Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants you to know that recent developments in the North Korea negotiations — like the North Koreans threatening to pull out of the planned summit after Trump had already ordered a selection of Nobel Prize display cases — are totally expected, and everything is going according to plan:
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that North Korea’s threat the previous night to withdraw from planned negotiations with President Donald Trump was “something that we fully expected.”
“The President is very used (sic) and ready for tough negotiations, and if they want to meet, we’ll be ready, and if they don’t, that’s okay too,” Sanders told reporters outside the White House. “And we’ll continue with the campaign of maximum pressure if that’s the case. But like I just said, if they want to meet, the President will certainly be ready, and we will be prepared, but if not, that’s okay.”
“[I]f the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-U.S. summit,” North Korean negotiator Kim Gye Gwan said Wednesday.
Kim specifically noted National Security Adviser John Bolton’s talk of following the “Libyan model” for disarmament in North Korea: Libya disarmed and complied with international inspections, but, left unsaid by Bolton, its dictator was later violently murdered in the streets.
Sanders distanced herself from Bolton’s comments Wednesday, saying “I know that that comment was made. There’s not a cookie cutter model on how this would work.”
“This is the President Trump model,” she added. “He’s going to run this the way he sees fit. We’re 100 percent confident, as we’ve said many times before, and as we all know that you’re aware, he’s the best negotiator. And we’re very confident on that front.”
Jesus, we’re doomed.
NotMax
“See? Precisely why we have no plans. That way we’re ready for any contingency.”
Stan
Being “100 % confident” is the kind of thing utterly ignorant people say….you have to be really clueless about what you’re doing in any field to be 100% confident in an outcome. If you know nothing it’s easy to be confident.
I like to work with people who are highly competent and acknowledge that they may have a “high degree” or “low degree” of confidence in some project, but 100% ? Sure sign of an amateur.
Elizabelle
How’s Badger today?
It’s pouring in central VA. He would not like it here, for purposes of elimination. Got to say, rain falling and the sound of car wheels on wet pavement; I love having a window open to listen to the rain.
Yarrow
“He’s the best negotiator?” WTF? How is this real life?
jeffreyw
It’s Yanny and all you Lauren kids get offa my lawn.
clay
@Yarrow: It helps to remember that she’s only speaking to an audience of one.
AnotherBruce
Every thing she says is bullshit, and she’s not even a competent turd polisher. Not surprising, given her upbringing.
MomSense
@jeffreyw:
Laurel!!
Yarrow
@clay: She is speaking FOR that person. She is speaking to the press, who laps it up and repeats it verbatim. It’s disgusting.
Walker
@jeffreyw:
I hear Yearel. I don’t know where these two choices come from (Actually I do — it has to do with frequency sensitivity or my lack thereof in certain bands).
Corner Stone
@Yarrow:
I want to know if someone then asked, “We are aware? How would we be aware of this? Beyond his multiple bankruptcies and his failed hush money scheme to a porn star?”
Nethead Jay
Excellent Illustration :-)
trollhattan
How long before Possum Queen bleaches her hair and swirls it around her thick skull? She more Trumpier by the day, as boggling as that is to ponder.
waspuppet
We’ll be lucky to get out of this without losing Hawaii.
different-church-lady
He’s going to win The Nobel Chaos Prize.
@waspuppet: It’ll be a pile of ash by then anyway.
Adam L Silverman
different-church-lady
@AnotherBruce: Also not surprising considering the quality of the turds.
Yutsano
@Yarrow: Can’t give up that sweet sweet access. I swear all they want is to be treated like they’re important to the process.
MJS
@Yarrow: Exactly. For once, couldn’t one of those reporters grow a spine and say something like, “No, no one here knows he’s ‘the best negotiator’. He has multiple bankruptcies, other business failures, and relies heavily on NDAs. Why would anyone think ‘he’s the best negotiator’?”
gene108
@waspuppet:
Maybe part of the plan. If Hawaii is no longer part of the USA, then Obama was never legitimately President or something.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
We know it’s bullshyt, and because it’s bullshyt, it just feeds our rage at being in this situation.
It’s the reason why my rage hasn’t abated since November 2016.
Teddys Person
@clay: I agree. Those who don’t contantly praise Dolt45 will be punished and the verbal beatings will continue until adolation is resumed. Content doesn’t matter as long as the bestest most awesome words are used to flatter Trumpov. SHS’s job is not to speak for the president. She’s his number one fluffer. And the press contort themselves into pretzels trying to normalize this freak show.
Edited for typos
vhh
@Adam L Silverman: Winston Churchill, himself half American, apparently said something like: “You can count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” The shorter French version the same thought is “Les américains ont la tendance de foncer avant de penser, au lieu de penser avant de foncer.” Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote “Democracy in America” as well as a much less well known similar book about Russia, concluded that the US and Russia were similar in that being large countries stretching over much of a continent, they did not recognize limits to behavior, and that therefore, the fate of the world was in their hands.
waspuppet
@Corner Stone: Today’s episode of WhoTF Talks Like This, and Imagine If Someone in the Obama White House Said It …
Yarrow
@rikyrah: My rage hasn’t abated either.
p.a.
