Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Please don’t feed the bears.

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

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Trump & the Trumplodytes Open Thread: Resentful Losers Run Amuck

Trump & the Trumplodytes Open Thread: Resentful Losers Run Amuck

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The story is members-only, but the teaser tweet did remind me of a certain notorious American personality who’s spent the last quarter-century complaining that nobody appreciates him like he DESERVES…

… Mr. Trump, whose own tweets have warned of deep-state plots against him, accused the House speaker of treason and labeled Republican critics “human scum,” has helped spread a culture of suspicion and distrust of facts into the political mainstream.

The president is also awash in an often toxic torrent that sluices into his Twitter account — roughly 1,000 tweets per minute, many intended for his eyes. Tweets that tag his handle, @realDonaldTrump, can be found with hashtags like #HitlerDidNothingWrong, #IslamIsSatanism and #WhiteGenocide. While filters can block offensive material, the president clearly sees some of it, because he dips into the frothing currents and serves up noxious bits to the rest of the world.

By retweeting suspect accounts, seemingly without regard for their identity or motives, he has lent credibility to white nationalists, anti-Muslim bigots and obscure QAnon adherents like VB Nationalist, an anonymous account that has promoted a hoax about top Democrats worshiping the Devil and engaging in child sex trafficking…

To assess this unprecedented moment, The New York Times examined Mr. Trump’s interactions with Twitter since he took office, reviewing each of his more than 11,000 tweets and the hundreds of accounts he has retweeted, tracking the ways he is exposed to information and replicating what he is likely to see on the platform. The result, including new data analysis and previously unreported details, offers the most comprehensive view yet of a virtual world in which the president spends significant time mingling with extremists, impostors and spies.

Fake accounts tied to intelligence services in China, Iran and Russia had directed thousands of tweets at Mr. Trump, according to a Times analysis of propaganda accounts suspended by Twitter. Iranian operatives tweeted anti-Semitic tropes, saying that Mr. Trump was “being controlled” by global Zionists, and that pulling out of the Iran nuclear treaty would benefit North Korea. Russian accounts tagged the president more than 30,000 times, including in supportive tweets about the Mexican border wall and his hectoring of black football players. Mr. Trump even retweeted a phony Russian account that said, “We love you, Mr. President!”…

The president gets some of his questionable material on Twitter from the 47 accounts he follows that show up in his feed, a curated timeline of tweets that come mostly from his family, celebrities, Fox News hosts and Republican politicians, some of whom in turn follow Twitter accounts that promote QAnon or express anti-Islam or white nationalist views.

QAnon-related accounts have potentially migrated to the president’s iPhone courtesy of retweets by Donald Trump Jr., the Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo and the conservative commentator Eric Bolling, all of whom Mr. Trump follows. The younger Mr. Trump has also retweeted Russian intelligence operatives pushing divisive stories about immigration and voter fraud…

Beyond the people he follows, there is another potential pathway to the president on Twitter — his “mentions,” the surging stream of tweets and replies that are directed at him by tagging his handle.

Fake accounts that Twitter identified as being run by foreign intelligence agencies have made frequent use of this tactic to try to get his attention: Russian accounts targeted Mr. Trump with tweets making the false assertion that Russia did not hack the Democratic National Committee’s emails. A Chinese account directed a tweet at him calling CNN “goofy commies.” And an Iranian account heckled him, saying, “Every morning that American people wakeup, they are nervous about your new tweets.”…

Amazing interactive content here:

… Early on, top aides wanted to restrain the president’s Twitter habit, even considering asking the company to impose a 15-minute delay on Mr. Trump’s messages. But 11,390 presidential tweets later, many administration officials and lawmakers embrace his Twitter obsession, flocking to his social media chief with suggestions. Policy meetings are hijacked when Mr. Trump gets an idea for a tweet, drawing in cabinet members and others for wordsmithing. And as a president often at war with his own bureaucracy, he deploys Twitter to break through logjams, overrule or humiliate recalcitrant advisers and pre-empt his staff.

In a presidency unlike any other, where Mr. Trump wakes to Twitter, goes to bed with it and is comforted by how much it revolves around him, the person he most often singled out for praise was himself — more than 2,000 times, according to an analysis by The New York Times…

As much as anything, Twitter is the broadcast network for Mr. Trump’s parallel political reality — the “alternative facts” he has used to spread conspiracy theories, fake information and extremist content, including material that energizes some of his base.

