• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

No one could have predicted…

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

“Alexa, change the president.”

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

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Second rate reporter says what?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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

He really is that stupid.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Fight them, without becoming them!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The revolution will be supervised.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: How Bad *IS* Trump’s Brain?

Open Thread: How Bad *IS* Trump’s Brain?

by Anne Laurie|  November 29, 20179:05 pm| 226 Comments

This post is in: Dolt 45, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Assholes, hoocoodanode

FacebookTweetEmail

Pretty damned bad!

President Trump makes Kim Jong Un reference during tax reform speech: "These massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel — little Rocket Man — rocket fuel for the American economy. He is a sick puppy." pic.twitter.com/CpLJKcy0Re

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 29, 2017

He seriously isn't getting enough oxygen to his brain. https://t.co/QhCCD5mwWz

— Zeddy ( me [ person ] ) (@ZeddRebel) November 29, 2017


.

As they say in the news business: Three’s a trend!

There are all these insider anecdotes about the president that read like they’re from a Last Days Of Tyrant Who Lost His Mind kind of book. https://t.co/V863YKfKUV pic.twitter.com/8AE1Ij8wIY

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 29, 2017

The Washington Post:

President Trump has expressed certainty that the special-counsel probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia will be finished by the end of the year, complete with an exoneration from Robert S. Mueller III, according to several friends who have spoken with him in recent days.

Trump has dismissed his historically low approval ratings as “fake” and boasted about what he calls the unprecedented achievements of his presidency, even while chatting behind the scenes, saying no president since Harry Truman has accomplished as much at this point…

In all these instances, as well as other setbacks, Trump has sought to paint the rosiest possible picture of his presidency and his character — and has tried to will others to see it his way, like the big-promises salesman he once was.

Sometimes… Trump simply rejects facts — and his own past admissions — as he spins a new narrative. His critics accuse him of creating an alternative reality, though people close to the president say he is simply a savvy marketer protecting his brand, as any businessman or politician would…

The first year of Trump’s presidency has brought tumult and chaos, including the expanding Russia probe, an absence of major legislative achievements and instances of self-sabotage by the president himself. But in recent days, Trump has been in an unusually upbeat mood, according to friends who visited with him…

EDITORIAL | Donald Trump is a madman https://t.co/E1IBo8mWj7 pic.twitter.com/ZY7eJCVl1A

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) November 29, 2017


.

The NYTimes, of course, prefers to handle the issue more… delicately:

This is quite the paragraph about the president of the United States. https://t.co/w4MN2opktz pic.twitter.com/4MyGCZEAdO

— Steven Shepard (@POLITICO_Steve) November 29, 2017


C'mon, it's not like this delusional man has the power to wipe out all human life … oh, fuck. https://t.co/dYeKBtX5yD

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 29, 2017

Shortly after his victory last year, Donald J. Trump began revisiting one of his deepest public humiliations: the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape of him making vulgar comments about women.

Despite his public acknowledgment of the recording’s authenticity in the final days of the presidential campaign — and his hasty videotaped apology under pressure from his advisers — Mr. Trump as president-elect began raising the prospect with allies that it may not have been him on the tape after all.

Most of Mr. Trump’s aides ignored his changing story. But in January, shortly before his inauguration, Mr. Trump told a Republican senator that he wanted to investigate the recording that had him boasting about grabbing women’s genitals…

In recent months, they say, Mr. Trump has used closed-door conversations to question the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. He has also repeatedly claimed that he lost the popular vote last year because of widespread voter fraud, according to advisers and lawmakers.

One senator who listened as the president revived his doubts about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate chuckled on Tuesday as he recalled the conversation. The president, he said, has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States. The senator asked not to be named to discuss private conversations.

Mr. Trump’s journeys into the realm of manufactured facts have been frequent enough that his own staff has sought to nudge friendly lawmakers to ask questions of Mr. Trump in meetings that will steer him toward safer terrain…

Mr. Trump’s friends did not bother denying that the president was creating an alternative version of events. One Republican lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, said that Mr. Trump’s false statements had become familiar to people over time. The president continues to boast of winning districts that he did not in fact win, the lawmaker said, and of receiving 52 percent of the women’s vote, even though exit polls show that 42 percent of women supported him…

If Trump actually believes this, they should convene the cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment by morning https://t.co/EIDmmYfX7s

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 29, 2017

Most of us are old enough to remember the increasingly desperate media excuse-making and evasions as it became increasingly obvious that “President” Ronald Reagan was not capable of remembering what he’d done last week, much less of running the country. Sorry, Repubs: You had your “mulligan” back in that more innocent age. Now even your own voters don’t believe Trump is just havin’ a larf on us, y’know, as only a powerful guy like him can do. Of course, a good chunk of those GOP voters don’t care that the Oval Office Occupant is (at best) sundowning or (at worst) totally disconnected from reality, but “Golly gosh we had NO IDEA” is not going to work as an excuse this time.

I’m sympathetic to the view and concern that Trump might be delusional. Clearly he’s in decline. But as @TimOBrien will tell you, Trump as recently as 10 years ago would lie to anyone and everyone, until one day he got put under oath. https://t.co/E1EybwbpnN

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) November 29, 2017

The people covering for Trump, do they think they can do this for three more years or is this a "one day at a time" kind of vibe?

— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 29, 2017

The President is on twitter windmill punching. Either he knows the tax bill is DOA or somebody's about to get indicted.

— Doctor (nay)Who (@jteeDC) November 29, 2017

Evergreen tweet pic.twitter.com/NiJbyCz3mb

— Stephen Silver (@StephenSilver) November 29, 2017

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Fake Owl, Real Moon (Open Thread)
Next Post: Looks like we made it »

Reader Interactions

226Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:11 pm

    This seems apropos:

  2. 2.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    @Trentrunner: So, the alternative is Conyers and Franken resign, and then Moore takes his seat?

    ETA: A little creativity from Adam renders this comment nonsensical. C’est la vie.

  3. 3.

    But her emails!!!

    November 29, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    @Trentrunner:

    If they compare actually electing an accused child molester to allowing due process to play out for a guy accused for grabbing a few butts, they were going to both-side it anyways.

    Dem’s can’t actually force Conyers to resign.

  4. 4.

    Jeffro

    November 29, 2017 at 9:13 pm

    Whenever you’re ready, GOP…

  5. 5.

    jay

    November 29, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    “to create and sell his own version of reality”

    Yeah, we used to call people like that psychopaths.

  6. 6.

    Emma

    November 29, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank you! I haven’t laughed so hard in a while.

  7. 7.

    kindness

    November 29, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    Trump isn’t clever enough to pull this off as an act. If someone openly tells you they are crazy, you should believe them. Pence will be worse I hate to say. No not crazy worse. Dominionist Christian worse. Dumb as a post too but I don’t think Trump is much better on that front.

    We’re screwed. I need some kitten videos.

  8. 8.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    That’s a lot of pie!

    More on topic, wow.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    In addition to the Little Rocket Man digression, he also insulted our Asian-Pacific allies in a digression over charging them more money to defend them against the DPRK. This included physically mocking them. I’m sure the Japanese and the South Koreans are just thrilled. It is very hard to check Kim’s nuclear weapons ambitions if you’re regularly insulting and denigrating your allies. Allies, it is important to note, that have far, far greater military resources available to combat the DPRK than the US does right now. There are around 30,000 American military and civilian defense and foreign service personnel all told in the Republic of Korea right now. There are 452,000 ROK Soldiers in South Korea right now. And that’s just the active duty ROK Army. When you throw in the active ROK Navy, Marines, and Air Force you’re talking 625,000 personnel under arms. The ROK reserve force is another 3.1 million personnel that can be mobilized. So the idea that the ROK needs to pay us more for their own defense is absolutely ridiculous.

  10. 10.

