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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense.

Yes we did.

This is a big f—–g deal.

No one could have predicted…

Gastritis Broke My Calculator

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

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Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

We still have time to mess this up!

Good luck with your asparagus.

Screw the Judean People’s Front. Splitters.

Lighten up, Francis.

An army of rabid, anonymous commenters

Shock troops for the Unitarian Jihad.

Word salad with all caps

This Blog Goes to 11…

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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I personally stopped the public option…

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Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot

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Militantly superior in their own minds…

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Just Shut the Fuck Up

You are here: Home / Archives for Just Shut the Fuck Up

Russiagate Open Thread: Twelve Monkeys Spies

by Anne Laurie|  November 25, 201911:30 am| 111 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Russia, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Just Shut the Fuck Up, Our Failed Media Experiment

Twelve Russian military officers have been indicted for breaking into the Democratic Party's computers, stealing compromising information and selectively releasing it to undermine candidates https://t.co/I8toBG9Vcf

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 25, 2019

There was a lot of testimony during this past week’s impeachment inquiry about foreign interference in our 2016 election, including the president’s assertion that Ukraine was involved. But the president’s own intelligence agencies say it was the Russians who “hacked” the 2016 elections. Special counsel Robert Mueller spelled it out in his report.

Now the Justice Department has at least two open cases against Russian citizens for interfering with our presidential and congressional races, we decided to take a closer look at one of them – the case against 12 Russian military officers accused of breaking into the Democratic Party’s computers, stealing compromising information, and selectively releasing it to undermine Democratic candidates. There’s no evidence of similar operations against Republicans in 2016. With the 2020 election approaching, the story of “The Russian Hack.”

Robert Anderson: The Russians never left. I can guarantee you in 2016 after this all hit the news, they never left. They didn’t stop doing what they’re doing.

Bill Whitaker: This wasn’t just a one-time thing?

Robert Anderson: No way. Russia doesn’t do it that way.

Robert Anderson should know. He spent 21 years inside the cloak and dagger world of spies and hackers overseeing the FBI’s counterintelligence and cyber Divisions and tracking Moscow’s spy agencies, an alphabet of artifice, the FSB, SVR, and, especially, the GRU.

Robert Anderson: The GRU is military intelligence. So when we look at the attacks that happened during our presidential races in 2016 you had military organizations inside of Russia attacking our infrastructure…

These are the hacker-soldiers from GRU unit 26165 who, according to the Justice Department, were responsible for “breaking and entering” into the Democratic Party’s computers remotely, from Moscow. Their names, ranks and faces are now on the FBI’s most wanted list for stealing, among other things, the Democrats’ strategic plans, detailed targeting data, and internal polling. GRU Colonel Aleksandr Osadchuk commanded a separate unit, 74455. One of his officers was in charge of spreading the stolen material to political operatives, bloggers and the media. Another hacked state election boards.

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Russiagate Open Thread: Twelve <del>Monkeys</del> SpiesPost + Comments (111)

Late Night Open Thread: Rich ‘Sparklepants’ Lowry Throws A Public Snit

by Anne Laurie|  November 11, 20192:20 am| 44 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, All Too Normal, Clap Louder!, Decline and Fall, Just Shut the Fuck Up

rich lowry is not mad, he actually thinks its funny https://t.co/TO8jHmucdD

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) November 8, 2019

Not that I normally read anything by, or if I can help it about, the National Review editor who wrote the first public paean to Sarah Palin’s charms. But Mr. Boie’s tweet sent me in search of explication…

Ouch. @RichLowry's new book defending nationalism is a "tendentious, organicist view of history reminiscent of Italian and German philosophers of the 1920s and 1930s: semi-factual, over-confident, mythologized, and utterly self-serving." https://t.co/ojesb2wZnC

— Jerry Taylor (@jerry_jtaylor) November 8, 2019

“You know what I am?” U.S. President Donald J. Trump said at a rally in October 2018. “I’m a nationalist.” Rich Lowry’s The Case for Nationalism can be seen as a way of working through, and defending, what the president meant. As the editor of National Review, the prominent conservative magazine, Lowry is an intellectual gatekeeper on the American right. He was one of the speakers at the National Conservatism conference in July 2019, an event that brought together such thinkers as J. D. Vance and Patrick Deneen, with keynotes by the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel and the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, along with a notorious intervention on the perils of immigration by University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax.

