Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Republicans in disarray!

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

In my day, never was longer.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

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

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Here’s to the Future Lifelong Unemployment of Kirstjen Nielsen

Here’s to the Future Lifelong Unemployment of Kirstjen Nielsen

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As a general rule, whenever you are required to hold an ad hoc press conference defending your administration’s elective policy of ripping toddlers away from their parents and then putting both child and parent in separate prisons, you can expect that things are not going to be received well and should probably plan on the event going rather poorly. But, if you are a Trump administration member, you can just say fuck it and go all in and just lie about everything.

I suppose I could go into every single lie told by Nielsen by her presser, but instead I’ll just let this headline at Splinter do the heavy lifting:

She basically lied about everything, but she smiled through a 1/4 inch of foundation and caked on mascara while doing it, so let’s just consider this her FOX news audition tape, because she should be unemployable for the rest of her life, the fucking ghoul, but she’ll no doubt have a job at Trump state tv.

Reader Interactions

212Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    “When Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn’t think she’s up to the job of telling this set of lies…”

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    from a few days ago

    Walter Shapiro @ MrWalterShapiro
    Sometime soon, Kirstjen Nielsen is going to head to a DC law firm or consulting group. She should be shunned in all work and social settings. The sin of separating children from their parents is permanently unforgivable — and she should never be allowed to forget it.

    Norman Ornstein Retweeted Walter Shapiro
    Spot on. She is a monster plain and simple. She should not be treated as a normal human being. Same with her mentor, John Kelly.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Norman Ornstein Retweeted Walter Shapiro
    Spot on. She is a monster plain and simple. She should not be treated as a normal human being. Same with her mentor, John Kelly.

    Bears repeating.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    I hate when I admire republicans, but Rep. Hurd is doing a heck of a job on CNN.
    “Let’s not use children as deterrents, and let’s not separate parents from their children. “

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Norman Ornstein Retweeted Walter Shapiro
    Spot on. She is a monster plain and simple. She should not be treated as a normal human being. Same with her mentor, John Kelly.

    The problem is that the people who elected her boss and put her in the position to do this are also monsters. As long as a substantial fraction of the country cheers these atrocities, she- and the rest of the Trump crime cartel- will never lack employment.

  13. 13.

    schrodingers_cat

    I am sure MSM bots will yuck it up with her and give her an hour long special like they did with Bannon. Being a racist bigot is not a crime in their book.

  14. 14.

    Chet Murthy

    @JPL: From Wikipedia:

    Hurd worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for nine years from 2000 to 2009, stationed primarily in Washington, D.C., including a tour of duty as an operations officer in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.[3][4] He speaks Urdu,[5] the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where he worked undercover.[5]

    Damn. He went undercover in Pakistan. He’s black. How did he pull -that- off? Man’s gotta have serious stones.

  16. 16.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    she- and the rest of the Trump crime cartel- will never lack employment.

    Or they could one day be stripped naked and forced to march through the streets while being whipped from behind.

  18. 18.

    Chet Murthy

    @JPL: His district is 55% Hispanic. Probably has some effect on his actions. I mean, he’s black and that didn’t stop him from becoming a GrOPer, so I can’t ascribe it to morality or decency. And if he had a late attack of that, he’d have changed parties. I’m going with naked self-interest.

  19. 19.

    gene108

    @Aleta:

    It is sad how much potential progress was lost by Trump’s election.

    Ivanka got promoted to be the champion of child care, because Hillary and Democrats has real plans to make daycare more affordable and Republicans wanted to blunt criticism they had no ideas.

    But instead of fighting about the increasing the minimum wage, making daycare affordable, etc., we are trying to hold traitors accountable for colluding with Russia, keep kids from being used as hostages to halt immigration outright, etc.

    We are being set back by a decade or more

  20. 20.

    Josie

    @JPL: Rep. Hurd has done a good job for his constituents along the border and has worked well with Beto O’Rourke on projects. He is one of the few good ones left.

  21. 21.

    efgoldman

    @JPL:

    Rep. Hurd is doing a heck of a job on CNN

    Yeah? Big fucking deal. What’s he DONE? Filed a bill? Signed on to Pelosi’s bill? Told Weasel Face to pound sand?

