Because the assholes know if they complain long enough people will accept the path of fewest headaches.
This is why our nation needs an Asshole Test for all elected offices to ensure NO MORE ASSHOLES ruining our lives.
Upped from the post I just made in the thread below. Something is wrong with this man. Obviously. But I mean physically.
Trump won't be leaving the White House today, per press office. No visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day.— Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) November 12, 2018
7.
Yarrow
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Looking at his narcissism, here’s one perspective:
Another reason for Trump’s brooding retreat:
His boastful peacocking abroad has always been based on the fallacious absurdity that his election proved his specialness.
@Yarrow: It’s just baffling to normal people though. He got bad publicity for skipping the cemetery in France. He could undo part of that by a routine event that every president participates in. But no. He won’t.
Cruelty energizes them and is designed to wear down their targets. Schoolyard bullies exhibit the same pattern.
12.
Mike in Pasadena
Our low energy president was on the cover of my copy of an Italian newspaper this morning. Merkel and Macron stood next to him. All three were looking at Putin. Merkel’s expression said, “What a jackass!” Macron wore an angry expression. Guess who, the lazy jerk who couldn’t heft his ass out of his hotel room for the memorial service, had a big smile on his face, thrilled to see his best friend ever.
13.
call_me_Ishmael
It was ever thus:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Trump has always been treated as special. Lots of “Oh, that’s our Donald!” since the early 1980s. I hope Liz Smith, wherever she is, has many regrets in regard to the monster she created.
17.
sukabi
@Dorothy A. Winsor: he can’t have his parade and he’s pouting. Plus the fuzz on his head is getting thinner and if it gets damp the illusion he spends hours crafting will stick to his bald pate like cotton candy that’s been dropped in a mud puddle.
18.
Schlemazel
Evil feeds off of the pain of others, they create their own energy source. Decent people are drained by tht pain
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Funny, if you google presidential visits to Arlington, the first hits are about conservatives losing their minds when Obama went to a ceremony in Chicago instead of Arlington on Memorial Day 2010. Being in the “wrong” place is apparently worse than not showing up at all, at least for some people…
20.
David Fud
Clinton allies making noise about her running again in 2020. Politico click-bait warning. I want a wide field and hope that we don’t foreclose on new potential faces. I personally don’t want to even consider a candidate that is 70 or older by 2020, call me an age discriminator if you like. Or, if one of the older candidates wins the nomination (e.g., Clinton, Sanders, Warren, Biden…), commit to one term and let the VP gain experience and hand it off to them. I voted for her and will again if she is the candidate, but we need a wide field to consider this time. There is so much to do between here and there that I have no good excuse for talking presidential 2020 politics, but we didn’t even make it a week after the mid-terms before this started.
21.
sukabi
@Puddinhead: those rules only apply to democrats though. It’s their fake outrage on display.
He’s too busy tweeting, first thanking FEMA and CA firefighters:
The California Fire Fighters, FEMA and First Responders are amazing and very brave. Thank you and God Bless you all!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018
and then blaming Democrats for the market’s +400-point loss today:
The prospect of Presidential Harassment by the Dems is causing the Stock Market big headaches!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018
Interesting that he now feels “harassed.”
23.
hueyplong
I like to think Trump got word of an impending Jr indictment and has gone to ground trying to prevent it.
It is because I am a rank sentimentalist.
24.
George
Ramping up the level of uncertainty and conflict also increases the level of exhaustion in the populace, which is the goal of anyone who wants to bring down any political/cultural system. That’s why the GOP/Fox group maintains ongoing distractions. People get exhausted and lose patience and fall back on fascist tendencies.
@David Fud: thats fucking mark penn. He’s just trying to gin up the clinton hating machine as a distraction. Has that guy been right about anything? And pretty sure he hasn’t been a clinton ally for a long time.
True to her name, Mrs. Clinton will fight this out until the last dog dies. She won’t let a little thing like two stunning defeats stand in the way of her claim to the White House…
The generation of Democrats who have been waiting to take over the party from the Clintons will be fuming that she is back and stealing their show. But they revealed themselves to be bungling amateurs in the Brett Kavanaugh nomination fight, with their laughable Spartacus moments. She will trounce them.
I suspect there may be an unpaid invoice or two from Mark Penn that Clinton decided not to pay.
Clinton allies making noise about her running again in 2020.
I’m trying to decide if it’s “wishful thinking” on the part of her “allies” or if it’s a deliberate smoke cloud.
There’s no way Clinton wins the nomination again if she runs, I think. So part of me wonders if she’s deliberately putting herself out there to draw fire from the right to let other candidates slip under the radar until it’s too late for the GOP to build up a massive outrage machine against them. Kind of like how Barack Obama was able to squeak by at first because they were so laser focused on Clinton.
If it is, she’s brilliant. Because as a target to drive the ire of Republicans you aren’t going to find a better candidate than someone with the last name Clinton.
33.
different-church-lady
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
34.
japa21
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Actually, there have several instances of a President not going to Arlington on Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a different story. However, considering the horrible optics of his not going to the ceremony in France, any normal person would have tried to recover by going there today. And yes, I know the flaw in my logic is the use of the word normal.
Mark Penn has gone full T, and is a Faux Nooze Analyst, I would hardly call him an HRC ally.
36.
Woodrow/Asim
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed! Penn has always been out for Penn, was a wanker in ’07, and is even moreso, today.
I hope the Clintons thoroughly regret every dime they’ve spent on that charlatan.
37.
Yarrow
What’s up with Wisconsin?
If anybody from Baraboo High School in Wisconsin can clue me in on why it appears the entire male class of 2018 is throwing up a Sig Heil during their prom photos – that would be great.h/t @CarlySideypic.twitter.com/BL8lDVLMA4— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) November 12, 2018
38.
Fair Economist
@David Fud: Given her amazing policy chops, here is probably no potential President better suited than Clinton to getting the maximum benefit from a trifecta in 2020. My first thought on electability, though, is that Clinton isn’t the best choice given her age and having lost twice, once in the primary and once in the general. You can lose once and make a comeback, but after two losses the voters start holding it against you. That said, from *Clinton’s* POV she’s probably thinking “I can get a 1% swing from 2016 and win it” and she’s probably right.
I would certainly take her over Biden or Sanders.
It’s absolutely to our benefit for her to talk about running if she ends up not running or not winning the nomination, because she will suck up all the oxygen of the smear machine.
@NonyNony: That won’t last for long if that’s her strategy. Actual serious contenders will start announcing their candidacies soon enough. Obama announced his in Feb of 2007, for instance. By this summer, we should have a complete set.
I absolutely disagree with you and hope Hillary comes to her senses. Better candidate or not, she demonstrated that Clinton Hatred cannot be overcome — not even with a clown like Trump. Should she run and we lose in 2020, our party will be destroyed.
Stop even thinking this is a good idea.
44.
Platonailedit
A judge has denied the Rick Scott campaign a request for an injunction, CBS4 Miami reports. https://t.co/VUkbMFKmw2— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 12, 2018
45.
jimmiraybob
“…why do the assholes have all the energy?”
Rage. It’s an industry. If you feel yourself flagging a bit you can always take a couple of testosterone enhancers and tune into the Uncle Rusty Show or Fox or some such outlet until you’re worked into a frenzy of fear and loathing upon which to build a proper rage. Somewhere in the world, at any instant, someone is getting something that rightfully belongs to the asshole.
Clinton allies making noise about her running again in 2020
As likely they’re making noises about their own hoped for future employment prospects. She’s been pretty damned adamant that she’s not running again, for anything.
48.
MCA1
@Yarrow: It’s amazing, really, that the three most obvious choices for the President of the United States choosing not to attend memorials at Arlington on Veteran’s Day (literally a six minute drive for a presidential motorcade) are:
1. His NPD has him so wounded and so howling from [midterm shellacking/humiliating trip to France/lack of DPRK style parade] that either he’s too enraged to be out in public or he thinks he’s punishing everyone;
2. He’s in a significant physical decline that the WH has not publicized (if he had a bad flu or something, they’d surely choose to make that known – the complaints that he’s a wimp would be less damaging than the blowback he’ll get for just petulantly skipping out on the duties of the office and blowing off every veteran in America); or
3. He’s been told not to by his handler.
Honestly, I can’t think of any other likely reason for this.
49.
Nelle
@David Fud: I’m 67 and have had two challenging years. My husband is 75 and in peak condition. Both of us are facing certain realities of aging. We will resist candidates our ages and older.I think we should have a formal council of wise elders and advisors, carriers of institutional history. Pay them, respect them, but the actual leaders should be younger.
50.
tobie
@David Fud: My gut feeling is that any ‘scoop’ from Mark Penn is meant to sow discord in Democratic ranks. That’s its sole purpose. Clinton has already said herself that her electoral career is over. Cui bono in throwing this rumor out now?
I’m actually afraid of a Democratic primary involving 14 candidates like the GOP had last time around. The last thing we need is for Democrats to be tearing each other apart. It didn’t work well for us in 2016 and won’t in 2020.
51.
japa21
Trump dropped down to 38% approval with 56% disapproval in this week’s Gallup. Still too high, but heading in the right direction and that would not show the impact of yesterday’s refusal to go to the cemetery in France or today’s not going to Arlington.
Regardless of what party or what country you are from, it is striking that the elected leader of a country, and in the case of the US, the Commander-in-Chief, is not attending a remembrance ceremony in the National Cemetery on Veterans Day. To remind the President, or maybe to introduce him to the concepts, the mission and vision statements of Arlington are:
Our Mission
On behalf of the American people, lay to rest those who have served our nation with dignity and honor, treating their families with respect and compassion, and connecting guests to the rich tapestry of the cemetery’s living history, while maintaining these hallowed grounds befitting the sacrifice of all those who rest here in quiet repose.
Our Vision
America’s premier military cemetery – A national shrine – A living history of freedom – Where dignity and honor rest in solemn repose.
54.
Kelly
Fear gives you fight or flight energy. The racist asssholes are afraid. Hopefully spending their lives in fight or flight mode will drive them to early graves.
55.
Ruckus
I’m so tired why do the assholes have all the energy?
Shit creates gas. These assholes are full of shit. Ergo they have so much gas, they have to keep moving to avoid asphyxiation.
For those who have asked, this is the impoundment/seizure lawsuit. The judge denied alll relief except to have three more Broward sheriff officers at the facility, which we support to keep order. Next up is their lawsuit challenging ballots.— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 12, 2018
57.
Gravenstone
@Yarrow: Note too, the “white power” ironic (or not) symbol from the guy front row, middle. Assholes gonna asshole, I suppose. Although this lot oughta get some quality time out back of the woodshed.
Something is wrong with this man. Obviously. But I mean physically.
He’s probably drained, physically and emotionally. He did a thousand hate rallies and fed of off the hatred. I’m sure he thought he’d get the house and a lot more seats in the senate. But the people he specifically went to bat for lost (Heller and the guy in Montana), Florida is razor thin. What is he going to do now? He has no capacity to face endless investigations and no strategy. He’s not smart and essentially a coward. For all the bluster, he can’t actually even get himself to fire people. He’s an empty windbag. I don’t think he’ll survive this emotionally or physically.
