Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

I was promised a recession.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Followup Open Thread – Looks Like The Jasons Have a Home

Followup Open Thread – Looks Like The Jasons Have a Home

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Who would have guessed that Secretary “D in Meats” would turn out to be the most competent and honest in Trump’s cabinet?

 

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116Comments

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Secretary “D in Meats” is doomed. In the Trump administration, honesty and competence are firing offences.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: Hasn’t Perry already announced, or at least leaked, that he’s resigning soon?
    (Were I a big shot front pager, I would post that GIF of Perry marching in a Dapper Dan vest on Dancing with the fucking stars, because of course trump replaced the massively credentialed physicists with a guy who was on Dancing with the fucking stars)

  11. 11.

    Leto

    I’ve wondered what D in meats has been up to for the past two years. He’s kept his head down, that’s for sure.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    My flabber is well and truly gasted. David Letterman set a higher standard for his studio audiences with the “Know Your Cuts of Meat” test.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    @Leto: Wasn’t he involved in the whole “coal is essential for our power grid, really it is” half-assed study thing?

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    Who would have guessed that Secretary “D in Meats” would turn out to be the most competent and honest in Trump’s cabinet?

    I did. Perry is not terribly smart, but he wasn’t chosen to please V.V. Putin, to steal everything at DOE that wasn’t nailed down, or to destroy the department. That already put him ahead of the majority of the Trump cabinet. He’s an old fashioned political hack, but he apparently has enough self awareness to recognize that as a hack his best option is to let the professionals run things and limit his role to figurehead/cheerleader. In a normal cabinet, that would make him the dregs, but in Trump’s cabinet that puts him at the head of the class– and both Perry’s nature and the nature of the rest of Trump’s cabinet was obvious from very early on.

  17. 17.

    Leto

    @dmsilev: Yes. He’s also the person who didn’t know that our nuclear stockpile fell under his control. Thought the job was just about coal/oil. Can’t describe how incredibly dumb the man is.

  18. 18.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    @Amir Khalid: Probably as in, “True or False: Eating chicken that got “cooked” in your parked car is safe to eat. A:TRUE!”

  19. 19.

    tokyokie

    I think the “Meats” class probably involved differentiating cuts of meat (like porterhouse vs. T-bone) and judging the quality by examining the amount of marbling and what-not. Ag schools actually have intercollegiate competitions about meat judging. That’s all I know, because if I knew any more, I’d go cuckoo.

  22. 22.

    clay

    @Leto: He also thought his job was simply to SELL coal and oil to foreign markets. Give him this: he was humble enough to admit how very wrong he was.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    @Leto: That was the mindboggling part – he let it be known that he was pig-ignorant about the job after he had it. Who goes through a Senate confirmation process without doing even a tiny bit of homework? Republicans, that’s who.

  25. 25.

    Ohio Mom

    If I had any sense, I’d turn off the phone now and get ready for bed, all the better to savor this one sliver of good news. End the day on a happy, hopeful note.

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mary G:
    He had the sense not to admit he knew bupkes about the job until after he was confirmed. If you want to call that sense.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    @Leto

    “Whaddaya mean Salisbury steak isn’t a cut? Are you blind or something? The word STEAK is right there!”

  28. 28.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    @HalfAssedHomesteader: Found this in the NPR article:

    He says that the Jasons are a blunt bunch. If they think an idea is dumb or won’t work, they aren’t afraid to say so.

    “They were offering the opposite of cheerleading,” he says. “And DOD decided that maybe they didn’t want to pay for that any longer.”

    Maybe they said something blunt about Space Force.

  29. 29.

    randy khan

    @tokyokie: I think the “Meats” class probably involved differentiating cuts of meat (like porterhouse vs. T-bone) and judging the quality by examining the amount of marbling and what-not. Ag schools actually have intercollegiate competitions about meat judging.

    I think that’s about right. At my ag school, only seniors who the dean of students liked (he taught the course) got into Meats. As you might guess, it was not a particularly difficult class.