    Fuckem

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JPL: Words are great but what action is he willing to take to stop this atrocious policy? Congress could easily pass a law to prohibit the separation of migrant families.

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    @Chet Murthy:

    Damn. He went undercover in Pakistan. He’s black. How did he pull -that- off?

    Going undercover doesn’t necessarily mean pretending to be a native; it just means concealing who you’re working for.

  28. 28.

    eemom

    Why do they all have to LOOK exactly like the fucking Nazis that they are? Isn’t anything left to the imagination anymore?

  30. 30.

    Platonailedit

    We will be mtg with mothers tmrw at detention centers in Texas in an effort to reunite them with their children. I wonder if Mr. Trump or Mr. Miller have ever even been to a detention center or if instead, they just issue draconian policies from their tower in Washington.

    #Basta— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) June 19, 2018

  32. 32.

    lamh36

    They flew her lying azz in from NOLA just to come to the podium to tell a blatant bunch of LIES!

    And now I see why it’s been storming in NOLA all day…didn’t realized KKKSessions was here.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    @Chet Murthy: Let’s see how long it takes him to flip.. What I saw was a person torn by the practices of Trump. If he doesn’t then he is just a hypocrite like the rest of them.

  34. 34.

    lamh36

    reposting cause this is just ridiculour

    @jdawsey1
    2m2 minutes ago
    More
    Trump has been suspicious of news coverage of sad children in cages because he has been shown pictures by White House advisers of detained children smiling, exercising outside & playing video games. Miller, others telling POTUS to keep course.
    https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1008862253209341952

  36. 36.

    Patricia Kayden

    @PaulWartenberg: Sadly, a significant percentage of Republicans are probably fine with what’s happening at our Southern border. I’ve come across a few idiots on the internet and seen a Quinnipiac poll showing such support.

  37. 37.

    sukabi

    One of these things is not like the others, and yet they all agree.

    My favorite from the links:

    “What’s happening to families at the border right now is a humanitarian crisis,” Clinton said. “Every parent who has ever held a child in their arms, every human being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged.”

    Despite what this White House claims, separating families is not mandated by law. That is an outright lie, and it’s incumbent on all of us – journalists and citizens alike – to call it just that.

    — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 18, 2018

  39. 39.

    Mart

    @PaulWartenberg:

    @Patricia Kayden:

    They current administration is so beloved by my Republican friends, family, and co-workers as they have never seen anything like the hippy punching going on with this gang. The more libs cry, the better job they are doing. It is the only policy that matters.

    52% of repubs think this is a good policy.

  40. 40.

    Patricia Kayden

    @lamh36: There are no words to describe how disgusting this White House really is. They’re monsters. I don’t see how Republicans live this down.

  44. 44.

    Poptartacus

    If dems don’t take back the house in November
    It’s by any means necessary time

  46. 46.

    efgoldman

    @Mart:

    The more libs cry, the better job they are doing. It is the only policy that matters.

    Cleek’s law, immutable and eternal

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    I saw a few minutes of Nielsen’s press conference. Wow is she awful. Smiling while she lies about children being taken from their parents and housed in cages. It was chilling to watch.

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I didn’t think she looked dead inside as much as she was trying to hide how much she enjoyed the suffering she was causing. Her gleeful cruelty was what chilled me to the bone.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    Berniebro Twitter is reminding me that Obama built the child concentration camps and liberals are big hypocrites.

    I’m beginning to think Berniebro Twitter might be useless.

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    @MichaelAvenatti
    Following Following @MichaelAvenatti
    More
    We will be mtg with mothers tmrw at detention centers in Texas in an effort to reunite them with their children. I wonder if Mr. Trump or Mr. Miller have ever even been to a detention center or if instead, they just issue draconian policies from their tower in Washington. #Basta

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I saw at least one quote from Kelly supporting the policy last week but, as others have said, he seems to not be taking calls from reporters right now. ?

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36:

    @ PhilipRucker
    Trump often reacts to TV images but is suspicious of pictures and stories of kids in cages. He thinks media cherry picked them make him look bad. And aides are showing him happy pics of smiling kids playing games, exercising outdoors, etc.

