Long day at the vet hospital- they were super backed up and the trip took all day. Which is ok, because I don’t mind waiting because I know they are doing their best to save someone else’s dog and would do the same for me were it an emergency, but that doesn’t make the day any less long. Lily is fine.
I see Trump is up to his usual bullshit.
PaulWartenberg
trump thinks he’s showing who’s boss by canceling the Congressional trip. All it does is show how petty he is.
Part of me wonders if he’s trying to push the Shutdown to the point of forcing unpaid workers to quit their jobs en masse or go on strike, so he can claim that National Emergency he craves and go hog wild with executive power.
Damien
This blog makes me want to adopt a dog
James E Powell
@Damien:
Although I don’ think it’s the official purpose of this blog, I do think it is a broadly supported idea.
gwangung
@PaulWartenberg: If there’s nobody in the HR office, how could you quite anyway?
The Dangerman
@PaulWartenberg:
The man doesn’t have the cajones.
We have Nadler. They have Nadless.
NotMax
Howling winds today. Definite chill in the air. Expecting thunderstorms overnight and into tomorrow.
HeleninEire
@Damien: Me too. I have had this conversation with everyone here. I am not a pet person. But these people here make me fall in love with their pets.
Today I signed a lease for a new apt. The building accepts pets. In the words of the best dog ever “Rut Roh”
Keith P.
I hope when Trump finally strokes out, it’s on TV and a huge faceplant like that baseball ref from several years back.
NotMax
@HeleninEire
Astro (né Tralfaz) or Scooby?
:)
Gonna be dropping the inEire now?
jl
Not Trump’s usual bullshit. With the shutdown and this reckless act, Trump and the country is moving into lawless dangerous territory. Josh Marshall was the first person I noticed discussing the growing constitutional and legal problems with the shutdown. And coincidentally or not, I was thinking the same after puzzling my head from news reports of the arbitrary nature of what was shutdown or not, who forced to work without pay or not. See Marshall’s twitter feed from yesterday and today.
It is time to publicly discuss the very serious implications of what Trump and the executive branch are doing during the shutdown. Time to discuss impeachment and 25th Amendment every day. Time to start public discussions to get media to focus on McConnell’s dangerous malfeasance and treachery, rather than making up lies to cover for him.
I’d like to see a post on it from someone who knows this stuff, Adam, or Cheryl. Or some knowledgeable person from the BJ legal flying wedge can chip in.
HeleninEire
@NotMax: Scooby
Gonna go with HelenbackinQueens
NotMax
@HeleninEire
Character name now stored away for a novel which will never be written except inside the head: Helen Queensback.
;)
HeleninEire
@NotMax: OMG I like it.
Litlebritdifrnt
Trump is a twat, he put the congressional delegation in danger, the troops in danger, and the reporters in danger because of his butthurt. Fuck him.
piratedan
@HeleninEire: damn, and I was hoping for a Wings tribute with HelenWheels….
piratedan
@Litlebritdifrnt: he has no problem throwing anyone and everyone under the bus as long as it isn’t him. I want to see his ass cuffed with his arms behind his back while he is treated like the criminal he is….
jl
@Litlebritdifrnt: Let’s see if this wakes the media up. If not, the situation will be worse than The Hunger Games. There, the effete media vicious fools blithely conducted theater criticism on crimes against humanity that were inflicted on the lesser people and could never touch them. In our current reality, it is becoming as if they continue this hilarious and disgusting behavior when members of their own class are targeted. Let us see.
BTW, I am interested to hear from BJ legal eagles on whether and when furloughed employees have power to bring, directly or indirectly, actions for civil damages and/or criminal charges against our lawless executive for arbitrary and lawless actions during the shutdown.
Kristine
Two friends lost dear pets this week. I’m glad to read good news about Lily.
rikyrah
Glad to know that Lily and the rest of the menagerie are ok.
WaterGirl
Click this link for two great images in response to the crybaby cancelling the delegation trip overseas.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/trump-cancels-pelosis-trip-war-zone-sheer-pique
NotMax
Ooh, just discovered that Cadfael is on Amazon Prime. Rarely re-watch TV series but Derek Jacobi’s acting is worth a second look, methinks.
