Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

“woke” is the new caravan.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Democrats are back in array!

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Let me file that under fuck it.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / How Not to Apologize, A Master Class by Ted Yoho

How Not to Apologize, A Master Class by Ted Yoho

by | 260 Comments

This post is in: 

Ted Yoho got in AOC’s face yesterday:

After the predictable outcry, he dragged his sorry white ass to the House floor and puked this out:

“I rise to apologize for the abrupt manner of the conversation I had with my colleague from New York,” Yoho said. “It is true that we disagree on policies and visions for America, but that does not mean we should be disrespectful.”

“Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language,” he said. “The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding.”

Yoho said he “cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.”

Shorter Ted: “I said ‘fucking bitch’ but I didn’t say it to her face. U-S-A U-S-A!”

I hope this doesn’t distract from Donald Trump finally becoming President by changing his tone for five minutes yesterday, right before saying “I wish her well” about Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-pedophile. Because it would be a goddam shame if Yoho stepped on Trump’s pivot.

Reader Interactions

260Comments

  3. 3.

    low-tech cyclist

    Classic non-apology apology: I apologize for how you took what I said. No apology for what I said.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I thought Yoho got voted out. Wasn’t he one of the ones cheering for the US government to default in the name of fiscal discipline? I suspect he’s not that smart.

    I hope it doesn’t distract from trump asking our Ambassador to the Court of St James to lobby the British government to push the British Open to his money-losing golf course at Turnberry.
    (is that even something the government would/could do?)

  8. 8.

    low-tech cyclist

    Yoho said he “cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.”

    Loving his God, huh?

    “If a man says, ‘I love God’ while hating his brother, he is a liar.  If he does not love the brother whom he has seen, it cannot be that he loves God whom he has not seen.” – 1 John 4:20

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    Nothing will feed the incandescent rage of a large number of women in America like this asshole.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    “Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language,” he said.

    Sounds like guilty conscious of a wife beater and child abuser.

    I also wonder, these guys who lose it like Ted here around assertive women, having see it in other guys, something is off there.  Were they abused by their mothers?  Is Ted’s mother named Karen?

  13. 13.

    bbleh

    @low-tech cyclist: , “I apologize for how you took what the media said I said.”

    Such courage, these “conservatives”!  Such manly men!  Republicans: the party of individual responsibility.

  15. 15.

    Formica

    mistermix:

    I hope this doesn’t distract from Donald Trump finally becoming President by changing his tone for five minutes yesterday, right before saying “I wish her well” about Ghislane Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-pedophile. Because it would be a goddam shame if Yoho stepped on Trump’s pivot.

    How long before Haberman, Cillizza, Friedman, et al start crowing about how Trump “finally became President” yesterday and start wringing their hands about Biden’s “mental capacity”?

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    Here’s hoping today’s BS presser includes questions about Maxwell, Russian bounty payments, and Turnberry. I don’t wanna hear about anything else from him.

  17. 17.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Apparently the members of the R&A have said they want Turnberry to host the Open , but not while Trump is owner. They held the Women’s Open there in 2015 (after Trump purchased it in 2014), but it was probably too late to change locations

  19. 19.

    MattF

    @Formica: Doubt it, IMO, but we shall see. But Marc Thiessen backed off a bit from the ‘Biden is senile’ line, because it alienates seniors and appears callous. Didn’t mention that it exposes Trump to commentary about his own mental fitness.

  22. 22.

    schrodingers_cat

    Yoho is an idiot. As are most Rs in the Congress.

    Also too, unrelated to the above topic, but can I just say how much I hate the stupid Person-of-Color descriptor.

    It is cringey max. Lumping everyone not of known European descent in one fucking group. That BTW is the majority of humanity.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    Even though it’s not an open thread: I just received an e-mail from Bill Stepien, asking me for money for the Traitor’s campaign.

    I responded with a demand that they pay ME for the money the campaign owed me for materials I provided them. I asked for something shy of $8000. I guess if I had been smarter, I would have used one of the numbers from the Mar-a-Loco money laundering bill we saw a few days ago. In any event, I did that to see how/if they’d respond. [No, I would never do anything for that Murderer or his campaign.]

  24. 24.

    chopper

    “when i said ‘fucking bitch’, i wasn’t saying it to her, i was talking about…some other…bitch. also, i didn’t say ‘fucking bitch’ at all. fake news!”

  25. 25.

    piratedan

    @Just Chuck: well, I’d be stringing him up from the tallest yardarm… just sayin’ (naturally the plank has just been varnished and we have to let that dry)

  27. 27.

    MisterForkbeard

    and if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding

    This is just another nice way of saying “fuck you.” He’s not even saying “I’m sorry I said something that was easily misunderstood”. It’s “why did you interpret this wrong! I did everything correctly!” The “I can’t apologize for loving my country” is an added fuck you, since no one has brought anything like that up at all. I suppose it’s nice to know that he thinks loving your country is an acceptable reason to bitch out (ha) your colleagues when they bring up facts.

    Yoho DOES correctly understand that his base will assume that the media (and Democrats) are lying about him if he denies this, and that he can pretend to be a victim to raise cash and/or his profile.

  28. 28.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @SFAW: Please keep us posted. Considering how well organized the Trump campaign is it is not impossible if they end up paying you.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    Believe it or not, I usually get along fine w/ my GOP colleagues.

    That made me sad when I read it. I recognize it. AOC knows she has to preemptively defend on charges that she’s hard to get along with, although she did nothing. Most women do this, including me so I’m not in any way blaming her- it’s almost a reflex.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Have we blown the thread open? Biden had some kind of summit with his former boss

    Ragnarok Lobster @eclecticbrotha 13m
    GOP currently losing their shit because of an ad where Obama never mentions Trump by name.

    Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1

    · 1h
    BIDEN: “Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying ‘it’s not my responsibility. I take no responsibility.’ Literally. Literally.”
    OBAMA: “Those words didn’t come out of our mouths while we were in office.”

    Technically, I don’t think it’s an ad, yet. Just a text message to supporters. Why the hell am I not getting it, I wonder.

  32. 32.

    scav

    So, “abrupt” is what the mean boys are calling it these days?  I’m also permanently baffled by what automatic benediction of magical “empathy” or “civility” is evidently bestowed on misogynists by spawning girl-childs or acquiring wives, but they are certainly always dragged on stage to excuse misunderstood name-calling as well as involuntary and private infidelity.

  36. 36.

    PPCLI

    Concerning the barely concealed promise of pardon / implied threat of something else that Trump directed at Maxwell: I hope that the state authorities in NY and Florida are preparing a parallel indictment on state charges just in case.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @MattF:

    I’m older than her so I might have said that. You get tired of explaining yourself.

    My oldest son, who is smart but not great at personal interactions told me once, impatiently “you have all the context you need to understand what I said” – not taking questions.

    I feel like that a lot.

  42. 42.

    J R in WV

    @SFAW:

    Even though it’s not an open thread: I just received an e-mail from Bill Stepien, asking me for money for the Traitor’s campaign.

