Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Infrastructure week. at last.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Bark louder, little dog.

The willow is too close to the house.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

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

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Grab the BIG Prize!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Grab the BIG Prize!

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Apart from proudly owning your ambitions, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  1. 1.

    opiejeanne

    Mr opiejeanne and I will be in SoCal by Friday and don’t have to be back in Seattle until the 15th, so is anyone interested in a meet up? Bill in Glendale is already on board.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    what’s on the agenda for the day? Siding a barn. Looking for a high of 52. Autumn may have finally arrived.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    A cold front (relatively speaking) is pushing its way through the area. Just went outside, and it’s still pretty warm and humid, but the front is over us. Today’s high is in the low 80s. Tomorrow’s is 72! Love this time of year.

  8. 8.

    Kay

    First lady Melania Trump on Monday spotlighted prevention of school bullying, with a stop at a Michigan middle school where she chatted with students in a sixth-grade class working on an activity about social isolation and inclusion.

    .“By our own example, we must teach children to be good stewards of the world they will inherit. We need to remember that they are always watching and listening. It is our responsibility to take the lead in teaching children the values of empathy and communication that are at the core of kindness, mindfulness, integrity, and leadership,” Trump said in a statement announcing the visit.

    I love how they crammed every “good” word in a paragraph. She should get up and recite a list. “Mindfulness” even got in there, and (of course) “leadership”

    Anti-bullying actually seems to work so the Trumps should stay out of it. Don’t help! We’re doing fine!

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The latest abortion in Misery news:

    Burnett wrote that before granting the preliminary injunction, she would have to weigh the plaintiff’s probability of success, the threat of irreparable harm without an injunction, the harm the injunction would cause others, and the public interest.

    She said the plaintiffs did not establish a probability of success.

    Burnett wrote that on the plaintiffs’ three main points — that the provision impedes the rights of women, that it was drafted unconstitutionally and that it is vague and contradictory — that there was not “sufficient showing that Plaintiffs will succeed on the merits of these particular claims.”

    Burnett seemingly sided with Planned Parenthood and the ACLU on the question of whether there would be irreparable harm to women seeking abortions under the new same-physician provision.

    She said the defense admitted that the provision could cause “irreparable harm to some. Even so, this factor is just one of four that the Court must weigh.”

    On the third question, the plaintiffs argued the only adverse impact to the defense would be the state temporarily not being able to implement the rule. But the defense successfully argued they would also be impacted by the court “preventing the execution of duly enacted legislation.”

    Burnett said that plaintiffs could not argue harm caused based on the scarcity of abortion providers, impacted further by the same-physician requirement.

    “The issue of abortion provider scarcity is not one of the state’s making and, therefore, should not be considered by this Court in its consideration of the undue burden analysis,” Burnett wrote, ultimately deciding the “balance of harm” would be greater to the state if the injunction were issued.

    On the last question — the public interest in granting an injunction — Burnett said public interest aligned with not granting an injunction, because the Legislature, an elected body, enacted the requirement.

    I’m really having difficulty finding a public interest in a woman’s personal health care decisions, but that’s a thrice told story. But for the judge to say “The issue of abortion provider scarcity is not one of the state’s making”… Fer fucks sake, where has this woman been?

  12. 12.

    TriassicSands

    Sigh. Lucy is demonstrating hubris in a pure form. I am concerned that left unchecked she will come to no good — maybe not being able to see that delivery truck speeding down the street because her gargantuan toy blocks her field of view. Be safe, Lucy, get a smaller toy (or a transparent one, anyway).

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    Hurricane Irma wrecked our fences, which are still under repair. Only about a quarter of the property is completely fenced in at this point; we’re working on it as time permits. Yesterday, I screwed up and left a gate open, and when I let my dogs out to pee in the fenced part of the yard, they took off for an unsupervised tour of the neighborhood.

    I found them pretty fast, but not before Daisy whupped a pit bull’s ass! No one was injured, thank FSM! But according to a witness, the pit bull came charging out into the road to confront my runaways, and Daisy sent him yipping back to his own yard within seconds. She’s nearly 10, but she doesn’t take any shit from the young toughs. I’m sorry it happened through my negligence…but kind of proud of her!

  17. 17.

    TriassicSands

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    The thing about being associated with Trump is that he is so vile in so many ways that any associate who speaks out for something positive will automatically be a hypocrite. I started to write “look like,” but let’s face it, being married to Trump and making public statements condemning bullying is incredibly hypocritical. Just like it was monstrously hypocritical for Kelly to bemoan the loss of respect for Gold Star families, when it is the man he has chosen to work for who has made disrespect for Gold Star families a major hobby. With Trump as her husband, really, what positive thing could Melania Trump act as a spokesperson for that wouldn’t be hypocritical?

    Reading Trump’s statement as cited by Kay, I want to throw up. What on earth could she be thinking when she mouths those words?

  18. 18.