Yarrow
Yay for Lily! What’s her new bow look like?
@Litlebritdifrnt:
When he puts them or their colleagues in danger, that’s when they start paying attention. We’ll see if they do anything different this time.
The Moar You Know
@Damien: I got my first dog at age 50 after having cats all my life. I did it and I love the guy – I can’t emphasize that enough – like nothing else in my life, but it is a LOT of work and far more time and attention than I thought. I recommend very highly that anyone thinking about doing this read the books put out by the monks of New Skete. They will give you an inkling of how to be a good dog owner.
Mandalay
@PaulWartenberg:
I am sure you are right, but I still find myself on Trump’s side on this:
I don’t remotely blame Pelosi for the shutdown, and I’d be furious with her if she caved in to Trump, but she shouldn’t be immune from the consequences of it. If the shutdown really is the big deal that Democratic leaders portray (and I think it is), then an overseas trip by Democrats “to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication” should wait.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@NotMax: @HeleninEire: I do too!
And I don’t like anything today.
john b
@Mandalay:
You left out part of that sentence. Here I’ll finish it for you:
“The purpose of the trip was to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication, & to obtain critical national security & intelligence briefings from those on the front lines.’
schrodingers_cat
Halp I is being moderated
catclub
@Mandalay: No, the difference is that the DOD is funded and she was going by DOD plane.
Do you shut down everything the DOD does because some other part of the government is not funded?
schrodingers_cat
I think I fixed my problem!
catclub
@schrodingers_cat: You took a tomcat to the vet?
MomSense
Iâm so happy Lily is doing well. She is such a sweetheart.
Tomorrow is going to be crazy for me at work. We are supposed to get a big snow storm this weekend so weâve changed our clinic schedules in anticipation of problems driving. It means cramming one of our busiest days next week with our busiest day this week – plus all the panicked calls.
catclub
Was I mistaken that Carol Channing was out of the public eye for about the last 20 years due to dementia?
I noticed that the last interview I heard quoted from was 1995.
schrodingers_cat
@catclub: Nah figured out why I was getting moderated. I had typed my email address wrong.
Aleta
@jl: Speaking of the media, here’s a convenient aspect (for the Rethuglicans) of the shutdown and whatever is happening under its cover :
(The quote is from the story about a mentally ill vet with PTSD from Afghanistan, arrested in Detroit for pulling a fire alarm in a hospital. US-born, but ICE contacted police to say they were picking him up. He spent three days in a detention center before the ACLU helped to get him released. Because he’s a fckin US citizen. He’s in bad shape right now. )
Yarrow
@catclub: According to this article:
So, no, not out of the public eye for 20 years.
Elizabelle
@catclub: I don’t think so WRT Channing. Saw some photos of her within the last 5-10 years, and she looked quite with it.
Betty White is about to be 97 or 98 …
Prince Philip is soon to be 98, and just had a traffic accident today (he was driving a Range Rover, which ended up on its side), but we are told he was not injured.
Mary G
Yashar Ali just tweeted that Melania Trump is in a government plane en route to MaraLargo and some guy who’s listening to air traffic control down there says they’re having to do some serious vectoring to fit her plane in line.
Mandalay
@john b:
…says the Deputy Chief of Staff for Nancy Pelosi! A personal trip is not required for that.
Either the government shutdown is a big fucking deal, or it isn’t. And if it is Pelosi should be staying in Washington until it is resolved. And even if you don’t agree with that, Democratic leaders going on an overseas trip during the shutdown will present horrible optics. I’m surprised that the Democrats didn’t cancel this trip themselves.
Adam L Silverman
We have a runner!
Obligatory:
jl
@catclub: @Mary G:
This shutdown is evolving into unconstitutional lawlessness and unchecked arbitrary authoritarian power. It needs to be discussed. The media and too much of the commentary on it is on a ‘Mean Girls’ level, which my students assure me is an eternal classic, like Citizen Kane and Grand Illusion…. but still…
There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about the manner in which Trump delivers his message to Congress. and Pelosi made a suggestion, not a demand. Trump recklessly and vindictively and lawlessly interfered with constitutionally mandated duties of Congress this morning. And, more lawless arbitrary executive action today in conduct of the shutdown.
raven
@The Moar You Know: Their tapes are good too. Lil Bit is struggling to walk and has been for a while. I am pretty much having to drag her but I think it’s important to keep her going. Yesterday week took our noon jaunt down the street to White Tiger and some woman decided I was abusing her and stuck her nose in my business. I was as cool as I could be and just said “lay my life is devoted to these dogs, I don’t need you help telling me what to do”!