Mr. Trump’s use of Twitter has accelerated sharply since the end of the special counsel’s Russia investigation and reached a new high as Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry, the analysis shows…

His top campaign aides are embracing the outrage that Mr. Trump stirs with his tweets to reinforce his anti-establishment brand and strengthen his bond with the fiercely loyal supporters who propelled him into office. And as public backing for impeachment grows, the president is using the platform to build a defensive echo chamber…


Very high chance, though, that he stews over every ‘attack’ on his perceived greatness, coming up with increasingly And another thing!… responses to salve his fragile ego and get boosted by his (real & fake) followers:

Reader Interactions

112Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    I’m kind of intrigued by Trump’s staging a fireside chat. Is he really capable of reading his reconstructed perfect call? Will it be televised so we can watch him sounding out the words in chunks?

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    This all makes perfect sense when you realize Donald has the self esteem of a gila monster.

  4. 4.

    Hob

    @debbie: I’m looking forward to hearing his imitation of a Ukrainian accent, and also the dramatic moment when Zelenskyy tears up and calls him “Sir”.

  5. 5.

    JDM

    I can well believe it takes Donald Trump weeks to come up a new nickname to add to his series of nicknames for whoever. Sadly, this still leaves them so lame they’re pretty forgettable. As for other thoughts, you basically trace them back to a specific news channel show which turns out to have aired just previous to his latest missive.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    My readings indicate that Fat Bastard is so paranoid and gullible he was easily convinced by Manafort, Giuliani and Flynn that the Ukrainians were secretly cooperating with the Clinton campaign in 2016 to defeat him.

    The man behind the curtain is, of course, Putin. He has Trump’s tiny balls safely locked away in the Kremlin archives.

  8. 8.

    Sloane Ranger

    Only tangentially related in that it is Foreign Affairs (if American) but there are stories in some parts of the British press that the Met Police have passed a file about illegality in the Vote Leave campaign to the Crown Prosecution Service. If true it’s huge as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings were all major players in the campaign.

    Nothing on the BBC or other broadcast channels yet. The concern is that they might be covering it up.

    Need to wait and see if it gets more traction but if it does it could have a big affect on the election.

  10. 10.

    sukabi

    @Mike in NC: the problem with that version of drumpf being “manipulated” by the others is his own public statements…”Russia, find the 33000 emails…the press will be very happy” or words to that effect…and his dictating Jr’s cover up statement after he’d emailed proof of the trump tower meeting with the Russians for the purpose of getting dirt on Clinton.

    All this bullshit in the media about drumpf being tricked and manipulated is just that — bullshit.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    I got a Twitter account, became quite engaged with it, and then dropped it after the 2016 election. I realized Twitter was drawing behavior from me that was dysfunctional— and I needed to stop using it. But it looks like Trump is now completely stuck in Twitter-land and that it’s being used now by various bad actors to manipulate him. Um, not good.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steve in the ATL:

    “I am Sam. Sam I am.”

    “And my daddy Vladdy says I’m not a Soviet shitpile mobster conman who’s been sucking the Kremlin’s ass since 1987 when I returned from my first trip to Moscow and took out full page newspaper ads trashing the NATO alliance! I’m smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m smart and I want respect!”

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    What in the actual ever-loving blue-eyed fuck is he on about now?

    Nov 3, 2019 09:11:58 AM
    The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must “clean” his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers…..

    Nov 3, 2019 09:11:58 AM
    ..Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states…But our teams are working well together in…..

    Nov 3, 2019 09:12:00 AM
    ….putting these massive, and many, fires out. Great firefighters! Also, open up the ridiculously closed water lanes coming down from the North. Don’t pour it out into the Pacific Ocean. Should be done immediately. California desperately needs water, and you can have it now!

  15. 15.

    dexwood

    The result, including new data analysis and previously unreported details, offers the most comprehensive view yet of a virtual world in which the president spends significant time mingling with extremists, impostors and spies.

    Hey, it’s not like he has anything else to do besides cheat at golf.

  16. 16.

