Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

I was promised a recession.

This blog will pay for itself.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Let there be snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Just Your Typical Friday Afternoon in the Trump Era

Reader Interactions

217Comments

  2. 2.

    Readily

    Trump was fucking this porn star while Melania was home with their newborn child.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Stormy and Stormy’s lawyer are perhaps the only ones that emerge from the Trump era better than they entered it.

    Any and all shots at Roseanne are most welcome.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    It’s not an eingang, it’s an ausfahrt. As my chief warrant officer 2 once eloquently remarked when we were stationed in Germany

  6. 6.

    mick the naïf

    You know, in the darkest days of November and December 2016, I had visions that a hero would ride to our rescue.

    Someone to defeat the evil USSRper, to right the wrong of his being foisted on our nation by a foreign power.

    Maybe a new Obama. Maybe a former CIA director. Maybe a George Clooney type.

    I had not expected a Stormy Daniels type.

    But she’s looking pretty heroic these days!

    She and her lawyer just seem to have the right stuff. And like those Parkland kids, they know how to use Twitter, better than the Twitler does.

  9. 9.

    randy khan

    Stormy Daniels has really good Twitter game. World class, I dare say. WaPo did an article about it a while back, and she takes no prisoners.

  10. 10.

    kingweasil

    stormy is probably smarter than both of them put together…so to speak

  11. 11.

    James Powell

    Another illustration of why everyone in the press/media really really really wanted Trump to win the election. He’s gold for them in a way that the nth groundless investigation of Hillary Clinton could never be.

  12. 12.

    Teddys Person

    @mick the naïf: It does seem that our future rests on an adult film actress, her lawyer, and high school kids, and it gives me some hope. They seem to be able to cut through some of the bullshit that I often find depressingly impenetrable.

  13. 13.

    RepubAnon

    People should know by now not to get into a Twitter War with Ms. Daniels. That said, she did have sex with an a**hole.

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    Does Roseanne have a beef with Stormy, or is she just defending her hero The Donald?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Ahem. It’s an Ausfahrt. And we mustn’t forget the initial cap on nouns.

  16. 16.

    chopper

    shes known for anal

    wait, is roseanne hinting that trump stuck it in her dumper?

  20. 20.

    rikyrah

    Some more non-Whites being shown the door.

    But, both parties are the same…right?

    Trump administration ends protections for 57,000 Hondurans
    Alan Gomez, USA TODAY Published 3:04 p.m. ET May 4, 2018

    The Trump administration on Friday ended a special immigration program for 57,000 Hondurans who have legally lived and worked in the U.S. for two decades, giving them 18 months to leave the country.

    The announcement is the latest step by the administration to phase out Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which is granted to foreign nationals whose countries are decimated by hurricanes, earthquakes and civil wars.

    By cutting off TPS for Hondurans, the administration has now ended the program for 98% of the roughly 317,000 immigrants from six countries who had been legally residing in the U.S., some for nearly 30 years.

  22. 22.

    kindness

    @Amir Khalid: Roseanne is trying to reclaim past glory. She is going to be very unhappy when she finally realizes where she is. I can’t watch the new show. It sucks too much. I lasted about 5 minutes.

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    @Teddys Person:

    It does seem that our future rests on an adult film actress, her lawyer, and high school kids, and it gives me some hope.

    Hollywood is never going to accept that script for the made for TV movie. Its too unrealistic.

  27. 27.

    germy

    It just occurred to me the screenplay we’re living in here was written by Terry Southern.

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Negotiating with the PRC is not the same as defrauding the people you sold mortgages too. Who knew?

  30. 30.

    Death Panel Truck

    What Elizabeth Montgomery From ‘Bewitched’ Looked Like Before Her Death Is Unbelievable

    I can imagine she looked pretty deathly. I hate these fucking sponsored links.

  31. 31.

    Fair Economist

    @chopper:

    wait, is roseanne hinting that trump stuck it in her dumper?

    It’s always projection with rightwingers, so …

  34. 34.

    PeakVT

    I’ve been waiting for the day the phrase “ignorant twat” would enter our political discourse. I expected it to be first applied to Trumpolini, though.

  35. 35.

    HeleninEire

    America, Fuck yeah is about the best response to this.

    I lOVE how she owns her life and decisions.

    Also too Cole OT asked in the last thread. How are we on paying for Lily’s Chemo? Send me an email if you need to.

  36. 36.

    Fair Economist

    @Death Panel Truck:

    What Elizabeth Montgomery From ‘Bewitched’ Looked Like Before Her Death Is Unbelievable

    I’m surprised clickbait is targeting such an old audience. Elizabeth Montgomery, along with all the other non-child leads, has been dead over twenty years, and the show finished almost a half-century ago. It was big in reruns for a long time afterwards, but I still doubt it has many fans under 40 and most big fans are quite a bit older than that.

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    By cutting off TPS for Hondurans, the administration has now ended the program for 98% of the roughly 317,000 immigrants from six countries who had been legally residing in the U.S., some for nearly 30 years.

