Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No one could have predicted…

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Second rate reporter says what?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Everybody saw this coming.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Bark louder, little dog.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

In after Baud. Damn.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Decline & Fall Open Thread: Our Cosplay “President”

Decline & Fall Open Thread: Our Cosplay “President”

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… Despite frequent praise for the U.S. military and the appointment of military leaders to Cabinet positions, it took Trump almost half of his first term as president to visit U.S. soldiers in a conflict zone.

In contrast, Obama’s trip to Iraq took place less than three months after he was inaugurated. He would go on to visit another conflict zone, Afghanistan, twice in his second year in office. Obama’s own predecessor, President George W. Bush, had also visited Iraq less than a year after the U.S.-led invasion of the country began in March 2003…

Last week, Trump announced that these soldiers would be coming home, as the Islamic State was defeated. “Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back, and they’re coming back now. We won,” Trump said in a video message on Twitter. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced his resignation soon afterward.

But as he visited Iraq on Wednesday, Trump had a very different message — again, a real contrast to Obama’s message nine years before — for the roughly 5,200 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq. The message was that this time, there was no immediate plan to withdraw U.S. soldiers from Iraq. “In fact, we could use this as the base if we wanted to do something in Syria,” the U.S. leader added.

… “Arrogant” and “a violation of national sovereignty” were but a few examples of the disapproval emanating from Baghdad following Trump’s meeting Wednesday with U.S. servicemen and women at the al-Asad Airbase.

Trips by U.S. presidents to conflict zones are typically shrouded in secrecy and subject to strict security measures, and Trump’s was no exception. Few in Iraq or elsewhere knew the U.S. president was in the country until minutes before he left.

But this trip came as curbing foreign influence in Iraqi affairs has become a hot-button political issue in Baghdad, and Trump’s perceived presidential faux-pas was failing to meet with the prime minister in a break with diplomatic custom for any visiting head of state…

While Trump didn’t meet with any officials, he spoke with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled over a “difference in points of view” over arrangements, according to the prime minister’s office.

The visit could have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both sides of Iraq’s political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel U.S. forces from the country…

Didn’t even go over so well with his intended Fox News audience, either…

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    If this trip was actually planned out long in advance, you’d think they would have made arrangements with the Iraqi government. Either it was a last minute thing and the claims about it being well planned are typical Trumpian bullshit, or they’re even less competent than we thought.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Roger Moore: According to the WaPo, they were unable to come to an agreement on where the 2 presidents (Iraq and the US) would meet. The US was insisting on at the airbase. The Iraqis were understandably not willing to accede to that demand.

    After all, they are a sovereign country and desirous of being shown the minimum of respect that a presidential visit to the palace would convey. trump of course could not rise to that level.

    So yeah, last minute.

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    Trump claims that it was the troops’ own MAGA hats that he signed versus him handing out hats to the troops and then signing them. Either way, it’s always about him.

  12. 12.

    Frankensteinbeck

    The message was that this time, there was no immediate plan to withdraw U.S. soldiers from Iraq. “In fact, we could use this as the base if we wanted to do something in Syria,” the U.S. leader added.

    Is it just me, or does this make anyone else wonder how firm the pulling out of Syria plans actually are?

    EDIT – Also, Jesus Christ, I never appreciated what a tub of lard this guy was until I saw him in this jacket. By trying to hide his roundness, it creates a cave where you can see the vast distance between gut and ass.

  13. 13.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Shantanu Saha:Clothes and make-up can only do so much to hide the ugly within. Also, orange skin and weird comb over looks bad no matter what the outfit and he has lost the battle of the bulge. His nemesis (Mueller) would cut a dashing figure in that outfit as would his predecessor.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Roger Moore:

    Either it was a last minute thing and the claims about it being well planned are typical Trumpian bullshit, or they’re even less competent than we thought.

    Obligatory: ¿Por qué no los dos?

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    I have no idea what the US Army calls those green jackets, or where it found one big enough to fit Trump.