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    When you compare him to our current Guv, I would welcome Perry back to Austin with open arms. He may be dumb, but Abbott is a vicious, conniving POS.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: Trump on Kamala Harris: “She’s got a little bit of a nasty wit.”

    that’s practically an endorsement, as far as I’m concerned

  36. 36.

    joel hanes

    @Roger Moore:

    his best option is to let the professionals run things and limit his role to figurehead/cheerleader.

    Because of the peculiarities of the Texas constitution, that’s more or less a position description for Governor of Texas.
    Which Perry (before eyeglasses) was.

    I think that Molly Ivins’s sobriquet for him, “Governor Goodhair”, is just and should be more used.

  39. 39.

    Ohio Mom

    @randy khan: “As you might guess, it was not a particularly difficult class.” From the descriptions of the curriculum offered in these comments, it sounds like most experienced, non-vegetarian, everyday home cooks could walk in and easily test out of the class.

    (Testing out is a way for college students with previous experience in a subject area to skip the class: if they can pass the final before taking the class, they can get automatic credit. They still have to pay for the credits though).

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    @matthewamiller
    1h1 hour ago
    More Matthew Miller Retweeted Matt Zapotosky
    I would like to hear from the DOJ official spinning this how the AG read a dense, detailed memo, weighed the pros and cons, made a decision and wrote a letter to Congress explaining it in 48 hours, all without a back and forth with the prosecutor on the case. It’s a farce.

    https://twitter.com/matthewamiller/status/1121583000280498177

  42. 42.

    lamh36

    So no mention of McConnell or Chump…everyone’s to blame other than him… Rosenstein really trying to claim his hands were so tied…

    @jamiedupree
    13m13 minutes ago
    More
    In a tough speech in New York tonight, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein throws elbows at Congress, Obama, Comey over Russia probe
    https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/1121600776470765574

    Straight up bullshit…

  45. 45.

    Leto

    @Mary G: Exactly. The man is responsible for belong to maintain one of the worst weapons known to main, not to mention also help formulate policy around matters pertaining to them, and… I think about how much I had to know, for my job, DoE/DoD/Joint Chiefs of Staff/USAF policy relating to certain material. I was def down at the bottom end of the rung with this, but the metric shit ton of information I had to know to ensure the safety/surety of items…it honestly pisses me off to no end.

    @NotMax: Actual LOL; thanks for that :)

    @HalfAssedHomesteader: That was one of my issues in the military, something Avalune tried to help me with: if I thought an idea was dumb, I had no compunction letting my thoughts be known. While she got me to bite my tongue a bit more, my face took over to let everyone know just how dumb I thought shit was. The woman’s a saint.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: from talking about wearing a wire and the 25th Amendment to doing his best impersonation of a hostage video while Bill Barr bullshat to this…? Something tells me old Rod ain’t wrapped too tight

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    Verdict: I am too old to be caring for toddlers.

    Corollary: Joe Biden is too old to be POTUS.

  50. 50.

    prob50

    Trump on Kamala Harris: “She’s got a little bit of a nasty wit.”

    Ooh! A sure sign of “uppity-ness”.

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I wonder if ol’ Joe is ready for this

    Alexandra Jaffe @ ajjaffe
    I asked Elizabeth Warren, who clashed w/Biden on the 2005 bankruptcy bill he backed, about whether Biden has been too cozy to Wall Street to be an effective regulator of the industry if elected president. She said, “Our disagreement is a matter of public record.” 1/
    Warren: “@ a time when biggest financial institutions in this country were trying 2 put squeeze on millions of hardworking families…there was nobody to stand up to them. I got in that fight b/c they just didn’t have anyone, & Biden was on the side of the credit card companies.”

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    OT. For the So Much Winning file:

    Notice in mail today that the APR for my branded gasoline company card (gas is all I use it for) is going up by an additional 5½% come mid-June. That’s a nearly 22 per cent increase. Fortunately it’s always paid off in full, if there’s even a charge (I buy gas maybe once every two months).

