Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You are here: Home / Elections / I'm With Her 2016 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Ever Get the Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Ever Get the Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?

by | 281 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

(h/t commentor LAMH36)
.

…Yeah, not without good reason.

***********

Apart from remembering we’re not alone, what’s on the agenda for the day / weekend?

Reader Interactions

281Comments

  1. 1.

    Gator90

    Every time I see HRC on TV, I think Damn, we could right now have this thoughtful, knowledgeable, compassionate, emotionally stable person as our president. Instead of the deranged babbling ape-man we have. Damn.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Today I did a couple of small mods to The Girl today: black pickguard screws, replacing the original white ones, to match the pickguard. She looks much more elegant now. A new roller string tree to help tuning stability. I still need to shield the pickups, i.e. line the cavities with copper — which, since it entails taking apart the wiring and putting it back together afterwards, requires that I study the art of soldering beforehand. YouTube shall be my guru.

  4. 4.

    Uncle Cholmondeley

    The keynote speaker at my conference was an appeals court judge who spent the whole speech praising Neil Gorsuch. He’s not from the east coast, he uses the second person in his opinions, his brilliant textual analysis. No mention, of course, of how he managed to sit on the Supreme Court in the first place. I should have gotten up and left.

  7. 7.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Amir Khalid:

    When I modded my last guitar I used Electrodag, a water-based conductive shielding paint to quiet it up. Being a thin liquid, I was able to coat all cavities, routs and passages in the guitar prior to painting the body. Since the pick guard is 304 stainless (& acts as shield), I soldered on a ground lead off of one of the pots and put a #10 wire ring terminal on the end. I screwed this to a small area inside of the body cavity (I had taped it off prior to body paint to protect a bit of Electrodag for the ground point) to complete the ground.

    It’s beautifully silent and the cavities are nicely painted.

  8. 8.

    Raven

    The questions have come up because the American and Nigerien soldiers on the patrol have given conflicting accounts about whether they were simply ambushed or were attacked after trying to chase Islamic insurgents, according to military officials from both countries.

    The episode has engulfed the White House in crisis and prompted demands from members of Congress for answers about what the soldiers were doing before the attack on Oct. 4.

    In interviews with both the Defense Department and The New York Times, Nigerien military officials said that a lightly armed convoy of about 50 Nigerien and American soldiers gave chase to Islamic insurgents on motorcycles until the men crossed the border into Mali, then returned later to ambush the troops.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    If only weirdness were the sole issue with Trump’s presidency. That weird-shit inaugural address presaged all kinds of shit: corrupt shit, incompetent shit,arrogant shit, stupid shit, and mean shit.

  11. 11.

    LaNonna

    Some gardening, some sewing, getting out all the winter clothing for a good airing. Loads of laundry, and fresh tomato arrabbiata with the last of the super cherry tomatoes. Just trying to stay positive while worried, stressed, tired of all the sh#tstorms.

  12. 12.

    JMG

    So my wrist surgery went well and there was surprisingly little pain when the nerve blockers wore off last night. Bad news, splint won’r come off for a couple weeks, Good news, as soon as Alice wakes up, she can help me remove the highly annoying sling.

  16. 16.

    p.a.

    Y am. Yard afternoon. Still getting hot peppers this late: cherry, serrano, cayenne. And eking some small but viable cu ban ells (autocorrect won’t let me spell it. It comes out Cuban ells) too. Bohemian Quartet this p.m.

    Can you call it Native American Summer when there hasn’t been an autumn?

  17. 17.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Just now scanning Netflix offerings. See that there’s one based on a Steven King novella – 1922.

    Hell no. Oh HELL to the no. That story gave me nightmares for 3 days.

  18. 18.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Raven:

    The old line in response started with “Like a trumpet..” ;) Doing well at this end, still fighting with RA & HBP while the rest of the family is healthier than colts, so nothing new here. I hope life is treating you and yours well!

  20. 20.

    frosty

    Hiking a stretch of the Lehigh Gorge rail trail today with friends from Boy Scouts 50 years ago. Four Eagles and a Life. We finished the C&O a few years ago, did half the Mason Dixon and now we’re hitting smaller stuff. Should be beautiful weather for it today.

  24. 24.

    tybee

    taking small children crabbing off the dock this morn. it’s hilarious watching 4 & 5 years old chase crabs down the dock with crab tongs. they know crabs can hurt you so they’re real cautious but they’re also real persistent so when the crabs turn on them the kids shriek and run away but come back for another try.

    a hoot, it is.

    hopefully some shrimp will wander into the umbrella nets to complete the ingredients for a seafood dish this eve.

  25. 25.

    RedDirtGirl

    Heading up to Maine today to attend the memorial service of the husband of a dear friend. He committed suicide two weeks ago. I am able to stay on for a few days after to be with her and her two children. So tragic. But really glad that I can take the time to be at her side. I was there right after the birth of her daughter. Never expected to bear witness to this particular life event. Keep her family (and me, please) in your thoughts this week. Thanks, you wonderful community.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Soldering is pretty easy, but the right solder could be critical. Not sure if there is a specific type for that application or not. Good luck and have fun.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:
    Conductive shielding paint seems to be hard to find around these parts, alas. Also, I wouldn’t fancy having to buy an expensive litre can (or bigger) of the stuff for just the one guitar.

  29. 29.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @eclare:

    I mean, it is as grim a story as I’ve ever read of his. It is all downward arc, brilliantly done.

    Settled on JeruZalem instead. It’s an interesting gimmick – horror movie via the POV of google glass.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: That’s a great HRC clip. Norton’s show is such a refreshing change of pace compared to what we usually see here. Thanks.

    Speaking of Gorsuch – Five Dollar Feminisit at Wonkette:

    WHAAAAAA????? Did the Grande Dame of Supreme Court reporting [ Nina Totenberg ] just call the new guy a moron?

    Yes, yes she did. It’s good to see that Gorsuch is (unsurprisingly) cutting his own throat on the SCOTUS.

    Nina’s great (and another reason to support your local NPR station).

    It’s a good piece at Wonkette (with several entertaining anigifs).

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who sends Wonkette $2 every month.)

  31. 31.

    Emma

    @RedDirtGirl: My best wishes for peace and serenity to you and your friends. The death of a loved one is hard enough. Losing someone to suicide must be devastating.

  35. 35.

    Amir Khalid

    @randy khan:
    Jimmy Carter once said to his campaign staff, “We’re going to kick some ass.” I can still remember how quickly Republicans took to their fainting couches.

  38. 38.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Watching JeruZalem. Never follow the weird guy into the catacombs under Jerusalem.

    Speaking of catacombs, when I was among the skulls under Paris, my camera battery (freshly charged) and backup (freshly charged) crapped out nearly from the beginning. Once I came back outside, they were fine…

  49. 49.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    And never go try and rescue the harbinger of coming doom in the Jerusalem insane asylum during the demonic zombie apocalypse.

  52. 52.

    JMG

    @Raven: Oh. I know the drill. This one was to remove the plate and screws from the operation when I originally broke the wrist, because it was rubbing up against a tendon, causing painless and minor swelling but foreshadowing a day when it’d saw into the tendon for serious pain and surgery. So out they came. It’s supposed to take 4-6 months for the little screwholes in the bone to grow back. Until then, I’ll be preyy limited as far as lifting or exercise with my left arm.

  53. 53.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Also, bring a normal set of glasses for when everything goes to shit – your google glasses may not work right.

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    Cheryl’s tweeting about the WH saying that we can’t criticize Kelly because he was in the military. It has been clear (to me) since November that they were going to take this approach given the opportunity.

