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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / This Heaping Pile of Iranian Horseshit

This Heaping Pile of Iranian Horseshit

by John Cole|  January 2, 20186:19 pm| 149 Comments

This post is in: Dolt 45

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The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their “pockets.” The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

I just heard someone on one of the cable networks claim Donald Trump has the moral authority to speak on behalf of the Iranian protesters.

My fucking ass he does. The guy who spent his election having mobs of brownshirts attack peaceful protestors at his rallies, whose attorney general tried to convict a woman for LAUGHING at him, and who is still is trying to convict people who protested his inauguration convicted on false charges of rioting doesn’t have any fucking moral authority to speak on behalf of protesters ANYFUCKINGWHERE.

Not to mention, he doesn’t give a shit about the protestors, he just wants to get rid of the Iranian deal because Obama orchestrated it and Grima Wormtongues like Mattis, Miller, Tom Cotton and and Lindsey Graham wanna get on their war face.

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Reader Interactions

149Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    January 2, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    Too bad the Dotard doesn’t think NFL players should have the same rights as Iranians.

  2. 2.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    I miss having a U.S. president who grokked and cared about the outside world enough to realize that the only thing loud and proud American support could do for Iranian protesters was to help discredit them by painting them as spies and traitors, and so kept the commentary to a minimum.

    It’s not just that Donald Trump specifically doesn’t have the moral authority to speak on behalf of Iranian protesters, although holy God, that too. Any President of the country that killed Iranian democracy in 1953 in the first place lacks that moral authority.

  3. 3.

    ruemara

    January 2, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    Did you miss Press Sec Sanders decrying the Iranian government leaders’ grift & corruption? If irony was ever still alive, it would’ve blown it’s own noggin clean off.

  4. 4.

    amygdala

    January 2, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    If he’s so concerned about the Iranian people, how about making it easier for them to come to the US?

  5. 5.

    debbie

    January 2, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    This will end up being much worse for us all, especially the Iranian protestors.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    The one thing to keep in mind is virtually no one you see commenting on what is happening in Iran has any real idea or understanding of what is happening in Iran. Other than something is happening in Iran.

    I’ve now seen it suggested that this is being run by the IRGC to discredit Rouhani, that it is actually Saudi backed and funded after Reza Pahlavi’s visit to see Muhammed bin Salman in Riyadh about a week or so ago or that it is in fact spontaneous. Honestly, I have no way of knowing and neither does anyone else who is going to be free to comment. Though I think the second one unlikely and the first one also to be unlikely. Though if the IRGC did foment their own popular uprising and think they can control it, they’re a lot dumber than I thought they were. At this point all we can do is wait and watch. If we interfere it will make things much, much worse. And, as with the case of every color revolution and all of the Arab Springs, I fully expect that whatever emerges from this if it is successful in bringing down the government will ultimately stall and backslide and then be repeated. What we like to think of as insurgencies and insurrections and rebellions are often the violent self help components of state and societal formation. It isn’t a neat, orderly, clean, and/or quick process. And it is usually iterative and prolonged.

  7. 7.

    Barbara

    January 2, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    The best thing the U.S. can do when it comes to internal Iranian politics is to generally support the free speech and right of political dissent for protesters in Iran and everywhere else, without making this about scoring political points domestically or about the U.S. “winning” in its disputes with the current Iranian government. The best thing you can do for Iran’s current rulers is to suggest that the U.S. is somehow “behind” Iranian political protesters. Somebody who came GD close to showing fealty to one of the most repressive nations on the face of the earth (Saudi Arabia) doesn’t have a fucking clue about how to do this.

  8. 8.

    jl

    January 2, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    @amygdala: I was thinking same thing. Dolt makes no sense.

    Since the topic is Dolt 45, while in hotels during downtime over break, I whiled away the hours checking whether there was any sign of the ‘Trump boom’ I kept hearing about on the crazy-train show of loopy gossip that we call US TV news. I checked per capita economic growth, stock market, real labor compensation, investment, population employment ratio. Nothing remarkable at all. Except labor market stats, which are deteriorating slightly except for unemployment rate. But I am not sure what the unemployment rate tells us as long as the employment population ratio stays so depressed for prime age workers since 2000 and 2007.

  9. 9.

    Bobby Thomson

    January 2, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    Donald Trump blocks citizens from his Twitter account.

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    @amygdala: He’s not concerned about the Iranian people. He probably couldn’t even pick out Iran on a map if the map had the countries’ names on it. He cares about destroying anything President Obama did.

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    This stuff is all beyond the mental abilities of anyone at all with a -R after their name to approach in anything nearing a rational manner.