60.
Yarrow
@Gravenstone: Yep. The thread is informative with lots of students and former students coming out about the racism in the school. The parents apparently were fine with this photo.
There’s one kid in the upper right who isn’t participating. Good for him.
I’m so tired why do the assholes have all the energy?
It’s what gets me out of bed on a daily basis. That. And the cats. And coffee.
62.
Mike in NC
Good to read that Fat Bastard is barricading himself in the Oval Office, stuffing his face with cheeseburgers and fries when he should be honoring our veterans at Arlington. Maybe this latest failed trip abroad will lead to a nervous breakdown. January can’t come fast enough.
63.
tobie
@Yarrow: This the injunction Scott filed last night, I believe. Glad the judge denied his request. Suck it, fraudster! I have to look up what the ballot suit was. Hard to keep track of the GOP’s panicked efforts to conceal years of Republican cheating in Florida elections.
I’m actually afraid of a Democratic primary involving 14 candidates like the GOP had last time around. The last thing we need is for Democrats to be tearing each other apart. It didn’t work well for us in 2016 and won’t in 2020.
I worry about that too, with our strictly proportional delegate allocation and a more open funding system thanks to ActBlue et al. I worry about a convention where nobody comes in with more than 35% of the delegates, allowing the Republicans in the media to paint whoever wins the hung convention as “rejected by Democratic voters” or some such. They would have such fun with the hoary old “Dems in disarray” theme.
Then the questions comes up – would I prefer a clear win by Biden or Sanders, or a hung convention? Blech. Not seeing anybody else who could run away with it other than maybemaybe Beto.
65.
Matt McIrvin
@David Fud: It’s Mark Penn. Not a Clinton ally or currently an advisor. He’s trolling.
The neoliberal corporatist failyuhcrats were too busy playing identity politics to lift these poor economically anxious kids out of their literally ragged squalor.
Florida judge says there's no evidence of fraud in Broward, denies Scott's request to impound equipment, tells everyone to tone down the rhetoric bc the nation is watching.— Amy Gardner (@AmyEGardner) November 12, 2018
Also notable according to Floridians who watch this sort of thing is that the law enforcement folks are pushing back against Scott. They say that kind of thing hasn’t happened before. Looks like all sorts of people are pissed off at how he’s handling things and how he’s making them look.
She’s not running. Mark Penn works for Fox News. He’s just stirring up shit.
70.
JPL
@Yarrow: According to one student who did not partake in the nazi salute, it was the photographer of the prom encouraged it also. At least one student used the white national symbol. The parents were at the event.
71.
trollhattan
Trump lacks energy but has people to do his energy for him. Those exist in unlimited numbers.
Plus the fuzz on his head is getting thinner and if it gets damp the illusion he spends hours crafting will stick to his bald pate like cotton candy that’s been dropped in a mud puddle.
And he can’t use the usual expedient of wearing a MAGA hat because it would be considered disrespectful if he didn’t take it off during the solemn parts of the proceedings.
73.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Speaking of Fox News, their official twitter account still hasn’t tweeted since November 8. It’s usually a very active account.
74.
trollhattan
@JPL:
Fine people, all. Upset they won’t have doucheknocker Governor Walker any longer?
75.
Patricia Kayden
Trump lying is no longer a shock but it’s interesting to see how he lies about every dang thing including that President Obama did not spend enough on the military. Plus, keep in mind that Trump’s VA is trying to cut its budget even as Trump is criticizing President Obama’s military spending.
@Baud: I will let you have Beto for President now. Yarrow is right he has energy and more. rain did not stop him.
He is under pressure on his face book and twitter to run again right NOW!
80.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. I’m sick with a cold but otherwise things have calmed down a bit for me.
I’ve seen rumors they’re “boycotting Twitter” because of how Twitter was handling some of the alt right things they were promoting, or something. Or maybe due to how Twitter was handling Tucker Carlson’s freakout when protesters showed up outside his home. (His account doesn’t match the police report, so…)
I’ve sort of been following it because Rupert Murdoch visited Mitch McConnell in his offices on November 8. Soon after the tweets stopped. Weird.
Also Wikileaks hasn’t tweeted since November 8 either.
I think you may have it. Wingnuts feel like they’re special but are being treated poorly, that their super-amazing awesomeness is being ignored.
Where progressives feel hope, optimism, community, wingers feel fear and resentment. I would think it must be exhausting.
82.
JaySinWA
@Mnemosyne: They are protesting the Twitter treatment of Hannity and other FOX folks.
Well, Hillary was interviewed last week. She first said she wasn’t running, then she said she would like to be president. That’s far too much obliqueness for this country of black-and-white absolutism.
I would say I’m confident she won’t try running again, but I see no reason to have confidence in anything anymore.
More importantly, how’s the knee coming along?
84.
Middlelee
@David Fud:
I’m 78 years old and I agree with you. We need young candidates, in their fifties. I love Hilary Clinton and voted for her in the last presidential election. And, I want younger people to step up for president and vice president.
85.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
I’m objectively pro turning the WH putting green into a skate park.
@JaySinWA: If wingnuts want to protest by leaving Twitter, that would be so terrible! LOL.
88.
tobie
@Fair Economist: My hunch, based on no inside knowledge whatsoever (!), is that most of the top contenders for 2020 would agree to making a deal for the sake of unified opposition to Trump behind closed doors. Sanders’ won’t because he’s a vainglorious fool. This means he will likely run. It would be good if he were eviscerated in the primaries, but that will require a small field. I saw what happened in Maryland where a crowded primary landed the party with a terrible candidate for governor. I don’t want to see that repeated on a national scale with democracy itself in the balance.
Trump is now tweeting that Comcast is worse than AT&T. At first I couldn’t figure it out, but then the aha moment. He doesn’t like nbc news. Maybe they are next in line to lose their press credentials. It’s time to have an all black female white house press or better yet stop covering him.
92.
trollhattan
@JPL:
Now he’s done it–Comcast will promise to be at the WH “Between 10:00 a.m. Tuesday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday,” trapping Trump there the entire time. They’ll show Sunday.
@khead: Names I’ve heard thus far are Booker, Harris, Warren, Gillibrand (though not recently), Biden, Sanders, Beto (not from him), Sherrod Brown (on an earlier thread at BJ today), Swalwell (says he’s considering), and Kobluchar, who was oddly endorsed by Erik Son of the Gated Community Erikson last night night. The guy was positively anti the GOP in its current incarnation. What’s going on?
ETA: Shoot….I forgot Baud.
95.
Platonailedit
Bill Nelson calls on Rick Scott to recuse himself from the recount process."Scott cannot oversee this process in a fair and impartial way … Given his efforts to undermine the votes of Floridians, this is the only way we can ensure the people's votes are protected." pic.twitter.com/Me8EgHmMm5— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 12, 2018
96.
Yarrow
Today is a federal holiday, but at least five of Robert Mueller's prosecutors are working today at their office in downtown DC. (h/t @emsteck)— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) November 12, 2018
Tick tock…
97.
MisterForkbeard
@Mandalay: I have several BernieBro relatives who are using this as an excuse to exercise all their Clinton hatred all over again.
The fact that it’s coming from Mark Penn, Asshole Extraordinaire who’s been out of the Clinton Camo for years and has been writing anti-Hillary screeds for the past few years means nothing to them.
Meh. Worrying that Hillary is going to run again is worrying about nothing, especially when you’re taking the word of a Fox News employee. Don’t waste the brain space on it.
Knee is coming along. I see the ortho again after Thanksgiving. The strength is back, so now it’s all about getting the flexibility back, too.
101.
Amir Khalid
@tobie:
As I recall, the 2016 Klown Kar set out with 17 (seventeen!) on the passenger manifest: Trump, little Marco, Cruz, Fiorina the failed CEO, Perry the dimwit, Dr Space Cadet Carson, the formidable Jeb!, and a random selection of governors and US senators.
I saw what happened in Maryland where a crowded primary landed the party with a terrible candidate for governor. I don’t want to see that repeated on a national scale with democracy itself in the balance.
The requirement for an absolute majority of delegates at the convention protects against that some. If Sanders comes in under 40% like Jealous did odds are somebody else will be the nominee (although that would be undesirable because the Russian bot army supporting Sanders will whine endlessly and pull a lot of genuine Sanders supporters along.)
We might do OK in a wide-open convention, which the polls indicate is possible. Biden is usually the leader, and he’s below 30% usually. Some of that support is name recognition and I think he will get less of the vote in actual primaries. If everybody is below 25% I think there will be less of a media hit from having a brokered conventions. We could also do an IRV-style vote or analogous series of ballots (with the lowest voter being eliminated each round) and I think that would be accepted too.
Just killing time before a Wawa lunch run. I was supposed to visit a friend in Frederick today but some jackass rear-ended me before I could even get out of Elkton this morning. So I’m a bit crabby. I’d take Baud (and Hillary) over all of those folks. Warts and all.
Names I’ve heard thus far are Booker, Harris, Warren, Gillibrand (though not recently), Biden, Sanders, Beto (not from him), Sherrod Brown (on an earlier thread at BJ today), Swalwell (says he’s considering), and Kobluchar,
I have also heard Steve Bullock, Gov of Montana, Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Bennet (D-CO). The first two were media speculations and the last was personal scuttlebutt (an acquaintance said he heard it at a political function.)
109.
trollhattan
@MisterForkbeard:
Hillary could say, “I like lamp” and they’d declare the witch is running again. She’s as much a trigger for the purity left as she is for the Trump brigades.
Lucky us.
p.s. Not running. No way, no how.
110.
wasabi gasp
Lots of Clinton dead-enders poo-pooing the article because, if true, would reveal her as the narcissistic loser she has always been.
Don’t play the media’s game, when they say jump, don’t say how high. Mark Penn hasn’t worked for HRC since she fired him for incompetence in 2008 race. He does not speak for her.
ETA: If she does run, I have no reason to believe that Penn’s prognostications will come true. He is a useless grifter with no great insight.
112.
Yarrow
@Fair Economist: Let’s not forget the narcissist Michael Avenatti says he’s thinking about running. Also, speculation about Oprah. Please, no to both of them.
@wasabi gasp: Also, saying the article is probably bullshit because it’s obvious bullshit from someone who’s been outside of the Clinton orbit for years and works for Fox News now.
But don’t let that get in the way of your hate boner.
124.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: Is he back in the ring? I thought he was getting treatment for PTSD?
125.
MisterForkbeard
@Yarrow: Well, that’s awful. But he had a good, long run. He’ll be missed.
126.
wasabi gasp
@trollhattan: nope, she’s a narcissistic loser. It’s the dead-enders that have been doing the heavy lifting.
@debbie: “Presidential harassment” is the new Republican talking point for House oversight of Trump. McConnell has already warned Democrats that presidential harassment will backfire. I’m sure Democrats will take his advice and back off, haha.
