Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Not all heroes wear capes.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

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

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

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

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

This fight is for everything.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Events / For A Good Time In Cambridge (Tonight!)

For A Good Time In Cambridge (Tonight!)

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Just a quick heads-up.  My colleague Seth Mnookin will be moderating a panel for the MIT Communications Forum on “Republican Resistance in the Age of Trump.”

The event goes from 6-8 p.m. in MIT Building 3, room 270. (MIT map.)  The speakers are interesting:  Stuart Stevens (Romney’s 2012 chief strategist, among other presidential election gigs); Jennifer Nassour, former MA GOP chair (I know…) and the founder of a group dedicated to electing more Republican women in the northeast; and Dr. Daniel Barkhuff, a Navy Spec Ops doc veteran and leader of a non-partisan group supporting “veterans who have demonstrated integrity and rational thought as they run for positions in local, state and federal elections.”

These are folks with whom I expect I have pretty near zero agreement on policy terms.  But if there is common cause to be found in constructing an American democracy on a foundation of shared political norms, I’m down for that, and plan to listen closely.

In any event, should be an interesting time. And I note that I’m the more interested as a bunch of posters around campus have been torn down, which I interpret as a Trumpian response to unwelcome news.  All the more reason to show up, IMHO.

Image: William Hogarth, An Election Entertainment, (painting from his series, “The Humours of an Election”), c. 1755.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  3. 3.

    MattF

    There’s a local library in my neighborhood that’s being renovated, and when it reopens it will be as the ‘Connie Morella’ library. Morella was the Congressional representative for the neighborhood, and was pretty much the very last liberal Republican. The category is defunct now, but Morella was to the left of most Democrats, particularly on social issues. I never voted for her, but Dems kept nominating apparatchiks in opposition, and I was sorely tempted.

    My point, however, is that people like Morella really do exist and are worth arguing with.

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    Do they have a website? Will they post video on YouTube so we geographically challenged people can watch?

    Bill Kristol has a new NeverTrumper group started, but I don’t trust him. Evan McMuffin says all the right things on Twitter, and has a group whose name I don’t know, but I’m not sure I trust him either.

    ETA: There is a naked baby beside Seth Mnookin’s bio. Why?

  5. 5.

    N

    @MattF: I went to elementary school with one of the Morella kids, Ms. Connie remains the only Republican I’ve ever voted for.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    My colleague Seth Mnookin will be moderating a panel for the MIT Communications Forum on “Republican Resistance in the Age of Trump.”

    Better late than never, I suppose.

  10. 10.

    scav

    A few conferences (so long as nothing is actually done) and ambiguous soundbites might be just enough resistance for those Rs actually resisting the retirement endgame — as hopes of the routine Rah!-Rah! reelection track fade.

  11. 11.

    Sab

    I have been reading Stuart Stevens twitter for a couple of years. He’s RW but not NJ. He is sort of an old fashioned Republican. I believe
    his family turned Republican (in Mississippi) in the 1960s because they were appalled by the Dixiecrats.

  12. 12.

    The Other Chuck

    Republican resistance should consist of LEAVING THE FUCKING PARTY. You don’t have to become a Democrat. But you cannot keep lending tacit moral support to a party that has decided on treason as a normal course of business. And contributions? Those are material support, folks.

  13. 13.

    aimai

    Why do you think the posters are torn down by Trumpists? Or am I reading that wrong?

    Sorry I can’t come. I see patients late on Thursdays. But I have to admit I’d rather poke my eyes out with a sharp stick than listen to anyone talk about Trump or the Republicans. The ranting noises inside my own head are loud enough.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    How nice. Do the guests have to bring their own fig leaves?

    ETA: And Tom will have to write about soon after it happens; try to beat David Bobo Brooks to the punch. These are, apparently, Bobo’s type of Republicans. The mythical ones.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    Why Does Pruitt Have Four Email Addresses?
    April 12, 2018 at 1:43 pm EDT

    EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt “has used four separate agency email addresses since taking office, according to Senate Democrats and an EPA official, prompting concerns among agency lawyers that the EPA has not disclosed all the documents it would normally release to the public under federal records requests,” the Washington Post reports.

    Pruitt’s four email addresses include one in the conventional agency format, [email protected], as well as three others: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected], an apparent reference to the University of Oklahoma, whose football team Pruitt follows closely.

    Another EPA staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said that Pruitt’s use of different emails has raised concern among agency lawyers responsible for scouring the administrator’s official correspondence in the course of responding to FOIA requests from journalists and outside groups. If there is an email account that was not searched for records in response to a FOIA inquiry, the official said, that “would be an enormous breach of the public trust.”

