SecState Mike Pompeo: I need you to talk to the Ambassador from Niger.
UnderSec African Affairs: Why?
SecState: You need to get them to change their country's name.
UnderSec: WHAT? Why? How?
SecState: Just . . . trust me on this.https://t.co/E9xqOAd4dy— SituationRoomHat (@Popehat) August 13, 2018
… Extremely trying, sometimes. If this were any outlet but Politico, I’d suspect them of tongue-in-cheek snark:
Several times in the first year of his administration, President Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But there was a problem. Midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo — when Abe would be fast asleep.
Trump’s aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on “a constant basis,” but it wasn’t easy.
“He wasn’t great with recognizing that the leader of a country might be 80 or 85 years old and isn’t going to be awake or in the right place at 10:30 or 11 p.m. their time,” said a former Trump NSC official. “When he wants to call someone, he wants to call someone. He’s more impulsive that way. He doesn’t think about what time it is or who it is,” added a person close to Trump…
Trump’s desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux pas Trump has made since assuming the presidency, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings. Sometimes the foibles have been contained within the White House. In one case, Trump, while studying a briefer’s map of South Asia ahead of a 2017 meeting with India’s prime minister, mispronounced Nepal as “nipple” and laughingly referred to Bhutan as “button,” according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting…
Another former Trump NSC official said Trump sometimes avoids saying certain words or names when talking to a foreign leader because he’s unsure whether he can pronounce them properly. The White House official said Trump always wants to be respectful and make sure he gets pronunciations right.
At times, he wings it with unfortunate results. Meeting with a group of African countries at the United Nations General Assembly last September, Trump, in public remarks, referred to the country of Namibia as “Nambia.” (Trump did impress some of his own aides in the meeting, however. “He did a very good job of saying Côte d’Ivoire,” said one.)
Trump also raised eyebrows during the same gathering when he announced that “I have so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich. I congratulate you” — prompting cringes among some aides aware how such talk would resonate on a continent that well remembers the exploitations of its colonial era. (Some African entrepreneurs said they appreciated the comment.)…
Trump’s love of talking on the phone has created special problems for his top national security officials, who say that he sometimes places calls that have no clear diplomatic purpose…
Can toddlers still random-dial strangers, now that rotary and pushbutton phones have effectively vanished? Or are they reduced to punching the ‘last dialed’ numbers for mommy’s work colleagues and daddy’s business contacts? Because I remember my three-year-old siblings were really fascinated by the telephone game, back in the day…
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 13, 2018
In the end America’s downfall would come not from communism or terrorism, but rather … stupid https://t.co/8w9a8RLT1Q
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) August 13, 2018
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
Da phuq ? ??
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1029199693497155584
Perfect GOP Candidate
OzarkHillbilly
The stupid, it hurts.
OzarkHillbilly
Don’t blame wildfires on climate change – it’s environmentalists’ fault, says Zinke Another article that needed to be written, but I don’t need to read. The stupid, it hurts.
OzarkHillbilly
The Republican philosophy is taking over the world: Very fishy: China rules rainbow trout can be sold as salmon
They also taste entirely different. Of course, assuming the fish they are talking of here are farmed and fed the same crap meal, maybe they don’t.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Lakers are similar.
“The specific epithet namaycush derives from namekush, a form of the word used in some inland Southern East Cree communities in referring to this species of fish. Other variations found in East Cree are kûkamâs[h], kûkamâw and kûkamesh.[11] Similar cognate words are found in Ojibwe: namegos = “lake trout”; namegoshens = “rainbow trout”, literally meaning “little lake trout”.[12]”
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Platonailedit
Fucking numbnutz all around.
Platonailedit
Conservatives are assholes everywhere.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Yep, and Brook trout which are also a type of Char:
Salvelinus is a genus of salmonid fish often called char[2] or charr; some species are called “trout”. Salvelinus is a member of the subfamily Salmoninae within the family Salmonidae.
The thing that makes these fish so tasty is the shrimp they eat in the wild and that turns their flesh pink. Farmed fish don’t have that color. Yet. (assuming some enterprising packer doesn’t artificially inject the flesh with food coloring) Here in Misery one can fish for rainbow and brown trout at some of our larger springs and the rivers just downstream of them where the water remains cool enough for them. They are all hatchery raised tho and the taste is lacking.
The laker I caught last year in the BWCA was right tasty even if it hadn’t been feasting on freshwater shrimp (not sure what they forage on up there besides minnows and such).
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I used to fish for lakers, northern and salmon in Lake Michigan.
Melusine
OT but if anyone needs a laugh:
“https://youtu.be/k-LTRwZb35A”
All of shitgibbon’s appearances should be greeted by a veritable outpouring of “Pshhhhhh’s”.
(I refuse to give Vlad the Impaler’s Favorite Dildo the dignity of his real name. Oh damn, I just did.)