    I responded with a demand that they pay ME for the money the campaign owed me for materials I provided them. I asked for something shy of $8000. I guess if I had been smarter, I would have used one of the numbers from the Mar-a-Loco money laundering bill we saw a few days ago. In any event, I did that to see how/if they’d respond. [No, I would never do anything for that Murderer or his campaign.]

    I just wanted to say how much I admire this creative way of responding to a begging email from anyone connected to Trump’s campaign!

    I so much hope they cut you a check. Did you itemize your bill for services? You could have used BS vaporware descriptions typical of MPAs responding to an RFP…

    So imaginative, best of luck. Go for more money again if they respond in any positive way!!

  43. 43.

    Ken

    @MattF: I have empathy, but it doesn’t quite stretch to sharing the feelings of someone who procured underage children for rape.

    I’m even finding it hard to manage sympathy, what with the underage-children-for-rape thing.

  47. 47.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Maybe a less defensive but very accurate tweet would have been, “I have never called any of my Republican colleagues vulgar names.  Being unable to treat me with respect is their problem, not mine.”

  49. 49.

    Mike in NC

    On MSNBC a minute ago, Mrs. Greenspan was discussing Fat Bastard’s push to have the British Open moved to one of his shitty properties in Scotland, because he has nothing else to think about.

  50. 50.

    VeniceRiley

    @PPCLI: I don’t think you can pardon the unconvicted? And even if Maxwell could get him to do that, that would mean she’d have to talk and tell the truth, or she could then be charged with purgury.  And surely you cannot commute the sentence of a person not yet convicted and not yet sentenced.
    Donny Dollhands really does need to win this election to do anything like that, because Maxwell’s trail won’t happen until next year.  may she rot in prison for the remainder of her days.

    *IANAL

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    @J R in WV:

    I so much hope they cut you a check. Did you itemize your bill for services? You could have used BS vaporware descriptions typical of MPAs responding to an RFP…

    Sadly, I did not. I didn’t even send them a bill/invoice. As with their Fuehrer, I TOLD them I had, but …

    Thanks very much for the creative idea(s). If they attempt to call my bluff, I might avail myself of your wisdom/expertise.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yutsano: I’ve already gotten three emails from Biden today, it might have been in one of those, I don’t read them, but it looks like a text-centered thing and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a text from them.

    I got texts from Bernie and Bloomberg, fercrissake, and I didn’t give them my number, much less money.

  54. 54.

    FelonyGovt

    This will only cause more women- including some, like me, who haven’t always been thrilled with AOC- to rally round. They are so stupid.

  55. 55.

    VeniceRiley

    Sorry for the double post but wanted to bring over some Canada nice:
    https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-tests-show-canadian-made-mask-deactivates-99-sars-cov-2-virus

    “We thought we had a very secure source of personal protective equipment like masks, having them produced by our good American friends next door, but sometimes other priorities emerge and the sharing doesn’t happen as equitably as we expected. So I think it’s incredibly important – based on the nationalistic tendencies of countries around the world in the face of the pandemic – that I3 is based in Canada and the research and manufacturing by this company was done in Canada,” said Gray-Owen.

  56. 56.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Gin & Tonic: On the other hand, it’s nice that the photo comes from… uprisings about citizens concerned that their government is selling them out to Russia.

    It’s a weirdly appropriate image to steal and misuse

    @J R in WV: It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Trump campaign will believe it owes SFAW money… and then not pay it anyway because it’s the fucking Trump campaign.

  57. 57.

    Patricia Kayden

    Kudos to Yoho for not calling her b** again during that sincere, heartfelt apology.  That took a lot out of him.

  59. 59.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @PPCLI: Concerning the barely concealed promise of pardon / implied threat of something else that Trump directed at Maxwell: I hope that the state authorities in NY and Florida are preparing a parallel indictment on state charges just in case.

    New Mexico authorities are looking into Epstein’s eugenics ranch south of Galisteo.

  60. 60.

    germy

    Gaetz “concedes that he improperly sent $28,000 in taxpayer funds to a LLC connected to the speech-writing consultant, Darren Beattie, a former WH aide who was ousted after appearing at a convention known as a forum for racist and white supremacist views.” https://t.co/eut0LS0cOi— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 22, 2020

  61. 61.

    Jesse

    @low-tech cyclist: I really wonder where this style of apologizing comes from. I wouldn’t even say it is an apology. Though I’m a born-and-raised American, I live abroad these days, and I’ve had to explain to non-native speakers of English how this kind of non-apology apology should be understood. They just don’t get it. And they’re right to not understand it as a piece of English, until you realize that it’s just a coded dick move that has the superficial appearance of an apology.

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    @VeniceRiley: That’s a very nice way of saying “The U.S. is abrogating its agreements and contracts because it’s a nationalistic shithole”. Props to Canada.

  63. 63.

    germy

    The shooting of Judge Salas’s family reminds me that the number one predictor of mass violence is a history of abusing women. I’m a little haunted the way the shooter in that case was treated as a ridiculous figure by the NY media and legal community for years.

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 21, 2020

    It’s not customary, but I think as a society we’d arrive at a healthier place if we start treating men whose misogyny seems out of control and entirely ungoverned by reason—as Yoho’s does in this reported incident—as a potential danger to others and not a laughing matter.

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 21, 2020

  64. 64.

    Baud

    Someone is channeling MM.

    This Florida Republican just delivered a master class in how *not* to apologize

     

    Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

     

    Updated 12:03 PM ET, Wed July 22, 2020

     

  65. 65.

    Cameron

    I totally get it.  Every time I’m overcome with love and awe for Jesus or my family or the USA, I’m compelled to shout “Fucking bitch!”  Preach it, Yohole!

  69. 69.

    germy

    They’ve nominated a gold bug:

    Congratulations @judyshel !

    “Kennedy said he read Shelton’s writings and weighed if she had the “intellectual heft” and independence to be on the central bank board.“

    And she satisfied both of those criteria.” he said. “https://t.co/5BeVJovges

    — Jackson (@ProofOfJackson) July 21, 2020

  71. 71.

    Calouste

    @VeniceRiley: Maxwell is considered a flight risk and not eligible for bail. She’s going to sing like a canary to just get moved to house arrest. These rich folk tend to break after a few weeks in the big house.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    I know that even some good liberals have problems with AOC, but here’s the thing. The right wing believe that they can go after her because she is a young woman of color and a progressive in the mold of Bernie Sanders.

    They truly believe that they are better than her and can belittle her or attack her in any way that they like.  And, true to their racism and sexism, they will condemn her for stuff that they would applaud in a white male they liked.

    AOC is adept at brushing off these attacks, but I hope that the Democratic Party leadership is watching out for her.

  73. 73.

