So, in a series of tweets today, Trump went and demonstrated for all the world that the UK Ambassador to the United States was being kind when he merely called Trump inept, incompetent and insecure:
The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy. He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was..
…handled. I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done. A disaster! I don’t know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far…
….and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger…..Thank you, Mr. President!
The message here — from Trump’s own fat thumbs, unless he dictates these inane and childish burblings — is far more damaging than anything said in the leaked cables. It is that the President of the United States is a clown, a bully and a raging narcissist who won’t hesitate to shit on his “friends,” so there’s not really much point in kissing his fat orange ass like PM May did. I hope she didn’t have to twist too many arms to arrange the state visit.
None of this is new information, of course, but it’s yet another national embarrassment.
Although I assume that Tories who are in the running for May’s job are uniformly odious wank-monsters, this reply from Jeremy Hunt seemed on point:
1/2 @realDonaldTrump friends speak frankly so I will: these comments are disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country. Your diplomats give their private opinions to @SecPompeo and so do ours! You said the UK/US alliance was the greatest in history and I agree…
2/2…but allies need to treat each other with respect as @theresa_may has always done with you. Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our Ambassador stays.
So far, it looks like Boris Johnson is bravely keeping mum. Haven’t heard about reactions from any others gunning for May’s job.
How is this playing across the pond, UK and UK media-following jackals? I seem to recall an entire Hugh Grant rom-com with the premise of a PM standing up to a bullying American president. Could Trump’s oafishness create an opportunity for a candidate willing to stand up to him, either Hunt or preferably someone who’s not right-wing douche-canoe?
Otherwise, open thread!
Baud
May should come out swinging in response. But she won’t.
rikyrah
Hmmph
American Airlines Accused of Policing Black Passenger’s Curves After Deeming Her Romper ‘Inappropriate’
Anne Branigin
Today 10:30am
Baud
Hugh Grant should come out swinging, for that matter.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
2020 Presidential Poll — PPP — July 3 thur 8
If the candidates for President next year were
Democrat Megan Rapinoe and Republican
Donald Trump, who would you vote for?
Megan Rapinoe ……………42%
Donald Trump ………………41%
rikyrah
Jeffrey Epstein, called ‘terrific’ by Trump, charged with sex trafficking
Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein has been charged with sex trafficking of underage girls. He pleaded not guilty. Trump’s now-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta gave Epstein what many critics called a sweetheart deal in 2008. Lawrence O’Donnell discusses the fallout of the charges with Berit Berger and Tim O’Brien.
schrodingers_cat
Meanwhile, Putin is grinning like the Cheshire Cat
Gin & Tonic
I don’t think there are any of those on offer.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: I read about your son’s gf’s O visa saga. If you don’t my asking did she get an RFE or an outright rejection?
rikyrah
Stay Angry
by Trevor LaFauci
laura
@rikyrah: in that sweetheart deal, prosecutor Acosta accepted that defendant Epstein be allowed to plead to a lesser charge, and essentially recast the child victims as prostitutes. This prosecutorial discretion ought to be wired around Acosta’s neck whether he resigns in disgrace or not.
Decent people everywhere ought to spit in his general direction till he’s dead, and then neatly line up to piss in his grave IMHO.
Brachiator
The UK is a few weeks away from likely electing their own orange hair clown as Prime Minister, so it’s difficult for them to slam Trump too hard.
Meanwhile, BREXIT Jester and Night Monkey, Nigel Farage is running around suggesting that he would make a right proper ambassador, particularly since he and Trump are such great mates.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Unless they did something about this, I think Dr. Rowe should be in the clear:
Also, EWWWW!
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t actually know. I’m pretty sure it was just a rejection. She was shocked at the rudeness of the person who was reviewing the application. But they will be getting married at the end of August, so it’s kind of moot (except for flushing the lawyer’s fees down the toilet.) Since they are leaving the US for about a year starting in November, which will void her TN-1, they’d need a way for her to return with him at the end of this fellowship. I think they wanted to get married next year and not on such short notice, but there are practical factors at play.
Plato
Via bbc, boris, the kissass coward.
