Here’s a great blue heron:
Or at least a very good one. It was quite tame, hanging around some fishermen at sunset hoping for leftover bait, but it gave me the stink-eye when I got close.
This beach doesn’t allow dogs (fascists!), but as soon as the sun goes down, the dogs come out to frolic in the surf.
Tonight there was a Coast Guard helicopter crossing back and forth on the horizon. Lost tourist, maybe. Hope he/she/they are recovered.
My sleep schedule is all screwed up, so I’m wide awake, sitting outside slapping the zika-squitos away. Why are you up?
Major Major Major Major
I love the GBH. One of my favorite parts of living around here.
Nice picture. It looks hungry, but not in any particular hurry.
Mary G
Filled out my CA absentee ballot tonight and helped two new citizens originally from Guatemala do theirs. They wrote down all the choices to give to more friends. Thanks Trump!
divF
Insomnia. I hope I shake it soon – I am meeting with my trainer in 9 hours, and weightlifting goes a lot more smoothly if I am rested.
PurpleGirl
My sleep cycle is also messed up. I sleep during the day and then I’m up all night. Watching The Hunt for Red October and reading BJ right now. Problem is that I miss reading some good threads when I’m asleep in the morning and midday. Then during the evening I miss threads because I’m trying to do other things. Argh!!!
I need to either fix the lamp I use by the computer or buy a new one. Hard to go to the stores when I’m not fully conscious until 4 or 5 PM.
ETA: I like your nature pictures. I also should go over to the kittens cams and see which kittens are awake and playing.
Damien
Eh, working working. Trying to figure out the really unique puzzle of pasteurization for a product that can’t be heated.
I’m talking with a friend with whom I used to be on debate team, trying to understand how he’s a Bernie supporter. It’s really hard for him to wrap his mind around the idea that I’m on his side on the issues, but that Bernie himself was just a terrible, terrible candidate.
MikefromArlington
‘Cause I live in Ireland!
SectionH
@Mary G: Excellent!
Mr S, with a fair amount of “You must do this Today” (yesterday) from me, has registered to vote in California. I’ve been a permanent mail voter here (before 2012) but it was a step. We take voting pretty srsly, and well, it means something.
On a lighter (?) note, I just told the voter reg. story to a friend in Oz, in reply to his posting the cartoon”This is Australia, not America. YOU CAN’T WASTE YOUR VOTE!” Which basically explained what a transferable-preferential ballot was all about.
Betty: I took someone’s “GBH” the British way for a second. We had many pelicans this evening on the Fishing Peer in San Diego, including a line of 4 or 5 flying low over the water at sunset. I love your bird pix.
dollared
Seriously awesome crown on that dude. The ones in Seattle don’t seem to have that tuft. Love to watch them feed.
? Martin
@Mary G: 200,000 people registered yesterday just in CA. I’m sure they’re all just aching to vote Republican.
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: Nice. Love me some voters :)
Origuy
Herons show up on the Stanford campus from time to time. There’s a seasonal pond called Lake Lagunitas that draws them.
BillinGlendaleCA
I think I saw one of those on my last trip to the river.
ETA: The kid has an exam today that she has to pass or she doesn’t graduate. Then again, she’s received almost straight A’s so far in nursing school, so I’m not too worried.
qwerty42
Trip to Savannah tomorrow, so stuff that needs to be done here has to be out of the way. Got a bunch of plants in the ground (or pots, depending) yesterday afternoon.
Doug
Because it’s mid-morning in Germany.
Tokyokie
But then maybe the helicopters are searching for people who brought their dogs to the beach, thinking they’d be OK after sunset.
NotMax
Up because in a time zone 6 hours earlier than you easterners.
Duh.
PurpleGirl
5:09 in NYC and I’m gonna try and get some sleep. And the kittens at the Tiny Kittens cam woke up around Midnight were running wild and were a so funny to watch.
tybee
@qwerty42:
bidness or pleasure?
Poopyman
Enjoying the spring morning here in Southern MD before heading off to work where I can mostly avoid the summer afternoon heat. Because Maryland.
rikyrah
Good Morning☺, Everyone ?
Poopyman
Good morning, Sunshine!
(Runs out the door to work.)
barbequebob
@Tokyokie:
All,
There are a host of issues with dogs on beaches, but as a wildlife ecologist I will point out that there are a number of species of beach nesting birds that are threatened and endangered because of habitat loss and high levels of disturbance by humans and their pets, who tend to take over beaches at the very same time that these birds use them to nest, as they have been doing for thousands of years. . Dogs on beaches disturb these birds and have been known to kill their young. So, consider showing your love for and respect of our native wildlife by respecting the dog rules. We’re not fascists, we’re trying to protect birds that do not have their own voice. Thanks.
tybee
there is a $500 fine for a dog on a beach around here due to the birds.
Mustang Bobby
I occasionally get GBH’s on the waterway behind the house, but more often I get ibises and egrets. I’ve seen a couple of storks, too. I guess I’m too far south for coots (aka mud hens) and grebes, or they just don’t dig the life in the Miami suburbs.
Betty Cracker
@barbequebob: Good points, and hopefully it was clear to all the “fascists” line was me being facetious.
