Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

How stupid are these people?

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

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

When we show up, we win.

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If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Last CPAC 2018 Open Thread: Farewell to Tarwathie Oxon Hill

Last CPAC 2018 Open Thread: Farewell to Tarwathie Oxon Hill

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Yes, as a matter of fact, this happened *just* as the Schiff memo was being released yesterday…

…Schlapp brought up how Walters called Steele and implored him not to “take the worst out of what he said” and “have some grace.”

He told Steele “you’ve not been very graceful” to elements of the party…

As they wrapped the segment, Schlapp again said, “Don’t always jump to the conclusion that just because people use inarticulate words that they have it in for you.”

“I didn’t say he had it in for me!” Steele cried. “It was just stupid!”

Bloomberg, “Trump Battles Complacency in Victory Among Conservative Faithful”:

… “There’s a different energy here, as opposed to opposition and negativity — less anger,” Dale Bellis, a conservative activist, said in an interview after addressing the conference on Friday. “Anger and fear many times drives us more than does optimism and hope. And so, yeah, we do need to maintain that edge.”…

For many, the desire to protect Trump against his political enemies was top of mind.

“Hanging over everyone’s head is that Nancy Pelosi and everyone is going to try to impeach Donald Trump if Democrats win,” said Sharon Gripshover, a 76-year-old retired physicist from Virginia. “Nobody’s really saying that here, but it’s in the air.”

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel urged attendees on Friday not to let America “go back to the dark ages” of Democrats, including Californian Pelosi, being in control of Congress.

Lee Harvis, 74, a private educator from Maryland, said conservatives are “more comfortable” this year than they were during the Obama era. “There’s still a lot to be angry about, but we’re not fighting in the Warsaw ghetto anymore,” he said…

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  2. 2.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Why didn’t Steele man up and punch Schlapp repeatedly in the face until he became a dying pile of gurgling moans?

    “Grace”? Are they fucking kidding me?

  3. 3.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    A panelist criticizes The Wall on the grounds that it’ll require extensive use of eminent domain to seize private property on the border.

    People in the crowd: “BOOOO! BUILD THAT WALL! BUILD THAT WALL!”

    Yes, I’m sure Edmund Burke would be proud of what conservatism has devolved into. So principled.

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Amazing how much less scared and angry racists feel when a black man isn’t their boss. And Steele, you know damn well that’s why you were hired.

    @germy:
    Alas, while there may be big trends in generations, you will always be able to find a full compliment of assholes in all of them. We can hope to outnumber, even heavily outnumber, but never get rid of.

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    Democrats (or some liberal group) should team up with sex workers to run a James O’Keefe style sting operation at CPAC. Imagine the video.

    They don’t need sex workers. They just need some willing volunteers from Grindr.

  9. 9.

    George

    @germy: Fascism has no age restrictions.

    Whenever someone comments that younger generations tend to be more liberal than older ones, pointing out the truth is essential: if youngers were more liberal than olders and carried those beliefs through life, we would be living in a progressive paradise.

  10. 10.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    Some alarmingly fresh young faces

    Fresh and snarling. Not a good look.

    “Hanging over everyone’s head is that Nancy Pelosi and everyone is going to try to impeach Donald Trump if Democrats win

    ”Nah. But wait until Schiff runs the committee! Popcorn time

  13. 13.

    germy

    “There’s a different energy here, as opposed to opposition and negativity — less anger,”

    He said as one of the speakers was escorted out protected by security guards.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    And immediately after a phalanx of surgically masked janitors moves in with 55 gallon drums on dollies of Febreze Stupid Remover and spray the place down, floor to ceiling. Multiple times.

  16. 16.

    Major Major Major Major

    Open thread? My Frontline episode generator finished training and is working pretty well! Some choice samples:

    NARRATOR:
    In the end, the government had been splendidly rebuilt. And he had a rifle.

    NEWSCASTER:
    The president decided to be a huge number of people escaping. We’re not going to be a shockingly high percentage. I think that was honorable, to be entrusted.

    STEVEN FERNANDEZ:
    [ preaching ] We have to move– I know what I could get a lot of bills, and I can do it and get it out.

    DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF:
    [ voice-over ] The president authorizes air strikes in the United States.

    —

    NARRATOR:
    The Metropolitan Police, Belgian security forces are now homeless.

    NEWSCASTER:
    The Lancet infectious diseases journal is bombarding civilian neighborhoods with artillery, with Taylor.