NotMax
Sez who?
Telephones through which one can actually hear and make out the words of the person on the other end – what a concept.
raven
@NotMax: Have you seen the ad where Alexander Graham Bell gets a call during a play?
“This is ONE, you must want TWO”!!!
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’ve never had the opportunity. That laker was my first and a bit of a surprise. I had a deep diving plug on for smallmouths while fishing off the precipitous shore of a small island and it obviously went deeper than I was figuring on.
@NotMax: We have a land line, we need to living in a cell hole.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@NotMax: I can’t believe people were forced to talk to each other if they wanted to chat. Barbarians.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ?!
This site in desktop version keeps having a noise start and then cut off (sounds like a train whistle with a drum roll). I notice it never fully stops loading either. I assume it’s some ad.
The ability to edit isn’t worth hearing that on a continuous loop. Back to mobile I go.
satby
@Baud: I hate that people only text now. Lots of times a call would take a minute or two but getting through the equivalent text exchange eats up more than five minutes.It’s maddening.
Schlemazel
@satby:
I keep my speaker muted just to avoid stuff like that on sites I have the ad blocker turned off.
Schlemazel
@satby:
Our grown children do that and it drives me nuts. 8_10 texts when a one minute call would have taken care of it
Jeffro
@rikyrah: I liked the tweet I saw that said the “Unite The Losers” rally was super-small because all of the Nazis were busy running as Republican candidates for office…???
Schlemazel
@raven:
Wife and one son have fished Michigan, I have never had the opportunity but would love to.
Have taken white fish from Superior but they are not as good as salmon
Nicole
I like texting. I get anxious talking on the phone.
Also, it’s really depressing that 40% of the nation takes pleasure in being ignorant, and thus has no problem with the guy in the WH being dumber than a bag of hair. As I recall from a history book I read, it’s an aspect of the American character that has been commented on for over 100 years by writers- Americans’ pride in being ignorant.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: @Schlemazel: My brothers and sisters do that with each other AND they have me included in the family group EVEN THO they all know I don’t text. So some times my phone repeatedly buzzes and beeps with messages that I can’t even read (don’t ask) and wouldn’t if I could. If it goes on long enough I’ll call one of them and ask what’s going on on the off chance it is something I need to know about. It never is.
Jeffro
@NotMax: all this reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where Wally comes rushing into the office and tells Dilbert he’s got an invention that will make him a billion bucks and he’s OUTTA HERE!
Dilbert goes, “what is it?”
Wally says, “it’s just like email, only instead of typing out your message, you pick up the device and you say something into it…AND A PERSON ON THE OTHER END HEARS YOU! Great idea right?!”
Dilbert: …
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ugh! I hate getting stuck in group texts I have no interest in. It has to be worse not getting the actual texts.
Darrin Ziliak
Ironically enough, I used to mispronounce Niger as well.
In the first grade after seeing the country on a globe in class.
Mrs Leach corrected the pronunciation and told me to not say the other word again.
Should we sent Mrs Leach’s ghost to the White House to tutor the President?
satby
@Schlemazel: INORITE?!
@Schlemazel: it comes through even with the speaker down, and it comes back if I try to mute this page only. Doesn’t happen in mobile, so it’s one of the Taboola ads or something. Problem solved by switching back to mobile, so no worries.
satby
Gotta get going, have to get to the market, drop some stuff off, drive to Zolman’s to drop off the car for them to check and probably replace my brake pads. Then walk back to the market. At least right now it’s decently cool.
Everyone have a great day!
debbie
@Platonailedit:
Colbert was all over this last night. I can not conceive of an adult who doesn’t know about time zones.
NotMax
@Baud
90-year-old Mom has a ‘just in case’ cell phone. Just in case the car gets a flat or breaks down.
So basic a unit (yes, it’s a flip phone) it doesn’t sport Bluetooth, thus cannot sync with the gadgetry in her car. I presume she’s savvy enough to not go fishing in her purse for it should it ring when she’s on the road.
She uses a landline at home.
A Ghost To Most
@Melusine:
Vlad’s favorite dildo has a nice ring to it.
Olivia
Has none of the “only the best” White House staff ever thought to phonetically spell names and difficult words for the cretin in chief?
A Ghost To Most
@A Ghost To Most: Steely Don?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Olivia: Hell’s bells, he had trouble with LGBTQ.
Duane
If you want to keep Trumpov amused and out of your hair all day, tell him about Lake Titicaca.
Ken
Opinions on the shape of the world differ. Some think it’s round so the sun’s at a different angle depending where you stand, others…
MattF
I think not ‘getting’ time zones is a result of narcissism– “If it’s ten o’clock for me, it’s ten o’clock everywhere.”
OzarkHillbilly
When did pipe bombs become the equivalent of nuclear weapons?