    Kay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    She missed the point. It isn’t about saying those things. They suggest the students perform specific acts- ask someone sitting alone at lunch to sit with you, that sort of thing. It’s almost a “fake it ’till you make it” kind of idea- even if you personally are a jerk you shouldn’t behave like one in school. They’re trying to create enough decent people to outnumber the Donald Trumps of the world by giving them a higher standard. It really does seem to work because most people will go along with the norm – there will always be Trumpian asshole outliers but they’re not the norm.

  19. 19.

    TriassicSands

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Isn’t a “big fan of toys” or a “fan of big toys?” I’m playing around, I know what you meant.

    It is cute watching Lucy wrestle with that behemoth, but it could be dangerous to let her run around outside with it.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    The other part of it is they’re supposed to actively counteract bullies- to intervene. In the piece her spokesperson says she’s not Trump (true!) but the whole point of the thing is the vast majority of people aren’t bullies either but they can’t let the bullies become the norm or the school will be a horrible place. They’ve studied this quite a bit. You feel bad when you watch someone being victimized even if you are not the victim because you’re ashamed to be part of it- to be a passive observer. The bully makes you complicit. It affects everyone. People don’t tell because they feel implicated- like they’re part of it.

    This whole concept may be too communal for conservatives. They’ll struggle with it.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It’s weird how the male Trumps are raging ids, attacking and demeaning any perceived enemies on sight without a thought for the consequences, while the female Trumps mouth scripted platitudes, presenting an ultra-curated image that invariably rings false. Hulk SMASH and Saccharine Stepford.

  24. 24.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    “Ultra curated” is perfect. The whole point of the thing is they give the kids specific actions to take – they don’t say “leadership!”, they say “invite someone who is sitting alone to your table”. These words don’t mean anything to them, nor to anyone else, really. These aren’t inherent qualities you are either born with or not- they can be insisted upon or encouraged.

    Saying “I’m not a bully” means she didn’t get it at all- most people aren’t.

  25. 25.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Betty Cracker: Not always

    Ivana Trump said the first step for America to regain respect is adopting the billionaire’s immigration policies.

    “And I’m an immigrant,” said Ivana, who was born in the Czech Republic.

    “As long as you come here legally and get a proper job … we need immigrants. Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don’t like to do that,” she added.

    The Republican presidential front-runner’s first wife insisted she has “nothing against Mexicans.”

    “But if they [come] here — like this 19-year-old, she’s pregnant, she crossed over a wall that’s this high. She gives birth in American hospital, which is for free. The child becomes American automatically,” she said. “She brings the whole family, she doesn’t pay the taxes, she doesn’t have a job, she gets housing, she gets the food stamps. Who’s paying? You and me.”

    (link)

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    My husband watched (part of) the Trump interview on Fox and Trump apparently brags about this- how he dominates the news cycle- sets it with his Tweets. That’s how this works. That’s how his (low) set of standards become the dominant theme. The same thing happens in a school, or a workplace. There are probably decent people at Fox who weren’t female so weren’t harassed but the culture was one where bullies dominated.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    I could have done without getting to know another Trump. They always seem to come in lower than one would hope.

    You have to love how there’s no reluctance to punch down- the 19 year old is an easy target so she gets the mean-spirited blast of hatred.

  28. 28.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    “You know, am I mad at God? Yeah, I’m mad at him,” the devout Catholic said on his subscription web series, according to CNN. “I wish I had more protection. I wish this stuff didn’t happen. I can’t explain it to you. Yeah, I’m mad at him.” (link)

    BillO is mad at God for not protecting him from the press for revealing he broke most of the 10 commandments.

  35. 35.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    According to the local news, they’ve built “samples” of the “Big Beautiful Wall” down near the border and Trump will come down later this week to “inspect” them.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    Trump’s fishy Puerto Rico power repair deal:

    $227.88 hrly rate for journeyman lineman? Plus $332/worker for nighttime accommodations & $80/day/worker for food? Something smells fishy!

    They make a lot for emergency repairs and it is on an island but that’s a crazy hourly rate.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    Maybe massive corruption will take Trump down. He’s a horrible manager and he hires horrible people so it must be getting swampy in there. People think the wave election of 2006 was about Iraq but it really wasn’t about that in Ohio- it was about huge corruption scandals. We had statewide GOP corruption that really soured the electorate on them- there was a sense they were out of control.

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Odd too that the company chosen for a $300M contract had just two employees when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and is owned by an acquaintance of Sec. Zinke.

  42. 42.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire)

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Ivana was a gold digging wannabe “model” before she even met and married Trump (basically the original Melania- or is Melania just Ivana 2.0?), so she’s set on permanent ignore. Actually, ANY Trump is set on permanent ignore.

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    “But if they [come] here — like this 19-year-old, she’s pregnant, she crossed over a wall that’s this high. She gives birth in American hospital, which is for free. The child becomes American automatically,” she said. “She brings the whole family, she doesn’t pay the taxes, she doesn’t have a job, she gets housing, she gets the food stamps. Who’s paying? You and me.”

