Per White House spokesman @hogangidley45 on AF1, Trump is NOT ruling out a pre-election government shutdown over immigration:
"He said whether a shutdown happens before or after the elections his focus is getting the problem fixed. It's been a 40-year problem in the making."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 31, 2018
Good news for us Democrats, because there would be nothing like a government shutdown to remind those cherished “independent” and “low info” voters exactly which party was responsible for the current mess.
Let’s remember that Donald Trump is no better a politician than he is a businessman, a father, a husband, or a human being. Even with Citizens United, the entire venal weight of the Republican Party, extensive Russian interference, and America’s long foundational history of racism, misogny, and xenophobia, he still got 3 million fewer votes than his Democratic opponent. Some snark from Jon Chait in NYMag:
President Trump has picked a slogan for his reelection campaign, reports Gabriel Sherman, and it is: “Keep America Great.” Trump stands a reasonably strong chance to win reelection, because every president stands a reasonably strong chance to win reelection. Incumbents usually win a second term unless they’re experiencing a recession or losing a war. But by the standards of reelection campaigns, Trump’s is anemic…
Trump, reports Sherman, “has increasingly turned to a shadow political operation” to advise him on campaign strategy, including Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie, Jason Miller; Sebastian Gorka; Breitbart Washington editor Matthew Boyle; and Sam Nunberg. This collection of talent would be well qualified and even impressive for a task like gathering for a weekend of video-gaming and Doritos. It is not the caliber of strategic minds you want running a campaign for any office higher than president of a local Confederate Civil War reenactors club.
This collection of angry and marginally employable hangers-on has some prestige because they allegedly, and perhaps in reality, retain some mystical connection to the Trump base. But here is a case where the media’s fixation with interpreting that base — in part because Trump won, in part because his supporters remain exotic and fascinating to consumers of liberal media, and in part because the white working class enjoys the broad presumption of representing “real” America — has created a general blindness to the president’s vulnerabilities…
The current 2020 buzz is, of course, largely intended to keep Trump from imploding before the 2018 midterms — and, secondarily, to discourage Democrats into apathy. If we can focus on getting our own voters to the polls in November, then we can look forward to watching the Fall of the House of Unsure…
I just watched both of Sarah Palin's primary mentors/babysitters on MSNBC pondering the mystery of How We Got Here.
Karma is a helluva comedian.— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) August 1, 2018
Trump is doing a total of three rallies this week. Florida last night. Ohio and Pennsylvania coming up.
Reminder: Trump does rallies when he feels particularly terrible. He's trying to feel the bucket with no bottom that is his entirely absent self-esteem.
He's miserable.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 1, 2018
I know we're used to it now, it's really astonishing how absolutely, transparently guilty Trump has acted at every turn.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 1, 2018
He's just a jittery collection of guilty tells in a baggy suit now.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 1, 2018
I’m good with these two sealing a murder/suicide pact –
Trump called Rush Limbaugh’s radio show this afternoon to congratulate him on 30th anniversary.
Trump: “So I just want to congratulate you — 30 years. And just do it for another 30 years, after that you can take it easy, ok?”
Rush: “I will stay around just as long as you do.”
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 1, 2018
OzarkHillbilly
the Fall of the House of Unsure…
A nice turn of phrase. I like it.
Jerzy Russian
Consumers of liberal media are “fascinated” by Trump’s base? I like a good point and laugh as much as anyone, but even that gets old after a while.
Sister Golden Bear
Please, oh, please, oh please!!!
In other news, had my second check-up with the clinic today and was healing well enough on the inside (there’s something like 400-500 internal stitches) to process to the next level of “dynamic” dilation. Taking a class on how to do it tomorrow. I’ll spare you the details, but in short, it involves pushing against the scar contraction to maintain depth and width. Good times…. Although I’m told people actually find it a bit easier because you’re constantly having to do different things every 10-15 seconds, so that distracts your mind better during the sessions (which are three times daily for the next couple months).
#GenitalReassignmentSurgery
Also got the (extra cost) certified paperwork from the surgeon’s office documenting my surgery, just in case our government tries to retroactively revoke my passport, or engage in other fuckery intended to make it difficult to trans people to get IDs that reflect who they are.
(I’ve still got a Global Entry card with an incorrect gender marker that CBP is making an absolute PITA, although that seems to be more generic bureaucratic incompetence — I have to go in in-person to get it fixed, but I can’t book at appointment until the card is up for renewal in a couple years. May have to camp out at SFO and see if get one of the rarely-available walk-in appointment. Which is a pisser because I did that when I needed to get my name and photo changed, but the agent fucked up and didn’t change the gender marker. I dunno, maybe my Congresswoman’s office can get someone to get me on the calendar, since it’ll take all of 5 minutes.)
Hopefully, the surgery paperwork won’t be as much as an issue for me, because thankfully I was born and live in California (which means I live in a more tolerant area with more protective state laws), but the Talibapists assholes are doing some truly scary stuff to try to eradicate trans people from public life. (And no, I don’t mean that figuratively.)
Baud
@Jerzy Russian: I don’t know. I think a significant portion of our side likes to hate read. They don’t care why you click.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear: Yeah, Caitlyn Jenner has been quiet lately. I hope she’s been ostracized from your community.
Good luck with everything.
Amir Khalid
We can only hope that this comes true, and soon.
OzarkHillbilly
@Sister Golden Bear: And all this time I thought the bureaucracy hated me.
?BillinGlendaleCA
A couple of Milky Way pics from a few weeks ago taken west of Santa Barbara(I added the foreground yesterday):
Fisheye view,
and 16mm regular lens.
ETA: I’m planning on heading out tonight for more photo opportunities.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Those are just incredible, Bill – thanks for sharing. Someday I’m gonna have to go see this Milky Way thing for myself!
