Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Come on, man.

I really should read my own blog.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

You are here: Home / First Against the Wall

First Against the Wall

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I’ve never actually seen two people angling to be the first to go in the revolution, but these two are making a helluva case for themselves:

Tone deaf muthafuckas.

Reader Interactions

281Comments

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    Why is his wife there?

    She doesn’t work there, right?

    Have standards really fallen that far at the Treasury?

  5. 5.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Tone deaf muthafuckas.

    Gotta disagree with you here, John – but only about the first two words. These folks know and intend exactly what their haughty tone conveys: They are the MOTU and there’s not a fucking thing we can do about it.

    Let’s just hope they’re wrong and keep working to make it so.

  11. 11.

    martian

    Is this the “heightening the contradictions” that I was promised before the revolution can come?

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @Yarrow:

    Could she look any more like an evil villain?

    Well I suppose her Décolletage could have been lower with shiny black leather.

  13. 13.

    Major Major Major Major

    Curiously enough, an edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica that had the good fortune to fall through a time warp from a thousand years in the future defined the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation the Mnuchins as “a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.”

  14. 14.

    jl

    Ready-to-go material for great opposition ads for Dems will never come so cheap again. It’s like the Trumspters are doing ads for free a year out from the next election. Heck, with stuff like that, one is almost ready to go tomorrow for an ad blitz tomorrow against the super rich person’s GOP tax slash scam.

    That look on their faces! A line for that in an opp ad is beyond my skill. but I am sure some creative people are chomping on the bit.

  17. 17.

    FlipYrWhig

    This looks like a still from one of those old late-night get-rich-quick schemes, where the dork with a foolproof system flings around money while blondes coo over him.

  20. 20.

    ET

    @Yarrow: She really is ridiculous….. I can understand why they would want to see them and get a photo of the moment because it is sort of cool but jebus, can she try and pretend just once that this wasn’t something for the reality TV set?

  22. 22.

    jl

    @Yarrow: @schrodingers_cat: You’re old fogeys. They actually keep them long enough to marry and then betray. Mnuchin hasn’t even dumped her yet. You people are way behind the times.

    You need to get “Moore’ up to date. Ha ha. That’s a bad joke.

  24. 24.

    John

    “I. myself, never use them. But I’m given to understand they’re popular with the little people.”

  26. 26.

    Redshift

    @jl:

    That look on their faces! A line for that in an opp ad is beyond my skill. but I am sure some creative people are chomping on the bit.

    “I like money so much, I bought the company!”

  27. 27.

    No Drought No More

    Tone deaf? Not in this country, they’re not, and more’s the pity.

    Somewhere along the line the democratic party forget that fact about the republican party- forgot “the face of mammon”, so to speak. Congressional democrats should blow that photo up, in fact, and hang it in their caucus room, lest they ever forget again.

    BTW, there’s terrific article in the NY Times today about the recent discovery of the only etching of George Washington’s tent taken in the field. Check it out, 4 stars..

  28. 28.

    gvg

    meh, all bills are signed by the current Treasury Sec. Nobody bothered to tell me about it before but it actually is normal, not the new “normal”. He’s supposed to do this, like Trump is supposed to send his portrait to all government offices.
    This guy causes us actual problems, lets concentrate on actual issues.

  29. 29.

    Redshift

    Going through O’Hare this weekend, I saw an ad on the wall for a stemware company that was advertising specially designed glasses for different varieties of grapes. My first thought was “and as a bonus, being a customer puts you at the top of the list when the revolution comes!”

  34. 34.

    different-church-lady

    WE WILL SPEND FOREVER IN THE POLITICAL WILDERNESS IF WE DON’T STOP INSULTING THE ECONOMIC ANXIETIES OF WHITE PEOPLE!!1!

  35. 35.

    martian

    I hope Mrs. Treasury Secretary remembers to tag all her accessories on Insta. Just count me as #aspiringonepercenter, #temporarilyembarrassedmillionaire, #soblessed. Those gloves will be mine!

  36. 36.

    Corner Stone

    The sex just can’t be that damn good where he flat out agrees to be the first guy under the blade.

  39. 39.

    Corner Stone

    Subtitle to picture:
    “Look Facebook Fam, they *do* exist! There really are such things as bills with only one digit one them!”

  40. 40.

    Yarrow

    @ET: It doesn’t seem like reality TV to me. Looks like she’s in a low-rent Bond knockoff movie playing the mistress to the villain. It turns out in the end she was running everything herself–poorly of course.. The plot is telegraphed from the opening scene, dialogue is stilted and unrealistic and she dies in the end.

  41. 41.

    ? Martin

    As I said before, the common area of expertise of the current administration is looting national economies. This is what they are experts at, this is what they are proud of.

  46. 46.