  12. 12.

    Ian G.

    January 2, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    Yeah, the gibberish from this senile buffoon is exactly what the Iranian government wants. They can start claiming the US, and Shitgibbon in particular, are behind the protests.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    @Barbara: THIS

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 6:36 pm

    Why does he randomly put words in quotes? It’s so bizarre.

  15. 15.

    Antonius

    January 2, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    Technically, I think it’s “Grimas Wormtongue”.

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    January 2, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: There are a bunch of idiot MAGA people who know nothing about Iran commenting, and it is really pissing me off. These people who do not care about women are talking about how they want the Iranian women to have freedoms. I have had enough. Also there are some trolls talking about how the true religion of Iran is Zoroastrianism, and I wish these guys would go back to 4chan where they belong.

  17. 17.

    oatler.

    January 2, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    Comcast must really love Bill Kristol because here he is:
    https://crooksandliars.com/2018/01/bloody-bill-kristol-really-doesnt-being

  18. 18.

    Kraux Pas

    January 2, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    @Starfish:

    There are a bunch of idiot MAGA people who know nothing about Iran commenting, and it is really pissing me off. These people who do not care about women are talking about how they want the Iranian women to have freedoms.

    MAGAs want women to have just enough freedom to look pretty in the kitchen and go to the store without their husbands, no more.

    @Yarrow:

    Why does he randomly put words in quotes? It’s so bizarre.

    Maybe he assumes the mullahs don’t have pockets in those robes, so they are metaphorical pockets.

  19. 19.

    lamh36

    January 2, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    Saw a pic at another blog where someone has a side by side pic of Kaep kneeling and this tweet from Chump.

    The Irony of Chump commending Iranians, but peaceful protest by NFL player…and they are ungrateful sons of bitches..

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSfV6axW0AEt_j9.jpg

  20. 20.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Pretty much.

    What I’m seeing from the few conservatives I’m still connected to on social media is a whole heaping pile of stupid about how “liberals are so invested in the Iran deal that they’re trying to protect a dictatorial regime!” and other such stupidities.

    Even though it’s obvious that that’s their only frame of reference, it’s still mind-boggling how incapable they are of seeing events anywhere in the world through any prism other than their own deranged domestic political obsessions.

  21. 21.

    mike in dc

    January 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    Isn’t Iran the bete-noire justification for continued military aid/sales to Israel? If Iran falls and adopts a less hostile posture to Israel, the latter will have zero peer or near-peer adversaries in the region. Plus, far from guaranteed that a free, secular Iran would endorse the apartheid status quo in Israel/Palestine.

  22. 22.

    Yutsano

    January 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’ve now seen it suggested that this is being run by the IRGC to discredit Rouhani, that it is actually Saudi backed and funded after Reza Pahlavi’s visit to see Muhammed bin Salman in Riyadh about a week or so ago

    Wait wait wait back up there.

    The Revolutionary Guard?

    The “sworn protectors” of Islamic revolution who exist by the whims of the Supreme Leader?

    Conspiring with the son of the last Shah?

    Now I’ve heard everything. Iran can get convoluted but that would take a majority commitment of the Guard generals. And most of them are interested in protecting their own little grift fiefdoms over anything. Unless they pretty much all had a guarantee of something in it for them, no way that happens. And Pahlavi would have nothing they could want.

    Also: if this started in the countryside, that also leads me away from the ICRG.

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    January 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Starfish: And the true religion of Europe is Druidism. These people are such idiots.

  24. 24.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 2, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their “pockets.” The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!

    [citation needed]

    Also, I don’t care if Trump gets a state funeral, I wish he was dead. He literally fucks up everything.

  25. 25.

    mike in dc

    January 2, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @Yutsano: I think those are two distinct scenarios, not one.

  26. 26.

    mike in dc

    January 2, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Uh, maybe dial that back a notch?

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @oatler.: I watched that live this morning. It was excellent.

  28. 28.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Though I think the second one unlikely and the first one also to be unlikely. Though if the IRGC did foment their own popular uprising and think they can control it, they’re a lot dumber than I thought they were.

    It does seem counterintuitive that the IRGC would want to fire up popular anger at the government, even in the form of a sitting president they dislike. Paramilitary/secret police types like order and tranquility, not angry citizens putting pressure on the government. There have to be easier ways to embarrass Rouhani if that’s the goal here.

    Then again, from what I read in the papers and history books, the tendency to set up Cunning Plans of political manipulation only to have them blow up in your face seems to be a talent common to intelligence agencies all over the world.

  29. 29.

