Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

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

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Oppose, oppose, oppose. Do not congratulate. This is not business as usual.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

When we show up, we win.

You cannot shame the shameless.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / Bring on the Matriarchy

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    Dirty Computer
    @Johngcole
    Replying to @Johngcole
    best case scenario world war III is European democracies defeating us and then have the decency to denazify us and start a Marshall Plan

    I like your optimism, John.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    Relatively minor but annoying — some jackass in Maryland got hold of my card number and charged a tank of gas to it.

    Fortunately, my bank is always on high alert for fraud (Union Bank of California, represent!) so their app informed me right away and I was able to close the card down. The transaction is still pending, so I need to call them back when it officially hits and they’ll refund me.

    So now I’m operating on a cash basis for the next week or so. Ugh. ?

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Of course they are. This from the President that personally freaked out that President Obama was going to give him ebola by not responding appropriately to that outbreak.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @rikyrah: This.Is.Insane.

    Donald wants to turn the United States into a third world country.

    Comment info STILL not actually being saved.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    The deplorables living out in rural areas wanted to be left alone by the government. Now they get their wish.

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    BTW if you haven’t clicked on the ad to see it, do it…it’s fantastic. If MJ Hegar was running in my district, I’d be inclined to vote for her. Of course, I already have Peter DeFazio, so…

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    I thought this post would be a link to the protests that are going on right now. Cheryl linked this in the previous thread.

    #WomenDisobey have 10th Street shut down outside the gates to the DOJ, all shouting WE CARE on this march’s first sit-in demanding a stop to family detention. pic.twitter.com/5PAIHWISWH— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) June 28, 2018

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    Getting this really strong sense of deja vu with this ad, somehow …. But a very good ad.

    @rikyrah: Yeah. That’s insane. Will read the article now. Heard about this last night.

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy Winsor:

    Apparently they’ve done studies and the sure-fire indication of fraud is two tanks of gas and a pair of expensive tennis shoes. That means it’s some kid who buys a tank of gas for himself, one for his buddy, and then splurges on the shoes he always wanted.

    This was probably penny-ante fraud because of the gas purchase. Your fraud was pretty high-end — HAAAAAVARD, no less! ?

  14. 14.

    oldster

    Yeah, I watched that ad and wanted to send her all my money.

    But I’m saving it for the eventual winner of NY-23–which was so close that it’s pending absentees.

    Maybe it seemed familiar because the music is basically the “Gimme Shelter” groove?

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Entertainment mini-interlude.

    If you’ve never seen it, An Honest Liar, about magician and charlatan unmasker James Randi, is leaving Netflix on July 1, so not much time left to catch it.

  19. 19.

    Yutsano

    Record number of women running for office all over the place?

    BUCK.

    YES.

    @Mnemosyne: Ugh. The biggest problem with that is you’re stuck in that beautiful balancing act of having enough cash to get through the day vs. have so much you’re a target.

    Also: your bank doesn’t do instant card reissue? My credit union does.

  21. 21.

    Barbara

    @Yarrow: So it’s THEIR fault I sat in traffic for 45 minutes this afternoon! Really, I don’t mind, it’s the way stuff works around here all the time.

  24. 24.

    MisterForkbeard

    OT, but I was trying to figure out why I felt much better today about the upcoming Supreme Court Fuckery than I did yesterday. And it might be helpful to others here who are still pissed.

    Some of it is the general hope that we’ll make it work, or that failing that we’ll find a way around this very real damage in time. But I think the majority of it is that I knew this was going to happen on November 9, 2016. I’ve already done processed most of my rage and anger about it. What’s left is an odd sense of resignation (“Yep. We knew it was going to happen and now it’s happening.”) combined with a fiery determination to do everything I can to make it better. Donated to MJ Hegar *and* called my reps on the way into work this morning, and it feels great.

    I don’t know if anyone else here remembers, but our youngest daughter was born about the same time Hillary conceded. Getting this stuff fixed for her and the other young kids I know is the best possible driver I can think of.

