Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

We will not go back.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

We still have time to mess this up!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

I really should read my own blog.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Bark louder, little dog.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Schadenfreude Open Thread: On Below D-List!

Schadenfreude Open Thread: On Below D-List!

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*This* is the most significant BE BEST youth outreach the Oval Office Occupancy can come up with?

Kirk raises millions of dollars from Republican donors for his group Turning Point USA — an organization that fights liberalism (Kirk prefers the label “socialist”) on university campuses. Owens, 29, who works with Kirk at TPUSA and like him is a diehard Trumpist, caught the President’s eye recently when Kanye West tweeted “I love the way Candace Owens thinks.”

Behind the scenes: Kirk told me he and Owens talked to Trump about “black America, Kanye West, and the intersection of culture and politics,” and the “incredible progress being made for black America by President Trump and also historic pardon yesterday.”…

Charlie Kirk, of course, is the Wile E. Coyote Supergeenius responsible for Talking Points USA. Candace Owens, well…

… Ten months ago, the 26-year-old posted her first politically themed video to YouTube, a reenactment of “coming out” as conservative to her parents. In November, amid allegations of racial bias, the conservative campus advocacy group Turning Point USA hired Owens, who is black, as its director of urban engagement. Last month, Kanye West tweeted his approval of Owens’ thoughts. Last week, President Trump tweeted that Owens was part of a group of “very smart ‘thinkers’” and that she is “having a big impact on politics.” And this week, Owens mingled with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at the dedication of the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Yet Owens, suddenly a new face of the American right, was less than two years ago the CEO of an online publication that frequently mocked then-candidate Trump, including conducting a mock “investigation” into his penis size. (The story determined that it was likely very small.) And in a 2015 column for the site lambasting conservative Republicans, Owens wrote that it was “good news” that the “Republican Tea Party … will eventually die off (peacefully in their sleep, we hope).”

Indeed, the speed with which Owens has gone from running a frequently anti-Trump, anti-conservative website to being one of the president’s most prominent new supporters illustrates the wild land grab still going on for influence in the pro-Trump ecosystem….


 
Hey, Repubs — You can have Charlie and Candace. We’ll keep standing with Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg.

Reader Interactions

155Comments

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    Charlie Kirk is the only person that has ever blocked me on twitter and I am quite proud of it. He is an idiot, but a great grifter.

  4. 4.

    Anne Laurie

    @Gravenstone: Photoshopped background to an actual publicity release (concerning the Trump get-together, IIRC), if you wanna look for it.

  5. 5.

    Cheryl Rofer

    If we’re going to talk about schadenfreude, I think we’re beginning to see more of it. Today was particularly good.
    1) North and South Korea did their own summit, without the braying adolescent.
    2) Journos actually got together to roast Trump over his attempt to smear them.
    3) The senators who got Josh Holt released are getting more credit than Trump, although he is of course bombing the photo.
    4) Ireland voted their constitutional amendment against abortion out.
    5) Publix stopped donating to the NRA after Parkland students “die-in.”

    We can take a short break and be rather pleased at all this.

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    Reminder (lots of olds with iffy memory here*).

    DVR alert!

    TV premiere this Sunday, May 27, on MeTV of the documentary Wait for Your Laugh, all about the late Rose Marie’s 90 years working in shoiwbiz. promo

    May have to check your local listing for time.

    * :)

  9. 9.

    Ruckus

    I have never wanted to sell my soul for anything.
    These two do it willingly every day for a few bucks.
    Of course their souls have a high negative value.
    I like how they think that being lying, hateful pieces of shit makes them worth something.
    It doesn’t.
    @Mary G:
    Now that is something worth having a twitter account for.
    I’ve thought about opening an account after that judge ruled that drumpf can not block people. Just to every day sent him a message of how wonderful he isn’t.

  10. 10.

    Lizzy L

    Open Thread Update on personal news:

    On an earlier thread I posted that I was on my way to Phoenix to be with my critically ill brother, who was in ICU on a ventilator. As I was waiting to board the airplane this morning, I got a call from my niece. My brother was conscious, communicating, breathing on his own, and his brain appeared undamaged, though he was understandably confused. The hard decisions that I thought were going to have to be made were not going to have to be made, not yet. At my niece’s suggestion, I canceled my trip, though I am keeping my bag packed. If something changes, I can get on a plane, and my niece is as close as my cell phone. I have spoken to her since that first call, and my brother is no longer critical, though he is still in ICU and will be for a while.

