Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

No one could have predicted…

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / I Love the Smell of Fiscal Conservatism in the Morning

I Love the Smell of Fiscal Conservatism in the Morning

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What could I possibly add to that? And in other news, a metaphor:

A train carrying dozens of Republican members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, to their legislative retreat in West Virginia hit a truck Wednesday, leaving at least one person dead.

The driver of the truck was killed, President Donald Trump said Wednesday afternoon. Five patients were transported to UVA Medical Center, with one in critical condition, the hospital tweeted. Amtrak said three passengers and two crew members were hospitalized with “minor injuries.”

Republican train wreck on way to luxury resort hits truck killing blue collar worker while spilling garbage everywhere. That’s about an apt a summary of the past couple decades as anything.

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Republican train wreck on way to luxury resort

    C’mon, Cole. They were on their way to West By God Virginia.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    I have been reliably informed that the terrorist group Black Lives Matter arranged this “accident” and tried to shut down a return to the great nation of White America.

  5. 5.

    cain

    Since we have a new thread and nobody is probably nobody is going to look at the old one. I’ll repost if people don’t mind, or feel free to ignore. :-)

    I read a lot of books, and occasionally, something would unexpectedly catch me by surprise and I thought this snippet from this book would be amusing to share. The background is that the city of Chicago has been taken over by carribean voodoo priest, whose turned most of the city into zombies except for a select few. The woman Adalia is able to channel the universe and is kind of a priest but she’s only 14 years old. There are trying to figure out where this asshole is.

    “Can you feel it?” said Adalia. “He’s where the wind touches the earth. He’s where the dark is strongest. He’s under the world and over it. He lives in the space between your thoughts, touches your dreams, and gives us nightmares that make us fear the fading of the sun. He sits aside the water, drawing power from it. He is the leader of the Damned.”
    The room fell silent. Val looked at Danny, her face as surprised as everyone else’s.
    Rex stepped into the quiet first. “Okay. Where’s that?”
    “Shit,” said John, “that’s easy. He’s in Trump Tower.”

    After that is a nice adventure where Trump Tower gets fucked up and apparently Trump likes to keep anti-artillery weapons on his roof. Surprise ending!

    ETA – offtopic I know, I figured we could use a laugh.

  11. 11.

    HAL

    I keep seeing social media posts about how popular the tax bill is about to become once people see that bump in their paycheck. With my extra 30-35 bucks every other week I’m going to be able to go to Starbucks twice a week. Suck it libtards!

    Oh and…

    Marshall Cohen
    @MarshallCohen
    BREAKING: Peter Strzok, the FBI agent accused by GOP of having “treasonous” anti-Trump bias, supported re-opening the Clinton email investigation in fall 2016 and helped write the letter (signed by Comey) that was released days before the election.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @HAL: Strzok was so incredibly sloppy in basic professional actions that I am surprised he was ever selected to be on Mueller’s team. It makes me wonder a little.

  15. 15.

    Ohio Mom

    I had two hugely productive days this week; interestingly enough, they were days I stayed away from the internet.

    I’ve just finished about an hour or so catching up on the news and now I feel so defeated! Our country is digging itself into a very, very deep hole. It is too sad and too scary.

    Well, supper calls. It is not going to cook itself. Meatloaf, potatoes and roasted carrots, if anyone is interested. Not exiting but foolproof. I need to see something in this world turn out right.

  16. 16.

    smintheus

    As long as no fetuses were harmed the GOP will be ok with killing the driver, and strewing trash.

  17. 17.

    The Dangerman

    @Corner Stone:

    They were on their way to West By God Virginia.

    Aren’t they on the way to Greenbrier? Isn’t that the site of the congressional nuclear bunker? These are thoughts I wouldn’t have except we have the President about to get his orange ass in a wringer with Mueller.

    ETA: I see Bill got there before me.

    ETA2: And, Bill, if you are still around, you have ideas on where to look for a high end digital camera that doesn’t have video? I need a new camera but never ever ever shoot video.

    ETA3: This shit makes you go “Huh” over Pompeo’s meeting with the Russians, though.

  19. 19.

    Davebo

    And Trey Gowdy calling it quits just as the intel committee decides to duke it out with DOJ/FBI.

    Interesting times indeed.

  20. 20.

