Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

So many bastards, so little time.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

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92Comments

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @Old School: That’s a nice pic.  Madame VP with the pup – is that hers? – is very sweet.

    It makes me think of my kitty Mr. Bear, who puts his paws around my neck when we snuggle, like he is hugging me back.

  13. 13.

    Argiope

    I had the best surprise birb walk ever this pm, just before dusk, around our municipal reservoir. There was a scissortail flycatcher, which I had to look up and had never previously seen, migrating through. Absolutely stunning.  Its tummy is Tang-colored and its tail does a fancy tuxedoed split.  In addition, a bald eagle let us get close enough to see the moment when he turned his head to look at us, to decide whether our dog was too big to try to catch and eat (yes, by a lot).  A supersized Great Blue Heron flew right in front of us about 5 minutes later to land on the banks.  Many tree swallows were acrobatically catching bugs on the water’s surface and in the air.  Plus, there was some species of diving duck that is hanging out temporarily.  Migration can take my breath away sometimes.

  17. 17.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @HumboldtBlue: That he did.

    Anyhoo, I’ve been thinking that Trump needs to be encouraged to put on an a public spectacle a la the Apprentice in choosing his VP.  I find it hard to believe Republicans willing to take the role would object to this particular debasement and the whole process may be illuminating for some voters.

    @Argiope: Thank you for inciting me to look up the lovely scissor-tailed flycatcher.

    Link contains a lovely little drawing, not mine.

  18. 18.

    frosty

    @Argiope: I’ve had days like that – the last one was Harns Marsh near Ft Myers Florida where I saw 45 birds, including 4 lifers.

    You’re right about the Scissor-Tail. I got lucky when a pair of them were on a fence next to us at a campground in Fredericksburg, Texas. Amazing looking birds! (Like so many of them are, really)

  19. 19.

    Argiope

    @WaterGirl: Very much so.  Sometimes it’s just gobsmackingly amazing to be alive, no matter what bullshit is going on in the human world.

  20. 20.

    prostratedragon

    Must be something in the air: just watched a Sister Boniface episode featuring a clown and a person with clown phobia.

  22. 22.

    Argiope

    @frosty: I keep wondering when birds got to be so fascinating.  I mean, they have been around my whole life, presumably lovely that whole time, but I had to get to a certain phase of life–the bird years (that’s middle age, right?)—when I needed respite from all the distractors, and started really looking at them.  I don’t keep lists, but I get why people do that now, in a way I never would have in younger years.  Your Ft Meyers day sounds incredible.

  23. 23.

    RevRick

    As I commented on X, if the Supreme Court rules that the President is immune from prosecution for bad actions taken while in power, then it will have unleashed the demonic on our nation. It will have given its blessing to evil.

  25. 25.

    RevRick

    @Argiope: Birds are dinosaurs. And given that the primal fear of humans is being eaten, courtesy of our vulnerable hominid ancestors who often were, it’s reassuring that very few birds can or want to eat us.

    BTW, have you watched Jaws or Jurassic Park lately?

  26. 26.

    Trivia Man

    @Argiope: first time ever i have a front row seat to a nest. Robin a foot away from my kitchen through a glass sliding door. Im touched.

  27. 27.

    Argiope

    @RevRick: Ha!  I mean, that eagle eye was definitely baleful.  You may be on to something.  I do tend to like the pretty ones, though my husband loves a buzzard more than just about any other bird.  He appreciates their tidying-up tendencies.

  28. 28.

    Trivia Man

    @RevRick: bad outcome… and i wish biden as evil enough to twist it for good. Maybe he would think long term and “abuse” that power for long term good. We can only hope.

    more likely… they kick the can to after inauguration day. If it’s trump (shudder) TOTALLY SERIOUS! THERE ATE NO RESTRICTIONS ON OUR GOD KING!! If it’s biden … “JK. We stuttered and MEANT to say…

    no.”

  29. 29.

    Martin

    Todays thoughts on student protests.

    Continue to see the narrative start to shift toward the students. Faculty are starting to organize against the administrations. There’s a bit of context to that – if they see presidents as inviting police to break up non-students, that’s likely to be okay. If it’s to break up students, that’s a no-go. If the city sent them in opposition to the president, that’ll be judged by how hard it was pushed against.

    A good metric is how campuses respond to student activity after a sporting event vs here. I see a lot of campuses that are tolerant of student celebrations being MUCH more violent than these protests have been. A lot of that is the usual problem of where the student energy is directed. Even though the sports celebration may be more violent, it’s largely in benefit of the institution. The sports win brings more money than the student vandalism will cost, and the police are usually pretty light-handed. I once hired someone who had worked at U-Mich and on a campus tour she asked where the students riot, because there are designated spaces for that on many campuses. I had to inform her we don’t do that here. Culture cannot be ignored in any of these conversations.

