Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

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

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

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

People are weird.

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

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Let there be snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Second rate reporter says what?

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

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

You are here: Home / Books / Friday Morning Open Thread: Bubble of the Moment

Friday Morning Open Thread: Bubble of the Moment

by | 186 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
.

… Because I don’t think A Warning, by Anonymous, will qualify for the full ‘Flavor of the Day.’ Not even on the Friday before a three-day government holiday.

… The author — who first captured attention in 2018 as the unidentified author of a New York Times opinion column — describes Trump careening from one self-inflicted crisis to the next, “like a twelve-year-old in an air traffic control tower, pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport.”…

At a moment when a stream of political appointees and career public servants have testified before Congress about Trump’s conduct as part of the House impeachment inquiry, the book’s author defends his or her decision to remain anonymous.

“I have decided to publish this anonymously because this debate is not about me,” the author writes. “It is about us. It is about how we want the presidency to reflect our country, and that is where the discussion should center. Some will call this ‘cowardice.’ My feelings are not hurt by the accusation. Nor am I unprepared to attach my name to criticism of President Trump. I may do so, in due course.”…

The author describes senior officials waking up in the morning “in a full-blown panic” over the wild pronouncements the president had made on Twitter.

“It’s like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him,” the author writes. “You’re stunned, amused, and embarrassed all at the same time. Only your uncle probably wouldn’t do it every single day, his words aren’t broadcast to the public, and he doesn’t have to lead the US government once he puts his pants on.”…

“I am not qualified to diagnose the president’s mental acuity,” the author writes. “All I can tell you is that normal people who spend any time with Donald Trump are uncomfortable by what they witness. He stumbles, slurs, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has trouble synthesizing information, not occasionally but with regularity. Those who would claim otherwise are lying to themselves or to the country.”

Okay, I take back my earlier skepticism — ‘Anonymous’ is either KellyAnne Conway, or Ivanka working in tandem with a really skilled ghostwriter. (Jared’s not smart enough to pull it off, or to find the right amanuensis.)

Or else it’s some 24-year-old intern sent over from The Federalist, someone raised in a right-wing homeschooling bubble and studying at Liberty University, who thinks imitating 1950s Great Books imitations of Classical scholarship makes him sound like a sophisticated grown-up.

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  2. 2.

    Mustang Bobby

    “Yeah, I thought about quitting to show the world that I had a conscience and wanted to stand up for what’s good and right, but then I remembered my 401 (k) and I still had to have dental to cover my new crown, so…”

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Maybe Anonymous isn’t just one senior official, but all of them. #OrientExpress

    Or possibly a troll looking to cash out.

  9. 9.

    Mustang Bobby

    Good morning! And in a bit of shameless self-promotion, I’m happy to note that today marks the sixteenth anniversary of Bark Bark Woof Woof. It’s a lot of fun, I’ve learned a lot, met a lot of you through it, and I hope I’ve made some small contribution here and there.

  15. 15.

    balconesfault

    I like Anonymous staying anonymous.

    Must increase Trump’s natural paranoia tenfold.

    Which must make the White House that much more toxic an environment for anyone working there … even Pence’s cadre of true believers.

    Suffer, bastards.

  18. 18.

    Mustang Bobby

    @OzarkHillbilly: Working three days a week at two charter schools doing what I used to do, writing a lot, going to car shows, guest-lecturing (for a fee) at a local college on playwriting, and hoping for another invite to the Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska next summer. Kickin’ it.

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    @RAVEN:

    I know some folks saw the photo display my wife did for my birthday/retirement gig but if you didn’t! I’m overwhelmed.

    I’m wondering if she spent a lot of time finding a wall that’s curved like that, or just had one built. [Maybe by Ozark?]

  23. 23.

    RAVEN

    @Mustang Bobby: I stopped working 9/1 and officially retired 10/1. I’ve had 3 offshore fishing trips and have to power through this weekend and then figure out what to do next!

  26. 26.

    JPL

    @RAVEN: What time are the out of towners arriving? President bonespurs is paying us a visit and the major roads are suppose to be a mess. He’s probably flying into Dobbins though.

  30. 30.

    RAVEN

    @JPL: Stepmom and sis are in and bro and bride should be landing soon on the LA red eye. 285 to 20 to 138 should be ok.

  35. 35.

    waspuppet

    “Or else it’s some 24-year-old intern sent over from The Federalist, someone raised in a right-wing homeschooling bubble and studying at Liberty University, who thinks imitating 1950s Great Books imitations of Classical scholarship makes him sound like a sophisticated grown-up.”

    Whoever it is, they’re a Republican. They don’t have to be 24 to fit the rest of this description.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This is good for a laugh, or 3 dozen:

    Owen Barcala
    ‏ @obarcala

    Good god—why would you ever lie about a death in the family to someone who has the power to jail you for contempt?