    But he is alive and conscious, with a functioning brain. I am deeply relieved, and so thankful. Thank you all for your words of kindness and encouragement,

  12. 12.

    ArchTeryx

    Apologies for the repost. I just seem to be too good at catching dead threads. :/ I’ll spam y’all one more time with it and then quit it:

    Since it’s an open thread, and I wasn’t quick enough on the draw on the last one, here’s where I put on my ornithologist’s hat. (My favorite one to wear, though one that never had a chance of giving me a living):

    The term for your baby birds is altricial. Those are babies born naked, blind, and utterly helpless except to eat, peep and poop. (Pun intended). They grow up fast because they HAVE to – any predator can get to them with zero effort, so the parents have to hide them well and they have to grow and fledge fast. Even so, the casualty rate among altricials is shockingly high, part of why they have big broods in the first place. Almost all passerines (perching birds, what we think of as small songbirds) have altricial hatchlings.

    This is in contrast to semialtricial (bird of prey hatchlings, born downy and eyes open, but unable to move much or feed themselves) and precocial (born downy, eyes open, able to move and feed themselves – ducklings and goslings are the examples everyone knows). Precocials tend to have higher survival rates but many still die – take a good look at all the x-eating-duckling videos on YouTube if you want a sample.

    That nest full of fresh squab is damn lucky to have John Cole as a guardian. The predators don’t stand a chance. :-) Just be very, VERY careful you don’t accidentally lead any right to the nest – it’s happened many times with even experienced naturalists.

    This has been your Public Service Announcement for today.

  13. 13.

    chris

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Daniel Dale has been saying “lie” forever. He tries to be polite and mild (Canadian, eh?) but he seems a little pissed today. Thread:

    A consistent thing that happens when you fact-check Trump is that some of Trump’s defenders dismiss the lie by pointing to some underlying truth that Trump didn’t say and accusing you of ignoring it.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) 26 May 2018

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    @Cheryl Rofer: What’s he doing this time? Still in a snit because people are asking pointed questions about Tesla’s ability to deliver on production promises?

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Lizzy L:

    What very promising news! Happy for all of you, and I hope your brother continues to full health. Please keep us posted.

  20. 20.

    Ruckus

    @Lizzy L:
    Great news. Hopping for the best for your brother.
    I had to do that 3 times before the 4th and final time for my dad. It’s about the hardest thing one has to do. Be thousands of miles away and be the person who has to make the decisions someone else can’t.

  22. 22.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @dmsilev: I am following his meltdown only cursorily. He attacked a reporter yesterday because she refused to let him review her writeup of a visit to his rocket launching place. He claimed his review was to prevent classified information from leaking. [Narrator voice: Classified information doesn’t work like that.] He went on to attack all reporters, and now he’s quoting a cult leader on the dangers of a free press.

    Or I think that’s it. Anyone who has a clearer idea should feel free to correct me.

  23. 23.

    jacy

    Not to be lookist, but they both look like balloons with crudely-drawn faces on them. Or we sure they aren’t?

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Never paid any attention to him before so reading his twitter is… something.
    He is pretty sure of himself though. It’s nice to be positive in life, his level seems to be… slightly creepy?
    Also how does he run his empire if he has that much time for twitter? I realize that we’d rather drumpf was tweeting than doing anything else, it’s safer, but Musk is at least trying to do something positive.

  29. 29.

    oatler.

    “Wherever the people are as green as the money…friend.”
    -Robert Preston

  32. 32.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Here’s a description of Musk’s current status. Don’t ask me to explain it. This is all I know.

  34. 34.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @chris: Daniel Dale used to cover Rob Ford here in Toronto; Ford more or less accused Dale of being a pedophile at one point before backing down. The accusation was of course bullshit; Dale threatened to sue, and under Canadian law Dale almost certainly would have won.

    Ford was very similar to Trump in more ways than I care to think about, but there are some key differences. Ford actually had experience in city government, Ford was actually a pretty good city councilman by most accounts and Ford could do relatively little damage as mayor.

    As an American I have to admit that I always thought Ford was one of those penny-pinching conservatives who’d get caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  35. 35.

