From wise garden commentor Marvel:
Here’s my gal Sal (in red antlers) and her old friend Lotto (under the tree). I know they don’t look happy here, but you’d be surprised: after this snapshot, they downed a cup of souped-up eggnog and went out caroling.
OK, maybe they didn’t. Truth: Sally shook her antlers off, then helped Lotto off with his hat.
What’s on the agenda as we wrap up another hectic-to-hellish week?
***********
One of the first things I learned about living with rescue animals who’d been abused or neglected: Overenthusiastic displays of friendliness scare them. Sometimes, you just have to go on with your daily routine, and let them come to you.
Therefore, I fully endorse Sam Bee’s message to Democrats hoping to persuade WWC voters:
rikyrah
Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
The dogs crack me up. They tolerate the costume because you feed them.???
satby
@rikyrah: Morning rikyrah and everyone else.
Love the sad doggy expressions! Sal is adorable with her little pigeon toes.
BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: Oh, that’s how you get them to wear them. I’ll have to try that with my girls.
That Sam Bee clip is on point, maybe some of our “Progressive Betters” can watch and learn.
OzarkHillbilly
I luvs me some Sam Bee in the morning.
As for being lost in the wilderness, I gotta say as someone who has spent a lot of time in actual wildernesses, I have never been lost. I always knew exactly where I was.
Right….
Here.
raven
Not Lil Bit, she got dumped in a box at our vet but she’s been a love bug since day one!
Zinsky
Samantha’s video is great and she is right! Until we stop letting these shitbag Republicans define who we are and what we believe, we are going to lose elections to these intellectual midgets. This “identity politics” meme is utter horseshit, like every other bit of verbal diarrhea coming out of the mouth of these un-American morons. Trump is the worst president in American history and we need to relentlessly remind the American people of that.
Mustang Bobby
Dogs love us until we make them act like us. Then they go right back to licking their naughty bits.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: You do know the reason we don’t lick our naughty bits? The vast majority of us can’t physically do it.
ETA: The rain’s coming down pretty good here, 0.86 inches since midnight(in addition to about 3/4 an inch last night).
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: The Woofmeister has been a luvbug since day one, to the point of clinginess at times.
Phylllis
Looking forward to the start of Winter break about midday and the next 16 days off. Seems like such a long time on the front end, but also seems to speed by mighty quick.
NotMax
Speaking of animals and the holiday season, coming up on TCM at 7:30 a.m. (Eastern time) this Sunday is The Great Rupert.
Second tier fare but nevertheless a charming little flick featuring top billed Jimmy Durante effectively tamping down his usual cinematic mania as well as some of George Pal’s best close-up FX work. For those who have younger children, they will love Rupert the squirrel.
There’s a colorized version on DVD (retitled as A Christmas Wish.)
satby
@Phylllis: I start working afternoons instead of mornings next week, and then because Christmas is on Sunday and we’re also off Christmas eve I have six days in a row off! If it’s not freezing out, I plan to clear enough stuff out of boxes in the garage and put it away so that I don’t feel like I’m constantly looking for a stray utensil in the middle of food prep.
tybee
i just want to say: fuck jack kingston.
i’m sorry i ever voted for the bastard back when he first got started in politics.
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: What’s the status of the drought in California?
raven
@tybee: A lowlife if ever there was one.
JPL
@tybee: He’s just a common guy, who drives around in his station wagon. lol
At least Perdue was honest about who he was.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: Still with us, but the last 2 years should help. Northern CA had a pretty wet year last year, but it was still pretty dry here in the south. We do get a lot of our water locally, so rain down here’s important(also means we don’t have to water in the winter).
p.a.
What’s a Deep State to do when your Boss of All Bosses is your most compromised client? Probably willingly compromised.
BillinGlendaleCA
I mentioned that I ordered a new tablet to replace my old, dead Note 8. So I got shipping notification from Costco and checked the link and UPS said it was delivered. Only problem, the shipping date was 12/15/2016 and the delivery date was 11/30/2015. It seems that UPS is reusing their tracking numbers, a hour or two later it updates with a delivery date of today, though it still has the 2015 date in the tracking.
kindness
I’m praying for ‘Faithless Electors’. They are my only hope at this point.
Butch
We bought moose horns for our three dogs. I expect they will not be happy.
Baud
Much like me, dogs prefer to be unclothed.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mustang Bobby: @BillinGlendaleCA:
Ifn’s you guys is interested, NOAA’s North American Drought Monitor.
Also the Climate Prediction Center can be handy too.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You’ve never met my Nikki, she loves her sweater.