  60. 60.

    catclub

    everybody go read The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
    Rick Perry and the DOE get plenty of coverage.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    EXECUTIVES ARE VERY WORRIED FOX & FRIENDS WILL BE NEXT”: AFTER TAKING OVER FOX, LACHLAN MURDOCH IS IN A TRUMP TRAP
    When advertisers rebelled at outrage anchors like Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, Trump called Lachlan’s daddy, Rupert Murdoch, to keep them on the air. Inside the battle for the future of the network.

    We don’t have a Secretary of Defense, several key ambassador positions are still open, but trump is making sure his favorite TeeVee friends will still be on his TeeVee. If Amy Klobuchar wants to break out of the doldrums, using her townhall on Fox to call out their racism would be a fine thing.

    @Leto: I saw them all in order, and read the books, and I didn’t get Deathly Hallows I. Still a little vague on wandology and horcuces.

  62. 62.

    TomatoQueen

    @Kirk Spencer: My great uncle, Navy quartermaster in 3 conflicts, could’ve taught that course. I guess it was good to see they use Temple Grandin’s videos. Suddenly I want a steak dinner.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    @TomatoQueen

    When I saw the original Broadway production it wasn’t brand spanking new but still retained that new play smell.

    Anyhoo, the minute the audience grasped what that song was about there was a very audible sound of *gasp* that filled the theater. Good times.

  65. 65.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Meh. Joe is an easy target because he’s campaigning in a market segment. I’d be impressed if she went after Wilmer for being an empty populist suit and for his ugly votes for the NRA, Russia, and Dump’s wall.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @NotMax: it’s getting great reviews, and I’m intrigued. The Avengers was actually one of the comic books I read way back when. I mostly haven’t seen the Avengers movies because I find Downey a grating screen presence

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Left out the :) to confirm I was joshing about preparation. Go forth and enjoy.

    On a personal note, haven’t seen any of the Marvel movies. Watched the trailer for this new one and had to stifle a yawn.

  68. 68.

    hotshoe

    @Ohio Mom: True, savor the good news before bed.
    More good news today:
    health officials at UCLA and Cal State LA have announced quarantine for measles-exposed students and staff who cannot prove they have been vaccinated against measles.
    No, it’s not good new that measles is resurgent, but it’s great news that public health officials are holding the line, in effect saying “you cannot go out in public and infect innocent people just because you’re too stupid to get yourself vaccinated.
    Yay, CA!

  69. 69.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Leto:

    Would a person have had to watch any of the previous Harry Potter’s to understand HP and the Deathly Hallows pt 2?

    I’ve never read the HP books or seen any of the movies, but when the kid graduated from Air Force BMT she wanted to see the newest HP film. So we went to a theater down by the Riverwalk, I was thoroughly confused and left halfway though when Madame texted me.

  70. 70.

    Leto

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Didn’t know she graduated basic: congratulations! What’s her career field? What’s her first duty station? If you don’t want to name it, that’s ok. Welcome to the family :)

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Yeah, Rod’s had some kind of break

    Carrie Johnson @ johnson_carrie
    As he nears the end of his DoJ career, Rosenstein assesses his performance: “Today, our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes. But not everybody was happy with my decision, in case you did not notice.”

    David Frum Retweeted Carrie Johnson
    None of the first three claims is true

  72. 72.

    hotshoe

    @catclub: saw a copy of The Fifth Risk on the “free” shelf at our little library yesterday. I didn’t take it home. Good bet it’s still there.
    Someone who needs a copy, say so in thread and I’ll see if I can get that copy for you …

  73. 73.

    Leto

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Also realized, just now, that you said saw the latest HP film, thought about how long ago that really was, and have determined that it is indeed time for bed. Night!