    Felanius Kootea

    Bret Stephens attacked Musk in a fact-free NYT opinion piece equating Musk and Trump and claiming that EVs are a waste of time, essentially. Even for those who don’t like Musk, the hit piece was a little much.

  36. 36.

    Mary G

    @Lizzy L: Mazel Tov to your family!

    Also, Devin Nunes has the most campaign money of any candidate ($5 million), but the polls must suck, cause look who has to go to Fresno:

    Ivanka Trump headed to Fresno to pump up support for Devin Nunes https://t.co/e30FfNxJkk #SmartNews— Dennis Uribe ??? (@denuribe73) May 26, 2018

    Karma is a bitch.

  37. 37.

    Duane

    Omg Kirk’s the guy in the diaper. He should have died from embarrassment, instead he’s talking to the President. This administration really can’t get anything right can they.

  38. 38.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    (Open thread…alrighty then…)

    I’ve been doing surgery on my computer since Wednesday night: installed a new NVMe SSD and have been trying to use the old SSD as a cache for my magnetic drive(maybe I can speed up Lightroom). I seem to have a resolution for everything except the mouse pointer started getting jumpy. I had this happen once before and ended up ordering a new mouse and that didn’t fix it, but replacing the USB receiver thingie did. So I looked online a bit(Google is your friend) and it turns out if they plugged into the USB port on your computer, sometimes they stop working. The solution is to put it on a dongle, seems to work.

    This is your computer PSA for today.

  41. 41.

    J R in WV

    @Lizzy L:

    I spent 21 days with my wife on a vent in ICU. She was really confused when they woke her up, partly/mostly because of the medications they use on vent patients.

    So glad your brother is doing better – do plan to visit him soon, it will be lots better a visit than you were fearing.

    Wife was a total of 59 days in hospital, back in ICU a couple of times, root of her sepcic shock was pneumonia, which resulted in necrotic lung tissue, which was discovered weeks later on when her collapsed lung didn’t reinflate.

    Hope your brother does well. Phoenix is right next to hell this time of year, and for the next 6 or 7 months, so be careful about planning a visit. I’m so glad, we are all so glad he’s doing better, best of luck! and do Keep us posted!

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:

    Karma is a bitch.

    It would be nice if those who it should be a bitch for got what’s coming to them a bit sooner.
    Hope she enjoys Fresno. Although it’s impossible to see that happening. Snicker, snicker.

  44. 44.

    Platonailedit

    For more than a week, nobody at the Trump Org. wanted to talk about the mysterious new corporation from which Trump earned $107,000 last year.

    It turns out the online company hawks products with Trump’s name on them—like a $14 can of Trump deodorant.

    https://t.co/kq7ve6aaoz— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 26, 2018

    Isn’t it illegal to hawk products with the president’s name on it and for him to profit from it? IIRR, Obama admin shitcanned such WH merchandise.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Duane: Omg Kirk’s the guy in the diaper. He should have died from embarrassment, instead he’s talking to the President.

    missing the quiet dignity of Omarosa, Spicy and Da Mooch

  50. 50.

    ? Martin

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Today was particularly good.

    I take your point, but we’re being led by torturers. The same thinking ‘that torture works’ contributes to separating children from parents as a ‘deterrent’. It’s cruel for the sake of being cruel. There isn’t enough good news to overcome that.

  52. 52.

    Central Planning

    Since it’s an OT – Raced in a regatta this morning and won silver in my men’s masters 8+. I switched clubs this past fall and this was the first time I won a medal. It’s not about winning, but it sure is better than being smoked by other clubs, and being around rowers who are interested in rowing as more than just a social hour.

    And if anyone is interested, June 2nd is National Learn To Row Day. There are events all over the United States. Click on the link to find an event near you. If the Rochester contingent is interested, you could probably get one of the front pagers to give me your contact info and I’ll let you know where and when.

  53. 53.

    Central Planning

    Also, has anyone had issues with Firefox going into a loop and not actually doing anything while browsing here or trying to leave a comment? FF has become more and more unreliable for me :/

  55. 55.

    ? Martin

    @Another Scott: I don’t get Bret’s attitude. China’s EV market is growing substantially faster than the US market. I suspect this is where Trumps ‘national security’ bullshit regarding auto imports is coming from. China is the largest auto market in the world – both in terms of production and sales, but they don’t export to the US, mostly because Chinese manufacturers still struggle to make cars that would meet US safety and emissions standards. Those standards are more effective than tariffs.