    TheHill (from January):

    The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday easily passed a waiver to allow retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as Defense secretary despite only leaving the military in 2013.

    Three committee members — Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) — voted against the waiver.

    Current law says Pentagon chiefs must be out of uniform for at least seven years. The law has been waived just once, for George Marshall in 1950.

    The committee voted immediately after Mattis’s confirmation hearing earlier Thursday, in which he sought to make clear he understands the difference between civilian leadership and military service.

    “I recognize my potential civilian role differs in essence and in substance from my former role in uniform,” he said. “Civilian control of the military is a fundamental tenet of the American military tradition.”

    Gillibrand has been vocal about her opposition to the waiver since Mattis’s nomination was announced, but neither Blumenthal nor Warren had explicitly said they would vote against the waiver.

    […]

    Mattis may think (or have thought) that, but it’s clear that Donnie and his minions don’t (as proved by his words and actions in picking these people without regard for norms and the law). “Shut up and salute” has it’s place in the military, but not in our civilian government. This should be yet another element of articles of impeachment…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    Ohio Mom

    Some guy named David Anderson from Duke has an op-ed on “Trump’s Obamacare Reform” in the NYT today!

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @Ohio Mom: Thanks for the pointer.

    Linky

    Use a “private browsing” or “incognito” tab/window to have it not interfere with your “free story” count.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    BretH

    @Amir Khalid: Not sure about the protocol for things like this but drop me a line and I’ll send you a book I no longer need – “How to Make your Electric Guitar Sound Great” by Dan Erlewine. It covers setting up string height, etc and even if you never do that sort of thing yourself it’s a good read about the “why”. bharris183 at that gmail place.

  68. 68.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Jesus – he’s distraction rage tweeting all morning. Now he’s opening JFK files to provide a shiny object for the mediots.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @A Ghost to Most:

    Next high level Trump appointee.

    And even after Vidal was charged with felony lewd or lascivious molestation, prompting the state to pull scholarships from the second school, it approved yet another school this year with ties to Vidal.”

  77. 77.

    MattF

    OT. This NYT story about TIAA explains a few things that I hadn’t known before.

    There are a few low-cost brokerages/insurance companies that dominate the non-profit retirement plan business– including Vanguard, Fidelity, and TIAA. For many years, my employer offered Vanguard and TIAA (which was then TIAA-CREF)– and then suddenly, and without much explanation, no more TIAA. Turns out that TIAA has had significant changes at the top and has ‘enhanced’ the incentives for their financial advisors to sell more expensive products, while sorta pretending that nothing had changed.

    Welp, TIAA has changed, so buyer beware. It now looks like Vanguard is pretty much the only choice– particularly for advice and for institutional funds.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @A Ghost to Most:

    “If voucher supporters actually cared about the safety and education of these children, they wouldn’t make excuses for all the problems exposed here. They wouldn’t attack the journalists who discovered them,” Maxwell noted. “Whining that the media ignored swell schools to focus on problematic ones is like whining that the media ignore planes that fly safely to report on ones that crash.”

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @randy khan:

    If only Hillary had cursed on the campaign trail . . .

    Someone suggested that Hillary should have said, during the debate when Shitgibbon was stalking her “Back the fuck OFF, asshole! Just because you’ve been able to get away with sexual assault and being a Peeping Tom with girls you think you own, don’t think I won’t cold-cock your fat, wimpy ass into next week.”

    Of course, Shitgibbon is somewhat taller than she is, so it would have been a little tough to reach his triple-chinned face. But I have faith in Hillary.

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    The friend I got into it with on FB about Fredericka Wilson and the late Sgt. La David Johnston unfriended me on Facebook overnight.

    What a coward. Ah well. It’s how you maintain the bubble.

  83. 83.

    p.a.

    @MattF: eeehhh… thanks for the heads-up. I went with TIAACREF upon retiring in 2015. Have noted more emails from them lately pushing product. But I like my current setup. Guess I better pay more attention…

  84. 84.

    JMG

    @Elizabelle: A black person, especially a woman, calling out white authority figures and being right makes some folks so uncomfortable the can’t even discuss the matter,

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    @JMG: I think you hit on it. She compared Wilson to Al Sharpton.

    Sad. I treasure our earlier friendship, though. I choose to treasure the good things she said earlier, before she turned so much to Breitbart and Fox. They got her through appeals to warped patriotism.

    LOL, when I was looking for her name on Facebook, what came up was another friend’s apparent last post to her, taking her to task about her sniping at Obama/Democrats.

    Sniping is the word for it too. Sheer passive aggressive behavior. Bubble land.

    It’s sad.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Haven’t read upthread. I missed the whole thing.

    When do you leave us for South America? Excited for you. I might do that before long too. Inexpensive, and another whack at learning Spanish. Getting into my Teflon head for Spanish.

    Any thoughts on what’s going on in Spain? I think Puigdemont really stepped in it.

  99. 99.

    Emma

    @MattF: I have a sizable chunk with them and it has continued to grow at a modest pace. It does helps that I keep an eye on investments. That’s usually the drawback in these situations. Most people don’t have the training or the time to do it and trust the companies their institutions select.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Yeah. No longer, and I was delighted to maintain a friendship with her because she’s quite wonderful.

    Although — get this — the reason I found her at all is through personal connections, and her counseling group seems to deal more with problems affecting children of the quite wealthy. I kid you not. I do not fall into that category, but we dealt as much as we could with ADHD and a narcissistic, destructive mother.

    Someone has had a filter for quite a long time, no? I noticed on the last thread discussion with her — which I copied — that none of her more liberal friends participated. Either they were too smart to take the poison bait, or they got defriended earlier.

    Was kind of keeping an eye on former FB friend, because if you ever needed a better illustration of how the Nazis came to power with the aid of the upper middle class, her was it.

    Le sigh.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    @Emma: True that. Quite disgusted to meet a British journalist who gave the air of knowing all about our domestic politics, and it was straight through the filter of The Guardian. Corporate whore!

    He was consulting; writing a summary on politics in an African country, and I was thinking “wow, I hope his employer gets better value than I suspect they will.”

  107. 107.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: She talks about it in her book.

    (any tyops mine)

    pp135-136:

    It was the second presidential debate, and Donald Trump was looming behind me.
    Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women. Now w were on a small stage,
    and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.

    It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit Pause and ask everyone watching,
    “Well? What would you do?”

    Do you stay calm, keep smiling, and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading you space?

    Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly, “Back up, you creep, get away from me, I know you love to intimidate women but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.”

    I chose option A. I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off. I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard.

    I wonder, though, whether I should have chosen option B. It certainly would have ben bette TV.
    Maybe I have overlearned the lesson of staying calm – biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while, determined to present a composed face to the world.

    Of course, had I told Trump off, he surely would have capitalized on it gleefully. A lot of people recoil from an angry woman, or even just a direct one. Look at what happened to Elizabeth Warren, silenced in the Senate chamber for reading a letter from Coretta Scott King because it was critical of Jeff Sessions, a male Senator, during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General.
    (Moments later, Jeff Merkley, a male Senator, was allowed to read the letter. Funny how that worked.) Senator Kamala Harris was derided as “hysterical” for her entirely coolheaded and professional questioning of Jeff Sessions (him again) during a Senate hearing. As one writer put it,
    she was being “Hillary’d.” […]

    She did well there, under circumstances that would have lead most of us to choose B with flamethrowers and fall into Donnie’s trap….

    The book’s a good read.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid: And turning the rightwing part of the country loose with their meanness, in public.

