Trump will be in Tampa later today. First he’ll snarl rush hour traffic to visit a technical high school, and later he’ll hold a campaign rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds. The people pictured below are camping out at the fairgrounds to make sure they’re first in line:
Gene Huber, 48, claims to have been the first in line to wait for the rally. He got here around 2 p.m. yesterday, he claims. His shirt features a picture of him hugging President Trump at a rally last year in Melbourne, Florida. This is his 11th rally, he says. @TB_Times pic.twitter.com/SraV2vs3Si
— Josh Fiallo (@ByJoshFiallo) July 31, 2018
For context, keep in mind that this is July in Florida. The sun beats down like a sledgehammer, and just breathing the humid air is like huffing dragon farts. Afternoons are enlivened by dramatic thunderstorms, with sheets of pounding rain punctuated by frequent lightning. And these dumb fucks are camping out on the asphalt by the side of a busy road. For Trump.
As the tweet notes, the guy in the center of the photo has been to 10 Trump rallies already and wears a shirt picturing himself hugging Trump. Nothing weird or cult-like about that, nosiree.
But I’m more intrigued by the outfit of the woman at left. She has apparently sawed the top off a wicker basket and is wearing that around her midsection, presumably to indicate her occupancy of the “basket of deplorables.” I didn’t get it at first, and I’m fairly well-versed in Cult45 symbology. I bet 95% of the folks who notice her are thinking, “Why is that woman wearing a stiff, ill-fitting wicker belt?”
Anyway, here’s hoping swarms of mosquitoes and plagues of ditch-gators immiserate these fools until the gates open. And may Lady Deplorable consume so many burgers from the nearby Five Guys that she has to be extracted from her basket via a hack saw. I’ve got no sympathy for these people, nor a desire to understand them; only a burning desire to see them defeated.
Open thread!
the Conster
I would take 10,000 asylum seekers for every one of these morons every day.
imonlylurking
I grew up with these sssholes. I understand them already. When will they be lectured about understanding me?
trollhattan
My kid’s been hooked on the CNN series on the last several decades. (Yes, per the president* she’s just learned several hours’ worth of lies.) The ’70s episode covering Watergate showed hordes of sign-waving Nixon supporters outside the White House the day he departed for the last time. I don’t think these assholes are any different, they just have Facebook.
father pusbucket
This is soooo fucking brilliant.
Here’s How America Uses Its Land
schrodingers_cat
Some of them are probably being paid , check out your local CL.
RedDirtGirl
Ugh. Listening to Senator Cruz give a tongue-bath to testifying ICE head.
Raoul
David Roberts from Vox had a great thread overnight. Here’s a sample
Roger Moore
I think the basket case lady is also wearing a T-shirt with a picture of herself on it. The caption reads “You just gotta love her/Deplorable to [obscured in the picture]”. Somehow having your own face on a T-shirt just seems really weird.
Elizabelle
The Trump groupies have self-incarcerated on a slab of burning concrete. Leaves them less time to be out harassing others who are just out and about.
Bring on the lightning bolts miles ahead of thunderstorms. It happens some times.
rikyrah
LMAO!!
r€nato
I happened to be in Tampa on the day when there was nothing but blue skies and puffy white clouds in the sky when a man walking on the causeway was struck dead by lightning. Literally a bolt out of the blue.
May it happen again to these deplorable pieces of shit.
ruemara
These are the dumbest people. Tell them libtards don’t want them to enjoy the good, American pastime of licking electrical sockets.
rikyrah
whatever.
The Uneasy Relationship Between Trump and Wealthy Republicans
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 31, 2018
Despite pushing for a huge corporate tax cut and implementing attempts to roll back government regulations, wealthy Republicans don’t seem particularly happy with Donald Trump.
That comes from a room full of people who have traditionally donated big money to Republican candidates. They’re not ready to flip allegiances yet, but it’s clear that there are some things going on in their party that are causing concern. We can summarize those concerns with two words: Donald Trump.
Matt
You know who feels this happy about that kind of weather? Frickin lizards.
The Dangerman
@schrodingers_cat:
Couldn’t pay me enough. Well, maybe if I was temporarily rendered deaf and couldn’t hear the asshole, it might be worth it.
catclub
@Roger Moore:
I think it is no more weird than advertising somebody else’s product with your t shirt. (unless you are LeBron James and being paid well to wear that t-shirt.)
Melusine
Long-time lurker, first-time commenter. I LOVE thatas soon as I saw the phrase “like huffing dragon farts”, I knew it was a BC post. Bravo! Bellisimo!
Jeffro
10 Trumpov rallies? 11? What are they, Deadheads-for-Donnie? Lollapa-losers?
…although if they are, to be fair, the music is probably better at Trumpov rallies (ducks)
Raoul
OT, but there was some chatter on Twitter that Sen. Flake is traveling abroad for most of August. Speculation is that he did this on purpose to make it nigh impossible for McConnell to move any more judges, as Flake sits on Judiciary and his vote is needed.
Anyone know more about this?
TaMara (HFG)
I have been saying this since I became involved in climate change efforts. These folks had their chance – they do not deserve, nor will they get, another minute of my time. They need to be marginalized, placed in a room with a box of crayons and recycled paper and left to entertain themselves while the adults get to the business of making the world a better place for everyone.