Lowry’s central claim is that Americans are, and have been from their country’s founding, a nation and not a community of universal ideas. Although intellectuals and left-wing pundits are openly hostile to expressions of national sentiment, the United States has a unique national tradition that is today obscured by fissiparous identity politics. If Americans reacquaint themselves with their true national heritage, they will be better equipped to overcome dangerous tribalism, protect their borders, and make their country great again. To the degree that the United States has a global role, it should be as “vindicator of the prerogatives of other democratic nation-states”—in other words, a defender of the idea that a world of culturally defined nations is humanity’s state of nature…

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Late Night Open Thread: Rich ‘Sparklepants’ Lowry Throws A Public SnitPost + Comments (44)

Late Night Open Thread: If Not for Hypocrisy, They’d Have No Standards At All

by Anne Laurie|  October 16, 201911:52 pm| 78 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, All Too Normal, Assholes, Cosplay Socialists, Just Shut the Fuck Up

The Little Princeling:

Shorter Rand Paul: I don't care about a goddamn thing but saving Donald Trump. https://t.co/TcSiARmJpI

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 15, 2019

I think Rand Paul going to the wall to protect a New York real estate hustler who's in bed with a bunch of Ukrainian oligarchs is exactly the kind of thing the Forgotten Poor of Kentucky were hoping would happen when they elected him.

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 15, 2019

Here is a list of people who have criticized Hunter Biden of Nepotism in the last 24 hours:

Presented to you by 23andMe.

Meghan McCain
Abby Huntsman
Donald Trump Jr.
Ivanka Trump
Jaren Kushner
Rand Paul
Ms. Romney (Ronna)

— YS (@NYinLA2121) October 15, 2019

Actual quote from Don Jr about Hunter Biden: "When you're the father and your sons entire career is dependent on that, they own you."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/UW7C7czvrR

— JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUΔL³³º¹ (@th3j35t3r) October 17, 2019

 
Also, may one introduce Breitbart’s newest contributors?

Very cool. pic.twitter.com/9fJj0J8ajq

— Charles ?. Davis (@charliearchy) October 15, 2019

Late Night Open Thread: If Not for Hypocrisy, They’d Have No Standards At AllPost + Comments (78)

President Fathead Has No Idea What the Fuck is Going On

by John Cole|  October 11, 20193:32 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Military, The Trump Doctrine, Just Shut the Fuck Up

Awesome:

President Donald Trump falsely claimed on Thursday that the United States has no troops in Syria.
Trump was defending his decision to remove American troops from a part of northern Syria that Turkey wanted to attack. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, Trump asserted, “We have no soldiers in Syria.”

“We’ve won, we beat ISIS, and we beat ’em badly and decisively. We have no soldiers. The last thing I want to do is bring thousands and thousands of soldiers in and defeat everybody again. We’ve already done that,” Trump said.

Facts First: The US still has about 1,000 soldiers in Syria, military officials have told CNN and other news outlets, and the troops Trump removed from the area of the Turkish incursion offensive were not removed from the country
.
Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday: “We have made no changes to our force presence in Syria at this time.”
Less than an hour after Trump made his Thursday claim that there are “no soldiers in Syria,” a senior State Department official told reporters that the US military mission in Syria is ongoing.

“We had and still have a significant military mission there to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, also to maintain the stability of northeast Syria and the region given our other critical missions in the Near East,” the official said on a conference call conducted on condition of anonymity.

Not only do we have troops in the region, but, well, the inevitable has happened:

A contingent of U.S. Special Forces has been caught up in Turkish shelling against U.S.-backed Kurdish positions in northern Syria, days after President Donald Trump told his Turkish counterpart he would withdraw U.S. troops from certain positions in the area.

Newsweek has learned through both an Iraqi Kurdish intelligence official and senior Pentagon official that Special Forces operating on Mashtenour hill in the majority-Kurdish city of Kobani fell under artillery fire from Turkish forces conducting their so-called “Operation Peace Spring” against Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. but considered terrorist organizations by Turkey.

The senior Pentagon official said that Turkish forces should be aware of U.S. positions “down to the grid.” The official could not specify the exact number of personnel present, but indicated they were “small numbers below company level,” so somewhere between 15 and 100 troops.

