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New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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Consistently wrong since 2002

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

Everybody saw this coming.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

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He really is that stupid.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / The Shitlord or Mastermind Question Is Irrelevant Now

The Shitlord or Mastermind Question Is Irrelevant Now

by Betty Cracker|  July 15, 201810:28 am| 234 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Trump-Russia, Assholes, General Stupidity

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Prior to making his way to Helsinki for tomorrow’s performance review with Boss Putin, Trump gave an interview to slobbering fanboy Piers Morgan aboard Air Force One. The interview is so severely cringe-inducing that it might cause more sensitive readers to collapse inward upon themselves and be transformed into a small, indescribably dense ball of shame.

But before we get to that, here’s an excerpt from a slightly more consequential interview Ocher Omnishambles did with CBS:

HELSINKI — President Trump said in a new interview airing Sunday that he hadn’t thought of pressing Russian President Vladimir Putin on extraditing the dozen Russian officials charged with hacking Democratic emails, while continuing to blame Democrats for the stolen emails that upended the 2016 presidential campaign.

“Well, I might,” Trump said when asked during an interview with CBS News about extraditing the indicted intelligence agents. “I hadn’t thought of that. But I certainly, I’ll be asking about it. But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration…”

“We [the RNC] had much better defenses. I’ve been told that by a number of people. We had much better defenses, so they couldn’t,” Trump said during the CBS interview. “I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. They had bad defenses and they were able to be hacked.”

Of course it didn’t occur to him to demand accountability from Putin for the coordinated and wildly successful cyber-attack on American democracy. It benefited Trump, after all, so by definition it was good.

Also, sluts shouldn’t parade around in short skirts — it’s just asking for trouble. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Now, onto the Morgan interview:

MORGAN: I asked if they’d [Trump and the Queen] discussed Brexit.

TRUMP: ‘I did. She said it’s a very – and she’s right – it’s a very complex problem, I think nobody had any idea how complex that was going to be…Everyone thought it was going to be ‘Oh it’s simple, we join or don’t join, or let’s see what happens..’

Just like the healthcare mess in the US, nobody had any idea how complex it was. Related topic — a possible bilateral trade deal between the US and post-Brexit UK:

MORGAN: ‘The sceptic in me would say: ‘What is the incentive for America to do a great deal with the United Kingdom?”

TRUMP: ‘We would make a great deal with the United Kingdom because they have product that we like. I mean they have a lot of great product. They make phenomenal things, you know, and you have different names – you can say “England”, you can say “UK”, you can say “United Kingdom” so many different – you know you have, you have so many different names – Great Britain. I always say: “Which one do you prefer? Great Britain? You understand what I’m saying?’

MORGAN: ‘You know Great Britain and the United Kingdom aren’t exactly the same thing?’

TRUMP: ‘Right, yeah. You know I know, but a lot of people don’t know that. But you have lots of different names. The fact is you make great product, you make great things. Even your farm product is so fantastic.’

A lot of people don’t know that, and Great Kingdom gives great product and has lots of names. Trump also coyly alluded to a secret strategy to defeat the EU in Brexit negotiations that he’d passed along to PM May:

Trump revealed at the press conference he had privately suggested Mrs May activate a ‘brutal option’ to bring the EU to heel.

I asked what it was.

‘Well I recommended her something, I gave her an option, I’d rather not tell you what that option is, but I think she might. I think it would’ve been great, but it’s not too late for her to do that necessarily.’

May has since spilled the beans, and you may want to shoo children or sensitive adults out of the room before reading about this incredibly brutal option. It’s disturbing. You’ve been warned:

British Prime Minister Theresa May has revealed the suggestion US President Donald Trump gave her last week that he claimed she found “too brutal.”

“He told me to sue the EU,” May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. “Not go into negotiations, sue them.”

[Faints. Rallies. Applies damp cloth to feverish brow. Vows to carry on.]

Many people don’t know that extracting a nation from a political and economic agreement with 27 other member states is as simple as silencing a disgruntled former underwear model.

I’m skipping over their discussion about immigration. It confirms what we already knew — Trump is a racist and a xenophobe. Here’s the bit about Russia:

TRUMP: Look, if we can get along with Russia that’s a good thing. I don’t know him (President Putin). I met him a couple of times, I met him at the G20.

‘I think we could probably get along very well. Somebody said are you friends or enemies? I said well it’s too early to say but right now I say we’re competitors but for the United States, and frankly the UK and other places, to get along with Russia and China and all of these other places…. Piers that’s a good thing, that’s not a bad thing. That’s a really good thing.’

At this point, it doesn’t really matter whether Trump is just too goddamned dumb and narcissistic to admit even to himself that Putin boosted his fat ass over the electoral college wall or if he was aware in real time that his minions conspired with Russian officials to swing the election. This level of negligence in the face of evidence of the attack is tantamount to treason.

Meanwhile, confirmed liar and DHS Secretary Nielsen says, “there are no indications that Russia is targeting the 2018 US midterms at a scale or scope to match their activities in 2016.”

That’s a relief. It would be so brutal if we had to…sue them.

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Reader Interactions

234Comments

  1. 1.

    smintheus

    July 15, 2018 at 10:53 am

    Many people don’t know that extracting a nation from a political and economic agreement with 27 other member states is as simple as silencing a disgruntled former underwear model.

    Is that a reference to someone specific – other than Ivanka? Or Melania? Or Hope Hicks? There are so many dodgy people around Trump that it’s hard to keep up.

  2. 2.

    kingweasil

    July 15, 2018 at 10:53 am

    Frist… hahaha remember that one?

  3. 3.

    feebog

    July 15, 2018 at 10:55 am

    Let’s see what Trumpov gives up during his meeting with Putin tomorrow. I’m guessing some kind of modification of the current sanctions. If he tries to withdraw them completely the blowback would be immense.

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    July 15, 2018 at 10:56 am

    I can’t read more of what Trump said than about two lines of text. No lines of text if there is a photograph. I salute your perseverance
    .

  5. 5.

    Humdog

    July 15, 2018 at 11:02 am

    The “best” response from Rs regarding Rosenstein is what Shrub said to Wesley Clark after Clark warned about bin Laden planning an attack in the US, Rosenstein “covered his ass” by releasing the indictments, now the people in charge of protecting the US can ignore him.
    Most Rs are looking to impeach him for continuing to make them aware of their and Russian perfidy.
    It is abrogation of their oath of office as well as continued treason. But pointing that out is just too uncivil.

  6. 6.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 15, 2018 at 11:02 am

    it doesn’t really matter whether Trump is just too goddamned dumb and narcissistic to admit even to himself that Putin boosted his fat ass over the electoral college wall or if he was aware in real time

    You’re getting closer, but narcissists don’t work like that. There is no truth, is no admitting. Those are not concepts Trump has. There is only what Trump wants, which defines the universe – often in a ‘How dare you not give it to me’ sense.

    @feebog:

    I’m guessing some kind of modification of the current sanctions.

    I’m guessing state secrets that will be passed on when the press is not allowed to be in the room.

  7. 7.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 11:02 am

    It’s just amazing how many things Republican presidents think nobody has any idea about.

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 11:04 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I’m guessing state secrets that will be passed on when the press is not allowed to be in the room.

    TRUMP: Let me tell you a secret, Vlad, the American voters are idiots.
    PUTIN: That’s no secret.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    July 15, 2018 at 11:09 am

    Trump aside, Piers Morgan took that session to new levels of obsequiousness. Which is probably the way to play Trump, but … wow.

    Trump’s vocabulary would get laughed at if he were a governor of a small state. Dog help us.

    Come on Team Mueller!

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 11:10 am

    “We [the RNC] had much better defenses. I’ve been told that by a number of people. We had much better defenses, so they couldn’t,” Trump said during the CBS interview. “I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. They had bad defenses and they were able to be hacked.”

    On my morning coffee run, I caught Alex Witt doing her earnest concern troll schtick of “Doesn’t the president have a point…”. She didn’t use those words this time, but I could just picture her “I know this won’t be popular, but” grimace as she phrased the question, did the DNC do enough? She is just awful.

    Also, something that’s been on my mind lately, a year or so ago, even IIRC in the summer of ’16, it was taken as a given that the Russians had also hacked the RNC as well. Has that theory been abandoned for lack of evidence?

  11. 11.

    Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)

    July 15, 2018 at 11:12 am

    @feebog:

    @feebog:

    I’m guessing some kind of modification of the current sanctions.

    I’m guessing state secrets that will be passed on when the press is not allowed to be in the room.

    And I’m guessing that we’ll never know since neither of the participants in the room have any reason to tell the truth. Trump will spout some self-aggrandizing bullshit, Putin will smirk and keep his own counsel, the media will squawk impotently and the Republicans will do nothing.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    July 15, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    One of the scandals that seems to have fallen down the memory hole is that Kushner was doing exactly that – selling state secrets for help with 666.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    July 15, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I am quite sure the RNC and GOP were hacked as well. What else could account for the leaders’ treason, every single time they are called to a decision, it’s party over country.