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, it’s not like we didn’t know Trump was both a coward AND a hypocrite, right? But it’s always nice to have another arrow in the quiver when we need to prove it to someone.

  25. 25.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    We had a problem with the Lone Star steakhouse and credit cards a couple of years ago. Apparently everyone who paid with a card was alerted to some really spurious charges on the Monday afterwards. One of the lawyers in the lawyers lounge told us that she had apparently just redone someones bathroom in California. With us it was a gas purchase in CA. Bank called us, “are you in CA?” nope. Restaurant eventually closed down and I am wondering if that was why.

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    @oldster: Maybe it seemed familiar because this is the third time in a week that a front-pager has put the same thing up.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yutsano:

    I probably could have gone to the bank to get an instant new card, but I’m at work and I didn’t want to have to wait. They’re usually really prompt about sending the new card, though — I’ll probably see it by Monday even if their disclaimer says 7 to 10 days.

    Now I need to decide how much cash to bring to Saturday’s protest for exactly that “enough vs target” reason. I think $60 should get me by fine.

  28. 28.

    FlipYrWhig

    @rikyrah: I have long thought that such a service could be dramatically scaled up to the point where it could even be in charge of primary care for… everyone. In the name of preparedness and security and the public good.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    @DocRek:

    If you feel so inclined, you probably have some room to tell your fellow citizens that the dude is so crazy, he cares more about fetuses than he does actual babies.

  30. 30.

    Ian G.

    I haven’t weighed in yet on the Ocasio-Cortez upset, but I think the hot takes that piss me off the most are those that ask if the Democratic Party should be the party of people like her, or of Mike Bloomberg. How about both? How about, instead of being a goddamn personality cult to one person like a certain other political party I know, we be a coalition of diverse interests with people from all regions, races, income levels, like a healthy democracy demands? I see it as a good thing that we have a place for Ocasio-Cortez, Mike Bloomberg, Doug Jones, and everyone in between.

  32. 32.

    Mai naem mobile

    I saw a blurb on Twitter that Facebook and Twitter folks met with conservatives at the WH because they think FB and Twitter are liberal. Apparently there’s an email from Jack Dorsey to Twitter employees essentially agteeing with this. WTF? I can’t even anymore.
    Also too, GDP revised to 2 percent. So much for the Trumpov bump.

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne:
    Sorry about your card. That sucks.

    Check out this tweet of the protests going on right now. In the first picture you can see a pink parasol! Not like yours but still, if they can carry it in DC you should be okay with your small one.

    #WomenDisobey: Marching to the Capitol. Almost everybody here has “we care” written on their palms, which they’ve had raised for the whole trip down Penn. Avenue. pic.twitter.com/YMMl8ARVFP— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) June 28, 2018

  35. 35.

    Ian G.

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Is it just me, or has Kennedy taken a sharp turn to the right of late? It almost seems like Roberts is the more critical swing vote now.

    It’s not good that Kennedy is retiring, to be replaced by Janine Pirro or something, but it’s not the galactic disaster that RBG retiring would be.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ian G.:

    Agreed. We are a big tent. Ocasio-Cortez won because she worked her ass off and convinced people to vote for her, not because she’s a woman or a Latina or young.

    She did the work, and she earned that win. That’s the real lesson Democrats need to take from it.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    Trump announces a major U.S. Steel expansion — that isn’t happening

    This is my shocked face. : |

  39. 39.

    Barbara

    @Ian G.: Underlying that question is that “people like her” are fundamentally different from and don’t have shared interests with people like Michael Bloomberg, or for that matter, people like me or you. The amount of unexamined bigotry in that question is infuriating.

  40. 40.

    TenguPhule

    @Ian G.:

    Is it just me, or has Kennedy taken a sharp turn to the right of late?

    No, he’s always been that bad on most issues.

    His dissent is only on a few things.

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    I love that they put women in hijabs right up in front. ?

