Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

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

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

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

Infrastructure week. at last.

The revolution will be supervised.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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112Comments

  1. 1.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    It’s only 85 or so here in NE Ohio, but felt like 100 or so thanks to the humidity. It sucks to go outside and just sweat without doing anything. And I had to drive through a rainburst thunderstorm on the freeway. Fun.

  4. 4.

    donnah

    Gross and hot and muggy here in SW Ohio. “Air you can wear” has been ugly for a while now and if I didn’t have air conditioning in my house, I would have dissolved into a sticky puddle by now.

    Pop up thunderstorms have moved through the area, but instead of bringing relief, they just make it steamy.

    And lots of summer left to go!

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Ah, the bigfooting of Anne Laurie. More volumes published than the Hardy Boys.

    ;)

    August gonna be brutal.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    It has peaked at 97° here in my corner of NoVA. Heat advisory still in effect until 8:00 p.m. Down to 94° tomorrow and 91° Wednesday. Baby steps.

  8. 8.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    I received more sun today than I’ve had in fucking years. I am ablaze.

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    We had our heatwave from mid last week through the weekend but late Sunday afternoon it broke–in about an hour it dropped 15 degrees. Not sure who bribed who but I’m happy to kick in a few bucks for next time. 105+ can go screw itself sideways and yes, per your Tweet continuous ridiculous heat does tend to make you stupid. I can attest. Now somebody go put out all these fires–I can barely see two blocks.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    I know. All this heat, and people all mad and het up. (Rightfully so.) Gonna be a long hot summer.

    Proud of the heat not stopping the 6/30 protests, although it very likely reduced their turnout (which was still impressive).

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    @donnah:
    When we lived in Iowa the parents had three fans–big, medium and small–as their only summer survival tools. They dragged them with us out to Seattle where they collected dust 50 weeks/year. Once you’re away from that hot muggy stuff you wonder how you ever survived it. Ugh.

  16. 16.

    Cermet

    Yeah, as AGW bites in thirty years, days like this in the summer will stay this hot even at 4:00AM for days, and later, even weeks at a time; huge parts of Asia, Africa and some parts of South America will become uninhabitable. Also, Cole, get off my lawn if you can’t take the heat.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    First lady Melania Trump has raked in at least $100,000 and as much as $1 million from an unusual licensing agreement with Getty Images that makes news outlets unwittingly funnel money to her. The photos are also tagged with a glaring stipulation: they can only be used to accompany positive stories.

    According to a Monday NBC report, the positive stipulation is clearly listed on the photos in question — almost 200 images of the first family — but there is no mention of the Trumps’ royalties.

    The information was unearthed in President Donald Trump’s most recent financial disclosure.
    [snip]
    Multiple photos were taken down by various outlets when contacted…. Source

  19. 19.

    CarolDuhart2

    How soon will we start living in bunkers due to the weather? Caves are a consistent 70 degrees, and bunkers don’t take up more space than the usual housing.

  20. 20.

    ruemara

    Oddly, even though it’s 91, I’m wrapped in a sweater. I find AC uncomfortable at work unless it’s around 100.

  21. 21.

    Yarrow

    And this is why I hate summer. By September I’m counting minutes until the first cool front.

  24. 24.

    BC in Illinois

    It helps, if you think of it in Celsius.

    For example, in St Louis right now, it’s 89º, with a heat index (wind chill factor) of 97º.
    But in Celsius, it’s only 31º, with a wind chill factor of 36º.
    Isn’t that better?

    Likewise, I can comfort myself that — whatever my body tells me — I am not yet 21, Celsius.

    (Actually, it doesn’t really help. But it might distract your mind for a moment.)

  25. 25.

    efgoldman

    23 people from 21countries became citizens tonite at ceremonies the Pawtucket game
    I wonder why they want to.

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    First lady Melania Trump has raked in at least $100,000 and as much as $1 million from an unusual licensing agreement with Getty Images that makes news outlets unwittingly funnel money to her. The photos are also tagged with a glaring stipulation: they can only be used to accompany positive stories.

    I loved this story and more should be written about it, because it shows how Trump don’t know shit about the economy, but he is a master at the art of the con.

