Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In my day, never was longer.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

No one could have predicted…

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

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Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    Unabogie

    It’s a good thing Obama’s still President. It’s great to wake up and feel like the country’s in good hands. Not looking forward to the 2016 election, though. Do you think Hillary can beat Jeb?

    * rubs knot on head *

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    Good day for me to spend in the subsubbasement troubleshooting a recalcitrant chilled water loop.

    Sigh.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    John, how’s Dad Cole doing today? Let him know he has a constant Jackal Pack rooting for him, willya please?

  8. 8.

    Skepticat

    We want it to be a slow news day when the subject is your dad’s recuperation. Hope the news is slow and the recovery fast.

  10. 10.

    VeniceRiley

    Totally boring. Luckily, David Anderson just stopped by to thrill us with healthcare analysis and breaking legislative news.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    @jacy: Backing instrumentals are a bunch of mournful beeping from various things complaining that they’re too hot, can they please have some water.

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    From the lack of any announcements to the contrary, can we assume Dad Cole is getting better right on schedule? In my mind’s eye I see him walking around his unit accompanied by his IV and a staff member. Hope Mom Cole is getting enough rest and food. It’s hard work being the caretaker/advocate.

    In other news, I just saw that Beto is thinking of announcing. No, no, no, everyone can not run for President. Sit out and get some more experience please.

  19. 19.

    J R in WV

    We went to town, dropped one car off at the dealership, it’s due for a regularly scheduled service, plus when I flew in late at night a couple of weeks ago it wouldn’t start, lucky I had a starter battery booster in the trunk.

    Then we went to the bakery, got rolls and bread and two slices of cake… then to the wine and cheese shop, then to the seafood shop. Finally to Krogers for the regular stuff like sandwich meats etc.

    Got home about 6:30, not dark yet, yay! Tired now, but will have to fix dinner. Was there news? Trump in Vietnam, I wanted him to wake up a PFC in June, 1968!!

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    It wasn’t a totally slow news day. I learned something about Republicans in the House; they are even worse than I thought they were, which I thought was not possible. They feed off the scum on pond water.

  25. 25.

    plato

    Today Cohen provided the American public with a first-hand account of serious misconduct by Trump & those around him.Tomorrow we‘ll examine in depth many of those topics including Trump Tower Moscow, Roger Stone/Wikileaks and any WH role in Cohen’s false statements to Congress.— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 28, 2019

  27. 27.

    hilts

    Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) took great exception when he was accused of a “racist act” during the Michael Cohen hearing, but he once trafficked in the racist “birther” conspiracy theory by promising a crowd that they’d help “send Mr. [Barack] Obama home to Kenya.”

    At a Tea Party Express forum in June of 2012, Meadows took the stage and told the crowd that “the more we find out, the more we realize how wrong the directions were going.”

    “And so what we’re going to do is take back our country, 2012 is the time that we’re going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya, or wherever it is,” Meadows added. “We’re going to do it.”

    h/t https://www.mediaite.com/online/watch-outraged-non-racist-mark-meadows-once-told-crowd-were-going-to-send-obama-home-to-kenya

  29. 29.

    DCrefugee

    @J R in WV:

    Was there news? Trump in Vietnam, I wanted him to wake up a PFC in June, 1968!!

    Someone needs to mash-up Agent Orange and Vic Morrrow in The Twilight Zone Movie…

  31. 31.

    Ohio Mom

    @WaterGirl: I agree on Biden, I’d like him to campaign for some else — I think he’d make a real contribution doing that.

    I get why Beto is charismatic — I liked watching the videos of him campaigning and playing air guitar as much as everyone else did. But I am not convinced he is seasoned enough. Also (and this he shares with Biden and his previous runs), not winning his last election gives me pause. We can’t lose this election.

  32. 32.

    Leto

    My orthopedic dr appointment went well. Avalune and I grabbed some lunch, then saw the latest How to Train Your Dragon. It was a nice conclusion to the series.

    John, I hope your dad is doing well and can go home soon. I also hope your mom is doing well.

    @J R in WV:

    I wanted him to wake up a PFC in June, 1968!!

    “Private, you’re on point!” From your lips to FSM’s ears/sound receptors.

  35. 35.

    rk

    These people are such utter morons that sometimes I wonder if all this can really be happening. I didn’t watch too much of the hearing, just snippets. I can’t stand watching republicans. It started around the time of Bush who was intolerable and their quality has steadily deteriorated since. I happened to catch the black woman prop episode, and “liar liar pants on fire”. These are grown men who are screaming and shouting like drama queens. Who are these people? Do they have functioning brains? The democrats are getting smarter and the republicans are getting stupider.