    My parasol is about that size since it’s made for a toddler, so I think I should be okay unless LAPD is all freaked out and starts confiscating stuff. They don’t have a great track record with protests that support immigrants, so we’ll see how it goes.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    Chris Hayes
    ‏@chrislhayes
    5m5 minutes ago
    More
    The President once again defending Russia’s innocence in electoral sabotage that *helped him get elected*, as he sets up a summit w Putin is the same as his “Russia, if you’re listening” moment. He’s telling them to keep going! He’s rooting them on.

    That’s the weirdest part to me- how everything just goes like normal. Trump is telling Russia to interfere in the next election and Congressional Republicans are actively obstructing an investigation into Trump/Russia. Just business as usual- a Wednesday.

    I thought it would be more dramatic, the implosion. Bigger. I didn’t picture it as so petty, really, like where it’s a take-over of the country but it also involves… Roseanne, and people getting or not getting cheese plates at fancy restaurants.

    That wasn’t in the movie versions, where 90% of it would be petty and boring and involve washed-up celebrities in big roles.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mnemosyne: Prezactly. I have nothing but admiration for her sheer determination to win the nomination, regardless of her policy positions. And I think we’ll see a hell of a lot more out of her than we ever did with Wilmer.

    OT: Sorry about the hassle with the plastic. Sucks.

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I thought it would be more dramatic, the implosion. Bigger. I didn’t picture it as so petty, really, like where it’s a take-over of the country but it also involves… Roseanne, and people getting or not getting cheese plates at fancy restaurants.

    Not a bang, but a whimper.

    Michael Bay was too expensive.

  49. 49.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: OT: Thanks for recommending Duckfat in Portland, ME. Went there for lunch after I fought my way through immigration (Christ, what an asshole!) and it was excellent. Next time, assuming they let me in, I might skip the sandwich and just pig out on the fries. They were magnifique!

  50. 50.

    Mai naem mobile

    Melanoma is aupposed to be somewhere in Phoenix today. She’s in Tucson now. I guess I shouldn’t wish her melanoma on her because it would be uncivil. Tired of being the adult in the room.

  51. 51.

    但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Next Ebola outbreak, watch the response – US borders will be shut down as racist parochialism and idiocy reign.

  54. 54.

    Leto

    @Gin & Tonic: I wanted to say the same thing, but figured I’d be told to stfu. i like it, it’s good, but we have a ton of other candidates who need exposure.

  55. 55.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OT note to Alain: I keep seeing a perpetual “transferring data” in Firefox from some site cdn.syndication.twmig.com that never ends, so my browser is never finished loading.

  60. 60.

    Kelly

    @MisterForkbeard:

    OT, but I was trying to figure out why I felt much better today about the upcoming Supreme Court Fuckery than I did yesterday. And it might be helpful to others here who are still pissed.

    Some of it is the general hope that we’ll make it work, or that failing that we’ll find a way around this very real damage in time. But I think the majority of it is that I knew this was going to happen on November 9, 2016.

    Same.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Mai naem mobile:

    Well, some comfort- I feel like she’ll be tagged forever with her nasty, passive aggressive coat message because she never does or says anything so that one weird jab at the refugee children really defines her. She’s a woman of few words and the only ones we’ve ever “heard” were nasty. That seems to be sticking.

  62. 62.

    Nashville_fan

    “As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” ― Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Letters

  63. 63.

    Mai naem mobile

    @dm: yeah,well POTUS is not a blackity blackity black Muslin Kenyan who wanted to invade the US with ebola so obviously there’s no coverage.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris: I’m glad you enjoyed it. They are magnifique, but a treat best enjoyed infrequently – that is, if you’re interested in living past 50.

    I’ve heard from Canuckistani friends that their interactions with border folks have not been universally harmonious these days. Shame.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    This is kind of funny. I went to the Dem county meeting Tuesday night and this very nice woman who works at a local college wanted to do a voter reg table at a street fair that is coming up. So she’s nice and earnest so it would be “nonpartisan”…

    That’s as far as she got. Flat out refusal to even mistakenly register a Trump voter :)

    There was that angry group murmur, where it’s not just a “no” but a “hell, no” – “I’m not doing THAT”

    I guffawed. About time.