    SenyorDave

    November 29, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    Just deserts if el fucking moron gets dementia and has to be put in a second rate home where he can soil himself all day long. I think it’s a 100% certainty his kids would put him away, they wouldn’t take of him. Although it would be nice to think of the arguments between Ivanka, Qusay and Uday if they did keep him at home. “Hey Ivanka, it’s your turn to clean the Donald.”

    God, I hate that POS. I never thought I could hate a politician as much as I hate Trump. He’s destroying this country.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 29, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    The senator asked not to be named to discuss private conversations.

    The Senator asked. Why did the NYTimes agree? They could just as easily have said, sorry, we are discussing the mental incapacity of the President of the United States, so it’s on the record or nothing.

  12. 12.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    @different-church-lady: You’re welcome. I actually emailed it to AL for inclusion when I saw she was working on the post, but she may not have seen the email before she hit publish.

  13. 13.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: how did he physically mock them?

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 29, 2017 at 9:23 pm

    The President is on twitter windmill punching. Either he knows the tax bill is DOA or somebody’s about to get indicted.

    Just got a NYT notification that Jared spoke to Meuller’s investigators earlier this month about a post-election meeting with himself, Flynn and a Russian ambassador during the transition

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    @SenyorDave: Wait ’til the kids find out they don’t inherit the presidency.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    I see that Trentrunner has had a comment deleted by a frontpager. By the way, are he and Trentrunner II the same commenter? It seems a silly way to sockpuppet, if that’s what he’s doing, but …

  17. 17.

    MobiusKlein

    November 29, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: FTFNYT!
    I thought the same thing – how can the editors of the FNYTs wake up in the morning an look at the mirror knowing they continue to enable the charade. Quoting anonymous sources is great for clickbait, terrible for actual solid reporting.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: The whole defense/military aid section is teed up at the 30:38 mark. The physical mocking is at 31:39.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Wasn’t me.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    November 29, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    This.

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And this.

  21. 21.

    Princess

    November 29, 2017 at 9:28 pm

    Trump is a lying, racist, narcissistic asshole. That’s what he’s always been; that’s what he is now. Sure, he’s aging and isn’t even as sharp as he once was. But he’s not demented or delusional or insane or out of control, beyond his eternal narcissistic fever-dream of his own importance.

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh. Odd, Mr. Runner’s comment was in the pole position, and then suddenly yours was instead.

  23. 23.

    mai naem mobile

    November 29, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    Lots of people knew he was a crazy old demented narcissistic POS. I am talking about you Mark Burnett and his asshole kids and illegal trophy wife and they didn’t do shit about it. I hope they all burn in hell. I cannot stand this moron.

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    @different-church-lady: He or she may have self deleted.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    @mai naem mobile:

    Lots of people Everyone knew he was a crazy old demented narcissistic POS.

    They all knew it. It’s just that a lot of people liked it.

  26. 26.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: In the biblical sense?

  27. 27.

    geg6

    November 29, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    Wow. Rachel is taking no prisoners on Matt Lauer. Good on her.

  28. 28.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 9:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I’ve never pied, but I know I’m not seeing all of the comments. How is that possible?

  29. 29.

    dr. bloor

    November 29, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    He looks to me to be well into terminal drop, although the preexisting character pathology muddies the water some. I’d guess he’ll be dead in 3 to 5 years. If we’re lucky as a planet to outlast him, the nihilistic cabal enabling this apocalyptic farce should hang.

  30. 30.

    Dave

    November 29, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    @SenyorDave: I’ve come to genuinely resent every moron, patsy, and bigot that decided to make dealing with this dumpster fire of human being my and everyone elses problem.

  31. 31.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: ugh, you’re making me watch him?

    @debbie: one of them was deleted.

  32. 32.

    japa21

    November 29, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Unbelievable. Well based on his history not really unbelievable. Which is the saddest part.

  33. 33.

    mike in dc

    November 29, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    I hope he hangs in there long enough to be found competent to stand trial. He can deteriorate in the joint on his own time.

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 29, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: No law says you have to click on that.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 9:34 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    That explains it.

  36. 36.

    Mike J

    November 29, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Just got a NYT notification that Jared spoke to Meuller’s investigators earlier this month about a post-election meeting with himself, Flynn and a Russian ambassador during the transition

    Henry Cisneros had to resign from the Clinton administration because he paid too much in child support. He had a child with his mistress and the court ordered him to pay $x/month. He was a good guy who cared about his kid, so he always paid $2x/mo. On his SF-86, when asked about how much per month he was obligated to pay, he said $x/mo. The rule for Democrats is that he should have said how much he was paying, not how much the court obligated him to pay.

    Jared lied about meeting a hostile foreign power.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    November 29, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @Princess: Of course he is demented. Every single person who has been around him for 5 minutes in real life recognizes he is mentally unfit for office.

  38. 38.

    marv

    November 29, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    @dr. bloor: Well, if that’s not definitive, dr, you coulda fooled me

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    @Mike J: Thus, Franken should resign.

    [nods]

  40. 40.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    November 29, 2017 at 9:40 pm

    Matt Lauer now stands accused of rape.

  41. 41.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid: That’s the second time I’ve seen AL drop one of his comments, she did it last night as well. I’ve got TR pied so I didn’t see the actual comment last night, just something about pie.

  42. 42.

    different-church-lady

    November 29, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    @Corner Stone: What’s frightening is so many of them think, “He’s bugshit insane: what can I do with this?”

  43. 43.

    matt

    November 29, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    Too bad it’s never going to be appropriate to comment on the madness of the conservative movement that elevated and enables him on a daily basis. They’ll dump him and ‘move on’ and we’ll have to tolerate endless press fawning over them just as if it had never happened.

  44. 44.

    Corner Stone

    November 29, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    If we’re lucky as a planet to outlast him, the nihilistic cabal enabling this apocalyptic farce should hang.

    Too quick and merciful.
    Although, tbh, right now I would take any effort that cleared them all out of there.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    This was the President’s response to Theresa May’s response to his tweeting the Britain First knucklehead’s videos. Also, that’s not the Prime Minister of Britain’s twitter address. So he sent it to some other Theresa May.

    pic.twitter.com/xmgRvs6B3A

    — Miss Construed (@missc0nstrued) November 30, 2017

  46. 46.

    Emma

    November 29, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh my sweet Jesus.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 29, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: “tell me I can’t ride in a big gold buggy, will ya?”

    I wonder if this will finally torpedo the state visit.

    and isn’t that the one he tweeted at the wrong Theresa May?

  48. 48.

    MJS

    November 29, 2017 at 9:46 pm

    Echoing someone else from else from a couple days ago, the “Trump’s tweeting, something bad is going to break” prediction are pretty much played out. He tweets. All.The. Time. If his shit-tweets were a precursor to bad news for him, he would have been arrested or impeached by now.

  49. 49.

    raven

    November 29, 2017 at 9:47 pm

    How much of the ROK military budget do we absorb?

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is who he tweeted that at before he deleted it:
    https://twitter.com/theresamay

    The PM is @theresa_may

  51. 51.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Ah, I see. I don’t think it will be the last time either, given his persistence.

  52. 52.

    JPL

    November 29, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    I’m still trying to figure out who Theresa Scrivener is…
    https://twitter.com/RealPressSecBot/status/936033571554263040

    We are in uncharted territory when everyone is googling theresa scrivener

  53. 53.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 9:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He’s spinning out of control more rapidly than a quasar.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 29, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: just checked his feed, and he retweeted it at the PM, to make sure he had insulted yet another ally on this busy day

  55. 55.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Poor thing. Bet she’s received death threats.

  56. 56.

    Millard Filmore

    November 29, 2017 at 9:51 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Matt Lauer now stands accused of rape.

    That door locking button under his desk … doesn’t that bump up against some part of the kidnapping law when he prevents a victim from escaping?

  57. 57.

    B.B.A.

    November 29, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    Will no one rid us of this turbulent president?

