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You are here: Home / Open Threads / So, this happened… (Open Thread)

So, this happened… (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  October 16, 201812:09 pm| 130 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity

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We really are living in the dumbest goddamned timeline. Open thread!

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Previous Post: « Risk adjustment and market incentives
Next Post: Worst couch surfer ever… »

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    TomatoQueen

    October 16, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    Bestiality, witness tampering, perjury, tax evasion, fraud….

  2. 2.

    MazeDancer

    October 16, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    Repulsive, he continues to be completely repulsive.

    All we can do is vote.

    And do all we can to get other people to vote.

    Like write PostCards.
    PostCards work.
    Research shows it.

    Start with 5, you won’t be able to stop.

    And, yes, spamming the threads, today.

    Desperate times, people. House gotta flip. BJ Candidates gotta win.

    PostCardPatriots.com

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    October 16, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    I still expect the US to more or less weather Trump. One day we will have a different president and the work of repairing whatever can be repaired, and compensating for what can’t, will begin.

    And then we will be forced to listen to numbskulls proclaiming how great our system is, why we survived the Trump hurricane. Our founding fathers built a such strong structure!

    Um, no.

  4. 4.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    October 16, 2018 at 12:19 pm

    I hope she and her telegenic lawyer drop the figurative 18 wheeler on Drumpf.

  5. 5.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 16, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    I’ve seen more maturity and restraint at a cockfight. Which this is turning out to be in every sense of the word.

  6. 6.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    October 16, 2018 at 12:21 pm

    Stuck in moderation again. Should I have used Angry Circus Peanut instead?

  7. 7.

    Jerzy Russian

    October 16, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    Does anyone here speak Stupid? If so I would appreciate an English translation of that tweet (not the one by Stormy, the other one).

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    October 16, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    @MazeDancer: Rachel’s big story yesterday was about the suppression of the Native American vote in North Dakota. That wonderful law that was upheld 6-2 in the Supreme Court. Well the tribes are PISSED. So much so that they are working overtime to get around the law, which is so blatant I don’t know how those six could even live with themselves.

    Then again screwing Natives has been a national pastime since way before we were a country. Sigh.

  9. 9.

    BGinCHI

    October 16, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    I’d like to take those tweets, fold them into a tight rectangle, and slap every evangelical who voted for Trump with them.

    And I would. If I was a violent man, which I’m not.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Shouldn’t he be more concerned about journalists being beheaded and dismembered than his former girlfriend?

  11. 11.

    The Moar You Know

    October 16, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Stormy/Avenatti need to be cut loose at this point. It’s becoming very obvious they have nothing and the courts aren’t going to let them go fishing.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    @Mustang Bobby: I’m going to use that.

  13. 13.

    Marcopolo

    October 16, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Whatever. While some hopefully tiny number of folks are paying attention to this I’ve been writing MO GOTV postcards to get low income folks out to vote for a statewide minimum wage increase. Sixty done. Will do 40 later for Cort VanOstran’s MO-2 House campaign.

    Keep focused everyone!

  14. 14.

    terraformer

    October 16, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Such….civility. Right, that only applies to Democrats.

    My house is such a mess from all the exploding heads.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 16, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    @TomatoQueen: two adult entertainers are on record saying the President of These United States propositioned them by saying, “You remind me of my daughter”.

    I have no more sympathy for Ivanka than I do for her meathead brothers, but damn her dreams must be fucked up.

  16. 16.

    Eljai

    October 16, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    At least he honestly identified hmself as a total con. What do you call a grammatical Freudian slip?

  17. 17.

    HeleninEire

    October 16, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    I can’t believe I’m saying this, but “Horseface” has shocked me. JFC there really is no bottom.

  18. 18.

    MattF

    October 16, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    Everyone and everything is getting stupider. Even the ‘You May Like’ clickbait is getting stupider. Bah. Time to go find a new book to read.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    @HeleninEire: There is no bottom.

  20. 20.

    Butch

    October 16, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    @Ohio Mom: We will recover, we hopes, and yet in the meantime we are looking to a former porn star for witty ripostes about the president we despise. (And sorry: I tried to leave this comment earlier but realized I didn’t know how to spell “riposte” and had to leave to look it up…..)

  21. 21.

    clay

    October 16, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    @Yutsano: Good thing the tribes are going after the REAL villain then: Elizabeth Warren!

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 16, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    STORMY DANIELS IF YOU’RE READING I WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL IF YOU TWEET OUT SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR ALLEGED “HORSEFACE” REMINDING HIM OF IVANKA THANK YOU

  23. 23.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 16, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    @HeleninEire:Does Doll hair never looked in the mirror?

