I don’t know why he did it, but James Comey (who has a novel coming out) posted this pic on Insta today and the right wing marketplace is screaming that it’s a death threat (86 47).
— David S. Bernstein (@dbernstein.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Apparently ’86’ is restaurant slang for ‘get rid of’. Eighty-six that ribeye,it’s too far gone even to sell as ‘well-done’. Quite the wag, our boy Jim; if all publicity is good publicity…
"We are aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump. We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran,” says FBI Director Kash Patel, reacting to Comey’s “86 47” seashell arrangement on Instagram.
— Steve Herman ?? (@newsguy.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 7:27 PM
War for Ukraine Day 1,176: Happy Vyshyvanka Day!
Baud
Trump going after Comey?
Finally, bipartisanship!
matt
Seems like a tough case to make in court.
Ryan
I mean, rooting for injuries at this point.
Aussie Sheila
Let them fight!
JFC.
The disgraceful going after the ineffable.
Comey is the poster child for everything fucked about the ‘normies’ in the US who think putting their thumbs against the very, very mild centre left there signals ‘bipartinsanship’.
I just can’t.
Ramalama
I saw that and first thought of 25 or 6 to 4 the song by Chicago.
But shut up forever, Comey.
Don L
86 comes from Las Vegas back in the “old days.” 86 stands for 8 miles out, six feet down. In restaurants, it means “out.” “Eighty-six the daily special.” It doesn’t mean a death threat, unless you’re a Vegas gangster.
lowtechcyclist
Comey? Throw him to the wolves, and let the vultures fight over his bones.
Too bad he didn’t spend the last two weeks before the 2016 election in a coma.
Baud
Maybe we can trade Comey for Garcia.
p.a.
I know the thought that at times like these we need all the allies we can get.
Except Comey.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
And we can toss in a Trump Cabinet member to be named later.
Aussie Sheila
@lowtechcyclist:
Absolutely. It’s probably a personal issue rather than political, but if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s the faux ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ bullshit of so called ‘centrists’ like Comey.
What he did to Clinton was absolutely outrageous.
I hope no one forgets.
Betty Cracker
Yeah, fuck Comey, but I support the arrogant, meddling prick’s 1st Amendment rights. It’s appalling that Noem and Gabbard are flagrantly abusing their power to harass him. I saw plenty of “8646” tees and bumper stickers, but now it’s a federal crime?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Nothing will come of this.
But yes, Comey’s message is free speech and not illegal.
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
Absolutely. Everyone’s free speech should be protected. But people’s reputations rightly rest on their actions. In Comey’s case, US democracy should rest its case.
Bupalos
Comey is genuinely and deeply stupid. Even in meaningless performative resistance for profit, he has to remind everyone that he’s chillin’ at the beach these days? Hopefully this will be a series, tomorrow we’ll get “elect women” spelled out in margarita salt.
Glory b
@Aussie Sheila: Fortunately, you don’t have to.
Betty Cracker
@Aussie Sheila: I read somewhere that Comey’s wife and daughters are liberals and were absolutely livid with him for interfering in the 2016 election and berated him for it afterwards. I hope they never let him live it down.
Baud
@Bupalos:
“No kings” written in the snow at Aspen.
Aussie Sheila
@Glory b:
Unfortunately I do. Since your government has imposed tariffs on mine that amount to 9x the tariffs we impose on you. Grow up and get a grip.
Betty Cracker
My dog Pete is feeling poorly. Don’t know what’s wrong with him, but his typical exuberance was absent yesterday evening, and he still seems a tad listless this morning. Maybe he ate a bad lizard. If he doesn’t perk up soon, I’ll call the vet.
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
Well they are family after all. What’s worse is what he did to US democratic norms. He is, as others have said here, deeply stupid, and in addition narcissistic.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
:-(
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
Oh dear! Nothing worse than a sick pet that can’t say what’s wrong.