    Cheryl

    January 2, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    Once more, with feeling….Obama didn’t “give them money”. He freed up their own money that was frozen in U.S. banks under sanctions

  30. 30.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 2, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @Cacti: If a reporter ever posed a question about that to him you’d never get a coherant answer out of him

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @Yutsano: No, two different theories. The first is that the IRGC set this up to discredit and ultimately remove Rouhani, as well as discredit all the other reformers. The second theory, separate from this, is that it was planned between Pahlavi and Muhammed bin Salman during the former’s visit with the latter and it is Saudi backed and funded.

  32. 32.

    Yutsano

    January 2, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @Starfish:

    I have had enough. Also there are some trolls talking about how the true religion of Iran is Zoroastrianism

    LET KHOSRAU ANUSHIRAWAN REIGN ONCE MORE!!!

    Also: Mazdakites. Proto-Communists!

  33. 33.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Also: if this started in the countryside, that also leads me away from the ICRG.

    Why do you say that?

    (My understanding is that the countryside is where you’re more likely to run into conservative, authoritarian, hard-liner attitudes, the kind that’re agreeable to the IRGC. Kind of like here).

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Easy there cowpoke!

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    January 2, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    Obama did not “give them” a single penny. All the returned assets were already owned by Iran or Iranians. Part of the agreement with Iran worked out among six nations (US, UK, France, Russia, China, Germany, plus the EU as partner) was to unfreeze assets.

  36. 36.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 2, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    @mike in dc:
    Believe it or not I did.

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    January 2, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah neither one of those pass the smell test. Maybe it was wording but my brain convoluted the two.

    It’s not lack of caffeine intake. I just slammed down a cinnamon dolce latte.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 2, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    I’m seeing the never-trump neocons come out to say we must speak for the Iranian people! Because they’re all waiting for the Western Father Across the Seas to give them a thumbs-up. If Obama had had the “courage” to say…. something, the Green Revolution would have triumphed! No mention of the one statement by a US president that (I think, as a guy who reads the Sunday paper) that actually did have an impact on Iranian politics, the axis of evil imbecility. That was IIRC about 14 months after the people of Tehran held a candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of 9/11

    Things got quite testy on MSNBC this morning when an Iranian writer (born in Iran, PhD from Johns Hopkins) reminded Bill Kristol that he has many times called for war against Iran. Bloody Bill started screaming about how this guy, again, born in Iran, probably has a few relatives there, didn’t care about the “Iranian people”. Stephanie Ruhle, whom I usually like, got very finger-waggy about Bill Kristol never calling for anyone to be killed. I didn’t know Kristol was in favor of one of them casualty- and violence-free invasions intended to topple a government.

  39. 39.

    Kraux Pas

    January 2, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    If a reporter ever posed a question about that to him you’d never get a coherent answer out of him

    Fixed for inclusivity

  40. 40.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 2, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I believe it

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I just slammed down a cinnamon dolce latte.

    I don’t want to know what that is. Also, there will be mandatory coffee reeducation and training scheduled for you.

  42. 42.

    bobbo

    January 2, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    How long before he starts criticizing the mullahs for not being tough enough? Just like the Chinese, who almost blew it but put down the protests in Tiananmen Square with strength. https://www.indy100.com/article/donald-trump-has-praised-the-chinese-government-over-tiananmen-square-as-well-as-kim-jongun–Wk35kIvHhg

  43. 43.

    Kraux Pas

    January 2, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @NotMax:

    Obama did not “give them” a single penny. All the returned assets were already owned by Iran or Iranians. Part of the agreement with Iran worked out among six nations

    So, in wingnut speak, Obama. Or…::dramatic chord::…”the establishment”

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I believe it

    I seen it

  44. 44.

    Starfish

    January 2, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @Barbara: My husband was trying to talk me down because he knows I get stressed out when Someone’s Wrong on the Internet.

  45. 45.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    Sarah Huckabee Sanders really is such an ugly person. It’s not her looks, which are probably fine, it’s the ugliness of her soul that you can see in her cold, dead eyes. Her twisted mouth adds an extra layer of cruelty to her whole face. I literally cannot look at her. I turn away in horror.

  46. 46.

    jl

    January 2, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @bobbo: Nice to understand what Trump admires in responsible national leadership.

  47. 47.

    Kraux Pas

    January 2, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @Yutsano:
    I just slammed down a cinnamon dolce latte.

    I don’t want to know what that is. Also, there will be mandatory coffee reeducation and training scheduled for you.

    Sorry, sounds delicious.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    January 2, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @Cheryl:

    Seriously. I don’t know why that ridiculous claim makes me so crazy when he and his minions make ridiculous claims endlessly, but it does. Just drives me up the wall and makes me very shouty.