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    November 29, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @dr. bloor: Monty Python narrator: And there will be great rejoicing!

  59. 59.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @debbie: We had one of their TV’s.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    @raven: We don’t. We do spend about $7 billion per year total (last year I could find was for 2013) to station troops in Germany, Japan, and the ROK. We have the most military personnel of those three in Japan. That’s out of a $10 billion per year total for basing personnel overseas. So basically a rounding error.

    This isn’t counting the costs for personnel forward deployed in operational capacities in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and/or various countries in Africa. Those costs are calculated separately.

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:54 pm

    @debbie: Her account is now locked and set to private, so…

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ready! Fire! Aim!

  63. 63.

    JPL

    November 29, 2017 at 9:55 pm

    @debbie: That is just crazy.

  64. 64.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    November 29, 2017 at 9:56 pm

    @different-church-lady: Still, though: His approval dropped 34 points in just over half as many days, to 22%. His actions aren’t as grave as Conyers (much less Moore’s), but he’s at best a walkibg ghost.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    November 29, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    @Millard Filmore:

    For real. NBC is in serious legal jeopardy if this is true. And we’re talking state law here. Not something Dolt 45 could possibly could pardon anyone for, even were he inclined to do so. Which he is not.

  66. 66.

    Culture of Truth

    November 29, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    Granted much of what he does can *seem* crazy, but don’t forget the environment he comes from. And far from being sick, it’s perfectly rational to pursue long range missiles with nuclear warheads, if only for self protection.

    Oh, we were talking about Trump

  67. 67.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): so maybe he should retire when his term’s up then.

  68. 68.

    Redshift

    November 29, 2017 at 9:59 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    That’s the second time I’ve seen AL drop one of his comments, she did it last night as well. I’ve got TR pied so I didn’t see the actual comment last night, just something about pie.

    He created a new nym this morning that was named to indicate that he did it just to evade the pie filter. I’m glad to see that’s one of the very few things that will get you banned.

  69. 69.

    hueyplong

    November 29, 2017 at 9:59 pm

    The utter lack of self control on camera and twitter on a daily basis kind of tells me that, whatever his sexual crimes in the past, Trump can’t function in that area anymore, because he doesn’t seem to be thinking about it, which always translates into talking about it (as he did on the Access Hollywood video).

    The misogyny remains, but the ability to act on it in a nasty manner apparently doesn’t.

    Is there general agreement on that?

    I guess this is consistent with the nature of the rumored tape(s).

    In any event, the upshot of all this is that Franken must resign.

  70. 70.

    SFBayAreaGal

    November 29, 2017 at 10:00 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: One of my favorite scenes among many favorite scenes from Young Frankenstein.

  71. 71.

    jl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    Trump is losing it fast. Remember that he did not remember that his wife was standing next to him at a recent event. Some think it was ambiguous, but I think it was crystal clear the guy either was unaware, or his mental process is so confused he could make a slip like that an not even notice it.

  72. 72.

    mike in dc

    November 29, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    @matt: I am of the opinion that Obama should have pushed Holder to crack down on far right extremism a lot more. If I happen to meet the next presidential nominee at a campaign event, I will press them on this point. It’s that important.

  73. 73.

    GregB

    November 29, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    There are too many sub plots to follow in this season closer of American Apocalypse Apprentice.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    This is going to lead to some choice tweets:
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-bragged-nothing-in-the-world-like-first-rate-psy

    Trump Bragged: ‘Nothing in the World Like First-Rate P**sy’
    Years before the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, the president crassly bragged about a woman’s private parts during a golf weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

    Brandy Zadrozny
    BRANDY ZADROZNY
    11.29.17 9:00 PM ET
    In a previously unreported comment to the now-defunct Maximum Golf magazine, Donald Trump singled out a “young socialite” at his club at Mar-a-Lago by telling a reporter, “there is nothing in the world like first-rate pussy.”

    The remark never made its way to print, as a top editor of the magazine forbade the reporter from putting it in the publication. But the former journalist who wrote the article, Michael Corcoran, and another editor, both confirmed that it was said by Trump as Corcoran followed him around at his Florida golf club for a profile.

    The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

    Much more at the link.

  75. 75.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    @Redshift: so that other nym really was him acting out because people were ignoring him? Pathetic, if so.

  76. 76.

    Ian G.

    November 29, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    If you asked me my unscientific opinion of who was the most insane dictator the world has seen post WWII, I’d go with Francisco Macias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. Google him.

    On that note, I wonder if I will wake up to find an executive order signed that changes the motto of the US to “there is no god but Donald J. Trump”

  77. 77.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 29, 2017 at 10:05 pm

    As a polity, we’re fucked. There will be two tiers of justice – the first, among average people, will work mostly like we’re accustomed. Divorces, average commercial disputes, most torts. This gives the veneer of fair play and a pretense of legitimacy.
    For oligarchs, justice will be bought.

    Think I’ll start looking at emigrating to China.

  78. 78.

    Emma

    November 29, 2017 at 10:05 pm

    @B.B.A.: Hope not. The one thing we don’t need is St. Orange of Mar-a-Lago, martyr and saint to the Morlocks.

  79. 79.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:05 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    Are you saying this with any actual expertise in the field? I am genuinely hoping so.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:06 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal: There’s not a bad scene in that movie.

  81. 81.

    mike in dc

    November 29, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Completely unsurprising. As far as whether it has legs, it depends upon whether it triggers a new wave of stories and accusers/victims.

  82. 82.

    RedDirtGirl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:08 pm

    @Princess: I made myself a button that says:
    “How’s electing a pu$$y-grabbing narcissist working out so far?” I get a kick out of watching people read it on the subway.

  83. 83.

    Cheryl Rofer

    November 29, 2017 at 10:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: But Trump doesn’t believe in allies. When he was handing out turkey sandwiches and chips to the Coast Guard, he noted that an ally can turn on you, just like that.

  84. 84.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 29, 2017 at 10:09 pm

    @SFBayAreaGal: @Adam L Silverman: Brooks and Wilder seem to have formed a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

  85. 85.

    jl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    Academic economists and business leaders are worried that if passed, the GOP tax cut will be first one to be as likely to trigger a recession as boost the economy. And unlikely if it boosts the economy, will produce much boost. Some of the provisions on corporate taxation and investment expensing depreciation are nuts. There is no ‘reform’ in it at all. More like anti-reform, putting in even more gimmicks that look like cool ways to pump more quick cash out of the system, mostly for wealthy people who own a lot but don’t do much.

    The business leaders who are doubtful are mostly in old fogey loser industries what actually ‘make real things’ and ‘provide valuable services’. These guys are no saints, probably mostly GOP, and love them some tax cuts, but they are sane. Kind of people Dems could work with to make an actual deal of some kind that might or might not be worth passing, but at least would not be insane. But those kinds of GOPers cannot be elected to office any more.

    I’ll have to go look for the articles I read on the very worried views of respectable corporate brass on the GOP tax scam.
    But, Trump thinks it will be rocket fuel.

  86. 86.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    I only hope people can keep him hung up talking about taxes and shit like that until he’s gone. I’d sure as hell rather have him stewing about taxes and not firing missiles at North Korea.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    @mike in dc: Epstein was on that flight with his girlfriend. From the article:

    In 2000, Corcoran was a guest on Trump’s 727 that weekend, and he wasn’t the only one. The article published in Maximum Golf magazine notes Trump had to wait at the marine terminal for now-disgraced pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his society gal-pal Ghislaine Maxwell—who have since been accused by dozens of women of running what amounted to a “sex slave” ring. Corcoran, who didn’t know the pair at the time, remembers Trump standing in the doorway of the plane yelling to them, “You broke the cardinal rule, Jeffery! Never be late for someone else’s plane!”

    Though not mentioned in the article, Corcoran now recalls a young woman boarding with them. “I honestly couldn’t guess her age, but she was young made up to look a bit older,” he says, adding that nothing “untoward” happened during the flight.

