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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Evening Open Thread: No Place Like Hell Home…

Friday Evening Open Thread: No Place Like Hell Home…

by Anne Laurie|  December 21, 20185:34 pm| 136 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Dolt 45, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?

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McConnell speaking on the floor now. Says he supports the $5 billion for the wall. Blaming the "far left." He's channeling Trump. Playing the fear card for all it's worth. (What a d*ck.) But no mention of nuclear option. Just a bunch of hot air. Taking a vote now.

— Bill Harnsberger (@BillinPortland) December 21, 2018

Pretty sure that’s not an asset subject to forfeiture in a bankruptcy, so that should remain his possession. https://t.co/sCCZClkUMx

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 21, 2018

Zero chance Trump misses Mar a Lago on principle. He has none.

He’ll cave and go or not cave and still go.

Zero chance he misses his Cheese Castle getaway. https://t.co/PStWvZQ2A0

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) December 21, 2018

What could go wrong when Trump finally gets to Mar A Lago and is surrounded by the dipshits, mouth-breathers, sycophants, and weirdos who make up his circle there?

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 21, 2018

Richard Nixon went to Mar-a-Lago a month before he resigned the Presidency, July 1974: pic.twitter.com/gtetmj1AJu

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) December 20, 2018

Nothing says Christmas like a government shutdown, the murder of countless Kurds, and small children in interment camps. But luckily, the president will be golfing in palm beach so he may not even notice.

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) December 20, 2018

The Oval Office has gotta be like the Bunker Scene in ”Downfall”, but with ”Yakkity Sax” as the soundtrack

— Soxtomistic18 (@mab8663Panto) December 20, 2018

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Previous Post: « Friday Afternoon Open Thread
Next Post: Blowback Begins Open Thread: Maybe Gen. Mattis Wasn’t the ‘Mad Dog’ in the Room »

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    December 21, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    “Interment camps”? Things are worse than I thought.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @trollhattan: Not by much, though.

  3. 3.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    Are the flakes back in DC for their ‘final stands’?

  4. 4.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    Wall abides?

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    December 21, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    What did Kay say about Dolt45 having blackmail material?

    Raw Story (@RawStory) Tweeted:
    Michael Cohen brokered mysterious $1.8 million loan to pool boy that Jerry Falwell Jr and his wife befriended

    https://t.co/UdoTFFb2zC https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1076152869668175872?s=17

  6. 6.

    Mike in DC

    December 21, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @rikyrah: It’s nice that nobody is openly talking about the likely implications of such a “loan” to the pool boy.

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    December 21, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Maybe Trump thinks he can avoid investigation and impeachment by keeping the gov’t shut down for the next two years?

  8. 8.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    looks like it’s 47-47, pence sends it to the floor to die. what a waste of fucking time.

  9. 9.

    M31

    December 21, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife, the pool boy, and the pornstar-payoff lawyer

    GET ME REWRITE

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 21, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    Drumpf’s short list for the Pentagon: Gary Busey, LaToya Jackson, Bennie Hill, Geraldo, Beetlejuice, and Susan Sarandon.

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    Summary: Senate won’t vote on anything until House, Senate, and Trump agree on what to do.

    I guess we’re headed for a shutdown then.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    @M31: Only a threesome? For that amount of money, it seems like you could have had more.

  13. 13.

    VeniceRiley

    December 21, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    Carrying over from the previous open thread: I loved Timeless! I squee’d seeing Abigail at Prince harry & meghan’s wedding. I swear. I’m so sad it ended. And, as recorders and on demanders will soon find out super early in the episode … in North Korea.
    As for Dolt45, I’m sure he wants all to be as miserable as he is. No wait, that won’t do. All must be MORE miserable!

  14. 14.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    @chopper:

    looks also like yertle held the vote open just long enough to get a tie so he could have pence step in. wonder if there’s two dems who were left out over that.

  15. 15.

    Quinerly

    December 21, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: no Kanye?

  16. 16.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    @dmsilev: Trump doesn’t want to stay in DC. He either ignores his staff and goes to FL, or he caves and goes to FL. He’s worked hard and wants this vacation damn it.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @VeniceRiley: Spoilers!!! Some of us haven’t watched it yet.

  18. 18.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @chopper: They can’t pass with 48-47 sham vote, can they?

  19. 19.

    tobie

    December 21, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    Corker could have done the right thing along with his colleague Flake and voted no on this motion. This would have forced a vote in the House on the first continuing resolution the Senate passed unanimously. Even though he’s retiring, he was too cowardly to do this. Weasel.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    December 21, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    Has Fat Bastard jetted off to his garish private club yet? The government will be shut down for the 16 days of his golfing vacation. Give him nothing.