It’s going to be fun watching Bernie pointing at where he imagines Clinton’s podium to be during the debates and snarling “SHE’S A WHORE!” to thunderous applause from his totally non-deadender supporters.
Sucks that you are paid in rubles and they are down again today.
137.
cain
I wish Mark Penn would shut the fuck up. The man can’t run a campaign to remove a piece of broccoli from his countertop. The guy is still cashing in on his past relationship with the Clinton and is probably why he’s at Fox News to begin with. He’s a no-talent, asshole who loses elections for a living.
138.
trollhattan
@wasabi gasp:
Stay away from the mirror (presuming you have a reflection).
139.
cain
Bernie should just give up, how old is that guy? Why the fuck would you put yourself through all that in your advanced age? Jeezus, after 4 years isn’t he going to be near or past 90? WTF? It’s time for a younger generation, go grow some turnips, Bernie.
140.
wasabi gasp
Looks like my work is done here, folks. Snacktime!
141.
Platonailedit
Amnesty International is stripping Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award.
The politician and Nobel peace prize winner received the honour in 2009, when she was living under house arrest.
The rights group said it was profoundly dismayed at her failure to speak out for the Rohingya minority, some 700,000 of whom have fled a military crackdown.
This is the latest honour in a string of awards Ms Suu Kyi, 73, has lost.
142.
trollhattan
@cain:
So long as there are functioning cameras Bernie will seek them. He’s not quite in Giuliani’s league but they’re still similar.
143.
Aleta
href=”#comment-7085593″>khead: I hope it wasn’t too big a jolt. Hope you can take it easy for a while.
144.
different-church-lady
Meanwhile people better than me worked their asses off making sure down-ticket races went our way and will do so again and again and again and will get next to no attention or thanks for it.
Вы можете убедить себя, если хотите, так как ваша собака счастливо крутится на ваших шарах, что ваши яйца должны быть вкусными, но мы все видели, как вы распространяли на них
152.
trollhattan
@Baud: @Jay:
I’d like to see the DNC add a “must publish tax return” requirement for anybody running for the Dem. nomination. Wilmer would stamp off in a huff.
153.
waratah
@?BillinGlendaleCA: lol I thought the spell check was wrong and I had to get back to prepping carrots for a kind of WestTexas chines stew.
154.
VeniceRiley
Excelsior! RIP Stan Lee. So many of my friends know him and have met him. Universally reported as a kind man. Which, for some reason just now, reminds me of my friend the late Kelley Freas. I miss him too.
155.
Jay
Trapped in moderation for saying dog balls in Russian.
156.
waratah
That should be Chinese.
157.
Baud
@trollhattan: I’d rather see the other candidates lay into him for not voluntarily doing so.
158.
SiubhanDuinne
RIP Stan Lee, age 95. I’m not particularly a comics or superheroes fan, but I know a lot of people here are.
159.
Aleta
Why do they focus on HRC ? … Well, the effect is to take the attention and media minutes away from newer names.
Wilmer would stamp off in a huff spend the entire 2020 election going on TV every day to tell his supporters that he was robbed and that they must bern the country down again.
I don’t think that’s a great plan, actually.
163.
Baud
@Aleta: HRC is an addiction for too many people (and not just on the right!). Addicted people need a hit, and for the media, the need for hits translate into clicks.
164.
Ruckus
@Jay:
There’s probably some money from a country that will remain unnamed but it is a large nation and has a lot of snow in the winter and is disliked in many a country that will want him to run to fuck up any reasonable election/candidate, like he got paid to do last time.
Nope, Canada has nothing to do with Saint Bernie.
There are still tens of thousands of Bernie Bro’s that are good for a few dozen bucks.
169.
Baud
@John: What about those of us who have passionate intensity about our lack of conviction?
170.
Ruckus
@Aleta:
Also, they have spent three decades creating this monster of a person, out of whole cloth. They’ve invested a lot to have Clinton hate and they don’t want that to go to waste. And because democrats like Hillary, it also taints every other candidate we run. Clinton hate is a shibboleth for the right.
Don’t forget, that sacred ground at Arlington is composed of the slave plantation formerly owned by traitor Robert E Lee, and confiscated from him at the end of the Rebellion in Defense of Slavery that traitor Lee lost.
172.
Billcoop4
No senators from states with Republican governors should receive the nomination. That, sadly, rules out Senator Professor Warren.
173.
Baud
@Billcoop4: FWIW, Massachusetts does hold a special election fairly quickly, so the period of a GOP Senator from Massachusetts would be relatively brief.
174.
John
@John: I see now that I was not the only one reminded of Yeats.
And he can’t use the usual expedient of wearing a MAGA hat because it would be considered disrespectful if he didn’t take it off during the solemn parts of the proceedings.
Hat hair is the WORSIEST!
180.
John
@Baud: @Baud: I have passionate conviction coupled with lack of intensity.
Sadly, not just for the right. The propaganda has infected the left as well and Hillary seems to remind a whole lot of young white “leftists” of their nagging mom or least-favorite teacher.
183.
Ruckus
@Jay:
Awww that’s sweet, thinking it was Canada……..
Read the fine print, the country is hated in many other countries. Who hates Canada? Sure some speak french but we don’t hold that against the French do we? Sure is has snow but we are fixing that messy issue by ignoring global warming. Sure it’s a beautiful country but beauty is over rated. There has to be at least one group on the outs in Canada, you know some form of racism. So what’s to hate for any red blooded american white dude?
184.
Baud
@Yarrow: Probably one of those Scandinavian countries Bernie is always talking about.
If anybody from Baraboo High School in Wisconsin can clue me in on why it appears the entire male class of 2018 is throwing up a Sig Heil during their prom photos – that would be great.h/t @CarlySidey pic.twitter.com/BL8lDVLMA4— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) November 12, 2018
The sweet part of this abomination is that these would-be Nazis will have a hard time getting and keeping a decent job. Won’t even be able to be the front man at a fast food drive thru, will have to be in the back making those fries.
There are people who make it their life work to ID fascists using facial recognition tools, and then put their hatred out for everyone to see. That’s why the dirtbags who call cops on black people doing normal stuff keep getting fired, no one wants that stench around them all day.
186.
Baud
@Yarrow: Probably one of those Nordic countries Bernie is always praising.
187.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
True, but I’ve never understood why. She’s not a nag, she’s smart, she’s well spoken, she likes equality……
OK I can see why some guys wouldn’t like her. But really what women would they like then, a dominatrix? A plastic doll?
I finally had time to listen to video of Pelosi’s Sunday news talky interview. I’ve criticized how she expresses herself to media before. But I thought she did very well this Sunday. She took the right approach, gave the right answers, and didn’t use any inside baseball politics jargon, or just blow off questions with elegant high toned BS, that would lose the average listener.
191.
Baud
FYWP.
192.
Baud
@Billcoop4: Right. But the party affiliation of the governor had nothing to do with that.
A bunch of the Bernie Bro’s roots are in the anti-war groups.
198.
HeleninEire
Tired, John Cole? I’ve been back in Dublin for 82 hours and been asleep for easily 50 of them. I’ve never had jet lag like this. Good thing I took the week off of work.
199.
Ruckus
@jl:
NP never does any of the crap. What you saw is what you get. She’s smart and can count, she knows her stuff and she knows the stuff of her fellow house members. She’s a leader because she is a natural leader. I understand why some don’t trust a natural leader, because they aren’t one and never will be. She is the best person to be speaker at this time.
One that isn’t in charge. A figurehead would be fine, if they felt like she wasn’t really in charge and was nice to look at. It’s a gut level reaction. They see/hear a woman seeking power and have a negative reaction, so everything they believe is filtered through that.
202.
Baud
@Jay: Never heard the same level of vitriol directed at Biden.
Secondly, you obviously know nothing about narcissism, because Hillary Clinton displays none of the symptoms of that mental disorder. She has worked to help and uplift others for her whole adult life, which is the opposite of what narcissists do. Current occupant of the White Power House for an example… has never helped anyone, famous for striking his own kid for not being prepared to wear a suit and tie to a ball game!
You, on the other hand, show every sign of being a hate-filled bucket of shit, with the IQ of said bucket.
204.
Jeffro
Kind of surprised we don’t have an RIP Stan Lee thread up yet?
@Jay:
That’s all well and good but so are most dems anti war, especially wars that have no actual reason. What the bs bros lack is understanding more than one point of anything at one time and that slogans are not policy.
Comic book legend, and creator of Marvel comics, Stan Lee has died at the age of 95, reports say
RIP, Stan Lee. Excelsior!
209.
jl
@Ruckus:Disagree on that point. Sorry, I just cannot agree that Pelosi is one thousand percent perfect all the time in every thing. Damn me if you want to. But if Pelosi keeps up what she did on Sunday, I will admit that, IMHO, she has greatly upped her communications game since some of her statements before the election, that I thought were clumsy or incomprehensible.
So, keep up the good communications work, Pelosi.
210.
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yeah I know. Mom had all the power and they had none. HRC is mom and while one can’t hate mom….. One can hate any woman that reminds them of her……
211.
sukabi
@Ruckus: take a look at the women in office in the gop…they like women who will push white patriarchy and will stay in the passenger seat, that’s it. As soon as they step out of place the bus drives over them.
212.
opiejeanne
@wasabi gasp: Fuck off, but when you go take some pie.
213.
Ruckus
@jl:
Read again, it seems reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
214.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Because it takes no energy to make stuff up and get it repeated and amplified through the rightwing propaganda networks like Breitbart and Fox News. It’s an echo chamber which doesn’t care about the truth.
215.
jl
@Baud:I don’t think people feel the need to direct vitriol at Biden because he won’t ever hold an elective position, either by public or other politicians, that puts him in a top leadership position. And he’ll do a decent job in whatever subordinate position he gets. Like who cares if Biden runs for 2020. He’ll be among the first out, and we’ll get some good quips out of him.
And, only Baud 2020! is the perfect politician in every way 100 percent of the time (virtually).
216.
Ruckus
@sukabi:
They don’t really like that woman, they will tolerate her, as long, as you say, she knows her place and stays in it. There may be some tint of a mommy issue involved.
@cain: Lots of people should shut up who won’t. What we need to do is to stop obsessing over what people like that say as if they are credible.
Indeed.. but I think that should be directed at places like Young Turks and others who put it out there and riles up folks. Talking about it the comments in BJ is probably fairly contained.
Yeah I know. Mom had all the power and they had none. HRC is mom and while one can’t hate mom….. One can hate any woman that reminds them of her……
I don’t see HRC as a mother figure, and hate any domesticating metaphor applied to her.
That said, one of the strangest objections to her running for president that I ever heard came from a conservative talk radio host who said, “I love my mother and my grandmother, but I wouldn’t vote for either of them to be president.”
220.
jl
@Ruckus: I agree that Pelosi is the by far the best speaker we can have at this time. There is no one who has near the support, no one who has near the qualifications or the ability at what needs to be done now in the House.
We disagree on her communications skills.
221.