@Adam L Silverman: Foreign Intelligence Services: current American domestic policy best predicted by putting 10 toddlers in a room and seeing what the most vicious one does. Foreign policy by seeing what the room looks like after several hours.
Villago Delenda Est
Total amateur hour at Foggy Bottom and NSC. All the professionals left long ago.
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman:
Shooting from behind rocks and trees and stuff, instead of lining up in a neat row.
Aleta
Corpse Bride – According To Plan
A little sharper: Corpse Bride – According to Plan (Japanese)
rikyrah
There are 10,598,177,817 total shares in #Rosneft.
Manafort mentions 133m shares in his Trump Tower notes.
If he means Rosneft, that’d be almost exactly 1.25% of total.
Is that amount the “commission” mentioned in Steele dossier?
18.25% to investors, 1.25% to Trump = 19.5%?
— Greg Olear (@gregolear) May 16, 2018
Yarrow
@MJS:
Exactly.
clay
@Yarrow: Ah, you may think she’s speaking FOR that person, and that may indeed be her job description, but in truth everything she says is directed TO that one set of orange, misshapen ears.
Adam L Silverman
@vhh: Yep.
Adam L Silverman
@p.a.: Pretty much.
different-church-lady
@MJS: Well, if it was their last day on the job, perhaps.
Adam L Silverman
@different-church-lady: No giving away classified tactics!//
NotMax
Vacancies R us.
JGabriel
La di da di da, whatever will be will be, it’s the end of the line you see, que sera sera.
American global leadership at it’s most decisive! Only the best!
different-church-lady
@clay: I can’t imagine wanting to keep any job that badly.
Corner Stone
“As we know you are all aware, the sun now rises in the West. The Trump admin’s plan of maximum pressure has forced the other large orange ball of gas in this galaxy to comply.”
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: Its 82 and sunny in Oslo. Very weird.
Betty Cracker
Regarding the Yanny and Laurel thing, I hear both clearly — “Yanny” at a high register, and “Laurel” at a lower one. I must be some kind of freak.
@Elizabelle: Badger isn’t happy about the weather, which has continued rainy. He’s doing great, though. I have to restrain myself from posting and tweeting pictures of him every 20 minutes. He’s so damn cute and funny!
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker:
Someone call me in my fortified bunker when this is over.
hitchhiker
There are people who think he did well in business. They believe he’ll be a tough negotiator, because they don’t know that his usual methods (stiff people, then bury them with lawsuits, then go bankrupt) aren’t available to him now.
His main asset is unlimited shamelessness, and Sarah/Lydia appears to have a healthy supply of that herself.
Mary G
Today’s tweets were the worst yet – we are going to negotiate with China, we don’t know what their demands are going to be, but we’re not giving them much. WTF? You already told them we ‘re waiving the ZTE sanctions and you have no idea what you’re getting in return? That’s called bidding against yourself and is a failure of Negotiating 101.
LAO
@different-church-lady:
Any room for me? Please, I’m begging here.
LAO
@Betty Cracker: As one of your devoted tweeter followers, I ask why have you restrained yourself. The world could use more cute puppy (not less).
Corner Stone
@Yutsano:
It’s all about being a preening, savvy, camera whore. They are the ones *in the know*. They know it’s all a scam and a game, but unlike us rubes who are outraged and baffled, they play it cool, and savvy.
It takes just a few minutes of watching a press briefing to see one of them spend 45 seconds mau mauing a question out of their piehole to realize what they are really up to. Then you see one of them on a pundit show giving that knowing grin and little head shake. Because they realize the absurdity of it all but saying it out loud would ruin the fun. Kasie Hunt is one of the worst at that inane impish grin when she’s “reporting” on some nonsense.
Corner Stone
Hey it’s another day ending in Y. Rand Paul is doing Rand Paul again and mugging for camera attention.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
I’m really steamed they fired Barron.
Shell
And dont forget Option C. Its somehow Obama’s fault.
JGabriel
Like an Edsel with a Pinto fuel system.
MattF
What am I supposed to do with all these monkeys and all these typewriters?
terraformer
I’ve finally discovered who Huckster reminds me of: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, the former Iraqi Information Minister. Everything’s always great, going exactly as planned.
Corner Stone
@MattF: Bask in the Neo-Shakespeare?
Dread
A snip of an audio file was just sent to me by someone who says they’re a time traveler…
Trump: Kimmy, may I call you, Kimmy?
Kim: No. And may I say what large and impressive hands you have, Mr. President.
Trump: Thank you, Kimmy, I’m glad you noticed. Now look, we can’t have you building nukes that can hit America. Some of my voters live there.
Kim: Okay, we will stop new ICBM tests. (Because we’re confident in our existing supply.)
Trump: That is great news.
Kim: In exchange, we would like a formal end to the Korean war and the withdraw of your troops from the Demilitarized Zone.
Trump: I think we can do that. What about nuclear tests?
Kim: We will suspend nuclear tests. (Because our testing site collapsed.)
Trump: You are a great man. What can we do for you?