  21. 21.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 21, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    I am confused about what vote just happened and what happens next. Can anyone explain?

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @tobie: As I said yesterday, Corker and Flake are total fucking cowards. Total fucking cowards. I wonder if they even know what the word statesman means.

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 21, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @chopper: Doug Jones voted Yes. Flake, of course, folded like a cheap lawn chair.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: blah blah blah shutdown.

    Sorry if that wasn’t helpful. I have lost track of all the bullshit steps, also.

  25. 25.

    Luthe

    December 21, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @tobie: I thought Corker rode off into the sunset already?

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @JPL: I predict he’ll cave though it may take a few days. He’ll find some way of describing it as not a cave, but that’s what it will be.

  27. 27.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    Guess they can.

    48-47: VP Pence cast his 12th Senate tie breaking vote to proceed to House-passed bill funding gov't thru Feb 8 with $5.7B for border wall & $7.8B for disaster relief. pic.twitter.com/0RcLUJi3p6

    — Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) December 21, 2018

  28. 28.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    Why not pass a clean CR and override the president’s veto. Mitch and Ryan are cowards who would rather see TSA employees not receive their pay. What a bunch of f.king cowards. At least Nancy and Chuck aren’t afraid of the orange man.

  29. 29.

    randy khan

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    This just moves it to the floor, where it will fail because they won’t break the filibuster.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Please remind me what the yes vote meant in that context. I have had to tune out the details of the shutdown for the sake of my own sanity.

  31. 31.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    this was just the vote to advance it to debate. it’ll def fail a cloture vote.

    the whole point of this particular vote isn’t to pass a bill, it’s to pass blame. or at least to try. trump is eating shit over this shutdown either way.

  32. 32.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    fuckers, both. of course flake flaked. why wouldn’t he go out of his way to help trump out.

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 21, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: This was a Motion to Proceed. If something can be hammered out in the next X hours, it will be voted on. If this motion had died, everyone would have gone home. Now we see what Chuck can squeeze out of Trump.

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 6:03 pm

    Bob Corker is extolling the benefits of talking one’s head off by…talking his head off.

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 21, 2018 at 6:03 pm

    @WaterGirl: He voted with the R’s which tied it at 47 and allowed Pence to break the tie. It was just a Motion to Proceed.

  36. 36.

    tobie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @JPL: Isn’t it funny that no one on the news mentions the most obvious solution. Paul Ryan could have the House vote on the clean continuing resolution that unanimously passed the Senate. He won’t do it. At this point, I can’t imagine even his corporate backers want the US’s precarious economy to undergo the shock of a shutdown. This makes me wonder which master Ryan is trying to please.

  37. 37.

    Schlemazel

    December 21, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    The senate just voted on the house version of the CR. It needed 60 vote but didn’t even get 50. It is DOA
    It is assumed they will vote on a CR without the wall BS which will pass & they will kick it back to the house & hope it passes (it won’t)

  38. 38.

    tobie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    @chopper: I thought Flake stuck with his no vote. Did I miss something?

  39. 39.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    and for anyone expecting schumer to sell us all out, if he agrees to anything to make this go forward it’ll be with the full faith and support of pelosi etc.

    if i were them i’d say fuck this shit, the image of trump on a three week golf vacation while feds like myself sit at home without pay is gonna be more than enough. but who knows.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Making my frown-y face. That seems like the wrong was to have voted.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @tobie: Someone is holding him hostage.

  42. 42.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @randy khan: @chopper: It’s all confusing. Does the thug get his racist wish or not?

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    December 21, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
    You’re forgetting the perfect Trumpian candidate for SecDef: Ted Nugent, who deliberately shit himself to avoid military service.

  44. 44.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 21, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    So the filibuster vote hasn’t even happened yet, and the results of this vote all but prove that vote is dead. McConnel’s leadership style remains that if he can’t get his way, he’ll make everyone else have to go through annoying bullshit out of petty spite.

  45. 45.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @tobie:

    apparently he flaked. how surprising.

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 21, 2018 at 6:09 pm

    Thank you for the explanations, folks. They really helped.

  47. 47.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    this was a vote just to bring the vote to debate on the floor. that’s a simple majority. then the senators speechify and bloviate until it’s time for a cloture vote to end debate, which requires 60 votes. then the final vote on the bill which is a simple majority.

    trump and crew know that this bill isn’t going to survive a cloture vote. they’re doing this whole kabuki bullshit so he point at the dems and say ‘this is their fault’, not that that’ll work. mcconnell called the entire senate back from vacation for this lousy stupid spectacle.