    Margaret Hannon
    ‏ @mch_tweets

    First rule of court appearances–don’t miss court appearances without providing notice to the court (exception for emergencies). Second rule of court appearances–be honest with the court.

    19 blow by blow tweets later:

    This must be what it’s like to watch someone slowly fall into a woodchipper

    I wonder what Stupid Lawyer Trick he’s gonna try on the 13th?

  39. 39.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @balconesfault: Indeed. Half the staff is probably tasked to spend their days reading the emails and listening to the landlines of the other half. Which is of course totally ineffective in the era of cell phones.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: As one who has first hand experience with the whole “don’t miss court appearances” nightmare, I find it absolutely hilarious. In my case it was also a first hand experience in how small town family ties can hijack a rural county court. That chapter did not end well for me.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: Missing court appearances is bad. Repeatedly lying about why is extraordinarily awful. After he’s disbarred, that lawyer’s only future is with the Trump administration.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    Good article in a beginning series by the Guardian on voter suppression in the US.

    “Is America a democracy?” No, you British bmorons, it’s a republic.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Las Vegas no longer will allow homeless people to sleep

    “This is flawed but it is a start,” the mayor said after noting Las Vegas’ economy relies on its image as an attractive international tourist attraction. We have been having these conversations for 20 years,” she said, “and we must have results.”
    ………………
    “But instead of actually doing something to address the root causes of tired homeless people, we’re gonna juice them up on Redbull and crank.”

    ///////

  46. 46.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    Legend has it that I was conceived when my parents deliberately missed a court appearance with my father’s ex-wife. The jury is still out on whether that was a bad thing. :-)

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Senate talks on crafting bipartisan Violence Against Women Act break down

    Bipartisan Senate talks over a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act fell apart this week, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said in a floor speech Thursday.

    Ernst said she’ll introduce her own version of the bill that can pass the Republican-controlled Senate and gain the support of President Donald Trump. The House, controlled by Democrats, passed a version of the bill in April.

    “Just this week, after months of work and mountains of effort toward a bipartisan bill, it all came to a screeching halt,” Ernst said. “Once again Democrats are insisting that violence against women should be illegal.”

    //////////////////////

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    TCM alert.

    12:01 a.m. (Eastern) Monday – The Pagan (1929). Primarily silent but with some synchronized sound*. Enchanting South Seas atmosphere (filmed on location there). Dated? Of course. Non-PC? As a product of its time viewed from this century, somewhat so. Creaky? In part, yet star Ramón Novarro exudes such a mischievous sense of fun it is positively infectious, the gleam in his eye all but breaking the fourth wall to invite the audience to join in.

    *Including a gloriously ebullient whoop of “Yub yub!” more than a half century before an Ewok first flickered on a screen.

  51. 51.

    Patricia Kayden

    Sessions is salty that kissing Trump’s butt hasn’t soothed Trump’s anger that he refused himself from the Mueller investigation.

    A message from Jeff Sessions:“When I left President Trump’s cabinet, did I write a tell all book? No. Did I go on CNN and attack the President? No. Have I said a cross word about President Trump? No."https://t.co/bwmYdCOSQZ pic.twitter.com/FW1ob1bpZi— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) November 8, 2019

  53. 53.

    Chyron HR

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “Once again Democrats are insisting that violence against women should be illegal.”

    I MEAN MY GOD CAN’T YOU LIBTARDS MEET US HALFWAY HERE??

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:
    I vote addiction problems are the real reason. Seen it too many times. If so, checking into a several week in-house program would be the right move now.

  58. 58.

    TS (the original)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “Once again Democrats are insisting that violence against women should be illegal.”

    If ever there was a campaign slogan – it is here

  61. 61.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: We are close to liftoff! Our week long chest colds have wiped us out some, and I had a hella week at work (which is almost over, yay!). But all the necessary parts are acquired. So the final coat of high temp enamel glossy black on the frame tonight or tomorrow and then reassembly! Espresso liftoff by Sunday morning.

  62. 62.

    TS (the original)

    @Patricia Kayden: What hold does trump have on these fools – they are down and still asking to be kicked. From your link

    I was the first to support president trump. I was his strongest advocate. I still am. We must make America great again

  63. 63.

    TS (the original)

    @OzarkHillbilly: egad – they really are the party of hate – that a woman said that – everything I hear from republicans today is more ghastly than what they said yesterday

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    The thing about this anonymous book is that foreign leaders all know this and hold receipts. When Trump goes, the floodgates to Shit Creek will spring open and all paddle shops within 100 miles will be destroyed in the resulting flood.

    Telling Trump tales will be a source of sport and amusement for our friends and foes alike.

  65. 65.

    JGabriel

    WaPo via Anne Laurie @ Top

    “… Some will call this ‘cowardice.’ My feelings are not hurt by the accusation. Nor am I unprepared to attach my name to criticism of President Trump. I may do so, in due course.”…

    When there are enough other people criticizing him that I can hide myself in the crowd.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    @JGabriel: Maybe it’s an intricate triple-bluff: Anonymous is one of the people who have publicly testified, so they won’t be looking at them when trying to find Anonymous.