    Ivana is very bitter about Melania, isn’t she? Just because her parents are living in Queens now, her son Barron gave her a permanent interest in Trump’s will, she’s squatting in the White House and her husband cheats on his taxes doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a bad person. Now, being willing to front for her old man’s evil policies…

  45. 45.

    Peale

    @Kay: pretty much guarantees that the already existing set of linemen will quit to apply for those jobs as they pay close $600 k per year. If I were a journeyman in PR, I’d be moving away immediately, since I doubt the ones already there get a raise.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    If you think about what the Trump Administration actually responded to, what they acted on, it was the charter jets scandal- ordinary theft and greed. They think corruption is damaging.

    The Trumps have never operated within a transparent and regulated environment, either. Being called to account is new to them. There was no bluster and lying about the charter jets because there were records and they couldn’t spin it in a racist way.

    They’ve been crooks their whole lives. It’s the most likely scenario- ordinary greed takes them down.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    They don’t want to take the jobs far away because a lot of them have families so they DO have to pay them a premium, but that is very high. One of my son’s co-workers signed up to do repairs on Guantanamo and he was the only taker in their group although they’re paying a lot. I would think the problem with such a small contractor is the contractor wouldn’t have a large set of workers he knows are good- the big ones have HUGE jobs- 400 journeymen- they are familiar with hundreds of workers.

  50. 50.

    Peale

    @Anne Laurie: I like too how she’s willing to undermine her ex husbands policy when it suits her. Those Mexicans are all taking jobs that white people want to have but cheap labor undercuts their salaries. That includes mowing your lawn and doing your dishes, nitwit. But she can’t imagine a world where she’d have to mow her own goddam lawn. Clean your own house, you lazy ingrate.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    They’re all so nasty. Just everything they say is so negative and mean-spirited. It’s either bragging or trashing someone else. There’s no opening they won’t take- the 19 year old? Fair game- let me give my loud-mouthed, ignorant opinion of this person!

  52. 52.

    Peale

    @Kay: I think the goal of the Democrats should be to create this generous social safety net that the GOP is convinced exists in this country that the immigrants and refugees are using to rip them off. At least then we could argue about the existence of actual people living high on the hog on your dime.

  53. 53.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire)

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, but Marla is American. To her credit (I guess), you don’t really hear Marla spouting off about immigrants.

    Ivana and Melanie are delusional. They’ll shit talk black, brown, or Muslim immigrants, but not a peep out of them about undocumented white immigrants. They can both go fuck themselves.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    Trump goes on Right wing media and lies about Obama’s approval rating and then lies about his own approval rating when comparing it to the (made up) Obama approval.

    He tells his fans this “guarantees” his re-elect. Which is sort of interesting only because he must know they’re worried about his approval rating.

    He really is obsessed with Obama. The black guy as president drove him right over the edge. Every speech, every interview.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    I just listened to Tillerson joking about trying to make trips to three different war zones in one day. First, fuck you. Second, I think he could accomplish that by just traveling to three different states in this country.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I haven’t looked at what she’s “rescinded” yet. These people are full of shit. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were complete bullshit to pander to her base. They’re fond of big, showy bullshit gestures. They made the announcement for the dopes in the base but they’re already saying it’s meaningless.

    DeVos doesn’t work a lot. Often her “public schedule” is completely empty. I don’t think she’ll get much done – she gives speeches to conservative groups on Mondays and Fridays on her way back to or out of work. I bet she puts in maybe 3 days a week.

  62. 62.

    TriassicSands

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us?

    OMG, she actually said that out loud. I suppose the only reason Donald got rid of her is that she got too old for him. Otherwise, it seems like a match made in (wherever PsOS like Ivana and Donald think of as heaven).

    @Kay:

    …it is on an island…

    Yes, it is an island, but not just any island.

    “It’s an island surrounded by…water, big water, ocean water.” (Donald J. Trump, Oceanographer, Islandographer, and Bigwaterographer)

  66. 66.

    bystander

    I wonder if celebrity chef John Beshis a Trumpleton. Glad to see he’ll be spending some quality time with his wife and children and Catholic faith.

    ETA Sorry it’s not really political, but I’m on overload. Twitler-fatigue is real. I just saw a Pharma ad for treating the symptoms. Unfortunately I’m currently in treatment for TB so not a candidate for the antidote.

  67. 67.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    Should have read further….
    What did he do?
    Whatever he did included absolute PROOF of what he did.
    I believe that it was a sexual assault , and, she either got it on tape, or took herself to the hospital immediately after and got a complete and thorough rape kit done.

    Can’t see it being anything but this.

  68. 68.

    Peale

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): well that’s what you’re getting, you racist, half wit corn hole scum. You’ve spent your time convincing your constituents that illegal Mexicans are a huge problem, so they are going to want a huge expensive solution. I think we should pay for it by ending the ethanol subsidy, don’t you? If the corn growers are so frightened by the Mexicans 1000 miles away, they must be willing to pay for it.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I’ve given up on that. Their best bet is to not challenge these type of lies- that’s a waste of time. They need documented evidence- scandals akin to the charter jet thing. That’s where he’s vulnerable. That takes a little while. The crooks have to be dug in to start thieving. Trump lies which goes to character but he also steals, and that can be proven. Follow the theft.