  75. 75.

    prob50

    @hotshoe: CA legislature poised to pass bill closing loopholes in vaccination law. L A Times article today has quote from an anguished mother who whined that this will put her in “…the difficult position of pulling my kids from public school.” and “This will force them to be is-schooled”.

    A mixed blessing for the rest of us, for sure. Keeping a prospective disease-carrier out of contact with other children and teachers is the positive, but home-schooling provided by such an ignorant woman will likely produce yet another ill-informed adult a potential sad result.

    Gotta go with immediate Public Safety, though. And cracking down on fraudulent, exploitive doctors is long past overdue.

  77. 77.

    prob50

    I”ve never read the HP books or seen any of the movies, but when the kid graduated from Air Force BMT she wanted to see the newest HP film.

    Geez, I always thought “HP” books stood for “Hairy Pot-Heads”, like “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” cartoons/comic books from the late 60’s-early 70’s.

    IMHO they would have made a good movie. Maybe shown as a Double Feature with “Fritz The Cat” (that actually did become a movie),

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Dear god

    Josh Marshall @ joshtpm
    Trump: “The biggest problem with Mueller …He didn’t mention Strzok & Mccabe & Comey & the lies and the leaks and overthrow and the whole thing with the Hillary Clinton got a win 100 million to 1 two lovers, two sick lovers, especially the one. I mean, these were like children.”

  80. 80.

    khead

    So, how many of those Marvel movies do I need to catch up on before seeing this one? I’ve seen two Iron Man flix. That’s it. Oh, and also all of the X-Men. I suspect Professor X, Magneto and Dark Pheonix could kick everyone’s ass. :)

  82. 82.

    prob50

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: OK, now let me guess…”After finishing up his statement Trump punctuated it by swallowing a rat whole and then licking his fingers”

    Am I close? I mean, I think is would be hard to find or make a statement more totally full of complete nonsensical gibberish than what Trump is quoted for here.

    I apologize for the syntax, my mind is just too boggled to try and rephrase it.

  86. 86.

    dww44

    @Leto: Actually, I am a bit impressed with that accomplishment of his. No small feat given the carnage that happens daily in this administration. But, hey, I’m on board with LOD on his tonight’s show positing that Napolitono’s public exiting from the Trump Train may set the stage for much other bad news for the President. I hope he’s right.

    Also an op-ed in the local paper (originally part of the Knight newspaper chain) by syndicated progressive columnist, Leonard Pitts of the Miami News, firmly getting back in the impeachment camp. Which is where I’ve been all along..

  88. 88.

    dmsilev

    @khead: Putting aside the sprawling mass of Marvel movies, this one is essentially Part II of Avengers: Infinity War, so at least see that one (it’s on Netflix, if that helps).

  90. 90.

    Aleta

    @lamh36: Iirc Obama tried to hold a bipart meeting for Congressional intelligence leaders and heads of intelligence agencies in August 2016. Rs refused to schedule it until after Labor Day. When they finally met in Sept. McConnell refused to sign a joint statement about Russia trying interfere, even though it didn’t mention Trump. Eventually Sens Feinstein and Schiff released their own statement. (Rs made some statement talking state election security and state’s rights and feds not interfering.) So Obama had a short statement drawn up that all 3 heads in intelligence agreed to sign. Then Comey unexpectedly refused, “too close to the election.” The statement came out and immediately someone (Russians? Trump people?) released the Access Hollywood tape to the Post and wikileaks began to publish hacked Podesta emails. All in the same afternoon. So Rosenstein blames Obama? Fck him and Comey and McConnell and every Republican who stalled and obstructed.

  92. 92.

    dww44

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:LOD showed a bit from the RR speech tonight where he seemed to contradict what Barr did. Now his place in this whole Special Counsel process is truly one I want to live long enough to know the backstory of. And hopefully his motivation, which at this moment seems to be simply to preserve his pension, cause his reputation is diminishing with each pronouncement.

  94. 94.

