Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

The revolution will be supervised.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Friday Afternoon Open Thread

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    dlwchico

    That’s probably what I hate most about my job, how it makes me wish the days away.

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    “Based on reporting from multiple sources, the FBI believes that Yanukovych’s government engages in systemic public corruption,” one search warrant affidavit reads.

    On loan applications over a three-month period in 2016, Manafort variously represented his net worth as $15 million, $17 million, $21 million and $36 million, according to the court documents.

    “He is so in debt,” an unidentified person wrote in an email regarding a $3.5 million loan to Manafort from a real estate company on Sept. 27, 2016, the documents state.

    In February 2016, Manafort secured $9 million in loans from Genesis Capital, one he personally guaranteed and another backed by a property in Los Angeles. Genesis moved to foreclose on the Brooklyn house in September 2016 after both sets of loans went into default.

    At one point that month, according to the court documents, Manafort was being assessed over $2,000 a day in interest after missing two months of payments on one of the loans.

    Reposted from below.

    At least one thing is going right today.

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    Trump’s top economic adviser said Friday that the federal deficit is “coming down rapidly,” contradicting estimates by nonpartisan analysts, Congress’s official scorekeeper and a branch of the White House.

    Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on Fox Business that stronger economic growth was creating enough new tax revenue to bring down the deficit.

    “The deficit — which was one of the other criticisms [of the GOP tax law] — is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly,” Kudlow said. “It’s throwing up enormous amounts of new tax revenue.”

    It’s hard to know where Kudlow is getting his numbers. The deficit from January through April was $161 billion, according to Treasury, up from $135 billion at the same point last year. And it will deteriorate further from here, since the Treasury collects a large amount of tax revenue during April when taxes are due for most Americans.

    This remake of 1984 is completely unrealistic.

  4. 4.

    BlueDWarrior

    @TenguPhule: I think the fault we are making is associating this with formal works that have narrative arcs that are discernable.

    We’re playing political Calvinball here, where anything that happens that’s ‘bad’ is always the fault of Democrats/Liberals/persona non grata du jour and anything good that happens is the result of Republicans/business/CEOs/whatever else they favor.

    There isn’t a wider arc to this, it’s just simply “get more power for Oligarchs” and “Make sure no one can take it back from us later”, and whatever that needs to be done to that end is done.

  5. 5.

    lahke

    Committed to feeding 13 people tonight. Why do I do these things? And of course the cat is throwing up everywhere.

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    I got cussed out at work for the first time in a long time. And I’m waiting for a PowerPoint to get released so I view it before teaching my second round of classes July 9th.

    And I’m only working 3 days next week. Quick trip to Tacoma to say good-bye to a bud being deployed then pretty much just coming right back. But I have a longer trip happening in August so definite meet-up chance there.

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I am making a sign for tomorrow. I have no artistic talent so it will be a simple two foot white square with “yes, I do care!” on one side and “VOTE” on the other.

  8. 8.

    jl

    @TenguPhule: Or maybe the 1930s. This reminds me of a couple of early Brecht one-act plays written when things just started rolling sideways with a new top, strong government, run by only the best, top, people. But here today, the plot not quite as dark, so far..

    Livid Over Aide’s Testimony, Pruitt Tried To Ruin Her Future Job Prospects
    By Kate Riga
    After former EPA director of scheduling Millan Hupp testified to a congressional committee that she had tried to obtain a used mattress from Trump Tower for her boss, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt went after her, smearing her name to conservative groups and assuring them that she couldn’t be trusted, according to a Thursday Daily Beast report.
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/livid-over-testimony-pruitt-tried-to-ruin-aides-future-job-prospects

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @jl:

    Livid Over Aide’s Testimony, Pruitt Tried To Ruin Her Future Job Prospects

    I have mixed feelings about it. She was loyal to him.

    Leopards, Faces.

  14. 14.

    jl

    @Brendan in NC:

    They’ll have to refine it, or repeat it a lot more. So far, even people who I consider more informed than average but very corporate friendly pundits and TV talking heads are not biting. I don’t follow Stephanie Rhule, but saw a clip of her bubbling that the Trump economy is doing great, not like the crummy old Obama economy (NO, actually so far, it is the exact same macroeconomy, if you look at the numbers that matter to ordinary people. Interesting that Ruhle didn’t find time to note that the GOPers who passed the tax cut promised huge real wage increases right now, that are not happening).

    Not sure what the likes of Todd and Mathews will do.

    ” @SRuhle
    THIS IS A LIE
    @arappeport
    Kudlow on FNB: “The deficit, it’s coming down and it’s coming down rapidly.” (It’s not) “

  17. 17.

    Yutsano

    @TenguPhule: She committed the most unforgivable sin against him. She told the truth about him. And she made him look bad. That deserves nothing less than complete annihilation as far as the wingnuts are concerned.