Meanwhile:

Five Isis militants have broken out of a prison in northern Syria after Turkish shelling nearby, a spokesman in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said.

The detainees escaped from a prison in Qamishli city, Marvan Qamishlo said.

In times like these I calm myself by chanting my favorite soothing mantras- “pallets of money on the airstrip” and “but her emails.”

President Fathead Has No Idea What the Fuck is Going OnPost + Comments (145)

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: Mr. Klassy

by Anne Laurie|  September 18, 20193:50 pm| 138 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Trumpery, All Too Normal, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Just Shut the Fuck Up

Every Trump anecdote is the generic New Yorker cartoon with the caption "Christ, what an asshole." https://t.co/qp31Kn4OcA

— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) September 17, 2019

In response, Jake Tapper retweeted this 2016 clip:

.@realDonaldTrump reacts to Cokie Roberts' question about kids using his name to taunt other kids https://t.co/1gW6cBnjiQ

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) March 9, 2016

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: Mr. KlassyPost + Comments (138)

“Respite” Open Thread: Tucker Carlson on Unplanned Vacation

by Anne Laurie|  August 8, 20196:24 pm| 119 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Post-racial America, Repubs in Disarray!, Television, The Brown Enemy Within, Assholes, Flash Mob of Hate, Go Fuck Yourself, Just Shut the Fuck Up

A monster turned a transcript of Carlson's show into a manifesto and then killed 22 people. His career depends on no one pointing this out. https://t.co/cJVZdr2eIQ

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 7, 2019

What time of day does Fox News transition from "the celebrity used bad language" to "do not be deceived by the rootless cosmopolitans who control society, blood and soil are the only truth?" Like happy hour-ish?

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) August 7, 2019

Perspective: Tucker Carlson’s claim that white supremacy is a hoax is easy to prove wrong, @Sulliview writes.

Just watch his show. https://t.co/ixQxrxKPAa

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 7, 2019

Facing mounting controversy for declaring the very real problem of white supremacy in America to be a "hoax," Tucker Carlson announced at the end of his Wednesday night Fox News show that he will be taking a vacation. https://t.co/vpXNHmSoaw

— CNN (@CNN) August 8, 2019

IIRC, Bill O’Reilly went from ‘sudden vacation’ to ‘suspended’ to ‘Bill who?’ when he pushed the boundaries a little too far. One can hope that Carlson will also be forced into doing podcasts from his basement… assuming Tucker’s penthous *has* a basement…

I hear he got a tip on a fun 6-day weekend airbnb spot from the NRA social media team. https://t.co/uc6eqsKRac

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) August 8, 2019


Reference:

Breaking —> Documents show the NRA planned to purchase a $6 million mansion for Wayne LaPierre, an uncompleted transaction that is now under scrutiny by investigators, @CarolLeonnig & @bethreinhard report https://t.co/g7A1rYoMge

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) August 7, 2019

“Respite” Open Thread: Tucker Carlson on Unplanned VacationPost + Comments (119)

Shameless & Stupid Open Thread: Hadn’t Dayton Suffered Enough?

by Anne Laurie|  August 7, 20194:50 pm| 155 Comments

This post is in: Guns, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, All Too Normal, Decline and Fall, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Go Fuck Yourself, Just Shut the Fuck Up

President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House before leaving for Dayton and El Paso.

"I think my rhetoric it brings people together," he says, per @justinsink

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) August 7, 2019

Dayton residents have lined the streets to protest Trump's visit and call for Congress to act on gun violence.

Trump is making two stops today to visit communities affected by last weekend's mass shootings, and he's going to El Paso later this afternoon https://t.co/h2aazOTGlH pic.twitter.com/OKIf6n8Q5R

— POLITICO (@politico) August 7, 2019

because when your town is picking up the pieces from a madman with a 100-round assault rifle what you REALLY want to see a guy who thought the MAGAbomber was an underachiever. https://t.co/DDljRZ2Ocd

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) August 7, 2019

Per the President's press secretary, this is happening.
(Note that press so far have no access to it or ability to verify, witness etc.) pic.twitter.com/Jb3E4U1fSK