Baud
@jl: I agree with you that I don’t think Biden is likely to win the nomination (even though he is currently the front runner). But he’s almost certainly going to run and Hillary isn’t, yet people are even now more obsessed with hating Hillary. I don’t think the explanation for that can be found in reason or logic.
222.
Schlemazel
@jl:
All I ask of any of the NANCY MUST GO brigade is the names of 2 or 3 people better suited, more capable and with support of the Dem caucus. I am still waiting for the first name
223.
Baud
@cain: The Young Turks are among those who should shut up but won’t.
Only recently have many Democratic Party Member’s and Elected Officals come to realize, ( after 18 years+ of 17 failed wars of choice), that war is rarely the answer to the question.
( 26 years if you include Somalia)
(( 39 years if you include Afghanistan))
225.
Baud
@Jay: The point is, they have come to realize that (to varying degrees, of course). Iraq was awful, but people on the left who continue to pretend nothing has changed since 2002 are just as at fault as people on the right who continue to think the Democrats haven’t changed since 1972.
I became attracted to liberal blogs during the Iraq era because people took on the mantle of being “reality based.” I think people have sadly given up on that concept.
@Baud: and @Jay:
‘Anti-war’ is not a word I’m comfortable with, because there’s an entire spectrum of positions. Mainstream Democrats are absolutely not pacifists or isolationists. They are limited interventionists. Republicans are chickenhawks. It is hard to say how much Democrats have moved over the last ten years because Republicans inflicted so much stasis, but I’d say those two descriptions remain true. How you feel about those positions is up to you.
I don’t see HRC as a mother figure, and hate any domesticating metaphor applied to her.
In case you misunderstood me……
For the record I wasn’t talking about how I see her but how I think a lot of conservatives see her and often women in general.
I like people who know their shit, who are reasonable, who can throw shade well when necessary and who are strong, not because they are bullies but because of their outlook and personalities allows them to see others as human, with failings and strengths, not based upon skin color or religion or lack thereof, not based upon gender or choice of same, who respect equality of life, not hate, who respect others for being alive and respect others for giving it their all – even in the face of overwhelming risk……..
229.
trollhattan
@Schlemazel:
She’s not a great speechifier, which is the least important political skill for an office holder. That she understands government, law, parliamentary procedure and how to run a caucus and the House and forge relationships makes me lurve Nancy SMASH unreservedly.
As someone who was “reality based”, with some strategic and tactical training, along with a deep knowledge of the regions, and “present” on the intertubes well before 2001, 2002,
I realize than things on the Democratic Party side have slowly changed.
On the other hand, Lybia was in 2011 and is ongoing,
Syria, ditto.
Remember Mali?
231.
Ruckus
@Jay:
This is true.
Of course I didn’t say all dems and I did say rational wars. Which is most often an oxymoron. And the ones you mention, plus others were/are not rational in any definition.
Some of those elected dems were fooled by false patriotism and revenge. Never a good sign in a politician but they are some what normal human responses, ones a politician should learn to temper.
No one is perfect, even your PM. But far better is a pretty good place.
@Jay:
Please notice the word ‘NATO’ used everywhere in that document. Whether NATO decided correctly or incorrectly, the US’s specifically stated role was to comply with the treaty-backed requests of our allies and begin an operation they could not in the timescale they wanted, then get the Hell out. That is what we did.
EDIT – As for Kosovo, should we have sat back and done nothing when a campaign of genocide was openly underway? You can argue that we should have, but intervening was pretty low on the ‘pro-war’ scale.
236.
Ruckus
@Schlemazel:
May I suggest that you don’t hold your breath?
The only names you’ll get will be their favorite candidate, if you get any at all. There are probably any number of people who could be speaker, at some point. Could they be better? No one knows and never will unless that person gets elected and chosen. But what we do know of course is her track record and her abilities. I like that she wanted to retire and make a place for someone new. But I like better that, given our current fucking mess, she decided to stay and work her butt off to make this a better country for all of us.
Now is not the time, in politics, to throw away all the energy, knowledge and structure of the party, for a fresh face who might or might not be effective.
237.
Baud
@Jay: That’s pretty limited if you have to use Kosovo as an example.
Since the Carter/Brzezinski arming of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, to topple the Afghan Government and provoke a Soviet reaction, there has been a pattern to our interventions.
– we arm, train and fund the “worst enemies” of a liberal democracy, to topple a Goverment we don’t like,
– they eventually win, but:
a) the brutal fighting makes them more brutal
b) they can’t form a united Government and re-establish Civil Order,
c) terrorist groups take root and spread
– which requires more and more intervention,
– our “allies” exploit our intervention to target reformers and political opponents.
That cycle has not been broken.
Keep in mind, US support for the Sawdi/Petty Kingdom’s war against Yemen started in 2015.
She’s not a great speechifier, which is the least important political skill for an office holder.
This is a really important point. A big problem, maybe the biggest problem, of representative government is that the skills needed to get elected don’t have a huge overlap with the skills needed to do the job after you get elected. Nancy Pelosi has been tremendously effective as Speaker and Minority Leader, but she’s not great on the public facing side of the job. She might be better off finding somebody else in the House leadership who’s better at that side of things and have them act as her surrogate.
243.
Aleta
I’m so tired why do the assholes have all the energy?
Interesting to think about. Bc they’re stimulated, like rats who get rewarded for what they work for? Their high value treats are fast money, risky wins, escape from regulation, displays of superiority and cruelty… so this must be a heady time for them.
How do Republicans motivate the assholes who’re losing out on the promised money and freedom? With the dopamine etc. rewards from mob anger, white male power and guns I guess.
We who’re trying for a different reward— even though we keep working, we still get brain signals (stronger for some than others) to stop trying if we’re not getting rewarded. I suppose that’s why we need to offer each other the good things we’re working for, even in microcosm. To keep our energy up.
244.
tobie
@Mnemosyne: I’d add that they’re isolationists and protectionists.
245.
Aleta
@Yarrow: (Sigh.) Something about her, and something about that other one too, is just … upsetting.
And they won’t stop doing it, so it must be their fault.
@Mnemosyne:
It’s a very complicated subject, because even the most well-meaning interventions often turn out badly. I just get my buttons pressed by oversimplified, misleading descriptions, and any mention of Libya is a giant red flag.
247.
Dan B
@MCA1:
4. “Mother” has been opening his diet cokes. Things fall in, you know – accidentally.
The KLA, which was a drug dealing, organ stealing, criminal gang masqueading as a Liberation Army, turned Serbian Police actions against the terrorist group into claims of “genocide”.
After the war, came the ethnic cleansing, of Serbs.
There’s still two Kosovo’s, a tiny pocket of ethnic Serbs in the North, ethnic Albanians occupy the rest, with UN Peacekeeper’s standing between them.
It took 4 years of occupation and criminal investigations and prosecutions to politically “behead” the KLA,
8 more years of occupation, patrols and a militarized border with Albania to shut down the armed KLA “gangs” in the countryside.
The KLA “mafia” still has a significant economic presence from human smuggling, drug running to the construction trades and extortion.
And “we” are still there and will be for decades to come, because “we” are still the force, ( and we use force) that keeps Kosovo from imploding.
And you are being far too modest about the US role in the Lybian Intervention and NATO.
Aside from Politicians, there’s an entire Media enterprise out there, from the Intertubes to TV to constantly feed and stoke their rage, hate, anger, fear and resentment, 24/7.
Love, hope and optimism are harder animals to feed, because they require real acvomplishments.
Every single award should be stripped from her. I don’t care how good she was in the past (and she was), she’s behaving abominably now. Even if the military is pressuring her, she should not have called the reports of ethnic cleansing “fake news.”
“You can convince yourself if you must, as your dog happily laps away at your balls, that your balls must be delicious, but we all saw you spread peanut butter on them.”
@Mary Ellen Sandahl: @Mary Ellen Sandahl: “Vote Republican-it’s easier than thinking”. Saw this bumper sticker in Baton Rouge, LA during one of the Clinton elections. BTW, he carried Louisiana both times. Now might be a good time to resurrect this bumper sticker thought.
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Baud
Ethics and morals consume energy.
Mandarama
This question has surmounted the one I’ve been pondering: “Why can’t people just act right?”
I don’t think either of us will get a satisfactory answer, though.
Tom Levenson
It’s all the blood of babes they consume.
Paulwartenberg
Because the assholes know if they complain long enough people will accept the path of fewest headaches.
This is why our nation needs an Asshole Test for all elected offices to ensure NO MORE ASSHOLES ruining our lives.
Jeffg166
They’re all on goofballs.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Upped from the post I just made in the thread below. Something is wrong with this man. Obviously. But I mean physically.
Yarrow
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Looking at his narcissism, here’s one perspective:
Yarrow
Beto has more energy than anyone I’ve ever seen and he’s not an asshole.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Yarrow: It’s just baffling to normal people though. He got bad publicity for skipping the cemetery in France. He could undo part of that by a routine event that every president participates in. But no. He won’t.
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Orders from the Kremlin.
Matt McIrvin
Cruelty energizes them and is designed to wear down their targets. Schoolyard bullies exhibit the same pattern.
Mike in Pasadena
Our low energy president was on the cover of my copy of an Italian newspaper this morning. Merkel and Macron stood next to him. All three were looking at Putin. Merkel’s expression said, “What a jackass!” Macron wore an angry expression. Guess who, the lazy jerk who couldn’t heft his ass out of his hotel room for the memorial service, had a big smile on his face, thrilled to see his best friend ever.
call_me_Ishmael
It was ever thus:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
W.B. Yeats
debbie
@Yarrow:
Beto lacks a sense of grievance. All RWNJs have cultivated their senses of grievances for decades now.
Amir Khalid
@Mandarama:
Anyone can act right. Some people just prefer to say, “I don’t want to and you can’t make me so there. Pout.”
debbie
@Yarrow:
Trump has always been treated as special. Lots of “Oh, that’s our Donald!” since the early 1980s. I hope Liz Smith, wherever she is, has many regrets in regard to the monster she created.
sukabi
@Dorothy A. Winsor: he can’t have his parade and he’s pouting. Plus the fuzz on his head is getting thinner and if it gets damp the illusion he spends hours crafting will stick to his bald pate like cotton candy that’s been dropped in a mud puddle.
Schlemazel
Evil feeds off of the pain of others, they create their own energy source. Decent people are drained by tht pain
Yeah, as @Matt McIrvin: said
Puddinhead
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Funny, if you google presidential visits to Arlington, the first hits are about conservatives losing their minds when Obama went to a ceremony in Chicago instead of Arlington on Memorial Day 2010. Being in the “wrong” place is apparently worse than not showing up at all, at least for some people…
David Fud
Clinton allies making noise about her running again in 2020. Politico click-bait warning. I want a wide field and hope that we don’t foreclose on new potential faces. I personally don’t want to even consider a candidate that is 70 or older by 2020, call me an age discriminator if you like. Or, if one of the older candidates wins the nomination (e.g., Clinton, Sanders, Warren, Biden…), commit to one term and let the VP gain experience and hand it off to them. I voted for her and will again if she is the candidate, but we need a wide field to consider this time. There is so much to do between here and there that I have no good excuse for talking presidential 2020 politics, but we didn’t even make it a week after the mid-terms before this started.
sukabi
@Puddinhead: those rules only apply to democrats though. It’s their fake outrage on display.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
He’s too busy tweeting, first thanking FEMA and CA firefighters:
and then blaming Democrats for the market’s +400-point loss today:
Interesting that he now feels “harassed.”
hueyplong
I like to think Trump got word of an impending Jr indictment and has gone to ground trying to prevent it.
