Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I was promised a recession.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

White supremacy is terrorism.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Consistently wrong since 2002

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

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

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast

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So, we just heard from President Obama, who dropped some truth bombs at the University of Illinois a short while ago. He spoke in complete sentences and full paragraphs.

His successor made some remarks on Air Force One during roughly the same time period, while on his way to one of the hinterland hellholes* where he can still show his face without getting pelted with rotting produce.

The most newsworthy nugget is that Trump wants Sessions to add another item on his “Abuse Law Enforcement Powers to Appease Trump” to-do list: force the NYT to out the anonymous op-ed writer.

Poor Sessions. He thought he’d be living the dream, spending his days interpreting DoJ policy to maximize misery for brown people, women and gays. But Trump just won’t stop publicly demanding that he do flagrantly illegal things!

Anyhoo, a few excerpts from the AF1 gaggle, via The Post:

Asked if he trusts his White House staffers, Trump said, “I do, but what I do now is I look around the room. I say, ‘Hey, if I don’t know somebody . . . ’ ” He added, “We have a really well-run, smooth-running White House. It’s a well-oiled machine. It is running beautifully.”

“Gary Cohn, if he ever took a memo off my desk, I would have fired him in two seconds,” Trump said. “He would have been fired so fast. He would have been fired within the first second that it took place.” [An image of the memo in question appears in the book.]

Trump went on to characterize Woodward’s tome as a “big, fat ugly book with all the misquotes and all the lies.”

Trump defended his intelligence and fitness for office, which critics have questioned this week because of Woodward’s revelations and the anonymous Times column.

“I can’t get up and talk in front of a crowd, many times without notes, for an hour and 25 minutes and get the biggest crowds in the history of politics. . .you don’t get up and do that because you don’t know how to think or talk,” Trump said. “You can only do that if you’re at a very, very high level. I’m highly educated and always did well — always did well — no matter what I did.”

The “biggest crowds in the history of politics,” I tell you! Also, here’s Trump trying to pronounce “anonymous” last night (trust me and click):

Also, Trump is looking forward to a letter from an admirer:

“A letter is being delivered to me, a personal letter from Kim Jong Un to me, that was handed at the border” on Thursday, Trump said. “It’s an elegant way, the way it used to be many years ago before we had all the of new contraptions that we all use. I think it’s going to be a positive letter.”

Who among us doesn’t pine for the days when letters were elegantly handed through a fence that traps 25 million people in a dystopian horror-state?

In all the palace intrigue speculation around Woodward’s book and the anonymous op-ed, the effect on foreign policy hasn’t been discussed enough, IMO, now that the worst suspicions about the Trump administration have been confirmed.

If Kim is a crafty homicidal maniac — and I think he is — he’ll use Trump’s pathetic neediness to his advantage. Trump will probably offer to ship OUR nukes to Pyongyang next week in exchange for a challenge coin and a signing ceremony.

Open thread.

*Save the hate; I choose to live in one of those places myself, as do many good people (not including me).

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  2. 2.

    waspuppet

    He doesn’t surprise me often, but the fact that he really thinks we’re supposed to be impressed that Kim Jong Un likes him still managed to throw me.

  3. 3.

    Jeffro

    I think we all remember when President Obama, at a campaign rally, noted his approval of a local Democratic congressman who had body slammed a reporter, right? And us Dems were like, “I remember that, that was hilarious!” And the whole rally roared its approval. Well, I mean, what else are you gonna do with the enemy of the people, right?

    sigh

  4. 4.

    Citizen Alan

    I look at those creatures sitting behind Shitgibbon and am reminded of the last line from Animal Farm about pigs and humans looking around at one another and not being able to tell which was which.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    Trump is pathetic, and dangerous. We can never allow his kind to come to high office again. I think we will prevail here.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    I criticize people in red states, but not all of them. Even in West Virginia, where Trump got his biggest margin of victory at 68.5%, there are people like us, Cole and J.R. being but two of the finest, who didn’t vote for him. Just like there are 4,483,810 idiots here in deep blue California that voted for the Republicans. Generalizing is lazy and the flyover people who bitch about elites disrespecting them get their fuel from it.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    The closeups of the guy in the plaid shirt behind Twitler at the rally making faces before he was removed are all over Twitter. That alone is going to unleash a tornado of butthurt.

  12. 12.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Citizen Alan: There are hilarious videos on twitter showing how those paid participants are unceremoniously asked to move because they were rolling their eyes, falling asleep and otherwise not earning their $18 an hour wages. Not a spoof. Really happened.

  13. 13.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Citizen Alan:

    I look at those creatures sitting behind Shitgibbon and am reminded of the last line from Animal Farm about pigs and humans looking around at one another and not being able to tell which was which.

    To add to that theme according to Huffington post the people behind Trump were being purged for wrong looks or insufficient enthusiasm during Trump’s speech.

    And, is Trump now making another rally speech today as rebuttal to Obama? Talk about proving that Anonymous Editorial claim that Trump isn’t really in charge of the government.

  15. 15.

    MattF

    Good news is that Obama’s speech was the just kickoff in a campaign– reports are that he’s going full steam until election day. I guess the RW will try to ignore it, but Trump’s obsessive attitude towards Obama probably precludes that. One can hope so, anyhow.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    At the Montana rally, Trump accused the NYT of treason for publishing the op-ed.

    Going to root for casualties on this one.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    We can never allow his kind to come to high office again.