  88. 88.

    hueyplong

    November 29, 2017 at 10:12 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: He was talking about Flynn.

  89. 89.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:12 pm

    @MJS:

    Yeah, I had the same thought. Someone had opined that something big was about to fall, hence Trump’s big Fake News! tweets on Monday. No big story has dropped though.

    Instead, Moore is ahead, tax cuts look like a go, Keillor and Lauer are out (I ain’t sad about that), but Hannity and Limbaugh still remain untouched.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    @Princess: He’s clearly brain-damaged. IMHO.

    StatNews:

    […]

    In interviews Trump gave in the 1980s and 1990s (with Tom Brokaw, David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, Charlie Rose, and others), he spoke articulately, used sophisticated vocabulary, inserted dependent clauses into his sentences without losing his train of thought, and strung together sentences into a polished paragraph, which — and this is no mean feat — would have scanned just fine in print. This was so even when reporters asked tough questions about, for instance, his divorce, his brush with bankruptcy, and why he doesn’t build housing for working-class Americans.

    Trump fluently peppered his answers with words and phrases such as “subsided,” “inclination,” “discredited,” “sparring session,” and “a certain innate intelligence.” He tossed off well-turned sentences such as, “It could have been a contentious route,” and, “These are the only casinos in the United States that are so rated.” He even offered thoughtful, articulate aphorisms: “If you get into what’s missing, you don’t appreciate what you have,” and, “Adversity is a very funny thing.”

    Now, Trump’s vocabulary is simpler. He repeats himself over and over, and lurches from one subject to an unrelated one, as in this answer during an interview with the Associated Press last month:

    “People want the border wall. My base definitely wants the border wall, my base really wants it — you’ve been to many of the rallies. OK, the thing they want more than anything is the wall. My base, which is a big base; I think my base is 45 percent. You know, it’s funny. The Democrats, they have a big advantage in the Electoral College. Big, big, big advantage. … The Electoral College is very difficult for a Republican to win, and I will tell you, the people want to see it. They want to see the wall.”

    For decades, studies have found that deterioration in the fluency, complexity, and vocabulary level of spontaneous speech can indicate slipping brain function due to normal aging or neurodegenerative disease. STAT and the experts therefore considered only unscripted utterances, not planned speeches and statements, since only the former tap the neural networks that offer a window into brain function.

    The experts noted clear changes from Trump’s unscripted answers 30 years ago to those in 2017, in some cases stark enough to raise questions about his brain health. They noted, however, that the same sort of linguistic decline can also reflect stress, frustration, anger, or just plain fatigue.

    Ben Michaelis, a psychologist in New York City, performed cognitive assessments at the behest of the New York Supreme Court and criminal courts and taught the technique at a hospital and university. “There are clearly some changes in Trump as a speaker” since the 1980s, said Michaelis, who does not support Trump, including a “clear reduction in linguistic sophistication over time,” with “simpler word choices and sentence structure. … In fairness to Trump, he’s 70, so some decline in his cognitive functioning over time would be expected.”

    Some sentences, or partial sentences, would, if written, make a second-grade teacher despair. “We’ll do some questions, unless you have enough questions,” Trump told a February press conference. And last week, he told NBC’s Lester Holt, “When I did this now I said, I probably, maybe will confuse people, maybe I’ll expand that, you know, lengthen the time because it should be over with, in my opinion, should have been over with a long time ago.”

    Other sentences are missing words. Again, from the AP: “If they don’t treat fairly, I am terminating NAFTA,” and, “I don’t support or unsupport” — leaving out a “me” in the first and an “it” (or more specific noun) in the second. Other sentences simply don’t track: “From the time I took office til now, you know, it’s a very exact thing. It’s not like generalities.”

    […]

    Researchers have used neurolinguistics analysis of past presidents to detect, retrospectively, early Alzheimer’s disease. In a famous 2015 study, scientists at Arizona State University evaluated how Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush spoke at their news conferences. Reagan’s speech was riddled with indefinite nouns (something, anything), “low imageability” verbs (have, go, get), incomplete sentences, limited vocabulary, simple grammar, and fillers (well, basically, um, ah, so) — all characteristic of cognitive problems. That suggested Reagan’s brain was slipping just a few years into his 1981-1989 tenure; that decline continued. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994. Bush showed no linguistic deterioration; he remained mentally sharp throughout his 1989-1993 tenure and beyond.

    They’re far too kind to him in their assessment, IMO. 70 isn’t that old. There are lots of people who are really sharp into their late 80s and beyond. PsychologyToday:

    – Leo Tolstoy learned to ride a bicycle at 67
    – Queen Victoria began learning Hindustani at 68
    – Giuseppe Verdi was still composing operas in his 80s
    – Somerset Maugham wrote his last book at 84
    – Frank Lloyd Wright designed his last building at 89
    – In their 90s, Robert Frost was writing poems and George Bernard Shaw was writing plays, Georgia O’Keefe was painting pictures, and Pablo Casals was playing cello
    – Oliver Wendell Holmes was still dominating the Supreme Court until he retired at 91
    – Linus Pauling was actively publishing just before his death at age 93.
    – Leopold Stokowski recorded 20 albums in his 90s and signed a six-year contract at 96

    Scientists are particularly noted for being sharp and productive long into the late 80s and 90s. The National Science Foundation reports that at age 69 more than 29% of scientists and engineers with PhDs still work full time, compared to 13% of scientists with a M.S. or B.S. degree. Marion Diamond, an active senior scientist at 75, published data showing that brain cells can grow and learning can improve throughout life.

    And so on.

    But I’m just J. Random Commenter on the Internet. ;-)

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    @jl:

    The business leaders who are doubtful are mostly in old fogey loser industries what actually ‘make real things’ and ‘provide valuable services’. These guys are no saints, probably mostly GOP, and love them some tax cuts, but they are sane. Kind of people Dems could work with

    Maybe not considering that describes the Koch brothers.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    @Another Scott: (sigh). Too many links or something, I guess. FYWP put me in the dungeon. Help?

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I noted that. Makes you wonder what he meant if it was anything more than a brain fart.

  94. 94.

    jl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    @mike in dc:

    “Obama should have pushed Holder to crack down on far right extremism a lot more. ”

    i read that the initiative to follow potentially violent right wing extremist groups much more closely was actually started by the GW Bush administration. Obama inherited most of it. At least the study that came out was initiated by GW Bush administration. It was one of the few examples that the GW Bush administration was capable of proposing and producing good policy.

    Obama should have said that and told the GOP to go stuff it.

    Someone let me know if I misremember anything.

  95. 95.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    @Redshift:
    Wasn’t he a relatively normal contributor here for years? What happened?

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    @Another Scott: Do you know today’s safe word?

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 10:18 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Still, though: His approval dropped 34 points in just over half as many days, to 22%. His actions aren’t as grave as Conyers (much less Moore’s), but he’s at best a walkibg ghost.

    Thus, he should resign, then Gov. Mark Dayton, in a show of good faith and bipartisanship, should let Tim Pawleny name Franken’s replacement. After that, Ruth Bader Ginsburg should retire, because Argle Bargle is SURE that the Rethugs will, in a “back-atcha” show of good faith and bipartisanship, will finally vote on Merrick Garland.

    Did I forget anything?

  98. 98.

    jl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:20 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: ” Maybe not considering that describes the Koch brothers. ”

    Sure, but mostly it doesn’t. I read the Koch brothers and their GOP big funder buddies are angry that the GOP tax slash scam has been cut considerably from what they were promised. Koch’s might well be more obsessed with piling up more cash for themselves quickly than long run health of their businesses. And in some ways they are delusional.

    Anyway, I didn’t say a compromise would be worth passing, I just said it wouldn’t be completely insane.

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 10:20 pm

    @B.B.A.:

    Will no one rid us of this turbulent president?