BillinGlendaleCA
Joe of the Morning is trashing the Trump, especially Trump trashing the Governor of New Mexico.
Baud
Clinton won Washington’s primary yesterday. But she gets no delegates out of it because Washington awards delegates through caucuses, which Bernie dominated.
So in a meaningful way, for the first time this year, Clinton and I tied in the number of delegates won.
Thank you, Washington!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Molotov!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Proving Bernie right. The DNC is a corrupt organization that has rigged the primary process in Clinton’s fav…… Umm, wait a minute, that doesn’t make any sense.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Clearly, this proves that the DNC is corrupt and incompetent.
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
Love the heron pic, especially the feet. They don’t look real.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: But Bernie is going to fix this travesty and respect the will of the voters in Washington by releasing all his delegates from their previous undemocratically attained pledges.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….. Sometimes I just crack me up.
Ultraviolet Thunder
If you had a beak like that, and could fly you wouldn’t be too worried about the soft pink ape-things either.
I’m at work. It’s a desk day. Gonna be hot in Detroit again. Evenings have been really lovely. This is the time of year to read a book outdoors after dinner.
liberal
Funniest thing, if Trump wins, will be the look on his supporters’ faces when he doesn’t do anything substantial about illegal immigration. Of course, in a couple years the economy will go south owing to those yuuuge policies, so the illegals will start self-deporting anyways.
Baud
@liberal:
If Trump wins, I plan to send life sized posters of Nelson Muntz to every distressed community in America that voted for him.
HA HA
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I went to college with the voice of Nelson Muntz.
ETA: Nancy Cartwright graduated in the class of 81, I was in the class of 82.
Tim Robbins was in my graduating class, ugh!
debbie
@liberal:
Or more immediately, the looks on their faces when they hear that he hoped to benefit from the housing crisis. More than a few of them lost their houses.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: That’s the coolest thing anyone has ever said on this blog.
@debbie:
The media this morning has such a erection for Trump.
He’s ratings gold!
Betty Cracker
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I love watching these birds fly. They look so comical and awkward for the first few seconds at take-off but are then pure beauty and grace.
debbie
I don’t know them well enough to distinguish between the two, but a blue or brown heron flew by my second floor window about 10 years ago. I’m in Ohio, so I assumed the bird was very, very lost.
barbequebob
@Betty Cracker:
sorry, guess my snarkmeter was still warming up .
The issue is a significant one where I live and work, and many other places, so I thought it would be good to explain the reasons for dog bans on public beaches during the warm months.
Kay
I’m meeting w/ a Clinton organizer Friday. I don’t know how her campaign is set up- Obama had a regional head (Great Lakes) and then divisions after that all the way to the county level. I don’t know how big this person’s territory is but he was calling from Toledo. One thing he said made me think it’s some kind of coordinated effort with the Ohio Democratic Party, some tie-in there, a name he mentioned, but I didn’t ask.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Joe of the Morning and his panel doesn’t. Joe’s of the opinion that Trump really doesn’t want to win.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: That’s two days in a row now. Weird. I assume they are using some algorithm to maintain the veneer of balance.
@Kay: Really cool, Kay. You can be the official BJ mole in the Clinton campaign.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The one thing that will turn the media against a guaranteed viewer draw: the feeling that they’re being conned.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No, I think Joe really thinks Trump is fucking it up. Basically he’s saying that Trump isn’t pivoting to be a serious general election candidate.
ETA: Heather Locklear was also at UCLA when I was there, looking at Wikipedia, we grew up in the same town(different high schools).
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Well, GMA seems to think Trump is taking it to Clinton. They’re all in with the dominance play. We’ll see, I guess.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Why would being conned suddenly start bothering them, wasn’t it obvious from the beginning?
Kay
@Baud:
They’ll contact all 88 counties. All Democratic Prez campaigns do. I’m sure they’re already in the Three C’s- the urban counties. We would be lower priority to be contacted. I thought they’d be out here by June so she’s right on time. Obama was here by April in 2012- they had a consistent small lead in OH and they wanted to keep it.
Betty Cracker
@barbequebob: No, you’re absolutely right! The dogs I saw on the beach yesterday evening were little ankle dogs, and they were on leashes at the surfline rather than running through the nearby vegetation (where I think the birds nest), so hopefully they didn’t disturb any birds, but your point is an excellent one: There are good reasons to keep dogs off the beach.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Heh, I just looked my Jr. High yearbook; Heather Locklear was a class behind me in my Jr. High.
debbie
@Kay:
Ted’s going to need all the help he can get. The Chamber ads against him are all over the air.
Baud
@Kay: Excellent. The primary result in Ohio made me think that they have a strong team there.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Man, I should have gone to school in California.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Funny, I remember a Locklear from Jr. High, I think it was her sister, who was in my class(Class of 74).
Weaselone
Has the Sander’s campaign demanded that the delegates for Washington be reallocated to reflect the will of the people yet?