  49. 49.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 2, 2018 at 6:58 pm

    @Starfish: Zoroastrianism has a lot to answer for, introducing the concept of apocalyptic monotheistic dualism on an unsuspecting world like that. Thanks guys.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    January 2, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    Meh. I think the world has learned that whatever Trump says is either irrelevant or advantageous to their position vis-a-vis the United States.

    Hopefully we won’t actually do anything with respect to Iran.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    January 2, 2018 at 7:00 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Seriously, fuck those guys.

  52. 52.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: How’s Lisbon?

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 2, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @Yarrow: delightful. They even have a Golden Gate Bridge!

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    January 2, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    Wait. Wait. We need the Swooning New York Times to write about how Trump’s ravings are really part of that bold, brash approach to presidenting.

    Meanwhile, do we have anybody left in the State Department who has some grasp of what is happening in Iran? Or in the intelligence agencies that Trump likes to bash?

  55. 55.

    Baud

    January 2, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I like Fado music.

  56. 56.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    January 2, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Would you also believe I’m walking on air?

  57. 57.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: A Golden Gate Bridge? Why?

  58. 58.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The fact that actual Middle Easterners keep stubbornly refusing to play their assigned part as happy flag-waving extras in the background of Republican live-action campaign commercials has been one of the most consistent frustrations Republicans have with them. I have a theory that this has done more than 9/11 itself to fuel Islamophobic sentiment on the right.

  59. 59.

    Mike in NC

    January 2, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    Imagine how Trump would react if suddenly several wealthy Iranians expressed interest in membership at Mar-A-Lago. He’d double the rates again.

  60. 60.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 2, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m guessing that those who are not free to comment have no idea what is happening either.

  61. 61.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 2, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @Yarrow: I don’t know! But it was built by the people who did the Bay Bridge and then painted International Orange.

  62. 62.

    Captain C

    January 2, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    @Chris:

    the only thing loud and proud American support could do for Iranian protesters was to help discredit them by painting them as spies and traitors, and so kept the commentary to a minimum.

    “The American people support the right of the Iranian people to choose their own path and make their own decisions. The U.S. has no wish to interfere with this or abrogate these rights.” Lather, rinse, repeat.

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    January 2, 2018 at 7:08 pm

    @Yarrow: Sarah Hillbilly Goebbels

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 7:08 pm

    The NYT is selling multiple trips to Iran, accompanied by reporters. A couple are sold out and have a waiting list.

    Persia. Iran. For 2,500 years, this powerful country has entranced, mystified and beguiled the world. Discover the ancient secrets and modern complexities of this influential land on a 13-day itinerary, visiting some of the world’s oldest archaeological sites and the family home of the religious leader who engineered Iran’s transition to an Islamic republic. Welcome to the once-forbidden land of Iran.

    Can you say conflict of interest, children?
    I read an article criticizing this yesterday, but I can’t remember where. I owe some reporter a hat tip.

  65. 65.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Interesting! Glad you’re having a good time.

  66. 66.

    Chris

    January 2, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    @Captain C:

    Basically. Heck, I wouldn’t even mind going a little more explicit in support for the protesters, but, still… keep the profile low. A country that’s already experienced one Made-In-U.S.A. coup is not the place to be flaunting American support.

  67. 67.

    Roger Moore

    January 2, 2018 at 7:13 pm

    @Kraux Pas:

    MAGAs want women to have just enough freedom to look pretty in the kitchen and go to the store without their husbands, no more.

    MAGAs want women oppressed in the traditional American way, not some weird foreign Muslim way.

  68. 68.

    magurakurin

    January 2, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Isn’t it great? And the 28 Trolley serves as a cable car. I love Lisbon.

  69. 69.

    danielx

    January 2, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    @Barbara:

    …doesn’t have a fucking clue about how to do this.

    Nor yet anything else for that matter.

  70. 70.

    Captain C

    January 2, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Chris:

    A country that’s already experienced one Made-In-U.S.A. coup is not the place to be flaunting American support<

    It definitely would make it easier for the hard-liners to put it down.

    I would also think any final rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran would have to have us apologizing for the '53 coup and them apologizing for the hostages.

  71. 71.

    Starfish

    January 2, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Brachiator: Do we have anyone left who can point to Iran on a map and know where it is relative to other regimes that the US has recently destabilized?

  72. 72.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Mary G: PS The NYT also has an article about some tour companies cancelling trips to Iran. It looks like a beautiful place; I would love to go and see all the archaeological sites, but that’ll have to wait for my next life.