    Major Major Major Major

    @gvg:

    meh, all bills are signed by the current Treasury Sec. Nobody bothered to tell me about it before but it actually is normal, not the new “normal”. He’s supposed to do this, like Trump is supposed to send his portrait to all government offices.
    This guy causes us actual problems, lets concentrate on actual issues.

    Well, yeah. It’s the fucking pose.

    As for the last sentence, we are capable of holding multiple thoughts in our heads. You don’t go through all of your day “concentrating on actual issues”, do you? You’d just eat gruel and shower only when you noticed you smelled and protest.

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @gvg: Why is his wife in the money printing facility? I don’t recall this ever happening before with any other Treasury official.

  49. 49.

    misterpuff

    Drumpf just did a “Thirsty, thirsty Lil Marco” in the midst of his word salad upchuck. Sad.

  50. 50.

    jl

    She’s his assistant in the coming demo where he shows you how to double it with a GOP pass through tax loophole for the clever passive investor.
    Who knows another One Weird Trick.

    There is another joke about a weird trick there, but I fear it is uncivil.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    (furtive whisper) Um, just show the cameras the front. It says ‘In Vlad We Trust’ on the back.

  53. 53.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Cokehead Dolt45 is giving an address right now. Sniffling ,sniffling, sniffling…Kelly must have wiped off the white..ummm…baby powder off Toddler Trump’s nose before they put him up on the little stage to give this afternoons performance. Uncle Rex and Uncle Wilbur are so proud of Lil Hands Donny…they’re going to pinch his cheeks.

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    @TenguPhule:
    I can’t recall a mint press photo-op ever.

    Had a meeting with an SF Fed Reserve employee once and the security was phenomenal. I can’t imagine what it must be like in the print shop.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    Why is his wife there?

    She doesn’t work there, right?

    See thread below about Mugabe and his wife. I’m sure that Linton is in the running for assistant secretary of the Treasury.

  67. 67.

    Yarrow

    @Major Major Major Major: I read that she comes from a rich Scottish family. They have a castle and estate. And the businesses that are keeping her family in money have some connection to…wait for it…Russia! So, yes. Maybe a Bond villain.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    That’s why she has the gloves on. She didn’t want to take a chance dirtying her fingers by touching such a small denomination. Wait til you see what she takes off as they go from the $50s to the Hundos.

  70. 70.

    Citizen Alan

    Louise Linton may well be the Marie Antoinette of this (mis)administration. In that first picture, she looks for all the world like she wishes she could take off all her clothes right there and roll around in a tub full of fresh currency.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    @mike in dc: He’s cotton mouthed from all the coke he needed to keep him upright during the speech. The jetlag has to be kicking his absolute ass by now.
    If he doesn’t end this speech by breaking into a 50’s doo-wop song lyrics I will be shocked.

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    @Brachiator: The Mint’s security is supposed to be heads above the rest. I can’t figure out how that asshat got clearance for his wife to get in. She has NO BUSINESS being in there.

  76. 76.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    5000 Shades of Munchkin Green:
    ‘Okay Lil Stevie,you told me , $5000 bills,not $1 bills. I am going to get my whip out. Oh, Stevie,I know how much you like whips don’t I?’

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @gvg:

    It’s not that the Treasury secretary is taking a standard PR photo. It’s that his trophy wife insisted on butting in.

  83. 83.

    martian

    @schrodingers_cat: Ugly and expensive is point. Tribal marker. How else will Everyone Who Matters understand that you, too, have money to burn if you aren’t conspicuously consuming it?

    “You can’t dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.”

  84. 84.

    geg6

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Not that I can tell, but she is wearing a very fugly super villain costume that Mnuch probably spent a good $20 or $30K on. She really has horrible taste. But then, that’s an easy call when you look at what she married.

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    @gvg:
    Thinking the same thing. The strange thing is that he actually is doing what he is supposed to be doing, placing his signature on the bills printed during his reign.

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    @martian:

    Yup. That’s why it was Bad that Michelle Obama bought stuff from J Crew and looked fabulous. How were people supposed to know she was the First Lady if she didn’t wear clothes that were both ugly and ostentatious? Thank god we have Melania as our First Lady now to show everyone how a Real American dresses in ugly but wildly expensive clothes.

  99. 99.

    TS

    I’m going to be trite – regardless of age and who they married, GOP wives make ghastly fashion choices. It’s like they went to the local fashion store and the saleslady wanting her commission will tell them how loverly they look, regardless of what they are wearing.

  102. 102.

    catclub

    Gunman in Northern California killed wife before going on rampage
    CNN 2h ago

    This is my not surprised face.

  103. 103.

    Julie

    I’m not down with appearance shaming, but… Every time I see this woman my gut reaction is, “If she’s actually 36, she needs to fire whoever does her Botox asap.” ?