    So my suggestion of imprisoning all Republicans in FEMA camps is a go then?

  23. 23.

    jimmiraybob

    The Muppets have not yet responded to a request for comment on these unconventional pronunciations …… Update: The Muppets have just released this official statement, “Mahna Mahna, da do da doodoo, Mahna Mahna, da do da do, Mahna Mahna, da do da doodoo, da doodoo, da doodoo, da do do do do do.”

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    @MattF: Richard Cordray in Ohio is going to get the next Obama appearance next Thursday in Cleveland. Right to a big swing state FTW!

  25. 25.

    maya

    @JPL:

    Twitter is informing me that Trump is telling the crowd in ND that we are a developing nation.

    Stuck in a dark room chemical bath.

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    What law does El Presidente think empowers the DoJ to demand the op-ed writer’s name? Or does his argument amount to “I’m the President, damnit! I want what I want, and I want it now!”

  27. 27.

    OldDave

    I’m not a fan of Rick WIlson, but boy did he have fun with the Malodorous Mango’s attempt to say anonymous: Link

    TRUMP: Jeff, find the leaker.
    SESSIONS: What kinds of leaker, sir?
    TRUMP: The ansoussumssas leaker.
    SESSIONS: What? Couldn’t hear you.
    TRUMP: Anonssusuamsasaus.
    SESSIONS: I’m sorry sir, WHAT kind of leaker?
    TRUMP: Anonshammumulus.
    SESSIONS: (hand over phone): OMG he fell for it.

  29. 29.

    Anonymous Coward

    ROTFLMAO the fourth estate at work

    OHN AVLON (CNN POLITICAL ANALYST): Pat Leahy pointed to a possible incident of perjury involving [Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s] 2006 confirmation when he denied having anything to do with Bill Pryor’s nomination. That’s ancient history, but there seems to be evidence that he didn’t tell the truth to Ted Kennedy. There’s this question about emails saying “spying” that were directed to him, also from Pat Leahy, when a Republican staffer seemed to have been breaking into computers on Democratic staffers at the time. So there’s baggage, but in general, Kavanaugh has comported himself fairly well.

    If that’s the metric for serving on the Supreme Court CNN should have been paying me for the last fifteen years.

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    Murdered Russian exile survived earlier poisoning attempt, police believe

    Detectives investigating the murder of a Russian exile in London believe he was previously the target of a poisoning attempt carried out by two mysterious men from Moscow who visited him in a Bristol hotel room, the Guardian has learned.

    Nikolai Glushkov, a friend of the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky and a prominent Kremlin critic, was found dead in March at his home in New Malden, south-west London. He had been strangled.

    Glushkov is now thought to have survived a previous attempt to kill him by poisoning in 2013, the Guardian can reveal. Detectives are reinvestigating the incident as part of their inquiry into Glushkov’s murder, which took place a week after the novichok poisoning in Salisbury of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

  44. 44.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    The Interview II is the worst sequel ever.

    Zombie Kim Jong just doesn’t pass the smell test. And who in the world commissioned Donald Trump to play an American president?

  46. 46.

    dmsilev

    @Amir Khalid:

    What law does El Presidente think empowers the DoJ to demand the op-ed writer’s name?

    Somebody apparently told him that ‘national security’ is a magic phrase akin to ‘open sesame’ or ‘by the power of Greyskull’, so that’s what he’s going with.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    @Cheryl Rofer

    Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
    I ain’t got time to take a fast train
    Lonely days are gone, I’m a goin’ home
    My baby jus’ wrote me a letter

  50. 50.

    catclub

    OT: what does the Balloonitariat think of Slate’s article on Jon Huntsman as the anonymous NYT editorial writer?

    It seems plausible to me.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:
    When has Trump ever cared about what the law says he can and can’t do? Trump wants the anonymous author identified; therefore, it is the responsibility of the Justice Department to force the NYT to reveal his or her identity.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    So Trump is now threatening the “ruination” of Canada (via an auto tariff) if they don’t stop being so UNFAIR! What an embarrassing cocksplat.

  54. 54.

    jnfr

    I don’t watch his rallies but I did catch some clips and read transcripts from last night and the way he is unable to speak really worries me. Not just the slurring, though that happens regularly, but the way his brain simply cannot follow a single thought for more than ten words. It’s skip, skip, skip from random to random and no connection that I can find.

    The man ain’t right, that’s what I’m saying.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Roger Moore: Right. Just like there’s no law allowing Google or Facebook to actually discriminate against conservative content, but nonetheless Sessions has demanded they meet with him.

  65. 65.

    Mike in NC

    biggest crowds in the history of politics

    Just another dumb lie. That Austrian fellow had way bigger crowds.

    Kim is going to troll Trump up until the day he’s carted off to prison.

  69. 69.

    Emma

    @jnfr: I am convinced he’s losing his mind very publicly. One of these days he’s going to get behind a podium and spout complete gibberish.

  70. 70.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mary G:

    Generalizing is lazy and the flyover people who bitch about elites disrespecting them get their fuel from it.

    They’re morons who have abandoned the values that have always made America what it is. They would rather be ruled by fascist autocrats than share the country with people who think differently and look differently than them. What gets me is how fucked up our poltical system is where barely populated states get to dictate authoritarian policy to the “blue states” where practically all Americans actually live

  72. 72.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Roger Moore:
    How would the DOJ force the NYT to do anything? There’s issue of national security that they could possibly manufacture. I mean, undermining the president by being a slow-walking paper-pusher, no matter how wrong in principle (yes, even with Trump as POTUS), isn’t what I’d call a national security threat.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    And the MSM will report exclusively on Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ “what the president MEANT to say” press conference without ever referring to the breakdown again.