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: No, they asked for a recanvse of the Kentucky results.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: I went to high school with Scott Bakula. I remember him as being in my class but looking at his wiki page he’s a couple years older than me, so no doubt not. First time I saw him on the screen I practically shouted, “BLAKULA!!!” (which is what we called him back then because of the B grade black vampire movies coming out just then) He hadn’t changed a bit.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I can’t believe how hard it is to get straight news anymore. I’ve heard so many different versions of what’s going on in Kentucky. And blogs have become just as bad as the MSM.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s cool too.
Gimlet
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/281147-dems-discuss-dropping-wasserman-schultz
Democrats backing likely presidential nominee Hillary Clinton worry Wasserman Schultz has become too divisive a figure to unify the party in 2016, which they say is crucial to defeating presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in November.
Wasserman Schultz has had an increasingly acrimonious relationship with the party’s other presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, and his supporters, who argue she has tilted the scales in Clinton’s favor.
“I don’t see how she can continue to the election. How can she open the convention? Sanders supporters would go nuts,” said a lawmaker, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
A senior Senate Democratic aide said, “There’s a strong sentiment that the current situation is untenable and can only be fixed by her leaving. There’s too much water under the bridge for her to be a neutral arbiter.”
Another Democratic senator who supports Clinton said Wasserman Schultz will hurt her chances of rallying the liberal base in the fall.
“We need to get this figured out and come together,” said the lawmaker. “Hillary’s got the nomination. She needs Bernie’s energy. It’s time for her to accommodate. It’s time to pick hard-nosed people to cut through things and figure out a deal.
“They need to know this is their party,” the lawmaker said, observing that if Wasserman Schultz were to be replaced as party leader, young liberals may become more enthusiastic about the ticket.
Kay
@debbie:
I wish they had a better candidate. He’s just so weak and he’s focused on trade which is real conundrum for Democrats in this state- Obama TPP and Clinton NAFTA and then Trump who just gets to blather. It’s almost not worth it for Democrats to focus there outside of Sherrod Brown who has a clear,consistent position. Sherrod Brown’s approach won’t work for anyone but him because his position is REAL. It’s like they think they can finesse it and just be Sherrod-Lite. It’s a mess.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Not really. What would be cool is if I could say, “I used to date Jennifer Lawrence, but I broke up with her because she was just too boring.”
Gimlet
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Baylor University declined to comment on reports on Tuesday that Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel charged with investigating Bill Clinton during his presidency who is now the president of the world’s largest Baptist college, has been fired over sexual abuse scandals at the school.
Local TV broadcaster KCEN reported on Tuesday that Starr had been fired, citing sources close to the Board of Regents.
Baud
@Gimlet:
The key paragraph in that story.
I don’t really care about DWS, but I don’t see her leaving before the election.
Kay
@debbie:
TPP has real benefits for agricultural interests, other countries limit our agricultural imports but we allow theirs in- so I expect Portman to quietly push that aspect while ostensibly running on “fair trade”. He’ll get a boost in rural counties but it’s just 100% drag on Democrats. Rural counties don’t vote for Democrats.
Poopyman
@Gimlet: The long knives are out. I think we’re finding out how many friends DWS doesn’t have.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Gimlet:
Y’know, I keep seeing articles by our elite political media, all consistently reporting comments by “knowledgeable insiders” regarding this or that, and mostly on petty process issues.
It is a bit of a distraction to see a bunch of unattributed gossip, about 60% of which is blatantly false. Anonymous sourcing is something you trot out on big scandal investigations or crimes, not on every little thing where the anonymous sources wants to prop a rep with a reporter on how important he or she is.
If it is small, put your damn name to it, or don’t bother at all.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: Bottom line, most of the general public doesn’t know who DWS is, and considering she’s already said that she’s planning on leaving after the election, this is a nothing burger. Bernie’s posse really doesn’t like those icky girls, do they?
Baud
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: I agree. Anonymous sourcing is way overused by the media. Whenever I see “senior Democratic consultant” or “person close to the campaign” in a story, I know to stop reading.
Kay
@Gimlet:
I don’t know why she doesn’t get fired for losing elections. She sucked at her job well before Sanders appeared. She’s probably happy he’s making this look like a vendetta. Bernie Sanders consistently finds the worst argument for everything.
Ultraviolet Thunder
I’m on the fence about DWS. Yeah, carrying water for the evil usurers in the payday loan industry is deplorable. That has to stop. And she’s overstayed her welcome as DNC head. If she should have been there at all.
But people are talking about primarying her. In Florida, tossing out an experienced politician could mean giving up the seat to the GOP. To me that’s too high a price to pay for a moral victory.
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
True but kind of irrelevant. If Bernie decides to make a fuss over it, the media will cover the fuss.
Betty Cracker
If the Bernie peeps really do settle on Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s scalp as their prize, what a pathetic end to the glorious revolution that would be. She’s already leaving that job after the election anyway, and ousting her before the convention would cause a lot of chaos and bad blood over nothing. I am NOT a DWS fan, but ferchrissakes, can’t Team Bernie find a bigger, better hill to die on?
@Ultraviolet Thunder: She’s definitely getting primaried; Sanders has endorsed her opponent and everything. She’ll probably win, though.
Gimlet
@Baud:
Anonymous sources are a part of the game.
