Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

The revolution will be supervised.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

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

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

When we show up, we win.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Respite for the Rest of Us Open Thread: Drew Magary Is An Excellent Read

Respite for the Rest of Us Open Thread: Drew Magary Is An Excellent Read

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If you are a devout member of the Church of the Bleeding-Heart Liberal, it can sometimes be hard to stay single-minded in your choice of target. Maybe they had a difficult childhood! Maybe they’re just too dumb to understand what they’re saying! But then there are people like NYTimes opinionator Bret Stephens, who are richly compensated to say unforgivable things — and, bless him, people like Drew Magary who are (much less richly) compensated to respond:

… Bret Stephens went ahead and ruined everyone else’s by scribbling out a bunch of racist bumper sticker slogans in the New York Times. And this time, ol’ Bret did so without the veneer of preciousness that he usually grants to everything he touches…

Nothing bad is gonna happen to Bret Stephens for this, of course. He lives in the same magical fairy-tale land other conservative dudes live in where they receive the largest bullhorn and grandest sum of money possible to cry out to the world that they’ve been sent to the guillotine for daring to speak their precious truths… The Times isn’t gonna fire Bret Stephens. That joint employs some genuinely excellent take havers, such as Charles Blow. But the people in charge over there know that what REALLY drives engagement is letting smug pricks like Stephens and Bari Weiss and four-eyed penis David Brooks scream DEMOCRATS DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO PLEASE ME from inside the battlements of a supposed fortress of impregnable liberalism…

Stephens should apologize for being who he is every fucking day of the week. He’s a repulsive slug of a man. That the Times would let Stephens indulge in the cycle of saying nasty shit and then arrogantly proclaiming that he expects people like Soledad O’Brien—who has had herself quite a week interacting with enormous alt-right shitbags—to apologize to him for daring to question him, is emblematic of the way the paper of record allows itself to get worked over by our least oppressed members of society positing that they are actually history’s greatest victims. Employing Bret Stephens means the Times gets to dodge criticism for being too liberal by going, “Look guys, we even let a shithead like Bret Stephens onto our pages!” Therefore, Stephens gets ample inches of column space to sort out who counts as a real American and who does not, and even makes sure to take an indirect jab at people who seek refuge here and end up dying because of the right wing’s institutional hatred and indifference toward them. And then… THEN… he gets to performatively wallow in the misery he’s sown…

And Stephens, of all people, has the predictable gall to say that everyone ELSE is the reason Trump is gonna win in 2020. It couldn’t possibly be because supposed guardians of democracy have foolishly offered STEPHENS asylum, helping disseminate his garbage into the mainstream and to act as sentry for the entrenched powers that be, and then paying him handsomely for the privilege. Nooooo… couldn’t be. I’d tell this pile of shit to take a look in the mirror. But I already know he’d gladly take me up on the offer, just for all the wrong reasons.

STAY STRONG, MR. MAGARY!

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  2. 2.

    Neldob

    The bunghole is a climate change denier and is the opposite of loyal opposition. I have written to the nyt about him twice and I hope they get buried in outraged letters. He is neither principled nor conservative.

  3. 3.

    JaneE

    Maybe someone should point out to Bret Stephens that the first European language spoken in the western hemisphere was Spanish. And yes, that included some of those parts of the western hemisphere that have since been overrun by English speaking invading immigrants and incorporated into what is now the USA.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    Casual racism seems to have rotted their minds of the areas where it would normally tell them not to use their outside voice with their casual racism.

    And the FNYT pays them for it. I am so thankful the Times gets zero coin from me.

  5. 5.

    Roger Moore

    @Neldob:

    I have written to the nyt about him twice and I hope they get buried in outraged letters.