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud: Yeah the vast majority of the trans community despises Caitlyn Jenner.
I was initially more sympathetic initially, knowing what a hard hurdle — being the literal Wheaties box icon of masculinity — she had to transition. But sadly she’s not only proved absolutely clueless about her personal privilege and the ways that insulates her from the realities the rest of us trans folks face — but even more so she’s remained implacably resistant to being willing to educate herself, despite surrounding herself with some very savvy trans women (with patiences of saints) for her reality TV show.
Honestly, the less we hear from her the better until she can find a surgeon to solve her acute rectal-cranial inversion issues.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro: Thanks.
Find a dark place, it sort of looks like a luminescent cloud. The camera picks up extra detail and color.
I think adding the foreground in adds a bit of depth to the photo.
MagdaInBlack
@Jerzy Russian:
What “liberal media” would that be, I wonder?
Major news sources seem to be fascinated, true, but
I dont find Trump-sheep to be all that exotic or fascinating.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I love how the master negotiator thinks shutting down the government on election eve is a great idea.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
SFAW
“Purveyors” and “consumers” mean two different things, you moron. And it’s “liberal,” with quotation marks.
“Baggy”? I didn’t know suits came in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXFat now. Maybe he had his suit made from a (slightly) cut-down circus tent? Oh, damn, I forgot — he weighs 239, so clearly I’m worng.
OzarkHillbilly
A somewhat lengthy but good read:
This made me smile:
Ben Cisco
@Jerzy Russian: @MagdaInBlack: Frankly, I’ve never found them to be either funny or fascinating in any way – media is just running interference for them with all those articles, in part to provide cover for their own massive failure to inform. They can run all the puff pieces they want – we’re NOT going to forget.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Jerzy Russian:
Nah. The Village has never cared about it’s liberal readers. If they did they wouldn’t have cheerled the Iraq invasion.
It’s more a legacy of Broder. He popularized the con-job of interviewing rural low info whites and pawning them off as representative of the country.
rikyrah
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Both beautiful, Bill??
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: There is a logic to it when you consider the fact that he is trying to get what he wants by threatening his own party, who will be the ones who pay for it if he follows thru. He doesn’t care about governing, he doesn’t care about politics, he’s a toddler in the toy aisle at WalMart threatening to throw a fit if Mummy doesn’t buy him a new Tonka.
Ben Cisco
@OzarkHillbilly: And everyone knows what happens if you give in to a tantrum – the cycle repeats over and over and over and over again.
Chyron HR
@OzarkHillbilly:
Duplo, surely.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: He’s trying to threaten Democrats. He knows republicans only have 50 votes in the senate. He’s probably got the impression he could pin the blame on the Dems from Fox and Villagers like Haberman
Ben Cisco
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: His base would be stupid enough to go along with it – we already know that they are fact-adverse. The Villagers know better but would pretend not to, and they would dutifully write the headlines accordingly.
James E Powell
It is not the consumers of liberal media (the existence of which has never been established) who find these people fascinating. It’s the owners and managers of the press/media who run the stories and it is the same people who insist that only these white bigots are RealAmericans®.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Ben Cisco:Villagers tried to blame Obama for the shutdown in 2013, saying it was his fault for not negotiating with terrorists. But the public didn’t buy it, in part because it went against brand.
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: The GOP has always gotten the blame for shutdown in the polls. What hasn’t happened (yet) is that shutdowns have never caused voters to threaten GOP control of Congress.
hueyplong
FFS, so now things that irritate liberals are the fault of… liberals.
The cheapest hack move on the planet is hippie-punching.
p.a.
I suppose we can call the glass half-full in that America’s fascists have generally been incompetent halfwits compared to Eurofasch.
TS (the original)
Can’t remember another president who continued the campaign rallies after the election – and in August as well. President Obama liked to have a vacation with his family in August – guess not many of trump’s relatives could handle going on vacation with him.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Bureaucracies have unlimited stores of hate!
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: He’s trying to threaten Democrats by saying he will destroy the party that opposes them?
NotMax
Uncle Sam stamping his feet and holding his breath until he turns blue is not a becoming look.
Baud
@hueyplong: Everything bad that happens is the fault of liberals.
MagdaInBlack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Once upon a time my breakfast was a Milky Way and coffee.
This version is healthier ?
Platonailedit
Dickheads everywhere.
NotMax
Snagged tix for Straight White Men for Friday night. Was on my very short list of theater to see while in NY before getting here. As it received glowing reviews when it opened last week, kind of amazed to be able to get tickets, as the theatre has only 299 seats.
Ben Cisco
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Agreed. And I believe that the same would happen this time around. But the Village is nothing if not predictable – they will do what they always do. That ACME dynamite kit is going to go boom in their faces – again.
JPL
@TS (the original): Trump is going to go to Bedminster after his PA rally tonight, and spend next at his golf course. He’ll have even more time to tweet.
Amir Khalid
My guess: despite the advice from his advisors, Trump is refusing to rule out a US Government shutdown at what everyone else knows is the worst possible time for Republicans because he believes that being the craziest mofo in the fight is how you win. It’s part of his strategy of being unpredictable to keep the other guy off balance.
debbie
@JPL:
He’ll be here Saturday night (just north, in Delaware County). He should be particularly unhinged since this will cut into his golfing weekend.
Kay
OK, so bear with me for a moment. It makes sense to me that Trump supporters can’t reconcile their love for law enforcement with the fact that so may of their President’s associates are under criminal investigation. But the Q bullshit reconciles these two things! Russia investigation is a “hoax” because Trump is secretly working with Mueller to arrest Obama.
If you read the President’s Tweet about “calling off” the hoax with this context it reads differently, right? It’s the secret leader of the law enforcement effort calling it off.
