Seems to me the answer is either fewer trips or fewer crimes https://t.co/Vf7bK0wnYH
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 30, 2018
Good thing we didn't elect that emotional lady with no stamina. https://t.co/j4YbqpAdMN
— shauna (@goldengateblond) November 30, 2018
"Based on the fact that [OMG! Cohen linked me to Putin during the campaign?] and [OMG! They raided my laundry Deutsche Bank?] and [OMG! They raided my tax guy?], I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my performance review with my boss, Mr. Putin." https://t.co/BtOl8p5ADC
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) November 29, 2018
So you'll be hiding in your hotel suite, avoiding rain, the media, and your boss Vladimir? https://t.co/hD6iqeGCJ0
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 30, 2018
Looks like Trump canceled his meeting with Putin without telling the Kremlin. Peskov: "We've only seen the tweet and reports. We don't have any official information. If that's the case, the president will have a couple extra hours in his schedule for useful meetings."
— max seddon (@maxseddon) November 29, 2018
(The boss isn’t crazy about performance reviews either, y’know.)
Things looked so much more… normal, as recently as Wednesday:
Everyone’s nervous about what Trump might do at the G-20. Except maybe Vladimir Putin. Here’s my curtain-raiser with @John_Hudson https://t.co/EVqA7UixLF
— Anne Rumsey Gearan (@agearan) November 29, 2018
President Trump will play the role of a dutiful diplomat at a global economic summit this weekend, his schedule jammed with one-on-one meetings with allies including Germany, India, Japan and South Korea as well as the authoritarian leaders of Russia, China and Turkey.
If past is prologue, he does not look forward to the task.
The president generally dislikes group chatfests such as the annual Group of 20 economic meeting that begins Friday. His mood in the weeks leading up to the gathering in Argentina was not helped by Republican losses in the midterms, potential signs of trouble in the U.S. economy and the special counsel’s Russia investigation…
So it was a surprise this week when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and national security adviser John Bolton detailed Trump’s busy agenda, which includes the first joint meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We’re trying to fill every minute of the president’s schedule,” Bolton told reporters Tuesday…
“The pessimists in the delegation say the best we can hope for is there is not another disaster after the G-7 and the NATO summit, so if things don’t get worse it’s already a success,” one European diplomat said.
Our take on today's Trump comments as he heads to the G-20 in Buenos Aires and dinner with Xi Jinping.
One scoop embedded in there: Officials have already begun planning for possible mid-December Liu He visit to Washington. @JenniferJJacobs@jendeben and yours truly. https://t.co/cmYB76HO9Z
— Shawn Donnan (@sdonnan) November 29, 2018
In the context of the tweets below, narc is short for narcissist:
Left to his druthers, he'd cancel the whole G-20 and hide out all weekend at the White House.
He can't do that though… and being forced to face his "peers" feels to him like punishment inflicted ON him BY them. He'll be mad at THEM that he has to face them right now.
6/
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 29, 2018
Soooo… let's watch what unfolds.
The Vegas odds-on favorite would be:
Trump dodges as many of the G-20 sessions as he can and then lashes out in stupid, nonsense-filled tantrums in the meetings he can't avoid.
7/
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 29, 2018
So, now we get to play along at home. Where on the narc cycle is Trump?
If Trump rants incoherently about all manner of things, he's focused on what's coming next.
If he hides out, he knows what already happened today was a major blow.
Either way, prepare thy popcorn.
10/10
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) November 29, 2018
satby
Here it is! Good morning rikyrah and everyone ?!
p.a.
His handlers will try to drug him. I guess the Secret Service and his doc (s) are in on it?
RedDirtGirl
Good morning Satby, et al!
OzarkHillbilly
FTFY Vlad. You’ll get my bill in the mail.
Kdaug
Except I’ve seen no indication that he has any foresight whatsoever. “Focused on what’s coming next” seems to assert facts not in evidence.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Blech.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: ?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Butch
Have you soon the photo of Trump with Xi at the meeting? He looks like a whipped puppy.
I’m assuming that “jammed with meetings” line was written well in advance of the actual summit. Still a pretty credulous take.
Baud
@satby:
@RedDirtGirl:
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Elizabelle
Good morning jackals. Woke up this morning thinking: what are they raiding now? Yesterday morning was fun. Keep at it, Team Mueller.
Have no interest whatsoever in anything out of the Tangerine Traitor’s mouth, but, in honor of Argentina, here is a beautiful Astor Piazzola tango for your coffee or tea: Libertango. About 5 minutes.
LOL. Performed by the Moscow City Orchestra. How is that for symbiosis?
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yo.
Baud
BBC
Should have stayed at the Motel 6.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Wassup, EB?
Karen S.
Good morning. What a week this has been! And it’s not over yet. I’ve got the day off. I’m going to stay in and bake cookies. (Side note: For some reason, this site doesn’t save my name and email, even though I tick the little box whenever I post a comment here. It used to save that information, but it hasn’t in a few months now. I’m using Google Chrome.)
Quinerly
Good morning from Poco and his tribe! Listening to Trump right now on an Echo, so no picture (as an aside, love this Tune In channel where you can get CNN and MSNBC). Trump sounds more awful than usual. Any comments on how he actually looks… anyone watching???
MazeDancer
Gwen Collins-Greenup needs our help to win her runoff for Louisiana Sec of State.
Ensure fair elections in Louisiana.
Last day of PostCard Season. Must be mailed by tomorrow AM.
Get addresses: PostCardPatriots.com
Baud
@Quinerly: Good morning.