  67. 67.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @TS (the original):

    that a woman said that

    She didn’t say that, I did, hence the //////////////////// sarcasm tag at the bottom. What she said was “Blah blah blah bublah DEMs blah blah blah politics blah blah blah….” I just translated it for every one else.

  69. 69.

    Patricia Kayden

    Now that Rs claim Trump himself wasn't behind the extortion plot, remember:* Trump himself froze military aid* Trump himself publicly called for Ukraine to investigate Bidens* Giuliani said: “I don’t do anything that involves my client without speaking with my client.” https://t.co/N8rNwYceR8— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) November 8, 2019

  71. 71.

    Gin & Tonic

    Good morning from the charming and historic little town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Here for a family event.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    What I love about the Trump/Sessions spat is what a snob Donald Trump is. He jeers at Sessions for having a southern accent and not going to an elite school. They’re horrible low quality people who are also convinced they are superior based on the dumbest, most conventional measures. They aren’t even redeemed by being actual outsiders. They all worship the ordinary markers of social superiority.

  74. 74.

    Chyron HR

    @TS (the original):

    We must make America great again

    I’ll admit that I underestimated how much “America sucks” would resonate as a campaign slogan, but can you really run on that when you’re the incumbent?

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Well, it would be easy to prove. Trump’s defense witnesses can agree to appear. The rules are you have to show up and 75 appearances on Fox don’t count. If he wasn’t involved let’s hear from his employees. I welcome testimony from Trump Adminstration or career people who can attest that to Trump’s ignorance of his own foreign policy. By all means. As many as he likes. Gosh I would think they would be eager to back up the boss they all worship – where are they? This grave injustice is being perpetrated and none of them can bother to testify in his defense?

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    It gets missed with Trump but he does it all the time. He recommends his low quality hires based not on their work but on their pedigree. It’s what he admires. I think it’s amusing both that he does it and also amusing that it’s never characterized as snobbery, when of course that’s what it is. To know that all you have to do is picture Obama or Hillary Clinton making fun of a southern accent or a state school. It would be immediately crafted into a narrative.

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    @Kay:
    What’s even stranger (as in “not at all strange”) is that all those maladministration persons who would/could TOTALLY exonerate the Liar-in-Chief are being forbidden (by the “Moron of Interest” and his minions) from giving testimony. It’s almost as if the Liar-in-Chief was lying when proclaiming his innocence.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I just love how they keep saying they’re being silenced but…no witnesses for the President. Oh, my. He couldn’t find a single person other than the dopey guy who bought an ambassadorship to testify in his defense? The one witness for the defense had to retract everything he said and essentially admit publicly that he lied.

  83. 83.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Wild theory: The book is not by the original Anonymous, it’s by someone at the NYT who realized they could cash in and Anonymous could not dispute them.

    @Patricia Kayden:
    White supremacy remains a good explanation. Their team MUST win and cannot be wrong about anything, ANYTHING, or there might be another black president. If this means playing nice with a blithering dipshit they hate, race war is Hell.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    If the whistleblower (and the, oh, seven other people) are lying the way to show that is produce someone who testifies to something different. They don’t have anyone willing to do that. And given how much this crew lies and how grovelingly subservient they are to Dear Leader that’s really saying something. Not ONE.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @SFAW: @Kay: It’s a perjury trap! Just like all those court cases where Trump had to testify. They get you to “swear in” and all of a sudden perfectly normal and expected behavior becomes some sort of “crime” with “consequences” for your “actions”.

  89. 89.

    sdhays

    @Ken: That term still takes my breath away. “Perjury trap.” It’s only a trap if you’ve lied, or there’s something you want to lie about but now fear it would be too transparent. There’s no trap without the lying. We’re supposed to think it’s unfair to expect the President and his minions to…not lie? WTF?

  91. 91.

    Kay

    Jonathan Allen
    @jonallendc
    There’s a defense of the president taking root that holds he was unaware of a scheme concocted by Giuliani, Mulvaney and Sondland. Some issues with this defense:
    1)Sounds like admission of wrongdoing
    2)He asked Ukraine to investigate Biden repeatedly
    3)These 3 won’t be patsies.

    Sondland is already a patsy – lying for the President and then crawling back to retract it makes him doubly a patsy. I think it’s delicious and a form of justice that Sondland paid thru the nose for the honor of being Donald Trump’s patsy.

    LOW quality hires. The bottom of the barrel.

  92. 92.

    boatboy_srq

    @NotMax: Classics still available for non-profit screenings and small cinemas on petition, apparently. Given that the big cineplex enterprises are not our friends (cough cough Regal cough) this seems less of a bad thing than could be.