  48. 48.

    randy khan

    December 21, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    @tobie:

    I think the plan is send a bill back to the House that includes the disaster relief but not the wall funding.

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @chopper: “crew” might know that, but does Trump?

  50. 50.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    @chopper: Thanks, I was confused by the above caplan tweet about ‘proceed to house’.

  51. 51.

    Fleeting Expletive

    December 21, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    The fever may be breaking and the tide may have turned. Robert Mercer is bailing on the Republicans because being called a white nationalist isn’t to his liking. After $$ for Cambridge Analytica, Brietbart, etc. Keep your eyes open and your fingers crossed.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    December 21, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    538

    The House Will Have Just As Many Moderate Democrats As Progressives Next Year

    In case you’re asked why they sold us out.

  53. 53.

    TS (the original)

    December 21, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    @chopper: Matt Fuller on Twitter

    Corker and Flake say they switched their vote on the motion to proceed with the understanding that the next vote they take will be on an agreement that can pass the Senate and the House. “There is no path forward for the House bill,” Flake says.

  54. 54.

    tobie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    @randy khan: Thanks for the explanation. It’s so hard to tell what the strategy is. It would be great if the House were to vote on a CR with disaster relief funding and nothing for a wall. Here’s hoping sanity prevails.

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    December 21, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Dear god the web gets more tangled every day.

  56. 56.

    Yarrow

    December 21, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    . @SenBobCorker advises reporters to go home and have a scotch.— Jennifer Haberkorn (@jenhab) December 21, 2018

    Corker is like a high school kid with a case of senioritis.

  57. 57.

    Yarrow

    December 21, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @rikyrah: Finally the evangelicals’ involvement in this mess starts to see the light of day. Been talking about it for awhile. Seen other hints of it breaking into the news. The evangelical organizations are caught up in the Russian money-laundering as well, just like the NRA.

  58. 58.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    @randy khan: If that’s the case, it should have the votes. Ryan has to bring it to the floor though. Trump’s veto would be meaningless, but I still think the republican leadership fears his wrath.

  59. 59.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @Yarrow: So, for all his posturing yesterday about how he was gonna go home and call it quits, the coward literally turned on a dime and is back at the senate?

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    December 21, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Yarrow: He gets to play the cool kid who’s above it all, as he (apparently) gives Trump exactly what he wants.

  61. 61.

    Yutsano

    December 21, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @chopper:

    trump and crew know

    His crew knows. Dolt45 don’t know shit except what’s in front of his face.

    EDIT: And even the “what’s in front of his face” part is debatable.

  62. 62.

    Kent

    December 21, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    @Yarrow:

    @rikyrah: Finally the evangelicals’ involvement in this mess starts to see the light of day. Been talking about it for awhile. Seen other hints of it breaking into the news. The evangelical organizations are caught up in the Russian money-laundering as well, just like the NRA.

    Don’t bet on it. Judging from the evangelical fundamentalist (they aren’t the same thing) wing of my own extended family, I’d say they are in it for the duration, or at least until a new GOP leader takes the reins from Trump. They have no where else to go. And the evangelical news media is a separate alternate universe like FOX news but different, with all their own magazines and shows. None of this stuff will break through until Trump is in shackles.

  63. 63.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @dmsilev:

    he’s been told at least, not that that means much.

  64. 64.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    @Yutsano:

    i’m sure yertle explained it to him at their meeting earlier. likely it went in one ear and out the other, cause well it’s trump, he thinks the universe bends to his will.

  65. 65.

    The Dangerman

    December 21, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    @chopper:

    …if i were them i’d say fuck this shit…

    Time to get a clip of that one Celebrity Jeopardy where “Sean Connery’s” final answer was “below” and “me” and put it on a continual loop

  66. 66.

    Yarrow

    December 21, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    @Kent: The evangelical organizations have been serving as money laundromats. The evangelical leaders are involved. We haven’t even gotten to child trafficking yet. It’s all tied together and it will come out as the Mueller investigation continues. Like today’s news involving Michael Cohen and Falwell, Jr. No surprise there.

    Sure, some of those folks have nowhere to go but some will find that they can no longer stay. We’ve already seen some signs of cracks, mostly with women. There are a lot of issues tied together but the cracks are there and they will get larger.

  67. 67.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @randy khan:

    doubt mcconnell would cough up such a blatant rebuke to trump. at least not now. maybe after the GOP eats shit for a week and a half.

    even then, when pelosi gets the gavel on the third she’s likely to send a clean CR over to the senate first thing, by then he won’t even need to send a bill to the house.

  68. 68.

    tobie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    @JPL:

    I still think the republican leadership fears his wrath.

