The Easter Bunny's expression is how most of America feels right now. pic.twitter.com/ytw9Dg64TA
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) April 17, 2017
Because First Lady has still hired almost no staff, Easter Egg roll run by 400 Obama admin volunteer holdovers https://t.co/74Rvtp3Vym
— David Frum (@davidfrum) April 17, 2017
Maybe that one kid with the hat was a little traumatized, but hey — autograph hunters are the worst, amirite? And under the President-Asterisk’s “reign”, we’re all getting used to being an international laughingstock…
Apart from [facepalm]-ing, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
.
A kid asks Trump to sign his hat at the White House Easter Egg Roll. The president signs … and then tosses the hat into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/7ExdhpO97H
— POLITICO (@politico) April 17, 2017
Trump is reluctant to put his hand on heart during the National Anthem & is dropped by the San Francisco 49ers. #EasterEggRoll pic.twitter.com/poZzvdjBGC
— Chuck Groundhog (@only_si_chuck) April 17, 2017
Melania appears to nudge President Trump to remind him to put his hand over his heart during the national anthem pic.twitter.com/4YR1iZyLlJ
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 17, 2017
To be fair, Trump always puts his hand over his heart when the 'Russian Federation National Anthem' plays. It's where he keeps his wallet.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 17, 2017
https://t.co/cfH9JoBFo2 pic.twitter.com/d1SnZWPm2j
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) April 17, 2017
I'm excited to find out what esoteric, Central European society of fascists the White House Easter Bunny is a member of.
— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) April 17, 2017
Dear god, I miss the Obamas. pic.twitter.com/qeRLOI06QY
— Kaili Joy Gray (@KailiJoy) April 17, 2017
Virginia
Dear god, I miss the Obama’s as well.
japa21
@Virginia: Always knew I would, but not to this degree.
rikyrah
I love folks posting pictures of the Obama Easter Egg Rolls ???
Virginia
@japa21: it really is stunning to me the difference and the difference in the way I feel. I still just can’t fucking believe it is real. And yet they persist.
japa21
Was Sessions reading some Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit book?
Lapassionara
400 Obama Administration volunteers? Seriously? This administration is so much suckitude, and I want my country back.
debbie
Nice to see that Trump thought these remarks would reassure the kids who would be hunting for eggs:
randy khan
I watched the video of him signing the hat and then tossing it. It felt to me like he simply didn’t remember that the kid had handed him the hat, and he thought it was being signed to be tossed into the crowd. It’s kind of disturbing (and actually more disturbing than if it were a random act of cruelty).
Combine that with the incident when he was supposed to be signing an executive order and walked out of the room instead, and it’s troubling, to say the least.
(The hand over heart thing doesn’t ring the same alarm bells – a lot of people just stand up straight with their arms at their side during the national anthem.)
Lapassionara
@rikyrah: are they on the tweet place, which I only see because kind Balloon-Juice people post them here?
laura
Sweet Disco Jesus! I wouldn’t let Jefferson Beauregard Sessions anywhere near small children.
japa21
@debbie: Always in campaign mode, it’s the only thing he knows how to do. He certainly doesn’t know how to do any Presidenting.
HumboldtBlue
Sweet Jesus skinning a live bunny while Helga the Black Forest kiddie roaster looks on, that Sessions pic is fucking creepy.
Speaking of stealing, it appears one Alaskan river has stolen another. The folks at UW have more.
And is there a picture of Melania standing with Trump since the campaign began where she actually smiles?
Patricia Kayden
I’m just evil enough to find this hilarious. **snort**
lamh36
@randy khan:
Not for nothing, but “a lot of people”…does that include Presidents?
The RWNJ ragged Obama for wearing a tan suit one Easter, and when he gave a salute with a water bottle in his hand…
Do we imagine for ONE minute if Michelle had to nudge Obama about the hand over heart?
It’s once again an example of the low expectation threshold that Cheeto is being allowed to have…on even the simplest of things that his predecessor wouldn’t …smh
Patricia Kayden
@Lapassionara: Nice of the 400 Obama volunteers to put aside their feelings about the current White House Occupant to help out with the children. Good for them. Classy just like our President Obama.
Quinerly
@debbie:
Cruise over to “Crooks and Liars.” They had a piece up comparing the speech to “The Hunger Games.”
MisterForkbeard
@HumboldtBlue: I thought it was a bad photoshop, myself. Weird to think that Sessions actually looks like that on purpose.
lamh36
@Patricia Kayden: IKR…so if not for these volunteers, the Easter Egg Roll couldn’t been more of a mess than it was
MomSense
I hate this alternate reality. I preferred having the beautiful, gracious, intelligent, compassionate, cool Obamas in the people’s house.
Took an amazing hike today and saw lots of seals and eider ducks.
lamh36
Former President Barack Obama to attend Dan Rooney’s funeral services in Pittsburgh on Tuesday http://bit.ly/2prKtxH
Quinerly
@Patricia Kayden:
I’m just as evil as you. I got quite the laugh out of it. I hope the kid cried for an hour. If you want to laugh some more check out the Jesus hugging Trump in the Oval Office picture that Tiffany Trump posted on her Book of Faces page for Easter. Some of the comments on her page are hilarious. LGF has a piece up about it. She’s bonkers.
lamh36
Welp…this could shape up to being a shit show…
@robertcaruso
Glenn Beck counter-sues Tomi Lahren; she was rude and abusive to The Blaze staff and abrasive with advertisers
HumboldtBlue
@Patricia Kayden:
How much you wanna bet all it took was a sincere request from him and Michelle?
Do you think members of Michelle’s former staff and volunteers are assisting Melania? I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.
Michelle is better than me in all respects, she actually lives that “when they take the low road you take the high road” shit seriously and look a her! A woman beloved and respected across the globe and the first lady to a president who changed our country.
Pfft.
I’m first mate to a cat.
SatanicPanic
You’d think he’d be all over this kind of dumb pageantry. I guess he’s decided that serious guy president is the role he wants to play and nothing can shake him from that.
Baud
Via Reddit
debbie
@lamh36:
Beck must be feeling extra self-righteous. When he hired her, he bragged how he was constructing her desk to expose her legs for the camera, even after one of his minions pointed out that might not be the best thing to say live to his audience.
ET
I saw a tweet from Melissa Jo Peltier that she had screen captured with that first photo of him and the bunny that was from CNN that with the news crawl saying “Steve Bannon accepts diminished roll at W. H.” with her comment being: sometimes Breaking News come at exactly the right moment.
I needed a laugh.
lamh36
So West Wing Report started a twitter thread showing pics of current and past Presidents and their wives as they board or unboard AF One….and of course we know how Cheeto Prez comes off…
The funny part is the obvious Cheeto supporters who know Cheeto comes off bad, who are using the “Is this chivarly vs sexism” debate to defend Cheeto.