    Jesse Rodriguez @ JesseRodriguez
    The photos that have been airing are ones that were taken & released by @CBP. Independent media were not allowed to bring cameras into the center when they toured this weekend.

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    @Matt McIrvin: If you’re only beginning to think that you haven’t been paying attention for the last two years. Also, “useless” is about the kindest possible way to describe them. I find them actively dangerous in that they demand their own version of what’s perfect (for them) and impede progress when it’s less than their desired perfection. They helped elect Trump and I do not forgive them that.

  59. 59.

    Platonailedit

    File it under fwiw.

    Charlier Baker, the Republican Governor of Massachusetts, has canceled plans for the state’s National Guard members to help protect the U.S. border. Baker says his decision was made because of the “inhumane” practice that separates children from their undocumented immigrant parents.

    WCVB says Baker was prepared to “send a UH-72 Lakota helicopter and two military military analysts to pilot the chopper to the southwestern border by the end of the month.”

    As President Trump and his associates have come under fire for a “zero tolerance” policy that rips children away from their parents, calls to action have spread like wildfire across social media.

    Guess it took kids for him to do this minuscule thing.

  61. 61.

    efgoldman

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m beginning to think Berniebro Twitter might be useless

    Fucking worse than useless. Antithetical to accomplishing anything.

    I’ve repeated many times: They don’t vote, they can’t be persuaded, they are no more useful to us than the flying monkey mouth breathers are.

    Fuckem

  62. 62.

    JPL

    @lamh36: Hopefully he can accomplish something, but after the Schneiderman fiasco, I’m not into putting faith into one individual. It’s going to take all of us to work to flip the house.

  65. 65.

    Chet Murthy

    @Platonailedit: That fucker Charlie Baker. I moved from MA in 07, but shit, if I lived there, anybody I knew who voted for that piece of SHIT would get an earful. Fucking GrOPer.

  67. 67.

    James Powell

    so let’s just consider this her FOX news audition tape, because she should be unemployable for the rest of her life, the fucking ghoul, but she’ll no doubt have a job at Trump state tv.

    She will get a Wingnut Welfare post at some prestige university, maybe Harvard, maybe Stanford, and will be a regular on cable shows. She will continue to lie constantly, but that won’t stop any cable shows from having her on and giving her a few minutes of uncensored camera time.

  70. 70.

    TenguPhule

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Independent media were not allowed to bring cameras into the center when they toured this weekend.

    This bullshit needs to stop.

    All Republican demands to not film shit mean jackshit. Fuck their rules. Film and photo everything.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    This may have been posted earlier, but Doktor Zoom at Wonkette has a good list of groups to support to help the people and fight Trump’s policy:

    Also for folks who are in Texas:

    The Texas Civil Rights Project is seeking “volunteers who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ and have paralegal or legal assistant experience.”

    There’s also CARA — an umbrella organization for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Together, they provide legal services at immigration detention centers.

    To help kids who are already in immigration detention, there’s Kids in Need of Defense, which provides children with representation in immigration court and also lobbies for children’s legal interests. Donate here.

    If you’re not quite sure where to give, ActBlue has bundled several immigrant rights groups into a single donation button — see the list and donate here.

    Remember, there’s always the ACLU, which is fighting family separation with a federal class action lawsuit.

    You want to march? Former top government ethics lawyer Walter Shaub, who gave up trying to tell the Trump administration what ethics even are, will be announcing the details of a national march (think DC and local affiliated marches) tonight on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes.” We’ll make noise here, too.

    Good people are coming together to put an end to this cruelty. EVERY Democrat in the Senate is now co-sponsoring Dianne Feinstein’s bill to stop family separation.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @Poptartacus:

    No lifeboats for gop traitors

    The conservative golden parachutes will now consist of real gold. And they will be ejected from the planes at 10,000 feet to try them out.

  77. 77.