    They can lie but when they have to produce a document they stop. He wrote that 25K check THE DAY media revealed the promise. The prosecution of Ivanka that wasn’t pursued? That wasn’t based on what she said. It was based on emails they got where she and her brother are planning on how to lie to and rip off investors.

    The lying isn’t a one-off. They also steal and stealing isn’t a matter of opinion.

  74. 74.

    bystander

    @rikyrah:

    Any comment on BillO paying $32 MILLION in a settlement?

    It’s a much HIGHER settlement than anything Jake Tapper has ever settled for.

  76. 76.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?

    Some days there just isn’t enough coffee in the universe to deal with the bullshit.

    Speaking of bs, wasn’t St. Fingerwagger supposed to go to Puerto Rico too?

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Peale: It’s not the Mexicans a thousand miles away that scare them, it’s the ones living down the street, working in the slaughter houses.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Maybe it’s good. Maybe Trump calls for a new approach, or a return to an older approach. Maybe his administration’s propensity to lie constantly makes “insider accounts” and palace intrigue type stuff less valuable and instead they’ll pursue things like the weird contract with the 2 person company. Trump can’t control that.

  80. 80.

    TriassicSands

    @Kay:

    The black guy as president drove him right over the edge.

    Don’t you think it was the Correspondents’ Dinner that drove him over the edge?

  83. 83.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Because the nice part of looking for hinky contracts is they don’t need “access” – to do that kind of work they can maintain an adversarial and arm’s length relationship. They don’t need cooperation.

  85. 85.

    Baud

    @Anne Laurie:

    “I want to apologize to the organizers of the Women’s Convention for not being able to attend your conference next Friday in Detroit,” the Vermont lawmaker said in a statement. “Given the emergency situation in Puerto Rico, I will be traveling there to visit with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and other officials to determine the best way forward to deal with the devastation the island is experiencing. I forgot I’m not a woman.”

  86. 86.

    bemused

    Morning Joe crew led off with the hypocrisy of Melania anti-bullying project. Both Mika and Joe have been to the West Wing many times in previous administrations and commented that there were always photos of regular, not famous Americans going about their various daily lives, a vignette of American life and culture. When they visited Trump’s West Wing, all the photos were of crowd sizes.

    In previous thread, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between the hideous Dana Loesch and Sarah Huckleberries. They both have mean, dead eyes.

  87. 87.

    satby

    @Anne Laurie: Yeah, he has to go because no one ever dealt with a disaster before; without his fact finding tour it’s impossible to understand what needs to be done. Then he can come back and add a amendment to some bill about it. And grift more cash from his rubes.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: You may be right. The Trump cartel steals as naturally as they lie, but outright theft is somewhat less amenable to spin than lies, so maybe massive corruption brings them down. Works for me. Al Capone and tax evasion, etc.

    What do you make of the news that Sec. Pruitt is adding 12 more agents to his personal security team, to the tune of $2M annually in salaries alone? And DeVos’ unprecedented and massive security detail?

    Supposedly they’re getting death threats, but I wonder, are these credible threats, or are they counting crackpots on Twitter? Hell, I’ve received death threats from crackpots on Twitter, and I manage to get by with two old boxers guarding the house.

    Seriously, I can maybe see putting an agent or two on someone who’s a “lightning rod” (in these cases, for being awful people). It would be a lot cheaper to require them to live in secure buildings and to perhaps put a couple of rent-a-cops on them when they travel. They shouldn’t be allowed to employ a palace guard at our expense.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @bemused:

    The thing is, they pick these projects. Laura Bush picked reading- she likes to read. Michelle Obama picked exercise and nutrition because she lives that – she models it. Why pick something the Trump’s so clearly don’t practice or believe in?

    Adults may not care about hypocrisy but kids absolutely do. Kids are the word police. They have firm opinions on who is allowed to speak to what- you have to practice it to preach it. They’re really quite harsh.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t know about Pruitt but the DeVos family are really wealthy. They’re in a different category than a lot of these ordinary sleazebags and grifters. I bet DeVos has an elaborate security detail in her normal life, along the lines of whatever Bill Gates has. They all consider themselves victims too, so there’s that.

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @Anne Laurie: I’d heard Sanders bowed out, but I did not know a Puerto Rico junket was the official excuse. Regardless, I’m glad the convention organizers got roasted for the unbelievably tone-deaf stunt they tried to pull.

    I’ll always cherish the memory of attending the Women’s March in DC on 1/21/2017 with my sister and daughter. It gave me hope in a dark time to join millions of women in the streets all over the world. But the “official” organizers have since proved more than once that they’re rank amateurs with an agenda all their own.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It really was amazing. I was sorry I didn’t go. I thought it would flop and I wasn’t ready for another disappointment. My daughter still sees a Pittsburgh friend she met at the march- that one turned into a march/dance party – they stayed :)

    They had 2 she told me. She was at the fun one. There was a band.