    So if a campus is rolling cops on students in a less violent situation than they would after a big game, that stands out. The nature of the event does matter. But a few months ago Emory administration rolled the cops on students protesting Cop City. There was no expressed safety concern on campus there, just that students were being defiant – basically embarrassing the administration in front of city and state politicians. So this week when Emory administration rolled the cops on students citing an unsafe environment for Jewish students, was it? Maybe it was, but maybe that was just an excuse. You certainly can’t blame the students for assuming it was an excuse.

    But a big problem in this is that students are there in the center of it and we aren’t. They know what feels safe and feels unsafe. But the outside view is very different – especially through media that is seeking out confrontational views, photos through long lenses that compress the space between parties and the like, interviews with outspoken speakers. I recall a photo from an event on my campus during such a set of protests that made the student groups seem like they were nose to nose. I was there, and they were 50′ apart. It looked like they were screaming in others faces, but really nothing there was yelling. There was the usual chants and whatnot at high volume, but that wasn’t directed at specific people. It looked very tense, but it wasn’t particularly tense at all. This is why administrators need to be present, because their view can be distorted as well.

    But new student encampments have set up on campuses this week. You’re getting solidarity with the students that faced police this week. If commencement wasn’t coming up I’d expect that to grow, but my guess is this will all die down with some organized protests centered on commencements. In my experience the protests don’t seek to disrupt commencement, but you have this huge audience with officials present that a protest outside of the commencement area can draw attention.

    I’m trying to figure out what’s happening at Yale. There sounds to be a faculty movement to not participate in commencement to punish the student protesters. I don’t think Yale had much going on, and that’s a very weird response. I wonder if it’s just a handful of faculty and I have the scale of it wrong.

  31. 31.

    Martin

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: So, in auto racing it’s not uncommon for drivers to have to buy their seat. Basically if you want to race for us, give us $200K and you can.

    I think Trump should just auction off the VP slot. How bad do you want it?

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    Such a long week.  My house is all in boxes except toiletries and some random stuff I don’t know what to do with.  Looong week.

  41. 41.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Martin: photos through long lenses that compress the space between parties and the like, interviews with outspoken speakers.

    Can’t see the students for the forest?

    I think your standard, how would a response to sports rioting compare to a similar political event, is both edifying and has applications beyond campus with the broader public.

    @Martin: Such tawdry, sensationalist, potentially lucrative ideas we both have. Why aren’t we working for Trump?

  43. 43.

    Cacti

    Some of the headlines for the trial are cracking me up.

    “Pecker unloads on Trump”

    ”Trump slammed by Pecker”

    Shit has me giggling like a 12 year old boy.

  44. 44.

    wjca

    @Martin: I think Trump should just auction off the VP slot. How bad do you want it?

    It would certainly be in character.  With the caveat that, to qualify, bidders have to look like they came from central casting.**

    ** Although I suppose there could be an (enormous) buy-in option, for those who fail the looks requirement.

  47. 47.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @piratedan: Trump’s election hopes rest on Pecker performance.

    When you put it that way, our prospects are looking better every day.

  48. 48.

    frosty

    @Argiope: Yep, same thing happened with me. A Road Runner crossed my path in Big Bend National Park and then I started seeing them and keeping a list. Thanks to eBird it’s easy.

    I saw some quote like, yeah birds, OK … wait is that a Yellow-Rumped Warbler? The subtle non-birder joke is that Yellow-Rumped Warblers are everywhere!

  52. 52.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Omnes Omnibus: What’s wrong with clowns? When circumscribed to their appropriate role, i.e. not elected office, they bring laughter.

    Granted, the traditional clown image is stale. The art of staged humor remains valuable.

  54. 54.

    danielx

    @Martin: ​
     

    I think Trump should just auction off the VP slot. How bad do you want it?

    I’m surprised he hasn’t done it already.

  55. 55.

    ArchTeryx

    @Argiope: Late to reply, but I’ve seen vultures in rehab as wildlife ambassadors. They’re actually the friendliest of the birds of prey! It kind of rocks your world when a vulture hops up to you and starts begging silently for head scratches. They’ve been unfairly villainized for so long; vultures are more like friendly janitors than morbid opportunists. The big birds clean up the mess nothing else will touch and keep a lot of wildlife from dying of food poisoning. Unlike normal hawks, eagles, and falcons, which mostly are all beauty and no brains, vultures know exactly who butters their bread.

