative white female racial rage in the age of Trump.

    The 2017 Virginia elections in November are a preview of the 2018 midterms. Either the polls are correct, and Democrats will win the governor’s race and pick up some state legislative seats, or the polls are wrong and America will have four more years of political winter.

    While the top of the ticket has been relatively stable (Democrat Ralph Northam has a comfortable lead over Republican Ed Gillespie), the real action is the lieutenant governor’s race. The Democrat Fairfax is on his way to becoming only the second African-American lieutenant governor in Virginia history, and his Trump-supporting Republican opponent, Vogel, does not want to see that happen.

    Political science research into campaign debates and messages shows that white candidates often have trouble staying on message when they’re debating black candidates. They just can’t seem to help themselves and often end up blurting out whatever pre-existing racial tic they’ve got going in their heads no matter the actual subject at hand.

    The question could be about school funding, and the white candidate will mention “violence in Chicago”; the question could be about tax levies for a local river cleanup, and the white candidate talks about Black Lives Matter. Sometimes this is subconscious and accidental, sometimes it’s intentional, and sometimes it’s just the rage of a wealthy, white conservative woman who can’t believe she’s losing to a black guy.

    On Thursday the moderator of their debate asked Fairfax and Vogel to comment on Vogel’s “transvaginal ultrasound” bill from 2012.

    The bill would have required that in order for a woman to get an abortion in Virginia, she would first have to pay for an ultrasound …. The bill was so bad, Saturday Night Live even did a skit about it, and Vogel withdrew the bill.

    …. The expression on Vogel’s face was pretty familiar to any African American who has ever crossed a conservative white woman who felt that she should be thanked for tolerating his or her presence. It was the look of a white middle school teacher when a 12-year-old black prodigy corrects her spelling. It was the look of a white cop when a black woman pulls out her cellphone and asks, “Name and badge number.” It’s the look Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama when she realized that he wasn’t going to just roll over and let her win the nomination. That look.

    Vogel pulled out her angry air guitar and played a greatest hits of racial and gender innuendo. She accused Fairfax of attacking her “personally” (translation: This black brute is threatening me), then she sought praise for being “gracious and polite” (translation: He should be thankful I don’t go all Paula Deen on him) and then she went hard in the white paint.

    “He brings this [ultrasound bill] up every chance he gets because there are other issues that he could talk about, but I clearly think he is not informed enough on those issues to talk intelligently about them. I just have to put that out there.”

    FWIW: Fairfax won a scholarship to Duke University, and earned his law degree from Columbia U.

    The Root link has 53 seconds of Fairfax and Vogel. If the debate question was indeed about the transvaginal bill, she turned the whole thing into an attack on Fairfax and commented twice that he was not smart.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s the look Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama when she realized that he wasn’t going to just roll over and let her win the nomination.

    Really? They had to go there? Really?

  56. 56.

    Humdog

    For me, the trick to read Ulysses was to read it fairly quickly, not worrying when there is something you don’t understand. It will become clearer to you as the pages pass. I preferred Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist and felt Ulysses was easier after I read Portrait.
    But a musical with puppets? That’d make it even more confusing!

  57. 57.

    Redshift

    @tobie: I know polls always tighten near election day, and I’d rather be in the position we’re in than the reverse, but yeah, it makes me nervous. McAuliffe won by less than the polls were showing, and it’s an off-year election, which means we’re at a turnout disadvantage. No knowing how much the pollsters have adjusted their methods from for years ago.

    I’m out knocking on doors every weekend. I wish I knew what else to do to generate more enthusiasm. Not saying it’s particularly lacking, but I would like to see more than the typical level for a gubernatorial year.

  58. 58.

    HeleninEire

    @debbie: Glad it is funny. I have read so many Irish memoirs that are incredibly depressing that i stopped reading.

    I think the Irish, with all of their horrible history, decided a while ago that being friendly and happy is so much better than dwelling on the past. The Irish are the friendliness people on earth. Trust me on that.
    And so they did. And so here I am. I love it here.

    I’m not crying. YOU’RE CRYING

  59. 59.

    Betsy

    @Schlemazel: A great-uncle of mine fought AGAINST the U.S. in the First World War, the emigrated here from Germany. I was incredulous when I learned this (as a teen). “They let you in??”

    How it does heighten the contrast…

  60. 60.

    cthulhu

    @germy:

    Williams also cites firearms experts claiming the bump stock prevented more deaths due to the device’s “inaccuracy” when attached.