  18. 18.

    guachi

    @Immanentize: I think it starts with non-white people not applying to be SEALs in the first place in remotely the numbers demographics would indicate.

    EDIT: It’s possible the swim test has something to do with it. I’m fairly certain it’s not anecdotal that African Americans are overall weaker swimmers than whites are and if you can’t pass the swim you can’t even get past the initial screening.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I wish that were more true that it seems to be. We will soon (2years top) be in the Democrats must fix everything! Phase of politics. Then, people will elect Republicans to mess it all up again.

  20. 20.

    rikyrah

    Peanut watched Little Women for the first time last night. (Winona Ryder as Jo)
    She absolutely loved it and now wants to read the book. I felt happy and sad..I think all girls need to read Little Women…and yet, she’s old enough to really appreciate it. And, it was so interesting, listening to her thoughts about it. She’s growing up…sniff..sniff…I’m just not ready….sigh….

  22. 22.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Last week, Trump announced that these soldiers would be coming home, as the Islamic State was defeated. “Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back, and they’re coming back now. We won,” Trump said in a video message on Twitter. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced his resignation soon afterward.

    But as he visited Iraq on Wednesday, Trump had a very different message — again, a real contrast to Obama’s message nine years before — for the roughly 5,200 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq.

    Among the many, many things he doesn’t understand is that the troops have access to television and the internet. I think elsewhere in his rally speech he said something about Wall and how “you don’t know what’s going on back in the US”.

  25. 25.

    Barry

    @Raven: “I’d defer to Adam but my understanding is most Special Ops and line infantry outfits are white.”

    Since when are line infantry outfits white? In my day (early 80’s), the infantry units which I was in were at least 25% black and 25% Hispanic.

  26. 26.

    JMG

    @rikyrah: When my son’s girlfriend, an NYC ad exec in her early ’30s, visited us in Lexington for Thanksgiving, her only request was a field trip to the Alcott house in Concord. It’s as close to a universal experience for US women as there is, I think, reading that book

  29. 29.

    Aardvark Cheeselog

    I’d be down for helping to crowdfund a lawsuit against Trump, seeking an injunction against further interactions with enlisted men. Let him exercise his CinC authority via chain of command. This is fvcking Ceaser-wannabe-courting-the-Preatorians stuff he’s doing.

  30. 30.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Barry: Here’s a thousand-mile view of military demographics: https://www.cfr.org/article/demographics-us-military

    Here is the large PDF that those numbers are drawn from: https://www.cna.org/pop-rep/2016/summary/summary.pdf

    Page 53 says that “Infantry, Gun Crews, and Seamanship” is (among men) 60% white, by far the highest percentage of white servicemen across service categories. (Women in “communications” show a similar disparity.)

    @Yarrow: And yet, here I am on Balloon-Juice.

  31. 31.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @rikyrah: Have you read Little Men? The chapter about the toy stove, circa 1870s-1890s, is something else.

    Also Eight Cousins. The book has a fascinating chapter in which the doctor uncle explains to his niece and her aunts why the modish dress for women of the era was damaging women’s health and why ‘rational dress’ was so much more healthful.

  32. 32.

    raven

    @Immanentize: It’s complex, African Americans were over-represented in terms of casualties in Vietnam (especially in the early years) and the military is gun shy about that. There is more to it than that but I hope Adam will comment.

  34. 34.

    Dave

    @Barry: I think they are currently somewhat disproportionately white, though I haven’t seen hard data on this so grain of salt, but there are definitely a significant number of Hispanics in line units. Certainly the officer corp is whiter than than the general population and combat arms officer corp is whiter still. And the SEALs are very white and Special ops in general are as well. I could speculate on why this is and if I had to guess it’s probably several different things particularly enlisted vs officer and line vs special operations.

    And then I see Major Major Major Major gave an answer with data and whatnot.

  40. 40.

    Steve in the ATL

    @schrodingers_cat: minorities lack the intelligence and skill to perform complex and risky SEAL functions, much the same reason as why minorities aren’t qualified to play QB in the NFL. At least that’s what I read in National Review.