    I want it all to come down on their heads, hard.

  14. 14.

    Citizen_X

    July 15, 2018 at 11:16 am

    @feebog:

    Let’s see what Trumpov gives up during his meeting with Putin tomorrow.

    Alaska.

  15. 15.

    Quinerly

    July 15, 2018 at 11:17 am

    Best president ever just arrived in Kenya! ❤️??♥️?

    https://www.apnews.com/c9f3ed226c784f25895354b62c2f5d3c

  16. 16.

    piratedan

    July 15, 2018 at 11:18 am

    I’m waiting on Trump to declare war on the Ukraine and commit the forces already stationed in Germany for it….

  17. 17.

    Immanentize

    July 15, 2018 at 11:19 am

    there are no indications that Russia is targeting the 2018 US midterms at a scale or scope to match their activities in 2016

    Which she denied…. But that is some carefully worded bullshit. Of course the scale and scope do not match 2016; the 2018 election is not not a presidential.election and therefore by definition cannot be national in scope or scale….

  18. 18.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 11:21 am

    We live in strange times when the Democratic party can now proudly say we are the party of patriotism, family values, national security, law and order, and religious freedom. In the past, the Republican Party claimed all these monikers for themselves. Not one applies to them today.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 11:22 am

    @tobie: True, but they’ll still claim to be those things.

  20. 20.

    MobiusKlein

    July 15, 2018 at 11:22 am

    I think the DNC should be ashamed of themselves for allowing themselves to be hacked. They had bad defenses and they were able to be hacked

    With zero day exploits out there, any server can be vulnerable, especially when targeted by elite state run experts.
    One of two Fat Finger mistakes, and you might be owned. Dude knows nothing.

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 15, 2018 at 11:22 am

    I so want to be alone in a room with this asshole, just me and him and a tire iron.

  22. 22.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 11:23 am

    Heh. I was mentioning this yesterday: https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1018497447239340033

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    July 15, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: My point is that Trump’s intent and the extent of his active involvement in abetting the Russian attack during the campaign might have been a valid question once. It no longer is. He’s the president now, and he has indicated that he’s not going to fulfill his most basic responsibility, which is to protect and defend the United States.

  24. 24.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 11:24 am

    @piratedan: Please don’t say “the” Ukraine. It’s just “Ukraine.” Like “France” or “Spain.”

  25. 25.

    MattF

    July 15, 2018 at 11:26 am

    I’m making a small guess– the Trump/Putin meeting will take longer than expected. “We had a lot to discuss.”

  26. 26.

    Kelly

    July 15, 2018 at 11:29 am

    @Baud: 40% of Americans and most of the media believe the Republicans. To my dismay.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    July 15, 2018 at 11:32 am

    @Gin & Tonic: ?

  28. 28.

    opiejeanne

    July 15, 2018 at 11:33 am

    @Humdog: It’s that conservative caucus, a small group of insane Republicans that’s going to try to impeach Rosenstein. I don’t think we know that it’s most Republicans just yet.

    I keep holding out for a tiny bit of sanity.

  29. 29.

    jimmiraybob

    July 15, 2018 at 11:33 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: No interpreters?

  30. 30.

    efgoldman

    July 15, 2018 at 11:38 am

    @Humdog:

    Rosenstein “covered his ass” by releasing the indictments, now the people in charge of protecting the US can ignore him.

    Which people? The military? Intelligence? Politicians, sure.

    Most Rs are looking to impeach him for continuing to make them aware of their and Russian perfidy.

    Nope. A couple of back benchers from the kkkrazy kkkaukkus; it will never get to committee. They do the same thing at the state level (see PA and KS)

  31. 31.

    J R in WV

    July 15, 2018 at 11:39 am

    @Humdog:

    Most Rs are looking to impeach him for continuing to make them aware of their and Russian perfidy.

    I wonder if you can vote on impeaching a prosecutor after your indictments have been opened and you’ve been taken into custody?

    Because I’m betting that the Republican’ts trying to impeach an FBI manager are all about to be indicted for conspiracy to defraud the US.

    I also agree with those who think that indicting members of the GRU for the crimes against our Democracy may make treason a crime on the table again. A Cyber war that has such serious consequences as this IS A WAR, and interfering in the conduct of that war would be Treason, in my book.

  32. 32.

    m.j.

    July 15, 2018 at 11:41 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:No.
    Me. Him. A headlock and a hair clipper.
    I could end this right now.

  33. 33.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 15, 2018 at 11:44 am

    Where is the “nuclear football” when he’s alone with Putin?

  34. 34.

    hitchhiker

    July 15, 2018 at 11:47 am

    @jimmiraybob:

    Only Putin’s interpreters. No Americans.

  35. 35.

    feebog

    July 15, 2018 at 11:48 am

    @Bookeater (formerly JosieJ):

    And I’m guessing that we’ll never know since neither of the participants in the room have any reason to tell the truth. Trump will spout some self-aggrandizing bullshit, Putin will smirk and keep his own counsel, the media will squawk impotently and the Republicans will do nothing.

    Well, if as I suggested some sort of modification of sanctions is agreed to Monday, there would have to be an announcement, no?

  36. 36.

    lurker dean

    July 15, 2018 at 11:49 am

    tapper can’t help being a stenographer: ‘Boy, the Obama administration, they really kind of missed the ball on this.”

    The ad is completely killing bj on my and cant be closed.

  37. 37.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 11:49 am

    Has anybody seen this? What? I mean, really WHAT? This must be a hoax, no?

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-pols-push-arming-4-year-olds-with-assault-rifles-in-sacha-baron-cohen-show

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 11:51 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Russians did hack several specific Republic senatorial and congressional campaigns, as well as the RNC. The RNC bit is, I think, a bit of a misnomer. It gets used as a place holder for the RNC, RNSC, and RNCC. They did some minor, and not very embarrassing leaks of Senator Graham’s and a couple of other GOP elected officials’ emails on the DCLeaks platform, and then stopped very early on. The reporting confirming the GOP side was hacked occurred in December 2012 shortly after I put up a post indicating that this was my real fear: that the GOP side was hacked, but nothing released because it is being held over their heads. I had to do an update to the post as the news broke.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @Bookeater (formerly JosieJ): The Israelis, Saudis, and Emiratis have been pushing via backchannels for the President to strike a grand bargain on Syria that gets him what he wants. Which is the US out immediately in exchange for the Iranians out. The problem is the Iranians aren’t going to leave, the Russians have little ability to make them leave, and if the US pulls out it would be very, very, very bad for the region. I’ll have a post on it either tonight or tomorrow AM.

  40. 40.

    gc

    July 15, 2018 at 11:54 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Actually it’s “the France” if you believe that English should use the foreign name rather than its own established usage. And since Ukrainian is a Slavic language, I’m not interested in their views on the proper use of articles.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    July 15, 2018 at 11:55 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The only people who have abandoned that theory are Republicans. The rest of us are pretty sure it happened and that the blackmail information the Russians retrieved is probably one of the reasons the Republicans are so submissive to anything the Russians want.

  42. 42.

    smintheus

    July 15, 2018 at 11:55 am

    @hitchhiker: So once again Trump is providing Putin with an opportunity to blackmail him. Doesn’t matter what they actually discuss, or which treasonous acts Trump actually commits in the meeting.

  43. 43.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 11:57 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Definite articles with the names of states are puzzling. We say France, the French say La France. Puzzling. What do Ukranians say?

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    @Gelfling 545: I find him completely annoying other than as King Julian in the Madagascar movies, but he’s been doing this for well over a decade now and these idiots and their staffs should know better. They’re all now crying foul. That they were manipulated or tricked. They weren’t. They thought this was a legit idea and Cohen in persona a legit interviewer because they’re stupid. It’s how, for instance, Lott gave all those speeches to the Conservative Citizen Council, but had no idea they were white supremacists.

  45. 45.

    smintheus

    July 15, 2018 at 12:01 pm

    repeat

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @Gelfling 545: Ukrainians sometimes say France, sometimes La France depending on whether they’re speaking French or not.//

  47. 47.

    trnc

    July 15, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    @Humdog:

    The “best” response from Rs regarding Rosenstein is what Shrub said to Wesley Clark after Clark warned about bin Laden planning an attack in the US

    Good point, but just FYI, Wesley Clark retired in 1999. AFAIK, the actual briefer to shrub that day remains unidentified. George Tenet was head of the CIA at the time, so I’ve heard the quote ascribed to him.

  48. 48.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Maybe Mueller is drawing out the RNC hack for later-showing the Russians involved in the DNC, maybe the Dutch have more footage. Maybe the malware left behind has clues to where it goes/trail back to other malware. Maybe there’s a record of communications between the Russian servers and RNC servers.