  17. 17.

    patrick II

    @Mary G:

    Bill Kristol…

    Trump doesn’t start enough wars for Bill. He wants the neocons back in power.
    I will say this though, he is worth listening to about republican motivation. When Sessions fired McCabe there was an interview with a couple of repeat MSNBC justice department rule of law commentators who were outraged and said that what he did was against the law and he should not have done it. Kristol said Session’s main motivation was keeping his job, and not firing McCabe would have given Trump a reason for firing him. Kristol was right.
    I will add, that I have read comments here unfavorable to Rosenstein, distrusting his motives because he is a republican and doing some republican things as part of his job.
    He cannot do otherwise if given legal direction by his superiors, and once again he wants to keep his job. Trump would fire him for any T not crossed. And most importantly without Rosenstein there would be no Mueller, no investigation, and with the jelly-kneed republican congress Trump would be totally unimpeded in his destruction of democracy. I am very thankful for Rod Rosenstein.

  19. 19.

    patrick II

    @Tom Levenson
    After you have whet our appetite, I hope for at least a short summary post of what they had to say. Since, like many people here, I don’t look at Trump as detached from the Republican party, but more as the logical outcome of Republican policy, I am curious about how they see themselves as different in a manner that would actually benefit this country.

  21. 21.

    Sab

    @The Other Chuck: I am a Democrat, but I grew up in a family of reasonable Republicans, most of whom have died of old age. The few survivors are still Republicans because they aren’t comfortable being Democrats, and they don’t want to cede the primaries to the Tea Party and the Trumpistas by becoming Independents. (I wish them luck, but they haven’t had much lately.)

    I commend them for that. I think one party governments are a menace and an invitation to corruption. I see it all the time in Cleveland (Democats) just to the north of me, and in rural Ohio (Republican) to the south, east and west of me. Intraparty fighting doesn’t keep politics clean. Two structured opposing parties are better at it.

  22. 22.

    Immanentize

    @bystander:

    Resistance to what? Science, empirical data, economics, reason and morality.

    This is so critical. I just posted a longish comment touching on this below…. Upshot? The President today has more power than at any time in the history of this country. That is primarily because of the vast executive administrative structure that runs the nation. But we as a country have allowed this expansion of power primarily because of our general comfort that the executive decisions were (generally) being made with expert input. What happens, like now, when the President (and maybe a significant section of our society) reject expertise as at least a basic limitation of government action?

  23. 23.

    James E. Powell

    There is no Republican resistance. I don’t know what we need to do, but we have to establish that beyond doubt. It’s a message that needs to be pounded into the brains (such as they are) of every talking head. There is no Republican resistance to Trump! They support him 100%. There is no daylight between them.

    Because when all this is over, the Beltway Courtiers and the NYT who put Trump in the White House are going to work very hard to revive the Republican brand. Just recall how hard they worked for the Tea Party – which of course was not in any way a racist response to a black president.

  25. 25.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I am curious – given that Massholes are the most obnoxious sports fans on the planet outside moments in Philadelphia (visit any Red Sox or Patriots fan board if you need convincing), I struggle to envision the extent of sheer concentrated malevolent energy in a room full of Massachusetts Republicans. I mean, aren’t there horror movies that talk about malevolence that can warp space and time to the point of ending the universe and undoing creation? And you want to put a bunch of them in the same room? Good god, man, think about the humanity!

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @Immanentize:

    What happens, like now, when the President (and maybe a significant section of our society) reject expertise as at least a basic limitation of government action?

    It would be rude to say Genocide.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    @Immanentize:

    That is primarily because of the vast executive administrative structure that runs the nation.

    Actually, it’s because congress ceded oversight power slowly, over decades. It was mostly granting, rather than seizing.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @Sab:

    I think one party governments are a menace and an invitation to corruption.

    With Democrats only you get three party governments..

  30. 30.

    bystander

    @Immanentize: The framers of the Constitution embraced the spirit of the Age of Reason in constructing the Constitution but failed to contemplate that there could ever be a co-hort devoted to regression and rejecting logic, reason and science. Since so many of the framers were tainted with the sin of slavery, I think they failed to recognize a cancer when it presented itself. Anyone surprised that the descendants of the proponents of slavery and oppression populate that co-hort today?