I cannot tolerate another whine about how we MUST understand them and get them to see it our way. They won’t, they never will, so our job it so overwhelm them with our numbers.
lowtechcyclist
And to think I’ll be there in eleven days. Scary thought!
TenguPhule
There should be a cream for that.
cope
Gene Huber’s picture should be on the “TV Tropes/Empty Eyes” page.
TenguPhule
@Matt:
I welcome our Reptile Overlords.
different-church-lady
So, basically Trump’s rallies are the same 10,000 people over and over again?
Roger Moore
@father pusbucket:
It’s a really excellent set of maps. One thing I didn’t see listed as a land use category is mining and drilling; I’d be very interested to see just how much land that takes up.
James E Powell
@different-church-lady:
Pretty much like the tea party rallies.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
That’s Republican speak for “black people are being uppity and therefore we must cut Social Security and Medicare to show them their place in the natural order of things.”
different-church-lady
@TaMara (HFG):
We already understand them: they are angry, demented racists.
When people say we need to understand them, they’re using “understand” as a substitute for “pander to”.
Chyron HR
“Look out, here comes the master race!”
ALTERNATIVE JOKE: “Super-duper supermen!”
JPL
@Raoul: Flake is just like his colleague Paul. All talk and then fold.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
The Gilliard Doctrine is more pertinent today that 13+ years ago:
Schlemazel
@r€nato:
One of the more interesting things about living in Central FLA is watching the storms roll in every summer day. I had always heard that lightning often proceeds the rain & while there I saw many occasions where I could see the front coming with the rain behind & lighting out front. I gained a lot of respect for that stuff. They get crazy storms down there
schrodingers_cat
@The Dangerman: People have found local CL listings prior to these unhinged gatherings, promising a gift voucher for attending.
ETA: You will still have to see him.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: 10,000 is a high number. These days they are having trouble filling up school gyms.
Schlemazel
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
If there were a God he would have many things to answer for. Taking Steve so early is one of them
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
It’s like one of those shirts with an arrow pointing up and”I’m With Stupid”
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: THIS, to the 1000x. Like Betty and TaMara and everyone else above, I.Am.Done.With.Them.
One last snarky comment–how the hell does someone have time off to go to ten (!) fucking rallies? Independently wealthy? Retired (at 48, unlikely)? But lie-berals are the ones who don’t put in an honest day’s work. *headdesk* Guess since I’m not a cultist, praise Ghu, I don’t understand it (nor do I want to).
The Dangerman
@schrodingers_cat:
Gift voucher?!! It had better be one helluva GREAT gift.
rikyrah
Trump Is Not a Simple-Minded Crowd Pleaser
by Martin Longman
July 30, 2018
………………………….
There are many things that Trump remembers very well, and many ideas that he sticks to with an absurd doggedness. One thing he very clearly adheres to is a commitment to please Vladimir Putin. In fact, he is so thorough in this respect that he must be getting more routine help in understanding what Putin wants than he’s getting from his regularly scheduled private meetings with him. But even if someone is telling him what Russia would like to see in Syria, Macedonia, the Korean Peninsula, and the Baltics, it’s certainly never far from his mind that he should not do anything that might displease Russia. And, if he feels like he may have been cornered into giving some offense, he’s sure to find a way to compensate at the very next opportunity.
Trump remembers things just fine, and when he lies he most often knows that he’s lying. It’s true that he has no conscience about this and that lying means so little to him that he has no real voice in his head alerting him to contradictions. He may very well sometimes be unaware that he’s saying the opposite of what he said just 15 minutes previously, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t realize that what he’s saying is bullshit. It means that one bullshit comment can’t really contradict another bullshit comment because, for him, truthfulness is a worthless practice.
What Trump is most effective at in life is conning people. He’s never much concerned himself with making sure his cons stay secret. Contractors know they haven’t been paid. People who lay down twenty thousand dollars to take a course from Trump University know they have been duped. When the bill comes due, he brings in his lawyers, pays his fines and legal settlements if he must, and moves on to the next scam.
kd bart
At what point do they all end up at a jungle campground in French Guyana?
different-church-lady
@kd bart:
Not soon enough.
Sister Golden Bear
@Elizabelle: Darwinism in action? I’m in favor of it.
SFAW
@father pusbucket:
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
However, one thing that seemed to be missing: the geographical distribution of racist moron motherfuckers a/k/a RWAs a/k/a Shitgibbonistas. I, for one, am at a loss as to where the largest concentrations might be. Any ideas?
rikyrah
In key statewide race, Donald Trump finds his ‘mini-me’
07/31/18 12:51 PM—UPDATED 07/31/18 01:00 PM
By Steve Benen
As he wraps up his second term, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has his eyes set on the U.S. Senate, creating an open gubernatorial race in the nation’s largest swing state. The conventional wisdom suggested state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former congressman, was the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
That’s no longer true. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has very quickly risen to the top of GOP polls in Florida, thanks almost entirely to the endorsement he received from Donald Trump. The New York Times reports today on how the largely unknown congressman, once seen as a longshot, positioned himself as the odds-on favorite to win Florida’s Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
I’m going to start a tangent about t-shirts:
I think the social purpose of wearing a fan t-shirt (sports jersey/shirt, brand, movie or TV, etc) is as a conversation starter. It’s to get other people to look and then say, “Hey, I like that (team/book/character/TV show/etc), too!” I frequently wear a “Little Prince” parody t-shirt called “Le Petit Chat” that I get a lot of positive comments about.