North Carolina air traffic controller charged with weapon of mass destruction over pipe bomb
Oh wait a minute, I’ll bet it was when prisons became profit centers. “Explosive device” isn’t anywhere near as scary as “Weapon of Mass Destruction”.
Ken
A valuable lesson: Don’t be nice to the narcissist, or he’ll call you at all hours hoping to get another kind word.
On the other hand if you’re mean, he might drunk-dial you at all hours to yell abuse.
Ian G.
I see I’m not the only one who immediately thought of Homer Sinmpson and “U-R-Gay” when I read that Politico piece.
We elected someone with the intelligence and worldliness of Homer, but none of his warmth and humanity.
Mike J
The worst part of the time zone story isn’t the time zone part. It’s that he’s calling leaders of other countries to talk off the cuff. A phone call from the president of the US to a world leader is usually carefully plotted with all the points that need to be covered (and the points that need to be avoided) spelled out and briefed.
And of course State can make sure the call is scheduled properly.
Baud
@satby: Hard to do emojis with voice.
Litlebritdifrnt
Twitler is up and is sinking to the depths this morning.
JGabriel
Fixed it for you, Politico!
MattF
@Litlebritdifrnt: My guess is that Trump found Omarosa to be physically intimidating. He can’t let that go.
NotMax
@MattF
Then there’s the East coast time zone predilection of certain blogs…
:)
@Baud
And this is a bad thing because?
Platonailedit
corrupt & crass.
What a scummy third rate pos for the leader of free world.
NotMax
@Litlebritdifrnt
Someone edited the word bitch.
Elizabelle
Some good news out of bad: an elderly North Carolina couple’s new Ford SUV was stolen from the Richmond VA area Sunday morning, with their toy poodle in his little crate inside. (Car left with A/C running while couple was getting fast food breakfast; couple thinks car may not have locked because husband’s key fob was still inside the vehicle.)
Anyway, Skippy the poodle has shown up, safe and sound. They got their car back earlier, but Skippy was their heart.
Local paper has a photo of Skippy sporting his water vest.
I think Skippy was just let loose at some point after story hit the local news — and it did, fast. Everyone was concerned about the missing poodle. And Sunday was unbelievably hot. Lucky someone spotted him Monday afternoon and called animal control so fast.
Watch out for those key fobs and other newfangled technology. And takeout is good.
If only the VonHoorns had known they could just drive less than a mile up Church Hill to Libby Hill Park, and treat Skippy and themselves to a view of Richmond, a bend in the James River, and miles around. Naturally, a tall statue honoring Confederates too. Le sigh.
Keep those traveling pets safe. Poor VonHoorns still lost their luggage, her cell phone, some paintings. Not happy about these fricking RVA thieves. Car thefts are up 20% this year.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
Well there it is, right there: Trump isn’t really an adult, is he?
OzarkHillbilly
@MattF: Via Anne’s afternoon thread yesterday, I found this:
Inside Omarosa’s reign of terror
I’m still laughing at these pansy asses.
Kay
@Litlebritdifrnt:
They paid her a lot even after they fired her to keep her quiet. You see how effective that was. She got paid once when they hired her, again when they fired her and now she’ll get paid again profiting off the tapes she made of them.
Omarosa is kicking Donald Trump’s ass in this deal and there’s no end in sight. She’s trouncing them, three times and counting. If she’s stupid then what are they?
Another Scott
@OzarkHillbilly: Interesting.
Of course, misidentification of fish in US markets is a big problem as well. E.g.
It’s a big problem, and likely to get worse as fish stocks are further depleted.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@NotMax: ?
Platonailedit
@OzarkHillbilly: Indeed. Fucking coterie of cowards.
Platonailedit
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Doesn’t take much to skeer those Republicans. They are quaking in their boots at Nancy Pelosi. Including the Republican (humpers) running NBC and MSNBC.
WRT Omarosa: I’d never seen footage of her before yesterday. She did control the interview with Savannah Guthrie, who was acting like an overcaffeinated terrier to begin with. Yipping out questions and not allowing Omorosa to emit more than a few syllables. Not impressed in the slightest with NBC’s highly paid “talent.”
Nancy Smash on MSNBC Sunday, for those who missed it. AM Joy show.
raven
@Schlemazel: Try this some time!
Door County Fish Boil!
Kay
@Platonailedit:
The faith these people have in their ridiculous, unenforceable contracts is something to behold. It reminds of the super deal they made with North Korea. Coddled. They’ve never encountered people who hit back.
Kay
@Platonailedit:
The tough guys in the White House are going to sue Omarosa – she violated the NDA! That’ll learn her.
Oh, they’re very scary! She better run from their crappy, cut rate legal team! Hell hath no fury like coddled rich people and their lawyers!