  73. 73.

    GOVCHRIS1988

    January 2, 2018 at 7:18 pm

    Can I just say on the State Funeral front, who the hell was the last Democratic president to pass on? I mean, Carter is still going at 94, Clinton is a spry 71 and of course Barack Obama is a paragon of health, at least in comparison to the wide load sloth in the White House currently. Its amazing how all of the Republicans have keeled over, but the Democrats seem to press on in life.

  74. 74.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    January 2, 2018 at 7:19 pm

    I think this is something that’s been a long time coming.

    The GOP has been gaming the refs for a long time, suggesting that you don’t *dare* accurately describe a GOP talking point as “the sort of thing said by someone dumb as a box of Ritz crackers”. So the news reporters haven’t been doing that.”If a prominent GOP politician says the Iranian deal is terrible, and finances terrorism, we will report that, even if there’s no basis whatsoever for the claim.”

    Now they have someone who will say *anything*, and they’re so used to transcribing, they won’t call out how baseless the statements are.

    Hence, “Obamacare is failing” – why? “It’s failing”. In what way? “Every way”.
    Hence, “The Iranian deal, the absolute best deal we reasonably could have gotten, is terrible, because Obama gave away the farm.”
    How? “It’s a terrible deal!”

    Hence, “Crooked Hillary” and Pocahontas, are valid statements, rather than “he returned to his baseless accusations of criminality and his pointless mockery of Native American ancestry…”.
    Hence, “My account says I’ll be clobbered in this bill,”
    Doesn’t it have a bunch of provisions where it’s almost *impossible* for it to fail to cut your taxes by an incredibly large amount?
    “I’m going to get KILLED!”

    And they *still* haven’t changed, one bit! They still publish BS like “the Democrats all agree there was no collusion” when no one has said anything remotely like that. (No, “I haven’t yet seen evidence of…” is not remotely like “there is no…”.)

  75. 75.

    Raven

    January 2, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    We are still recovering from yesterday’s marathon by doing my mr fixit and cooking. I hit the wall in the middle of the afternoon after waking up at 3:30 again. I crashed for abut 45 minutes when the fuming bug man called to make an appointment. This fucker always calls me at the worst time and this was no exception.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    January 2, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @Major Major Major Major

    Ever see the color scheme for the Golden Gate Bridge which the U.S. Navy vehemently pushed for (after it was constructed over Navy objections)?

    The Army Air Force had their own ideas, calling for red and white.

  77. 77.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 2, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    @Mary G: My understanding is there’s great skiing there. I’ve thought it would be fascinating to go, but I think my wife might object to that plan.

  78. 78.

    magurakurin

    January 2, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @NotMax: what was the reason for those colors, safety?

  79. 79.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 2, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @Raven: I’m glad you decided to go, budget be damned. You’d really be kicking yourself today if you hadn’t.

  80. 80.

    Captain C

    January 2, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @magurakurin: They were all Borussia Dortmund fans.

  81. 81.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @Raven: Did you have fun? Are you home already or fixing something for family here?

    @Gin & Tonic: Considering how you broke your hand into a hundred pieces skiing, I can imagine she’d be unenthusiastic.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @Raven: Are you still in CA or did you head home?

  83. 83.

    Starfish

    January 2, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @Mary G: For those of us in the cheap seats, we can use Flickr to look at images of Vank Cathedral. This Masoleum also looks promising.

  84. 84.

    debbie

    January 2, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    @Raven:

    You’re going to be much too happy to sleep well for a while!

    I wasn’t watching the game, but just following the posts here last night was plenty exciting. Congratulations, the Dawgs deserved to win. Have you bought tickets for the championship yet?

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    January 2, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    @magurakurin

    So they claimed. Navigation warning. The pictured imaginings of how it would look don’t do full justice to the stripey patterns proposed, which likely would have all but hypnotized drivers as they crossed the span at speed.

  86. 86.

    eemom

    January 2, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    @GOVCHRIS1988:

    You forgot Poppy Bush. Apparently grabbing women’s asses from his wheelchair keeps him young.

  87. 87.

    Paul T

    January 2, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    I think the CIA is behind all of this.

  88. 88.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    @Raven: How was the parade?

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    January 2, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The pretender Shah is a player in Iranian politics? I wouldn’t have thought that likely. Or does he just think he’s a player?

  90. 90.

    debbie

    January 2, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    @Brachiator:

    No better way not to be aloof than to be a raving lunatic.

  91. 91.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 2, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    Former CIA director John Brennan is about as angry as John Cole is.

  92. 92.