    Trump and Co. unleashed that. Plus: the Possum Queen. What an ugly liar. Her paving a way for a military coup.

    (Someone here put up this link to The New Yorker last night; great Masha Gessen essay on all the alarming and false notes John Kelly struck in his forced press conference. The one percent he was commending as the best of us; it might be the number of war dead Americans over our history, compared to our current population. The military is not a full one percent. I wondered where in hell Kelly came up with that number, and how eerie that it’s a thing in his rightwing bubble.)

    It’s short; putting up the full Gessen essay, and I apologize to The New Yorker for it not being fair use. But, since they’ve got a paywall, and to save you a click:

    The New Yorker, Masha Gessen: John Kelly and the Language of the Military Coup

    Consider this nightmare scenario: a military coup. You don’t have to strain your imagination—all you have to do is watch Thursday’s White House press briefing, in which the chief of staff, John Kelly, defended President Trump’s phone call to a military widow, Myeshia Johnson. The press briefing could serve as a preview of what a military coup in this country would look like, for it was in the logic of such a coup that Kelly advanced his four arguments.

    Argument 1. Those who criticize the President don’t know what they’re talking about because they haven’t served in the military. To demonstrate how little lay people know, Kelly provided a long, detailed explanation of what happens when a soldier is killed in battle: the body is wrapped in whatever is handy, flown by helicopter, then packed in ice, then flown again, then repacked, then flown, then embalmed and dressed in uniform with medals, and then flown home. Kelly provided a similar amount of detail about how family members are notified of the death, when, and by whom. He even recommended a film that dramatized the process of transporting the body of a real-life marine, Private First Class Chance Phelps. This was a Trumpian moment, from the phrasing—“a very, very good movie”—to the message. Kelly stressed that Phelps “was killed under my command, right next to me”; in other words, Kelly’s real-life experience was recreated for television, and that, he seemed to think, bolstered his authority.

    Fallen soldiers, Kelly said, join “the best one per cent this country produces.” Here, the chief of staff again reminded his audience of its ignorance: “Most of you, as Americans, don’t know them. Many of you don’t know anyone who knows any of them. But they are the very best this country produces.”

    The one-per-cent figure is puzzling. The number of people currently serving in the military, both on active duty and in the reserves, is not even one per cent of all Americans. The number of veterans in the population is far higher: more than seven per cent. But, later in the speech, when Kelly described his own distress after hearing the criticism of Trump’s phone call, the general said that he had gone to “walk among the finest men and women on this earth. And you can always find them because they’re in Arlington National Cemetery.” So, by “the best” Americans, Kelly had meant dead Americans—specifically, fallen soldiers.

    The number of Americans killed in all the wars this nation has ever fought is indeed equal to roughly one per cent of all Americans alive today. This makes for questionable math and disturbing logic. It is in totalitarian societies, which demand complete mobilization, that dying for one’s country becomes the ultimate badge of honor. Growing up in the Soviet Union, I learned the names of ordinary soldiers who threw their bodies onto enemy tanks, becoming literal cannon fodder. All of us children had to aspire to the feat of martyrdom. No Soviet general would have dared utter the kind of statement that’s attributed to General George S. Patton: “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.”

    2. The President did the right thing because he did exactly what his general told him to do. Kelly went on a rambling explication of speaking to the President not once but twice about how to make the call to Myeshia Johnson. After Kelly’s son was killed while serving in Afghanistan, the chief of staff recalled, his own best friend had consoled him by saying that his son “was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one per cent.” Trump apparently tried to replicate this message when he told Johnson that her husband, La David, had known what he was signing up for. The negative reaction to this comment, Kelly said, had “stunned” him.

    A week earlier, Kelly had taken over the White House press briefing in an attempt to quash another scandal and ended up using the phrase “I was sent in,” twice, in reference to his job in the White House. Now he seemed to be saying that, since he was sent in to control the President and the President had, this time, more or less carried out his instructions, the President should not be criticized.

    3. Communication between the President and a military widow is no one’s business but theirs. A day earlier, the Washington Post had quoted a White House official saying, “The president’s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private.” The statement contained a classic Trumpian reversal: the President was claiming for himself the right to privacy that belonged to his interlocutor. But Myeshia Johnson had apparently voluntarily shared her conversation with her mother-in-law and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson by putting the President on speakerphone.

    Now Kelly took it up a notch. Not only was he claiming that the President, communicating with a citizen in his official capacity, had a right to confidentiality—he was claiming that this right was “sacred.” Indeed, Kelly seemed to say, it was the last sacred thing in this country. He rattled off a litany of things that had lost their sanctity: women, life, religion, Gold Star families. The last of which had been profaned “in the convention over the summer,” said Kelly, although the debacle with a Gold Star family had been Trump’s doing. Now, Kelly seemed to say, we had descended into utter profanity, because the secrecy of the President’s phone call had been violated.

    4. Citizens are ranked based on their proximity to dying for their country. Kelly’s last argument was his most striking. At the end of the briefing, he said that he would take questions only from those members of the press who had a personal connection to a fallen soldier, followed by those who knew a Gold Star family. Considering that, a few minutes earlier, Kelly had said most Americans didn’t even know anyone who knew anyone who belonged to the “one per cent,” he was now explicitly denying a majority of Americans—or the journalists representing them—the right to ask questions. This was a new twist on the Trump Administration’s technique of shunning and shaming unfriendly members of the news media, except this time, it was framed explicitly in terms of national loyalty. As if on cue, the first reporter allowed to speak inserted the phrase “Semper Fi”—a literal loyalty oath—into his question.

    Before walking off the stage, Kelly told Americans who haven’t served in the military that he pities them. “We don’t look down upon those of you who haven’t served,” he said. “In fact, in a way we are a little bit sorry because you’ll have never have experienced the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kinds of things our servicemen and women do—not for any other reason than that they love this country.”

    When Kelly replaced the ineffectual Reince Priebus as the chief of staff, a sigh of relief emerged: at least the general would impose some discipline on the Administration. Now we have a sense of what military discipline in the White House sounds like.

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    @BretH:
    Insofar as there’s a protocol for commenter-to-commenter contacts here, it usually involves asking a front-pager first for the email address of the fellow jackal you need to contact, giving a good reason. This way, you avoid exposing your personal email address to all and sundry.

    A book by Dan Erlewine, star of StewMac’s YouTube channel? Thank you for your very kind offer. Let me meditate for a bit on the price of shipping it to Malaysia, and I’ll get back to you

  112. 112.

    aimai

    @JMG: Exactly. Its so deeply embedded in so many kinds of (white) people that its as true for the left as it is for the right, as is misogyny. TheVox article on Kelly’s lies about the Congresswoman could not even bring itself to admit what is patently obvious: he lied about the congresswoman because he wanted to. Because she is a woman, a black woman, and a black woman democrat. All those things made her actions a challenge to his power and authority. He didn’t “make a mistake” or “misremember” or somewhat misrepresent. He was angry with her and he wanted to find a way to make his/trumps embarrassment her fault.

  113. 113.

    kindness

    We’re not alone in the universe no two ways about it. But those others have to be betting we don’t survive this stage of our development. Wonder what that odds board looks like.

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    @aimai: And a mouthy black woman.

    Publicizing the sacred, sacred POTUS to widow condolence call.

    The one in which Trump could not even remember the deceased soldier’s name.

    WaPost: Fallen soldier’s mother: ‘Trump did disrespect my son’

    The mother of a soldier killed in an ambush in Africa said Wednesday that President Trump “did disrespect my son” with remarks in a condolence telephone call.

    Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Washington Post that she was present during the call from the White House on Tuesday to Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson. She also stood by an account of the call from Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) that Trump told Myeshia Johnson that her husband “must have known what he signed up for.”

    “President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Jones-Johnson said.

    Trump lashed back at Wilson. He denied her account in a Twitter message Wednesday. He said he had “proof” that the exchange did not go as Wilson had described. Trump did not elaborate, but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president had not taped the conversation. She said several White House staffers were in the room during the call, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.

    Sanders described Trump’s call as “completely respectful.” [Which, the WaPost infers, is total hearsay.]

    …. Wilson had said that the Johnson family was “astonished” by Trump’s remarks during the call, which Wilson said she heard via a speakerphone while riding in a limousine with the Johnson family. “She was crying the whole time, and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’ That’s the hurting part.” Wilson told MSNBC on Wednesday that Johnson’s widow was shaken by the exchange.

    Wilson went on to say Trump “was almost like joking. He said, ‘Well, I guess you knew’ — something to the effect that ‘he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway.’ You know, just matter-of-factly, that this is what happens, anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die. That’s the way we interpreted it. It was horrible. It was insensitive. It was absolutely crazy, unnecessary. I was livid.”

    “She was in tears. She was in tears. And she said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’ ”

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Elizabelle: Trump continues to show us all, every day, that he’s a brain damaged monster. And the people around him who voluntarily took political appointments with him are monsters too. There’s no other conclusion that can be reached.

    Condolences to Johnson’s family, and to everyone else that Trump and his minions have damaged.

    Grrr…

    Rep. Wilson was unopposed in the 2016 general election, but she’ll be getting a donation from me after the Virginia races are over in November.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    randy khan

    @SFAW:

    Of course, Shitgibbon is somewhat taller than she is, so it would have been a little tough to reach his triple-chinned face. But I have faith in Hillary.

    Me, too, although he might have run away to avoid contact. The guy is a coward.

  119. 119.

    tobie

    Betty Cracker’s post yesterday about pension funds investing in Mercer’s hedge fund Renaissance Technologies came at just the right time. It ends up that I ran into a Baltimore city council member yesterday and immediately alerted her to the Think Progress piece. The council member said she would talk to the firefighter’s association about this investment. We’ll see what happens. It’s a start.

  120. 120.

    Gator90

    I would like to think that John Kellyanne’s disgusting display — pimping his dead son to impugn the character of a black woman who had the nerve to accurately repeat Donald Trump’s words — would kill for all time the media narrative of JK as an honorable, selfless patriot who hates the political nature of his present job but does it out of a soldierly sense of duty. I would like to think that.

  121. 121.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I see Fat Donny has take to concern trolling Wilson. I guess Trump has started a magically journy of discovery were he will find out that those majority Democratic districts utterly loath him and so if anything Trump’s attacks are increasing Wilson’s approval numbers. I think Wilson needs a bigger hat since it irritates the conservatives lol

  123. 123.

    MattF

    Via Politico, re: Trump’s Opioid crisis plan:

    President Donald Trump overrode his own advisers when he promised to deliver an emergency declaration next week to combat the nation’s worsening opioid crisis.

    “That is a very, very big statement,” he said Monday. “It’s a very important step. … We’re going to be doing it in the next week.”

    Blindsided officials are now scrambling to develop such a plan, but it is unclear when it will be announced, how or if it will be done, and whether the administration has the permanent leadership to execute it, said two administration officials.

    “They are not ready for this,” a public health advocate said of an emergency declaration after talking to Health and Human Services officials enlisted in the effort.

    Quelle surprise!

  124. 124.

    HRA

    Hilary should have given him some physical pain for being a stalker during the debate. It really made me angry to watch it.

    I am back from my 3 full days in NJ and NYC. Then meeting a 4th child and her spouse half way home at a restaurant celebration. It was a wonderful celebration with 4 of my children as I begin today into my next decade today on the day I was born.

    I have to add I did not see or hear anything for those days about the head idiot and it was great to get away from it all. I did miss BJ.
    . .

  125. 125.

    MomSense

    @randy khan:

    All she would have had to do is taunt him, make him try and catch her, and then watch him keel over. My guess is it would have taken five minutes tops. She wouldn’t have had to touch him. The asshole can’t even get through reading a speech from a TelePrompTer without being out of breath. No stamina. SAD!

  130. 130.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @randy khan:

    If only Hillary had cursed on the campaign trail . . .

    (j/k, in case anyone can’t tell.)

    It certainly wouldn’t have hurt since the press had labeled her a bitch already.

  133. 133.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: I guess Alain is changing the oil on the hamsters or something.

    As I was saying, …

    Don’t let things here get to you. It’s appropriate for us to argue about tactics and the like, and to have different takes on things. Mutual admiration societies are boring and don’t help us find ways to make things better. We all, or the vast majority of regulars here, pretty much want the same things.

    I value your contributions here.

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  134. 134.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    Belated Good Morning to you, rikyrah! I’ve already had coffee, which is why I’m late responding. Going out to garden soon.

  135. 135.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @HRA: I wish Hillary had just turned around and laughingly said: “Donald, what are doing? Wow you are pathetic!”

  137. 137.

    BretH ok

    @p.a.: @Amir Khalid: ah, Malaysia. Yeah you could probably find it cheaper in some way. Didn’t know he had s YouTube channel – it’s likely there’s nothing really new in the book that isn’t there.

  140. 140.

    Elizabelle

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: A mouthy woman in a hat!

    LOL, I registered that too. And how funny that it’s bothering conservatives.

    Shades of the p uss y hats. They were up in arms over that too.

    To hats, my friends. Stay mouthy.

  141. 141.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: I am a military brat and my alarm bells over Kelly at his presser are going off, like klaxons.

    We can both appreciate the very difficult work our military does, and avoid fetishization of the military. That’s one of the first steps on slippery slope to dictatorship.

  145. 145.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Raven: Generals are going to save us from T, then it was Generals are going to save us from nuclear holocaust. After honorable and noble CoS lied about a representative, its all about how it he is some canary in a coal mine about military-civilian relationships. Not how he elevated armed forces over all democratic institutions in his speech.
    Yes these narratives have been proven to be full of horseshit.
    I have been attacked since January for my skepticism over all the General worship in the comment section.

  149. 149.

    Baud

    @Uncle Ebeneezer: She called him Putin’s Puppet and was 100% accurate. I would have liked to have seen a lot of things, but she was plenty left tough on him. People were drunk on hate, however, so it didn’t matter.

  153. 153.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Elizabelle: Their honorable service in the military doesn’t immediately mean that they would be wonderful administrators. Even journalists are loath to the question them.
    As the DHS chief Mr. Kelly showed little regard for the due process rights of immigrants, yes even the legal kind.

  154. 154.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: see comment 151

    For you, I figured out how to post a link. Though I am not sure anyone else does it via emailing themselves.

  157. 157.

    ArchTeryx

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Wow. Even for Stephen King, that’s an amazingly creepy story. “Sometimes They Come Back” with rats. I don’t have the phobia of rats that a lot of folks have so I might just sit back and give it a watch.

    (And if you do have a phobia of rats, do not ever read his short story Graveyard Shift. Ever. )

  159. 159.

    schrodingers_cat

    @raven: I was called a troll for expressing reservations about the generals in the administration . I was also told that Mr. Kelly’s behavior was justified because he was doing his duty and following orders regarding the travel ban and the incarceration and deaths in detention under his DHS leadership. The only problem with the first travel ban was its roll out.
    ETA: The administration has revised their travel ban 3 times, so roll out was not the only problem.