  68. 68.

    Dorothy Winsor

    @Nashville_fan: I’ve been thinking about the fury with which accusations of hypocrisy get hurled. I’m tempted to think they’re maddening but trivial. The stolen Supreme Court seat is the damage. The fact that the R ‘s sanctimoniously claimed to have good reasons is more like a character flaw. And yet, hypocrisy is universally infuriating. I don’t know how to articulate how that fits together.

  69. 69.

    Gravenstone

    @dm: The last Ebola blow up resulted from one or more white people (healthcare workers) being exposed, yes? So in typical fashion as long as it’s contained to Africa and only affecting “those” people media here won’t give a shit.

  70. 70.

    但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.

    @dm:

    Too small. It has to be one where an aid worker goes home and turns symptomatic later.

    That’s when every drawling shithead who has rarely left the county of his birth starts squealing about being kept “safe” while screaming about closing the borders, as of his or her continued useless existence actually does anything for anybody.

    Next time around, we really need to do that white Christian persecution we’ve been promised.

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    @dm:

    I’ve been amazed at the lack of coverage.

    The Department of Health and Human Services is busy with childcare.

  72. 72.

    但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.

    Jesus never did jack shit for anybody.

    Discuss…

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    So now I’m operating on a cash basis for the next week or so.

    Wait. You only have one card? I have a second card (plus a debit card I can use in place of credit if/when that seems like a good idea) at least partly so I can still charge stuff if there’s a problem with my primary.

  74. 74.

    David Hunt

    It is one of my sincere regrets that Ms. Heger lives in a district near my own instead of in it. The only consolation I take from Bill Flores being my Congressman is that he isn’t Louis Gohmert.

  77. 77.

    Nashville_fan

    @Dorothy Winsor: I think at this point – there is not a lot of mystery left about what is going on. I just think that many are reluctant to accept it because it is so contrary to anything that has come before . . . at least in the recent past.

  78. 78.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump trashed Nato, saying it was “as bad as Nafta”, the North American free trade agreement the US president openly despises, European officials have confirmed.

    Trump’s inflammatory remarks – made in private at the G7 summit in Quebec earlier this month – were first reported by Axios and confirmed on Thursday by two European officials. They have added to jitters among US allies about what will happen at a Nato summit in Brussels starting on 11 July, followed by Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki five days later.

    At the tense G7 meeting in Quebec, Trump berated his six fellow leaders of major industrialised democracies for taking advantage of the US, in trade relations and in defence spending. Of the looming Nato summit, he said: “It will be an interesting summit. Nato is as bad as Nafta. It’s much too costly for the US.”

    Via the Guardian.

    Adam, the five alarm fire just went to eleven.

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @TenguPhule: So I guess peace in Europe is one of those things that Donald knows the price of, but not the value of.

    His reign needs to end.

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    Look at that video from DC that Yarrow linked to above — the women wrote “We Care” on their hands and signs.

    That coat is definitely sticking to her like gum on the bottom of a shoe. ?

  82. 82.

    The Dangerman

    @Elizabelle:

    Getting this really strong sense of deja vu with this ad…

    …and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!

    (H/T SNL and Bruinzone site)

    ETA: Oh, pisser, my name/email isn’t saved if I close Chome. Crud.

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: They really do think they’re untouchable, don’t they? The whole world can be swept by plague, and they’ll be left in a billionaire’s paradise of peace, quiet, coke, private jets, and…what? Oh I’m sure the caviar will still arrive at their walled compounds somehow…

    Assholes.

  87. 87.

    The Dangerman

    @rikyrah:

    White House is proposing to reduce by nearly 40% the uniformed public health professionals who deploy during disasters and disease outbreaks…

    Well, that depends on where it is; Puerto Rico or the Hamptons.