    Served

    The leaks today are extra choice quality. Maybe declaring war on the FBI and DOJ was a bad idea…..

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    @John Cole: The landscaping and grounds look very well done. But it’s like $200 a night! Steve in the ATL pees more in undigested alcohol than that each night when he’s somewhere breaking unions.

  22. 22.

    clay

    So, are the Freedom Caucus assholes going to continue to be assholes about raising the debt ceiling, like they were to Obama?

    I’d love to see Pelosi give Ryan exactly zero Democratic votes for this — let the Repubs own it this time — but I don’t think that’s likely.

  26. 26.

    Served

    @Corner Stone:

    CNN Politics‏Verified account
    @CNNPolitics
    In a meeting with Rod Rosenstein, President Trump wanted to know where the special counsel’s Russia investigation was heading — and he wanted to know whether the deputy attorney general was “on my team” http://cnn.it/2nvw6Wd

    and

    Marshall Cohen‏Verified account
    @MarshallCohen

    BREAKING: Peter Strzok, the FBI agent accused by GOP of having “treasonous” anti-Trump bias, supported re-opening the Clinton email investigation in fall 2016 and helped write the letter (signed by Comey) that was released days before the election.

  27. 27.

    schrodingers_cat

    @John Cole: OT but infuriating
    Fucking TPM (and many MSM outlets) still cannot get facts about our current immigration law right. After I wrote to them yesterday, they corrected some of their copy where they peddled the WH talking about about family reunification
    TPM yesterday

    Trump’s plan would result in 22 million fewer people immigrating legally to the U.S. over the next 50 years, with both citizens and permanent residents no longer able to sponsor their parents, grandparents, adult children, siblings, and other relatives.

    TPM today

    Trump’s plan would result in 22 million fewer people immigrating legally to the U.S. over the next 50 years, with both citizens and permanent residents no longer able to sponsor their parents, adult children, or siblings.

    Well they got rid of grandparents and other relatives but this is still wrong because GC holders cannot sponsor anyone other than their spouse and children under 21. Also they did not acknowledge their initial error. Unfortunately I didn’t get a screen shot.
    I am working on a post pointing out the half-truths and lies in yesterday’s SOTU about immigration, I was wondering if you could FP it here
    Thanks.
    From the USCIS website

    As a green card holder (permanent resident), you may petition for certain family members to immigrate to the United States as permanent residents.

    You May Petition For The Following Family Members:

    Spouse (husband or wife)
    Unmarried children under 21
    Unmarried son or daughter of any age

    ETA: There is no way in hell any immigrant from any country in the world can sponsor 22 to 24 people in 2 years under our current system, a claim made by the President about the Manhattan terror suspect.

  28. 28.

    trollhattan

    @Served:

    Maybe declaring war on the FBI and DOJ was a bad idea….

    Just once I’d like them to harvest actual meaningful consequences for their bad actions. e.g., Firing Mooch hasn’t changed anything, other than reduce the administration’s entertainment value.

  32. 32.

    burnspbesq

    @HAL:

    Yeah, right. The new Federal withholding tax tables gave me about $200 additional. Then I looked at the amount of California Tax being withheld, multiplied by 24, and got almost $13k. I have some modeling to do in order to verify that what I currently think is actually correct, but I’m guessing I have to give up at least one, and possibly two, withholding allowances.

    I’m the typical upper-middle-class taxpayer in a high-tax blue state, and I am so fucked.

  33. 33.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @The Dangerman: They all shoot video(most of them shoot 4k), but you don’t have to use it. I’ve only shot video on mine to test it out(mine’s actually cropped 4k). If you want real high end, Sony(A7 III, but it’s really expensive). I’m biased towards mirorless cameras(smaller and still really great quality).

    ETA: I know I’ve recently posted links(like this morning) to time lapse video; those are actually a series of stills that I use software to put together into a video.

  35. 35.

    catclub

    @clay:

    I’d love to see Pelosi give Ryan exactly zero Democratic votes for this — let the Repubs own it this time — but I don’t think that’s likely.

    I would rather see Pelosi get something good in exchange for providing the votes to raise the debt ceiling.