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    @FlipYrWhig: Adam’s post yesterday rubbed her the wrong way (and there’s some other history with some other commenters)…

    IMHO, it’s a little too easy to read some of Adam’s posts as being somehow supportive of the military structure and the particular personnel when he’s mainly (again IMHO) trying to be professional and dispassionate about explaining the way things are (not necessarily about the ways he thinks they should be).

    And the “canary in a coal mine” idiom can be interpreted several ways, also too.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    d58826

    @Raven: I was going to comment on this. If the American version is correct it means there were terrorists in an area in which they were not supposed top be. Since the terrorists were now aware of the American presence, why didn’t the patrol leader break off the mission and return to base. Or when reaching the village put in a call for backup before heading home?

    If the Nigerian version is correct then what in heavens name was the the patrol leader thinking? They were lightly armed. had no air cover, had no backup on call and no information about the size of the terrorist group. Who did he think he was – General Custer?

  162. 162.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Another Scott: Adam thinks Steven Miller is the root cause of all these human rights abuses and anti-immigrant initiatives. What the hell are these men doing if they are being rolled over constantly by the 30 year old. There are only 2 conclusions to draw, they like what Miller is doing or else they are inept at their new jobs.
    ETA: It also means that they have little if any influence on the President.
    ETA2: According to the yes man chorus there is only one way to interpret a canary in the coal mine.

  165. 165.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Another Scott: “Some people disagree with me” is really not the same as “everyone disagrees with me and I am noble, angry and brave to endure it.” It’s getting tedious.

  168. 168.

    raven

    @Another Scott:And some other asshole who I’ve never seen here chimes in and says Adam in “sucking Kelly’s dick”. Adam is never anything but respectful here even if you don’t agree with him. If I were him I’d say fuck it.

  175. 175.

    Amir Khalid

    @BretH ok:
    It’s actually Stewart McDonald’s channel; Erlewine’s the host of many of their videos, which do indeed cover many topics of interest to the guitar player who wants to do his own mods/repairs.

  176. 176.

    d58826

    After Kelly’s son was killed while serving in Afghanistan, the chief of staff recalled, his own best friend had consoled him by saying that his son “was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one per cent.” Trump apparently tried to replicate this message when he told Johnson that her husband, La David, had known what he was signing up for.

    It’s one think when your best friend says this vs. when a total stranger say’s it, even if it POTUS. Both were long serving career officers and the speak the idiom of their chosen profession. The people in that car didnot have that frame of reference top understand what Der Fuhrer was saying, even if he had been more articulate then usual.

  178. 178.

    raven

    EBT
    October 20, 2017 at 9:48 pm
    @Adam L Silverman: His holding a government job for 30 years doesn’t actually entitle him to any deference or respect. You can stop sucking his dick any time you choose to.

  179. 179.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: Do you mean his posts like this one?:

    I originally did this as a comment to BettyC’s post, but decided I wanted to elevate it to the front page, make a tweak or two, and add a couple of additional points.

    The President’s remarks today are clearly a Stephen Miller authored speech. With the exception of the Rocket Man quip. It is Miller channeling all of his own naive, arrested development sense of entitlement, paranoia, pettiness, grievances, anger, rage, and woeful ignorance of foreign and national security policy and strategy, the global system and how it works, and any state and society other than the US. It is also Miller channeling the President’s naive sense of entitlement, paranoia, pettiness, grievances, anger, rage, and woeful ignorance of foreign and national security policy and strategy, the global system and how it works, and any state and society other than the US. The ego fluffing bits about how great things are in the US under the President are Miller making sure his boss’s ego is stroked.

    […]

    This speech is a good example of the limits of the abilities of the reasonable advisors and staffers to constrain and contain the President, his worst impulses, and the worst impulses of his advisors such as Miller. I think it is highly likely that there was originally a draft speech prepared and vetted through the Interagency with inputs from Secretaries Mattis and Tillerson, LTG McMaster, Ambassador Haley, Gary Cohn, and others which was then handed to Stephen Miller by the President with instructions to MAGA it up. And MAGA it up he did. Eventually the bad reviews will filter up to the President’s attention, whether tonight when he’s back in the residence this evening on his own watching cable TV or tomorrow morning when he’s watching Morning Joe. At that point expect the usual tweetstorm.

    I don’t see anything wrong with his presentation of the structure of Trump’s advisors and how things likely went with that speech.

    He doesn’t say that Mattis and McMaster are somehow good guys or that they are reasonable advisors. He’s saying that those people have certain positions in the Trump White House but that Donnie had Miller MAGA-up the speech.

    If one is a strong believer in institutions, and if one thinks that people in assigned roles in an institution have a responsibility to confine themselves to their assigned roles, then one is at the mercy of the guy or gal at the top.

    IOW, there is another choice in your scenario – the people serving as SecDef and NSA and DHS secretary and the rest could be great, but they’re powerless if Trump undercuts them. That’s not saying that Adam is supporting Mattis and McMaster and Kelly or that he likes having ex-generals in those positions.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  180. 180.

    FlipYrWhig

    @schrodingers_cat: Not that you need to listen to me but my best advice for sanity’s sake is to try not to reheat old arguments from thread to thread for months. I learned it after realizing a few years back how much time I was spending sparring with Corner Stone, and that no one else really wanted to watch that day in and day out.

  183. 183.

    schrodingers_cat

    @FlipYrWhig: Good advice. I have become obsessive about this issue about how immigrants are being treated. For the first time in my twenty plus years in this country I don’t feel safe and I don’t feel like I belong, even though I just became a citizen recently. I need to tune out.

  184. 184.

    worn

    @Uncle Cholmondeley: Amir: also important thing in muffling the hum single coils are known for is to make sure the circuit uses ‘star grounding’ (ie, all of the grounding goes to a single point), which eliminates ground loops. Google is your friend on this one, for a more technical description is too much for me to type on my phone while about to board a plane.

    Oh, and thanks Odie – gonna go have to look up that paint you describe. Seems like a nifty product!

  185. 185.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Amir Khalid:

    I wouldn’t fancy having to buy an expensive litre can (or bigger) of the stuff for just the one guitar.

    Simple solution to that problem: buy more guitars

  186. 186.

    FlipYrWhig

    @schrodingers_cat: I feel that and we’re all watching the same things with dismay and you’re not alone and I hope you don’t feel alone either here or in the meat-space world.

  188. 188.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @ArchTeryx:

    Graveyard Shift was another amazing story.

    I’ve always thought that his best work was his short stories and novellas – he’s forced to be spare.

  189. 189.

    worn

    @Amir Khalid: Amir: also important thing in muffling the hum single coils are known for is to make sure the circuit uses ‘star grounding’ (ie, all of the grounding goes to a single point), which eliminates ground loops. Google is your friend on this one, for a more technical description is too much for me to type on my phone while about to board a plane.

    Oh, and thanks Odie – gonna go have to look up that paint you describe. Seems like a nifty product!

  191. 191.

    MomSense

    @RedDirtGirl:

    Thank you so much for being with the family through this. I can’t be there but I also feel weird coming in when I never met them before this. I think A was at school briefly last week and her housemates really want her to be with them when she can. I hope I can find a way to be supportive going forward.

  192. 192.

    MoxieM

    @Elizabelle: Let us pause for a moment to remember Bella Abzug, another mouthy woman in a hat who really knew how to get stuff done, and piss the guys off in the process. How we miss you Bella!

  193. 193.