    Patricia Kayden

    Navy vet who says he was injured in clash with federal officers in Portland tells @ABC he wants to use attention on him "to refocus this whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter." “If I had been a black veteran…do you think I would have gotten as much attention as I did?” pic.twitter.com/btq0wD61QH— ABC News (@ABC) July 22, 2020

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I wonder if this afternoon’s planned briefing will be cancelled. I doubt The Beast can hold it together with these headlines

    NFL owner and Trump ambassador to UK sparks watchdog inquiry over allegations of racist and sexist remarks and push to promote Trump business

    anyone know how many generations it’s been since anyone in Woody Johnson’s family actually earned a living? four? five?

  76. 76.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Jesse:

    And they’re right to not understand it as a piece of English, until you realize that it’s just a coded dick move that has the superficial appearance of an apology.

    Yeah, that’s the point of it, alright. Something that has enough of the form of an apology to fool someone who’s not really paying attention, but is really a fuck-you.

    If I ever ‘apologize’ like that, I hope someone slaps me silly, right then and there.

  77. 77.

    Baud

    @Brachiator:

    The right wing believe that they can go after her because she is a young woman of color and a progressive in the mold of Bernie Sanders.

    The right wing will go after any strong Democratic woman.  Trump is president because it has been an effective tactic for them in the past.

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Also too, unrelated to the above topic, but can I just say how much I hate the stupid Person-of-Color descriptor.

    I feel the same way about Asian. Pretty sure it came into use because Americans cannot distinguish people from the various countries of the world’s largest & most populous continent.

    In contrast, I think I’d be okay if we would use Euros instead of white people, but I’m willing to hear objections and to be talked out of it.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Calouste:

    Maxwell is considered a flight risk and not eligible for bail. She’s going to sing like a canary to just get moved to house arrest. These rich folk tend to break after a few weeks in the big house.

    Sadly, I don’t think that Maxwell is going to sing. It never happens in these scandals which involve the ultra rich leaders of society. They inevitably close ranks and get the word out that the status quo must be re-established and maintained.

    Even though they might hate Maxwell and find her behavior to be despicable, they may also know or be related to people who ran with Epstein.

  81. 81.

    germy

    The irony about Yoho’s excuse for his “passion” in accosting me is that he says he has a personal history w/ poverty, and took offense that I discussed poverty and crime.

    So… he accosted me… to prove poverty doesn’t result in traumatized behavior?

    OK ?? where’s the apology https://t.co/BKzJa7KUBW

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020

  82. 82.

    Ken

    @germy: They’ve nominated a gold bug

    Well, what’s the worst that can happen?

    (Reads history of 19th-century US economics, in which the word “panic” appears about every three pages)

    Oh.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “The offensive name-calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues”

    The passive voice has been masterfully employed here.

  88. 88.

    schrodingers_cat

    @James E Powell: Europe and Asia is one big landmass anyway, so who decided where Europe stopped and Asia began?

    In my own family there are people of almost every color known to mankind and as far as we know they are not mixed race.

    Racism and colorism are stupid.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    @PPCLI:

     

    I hope that the state authorities in NY and Florida are preparing a parallel indictment on state charges just in case.

     

    I know that’s right.

     

    I still believe she’s going to not make it out alive.

    Another ‘ suicide’.

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    The right wing will go after any strong Democratic woman.  Trump is president because it has been an effective tactic for them in the past.

    It’s not just that they go after her, it is about how they do it. There is always racism and deliberate attempts to demean and belittle her. Someone like Maxine Waters is not attacked in the same way that Hillary Clinton is attacked.

  92. 92.

    PPCLI

    @VeniceRiley: I’m not a lawyer either, but Nixon had not been convicted of anything when Ford pardoned Nixon for “all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9,1974.”

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: I don”t know at what point it becomes the kind of ad that requires “I’m Joe Biden, and I approved this message”. Is that just for TV/radio? I dunno

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

     

    @BC in Illinois:“Educational decisions made without teachers
    are actually business decisions.”

    And poor ones at that.

    Maybe “…are actually business decisions made without concern for the businesses’ workers OR customers”

    Either way, I’m working on a quickie op-ed thanking America’s teachers for hitting the brakes.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @chopper:

    “when i said ‘fucking bitch’, i wasn’t saying it to her, i was talking about…some other…bitch. also, i didn’t say ‘fucking bitch’ at all. fake news!”

    Reminds me of Roger Stone’s recent lies regarding his insulting radio personality No Kelly. “I never said “Negro” and if I did I was talking about someone else.

  100. 100.

    download my app in the app store mistermix

    @Baud: LOL.  You know, that blind pig has been finding a lot of ears of corn lately.  He also isn’t participating in the “Trump’s new tone” discussion – completely dismissed it.

  101. 101.

    PST

    @MattF: Thiessen’s column was an classic of concern trolling. Under the title, “Trump needs to stop making fun of Joe Biden’s mental lapses,” Thiessen sounds like he’s trying to take the high road. But what he does is say that it is bad politics for Trump to comment on alleged lapses A, B, and C, and that Trump would be best off overlooking D, E, and F. It’s a joke. It just gives Thiessen another chance to trot out his list of supposed lapses. I love it when someone pretends to think that a person who accidentally says million when he means thousand, which we all do, doesn’t know the actual number. As a lawyer, I have had way to many opportunities to read my own words transcribed. It is horrifying. We are all making little mistakes constantly. Fortunately, people (even judges) tend to hear us say what they think we ought to be saying, not what actually tumbles out of our mouths.

  102. 102.

    BruceFromOhio

    Took a look at FL-03, and its a tangled web at the moment, short of the August 30th primary. Plenty of fresh faces running down there in that R+9 district. While it’s never gonna go blue, it bears watching if a sane(r) Republican knocks Yahoo Ted out of the race.

     

    @SiubhanDuinne: It is amazing how much work can be done when the passive voice is used.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    Washington Examiner
    @dcexaminer
    · 5h
    OUR VIEW:
    Should he win, @JoeBiden will be taking office facing the largest debt in American history, and all he can think to do is add to it like there’s no tomorrow.

    Guffaw. Just shameless.

    I think it’s good news the phony budget hawks are back. They’re a bird that only appears when a Democrat wins.

  106. 106.

    billcinsd

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The U government has nothing to do with course selection at The Open. That duty is performed by the members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews. Trump’s Turnberry is on the list of 10 possible courses that can host, but hasn’t hosted the Men’s Open since 2009, and likely won’t until Trump no longer owns Turnberry

  107. 107.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Kay: It is a reflex.  I will be 60 next year and was raised (though I bolted at 14) Catholic.  I still find myself apologizing for everything.   But since I have had Resting Bitch Face since I was 2, everyone who does not know me well assumes I am mean/bitchy.  I admire AOC for being able to be collegial and a team player while at the same time knowing her own worth and being able to un-apologetically fight for what she thinks is right.(Although I don’t always agree with her)

  108. 108.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: That made me sad when I read it. I recognize it. AOC knows she has to preemptively defend on charges that she’s hard to get along with, although she did nothing. Most women do this, including me so I’m not in any way blaming her- it’s almost a reflex.