Kim: Renewed economic aid.
Trump: Done.
Kim: And lastly, we put the great name of Trump on our tallest, most impressive hotel, the Ryugyong Hotel that stands majestically over Pyongyang.
Trump: I knew you were okay. Everyone else tried to tell me you were a bad man, but I said, “I know Kimmy is a good guy. Great guy.”
Kim: Thank you, Mr. President. We would also like Hawaii.
Trump: Deal. It’s not even a part of the United States.
lowtechcyclist
Shorter SHS: “Remain Calm! All is well!!!“
different-church-lady
@lowtechcyclist: “Relax, and enjoy your shoes!”
JGabriel
@MattF:
Contract them out to the Trump communications office and speech-writing team.
JGabriel
@terraformer:
Baghdad Barb?
TenguPhule
That SHS did not immediately explode into a pillar of flame after uttering that flat denial of reality is proof that there is no loving God.
Shell
Was it designed by Homer Simpson?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw9gaEiQAxY
different-church-lady
@JGabriel: “No more calls, please, we have an internets winner.”
Adam L Silverman
@terraformer: The differences is that her family isn’t being held hostage as a threat that if he didn’t go out and lie on behalf of Saddam Hussein, they’d get 9mm retirement parties. She’s doing this willingly.
TenguPhule
@waspuppet:
Hey!
stinger
@MJS: They wouldn’t even have to do this. They could just laugh. The entire WH press pool should laugh whenever PQ tosses out one of her ludicrous lies. It would reduce her to incoherent rage, and they’d enjoy their day a lot more.
Laughter is powerful, and IMO isn’t used enough to push back against lies, racist demagoguery, and complaints that a clerk is speaking SPANISHfergawdssakeImcallingICE.
Brachiator
I am convinced that Trump wants the N Korea summit because he was not invited to Prince Harry’s wedding, and is over-compensating.
stinger
@Betty Cracker:
Why?? No one here would complain!
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
And now, a rendition of Keep on the Sunni Side of Life.
;)
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
Escalating into Trump getting into a bidding war against himself.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
its all fun and games until as Dr. Silverman said, they get brutalized and killed by the rubes who really believe what the head rube is saying.
rikyrah
Michigan State settlement to victims= $ 500 million
https://twitter.com/reporterdavidj/status/996770399194099713?s=19
TenguPhule
@stinger:
Sometimes I think they have Stockholm’s syndrome.
Dmbeaster
@different-church-lady: Nobel Prize for taking chaos theory to never before experienced heights.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: That’s bad. Even for you.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@Betty Cracker: When I listen over my Chromebook speakers I hear Laurel. When I use my bluetooth headphones I hear Yanny.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Ya gotta admit that drumpf is consistent. Screws up the same amount, 100% and same way every time.
TenguPhule
@Dmbeaster:
Lows. New lows.
its a wave particle after all.
delk
@Adam L Silverman: I’m sure her father is pressuring her to stay the curse. She did after all learn all her lying skills from him.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Jesus, those comments. [re-note to self: never, never read the comments]
NotMax
@delk
A typo worthy of applause.
SFBayAreaGal
@jeffreyw: Nope Laurel all the way.
trollhattan
@delk:
That’s Spoonerism-quality stuff, right there.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
Revolutionary War myths ain’t helpful when there are two competing “realities” in the US.
delk
@NotMax: Hah!
trollhattan
@SFBayAreaGal:
I present this laurel, and hearty handshake.
Frankensteinbeck
American foreign policy during the Trump presidency will be paralysis. Admittedly, it’s better than a lot of things people were afraid he’d do.
Mart
Bipartisan senate committee says the NRA and Russia played dirty together to elect Trump.
Adam L Silverman
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Heh. Bolton, the Bushie that keeps on giving.
I wonder how many other neocons are jealous of the Walrus?
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
But enough about where he shops for clothes.
VeniceRiley
Yanny’s dress is blue, and Laurel’s dress is gold.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Betty Cracker: Same here. It’s “Yammy” on my phone and “Laurel” on my laptop.
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
He’s like a demented Easter Bunny that’s secretly a serial killer.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@JGabriel:
Barb is too sharp. Babs perhaps?
trollhattan
Christ on a cracker, Florida Man cannot ever be allowed in the classroom. If my kid were in that class there would be hell to pay.
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck:
Iran and North Korea look perfectly mobile.
SiubhanDuinne
@different-church-lady:
Who are Yanny and Laurel? I genuinely don’t know.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): And Bagdad doesn’t really apply. Pressroom Patsy?
Corner Stone
@Mart: From the excerpts I have seen of that Senate report so far, this is going to be one nasty ass document against Trump et al. Oh, and DJT JR is even dumber than one had imagined he could be.
Aleta
@Betty Cracker: Even harder to suppress: compulsion to look back at old photos of Badger and gaze. When you’re up for it, new ones would restore my dignity.
@different-church-lady: @Dmbeaster: win
Yarrow
@Corner Stone: The Senate document is just the beginning. Junior is an idiot, for sure. Ivanka is smarter than both her brothers but her time will come.