    Trump is a cruel, vicious little shit. He and every asswipe who supports or defends him.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    Getting ready for our Force Friday party today. My boss’s husband makes THE BEST margaritas with just three ingredients: tequila, Cointreau, and fresh-squeezed lime juice. I don’t remember the proportions of each, sorry.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    Also, too, these decisions tell you exactly what kind of person Chief of Staff Kelly is:

    Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke delayed a TPS decision on Hondurans in November after she reportedly felt pressure by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to end the protections. Duke left the administration in April.

  47. 47.

    Gelfling 545

    @Death Panel Truck: I really don’t understand them at all. Presumably they want people to click on them. $$ for all concerned, yes? What would cause anybody to believe that most of the frequenters of a blog such as this would click on 95% of these? (And that 95% figure is being generous.)

  49. 49.

    ruemara

    @germy: Ugh, gross and you know, the entertainment & arts industries are rife with this nonsense. It’s disgusting.

  50. 50.

    WereBear

    @germy: Thanks for that.

    It is discouraging to know the bar for success is so far from competence, and so close to the tired set of good-ol-boy networks which are only for the right genotypes.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    FOX News host Neil Cavuto:

    “How can you drain the swamp if you’re the one that keeps muddying the waters?” Cavuto asked. “I guess you’re too busy draining the swamp to ever stop and smell the stink you’re creating. That’s your stink. Mr. President, that’s your swamp.”

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TaMara (HFG): Eingang means in going. It is the sign over most entrances in Germany. Ausfahrt is the German word they use for exit, so all the exits on the Autobahn have Ausfarht and then the actual information below it on the sign.

  54. 54.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    When Republicans say they want to “restrict legal immigration” this is what they are talking about. Getting people here on temporary visas out of the country, which I guess is the first step in purging the country of non-whites.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am home sick with a nasty cold. We went from winter directly to sweltering. Do. Not. Want.

    I am in the last stage of my latest cold. This winter/spring has been brutal.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    @gene108:

    Getting people here on temporary visas out of the country, which I guess is the first step in purging the country of non-whites.

    YES
    YES
    That is EXACTLY what they want to do.
    Which is why there can be no compromising with them.
    PERIOD.

  59. 59.

    germy

    Question for the commentariat:

    Have any of you cancelled your facebook account? I don’t have one (never did) but my wife set one up years ago to support her small business. She never uses it and wants to end it.

    I suspect Mr. Zuckerberg designed it to be a difficult process. Can anyone provide a step by step instruction guide for permanent deletion?

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    @Brachiator:

    Also, too, these decisions tell you exactly what kind of person Chief of Staff Kelly is:

    NEVER EVER forget…
    That Kelly was the original proponent of SEPARATING PARENTS AND CHILDREN.
    He saw NOTHING WRONG with that.

    Do you know that they can’t account for OVER 1,400 CHILDREN?
    DID YOU KNOW THAT?
    THEY.HAVE.LOST.1400.CHILDREN!

  62. 62.

    Dan B

    Here in “the soviet” of Seattle we’ve got political irony, union workers shouting down a city council member who is a union member. They’re supporting union hater (and tax hater) Jeff Bezos. The city council wants a tax to fund efforts to stop our homelessness crisis. The state doesn’t allow an income tax, or any progressive tax, so the council is proposing a hybrid. Bezos shocked the city by threatening to stop construction on the second tallest skyscraper in the city. Somebody organized the unions, big retailers and social media in support of Bezos strong arm tactics. Too bad that Nordstrom and unions are under serious threat from Bezos. Oh the irony if people who can’t see past their next paycheck.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Apparently they outsourced them to the private company that got the contract when the GOP controlled Florida legislature and Governor JEB! privatized Florida’s Department of Child Protective Services. They lose kids right and left every year.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: He is a laugh a minute, and those presidential ambitions are covered in ever more noxious slime every day. I’ll bet all his million dollar backers aren’t feeling quite so smart anymore.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @WereBear:

    If the lady porn star wants to save all our asses, I say let her.

    Yea, Stormy!

    Trump typically underestimates capable women, who then proceed to righteously kick his ass up and down the street.

    Stormy’s attorney is damned good, too.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @ruemara: He’s not Sean Hannity? Because he has a sense of shame after all? Because the ship is sinking?

  67. 67.

    Kay

    I know we’re supposed to be getting used to this by now, but I’m really not.

    This stuff doesn’t even cause a stir anymore. I cannot imagine how the next President takes the office back to what it was after this. I think it just keeps sliding downhill from here until it’s essentially reality tv.

  70. 70.

    Gex

    This little bit of American political history was made possible by the people who get the vapors over the thought of having to explain gay marriage to their kids.

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I cannot imagine how the next President takes the office back to what it was after this. I think it just keeps sliding downhill from here until it’s essentially reality tv.

    In the future, this will be referred to as the era that never happened. Everyone will pretend that everything was fine.

  72. 72.