    Yes, because when you are spraying a large crowd with bullets, you are concerned about accuracy. These are quite the “experts”, eh?

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah. I saw that too.

    Commenters on the Root thread pointed out how Justin Fairfax smiled when Vogel launched into the personal attack (and what she says about the bill is pure projection).

    Unfortunately, camera stayed on Jill Vogel after that and I couldn’t see Fairfax’s reactions to being described as not informed, twice.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    I’m not going to defend a Trumpkin like Vogel because she deserves everything she gets, but I’m getting really fucking sick of the casual misogyny coming from our side. Really fucking sick. Who the fuck do they think Obama campaigned for last year?

  67. 67.

    No Drought No More

    Has a mental health clinic recently opened somewhere in Alabama?

    If not, we all best start carrying umbrellas to avoid being splattered by shit from flying pigs.

  68. 68.

    Fair Economist

    @Mnemosyne:

    I never imagined that Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home could be a musical, but the writers turned it into a Tony-winning one. We saw it this summer and it was amazing.

    You mean a story about a long-closeted homosexual who has affairs with teenage boys and (probably) commits suicide isn’t good material for a relatively humorous show with multiple song-and-dance set pieces? Really? And yet, it does work. Hilarious, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking all at once. Ultimately I think it’s due to Bechdel’s deeply ironic and ambiguous style. She writes about things to show multiple different aspects and possibilities, and all the different facets seem real, because she isn’t sure herself and is too honest to fake it.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @Betsy:

    A great-uncle of mine fought AGAINST the U.S. in the First World War, the emigrated here from Germany. I was incredulous when I learned this (as a teen). “They let you in??”

    They knew the vast majority of German* soldiers were conscripts who didn’t have any choice in the matter. OTOH, when my grandfather came to the US, he was put in an internment camp as an enemy alien even though A) he was married to a US citizen and B) he was technically stateless because his German citizenship had been stripped by the Nuremberg Laws. I guess if he hadn’t been married to a citizen they would have just turned him away instead of putting him in an internment camp.

    *And every other nation, including the US

  70. 70.

    Schlemazel

    @Betsy:
    I love family histories. It is sad so many people don’t care or try to hide the most interesting parts. As a kid my family was involved in the International Institute, an org that helped new immigrants adjust to life in the US and maintain their attachment to their old life. I collected some great immigrant stories and the very best ones are not ‘pretty’ but much more interesting.

  71. 71.

    Redshift

    @Elizabelle: I’ll have to check out the audio. I searched for a debate transcript after reading several stories about it, but weirdly, couldn’t find one anywhere. It was widely reported that there were audible gasps in the room, belying Vogel’s “that’s not what I meant.”

    Justin Fairfax is a really good guy. Like McAuliffe, he kind of came out of nowhere to run for statewide office (AG) four years ago, and did surprisingly well. Also like McAuliffe, he earned another go by staying involved in Democratic politics and working to support a lot of other candidates.

    Herring seems to be in the safest position. People largely like the battles he’s fought, and his opponent is a serious wingnut who thinks Clarence Thomas is the greatest serving Supreme Court Justice.

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    @Fair Economist:

    I realized afterwards the sneaky writing trick they used to break the audience’s hearts: by having Narrator Alison be the one to go on the last car ride with him, not College Student Alison. It abruptly removes the distance from the story that Narrator Alison had spent the whole show creating.

  74. 74.

    tobie

    @Redshift: @Mnemosyne:

    Tightening polls make me nervous because that seems like the time when the Russians decide to interfere.

    I know…I got the same sinking feeling when I saw this. It reminded me of the special election in Georgia. Close polls provide good cover for election shenanigans.

  75. 75.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    @HeleninEire: I started in my early 20s and read several hundred pages. I gave up for years and when I picked it up again I forgot where I left off so started on page 1. Several years later with the help of internet chapter summaries I finished. Huzzah!

  77. 77.

    BC in Illinois

    @Mary G:
    @Schlemazel:
    @Betsy:

    I had never thought of the combination of ingredients. My Grandfather came from Austria-Hungary about 1910 or so. Settled in a German speaking part of Akron, Ohio. Enlisted in the Army, specifically because “it would help his citizenship.” Never made it out of some base in New Jersey, but it was fairly rough being a German-speaker in the US Army in 1917. (His grandsons noted that “Grandpa was a pretty big guy. And a factory worker.”)

    AND he had two brothers fighting on the other side, where being German-speakers was no problem.