TenguPhule
Huh, the FYNYT is breaking Trump’s Cohen payments under his required financial disclosure.
$100,000 for reimbursements to third parties.
Gex
@stinger: They hauled a reporter out of a press conference, arrested her, and tried her for doing just that.
Aleta
@trollhattan: Sadistic toward the kids as well as the animals. Someone who takes pleasure from causing pain or distress is no teacher.
NotMax
@Yarrow
Assumes facts not in evidence.
More clever – perhaps. Smarter? Pfeh.
catclub
@TenguPhule:
some where I read something along the lines of:
“I don’t believe in God, but the God I don’t believe in is a loving God, a merciful God, not your cruel old testament God.”
which seems even sillier once I write it down.
JGabriel
@Yarrow:
… Which is kind of like saying Ivanka is smarter than a brick and a peanut, combined.
Mike in NC
Haven’t we all read his bestseller, “The Shart of the Deal”?
germy
@catclub: Catch 22? An argument between Yossarian and his girlfriend, if I recall correctly.
JGabriel
@different-church-lady: Danke.
JustJames
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro
Aleta
@Dread: A source inside the WH said it was the best negotiation in the whole wide world.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
I guarangoddamntee you that this instance is far from the first time this horrible man has killed and tormented animals for “fun,” and I further feel very comfortable in suggesting that he is, or at least has been, a child molester and/or domestic abuser.
Yarrow
@NotMax: @JGabriel: It’s not saying much, that’s for sure. Perhaps clever is the better word. She’s figured out how to get what she wants, even if it means breaking law. Her brothers are not nearly as good at it as she is.
sukabi
@Yarrow: you’ve got to remember that ALL statements this administration puts out are for exactly 1 person and one person only.
Libraryguy
Help!
Just spoke with my absentee landlord. Nice person. Hasn’t kept up with bills for our place (and others). :( “A little short right now”.
Anybody feel like some shopping (early Father’s Day?), you can do it here. We need to raise about $500 over the next few days.
I’ll post this again later, because I have to go yell at the clouds.
NotMax
@Aleta
In Dolt 45 land, negotiation is a synonym for browbeating. Also too, extortion.
The Moar You Know
In a civil society, every member of the press corps at this point would pack up all their shit and walk out, never to return until the next president takes office. Let that beast of a press sec spew her garbage to Fox and Breitbart, but the rest need to stop acting like anything these people say is newsworthy. It isn’t. It’s just fucking lies from the opening to the final statement.
The press can report on the admin’s actions – and probably do so better – without ever having to set foot in that briefing room again.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@The Moar You Know: But where would they get the fatuous remark of the day?
The Moar You Know
@Libraryguy: And…now I know who you are. Nice new nym.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
My experience with animal abusers and murderers is that they build elaborate moral justifications in their minds. The animal was a “nuisance” or “destroying property”.
Sometimes they come up with “I just want to put it out of its misery” (This last excuse was from a co-worker many years ago. A small bird flew against the window of our workplace. It was stunned and laid on the ground next to the building. My co-worker rushed out, ready to wring its neck. Before he could get to it, the bird shook its head, flapped its wings a bit, and flew off.)
We all knew he just wanted to kill something. It had nothing to do with mercy.
sukabi
@trollhattan: what’s the class called Children of the Corn?
They need to check the teachers basement, he’s serial killer material.
trollhattan
@Aleta: @SiubhanDuinne:
Completely agree and if the parents aren’t down to the school and school district HQ with pitchforks demanding he be removed they’re complicit in any future misdeeds.
TenguPhule
@sukabi:
It was an agricultural class, yes.
NotMax
@The Moar You Know
Things we’d like to see (and that will never happen):
The NYT front page: “Presidential press conference today not fit to print.”
Libraryguy
@The Moar You Know: Good to meet you!
And I have to say… nothing drives me or my wife crazier than when someone else doesn’t take care of business that directly affects us. So, so glad I don’t drink!
Tokyokie
@stinger: The mother of one of my best friends has the greatest hoot of a dismissive laugh I’ve ever heard. She leaves no doubt that the object of said laugh was not even worth arguing with. But then, she’s a Holocaust survivor and sort doesn’t give a shit how right-wingers feel.
Jeffro
BREAKING: Trumpov’s financial disclosures do indeed note the Stormy Daniels payment (via Cohen). Hey Trumpkins, tell us how you feel about that – I guess Ms. Daniels’ didn’t make it up, and I guess Mr. “I Never Settle”…settled.
TenguPhule
Donald Tusk condemns Trump administration
What are the odds that the names would be so damn similar at this moment in time?
NotMax
@Jeffro
So now he has to go back and ‘amend’ last year’s form?
sukabi
@TenguPhule: I guess his series of lectures will be cancelled…pretty sure it was a “Becoming…” series. The first one was “Becoming Gacy”….
Kay
They do think he’s the “best negotiator” though. That’s true.