  37. 37.

    rk

    @TS (the original):

    I can’t see a place for Biden’s – “We can all be friends” bipartisan revival.

    The only response when a republican reaches out a hand for bipartisanship is to cut it off. Any democrat who sings the bipartisanship blues is not getting my vote.

  38. 38.

    MomSense

    Damn if it keeps going like this, I’ll have to take a leave of absence just to keep up with the day’s events.

    Brought my youngest to hear my oldest son’s band play. They’re playing my kid’s favorites – so much fun.

  40. 40.

    FlyingToaster

    I spent the morning replacing the seats, springs and O-rings on the kitchen faucet, and confirming that the leak around the garbage disposal was fixed (pro-tip: don’t leave your husband with a fridge full of stuff to get rid of; he’ll run the disposal for 10 minutes and it will unscrew itself from the sink).

    Edited to fix the tenses.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    They feed off the scum on pond water.

    And here I always thought they were pond scum. Which may be true, they were pond scum but they have dropped about a thousand points on the scale that has pond scum at the top. In the last 2 yrs.

  47. 47.

    Tokyokie

    @Mnemosyne: Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, with Michael Palin delivering the line first, although Graham Chapman does so later. (I might have that backwards.)

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Nice! There are few things more annoying than having the swimsuit bottom creep up while you’re trying to exercise, so I’ve been tempted by that style of swim bottom myself.

  51. 51.

    kindness

    You have to wonder if Republicans are handling themselves any better in the closed door meeting with Cohen. I suspect not in the Senate where Republican majorities will think they have to offset what the public saw today in the House. The House meeting on Tuesday though…didn’t hear too much about specifics. So who knows? I don’t.

    @plato: There goes Hawaii!

  53. 53.

    Jay

    @TS (the original):
    @rk:

    The way the game is played is you keep bringing up Bipartizanship and working across the aisle, comity, civility,

    but you don’t walk across the aisle,

    you wait for a ReThug to walk the walk,

    and you don’t give them a single inch.

  54. 54.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne: Already beaten to the punch on naming the movie. Sadly, I don’t believe any of our machines go ‘ping’. Some of them chirp though (that’s the exact word the manual uses), would that be an acceptable substitute?

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: Had to order it online, but had great reviews and I should get it early next week, in time to at least try it on and see if it fits the way it supposed to

    If it fits well enough, I can also use it for my regular swimsuit!!

    Bought each piece separately so I could get each in the size I wanted, and even with a 20% discount, it def wasn’t “cheap”

    But as a big person, it’s hard to find stuff like this that fits well and doesn’t feel flimsy.

    So hopefully for the price the quality is better than some of the cheaper options

  57. 57.

    FlyingToaster

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: If you run it for a minute at a time, wait a minute to shovel more stuff in, rinse, repeat, a .5HP insinkerator will certainly reduce a pig carcass, minus the bones.

    If you want to grind the bones, you’ll need a commercial disposal.

    I also need to train him to “if we run out of something, don’t call my wife in Florida to ask where it is; just go buy replacement(s) at StopnShop”.

  58. 58.

    lamh36

    Watching Chump and Kim on Maddow…and honesty Chump and Kim could be the same person…they even sit alike..

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: I was wondering who was mirroring whom in that shot. I suspect KJU is more likely to be the one who listens to that kind of advice

  60. 60.

    Ohio Mom

    @lamh36: Bathing suits are always more expensive than I think they should be. And getting one that fits! I think you did as well as is humanly possible.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: Oh yeah, and I’d bet a few quatloos it was deliberate, it’s the kind of crap that– I think– would work well on a needy, easily manipulated pile of goo like “His Excellency”
    ETA: “Did you see the way he sat just how I sat? That’s a sign of great respect in their culture. Many experts have told me they do that for greatly respected elders, tough guys they admire. Huh? What? they don’t want a verification process? Fine, we don’t need that. Anyway, all experts on Korea say that’s how they show respect, strongly…”

  64. 64.

    Kdaug

    Y’all chose your pace.
    I dropped off some lunches with the dog today, then took a nap. News, something something

    Crisis somewhere doesn’t make it local, and I need to learn how to stand down

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mnemosyne: C’mon, I’ve only seen once, and that 30 + years ago, and even I know what movie that’s from!

    Where you been all day, anyway? Trying to work through all the kerfuffle?

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    @geg6:

    How about John Roberts siding with the bleeding heart liberals today, huh? Kind of amazing

    He has been doing that more and more. I’m not naive about it – it’s only because the libs are siding with the rule of law, precedent, common sense, etc, but still.