    Bill Arnold

    The NYTimes piece is excellent.
    Full cite, just to name names:
    How Trump Reshaped the Presidency in Over 11,000 Tweets (MICHAEL D. SHEAR, MAGGIE HABERMAN, NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, KAREN YOURISH, LARRY BUCHANAN and KEITH COLLINS, Nov. 2, 2019)
    The headline is rather misleading; the piece is really mostly about how influence operators used and are using Twitter to influence the POTUS. So many puppet strings, they keep getting tangled and cut. :-)

  18. 18.

    sukabi

    @SiubhanDuinne: he’s mad at Pelosi for stomping his tiny dick on impeachment so he’s screaming at her and her state.

    He’s lost his last marble and is working on just his endless stores of grievances.

  30. 30.

    Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog

    It really is amazing how the New York Times is starting to come up to speed on Donald Trump – a man they seem never to have heard of before January 20, 2017 – after just 33 short months. If they can keep up this scorching pace, they might just become a major paper in time.

    Imagine what they could have done during the campaign, if only they had had some reportorial expertise at the time, or even just some sources closer to New York!

  35. 35.

    Steve in the ATL

    Confidential to Omnes: tell your boys it’s unseemly to celebrate in the end zone when the touchdown they just scored, their first of the day, leaves them down by 15 with six minutes left in the game

  36. 36.

    Anne Laurie

    @MattF:

    I realized Twitter was drawing behavior from me that was dysfunctional— and I needed to stop using it.

    Yeah, that’s why I don’t have a twitter account myself!

    Also, since there are only so many hours in a day, I know that I can either keep posting here or on twitter, but not both. It’s very useful to me here, since political twitter has pretty much taken over the function that *used* to be political blogging. (See: BJ proprietor for an example.)

  39. 39.

    Miss Bianca

    @SiubhanDuinne: I have a feeling that the policy of letting fires burn in wilderness areas *may* be part of what Trump is attacking. Just from watching the sweat on our local forest ranger’s brow when he had to explain to a public meeting of over 1,000 people in my neck of the woods that the reason that firefighters weren’t on the ground immediately when the Decker Fire started was because it was in a wilderness area, and it’s federal – not state, Don, *federal* – policy to let such fires burn unless they start threatening populations, private property, or infrastructure.

    Then again, it’s Donald Trump we’re talking about here, so like as not there’s no there there, at all, at all.

  41. 41.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @sukabi:

    the problem with that version of drumpf being “manipulated” by the others is his own public statements…”Russia, find the 33000 emails

    That statement is one of the proofs that he’s a dumbass being manipulated. He truly thinks the 33,000 emails exist. Manafort and Rudy told him they’re in Ukraine. That’s all it took. Yes, he also knows he conspired with Russia, but as a senile narcissist he knows HE’s not a criminal, he’s being unfairly persecuted by criminals. His actual actions are irrelevant.

  42. 42.

    Steve in the ATL

    @chris: soon he’ll be an incel no more. Perhaps they’ll celebrate by letting one or two children out of their cages for an hour.

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Who knows what shit for brains is on about?
    That collection of dung between his ears is as useless as his mouth.
    OTOH
    CA does have a bent for ecological issues and because there are so many people water is always an issue. We have Nestle taking millions of gallons out of the hills in SoCal while paying the feds for it. We have climate change making fire more predominate than ever because of the effect the weather has on a lot of vegetation that grows wild here.
    And not to be too repetitive, a lot of people live here. Most of them do not like trump or in fact hate his fucking dumb ass.

  44. 44.

    J R in WV

    @Sloane Ranger:

    … there are stories in some parts of the British press that the Met Police have passed a file about illegality in the Vote Leave campaign to the Crown Prosecution Service. If true it’s huge as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings were all major players in the campaign. …

    Tony Jay would have needed 10,000 words to say that!

    Kidding, Tony, we all thank you for the coverage of the British end times brought to you by Vladimir Putin~!!~

  46. 46.

    joel hanes

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    He wants California to clear-cut its forests (“clean” them) and to kill our rivers, particularly the Sacramento and Klamath, by diverting all the water to agriculture, particularly the Republican-connected Westlands water district, which should never have been developed for irrigation agriculture at all, because the irrigated soil leaches selenium and metals into Kesterton where they accumulate.

    They’ve already started work on raising the Shasta dam, which will flood out the lower McCloud, one of the sweetest fishing rivers we have left.