    I fear that if you unified the GOP to vote on something that must pass, they will also throw in all the poison pills that usually get dropped because Democratric votes are needed. I guess the Senate could fix that, but then the headline is ‘Democrats block raising debt ceiling’.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    @HAL:

    I keep seeing social media posts about how popular the tax bill is about to become once people see that bump in their paycheck. With my extra 30-35 bucks every other week I’m going to be able to go to Starbucks twice a week. Suck it libtards!

    There’s a muthaphucka that Joy Reid has on her show, and he’s always bringing up the $40 per paycheck, and I’m like, if you don’t go somewhere and sit down with that phuck azz shyt.

    Keep on telling that to the IGMFY Republicans in high tax states.

    Yeah, like they won’t be able to directly correlate their taxed going up.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @burnspbesq: There are zip codes around Atlanta that property taxes alone are more than $10,000, never mind state taxes. Blue states are hit hard, but areas in red states are also.

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    @burnspbesq:
    Yeah, my fed withholding is lower but that does not inform as to what my fed income tax will be, not one bit. We paid our second property tax installment on December 31, so that one-time trick is all we’ve got.
    Another Californian.

  41. 41.

    Davebo

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I realize that. But they are saying unmarried children under 21 AND unmarried sons or daughters of any age.

    Is there another category of child I don’t know about?

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Corner Stone:

    Republican train wreck on way to luxury resort

    C’mon, Cole. They were on their way to West By God Virginia.

    You have obviously never been to the Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs. I’ve never stayed there on my own nickel, but have been (as part of the job) to at least three conferences there — Southern Governors, Southern Legislators, and the like — and it is truly a beautiful place in a stunning natural setting. Has an underground bunker built at the height of the Cold War for the express purpose of keeping members of Congress safe in case of an attack on D.C. — a fact not without its own irony in 2018.

  46. 46.

    catclub

    @trollhattan:

    so that one-time trick is all we’ve got.

    I looked at ‘donor advised charitable funds’ to load up donations into every three years so the other two years I use the new standard deduction and the third year Itemize the large set of deductions. It is not clear it is worth it. Vanguard will be the minder of it but it looks like all gifts (grants) are minimum $500.

  47. 47.

    Davebo

    Kelly is incapable of shame. Has he ever met his boss?

    Kelly laments that some Democrats did not attend SOTU. “I do not think anyone should hate someone else or show them disrespect just because they disagree.” Asked about the teacher who made inflammatory remarks about the military, Kelly says, “I think the guy ought to go to hell.”

    https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/958741538934345728

  48. 48.

    smintheus

    @rikyrah:

    You want to know a word that they no longer utter?

    DEFICIT…

    Yeah, whocouldanode?

    Trump has made it clear he wants the US to go back to the moon. Always about the code language with that guy.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cain:

    The first part of the snippet you quoted was some lovely writing, and I found myself mesmerized by the flow of the prose.

    The second part of the snippet you quoted caused me to spew the day’s first sip of wine all over my phone. Poor, wine-saturated, tannin-stained phone.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    JUST IN: Congressional Budget Office has issued a report advising Congress to consider raising the debt ceiling earlier than anticipated to account for the revenue loss brought upon by the GOP tax legislation.

    Haha hahahahaha! The GOP leadership and the Treasury Secretary love to say that the CBO makes “fake news” level guesses. What will they make of this?

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Cole:

    Didn’t scroll through the comments before replying to Corner Stone (#44), or I wouldn’t have bothered. You said basically the same thing, but far more succinctly.

  53. 53.

    Corner Stone

    @SiubhanDuinne: He called me swine! Which I think is unfair as the pig is a noble beast that has provided such a glorious bonanza to society lo these many years.

  54. 54.

    elm

    @Davebo: It appears that unmarried children under 21 are accorded slightly higher priority than those over age 21. See the section titled “Preference Categories” on the USCIS site.

  55. 55.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @HAL:

    Peter Strzok, the FBI agent accused by GOP of having “treasonous” anti-Trump bias, supported re-opening the Clinton email investigation in fall 2016

    Great decision: it wrecked his marriage, it wrecked his family, it wrecked his job, it wrecked the country.

    Kudos.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ohio Mom:

    I had two hugely productive days this week; interestingly enough, they were days I stayed away from the internet.

    I’m guessing that’s not a total coincidence.

    ETA:

    Meatloaf, potatoes and roasted carrots, if anyone is interested. Not exiting but foolproof.