  31. 31.

    germy

    …and Dr. Daniel Barkhuff, a Navy Spec Ops doc veteran and leader of a non-partisan group

    “The strategy is not intended to be national,” he said. “It’s to go after veterans who voted for Trump in 2016 in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and convince them to vote for someone else in 2020.”

    Those three states handed Trump the presidency by razor-thin margins and could turn the tide next time around.

    “I think we’d support a turnip if it ran against Donald Trump,” Barkhuff said. Or even a Democrat, although the organization’s target audience skews conservative.

  32. 32.

    Sab

    @rikyrah: Is this normal? Me suspects not. Thanks for calling attention to it.

    Wow, you dig up a lot of interesting stuff. Please keep on digging and posting.

  33. 33.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TenguPhule:

    I can only imagine an inchoate ethereal rage that speaks in an incomprehensible and somewhat high pitched flat nasal accent, interspersed with multiple repetitions of the word “wicked”, that being the only thing I understand.

    That and randomly dropped “R”s at the end of some words and the extraneous placement of unnecessary “R”s at the end of some soft vowel sounds….

  34. 34.

    Immanentize

    @efgoldman: I agree. But how else could this country be run without catastrophe? One possibility is that the powers of the presidency will be significantly limited over the next decade — if the legislative branch can get itself together.

    I think that income inequality in this country is a big part of the picture — people are losing faith in the ability of this society to work on their (and their family’s) behalf. That is what Democrats should be promising. Government will work on behalf of the people as a whole, not just on behalf of the people formerly known as corporations.

  36. 36.

    Immanentize

    @bystander:

    but failed to contemplate that there could ever be a co-hort devoted to regression and rejecting logic, reason and science.

    I don’t think this is entirely true. The framers certainly believed in — and advertised — reason; but they also clearly saw the threats to the opportunity to allow reason to work from religion, mob rule, and legislative dominance.

    ETA EEEeek — gotta go to class and learn ’em good.

  37. 37.

    germy

    @germy:

    “I think we’d support a turnip if it ran against Donald Trump,” Barkhuff said. Or even a Democrat

    Interesting that his first choice was a turnip.

    In the true spirit of non-partisanship.

  38. 38.

    p.a.

    They’re only resisting because trump is killing the brand. If his popularity (especially w likely voters) was safely above 50%, would any of this shit be out there? They just want the fascism couched in kinder gentler packages. Tell them to endorse Dems. to prove their bona fides. Won’t happen.

  39. 39.

    Sab

    @TenguPhule: Is Life more complicated in Hawaii? How many Democratic Parties do you have?

    In my little county in Ohio we have one Democratic party (that mostly runs things in the city) and a bunch of opposing factions of Republicans that duke things out surrepticiously in the suburbs.

    The Republicans were having a civil war, and my mother wanted to vote for the appropriate commitee precinct guy. That’s as basic as you can get in American party politics, and none of the candidates would tell her which side of the divide they stood on.

    They were all afraid of their huge donors. That is really unhealthy for a democracy.

  40. 40.

    efgoldman

    @p.a.:

    If his popularity (especially w likely voters) was safely above 50%, would any of this shit be out there?

    If that were true, he wouldn’t be Weasel Face, he’d be somebody else

  41. 41.

    Mandalay

    @rikyrah:

    Another EPA staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation…

    That fear of retaliation from Pruitt would be very well founded:

    A former top EPA staffer has told Democratic lawmakers that the agency fired him after he refused to retroactively approve the first-class travel of one of Administrator Scott Pruitt’s closest aides, according to letters made public Thursday.

    The dismissed political appointee, Kevin Chmielewski, also alleged that Pruitt flouted price limits on hotel stays and office decor, put an aide to work house-hunting for him, arranged taxpayer-funded trips to his native Oklahoma and other destinations just because he wanted to travel there and lied last week when he denied knowing about backdoor raises the agency had granted to two of his top aides, the lawmakers said Thursday in a letter to the agency.

    In addition, Chmielewski detailed allegations of lavish spending on Pruitt’s personal security and a possible conflict of interest involving his top bodyguard, as well a $100,000-per-month private jet rental that he says EPA looked into at Pruitt’s direction. He also said, as POLITICO reported last week, that Pruitt was frequently late in paying the $50-a-night rent on his lobbyist-owned Capitol Hill condo last year.

    I had no time for Tillerson or Spicer or Hicks, or many of the others that left the Trump regime, but I didn’t wish them any ill either. But Pruitt is in a league of his own – just a vile human being.

  42. 42.