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @trollhattan: Mnuchin is the third-rate banker who “accidentally” turns in a miscount to the villain while on his private island. Shark pit drop in 3…2…1…

  107. 107.

    geg6

    @TS:

    Much as I despised her, Nancy Reagan had good taste in clothing. Probably a remnant of her B-list starlet days when the studios dressed her.

  108. 108.

    catclub

    @martian:

    How else will Everyone Who Matters

    Warren Buffett lived in the same house for fifty years (not sure if he still does). And drove something economical. The people who mattered to him ?
    only him.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    IIRC, the guy was never convicted of domestic violence, which seems to be a bit of a problem with our current system since a majority of these mass shooting assholes have at least one DV arrest in their past.

  110. 110.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Tom Levenson:
    And I have to get the damn things out and dust them off every time the brother in law visits. …

    Awful ergonomics.

    eta: “Slightly outturned lip directs the spirit onto the tip of the tongue, where sweetness is perceived, and serves to emphasize the elegant creaminess of top quality single malt whiskey” Maybe the problem is with me. Maybe I need to stick my tongue out more when I sip whisky.

  116. 116.

    TS

    @geg6: Agree and Laura Bush dressed in a style that suited her, I was thinking of the nouveau administration and hangers on.

  117. 117.

    Yarrow

    I’d forgotten about this.

    Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just got a new Hollywood business partner: a man who made billions investing in Russia.

    A company run by Len Blavatnik announced a deal Tuesday to buy a stake in a film-finance firm that, in turn, is engaged in a joint venture with Mnuchin, backing blockbusters including “The Lego Batman Movie.” The Treasury secretary has pledged to sell his own interest in the business by June.
    …
    Through Access Entertainment, Blavatnik bought an interest in RatPac Entertainment from James Packer, an Australian businessman who founded the film company with movie producer Brett Ratner. RatPac, in turn, is part of a joint venture with Mnuchin known as RatPac

    I wonder if he’s sold his interest in the business. I think I read he didn’t sell. Also, Ratner is a sexual abuser.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    It amused me to find out after he died that Steve Jobs and his family lived in a neighborhood where kids could trick or treat door-to-door. Apparently he liked to dress up as Frankenstein to hand out the candy.

    I mean, it’s still a huge, expensive house in an upper-class neighborhood, but it wasn’t an estate behind a wall.

  124. 124.

    Duane

    Here’s an easy to remember acronym for all the buffoons who still support Trump’s tax plan. Trump’s Winning Income Tax Scheme. TWITS.

  127. 127.

    Julie

    @schrodingers_cat: She’s very tall and curvy, which works with that silhouette. I’m similarly proportioned (if not quite as fit) and it’s a good look — especially in photos.

  135. 135.

    Yutsano

    @Mnemosyne: Laura dresses like the schoolteacher/librarian she was originally going to go into. I’m not familiar enough with her story to know why she didn’t pursue that.

  140. 140.

    les

    @gvg:

    all bills are signed by the current Treasury Sec. Nobody bothered to tell me about it before but it actually is normal, not the new “normal”. He’s supposed to do this,

    Have his signature on the bills, yeah. Go find the picture of another Treas. Sec. holding them up with his strumpet.

  142. 142.

    ruemara

    I am pretty good with those two falling into a ditch that leads to the bottom of the Marinaras Trench, but I also think we need to confiscate their wealth for back taxes.

  143. 143.

    jl

    @Yutsano: I read something last week about influence of Laura Bush on the Dub administration. Apparently, she was one who pestered Dub into actually getting some of his good (though kind of small bore) policies passed. Marine reserve national monument declarations and some late moves in good direction on environment come to mind right now.

    Some of those were dumped when good Dub policies that emerged into public view during Obama were attacked by GOP as Satanic Obama initiatives. Now Antiquities Act under attack. But some of what they are attacking are not Obama, but things Laura pestered Dub to do.

  145. 145.

    catclub

    Good news on the senate tax bill ( if it holds, natch):

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Wednesday that he will not support the Senate GOP tax plan, becoming the first GOP senator to say he will oppose the proposal.

    “If they can pass it without me, let them,” Johnson told The Wall Street Journal. “I’m not going to vote for this tax package.”

    Senate Republicans have a narrow path to clearing the tax plan. With a 52-seat majority, if every Democrat votes no, they can only afford to lose two GOP senators and still have Vice President Pence break a tie.

    Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the report or what changes Johnson wants to see.

    But he told The Wall Street Journal that he has concerns about the proposal and that writers of the tax bill have been unreceptive to his input.

    “I don’t like that process,” Johnson said. “I find it pretty offensive, personally.”