So it’s sexist to assit ur spouse or significant down a long ass flight of stairs without possible injury or accident?
@WestWingReport
Presidential Chivalry: JFK vs. Trump. Either your wife goes first or you escort her down the steps (thread)
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
It’s something out of a Hollywood comedy.
lamh36
ruemara
I am also drinking the tears of the 2 (two) people Trump signed the hats of and then tossed into the crowd. Utter genius. Well done, conservatives, you elected a dangerous imbecile with the collective IQ of a field of rotted turnips.
@lamh36: I’m with Rod on TBGWT. Play that “Celebrate” clip and dance. Hope they both burst into flames.
I was nauseous at 5:30 am with full sweats and shivers but luckily, that was just a registry of complaint. I think I’ll go burn off my geopolitical fretting with some light zumba. But no kickboxing. I still can’t kick high enough to land safely on the bag.
debbie
@lamh36:
I love Gerald Ford holding an umbrella over Betty.
Elizabelle
@ET: Laughing. That is funny.
Baud
@Elizabelle: It’s 1 am where you are. I’m impressed.
Iowa Old Lady
I spent the whole afternoon wrestling with publishing crap, and I must admit I seem to have lost today’s bout. Tomorrow, they better be ready!
lamh36
@BeachPeanuts
Hmm. A data breach in Georgia, just in time for the election tomorrow.
http://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional-govt–politics/breaking-voters-personal-data-risk-cobb-theft/FYDyqME5bqLG4ip4snYLwO/
Mike J
More Egg Roll:
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/854059097502699520
Elizabelle
@Baud: Wow. It is. Not sure why I’m up. A little noisy (the Raval), but not too much. A cool night.
One thing aggravating me into sleeplessness: NY Times reviewing a fresh off the presses book about how bad Hillary’s campaign was, and all the errors Robby Mook made. Did not reach out enough to disaffected white folks. Really a nasty book, if the NYT captured it. And I usually like their reviewer.
‘Shattered’ Charts Hillary Clinton’s Course Into the Iceberg
More Democrats in disarray porn. Such timing.
lollipopguild
@Mike J: I think “Secretary in charge of destroying Education” is more appropriate. No spellcheck on the computer they used?
lollipopguild
@Elizabelle: She forgot to wear a white sheet and burn a cross.
Baud
@Elizabelle: I guess I won’t fault the NYT for doing a book review of other people’s books, but they are still garbage.
dmsilev
@Elizabelle: She forgot to have her Ninja Death Squad take care of James Comey?
Baud
@Elizabelle: There’s new studies that dropped today of the role that racism and Comey played in the election result.
lollipopguild
@dmsilev: She forgot to borrow Obama’s Heart Attack Machine(TM) and use it on Comey or trump.
Kathleen
@japa21: Hell, I thought that was Mike and Mother Dense. All these pasty supremacists look alike.
Elizabelle
I know. Lay all of it on Hillary’s bad campaigning, and don’t look at the moron the Electoral College delivered to us, 3 million popular votes in the hole. Don’t mention it was the first election without Voting Rights Act protections. Or a trove of hacked items that were only deployed against Democrats.
And yes, they bring up the email server. Of course they do. And they mention the authors previously wrote “HRC”, a gentle and sympathetic look at her work as Secretary of State. So of course, they’re golden on this.
Review made it sound very cut and dried. I don’t think so.
jl
Commenter Mike J posted a mash-up of the Easter Egg Roll. Contains heartbreaking shots of Spicer who looks like his world is in runs. I think someone told him he would still be the Easter Bunny.
Here’s the White House Easter party with Mad World as the soundtrack
https://twitter.com/McJesse/status/854056698239229954
lamh36
Ooooh…so excited for American Gods…I’m need to either get Starz or the app…I think just adding it to my cable would be easier…hmm
https://twitter.com/BryanFuller/status/854110399771410432
Also, I had NO idea, Gillian Anderson is also a part of American Gods!!!!
https://twitter.com/TheOrlandoJones/status/854110773311942656
Elizabelle
@Baud: Ah. Linky please. Did see Kevin Drum with something about Comey.
Baud
@Elizabelle: I think that was the main thing I saw. I didn’t click through to see what he was citing.
Elizabelle
@jl: Believe they had Dr. Ben Carson reading to the childrens?
And I kinda thought Trump pushed Melania out of the frame, not gently, but should see it again.
Music is haunting. From Donnie Darko.
Suffragete City elftx
Well look who’s popped up again!
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is pleased to announce that Boris Epshteyn, an accomplished commentator and strategist, has joined the company as chief political analyst and will provide analysis and insight on major political stories.
“Over a year ago, we made a commitment to provide additional political content that goes beyond the podium to provide a true point of difference with additional context,” said Scott Livingston, Vice President of News for Sinclair Television Group.
“We understand the frustration with government and traditional institutions. Mr. Epshteyn brings a unique perspective to the political conversation and will play a pivotal role in our mission to dissect the stories in the headlines and to better inform and empower our viewers.”
“I am honored and grateful to be joining the distinguished and extremely talented team at Sinclair Broadcast Group,” commented Mr. Epshteyn. “I greatly admire Sinclair’s mission to provide thoughtful impactful reporting throughout the country. I look forward to contributing my voice to the ongoing dialogue with the American people.”
Mr. Epshteyn most recently served as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations for the Executive Office of President Trump. Mr. Epshteyn managed the surrogate operation of the White House and Administration as well as appeared as an on-air spokesman for the Administration. Prior to joining The White House, Mr. Epshteyn served as Communications Director for the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Mr. Epshteyn was a surrogate and Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign, where he managed messaging. He is also an investment banker and a licensed attorney with expertise in international law, finance and securities. Mr. Epshteyn graduated, cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and holds a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.
Sinclair is one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country. The Company currently owns, operates and/or provides services to 173 television stations in 81 markets, broadcasting 514 channels and having affiliations with all the major networks. Sinclair is a leading local news provider in the country, as well as a producer of live sports content. Sinclair’s content is delivered via multiple-platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and digital platforms. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed at http://www.sbgi.net.
Baud
Here’s a GOS post about the impact of racism.
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/17/1653770/-Surprise-New-data-shows-racism-was-a-prime-motivator-for-Trump-voters
Another from booman
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2017/4/17/114259/800
Mnemosyne
@Lapassionara:
Yeah, I understand why the volunteers did it, because I’ve been there with crappy places that couldn’t get their shit together, but I really wish they had let Trump crash and burn. There’s such a thing as being too nice.
Baud
@Mnemosyne: Agree.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffragete City elftx: Another vile entity that needs to be annihilated.
Baud
More Drum
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That’s much stronger language than I remember being typical of Drum (he’s fallen off my radar a bit since his Washington Monthly days)
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s been big on Comey’s interference.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s still at WaMo.
lamh36
Lordt this Guy Ritchie directed new version of the King Arthur myth, might be dumb AF…but you can always count on Ritchie for some great action sequences…
https://youtu.be/SX9y5JPuRHY
Elizabelle
@Baud: Actually, Kevin Drum is now with Mother Jones.