    NEWSCASTER:
    The Cafe Leopold–

    NEWSCASTER:
    The battle between the interrogation of the Yeltsin family.

    —

    NARRATOR:
    The bankers have been assassinated.

  17. 17.

    geg6

    The Warsaw fucking Ghetto?!?!?!? Seriously?!?!?!?

    As Pierce often points out, these really are the mole people. No slur meant against moles.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    This a good catch, from Emptywheel, in the Democratic memo release:

    While the description of what Papadopoulos said is redacted, the context makes it clear (as does this Adam Schiff tweet) that Papadopoulos didn’t tell Downer specifically what Russia had told him was available, only that they could release it to help Trump.
    But that Mifsud told Papadopoulos that the Russians were thinking of releasing it to help Trump is news, important news. It means the discussions of setting up increasingly senior levels of meetings between Russia and the Trump campaign took place against the offer of help in the form of released kompromat.
    Which, particularly given the evidence that Papadopoulos shared that information with the campaign, makes the June 9 meeting still more damning.

    The bolding there is mine.

    The Trump campaign wanted help from the Russian government, would have accepted help from the Russian government, and the Russian government wanted to help them. Means, motive, opportunity. The only thing missing was (is?) means.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    but we’re not fighting in the Warsaw ghetto anymore

    If those guys were in the ghetto they’d be kapos. This is such unadulterated, disrespectful bullshit, this guy should never be allowed out in public.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:

    Nah. But wait until Schiff runs the committee! Popcorn time

    There would be some intense irony there, given that Schiff won his first Congressional election in part by taking advantage of anger at the incumbent, Jim Rogan, having been one of the House managers of Clinton’s impeachment.

  22. 22.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I think everyone believed you! I have long known that racism is a process of constantly moving goalposts, shifting who are allies and enemies towards a theoretical world of pure conformity. If they think they’re close enough to even raise the question, they will certainly propose deporting everyone who isn’t white. Or maybe slavery.

  25. 25.

    germy

    So drumpf “lost his temper” during a phone conversation with the Mexican president.

    Just what we need in a president. A short-fused ball of rage.

    Who’ll be the next republican presidential nominee? John Bolton?

  27. 27.

    Chet Murthy

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    deporting everyone who isn’t white

    AHAHAHAHAHA! I hope those felchers like dying of sepsis!

    [I agree 100% with your assessment; just …. I just can’t. I mean, these donkey-fuckers actually think America can -function- without foreign-born doctors and nurses. Not to speak of everybody else, but just those two professions alone …. sheeeeite, these shitbirds are so goddam dumb.]

  29. 29.

    germy

    Off topic, but

    Illustrators, I would avoid working with Terry Goodkind. Shameful behaviour. Childishly criticizing the cover art of his latest book on social media. The artist creates the work based on Goodkind's publisher's specifications and then gets trashed for his hard work by the author. pic.twitter.com/F47rxy3qWG— Crystal Curtis (@CrysCurtisArt) February 24, 2018

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    Pulling no punches.

    The judgment of Samuel L. Jackson is pretty much equivalent to eternal damnation.

    And the star certainly didn’t hold back when it came to Donald Trump’s proposals to arm teachers, declaring on Twitter: “Can someone that’s been in a Gunfight tell that Muthaf*kka that’s Never been in a Gunfight, the flaws of his Arm The Teachers plan??!!” Source

  35. 35.

    m.j.

    @germy:

    Some alarmingly fresh young faces

    There are always going to be the kids who cry, “Mine!,Mine!, Mine!”

    I’d also like to say that O’keefe should be worried about his job because the Russians are doing it better and cheaper.

  36. 36.

    FlipYrWhig

    If the federal wall-builder forces come to seize the property of large landowners who live on the border, who shoots first, and who gets blamed for the ensuing bloodbath in the true-believer wingnut media? Wait, that’s too easy, it’d obviously end up being people who have nothing to do with anything. Probably feminists and the makers of violent video games.

  37. 37.

    PPCLI

    @? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Burke was a grifter who would fit right in with the contemporary conservative wingnut welfare world.

    Constantly in debt, constantly hitting up well-heeled patrons for more cash, and in return he exercised his rhetorical skills on things like convincing people that 1688 was a “Bloodless Revolution” aka a “Glorious Revolution”, rather than what it was: an invasion by a foreign army, launched from a foreign country, led by a foreigner without a legitimate claim to the throne, who overthrew a king with an unquestionably legitimate claim to the throne solely on the grounds that i) the king was Catholic, ii) had passed laws ensuring greater tolerance for Catholics, and ii) had just sired a son who would be his legitimate heir. Reading Burke’s caterwauling about how evil in principle it was to “cashier a king” in the French revolution and pretending that the Glorious Revolution was anything different makes it clear that he would have made an excellent Fox News mouthpiece.