    FNWA

    A three ingredient margarita is also known as a 3-2-1 margarita.
    3 parts tequila
    2 parts cointreau
    1 part lime juice
    A truly dangerous drink

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @Fair Economist:

    I’m surprised clickbait is targeting such an old audience. Elizabeth Montgomery, along with all the other non-child leads, has been dead over twenty years, and the show finished almost a half-century ago.

    You harvest your clicks where you can. An older person is more likely to take the bait of this kind of link. A teen might click on something related to their favorite singer.

  79. 79.

    Yarrow

    @HeleninEire: We didn’t get a Lily post yesterday but he did post a photo of her on Twitter. I hope he does a Lily update today and also gives a financial update and how people can donate. It’s got to be an expensive process.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: In Florida they lose them every year because when they privatized the public good that was being delivered, the private side of the public-private partnership was far more interested in profit than delivering the public good. So an overworked and understaffed group of social workers were further overworked and understaffed. As a result more and more home visits and check ins fell through the cracks and children went missing. Some killed. Some run aways. Some probably handed off to other relatives or friends.

  81. 81.

    Ohio Mom

    What mystifies me is, how does the Trump administration even know about the Haitians? There are only 57,000 of them, that is a very small group when you consider the entire population and Trump and his friends aren’t exactly detailed-oriented. Some right-wing think tank must have pointed them in this direction. So many people dedicating their lives to increasing the sum total of misery.

  82. 82.

    sherparick

    @Death Panel Truck: I was working in Germany and they had a radio show on AFN that would tape shows that would play months later. Elizabeth Montgomery was interviewed on it in to promote her latest TV films, mysteries where she played a detective in spring of 1995. Then about two weeks later I hear she died which left me shocked. It was colon cancer, with a very late diagnosis and I doubt she looked very good as most people with terminal stage IV cancers don’t.

    By the way, cigarettes and tobacco really suck.

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    @ @Kay:

    This stuff doesn’t even cause a stir anymore. I cannot imagine how the next President takes the office back to what it was after this. I think it just keeps sliding downhill from here until it’s essentially reality tv.

    Depends when the next president happens. So many possibilities of how all this will go, I’m not able to game it out at this point.

  86. 86.

    rikyrah

    Iowa bans nearly all abortions as governor signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
    Brianne Pfannenstiel and William Petroski,
    The Des Moines Register
    Published 4:13 p.m. ET May 4, 2018

    DES MOINES — Iowa’s governor signed legislation Friday prohibiting nearly all abortions in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation.

    Security was tightened at the Iowa Capitol in advance of the signing and several state troopers were seen Friday afternoon outside Gov. Kim Reynolds’ formal office.

    The bill received final approval early Wednesday from the Iowa Senate on a divided vote. The House passed the legislation Tuesday night.

    The law, which goes into effect July 1 if the courts don’t stop it, will require physicians to conduct an abdominal ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on any woman seeking an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, a physician cannot perform an abortion.

  87. 87.

    Teddys Person

    @Kay: The next Democrat elected president needs to have the temprament to just put his/her head down and do the work of cleaning up the clusterfuck. That’s what I’ll be looking for in a candidate.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I cannot imagine how the next President takes the office back to what it was after this.

    I’m actually hoping this experience will help de-elevate the presidency and get people to focus on Congress a little more.

  89. 89.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @germy:

    From the second paragraph of that story:

    I was at his Bellport estate because he had hired me to organize and alphabetize his library—two floors of an entire guesthouse cluttered with books. The work left my arms sore and my neck stiff, but it paid well.

  90. 90.

    SRW1

    @Adam L Silverman:

    ‘Ausfahrt’ is only used for an exit to be reached by driving. Signs in a building that show you the way to an exit use the word ‘Ausgang’.

    In the case of the bodily orifices in question, the words used would be ‘Eingang’ and ‘Ausgang’.

    And this concludes today’s lesson of colloquial German.

  92. 92.

    Yutsano

    @Ohio Mom: Stephen Miller has a hit list. A lot of the white supremacists have targets like the Haitians and the Somalis they want removed from the country. All the darks gotta go for that crowd. No doubt Miller is pointing Dolt45 where to go for this.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    @Teddys Person: That’s precisely what Obama was presented with. How did The Onion put it? “Black man given nation’s worst job.” I also recall his quip, “The Republicans drove the car into the ditch, now they want the keys.”

  96. 96.

    JPL

    I was outside doing yard work, and missed the asshole’s speech. This was on twitter

    Trump has praised: Paul Manafort, Kanye West, Diamond and Silk, a bunch of TX politicians
    and dissed: the media, Obama, John Kerry and John McCain

    Did he really diss John McCain?

  97. 97.

    germy

    @Steeplejack (phone): My error. I got it mixed up with this paragraph from the same essay:

    Despite my darkening view of the tangled web of sex and power at work, I forged ahead with the unpaid internship, determined to secure a job by the time I finished the master’s program I was taking (and I was subsequently hired as an associate producer). I was an older-than-average intern and was given research and writing assignments similar to those of a producer.

  98. 98.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    My boss’s husband makes THE BEST margaritas with just three ingredients: tequila, Cointreau, and fresh-squeezed lime juice.