    My husband is always telling me that I don’t have to explain myself so much. I do it as a reflex and don’t even think about it. He doesn’t understand how much women have been trained to think we have to justify everything we do. I’ve tried to break the habit, but it’s so ingrained in me I’m not sure I ever will.

    Way too many men characterize anyone who doesn’t put up with their shit as a “bitch”. I’ve met more than one perfectly nice woman who I thought would be a terrible person because of the way the men who knew her described her. After a couple of times of this I realized what was happening, and now I just tell them “What you mean is that she doesn’t put up with any crap”.

  109. 109.

    Cacti

    Kim Kardashian basically asks that we ignore Kanye West’s obvious, untreated bipolar disorder as wholly disqualifying in his Quixotic presidential campaign.

    Yeah, no.

  111. 111.

    catclub

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: In any other workplace, he’d be in serious trouble.

     

    That was a key point I took from his so-called apology.  I think he said ‘the words were not spoken to my colleagues’  which I think he takes as ‘not said on the floor of the House.’  and so should not be offensive to the House.

    Of course, at least one colleague did hear those words.

  112. 112.

    MattF

    @PST: Thiessen wrote an earlier column where he went full bore on the ‘Biden Is senile’ route, so the current column is a retreat for him. He’s not a concern troller, just a partisan asshole— but you’d have to be familiar with his earlier writing to see that. Which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

  113. 113.

    tam1MI

    I agree that Yoho’s apology was as dickish as they come, but I’m just happily astounded he had to apologize. I can’t remember the last time a Puke actually apologized to a Dem.

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: My family has a long association with the South East Asian refugee community in our area, and this has led my father to adopt the term “gringo” for generic white people.  It works as well as anything else.

  116. 116.

    jonas

    @PST:Fortunately, people (even judges) tend to hear us say what they think we ought to be saying, not what actually tumbles out of our mouths.

    IIRC at some point in 08 or 12, Obama misspoke and said something about “all 57 states” and the wingnutosphere went nuts about how he was clearly mentally disabled and unfit for office. Good times.

  117. 117.

    taumaturgo

    “Republican responds to calling a colleague ‘disgusting’ & a ‘f—ing b*tch’ w/ ‘I cannot apologize for my passion’ and blaming others,” she tweeted. “I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this an apology, and what they should learn to accept.”

    – Does not apologize or name any action he did
    – Does not accept responsibility
    – Lies (this was not a “conversation,” it was verbal assault)
    – Distracts by making it abt poverty (ironically)
    – Says everyone else is wrong and the incident never happened.
    This is not an apology.

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020

  118. 118.

    LuciaMia

    personality No Kelly. “I never said “Negro” and if I did I was talking about someone else.

    “I got confused and thought it was the 1930’s”

  120. 120.

    Marcopolo

    So this Texas poll just dropped:

    Biden by 1 in Texas, 45 to 44 percent, per Quinnipiachttps://t.co/yIHeNDRL8m— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) July 22, 2020

    A few weeks back Quinnipiac’s TX poll had a 1 point Trump lead. So the state is obviously in play. What I hope this means is that the Trump campaign will have to spend money here–and TX is a really expensive place with a lot of big media markets, while the Biden campaign doesn’t really have to do anything at all. Sure they could invest if they had literally fountains of cash pouring in but TX is not the tipping point state for a Biden win. That would be WI or AZ or PA.

    Nothing on the Senate race in the poll but with numbers like this on the presidential line, this also means MJ Hegar should have a chance against Cornyn.

  122. 122.

    stinger

    @Cameron: Every time I’m overcome with love and awe for Jesus or my family or the USA, I’m compelled to shout “Fucking bitch!”

    This is why I don’t go to church.

  123. 123.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jonas:

    I was just remembering that myself. It was clear from the context that he was referring to 57 different primaries and caucuses, including territories like Guam, PR, and D.C., and the states that hold both primary and caucus.

  126. 126.

    Marcopolo

    @tam1MI:   House rules.  When you say something derogatory about a colleague you are required to apologize or there are sanctions of some sort.  Though Yoho is retiring at the end of the term.  It just ain’t fun being in the minority, I reckon, not that he ever accomplished anything in 8 years other than naming one post office.

  128. 128.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Patricia Kayden:

     

    “If I had been a black veteran…do you think I would have gotten as much attention as I did?”

    In MY opinion, the police would certainly have paid him a lot more attention.

  129. 129.

    trollhattan

    @Cacti:

    She married an insane, self-absorbed dick who remains all three, so SOP. I feel so fortunate to share the planet with them.

  130. 130.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @billcinsd:

    The U government has nothing to do with course selection at The Open. That duty is performed by the members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews.

    Even someone as ignorant as Trump, golf nut that he is, should know that. But even if he genuinely believes it’s the UK government’s decision, it is appalling (though unsurprising) that he would use the State Department to lean on them.

  132. 132.

    Mallard Filmore

    @James E Powell:

     

    In contrast, I think I’d be okay if we would use Euros instead of white people, but I’m willing to hear objections and to be talked out of it.

    When I get a phone poll, and am asked what race I am … I always say “honkie”

  133. 133.

    Marcopolo

    @Kay: There are literally no Republicans left with any empathy. This alone would explain Kasich speaking at the DNC. I abhor a lot of his positions but at least he seemed to care about other people.  This is Ted Cruz: “We are paying a whole lot of people a lot more money to stay home and not work than they made on their jobs — and that is terrible.”

    no one is being paid “a whole lot more”. but some are being paid more. that’s reasonable question of policy. but what kind of dickhead do you need to be to find that “terrible”. especially in an economy where there are demonstrably not enough jobs to absorb all those out of work? https://t.co/dglVm2TmHU— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 22, 2020

    Also this:

    OUR VIEW:Deficit spending is fine when Republicans do it but should never be used by Democrats to fight the fallout of an unprecedented global pandemic. https://t.co/ftgbPx4p8T— Sam Brunson (@smbrnsn) July 22, 2020

    It is pretty clear if you are paying attention to the current Covid relief package negotiations that the Rs, fearing they will be locked out of government in 2021, will do whatever it takes to make the situation for an incoming Biden administration as awful as possible.

  134. 134.

    Fleeting Expletive

    Medicare just advised that scammers are offering seniors free masks, ostensibly from Medicare, you just have to give them your Medicare number.  Ugh.

  136. 136.

    Ken

    @Marcopolo: Elections have consequences, and a lot of people are finding out the consequences of voting for a party with a “government can’t do anything right” philosophy.

  137. 137.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Ruckus:

     

    Also if a check is received, I’d keep the damn thing, to show everyone that they are the dumbest assholes ever.

    With some banks, you can deposit the money by sending in a picture of the check.

  140. 140.

    Marcopolo

    @Brachiator:

    Someone like Maxine Waters is not attacked in the same way that Hillary Clinton is attacked.

    This is because they are afraid of Maxine Waters:

    This footage of Maxine Waters' assault on Michael Tracey is still horrific. pic.twitter.com/4pqc3Ry2sy— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 22, 2017

    And for folks who want to understand the context of the above video, which is more funny if you know it, I give you this: Did Maxine Waters Attack Journalist Michael Tracey? In a Parallel Universe, Maybe which includes the video clip of the actual interaction between Waters & Tracey.