  74. 74.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mnemosyne:
    Some reporter should ask Suckabee why she always has to correct what he said and why can’t he not fuck up all the time.

  75. 75.

    TenguPhule

    @Betty Cracker:

    So Trump is now threatening the “ruination” of Canada (via an auto tariff) if they don’t stop being so UNFAIR!

    A repeat of his top 10 prior threats?

  78. 78.

    gene108

    @Betty Cracker:

    So Trump is now threatening the “ruination” of Canada (via an auto tariff) if they don’t stop being so UNFAIR! What an embarrassing cocksplat.

    I don’t know. We underestimate the existential threat of Canada at our own peril. Face it, they look like us, talk enough like us it takes time figure out they are foreign, and they have infiltrated all levels of our society – Celine Dion, Shania Twain, William Shatner, James Doohan, Peter Jennings, Pamela Anderson, Will Arnett, to former co-workers…the list is endless…

  79. 79.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    “Today I am announcing a retroactive tariff on William Shatner and Michael J. Fox.”

    “Because as you all know, both men have time traveled to San Francisco and somehow I wasn’t paid for it.

  81. 81.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    So Canada will not be able to sell Fords, Chevy’s and Chryslers in the US?

    No, American customers just have to pay more for the parts. Which will meltdown the American auto industry in all three nations.

  82. 82.

    Emma

    @Chyron HR: Well he speaks partial gibberish now. One can still follow, although it takes some effort. I mean the “is he speaking any recognizable human language” level of gibberish.

  83. 83.

    Bill Arnold

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

    How would the DOJ force the NYT to do anything?

    I’m sort of hoping that they try. We know that the “The National Enquirer kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed” (WaPo). Is the Trump administration/are the Republicans sure that the New York Times and WaPo and other news outlets don’t already have such safes/vaults?We know that that many press outlets bend over backwards to make leaks to them secure and easy.
    Pretty sure that the press could and would defend itself successfully given the current political climate. (disregarding any stochastic anti-press violence (none dare call it terrorism) deliberately (and sigh deniably, probably) caused by Republican rhetoric, notably DJTrump rhetoric.)
    If we go much further down the authoritarian paths, the press would no longer be as safe.

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    Number one, there is no obstruction. Number two, everybody that looked at anybody over there, they get ‘em on some kind of a lie.

    I see Papadopoulos today, I don’t know Papadopoulos, I don’t know. I saw him sitting in one picture at a table with me that’s the only thing I know about him. They got him on, I guess, on a couple of lies.

    Flynn, where the FBI said he didn’t lie, but Mueller’s people said he did lie, so I don’t want to be set up with a perjury trap.

    Number two, there was no obstruction, there was no collusion. One of the things that was interesting about this ridiculous book. He hardly covered collusion at all.

    There was no talking to Russia. There was no phone calls. I didn’t make phone calls to Russia. I didn’t receive phone calls. I didn’t have meetings. I didn’t have texts. Anything. I have nothing to do with Russia.

    If we’re going to meet, it’s got to be a fair meeting.

    Remember this: Article Two, number one you have Article Two provision, that covers everything. Despite Article Two, there was no obstruction, there was no collusion.

    Everyone has given up at collusion. I didn’t meet with Russians because I love the United States.

    If I met with Russians, you people would have found out. You know everything I’m doing. You don’t always report it correctly. But I’m used to it.

    The interesting thing about the book — I figured it’d have chapters of nonsense — he couldn’t find anything about collusion in that big, fat ugly book with all the misquotes and all the lies.

    I’d do it, but under certain circumstances. It’s a big waste of time. There was no collusion.

    It’s such a sad thing for our country to be going through a witch hunt like that. It’s so hard for us to deal with other countries including Russia because of that witch hunt. It endangers our country. It puts us at a big disadvantage all because of the rigged phony witch hunt.

    You have 17 angry Democrats, now they’re making it smaller, I guess they’ve given up on no collusion stuff. You have people that are highly conflicted. Why don’t we have some Republicans on it? People that were at Hillary Clinton’s — I call it Hillary Clinton’s funeral, that was the night she lost the election. It was a funeral, it was a wake. People that are on Mueller’s team who are there crying, they were crying. What kind of a probe is that?

    All of that being said, I must tell you, I’m not the target of an investigation. You do know that.

    With that being said, we have to get it over with. It’s really bad for the country. It’s really unfair for our midterms. Really, really unfair for the midterms.

    I watched Jim Dowd, a very good guy, a very good lawyer, he was devastated. He kept giving me dates. He thought this would be over. He thought this would have been over many months ago. He was devastated by it.

    Reproduced in Full from Wapo, Trump’s word salad on AF1.

  85. 85.

    Chyron HR

    @Mnemosyne:

    And the MSM will report exclusively on Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ “what the president MEANT to say” press conference without ever referring to the breakdown again.

    Say, isn’t it interesting that she goes around covering up for Trump’s deranged destructive impulses and trying to maintain a veneer of “respectable” “conservatism”, just like the aoxomoxoa op-ed writer claimed to? (chin rubbing emoji)

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    Wait, now I have a better answer: evangelicals will say they understand him because he’s speaking in tongues, and the MSM will credulously report whatever their “interpretation” is.