    That’s the classic recipe, though I think you’re supposed to use ice, too. Crap like sweet-and-sour and inferior orange liqueur is for bars that are trying to nickel and dime their customers.

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I know we’re supposed to be getting used to this by now, but I’m really not.

    I’m not used to it. It bothers the phuck out of me. Makes me pissed as all hell.

  100. 100.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Gelfling 545: I just looked at the numbers this morning, and yes, folks click. I’ve even clicked once or twice, and I’m sure most folks here have too, if they’re honest about it. They are delivering approx same revenue these days as when I threw them on the site, so reader interaction is somewhat constant.

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Has the administration been asked by flunkies like MAGA Habs the rationale behind ending TPS for all these countries. Why and why now.

    Trump is racist. His people openly avow racist and nativist policies, and have done so since the earliest days of his candidacy.

    @Ohio Mom:

    What mystifies me is, how does the Trump administration even know about the Haitians? There are only 57,000 of them, that is a very small group when you consider the entire population and Trump and his friends aren’t exactly detailed-oriented.

    It’s like the story of The Princess and the Pea. Trump hates people of color, and the presence of even one nonwhite immigrant irritates him. I’m sure that some right wing think tank has written about restricting immigration, but Trump’s people execute these tasks with excessive zeal.

    This is also low-hanging fruit. These groups seem to have few supporters or advocates, and Trump’s people can point to the letter of the law, and spout all kind of legalistic bullshit about how these groups were only supposed to be here temporarily, so there’s nothing to be done.

  103. 103.

    Roger Moore

    @gene108:

    which I guess is the first step in purging the country of non-whites.

    After which they’ll tighten up the definition of whiteness and throw out some more people. There’s no logical stopping point. I just don’t understand how so many people can look at this and not see that they’re on the list of undesirables, too. They may be far enough down that they’re being asked for help now, but their turn will come soon enough.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    @trollhattan:

    I also recall his quip, “The Republicans drove the car into the ditch, now they want the keys.”

    And people didn’t listen to him.

  107. 107.

    Yarrow

    @Baud:

    I’m actually hoping this experience will help de-elevate the presidency and get people to focus on Congress a little more.

    That would be nice. Congress also needs to do their fucking job. Like, no more wars without a declaration of war by Congress. That kind of thing.

    Democrats would benefit from pointing out that Republicans aren’t doing anything to stop Trump and they can because they control Congress. Keep reminding everyone that it’s not just Trump–it’s Republicans and Trump. They’re all to blame.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    @Ohio Mom:

    What mystifies me is, how does the Trump administration even know about the Haitians?

    STEPHEN MILLER
    SENATOR TOM COTTON
    All of his immigration supporters are the racists that we thought them to be. They’ve been tracking this for year.
    MILLER is their man in the White House.

  110. 110.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Millard Filmore: That’s the spirit! I think we might be trying something new next week as well, hopefully to replace the video ad, but perhaps just a sidebar addition. I’ll announce it when the time comes.

  112. 112.

    WilliamC

    @rikyrah:
    Had to de-lurk to say, you are on fire today, righteous person! The attack on all fronts thing is exhausting, isn’t it? Imagine how bad things would be with a President Rodham-Clinton/snark. Just had to listen to a bunch of (white male) Portlanders insist to me (black male) that this will “hasten the revolution”. So tired of this privileged line of thinking. I had to get out of there, screaming something like “If a revolution comes right now, what makes you think you’ll win it, whiny leftists? You have never touched a gun, abhor violence, and think talking to your enemy will get him to stop shooting you, while he thinks he’s on a patriotic mission from Jesus for civilization’s sake. I wanna kill you half the time, and I’m on your side! Meanwhile, apparently its ok with you that we play with people’s lives in a great game of politics. Good luck with that.”.
    It’s enough to make me want to start drinking again…

  113. 113.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Baud: Google or other cookies that have some general age range information, or, more likely, consumer segment that captures age, income, education, etc. in one assignment.

  114. 114.

    James Powell

    @Geeno:

    Elizabeth Montgomery was a stunningly beautiful woman as well as a passionate liberal activist, particularly for women’s rights, abortion rights, and gay rights.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mick the naïf:

    She and her lawyer just seem to have the right stuff. And like those Parkland kids, they know how to use Twitter, better than the Twitler does.

    “Stormy’s Lawyer’s Tweets” — a “Lincoln’s Doctor’s Dog” for our times.

  116. 116.

    Mandalay

    @germy:

    Charlie Rose…didn’t want to pay a plumber to unclog his shit-filled toilet. Instead he had the unpaid intern take care of it.

    Or more precisely, his female intern.

    This is nothing to do with saving money, and everything to do with exercising power and control over a woman. Not unlike Rose’s unwanted sexual advances on a gazillion women.

    I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if Rose deliberately clogged that toilet so he could actually to carry out his fucked up fantasy.

  117. 117.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    How would it know here?

    Because they’re tracking you across the web. They know what other sites you visit, which gives them enough of a profile of your interests to know what clickbait you’re most likely to fall for.