NotMax
@kindness
Inconceivable that there will be enough to alter the outcome. Would require 37 of them to throw the decision to the House.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I like to garden naked. The UPS driver has been warned.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: One of my former neighbors(we share a front yard) had a boxer. Friendliest dog in the world, just big and mean looking. One day the UPS guy came in though the gate to make a delivery and was just walkin’ along all happy, until he sees Duke walking up to say hi. He dropped the package and hightailed it out of the yard.
ETA: Up to 1.12 inches of rain since midnight.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: And what came out of the House would in all likelihood be far more competent than Trump which would be far worse for us.
NotMax
Okay, howzabout a moose decked out for Xmas (last pic at the linked page)?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Did Duke do one of those head tilts?
@OzarkHillbilly: The House wouldn’t run away from Trump. And I would choose sane over Trump at this point.
p.a.
@BillinGlendaleCA: I worked with a guy at New England Tel who had 8 dogbites in his record (meaning broken skin, not just nipped hem). I asked him if he used hamburger as an aftershave.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Not sure, it’d be more like being killed by poison(the House) or by gunshot(Trump).
Kay
The public needs much more information on the Russian hacking.
The first thing they need is a complete list of which House elections were targeted so we’ll know the names and districts of the House members who were elected with Russian government assistance. They really have a right to know if their representative is part of this BEFORE they start voting on Trump’s agenda. They also need to know about Senate races. It seems unlikely that the Russian government was carefully choosing swing House districts and not choosing Senate races.
This is much bigger than Trump. We have a one Party far Right government and we’re talking about two branches that are compromised. The extent of the meddling in Congressional races is arguably more of a threat than Trump.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: Woofmeister gets his hackles up barking like crazy and acting like he wants to rip off somebodies gonads. In truth he’s just so happy and excited that the UPS guy came all this way just to see him. Also he gets to smell what other dogs he has visited with that day. I swear their all on a first scent basis.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You are on point again, Kay.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s the way Nikki is; then again, Nikki is a Cocker Spaniel so she doesn’t look too threatening.
Kay
If the information we have so far is accurate, the Russian government wanted (and got) more than Trump- they got the Congress they wanted too- to a greater or lesser extent- we don’t know. The public needs the names of which congressional members were aided by this because Congress will be doing the investigating. We need a list immediately. They can’t investigate themselves.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: O-o. That’s not very presidential. You’re already damaging your 2020 presidential run.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay: You’re right about the Russian hacking going beyond Trump.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Patricia Kayden: Baud!2020! is not an establishment politician, and the lack of clothing is proof!
Kay
@rikyrah:
The FBI likes email investigations. Let’s see the emails of the GOP House candidates who ran against the Dem candidates who were hacked. It’s bizarre that the public has one side of this- they have what the victims said. There’s another side. Sitting GOP House members won those races. They’ll be voting on laws. Maybe Senators too. We don’t know.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: Maybe I should assault some women so I appear more presidential.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I’d be afraid they’d install Ryan. He appears to be sane, is definitely competent, a complete ideologue and as evil as Satan. Ryan understands the egos in DC far better than Trump ever will and knows far better how to get what he wants out of them.
To me Trump is scary, Ryan is absolutely terrifying. YMMV.
rikyrah
@Kay:
That is right.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: At this point I’m more concerned about foreign issues and people in other nations than domestic difficulties. We had our chance to avoid the wreck.
gogol's wife
@Baud:
I’m with you. I find Ryan much less scary — he’s sane (if evil), and he’s uncharismatic so the Hitler factor goes way down.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I agree, look at the ShitGibbon’s reaction to a negative review of the restaurant in his gilded tower.
Phylllis
@NotMax: That’s a terrific little movie. Thanks for the heads up.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The threat of nuclear holocaust is definitely higher with Trump.
Phylllis
@satby: Oh yeah, this break is for ruthlessly cleaning out dressers and closets.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Josh Earnest has taken a hard line on the Trump horde’s Russian hacking denialism. I don’t think he would do so unless directed to by PBO. That gives me some hope that the current admin will do all it can to expose the extent of Russian involvement.
Patricia Kayden
@OzarkHillbilly: I agree with your assessment that Ryan is terrifying. Ryan is the one who wants to strangle Granny and throw her over the cliff. Trump is just a means to that end.
Kay
@rikyrah:
People should know so at the very least they can watch how they vote. You could have a situation where Congress is voting on a Trump initiative or policy or action and it passes based solely on the votes of members who were part of this.
Also- the Senate races were just miraculously unsullied? Really? They wanted Trump and they wanted a lock-step GOP House but they were unconcerned about a possible D Senate? That doesn’t make sense.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: Grannies voted for Trump.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Makes no sense at all. Wondering about PA, FL and WI
Iowa Old Lady
You can bid on a coffee date with Ivanka. Too on the nose?