  49. 49.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 12:03 pm

    @Gelfling 545: Since the Slavic languages lack a definite article, that’s a meaningless question.

  50. 50.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    July 15, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Putin has gotten his disrupting of US initiative, the US is fully reactionary and even paralyzed in most international areas important to Russia, he hasn’t managed to get sanctions fully dropped for the rest of the oligarchs, that’s what he’ll mention again, along with mentioning how it looks like the western allies are taking advantage of him (Trump). Remember the setup is that he (Putin) is the only powerful actor that has shown any benevolent intent regarding Trump world.

  51. 51.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: To think that when I was a nice young girl I believed you had to be really intelligent to be elected to Congress.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @jimmiraybob: Apparently not. Reportedly Putin’s English is serviceable.

    ETA: I seem to recall that he met with Erdogan and had no Americans there and no official interpreter but a Turkish foreign ministry person who was there for other purposes was tasked with interpreting – which is a specific skill that requires training and practice, not an ad hoc “hey, you.”

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    July 15, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    @lurker dean: Adblock is your friend.

  54. 54.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    @Kelly: More like 28% when push comes to shove.

  55. 55.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 15, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    @tobie:

    They weren’t exactly your typical conservative, but I tried a version of the red-baiting rhetorical style that conservatives traditionally employed on a “Proud Boys” sympathizer online and it got zero traction. When I called them un-American they basically laughed it off.

    Why didn’t it work?

  56. 56.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think it was a fact that the Repubs were also hacked. It’s just that the media refuses to even ask the questions. They are so inclined toward republican ‘thought’ that even when 99.9% of elected republicans have shown themselves as unfit, incompetent, liars cons and traitors they are still booked on the news shows to continue shoveling Bullshit without pushback from a counter Democratic view point.

    So yes, it was briefly mentioned that both parties were hacked, but since only the dem emails / info was released the media has allowed the repubs to set the agenda as usual.

  57. 57.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    So Bernie Sanders is getting on planes to specifically bigfoot two great progressive women in Democratic primaries – @CathyMyersWI in #wi01 and @sharicedavids in #ks03. What gives? Why would you do that, especially this year?— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) July 15, 2018

  58. 58.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 12:10 pm

    @germy: Context?

  59. 59.

    suezboo

    July 15, 2018 at 12:10 pm

    THE United States of America, THE Democratic Peoples Republic…. Lots of definite articles in the United Nations.

  60. 60.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 12:10 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Which is to say the don’t use a definite article to name their state which is what I was asking about since I speak no slavic languages. Still, as it seems there is no uniformity in English as to whether or not to use the form the the inhabitants designate, it seems to be something not to get too exercised about.

  61. 61.

    Cookie monster

    July 15, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @Gelfling 545: they say calling it “the” Ukraine is insulting. Worked with a few Ukrainians, they’re very clear on this.

    I believe it’s because the name means something like “borderlands”, so adding “the” implies they are part of another country.

  62. 62.

    trnc

    July 15, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I thought Borat was great, although I took things like the Pamela Anderson chase with a grain of salt. I thought Bruno was pretty hackish. It wasn’t very clever on it’s own, and bits like the Ron Paul thing just fell flat.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:12 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Since the Slavic languages lack a definite article, that’s a meaningless question.

    Is it “pedant” or “the pedant”

  64. 64.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: because they’re stupid. It’s how, for instance, Lott gave all those speeches to the Conservative Citizen Council, but had no idea they were white supremacists.

    Ummm, think that’s Bullshit. Lott, believing the vast majority of Americans are stupid used that as an excuse. The media let him play it that way.

  65. 65.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    OK, serious question regarding Presidential “visits”, or meetings – so much about our institutions, it would appear, rests on tradition, or unspoken – or spoken, if not written, protocol – and appears to be blown up and away by Trump’s simple, obstinate refusal to *abide* by any rules, protocol, or precedent.

    Isn’t there actual legislation surrounding how state visits are supposed to go? Or is it just “protocol”? Is this a sign of an imperial Presidency? This “chatty visit” with Putin, with no other Americans present?

    Why isn’t this actually against the fucking law of the land? Are we truly just dependent on the good will and common sense and sense of tradition and obligation of the President? Have we no legal safeguards in place against the hideous specter of a President who exhibits none of these qualities?

  66. 66.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: My intention was to determine how they name their state. No definite article, obviously, then.

  67. 67.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 15, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @hitchhiker:

    You have one job, Finland.

  68. 68.

    zhena gogolia

    July 15, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @Cookie monster:

    You are correct. Russians never have and never will accept Ukraine as a sovereign country. To call it “the Ukraine” is to imply that it is a region of Russia (there’s an equivalent in Slavic regarding whether you use “v” or “na” to mean “in,” but we won’t get into that).

  69. 69.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @Cookie monster: Thank you.

  70. 70.

    Betty Cracker

    July 15, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    @lurker dean: I think it’s a fair question to wonder if the Obama admin should have done more. I bet Obama wonders that himself every day. But it pales in comparison to the far more pressing (because they’re ongoing) issues of why Trump refuses to protect the country he is sworn to defend and the role of the press in distributing the stolen material.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    @suezboo: I’m going over this in my head… seems to me in English we only use the definite article with plurals: The Philippines, the United Arab Emirates. The only singular place name with a definite article I can thing of in English is “The Hague”, and we’re following the Dutch on that.

    @trnc: I find a little of SBC goes a long way. I think he’s very talented but has no editor in his mind.

  72. 72.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    Is @BernieSanders going to allow special interests to run roughshod over Wisconsin by campaigning for @IronStache? Randy's taking money from special interests directly as a "consultant," but refuses to disclose who is paying him & how much he's being paid.https://t.co/aDLrJfBXsi
    — Cathy Myers (@CathyMyersWI) July 14, 2018

  73. 73.

    rp

    July 15, 2018 at 12:18 pm

    One of the front pagers should consider posting this: https://roarfeminist.org/2017/03/27/donald-trump-has-no-values/

    It really captures something about trump that’s bugged me for a long time.

  74. 74.

    Sloane Ranger

    July 15, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    So, to summarise, if you leave your door unlocked while you pop next door and you get burgled, the burglar should go free and enjoy the benefits of your property because you’re entirely to blame for the burglary.

    Also, through what Court of Law is Teresa May meant to sue the EU and for what specifically? Brexit is not some property deal.

    Finally, Piers Morgan may be the biggest suck up in creation but his interview reveals the depth of Trump’s ignorance about a nation he has had business ties to for years and how bad he is at hiding it.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    @Gelfling 545: There is a generally accepted practice of calling people what they prefer to be called, and Ukraine’s position (as well as the position of all English-speaking Ukrainians) is that it’s simply “Ukraine.” Why be a dick about it?

  76. 76.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 15, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    @efgoldman:
    Some seriously inside baseball.

  77. 77.

    Barry

    July 15, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Also, something that’s been on my mind lately, a year or so ago, even IIRC in the summer of ’16, it was taken as a given that the Russians had also hacked the RNC as well. Has that theory been abandoned for lack of evidence?”

    I’m sure that they did, but didn’t need to use it, or used it quietly on some individuals.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    @Betty Cracker: In every other circumstance, Trump does the opposite of Obama.

  79. 79.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 15, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @jimmiraybob: LOL

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 15, 2018 at 12:24 pm

    @suezboo: THE Ohio State University

  81. 81.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    @trnc: Correct it was the CIA briefer on TDY at the ranch in Crawford with him that week. Senior @Humdog: may, however, be thinking of Richard Clarke, who was, at that time, the holdover Special Advisor to the President for Terrorism and Counter-terrorism. According to reporting he had been trying to get traction with the then National Security Advisor Condi Rice, as well as others on the new Bush team about the terrorism issues they’d inherited from the Clinton administration. The same reporting indicated he didn’t have much luck. That Rice didn’t think very highly of him and didn’t want anyone else in the way of her relationship with the President on national security matters. So she iced him out and then demoted him until he got fed up and retired.

  82. 82.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    The Donald.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @Doug R: Mueller’s counterintelligence folks have a full accounting of what was hacked, by whom, and what was and was not done with that material.

  84. 84.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    @Doug R:
    It also could be that he’s waiting to get to the right indictment to let it be known that the Russians gave the RNC info they stole from the DNC.

  85. 85.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    July 15, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: also the Bronx, which, when you think about it, probably also is a straightforward copying of the Dutch.
    Probably depends on how the word was first used, and then the usage stuck.

  86. 86.

    Teddys Person

    July 15, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @Betty Cracker: What Obama did was tried to get the US government to respond. The executive is not the only branch of government. He was willing to act but did not have the support of the Republican-controlled legislative branch. His mistake, the mistake most of us made, was having too much faith that Trump would loose.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @sukabi: It was reported in the NY Times in December 2016.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @germy: Davids’ has a great campaign ad.