    Fitting that an overrated, unprincipled bullshit artist should be the patron saint of contemporary conservative pseudo-intellectuals of the Brooksian variety.

    ETA: To be clear, Burke didn’t invent 1688 revisionism, he just used it effectively and should have known better

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: So did he lose his temper over the discussion about the wall or AFTER mexico decided not to come because of the discussion about the wall? Or, I suppose there’s a good chance that it’s both.

  40. 40.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:

    Plans for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to make an official visit to the White House within the next month have been cancelled after a contentious phone call between Peña Nieto and President Trump last week. The Washington Post reports that, unsurprisingly, much of their 50-minute call on Tuesday centered around Trump’s infamous border wall and who would pay for it, and a Mexican official told the Post that Trump “lost his temper” during the call.

  41. 41.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    When I was a kid in my teens, there was a “joke” that I remember hearing spewed by racist acquaintances and relatives. It was always uttered by men, and in the tone of a condescending sneer with an ugly laugh at the end, always with the same elements.

    When reading these words, understand that there are at least two distinct and separate interpretations of this “joke”.

    Joke as summarized:

    Q: What do you call a black millionaire nuclear physicist with a Nobel prize?

    A: You call him a n****r.

    First Interpretation cohort – These are the people who laugh at Blazing Saddles because the movie talks like they do and uses the N word with great frequency, which they find hilarious just for the saying of it. To this cohort, they laugh because they can never see an accomplished black man as anything other than a pejorative of his race.

    Second Interpretation cohort – Sadly recognizes that too much of modern America sees the accomplished black man only through a negative lens.

  42. 42.

    Chet Murthy

    @PPCLI: @? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: From Delong, this lovely little Burke passage. Fuck Burke and all who ride in him.

    It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in,—glittering like the morning-star, full of life and splendor and joy.

    Oh! what a revolution! and what an heart must I have, to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom! little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor, and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult.

    But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever…

  43. 43.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Illegal immigration was just a starting point. They are shifting laws making it harder to renew visas for people here legally, thus creating de facto deportation. After going after people on visas, they will look for ways to interpret the laws to deport permanent residents. And then look for ways to undo or limit naturalization.

    One of the driving arguments in Birther “logic” was to restrict birthright citizenship to only people with 2 narural born parents, so that is also on the right-wing chopping block.

  45. 45.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay:

    The only thing missing was (is?) means.

    Considering this is Trumps we are talking about that is a big hurdle. They aren’t exactly competent or even get off their ass and do something types.

  46. 46.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @geg6:

    The Warsaw fucking Ghetto?!?!?!? Seriously?!?!?!?

    Yes, it takes balls for Neo-Nazis to compare themselves to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

    * Spoiler Alert: Ghetto uprising did not end well.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    One of the reasons there are so many fresh young faces at CPAC is that they come for free, and another is that it is touted as a hook-up free-for-all. I bet not many of the faces are female; it would be a nightmare having these bozos constantly hitting on you, or outright molesting you.

  50. 50.

    Chet Murthy

    @? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:

    ARGH I forgot the LINK (to Delong)

    Have to give a shout-out to Brad Delong’s blog. Ye’s, he’s a modern economist. But he comes to his work like Adam Smith did — informed by the *fact* that economics is only useful insofar as it improves the human condition. And so, he’s become (in the last ten-ish years) a student of eocnomic history. And in this vein, he’s mined many, many rich veins of historic thought on economics, and hence on politics. I’ve read Delong for years, and he’s taught me a ton about economics, but also about history, and politics. And other things, too.

    It was somewhat tough going at first, b/c I didn’t know or understand many things he wrote. But really worthwhile in the end.

  52. 52.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @schrodingers_cat:

    At CPAC,a mention of naturalization ceremony gets boos at an immigration panel. So naturalized citizens are the new enemy.

    Gorka? D’Souza? Andrew Sullivan?

  54. 54.

    Librarian

    @geg6: Of course. These people see themselves always as victims, or as underdogs heroically fighting against the evil liberals who control everything. They’re batshit insane.

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    I don’t understand: why can’t they allow just every 4th or 5th CPAC attendee to come in armed? You know, just enough weapons-adept folks to protect the rest of the attendees?