    Jay S

    @rikyrah:

    Pruitt’s four email addresses include one in the conventional agency format, [email protected], as well as three others: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected], an apparent reference to the University of Oklahoma, whose football team Pruitt follows closely.

    Let’s see: pruitt.scott for regular business, sooners7 for football pool/gambling, esp7 for porn subscriptions, admin14 for command and control by ???
    Sure, 4 seems reasonable.

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    A friend’s husband is an old fashioned R. He voted third party in the election. When I asked how that was working out about six months ago, he said he thought HRC would be worse. I’d like to ask what he’s thinking now, but I value the friendship with his wife.

    ETA: I see Trump asked one of his minions to find a way back into the TPP. I want to laugh, but the time for laughing is long gone.

  44. 44.

    efgoldman

    @Mandalay:

    just a vile human being.

    Like Weasel Face himself and his entire criminal conspiracy, Pruitt’s grift was just fine as long as it was below the top level of visibility.

  45. 45.

    maya

    The Republican resisters are easily identified by the wearin’ of their elephant ear hats.
    But not on windy days.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    OT – Also in the news today – Florida Man edition… BBC News:

    Parkland teacher arrested after leaving gun in public lavatory

    5 hours ago

    Sean Simpson had previously said he was open to the idea of training teachers to carry guns

    A teacher from the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead two months ago has been arrested after leaving his gun in a public toilet.

    Sean Simpson, 43, absentmindedly left the loaded weapon inside a cubicle, says Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

    It was found by a homeless man who fired a bullet into the wall before Mr Simpson snatched it from his hands.

    The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher previously said he was open to the idea of arming teachers.

    Mr Simpson told police on Sunday he realised he had left the legally registered pistol in the toilet at the Deerfield Beach Pier after hearing a single gunshot.

    After running back to the bathroom, the science teacher encountered a homeless man holding the gun, who, he added, appeared drunk.

    Police arrested Mr Simpson and Joseph Spataro, 69, at the scene.

    Mr Simpson was charged with failing to safely store a firearm, and was released after paying a $250 (£175) cash bond.

    […]

    Nobody could have predicted…. :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    In the spirit of the Resistance, it seems my niece will be in the vanguard of the next gen Resistance. She has been invited to apply to be in this:

    https://wgfpa.org/our-work/girlgov/

    She’s a junior in high school and this sounds like a good opportunity for her.

  51. 51.

    VeniceRiley

    What I always wonder is why your typical northeaster Republican objects to about Democrats on the federal level? Is it the good governance and respect for expertise in the agencies and sciences? Is it the low deficits & surpluses? Is it the low unemployment? What?

  52. 52.

    efgoldman

    @VeniceRiley:

    why your typical northeaster Republican objects to about Democrats on the federal level?

    I am going to assume you’re not a troll for now.
    The “Typical Northeastern Republican” is as extinct as T-Rex. They and the party were co-opted by the RWNJ mouth breathing, knuckle dragging flying monkeys decades ago.

  54. 54.

    bystander

    @efgoldman:

    If that were true, he wouldn’t be Weasel Face, he’d be somebody else

    I believe it was said best by Baby Jane Hudson. “But cha are, Blanche. But cha are.”

  55. 55.

    NobodySpecial

    @VeniceRiley: Taxes. That’s it. Anything that says taxes. Could be used for anything, but if it takes their moneys, they are against it.

  56. 56.

    TenguPhule

    @Immanentize:

    That is what Democrats should be promising. Government will work on behalf of the people as a whole, not just on behalf of the people formerly known as corporations.

    We tried this. We got Bush Jr and Trump as a result.

  57. 57.

    TenguPhule

    @Sab:

    Is Life more complicated in Hawaii? How many Democratic Parties do you have?

    Four.

    We have

    1) Old Guard Democrats

    2) Union Democrats

    3) Technocrat Democrats

    4) Bernie Sanders Democrats

  58. 58.

    Aleta

    Re Looking for a good time

    I’m looking for ideas for great food in Providence.

    Because Providence, RI is to us* just like Tuscany is to you sophisticates.
    (There is green, and flowers live! The food has flavors!)

    *where wild erratics stand for ‘the place you turn’ and the cooks are born sorry

  59. 59.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    The “Typical Northeastern Republican” is as extinct as T-Rex. They and the party were co-opted by the RWNJ mouth breathing, knuckle dragging flying monkeys decades ago.

    But like pod people, they can still imitate it enough to fool people, briefly.