Platonailedit
@Kay: Yeah, I bet she’ll back off now. Fucking mindless moron.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Nancy knows what is important and what it takes to get it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Elizabelle: I love Pelosi. She’s good at her job. She raises money, enforces discipline, and protects her people to the extent she can. Also, she’s a nana.
ETA: My DIL invited me to go to the movies with her tomorrow to see “Christopher Robin,” which my son won’t go to. I am ridiculously pleased she asked me.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: We should have her back. She’s effective.
Ken
@Kay: Given how often Trump’s crack legal team has botched up, the lawsuit will probably result in the NDAs being ruled unenforceable.
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Sounds like a good outing. I think lamh might have seen it. Enjoy.
danielx
@Platonailedit:
Never perused the Kama Sutra, have they then?
Kay
@Platonailedit:
All of these people are liars. Why is Omarosa less credible than the rest of them?
She’s exactly as credible as Huckabee-Sanders. More so, really. She hasn’t lied to media and the public as often.
Kelly is a liar too and so is Sessions. The President, of course, lies multiple times a day and has for 2 years. Manafaort, Cohen, Don Jr. – all documented and verified liars. I take her exactly as seriously as I take any of the rest of them. There’s no reason to draw a distinction, other than race and class and relative power. If this is some objective measure of character she’s no worse than any of them and better than some of them.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay:
So take her to court, dude. See how enforceable it is. You love threatening to take people to court, do it for real this time.
hueyplong
The mere existence of a NDA in favor of a Dem president would generate impeachment hearings.
“Why are they trying to silence Ms X?!?” Or some such.
Dave
@Kay: I have no truck with Omarossa but not going to lie watching her stomp all over these schmucks is a guilty pleasure.
Particularly because she recognizes that fundamentally they have no strength just a limited set of selfish grasping grifts and they can’t handle it when they are dealing with someone that will use the same methods but doesn’t care about what they do in return.
Kay
@Ken:
Omarosa cares about as much about the NDA as North Korea cares about the Trump deal- not at all.
Why are they so terrified of anyone revealing the things they say in the administration, BTW? They’re supposed to be at work, working. There shouldn’t be anything embarrassing in their workplace communications. WTF are they up to on the public dime?
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: “Just wait until I tell my lawyer. He’s gonna beat you up!” What every rich tough guy says.
Ken
@Kay:
Stealing it.
Baud
@Elizabelle: That’s beautiful.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken: The NDA is on it’s face illegal. These people don’t work for trump, the work for the US govt.
Kay
@Dave:
I love the snobbery. Oh, yes, Omarosa is MUCH more sleazy than Donald Trump. Yes, sir. She’ll never meet the high character and behavior standards of the Trump Administration! That’s why they’re all terrified she’ll reveal recordings of them- because they adhere to such high standards.
It’s pure snobbery. They’re no better than she is. They’re just more powerful.
Baud
This is my shocked face.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-strategy-of-black-support-not-working/amp/
Platonailedit
@Kay:
Exactly. All the other corrupt scums of this corruptest regime have enacted hurtful policies while lying about them and making money out of them. I rate her the most honorable thief among these louts.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Right. Then there’s the huge group of people who don’t give a shit. They just met one.
Omarosa is correct on the law, BTW. Their garbage contract is unenforceable. She’s better at even that than they are.
I worry a liitle about her- like I worried about the other target of this ridiculous snobbery- Stormy Daniels. Trump is bad person and he hires bad people and they are powerful. A corrupted DOJ and FBI could really do some damage to an individual citizen who got on the wrong side of Dear Leader.
Platonailedit
The media ‘dogs’. The enablers of these scums.
Kay
Well, my middle son has a new girlfriend. She’s a fellow electrician. They’re still apprentices. She has a 3 year old so I finally get a toddler to play with :)
I think. They’re keeping me from this boy right now but if I keep badgering them they’ll eventually turn him over. I get it- it’s a new relationship, blah blah, but let’s move this along, shall we? I’m not getting any younger.
This is about me, if you think about it.
Baud
@Platonailedit: EMAILS!
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Not to mention unconstitutional. This isn’t a private business which set up the deal; it’s a blanket ban on freedom of speech of a government employee by the government.
Baud
@Kay: It’s really selfish of them.
Platonailedit
@Kay:
LOL.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Heh. Every time my wife and I see one of our children, our love of little tykes comes up in conversation. I don’t know how that happens.
They are right to keep the toddler distant. Children get attached easily and if things don’t work out it can be traumatic for them.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Nancy fucking Smash is the best.
If we can defeat Russian hacking and a feckless media to take back the house, I do not want a novice as Speaker. I want the person who knows every rule, maneuver, and trick with the gavel. This is a fight for our lives and we need the prizefighter.
frosty
@OzarkHillbilly: Fecking snowflakes. When you’re 5’4” *everyone* is physically intimidating. Deal with it. What a bunch of candy asses.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
How is son’s recovery progressing, by the way?
