Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Books are my comfort food!

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Cartoon Villains

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Cartoon Villains

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123Comments

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    From Kevin Drum, Chart of the Day: Corporate Profits Are Up, Corporate Taxes Are Down

    Politico reports on the impact of the Republican tax cut:

    Federal tax payments by big businesses are falling much faster than anticipated in the wake of Republicans’ tax cuts, providing ammunition to Democrats who are calling for corporate tax increases. The U.S. Treasury saw a 31 percent drop in corporate tax revenues last year, almost twice the decline official budget forecasters had predicted. Receipts were projected to rebound sharply this year, but so far they’ve only continued to fall, down by almost 9 percent or $11 billion.

    This practically begs for a chart, doesn’t it? I’m here to help. The chart below shows corporate profits before and after the Republican tax cut, compared to corporate tax receipts (through May) before and after the tax cut. As you can see, President Trump signed the tax cut into law on December 22, 2017, and it was a very merry Christmas indeed for his big business pals.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    It’s probably been noted somewhere already, but:

    During the Stephanopoulos “interview,” when the Traitor-in-Chief told Stephanopoulos that he’d accept oppo provided by a (probably hostile) foreign government, I think it would have been good fun if Steph had asked “OK, but what about if some other country provided your tax returns — which many people believe contain damaging info — to a Democrat?” Presumably, the Fuckhead-in-Chief would respond with either (A) “Well, THAT is different because argle-bargle!” or (B) “Fine by me, because there’s nothing damaging there.”

    If the Liar-in-Chief used the “A” response, Steph would (theoretically) tell him it’s no different, and ask Fuckhead to explain his “reasoning.” If he used the “B” response, the comeback is “You told everyone before the election that you would release them, but you haven’t, and you’ve fought tooth-and-whale to keep them secret — why should anyone believe you? Is it because you’re actually barely a millionaire, let alone a billionaire? Or because you’re in hock to Russia up to your obese moobs?”

    Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s Steph, so the chances of the above happening are approximately zero. But I can dream, can’t I?

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    Not that it would make a difference, but I’d like to put that chart on a billboard where Trump supporting farmers are hurting.

    Along with a billboard, twice its size, with the words “Trump to Farmers:” and below that, a picture of Fuckhead flipping them the bird

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    @SFAW:

    I hadn’t seen this raised. You’re absolutely right.

    Once again — everyone should read the Mueller Report. I can only stand about 5 pages a day, but it is essential reading for every American. You can read tweet after tweet and blog after blog, but the sheer evil of what the Russian military intelligence, COLLUDING with evil Americans and others like Assange, did to Hillary Clinton and to our democracy can only be truly assimilated by reading the damn report.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Closed caption follies. The captioning AI appeared to be having a nervous breakdown the other day. Had to rewind to make sure what I saw was what I thought I saw and to transcribe it exactly.

    Dialogue: Grischuk could always mortgage the house.
    Captioning: Grischuk always wore beaded mouthful.

    Also, coincident to the story about the tankers, the day before that showed up in the news had watched on Prime a movie set during WW2, Silent Enemy. Very fictionalized account* about frogmen stationed on Gibraltar tasked with checking for and clearance of mines from ships’ hulls. Chock full of ‘good show, eh wot?’ stiff upper lipness (as well as patronizing toward those non-British), plus slow to pick up steam yet all in all pleasantly engrossing. A starring vehicle for the now nearly forgotten Lawrence Harvey.

    *Although such units did operate, and the use of so-called human torpedoes utilizing “underwater chariots” to plant such explosives was undertaken by both sides.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    Re: Drum’s chart: if I thought Shitgibbon and the other traitorous motherfuckers really gave a shit about whether it would hurt them, I’d expect Mnuchin to release a chart showing tax revenues bottoming out on May 15, 2019, with a sudden change to massive revenue increases, going through to late 2020, and showing a $2T surplus.

    And when asked for the underlying data, they’d claim “executive privilege.”

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    I love it when the CC goes nuts.

    Laurence Harvey is forgotten, and so is Peter Finch, damn good actor.

    Re stiff-upper-lipness, I love the moment in Guns of Navarone when David Niven exposes (literally) the woman who’s been pretending to be a tortured Resistance fighter by showing that she has no scars on her back from her supposed whipping by the Nazis. He points to her unblemished back and dryly says, “Q.E.D.” A commenter on IMDB, back when they had those funny discussion threads, asked, “Why does he look at her back and say ‘BQE’?”

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    now nearly forgotten Lawrence Harvey.

    Never heard of him.

    Laurence Harvey, on the other hand …

    [I’m assuming it’s too early for Steve in the WTFKWHI to be on Pedant Patrol, otherwise I woulda left it to him. Speaking of that: is it an early morning for you, or a late night?]