    I don’t think they fear Trump but the 80% of their party that worships him like the Golden Calf.

  69. 69.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Kent: I read a news story reporting polling results that indicated older Evangelicals are doing just that, sticking with Trump no matter what. They’ve been told he is God’s chosen leader for the US, and it doesn’t make any difference what Trump does.

    Younger Evangelicals are wavering and Trump has lost substantial support among them, Mainly women, but big losses in both sexes.

    But looks like the older white Evangelicals will never ever abandon Trump, no matter what he does or it’s revealed he did.
    But any erosion in white Evangelical support is worrying, because Trump barely squeaked out a win with over 80% of their vote, when they turned out in record numbers. So, something gotta be done about them damn kids.

    I just looked but can’t find the story right now, though.

  70. 70.

    trollhattan

    December 21, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    @jl:
    They’re still under the cruel reign of that seven-headed beast Po-Li-Ti-Kal-Coe-Wrecked-Ness. Only Trump can save them.

  71. 71.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    maga!!!

    US stocks suffered one of the worst weekly falls in a decade as trade tensions with China, interest rate rises and a possible government shutdown rattled markets.

    All three indexes closed lower, with the technology-focused Nasdaq down 20% since its peak, placing it in so-called “bear market” territory.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its biggest weekly drop in percentage terms since 2008.

    The S&P 500 fell 7% for the week.

    It is the biggest weekly percentage drop since August 2011 while the Nasdaq’s 8.36% decline is the sharpest since November 2008.

    The Dow Jones fell 6.8% during the week.

  72. 72.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 21, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @M31: I’m gonna get a good pic of you yet! (shakes fist at stars)

    ETA: There was a good pic of M31 on Astonomy Picture of the Day a few days ago.

  73. 73.

    Ksmiami

    December 21, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @Yarrow: good shut them all down, arrest the leaders and conspirators and kick their families out of their homes. That will be a start.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @tobie:

    This makes me wonder which master Ryan is trying to please.

    I just heard it reported (podcast called The Daily, put out by the paper you love to hate) that Ryan was in a meeting with Trump and supporters such as Ann Coulter, and that Coulter et al’s views held sway over Ryan’s views.

  75. 75.

    Mary G

    December 21, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    Reclaiming our time!

    BREAKING: Maxine Waters Wants Mick Mulvaney to testify before her committee about What he Did at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,SHE SAID THIS"…while your time running the Consumer Bureau may be over, the time for accountability for your actions is about to begin."— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) December 21, 2018

  76. 76.

    debbie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    Apparently, Mar-a-Lago will have to wait:

    Some of the many Bills that I am signing in the Oval Office right now. Cancelled my trip on Air Force One to Florida while we wait to see if the Democrats will help us to protect America’s Southern Border! pic.twitter.com/ws6LYhKcKl— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018

  77. 77.

    debbie

    December 21, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    This is fun:

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Du-nIcQX4AAjWb7.jpg

  78. 78.

    LuciaMia

    December 21, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    Repubs falling all over themselves on cable news trying to blame Democrats. The clip of Trump stating that he’ll own any government shutdown should be played on a continuous loop, like “A Christmas Story” on Xmas day.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    December 21, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    Too late, I suppose, for some enterprising YouTuber to put together a short film featuring the ghost of Marjorie Merriweather Post showing up on Xmas Eve and force feeding Grape-Nuts, dry, to Dolt 45 until he repents.

  80. 80.

    LuciaMia

    December 21, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    Need a movie break? “Breakfast at Tiffanys” on TCM tonite, 8pm.

  81. 81.

    Lady raxterinok

    December 21, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Gary Busey from Tulsa. He was in some of my brother’s classes. Liked him in the Buddy Holly movie.

  82. 82.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    December 21, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    @Amir Khalid: But patriotically. For a month. Ted thrashed out an excremental bowel movement, a crap concerto, a symphony in shit.

    (Ted hadda wtf? the draft board in ’68 and duck Vietnam so he could survive to chickenhawk the living shit outta every war thereafter. In a selfless, honorable, patriotic way, of course.)

    When I was a boy (long story), I was subjected to the fatuous self-glorying Ted Nugent as part of a social circle I had no control over. Some peeps as kids are imprisoned in homes of strident wingnuttery or Talibangelical fervor, me, I had to suffer the noxious gassy presence of Terrible Ted on occasion.

    Know how you occassionally hear stories from DC-insiders about how so-and-so is an asshole on TV but, hey!, in person in the green room they’re just a peach? Love their kids! Tip the waiter! Pet their dog! No, really, serious, they do! (OT: Personally, I think the tellers of such tales are, at best, chumps, but that’s another story.)

