Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

All hail the time of the bunny!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

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

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Republicans do not trust women.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

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

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

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

People are weird.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / “Aaaaarrr! Aaaaarrrr!” (Open Thread)

“Aaaaarrr! Aaaaarrrr!” (Open Thread)

by | 143 Comments

This post is in: 

Here’s a delightful clip about the walrus who allegedly fell asleep on an iceberg in Greenland and woke up in Ireland. The walrus imitation at the top of the clip is indeed hilarious, but do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing because it’s all fabulous:

Speaking of large, ungainly creatures who’ve washed up on a shore far from the land of their birth (apologies to walruses everywhere for this awkward and defamatory segue), The Former Guy is becoming more former by the day, according to Josh Marshall, who described a bizarre shitgibbon appearance this weekend at a dog rescue grift-gala in Palm Beach.

Marshall referenced photos from the event and said TFG “looks like he’s working as a greeter at a Florida resort.” Marshall’s characterization is on point. The photos appear to show a sweaty and gross greeter at a tacky timeshare that’s separated from the beach by a 6-lane highway and mini-golf complex instead of an ex-prez lording it over the assembled fat cats at a posh Palm Beach resort, even if the latter is the more accurate description. The DJT family mantra is “perception is reality,” so no matter how you slice it, this is a precipitous comedown from the Oval. Marshall speculates on what happened and what it could mean:

Losing his Twitter account really broke Trump in a way I don’t think even he realized it would. This was even partly visible in his final two weeks in office. But of course the other issue is the most obvious one: he’s no longer President. He may cast a pall over our national life. He may have a second or I guess fifth act that returns him to power. But right now he has no power. He can’t do anything…

What a number of observers have noted is that without the bully pulpit or the cudgel of power what Trump needs to do now is build up a political apparatus to entrench his power, position himself for 2022 and potentially 2024. But he doesn’t seem to have the patience for any of that.

He seems in a word bereft.

In January he got punched in the face and he hasn’t come back from it. And while it’s still very early I’m less certain that he will.

TFG’s hold on GOP voters is still solid according to polls, but he’s undeniably a much diminished figure. And that’s good news.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I finished writing Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m Queen Of The Dead last night.

  2. 2.

    debbie

    I cracked up at the report of the GQPers, led by McCarthy who mourned the “heartbreak” that the border has become under Biden.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    I wonder if Trump’s cease and desist against the RNC has weakened his grip on them at all?

  6. 6.

    trnc

    The photos appear to show a sweaty and gross greeter at a tacky timeshare that’s separated from the beach by a 6-lane highway and mini-golf complex instead of an ex-prez lording it over the assembled fat cats at a posh Palm Beach resort, even if the latter is the more accurate description.

    The latter is technically accurate, but I wouldn’t say that it’s more accurate.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In January he got punched in the face and he hasn’t come back from it.

    Yeah, he’s such a tuff guy. Hard to believe considering he always paid lawyers to fight his battles for him.

  9. 9.

    trnc

    @debbie: I put this up at TPM as McCarthy’s full quote:

    Disorder at the border by executive order,
    Coulda used a wall but it needs some more mortar
    So send me your quarters while I make your life shorter
    And I’ll bust out these rhymes in the new world order.

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    @debbie:

    I cracked up at the report of the GQPers, led by McCarthy who mourned the “heartbreak” that the border has become under Biden.

    Yeah, they’re trying to gin up a “border crisis” story.  There is no border crisis at the moment, so it’s a heavy lift.  But it looks like the WaPo, at least, is biting:

    Biden faces growing political threat from border upheaval (msn.com)

    I keep wondering, do these reporters enjoy being played for suckers by the GQP?

  14. 14.

    Low Key Swagger

    Speaking of YA books…just wondering if anyone here is familiar with Brent Crawford? One of his titles is “Carter Finally gets it”.

  16. 16.

    raven

    (CNN)Ammon Bundy, who was to go on trial after being charged with trespassing in the Idaho Statehouse last year, was arrested Monday after he refused to wear a mask in court.