    Yarrow

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: What we need is some kind of “How to identify propaganda” training like they’re doing in schools in Sweden. A lot of people fell for the Russian-backed propaganda. We’re not used to dealing with it. Not sure what kind of groups would be best to promote such a thing. We’re not going to see it in schools anytime soon, that’s for sure.

  78. 78.

    Poptartacus

    If the blue wave gets smashed then what?

    Work harder?
    Fuck that
    Better be ready to ante up

  79. 79.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @lamh36: Yes. The poor dear explains how uncomfortable her generation of reporters are fact checking and calling out blatant lies. But now, for the children’s sake, they may have to be a bit uncomfortable.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @Mart:
    As I like to point out, this is the really dangerous part of having a zero sum mentality. Not only do Republicans not believe in win-win situations, they don’t believe in lose-lose, either. They assume that if the liberals are unhappy, it must be because the Conservatives are winning. They don’t get that the liberals might be unhappy because they’re hurting everyone, so they’ll happily double down on destructive policies that hurt them worse than anyone because they assume that anything that upsets the liberals must be great for them.

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @Poptartacus:

    Don’t freak out yet. Ted Cruz ain’t proposing a bill to stop this because he thinks he’s going to be easily re-elected. The Republicans are running scared, and we need to make them run faster.

  83. 83.

    Mary G

    I hate to say it, but this is just one step in a series of things they plan to do (Politico)

    Top aides to President Donald Trump are planning additional crackdowns on immigration before the November midterms, despite a growing backlash over the administration’s move to separate migrant children from parents at the border.

    Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and a team of officials from the Justice Department, Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget have been quietly meeting for months to find ways to use executive authority and under-the-radar rule changes to strengthen hard-line U.S. immigration policies, according to interviews with half a dozen current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House.

    They see this as a winning key to the midterms by ginning up the base, or some shit.

  85. 85.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mnemosyne: I saw at least one quote from Kelly supporting the policy last week but, as others have said, he seems to not be taking calls from reporters right now.
    Oh, I suspect chatting off the record is still a big part of his day.
    Footage of him proposing this from I think March of ’17, when he was DHS-Sec, is getting a lot of play, and of course there’s his infamous NPR interview of a few weeks back

    “The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever,” White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told NPR in response to a question about whether it’s “cruel and heartless to take a mother away from her children.”

    not hearing a lot about the now that we’re seeing/hearing the “whatever”, probably cause there’s no video

  86. 86.

    p.a.

    So, taking children from parents and putting them in detention concentration camps, and lying 24/7 about it is a bridge too far for a few Rethugs.
    Nothing surprising there, I’m just waiting to see the long term reaction of non-Fox media. Not hopeful. Hope has been on a ventilator since 11/2016.

  87. 87.

    Gravenstone

    @The Ancient Randonneur: Does she not remember Sam Donaldson being a rather loud and persistent burr in Pres. Reagan’s saddle? It’s not that hard Ms. Greenspan, just open up your mouth and ask a fucking question or two, and don’t take no for an answer.

  88. 88.

    raven

    My Lil Bit is being treated better in the animal hospital as she awaits her surgery.

  89. 89.

    sukabi

    @JPL: what he will accomplish is keeping the spotlight on this. Also, it appears that Mr. Avenatti fancies himself a dragonslayer, that it’s his calling, and the law and the media are his weapons. (Plus, it appears he despises Drumpf and this corrupt mess as much as the rest of us).

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Isn’t there some famous quote by a sportsball coach about how the winning team should always play like they’re 10 points behind?

    Let’s do that.

  92. 92.

    rk

    @Dorothy Winsor:

    The man has five children. And yet he has no sense of what children in this situation must be experiencing.

    I doubt if he ever took care of his kids in any meaningful way. Did he play with them? Interact in any fatherly way? I’ve never heard any of his kids ever talk about his fatherly qualities. He lusts after Ivanka, doesn’t seem to like Tiffany or any of the boys. He’s had 5 kids, but I know some childless men who are more fatherly than Trump.

  93. 93.

    Poptartacus

    Yeah I’m doing my part
    But I’m about tired of these muthafuckers
    November will tell the tale
    One way or the other

  95. 95.