    To the surprise of no one, Ted Nugent is even more loathesome and reprehensible in person than the reactionary pseudo-intellectual firebrand dickhead douchecanoe he plays on TV. The Dunning-Kruger is strong in this one, but it vies for supremacy with the violent black-hole of narcissism that contaminates everything around him.

    Trump n Ted are shit-birds of a fecal feather, scatologically so to speak.

  83. 83.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 7:09 pm

    @debbie:

    lol, like he’s gonna give up his vacation. no fucking way. whole reason he’s talking about ‘all the bills on the desk’ is so can act like he earned it.

  84. 84.

    lol chikinburd

    December 21, 2018 at 7:15 pm

    Is Jose Mourinho still in the running for WHCoS? He’d be perfect. (Defense doesn’t seem his forte anymore.)

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    December 21, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    Puppetry in action.

    US approves $3.5 billion Patriot missile sale to Turkey Source</blockquote.

  86. 86.

    Lady raxterinok

    December 21, 2018 at 7:19 pm

    @Kent: It’s appalling to watch the continuing belief in Trump as God’s chosen anointed one, picked to lead US back to God by leading US away from abortion and homosexuality and transgenderism.

    Watch a few minutes of videos of Jim Bakker’s shows on YouTube. A recent guest was Boykin. Also Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. A Messianic Jew, I think.

  87. 87.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 21, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    The biggest problem with the vote, it seems to me although nobody is saying it quite like this, is that Trump won’t tell the Republicans what he’s willing to sign. And he probably won’t know until the moment he’s presented with something.

  88. 88.

    M31

    December 21, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    oh yeah that was a nice one :-)

    amazing to think you can see M31 with the naked eye and yet it’s 2.5 million light years away

  89. 89.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I think I saw some quotes from (unnamed) GOP Senators saying exactly that, that even after meeting with Trump they still don’t know exactly what he will and will not sign.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    December 21, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @Fleeting Expletive:
    Put his traitorous azz in jail ??

  91. 91.

    RAVEN

    December 21, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @poleaxedbyboatwork: Deetroit boy huh? I used to fish in Muskegon.

  92. 92.

    Lady raxterinok

    December 21, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    @Yarrow: Child trafficking? You mean how Evangelicals are in a program to adopt children from developing countries so they can ‘win them to Christ.’ A woman who was in the Quiverful movement, then got out and exposed it through articles, at least 1 book, and a blog at patheos ‘No longer quivering’sp?, wrote a book or article in a national magazine exposing this practice. (Sorry. I don’t remember her name.)

  93. 93.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 7:29 pm

    OMG, House Republicans are voting to adjourn until tomorrow at noon, which GUARANTEES a #TrumpShutdown tonight. Why would Republican House Leadership make their Members vote to adjourn? #GOP doesn't know how to govern. #JanuaryIsComing

    — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 21, 2018

  94. 94.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 21, 2018 at 7:31 pm

    @M31: But it’s coming right at us, we’re doomed!

    ETA: I’m going to try for another picture when the moon is more cooperative, either here or a dark place.

  95. 95.

    Mike in DC

    December 21, 2018 at 7:31 pm

    @NotMax: How many dollars per dead Kurdish ally does that work out to? I hope we didn’t sell them out too cheaply!

  96. 96.

    dmsilev

    December 21, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    @Platonailedit: Two theories. (a) As Rep. Lieu suggests, the GOP doesn’t know how to govern. (b) This is an attempt to jam the Senate into passing the House’s FundTheWall bill. Which won’t work. See (a).

  97. 97.

    rikyrah

    December 21, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @Mary G:
    Yes ?? ??

  98. 98.

    Mandalay

    December 21, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    But it’s coming right at us, we’re doomed!

    Not if we build a wall with slats.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    December 21, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    FYI.

    Call it blowback: A year after the Defense Department banned releases of art made by the 40 prisoners still at Guantánamo, detainee artwork that got out before the ban is emerging as a collectible with a bit of cachet. Source

  100. 100.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 7:41 pm

    @dmsilev: Probably Trump doesn’t know himself what he’ll sign until he sees how Coulter and Limbaugh respond and how it plays with the base.

  101. 101.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    December 21, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Would it matter if Trump did tell Republicans what he’s willing to sign? Is Trump not just as like to change his mind at the last moment? For any number of unpredictable reasons?

    somewhatOT: Am thinking of how Trump coulda had his wall money a long fucking time ago, and Dems at the time woulda been the ones biting the bullet (exchange for DACA).