ETA: But I am glad he calls a spade a spade with Comey.
If we had a functioning media, we would never have a President Trump. “Balance”, not accuracy and truth, brought us a madman with cognitive issues.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Oops. Thanks. I get my RSS feeds confused.
Elizabelle
@Baud: And good night. Gonna step away from the computer now. Ciao.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Yup. His last WaMo piece was in 2008.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Baud was wrong!? Something’s not right with the Universe!)
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@randy khan:
That’s proper protocol for military members when out of uniform; also appropriate for veterans. As for civilians, l’d bet many of those who whined about Big O missing the hand over the heart don’t do it themselves, and wouldn’t have cared if Melania hadn’t nudged Orange Foolius into doing it.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Agree. I blame the media more. They set the groundwork for Comey’s coup de grace. And now we need both of them to do their jobs with respect to Trump. Such a feeling of helplessness.
jl
@debbie:
‘ “You see what’s happening, and we’re right on track,” Trump repeated. ‘
Someone slipped the prez a hint about where the best Easter Eggs were? No wonder if some of the kids were pissed about that.
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden:
Coulda been worst. He could have tossed the kid into the crowd.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
Fix’d for Mr. Drum. It was not some weird coincidence that the “firewall states” just happened to pass restrictive voting laws after the Voting Rights Act was gutted. It was a deliberate plan by the Republicans to disenfranchise American citizens based on their race. Period.
Baud
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Yep. Hand on the heart only for the pledge. That’s how I learned it.
hovercraft
Yet more proof that the imbecile in chief still hasn’t proved he can read.
Who the hell lets their kids anywhere near these people, I’m sorry but between this klansman and his wife, let alone Twitler and his, the rope line should be seen as protection for the kids, not the evil so call “dignitaries”.
At some point shouldn’t everyone just acknowledge that anything that’s still running normally is only doing so because Twitler hasn’t fucked it up yet, it’s career staff and or Obama holdovers that are keeping the trains running on time. If only the entire government could just continue on auto pilot we’d all be fine, unfortunately stories about Obama people bailing him out will make him insist on appointing his own people, and we actually do need the president and the congress to actually you know do stuff. Dog help us.
Gin & Tonic
Spent nearly four hours at the doctor’s office today. Bottom line is progress looks good, but he wants to keep the pins holding the radius and ulna together in place for another three weeks. This means the arm needs to stay immobilized that much longer, but this time I get to wear a removable cast. That’s built just like a regular cast, but then when it sets, they basically cut it in half, clamshell-like, and add velcro straps to hold it together. I am allowed to remove it for showering and for doing exercises – after the doctor, I saw the physical therapist, who gave me a series of exercises I have to do five times a day to begin loosening things up. Right now I can bend my wrist no more than 5 degrees up and down, can’t touch my fourth or fifth fingers with my thumb, can’t come close to making a fist, can’t touch my palm with my fingertips, can’t fully extend my elbow, etc., etc. There’s a lot of work to be done, and after a half-hour with the therapist I was ready to cry. But everybody says I’m on the right track. I just don’t feel that way.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Thank you. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. We don’t have to drop identity politics or make major changes in our messaging. We need to make sure we protect the right to vote.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: there are certain stories I’ll invest a couple of hours in over and over again, Arthur is one of them. I liked a couple of Ritchie’s early movies– Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, though I don’t remember a damn thing about either now.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: Progress. Hang in there.
Lizzy L
@Gin & Tonic: This all sounds good, even though it doesn’t seem like it.
Baud
@MomSense: People have agendas.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
Speaking from experience, try to set small, achievable physical therapy goals. Don’t overwhelm yourself or get impatient if it takes a little longer than you think it should. Sending you patience and support as you start your therapy.
MomSense
@Baud:
Yup. And some are trying to exploit this situation.
Mnemosyne
@hovercraft:
My caption for that picture of Sessions would be, AG Sessions pauses in his reading to contemplate how to make sure the children he’s reading to will never be allowed to vote.
Quinerly
@Suffragete City elftx:
Jared Kushner on behalf of the Trump campaign made a deal in 2016 with Sinclair for uncritical coverage for access. Politico covered it at the time. TPM had a piece up about Epshteyn landing with Sinclair this AM.Sinclair owns DC’s WJLA.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
anybody on twitter want to point out to this Murdoch-employed asswipe that it wasn’t about bad words?
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I liked Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes, though I never got around to watching the sequel.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@jl:
Even if it was a typo, don’t cop to it. That’s funny shit right there.
dm
@Elizabelle: I agree that the review makes it sound pretty cut-and-dried, but it also sounds like a pretty reasonable (if 20-20 hindsight) post-mortem of the campaign’s flaws from the standpoint of “mistakes not to make the next time”. On the other hand, the review probably should have remarked that Clinton did get almost 3 million more votes than Trump.
Put crudely, in 2008, Obama out-maneuvered the Clinton campaign during the primaries by exploiting the enthusiasm gap in the caucus states (where organization combined with enthusiasm pays off by getting people to the caucuses). In 2016, Trump out-maneuvered the Clinton campaign by exploiting the Electoral College (though in 2016, it wasn’t organization, it was discouragement and voter suppression).
I tend to agree with Kevin Drum’s assessment: third Democratic term, lackluster economy (Clinton did well where the economy was doing well), made it a harder election to win.
Then add Comey.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: IKR about Ritchie…I did enjoy his Sherlock Holmes movies (would love a 3rd, but I don’t think the last one did “well”).
As for the King Arthur myth…I’m neither here or there bout it…but I’m always game for a mindless summer action flick. In fact, I prefer them. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but I also appreciate a good non-CGI heavy action flick and Ritchie still seems to do mostly non-CGI and interesting camera work to film his action sequences
Gin & Tonic
@MomSense: The therapist said the same thing, and said “you strike me as an ‘over-doer’, so please take it slow.” That was after I asked her when I could start riding my bicycle again.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Congratulations! Recovery may be slower than you’d like, but it is heading in the right direction. I’m not sure of your age, but I can tell you that as one gets older, one takes longer to recover. Patience.
Brachiator
@lamh36:
I don’t know. I got really mixed feelings about this. My favorite version of the Arthur myth is probably John Boorman’s “Excalibur.” Messy, but full of vitality. Guy Ritchie, on the other hand, directs his movies like a Michael Bay on methamphetamine.
Also, I didn’t get a chance to see the new “Fate of the Furious,” but am amazed that it has already earned $532 million worldwide, including $100 million in the US. Apparently, it was Number 1 in every foreign market in which it opened. And with all his various appearances in a range of movies, the Rock has become one of the highest paid movie stars. And we still have “Baywatch” to look forward to.