Quinerly
@Baud: Motel 6 is all Poco knows about. Don’t tell him there are other doggie friendly digs when we travel. He’ll cop an attitude.
danielx
My, my…..wonder what the day will bring.
I suppose that is true…for certain values of normal. My standards of normality have been in a constant state of flux since January 2017.
Quinerly
@Baud: Right back at you!
Elizabelle
@Baud: About to brew some coffee. Think I’m heading up to NYC with a buddy for an overnight next week. Gotta look at some
holidayChristmas windows and must check out this, cuz I love Roz Chast.School of Visual Arts, Manhattan. Free retrospective exhibit of Roz Chast’s work. At SVA through Sunday, December 15. She’s been hooking rugs and painting eggs these days; not just New Yorker cartoons.
Baud
WaPo
I for one like to think I talk down to everyone.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/nation/2018/11/30/white-liberals-dumb-themselves-down-when-they-speak-black-people-new-study-contends/?noredirect=on
Baud
@Elizabelle: Have a good time.
WereBear
@satby: It IS a good morning, isn’t it? For the politically aware :)
Sab
@Baud: Phuck! I have stayed at Marriott once in my lifetime, and that was last month for our anniversary. It was OK.
danielx
@Baud:
An equal opportunity offender. :)
Lapassionara
@MazeDancer: Thank you for doing this.
Good morning,everyone. For some reason, I thought Manafort was due in court this morning. Did I dream that?
OzarkHillbilly
A nice profile: Roma star Yalitza Aparicio: ‘I don’t think I am an actor’
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly:
Never.
Platonailedit
It takes two to tango. This totus fugly ain’t one of them.
satby
@Baud: what about those of us who never use words like “melancholy” or “euphoric” to anyone?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: word. No way, no how.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Red Roof Inn is welcoming of our canine traveling companions too.
low-tech cyclist
Hoarse Whisperer:
To steal from Tom Lehrer,
It’s only for two days, so have no fear,
be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!
Baud
@satby: Haha. Yeah that’s me.
Kay
Ken
@Baud: Did they control for gender? Perhaps conservatives use simplified language with both females.
Platonailedit
making amurkkka grate again.
NotMax
Pity Queen Máxima of The Netherlands. Invited as a guest country to this G20 and has to meet and break bread with – him.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: I can’t watch late night comedy/talk show clips anymore. Their eviscerations of trump nearly always start with a clip of him and. I. just. can’t.
Burnspbesq
Is the G-20 Tango anything like this?
https://youtu.be/TytGOeiW0aE
OzarkHillbilly
@low-tech cyclist: the immortal Tom Lehrer:
Stand up and shake the hand of
Someone you can’t stand
You can tolerate him if you try
NotMax
@satby
Still time to linguistically embrangle.
;)
JGabriel
Question: we know Flynn agreed to co-operate and do jail time to protect his son – what are the odds that Trump would agree to resign and serve time in jail to protect Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric? Okay, maybe not such good odds for Jr. and Eric. But Ivanka?
I’m just bringing it up because: I’m wondering if that’s part of the motivation for having Cohen do another plea, this time specifically targeting Trump’s co-conspiring spawn? Is it part of a larger plan to not only force Trump to resign, but to actually get him to volunteer to do time? Since it may be nigh impossible to indict Trump given the DoJ’s policy on indicting the president, and the current DoJ leadership?
Burnspbesq
@JGabriel:
With luck and hard work, he’ll be ex-President before the statute of limitations runs out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Platonailedit: I wonder what it will take for the US to admit we are in no way interested in actually winning this “war”.
Baud
@Platonailedit: Didn’t you get the memo? The internet doesn’t care anymore now that Obama is gone.
NotMax
@Burnspbesq
Alternative?
:)
OzarkHillbilly
@JGabriel:
After he’s out, indictment becomes very possible.
OzarkHillbilly
A question I’d like to get an answer to some day soon: Does Secret Service protection extend to an inhabitant of a federal prison?
Ken
@Kdaug: I agree. A person with foresight would have realized that “Trump tweets he won’t meet with Putin; Putin says yes you will; Trump meets with Putin” makes him look incredibly weak and/or bought. And yet, we’re two-thirds of the way through it, and I’d lay odds on the third step.
Baud
ThinkProgress is extra purity pony this morning.
debbie
Today would be the day, had I lived a smart life, that I would be retiring. Triple bleccccccch.
Kay
Thought he would save her job, which I thought was an exaggeration but that’s what he actually said in Indiana:
“we’re not gonna let Carrier leave, numbers, we’re gonna do numbers”. Over and over. “Anyone from Carrier here? We love you!”
“I think Trump and Pence are liars”
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I love her books! The one about her parents especially. Roz has a real economy of line, yet is able to convey so much with her facial expressions.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: It would be nice to have to find out.
Also remember, he’s unlikely to stop committing crimes after he leaves office, and he won’t be able to pardon himself. I fully expect him to tweet classified information within days of leaving office, simply because he didn’t pay attention to the debriefing.
A Ghost To Most
@Burnspbesq: Can’t they seal indictments and stop the clock?
debbie
@low-tech cyclist:
Jeez, his helicopter-side chat yesterday was incomprehensible.
NotMax
Gah. Moderation sux. Help.
Butter Emails!!!
@NotMax:
Depends. Does throwing week old brotchen at Trump’s head count as breaking bread?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Quinerly: Good god, you’re a masochist to listen to him on purpose.
On a different topic, this thing with time zones where you all are awake and talking about interesting stuff after I go to bed? It must stop. I’ll never catch up.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Such delicate eyes. You can’t listen without looking?
Baud
@Kay:
The art of the deal.