    Johnson noted he has been trying to get hearings from both the Senate Finance Committee, which wrote the Senate bill, and the House Ways and Means Committee, but has been rebuffed by party leadership.

    The reason being personally insulted by the process seems to be a senate specialty.

    I still think Corker is a good shot to follow through on his promise not to vote for a tax bill that raises the deficit.

  146. 146.

    Tenar Arha

    Yeah, I saw this earlier.

    My two thoughts:
    A: These people are going to destroy capitalism via tone deaf photographs alone, and they’ll deserve it.
    B: I doubt we’ll ever fully ban capitalism, but these people are not prepared for the job scarce, post-capitalist future.

  148. 148.

    Feathers

    Folks, there is usually a photo of the new Treasury Secretary and the sheet of bills. It’s just that it runs on the inside pages of the Wall Street Journal or the business section of newspapers. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some with wives.

    The only reason we’re seeing this one is because of the wackadoodle factor. It’s usually just a totally boring photo and no one cares. (Except the Treas Sec and family)

  149. 149.

    jl

    @catclub: Johnson might really oppose it because he agrees with the pissed GOP funders that it has already been shrunk too much, to account for failure of GOP PPACA repeleal/replace scam. But who cares? As long as he causes problems, if it holds, good news.

    Edit: OTOH, it true that refusal of big funders to even consider closing any tax loopholes for tax expenditures for super rich that the GOP have been begging them for over last several weeks, means that they are doing this crap totally on the fly. It is bad improvisational theater disguised as legislation. And the GOP was begging for symbolic crumbs for pressers, and just what absolutely needed in order to squeeze into reconciliation, but that was still way too much to ask.

  152. 152.

    martian

    @catclub: That’s not the kind of social currency Mrs. Treasury Secretary or her Revenge of the Dweebs husband are going for. They’re True Trumpers. And there are a lot of tangible, material benefits to this kind of signaling.

    How often do you think Donald sat his pasty behind, flat-ass broke, on his golden throne? Financial reality didn’t matter nearly as much as access and belonging did. There’s a mountain of privilege, coddling, considerations given, and easy breaks that goes along with these ostentatious tribal displays. A kind of privilege that keeps grifters floating in milk and honey comfort.

    Warren Buffett didn’t need that to make his pile and, doesn’t appear to want it, though I doubt he’s quite as endearing and plain folk as his public persona. We’ll see what happens with later generation Buffetts after he’s gone.

  154. 154.

    TenguPhule

    @Feathers:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some with wives.

    I would. BECAUSE THEY”RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE FEDERAL FUCKING MINT.

  160. 160.

    Tenar Arha

    Verbal comeuppance of some tone deaf muthafuckas.
    In this tweet:

    Orrin Hatch: “There are no cuts to Medicaid in this bill.”
    …
    Claire McCaskill: “Where do you think the $300 billion is coming from? Is there a fairy that’s dropping it on the Senate? The money you’re spending is coming out of Medicaid.” (via ABC) https://t.co/Y0F1mv1DTp

  164. 164.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Tenar Arha: Here you go, it’s better if you watch and hear it:

  166. 166.

    Corner Stone

    Listen, people. We all understand the SecTreas gets an official picture and several informal pictures with the first batches of money that have his/her signature. That’s not the freakin’ point of this post.

  168. 168.

    Chyron HR

    Well, the important thing is we didn’t elect Hillary, for as it is written in Berninations 1:23, she’s in cahoots with Goldman Sachs.

  172. 172.

    TenguPhule

    House Democrats introduce impeachment articles against Trump

    The obstruction of justice allegation stems from Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, which the lawmakers say was designed to delay and impede an investigation.

    The articles of impeachment also charge that Trump has accepted without the consent of Congress emoluments from foreign states and from the U.S. government. Finally, the articles of impeachment allege he has undermined the federal judiciary and the freedom of the press.

  173. 173.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    What is she, a fucking Bond villain?

    Related: Actress Karin Dor, who played an actual Bond villain in “You Only Live Twice, ” died recently (November 6, 2017)

    Dor played the seductive, titian-haired Helga Brandt, an operative of the criminal organisation Spectre ordered to kill 007 (Sean Connery), who has been conveniently tied up for her. “I’ve got you now,” she states ambivalently. “Well, enjoy yourself!” he replies. She slaps his face and threatens him with a surgical knife, which he wrestles from her, using it to cut the strap on her black dress.

    She also had a memorable scene in the Hitchcock film, “Topaz”

    A rare bright spot in one of Hitchcock’s most anonymous films, she is Juanita de Cordoba, a dark-haired anti-Castro resistant, her German accent notwithstanding, known as the widow of a “hero of the revolution”, a description that enables her to work undercover. When her activities are discovered, she is shot by her revolutionary lover, providing the film with its best visual sequence. As Juanita collapses onto a marble floor, her deep purple dress spreads beneath her like a pool of blood.

