Revision note: Guys, the Thread embeds I used in the original version of this post made the mobile version go haywire, so I had to pull the post and replace the embeds with images. That made all the comments go away. I’m so sorry about that! ETA: Annnd, it looks like the comments are back. Emily Latila voice: never mind!
Donald Trump’s campaign reported a record $50.5M haul from a fundraising event held in Florida yesterday: (CNN)
The Trump total from the “Inaugural Leadership Dinner” at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor John Paulson sets a record for a single fundraising event.
“It’s clearer than ever that we have the message, the operation, and the money to propel President Trump to victory on November 5,” Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
Wiles and LaCivita are pros, so a step up from the caddy-and-cabana-boy crew that ran Trump’s 2016 operation. Personally, I think it’s a mistake for campaigns to announce gaudy fundraising hauls, which the Biden-Harris campaign does too sometimes.
I get why they do it — it’s a sign of strength. But the money sloshing around in our politics is nothing to be proud of, and I suspect I’m not the only voter who finds the entire thing grotesque.
It’s especially gross if you’re Don Poorleone rattling the begging bowl at fellow corrupt fat cats. In that case, bragging about the haul gives opponents an opening for, well, what the Biden-Harris campaign account on Threads did last night:
More billionaire scumbags below the fold!
I saw it on Threads because fuck Xitter and the fascist oligarch who owns it, but I assume the rogues’ gallery is published across social media. I am 100% in favor of naming and shaming the tax-dodging, worker-exploiting, fascist-enabling policy failures who are bankrolling Trump, and moreover, I believe it’s important counter-messaging since Republicans across the board are absurdly trying to pass themselves off as tribunes of the working class.
It’s preposterous for soft-handed elites like Donald Trump, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, etc., to claim they’re looking out for the hardhat types they are busily screwing behind the scenes at every opportunity. But that’s what they’re doing, and to an irritating degree, it works.
Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration is reversing the Reagan trickle-down scam via policy, and it’s paying off for workers. That’s why the plutocrats are highly motivated to rally around Trump. Kudos to Team Dark Brandon for calling them out.
Open thread!
Baud
Reposted from the last thread. Fits here
Baud
QFT
Baud
Cool that threads has embeds now. Hope that speeds Twitter’s demise.
ETA: Or did. The embeds showed up on my phone initially but now they’re gone.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
Four words, four unique ways to say “dick.”
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Added to OP — thanks for flagging! [Had to take it down — another embed fail!]
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yeah, it’s fine on my laptop but wonky on my iPhone. Le sigh. Off to create images to use instead…
zhena gogolia
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Hahaha
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: I see it on my laptop, but it took a few seconds.
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
Okay, yeah, Bernie recovers some points with me for doing this. Good for him. Definitely playing on his strengths for the side of good.
bbleh
I think the name-and-shame is particularly valuable. A lot of such people DON’T like to be portrayed publicly, some not at all and others only as they arrange it. Their skins are not nearly as thick as politicians’.
Make ‘em mad. That’s the plan with TIFG, no reason not to spread the pain a bit.
And yeah, good on Bernie for doing this! No reason not to, given the situation, and he’s got a practical streak. And it’s very Bernie.
AxelFoley
Meh, I’ll always be Team Fuck Bernie Forever. He and his trolls helped saddle us with Trump. I’ll never forgive that old unaccomplished fool for that
I like that calling out of those billionaire fucks by the Biden-Harris team, tho.
Scout211
All the news stories everywhere yesterday were quoting that $50M number for Trump’s big fundraising soiree. But this has been talked about all week as if the money has already been deposited in the Trump official fundraising haul. I guess it’s possible that this money is truly in the campaign’s hands but we really won’t know for sure that it is until next month when the official April filing is reported. But the PR team has blanketed the media with the $50M number, with only the campaign’s PR team’s word. (Remember that $175M in cash for the surety bond that was “pledged” to Cover the bond, but not deposited?”