    But, in the long, storied tradition of self-defeating Republican intransigence, the GOP is oft too stupid to take yes for an answer. In that case, it was the likes of Stephen Miller and CoS Kelly who threw a bigot wrench in the works at the eleventh hour and Trump said no deal.

    (Sidenote: Thinking back to the time when Obama was peddling his wrong-headed Grand Bargain to the GOP, in essence foisting responsibility for cuts to social security and medicare onto Dems inna misbegotten bipartisan reaching-across-the-aisle response to his “shellacking” in ’10 to “control the eek! deficit”. Think about that. Democrats would’ve owned cuts to the safety net if the Tea Party fanatics hadn’ta cockblocked it — cuz the cuts weren’t draconian enough to satisfy the cat-food caucaus.)

  102. 102.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    it’s an attempt to pressure the senate into passing the house bill. that’s all.

  103. 103.

    chopper

    December 21, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    @NotMax:

    that explains why we fucked over the kurds. motherfucker.

  104. 104.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    Steel Slat Barrier is a stupid name for a wall. just sayin

  105. 105.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 21, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    @chopper: Even Noam Chomsky thinks we should stay and protect the Kurds. Not implying that he’s usually a heartless bastard (quite the opposite) but rather, that even such a noted opponent of American Imperial adventures and overstretch, is in favor of us not pulling out.

  106. 106.

    Platonailedit

    December 21, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @poleaxedbyboatwork:

    Yeah, continue to bitch and moan about ‘corporatist’ Obama while the voters keep rewarding the treasonous party, who never seem to hit the bottom in their evil deeds. That’s the ticket.

  107. 107.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    @trollhattan: Here is story about how fundie Evangelical support for Trump holds up. I’m not sure if it is the same story I first saw a few weeks ago. Trump was polling at 81% among evangelicals, now it’s at 75%. for the midterms. But most of this loss is among young adults. And,fundie white Evangelicals have lost about a third of their young adult membership to more mainline denominations.

    So, the vast majority of older adult white Evangelicals have not changed their minds about Trump. But, like other parts of society, Trump is losing their kids.

    I also read a piece on the problems young Evangelicals had with the kids. It seems to have started with young Evangelical women who were upset with hypocritical patriarchy, and attacks on reproductive rights and equal pay. Then is spread to hypocrisy on LGBT (kids might have read the actual favorite fundie Pauline passage supposedly condemning gays, and saw that the whole passage says the opposite of what the preachermen said it did). The the issue or race. Anyway, a lot of them damn kids had a bad reaction to the sanctimonious hypocrisy.

    The GOP can’t rely on white evangelicals forever
    White evangelicals are still Trump’s base. But they’re in decline.
    By Tara Isabella Burton Nov 7, 2018
    https://www.vox.com/2018/11/7/18070630/white-evangelicals-turnout-midterms-trump-2020

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    December 21, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    @JPL

    He couldn’t give a fig if it’s steel or not, if it’s slats or not. It’s an overly obvious trumped up alliterative catchphrase handed in by someone in the White House; he’s pushing it in order to hear the cultists chant it at the rallies.

  109. 109.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 8:04 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: Both the Syrian and Afghanistan drawdowns go in the general direction that progressive like. But even policy that goes in the general direction that one likes can be screwed up by a corrupt incompetent, and that is what it looks like Trump is doing.

    So, you agree with your toddler that there is a problem with the furnace. You say it should be fixed, but the toddler wants to blow it up because that would make a big fun boom. Most people, apart from corporate news talker frauds who are paid to be willfully obtuse in a biased way, would NOT see a big contradiction if you didn’t trust your toddler to fix the furnace.

    And Trump incompetence is tied up with fact that, as far as we know now, he adopted the Syrian policy because Erdogan called him and told him to do it or…. something… Who knows what? Turkey would not take the heat off of MBS for slaughtering Kashoggi, or Trump hotel project in Turkey was dead, or something or both or all?

  110. 110.

    jl

    December 21, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @dmsilev: And, it’s a lot easier to go on TV and blame the Dems. The GOP don’t give a damn about Wall, or keeping the government running, or welfare of the country. They care about their GOP PR schtick and whatever personal bennies that gets them.

  111. 111.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    December 21, 2018 at 8:13 pm

    @RAVEN:
    Northwoods hillbilly, actually. Usedta play poker with Greeks and Arabs in Detroit area when was going to school in A2.

    Fisht a lotta places in Michigas, but Muskegon ain’t one of ’em. You troll for kinks there in its heydey (mid-80s)?