  60. 60.

    bemused

    @Mandalay:

    Daily there is more we learn of Pruitt’s extreme avarice. I don’t know if he is a sociopath or what his personality disorder would be characterized as but he is one of the most shameless, outrageous grifters among the WH, GOP grifters and that’s saying something. If he discovered his grandmother having a stroke, he’d rifle through her purse and house before he’d call an ambulance.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    Secretary Mattis has cancelled his trip to New York tonight, per a Pentagon spokeswoman. He was scheduled to stay overnight and have a meeting with Henry Kissinger.— HansNichols (@HansNichols) April 12, 2018

  65. 65.

    efgoldman

    @Aleta:

    I’m looking for ideas for great food in Providence.

    You coming to RI?

    ETA: Gin & Tonic is your go to

  68. 68.

    Tom Levenson

    @Mary G: The bare butted baby is a reference to Seth’s landmark book, The Panic Virus, which goes deep into the anti-vax madness.

  74. 74.

    The Other Chuck

    @Sab: Yes, there should be an opposition party to the Democrats. Why does it have to be forever the Republican party?

  75. 75.

    Fleeting Expletive

    Last night Steve Cohen, D-TN, said something chilling: that Congressmembers are afraid to vote for legislation to protect the Mueller investigation because they fear their staff members will be “blackballed” by other Republicans if they do. That sounds like some really, really bad stuff going down. I think it was on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show.

  76. 76.

    efgoldman

    @TenguPhule:

    They’re our left’s left flank.

    Oh bullshit
    They make a shitload of noise, but at the end of the day they won’t vote for our guys, if they vote at all.
    They don’t know shit about politics.
    They don’t know how to wrangle and count votes
    They are dilettantes who love the sounds of their own voices.

    Fuckem

  81. 81.

    jonas

    @The Other Chuck: Exactly. If you consider yourself an honest, reality-based conservative who opposes Trumpism, the most effective thing you can do is work for the total destruction of the contemporary Republican party and the salting of its earth. Burn it all to the fucking ground and start over with a party whose creed begins “We, the undersigned, accept empirical reality as the basis of policy discussions…”

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    Smoke em’ if you’ve got em;.

    Former congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) has been found guilty on 23 felony counts for misspending $1.25 million of donor funds on sometimes-bizarre personal and campaign expenses, according to the Texas Tribune. Stockman, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, will remain in federal custody until sentencing in August because he is considered a flight risk. His legal team reportedly plans to appeal the verdict in the meantime.

    “Mr. Stockman is keeping his head up and we’re looking forward to getting through to the next stage of this,” Stockman’s defense attorney, Sean Buckley, told the Texas Tribune.

    Stockman used the contributions from Illinois shipping magnate Dick Uihlein and Baltimore money manager Stanford Rothschild Jr. on expenses including spying on political opponents, dolphin boat rides, and bulk purchases of pop-up Advent books published by his brother.

    Let us savor.

  83. 83.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    Grifting is too mild a term for him or WH/Gop. Pruitt does deserve to have his name attached to his level of disgusting ransacking and looting.

  88. 88.

    lgerard

    @germy:

    Interesting that his first choice was a turnip.

    In the true spirit of non-partisanship.

    I’m assuming you meant nonparsnipship

  93. 93.

    Thoughtful David

    At this late date, anyone who self-identities as a Republican is a traitor. There’s a reason it’s called the Treason Party.

  94. 94.

    jl

    Is the anonymous GOP representative going to be there who went on the rant to Erick Erickson in the Safeway that if they were all going to go down in the Nov election because of a dipshit moron like Trump, they should just impeach the m*th*rf*ck*r?
    I’d fly back to the East Coast for that.

  95. 95.

    bemused

    Omg. I’m just reading a local paper and gasped. Millionaire Rob Undersander was a witness for MNGOP saying he found a loophole to receive food stamps for 19 months…to prove a point: not everyone who gets aid needs it. He got the food stamps because he and his wife has little income for 19 months although he had assets and back account that qualifies him as a millionaire.
    Undersander said he signed up for food stamps to “audit” the program, prove that some get food stamps that don’t need them. Um, like he and his wife.

  96. 96.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Uh, thanks, I guess?

    Aleta, what’s your budget and what kind of food do you like? PVD is a great place if you like to eat.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Stockman used the contributions from Illinois shipping magnate Dick Uihlein and Baltimore money manager Stanford Rothschild Jr. on expenses including spying on political opponents, dolphin boat rides, and bulk purchases of pop-up Advent books published by his brother.

    Dolphin boat rides? I thought dolphins preferred jet skis?