Hoping all is well. 🙏🙏
Professor Bigfoot
@Betty Cracker: Sending healing and warm thoughts for Pete, he is a very good boy.
Mai Naem mobile
I want to laugh out loud at Comey and,yet, at the same time I know how dangerous this is. Did Comey think his wealthy white male privilege card was going to let him get away with this? This whole week has been crazy..I’m kind of worrief about what today and tomorrow is going to bring.
Betty Cracker
@Aussie Sheila: Comey is so boundlessly clueless and arrogant. He seems to genuinely believe he’s the Last Honest Man in DC. After he disastrously inserted himself into the election, with catastrophic results for the country, he wrote a book on leadership!
Can you imagine? The utter lack of self-awareness is astounding! It would be like me presenting myself as an expert on brevity and temperance! :-)
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Or me writing a book on the History of Pants.
Professor Bigfoot
But ma’am, you are! Just from the other end of those spectra. 😉
Old Dan and Little Ann
If you haven’t heard kids say 6 7 over and over and over again, consider yourself lucky.
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
As usual, you got it in one. He’s not just clueless, his narcissism rivals the man he assisted into office. He makes me puke.
Soprano2
@Don L: That’s what i was thinking, it means you’re out of something.
Shalimar
We already went through this bullshit cycle in reverse with Sarah Palin and her crosshairs over Gabby Gifford before she was shot. 86 could just as easily mean impeachment, and Comey is not important enough for anyone to care what his intention was.
Aussie Sheila
@Shalimar:
Comey is indeed ‘yesterday’s man’. Unfortunately his ‘type’ isn’t.
It is good and worthwhile to ponder just what the traits, personal and institutional, that led him to think what he did was Okay, and for others to let its abjectness and terrible consequences go unnoticed .
Professor Bigfoot
@Shalimar: Did Comey find the stones or did he place them?
It could easily have been something left by a previous beachgoer.
LOTS of us feel that way, after all.
Spanky
“8647” bumper stickers are available at Amazon for $3.99.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Gotta admit, that’s the first I’ve heard of ‘8646.’ Never saw bumper stickers, t-shirts, online comments, anything. And I’m a math geek, I’d have been wondering why this number was appearing.
Anyhow, yes, Comey has the same First Amendment rights as the rest of us. But AFAIAC he can spend his own money defending himself. After all, he’s a good part of the reason we’re having to deal with this shit in the first place, and I’m not likely to ever forget that. I’m sure the ACLU would run out of money before they were able to take on all the cases more worthy than his.
ETA: Sending good thoughts for Pete.
Shalimar
@Aussie Sheila: Off-topic and non-political but a very recent personal example of your point. My sister is still good friends with the most recent of my brother’s ex-wives. We sold a family condo the other day that my sister was living in that also included some of my recently deceased mom’s things, and ex-wife’s family was going to help move all of the stuff into storage in exchange for pay after the check cleared.
They said several times they couldn’t make it until time got down to 48 hours before closing and my brother (the worst person i have ever met) pitched an extended fit and they said they wouldn’t come at all because they didn’t want to take sides.
Not helping at the last moment was taking the asshole’s side. They could have cost her almost everything she owned if we hadn’t found a mover who literally finished less than an hour before the closing.
Soprano2
Some of the people hollering about this posted stuff like that about Biden when he was president. It’s free speech, and probably something he did as a joke to get attention.
lowtechcyclist
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Another new one to me. Can we get a kidspeak-to-English translation for us olds? I don’t think Google Translate has that covered.
Spanky
@Spanky: My favorite is the tee shirt with
Manyakitty
@Ryan: exactly.
Shalimar
@Soprano2: Many of the people upset about this definitely were defending Sarah Palin when she posted crosshairs over 8 people including Gabby Giffords before Giffords was shot. That is a very similar situation that can be looked at.
Manyakitty
@Baud: we can throw Patel in, too.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: keeping good thoughts for Pete.