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @zhena gogolia:

    I appreciate the suggestion re: Mueller. My Depress-o-meter is just about pegged by the Mets’ recent performances, so I may take a few days/weeks/months to get to it, however.

  26. 26.

    A Ghost To Most

    Speaking of cartoon villians:

    Possom Queen: I want to be remembered for being honest and transparent.

    Stormy Daniels: Yea, and I want to be remembered for being a virgin.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    Dan Diamond
    ‏Verified account
    @ddiamond
    Follow Follow @ddiamond
    More
    In Sarah Sanders’ first-ever White House press briefing, she denied our story on funding cuts to drug office + told reporters to “never” use POLITICO as a source.
    The White House subsequently spent 2 yrs trying to make the cuts that Sanders denied

    She came in as a liar. Selecting for “liars” is part of the hiring process. I love the purely gratuitous addition where she then called someone else a liar. That was all her.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @SFAW

    (hangs head in abject shame) Wouldst allow me to chalk it up to post-prandial nap fuzziness of remaining brain?

    Morning, night, who can tell? Sleep patterns have been so out of kilter the past week one hardly knows anymore.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: If you can’t see the sun, it’s night.

    This tip of the day given free of charge. You’re welcome.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    (hangs head in abject shame) Wouldst allow me to chalk it up to post-prandial nap fuzziness of remaining brain?

    OK, now I’m ashamed that you’re feeling shame. Can you ever forgive me and my meager excuse for pedantry?

    I hope your sleep patterns get back on track, sleep deprivation sucks.

  31. 31.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If you can’t see the sun, it’s night.

    This is why Cole pays you the big bucks. The side benefit is your ability to dispense the advice gratis to us proles.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    But Mr. Mnuchin, testifying before Congress, said new security features under development made the 2020 design deadline set by the Obama administration impossible to meet, so he punted Tubman’s fate to a future Treasury secretary.

    Mnuchin also lied about it. Which in another administration would matter but in this one does not. I choose to take it as somewhat comforting that they all lie constantly, because their nasty, petty mean-spirited white supremacy is not actually politically popular or they wouldn’t lie about it. They deny these things for a reason. They (still) think they have to.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

    Any idea how many Democratic senators and representatives have read it? I keep hearing about how no one has read it (my copy is supposed to arrive on Tuesday), but I can’t tell if that includes our guys.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    From the Salt Lake Tribune:

    Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said that it would be “foolish” not to take information from a foreign government pertaining to an election campaign.

    The lawlessness will spread until the lawbreakers are held accountable.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    Really, Roku? A close-up displaying mostly an argyle sweater vest for your Father’s Day splash screen?

    Fail.

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: George asked him about the “stolen” Bush briefing book that was sent to Gore, and how Gore told the FBI. Donnie said “That’s different!!11”.

    There’s your answer.

    If it’s about a Democrat it’s one thing, if it’s about him or the GOP, “that’s different!!”.

    Calvinball Donnieball rules.

    HTH.

    Good morning, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @Another Scott:

    George should have come back with, “What about Hillary’s stolen emails?”

    Jeez, do I have to do these guys’ jobs for them? //

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:
    Actually, at some level (at least in Shitgibbon’s “mind”) it is different — if the playbook actually was stolen. [Because, theoretically, the oppo is not “stolen” material as such.]

    But if Steph had the brain to say “Either action is a violation of Federal law, and ignorance of the law has never been a valid excuse,” that would have been interesting

  49. 49.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: They keep pushing the envelope, seeing how much they can get away with. The back off when they get some push back. Two steps forward one step back. It is a strategy. I have noticed it with the RWNJ government in India too.

  51. 51.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: Transcript:

    ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos: You’re a fighter. You, you, it feels like you’re in a constant kind of churn.

    (MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Trump reveals historic redesign of Air Force One)
    President Donald Trump: Yeah, uh, my life has always been a fight. And I enjoy that I guess, I don’t know if I enjoy it or not, I guess — sometimes I have false fights, like the Russian witch hunt. That’s a false fight. That’s a made-up hoax. And I had a fight that —

    Stephanopoulos: –the first line of his report says they had a systematic attempt at interfere in our elections.

    President Trump: They did, but not me. And they also said, okay, that we rebuffed them. Okay?

    Stephanopoulos: Well they said you’re–

    President Trump: –that the Trump campaign. Excuse me. The campaign, the Trump campaign rebuffed them. We had nothing to do with Russia. Hillary Clinton had much more to do with Russia than anything having to do with our campaign. It said very specifically that, not only we didn’t have to do, but we rebuffed them. Now, anything having to do with Russia had nothing to do with our campaign.

    Stephanopoulos: Well, Paul Manafort.

    President Trump: Paul Manafort, they have Paul Manafort on taxes and many other things. Nothing to do with our campaign.

    Stephanopoulos: Giving polling information to the Russians.