  24. 24.

    R-Jud

    October 16, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    The dorkest timeline, for it is both stupid and dark.

    Also, I wrote a thing: “You could be the answer to their prayers for a loving family, even if you are not the answer to their *specific* prayers for a *specific* loving family they will never, ever see again under any circumstances.”

  25. 25.

    delk

    October 16, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Tweets, golfs, and raises re-election campaign money. 106 million so far. Last 5 presidents raised 0 dollars at this point. Too busy actually doing the job.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    October 16, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Wait…this is the same porn star that Mushroom Boy cheated with shortly after his third wife had his fifth kid? The same porn star that got paid off with campaign funds routed through a shell corporation by MB’s lawyer? And he’s now calling her grade-school insults on social media, despite his third wife’s anti-bullying campaign?

    MUCH more presidential than Hillary, that’s for sure. Whew, dodged a bullet there, America!

  27. 27.

    MattF

    October 16, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Rick Wilson:

    “You look like my daughter, Horseface. Now take my NDA money and don’t talk about my comically-shaped penis.”

    The President of the United States, ladies and gentlemen.

  28. 28.

    burnspbesq

    October 16, 2018 at 12:37 pm

    Bloody hell …

  29. 29.

    MattF

    October 16, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    Oh well, I posted something with the p-word. I suppose it gives the moderating software something to do.

  30. 30.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 16, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    When they go low, we kick em in the junk. Well done, Stormy.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    October 16, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Horseface. Damn. Trump can’t help being the Asshole-in-Chief.

    And he cannot control his nastiness towards women.

    Voters best be paying attention.

  32. 32.

    FlipYrWhig

    October 16, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    I lose track of his lies but is he now claiming that he *didn’t* have an affair with Stormy Daniels but paid her hush money to protect his reputation from a false claim by an unattractive person?

  33. 33.

    mr gravity

    October 16, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    @HeleninEire: Well he DID say she reminded him of his daughter.

  34. 34.

    Keith P.

    October 16, 2018 at 12:43 pm

    Trump isn’t using the “huge vagina” counter?

  35. 35.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    Jason Furman
    ‏Verified account
    @jasonfurman
    18h18 hours ago
    More
    The budget deficit this past year was nearly twice the forecast made by the Trump administration less than a year and a half ago. At the time many pointed out their budget double counted revenue from tax reform. The actual numbers are not manipulable in the same way.

    Everyone who had a GOP governor in 2010 already knew this, because we tried this experiment in “the laboratory of the states” and conservatives all vastly overstated the benefits of the tax cuts at that time, in those states, and then they were all proven wrong. Pick one- Kasich, Brownback, Walker- they all exaggerated the revenue side. We know that because it’s 8 years later and we watched it happen.

    It doesn’t work. It never works. It never will work. It’s a fantasy. Now they will say they ran up a huge deficit and they have to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, and we knew they would do that too- because they always run a huge deficit and they always turn to cutting benefits for ordinary people. Always. For the last 40 years.

  36. 36.

    Blue Galangal

    October 16, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I might be naive but are you a concern troll? Between your statements in the SPW thread and this one, I’m starting to think you are. Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti are the Joe Biden to the DNC’s Barack Obama. They get to say the stuff we all want to say and the DNC gets to claim the high road and keep their hands clean. Moreover, they annoy the f*** out of 45*. We don’t need to cut them loose – they’re not part of the apparatus anyway.

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    October 16, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @Eljai: Yep. You’re totally right about that grammatical Freudian slip! I missed it the first time through. A veritable confession that he is a con artist.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    I posted something like this in a dead thread, but I think Stormy is on to something in the way she addresses Trump.

    I really like the approach of a couple of books: Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations. They talk about making sure you are having the right conversation.

    Your employee is late for work today?
    Have a conversation about being late.

    Your employee has a pattern of being late?
    Talk about the pattern of being late, not why they were late today.

    Your employee has a pattern of being late that you have discussed before?
    Talk about the lack of trust because you can’t count on them.

    When we’re talking about DNA tests or facts, we’re not addressing the real issues. We need to be talking about the patterns. Every question, we come back and talk about the pattern.

    It doesn’t matter that you were late today because your alarm didn’t go off, you missed the bus, the bus was late, your dog peed in the house, etc. That’s fine for a one-off, but that’s not what this is. Let’s stop getting distracted with the details.

    You’re always late and I can’t count on you and it makes me not trust you.

    That’s the level of conversation we need to be having when we talk to people and when Dems talk to the press. Even on twitter, that has to be the message. Stormy comes closer to that than the rest of us do. Maybe we can learn from this.