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
This example is hardly stretching the boundaries, but there should be a Rule 34 analogue for Amazon: if you can imagine it, you can buy it through Amazon.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I’m basically innumerate but immediately got it when I saw it. Maybe because I used to wait tables ages ago?
Manyakitty
@Baud: with a big, glossy section of color photographs right in the middle.
Aussie Sheila
@Shalimar:
I hear you. The level of careless narcissism possessed by some people is always ineffable to those who don’t have it.
Baud
@Manyakitty:
I envision more of a pop up book.
Manyakitty
@Baud: ope
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
I waited tables for four years through my university years and I still don’t get it!
Baud
@Aussie Sheila:
Well, in Australia, it would be 89.
glory b
@Betty Cracker: I never waited tables but always heard it to mean to dump something, not to kill someone.
Suzanne
Well, 86 46 shirts have been for sale for a long time, and no MAGAs raised a fuss then. So I will have to conclude, once again, that FFOTUS’s very best people are full of shit where their minds should be.
Ohio Mom
Remember the TV show “Get Smart”? Maxwell Smart’s identity was Agent 86 and that number was chosen because he’s a bumbler. There was also a meaning behind Agent 99’s number but I can’t remember that and Google is being no help.
Bat signal to NotMax!
Baud
@Suzanne:
They’re using it to milk outrage from MAGAs, who in turn want their outrage milked.
Aussie Sheila
@Baud:
I still don’t get it! 😏😏
Dorothy A. Winsor
Best wishes to good dog Pete
Wilson Heath
I had always heard 86 as diner speak re: unwelcome customers—deny service, show ‘em the door.
lowtechcyclist
@Aussie Sheila:
Trump is the 47th President of the U.S. so ’47’ is a shorthand for him. And ’86’ is shorthand for getting rid of something. So 8647 = get rid of Trump.
ETA: The number as shorthand for a President seems to have started with Bush the Younger, as a shorthand for which President Bush one was referring to: Bush 41 v. Bush 43. I don’t recall Clinton ever being referred to as ’42’ which I’d have noticed because whatever you think of him, he definitely wasn’t The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Suzanne
@Baud: I will also note that my family is decidedly not rich, and we all had jobs starting as teenagers to help with the bills and to save for college. (My special skill from those days is the ability to make a perfect soft serve ice cream cone.) We used 86 as slang all the time for throwing stuff out.
The Audacity of Krope
And slowly edged…
Betty Cracker
@glory b: That’s how I understand it too. In kitchen parlance, it meant cancel that item, e.g., “farmer’s breakfast on table 3, 86 the biscuit.”
zhena gogolia
@Ohio Mom: Here’s a sequence of events from last night: The only part of the NYT I read now is the obituaries. Charles Strouse, composer of Bye Bye Birdie and also of my favorite song, “Once Upon a Time,” died. I learned from the obituary that Dick Gautier starred in the Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie. I said, “Oh, Hymie the Robot!” and my husband didn’t know who that was. I couldn’t believe it.
Aussie Sheila
@lowtechcyclist:
Okay. Thank you. Very cryptic and opaque for those who don’t know! Comey should still go sit on a flaming fire though. What an execrable smartarse.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: I used “10-4” once to a younger coworker, and she was like, “Whaaaaat?”. Then I realized that I didn’t really know where that came from, either.
Baud
@Suzanne:
You choose poorly going onto architecture. That there’s gold. If I were a billionaire, I’d pay you good money for a perfect soft serve.
Suzanne
@Baud: I’m a woman of many talents.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Someday, you’ll find one that’ll make you smile.
J.
@Don L: Thanks for the explanation!
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Nixon’s obit had that effect on me. 😁
Betty Cracker
PUPDATE: Pete is feeling better! He ate when he got up a while ago and is running around in the yard and irritating Badger, so back to normal!
He was definitely under the weather yesterday evening. In retrospect, what I thought was listlessness this morning might have been sleepiness. But I’ll keep an eye on him.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: So you missed the Smokey and the Bandit movies. Lucky you!