  141. 141.

    Yutsano

    @trollhattan:  She married her kind. She literally launched an empire from doing basically nothing on a “reality” TV show. Then she went into a celebrity marriage with a man she had to know wasn’t well. Sure she started fashion and shoe lines* but only after she got her “fame” from her TV show. So she’s not exactly an innocent party here.

    *I have no idea if she has actually done any work besides lending her name to these projects. I think she has the same concept of “work” as the Drumpf spawn do.

  142. 142.

    Calouste

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    There is of course a massive overlap between the social networks of the Tory junta and the top people in golf, so the shitgibbon probably though that the stories could just twist a few arms here and there to get it done, like he would. Along the lines of “no government money of the Open doesn’t go to Turnberry”

  143. 143.

    Yutsano

    @Marcopolo:  First of all, I still have no idea how Michael Tracey will ever recover from that trauma. However, looking at a fit 73 year old woman versus a 30something doughy dudebro, I can see how she could easily whup his ass. Do not mess with Auntie Maxine!

    Second, fuck Newsweek for jumping on the paywall bandwagon. Forcing people to subscribe to your rag is never a good look.

    EDIT: it’s not just me. The blog do be slow right now.

  144. 144.

    jackmac

    Although married for 45 years and with two daughters, Yoho has clearly never learned how to rein in his Neanderthal tendencies.

  145. 145.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator:

    The right wing believe that they can go after her because she is a young woman of color and a progressive in the mold of Bernie Sanders.

    It’s more than that, I think.

    It’s not that they “can” go after her – they feel they must. She’s young, attractive, well-spoken, intelligent, a hard worker, and a liberal. She’s a threat to all of the BS “traditional” garbage they try to push onto young women. She was supposed to go to BU to find a husband, or maybe get a job as an “executive secretary”. Instead, she decided to be her own person and get her views heard in Congress.

    Daddy? I want to be like AOC when I grow up!!

    She’s a threat to them, the same way Hillary Clinton was in earlier times. And that’s why they will continue attacking her, in all kinds of nasty and hateful ways, until they are defeated.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  146. 146.

    Marcopolo

    @Yutsano:   I did not experience the Newsweek paywall, apologies for inflicting it on others.  Here is another link to video of the actual Waters/Tracey interaction:

    Michael Tracey tweeted Maxine Waters "shoved" him. Here's the video. This is what he is calling a shove. pic.twitter.com/5LXc59eOcE— The Public Option is good actually (@gdigitalzsmooth) June 3, 2017

  148. 148.

    sdhays

    @SiubhanDuinne: Dump doesn’t see things like this. It’s not simply ignorance; he sees only the powerful imposing their will on the less powerful. By using the State Department to convey this request, he’s putting pressure on the UK government to figure something out. It doesn’t matter that this is something that isn’t really under the control of the UK government – that’s a detail for the UK government to sort out, using what power it has.

    For a wanna-be-dictator (whine-a-be?), that’s a standard approach. For a supposed President of the United States, it’s disgusting and horribly corrupt.

  149. 149.

    Marcopolo

    Before I head back to the real world, here is an informative tweet thread (which has been unrolled for easier reading) discussing the legal implications of the shadow police van abductions that have taken/are taking place in Portland.

    As George Conway notes:

    The good news is, precisely because this was an arrest and it was so clearly illegal under well-settled law, there’s no qualified immunity for the officers who conducted the illegal arrest and those who authorized or allowed it to happen. https://t.co/M5mi1I72n6— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 22, 2020

    I look forward to all of these folks facing prosecution under a Biden DoJ.

  150. 150.

    Zinsky

    AOC should slap Ted’s face as hard as she can.  I’ll bet he would start crying.

  151. 151.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Marcopolo:

     

    I look forward to all of these folks facing prosecution under a Biden DoJ.

    I would not count on Trump’s pardons to miss these activities. The DOJ might have some roadblocks on this path. Much better for the city or state to do this work.

  153. 153.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Marcopolo: Is George Conway aware that Trump has stuffed the federal courts with Rightwing extremists?  I wouldn’t be as confident as he is that the rule of law will prevail.

  157. 157.

    rikyrah

    @Marcopolo:

     

    A few weeks back Quinnipiac’s TX poll had a 1 point Trump lead. So the state is obviously in play. What I hope this means is that the Trump campaign will have to spend money here–and TX is a really expensive place with a lot of big media markets, while the Biden campaign doesn’t really have to do anything at all.

     

    These are my feelings.

    Texas is red…up until the moment it’s not.

    Yes…it’s Texas….

    Charlie Brown and the football..

    But, every once in awhile, the shots all align, and you get the bankshot.

    We are in the middle of a pandemic.

    We have Republican incompetence at the top.

    We have Republican – you can die for the economy – at the top.

    We have ‘ I don’t think children can get it’ for the Senate, in a state where there are over 450 children with COVID-19, and a government trying to cover it up.

    We have another Senator while, in the midst of a pandemic growing like wildfire, it caught on a plane – without a mask. Symbolism counts.

    We have Democratic Mayors and Judges trying to save people and put in place measures to do so…and a Governor who fights them.

     

    Hidalgo County asked for a field hospital because their hospitals are FULL – and Abbott refused them.

     

    Then, we have them fighting against Mail Voting – so that they have to risk their lives to vote.

    Sometimes, everything just aligns.

    And, even if Joe doesn’t win Texas – maybe we can get the Senate seat….or flip one of the Texas State Houses, if not both. Don’t just think big, think coattails and giving the Democrats a stronger hand in redistricting in 2021.

     

    I completely disagree with the Democrats not investing in Texas. Absolutely, we should.

    This is the best chance for the White Whale for Democrats in like…forever.

  158. 158.

    MisterForkbeard

    @PST:

    It just gives Thiessen another chance to trot out his list of supposed lapses. I love it when someone pretends to think that a person who accidentally says million when he means thousand, which we all do, doesn’t know the actual number.

    This is even stupider because Biden literally said “Over 100 million cases. Wait, I meant to say 100 thousand.” So Biden uses the wrong word and immediately catches himself and explains, and this is… evidence he had a lapse?

    These fuckers are idiots.

  159. 159.

    Yutsano

    @Marcopolo:  I’m not blaming you in the slightest. I just can’t believe Newsweek is that desperate. I know print media is suffering and no one seems to have the magic formula for making online only media work without hounding about subscriptions and paywalls. But there has to be some kind of solution beyond those.

  160. 160.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Formica:

    Trump “finally became President” yesterday

    Trump fucks up everything.  Hell, he had to poison his big push to pretend to be reasonable there before the briefing was over.  Give him a few days.  It usually takes 24-48 hours for him to turn any event that should give him a huge boost into a shit show that makes him slightly less popular.

  161. 161.