Oh, yeah, and “Beauty and the Beast” has earned $1 Billion. Disney is a freakin’ box office money machine.
jl
@Elizabelle: No I didn’t see him push FLOTUS. I think the Drumpf is just an emotionally impaired self-absorbed doofus at events like this, when not in his emotionally impaired toxic mode.
Brief History of the WH Egg Roll is on the Wiki. Been held at various places since Madison administration, mostly around Capitol grounds, until Congress said they couldn’t use it for Egg Roll anymore. Congress has always been a bunch of pompous jerks, looks like. Has bee racially integrated since 1964 when Mamie Eisenhower recommended it.
Egg rolling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_rolling
It must be an important local event for DC. Obama holdovers probably did it for local families and kids, not the Drumpf admin.
lamh36
@AndreaWBZ
Wounded #Marine Jose Sanchez finishes the @bostonmarathon. More on Sanchez – #BostonMarathon
hovercraft
@randy khan:
If Hillary had forgotten that a kid had handed her a hat, what would the presses reaction be? How many republicans would be on TV implying that she was too stressed and not up to the job, or that she was suffering from dementia or some other mental deficiency. Yet this buffoon gets a pass on everything, you have morons writing that there’s always a learning curve. Assholes.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I liked it too but I also never watched the sequel. What’s not to love about Robert Downey, jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams.
NeenerNeener
@Brachiator: Or he could have been charging $40 per signature, then thrown the hat into the crowd.
jl
@dm: Took a look at the review. Democratic Party needs to take the analysis of DNC and HRC campaigning and electioneering problems seriously. But as an analysis of totality of reasons HRC lost, the book seems biased towards ‘Democrats in Disarray’ stereotype.
Iowa Old Lady
@Gin & Tonic: The time I was in physical therapy, my therapist seemed very nice but hoo boy, she hurt me.
Steve in the ATL
@Another Scott:
yeah, that’s why I ended up voting for trump. clearly it was the right call.
Baud
@jl: That’s what sells.
@Steve in the ATL: I wouldn’t have been wrong had I been elected.
Mike in NC
Anybody know if the Trumpers charged admission for those kids and their parents to attend the Easter Egg Roll?
TriassicSands
I was about to start watching Florence Foster Jenkins — the film starring Meryl Streep about the world’s worst singer — when I decided to take a look at the Wikipedia entry for Jenkins. There seems to have been some question as to whether or not Jenkins realized just how bad she was. A wonderful quote from Jenkins —
Not surprisingly, a discussion of the world’s worst anything naturally brings to mind the world’s worst “president.” The following quote made me think about Trump. Concerning the question as to whether Jenkins knew how bad she was —
Mr. Schuman, meet Donald Trump, who is, in all likelihood, at least that unaware and then some.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
I struggled with the same problem. I also had a huge freak out (sobbing, panic – the works) because my brain and the major muscle groups in my leg were not communicating. It took awhile but I sorted it out, relearned how to walk, and eventually biking and hiking.
It sounds stupid but music, meditation, and setting very small goals really do help.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
always hard to say what’s the worst or weirdest or most dangerous thing trumpy has done, but this should be on all the lists
I’m sure that will play well with the Kurds fighting with us in Iraq (and Syria?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Iowa Old Lady: I guess I was lucky, for me PT was just incredibly boring (shoulder repair). Every once in a while I think I should start doing those exercises again for both shoulders… but they’re really boring.
lamh36
@Brachiator: Speaking on FF and Dwayne Johnson, I came across this article on FB…
i’m not a big fan of FF franchise (although I am a BIG fan of The Rock) but I’d love to know what fans think?
I mean for real, is there a point to the character of Dom, with Paul Walker’s death…I mean the story was of the characters continued friendship…without it, what is the purpose of Dom? Especially since it seems to be taking it back to the heist-themed film like the original filmw? I mean Dom character doesn’t work…
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Makes you think national referendums aren’t necessarily a good thing.
Svensker
To be fair to the orange one, a different angle of video shows him throwing the hat to the kid.
https://twitter.com/MicahGrimes/status/854009984606228480
There are enough reasons to hate him, don’t need this one.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think I read earlier today that Erdoğan was actually good to the Kurds.
hovercraft
@Gin & Tonic:
Well at least it’s looking good even if it doesn’t feel like it ;- (
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MomSense: I’ve been trying to meditate off and on since October, and even more so since November. Some days it works, some days I feel much better, others, like today, I can’t slow my brain down enough (I’m assuming if you suddenly check your texts while meditating, you’re doing it wrong).
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s the odd thing. Ritchie directs the hell out of his movies. Lots of stuff happening on the screen. But to my mind he is incapable of creating a memorable image and his films are instantly forgettable.
I kinda liked the first Holmes movie. I liked the villains, the costumes. But while Robert Downey Jr owns Tony Stark/Iron Man, but his Holmes is ultimately insubstantial and anonymous.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
I get to see a preview of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” the Wednesday before it opens.
That’s my big dumb action movie for the summer. Especially if Chris Pratt takes his shirt off again.
lamh36
Sigh…I’m done being understanding…so I’ll leave the comments to folks here at BJ who still want to understand….
Yarrow
If it was volunteer I think they should have said no. Let the Easter Egg Roll be a complete disaster. The kids will manage somehow. Something as big and media-friendly as the Easter Egg Roll being a complete failure would be a black eye for the Trump administration. Why help him? If it was part of their job and they had to do it, that’s different. But it sounds like they volunteered.
@hovercraft:
And what better place to have a massive failure than the Easter Egg Roll, which doesn’t really matter except as a fun event. He’s a disaster and is destroying the government. Why not let a high profile event be a huge failure so everyone can see just how bad he is. If he fails at the Easter Egg Roll, how can he manage more challenging things?
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ha!! Whenever I hear that text notification I can never resist it.
Lately I’ve been trying to do more moving meditation. It’s easier for me to clear my head if I’m walking or knitting.
Baud
@lamh36: Perez intro to his answer seems good.
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: You’re doing great – six months from now it will all seem like a bad dream! The arm part, not Trump. Well, maybe Trump too, who knows? =)
lamh36
@Brachiator: Agree about Downey as Holmes. I did think Jude Law’s Watson was great casting though…
Patricia Kayden
@japa21: Little Sambo. His favorite from the plantation.
Jeffro
@jl: @Baud:
Did either of you see the book that’s out now called, no kidding, “White Trash In America”? I saw it while passing through Dulles and thought it was a parody. It’s actually a thing.
I guess “Hillbilly Elegy” was too subtle?!?
dm
@jl: It’s hard to tell from the review. The authors of the book seem to have good contacts in the Clinton inner-circle, but a lot of what the review talked about seemed like 20-20 hindsight (unless the authors of the book were reporting on that stuff concurrent with events — even then, it could be cherry-picking). I’m kind-of sympathetic to the authors’ thesis because it seems of a piece with the 2008 primary campaign. That bit about Mook not looking at the data from the “firewall states” for a few weeks in early October, for example.