Kay
@Baud:
Exactly. I was embarrassed because they caught me stalking her on Facebook. I knew his name. I am just so slick, let me tell you. I blurt out his name the first time I meet her and they exchange looks. he never reveals anything so he knew I was sleuthing. I feel that is what Facebook is for – lurking. It’s like eavesdropping, which I love.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: I am jealous.
lamh36
@OzarkHillbilly: Racist. What makes Omarosa “physically intimidating”? Other than being one of the rare Black women in their orbit bowing down at their feet and shucking and jiving for Chump…
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
We were at a family reunion over the weekend – distant family. There was a little toddler with ringlet curls. He was the cutest. Of course I thought his mom might like a break from chasing him all day. ;)
clay
@Kay: Here’s what I’m coming to realize about Omarosa… she’s smart. Trump, and most in his orbit, have gotten ahead by being nasty — cheating and lying and threatening. Intelligence isn’t really part of it.
Omarosa also does nasty — I certainly wouldn’t trust her. But she can apply smarts to her nastiness. She is tearing the Trumpers down chunk by chunk. It’s brilliant… make a claim, wait for them to call her a liar, then produce the tapes. I would NOT want to go up against her.
Just One More Canuck
@MattF: Exactly – the world revolves around him
OzarkHillbilly
@lamh36: For some, there is literally nothing in the world scarier than a black woman who speaks her mind.
lamh36
Good morning!
Still thinking of the Queen of Soul!
Enjoy this clip of her and Smokey Robinson!
https://twitter.com/hollyrpeete/status/1029266223458992128?s=21
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Oh, so now the big, Black brute is a svelte, in shape Black woman?
PHUCK OUTTA HERE.
Baud
@Kay: Cambridge Analytica is looking for people like you.
rikyrah
Republican lawmakers see FBI firings though a curious lens
08/14/18 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump and his allies have been relentless in targeting their perceived foes in federal law enforcement. Among those who’ve been fired are FBI Director James Comey, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and as we learned yesterday, Peter Strzok, who led the FBI’s counterintelligence division.
Among those who were reassigned, before ultimately quitting under pressure, are FBI Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki and FBI General Counsel James Baker.
It’s against this backdrop that some of the White House’s allies have come up with a striking new observation. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a Republican gubernatorial hopeful who’s been described as the president’s “mini-me,” published a fascinating Twitter thread yesterday.
……………….
With this in mind, folks like DeSantis and Jordan are effectively arguing, “Our concerns about the FBI must’ve been right after all. Just look at all of those firings and demotions!”
A more reality-based approach points in the opposite direction. The president and his allies, eager to undermine an ongoing investigation, have launched a partisan crusade against federal law enforcement. The purge of leading FBI officials isn’t proof of widespread wrongdoing at the bureau; it’s more likely evidence of a political vendetta against those the White House considers disloyal, problematic, or both.
rikyrah
@Kay:
That is so cute, Kay. Two apprentices….awe…..
How far away does your son live from you now?
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
yep.
anything they couldn’t say would already be covered by governmental laws that have been in place for decades.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: A while back my niece joined her mother and my brother for a wkend on our place and brought her son with. Our stairs are little steep and both she and her mother warned the little guy to not climb them by himself. Well, of course, he did. And got properly scolded for it by his mother. And by his mother’s mother. And then by his mother’s mother’s husband. And then by his mother’s mother’s husband’s sister in law. The poor little guy was crying his eyes out when it was my turn and as one who NEVER did as he was told when he was a child I, of course, didn’t.
I picked him up and put him on my lap and cuddled up with him and told it was OK, he wasn’t a bad boy, it’s just that all those other people are a bunch of big old meanies.
I got dirty looks from them for the rest of the wkend but I was instantaneously transformed into “favorite uncle”. Worth every bit of it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The NDA?
Phuck outta here.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
Beautiful. Nice to see Don Cornelius there. I probably saw this when it was first broadcast!
Platonailedit
@rikyrah:
We fired them, so we must be right.
Only in the pox news infested wingnut world.
The so called checks and balances must be rebuilt from ground up if USA wants to survive as a democracy.
zhena gogolia
Can’t decide who should run for Attorney General of CT on the Dem ticket. All the info is contradictory.
GregB
The last election was a descent into idiocracy. We were pushed by shitty media, Russian trolls, global plutocrats, greedy American corporations and of course lots of racist and sexist putzes.
rikyrah
Uh @NicolleDWallace is the first person I’ve seen on TV pointing out how crazy it is that Omarosa being fired in the situation room is scary not because she was able to get in a cell phone to record her firing but because it was empty! As in no one was in there WORKING pic.twitter.com/c1Lx2rj0AS
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) August 13, 2018
Baud
@rikyrah: If you cared about national security, would you do your work in the White House?