Or as PT Barnum said, there’s a sucker born every minute.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
As it is offered to the person, not the location, would surmise yes.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Exactly how I feel when I come home from work. Sometimes it’s better to forge ahead without looking back.
Quinerly
@JGabriel: push comes to shove, I don’t think Trump would do a thing to try to save even Ivanka. He’ll pardon her but he ain’t going to the pokey for anyone.
Elizabelle
@debbie: She is a treasure. Raised two kids who are now adults. That could make another good book. She was recently buying a mother of the bride dress.
Immanentize
@debbie: happy birthday?
satby
@Ken: I suspect that they didn’t control for gender or assumptions of class and just let the “stereotypical” names carry the weight of both.
Which says to me that it’s kind of a bullshit study. Though to be fair since I didn’t read it (paywalled) it could just be a superficial reporting of the study conclusions.
MomSense
@JGabriel:
I’ve been wondering about the process, too. I’m
also wondering what happens with all the Republican Congress critters who are compromised. I’m trying to keep it all in the wondering category because I have no control over what happens and I have to trust the Mueller team for the sake of my sanity.
NotMax
@Butter Emails!!!
Or throwing week-old Depends?
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I also liked the one where she tried to explain what it is she likes about NYC. That’s a tough task!
@Immanentize:
I guess…
NotMax
Tried twice to link to Cell Block Tango but FYWP is being ultra-fussy. Y’all just have to Google it yerselves.
Donna Hrkman
@Elizabelle:
Wowser, Elizabelle! I’ve enjoyed Roz Chast’s work as a cartoonist, but I never imagined she was a rug hooker, too! Her work is just wonderful, an extension of her cartoon figures in bright, vivid colors in wool. How cool!
Enjoy the exhibit!
Kay
@Baud:
They’ll turn on him. Not all of them, never the GOP base, but the ones who were essentially non-voters and came out just for him. Democrats won’t have to do any outreach. Whatever attrition they need in white working class will happen not because of Democrats but because of Trump. She was never a “Republican”. She was someone who voted for Donald Trump once.
satby
@debbie: Happy Birthday! The day will come.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
Actually listening to his word salad direct from his mouth is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I can count the number of times I have heard his voice in the last year on one hand and none of those occasions lasted more than the 5 seconds it took me to hit the mute button with my framing hammer.
Baud
@debbie:
???
@Kay:
I’ll take it, but I’m not interested in worrying about them.
Tom65
The bar on Trump’s behavior at these summits has reached the point where not shitting on the conference table is considered an improvement.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Valedictorian of the English As A 102nd Language program.
;)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: Studies can be fun to hear though. Yesterday, NPR had a woman who worked at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying “urban wildlife,” which in her case meant rats. She and her team went into alleys all over Chicago, counting rats, but mostly assessing what was there and how it might correlate with the number of rats reported. Unsurprisingly, open garbage was the biggest attracter but they also like debris that might provide shelter. Rats also correlate with population density. The biggest rat she’d seen was 16 inches nose to tail tip.
The call-ins were even more horrifying than the report. A guy said he lived in a single home but could stand on his porch at night and see rats swarming the dumpster out behind the condo building behind him.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Colbert’s takes on those word salads are priceless and well worth hearing his actual voice (though there are far more word salad tweets then audio clips). It’s been great ending the day with a laugh. Ameliorates the rage.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Elizabelle: Good morning jackals. Woke up this morning thinking: what are they raiding now? Yesterday morning was fun. Keep at it, Team Mueller.
NotMax
Goddammit. FYWP is playing hob with coding today.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
Also my reaction to hearing “This is NPR and…”
MomSense
Fuck, I’m watching Morning Joe and apparently Guantanamo Commander Ring has been told to prepare for new arrivals?!
OzarkHillbilly
Love this opening from Richard Wolffe:
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
The worst is looking with the sound off. His Heath Ledger as the Joker facial expressions are terrifying.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Years ago grew corn, cucumbers and other stuff out back. One night during a full moon looked out and the entire backyard was … moving. Armies of roaches.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: Most all do now with an up charge of $10.00-$20.00. His mom is a known tightwad when traveling from point A to point B but needs a place to lay her head for a few hours. I mostly tease about Motel 6 because there is a decent one I have stopped at several times a year for 20 plus years in Charleston, WVA (or Lexington, KY.. depending on my start/leave times) when traveling to/from NC. Also, a decent one in Oklahoma (the only decent one in the entire state) and inTucumcari, NM when going west. Poco stayed in style in February in Quality Inns in Las Cruces, Ruidoso, Carlsbad, and Truth or Consequences and in years past in quaint lodges/cabins outside the Grand Canyon in Cameron, AZ; at Marble Canyon, AZ; in Bluff, Utah; in Farmington, NM and in El Morro. He knows the difference. His favorite room was the FDR room at La Posada in Winslow, AZ. We were right on the tracks with a second door that opened out for train viewing. He watched trains into the night. Yep, he knows the difference….. He says he’s writing a travel book for the owners of ex street dogs….. Totally unrelated, a little red headed birdie told me you were going to get a bit of “Liquid Gold” Saturday. I need a bit of a fix too. May see you.
Jeffro
Things I Wish Our National Snooze Media Would Ask Incessantly Today:
– don’t we all kind of feel that Trumpov is a one-term president at best?
– is there anyone left in America…well, anyone in the 73%, anyway…who still thinks Trumpov is innocent of any of this?
– which is more likely: that Trumpov resigns and flees the country, or that he stays, holes up, and goes through a quick succession of lawyers trying to fight/pardon his way out of this?