Aussie Sheila
@Betty Cracker:
My cats exhibit listlessness and low energy for 24 hrs after their worm and flea meds. Just saying.
Geminid
Yesterday, from the Reno Gazette:
There is a picture of Miller standing outside the courthouse; it looks like it was taken by a security camera.
mappy!
Eggs. Groceries.
Maybe we should start rating these performances. I mean, I’d give Comey a 1 for lame and Kash a 1 for lame shade on Comey. So, I guess 1 cancels 1. One hand clapping.
(I confess that not paying much attention to these one act plays I really don’t know how much media time they consume.)
Onward, to the next performance…
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Predates that! Highway Patrol ran from 1955 to 1959, starring
Broderick CroffordBroderick Crawford.Eta and now I can’t remember whether 10-4 means “communication received” or “over and out”
Eta2, “communication received” it is.
Aussie Sheila
@Geminid:
I don’t doubt the seriousness of the offence or the fear that his actions caused, but I often wonder about the contribution of unbelievably mad drugs to the general idiocy that seems to be about these days. Even in my neck of the woods, where drug addiction can be treated without punitive sanctions, the outbursts of unstable and threatening behaviour occasioned by really bad drugs is palpable.
Especially methamphetamine.
Baud
You can’t say 10-4 unless you’re talking to a good buddy.
MagdaInBlack
@Spanky: “10-4 there, good buddy.” Message received.
Yes, we had a C.B. in the truck back in the late ’70’s. =-)
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I never saw them, but I remember readng about those movies. Burt Reynolds was a big star then, sort of.
Years later I saw Reynolds on some old episodes of Gunmoke. He played Quince, the half-Native blacksmith. When Marshall Dillon went over to Quince’s place to chat, Reynolds would always be beating some steel against an anvil, in a sleeveless vest. He was like Western Beefcake.
Spanky
@Baud: @MagdaInBlack: I thought everyone was a Good Buddy in CB-land.
MagdaInBlack
@Geminid: My father and I always watched “Gunsmoke” and yes, I remember Burt as the blacksmith.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: woohoo!
Trivia Man
@Don L: this is one of those terms that has no clear origin, like “the whole 9 yards”. Lots of theories but no definite source. The Vegas mob theory is probably too late to be true, it was already in bars and soda fountains by the 1930s.
Spanky
@MagdaInBlack: The most prominent memory of Gunsmoke back in those days wasn’t of watching it. My parents were engrossed in it the night I set fire to my dresser. Engrossed enough that I was able to put it out and clean up the mess before they noticed.
I was sweating bullets, but I got away with it. I was about 10.
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
In “High School Madness,” when Peorgie’s mom calls Dad in to breakfast, he replies, “10-4, Eleanor!” so that fits. (With my son’s high school graduation just a few weeks away, I’ve had this one running through my head a bit lately!)
divF
Another piece of numerical shorthand: 5150 is the section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code that allows the state to put a 72 hour psychiatric hold on someone who “is deemed to be a danger to themselves or others”.
During the 1994 election season, I saw someone who was panhandling for the Berkeley Free Clinic wearing a button that said “5150 Pete Wilson”, who was running for reelection as Governor. I put some money in his panhandling box and said “nice button”. The panhandler (who looked like he might have been 5150’ed himself at some point in his life) started to laboriously explain to me what 5150 meant. I stopped him and said that I knew, because my wife used to work at the county hospital. He smiled and nodded.
Geminid
@MagdaInBlack: Quince was an interesting character. I remember some episodes that treated the racist attitudes towards him.
randy khan
Comey is a dope, but to construe this as a threat is really something.