  118. 118.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: It does. President Obama warned about it. It’s dangerous and damaging to our democracy. Three co-equal branches of government is how it’s supposed to work. Right now Congress is like a lesser, shows-up-only-occasionally branch that gave its powers to the Executive. So Judicial and Executive are kind of slugging it out while Legislative sometimes shows up but you can’t predict when.

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    @WilliamC:

    It’s enough to make me want to start drinking again…

    Say what you will about Portland hipsters, they make damn fine beer.

  120. 120.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RepubAnon:

    That said, she did have sex with an a**hole.

    True, but she did think to herself “Ugh, here we go” first, so I’m willing to cut her a little slack.

  121. 121.

    Gex

    @Ohio Mom: The alt-right advocates peaceful ethnic cleansing. This is how they are implementing it. He doesn’t need to track these things, there are legions of white people OBSESSED about all the brown people we’ve let stay and make sure the president knows.

  124. 124.

    Zoey2020

    For some reason, skipping across the comments like a stone (at least for this post) is immensely entertaining. Carry on.

  126. 126.

    Yarrow

    @WilliamC:

    Just had to listen to a bunch of (white male) Portlanders insist to me (black male) that this will “hasten the revolution”.

    So annoying and frustrating. These people have no idea what a “revolution” would look like and how many people, including themselves and those they care about, would be hurt or killed. It’s the laziest of lazy thinking.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @chopper:

    shes known for anal

    Note to self: Henceforward, when discussing legal matters, do not use the IANAL acronym.

    (And let us fervently hope that Apple’s next must-have device is not the iAnal).

  131. 131.

    Mary G

    I know he’s supposed to be a real cheapskate, but this is ridiculous:

    “My favorite meat is hot dog, by the way. That is my favorite meat” Romney said. “My second favorite meat is hamburger. And everyone says, oh don’t you prefer steak? It’s like, I know steaks are great but I like hot dog best and I like hamburger next best” https://t.co/DbYn951L9k— Matt Viser (@mviser) May 4, 2018

    Hot dog isn’t really a meat.

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am aware the President’s views. I was pointing out that the WH press corpse does not hold their feet to the fire ever. I want this administration to be asked about this.

    The gutless White House press corps that has been circling the wagons in support o Sarah Suckerpunch Sanders?

    From news reports, “Fifty-six members of Congress signed a petition this week urging Nielsen to renew protections for Honduras.” If any of these people are your representative, it might be helpful to write them expressing support and asking that more be done.

  135. 135.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    True, but she did think to herself “Ugh, here we go” first, so I’m willing to cut her a little slack.

    She has sex for money. It’s a job, and a very lucrative job in her case. She took a short, unpleasant gig that paid very well, and decided it wasn’t worth future engagements with that customer. I don’t see anything to judge negatively there, and it’s completely separate from whatever she’s trying to do now. Whether she’s seeking profitable publicity, getting revenge on a particularly unpleasant customer, or performing a public service against a political monster, I don’t have a problem with any of that, either.

  136. 136.

    efgoldman

    @Mandalay:

    I want you to become an OP.

    Maybe if s/he posts original writing instead of collecting links and copy/pasting.

  137. 137.

    azlib

    @WilliamC:

    Well said. We all need to remember people’s lives are at risk or have already been lost. This is no game what we are going through.

  138. 138.

    randy khan

    @rikyrah:

    When diplomats say discussions were “frank,” they mean “We did manage to stop short of drawing knives on each other, but only barely.” Ouch.

    Really, the only two ways you can read this are that the Administration has no idea what it’s doing or that the demands were entirely for domestic consumption. (And the bit about not retaliating was hilarious.)

  139. 139.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I know. I think it was just last week that we had a couple of overnights that dipped to, or slightly below, freezing.

    Yesterday or day before, the thermometer tipped into the low 90s.

    (Sorry to be so unspecific, but it’s been a somewhat busy and stress-filled few weeks and I can’t tell the days apart.)

  140. 140.

    Roger Moore

    @Gex:

    The alt-right advocates peaceful ethnic cleansing.

    The “alt-right” are basically the hardcore racists who think they need a better PR strategy and are advocating a peaceful ethnic cleansing because they think it will attract more positive attention. They would happily advocate the genocide of mud people they really want if they thought it would sell.

  141. 141.

    germy

    @Roger Moore:

    After which they’ll tighten up the definition of whiteness and throw out some more people.

    At what point do they throw out Miller? He’s not exactly a nordic model of wonderfulness.

  142. 142.

    El Caganer

    “And I would have gotten away with it, too, except for those darn kids and their dumb dog and an adult film star.”

  143. 143.

    Roger Moore

    @Shell:

    “Dont pick a fight with a porn star” is probably always good advice.

    Don’t pick a public fight with one, at least. Feel free to pick a violent one in private if that’s your kink.

  145. 145.

    randy khan

    @TenguPhule:

    @Kay:

    I cannot imagine how the next President takes the office back to what it was after this. I think it just keeps sliding downhill from here until it’s essentially reality tv.
    In the future, this will be referred to as the era that never happened. Everyone will pretend that everything was fine

    .