    Roger Moore

    January 2, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @Captain C:
    Something about supporting the right to peaceful protest but decrying violence by either side wouldn’t be bad, either.

  93. 93.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    I think Raven must have crashed again.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    January 2, 2018 at 7:45 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I’m beginning to think Trump is trying to goad someone—anyone—into war. In how few hours has he pissed off North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and, most recently, the Palestinians?

  95. 95.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: No, Cole says fuck a lot more.

  96. 96.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 2, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    @Mary G: Well, I’ve been skiing my whole life, and I’ve only fractured major bones twice, so I think that’s pretty decent. It’s the “Iran” part that I think would have her more nervous.

  97. 97.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    Twitler is sundowning and playing with fire

    North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

    Words fail me.

  98. 98.

    Steeplejack

    January 2, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    ** DVR Alert **

    OT, but screw it, and thematically appropriate, since we’re talking about the president, who is a bumbling con man.

    W.C. Fields doesn’t get much play on TCM, but they’ve got some good ones tonight: It’s a Gift (a personal favorite) at 9:15 p.m. EST, The Bank Dick (a classic) at 10:45 and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break at 12:15 a.m. And then there are a couple of good shorts and then David Copperfield (meh) at 2:45 a.m.

    Million Dollar Legs is about to start right now.

  99. 99.

    The Dangerman

    January 2, 2018 at 8:00 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I just slammed down a cinnamon dolce latte.

    Ahhhh … Washington State …. where you are always milliseconds away from a coffee place (well, in the cities, I mean)…

  100. 100.

    Mike J

    January 2, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    @Steeplejack: I was once posted to Klopstockia.

  101. 101.

    danielx

    January 2, 2018 at 8:02 pm

    @Starfish:

    Additional proof, as if any were needed, that irony is truly dead.

  102. 102.

    SenyorDave

    January 2, 2018 at 8:03 pm

    I hate Trump with every fiber of my being, and I suspect that a majority of BJ commentators feel the same way. The amazing thing is that Trump is so detestable that you really can’t come up with a term to describe him. To call him a steaming orange pile of dung is being too easy on him.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    January 2, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    From Andy Borowitz:

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Millions of Americans would gladly work for Robert Mueller for free if that would help speed things up, a new poll finds.
    According to the survey, a substantial number of Americans would leave their jobs, their homes, and even their families to join the special counsel’s team if doing so would help bring this nightmare to a swifter conclusion.
    A spokesperson for the special counsel confirmed that his office has been receiving thousands of résumés a day from Americans begging to do anything to help Mueller “move things along.”
    “We saw a big surge in interest after the bust on Paul Manafort’s house,” the spokesperson said. “A lot of folks were devastated that they didn’t get to play a part in that.”
    The spokesperson said that, although the special counsel “really appreciates” the public’s interest in helping out, limitations on office space prevent Mueller from accommodating all of those who desperately want to pitch in.
    “We hate to disappoint people, but we’re overwhelmed,” the spokesperson said. “Right now, I have about five thousand résumés from people who just want to help investigate Jared.”

  104. 104.

    Teddys Person

    January 2, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    Apologies if this was already posted … a tweet from Dolt45

    North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
    4:49 PM – Jan 2, 2018

    Please hurry Bobby Three Sticks before the orange scourge squatting in the White House gets us all killed, and when I say all, I mean all of humankind.

    Maggie H gets a little sassy tweeting back ( sorry no quote function in editing)

    “Also there’s a red button for Diet Cokes”

  105. 105.

    Major Major Major Major

    January 2, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @NotMax: lol, no!

  106. 106.

    mike in dc

    January 2, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    @Mary G: I don’t think Cheeto Jesus realizes what will happen to him if he starts a war that leads to one or more American cities being incinerated, and the global economy plunged into ruin. He’ll be lucky to avoid being hanged by vigilantes.

  107. 107.

    Peej

    January 2, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    @Mary G:

    Yep, and if the US launches a preemptive nuclear strike on NoKo, China might not be too happy and press the big powerful Nuclear Button they have.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    January 2, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @Mike J:

    Ha! I hear it’s making a comeback as an “adventure tourism” destination.

  109. 109.

    japa21

    January 2, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @Peej: China has already said if NK starts anything then NK is on its own. However, if the US starts something that is a whole different ballgame.

  110. 110.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 2, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    @ brianbeutler
    He’s still feeling owned by Rubio.

  111. 111.

    Teddys Person

    January 2, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    @Teddys Person: Sorry all, Mary G got there first!

  112. 112.

    japa21

    January 2, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Our local news in Chicago had a story about the tweet Cole highlights. I was pleasantly surprised to have them end it with “The administration has provided no evidence to back up the claims made in the tweet.”