  95. 95.

    sdhays

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: : The quote in the article says:

    “Just this week, after months of work and mountains of effort toward a bipartisan bill, it all came to a screeching halt,” Ernst said. “Once again Democrats are putting politics ahead of people.”

    I think OzarkHillbilly translated from Republican to English. That’s what the “////////////////” was about. Although I initially assumed that she had misspoken and had a left a word out from what she was intending to say (Freudian slip).

  96. 96.

    artem1s

    @balconesfault:

    even Pence’s cadre of true believers.

    I think Pence’s fluffers in the GOP may be setting the stage for either a 25th or the inevitable need to put him at the top of the ticket when it becomes obvious Dolt45 isn’t going to make it to next November, let alone have any coattails for the GOP Senators to ride on. Maybe a McConnell operative – but I find it hard to believe there isn’t a CABAL of GOP leaders meeting in a back room somewhere who understand fully how dangerous this administration is for their business interests. Mostly I’m betting on someone in the Bush Crime family (Darth Cheney) to be poised to take advantage of the eventual power vacuum once the WH nucular meltdown happens and Dence moves into 1600 Penn Ave.

  97. 97.

    boatboy_srq

    If, as Anonynous says, it is not about him/her/zher but about us, then his/her/zher current employment is both enough coercion to keep this person out of sight and unverifiable beyond broadcast news content, and more than replaceable by any enterprise able to respect integrity more than proficiency.

    I iz underimpressed.

  98. 98.

    Baud

    @rikyrah: His only real impact will be to draw media attention and possibly debate time away from real candidates, who are already struggling with both.

  100. 100.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Patricia Kayden: Is that what they’re claiming now? Trump didn’t initiate the extortion? I assume they’re saying Rudy did it, but what do I know? I was out of the loop for three days while I was traveling and I feel like I’ve lost the thread completely.

  101. 101.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    LarryO brings this up almost nightly, Kay.
    That NONE of the GOPers sitting on those committees listening to these depositions are bringing up arguments IN DEFENSE of Dolt45.

    Not?A?One?

    No witnesses and no line of questions that could be considered a line of defense.???

  102. 102.

    sdhays

    @rikyrah: He was a pretty popular Republican mayor for 3 terms, wasn’t he? Why doesn’t he run in their primary? He’ll have just as much appeal to their base and with his money, he could conceivably we a real thorn in the side of old Liddle’ Hands.

  105. 105.

    Ken

    @rikyrah: That’s because Shifty Schiff is, is, um… barring them from the hearings! That’s it!

    You saw the Fox News footage of the 30 brave Spartans storming the secure facility with nothing but unsecured cell phones and pizza, didn’t you? That’s because none of the Republicans are being allowed to attend. Except the sixty or so who are members of the committees of course but they don’t count because reasons.

  106. 106.

    Jager

    @RAVEN:

    Wow.impressive.

    I worked until I was 72, now I’m pretty damn bored. My 80-year-old neighbor has a “resto-mod” 41 Ford, stunning car. I’m helping him clean it up for a Cars and Coffee event in Santa Barbara on Sunday. Randy is a retired aircraft engineer, he did all the mechanical work on his old Ford. He lost his wife 4 years ago, he told me he hasn’t paid much attention to the old Ford since, because she loved it so much. They used to do the old car tours to the Hearst Castle, Monterey, etc. It’s going to be good to get him out.

  107. 107.

    The Dangerman

    @Ken:

    Maybe it’s an intricate triple-bluff.

    I sometimes wonder if it could all be true but from Opposite World Bizarro Land. What if the World of Stephanie Grisham was 100% true and all of this was really the Deep State trying to take down Trump? What is Trump really is a Stable Genius and we’ve all somehow missed it? What if he really does deserve a Nobel Prize?

    Then I think ….. nahhhhhh ….

  108. 108.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    Their defense is the sovereign citizen defense. That the government (in the form of a Democratic House) lacks authority to enforce the law against Trump.

  110. 110.

    Patricia Kayden

    Democrats always say that they want compromise and working together. Yes. But they also say they want Roe, fighting climate change, new taxes on the rich. The Republican compromise to all of those things is: No.— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) November 8, 2019

  111. 111.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    It’s kind of whatever with there former Trump admin official with the exception maybe of General Mathews who made it clear he was doing it for the country and resigned when he couldn’t They all knew what Trump is when they took the job.

  112. 112.

    Dev Null

    @rikyrah: “… grifter …”

    To paraphrase Charles Pierce: Anonymous grifted then so that we can enjoy the reviews of his book today!

  113. 113.

    Dev Null

    @SFAW: “… a wall curved like that …”

    Great minds think in the same rut!

    Or perhaps the wall is flexible, and they bent it into a 90° angle for the photo shoot?

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @Ken:
    Well, can it really be a “perjury trap” if all they’re looking to get him on is a “process crime”? Which isn’t really a crime (when a Rethug does it). Come to think of it, perjury is also a process crime in their eyes, because the Demon-rats will just pretend that the Rethugs said things they weren’t actually saying about kangaroos or something.