    Platonailedit

    @Mary G: This is obviously a cynical strategy to gin up the base and it sure will. Dems of all policy hues need to move their asses in Nov to stop them.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:

    Or they see it as their last chance to hurt some innocent people before they get smacked down in November.

    A cornered rat is a dangerous one.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rk: he brags about never having been interested in his kids till they were adults, and the stories Ivana told in a recent book, that were intended to be humorous and endearing, could almost make me feel sorry for DJTJ. Well, almost is too strong, but it’s pretty clear they’re damaged goods.

  100. 100.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:

    They see this as a winning key to the midterms by ginning up the base, or some shit.

    Yep. They think only in terms of riling up the base and suppressing the Democratic vote. They think everyone’s mind is made up about who to vote for, and the only thing that changes is how many on each side vote. I’m hoping they’re going to discover there’s a bit more to it than that.

  101. 101.

    Yarrow

    @raven: Was she not being treated well before? Glad she’s being treated well now. When is her surgery? Sending good thoughts.

  104. 104.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yea they needed to do a bunch of tests today. She has a heart condition so they have to be cautious with the anesthesia. She had another episode when they took her outside, it’s progressed to the point that her larynx just closes up in any heat and humidity. We visited for about 15 minutes and, of course, it tore my ass up. This is pretty straightforward surgery and she’s in a great hospital but old doggies sometimes don’t make it so it felt like it might be the last time I see her.

  107. 107.

    Chet Murthy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Somebody months ago pointed to some reporting that the Large Adult Children (Tiffany excepted) all treat their relationship with Shitlord in purely instrumental terms — a means to the inheritance. Which makes what they’re all doing, in a way, even more despicable than Shitlord himself. He’s doing it b/c he’s evil and can’t help himself. They’re doing it for the money, pure and simple.

  108. 108.

    Yarrow

    @raven: Oh, okay! I was worried she wasn’t being treated well. Sorry she’s having a rough time. Hopefully the surgery will help her and she’ll be better than she has been in awhile.

  109. 109.

    Roger Moore

    @sukabi:

    I’m hoping for a massive aneurysm, brain or heart, I’m not picky.

    How could he have a massive anything with his heart or brain? They’re even smaller than his hands.

  112. 112.

    Platonailedit

    @JPL: I will take this stormy lawyer guy over any we are outraged enough to do nothing about it rethug. Take your wins where you can.

  114. 114.

    Villago Delenda Est

    When this is all over, Faux Noise is going to be very empty place. All those crimes against humanity, you know.

  115. 115.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mart: These people are not followers of The Carpenter. They follow Mammon and Moloch. They are abominations. They should be destroyed.

  116. 116.

    raven

    @Yarrow: Nah, it’s the University Teaching Hospital. They have her in ICU and we get a couple of calls a day from student interns just to let us know she’s doing fine and then a couple of calls from staff vets to discuss what’s coming. It’s a self-supporting operation so this is going to be costly but it’s her only chance so we’re taking it.

  117. 117.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mart: Words Jesus never said: “Thou shalt hippie punch and tick off liberals”.

    In any case, we have to move away from caring too much about Trump supporters because as he said, “I can shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any supporters.”

    They’re idiots.

  119. 119.

    raven

    @Mary G: We can’t let what happened to her Saturday night happen again. But, as much as I love her, it would be impossible to do more for her than we have. She’s a sweet sweet pup and 11 years ago things were really bleak for her.

  120. 120.

    efgoldman

    @Poptartacus:

    Better be ready to ante up

    You gonna’ take your AR and go to the woods?
    Big talker for an anonymous blog commenter. That’s what the RWNJs do.

  123. 123.

    Platonailedit

    Today every single Democratic Senator has signed on to a bill to end child separation.

    Meanwhile every single Republican Senator has thus far refused to sign it.

    There is no "Left" and "Right".

    There is "Good" and "Evil" and America now knows which party actually belongs where

    — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 19, 2018

  126. 126.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    When this is all over, Faux Noise is going to be very empty place. All those crimes against humanity, you know.

    Do you suppose there are enough skulls at Fox to build a hill with? Asking for a friend.

  129. 129.