Jay
trollhattan
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Heh :-)
BBC interviewed John Major (remember him?) yesterday and he’s wholeheartedly on the remain side. It does make one wonder whether the Tories caught our Republican’s prion disease (thank you Charlie Pierce). If Boris and Trump are ever in a room together it may trigger the End Times.
My kid not only correctly ID’d Brandi Chastain on her flight home from Germany, she and her buddies got to pose with her at the SFO terminal. Said she’s super nice. How cool is that? She then collected an enormous bag of soccer balls at the carousel; guessing she ran a clinic as part of WWC festivities. #PlayerForLife
Chris Johnson
Thanking Putin again, I see
Plato
And Mur-Rena go into the next round at Wimbledon mixed doubles. More interesting than the needy amin and his 24×7 whines.
mrmoshpotato
“uniformly odious wank-monsters” You have a way with words, BC. ?
Zinsky
Cheeto Mussolini is a rosacea-mottled, brain-damaged embarrassment – a leper pariah on the international stage. The sooner we can get this overstuffed bag of pig shit off the world’s TV screens, the better off the entire planet will be!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Surely the ambassador has to be recalled. He was accurate and right, but he must have lost all effectiveness in the job.
And good for Hunt. I understand he’s a weasel, but this time, he did well.
Mandalay
Unless Trump pardons him, shit just got a lot worse for Traitor Flynn…
Another Scott
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: rofl.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan: That is very cool.
Chip Daniels
I am old enough to remember when Obama supposedly replaced the bust of Churchill in the Oval Office, the righties screamed blue murder about the “Special Relationship”.
rikyrah
@laura:
Found out watching Joy Reid last night that Acosta met with Epstein’s attorney OFF SITE
MULTIPLE TIMES.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: According to The Guardian, yellow-fanged shitegoblin Farage demurs on the ambassador question but wants to “advise” whoever gets the job:
The leakers sure have put the UK government in a tight spot.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator:
F-i-x-e-d.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It amazes me how she and that team remain so in our collective memories from that iconic year (end of decade/century/millennium). Everybody remembers Brandi and the cup-winning goal and celebration. Some even remember Scurry’s save that made the moment possible. I could not for the life of me name the champion of our Three Big Sports from that year. To save anybody else the bother: Broncos, Spurs, Yankees.
They’re still heroes.
rikyrah
Vanity Fair heavily edited an Epstein Article:
Graydon deleted thoroughly reported facts from some of my stories when subjects called him to complain. Believe @VickyPJWard. https://t.co/PAXpOmoH6d
— Kim Masters (@kimmasters) July 9, 2019
trollhattan
@Chip Daniels:
Must always add “feet on desk” and “tan suit.”
Betty Cracker
@Mandalay: Saw that coming when he fired his legal team a while back. Flynn is definitely angling for a pardon, and Trump has telegraphed that he may get one. They are lawless shit-bags, every single one of them.
CaseyL
@Plato: Post-Brexit, the US will be their only significant trading partner, so you betcha Boris is going to eat as many shit sandwiches as D45 feels like feeding him.
Southern Goth
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
She already said she’s not going to the fucking white house.
Can’t we respect that?
trollhattan
@Southern Goth:
To be fair, she’s already been. And I’ll bet they didn’t serve hamberders.
catclub
@rikyrah: Ken Starr was also involved in applying pressure/ making tempting offers to Acosta.
RedDirtGirl
As I like to say: How’s electing a pu$$y-grabbing narcissist working out so far?
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: No love for SPICY MUSTARDGATE!?
You monster!
catclub
@CaseyL: In that case, Trump will actually be acting in the US interest by putting the screws to UK.
Idiots don’t deserve to keep their money. Trump knows this.
trollhattan
@catclub:
My assumption has always been that Starr has a hanky-panky filled past because of the way he went after Clinton’s dalliances, after evidence of actual crime never appeared. Accusation=confession and all.
cmorenc
@trollhattan:
Which, if the US’s ’99 championship had being played under the same WC laws-of-the-game directives the 2019 WC referees were operating under, would have resulted in a re-kick for China, because Scurry was off her line way-early a good two or three steps forward at the moment the Chinese player took her kick, dramatically improving the GK’s angle. IIRC the result of a group-stage game in the 2019 WWC was dramatically altered to the benefit of the favored team, because an apparent save by the GK was disallowed for a much smaller early off-the-line violation than Scurry’s rather blatant one. Can’t recall off-hand which 2019 group game it was.