  116. 116.

    Bruce K

    @Patricia Kayden: I’ve gotten the distinct impression over the past twenty years that the GOP’s idea of compromise is “You Democrats do what we want, and in return, we Republicans do what we want.”

  117. 117.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I’m listening to Glenn Beck explain how quid pro quo does not mean quid pro quo. Hope his hernias don’t act up (I’m assuming he has many, based on his previous statements). “Trump did the quid pro quo to protect the country!!!”

  118. 118.

    Kay

    Kathleen Kingsbury
    @katiekings
    1h
    When Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, the top marginal tax rate on personal income was 70 percent … that did not dissuade Mr. Gates from pouring himself into his business, nor discouraged his investors from pouring in their money.

    It’s funny how much of our fairly recent public policy has just been erased. I paid 1500 dollars a year for undergrad at a public college. Fucking subsidized out the wazoo. No one was screeching about “free college!”, probably because so many of us were getting it and we weren’t poor. Just down the old memory hole.

  119. 119.

    SFAW

    @The Dangerman:
    SNL did a sketch during Reagan, in which Reagan was a dope in front of the cameras, but behind secure doors, he was running the entire world (more or less) and oversaw all manner of things, from global to minute details, and was fairly ruthless (I think).

    Just like the Liar-in-Chief..

  120. 120.

    Aziz, light!

    @artem1s:

    I think Pence’s fluffers in the GOP may be setting the stage for either a 25th or the inevitable need to put him at the top of the ticket when it becomes obvious Dolt45 isn’t going to make it to next November.

    Trump is going to make it to November, “exonerated” by the Senate, and then he is going to have a damn good chance of getting re-elected, courtesy of the EC. How many D voters will refuse to vote for a woman? How many of Bernie’s voters will refuse to vote for anyone not Bernie? How many independents will waffle their way back into the Republican fold, as they almost always do? These are very reasonable scenarios. The people in power do not want to walk away from power, and the media will cheerfully repeat their lies to support the incumbent and his party, the Make Rich People Richer Party.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Isn’t he behind the times? The new defense is the idiot President didn’t know what his three sleazy henchmen were up to when they put the squeeze on Ukraine. It’s not a good defense but it’s all they have.

    *I got “henchmen” from the grieving UK couple the sleazy Trump hires tried to threaten into consenting to some gross “deal”. The father used the term to describe the Trump Administration. Fits, doesn’t it?

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @Dev Null:

    Or perhaps the wall is flexible, and they bent it into a 90° angle for the photo shoot?

    Using flexible drywall and elastic joint compound, I expect.

  123. 123.

    Dev Null

    @OzarkHillbilly: You’re on fire this morning!

    (FWIW, I didn’t know that “//////” is a sarcasm tag. Fortunately (for me) I read the link before I forwarded the quote to potentially interested non-jackals.)

  124. 124.

    Aleta

    An opening that lies about your motivation and fearlessness isn’t a good look for a book called The Warning. From an author who introduced him(her)self as “I Am Part of the Resistance.”

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    If you have Wall Calendars that you put up at home or work,

    Calendars.com

    Is having a sale today. ALL Calendars are $9.99
    Free shipping if you buy two.?

  126. 126.

    Kay

    A professional referee says in a lawsuit filed Thursday that disgraced doctor Richard Strauss masturbated in front of him in a shower after a wrestling match at Ohio State University, and he reported the encounter directly to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who was then the assistant coach.
    “Yeah, that’s Strauss,” Jordan and then-head coach Russ Hellickson replied, according to the lawsuit, when the referee, identified in court papers as John Doe 42, told them about the incident. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Ohio, implies that Jordan’s response to the incident, which the referee said happened in 1994, was essentially a shrug.

    My youngest has Ohio State on his list of schools he might like to go to but this really bothers me. I think the University has a duty to stop being such gross cowards, protect their former students, and stop protecting this hugely powerful Ohio Republican.

    Who do they serve? If they don’t know that I’m sure as hell not pumping 100k + into their coffers. This kid is easy. He adapts. He’d be fine anywhere. I’m not confident they’ll act in his best interest if doing that becomes difficult, and the only time it matters is when it becomes difficult. Anyone can be brave in an easy situation. That’s why we don’t call that “brave”.

    They were tested and they failed, like so many other institutions.

  129. 129.

    Kay

    Joyce Alene
    @JoyceWhiteVance
    ·1h
    Katie Hill resigned over a consensual affair with a staffer. Bill Clinton was impeached. Jim Jordan stood by silently while tens if not hundreds of young men entrusted to his care as their coach were subjected to sexual abuse & did nothing.