    According to Ada County Sheriff spokesperson Patrick Orr, the Idaho Supreme Court has a mask mandate for anyone entering a courthouse, but when Bundy showed up Monday morning for the first day of his jury trial he wouldn’t wear one and was denied entry.
    Magistrate Judge David Manweiler then issued a warrant for failure to appear, a misdemeanor.
    Bundy was arrested and taken to the Ada County Jail where he is being held on $10,000 bond, Orr said.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Tuneage for a Tuesday.

    In honor of who the heck knows how much rain we’ve had here over the past eight days. Yesterday alone, while it lasted was estimated to be pouring down at a rate of from 1 to 3 inches per hour.

    (I’m no expert but get the impression there should be a possible epilepsy inducement warning preceding the visuals?)

  18. 18.

    trnc

    @debbie: ​
     

    I wonder if Trump’s cease and desist against the RNC has weakened his grip on them at all?

    I dunno. They certainly seem to still be kissing Insurrectionist 1’s ass. I think the only thing that will break the hold is a noticeable amount of the cult start deprogramming.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: My guess is it made elected Republicans more anxious to stuff the shitgibbon down the memory hole, even if they dare not do so publicly. Rick Scott is in charge of GOP fundraising, and they sent him to placate TFG. Scott was the obvious choice for that mission because he voted to overturn the election results, and that’s all TFG seems to care about.

    I have no idea if Scott got TFG to back off. Maybe he offered him an easy pay day in exchange for not interfering in RNC fundraising. There’s no honor among those thieves, that’s for sure, so who knows how it’ll shake out.

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Dunno. Likely open for local traffic but not recommended for anyone else. There have been reports of bridge damage between Paia and the start of the more rustic part of the highway.

  31. 31.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The individually written chapters need to be combined into a manuscript, and there are some minor edits I want to do – a line here and a line there, but we’re talking a lazy day’s work, tops.

    @lowtechcyclist:

    It’s the seventh book in my Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain series, but books six* and seven both have new main characters, so I think someone could jump in.  There would be small issues with a few characters and bits of world setting you’re supposed to know, but since both those characters are starting new, meeting everyone for the first time, it shouldn’t be bad.

    *Six is Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Work For A Supervillain, which releases on May 4th.

  36. 36.

    raven

    @Spanky: Because I don’t live where you do! HD, Lowes, Harbor Freight and Normal Hardware were no go so I just ordered it and it came the next day.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    I wonder about the Republicans in Congress who have been sucking up to The Former Guy in the past couple of months. You know, Ted Cruz, MTG, and that ilk. At some point, they’re going to have to think about detaching themselves from him without catching grief from TFG bitter-enders in their states/districts. How are they going to finesse that?

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    @Spanky

    You’re right, I’m reading it wrong. Thanks. Point 52 inches, which is roughly 13.25 mm.

    I shall scuttle in shame back to movies and cooking forthwith.

    ;)

  46. 46.

    Geoduck

    It may have been posted here already at some point, but you know there’s a problem when all the Twitter minions are dispatched to announce in unison that the Shiatgibbon has lost weight and is feeling great!

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I keep wondering, do these reporters enjoy being played for suckers by the GQP?

    A difficult problem is a potential source of Dem failure and perhaps even disarray.  The media loves those types of stories.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    New poll shows Cuban-American voters align with GOP

    I had thought younger Cuban Americans were less adamant about Cuba. At what point do we write off that vote and do the right thing with respect to Cuba?

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    @Amir Khalid: I think there are two categories. The first includes Cruz, Hawley, Scott, Micro, et al., who at some level have to appeal to more than just Turnip dead-enders to fulfill national ambitions. They are probably all hoping TFG drops dead, thinking that will solve their conundrum.

    The second category includes MTG, Gaetz, Cawthorn, etc., who are true believers and/or deranged in their own right and represent districts that will elect anyone with an R next to their name, so they don’t really have to extricate themselves.

    On a somewhat related note, there may soon be a real House race in my hopelessly red district for the first time in ages because of redistricting. It would pit two Trumpsters against each other in the GOP primary, with the winner 99.9% certain to win the general election.