    Progress is undefeated. We just have to fight for it. Will you join me?#TeamSharice #VoteSharice #KS03 pic.twitter.com/ZZSrYpQzgG

    — Sharice Davids (@sharicedavids) May 29, 2018

  89. 89.

    smintheus

    July 15, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: They’re proud of being unAmerican; they’re white supremacists and authoritarians first and last. All kinds of American traditions stand in the way of getting the society they want to impose – starting with the rule of law.

  90. 90.

    gene108

    July 15, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    @trnc:

    Believe he meant Richard Clark, who was a counter terrorism holdover from the Clinton Admin, and he was running around with his hair on fire trying to get the Bushies to focus on al-Qaeda. He was ignored

  91. 91.

    Calouste

    July 15, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There’s also The Gambia.

  92. 92.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:32 pm

    @germy: Who exactly is he supposedly showing up to campaign for? As much as I like Randy Bryce, his history is catching up with him. So if you don’t want a neo-NAZI representing WI 1 as the GOP congressman, you need to get behind Myers. Or at least not get in her way.

  93. 93.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    @germy: Ehhh…call me a neoliberal shill, but I am finding it hard to get exorcised over the fact that a Democratic candidate for office got paid doing some consulting work for a Democratic firm. I don’t know anything about the district in question, and don’t have any opinions about whether or not the ‘Stache would be a better or worse candidate than his opponent.

    What I don’t find the least bit surprising is that Bernie would be campaigning for the white guy over any non-white or female – or both! – candidate.

    ETA: As I said, I don’t know much about either candidate.

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I remember when Clarke was moved out of whatever position he held with the NSC (?), he said publicly that he had requested to be assigned to cyber-security. I thought at the time he was trying to put a brave face on a de facto demotion.

    That Rice didn’t think very highly of him and didn’t want anyone else in the way of her relationship with the President on national security matters.

    I wonder what Bush thought of him. I can easily imagine all trump’s complaints about McMaster in Bush’s mouth about Clarke– as I remember Clarke from public testimony and interviews, I can imagine Bush finding him condescending and ‘professorial’

  95. 95.

    Tokyokie

    July 15, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    @hitchhiker: I’ve always figured that Влади́мир Влади́мирович, like most well-educated Europeans, speaks at least passable English. Which is to say he speaks it better than His Esteemed Orangeness does. But Пу́тин sees no advantage in letting the shitgibbon know that.

  96. 96.

    Cookie monster

    July 15, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    @germy: probably.

    He and everyone’s favorite berner, Ocasio, were campaigning for a white dude against a native American woman who is LGBT (her term) yesterday. Dude they campaigned for is ex staffer for Wilmer.

    Ocasio, in her campaign, made a big deal about lack of minority representation in Congress, but apparently that only matters for NY primaries, not Kansas.

    Why yes, I do cast quite a jaundiced eye over this…

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    @Gelfling 545: @Cookie monster: Its what the Russians call it. A linguistic smear to deny Ukraine’s sovereignty in furtherance of some Russian nationalist attempts to appropriate the Rus part of the historical Kyivan Rus legacy for Russia and further strip Ukraine of their cultural and historical inheritance.

  98. 98.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I like Davids and I like Myers. Of course Sanders is campaigning against them.

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @trnc: I can’t stand his schtick, no matter what character he’s created and playing. King Julian is fine, but that’s about it. That said, he’s been very useful in getting idiots to willingly and without fail demonstrate that they’re idiots. So he’s useful, not just my cup of tea.

  100. 100.

    John Griffone

    July 15, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    @MattF: I suspect Trump will come out of his meeting with Putin wearing a small pin with Cyrillic lettering on it reading in Russian “Employee of the Year”.

  101. 101.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    What I don’t find the least bit surprising is that Bernie would be campaigning for the white guy over any non-white or female – or both! – candidate.

    Not surprising at all.

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @lurker dean: I think it’s a fair question to wonder if the Obama admin should have done more.

    I finally finished the Corn-Issikoff audiobook on the Russian campaign last week, and they definitely come down hard on the idea complaining that Obama should have done more, and present blind quotes from “former officials’ and Clintonites that Obama should have done more, but everything they suggest Obama should have done was retaliatory, nothing that could have addressed the things that Russia had done that would were contaminating the election. All the fake news and Facebook posts et cetera that were bells that couldn’t be un-rung. For example, there’s no question in my mind that Russia exploited the Wilmer movement, but they didn’t create it, and I really doubt they predicted it. I still can’t quite grok why so many people found that bellowing, hectoring sanctimony appealing.

  103. 103.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 15, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Why didn’t it work?

    @smintheus:

    They’re proud of being unAmerican

    They think America is defined by white evangelical men. They laugh you off because their gut tells them that you are obviously wrong. Conspiring with Russia helps put white evangelical men in charge of the country. Therefor, they feel solidly patriotic and accusations of being unAmerican bounce off. It’s interesting that non-evangelical conservatives use evangelicals as the standard. Maybe they feel they’re close enough to that it’s in their own interests.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    There are a lot of laws for how the little people are supposed to act. There are not near as many for the uppers. And while drumpf is NOT an upper, in any way shape or form, he was, legally or not, elected to an upper position. But other than that election, the only reason he’s there is that his name is on a few extremely tacky properties. I’ve wondered how many of the other uppers are as deeply in debt as he is, how much of the upperness is actually a scam.

  105. 105.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 15, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I still can’t quite grok why so many people found that bellowing, hectoring sanctimony appealing.

    Wilmer’s message is that he’s angry at the rich, who are evil. You can see why a lot of people are desperate to hear that message.

  106. 106.

    trnc

    July 15, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Yup, that makes more sense. I read “Against All Enemies.” I don’t think I had ever seen the phrase “What the shit?” before.

    He also had the best answer to the question of whether he was profiting off of others’ misery – “They told me I would never work again.” Not to mention, it was actually informative compared to the bulk of the product put out by the interviewer’s news organization.

  107. 107.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 12:50 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Oh, eww. I do believe you’re right about that.

  108. 108.

    maya

    July 15, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    Surprised trumpski didn’t mention “Russian orphans” on the list for discussions with his puppeteer. It was THE important topic he said they discussed at the G-20. You know, the reason he was fist pumping Putin for attention at the dinner table; “You. Me. Bro.”

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/07/06/politics/kfile-randy-bryce-arrests/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

    Democrat running to replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin has history of arrests, including driving under the influence

    CNN) — A Democrat from Wisconsin running to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan in Congress was arrested and pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in 1998, in addition to eight other arrests, according to documents obtained by CNN.

    Two of Randy Bryce’s arrests were more recent — in 2011 and 2018 — while protesting the policies of Ryan and Wisconsin’s GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, but the majority of Bryce’s arrests stem from a single incident of driving under the influence, including three times for driving with a suspended license.

    Bryce launched his campaign in June 2017 to replace Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District and quickly became a rising star for many progressives because of his support for unions, Medicare for all, a $15 hourly minimum wage, paid family medical leave and abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Ryan announced in April that he wouldn’t run for re-election and CNN rates the race as competitive, though it leans Republican.

    Bryce is facing Janesville School Board member Cathy Myers in a Democratic primary on August 14. Bryce had raised a total of around $4.8 million as of March 31, the most recent records available from the Federal Election Commission.

    Bryce’s time in the political spotlight has brought out some unflattering aspects of his past, including the revelation that he was two-and-a-half months delinquent on paying child support to his ex-wife in September 2015, and it took nearly two years for him to pay it off. And this week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Bryce blamed unions for many people thinking that unions are useless and and outdated because, he said, “The labor movement has become lazy.”

    Bryce’s multiple arrests, however, have not yet been reported on, other than those that occurred in 2011 and 2018.

    According to public records obtained by CNN, Bryce was arrested in April 1998 for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol — or OUI– in Schoolcraft County, a small, rural county in Michigan. Though Michigan law classifies the offense as an OUI, it’s commonly known in other states as a DUI, or driving under the influence of alcohol.

    Meet 'Iron Stache,' the Democrat running to replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin
    Meet ‘Iron Stache,’ the Democrat running to replace Paul Ryan in Wisconsin
    Bryce initially pleaded guilty, then later failed to appear in court in Michigan and a warrant was put out for his arrest. Bryce ultimately appeared in court again in March 2003, where he was sentenced to 65 days in jail, though the judge immediately suspended the sentence, and Bryce received credit for one day served in jail and paid $850 in fines. He was also ordered to complete four days of community service.

    In a statement to CNN, Bryce said, “There is no excuse for what I did 20 years ago when I got behind the wheel and operated under the influence. I made a mistake and I regret it. I’ve worked very hard to learn from my mistakes so I can be a man my son can be proud of. I’m not perfect, but I know the struggles working people go through. I understand the mistakes that any of us can make. I’ve certainly learned from mine.”

    Bryce has other arrests before and after his 1998 arrest.