I am suspicious of everything that has to do with Trump financials. So I will believe the $50M in one night of donations when it is official and announced by the campaign next month.
In the meantime, I don’t believe it. And I applaud the very few new organizations that actually added the qualifier, “the campaign claims.” Most just reported it as fact.
WaterGirl
Oh my god, I love this rougues’ gallery so much!
Jeffro
As I mentioned last night, I’m thrilled that they did this. Think of the message it sends (in all directions). Good stuff Team Blue!
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
Couldn’t care less about Bernie’s points. There are segments of the voting block we need who will listen to Bernie but not Biden.
Same thing I would tell progressives if Biden hugs a centrist.
Jeffro
also, I absolutely LOVE that the whole thing started off with calling these bozos “scammers, racists, and extremists”…<chef’s kiss>
NotMax
Litella.
TBone
Brought this timeless classic to mind:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/sep/04/super-rich-prepper-bunkers-apocalypse-survival-richest-rushkoff
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Exactly right.
@Scout211: That’s a great point!
Villago Delenda Est
Tumbrel rides for the lot of them.
Tony Jay
Christ Jesus, but that Steve Wynn looked right into the Ark of the Covenant, didn’t he?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
Agree completely. We want to win. There are people who will listen to Sanders who would not listen to a different politician. And those are the leftists who either can be kept or brought on side.
TBone
@Tony Jay: 😆
West of the Rockies
OT, but anyone see the lead story on NPR site about shifting voter demographics? One point was that non-whites have shifted to Trump by 34%. That has to be BS, no?
Villago Delenda Est
@AxelFoley: Bernie’s aspirations are good. The problem is he has no clue how to fulfill them and he doesn’t play well with others, and his fanbase refuses to acknowledge that.
zhena gogolia
@Tony Jay: Hahaha
NotMax
Was this the dinner previously reported to have an entry cost of $800,000 a plate?
NOT snark.
KM in NS
What a creepy looking bunch!
Villago Delenda Est
@West of the Rockies: Mission accomplished, got engagement for NPR. The published polls are hopelessly broken.
TBone
@Villago Delenda Est: he’s certainly playing well with others right now.
Omnes Omnibus
@West of the Rockies: What have the Congressional, special, and primary election of the last couple of years been saying? Has there been anything that would cause a seismic shift from those results?
Gin & Tonic
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I commented last night that, incidentally, and probably in contrast with most of the other assholes on the list, Johnson is a generous supporter of Ukraine. Might be related to the fact that his current wife is Ukrainian-American.
Baud
@West of the Rockies:
We’ll find out in November.
Scout211
I’m glad the comments are back but I was in the middle of editing the typos and errors out my comment above so I understand that it is now an easy target for local pedants. Go easy on me, please. LOL.
Baud
@TBone:
Right. I like that he appeared with Biden, not going off on his own message, which may or may not be the same.
TBone
@NotMax: I hope there’s a big eclipse party at Mar-A-Lardass and they ALL look directly at it for a photo opp. Squints all around.
Almost Retired
Ack! SWIPE LEFT!!
Lapassionara
Catsimatidis must have been the model for Jabba the Hutt. Seriously, if I looked like Jabba, I would never allow a photograph of me to be published. Creepy.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
One thing I think we need to watch out for, which we didn’t do a good job of in 2016, is keeping “dropping out” from being morally easy escape hatch for wavering people.
Kay
That’s a good ad.
They all want to end Social Security though. I guess the impact would be lessened if the ad said “they all want to end Social Security” but they do. I will never understand the media/billionaire obsession with destroying Social Security. Can they not read? It would be an absolute disaster for everyone but the incredibly wealthy. There would be mass homelessness and hunger for elderly people- I’m talking 85 year olds with signs begging for food at intersections- that’s if they could beg – if they had the strength to beg 8 hours a day. They might just have to quietly expire on a street corner.
They don’t have to read much- they could have an employee summarize the extent to which Americans rely upon Social Security, maybe in some entertaining way that would hold their attention for 4.5 minutes.