  27. 27.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: I’ve been to that a couple of times. It’s really heartwarming. (Plus sitting at the game this evening will be ass-warming)

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Kinda reminds me of the time a fairly well respected journalist (John Myers, currently with the LA Times) was trying to do a late show promo at the end of our local news; what he was supposed to say was “a man blows himself up in an outhouse” but he forgot the word “up”. Let’s just say they had to cut the newscast short all the news crew all were on the floor.

    ETA: Come here, nym. Come here, nym. Now, STAY. Good boy.

  32. 32.

    Calouste

    @NotMax: I wouldn’t be surprised if media are going to find a rather unflattering photo of the Third Lady that is not covered by this agreement and use it every time.

  35. 35.

    geg6

    Thunderstorm just rolled through and it dropped temps here quite a bit. But it’s gonna be a humid, sticky mess tonight.

  36. 36.

    это курам на смех

    It’s a scorching 68 degrees F in Portland today. Tomorrow we should hit 73!

  37. 37.

    Michael Bersin

    Over the past ten days or so I’ve covered a town hall on gun violence in Kansas City, Kansas which included students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida and several demonstrations against Donald Trump’s (r) policy of separating immigrant children from their parents and placing them in concentration camps – in downtown Overland Park, Kansas; downtown and on the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri; and in Columbia, Missouri. Only one of the demonstrations involved right wingnut counter protesters. Can you guess which one?

    Why here? Why now?

    Apparently wearing American flag boxers out in in public is a right wingnut thing…

  40. 40.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Cermet:

    Yeah, as AGW bites in thirty years, days like this in the summer will stay this hot even at 4:00AM for days, and later, even weeks at a time

    So…Phoenix?

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @donnah:

    I think Ohio’s humidity is best described as what it’s like when someone sneaks up behind you and throws a stinky, damp, hasn’t-been-washed-in-weeks washcloth over your head.

  42. 42.

    BC in Illinois

    @efgoldman:

    23 people from 21countries became citizens tonite at ceremonies the Pawtucket game
    I wonder why they want to.

    It gives me hope that they want to.

    Last year, I helped a man from Bosnia prepare for his citizenship exam. His English wasn’t all that bad, he was doing practice exams online, he was watching the news, and there was no question he would be able to pass the exam, so we went beyond the prepared syllabus and sometimes just talked.

    We talked about my grandfather — an immigrant from Hungary — and when we got to the Legislative/Executive branch section, we talked about the process for impeachment.
    (It was already a topic in 2017.)

    As I looked around the room — Mrs BC was working with a couple from Vietnam (one north, one south) — there were, from time to time, people from Eritrea, Syria, Lebanon, Congo, Nepal. There were times I felt a bit sheepish and near-apologetic about our country. I listened to the woman from North Vietnam talk about bombings. What can you say? How do you respond to that couple, as they tell you the problems they face bringing their relatives — bringing their children! — into the country. How do you discuss with immigrants and refugees, Donald Trump’s attitude toward immigrants and refugees?

    Yet they were happy to be here. They were learning about the Constitution, about laws and rights. With someone whose English was as good as the man from Bosnia, we could talk about the civil war, about slavery, about the civil rights movements. I could point out how much has changed; we could both see how much hadn’t changed.

    I will always remember the phone call: “Bruce! I am American man!” He was / is happy to be one of us. He is a good addition to our society, to our nation.

    (Not something I can say for some people I could name . . . )

  44. 44.

    debbie

    @Yarrow:

    I count cicadas. Ninety days from first hearing them should be the first frost. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the first frost should occur on September 25.

  46. 46.

    GR

    July has arrived in San Francisco. 62 degrees mid-afternoon and haven’t seen the sun in two days.

  47. 47.

    Mike J

    It’s supposed to get up to 81F here on Thursday.

    Glad I’m not in Quriyat, Oman. Last week it set the record for highest overnight low temp at 108.7F.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @Michael Bersin:
    I would like to give a hearty “Fuck You!” to those assholes and their black and white with one blue stripe version of the American flag. If you really love the flag, fly the same flag everyone else uses and the one prescribed by law. When you replace it with a modified version that’s intended to glorify law enforcement over everyone else, it just shows that you’re a fascist wanna be.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    President Donald Trump has declined a request from Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley to lower American flags in honor of the fatal shooting of five employees of The Capital newspaper last week.