I actually encountered Q crazies a year or two ago. I didn’t know who they were at that time (although them getting everything from youtube videos should have tipped me off). They had decided that this local woman, who is black and a Latino immigrant, had been trafficked as a child. The theory was that she was taken from Milwaukee as a child, trafficked to central America and then adopted by an American. She’s now a grown woman- she’s just an immigrant who lives here- she had no idea what they were talking about. But they had bothered her so much she was in court trying to a get a civil protection order (which is where I encountered the story). This got far enough that she voluntarily submitted to DNA testing and that testing was sent to Milwaukee, to a county law enforcement agency so they could rule her out as a missing and trafficked child. Our county sheriff succumbed to pressure from these people and so he went along with it- contacted Milwaukee, sent the DNA, followed up. It got SO crazy a state rep from Wisconsin had to weigh in and try to quash the conspiracy theory.
At the time I thought they were just garden variety crazies but I realize now they were Q people.
I think it’s fascinating because this stuff DOES get thru to Trump supporters- the shadiness of the President- so much so that they had to construct an elaborate theory that Russia investigation was actually a secret “sting” of Clinton and Obama. They can’t bring themselves to believe Mueller is shady so they have to construct a theory where Mueller is working with Trump.
The President hasn’t really convinced them the whole justice system is fake and the “deep state”- instead he’s convinced them he’s on Mueller’s side, that the “Russia” part is a hoax, a cover story, for a different investigation that targets Clinton/Obama.
This ALSO explains why Clinton wasn’t “locked up”, which conservatives promised she would be. They control the whole federal government, so why hasn’t she been locked up like they promise? Because the investigation is top secret and ongoing.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
His only strategy, if one can even call it that, is “Keep the spotlight on ME, ME, ME!”
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
The man has destroyed everything he has touched. Why would he not do the same to the Republican Party?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I thought a shutdown was a consequence of failing to pass a budget. Is that what’s coming up?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: I know it’s ridiculous. It sounds like the strategy that led him to six bankruptcies. But that’s what he’s saying:
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: He doesn’t know any other way.
@Kay: You can’t fix stupid.
Jake the antisoshul soshulist
@Jerzy Russian:
There is an old saying “familiarity breeds contempt”
hueyplong
@Kay: I don’t get where they can go once the narrative becomes impossibly convoluted and at odds with literally every observation of real life. This seems like a lot of trust being placed in the concept of an effective, immediately accessible memory hole.
On the other hand, awareness of the things already swallowed clean by those people probably does generate faith in a limitless ability to graft on additional myths.
If we’re lucky one day they’ll be claiming that Trump and other GOPers are working undercover in prison to expose the Clintons once and for all..
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I think he means to shut the US Government down by presidential fiat. I’m not sure he can.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
It’s what they’re running on in the midterms. Scary immigrants. He’s trying to keep that front and center. Trump makes a lot more sense if you realize he’s always, always speaking to his base. They would love if he shut down the government over the idiotic wall.
A Ghost To Most
@debbie: Why would he not do the same to the world (“After me, the deluge”) ?
debbie
@A Ghost To Most:
Exactly.
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: There’s an awful lot of tinfoil hats out there – I feel dumber for having read the Vox article
Kay
@hueyplong:
Like all conspiracy theories I have even seen, it came from a mainstream idea. Conservatives (especially the religious Right) have been big on claiming child sex trafficking is a huge problem since Bush. It was Gonzales’ pet issue. Obviously there is child sex trafficking, it exists, but I have seen too many of these moral panics regarding children go completely off the rails to accept that it’s as widespread as they claim. People lose all common sense when discussing threats to children- it happens over and over. There will be some legit (and horrifying) abuse of children and they claim it’s much bigger than it is and politicians respond with overkill. Here’s an example. Sex offenders. There are sex offenders. There are sex offenders who are also child abusers. But tagging millions of people with a 25 year sex offender designation is a fucking disaster, especially when a lot of those people are juveniles. So, real problem, involved child abuse, needed to be addressed, but people went insane and passed these draconian laws that have all kinds of unintended consequences.
So “sex trafficking of children” was a mainstrean conservative issue, adopted by the religious Right, and then it morphed into this fucking insane conspiracy theory, and Trump is very good at pushing their buttons so he pushes THIS button over and over.
They were told over and over that Clinton and Obama were criminals. But they haven’t been prosecuted and Trump controls the entire federal government. How to reconcile that? The Mueller probe is actually the prosecution of Democrats they were promised.
Baud
@Kay:
Good. This delusional thinking protects Mueller.
hueyplong
@Kay: If you’re right, the Democrats should really emphasize the family separation/kids in cages aspect of the immigration enforcement nightmare. Maybe that’s the GOP’s bridge too far.
Kay
@Just One More Canuck:
I actually asked them questions here- I was trying to figure it out. I couldn’t figure out why they kept going back to what they had seen on youtube. This woman WAS adopted as a child. She had been adopted by a (sort of shady – he has a criminal record) truck driver here, so they took that “truck driver with minor criminal record” and that fit into the theory. That’s how he encountered child prostitution rings. THAT has a grain of truth too- we had a big bust of a prostitution ring at a local truck stop about 5 years ago. One of the girls was underage.
They take all these pieces, these true things, and inflate them and cram them all into a theory. They must be going bonkers over Mueller refferring Podesta. Podesta appears prominently in their theories. That would buttress the theory- Trump is working with Mueller and Mueller is after Podesta.
waspuppet
I count five people he’s “fired” on that list.
So not only is he too weak and scared to fire people, but he doesn’t ever actually fire anyone.
Dorothy A. Winsor
There was supposed to be a “meet the candidates” forum here in a week or two, but it’s in chaos because the R candidate for the statehouse posted nude pictures of his ex-girlfriend under her ID in order to connect to men with whom he conducted phone sex. My state rep who is now my former state rep since he resigned yesterday. Welcome to Illinois.