Mandalay
When you read an article that starts out with “I support current laws which prohibit minors from smoking, but…” you immediately know that the author is a shill for some part of the tobacco industry.
Little Marco doesn’t disappoint. It’s touching to see him fight to defend the cigar industry rather than spending all his time defending the NRA, removing access to health care and caging brown children.
catclub
@RedDirtGirl: A whole hell of a lot better than for nearly a million dead Iraqis. Trump (may in future) but has not
been able to change the economic path the US was on when he was elected. Not breaking things is a good quality – ask GW Bush about that.
trollhattan
Why am I just now learning Britain once had a PM named Bonar Law (1922-23)? This is my Beavis and Butthead moment of zen.
lamh36
Love this.
20 Questions with Kamala Harris.
Oh and check out her defense of her “truancy” program folks always talking about. it makes a LOT of sense!
I like her laugh. it’s full throated…as someone who also have a full throated laugh (poor Zoe when she was a baby would look at me with baby side eye like…why is u so loud ??)
https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1148595434253950978?s=21
mdblanche
Johnson and Hunt are the only remaining candidates left for PM and Johnson is the prohibitive favorite. So don’t expect a happy movie ending. In fact, expect the opposite since this is an election where only Conservative Party members get to vote. It’s the equivalent of a race where whoever wins a closed Republican primary with extra low turnout is given the job automatically while everyone else can only watch.
The British media seem to think this was a leak by Brexit supporters to kneecap an ambassador they didn’t like to make sure he’s replaced by one of their own. He was doing his job the way he was supposed to but now through no fault of his own he can no longer be effective and will have to quit, preferably after a decent interval so it doesn’t look like a total cave. Meanwhile other British diplomats are on notice: do the Brexiteers’ bidding or suffer the same fate. Britain’s own crew of vandals have just done lasting damage to their foreign service.
Baud
@catclub:
Wait…did you vote for Trump in 2016?
Betty Cracker
@CaseyL: Yeah, but what good will it do? Trump’s erratic and childish behavior demonstrates there’s nothing to be gained from kissing his ass. May tried and got a steaming load of shit dumped on her head for her trouble.
cmorenc
@catclub:
Not defending or excusing GW here, but toward the end of his Administration, he seemed to finally realize how badly he’d been (rather willingly) advised and misled by Dick Cheney and the pack of lying hawks Cheney influenced him to bring into his Admin earlier-on. For example, he refused Cheney’s pleading to pardon Scooter Libby. Of course, a fundamental reason GW was so easily mis-leadable was that his real talent was being a genially charismatic, friendly frat-boy of the sort too many voters would rather have a beer with rather than any sort of deep thinker, coupled with a self-image as a swashbuckling macho Texas cowboy that Cheney and company played off of like a fiddle.
Peale
Question for, I guess middle class workers with kids. How much time do you actually spend in August and September “Getting Ready for School?”. I’ve been told at work that I can’t schedule a fly-in meeting the entire month of august and until late september because co-workers are too busy “getting ready for school” to travel. I’ve had this come up before. Because I have no kids and don’t remember it being round the clock shopping and teacher meeting, I’m trying to figure out why there’s the 6 week hole that is deeper and more sacred than thanksgiving-new year that must not be touched.
raven
This is fun
trnc
@catclub:
It took W about 4 years. I won’t hold my breath for a better outcome under DT.
trollhattan
Florida Man wanders well off the reservation.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: I’ll raise you a Famous Boners from 1942.
Mandalay
Tee Hee!….
Trump Can’t Block Critics From His Twitter Account, Appeals Court Rules
Southern Goth
@trollhattan:
All hail the once and future king.
NotMax
There’s that projection again. from the pusillanimous pulsar.
JPL
@Mandalay: He’ll be pardoned.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
There was a war going on and we could only afford three during those dark times.
Jay
@CaseyL:
Post Brexit, UK trade goes to WTO rules. ( A Hard Brexit is certain).
Even with the US, because the UK roes not have a trade deal with the US, the UK does.
And any post Brexit trade deal between the US and the UK is going to take at least 5 years to negotiate, and the UK’s gonna get screwed so had that chlorinated rotten chicken’s going to be the least of it.