  95. 95.

    Jeffro

    Tiny dog video: totes AWESOME

    Dana L/NRA video from last night: totes INSANE…I mean, seriously…

    Busy day ahead for once – catch y’all at lunchtime!

  96. 96.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: Oh, NOW he wants to go to Puerto Rico.

    It’s been five weeks and he couldn’t be pried away from his luxury beach house. Now that he needs a diversion he decides to visit exploit the devastation.

  98. 98.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Anne Laurie: Someone else wrote the reason he canceled was because he was insulted over being demoted from giving the keynote address to simply appearing on a panel discussion.

    Main room or bust. No stinkn lounges.

  99. 99.

    Matt McIrvin

    @debbie: He can overwhelm any fact-checking operation with a DDoS. He puts out several blatant lies on this level every single day. Scramble to cover all of them and have some kind of outraged reaction and he’s just got you dancing for his entertainment.

  100. 100.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: I don’t know. But even so, he could have gone at any time, especially given his history of traveling overseas by himself.

  102. 102.

    gvg

    @TriassicSands:

    Don’t you think it was the Correspondents’ Dinner that drove him over the edge?

    No. The humor of the correspondent’s dinner was based on Trumps already over the top record of pursuing proof that Obama was born overseas. Trump’s actions showed he was already nuts because of a black President. So nuts that it was funny. Then.

  103. 103.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    It truly my mind that they manage to pick the most tonedeaf, hypocritical causes every damn time shining glaring neon light on their empty souls. They are totally oblivious and scorn just rolls right off their backs. Kids are great at least until damaged adults corrupt them. They can spot adults’ meanness and phoniness in a nanosecond.

    I don’t know if Melania grew up working class or privileged but she sure reeks of privilege now. Needy, privileged people with self-esteem issues despite their displays of ego.

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    So, Trump is going after Corker again on Twitter, repeating the lie about the endorsement, etc. Jesus. It seems like this buffoon has been president for-fucking-ever. May have to come up with some kind of relative scale, like “dog years.” While one “Trump year” equals a single revolution around the sun, it feels like a decade.

  106. 106.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @debbie: He jokes about war zones, yet he made sure to get out of the draft and avoid the war zones in Indochina when he was old enough to serve.

  107. 107.

    TriassicSands

    @gvg:

    I’m with raven on this. I think Trump used the birther issue to garner attention for himself, but it was having Obama publicly make fun of him that sent Trump over the edge.

  108. 108.

    gvg

    @Kay: My memory of 2006 was national republican corruption scandals took them down as much as Iraq’s death tolls. I seem to recall the speaker of the house was accused of something and there were several other sleezy things. They are corrupt. We need to prove it.

    If the republican defense of the rich for the last 30 years hadn’t included not funding enough IRS agents to enforce the tax laws, Trump would have been in jail long ago and would never be bothering us IMO. his background stories so far all scream bribery and money laundering to me.

    I have been seriously wondering about the Mercer’s and the Koch’s last election. I think it’s lucky they don’t seem to be working together.

  109. 109.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: Yeah, I don’t like that either. It was reported in USA Today.

    On Tuesday, the Women’s Convention issued a statement to correct the record, saying that Sanders would not be opening or headlining the convention, but speaking in a panel discussion. They announced Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., would open the first night. (link)

    They’re now saying that he was never a headliner, but in USA Today, one week earlier, they actively promoted him as the headliner (link). If it was a mistake, it shouldn’t have taken 7 days to correct, especially given controversy it created.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This month plans for the new committee were announced shortly before reports emerged that the tourism minister, Yariv Levin – allegedly at Netanyahu’s behest – intended to push for a legal mechanism to ban groups such as Breaking the Silence.

    Levin has said the election in the US of Donald Trump, whose administration has rarely criticised the Netanyahu government, has made the proposed legislation easier to promote. “It wouldn’t have made it through in the period of the Obama administration,” Levin claimed this year. “They were very uneasy about the bill. The present administration has no problem with it.”

    Although the Israeli parliament’s legal adviser has challenged the lawfulness of setting up an investigative committee, observers believe the government’s determination to move against Breaking the Silence and similar groups mean it will find a way to proceed.

    See? They’re all alike.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    They all consider themselves victims too, so there’s that.

    Victims because they have to actually be confronted, by, gasp, the little people.

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    @Anne Laurie: Shouty Old Man from the North was messing in Massachusetts local politics yesterday. For no good reason.

    ETA In Somerville — my next-door town.

  115. 115.

    bemused

    @TriassicSands:

    Oh, I think so too. I sure haven’t forgotten that WHPC dinner. Watching Trump face and body posture while Obama was skewering him was quite a sight. He never forgets even the slightest hint of criticism. He’ll never drop his vendetta against Obama.

  116. 116.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Kay: Obama triggers their self loathing.