  39. 39.

    The Lodger

    October 16, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: That would be an ass face, not a horse face.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    October 16, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @Kay: And, right on cue:

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called on Congress to rein in major government programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in order to slow America’s spiraling national debt on Tuesday, ignoring the fact the tax plan he recently passed have fueled further growth in that number.

    “It’s very disturbing, and it’s driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular: Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. That’s 70 percent of what we spend every year,” he said on Bloomberg News Tuesday when asked about the national debt. “There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs. Hopefully at some point here we’ll get serious about this. We haven’t been yet.”

  41. 41.

    Waldo

    October 16, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    Sadly, I’m finding the Stormy freak show a welcome respite from the Pocahontas sideshow. 2020 can’t get here soon enough.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s becoming very obvious they have nothing and the courts aren’t going to let them go fishing.

    I think they have stuff, but it’s embarrassing rather than criminal. That said, people who think Avenatti is some great guy are the left’s answer to Trumpists.

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    October 16, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    I’m so tired of this shitshow caused by so many racists who thought electing a white supremacist as president was just a fine idea. Fat Bastard was never going to be anything other than the con-man-turned-reality-TV-game-show-host that he is, no matter how badly the media wanted him to behave like a statesman. Hint: 72-year-old morons aren’t capable of changing a thing. I’m early voting on Thursday.

  44. 44.

    The Moar You Know

    October 16, 2018 at 12:50 pm

    Horseface and Mushroom Dick. We’re back in third grade, ladies and gentlemen.

    I might be naive but are you a concern troll? Between your statements in the SPW thread and this one, I’m starting to think you are.

    @Blue Galangal: If it helps, yes. I’m serious. I see my party faced with a real-life actual mortal threat to the nation and they have no fucking idea of how to deal with it or even respond in any effective way at all. So by all means, mark me down as a concern troll and just forget anything I have to say.

  45. 45.

    Juice Box

    October 16, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: They always go low. Here’s an interesting story about how they nailed Gary Hart:

  46. 46.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 16, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    @MattF:

    Bah. Time to go find a new book to read.

    I just read Twisted Prey, book number 28 in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series.

    A fun read as always, but had trouble suspending enough disbelief to accept that the amoral, murdering senator who got elected by ratfucking her opponent was the democrat. Of course, the amazon reviewers are only concerned that he referenced guns being too easy to acquire. Who knew that right wing nutjobs could read?

  47. 47.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    The “deficit hawks” will return from their hiding place now that it’s time to pay for the tax cuts. They’ll be going after anything ordinary people get.

    They all use the word “trim” now instead of “cut”. It’s like they all got some language directive. “Trim” sounds…nicer. I really just loathe these people- how carefully crafted everything is, how cynical and manipulative they are. Gross.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    @WaterGirl: I tried to edit my comment, but it got stuck “saving” in the edit window.

    Tried to change “you’re always late” to something that didn’t use the word ALWAYS. The words always and never frequently derail a conversation.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Kay:

    Everyone who had a GOP governor in 2010 already knew this, because we tried this experiment in “the laboratory of the states” and conservatives all vastly overstated the benefits of the tax cuts at that time, in those states, and then they were all proven wrong.

    Meanwhile, California* decided to deal with its deficit by raising taxes on rich people, and our state is booming. There’s a lesson there, if the rest of the country is willing to pay attention.

    *And it was California, not the California state legislature. The legislature had too many Republicans to get the supermajority required to raise taxes, and Jerry Brown wanted public approval. So we got enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot and got a 2/3 popular vote in favor of raising taxes. Take that, everyone who says Americans are unwilling to tax themselves.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ordinary Republicans are uncomfortable about the Trump borrowing and spending, though. It’s s sore point with them. I bring it up as often as I can because I know it bothers them. If I were Democrats I would tie it to Trump’s bankruptcies, that he’s bankrupting us.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Part of the Ohio governor’s race is about how Republicans cut state taxes and then all the city and county and municipal taxes went up.

    Kasich didn’t kick the can down the road. He kicked it over to someone else’s yard. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Bullshit from the get-go.

  52. 52.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @Kay: needs a catchy name. How about “voodoo economics”?

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Heh [whinney SFX]

    She (Stormy, not Ivanka) performed at a couple clubs here recently and a lot of women attended in support and appreciation. Thought that was pretty cool.

  54. 54.

    banditqueen

    October 16, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @Kay: McConnell’s on it!

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blamed rising federal deficits and debt on a bipartisan unwillingness to contain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security

  55. 55.