  88. 88.

    p.a.

    The pendulum didn’t just swing from Obama to drumpf. The bob shot into space, the rod flew off and tore through the Constitution, and the support structure crashed into every minority neighborhood in the country.

  89. 89.

    eemom

    My question is, how can a man of his age and size who has to be off the charts at risk of heart attack or stroke, who’s spent the last week in a constant state of rage which must be skyrocketing his blood pressure, not drop dead?

    I have no answer except my old theory that there are some people so evil that they stay alive because the fucking devil won’t take them in hell. See Cheney, Richard.

  92. 92.

    Chyron HR

    @TenguPhule:

    “I don’t know Papadopoulos, I don’t know. I saw him sitting in one picture at a table with me that’s the only thing I know about him. But anyone who ever sat at a table with me even one time should have lifetime immunity from prosecution from all crimes. The bombing of Canada begins in five minutes. No collusion.”

  93. 93.

    TenguPhule

    During a conversation with reporters Friday on Air Force One, Trump was asked whether he is considering using money from the military’s budget to help pay for the wall.

    “We’d rather do it the old-fashioned way,” he said. “We have two options — we have military, we have homeland security. I’d rather get it through politically [in Congress]. If we don’t, I’m looking at that option very seriously.”

    Another day, another Constitutional Crisis rearing its ugly orange head.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    OT.

    Noticed in the replies to your query about things Arthurian that no movies were mentioned.

    Qualified recommendation for Excalibur (1982). Is it flawed as a film? Yes. Sometimes plodding? Yes again. Visually arresting enough to keep your interest? Yes to that, too.

    It does however mostly succeed in capturing the flavor of the fantasy and the lore of the legend. Think of it an appetizer before plowing into the main course of reading Le Morte d’Arthur.

  95. 95.

    catclub

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

    What gets me is how fucked up our poltical system is where barely populated states get to dictate

    you are not the first to identify the constitution as a gun pointed at the head of the nation. Just waiting for a trigger finger.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    HARRIS: My question is very specific. Can you comment on your personal opinion on whether Obergefell was correctly decided? It’s a yes or no. Please.

    KAVANAUGH: In Masterpiece Cakeshop, and this is, I think, relevant to your question, Justice Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion joined by Chief Justice [John G.] Roberts [Jr.] and Justice [Samuel A.] Alito [Jr.] and Justice [Neil M.] Gorsuch and Justice [Stephen G.] Breyer and Justice [Elena] Kagan, the days of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans, or treating gay and lesbian Americans as inferior in dignity and worth, are over.

    HARRIS: Do you agree with that statement?

    KAVANAUGH: That is the precedent of the Supreme Court agreed with by —

    HARRIS: Sir, I’m asking your opinion. You’re the nominee right now, and so it is probative of your ability to serve on the highest court in our land. So I’m asking you a very specific question. Either you’re willing to answer it or not. And if you’re not willing to answer it, we can move on. But do you believe Obegefell was correctly decided?

    KAVANAUGH: Each of the justices have declined as a matter of judicial independence — each of them — to answer questions in that line of cases.

    HARRIS: So you will not answer them?

    KAVANAUGH: Following the precedent set by those eight justices, they’ve all declined when asked to answer that question.

    HARRIS: Thank you.

    From yesterday’s hearing. Seems we missed this.

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    Nuck Fazis!
    @Johngcole
    I am not watching the Obama speech for the same reason that a starving man will not watch the food network.

  98. 98.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @TenguPhule: No surprise, but still it’s kind of amazing how his little pea brain works, how selling us out to a hostile foreign power is not treason, but disrespecting the king is.

    I just listened to Obama’s speech. I feel hopeful.

    He didn’t quote Michelle’s infamous “they go low, we go high” line which I still love and still believe in, but he did kind of move around in that territory briefly, about saying no to people who think we should adopt their tactics and morals.

    The opening of the speech, all in the past tense, is kind of depressing if you let it be. It’s a long list of what America used to stand for up till about 2016 or so. But it’s also a rallying cry, about how we still stand for that and we can go back there.

  99. 99.

    John Revolta

    “It’s a big, fat ugly book and it smells bad. Its mama dresses it funny. Every time I go to town, the boys keep kicking my dog around. Anominuous.”

    Gawdhelpus

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    Obama in Anaheim tomorrow with my next representative, Mike Levin, and six other Democrats flipping seats here! Two other candidates I support with postcards, not money, they have plenty of that:

    Meantime, Republican Rep. Mimi Walters is in a fight for her political life in California’s 45th Congressional District against Porter, a consumer advocate and law professor at University of California, Irvine.

    A Tulchin Research poll released this week and funded by the DCCC shows Porter with a lead of 3 percentage points over Walters. Prior to entering politics, Walters worked as an investment executive for Drexel, Burnham & Lambert.

    Another closely watched race pits 15-term GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher against real estate developer and Democrat Rouda. One issue has been Rohrabacher’s criticism of the Russia-Trump probe and the Republican congressman’s close ties to the Kremlin.

    California’s 48th Congressional District in Orange County remains largely Republican in terms of registration with the GOP having more than a 10 percent point advantage, according to state data. Regardless, Rouda has a 3-point lead over Rohrabacher, according to a July poll released by Monmouth University.