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman: Well that’s just perfect.
Ohio Mom
I shared this the other day: several times a day, I have to talk myself off the ledge re: We are sliding into some sort of failed state, that we are experiencing a shock doctrine disaster capitalism dismantling of the government as we know it, that the House being in Democratic hands may not be enough counterweight.
I took great comfort earlier in noting that the trash was picked up as always, Thursday mid-morning.
Van Buren
“I see Trump is up to his usual bullshit.” ranks right up there with “This, too, shall pass.” as statements that will always be true.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: They won’t because the GOP Congressional Delegation (CODEL) led two weeks ago by that ignoramus Lee Zeldin wasn’t an issue. Nor was the President’s own trip to Iraq during the shutdown, nor Melania’s flying to Mar a Lago as I type this, nor Mnuchin’s delegation to Davos next week.
piratedan
@Mandalay: it was a CODEL trip, layover in Brussels to switch out pilots and meet with NATO members, done on the QT to prevent bad guys with a target of opportunity, this was not a publicity stunt, it was a trip including both GOP and Dem members of Congress.
raven
@john b: What a crock of bullshit. Those trips don’t do shit.
jl
@Mandalay: The shutdown is becoming a big fucking deal. Period. I disagree with some of what you say, but I sense a lot of agreement between us on underlying issues. I sense a deal in the making between us.
I do agree Democrats should be making a bigger deal about the shutdown. I agree with Marshall that it is a very slow motion constitutional crisis.
Bottom line for me is that what Pelosi did was wrt message to Congress was perfectly acceptable. What Trump did today definitely is not.
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
“In Trump America, dog train you.”
They can be loads of fun, loads of work and deliver loads of love. If you acquire one who has the “let’s play” gene, then play you shall. This is non-negotiable.
Adam L Silverman
@Mandalay: 1) She wasn’t going to Egypt on this trip. 2) Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin led a GOP CODEL about ten days or so ago also during the shutdown. 3) Melania is currently on AF1 en route to Mar a Lago. 4) Secretary Mnuchin is leading an executive branch delegation to Davos next week.
Mandalay
@catclub:
Well there’s more to it than that according to someone with experience in this stuff:
Trump did the Democrats a favor by sabotaging their trip. The media would have been creaming their pants:
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: You deserved it.//
jl
@raven: A lot of individual things the government does don’t do shit. A lot of individual income tax returns and refunds don’t do shit. But we have laws about how things are done. Trump and his flunkies are acting in a dangerously lawless way.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: That kidney procedure really took up a lot of space.
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom:
Well, aren’t you lucky. In my neck of the woods trash and recycling are not getting picked up on schedule at all.
raven
@jl: What was your first clue?
Mandalay
@Adam L Silverman: I think you are defending the indefensible, and citing what Republicans are doing is irrelevant.
The trip was not essential, and would have been a massive PR disaster. The media would have savaged them.
Misterforkbeard
@NotMax: “Queensback” sounds a lot like a british Nickelback cover band.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Sorry, I meant the press. The press being in danger is the only thing that gets them to pay attention.
Elizabelle
I would love to see those Fyre Festival documentaries. It was enough fun to laugh at it all at the time. And now: not just one but two documentaries.
In the spirit, here’s a Youtube of their promotional video, about 2 minutes, with all those models and “social influencers.” I think it’s the only part of that debacle that came off as planned.
Got to say, I love the footage shot above the downed vintage airplane in the water. Who knew that that was a warning, embedded in the promo? Not everything works out as planned on these islands.
jl
@raven: The hamberders.
Ohio Mom
@Mandalay: Iâm guessing that the idea was a mix of 1) Congress is a co-equal branch and 2) the wisest thing to do with a toddler in melt down is often (after checking that he is safe) to completely ignore them. Go on with calmly making dinner, setting the table, etc.
