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You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Republican ‘Leaders’, Showing Us All Their… Incapabilities

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Republican ‘Leaders’, Showing Us All Their… Incapabilities

by Anne Laurie|  April 26, 20227:28 pm| 108 Comments

This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

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Hours after pro-Trump mob stormed Capitol, McConnell told @jmartNYT he was "exhilarated" Trump had "thoroughly discredited" himself. “He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Couldn’t have happened at a better time.” On THIS WILL NOT PASS: https://t.co/kYDHL5OnSm

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) April 25, 2022


#MoscowMitch, the Human Speed Bump:

… “What do you hear about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment?” he asked [NYT reporter Jonathan] Martin, eager for intelligence about whether the Cabinet and vice president might remove Trump from office, according to the book. Then McConnell said, according to the book, that he had spoken to Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) about issuing a joint statement telling Trump to stay away from the inauguration. A McConnell spokesman declined to comment on the book…

The portions of the book reviewed by The Post detail how leading Washington Republicans loathed or were skeptical of Trump behind the scenes — yet capitulated repeatedly to his demands, fearful of his powerful and loyal base and his ability to damage them politically. The book also illustrates how there were miscalculations by other Republicans about Trump and his ability to hold a grip on the party after the Jan. 6 deadly riot from a pro-Trump mob — and a misguided sense that the proverbial political fever would break…

That night, with the attack seared in his mind, McConnell took a strident tone against Trump and his desire to slash his influence going forward, according to the book. Citing the 2014 midterm elections, where McConnell attacked some of the fringe far-right candidates, he said he would take Trump and his ilk down in the 2022 midterms.

McConnell tells his staff that Trump is a “despicable person” and says he will take him on politically.

“We crushed the sons of b—-es,” he said to Martin, according to the book, “and that’s what we’re going to do in the primary in ’22.”

McConnell has dialed back his criticisms of Trump since and has said he would even support Trump if he was the Republican nominee in 2024…

Per NY Times and its new release of audio, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy feared some Republican lawmakers were putting people in jeopardy after Jan 6, 2021 .. singling out Matt Gaetz by namehttps://t.co/Jzeg59dQwk

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) April 26, 2022

Self-styled (Minority) @LeaderMcCarthy:

… Mr. McCarthy talked to other congressional Republicans about wanting to rein in multiple hard-liners who were deeply involved in Donald J. Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election and undermine the peaceful transfer of power, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times.

But Mr. McCarthy did not follow through on the sterner steps that some Republicans encouraged him to take, opting instead to seek a political accommodation with the most extreme members of the G.O.P. in the interests of advancing his own career…

In the phone call with other Republican leaders on Jan. 10, Mr. McCarthy referred chiefly to two representatives, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Mo Brooks of Alabama, as endangering the security of other lawmakers and the Capitol complex. But he and his allies discussed several other representatives who made comments they saw as offensive or dangerous, including Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Barry Moore of Alabama.

The country was “too crazy,” Mr. McCarthy said, for members to be talking and tweeting recklessly at such a volatile moment…

Speaking about rank-and-file lawmakers to his fellow leaders, Mr. McCarthy was sharply critical and suggested he was going to tell them to stop their inflammatory conduct.

“Our members have got to start paying attention to what they say, too, and you can’t put up with that,” he said, adding an expletive…

The House minority leader has in recent days lied about and tried to downplay his comments: Last week, after The Times reported the remarks, Mr. McCarthy called the report “totally false and wrong.” After Mr. McCarthy’s denial, a source who had confidentially shared a recording of the call with the book’s authors agreed to let The Times publish parts of the audio. In the days since that recording has been made public, the Republican leader has repeated his denial and emphasized that he never actually carried out his plan to urge Mr. Trump to quit…

And Kentucky’s other senator, the “independent thinker”:

this is straight Putin propaganda from Rand Paul https://t.co/aufhgiRXk5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2022

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Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 26, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    I’m not a courageous man but these have to be the most pusillanimous, spineless worms on earth.

  2. 2.

    Bill Arnold

    April 26, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    I could argue that Rand Paul has too many kidneys and that it is my right to extract them and sell them on the Red Market. Because it would be nice to pay off my mortgage.
    (If he has only one, well, I’d grudgingly accept that one. Won’t be able to pay off the mortgage though; maybe some of his liver and bone marrow and blood to make up for it.)
    However, I am not a utterly selfish person like Rand Paul, so I would not argue this.

  3. 3.

    debbie

    April 26, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    Grow his hair out a bit, soften the bags under his eyes, and Rand Paul is the 21st century version of Angela Landsbury’s Eleanor Iselin.

  4. 4.

    japa21

    April 26, 2022 at 7:45 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: That is an insult to worms.  Worms at least have a major benefit for earth.