    So, the whole Trumpian approach to immigration, to the immigration of unpopular groups, to the immigration of people speaking unpopular languages, to the desire to distance the Statue of Liberty from the “Give me your tired” poem . . . all of this has been one message in our family: “They’re closing the door against Grandma and Grandpa Weninger.”

    I have the picture of him in his WW I uniform. I’ll take it out for November 11th.

  80. 80.

    HeleninEire

    @Old Dan and Little Anne:
    CONGRATULATIONS. You all are exhausting me with this.
    So here is question from a big nonfiction reader to all of my smarter than me friends here.

    Is there an American equivalent to Joyce?

  82. 82.

    Redshift

    @tobie: That’s a concern (being ahead more than the “margin of cheating,” as Howard Dean put it), but I’m actually more concerned about getting the supporters that are in those polls to come out and vote. But at least I can do something about that, so that helps.

  83. 83.

    Schlemazel

    @BC in Illinois:
    I saw Grandpa’s address book from the Army, almost every man in his unit was Max, Franz, Hans, Adolf, you get the picture. I asked him what made him volunteer. He said, “2-3 of us boys were on the street corner & this guy came by and asked us where we thought we would be living after the war”. The message was clear.

    They also were not very excited to go. The only other story he would tell me was that when they got their steel helmets (just about to be sent forward) some guys fell ill with the flu. They were quarantined for 2 weeks. When it was determined they were well enough to die the officers came & told them to get dress, trucks would be there to get them soon. The officers all left so when the trucks came they all crawled back into bed & pulled to covers up. The drivers guessed they had the wrong place in left!

  86. 86.

    Redshift

    @Tom Levenson: To answer your original question, I don’t think Gillespie’s race-baiting is particularly gaining him support; at most it’s convincing the racist wingnuts that he’s racist enough to support even though he’s a dull establishment squish. I think it’s just normal poll tightening as the race goes on.

  87. 87.

    frosty

    @HeleninEire:

    Is there an American equivalent to Joyce?

    Closest thing I can think of (and I haven’t read Ulysses) is Gravity’s Rainbow by Pynchon. Dense, and full of subtle humor, particularly in names: Saure Bummer. Saure is German for Acid.

  89. 89.

    lamh36

    @Kanisha1Jackson @RepWilson
    Sgt. La David Johnson died Oct. 4th. He was left behind and found two days later. As his body arrived Trump was golfing. His pregnant wife, 2 kids received a call after 13 days. Where were all the angry Benghazi patriots? Nowhere.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    THE EVER LOVING PHUCK!!!!

    Internal White House documents allege manufacturing decline increases abortions, infertility, and spousal abuse
    October 17 at 8:34 PM

    A document circulated by Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, linked the country’s manufacturing decline to a host of social problems.

    White House officials working on trade policy were alarmed last month when a top adviser to President Trump circulated a two-page document that alleged a weakened manufacturing sector leads to an increase in abortion, spousal abuse, divorce and infertility, two people familiar with the matter said.

    The fact-sheets, which were obtained by The Washington Post, were prepared and distributed by Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. They were presented without any data or information to back up the assertions, and reveal some of the materials the Trump administration reviewed as it was crafting its trade policy.

  91. 91.

    lamh36

    @Baud: smh… “he must’ve known what he signed up for…” I mean…I’m trying to fix my brain to come up with a good contextual comment or phrasing for which that doesn’t seem completely heartless and inappropriate to say to someone who’s loss someone under these circumstances…smh

  92. 92.

    gene108

    @Major Major Major Major:

    And we know Trump understands the vulgar language of pro wrestling.

    Trump’s in the WWE Hall of Fame. He probably figured out a bit of what sells to a cross-section of folks he’d never have come close to being in contact with from his involvement in the WWF/WWE.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    Jeffro
    October 17, 2017 at 8:42 pm
    @Adam L Silverman: @Mnemosyne:

    What were Mattis’ own words to the troops recently? “We’re here to hold the line until [Americans? the GOP?] regains its sanity?” Something like that?

    I believe it.

    ReplyReply
    143
    Jeffro
    October 17, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    “Just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other, and showing it — of being friendly to one another, you know, that Americans owe to one another,” Mattis told them.

    It’s unclear when the Facebook video was actually filmed but Defense One’s Kevin Baron, who spotted the footage, said the remarks could have come during Mattis’ visit to Jordan last week.

    That would have been in the aftermath of the racist Charlottesville, Va. violence.