    But China is getting very good at making EVs, and it’s going to be a LOT easier to export those to the US and meet US safety standards. If the US doesn’t get our shit together, we’re going to be playing catch-up to China here. Bret has it exactly wrong. Some US cities are going to hit critical mass on EV infrastructure, and EVs will take off. They’re already pretty close to that point here in Orange County. I’m not kidding that Teslas are the most popular car on the roads in my city.

  56. 56.

    patrick ii

    Open Thread question: The emoluments clause is a constitutional restriction but, since selling out the U.S. for profit has been beneath the dignity of even our worst presidents until now, there are no laws that I know of for the president receiving a 500million dollar loan from China at a time we are making a trade deal. So, if someone of standing goes to Court and wins_ what are the consequences?

  57. 57.

    chris

    @Obvious Russian Troll: I’ve followed DDale for years. Rob was an asshole, I read his obit with approval. Waiting for Doug’s.

    I’m from that area but living in NS now and watching the election. Fearfully.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    @Central Planning: I had to go to Chrome sometime last year because Firefox suddenly stopped showing pages. It would say “Done” in the status bar and the whole screen would be black.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:
    Yeah Brad’s hit piece is bullshit.
    So what we do is wait till all the oil is gone and then do what?
    He also seems to not realize that autos have had over 100 yrs of improvements and that a lot of what makes todays cars better is the laws that have demanded that they be better. He should have lived in LA from 1950-1990s if he wanted to complain about electric cars.
    Understand that I don’t own one, I just don’t see the problems the way he thinks he does.
    Here’s a good story from the LA Times.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @? Martin:
    I met a fellow who had just bought a Tesla about 3 yrs ago. He showed it to me and it did seem nice. He told me that he could take trips on it most anywhere, even then. The Tesla charging stations were mostly close enough that he could drive 250-300 miles, stop at a station and have a meal at a local place while his car charged. Was back on the road with a full charge when he was done eating.
    I drive my car about 300 miles a month max. I buy gas every 3-4 weeks, 10-11 gal. I could charge my car once a month. Of course I didn’t spend anywhere near $80K for my car so there is that.

  69. 69.

    West of the Rockies

    @Ruckus:

    I read a piece by Stephens explaining how to submit an op-ed to the NYT. Edifying, but dripping with condescension.

  70. 70.

    Sab

    @rikyrah: Sounds bad, but I don’t get your reference. Googled it, got nothing. Please don’t make me ask my stepdaughter.She rolls her eyes every time I ask anything.

    She also laughs hysterically eyery
    time I roll my eyes about her questions.

  72. 72.

    Barbara

    @Ruckus: I have owned a Tesla for five years. My husband bought it when he decided we could afford a nicer car after driving the same station wagon for close to 25 years. We drove to national parks in the southwest a few years ago because he wanted to see what it could do. Now, we could make that trip without having to resort to KOA campgrounds and, in Logan, UT, some very kind people willing to share their private charger. We have driven as far north as Quebec and as far south as Central Florida. The biggest challenge with the car is extreme cold — it definitely loses range. The best surprise (for me) is that there is no almost no maintenance. I have stopped caring what people’s personal reaction is to Elon Musk. They guy is so far out of the range that most of us could even think of traversing in our lives that it’s hard to imagine how he thinks. He made big money and instead of buying a sports team or an island or forcing a whole city to contribute to a vanity sailing project, he created something new and rather amazing. People like Bret Stephens talk a good game about the free market and innovation but at bottom they can’t abide anything unless they understand and might see themselves doing it. Elon Musk’s first wife wrote a funny article about thinking like a billionaire. She doesn’t and that’s one reason they aren’t married anymore. If you want to read a more balanced piece, Esquire did a profile a few years ago that Musk and his family cooperated with.

  73. 73.

    Suzanne

    @Lizzy L: That is tremendous news. I am in Phoenix. If there is anything I can do to help, even just recommend hotels, plz don’t hesitate to let me know.

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    @? Martin:

    Teslas are the most popular car on the roads in my city.

    Of course they are. Tesla is The Irvine Car, a kinda-sorta-environmentally-responsible way of showing off one’s money.

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Reveal podcast did a story about the high accident rate at his auto manufacturing plant. The VP they interviewed was so weasselly.

