Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

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BMFA

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I had to run a couple of errands today. One was at the home improvement big box, where I picked up an order. As we waited for my item to come out of the back, and as we inspected it, the young woman manning the counter and I were chatting. She had kind of an alternative look and a good sense of humor, and we were joking about my order, nothing political. She made some mention of “the orange one” and I said, “Oh, you mean Cheeto Benito.” She thought that was funny.

Anyway, as I was driving to my next destination, I was wondering why she thought it was safe to make a political comment to me. New York is a blue state, but there are plenty of Trumpers in Western New York. I’m a middle-aged white-looking guy, so not an obvious non-Trumper.

Then I got to the grocery store and saw this, and I remembered the obvious: I’m not a humorless asshole, so she could assume that I’m not so far up Trump’s rectum that I even put a Trump sticker on my spare tire.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerzy Russian

    Fucked up shit is fucked up, I see.

    I am glad when they put such stickers on their cars. I can place them in the “asshole” category and move on.

  2. 2.

    mrmoshpotato

    Did that SUV actually have handicapped plates, or was it an alpha-douche being an alpha-douche?

    ETA – the ‘Dump – No More Bullshit’ bumper sticker is a nice touch.  I’m sure it’s meant ironically.

  3. 3.

    HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes

    @mrmoshpotato: The plates were not handicapped. I didn’t bother to see if they had a hanging tag on the mirror.

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    Prolly one of the armchair warriors who own a pile of guns and talks big about civil war if the president isn’t re-elected, but can’t walk from regular parking into the store.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T, and no surprise to anybody, but Jeebus Crisp is Pam Bondi ever a tool.

    (Also inarticulate and incompetent.)

  9. 9.

    RaflW

    Did the dudebro (“Brotality”?!?) have a handicap tag on his mirror? Or on his plate? Which, really, you are too kind blotting it.

    eta: I see, asked and answered. Gonna guess he’s a douche who thinks these spots are reserved for his convenience.

  13. 13.

    cthulhu

    @RaflW: Brotality is apparently a local Christian speed metal band of three young teen boys (age 14 to 17). I think I find this the most fascinating thing about this car.

  14. 14.

    J R in WV

    Sticker, or not, the driver was incapable of parking correctly in the extra room handicapped parking spaces have.

    I recently came into one of those handicapped tags for our cars, and I  use it. When My knee went (more) out and I asked the doc about it, he said, “hell, you qualified for one of these years ago!” I didn’t ask for one because I could use the exercise from parking way back in the lot. Then I hurt my knee again and gave it up.

    People who aren’t old/disabled yet still park in those spaces are always Trumpian monsters.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    So Buttigieg posts this gem on Twitter: “In the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics we’ve come to know and expect.”

    The responses to that post are, how shall I say, not receptive to his message.

  18. 18.

    RaflW

    @cthulhu: Urban Dictionary has some very unchristian definitions of the neologism.

    Come to think of it, the U.D. definitions are quite spot on for our most performative christians, ie Trump and his ilk.

    (eta: oh hi debbie. The rapey definition also of course fits Orangemandias).

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I can place them in the “asshole” category and move on.

    I have the opposite type of stickers on my truck which puts me in the “asshole” category too.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Would you accept “alpha-trash doing his thing?”

    No.  These guys are absolutely not alphas.  The louder somebody proclaims what an alpha they are, the less you should believe them.  If they try to prove they’re an alpha by sucking up to somebody more powerful than them, it just proves they are not.

  22. 22.

    Mike in NC

    Yesterday I spotted an older white woman leaving the liquor store and getting into her SUV with a “Trump 2020” bumper sticker on the rear window. She was carrying a liter and a half of Grey Goose, which might have been her daily ration.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Leto: Lead paint chips would seem to be the least of her issues. She’s just awful.

    (Completely O/T, but did you see that I “graduated” from physical therapy early? Met or exceeded every single goal weeks before we had targeted, so last week my PT basically said “Go with god but keep doing your home exercises,” and off I went. Feel pretty chuffed about this; it’s like skipping seventh grade because you’re just too smart and read books way beyond grade level!)

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    @HRH mistermix:

    And, let me guess, no handicapped sticker/​tag on the car

    ETA: Didn’t read the comments. Suspicion confirmed.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @J R in WV

    After years of my imploring her, soon to be 92-year-old Mom finally asked one of her docs to sign off on her getting a placard.