Whatever else we do we have to keep these creeps away from Social Security. They resent that you get it and they want it.
TBone
@Baud: 👍 he’s been on our team for quite a while, and not grandstanding. I give him credit where credit is due, as I believe that our economic policy has finally come around in no small part as an acknowledgement of and as a result of his urging.
Baud
@TBone:
Yeah, the problem with Bernie was never his policy goals.
Scout211
ABC News reports
TBone
@Kay: Wall Street is and has been salivating over SS for years. They want profit and all else be damned.
Chief Oshkosh
Sure would be good if the IRS and DOJ started crawling up these assholes’ assholes (using robots, of course). Not suggesting that Biden “weaponize” either fed dept, but we all know where the criming is happening and where the money is stashed. Why give them the benefit of the doubt at this point?
Almost Retired
@Kay: I’ve always got the impression that they want to privatize Social Security and financially exploit it, rather than eliminate it outright. Although the end result would be the same.
NotMax
@TBone
“What a rip-off. They served canned hummingbird tongues.”
//
Jackie
@Scout211: Even if the donation amount collected is correct; a lot donated the maximum amount allowed for the entire campaign – and it’s only April. Those who maxed out CAN still donate to GQP PACs, but not directly to TIFG.
I predict massive whining down the road – say Aug-Nov.😁
TBone
I want to take a moment and remember when #BunkerBitch was a thing that the orange toddler couldn’t stand 😆 and insisted he was there for inspection purposes 🤣 oh and all the extra fencing installed around the Whitehouse perimeter
TBone
@NotMax: 😆
Kay
And if we DO let billionaires and media (I repeat myself) take away Social Security everyone is aware who then supports elderly people, right? Working and middle class middle aged people, that’s who. All of your older relatives are moving in with you-all immediately, unless you want mom panhandling where the grandkids can see her.
Betty Cracker
@West of the Rockies: I didn’t see the NPR story, but there has been some evidence for a while now that a realignment might be happening. IMO, we shouldn’t panic about it, but we shouldn’t stick our fingers in our ears and sing La-la-la either.
TBone
@Almost Retired: 🤣🔥
Kay
@Almost Retired:
To introduce risk in a program for the elderly is just nuts. Why don’t they just mind their own business? Why do they give a shit what we give old people? They only pay minimum Social Security taxes. They’re only paying for their own – just leave us alone.
Baud
@Kay:
Those people suck. Old people need to vote blue for their own sake.
TBone
@Baud: Digby had an excellent post on that recently, I’ll see if I can find it.
That was easy:
https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/06/moral-zombies/
japa21
Just two quick comments.
I love that they started by saying this was a fund raiser to pay his mounting legal fees
Secondly, that called her “failed GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler. “
Chief Oshkosh
@Kay: It think we’re seeing the outcome of at least two generations of the “greed” mentality that kicked off in the 80s, which has resulted in the elevation of actual sociopaths, and maybe psychopaths, to the highest levels of our economy. We now have sociopathic boards keeping psychopathic CEOs “in power.”
The thing is, the Biden-Harris policies and outcome successes are demonstrating that none of the people, and none of their ways of “doing business,” are useful to anyone except themselves. Arguably the entire upper crust of the US capitalistic system could be sent to an island paradise, and all of their business structures dismantled, and we’d ALL be better off. Everyone, including the sociopaths and psychopaths.
japa21
@Kay: Still on your trip? How’s it going?
Mike in NC
Many of these fascist oligarchs are also taking money from the Kremlin, just like Fat Bastard himself. If only we could force them to move to Siberia.
Kay
@West of the Rockies:
My middle and youngest son tell me there’s some shift among young men, including AA and Latino young men. I don’t know if it’s 34% but they think it’s real and they’re much more in the world of young men than I am. It’s pretty blatant on the (professional) Right. They’re trying to divide young men along gender lines- peel them off on resentment of women. It’s the Joe Rogan approach.