Platonailedit
@Kay:
Jeez, you need to get out of the mindless swamp that is rwnj’s world, Kay.
Baud
@Platonailedit: She lives there.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: That is what he is saying to the 27%, trump always plays to the base. The GOP members of Congress know the shotgun is pointed squarely at them. The biggest opponents to the wall are the GOP Reps who represent the districts along the border, and the Senators of the border states, most of whom are Repubs. Trump knows this too.
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: He means by vetoing the necessary budget bills that come out of Congress.
Kay
@Platonailedit:
No, it’s fine. I don’t mind reading about them or talking to them. I’m really confident of my grasp on reality :)
One of things I believe to be true about conservatives – and this is of course “anecdotal” but it’s also based a SHITLOAD of time talking to them- is conservatives have to be morally superior to liberals. It’s central to the ideology. It’s attractive to them. They cannot give this up, which is why they get so het up when liberals use a morality/ethics play against them- say they are racists or nasty, etc. They MUST be better than us. Essential. So they have given Trump this grand role as protector of children because they had to. It has to be secret too, because nothing he does or says indicates he gives a shit about children or anyone else.
Platonailedit
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
gop – We hire only the best people.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s funny because they forever threw away any pretense of that by supporting Trump. They’re in for a rude awakening.
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: He mentioned not signing the budget if it is passed without funding for his wall. Isn’t it time for the MSM to tell him that close to half of undocumented entered legally and over stayed their visa? The wall doesn’t address that.
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: Those intellectual luminaries, Curt Schilling and Roseanne Barr, are on board with it. I weep for humanity
OzarkHillbilly
The stupid, it hurts:
The trump test is now being applied in the investing world: “He sounded CEO-ish! He promises THIS time we really will make money on this viral Ponzi scheme. Pour more money in!!!” This reminds me a little too much of the real estate insanity of ’06.
delk
@Dorothy A. Winsor: when I saw that yesterday I thought that might have been your congressman. Welcome to Illinois politics!
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: I love your posts most of the time, Kay, but I lost 10 IQ points reading this one, and I am angry with you for it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@delk: There are many Rs here in the old folks reserve so there is much consternation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: You gave me a laugh.
TS (the original)
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I think he is confused between the words great and white – then again – in his mind they are interchangeable.
Platonailedit
Really?
Baud
@Platonailedit:
Shorter AP: Voters, please keep the GOP in control of Congress.
Baud
Reuters
“The Vatican said it had changed its universal catechism, a summary of Church teaching, to reflect Pope Francis’ total opposition to capital punishment.
According to the new entry in the catechism, “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”, it said, citing an address by Pope Francis.
The Church was working “with determination” for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide, the new teaching said.”
Baud
Some good news. WaPo
“After an astonishing 27 years at odds, in June, Macedonia and Greece reached a dramatic breakthrough in negotiations over what’s known as the Macedonia naming dispute. The dispute was, yes, over the former Yugoslavian nation’s name — but over much more as well, as we’ll see below. And after all that time, the June agreement solved the dispute simply: by renaming Macedonia as the “Republic of North Macedonia.”
rikyrah
PAID LEAVE?
Urban Meyer on leave as Ohio State investigates what he knew about allegations against ex-assistant
POSTED 8:59 PM, AUGUST 1, 2018
BY CNN WIRE
Ohio State University placed its head football coach, Urban Meyer, on paid administrative leave on Wednesday as it investigates whether he was aware of domestic violence allegations against fired assistant coach Zach Smith.
“The university is conducting an investigation into these allegations,” Ohio State said. Ryan Day, who has been the team’s offensive coordinator, will be acting head football coach while Meyer is on leave.
“We are focused on supporting our players and on getting to the truth as expeditiously as possible,” the university said.
Meyer said in a statement that he and Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director, “agree that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion. This allows the team to conduct training camp with minimal distraction. I eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter.”
rikyrah
@Sister Golden Bear:
Continued positive thoughts as you heal.
Platonailedit
rikyrah
@Ben Cisco:
They want to make excuses for these people. They want us to see them as something other than what they are – people with a lack of character enough to support and vote for Dolt45. I will never try to understand them. Don’t have to.
OzarkHillbilly
@Platonailedit: Something tells me he was warned.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
That’s some of the craziest shyt that I’ve read in a long time. And, another reason why ‘reaching out ‘ to these people is ridiculous.
rikyrah
Does anyone else feel like me that Bobby Three Sticks is just trolling Dolt45 with this interview mess? Just messing with him to see how he’ll react?
Platonailedit
What climate change?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Yep, the same way Hillary warned the country about Trump.
Platonailedit
@OzarkHillbilly:
Of course, he was. Multiple times by multiple people. The treasonous thug is lying as usual.
EZSmirkzz
@Kay: Well maybe we know where Larry Johnson is now. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/inside-q-conspiracy-emerging-at-trump-rallies
Back in the heyday of my blog I was jacking with the retired three letter boys on TV with this same sort of stuff using ASCII and Hexadecimal to inform them to drink more Ovaltine, ala A Christmas Story.
rikyrah
But, of course.
…………..
Trump’s wildlife protection council is mostly trophy hunters and donors, lawsuit says
Source: WaPo
rikyrah
UH HUH
But, didn’t we know this?
……………………
McCaskill not only one targeted by Russians; Lankford says virtually ALL senators have. Lankford and Klobuchar will get committee vote on their election bill in Aug. On Trump: “He’s the only one in the government that hasn’t been paying attention to this.” https://t.co/HSAPJ5nkHU
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 2, 2018
Leto
@Kay: This is a big point right here; when I was still an evangelical church going member, the amount of self-righteous smugness associated with being superior to “liberals’ was astonishing. It’s part of the ongoing culture war. Essentially it was, “Look at those godless heathens who don’t follow the good book! They’re morally depraved! Men pretending to be women, men having sex with men, people having sex out of wedlock, etc…” They have to feel superior about everything. “Well we know we’re going to heaven because we follow Jesus! Not like these Hollywood liberals!” Many, many Sundays were spent on this message, that they were better. Even when the message was, “Love your neighbor”, the amount of moral superiority was very high.