    Still gives me the “But I don’t plan to use it because I’ll feel guilty about taking a space from someone who really needs it.” At least got a grudging promise she will try to remember to use it when it’s snowy and icy.

    P.S.: She’s prone to shortness of breath from time to time, and currently has stitches in one cornea (eye doc confirms she can drive).

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    O/T, and no surprise to anybody, but Jeebus Crisp is Pam Bondi ever a tool.

    (Also inarticulate and incompetent.)

    Add blonde and you have a future Trump cabinet member and/or Fox News installation piece. It’s how they roll.

  36. 36.

    PersistentIllusion

    @RaflW: Need an ice pick?  I think popping two tires would tie that douche nozzle up for the better part of the day.  An act of patriotism.

  39. 39.

    A Ghost To Most

    I have several stickers on my 4×4, but the two that elicit reactions are Smokey Bear saying “Only you can prevent fascist liars”, and an Iron Front sticker that says “Sometimes anti-social, always anti-fascist”.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Years ago, I had a bumper sticker supporting a NH teachers strike (I worked in a regional union office). Lost my windshield over it and will never have another bumpersticker about anything, no matter how much I want to.

  47. 47.

    Sab

    I am sneaking around town with my Warren magnetized bumper sticker. Nobody but me and the Trumpsters out there.

    So far not much intimidation. A pleasant change. Obama stickers drove certain drivers nuts.

    And the Bernie folks. But they still have their old stickers.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    I was wondering why she thought it was safe to make a political comment to me.

    Maybe she was sweet on you.

  50. 50.

    The Dangerman

    A vehicle that has obviously never been driven in California in the past few years. I’d give it a few hours to being keyed and a few days to needing new tires.

  51. 51.

    Martin

    So, State evacuated a bunch of expats from Wuhan to March AFB and best as I can tell, Californians are all cool with this, but brave patriots in Indiana and South Carolina are losing their shit over it.

    They’ll be quarantined for 3 days. They’ve already been under observation for several more. Should be just fine.

  52. 52.

    CarolPW

    @mrmoshpotato: They are part-time 4WD, and the tires change like in regular vehicles. I have an X Terra in the same color but the sport model. Mine it is also much cleaner even though I use it to go cross-country in shrub steppe on wind farms for my environmental work (which is the only reason I own it). No Trump sticker on mine though.

  55. 55.

    Sab

    6600 people have died of flu this flu season in US, but people I know can’t be bothered to get flu shots, yet are freaking out about this virus.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    sounds like Dershowitz really lost it this evening

    @ CharlesPPierce
    They’re letting the Dersh loose with his misleading definition of “maladministration” again. This means this and so this also means that. He’s now howling about Obama and HRC. He is now accusing Tribe http://et.al. of being subjective hacks.

  62. 62.

    chopper

    @Mary G:

    yeah, i love those guys. they’re ready for civil war cause they know all sorts of dumb shit about guns in spite of the fact that they get winded licking stamps.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I was going home for Christmas and let my boyfriend use my car. He parked it on the street while visiting his parents in Portsmouth NH. He said he didn’t hear anything, but when he went out the next morning, the windshield was totally destroyed.

    At the time, the teachers in the Timberlane School District were on strike. All they wanted was collective bargaining, but the governor (a dick) refused. The owner of the Manchester Union Leader (William Loeb) was a real fascist and got people all worked up about it.

    As the link says, it was the longest teachers strike to date. They lost, sadly

     

    ETA: I worked in a regional office of the New Hampshire Education Association (as an office slug) which is why I was sporting the bumpsticker. This was in the mid-1970s.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic:

    “In the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics we’ve come to know and expect.”

    Ah, great, the Real Americans card, again. And whatever infatuation Iowa Dems have for him is probably gonna hand Bernie a big victory as Buttigieg heads to oblivion.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    @M. Bouffant:

    Do they come off windows more easily?

    Yes, you can use a razor blade to scrape gluey trash off the glass, while that would scratch the paint job on the metal body.

  69. 69.

    MomSense

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I thought Nadler was brilliant in his rebuttal.

    Ugh a bad thing happened to one of the students in my son’s school.  He’s a kid who is troubled and has said really racist and inappropriate things, but no one would wish this on him.  Lots of rumors flying right now about his condition.

    At some point we are going to have to figure out how/when/if we can rehabilitate the 60 plus million trumpers.

  72. 72.

    divF

    @Martin: I was having trouble sleeping last night, and every time I woke up I would check on where that flight was using flightaware.com .