    Great scene. John Vernon plays a blue-eyed Castro knock-off in the movie.

  176. 176.

    different-church-lady

    @Yarrow: The grain of salt is something we learned from 2016: polls reflect moment-to-moment mood more than how people will actually vote.

  179. 179.

    catclub

    John Weaver @JWGOP

    A tax “reform” bill which raises taxes on the middle class, strips millions of families of their health care, rewards the top 1 % & balloons the deficit is the final political nail in the coffin for the GOP. #BeltwayInsanity

    wow. I think Weaver ran McCains Campaign.

  180. 180.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    The facility has public tours,

    Not on the production floor they don’t. Those tours are from the gallery overhead, not where the actual money is.

    plus as treasury secretary he has the ultimate authority to override any concerns (for better or worse).

    Norms and rules being broken. Again.

  181. 181.

    mike in dc

    @TenguPhule:
    It will be more serious when/if the entire Democratic membership of Judiciary(17 members) AND Intelligence(7 members not counting Swalwell who’s also in Judiciary) intro articles of impeachment. Because it means the members most well-informed about the allegations, and the members who will actually vote in the committee of jurisdiction, are all on the same page.

  182. 182.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Yarrow: The next step is for someone to convince Strange to run a write-in candidacy, thus splitting the die-hard Republican vote.

    This may be why all the suggestions for getting the GOP out of their Moore trouble involve highly improbable scenarios–introducing an alternative candidate without getting rid of Moore is likely to leave Jones the winner, with the GOP vote divided and the Democrats and many independents giving Jones a majority of votes cast.

  184. 184.

    catclub

    @Yarrow: good to hear – but only because it confirms MY prediction ;) that this would piss off the same ones who killed the healthcare repeal bill.

  185. 185.

    sharl

    @Adam L Silverman: Hot dayum, that’s awesome. I listened to a lot of that Senate committee’s proceedings on C-SPAN radio yesterday, and the Dems were PISSED. I didn’t hear this bit, but watching McCaskill as she spoke is so much better than just listening would be.

    From Paul Krugman yesterday, on this same topic:

    This is awesome: passing the R tax cut would REQUIRE an immediate $25 billion cut in Medicare, plus $111 billion in other cuts (which isn't legally possible). I.e., the whole exercise is illegal under Congress' own rules https://t.co/6m1g79Dn5m— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 14, 2017

  188. 188.

    GregB

    OT.

    The rightwing civil war seems to be heating up with rhetorical shots fired between Matt Drudge and Steve Bannon.

    Drudge has called Roy Moore a whore and says the political novices like Bannon should stick to blogging or something like that.

  190. 190.

    Roger Moore

    @Spanky:

    Well, I was wrong in my assumption. McConnell only = Chao+11.

    And since they were married relatively late in life- he was 51 and she was 40- it isn’t nearly as creepy.

  193. 193.

    Aleta

    Like this proves their sacrifice and hard work for the American people? How much was the hair stylist, and did we pay for that and for the photographer? Do they have use of a govt employed photographer whenever they insist on documenting their delusions?

  195. 195.

    different-church-lady

    Apparently Roy Moore’s attorney is holding a press conference right now, from what my intertubes tell me. Who’s hungry for some legal surrealism?

  200. 200.

    Corner Stone

    Ms. Nelson was also apparently in a divorce action before Moore’s court in 1999. It’s strenuous garbage so far.

  203. 203.

    Aleta

    @Yarrow: Thanks! And thanks go out to the women who spoke out despite backlash in their communities. I wish there was a group set up to offer support in a bigger way beyond letters to their lawyers.

  205. 205.

    rikyrah

    CBO: Republican tax plan would trigger big cuts to Medicare
    11/15/17 11:00 AM
    By Steve Benen
    The federal budget deficit, which Republicans used to pretend to care about, is poised to get vastly larger if the GOP tax plan passes. There’s reason to believe, however, that Republicans will renew their interest in balancing the budget – just as soon as they’re done slashing tax rates on the wealthy and corporations.

    Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council at Donald Trump’s White House, hinted as much last week, as did House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) yesterday.

    The scope of this vision is pretty extraordinary: GOP officials have a vision of overhauling the federal tax code, redistributing wealth to the top, scrapping health care benefits for millions, and then targeting social-insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare.

    And before you ask, “Didn’t Donald Trump give his word to Americans that he wouldn’t cut entitlements?” it’s important to remember the president’s rhetoric has very little to do with his actions, and he’s already endorsed some entitlement cuts, despite his commitments.

    But in practical terms, we don’t really need to wait that long to see Republicans undermine popular social-insurance programs. As the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, the GOP tax plan may very well bring about some sharp cuts sooner rather than later.