    Must be why you never see non-white doctors or scientists either.

    [I am being ironic, in case this post is too subtle. I am not being serious here. I do not believe these things to be true, except for the part about National Review writers being super racist. Thank you for your attention to this matter.]

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    iNeither do I. Given how strict it is about not allowing personnel to express partisan sentiments while in uniform, it’s hard to believe the US military would allow them to have or wear items that reflect partisan leanings.

  43. 43.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Roger Moore:

    No matter how low we set the bar, Trump manages to slither under it.

    This is the best one-sentence statement I’ve ever seen regarding the Popular Vote Loser.

  47. 47.

    germy

    In the footage I saw, the troops seemed delighted with trump’s appearance. They cheered him and posed happily with him for photos.

  51. 51.

    Marcopolo

    Hmm… Apparently my comment reposting President Obama’s end of the year list for books, songs, and movies was marked as spam. C’est la vie. Here’s the link to his FB page where you can view the list for yourself. Of course, it is impressive, and yes, of course, I’ve only seen, read, heard, of about a third of the things he cites. Otoh, I have read either a science fiction or fantasy novel just about every week this year and none of those appear on his list so I’ve got that going for me. And I wrote a shit ton of GOTV postcards that post election I am not sure accomplished as much as I had hoped but we must persevere.

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    @Steve in the ATL: We saw John Kelly’s racism up close and personal. Adam mentioned in comments that it calls into question how many of the POC he supervised did not get promotions or recommendations because of his racism. Even if he kept it from being overt it was still there and would likely affect his impressions of how people were doing their jobs, what they were capable of and if they should or should not be promoted.

  54. 54.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Yarrow: I’ve seen plenty of similar data in my years of both writing and defending affirmative action plans. Companies always have lots of excuses as to why the org chart gets more white and make the higher up you go….

  55. 55.

    Marcopolo

    @Steve in the ATL: The list was there for a hot second then gone. And as someone with an 85 year old mom, I can attest that the books I am familiar with on the list are all available in audible form. I hear kids (cough cough) who appreciate nice artwork with their words sometimes revert to listening to books when they are being Ubered or Lyfted around to all the cool modern stuff they do.

  58. 58.

    Yarrow

    @Marcopolo: It’s there for me. I had a quick look and a lot of the books aren’t new this year. I love “Things Fall Apart” and it’s interesting it’s on his list this year.

  60. 60.

    Luthe

    @guachi: Historically, African-Americans were denied access to swimming pools and consequentially fewer of them learned to swim. In a few noted cases, after a black person had swum in a pool, the pool’s owner drained it, bleached the whole thing, and refilled it before anyone was allowed in again. The public swimming pools of New York City are unevenly distributed among neighborhoods because of Robert Moses’ racism, leading to fewer pools in areas of color. While there is no longer explicit bias against African-Americans swimming, the disparities of access and lack of role models for younger blacks have lead to a gap between the number of whites who know how to swim and the number of blacks who know how to swim.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    Because a woman who raised five children and became Speaker of the House obviously doesn’t know how to walk and chew gum at the same time….
    Lips pursed.

    The real reason Trump wants the government shutdown to continue into January: “The more the focus is on the wall, the more Pelosi is forced to focus on this fight instead of the investigations,” said one source close to the White House. https://t.co/tI2mphcQ30

    — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) December 28, 2018

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    @guachi:

    EDIT: It’s possible the swim test has something to do with it. I’m fairly certain it’s not anecdotal that African Americans are overall weaker swimmers than whites are and if you can’t pass the swim you can’t even get past the initial screening.

    It’s a historical thing…goes back to slavery…slaves couldn’t swim….
    Jim Crow…no facilities for Blacks to learn how to swim…
    and park facilities in the North were not evenly distributed…

    Because you’re talking about military, you mean men…but, the whole Black women and their hair issue with swimming (before the natural hair movements)

  64. 64.

    schrodingers_cat

    Wasn’t there a movie starring Demi Moore about her character wanting to become a Navy Seal and the institutional misogyny she has to put up with. I also remember the conservative intelligentsia (oxymoron, I know) had a hissy fit about that movie.