Kay
@Leto:
We have a lawyer here who is fucking insufferable about it. My husband (who doesn’t have to deal with him professionally but knows his bullshit) calls him Mr. Green Jeans because he adopts this fake folksy accent although his family own a tire company- like he just came out of the holler. “WAAAAL, I don’t KNOW about all these LESBIANS, momma always SAID..”– phony. He’s our local Mike Huckabee. He has a 50,000 fishing boat and he pretends he goes down to the creek with a pole.
Just unbearable. So. Multipy him by 500 and that’s my anecdotal evidence.
rikyrah
Not inexplicable when you realize that the dude is a slave catcher.
…………………………
Trump-aligned pastor inexplicably praises president as ‘pro-black’
08/02/18 08:00 AM—UPDATED 08/02/18 08:04 AM
By Steve Benen
Just last week, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyers and personal “fixer,” released an audio recording from the campaign season, featuring a candid chat with the future president about a possible payment involving one of Trump’s former alleged mistresses. But that wasn’t the only thing on the tape.
We also heard part of a behind-the-scenes conversation in which the then-candidate talked about using Darrell Scott, a Christian pastor associated with the Republican campaign in 2016, for purposes that weren’t altogether clear in the recording. There was no ambiguity, however, about Trump’s sentiment: he saw the conservative Ohio pastor as an ally.
With this recent history in mind, Scott was at the White House yesterday for a roundtable discussion with nearly 20 inner city pastors and faith leaders, where he used rhetoric that no doubt made the president happy, but which is difficult to take seriously.
As best as I can tell, this wasn’t a joke. The pastor actually expected people to believe what he was saying.
dnfree
Completely off-topic, but I just read John Cole’s tweet about jewelry that shows up in a thread along the side.
“I just don’t understand jewelry on men, period. I mean if other people want to wear it, fine, but I don’t want things clinging to my fingers and wrist and around my neck”
Strangely, that’s how I feel about jewelry and I’m not a man.
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
Rep. Jim Jordan Is Privately Pressuring Sex Abuse Witnesses To Take Back Their Allegations https://t.co/9YUjpQOLmK via @politicususa
— Muckmaker™ (@RealMuckmaker) August 2, 2018
Leto
@rikyrah: “Why does Robert Mueller and his 13 Angry Democrats keep making me obstruct justice and tweet incriminating tweets about myself? TOTAL WITCH HUNT! Why didn’t the DoJ stop me from hiring criminals all my life? FAKE NEWS!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
that’s the first time I’ve seen it reported that Bannon was back in the (an) inner circle, as a lot of people said he eventually would be
rikyrah
And, she had to pay good money for that meal plan.
#EatingincolllegecafeteriawhileBlack
Smith College employee calls cops on black student who looked ‘out of place’ eating lunch in cafeteria
Brad Reed
02 AUG 2018 AT 09:01 ET
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
We have to consider these things. I feel like Hillary when she said Trump was Putin’s puppet and you guys are the NYTimes :)
You were warned.
One of things I discovered practicing law in a small town is people are much crazier than is generally understood. You would not fucking believe the things I hear, and these are normal people you wouldn’t look twice at. It’s self-selecting of course- they have problems if they;re seeing me- but really 50% of them are nuts in some way.
hueyplong
@Leto: Wait a minute. Is it 13 angry Democrats or 17? This chump just keeps giving off a Senator Johnny Iselin vibe.
Chyron HR
@rikyrah:
You’d think “the most pro-black President in history” could do something about this shit.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Mr. Green Jeans. LOL.
Leto
@Kay: That’s a good bit of my church experience. Very successful people who buy into the whole country bumpkin, mainstream country radio shtick. “We’re just good ole boys, living the simple life, down at the creek… you city folk wouldn’t know the good life, blah blah blah”
Preach. Also I have to believe that at some point, when we’re all experiencing the same thing, that it stops being anecdotal.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Dolt45 doesn’t even know HOW to spell morality, let alone, know what it means.
Man’s on his 3 third wife..cheating on each wife with the next one..
Paid off mistresses…
MORAL?
are.you.kidding.me.?
Protector of children?
He’s putting children in cages, and tearing them away from their parents with NO PLAN FOR REUNIFICATION…
explain that, you fraudulent muthaphuckas.
PS-what did they do during 44’s term? Must have driven them crazy that 44 was a loving husband and father and that his family was the example of FAMILY VALUES that they blab about.
rikyrah
Jill Wine-Banks on MSNBC made a point that I hadn’t even thought of.
While, of course, Dolt45 was Obstructing Justice yesterday with his tweeting.
She also thought that he was JURY TAMPERING – with the Manafort case.
hueyplong
TPM headline: Spicer: Trump’s Alleged Affairs Are Between ‘Him, His Wife And His God’
I see some repetition in there, and his take on the importance of his wife’s input was made manifest by the “alleged affair” itself, so I guess it’s just up to Trump to grant himself an indulgence.
Not entirely sure Democrats are held to the same standard.
rikyrah
“I’m witnessing a miracle in action.”
Dad watches amazing moment as a grocery worker patiently helps his autistic son stock shelves at the local supermarket. The family praised the grocery worker for his kindness toward their son. https://t.co/W6vgKKVYes pic.twitter.com/uUjUzAortq
— ABC News (@ABC) August 2, 2018
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Those gossipy, click-bait ads that pop up on just about every website these days (you won’t believe what Lily Langtry looks like today!) often feature some version of Malia Obama is an out-of-control trust-fund baby/celebrity. I’d bet those ads get a lot of clicks from trump districts
rikyrah
I still get mad thinking about her story.