    ETA: I figure if the Big One hits the San Andreas during Trump, we’re fucked.

  88. 88.

    Leto

    @TenguPhule: On the bright side, I won’t have to spend 4 months planning certain parts of the BALTOPS exercise. Of course the downside is the destruction of the fundamental western security/economic alliance all so that the WWC could have their fee-fee’s assuaged. #somuchwinning

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @MisterForkbeard:

    OT, but I was trying to figure out why I felt much better today about the upcoming Supreme Court Fuckery than I did yesterday. And it might be helpful to others here who are still pissed.

    Here’s why I am –

    1) Kennedy was no moderate as shown in this months decision so nothing really changes. We get some new, out of touch white guy to punish us for not being like him.

    2) The whole things smacks of desperation. If the Future is Red then why the rush before the election?

    3) The horrified way the GOP senate is reacting. For the Conservatives Row verse Way is supposed keep the God Botherors rvoting Republicans but never go so far as to threaten the majority’s right. Dumb Hand Donald just stepped over that line.

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jeffro:

    As I keep pointing out, they obviously never read Edgar Allan Poe.

    Plagues have a funny way of finding their way through locked doors and over high walls.

  94. 94.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’ve heard from Canuckistani friends that their interactions with border folks have not been universally harmonious these days. Shame.

    I’ve crossed the border many, many times and, yes, it has been getting worse. I think CBP is required to hire a certain number of dickheads. It will be even more fun when marijuana becomes legal in Canada on October 17th.

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    Went out with my teens this morning, and a Border Patrol truck was right in front of me on the freeway. I wanted to pull alongside and give them the finger, but they got off at the next exit, so they didn’t see me as I flipped them off anyway. Then a truck with a Trump sticker got in front of me. It was really ragged, like someone had been trying to peel it off. Why do idiots put stickers right on the car’s panels, instead of on the bumper like they’re intended for?

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    @PJ:

    Just how do you think Harvard amassed that $36 billion endowment in the first place?

    From donations from people whose crimes were much bigger than $10,000 frauds.

  98. 98.

    zhena gogolia

    Boy, my GP is even more depressed than I am. He doesn’t even think we’re going to flip the House, let alone the Senate.

  99. 99.

    但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.

    @NotMax:

    If they do go violent, I’m hoping for casualties among the billionaire class, preferable about three generations’ worth, all in order to drive the message home.

    The message? Don’t be assholes, and we’ll let you enjoy your lifestyles in peace.

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    @TenguPhule:

    Of the looming Nato summit, Trumpov said: “It will be an interesting summit. Nato is as bad as Nafta. It’s much too costly for the US.”

    All good things are supposed to come to the US generally, and Trumpov specifically, without any of us good Americans paying for any of it. We get no benefit from alliances, save that with Putin. We don’t need to keep our word or our commitments.

    It must be so…so very breezy there in the wingnut mind…

    I can see folks within the US military having to weigh historic actions and consequences should Trumpov cross this (pardon the pun) red line. My heart sincerely goes out to them if it comes to that.

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    @dm:

    There’s an Ebola outbreak going on right now. I’ve been amazed at the lack of coverage.

    Ebola in Africa is only a problem here in MAGAT America back when we had that Nigerian Obama as President, capische? Cause it’s transferred by Black Power, right?!

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:

    Hate to say it, but it may save some trouble later if you tuck photocopies of the kids’ birth certificates in your purse. Border Patrol might still try to fuck with you, but they’ll have a hard time going up against a white lady waving documentation at them.

  104. 104.

    但她的电子邮件, fka Le Compte de Monte Cristo, etc.

    @chris:

    I’ve taken to glaring them down and telling them to quit barking if they do it down the jetway and into the passport area. I hate having to play “older white savior”, but some pushback has to come from my class.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @Mnemosyne

    Not to derail the conversation, but am inundated with offers from Capital One, an outfit I’ve never heard of, to get a card (several times each week an offer shows up in the mail). Only maintain one card at present, strictly for online use (never, ever use it in meatspace – pay for stuff there with cash or check only), plus one gasoline company card (which i use maybe 6 times a year, as the local station is no longer that brand), however having a spare might be useful. Anyone have experience with them? Their persistence is enough to make me wary.