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    April 26, 2022 at 7:46 pm

    GOD I HATE RAND PAUL I HATE RAND PAUL I HATE RAND PAUL

  6. 6.

    germy

    April 26, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    If those countries were part of Russia, why would Russia attack them?

  7. 7.

    brendancalling

    April 26, 2022 at 7:48 pm

    Did McCarthy think tapes wouldn’t surface?
    he’s such an ass.

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 26, 2022 at 7:50 pm

    “RAND PAUL: You could also argue the countries they’ve attacked were part of Russia ”

    You could, if you were a cretin completely ignorant of 20th Century history.

  9. 9.

    germy

    April 26, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    His father is pretty horrible, too.  His racist newsletters, etc.

  10. 10.

    japa21

    April 26, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Which is what Paul is.

  11. 11.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 26, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    I have more sympathy for the devil at this point. They created a base of screeching knuckleheads, armed them with limitless weapons, filled their heads with nonsense and conspiracies and made them believe anyone who didn’t align with their views were mortal enemies. That they can’t walk away from Trump for fear of their own political lives, and maybe their own safety is more than they deserve.

  12. 12.

    Betty

    April 26, 2022 at 7:54 pm

    Happy to see my Congressman, Scott Perry, finally getting the media attention he so richly deserves for his traitorous behavior.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    April 26, 2022 at 7:54 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    Aw, don’t sugarcoat it on our account, tell us what you really think.

    :)

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 26, 2022 at 7:56 pm

    The portions of the book reviewed by The Post detail how leading Washington Republicans loathed or were skeptical of Trump behind the scenes — yet capitulated repeatedly to his demands, fearful of his powerful and loyal base and his ability to damage them politically.

    Cowardly, traitorous shitstains.

    McConnell tells his staff that Trump is a “despicable person” and says he will take him on politically.

    So are you, you turtle-faced, fascist motherfucker who stole one, if not two, Supreme Court seat(s).

  15. 15.

    Jackie

    April 26, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    Sure would have been nice to know about these taped conversations prior/during the 2nd Impeachment hearings.?

  16. 16.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 26, 2022 at 8:01 pm

    @brendancalling:  He probably thought that Republicans wouldn’t rat him out, because they tolerate basically anything and everything from their own members. He probably also knew that he’d be able to brazen his way through it if it was a problem – which is probably right.

    The media is accepting distractions and doesn’t care, and his base is kind of angry but totally willing to forgive because he’s fallen back in line and never actually told Trump to resign.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 26, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: ​They created a monster machine with no off switch. (h/t driftglass)

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    April 26, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    @NotMax: this fucker is a us senator it’s disgusting

  19. 19.

    Cameron

    April 26, 2022 at 8:06 pm

    I suppose if we tried real hard and squinted real good, we could see that Kentucky was part of Russia, too.

  20. 20.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 26, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: It’s hard to explain to people just how bad a lot of these assholes in the Senate are. If you factually (and even generously) describe their arguments, it sounds farcically evil and corrupt. Because it is.

  21. 21.

    Ohio Mom

    April 26, 2022 at 8:09 pm

    On the right of Rand Paul, is that my outgoing Senator, Rob Portman, looking like he’s pretending he’s not there? That’s in keeping with his usual M.O.

    He has aged a lot. Hair is completely white, before it was salt and pepper. Or maybe he stopped dying it.

  22. 22.

    Mike in NC

    April 26, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    Apparently every GOP “leader” has the proverbial backbone of a chocolate eclair, as Teddy Roosevelt is supposed to have said.

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    Elon Musk calls Twitter’s Hunter Biden laptop censorship ‘incredibly inappropriate’

    Elon Musk has entered the chat about censorship of the laptop believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden.

    Fresh off convincing Twitter to sell him the company for $44 billion, the billionaire tech mogul commented on a post about a Politico report on Twitter’s top lawyer, whose team decides how to moderate content, crying while trying to reassure staff amid the takeover.

    “Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk said in a tweet Tuesday.

    He was responding to a tweet from a reporter who called the lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, the “top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan’s podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story.”

    Details about Biden’s business dealings and personal life have emerged in the media thanks to copies of a laptop and hard drive. The FBI took possession of the actual hardware after the owner, believed to be Biden, left it for repairs at a shop in Delaware in April 2019 and never returned. Copies were made and spread across the media landscape, and the New York Post led the charge in reporting on the contents of the laptop that is believed to have belonged to the president’s son. While other major media outlets sought to cast doubt on its authenticity, Big Tech companies even took steps to suppress its spread in the final weeks of the 2020 election.

    When the New York Post attempted to post the articles on its Twitter account, the social media company claimed it violated its rule against sharing “hacked” materials. In fact, Twitter and Facebook limited users from sharing it for a time. Twitter locked the New York Post out of its account on Oct. 14, 2020, in a standoff that lasted roughly two weeks. In recent months, the New York Times and Politico have come forth with reports saying at least some of the contents on the laptop have been authenticated. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has called the New York Post lockout a “mistake.”