    Being buried in outraged letters is exactly why FTFNYT loves him. They’re in the business of selling papers and clicks, and outrage is a proven way of doing it. His employer would be much angrier if they got only a handful of tepid letters, or no letters at all, in response to his columns; that would be proof that he’s not “driving engagement”.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Overheard at dinner. Four old white guys at the table behind me. One of them starts talking about his great-granddaughter, age 9, who’s been invited to testify before Congress. She has diabetes and that’s the subject she’s asked to talk on, so I assume it’s a health insurance hearing. Anyway, the kid said she was excited to testify but she didn’t want to meet “Mr. Trump.” That left them all reeling for a minute, until one of them joked she should be severely beaten. He then asked where she was from, I assume checking to see if we were talking about “western liberalism” here. For the record, she’s from Maine. Her great-grandfather said he knew the younger generation was liberal. He just didn’t know it went down to age 9.

    Anyway, he sounded proud of her and no one got too bent out of shape. But it was an interesting moment.

  11. 11.

    trollhattan

    I {heart} Drew Magary and am glad we still have him among us after his recent scare/deep dive into our healthcare industrial complex.

    Take it to these fuckers hammer and tongs, Mr. Magary!

    “I have known [obvious Nazi] twenty years and he does not have a [Nazi] bone in his body.” Nazism and racism don’t begin in the skeleton, you fucking knob.

  12. 12.

    Barbara

    I have refused to read Bret Stephens after he penned his screed mocking the white working class. Source I will not give the NYT the benefit of my clicks for shit as stinky as what Bret Stephens writes.

    But try to imagine that the same person who boldly satirized that we should deport aggrieved white people in favor of immigrants also wrote his most recent column, basically an “us versus them” slur on immigrants. So it seems that Bret Stephens thinks that he and people like him are who Nietzsche talked about as ubermensch, destined to rule the rest of us, and that Democrats and basically everyone else should part like the Red Sea so that Bret can have his wonderful life sucking up to billionaires.

  13. 13.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trollhattan:

    Nazism and racism don’t begin in the skeleton, you fucking knob.

    LMAO!

    “Skeletal Nazis. I hate skeletal Nazis.”

  14. 14.

    scav

    If America is so damn full as they insist it is, then bring on the manatory abortions, right!? We’re full we’re full!

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    Alright, alright, alright, don’t know if I posted bout it at BJ, but I a little over a week ago, I applied for this position as a Microbiology Lab Education Coordinator. It’s a non-bench position, and from what I got from the listing…it’s low-level mgmt position.

    I’ve been thinking for a while now about geting out of the lab as a bench tech and instead getting into mgmt, supervisor or higher. Microbiology is my first love, but it’s hard to find positions above bench tech that will allow me to continue in some capacity in the Micro lab but NOT have to be bothered with the ego and attitudes that you get from doctors and administrators.

    It’s also the case that it’s hard to find lead or supervisory positions in Micro because folks don’t just leave the job until death, retirement, or life changing event. My pursuit of the HCM degree is an attempt to circumvent that route to a supervisory/management position. Obviously I just started the degree program, so I’ve got at least another 1 1/2 -2 yrs before graduating…and this position could be a perfect experience to add to my resume along with the HSM Masters!

    Long story short…I applied…I heard back today and they want to set up a phone inteerview to discuss my qualifications!! I’m hoping to set it up for this Wednesday or the next Wednesday!

    Anyhoo, as the elders say, I’m stepping out on faith and claiming this job as mine until it isn’t!

  19. 19.

    Mary G

    The butthurt outrage over the “how dare you call me a racist” on Twitter was amusing over the weekend. Max Boot is an example of a Never-Trumper Republican that’s going to put Twitler in the “disappeared and we don’t ever speak of him,” just like the did GWB. He’ll be praising Tom Cotton or whoever their next nominee, even though he’ll disagreed with all his policies, because he’s a serious person in comparison with President Warren/Harris.

  20. 20.

    piratedan

    i don’t give a fuck if his bones are bigoted, his thought processes obviously are

  25. 25.

    debbie

    They broke the rules to get into this country. We didn’t.

    Odds are pretty good that his family members in fact did break the rules to get into this country.

  30. 30.

    Origuy

    @JaneE:

    Maybe someone should point out to Bret Stephens that the first European language spoken in the western hemisphere was Spanish.

    Actually it was Old Norse, but that didn’t last long.