    This is provocative and I don’t mean to be, but would this be treated differently if the victims were young women? It just seems to be handled so differently from the Michigan scandal. Those were little girls in many cases, so that’s a difference. I don’t know. I’m asking.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    I dunno, Kay. Look at all the young ladies that the guy in Michigan was able to abuse before being brought to justice. Look at Penn State. The wheels are turning slowly, but, I do believe, it will come to a conclusion..

  132. 132.

    Kay

    It’s just that in abuse cases the victims sometimes matter as much as the perpetrators, in terms of how they’re treated. It was true in Epstein. He knew enough to keep it to “throwaway girls”. That’s why it wasn’t addressed. They were in the social classes who are slated to be prostitutes anyway.

    So does “men/women” matter? I mean it sort of did in the Catholic Church cases because the early defenders of the abuse portrayed it as same sex and consensual. They tied those two categories together and it worked for a while.

  135. 135.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I think the big difference is that Jordan is a big muckety muck in the GOP. Just like Trump. That party is seen as the protector of privilege and, therefore, must be treated as precious.

  136. 136.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Penn state is a good counterexample, so thank you. Those were boys. My general approach in my work is to treat “children” as the category, not girls or boys. So I would extent that to the college cases, and it would be “young men and women who are in a lower power position”. But it took me years to sort it out and really look for bias. It’s about power and agency- who has it, who doesn’t.
    There was a giant child abuse scandal in a Texas juvenile facility about a decade ago. It’s studied. Anyway, I felt people were uncomfortable with it because the corrections officers were overwhelmingly female and the victims were boys. It was used as the exception that proves the rule- people seemed unable to look at the bigger issue differently. They wouldn’t look at the power differential.

  137. 137.

    fourmorewars

    Fewer and fewer people out there are clinging to the nonsense. But, as anybody with a car radio knows, if they’re out there, NPR will find them.

  138. 138.

    Eunicecycle

    @rikyrah: Thanks for the tip! I always buy my young adult kids calendars for Christmas, either desk or wall. They say they like them. Last year I bought my son a Trump themed one with a different dumb quote every day. He texts me a picture if it when there is a really good one.

  139. 139.

    Dev Null

    @Baud: I remember saying “Jordan’s toast” when the scandal briefly looked like it would singe him.

    Nope. Didn’t dent his margin in the 2018 midterms IIRC… and his opponent sounded like a decent / honorable individual.

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: Maybe a spoiler alert next time? I’ve been avoiding any coverage, movie version, TV adaptation until I get a chance to read it. Jerk.

  141. 141.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    You think that this is Haberman’s book?

    I’m throwing it out as an idea, but Hell, why not? It’s found money for her, and probably feels like publicity and validation. No one else who can admit it publicly would know Anonymous isn’t the author.

  142. 142.

    Dev Null

    @Kay: You mentioned Epstein. In kinda-sorta the same category are all the cases of assault by prison guards. I remember a case in Louisiana 2-3 years ago; I think there was a case at Riker’s Island recently … but they’re all over the country.

    And in the same vein, “good boy rapes wanton drunken temptress, gets off with probation”: e.g. the Stanford case (victim recently de-anonymized herself), a case in Iowa, and as recently as this year, a case in NJ (in which, unusually, the judge was sanctioned). Too many incidents to keep track of ’em all.

  143. 143.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    would this be treated differently if the victims were young women?

    It would be hidden better. I’m serious. The male/male examples seem to come out more often and easier than the other sexual combinations. Anything that can be described as man/boy becomes a public scandal faster. See the Catholic Church. If #MeToo and Epstein are any indication, it’s because men are assumed to have that right over women, and of course most of our society doesn’t believe women can commit rape at all.

  145. 145.

    SFAW

    @Dev Null:

    That or flexible bricks and mortar, I’m guessing.

    No idea, I’m not a bricklayer.

    Come to think of it, I ain’t a carpenter, either.

    Nor much of anything else, I guess.

    ETA: Well, other than a “highly disregarded commenter” here, that is.

  146. 146.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: Is that quote from The Onion? Because I am not getting out of the boat for this one.
    ETA: ok, wise guy, it wasn’t the Onion, it was the Ozark Hillbilly!

  147. 147.

    Miss Bianca

    So, when is Rand Paul going to demand thatthe publishers of Anonymous’s “book” give up the author’s name?

  148. 148.

    SFAW

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I tend to agree. Although he’s a special case, I have a feeling that if Shitgibbon were caught/accused of his highly-publicized sex-assault behaviors with young boys, rather than girls/women, it probably would have cost him some number of votes.

    Of course, it would probably be only about 2 percent of them.

  149. 149.

    dnfree

    @rikyrah: there are great calendars at Daedalus Books, too, often for under $5. I think their website is salebooks.com because it’s hard to spell Daedalus. They often have signed new books for Christmas, and they have movies and music as well. I once spent so much money there they emailed and asked if I was a librarian.

  151. 151.