@Mnemosyne: Facts on the ground. We had to campaign with the laws we were faced with. If votes are being suppressed, then put effort into getting folks registered anyway, and out to vote anyway, campaign in those states. This was especially hard to do when we were also faced with overcoming 25 years of negative bullshit thrown at us (because that negative bullshit makes people wonder what the point of voting is), but we knew we had to deal with that reality going into the campaign.
Baud
@Jeffro: Haven’t seen it. Pro or con white trash?
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: How is Senator Sanders referring to the Democratic Party as if he’s a member? Oh dear.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
I’m okay with Perez’s answer. Part of his job is to listen to people and find out where the Democratic message isn’t hitting.
Wilmer needs to STFU and listen to other people for five fucking seconds.
lamh36
@Baud:
Baud
@lamh36: +1.
Baud
@lamh36: Is it on TV?
Jeffro
@TriassicSands:
That’s a much more to-the-point version what Josh Marshall was trying to tell us at TPM today (about Trump’s ignorance of his own ignorance): Trump’s the Florence Foster Jenkins of…well, not just politics and presidency but about most things. FFJ on steroids.
Can you imagine being so self-absorbed that you only scan magazines and TV for a mention of your name? That “Fox and Friends” speaks to you on a personal level? That you believe “performance artists” like Alex Jones and not people who’ve studied their whole lives on important topics? Of course not, you’re not Trump. But still…the mind boggles…
It’s self-lobomization…trepanning by TV…
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Why must you insist on complicating everything? It’s simple, Putin likes Erdogan, Erdogan says nice things about me, and he doesn’t tolerate shit form the media, social media or the courts, Erdogan and Putin are my kind of guys, tough guys!
@Baud:
I’m not sure where you read that, but as far as I know he uses the Kurds the same way the right here uses Muslims as the boogeymen he needs to protect the nation from. The PKK is public enemy number one to the Turks and this is the number one strain on Us-Turkey relations, other than Erdogans autocratic, anti-democratic ways.
lamh36
@Baud: I don’t know…Dave Weigel was tweeting from location though
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft Last year, the Obamas hosted 35,000 children for their last Easter Egg Roll. Wonder how many parents risked the lives of their children to attend under the Trumps. Wouldn’t send my dogs to any of their functions.
Baud
@hovercraft: Yeah, it struck me as strange too.
Brachiator
@lamh36:
The Furious films have this thing about “family.” I don’t know how the Rock’s character adds to this (I have not seen the new film yet). Walker’s death leaves a hole in the film, but again the film’s opening success may have answered that problem.
So, it’s not just about a single character, but the character dynamics. I think they really need to add an Asian character. I was really struck to learn the degree to which fans of the franchise had taken to Han, who first turned up in “Tokyo Drift.” There is righteous anger at the lack of Asian actors in films (without the weird China market cameos), and Han’s soulfulness really did something for many viewers.
I have a soft spot for this dumb franchise, in part because it defies so many Hollywood conventions. The Rock has been a welcome addition. I’m not sure yet that he should be the anchor.
BTW, I heard some stuff about tension on the set between the Rock and some of the other stars of the film. Don’t really know what this is all about. Also, I guess the next 2 installments are in pre-production. I don’t know how far along they are with the story and the relationship of the characters.
Is there every going to be a new GI Joe movie? Wasn’t the Rock in that? And the Rock’s got Baywatch. And some DC film maybe. Captain Marvel.
Villago Delenda Est
White trash = Donald voters.
Jeffro
@Baud: My bad, it’s actually “White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in America”
So…probably more of a pro-white-trash, don’t-get-so-fixated-on-racial-injustice-that-we-forget-poor-whites-sometimes-have-occasional-difficulties take, I’m guessing. Bleah.
Baud
@lamh36: Thanks. I don’t like going through middlemen on things like this. Especially Weigel.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: CHait has a good piece out today about trumpy and his TeeVee.
Yes, Wilmer, the greatest problem we face is super delegates. I’ve really come to hate this motherfucker
ETA: @Baud: I’ve got my beefs with Weigel– who I think should be presented the way Sargent is by their common employer, as a reporter with a POV– but he’s been pretty good on trump. IMH.O
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wish I knew what that means (besides superdelegates).
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He knows how to throw bombs, but has no clue how to make them. He is therefore worthless in the long run.
Brachiator
@lamh36:
I mentioned before that I am stuck on this funny Korean comedy Drama, “Mystery Queen” that turns Holmes into a brilliant crime solving housewife, and Watson into a hunk of a police detective. Crazy fun and free to stream.
Baud
@Jeffro: The bit about the civil war raises a red flag to me.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est: You’re expecting a volume discount, aren’t you?
lamh36
@Brachiator: yes…there was reports of tension with Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel.
I do know folks who’ve seen it, so I won’t spoil it, but I can def see this installment as a “test” of what could happen if the franchise loses Diesel…this record box office could be attributed to The Rock’s increased presence?
and yes…I did like the Asian guy…but didn’t they kill him off the same installment that they killed Gail Gadot’s character?
Mnemosyne
@dm:
I think the real problem was that Democrats underestimated how harmful those laws really were to our voters. That was the real error, because campaigning more was not going to magically get Wisconsin to relax their laws.
We can learn from that, but only if people actually learn the right lesson and don’t decide that minority voters just inexplicably decided on their own to stay home. Hey, maybe the New York Fucking Times can send a few reporters out to Milwaukee to see what people there say happened rather than going to talk to yet another set of moron Trump voters.
TenguPhule
@Patricia Kayden:
To be fair, they don’t really deserve to be parents.
Patricia Kayden
@Quinerly: I believe I’ve seen that painting before of Jesus cradling Trump. Found it horrifying though. Will look it up.
Mike J
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
All reporters have a POV. The question is, do they try to hide it?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: someone tweeted the other day that Jason Kander’s new organization has been active and effective in getting people registered in GA-6, but I haven’t seen any other news about it. He’s an impressive guy, I hope he’s got a plan.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Better get a new country then, this one doesn’t learn. And when it learns, it quickly forgets.
chris
@lamh36:
Haha! That looks like fun! On the list, thanks.
Ruviana
@Jeffro: A little simplistic. More like an history of how whiteness and class were constructed and used in U.S. history. Perhaps not judging a book by its cover is relevant here.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You’re right, that was a good piece. This
was a chilling reminder of what we’re really dealing with in the Oval Office, but frankly everything’s chilling for normal people until Trump leaves office.
I appreciate that Chait didn’t want to knock Trump for HAVING to get his news from TV since he (Trump) doesn’t read, but it’s an issue and a fair one. If you can’t read a policy brief or anything of complexity, you have no business being in charge of this country, its economy, and its arsenal.
dm
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wow, that’s how you interpreted what he said? Weird.