  31. 31.

    Martin

    Bret may not have a bigoted bone, but he’s got a bunch of bigoted organs and muscles to write that paragraph.

  32. 32.

    tokyokie

    Bret may not have a bigoted bone in his body, but then his sort usually has ectoskeletons.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Origuy: It is my understanding that there was a group of indigenous people in the Nova Scotia area who said “skål” before drinking anything.

  37. 37.

    lamh36

    Yesss…. AG Tish…I love the “…call me Mr. Tibbs” vibe of it!

    As the elected AG of NY, I have a sworn duty to protect & uphold state law. My office will follow the facts of any case, wherever they lead.

    Make no mistake: No one is above the law, not even the President.

    P.S. My name is Letitia James. (You can call me Tish.)

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    Hey Max, why don’t you (or Stephens) tell us exactly what ‘principles’ ol’ Bret has that are worth defending here?

    I’ll wait. I have a funny feeling they involve bootstraps regardless of whether or not folks have boots

  40. 40.

    Origuy

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve never heard that, but I suppose it’s possible. The Norse didn’t last long in Newfoundland, and according to the Vinlandsagas didn’t interact much with the locals, but the Norse Greenlanders probably traded with them for centuries.

  42. 42.

    Peale

    I really don’t want to hear about “rules” from European Americans, who in bulk migrated here following a different set of rules altogether. And have specifically set up an legal immigration system with rules that are purposefully meant to mute the potential political power of working class Mexican and Central American immigrants. Someone kept on changing the rules, and it wasn’t the guy working as a day laborer or the woman working in a hotel.

    Who set the caps so low that it takes a decade to reunite a family. Who threw up barriers like English tests and history exams? Who keeps raising the costs to apply for naturalization? Who is that supposed to help?

    Here’s a nice rule change that could have 8.3 million children taken out of CHIP so that their parents won’t lose their legal residency status. And no, these aren’t just the children of “illegals”. They are the children of green card holders, and many of those children are citizens. Who decided that that was an issue. And with this rule almost every refugee who hasn’t become a citizen could now end up without a visa because someone, most likely a nice church resettlement worker, legally signed them up.

    Who made it so?

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    four-eyed penis David Brooks

    I’m still laughing.

    (P.S. When the new site is rolled out, will we be able to say “penis” without getting thrown in the slammer?)

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    Uhhh, wut? Sure Rafael, sure thing.

    That’s it, I’m having some lawyer to declare me to be Bill Gates so I can harvest Bill Gates’ Microsoft stock. That should be plenty.

  51. 51.

    Just Chuck

    “They speak Spanish. We don’t.”

    Who’s this “we”, pendejo?

    Not a racist bone my ass. This is racism as naked as it gets.

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    Not really a complete concern here, but…
    1) I saw a Lachlan Markay (don’t know him) tweet with a picture of a pro-trumpov “float”, more or less, being pulled down Connecticut Ave blasting “God Bless America” this afternoon, and
    2) I personally saw a big ol’ pickup truck with its very large trumpov freak flag flying from the back, asshole bumper stickers and what not all over the truck, etc, just yesterday in Fairfax, VA – not exactly a hotbed of blood-red conservatism

    It’ll be interesting to see if this is some sort of under-the-radar intimidation attempt, or at the very least a paid attempt to create the illusion of support for this criminal regime. They’re already putting up fake Facebook ads with younger folks (using stock photos) and they’ve already got the fake Biden site going.

    Keep your eyes and ears open, peeps.

  55. 55.

    Barbara

    @burnspbesq: Max Boot’s previous high dudgeon was over his good friend Eliott Abrams being shamed (if he were capable of shame) by Congress when he testified because of his supposed expertise in dealing with the situation in Venezuela.

  57. 57.

    Jay

    The Russian government paid a Florida-based radio broadcasting company $1.4 million between November 2017 and June 2019 to air Russian propaganda (from Sputnik) in Washington, DC, 24 hours a day during that time period. https://t.co/xZ9Ph2FnU7— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) July 1, 2019

    “We found that exposure to Russian propaganda may have helped change American minds in favor of Republican candidate Trump.” https://t.co/PvEfjUYFYl— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) July 1, 2019

  60. 60.