Money does go to charity, or so they claim.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I’m interested in the middle part, too. The House info was supposedly released using blogs- so that’s “public”. Russian government to bloggers. But what if there were other channels that were not “public”? What if they passed info directly to GOP campaigns (or more likely, PACs) and those PAC’s or campaigns used it and their opponent never knew? We don’t know the extent of this as far as Congress. We have only the statements of House members who knew they were victims.
Kay
@Iowa Old Lady:
Ivanka and her husband will overreach until someone stops them. They’re getting around nepotism laws with her proposed “Office of the First Family”. Sleazy Conway is out on cable explaining how the Trump Family have found a loophole in nepotism laws. Conway announced those laws were intended to apply only to Cabinet members.
Ivanaka and her husband are ENTITLED to a job in the US government and they will get one. It’s amusing to me how media are still insisting that at some point the Trumps will recognize boundaries. No, they won’t. Rules don’t apply to them.
Baud
@Kay: Two for the price of one, Kay.
Kay
@Iowa Old Lady:
Remember, too, every norm or rule the Trumps ignore, get around or violate? That’s the new rule for everyone who comes after them. If Trump hires his daughter and son in law but doesn’t pay them a federal salary (that’s what they’re looking at to avoid the nepotism law) everyone who comes after him will do the same thing.
Since the only people who afford to live on no salary are wealthy people, we;ll have exclusively wealthy lawmakers installing their offspring, which is just the cherry on top of this sleaze.
rikyrah
@Kay:
His father is in jail. NO WAY he could pass muster for a security clearance.
Kay
@Baud:
That’s what the Politico reporter meant with that Tweet. The nepotism law doesn’t apply to the spouse of the President, obviously- it can’t or we wouldn’t have a first lady or gentleman. That’s what Trump is getting around and that’s why the Clintons aren’t comparable. She was saying that unless Ivanka is Trump’s wife they’re breaking this law.
Baud
@Kay: I didn’t see the tweet. I just remember how outraged the right was when Hillary didn’t take on a traditional First Lady role.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Trump will jam them in. It’s a done deal. Trump hasn’t done a stand-alone press conference because he has to be surrounded by his celebrity posse or his adoring crowds. Did you see where they seated the kids at the tech conference? At the head of the table. Un-fucking believable. They will overreach until they’re stopped by a rule or a law or a subpeona or a court. It’s what they are.
Elizabelle
Those dogs aren’t feeling it in their holiday attire, but they sure are cute.
Good holiday season morning and TGIF.
Baud
@Kay: Maybe it’s time to start saying Trump is scared and insecure.
Kay
@Baud:
Obviously she sort of overshadowed her own point with that Tweet but that WAS the point. There IS a nepotism rule and it’s followed. Conway is sleazing her way out of it with the help of the cable millionaires but it exists.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: We’ve had other people perform the duties of First Lady, but in those cases the President wasn’t married at the time. This is unprecedented.
Elizabelle
Any chances of delaying the Electoral College vote? We have possibly criminal activity here.
Getting it right is more important than the timetable. Trump is wholly unsuited for office.
Baud
When I’m president, my dog will be my First Lady.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: That gives a whole new meaning to “barking orders”.
Kay
@Baud:
Also. It should be noted. I have heard at least 20 regular people speculate on Trump’s relationship with his daughter. The fact is what they have done IN PUBLIC is odd. If he wants to take insanely inappropriate photos with his daughter, say gross things about her on radio shows and grope her at a national convention he can BE that maverick but they have to admit this is not the norm and people know it. Everyone doesn’t act like that with their daughter. 99.9% of people don’t. Trump’s a big fan of saying what people are REALLY thinking. That’s what people are thinking. The Politico reporter is pretty damn close to “Main Street” with that Tweet.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Unfortunately, “suited for office” is not among the qualifications necessary for becoming President listed in the Constitution.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Or, if I am in a wilderness, it’s one I’m proud to be in.
Baud
@Kay:
How many of them voted for the predator?
Baud
@debbie: Same here.
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
And who are we kidding with this? It isn’t about a stand in for the First Lady. Ivanka and her husband want a role so they invented one and they did it to get around laws. Conway is out on cable explaining how they’re busily finding loopholes. Trump has announced they’re finding loopholes. The sleaze has just begun. Wait until they’re actually in power.
Pogonip
@Patricia Kayden: Baud 2020: The Candidate Who Proves He Has Nothing To Hide.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, but it is a criteria that the EC can apply — they supposedly exist to prevent an unsuitable demagogue from assuming office. Not that it will matter. The EC is mostly populated by partisan hacks, and they will certify Trump.