    In December 1991, on his 27th birthday, Bryce was arrested in Wisconsin for marijuana possession, property damage, trespassing and theft, through the theft and trespassing charges were dropped. Court records dating that far back are unavailable, and according to campaign spokesperson Julia Savel, Bryce says he doesn’t remember the court’s decision, though he says he didn’t pay any fine or serve time and believes the charges were dropped.

    After having his license suspended following his 1998 OUI in Michigan, Bryce was arrested three more times for driving with a suspended license and registration in Wisconsin.

    In September 1998, Bryce was arrested in Milwaukee County and pleaded no contest to driving with a suspended license, for which he was ordered to pay a $124.90 fine.

    In October 2000, Bryce was arrested in South Milwaukee for driving with a suspended license and had to pay a $1,000 bond. Bryce, who had recently begun working as an ironworker, didn’t qualify for a public defender, and the court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. In December, he failed to appear in court and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest.

    Bryce was arrested under the warrant in February 2001, and after being held in jail for one day, was released after paying a $500 bond. In March 2001, he pleaded guilty and paid a $200 fine.

    In January 2003, Bryce was again arrested in South Milwaukee for operating a vehicle with a suspended license, though it was later amended to operating without a license. He pleaded guilty and paid a $100 fine instead of having a suspended license for another two years.

    Regarding vehicular arrests that occurred after his OUI, spokesperson Savel released the following statement: “To put this in context, when this happened Randy had recently beaten a late-stage aggressive form of cancer during which time he didn’t have health insurance. He was able to dig himself out of bankruptcy which was related to his mounting medical bills because he started his new career as a union ironworker. Randy has made mistakes, and as he said, there is no excuse for his actions. But he also has worked hard to right his wrong and grow from the experience, like so many other working people find themselves having to do.”

    Bryce’s most recent arrests were for taking part in illegal protests.

    In October 2011, Bryce was one of 19 people arrested for occupying Johnson’s office in Milwaukee. Johnson was not in the office at the time, and Bryce was later found guilty and paid a $75 fine.

    In March 2018, Bryce was arrested with nearly two dozen other activists who were blocking traffic near Ryan’s office in Racine, Wisconsin. Bryce and the others were demonstrating in support of the DREAM Act, which would provide protection for people brought to the US illegally as children.

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 15, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    @Cookie monster:

    they say calling it “the” Ukraine is insulting.

    The Ukraine:Ukraine :: Democrat Party:Democratic Party.

  111. 111.

    Tokyokie

    July 15, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: In other words, not unlike Republicans’ preference for referring to “the Democrat Party.”

    Dang. Not quick enough.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My understanding is that Rice pretty much walled him off. So he had to resort to what we call drive bys. If he say the President walking near his office he’d try to snag him for a couple of minutes, but otherwise Rice iced him out of any significant face time with the President. She was a terrible National Security Advisor.

  113. 113.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: one mention and no follow up isn’t exactly illuminating, is it? They might as well have put it in the classified section.

    Remind me again how many articles have been done on Hillary’s emails….

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @rp:
    That’s narcissism. There is only one value in narcissism. Self. And it’s not really a value, it’s the only thing, there is nothing else. Everything rotates around self. Everything and everyone is not just secondary, but beneath.

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    July 15, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @Teddys Person:
    The mistake made by every one +- and the fact that explains all decisions and actions by just about everybody -+ was there was universal agreement that Hillary would win.

  116. 116.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Bingo.

  117. 117.

    Gelfling 545

    July 15, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Indeed, why,

  118. 118.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @Tokyokie: To an extent.

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 15, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Remember in 2014 when the University of Dayton beat OSU in early rounds of March Madness? Remember this delicious front page?

  120. 120.

    Obdurodon

    July 15, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    It’s absolutely certain that both sides got hacked. So the Russian calculus is like this.

    * Which set of kompromat is strongest (giving most leverage)? Probably the one on the Republicans.

    * Which side is more likely to make a deal? *Definitely* the Republicans.

    * Which one’s more likely to do things that advance our interests, even if they weaken the US? Republicans again.

    By all three standards, the Republicans are the obvious partners/beneficiaries. I’ll bet there were *more* efforts made to get dirt on Republicans. We just don’t hear about it because it was successful. Dirt on Democrats was necessary too, but only as a different part of the overall plan.

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @sukabi: Hillary used email? I did not know that.

  122. 122.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 15, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’m going over this in my head… seems to me in English we only use the definite article with plurals: The Philippines, the United Arab Emirates. The only singular place name with a definite article I can thing of in English is “The Hague”, and we’re following the Dutch on that.

    The United Kingdom?

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    They are also bellowing, hectoring, sanctimonious assholes?

  124. 124.

    hugely

    July 15, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: a bit OT but “the 5” as in there is no life east of “the 5” as we might say in San Diago. We add an article to our routes in cali dunno why

  125. 125.

    gene108

    July 15, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Finally, Piers Morgan may be the biggest suck up in creation but his interview reveals the depth of Trump’s ignorance about a nation he has had business ties to for years and how bad he is at hiding it.

    It is a nation his mother was born and raised in.

  126. 126.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh, my. *blink* *blink*

    And the only real point I was able to make in the absence of any knowledge of this history – that Bernie is going all-in for the white guy – just got *underlined* by the point that it’s a white guy with a history of multiple arrests. Over a woman who is a Janesville School Board member.

    Jesus wept.

  127. 127.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: ???

  128. 128.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 1:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for this link. I’m going to throw some dollars Myers’ way. I’ve been wondering for some time why everyone was treating it as a foregone conclusion that Bryce would be the Dem candidate for WI-1. That always struck me as grossly unfair to Myers, and his refusal to debate her just so imperious.

  129. 129.

    Tokyokie

    July 15, 2018 at 1:15 pm

    @Obdurodon: Dirt on Democrats? Hell, John Podesta’s pasta recipes were spun as salacious.

  130. 130.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Obama always put country first. He thought the other party would recognize the danger and at least be neutral. He wasn’t going to put his thumb on the scale and make Hillary’s administration start under a cloud.
    This is probably what the tarmac meeting between Bill and the AG was about. Bill was worried about shenanigans and Lynch was letting him know she couldn’t do squat in public-of course her FBI director was about to do EXACTLY the wrong thing.

  131. 131.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Trump’s vocabulary would get laughed at if he were a governor of a small state closet.

  132. 132.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 15, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    That makes a lot of sense and I thought something like that was probably the answer. For context, this conversation was about the June 30th Portland protest.

    What struck me about them was they zeroed in on the fact that I thought antifa was the lesser evil when compared to neo-nazis and that anyone fighting fascism was good in my book.

    They tried painting me as some kind of “domestic terrorist” supporting far-leftist. And they even tried denying that the word “cleanse” was inherently violent, eliminationist rhetoric. This is referring to the Oregon chapter of the Proud Boys posting on their Facebook page that they were going to “cleanse the streets” of Portland. It was bizarre.

  133. 133.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @tobie: You know, the *last* time some male Democratic primary candidate refused to debate a female candidate, it didn’t work out so well for the male candidate. And that was the incumbent. Just sayin’.

    On the other hand, this is Wisconsin*.

    *(Sorry, O2, wherever you are today!)

  134. 134.

    Peale

    July 15, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @Cookie monster: I’m going to put a marker down that Ocasio-Cortez will lose her “safe seat” in the fall. She’ll blame the machine for not supporting her. But given that she’s not running to represent Kansas and Wisconsin, she shouldn’t be spending weekends outside of her district.

  135. 135.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I so want to be alone in a room with this asshole, just me and him and a tire iron.

    Why would you want subject a poor, innocent tire iron to that?

  136. 136.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    @Kelly:

    40% of Americans and most of the media believe the Republicans.

    The media does not “believe” Republicans. They just think it makes their product more attractive if they pretend they do.

  137. 137.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 15, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @Peale:
    What the fuck is she doing? I thought she was supposed to be smarter than this? Did Bernie ruin her when she was on his campaign? She was on Ted Kennedy’s staff so what the fuck happened to her?

  138. 138.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @jimmiraybob:

    No interpreters?

    No need. Trump will learn the safe word phonetically.

  139. 139.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    I don’t get the tenor of a lot of these comments about place names, definite articles and what the reasons might be. Let me try this differently: you’re at work, and a new guy starts in the next office. His name is Edward. For the first week, every time you run into him in the lunchroom, you say “Hey, Eddie, how’s it going?” By Friday the person who recommended him for the job comes over to you and says “you know, he prefers being called Edward.” What to do? You can ask “well, how come? Tom in Marketing likes to be called Tommy, and we’re a casual place here, ‘Edward’ sounds stuffy.” You can say “my cousin Eddie hates being called Edward.” You can say “gee, I’m just saying Hi, why make a Federal case?” Or you can just get in the habit of calling him “Edward.”

  140. 140.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 15, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    that the GOP side was hacked, but nothing released because it is being held over their heads. I had to do an update to the post as the news broke.