  113. 113.

    danielx

    January 2, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    God doesn’t love me this much.

    Michele Bachmann Considering Running for Franken’s Senate Seat

  114. 114.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @mike in dc: @Peej: This scares me. I even turned on my TV when it seemed like everyone had gone quiet. Anderson Cooper’s guests are horrified. He let the Democratic representative talk for like five minutes straight!

  115. 115.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @japa21: Is our media learning?

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    January 2, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @danielx: God answered.

    (via Cheryl’s Twitter feed)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    Lyrebird

    January 2, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @Cacti: BAM!
    @lamh36: Perfect, thank you for the link.

  118. 118.

    Raven

    January 2, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @Mary G: I’m in LA. My sis lost her husband in July after 20 years of him being disabled so I’m picking what I can and doing that. My great friend is flying into Lonf Beach in the morning and we’re going hang for the day. UGA just charged me for National Championship Tickets so nw I have to decide what to do.m They are probably going to be worth nearly $3000 each so it’s going to be tough.

  119. 119.

    Another Scott

    January 2, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @japa21: Yup.

    China is officially pissed off at Kim (even though they are supporting him with oil, etc.).

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @Mary G:

    He let the Democratic representative talk for like five minutes straight!

    Is Anderson well? Maybe just a hangover from the New Years Day festivities.

  121. 121.

    Raven

    January 2, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    @Mary G: Nah, I’m cooking now that I have fixed the range.

  122. 122.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:21 pm

    @Another Scott: I hear our buddy Vlad is helping out with oil.

  123. 123.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    And climate change is making your East Coast weather even worse this week with a…bomb cyclone! I’ve never even heard of it. WaPo: ‘Bomb cyclone’ to blast East Coast before polar vortex uncorks tremendous cold late this week.

    Unforgiving cold has punished the eastern third of the United States for the past 10 days. But the most severe winter weather yet will assault the area late this week.

    First, a monster storm will hammer coastal locations from Georgia to Maine with ice and snow. By Thursday, the exploding storm will, in many ways, resemble a winter hurricane, battering easternmost New England with potentially damaging winds in addition to blinding snow.

    Forecasters are expecting the storm to become a so-called “bomb cyclone” because its pressure is predicted to fall so fast, an indicator of explosive strengthening. The storm could rank as the most intense over the waters east of New England in decades at this time of year. While blizzard conditions could paste some coastal areas, the most extreme conditions will remain well out over the ocean.

    Yikes!

    ETA: Stock up on food, everybody.

    All day Thursday meteorologists are going to be glued to the new GOES-East satellite watching a truly amazing extratopical "bomb" cyclone off New England coast. It will be massive — fill up entire Western Atlantic off U.S. East Coast. Pressure as low as Sandy & hurricane winds pic.twitter.com/6M4S3y75wT— Ryan Maue | weather.us (@RyanMaue) January 2, 2018

  124. 124.

    barbequebob

    January 2, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    @magurakurin: To honor the USS Hornet?

  125. 125.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    @Mary G: No worries, it’s all a Chinese Hoax; Trump assured me of that. Anything else is Fake News.

    ETA: I was also told that a Quarter Pounder with cheese is health food.

  126. 126.

    Yarrow

    January 2, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @Raven: Go, go, go to the National Championship!

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    January 2, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yup – they both are, while talking about how important the UN is to preserve peace and security.

    Xi and Vlad must be quite happy to have Kim tying up the (badly over-stretched and tired) 7th Fleet, and Andersen AFB running bombers ragged, and Donnie’s attention, and having Donnie threatening to destroy the world while they sit back and sound all reasonable and peaceful and inevitable…

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    Mary G

    January 2, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    @Raven: YOLO.

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    January 2, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    @GOVCHRIS1988: LBJ. The Democratic Presidents after him were all relatively young when entering office, I think.

  130. 130.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I think Carter was in his early(maybe mid) 50’s and both Clinton and Obama were in their mid-40’s.

  131. 131.

    Jim

    January 2, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    Good to have you back, John. :-)

  132. 132.

    Bostondreams

    January 2, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    He…he tweeted that his nuclear button was bigger than Kim’s. My god.

  133. 133.

    magurakurin

    January 2, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I was also told that a Quarter Pounder with cheese is health food.

    compared to the fries, it is. The truly ironic thing of this age is that it might actually be Big Macs that save us…when they kill off the beast with a stroke or widow maker coronary.

  134. 134.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    January 2, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @Bostondreams: You know what they say about compensating for other things that are small…

  135. 135.