    The Republican tax bill would force $25 billion in immediate cuts to Medicare, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a move that could be stopped only with a bipartisan vote.

    Those are the consequences under the pay-as-you-go law that Congress passed in 2010. That law requires tax cuts and certain spending increases to be paired with offsetting provisions. If not, the law forces automatic spending cuts…. Congress could prevent the cuts, but that couldn’t be done under the fast-track procedures they’re using for the tax bill.

  208. 208.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MattF: Andrew Breitbart worked for Drudge. Drudge mentored him. This is personal for Drudge as he feels that Bannon has trashed Breitbart’s good name and reputation by turning Breitbart into the mouthpiece for the alt-right.

    What Drudge doesn’t realize is that outside of the hermetically sealed right wind infotainment ecosystem Breitbart doesn’t have a good reputation and his name isn’t spoken with reverence.

  209. 209.

    jl

    @rikyrah: They won’t be able to fix that Medicare cut, I don’t think. As I noted earlier today, that amount was already subtracted from the $136 B, to get the $111 B shortfall that they are having trouble with right now today, and it’s causing some GOP Senators to choke.

  210. 210.

    martian

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I always assumed that part of Michelle wearing the 50’s silhouette was that it references an era in America that a lot of (mainly white) people idealise. It reads as classy, conservative, and respectable, imo, mainly because of the 50’s nostalgia. It certainly helps that the style flattered her. She, Barack, and their girls together just screamed classic, picture perfect family.
    Well, to me. I guess an election and probably thousands of racist, Facebook memes have proven that millions of white people in this country are rock-skulled regressives.

  211. 211.

    GregB

    It is looking much of the whole rightwing propagandasphere is beginning to buckle and groan.

    May the shit storm suck them all into an endless vortex.

  214. 214.

    divF

    @martian:

    She’s bought a hat like Princess Marina’s
    To wear at all her social affairs
    She wears it when she’s cleaning the windows
    She wears it when she’s scrubbing the stairs
    But you will never see her at Ascot
    She can’t afford the time or the fare
    But she’s bought a hat like Princess Marina’s
    So she don’t care

  218. 218.

    schrodingers_cat

    @martian: You are right, her choice was pitch perfect for the image she was trying to project. I just think that A lines and pencil skirts would flatter her even more. YMMV. Like President O looked good even in dad jeans, but looks much more cool in the leather jacket, which he never wore while presidenting.

  223. 223.

    Mnemosyne

    @celticdragonchick:

    The Sofia Coppola movie was actually pretty fact-based once you got past the use of pop music. I read the Antonia Fraser biography that the movie was based on and Coppola stuck close to the actual history.

    Marie Antoinette was spoiled and sheltered, but she wasn’t evil. A lot of the propaganda about her was basically xenophobia and spent a lot of time darkly hinting that she was plotting against France with her Austrian relatives.

  224. 224.

    jl

    @rikyrah: Something else might be worth bringing up with GOP Congressfinks. People should tell them they know what has happened. The GOP are such flunkies to their big funders that they will not cross them in any way.

    After the repeal/replace scam failed, the super rich and big corporations had to agree to swallow some actual tax reform, closing some loopholes and ending some tax expenditures for the big shots. The GOP asked and got a flat ‘no’. So now they have to scramble. The whole project might sink because the GOP Congress are such chickenshits, they wouldn’t tell the the big shots to make some small sacrifices to preserve the feasibility of the tax slash scam.

    Big Funders didn’t understand that pigs get fed and hogs get slaughtered. The GOP are such chickenshits that they could not flat tell their funders that what they wanted was infeasible, and that the draconian bill might fail if they wouldn’t make even small sacrifices.

  235. 235.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: It goes beyond that. The staffing in this White House is terrible. Even for a short notice (under 12 hours prep) type of event like this, the water should be clearly placed where the principal normally looks for it, if it is in a bottle, then the bottle top is removed in advance. The inability of the current administration’s White House staff to do even the simplest things correctly is just mind boggling.

  236. 236.

    celticdragonchick

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, she was a product of 18th century aristocracy to be sure. However, the “Let then eat cake” line is almost certainly Herbertist propaganda. She was aware of Christian duty to the poor and made her children forgo Christmas presents one year and instead the expense went to poor children as a character lesson to them. However clueless or sheltered she was in some respects, she was not at all a monster and she displayed far more courage on her way to her death than the weasel Herbert did when the radical revolution turned to devour him.

  238. 238.

    Fair Economist

    @martian:

    She, Barack, and their girls together just screamed classic, picture perfect family.

    They could have been characters in a “My Dad the President” sitcom – many years ago, even. Well-behaved, well-dressed, cool but funny when they want – they were perfect for the part. Fortunately we got to have them play it in real life!