What she meant was not that they’re confident that he’ll make a good deal, she meant they’re very confident they will continue to believe he’s “the best negotiator” no matter what actually happens and that’s a safe bet :)
You want to hate the Trumpsters but really, you can’t argue with some of it. When Trump says “you love me because I’m good for media business” I’m thinking, “he’s got a point there!”
Jeffro
@NotMax: he can use Jared’s special “oopsie” pencil for filling out disclosure forms…it’s got an eraser on it the size of an apple…
Old School
@SiubhanDuinne: It is from an audio recording. People are hearing the same recording say different things.
https://twitter.com/CloeCouture/status/996218489831473152
Kay
And, really, what does “best” mean anyway? He says he’s best. At everything. That’s good enough for me.
“Be Best”. Turns out it’s as easy as saying you’re best, over and over and over. It’s the perfect Trump slogan.
This is the definition of “best”, btw:
But are words, really….
The Moar You Know
@Kay: Last year – and I don’t have a source and could well be horrendously wrong – I recall reading somewhere that if you took all the coverage given Trump during the election, tallied it up at the going rate for advertising, that Trump got over a billion dollars in free advertising from the media during his run.
I also recall the same source mentioning that the media made far more off him during the same period.
stinger
@The Moar You Know: INORITE? At first I thought kosher, but now it’s Hello, JPork!
JPL
@Cheryl from Maryland: Last night on my laptop, I heard Yaurel, but on the news this morning it was only Laurel. My son refuses to believe that anyone can hear Laurel.
Kay
@The Moar You Know:
BEST at negotiating. As in, ONE. We all know this.
Quinerly
@jeffreyw: Lauren!
NotMax
@Jeffro
Originally the size of a pumpkin.
:)
AnotherBruce
@catclub: Yes, Catch 22.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Hmmm. Suppose it’s not the payment to Stormy (although it likely is). Suppose it’s part of the 1.6 million to the pregnant Playmate?
I do not ever want to see anyone else run for the White House, Senate, or governor without disclosing a long series of recent previous tax returns. Good on California for keeping tax return disclosure evaders off the presidential ballot.
(In non-elective office, it would have saved Baltimore a lot of embarrassment. Their police commissioner just resigned; hasn’t paid taxes in 3 years. Can’t folks screen for that? I mean, really … You probably already know about the Charm City tax evader, since it’s almost local, but still….)
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: Dumber? Then how does he maintain respiration & heart beat? Because I imagined pretty dumb. As in not as smart as his father levels of dumb.
stinger
@Gex: It was a Code Pink activist, not a reporter, at a Senate hearing, not a press conference, and a judge overturned her conviction. Unless there’s another incident I didn’t hear about.
rikyrah
@Mart:
RICO
catclub
@AnotherBruce: wow! thanks!
@germy: also thanks
Just One More Canuck
@LAO: @different-church-lady: I hear “I buried Paul”
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
Unbelievable but unsurprising. Of course this would be spun this way. Trump cannot fail! He never makes mistakes!
If Obama had done this he would have been impeached by now.
Bill Arnold
@Villago Delenda Est:
Bolton’s work, this is. It’s deliberate[1], it’s not subtle (he thinks it’s deniable I’m sure, and maybe even thinks it’s subtle), so I’m seriously wondering whether DJ Trump realizes that Bolton is making these moves to monkey-wrench a collection of paths to peace that he (Bolton) personally dislikes. (A few world regions involved.)
[1] Disclaimer: IMO. Also irritated so could be emotional bias at work, downplaying (the probability of) some of the other possible scenarios.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
Ha, ha, ha! Love it.
It’s funny how Rudy G tried to get in front of this with his stupid clumsy media performances recently. Instead of the old lie, “Trump never settles,” we got the new lie, “rich people like Trump settle all the time.”
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s the same thing as “is this dress blue or yellow” thing that people were arguing over before. Different people hear different words from the same computer sound. I only ever hear “Yanny.”
ETA: And I would have sworn I read all the comments, but I missed Old School’s at 135. Sorry!
Bill Arnold
@Yarrow:
It’s not. It’s farce. It might even be deliberate farce at some levels. Think of Sarah Huckabee Sanders as a Pro-Wrestling announcer.
The general tit-for-tat bombast is, granted, a new approach Not sure what positive net effect it has other than perhaps to humanize Trump (and the US by proxy) in KjU’s mind. (While scaring the shit out of some of the rest of us.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Old School:
Thanks for the audio link. The way people were discussing it, I thought those were names of two singers I’d never heard of and the trick was to guess whose voice it was. This makes marginally more sense, although it’s still pretty stupid IMO.
(For the record, it’s ‘Yanny.’ Definitely ‘Yanny.’ Also, the dress is gold and white.)
Chet Murthy
@jeffreyw: Oh, interesting. I listened to it also, and heard Yanny. Then, based on reading elsewhere about how bass response of speakers might be relevant, I cranked up the volume and voila! Lauren. Turns out, the treble response of my speakers isn’t so awful, but if you crank up the volume, you can swamp it with bass, I guess.
MattF
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Impeached, convicted, indicted, tried, convicted, imprisoned.
Chet Murthy
@waspuppet: Trump stands against Big Volcano, and America stand with him!