Because as always, there is important work that!needs doing, and Pelosi is going ahead and doing it. She is showing that there is continuity, that Trump is not the boss of her (or the rest of the co-equal branch).
Will Fox News misrepresent this? Of course. What can the Democratic leadership do that they donât?
Adam L Silverman
@Mandalay: The President has just announced an unplanned for withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan. Last week it was reported that the President keeps telling his senior staff and advisors he wants to unilaterally pull out of NATO. The GOP majority in the Senate will not do anything about either. Having the Democratic Speaker of the House go and reassure NATO partners and hear from them, as well as having two or her top, relevant chairs – Schiff at Intel and Engel at Foreign Affairs – meet with NATO counterparts and collect information and then go on and do the same thing with the US theater commanding general in Afghanistan, his senior staff, and our NATO partner’s commanding generals and their staffs in Afghanistan has real value. Moreover, none of the Department of State personnel deployed forward in Afghanistan are furloughed. Every one of those foreign service officers and contractors are listed, on their deployment orders and letters of authorization, as emergency essential personnel.
Mary G
Mike Dense and the son-in-law are at the Turtle’s office on the hill.
Adam L Silverman
@Misterforkbeard: Sounds like the unholy spawn of Queensryche and Nickelback. The horror…
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: After you and some other folks invoked me in the Tulsi Gabbard thread. I offered to do a Q and A on Hinduism, Indian politics and caste etc. There seemed to be a fair amount of interest. Let me find the thread and will send you an email.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: They’re in danger at every one of his rallies. Hasn’t seemed to make a dent so far.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??
@PaulWartenberg:
I read that it was a bipartisan trip too. Has there been any reaction by the GOP members of the congressional delegation on this?
Mai Naem mobile
I really think the way to go is to have the airports effectively shut down because of workers calling out sick. TSA, air traffic controllers, whatever federal workers at airports. Let Sheldon Adelson see how he likes it when his customers can’t come because McCarran is closed. Other federal transportation and port workers would help too. Let the Kochs and the Waltons figure out how to get goods to market. I am waiting to see what happens when food stamps get cut. There was a piece I read a year or two ago of how much food stamp money goes through rural area grocery markets. It helps keep a small town going. Presumably a small red town.
Ohio Mom
@Yarrow: Why not? Snow? I donât remember where you live. Weâre inbetween snow storms here.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: If I just say your name three times in a bathroom mirror will you appear and go on a murder spree in my zip code? We can live stream it.
poleaxedbyboatwork
@jl:
You’ve been (correctly) banging this drum for awhile and am agreed.
Problem as I see it ain’t one of lacking reasons to impeach the motherfucker — for they are legion, even w/o the Mueller report, and shutting down government, rightly seen, is clearly an impeachable act by a criminal president and just yet another justification to add to the impeachment bill of particulars.
Problem ain’t reasons to proceed, it’s agreeing upon and summoning the will — the courage, really — to actually do something about it. So many would rather limp along and vaingloriously hope for the best rather than take that next (to them) unimaginable step to redress an untenable crisis. It’s like refusing to see a doctor when you suspect yer sick cuz — oh, fuck, really! — you’re worried you might find out it’s so. Gravely so. So you ignore it and hope for the best.
Imagine the captain of a vessel at sea who is rage-drunk, self-justifyingly paranoid and adamantly refuses to accept reality. The entire crew of the vessel is at the mercy of a reactionary delusional belligerent who refuses to yield his considerable unworthy will till he goddamn well figures out who stole his
strawberrieswall and returns him his precious.Trump’s juvenile stupidity and petulence and lawlessness are a given. It’s on us as a country to do something about it, and, present company excepted, the mushy middle ain’t there yet.
It’s fucking frustrating, but all’s we can do is keep banging that drum.
addendum: The right ain’t never gonna be onboard, course, but saw a snippet by Atrios today that I thought really caught the zeitgeist of the spiteful wingers’ lament.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??: Nope, Congressman McCarthy came out and licked the President’s boots on behalf of his caucus.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I am a non violent kitteh. The only weapons I wield are words.