– can we start asking now whether or not Trumpov, Jr, Jared actually sold US intelligence information to the Russians or Saudis?
– will the NRA and/or GOP actually be charged with some sort of money laundering/RICO charges before this is all said and done?
– what, exactly, do the Russians have on Rubio, McConnell, Ryan, Gaetz, Meadows, Nunes, Cruz, Graham, and some of the other most-clearly-compromised GOP congressmen/senators?
– who will be the first GOP 2020 contenders to come out and openly denounce the Trumpov Crime Cartel…Ernst? Cotton? Haley? Sasse? And will the American public let them get away with it?
– just what kind of debt do we owe to Bob Mueller and his team for sticking it out and taking on this gang of treasonous moron-mobsters?
These questions and more, all from a media that clearly does not exist in our reality…sigh…
Platonailedit
@Kay:
No, she didn’t. ‘Latinos are rapists’ was her motive to vote for the racist pos.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MomSense: Also, his gestures look like he’s playing air accordion.
Yarrow
Good morning, all.
@Quinerly: No. No, no, no, no, NO! I will race to mute the TV if they show a clip of him. If I can’t change the channel I’ll literally hold my hand up to cover the screen. I avoid looking at or listening to him. He’s toxic.
@JGabriel: Trump is a narcissist. He will save no one but himself. The “save your kids and family” tactic won’t work on him like it did with Michael Flynn and seems to have with Michael Cohen and maybe Manafort. He will throw everyone under the bus before he goes.
MomSense
One lesson I hope we learn, once we get through this nightmare, is that we should put our law enforcement focus on these white collar criminals who have been using real estate to launder for even bigger criminals. Real estate is such a big business in our major cities that these assholes have been operating unchecked.
Put some fucking teeth into the penalties, too. FFS they have been shaking down POC and the little people for stupid fines and tickets to the point of harassment while assholes like trump and Kushner get away with thievery for decades.
We wouldn’t be in this mess if NY and FL had done their job and made them comply with the laws (weak as they may be currently).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: OMG. I think that’s worse than rats. Presumably you’d been eating that food.
NotMax
@Jeffro
First blonde that tumbles over a cruise ship railing and it will be dropped and forgotten faster than you can say Nielsen.
MomSense
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yes! That’s what my youngest says, too. Once you see it, you can’t believe you didn’t notice it sooner.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: A buddy of mine once lived across the street from the River Des Peres (the World’s Largest Open Sewer ™ ) One late night after he parked his truck across from their apartment he spotted an opossum running down the street, but something wasn’t quite right about it. Then it struck him. He jumped out of his truck caught up with it and ran along side of it for like 30′ repeating to himself,
“Goddamn! It’s a rat!! Goddamn! It’s a rat!! Goddamn! It’s a rat!! Goddamn! It’s a rat!! Goddamn! It’s a rat!! ….”
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
As it turns out, not alone.
;)
It was a tres weird sight, though. Like an undulating carpet.
debbie
LOL. Glenn Beck starts out with a plaintive, “Mr. President, why do you make it so difficult to support you?”
Quinerly
@Yarrow: I totally get it about not watching. I have gone 2-3 weeks without catching a glimpse of him…. But I do enjoy (actually take pleasure in) seeing his physical deterioration. It’s very obvious if you don’t look at him everyday. Does that make me a bad person? ?
JPL
@debbie: Happy Birthday!
NotMax
@Quinerly
OT. Haven’t seen a penny floor progress update in a while.
GregB
A little light treason anyone?
MomSense
How is it possible that the VA IT screw up which turned into cruelty is not a bigger story? Jesus, the ACA website issues had the media screaming that the entire program was a failure for years. And those website issues were fixed promptly.
People have had to drop out of school, people have lost their homes and apartments. More veterans are fucking homeless and this is not trump’s Katrina at the very least??
NotMax
@debbie
“Mr. Beck, there’s a crocodile in the anteroom demanding his tears back. He has a lawyer with him this time.”
Quinerly
@NotMax: 13,000 mesh mounted pennies…. What can I say?
satby
@debbie: are you sure watching this is how you want to spend a birthday morning?
Barbara
@Baud: Like all research in the social sciences, of doubtful validity or utility. Unfortunately, the field has a way of throwing eye popping conclusions out there that don’t quite live up to tests for scientific rigor or reproducibility.
Betty Cracker
The Shitgoblin’s consciousness of guilt is on display in this morning’s tweets:
Trump lied to voters about his involvement with Russia and directed his minions to lie about it. Putin’s spokesman backed up those lies. So by definition, Trump and his minions gave a hostile foreign autocrat — who was actively interfering in an election on Trump’s behalf — compromising information, since Putin was free to expose Trump’s lies at any moment.
Possibly Mueller has so many other examples of Trump/campaign/admin malfeasance that the lies about Trump Tower Moscow will seem insignificant. But what we already know is an impeachable offense.
PS: “Lightly looked” reminds me of that old Monty Python bit about “lightly killed” frogs.
Kay
@Baud:
Obama had voters like that- people who came out just for him in ’08. They were either disillusioned or not interested anymore by 2012. Political parties don’t base anything on those voters because they’re not reliable or identifiable enough, and Democrats shouldn’t either.
It’s funny because in a way Trump did this backwards. He played to his base in his first election rather than broadening his appeal for the first race and then playing to his base in the re-elect. He doesn’t have a cushion, which is COMPLETELY in keeping with how he runs his business and indeed his whole life- nothing in the bank.