    President Trump: I don’t know anything about that. What difference does polling information make? It doesn’t matter. He was maybe trying to do something for an account or something. Who knows? But they said specifically that there was nothing to do, and we, in fact, rebuffed them–

    Stephanopoulos: –they said there were hundreds–

    President Trump: It’s a phony–

    Stephanopoulos: –what they said is that–

    President Trump: They also said that there were bloggers in Moscow and they said specifically, about the bloggers in Moscow, had nothing to do with Trump, had nothing to do with the–and there were like 32 or 36 bloggers. We have nothing to do with bloggers in Moscow. I’ll tell you, you talk about collusion, take a look at the collusion with the Democrat party and Facebook and Google and Twitter. That’s called collusion, that’s called real collusion. Not where somebody buys some ads and the other thing, having to do with Russia, they were also helping the Clinton campaign, you know that? It wasn’t just Trump. And Putin, I will say this: if he had it, it was up to him. He would much rather have Hillary Clinton be president right now. And all of these countries would rather have Biden or anybody else but Trump.

    Stephanopoulos: He said he was trying to help elect you. He said that explicitly.

    President Trump: Well he might’ve said that after I won because it’s a smart thing to say, okay? Because frankly—

    Stephanopoulos: And Mueller says that he’s trying to do that.

    President Trump: Mueller said that we rebuffed Russia, that we pushed them away, that we weren’t interested. Read the report.

    Stephanopoulos: I have read the report. On that though, your son Don Jr. is up before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, and again, he was not charged with anything. In retrospect though, do you think—

    President Trump: –I mean not only wasn’t he charged, if you read it, with all of the horrible fake news, I mean, I was reading that my son was going to go to jail. This is a good young man. That he was going to go to jail and all of these horrible stories. And then the report comes out and they didn’t even say–they hardly even talked about him.

    Stephanopoulos: But should he have gone to the FBI when he got that email?

    President Trump: Okay, let’s put yourself in a position: you’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey I have information on your opponent.” Do you call the FBI?

    Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia you do.

    President Trump: You don’t– I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. I don’t–you don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do—

    Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.

    President Trump: Well, that’s different. A stolen briefing book. This isn’t– this is somebody who said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.

    Stephanopoulos: The FBI Director says that’s what should happen.

    President Trump: The FBI Director is wrong. Because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life. Now, maybe it will start happening. Maybe today you think differently. But two or three years ago, if somebody comes into your office with oppo research– they call it oppo research–with information that might be good or bad or something, but good for you, bad for your opponent, you don’t call the FBI. I would guarantee you that 90 percent, could be 100 percent, of the congressmen or the senators over there, have had meetings–if they didn’t they probably wouldn’t be elected– on negative information about their opponent. They don’t–

    Stephanopoulos: From foreign countries?

    President Trump: Possibly. Possibly. But they don’t call the FBI. You don’t call the FBI every time you hear something that maybe–now, you see the people. The meeting, it also sounds to me–I don’t know anything about that meeting–but it sounds to me like it was a big nothing. That meeting was a big nothing. But I heard about my son, who is a great young man, going to jail over a meeting where somebody said, “I have information on Hillary Clinton.” She’s the one that should be in jail. She deleted 33–

    Stephanopoulos: She should be in jail?

    President Trump: She deleted 33,000 emails from–sent by the United States Congress. They gave a subpoena to Hillary Clinton for 33,000 emails. After the subpoena was gotten, she deleted them. That’s called obstruction. And her lawyer should also be looked at because her lawyer–she’s got to have the greatest lawyer on earth because she does that, he did the deleting, supposedly. Not only did they delete, but they acid washed them.

    Stephanopoulos: That’s been investigated.

    President Trump: Now, that’s called the– no, no. No, no. It’s being investigated I assume now.

    Stephanopoulos: It’s been investigated.

    President Trump: I don’t know, I stay uninvolved. I stay totally uninvolved and I don’t talk to—

    Stephanopoulos: You haven’t asked the Justice Department to take a look into Hillary Clinton?

    President Trump: We have a great attorney general now. I don’t talk to my attorney general about that, but I’ll tell you what: when you send 33,000 emails– they requested 33,000 emails. She got the request. They deleted every one of them. Okay? If you did that, you would’ve been put in jail.

    Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?

    President Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen, there’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, “we have information on your opponent.” Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.

    Stephanopoulos: You want that kind of interference in our elections?

    President Trump: It’s not an interference, they have information. I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI. If I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research. Oh, let’s call the FBI. The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it, but you go and talk honestly to congressmen, they all do it, they always have. And that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.

    Stephanopoulos: Mr. President. Thank you.

    President Trump: Thank you. Okay. Fine.

    He was trying to do the Gish Gallop. George was well prepared, but there’s only so much you can do with someone doing that.