    So, Musk is definitely going to turn Twitter into a right-wing cesspit, based on this. Interesting (or not) that Dorsey also thinks it was a mistake

  24. 24.

    The Moar You Know

    April 26, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    I’d be scared shitless too if I’d been so utterly stupid as to turn over my livelihood and fortune to Donald Trump.

    This could have been dealt with easily in the beginning by the GOP, but the only way they can get rid of the guy now is to accept losing for years, and they will not be allowed to do that, by either their money masters or their vile base, who will kill them (literally) if they don’t stay with the program.

  25. 25.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 26, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Fuck that. Ugh. Whether or not some of the files were authenticated has nothing to do with whether the whole thing was hacked or stolen. Yes, the Post should have been locked out. That was the fucking policy and they violated it.

    And yes, Twitter is going to turn into even more of a right-wing cesspool than it already is.

  26. 26.

    Shalimar

    April 26, 2022 at 8:20 pm

    You could also argue Texas was part of Mexico.  We should give it back.

  27. 27.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Whether or not some of the files were authenticated has nothing to do with whether the whole thing was hacked or stolen. Yes, the Post should have been locked out. That was the fucking policy and they violated it.

    So, if that’s the case, then why are Musk and Dorsey saying it was “inappropriate”? Or perhaps the better question is, “how can they justify saying it was ‘inappropriate’?”

    BTW, so is there a “there” there with the Hunter Biden laptop story, or not?

  28. 28.

    Cameron

    April 26, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    @Mike in NC: I thought it was a banana.

  29. 29.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 26, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Have you not read anything Adam Silverman has written?

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    April 26, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Or any history at all.  Just try to name a permanently inhabited place that hasn’t been claimed by at least two or three different countries through its history.  If you start letting every country claim every territory it once held, you have a recipe for endless war.

  31. 31.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I remember reading something about it from Adam, but was also like a year ago or more and my memory of it is fuzzy. I’m seeing headlines of the FBI investigating Hunter Biden

  32. 32.

    Ruckus ??

    April 26, 2022 at 8:26 pm

    @Gin & Tonic

    You could, if you were a cretin completely ignorant of 20th Century history.

    One might easily argue that the asshole in question qualifies, although I could argue that he’s likely ignorant of far more actual facts. information, history, reality, etc.

  33. 33.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 26, 2022 at 8:29 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The overall story on the Hunter Laptop hasn’t really changed. But the narrative has.

    Basically, intelligence and security experts said all along that some of the data would be legitimate on the laptop, and the problem is that we dont’ know what was added or not. The Washington Post recent did some research on a copy of the laptop that was 30 copies deep and say they’ve reasonably authenticated someting like 0.5% of the files. No one has ever established that Hunter dropped off the laptop, for example – and it’s had absolutely zero fucking chain of custody.

    But the article by the Post was used as an excuse by much of the media to say “oh the laptop was REAL whoops”, even though there still isn’t any indication of that.

  34. 34.

    MisterForkbeard

    April 26, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The FBI is investigating Hunter for potential tax reporting and consulting infractions. The current word is that they haven’t found anything illegal and that was framed as a problem by the NYT and other media groups.

    Like, “the FBI investigated and found nothing actionable and that’s terrible news for Biden and the FBI and also the media should have focused more on Biden” is basically what they’re saying.

  35. 35.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 26, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No. There is no laptop. There may be a hard drive Rudy bought in Ukraine, from whom we do not know. All we ever see from these folks are copies of copies of copies

    Eta: and as I recall, from the WaPo bs article, there were files added AFTER the “FBI” or Rudy  picked whatever they picked up from the repair shop.

  36. 36.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    April 26, 2022 at 8:33 pm

    There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher Baby Doc and Trump.

    Swear to God!!

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    @Cameron:

    Wikipedia – Russian America:

    Russian settlements in North America

    New Archangel (present-day Sitka, Alaska), the capital of Russian America, in 1837
    Unalaska, Alaska – 1774
    Three Saints Bay, Alaska – 1784
    Fort St. George in Kasilof, Alaska – 1786
    St. Paul, Alaska – 1788
    Fort St. Nicholas in Kenai, Alaska – 1791
    Pavlovskaya, Alaska (now Kodiak) – 1791
    Fort Saints Constantine and Helen on Nuchek Island, Alaska – 1793
    Fort on Hinchinbrook Island, Alaska – 1793
    New Russia near present-day Yakutat, Alaska – 1796
    Redoubt St. Archangel Michael, Alaska near Sitka – 1799
    Novo-Arkhangelsk, Alaska (now Sitka) – 1804
    Fort Ross, California – 1812
    Fort Elizabeth near Waimea, Kaua’i, Hawai’i – 1817
    Fort Alexander near Hanalei, Kaua’i, Hawai’i – 1817
    Fort Barclay-de-Tolly near Hanalei, Kaua’i, Hawai’i – 1817