    And they love fresh meat. Give a vulture some fresh meat, and you’ve got a friend for life.

  56. 56.

    Shalimar

    @Cacti: my proposed headline when Trump was complaining about how cold it was in the courtroom: “Trump yearns for hot Pecker”

  57. 57.

    ArchTeryx

    @frosty: Yellow-Rumped Warblers are pretty common birds in much of the U.S. and always a joy to see in the spring. (Not so much in the fall, when the entire wood warbler clan looks almost completely alike).

  59. 59.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    I think Trump should just auction off the VP slot. How bad do you want it?

    @danielx: I’m surprised he hasn’t done it already.

    Who’s to say that isn’t happening behind the scenes? It would be irresponsible, after all, not to speculate.

  63. 63.

    ArchTeryx

    @HumboldtBlue: I’ve seen vultures like Bash in real life! After growing up around hawks and falcons, man it was nice to see a friendly bird of prey. Being a social bird can make all the difference.

  64. 64.

    prostratedragon

    … two volumes, How to Wean Vultures … one volume, How to Leave Vultures Alone …
    — Spike Milligan

  65. 65.

    patrick II

    @RevRick:

    I did think that the Supremes were just stalling for time because to say a president is broadly immune from prosecution in the face of an insurrection and stolen top secret papers is nuts. But I was wrong. Those crazy fucks seem to be taking absolute immunity seriously as long as you can pretend it is part of one’s presidential duties.

    I personally think it would be well within the scope of Biden’s presidential duties, and also for the good of the country, to have some Supreme Court justices locked up.

  66. 66.

    patrick II

    I was just listening to Trump complain about the cold courtroom again. Has no one told him about sweaters?

  67. 67.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @patrick II: Those crazy fucks seem to be taking absolute immunity seriously as long as you can pretend it is part of one’s presidential duties.

    “LOL, No 🤣” is about the amount of thoughtful response the question of absolute immunity is due.  Shame on the Supremes for entertaining this.

  68. 68.

    Marc

    It’s tern season here in Oakland at Lake Merritt (actually a tidal lagoon and the first wildlife refuge in the US); we get them for a few weeks twice a year during migration.  For some reason, Least Terns hunt on one side of the lake, Forster’s Terns on the other. They are the most elegant flyers while hunting from 20 or 30 feet up, always execute several rolls during the vertical dive into the water, then immediately surface and start flying again with a shake to disperse the water from their feathers.  Brown Pelicans are also arriving for the summer. A bit less elegant, they definitely look more like flying dinosaurs by comparison and make a much bigger splash when they dive into the water.

  69. 69.

    piratedan

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: its kind of transparent that certain members of SCOTUS are pulling this shit in order to try and run out the clock on the J6 trial to prevent it from being done before the election.  They can’t do the same on the NY criminal case, so Trump is going to have to eat that, but any Fed stuff, SCOTUS can delay as much as they wish as they entertain these bullshit claims.

  73. 73.

    patrick II

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    My outrage aside, there does need to be a legal discussion of where immunity ends when doing “official business.” For instance, was kidnapping. 4,000 children of people seeking asylum O.K. to discourage immigration?

    Having said that, this is not the time nor the case to have that conversation. Inciting insurrection and stealing governmment secrets are all that need to be decided now and a court being honest about the urgency of that decision would have done that by now. Instead they stall in an attempt to reinstall a fellow fascist.

    Too harsh?. To hyperbolic? I don’t think so.

  74. 74.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @piratedan:its kind of transparent that certain members of SCOTUS are pulling this shit in order to try and run out the clock on the J6 trial to prevent it from being done before the election.

    One of those weird situations where I have to think long and hard about whether I’m actually happy they have ulterior motives.  Republicans, man…

    @patrick II: My outrage aside, there does need to be a legal discussion of where immunity ends when doing “official business.”

    Valid, as far as that goes.  As you noted, no such clearly-defined or limited form of immunity is under discussion here.

    For instance, was kidnapping. 4,000 children of people seeking asylum O.K. to discourage immigration?

    I’d repeat my previous response, but the “LOL” seems gauche here.

  75. 75.

    SectionH

    @Marc: That’s wonderful. I don’t know the Terns you describe, but I would love see them sometime. I just so love Brown Pelicans. We used to see quite a few where I hang out, the Fishing Pier* off Shelter Island in San Diego. And then it was… where are they? No brown pelicans for  years? We seemed to get at least one breeding pair last year maybe? I saw a trio kinda working together in January, but now we seem to have only one. And I’m worried that he was boy how tried to land on the railing with a broken leg. He picked himself up though, and started compensating.

    Bad thought:following the fish north because water temps?