    The kind of bat shit crazy way some of the Republicans have been acting it certainly seems like that. What boggles my mind it was these Republicans were doing doing that’s beyond the pale for their crazy base that these Congress critters are terrified of it getting out.

  141. 141.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @Ruckus: “Margin call”

  142. 142.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I hear ya. On another note: Sharice Davids seems like an amazing person. Will do more research into her. How many Native Americans are currently members of Congress? Any?

  143. 143.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Anyone who chooses anything but #3 is an asshole.

  144. 144.

    Jim Parish

    July 15, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Bulgarian and Macedonian have definite articles.

  145. 145.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    @Peale:You’re right that she shouldn’t be spending time outside her district. Then again, all campaigns are national at this point. I assume people like her for what she had to say about national politics, not her Queens/Bronx district. That’s certainly true in Maryland where Ben Jealous won the primary in spite of having no plans about how he was going to accomplish anything.

  146. 146.

    Citizen_X

    July 15, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    How about “The Congo?” I had been under the impression that Congolese (whether from Republic of or Democratic Republic of) had thought of it as being Western exoticism, referring to the Congo, the mysterious heart of the “dark continent.” But Wikipedia refers to “the Congo,” and the “Republic of the Congo.” Does anyone know any Congolese (or greater African) thought on this?

    Also, too, “the Labrador.” That’s what it used to be called.

  147. 147.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Canada” is part of a phrase meaning “village”.
    Some European explorer asked an indigenous guide: “What is that called?” The answer “It’s a village”.
    So Canada could be translated to “that village”.
    https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/origin-name-canada.html

  148. 148.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    So, to summarise, if you leave your door unlocked while you pop next door and you get burgled, the burglar should go free and enjoy the benefits of your property because you’re entirely to blame for the burglary.

    If you consider that half of Trump’s base is probably preppers, it makes a lot of sense.

  149. 149.

    Teddys Person

    July 15, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    The Art of Lowering Expectations

    “How this conversation is going to go, I think, will be determined by the two parties,” Bolton told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl Sunday morning. “We have asked, and the Russians have agreed, that it will be basically unstructured. We’re not looking for concrete deliverables here.”

    Source TPM

  150. 150.

    different-church-lady

    July 15, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    Funny how it’s THE United States of America, but it’s not “THE USA! THE USA! THE USA!”

  151. 151.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    @germy: OK, well now that I have received further information and checked out Myers’s site, there is no question whom I would be supporting.

    It wouldn’t be Bernie’s candidate.

    Strange, isn’t it…how we’re conditioned to view white men as the norm, and anyone non-white/non-male as deviations from the norm, in all kinds of contexts. Like, along come these white guys, who claim to be “the real progressive deal, unlike those “mainstream” “corporate” Democrats (funny how many of these appear to be women or people of color or both (“double jeopardy”, anyone), and all these supposed progressive liberals start throwing bouquets around over these “authentic”, manly, vigorous “progressives” and pouring scorn over these effete, “elite” “neoliberal”, weak, womanly “establishment Democrats”?

    And then, surprise, surprise…turns out these white guys have a pretty sketchy history when it comes to trouble with the law, taxes, attitudes towards women, abortion, race/class nexus…but still, all these white “progressives” cry them up as “the *real* face of the Democratic Party, unlike those boring, shrill, neoliberal machine/female/POC Democrats.”

    Even when they do recognize us others as being actual Democrats, there’s condescension mixed in. Like, when my ex, among others, tells me that he voted for Hillary “because Bernie told him to”, I just want to slap him with a brick, like Ignatz to his Crazy Kat.

    We may have come a long way, baby, but dayyum…have we got a long way yet to go.

  152. 152.

    H.E.Wolf

    July 15, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    For those of us who like to get deep into the weeds:

    https://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-argentine-and-ukraine/

  153. 153.

    Doug R

    July 15, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @hugely: Short for “the 5 freeway”. We use the for routes here as well, especially when they go over “the bridge”.

  154. 154.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Miss Bianca: @tobie: I like Bryce. I think he’s got a great persona. And he’s never hid that he’s had some troubles. But right now you need to take that district. That’s achievable. With Ryan not running and Nehlen the likely GOP nominee/candidate, you don’t need to turn this into a rerun of 2016. Let the Democratic primary voters decide who they prefer. Then let everyone get behind that person to beat Nehlen so we don’t have another neo-NAZI in the GOP House Caucus. Steve King is more than enough.

  155. 155.

    H.E.Wolf

    July 15, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    Tell that truth. :)

  156. 156.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @sukabi: Eez a puzzlement!

  157. 157.

    jc

    July 15, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    “I’m guessing state secrets that will be passed on when the press is not allowed to be in the room.”

    The response to this only-Trump-and-Putin meeting should be that each and every Democrat in Congress stands in a long line and one by one they speak into the microphone: “under the circumstances of what is now known about election 2016, this is an outrage and is totally unacceptable conduct by the POTUS.” Or words to that effect. Republicans don’t respond to subtlety.

  158. 158.

    efgoldman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Peale:

    Ocasio-Cortez will lose her “safe seat” in the fall

    To who? A RWNJ? Someone who isan’t running? You can’t beat somebody with nobody.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Tokyokie: Risotto actually. Which, as everyone knows, is Satan’s entree.

  160. 160.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, the people will vote. I just hope whoever loses takes a page from Donelly’s book and immediately, emphatically, and graciously endorses the winner and pledges to work to support her. Or him.

    ETA: I think there’s room for all sorts in the Democratic tent. That’s why we’re Democrats. I have to keep reminding myself of that some days – since I’m as apt to partisan blindness as anyone.

  161. 161.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Strange, isn’t it…how we’re conditioned to view white men as the norm, and anyone non-white/non-male as deviations from the norm, in all kinds of contexts.

    I’ve been accused (by people on the far left and people on the far right) of engaging in “identity politics” as if white straight male wasn’t an identity.

  162. 162.

    germy

    July 15, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @efgoldman: Ocasio-Cortez will win. And I hope she sticks around for a long time.

  163. 163.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @Jim Parish: Thank you. I sit corrected.

  164. 164.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @Miss Bianca: @Adam L Silverman: I need to correct my earlier post. Evidently Bryce and Myers recently debated, which is a good thing. When I left for Europe at the end of May, Bryce was still refusing to debate but evidently that changed some time in June. This is a good thing. Voters have a right to know what the candidates think.

  165. 165.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    July 15, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @tobie:
    What was his reasoning for not debating? That’s not a good look for a candidate. It makes them look weak and afraid.

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @germy: Yep. Me too. So, whenever some white guy Democrat in my part of CO started talking about “identity politics”, I’d either mentally write that person off as someone I would never support for any position in the part on a state level, or – if it was my local party gathering – would immediately say something like, “Oh, I see. So being sensitive to the issues of women and minorities is ‘identity politics’, but privileging a white, male, Christian viewpoint is just common sense if we want to win elections?”

    I’m not always a popular gal at my local Democratic Party meetings. ; )

  167. 167.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 15, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @efgoldman: In a D+29 district that’s nearly 50% Hispanic/Latino, it’s, um, unlikely that an R will win.

  168. 168.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @Miss Bianca: In Bryce’s case the early marketing he did grabbed the attention. Especially as it was framed to corner Ryan. Bryce and his team were selling a compelling story of a regular guy from Janesville, not the son of a millionaire who used social security survivor’s benefits and now wants to take them away from everywhere else. A local guy who served in the Army, protected his country, came home, and had the all too normal problems others do. Marriage failed. Couple of DUIs. But who got himself sorted out, made a decent life, takes care of his sick mom, tries to do right by his son, actually builds things. And wasn’t afraid to go straight after Ryan.

    That was the marketing. Would it work in Janesville and WI 1? I have no idea, I’m not from there. But from the start Bryce was running against Ryan, not Myers. Ryan was his focus and his target. And because of what Ryan has been doing for the past 18 to 24 months, that caught a lot of attention in the news media. Especially on MSNBC.

    Given just how much Sander’s agenda has been incorporated by even many mainstream or more center left Democrats and Democratic candidates at this point, just as it was by HRC into the official platform in 2016, he’d be far smarter stepping back, chilling out, and playing the grand old man of the movement role. In many ways his ideas have won by being accepted and incorporated into the Democratic Party’s platform and into a lot of campaigns. The problem is he only has one gear and that’s annoying a lot of people who actually have no problems with his signature issues.

  169. 169.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Or Hillary in 2008.

  170. 170.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    This.

    My real name is Judith. Until I was in my late 20s, people routinely called me “Judy,” and I was okay with that. Then, for a variety of reasons, I let it be known that henceforth I would prefer to be addressed/referred to as “Judith.” I gave it some time, but eventually realised that people who persisted in calling me “Judy” (because “it was too hard to change”), though I had made my preference clear, were much more interested in their own lazy comfort than in respecting my expressed preference. (My mother was an “Elizabeth,” and spent a lifetime going through the same thing with people who just arbitrarily assumed she’d like to be called “Liz” or “Betty”).