So IMO wearing a t-shirt with your own face on it is counterproductive, to say the least. It’s an anti-conversation starter and will make most people avoid you.
rikyrah
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
they will NEVER be forgiven.
and, don’t ever
and I mean EVER
purse the lips to tell me that I need to ‘ understand’ these muthaphuckas.
SFAW
@Jeffro:
Outstanding!
schrodingers_cat
@Raoul: He is pretty focused on 3 things.
1. Grifting as many $$ for himself as possible
2. Racism and xenophobia
3. Pleasing Putin.
Schlemazel
@The Dangerman:
A free lobotomy, performed by hair furor’s obnoxious voice
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Trump is a toxic narcissist. “Truth” is what he wants it to be at that moment, and he gets pissed if anyone tries to tell him that there’s such a thing as objective truth.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Fake news!!!
SFAW
@Schlemazel:
Yeah, I still miss him.
Roger Moore
@r€nato:
If it happened to the Deplorable in Chief, I might actually start believing in a deity.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mnemosyne: I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a gray T-shirt identifying me as a member of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries. I keep hoping someone will get the joke.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
I don’t wear product placement T-shirts; I actually remove logos from a lot of my stuff because I don’t like the idea of looking like a walking advertisement.
Mel
@Roger Moore: Okay. So, that lunatic is actually clad in a basket rim. How I wish that my eyes were deceiving me.
Timurid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
But that joke keeps going Miles over their heads…
SFAW
Not to be indelicate, but: how in the hell would you know what that is like?
SFAW
@ruemara:
A parallel to that, back before evil took over, was hoping President Obama would get on primetime TV and say “Drinking anti-freeze is dangerous! Please don’t do it!!!”
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
Yeah, I’m old enough to remember when a conservative knock on liberals protesting was that the conservatives were too busy working to be able to do that stuff. I wonder which form of government benefits these Trump fans are depending on that they have the free time to go to endless Trump rallies.
Drunkenhausfrau
Don’t these people have jobs?! *snort*
Mnemosyne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I get the joke! Maybe you need a “My Family Went to Vorbarr Sultana And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” shirt.
rikyrah
Donald Trump Has Almost Cashed His Check
by Martin Longman
July 27, 2018
Haroldo
@Jeffro: And well you should duck, Mr. Jeffro. (But you get a pass for the sterling Lollapa-losers.)
hueyplong
It has been said before, but Gilliard is missed.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@SFAW:
Conservatives/Trump supporters are stupid but not that stupid, unfortunately. I don’t think most would fall for that.
(Yes, I know it’s a joke)
ruemara
@kd bart: I’m willing to donate to that kickstarter.
Mary G
Don’t these people have jobs? I wish some media outfit would get pictures outside the venue where these rallies are going on, to see if the thousands Twitler is always claiming couldn’t get in are actually there.
@Melusine: I choked on the beverage I was sipping when I got to “huffing dragon farts.” BC has mad language skillz. Nice to see a lurker speaking up! Welcome to the jackals.
ETA: word is that the DOJ is going to announce arrests in a major cybercrime investigation unrelated to Mueller’s investigation tomorrow.
MCA1
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Yeah, that’s what horks me off most about these traveling cultist losers. They’re fucking zeroes, but they go around blithely decrying the moochers and takers in society, utterly unaware of the fact that they’re talking about themselves.
That’s one concept I’d love to kill once and for all: this idea that the lower middle class and rural Republicans are so much more hardworking than everyone else. Fuck that. We all work hard. They have it entirely backwards – without urban white collar professionals subsidizing their rural lifestyle, they’d be worse off than they are currently.
That cudgel needs to be broken, along with notion that the GOP the party of personal responsibility, sound foreign policy, patriotism and fiscal sanity. All demonstrably untrue, yet they still brand themselves that way for the rubes and it works.
different-church-lady
Vital article at 538:
Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets
If you want to know why the summer of 2016 smelled so damn off, this goes a long way to explaining it.
Ohio Mom
@different-church-lady: Are these Trumpheads who migrate to one rally after another all retired? Don’t some of them have jobs to go to? Eleven rallies plus travel time to and from for the out-of-your-state-ones — that’s a lot of work to miss.
@Roger Moore: Adding mining and drilling would have been interesting, also, what about manufacturing? Even if there is less manufacturing then there used to be, if you are going to list golf courses, why not factories? Or schools, college campuses and research facilities? A geographer might have an interesting critique of what was included and what was left out.
I also want to know who those 100 families are!
@rikyrah: Eh, the Koch brothers’ henchmen just opened an office in Cincinnati because they are worried our two congressional districts might flip Blue, and of course they’d like very much to be rid of Sherrod Brown. There’s a big gap between wanting to get rid of Trump and jettisoning the rest of the elected Republican officials.
Finally, thanks for explaining that woman’s belt. It had me mystified.
gvg
@rikyrah: Some people need to just so we can out plan them and defeat them, but not sympathize with them, that’s right out. Who wants to understand crazy people? But we haven’t exactly been outsmarting them so far, so some volunteers do need to “study” them.
Ohio Mom
@Melusine: Welcome, and please stick around.
Elizabelle
@Sister Golden Bear: How are you feeling today? How is Thailand? Hope you are doing swimmingly.