Yarrow
@Quinerly: Oh, no, I get it. It’s especially interesting to see him during the 2016 campaign and now. He’s deteriorated a lot. I can take clips of him if I choose to watch them–like choosing to click on a video. I just can’t be surprised by them showing up on TV because I’m not prepared. I also refuse to do that in the morning. Bad way to start my dad.
And no, you’re not a bad person for enjoying that at all.
Barbara
@Kay: I hate that people are losing their jobs like this, so schadenfreude would be gratuitous and misplaced, but the reality is that Pence or Trump never cared enough to put in sufficient effort to actually lie. I suppose, technically, they were lying in the sense that they had no plan to follow through to do anything that required actual effort to save jobs, although they of course are perfectly willing to take credit if those jobs had been preserved.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe??
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tee hee hee
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
The non-operative statement bin is overflowing and quick becoming a fire hazard.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Happy Birthday, Debbie! Hope it’s a good one.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Here’s a great photo and a perfect analysis of it, speaking of doing business.
rikyrah
@Kay:
She wanted to believe his lies. Period.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: On a trip down to Baton Rouge a couple years ago we found RRIs to be the most trouble free and welcoming. We also learned to make sure we got a ground floor room. Their stairways are always open faced (no kicks) and the Woofmeister was terrified he was going to fall thru them. Ever carry a struggling 100# labrador up 2 flights of stairs? Neither had I. ;-)
I haven’t seen Ferd in forever but I’m gonna have to pass on the Liquid Gold tomorrow (my timing is horrible) as I’m going to be underground tomorrow for a few hours (just surveying the entrance series of a mile long cave) and feeding a horde of hungry cavers (who aren’t as pussified as I and are going the full length) tomorrow night. Give Red my best and tell her I’ll see her soon. I hope.
Kay
@Barbara:
I agree, but it’s more than that. The Trump tax law works to encourage companies to move production. Now, maybe Carrier would have assembled in Mexico anyway, but she has to look into these things when voting or she will continue to be tricked. I watched the whole video. She’s not a dumb person. She’s meeting with other laid off workers to lobby Carrier for more severance – she is FULLY CAPABLE of learning something before she votes. She has to put more effort in- not a lot- an hour total over the whole cycle would be sufficient.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
huh
and not to pick nits, but… they’ve planned an impromptu meeting for later on?
rikyrah
@debbie:
Happy Birthday ???????
cain
@Kay:
The NYT talked about farmers struggling from the tarrifs debacle trying really really hard to just put their trust in the Donald, like they do with Jesus. Personally, I see no reason to have any articles about these people. Their puerile outlook on life is well known and well established. I suppose people like seeing a dumpster fire in progress. It just frustrates me good working men and women put their hopes on a tin pot wannabee dictator. On the other hand, they didn’t vote for the competent candidate so I suppose I don’t have any empathy either.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Vlad told him….
Bytch better have my money….
I still contend that Vlad thought the sanctions would be gone by now….
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly:
I don’t know about that, but it makes you a good jackal.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
According to the printed handout it is planned to be entirely spontaneous.
;)
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: ?
Kay
@Barbara:
Even without reading “policy” or “positions” we knew this- Trump screwed contractors and workers at his hotels. One doesn’t need a college education to take that fact and apply it to his general character. If he screwed them he’ll screw Carrier workers, and he did.
I don’t think you need an advanced degree to identify bad people. The disillusioned Trump voters are poor judges of character, and Democrats won’t be able to fix that. Trump’s a bad hire. They don’t even need to read his fake resume- he’s a bad person.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Yep. Donald doesn’t get to decide if a meeting with his boss is canceled.
Chris Johnson
@Betty Cracker: ‘put up zero money’ is completely unhelpful. It basically states that he was doing a building in Russia, PAID FOR by Russians and not himself. It would be less guilty of him to have put up all the money for the building, because then he would not be indebted to the so-helpful Russians.
Emma
@NotMax: Not a guest. Maxima, a former banker, works with the UN as UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA). A lot of this stuff is right in her bailiwick. Though meeting Trump calls for above and beyond.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Exactly. My wife said “accordion hands” this morning and it took a minute to register in my pre-coffee brain.
Karen S.
@Kay: It really is hard, for me, to understand how anyone could have believed him. It sounds callous for me to say this, but I find it hard to muster any sympathy for Trump voters who are getting screwed by him. I’ll save my sympathy for others.
Kay
@Chris Johnson:
What’s interesting to me is Trump seems caught off guard. He didn’t know what Cohen was telling Mueller – that goes against the whole “Trump has cleverly inserted moles inside the Mueller investigation, disguised as cooperating witnesses” theme from earlier this week.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Coincidentally, Dmitry Peskov is the same Kremlin spokesman who lied about Kremlin communication with Michael Cohen to back up Cohen’s lies to Congress, which Cohen has now admitted were lies. It’s lies and liars, all the way down!
NotMax
@Emma
Yes and no. The G20 host country gets the privilege of inviting ‘guest countries’ to participate. Argentina invited Chile and Holland.
Trivia: Spain enjoys permanent guest status at G20 gatherings.
Chris Johnson
@Kay: The trouble is, nobody is willing to say ‘yes I’ll save your way of life, coal miners, and bring it all back’ but goddamn liars.
I mean, one of the other options is ‘go to California where the jobs are and live under a bridge because you’re a fool to expect you can compete with the native Californians doing what they do’, but that doesn’t appeal. So many of the paths to self-reliance and taking control of your life involve complete bullshit and false promises, and people who are doubting themselves aren’t going to buy in to false promises that expect them to rise super high to the occasion and reinvent themselves to compete in the global economy, however often that’s needed (ask an entrepreneur: can be alarmingly often)
They are going to get sullen and angry and they’re going to fall for the next liar who tells them they don’t have to change. Racism is not at all required: you can do it purely on the ‘don’t take away my job’ side of things.