    I bet that EPA chief Pruitt can beat this for crazy ass expenditures on the government dime.

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    Before the Comey flufffest begins, I just want to say for the record fuck him. His failure to control the NY office, the July press conference and October letter on the Clinton investigation delivered to us this fucking trump hell. Those were both improper actions.

    He was so enamored with his own integrity that he lost perspective and good judgment.

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Aleta: Los Andes is a very good choice, but if you have more than one night, let me know your approximate budget and the type of food you like and I can offer plenty of suggestions.

  102. 102.

    Jay S

    @MomSense: Does that mean we can’t enjoy the show? I’m sure he’ll have some Hillary slime to sell, that we can be mad about.

  103. 103.

    bemused

    @MomSense:

    It’s pretty clear Comey has been dying to dish. Seems very important to him to get his side out, too important. I won’t be buying his book.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @bemused:

    Omg. I’m just reading a local paper and gasped. Millionaire Rob Undersander was a witness for MNGOP saying he found a loophole to receive food stamps for 19 months…to prove a point: not everyone who gets aid needs it. He got the food stamps because he and his wife has little income for 19 months although he had assets and back account that qualifies him as a millionaire.

    I wonder if there is any way to have Undersander for committing fraud by applying for food stamps when he knew he did not need them. It would be interesting to throw him in jail for a few days. He could even look for a loophole to get out.

  106. 106.

    Jay S

    @bemused: I doubt any of us will need to buy the book. I wonder how publishers will continue to make money in this environment. OTOH I suppose political slush funds will continue to drive books to #1.

  107. 107.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic: OK, hope to ask you about a couple of things. Here two nights, logistics going on now, but each time I’m free my plan is go eat good food.

  108. 108.

    bemused

    @Brachiator:

    Dem legislators weren’t happy with him. Rep. Considine, Mankato said, “You knew this was wrong and you did it anyway. I find it pretty despicable. I am just sorry there is no way we can prosecute you.”
    So looking around to find out more about Mr. Undersander, he’s a white male, 65 years old, from St Cloud. He wrote letter to St. Cloud paper in 2015 saying the state $1.9 billion surplus that Gov. Dayton and Dems stole from taxpayers should be given back to them, all of it. He doesn’t believe in public funding for pre-school, that’ the parents responsibility. He thinks senior care can and should be improved but not with public funds. He bitched about people who made bad financial decisions and didn’t save up enough for their old age. Same old BS.
    Wouldn’t want this guy for a neighbor.

  110. 110.

    MomSense

    @Jay S:

    I plan to enjoy the show and I plan to pepper my enjoyment with a lot of cursing Comey.

    @bemused:

    Comey is insufferable but I’m sure he has some good stuff on trump.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    @Sab:

    1. Old Guard: Your traditional corrupt as shit politicians/big money people who nevertheless know that its good business to have a working government and functioning society. As well as regular people who have grown up with families of Democrats so vote Democrat as tradition demands. Strong leaning towards socially conservative but economically liberal.

    2. Union Democrats: Middle class government/private workers who benefit from strong unions and get very upset when people threaten their job security/benefits. Generally socially liberal but economically conservative as a rule of thumb but YMMV depending on which union and which sector of the economy.

    3. Technocrat Democrats: In any other state they’d be called ‘moderate’ Republicans. Only part of the Democratic party because that’s the only game in town to work with (Our elected Republicans in government can be counted on one hand with fingers to spare). Few if any principles, have a bad habit of trying to shit on (2), which inevitably leads to unions either withholding support or actively working against them, which tends to be fatal to reelection.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @bemused:

    “Rep. Considine, Mankato said, “You knew this was wrong and you did it anyway. I find it pretty despicable. I am just sorry there is no way we can prosecute you.””

    Why on earth is there no way to prosecute someone who fraudulently applied for and accepted federal benefits?

  116. 116.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks for responding. But it’s late, so please don’t feel obliged. We got here early and then things went wrong all afternoon.

    If I try to be specific it might sound more specific than I intend. It’s more that, if I only have a couple of opportunities to eat in a city, I’d like it to alter my mood or reveal something. From $7- up to $$$. In no order, fish/squid if well made or just fresh, Chinese if really good, Italian if amazing, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, vegetables esp if treated well, Mexican of course. New Mexican … others I’m not even aware of, or can’t think of. I’m partly working so I’ll leave drink out.
    Providence is an interesting place.
    No obligation to answer if you’re not inclined or don’t have time.
    thanks.

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