    In the 2012 movie “Lincoln”, Mary chastises the motivations of her husband’s detractors, stating:

    How the people love my husband. They flock to see him by their thousands on public days. They will never love you the way they love him. How difficult it must be for you to know that and yet how important to remember it.

    They feel the same way bout Obama and it drives them crazy.

  117. 117.

    Another Scott

    @gvg: That was a big part of it, of course. But he also wanted to destroy JEB! (supposedly for fighting him on some FL development or other, IIRC). He announced a day after JEB!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: I will be interested in what you find out about the stuff DeVos rescinded. What I have heard so far — it might not be correct or I might have misunderstood — is that they were mainly “guidance statements” which give examples of how special ed laws might play out.

    Think of the requirement that students be educated in the “least restricted environment.” What does that really mean, especially considering the range of disability? One kid’s LRE is too contained for another.

    Schools, parents, consultants and attornies spend a lot of time advocating for their own particular interpretation. Taking away the guidance statements will make these negotiations even more muddy. Meanwhile, Susie and Johnny finish the school year and their issues still haven’t been addressed.

    It’s another wrench in the works, which of course is one of their main MO’s. They can’t take everything apart but they can sure grind things to a halt.

  119. 119.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Ah, since we’re talking about gender here too, I’ll post what I put on the last thread.

    @jl: @sharl: I have seen others besides Joe Cirincione saying that the war drums seem to be beating along the Potomac. I retweeted that one because he says the Democrats seem to be going along with it.

    Another thing I’ve been tweeting is an overview of gender in foreign policy. That has been a topic of annoyance for me for some time. It is simply not possible to publish anything in “serious” outlets on the subject. I’ve had that confirmed by others. Papers and articles are being written, and they are being rejected. There are specific historical reasons for that, which I’ve touched on so far, along with a more general societal rejection of such arguments. You might think that in 2017 that some could experiment with publishing such radical ideas, but no. There is one foundational paper that I suspect has burned enough people that they want never to hear of such things again.

    Coming back to Cirincione’s tweet, I think this whole “looking weak” thing is part of the gendering of foreign policy. When people talk about “muscular foreign policy” (and they still do), they are not talking about the creative uterine muscles of birth. And there’s lots more like that. Historically, that sort of thinking has been, um, on steroids since the 1990s, when we had a unipolar world for a while and decided to go the masculinist route. But it is very real in the Democrats as well as the Republicans and conflicted with a lot of what Obama wanted to do.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    On climate, the United States and Syria now stand alone
    10/24/17 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    It was just two years ago when representatives of 195 countries met in Paris and reached a historic international agreement to combat the climate crisis. Only two countries – Syria and Nicaragua – rejected the accord.

    Yesterday, one of them changed their minds. Reuters reported:

    Nicaragua is set to join the Paris climate agreement, according to an official statement and comments from Vice President Rosario Murillo on Monday, in a move that leaves the United States and Syria as the only nations outside the global pact.

    Nicaragua has already presented the relevant documents at the United Nations, Murillo, who is also first lady, said on local radio on Monday.

    It’s worth noting for context that when representatives from the Nicaraguan delegation balked at the Paris accords in 2015, it wasn’t because they were fringe climate deniers embracing oddball conspiracy theories. It was actually the opposite: Nicaragua opposed the agreement because officials believed it didn’t go far enough.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    @Ohio Mom:

    Schools, parents, consultants and attornies spend a lot of time advocating for their own particular interpretation. Taking away the guidance statements will make these negotiations even more muddy.

    That’s true and I saw a parent say that on Twitter- he uses the guidance statements as leverage, basically. It should be interesting to see if she really steps over a line with this because in my experience these parents and teachers are very good advocates. They aren’t going to sit down and shut up if she’s crossed a line with her deregulatory zeal. They came out quickly with a walk back so maybe they’re aware of that already. NOT a group she wants to screw with :)

  123. 123.

    Cheryl Rofer

    The Orange One is going after Bob Corker again today, who appeared on one of the morning shows. Corker is giving as good as he gets.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    Is the Trump Administration Once Again Doing Putin’s Bidding?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    October 23, 2017

    Over the weekend, we learned that Russia put a man named Bill Browder on the Interpol wanted list. That came days after Canada passed a so-called “Magnitsky law.” Here is some background about what led to the first of these laws passed by the United States:

    The law is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer and auditor who in 2008 untangled a dense web of tax fraud and graft involving 23 companies and a total of $230 million linked to the Kremlin and individuals close to the government. Magnitsky was the target of investigations, arrested by authorities and kept in jail without charges. He was beaten and later died under mysterious circumstances in jail just days before his possible release.

    Independent investigators found “inhuman detention conditions, the isolation from his family, the lack of regular access to his lawyers and the intentional refusal to provide adequate medical assistance resulted in the deliberate infliction of severe pain and suffering, and ultimately his death.”

    The Magnitsky Act was signed by President Barack Obama in December 2012 as a retaliation against the human rights abuses suffered by Magnitsky. The law at first blocked 18 Russian government officials and businessmen from entering the United States, froze any assets held by U.S. banks and banned their future use of U.S. banking systems. The act was expanded in 2016, and now sanctions apply to 44 suspected human rights abusers worldwide.