    TenguPhule

    @Platonailedit:

    There is “Good” and “Evil” and America now knows which party actually belongs where

    Problem is, a significant portion of the population has decided that “Evil” is cool.

  130. 130.

    Yarrow

    @raven: That sounds about as good as you could want under the circumstances. Keep us posted. We’re all pulling for her.

  134. 134.

    Amir Khalid

    @Yarrow:
    I think raven’s point is not that his sick dog is being treated well, but that these kids who have been taken from their parents are being treated with cruelty.

  137. 137.

    Yarrow

    @Mart: We really need people on the side of truth to do short lessons on how propaganda is used in the age of social media. It needs to become a topic for discussion. How are we being manipulated by Russian (and other) bots and trolls? How are they dividing us? How do we tell when it’s propaganda? How to combat it. Etc.

  141. 141.

    zhena gogolia

    @Yarrow:

    I think he meant she’s being treated better than the children are.

    I’ve been thinking about Lil Bit and hoping for the best.

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    The Trump administration’s move to separate immigrant families at the border and detain children apart from their parents spiraled into a humanitarian and political crisis Monday as the White House struggled to contain the growing public outcry.

    The situation has become a moral test for Trump and his administration. Trump on Monday voiced defiance and continued to falsely blame congressional Democrats for what he decried as a “horrible and tough” situation. But Trump is empowered to immediately order border agents to stop separating families as a result of his “zero tolerance” enforcement policy.

    Trump asserted that the parents illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with their children “could be murderers and thieves and so much else,” echoing his incendiary remarks about immigrants at his campaign launch in 2015. And in a series of dark tweets, he warned that undocumented immigrants could increase gang crime and usher in cultural changes.

    Via Wapo.

    Trump decides on the stupidest course of action. Film at 11.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    “The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump said in a midday speech. “You look at what’s happening in Europe, you look at what’s happening in other places. We can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”

    Am I the only one who finds this wording ominous? Everywhere else in the first world, people are still attempting to treat their refugees humanely. I’m hearing showers, ovens and clouds of ash in Trump’s words.

  149. 149.

    Steve in the ATL

    @TenguPhule: more likely farmers and laborers, but hell they could be rocket scientists and brain surgeons and lawyers too!

  153. 153.

    TenguPhule

    Trump considers immigration a winning issue for him politically, advisers said. He has complained repeatedly in recent months that he looks “weak” on border enforcement and has been concerned that his base could turn on him for not being tougher, according to a senior administration official.

    A second administration official said Trump is in agreement with Miller, a hard-line influence in the administration, in believing that “if we’re having an argument on immigration, we always win because that’s our ground, no matter what the nuances of the argument are.”

    White House officials have said there is no comprehensive strategy at play. “What’s the end game?” another senior administration official asked.

    Genocide through incompetence.

  155. 155.

    Aleta

    Trump did groundwork to make this acceptable during the campaign and during his campaign against the young NYers in the CP5 case.

    Stepping stones: Ignoring due process. Abuse of other countries’ citizens by our military and its private contractors. Torture. Allowing police to kill POC and the mentally ill, in and out of jail. Calling prisoners enemy combatants to sidestep humane treatment. Privatizing prisons. Every time that POC are vilified.

  156. 156.

    TS (the original)

    There is always another trump crisis to stop people talking about the last one. I don’t think taking children from their parents and locking them in cages is quite like the others. This one cannot go away until it is stopped.

  157. 157.

    raven

    I just cruised over to Pat Lang’s Sic Semper Tyrannis. They FUCKING LOVE THIS SHIT.

  159. 159.

    different-church-lady

    @Roger Moore:

    The problem is that the people who elected her boss and put her in the position to do this are also monsters.

    DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING CORRECT ANSWER!!!

  162. 162.

    TenguPhule

    @Steve in the ATL:

    but hell they could be rocket scientists and brain surgeons and lawyers too!

    You might have to join a union to stop the flood of cheap lawyers coming across the border, reducing your billings!

  165. 165.

    lamh36

    I really, REALLY need a break from this…so I’m watching anything else but more political news, and watching some of the MTV Movie/TV Awards….