    One candidate is an establishment Republican god-botherer who has held some state or federal office since I was in high school. The other is a younger, bombastic Trumpy jerk who’s made headlines for stunts like A-15 raffles, proposals to name roads after Trump, etc.

    Some local Dems are contributing to the religious fanatic’s war chest in hopes of retaining the lesser of two evils. I do not approve, but I can understand why they’re doing that.

    ETA: Correction: it’s not a redistricting thing but rather a state rep who filed to run against a federal rep.

  55. 55.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Amir Khalid:

    At some point, they’re going to have to think about detaching themselves from him without catching grief from TFG bitter-enders in their states/districts. How are they going to finesse that?

    The same way their faster-on-the-uptake colleagues already have.  Don’t renounce Trump.  When asked, be totally ready to agree the election was shady.  Just stop talking about Trump, let him die by the wayside as a topic.  Republican voters demand unswerving, frothing obedience to Cleek’s Law.  Trump isn’t important except to never, every admit that the Democrats might be right or Trump could have been wrong in any way.

    @Betty Cracker:

    I have no idea if Scott got TFG to back off. Maybe he offered him an easy pay day in exchange for not interfering in RNC fundraising.

    The payoff of one dinner at Mar-A-Lago was pretty pathetic.  The fundraising thing will be a big indicator of how fast Trump is dropping down the memory hole.  If Trump can’t get any significant concession out of them, it’s over, he’s a nobody.  A)  It means they don’t think he can rally the voters enough to do any damage, and B) he won’t have any money to do it.  If he’s demanding a cut now, after four years, it means the grift has dried up for him and he needs that cash.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: OK, I searched to see if I could get any information about the rain in Maui, and I found these two Web sites. Maui County Rain Gauges https://www.mauicounty.gov/2172/Real-Time-Data  and USGS National Water Information System for Hawaii rain gauges https://waterdata.usgs.gov/hi/nwis/current?agency_cd=usgs&sort_key=site_no&group_key=county_cd&sitefile_output_format=html_table&format=html_table&precipitation_interval=p01h_va,p24h_va,p07d_va&PARAmeter_cd=STATION_NM,DATETIME,00045 That second one only shows cumulative info for the past 7 days. I find this super cool, we have rain gauges like that here in Springfield but as far as I know we don’t share the information with the general public like this. I don’t know how close to you those three sites are, but it’s interesting info nonetheless.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @Amir Khalid: At some point, they’re going to have to think about detaching themselves from him without catching grief from TFG bitter-enders in their states/districts. How are they going to finesse that?

    By giving a heartfelt speech at the funeral where they lament the great loss caused by his sudden death and pledge to continue the work he began.  There will be fist-fights over who gets to give it, and thereby self-anoint as the successor.

    There may be other ways out, but I’m 90% sure at least a few Republicans are thinking along these lines despite Snopes’ debunking.  TFG might want to hire a food taster, and be careful about accepting gifts. (Hmm, wonder if he’s become worried that they’ll tamper with his bronzer….)

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    McCarthy actually cares intensely about the border. His biggest backers are Big Ag in the Bakersfield area: almond, cotton, and carrot growers. They all need the border to be wide f’in’ open so they have cheap labor. So what he’s up to is a mystery.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: I wonder if Trump’s cease and desist against the RNC has weakened his grip on them at all?

    It certainly…clarified…some things for the GQP pols.

    I think they’re content to just let shoes drop, “thank him for his inspiring service to America” (barf), and keep up with the voter suppression while waiting for the next high-name-recognition/perception-of-business-wealth/racist mouthpiece to come along.  Scott Baio ain’t gonna cut it, so here’s hoping they’re waiting a good long time.

  68. 68.

    MattF

    The cease-and-desist letters show that TFG is flailing. I’d bet that he’s avoiding mirrors.

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: At some point, they’re going to have to think about detaching themselves from him without catching grief from TFG bitter-enders in their states/districts. How are they going to finesse that?