The Midnight Lurker
@Adam L Silverman: I was an extra in that movie.
Adam L Silverman
@The Midnight Lurker: The Flight of Melania? Or Logan’s Run? Please be more specific in the future.
Raven
@Adam L Silverman: and there is no other way to do that?
Elizabelle
Did you all notice that Trump capitalized Shutdown in his letter? I found that kind of interesting.
Branding.
The Midnight Lurker
@Mary G:
Collaborators collaborating.
Ohio Mom
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??: Hey Goku, just want to send my regards. I hope you finished reading the thread where you first confessed your fender bender.
So many people told similar stories â you can take comfort in knowing yours is a near universal experience. Glad to hear your mom took the news well.
Adam L Silverman
Oh goody!
The Midnight Lurker
@Adam L Silverman: Is “Flight of Melania” a movie or a double entendre?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??
@Adam L Silverman:
McCarthy is such a fitting name. Joseph McCarthy was a sort-of bootlicker too when it suited his interests, wasn’t he?
I have to imagine the people that were involved in the planning and coordinating of this trip are pissed at Trump.
I really don’t understand why McCarthy’s sucking up to Trump. His poll numbers are crashing because of the shutdown, even among his supporters. This isn’t a fight Trump is going to win. Didn’t a hundred Rs break ranks and vote with the D majority to reimpose sanctions on Deripaska’s companies? It’s true that it wasn’t going to do anything because the Senate was going to block it, but that doesn’t say much for either Trump’s support or McCarthy’s leadership.
Ohio Mom
@Adam L Silverman: I donât the 1980s Farm crisis, can you fill me in?
Mandalay
@Ohio Mom:
It is, but nobody should kid themselves that it is co-equal with the president when it comes to foreign policy on a day to day basis.
Accepted, but regardless of that, it is horrible optics to be overseas – and therefore unavailable for negotiation with the president – during a shutdown. It sends a very mixed message to the average voter.
Schumer and Pelosi went running to the media after Trump refused to negotiate and left the room the other day. So how would it look if Trump now says he can’t negotiate on the shutdown because Pelosi is on an overseas junket? It doesn’t require FoxNews to make the Democrats look bad in that situation.
Adam L Silverman
@Raven: There are always other ways to do things. But there’s only so much one can get from secure video teleconferences. Right now both our theater command group and our NATO allies feel like they’re out on the wrong side of a branch that the President is sawing off, doing this in person is important.
Mary G
@The Midnight Lurker: Interesting location. Seems McConnell is making it clear who has the power. Is it wrong of me to wish that AOC busts in, dancing?
Jay
@Mandalay:
I thought that Democratâs wernât supposed to cave on their agenda and policies based on ReThug and their Media enablers framing of the âopticsâ ,
And yet, now you are saying that Democrats shouldnât do anything the ReThugs and their Media enablers can try to âspinâ as bad.
Funny that.
Raven
Whatâs with this âcall outâ sick. I never heard of anything but call in sick and suddenly itâs the other?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??
@Ohio Mom:
From wiki article “Farm crisis”:
The Midnight Lurker
@Mary G:
Not if she’s carrying three pairs of handcuffs.
Burnspbesq
@NotMax:
There are parts of Queens that are effectively the westernmost suburbs of Dublin.
Adam L Silverman
@The Midnight Lurker: Double D’entendre would be her kidney procedure.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??: I highly recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-So-Immense-World-McCarthy/dp/019515424X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547766962&sr=8-1&keywords=a+scandal+so+immense
Elizabelle
@Mandalay:
Trump has made it clear he is great if this Shutdown lasts weeks or months. He has come up with no negotiating points.
I can see the low information crowd** assailing Pelosi for being away and unable to negotiate. But (1) does that mean she’s grounded until Trump’s hand gets forced in some way and (2) it’s not like Pelosi does not have other House leadership who could sit in on negotiations.
[** and there are too many low info people; I do get that.]
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom:
https://www.farmaid.org/blog/lessons-1980s-farm-crisis/
http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/artifact/causes-1980s-farm-crisis
https://grist.org/food/what-one-farmer-learned-from-surviving-the-80s-farm-crisis/
Raven
@Burnspbesq: and Irish Channel, New Orleans!