Joey Maloney
Well, today someone’s going to have to teach Donnie Dollhands how to pronounce “Genoa”. Of course, no one has yet succeeded in teaching him how to fake empathy.
Highway bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy. At least 11 fatalities, probably many more.
zhena gogolia
@Joey Maloney:
He probably knows from ordering Italian subs.
rikyrah
Just a reminder that he has NO CHARACTER.
………………..
What Trump’s McCain snub tells us about his character
08/14/18 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump seems to enjoy headlining campaign rallies, and nearly all of his recent events have one thing in common: the Republican president sets aside time to whine about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Just from the last couple of months, there’s video evidence here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Yesterday, however, Trump had an opportunity to be gracious toward the ailing GOP senator of his own party. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
It would have been easy for Trump to show some class. He could’ve at least acknowledged the name of the legislation, which honored McCain and his priorities. It would’ve taken very little effort for the president to mention the Republican senator in some perfunctory way.
But, no. Trump made no reference to McCain while signing the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.
rikyrah
Another Mueller opponent fails in challenge to special counsel
Rachel Maddow reports on a ruling by a Trump-appointed judge against Concord Management and Consulting, whose lawyers tried to challenge the legitimacy of the special counsel as a means of getting rid of charges against the social media propagandists.
rikyrah
Trump team destroying careers of Comey witnesses one by one
Rachel Maddow points out that six of the seven people James Comey told about his meetings with Donald Trump are gone or leaving the FBI, with the one who hasn’t been made into a political punching bag, David Bowdich, firing Peter Strzok, contrary to FBI personnel office guidance.
rikyrah
Banker loaned millions to Manafort, sought Trump admin ‘rolls’
Rachel Maddow shares an exhibit from the trial of Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort in which banker Stephen Calk, who gave Manafort $16 million in loans, lists in a poorly spelled e-mail “perspective rolls” he would like to have in the Trump administration.
Platonailedit
Omarosa was right to call her book deranged.
rikyrah
Mueller gets ‘protective order’ on George Papadopoulos evidence
Rachel Maddow wonders out loud for anyone who might know the answer, why Robert Mueller got a protective order on evidence in the George Papadopoulos case just days before making a sentencing recommendation.
danielx
@NotMax:
Dude, I still have a landline in my house, primarily for those people who only have a landline number for me (very old friends and the like). Still can’t be beat for clarity of voice transmission. Plus it’s basically a gimme with one of those cable/internet/voice packages.
Kay
@rikyrah:
He lives in Toledo, so about an hour away. It is cute that they’re both apprentices. The union started a women’s group so they could talk about how they’re sexually harassed on job sites (which they are). They met because he witnessed a foreman asking her “where she had danced” (means ‘stripper’) and he corroborated her account of the remark. He says she’s “popular” in the women’s group- my sense was that means “outspoken” so that’s good. He’s used to opinionated women. They’re trying to get women in the trades but, you know, they’re horrible to them which is probably harming recruitment.
WaterGirl
@debbie: That’s what happens when you’re famous like Trump was – I bet no one ever corrected him on anything or told him “no”. Un-fucking unbelievable that this cretin is in the white house. Omarosa would make a better president, and I am not a fan of Omarosa. I do like her spilling the beans now, though. Payback’s a bitch.
NonyNony
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m not. Buncha fucking racists. “Oooh – we couldn’t do our jobs because the black person scared us so much.”
Elizabelle
@rikyrah:
I wonder if that looks like tampering to Team Mueller. It might very well. Makes you wonder too if Bowdich did the dirty, dirty work of firing to try to save his own career. Maybe Strzok and others were OK with him doing that.
Disgusted to hear Brian Williams last night interviewing some woman formerly with FBI administration; they were discussing how Strzok “embarrassed the Bureau” … turned that shit right off. Nancy Pelosi is not wrong that NBC is wired for Republicans. MSNBC’s libtards are only a useful face for them.
Also: interesting to learn that Strzok had the whole weekend in privacy to get used to the firing before news broke on Monday morning.
That makes me think our dumbass Asset-in-Chief didn’t know of the timing of the firing. He would have been all over that.
It’s very possible that all this nastiness directed at career FBI professionals is going to bring them down on his orange-tinted ass.
Sad! that the tools in the NY FBI field office get so much time to destroy evidence of their intervention.
WaterGirl
@Litlebritdifrnt: Holy fuck, was that real? Did he really call Omarosa a dog?????
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
This little guy kept going for the meeting gavel (yes our family uses Robert’s Rules of Order because we put the Pur in Puritan) and his mom, grandma, and aunts kept taking it away and scolding him. When it was my teenager’s turn to chase him, the kid went straight for the gavel. So my kid taught him how to do it and to say “the moson cawies” which was adorable.