Roger Moore
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I would get the joke, and similar types of things seem OK. I’ve seen somebody wearing an Aperture Laboratories T-shirt who was very pleased I got the joke. And I have a “Stand back! I’m going to try science!” T-shirt.
gvg
At this point I would want to investigate those “Trump fans” for ties to Russia. I feel reporters are failing if they don’t check ID an these storybait people.
matt
At least they’re not getting mad at their neighbors for having yard sales, or whatever the fuck it is they do all day long the rest of the time.
oatler.
Is the Gruppenrally going on right now? (Arizona time here)
Raoul
@JPL: I generally agree that Flake is useless. But IF it is true that he’ll be gone for the bulk of August, this would throw a judge-packing wrench. I guess we’ll see if his staff are right that he’s planning to be away that much.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Is Miles still hiring?
germy
cope
@Ohio Mom: Here you go.
http://www.landreport.com/americas-100-largest-landowners/
TenguPhule
@gvg:
Vivisection is a type of study.
Cckids
Betty, when I first read your opening, I thought you wrote “complain” rally.
Wouldn’t be wrong. At all.
May the dank heat of a FL July make them all feel & smell like Satan’s swamp ass.
Leto
Nah, there’s so much grease in the 5 Guys burgers that she’s probably squatting in the bushes (ala Spicer) wishing she had two ply instead of a handful of poison ivy.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Stuff like this is exactly why that stupid Bret Stephens’ “CAREFUL LIBS! YOU’RE GONNA LEFTY IT UP TOO FAR LEFTISH AND TRUMPOV’S GONNA GET RE-ELECTED!!1!”
No he won’t, Stephens, you putz. He likely won’t even be in office. But even if he is…he’s been underwater for his whole presidency, he isn’t producing anything for his base except rage-tweets, and most everyone around him is going to be under indictment before the year is out.
Mike J
@Leto: Squatting AMONG the bushes.
Steve in the STL
@lowtechcyclist:
BC was writing about July in Florida. August will be cool and breezy with low humidity.
Mandalay
Katy Tur on MSNBC just informed us that it isn’t just Paul Manafort who is going on trial; Bob Mueller is as well.
WTF???…Because both sides?
Shell
I think she looks more like she was trying to hang a grape-vine wreath and got confused.
The Midnight Lurker
You can joke… but these people scare the shit out of me. Just imagine them in black uniforms with just a little authority and you’ll see what I mean.
A Ghost To Most
“The sun beats down like a sledgehammer”
Try it with 5000′ less of air. The sun here will cook you. The difference is moving into the shade here actually helps.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Timurid: @Timurid: @Mnemosyne: @Roger Moore: I knew you all would get it. Sadly, I’ve never run into anyone in real life who did.
Jeffro
@Mandalay: I’m curious, Katy: before Trumpov, did we used to ‘put the prosecutor on trial’ as well? I don’t remember that happening, like, ever.
LAZY REPORTING JUST REINFORCES “BOTH SIDES” BS!
Kay
This is true, IMO.
It’s so perfect that the serial bankrupt has nothing in the bank. No good will, no one beyond the base, all kinds of legal problems.
Obama was able to weather the tough economic conditions because Obama wasn’t an asshole and people liked him. He had banked good will. Trump has none. First bump in the economic road and he bottoms out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@TenguPhule: Sadly, Miles seems to have reached an end point.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mandalay: So, if Mueller doesn’t get a conviction, he has to serve time in the greybar hotel?
Kay
@Mandalay:
Mueller has behaved very well. Unlike Comey and Ken Starr he seems to have some self-discipline. The Trump people really got a break with him. He didn’t do any of the bullshit grandstanding a lot of them do, no riding in with a white hat, no public lectures. It’s refreshing. Gives one hope that people can do their jobs without promoting themselves or ax-grinding.
scav
@Shell: Or, maybe failing at twirling a home-made wicker remedial hula-hoop . . . .
Mandalay
@rikyrah:
I agree with that, and it should be accepted wisdom in the absence of any arguments to the contrary.
Pundits constantly claim that Trump doesn’t even know he’s lying without a shred of evidence to support that.
J R in WV
@SFAW:
You don’t have a dog? Dog eat terrible things, and then they fart right under your chair. Could be from a dragon. Also chemical plants…
P-dog
They are probably kooky, but it’s Kind of hard to top this though
https://funnyjunk.com/channel/politics/Lgbtq+alphabet+movement+posing+under+the+baby+trump+balloon/YhxyLLu/
James E Powell
@Kay:
No constant flow of scurrilous rumors leaked to the NYT.
Mike in NC
Thinking happy thoughts for the suffering MAGAts gathered in central Florida on the last day of July. Hope the hate rally is worth the heat stroke a number of them will experience.
Visited Tampa a few years ago for July 4th and it was uniquely miserable even if you could find a spot of shade.
Mel
@Sister Golden Bear: How are you doing today?
Tom Levenson
@Kay: I don’t think the Trumpanzees got a break with Mueller. His competence and his meticulous attention to the substance of his job are killing them.
Brachiator
Again, I guess the rally should be interesting to know what is shaking in Trump’s manic mind. We’ll get the greatest hits of course. “No collusion” and “fake news.” Maybe some hints as to where his rage and resentment will be focused next. He seems to be hot for “the wall” again.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
I don’t think so. I think they’d be happier with a grandstanding incompetent than a quiet guy who’s going to dig up their dirty secrets and send them to lifetime prison sentences.