    Careful.

    ETA: Just to be clear: there’s a big difference between hoping he strokes out, and what you wrote.

  100. 100.

    hueyplong

    November 29, 2017 at 10:23 pm

    @SFAW: A stroke requires you to believe in Hell, but I get where you’re coming from.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    @JPL:

    I await his apology. ?

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Let me guess… “contempt citations(?)”.

    Do I win? ;-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    FYI!

    What. The. Hell? https://t.co/HXQ4O69nbo

    — JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUΔL³³º¹ (@th3j35t3r) November 29, 2017

    Brett Vanderbrook was driving for Uber last week when he got a call from an unfamiliar number. He let it go to voicemail and when he listened to it later, he got a shock: It was a recorded message telling him to stop making “negative and derogatory posts about President Trump.”

    “It was kind of threatening. I was dumbfounded at first and then creeped out,” Vanderbrook, who lives in Dallas, Texas, said in a phone interview. “Then I was angry and that’s when I decided to share it.”

    Vanderbrook makes progressive political posts on Facebook, voicing support for gun control, LGBTQ rights, and immigrant rights. None of his public posts mention President Trump or come across as “derogatory.”

    Vanderbrook is not alone, though. Across the country, and even in Canada, people have reported on social media that they’ve received the same robocall. The earliest complaint dates back to July. The intensity of the calling campaign is hard to gauge; a search of complaints turned up 10 reports scattered across different platforms.

    Update (Nov 29. 8:46 p.m.): Several readers recognized the voice in the recording from Ownage Pranks, a service that places automated prank calls. “Citizens for Trump” is a prank offered by the service, which records the call and lets the person who ordered it post it publicly if they choose. In the full recording, the caller is identified as “Russell from the Citizens for Trump Foundation.”

    Citizens for Trump describes itself as a “grassroots organization” that advocates for President Trump. According to a legal filing by its co-founder Timothy Selaty, the group was formed in 2015 by Patriotic Warriors LLC. Patriotic Warriors had now-expired business licenses in West Virginia and Arizona. The Citizens for Trump website encourages people to submit “Trump-related memes” for publication. In 2016, with the help of the ACLU, Citizens for Trump sued the city of Cleveland for the right to hold a parade there during the Republican National Convention.

    Citizens for Trump has not yet responded to questions about whether it is behind the calls or, if it is, how it is choosing whom to target.

    More at the link!

  104. 104.

    Calouste

    November 29, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    @jl: Well, the Kochs are 80 or so. There is no such thing as long term left for them.

  105. 105.

    chopper

    November 29, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    @SFAW:

    right, for all we know some paladin is reading this and getting the wrong idea.

  106. 106.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh god, it’s that guy.

    The script is cartoonish enough to sound like a prank. That might not be out of character for Citizens for Trump: The group is affiliated with Jack Posobiec, a Trump-supporting stunt artist and self-proclaimed investigative journalist, who listed himself in a bio as its former Special Projects Director in 2016. Posobiec is infamous for misinformation stunts; he allegedly brought a “Rape Melania” sign to a Trump protest to discredit the actual protesters, and he helped promote the bizarre conspiracy known as Pizzagate. Scholars from the Public Data Lab listed Citizens for Trump as being part of a “fake news ecosystem” during the last election.

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    @Another Scott: Get the butterfly nets!

  108. 108.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Yep, the Piss Boy!

  109. 109.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 10:32 pm

    @Another Scott: You said a bad word, the C-word(gaming establishment).

  110. 110.

    Wapiti

    November 29, 2017 at 10:32 pm

    @jl: My uneducated guess is that giving rich people a lot of money will encourage them to invest it – they have to put it somewhere, right? Because the poors aren’t buying stuff, there’s no point in corporations actually making more stuff, so the investments just drive up the price of shares. I expect we’ll see a stock bubble and crash.

  111. 111.

    Major Major Major Major

    November 29, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The other c-word will get your comment deleted too though, IIRC.

  112. 112.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Green Balloons, it’s always Green Balloons.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:35 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah, you’re right.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    @SFAW: Isn’t there a lawn you should be taking care of? “Franken is increasingly becoming a liability” and “we should unconditionally surrender to the Republicans” are two different things – I would actually argue that a Moore seating strengthens the case for Franken staying on as a lame duck, for one thing.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    He’s going to be completely manic sometime around 6 AM tomorrow!

    New signs of potential PLEA DEAL for Flynn: Mueller delays grand jury testimony of key witnesses, via @KaraScannell @eliselabottcnn @MichLKosinski https://t.co/vcGncxUP2R

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 29, 2017

    BREAKING: Subpoenas are being sent to 23 Trump businesses requiring them to preserve records that may be sought by the attorneys general from the District of Columbia and Maryland in a lawsuit accusing the president of profiting from his office.

    — Brian Krassenstein? (@krassenstein) November 29, 2017

  116. 116.

    But her emails!!!

    November 29, 2017 at 10:38 pm

    @Wapiti:

    Because we’ll be borrowing to finance the tax cuts, the only relatively assured thing is we’re going to see a greater investment in US Treasuries.How that shakes out in the other assets is going to be tough to tell.

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: And this too!

    OMG, are you stupid? You just blew apart two different cases your DOJ is defending against me. I’m going to take you apart, Mr. President. https://t.co/lpeTAkBFwP

    — Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) November 30, 2017

    Refers to this insanity:

    The House of Representatives seeks contempt citations(?) against the JusticeDepartment and the FBI for withholding key documents and an FBI witness which could shed light on surveillance of associates of Donald Trump. Big stuff. Deep State. Give this information NOW! @FoxNews

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017

    Which appears to refer to this stupidity by Congressman Nunes:

    Here, it would appear, is what this tweet is about: https://t.co/1YuOa2f78p

    — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) November 30, 2017

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 29, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Jesus fuck.

  119. 119.

    Steeplejack

    November 29, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Casinos.

  120. 120.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Trump believes that about America’s allies because that’s how he treats his own.

  121. 121.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 29, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: How would China be an improvement over that? Sounds like more of the same.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    @Steeplejack: Yup. I should have remembered that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“But it really shouldn’t be a FYWP word here anyway!!1”)

  123. 123.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Too many words. Definitely too many syllables. Or so I’m told…//

  124. 124.

    Ruckus

    November 29, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    @Princess:
    This is not just the asshole personality that he has been his entire asshole life. I’ve been saying for a while that he is in at least the early stages of dementia. I’ve seen this up close and personal with 3 relatives. This is what it looks like. Not everyone is the same or progresses at the same speed but overall………

  125. 125.

    MJS

    November 29, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m confused. Who is Moss, and what cases is he referring to?

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: IIRC, he mentioned the possibility of bailing on us to run to that mysterious land a year or so ago, also too. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but …

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    November 29, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Another data point for the mental deterioration theory: can anyone imagine him using the word “cardinal” today?

  128. 128.

    M. Bouffant

    November 29, 2017 at 10:45 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I still have one in my kitchen. TV works fine, ‘though the VCR (It was my mother’s, wouldn’t have bought a TV/VCR combo myself.) doesn’t. It’s close to 20 yrs. old.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Alexa: Order all the popcorn. And all the single malt!

  130. 130.

    debbie

    November 29, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    So the local Fox station shows the lottery numbers every night during the 10 pm news, with some stupid instrumental music in the background. Tonight they played that song with the lyrics about I’m in love in your body and my bedsheets smell like you. I can’t imagine that wasn’t a mistake!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8

  131. 131.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 29, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Linus Pauling was actively publishing just before his death at age 93.

    The papers got increasingly nutty, though…

  132. 132.

    jl

    November 29, 2017 at 10:47 pm

    @Wapiti: Most of the recent increase in corporate valuation is due to hopes of cost-cutting and more monopoly power from mergers and acquisitions, and corporate stock buy backs. So, we’re already pretty far down that road. Some of the corporate tax provisions in the GOP bill do a lot get quick cash from lower taxes, but are so crazy and senseless that they may well reduce real productive investment.