    Jeffro

    October 16, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    In other news, this has me irritated this morning: Think Professors Are Liberal? Try School (meaning college, not K-12) Administrators

    Behold! What passes for research and reason on the Right

    I received a disconcerting email this year from a senior staff member in the Office of Diversity and Campus Engagement at Sarah Lawrence College, where I teach. The email was soliciting ideas from the Sarah Lawrence community for a conference, open to all of us, titled “Our Liberation Summit.” The conference would touch on such progressive topics as liberation spaces on campus, Black Lives Matter and justice for women as well as for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and allied people.

    As a conservative-leaning professor who has long promoted a diversity of viewpoints among my (very liberal) faculty colleagues and in my classes, I was taken aback by the college’s sponsorship of such a politically lopsided event. The email also piqued my interest in what sorts of other nonacademic events were being organized by the school’s administrative staff members.

    I soon learned that the Office of Student Affairs, which oversees a wide array of issues including student diversity and residence life, was organizing many overtly progressive events — programs with names like “Stay Healthy, Stay Woke,” “Microaggressions” and “Understanding White Privilege” — without offering any programming that offered a meaningful ideological alternative. These events were conducted outside the classroom, in the students’ social and recreational spaces.

    The problem is not limited to my college. While considerable focus has been placed in recent decades on the impact of the ideological bent of college professors, when it comes to collegiate life — living in dorms, participating in extracurricular organizations — the ever growing ranks of administrators have the biggest influence on students and campus life across the country.

    Quick question: why are discussions of civil rights and inclusiveness “political”, “progressive”, or “overtly progressive”? And what would be a “meaningful ideological alternative” to ensuring students know about civil rights and inclusiveness – um, not having civil rights? Not being inclusive? Is it possible that college administrators might not feel they need to give equal time to the “nots”???

    It gets dumber from there…

    …I recently surveyed a nationally representative sample of roughly 900 “student-facing” administrators — those whose work concerns the quality and character of a student’s experience on campus. I found that liberal staff members outnumber their conservative counterparts by the astonishing ratio of 12-to-one. Only 6 percent of campus administrators identified as conservative to some degree, while 71 percent classified themselves as liberal or very liberal. It’s no wonder so much of the nonacademic programming on college campuses is politically one-sided.

    The 12-to-one ratio of liberal to conservative college administrators makes them the most left-leaning group on campus. In previous research, I found that academic faculty report a six-to-one ratio of liberal to conservative professors. Incoming first-year students, by contrast, reported less than a two-to-one ratio of liberals to conservatives, according to a 2016 finding by the Higher Education Research Institute. It appears that a fairly liberal student body is being taught by a very liberal professoriate — and socialized by an incredibly liberal group of administrators.

    I guess we’ll just take Sam’s word for it on that ratio and his findings…and that conservative respondents didn’t simply delete/trash/hang up on their surveys, as cranky conservatives might be imagined to do. But again, why are civil rights issues and issues of inclusion “liberal”? This guy can’t envision a world where conservatives – staunch defenders of the rule of law, Constitutional originalists! – step up to defend the rights of everyone. Nope, libruls are for it, therefore he must be against it.

    Annnnnd the wrap-up:

    This warped ideological distribution among college administrators should give our students and their families pause. To students who are in their first semester at school, I urge you not to accept unthinkingly what your campus administrators are telling you. Their ideological imbalance, coupled with their agenda-setting power, threatens the free and open exchange of ideas, which is precisely what we need to protect in higher education in these politically polarized times.

    “warped ideological”…”ideological”…???

    And I’m like, totally sure that ol’ Sam here is at least as concerned about the free and open exchange of ideas in front of the White House as he is on his beloved campus…

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    October 16, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @Kay:
    Sounds a lot like the Brownback Kansas Miracle. “Those last cuts didn’t work? Let’s cut more!”

  57. 57.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker: for gods sake, just raise or, better yet, eliminate the SS cap and it’s surpluses as far as the eye can see.

    And tax the shit out of the super rich, of course.

  58. 58.

    The Moar You Know

    October 16, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    I think they have stuff, but it’s embarrassing rather than criminal.

    @Roger Moore: Which means they have nothing. Embarrassment only works on people capable of feeling the emotion. And gets you nowhere in a court of law.

    That said, people who think Avenatti is some great guy are the left’s answer to Trumpists.

    Pretty much. He’s an amoral scumbag trying to harness one of Donald Trump’s lowest-quality hires to the fulfillment of his own personal ambition. I find him appalling.

  59. 59.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 16, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @Kay: T and his R party are doing to America what vulture capitals did to venerable American corporations like Sears. First assume ownership, then dismantle the going concern and sell the assets, then raid the pensions.

  60. 60.