  48. 48.

    sukabi

    @Frankensteinbeck: yes he can be manipulated, but it’s a willful manipulation, as in “hey how can we get dirt on Hillary?” That drumpf, Manafort and Guiliani had other “business interests” that they thought could be cleaned up and utilized in the manufacture / propagation of that dirt is what will do them all in.

  52. 52.

    Steve in the ATL

    @chris: honestly, I give him a 30% chance tops of closing the deal, even after marrying her. If he does though, look for the live stream on 8chan!

  55. 55.

    Bill Arnold

    @sukabi:

    yes he can be manipulated, but it’s a willful manipulation, as in “hey how can we get dirt on Hillary?”

    I get your point, and it’s true to some extent, but also no, he’s a sucker for conspiracy theories, and his will and internalized narratives can be manipulated with them. Most of the influence operators trying to work him on twitter (read the NYTimes piece for a fraction of the details) suck (and most are amateurs), but not all of them. (And FWIW don’t assume that the only actors trying to manipulate him are on the US right.) (I’ve never directly tried to influence him by effecting his twitter feeds, fwiw.)

  59. 59.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: to be fair to the Pack, the local team down here scores so few touchdowns that each one merits celebration regardless of the score deficit. You guys, and A-A-Ron, didn’t look like yourselves today. Whereas the Falcons looked as enthusiastic and motivated on their off day as they during games.

  64. 64.

    Bill Arnold

    Balloon Juice After Dark material:

    Trump has just repeated his call for Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage to "come together".— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) November 3, 2019

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:
    You do know that doesn’t make them any better don’t you…….
    I stopped eating a McDs over 25 yrs ago. I was traveling a lot for my hobby, which I later turned into a job in professional sports and got food poison from them. Temp over 104, projectile vomiting in a public restroom at an event, which I cleaned up the walls and floor of course, only to have another go at the redecorating and another bout of clean up. Then spent 3 days in the hotel room not eating but having exhaust from both ends. Fun times.
    Not being a chicken about 5 months later, in a different state I went back because once again it was the only place open before I had to work an event. Need I repeat the fun? Haven’t been back since. Hunger is better.

  71. 71.

    Steve in the ATL

    Since this was originally a recipe thread, I should mention that, having finished a bottle of wine I didn’t want but felt bullied by Subaru Diane and peer pressured by Baud!, I am cooking up a mess of Southern Living’s garlic green beans. Why am I doing this? Because if I left this to my wife, her southern upbringing would kick in and she would cook these poor beans down to a gooey, wilted mess.

    And now back to your discussion of food poisoning.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    To assess this unprecedented moment, The New York Times examined Mr. Trump’s interactions with Twitter since he took office, reviewing each of his more than 11,000 tweets and the hundreds of accounts he has retweeted, tracking the ways he is exposed to information and replicating what he is likely to see on the platform. The result, including new data analysis and previously unreported details, offers the most comprehensive view yet of a virtual world in which the president spends significant time mingling with extremists, impostors and spies.

    Yawn. Trump mainlines Fox News and the National Enquirer was his Bible. He lives for lies and conspiracies. You don’t need to dig very deep to know this about him.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    @Sloane Ranger: BBC (from yesterday):

    Police investigating the Vote Leave campaign after an Electoral Commission probe said it broke electoral law have passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.

    Scotland Yard said it had sought advice on its investigation into the official Brexit campaign, which followed an Electoral Commission probe last year.

    The commission found Vote Leave exceeded a £7 million spending limit.

    Vote Leave previously said the findings were “wholly inaccurate”.

    The Vote Leave campaign, which was fronted by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, won the contest to be the official Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union.

    Vote Leave and the official Remain campaign Britain Stronger in Europe were allowed to spend £7m each on campaigning in the run up to the referendum.

    The commission’s report, in July 2018, said Vote Leave spent almost £500,000 more than it should have done during the campaign.

    Vote Leave was fined £61,000 for the breach by the Electoral Commission, which referred the matter to police.

    ‘Investigative advice’

    The Metropolitan Police said a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last month regarding Vote Leave and pro-Brexit youth group BeLeave.

    The Electoral Commission said Vote Leave funnelled £675,315 through the BeLeave group, which the watchdog ruled should have been declared.