    Fort (New) Alexandrovsk at Bristol Bay, Alaska – 1819
    Redoubt St. Michael, Alaska – 1833
    Nulato, Alaska – 1834
    Redoubt St. Dionysius in present-day Wrangell, Alaska (now Fort Stikine) – 1834
    Pokrovskaya Mission, Alaska – 1837
    Kolmakov Redoubt, Alaska – 1844

    No doubt VVP will be sending Little Green Men to Hawaii and California after their successful Moldova campaign. To protect the Russian people here.

    Grr…

    Paul is a dangerous idiot, and getting worse by the month.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    April 26, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    @Ruckus ??: I would argue he’s not ignorant at all and knows exactly what he’s saying and how it amplifies Putin’s narrative

  39. 39.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    April 26, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: ​
      First the MSM said bad news was really Great News for McCain.

    Now the MSM says good news is really bad news for Dems.

    Heads I win, tails you lose!

  40. 40.

    West of the Rockies

    April 26, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    McConnell will just tuck into his shell, ignore all reporters and wait it out. I hope it doesn’t work this time.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    April 26, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    It’s  gotten thinner.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    April 26, 2022 at 8:42 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    “Lack of evidence against Biden bad news for Biden”

    –NYT

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    April 26, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): At what point does inappropriateness enter the incredibly zone?

  44. 44.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    April 26, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    Where did the new audio come from? Elise Stefanik again?

  45. 45.

    kindness

    April 26, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    MoscowMitch and other Senate insiders had their chance.  They could have cut Trump off at the knees if they had only spoken up about what they knew Trump did, and then voted to impeach him like they should have anyhow.  Those same Washington ‘insiders’ must be loving life seeing what is coming down the pipe from Texas & Florida (& Rand Paul (Ru) but I suspect everyone hates him).

  46. 46.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 8:50 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    @MisterForkbeard:

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Ohhhh. Well that clears things up. Thanks. I have to tune out from the news every once in awhile to preserve my own sanity these days

    That reflects even more poorly on Musk and Dorsey. They’re blatantly lying. Why would it be “inappropriate”, then, to block content that’s potentially suspect that can’t be independently verified? And clearly violates the TOS? How tf can Dorsey and Musk justify calling the actions taken “inappropriate” in that light?

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    April 26, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Basically, anyone who talks about the laptop without prominently discussing its highly suspect provenance is not worth listening to.  There’s no good direct tie between Biden and the laptop.  There are drive images that contain some of Hunter Biden’s files, but the person who could swear it’s Hunter’s laptop has failed to do so.

    So there’s no way of knowing if it’s his laptop and if it is that he was the one who dropped it off to be repaired.  To the contrary, there are some common sense reasons to think it is not his:

    1. If he was willing to pay to have his files recovered, why did he never come back to get them?
    2. Why would someone pay a bunch to some random computer store to recover files from their Mac rather than take it to the Apple Store, where they would do it faster and cheaper?

    Seriously, the whole story doesn’t pass the smell test, and anyone who keeps pushing it is doing so because they have an agenda that benefits from pushing it.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    April 26, 2022 at 8:55 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Don’t leave out the legally blind computer tech who couldn’t see who dropped off the laptop at his CA store.  ?

  49. 49.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 26, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If you want a little fun with the whole laptop nonsense, Hal Sparks ( youtube) has about a 35 minute takedown of the WaPo article, where he goes thru it line by line. News with a lot of fuk you’s to the bs.

  50. 50.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 9:03 pm

    OT: Word to the wise, if you have any spare cash holdings (such as an emergency fund etc), you should buy some US Savings I Bonds from TreasuryDirect. The variable interest rate on ones bought before this Friday will be a locked-in 7.12% for the next 6 months, including April. Much better than any other safe cash equivalent, such as savings accounts, CDs, etc. There is a 1 year lock-in period as well as an early withdrawal penalty if the bonds are cashed before the 5-year mark; in that case the previous three months of interest would be lost

  51. 51.

    laura

    April 26, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    I’ve got to agree with Jeff Teidrich of twitter in describing the republican party thusly: “a festering fucktangle of democracy-hating book-banning ball-frying fascist shitweasels.” It bothers me to no end that a solid 27% or so demand it of the citizenry see it as a right proper and fitting thing to expect.

  52. 52.

    RaflW

    April 26, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    @Mike in NC: A chocolate eclair at least offers a moment of attraction and satisfaction. These senators are far less useful than a confection.

  53. 53.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 26, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    @Shalimar: You could also argue Texas was part of Mexico. We should give it back.

    Hear hear!