    Ken Shabby

    October 16, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    Yet another smoke bomb in the lunch room, M-80 in the toilet.

    VOTE!

  61. 61.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    Headline at nytimes
    Trump Calls Stormy Daniels Horseface in Gloating Twitter Post

  62. 62.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    @Jeffro:

    what would be a “meaningful ideological alternative” to ensuring students know about civil rights and inclusiveness – um, not having civil rights? Not being inclusive? Is it possible that college administrators might not feel they need to give equal time to the “nots”???

    His “meaningful ideological alternative” is fascism and white supremacism disguised as Burkean conservativism.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    It’s funny how people perceive tax cuts and distribution. People here don’t credit Kasich with cutting state taxes. To them, it looks like “they keep all the money in Columbus” now because less of it goes to services they use, so they have to pay more locally. I hear it again and again and again- that Kasich isn’t “sending any back up here”. They see it as “sending it down” and then it either does or doesn’t “come back up”.

    The Trump people will be the same. They won’t think there’s less revenue. They’ll just see they’re getting less back. The conservative political theory of tax cuts doesn’t really work with non-wealthy people. They figured out it’s a scam, they just don’t know why it’s a scam.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 16, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    @Yutsano:

    This supposedly* happened yesterday:

    A group of 40 or so senior African-Americans were boarding a bus chartered by nonpartisan electoral activist group Black Voters Matter this morning in Louisville, Georgia, to take them to the polls for early voting.

    But somebody was aghast at the sight of African-Americans going to the polls and decided to call the county commissioner and complain, claiming that the bus didn’t have the proper “license” to drive people to the polls.

    The bus did not need a “proper license” to drive people to the polls.

    * I say “supposedly,” and am reluctant to provide a link, because the only places I’ve seen this reported are sketchy internet news sites. Yes, they’re lefty-liberal-progressive sites, but the stories are poorly or selectively sourced and there may be more going on that isn’t mentioned.

    That said, I find it totally believable.

    ETA: Literally the second I finished typing this comment, my NPR station led their 1:00 pm local news program with the black voters story. So I’m more inclined to believe it happened.

  65. 65.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Donald Trump’s lowest-quality hires to the fulfillment of his own personal ambition.

    Is this some slight agianst sex workers?

  66. 66.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 16, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @Juice Box: Then we need to improve our aim. Bullies need to be Scud Farkas’ed.

  67. 67.

    Steve in the ATL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: eh, marginally more credible. I don’t know how you still listen to NPR. Decades of habit that are hard to break?

  68. 68.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @JPL: I might add that he is now gloating about sleeping with horseface.

  69. 69.

    chopper

    October 16, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    i’d say kick ’em in the junk, but from daniels’ description of the stuff it looks like someone beat us to it.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I once read a book about Sears. Great book. I still think about it. There’s something called “sick stores”- those are stores with empty shelves and scant choices. Once you read it you’re like “I have SEEN that!” The Wal Mart here is a dump- it’s actually like that. The heirs must be burning thru that money- they’re sure not putting any back in the stores. The place is an eyesore. The exterior is so shabby and they don’t even pick up trash outside. I think they should get a notice from the city. “Clean this dump up”

  71. 71.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 16, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @Jeffro: For those not wishing to give Vichy Times a click who wrote that bullshit?

  72. 72.

    p.a.

    October 16, 2018 at 1:15 pm

    @Kay:

    Ordinary Republicans

    Lucky you. Only rethugs I know, including close blood relatives, are extraordinary. Racist, innumerate, willfully ignorant, uncultured. Extraordinarily so. Of course, anecdote =/= data.

  73. 73.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 16, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Kay: They are not running the country like a business. They are raiding the country like a business after a hostile takeover.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    @Kay:

    Part of the Ohio governor’s race is about how Republicans cut state taxes and then all the city and county and municipal taxes went up.

    And part of the reason that didn’t happen in California (other than our having a sane governor and legislature) is because our tax structure is so weird compared to other states. Prop 13 caps the property tax at 1% of the assessed value, so local governments can’t raise the one tax that’s most commonly used to boost local revenues. They can raise sales, utility, and other taxes, but those either don’t raise a ton of money or risk driving business out of town; they also require public approval. So raising the state income tax was a much easier approach; it also had the desirable effect of making our state and local taxes less regressive rather than more regressive.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    Trump is always mean-spirited and petty and nasty but some days are worse than others. He’s a screamer too. Rest assured he’s bellowing at subordinates today. That’s why they all look so hollow-eyed and miserable- they have an abusive boss.

    They made a deal with the damn devil. I hope they like the terms.