……………………
Today marks the birthdate of Henrietta Lacks, also known as the mother of modern medicine. A portrait honoring her immortal legacy is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery. https://t.co/3ZniclFQ5G
— #becauseofthemwecan (@Becauseofthem) August 1, 2018
Leto
@rikyrah: Are jury members allowed to use social media during their duty? I thought they weren’t allowed to look at newspapers, tv, stuff like that? Thought social media/news sites might be covered under that.
Regarding morality: they’re not and it’s super obvious. It’s also why church attendance/membership is in such decline. The yoots see through their hypocritical bullshit and just aren’t interested in that brand of hate. It’s why we have things like the Quiverfull project that are trying to keep church rolls stocked. Everyone else sees them for what they are.
rikyrah
LIPS PURSED
Obama endorses controversial rapper ahead of midterms https://t.co/cYrVh0HKS6 pic.twitter.com/vUTJvmRyqV
— New York Post (@nypost) August 2, 2018
Delgado’s brief rap career was known before he won the primary; so was his Rhodes scholarship, Harvard Law degree, and subsequent legal career, which for *some reason* are not mentioned here. https://t.co/j6BiydYrpH
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 2, 2018
The irony is that Delgado was probably the most centrist candidate in the primary, and his win irritated supporters of the more Bernie-styled candidates. The finger-wagging about his rap album has brought some of them home.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 2, 2018
rikyrah
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Family in Detroit orders a pepperoni pizza from Hungry Howie’s. Delivery guy, 18-year-old Bryce Dudal says “That’s a beautiful piano, can I take a look at it?” He walks in & plays the third movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata (via @AlliKlein) pic.twitter.com/nlyn9jNeFg
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 1, 2018
Leto
@rikyrah: The book about her, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is both amazing and so sad. The movie that Oprah did about her was really good. Again, amazing/sad/mad all rolled into one. It’s right there with the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: Mr. Green Genes.
Ladyraxterinok
@Leto: Add to that the book Medical Apartheid with all its appalling stories. And that doctor who used women slaves without anesthesia in his gynecological experiments that created his reputation as a great medical researcher and pioneer. (IIRC there are movements to remove statues of him.)
WilliamC
@Kay: along these same lines, we talked to two evangelical best friends last weekend in South Carolina about the future for the film project I’m working on and one of them said something about Pussygrabber that I hadn’t thought of, and it reminded me of your comment: God put Trump in office as our leader and it is their job to follow the will of God and the will of those leaders. She expounded on this for quite some time, but the gist being that Barack Obama wasn’t placed as our leader by God, he tricked America into believing he was born here, that he was a Christian, that he was straight, that he didn’t hate white people, and besides he obviously wasn’t a leader, he lead from behind, bowed to foreign leaders, and travelled the world apologizing for/dissing America, etc. It was as if the ‘Barack Obama’ of FOX News was President and not our actual lived experience.
It was very scary in that it pointed out to me that some might be unreachable. Though in fairness, this same lady’s best friend that I also interview, also an evangelical, this one a missionary as well, was hot with barely contained rage towards the President, but mostly towards her friends and her church mates for all being in the tank for such a “misery-spreading heathen”.
catclub
@Kay: That sounds like the sovereign citizens scam, turned over.
CliosFanBoy
@waspuppet: I remember Matthew Boyle from the old Tbogg site. He was a young, very punchable reactionary–the type that even the geekest chessclub nerd would bully. totally clueless.
MattF
@rikyrah: And, for the record, I think Trump knew exactly what he was doing and why. He sees the headlines every day now– Mueller is spilling all the beans about Manafort’s financial dealings. Considering that Trump’s sources of cash and the places he puts the cash are probably the same as Manafort, the situation is very perilous for Trump.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: I didn’t know Delgado had run afoul of the Purity Brigades. I was looking at a thread on Obama’s recent endorsements, mostly curious about who he had endorsed and hadn’t and theories about how it would play out. I learned that it’s all a secret plot by O-Stablishment to stop Medicare For All.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Here are some informative links about Qanon.
Vox
Vice This one is good because it explains are their jargon.
Finally this Twitter is quite interesting: Link
A Ghost To Most
@waspuppet:
What, that weasel Stephen Miller flew under the radar again? Some of the nastiest shit seems to flow from whatever sewer he’s hiding in.
Platonailedit
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
SFAW
@rikyrah:
I’m not sure why, but the Post’s tweet depresses me. Yes, I know they’re Murdochian, hate-spewing motherfuckers, and I should expect no less from them, but still …
Leto
@WilliamC: Example elventi-billion of why my wife and I won’t go back to SC to live. The second friend is basically us and we just got fed up with living in that type of climate.
Mnemosyne
@WilliamC:
So Vladimir Putin is God? ? After all, he’s the one who put Trump in office.
Though I’m pretty sure that, even if you said that, she would come back with some “God works in mysterious ways” bullshit.
SFAW
@WilliamC:
Were I religious — specifically Christian — I would be eagerly anticipating the Rapture, just to see all those evil, lying, un-American motherfuckers cast into Hades. Motherfuckers.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
What, did HE go to Wisconsin?
A Ghost To Most
@WilliamC:
Christian fascism is a helluva drug.
jonas
Republicans using government shutdowns in a fit of pique to get some unpopular bit of conservative bullshit passed that they can’t get through Congress any other way? That’s worked out so well for them in the past.
Please proceed, Mr. President.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
The whole “rapper” complaint about Delgado just shows how out of touch with current culture most white elites are. At my niece’s graduation here in So Cal, one of the kids performed a great rap about heading off to college — she was a young Asian-American woman who starts a pre-med program this fall.