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    @rk:

    The only response when a republican reaches out a hand for bipartisanship is to cut it off.

    I’m willing to accept Republican bipartisanship when it extends to them voting for good ideas the Democrats have proposed.

  73. 73.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    OT:

    What do you all think of the name “Mr. Fuzzy” for a cat? Cute or too childish sounding?

  74. 74.

    John Revolta

    @Jeffro: I think there may be more to it than that. Roberts can see the writing on the wall, and he probably wants to start setting himself apart from anything and anyone that has the Trump-stink on them.

  76. 76.

    mad citizen

    @schrodingers_cat: To me, Train Song is a great Tom Waits song on Frank’s Wild Years:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1372DyU8H8

    Well I broke down in East St. Louis on the Kansas City line
    Drunk up all my money that I borrowed every time
    And I fell down at the derby, the night’s black as a crow
    It was a train that took me away from here
    But a train can’t bring me home
    What made my dreams so hollow was standing at the depot
    With a steeple full of swallows that could never ring the bell
    And I’ve come ten thousand miles away, not one thing to show
    It was a train that took me away from here
    But a train can’t bring me home

    I remember when I left without bothering to pack
    Don’t you know I up and left with just the clothes I had on my back
    Now I’m sorry for what I’ve done and I’m out here on my own
    It was a train that took me away from here
    But a train can’t bring me home
    It was a train that took me away from here
    But a train can’t bring me home

  77. 77.

    plato

    The House Oversight Committee wants to depose Trump's long-time tax lawyer Sheri Dillon, as well as Stefan Passantino, ex-deputy White House Counsel in charge of compliance and ethics, according to letters sent to both of them and seen by Reuters. https://t.co/VlZFV6gUvX— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 28, 2019

  80. 80.

    Luthe

    @FlyingToaster:

    “if we run out of something, don’t call my wife in Florida to ask where it is; just go buy replacement(s) at StopnShop”.

    Beware. My father regularly assumes we have run out of something and goes to the store and buys more without checking if we actually do have any. We can have five jars of pasta sauce in the pantry but if he doesn’t see it immediately he’s off to the store. It drives my mother batshit.

  81. 81.

    mad citizen

    I’m in a hotel room on a work trip tonight and that means access to cable tv/cable news channels. Just wanted to say overall the talking heads are a waste of time, but decent enough to see the Cohen highlights. Rick Santorum was on the Anderson Cooper panel (made me think of the alternative definition for “Santorum”–ha ha), and he offered a trump defense something like, “Why is his lying to Cohen significant, he lies on everything all the time”. Toobin called out the B.S.–that’s you’re strongest defense?

    Overall, I get orders of magnitude more interesting links and knowledge here from all the jackals that I ever would from cable tv.

  82. 82.

    Mary G

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Name the cat whatever name you want.

    Popehat’s review of today’s spectacle is up at the Atlantic. Everybody needed a better lawyer, but Republicans the most:

    House Republicans needed a trial lawyer—or even a moderately bright junior-high mock-trial participant—to tell them how to do anything. Cross-examination is hard. It’s not just barking at the witness. It takes meticulous planning and patience. Republicans could have marshaled Cohen’s many sins of the past to undermine his statements today. Instead they returned repeatedly to lies and misdeeds he’d already admitted, wallowed in silly trivialities like the “Women for Cohen” Twitter account, and yelled. The effect was to make an unsympathetic man modestly more sympathetic. Republicans committed the classic cross-examination blunder: They gave the witness the opportunity to further explain his harmful direct testimony. They provided Cohen with one slow pitch up the middle after another, letting him repeat the cooperating witness’s go-to explanation like a mantra: I did these bad things so often and so long because that’s what it took to work for your guy. I have seldom seen a cross-examination go worse.

  83. 83.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I was wondering who was mirroring whom in that shot.

    Trump thinks brutal dictators are cool. Every time he meets one he does a “You and me is friends, ain’t we, George?” routine. I would be 0% surprised to find out he tries to emulate their body language in the hopes of being cooler himself.

    This also fits in well with the serious possibility he’s a Nazi.

  84. 84.

    seaboogie

    @SiubhanDuinne: I googled to learn more about the purpose of the post-op heart pillow that Cole père is using, and it’s as sort of a splint/brace when coughing, breathing deeply, etc – and you probably know this, SD.

    But in related good news, apparently SEX is permitted, post surgery – a refreshing and unexpected tidbit of knowledge. Supposed to start with holding and smooching first though…if memory serves, I believe this is called foreplay. Heh.