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Snopes:

    Although the Post didn’t identify the shop owner, journalists were able to track the shop down because the Post failed to remove metadata from images embedded in the story. The shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, spoke to several reporters in a nearly hour-long conversation recorded by The Daily Beast.

    In the discussion, Mac Isaac alleged that a man identifying himself as Hunter Biden had dropped the laptop in question off with liquid damage. He also said he didn’t actually see the vice president’s son dropping the laptop off. The Post story contained an invoice naming Hunter Biden.

    Mac Isaac declined to answer many questions, but he did state that the contents of the laptop troubled him. Mac Isaac referenced the debunked Seth Rich conspiracy theory, which holds that Rich, a DNC staffer, was murdered by Democratic political operatives after he hacked the DNC’s server. Mac Isaac claimed he was fearful for his own safety.

    Sounds legit!!1

    (groucho-roll-eyes.gif)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    April 26, 2022 at 9:26 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​
     how do you make a purchase? can you do it online, and if so could you kindly provide a link?

  56. 56.

    Raven

    April 26, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    In your TreasuryDirect account, you can purchase and hold Treasury bills, notes, bonds, Floating Rate Notes, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), and savings bonds, and it’s available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

  57. 57.

    Mallard Filmore

    April 26, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
    Where to buy them: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_ibonds_glance.htm
    You have to open a treasury direct account, it takes like 2 minutes.
    Also, I recommend waiting until May 1st so you can get the 10% annual interest rate.

    Additional Info: https://tipswatch.com/

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    April 26, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:leading Washington Republicans loathed or were skeptical of Trump behind the scenes — yet capitulated repeatedly to his demands, fearful of his powerful and loyal base and his ability to damage them politically.

    please FSM, I beg you…let the Ds tell this story over and over, louder each time, for the rest of the year and on into eternity

  59. 59.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    April 26, 2022 at 9:34 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    Sure! TreasuryDirect.gov

    You have to create an account first and the site is a bit clunky, but it’s functional. Once you set up your account, I recommend selecting the BuyDirect option so you don’t end up putting the funds into the C of I by mistake. You can use a bank account to fund your purchase. Be careful not to use the browser’s back page because that will cause the site to time out

    Also, I’ve read that getting back into the account if you forget the password or the account number can be a pain so write down the password, the security questions, and the password reminder

  60. 60.

    jonas

    April 26, 2022 at 9:34 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So, Musk is definitely going to turn Twitter into a right-wing cesspit, based on this.

    Pretty much. Advertisers/creators/influencers will just love it!!

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    April 26, 2022 at 9:36 pm

    @The Moar You Know:This could have been dealt with easily in the beginning by the GOP, but the only way they can get rid of the guy now is to accept losing for (*a whopping 2, or 4 at most*) years, and they will not be allowed to do that, by either their money masters or their vile base, who will kill them (literally) if they don’t stay with the program.

    *slight edit added, to account for the average low-info American voter* but otherwise yeah

  62. 62.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    April 26, 2022 at 9:36 pm

    Thanks guys!

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    April 26, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    @kindness:They could have cut Trump off at the knees if they had only spoken up about what they knew Trump did, and then voted to impeach him like they should have anyhow.

    In the Jeffro fantasy movie version (the PG one) they hold the impeachment trial on the steps of the Capitol in the wee hours of January 7th, kick the orange garbage bag out of office forever, swear in Pence to be prez for 13 days, and the DC street vendors make a killing on limited-edition ‘46/47/whut?’ hats.

    Everyone rejoices and we all go back to just our usual stupidity in this country.

    In the R version there are consequences involving tarring, feathering, and a pitchfork-poking march of shame across the entire width of this great land for all of the traitors, some of whom don’t hold up for the whole distance.

  64. 64.

    different-church-lady

    April 26, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    EVERY FUCKIN’ ONE OF THEM thinks they can ride the tiger.

    (DCL, + something or other….)

  65. 65.

    Ruckus ??

    April 26, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Not saying you are wrong about his basic intellectual abilities. What I am saying is that he is willfully ignorant. He doesn’t want to know actual facts so he makes them up. For some asinine reason he wants the world to be as he imagines it. And his vision is ignorant.

    Conservatives, whatever their alliances, want a world that reflects their view of what the world should be. And that always leaves out a dramatic percentage of the population, because we don’t all look the same, speak the same language, or even live under the same level of actual freedom. Or anything resembling an actual democracy in which people can look different, speak different, and be considered equal. This world is getting too crowded to live under repression or inequality (and yes I think it’s always been too crowded for that) or be ruled by one insane asshole like vova or sfb The concept that money buys you equality and a lack thereof gets you repression is bullshit. Our world is effectively shrinking and we have to change the centuries  long belief that money buys anything but stuff. Given most people with money, I think the evidence is obvious that money absolutely corrupts, even if not in the legal sense.