    The video shows Mattis, in a suit, introducing himself to the troops and thanking them for choosing service.

    “My name’s Mattis. I work at the Department of Defense,” the plain-spoken defense chief said.

    “And thanks for being out here, OK? I know at times you wonder if anybody knows … The only way this great big experiment you and I call America is going to survive is if we got tough hombres like you.”

  94. 94.

    Barbara

    @Baud: I read the first four chapters at least three times, and the last time I simply skimmed the rest and put it down forever, and somehow, I am pretty confident that would have been okay with James Joyce.

    You needn’t feel guilty. In connection with some kind of review or assessment of Joyce, E.B. White (he of Charlotte’s Web fame) was reputed to have said that it took more than genius to keep him reading a book. I have always loved “The Dead” and other stories by Joyce.

    ETA: I kicked in a bit for Jones. The guy deserves props for going after the KKK where that is still not a popular thing to do even though most people won’t say so out loud.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    @lamh36:

    Playing Devil’s Advocate and trying to imagine a non-vulgar president uttering this:

    “He knew what he signed up for, but he took on the risk because he wanted to protect this country. Every soldier understands that they put their life on the line every day, but when it happens it hurts anyway. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  98. 98.

    Mary G

    The more details that come out on those men’s deaths in Nigeria, the worse it looks. Reuters:

    Four U.S. soldiers died in the firefight, killed in a country where most Americans were unaware that their army is deployed but where Washington has steadily grown its presence. One soldier’s body was only recovered two days later.

    At least four Nigeriens were also killed and, according to one Niger security source, militants seized four vehicles in the ambush. French helicopters, scrambled after the U.S. call for help, evacuated several soldiers wounded in the clash.

    A diplomat with knowledge of the incident said French officials were frustrated by the U.S. troops’ actions, saying they had acted on only limited intelligence and without contingency plans in place.

  102. 102.

    planetjanet

    I know it is a small thing in the overall scheme of things, but I hope Glenn Kessler gets a low tumbrel number. It used to be that all journalists were fact checkers, but with the decline of the profession, that activity has been spun off. The Washington Post apparently could not even feign serious interest in the art and delegates it to Glenn Kessler. He wrote 750 words meandering on about the Orange One’s preposterous claim that Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. This is clearly a specious lie meant to cover up his own disinterest in the lives lost in Niger. When criticized, the liar-in-chief will always blame others. When it came time for Kessler to award his cringe-worthy Pinocchios for how bad of a lie this was, he completely curled up in a ball under the couch. He said because Mango Mussolini took back his statement real time, he would not score it. For some reason, this just stunned me. Talk about an easy slam dunk to debunk this and he just gave a sigh and rolled over. Pathetic.

  105. 105.

    Fair Economist

    @Mnemosyne:

    I realized afterwards the sneaky writing trick they used to break the audience’s hearts: by having Narrator Alison be the one to go on the last car ride with him, not College Student Alison. It abruptly removes the distance from the story that Narrator Alison had spent the whole show creating.

    Count on the writer to notice the clever writing trick. I admit, it got me. When I saw it I thought she’d had that device in the book – but I just looked and I can’t find it. But it seemed fair enough, because it’s a question we all ask about death in the family – “Could I have done something to prevent it?”

  107. 107.

    Baud

    @lamh36: I just don’t trust the tricks of the reporting industry after seeing how it was used against us. I can’t imagine Trump being a comfort to anyone in time of need, but it’s possible he managed to avoid being outrageously offensive. That’s why the ellipses in that quote makes me hit the pause button on outrage. There’s enough verified outrages to occupy my time.

  109. 109.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: Vogel is lying, Barbara-Comstock-type smiling GOP scum. Fairfax should call her out on exactly what she means by “not intelligent” – “is that some sort of new dog whistle or code language, Ms. Vogel?” Seriously.

  111. 111.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: Trump hates losing and there is no way he can blame this particular action on the prior administration. I don’t think that excuses failing to make official contact with the families, but it surely explain his willingness to be completely silent about an operation that looks like it was miscalculated, at the very least.

  114. 114.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @BC in Illinois:

    One of my great grandmothers on dad’s side had booked passage on the Titanic, but took ill and came on a later boat. I love that part of the family history.

    All of my dad’s side had been Ottoman subjects living between Beirut and Tripoli when they emigrated.

  116. 116.