Inventor
@trollhattan: Jesus, I hate humans.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This reads like they are pleading with NK not to call it off.
Shorter Trump “I would like totally bang that chick so hard, chicks dig a romancer like me you know. But hey, if she says no I am totally cool with it, in fact beyond cool, because Donny doesn’t creep on chicks who secretly dig him but won’t admit it, but if she changes her mind then I am totally up her skirt”
jonas
@Jeffro: The whole web of lies he’s spun around this is basically to preserve his “I never settle” image. His excuse is that Cohen — mensch that he is — stepped up totally on his own and made a payoff to Stormy (who was totally lying about their affair) to save Trump the embarrassment of a sex scandal and that when Trump found out about it, he playfully brushed his fist across Cohen’s chin, going “Awww, you!” and reimbursed him the 130k.
Chet Murthy
@JGabriel: *cough* Shitmidas Sarah, surely.
Brachiator
@Bill Arnold:
But freezing out of professionals happened with Tillerson at the State Department, and is happening with other agencies as well. And there are still many vacancies in key offices. It is entirely possible that Bolton may try to take advantage of this.
But it also appears that Trump does not know how to execute the office of president of the United States, and that he is also trying to recreate the way that he runs his Trump businesses. He and his fluffers try to sell this as the president reducing the size of the federal government, but he doesn’t seem to know what is essential and what might be streamlined.
jonas
Trump’s innovative “ready, shoot, aim” approach to international arms control agreements is really paying off!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Yarrow
At lest she didn’t call Spanky “The Master Debater”
glory b
@germy: I think that was the excuse Mike Huckabee used to justify his son killing a dog. It had mange, according to them, and it was a mercy.
Of course, he (allegedly) hung it and set it on fire IIRC.
chopper
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S):
i listened to it, all i hear is who gives a fuck?
Aleta
@NotMax: I’ve noticed Kushner and DJ and their so-called communications dept have redefined achievement as “we told someone to get this done and gave them a deadline” + “no one else has been able to do this in XX years of trying.” (To be used for campaigning and brand of course.)
Lately it’s also: “the achievement is that he kept a promise to a rw group.” Standing ovation.
Success = “we’ve come up with a conclusion to the situation.”
Leave out the results over time, leave out the opinions of the affected people.
NotMax
@jonas
That’s what fixers do. Happen to know someone (respected, serious and credible, was a White House counsel when those were upstanding lawyers) who knows someone who is a fixer for a major, major banking concern (begins with C). That person receives an annual retainer (read: slush fund) of $2 million to do the ‘fixing.’
germy
Jane’s been quiet lately.
PPCLI
@delk:
@Adam L Silverman:
Yes, to resurrect a departed idiom, I’m sure Sarah will stick around until the last dog is hung.
ET
I know I shouldn’t put this to writing in case our overlords The Cats find out, but that is one of my favorite pictures on the Internet.
ET
@jeffreyw: what is funny is I hear yammy not yanny
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
If not serial killer.
stinger
@SiubhanDuinne: Now I’m wondering if there is a link — do those who see a yellow dress hear Yanny and those who see blue hear Laurel? Or are the traits randomly distributed? Or is it purely the software, and you might hear one on your phone and the other on your laptop or someone else’s phone?
Amir Khalid
For you jackals who’d like a taste of Schadenfreude at the sight of a corrupt leader going down, I present Najib. The Royal Malaysian Police have spent the first evening of Ramadhan paying him a visit at his private residence. This raid, unlike the reported raid earlier this week on a condo rented by his family members, was confirmed by the police. They were looking for documents related to 1MDB.
I’ve heard that now that The Official One is no longer an official and has no more immunity from his office, law enforcement in several countries — France, Switzerland, the US — might intensify their investigation into his doings.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@Old School:
A literal human dog whistle.
@JPL: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”
Barbara
@Yarrow:
I don’t know that this is true. Her perceived greater smartness is due to her obvious assessment that she needed to be financially independent of her father. She seems as clueless as her brothers on every other matter under the sun.
germy
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/with-lachlan-murdochs-ascension-new-fox-to-be-like-old-fox.html
SFAW
@jeffreyw:
What’s really weird is that Mrs. SFAW hears “Luxury yacht” and I hear “Throat wobbler mangrove.”
SFAW
@germy:
Truer words were never spoken?
Humdog
@Amir Khalid: This seems breathtakingly fast. How great to see justice happening against the elite, at least somewhere. Good on your voters for rejecting the crook!
Mary G
I’m sure one of you FPs will put up something about the NYT’s “Crossfire Hurricane” story. I almost reinstated my subscription so I could write a furious comment.
About the infamous article where the NYT said there was no evidence about Trump:
Ya think?
Jim Comey has a lot to answer for.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, thanks be to FSM! I don’t think my heart could stand that much cuteness, unabated. And I’m not even a “dog person.”
germy
The replies to her tweet are brutal and hilarious.
But her emails!!!
@jeffreyw:
I originally heard Yanny it then transitioned to Lauren and now that’s the only thing I hear.
bluefish
Purrrr-feck! Jus’ purrr-feck …
SFAW
@germy: @SFAW:
Oh, sure, change it after I write my comment.