    We all know that Donnie isn’t going to suddenly say, “Goodness gracious! By George, George you’re right!!” ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @debbie:

    I have no idea. Schiff has read it, for damn sure.

    It’s weird, because on the one hand it’s more exciting and gripping than any Le Carré novel (which I find to be incredibly snoozeworthy). But since it’s real, it’s almost impossible to read, it’s so upsetting. Especially since nobody’s doing anything about it!

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Indeed. About as popular as plus fours.

    Scoff if you will, but they’re coming back. Tiger Woods was sporting a pair at the PGA Championship.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    There’s still some recognition that it’s barred though, because Trump blurted it out and then clumsily lied and denied he said it, so there’s something stopping them from admitting they have and will do it. There are things that make them nervous and things that don’t, and this is one that does. Trump or one of the low quality, sleazy hires (Barr) felt they had to backpedal and clean it up. So in this case “the norm” still stands- on sand, admittedly, but if they were confident they wouldn’t get caught and held accountable they wouldn’t do the flop-sweat lying. They still aren’t putting this chronic wrongdoing forth as a new, lower, legitimate standard. They deny.

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: @OzarkHillbilly:
    When I was regularly trying criminal cases I learned a very important fact about sweater vests:
    They are the weapon of a thin man.

    (Think Menendez brothers first trial….)

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    Good Christ. I’m glad I didn’t watch it, the transcript is disgusting enough without hearing his disgusting voice.

    Anyway, thanks for providing that. I guessed right re: the “but oppo isn’t stolen” bullshit, but he of course said the FBI Director doesn’t know the law, and so therefore no harm, no foul (or something like that) about a clear violation of the law. Even though we’ve had three years of it, I am still sometimes amazed at his inability to parrot anything other than “I’m the smartest person who ever lived and I know more than anyone, ever, about anything” insanity. I hope I survive this motherfucker.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Good point. That’s it’s still a net loss – lower standard- because two forward, one back. It might be easier to prove next time though because we’re past the initial denial period that this happened at all (which delayed revelations prior to the election, when they mattered) and law enforcement will be better at evidence-gathering because they have a map of how it’s done.

    They do get better at investigations. They see patterns in crimes and they get ahead of the criminals. There will be “copycats” and they’ll all follow the same pattern. The novelty was an advantage for Trump. He’s lost that now.

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: That’s a good synopsis. Thanks.

    One thing that just jumped out at me in the Transcript above – he basically said that Barr has been tasked with investigating Hillary. He can’t keep a secret to save his life. And that’s yet another reason why we have to be successful in getting him out of office on noon January 20, 2021.

    (And notice the number inflation – when he invited Vlad to break into the DNC servers, it was 30,000. Now it’s 33,000.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    MomSense

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’ve been listening to it. Last week I listened while weeding in the garden and I was tanking those weeds out by the roots. I’m finding that I’m not retaining the information as well as I normally do and I think it’s because it’s so upsetting. The anger and shock sort of overwhelm the part of my brain that processes information. There’s also just so much. I’m still shocked by the thing I heard three terrible things ago when something even worse is brought up.

  64. 64.

    JPL

    @Another Scott: I agree. It’s difficult to interview trump because reporters aren’t going to say but mr. president you’re lying. They should say that but they won’t.

  65. 65.

    plato

    @JPL:

    The third rate media punks didn’t have any qualms in holding Obama’s ‘feet to the fire’. They are all fucking bigoted toadies.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    George Stephanopoulos: You’re a fighter.

    Please, just stop now. Paying other people to fight your battles for you does not mean one is a fighter, it means one has too much money.

  67. 67.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @MomSense: I found Volume I hard to slog through, partly because I kept feeling like I’d heard about Manafort, Flynn, the Trump Tower Meeting, etc on the news, so it was hard for me to spot the new news value. But Volume II was clear and shocking. And unlike Volume I, it kept referring back to Trump himself, not the campaign.

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I completely agree with you, but that technique always works with Trump. Tell him something he thinks is a compliment about his manliness and he starts spilling the beans right away. He can’t help himself! And he doesn’t see the trap until he is in it, then he scrambles furiously to figure out how to free himself.

    A compliment to Trump is like a box to a cat.

  69. 69.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Were they plus fours or plus twos?

    I have to confess, I don’t know.

    Now it’s my turn to hang my head in shame. And I don”t have the sleep-deprivation excuse, only clue-deprivation.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @plato:

    They never atoned for the insanely excessive email coverage, which is a problem for me as far as their trustworthiness and credibility. They still deny it. I mean, come on. This happened. At no point in that 16 months of 24/7 flogging of the emails story did ANY of them see a problem? None of their owners/editors saw a problem? They go on what are to me the equivalent of drunken benders and instead of admitting they are addicts when they sober up and we all survey the wreckage we get these belligerent angry denials. Then they’re off on another bender.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    In other news, AFP via RawStory:

    The United Auto Workers union has suffered a fresh defeat at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, with workers narrowly voting down a move to organize the factory for a second time.