    They’ll “thank him for his service” while *ahem* noting that legal shoes are dropping and the party must move on and work hard to advance trumpov’s ‘legacy’ (blech)

  71. 71.

    cope

    I don’t like it that I feel this way but news of of the Trumptanic’s physical and mental sinking warms my black little heart. May all the lifeboats filled with his toadies be pulled under in the gigantic vortex when it finally sinks.

  72. 72.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Joey Maloney:

    Wow, that’s you?

    That’s me, the creepy guy who writes lots of books about teenage girl action heroines having a morally ambiguous good time.  The actual teenage girls seem to love that, so I get to keep being weird.

    Emily Woo Zeller is a fantastic audiobook reader my fans rave about, so I hope you enjoy.

  77. 77.

    Soprano2

    Conversations I’ve had or overheard in the past 24 hours:

    This morning in the breakroom our safety guy was lamenting how a law college professor was fired from her job because she said on a Zoom call that she dreaded the start of the semester because all her lowest students were black, and it was distressing because she didn’t know what to do about it (maybe try to get them some help, huh?). Everyone else sagely nodded their heads in agreement that this was terrible, with one saying “You might as well not even talk anymore”. To them, this is just the truth, that all the lowest students are black, so why did that woman get in trouble for saying it? “Everyone knows” that “those people” just aren’t as smart as we are. See, in their world you can’t just say the truth out loud without getting in trouble, and they’re outraged by that. I had no idea what they were talking about, so I googled it and found that it was a college professor at Georgetown. I have no idea about this professor or whether or not she and the other man on the call with her should have resigned or not; I would have a lot of questions about this situation, I can only tell you how they see it.

    Then, I was talking with a regular at the pub last night. He’s all over the place – we’re the United States, so the states should take care of most everything not the federal government. I told him he was an Articles of Confederation kind of guy, but the Founders tried that and it failed. (He thinks the states should have been totally prepared for COVID, why did the federal government have to help them with anything?) He says we shouldn’t rebuild places like New Orleans after hurricanes, instead all those people should just move somewhere else, why are we always helping people who won’t help themselves? We should train those people in the inner cities to better themselves (no idea what they’re supposed to do when there are no jobs, he thinks everyone can just move wherever they want whenever they want to.) People in the inner cities shouldn’t be able to just sit on their asses and vote, they should get up off their ass and walk or ride the bus to the polling station and prove who they are, who knows who voted all those ballots anyway? It’s so bizzare to talk to him, because running through the whole conversation is what he won’t say – that “those people” are lazy and inferior, and he doesn’t want them deciding anything for him! He lived in Illinois, and says people who live outside of Chicago have no say in the government there, and it’s not right, there should be balance. I asked him “So, if 2/3 of people want things one way and 1/3 want them a different way, how do you resolve that?” He says “It should be balanced”. So I asked “How do you balance that?”, and he has no answer, because the true answer is that he believes the votes and opinions of white people should be weighted so that 1/3 of white people can overrule 2/3 of non-white people. I mean, how else can you explain the idea that you can “balance” something like that? It’s pretty eye-opening to actually talk to some of these people.

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Frankensteinbeck: That’s the question: has the grift dried up? IIRC, your theory is that if T can’t deliver the rage-hits his base craves, he’s toast as a grifter. Maybe that’s what we’re seeing — he no longer delivers due to deplatforming and losing the election, so he’s shrinking to nothing. It would be a fitting fate for an egomaniacal monster.

  80. 80.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jeffro:
    I expect that Trump will go down in history as the first ex-POTUS to do jail time for crimes committed in office. I’d like to see how the Republican party extends that legacy.

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: In MT Greene’s 14th GA District, a Democratic Congressional candidate has never won more than 30% of the vote. So she can go on as a hardcore trumper.  trump is more of a problem for any Republican with a district he or she won by 10 pts. or less. Primary challenges from the right are certain, and will be tough to win without reaffirming support for trump.

    And while most Republican voters on the losing side of primaries suck it up and vote for the winner, some of the trump fanatics have no more party loyalty than trump himself. They are already angry at party leadership for not effectively defending the reelection they really believe trump actually won.