NotMax
@japa21
::cough:: Stormy Daniels :::cough::
TBone
Another excellent piece by Tom Sullivan today:
https://digbysblog.net/2024/04/07/motivate-yourselves/
Kay
@japa21:
No, we’re home. It was a lot of fun. We had not been in the central valley or Sacramento area before so that was interesting. I have a particular fondness for California. I could vacation just there for a very long time – a lot of variation. Just the elevation alone – whole different weather systems over 30 minutes. It’s too late for me to move there but I can visit :)
Villago Delenda Est
@TBone: Ripley treatment for the Heritage Foundation.
TBone
@Villago Delenda Est: yasssssss!!!!
(sorry if anyone thought of Jeffrey Scumbag Yass which I always think of as a contraction of You Ass).
trollhattan
@Baud: Yes! Good bit by the two, and great to see.
NotMax
@Villago Delenda Est
Believe it or not?
Oh, that other Ripley.
;)
kalakal
@Tony Jay:
@KM in NS:
You can just imagine an interview with any of their wives
“So Debbie, what was it that first attracted you to billionaire Steve Wynn?” *
*Insert name of billionaire here
Hat tip for this line to the late, great Caroline Aherne who used it on on of her guests on her spoof chatshow**
** Spoiler the guest in question, Debbie McGee thought it was hilarious
trollhattan
@NotMax: ISWYDT :-)
Kay
@West of the Rockies:
I think it’s what James Carville may have been trying to get at with his women suck and are no fun comments. A real issue but probably not one we want James Carville tackling.
Carville thinks objecting to sexual harassment is kind of scolding and humorless. It was better when women had to pretend it was fun or men would fire them.
Baud
@Kay:
Whatever. We lost white people with civil rights, if we lose young men because of women’s rights, we’ll just have to take those lumps.
Chief Oshkosh
@Kay: Did you go up into the Sierra Nevada ESE of SAC? Beautiful area, with some good wines.
Unabogie
Jamie McCourt sounded familiar, so I Googled and she was indeed the wife of Frank McCourt, former owner of the Dodgers. It’s amazing how so many racist white billionaires buy sports teams.
I’m sure there’s a lesson in there.
TBone
@Kay: I much prefer lawsuits or simple blackmail. Ha ha.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Good point.
RaflW
I was curious what hotels Bigelow owns (to avoid them, but no prob, ‘Budget Suites of America’ is not a brand I use), and saw this from a 2022 NV Independent article about his funding the campaign of GOPer Joe Lombardo for governor. He gave 10s of millions in NV, mostly to Lombardo.
And check out how g.d. tissue thin our ‘campaign finance’ ‘laws’ are: “He contributed nearly $200,000 to Lombardo’s campaign through a slew of maximum $10,000 donations from himself and his businesses, including holding companies and multiple Budget Suites of America entities.”
So us normal people — well, to have $10K to give is above normal, but you’ll get the drift — can donate $10K in hard money, ie not PACs and outside groups but direct funds the candidate can use. But a billionaire can funnel 20X that amount through structured bullshit and using corporations as ‘people’.
We have to get past Nov. 2024, but honestly, next year we need a (totally nonviolent) J6 size swarming of D.C. to get our campaign finance system utterly destroyed and replaced.
TBone
@Baud: indeed. Old Will Rogers saying:
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Politico has a story about an alleged “age inversion” showing up in some polls, with Trump doing better than last time with young folks and Biden outperforming prior results with older people. Surprisingly, they acknowledge it could all be noise, but interesting if true. Older people are more reliable voters.
RaflW
@West of the Rockies: There’s some data to back this, though I don’t know about 34%. I have real problems with the new Politico piece making the rounds on Rural White Resentment, but the data parts seem credible.
Glidwrith
@Kay: Because, as we are finding with so many of these asses, they are leveraged to the hilt to maintain their lifestyle.