And you’ll be a liar, but you’ll probably get the votes when the other side doesn’t even bother to lie about how those old jobs going to be doomed.
Emma
@NotMax: I knew about Spain vaguely. What I meant to say is that she’s not a figure-head at these meetings. She’s keeping a trained eye on things, so to speak.
Betty Cracker
@Chris Johnson: That’s an excellent point. It’s not like any big project proposals in Russia make it to Putin’s office without someone greasing Putin’s palm — or outlining exactly how the payoff will be delivered. Kleptocracy 101.
Platonailedit
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
You are the puppet!
Gawd, what an cowardly asshole for a president.
NotMax
@Emma
Understood. The difference is that this time she is also there in an official and ceremonial capacity as a representative of the state.
Yarrow
@Chris Johnson: Good morning, I see your “they’re flying Air Force One to Russia to defect” claim yesterday didn’t pan out.
Air Force One pilots and crew do not work for Trump and will not fly the plane to Russia so the traitors can defect.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: Sorry no Liquid Gold for you. You should time it sometime when Wren is in town (are you following his love life and food truck exploits in Florida?) Red will be disappointed. She’s been working here on and off all week on “Salle Roche’s” bathroom. Beautiful slate and marble, steampunky space. Think she grouts on Sunday (with some sort of coppery glaze?) Afterwards, she moves on to the electric fireplace area. We passed the year mark on the project a few weeks back. I’m cool with that. My contractor/”art carpenter”/plumber drives in from Bourbon to work a couple of days a week. He moved over to a better paying gig in Kirkwood for a couple of weeks so Red and I could get caught up on our work. Really looking forward to your seeing the project when all done, Ozark. Plus, if anyone needs “guest quarters” in historic Soulard/St. Louis, I gots the place. Great kitchen and stunning bathroom. Open living/sleeping. Private garden/courtyard entrance.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Tail wags, soft meows, and waves back at you! ??
Quinerly
@Yarrow: ?
germy
germy
I think presidential candidates should be required to disclose their tax returns, not just presidents.
NotMax
@Kay
Wasn’t all that long ago that Dolt 45’s lawyers were high fiving one another for reaching a compromise under which Mueller’s written questions would be limited to matters involving Russia.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
We found La Quinta to be great for pets.
Yarrow
@geg6: I have some relatives who absolutely refuse to be separated from their dog and they always stay at La Quinta.
Tenar Arha
@Kay: Soo many facepalms.
Maybe a year ago (?) I started to avoid reading profiles like this. I feel manipulated by them, as if the media outlet writing one wants me to despise these folks for their flawed reasoning. Like they want me to assume that whole regions “deserve” their bamboozelment, when more than half the time it’s clear that the majorities of people in these states who would have voted smarter have been disenfranchised. Worst thing about this one, according to a really good Chuck Wendig rant starting from that article yesterday, it turns out she’s been profiled before.
germy
NotMax
@germy
All well and good but not a federal jurisdiction matter. States (and parties) control ballot access for candidates and set those rules.
tobie
@Chris Johnson: this is so true. The woman in the tweet seems convinced that the jobs of the 20th century can be saved in the 21st. It reminds me of the coal miners who used the free training provided in the stimulus package to take more classes on coal mining.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
I agree. It should be a condition of filing to run. Unless and until they do, they’re barred from participating in debates, their names are kept off ballots, etc.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: I haven’t seen Wren in even longer, would love to catch up with him.
lurker dean
good morning everyone. don’t make the mistake i did and read david brooks latest garbage. now i want to break things, preferably over his f-ing head.
crossing my fingers that our national nightmare will be over soon. the idiot king seems to be in a major panic.
A Ghost To Most
Presidential candidates should be able to obtain a Top Secret clearance BEFORE being allowed to run.
JPL
@Quinerly: The apartment sounds amazing.
Quinerly
@Yarrow: La Quintas are nice, too. I signed up for a card to use for travel (Choice Privileges, I think)… it is the card for Quality Inns, Comfort Inns, etc. Better travel rewards than the La Quinta card. We made the switch 3-4 years ago. Poco got to stay free in La Cruces for 4 nights in a really nice Quality Inn.
OzarkHillbilly
Trouble in Paradise? Stormy Daniels says Michael Avenatti sued Trump without her permission
Porn star also says her lawyer has not been transparent about money raised on her behalf via an online fundraising appeal
O. Felix Culpa
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
LOL. Wholeheartedly agree. And I’m never sure whether I should read last night’s threads first or start with the morning thread, which is already well underway by the time I join it. Life is full of hard choices.
Quinerly
@JPL: thanks. It is my first retirement big project… Turning my 1880’s walkout stone basement into liveable space. I wanted to do something more than a drywalled box. A labor of love, I guess. Either that or I’m nuts. Hope to Air BnB it some. (Discounted for traveling jackals… With an extra special Poco welcome?)
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Again, comes down to the states; they hold the cards. Highly questionable as federally enforceable absent a Constitutional amendment as the only present legally absolute federal requirements are meeting age and citizenship criteria.
NotMax
@NotMax
For clarity.
Highly questionable as federally enforceable for candidates absent a Constitutional amendment
Yarrow
@Quinerly: That sounds fantastic.
Yarrow
@NotMax: How’s this going to work? A person elected president can’t be sworn in until they release their tax returns? They can release them any time–like three years and 364 days into their first term?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: On the state level, didn’t Maryland enact a law requiring disclosure of tax returns in order to be on the ballot there?