    Bill Browder, who Magnitsky worked for, has pushed for the passage of such laws. In retaliation for the one signed by President Obama in 2012, Russia ceased adoptions from that country to the U.S. That is how the Trump administration came up with the excuse that Don Jr.’s meeting with Russian operatives was all about adoption.

    According to Jay Nordlinger, this is the fifth time Russia has tried to get Browder’s name on the Interpol list.

    ……………………

    That’s all bad enough. But here’s where the Trump administration comes into the story:

    Not only did Putin add me to the Interpol list, but the US simultaneously revoked my visa. @jaynordlinger explains https://t.co/d8KskJ5CTK

    — Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) October 22, 2017

  126. 126.

    rikyrah

    “Indonesia demands answers after military chief denied U.S. entry”

    Armed Forces Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo was about to board a flight on Saturday when the airline informed him that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had denied him entry, military spokesman Wuryanto told a news conference in Jakarta.

    Nurmantyo was going to the United States at the invitation of General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to attend a Chiefs of Defense Conference on Countering Violent Extremism being held in Washington on Oct. 23-24, Wuryanto said.

    It was not clear why he was stopped from entering the United States, Wuryanto said, adding that the general did not have any problem during his visit to the United States in February 2016.

  127. 127.

    Kay

    @Ohio Mom:

    When people say it’s conservative v liberal on something like this they’re wrong. DeVos doesn’t accept the basic premise of public schools- that they have a duty to serve everyone. Her idea is much different- it’s “go elsewhere”- the effort to reach accommodations doesn’t really apply to the markets she envisions. It can’t be reconciled because she doesn’t buy the premise- sees it as a problem markets can cure when it’s much more difficult than that- it’s a negotiation to accommodate a group. It would be easy if it were “if you don’t like it, leave!” but that isn’t the premise. She almost sneers at the idea – as if it’s some touchy feely liberal thing when really it’s the main organizing principle. It’s a REALLY cynical view- one that says self-interest trumps all.

  128. 128.

    Tenar Arha

    @Kay: @rikyrah: One of the regular reporters on the F O X beat (wasn’t Sherman but someone with public bonafides) was speculating that the agreement being signed off between all three parties might get them in hot water with the NY State AG. The size of the settlement might have been unknown to F O X but the documents included explicit clauses re: destroying evidence, & state investigators were interested in that information back then.

    ETA grammar

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    * James Walcott asks, “Will We Ever Return to Normal After Trump?

    In the sorriest days of the Watergate scandal, the iconoclastic journalist and 60 Minutes commentator Nicholas von Hoffman compared the Nixon presidency to “a dead mouse on the American family kitchen floor. The question is: who is going to pick it up by the tail and drop it in the trash?” It would be premature to write off the Trump presidency as a deceased rodent lying on the linoleum. In its nasty defensiveness, it is closer to a cornered rat. It still has plenty of ugly fight left. But we are at the beginning of the endgame and it is not premature to start imagining how to pick through the damage the Trump presidency will leave behind and future-proof the republic so that It Can’t Happen Here never happens again. So much headspace will be opened up once Trump is no longer occupying it that we must make the most of it.

    The moment Trump leaves the White House for early retirement, jail, a sanitarium, or a Russian refuge, let the reckoning begin. Cue the exodus of his cronies from the Cabinet and commence the shunning…Post-Trump, the country needs its own, domestic version of the de-Nazification program established in Germany after World War II, an inquiry into how so many alleged neo-Nazi, white-supremacist sympathizers had input into this presidency, and their connection with neo-Nazi and nativist movements overseas.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @gvg:

    Well, partly it’s localized but there was a louder liberal faction who wanted it to be a referendum on Iraq, but I don’t think it was. The corruption hurt them. Everyone says it doesn’t matter but it mattered that year.

    In Ohio it was the national sleaze and then stealing from worker’s comp. That seemed to tip people over- workers comp. They were robbing the injured workers fund. There was a level of disgust, like “get ’em OUTTA there” – that wasn’t Iraq.

  133. 133.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay:

    Maybe massive corruption will take Trump down

    Trump’s own big mouth will take Trump down; Trump’s approvals go down the more he talks. It went up a bit during the hurricanes because the news wasn’t focused on Trump but Trump can’t stand that so the last few weeks.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @gvg:

    We had “Coingate” here which I won’t go into, but we had a candidate who handed out those chocolate coins at events and I remember everyone “got it” at the time. One of the bigger players went to prison. I think he’s still there.

  137. 137.

    Tenar Arha

    @TriassicSands: He was already over the edge doing the birther dance long before the WHCD. That’s why quite a few people were making jokes based on him back then.

  139. 139.

    Kay

    Senator Bob Corker‏Verified account @SenBobCorker 43m43 minutes ago
    More
    Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff

    I saw one of those awful pieces on swing voters. They (supposedly) voted on things like “he’s a good businessman” which immediately discredits them, but they DO object to the constant fighting Trump does. They’re sick of it. UNpresidential!