  76. 76.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    @Kay:
    Are you sure that WalMart isn’t independently owned? The owner might be a cheapskate

  77. 77.

    The Moar You Know

    October 16, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    Is this some slight agianst sex workers?

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Just the one. Are you looking for another user to gang up on? I’d be ideal. I’ve pissed off plenty of people here, and don’t really give a fuck about who I piss off today.

  78. 78.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @Kay:

    He’s a screamer too

    Ewww. Did not need to read that.

  79. 79.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 16, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @chopper:
    I’d say Stormy just did. She aimed well.

    Correction: Scud Farkus.

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 16, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I think you do have your finger on the pulse of T and his acolytes. How should the Ds react, what would be your advice if they came to you.

  81. 81.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @The Moar You Know:
    What do you mean by “another”? All I’m doing is asking questions, don’t get so bent out of shape.

    What has Stormy Daniels done to warrant that slight?

  82. 82.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @p.a.:

    I know quite a few of the ordinary variety. They’re never voting for Democrats though, so in a way they don’t matter. They’ll never ever break with the Party. The Party knows that. But deficits make them nervous in the same way a big credit card balance makes them nervous- because it indicates recklessness. They’re really sheepish about it with Trump. Republicans must be hearing it too or they wouldn’t be yammering about cutting “entitlements”

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    October 16, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:
    Is it really that simple, tax the rich?
    Being from CA, I know the answer. Yes, yes it is.

  84. 84.

    Hitlesswonder

    October 16, 2018 at 1:22 pm

    @WaterGirl: I agree – it’s a better to address (attack?) the pattern of bad-faith conartistry and how it defrauds people by making the government not work for them.

    Also, I think politically it is important to have people like Ms. Daniels and her lawyer who get in the media and attack political opponents more viciously than Dem candidates are allowed to.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @Kay:

    The conservative political theory of tax cuts doesn’t really work with non-wealthy people. They figured out it’s a scam, they just don’t know why it’s a scam.

    The “two Santas” theory of tax cuts has never really worked at the state level because state governments can’t run the kind of huge budget deficit the federal government can. It’s working even worse now, though, because the Republicans are only cutting taxes for the wealthy. If ordinary people don’t see their taxes going down, they aren’t going to be very impressed.

  86. 86.

    A Ghost To Most

    October 16, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Circular firing squads were already gathered on the Warren DNA news. Fuckem.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    It was a complete wash for me. I got a slight state tax cut and then all the county levies immediately went up. For me it really does feel like “sending in money and getting none back” because I still pay state taxes- I just don’t see any come back here.

    You can always run on that in Ohio- “we get NOTHING!” and Cordray is running on that :)

  88. 88.

    Hitlesswonder

    October 16, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Actually, I think Trump is running the country like he ran his businesses. It’s unbelievable that after 6 bankruptcies some significant percentage of people see him a successful businessman that the government can be entrusted to…

  89. 89.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 16, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:
    “Circular firing squads”? That has nothing to do with me

  90. 90.

    MazeDancer

    October 16, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Then again screwing Natives has been a national pastime since way before we were a country

    Truth spoken.

    Four Directions is the Native organization whose spokesman OJ was on with Rachel last night. They’re working hard to GOTV with compliance on the Reservations.

    Give if you can.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    The problem for them is so many Trumpsters weren’t paying federal income taxes anyway, other than payroll. So to them it’s just “let’s cut Medicare!” – it’s a net loss.

  92. 92.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Is it really that simple, tax the rich?

    I think it’s slightly more complicated than that. We can’t just raise the tax rate on the rich; we also need to invest some money in serious enforcement of the tax laws. This may require that we rewrite some of the tax laws to eliminate the idiotic “I believed my scheme for avoiding taxes was totally legal” defense to criminal tax evasion.

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 16, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Partly that, yes — I have a visceral affection for the NPR* that employed me for more than a decade — and I specifically mentioned here that this was a local news program. I have plenty of beefs with WABE, but they are often pretty good at covering local issues, and don’t indulge in the bothsiderism-whataboutism of Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

    It beats whatever the talking wallpaper alternative is.

    * To be clear, I didn’t work for NPR per se, but for two NPR member stations (one in Tampa, FL; the other in Flint, MI).

  94. 94.

    Kay

    October 16, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    One of the wonderful things about Donald Trump is that he’s absolutely physically repulsive yet so often weighs in womens appearance.

    He’s gross- from the jowls to the damaged, unhealthy looking skin to the bizarre teased and dyed hair- yet he really feels entitled to evaluate women.

    This is not unusual- there’s a lot of it out there- but it is amusing.