    Heidi Mom

    @ArchTeryx: Graveyard Shift was one of several terrifying stories in that collection, the name of which I can’t recall. There was one about an empty church and a Bible, another about an out-of-state family forced to abandon their car in Salem’s Lot (“Do deer’s eyes look red in the dark? Because I saw red eyes back there” — or something to that effect). Not sure it was in the same collection, but he even managed to write a scary story about a washing machine. The man is a master at what he does, as well as a philanthropist and a great Democrat.

  194. 194.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: We are so proud and happy to have you as a fellow American citizen. And blog commenter.

    No doubt you don’t feel safe. We are here for you. And there are more of us than there are those who would take us into fascism.

  196. 196.

    MomSense

    @Heidi Mom:

    Deer eyes glow in the dark when your headlights shine on them but I don’t remember that they glow red. I just saw one in the woods the other day right in front of me on the trail. It just stared for a long time and my dog stared back until it finally took offf.

  197. 197.

    Brachiator

    @Heidi Mom:

    .Graveyard Shift was one of several terrifying stories in that collection, the name of which I can’t recall.

    I was never much of a reader of King’s stories. Nothing against him, just had lots of other stuff on my must read list.

    But I’ve really enjoyed and been intrigued by the comments here and am going to go back and do some catch-up.

  198. 198.

    Elizabelle

    @MoxieM: I remember Bella Abzug.

    Trump’s admin may help grow two industries: expatriates and hats for women, or anyone who wants to get out there and protest the lunacy.

    We need to be out in the streets. He is not hearing us here. We are not showing our actual numbers, and strength in numbers.

  200. 200.

    Elizabelle

    @Heidi Mom: Thanks for the Stephen King discussion by you and others.

    Might have to see what’s available in the library.

    Great suggestion, whoever spoke of short stories and novellas. “Different Seasons” was top calibre, maybe because of the precision and editing required.

  202. 202.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah. That’s the best part.

    Sgt. Johnson.

    And he could have written down

    La David
    Myeshia (sp?)
    Cowanda

    True, not names found in his family, like Ivanka.

    But he could have put one minute of preparation into making that call. And. the. fucker. did. not.

    And now his howler monkeys are screaming about the congresswoman, not the fact that the condolence call was shabby as all get out.
    And very late in coming.

  204. 204.

    MomSense

    @Elizabelle:

    He could have just apologized. My guess is that he tried to mimic a message Kelly recounted to him and it came across as without feeling. I also think that particular message d kivered with emotion is more appropriate service member to service member. It’s not what a civilian family member would find comforting.

  207. 207.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    And if he didn’t want to have to remember first names, “Mrs. Johnson” and “Sgt. Johnson” would have been perfectly fine, and maybe come across as even more respectful.

    But, no, he couldn’t even be arsed to do that, and now he’s pissed that he’s not getting a “10 out of 10” for doing the absolute bare minimum required.

  208. 208.

    lollipopguild

    @Elizabelle: Trump does not “hear” people. I have a brother in law who is trump’s mini-me, and he does not “hear” other people. They are in their own little world and willfully ignore people and events they do not like.

  209. 209.

    Heidi Mom

    @MomSense: Ah, but vampires’ eyes look red at night — that’s what the poor, innocent schmuck of a tourist was seeing. They might even have been the eyes of his loved ones because, as one of the locals said to another, “Maybe they’ve already been got at.” Wow, King’s writing does leave a strong impression — it’s been decades since I read those stories!

  212. 212.

    RedDirtGirl

    @MomSense: Thanks. It’s so odd that two random commenters on this blog are linked quite closely, albeit, tragically. Is your son going to the service tomorrow?

  214. 214.

    No Drought No More

    From No More Mr Nice blog: “But Bannonism and Donnellyism have a lot in common. Here’s a moment from Bannon’s speech:… Bannon’s attacks on establishment politicians were generally well received. When he mentioned Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain — the former POW whose name was met with boos — someone in the audience yelled, “Hang him!”

    Who would have guessed? Who would have thought those nuts were actually going easy on Hillary in their calls that she be jailed?

    Thanks again for last night’s Snagglepuss post. I laughed myself to sleep. I saw the poster and was intrigued because the name rang a bell. I recalled that Snagglepuss was a cartoon character from my early childhood, but still the poster made no sense at that point. So I highlighted the name, clicked Mr. Google. I then laid eyes on a cartoon character that I hadn’t given so much as a seconds thought to for over half a century, but instantly recalled. It was hilarious to have the poster’s meaning click in that instant, too, and it made me laugh like I haven’t laughed in a long time. It was great being caught flat-footed by the laughter, as it was merely a simple and idle curiosity that prompted me to google the name in the first place. I didn’t expect a pay-off, but gone one. Thanks again..

  219. 219.

    Heidi Mom

    @Elizabelle: Maybe we could have an occasional book-themed open thread — What are you reading now? Which writers have impressed you lately? Has anyone actually read Lincoln in the Bardo? (Yes,it’s great, not least because the author gets Lincoln right, IMHO.) If you love mysteries/science fiction/whatever, who are your favorite authors? We’ve had occasional discussions about books in threads on other topics, but an actual thread for readers would be great — again, IMHO.

  223. 223.

    Elizabelle

    @Heidi Mom: I love that idea. What are we reading?

    Would be a relief from the often sour Trump-themed threads. There is only so much swimming in a toilet bowl that most people are up to …

    Have not read “Bardo.” Good to see it get the Man Booker. A few months down the list for me. But Stephen King just rose to the top. I love junk food reading that turns out not to be junk.

  226. 226.

    MomSense

    @RedDirtGirl:

    No, he can’t be there either. He had a non refundable ticket for this weekend out of state.

    It has been tough at their house the last two weeks. This hit them all really hard and of course they are worried about A. And then another housemate’s friend was the victim of a multiple shooting in RI. So I’m thinking that when A returns to BH there will be the need for bringing up food and checking in with all of them.

  228. 228.

    MattF

    @Heidi Mom: Haven’t read Lincoln in the Bardo, but I feel wary about it– I read some of Saunders’ short stories and didn’t like them. He seems to be a ‘writer’s writer’… which is fine, but not for me.

    In any case, I’ve been reading mostly genre (Scifi/Fantasy) lately– e.g., Stross, Jemisin, Gladstone, Leckie, plus some history. I’d be interested in the new Grant biography… or maybe (re)reading Grant’s memoirs… or maybe China Mieville’s new book on the October Revolution.

  229. 229.

    Mnemosyne

    Speaking of Stephen King, Charlotte just heard the vacuum turn on in the other room, so I know what the poor kitty is going to have nightmares about tonight. ?

  230. 230.

    Spanky

    @OzarkHillbilly: You have weird deer. I’ve only seen amber reflections from whitetails.

    (Originally typed “shitetails”, more useful as an adjective for the original subject in this here thread.)

  231. 231.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    Hmmm. To me, “mouthpiece” is more what KellyAnne or the Possum Queen does — go out in front of the world to spout the administration’s line. The Possum Queen seems to be more of a true believer than KellyAnne.

    “Ghost writer” is more what Miller does of (mostly) staying behind the scenes and writing the pieces that then get shoved out as policy. Miller is a true believer, too, but I also think that what he writes are Trump’s beliefs and policies. He’s not putting words into Trump’s mouth — he’s writing what Trump wants him to write.

  232. 232.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    Trump’s problem with calls to bereaved families starts with neither him nor anyone around him realizing he should do something. He could have set any policy he wanted. Maybe the military calls because they’re best at this and he doesn’t know if he would do it well. Then he sends a formal letter of condolence to each family. That would work. But he did nothing.