    Miss Bianca

    @Cameron:

    I totally get it.  Every time I’m overcome with love and awe for Jesus or my family or the USA, I’m compelled to shout “Fucking bitch!”  Preach it, Yohole!

    LOL! A-fuckin’ bitch-men!

  162. 162.

    Yutsano

    OT: I just poked Geraldo Rivera on Twitter. Hoping the worst I get is a block after QAnon ignored me for the free speech thing. Or they had no answer for it. Either way.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    “Anyone, including federal law enforcement, who unlawfully assaults and kidnaps people will face criminal charges from my office,” warned Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

    Whew. For a while there I thought Chad the Lobbyist and his fake army were unstoppable.

  164. 164.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Europe and Asia is one big landmass anyway, so who decided where Europe stopped and Asia began?

    We could call Eurasia west of the Urals the European subcontinent, since we call Eurasia south of the Himalayas the Indian subcontient.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @Mallard Filmore:

    True, I do this every week.

    I was more considering that an unendorsed check would be better publicity but then if some ass sent me an $8000 check I might just be in the mood to cash it.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Marcopolo:

    The 600 dollar bump in UI is one of the best things congress has ever done. Conservatives are just mad because it is wildly successful and therefore disproves their entire economic theory and life’s work.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    @Marcopolo:

    Kasich took a whole set of lower level criminal offenses and reclassified them. Made them still lower. It was 100% a good thing. Everyone knows it makes sense but they’re afraid to vote for it because that position can be demonized, so he just did it as an executive action. I bet 90% of people in the state don’t even know it happened.

  169. 169.

    Dan B

    @germy: Good points about abusive men.  Yhe same is true about people who abuse animals, especially their pets.

  171. 171.

    Ruckus

    @Yutsano:

    I’ve heard Ms Waters speak live before. She does not mess around. If she can kick ass half as good as she sounds, dude is in major trouble. IOW if any of you think I swear a bit, I ain’t got nothing on her.

  172. 172.

    Matt McIrvin

    @James E Powell: If I recall correctly, Americans of East Asian descent resisted being lumped together in an “Asian-American” bloc until Vincent Chin, who was Chinese-American, was beaten to death in Michigan by white auto workers who assumed he was Japanese. That inspired some common activism.

  173. 173.

    Ken

    @…now I try to be amused: We could call Eurasia west of the Urals the European subcontinent, since we call Eurasia south of the Himalayas the Indian subcontient.

    Some people do call Europe a subcontinent, or even a peninsula.  Surprisingly they aren’t all geologists, but then, geologies have their own standards for continental boundaries.

  175. 175.

    Kay

    Kelly Loeffler
    @KLoeffler
    · 3h
    I’ve been canceled for calling the BLM political organization what it is: A Marxist group.

    She’s been cancelled, you guys! The way all these wildly powerful people see themselves as victims is really something.
    She’s bad at her senator job but she’s also bad at her rich person job. Who is this for? She has set herself up as the opponent of her own players and fans? Public sector, private sector, doesn’t matter. They’re bad at it.

  177. 177.

    Tony Gerace

    @WereBear: I sincerely regret that AOC didn’t kick him in the balls and then punched him in the mouth, right then and there.  He out-weighs her by about 100 pounds, but she’s in much better physical condition.  She could have, and should have, literally kicked his ass all day long.

  178. 178.

    oatler.

    We have always been at war with Eur-aw fuck it, I’m pissed that AZ pre-empted the “Mom” slot to dump this crap on us.

  179. 179.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @schrodingers_cat: Also too, unrelated to the above topic, but can I just say how much I hate the stupid Person-of-Color descriptor.

    I try to use the word people use to describe themselves, and I thought that was one that people were using. Happy to be educated.

    Heck, I don’t even know what word to use to describe myself, other than “it’s complicated”.

  181. 181.

    A Ghost to Most

    Personally, I find secret police performing renditions much more important than an asshole calling AOC a “fucking bitch”. But you do you. Any antifa sightings lately?

  182. 182.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: I guess at this point, in the minds of trumpublicans, “canceled” = “criticized in some way, shape, or form”?

    I think that’s accurate.  Any criticism whatsoever and WHOA, they are “canceled”.

    I’ll make Kelly a deal: gimme your money and WNBA team and Senate seat, and you can criticize the ever-loving shit out of me.  I won’t even say a word.  I’ll just keep right on Senator-ing and WNBA-ing and rolling in my Scrooge McDuck money bin without ever whining about it on Twitter.

  183. 183.

    Jeffro

    OT but for the third separate time this afternoon we are deluged here in central VA.  I mean, we are getting some SERIOUS rain.  Wow.

  184. 184.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jeffro: I guess at this point, in the minds of trumpublicans, “canceled” = “criticized in some way, shape, or form”?

    Yep. Previously known as being “lynched” or “persecuted” (esp if evangelical Christian) or  “now I know how Holocaust victims felt”.

    Because these people are not at all thin-skinned or hyperbolic.

  186. 186.

    LuciaMia

    Like Charlie Pierce’s headline summary of the non-apology:
    “Jesus and Patriotism made me call AOC a f*cking b*tch!”

  188. 188.

    Jeffro

    @Patricia Kayden: how are they recruiting these people? Are they vetting them for political loyalty and/or willingness to crack heads? Are they picking up overtime? Congress needs to be asking these questions

  190. 190.

    gwangung

    @James E Powell: “Asian American” as a term came into being in the 60s and 70s when Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans and Filipino Americans banded together for numbers, to emphasize their Americaness (not getting lumped into the Chinese et al living IN China) and to emphasize they had more in common with other 2nd+ generations living in America than they did with Chinese living in China, Japanese living in Japan, etc.

    I’m old enough to have learned it from the folks who created the term.

  191. 191.

    Jeffro

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I think they like “canceled” and “cancel culture” because it ties into their weird and sick fears of being “replaced”

    a new, hip way of pushing the fear button

  192. 192.

    Barbara

    @Kay: If only we could cancel Loeffler! I listen to a Roman history podcast and during the course of the empire the practice of damnatio memoriae developed. It means condemnation of memory, and was comprised of erasing or canceling all visible signs of a person’s existence, like statues or coins. Disagreement, refusal to engage or ignoring and even punishing a person isn’t the same thing as cancellation. Fucking snowflake.

    My RNC fundraising plea for today came from Nikki Haley, who wanted her “friends” to know that Mitch McConnell is being outraised!

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    Are they vetting them for political loyalty and/or willingness to crack heads? Are they picking up overtime? Congress needs to be asking these questions

    Shouldn’t Congress stop Trump from doing this?

    He has decided to become the law and order president and wage war against his own people.

    We don’t need video from Hong Kong. Ironic as hell.

  196. 196.

    Miss Bianca

    @A Ghost to Most: Are you ever again going to contribute anything to the discussion except to sneer “Wokeness – you’re doing it RONG, unlike manly me prepping in the mountains”? How much antifa are YOU contributing to cause, brother? Have you descended from the mountain fastnesses to do battle yet with the Army of Unmarked Darkness, and if so, how did that go for you? Any BLM protestors thanking you with tears (or teargas) in their eyes for all your efforts? Have Acting DHS Secretary Chad’s fighting Uruk-Hai been driven off quailing at your very approach, swinging your mighty fists of righteousness?