    Can Republican leaders keep these people on board and still win over independents? I doubt it. And with a unified and motivated Democratic Party, Republicans in more balanced districts cannot win without a strong independent vote. But they can’t win without the trumpers either. Next year’s cycle will be a real test of Republican finesse.

  83. 83.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    Are you concerned that your books are encouraging children to hide things from their parents?

    No.  Teenagers already hide things from their parents, and in fact need significant privacy and expansion of independence.  The alternative is abuse.  I throw my characters into morally complex situations where they have to figure out right from wrong and how difficult that can sometimes be, and they enjoy the good and suffer the bad results of their actions.  Even tweens desperately appreciate being treated like they can handle more than black and white morality, and tell me so.  They also like being represented in the kind of difficult roles adults routinely cast their heroes in.  Kids’ lives are difficult and complicated, so I give them difficult and complicated character representation but make the story fun.  Give them a simple, ‘follow this rule and you’ll be fine’ moral and they’ll know you’re full of shit because life isn’t like that.

  86. 86.

    mrmoshpotato

    Losing his Twitter account really broke Trump in a way I don’t think even he realized it would.

    LOL! SAD!

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    @debbie:

    On the bright side, that punchable face isn’t orange anymore. 

    Does that make Dump’s disgusting face more or less disgusting or about the same? (and more eye exam questions)

  92. 92.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: I expect that Trump will go down in history as the first ex-POTUS to do jail time for crimes committed in office. I’d like to see how the Republican party extends that legacy.

    I think you’re right about the jail time (unless he croaks first).  As for the legacy, many of his supporters seem to feel just fine saying stupid shit like, “I don’t agree with everything he says, mind you*, but I like his policies**…”

    *or, “I wish he would tweet less”, or “he doesn’t talk like a regular politician”, or 100 similar excuses

    **and of course, when asked about those policies, it’s always these amazing, baseless generalities like “well, he made American great again”, “got us back on track”, “put America first” all of which (I know you already know this) translates to “put a white guy back in the WH”

  93. 93.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Betty Cracker: ​

    That’s the question: has the grift dried up? IIRC, your theory is that if T can’t deliver the rage-hits his base craves, he’s toast as a grifter.

    Pretty close. As president, he was the champion of white supremacy, and since white supremacy is god, he must be treated as a god. Having lost the presidency, he’s the guy who failed white supremacy, and while they will never admit it where a Democrat might hear because fuck you, libs, he’s doesn’t validate them or deliver the goods anymore. Bonus failure points that he lost when conservatives felt they were on the verge of total victory, he lied to them and drew things out promising they would really stick it to the libs and win after all, and the hard Nazi white supremacists he brought into the party are pissed that he betrayed them to the FBI.​

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:

    Are you concerned that your books are encouraging children to hide things from their parents? Open communication is key to effective parenting.

    I know you are joking, but one year I gave Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain to one of my nieces.  I made the mistake of sending it to my sister’s address (she wraps all my Colorado family gifts for me and distributes them so I don’t have to send to 5 different addresses).

    The book was deemed “too dark” by my sister so she bought a substitute gift and presented it as from me.  Encouraging secret-keeping in a pre-teen, oh my god, it was just too awful.  And villains?

    That was probably 5 years ago and I’m still pissed.

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: This year’s Virginia elections will be a minor test of Republican finesse. Hard core trumper support seems to have coalesced around State Senator Amanda Chase’s run for Governor, and the way Republicans have struggled just to figure out a nominating process is due to the leaders’ desire to block Chase. They believe they can win back a majority in the House of Delegates this fall, and fear that Chase will be an anchor on the rest of the ticket. So far though, their efforts have been more mess than finesse.

  98. 98.

    Ken

    BTW, did anyone else see the post title and think “I forgot Talk Like a Pirate Day again.”

  99. 99.

    Ken

    @Geminid: Republicans have struggled just to figure out a nominating process is due to the leaders’ desire to block Chase.