JML
@Geminid: Burt Reynolds was a big star, period. The original Smokey & the Bandit is a perfect fine, fun movie with a couple of movie stars just being stars and having fun. And Burt was good at that: being a movie star. But they should have stopped at 1. Since there was money to be made, they did not…
Saw that Flori-duh banned fluoride in the water, joining Utah in an attempt to turn the clock back to the olden days and ensure more people lose their teeth…
Layer8Problem
@divF: 5150 was also the model number of the original IBM PC. I definitely would have been confused if I had seen someone wearing that button.
Spanky
@JML: Maybe they should just put meth in the water to make sure everyone loses their teeth. How democratic!
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky:
@MagdaInBlack:
@Baud: Are 3 vehicles enough for a convoy?
BlueGuitarist
@Betty Cracker:
Also learned 86 waiting tables,
as rhyming slang for nix
Which led me to wonder about balloon Juice as slang for seltzer, looked around for a moment and stumbled over
Trivia Man
@Baud: no – 98 is the real aussie answer
Trivia Man
@Ohio Mom: story i heard – they wanted agent 69 but the censors caught it
Matt McIrvin
Remember, when Trump fired Comey for attempting to investigate him, there’s evidence that everyone in the administration thought liberals would welcome this move because we hate Comey. That this might be about something other than personalities, who’s up and who’s down, for somebody–that we might deplore an action taken against someone we hate, on principle–didn’t even register to them. It’s not the kind of thought they can formulate.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: Yes. Or at least a good start.
I refrained from posting the song. I’m proud of me.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@mrmoshpotato: Frent door, back door, rocking chair. What more do you need?
Trivia Man
@divF: another from California, number slang that DOES have a clear origin.
420 for smoking pot comes from San Rafael high school. “Meet behind the soccer field at 4:20 got shortened to the code words four twenty.
Trivia Man
@divF: also 5150 is a 1986 album by van halen. No doubt an intentional Easter egg.
Mr. Bemused Senior
But but but… If you’re 8 miles out the bottom is a lot further down than 6 feet. OTOH Kash Patel does live in Vegas.
[ETA never mind, I was thinking about sleeping with the fishes. Well, the image was at the beach after all ]
Betty Cracker
@BlueGuitarist: Influential? US?!? :-)
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I always wanted to be an influencer.
Trivia Man
Comey and the 2016 election are a clear case of Necessary But Not Sufficient. His knee capping of HRC tipped the election to mr stupid. It was not the only reason she lost but i honest believe (tight now, subject to changing opinion) that without his specific actions and timing she would have been elected.
He believes in the ONE GREAT MAN school of history and also had an ego that drove him to prove HE was that ONE GREAT MAN. I believe he was convinced that she was the better choice but also that his rat fucking wouldnt stop her. He then gets street cred with republicans (I tried!) AND a reputation for speaking truth to power AND a moral high horse if she EVER gets in the hot seat. Bummer that he tipped the scales.
I see it as similar to the so-called left wing media. They bend over backwards to BOTH SIDES and WELL AKSHULLY… so they appear “fair.”
bluefoot
@BlueGuitarist: Does that make the front pagers influencers??
Gloria DryGarden
Nice use of seashells. Maybe it’ll become a popular meme on beaches…
maybe some folks will do it all gigantic and fly a drone over for pix, like they do with big nature art pieces ( footstep mandalas in snow or on sand, surely you’ve seen them)
I see I landed on #108. Cool, for those who know and apply this number.
people near beaches, here’s hoping you’ll take this idea and go for it, if it feels safe enough to do so..
Paul in KY
@Baud: He’s a uniter!
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Sure hope he gets better, Betty!
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: But, he’s tall….
Ella in New Mexico
If they push forward in their pretense that this was a death threat, I say we all declare an “86 47 Super Saturday” where we social media post a copy of that pic or one of every T-shirt and bumper sticker seen down at the Farmer’s Market.
Arresting and charging 50 million people for using their 1st Amendment rights will get to be quite the logistical nightmare.