  101. 101.

    ellie

    I have an ethical dilemma and need help. I am an editor for a trade publication. I was sent a case study by a company. There is a very obvious misspelling in the headline. This company has printed these up to give to prospective clients. Do I say something to them? I know, as an editor, you can look at something over and over and miss rather obvious mistakes, but I don’t want anyone there to get fired. Their marketing department is in-house.

    Your thoughts?

  104. 104.

    TenguPhule

    Steven Gardner, Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, on Thursday withdrew his name from consideration. A lengthy ethics review process was the issue, Gardner said.

    JFC, This guys failed an ETHICS review so badly that even the Bog people didn’t think he could pass a nomination.

  105. 105.

    hueyplong

    @ellie: The obvious solution is to publish an anonymous op ed in the company’s internal paper of record that exposes the misspellings. Use the word “lodestar” twice to divert attention from yourself.

    You’re welcome.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    @ellie: I’d say something. If that goes out to clients, you are also going to be responsible for not catching the error.

    You can’t do anything about the original misspelling, but not catching it now would seem to be the kiss of death. Spare them the embarrassment. Maybe they’ll be more careful next time.

  109. 109.

    Mary G

    @ellie: Say something tactfully, which isn’t easy, but you can phrase it as being concerned they will lose clients who are grammar Nazis. Someone will say it eventually, and if you don’t, they will blame you.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @ellie:

    I would tell them, because SOMEONE is going to tell them at some point, and it’s better for them to know before they get sent out to the clients. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that someone would get fired, unfortunately.

  111. 111.

    Immanentize

    @ellie: Seriously. Tell them ASAP. They will thank you for saving them so much embarrassment. As soon as anyone tells them, they will throw them all away anyway. Really, tell them before they are mailed or distributed.

  113. 113.

    Elizabelle

    @ellie: Also, people make mistakes. Hopefully, they learn from them. Perhaps the company will be gentle with whoever made this one.

  114. 114.

    randy khan

    I’m guessing that this would result in permanent exile to journalistic Siberia by the White House Press Office, but I would love to hear the response if a reporter asked Sanders or – even better – Trump himself why he feels compelled to lie about the size of his crowds, and also how many of the attendees are paid to be at his events.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    At its heart, penalizing states because they happen to be emptier is a specious argument. What about less populated ‘blue’ states such as Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont and Hawaii?

    It’s the political tenor and, yes, both prevalence of cultural diversity and ready exposure to the unfamiliar that impacts more than the size of the population. It’s that in the eternal tug of war between give and take, give has been banished that lies at the root of the problem. The speed of the pendulum may be inconsistent but its movement is ineluctable.

  117. 117.

    Barbara

    @ellie: So, if the choice is correcting without saying something or correcting with saying nothing, then I guess I might say something so that they proof their materials a little better. I am guessing that someone proofed the content without even noticing the headline. Stuff like that happens.

  118. 118.

    JPL

    @TenguPhule: That’s unfortunate because President Obama’s speech was amazing. You could just sit back and listen, while at the same time imagining that he is still our President. Perfect escapism.

  119. 119.

    Inventor

    @ellie: The only chance to save the job will be to tell them. If it is published and sent to customers, then someone’s going to get fired.

  120. 120.

    trollhattan

    @Mike in NC:
    You know how Trump came home from the Bastille Day parade and wanted his own Big Damn Military Parade? Li’l Kim brings Trump there for one of those monstrous and bizarre Arirang festivals and he’s going to demand one of those, STAT. Good luck finding that many Americans who will follow instructions that long.

  121. 121.

    Aleta

    You know who’d believe a personal communication from a man like Kim Jong Un is a token of respect? Someone whose role model was a Mafia head.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Papadapolous got 14 days in jail ?

    Nicole Wallace asks what I did: Does this mean Mr Mueller spoke up for him?

    MSNBC former federal proseucutor of the moment calls it a light sentence for a fairly minor charge from a judge known to be lenient

  123. 123.

    Mary G

    Bad news on the teen front; he was vaping marijuana in class today and is suspended for five days. His family wants him sent to a military school in Guatemala where all the elites send their problem children. His mom was going to take him to therapy and be evaluated for ADHD and he refused to go.

  124. 124.

    BC in Illinois

    @ellie:

    At one point in my life I committed editing. And you re right:

    I know, as an editor, you can look at something over and over and miss rather obvious mistakes . . .

    Emphasize this point when you tell them, but do tell them. The other commenters are correct. Someone will catch it. It will be better that you say something, before they do.

    [I have a first edition of a Lutheran study bible that misspelled the word “Luthern” on the first line of the first sentence of the preface. Everybody needs an editer.]

    ** I saw a license plate once that said “EDITER.” I was tempted to steal it.

  125. 125.

    Barbara

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: That’s a little extreme. I do agree, generally, that the Electoral College and the Senate are problems for our collective future, but that the bigger short-term problem is that the best available antidote has been screwed up by gerrymandering and voter suppression. That’s where the immediate actions should lie, not screaming at the wind about a problem that is foundational and much more difficult to correct.

  127. 127.

    Mandalay

    @TenguPhule:

    I watched Jim Dowd, a very good guy, a very good lawyer, he was devastated.

    Since the lawyers’ name is John Dowd, not Jim Dowd, I can’t help wondering whether Trump is playing eleventy dimensional chess to craftily distance himself from someone who (according to Woodward’s book) called Trump a “fucking liar” who could end up wearing “an orange jump suit”.