Baud
@Pogonip: My administration will be fully transparent.
Kay
@Baud:
They’re Democrats so “none of them”. They’re not raving maniacs though. These are regular people. This is not normal in their experience. It’s not normal in mine either. I have hundreds of photographs with my husband and grown daughter. None of them look remotely like that Trump photo. Come on. If you were at some public event and there was a guy groping his grown daughter on stage there would be comments about that! I can say I have never seen that before at any public event I have ever attended.
debbie
@Kay:
And if names are named, impeachment hearings must be opened immediately.
Baud
@Kay:
What are you trying to say about us, Kay?
Trump is awful, but he was awful in all these ways before the election. If people need to tell themselves they didn’t know in order to join us in fighting him, so be it.
debit
I woke up and those two adorable dogs are the first thing I saw when I checked the internet. I’m going to call it a win and not look at anything else online for the day.
debbie
@Kay:
Where the fuck in the Constitution is anything about an “Office of the First Family”? They were not elected. This is like Ceaușescu 2.0.
This and the bullshit going on in NC is really ticking me off.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Show me a Republican who has done the right thing and I’ll show you a new Democrat.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Well…
debbie
@Baud:
I think we need to label them as “Good Germans.” I hope to insult my family members with this soon.
satby
@Baud: Agreed. I’d go further, because a lot of them can realistically claim ignorance (not for the racism and xenophobia, but for some of the other stuff) if they aren’t obsessive political junkies like us, because the MSM sure wasn’t informing anyone.
But any Trump supporter has to own the ugly racism, sexism, and xenophobia; because that wasn’t disguised at all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud:
The obvious.
Pogonip
@Baud: We’re not raving maniacs, we’re snarling jackals.
Pogonip
@Baud: RUSH LIMBAUGH: Folks, that liberal First Lady is a real dog!
rikyrah
Quick Takes: A Cabinet of Rich White Men
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 15, 2016 6:30 PM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
* I noted earlier that the 17 people Trump has nominated to cabinet-level positions have a combined worth more than that of over one third of the 126 million households total in the US. So this comes as no real surprise:
Neither does this:
Unless Trump picks a diverse Secretary of Agriculture, the line of succession to the presidency would be 12 white guys — via @maddow
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) December 14, 2016
Kay
@debbie:
The Ivanka thing is interesting because it illustrates how Trump benefits from norms, while violating them himself.
1. there is a norm that says sexual language or posturing or photos like that with a (grown) child is inappropriate
2. there is another norm that says no one may mention this behavior
Trump violates the first and is protected by the second.
You see it with his racist statements too.
1. racist statements violate a norm
2. there’s another norm that says people have to be careful when calling others racists
Trump violates the first and is protected by the second
That’s why I’m starting to believe the opposition to Trump can’t be “normal”. He relies on other people following rule he doesn’t recognize. He sees that as “edge” he has. He breaks rules but you can’t. We can’t color within the lines with him. That’s the edge he uses.
Botsplainer
Actually, after seeing a lot of real crowing from assholes, I’ve been beating the drum of announcing scandals, failures and mediocrity. My “normal” Republican friends and family are whimpering about “can’t you give him a chance” and “this isn’t productive”. My response is that I am taking the tack of thinking we aren’t supposed to be politically correct anymore, so I’m pointing out Christian and conservative failures and hypocrisy, while throwing even heavier fire at Mormons.
Done with tiptoeing.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: You see that in the way he does business. The rule is that when people do work for you, you pay them for services rendered. He doesn’t.
ETA: And if you point that out, he’ll just say you do bad work, and he doesn’t pay for bad work.
Jeffro
If you aren’t following Sarah Kendzior on Twitter, you should be. Her “Donald Trump, Russia, and the Mystery of ‘These People’ ” strings everything together quite nicely.
And also reminds us – just as we should be reminding every right-winger and media clown in the country – that Trump hasn’t had a news conference since July 29th(!) I’m sure it’d go unnoticed if it were President-Elect Hillz, right?
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Second link is screwed.
rikyrah
@Kay:
tell that truth, Kay.
It’s absolutely ridiculous.
And, the double standard is so obvious. So glaring.
Kay
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Right. Here’s the test: “what if everyone did that?” What if everyone paid 60 or 70% on a job that was bid? The bidding process is useless then. He smears shit over the whole process, but it’s okay, it doesn’t fall apart, because everyone doesn’t do that. Just a small group of entitled people.
He stiffs smaller contractors too, because he knows they can’t afford to litigate. What is everyone did that? There would be no smaller contractors.