    I think that something like this is right. If we get a sane President next (i.e., a Dem), we’ll just rewind to the end of the Obama Administration, at least in perception.

  146. 146.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:
    Shorter Mitt: Mystery meat is the best. That way nobody knows I’m devouring human flesh!

  149. 149.

    Mandalay

    @Teddys Person:

    The next Democrat elected president needs to have the temperament to just put his/her head down and do the work of cleaning up the clusterfuck. That’s what I’ll be looking for in a candidate.

    My requirement is much more modest, though absolutely rigid: they have to be under 70.

  150. 150.

    germy

    @geg6:

    It’s been bleeding ratings every since the debut. I hope it tanks in record time.

    If it’s cancelled it’ll go into syndication, like Tim Allen’s crap show Last Douche Standing. My sinclair station runs it several times a day.

  152. 152.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:

    At what point do they throw out Miller?

    He gets sent to the ovens, the same as every other Jew. It boggles my mind that any Jew would side with these people. Doesn’t he have the tiniest grasp of history?

  154. 154.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

    Again on the Vanity Fair topic: I just signed onto their website, and THAT’s where all the Trump articles went. I guess they decided that only old people read the print version, so they’d take all the Trump investigations out of the print magazine and put them online.

  156. 156.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    I wasn’t trying to be a dick. Charlie Rose is awful enough without adding incorrect details that could be spread further or used by someone in a “lying libtards!” retort. And thanks to your provision of the link, it was easily sorted out. Thanks for that.

  157. 157.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    If it’s cancelled it’ll go into syndication

    Generally, for syndication to be profitable at least five seasons (100+ episodes) are required.

  159. 159.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I may be completely wrong about this, but I think she didn’t receive any money from Trump for having sex with him*. And perhaps you didn’t intend this, but your implication is that Stormy’s job is turning tricks. There’s nothing, obviously, inherently wrong with either career path, but FWIW a prostitute =|= an adult-film actor/director.

    *I believe I heard that he offered money to Karen McWhatever after their first sexual encounter, and she was greatly offended as she thought they had a True Union of Like Souls or something. So if that was his wont, maybe he did pay, or offer to pay, Stormy for sex.

  160. 160.

    germy

    @Steeplejack: I know. I read the article earlier in the morning, and commented on it in the afternoon. “Unpaid intern” stuck in my mind, incorrectly. By the time she was unclogging his toilet, she was being paid.

  161. 161.

    efgoldman

    @Roger Moore:

    Doesn’t he have the tiniest grasp of history?

    No RWNJ flying monkey mouth breather knows that history is made of verifiable facts.
    History has a liberal bias. All facts have a liberal bias.

  162. 162.

    Humdog

    @WilliamC: Sorry you were in a Portlandia situation today. How awesome you were able to tell them off!! Me, I’d think of something to say around breakfast tomorrow!

  164. 164.

    Mandalay

    @Kay:

    This stuff doesn’t even cause a stir anymore.

    I just heard Trump say in a speech that Manafort only worked for him for 2 months. He worked for Trump for 5 months. Let’s see if anyone in the media points that out.

  165. 165.

    Aleta

    She refuses to be shamed for having acted in porn. Roseanne is SO fucked up for similarly trying to shame her like this. It’s purely politically motivated, and hypocritical, since R’s schtick and popularity was from refusing to be ashamed of her body. And her character’s refusal to be quiet if she was treated as low class.

    Trump’s type has forever counted on controlling women in the sex industry with ridicule and threats of exposure. Refusing to shut up and go away no matter how much she’s laughed at makes Daniels a braver person than any hypocrite who insults her but also likes porn. Braver than Roseanne for sure.

  166. 166.

    El Caganer

    @Mary G: I swear to Christ he sounds like Winnie the Pooh – this banal bullshit, “the trees are all the right height,” “I like to go to bed with a full tummy.” “And as he returned to his mansion, he made up a little song that he sang to himself: ‘Isn’t it funny/How a Bain likes money?'”

  167. 167.

    p.a.

    So who is the judge who used his fantastic mind reading ability to claim that Mueller’s prosecutors were just trying to ‘hurt’ Trump, and not really interested in Manafort’s $ dealings?

  168. 168.

    Josie

    @WilliamC:

    “If a revolution comes right now, what makes you think you’ll win it, whiny leftists? You have never touched a gun, abhor violence, and think talking to your enemy will get him to stop shooting you, while he thinks he’s on a patriotic mission from Jesus for civilization’s sake. I wanna kill you half the time, and I’m on your side! Meanwhile, apparently its ok with you that we play with people’s lives in a great game of politics. Good luck with that.”.

    If it’s all right with you, I’d like to copy this rant and use it every time I get the “this will bring about the change we need” excuse for not voting Democratic.

  169. 169.

    Aleta

    @Mandalay:

    Trump’s former campaign manager, who resigned in August, has lived in Trump Tower since 2006. Manafort transferred the apartment from an LLC to his name in 2015.

    from Meet the notorious characters who call Trump Tower home in Curbed, October 2016

  172. 172.