Need to factor in harsh retaliation, trial balloons, Rovian schemes and more.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m looking at this ad where Trump says he hopes the housing market will crash because then he can make money and asking myself if that effective. For me, it’s not because of course that’s what he hoped. It’s his job to hope stuff like that. It’s not shocking.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Betty Cracker:
Agreed. People have complained to me that she needsto be primaried to forward progressive priorities. Fer Chrissakes. Go fight a Republican. They’re the real enemy.
rikyrah
@Kay:
thanks for keeping us informed, Kay.
Baud
@Gimlet:
I know they are part of the game. Doesn’t mean I can’t criticize that particular rule of the game. Anonymous sources should never be used to opinion or prediction or analysis, in my view. It’s OK to use them for getting information that is otherwise unobtainable.
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: It’s so hard to predict what will resonate. I was surprised the 47% thing dinged Romney so badly because I figured most people who were even considering voting for Romney would assume he was talking about the same people they themselves look down on. I’m not even sure it’s that direct a line: It’s probably more a matter of how the media chooses to frame it. Trump has received a staggering amount of leeway, IMO, but that’s not likely to last forever.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I don’t mean to be indelicate, but Portman’s voted in lockstep with The Turtle, and this is all that Strickland can argue with him?
Really?
rikyrah
@Gimlet:
Her incompetent behind should have been fired long ago. The whole supporting the payday loan industry-phuck her. If they get her scalp, good.
rikyrah
@Iowa Old Lady:
For people who were devastated by that crash, it’s effective.
For those left in the neighborhoods devastated by the crash, it’s effective.
It should be part of the larger narrative being drawn about him.
Poopyman
@Kay:
This has been the real problem all along. She’s just bad at her job.
bystander
@The Thin Black Duke:
Especially the ones who prevent you from learning the rules by keeping them secret.
Loving the Ken Starr story. Keeping your indiscretions with another adult to yourself is a crime. Covering up and excusing a sexual assault are just different ways of pursuing the same brand of Justice, conservative-style.
liberal
Hulk Hogan lawsuit against Gawker apparently funded by Libertarian?/alt-right?/Fascist?/Trump supporter Peter Thiel.
Kay
@rikyrah:
There’s something fundamentally weak about Ted Strickland. He’s from a different time for Democrats where you could be a liberal with an NRA endorsement. He’s just all over the place. He voted for the bankruptcy law in Congress and my husband asked him about it once. My husband is really blunt and it can be intimidating – he’s aggressive asking questions and he was pissed about that law. Strickland was rattled and got embarrassingly dodgy and uncomfortable. It just comes off as weak.
rikyrah
May 25, 2016 8:30 AM
The Most Important Legacy of Barack and Michelle Obama
By Nancy LeTourneau
…………………………………….
Barack and Michelle Obama entered the White House not only with an awareness about what was coming, but also an understanding that they would face this kind of onslaught as the first African Americans to live there. There have been times that I’ve tried to imagine the weight they willingly took on their shoulders to avoid those kinds of entanglements – knowing what the slightest human imperfection would trigger.
It’s not that Republicans haven’t tried. We’ve seen attempts to blow up everything from a gun-running sting gone bad, mistreated veterans, the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange, Secret Service debauchery, the IRS targeting, Hillary Clinton’s email server and Benghazi. That doesn’t even count all the times we’ve been subjected to complaints about teleprompters, the President’s golf game, family vacations, and the color of the suit the President wore for a press conference (to name just a few). But other than in the minds of the conspiracy-obsessed, nothing stuck.
As we approach the 2016 election and the end of this President’s second term, we’ll continue to see attempts to summarize his legacy of accomplishments. This one should be at the top of any list. That is partly because an attempt to de-legitimize him via scandal has failed. It is also why he will be positioned to be an asset to Hillary Clinton. But in ways that are probably not yet imagined, Barack and Michelle Obama have paved the way for countless young African Americans to be proud, and aspire to follow in their footsteps.
Kay
@Poopyman:
Right. So Bernie decided to go with the vague and complicated and boring “favoritism” charge rather than “she sure loses some elections, doesn’t she?” People love long discussions about who said what at the Nevada caucus. It’ll be riveting.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Sigh….
So, the Ohio Democrats once again come up with a candidate who won’t optimize what should be a vulnerable GOPer?
REALLY?
PS-still not past that you all didn’t vet the Gubernatorial candidate from last year. I’ll bluntly state -no Black candidate wouldn’t have had every inch of their lives investigated.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Because he was a former FBI agent! They thought the FBI vets people :)
Jeffro
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I know, I saw that – Trump’s actual remarks are so incredibly offensive and stupid*, every GOP elected official in the country with two brain cells to rub together has to be rethinking his/her strategy for the fall. Just when they were all about to get behind this clown, too. No wonder Kaisch and Rubio are holding onto their delegates.
*already seeing comments here and there that Trump went off on Martinez because she’s both Hispanic and female. I’m sure that’s part of it. Will the last old white male voter still with Trump come November please turn out the lights in the GOP?