Trump relies on everyone NOT doing what he does.
magurakurin
@Kay: why beat around the bush? Hell, I’ll say it, he sexually abused her as a child and still is. Why is it so hard to believe? Father’s rape their daughters all the time. It’s something that happens. It is horrifying, immoral and illegal, but it does happen. Why is it so hard for us to accept that famous and rich people or presidents can be guilty of it? Like with Boehner’s alcoholism. Why was that never discussed? It was obvious he had a drinking problem. We all know people who have drinking problems,so we can see the signs, but refused to admit it when it is the Speaker of the House. Why?
He is fucking Ivanka. She is being raped by him and she is a victim of abuse.
He.is.that.evil.
rikyrah
@Kay:
There are three daughters in my family. Not nare one photo of any of us looks like that creepiness.
debbie
@Kay:
That’s why, as Botsplainer says, we must very noisily and continuously point out the deviancies of this monster.
Kay
@rikyrah:
The predictions that everything will be all right under Donald Trump ignore this:
He changes norms. He lowers them. It goes downhill fast. Now Republicans have an incentive to protect him. It will get much, much worse. We aren’t anywhere near bottom.
rikyrah
@debbie:
Actually pic a whole lot of countries around the world, and you see this.
Unbelievable.
True that.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Right? You have the “standing beside them in a graduation gown” and then you have…whatever that Trump photo was. If he wants to push the boundaries of what are taboos that’s fine- his call- but he has to admit this is not ordinary behavior. The Politico reporter isn’t allowed to call it out, but the behavior itself violated a norm and it came first.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You are absolutely on the money.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
Every construction and collection lawyer knows exactly what Twitler is – he’s “that fuckin’ guy”, the cocksucker that jams a well-performing sub into a settlement just to keep the lights on. He shaves 35 points off the final tally, plus the sub is out a big chunk on the collection in terms of fees, costs, experts.
rikyrah
@Botsplainer:
My “normal” Republican friends and family are whimpering about “can’t you give him a chance” and “this isn’t productive”.
This is what I say to people about ‘give him a chance’:
I mean it..
WHAT THE PHUCK DO YOU THINK WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING WITH HIM ON?
HRA
@Kay:
Although it’s not normal for our fathers or husbands to have ever acted like Trump to their daughters, there have been fathers like Trump who have done even more than what we saw on stage. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s some sick bastard who took advantage of their own child. Did you ever see a pregnant 8 year old? She could barely see over the handles of the buggy when she pushed it on the street, Did you ever see a classmate have 2 children with her father? A friend brought her with her son to my home when we were neighbors raising our own children. I said your son looks just you. After she left my friend said you almost gave me a heart attack, she had her son and daughter with her father. To think we thought it was strange when the family piled into the car and she sat next to her father while her mother, brother and sister sat in the back. The worst part in my mind is she was happy and proud of the situation.
/
Botsplainer
@rikyrah:
The Russian word is Nomenklatura.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Conway is relying on the traditional deference to Presidents when she’s on cable every day sleazing her way out of everything he does. But the whole reason she has to tap dance is Trump will have just violated another norm. They’re using a system they don’t comply with. They couldn’t operate without everyone else observing norms.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I have never predicted that. I think just the opposite and always have.
I told you from the beginning – the root of my opposition to the man was because, as a Black person in America, there was NOTHING in the history of America that would make me NOT take the man at his word.
Major Major Major Major
The WaPo has their ‘biggest Pinocchios of 2016’ list out. You’ll never guess what #1 is about.
NUMBER ONE. THE FACT-CHECKER IS SAYING THIS WAS THE NUMBER ONE LIE OF THE YEAR.
Kay
@HRA:
I agree and I don’t mean to diminish that. I apologize if it sounded like I was. The saddest case I ever had was a pregnant 12 year old. I asked her why she named the baby what is an old-fashioned name- not one young people favor- and she told me that’s her 7th grade teachers name. I had to walk away to cry. She wasn’t in school anymore. She lost the one place where she had adults she admired, really “loved”, probably. You have to love someone to name your child after them.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Uh uh uh.
They spent the last 8 years destroying everything we thought about the respect for the Office of the Presidency, as they went out of their way to be disrespectful to Barack Hussein Obama II and his entire family.
We warned them about the consequences of that.
They thought we were playing.
We have 8 years of receipts.
And nobody is going to go along with that shyt, as they to ‘shame’ us into deferring to this sociopath.
uh uh
uh uh
They don’t get it. We had policy differences with Shrub in 2000. By 2004, it was quite personal.
THIS PERSON?