  239. 239.

    dogwood

    @martian:
    I have always been uncomfortable with criticizing how First Ladies dress. Not every woman is interested in high fashion and the world of cutting edge fashion designers. First Ladies like Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan and Michelle Obama had a genuine interest in fashion, and that’s great. For others, picking gowns and clothes for important events and having hair and makeup people around probably wasn’t all that enjoyable. And that’s ok as well.

  240. 240.

    bystander

    @martian:

    I hope Mrs. Treasury Secretary remembers to tag all her accessories on Insta.

    That would result in her being insulted and mocked again as she was by Tom Ford the last time.

    So if Mnuchin is first up at the wall, can we just have her stand in front of him and save the ammo?

  241. 241.

    NotMax

    Heh. Just now noticed this is the second B-J front page comment titled “First Against the Wall.”

  242. 242.

    Fair Economist

    @jl:

    After the repeal/replace scam failed, the super rich and big corporations had to agree to swallow some actual tax reform, closing some loopholes and ending some tax expenditures for the big shots. The GOP asked and got a flat ‘no’.

    Inference or do you have a link?

  243. 243.

    martian

    @schrodingers_cat: Judging by the White House family quarters decor, Michelle and Barack have fairly contemporary tastes. It’ll be interesting to see where Michelle goes fashion-wise now that she’s less constrained. I really miss the blog that used to chronicle all her fashion.
    _
    @divF: Ha! People never change, right? Social influencing in the days before being a social media “influencer” became just another career choice.

  248. 248.

    dogwood

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Exactly. That Oval Office trick or treat gig with a big cardboard box of candy sitting on the desk looked stupid. Staff knows how many kids are coming, so you get colorful bags, fill them with candy, and tell the POTUS not to sit at his desk when kids are the audience. It’s not that hard.

  249. 249.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: I know. We can see their incompetence in these types of things. What can’t we see? But it’s hilarious to watch him drink from the water bottle. He needs two hands! LOL.

  255. 255.

    Barbara

    Well, totally late to the party, but let me say something that I know will affect Ms. Linton deeply: she looks a lot older than her 30+ years in that photo. Especially, look at those sagging cheek lines. Meow.

  256. 256.

    Barbara

    @celticdragonchick: Re: Marie Antoinette. Above all, she was foreign, the daughter and sister of Austrian rulers who were far more enlightened than the Kings of France. As we see only too well, it is very easy to hate the outsider and attribute all manner of discontent to their evil otherness.

  257. 257.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: Ratner’s done. Gal Gadot has made it publicly clear she will not do another movie as Wonder Woman if Warner Brothers doesn’t cut Ratner lose.

  258. 258.

    Roger Moore

    @dogwood:
    I think the people who deserve, and get, the most criticism are the ones who obviously think they’re fantastic at this stuff but actually suck at it. Yes, the Trumpsters fit in here.

  259. 259.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Trivia (incompletely documented): Supposedly, the shape of the bowl of what we know as the champagne glass was created from a mold made of Marie’s breast.

    A fuller version of the story is definitely stranger than fiction:

    Legend has it that the coupe glass was molded from Marie Antoinette’s left breast, and that she wanted her court to toast her health by drinking from glasses shaped like her bosom. However, the truth is the glass was actually invented long before the reign of the queen, in 1663 in England. It was one of the first, if not the first, glasses invented specifically for drinking Champagne. So there goes that myth. However, there’s more to this tale.

    History does show that in fact, Marie Antoinette had porcelain bowls molded from her breast. They were designed for drinking milk as part of her “Pleasure Dairy“ where the queen and her ladies-in-waiting would dress up as milkmaids and frolic, milking and churning butter all day in her rustically designed hamlet at Versailles. Called jattes tetons, each footed bowl had a nipple at its nadir and was supported by three decorative goat heads (the four original bowls still exist in the Musée National de Céramique de Sèvres in Paris). At the time they were designed, the queen was very much into a back-to-nature philosophy. Her actions helped convince noblewomen breast-feed their babies instead of relying on wet nurses (that fact just makes the bowls seem even stranger!).

  260. 260.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @dogwood:

    It was worse than that. The Huckleberry came staggering in clutching the carton of M&Ms and dumped it on the desk. She looked very pissy. Kids were mostly bored, scared, and teary. Trump hasn’t the faintest idea how to converse or in any way interact with children. Insult their parents in front of them? REALLY?

    https://youtu.be/2Xql_5I34lo

  262. 262.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I wonder how much of that is genuine incompetence, how much is competent people who just don’t give a fuck, and how much is competent people who are messing it up maliciously to make Trump look worse.