    AnotherBruce

    “We already paid those taxes.” Say What Bret? You and your corporate friends have it all set up to avoid paying taxes. Maybe you’re too fucking stupid to take those advantages, but don’t go whining about taxes. So how are your Republican tax breaks coming along?

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Free Willy!

    LOL! The makers of that movie franchise could have named that Orca anything — Algernon, or Clarence, or Oreo, or Mr. Purr Puff — but NO! they gave him a name and film title ripe for 10,000 prepubescent-boy jokes.

    ** Innocently ** Do you suppose they did that on purpose?

    (Or “on porpoise,” because I know someone will go there if I don’t preëmpt right smartish.)

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    Nothing bad is gonna happen to Bret Stephens for this, of course.

    I wouldn’t be so sure about this. Lots of things can happen when everything goes to hell.

  63. 63.

    lamh36

    this thread from Joaquin Castro!!

    @JoaquinCastrotx
    Our border patrol system is broken. And part of the reason it stays broken is because it’s kept secret. The American people must see what is being carried out in their name. The
    @HispanicCaucus
    led a delegation of members of Congress to visit 2 border patrol facilities.
    6:33 PM · Jul 1, 2019 · Twitter for iPhone

    https://twitter.com/JoaquinCastrotx/status/1145837840405860353?s=20

  65. 65.

    George

    The worship of “job creators” that is preached by conservatives is foolish.

    Anyone who buys goods and services is a job creator. The idea that there is some blessed class of “job creators” in America to whom we must genuflect because They Say We Have To is a sham.

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    @Origuy:
    If you wish to be pedantic- and I often lean that way- the prime meridian runs through Greenwich, so substantial chunks of Europe are in the Western Hemisphere. That means people have been speaking European languages in the Western Hemisphere since time immemorial.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m both repelled and fascinated that they’re still trotting out the idea that Trumpkins create jobs and pay taxes

  69. 69.

    Barbara

    The continental divide between North America and Europe is in Iceland. However, culturally, Iceland is the far western edge of Europe, and not the far eastern edge of the Americas.

  70. 70.

    BlueDWarrior

    @George: We don’t have kings to worship as the avatar of the Gods, so we are creating our own to fill in the gaps in our mind.

    Basically I’m saying that conservatives are mental degenerates, but I don’t think that’s a controversial assertion… here at least.

  73. 73.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Hahahahaha!! Because severely beating a nine year old is such a freaking joke. Hope the kid does well with her testimony and is spared from meeting the Orange Bigot.

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    substantial chunks of Europe are in the Western Hemisphere

    Memory, and the quickest of map checks, tells me that European countries in the Western Hemisphere are largely most of the U.K., France, Spain, and Portugal. (I’m not including the tinies like Andorra and Monaco.)

    I play a couple of daily online trivia quizzes which sometimes include categories of “Eastern Hemisphere” countries, and the answers, though accurate, are often a surprise.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’m both repelled and fascinated that they’re still trotting out the idea that Trumpkins create jobs and pay taxes

    Almost 40 years now of:
    – “Government IS the problem!”
    – welfare queen moochers
    – bucks with t-bones
    – ‘dirty’ immigrants (my bad: that one is actually 200 years old)
    – trickle-down economics
    – demonizing liberals as anti-American
    – class warfare, gender warfare, gay rights, all of it
    – “the rich are the job creators!”
    – “taxation is theft!”
    – “WE’RE the ones who pay all the taxes!”

    and this is what happens, I guess.

    It’s the only smear job that is older than the one they put on Hillz.

  79. 79.

    Roger Moore

    @scav:
    If you’re going to claim that there was no Western Hemisphere until the prime meridian was established, that’s fine, but in that case it doesn’t make much sense to talk about which European language was first spoken there.

  80. 80.

    lamh36

    @lamh36:
    thx guys,

    I’m hoping the recruiter responds tomorrow and schedules the phone interview for this Wednesday so I don’t have to go through the long holiday weekend with anticipation.