  65. 65.

    Marcopolo

    @Yarrow: So, hmm, I still don’t see the original post (though I can’t believe it is just my computer), but with the books Obama first lists his favorite reads of 2018 then his favorite new books of 2018. I had read a lot of his favorite reads including Things Fall Apart but not the new books. The only ones on my current list are Becoming, the Frederick Douglass bio, and There There. For folks here at BJ I’d also recommend Traister’s Good & Mad, and Unsheltered by Kingsolver.

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: The real reason Trump wants the government shutdown to continue into January: “The more the focus is on the wall, the more Pelosi is forced to focus on this fight instead of the investigations,” said one source close to the White House

    Of course he doesn’t get that there are a couple of hundred House members around Pelosi, and thousands of staffers around them, but can Kellyanne really not explain this to him?

    Also, if Jared or Fredo (or both!) get indicted between now and, say, the SOTU….? BOOM!

  70. 70.

    Marcopolo

    @rikyrah: Remember it is always projection with these people. They cannot walk and chew gum at the same time (and let’s be honest what they call walking is more like stumbling around in the dark bumping into shit) so they assume that is the case for the rest of the world.

    As far as I am concerned (and apologies to all unemployed federal workers and other businesses that rely on them) Trump can keep the shutdown going on as long as he wants. It is a bad look for him beyond his base and actually gives Pelosi a lovely unifying issue with a caucus that is sure to have all kinds of internal divisions from policy fights, across racial & gender lines, and all the way to generational battles. I am sure she is up to the task but we have a very diverse group of Dem lawmakers in the House and it can’t hurt to have the orange blob focusing all of their eyes on the prize.

  71. 71.

    stinger

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Clothes and make-up can only do so much to hide the ugly within.

    Others have said this before, but I’m struck every time I see her that the Third Lady looks so stiff and uncomfortable in her clothes, and they don’t seem to fit her in any part of her body.

    I know you were referencing the Orange One’s clothes and makeup, but it’s really odd to see such a poorly dressed former model.

  72. 72.

    Yarrow

    @Luthe: An African American swimmer was on the US Olympic team either last Olympics or the one before that. He might even have been on the relay team with Michael Phelps–can’t remember for sure. I do remember they did a profile on him and he talked about being a role model for African Americans and he promoted swimming in AA communities as both a good form of exercise but also a health and safety issue since if you don’t know how to swim drowning is a bigger risk.

  74. 74.

    Yarrow

    @stinger: I agree. She almost never looks comfortable in her clothes. And something almost always seems off with them: wrong color, weird belt, strange shape of skirt, shirt or jacket. Once in awhile she’ll wear something that works and it’s so noticeable because she looks good and comfortable. t seems like getting her clothes right would be the one thing she could do.

  77. 77.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @schrodingers_cat:

    May be the Orange One decides what she should wear.

    What she wears is absolutely part of her employment. As a trophy wife to a famous and vain man, her entire public image is consciously crafted based on what he wants other people to see. It is a tradition in situations like that, when you’re displeased with your job conditions, to deliberately fuck up the results.

  80. 80.

    J R in WV

    @Gelfling 545:

    When in reality, all Nancy Smash needs to do is let slip the dogs of war….

    And then sit back and watch the bad guys being arrested, after being indicted by a Grand Jury sitting in majestic secrecy.

  82. 82.

    Ocotillo

    Tim Duncan the great San Antonio Spurs basketball player was actually a competitive swimmer before a hurricane wiped out the swimming facility on St. Croix where he is from. The lack of a place to practice gave him the impetus to take up basketball instead.