I’m thinking he was talking about a Democratic Party that wasn’t (also) beholden to Wall Street, third-wayism, that stuff. Yeah, yeah, the Republicans are worse, and third-wayism is pretty out-of-the-nineties, but still. You really think he was talking about super-delegates?
Patricia Kayden
@HumboldtBlue: Michelle is better than me too. Can’t imagine how much tongue biting she’s had to do for the last 8 years.
The Fast Kate Middleton
@Gin & Tonic: Keep on keeping on, GIT. You know it’ll be better tomorrow. For the first time in four months, I had a complete weepy breakdown in front of my husband today. I know it’s going to be OK, I know I’ve been so lucky – but what if I’m not? I kept apologizing to him, and I apologize to all of you.
lamh36
@Brachiator: that does sound interesting
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Until tomorrow.
We really shouldn’t need these qualifiers. But we do.
Mike J
Villago Delenda Est
@Patricia Kayden: This sort of religious icon bullshit has no place in American politics. Period. The fundigelicals need to be driven back under the rocks from which they crawled. They can believe whatever the fuck they want to believe, but they must stop pushing their bullshit on everyone else.
Baud
@dm: If that’s what he meant, it’s vague enough to be an impossible standard to meet, and debatable whether it would be electorally beneficial.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
WALL STREET SPEECHES!
Fight the real enemy!
Mnemosyne
@dm:
“Grassroots party” doesn’t mean Wall Street, unless you’re going to get really convoluted about it.
Trump was the grassroots candidate for the Republicans this year. That’s sure working out great for everyone. ?
TenguPhule
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): You’re going to run with that joke, aren’t you?
Quinerly
@Patricia Kayden:
Jesus looks like a 7’6″ Kenny Loggins. Tiffany Trump had it up on her FB wall, asking people to pray for her dad. There were a lot of followers obliging…but also a lot of ridicule. My favorite comment was “Is this for real or photoshopped?”
dm
@Mnemosyne: The Guardian has done that. It wasn’t just voter-suppression, but the well-known effect of incessant negative campaigning, that I’m afraid Clinton wasn’t able to overcome.
efgoldman
@Mnemosyne:
And I need to be a foot taller and twenty years younger. Just as possible.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
They’d rather die. No, I lie. They’d rather we heathens and infidels died first.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump is on video cussing at his campaign rallies so…?
Baud
@efgoldman: On the internet, it is…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: Looking back on the Obama years, especially health care, rural and “heartland” whites, represented by people like Blanche Lincoln and Bart Stupak were far greater obstacles than “Wall Street” villains like Chuck Schumer (who I regard with a healthy degree of skepticism), Kiristin GIlibrand or Chris Dodd. I think Lieberman stands alone, motivated as much by personal spite as any constituent considerations.
ETA: With the Stimulus, Claire McCaskill (another Dem I’m not crazy about) and Ben Nelson were two of the most vocal drags wishin the party.
Baud
Note to self: For 2020 campaign, commission a portrait with Jesus.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who the fuck actually believes that there would be the slightest ghost of a chance that ANY Rethug President would lift so much as a finger to reign in the Ferengi assholes of Wall Street? With a Dem, at least there is a chance, and a good one.
efgoldman
@Baud:
Wilmer doesn’t know what it means, why should you?
Brachiator
@lamh36:
yep. They need a new Asian guy. Or woman.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Dump couldn’t even read a children’s book.
More evidence of his illiteracy.
Mnemosyne
@dm:
It wasn’t “just” any one thing. It was a perfect storm of multiple things, including long-plotted voter suppression, Russian propaganda directed at both the right and the left, media falling down on the job and, yes, the 25+ year campaign to demonize Hillary Clinton for both the right and the left.
That whole Hillary called all Black men “superpredators”! talking point was specifically designed to convince young African-Americans to not vote for Hillary. So who came up with that talking point, and who carefully deployed it across left-wing websites? Inquiring minds would love to know.
Baud
@efgoldman: To me, building a part from the ground out means closed primaries, because otherwise you are rewarding people who aren’t working to build the party. I doubt that’s what he means by it.
germy
Watching Supergirl right now. Her alter ego is being fired from her newspaper job because she wrote a blog (a violation of her contract). Her boss growls at her the reasons journalism is so important; why getting the facts is so vital: “One misattributed quote from a candidate and you put a fascist in the White House.”
Whew!
NCSteve
I remember back in 2009 or so when all the crazy old white people were using the newfangled email contraption to FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!! because they were outraged by a picture of Barack and Michelle putting the wrong hand over their hearts (because apparently, Those People have their hearts on the other side) during the national anthem. And pointing out that the Marine guard in the background was likely going to get in a load of trouble with his sergeant because he showed up for duty at the White House with his ribbons and badges pinned to the wrong sides of his tunic seemed to do nothing to shake their conviction that it was true.
dm
@Mnemosyne: I’m not sure I follow? He said the goal was to build at grassroots party. That seems pretty clear. Baud may be right that it’s not clear that it might not be electorally beneficial.
And you know, it’s not like he was arguing with Perez — Perez invited him along. They’re pretty much on the same page, after all.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I know there are Clinton-deranged trolls occasionally popping in to aggravate it, but isn’t it time to get over your Bernie Derangement Syndrome?
Patricia Kayden
@Quinerly: It had to be photoshopped because Trump doesn’t like losers who allow themselves to be crucified. You know how he rolls.
TenguPhule
@Baud: A Victoria Secrets Model would get you more votes.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Consult with Megyn Kelly for correct complexion.
efgoldman
@Mnemosyne:
The NYT couldn’t finds black voters in Milwaukee if you gave them Waukesha as a head start, with a truckful of GPSs to guide them.
Random ignorant racist white mouth breathers in West Bumfuck, Flyover? No problem
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dm: as I’ve said before, when the incontinent old asshole stops shitting in my pool, I’ll stop talking about his shit
Also, fuck off.
Baud
@TenguPhule: I was thinking of that for absent First Lady.
@Patricia Kayden: I thought that was Santa Claus.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I can see how you would get confused between the beard and the chest hair.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: Which one are you? (photo)
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Here’s a good one:
Baud
@TenguPhule: I see it was both of them.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/12/megyn-kelly-jesus-and-santa-were-white-179491
Quinerly
@Patricia Kayden:
@#179 ?
Baud
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
I’m going to avoid the trap of believing in things just because I want to believe in them.
efgoldman
@dm:
The fact that different people don’t know and can’t tell means whatever he has to say is useless.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: That will get me the white working class demo for sure.
Quinerly
@Baud:
Well, it didn’t work for Dr. Ben Carson. There are no guarantees.
TriassicSands
@Jeffro:
As has been said in the past, the stupid people who are dangerous are those who are so stupid they don’t realize not only just how stupid they are, but that they are even stupid to begin with. There has never been a better example of this than Trump.