    And there is also the fact that if the mechanism of how the corporate tax rate cuts works as intended to spur economic growth, it will cause a big increase in the trade deficit, and will suck more national income out of US into foreign owners buying up US assets.

  133. 133.

    lurker dean

    November 29, 2017 at 10:47 pm

    moss immediately filed a notice of supplemental information to submit the orange idiot’s tweet to the court.

    New filing in Trump FISA info #FOIA case: Notice (Other)https://t.co/bh30uJSI7l pic.twitter.com/B6szQaBZbE— Big Cases Bot (@big_cases) November 30, 2017

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    @MJS: Brad Moss. One of the partners at Mark Zaid’s law firm They specializing in fixing issues with security clearances, protecting real whistleblowers, and FOIA requests on behalf of reporters and good government watchdog groups. In fact they’re doing the FOIA stuff pro bono right now to serve as a check on the President and his appointees. They quickly filed an amendment to one of their suits over a FOIA request about an hour ago. Here are the details.

    New filing in Trump FISA info #FOIA case: Notice (Other)https://t.co/bh30uJSI7l pic.twitter.com/B6szQaBZbE

    — Big Cases Bot (@big_cases) November 30, 2017

  135. 135.

    M. Bouffant

    November 29, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Don’t think for a minute that China’s justice system is any better or even that much different.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: No, but the Archbishop of Canterbury is all over his tuchas:

    I join the urgent call for President @realDonaldTrump to remove his Britain First retweets and make clear his opposition to racism and hatred. https://t.co/JosYO7vwEG pic.twitter.com/v66KQVtWQq

    — Justin Welby ن (@JustinWelby) November 29, 2017

  137. 137.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 10:51 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: What? You don’t take a kg of Vitamin C every morning to fight off cancer?!?!??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  138. 138.

    Jack the Second

    November 29, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    I have a hard time feeling bad for Trump, but does it seem … cruel, to take a man like Trump – aging, confused, insecure – and make him President? It’s like taking a Make-a-Wish kid and then making them actually BE a doctor or fireman or police officer, and then acting like it’s their fault when people start dying.

  139. 139.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 29, 2017 at 10:53 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Physically safer there than here, and I’m actually feeling better about a throttled internet devoted to running a hookup site than I am about ours.

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 29, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Have you been to China? The culture is very different.

    And fucking nut up. This is our country. Maybe we should defend it.

  141. 141.

    Quaker in a Basement

    November 29, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    The president continues to boast of winning districts that he did not in fact win, the lawmaker said, and of receiving 52 percent of the women’s vote, even though exit polls show that 42 percent of women supported him…

    He means white women.

  142. 142.

    MJS

    November 29, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks to you and lurker dean for the info. But is it really advisable to spike the football via tweet, even when your adversary is someone as odious as Trump? Maybe just a, “Thank you for your help” tweet? Or better yet, nothing, lest someone get it through Trumps thick skull that his tweets do him great harm?

  143. 143.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I don’t know, Adam… like Fox Mulder, I want to believe (that Trump will crash and burn), but some new and juicy bit comes out, Rachel and company go nuts for a couple days, and Trump continues to dismantle the country.

    Any guess as to when this all stops being so much water cooler gossip and fun From Russia with Love vids and becomes SERIOUS?

  144. 144.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 29, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    @Another Scott: I remember reading some of his late papers on quasicrystals–he thought that they didn’t exist, that people were being fooled by the well-known phenomenon of crystal twinning, which can produce forms that superficially seem to have the kinds of “forbidden” symmetry found in quasicrystals. It was a reasonable hypothesis early on, but he kept having to make his scheme more and more complicated to respond to objections, and after a while it seemed like sheer stubbornness.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 10:58 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement: Continuing the Mel Brooks theme:

  146. 146.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    It was a fucking joke. Although it was in a reply to you, it was more aimed at TRunner, our resident “ZOMG Franken ZOMFG!” troll, and at Argle Bargle, whose nom/nym (it is my belief) is a reference to the idiotic “RBG should do the stand-up thing and resign/retire so that Obama can name a liberal to the SCOTUS, because she won’t live forever” bullshit that was the go-to argument for one of the trolls here in 2015 or early 2016 (pre-Garland). I am of the belief that Argle Bargle and that earlier troll are the same person.

    My sincere apologies for not being clear about that. I guess it might be considered abstruse by people who can’t read my “mind.”

  147. 147.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    November 29, 2017 at 10:59 pm

    @MJS:

    lest someone get it through Trumps thick skull that his tweets do him great harm

    If it hasn’t happened by now, it probably never will.

  148. 148.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 11:00 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): That wasn’t to celebrate a crash and burn. Just to get me through tomorrow AM’s early morning Presidential tweets.

  149. 149.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:00 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Green Balloons, it’s always Green Balloons.

    I love that song, but only in the original Deutsch.

  150. 150.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:01 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’ll forgive him things like that. Lots and lots of people get stubborn and end up being wrong. He was so prolific in so many areas that he deserves the chance to be wrong, too.

    I heard today (for the first time) that there are people claiming that there are such things as time crystals:

    Using the analogy of crystals in space, the breaking of translational symmetry in time and the emergence of a ‘time crystal’ was recently proposed2,3, but was later shown to be forbidden in thermal equilibrium4,5,6. However, non-equilibrium Floquet systems, which are subject to a periodic drive, can exhibit persistent time correlations at an emergent subharmonic frequency7,8,9,10. This new phase of matter has been dubbed a ‘discrete time crystal’10. Here we present the experimental observation of a discrete time crystal, in an interacting spin chain of trapped atomic ions.

    I wonder what Linus would have thought of such things! :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  151. 151.

    JWR

    November 29, 2017 at 11:02 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    …he also insulted our Asian-Pacific allies in a digression over charging them more money to defend them against the DPRK. This included physically mocking them.

    I guess we should be happy he didn’t push up the corners of his eyes and say “ah so, ah so.”

  152. 152.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 29, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: It would be bad for our side, but I’d have more respect for Flynn if he went the way of Slobodan Praljak.

  153. 153.

    frosty

    November 29, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: True. Young Frankenstein is full of great lines and scenes. I read that Gene Wilder insisted Brooks play it straight without breaking the fourth wall and it really made the movie. Plus, the guy who had squirrelled away the original lab props was happy to let Brooks use them.

    Plus again, Terri Garr!!!

  154. 154.

    Ken

    November 29, 2017 at 11:05 pm

    @lurker dean: I wonder what it’s like to be one of Trump’s lawyers. They must be at the “whatever, as long as the checks clear” stage.

  155. 155.

    Bill Arnold

    November 29, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    @Another Scott:
    Another link (dredged from a comment in 2017/02):
    Using Discourse Analysis to Assess Cognitive Decline
    Includes links to Trump interviews with Letterman. (Links have apparently been updated.)
    Not a medical person, but I’ve been tracking DT’s cognitive abilities since mid Jan 2017, and there has been a noticeable decline IMO. His mental style was always intuitive and … stochastic. It’s not working so well now; guessing older brain, lousy diet, no exercise, fatigue due to the “hard work”. Perhaps it’s progressive (or not), but he should probably quit for his own good, and try to heal, and I say this as somebody who loathes him, especially for pushing emotional buttons to encourage me and others loath him.

    And yeah. Knew a physicist who posthumously had a paper published in his late 80s.

  156. 156.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Gonna be hard to top that in terms of national security bad guy actions. I’m not sure anyone is going to be able to best that in the four weeks left in 2017.

  157. 157.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @Wapiti:
    Not necessarily. They won’t bother to invest if they don’t see a compelling opportunity. They don’t even need it to live on like those of lesser means, so they can just put the money in a vault instead, and go swimming in it like Scrooge McDuck.