Btw can we please have a thread devoted to how amazingly, exquisitely, AWESOMELY Elizabeth Warren is doing, teeing off of Trump? It’s unbelievable. 16 “deep benchers” have to be asking themselves this morning, “How come I didn’t think of this? Oh that’s right, I have no principles, never mind.” It’s GREAT!
liberal
@The Thin Black Duke: Yeah, when someone is a shill for payday lenders, they’re pretty icky.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Seconded here (that it’s effective). While some folks might sympathize Trump’s efforts to pay little/no taxes, no one’s going to admit to being openly gleeful about making money off of the tremendous misery caused by the Great Recession. Perhaps more to the point, few people will openly support, donate money to, volunteer for, such a person.
Even big-money folks who feel the same way have to wonder at Trump being dumb enough to openly talk about making money off of this. But his ego just won’t let him shut up about it. I can’t wait to see the things he’s going to say at rallies and/or on Twitter trying to justify this, it’ll be awesome.
Kathleen
@Baud: Baudgate?
debbie
@rikyrah:
The GOP is blaming Strickland for the losses suffered in Ohio from the financial crisis — Strickland cost Ohio 350,000 jobs, had to raise taxes, etc. And no one’s come up with an ad to fight that. That there are even people who buy into that utter bullshit makes me nuts.
It makes me even angrier that there was so little support for Sittenfeld. He’d be such a better candidate.
debbie
@Kay:
Sad to say, she makes Reince look good.
Joel
@Baud: People still watch GMA?
WereBear
Hey guys, question about a possible scam:
I’m still running my bi-annual Way of Cats Fund Drive (thanks to all who donated so far!) and I got a weird, ONE CENT, donation. Then the person told me if I just refunded the penny, they would send me the $50 they had intended to send.
Which seems very weird to me. Any idea?
There’s a paypal forum which is several years old, saying this can be a credit card scammer testing cards. But then why ask for a refund?
I’m baffled.
rikyrah
do cheap oil prices mean more fracking or less fracking?
I’m just asking this because I was trying to follow the fracking debate in one of yesterday’s posts
Kathleen
@Baud: Sanders asked for a recanvass which he doesn’t have to pay for unlike a recount. At most he could get one additional delegate. Acommenter at LGF who has worked with this process in KY said it takes about 30 seconds to ck a machine. Every county will be canvassed and process will begin tomorrow morning.
Joel
@liberal: It’s too bad it was the guy parodying Peter Thiel who was struck by cancer.
Shell
Funny, thought this would be the first time in a while that the p rimary vote here in NJ might mean something. But also very glad we’re not inundated with tv ads. I guess the Sanders campaign has given New Jersey up for Hillary. And what little money they have left is going towards California.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
She has shown the way. Hillary needs to get a group of female surrogates on tv and twitter to follow Warren’s lead.
and yes, they need to be women.
The Thin Black Duke
@liberal: Yeah, but they really don’t give a damn about that, and neither do you.
Kathleen
@<a href="#comment-581@Kay: Eric Kearney would be a great candidate except for his taxes. He was an outstanding state senator and is just a great person. His wife was Obama’s classmate at Harvard. He said he’s out of politics for awhile since he has children headed to college.
rikyrah
Political Animal Blog
May 24, 2016 3:00 PM
Vietnam: Then and Now
By Nancy LeTourneau
…………………………………
Those are the stories that define my generation. I can understand why they don’t carry the same emotional weight for those who came of age after all of that was over. And I can also understand why President Obama’s words today to the people of Vietnam sound thoughtful, but don’t bring the tears that I shed when I read them.
Conservatives are always worrying that President Obama is intent on apologizing for America. As these words demonstrate, that is not his concern. His aim is to further the cause of healing from the wounds that still reside in many of us – both here and in Vietnam – so that we can embrace that “token of trust” for a more hopeful next 100 years.
rikyrah
May 25, 2016 10:00 AM
Trump Pivots to the General Election…by Attacking Women
By Nancy LeTourneau
It has been fascinating to observe pundits who claim that Donald Trump will change his stripes during the general election in a way that appeals to a broader constituency. I’ve always thought that those assumptions were based on the idea that he was simply playing a character during the primaries – much as he did on TV. But that ignores the fact that he has been a narcissistic bully for a very long time.
Now that Trump’s competitors have dropped out of the race and he is the presumptive Republican nominee, the bullying insults to anyone who challenges him have not stopped. Last night in New Mexico, his target was Gov. Susan Martinez – who happens to be the chair of the Republican Governor’s Association, the first Latina governor in the U.S. and the first female governor of New Mexico. But of course, this is what you get from Trump if you refuse to endorse him.
MattF
@rikyrah: Um, less, probably. But the recent price history of oil has taught the frackers how to lower their costs, so ‘cheap’ is a moving target. OPEC oil is very low cost, and the cost of fracking provides a ceiling– if the market price for OPEC goes up, fracking will revive.
rikyrah
Why are these stories coming from overseas papers?
……………………………….
Exclusive: Donald Trump signed off deal designed to deprive US of tens of millions in tax
by Ruth Sherlock Edward Malnick Claire Newell
25 MAY 2016 • 2:00PM
Donald Trump signed off on a controversial business deal that was designed to deprive the US Government of tens of millions of dollars in tax, the Telegraph can disclose.