    Anyway, I’m sure Cole will be beyond THRILLED to know his parents can start getting frisky ASAP.

  85. 85.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dmsilev: They go

    Zip when they move,
    Pop when they stop,
    Whrrrrr when they stand still.
    You never know just what they do,
    And I guess you never wi–


    {sound of tree-branch mulcher}

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Rachel Maddow and Joyce Vance discussing trump’s tax returns. Does anyone know the rationale behind Dems’ hesitation to do so? Is it just the chairman, Neal, or is Pelosi dragging her feet on this, too?

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    @lamh36:

    Only Jared met with Mohammed bin Salman. And it was Tuesday, not today. That photograph with the tweet is from December.

    That tweet pretty much sucks.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @lamh36:

    Watching Chump and Kim on Maddow…and honesty Chump and Kim could be the same person…they even sit alike..

    Patty Duke?

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    I think Roberts knows trumpov & Co are making it easier for the public to catch on to the conservatives’ long con.

  92. 92.

    mad citizen

    Won’t it be refreshing to get a President again who actually smiles? I think that’s why I must like Harris so much.

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They’re probably just making it look like ‘oh, if we really have to…we’re not out to get him for no reason…but we have so many questions, and he won’t answer, and only a look at his tax returns will solve these mysteries…’

    I mean they did also just get seated last month, I think…they’re overthinking how it looks, going straight for the jugular like that. When what the majority of the country wants them to do is go. straight. for. the jugular.

  96. 96.

    Miss Bianca

    OK, seriously, what happened in the Supreme Court today? Been working on grants all day and feeling too fried to Google.

  97. 97.

    Miss Bianca

    @SFAW:

    Patty Duke?

    “Dick-tators…I-dick-tical-tators…”

    OK, I think I better quit and go watch some “Farscape” right now, because I am definitely feeling slap-happy.

  99. 99.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: when John Scalzi’s very young daughter wanted to call their new cat “fluffy,” Sclalzi agreed, on condition that the cat’s name be spelled “Ghlaghghee,” because gh=f in terms of ancient rules of English spelling.
    You could try something similar.

  102. 102.

    joel hanes

    @Ohio Mom:

    I think this is Beto’s practice run, not really even a dress rehearsal.

    It’s a big organizing task. He’s sizing it, and finding out he’s got things to learn.

    Next time. He’s got the moxie.
    And so do Nadler and Cummings AOC and Pressley and Schiff and Lieu and a new host of comers.
    Nancy SMASH has deployed her committee members and chairs with strategic brilliance and malice aforethought — a political thing of beauty. I’ve had my gripes with her, but I’m crushing on her this year.

    I haven’t felt this good about the Democratic Party since forever.

    However, Seth Moulton can, in John Cole’s formulation, eat a bag of salted dicks.

  103. 103.

    joel hanes

    @NotMax:

    Dick van Dyke

    Underrated. One of the all-time great physical comedians. Simply astonishing.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtzC69mcoWQ

    And the show was _witty_. And intelligent. [sputters, fails to find words]

    Scripted TV gave us Dick van Dyke and The Twilight Zone and MASH and The Wire and The Sopranos and WKRP and Barney Miller and Cheers and Firefly and Gunsmoke and Rawhide and Lucy and Buffy … *
    Reality TV gave us the Brassy Housewives of Crasstown, hook-up shows, fake wrestling, and Donald Trump.
    —
    * Rocky and Bullwinkle Monty Python

  105. 105.

    NotMax

    @joel hanes

    Trivia: When it came to doing The New Dick van Dyke Show, the network (CBS?) acquiesced to ponying up the full cost of building, from the ground up, and operating studios and production facilities in Carefree, Arizona, because van Dyke flatly refused to relocate from his home there to Hollywood.

  107. 107.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @joel hanes: The DVD Show is Michelle Obama’s favorite.

    Carl Reiner’s manic tyrant Alan Brady cracks me up every time. “SHUT UP, MEL!”

  109. 109.

    frosty

    @mad citizen:

    Overall, I get orders of magnitude more interesting links and knowledge here from all the jackals that I ever would from cable tv.

    The absolute truth. I don’t remeber the last time I watched cable (or any) TV news.

  110. 110.

    sgrAstar

    @lamh36: love the swimwear! After my last knee surgery, I was forced by my evil PTs to use the therapy pool…it was freezing. I ended up wearing capilene long underwear in the pool- your stuff looks way, way better. I am devoutly hoping that I never see that therapy pool again. Brrrrrrrr

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