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    @Chet Murthy

    But the age of chivalry is gone.

    Obliquely brings to mind Secretary of State Henry Stimson’s stated rationale for shuttering the Black Chamber in 1929: “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.”

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    We don’t know anything about the Trumps, though, really. We know even less about the Trump associates.

    The “Kelly is a straight-shooting manager who will exert a firm hand” stuff was bullshit. The administration is a mess and they leak all the time, again. Nothing changed with Kelly. Who knows about the rest of them?

    The Russians wanted Trump to win. They wanted to work with the Trump campaign. The Trumps wanted to win and they wanted to work with the Russians. The Russians did, in fact, help Donald Trump. There was a meeting and everyone lied about the meeting.

    The money Manafort and company were laundering CAME from somewhere. The indictment talks about how they hid it because they didn’t want to pay taxes on it but I have no earthly idea if that money was earned or exchanged for some legit goods or services. I don’t know that avoiding TAXES was the point. That’s really the BEST explanation for them, tax fraud. The other reasons for laundering money are much worse.

  60. 60.

    Citizen_X

    I will say that I am fully in favor of locking the CO2 Coalition in an airtight room, to test their “More CO2 is always good” hypothesis.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    What if some of the Trump debt is money laundering? They borrow using a property as collateral, get the big chunk of “clean” money and then pay it back with money they launder over time, long enough time so they can claim it as legit income?

  64. 64.

    japa21

    @germy: Doesn’t surprise me. Goodkind is a really horrible writer. He is to writing (in terms of style and vocabulary) what Trump is to speaking.

    I also have no doubt he is a Trump supporter.

    Speaking of which, saw something interesting or vomit inducing or a combination of both today. Driving into Chicago on the Kennedy and passed a jazzed up Humvee. On the back was a sticker obviously meant to slam those stiuck families you see on vehicles. This one said “You have your family and I have mine” and then showed a row consisting of 2 AR-15s and 4 handguns. The capper was the personalized license plate “TRUMP”.

  65. 65.

    matt

    @m.j.: O’keefe should be worried because he’s been failing over and over since his ACORN thing. They don’t keep paying you if you deliver nothing.

  67. 67.

    Jack the Second

    @Roger Moore: You don’t actually need a sting, you just need rumors of a sting. Rumors that a better part of the prostitutes and half the posters/respondents on Craigslist, Grindr and Tinder are liberal plants seeking to ensnare and embarrass important conservatives. Hell, claim all the hotels are bugged and clerks are leaking PPV purchases.

    Just let the assholes sit on their blue balls, terrified people are out to get them.

  68. 68.

    JGabriel

    Lee Harvis, 74, a private educator from Maryland, said conservatives are “more comfortable” this year than they were during the Obama era. “There’s still a lot to be angry about, but we’re not fighting in the Warsaw ghetto anymore,” he said…

    That is just so. fucking. offensive. Rot in hell, you Nazi jackass.

  70. 70.

    Zach

    Steele oversaw the biggest GOP gains in the Congress and in state houses since 1938. He was run out of office because the GOP stopped being sad sacks and realized there was profit to be made in opposing Obama by appealing to racism and Steele wouldn’t play ball. Of the black leaders of the GOP who actually wanna run for office (eg not Rice and Powell), he’s by far the most qualified, smartest, and best speaker, yet we’ve gotten Cain, Carson and Keyes as recent candidates. His politics are repellent to me but I’d love to read a memoir where he details the racist crap that he’s had to put up with that he hints at in this interview.

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    @geg6:
    That Warsaw Ghetto bullshit jumped out at me as well.
    Not only are they stupid racist fucks but they really, really have no idea about anything except when they got their last teething biscuit and why isn’t anyone giving them another do they?

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @JGabriel:

    They all do this, though. Bannon presents himself as some kind of revolutionary sleeping on the floor of a “safe house” with a rifle at his side.

    They’re ridiculous. Silly, overly-dramatic coddled people who need a “struggle” to make themselves feel good but they’re in fact really pampered and soft so they take someone else’s struggle. It’s the civilian version of pretending to be combat veteran.

  74. 74.

    Spaniel

    After reading stories about the CPAC festivities over the weekend, I am still trying to figure out what Dinesh D’Souza (sp?) had done anything worse than what was said at the convention. Not saying what either Dinesh or others said was right, but rather there were lots of “Oh, Crap!” moments. Dinesh seems to have been singled out for criticisms.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Some of these purchases by Manafort! The rugs. I want to see these rugs and then I want them appraised. This is bullshit. I don’t know what he bought with what are probably ill-gotten gains and no one else does either.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Zach

    Of course the parties and what they represent are not totally identical then and now, but a turnover similar to what happened with the House in the election of 1890 would be sweet beyond compare. Blowout doesn’t begin to describe it.