    *No, I don’t fish. I have been known to shiver from the cold and drink beer however.

  76. 76.

    TS

    @Martin:

    I think Trump should just auction off the VP slot. How bad do you want it?

    Similar  to  Blagojevich attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama upon his election to the presidency.  That resulted in 14 years in Federal prison.

    Guess trump would claim immunity from prosecution.

  79. 79.

    Marc

    @SectionH:  We get both Brown and White Pelicans during the summer and fall.  Perhaps 50 or so of each hang around the two small islands in Lake Merritt, they never mingle. Brown Pelicans hunt from 50 feet or so and dive to catch fish. White Pelicans never dive, they forage by paddling around on the water, periodically sticking their bills under the water and grabbing a mouthful of fish.  Brown ones often fly at less than 100 feet above the water when going from place to place. White ones thermal and travel at high altitude (I’ve seen them at upwards of 20,000 feet while flying gliders).

    Some mornings during my commute I walk from the SF TransBay bus terminal to the Caltrain station along the Embarcadero just after sunrise. I often see loose formations of a hundred or so Brown Pelicans passing under the Bay Bridge, heading out past the Golden Gate for some serious fishing.

  81. 81.

    Martin

    @patrick II: My outrage aside, there does need to be a legal discussion of where immunity ends when doing “official business.” For instance, was kidnapping. 4,000 children of people seeking asylum O.K. to discourage immigration?

    How about there isn’t any immunity. We have a simple mechanism for that – if the President wants to do something illegal, convince Congress to pass a law that makes it legal. Problem solved.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    @Martin: +1

    The president isn’t a king.

    The president has a well defined job – follow the Constitution and see that the laws are faithfully executed.  That’s it.

    This immunity stuff is a distraction to waste time and spread confusion.  There’s nothing confusing about the president’s job.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Ironcity

    @piratedan: I understand the desire to lock up some SCOTUSs if the immunity thing happens or even gets close but what about impeaching some?  Don’t need no stinking immunity for that.  Are the mechanics the same with House bringing in the articles and Senate as the jury?  Probably couldn’t get this House to do it but after November, in the next Congress……..

  86. 86.

    artem1s

    @Martin:

    There sounds to be a faculty movement to not participate in commencement to punish the student protesters.

    mkay. sounds to me like faculty members are using the protest as an excuse to get out of a event they hate having (are required) to go to. My question is will the students even notice/care? faculty love to think they are the center of the univer(sity)e and are often shocked when the students demonstrate they really aren’t that aware of what the faculty are up to outside of the hour or two a week they are together in the same room.

  87. 87.

    CliosFanBoy

    1. I never thought clowns were funny, even as a kid.  Ugh.  And the old-fashioned European style are just f’ing creepy.

    2. The only thing they did wrong in Jurassic Park was to make carnivores.  Never (re)create a large animal that looks at you and thinks, “lunch.” One that looks at you and thinks “snack” is even worse!

    3. Love the Luckovich cartoon, especially the repubs all in Confederate gray.

    4. Having sat through long commencements, I can sympathize.  Sitting in hot robes while some ass-kissed donor drones on in his speech before getting an honorary degree because their check to the athletic department cleared.  Then, listening to hundreds of names of students you don’t know, broken occasionally by one, you do…… UGH.  Those puffy sleeves are good for hiding small books, cell phones, and even knitting though.

    The single thing my school’s administrators did right was to divide commencement by schools. Sitting for the Humanities grads was nice, because at least I knew a lot of the grads and could wave at them as they walked past.  And I had a fighting chance of finding my favorite students afterward to congratulate them and praise them to their families.

    5. GAH!  The Founding Fathers considered immunity for the Executive and specifically REJECTED it!!!!  And a HUGE F YOU to the “moderates” and “Independents” and tankies who just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Gore, or Kerry, or Hillery.  F YOU!  This is on you as much as it is on the repubs who voted for Bush (twice) and TFG.

  88. 88.

    DrDaveChemist

    @Argiope: You may never see this reply, but the scissor-tailed flycatcher is the featured bird on the packaging for the board game Wingspan.

    If you are both a bird person and a fan of strategy games and don’t know about the game, you should check it out. The rules are complicated, but it’s very popular.  Also available as a digital game through Steam and it can be played online with friends or strangers or as a solo game against bots

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Point taken.  I should have realized that the person who gets to decide that a particular clown is “not creepy” is the person who is creeped out by clowns.

    For me it’s snakes, and I wouldn’t want someone to say “oh but it’s a cute snake!”

    I’ll do better next time.

  91. 91.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: I like snakes, but they are never cute. That is one of the things I like about them. They just slither through life doing their thing.

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