  111. 111.

    Dorothy Winsor

    How I feel now oddly reminds me of how I felt right after Kent State. My government was sending people my age to war and paying no attention to me. Every candidate I voted for lost. The National Guard was firing on college students while I was a student in Ann Arbor. It felt like I had to wage resistance even if it seemed hopeless because it was all I had.

    I lived my life, fell in love, did my work. But always, I refused to accept that the powers in charge were legitimate and moral. They gave way only gradually, but they did give way. Obama felt like triumph over them. Apparently it’s not permanent.

    I kind of feel sorry for people coming to political awareness during the Obama era. Their expectations are so high.

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    @Mnemosyne:

    As I keep pointing out, they obviously never read Edgar Allan Poe.

    Plagues have a funny way of finding their way through locked doors and over high walls.

    Yeeeeup. That, and the fact that even if their response is “BWAH BWAH BWAH WE’RE GONNA TOTALLY LOCK DOWN THE BORDERS UNTIL THE PLAGUE PASSES!!1! SUCK IT DUMB LIBTARDS!!”…what happens to the world economy…and their precious stocks & bonds…and their Fortune 500 companies…if we try to ‘lock down’ all our borders, ports, airports, etc? What if everything stops moving? What if we don’t tackle the plague smartly and quickly, which just so happens to take a little gubmint tax money?

    I mean, do they EVER think anything through, or entertain the possibility of engaging their System 2? Does it ALWAYS have to take an ‘underpants gnome’ approach with these clowns?

  114. 114.

    debit

    @NotMax: I have a card with Capitol One. They send out offers to everyone, even high risk people, because volume? I dunno. But they’ve been around for years and I’ve never had issues with my card or using the rewards points.

  121. 121.

    danielx

    @Mnemosyne:

    That’s HAA-VAHD to you, peon.

    Edit: anyone who pronounces Harvard that way is bound to be insufferable. But then, Harvard graduates in general…

  123. 123.

    Mary G

    @Mnemosyne: They go to Tijuana all the time and it’s amazing how much the government knows about people nowadays. He joined the wrestling team at high school and they asked him the next time he went over the border how he liked it, which was scary as fuck. So he should be OK. Neither of them speaks Spanish very well either. The only time he’s had trouble at the border is when he was with a family friend who had a visa that expired soon. They pulled them into the inspection area and went through the car for two hours.

    @Dorothy Winsor: I feel the same way. I thought the country would be in good shape until I died, and now we have to have the same fights all over.

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Anyone have experience with them?

    yes. They’re legit and if you’re lucky, take the $500 offer for a signup. They don’t charge currency conversion fees for their better cards, so great for international vacations.

  129. 129.

    chris

    @Leto: I saw that, poor thing! I’ve been to Pt. Roberts a couple of times but that was more than thirty years ago when the border was much looser.

  131. 131.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mary G: I am so old that I remember when CBP used to be actually nice. One agent even greeted me with a namaste, welcome home, when I was back from one of my trips to India. This was in Boston.

  132. 132.

    trollhattan

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:
    Support for Roe v. Wade and gay rights are two critical areas where Kennedy’s replacement will be vastly different to the worse. He also specifically eschewed originalism, unlike everybody on the Federalist Society’s list. Kennedy was reflexively conservative, but he’s very unlike every Republican appointment since.

  133. 133.

    Spanky

    @Mnemosyne: Coincidentally, I (in Maryland) had some clown in CA get hold of my card and try to use it at a McDonalds. Living large!

    My FCU nixed it immediately, of course. And I get a robocall as soon as something suspicious turns up.

  137. 137.

    NotMax

    @Jeffro

    On Windows? If so, try forcing a clean refresh. CONTROL-R. (Think it may be COMMAND-R on Mac, but not 100% sure of memory as regards that.)