    But I do know that many folks might take the day before the 4th off from work…so we’ll see, I might still have to wait until next week…boo hoo

  83. 83.

    Miss Bianca

    @lamh36:

    I’m stepping out on faith and claiming this job as mine until it isn’t!

    Yay, yes, lamh! Love your philosophy as expressed in this last sentence! And best of luck to you!

  84. 84.

    Jay

    @lamh36:

    Best wishes.

    “How well do you perform under pressure?”

    “Not well at all, but I can do a pretty good Bohemian Rapsody.”

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @George:
    I was a job creator for decades. OK my customers customers customers, were the job creators but still, I signed the paychecks. What I did was be the conduit for that money that we earned building tools that the customers used to create the things that their customers bought to sell to everyone – their customers.
    IOW Yep. The only job creators are the people who purchase the products from the money they earn selling products and services to each other. And a lot of the rich folks production is based upon all the rest of us using money. They produce nothing, they prosper from moving money, something that does nothing for anyone but themselves.

  86. 86.

    Jay

    Tombs feature headstones or metal crosses, bearing pictures of Jesus and the Virgin of Guadalupe, and many are decorated with bursts of color from vivid pink, orange and blue artificial flowers (that don’t wither in the summer’s brutal heat).

    But dotted amid the decorated graves there is the sudden, jarring sight of plain, wooden crosses.

    One has scrawled on it in Spanish: “24 April 2019. Unidentified male recovered from the Rio Bravo approximately 300 meters from the black bridge in the Morelos neighborhood.”

    It’s one of three pauper’s graves in the cemetery that this year became the final resting place of last resort for migrants who drowned in the nearby Rio Grande, which in Mexico is known as the Rio Bravo, but who could not be identified by Mexican authorities.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/29/migrants-drowning-rio-grande-river-deaths-us-mexico-border

  87. 87.

    TenguPhule

    Mexico’s migration crackdown overwhelms its shelters, antagonizes its neighbors

    Everyone who listens to Trump suffers the consequences.

  88. 88.

    different-church-lady

    Even if you grant Stevens the benefit of the ironic voice, I still have no idea what the hell he thinks Democrats can do to win over his generic catoon racist voters other than pandering to their racism.

  90. 90.

    TenguPhule

    As Ocasio-Cortez visited the Texas facility, NBC News revealed an internal Department of Homeland Security report saying that conditions inside an El Paso, Texas, facility were so dire that as early as May, border agents were arming themselves against possible riots.

    Inspectors at the facility noted “only four showers were available for 756 immigrants, more than half of the immigrants were being held outside, and immigrants inside were being kept in cells maxed out at more than five times their capacity”, NBC reported. “A cell meant for a maximum of 35 held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep.

    “With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks,” the report continued.

    Middle Ages Conditions is going to lead to Middle Ages Retribution.

  92. 92.

    TenguPhule

    At a news conference last week, the homeland security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, assured the public that the detention centers were “clean and well managed”, despite a legal report documenting children inside the centers with insufficient food and wearing soiled clothing and diapers.

    “All of this received relatively little attention and little action until this past week on the Hill,” McAleenan told the news conference. “But unsubstantiated allegations regarding a single border patrol facility in Clint station in Texas created a sensation.”

    Baghdad Bob should complain that they’re stealing his act.

  93. 93.

    Lit3Bolt

    Dean Baquet: We need more clicks damnit! I asked you for clicks and retweets!

    Bret Stephens: Sir, I have an article ready for the op-ed pages where I type out the n-word 800 times.

    Dean Baquet: Run it.

  95. 95.

    Jay

    Meanwhile, one refrain we‘ve heard is that people are overcrowded in CBP concentration camps because the shelters (which are humane places where families can stay together) are full.So we went to a shelter. They said that wasn’t true at all. Only 150/500 spots were filled. pic.twitter.com/E0yPQ3o7CC— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019

  96. 96.