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) August 7, 2019

“Trump did not speak publicly or allow himself to be photographed. … The visit to Dayton was a marked break with tradition, as presidents visiting grieving communities typically offer public condolences and use the opportunity to try to comfort the nation.” https://t.co/QiMyqDoiYa

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 7, 2019

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Shameless & Stupid Open Thread: Hadn’t Dayton Suffered Enough?Post + Comments (155)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Now *We* Have “the Bigger Half”

by Anne Laurie|  July 17, 20194:55 am| 186 Comments

This post is in: Civil Rights, Dolt 45, Fables Of The Reconstruction, Hail to the Hairpiece, Immigration, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, All Too Normal, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Just Shut the Fuck Up, Let A Thousand Watergates Bloom, Nobody could have predicted, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

When you get mad and kick the chessboard so the pieces go flying in every direction, technically that IS 3-D chess.

— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) July 16, 2019

On these 71/72 analogies, a key issue. Back in I think 1971 Pat Buchanan, then a young aide and speechwriter to Nixon wrote a memo to the president and his top advisors in which he said – and this is close to verbatim but from memory – ‘we need to cut the country …

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 17, 2019

3/ around crime. His half was bigger. Watergate upended that briefly. But only briefly. The logic of the Trump presidency is to continually divide the country, maximize polarization. The difference is that Trump’s half is clearly the smaller half. This was true even in victory.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 17, 2019

5/ trying as much as possible to demoralize, exhaust and gaslight the opposition, psych everyone out, trigger spoiler third parties and more. There’s really no 12 dimensional chess. Every day is another Trump tally. More racism and rage to keep his diehards boiling.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 17, 2019

7/ have to overcome those tilted odds. But they can. Because there are more of them.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 17, 2019


 
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

.@mkraju: Senator McConnell, you're married to an immigrant who's a naturalized US citizen. If someone was to tell her she should go back to her country because of her criticism of federal policy, wouldn't you consider that a racist attack?

McCONNELL: … ?? pic.twitter.com/z5Bpc1hKC6

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 16, 2019

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Now *We* Have “the Bigger Half”Post + Comments (186)

Late Night Open Thread: Much Ado, Weekend Roundup

by Anne Laurie|  July 15, 20192:24 am| 36 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Post-racial America, All Too Normal, Cosplay Socialists, Just Shut the Fuck Up

Not sure how Democrats recover from this thing no one without severe internet brain damage is aware of.

— DSA DNC Caucus (@agraybee) July 13, 2019

Chakrabarti and Trump both think they’ll benefit from a Democratic civil war

— Doremus Jessup (@DoremusJ) July 14, 2019

Since one of my self-imposed duties around here is finding the positive note… I did not foresee the Squatter-in-Chief and the Cosplay Socialists teaming up to convince wavering (non-‘base’) Republicans and ‘independents’ that Nancy Pelosi is Snake Plissken: A stone-cold killer, and yet their only real defense against the ravening hordes from urban hellholes like the Bronx, Detroit, Roxbury, and Minneapolis…

As CoS to @AOC, Saikat Chakrabarti is a new type: the movement chief of staff. Your boss is invested with the hopes of millions of Twitter followers, and your job involves both scheduling for the next week and planning for the ages. @Saikatc @aoc https://t.co/Nyjb8NKOar

— David Montgomery (@dmontyjr) July 10, 2019

I personally suspect this slobbery beat-sweetner first originated in the Sanders’ campaign sagging poll numbers. Chakrabarti and his running buddies started the “Justice Dems” when it became obvious that Bernie would release control of “Our Revolution” approximately six weeks after his death (and that’s assuming Jane can’t find a way to continue the grift work as a memorial to the fallen martyr). They’re not Democrats and they’re not interested in actual grubby politics — it’s all about Move Fast, Break Stuff, (personal) Profit!