    The other ghastly possibility is that Trump is stupid and senile, and can’t even remember the name of his personal lawyer. Can’t possibly be that…

  129. 129.

    Mary G

    The advisers must be tearing their hair out:

    Trump says he would like to shut down the government because he thinks it would be politically advantageous. "I would do it because I think it’s a great political issue,” he tells pool, per @jdawsey1— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) September 7, 2018

    He also told me that Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin supported it. https://t.co/Al2WttVo0H— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 7, 2018

    Democrats are concerned, I’m sure.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: but of course….

    Reporter giving a different spin than the lawyer, says the judge said somebody with P’s record probably wouldn’t do time, but the judge was pissed that P put his own personal and financial interests before the interests of the country.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @elle

    Letting it slide makes you an accessory after the fact. Better to make a pit stop to fix a dicey tire than spinning out later in the race.

    IMHO.

  132. 132.

    Betty Cracker

    @ellie: I’ve had to do that before, and it sucks, but yeah, call their attention to it. No one should be fired over it because shit happens.

    PS: Funniest typo I ever saw (after a huge envelope print run!): AFFIX LABIA HERE

  134. 134.

    Mandalay

    @germy:

    And I read today that he and his wife got a book deal.

    IANAL – are there no Son of Sam laws any more? On the surface it just looks like Papadapolous is seeking to profit from his crime.

  135. 135.

    trollhattan

    Boy howdy, Republican disarray on display.

    President Donald Trump’s surprise move to issue an endorsement in California’s only Republican-on-Republican House race has stunned GOP grassroots activists who say he’s been “tricked” into siding with the “the swamp” against his loyal #MAGA base.

    Trump took to Twitter this week to endorse incumbent GOP Rep. Paul Cook — who represents one of California’s most conservative congressional districts — over former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Tea Party favorite and co-founder of the California Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration border watch group.

    Donnelly, a 2012 GOP gubernatorial candidate from a suburban district near San Diego, had already earned the backing of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, and conservative stalwarts like Iowa Rep. Steve King and blogger Charlie Kirk.

    A loyal supporter of Trump in a state where the president’s approval ratings hover near 38 percent, Donnelly earlier this year led a crowd of several hundred #MAGA activists to the border to cheer on the president during a trip in which Trump viewed border wall prototypes — an effort to counter widespread demonstrations by immigration advocates and Democratic activists in the solidly blue state….
    Donnelly himself said he was so shocked that he had to abruptly pull over by the side of the highway earlier this week when a caller read him Trump’s Tuesday tweet: “Paul Cook is a decorated Marine Corps veteran who loves and supports our military and vets. He is Strong on Crime, the Border and supports Tax Cuts for the people of California. He has my total and complete endorsement!”

    “President Trump just endorsed the swamp,’’ Donnelly told POLITICO when he heard the news. The snub was especially devastating, he said, for “a Trump supporter from day one, who not only endorsed him and campaigned for him,” even when many California Republicans put him at arm’s length.

    Article neglects to mention Donnelly was arrested carrying a loaded gun through airport security while serving in the state assembly.

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    At its heart, penalizing states because they happen to be emptier is a specious argument.

    Yeah, we should only penalize them if they were on the losing end of the Civil War.

  137. 137.

    Barbara

    @Mary G: It only gets harder when you try to deal with ADHD later in a child’s development. The experience of people I know trying to force their kids into behaving by imposing military style discipline has not been very positive. I hope they figure it out without sending him to a potentially harsh environment that is not well-regulated and sounds like a collection of children with intractable problems.

  138. 138.

    TenguPhule

    @Mary G:

    he was vaping marijuana in class today and is suspended for five days. His family wants him sent to a military school in Guatemala where all the elites send their problem children.

    Not expelled yet? At this rate he’s going to be in juive till he’s 21.

  139. 139.

    Jeffro

    @JPL:

    That’s unfortunate because President Obama’s speech was amazing. You could just sit back and listen, while at the same time imagining that he is still our President. Perfect escapism.

    I know, right? Sometimes I watch comedians on YouTube to unwind…I might start throwing some Obama speeches into the mix. Seriously!

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: In my mind’s eye I see Kellyanne Conway talking to him in her best mom-of-toddlers voice, coaxing him not to be racist in his response. I predict he, or his idiot son, will at least retweet something from a David Duke supporter in the next 24 hours.

  144. 144.

    les

    @NotMax:

    At its heart, penalizing states because they happen to be emptier is a specious argument. What about less populated ‘blue’ states such as Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont and Hawaii?

    Really, “not giving disproportionate advantage” is not the same as “penalize.” You may be looking for the straw man office–it’s down the hall.

  145. 145.

    TenguPhule

    @les: Living on an island in the middle of the ocean, we’d rather not be at the mercy of the mainland’s majority when it comes to finances.

  146. 146.

    Brachiator

    Another perceptive Betty Cracker post. A couple of things sparked by her commentary:

    The most newsworthy nugget is that Trump wants Sessions to add another item on his “Abuse Law Enforcement Powers to Appease Trump” to-do list: force the NYT to out the anonymous op-ed writer.

    I have not been following the news closely the last week or so, but I get the impression that the GOP leadership is very quiet, and at best meekly cautions Trump about going too hard after Sessions. No matter what is revealed about Trump, or what Trump does, he is still the GOP’s main man.