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    Pruitt has been personally directing oppo campaigns against former epa aides

    JFC. Did he cackle “And your little dog too!” while he was at it?

    I am so looking forward to reading Pruitt’s Obit.

  143. 143.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    20 Ohio legislators have signed on to a measure requiring capital punishment for women who have abortions.

    Somebody stop the planet, we need to kick these assholes off it.

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I love whoever this Tweeter is:

    ROTOPE~1
    @RotoPenguin
    ·
    1h
    Maybe Hillary lost the state because people make terrible decisions grounded in magical thinking, rather than using eletist “maths”

  147. 147.

    Leto

    @chris: I can’t even imagine that. I’m at the point to where I think all CBP personnel are assholes. It’s a requirement for the job (active hostility to the public, lack of social skills, toxic view of foreigners, authoritarian to the core). And with Trump’s election, it’s just emboldened them further. I know their union backed Trump, so it’s no surprise.

  150. 150.

    Brachiator

    @dm:

    There’s an Ebola outbreak going on right now.

    Where?

    Do you mean this one? That’s been contained?

    The most serious outbreak of the Ebola virus since an epidemic devastated West Africa two years ago, killed 11,000 people and catapulted the disease back into the global consciousness, is almost assuredly over.

    Out of an abundance of caution, though, health officials will closely monitor the situation for another three weeks before making the final declaration.

    As of Wednesday, contacts of the last confirmed case of the virus have passed a 21-day incubation period without showing signs of infection. That means that no one who was in contact with an infected person needs to be monitored on a daily basis anymore.

    A total of 38 cases were confirmed, of which 14 died. Another 15 people most likely died of the disease, as well. For the past three weeks, all suspected cases have turned out to be negative.

    For an Ebola outbreak to be officially declared over, however, two incubation periods (a total of 42 days) must pass without any confirmed cases.

    So begins the countdown to the end of Congo’s ninth and most worrisome Ebola outbreak.

    I agree that international news often gets pushed to the back pages, but ignorant ass Americans don’t much care about anyone but themselves. That’s why a lot of right wing dopes think that Puerto Rico is a foreign country. And some people think that hurricanes and tropical storms only hit the continental US.

  151. 151.

    Richard Grant

    I cannot claim to have seen a huge number of video campaign ads but that one is jaw-droppingly good.

  158. 158.

    Mary G

    The media seems over it, but the Texas Tribune is doing good work on the kids in custody:

    Immigrant toddlers ordered to appear in court alone

    As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as three years old are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.

    and

    Leaders at three legal services organizations and a private firm confirmed that the children are being served with notices to appear in court. They are not entitled to an attorney but rather are given a list of legal services organizations that might help them.

    I have started a $5/month donation to them, and Jon Ralston’s Nevada Independent as well. The right wing is going to gobble up the TV stations, and someone has to do investigative reporting that’s not beholden to big money.

  160. 160.

    geg6

    @NotMax:

    I have a Capital One card. I’ve had no problems with it other than they keep raising my credit limit. WHICH. I. DO. NOT. WANT.

  162. 162.

    rikyrah

    Why is a co-worker playing a cd of tv theme songs?

    And, why are all the rest of us singing/humming along (if instrumentals)?

    LOL

  164. 164.

    ruemara

    @Yarrow: Considering the Women’s March Official keeps elevating Winnifred Wong & Susan Sarandon, as well as the Indivisible Teams are also a refuge of idiot Bernistas, I’ve dumped them.

  166. 166.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: I don’t like Kasich one bit but if that bill went anywhere, he’d veto it. You can be upset about the symbolism but I wouldn’t lose any sleep over this.

    We’re a very gerrymandered state and the legislature often goes off on crazy tangents that fizzle out. I’m kinda used to it at this point.

  167. 167.

    Ohio Mom

    @Starfish: Yes, she is adorable! And what a lucky baby to have Tammy Duckworth as her mom — that photo is quite the addition to the baby album.