  78. 78.

    ? Martin

    @Ruckus: Yeah, I think Tesla was smart to go after the Mercedes S-Class market. They succeeded there. But I don’t see that Tesla has a viable path to 500K cars a year. He seems to think designing a car is hard. It’s not. Building one a minute is hard. He’s still struggling with that concept. I don’t see Tesla catching Chevy at this point. The Bolt is a nice car – under 40K, and you can actually buy it.

    The concept a lot of non-EV buyers miss, because they don’t have that experience yet, is that the primary appeal for EVs is for homeowners that can charge in their garage. Every morning you wake up to a car that can do 300 miles. It doesn’t matter if you only go 10 a day, in a gas car the day comes that you decide you can’t go 10 and you head to the gas station. That never happens for EV owners. Yes, the long trip can be a challenge, but which do you do more often? One of the key reasons why 300 miles is an important benchmark is that it’s the distance from LA to Vegas. Drive out, charge while you party, drive back. And yet, it seems like most people in LA fly to Vegas, so it’s not even a properly good benchmark.

  80. 80.

    ? Martin

    @burnspbesq: Yeah, pretty much. Though, S-Classes weren’t that common here before, but Priuses were when they first came out. So I don’t think the status angle is quite as strong as you suggest, rather, I think quiet, nice car + HOV sticker in a city where there are plenty of chargers makes it quite attractive. Irvine does have a lot more tolerance for paying that kind of money for an HOV sticker though. Not sure how much longer that program is going to last, though. My money is on a certain level of autonomy needed to get that sticker within 5 years. I think there will be too many EVs being bought.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    If we’re going to talk about schadenfreude, I think we’re beginning to see more of it. Today was particularly good

    But here is the other side of this vile administration. From CNN

    US lost track of 1,500 immigrant children, but says it’s not ‘legally responsible’

    This administration treats children like non-persons, like trash. There argument is that since their parents have broken the law, they deserve whatever I’ll treatment happens to them.

    What is the legal term associated with some crimes, a reckless disregard for human life.

    These people have dragged the country into the gutter, and they clearly expect everyone to go along with this dehumanization of immigrants, of children who have not done anything wrong.

    Anyone who works for this evil regime is complicit in crimes against humanity.

    Link to CNN story.

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/26/politics/hhs-lost-track-1500-immigrant-children/index.html

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    @? Martin:
    As my husband says, there is already a network for distributing electricity everywhere. The biggest challenge isn’t really even long distance driving, which you don’t do that much of, it’s people who live in apartments and don’t have dedicated chargers.

  88. 88.

    randy khan

    @Mary G:

    Also, Devin Nunes has the most campaign money of any candidate ($5 million), but the polls must suck, cause look who has to go to Fresno:

    Ivanka Trump headed to Fresno to pump up support for Devin Nunes https://t.co/e30FfNxJkk #SmartNews— Dennis Uribe ??? (@denuribe73) May 26, 2018

    Karma is a bitch.

    If he’s in trouble, that seems like adding kerosene to the fire.

  89. 89.

    ruemara

    @Barbara: He’s still a glibertarian jackass. Being brilliant at anything doesn’t elevate you past critique, especially when it’s not even your expertise and your proposing totalitarian tactics to prevent bad press.

  90. 90.

    ? Martin

    @Barbara: Yep. 4 years ago CA passed a law that required tenants to allow renters to install charging stations in their garages. They need to expand that law to require new apartment construction to have a certain number of chargers per residences, not unlike the new solar panel on homes law.

    US cities need to embrace this idea. And I think they will. The arbitrage opportunity is too good.

  91. 91.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Brachiator: Yes, what the administration is doing with immigrant parents and children is probably a crime against humanity. I look forward to seeing those responsible prosecuted. We need to work against it. There seems to be a significant uproar right now, to the point that Trump had to take notice and try to divert responsibility. We need to keep working to stop those crimes.

    But there are other things happening too, and we should celebrate and enjoy the good things to give us strength to continue that work.

  92. 92.

    magurakurin

    @Barbara:

    charging for apartment dwellers is a roadblock here in Japan as well, I think. Not that there aren’t solutions, but they aren’t here yet. They will be, though.

  93. 93.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Barbara:

    it’s people who live in apartments and don’t have dedicated chargers.