    A Met spokesman said: “On Thursday, October 17, the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] submitted a file to the CPS for early investigative advice in relation to the second investigation, which followed a referral from the Electoral Commission on July 17, 2018 and concerns Vote Leave and BeLeave.”

    CPS guidelines state prosecutors “may provide guidance and advice in serious, sensitive or complex cases”.

    They add that early investigative advice could “save both police and CPS resources and time later on”.

    It does not mean the CPS is considering criminal charges or that they will be brought in future.

    […]

    Media caption – Former Vote Leave chief Matthew Elliott defended his group’s actions

    Speaking after the publication of the Electoral Commission’s report last year, a Vote Leave spokesperson said it contained “a number of false accusations and incorrect assertions that are wholly inaccurate and do not stand up to scrutiny”.

    They said the Electoral Commission was “motivated by a political agenda rather than uncovering the facts”.

    They added: “The commission has failed to follow due process, and in doing so has based its conclusions on unfounded claims and conspiracy theories.”

    The Electoral Commission said it pursues investigations “where the evidence justifies it, irrespective of the political views of the party or campaigner concerned”.

    Update 3 Nov 2019: The story has been amended to more accurately reflect the findings of the Electoral Commission.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    khead

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It’s about kissing his ass. Digby was on this a few days ago.

    Newsom kissed his ass and Trump burned him anyway, of course. The proper response to Trump if you are a governor in crisis is “Give me the fucking money/assistance you are supposed to give me”. Especially in California.

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Millions of people survive eating an entire package of Oreo cookies too but that doesn’t make it good.
    @mrmoshpotato:
    You are welcome!
    And you are not. Just explaining that I haven’t eaten at McDs for over 25 yrs because I don’t like food poisoning and the only place I’ve ever gotten it was McDs. And I gave them a second chance, in a different state and they failed. I may not be that smart but I’m smart enough to learn from my mistakes. Your experiences may differ from mine, I’d bet they do.

  77. 77.

    Eric NNY

    As a disgruntled, under-whatever employee,
    f em all. we’re still on our side and this is abject bs

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @khead:

    I really (not really) wonder whether Trump has ever had a functional, healthy relationship with anyone. At this point in his life, he wouldn’t know how to go about it. He wouldn’t have a clue how to begin.

    I’ve said it before: If he weren’t creating such misery and havoc around the world and in the country he supposedly leads, I could almost feel sorry for the loveless, lonely, needy little boy. Almost.

  79. 79.

    TS (the original)

    @Bill Arnold: So it is now the norm to interfere in other countries elections? Is trade deal promised as well? Is it the plan to completely divide Europe again?

  83. 83.

    Amir Khalid

    @Bill Arnold:
    I know Trump is utterly uncultured, which makes me glad that he was probably not quoting the Beatles:

    Come together … right now … over me!

  84. 84.

    Chyron HR

    “Then you can ask the question in a different way.”

    Okay. Did your parents raise you stupid or were you born that way?

  86. 86.

    Bill Arnold

    @Redshift:

    Is your washroom breeding Bolsheviks?

    I had that poster on my office wall for a few years, major American corporation. Manager eventually suggested taking it down. :-(
    (That was a few decades ago when offices were back when offices were commonplace.)

  87. 87.

    Dev Null

    @Ruckus: My cue for talking about food poisoning!

    Way back in 1973 …

    … uh, never mind. I don’t remember the experience fondly either.

  89. 89.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Same here. Fascinating as a psychological study, if only the various psychoses could be studied in the abstract, unattached to a person (let alone a person who wields a ridiculous amount of real power).

  90. 90.

    Mike in NC

    Girlfriend and I got food poisoning at a Taco Bell salad bar in Newport, RI some 30 years ago. Have never been back to one since.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @SiubhanDuinne: @MagdaInBlack:

    Trumpov would tell you/me/the world that he had a great relationship with his dad, and has an awesome one with his kids.

    And he wouldn’t even blink.

    But he probably would say, “Believe me…”

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC: a Taco Bell salad bar
    seriously? this existed?

    The Beast is tweeting up a storm about all the depositions being phony. The consensus on twitter is that this means the depositions make him look really bad, which will make it harder for Willard and Cory and Sue to pretend to not believe their lying eyes.