All that bitching about living within your means, the poor-shaming, it’s all projection: they’re broke and they want SS for a new cash infusion.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah. Objectively speaking, older voters are much more valuable. I wonder if it’s the Dobbs effect with older women. Or maybe older voters are more offended by Trump’s Russia connection, since they tend to believe themselves patriots. Or just that polling sucks.
TBone
@Glidwrith: 👍 bingo
Tony Jay
@kalakal:
I mean, fucksake, that mugshot of John Catsimatidis is the first thing that pops up when you type “Too beautiful to ever be Forbes’ ‘Face of Evil’? Look at me now, Ma!” into Google.
And Loeffler is just “This week, on The West Wing, Sam finally loses patience with Ainsley Hayes after she invites OAN into the White House for a photoshoot…”.
Kay
@japa21:
We were supposed to have 4 days in Yosemite but we got two days of gorgeous hiking and then snow came in, so we left early. Just in time early as it turned out because about 4 hours after we left they closed the road. Yosemite Valley Lodge was very nice about refunding two nights – I just told them I wanted to get out before the snow and he took it right off the bill and wished me luck. The whole experience was great. Yosemite Valley has a 1970’s camping feel to me that I just loved. It’s just very laid back- they don’t take themselves too seriously.
I had more trouble with the altitude hiking than I thought I would though- my husband is in really good shape and he was huffing and puffing too, although I had to stop and rest so mine was worse. This was not a steep climb, this high altitude hike. It was like a gradual incline over 4 miles. Seven year old natives were sprinting past me.
Glidwrith
@Unabogie: Modern equivalent of slaves, but all respectable-like, the thrill of people fighting and “dying” for you. Not unlike a certain cult leader.
VFX Lurker
True.
In some better alternate universe, the non-white Trump voters pull the GOP away from white supremacy.
However, I live in the world where my demographic (white women) wanted white privilege more than women’s rights in 2016 and 2020. I guess the non-white, male Trump supporters want gender privilege more than civil rights.
Eric S.
@Chief Oshkosh: Forbes Richest list should be treated as a suspect list for investigators.
Baud
@VFX Lurker:
The human lizard brain craves people to look down on.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
Exxxxcellent.
Soprano2
@Kay: They talked about this on the latest Maher show with Nancy Mace on it. None of them can figure it out because on his show it’s verboten to mention that it might have to do with misogyny and bigotry against LBGTQ people. (They can say it’s Democrat’s “wokeness”, though.) They can only talk about economic reasons, and since there isn’t one for this they claim to be clueless. I wonder if the guests are told not to mention race, misogyny, bigotry against LBGTQ people, or religious bigotry as reasons for why people vote the way they do. ETA – Ro Khanna was the other guest.
hueyplong
One thing we can count on is for Donald Trump to be a stickler for honest and accurate disclosures about money taken in or paid out.
You can definitely understand why he chose to have this dinner after whining to a New York appellate court about how he could not meet an appellate bond requirement.
Baud
@Soprano2:
How was Ro? Biden has tapped him as a surrogate.
Soprano2
@Kay: Makes you wonder what he was like to work for, doesn’t it? Of course, lots of older men long for those days. They pretend it’s oh so hard to figure out how to act towards women in the workplace now. Act how you’d want your mother and daughter treated and you’ll never go wrong.
gene108
This comes up in several different articles, but is generally consistent. Women under 30 are becoming more liberal, while men are more conservative or about the same as the generation before.
https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998
Kay
@Chief Oshkosh:
No, we didn’t have time. It must have been spring break for a big part of CA because there were a lot of families with kids, which I like. We went on a guided birding hike and there was a 12 year old boy who knew more than anyone. I’m not really a birder – my husband wants to be one but he puts no effort into learning the birds :)
I go to watch the other birders.
Kay
@gene108:
I’ve been yammering about that for 5 years to Ohio Democrats. I’m telling you, white working class YOUNG women are a growth area for Democrats. They’re liberals, much more so than the men.
gene108
@Kay:
Went to Yosemite many years ago. My brother struggled with the altitude. Really nothing to do with his level of fitness. I think he just has trouble at higher altitudes compared to others.