  158. 158.

    M. Bouffant

    November 29, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @Another Scott: TIME CUBE!

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 29, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    This is as open as I remember them being about their plans shred the social safety net

    John Harwood‏Verified account @ JohnJHarwood
    Lamar Alexander told me that tax cuts followed by deficit-reducing spending cut is “winning formula” for GOP

    Igor Bobic @ igorbobic
    Graham says some senators want trigger to cut discretionary spending (hello, sequester Pt. 2!) rather than a rollback in tax rates

    Glenn Kessler‏Verified account @ GlennKesslerWP
    Hmmm, Marco Rubio says that the tax plan is just the first step before “instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare” benefits to reduce the federal deficit

  160. 160.

    Steeplejack

    November 29, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    @SFAW:

    It was pretty clear to me that you were joking, FWIW.

  161. 161.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 29, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Sets up a brilliant “I have nothing but contempt for you, you piece of shit, Mister Nunes…”

  162. 162.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 29, 2017 at 11:10 pm

    @MJS:

    But is it really advisable to spike the football via tweet, even when your adversary is someone as odious as Trump? Maybe just a, “Thank you for your help” tweet? Or better yet, nothing, lest someone get it through Trumps thick skull that his tweets do him great harm?

    Dude, trump never learns anything; he always doubles down. This is likely a great strategy.

  163. 163.

    frosty

    November 29, 2017 at 11:11 pm

    @Another Scott: And then again, my dad, a PhD engineer, developed Parkinson’s around 65, the year he retired, started getting cognitively impaired around 10 years later, and passed away at 80. It’s all a crap shoot.

  164. 164.

    Adam L Silverman

    November 29, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I believe I explained that this was what was going to happen earlier today.

  165. 165.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    @M. Bouffant:

    TIME CUBE!

    Reading that, all I could think of was either Professor Irwin Corey (may he RIP), “Who’s on First?”, or the contract scene from “A Night at the Opera.” Or perhaps a combination of all three of them.

  166. 166.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 11:14 pm

    @SFAW:
    As it happens, the original Deutsch — Neunundneunzig Luftballons — doesn’t even mention the colour of the balloons.

  167. 167.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:15 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Much appreciated.

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @frosty: Indeed – none of us know what will happen and there are no guarantees. :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  169. 169.

    Sherparick

    November 29, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: But he Emails¡!!!!!!
    We are so fucked.

  170. 170.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    November 29, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’ve gone. I felt less excluded and scruTinized in rural China than I felt in Eastern Kentucky 150 miles from home (and in the same congressional district). I’m just tired of the same repeated fight.

    Will likely feel the same about Vietnam next month.

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Ja, dass weiss ich. Auch, in Englisch war es “rot,” nicht “grun.”
    Ich machte einen kleinen Spass

  172. 172.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    @jl:

    Most of the recent increase in corporate valuation is due to hopes of cost-cutting and more monopoly power from mergers and acquisitions, and corporate stock buy backs.

    You talk of this as if it’s a bad thing, why do you hate the Free Market* jl?

    *Free Market is a registered Trademark of the Republican National Committee.

  173. 173.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    @Another Scott: I thought that was for colds, that’s what my nurse tells me.

  174. 174.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    @M. Bouffant: OMG!!

    (scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, …)

    “NEXT PAGE”

    ROFL. :-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  175. 175.

    sukabi

    November 29, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I fully expect industrial strength shredders are on their way to all of drumpfs properties right now…gonna make the shredding done by Enron and Arthur Anderson look like child’s play.

  176. 176.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This is our country. Maybe we should defend it.

    It seems to be the general consensus here at Balloon Juice that we should give up and leave.

  177. 177.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    November 29, 2017 at 11:26 pm

    @SFAW: I definitely got the joke.

    FWIW, it was the “white wimminz/this is fine” comment he made in Doug’s Lauer thread that convinced me TR is now trolling and not just being overly pessimistic.

  178. 178.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Later on, he argued that massive doses of Vitamin C prevents cancer.

    When he was asked why he himself developed cancer if what he was saying was true, he said that he didn’t take enough Vitamin C when he was younger… :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  179. 179.

    frosty

    November 29, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    @Another Scott: I should probably not drink to that this close to bedtime, but I believe I will.

    Cheers, (to steal a phrase)
    frosty

  180. 180.

    At sunset the tiercel flew above the marsh, pursuing a wisp of snipe. They drummed away down wind, like stone skidding across ice.

    November 29, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    I watched the Japanese news network NHK today as the polite anchor attempted to convey the content of Trump’s remarks without revealing that she believed he was an insane person.

  181. 181.

    B.B.A.

    November 29, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was born here, and I was raised here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, and no sidewindin’ bushwackin’, hornswagglin’ cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.

  182. 182.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: China? Vietnam? What are you, some kind of Commie?

  183. 183.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @Another Scott: Ah, yes. Pauling, I think he won 2(or maybe 3) Nobel Prizes. I know he won the Peace Prize and I think Chemistry.

  184. 184.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @SFAW:
    Das verstehe ich. Ich hatte kein Vorhaben, dich zu kritisieren.

  185. 185.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 29, 2017 at 11:36 pm

    @frosty:

    Cheers, (to steal a phrase)
    frosty

    Or, Stay Frosty(to steal a phrase).

  186. 186.

    danielx

    November 29, 2017 at 11:37 pm

    @Princess:

    But he’s not demented or delusional or insane or out of control, beyond his eternal narcissistic fever-dream of his own importance.

    I disagree, but in practical terms: if his narcissistic fever dreams produce the same effects as senile dementia (to name one distinct possibility) is there any real difference?

  187. 187.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:38 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    Oh, sorry for misinterpreting. I’m either tired, or old, or my “sense of humour” is at low ebb. Or all three.

    Now get offa my lawn, whippersnapper (the lawn that you told me to go take care of, of course.)

  188. 188.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Das verstehe ich, Ich hatte kein Vorhaben, dich zu kritisieren.

    Yeah, I know. I must be having a thin-skinned/clueless night.

    Thanks, Obama!

  189. 189.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Thanks for the pointer. I wonder how far our national officials would let him decline before finally stepping in.

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  190. 190.

    Raoul

    November 29, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Will we ever wake up from Paul Ryan’s wet dream/national nightmare?

    Really, tho, once the olds figure out that the GOP is gunning for their Medicare, can the GOP hang on? I know the cynics here (all of us, Katie!) think the Dems will get the blame, but I’m not so sure. Even old and addled folks more or less know the GOP won in 2016.

  191. 191.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    @B.B.A.:

    I was born here, and I was raised here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, and no sidewindin’ bushwackin’, hornswagglin’ cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.

    Now WHO can argue with that?

  192. 192.

    Another Scott

    November 29, 2017 at 11:44 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: 2. He’s the only person to have won 2 undivided Nobel Prizes. He really was one of a kind, but like everyone, was fallible.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  193. 193.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 29, 2017 at 11:45 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: All these people need to go the way of the Ceausescus.

  194. 194.

    r€nato

    November 29, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    That last tweet, OMG yes. I am so fucking sick and tired of hearing how Trump’s latest insane rant is a “distraction from X”.

    He is not capable of that kind of strategic thinking, or of ANY strategic thinking. He is as impulsive as a toddler. Stop overthinking this.

  195. 195.

    danielx

    November 29, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    Once upon a time I watched a bad Steven Seagal movie (are there any other kind?) and there was one worthwhile scene in the whole movie. Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones were the villains, and at some point Busey, who was wearing a wig and looking even more deranged than usual, snarls at Jones: “do I look like I need psychological help?”. It may have been ad-libbed, since Jones looked like he was working hard at not breaking up.

    Gary Busey playing Trump in a movie can’t be far off; they even resemble each other to a degree.

  196. 196.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I wonder how far our national officials would let him decline before finally stepping in.