Mnemosyne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Honestly, I prefer Imperial Auditor Vorkosigan to Admiral Naismith. I have fairly low tolerance for military stories and find the new political mystery bent much more interesting.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Mueller is playing in a whole different league than the media or Giuliani are. His PR is his integrity. Beyond that, he ignores it.
SFAW
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Then you haven’t been paying attention.
There was more than enough “I fucking hate that black guy so fucking much because he’s blackity-black” going around, and that translated into RWAs doing things contra Obama, JUST BECAUSE OBAMA SAID IT WAS GOOD (or whatever). Or has all the stuff that Shitgibbon has done to negate Obama’s Presidency escaped your notice?
Elizabelle
Tampa Bay Times website, right now: <Five things to watch as Trump descends on Tampa today
We seem to be watching them already. Five deplorables in that photo.
Anyhow, the TB Times’ five things are:
1. Will Trump go after Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam? Trump supports whackaroo congresscritter Ron DeSantis for governor.
(trivia point: today is Putnam’s birthday.)
2. Will Trump inflame government shutdown speculation?
3. Will Trump revive attacks on “Low Energy” Jeb Bush and “Little” Marco Rubio? [Do we jackals even care?]
4. How strongly will Trump stump for Gov. Rick Scott?
5. Where does Pam Bondi fit in Trump’s world now?
She’s supporting birthday boy Adam Putnam for gov, who is NOT Trump’s candidate.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Mnemosyne: I like the Auditor stories too, but one of the things I like about the military ones is that he uses cleverness as a battle strategy. I’m bored by guns or swords or fists.
Immanentize
@Kay: I am a bit worried — but that is my nature. There have been so many federal prosecution fails recently. Either acquittals like in Oregon, or prosecutorial misconduct like in Alaska in high profile “political” cases. And TS Ellis is a cranky old tank. This prosecution needs a completely straight shooter like Mueller to pull it off. My read so far is that the defense in the case is simply that the Government will mess up somehow. We will know more this evening after opening arguments.
mapaghimagsik
@Roger Moore: Considering they worship a narcissistic self-promoter…
Fair Economist
@father pusbucket: Great link!
different-church-lady
@Jeffro:
Ah, yes, another installment in the timeless “IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME RESPECT I’M GOING TO GO OUT AND VOTE FOR THE IDIOT I WAS GOING TO VOTE FOR ANYWAY” series.
Mel
@J R in WV: Worst dog gas experience – an already farty Labrador who stole and ate two cabbage rolls. Blisteringly awful.
Mnemosyne
@Mandalay:
It’s not that Trump doesn’t know that he’s lying. It’s that he doesn’t care. He is completely indifferent to the truth and thinks that people who care about the truth are weak losers who deserve to be conned by him.
It would be easier to convince a great white shark not to eat you than it would be to convince Trump that “truth” is something he should care about.
The Moar You Know
My grandparents are from Alabama. My dad used to make us go back there every year on summer break.
Even at age 9, when you can handle heat like a champ, I remember getting out of the nice air conditioned car and feeling like I’d been hit. Physically. The last time I went to the South I was in my mid-forties, I went outside and couldn’t control it; I puked. I can’t handle heat anymore. Not that kind, anyway. SoCal is bad enough but never anything like Southern heat.
I’d like to hope those Trumpsters would just keel over and die from it but like kudzu, pythons or rats, they’ve adapted very quickly to their environment and most of them probably handle it just fine.
The future of that part of the world is going to be hellish. I had the rather unpleasant experience of going to the Gulf of Aden a few years back in August. Imagine hard packed sterile sandstone desert to the water, daytime highs of 125 degrees, humidity still at 67% even in that heat. That’s the South in 40 years. Hell, it’s probably going to be less than 40.
Immanentize
@Mel: Indoor dog, I assume….
SFAW
@J R in WV:
Nope.
Although I can see that dogs are just like dragons. Except for almost everything about them. Of course, maybe the dogs in West By God Virginia are like mini-dragons. (Well, SOME of the dogs, maybe — clearly, Lily is not.)
different-church-lady
@Elizabelle:
To paraphrase Mel Brooks, he’ll rise below vulgarity. Except he won’t rise.
Hoodie
@Kay: Agree, which is why they’re trying to prop up the numbers with every short term gimmick they can muster, especially if it lines their own pockets. The gop know they’ll be toast if a recession hits with Trump in charge. They’re like cockroaches, though, they’ll resurface after he disappears and then they’ll pretend he never existed and/or was a democrat.
Mnemosyne
@Immanentize:
As a longtime resident of Los Angeles, I completely get your fears about prosecutors fucking up important and high-profile cases. We have a long, long history of that here. The OJ Simpson case was only one example — the “Twilight Zone” case was probably even more stupidly handled.
Fair Economist
@Raoul: Flake being absent doesn’t change the vote much. That makes the Senate tied with Pence breaking the tie. Republicans win if they have unanimity and lose with one defector, same as now. The only difference is they can’t take another absence.
TenguPhule
JFC. SUMMER CAMPS?!
/Wapo Link
Kay
@Immanentize:
Gates thought they could convict him (Gates), though, and he would know more about Manafort’s dealings than anyone.