    She will have many historical photos along side the inevitable “first solid food” “first steps” and the like.

  168. 168.

    J R in WV

    @Dorothy Winsor:

    How I feel now oddly reminds me of how I felt right after Kent State.

    I was quite active in the anti-war movement, but came up low in the draft board lotto. I was in boot camp when the National Guard shot the unarmed students at Kent State. My fellow boots were all loudly wishing they had a chance to shoot those dirty communists.

    In reality, in Navy boot camp at that time, the vast majority enlisted as I did, to avoid the combat on the ground in SE Asia. I was silent but vastly angry, and the distrust of the government and dislike of naked power has never left me. Won’t ever.

  170. 170.

    Jager

    I just spent the last 4 hours in our master bedroom, moved the furniture, waxed the wood, vacuumed, dusted and washed the windows, two walls are glass, 15 feet high, had to use a step ladder. I finish the job. As I’m wrapping up the last of the windows, I look at the skylight, it has cobwebs that could star in a horror movie. I’m 6-1 with long arms, standing on the second to the top step of my 8 foot ladder, I could just reach them. Finished, I made myself a sandwich, open up Balloon Juice, hoping against hope for some good news, no such luck. The Jack Daniels in the pantry is looking real good at 2 in the afternoon.

  171. 171.

    Steve in the STL

    @Mnemosyne:

    Now I need to decide how much cash to bring to Saturday’s protest for exactly that “enough vs target” reason. I think $60 should get me by fine.

    Don’t take any more than that–you know Ruckus will be bumming money off you all day

  172. 172.

    J R in WV

    From CBS news:

    Five people were killed Thursday in a shooting at a local newspaper building in Maryland, and several others were gravely wounded, officials in Annapolis said. One suspect is in custody.
    …
    Phil Davis, a Gazette reporter, tweeted that he was in the building when the shooting happened. Davis said via Twitter the gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. He said he hid under his desk and employees heard the gunman reload.
    …
    William Krampf, acting chief of police for Anne Arundel County, confirmed five dead and several others seriously wounded at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
    …
    Sources tell CBS News five other people were injured.
    …
    One law enforcement source says the suspect is a white male in his 20s and didn’t have identification in [sic] him. The suspect is refusing to identify himself.

    The “suspect” sounds like a fascist nut job, more nuts than most shooters, actually. I expect that being mentally ill and unable to participate in his own defense would not mean being released but probably hospitalized behind bars for the rest of his life. That would be the case in Virginia, anyway, I know this painfully.

    Raw Story and the NY Observer report that Milo Yiannopoulos recently said “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight” the right-wing nationalist told Observer over text message. Since the texts are presumably available to law enforcement, this violent British Nazi making a living from being a Nazi should be arrested, tried, jailed, and deported after serving his sentence. Surely there are serious laws on the books that include prohibiting fomenting murder, and other RWNJs who should be picked up for the public safety.

    Listening to NPR it sounds as if having a news room cleared by a shotgun may have woke some journalists up to their exposure to danger on the part of the violent fascists attempting to take control of America. That would be about three years too late.

    I hate that these monsters make me raging angry to the point of violence.

  173. 173.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @trollhattan: The current conservative judges are all Corporate Cons – they are there to protect Corporate Citizenship. Gays and minority money is as green as white people’s money, and there is more of it, so that’s why this stuff stuff passed. This is also why Citizen United happen because Fictional Corporate Lives Matter.

    Now, my thinking is Trump is going to drag out a super culture warrior to blackmail the Senate into protecting Trump from Muller and then replace the nominee with another corporate tool when Trump gets his deal. Or just follow threw on the Culture Warrior just to screw the Senate anyway because Trump never keeps his side of a bargain.

  174. 174.

    dc

    That was amazing. I’m going to donate to her now. I never watch political ads, never, even when everyone is saying, “watch this, it’s great!” This very ad was talked up on Dkos, but that didn’t get me to watch it. I only watched this because Cole said, “This is great”. And it is!

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