    @Amir Khalid: Just a random taxpayer. Was starting to educate him on the appointment process (and see what he needed, I wasn’t busy and could have squeezedhim in) but he was halfway out the door before I was done. He got to the elevators outside and out it came. I think I deserve something more creative than “Fuck off bitch” however.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    They worry that Mr. Trump will make the same kinds of concessions to Mr. Putin when they meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16 that he made to Mr. Kim in Singapore, tilting a relationship that has already swung in Russia’s favor.

    In the past few weeks alone, Mr. Trump has called for Russia to be readmitted to the Group of 7 industrial powers, suggested it has a legitimate claim to Crimea because a lot of Russian speakers live there and continued sowing doubts about whether Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election — or if it did, whether the sabotage actually benefited Hillary Clinton.

    In Singapore, Mr. Trump emerged from a lunch of sweet and sour crispy pork with Mr. Kim to declare he had solved the nuclear crisis with North Korea, even though the North conceded nothing on its weapons and missile programs. Mr. Trump also canceled joint military exercises with South Korea, a concession long sought by Pyongyang.

    The FTFNYT is very concerned. They only mentioned Bill Clinton once in the entire article.

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    @Yutsano:

    I got cussed out at work for the first time in a long time.

    By a coworker or boss? That’s a no-no in the Federal Govt, innit?

    ETA: Never mind. Saw yer reply above.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    @Yutsano:

    He got to the elevators outside and out it came.

    Sounds awful. Probably owes a shitton of unpaid taxes, the jerk.

  23. 23.

    raven

    A second with your hand on a red hot stove is like a lifetime, a lifetime with a beautiful woman is like a second. . .

  24. 24.

    jl

    @Yutsano: The early Brecht plays I mentioned were about hapless obscure fellow-travelers and fascist flunkies caught in inextricable and sometimes fatal dilemmas caused by having to live in a world run by lying, dishonest, thieving, corrupt ruthless, incompetent ratfinks who are trying to grab everything from everybody, including each other. They work better when you don’t feel particularly sympathetic towards any of the characters. The plays would be too depressing f you did.

    I’ll try to remember the names so I can post them for BJ commenter bedtime reading. Any insights into how to survive gleaned thereby may come in handy in the future.

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @Calouste:

    According to that line of thinking Mexico has a legitimate claim on Texas.

    Why would we want to punish Mexico like that?

  28. 28.

    Ohio Mom

    Ohio Son is discovering that being a bus boy gets old — a job he has now had for all of three weeks. He works Friday through Monday, breakfast and lunch, at a neighborhood farm-to-table place.

    This is his first real paying job (and he was thrilled with that first psycheck). He found it with the help of a state Voc Rehab worker, who continues to drop in and monitor/run interference. I am not sure, but I think the restaurant gets a tax break for hiring the handicapped.

    I want Son to keep this job through the summer but after that, my main goal is not pissing off any of the agencies serving Son. Because adulthood is long and I don’t want any burnt bridges.

  32. 32.

    Ohio Mom

    @Yutsano: Gee, my approach would be to be as obsequious as possible when dealing with the IRS (not that I’ve ever had the pleasure of needing to do so in person) but I guess it is popular to hate on gumint these days.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @TenguPhule

    Make way for RATO. Russian American Treaty Organization.

    Even this Congress would choke on that. Or am I being overly optimistic?

  35. 35.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Make way for RATO. Russian American Treaty Organization.

    Even this Congress would choke on that. Or am I being overly optimistic?

    Dah, comrade.

  36. 36.

    Wayne Marks

    It’s kind of weird that Anthony Bourdain is dead and Iggy Pop is still alive.

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    @Wayne Marks:

    It’s kind of weird that Anthony Bourdain is dead and Iggy Pop is still alive.

    I can’t believe Bourdain is dead and Dick Fucking Cheney isn’t.

  42. 42.

    PAM Dirac

    I’ve not only made it through the week, but through a career. I retired today 47 years after first showing up at the National Cancer Institute as a high school student. Between school and working for a NCI contractor I ended up with 32 years of official federal service. Now I will tend my little vineyard, make some wine, and drink even more wine. Oh and I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but there are a considerable number of people on the internet that are wrong, some even on this illustrious blog. I feel it is my civic duty to fix that, but only so far as it doesn’t cut into wine time.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    Hey, did you see my apology from a couple of days ago? I’m sorry I flipped out on you. ?

  47. 47.

    jl

    @Mnemosyne: No, No apology necessary, I realized I was too jangled and taking things too seriously and stepped way from the internet for a while. But, thanks. If I can remember what thread that was, I’ll go check.

    Everything happening now is just what we have expected. Still a shock when it happens, as with other unfortunate events.

  49. 49.

    Ruckus

    @PAM Dirac:
    Congrats!
    I’m having to make a go of it, and we have gotten extremely busy, so for the first time in 5 years, I’m back working full time. I’m not all that amused.

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    @PAM Dirac: Congrats on your retirement! Don’t spend waste too much time correcting other folks’ comments – it just cuts in to your own time and opportunities to be wrong. =)

  54. 54.

    raven

    @PAM Dirac: My bride retired a month ago at 60. Her first retirement check hit the bank today so it’s a good thing I’m still working at 68! She’s happy as a hog rootin in manure.