    The UAW has never managed to fully organize a US plant owned by a foreign manufacturer and a win at the German carmaker’s Chattanooga facility would have been a significant victory.

    But the 1,700-strong workforce at the factory rejected the move by a margin of 833-776 in a ballot that concluded Friday.

    The organizing effort was attacked by state Republicans and hampered by an ongoing federal corruption probe, with a former vice president of the auto union soon to be sentenced after pleading guilty to misappropriating funds.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    I find stuff like this to be infuriating. There’s a reason why “corrupt union bosses” and “corrupt big city Democrat[ic] machine” is such a powerful meme. There’s far too many people who are nominally on our side who are more interested in lining their pockets (or too stupid to keep from being in situations where it appears to a jury that they are corrupt). We need better people on our team.

    And we need to find a way to break the anti-union stranglehold that has been in place since at least August 1981.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I suppose, but then I have to explain all the ways he isn’t tough to the rubes who keep trying to tell me how “it’s about time we had a real man in the WH.”

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You do wonder why they bother, though. It must be soul-killing. They get him to blunder into an admission and it simply doesn’t matter. He denies he said it. Their giant, elaborate billion dollar industry is stymied by this one old fool lying his ass off. He only has one trick, and that one trick ties them in knots. Has for DECADES. He beats them every single time.

    Who knew it was this easy, right?

  75. 75.

    [email protected]

    I think it’s only fair that Canadian teams win championships until Trump is out of the White House. Let him eat his Quarter Pounders alone.

    — Schooley (@Rschooley) June 14, 2019

    Agreed. Anyone know the St. Louis Blues told Dump to go cry to Putin?

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    My planned float trip with my son and granddaughter has been called off due to the incessant rains and the intermittent thunder and lightning. Good thing too, being on a body of water in a 17′ aluminum lightning rod is not for the faint of heart. I can go till the day I die without repeating that experience.

  77. 77.

    germy

    History is being rewritten. This thread:

    I was at the dentist's office with my kids today and had the chance to start that recent Time Magazine cover story on Elizabeth Warren, and almost immediately ran into a sentence about 2016 that was flat out wrong, in a really troubling revisionist way.— N.S. Dolkart needs more sleep (@N_S_Dolkart) June 12, 2019

  81. 81.

    Chief Oshkosh

    That photo of Trump nuzzling Sanders? Caption: “President Trump smells Press Secretary Sanders’ hair; declares ‘Sleepy Joe might just be onto something here…'”

    BOTH SIDES DO IT! AMIRITE?!

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @mrmoshpotato: Doubtful, the closest thing they have to a black player is a guy named Jordan Schwartz. They do have 7 Left Wingers versus only 4 Right Wingers so who knows?

    eta

  85. 85.

    germy

    Great cover:

    Yana Peel, a human rights campaigner, chief executive of the Serpentine Galleries, and self-proclaimed champion of free speech is revealed as co-owner of the NSO Group, an Israeli cyber weapons firm, according to corporate records in the US and Luxembourg. https://t.co/Ne1Ry7TGhA— Chad Loder ✸ (@chadloder) June 14, 2019

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I feel like I had heard a lot of it before but not the details. For instance, hearing the string of communication regarding the search for the missing emails, hearing that Erik Prince hired people to evaluate the emails they received. Remember when Hillary was mocked in the 90s when she talked about a vast right wing conspiracy? They were all back together in this mess. That they were so blatant in their communications and Mueller apparently determined that he couldn’t prove conspiracy was shocking. My estimation of Mueller has deteriorated after this.

  91. 91.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    I’m sure Woods was not wearing plus fours. They are essentially clown pants.

    I’m sure I was not being serious. Just going for the cheap joke with NotMax.

  93. 93.

    debbie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    In anticipation of getting and reading the report, I am thinking about reading the executive summaries, then the appendices, and then Volume II. If my rage hasn’t caused me to stroke out by then, then I’ll read the first volume about the other guys. I’m more interested in Trump’s misbehavior.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    @Another Scott:

    Someone needs to look into recent transactions of those who voted against the union. Doubtless, someone’s been slipping them all something.

    Or am I too jaded?

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Immanentize:

    Tell him something he thinks is a compliment about his manliness and he starts spilling the beans right away.

    “Donnie, your hands are adult-sized, and your fingers are long and slender. Definitely not baby hands with short, stubby fingers like a short-fingered vulgarian.”

  97. 97.

    chris

    @OzarkHillbilly: I put this piece in the Brexit thread the other day. Here’s the why-we-can’t- have-nice-things quote that rings true in every western country:

    In that period the top rate of income tax was 95%: it’s now 45%. Business tax was 50%: it’s now 20%.