    Does he imagine the public, televised testimony his allies have been baying for will make him look better?

  93. 93.

    West of the Rockies

    What I find infuriating is that that Clump shatters norms, shits in the chili, wipes his fat ass on The Constitution (and so forth) while his supporters cheer him on. The minute a Democrat is back in the White House, those same supporters will squeal like stuck piglets when it is reported that Madame President watched the Super Bowl while eating salad. (“What, buffalo wings ain’t good enough for her?”)

  95. 95.

    jonas

    @Baud:

    disgruntled, underpaid employees in the West

    Not how I would describe Trump but ok.

    Yes, but that’s basically how Trump thinks of himself. Kind of how another self-aggrandizing authoritarian once nursed the bitter grievance that no-one had ever adequately appreciated his artistic genius.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Hey, 7-2 with no major injuries at this point? I’ll take it.

    Yeah, you’re smug now, but just wait until they play the Jets.

    I’d be worried about Rodgers getting hurt.
    From laughing so hard.

  101. 101.

    mad citizen

    My wife and me once got food poisoning from salmon at an Outback in Merrillville Indiana, while traveling home from Chicago. I don’t recall how or why we ended up there, but not the best choice of restaurant or item at Outback.

    I hope Madame President is reading briefs, a novel, or out on the town eating during the Super Bowl rather than watching the game. But for god’s sake please don’t invite ove the other party to watch it with you like Obama did that one time.

  102. 102.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I concluded today that I couldn’t listen to a single person on TV talking about the impeachment, even if they thought (as I do) that it should happen. What is there to talk about? Trump tried to extort a foreign power into creating a lie about his domestic political opponent. He confessed. Other people have confirmed his confession. The documents confirm it. Everyone knows it, even the ones who lie and say they don’t.

  103. 103.

    mad citizen

    I turned on the telly this morning to catch Chuck Todd in the middle of his Today show hit. He wondered if all this impeachment stuff in D.C. would take attention away from the Democrats running for President. Seriously.

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    @mad citizen

    Attended a function at an Outback in September. Ordered a vodka martini, on the rocks They served it in a glass filled stuffed with crushed ice, like some kind of Sno-cone.

    Strewth, not the most positive advertisement for Australia.

  105. 105.

    tokyokie

    @Ruckus: I had a similar experience (albeit not as long-lasting or as severe as yours) with the fried chicken at a Roy Rogers Roast Beef Sandwich joint. For years, just the aroma of a Roy Rogers shop wafting through my car window would make me feel nauseated. I finally relented and tried it again, but I still got a bit sick. (Like either a small amount of barfing or diarrhea.) Years later, late at night in the middle of Pennsylvania, because nothing else was open and Roy was about to go Happy Trails himself, I tried the chicken again, and suffered no ill consequences. I didn’t boycott the whole chain, but I did avoid the places that made me sick. (Which was easy to do, as they went out of business.)

    I must have developed an immunity. Good thing. They gave me all I could eat because what I didn’t eat was going in the garbage. And who am I to turn down a sweet deal?

    But although I continue to eat fast-food chicken (especially Popeyes), I have a fast-food burger about twice a year. And they’re always as bad as I remembered.

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @tokyokie:

    But although I continue to eat fast-food chicken (especially Popeyes),

    among the many arguments against “intelligent design”, one of the best is that fried chicken is not health food like it should be, dammit

  109. 109.

    Jay

    @tokyokie:

    North of the 49, fast food burgers, ( other than Mickey D’s) arn’t bad.

    All beef, ( a tad overcooked), good ingerdients. Custom options available.

    My favorite is the A&W Uncle Burger. Real bun, hold the condiments, 8 oz. Canadian grass fed all beef patty, aged white cheddar, thick cut naturally smoked bacon, browned and sauteed mushrooms added, ( from their Asaigo Mushroom Burger), romaine lettuce and a beefsteak tomato slice.

    $9 CDN

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @tokyokie:
    We have In and Out here. They are fast food burgers, not a lot of meat but you can get a double double. The fries are very good. Fresh tators, they have a machine to cut the tators into fries, then they fry them. Good stuff, even if it’s not all that good for you…..
    The line is always long because the food isn’t bad and the place is always clean. I’ll eat there a couple times a year because I don’t eat much red meat any more.

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