He got lucky when he ‘discovered’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — she was, as I remember it, the only one of last cycle’s 17 or 18 Democrat-challenging JD candidates who actually won. But if she’s half as smart as she seems to be, she’ll find a quiet way to get this guy out of her staff offices, because a Chief of Staff who considers himself the starmaker / puppeteer for somebody’s kid sister is hardly an asset:

… In the spring of 2016 — even before Sanders conceded the primary race — Chakrabarti, Exley and other Sanders organizers, including Alexandra Rojas and Corbin Trent, were thinking of next steps for the movement. To enact change, they reasoned, it was vital to transform Congress. They formed a group called Brand New Congress with the mission to recruit hundreds of community leaders and working-class candidates to run on a vision of getting corporate money out of politics, tackling climate change, transforming the economy, providing health care for all, standing for racial justice and stemming mass incarceration. They sifted through more than 10,000 nominations to find the best recruits. “Our biggest criteria was, basically, find someone who had a chance to sell out and didn’t,” Chakrabarti says.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was then a bartender from the Bronx, was nominated by her brother. It was Isra Allison, another member of Brand New Congress, not Chakrabarti, who had a key initial recruiting interview with her. But Chakrabarti drove the overall effort… Nasim Thompson, who also helped recruit candidates, told me: “It was clear from the very beginning that the ship was moving with his guidance. … He was so focused that it naturally created a gravitational pull. … He was sort of relentless in that, and simultaneously just so pleasant, it was shocking. Almost not human. I used to say, ‘How do you stay so Zen?’ ”…

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Late Night Open Thread: Much Ado, Weekend RoundupPost + Comments (36)

Waste of Resources Open Thread: Farewell, Ross Perot; Fvck Off, Tom Steyer

by Anne Laurie|  July 9, 201911:05 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Free Markets Solve Everything, Open Threads, Clown car, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Just Shut the Fuck Up

taking a break from swimming laps in my olympic-sized pool filled with ancient shipwreck champagne my friend king phillippe of belgium found scuba diving to convince exactly 3 guys who own car dealerships in suburban des moines to caucus for me

— matt lubchansky (@Lubchansky) July 9, 2019

Or. More terrifyingly, this is what you do AFTER crashing air and sea vehicles into each other. A presidential run as the most luxurious nihilistic masochism. The autoerotic asphyxiation of the idle rich.

— DrewDidThat (@drewdidthat) July 9, 2019

RIP Ross Perot, who made himself a billionaire through government contracting and then ran for president denouncing inefficient government spending

— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) July 9, 2019

De mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that, but I was paying attention to politics back in 1992. Ross Perot was a billionaire crank who considered Bush the Original a snotty rich kid who’d gotten into the White House on his family’s coattails, and Bill Clinton a dirtbag arriviste with ambitions above his station. Perot’s campaign was basically ‘Given the alternatives, why aren’t you Little People paying more attention to ME!?!‘

He announced his departure partway through the campaign because, hand to goddess, mysterious military teams aligned with the Bush campaign were threatening to ruin his daughter’s wedding — and then jumped back in again, because (as he more or less admitted, in the most self-flattering terms) he missed the media attention. And even in his failure, he inspired future more-money-than-sense vanity candidates… leading, inevitably, to the current Oval Office Squatter.

Checking in with Dems this morning, and the reaction to Steyer’s bid is a healthy combo of annoyance ("we need him building and organizing the grassroots”) and disinterest ("I do not think he will affect this race”).

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) July 9, 2019

Tom Steyer says he's still running on impeachment, even though it wasn't in his launch video, and still $upporting Need to Impeach/NextGen, which work down-ballot.

Changed his mind on 2020 when he realized impeachment+removal wasn't happening. https://t.co/bZrcxU1yQ4

— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) July 9, 2019

It’s Tom Steyer’s money! He’s free to flush it down whatever political-consulting toilets he chooses! But it’s like choosing to fuel a firepit with wood from an endangered species — he’s wasting irreplaceable media attention and funds for his own short-term enjoyment.

This was unexpectedly powerful for Trump in 2016 because his top rivals all had super PACs, and groveled embarrassingly for donors. In a race where no one has a super PAC and two candidates (Warren, Sanders) do not even hold fundraisers, it's surreal. https://t.co/ohSbipNT4b

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) July 9, 2019

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Waste of Resources Open Thread: Farewell, Ross Perot; Fvck Off, Tom SteyerPost + Comments (81)

Open Thread: Crown Princess Dunning-Kruger

by Anne Laurie|  June 30, 20197:36 pm| 148 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Trump Crime Cartel, All Too Normal, Just Shut the Fuck Up

JSA – Truce Village T2, DMZ pic.twitter.com/zesE7Qj3zv

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 30, 2019

Does Ivanka really, truly believe she belongs there?