    Since 1980, tax avoidance by the wealthy has doubled. Combined with those giant tax cuts, this means we now get 25% of what we used to from those who own the most.

    Union membership was at 64% in the 70s. It’s now around 21%, and a mere 7% in the private sector. Every union in the world was, ultimately, formed by terrible employers. Now union power is gone, and guess what: the terrible employers are back.

    And we used to own steel, water, car, electricity, gas, postal and other industries. Then, because it would somehow, magically “make things better”, we sold them to other countries. So now we send all that money overseas.

    So what happened was this: every time you voted for smaller government and lower taxes, you voted to cut your income, pension, investment, and the availability of housing for your kids; and now you can’t afford to live well.

    Every time you despised those on welfare and chose meaner, crueler leaders, you kicked away a piece of the framework on which your future happiness was built. And now your happiness is gone and you need someone to blame.

  98. 98.

    germy

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “Donnie, your hands are adult-sized, and your fingers are long and slender. Definitely not baby hands with short, stubby fingers like a short-fingered vulgarian.”

    Donald, starting from nothing, as you did, and making yourself into a multi-billionaire with no help from anyone … don’t you agree that laws and rules shouldn’t apply to you?”

  100. 100.

    Kathleen

    @dnfree: Powerful film. Those Kentucky miners and their family are some of the most courageous people I’ve ever seen. TCM showed it last week.

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @SFAW:
    He’s probably in hock higher than that. He’s probably trying to keep that varmint that lives on top of that tub of lard on his shoulders alive.

  102. 102.

    sukabi

    @SFAW: less than ZERO. Soothing softball questions without follow up are his specialty. Lifelines and bailout questions are a close second.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:
    Think about it this way.
    You are relatively poor, your job prospects are slim (and you don’t have enough money to move to the big city and hunt for a job that you don’t expect to get) and along comes a huge plant and you get a job at a relatively decent pay rate. And along comes a union that wants you to pay them for their offer of a few pennies an hour higher pay. Your union dues wipes out the pay raise and you know the person who wants to be the union rep and don’t trust him not to skim off the top.
    What’s your decision now? Union? No Union?
    Not saying it’s the best decision, just that it’s not as simple as it sounds outside the rural areas these plants are built in.

  104. 104.

    joel hanes

    @NotMax:

    frogmen

    Boy, there’s a term that’s fallen out of use.

    Remember Sea Hunt, with Lloyd Bridges ?

    And IMHO there’s hardly a more soothing way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon than watching Jaques Cousteau and the crew of the Calypso. I wish that ran in syndication as often as Star Trek does …

  106. 106.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Ruckus: @Another Scott: @debbie: I deal with unions in Chattannoga, and my take is this:

    The South in general is hostile to unions. Tennessee has turned super red in the last 20 years. Chattanooga is, historically, the richest and whitest place in Tennessee, and is therefore even more hostile to unions.

    VW is considered the best employer in the area for blue collar jobs. The pay and benefits are excellent. My clients in Chattanooga lose employees to VW regularly.

    The employees I deal with are paid less than the VW folks (heh), but are still constantly considering decertification.

    I doubt there was any malfeasance in this vote. The union wasn’t offering anything better than what they already have economically, and would have taken a cut of those wages solely for the possibility of arbitrating disputes.

    As I’ve said here before, this country needs more and stronger unions*, but unions need to figure out how they are going to add value to workers in the modern economy.

    *does not apply to cops, umpires, and referees.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @Steve in the ATL:

    unions need to figure out how they are going to add value to workers in the modern economy

    Maybe be more vocal about what unions have done for workers over the generations when they first begin efforts to unionize. And also maybe point out the crap that happens when Right to Work becomes law.

  109. 109.

    Ruckus

    @Steve in the ATL:

    The union wasn’t offering anything better than what they already have economically, and would have taken a cut of those wages solely for the possibility of arbitrating disputes.

    The workers made a reasonable decision based upon the likely end result. They did the math and saw they would be worse off voting for the union.
    Unions are supposed to make a job life better. When they consistently make it no better or worse it isn’t the necessarily the best choice for the workers. This isn’t 100 yrs ago when unions were absolutely necessary for getting working people a fair wage and not having the shit beat out of them. And it isn’t all the union’s fault for this. And it’s entirely possible that unions will be a requirement in the future. But for a variety of reasons they are rather ineffective today. And it’s not because companies don’t have the power over the workers, they just don’t have the same kind of power that they did 100 yrs ago. And it isn’t that a lot of companies are actively working towards having a better workplace, many are not at all and are doing pretty much everything they can towards making this a slave labor country again. The concept of us working for little to nothing is a strong one for a lot of people who’d like to be or are owners. To them ownership is the economic driver, not the product/service delivered. There are more trumps out there than anyone would like to admit, because that’s a pretty shitty world.

  110. 110.

    Another Scott

    Ruckus and @Steve in the ATL: Thanks.

    I haven’t paid much attention to this vote (as compared to the earlier one). My understanding is that VW management (at least the management in Germany) wants a union (for some values of “wants”). One would think that if that’s the case, they could make sure that employees don’t end up in the hole after paying some fair value of dues.

    It’s hard to see things getting better for the lower and middle classes without something like increased union membership. (Maybe instead of calling it a “union” they should call it the “American Automobile Workers Society” or the “American Automobile Workers Association” or something…) It’s obviously a tough problem, but something needs to be done to push back against management and ownership’s overwhelming power.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  111. 111.

    Bill Arnold

    @EthylEster:
    Related:
    Here’s a recent piece (Bloomberg) on Donald J. Trump State Park in Westchester County, NY. Basically, it looks like it may have been provable tax substantial fraud but we don’t know because we haven’t seen his tax returns. (This story has been festering for years, good for L. Browning/Bloomberg for writing this. Bloomberg breaks stories and/or writes good pieces on a lot of interesting anti-Republican and anti-Tory topics.)
    A Failed Trump Golf Course Turned Into a Dilapidated New York State Park (Lynnley Browning, June 14, 2019)

    Despite the purchase price of $2.75 million, and a county assessment of $5.5 million at the time of the donation, Trump’s 2016 campaign said in a list of charitable donations published by The Washington Post that the land was worth $26.1 million.

    It’s impossible to tell if Trump did anything improper, since he has never released his tax returns.

    More fun links here. (The atlasobscura piece is amusing.)
    https://balloon-juice.com/2019/05/07/donald-trump-is-a-shite-businessman/#comment-7279874

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:
    A lot of people know or did know what unions have done. It isn’t all a clear cut pretty picture. But then working when unions were getting strong wasn’t always a pretty picture either. I’d bet that most often it was the exact opposite. But we have laws that we didn’t used to have that make working better. (some states are far better at this than others…. as you point out, the Right to work bullshit….) But the work that we do, the education that is often required, for some jobs the license required, the hour limits, overtime pay, working conditions, none of that existed when unions were absolutely necessary. Unions helped change all of that and more. Which made them less necessary. Will it swing back? Doubtful it will go all the way back, not that many are not trying to do just that but working life is a lot better than it was even when I started working in a machine shop at 13 yrs old. I’ve shown pictures of that to the guys I work with now and they can’t believe the differences. And that was a place that was trying not to hurt the workers and paid well. As bad as it seems some days it’s not the same as it used to be, in my lifetime.

  113. 113.

    laura

    @Steve in the ATL: Safety on the job. 5 people died in two crane accidents in the last month. California now requires crane operators to be certified – written exams, practicle exams, medical exam and drug test. My Union’s President is on the certifying body. I am currently negotiating/fighting with the County to pay a differential to Members who have achieved certification – while the employer paid for the test, they provided no training, and only a few passed the examination process. They are attempting to have the rest of the crew train on the job – contrary to the regulations. They have had a worker die in a crane accident about 10 years ago. Supervisor called to notify his wife that her husband died on the job – lacked the decency to go to her home to deliver the news. In the absence of Unions, the rate of on the job deaths goes nowhere but up.
    Every worker should expect to go home at the end of the day. Employers suffer few if any consequences when workers die on the job. Unions’ commitment to worker safety is a good reason to pay dues.

  114. 114.

    Steve in the ATL

    @debbie:

    Maybe be more vocal about what unions have done for workers over the generations when they first begin efforts to unionize.

    Unions got us weekends and overtime pay and safe workplaces, but everyone working today grew up with laws such as FLSA and OSHA, so what unions did for their grandparents isn’t important. Unions need to add value today like they did back then, or things are going to get even worse for us.

    @Another Scott:

    My understanding is that VW management (at least the management in Germany) wants a union (for some values of “wants”). One would think that if that’s the case, they could make sure that employees don’t end up in the hole after paying some fair value of dues.

    Management does want a union, but already pays the top of the market and is not going to increase pay to get one. It’s illegal to offer more pay to keep a union out; have never seen a case where a company offered more pay to get a union IN….

    It’s hard to see things getting better for the lower and middle classes without something like increased union membership. … It’s obviously a tough problem, but something needs to be done to push back against management and ownership’s overwhelming power.

    Yes and yes. But fox news adn the right wing noise machine have brainwashed tens of millions of voters who could do something about this.

  115. 115.

    EthylEster

    @Bill Arnold: I like how the WaPo article I linked to makes Forbes look almost as slimy as Trump.

    There’s a word for all this: corruption.

  116. 116.

    Steve in the ATL

    @laura:

    Every worker should expect to go home at the end of the day.