I think some people are more prone to altitude sickness than others.
Soprano2
@Baud: He was pretty good as far as that goes. He talked some about young people’s unhappiness about Gaza, and Maher didn’t say they are all pro Hamas, so that’s good. He was pro-Biden when it came up. Mace was her usual self, whining yet again about being “rape shamed” and “triggered” because Stephanopoulos asked her why she supports a man who was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman. A better host would have pointed out that most R’s think triggering is weak bullshit, but Maher didn’t, although he did push back a little.
GreenwoodRoad
@bbleh: Yes.
But you have to do it carefully. Always verify; that is the essence of successful shaming. Make sure it’s true and not taken too far out of context.
Kay
@gene108:
That makes sense – like sea sickness. We were supposed to do two night hikes which I was really looking forward to – woods are really different at night – but they were cancelled due to expected snow.
We saw all the locals getting their chains out – I was like “they are expecting A LOT of snow – let’s get out of here” :)
trollhattan
@gene108:
True, and no two trips are alike (said as a sea level dweller who backpacks the Sierra). Best to not get to altitude in one swoop, take a couple days at least. And like Adam’s sergeant advises, “stay hydrated.”
The valley floor at Yosemite is just 4,000 feet, no challenge for most, while Tioga Pass on CA 120 is 9,945. Whee! [thump]
JWR
@Baud:
I’ve followed quite a few of your Reddit threads from here, but yikes! That one’s Bernie! central right now. Takes me back to the bad old days of 2016!
;)
Mousebumples
@Kay: glad you had a great trip! I’d love to go back to Yosemite with my Littles… Might wait a few years until they’re maybe 6 and 8 or older, though. 😊
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay: Carville married a Sith apprentice of Darth Cheney. Fuck him.
Kelly
Kris kristofferson “Jesus was a Capricorn” 1972
Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic foods
He believed in love and peace and never wore no shoes
Long hair, beard and sandles and a funky bunch of friends
Reckon they’d just nail him up, if he come down again
[Chorus]
‘Cause everybody’s gotta have somebody to look down on
Prove they can feel better than at any time they please
Someone doin’ somethin’ dirty decent folks can frown on
If you can’t find nobody else, then help yourself to me
Kay
@Mousebumples:
Oh, there were a lot of very small kids who were pretending they could no longer walk. They have that flopping down power where you’re “really? You’re expecting me to carry you?”
I don’t think I’d go any younger than 8. I try to be nice to young parents – I think it’s really hard work and I credit them for taking kids anywhere.
Quadrillipede
@kalakal: Debbie McGee on Mrs Merton — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj-9lSEBBm0
cmorenc
@TBone:
Billionaires:
Regular folk should fund their retirement same way we do:
– be a capitalist maker like us, not a socialistic taker squeezing social security extortions out of entrepreneurs like us who are the foundation of the economy
– save up in tax-exempt accounts (that’s entirely up to you)
– hey, if you cannot save enough for retirement all on your own, tough luck, can’t help that you are such a pathetic loser, unlike us.
Mousebumples
@Kay: yeah, that seems fair. I just want to go back, and it’s easier to go with kiddos than leave them behind for a week. So probably 10 & 8 or more, lol. And would definitely work up to national park hikes with local state park hikes first. Wisconsin doesn’t have the altitude of Yosemite, but see how they do walking a mile or so, overall.
frosty
@NotMax: Technically correct!
Kay
@Mousebumples:
I think it’s worth it to take them places. My husband thinks experiences are better for kids than “things” – a better gift- and I’ve come to think he’s right about that over the years. He would sometimes just take them out of school and take them for day trips where I always thought they should be in school.
Yosemite has that nice “campground” feel that I remember – where you see the same people over and over during your stay and it all gets super relaxed.
seaboogie
Steve Wynn looks like he hired the botched Italian fresco lady to do his plastic surgery/hair.