    Kay

    Regular Republicans lost their own primary with stuff like “job creators”.
    Why don’t they work on Republicanism and try to make it more appealing to Republican voters? Seems a stretch to think Republican voters rejected it and Democratic voters will pick it up.
    They’re scolding us because they don’t want to talk to or about their own base, who overwhelmingly approve of and admire Donald Trump. Go lecture them.

  98. 98.

    ALurkSupreme

    Reason # [Jupiter and beyond the infinite] why the MFNYFT will not get another cent from me. Although I do still enjoy stealing their Xword puzzles online. (Thanks, Seattle Times!)

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    Josh Dawsey
    ✔
    @jdawsey1
    Trump tells pool in Oval Office there will be tanks at July 4 celebration, as we reported this morning. “And we’re gonna have some tanks stationed outside… So we have to put them in certain areas but we have the brand new Sherman tanks and we have the brand new Abram tanks.”

    1,460
    11:26 AM – Jul 1, 2019

    Congressional investigators, who asked for the committee not to be named as they carry out their inquiries, tell CNN that a State Department whistleblower has raised multiple issues over a period of months, about special agents being asked to carry out some questionable tasks for the Pompeo family. In April, for example, an agent was asked to pick up Chinese food — without Pompeo in the car. The whistleblower said this led agents to complain that they are now serving as “UberEats with guns,” which has created a buzz within the department, according to multiple Democratic congressional aides who cited the whistleblower…

    Another day ending in MADRE DE DIOS WHY?!

  100. 100.

    TenguPhule

    The Iranian regime took action today to increase its uranium enrichment. It was a mistake under the Iran nuclear deal to allow Iran to enrich uranium at any level. There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms. We must restore the longstanding nonproliferation standard of no enrichment for Iran. The United States and its allies will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

    Maximum pressure on the Iranian regime will continue until its leaders alter their course of action. The regime must end its nuclear ambitions and its malign behavior.

    Compare and contrast to Trump’s foofing of Kim Jong Un.

    We are so fucked.

  101. 101.

    Keith P.

    @TenguPhule: Hopefully, that puts an end to any thoughts of VP Pompeo. But knowing Trump, not if they can find some staffer to pin it on (and fire, and then hire onto the Trump 2020 campaign)

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @TenguPhule:

    Greg Miller @ gregpmiller
    Trump says July 4 celebration will have “brand new Sherman tanks.”

    Sherman tanks haven’t been in service since 1957.

    large parts of his brain are frozen in different years. This one fits in with my theory that the happiest day of his childhood was when one of his father secretaries took him to the movies on a Saturday and bought him candy. He saw Sherman tanks on the newsreels. That’s where I think Space Force comes from. Also…

    eorge Conway @ gtconway3d
    I wonder if he knows what date the fourth of july is on

  106. 106.

    lgerard

    @Just Chuck:

    “They speak Spanish. We don’t.”

    Someone might point out to Mr Stephens that he himself speaks Spanish, which he learned when he was welcomed as an immigrant in Mexico

  107. 107.

    TenguPhule

    Francesca Chambers
    ✔
    @fran_chambers
    Trump in the Oval on ICE deportations, per print pooler @toddgillman: “After July 4 a lot of people are going to be brought back out. So people that come up maybe here for a short while, but they’re going to be gone, they’re going back to their countries.”

    4
    11:51 AM – Jul 1, 2019

    The fucking ICE raids are back on again.

  110. 110.

    TenguPhule

    @Keith P.: All of Trump’s appointees are doing this. Its a pattern. The fucking rules don’t apply to any of them. There’s no accountability, they just quit and drop off the radar.

    I want retribution. They all owe American taxpayers a pound of flesh and we should get to dictate where it comes from.

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Mr. Trump, who is to speak at the celebration, has requested that the chiefs for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines stand next to him as aircraft from each of their services fly overhead and their respective hymns play on loudspeakers. […]
    The president’s decision also reflects the divide between Mr. Trump and the forces at his command. Top military officials have expressed deep concern about letting the armed forces be used by the president to advance a political agenda, and earlier resisted his efforts for a military parade on Veterans Day.