  263. 263.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ratner’s done. Gal Gadot has made it publicly clear she will not do another movie as Wonder Woman if Warner Brothers doesn’t cut Ratner lose.

    She should boycott doing another “Justice League” movie until they come up with better scripts. I’ve avoided spoilers and reading too much about the upcoming movie, but reaction seems to be decidedly mixed.

    Folks should see the new Thor movie or even catch up with “Blade Runner 2049” while they can still catch it on the big screen, the way the gods intended.

  264. 264.

    martian

    @dogwood: I think clothing is a kind of language, though, so discussion and analysis of what’s being conveyed is fair. That’s true for both Presidents and First Ladies, but for First Ladies in particular, much of their messaging is conveyed nonverbally.

    For instance, Hillary Clinton getting constantly criticised for her hair as First Lady wasn’t really about her casual and changing hairstyles. Her hair always looked fine. The damn headbands looked fine. I think the hair arguments were proxies for cultural issues having to do with her overt feminism. When the fact that she frequently tried new hairstyles was mocked, it wasn’t about the hair, imo, it was about the changing itself, the readiness to try new things, the lack of conservatism, essentially.

    It’s rarely just fashion, being criticised, I think. There’s a lot to unpack, almost especially for First Ladies “not into” fashion. Not being into fashion is a message all its own, after all.

  265. 265.

    Emma

    @Yutsano: She was a librarian. Libraries were one of her pet causes as a First Lady. And she does NOT dress like a librarian, considering that we range from kente cloth to leggings and tunics. She dresses like an upper-class woman of the “always proper and suitable but never ever vulgar” kind. Actually I know a whole bunch of Kentucky ladies from the same part of society who dress similarly.

  270. 270.

    afanasia

    Ms. Linton is quite pretty, and if you squint a bit the dress is just…another little black dress.

    What does horrify me is her spiteful expression (OK, that does ruin the way she looks) and her apparent compulsion to demonstrate her superiority to the less fortunate. How did she get like this? I blame her nanny. (Joke…that last bit was a joke.)

  271. 271.

    lgerard

    @dogwood:

    My favorite was the Puerto Rico fiasco. They stuck him behind a cafeteria table strewn with disparate household items, He looked like he was working a booth at the flea market.

    and they had to know he would not be able to resist the impulse to pick up stuff and start heaving it.

  272. 272.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I was going to say something snarky about “Justice League,” and then I remembered that Joss Whedon had to step in and finish the movie because Zack Snyder’s son committed suicide. That’s just a bad luck production right there.

  274. 274.

    Tenar Arha

    @Mnemosyne: the mentions of upskirt photography of WW & the armor costume design are already warning me off, yet I saw WW in the theater 3x. I don’t generally go more than 2x, to anything.

    Sounds like bad luck, Snyder’s male gaze, & tacked on Wheedon banter probably making for an unfortunate movie.

    ETA That’s too bad, because I think DC-verse really has something to offer that Marvel doesn’t. But if this keeps happening we’re not going to get to see what it could be.

  275. 275.

    VeniceRiley

    @Adam L Silverman: Actually Gal G said she didn’t even have to issue an ultimatum. When they all got together for a meeting, everyone was in agreement that Ratner was done. The studio and all. Unanimity.

  279. 279.

    jl

    @Fair Economist: I read some news stories and heard some news spots on it that included specific issues that have pissed off the donors. I’ll have to go look for them. A couple I can remember off the top of my head. Inheritance tax not ended immediately, cut in top bracket not as large as planned, retroactive tax cuts on capital income eliminated. That’s not the whole list.

    From the funders’ point of view, the bill is already a half-ass piece of shit that will keep them impoverished and enslaved as far as the eye can see, and they don’t want hear from these useless snot-nosed punk GOP flunkies again, they want it done… right now. I’ll have go look for the news on recent unpleasant GOP-donor relations. If I can find them, I’ll give links in future threads on the tax cut scam.

  280. 280.

    efgoldman

    Major Major Major Major:

    He’s one of the front-room suits who dies incompetently during unscheduled combat.

    A crew member not named in the script, wearing a red shirt?

  281. 281.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    The asshat, Mnuchin, is the Secretary of the Treasury. He controls and manages the Mint.

    If he wants to bring in a crowd of street people who intend to vote Republican, he probably can. Or the Drive By Truckers to play tunes to introduce the newly engraved $20 bills, with Ayn Rand engraved on the front, no problem! Paul Ryan will guest of honor, and served Wisconsin Lobster at dinner.

    They might introduce the trillion dollar coin stamped of palladium and platinum with Ivanka engraved and stamped on the front, and Trump Tower Moscow on the back, to balance the budget and enable deficit spending on millionaires’ tax refunds to continue.

    The head nuthatch in charge of the Mint. Amazing to imagine the things they might get up to.

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