    I also see that pro-Trump congressional candidates still welcome Trump’s backing. The GOP base is hanging on for dear life, and dismisses the current revelations as typical partisan attacks. It’s up to Democrats and other people with sense to take these clowns down.

    If Kim is a crafty homicidal maniac — and I think he is — he’ll use Trump’s pathetic neediness to his advantage. Trump will probably offer to ship OUR nukes to Pyongyang next week in exchange for a challenge coin and a signing ceremony.

    Kim better get in line. By now it is clear to allies that Trump is unreliable, and adversaries realize that they have a free pass at getting whatever they want by pushing Trump’s buttons.

    And even though a lot of folks here may not be paying attention, UK Prime Minister Theresa May is having a hard time keeping her government together. She has been roundly mocked for her inconsistent efforts in dealing with BREXIT and also has her hands full dealing with party insiders trying to oust her. Former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is dumping his second wife and clearing the decks to formally try to wrest Tory Party leadership from May.

    So the world is looking at a situation in which two of the major Western leaders are viewed as ineffectual chumps by friends and foe alike. This is one hell of an infrastructure week.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    @Mary G

    Strictly armchair diagnosis, it sounds as if there’s a deep and pervasive problem he’s encountering at his current school. The parental ‘solution’ also sounds like overkill and abandonment of responsibility.

  148. 148.

    TenguPhule

    @Brachiator:

    Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is dumping his second wife and clearing the decks to formally try to wrest Tory Party leadership from May.

    Perfect timing with Brexit only 6 months away and everything projected to go to complete shambles.

  149. 149.

    Mary G

    @Barbara: Yeah, I’ve been trying to discourage it by worrying about his safety there. She has gone to get him from the principal’s office and take him to her mother’s. He is the baby of the family and can usually wrap them around his little finger by being remorseful and apologizing. Turns out the school has already decided he’s ADHD and has him in a couple of special classes for it, which he hates.

  150. 150.

    Bill Arnold

    @eemom:

    My question is, how can a man of his age and size who has to be off the charts at risk of heart attack or stroke, who’s spent the last week in a constant state of rage which must be skyrocketing his blood pressure, not drop dead?

    We all know what to do, depending on our individual ethical standards. :-) Next up, Cat 6 paranoia storm!
    “The Rage” is interesting; I’ve observed such an effect in a few elderly with vascular dementia; they realize (and remember) on some level that rage improves the blood flow to the brain and improves cognition, and indulge in it. (A brief skim of the literature suggests that the general belief is that the causality goes the other way, fwiw.)
    I only bring this up because Projection! – there have been right wing rumors about Hillary Clinton suffering from subcortical vascular dementia since 2014 (with a year to live, all that time) So it must be true, by rule of projection, that DJTrump suffers from a similar condition. (Note; he doesn’t smoke or drink.)

    I have no answer except my old theory that there are some people so evil that they stay alive because the fucking devil won’t take them in hell. See Cheney, Richard.

    Cheney, Richard, the man who had no pulse for a long while, eventually was “given” the heart of a younger person.
    (I admit to, when hearing that his back was too sore to attend the B. Obama inauguration (?), to thinking that he must have hurt it carrying all those boxes of torture recordings when moving out of the VP residence. And he was amused by these stories, and the Darth Vader march that people used to play on portable loudspeaker systems when he was nearby.)

  151. 151.

    TenguPhule

    @Mary G:

    He is the baby of the family and can usually wrap them around his little finger by being remorseful and apologizing.

    Sociopath in development?

  152. 152.

    NotMax

    @les

    Pish and tosh. Any perceived advantage is ephemeral. The system is set up to be proportionate by dint of being 1 out of 50. Population has naught to do with it, and the stance of the crowd is not set in stone.

    Can the formula be altered? Of course. Should it be? IMHO, a short-term band-aid at best.

  154. 154.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @trollhattan:

    Donnelly, a 2012 GOP gubernatorial candidate from a suburban district near San Diego,

    Finally, the mystery of who ran against Brown in 2012 is solved! Sounds like Donnelly is the arch typical California Republican – no one cares about him.

  155. 155.

    Barbara

    @Mary G: It sounds like he really needs to talk to a therapist who knows kids like him. My kid’s doctor was very attuned to ways to explain ADHD and medication so that it wasn’t a bad thing, just something you had to deal with. As the psychiatrist explained to us, ADHD makes school a lot more work, and you get tired and frustrated. The drugs reduce the amount of energy your brain needs to expend just to focus, leaving you a lot more mental energy to actually receive information.

  156. 156.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:

    Unfortunately, he’s going to have a decision to make: accept the ADHD therapy and other measures to stay where he is, or get sent away. If he’s usually gotten away with stuff before, he’s probably expecting to get away with it again, so be prepared for him to have several rages once he figures out that it’s not going to work this time.

    The pot smoking is not helping — that was the final straw before my nephew was sent to a therapeutic school. He was not addicted to it, but it had a very bad effect on his ADHD/bipolar brain. “Not a problem for most people” is not the same as “harmless,” no matter how much the pot advocates try to claim otherwise.

  161. 161.

    les

    @TenguPhule:

    Living on an island in the middle of the ocean, we’d rather not be at the mercy of the mainland’s majority when it comes to finances.

    Well, come up with a better system. Letting 20% of the population control 50% of the Senate is not a working system. As is, you’re plainly, balatantly and, in your view, possibly fatally at the mercy of the 20%. The majority is not threatening you.