    Miss Bianca

    @prob50: @hotshoe: I don’t get this, I really don’t. Shit, when I was going to college and grad school, just like when I was going to K -12, I had to provide proof of vaccination in order to enroll. Jesus, *quarantine*? What the hell happened?

  96. 96.

    Cacti

    Here’s a story that I don’t think is getting nearly the attention it deserves.

    USA Today has done an exhaustive study on police misconduct nationally, and they found that at least 85,000 cops have been investigated for misconduct in the past decade.

    They’ve also published all the records they turned up in a searchable database.

  97. 97.

    My Side of Town

    The power of the purse. Couldn’t it be used to thwart all the crap the administration is throwing at the house right now?

  98. 98.

    My Side of Town

    I just ordered the Mueller report in book form from Amazon. 10 bucks. Guess I’ll start reading it next week. Not that I don’t appreciate all the excerpts I’ve read all across the web, but I’ve been led to believe it reads like the kind of sordid non fiction novel that I like. Like the Arms of Krupp.

  99. 99.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Amy Klobuchar wants to break out of the doldrums, using her townhall on Fox to call out their racism would be a fine thing.

    What the fuck is with all these Dems and Sanders going on Fox for a Town Hall? What ever happened to denying Fox News legitimacy by not appearing on that propaganda network?

  100. 100.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the replies to this tweet are, as you might imagine, hilarious

    Nate Silver @ NateSilver538
    It’s probably worth noting that while this group, Justice Democrats, calls Biden “out-of-touch” with the “center of energy” in the Democratic Party, only 26 of the 79 candidates it endorsed last year won their primaries, and only 7 of those went on to win the general election.

  102. 102.

    Vhh

    The JASONs probably used Math and Physics to:
    Show the Wall would be costly and ineffective.
    Show that aircraft are sitting ducks for missiles.
    Show that the F35 is highly unreliable.
    The Pentagon and Donald could not bear this reality check.

  105. 105.

    My Side of Town

    Start impeachment with Barr. It’s fairly obvious he obstructed justice lying about the Mueller report. Stop funding the DOJ and WH. Subpoena individuals in the administration and institute contempt charges and arrest them as required. Sam Ervin did this during the Nixon investigation.

  106. 106.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @eemom:
    What I meant, was I thought there was a general consensus to not appear on Fixed News. Guess I was wrong

    @NotMax:
    St. Bernard of Vermont is the worst of the bunch. He’s such a delusional old moonbat

  107. 107.

    Original Lee

    @prob50: The anti-vaccine portion of my FB feed was blowing up all afternoon. Apparently we are now a Communist nation because California has abolished the medical exemption for vaccines and we can no longer get an education, hold jobs, or travel while perfectly healthy (but unvaccinated or otherwise not immune).

  108. 108.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Original Lee:
    I assume there are still legitimate exceptions for people who can’t have certain vaccines due to health reasons, right? Anti-vaxxers are literally the worst, I have to say

  109. 109.

    hotshoe

    @Original Lee: No surprise, some of the loonies have cheated by begging/persuading their pediatrician to sign the form which claims that their precious little darling needs a medical exemption from vaccination requirements — and those fake exemptions got the attention of Dr Pan, who authored a new bill to oversee all medical-exemption requests, making that a Public Health Dept power.
    So of course some creeps are calling foul now, because if Dr Pan’s bill passes, those bad parents won’t be able to cheat the system any more.
    Good.
    But it hasn’t passed yet, and according to the SacBee there were big protests against the bill — including by the pediatricians who are not admitting that they are corruptly signing those fake exemptions (like in Marin, a hotbed of anti-vax)
    Damn them.

  111. 111.

    Original Lee

    @Jay: I hadn’t had time to go check on any of this but suspected there was bullshit because they were claiming the large number of Russian emigre protestors proved this was a Communist takeover. Plus one lady who was protesting the loudest about travel restrictions has also lost her immunity to measles and needs a booster before she can return to certain places she used to visit.

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