  171. 171.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    @Miss Bianca: White male Democrats who complain about identity politics will one day be “my party left me” Republicans.

  172. 172.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 15, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    I’m not always a popular gal at my local Democratic Party meetings. ; )

    Let’s sit in the back and raise hell.

  173. 173.

    efgoldman

    July 15, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    he’d be far smarter stepping back, chilling out, and playing the grand old man of the movement

    That would require good political instincts.

  174. 174.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    July 15, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Given just how much Sanders’ agenda has been incorporated by even many mainstream or more center left Democrats and Democratic candidates at this point, just as it was by HRC into the official platform in 2016, he’d be far smarter stepping back, chilling out, and playing the grand old man of the movement role.

    This. This behavior is the clearest indicator that Bern’s about getting power for himself and his “movement” rather than actually achieving the policy changes that would improve the lives of the people he claims to advocate for.

  175. 175.

    tobie

    July 15, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I gather from this article that in January Bryce refused to commit to a debate with Myers because he wasn’t sure she would stay in the race. It looked at that point as if he had already tied up the Dem nomination and a third Dem candidate had already bowed out.

    Myers went on to propose 6 debates, which was likely overkill, but Bryce didn’t produce a counteroffer.

    I don’t know when they agreed to the debate on July 8th but they did. Here’s the one article on it I could quickly find.

    In terms of positions, they don’t sound that different. What irritated me was that Myers was being ignored by the media.

  176. 176.

    Adam L Silverman

    July 15, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @efgoldman: @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: All of my lines are open. All of my operators are standing by.//

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @efgoldman: and an ability to see beyond your own cheering crowds

  178. 178.

    raven

    July 15, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me RayJay, or you can call me RJ… but ya doesn’t hafta call me Johnson.”

  179. 179.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    @Baud:
    A lot of them already are.

  180. 180.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The problem is he only has one gear and that’s annoying a lot of people who actually have no problems with his signature issues.

    That’s a pretty succinct and accurate summation of *my* views, anyway! : )

  181. 181.

    Miss Bianca

    July 15, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    Oh, Lord…I should have realized it was ridiculous to get into a FB argument with my right-wing brother. He’s bought the whole “Indictments only for Russians so that means NO COLLUSION!!” schtick. Le sigh.

  182. 182.

    Matt

    July 15, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: It didn’t work because the average white supremacist straight-up HATES America – it’s why they fly the flags of countries that killed lots of Americans and why they’ve lined up to lovingly tongue Putin’s ringpiece.

  183. 183.

    Citizen Alan

    July 15, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    No, the Russians did not create the anti-democratic left. Conservative American business interests had already done that, and the Russians only needed to take advantage of it. But I don’t think there’s ever been a moment when the Green movement was anything other than a weapon to be used by conservatives against liberalism. Sanders & Stein are just Nader 2.0, and I say that as someone who voted for Nader in 2000 and am humiliated at my own naivete.

  184. 184.

    Citizen Alan

    July 15, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Try accusing them of being false Christians who worship the devil. It’s high time we attack the very foundation of the religious right by pointing out its utter rejection of every decent thing Jesus Christ ever said.

  185. 185.

    Jay

    July 15, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @Baud:

    Maybe,

    A lot of White Male Democrats who complain about Identity Politics read too much Brooks and have “internalized” a lot of the MSM and Rethug discussion “framing”,

    A lot of them also like “civillity”,

    I like sending them a copy of Evil Newt’s 1998 memo on how Republicans were to refer to Democrats, and point out how they are being complicit.

  186. 186.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @Jay: There’s a good Newt?

  187. 187.

    danielx

    July 15, 2018 at 2:40 pm

    @piratedan:

    We’ve seen that movie before, and it does not have a happy ending.

  188. 188.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 15, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @raven:

    ?

  189. 189.

    JerryRich

    July 15, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Citizen_X: I always use the CIA World Factbook to determine what they call the conventional long form of a country’s name. There are two African countries with Congo in the name, Republic of the Congo (former French region of Middle Congo) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Belgian colony)

  190. 190.

    Jay

    July 15, 2018 at 2:45 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Only indictments of Russians, AT THIS TIME,

    The Russians indicted are members of the FSO and GRU, so, it was a Cyber attact on the US by a Foreign Government,

    Chimpy McStagger’s ’43 Administration added “cyber attacts on the US by Foreign Governments” to the Acts of War categories.

    So, your Rethug relatives cheering on an act of war against the US and a complete non-response by the Republican Government.

    When’s he going to start cheering on al Quida?

  191. 191.

    The Lodger

    July 15, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: What, no mention so far of The Dalles? (Which really ought to be called the Ex-Dalles because the falls the town was named after we’re wiped out by a dam built across the Columbia River.)

  192. 192.

    Citizen Alan

    July 15, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I went through a phase when I was younger in which I absolutely loathed being called Al. And when that damned Paul Simon song came out, I would have people literally sing it to me when I expressed a preference for Alan. Luckily, by the time I reached 30, I was so bitter and cynical that I just accepted the fact that most people will be assholes about my own name and found other things to be pissed off at.

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    July 15, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @raven:

    Did that guy ever have a second joke? Or did he just make a living off that one. You know, like Jeff Foxworthy does.

  194. 194.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    @Miss Bianca: you might send him the guilty pleas of Papadopoulos, Flynn and the rest of the coffee boys and the indictments of Manafort et al…

  195. 195.

    Jay

    July 15, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @Baud:

    The only good newts are aquatic creatures that sometimes turn into salamanders,

  196. 196.

    raven

    July 15, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Beats me.

  197. 197.

    NotMax

    July 15, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    The what’s in a name commenting puts one in mind of Hyacinth Bucket.

    :)

    Having an IRL first name which is for all intents and purposes immune to abbreviation, have never had to deal with variants, annoying or otherwise.

    @Citizen Alan

    Chester Alan Arthur pronounced his middle name as al-AHN. History has basically said, “Screw that noise.”

  198. 198.

    Baud

    July 15, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @NotMax:

    Is it Max?

  199. 199.

    NotMax

    July 15, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    @Baud

    Bzzzt. Thanks for playing though, and here’s a copy of the home game.

    ;)

  200. 200.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 15, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    @Baud: @NotMax: Clearly it’s Not.

  201. 201.

    efgoldman

    July 15, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    by the time I reached 30, I was so bitter and cynical that I just accepted the fact that most people will be assholes

    What took you so long?

  202. 202.

    Uncle Omar

    July 15, 2018 at 3:17 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Just Trump, the Boss, an interpreter and a dozen GRU tape recorders in the room on the off chance Trump forgets what he promises the Boss.

  203. 203.

    Domestic short hair tabby (fka vheidi)

    July 15, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    The Democratic socialists are meeting at my local. They’re singing Solidarity forever. I feel like crying.

  204. 204.

    NotMax

    July 15, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @Uncle Omar

    Dolt 45 has said he will be bringing an interpreter in with him this time.

    Whether said person gets to exit the room (other than horizontally) – well, that remains an open question.

  205. 205.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 15, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    @Obdurodon: It also might simply been the Democrats had the sense to talk to the press they’ve been hacked and undermined the Russian blackmail attempt while the Republicans wouldn’t admit it because getting hacked is what happens to weak, low energy betas and not Alpha++ wining males like them. .

  206. 206.

    El Caganer

    July 15, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    @NotMax: What, Putin loaned him one?

  207. 207.

    NotMax

    July 15, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    @El Caganer

    :)

    Found on craigivanslist.

  208. 208.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 15, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    In many ways his ideas have won by being accepted and incorporated into the Democratic Party’s platform and into a lot of campaigns.

    What are some examples of things that were “his ideas” that migrated in this way? IMHO the Hillary Clinton campaign was pretty far left by comparison to other modern Democratic campaigns even before anyone was taking Sanders particularly seriously.

  209. 209.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 15, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    But again, this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration

    Can you imagine the HEAPS of shit Obama would be in if he had said, “Pfft, Osama bin Laden? You have to remember, that was all planned and carried out during the Bush administration.”

  210. 210.

    Jay

    July 15, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Nope. The Rethug Orgs and several sitting Rethugs all had their servers sucessfully spearphished by the GRU.

    DCLeaks put up a couple of McCain’s and Yurtle the Turtles emails as “proof of life”, you know, where a kidnapper or hostage taker sends a photo of the victim/victims holding up a copy of todays paper,

    That’s when a bunch of “reliable on Russia” Rethugs fell quiet, a bunch of Rethug “usefull idiots” started sabotaging “active measures”, and a minority of Rethug known Russian assets started collusion and obsttuction of justice.

  211. 211.

    jimmiraybob

    July 15, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @NotMax: Freelance interpreter commits suicide by beating head against furniture, shooting self in back of head twice, swallowing a plutonium capsule, and then leaping over the railing of a 5th floor balcony? Sounds plausible to me.