    “Your honors, the argument that the new voter law is designed to block Democrats from voting is specious. We want to block both Democrats and Republicans from voting, if they’re not going to vote the way we want.”

  101. 101.

    Barry

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
     

    “I keep wondering, do these reporters enjoy being played for suckers by the GQP?”

    The ones who don’t probably never got the job in the first place.

    IMHO Reporters who buck the orders of the senior editors probably don’t last long.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    @Ken: Virginia Republicans could simply have a primary. But the fear is that Chase might win a plurality in a race with three other contenders and a couple other minor candidates. All the other Republicans are campaigning more or less as trump supporters. Leaders don’t care so much that Chase is a trumper as that she is a dingbat. Not surprisingly, this dingbat is a trumper magnet.

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    TFG definitely had a face lift.  Too bad about the vagina neck. Nothing they can do about that mess.

    Im still pissed it took Twitter so long to do the right thing. How many lives could have been saved if they kicked him off sooner?

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    Soprano2

    Here are some measurements from around Maui from last Monday up through noon on Saturday. (Obviously has been more since then.)

    West Wailuaiki (USGS) 21.38
    Puu Kukui (USGS), 16.16
    Haiku, 15.15
    Kula 1 RAWS, 10.38
    Hana Airport, 6.15
    .

  107. 107.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I’m in love with the Florida story about the mom and daughter that used the Kobayashi Maru method of hacking the homecoming queen election. Mom was an assistant principal, and daughter was using her account to cast the student portal votes.

  109. 109.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, I never thought Greitens was toast.  If a majority of Missourians will vote for TFG, well, Greitens should have no problem getting elected.  There may be a big primary fight, no doubt, but sure as eggs a Republican will be elected.

  110. 110.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The Trump Funk Josh Marshall is noting might be ether Trump’s bone spurs acting up or Trump’s PTSD from the Sexual Revolution.  In the pictures Josh posted Trump is likely flashing back to Studio 54.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    ????

    I find it chilling this odd moment of calm while Dems are in power and state after state is introducing bills that, if passed, will ensure permanent minority party rule and the end of US democracy. We have so little time. Watching history unfold.— Jason Stanley (@jasonintrator) March 15, 2021

  115. 115.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think at that time many MO Republicans preferred the Parson good ole boy schtick over Greitens’ smarminess. They weren’t totally Trumpified at that time. I saw Greitens as a Trump-in-training.

  116. 116.

    Jeffro

    @Ken: “Your honors, the argument that the new voter law is designed to block Democrats from voting is specious. We want to block both Democrats and Republicans from voting, if they’re not going to vote the way we want.”

    At some point, it will dawn on them that they could avoid all this mess by offering voters something to vote for.

    Actually, nevermind, no it won’t.

  117. 117.

    Soprano2

    @Jeffro: This makes me think of the argument I heard from our regular last night, that there should be “balance” between what 2/3 of the people want as opposed to what 1/3 want. The funniest things is that I didn’t indicate who the 2/3 and 1/3 were, or what they wanted, I just presented the proportion and his mind filled in the rest. They were OK with centuries of white people deciding things for everyone, but now that it’s possible that non-white people might be making electoral decisions, we need “balance”. LOL

  118. 118.

    Michael Cain

    @MomSense: What you can see of his hair looks both shorter and thinner, too.  My initial impression was he looks like the 75-year-old guy you haven’t seen for three months and say, “Bob, what happened?!” and they tell you they’ve been undergoing treatment for cancer or something.

  119. 119.

    Ken

    @Michael Cain: A partial explanation might be that he no longer has people to handle his grooming and appearance, now that taxpayers aren’t paying for them.

  124. 124.

    Soprano2

    @Ken: A partial explanation might be that he no longer has people to handle his grooming and appearance, now that taxpayers aren’t paying for them.

    But..but…but…..I’ve been assured by conservatives that he’s a successful billionaire! LOLOLOLOL

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @Soprano2: Yeah, and his success is entirely due to his lifelong habit of never, ever paying a bill if he can stick someone else with it. Or just refuse to pay and dare the other party to take him to court.