    So then when he was asked about it, he had no answer and fell back on lying. Now he’s playing catch up, and he’s not doing it well. Same for everyone who works for him.

  233. 233.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne: I turned off CNN a while back when they got to the clip of Bannon shitting up the stage with a speech in California.

    He spoke the words “Trump’s ideals …”

    Click. Does not compute. Ideal and Trump cannot be in the same sentence.

    I wonder if Bannon is helping to make Goldman Sachs even more toxic.

  235. 235.

    MattF

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): As long as the policy requires playing golf Trump will be OK with it. I know it’s petty to complain about that, but Trump’s insistance on taking mulligans and then boasting about how great he is at golf is a miniature version of what I intensely dislike about him.

  236. 236.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’ve only seen him acting as a spokesman (more accurately, a spokesmonster), but if he in fact is writing policy, then you’d be correct.

  241. 241.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie: Guilt by association. Fine by me.

    Tax all those fuckers into oblivion. Their private hoards of wealth are killing our democracy. Burn the Mercers. No one should have enough money to buy our government and corrupt it, but that’s exactly what those fuckers did.

    Give them the medicine they fear. It’s them or us.

  243. 243.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
    He can’t do normal because he isn’t even close to normal in any way shape or form.
    Or…..
    He does weird shit because he’s a weird shit.
    We all should be able to see that nothing normal is going to come out of this WH till the head asshole is no longer there. And depending on who gets to sit in the funny shaped office next will determine if it ever gets back to anything approaching normal.

    Can we move on to figuring out ways to legally remove him from the building? Or at least how to survive till he’s gone? Is there anyone here who isn’t full to the brim of his and everyone that is in his immediate circle’s bullshit? I didn’t think so. We have some smart people here, can we at least discuss possibilities?

  244. 244.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Spanky:

    You’re a bad man (although that would be an an option I would probably take.)

    Thank you! After getting another guitar or two, you should get another set of golf clubs, too. And you can never have enough drivers. Or heavy putters. Or Cleveland wedges.

  245. 245.

    MattF

    @Steve in the ATL: Tsok. ‘Fitting in’ was not part of my collegiate repertoire.

    Some years ago, I ran into an old college friend– I mentioned ruefully that I wasn’t a very good student in college. She gaped and then laughed. “You were a terrible student.” Sad, but true.

  247. 247.

    Elizabelle

    @Ruckus: I am sick of the fuckers who tell us nothing can be done, and even suggest he’s on track for re-election.

    This has been about 10 months, and it is the worst 10 months (politically) that I have ever seen in my life. I was too young in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination, but it’s not like LBJ was going to undo everything he’d done and take the country back into the Civil War.

  249. 249.

    MomSense

    @RedDirtGirl:

    I know. The young man in RI died last weekend. He was only 25. The good news is that the college is a really close community so both As will get a lot of caring and support.

    If you think your friend would want to meet or if she needs anything, my schedule lightens up a bit after this week. I’m trying to help my parents with all the house projects before they leave for the winter.

  250. 250.

    Tenar Arha

    @MattF: It’s the little things that are, in the end, the most telling. Using his ski pole to foul his own teenage son’s ski tips in a race that was supposed to be for fun or his angry response to losing to Ivana is the same as the mulligans. The same as taking the credit and center stage for a charity he never even donated to. He’s both a sore winner and a sore loser and has no class. He’s vile.

    ETA I said to a friend of mine that the reason I wish there was something organically wrong with him is that I don’t want to believe that such a vile angry mean petty awful man exists in the world without any functional explanation. (Banality of this evil without explanation is confounding to me).

  251. 251.

    henqiguai

    @debbie (#81): By now I’m sure someone has answered this, but…

    @debbie: I read somewhere that the statutory hold period on JFK files is about to expire.

    Right, so why herald this now? Unless …

    I believe the dropdead date is 26 October; next week. Probably nothing more than a convenient coincidence.

  252. 252.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:
    He did try to kill a lot of us, even if it was unintentional. But yes he did some good as well. But mostly he set back the democratic party for a long time. I believe that his actions allowed Nixon to position himself to win. And that worked out well. Who did the dems have after LBJ for quite a while?
    Oh and Fuck LBJ. And FUCK Fucking Cancer

  253. 253.

    Ruckus

    @Tenar Arha:
    I don’t care why he’s the asshole that he is, I just want him off the stage and back where he can’t fuck us over everyday, unless one is willing to pay $200,000 for a golf club membership. I’ve never paid that much for a house and they didn’t come with a crazy, racist asswipe.

  254. 254.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steve in the ATL:
    I am thinking about that, actually. Maybe a low-end Strat, like a Squier Bullet, to have a go at levelling, crowning, and polishing the frets, and at vibrato setup. Make her look sweet: silver-mirror pickguard on an Arctic white body, aluminium* tape shielding, locking tuners. Not right away, of course.

    *For some reason, aluminum is not available in Malaysia.

  255. 255.

    Tenar Arha

    @Ruckus:

    IIRC There’s really only three legal ways to get a President out of office:
    – 25th amendment
    – impeachment
    – electing someone else

    But putting pressure on state government and on congress is the way to fight him making too many permanent changes. That has been working. We absolutely need to stop local & state voter suppression in the courts and in public opinion though, in order to win elections.

    You’re right though. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves we should start working on ways to prevent future presidents and DOJ from cooperating to deform and change laws. I’m neither a lawyer, nor an expert in government, but with this DOJ, Supreme Court and a President who thinks norms, tradition, and regulations don’t apply our actual democracy is endangered & I have no idea how we make it possible to prevent this same thing from happening in the future.

  257. 257.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Amir Khalid: definitely get one with a with locking nut, especially on a Strat, if you’re going to use vibrato

    aluminium* tape shielding … *For some reason, aluminum is not available in Malaysia.”

    Don’t blame us that the Brits taught you people to spell incorrectly! Now go buy The Girl some nice jewellery.

  258. 258.

    J R in WV

    @HRA:

    Happy Birth Day, HRA!!!

    I’ve just planted two rhododendron bushes, in a crevice between two of our front boulders. Living in the woods, it’s all steep forest floor, boulders and cliffs. Most of the boulders are covered with moss and ferns and little wildflowers. But no local native rhodos.

    Some of the neighborhood hollows that are narrow and shady have hemlock in them, not close to us but within a few hundred yards. We’ve planted rhodos around, but none have really taken off yet. We also have some more maidenhair ferns to plant, they go faster than the rhodos, which need a big hole. The last hole I dug was basically floored with oak root, so the rhodo will have to just get along with the oak tree beside the crevice.

    Lots of native ferns, but of course right around the house the forest floor is gone, so we’re planting new ferns in subsoil and mulching them in. Hostas too, and coral bells, which we have native, so planting more goes well. Solomons Seal too, does real well. The maidenhair ferns are some of my favorites, so delicate. Forest gardening.

  259. 259.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Don’t blame us that the Brits taught you people to spell incorrectly! Now go buy The Girl some nice jewellery.

    Now you’re just throwing Amir to the kerb.

  261. 261.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    You aren’t the only person who doesn’t feel all that safe here anymore, and 3 of my four grandparents were from families who have been here a very long time.

    Paternal grandfather was born here, but his parents didn’t speak anything but Switzerdeutsch at home. Granddad didn’t start to speak English til he started grade school. With a 9th grade education, raised in the County Orphanage, taught to be a typesetter before they had linotype machines to do that, became a successful business owner running a publishing company.