    What’s that you say…? No? Oh, well, then…

  197. 197.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:   Dry as a bone in Richmond.  104 on the heat index.  Bright baking sun, like The Man Who Fell to Earth’s dying planet.

    I think we’re getting those T storms around comet-viewing time tonight, alas.

  198. 198.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    Uh huh.

    The open, inclusionary practices and respectful policing exercised by Marxist governments are legend.

    //

  200. 200.

    trollhattan

    @jackmac:

    TBF he doesn’t feel the slightest need to. You know damn well he’s received several dozen “Attaboys” from his colleagues, who wish so badly to say the same but just can’t quite get the nerve.

  204. 204.

    Brachiator

    @A Ghost to Most:

    Personally, I find secret police performing renditions much more important than an asshole calling AOC a “fucking bitch”.

    I can deal with both. And put the issues into perspective.

    Do I win a prize?

  205. 205.

    Jay

    mutual aid is more powerful than cops and they know it, which is why they attack medics and food providers https://t.co/b9MYdYlCSt— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) July 22, 2020

    Everyone needs to know that they’re targeting us.They slashed our cases of water bottles; broke one tent only (one of our cooks); broke open our snacks and sprayed them with tear gas as well.— RIOT RIBS ? (@riotribs) July 22, 2020

    All of our grills were purposely pepper sprayed on the inside last night. We need new grills.— RIOT RIBS ? (@riotribs) July 22, 2020

  207. 207.

    Elizabelle

    @Calouste:   I cannot imagine ever giving Ghislaine Maxwell house arrest.  She has too many houses, passports, home countries, and $$$ to ensure she flees.  France would never extradite her.

    Not to mention, she employed round the clock British retired military to keep her out of the feds’ hands.

  208. 208.

    Shana

    @germy:  Amen. I just reread the New Yorker’s short article about Hollander that ran in 2007 I think. The entire tone is “look at this goofy man who’s filed all these ridiculous law suits trying to pick up women in a bar.” It’s so tiresome, at the very least.

  211. 211.

    Nicole

    @Elizabelle:

    Mike D’s (Beastie Boys) mom sounds … interesting.

    Right?  Sometimes I think the worst thing to happen among society types is for it to have become socially acceptable to be famous.  So many musicians, actors, etc., are the children of rich, or very well-off people.  Not that they aren’t talented, but the creative arts get filled up more and more with the children of the already successful, and that’s a limited worldview brought to the art.  Helen Mirren talked about it a few years ago- that most of the kids in British acting schools in recent years are from rich families.

  212. 212.

    Spanky

    @Elizabelle: It must have sailed just north of you. I don’t know if you can hear it as I’m typing, but we’re getting right hammered here in Southern MD. On the plus side, the temp is down to 73 here on the side (leeward) porch.

  213. 213.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Barbara: Got a copy of a tweet yesterday (that I can’t copy or read myself) that went something like,

    I’m putting it in my will that if I die of COVID-19, I want my body to be fired through Mitch McConnell’s bedroom window at 3 AM. I don’t want to be memorialized, I want to be weaponized!

  214. 214.

    germy

    “The president is an idiot," the Joint Chiefs vice chair said, per notes taken by his accuser. "He is just a businessman without the basic understanding of national security. Everything is a business transaction for him.” @RoigFranzia https://t.co/pIAQq75pr0— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 22, 2020

    According to the notes, the general went on to say: "I also spent a lot of time talking to Melania Trump about the locations of all our intercontinental ballistic missile fields. She was more inquisitive and smarter than the president."— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 22, 2020

    Ha ha ha wait what?

  216. 216.

    germy

    trump has changed his… tone!

    jfc these are all from THIS MORNING pic.twitter.com/xAEsM2Ox8Q— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 22, 2020

    And people wonder how we ended up with a reality show host when all they want to do is analyze the tv performance. Ignore the fact that he wished an accused sex trafficker well and lied about a dozen times and make the headline about “tone” (aka kind of acknowledging reality)— Pete Bros (@PeteBros) July 22, 2020

  217. 217.

    Mary G

    @rikyrah: Exactly my thoughts.  Doug Jones got elected in Alabama, after some commenters (not on Balloon Juice) called me an idiot for donating to him and advocating a 50-state strategy.  I enjoyed having the last laugh. And Texas isn’t nearly as red.

  218. 218.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool have just won their last home game this Premier League season, beating Chelsea 5-3.

  221. 221.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy:

    According to the notes, the general went on to say: “I also spent a lot of time talking to Melania Trump about the locations of all our intercontinental ballistic missile fields. She was more inquisitive and smarter than the president.”

    I mean, there’s a squirrel in a tree outside my window right now who’s more inquisitive and smarter than the president, but…..

  222. 222.

    Cameron

    @Kay: Yes,  but true Merkin Philadelphians know that Krasner is a crime-coddling libtard socialist.  At least, that’s what all my wingnut buddies from back home tell me.

  223. 223.

    Shana

    @Elizabelle: We saw Dave Grohl and his family at Rehoboth Beach, DE several years ago.

    For those out of the DMV, Rehoboth Beach is a resort community that lots of DC-area folks go to for a week in the summer.  Lovely beach. The town attracts a lot of families and gay folks so you get casual and good restaurants, low key fun, unlike to youthful frenzy of places like Ocean City. We’re going on Saturday with our 30-year-old daughter. Can’t wait.

  225. 225.

    Feathers

    @Nicole:  Very true. The rise of the college educated creatives wasn’t a good thing. Some of it is just a sign of how terrible the corporate world is. The talented children of the well off do not want to follow the path their parents took. I remember someone saying that American greatness in technology was lost because Silicon Valley “ate its seed corn” by treating workers as disposable.

    The band director from my high school pointed out that the music program used to be vocational education. When he started out, the goal was to have the kids who weren’t going to college and weren’t fit for blue color work good enough to play professionally in local dance bands. By the time he retired, it was to give college bound kids a boost on their application.

  227. 227.

    Feathers

    @Shana: Rehobeth is great!  I went there as a baby, the family went back again when the grandchildren were small. They enforce the family atmosphere by fining landlords of houses and apartments whose tenants don’t follow the noise rules. It does make for a different experience. Also, the houses are on shady, tree lined streets while still within easy walking distance of the beach. And a nicely scaled boardwalk and rides.

  228. 228.

    Marcopolo

    I am so damned proud of the folks who run for office as Democratics. Here is the general election kickoff video for Adrian Perkins, the mayor of Shreveport, running for LA-Sen:

    I’m running for United States Senate because Louisiana and our country are at a crossroads, and Washington’s political games are only making us sick. It’s time to take a new road, and I hope you’ll join me: https://t.co/lI336iVf9K #lasen #lagov pic.twitter.com/G4sxAWS7J4— Adrian Perkins (@PerkinsforLA) July 22, 2020

    Louisiana has a jungle primary election for this seat on Nov. 3rd and there are 5 folks running as Ds (and 2 as Rs including the incumbent, Cassidy) but I’d vote for Adrian in a heartbeat. A really amazing career to date.