Mandalay
@Jeffro:
Several of the regular political hosts and pundits are nakedly ambitious, and they will spew any drivel, however toxic or absurd, to advance their own career.
So that means being edgy without offending your audience, dwelling on the supposed personality of politicians, inventing horse races that don’t exist, invoking both sides in one sided issues, and doing “gotchas”: in 1997 X said “this” but look at what he/she is saying now!!!!!!
We already know what Fox and CNN and MSNBC will be saying and doing at this time tomorrow, regardless of what actually happens in the next 24 hours. It’s completely predictable.
TenguPhule
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Its actually amusing to note that his mercenaries do very little fighting aside from a few key strategic battles.
Bavarian Fire Drills were his tried and true strategy most of the time.
Although the last book released, Red Queen, was a horrible disappointment. It was boring, and it shouldn’t have had to be. Especially since his mother was such an awesome character in the earlier novels she starred in.
Peace is boring in fiction, no tension.
Mel
@Immanentize: Indoor dog who slept on the bed. The gassing woke us out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. The cats had already wisely fled the scene.
Immanentize
@Mnemosyne:
Almost forgot about that — poor Vic Morrow. Didn’t Spielberg try to trip a witness on the way to the stand? You live crazy lives out there….
Doug R
@different-church-lady:
FIFY
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: When I recall the lens of despair and terror through which my brother and I viewed summer camp, it makes perfect sense.
SenyorDave
@TenguPhule: “I’m very comfortable with the level of service and protection that is being provided,” top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Matthew Albence told the Senate Judiciary Committee about the conditions at the “family residential centers,” which he likened to summer camps.
I’m guessing that he would have tried to find a way to make Auschwitz sound decent. maybe he would characterize it as a place for extreme weight loss.
I pray that there is a hell so people like matthew Albence will end up there.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The bit that fascinates me; who in the heck has two days off to spend on a political rally in the middle of a work week? Or, are these two hard working Real Americans on Social Security disability….
les
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
With white piping, I presume?
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh, but when I called the Hartford Courant to complain about a “political” cartoon slandering him, I was told that “the other day, we thought the NY Attorney General was a man of integrity too, didn’t we?”
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady:
Texas, in the summer, without A/C, in a plastic tent. Hell on Earth.
danielx
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Is there a Naismith in your family tree?
rikyrah
They never intended to give back the children to their parents ??
BREAKING: Commander Jonathan White of HHS just admitted he warned Trump @realDonaldTrump & Sessions about “significant risk of harm” & “psychological injury” as consequence of zero tolerance & was ignored: https://t.co/lKrUeLECVc @KPBSMidday
— Jean Guerrero (@jeanguerre) July 31, 2018
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: The summers are hellish here, but it’s nice the rest of the year, which is a decent trade-off. Fortunately for me, I’ll be dead by the time climate change makes it unfit for human habitation.
joel hanes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Dendarii Free Mercenaries
I’d have appreciated it if I ever saw it, but I don’t spend much time in Waterloo/Cedar Falls.
Myself, I have :
– A bright red t-shirt bearing the logo of Communist Martyr High School
– a gray-green shirt identifying me as a retainer of House Reed, the Crannogmen
germy
Ladies and gentlemen, the Sanders Institute.
geg6
@Mandalay:
I cannot even express how much I despise her. She’s nothing but a younger, prettier and much, much, much more stupid UpChuck Toad.
germy
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Self-employed contractors with one or two trucks. They choose when they want to work, and rip off their customers accordingly.
joel hanes
@Roger Moore:
Aperture Laboratories T-shirt
I have a Black Mesa Facility parking tag on my car.
No one has ever gotten the reference.
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
Six people have already been killed by lightning in Florida so far this year. So the chances of it happening to anyone aren’t high, but ignoring the possibility if you are isolated and out in the open during a summer storm in Florida is close to being reckless.
joel hanes
@hueyplong:
Gilliard is missed
Not equivalent, but Olliver Willis abides and is a national treasure, and is too little read.
http://oliverwillis.com/
geg6
@SFAW:
If Thurston is anything like his sister Lovey, he definitely farts dragon farts. Hell, most dragons would run away from Lovey on a bad day the smell can be so bad (like a week ago when she ate broccoli that fell on the kitchen floor during dinner prep).
the Conster
@germy:
“We want to get money out of politics and put it into our pockets”
The Sanders are the Green Mountain Trumps, including a bankrupt college and the nepotism.
geg6
@joel hanes:
I read him regularly. He’s awesome.
Gin & Tonic
@joel hanes: Surely you’re aware that it’s plural: Communist Martyrs High.
Gin & Tonic
@the Conster: Hey, a 501(c)3 in which you hold all the key positions? What better way to avoid tax on your husband’s salary while still getting use of all that money
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Stop calling me Shirley.
Call me Adolph.
Major Major Major Major
Disgusting.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
That’s from Fox.
SFAW
@geg6:
“Balloon Juice: Come for the political commentary, stay for the dog farts discussion. Or not. Come to think of it, who the fuck wastes their valuable time talking about dog farts?”