    Regarding the troops greeting Trump, not doubt there are MAGAts in the military but I recall my own experience as a young airman (not in combat) when then President Gerald Ford came to the base. I went out and greeted him on the receiving line, got some great photos and then voted for Jimmy Carter in November. It was a case, it’s the president, hell you gotta go see him.

  83. 83.

    debbie

    No way was this planned in advance. He never would have left the golf course. He’s scared about the shutdown, the new Congress, and about 2020 and is trying (ineptly) to make amends: His inappropriate remarks offended the military and his lack of protocol has offended Iraq. Good luck with their cooperation in the future, jackass. Base your ISIS strike-forces on your own territory, you summbitch.

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat: Which jacket? The darker green one in the tweet by Kelly Heath up top? Or the yellowish one she’s wearing in the other pictures?

    I don’t think Donald would have the patience to decide what she wear but I would bet he voices his displease when he doesn’t like it.

  88. 88.

    debbie

    @Raven:

    I started Googling until I came to a statement that there weren’t any AA Seals because they can’t swim. I thought it best to terminate immediately. //

  89. 89.

    SenyorDave

    Just came from the gym. We have access to three large gyms in the town (the facilities are run by the town association), and the closest one was remodeled and closed for seven months. The individual TVs still aren’t connected, so I was actually listening to Fox News on the large screen TV for a ten minutes or so. This is probably the longest stretch in years.
    There is a place in hell reserved for most of the Fox News people. They had on Thomas Homan, former acting director of ICE. He was almost gloating about the two children in custody who died. It is people like him who make me pray there is an afterlife, because he’ll be a slam dunk for St. Peter.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    “Stop Making Sense” reference FTW.

    Couldn’t they at least have lost him over there? Was that too hard for them?

  91. 91.

    trnc

    @rikyrah: Doesn’t matter either way. It’s a breach of protocol at the very least, and likely illegal. It wouldn’t be a problem if he had made sure it was not recorded, but of course he wanted it recorded so he’ll be able to use it in a campaign.

    The unit commander should be making a stink about it, too, regardless of whether he is a fan of Individual 1.

  92. 92.

    Steve in the ATL

    @schrodingers_cat: the novel was fiction, so fashion tips contained therein may not be reliable. Lots of people look good in green, and I’ll bet you can pull off most colors.

  93. 93.

    stinger

    @Marcopolo: The Duchess of Cambridge is the perfect contrast to Melania. Kate looks stylish and at home in her clothes. The two examples of green, Kate in your link and a seemingly pudgy and rumpled Melania in the tweet up top, really show the difference.

  94. 94.

    Marcopolo

    Trump Administration Suggests Furloughed Workers Do Chores for Landlords to Help Pay Rent

    The U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Thursday tweeted advice to furloughed federal workers on how to explain their precarious financial situation to creditors and landlords—including one sample letter with the suggestion that they offer to perform chores in exchange for rent payments. “I will keep in touch with you to keep you informed about my income status and I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments,” one sample letter to a landlord read. The agency also urged workers to “please consult with your personal attorney” for any required legal advice amid the partial government shutdown, during which nearly 800,000 workers have either been furloughed or asked to work without pay. On Thursday night, prospects looked even grimmer as the House and Senate both adjourned for the weekend, guaranteeing the shutdown will continue until at least next week

    Also too, who doesn’t just happen to have a personal attorney they can call at the drop of a hat or perhaps a legal firm on retainer to do this kind of thing?

    Okay, I have been postponing researching who I want to be my new primary care physician in 2019 (new insurance for next year via the ACA). Now I really need to get to it.

    Have a lovely morning everyone.

  95. 95.

    Marcopolo

    @stinger: Class meet déclassé. Mind you there is no way in hell I would look good in green–or probably just about any other color as well. But that is just me and I am okay with it.

  98. 98.

    JR

    I don’t particularly care for the “won’t visit military zones” line of attack.

    1) I don’t see a tangible benefit of having the executive visit war zones
    2) Its an easy bar to clear and now that Trump has cleared it, nothing has changed
    3) The criticism is pointless theater. Message discipline is important.

  101. 101.