  66. 66.

    different-church-lady

    April 26, 2022 at 9:50 pm

    And just WHAT THE FUCK IS IT that Hunter Biden is supposed to have done wrong anyway?

  67. 67.

    dexwood

    April 26, 2022 at 9:53 pm

    Liars, thieves, ghouls, monsters, cowards, bigots, traitors – the republican party on display.

  68. 68.

    ian

    April 26, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    @kindness:

    only spoken up about what they knew Trump did, and then voted to impeach him like they should have anyhow.

    They didn’t even need to speak up.  They could have just voted to impeach!  Some of them might have lost their jobs in primaries, but others weren’t even up for re-election until 24 or 26.  It isn’t even just cowardice, it is willingness to throw away democracy in order to gain political power.

  69. 69.

    Ruckus ??

    April 26, 2022 at 9:58 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Be born?

    Be a democrat?

    Be the son of someone whom they have to acknowledge and hate having to do that?

  70. 70.

    Lyrebird

    April 26, 2022 at 9:58 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, but why limit the centuries?  Clearly this (spits) senator is forgetting the 18th and 19th too –  I am thinking along the same lines as

    @Shalimar: , R Paul apparently thinks it would be fine for Mexico to bomb the crap out of Texas and take it over What about France?  What percent of the US used to be part of France?  Lousiana through Missouri at a minimum.

    Anyhow, hope the whole Tonic fam has had some reason to be happy on Easter.  You too Shalimar if Easter is your thing.

  71. 71.

    Lyrebird

    April 26, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    @zhena gogolia: He is bought and paid for, seems like.

    I hope your family also had some enjoyment of Easter in spite of the hell happening here on Earth.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    @different-church-lady: His dad had the temerity to run against TFG for President.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    Just One More Canuck

    April 26, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    @germy: as in so many other cases (Trumps, Murdochs), the turds don’t fall far from the assholes

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    Meanwhile, … MiamiHerald:

    As Florida legislators were rushing through passage of a bill to repeal the special district that governs Walt Disney World last week, they failed to notice an obscure provision in state law that says the state could not do what legislators were doing — unless the district’s bond debt was paid off.

    Disney, however, noticed and quietly sent a note to its investors to show that it was confident the Legislature’s attempt to dissolve the special taxing district operating the 39-square mile parcel it owned in two counties violated the “pledge” the state made when it enacted the district in 1967, and therefore was not legal.

    The result, Disney told its investors, is that it would continue to go about business as usual.

    […]

    [ womp, womp ]

    (via dick_nixon)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 26, 2022 at 10:12 pm

    This Memphis-Minnesota game is on fire.

  76. 76.

    japa21

    April 26, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Quite the ending.

  77. 77.

    zhena gogolia

    April 26, 2022 at 10:29 pm

    @Lyrebird: I don’t have any family in the affected region, but thanks for your kind wishes.

  78. 78.

    Ken

    April 26, 2022 at 10:31 pm

    @Another Scott: Any idea how big the district’s bond debt is?  I could easily imagine it’s grown over time, as people say “Eh, it’s Disney, they’re good for another couple hundred million for streets and sanitation.”

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    April 26, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    So, if that’s the case, then why are Musk and Dorsey saying it was “inappropriate”? Or perhaps the better question is, “how can they justify saying it was ‘inappropriate’?”

    People with that much money never need to justify anything to anyone. Also, any criticism of them is a violation of their constitutional rights. Not sure which amendment or clause or whatever, but it’s in there somewhere.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    @Ken: Over $1B.

    From the story:

    “Orange County gets Reedy Creek’s assets, debts and obligations,’’ he said. But the cost of providing its services is $105 million a year and the cost of its debt services is $58 million a year and so if Reedy Creek is dissolved those assets and liabilities would be absorbed by Orange County’s $600 million budget, he said.

    “Unless they want to cut services and cut spending elsewhere, they’re going to have to find a way to absorb $163 million,’’ Randolph said. He estimates the average increase in taxes would be $200-$250 per year for the median household until the bonds are paid off.

    “By dissolving Reedy Creek, the Legislature essentially rewrote the promises made in the district’s bond offerings,’’ Schumer wrote. “Instead of bonds backed by a special district with the power to levy up to 30 mills in taxes, the property tax bonds will be backed jointly by two governments that can only generate a maximum of 10 mills in taxes.”

    Looks like a teensy itsy-bitsy problem.

    It’s a tragedy when reality confronts RWNJ pronouncements, isn’t it??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    James E Powell

    April 26, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Like, “the FBI investigated and found nothing actionable and that’s terrible news for Biden and the FBI and also the media should have focused more on Biden” is basically what they’re saying.

    So, the Clinton Rules.

  82. 82.