The billionaire approved a $50 million investment in a company – only for the deal to be rewritten several weeks later as a ‘loan’.
Experts say that the effect of this move was to skirt vast tax liabilities, and court papers seen by the Telegraph allege that the deal amounted to fraud.
Independent tax accountants and lawyers said that the documents Mr Trump signed – copies of which were obtained by this newspaper as part of a three-month investigation – contained “red flags” indicating the deal was irregular.
But the Republican presumptive presidential nominee signed nonetheless.
rikyrah
GO Senator Warren
She is showing the way, Democrats.
SHE.IS.SHOWING.THE.WAY.
FlipYrWhig
@Kay:
Supposedly his focus is “income inequality,” but it seems like for months his entire campaign has been “The Man is trying to silence us, don’t let them do it.” That’s what holds the whole assemblage together. It’d be nice if the thematic through-line were “let’s throw a lifeline to the little guy, we can’t afford to wait,” but it isn’t, it’s all process arcana linked to this notion of politics being rigged. I think you’ve said before that the two are supposed to be hinged, so that un-rigging the system makes it possible to throw a lifeline to the little guy, but all of the energy is being expended on process critiques, campaign finance, and other meta things. As you know I find that exceptionally odd, not because they don’t matter at some level, but because other things matter so much more.
rikyrah
Hmmph.
They think they’re special.
The dogwhistles were for them too…so, that they could shill themselves to the larger community.
……………………….
What would it take to be ‘beyond redemption’?
05/24/16 11:20 AM—UPDATED 05/24/16 12:18 PM
By Steve Benen
It’s hardly a secret that today’s Republican Party faces serious demographic challenges: in a country that’s increasingly diverse and multi-cultural, the contemporary GOP is increasingly white and homogeneous.
But Republicans are not literally devoid of diversity. There are, for example, some prominent Hispanic conservatives who are nearly always aligned with GOP candidates up and down the ballot. Given that Donald Trump is the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, what are they thinking right about now? The Hill had an interesting report on this the other day.
………………..
As MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin noted the other day, in reference to the GOP’s Latino wing, “If they accept Trump, Republicans can take for granted they will accept literally anything from now on.”
Cat48
@rikyrah:
Clinton already has female.surrogates on TV. I don’t think Warren or anyone needs to tell her what to do. She’s been thru this before. Washington Post says Warren is already carrying Clinton’s message, in a speech she gave last night. Same message that Barbra Boxer delivered on TV.
rikyrah
The ‘schmooze’ theory needs to go away
05/24/16 10:47 AM—UPDATED 05/24/16 12:07 PM
By Steve Benen
CBS’s Norah O’Donnell talked with Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, in a much-discussed interview that aired over the weekend, and much of the Q&A focused on one familiar thesis. Here, for example, was the first question, on the subject of Judge Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination.
When Jarrett explained that Senate Republicans’ handling of the Garland nomination has more to do with politics than personal relationships, O’Donnell was unmoved. “But in two terms, seven years, why hasn’t the president been able to find a Republican that he can call up and say, ‘Help me out on this’?” the reporter asked. “Does he have any Republican friends?”
As Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum noted, the interview just kept going along these lines, with O’Donnell asking nine questions in a row – literally, nine – about whether the president is sufficiently friendly with congressional Republicans. “Isn’t politics about schmoozing?” she asked. “And isn’t politics about friendship?”
Mike J
@FlipYrWhig:
What makes it more annoying is the fact that process is rigged in his favor. Small,demographically unrepresentative states coming first, proportional delegates all the way through.
rikyrah
Maine’s LePage fails to defend the indefensible
05/25/16 09:21 AM
By Steve Benen
It was the sort of story that made Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) look so awful, he managed to even surprise his critics. In mid-April, the far-right governor vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense an effective anti-overdose drug without a prescription. But it was LePage’s explanation that added insult to injury.
“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage said in a written statement. As we discussed at the time, the governor, in a rather literal sense, made the case that those struggling with opioid addiction don’t have lives worth saving.
Maine’s legislature soon after overrode LePage’s veto, but the governor recently hosted a town-hall meeting at which he defended his position. The Bangor Daily News reported:
That’s quite an anecdote, which the Republican governor appears to have completely made up.
D58826
@rikyrah: Can we elect him president for life ? (I know Michelle would veto the election.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
My understanding is she got the job when Jennifer Granholm backed out. I think Warren should be named ceremonial chair and give the day-to-day operations job to somebody we’ve never heard of (maybe) but who is familiar with the national and state level infrastructure. Give Warren an official, national platform and put an outspoken, progressive face on the national party, linked to but distinct from the Clinton campaign.
eta; as a bonus, Chuck Schemer would probably really hate seeing her given that kind of role just as he takes over for Harry Reid
D58826
@Baud: If you put DWS in a one person police lineup wearing a name tag, 99% of the public could not pick her out. Surely there must be something more important for the party to argue about – I know how about who put the Nile crocodiles in the everglades. So lets create a scapegoat to explain why Bernie is losing and oh yes send more money.