Still, the Disaster Capitalists are going to make out like bandits.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Robots can’t violate the first law.
mdblanche
@Betty Cracker: This would be a very good point if Britain had any better options, but…
One interesting possibility I heard mentioned was if it’s 1/20/21, Britain still has no trade deal with the US, and President Harris is not interested in meeting with an ambassador selected to be Trump’s buddy.
chris
Brexit protest sign. Mildly NSFW but LOL.
Leto
Megan Rapinoe will be on Maddow tonight.
@lamh36: Sen Harris will be on Maddow Thursday night. I’ve seen a few interviews where she explains her stance on truancy laws and it’s a very good thing: kids who aren’t in school fall behind. The longer they’re out, the harder it is for them to catch up. We need them in school.
TenguPhule
@laura:
Drowning from spittle is a rather horrible way to go. I approve.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Leave us not forget Batman.
;)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Which basically is an admission that Trump doesn’t really believe that.
Yutsano
@Mandalay: Odd days when an Armenian is working so hard for Turkish interests…
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
Since the current UK government is pisspoor incompetent and completely insane, this can only improve matters.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: Good luck to the couple in navigating the treacherous shoals of immigration bureucracy.
TomatoQueen
@Peale: The simple answer is, summer school and summer camp are over and done with. Parents with younger and/or special needs children are scrambling during these weeks to find child care. Sometimes it’s a day-to-day thing, and sometimes parents have to take time from work because there is no child care at all, not for love or money. Do not schedule meetings during these weeks.
Mary G
@lamh36: Kamala seems much more joyful in all her appearances than any other candidates. It’s one of.my favorite qualities in her.
mdblanche
@TenguPhule: Boris Johnson: Hold my beer.
TenguPhule
FTFNYT
Despite the claims to Mr. Horowitz’s impartiality by the Times, I have no such confidence given the unbroken string of claims that have been proven to be wrong so far.
And this is why.
Brachiator
@Baud:
May strongly defended the ambassador and predictably Trump insulted her.
Trump also banned the ambassador from an upcoming diplomatic dinner. State Department officials insist that this is a one-time thing. But Trump seems intent on establishing himself as God Emperor of the West.
Some UK pundits are predicting that Boris Johnson is looking forward to being subservient to Trump.
chris
Great and funny rant from Jonathan Pie on British politics.
JustRuss
I’m imagining the unending stream of Republican outrage we’d have been subjected to if Obama had ended a tweet (if he tweeted) with “Thank you, Mr. President!”
TenguPhule
This is shit optics. No legislation is passing Congress unless Mitch McConnell approves of it.
Jay
chris
@JustRuss: I only remembered today that there was a time when Repubs were counting the number of times that Obama said “I” in his speeches. They said he was a narcissist. Then, of course, they elected one.
TenguPhule
Immigrant Asylum-Seekers May Get Less Time To Prepare Their Cases Under A New Trump Administration Rule
Another day, another way for Trump to make people’s lives worse.
TenguPhule
How bad was it?
satby
? former front page poster Hillary Rettig has lost her beloved Billy Dawg. He was a rescue they got six years ago, when he was about 10.
greenergood
@Brachiator: Please remember Scotland – the majority of us are trying to escape from this Brexit scenario. We watch in horror the ‘debate’ between the two Tory candidates who will ‘rule’ the UK
TenguPhule
A crying boy begged his father not to call the police on a black man. The father did it anyway
I feel bad for the son.
zhena gogolia
Love Actually, although the president in question is a Bill Clintonesque character played by Billy Bob Thornton. Billy Bob chews the scenery a bit, but Hugh does a great job in the scene.
Brachiator
@cmorenc:
In his frat boy days, Bush was a member of DKE and later Skull and Bones, fairly exclusive clubs. Bush wasn’t having beers with the average guy. But he was quite a naughty cut-up.
Ah, school days!
FelonyGovt
Among the many awful things about Trump’s tweets quoted above is the rank misogyny. “I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done.” I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Theresa May, but I suspect there would not have been that patronizing tone if she were male.
Raven
@zhena gogolia: What an awful movie.