  55. 55.

    Ohio Mom

    @PAM Dirac: Congrats on retiring. And you have the added satisfaction of knowing you spent those years making a little bit of the world better.

    So many advances in understanding, treating and preventing cancer in those 47 years, and you were part of that.

    Good luck in correcting the wrongs on the internet and happy winemaking.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    It was in one of Adam’s threads that same evening of Kennedy’s retirement announcement.

    Old liberal women need to move out of the way so young men can finally have their shot! is kind of a berserk button for me right now, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    @Jeffro

    correcting other folks’ comments

    No comment is completely worthless. It can always serve as a horrible example.

    :)

  58. 58.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    Old liberal women need to move out of the way so young men can finally have their shot! is kind of a berserk button for me right now, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.

    To be fair to those who have concerns about just the age, losing a senator with seniority due to death or illness while they’re in office really really sucks. We speak from experience in Hawaii. Pelosi should be grooming her potential successor and not do an Inouye.

  60. 60.

    Jeffro

    @NotMax:

    No comment is completely worthless. It can always serve as a horrible example.

    There’s a “demotivator” poster that says something similar about people – “it could be that your purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.” I think it has a picture of an oil tanker sinking on it…

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PAM Dirac:

    Congratulations, and have a happy retirement! Hadn’t realised it until I saw your comment, but today is the 5th anniversary of my own retirement.

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne: You know what I mean. Committee assignments, all the perks that come from building relationships for your district.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    My division of the Giant Evil Corporation had a kitten adoption event at lunchtime today where you could play with and snuggle the kittens.

    Boy, did I need that. A half-hour well spent.

  67. 67.

    Caphilldcne

    Utterly sincere I think Iggy is about the sexiest man alive. Before I came out almost ruined a friendship by telling someone they looked like Iggy. Since it was a fellow Air Force officer this did not go over well. And actually I doubt most of my gay friends would like it either. Anyway he utterly rocks. *wanders off to find my vinyl copy of Fun House*

  68. 68.

    PAM Dirac

    @Ohio Mom: Thanks everyone for the best wishes. It has been a nice career. Academic science has gotten so cut throat, but being in the government I could work on enabling and enhancing the work of others. The part of NCI I worked in, the Developmental Therapeutics Program, has been testing compounds for anti-cancer activity since 1955. It accepts compounds from all over the world and from tiny, unknown groups to big mega companies. I big chunk of what I did was make all the data that wasn’t confidential publicly available for the whole world to use. Over a quarter of a million chemical structures, ~50,000 with inhibition data for 60 human tumor cell lines in culture. Of course it is a grim field in that any bit of success you achieve is always tempered by the work that is left to be done. If anyone wants to see what you tax dollars support you can go to dtp.cancer.gov.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    @Caphilldcne:

    Did you ever see Velvet Goldmine? Todd Haynes’s fictionalized version of Iggy (played by Ewan McGregor) is definitely gay. It’s not a perfect movie, but it was obviously a labor of love for Haynes.

  70. 70.

    Ohio Mom

    @PAM Dirac: I sometimes feel sorry for scientists. It takes them centuries to figure something out, and then after they are finished, whatever that was, is added to the public school curriculum and little kids are groking it.

    Look at genetics. How long between Mendel and Watson, Crick and Rosalind Franklin? Discoveries had to wait until the necessary technology was invented. And now middle school kids have DNA models in their classrooms. Hundreds of years of science telescoped into a six week science class unit.

  72. 72.

    Caphilldcne

    @Mnemosyne: yep. I love that movie a lot. Not so sure it’s that real. Iggy pretty much says he can’t be put in a box so I just roll with that!

  73. 73.

    J R in WV

    @PAM Dirac:

    Congratulations on a long and no doubt illustrious career with an important national institution!!

    Enjoy the vineyard!! My GreatGrandparents and my Grandma had grape arbors on their small farms. I always enjoyed being under the grape vines, and the smell of the grapes. Not to mention being able to pick and eat fruit right off the vine!!

    Had to watch for spiders, tho!!!

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @PAM Dirac:

    Back in the mid 1980s I worked downtown, and parked a few blocks away at a lot where the manager was a friend. Between the two locations was a YWCA where I joined to swim, stretch, and hot tub after work each day.

    You get familiar with folks you see every couple of days… One day it was me and another fellow in the hot tub, and I asked that so common question: “So, what do you do?” And he told me he was a pediatric oncologist! So I said something like that must be grim sometimes.

    He kind of grinned and said words to the effect of “When I started we lost all but 5 or 10%, which was awful. But now we save all but 5 or 10 per cent, so while it can still be grim at times, it’s mostly wonderful now.” Of course, I had no idea things had turned around like that, and I congratulated him on the success rate.

    Thanks for your work towards that success!! What a good thing to think of, compared to politics!

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