At least Florence was harmless (if you wore earplugs). Trump is going to rack up a tragic death toll in the wake of his stupidity.
TenguPhule
@Baud: And even if true, no chance of prosecution with Sessions out to kill some Potheads instead.
Although the Libertarians do have it coming to them.
Steeplejack
Joy Reid subbing for Rachel Maddow.
Baud
@TenguPhule: It depends how much comes out. Sessions did recuse himself due to outside pressure. If there is actually a tape, then I don’t think they’ll be able to sweep it under the rug.
Gravenstone
@lamh36: Someone needs to fit that wizened fucker with a shock collar, then hand the remote to Perez. Every time St. Bernard goes off script afterwards should earn him a healthy jolt.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Maybe wear clothes for that.
TenguPhule
@Baud: I hope you’re right. It would be a pleasant surprise for a change.
TenguPhule
@Steeplejack: Pants are always optional.
Mike J
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Sorry, I need better sources.
Baud
@Steeplejack: Seems inappropriate to conceal God’s handiwork, but I’ll see how it polls.
hovercraft
@Baud:
Just remember that you must be sure to make yours at least as good as Ben Carson’s portrait with Jesus, it was truly a sight to behold. Also please make note of the homage he pays to himself, given Twitler’s similar decor, you may want to install a similar homage to yourself. Voters love them. it’s true.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope people learn the correct lesson about The Stimulus. I think that lesson is:
1) We have 2 years to fix the economy. We know the numbers lag. We know we don’t have a good picture of how bad it really is. But we have to err on the side of doing too much rather than too little. Why? Because we won’t be able to try again if we do too little.
2) $1T isn’t a Big Scary Number. We can’t think about this in terms of Big Scary Numbers. We have to think about it in terms of fractions of GDP. If we have a 10% GDP hole in the $15T economy, then we need to plan on spending around 10% of GDP in stimulus.
3) We need to front-load The Stimulus, but it needs to taper off gradually (the economy responds to changes, not levels). We should put in place a 5 year plan. If we’re doing great after 2-3 years, then it can taper off faster. If not, we won’t get a second chance.
But government is run by people. So getting what we got was pretty good. I just hope that people will recognize the 3 things listed above come the next time.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Or, what Dean Baker and Paul Krugman said.)
TenguPhule
@Another Scott:
Take a big breath, then get really really drunk. It will help when the depression hits.
randy khan
@lamh36:
Well, of course nobody on the right will think he was being disrespectful. They forgive all the sins of “their” people.
I was just contrasting that with my (serious) concern about how he seems to space out periodically. That’s not good.
efgoldman
@Baud:
Can he sit still long enough?
Gravenstone
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Ooohhhh. If that’s at all fucking real. I want both those fucks out, and yesterday.
Mike J
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Without McCaskill and Nelson and their ilk, we wouldn’t have had a majority and would have never had a chance to argue over the proper way to handle the stimulus.
hovercraft
@Baud:
“building a part from the ground out means closed primaries,”
Stop right there, are you trying to ruin your chances before the race is even begun? Everyone who understands true democracy knows that unless you allow outsiders to dictate how you run your internal affairs, you are against democracy and a tool of the establishment. The true mark of an “establishment” tool, is having the audacity actually join the institution.
Mnemosyne
@dm:
Did you see Sanders’s performance at Elizabeth Warren’s rally, where he spent 90 percent of his time talking about how the Democratic Party needs to be destroyed?
I think we may have different ideas of what “being on someone’s side” means.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike J: Of course. But my point was the endless bleating about Wall St or bellowing about billionaires is not sufficient to explain the flaws in and drags on attempts to pass progressive legislation under Obama.
Based on what I know about them, I’d take Jason Kander over Claire McC (though I really admire her maneuvering against Akin and fervently hope she wins re-election) in a heartbeat, but I suspect that in office he might have shown some blue fur
efgoldman
@dm:
When he becomes a Democrat and stops slagging Democrats.
He didn’t bring a single marginal voter into the party who wasn’t going to vote Democrat anyway, and he drove some away. I’d say he was a net negative in the end.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Meh. If someone manages to create fake evidence that’s proved to be fake, the whole story is discredited.
I guarantee you that Rove is busily manufacturing fake shit to make the Russia story go away just like he did with W’s National Guard story.
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Think of it not as a moral compromise but as “moving to the middle” for the election. The economically anxious white working class likes their candidates clad.
Kay
But soon we won’t have to argue about that at all, because Trump is systematically dropping all his populist economic positions- so if they still support him in August this argument is over and the “it’s about race” people won.
I used to listen to Trump on C-SPAN. You would not believe how many economic promises he made (or maybe you would). I was curious whether they’d respond to the China currency backflip but they don’t seem to be.
So…it’ll be hard to deny it was about race. Because it ain’t economic issues, so far.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
I look forward to our tanking Stockmarket overlords.
Another Scott
@hovercraft: ;-)
There was a woman on the first hour of 1A on NPR this morning (I think – it might have been on the BBC the hour before) who made an excellent point about things like that (in the context of Erdogan’s referendum):
(roughly)
“Don’t mistake elections for democracy. Democracy requires respect for minority rights, checks and balances, freedom of expression and assembly, etc. Just because a country has an election does not mean that it respects democracy…”
Having closed primaries is not anti-democratic. We shouldn’t let those who hate democracy use the trappings of our free system to destroy it.
Cheers,
Scott.
Keith P.
I bet that Easter Bunny was stoned out of his everloving mind.
efgoldman
@Mike J:
Not to mention a little thing called the ACA
amk
twitler, dense & racist – the morosest three treasonists evah.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: Chris Hayes had a reporter who did today’s designated check in on Trump voters. What I want to know from them: Do they have any awareness of the distance between Ryancare and what trump promised on the campaign trail: More coverage, lower premiums, lower deductibles. “It’ll be easy, terrific, believe me, don’t worry about it”
TenguPhule
@amk: Throw in Mcconnell and you have the four horsemen.
rikyrah
@Lapassionara:
Go over to The Obama Diary
https://theobamadiary.com/2017/04/17/easter-egg-roll-memories/
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman:
They’ve got expert on Applebee’s David Brooks to give them directions to find exactly the demographic they’re always looking for.
notoriousJRT
@lamh36:
I GUARANTEE the Trump lovers out there will say it was “sweet” that Melania had to nudge him. So like us mofos to need to nudge or be nudged.
Kay
@TenguPhule:
It isn’t “corruption” either because they’re horribly corrupt. They don’t even pretend otherwise.
So..we’re getting down to very few issues here :)
we can use a process of elimination in this case. By January there will be no denying it because he will have broken every single promise except… being a horrible person.
hovercraft
@Another Scott:
All good valid pints, the only problem is the media is full of morons who just love them some fiscal discipline when democrats are in the White House. It’s funny how during the campaign last year they were all very concerned about how Hillary and Bernie were going to pay for their proposals, but not that concerned about Twitler’s deficit exploding tax cuts, defense spending or anything else. When Obama was president they were tenacious about how everything was being offset, but as usual now that the GOP is back in charge deficits no longer matter.