    Yup, many of us have to rely on street parking, no chargers there. Don’t think we’ll see curbside charging for a while.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @randy khan: hopefully some clever person on the Dem campaign will figure out a pithy way to turn that visit against him, using Princess Unemployable to remind people of who benefits from Nunes’ tax cut, and maybe the Kushner-Qatar bailout
    ETA: Hey, maybe her idiot brother will get indicted on the day she’s out there campaigning!

  95. 95.

    JR

    I could care less about Musk the person. His products seem good and I hope they succeed.

  96. 96.

    ? Martin

    @Brachiator:

    Anyone who works for this evil regime is complicit in crimes against humanity.

    I’m even past that point. The GOP in its entirety says and does nothing about this. They are all complicit.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @? Martin: I’m usually not one to get on the “Dems needs to say Things!” train, but they ought to start calling out the complicit by name: Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander, Dean Heller….

  99. 99.

    Mike G

    Grifters go where the suckers are.

    Big money attracts big assholes.
    True for Wall Street, true for televangelists, true for DC.

  101. 101.

    lahke

    Great news, Lizzy! I hope he improves.

    I on the other hand, have been stricken blind and had two hours of my life stolen because I sat all the way through Antonnioni’s Blow Up. Have heard about this movie for 40 years, but ouch. Let’s just say that it hasn’t worn well.

  103. 103.

    H.E.Wolf

    Seeing a mention of Fresno always reminds me of Carol Burnett’s mid-’80s miniseries spoofing “Dynasty” and “Dallas” : “Fresno”.

    Its tagline was “The Power – The Passion – The Produce…”

  105. 105.

    Yutsano

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Dean Heller

    Heller is toast. Heller already knows he’s toast. He’s not even bothering trying and just voting straight Republican out of spite now.

    And I will laugh when he loses his primary for not being loyal enough to Dolt45. Not if. When.

  106. 106.

    Barbara

    @lahke: Believe it or not, I watched this movie when I was 9 years old while on vacation with my family and it rained so much my parents were kind of desperate. I remember the sexy bits and my father being baffled by what was going on exactly. I think that the tribute movie to Blow Up, called Blow Out, with John Travolta, was a bit more successful.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    @Sab:
    A Coon is a term for a Black sellout.
    A Coon on the Pole, is someone who is likened to a stripper. They dance and will do anything for those racist White dollars to come their way.

    Owens isn’t a true believer. She is going to get paid, and will do whatever in order to get the $$$$.??

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yutsano: And I will laugh when he loses his primary for not being loyal enough to Dolt45.

    That will be great. Is he up against that goof Tarkanian?

    @H.E.Wolf: I remember one great joke (I thought) from that. The family Rolls was in the shop, so Carol Burnett had to be driven to town in the chauffeur-driven station wagon, sitting in the way-back with a bottle of champagne

  109. 109.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Brachiator:
    Ah, but according to the Gurdion Trump’s crimes don’t even come close to Bush’s! This month marks 15 years since the US-led invasion of Iraq. With all the talk of ‘totalitarianism’ in the Trump era, let’s not forget what came before

    Fuck those kids and immigrants amirite? I’m sure the opinion piece doesn’t even mention those 1,500 missing children.

    I didn’t read the article but I don’t need to. I recognize a slate pitch when I see one just from looking at the title and lead-in.

  115. 115.

    rekoob

    @Barbara:
    Tesla has blazed an important trail for Battery Electric Vehicles, and the competition is on the horizon. Jaguar’s I-Pace will be available in the US before the end of 2018, and if you spot its relatively short range (call it 220 miles), an all-wheel-drive sporty lifted station wagon is going to be a hit. My take is the critical range is going to be 500km-750km (310mi-466mi), because then cross-country driving in the US begins to make more sense. Most folks don’t want to be on the road more than about 10-11 hours, and when you can go roughly 800-900 miles on the Interstate with one big stop and a couple of little stops in a day, you’re pretty much matching what a very capable internal combustion engine-powered vehicle can do. The charging infrastructure is getting better day-by-day, and I’m thinking most convenience stores with gas pumps will have chargers before too long.

  116. 116.

    Corner Stone

    @rekoob:

    The charging infrastructure is getting better day-by-day, and I’m thinking most convenience stores with gas pumps will have chargers before too long.

    And that’s when the dystopian battles for EV charging began…

  118. 118.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @B.B.A.:
    Really? Damn I thought it broke a month or two ago. I’m losing my sense of time with all of this shit going on.