— Schooley (@Rschooley) June 30, 2019

From the smirk on her face, absolutely. Eighteen months watching Daddy Dearest in the Oval Office, and she’s convinced she can finish off the important bits of the job — yelling at aides about their inadequate PowerPoint presentations, putting the arm on foreign dignitaries and potential celebrity donors — in an hour or two a day. So if she mindfully curates her twitter feed, she’ll be able to accomplish her “real” work (rigorous self-care, supervising the kids’ and Jared’s nannies) and still have plenty of time for celebrity tuft-hunting!

The Washington Post, “‘Surreal’: Ivanka Trump plays a prominent role in her father’s historic Korea trip”:

… The first daughter’s prominence in Japan and South Korea appeared to be by design — a sign of her influence with President Trump and the current absence of influential opponents within the administration.

It’s not clear, however, to what end.

Ivanka Trump shuttered her clothing business after joining the administration, although not right away, and has largely stepped away from her old life as an entrepreneur and social mainstay in New York. She and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, let it be known last year that they would remain in Washington and in the White House indefinitely.

Her ambitions are unknown — she demurs on any desire for public office…

Mostly, her prominence on a major foreign trip sends a message about who other countries should listen to or court, said Christopher R. Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and other nations.

“It looks to the rest of the world like we have a kind of a constitutional monarchy,” said Hill, who oversaw nuclear talks with North Korea at the close of the George W. Bush administration.

“It’s increasingly problematic in terms of our credibility,” Hill said. “It says to our allies, to everyone we do business with, that the only people who matter are Trump and his family members.”…

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Open Thread: Crown Princess Dunning-KrugerPost + Comments (148)

Early Morning Sundae Sermons Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  June 30, 20193:46 am| 67 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Bitter Despair is the New Black, DC Press Corpse, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Just Shut the Fuck Up

This is impolite to mention, but one thing about anti-Trump conservative professional political pundits (as opposed to rank and file ex-Republicans) is their job essentially *requires* them to be perpetually saying Democrats are failing to win them over.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 29, 2019

A normal person can be a Republican with an unusually high-openness personality, be alienated by Trump, and then go become a regular Democrat.

But if you’re a #NeverTrump pundit it’d be a bad career move to just become a replacement level liberal pundit.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 29, 2019

This is true! Spare a single tiny tear for the professional Panglossians, paid by Our Betters to remind all ‘sensible’ readers that well-groomed center-right white men with the correct credentials are obviously the best people to lead us, that’s just science. The Oval Office Occupant has been almost as much a disaster for their quiet careers as he is for the rest of the world… a sloppy, shambling, semi-literate professional faker who continually demonstrates not only his own unfitness, but the general shoddiness of the Panglossians. One tear, maybe a swift kick, and move on without them.

If your only option is to vote for a racist, misogynistic, bigoted, transphobic, xenophobic authoritarian because you can’t abide Democrats’ stances on healthcare and immigration, then you’re not even in the car, David Brooks. pic.twitter.com/WPpnksx93h

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 28, 2019

When you’re a privileged white dude, not getting first chair (and right of refusal) feels like a demotion…

It’s a national emergency, join our unity government; also we offer you nothing and we’re moving full speed to the left.https://t.co/WaGj67OrwJ

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) June 28, 2019

I also feel like sanity and a lack of corruption is not nothing, as a start. Respect for NATO, for the Intelligence agencies, for the rule of law, for the first amendment, for compliance with the emoluments clause. But yeah we are going to disagree on policy and it is a Primary.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 28, 2019

Sorry Brian, rather the government murder brown children than people who earn 100X more than me have to pay the same tax rate as teachers.

— Tom Stoyton (@TomStoyton) June 29, 2019

Ross Douthat in the 1930s would absolutely be arguing that the fascists are a totally reasonable response to liberal democracies giving in to those radical Bolsheviks demanding the end of segregation and for women being allowed to divorce. https://t.co/kRwiUYQLgO

— Weedlewobble (@weedlewobble) June 29, 2019

someone who’s not an incompetent, ignorant, narcissistic sociopath would be a significant improvement so the bar’s pretty low https://t.co/70S5P9YFPq

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 29, 2019

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Early Morning Sundae Sermons Open ThreadPost + Comments (67)