  140. 140.

    Tenar Arha

    @Betty Cracker: For all the Sanders’ IMHO grandstanding post-election, I’m actually glad he’s going to Puerto Rico, because the cameras will follow him there (he’s news doncha kno’ /sarcasm) and hopefully bloody the Orange Benedict’s nose for days.

    ETA Ugh, grammar again…adding subject’s name

  142. 142.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    I’ve said all along that the sociological and psychological triggers that the op pulled had a lot to do with knowledge provided by people in Brighton Beach.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    Shane Goldmacher‏Verified account @ShaneGoldmacher 3m3 minutes ago
    More Shane Goldmacher Retweeted Meg Wagner
    Sen. Bob Corker tells @mkraju that Trump “debases” the country: “The president has great difficulty with the truth.”

    Jesus. The giant toddler is gonna throw his sippy cup.

  144. 144.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay:

    When people say it’s conservative v liberal on something like this they’re wrong. DeVos doesn’t accept the basic premise of public schools- that they have a duty to serve everyone.

    That is conservative vs. liberal, ever since Reagan or so.

  146. 146.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Three tweets against Corker so far from Our President:

    * Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts….
    * …Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record!
    * Isn’t it sad that lightweight Senator Bob Corker, who couldn’t get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will now fight Tax Cuts plus!

    Lots of lies here, and lots to unpack, but the kittehs are saying it is TIME FOR THEIR OUTINGS!

  148. 148.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    I was mystified by that too. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff invites his counterpart from a friendly nation to a high-level military conference. (I presume General Gatot Nurmantyo was just one of several national military leaders who were invited.) I am not aware of any recent friction between Indonesia and America, nor can I imagine him being a danger to the US. I’m inclined to suspect that being Indonesian gave him some Obama cooties.

  149. 149.

    Tenar Arha

    @Ohio Mom: @Kay:

    Most of the disability advocates I follow on Twitter are furious. Pulling the guidance documents will basically drive every kid with an IEP into court if their parents have the resources to enforce the ADA. But it will also exacerbate the divide between rich and poor districts. According to them it will devastate the families in lower performing & poorer districts where there’s always been difficulty following the laws. Simultaneously this seems like it will siphon money from public schools by regulatory waste and by lawsuits. And children will suffer, fall behind, and maybe never become productive citizens. It’s a self-reinforcing failure spiral which will start immediately.

    It’s awful; it’s that parent teacher conference time of year and the guidance documents people relied on to advocate for their kids are gone.

  150. 150.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: It drives me nuts when I see charters with tables at disability conferences (and I see this a lot). Too many in the disability community do not understand how important the public space is to us.

    They are spoiled by things like public schools, which must serve us, they are continually shocked when private entities provide no accomodations and no welcome, and often outright spurn us.

    The other thing about public schools is that since they serve so many disabled kids over time, they develop some expertise. You only have to put your kid someplace (day camp, Sunday school, etc.) where there is very little or no history with disabled kids, to appreciate the effort public schools put in.

    Now I know my family is fortunate in that we can afford to live in a very, very good school district so my views are a little idealized. That only means that parents in less well-funded districts have to fight harder. DeVos is disarming them.

  151. 151.

    ding7777

    I read somewhere that it was the Prohibition wing (business owners, managers and clergy) who also pushed for woman’s
    suffrage because Prohibition could not pass without the woman’s vote.

  152. 152.

    Ohio Mom

    @Tenar Arha: Thanks for this level of detail. As I said, we live in a district that has the resources and commitment that many others do not. I’d never had occasion to hear of, or directly use guidance documents (not that I didn’t have a spat or two with my district). But I can see that they undergirded a lot of my kid’s education.

    When I think of the human effort and time that went into planning, developing and writing those documents — well, talk about government waste in discarding them!

  153. 153.

    Ohio Mom

    @ding7777: And prohibition was seen as a women’s issue because it was believed it would protect women from drunk husbands squandering their paychecks, beating their wives and children, and all the other bad behaviors brought on by alcholism.

    Okay, it didnt quite work out that way but that was the level of understanding back then.

  155. 155.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Matt McIrvin:
    Might could be. I’m nevertheless going to keep on doing the boring old reliable (and far less apocalypse-porn-ified) task of removing bad politicians via voter registration and getting out the vote.

    To quote Abraham Davenport (see Google for details), while he was in legislative session on the Day of Darkness:

    “The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.”

  157. 157.

    J R in WV

    We saw that itty bitty puppy heroically carrying her new toy out to her car last night.

    Heroic!

    Unbelievable, that stuffed toy was easily 3 or 4 times the puppy’s size. But puppy was very determined to take it away herself, and did so. Such determination is a great object lesson for all of us!!

  158. 158.

    J R in WV

    @TriassicSands:

    “Otherwise, it seems like a match made in (wherever PsOS like Ivana and Donald think of as heaven). ”

    Neiman-Marcus department store, maybe?

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