    Spent my entire summer youth, ages 13 to 18, working on charter boats, mostly on Lake Mich. but also L. Erie. Hadn’t thought of it inna while and dunno if this phenomenon still exists (been awhile), but coupla seasons worked onna Grady White that had twin Johnson 2hunnerds hanging offa the transom. We’d fly right past the Manitou Islands and on out to the center-spine a Lake Mich. (come ’bout mid-June, out ’bout 25 – 30 miles) looking for two things: a surface thermocline n evidence of what we callt a scumline.

    Far’s the thermocline goes, if the surface temp changed, say, 10 degrees inna mile or less, that was the answer you’s looking for. And the scumline was this weird aggregation of surface foam that very oft contained all kinda terrestrial insects innit. We’d fish with planer boards (analogous in principle to the outrigger poles I use commercially now for kings, cohos n keta) with plugs shimmying at the bidness end. Gamefish would patrol the surface like mini-Jaws’s, skimming grub offa the top.

    Would catch kings, steelhead and *the* most beautiful lake trout I’ve ever seen — slate gray bodies with sharp distinct white Jackson Pollock spatters and flaming orange flesh under their jumpsuits when fileted. Very oft lake trout that I’ve caught closer to shore are a pasty gray with smeary white splotches and pinkish flesh. We callt em mackinaws.

    Usedta dive offa the cabintop for a soak just before we returned to shore. ‘Member I learned something. Had no concern diving and swimming in 500-plus-feet of water. But when one of the customers asked me to dive down a ways, 20 feet or so, to determine what the surface clutter we were always marking on the old-school Vexilar paper graph? Could. Not. Dooit.

    Freaked me the fuck out.

  112. 112.

    Mary G

    December 21, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Frank Rich at NY Mag, who seems to be too lazy to write his own columns anymore, but has a talk with Alex Carp who transcribes it, says we might be nearing the time when McConnell and other Vichy Republicans act against Twitler, because of the market:

    What will move them is not necessarily Trump’s hara-kiri isolationist agenda but the damage his behavior both abroad and at home is inflicting on the financial markets. The sheer uncertainty of a chaos presidency is pushing the Dow to its worst December since the Great Depression. McConnell and his humiliated departing peer Paul Ryan have tolerated Trump’s racism, misogyny, and nativism, his wreckage of American alliances, his kleptocracy, and his allegiance to Vladimir Putin. They have tolerated as well his con job on the coal miners, steelworkers, and automobile-industry workers of his base. But they’ll be damned if they will stand for a president who threatens the bottom line of the GOP donor class.

    But meanwhile, we have more than two weeks in store of watching an isolated madman rampaging through the gilded rooms of Mar-a-Lago, wreaking whatever damage he can on the country as the walls of justice continue to close in on him. Happy New Year!

    Just how we wanted to spend our Christmas! I am spared my Trumpist relatives because my parents cut me off; I can’t imagine listening to a drunk cousin demanding we build the wall.

  113. 113.

    Spanky

    December 21, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @M31: Looks like a pretty easy shot to me. :^)

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 21, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    What’s happening? We lost power for 4 hours, downed tree limbs, it has been pouring all day today.

  115. 115.

    Mike in NC

    December 21, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    @jl: Erdogan offered Trump a future tower in Istanbul. Yuuugely profitable venture. He only responds to lining his pockets.

  116. 116.

    cynthia ackerman

    December 21, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    @Mandalay:

    A caravan of M31 gangsters closing on us at sixty-nine miles PER SECOND!

    We need slats NOW!!

  117. 117.

    germy

    December 21, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    While I agree we must bring home our troops as soon as possible, there is no plan in place to address the humanitarian disaster in Syria or advance negotiated peace. We MUST end these unauthorized wars, but the manner in which we do it matters. https://t.co/pocPxCUP8X

    — Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) December 20, 2018

  118. 118.

    germy

    December 21, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    video:

    I went to the House Floor to condemn the #TrumpShutdown. As we saw today, President Trump doesn’t want a deal, he wants to hold our government hostage over the holidays. pic.twitter.com/8f183bdWah

    — Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) December 21, 2018

  119. 119.

    JPL

    December 21, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    @cynthia ackerman: Imagine if Kirjsten Nielsen had said we need steel slat barrier, instead of we need wall. She might not have been mocked.
    Yeah.. that doesn’t work either.

  120. 120.

    germy

    December 21, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    Trump tweeted an illustration of the slats, with their pointy tops.

    I appreciate the close up view to assure the mouth breathers that climbers will be impaled. pic.twitter.com/PGRdv3bDHy— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 21, 2018

  121. 121.

    Imanentize

    December 21, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @NotMax: Steven Miller is the name you are looking for

  122. 122.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 21, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: It’s the M31 caravan.