    And this happened:

    Chadwick Boseman won for best Hero for Black Panther and her did this:

    @PhotosByBeanz
    Follow Follow @PhotosByBeanz
    More
    Chadwick honored James Shaw Jr. and gave him his award. ???

    #MTVAwards

    https://twitter.com/PhotosByBeanz/status/1008883821033480193

    Chadiwick said we should honor real life heroes as well. So he called up James Shaw Jr and gave the award to him and thanked him for his real world heroism!!!

    I needed this smile at a time like this!

    ICYMI the video of Chadwick giving the his Best Hero award to James Shaw Jr

    https://twitter.com/PhotosByBeanz/status/1008886218556395521

  166. 166.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: Evidence

    (If anyone has a link to Kirstjen’s transcript from the White House press conference today, she was magnificent.) The stridency and hysteria from the Deep State is growing with each passing day. Meanwhile, Trump’s approval rating among the American public continues to soar. Laura Bush and Michael Hayden should take a deep breath, pick up some good history books and do some reading. Their idiotic statements on an important policy issue like immigration left me quivering in anger at their despicable accusations. Instead of actually trying to explain a complex policy to the America people they each, for whatever reason, have chosen to lie, obfuscate and propagandize. Shame on them

  167. 167.

    Shell

    She will get a Wingnut Welfare post at some prestige university, maybe Harvard, maybe Stanford, and will be a regular on cable shows

    Maybe she fancies herself the next Ann Coulter who, god help me, insists all those crying children at the border are just acting.

  168. 168.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    Impeachment.

    i thought that was the starting game.

    Ending game was supposed to be Impalement. I understand a nice ruler once used it to discourage assholes from invading.

  171. 171.

    TenguPhule

    @raven:

    pick up some good history books and do some reading

    The last time we tried, convicted and executed the fuckers who complied with these government policies.

  173. 173.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I take some small pleasure in the fact that they all hate each other so much

    ohh Dawsey @ jdawsey
    Senior White House officials say that Sarah Sanders did not threaten to boycott today’s briefing. One official says one of her critics in the building said that just before the briefing so she would be too busy to respond and would then have to answer at the podium.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    Not just any attorney — a trial attorney! ??

    But if he brings some pro bono lawyers down there with him and puts them to work, I don’t care how big a show he puts on while he does it.

  176. 176.

    lamh36

    @valariekaur
    5h5 hours ago
    More
    Breaking: At least 70 South Asians reportedly separated from their families & detained in Sheridan, Oregon (52 from India, many who speak Punjabi, 13 from Nepal, 2 from Bangladesh). Need translators. Contact @APANONews. Please RT to spread the word. #FamiliesBelongTogether

  177. 177.

    TenguPhule

    Behind the scenes at the White House, aides scrambled Monday to manage the public relations fallout and rally support for their policy. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s daily briefing, first scheduled for 1:15 p.m., was pushed back to 3:30 p.m., then to 4, then to 5, so Nielsen could field questions at the lectern. She was at the White House around 1 p.m. doing extensive prep for the briefing and met with Trump at 3, according to a White House official.

    JFC. Nielson’s press shitshow was AFTER she prepped for it.

  179. 179.

    Shell

    Instead of actually trying to explain a complex policy to the America people they each,

    Cause, god knows, this administration has refused to do so.

  181. 181.

    scav

    If taking children is such a nifty deterrent against criminal behavior both active and future, then I’m entirely 100% sure that the Grand Old Party of “Tough on Crime” “Law Enforcement Supporting” Blind Obedience to Govt as Directed by the LLLLLoooooooorrrrrrrddd Above! team will support grabbing and disappearing the children of all those arrested on suspicion of white collar crime. Fines seem to be pretty useless against speeders too.

  182. 182.

    Mike in DC

    @raven:
    They do, but they only represent about a quarter of the country, and about 50-60% of Republicans. It’s going to hurt them politically. I can’t even imagine what Trump’s numbers with Latinos are right now.

  184. 184.

    sukabi

    @raven: Ex-CIA? isn’t that the “deep state”??

    Think I know the reason he’s ex… He needs to avail himself of some mental health care….