    206inKY

    @artem1s: I remember reading a pretty convincing analysis of the op-ed, maybe at emptywheel or TPM, that pointed the finger at Pence’s former chief of staff Nick Ayers. But I can’t find the article or twitter thread since it’s overwhelmed by google results on Omarosa’s accusations that it was Ayers.

    His wikipedia page is surprisingly long and has been scrubbed of any mention of the controversy. It reads like it has been carefully polished to enhance credibility if the guessing game lands on him again. I seem to recall he had a connection to the Hillsdale College world where one of the telltale phrases in the op-ed came from, but that’s missing in wikipedia too.

  152. 152.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dev Null: I learned it about a year ago. The Stone Age in internet time.

    @Miss Bianca: No, the last sentence came out of my ass. The link goes to a Roll Call story. As I said to someone else, I was just translating Ernst’s bullshit. I thought it’s obvious ridiculousness along with the repetitive sarcasm /////////////////////// would give it away. Lesson learned, when I am going to put words in other people’s mouths, I should keep them out of the blockquote.

  154. 154.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @SFAW:
    If he were running beauty pageants for teenage boys and a complaint that he walked in on them naked got out, someone would have gone sniffing around to see if he had sex with any of them.

  155. 155.

    J R in WV

    @Dev Null:

    In the horrible sexual abuse category:

    And in the same vein, “good boy rapes wanton drunken temptress, gets off with probation”: e.g. the Stanford case (victim recently de-anonymized herself), a case in Iowa, and as recently as this year, a case in NJ (in which, unusually, the judge was sanctioned).

    The judge who gave the Stanford “athlete” probation for rape was successfully recalled, and lost his judgeship. And any political career. So for his sake I hope he is actually a good lawyer to make some sort of a living. Otherwise he will need to scratch up a new career with a new name and location. The rat bastard!

  156. 156.

    Tenar Arha

    @Kay: I’m not sure it’s because they were boys or young men.

    In this particular case I think maybe it’s not getting traction because Strauss the perpetrator is dead. The people who covered up for him have moved on, unlike in Michigan or Penn State. And unfortunately, as has become clear, the GOP is now all in on protecting its legislators from consequences, until they have absolutely no choice & are backed into a corner, like with Steve King. I’ll be watching keenly to see what happens to his committee assignments….

  158. 158.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    it’s because men are assumed to have that right over women,

    I would probably buy that. Because it’s not just about “society” right? It’s also about the victims. How they see themselves. If they think they’re entitled to complain or whether that carries risk to how they see their own role in any power ranking. Elite athletes aren’t generally considered vulnerable, I don’t think. That must be part of how they see themselves- as others see them. You see it with the salary disputes “how DARE they complain!”.

  161. 161.

    JPL

    The paper tiger, aka president bone spurs has already forgiven Sessions and won’t campaign against him. hahahahha

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I had a ward years ago. A young man. He was being victimized by local parolees who were using the house he owned as a kind of flophouse/crime center. He was afraid of them and he should be- they’re violent creeps. So we can take care of that with law enforcement and he doesn’t need to use self-help but he was very defensive about it- that he would kick their ass if there weren’t four of them, that sort of thing. I don’t have that issue. No one thinks I should kick anyone’s ass. I don’t think I have to say that and he did think he had to say that.

  163. 163.

    Juju

    @Kay: HBO had an excellent, but difficult to watch documentary about the Michigan/US women’s gymnastic team case. The doctor got away with sexually abusing young girls for at least two decades, if not longer. The documentary is called “At the Heart of Gold”. The way Ohio is treating their sexual abuse case seems to be rather typical to me.

  164. 164.

    mad citizen

    @sdhays: Exactly sdhays. I’ve never understood why the parties don’t have any(?)/more rigorous rules as to who can actually run in the Presidential primaries. Bloomberg is not a democrat, he’s a phucking reupublican or independent. Go back to your own tribe assshole. God I really hope he goes down like a lead zeppelin. (As of yesterday, I’m a 59 year old white dude) I really really really still want the nominee to be one of the three women, partially out or revenge for the obvious fraud of last time; and two, it’s just time dammit.

  165. 165.

    trollhattan

    @Patricia Kayden:
    ???

    Bonnie Raitt is one of the all-time greats, wonderful to hear she’s being honored for that.

    Saw her a couple years ago and Mavis Staples opened. What a night.

  166. 166.

    joel hanes

    @rikyrah:

    That NONE of the GOPers sitting on those committees listening to these depositions

    To be scrupfair, very few of the Republican committee members who are entitled to attend the closed hearings are doing so.

    Cognitive dissonance is apparently excruciating.

  167. 167.

    Baud

    @Patricia Kayden:
    @trollhattan:

    The tweet says she was inducted in 2000. That’s just a birthday tweet.

    @mad citizen:

    We don’t have rules because party hopping has never been a real issue. Now that it is, too many of our own voters are invested in the idea that the party isn’t legitimate enough to exclude non-party members. We can’t afford to lose their votes out of pique.