JustRuss
@chris: I’d forgotten about that! I do remember the word “arrogant” getting thrown around a lot.
zhena gogolia
@Raven:
I LOVE IT
Jay
Stuck in moderation
ericblair
From what I’ve seen, this leak seems to be pretty politically clumsy. It doesn’t do the Brexiteers a lot of good to fuck up the US trading relationship, since they’ve been relying on Great Deals! with the rest of the world to make up for completely screwing up their ties with the EU. It doesn’t do anybody else a lot of good domestically. So, the wags are thinking that this is foreign meddling again, probably from our buddy to the East, just because they can.
MJS
@TenguPhule: Shit optics AND shit strategy.
catclub
@Baud:
of course not.
But if you look at facts on the ground in … Iraq. Trump is about a million dead iraqis better than GWBush.
If you look at where the economy is now, it is not broken, it is certainly no worse than when he took office,
and probably better, on the same path of growth it was when he was elected..
on the ‘passing tax cuts that will lead to trillion dollar changes (for the worse) in the national debt’,
that is a tie between him and GWBush.
I think those are facts, whether or not I voted against him.
MattF
Jen Rubin notes that Trump associates with abusers:
Baud
@catclub:
But who cares whether Trump is the worst or the second worst? That wasn’t the original question. He has still been really awful for this country even if his awfulness hasn’t manifested itself in major wars or immediate economic collapse. A lot more awful than if enough Americans had overcome the legion of doom that went after Hillary.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
This is not only wrong, it is completely utterly fucking batshit insane wrong.
We are in fucking trade wars with essentially every other first and most of the second world countries. Trump is pumping up shit industries like coal, oil and steel production while letting our solar lunch get eaten by China, our crop exports taken over by Mexico and Brazil and essentially fucked over all of our domestic car production.
The DOW is not the economy.
cain
@lamh36:
ohh… I wanted to see Zoe’s side eye expression :P I knew a cat named Zoe wouldnt let anybody near her except her precious. eyes would get all big and it would be attack.. since then hte name Zoe always reminds me of that cat, and my attempts to befriend her.. :D
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
@zhena gogolia:
LOL. I’ve never yet met a man IRL who could abide Love, Actually, and I’ve never met a woman (me included) who didn’t love it.
TenguPhule
I…can’t even. This timeline. Daleks take it all already.
C Stars
@TomatoQueen: Yep, it’s the mid-August summer camp hustle. Why do all the local camps end two weeks before the district school year officially begins? Tis a mystery….
rikyrah
Mother Jones (@MotherJones) Tweeted:
ICE just quietly opened three new detention centers, after Congress told it not to https://t.co/j4XB1ET3ry https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1148686831527112705?s=17
Raven
@catclub: I know you are itching for a fight on this because it’s the second time you’ve posted it but a million is bullshit.
cain
@Jay:
Hey, finally Britain will be able to go on their own steam as they demanded they should.. oh.. you mean not that generation, but the next generation? oops.
MJS
@SiubhanDuinne: (Sheepishly raises hand as a man who, while not LOVING the entire movie, finds parts of it enjoyable, and will frequently stop flipping around to watch those parts).
FelonyGovt
@SiubhanDuinne: My husband tolerates Love Actually as I watch it again (and again)
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
I always thought that the President was George W.?
prostratedragon
@TenguPhule: We descendants of slaveowners should have a big jamboree and invite McConnell to be a featured guest. That old Southern hypocrisy is quite the blind spot here.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
It’s comical that Farage believes that he could contribute to anything related to intelligence.
This leak thing is a mess, but curiously there was recently a more UK centric mess involving two anonymous senior civil servants who suggested to the Times that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was too frail to remain leader. There’s a bunch of nasty little struggles going on behind the scenes as the UK gets closer to electing a new prime minister. I, Claudius level shit.
rikyrah
@SiubhanDuinne:
Count me among the women who adore ??
Love Actually ??
Jay
@ericblair:
The Brexit Leak basically “tars and feathers” Civil Service Diplomats.
This gives cover to Bad bad Boris and Natasha appointing a suck up Brexiteer like Banks or Farange to what is arguably Britains most important Foreign Diplomatic Post, rather than a professional.
It also sends a message to the Foreign Office that honesty in communications with the Government is not appreciated, so either STFU or get with the program and regurgitate the talking points.