  120. 120.

    Jager

    A guy I know owns a Tesla S, it’s a hell of an automobile. The only negative is when you shut everything down, audio, AC, etc, because of the lack of mechanical sounds, you hear every creak, rattle and rumble and road noise. (they are a little like a sailboat in that respect) The car is so quiet all the sounds seem amplified. Mrs. J’s Volt is the same way, not a bad thing, just different. I had an interesting experience driving her car, I was sitting at a light, next to me was a dude in a Civic with the body kit, the big muffler and the toys. I put the Volt in Sport Mode and kicked his ass. Electric cars are really quick.

  121. 121.

    Repatriated

    @burnspbesq:

    Tesla is The Irvine Car, a kinda-sorta-environmentally-responsible way of showing off one’s money.

    Conspicuous non-consumption.

    See also: Priuses, Smart cars, and the modern incarnations of the Mini, Fiat 500, and Vespas.

  122. 122.

    frosty

    @Central Planning: Congratulations on the silver. I rowed for about 5 years before the kids came along and I loved it. Planning to contact the club I was with way back then and see about getting back. Not sure I can lift my part of an 8 any more though, :-(

  124. 124.

    The Lodger

    @rekoob: I can see buying an electric for the daily commute and renting a gas burning or hybrid SUV for the two week cross country excursions.

  125. 125.

    Ruckus

    @Duane:
    A quiet death?
    Seems to me they keep putting irony and dignity up against the wall and trying to shoot it. On TV.

  128. 128.

    Mike J

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Sounds less like a Slate pitch and more like a “if anything worse than the current problem has ever existed you don’t get tom complain about this.”

    Don’t know why it has to be a competition. I’m capable of hating Trump AND Bush at the same time. Hell, a Republican is a Republican as far as I’m concerned.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    In my building putting in car chargers would be horribly expensive. The parking is underground all concrete, 3 levels. Getting the electrical run would never happen with any of the tenets that live here. Probably cost more than a years rent. At the minimum.

  131. 131.

    rekoob

    @frosty:
    @Central Planning:

    Congratulations on the silver. I’m now at the point where I’m considered a “Veteran B”, at least at the Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints. The good news is that the racing shells get lighter and lighter, even if we don’t. Reading “The Boys in the Boat” reminded me of how, 50 years later, I was still hauling a wooden Pocock 8 off the water in the mid-80s at my liberal arts college. Ah, smiting the wine-dark seas at dawn…

  132. 132.

    frosty

    @Jager:

    Electric cars are really quick.

    Electric motors get 100% of max horsepower at any RPM, low or high. Internal combustion has low HP at low RPM, getting higher up to redline (hence gears). An EV will smoke any IC off the line.

    Must have been fun!!

  137. 137.

    TS (the original)

    @randy khan:

    If he’s in trouble, that seems like adding kerosene to the fire.

    Anyone who would be impressed with Ivanka campaigning would already be voting for Nunes – she will surely lose rather than gain votes.

  139. 139.

    rekoob

    @The Lodger:
    Yup, that works, too. Car sharing services are at the ready. Still, I believe battery (or, more broadly, storage) technology will get us to that 1000-1250km (620-777 miles) before too long. I’m careful not to give a point estimate and a time estimate, of course ;-)

  140. 140.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    Heck, prices here were higher than that three weeks ago. Shudder to think what they might be up to by now.

    So much winning.

  145. 145.

    opiejeanne

    @rekoob: There’s a gas station on the Stockdale Highway right by I-5 (in CA) that has a bank of chargers for Teslas. That day is already here in at least one place.

  149. 149.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    The one at the electric company headquarters building here (the electric company!) has had an Out of Service placard attached to it for at least the past six months.

    :)

  150. 150.

    NotMax

    @CapnMubbers

    If you mean car charging stations or stanchions, they’re numerous in the less rural areas of Maui. Much easier to come across than stations which dispense diesel fuel.

  151. 151.

    CapnMubbers

    @NotMax: “…one on Maui” comment should have been a response to Ruckus’ map of supercharging stations at #146.

  153. 153.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Jager:

    I’m not surprised.
    I was told that electric motors generate their highest torque at zero rpm when I was being trained as an electric forklift operator.

    Dunno if it’s true, though.

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