    Before the election –

    Dem: 152
    Rep: 179
    Other: 0

    After the election –

    Dem: 238
    Rep: 86
    Other: 8

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @geg6:

    Scratch a “conservative” and underneath they’re all scum.

    You can leave out the scratching and underneath part.
    It’s 100% through and through scum.

  79. 79.

    Aleta

    Open thread so:

    One of President Donald Trump’s family businesses is battling an effort to physically evict its team of executives from a luxury hotel in Panama where they manage operations. … Witnesses told the AP they saw Trump’s executives carrying files to a room for shredding.

    Representatives of the hotel owners’ association formally sought to fire Trump’s management team Thursday by hand-delivering termination notices to them at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
    …
    Trump’s managers retreated behind the glass walls of an office where they were seen carrying files to an area where the sounds of a shredding machine could be heard, according to two witnesses aligned with the owners. The legal complaint also accused Trump’s team of improperly destroying documents.

    The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity over concerns they would be drawn into an expensive and protracted legal fight.

    Elsewhere in the building, the hotel owners’ team and its allies were barred by Trump Hotel staff from entering the room containing the building’s closed-circuit TV system as well as key computer servers for the hotel and apartments that share the property. In response, they shut off power to the room — temporarily bringing down phone lines and internet connections within the building.
    …
    Last August, Fintiklis’ Miami-based Ithaca Capital Partners bought the 202 units in a fire sale from the property’s struggling developer. As part of the deal, Trump Hotels sought and received some assurances that Ithaca would not seek to act against its interests as hotel manager.

    Relations quickly soured amid abysmal hotel occupancy numbers and allegations by Ithaca and other hotel unit owners of financial mismanagement or misconduct. … Trump’s company — which he still owns but does not directly control — refused to hand over control of the property, arguing that the vote to fire Trump Hotels was invalid.

    A Panamanian court declined to support that claim in December, and the parties have since been fighting in court. The AP reported that the Trump management team ran off a group of Marriott executives who had been invited to tour the property amid a search for a replacement hotel operator.

    Maybe it’s been taking in laundry?

    eta The ‘hotel staff’ seem to be violent, Thugs for Trump.

  82. 82.

    PPCLI

    @geg6: The analogy makes more sense if you realize that he means “we aren’t fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto anymore because we’ve finally cleansed it of vermin.”

  83. 83.

    Chet Murthy

    @karlb: Oh god I can’t even …. yeah, you’re absolutely right. And it’s not just the graphic design. The way he has a “should-read” and various other “pinned posts” at the top, that easily take more than a screenfull …. so it’s difficult-as-the-dickens to find what’s new on his blog. Thank goodness for RSS. And then, yeah, there’s the page layout, as you say …

    But even with all that ,heck, I’d read it on the back of cardboard boxes, he’s that enlightening.

  84. 84.

    Zach

    @NotMax: Funny enough Trump is threatening the same kinds of tariffs that got McKinley and the GOP run out of office in 1890. Of course, he doesn’t really intend to do what he’s threatening and the electorate looks a lot different than it did 130 years ago.

    Sad that the reaction to protectionism in 2018 (mostly re: immigration) will probably way less to that in 1890… because the GOP and Fox News have been successful at getting folks to make “Republican” one of the top few adjectives that define them as a person.

  85. 85.

    Aleta

    I noticed at the ceremony
    Your corrupt ways had finally made you blind.

    Idiot wind
    Blowing like a circle around my skull

    Idiot wind
    Blowing every time you move your teeth
    You’re an idiot
    It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

  86. 86.

    Mary G

    @NotMax: $12.45 for standard Black Panther tickets here in So Orange County. I splurged and bought five IMAX tickets and you don’t want to know what that cost.

  87. 87.

    Another Scott

    @Aleta: GlobalWitness has a long, detailed report on “Narco-a-lago”:

    E.g.

    The Trump Ocean Club Today

    In 2011, the Trumps were voted out as administrators of the TOC condo units by the owners’ Board of Directors on the basis of alleged financial misconduct, following an acrimonious dispute. Trump responded by suing residents with a confidential claim for as much as $75 million for wrongful firing, alleging a criminal conspiracy. According to a Washington Post article published in January 2017, the dispute ended in a confidential settlement. Today the Trumps reportedly continue to manage the hotel, even after the majority of the hotel condo units were sold for $23.7 million, in July 2017, to Ithaca Capital Partners.