    It could also be that he’s a paid Drumpf troll…the propaganda ain’t gonna spread itself, and that spiel sounded like it was manufactured at the WH deep creep shop.

  185. 185.

    Jeffro

    @TenguPhule: What exactly does he think is worse (‘so much else’) than “murderers and thieves”?

    Drawn-and-Quartered devotees who also jaywalk?

    Midnight baby-eating EXTREMELY dark tan people who also don’t obey their HOA’s covenants?

    White House Press Corpse, just do your job and ask Trumpov or whomever gets behind the podium on any given day: “What. InTheHell, Exactly. Does This Motherfucker mean by ‘so much else’?” And then just mock the shit out of whatever Podium Scuzz says in response.

  187. 187.

    Steve in the ATL

    @raven:

    One of his front pagers Publius Tacitus, who is apparently Ex-CIA.

    Oh well then he’s totally trustworthy!

  188. 188.

    eric

    @scav: perhaps Manafort’s adult children should be put in cages to “deter” future treasonous collaberation with an enemy. just spitballing ideas here

  195. 195.

    sukabi

    @TenguPhule: well if her prep work included ambian and shots, that might explain it…

    But I’m pretty sure she just dosed up with the tears and screams of babies.

  198. 198.

    Jay

    @raven:

    While Pat Lang’s site was always right wingish, much of it went nucken futz during the election and afterwards, including a bunch of the Front Pagers.

  199. 199.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Steeplejack (phone): @Jeffro:
    I did see that. She released a statement earlier this afternoon.

    I’m looking forward to an epic tweetstorm tomorrow morning from T. Pelosi and Harris calling for Nielsen to resign and HRC publicly denouncing these heinous internment camps for kids. Yowza.

  200. 200.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I love Chadwick Boseman, but in a “If I had a son, I would want him to be like that” kind of way. He seems very committed to using his fame and position to doing as much good as he can in both big and small ways. His parents must be very proud of him, and they should be. ?

  201. 201.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sez you. I think Karen Carpenter had an amazing voice and remains a vastly underrated drummer.

    Yeah, their material is a bit cheesy. Still rather listen to “Close to You” than *any* fucking thing the Eagles put out.

    MB, feeling very grumpy and efg-ish “fuckem” tonight.

    @lamh36: thank you for that. So glad you’re back, lamh, altho’ you’re probably wishing you were still in Oz!

  202. 202.

    Mnemosyne

    @sukabi:

    well they didn’t cross the southern border…so they are seizing poc and stealing their children.

    This is the abuser’s version of “fair”: See, I’m punishing your brother, too, so now you can’t say it’s unfair for me to punish you!

    ETA: In an abuser’s mind, being equally vicious to everyone is being “fair.”

  203. 203.

    Patricia Kayden

    @TenguPhule: Yes, this certainly looks like a winning strategy to have your administration splashed across the media as kidnappers and child abusers. Sure Jan. /s

  204. 204.

    sukabi

    @lamh36: that’s not too far from Portland

    The intense national debate over immigration hit home in Oregon, where 123 would-be asylum seekers have been moved into the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan over the last month.

    Four members of Oregon’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, emerged angry and emotional Saturday after touring the detention center. The migrants told the politicians they are locked up 22 to 23 hours a day, three to a cell. It’s been difficult to impossible to talk to a lawyer. Those with families say they have no idea where their wives or children are, and they fear they’ll be deported and separated from them forever.

    “This is a shameful hour in U.S. history,” said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. “I don’t care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favor ripping children out of their parents’ arms ….” Red-faced with tears streaming down his cheeks, Blumenauer couldn’t continue.

  206. 206.

    satby

    @raven: Good luck to you all. You’re giving her the best care and chance, as you always have. She knows she’s deeply loved, and that’s everything to them.

  212. 212.

    kattails

    @raven: coming in super late but if you get this, hang in there. We did surgery on my 17 y.o. kitty a couple of months ago; he has kidney and thyroid issues. They had to pull 10 teeth. He pulled through and is now eating fine, so much more comfortable. But I was in the same boat, not sure if I’d see him again. All the best.

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