Steeplejack
@HeleninEire:
Is your new place in your beloved Forest Hills?
Ruckus
@piratedan:
I think I’d prefer him in one of those tight fitting jackets with the wrap around sleeves that fasten in the back. Seems fitting
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??
@Ohio Mom:
I didn’t read all of that thread, but I saw a bunch of those stories and I appreciated them a lot. Thanks for your kind words and support! The damage is pretty negligible on my car and I haven’t gotten a call from that other driver so far. I’ll have to have to wait and see.
I’ve been involved in fender benders before but I was never at fault.
rikyrah
Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) Tweeted:
For some reason, after speaking secretly with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump tried to sell the Russian government’s false version of Russian intrusion in the U.S. election to an American reporter. ..as the sitting president of the United States.
https://t.co/FEyfvRMUUK https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1085725625770373120?s=17
Radiumgirl
@john b: Thank you. That’s not a minor omission. It wasn’t a damn photo op, no matter what Trump or his media enablers say.
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: Just because you are such a deep thinker why is it okay for military planes to fly to Davos and Mar-a-Lago, but not Afghanistan?
whoops Davos canceled.. Not Melania though
SiubhanDuinne
Just saw that the US delegation to Davos is cancelled.
Quinerly
Breaking…. A delegation of Trump administration officials will no longer travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced Thursday.
Axios reporting
Jay
@JPL:
Davo was cancelled because Trump stepped on his own dick with his dick move.
Mandalay
@Jay:
In my post that you linked to I stated this:
I can’t make it any fucking clearer than that. That’s what I believe, yet somehow you made it into something else.
Funny that.
Ohio Mom
Thanks for the Farm crisis links. Iâd forgotten all about the grain embargo. It all came back.
Itâs such a weird sensation to be reminded of something you totally forgot you ever knew, and all of a sudden, itâs like you never forgot it. Itâs completely different than when you know you forgot something and you are racking your brains.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??
@jl:
I agree. This is actually becoming really scary. This is different than previous shutdowns primarily because of who was in charge during them. Sure there was a shutdown under Trump last year, but that was under unified GOP control. Trump ultimately got what he wanted in that moment, IIRC. He won’t this time if the Dems remain strong.
I think it’s rich that the GOP called Obama a dictator and claimed that he acted “lawlessly” in his EOs. As always, they’re about winning at any cost and only care about attaining power. They’re more than content to surrender their constitutional powers if it means their very own strongman enacts their agenda.
poleaxedbyboatwork
@Mandalay: @Jay:
Agree with Jay in the sense that Dems playing the press game exclusively according to the straight-jacket of optics is self-defeating. If you assume that Republicans will misrepresent everything to their advantage and that the press will air the Republican grievance no matter how misleading, Irrespective of what you do, you will never be far from the mark.
If yer gonna get criticized in the press anyway, you may as well take the opportunity to transcend the narrow frame.
Let’s say the trip wasn’t canceled, the bipartisan delegation goes, shitheels like KConway start oozing treacly more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger snide critiques? So what?
Sample Pelosi reply upon returning:
I ain’t real good with the politicalese, granted, but the sentiment is there. Push fucking back on the idiotic juvenile “gotcha” press framing. If the press wantsta play their little game, make them shoehorn their insipid trivialities against a response that highlights their role in aiding and abetting this travesty.
imo
lollipopguild
@Mai Naem mobile: A very big chunk of Walmart’s business is food stamps, no food stamps would Hurt them.
debbie
@Quinerly:
Was this Trump’s idea?
J R in WV
@Mandalay:
But that wasn’t the point of the trip… the point of the trip was to meet with leadership in NATO, and to reassure our European allies that we are not all bug-fuck nuts like Trump.
The point of the visit to the troops is the same, to let them know that there are wise and level-headed leaders in Washington who aren’t bug-fuck nuts.
Democratic leaders, trying to fix our very broken national leadership.
ETA fis typo…FIX typo, dammit!!!