OzarkHillbilly
@NonyNony: I always laugh at racists. Not the damage they do.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: This part was so awesome I just have to see it in print again:
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Yes. Nancy Pelosi told the truth. I wonder if NBC ever gives her an opportunity to say that elsewhere than libtard central MSNBC.
That’s clear information that the general public needs. Don’t let the Republicans mischaracterize Nancy Smash.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Breaking: Black people aren’t stupid.
Of course, as I typed that it occurred to me, Trumps’s 40% of the population probably DO think that black people are stupid.
satby
@MomSense: that is just adorable!
Tokyokie
@rikyrah: It’s even simpler than that. As any freshlaw can tell you, an enforceable contract must contain four elements: offer, acceptance, intention to create a legal relationship, and consideration. I don’t see that der Trumpenführer is offering consideration in any of these agreements, and whereas accepting a job on the federal payroll may indicate an intention to create a legal relationship with the U.S. government, that intention does not extend to the president as well. (Were der Trumpenführer to pay the likes of Omarosa from campaign accounts, then the intention to create a legal relationship element might be met, but I’m guessing those campaign accounts are constantly being looted by “the best people.” And the NDAs would still not be enforceable because of a lack of consideration, just as those that people who worked for the Trump Organization signed are likewise unenforceable.)
WaterGirl
@lamh36: My theory?
Physically intimidating is the female form of the word thug. Like actor and actress. Aka scary black person.
TS (the original)
@rikyrah: trump is vicious and evil. If President Obama had fired 6 top FBI people the media, the GOP, would be screaming for impeachment – and there would probably be some democrats supporting same.
His morning tweets show the detail of how he treats people who do not fall down before him & the gutter language he uses. I am reminded of a poem by an Australian poet who spoke of
and I think, no child would speak like this man, regardless of their background. People are taught these words by their parents – trump shows us who he is with every tweet, every word and every gesture.
WaterGirl
@Joey Maloney: Trump might already know that one. There is a salami called Genoa salami, so he might have heard of that. If so, cue Trump saying “you guys are the ones that make the salami, right?”
edit: I see that someone else got there first.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: What does getting a protective order on evidence actually mean? Isn’t evidence already in their possession? Or does it mean that the evidence can’t be talked about publicly?
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: Dunning-Kruger.
Alex the Aardvark
I have no idea what you’re talking about, so here’s a pooch preventing a cat fight.
DonL140
Of course it’s going to be the lowest common denominator. We’ve been headed downhill for a long time, and it’s not because we have struggled with bringing the bottom up. It’s because the top has been so successful at exploiting stupid, which as we all know, you can’t fix stupid.
Trump could be impeached right now, for gross incompetence. If nothing else, the Russia press conference was enough to remove him from office. Period.
The Midnight Lurker
Don’t they have those cool, illuminated world maps (that I’ve always wanted) that show where it’s day and night, hanging all over the White House? I see them all the time in movies and TV.
My five-year-old granddaughter gets time zones, ‘I can’t call grandma because she’s sleeping now.’ Sheesh.
I suppose a globe and flashlight demonstration is useless. You’d have to believe the world is round.
afanasia
@Kay: You have documented child handling skills. Replace all the framed photos at your house with adorable pictures of you and your kids at the playground if she comes for dinner, and the kid is yours. For the day :)
Fair Economist
@Elizabelle: My son’s now-ex girlfriend’s mom had her car stolen from her carport presumably because even in her house the fob was close enough. Pushbutton cars are a serious security risk.
Barbara
@Kay: Like I said last night, it is no accident or coincidence that the people who are in the best position to yank Trump’s chain the hardest are show biz journos like Michael Wolff, pit bull lawyers like Avenatti, and reality show grifters like Manigault-Newman. They don’t want anything in return from Trump or the Republican party or its lapdog media outlets or so-called think tanks. In contrast to Maggie Haberman, who needs the information spigot to keep flowing, or Republicans in Congress who need donor cash and many of whom are probably implicated in wrongdoing themselves on the Russian front. What makes Wolff, Avenatti and Omarosa hard to stop is that they are happy to take the pay day whatever it costs powerful people. No appeal to duty or ethics or anything else is going to stop them.
Elizabelle
@Fair Economist: Why are manufacturers putting them out? They seem to be an answer to a problem that pretty much does not exist.
Plus, it trains folks to not have their keys in hand when approaching the vehicle. Know a friend who’s gotten locked out of his car for that reason.
The traveling couple is from a near-beach town in coastal North Carolina, population 1,907. I am so sad that their visit to Richmond ended with such near-tragedy and actual theft of their belongings and sense of security. They are 76 and 86 years old. This might train them not to travel as bravely as before, and that is such a loss. I feel like writing them a friendly little note. So cool they visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which is an amazing museum.