As far as people under 30 are concerned, rap is just another type of music, not some scary underground thing.
MCA1
@rikyrah: Not shocking in Boston, I guess.
Where I went to school, back in the Pleistocene, this never would have happened, because virtually all of the food service employees were themselves POC. It was actually sort of jarring as a Yankee to go to college in the South. In a good way – you can’t help but start to become aware of your privilege and entitlement if you actually pay any attention to your surroundings when dropped into that sort of setting. I don’t think my classmates from Atlanta and Charlotte even noticed things like that, because it had been the backdrop for their entire lives.
Yarrow
@Leto: @Kay: I happened to see a minute or so of Mike Pence on TV yesterday. He was addressing some group. He’s got that “more in sorrow than in anger” evangelical demeanor down pat. The self-righteous superiority shines through despite attempts to cover it with nice words that say they care for others. It’s incredibly patronizing.
EBT
@Sister Golden Bear: Oooh, who did you have your’s done by. I saw Satterwhite.
PJ
@Kay: It’s the same motivation that racists have – if there isn’t someone lower than you to denigrate, that means that you might actually be the lowest person in the hierarchy you need to sustain your self-worth.
WilliamC
@Leto: @A Ghost To Most: @Mnemosyne: @SFAW: as a black gentleman, a southerner, a liberal, and a former evangelical (Pentecostal), it took all the strength I had as a professional to not scream at her “what about Hitler? What about Stalin? God put them there as well. Would you support them?”
I just have to keep reminding myself, my job as an interviewer is to ask questions and let them talk, not pass judgement. I’ve been in dozens of homes of the trumpenproletariat the last two years I’ve been working on this project, and they’ve all been exactly like this. Maddening, incomprehensible, and a little racist, as if I were talking to Pussygrabber himself.
MCA1
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: I know we’re through the lookingglass and all – I mean, we’re daily reminded of the fact that America elected the worst person on Earth as its leader and a third of the population still purports to support him – but I still have a hard time buying that so many actual human beings who are not medically braindead, are dumb/desperate enough to actually buy this QAnon thing. It’s just too absurd.
I understand the origin story of the conspiracy is somebody started a forum and posted a bunch of strange, seemingly unrelated questions that were nonetheless leading. A part of me thinks this was hijinks. Somebody just wanted to see what the RWNJ hive mind would come up with, as an exercise in letting them beclown themselves publicly, and they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
And a larger part of me thinks there’s a not insignificant portion of “believers” out there who are either (a) Russian bots or (b) the Cleek’s Law come to life antagoniste zeroes so in vogue today, who don’t believe a word of this, but think it’s funny and feel empowered in their bitter little fail lives if they can convince themselves they’re pwning the libs and riling up decent people.
Chyron HR
@rikyrah:
“Obama’s hip-hop (check notes) Rhodes scholar won’t create jobs.”
Brachiator
Chait and other pundits were wrong about the 2016 election. Or, according to your bent, they were all in for the Republicans.
Either way, I don’t care about his fantasies about 2020.
I think we have a good shot at making significant gains in the midterms and applaud all the efforts to make that happen.
MattF
@MCA1: Well, people bought pizzagate, to the degree that someone showed up at a pizza parlor with a gun. I’ll agree that QAnon is further out there into the tinfoil maze– but the combination of projection and wishful thinking is pretty much par for the course.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
If you look at the Twitter link I provided (you have to scroll down some) you’ll see that the Italian writers who wrote the novel “Q” believe that someone has read their book and is trolling the MAGAts for fun. If you go to Wikipedia and search on Luther Blisset you will find out about the authors who wrote the novel. The tweets are interesting.
Elizabelle
@MCA1: These Q morons are the same people who started witch hunts (fatally, for their victims) and have always been the ugliest and basest among us. Society is a bell curve, and the internet, social media, and Trump have amplified the worst of those on the curve.
Would guess they are at their high water mark now.
WilliamC
@Kay, as I was screaming at a gaggle of gays in Baltimore who are planning on voting for their Republican governor there, Republicans at this point have all been kind of brainwashed to where they repeat to themselves and others that they are “Good people” while they act kindly to your face, inquire after the health of your loved ones, and sweetly help march you to the gas ovens. The only way to stop it is to vote the Republicans out. They will stop feeling morally superior when they lose in a landslide to actual moral crusaders against their immorality. It’s hard to occupy the moral high ground when you are standing on top of babies in cages. Pussygrabber is the root of all evil right now. The messaging against the Republicans should be simple: IF YOU VOTE FOR THEM, YOU ARE VOTING FOR HIM!
gwangung
@NotMax: Cool. Let us know how you like it. Not sure how well it’ll do, but the folks in the Asian American theatre community are rooting for her (though we do know the irony of the first woman Asian American playwright on Broadway gets there only by having a cast of all white men)(just as the first male Asian American playwright got there only by having a white male protagonist).
A Ghost To Most
@WilliamC:
As someone who was recruited for League Of The South because of my family and their connections, I have a different, but parallel, viewpoint.
I carry a bunch of personal animus towards these assholes.
Brachiator
@WilliamC:
Great anecdote. Thanks. I have read about the “chosen by God” stuff, but didn’t realize that some of these people also think that they have a duty to follow Trump. This is sickening.
Also, it is sad but not surprising to see that they cling to every lie about Obama, and use religion to keep their ignorance and bigotry in place.
But it is also Interesting to see that some religious folk are not buying Trump’s bullshit.
A Ghost To Most
@Brachiator:
“But it is also Interesting to see that some religious folk are not buying Trump’s bullshit.”
Shouldn’t that be the default?
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Thanks rikyrah! You never know. The guy who tunes our piano can play booming classical music without even sitting down on the bench. Amazing.