  54. 54.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @BC in Illinois:

    It helps, if you think of it in Celsius.

    Whatever you do, don’t think Kelvin or you will spontaneously combust.

    If one of you guys could open up a wormhole or something to direct some nice warm air down here, it would be much appreciated.

  55. 55.

    Gelfling 545

    Supposed to be in the 90’s again tomorrow & Wed. Then “moderating” to the 80’s. We’ve had 10 to 15 mph winds which has helped a bit and the humidity isn’t terribly high but there were power outages in and around the city last evening due to high demand apparently. Getting the dog out for her bathroom breaks has been challenging. She likes to choose her spot at leisure but she just can’t be kept outside that long in this weather.

  56. 56.

    frosty fred

    @ruemara: I’ve been thinking the relatives etc around the country must finally be trained out of asking me about fires: this one’s actually in the same county, and I could see flames over the ridge the first night. I haven’t heard a peep.

  57. 57.

    Jager

    @Jager: My phone was beeping when I wrote that, my pal Ray wanted to talk about LeBron coming to the Lakers.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    I’ve started doing some research for my upcoming trip to Denver and discovered that the Denver airport has its own squad of service dogs that walk around with handlers so stressed-out travelers can pet them. Is this heaven?

    https://www.flydenver.com/cats

    (Yes, the service dog squad is called CATS for short, though they only have 1 cat on the team.$

  60. 60.

    Michael Bersin

    @Roger Moore:

    After the right wingnuts sauntered past the original demonstration they set up right next to it. After a conversation with Kansas City Police they moved to the northwest corner of 47th and Main. I caught the “fist bump” photo from my vehicle (at the stop light) after I drove around the park as I left the demonstration. One of the benefits of a 200 mm F 2.8 lens.

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:
    I’ve noticed that LAX has replaced its outdoor smoking areas with outdoor areas where pets can relieve themselves. I try to think of that when people tell me how little our country has changed.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    @Jager:
    Told my kid that come next fall when she returns to HS, closeted Laker fans will be back in the open, wearing LeBron jerseys and being insufferable. They’ve been invisible for a decade or more so she hasn’t truly experienced them. It was helpful to her when I equated them to Cowboys, Yankees and Man U fans. I’d rather take a pass but I know it’s coming.

  64. 64.

    Mike J

    @Michael Bersin: I would have guessed Hohumbia for the counter protesters. It is the place where people spoke approvingly of the “border war” with KS when talking football, with pride that they were on the side of evil.

  66. 66.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It’s really heartwarming

    I always love those stories, especially the polyglot nature of the groups. My paternal grandparents took the oath sometime before i was born (they studied at the old West End House) and were rightfully proud.
    It’s just at THIS time, in THIS year, it doesn’t make me optimistic as it usually does.

    BTW, I heard today that ICE is stopping people at the MA/NH line (less than 100 miles from the border) and asking for papers. Can anybody confirm or debunk?

    HEY SAVED MY FUCKING NYM / HALLEFUCKINGLUJAH!

  67. 67.

    JeanneT

    I should not complain, because we got a little break from the heat & humidity today, but all of a sudden there’s an outbreak of flies around my house: big stupid flies that are finding their way indoors every time I let the dogs in and out. Big stupid flies that keep following me around. I have killed 20 big stupid flies today, which is 20 times the number I killed all of last year.

  68. 68.

    sukabi

    @Calouste: find one? They’ve all got photographers that aren’t contracted thru Getty (or should have) they can shoot away, instead of purchasing the right to use photos from Getty.

  69. 69.

    ruemara

    @efgoldman: No it’s true.

    @frosty fred: Mine barely understand the concept of different time zones so I’m not surprised they haven’t checked. I’m in the same county, but I didn’t know until a friend alerted everyone on facebook that they were back from being evacuated. I thought I missed something.

  70. 70.

    efgoldman

    @BC in Illinois:

    I could point out how much has changed; we could both see how much hadn’t changed.

    After he retired, my dad taught English to Russian emigres; I don’t think he ever taught citizenship classes, though.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m so old* that I remember when there were no outside smoking areas because everyone was allowed to smoke indoors.

    *As are you, I know.

  73. 73.

    FlyingToaster

    @efgoldman: The MA/NH line is more than 100 miles from Canada, but not from the Atlantic.