    Gravenstone

    January 2, 2018 at 8:47 pm

    @Mike in NC: I prefer Sarah Fuckerbee Slanders, myself. But to each their own chosen epithet.

  136. 136.

    Gravenstone

    January 2, 2018 at 8:54 pm

    @Teddys Person:

    “Also there’s a red button for Diet Cokes”

    I’m reminded of the “Land of Confusion” video, where the decrepit Reagan muppet mistakes the “Nuke” button for the adjacent “Nurse” button following a nap. One can easily see Trumpenstein’s Monster doing likewise when lunging for another Diet fucking Coke.

  137. 137.

    CDWard

    January 2, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @Raven: Fuming bugs are the worst. Get those taken care of pronto.

  138. 138.

    burnspbesq

    January 2, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    @mike in dc:

    He’ll be lucky to avoid being hanged by vigilantes.

    He’d be lucky to be hanged by vigilantes. That’s at the merciful end of the range of potential outcomes.

  139. 139.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 9:32 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Most likely.

  140. 140.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 9:35 pm

    @Amir Khalid: He thinks he’s a player.

  141. 141.

    cmorenc

    January 2, 2018 at 9:39 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What we like to think of as insurgencies and insurrections and rebellions are often the violent self help components of state and societal formation. It isn’t a neat, orderly, clean, and/or quick process. And it is usually iterative and prolonged.

    Consider how fortunate that during the rebellion and aftermath when the United States was founded, the most key founding figure of all, George Washington, was mindfully inclined against being transformed by accepting the initial Presidency into anything like the country’s lasting supreme revolutionary leader, which so often morphs into draconian, barbarian authoritarian personality cults in other places. Too bad his sincere efforts to prevent politics from developing into factionalism failed. Washington would despise what the likes of the current GOP has become.

  142. 142.

    J R in WV

    January 2, 2018 at 9:51 pm

    @Barbara:

    Wait, I have friends who are Wiccan Druids! What are you saying?!?!

    ETA: Their HallowedEve ceremony around a small bonfire was serious, worshipful, and led into a good party with great costumes. I wore a Tux.

  143. 143.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 2, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    @cmorenc: Yep.

  144. 144.

    trnc

    January 2, 2018 at 10:01 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Sarah Huckabee Sanders really is such an ugly person. It’s not her looks, which are probably fine,

    Look, on a purely superficial level, any Huckabee spawn had the deck stacked against them. However, there are some classically beautiful DT supporters that I can’t stand to look at and some not-classically beautiful women that have become more attractive to me thanks to their eloquence on topics that I agree on with them. In my book, Sanders inner ugliness will never foster any outer beauty.

  145. 145.

    J R in WV

    January 2, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    “To call him a steaming orange pile of dung is being too easy on him.”

    Not to mention terribly hostile to dung piles. Many of which become fertilizer for wonderful gardens!!

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    January 2, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    “I prefer Sarah Fuckerbee Slanders, myself. But to each their own chosen epithet.”

    I don’t know who coined it, but I’m going with Possum Queen for that female person. Fits her perfectly as a title. Pretty sure it was here, perhaps LGM, where I saw it first.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    January 2, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    @Raven:
    Glad it was a good time for you.
    I wanted to apologize to you for the other day. I wasn’t having a good day at all and just didn’t express myself properly. I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves, I hope it was as good as you expected.

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    January 2, 2018 at 10:22 pm

    Just FYI, The Archaeological Institute of America hosts trips into Iran to view ancient ruins and museum collections. Not really adventure tourism, mostly “mature” groups of my age (heh) except for the political differences between our two countries.

    I would really like to go, but not with Dump in the White House. Barely willing to go to Mexico on a National Geographic cruise.

    Anyone have advice on an underwater camera for snorkeling around reefs in the Sea of Cortes? Point n Shoot that’s waterproof is what I’m thinking. They run from $167 to $459, I would be happy to pay the upper end of that IF it was 3 times as much camera.

    I know there are divers on the site from time to time… I don’t need a Jacques Cousteau kind of tool, more a Fumbles McQuire thing…

  149. 149.

    Raven

    January 2, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @Ruckus: Aw man, it don’t mean nuthin. It was an insane day with much of it spent being really uncomfortable. We were really jammed in the parade seats, no leg or side room for 3 hours. The walk back was fine but still in a huge crowd. We rested for a bit and then into the abyss. I knew what was coming for our seats, we were low enough in the end zone that everyone stood on their seats the entire game. We were right were Sony scored the winner so that was cool but, if we’d lost, I’m not sure how I’d feel.

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