    Ken

    @Marcopolo:

    the shutdown will continue until at least next week

    I know the next Congress starts January 3, but is there a fixed end date for this one? Could they meet on Monday, or even in 2019? Also, has it ever happened before, or would this let us say “lamest lame duck Congress ever”?

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    on MAGAt hats. This hadn’t occurred to me

    Joyce Alene @ JoyceWhiteVance
    So, they brought these items from home when they deployed & just happened to have them handy when Trump surprised them with his secret visit?

    Divya @ DivyaR12
    Yep and they all still had the cardboard inserts in them according to another pic

    puts a new perspective on the woman, an officer according to another tweeter, who was holding a trump campaign flag.

    Jennifer Epstein @ jeneps
    Trump flag (she dropped it after she saw me taking a photo)

    They passed campaign schwag out to active duty military personnel in a combat zone

  106. 106.

    randy khan

    @rikyrah:

    The real reason Trump wants the government shutdown to continue into January: “The more the focus is on the wall, the more Pelosi is forced to focus on this fight instead of the investigations,” said one source close to the White House. https://t.co/tI2mphcQ30
    — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) December 28, 2018

    More proof they’re idiots. The hounds already have been loosed; Pelosi doesn’t need to do much at all to make the investigations go forward.

  107. 107.

    Mike in NC

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Violation of Hatch Act. But hell, Fat Bastard made an appearance at a Boy Scout event into a campaign rally. It’s what he does.

    PS: photos of the moron in chief in that green flight jacket seem to indicate he is closing in on 400 pounds.

  108. 108.

    trollhattan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Who, deployed in a hostile desert environment, would keep a bright red hat handy to wear in those moments they wish to be really, really conspicuous? Does it say “MAGA, Aim Here”?

    Just curious.

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    A Black man was on the job as a door-to-door salesman for home security systems.

    When he rang the door of a policeman – the off-duty cop aimed a gun at his head before he could even make a pitch.
    https://t.co/ceEqO3r2pC

    — theGrio.com (@theGrio) December 28, 2018

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mike in NC:
    The only other movie of hers I have seen is Striptease. She and her daughter Rumer were apparently the only cast members who weren’t told it was a comedy.

  112. 112.

    The Moar You Know

    The U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Thursday tweeted advice to furloughed federal workers on how to explain their precarious financial situation to creditors and landlords—including one sample letter with the suggestion that they offer to perform chores in exchange for rent payments. “I will keep in touch with you to keep you informed about my income status and I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments,” one sample letter to a landlord read.

    @Marcopolo: That is literally insane. I wonder which rocket scientist at OPM “we gave up all the information on people with clearances to every terrorist in the world” thought this horseshit up. It wasn’t Trump. He knows better.

    My first job out of college, and possibly the worst I have ever had (but quite educational) was working for a property management agency. No agency would accept such an arrangement and any sane private landlord wouldn’t either. Agree to that bullshit and you’ve agreed to it forever as a revision to the lease, at least here in California.

    The only response I’d give – could ever have given – to such a missive would be a couriered thirty day “pay or quit” notice and a call to the marshals to get ready to enforce an eviction.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    This shouldn’t get lost in the avalanche of crazy. The wall we need is between DOJ and the White House. The foundation of our democracy- the rule of law- depends on it.

    — Sally Yates (@SallyYates01) December 26, 2018

  121. 121.

    guachi

    Where I’m stationed, almost every Sailor here is a CT (cryptologist) and it’s more white and female than the Navy as a whole. However, all of our dozen Yeoman but one is black. For whatever reason, there is heavy racial and gender skew in the various jobs in the Navy than an overview doesn’t catch.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: I was unpleasantly surprised to hear Jason Johnson, whom I usually like a lot, writing off Kamala Harris yesterday on MSNBC because of her record in CA. I think she’s fantastic, but my charisma-meter is way out of tune with the rest of the electorate, and the Wilmerites might as well be speaking Klingon for all I understand them.