It is because I am a rank sentimentalist.
George
Ramping up the level of uncertainty and conflict also increases the level of exhaustion in the populace, which is the goal of anyone who wants to bring down any political/cultural system. That’s why the GOP/Fox group maintains ongoing distractions. People get exhausted and lose patience and fall back on fascist tendencies.
Platonailedit
@David Fud:
Oh boy. Here we go.
sukabi
@David Fud: thats fucking mark penn. He’s just trying to gin up the clinton hating machine as a distraction. Has that guy been right about anything? And pretty sure he hasn’t been a clinton ally for a long time.
Mandalay
@David Fud: Not sure if serious:
I suspect there may be an unpaid invoice or two from Mark Penn that Clinton decided not to pay.
debbie
@Mandalay:
Someone’s hoping…
dmsilev
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Is there rain in the DC forecast?
efgoldman
@Mandalay: Get fucked, troll
Mary Ellen Sandahl
Because they don’t have to think. Thinking actually takes a lot of energy.
NonyNony
@David Fud:
I’m trying to decide if it’s “wishful thinking” on the part of her “allies” or if it’s a deliberate smoke cloud.
There’s no way Clinton wins the nomination again if she runs, I think. So part of me wonders if she’s deliberately putting herself out there to draw fire from the right to let other candidates slip under the radar until it’s too late for the GOP to build up a massive outrage machine against them. Kind of like how Barack Obama was able to squeak by at first because they were so laser focused on Clinton.
If it is, she’s brilliant. Because as a target to drive the ire of Republicans you aren’t going to find a better candidate than someone with the last name Clinton.
different-church-lady
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
japa21
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Actually, there have several instances of a President not going to Arlington on Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a different story. However, considering the horrible optics of his not going to the ceremony in France, any normal person would have tried to recover by going there today. And yes, I know the flaw in my logic is the use of the word normal.
schrodingers_cat
Mark Penn has gone full T, and is a Faux Nooze Analyst, I would hardly call him an HRC ally.
Woodrow/Asim
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed! Penn has always been out for Penn, was a wanker in ’07, and is even moreso, today.
I hope the Clintons thoroughly regret every dime they’ve spent on that charlatan.
Yarrow
What’s up with Wisconsin?
Fair Economist
@David Fud: Given her amazing policy chops, here is probably no potential President better suited than Clinton to getting the maximum benefit from a trifecta in 2020. My first thought on electability, though, is that Clinton isn’t the best choice given her age and having lost twice, once in the primary and once in the general. You can lose once and make a comeback, but after two losses the voters start holding it against you. That said, from *Clinton’s* POV she’s probably thinking “I can get a 1% swing from 2016 and win it” and she’s probably right.
I would certainly take her over Biden or Sanders.
It’s absolutely to our benefit for her to talk about running if she ends up not running or not winning the nomination, because she will suck up all the oxygen of the smear machine.
debbie
@Woodrow/Asim:
Next, they’ll be trusting Dick Morris!
dmsilev
@NonyNony: That won’t last for long if that’s her strategy. Actual serious contenders will start announcing their candidacies soon enough. Obama announced his in Feb of 2007, for instance. By this summer, we should have a complete set.
Yes, that’s right. Begun, the 2020 campaign has.
schrodingers_cat
@Woodrow/Asim: He was another favorite of the PBS pervert Charlie Rose. Him and MoU. I wouldn’t be surprised if #metoo catches up them too.
sukabi
@Dorothy A. Winsor: he’s suffering from 3rd degree burns….
debbie
@Fair Economist:
I absolutely disagree with you and hope Hillary comes to her senses. Better candidate or not, she demonstrated that Clinton Hatred cannot be overcome — not even with a clown like Trump. Should she run and we lose in 2020, our party will be destroyed.
Stop even thinking this is a good idea.
Platonailedit
jimmiraybob
“…why do the assholes have all the energy?”
Rage. It’s an industry. If you feel yourself flagging a bit you can always take a couple of testosterone enhancers and tune into the Uncle Rusty Show or Fox or some such outlet until you’re worked into a frenzy of fear and loathing upon which to build a proper rage. Somewhere in the world, at any instant, someone is getting something that rightfully belongs to the asshole.
prostratedragon
“Soldier in the Rain,” Mancini
Gravenstone
@David Fud:
As likely they’re making noises about their own hoped for future employment prospects. She’s been pretty damned adamant that she’s not running again, for anything.
MCA1
@Yarrow: It’s amazing, really, that the three most obvious choices for the President of the United States choosing not to attend memorials at Arlington on Veteran’s Day (literally a six minute drive for a presidential motorcade) are:
1. His NPD has him so wounded and so howling from [midterm shellacking/humiliating trip to France/lack of DPRK style parade] that either he’s too enraged to be out in public or he thinks he’s punishing everyone;
2. He’s in a significant physical decline that the WH has not publicized (if he had a bad flu or something, they’d surely choose to make that known – the complaints that he’s a wimp would be less damaging than the blowback he’ll get for just petulantly skipping out on the duties of the office and blowing off every veteran in America); or
3. He’s been told not to by his handler.
Honestly, I can’t think of any other likely reason for this.
Nelle
@David Fud: I’m 67 and have had two challenging years. My husband is 75 and in peak condition. Both of us are facing certain realities of aging. We will resist candidates our ages and older.I think we should have a formal council of wise elders and advisors, carriers of institutional history. Pay them, respect them, but the actual leaders should be younger.
tobie
@David Fud: My gut feeling is that any ‘scoop’ from Mark Penn is meant to sow discord in Democratic ranks. That’s its sole purpose. Clinton has already said herself that her electoral career is over. Cui bono in throwing this rumor out now?
I’m actually afraid of a Democratic primary involving 14 candidates like the GOP had last time around. The last thing we need is for Democrats to be tearing each other apart. It didn’t work well for us in 2016 and won’t in 2020.
japa21
Trump dropped down to 38% approval with 56% disapproval in this week’s Gallup. Still too high, but heading in the right direction and that would not show the impact of yesterday’s refusal to go to the cemetery in France or today’s not going to Arlington.
tobie
@Platonailedit: What a relief!
Clyde
Saw this over at WaPo:
Regardless of what party or what country you are from, it is striking that the elected leader of a country, and in the case of the US, the Commander-in-Chief, is not attending a remembrance ceremony in the National Cemetery on Veterans Day. To remind the President, or maybe to introduce him to the concepts, the mission and vision statements of Arlington are:
Our Mission
On behalf of the American people, lay to rest those who have served our nation with dignity and honor, treating their families with respect and compassion, and connecting guests to the rich tapestry of the cemetery’s living history, while maintaining these hallowed grounds befitting the sacrifice of all those who rest here in quiet repose.
Our Vision
America’s premier military cemetery – A national shrine – A living history of freedom – Where dignity and honor rest in solemn repose.
Kelly
Fear gives you fight or flight energy. The racist asssholes are afraid. Hopefully spending their lives in fight or flight mode will drive them to early graves.
Ruckus
Shit creates gas. These assholes are full of shit. Ergo they have so much gas, they have to keep moving to avoid asphyxiation.
Yarrow
@tobie: @Platonailedit: Just to be clear, this lawsuit is:
Gravenstone
@Yarrow: Note too, the “white power” ironic (or not) symbol from the guy front row, middle. Assholes gonna asshole, I suppose. Although this lot oughta get some quality time out back of the woodshed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I answered your question down below, he has a bone spur.
pk
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
He’s probably drained, physically and emotionally. He did a thousand hate rallies and fed of off the hatred. I’m sure he thought he’d get the house and a lot more seats in the senate. But the people he specifically went to bat for lost (Heller and the guy in Montana), Florida is razor thin. What is he going to do now? He has no capacity to face endless investigations and no strategy. He’s not smart and essentially a coward. For all the bluster, he can’t actually even get himself to fire people. He’s an empty windbag. I don’t think he’ll survive this emotionally or physically.
Yarrow
@Gravenstone: Yep. The thread is informative with lots of students and former students coming out about the racism in the school. The parents apparently were fine with this photo.
There’s one kid in the upper right who isn’t participating. Good for him.
khead
It’s what gets me out of bed on a daily basis. That. And the cats. And coffee.
Mike in NC
Good to read that Fat Bastard is barricading himself in the Oval Office, stuffing his face with cheeseburgers and fries when he should be honoring our veterans at Arlington. Maybe this latest failed trip abroad will lead to a nervous breakdown. January can’t come fast enough.
tobie
@Yarrow: This the injunction Scott filed last night, I believe. Glad the judge denied his request. Suck it, fraudster! I have to look up what the ballot suit was. Hard to keep track of the GOP’s panicked efforts to conceal years of Republican cheating in Florida elections.
Fair Economist
@tobie:
I worry about that too, with our strictly proportional delegate allocation and a more open funding system thanks to ActBlue et al. I worry about a convention where nobody comes in with more than 35% of the delegates, allowing the Republicans in the media to paint whoever wins the hung convention as “rejected by Democratic voters” or some such. They would have such fun with the hoary old “Dems in disarray” theme.
Then the questions comes up – would I prefer a clear win by Biden or Sanders, or a hung convention? Blech. Not seeing anybody else who could run away with it other than maybemaybe Beto.
Matt McIrvin
@David Fud: It’s Mark Penn. Not a Clinton ally or currently an advisor. He’s trolling.
Chyron HR
@Yarrow:
The neoliberal corporatist failyuhcrats were too busy playing identity politics to lift these poor economically anxious kids out of their literally ragged squalor.
Mnemosyne
@David Fud:
Well, if a Fox News talking head says she’s going to run again, that’s a sure thing! ?
Seriously, dude, if we’re going to let Fox News determine who the Democratic candidate is in 2020, we deserve to lose.
Yarrow
@tobie: Yes, a clearer tweet:
Also notable according to Floridians who watch this sort of thing is that the law enforcement folks are pushing back against Scott. They say that kind of thing hasn’t happened before. Looks like all sorts of people are pissed off at how he’s handling things and how he’s making them look.
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
She’s not running. Mark Penn works for Fox News. He’s just stirring up shit.
JPL
@Yarrow: According to one student who did not partake in the nazi salute, it was the photographer of the prom encouraged it also. At least one student used the white national symbol. The parents were at the event.
trollhattan
Trump lacks energy but has people to do his energy for him. Those exist in unlimited numbers.