I’d say it’s what I love about this place, but Jeebus told me not to lie.
germy
What happened to this story? Down the memory hole?
piratedan
@Fair Economist: my understanding is that it’s a bigger deal because w/o Flake, they can’t get out of judiciary to be voted upon (based on my understanding of the process, ymmv) not out of committee, no vote.. as such, everyone is bottlenecked until Flake is back to vote. yes, its passive resistance but better than zero resistance…
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Shoes for Industry, comrade!
danielx
What can one say about somebody who has attended eleven Trump rallies, except “that guy really needs a life”.
Gravenstone
@Raoul: That sounds just passive aggressive enough for Flake.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
Yup. Ingraham was pushing that line. Strangely, she did not volunteer to send her kids to this great “summer camp” run by Trump.
Major Major Major Major
@Raoul: can’t Mitch bring a judge to a floor vote without a committee referral if he wants?
rikyrah
President Jimmy Carter slams Trump’s America as ‘an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery’ https://t.co/FIZpCjouiS
— Dina Ellithorpe (@DinaEllithorpe) July 31, 2018
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: Now you can see how increased spending opportunities mean harder work for everyone, and more of it, too!
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
Funneling money from a 501(c)(4) run by the spouse of your husband’s campaign aide, into a 501(c)(3) run by your son who also employs the campaign aide, while also under investigation by the FBI is peak Crooked Jane.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Everything T and his supporters say about immigration or immigrants is either misinformation or outright lies. Every single thing.
TenguPhule
So apparently Trump discovered this morning that his people just approved 3D printed gun schematics. Apparently even he realized this might not be a good thing.
TenguPhule
Via Wapo.
We know Trump can’t really dictate to Congress about any spending bills.
But what happens if he orders the Departments through his appointees to simply not spend the allocated money?
JPL
@Fair Economist: It’s doubtful that McCain will return.
never mind, it would still be tied.
germy
@TenguPhule: He made all those promises to his base that Mexico would pay for it.
the Conster
@TenguPhule:
He realized it’s not profitable for gun manufacturers or otherwise beneficial for the NRA.
ET
That is a Mardi Gras or Halloween costume – outside of those settings it makes no sense.
germy
@the Conster:
I’m old enough to remember when Jane told reporters she “couldn’t wait” for the FBI to complete their HRC investigation.
Ksmiami
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: my problem now is I want to go further than that- I don’t want to share a civil society with them ever again… how we get there is the question
Jay
@SFAW:
Casey used to wake her self up with them, give us a disgusted look, then leave the room. Moments later the stench would hit the rest of us.
Mandalay
@TenguPhule:
You are giving Trump far too much credit; the NRA “realized this might not be a good thing” for gun sales, and ordered Trump to do something about it.
But you will search in vain for a word on the subject from Rand Paul. Every fiber of his libertarian being told him that anyone should be able to publish the details on how to make a gun at home, and the government had no right to prevent it. But then every fiber of his money grabbing political being told him to be a hypocrite, STFU and hang on to his job.
A Ghost To Most
@schrodingers_cat: Everything T and his supporters say
about immigration or immigrantsis either misinformation or outright lies. Every single thing.Leto
@joel hanes:
You just keep on trying
’til you run out of cake.
the Conster
@germy:
She went on Fox (Cavuto) to say that. Her husband the Russian asset used to do a show on RT every week. There’s absolutely no difference between Cult#45 and the cult of the High Sparrow Grifter.
Dan B
@SFAW: Reminds me of this guy in Cleveland in the 60’s. He swallowed a tablespoon of DDT every day yo show how safe it was. Didn’t hear from him after a few years.
Mandalay
@the Conster:
The Democratic Party needs to do to the Sanders family what Putin has done to Trump: get the dirt on the grifting, and then politely but firmly tell Bernie that he is not running in 2020, but they expect his wholehearted support for their presidential candidate.
And then in 2021 they can anonymously send the dirt to the IRS anyway.
Gin & Tonic
@TenguPhule: Surely this older-than-dirt crowd has commenters who remember when The Progressive printed instructions for making a nuclear bomb? Publishing instructions for something is hard to block in the USA.
(Sadly, my copy of that issue was destroyed one year when our basement flooded.)
Mayken
@imonlylurking: This this this! OMFG! This!
Schlemazel
@SFAW:
Are you also in that philatelist club?
And, when will the bridge finally be built?
Central Planning
@Gin & Tonic:
Did it go something like this:
1. Obtain uranium
2. ????
3. Boom!
?
Chyron HR
@the Conster:
Watch out, his supporters will send you death and/or rape threats (depending on your ethnicity and gender).
Gin & Tonic
@Central Planning: Here’s a backgrounder. I was mis-remembering: it was a hydrogen bomb; and I was confusing their article with the case of John Aristotle Phillips. Memory ain’t what it used to be.
matryoshka
Why aren’t these deplorables at work? No one I know has time to go to 11 political rallies.
the Conster
@Mandalay:
I’m assuming that Robert Mueiller is in possession of all relevant financial information of everyone related to Manafort and his web of business associates. It gives me great pleasure to know that the same person who prepared the Sanders tax returns is the same person who prepared Burlington College’s financials and the People’s Bank loan application now the subject of a bank fraud investigation. ;-)
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
I actually logged into my long-dormant Twitter account just to mock Ingraham for that.
Ruckus
@hedgehog the occasional commenter:
He can’t work because of his mental health. He’s a moron.