    They were stopping people in White River Junction, VT last month. 94 miles from Canada.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m so old* that I remember when there were no outside smoking areas because everyone was allowed to smoke indoors.

    I haven’t lived in the LA area for long enough to remember them at LAX, but I certainly remember when restaurants considered it a big concession to have both smoking and non-smoking areas.

  77. 77.

    frosty fred

    @ruemara: Not so much time zones as California geography, where mine fall down. This fire has been going on for a few days now. (Incidentally, and touch wood, I no longer need to refresh every page when I arrow to it, to see the new comments.)

  78. 78.

    Jager

    @trollhattan:

    Ray has been a season ticket holder for 30 plus years. He’s excited, after all my years in Boston, I’m partial to the Celtics. When the Celtics come to town Ray takes me the game if I buy dinner. He has great seats.

  79. 79.

    Jim Parish

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Which just means you’re dehydrated before you realize it. (I moved from Chicago to Tucson in 1985, and was nearly incapacitated before realizing what was happening. I moved back to the Midwest the following year.)

  80. 80.

    Michael Bersin

    @Roger Moore:

    Actually, 70-200 mm. With the camera it weighs a ton. When I cover demonstrations I also carry my camera bag with an extra camera and a couple of other lenses. I also keep a digital audio recorder on me running from the first moment until I’m in my vehicle for the drive home.

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    @FlyingToaster:

    U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Thursday filed legislation to curb interior traffic stops made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents without a warrant.
    The bill from Leahy and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would reduce the “border zone” where Homeland Security officers can board and search vehicles without a warrant for undocumented immigrants to 25 miles from 100 miles. Their bill also would prohibit Homeland Security from stopping a vehicle at “dragnet-style” immigration checkpoints more than 10 miles from the border without reasonable suspicion that someone in the vehicle is in the country illegally.
    And it would reduce to 10 miles — down from 25 miles from the border — the zone where Homeland Security officers are allowed, with the exception of houses, to enter private property without warrants as they patrol the border.

    A VT GOP rep says he supports.

  83. 83.

    trollhattan

    @Jager:
    Next season’s Celtics-Lakers game should be a doozy. (My bro is a Celts fan and off-grid at the moment; boy is he ever in for a surprise when he gets home.)

  84. 84.

    Michael Bersin

    @Mike J:

    I didn’t see any counter protesters at the rally in Columbia on Saturday. I didn’t stay for the march – it was too damn hot and I had an almost two hour drive home.

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:
    It was part of an attempt to copy this type of photography, which involves ultra-fast lenses used for close-up photography to get ridiculously shallow depth of field. People who were interested by the linked article (including me) were scouring Ebay for ultra-fast industrial lenses and then adding our own mounts. It was fun because it was a reasonably cheap way of doing something interesting and exotic.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    I have family who moved here long before I did, so I’ve been flying to LAX since I was a kid. You used to be able to smoke just about anywhere inside an airline terminal in those days.

  89. 89.

    Aleta

    @FlyingToaster: I’ve been trying to decide how to answer if I’m stopped before the border on the way to Canada this summer. I want to say that I don’t have to answer questions about my citizenship if they don’t have a warrant. But what I’ve read so far (in older advice from ACLU) is that citizens should comply and answer questions, and noncitizens should have paperwork ready to show. (I’m talking about in the 100 mile zone before the border, not at the border itself.) Any input would be welcome.

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    You used to be able to smoke just about anywhere inside an airline terminal in those days.

    You used to be able to smoke on the airplane, so why wouldn’t they let you smoke in the terminal?

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    All of the Los Angeles bicycle people are aflutter because LeBron is a cyclist and they’re hoping he will help bring attention to our (lack of) bike infrastructure.

  95. 95.

    Miss Bianca

    @TaMara (HFG): Hi, TaMara! A mutual acquaintance has bid me to get on the stick (err, as it were) and let you know I am planning to come to Teh Meet-up in honor of Mnem’s visit to Denver! : )

  96. 96.

    remima

    @Aleta: Am I just crazy, or isn’t it common sense that there should be no law enforcement checkpoints at all, except for immediate danger to the public? Like a natural disaster or guys with guns on the loose who are an actual threat? I still can’t believe that any checkpoints that aren’t at the border are even constitutional.