Can we keep our eye on the prize – Winning the Nov. general election
Mike J
@rikyrah: Seattle cops have saved six lives since March with Narcan.
D58826
@rikyrah: Great FSM they still beating that dead horse. That horse has been dead so long that all that left is dust. If Obama had nominated Nino’s lawyer son to fill his dad’s seat, the GOP would have a reason to object. As to whither Obama has a republican that he can call? Well the person has to pick up the phone and the Goopers would rather get caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl than take a phone call from Obama.
Cat48
It’s not DWS’s fault that no one wanted to be seen or mention our great POTUS! All the white people ran away from him and told him to do nothing. They brought in the Clintons & Warren to star in the midterm & benched Obama.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Want to bring your dogs onto the beach? Come on out to sunny Southern California! For your pleasure, we’ve wiped out every pesky native life form that used to live in the near-beach oceans here, from the sand dollars to the birds to the lobsters to the tuna – everything. Even the seagulls! And then we bulldoze the beaches down to a depth of six feet to remove organic matter that might allow the beaches to someday regenerate, and truck in new sand, because we’ve built out over all the streams, creeks and rivers that used to bring sand down from the mountains naturally and if we didn’t truck in the sand, we’d have no beaches at all.
Might as well bring the dogs, they, some rats, passing pelicans and people are the only living creatures left on our beaches. Even our local crows ignore them, no food. They’ve literally been sterilized.
rikyrah
Caught fibbing, Trump scrambles to address veterans controversy
05/25/16 08:41 AM—UPDATED 05/25/16 08:48 AM
By Steve Benen
In a normal year, in a normal party, with a normal candidate, it would be the kind of controversy that effectively kills a presidential candidate’s chances of success. In January, Donald Trump skipped a Republican debate in order to host a fundraiser for veterans. He boasted at the time that he’d raised $6 million for vets – which led to a related boast that Trump contributed $1 million out of his own pocket.
The Washington Post reported this week that Trump’s claims simply weren’t true. He did not, for example, raise $6 million. And what about the $1 million check the Republican bragged about? His campaign manager insisted this week that Trump did make the contribution.
Except, that wasn’t true, either. The Post reported last night:
The check is apparently going to a group called the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, whose chairman received a call from Trump on Monday night, the day the campaign controversy broke.
Let’s put aside, for now, why the Trump campaign said he’d made a donation that did not exist. Let’s instead ask why it took nearly four months for the candidate to do what he claimed to have already done.
Steeplejack
@WereBear:
It sounds bogus as hell. If I accidentally donated only a penny, I’d just (re)send the remaining $49.99.
If it’s a scam, maybe they are wanting to find out which card numbers’ charges went through successfully and without tripping any alarms. Some number of people would not notice a 1¢ variance on their card balance, if they don’t scrutinize each and every transaction.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
with no real idea how this works.. it would establish two-way traffic on that card? you would be acknowledging its validity?
rikyrah
where DA PHUQ have they been?
this is ridiculous.
should have been formed the day after that horrendous SC decision.
………………………………..
The Voting Rights Caucus gets to work
05/25/16 10:42 AM
By Steve Benen
The list of caucuses in Congress isn’t short. These officially recognized groups of lawmakers, who get together in pursuit of a common agenda, include names that are probably familiar to many Americans – the Congressional Black Caucus, for example – but there are plenty that are far more obscure. Before this morning, for example, I’d never heard of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus or the Congressional Explosive Ordnance Disposal Caucus, both of which evidently exist.
Up until yesterday, however, there was no Voting Rights Caucus. Yesterday, as the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth reported, Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) changed that.
The caucus appears to already have 50 members, and though the list doesn’t identify lawmakers by party, a quick review suggests all 50 are Democrats.
WereBear
@Steeplejack: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I agree! Which is why I’m not giving the penny back. It might close a loop that leaves me vulnerable in some way.
Will keep a close watch on it. Thanks all!
D58826
@srv: In that case Baud will win with all of the write in votes. Isn’t there something more useful that you can do with your time – like tearing the wings off flies? Or taking a unicorn census in Atlantis?
rikyrah
@srv:
you gotta troll with better nonsense than this.
D58826
@WereBear: And once that transaction completes he will send you the information to collect your Nigerian lottery winnings, for a slight fee. Seems to high heaven to me. better ways to check that your charity is legit.
trollhattan
@srv:
So much wrong in so few words. Your efficiency is to be saluted, immediately prior to the requisite mocking. Home-schooling is truly a national disgrace.
rikyrah
Trump Empowers Extremists in Congress
by BooMan
Wed May 25th, 2016 at 10:31:59 AM EST
Every once in a while, I have to remind folks of some basic facts about Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. This is one of those times.
Of course, Sessions got his revenge by getting elected to the same Senate that had rejected him as a judge and then winning an appointment to the same Judiciary Committee that had declined to send his nomination to the floor. Keeping Alabama racism at bay is like trying to drown a cork, and Sessions soon defined himself as one of the most extreme and intemperate opponents of Latino immigration in this country’s power structure. He was also the first U.S. Senator to endorse Donald Trump, and that’s now paying dividends.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack:
Agree, somebody’s running a card # to test validity. I’d forward to the CC company.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: I’m feeling a little sniffly right now…must be the wind kicking up all that dust outside…
Among all the other reasons I’m going to miss PBO is that he’s just such a powerful, eloquent speaker. People are going to be studying his speeches a hundred years from now the way we study Lincoln’s.