    Signed,
    Not the Puppet, You’re the Puppet*

    *I would teach myself to love and laugh again if this turned our to be his SS code name……and, by SS, I am referring to the Secret Service…..just to be clear. Note to self, stay away from 5th floor balconies.

  212. 212.

    Brachiator

    July 15, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Can you imagine the HEAPS of shit Obama would be in if he had said, “Pfft, Osama bin Laden? You have to remember, that was all planned and carried out during the Bush administration.”

    And yet I think at one point, Bush said he wasn’t concerned about bin Laden anymore. Also, the Bush administration and its apologists tried to blame Bill Clinton for letting bin Laden happen, even though Bush officials tried to downplay the intelligence.

    But Trump takes it to new heights. He takes credit for everything and accepts blame for nothing.

  213. 213.

    Elizabelle

    July 15, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    WaPost: Former congressman Joe Walsh explains how Sacha Baron Cohen tricked him into supporting arming toddlers with guns

    … Cohen is “a funny guy because he gets people to say stupid things,” Walsh told the network. “He gets people to say stupid things because he lies to them.”

    Walsh was one of the many politicians and pundits whom Cohen fooled in the Showtime comedy’s premiere. The conservative talk-show host appeared in the show’s final segment called “KILL OR BE KILLED” in which Cohen — as the fake Israeli “anti-terror expert” Col. Erran Morad — offers a “solution” to America’s epidemic of school shootings.

    “The NRA wants to arm the teachers. This is crazy. They should be arming the children,” Cohen as Morad says, before introducing his (fake) new program called “Kinderguardians.” The program would arm children as young as 3 and train them to use the weapons against “naughty men.” He makes it clear that 3 is the age limit, however, because “they don’t call them the terrible twos for nothing.”

    …. Cohen-as-Morad then heads to Washington to find political support for his program. Several prominent members of the right wing give just that, including Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), along with Republican former Senate majority leader Trent Lott. It’s here that he encounters Walsh, who enthusiastically backs the program.

    “The intensive three-week Kinderguardian course introduces specially selected children from 12 to 4 years old to pistols, rifles, semiautomatics and a rudimentary knowledge of mortars,” Walsh says directly into the camera. “In less than a month — less than a month — a first-grader can become a first grenade-er.”

    “Happy shooting, kids,” he adds. It’s the last line in the show.

    As Walsh explained on CNN, Cohen duped him by telling him that he was “getting an award from some Israeli TV station because I’m a great supporter of Israel.”

    “After they conducted an interview, they had me read off of a teleprompter talking about some of the innovative products that Israel invented,” Walsh explained. “Then they had me read about this 4-year-old child in Israel who, when a terrorist entered his classroom, somehow he grabbed the terrorist’s gun and held the terrorist at bay. And that was an example of how Israel trains and arms preschool kids on how to use firearms, and boy shouldn’t we do that in America?”

    He said as he read it, he thought, “Well, this is kind of crazy, but it is Israel and Israel is strong on defense.” Later, “we found out this whole thing was made up.” [But it seemed feasible at the time?]

    Walsh said he didn’t realize until 3 a.m. the next day that he’d been “duped.”

    Twofer. Baron-Cohen got one in at the Israeli crazies too.

    Kinderguardians. LOL.

  214. 214.

    James E Powell

    July 15, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    @NotMax:

    People have a right to be called what they want to be called and correct pronunciation is important.

  215. 215.

    Teddys Person

    July 15, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    No worries, nothing to see, move along

    “I go in with low expectations,” Trump said in an interview with CBS news published on their website on Sunday. “I’m not going with high expectations.”

    Asked about his goals for the meeting, Mr. Trump said only, “I’ll let you know after the meeting,” promising “nothing bad” is going to come out of the world leaders’ discussion.

    Source Raw Story

  216. 216.

    japa21

    July 15, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    @Teddys Person: His definition of bad and the rest of the world’s definition of bad are drastically different.

  217. 217.

    Teddys Person

    July 15, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    @japa21: I suspect there was that unspoken “to me” after the phrase.

  218. 218.

    Teddys Person

    July 15, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    Oh for fucks sake, there’s a hat for Trump’s anual performance review.

  219. 219.

    Brachiator

    July 15, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Then, for a variety of reasons, I let it be known that henceforth I would prefer to be addressed/referred to as “Judith.”

    For better or worse, your name sometimes only partly belongs to you. People will give you nicknames or use alternates for all kinds of reasons, not all of them malicious or selfish.

    My real name is common, but not easy for some to pronounce correctly, so I have had to deal with compromises and variants forever. I gave up having a stated preference a long time ago.

    But strangely enough, my brothers and sisters always refer to each other by our first initial, but do not generally allow this courtesy to anyone other than very close relatives.

    ETA. The name thing has always fascinated me. In ancient Rome and medieval Japan, people in Noble families would get new or additional names at various stages of life. Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans often have a traditional name and a Western name. Friends and enemies can tag us with a social name that varies from our legal name.

    Just remembered that I had a co-worker who always preferred to be called Amy even though this was not based on her names at all.

  220. 220.

    gaderson

    July 15, 2018 at 4:36 pm

    @hugely:
    SOUTHERN California, here in the Bay Area we’d look at you funny if you add the articles. I have to decide between 101 or 280 to go up to ‘The City’ (e.g. San Francisco). (We also use their names: Bayshore is 101, Nimitz is 880, Junipero Serra is 280, etc.) I would take 5 to go to North to Oregon, where having grown up there would then be on I-5 (eye-five). When my brother was living in SLO (aka San Luis Obispo i.e. Cal Poly) the agreement was going South you could add the articles, and going North they could be dropped. (The on-ramps to 101 in SLO used to have simply “SF” for North 101, and “LA” for South ─ kept getting stolen so don’t think they’re there anymore.)

  221. 221.

    Mnemosyne

    July 15, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    @Doug R:

    Not surprisingly, that’s why many American Indian tribes were initially known by somewhat derogatory names — explorers and Army guys would ask their scouts (of other tribes) what the name of the other tribe was and it usually came back as, “Oh, you mean those assholes over there?”

  222. 222.

    lollipopguild

    July 15, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    @Brachiator: I went to school with a Rebecca who threatened to kill anyone who called her “Becky”.

  223. 223.

    NotMax

    July 15, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    @lollipopguild

    Kids being kids, someone doubtless then tried calling her “Rebby.”

    ::)

  224. 224.

    HinTN

    July 15, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    @raven:

    My dear friend Bimbo (Dr Bimbo, actually) famously says, “I don’t care what you call me, just don’t call me late to dinner.”

    ETA: He’s from Alabama

  225. 225.

    HinTN

    July 15, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @NotMax:

    I once knew a charming elderly gentleman named Leroy who insisted that it be pronounced Le Roi. I always complied but his peers cut him no slack.

  226. 226.

    Barney

    July 15, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    @Elizabelle: The last time Morgan interviewed Trump, this was the analysis of it (on a BBC show):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooz58aJRWIE

    Morgan whined a lot.

  227. 227.

    Rand Careaga

    July 15, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @hugely:

    but “the 5” as in there is no life east of “the 5” as we might say in San Diago. We add an article to our routes in cali dunno why

    That’s more a Southern California tic, although not entirely unknown in the Bay Area. The definite article is used when referring to a named freeway (“Traffic’s bad on the Nimitz today”), more typically omitted when the numerical designation is employed (“No, man, you want to go 580 if you can—80’s a nightmare this time of day”). I admit that I am hearing “the 580” or “the 24” more than I used to.

  228. 228.

    No One You Know

    July 15, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Seconded.

    Just can’t wait for my Bernie bro neighbor to explain it all to me again. I should dig out a copy of the letter I wrote on misogyny in politics, with screenshots.

  229. 229.

    scott alloway

    July 15, 2018 at 7:24 pm

    @gc: I have always thought we should go by the name the people of the country use; Österreich for Austria, et cetera. Are we the etats unis or the United States?

  230. 230.

    sukabi

    July 15, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    @Elizabelle: the video of that is actually pretty horrifying…

  231. 231.

    chopper

    July 15, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    you mean “the wisconsin”.

  232. 232.

    Ruckus

    July 15, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    @Brachiator:
    Our nicknames also change with time. When I was in single digits my nickname was far different than I now introduce myself. Last year I went to my 50th HS reunion and had a girl call me and introduce me using that name. It’s just a name and it’s far better than say, asshole.

  233. 233.

    Captain C

    July 15, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I still can’t quite grok why so many people found that bellowing, hectoring sanctimony appealing.

    I think a certain number of people like it when such bellowing, hectoring sanctimony is directed at people they also don’t like.

  234. 234.

    afanasia

    July 16, 2018 at 10:56 am

    @Cookie monster: Thank you – related to a few people born in Ukraine, they were also clear on this.

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