  123. 123.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Marcopolo: Hahahaha!! So OPM thinks renters can just bargain with their landlords for an indefinite time period? What about those of us with mortgages? What about our other bills?

    Such nonsense. How about Trump reopen the government and stop playing games with people’s earnings?

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    I sense parallels between Harris and Gillibrand, who I’ve heard dismissed as “another typical Albany politician.” Harris is “another typical Sacramento politician” and not viewed locally with the same lens as she may be nationally. It’s difficult, if not impossible to sit in Sacramento and gain perspective of her chances nationally. Her best time in the public eye was probably the Kavanaugh hearings.

    She has a record both from her DA days and her AG days. Those will be dragged into view and surely not everything will be wonderful, as these things always go. I’m unaware of anything fatal.

  130. 130.

    Spanky

    OT, as I often am, but I just ran across this:

    Congratulations to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (ISEF 2007) on winning her election to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District! In 2007, Alexandria placed second in the International Science and Engineering Fair in the Microbiology category with her project on the effect of antioxidants on roundworms.

    As a science student at Yorktown High School, Alexandria tested the effect of various antioxidants on the lifespan of roundworms, known as Caenorhabditis elegans.

    When organisms are under oxidative stress, there are more free radicals (chemicals with unpaired electrons) than antioxidants in the body to neutralize them. Those free radicals react quickly with many other chemicals, and without antioxidants to neutralize them, create cellular chaos. Such an unstable cellular environment has been hypothesized to be responsible for wrinkles, neurological diseases and even cancer.

    Alexandria chose compounds with the highest cited number of antioxidant capabilities and observed how they impacted longevity of the roundworms. In some cases, lifespan was prolonged for as many as 33 days, almost doubling the nematode’s normal lifespan. Her findings indicated that antioxidants could potentially help prevent degenerative illnesses induced by oxidative stress.

    The pics are a hoot – although typical of science fairs, IME.

  137. 137.

    p.a.

    From TPM

    In Major Move, Census Bureau Offers Up Citizenship Data For Redistricting

    A step to create pro-conservative, in effect, ‘rotten boroughs’ by lowering urban populations for representation purposes.

  139. 139.

    Cleardale

    From what I saw when I was in the army, whites might be slightly over represented in enlisted infantry, but not outrageously. Infantry officers on the other hand…I remember one that wasn’t white. I can’t speak to the SEALS, but in the army if you wanted to go to selection for special forces you would have needed help and permission from senior NCOs and officers. I don’t know if it’s actually required, but you would never get a chance if they didn’t clear a path for you. That could clearly affect who gets to even try out.

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dnfree: I like Biden, but beyond his age– a question I’m always ambivalent about– somebody a generation younger needs to sit him down and explain to him that what popularity he has mostly comes from the “Uncle Joe”/Obama’s sidekick image that was thrust upon him, and that pre-Obama Biden– from Anita Hill to Iraq– is gonna have a much harder time with the post-Obama Democratic Party

    Apparently he’s leaking now that he’s hurt or offended that Obama is reaching out to younger people– l’d bet fifty quatloos that MoDo’s sunday column will be about “Barry” being forgetting his old friend. That shit has to stop.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    @Chyron HR:

    Hell no. That asshole quite literally burned down human civilization so that it could be “his turn” in 2020. Run, you wrinkled old racist fuck

    Lay waste to him.

  144. 144.

    Tenar Arha

    @Shantanu Saha: In the earliest videos I saw, he looked even more ridiculous bc he showed up in his usual suit. That’s why he’s still got the dumb red tie, & the wrong collared shirt for that jacket.

  145. 145.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chyron HR: @rikyrah: What I said in the summer of ’16 remains true today: Somebody on Team Clinton would do the world a service by “forgetting” that oppo file in a Starbucks where s/he just happened to be sitting next to a WaPo reporter.

  146. 146.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Biden ran for President before he was VP and never got very far. I expect that would happen again.