  123. 123.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 21, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    @Spanky: Uh, sure it’s an easy shot.

  124. 124.

    Yarrow

    December 21, 2018 at 8:28 pm

    @Lady raxterinok: Yep. And it will be part of the overall human trafficking picture including child sex trafficking. Evangelical organizations and churches are very concerned about human trafficking at the moment. It’s projection, as usual. We’ll see more news on it as the Mueller investigation continues on.

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    December 21, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @NotMaxSteven Miller is the name you are looking for

  126. 126.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    December 21, 2018 at 8:34 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    Yeah, continue to bitch and moan about ‘corporatist’ Obama while the voters keep rewarding the treasonous party, who never seem to hit the bottom in their evil deeds. That’s the ticket.

    I observed that sometimes, thankfully, the GOP is too stupid and self-defeating to take yes for an answer. You may disagree with that assessment, and that’s fine.

    Your summation of what I said is wholly a jump-to-conclusions invention of yours. I do not agree with it.

    If you wanna get mad and rail at me, go right ahead. But do me the courtesy of attacking something I actually said rather devising a straw-man that you can topple.

    (Perhaps the rub is this: I like Obama. I miss him. I wish he were still president. He did a lotta good and saved us from a lotta bad. But he wasn’t perfect. And it’s OK to say so. ymmv)

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    December 21, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    But- but- the M31 was canceled.

    ;)

  128. 128.

    different-church-lady

    December 21, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    So it’s sharpened steel slats, is it?

  129. 129.

    different-church-lady

    December 21, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    So, do they drop the ball in Times Square for the shutdown tonight?

  130. 130.

    Ken

    December 21, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @germy:

    Trump tweeted an illustration of the slats, with their pointy tops.

    They’ve definitely already chosen the contractor and arranged for the kickbacks.

  131. 131.

    satby

    December 21, 2018 at 8:54 pm

    https://twitter.com/JohnDingell/status/1076241956760678400?s=20
    Love that guy!

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    December 21, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @LuciaMia:
    I’ll just post this here. E mail today from one of my Senators.

    “I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”
    —Donald Trump, December 11

    If the government shuts down at midnight tonight, around 400,000 federal employees will be forced to work without pay, and more than 380,000 will be furloughed. That includes TSA workers, Coast Guard employees, law enforcement, corrections officers and Forest Service firefighters.
    Thousands of Americans with families won’t know when they’ll get paid. This shutdown will have real, tangible consequences as we head into the holiday season and the New Year.
    I want to be crystal clear: if the government shuts down at midnight tonight, President Donald Trump will deserve full responsibility.
    Republicans still control both houses of Congress and the White House. They have the power to pass a bipartisan bill to keep the government open. But Trump is threatening to veto any bill that doesn’t include $5 billion for his unnecessary border wall. That’s $5 billion that could be invested in domestic priorities like infrastructure, health care and paid family and sick leave.
    And so we find ourselves yet again facing a manufactured crisis of Trump’s making.
    Donald Trump continues to govern by brinkmanship and chaos. That’s not leadership: it’s recklessness.
    I will continue to fight for the voiceless and the vulnerable in our communities. I hope the President listens to the majority of Americans who are calling on him to keep our government open.
    Thanks for being by my side,
    — Kamala Harris
    U.S. Senator, California

  133. 133.

    Miss Bianca

    December 21, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    OK, that last tweet got me.

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    December 21, 2018 at 9:14 pm

    @dmsilev:
    I understand them not wanting to waste their time but given the moronic bill signer why would anyone bother with asking him anything? He’s at the point that all of us are just waiting for some adult to just say, “He’s got to go, he doesn’t know anything about anything except his pet project, the wall. He’s been all over the place on price, negotiating (basically with himself) for what he wants and what he thinks we should pay for it. He has no idea how much it will cost, how long it will take, how little it will do and how shitty it will make the country. He doesn’t really care about any of the other things or the people that will be effected if we have a shutdown. He’s a 4 yr old in an old man’s body. If he offers to hold his breath till he gets what he wants, we should whole heartedly advise him that is a great idea.”

  135. 135.

    Scamp Dog

    December 21, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    @cynthia ackerman: Actually, not for about 4.5 billion years. But “sixty-nine miles PER SECOND!” does fit GOP needs better, doesn’t it? Plus we need to get about 100,000 light-years worth of slats ready, so we probably should get to work on it soon, right?

  136. 136.

    Chris Johnson

    December 22, 2018 at 5:04 am

    @different-church-lady: No, because just as 888 would stand for Hubert Horatio Humphrey, SSS doesn’t stand for Schutzstaffel. They’re gonna stick to SS all the way.

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