Brachiator
@Ben Cisco:
Of course, our problem is that the GOP leadership not only give in, they praise the toddler for throwing such a wonderful tantrum, and look forward to the next outburst.
The Lodger
@TS (the original): When you think you’re a shark, the words great and white are indeed interchangeable.
Brachiator
Great NPR story about how DeVos family money is involved in many Trump initiatives.
Conflicts of interest is a central feature of the Trump regime.
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/02/630112697/devos-family-money-is-all-over-the-news-right-now
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve seen clips on MSNBC of Princess Siliconia trying to simulate humanity– she’s very, very sad about family separation, she feels bigly strongly about it– and I wondered who was giving her a platform. It’s the two assholes who left Politico because they thought it was too harsh on Republicans.
Ivanka: “newsmaker”
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah:That’s crazy. I have had lunch at Smith, many times and without incident. I am not even a student there.
@MCA1: Smith is in Northampton, a liberal mecca.
Frankensteinbeck
@Platonailedit:
The behavior of every domestic abuser and four year old.
schrodingers_cat
Who is behind this YouTube and other social media accounts? Balloon Juice should not give these troll sites/accounts oxygen to spew their lies and grow bigger.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Can’t wait for Kay to see this..LOL
lgerard
@Brachiator:
Get excited about the October 2nd premiere of The Trump Prophecy, produced by Liberty University!
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
LMAO
Platonailedit
Corruption to the core.
Tim C.
@SFAW: that’s not the usual way they think the rapture will go. They would end up being left behind on earth when all the real true christians ™ go off to their heavenly reward. Thats actually etter though as we get to see te looks on tear faces as realization dawns.
Brachiator
@lgerard: Wow. Once again, crazy shit starts in Florida.
How it should have gone down.
Guy. But I just heard Trump say, “I grab them by the p*ssy.”
God. Yeah I was just fucking with you. Vote for Hillary.
Miss Bianca
Please proceed, Mr. President (Dipshit)….
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Balloon-Juice is just informing readers of what’s going on in the broader innertubes world. I’ve heard scant rumblings about Hillary and pedophiles, which I have always thought was projection about Trump’s well known history of attending cocaine-fueled parties with underage model girls in NYC. Hillary is a Methodist church-goer and grandmother.
I can hardly think of someone less likely to be a sexual predator, except perhaps the Obamas. So I don’t think we need to worry about fueling this absurd conspiracy theory, which is really, truly absurd, with no grain of truth anywhere, except the standard ones of the true believers being totally hypocritical and anti-christian.
Shana
@OzarkHillbilly: Saw a tweet earlier today saying he’s now throwing red-faced tantrums. Really, tantrums.
J R in WV
I am truely chosen by God.
God told me when I was a little child that I was the perfect selection out of all humanity – to be me.
No one could be a better choice – to be me. I am perfect at being me, 24/7/363 — I can take a couple of holidays off, like my birthday and such.
So, see how this works? I’m not even stretching the truth… well, yes I am. God didn’t tell me about it, I used logic all by myself… see how good I am? But other than that little caveat, about God speaking to me, 100% accurate and true. I AM perfect at being me.
Ask anyone!!
;-)
MisterForkbeard
@Shana: What, seriously? Tantrums?
If you run across that tweet again, let me know. I’d like to see it.
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: If everyone from the liberal blogs to CNN had ignored T instead of giving platform to his birther nonsense he wouldn’t have been in the WH today. He would have remained a 3rd rate celebrity instead of becoming the first troll in the WH.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
This is fucked up in all kinds of ways.
Brachiator
@Shana:
I don’t believe this.
It’s gotta be orange-faced tantrums. Really, really bright orange.
germy
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She has the Trump penchant for using “incredible”, I see.
Biggest, best, most incredible. Guiliana speaks the same way. It’s like they think peppering their speech with these words will magically distract from how empty and shallow it is.
The NYTimes started the latest attempt to sell Ivanka, BTW. I guess we get her sold to us every six months until we reluctantly cry uncle and love her. We must LOVE the Trumps. That is their RIGHT. They’re incredible. Why can’t you see that? Here- let me shove it your face again. Now will you?
They are the neediest fucking privileged people on the face of the planet. They want everything- money, power, love.
lgerard
@Brachiator:
This is my question as well. We always hear about these episodes, but no details are provided.
Does he turn a brighter shade of orange?
Does he inadvertently order a half dozen Diet Cokes while pounding on the desk?
We need to know these things
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
My students have gotten used to my crossing out the word “incredibly” everywhere it appears in their papers. It’s almost always ridiculous hyperbole and filler.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They need to stop with this bullshyt with Lucretia. We see her for the vile, disgusting human being that she is.
eric
@Kay: it is only fair because we loved the Obamas; we need to love at least one Trump, and there are no other viable options in DC. So, lets hear it for the least bad STD, Ivanka Trump.
Spanky
@J R in WV: Actually, that was Mr. Rogers who told you that – I was there when he said it.
Although tbh, I’m perfectly OK with Mr. Rogers being the voice o’ God, if we have to have one.
Brachiator
@lgerard: To paraphrase the old Procol Harum song,
DonL140
Fall of the House of Unsure… Cult 45
Instant classics
BlueGirlFromWyo
@rikyrah: Obama having the utter nerve to be everything they claimed African-Americans needed to do to be “good, deserving Americans”‘ (family man, achiever, etc) is why the birther movement is so widespread among white conservatives IMO. They simply couldn’t take yes for an answer from someone who didn’t fall into their party line, so he had to be not a real American. They had to keep that morally superior “good, deserving American” line up somehow, despite so many being unable to achieve their own criteria. Spoken from family experience where our welfare king with multiple baby mamas was the most conservative. ?
Shana
@Kay: That has a very strong ring of truth to it.