    I do think someone with government experience will be attractive to voters because we currently have someone without any government experience and it’s an utter shit show. Not quite sure which candidate will thread that needle of being new and fresh but also having enough experience that they don’t seem like a newbie.

  147. 147.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They could “forget” get all over the place. Coffee shops next to reporters. Waiting for an order at Five Guys next to another candidate’s staffer. Hell, just hand it to Kirsten Gillibrand. She’ll stick the shiv in, no problem.

  155. 155.

    Captain C

    @Patricia Kayden: I suspect that a good chunk of his support was from the “Not Hillary” crowd, and that he’s alienated some of the rest with his all-talk-no-action routine since (and really since way before) the election.

  156. 156.

    Captain C

    @rikyrah: They won’t use kid gloves on him this time, and he has enough skeletons and problems to make it impossible for him to win anything national. Just the fact that Mr. I’m-The-Only-Honest-and-Transparent-One still won’t release his taxes should be enough.

  158. 158.

    Brachiator

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I have a feeling that Bernie’s support has cratered since 2016. He really should consider sitting 2020 out.

    His support may be down, but the remnants of his supporters love Bernie to the point of mania. As a couple of other people have noted, the Berniacs are mounting intense attacks against potential rivals. For example see this article in NY Magazine, Why the Bernie Movement Must Crush Beto O’Rourke

    The first skirmish of the 2020 Democratic primary, a wave of attacks on Beto O’Rourke by supporters of Bernie Sanders, took almost everybody by surprise. On the outside, it looks like one of those inscrutable, personality-driven online spats that characterize the Twitter era. But the feud is neither petty nor personal nor irrational. It’s the first shot in a war that may well continue for the next year and a half….

    The Sanders partisans who are attacking O’Rourke — like Zaid Jilani, David Sirota, Branko Marcetic, Elizabeth Bruenig — are not representative of Sanders voters as a whole. This distinction is the key to deciphering the whole episode. Sanders attracts the intense support of a small left-wing intellectual vanguard who see American politics in fundamentally different terms than most Democrats do. The primary struggle in American politics as they see it is not between liberalism and conservatism, but between socialism and capitalism.

    I also see this fight taking place on YouTube and elsewhere, where programs like The Young Turks are attacking Beto because he is insufficiently pure, and of course, has corporate contributors, etc.

    These people also have to attack Obama, because he failed to become their Progressive Messiah. This is a tiresome bunch of dopes, but they cannot be reasoned with.

  159. 159.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    The military has some pretty strict rules about being in uniform and that even any political talk while in uniform is out of the question. Believe it was on BJ yesterday that questions are being asked from higher up was linked. This is why people didn’t know about Kelly. If all your interaction was with him in uniform, most likely you’d never known his true nature.

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @guachi:
    No real difference from 50 ys ago.
    If you want to know why blacks were a large segment of the early Vietnam war, a lot of them were draftees. And local draft boards could be rather racist in their choosing. Also the army was a job with a paycheck. Life is seldom fair, and even less so in this country if your skin isn’t lilly white.

  164. 164.

    HuCat

    Contrary to CNN’s suggestion that this visit must have been planned far in advance, furious Iraqui leaders, and I beg to differ. That ain’t how the persimmon rolls!

  165. 165.

    Mike G

    security measures were in place as he entered a war zone

    And yet he flew in a VC-25, the 747 with the presidential seal that screams “Air Force One”. It was reported by planespotters over Europe hours before he landed in Iraq. Bush and Obama flew in military cargo jets to keep a low profile, but I suspect that wasn’t ostentatious enough for Mr. Gold Toilet.

    https://www.indy100.com/article/donald-trump-iraq-visit-air-force-one-twitter-aircraft-trackers-8700366

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    @rikyrah: I just re-watched this a little while ago, first time since seeing it in the theater when it first came out (back in Chicago!) to see if it still held up. It did.

    I hate it that I can’t enforce my grudge boycott of any movie Susan Sarandon is in, because she’s made some damn good ones. And she was great as Marmee, props given where props due.

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