  162. 162.

    TenguPhule

    @les:

    Well, come up with a better system.

    All current and future Presidents must be born in the state of Hawaii.

  163. 163.

    les

    @NotMax:

    Pish and tosh. Any perceived advantage is ephemeral. The system is set up to be proportionate by dint of being 1 out of 50. Population has naught to do with it, and the stance of the crowd is not set in stone.

    Really, the sarcasm tag is a thing. If you knew that, I don’t know what to say.

  164. 164.

    les

    @TenguPhule:

    All current and future Presidents must be born in the state of Hawaii.

    I was about to cheer this, but then I thought, “Tulsi.” Don’t you have a queen or something we could borrow?

  165. 165.

    TenguPhule

    @les:

    Don’t you have a queen or something we could borrow?

    Unfortunately there are no surviving members of the last royal family.

  166. 166.

    Aleta

    @trollhattan:
    “tricked” –that’s funny. Because no way could Trump be lacking in loyalty. No way he’s indifferent to the importance of his little-guy grassroots activists.

    “Donnelly himself said he was so shocked that he had to abruptly pull over by the side of the highway.” He just couldn’t believe it! They’re the California Minutemen for god’ssake !! The elite ready-at-a-moment’s notice highly trained defenders of Donald’s civilian outposts!
    He must have been tricked.

  167. 167.

    The Lodger

    @ellie: I’m catching this a bit late, but yeah, typos can happen to anyone. Call them out on it, politely. It’s worth the cost of a second print run.

  169. 169.

    JWL

    “It’s an elegant way, the way it used to be many years ago before we had all the of new contraptions that… [have recorded my crimes for prosecutors to read as if they were written in granite, and which, taken together, will prove the instruments of my sure doom]”.

    That’s better.

  170. 170.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @Mary G: one of my closest friends and probably the most liberal person I know is from West Virginia (Morgantown in case anyone is wondering). It’s a bizarre state (although I’m from Florida so I really shouldn’t talk) but it has some great people like anywhere else.

  171. 171.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @jnfr: at the same time I remain amused by people who profess to love him so much. “He thinks the way I do!” Do they realize what they’re admitting about their own mental faculties?

  172. 172.

    pluky

    @ellie: you can’t protect whoever missed this from the inevitable. you can give your client notice that something is amiss.

  173. 173.

    J R in WV

    @Mary G:

    Thanks!! We try! I did do phone bank duty for Hillary, and thought it was making a difference, calling into Ohio. Most of the people I talked to were going to vote for Hillary, one woman said “All of us going to vote for her, or they can get the hell out of my house!!” I LOLed at that.

    Then I got called back after calling a number… it was a guy actually working for the campaign, in Ohio. We chatted a little, he was encouraged to get the phone call from a volunteer in WV, I was encouraged to find a campaign worker in Ohio.

    But alas, twas not to be… I too think they cheated in those states, and the FBI should be digging out that felony… HAHAHAHaaa, Jefferson Sessions’ FBI working on voter fraud that threw the election…?! HAHAHA. Never gonna happen!

  175. 175.

    J R in WV

    @Baud:

    Right. Just like there’s no law allowing Google or Facebook to actually discriminate against conservative content, but nonetheless Sessions has demanded they meet with him.

    Right. Just like there’s no law allowing preventing Google or Facebook to actually from discriminating against conservative content, but nonetheless Sessions has demanded they meet with him.

    Fixed that for you. Private companies can be as liberal or as conservative as they want to. Otherwise we could put Faux News down like a rabid dog. Did the best I could with the edits, without an edit. If you see what I mean, and I think you do….

  176. 176.

    J R in WV

    @gene108:

    We underestimate the existential threat of Canada at our own peril. Face it, they look like us, talk enough like us it takes time figure out they are foreign, and they have infiltrated all levels of our society – Celine Dion, OK; Shania Twain, OK; William Shatner, OK; James Doohan, OK; Peter Jennings, OK: Pamela Anderson, OK WAIT, WHUT?!?!?!?!?!

    ;-)

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    Damn It!! my second strike through blew it off, now it doesn’t make nearly as much sense. There is no law forbidding a “news” outlet from being anti-Trump, anti-Nazi, Pro-Kitten, whatever. Else we would have shut Faux News down years ago, when we realized it was straight propaganda! But I got too fancy making that statement.

    Baud, isn’t that you meant to say? Or did my ninja mind-reading skills fail for the first time???

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    Reproduced in Full from Wapo, Trump’s word salad on AF1.

    Do you suppose he has forgotten meeting with Russian diplomatic staff in the oval office not long after being inaugurated? Already? I mean, that’s a meeting with Russians in his white house with photos.

    And then there was the one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Vladimirovitch Putin in Helsinki not too long ago… another meeting with THE Russian he appears to have forgotten. No witnesses, also, too!!!

  180. 180.

    TenguPhule

    @J R in WV:

    Do you suppose he has forgotten meeting with Russian diplomatic staff in the oval office not long after being inaugurated? Already?

    He has already forgotten the cheeseburger he’s just swallowed.

  181. 181.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    Truly !! Amazing times we live in…!!… And scary! I’m spending a lot on SF fiction lately to avoid being attached to the news of the political scene

  182. 182.

    Tarragon

    @J R in WV:

    I’m spending a lot on SF fiction lately to avoid being attached to the news of the political scene

    But but but…. Science fiction is the most political of all genres.

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