Roger Moore
@sukabi:
And he can’t use the usual expedient of wearing a MAGA hat because it would be considered disrespectful if he didn’t take it off during the solemn parts of the proceedings.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Speaking of Fox News, their official twitter account still hasn’t tweeted since November 8. It’s usually a very active account.
trollhattan
@JPL:
Fine people, all. Upset they won’t have doucheknocker Governor Walker any longer?
Patricia Kayden
Trump lying is no longer a shock but it’s interesting to see how he lies about every dang thing including that President Obama did not spend enough on the military. Plus, keep in mind that Trump’s VA is trying to cut its budget even as Trump is criticizing President Obama’s military spending.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
That’s intriguing. I wonder if their social media intern quit or was fired.
Also, in case I haven’t said it, good to see you back!
Roger Moore
@David Fud:
Former Clinton ally who she ditched in 2008 and hasn’t spoken to since is making noise. Ignore it.
Hungry Joe
@MCA1: Here’s another reason:
4. He just doesn’t feel like going.
waratah
@Baud: I will let you have Beto for President now. Yarrow is right he has energy and more. rain did not stop him.
He is under pressure on his face book and twitter to run again right NOW!
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. I’m sick with a cold but otherwise things have calmed down a bit for me.
I’ve seen rumors they’re “boycotting Twitter” because of how Twitter was handling some of the alt right things they were promoting, or something. Or maybe due to how Twitter was handling Tucker Carlson’s freakout when protesters showed up outside his home. (His account doesn’t match the police report, so…)
I’ve sort of been following it because Rupert Murdoch visited Mitch McConnell in his offices on November 8. Soon after the tweets stopped. Weird.
Also Wikileaks hasn’t tweeted since November 8 either.
West of the Rockies
@debbie:
I think you may have it. Wingnuts feel like they’re special but are being treated poorly, that their super-amazing awesomeness is being ignored.
Where progressives feel hope, optimism, community, wingers feel fear and resentment. I would think it must be exhausting.
JaySinWA
@Mnemosyne: They are protesting the Twitter treatment of Hannity and other FOX folks.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Well, Hillary was interviewed last week. She first said she wasn’t running, then she said she would like to be president. That’s far too much obliqueness for this country of black-and-white absolutism.
I would say I’m confident she won’t try running again, but I see no reason to have confidence in anything anymore.
More importantly, how’s the knee coming along?
Middlelee
@David Fud:
I’m 78 years old and I agree with you. We need young candidates, in their fifties. I love Hilary Clinton and voted for her in the last presidential election. And, I want younger people to step up for president and vice president.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
I’m objectively pro turning the WH putting green into a skate park.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
And saying Obama did nothing for vets!
Yarrow
@JaySinWA: If wingnuts want to protest by leaving Twitter, that would be so terrible! LOL.
tobie
@Fair Economist: My hunch, based on no inside knowledge whatsoever (!), is that most of the top contenders for 2020 would agree to making a deal for the sake of unified opposition to Trump behind closed doors. Sanders’ won’t because he’s a vainglorious fool. This means he will likely run. It would be good if he were eviscerated in the primaries, but that will require a small field. I saw what happened in Maryland where a crowded primary landed the party with a terrible candidate for governor. I don’t want to see that repeated on a national scale with democracy itself in the balance.
wasabi gasp
WooOOoo WOOooOO
khead
So, what’s the list of non-Hillary candidates?
JPL
Trump is now tweeting that Comcast is worse than AT&T. At first I couldn’t figure it out, but then the aha moment. He doesn’t like nbc news. Maybe they are next in line to lose their press credentials. It’s time to have an all black female white house press or better yet stop covering him.
trollhattan
@JPL:
Now he’s done it–Comcast will promise to be at the WH “Between 10:00 a.m. Tuesday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday,” trapping Trump there the entire time. They’ll show Sunday.
Do not fuck with Comcast.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@waratah:
You spelled Baud wrong.
tobie
@khead: Names I’ve heard thus far are Booker, Harris, Warren, Gillibrand (though not recently), Biden, Sanders, Beto (not from him), Sherrod Brown (on an earlier thread at BJ today), Swalwell (says he’s considering), and Kobluchar, who was oddly endorsed by Erik Son of the Gated Community Erikson last night night. The guy was positively anti the GOP in its current incarnation. What’s going on?
ETA: Shoot….I forgot Baud.
Platonailedit
Yarrow
Tick tock…
MisterForkbeard
@Mandalay: I have several BernieBro relatives who are using this as an excuse to exercise all their Clinton hatred all over again.
The fact that it’s coming from Mark Penn, Asshole Extraordinaire who’s been out of the Clinton Camo for years and has been writing anti-Hillary screeds for the past few years means nothing to them.
Gin & Tonic
@Nelle:
Henry Kissinger on Line 1 for you.
Wapiti
@Yarrow: That one kid who isn’t joining in with a Nazi salute? He’s the one whose college acceptance letter doesn’t get yanked back.
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
Meh. Worrying that Hillary is going to run again is worrying about nothing, especially when you’re taking the word of a Fox News employee. Don’t waste the brain space on it.
Knee is coming along. I see the ortho again after Thanksgiving. The strength is back, so now it’s all about getting the flexibility back, too.
Amir Khalid
@tobie:
As I recall, the 2016 Klown Kar set out with 17 (seventeen!) on the passenger manifest: Trump, little Marco, Cruz, Fiorina the failed CEO, Perry the dimwit, Dr Space Cadet Carson, the formidable Jeb!, and a random selection of governors and US senators.
Fair Economist
@tobie:
The requirement for an absolute majority of delegates at the convention protects against that some. If Sanders comes in under 40% like Jealous did odds are somebody else will be the nominee (although that would be undesirable because the Russian bot army supporting Sanders will whine endlessly and pull a lot of genuine Sanders supporters along.)
We might do OK in a wide-open convention, which the polls indicate is possible. Biden is usually the leader, and he’s below 30% usually. Some of that support is name recognition and I think he will get less of the vote in actual primaries. If everybody is below 25% I think there will be less of a media hit from having a brokered conventions. We could also do an IRV-style vote or analogous series of ballots (with the lowest voter being eliminated each round) and I think that would be accepted too.
khead
@tobie:
Just killing time before a Wawa lunch run. I was supposed to visit a friend in Frederick today but some jackass rear-ended me before I could even get out of Elkton this morning. So I’m a bit crabby. I’d take Baud (and Hillary) over all of those folks. Warts and all.
piratedan
@khead: people have suggested…..
K. Gillibrand
A. Klobuchar
Kamala Harris
E. Warren
Senators all…
Wilmer and Biden have the potential to perhaps offer us the opportunity to reject them once more
Omnes Omnibus
@khead: Serously?
khead
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes. I’m being serious. Pretend its a job interview. It’s a holiday. For me, anyway.
tobie
@khead: Sorry to hear about the fender-bender. Let’s add driving to the list of things our fellow Ceciltuckians haven’t quite gotten the hang of yet.
Fair Economist
@tobie:
I have also heard Steve Bullock, Gov of Montana, Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Bennet (D-CO). The first two were media speculations and the last was personal scuttlebutt (an acquaintance said he heard it at a political function.)
trollhattan
@MisterForkbeard:
Hillary could say, “I like lamp” and they’d declare the witch is running again. She’s as much a trigger for the purity left as she is for the Trump brigades.
Lucky us.
p.s. Not running. No way, no how.
wasabi gasp
Lots of Clinton dead-enders poo-pooing the article because, if true, would reveal her as the narcissistic loser she has always been.
schrodingers_cat
Don’t play the media’s game, when they say jump, don’t say how high. Mark Penn hasn’t worked for HRC since she fired him for incompetence in 2008 race. He does not speak for her.
ETA: If she does run, I have no reason to believe that Penn’s prognostications will come true. He is a useless grifter with no great insight.
Yarrow
@Fair Economist: Let’s not forget the narcissist Michael Avenatti says he’s thinking about running. Also, speculation about Oprah. Please, no to both of them.
debbie
@JPL:
Hopefully, his staff is building a cross sturdy enough for him to hang from. //
But no, don’t stop covering Trump. If you have cockroaches in your apartment, you don’t keep the lights off so you don’t see them.
trollhattan
@wasabi gasp:
The phrase “if true” is lifting mightily here.
JMG
TMZ (I know, I know) is reporting Stan Lee has died at age 95.
Yarrow
Yarrow
Because Florida isn’t Florida enough:
That could add some fun to the recount!
Omnes Omnibus
@khead: Aside from the people mentioned above, I offer Jason Kander. We have deep bench.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
r.i.p. Mr. Lee. Cartooning has been rendered redundant by actual events, but your work will live on.
Kelly
@Fair Economist: Jeff Merkley is openly interested in running for President. I’d rather keep him as my Senator
Omnes Omnibus
@wasabi gasp: Fuck you.
khead
@Yarrow:
Well that sucks. He was a giant. ‘Nuff said?
MisterForkbeard
@wasabi gasp: Also, saying the article is probably bullshit because it’s obvious bullshit from someone who’s been outside of the Clinton orbit for years and works for Fox News now.
But don’t let that get in the way of your hate boner.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: Is he back in the ring? I thought he was getting treatment for PTSD?
MisterForkbeard
@Yarrow: Well, that’s awful. But he had a good, long run. He’ll be missed.
wasabi gasp
@trollhattan: nope, she’s a narcissistic loser. It’s the dead-enders that have been doing the heavy lifting.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
@tobie:
Y’all forgot the !.
Julie
@debbie: “Presidential harassment” is the new Republican talking point for House oversight of Trump. McConnell has already warned Democrats that presidential harassment will backfire. I’m sure Democrats will take his advice and back off, haha.
Baud
@Yarrow: He left his mark. RIP.
Jay
@debbie:
It’s Penn making “extreme claims”,
Extreme claims require extreme evidence, not whispers from unnamed Clinton “insiders”,
It’s clickbait and rage stroking.
Get used to “Clinton running for,…..” Unintelligent rumour pieces for another 10 years,
remember how just this year, she was:
– running for the Senate,
– running for the New York State Senate,
– running for New York City Mayor,
None of that happened.
Hillary Clinton’s retired from political office.
But as long as her name launches 10,000 clicks, a 1000 comments and refreshes the wells of hate and anger in the hearts of Deplorables,
“rumours are” that Hillary,……..
cain
@debbie:
Can we give her a position in the Senate a majority leader or Speaker? I undersand they can nominate anyone for speaker.
Chyron HR
@wasabi gasp:
It’s going to be fun watching Bernie pointing at where he imagines Clinton’s podium to be during the debates and snarling “SHE’S A WHORE!” to thunderous applause from his totally non-deadender supporters.
wasabi gasp
@Omnes Omnibus: You hottie, you.
cain
@tobie:
And Avanatti.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yarrow: It is 2018. The election is in 2020. I wouldn’t rule him out as a possibility.