Quinerly
@debbie: from Axios… “Sanders said Trump cancelled the trip “out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay” as a result of the government shutdown. Sources told Axios last week that the size of the delegation was likely to shrink if the shutdown continued, as administration officials were aware of the bad optics of socializing with plutocrats and global elites while federal workers remained furloughed.”Â
Bill Arnold
Is there any possibility that the likelyhood of such a DJT (or miller or whatever) asshole move was anticipated by Pelosi or her staff? I’m back to Mandalay’s comments on optics, which are valid though DJT’s move still makes me livid. TBH I hadn’t gamed out the NP play yesterday but… ?
debbie
@Quinerly:
Thanks.
Jay
@Mandalay:
The ReThugs have the WhiteSupremacy House and the Senate.
Itâs up to Hair Furour and Yurtle the Turtle to resolve the Shutdown, not Nancy Smash,
And both Yurtle the Turtle and Hair Furour have said âthey donât careâ,
The House should not stop doing Housework during the current Hostage Crisis that Yurtle the Turtle and the Orange Bloat can stop anytime they want.
And you know what the two malignant fiends want to end the Hostage Crisis, $7.5 billion dollars in small unmarked bills and the abject humiliation and some public grovelling by the Democrats.
In your comments, in case you donât remember:
âAnd even if you donât agree with that, Democratic leaders going on an overseas trip during the shutdown will present horrible optics. â
and ,
âThe trip was not essential, and would have been a massive PR disaster. The media would have savaged them.â
But itâs great to see Still Dead Briebart Talking Points with out ever having to go there.
J R in WV
@Mandalay:
If big toddler Trump is not willing to negotiate with Speaker Pelosi, then she does nothing by staying in Washington DC. Nothing. She accomplishes more by doing her planned activities than to be pretending to be waiting upon Trump’s decision to speak with her.
She doesn’t need to be practicing her lady-in-waiting skills for Trump! We don’t have ladies-in-waiting in a democracy, we have women with power, and she should be using her power avoiding being at the beck and call of Pig Trump.
Fuck that shit~!!~
Jay
@J R in WV:
?????
Ella in New Mexico
@Mandalay:
You’re not listening.
@Adam L Silverman:
The incorrect and negative interpretation of One Random Guy is not to be mistaken for the actual facts of a situation. And it’s certainly not a great basis to dig yourself into a deep hole for…
J R in WV
@Mandalay:
Well, everyone is allowed to believe stupid shit, and here’s the proof of that.
Pandering to Trump’s obstruction of the functioning of our government is no benefit to the Democratic leadership in Washington. Yet that’s what you are recommending, nay demanding!! Pandering to the terrible tantrums of Trump, so sad!
Ladyraxterinok
@Ohio Mom: It was a real mess in IA. Foreclosures. And suicides in many farm states. Local banks that wanted to help their farmer friends were unable to.
I have the impression that that farm crisis was the beginning of conglomerates buying up tremendous number of family farms.
The disappearance of the many relatively small family farms led to the destruction of many farming communities and the disappearance of many small-town schools.
The long-term effect–massive destruction of small-town rural America.
Then add in Reagan’s deregulation of transportation, and national/regional bus companies began cutting service to small rural towns.
Steve in the ATL
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)Â ??: as we are fond of saying here, with republicans, every accusation is a confession
Uncle Cosmo
@Mandalay: I for one am sick of your whining. Go fuck yourself with a rusty chainsaw, asshole.
J R in WV
@Uncle Cosmo:
This~!!~
J R in WV
Well, we got off topic immediately, and stayed there.
I’m so glad Lily was OK at her hospital appointment! That’s so important, and personal to you, so congrats!!
Yarrow
@Ladyraxterinok:
Like Wal-Mart did to small businesses in small towns.
Ohio Mom
@Ladyraxterinok: And now theyâre going to get a second helping because they keep voting the way they do.
As smart as farmers have to be â itâs very complex, making a living off the land â they sure are dumb about politics.
Aleta
Interest rates on farm loans and mortgages still have a ways to climb before they compare to the 80s. I don’t know how accumulated wealth for farmers stands today. Similarities would be Carter’s embargo on Russia in the late 70s, low crop prices and what else?
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Your comment made me smile.
Bluebird
@J R in WV: Preach it, brother.