    Mary G

    I ignore the fact that WaPo employs horrid people like McArgleBargle and the cream cheese statue because I love Alexandra Petri so much.

    But Giuliani is a “special guy,” and so he was able to issue a statement revising these statements. There is no fact, only canon. Trump was within his rights to remove Comey (“Recent revelations about former Director Comey further confirm the wisdom of the President’s decision, which was plainly in the best interests of our nation,” Giuliani’s statement explained.) Giuliani was not right to speculate about the payments. (“My references to timing were not describing my understanding of the President’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.”)

    Only the president understands what the president understands. Only he sets the rules for this reality.

    Giuliani’s own backstory has suffered several revisions. “Rudy is great, but Rudy has just started and he wasn’t familiar with everything,” Trump told reporters. “He’ll get his facts straight.”

    Also, too, Jennifer Rubin: Trump throws Giuliani under the bus.

    Wednesday evening and all day Thursday as President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani was digging his client’s grave, the usual TV talking heads were praising the brilliance of the strategy. (Former Trump campaign official Jason Miller said, “This is PR 101.” Apparently Miller failed the course.)

  174. 174.

    Ohio Mom

    @germy: Yes, the author wasn’t very clear about when the transition from unpaid intern to paid assistant producer (or whatever the title was) occurred. But the important stuff, that is, what a creep Rose is, that was laid out very clearly. I always thought he was a boor stuck on himself but the rest!

    Also, thanks everyone above for answering my question about who it is that is tipping Trump off on groups like the 57,000 Haitians. Now I can start wondering what other groups I am completely unaware of are next on the list.

  175. 175.

    Redline

    Longtime lurker, hope a front pager can show this. Indiana voters are getting threatening letters stating to show neighbors if they voted. https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/hoosiers-warned-voter-participation-letter-146868/

    I got one, and to me it is a threat to republican voters that if you sit out the next election that they will let your neighbors know. I got the letter, it has nothing to say who it is from but “Indiana State Voter Report Program” and the envelope has in red “IMPORTANT TAXPAYER INFORMATION ENCLOSED.” It lists your voting record and half a dozen of your neighbors, and says everyone will know who voted and who didn’t vote. Again, Indiana. Republican stronghold. Who would be threatened by knowing they didn’t vote?

  177. 177.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Stormy’s job is having sex for money. Now, she does it in a theatrical context normally, which is not exactly the same as prostitution. You are completely right that people who do one do not necessarily do the other, and may consider the difference important (EDIT – Some do, some don’t, and it’s their place to judge that, not mine). In the case of Trump, everything I’ve heard suggested she didn’t have sex with him for fun. She hasn’t mentioned being paid because prostitution is illegal, and as you noted, Trump plainly assumes prostitution as a baseline.

    Slut shaming is a pet peeve, and for that reason I do appreciate you making the distinction.

  178. 178.

    Gex

    @Roger Moore: Well yeah. It’s just what they’ve been saying to be allowed back into the mainstream. And as soon as they’ve moved the window far enough they will happily drop the modifier.

    But also even what they pretend they are in favor of, being forcibly removed from your life as you know it, is a lot more violent than the phrase lets on.

  179. 179.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    I’m actually hoping this experience will help de-elevate the presidency and get people to focus on Congress a little more.

    So Tyranny by Committee instead?

  180. 180.

    NotMax

    Woo-hoo. Diver’s license renewal accomplished. Nowadays have to bring a veritable sheaf of documents along to get it done. A/C in the office must have been set on negative as it was around 90 degrees inside. Suppose that in eight years when it comes up for renewal again shall have to bring along a notarized blood sample.

  183. 183.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    I did the same thing this morning. I said to my husband that if it was this hard to get a gun, we’d be in great shape.

  185. 185.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    I just don’t understand how so many people can look at this and not see that they’re on the list of undesirables, too. They may be far enough down that they’re being asked for help now, but their turn will come soon enough.

    First they came for the Muslims…..

    History is a fucking cycle. First time as tragedy, second time as farce.

  186. 186.

    Gex

    @Omnes Omnibus: I should have put the quotes around it that I usually do. That’s what they say aloud. It’s what let them talk on campuses and back into the mainstream. Obviously it’s bullshit.

    But in terms of what they openly advocate now, these kinds of administrative acts fall within the scope of a “peaceful” ethnic cleansing occurring in the US.

  187. 187.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @El Caganer:

    he made up a little song that he sang to himself: ‘Isn’t it funny/How a Bain likes money?’

    ‘ ‘Cos it had a label on, saying M-U-N-N-Y.’

    (Wanders off, singing to self all The Hums of Pooh.)

  188. 188.

    FlyingToaster

    @Roger Moore: Well, unless you’re paranoid and have to whitelist anything talking to your browser via noScript, Ghostery, CookieMaster, Disconnect for Facebook, etc….

    My tablet thinks I’m a 30-something hipster male. My husband, daughter and gynecologists would all just shake their heads…

  189. 189.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TenguPhule: Just stop it. Your relentless negativity is corrosive. You just can’t seem to let any remotely positive comment go by without shitting on it. It is tiresome.