All that said, democrats need to stop giving a shit what the media says and just go for it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Another Scott: Hitler used to hold plebiscites all the time to “validate” whatever fuckery he was pushing.
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: It always boils down to the Village and their oh-so-Rethuglican and .01% friendly narratives.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I get such a kick out of how Republicans have to go home and vow to protect Medicaid expansion.
It’s delicious. God almighty, they latched onto that like they had something to do with it!
Villago Delenda Est
@Steeplejack: Well, that’s OK, but I’d prefer it if she were to shiv Tweety on the air and take over his slot.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
I make it a point to visit frequently, I only lurk, but it soothes my soul.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
The thing I’ve been saying since halfway through the primary season was that it turned out that Sanders and other commentators were right — there was a whole set of non-voters out there who didn’t have a candidate who really spoke to them.
Unfortunately, it turned out that those non-voters were waiting for an out-and-proud white supremacist to speak to them, and they got that in Trump. Now the genie is out of the bottle and we can’t pretend that there is NOT a solid group of white people out there who vote on the basis of racial animosity. Not all white people, but a solid enough block in exurban and rural areas to put Trump over the top in crucial states.
Edited to add a crucial forgotten word.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
In his piece on trump’s addiction to cable tee-vee, Chait reminds us that Obama used to tell congressional Dems they needed to turn the TV off.
ETA: Ezra Klein a few years ago, I think during Bush’s second term, about being in the Senate offices for an interview and overhearing one Dem Senator say to another, in concerned tones, “Did you read Friedman today?” I’d bet a kidney that very few Dem Senators have ever emailed a Krugman column around to their colleagues, and if they did more than half of them (at least of that caucus) wouldn’t read it.
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: Some wag on the ‘net modified that to be Kahless (the Klingon Jesus).
efgoldman
@Kay:
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There cannot possibly be any doubt.
“It’s the racism, stupid.”
They KNOW he has broken, and will break, every campaign promise.
They KNOW he tried to take away their health insurance.
They KNOW he has proposed nuking Meals on Wheels,
They KNOW he can’t and won’t bring back the coal mines and the steel mills
They KNOW he won’t even try to do anything about the drug epidemic
They KNOW he won’t build a wall
They KNOW he won’t have any infrastructure proposal
They KNOW he’s a thief, a liar, and a sexual predator
But….
They KNOW he hates black people, brown people, Hispanic people and Muslim people as much as they do, and that’s all they need.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I see you found your hobby horse. ?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@lamh36:
I very much enjoy Dwayne Johnson in just about any role. I find Diesel to be incredibly uncharismatic, uncompelling.
Millard Filmore
@Baud:
Does that mean topless beaches? I’ll start campaigning for you tomorrow!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
from November
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I had to bring it out of the garage — I haven’t ridden it in a while. ?
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: THIS THIS THIS.
It’s about hating on the non-whites. All of it. “Those people”.
Kay
I went to Easter services with the Methodists this year. My son in law is a Methodist so we went to his church. Very nice people. I managed to grab a baby to hold on the way in which I highly recommend for entertainment while at church. They have this clever thing now where the babies have tights with little strap shoes painted on the foot end. Genius! Infant shoes were always pretty silly. I’m glad we dispensed with them.
hueyplong
@efgoldman: The “pivot” was always going to be to “more racism.”
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
They also make those in sock form to be mock sneakers so boys can get in on the shoeless action.
Steve in the ATL
@Kay: Methodists always strike me as the blandest, whitest Rotary Club/country club Republicans there are. Plus, as a (nominal) Episcopalian, I find their churches to be to be bland and uninteresting.
No offense to your Methodist in-laws…or mine!
Anne Laurie
@Jeffro:
Nah, I’ll admit I haven’t finished the copy I bought when it came out, but White Trash is a serious academic treatment about how the much-mooted ‘white working class’ has been a moving political target since the first indentured servants were imported. Worth a look!
Hillbilly Elegy, on the other hand, is just a white-trash guy jumping on the glibertarian gravy train — like Dr. Ben Carson lecturing disadvantaged Black kids about ‘personal responsibility.’
randy khan
@Yarrow:
So I’ll tell you why I think they didn’t do that:
a. The event is about the kids, and the volunteers (described as Obama volunteers, but I bet a bunch of them have been doing it for a lot longer than 8 years) care about the kids.
b. They know that if the event is a disaster it probably will be canceled, and might not ever come back.
columbusqueen
@Anne Laurie: Let me echo you here and say that Nancy Isenberg is a first class historian who’s done a lot of excellent work. I’m sure “White Trash” is a far more even handed book than you might think.
Linnaeus
If any NHL fans are still up, you need to be watching the CHI-NSH OT and the impending ANA-CGY OT. Great games.
ETA: I’m sure Scott Lemieux from LGM has thrown a brick at his TV by now.
efgoldman
@columbusqueen:
I wonder if the title is her own, or imposed on her.
opiejeanne
@Steve in the ATL: Funny, that’s the way we Methodists view Episcopalians. Republican yourself. Bah!
opiejeanne
@efgoldman: There is a cookbook called something like White Trash Cooking. I bought it for my older daughter when she went off to college. A lot of it was potluck food you’d see in the midwest, like fruit salad consisting of Kool Whip and canned fruit cocktail, but about half of it looked like recipes that were made up on the spot by someone who had a lot of two or three garden foods, like string beans and tomatoes and nothing much else available to eat.
It looked like the food of rural poverty and it was both fascinating and heartbreaking to read, once you spotted the hunger underlying those garden recipes.
Aleta
@opiejeanne: when you don’t have much meat or lots of vegetables to fix, you put dumplings in a stew, or make biscuits and gravy.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: re Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash:
Took that out of library (on short 14-day loan, since popular), but did not have time to read before departing for trip. Looked well written and well argued. Agree it’s an eye-catching title.
Bookend with “Cracker Culture”, perhaps.
From Dwight Garner’s book review in Fuck the Fucking New York Times (and I like Garner, mucho):
Citizen Alan
@Steve in the ATL:
I’ll take Methodists before Southern Baptists. They just literally seethe with hate.
Mothra
@randy khan: I thought the same thing – Trump has some kind of mild dementia and he just forgot what he was doing. Of course, the lack of apology to the kid is pure Trump. He’s a conceited, entitled jerk and he can’t even say I’m sorry to a child.
TerryC
@Lapassionara: I just read the article, which does not support the 400 Obama volunteers. There were 400 volunteers, many of whom were from previous administrations, including Obama’s. No doubt the core of the work was done by Obama admin people, but this article doesn’t state that.