    Remember when we were told St Mattis was a scholar deeply concerned with the role of the military in our Republic. I’m sure he and other patriotic retired military will speak up soon. His fellow scholar-warrior McMaster was posing for selfies with Princess Grifterella a couple weeks back, maybe he could have a word to behind the throne. Colin Powell may say something. As long as his speaking fee is paid. And nothing he says interferes with future speaking fees.

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    @different-church-lady:

    Even if you grant Stevens the benefit of the ironic voice, I still have no idea what the hell he thinks Democrats can do to win over his generic catoon racist voters other than pandering to their racism.

    Exactly! We’re supposed to reassure racists about what, how, exactly?

    I’m with Kay – they need to talk to their own voters, these REPUBLICANS, and figure out how to get them back on a path to sanity. It’s not the Democrats’ job to change course to accommodate their inability to enforce some/any sort of principles on their side.

    Also: Stephens is just like this garbage from Howard Schultz and vice versa. It’s not “independent” or “centrist” to want to pander to GOP voters with Racism Lite, or to pretend that the slightest of tax increases (ie, restoring our national budget) to the 1% (ie, ‘people of means’ – FU very much Schultz) is some huge burden to “job creators”.

  115. 115.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    His fellow scholar-warrior McMaster was posing for selfies with Princess Grifterella a couple weeks back, maybe he could have a word to behind the throne. Colin Powell may say something. As long as his speaking fee is paid. And nothing he says interferes with future speaking fees.

    It must be so soothing, to just abandon one’s principles…nothing outlandish, just lay them down quietly and ‘go with the flow’…for a selfie or a big fat check or both.

    I know they don’t have trouble sleeping at night so I don’t wish them nightmares…just perhaps a few fewer nights, period.

  116. 116.

    dmsilev

    @Peale: He’s probably remembering toy soldiers he played with as a kid.

    Edit: I was curious so looked it up. Last M4s were built in July of 1945. Last people to use them in anger seems to have been the Israelis in 1967.

  118. 118.

    Mary G

    @Miss Bianca: Hey, husky expert, Kodiak has started to shed like crazy. Also his coat looks terrible with tuffs sticking out. Do you recommend a particular brush or brushes I can get and give to the young men? Their mom is at Defcon 1.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: not a vet, don’t know anything about huskies, but that sounds like it might be an allergy

  122. 122.

    Mary G

    When the representatives from Congress viewed immigrant shelters today, the were required to turn over all electronics including cell phones and cameras. Most did, but Joaquin Castro snuck a phone in.

    This moment captures what it’s like for women in CBP custody to share a cramped cell—some held for 50 days—for them to be denied showers for up to 15 days and life-saving medication. For some, it also means being separated from their children. This is El Paso Border Station #1. pic.twitter.com/OmCAlGxDt8— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 1, 2019

  123. 123.

    Amir Khalid

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I remember sitting in a movie theatre at the Galleria in Rochester, Minnesota, waiting to see Schindler’s List. The trailer for Free Willy came on and its title drew laughs from a few members of the audience.

  129. 129.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mary G:
    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    I don’t have a husky. But one thing I’ve learned from the Gone To The Snow Dogs channel on YouTube is that huskies shed a lot when the weather turns warm i.e. once they’re done with their winter coats. I’ve seen Jessie, who runs the channel, use a snow blower to de-fluff her three girls, as well as some pretty heavy-duty vacuum cleaners around the house.

  135. 135.

    Barbara

    @Mary G: The worst offenders were all House reps, which should give you some insight into how Congress operates and how infested it is with corruption. Tom Daschle was not an aberration.

  136. 136.

    Mary G

    @Amir Khalid: Sounds like what’s going in here; it just got warmer and I had to pull the fan out. The shedding was no big deal Saturday, yesterday and today it was like tumbleweeds of hair all over.

  140. 140.

    CarolPW

    @Mary G: Huskiys “blow” their coats when it gets hot. Under the current mess is a nice sleek summer hairdo (so don’t cut the mess out, it could damage the summer coat). The advantage is that for the rest of the summer they shed much less than other dogs having gotten rid of it all at once. They also do a mini coat blow in the fall in preparation for their new winter finery.