SFAW
@germy:
Is that the latest euphemism for “creative accounting”?
SFAW
@germy:
Just like with Pinche’ Sulzberger, as of 1/1/18.
germy
@SFAW:
“Turbo Tax for Beginners”
The Moar You Know
@stinger: loud and clear, sadly.
Chet Murthy
@Chet Murthy: Or “Shithole Sarah”.
SiubhanDuinne
@stinger:
I could probably make a case for any of those scenarios, but based on the commenter who heard one thing on a mobile and the other on a desktop, I’m thinking it’s specific to the hardware/software more than to the wetware :-)
germy
https://www.lawfareblog.com/flipping-michael-cohen
SFAW
@germy:
Fixed
PPCLI
@Mary G:
“There is no FBI investigation” is not “playing down the case”.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s both hardware and wetware. Some people will never hear one set of frequencies, but different hardware may not produce some of the frequencies. There have already been several frequency filter analysis that confirm that what you hear can be explained by what frequencies you are hearing. The dress issue is more complex, but color fidelity across monitors is a known problem and may play a role in the perception as well as visual responses.
Mary G
@PPCLI: The NYT is still not acknowledging getting rolled:
Passive/aggressive much?
satby
@Libraryguy: You took my suggestion about linking your nym, great! I just got myself an early birthday gift.
germy
@Mary G: I wonder what a fly on the wall inside their latest editorial meetings would hear. Lots of angry sputtering, I imagine.
I think the editors are pissed off about all the criticism. They don’t take criticism well.
Corner Stone
Thank goodness it’s Friday.
satby
@stinger: really?
Yarrow
@Corner Stone: Infrastructure Week Fridays are my favorite!
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: Yep.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Moar You Know: @stinger:
Oh, I think you’re quite wrong. Libraryguy offers value for money, with excess going to animal rescue causes. JPork … doesn’t.
ETA: And the style seems to me to be quite different.
The Moar You Know
@Mary G: The self-righteous butthurt in that one sentence is positively jaw-dropping.
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid:
I’ve heard bits of this story on BBC Global News and the News Hour, but I greatly enjoy your take on it. Thanks much.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: I got news for you, sunshine…
Mary G
@germy: It looks like they’re censoring the comments, too, so far. All of them blame Comey, the FBI, and Hillary so far. A surprising number say the article proves the whole thing is a witch hunt. Not one syllable about the Times.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
The potential of being a serial killer. The warning signs are pretty obvious.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Wet ware v hardware argument, over speakers I hear Laurel, my wife hears “yarse”. over bluetooth headset (from the same computer) I hear Yanny, she hears Yarry.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
The administration can try to say they don’t care, but I suspect the prospect of a treaty in Korea is one contributor to the rise in Trump’s poll numbers. There’s plenty of time for things to go wrong before November.
Mary G
They are showing their bigotry more and more openly:
Kay
@Mary G:
I’m sick of this excuse. I don’t care if they were “eager” to re-enter Presidential politics. Why didn’t they just do a straight good job to the best of their ability and let other people say what they want?
I mean, seriously. Enough of their anguish. The anguish is voluntary. They’re supposed to be professionals. Just do the job and let the chips fall where they may. All of this THINKING they did just made it worse.
You know, they failed. They lost credibility anyway. So all that anguish was for nothing and they could have skipped all the gaming out scenarios and it would have been BETTER.
Follow the rules and the process. The rules and process are designed to protect them from accusations of bias. That’s all they had to do.
Mnemosyne
I didn’t place in the writing contest I entered AND I fucked up at work and cost my department a couple thousand dollars. Today sucks.
Kay
@Mary G:
Also, it doesn’t inspire a lot of faith in their CURRENT ability to investigate ANY of this if they are still indulging in this idea that they somehow have to suss out what people might say before they do their jobs!
They don’t! It’s BETTER if they stop doing that! Stop agonizing. They have permission. They have a whole set of elaborate rules and process to ENSURE they don’t have to agonize.
Mary G
Well, Collins, Kennedy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski all broke ranks to vote for net neutrality today, but it means nothing because the House won’t take the issue up?
Mary G
@Kay: Exactly. If Comey had followed the rules and kept his mouth shut, none of this would be happening.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: sigh.
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: yeah, I thought actual products meant different.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Mnemosyne: The fools. Not you, the contest judges.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@The Moar You Know:
Ah, Jurassic Pork and his begging. I haven’t missed him.
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
Laurel wins, sort of. https://www.wired.com/story/yanny-and-laurel-true-history
Now back to work y’all.
Corner Stone
@Mary G:
Comey should have never been hired as FBI Director in the first place. And he should have been subsequently fired asap after his Summer 2016 press conference where he broke every dept rule in the book and indicted HRC without forwarding an actual indictment. Comey then would not have felt “compelled” to send his fucking letter to Congress in the waning days of the election.