    Nelle

    April 26, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @different-church-lady: And never a government official, as opposed to the senior advisor to the president getting a 2 billion dollar deal from the Saudis.  But sure, let’s talk about Hunter’s laptop.

  83. 83.

    Ksmiami

    April 26, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @Another Scott: never mess with the Mouse

  84. 84.

    jonas

    April 26, 2022 at 10:56 pm

    @different-church-lady: Hunter Biden is basically BizarroTrumpkids. Whatever massive corruption Javanka, Trump Jr. Eric, etc. have engaged in, they’ve reimaginged as having been committed by Hunter first. All a prosecutor needs to do is trace the projection back to its originator and ready indictments of one of the Trumpspawn and he/she’d pretty much be right on the money.

  85. 85.

    Craig

    April 26, 2022 at 11:03 pm

    @James E Powell: Musk likes being a facist curious lib owning edgelord so that 20 something Bros will call him cool. Dorsey just wants RWNJs to leave him alone so he can mellow out and listen to Deaf Heaven.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    April 26, 2022 at 11:05 pm

    @Another Scott:

    The current tax rate is three times higher than the maximum amount allowed by cities and counties, Schumer said. Proponents of the bill “had some misconception that Disney’s getting some special property tax break for Reedy Creek,’’ said Scott Randolph, Orange County tax collector. “It’s not.”

  87. 87.

    senyordave

    April 26, 2022 at 11:08 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There is a maximum annual amount of $10k for I-bonds.  that is $10k per account holder, a married couple can each buy $10k.

  88. 88.

    Edmund Dantes

    April 26, 2022 at 11:08 pm

    @Ken: it’s in the article. Around 163 million a year to service it. But there is also the fact Disney pats for the local sheriffs to also do stuff for them. So once the district goes away. Disney just becomes another resident. So the sheriff has to cover the Disney towns without getting paid around 14 million to do it. So that revenue also goes away.

    Plus other stuff. The Florida gop really fucked this up about as well as you could fuck it up.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    April 26, 2022 at 11:18 pm

    @Edmund Dantes:

    I don’t understand why they didn’t anticipate that the bondholders would sue. Does the debt even attach to Disney? It’s the debt of the special district, not Disney. They dissolved the special district.

  90. 90.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 11:20 pm

    I’m no fan of Madison Cawthorn but if you don’t see what republicans are doing here 3 weeks before the primary, I don’t know what to tell you

    — Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) April 26, 2022

    He broke the 11th Commandment by talking about the cocaine orgies and so forth. Plus, he doesn’t seem to have a few billionaires backing him, so it’s easy for the rest of the GQPers to go after him and support someone more compliant.

    Maybe they’ll fail and the stars will align and the Democrat will win. ;-)

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  91. 91.

    Jerzy Russian

    April 26, 2022 at 11:20 pm

    @Edmund Dantes:   Most members of the GOP are so incompetent that if you told them to “go and fuck this up” they would fuck up that task.    So it seems that in this case they did not fuck up the task of passing biggest possible fuck-up of a bill.  Progress perhaps on their part?

  92. 92.

    Soprano2

    April 26, 2022 at 11:22 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: I read about a focus group that literally didn’t believe Republicans held the positions they did, because they thought there was no way politicians could believe those things.

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    April 26, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    @Jeffro: ​
     Amen?

  94. 94.

    espierce

    April 26, 2022 at 11:30 pm

     

    @Jerzy Russian: It’s Florida, Jake Jerzy

  95. 95.

    sanjeevs

    April 26, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    At least Russia would never try to take back Alaska.

    Vlad can’t afford to lose two Senators.

  96. 96.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    April 26, 2022 at 11:58 pm

    @Another Scott: What happened now?

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    April 26, 2022 at 11:58 pm

    Maybe this will get Adam’s thread to appear…

    Things may be slowly thawing in Germany. DW.com:

    “Yesterday we decided that Germany will make the delivery of ‘Gepard’ anti-aircraft tanks possible to Ukraine,” Lambrecht said in a transcript of her speech seen by DW. The confirmation came after German media reported on the move.

    The “Gepard” anti-aircraft system was developed in the 1960-1970s, but has been upgraded several times with the latest electronics. “The German army has taken them out of use almost a decade ago, not because they were obsolete, but because at that time the Bundeswehr was scaling down and they had no use for it anymore,” defense journalist Thomas Wiegold told DW.

    Lambrecht also said that Berlin was working to train Ukrainian soldiers on German soil. “We are working together with our American friends in training Ukrainian troops on artillery systems on German soil,” the minister said.

    In recent weeks, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has come under increasing pressure for refusing to ship heavy weapons directly to Ukraine. Critics say his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) are too reluctant to stray from their historic policy of detente toward Moscow.

    Why is the announcement so significant?
    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and mounting pressure both at home and abroad — has pushed the German government to majorly shift the country’s defense policy. Weeks ago, the German government’s tank announcement would have been unthinkable.