He offends us as HUMAN BEINGS.
HIS VERY EXISTENCE.
So, PHUCK OUTTA HERE with deference to him.
AND, he was illegitimately put into office?
Uh huh.
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: I keep telling people. Stop subscribing. Stop using your money to support this crap. They DO NOT mean well. They will lie and lie and lie on behalf of their corporate masters. Is anyone surprised that a paper that has been hard on the orange shitgibbon turns on Hillary right after Bezos meets with said OS?
They know which side of their bread is buttered and it isn’t the truth.
magurakurin
@rikyrah:
this.
This is exactly how I feel. It’s like we did a Vulcan mind meld.
JPL
@rikyrah: OT.. Thanks for letting me know what movie the quote was from.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
“The Aristocrats!!!”
rikyrah
@Kay:
This broke my heart. Broke my heart just reading it.
Major Major Major Major
@Emma: This isn’t really anybody ‘turning on’ Hillary. Kessler has always been a both-sidesery, anti-Hillary beltway hack. I would be very surprised if the WaPo changed their (clear anti-Trump) editorial stance to be more favorable. Bezos does know which side his bread is buttered on, but it doesn’t actually matter since he owns the bread factory, bread store, and bread distributorship.
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: Even though the repubs want to discontinue Medicare as we know it, they called out President Obama and democrats in general, because they said they wanted to end medicare.
That was the number one lie a few years ago.
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: Sorry. The friend of my enemy is my enemy whether by direct action or indirect attack . Either we get nasty about it or they will bury us.
Kay
At every step of the way Trump had agency and he was making decisions. After the election he could have been gracious to Clinton instead of holding “lock her up” rallies. He could have appointed fewer far Right cabinet members. He could have told his children they can’t be on the transition team and they can’t sit in on meetings. The Trump children are adults too. Any one of them could make different decisions. Trump’s son in law could work at a real job. Hell, Biden’s wife had her own job WHILE he was VP. None of this had to be this way.
gvg
@Major Major Major Major: No they didn’t. They said this list of examples is in no particular order. The body of the article above the list made a huge deal about how Trump had earned 59 4 pinocchio statements during the campaign and several since then while Clinton had only earned 7. Thats a pretty clear statement. They also said historically they tried to list an equal number from each party but that it was useless to follow that this year. They tied it in with the rise of fake news too. It’s not a perfect article, but what ever is? Its pretty darned clear to me though.
Hill Dweller
@JPL: Over at Maddow’s blog, Benen has a story about Trump continuing to lie about the national murder rate after the election. They have to lie, because their policies suck, and they can’t win a fair debate on the issues.
Major Major Major Major
@Emma: Is Al Gore your enemy too? He’s met with Trump exactly as many times as Bezos.
Kay
Imagine if Obama had continued to hold campaign rallies after the election. Imagine if he had said about white voters what Trump is saying about black voters- that he is glad if they didn’t vote. Imagine if Obama had continued to attack McCain at those rallies.
Trump is setting new lower standards, every day and in every way. We’ll all pay for this, not just for this President but for every one who comes after.
rikyrah
Dem senators question Michael Flynn’s security clearance
12/16/16 10:11 AM
By Steve Benen
It stands to reason that retired Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s choice to be the White House National Security Adviser, would feel some embarrassment about his recent record, but if he thinks he can simply erase it, Flynn is going to be disappointed. CNN reported the other day:
Yes, we apparently live in a time in which a major national news organization can publish the sentence, ” Incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has quietly deleted a tweet with a link to a fake news story about Hillary Clinton’s involvement in sex crimes with minors,” and no one seems all that surprised by the report.
Flynn’s deletion will not, however, have the intended effect – because we’ve all already seen it, and it’s still readily available through various archives. In fact, efforts like these tend to be counter-productive since they draw additional attention the fact that Flynn has embraced crackpot nonsense in the very recent past.
Corner Stone
@Kay: He’s a petulant man-baby with the thinnest of thin skin. He spends all his time reacting to slights and perceived slights. No time for a PDB but all the time in the world to consume a restaurant review and then tweet attack the publication. Plenty of time to lambast Josh Earnest on stage at one of his victory rallies but no time for his team to meet with security professionals.
Plenty of time to sell his daughter to the highest bidder but no time to…oh wait.
JPL
@Hill Dweller: Next year, Trump would talk about the real rate and mention how much it dropped.
Major Major Major Major
@gvg: i somehow missed almost all the things you point out, so either it wasn’t that clear or my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah:
I first read that as, “Flynn’s defection” and I couldn’t decide if it made more or less sense of the whole situation.
rikyrah
Tweet:
Trump isn’t taking Russia’s hack seriously. And THAT’S the biggest story of all.
rikyrah
Trump’s false claims about U.S. murder rate raise questions
12/16/16 09:29 AM
By Steve Benen
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s standard stump speech included a very specific claim about crime in the United States.