  193. 193.

    NotMax

    re: some of the above

    Good biographical documentary of Elizabeth Montgomery originally aired on the Biography channel many moons ago, Elizabeth Montgomery: A Touch of Magic. Was on Netflix for a time – may be gone from there now, but must be out there for viewing elsewhere.

    @zhena gogolia

    Salient point.

  194. 194.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman: As a bonus, the asshole also rejected a suit by a German citizen who was kidnapped and tortured by the US government on I kid you not, “national security grounds.”

  195. 195.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Do you have a better idea than a representative body?

    Yes, replace the body of voters with better people. We can call the program “Immigration”.

  196. 196.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus: Representatives in Congress are supposed to be the will of their voters. We obviously have large numbers of voters who are a problem.

  200. 200.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SRW1: @Adam L Silverman: In my first apartment in Germany, a prior tenant had attached a NOTAUSGANG (Emergency Exit) sign to the WC door. Yes, the place had a separate WC and bathroom. My next place in Germany had a bidet.

  202. 202.

    rikyrah

    @WilliamC:
    Thanks. I am angry. I have been in a persistent rage since November 2016.
    I look at this today, and I still go back to-
    It didn’t have to be this way.
    Simply didn’t.
    And, I will never EVER forgive those that made this happen.
    They are phucking with people’s lives.
    I don’t give a shyt if you are a racist. But, .now, we have full blown White Supremacists making POLICY.
    POLICY that will cost lives.

  205. 205.

    Roger Moore

    @FlyingToaster:

    Well, unless you’re paranoid and have to whitelist anything talking to your browser via noScript, Ghostery, CookieMaster, Disconnect for Facebook, etc….

    I have settled on Privacy Badger from EFF. I like it because it’s specifically designed to disable trackers while leaving everything else alone. So somebody who’s selling old-fashioned ads that are just based on the site rather than trying to target the individual user will have no problem- I still see the ads for Amazon and Hosting Matters here on Balloon-Juice, for instance- while blocking almost all the most annoying stuff. It also has a little thing up in the corner that tells you how much it’s blocking. The thing that’s best about it, though, is it’s mostly hands-off. It monitors behavior rather than having a whitelist or blacklist, so it easily learns about new attempts to track. It’s also supposed to be able to detect more subtle attempts to track, like browser fingerprinting, not just cookies.

  207. 207.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus: Our side has to figure out whether it wants to compromise on basic human core values or just exploit the rules to keep the other side out of power. Because we have a problem where a core group of states have majority asshole voters. And they’re very good at increasing the assholes when hard times come.

  210. 210.

    J R in WV

    @Mnemosyne:

    That’s really all you need for a top-shelf margarita – I top it off in a tall glass with some tonic water, but that’s not really necessary.

  212. 212.

    Chet Murthy

    @James Powell: As much as I hate Human Centipede Segment #2 (Putin is #1), as much as I can’t even bring myself to write his name, and he’s the Predisent [sic], not anything else (to me) …. for all that, I don’t think the media actually wanted him to win. What they wanted, was for it to be *close*. B/c that was fun, that was exciting, that was “newsworthy”.

    In so many parts of our society, people have been acting in ways that would undermine our country, but they’ve done it assuming that the country is so sound, none of those underminings could possibly bring it all down. Turns out, they were wrong. It’d be nice if they learned a lesson, but I don’t think they have (yet). It’s worse than ‘wanting Shitmidas to win’ — it’s a basic disbelief that their jobs can affect the outcome, and hence, feeling free to shit down the throat of our Republic.

  213. 213.

    Chet Murthy

    @RepubAnon:

    That said, she did have sex with an a**hole.

    So did we all, RepubAnon. So did we all. We were *all* fucked by that asshole and his shitty minions.

  214. 214.

    boatboy_srq

    @Chet Murthy: My fuddled brain did things with what you said, and now I can’t get Tiny Hands and His Mitty Shinions doing their ska/rockabilly set out of my head.

  215. 215.

    WilliamC

    @rikyrah:
    You should be angry; just don’t get so caught up in it that you lose your bag full of receipts for when this is all over. Some folks are going to have to pay for this at the end. And remember, it has to end at some point; we can’t go on at this hyper lever of AAARRGGHHH!!! all of the time. I just wanted you to know that a busy random stranger out there sees you and appreciates what you are doing (along with everyone else here). I don’t have time to call my mother most days, but I have to read the comments here at least once a day to prove to myself that everyone in Pussygrabber’s America isn’t insane and amoral.

  216. 216.

    WilliamC

    @Josie:
    Go ahead, be my guest; it can be this former speechwriter’s contribution to the rhetorical battle happening out in the land. Living in the PacNW you get a lot of crazy lefties that have never had exposure to the real world. They meet a liberal southern black person who disagrees with them on anything and it’s soul searching for days. God help them if they ever meet a real Con southerner who doesn’t care about their feelings or share their ideology. Thank the FSM I’m on the road full time with this film project and feeding homeless people so I don’t have to deal with them.

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