    There’s a reason why he keeps fighting to retain control…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  88. 88.

    Gex

    @George: Likewise, studies showing the younger generations are less racist only show that because the younger generations are less white. Young white people are just as racist as their elders.

  89. 89.

    Calouste

    @gene108:

    restrict birthright citizenship to only people with 2 narural born parents

    Well, that would get rid of Donnie Dipshit and four of his five children.

  91. 91.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    Terry Goodkind attempted to set up a bloc vote in the Hugo Awards to pitch the awards to himself and fellow RWNJ authors, who indeed did mostly get nominations. Many categories were No Award, none (IIRC) of Goodkind’s nominated via conspiracy works received a Hugo award.

    Obviously Goodkind is not a trustworthy person. I have attempted to read a couple of his novels, and I found then childish and unworthy of my time. So, not trustworthy, not a good writer. No surprise he disses an artist for the illustration used on his book cover. Could make it difficult to find a publisher for his next work of staggering geni, er, ah, decrepitude.

  92. 92.

    CarolDuhart2

    @? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Wouldn
    ‘t be surprised. Not tarnished by Russian scandal or money, no legislative record to attack. Shares their values to a tee. Presumably healthy and has a functioning brain.

    They actually wanted General Petreaus, but the scandal was probably too much and he didn’t strike fast enough for them.

  95. 95.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jake the antisoshul soshulist:

    Eddie Burke definitely had a hardon for Her Majesty “let the eat cake”.

    Yeah, that passage read uncannily like Rich Lowry’s “little starbursts” review of Sarah Palin’s 2008 debate performance.

  97. 97.

    Fair Economist

    @Chet Murthy:

    It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France[Marie Antionette], then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision.

    Evidently conservatives have been seeing starbursts from hot-looking female airheads involved in politics for a long, long time.

    Edit: bah, ninja’d again.

  101. 101.

    Jinchi

    Democrats (or some liberal group) should team up with sex workers to run a James O’Keefe style sting operation at CPAC.

    I’m pretty sure the Russians already have that covered.

  102. 102.

    evodevo

    @Frankensteinbeck: It’s the same with RWRNJ and reproductive rights … start with late term abortion (“Partial Birth !!11!!!), proceed to penalize early term abortion procedures with every possible regulation, then promulgate the meme that Plan B is an abortifacient, then that IUDs are abortifacient, then the Pill, and then we’re back to condoms and the Catholic-regulated Fifties …slippery slope !

  105. 105.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    A reason for hope… they interviewed 3 people. One whose name is not stated, the other two are 74 and 76. These people won’t be around much longer.

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    @Another Scott: Unbelievable. (I was thinking about the AP news story and just wrote this. Thought I might sound like I was hyperimagining.)

    What could you do if you had a mostly empty hotel or bunch of condos owned by other people, who pay you money to manage them and to use your brand. Maybe responsibility can be shifted onto the owners if criminal activity is discovered. It would be the owners’ buildings that could be seized. If you have a lot of unused hotel rooms, you can launder money. You could even subcontract rooms for dropoff for the pharmaceutical, illegal merch, or weapons trade. Or hold, threaten and traffic 3rd world women who answered ads for overseas hotel workers, models, hostesses.

    Thanks for the link. The article looks horrible. I have a bad chill.

  107. 107.

    Bill Arnold

    @Another Scott:
    My script blockers gave me trouble on that sight, but managed to get to the pdf link finally so here for others:
    https://www.globalwitness.org/documents/19294/Narco-A-Lago-Money_Laundering_at_the_Trump_Ocean_Club_Panama.pdf
    The “Family With Many Scissors” picture on page 7 for the win.
    Context:):

    The characters of Alfred Hitchcock’s world wield an array of weapons: revolvers, rope, even cameras. Yet, as the director once noted, “A murder without gleaming scissors is like asparagus without the hollandaise sauce—tasteless.”

    Actually, the document feels disquietingly real. I’m beginning to think that Trump and/or family may (as in 30%) serve some non-zero time in (actual) prison.

    On a lighter note: A Brief History of Cunning – How cunning is Donald Trump? (BBC, audio, 58 minutes, only listed to 10 of them.)
    And some interesting music in the Winter Olympics closing ceremony (the rhythms in particular).

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