D58826
@WereBear: It’s not a scam but I’m getting a ton of mail and phone calls addressed to my sister in her maiden name. Somehow thru some mail scubbing system they seem to think she live at my address. Now we haven’t shared a common address since 1969. We haven’t shared a common last name since 1983 when she got married. And we haven’t even lived in the same state since 1992. It’s kinda funny when I get a mailing that she is just the kind of person that the national chemical society wants as a member but the medicare supplements are much more numerous and are getting a bit annoying
D58826
@srv:
I guess a bit better than the last one. And the flies get to live a bit longer
manyakitty
@debbie: Plus Strickland is a weak candidate. Not as bad as Fitzgerald was, of course, but why can’t we find anyone better? I liked PG Sittenfeld, but he’s still growing into his role. We’re going to keep losing ground until the Ohio Dems get their/our collective acts together.
manyakitty
@Kay: Ha! I should have read down for your response. Such agree!
WereBear
@trollhattan: Will do so!
D58826
@srv: Well while we wait on that idea, when are you planning on joining the French Foreign Legion. I’ll add my name to a petition to the French government to send your unit to Syria. I’m sure ISIS will be terrified at the prospect.
WereBear
Seconded. He is a very tough act to follow :)
Dave Beauvais
@srv:
You are a moron.
Steeplejack
@WereBear, @trollhattan:
My (apparently criminal) mind has been thinking about this a little more in the background.
Picture this scenario: The villain donates 1¢ to a site via a card number stolen from somewhere, then requests a refund for the “error” with a promise of a larger donation. The gullible site—not you!—complies. Now the villain knows the card number is viable and runs up a shit-ton of charges on the card. When the hapless card holder finally wakes up to what is happening, he or she is going to see that it all started with those two ridiculously small transactions at GullibleBlogHost.com—and assume that that is where the villainy lies. Banking and law-enforcement hijinks ensue, while the villain gets away undetected.
D58826
@Gimlet: While it is a sideshow that no one will remember after Hillary is elected. It is a distraction and sometimes you have to fall on your sword for the good of the party. Can someone show Debbie to the sword closet please.
D58826
@srv: back to catching fliers I see
scav
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: et al. No reason scammers can’t muti-task. Run a program looking for credit-card whatever transaction vulnerabilities, but with the question and ping-back, don’t you accumulate a list of known gullible people? Can either exploit them directly or sell the list.
MattF
Via TPM, the Bundy Brothers are protesting the fact that their right to bear arms is being infringed– while they’re in jail.
rikyrah
Republican VP contender’s finances draw FBI scrutiny
05/25/16 11:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has been the subject of a lot of vice-presidential speculation, and on paper, it’s easy to understand why. In fact, by some measures, the Tennessee Republican is the mirror opposite of Donald Trump: Corker is an experienced insider; he’s well liked within the party; and he’s the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. When it comes to VP speculation, that’s a lot of checked boxes.
Plus, unlike many other prominent GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Corker doesn’t seem to hate the presumptive Republican nominee. Indeed, this week, the senator “declined an invitation to join President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Asia,” but Corker “did find time for a New York meeting with Donald Trump on Monday,” where the two reportedly chatted about foreign policy.
All things considered, the Tennessean certainly looks like the kind of guy who’d make Trump’s short list for the Republican ticket. There is, however, a problem, which Politico highlighted overnight:
It’s worth emphasizing that the exact nature of the FBI’s and SEC’s scrutiny is unclear – there have been no reports of a possible indictment – and Corker insists he’s done nothing wrong. Whether these probes will amount to anything is, at least for now, entirely speculative.
D58826
@MattF: do you mean to tell that the jail doesn’t provide the necessary guns, explosives and shovels to conduct a successful jail break? Oh the humanity
Why can’t we get these guys on BJ. They are obviously made of the highest quality TRoll stuff.
MattF
@rikyrah: Sounds like a good fit with Der Trump.
Miss Bianca
@MattF: favorite new meme from the comments on that story.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack:
First time I had a card suspended (triggered when somebody in New Jersey went on a late night shopping spree at an Apple store and a Best Buy) it was preceded by a successful tiny on-line purchase of a few cents.
D58826
This is totally OT but somehow appropriate with tMemorial day weekend coming up. It also puts to shame all those true Murkins whose patriotism extends no further than a lapel pin. Didn’t realize that he never did a big budget war film even though ‘Strategic Air command’ was kinda war related. The in flight photography was great
This is the best line ‘ When interviewed for the seminal 1970s documentary series “The World at War,” he was identified as “Squadron Commander James Stewart” and spoke only of the bombing campaign.
WereBear
@Steeplejack: Yes. Makes sense.
And it is the same lure as Nigerian “I have tons o’ money for you” because there’s a part of one’s brain who will think “I give back a penny and get $50!”