    We used a wire brush on ours, a lot like a hairbrush with widely-spaced stiff wires blunted at the end. Works much better if you start brushing as soon as you see the beginning. With ours, it lasted about two weeks and then no need for combing/brushing until a briefer period in the fall.

  142. 142.

    Sab

    @Mary G: I used to have a German shepherd (aka as German shedder), and before her a Norwegian elkhound mix.

    Every change of season they completely blew their coats. I could fill a trash can with dog fur every time I brushed them.

    What worked best for me were rubber curry combs where you can just shake the fur off the comb/brush. Sort of flat things with big, short rubber spikes. The horse ones work well. The wire brushes are terrible. It takes forever to pull the fur out of the brush, and the dog gets dandruff from being scratched by the wire.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The Associated Press @ AP
    President Trump says military tanks will be part of Washington’s Fourth of July celebration. And on Monday evening, an @AP photographer saw at least two M1A1 Abrams tanks on a rail car in Washington.

    (picture)

  144. 144.

    Barbara

    @Another Scott: No, I mean that when Daschle was forced to withdraw his nomination as Secretary of HHS, there was a lot of feigned outrage over his willingness to let people do favors for him. But Pompeo, Tom Price, and Ryan Zinke have all been forced to resign because they were on the take, that is how a lot of Congress operates, and they brought their expectations with them to the Executive Branch.

  147. 147.

    Ken B

    @dmsilev:

    The Israelis used some ‘Super Shermans’ (re-engined, up gunned Sherman variants) during the Yom Kippur War.

    Later they gave some to one or more of the Christian militias during the Lebanese civil war on the 70s. Some were captured and then used against their former owners.

    Somoza used a few against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

    I think there were a few in Yugoslavia when it fell apart, I don’t know if they were used or not.

    I think Uruguay has few in service, and some old Stuart light tanks, also of WWII vintage. They’re basically for parades and such.

    If Trump was a better planner, maybe he could have borrowed some for his parade?

  149. 149.

    different-church-lady

    Y’know, if Anwar Sadat were still around he’d probably have something to say about the wisdom of having a lot of military hardware at a parade…

  150. 150.

    laura

    @lamh36: Get that job and make it yours!11!
    Can’t wait to hear the details of interview followed by offer followed by acceptance.

  152. 152.

    Paul in Charlotte

    They speak Spanish. We don’t (There are 47 million Hispanic-Americans citizens. Twenty two million of them are bilingual. You’re not). They (Who are “they?”) are not U.S. citizens or legal residents. We are. (47 million are). They broke the rules to get into this country. We didn’t. (How did your ancestors get here, Bret?) They pay few or no taxes. (They work, they pay taxes. Do you think scofflaw employers eat their illegal employee’s tax burden? They also pay social security and don’t collect it, thereby helping to fund your retirement). They don’t pay premiums for private health insurance. (They get paid shit, and they’re supposed to buy health insurance?) We’re supposed to give up ours in exchange for some V.A.-type nightmare (You’re not talking about undocumented immigrants any more, are you? As for the VA, ask any VA benefit-eligible veteran what he thinks about the service he gets at the VA. We should all be so lucky.) They didn’t start enterprises that create employment and drive innovation. (Who? You, that’s who). We’re expected to join the candidates demonizing job-creators, breaking up their businesses and taxing them to the hilt.(No, Bret. Just the predators, Republicans or libertarians all, who have used Daddy’s inheritance to buy our federal government lock, stock, and barrel, then proceeded to soak the guts out of it and deposit the take in their bank accounts (Bust out!), then used the levers of political power to destroy half of the small business in this country, ship all the manufacturing jobs overseas, destroy the unions that built the American middle-class from whence you came, thereby shrinking that middle class to runt status, and who then pat themselves on the back for their hard work, while pouring scorn down upon their undocumented 60-hour-a-week-two-job maids and gardeners for not working hard enough to live the American dream).

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