Dispatches From Trumplandia- Still Dumb as Fuck and Proud of It

by John Cole|  June 21, 20199:42 pm| 120 Comments

This post is in: Just Shut the Fuck Up

There’s another one of those apparently weekly pieces in the WaPo about the plight of a bunch of salt of the earth morons who love them some Trump but are worried about what his tariffs are gonna do to them and whether or not they are going to make enough from the bailouts (I know, I know- they want handouts). This has the usual stuff in there about hating on the coastal elites and how the coasts should have their own country and golly gee they’ll all starve without us (hey you fucking morons your farm is dying because you can’t export to China and Mexico, California can feed itself, thank you, and this new Trump free coastal country won’t have trade wars and can grow or import what they need), and so on and so forth. I mean, you can read the whole thing yourself. But that’s not what caught my eye. These pictures of one of their living rooms did:

Anyone who decorates their living room like this doesn’t deserve the fucking franchise. And I have no idea what is going on with that drawing of Barry Gibb above the staircase.

Dispatches From Trumplandia- Still Dumb as Fuck and Proud of ItPost + Comments (120)

Election 2020 Open Thread: Redshirt Demands Dramatic Death Scene

by Anne Laurie|  June 7, 20195:31 pm| 80 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Open Threads, All Too Normal, Clap Louder!, Just Shut the Fuck Up

Some Democratic presidential candidates are not happy with the Democratic National Committee, and their anger is no longer being kept private https://t.co/VbzScHjep7

— Dan Merica (@merica) June 7, 2019

Which coastal metropolis is Pete Buttigieg from again? https://t.co/A0GYH5XLWj

— Molotov Frappuccino Thrower (@agraybee) June 7, 2019

Never say never, in this debased world, but I personally estimate Steve Bullock’s chances of becoming our next President as roughly equal to my own — and I ain’t running. Histrionic proclamations from his devoted staff won’t improving his chances, IMO. But his public tantrum gives ‘conservative’ media guys another chance to bring out their favorite Dems in disarray! talking points…

… Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is largely unmoved by these complaints.

In an interview with CNN Thursday here in Atlanta, Perez subtly knocked the candidates who have yet to meet the grassroots fundraising threshold and are publicly complaining.
“I think everybody has to be proficient,” he said when asked about complaints about the threshold. “If you want to be President of the United States, you have to develop a proficiency at grassroots fundraising.”

The three candidates at risk of missing the debates are Miramar, Florida, Mayor Wayne Messam, whose campaign has struggled to get any traction; Rep. Seth Moulton, who announced his campaign in late April and has yet to qualify on either threshold, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who has currently not qualified for the debates by either committee standard and whose team is the angriest about the possible snub.

Bullock got into the race in mid-May, relatively late compared to other 2020 contenders. The governor has told CNN that he launched late because, as the governor of Montana, he had to oversee his state’s legislative session, which happens every two years. Bullock did that and the body passed Medicaid expansion. His advisers now believe that the DNC rules are punishing a candidate who stayed at work instead of running for President….

You did your job, Gov. Bullock. Waddya want, a cookie? Would neglecting your current responsibilities have made you a better contender for such a sought-after promotion?

And here I didn’t think it was possible for me to wholeheartedly approve of anything Tom Perez says.

Sidebar — I’m beginning to wonder whether Seth Moulton is hoping to be recruited by his natural allies in the anyone-but-Trump ‘sensible Republican’ demographic:

… The one candidate who is not antagonistic of the DNC despite finding himself on the verge of missing the first debate is [Seth] Moulton, who has publicly admitted he is likely to miss the event.

“No, I’m not going to make the first debate, but I knew that getting in so late,” the congressman told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview this week. “But I think that’s OK, that there’s, this first debate’s going to have 20 people. Folks are barely going to get a chance to speak. This is a long campaign. And it’s not going to be decided by the Democratic National Committee in their debates. It’s going to get decided by the American people. And that’s where the response to my campaign has been so positive so far.”…

Election 2020 Open Thread: Redshirt Demands Dramatic Death ScenePost + Comments (80)

Late Night Cheap Mockery Open thread: Bill de Blasio Is A Schmuck

by Anne Laurie|  May 14, 20192:13 am| 29 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Open Threads, Assholes, Flash Mob of Hate, Just Shut the Fuck Up

Despite his (literally) lordly stature, he doesn’t rise even to the putz level.