    One of my all-time favorite meals! Making me hungry right now.

  62. 62.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    Speaking of animal photos, in Tamara’s post earlier today, pic of her Scout in off the shoulder sweater was adorable.

  63. 63.

    schrodingers_cat

    @elm: That makes sense. Lower your priority longer the wait. Siblings from low immigration countries like the WH favorite Norway have a wait of 14 years right now, (if a Norwegian-American applied for their sibling in 2004 they would be getting their priority date this year (when you can apply for a GC) Another six months to a year to clear the other hurdles of a background check etc and the final petition approved.
    Thread

  64. 64.

    Ryan

    “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce” Are we on #1?

  66. 66.

    cain

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I wanted to respond to your response to mine couple threads ago regarding “dynastic families/politicians” but first I need some whiskey before doing that! :D

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Unmarried children under 21
    Unmarried son or daughter of any age

    This was obviously vetted by the Department of Redundancy Department. Why not just say “Unmarried children of any age” and save the extra verbiage?

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    @SiubhanDuinne: Elm pointed this out. You are not subject to a quota if you are less than 21, you are fucked if you are over 21. You have a long wait, length of the wait depending on your country of origin.

    ETA: T wants to make that 18, btw.

  72. 72.

    cain

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The first part of the snippet you quoted was some lovely writing, and I found myself mesmerized by the flow of the prose.

    The second part of the snippet you quoted caused me to spew the day’s first sip of wine all over my phone. Poor, wine-saturated, tannin-stained phone.

    That’s exactly how I reacted as well, although I laughed my ass off. Because I didn’t expect it. It was like this beautiful english prose, and then suddenly this. I’m pretty decent at reading and read that to someone on the phone and then when I got to the “Shit..”, I changed it to a more “aww shucks” type of tone and I think my friend’s head exploded. :-)

  74. 74.

    cain

    I need to quit meat..

    If I ever saw how all that meat is made with animals going to their death it gives me the shivers.

  78. 78.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Manyakitty: If you are older than 21 and an unmarried child of a GC holder, then you go into another preference category for your permanent residency. The current wait for which is about 6 years for most countries.
    ETA: Six years after your parents get their GCs.

  80. 80.

    David Evans

    @The Dangerman: The Leica M10 does not shoot video, as it’s meant to capture the spirit of Leica film cameras. It looks pretty, but $7000 seems like a high price to pay for being unable to do something.

    I’me very happy with my Panasonic GX8, which is vaguely Leica-ish in shape, and shoots good video.

  81. 81.

    cain

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Oh good gods, whatever did I say?

    Oh nothing, it was a poignant comment (like most of your comments). I just thought it was worth responding to. :-)

  89. 89.

    Ohio Mom

    @schrodingers_cat: These snippets of immigration law you are sharing are eye-opening to me. Before you started on this campaign to educate us, I had only the foggiest of ideas how this all worked. Well, I am still pretty foggy because it is overwhelming.

    Your comments are beginning to remind me of Mayhew/Anderson’s posts — both topic areas are incredibly complicated, and were mainly made complicated to make it as difficult as possible for the people who need what is obstentially being offered (health care, citizenship) to get it. And lives are on the line.

  93. 93.

    J R in WV

    @The Dangerman:

    The better cameras all shoot video. I never used it until a while ago a neighbor was running a really old-fashioned sawmill, and I took video of him oiling and greasing the cast iron parts, firing up the 3 cylinder diesel engine, clamping the logs and running them past the spinning blade. It made a nice video that was interesting to everyone who knows Joe, and everyone who lives in the neighborhood.

    It doesn’t add to the cost really, and doesn’t hinder the still photo capability. Don’t worry about it, maybe you’ll shoot video of a birthday party some day.

  94. 94.

    J R in WV

    @The Dangerman:

    The Greenbrier, offering Breakfast and Dinner with your room:

    Starting Rates:

    May – October ~ $519 per night
    November & December (excluding holidays) ~ $449 per night
    Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year ~ $705 per night

    Double occupancy, with lots of $$ added for special rooms/dining events. Plus Historical preservation fees, plus, well, this and that. Plus your wine and bar costs. Too rich for me now-a-days. But worth it the last and only time we were there, long ago.

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