Jay
@wasabi gasp:
Sucks that you are paid in rubles and they are down again today.
cain
I wish Mark Penn would shut the fuck up. The man can’t run a campaign to remove a piece of broccoli from his countertop. The guy is still cashing in on his past relationship with the Clinton and is probably why he’s at Fox News to begin with. He’s a no-talent, asshole who loses elections for a living.
trollhattan
@wasabi gasp:
Stay away from the mirror (presuming you have a reflection).
cain
Bernie should just give up, how old is that guy? Why the fuck would you put yourself through all that in your advanced age? Jeezus, after 4 years isn’t he going to be near or past 90? WTF? It’s time for a younger generation, go grow some turnips, Bernie.
wasabi gasp
Looks like my work is done here, folks. Snacktime!
Platonailedit
trollhattan
@cain:
So long as there are functioning cameras Bernie will seek them. He’s not quite in Giuliani’s league but they’re still similar.
Aleta
href=”#comment-7085593″>khead: I hope it wasn’t too big a jolt. Hope you can take it easy for a while.
different-church-lady
Meanwhile people better than me worked their asses off making sure down-ticket races went our way and will do so again and again and again and will get next to no attention or thanks for it.
different-church-lady
@cain: In other words, the ideal op-ed writer.
rikyrah
@David Fud:
She got two chances. That’s enough
Baud
@cain: Lots of people should shut up who won’t. What we need to do is to stop obsessing over what people like that say as if they are credible.
@cain: He tasted the rainbow last time. I predict he won’t do well in the primary and will drop out and run as an independent.
Jay
@cain:
There’s money to still be grifted, no dollar left on the table.
Baud
@different-church-lady: I think them. They are heroes.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Kelly: Jeff Merkely would make an excellent Senate Majority Leader! Perhaps a Presidential run will up his national profile a little…
Jay
@wasabi gasp:
Вы можете убедить себя, если хотите, так как ваша собака счастливо крутится на ваших шарах, что ваши яйца должны быть вкусными, но мы все видели, как вы распространяли на них
trollhattan
@Baud: @Jay:
I’d like to see the DNC add a “must publish tax return” requirement for anybody running for the Dem. nomination. Wilmer would stamp off in a huff.
waratah
@?BillinGlendaleCA: lol I thought the spell check was wrong and I had to get back to prepping carrots for a kind of WestTexas chines stew.
VeniceRiley
Excelsior! RIP Stan Lee. So many of my friends know him and have met him. Universally reported as a kind man. Which, for some reason just now, reminds me of my friend the late Kelley Freas. I miss him too.
Jay
Trapped in moderation for saying dog balls in Russian.
waratah
That should be Chinese.
Baud
@trollhattan: I’d rather see the other candidates lay into him for not voluntarily doing so.
SiubhanDuinne
RIP Stan Lee, age 95. I’m not particularly a comics or superheroes fan, but I know a lot of people here are.
Aleta
Why do they focus on HRC ? … Well, the effect is to take the attention and media minutes away from newer names.
Baud
@rikyrah: So has Biden. But she’s not running.
Mnemosyne
@wasabi gasp:
Welcome to the pie filter, troll. Buh-bye.
Chyron HR
@trollhattan:
I don’t think that’s a great plan, actually.
Baud
@Aleta: HRC is an addiction for too many people (and not just on the right!). Addicted people need a hit, and for the media, the need for hits translate into clicks.
Ruckus
@Jay:
There’s probably some money from a country that will remain unnamed but it is a large nation and has a lot of snow in the winter and is disliked in many a country that will want him to run to fuck up any reasonable election/candidate, like he got paid to do last time.
Yarrow
@Baud:
This! This, this, THIS! Look up, laugh, and get back to work. People like Mark Penn are stupid and it’s dumb to amplify that noise.
JaySinWA
@Omnes Omnibus: He will have to break the Eagleton curse.
John
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity
– Yeats, “The Second Coming”
Jay
@Ruckus:
Nope, Canada has nothing to do with Saint Bernie.
There are still tens of thousands of Bernie Bro’s that are good for a few dozen bucks.
Baud
@John: What about those of us who have passionate intensity about our lack of conviction?
Ruckus
@Aleta:
Also, they have spent three decades creating this monster of a person, out of whole cloth. They’ve invested a lot to have Clinton hate and they don’t want that to go to waste. And because democrats like Hillary, it also taints every other candidate we run. Clinton hate is a shibboleth for the right.
J R in WV
@Clyde:
Don’t forget, that sacred ground at Arlington is composed of the slave plantation formerly owned by traitor Robert E Lee, and confiscated from him at the end of the Rebellion in Defense of Slavery that traitor Lee lost.
Billcoop4
No senators from states with Republican governors should receive the nomination. That, sadly, rules out Senator Professor Warren.
Baud
@Billcoop4: FWIW, Massachusetts does hold a special election fairly quickly, so the period of a GOP Senator from Massachusetts would be relatively brief.
John
@John: I see now that I was not the only one reminded of Yeats.
Jay
@Yarrow:
Yup.
Sadly some people are addicted to clicking the “one quick trick” tab over and over again.
trollhattan
@Chyron HR:
He’s going to do this no matter what, so why not put the onus on him to ‘splain why he is the same as Trump WRT publishing his taxes?
Kelly
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
I agree and he has experience as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.
Yarrow
@Jay: Don’t think it was Canada he was talking about.
opiejeanne
@Roger Moore:
Hat hair is the WORSIEST!
John
@Baud: @Baud: I have passionate conviction coupled with lack of intensity.
Jay
@Yarrow:
Are you sure? ; )
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Sadly, not just for the right. The propaganda has infected the left as well and Hillary seems to remind a whole lot of young white “leftists” of their nagging mom or least-favorite teacher.
Ruckus
@Jay:
Awww that’s sweet, thinking it was Canada……..
Read the fine print, the country is hated in many other countries. Who hates Canada? Sure some speak french but we don’t hold that against the French do we? Sure is has snow but we are fixing that messy issue by ignoring global warming. Sure it’s a beautiful country but beauty is over rated. There has to be at least one group on the outs in Canada, you know some form of racism. So what’s to hate for any red blooded american white dude?
Baud
@Yarrow: Probably one of those Scandinavian countries Bernie is always talking about.
J R in WV
@Yarrow:
The sweet part of this abomination is that these would-be Nazis will have a hard time getting and keeping a decent job. Won’t even be able to be the front man at a fast food drive thru, will have to be in the back making those fries.
There are people who make it their life work to ID fascists using facial recognition tools, and then put their hatred out for everyone to see. That’s why the dirtbags who call cops on black people doing normal stuff keep getting fired, no one wants that stench around them all day.
Baud
@Yarrow: Probably one of those Nordic countries Bernie is always praising.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
True, but I’ve never understood why. She’s not a nag, she’s smart, she’s well spoken, she likes equality……
OK I can see why some guys wouldn’t like her. But really what women would they like then, a dominatrix? A plastic doll?
Billcoop4
@baud,
That got us Senator Cosmo Model.
BC
Jay
@Ruckus:
That we have Trudeau and you don’t?
Poutine?
Nickleback?
Celine Dion?
jl
I finally had time to listen to video of Pelosi’s Sunday news talky interview. I’ve criticized how she expresses herself to media before. But I thought she did very well this Sunday. She took the right approach, gave the right answers, and didn’t use any inside baseball politics jargon, or just blow off questions with elegant high toned BS, that would lose the average listener.
Baud
FYWP.
Baud
@Billcoop4: Right. But the party affiliation of the governor had nothing to do with that.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I see you’re working on new and better slogans for the Baud! 2020 campaign.
Baud
@Roger Moore: There’s an idea.
Baud! 2020!: FYDT!
Cain
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
I dunno about that. I like where he is at. Not sure he has the kind of ruthlessness required to take on MC Connell.
Ruckus
@Jay:
Poutine? What’s that, something you coat your driveway with?
Nickleback? Same question.
Celine Dion?Come on, you are reaching now.
Now that Trudeau guy, I’ll give you that one……. Of course today I’d give you points if your leader was Archie Bunker.
Jay
@Ruckus:
A bunch of the Bernie Bro’s roots are in the anti-war groups.
HeleninEire
Tired, John Cole? I’ve been back in Dublin for 82 hours and been asleep for easily 50 of them. I’ve never had jet lag like this. Good thing I took the week off of work.
Ruckus
@jl:
NP never does any of the crap. What you saw is what you get. She’s smart and can count, she knows her stuff and she knows the stuff of her fellow house members. She’s a leader because she is a natural leader. I understand why some don’t trust a natural leader, because they aren’t one and never will be. She is the best person to be speaker at this time.
Jay
@Ruckus:
Save the points, Scheer’s running for PM.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ruckus:
One that isn’t in charge. A figurehead would be fine, if they felt like she wasn’t really in charge and was nice to look at. It’s a gut level reaction. They see/hear a woman seeking power and have a negative reaction, so everything they believe is filtered through that.
Baud
@Jay: Never heard the same level of vitriol directed at Biden.
J R in WV
@wasabi gasp:
First, fuck you for being a Russian Troll~!!~
Secondly, you obviously know nothing about narcissism, because Hillary Clinton displays none of the symptoms of that mental disorder. She has worked to help and uplift others for her whole adult life, which is the opposite of what narcissists do. Current occupant of the White Power House for an example… has never helped anyone, famous for striking his own kid for not being prepared to wear a suit and tie to a ball game!
You, on the other hand, show every sign of being a hate-filled bucket of shit, with the IQ of said bucket.
Jeffro
Kind of surprised we don’t have an RIP Stan Lee thread up yet?
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro:
Cole doesn’t have the energy.
Ruckus
@Jay:
That’s all well and good but so are most dems anti war, especially wars that have no actual reason. What the bs bros lack is understanding more than one point of anything at one time and that slogans are not policy.
Jay
@Baud:
There wasn’t a whole Media Campaign about Biden,
And there was no viral you tube video.
Brachiator
@Yarrow:
RIP, Stan Lee. Excelsior!
jl
@Ruckus:Disagree on that point. Sorry, I just cannot agree that Pelosi is one thousand percent perfect all the time in every thing. Damn me if you want to. But if Pelosi keeps up what she did on Sunday, I will admit that, IMHO, she has greatly upped her communications game since some of her statements before the election, that I thought were clumsy or incomprehensible.
So, keep up the good communications work, Pelosi.
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yeah I know. Mom had all the power and they had none. HRC is mom and while one can’t hate mom….. One can hate any woman that reminds them of her……
sukabi
@Ruckus: take a look at the women in office in the gop…they like women who will push white patriarchy and will stay in the passenger seat, that’s it. As soon as they step out of place the bus drives over them.
opiejeanne
@wasabi gasp: Fuck off, but when you go take some pie.
Ruckus
@jl:
Read again, it seems reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Because it takes no energy to make stuff up and get it repeated and amplified through the rightwing propaganda networks like Breitbart and Fox News. It’s an echo chamber which doesn’t care about the truth.
jl
@Baud:I don’t think people feel the need to direct vitriol at Biden because he won’t ever hold an elective position, either by public or other politicians, that puts him in a top leadership position. And he’ll do a decent job in whatever subordinate position he gets. Like who cares if Biden runs for 2020. He’ll be among the first out, and we’ll get some good quips out of him.