    It all depends on whether he keeps signing the “Fuck the middle/lower class” bills they send him, or if he starts promulgating liberal policies.

    Since neither is likely, I’m guessing the answer is “never.”

  197. 197.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 29, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    @SFAW: Authentic frontier gibberish.

  198. 198.

    danielx

    November 29, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    Found it….actually it was like this:

    Gary Busey: do i look like i need a psychological evaluation?

    Tommy Lee Jones: not at all.

    And Busey was in drag.

  199. 199.

    hueyplong

    November 29, 2017 at 11:52 pm

    @danielx: Casting Busey as Trump is the kind of decision that would have kept Obama up at night.

  200. 200.

    Bess

    November 29, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    @Ken:

    .

    I wonder what it’s like to be one of Trump’s lawyers. They must be at the “whatever, as long as the checks clear” stage.

    I assume they’ve padded previous statements enough so that when his checks do start bouncing they will have already collected for those hours.

    OTOH, they are Trump’s attorneys. Perhaps they weren’t smart enough to think about that….

  201. 201.

    SFAW

    November 29, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    @Raoul:

    I know the cynics here (all of us, Katie!) think the Dems will get the blame, but I’m not so sure.

    I think that’s because there’s no real scream machine to shout-from-the-rooftops that the RWNJs are fucking over everyone in the 95 percent. Whereas the RWNJs have Fox. And the RWNJs have been working the refs (i.e., the MSM) for 40 years, so much so that they (with few exceptions) are scared to report things which make the Rethugs look as evil/bad as they really are.

  202. 202.

    SiubhanDuinne

    November 29, 2017 at 11:56 pm

    @sukabi:

    Maybe they could hire Fawn Hall as a temp.

  203. 203.

    Amir Khalid

    November 29, 2017 at 11:56 pm

    @danielx:
    Alas, if Gary Busey were to play a not-right-in-the-head person, he might not be acting.

  204. 204.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 30, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @SFAW: In the video, the balloons were red.

    Song auf Deutsch didn’t specify.

  205. 205.

    danielx

    November 30, 2017 at 12:02 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Then clearly he’s the perfect candidate, particularly if he were to play Trump. Broken logic, off-the-cuff instant rages…what’s not to like?

  206. 206.

    danielx

    November 30, 2017 at 12:11 am

    @Raoul:

    Even old and addled folks more or less know the GOP won in 2016.

    True, and I’ve been reminded of it by some of my contemporaries more than once. I didn’t like hearing “get over it” – repeatedly – after Bush stole the 2000 election, and I like it even less now – a whole lot less, and no, I’m not going to get over it. I detested W and still do, but I wasn’t concerned about his mental stability to any great degree. His stupidity and maliciousness were and are a whole ‘nother set of issues, but I didn’t think he was deranged. We can survive presidents who are less than brilliant, but I’m not at all convinced Trump won’t blow the planet off its axis before 2020. Even if he doesn’t, I am beginning to doubt whether he would leave office voluntarily under any circumstances.

  207. 207.

    Steve in the ATL

    November 30, 2017 at 12:13 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: IIRC, in the video the balloons were a variety of colors, which was confusing to young MTV viewers who didn’t know that “red” was added simply because the song required a syllable to replace “luft” when translated from German into English.

  208. 208.

    frosty

    November 30, 2017 at 12:20 am

    @danielx:

    Once upon a time I watched a bad Steven Seagal movie (are there any other kind?)

    Yes, Executive Decision, where he gets killed early and Kurt Russel has to take over leading the op.

  209. 209.

    sukabi

    November 30, 2017 at 12:29 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: pretty sure there will be more than one 1.5′ stack of papers to be shredded….also pretty sure she’s a bit old for the job…

  210. 210.

    sukabi

    November 30, 2017 at 12:31 am

    @frosty: that was the only good segal movie…precisely because he gets killed off early.

  211. 211.

    Honus

    November 30, 2017 at 12:33 am

    @Amir Khalid: and in the English version the balloons are red.

  212. 212.

    Amir Khalid

    November 30, 2017 at 12:39 am

    @At sunset the tiercel flew above the marsh, pursuing a wisp of snipe. They drummed away down wind, like stone skidding across ice.:
    You have a lovely nym.

  213. 213.

    Felonius Monk

    November 30, 2017 at 12:45 am

    Don’t know if this has been mentioned yet:

    Gil Hoffman
    @Gil_Hoffman
    Israeli officials expect @realDonaldTrump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announce that the US embassy will move there as early as Sunday, due to pressure from his Evangelical Christian supporters, according to scoop by @danawt
    1:10 PM – Nov 29, 2017
    97 97 Replies 466 466 Retweets 479 479 likes

  214. 214.

    nasruddin

    November 30, 2017 at 2:04 am

    @SenyorDave: Or maybe they would take care of him.

  215. 215.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 30, 2017 at 2:07 am

    @Felonius Monk: This is very stupid. Of course Donald is going to do it.

  216. 216.

    RobNYNY

    November 30, 2017 at 2:08 am

    @Ian G.:

    Bokassa, perhaps?

  217. 217.

    TenguPhule

    November 30, 2017 at 3:30 am

    @danielx: Ah, Under Siege. Which wasn’t as bad as some others he’s done.

  218. 218.

    TenguPhule

    November 30, 2017 at 3:32 am

    @frosty: Also the one movie Condi Rice never bothered to watch when trying to explain why nobody saw 9/11 coming.

    It wasn’t fucking rocket science when a Seagal film figures it out before you do.

  219. 219.

    J R in WV

    November 30, 2017 at 4:08 am

    @SFAW:

    the RWNJs have been working the refs (i.e., the MSM) for 40 years, so much so that they (with few exceptions) are scared to report things which make the Rethugs look as evil/bad as they really are.

    And you don’t think that the olds won’t notice when their Social Security deposits stop arriving in their bank accounts? ‘Cause I think everyone on Social Security will notice right after their birth date day of the month, which is when those payments are scheduled. Most folks need to know when and how much we be deposited, to the penny!!

    Maybe they will blame the Ds, that would be super Stupid! but we are talking about people who voted for The Donald.

  220. 220.

    THE fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.

    November 30, 2017 at 4:19 am

    How’s this?

  221. 221.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 30, 2017 at 7:38 am

    @Ian G.: I have to admit, having your opponents mass-executed in a sports stadium by guys dressed as Santa Claus while light pop hits play on the PA system is really going above and beyond.

  222. 222.

    artem1s

    November 30, 2017 at 7:53 am

    There are all these insider anecdotes about the president that read like they’re from a Last Days Of Tyrant Who Lost His Mind kind of book.

    The Last King of Mar-A-Lago
    The Madness of Dolt45

  223. 223.

    low-tech cyclist

    November 30, 2017 at 9:09 am

    He seriously isn’t getting enough oxygen to his brain.

    I disagree. He’s getting 100% too much.

  224. 224.

    TriassicSands

    November 30, 2017 at 9:53 am

    NYT says Trump will fire Tillerson within “weeks” and replace him with Pompeo.

    Poor Rex.

  225. 225.

    SFAW

    November 30, 2017 at 10:41 am

    @TenguPhule:

    It wasn’t fucking rocket science when a Seagal film figures it out before you do.

    Actually, there was some Tom Clancy novel where a pilot — who apparently was having a bad (h)air day — flew his 747 into the Capitol. Came out before 9/11.

  226. 226.

    Greg Gabrielse

    November 30, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    Rocket fuel, damn.
    https://youtu.be/3JpwjnMFlJI

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Winter Wren - Point Lobos State Natural Reserve 3
Image by Winter Wren (7/31/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • Jay on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 10:30pm)
  • comrade scotts agenda of rage on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 10:24pm)
  • Martin on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 10:23pm)
  • Martin on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 10:22pm)
  • Geminid on Thursday Night Open Thread (Jul 10, 2025 @ 10:18pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!