The reason “they” – he never said who “they” are – didn’t want to talk about the murder rate reaching a 45-year high is that the claim is ridiculously untrue. In fact, as the Washington Post explained before the election, Trump actually has the entire story backwards: “Both the rate of homicides and violent crimes are back down to the levels they were 45 years ago.”
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m actually not much of a fan of Gore, and his deciding to allow himself to be paraded and misused do not bolster the case that he’s on “our” side.
Major Major Major Major
Trump’s new Israel ambassador seems like a real sweetheart.
I was going to block quote something from that link to highlight how repulsive he is but I can’t pick the best bit. Just take a look. He conforms to every bad stereotype about the hard right and Israel.
@Corner Stone: I’m just saying, when the president elect wants to meet with you it’s perfectly acceptable to have a meeting.
catclub
@OzarkHillbilly: and most likely to occur as an outburst against Russia, when dictators disagree.
Or: Has a a fascist ever broken up with Russia? Painfully?
Kathleen
@rikyrah: Brilliant, rikyrah. Nailed it.
catclub
@Major Major Major Major: Why not just appoint Sheldon Adelson ambassador to Israel?
randy khan
@rikyrah:
I am constantly amazed that public figures think that there’s any point to deleting tweets that have attracted negative attention.
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: I always thought he was more of a fair-weather friend to Trump.
catclub
@Hill Dweller:
But I bet they implement Kansas style solutions for the entire country because they are true believers, and are convinced those are the RIGHT solutions. They think all their far right solutions are popular.
Yarrow
@Botsplainer: I agree. I think Democrats struggle with being on the offense. We need to be pushing back on everything all the time. This is not normal. Name it. Don’t let them change the norms.
@Corner Stone: Agreed. Bezos met with him as part of a group of tech people. Still didn’t like it but it was an entire group. Gore chose to meet with him on his own. No need to do that. No need to be made a pawn in Donald’s game. What was the upside for Gore on that? For climate issues? Nothing. It’s lose all the way down.
rikyrah
North Carolina Republicans launch a legislative ‘coup’
12/16/16 08:00 AM—UPDATED 12/16/16 08:07 AM
By Steve Benen
Once Republicans took over North Carolina’s state government, they not only pursued a relentlessly far-right agenda; they also abandoned all subtlety. Gov. Pat McCrory (R) ran as a pragmatic former mayor and business leader, but governed as a conservative crusader, imposing outlandish voting restrictions, creating new limits on civil and reproductive rights, and cutting tax and unemployment benefits on struggling families.
And so, this year, McCrory became the only incumbent governor in either party to lose re-election – which apparently drove North Carolina’s GOP-led state legislature to become even more reckless.
……………………
But hurricane victims are not foremost on GOP lawmakers’ minds. Rather, they’re focused almost entirely on curtailing the governing abilities of Gov.-elect Roy Cooper before he takes office on Jan. 7. Republicans disagree with the voters’ choice, so they’re taking steps to prevent him from governing before he can even begin.
As Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern explained, this is, in effect, a “legislative coup.”
cmorenc
@OzarkHillbilly:
Trump will be unable to avoid fucking up in spectacularly obvious ways to all but his hardest-core supporters With Ryan, it may take a decade for enough people to even start waking the fuck up to even begin to try to undo the damage.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: I was using it as a point of comparison to somebody who was saying that made Bezos the enemy.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They didn’t vote because of VOTER SUPPRESSION, YOU RACIST MUTHAPHUCKA.
The number of Black Voters unable to vote because of VOTER SUPPRESSION in these states, is 3, 4 times his margin of ‘ victory’.
rikyrah
@catclub:
They don’t think that their solutions are popular. They would run on them if they thought that. They don’t.
Emma
@Major Major Major Major: At this point, I am looking at anyone who meets with him with a wary eye. Mind you, they are probably doing it to see if there’s a chance to at least break through the titanium shell around his mind, so I am not yet ready to write them off. But newspapers have abdicated their function and I have no compunction of saying “guilty until proven innocent”.
Corner Stone
@Yarrow: I take a different tack in that if I were (*sobs*) a Tech Titan I would have politely declined any offer to participate in that meeting. Every person there beclowned themselves – for absolutely no gain. They aren’t going to win on immigration and they aren’t going to protect net neutrality. All they did was photo op Trump’s children and further legitimize a uniquely unqualified buffoon.