And, only Baud 2020! is the perfect politician in every way 100 percent of the time (virtually).
Ruckus
@sukabi:
They don’t really like that woman, they will tolerate her, as long, as you say, she knows her place and stays in it. There may be some tint of a mommy issue involved.
Schlemazel
@J R in WV:
Is that I smell pie baking
cain
@Baud:
Indeed.. but I think that should be directed at places like Young Turks and others who put it out there and riles up folks. Talking about it the comments in BJ is probably fairly contained.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
I don’t see HRC as a mother figure, and hate any domesticating metaphor applied to her.
That said, one of the strangest objections to her running for president that I ever heard came from a conservative talk radio host who said, “I love my mother and my grandmother, but I wouldn’t vote for either of them to be president.”
jl
@Ruckus: I agree that Pelosi is the by far the best speaker we can have at this time. There is no one who has near the support, no one who has near the qualifications or the ability at what needs to be done now in the House.
We disagree on her communications skills.
Baud
@jl: I agree with you that I don’t think Biden is likely to win the nomination (even though he is currently the front runner). But he’s almost certainly going to run and Hillary isn’t, yet people are even now more obsessed with hating Hillary. I don’t think the explanation for that can be found in reason or logic.
Schlemazel
@jl:
All I ask of any of the NANCY MUST GO brigade is the names of 2 or 3 people better suited, more capable and with support of the Dem caucus. I am still waiting for the first name
Baud
@cain: The Young Turks are among those who should shut up but won’t.
Jay
@Ruckus:
Many Democrats are not anti-war, especially elected ones.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution
Only recently have many Democratic Party Member’s and Elected Officals come to realize, ( after 18 years+ of 17 failed wars of choice), that war is rarely the answer to the question.
( 26 years if you include Somalia)
(( 39 years if you include Afghanistan))
Baud
@Jay: The point is, they have come to realize that (to varying degrees, of course). Iraq was awful, but people on the left who continue to pretend nothing has changed since 2002 are just as at fault as people on the right who continue to think the Democrats haven’t changed since 1972.
I became attracted to liberal blogs during the Iraq era because people took on the mantle of being “reality based.” I think people have sadly given up on that concept.
Jay
@Baud:
There’s a 40 year old Industry built around Clinton Hate, employing tens of thousands ranging from Media Careers to PAC’s.
The Buggy Whip Makers arn’t going to let a little thing like cars damage their industry, employment and income.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud: and @Jay:
‘Anti-war’ is not a word I’m comfortable with, because there’s an entire spectrum of positions. Mainstream Democrats are absolutely not pacifists or isolationists. They are limited interventionists. Republicans are chickenhawks. It is hard to say how much Democrats have moved over the last ten years because Republicans inflicted so much stasis, but I’d say those two descriptions remain true. How you feel about those positions is up to you.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
In case you misunderstood me……
For the record I wasn’t talking about how I see her but how I think a lot of conservatives see her and often women in general.
I like people who know their shit, who are reasonable, who can throw shade well when necessary and who are strong, not because they are bullies but because of their outlook and personalities allows them to see others as human, with failings and strengths, not based upon skin color or religion or lack thereof, not based upon gender or choice of same, who respect equality of life, not hate, who respect others for being alive and respect others for giving it their all – even in the face of overwhelming risk……..
trollhattan
@Schlemazel:
She’s not a great speechifier, which is the least important political skill for an office holder. That she understands government, law, parliamentary procedure and how to run a caucus and the House and forge relationships makes me lurve Nancy SMASH unreservedly.
Jay
@Baud:
As someone who was “reality based”, with some strategic and tactical training, along with a deep knowledge of the regions, and “present” on the intertubes well before 2001, 2002,
I realize than things on the Democratic Party side have slowly changed.
On the other hand, Lybia was in 2011 and is ongoing,
Syria, ditto.
Remember Mali?
Ruckus
@Jay:
This is true.
Of course I didn’t say all dems and I did say rational wars. Which is most often an oxymoron. And the ones you mention, plus others were/are not rational in any definition.
Some of those elected dems were fooled by false patriotism and revenge. Never a good sign in a politician but they are some what normal human responses, ones a politician should learn to temper.
No one is perfect, even your PM. But far better is a pretty good place.
Baud
@Jay:
Fair enough. But unlike Iraq and Afghanistan, we didn’t start this wars.
As far as I can tell, our impact in the Syrian conflict has been fairly minimal.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jay:
Yes, and what was and is our role in Libya?
Jay
@Frankensteinbeck:
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/lessons-libya-how-not-intervene
As for limited intervention, you realize “we” are still in Kosovo?
Frankensteinbeck
@Jay:
Please notice the word ‘NATO’ used everywhere in that document. Whether NATO decided correctly or incorrectly, the US’s specifically stated role was to comply with the treaty-backed requests of our allies and begin an operation they could not in the timescale they wanted, then get the Hell out. That is what we did.
EDIT – As for Kosovo, should we have sat back and done nothing when a campaign of genocide was openly underway? You can argue that we should have, but intervening was pretty low on the ‘pro-war’ scale.
Ruckus
@Schlemazel:
May I suggest that you don’t hold your breath?
The only names you’ll get will be their favorite candidate, if you get any at all. There are probably any number of people who could be speaker, at some point. Could they be better? No one knows and never will unless that person gets elected and chosen. But what we do know of course is her track record and her abilities. I like that she wanted to retire and make a place for someone new. But I like better that, given our current fucking mess, she decided to stay and work her butt off to make this a better country for all of us.
Now is not the time, in politics, to throw away all the energy, knowledge and structure of the party, for a fresh face who might or might not be effective.
Baud
@Jay: That’s pretty limited if you have to use Kosovo as an example.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
The same people who screech about Hillary being a “corporate whore” say they would vote for Joe Biden, former senator from MBNA, in a heartbeat.
That’s the tell that their problem with Hillary isn’t her ties to banks or corporations. It’s something else, what could it be … ?
@Frankensteinbeck:
Quite a few people on the “left” turned out to be isolationists, not pacifists. It was a bit disheartening to discover.
RobertB
@J R in WV: I thought Cheeto Jesus was the receiver of that ‘suit to a ball game’ slap, from his dad. Your sentiment is 100% correct, though.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: ‘Tis a puzzle. Can’t think what they might not like about Nancy Pelosi either. Strange.
Jay
@Ruckus:
Since the Carter/Brzezinski arming of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, to topple the Afghan Government and provoke a Soviet reaction, there has been a pattern to our interventions.
– we arm, train and fund the “worst enemies” of a liberal democracy, to topple a Goverment we don’t like,
– they eventually win, but:
a) the brutal fighting makes them more brutal
b) they can’t form a united Government and re-establish Civil Order,
c) terrorist groups take root and spread
– which requires more and more intervention,
– our “allies” exploit our intervention to target reformers and political opponents.
That cycle has not been broken.
Keep in mind, US support for the Sawdi/Petty Kingdom’s war against Yemen started in 2015.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
This is a really important point. A big problem, maybe the biggest problem, of representative government is that the skills needed to get elected don’t have a huge overlap with the skills needed to do the job after you get elected. Nancy Pelosi has been tremendously effective as Speaker and Minority Leader, but she’s not great on the public facing side of the job. She might be better off finding somebody else in the House leadership who’s better at that side of things and have them act as her surrogate.
Aleta
Interesting to think about. Bc they’re stimulated, like rats who get rewarded for what they work for? Their high value treats are fast money, risky wins, escape from regulation, displays of superiority and cruelty… so this must be a heady time for them.
How do Republicans motivate the assholes who’re losing out on the promised money and freedom? With the dopamine etc. rewards from mob anger, white male power and guns I guess.
We who’re trying for a different reward— even though we keep working, we still get brain signals (stronger for some than others) to stop trying if we’re not getting rewarded. I suppose that’s why we need to offer each other the good things we’re working for, even in microcosm. To keep our energy up.
tobie
@Mnemosyne: I’d add that they’re isolationists and protectionists.
Aleta
@Yarrow: (Sigh.) Something about her, and something about that other one too, is just … upsetting.
And they won’t stop doing it, so it must be their fault.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
It’s a very complicated subject, because even the most well-meaning interventions often turn out badly. I just get my buttons pressed by oversimplified, misleading descriptions, and any mention of Libya is a giant red flag.
Dan B
@MCA1:
4. “Mother” has been opening his diet cokes. Things fall in, you know – accidentally.
Jay
@Frankensteinbeck:
There was no genocide in Kosovo.
The KLA, which was a drug dealing, organ stealing, criminal gang masqueading as a Liberation Army, turned Serbian Police actions against the terrorist group into claims of “genocide”.
After the war, came the ethnic cleansing, of Serbs.
There’s still two Kosovo’s, a tiny pocket of ethnic Serbs in the North, ethnic Albanians occupy the rest, with UN Peacekeeper’s standing between them.
It took 4 years of occupation and criminal investigations and prosecutions to politically “behead” the KLA,
8 more years of occupation, patrols and a militarized border with Albania to shut down the armed KLA “gangs” in the countryside.
The KLA “mafia” still has a significant economic presence from human smuggling, drug running to the construction trades and extortion.
And “we” are still there and will be for decades to come, because “we” are still the force, ( and we use force) that keeps Kosovo from imploding.
And you are being far too modest about the US role in the Lybian Intervention and NATO.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSTRE72T6H220110331
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/933901
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/478461/
There’s still 3 “Govenments” in Lybia, and there will be for a long, long time, and slavery’s back.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2018/01/slavery-libya-life-container-180121084314393.html
Jay
@Aleta:
Aside from Politicians, there’s an entire Media enterprise out there, from the Intertubes to TV to constantly feed and stoke their rage, hate, anger, fear and resentment, 24/7.
Love, hope and optimism are harder animals to feed, because they require real acvomplishments.
debbie
@Platonailedit:
Every single award should be stripped from her. I don’t care how good she was in the past (and she was), she’s behaving abominably now. Even if the military is pressuring her, she should not have called the reports of ethnic cleansing “fake news.”
debbie
@jl:
She has always been like that. She has never been anything like the GOP claims she has been.
Raoul Paste
Get some zipfizz from costco. B vitamins that really perk you up. When I’m too tired to go to the gym, that drink works wonders. No caffeine or sugar
Jay
@debbie:
The Burmese Military Junta still runs Burma. She “sold her soul” when she agreed to be a figurehead.
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
Wow. I am fluent in Russian and I have no idea what you’re trying to say.
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
The translated comment to the troll:
“You can convince yourself if you must, as your dog happily laps away at your balls, that your balls must be delicious, but we all saw you spread peanut butter on them.”
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
Well, unfortunately it doesn’t say that in Russian! For one thing, there ain’t no peanut butter in that sentence.
LaDem
@Mary Ellen Sandahl: @Mary Ellen Sandahl: “Vote Republican-it’s easier than thinking”. Saw this bumper sticker in Baton Rouge, LA during one of the Clinton elections. BTW, he carried Louisiana both times. Now might be a good time to resurrect this bumper sticker thought.