    The flight was routed Wuhan-Anchorage-March ARB. The 4+ hour stop in Anchorage was used to refuel and to perform a preliminary health screening on the passengers, all done in the old international terminal, which is completely isolated (physically separate, and a separate ventilation system), and not in use this time of year.

    Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, that terminal was a major hub for flights between Europe and Asia, since no one except Aeroflot and FinnAir could fly routes across the Soviet Union. I took a flight from Tokyo to Paris in 1984 that had a hour or so layover in Anchorage. We were allowed to get off the aircraft since the terminal was inside of security and immigration. I was thrilled to be able to take advantage of this to make a relatively inexpensive phone call to Madame divF, who was at home in NorCal.

  73. 73.

    Zelma

    Lots of Trump bumper stickers where I live.  I live in Cape May County, the home of that paragon of rectitude Jeff Van Drew and recent stopping off point of the Orangetang.  I am considered brave by some of my friends because I have my Obama sticker from 2012 and my Hillary sticker on my car.  Also a “My Cat is a Democrat) magnet.  (I also had a Jeff Van Drew sign in my yard last year, but nobody’s perfect.).

    Interestingly, though I have worried a bit about it, nobody has done any damage to my car as a result.  I manage to do that on my own – those damn Republican posts in parking lots.  Everyone wonders why my car looks so good at eight years old. It helps when two-thirds of the body has been replaced.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anyone know of a good live blog or tweet thread? I keep seeing stuff like this

    race Segers @ Grace_Segers
    Some stray notes: Fischer, Ernst and Capito are wearing blankets on their laps. When Blumenthal asked the question of the WH lawyers, the lawyers looked at each other for a few seconds before Philbin got up somewhat reluctantly to offer a brief answer.

    and I’m clicking around for details and getting lost in the maelstrom of twitter

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    @divF:

    I happen to know that the Anchorage airport has a medical station set up by the CDC for this kind of situation.

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    white-looking guy

    I’m sorry, but what does this mean? One is not white but looks white? Passing? Is “white looking” but only somewhat?

    I need enlightenment on this new concept as I will probably face it in my students self-descriptions next year.

  82. 82.

    Immanentize

    @Martin:
    I so hate the coronavirus agitating. Be afraid! China! Wohan! Maybe snakes even? ?

    In the US, every year about 36,000 poor souls lose their lives to the flu. And we can’t get people to get a flu shot. Screw the new scary thing from scaryland. Real shit is real right here right now.

  83. 83.

    Anotherlurker

    @J R in WV: To easily remove a bumper sticker, first peel and remove all you can.  Then, for the stubborn clingy remnants, spray on a bit of WD-40. Wait a few minutes and easily remove the rest.

    Works like a charm and won’t harm the clear coat.

  85. 85.

    Anotherlurker

    @debbie: True. It is a good product.

    I’m not sure how much of it is actually Orange oil. I might be wrong, but I think it is a Petroleum base, just like WD-40.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    @Anotherlurker:

    In the middle of summer, I unknowingly stepped on bubble gum and then drove. Pink gummy stuff all over the gas and brake pedals. Either would have worked, but smelling orange the next morning when I got in the car was better than whatever it is that WD-40 smells like.

  88. 88.

    SFAW

    @cain:

    Isn’t that how Hanson started out? 3 teenagers with “Christian values”. Look at them now, all grown up!

    They were outstanding in “Slap Shot.”

  90. 90.

    Leto

    @SiubhanDuinne:

     

    (Completely O/T, but did you see that I “graduated” from physical therapy early? Met or exceeded every single goal weeks before we had targeted, so last week my PT basically said “Go with god but keep doing your home exercises,” and off I went. Feel pretty chuffed about this; it’s like skipping seventh grade because you’re just too smart and read books way beyond grade level!)

    I didn’t! Holy shit, grats!!! That’s fucking awesome!!!!

  94. 94.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    @Anotherlurker

    Vodka also works like a charm for that.

    Awesome idea, thanks for passing it along. Vodka is useful in so many ways, in addition to it’s potential as an alcoholic drink enhancement. Pie crust, goo removal, sterilization and first aid, and last but not least, relaxant after a long day of political stress!

  97. 97.

    Alaska Reader

    @divF: North terminal not really all that ‘isolated’.

    Many administrative offices located in the North Terminal operating year round with personnel traveling between terminals every day throughout the summer and winter.

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