  263. 263.

    Karen

    @J R in WV: is your soil acidy enough for the rhodos? mine did best among pines, that and azaleas; and one thing really strange I found that they do best in areas where have deep frost or mine did. I tried in CA and Utah but got nothing like did in WI. Or maybe it was just planting them on edge of pine grove that made the difference.

  264. 264.

    J R in WV

    @Brachiator:

    My experience is that King’s stuff is a little erratic. Some is great, others are meh, but scary.

    One called Duma Key, about an injured man who moves to the Florida Gulf Coast keys after he is badly hurt and his family killed. A good novel, good characters with personality, extra interesting to me because I spent time at my parent’s FL home just a few miles from the scene of the action, which went clear back to pirate days once the protagonists started to root into the history of what was happening to them.

    Ooh, Google tells me it’s also a movie… oops, no, it’s “in development”… it will make a good one if talented folks work on it. Anyway, a good book, especially if you’ve visited Venice / Sarasota area in FL, ever. I’ve ridden the bike on the key next to where King puts Duma key, glad it wasn’t published until long after we were visiting there.

    Fascinating part of FL, though. The Ringling Circus, now gone, was still winter HQ there, such interesting people around.

  265. 265.

    Karen

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: For the most part I enjoy King’s works, but with all the hoopla about Dark Tower series finally read the first one. No desire to read any more of them; King reminds me of Poe. I still remember first time I read “Tell Tale Heart” it probably wouldn’t have scared me so badly if hadn’t been watching the Alfred Hitchcock show that same night.

  266. 266.

    Karen

    I can only take so much of the sh*t going on around us, so am rereading some of paranormal romances; but first started with the “Lensman series” I have a few classic sci-fi books that remind me of when robots and space travel was fantasy.

  267. 267.

    Ruckus

    @Tenar Arha:
    OK, that’s what I’m talking about.
    Yes there are only 3 obvious legal ways to get him gone.
    1. Wait him out
    This seems to be the best way as we can get rid of the entire mess at that time. However that’s over 3 times longer than we’ve suffered so far. Seems a bit too long.
    2. Impeachment
    The squirrels in congress would make a mess of this and would probably never even try. They have a chance to get their rotten agenda done. Would dense be any better for them? Plus they’d be screwing their own party.
    3. 25th.
    Well this seems to be the best but his cabinet is made up of people who stand to gain financially by being where they are so I don’t see this happening. Plus dense. On the other hand if he pisses off dense enough……. Also this takes congress to approve so……
    4. We haven’t mentioned this very much but what if he gets convicted of buying the election with Russian collusion? Can he be? Can he pardon himself? I can’t see how but then IANAL either.

  268. 268.

    JAFD

    @RedDirtGirl: My thoughts and prayers are with you. Will send some energy northeastwards for them.

    Very good friend of mine, teriffic person, his brother died this week. He’d been battling multiple sclerosis for years – when I first met him, five years ago, was trying hard to keep getting around with walker or crutches, not be permanently in wheelchair. Brave person and family who were under years of stress, sometimes it broke thru, he and they kept on. Troubles in my life, there have been, but I don’t know if I could have ‘walked in their moccasins’.

  269. 269.

    J R in WV

    @Tenar Arha:

    IIRC There’s really only three legal ways to get a President out of office:
    – 25th amendment
    – impeachment
    – electing someone else

    You forgot… make him so miserable he resigns!!

    That probably would take help from the MSM fools, so might be hard!

  271. 271.

    J R in WV

    @Karen:

    The soil is pretty acid, and we use acidic miracle-gro to water them, as our well water is pH 8.2, which is really unusual here. There are some seams of crumbly limestone, which encourages what we call cedar trees, actually eastern juniper technically, I think.

    But ferns do well, native ferns are green all year around. We have pine too, in horizontal belts along the hillsides. Where the underlying strata suits their needs.

  272. 272.

    Karen

    @J R in WV: so lack of acid isn’t your problem, maybe too acid? I never use miracle gro; but then only use organics. only other thing I can think of is that not enough room for roots to spread out? I know that both Rhododendrons and Azaleas do best without a lot of competition

  273. 273.

    J R in WV

    WV is full of native rhodos and azaleas in the hardwood forest, which is we’re planting them. And we always gardened the veggie gardens organically, but we’re talking about a couple of acres of forested hillsides, doing that with organic mulch would be too much like work… I’m too old to garden ornamentals organically in the woods.

    I’ll send Alain some photos around the farm sometime soon. It’s a pretty place. Private, dark at night, no streetlights in view at all. Some neighbors tore down the old Baptist church a few years ago and when they built the new one they put dusk-to-dawn lights all around, fortunately we’re over the hill and around the hollow from there.

  274. 274.

    Heidi Mom

    @MattF: i have the Grant bio, and it’s excellent (of course). I’m reading about the Vicksburg campaign now. Chernow devotes a lot of attention to correcting the misconceptions about Grant’s character — he was an alcoholic and a binge drinker, not a drunkard; he was a brilliant military strategist, now a butcher; and he was a sensitive, highly literate, thoughtful man, not a boorish lout (as usually contrasted with Lee). Also a brilliant writer and the finest horseman many of his compatriots had ever seen. If you enjoy reading American history, the book is a worthwhile investment.

  275. 275.

    Tenar Arha

    @Ruckus:

    IIRC That Bill Clinton v. Paula Jones case does probably mean he can be tried in courts for things he did before elected. But that still won’t “force” him outta there soon unless GOP impeaches him.

    According to NYT? (? = I don’t remember anymore where or when I read this) he’s asked about his pardon power, & according to LGM? it’s pretty unlimited (except perhaps self-pardoning).

    Most recently it was confirmed during the Senate Judiciary hearing with Sessions, just this past week, Trump is interviewing candidates for AG’s in the main NY Federal Court that deals with prosecuting financial crimes. That’s the only AG position he’s interviewed candidates for, and this is one of those norms he’s completely ignoring. And that feels very much like how he got Comey alone and attempted to compromise him; he really acts almost like we’d see a mafia boss ask for loyalty or favors in the movies.

    @J R in WV: We’d still have to figure out how to prevent the next Trump. But yes, this would be great. I just don’t believe anymore that this will happen while the grift continues and the GOP is enabling him. (I try to keep a balance between hope and having no expectations).

  276. 276.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ruckus: Step 1 is getting as many Democrats as possible elected in state elections and in the midterms. There’s an unexpected advantage–the Republican Congressional majority is undisciplined and in disarray, and hasn’t actually been able to pass much. So in a sense, we’re halfway there already.

    It’s an uphill battle because of gerrymandering enabled by the losses all the way back in 2010, and the bad 2018 Senate map. But when these things flip, they can flip hard. Nothing much happens without more Democrats in office.

  277. 277.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tenar Arha: I think the Paula Jones case mainly established that the President could be sued, and forced to testify in a civil case. (That may well turn out to be relevant itself.) It didn’t say much of anything about criminal liability.

  278. 278.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Karen: Don’t read the bit in “First Lensman” about the Presidential election campaign. The “good guys” are fascist, demagogic creeps cut from the same cloth as Kelly–vote for us, we’re the military.

  280. 280.

    Gretchen

    I tried reading Lincoln in the Bardo and couldn’t get into it at all. So I should keep trying?

  281. 281.

    Heidi Mom

    @Gretchen: Not if you aren’t enjoying it. Comments I’ve seen elsewhere suggest that you either love it or hate it, so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea (or brand of vodka, as George Clooney said in Ocean’s Eleven).

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