  168. 168.

    trollhattan

    @Juju:
    This seems like a rinse-and-repeat story that keeps popping up everywhere. USC’s molesting doctor, Ken Starr’s Baylor culture of “rape is okay so long as it’s the football team.” Where are the consequences?

  170. 170.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Trump is giving an absolutely unfuckinghinged press conference.

    I realise that sentence could be used, accurately, pretty much any day of the year, but it’s even more true today than usual. Cripey!

  171. 171.

    different-church-lady

    Gonna be really amazing a hundred years from now when kids read history and think, “Jeez, a guy with the mental acuity of the idiot who jumped off the Eiffel Tower in a primitive Batman outfit took over the government of the only Superpower.”

  172. 172.

    SFAW

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    If he were running beauty pageants for teenage boys and a complaint that he walked in on them naked got out, someone would have gone sniffing around to see if he had sex with any of them.

    I don’t disagree. I just don’t think it would have lost him too many votes.

    About the only thing he could do to lose himself votes would be to do something positive for browns, etc.

  173. 173.

    trollhattan

    @SFAW:
    Of the entire wall-to-wall cringe-inducing Trump campaign my go-to “most cringiest” image must be the women wearing “You can grab my #$ssy” t-shirts. Trump supporters in a nutshell. Emphasis on nut.

  175. 175.

    Aleta

    Here’s a lie: “PowerPoint was preferred because [Trump] is a visual learner,” recalls the author. 

    He’s not a learner in any way.
    Power point was ‘preferred’ because if the picture doesn’t change every few seconds he’ll blow.

    The headlines are killing me.
    —- Book by ‘Anonymous’ Reporters, victims and employees describes Trump described Trump in 2015-6 as cruel, inept and a danger to the nation.
    (That story needs to be hammered every fking day for the next year.)
    —-NYT Book Review: Anonymous Author Makes Case Against Re-election
    —- “… author details difficulties staff had”

  176. 176.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Or, when he’s doing his tough guy act, someone should ask why he sticks with it when he’s so, so good at looking the other way?

  177. 177.

    boatboy_srq

    @Kay: Like so many institutions, the protectikns are less than we were led to believe.

    I am at my uni for homecoming and reunion, and talking to the kids here now the stories they tell are by turns gratifying and horrifying. Half the frats are under investigation for something, usually something sexual-assault-grade. For a wonder there seems to be a bit more “policing” by greeks of their own, which was NOT happening when I was a student. OTOH there are ride aervices on-call for stidents not comfortable getting home late at night, which was not available in my day.

    All that said, Gym Jones owes it to his constituents to ‘fess up and resign for enabling all the OH cr#p. And your young’un can do better for less $$.

  179. 179.

    cain

    I’m thinking that Tamara will find this enjoyable and anyone else who loves ducks/goose/Pearl/ etc

    Just remembered that Sydney has an annual duck fashion show and my Friday suddenly got a whooooole lot better, babey. pic.twitter.com/s51KwLd8JC— Sophie Beer – Arthur and the Tiger out NOW! (@sophiebeerdraws) November 7, 2019

  180. 180.

    Dev Null

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    No wonder he lost.

    Janet Garrett, I believe. I think I donated via ActBlue … but there were soooo many candidates running against horrible opponents, I mostly stuck with people who looked like they had a snowball’s chance.

    She seemed like a nice person, as said, so two reasons she lost. Three, if I’m remembering correctly that it’s a gerrymandered mostly rural district.

    All the same reason, IOW.

  182. 182.

    Dev Null

    @OzarkHillbilly: …

    I was just translating Ernst’s bullshit. I thought it’s obvious ridiculousness …

    Sounds like standard Republican rhetoric to me. Had the speaker been a man, or pretty much any Republican other than Joni Ernst, I doubt I’d have checked. Didn’t sound quite right coming from an abused wife.

  183. 183.

    Dev Null

    @J R in WV: He can catch fire and die for all I care. I don’t remember details of the recall – perhaps never heard the details – but I have this (possibly unfounded) notion that he was as awful in real life as he was on the bench.

    In the Louisiana prison rape case, the (underage) temptress was “older than her years”, so it was her fault that the guard raped her, doncha know. /sarcasm

    I don’t think there were any repercussions for the guard, but TBF (to Louisiana) I might have lost track of the story before the consequences stage.

    As long as we’re mentioning horrible people and sexual assault, wasn’t Ken Starr booted from Baylor for failing to follow up on reports of sexual assault by members of the Baylor football team?

    Why is he a feature on the media impeachment circus?

  185. 185.

    Dev Null

    @mad citizen:

    I really really really still want the nominee to be one of the three women, partially out or revenge for the obvious fraud of last time; and two, it’s just time dammit.

    Preach it, bro!

  186. 186.

    Tehanu

    @NotMax: Never saw this, but I loooove Ramon Navarro, the handsomest man ever to hit Hollywood and a fine actor. Tragic death, of course.

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