Ruckus
@Scout211:
It is good to not believe a word uttered by shitforbrains or anyone who supports his dumb ass.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: I recently read that some Black and Latino men are inclined to watch and admire Joe Rogan and such manly men. Sort of a backlash against women getting more outspoken. That leads to supporting Trump, it seems.
wjca
Well
theywe all grew up with the Russians being the bad guys. Congressional Republicans refusing to pass aid to Ukraine may be having an impact.Elizabelle
Hmmm. 116 comments, and I am the first to mention “guillotine” for dealing with these cretins. They are some ugly MOFOs, no? Tax these fuckers.
In other news: Happy Eclipse 2024 Eve.
StringOnAStick
@Tony Jay: Absolutely perfect comment; chef’s kiss!
Ken
Tough. If we’re going to pretend that money is speech, then we should get to know who’s speaking.
Also, regarding “rogue’s gallery”, I’m leaning toward Dick Tracy’s gallery, but wouldn’t disagree if someone preferred Batman’s.
Elizabelle
@Ken: The ogre with the Greek surname looks positively Penquinesque. Possibly less charming.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I am an old. I retired over 2 yrs ago, when I was 72. I will hit 3/4 of a century rather soon. If I had to live without SS I’d last 2, maybe 3 yrs and then starve to death, if I hadn’t already died from living on the street. I worked 60 yrs, I mostly made custom tools that made other people money.
Those rich *********** make (often) far more money in a year than the vast majority of people make in their lifetimes and they want to take away what we paid into to have a minimal something to live on after we retired so they can be a few percent richer? Selfish, rich ***********. (I thought expressing myself openly, explicitly might not be in the best of taste)
KM in NS
@kalakal: “those who marry for money, earn it” has never been more (grossly) appropriate. Ack!
Ruckus
@Baud:
Some of us old farts actually do vote blue. I have been for over 50 yrs. (The age change to 18 to vote was ratified shortly before I turned 22) I’m always too old or too young for the good stuff.
Ruckus
@TBone:
I only have one small disagreement with digby.
Bombarding the public space with deranged statements and dangerous threats, however, is not a mistake; it’s a strategy.
ShitForBrains does not have a strategy, he has hate and stupidity. He has stupidity because he thinks he is better than everyone else on the planet and hate because he thinks we should all be kissing his shoes and/or his ass – because of his hate and stupidity.
Ruckus
@Chief Oshkosh:
Arguably the entire upper crust of the US capitalistic system could be sent to an island paradise, and all of their business structures dismantled, and we’d ALL be better off. Everyone, including the sociopaths and psychopaths.
I agree.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Not all white people. Even if it’s only one. But it’s not just one. Not by a long shot.
Kayla Rudbek
And that SOB Wilbur Ross was head of the Department of Commerce in the Trump administration.
Chris T.
@Kay:
It’s basic physiology at work: red blood cells carry oxygen and you just don’t have enough of them. Spend time at elevation and you grow more, but it takes several months to build up. Even a marathon runner (at sea level) will have trouble at 8000 ft. (The average person can sit and stand and such at that point, but not much else; that’s why airplanes are pressurized to the “8000 foot” level.)
Somewhere around 18,000 ft, it doesn’t even matter how prepared you are, because at that point the partial pressure of O₂ in the atmosphere isn’t high enough to move it through your lungs. That’s why people climbing Everest need supplemental oxygen.
Chris T.
@gene108:
It’s generally unpredictable. But there’s a sort of cure now, other than simply going down to a lower elevation: simply take some Viagra. Really!
No One You Know
@Kay: What you said!
I can’t fathom why Carville is still getting airtime. The whining about how there’s too many women on MSNBC and they’d better restore white men sounds like the kind of thing I expect from a certain football coach anointing a certain sensor as a housewife.
What exactly is Carville “good” for, besides whining that white men can’t continue to enjoy their prejudices?