C Stars
Woman here, not a fan of Love, Actually, actually. But About A Boy gets me right in the solar plexus every time.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Or pulled their fucking heads out of their asses and went “Hmmmm….racist, misogynist, fascist, Soviet shitpile, mobster conman or a highly qualified woman who will look out for the poor and middle class though I might disagree with some of her decisions over the next four years? Not even a question.” *marks ballot for Clinton/Kaine*
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s my go to Christmas movie.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The Orange Stable Genius is worse for the national fabric and the lives of immigrants than W ever was. catclub must not be an immigrant or have any immigrants in his/her life to make the comment he did.
# of immigrant children dead under Orange = 6
# of immigrant children dead under Bush = none AFAIK.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
Wait. What?
Jay
https://www.wonkette.com/sounds-like-sean-hannitys-seth-rich-source-was-russian-spies
catclub
@TenguPhule:
How would I be able to tell if I were not a political junkie? Is unemployment going up? Are prices going up?
I have heard that soybean farmers are losing money, but I don’t know any farmers, they are 1% of the population.
I also heard that Trump is paying them reparations for his trade wars.
I admit that when tariffs actually hit and the price of imported ( which is all of it) olive oil doubles, I will notice that.
I have also noticed that many of those punishing tariffs always seem to get delayed.
The question was how are things going so far.
So how do I look around the economy TODAY and see the damage. Trump was saying that foreign companies were eating our lunch in 2015 and I did not believe him. Why should I believe you?
NotMax
@Brachiator
“Don’t eat the figs.”
RAVEN
@C Stars: Almost as bad as Pirate Radio. I’ll stick to Gentleman Jack!
SiubhanDuinne
@C Stars:
Oh yes, I love that one as well.
I may, however, be one of the few female people of my acquaintance who doesn’t like Notting Hill — but that’s likely because I can’t stand Julia Roberts.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I love parts of it, including Nighy as the aging rocker and his sidekick and the cute porno couple. I’d listen to Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman or Colin Firth read a phone book, so I enjoy their screen time. I like the doofus who goes to America and finds that his accent wildly improves his romantic prospects (that actually works, Brits — I have witnessed it!). The Keira Knightley-Andrew Lincoln story line always leaves me cold, even though I suppose that’s meant to be the emotional heart of the movie? Not sure why.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@catclub:
Yes, been to a dollar store lately?
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne:
My husband loves it even more than I do.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
Maybe, but he lecherously eyes Grant’s assistant and even maybe pinches her, I think, so that’s more Clinton (or GHWB, but I don’t think it’s him at all).
Brachiator
@C Stars:
I’m a guy who enjoys both movies.
I had forgotten that Nicholas Hoult plays the son in About a Boy. He’s grown up to be quite an actor. Most recently he was in Mad Max, Fury Road and The Favourite.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Cleverly done, rikyrah ?????
FelonyGovt
@Betty Cracker: I love the movie and I had forgotten that Keira Knightley was even in it, maybe because I’m not a fan of hers. She has this kind of wan-frail thing going that irritates me.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I like Julia Roberts, but her character is such an ass in that movie! He should have stuck with his first decision and dumped her. However, the Welsh roommate almost salvages the whole thing!
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
It’s right there in the Mueller Report, if anyone cares to read it.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
I thought Hugh Grant and Liam Neeson (and his kid, little Sangster) were supposed to be the emotional heart of the movie. Keira’s part is the weakest, for sure. The man in the “cute porno couple” is Martin Freeman, I’ll have you know!
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Emma Thompson and Laura Linney also bear a lot of emotional weight.
Quaker in a Basement
Remember when the entire GOP was aghast that Obama moved the Churchill bust to another room? How dare he disrespect our bestest ally!
raven
@zhena gogolia: Have you watched that terrible Tales of the City?
MisterForkbeard
@SiubhanDuinne: Weirdly enough, I (mostly) love Love Actually while my wife hates it.
The “mostly” is that I really don’t like Alan Rickman’s storyline.
Brachiator
@TenguPhule:
This is true, but GDP is up, unemployment is down, even wages are higher, and consumer confidence is positive. You have to admit that this works for Trump, no matter how much we may despise him.