    Maybe Gazprom shutting off gas to Poland and Bulgaria starting Wednesday (because they won’t pay in rubles) has helped focus their thinking…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    April 27, 2022 at 12:05 am

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: In the last 10 minutes?  Dunno.

    There’s the insider trading pump-and-dump crypto thing, the gun at the airport thing (again), the swerving on the highway without a license thing (again), the cocaine orgies, the lingerie party on the boat, the Russian fake cross-fit casino bride saga and rapid divorce, and on and on…

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Winston

    April 27, 2022 at 12:12 am

    I really think everyone is underestimating the intelligence of the Florida voters. We will see, but the Orange County, Osceola, Polk, Hillsboro, Sumpter, Pasco, Pinellas Counties are really pissed off about Puffy Face vs Disney. That’s about 50 percent of Florida. The other 50 percent of Florida is Miami Dade, and the Atlantic Coast. The rural bigots are not going to overcome that. You can expect a new governor, new senator and a majority reps in 2022. Mark it down.

  100. 100.

    John Revolta

    April 27, 2022 at 12:13 am

    @Edmund Dantes: Orange County  is mostly Democratic, with a large black and Hispanic population and a black mayor, whose wife is Rep. Val Demings. So, maybe DeSatan doesn’t care about any of this.

  101. 101.

    JWR

    April 27, 2022 at 12:36 am

    Speaking of vile, pusillanimous cretins, anyone else following the misdeeds of L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva?

    In a stunning moment, Los Angeles Co Sheriff Alex Villanueva revealed LASD is investigating his political opponent @Vera4Sheriff, the Inspector General and LA Times reporter @AleneTchek, after leaked video exposed a deputy kneeling on a handcuffed inmate’s head. @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/D7sTgBeEvc
    — Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) April 26, 2022

    He’s been on a “bash the liberal media” crusade for quite some time now, so there’s that. I just wish all the people running to replace him didn’t come from inside law enforcement. And just a note that he’s got the same, lazy eyelids that make Ron DeSantis look so Mafioso to me.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    April 27, 2022 at 1:02 am

    @JWR: He seems to have realized that he kicked a hornets’ nest and is saying that it’s all a misunderstanding.

    The LA sheriff appears to be walking this back now. He was asked repeatedly at the press conference whether the reporter was specifically under investigation and he responded by saying that "all parties to the act are subjects of the investigation.” https://t.co/YCav4klEuL

    — Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) April 27, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    JWR

    April 27, 2022 at 6:11 am

    @Another Scott: Dude’s a Culture Warrior. Fuck ’em.

  104. 104.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 27, 2022 at 6:18 am

    @Another Scott: I just read a Bloomberg Tax article about that mess. Holy cow what an expensive mess DeSantis and friends have created.

  105. 105.

    Soprano2

    April 27, 2022 at 6:55 am

    @Kay: I think they knew. This way they can have a fit for their voters who mostly won’t realize that it never actually did anything. They get to tout being “tough” on Disney with no actual consequences to anyone.

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 27, 2022 at 8:50 am

    @Soprano2: I follow a bunch of theme-park fans on YouTube and the commentary on this has been interesting–lots of conservatives with peculiar legal theories about why Disney has no leg to stand on, involving state supremacy as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment and the idea that it’s impossible to sue over “removing a law”.

    (I do admit that my claims that this is a bill of attainder will probably be hard to sustain since it’s repealing a law that was a special sweetheart deal for Disney in the first place–even though it’s clearly a “punish someone for criticizing us” action in spirit.)

    There are also lots of people trying to split the baby and say “regardless of what you think on the merits, can’t we all agree that Disney should have stayed out of politics?” as if it’s possible to entirely “stay out of politics” when things are getting dangerous for your customers and employees. One thing that complicates it is that Disney’s new and green CEO has been criticized for a bunch of recent dopey decisions, particularly concerning theme parks (though he previously headed the theme-park division), and “getting involved in politics” here just gets added to that list. And of course some of them believe that “woke Disney” is a grievance everyone agrees with.

  107. 107.

    evodevo

    April 27, 2022 at 9:16 am

    @different-church-lady: ​
    Merely by existing lol – they have argle-bargled a lot about his presence on the board of directors of an energy company in Ukraine and being paid for it (like 100% of rich connected GOPers in this country) …and then corruption investigation something something something Joe Biden is senile!!! SRSLY…that’s about it.  I think it has become a red herring they can drag out whenever anyone mentions the actual ongoing corruption involving Trumpy’s spawn and Jared…

  108. 108.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 27, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @different-church-lady: He’s a relative of Joe Biden who has had publicly acknowledged addiction problems, which makes him the stain that renders Biden forever unfit for the presidency. It doesn’t matter whether this standard would apply to anyone else or not.

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