As de Blasio hold a campaign-style, government-funded rally at Trump Tower, he says now is not the time to talk about his presidential ambitions

— Dana Rubinstein (@danarubinstein) May 13, 2019

His NYC subjects are sceptical! NYMag:

All that mayor of New York and presidential hopeful Bill de Blasio wanted to do on Monday was to travel by SUV caravan to a home of the current president and lambaste him for the steep emissions emanating from his buildings. But de Blasio’s conference at Trump Tower was derailed when a group of protesters counterprogrammed the mayor’s eight-minute speech by playing surprisingly loud music in the lobby, chanting “you suck” (the jack-of-all-trades of heckling phrases), and holding signs that read “Trump 2020” and “Worst Mayor Ever.”

It shouldn’t be surprising that the event was inundated with protesters, considering that three out of four New Yorkers don’t want the mayor to run for president and he held the speech at the historic capital of Trump World. But de Blasio held his ground: “This is a public space where people are allowed to express their views. In New York City, we’re perfectly tough. If people want to offer their opposition, it doesn’t change me one bit.”

On paper, de Blasio’s speech was meant to promote the NYC Green New Deal and publicize a City Council bill passed in April requiring buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to cut emissions. De Blasio, who has yet to sign the bill, said it’s a symbol of the city’s intention to hold all landlords accountable, “even the president of the United States.”…

Against all evidence, de Blasio remains convinced that, if the White House is to be occupied by a “brash, big-picture” New Yorker, it should be him — no matter what all those timid timeservers in his own inner circle may say behind his back. From the Atlantic, last week:

Multiple people close to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave up trying to talk him out of running for president earlier this year. Now he’s reportedly going to try to win Iowa and New Hampshire without most of his friends—or even people on his payroll—supporting him…

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
52m 1205865100336418821

New Post added at Balloon Juice - Holiday Prep Open Thread -https://www.balloon-juice.com/2019/12/14/holiday-prep-open-thread/

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
5h 1205795190830772224

New Post added at Balloon Juice - Saturday Morning Open Thread: Plan Your Calendar -

Balloon Juice | Saturday Morning Open Thread: Plan Your Calendar

MAJOR UPDATE: Demonstrations called for TUESDAY NIGHT! The vote on Articles of Impeachment is imminent. Join one of nearly 500 demonstrations nationwi...

www.balloon-juice.com

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tressiemcphd avatarTressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd·
10h 1205728637477179392

This is glorious. Glorious. https://twitter.com/yorkwhitaker/status/1205726859939303425

This is glorious. Glorious. https://t.co/rEQBKDN4Na
York Whitaker@YorkWhitaker

I love this app.

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
12h 1205689726155591680

imagine caring what cenk uygar thinks... about anything

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
13h 1205687690873724928

so just act normally?

Boing Boing@BoingBoing

Top Florida Cop instructed officer to act like a “white supremacist” when engaging Black suspect https://boingboing.net/2019/12/13/top-florida-cop-instructed-off.html

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AllieGoertz avatarAllie Goertz@AllieGoertz·
15h 1205658316933750785

Now promise you’ll never drive your dad’s car drunk again, Matt. https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/1205644969513537542

Matt Gaetz@mattgaetz

If it’s any comfort...I can promise you’ll never have my last name. https://twitter.com/alliegoertz/status/1205627060258926592

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NicoleHockley avatarNicole Hockley@NicoleHockley·
23h 1205524335873671169

Seven years ago started as a normal Friday morning.
After getting Dylan and Jake on the bus, I did chores until I left for an exercise class. While driving to class, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, so bad that I almost pulled over to the side of the road, convinced I was...

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13h 1205682458034917377

New Post added at Balloon Juice - Do The Right Thing -

Balloon Juice | Do The Right Thing

I said this earlier on the twitter thing, and I want to say it here: Even if he is not convicted in the Senate and even if Dems pay a political price,...

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
22h 1205551193977708545

Even if he is not convicted in the Senate and even if Dems pay a political price, impeaching Trump is the right thing to do because he’s a criminal who broke the laws. When everything is as broken as it is now, all you can do is do the right thing and hope for the best.

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
13h 1205679820052615169

shorter Matt Bevin- “Fuck you Kentucky have some murderers"

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