I think that Trump’s meddling in the economy, his stupid insistence on tariffs as a “negotiating” tactic, and his general ignorance about how economies work will be bad in the long term. Very bad. But his tax cuts probably helps cushion the effect of his worst decisions.
C Stars
@RAVEN: What about Withnail & I? Any of the Mike Leigh films?
I haven’t seen Pirate Radio. Will have to check it out per your, ahem, recommendation. We watched the first episode of Gentlemen Jack and weren’t enraptured, but I’d watch the series if I was down with a cold or something.
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, I haven’t seen any of them multiple times (other than About A Boy) but I’m pretty sure I liked Notting Hill well enough. Julia R. is one of those love it or hate it kind of actors, I think.
My guilty London pleasure is the the Paddington movies. They’re so twee but I love them, stoned or straight. Probably also a symptom of having a five year old.
Steve in the ATL
@TenguPhule: do “acting” directors and secretaries and whatnot have less authority than senate-confirmed ones? Where are the lines?
Quaker in a Basement
@Jay: Which raises the question: Is Hannity a dupe or a stooge?
C Stars
@Brachiator: Wow, I had no idea! Glad he kept acting.
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
Isikoff’s story covers the direct linkage and coordination between the FSB., Assange, Stone, Tucker, Hannity et al.
SiubhanDuinne
@FelonyGovt:
I did like her a lot in the first thing I ever saw her in, Bend It Like Beckham.
Jay
@Quaker in a Basement:
Or an asset?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
Yes. Yes they are.
C Stars
@raven: Laura Linney is absolutely grating in the new TOTC. I know it’s an intentional part of her character but it’s just too irritating to watch.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
Apparently not.
Fuck if I know, nobody has been following the norms and rules for the last 3 years, I doubt they plan to start now.
Jay
TenguPhule
@catclub:
Try buying or renovating your House. Try ordering a really expensive piece of equipment for your business.
You’ll start to see where the damage is accumulating.
FelonyGovt
@C Stars: Agreed. I tried but her character is awful. Ellen Page annoys me in that too.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@schrodingers_cat: Word is Putin likes them really young too.
Jay
bemused
@TenguPhule:
Me too. The young boy is wiser and much more mature than the dimwit dad.
zhena gogolia
@raven:
No, it sounded pretty bad.
zhena gogolia
@C Stars:
I only saw the second one, but it was fab!
Immanentize
WELL!
Perhaps NPR has given up the narrative in the Epstein re-indictment. During their news summary this evening, the guy with the deep news reading voice described Epstein as person who had contacts with many powerful people, both Republican and Democrat, including former President Clinton.”
Any mention of Trump? No.
Any mention in the news brief about Acosta? No.
And all of this is coming true at the same time that the Steel dossier is again in the news. American. meet the Barr version of the Stasi.
But I apologize if this distracts from hating on Pelosi.
Immanetize
@MisterForkbeard: I like the Alan Rickman storyline. It was the only thing real in the whole movie. Marriage is, as I tell every engaged couple I meet, tricky business.
Jay
https://time.com/5543384/trump-trade-war-taxes/
The Lodger
@TenguPhule: Descendants of slaveowners. I’m just gobsmacked.
WhatsMyNym
@Immanentize:
What did you expect from the “Nice Polite Republicans”? I amazed folks still bother to listen, they’ve sucked for decades. Kind of like TFNYT.
Jay
Shana
@zhena gogolia: I always thought Billy Bob Thornton was playing more a George Bush-like character than Bill Clinton, but YMMV.
Immanetize
@WhatsMyNym: I listen so I know more
Shana
@C Stars: Love About A Boy, and also High Fidelity.
tokyokie
@Jay: My go to Christmas movie is Rare Exports.
Jay
Immanetize
@TenguPhule:
They both have the same authority, but traditionally, “Acting” secretaries are not given the leeway to change policies that actually confirmed secretaries have. Both by courts and by, perhaps more importantly, career members of the agency unless they are pretty certain the person will be confirmed.
This has added a whole new level of instability in the Trump admin.
Sloane Ranger
Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office Minister, gave a strong defence of our man in Washington to a generally supportive House of Commons yesterday and really slammed down Tory Brexiteer Bill Cash’s attempt to portray Trump as the victim and Sir Kim’s motivations being some complex pro EU game.