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    @Hitlesswonder: Except for your replies, what I wrote has been ignored or overlooked in both threads. Nice to think someone read it, at least, and even agrees. :-)

  96. 96.

    hueyplong

    October 16, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    Today’s Trump news naturally calls to mind the day when Barak Obama degraded the office of the president by wearing a tan suit.

    The restoration of the dignity of the office is Trump’s greatest of many triumphs.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Hitlesswonder: We have to fight them on multiple fronts, and Stormy Daniels and Avenatti have their place. But I hope to god he does not actually throw his hat in the ring for real.

    Unless he could play the role that one really old white guy did in the Dem debates a few elections back. He could say the stuff that everyone else was afraid to say, but everyone would have to know what the play is. We do not need Avenatti using that mouth of his against Democratic opponents.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    @Kay: At this point in time, it wouldn’t surprise me is the crowd chanted horseface at the next rally. They are all repulsive.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @Kay:
    It’s one of the biggest gender double standards: women are judged by their appearance while men aren’t*. That means it’s fine for disgustingly ugly men to criticize good looking women for not being perfect.

    *Or at least we aren’t judged harshly for being ugly. Men can get bonus points if they’re especially handsome.

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    @Kay: It’s definitely out there, and I don’t find it amusing at all. MY BIL, who is married to my tiny sister, is way overweight, but he is super proud of her slim build and would never tolerate someone who was heavy, even though he is. I don’t care of you’re slim or not slim, but let’s not have a double standard. Especially when it’s gender based.

  101. 101.

    The Moar You Know

    October 16, 2018 at 1:40 pm

    Circular firing squads were already gathered on the Warren DNA news. Fuckem.

    @A Ghost To Most: Apparently pointing out that The Party is indulging in a colossal exercise of stomping on our own dicks while chasing the shiny object of the day is poor form. As is pointing out idiotic, rookie-level mistakes by someone I’m supposed to take seriously as a presidential contender. Whatever. People know where the pie filter is and how to use it.

  102. 102.

    dww44

    October 16, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Blue Galangal: I [email protected]The Moar You Know: You are a concern troll.

  103. 103.

    JPL

    October 16, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @WaterGirl: Avenatti wants attention, and maybe Stormy does also, but at least she has a way with her words that hurts Trump.
    Since Ozark isn’t here to say blech, let me. Also Trump needs to be tutored.

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 16, 2018 at 1:43 pm

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

    He’s a screamer too

    Ewww. Did not need to read that.

    “Screamer” must have an alternative meaning of which I am unaware. I took it in the literal sense of someone who screams or yells.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    October 16, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    I just saw that there IS a Beto vs. Cruz DEBATE tonight. From a link on Beto’s site:

    WHERE TO WATCH: The Texas Debate – Cruz vs. O’Rourke
    You can watch The Texas Debate starting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16, by joining KENS 5 on air or on our many digital and social platforms.

    Hopefully c-span or someone will carry it also?

    So this DEBATE is on, but the upcoming TOWN HALL is the one that Cruz refuses to go to. That slimy Cruz must think he can win a debate but won’t do well in a town hall.

  106. 106.

    Chyron HR

    October 16, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    I suspect that he got in the habit of shouting something that sounds like “horse” and having to correct it to “horseface” so often that he now thinks it’s an example of his devastating wit.

  107. 107.

    hueyplong

    October 16, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @JPL: Trump’s choice of rejoinder really telegraphs just how much Stormy gets under his skin.

    Would really like to see pretty much any woman join in the taunting of his member.

    You don’t have to kick Trump’s junk; you merely have to describe it.

  108. 108.

    dww44

    October 16, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @Kay: Right on cue comes comes this call from McConnell to reign in “disturbing” debt. Kay, I believe you are truly prescient.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mcconnell-calls-for-cutting-government-programs-to-deal-with-disturbing-debt

  109. 109.

    JoyceH

    October 16, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    @Kay:

    One of the wonderful things about Donald Trump is that he’s absolutely physically repulsive yet so often weighs in womens appearance.

    He’s gross- from the jowls to the damaged, unhealthy looking skin to the bizarre teased and dyed hair- yet he really feels entitled to evaluate women.

    Stormy said something recently that I think really got under his skin. Can’t find the quote so this is a paraphrase – answering whether or not she’d just made the story up, she made the really inarguable point, ‘if I wanted to make up having sex with a famous man for the attention, wouldn’t I have picked someone less embarrassing?’

    You know that had to hurt!

    But speaking of unhealthy, the news keeps showing clips of the 60 Minute interview and I keep being struck by how really ill Trump looks. Those bags under his eyes – that’s not just the paleness of tanning bed goggles – the pouches are very puffy and a sickly light blue. I’m not a doctor, so I have no idea what that signifies, but it’s sure not a sign of robust health!