  126. 126.

    The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion

    @rikyrah: This is my single greatest political nightmare.  I pray the administration has a plan I don’t know about (beyond HR1, which apparently isn’t important enough to disturb the precious Senate traditions for).  Otherwise, we’re looking at a nationwide Jim Crow 2.0.

  127. 127.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ken: I did, but it’s always hard for me to forget that Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19, because that’s the day after my birthday.

  128. 128.

    The Moar You Know

    I wonder about the Republicans in Congress who have been sucking up to The Former Guy in the past couple of months. You know, Ted Cruz, MTG, and that ilk. At some point, they’re going to have to think about detaching themselves from him without catching grief from TFG bitter-enders in their states/districts. How are they going to finesse that?

    @Amir Khalid: All they gotta do is wait a few months.  America forgets its losers VERY quickly.  A few more pics of Former Guy looking like he did yesterday will seal the deal; old, lost, confused.  Nobody’s gonna rally around that.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @Ken:

    Yeah, and his success is entirely due to his lifelong habit of never, ever paying a bill if he can stick someone else with it. Or just refuse to pay and dare the other party to take him to court.

    This is Trump’s presidency in a nutshell. Trump refused to be an honest president. The Democrats took him to court via impeachment. The Republican leadership bailed him out. And now they are stuck with the bill. They are the party of racists, losers, conspiracy nuts and wannabe fascists.

  131. 131.

    catclub

    @trnc: ​
    &nbsp

    ;And I’ll bust out these rhymes in the new world order.

    “And I’ll bust out these rhymes in the Q world order.”
    FTFY

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    RIP Yaphet Kotto.

    I first saw him in Night Gallery’s “The Messiah on Mott Street,” with Edward G. Robinson. Kotto played the Messiah. I always enjoyed seeing him in a role.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​

     

    I finished writing “Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m Queen Of The Dead” last night.

    I want one, please be sure to keep us updated on your publication schedule. I’ll need to know when it’s available for my tablet.

    Sounds right up my alley, hitting the sweet spot of my reading preferences. “Queen of the Dead” indeed!!!

  139. 139.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    Love the Irish accents in the the walrus clip, my favorite of the various accents of spoken English I’ve heard in person over the decades, from all across America and Canada (I’ve been to all but a couple states and the northernmost provinces) and throughout England, Wales, and Scotland (where the accent in places was the most-incomprehensible of anywhere I’ve been, including deepest backwoods Alabama, which comes in second place) all the way to Tasmania (especially lovely place, Tasmania).

    Visited Ireland for several weeks in 2010, spending most of our time in the west of the country, though we did drive south and then east and up to Dublin across several days to finish our trip (I did all the driving, none of the other three in my group were interested in driving on the wrong side of the road, particularly since — outside the rare freeway — pretty much all the roads are narrow and twisty). Overall friendliest people I’ve met anywhere, from all across our hemisphere (including Mexico and Peru) to Indonesia to Tunisia and to a number of European countries.

    The walrus clip is from Valentia Island on Ireland’s west coast, just west of the Ring of Kerry on the Iveragh peninsula, which we visited on a day trip from our stay to the north across the bay in Dingle. Stunningly beautiful country, the west of Ireland (everywhere we went was beautiful, really, but especially in the west), and it’s where some of the people kept the Irish (Gaelic) language just barely alive when it had essentially disappeared elsewhere, of which the locals are rightly proud. I’ll likely never visit again, but I’m very happy I was fortunate enough to do so the one time. Glad to be reminded.

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @Brantl:

    @Spanky: No, it isn’t. 25.4 m equals 1 inch

    NO, it doesn’t 25.4 millimeters is one inch, and 2.54 centimeters. A meter is just over a yard, so 25.4 m is over a quarter of the length of a football field.

    5 cm is just over 2 inches.

  143. 143.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    finesse?????

    Anyone in the GQP?

    Improbable, impossible, never going to happen,

    not in the last lifetime,

    not in the next lifetime,

    not in any lifetime.

Comments are closed.