  229. 229.

    CatFacts

    Apparently, the police officer who killed George Floyd has been charged with multiple accounts of felony tax fraud.

  231. 231.

    germy

    @Feathers:  But hasn’t it always been this way?

    Anecdotal evidence, I know, but every time I’ve checked wikipedia for information on a 19th century writer or artist or musician, nine times out of ten, their father owned a factory or there was otherwise some family money and generational wealth.

    It’s how they had the leisure to develop their talents.

    Very few people came out of coal mines or farms to achieve creative success, although it sometimes did happen.

  234. 234.

    Jeffro

    @Shana: very cool!  The Mrs and I are taking the kids to Dewey on Sunday (for the week)

    I have a feeling it will be nothing like when we were there in the 90s, pre- kids ?

  235. 235.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    Hidalgo County asked for a field hospital because their hospitals are FULL – and Abbott refused them.

    Well, just look at the name…. Say it out loud… It isn’t even an American Name!!! Who would provide an expensive field hospital to a foreign county when there are so many American counties who need one? … maybe a Democratic governor would!

    What a piece of floating flaming excrement that Abbott guy is!!!

  237. 237.

    Nicole

    @germy:  Anecdotal evidence, I know, but every time I’ve checked wikipedia for information on a 19th century writer or artist or musician, nine times out of ten, their father owned a factory or there was otherwise some family money and generational wealth.

    Not so many of them were stage performers, though.  As late as the 1980s, Jackie O wouldn’t let JFK Jr apply to Yale Drama; she made him go to law school instead.  I think writing, composing and painting were acceptable because they could be done in the privacy of one’s own well-appointed home.

    Nowadays, you have Taylor Swift’s wealthy father buying a stake in the record company that first signed her. Again, not that she’s not talented, but that sure makes things easier.

  238. 238.

    Miss Bianca

    @germy: Well, it would be harder to be dumber and *less* inquisitive than the President, after all.

    Was Melania taking notes?

  239. 239.

    Nicole

    @Feathers:  The band director from my high school pointed out that the music program used to be vocational education. When he started out, the goal was to have the kids who weren’t going to college and weren’t fit for blue color work good enough to play professionally in local dance bands. By the time he retired, it was to give college bound kids a boost on their application.

    That’s so interesting!  Music… as a vocational career!

    Though, if I could wave a magic, loaded with money wand and change one thing about American education, I would make learning a musical instrument part of the full K-12 curriculum, right up there with reading, writing, math and science.   Not just because music is great, but the process of learning to play an instrument is very good for children’s emotional growth- it teaches patience and perseverance, which are excellent life skills once one is an adult.

  240. 240.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    Trump has probably earned STOLEN more money off the presidency than the previous 44 presidents combined.

    Fixed that error for you !!!

  242. 242.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: Supposedly one side of Budapest is in Europe and the other is in Asia and you can easily tell by the geology – Buda is the west bank, Pest is the east (it’s on the Danube).  One side is flat, the other is hilly.

    It’s not the usual boundary though!

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  244. 244.

    Patricia Kayden

    "our" government did almost nothing to protect us while a pandemic was spreading and our economy crumbled — but mobilized everywhere overnight to beat us in the streets and militarize our cities. if their priorities weren't clear to you before, they should be crystal clear now.— Chela (@ChelseyLora) June 1, 2020

  245. 245.

    Chyron HR

    @CatFacts:

    Gosh.  I guess the Republicans who rallied around him are going to be upset when he’s summarily executed in the street, but as anyone who cares about law ‘n’ order will tell you, that’s the appropriate consequence for committing any crime whatsoever.

  248. 248.

    Yutsano

    @Another Scott: I believe you’re thinking of Istanbul good sir. The city straddles the Bos Porous Strait, which for most is considered the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It’s also why Turkey through the early presidency of Erdoğan wanted into the European Union. Then Erdoğan decided to embrace his Islamist roots and remake the country to a state that would have Atatürk rolling in his grave.

    EDIT: *shakes fist at the Wisconsin lawyer

  250. 250.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: I am vaguely recalling that claim (Buda-Pest is half in Europe and half in Asia), but I think it was referring to history/culture, not geography. I’m not finding it in google, though.

    I’m also having vague associations with Agatha Christie or Sax Rohmer – that old British attitude that called everything east of the Elbe “Oriental”.

  254. 254.

    Another Scott

    @Yutsano: Heh.

    I’ve been to Budapest but never Istanbul/Constantinople.

    The tour guide talked about the founding by the Heroes and the Arpad clan and so forth and about some of the geological differences on crossing the river.  Maybe he was mixing up the cultural and geological differences, or maybe I misremembered.

    Fascinating and beautiful place.  Really strange language.  Some terrible history (e.g. the Terror House) that we must remember.  And Fidesz and Orban are a cautionary tale for everyone.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  255. 255.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @zhena gogolia: And the city was not one but two (really three) cities until it was no longer divided by the river: Buda atop the hills to the west (with Óbuda north of it), and Pest to the east at the western extremity of the Kansas-flat Pannonian plain. They merged in 1873, 24 years after the first permanent bridge between them (the Lánchíd or Chain Bridge) was thrown across the Duna. /tmi

  256. 256.

    Aleta

    A Representative who’s  conscious of his two daughters makes a public attack on a House member who already receives constant death threats and attacks in the media and online  because she’s a woman who talks to the public about her strong opinions.  How should he apologize?

    He could say he recognizes  what she faces every day and apologize for adding to it,  in her workplace no less,  and for possibly encouraging more attacks by his example.  He could ask her how he can contribute to her office’s work of tracking or reducing the attacks on her.  He could publish replies to the next several RW articles that smear her personally.

    He could say this is a serious  issue for women in public office or  jobs, and that he wants to change how young women like his daughters are treated.  If he  wants to talk about his pride in his god he could explain his behavior contradicted his beliefs and apologize for that failure.

  257. 257.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott: Prague is prettier and has better beer, but Budapest for gastronomy – Hungarian cuisine is superb & I have never had a bad meal there in a half-dozen visits, no matter how cheap the dive.

    Speaking of the strange language, Hungary is the one place in Europe where I found the locals not particularly appreciative of a visitor’s attempts to speak a few words of magyarul. In 1990 after the third shop where I entered & wished everyone a good day (jó nápot kivánok) only to get the hairy eyeball, I turned to one fellow there & said, Beszel ön angolul? & he snarled, Of course I speak English! When I asked him why people seemed so hostile to any attempt at Hungarian, he poked me in the chest & said, Listen, you don’t learn our language, we learn yours! Bizarre. /tmi

  258. 258.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kay: Right? What does this even mean? Is she no longer a Senator? Or does being “canceled” just mean “people were mean to me online when I said stupid and hateful things”?

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