NotMax
@NotMax
Ooh, there’s a scenario for an aspiring science fiction writer.
Suppose someone invents a Fountain of Youth drug and slips it to a sitting president, who wakes up the next day at, say, 18 years old. Would he or she be disqualified from continuing in office or removed from same even though the records used as proof of eligibility to run show he or she is over 35?
NotMax
@Yarrow
Release simultaneously with filing them during time in office.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Unsure. Recall reading about several states mulling such but not whether anything had come to fruition yet.
noncarborundum
I’m, like, really smart! I will look for things to make us go!
Elizabelle
Nancy Pelosi about to hold her first press conference with new House leadership.
She is my shadow president. She is my vehicle for a return to sanity and good government. You can watch on WaPost website.
geg6
@Yarrow:
Yes, they are very, very accommodating. We will always stay there when traveling with the pets. When we drove to Florida last year, we stayed at one in Charlotte, NC and I think every guest there had a dog and the staff just loved on the dogs all day. The dogs were welcome everywhere but the pool.
NotMax
@noncarborundum
Extra points for Pakled reference.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Like Trump, they can claim they’re under audit and the IRS can’t comment either way, so the returns can be held. Needs to be specific language about what is to be done. All the norms have been broken so we need laws.
Elizabelle
LaQuinta has a good breakfast, too. For people.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: She may even be President at some point.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
I am so angry about this story
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Meanwhile, at the big Wilmerite confab:
No allies to the right! Let there be litmus tests!
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: are you on the Book of Faces? He’s a riot with his videos.
NotMax
@Yarrow
Simultaneous release with filing would avoid at least that. No audit can conceivably be begun until after official receipt of return.
stinger
I haven’t read through the comments yet, but is anyone else bothered by the Washington Post describing a meeting of key world leaders to discuss global economic issues as a “group chatfest”? This type of snarky, dismissive phrasing diminishes the G20 meeting. We’ve already had decades of disparagement of government by the press, thanks to Ailes/Murdoch media. To imply that nothing important is intended by this gathering is to imply that nothing important can come out of it, so why should Trump take it seriously?
rikyrah
@NotMax:
That tickles me??
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: That’s my hope. It’s a definite non-zero possibility, and we would do well with it.
Quinerly
@NotMax: and didn’t mean to sound snippy in my answer. Appreciate your interest. I’m about a 1000 pennies in. It’s a process. Mounting the shiny ones first in sheets. I think we are going to do a three color swirl design. Slow go.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ponies and unicorns ????
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6:
Say WHAT???? That’s water dog discrimination!!!
NotMax
@stinger
Article or columnist? Important distinction.
If the former, hard news or puff piece (accompanied by Ms so-and-so, resplendent in a blue and maroon sateen gown)?
rikyrah
Anyone know what Democrat is going to be over the committee that oversees the VA?
Maybe we should begin a contact campaign to them.
Gelfling 545
@Baud: My daughter’s credit card info was atolen in the hack. The thieves or whoever they sold the info to tried to use it to buy internet advertising.
Elizabelle
@MomSense:
Trump doesn’t get a Katrina. TrumpRules. He is a veritable tsunami of garbage and venality and vitriol and incompetence every single week. Every few days. So normal standards do not apply to him.
Although. The VA nonservice and noncompassion to veterans resonates in communities. There will be a reckoning, but it may be at the ballot box.
OzarkHillbilly
@Yarrow:
Being under audit does not bar the release of tax returns in any way shape or form. trump’s bullshit is bullshit bereft of legal underpinning.
Elizabelle
@Gelfling 545: Internet advertising. That’s a new one. For businesses they are launching, or for propaganda to destabilize?
NotMax
@Quinerly
No prob. Keeping the place well ventilated to avoid fumes is, of course…
… common cents.
;)
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly:
Nope.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Me too. I don’t know what to do but @rikyrah: this is a good suggestion. Vets groups should be spearheading it, I’d think.
Yarrow
@OzarkHillbilly: I know that. My point is we need the law to be specific about what is required. No wiggle room. Tax returns will be released upon submission, even if audits may happen. Or something.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Elizabelle: One time our credit card was compromised and someone used it to donate $10K to Harvard. That one was a puzzler.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: Per wiki, here are the current Dem members, I don’t know how/if that changes after the new Congress is seated
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Free toaster?
(In stunning scarlet, natch.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Yarrow: OK, my bad.
Yarrow
@OzarkHillbilly: No problem. Sorry if I was short. I’m really bothered by the destruction of norms that has happened and think we need specific laws so that kind of crap can’t happen again.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: If I am his lawyer at this point he gets put on a cash in advance status. Perps don’t pay when they’re in jail.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That was probably old man Kushner gathering the bribe to get Jared in.
Speaking of which human Dunning-Kreuger trust fund baby, he just gave a speech in Buenos Aires thanking his FIL for his leadership in the repunctuation of NAFTA. So many different kinds of embarrassment for our nation on the world stage. Corrupt world leaders again reminded of the Banana Republicanism of our current White House, and of how necessary, and easy, it is to corrupt the buffoon with public flattery.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: didn’t think so. Wren’s stuff is a hoot. He’s all heart under those tattoos. ?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
????????????? Non voting?
Elizabelle
Nancy Smash is in the house. Honored to be there with new members
Three words: Majority, majority, majority. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? A thanksgiving of hope.
Integrity of government as part of our “For the People” agenda.
me: Why can’t our political press understand this? They always pretend the Dems don’t have anything to say. Pelosi is very straightforward.