  110. 110.

    danielx

    October 16, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    He can’t even do insults well; the stuff he comes up with would embarrass a fourth grader.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @dww44:

    Right on cue comes comes this call from McConnell to reign in “disturbing” debt. Kay, I believe you are truly prescient.

    You don’t need to be the Oracle of Delphi to know that a big deficit will cause the Republicans to call for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. You just need to remember the last time they did it and the times before that.

  112. 112.

    VOR

    October 16, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    @Kay: Pawlenty did the same thing in Minnesota when he was Governor. Then he drained every reserve fund. And added “fees”, oh certainly not taxes, to a variety of things.

  113. 113.

    low-tech cyclist

    October 16, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @MazeDancer: I hadn’t heard of PostcardPatriots.com before today, but sounds like something useful an insomniac like me can do when he can’t get back to sleep at 3:30am. I can’t seem to get to the site from work, but I’ll check it out when I get home this afternoon.

  114. 114.

    Kraux Pas

    October 16, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    You don’t need to be the Oracle of Delphi to know that a big deficit will cause the Republicans to call for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. You just need to remember the last time they did it and the times before that.

    What we really need is for most voters to remember.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    October 16, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: an “American Enterprise Institute fellow” (ie, wingnut welfare queen, er, king) named Samuel J Abrams, who periodically floats turds likes this in the Times’ bowl. He “teaches” at Sarah Lawrence College.

  116. 116.

    Burnspbesq

    October 16, 2018 at 2:37 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Screamer” must have an alternative meaning of which I am unaware.

    Yup, it does.

  117. 117.

    Burnspbesq

    October 16, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs are decimating the auto industry in that progressive workers’ paradise, South Carolina. I wish I could convince myself that the victims will eventually figure out what to do about it, but even I am not that much of a Pollyanna.

    https://www.postandcourier.com/business/potential-tariffs-tally-half-a-billion-for-bmw-production-move/article_79ebc70c-d093-11e8-8893-43e69622fe60.html

  118. 118.

    cwmoss

    October 16, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I don’t think there are any independently owned Walmarts.

  119. 119.

    Roger Moore

    October 16, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Screamer” must have an alternative meaning of which I am unaware.

    Check Urban Dictionary if you really want to find out.

  120. 120.

    J R in WV

    October 16, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    @Kay:

    Are you sure that [individual] WalMart isn’t independently owned?

    No such thing, Goku. All Walmarts are owned by Walmart Corp, which is mostly owned by the Sam Walton heirs. Not as smart as their founding Sam, either. Different local or regional management may vary also, but ownership is solid, so far as I know.

  121. 121.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 16, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Even better, “doodoo economics.”

  122. 122.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 16, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @banditqueen: I hope Karma helps fix the budget deficit by ensuring Yertle McTurtle never gets to collect his fat Senatorial pension.

  123. 123.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 16, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    @hueyplong:

    You don’t have to kick Trump’s junk; you merely have to describe it.

    The likely reason Needy Amin doesn’t go tossing around “huge vagina” is the obvious & instantaneous rejoinder

    Anything wider than a thimble would feel yooooooge to you, Shrimpy!

  124. 124.

    Nettoyeur

    October 16, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @The Moar You Know: What they have is Michael Cohen, by the gonads. He’s flipped on Marmalade Mussolini, and he’s going to the Big Housem

  125. 125.

    Gravenstone

    October 16, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Suspect Goku foolishly jumped to the image of one who is vocal during sex, rather than just someone who is shouty and abusive in daily interactions with people below them.

  126. 126.

    Waynski

    October 16, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @cwmoss: Correct. WalMart’s a <a href="WMT“>public company.

  127. 127.

    David Evans

    October 16, 2018 at 5:06 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: Sandford is good, isn’t he? I’ve been re-reading everything of his I can find. I told myself that a narcissistic psychopath like her is going to choose whichever party she can manipulate. The nice peoples’ party might be best for her.

  128. 128.

    Ken Shabby

    October 16, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    @JPL:

    Fight, after school, behind the gym!

    This is 7th grade, with orange stains and incest.

  129. 129.

    victory

    October 16, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    Everything is ok, though. it’s not like he wore a tan suit.

  130. 130.

    Roman

    October 17, 2018 at 10:39 am

    Saw this on Facebook and realised that tRump has a problem with grammar, as he does with many other more important matters.

    “She knows nothing about me, (comma) a total con.”

    One just might read that sentence as a personal acknowledgement of his actual state of being.

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