Yarrow
@Kay: Yes, agree. Ivanka having a job in his administration is wrong. It’s unprecedented. The only role she should be considered for is if he didn’t have a spouse to fill the role of First Lady. Then he could choose Ivanka to act as hostess. That’s it. Otherwise, no. It’s nepotism. She doesn’t need an office since she has no role in the administration. She should not have a role in the administration.
Trump is breaking every norm and daring us to call him out on it.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major:
Anyone who is unclear on whether Bezos is the enemy or not should schedule an headectomy asap.
I don’t think Gore is “the enemy” for meeting with Trump but I do have many pauses on a number of the decisions AG has made over the last several years. The decision to be used because he thought “dialogue” does not improve my questions on him.
Lizzy L
@Mustang Bobby: Here’s where to look.
http://www.californiadrought.org/drought/current-conditions/
Yarrow
@Corner Stone: I agree. I don’t understand why they went. But if one of them sat it out while all the rest went then it might not have done them any good. They needed to all decide together they weren’t going.
Hell, why does ANYONE go there to meet him? Unless they really think they’re going to get a job from him, it’s a dumb move. They get used and end up looking like idiots. See: Romney, Mittens, (R-Pwnd).
I’ll say this for the Bush clan, they haven’t shown up to kiss his ring.
rikyrah
@Emma:
You…me….JUSTLIKETHIS….
Yarrow
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t think Bezos is the enemy. I think he hates Trump. He’s got the money and resources to make Trump’s life uncomfortable. We’ll have to see how it goes.
Aleta
@Major Major Major Major: They had so many more lies of Trump’s that they decided to lead with Clinton, and also work Obama in close to the top. But NO. They didn’t have to do this. It’s not balance, it’s a calculation, to stay in favor. Profits making the decisions.
OzarkHillbilly
@Yarrow:
Simple: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$$$……
Whether they like it or not, every single one of them have a lot to lose by pissing off Trump. Look at what happened with Lockheed Martin when Trump bitched about the F-35. They lost $4 billion practically overnight in stock valuations.
O. Felix Culpa
@Kay:
You’re absolutely right on about that, especially given Trump’s narcissism. People who try to play by the normal rules with narcissists – who observe no rules for themselves but severely apply them to others when convenient – will always be put off-kilter and at a disadvantage. So, what new and more effective strategies and messaging should be used?
OzarkHillbilly
@O. Felix Culpa:
I can only offer what I did with my Ex: Stay as far away from her as physically and mentally possible. Not sure how that helps with our present situation.
catclub
@Yarrow:
I would usually include Condi Rice as part of the Bush clan, but not in this case.
catclub
@O. Felix Culpa:
s/narcissism/sociopathy/g
O. Felix Culpa
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, I had to do the same with my family member. Unfortunately, as you note, that tactic is more problematic when dealing with the incoming Caudillo.
O. Felix Culpa
@catclub: Sorry, please to explain? :)
Aleta
Trump family follows the ‘rules’ of business for their ilk of developer (and international energy companies, and outfits like Blackwater). Literally: Decide what you want. Begin by acting on that. Run with however much you can get away with. When opposed, bargain from your “position.” When forced, promise only what is required. Lie, then do what you want. Tie up or gag the opposition as you continue. See what you get away with. Prepare clean getaway by leaving others responsible. Dissolve and reform. Aggressive PR at every step.
The established methods for draining resources out of undeveloped countries are just being applied now to drain taxpayer-funded pots of federal money in the US.
J R in WV
@Kay:
I’m sorry you had to work with that ball of hot mess.
I was on a grand jury once, and in with the murder and drug dealing were the child abuse. We had to look at the photos a father took of his sexual abuse of his daughter, and listen to the town cop tell about a young man, a predator, taking slow girls by the hand and leading them into the woods where he would rape them and walk off leaving them there in the patch of woods. They didn’t even know what was happening to them.
Lots of evil out there in the cold world. Worst day of my experience on multiple juries.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Google’s not helping me find the source for your quote. I’d love to put it on my FB page. :(
Miss Bianca
@BillinGlendaleCA: Ooh! I wonder if that’s the problem behind some of our tracking numbers coming up wrong.
LongHairedWeirdo
I know I can’t be the first, but there’s a sadistic bit of me that wants to say “White working class people matter? No – ALL people matter!”
But only in front of people who are honestly and truly concerned about important issues, and are wise enough to realize that “oh, yeah, that’s a good dig at us, and perfectly fair.”
The hard thing about WWC voters is that one party doesn’t care about the truth. They’ll promise the return of coal jobs, of steel jobs, etc., knowing damn well there aren’t *any* jobs coming back.