They’ve set up a Cabinet Office enquiry into the leak and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee has written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police calling for a criminal investigation. FWIW Alan Duncan said that the evidence so far is that it was an internal leak with no foreign involvement but it was still early days.
Speculation is rife here about the motive for the leak with all sorts of convoluted conspiracies being mooted. My money is this came from someone in BoJo’s camp, either with or without his knowledge, the intention being to replace Sir Kim with someone totally sympatico to the Trump administration. If so, the investigation had better do its work quickly or it will be shut down as soon as BoJo moves into No.10.
I agree with Dorothy A. Windsor, they’ll probably leave it a month and then Sir Kim will be out.
Immanetize
@Shana: I love High Fidelity, but it is really a boy film.
Jay
@tokyokie:
We also toss in Zombieland and Shawn of the Dead to keep the Christmas spirit going.
Kathleen
@rikyrah: That post was epic.
Doug R
@Adam L Silverman: No time to do laundry between shows.
Jay
Raven
@C Stars: Love Mike Leigh but the new one is getting murdered.
Jay
@Sloane Ranger:
Interesting thread.
Jay
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: And Dead Snow. Also Dead Snow 2::Red vs Dead.
Kathleen
@Immanentize: I have friends who swear NPR news isn’t slanted towards Rethuglicans.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: To hell with Tommy Robinson.
Immanetize
@Kathleen: As much as you love those friends, they are wrong. This is a good one to ask them about….
TenguPhule
@Immanetize:
Should be a rotating tag at this point.
Immanetize
@Jay: It looks like Pressley finally borrowed some of AOC’s twitter handlers. She is 100% NOT a “get your name out of my mouth” politician
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: My dad and I both like it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker:
That part is completely unbelievable. There is no way a bar in Milwaukee would have that many Budweiser signs.
Jay
And Hitler Youth badges are available,….
James E Powell
@catclub:
Before you give Trump a “better than Bush” award, what’s your best guess as to what Trump & his cronies would have done if a 9/11 sized terrorist attack had occurred in the first year of his administration?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@rikyrah: Two things can be true at the same time:
(1) Policing of women’s bodies and especially black women’s bodies is sexist, racist bullshit and needs to stop, and American Airlines has no business telling an adult what to wear on their airplanes as long as their clothing doesn’t smell offensive or expose their private parts.
(2) That romper is tacky-ass crap and not appropriate for any grown person to wear anywhere not immediately beach-adjacent.
Obviously, (1) is WAY more important than, completely supersedes, and is not even in the same universe of things worth taking action on as (2). But I’m still inwardly side-eyeing rompers on grown-ass women. (Or men. I’ve seen ’em.)
@Adam L Silverman: AAAAACCKK!!! Cooties all up in the air circulation system!
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: Ooh, sounds like I will have to break down and put this one on the watch list!
Miss Bianca
@C Stars: I love “Pirate Radio”. I hate “Notting Hill”. Got no opinion on “Gentleman Jack”, sounds intriguing from what I’ve heard. I’ll have to wait till it comes out on DVD to watch it.
Jay
divF
@Omnes Omnibus:
What’s made Milwaukee famous
Has made a fool out of me.
Plato
@catclub:
Who gives a shit about children in cages, right?
A Streeter
@SiubhanDuinne:
You met me at a DC meetup, oh, 6 or 7 years ago. I rather enjoy L,A every time my daughters play it.
Tehanu
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
So, another Lavrenti Beria, eh? Sounds about right for an ex-KGB guy.
And btw, what about Four Weddings and a Funeral, for Pete’s sake?
Omnes Omnibus
@divF: Well, I went to Milwaukee but they were out of beer.
J R in WV
@catclub:
Well, I hate to say it, but this sentence shows how little you know. A lot of great olive oil comes from olives grown in California. Not nearly enough to make up the damage caused by the Trumpian trade wars, but way more than none.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Raven: Yeah. It’s probably lowballing the true figure.
VOR
@Tehanu: In 4WAAF, he should have gone with Kristin Scott Thomas, not Andie MacDowell. Not even a question.
Yes, I thought the US President in LA was intended to be a GWB analog, not Clinton. And yeah, Milwaukee has their own beer, they don’t need Budweiser.