J R in WV
@Mel:
Our dogs run in the woods, and so can discover vastly bad things in the forest, to either eat or roll in, sometimes it seems both. Worst case was a 2 am skunk encounter just outside the bedroom windows. They insisted on going out, to my dismay, they convinced me.
I know the environmental clean-up scientist’s recipe for cleaning up after skunked dogs.
1qt hydrogen peroxide to 1/4 cup sodium bicarbonate plus a dash of Dawn dish detergent. Big dogs take double that amount at least. Wet the dog with the foaming liquid, let soak for 20 minutes, shampoo well, rinse multiple times. Then do the other dog, etc.
The free oxygen relased neutralizes the sulfur chemicals in skunk odor… slowly.
Another lurker
@TaMara (HFG): Amen! I am done wasting my time and breath in discussions with these people. As you say, they need to be marginalized and given all the deference and respect a 27%er nut job deserves. Crayons and reams of paper, to occupy them, sounds like a good idea. We could also give them kitchen scissors and alow them to run sprints.
Roger Moore
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah. Because the existence of one person who doesn’t live up to their public image makes it fine to defame anyone who has a good reputation. What universe do these people come from?
Major Major Major Major
@Gin & Tonic: I remember when the RSA encryption algorithm was considered a munition and thus illegal to export.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: I have that t-shirt.
Stuart Frasier
@Fair Economist:
Isn’t John McCain still absent? Doesn’t that mean there will be 49 R senators who can vote and Pence can’t weigh in?
rikyrah
BREAKING: U.S. borrowing expected to hit $329 billion in the current quarter. This would be the largest July-September deficit in 8 years and would equate to a 74% rise over last year.
In other words, Trump is bankrupting the Country like he did his businesses.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) July 31, 2018
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: Remember when PGP source code was published as a book (in an OCR-friendly font, with checksums on every page)? First Amendment, baby.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
Some days it’s nice to remember that there is at least one trait that you get to miss by not having a dog.
hedgehog mobile
@Ruckus: Ha!
SiubhanDuinne
@Mel:
Not all cats.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I get it! I get the joke!! : )
You will definitely be the person to appreciate that my brew buddy and I are planning a Dendarii Mountain Maple Mead. We’re just trying to figure out the ingredient mix – we are thinking at least three fermentables to give it that special kick.
@Mnemosyne: Even better…”my family went to The Orb and all I got was…you know what, never mind.”
Roger Moore
@Mandalay:
I think they just need to change the rules so releasing a certain number of years of taxes- 7 seems like a reasonable minimum- is a requirement to run for president as a Democrat. I think this would be a good idea even if they somehow convince Bernie not to run; some other grifter is going to get the same idea, and they need to make it a rule first.
Mayken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Sweet! I want one!
TenguPhule
@Miss Bianca:
Everyone knows that’s inedible unless you add Bug Butter.
Miss Bianca
@TenguPhule: No, no, no…it’s only *Ivan* who says that. Miles is apparently quite fond of it. ; )
TenguPhule
@Miss Bianca:
Everyone also knows Miles is completely insane.
Melusine
@rikyrah: Never forgive. Never trust. Either deeply bigoted themselves or so morally bankrupt they don’t give a shit who gets hurt as long as they benefit.
And anyone who hears a man brag about his daughter’s tits being real, call her “a piece of ass”, and say he’d totally do her if he were younger, and doesn’t immediately scream, “What the fuck is WRONG with you??!” and punch him in the dick, is a sick, worthless, potentially dangerous piece of shit. Never trust. Never forgive. Avoid like syphillis.
Melusine
@TenguPhule:
L
M
A
O
Save a zebrafish – dissect a Trumper instead!
Damn, won’t work. Brain’s too small to substitute.
burnspbesq
Unfortunately for Manafort, the charges with the biggest monetary penalties—willful failure to file FBARs—are trivially easy to prove. Testimony from the custodian of records at FinCen is enough to establish the fact of non-filing, and the case law says that checking the “no” box on Schedule B of Form 1040 is enough to establish willfulness.
J R in WV
I looked on the innertubes, and I don’t see a Dendarii Free Mercenaries tee shirt anywhere. I bet you got that at a Con somewhere. Darn!
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
OK, enough. I’m going back to the shadows, again.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: I sense a great “These are the kind of losers who you have to hire when it’s 4% Unemployment story here” I means seriously, as one of my self employed friends put it “the boss is always watching”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@J R in WV: Try here
https://society6.com/product/miles-vorkosigan-dendarii-mercenary_t-shirt
Mel
@SiubhanDuinne: ???
Ohio Mom
@cope: Wow. Thanks. I clicked on a bar randomly and read about a famiy that’s been in the timber business for almost 200 years. It is a reminder of a layer of our country usually invisible to most of us.
Lynwood Allen
Ditch Gator is my new band name.
The Ancient Randonneur
@germy:
You can thank the gutless cowards in the Vermont Democratic Party for enabling Bernie. They don’t run a candidate against him. It’s a fucking disgrace.
Gravie
One of my Trump-loving Tampa friends (from high school) burbled that there were certainly 100,000 people there. Facility capacity: 9,200.
Hellbastard
Take a look at the goobers sitting behind the podium. Hard to believe they managed to dress themselves for the outing.
Seanly
That guy in the picture is only 48? He looks 68…
Seanly
@father pusbucket: Those maps are awesome. Very interesting.