Gelfling 545
@Elizabelle: It certainly gives one furiously to think.
Quinerly
@NotMax: yep. The mesh mounting makes it easy. Gloves, silicon, Little Feat, Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Josh Ritter, Dylan, Traveling Wilburys…..
germy
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@OzarkHillbilly: confused me too, again per Wiki, looks like he’s a non-voting delegate
Amir Khalid
@stinger:
Agreed.The G7 and G20 summits are work meetings for national leaders. They are where the agenda of the serious work of the world is agreed on. They should properly be described as such. Trump, the self-prociaimed successful CEO, clearly has no idea how to prepare for a work meeting or how to behave at one; we’ve all seen the frustration of his fellow leaders who have to deal with that. I suppose the right-leaning American corporate media feels obliged to downplay these meetings to mitigate the embarrassment of a Republican POTUS knowing jack shit about the business at hand and being a boor in front of his counterparts.
Gin & Tonic
@The Moar You Know:
Yeah, ’cause Lord knows how the deck is stacked against 60-something white male millionaires in US politics.
OzarkHillbilly
@Yarrow:
No problem. I am bothered by the destruction of norms too, but I have to say that I am more than a little afraid of legislative over reach. A norm allows for a range of actions/responses in situations where one size does not fit all. Legislating these things into law could be as harmful in the long run as the damage trump has done. We need to be careful.
That said, I do not think the tax return issue is one of those things that should not be legislated. Voters have a right to know who they are voting for and one very good tool for that is the tax return.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
lurker dean
jeebus – putin and mbs high fiving getting away with murder. pure joy on putin’s face.
https://twitter.com/Kevinliptakcnn/status/1068526102979653632
Gin & Tonic
Completely OT, and in the “huh, weird” file: new video from Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus, showing her “driving” over a bridge being chased by “State Police” cars was filmed in … Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. That’s one of the bridges over the river Dnipro which bisects the city. The signs on the bridge are CGI’d to English, although a very sharp and quick eye can see some with Cyrillic lettering at one point.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanx.
Neldob
@Kay: We shouldn’t have to spell this out. It’s norms. Repuglicans have forced us to.
J R in WV
@Chris Johnson:
This is so accurate and true… When a mine has been operating for many years, and has a finite amount of coal or ore (and all of them do have a limited finite supply) the mine eventually runs out of material to mine! Shock, amazement!!!
And even in a rich area like WV or PA, or KY, after a while all the rich mines have run through all their coal or ore, and the very next day after all that coal or gold or silver or copper is gone, that mine is closed, forever. In reality, hard rock mines sometimes run out of high-grade ore, change ownership, and continue with lower profits, pay scale, until the low grade ore is also gone.
And coal mines sometimes are able to continue mining by investing in low-coal equipment as the thick profitable coal is mined out and the seam shrinks from 84 inches down to 26 inches, which is about as low as you can get around in to mine.
And is obviously much less profitable than 7 or 8 foot thick coal. Or in Colorado, where I was invited to visit a coal mine with a 19 foot thick underground seam, in which they used road graders and dump trucks and end loaders to move their coal.
But back to my point: When the coal is gone, those jobs are gone also, totally and permanently, but for small crews doing reclamation work on damaged mine sites, which is all of them. Nothing will ever bring back coal jobs once mountain top removal mines have had their way with a coal region. Nothing. Good luck Joe, it ain’t happening, and once everyone realizes you nor Trump can bring back coal mining jobs, making $80,000 a year with a high school education, you guys are toast.
Other liars will make the same promises, fail, and get fired also too. You can’t get $80,000/year jobs with a high school education just anywhere, either. Sad.
stinger
@NotMax:
Dunno, not a regular reader. It’s one of the pieces cited in the OP. At the link, there are two bylines, so I’d guess it’s intended as hard news. For me, language choices such as “chatfest” are part of the high-schoolish approach toward our public discourse that lessens everyone who participates.
stinger
@Amir Khalid:
Kathleen
@debbie: Happy Birthday Debbie!
Chris Johnson
@Yarrow: That’s heartening. Though ‘directly’… was hyperbole, that would imply a lot that would be really hard to pull off. Obviously not directly. They still haven’t come back, though. I hope they do, and hope I was wrong, because things are starting to get real lively back in the USA.
Good. Maybe we can still avoid the chaos produced by Putin popping the head of our government off like a champagne cork.
Chris Johnson
@lurker dean: This is disconcerting. You’re sure right that Putin is one happy guy there. I think in part he might be fucking with Trump. He might be setting up a situation in which nothing Trump does will appease him. I don’t know what more Trump could possibly give him.
No matter what happens in my life, I will never EVER be as miserable as Donald Trump is, at this G20 summit.
Feels good man ;)
sm*t cl*de
@satby:
It was a social-priming study — a field in general discredit because so many studies later turned out to be useless, or faked, or both. The journal JPSP has a bad reputation for publishing junk.
In response to the suggestion that researchers in that area should consider the concept of ‘statistical rigour’, co-author Fiske once described these critics as “methodological terrrorists”.
sm*t cl*de
@Kay:
The Trumpistas knew that their hero is a deadbeat and a liar. They saw thee as assets. Their attitude was 50% “Well, if Trump has the balls to cheat and lie to his own supporters, think how effectively he will cheat and lie in the service of the US!” and 50% “It is an honour to be cheated and lied to by such an alpha male”.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What was the VA even thinking? I know, they weren’t, but seriously.
Burnspbesq
@A Ghost To Most:
Very interesting question. I expect that OLC would say no, and whether or not that’s correct as a matter of law, it becomes DOJ policy.