I’m glad the paper covered the story in full. It’s a good lesson for others who (a) have keyfob cars and (b) travel with pets. Be smarter and safer out there.
Barbara
@OzarkHillbilly: Talk about unnecessary piling on! If mom or dad is there, let them take care of it. There is no mileage in doing anything other than gently backing up the parent and then moving on.
The Moar You Know
Trump understands time zones just fine. He just doesn’t give a shit. Zero impulse control. He wants something, he wants it right now and if it’s right in the middle of the night for you, too fucking bad.
trnc
@rikyrah: Why does McCain (or any senator) get his name on a defense authorization bill? Bills to introduce new laws are usually named for senators who write them, but naming for an annual budget bill seems odd.
Gelfling 545
@NotMax: Trump probably did it himself, thinking that it made it polite. Republicans have a real problem recognizing that the problem is not the word, it’s the action and attitude.
Gelfling 545
@frosty: I think it’s her refusal to be intimidated that they find intimidating and I find quite amusing.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
We are too, as is much of WV. Isn’t it interesting how hard it is for many people from flat or urban places to understand that everyone isn’t connected via cell 24/7?
I attempted to set up an account with social security, which has not been a success. Once I got a through email from them informing me that I needed to give them my cell number, because they were implementing two-phase security, and would text me a one time password to log in to my social security account.
I wrote a very detailed letter about why that wouldn’t work for me (not having cell service at my home computer) and a large proportion of the national population to both senators. IIRC I also attempted to contact Social Security, tho they make that difficult, we are to be spoken to, not to speak!!
A little while later on I got a message that their attempt at two-phase security was being redesigned. Haven’t heard how the downtown geniuses at the SS HQ missed that many don’t have cell service, nor how they intend to deal with it. Email would work, like ever big corp uses it to reset passwords… but that isn’t modern and new… Not invented here.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
So sad Aretha is down in the hospital. We grew up to her as part of our soundtrack of life.
We watched a Kennedy Center award ceremony where she performed. President and Ms Obama were in the audience. Her performance was a masterpiece in every way. Not a huge soul fan, but the best of the best in most genres of music are so obviously above and beyond – it was wonderful to see her, the showmanship, the music, and she was so loved by her audience.
As we age the masters of our youth will all pass away, and it’s hard to deal with.
Zinsky
The stupid is very strong in the Trump genes. Look, Donald Trump has been in the media since the 1970s and everyone should have known by the 2016 election that he was a vulgar, classless sexual degenerate who has no real friends, has zero sense of humor and isn’t even capable of the most basic common human decencies. He is a boor, a criminal fatass and a loser, regardless of what his bank balances are. He needs to go to prison and remain there until death.
Kay
One of my sisters calls Trump “a constant embarrassment”, which makes me laugh. She’s proper and this behavior just kills her.
I don’t have that kind of collective “the President is us” thing, so I don’t really feel embarrassed – I don’t think he reflects on me at all- but I get it. If countries had feelings it would be embarrassing.
sukabi
@Kay: it’s not officially titled persons of the government that Omarosa and others that cross trump and his family have to worry about. It’s his rabid followers and his underworld connectioned thugs that will cause harm either on order or to gain favor.
sukabi
@trnc: probably because he’s very close to permanently checking out. One last homage to him while he’s still able to comprehend they miss him.
Tehanu
@Nicole: @OzarkHillbilly: I’m hard of hearing, have worn hearing aids for almost 40 years, and I love texting and HATE having to talk on the phone. Half the time the sound quality is terrible, full of buzzes, and people mumble — or, when you say “hard of hearing,” they shout so loud it comes out garbled as well as painful because I’ve turned the volume up hoping to hear them. Now at work we’ve just lost our real telephones and have headphones for “Skype Voice” — and whose bright idea it was to give our phone functions to fkg Microsoft, I don’t want to know — so I’ve changed my voicemail message to, DON’T CALL ME!!! E-mail or IM me, but I’m not wearing the headphones all day to get a headache from the pressure on the hearing aids. (Phrased slightly more politely, but that’s the gist.) Oh, how I miss the old AT&T phones — I had a detachable volume thing that worked like a charm and the sound quality was perfect. Even the fairly good Cisco phone they just took away from me had all the buzzing and aggravation of my cell, and if there’s any ambient noise, forget it.
Dan B
@Elizabelle: We’ve got a Nissan Leaf. The fob works if you’re 10 to 15 feet from the car and that’s it. If you’re in the house it doesn’t work or uf you’re on the other side of a wall. No security issue….except uf you’re my partner. He can’t stand having anything in any pocket. Phone, keys, and wallet are regularly lost. Le sigh…
And locking doors! Good thing we live in a low crime neighborhood.
NotMax
@Dan B
Lightly pressing the business end of the fob under your chin, while facing in the general direction of the car, can increase the range significantly.
Really, truly.