    Kathleen

    @HeleninEire: I read Richard Wright’s Black Boy about the same time I read Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist. I thought both books shared common themes about how living in hostile, violent, oppressive environments affects individuals. It was almost as if the writers knew each other. I think they should be read together.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    also: not even sure if this is news (I think it is) but the Senate Russia committee ended up subpoenaing Carter Page…now that’s exciting!

  118. 118.

    Baud

    @lamh36: Yeah, I can’t even imagine. I’d like to think I would have refused the call, but I honestly can’t say I know what I’d do if I were in that position.

  121. 121.

    lamh36

    @Baud: for once I am sincerely hoping it’s the just media being sensationalist or Rep Wilson being overly sensitive…because I saw the ABC video over an hour ago…and it was heartbreaking of course…ugh…now I’m imagining the widow reaction to hearing it phrased that way

  122. 122.

    Baud

    @planetjanet:
    @Jeffro:

    I donated to Northam, along with donating to Doug Jones. In normal times, I’d say that Virginia may be getting tired of Democratic governors, but I kept hearing how energized the state Dems were because of Trump. Best of luck, and thanks!

  123. 123.

    Barbara

    @Elizabelle: Vogel is odious. The same year of that oh so fun spring legislative session during which Vogel and Governor Goodhair but Bad Ethics were plotting to strap women down and shove a wand up their hoohaws, there was increasing controversy about the intrusiveness of TSA airport security, in which some guy at National Airport bitterly complained about having a TSA agent touch their junk. Both Goodhair and Vogel went all high dudgeon on local radio and tv shows about the outrageous loss of liberty for this poor, poor fellow. But the ultrasound bill was just a common sense, minimal intrusion. Fairfax should bring that bill up every chance he gets because frankly it should be totally disqualifying for Vogel.

  124. 124.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: The local rep confirmed that part of the quote, said it was insensitive and said that Trump shouldn’t have said it. It sounds like something he would say, too — he’s always self-exculpatory if he thinks there’s any chance he could be criticized for anything.

    I find it plausible, but it’s not really possible to increase my disdain for Trump anyway. Just another log on the roaring bonfire of my hatred for that fuck-nugget, and another cord will be dropped on it by 10 AM tomorrow anyway, I feel certain.

  127. 127.

    Baud

    @lamh36:
    @Betty Cracker:

    Thanks. Agree with you both. I guess all we can hope for at this point is that the families are not dragged into this further, because I don’t think this Niger story is going away soon (unless, of course, Trump tweets about the NFL again).

  129. 129.

    gene108

    @BC in Illinois:

    Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, was German immigrant. His mother’s born and raised in Scotland.

    Trump’s not that far removed from being off the boat.

    Obama’s family, on his mother’s side, has deeper roots in the USA than anyone in Trump’s family and Obama’s father is just as much an immigrant as Trump’s mother.

    The flat out racism to declare Obama’s “foreign” is more appalling, when you consider this.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @Fair Economist:

    I didn’t realize it in the moment, only when I was trying to analyze later what was that made me break down and cry so hard. Seriously, we were the last ones to leave the theater because I was crying so much, and I rarely do that.

    I think the playwrights hit on something even more universal with that scene: that last conversation with someone that you don’t realize at the time is the last conversation you’ll ever have with them. That’s what made it heartbreaking, IMO.

  134. 134.

    lamh36

    @Betty Cracker: I agree Betty…on the one hand…who should be surprised by anything Chump does…it’s just another ring on the ladder…

    but mahn…if there are some in the WH trying to speak truth to power and save the country from Dolt…they’re doing a piss poor job…hall just what he’s done so far, and increase the anxiety and stress in like half the population…smh…I imagine the mood of the country is pretty damn dreary right now…smh

    ETA: Oh as for the some of the news media, and who cares if Trump is slowly killing the American spirit…did you know Chump has fallen 92 spots on Forbes richest list…

  135. 135.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: Woot! Thanks Baud! We will do our best to send Gillespie back to lobbying for scuzzy Repub causes (instead of being able to sign them into law).

  137. 137.

    Jeffro

    @Barbara: She’s a little unsettling to even see pics of in the news…I think it’s the crazy-behind-the-eyes…goes with her actual deeds…

  139. 139.