    We can all agree on that. In my experience, big and/or public companies are very serious about safety. No one wants OSHA on their backs, and I typically see management and union leadership working together to ensure safe workplaces. There are of course outliers, and there will always be accidents in dangerous environments. I had a case once where a crane operator dropped a container on a longshoreman, but almost every accident I saw at the ports was caused by longshoremen getting sloppy or not paying attention.

    Ports and factories and mills are dangerous places, and people will get hurt and sometimes killed, but every employer I’ve ever dealt with has tried to minimize that.

  117. 117.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Another Scott: @Ruckus: @debbie: I’ll share a recent union/company success I negotiated: company has trouble hiring and retaining electricians because of demand and cost. We set up an apprenticeship program where the union trains people to be electricians. The union pays the trainers and the company pays the apprentices. Win/win. Unions need to find a whole lot more of that type of thing to survive, much less grow.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    @Steve in the ATL:

    That sounds like a natural for unions, like professional development for teachers. Is there resistance from union leadership for that kind of program?

    @Ruckus:

    I don’t care how young they are, they should still be grateful for collective bargaining.

  119. 119.

    L85NJGT

    @chris
    The glory of the 1970’s UK – they’ve just conveniently forget how shitty it all was. Unemployment through the roof, rolling blackouts, worn out infrastructure, collapsing domestic industries. The death rattle of a colonial exploiting, steel & coal war machine-cum-economic system.

    @Another Scott:
    Between automation and insurance liability, much of the death & dismembering shit work that radicalized work places is gone. In the good ol’ days industrial estates had about ten times the workforce, and the eliminated job functions have fallen heavily on low skill, low pay work. I’d bet the vote fell along income lines.

    Workforce mobility is another factor. Employees drive off after a shift rather than walk to the bar across from the plant entrance, in the same neighborhood every line employee lived. It has never been just about economic justice. There was always a significant social role that unions played, and ideals of brotherhood and fellowship are just as important to organizing.

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    @Steve in the ATL

    One should also give a nod in the direction of progressive (in the context of the time) owners such as George Westinghouse, the quick demise of whose company was (falsely) predicted by outraged competitors after he mandated that Saturday be a half day of work for his employees, for example (in 1881).

  121. 121.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:
    They should. Just like we should be thankful for OSHA, which unions helped us get.
    My comment was somewhat about what we have gained, how much more can we get? Life isn’t always safe, no matter what is done making things is going to be somewhat dangerous. We can, do and should minimize the dangers as much as possible. But things made by humans will at some point fail, if used past their abilities. That includes other humans, we fail all the time when we go past our abilities. The world will never be a completely safe place. I rode motorcycles for 51 yrs, raced for a few of those, have over 1/2 million miles traveled on 2 wheels. I’ve ridden across this country, twice and circumnavigated New Zealand, both islands. Been on the ground twice. Once my first day, once 25 yrs ago. I’ve lived a dangerous life, I wish some things were different, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve learned about myself, my limits, my self imposed limitations – I stopped ridding because I no longer can control the bike well enough that my survival is in question. I know those who refuse to make that decision. And pay for it. All of this is to say that we make choices, we live with choices that others make that we have no control of. People we trust and elect send us to war for bullshit reasons. Things break, things that shouldn’t. Life isn’t simple, if we are smart we try to minimize the dangers, but we can’t control everything. And if you could, how many people would like your controls? We are born imperfect, we develop cancer, we go to war, we drive too fast, we fall asleep at the wrong time, we drink and drive, we think we are invincible, some of us even after we find out we aren’t.
    The world isn’t perfect, life isn’t perfect, it never will be,

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @Steve in the ATL:
    The business my dad started and ran for 15 yrs that I then took over and ran for 18 more, we had apprentices working there for about 25 of those years. It is the only way to get people reasonably trained and with enough concept of safety to have a reasonable career. What can be missing is that after an apprenticeship is passed is seeing those people getting a good job, which requires government to protect them with OSHA, with reasonable minimum wage/hours, etc. We shouldn’t have to depend upon unions to do that, but of course we do because “TAXES.”

  123. 123.

    EthylEster

    @Steve in the ATL wrote: Ports and factories and mills are dangerous places, and people will get hurt and sometimes killed, but every employer I’ve ever dealt with has tried to minimize that.

    BP is the exception to the rule. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a295/1758242/

    From the linked article:

    Texas City knows industrial facilities and their dangers. Often referred to as “Toxic City,” it is home to four chemical plants and three refineries. The sprawling BP complex, built in 1934, is the third largest of 149 petroleum refineries nationwide. At night it glows like a forested landscape of steel Christmas trees, strung with flickering safety lights. Since records were kept in 1971, there have been at least nine other accidents at the refinery that injured or killed workers, but the explosion on March 23 was by far the most destructive.

    And, of course, who could forget Deepwater Horizon!

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