  98. 98.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic:
    I think his stand might be “I’m pleased to be marching in your parades and to announce that I’m running for reelection.”

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    @Miss Bianca:

    I have already pledged to wear my Hamilton Los Angeles t-shirt so you guys can tell me apart from all of the other short, glasses-wearing redheads with a leg brace.

  101. 101.

    FlyingToaster

    @Aleta: The Supremes have made it legal for them to do so, in refusing to take any cases about Customs and ICE. They can take your phone away when you return through Customs, they can arrest you if you refuse to comply with their Nazi antics. They can bar you from transit if you don’t stand in their “check your bag” line, and have been known to follow people who left the station when they saw the line (I’ve done this at Porter and just walked the fuck to Harvard, and those wankers trail along behind).

    It may be false arrest, and the local DA will toss it the next morning, but they will take you in.

  105. 105.

    Aleta

    @remima: They seem to be pushing the boundaries of the law or certain policies that are still in effect, especially when it comes to detaining and removing people who aren’t citizens from their communities. If agents cross the line of what is constitutional, one has to fight in court to make the claim.

    My impression (may not be correct so don’t go by what I say): It may be OK to make cars stop if they say they have a reason to suspect illegal activity. But it’s unconstitutional to make people answer questions without a warrant. But it’s fine if people ‘volunteer’ an answer to the aggressive-looking person with the badge and maybe a dog. If during the stop the agent suspects ‘an illegal,’ or if they say the dog gave them a sign, then they do not need a warrant to search a car.

    But, I’ve read it’s against the law to detain the people in the car, who can choose to walk away from their car (after their IDs check out? not sure). But somehow the agents believe they may yell or order the people to stay. If they keep walking and an agent draws a gun on them, that might be illegal but probably end without consequence for the agent. But a person would need a lawyer and plenty of time to get a court judgement saying it was wrong.

    So who knows what can happen.

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    @FlyingToaster: Thanks. But… you are saying that people are regularly asked to wait in line to have bags checked before using the red line? Is this a police check for weapons? Does Cambridge/Mass Transit allow CBP to do ID checks at terminals?

  108. 108.

    FlyingToaster

    @Aleta: Yes. It’s been going on since fall 2001.

    The MBTA police cooperate FULLY with TSA/HSA inspections. Basically, nowadays, as soon as they occupy a station, it gets tweeted out and everyone who can bypasses the station because they are as slow AF.

    On the Cambridge/Somerville end of the Red Line, it’s about a mile between stations, so if you’re lucky (and the TSA ain’t trailing you), you can hop a bus from one station to the next. 77/A for Porter-Harvard-Central; 87 for Porter-Davis, 83 for Central-Porter-Alewife. They haven’t tried this crap at the bus termini, yet. I can only imagine the shitstorm if they try this with bus riders at Kenmore or Alewife or Forest Hills.

    In Boston, the Red Line stations downtown are closer together, so everyone just walks to the next station in the appropriate direction. The Orange Line is similar; the big bugaboo is actually the Blue Line, as they have completely fucked up boarding at Maverick and Airport before. The Green Line only gets hit if they try to put up checkpoints at a crossover (Park, Government Center, Haymarket, North Station). The stations are too close together for anyone to wait for the lines.

  109. 109.

    FlyingToaster

    @Aleta: ICE has not tried this shit with the MBTA. It’s not id inspections, it’s bag/clothing inspections for weapons or weapons of mass destruction. Though how the fuck they can tell if my bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper is filled with Sarin or not is beyond me.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    @FlyingToaster:
    Cheney-Bush claimed the terrorists want to take away our freedoms and democratic principles.

    NYT 9/20/ 2001: (Mr. Bush) compared those who carried out the attacks Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to the Nazis.

    From Bush address to Congress in Sept. 2001

    “Americans are asking, why do (terrorist groups) hate us?  They hate what we see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected government.  Their leaders are self-appointed.  They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

    These terrorists (want) to disrupt and end a way of life.  With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends.  They stand against us, because we stand in their way.

    We have seen their kind before.  They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century.  … By abandoning every value except the will to power they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism.

    “We’re not going to allow it. … I ask you to uphold the values of America, and remember why so many have come here.  We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them.  No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith. 

     

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