    Omnes Ominbus

    @lamh36:

    ETA: Oh as for the some of the news media, and who cares if Trump is slowly killing the American spirit…did you know Chump has fallen 92 spots on Forbes richest list…

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Gasp… Gasp… Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

  140. 140.

    lamh36

    When I see GG face, I want to take the folks who were GG apologist, look them in the face and scream “stupid fuqs…come getcho boy” w/ a “uh huh” hard neck snap

    GG on Fox talking about media, not owning up to false Russia stories…

    @FoxNews
    Blocked Blocked @FoxNews
    More
    .@ggreenwald on media: I think what it is, more than dishonesty, is really warped incentive scheme bolstered by this very severe groupthink
    https://twitter.com/foxnews/status/920451427260096512

    FUQ you GG

  145. 145.

    lamh36

    @Omnes Ominbus: AC360 literally had an entire 1 1/2 segments on it. He apparenlty lost 600 mil in this year and is not only worth 6.1 Billion… (◔_◔)

    Wanna bet which headline Chump will gravitate towards? The call to the widow or this bullshit from CNN, et al…smh
    (◔_◔)

  149. 149.

    gene108

    @Mary G:

    The article you linked mentioned the “Blackhawk Down” incident from the U.S. intervention in Somalia 24 years ago.

    The Republican reaction to that was so fierce, Bill’s Sec. of Defense resigned (IIRC), and it was use daily as more proof the “draft dodger”-pot-smoking-America-protesting-hippie in the White House was unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.

    Compared to that, in those kinder gentler days, before Republicans became crazy, Trump is being given a huge pass.

  152. 152.

    John Revolta

    @lamh36: Did he actually lose the money though or did he have to “divest himself” of some assets when he got to be POTUS?

  154. 154.

    Regine Touchon

    We have a grassroots movement here. Having a fundraiser for him next week in Auburn. Give what you can.

  156. 156.

    Jay C

    @schrodingers_cat:

    What were the green berets doing in Niger?

    While it’s been (understandably) massively under-reported in the media, there have been/are numerous US military missions in various countries in West Africa: mostly along the lines of “training” and/or “advisory” deployments to assist governments in the region in dealing with (usually Islamist-extremist/Boko Haram/ISIS-type) ongoing militancies/terrorism. These missions have typically been overlooked, but have been going on – normally under-the-radar- for years: the four casualties in Niger were just unusual enough to bring the deployments to public attention.

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: Much of Virginia had paper ballots before the recent state-wide requirement change. Before that localities decided on their own systems that were certified by the state.

    In the 20-mumble years I’ve been in NoVA, we’ve used booths with a wall of capacitive buttons and a big “VOTE” button, a Windows touch-screen, (something else?), and the last few elections there have been 8.5″x11″ paper ballots that we fill-in-the-dots and run through an optical scanner. Personally, I’ve never had any doubt that any of my votes were recorded correctly – I know enough of the poll workers. :-)

    Vlad and his minions were certainly trying to cause chaos and swing the election, and maybe even messed with the voter rolls – and all of that was horrible and unacceptable – but I don’t personally think there’s ever been a concerted effort to change results [ the actual recorded tally ] on a significant scale (in the last 50 years, anyway). Maybe I’m naive about that.

    But I’m all for paper ballots. People must have confidence that their votes are counted correctly and audit-able.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  159. 159.

    SFAW

    @Old Dan and Little Anne:

    It took me about 12 years to read Ulysses.

    I can’t tell if that was a subtle joke. Are you going to tell us you spent a number of years on Calypso’s island, before returning home and slaying the suitors? If so: nicely done.

  160. 160.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Hey, Omnes! “Cheeseheads” made it onto Jeopardy! tonight!

    “Made it, Ma! Top of the World!”

    PS: Sorry to hear about Aaron’s injury. Better than being concussed out of action, I guess, but still not good.

  163. 163.

    J R in WV

    WeeneyThruster,

    You are still a cow pie to me.

    Bernie can’t speak for me as an old socialist Veteran drafted in 1970.

    He sure as hell can’t speak about the things women have encountered and will continue to encounter in their public and private lives. Things I have seen in my in wife’s career and her friends’ work and lives.

    So fuck you. Bernie is a rude, uncaring, nothing-burger who has achieved nothing in his whole life. He should to to Russia and lose his return tix.

  164. 164.

    Amir Khalid

    @gene108:
    BarackObama Sr.was not an immigrant. He was a foreign student in the US who returned to his country after concluding his studies.

  167. 167.

    LanceThruster

    “the Clinton administration always had its banana republic side. For all the talk about historic presidential “philandering,” it is hard to recall any other White House which has had to maintain a quasi-governmental or para-state division devoted exclusively to the bullying and defamation of women.”

    Christopher Hitchens, No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton

Comments are closed.