SiubhanDuinne
@satby:
I have not ordered from Libraryguy’s online store, but several months ago he introduced himself and his products and my memory is that some BJ commenters shopped there and were pleased with their purchases. His entire approach and style is very different from JP’s. I’m glad you encouraged Libraryguy to link his website to his nym.
stinger
@SiubhanDuinne: (I don’t know how to add in satby) I’d be glad to be wrong, but the “somebody else did something bad, and now I need money quick” is JPork all over. If you’re getting actual, nice products, that seems like a step upward. But re-read the excuse for the bleg — it doesn’t hold water.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Oh, I’m really sorry your day is going so badly. May the rest of it be a great improvement.
The Moar You Know
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Who could?
MisterForkbeard
@Mary G: JFC, is that a REAL quote? What the hell?
The vast majority of people Trump is exporting are normal immigrants, no issues. And he’s kicking out even more people who’ve been here as refugees for decades and have been contributing normally.
stinger
@Mnemosyne: Argh, sorry to hear it. Hang in there — most people who are in there doing things, do things wrong from time to time.
JPL
@YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): Thank you for the link and what an interesting read.
SiubhanDuinne
@stinger:
My approach to JPork was always to just ignore his blegs. Should I eventually become persuaded that Libraryguy = Jurassic Pork, I’ll do the same with him. But for the moment I prefer to extend the benefit of the doubt.
Mnemosyne
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
To be fair, I was competing against published authors. I’m still curious to know where I placed, though.
I realized yesterday that I’m having trouble getting myself to do my rewrite because I’ve never gotten this far before. I’ve never had a finished draft of a novel that then needed rewriting. I always got frustrated and gave up halfway through.
I have now ordered a couple of books on rewriting (“The Last Draft” and James Scott Bell’s book from the WD series) but it was kind of odd to realize that I wasn’t sure what to do next because I’d never had a completed rough draft before.
Yarrow
@stinger: I’m not sure it’s the same person. Cole frontpaged his request for business to his store in December. It includes his and his wife’s names. Here’s a followup post frontpaged by mistermix. Maybe he is JPork and they both fell for it, but he’s got a different style, gives his name, and links to his store.
Mnemosyne
@stinger:
If it is JP under a new name, he finally figured out that he needed to give value for his blegs, so that’s a step forward.
G is going to take me out for a drink tonight, so that will help with the annoyance of today.
Mary G
Eric Wemple at WaPo has a good article trolling the NYT: New York Times acknowledges it buried the lead in pre-election Russia-Trump story:
and
and
So at least he’s admitted that the headline was wrong. Why is it so hard for these people to say: “Hey, we really screwed that up, sorry.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Thank you!
SiubhanDuinne
@MisterForkbeard:
It sure is. If you click through to the original tweet and scroll down about three comments, there’s video. He said it and he meant it. Fucking sociopathic monster (no offense to actual fucking sociopathic monsters).
Omnes Omnibus
@Yarrow: Some of us may have become awfully cynical.
chopper
@Mary G:
sounded better in the original german.
MattF
@Mnemosyne: You might want to look at Charlie Stross’ series of posts ‘Common misconceptions about publishing‘. All about the actual process of publishing a book.
Jeffro
Looks like there may have been a criminal referral for Trumpov for lying on that financial disclosure form…and the anvil’s about to drop in Stone, too
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
Uh, which Hillary Clinton story turned out to be right of the thousands they promoted?
satby
@SiubhanDuinne: @Yarrow: yeah, I would assume neither front pager would have highlighted jpork. I ordered some nice things I gave as Christmas gifts last time.
I’m sensitive to the frustration people feel with constant requests for money because I’m one of the main fundraisers for our rescue. I get sick of us too, but it’s the only way we can keep doing the work.
MisterForkbeard
@Mnemosyne: Maybe they’re referring to all of the “Clinton’s are shady” articles that had a blaring headline and lede but the actual body of the article was essentially “we exhaustively researched all of this and the Clintons clearly didn’t do anything wrong, but they COULD have if they’d wanted to so therefore we’re suspicious.” :P
J R in WV
@Mary G:
“Jim Comey has a lot to answer for.”
The NYTimes has far more to answer for, in my opinion. The same day they ran their story that there was nothing there in the Trump investigation, there was a story by David Corn/Mother Jones spelling out much of what everyone now knows about the Trump/Russia connections and the effect of the campaign.
The same Day!! They ignored the competition’s accurate story in order to run their own false and misleading story to further aid Trump’s campaign.
I think more accurate estimates of Trump’s advantage in free publicity versus Clinton’s campaign was 3 or 4 billion dollars worth of TV time. Remember all those hours of Trump’s campaign nonsense and Raging hatred compared to no coverage of Hillary Clinton’s many speeches filled with policy statements?? Yet people accused her of not talking about her policy positions!! She talked, the MSM didn’t cover that story. At all!
Frankly, I think MSM management was bought and paid for, and the word was spread to all the reporters that they needed to follow the bosses’ party line if they wanted to be promoted, or even to stay on the payroll at all. And I’ve grown up in media households and lived in media households for nearly 70 years now!!! I don’t remember the first 8 or 10 years, honestly, but I was there! They were bought and paid for long before the election!