Paul in KY
@Spanky: Marshal Dillon saved you that night!
different-church-lady
Good god that man is an idiot.
glory b
@Geminid: Yesterday, in Pittsburgh:
A Jewish woman pled guilty to defacing the Squirrel Hill Chabad, including the words “Jews of Palestine.”
She seems to have done this with 2 other people, one of whom is alleged to have been in possession of homemade bombs.
Pittsburgh woman pleads guilty to vandalizing Squirrel Hill synagogue – WPXI
glory b
@JML: I read someplace that this is a bigger deal than that.
Researchers estimate that in Victorian England, 1 of every five deaths in London originated from dental problems.
allium
“Honey, a new forbidden Jeopardy wager just dropped!”
Context; In the game show Jeopardy!, you’re actually forbidden from betting certain dollar values for Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy. Some confirmed no-no numbers include $420 (puff puff pass), $1488 (mustache man), and $1312 (A=1, B=2, etc.).
No, I don’t know if anyone actually tried to bet $1488.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: Does Pete eat lizards? Susi ate one the other day, and I was wondering whether it might have any worse effects than just feeling funny as it went down!
Hope the little guy perks up soon.
different-church-lady
@Miss Bianca:
Worst children’s reading book ever…
WTFGhost
I believe 86 is what one does to a *customer*, not to the food, though “86 it” would quickly become the obvious slag for “get rid of,” in any context.
From what I’ve heard, Comey is the worst kind of bad actor; he says in interviews he felt he had to do things, or the Republican Congressional caucus would… well, I don’t know, and I don’t care.
As a lawman, his responsibility was to do his job properly, and ethically, and let the chips fall where they may. He failed to do that, and caused immense harm to the country, because he had some overinflated view of his own self-importance.
artem1s
@Matt McIrvin: what I remember is TCF fired Comey for NOT putting Hillary in jail RE: butteremails
WTFGhost
@Trivia Man: Comey is worse than you imagine. He knew he was likely throwing the election to the Mr. Evil, he just felt He Had To.
WTFGhost
@artem1s: His official reason for firing him was his kneecapping of Clinton during election season; his real reason was he was doing counter-intel on the Russian dossier, and wouldn’t otherwise obstruct justice when Trump wanted him to.
It really is a breath of especially foul air that his administration is now insisting that lawbreaking isn’t lawbreaking, because he as a MANDATE. Back in the first term, there was so much lying and pretense – here, there’s none of that, they’re doing it all out in the open.
brantl
@Spanky: That would encompass Florida-duh perfectly.
brantl
i thought 86 came from the navy, to dump something into the sea?
VFX Lurker
Pre-pandemic, I attended a one-man show by actor Jeff Daniels at a small theater in Michigan. An audience member asked him about his casting as James Comey in The Comey Rule (2020), and how he felt about Comey’s meddling in the 2016 election.
The actor said something about Comey being in a difficult position, and doing what he thought was right.
On the way home, I told my mom that folks could try as hard as they can to scrub Comey’s stain out, but it would never come off. All his good deeds before and after would never outweigh the damage he did in the 2016 election.
This was before million Americans died of COVID due to Trump’s blunders. Years later, Comey’s tarnish remains.
Maybe his peers don’t see it, but I do.
Wilson Heath
I believe this was my original source of awareness of the term: https://www.straightdope.com/21341436/where-does-the-term-86-come-from
Paul in KY
@allium: I guess anything with ’69’ is out too?
JustRuss
HopefullyNotcassandra
So, Mr. Comey took a picture of something he saw on the beach and that is somehow a crime to magas?
jimmiraybob
I propose “86 The Big Fat Imbecilic 34x Convicted Felon and Sexual Predator – Signed JC.”
Sure it would take a lot of shells but it will be worth it if the MAGA NumbNut-o’-Sphere decided to publicly run with it
catclub
unless defendant is black and sang a song.
catclub
don’t worry. We all see it.
Follow the fucking rules and do your fucking job, freelancing your opinions is not necessary.
Chris T.
@Don L:
Not according to Wikipedia: