Another grueling week, lemme tell you. This Sunday is ladies schvitz, and I’m going to sweat until I’m just an desiccated husk. And tonight is a night to watch old boxing matches on HBO and cuddle up with the dog. It’s cold again, I drove a million miles and car repairs will cost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars. So yeah: Boxing.
I thought Andre Ward was a goner after that second-round knockdown, but now I think he’s going to go the distance. This fight was last November in Vegas, but I must have let my subscription to Ring lapse, because I never saw it.
Sigh.
So, now we have an attorney general who met with the Russians and lied about it? Is the cognitive dissonance in the room a low hum for you, or more like a TV between channels, turned up to 11? (Hands go up.) So we now have leak after bombshell after stink bomb with this administration and their hanky-panky with the Russians, and the GOP continues to stick their hands in their pockets, look at the sky and whistle. I can’t stand it. I can’t even look at the blogs and the columns and the usual suspects anymore.
Except Roy, of course.
I don’t even have any bloggage, but I do have a headline:
She’s 42. And there were three football players. Because of course there were.
Folks, I’m beat. New thread for new outrages, and have a nice weekend.
basset said on March 2, 2017 at 9:55 pm
I’ll say again: fighting is not a sport.
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alex said on March 2, 2017 at 10:13 pm
Only three? The old whores at the Rialto used to take on the entire teams from all of the local high schools and the coaches paid for it. What’s up with all this tssk-tsssking?
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Julie Robinson said on March 2, 2017 at 10:32 pm
Bassett, agreed. It’s one of the many reasons I also detest football.
New outrage, Pence using his AOL account for sensitive emails and getting hacked. Good God.
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 3:10 am
“Park Savings Accounts”
https://mobile.twitter.com/DreaMcCoy/status/837473862438768642
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David C. said on March 3, 2017 at 6:08 am
AOL is still a thing? Pence surely must be right up to date with a 28.8k modem too.
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Suzanne said on March 3, 2017 at 6:21 am
The Pence thing was all over the news last night. I hope he gets skewered but I doubt it. 6 months ago using an unsecured email account for official business was treasonous. Now, not so much.
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 7:23 am
Carter Page’s “smokeless Nathan Thurm” is a gift from a kind, benevolent god.
https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/837484211460263937
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 3, 2017 at 7:39 am
Thank you, Mike Pence, for reminding me of this, which I’m thankful not to hear anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 7:40 am
And if you think that interview is an aberration, here he gets broken on the wheel by Jon Snow. Waterboarding unnecessary.
https://www.channel4.com/news/trump-carter-page-interview
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alex said on March 3, 2017 at 8:27 am
At least Pence’s technological savvy is about a decade ahead of his wife’s fashion sense.
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 9:54 am
The Republicans who were at the periphery of this catastrophe in January have permitted themselves to be used as accomplices, and drawn into the center of the whirlpool. It’s not just Pence and that spineless ass sucker Ryan who are now on record lying their asses off, the vortex is widening to include career creeps like Burr, Chaffetz, Nunes…
There’s more coming, they don’t know where it’s coming from, they don’t know when, but they damn sure know what is coming. That famous Republican “courage” will start to manifest itself with a fight for the lifeboats.
2018 is shaping up to be a referendum on how much we want to be part of the Russian empire.
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/837405299833176066
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Danny said on March 3, 2017 at 10:27 am
I totally agree, folks. High ranking US government officials meeting with high ranking foreign government officials in the normal course of duty is completely unacceptable. We are beyond tepid Spinal Tap references and we must go immediately to Dr. Strangelove and Clockwork Orange references. It’s the only way to be sure.
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 10:29 am
Nancy, almost everything about your personal regimens has always made perfect sense to me, but I really don’t get this super-sweating thing. What in the world is supposed to be the benefit of that? Any weight you lose will get put right back on when you drink enough water to assuage your intense thirst.
alex @2: I went to the wrong high school.
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Julie Robinson said on March 3, 2017 at 10:31 am
Alex for the win!
Jefftmmo, I wondered if Pence got one of those shiny discs in the mail.
Today’s outrage: Iowa Republican state Senator Mark Chalgren, who falsified his education record by upgrading a Sizzler training certificate to a degree in business. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-mark-chelgren-business-degree-20170302-story.html
Helgren said he “had not thought there was much difference between a degree and a certificate.”
Minor lapse? No big deal? Maybe, except that Helgren introduced a bill to equalize the number of Republican and Democrat professors at Iowa universities. If there were too many Democrats, hiring would be frozen until the Republican profs were within 10% of the Democrat profs.
Never have I been less proud to claim Iowa as my birthplace.
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 10:33 am
Danny @12: And I’m sure you agree that lying under oath about it to Congress is also part of “the normal course of duty.”
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 10:46 am
Using campaign dollars to meet with Russian officials about the Ukraine, then lying about it, is worth at least the use of a couple million Benghazi dollars.
Oh and I forgot to add Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! and Benghazi! some more.
No-writing traitor shite accumulation.
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susan said on March 3, 2017 at 10:57 am
These fuckers are pure-D evil. Interior Sec. Zinke is beyond evil.
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Danny said on March 3, 2017 at 11:00 am
Bitterscribe, this may be a little nuanced for you, but below is one assessment. Also, at least Sessions recused himself unlike AG Lynch who met with Bill Clinton for 30 minutes in the back of a plane parked on a Tarmac during the time that the Justice Department was actively involved in the HRC email investigation.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/mar/02/context-what-jeff-sessions-told-al-franken-about-m/
Franken: “CNN just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week that included information that quote, ‘Russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.’ These documents also allegedly say quote, ‘There was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump’s surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.’
“Now, again, I’m telling you this as it’s coming out, so you know. But if it’s true, it’s obviously extremely serious and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?”
Sessions: “Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”
Sessions and spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores have said his statement was truthful because he met with the Russian ambassador in his capacity as a senator, not as a Trump campaign surrogate.
“He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee,” Flores told the Washington Post.
While one can argue that Sessions should have mentioned his meetings with Kislyak at the hearing, it’s possible he didn’t perjure himself based on the question Franken asked.
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 11:03 am
Julie @14: I have a coupon for 10% off at Sizzler. Can I claim that as a degree in finance?
Normally I don’t read the comments for Tribune stories, but I’m glad I came across this one:
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 11:06 am
Danny @18:
“It’s possible he didn’t perjure himself”? That’s the standard we live by now?
The distinction between “capacity as a senator” and “Trump campaign surrogate” is indeed nuanced, if we define “nuance” as “absurdly tendentious bullshit.” Or maybe Sessions has an identical cousin, like Patty Duke?
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 11:09 am
Bitter Scribe: cut Danny a break. It’s hard representing the Lollipop Guild.
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 11:20 am
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, not just trump’s surrogate but a major part of the campaign, tripped on up to the RNC and thought, this is the perfect time for me to meet privately with the Russian ambassador, in my role as a member of the Armed Services Committee of course, but there’s no need to invite any of my fellow committee members along.
Franken didn’t even ask him if he’d met with the Russians. He asked him what he do about evidence that anyone in the campaign talked to the Russians. Sessions panicked, and he didn’t meet with no Russians. Normally, if you misspeak, you correct with a clarification the next day or in writing: “I said I didn’t meet with the Russians, but in my role as a member of the committee, I met with X on Y date to discuss Z.”
The Russian stuff has been swirling everywhere for months. Sessions has been a Senator for quite a while. He knows how this works, and knew he was going to be asked about the Russians, and he couldn’t even come up with a good lie. Whether he technically met the criteria for perjury or not, the claim that he met with the ambassador in his role as a Senator doesnlt pass the bullshit test, and no amount of shouting about Loretta Lynch and emails covers that up.
Loretta lynch wasn’t conspiring with a foreign government to disrupt an election.
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 11:22 am
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sessions-used-his-political-funds-for-rnc-trip-where-he-talked-to-russian-ambassador-2017-03-02
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 11:34 am
Let’s also take a minute to remember the other trump cabinet members who lied to the Senate in their confirmation hearings: Pruitt (never used personal email for work), Mnuchin (no robosigning here! Oh, that $100M!), Price (that stock discount was available to everybody!), DeVos (I don’t sit on the board of my family foundation!)
One may say there’s a pattern.
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Danny said on March 3, 2017 at 11:42 am
Loretta lynch wasn’t conspiring with a foreign government to disrupt an election.
You know, it’s funny that you mention that, Sherri, because in order for him to be conspiring with Russians to disrupt the election it would have to pass the timeline smell test. Presumably any hacking that was done on behalf of or fed to Wikileaks would have happened well before any substantive meetings that Sessions could have had with Russians on the matter because Wikileaks was talking about having these emails as early as June 2016 and maybe even before that. At most, if the Russians were indeed behind the hacks, Sessions could have only been giving them an “atta boy” and that is highly doubtful because apparently it was not even a one-on-one meeting.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-jeff-sessions-connections-russian-ambassador/story?id=45855918
Mid-July, 2016, on the sidelines of the RNC: Sessions spoke at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, held during the Republican National Convention. After his speech, Sessions spoke to a small group of ambassadors after giving a speech and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak was among them.
A DOJ official told ABC News that this second interaction was a brief encounter after a public event attended by a number of ambassadors.
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 11:53 am
Sessions met with Kislyak at the RNC on July 18. On July 22, Wikileaks dumped 22,000 hacked DNC emails,
Im sure the actually hacking had been done before. They had hacked RNC servers. funny, we never saw anything from those servers on Wikileaks.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/02/us/politics/sessions-russia-timeline.html
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 11:55 am
And this once again, for the preternaturally slow.
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/837405299833176066
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 12:00 pm
If this meeting between Sessions and Kisyluk were the only connection between trump and Russia, it would probably be no big deal. But trump’s first NSA has already had to resign over contacts with this same ambassador, on the day sanctions were announced, and lying about it. We’re finding out despite months of lies about how there were no contacts, multiple trump campaign members had contacts with Russians, and have covered up and lied about it. That Kisyluk was brought into Trump Tower for a meeting, but was snuck in the bad so no one would see him. We still don’t have trump’s tax returns, or very much info about his financial involvements with Russia or anyone else.
One might say there’s a pattern. In criminal cases, racketeering charges have been filed with less evidence.
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 12:04 pm
In criminal cases, racketeering charges have been filed with less evidence.
And in political cases, impeachments…
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Jerrie said on March 3, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Don’t forget the change in the GOP platform about Ukraine, the only change that the Trump campaign insisted on at the RNC. In January, J.D. Gordon told Business Insider that neither Trump nor Manafort were involved. Yesterday, he told CNN a different story, that it was done “in line with Trump’s views,” expressed in March 2016 at a meeting at the unfinished Trump hotel in DC.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jd-gordon-trump-adviser-ukraine-rnc-2017-3
Maybe I should have studied Russian instead of all those years of French.
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basset said on March 3, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Off topic once again, I know where I’m not going to be on the evening of April 6 – at the big Merle Haggard tribute concert at the downtown arena in Nashville.
Tickets went on sale at 11 this morning to the general public, but it just about sold out in the presale/scalper period and all they had left at 11:04 were a few seats in the top of the balcony and off to the side. $85 each, $110 with Ticketmaster fees added, and $12 to park. The hell with that.
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Joe K said on March 3, 2017 at 12:38 pm
I’m with you Bassett, most those going probably couldn’t spell Haggard let alone like his music.
Saunas are not for loosing weight, there for cleaning the system and relaxing the body, along with being a social activity.
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 12:45 pm
The Republicans are apparently fighting amongst themselves over whether their health care plan will throw a pittance towards poor people or nothing at all, with the scary word entitlements being tossed around. I was thinking about entitlement the other day, and how it’s usually used to as a yet another proxy, like welfare queen, for the alleged undeserving poor, and I started making a list of people I thought acted more entitled to government largesse than poor people.
Top of the list: affluent surbanites, who seem themselves as footing the bill for everyone else and think that because they paid so much for their house it should give them veto power over public policy. They tend not to think of the motgage interest deduction as an entitlement, nor tax-advantaged employer provided health care, nor the ability to max out their tax-advantaged 401(k).
West Virginia coal miners, who want help from the government, but only the kind of help that brings back coal mining, even if coal is terrible for the environment and in fact, terrible for the health of miners. They complain about how poor and ignored their region is, but the only solution they want to hear is coal mining.
Hedge fund managers, who think they ought to pay capital gains taxes on money they invested for other people, and they can’t even beat the S&P 500 at investing.
Republicans. Because, IOKIYAR.
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BItter Scribe said on March 3, 2017 at 12:56 pm
Bassett @31: I have never understood how Ticketmaster gets away with charging you a fee to buy something from them. How would that work in other retail sectors? “Those apples will be $2.79, plus $1 for our apple availability fee.”
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Julie Robinson said on March 3, 2017 at 1:11 pm
Ticketmaster is of the devil. Refreshingly, a Broadway show I just got tickets for was available directly from the theatre with a much smaller fee, “only” $12.50 per ticket.
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john (not mccain) said on March 3, 2017 at 1:16 pm
So according to Trumpettes Session did nothing wrong. Generally speaking people don’t lie about things if they believe they haven’t done anything wrong. Clearly, the confederate scumbag in question lied. So either he knew he did something wrong, or he just lies as a reflex. Either way, he’s gotta go.
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Peter said on March 3, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Julie at #14: I’m going to give Mr. Chalgren, R Iowa Genius, the benefit of the doubt: If he HAD received a business degree from a college, it would have been Liberty University or one of their ilk, and compared to a certificate from Sizzler, well, not much of difference there, am I right people?
Also, he may have thought that Sizzler Kommunitee Kollege is at the same level as Hamburger U., which is not only accredited, but has a master’s program.
His balanced political employment act is interesting as well. First off, I assume it can only be applied to state schools, many of which have engineering and business faculties that are conservative (based on my experience), so the imbalance is probably not as strong as our poor certificate holder believes. Then, how do you know someone is R or D? Get photo copies of their ballots? Hair length? Fin ally, what’s to prevent someone from saying that they’re a Republican and then doing what theyve been doing?
Personally, this guy is auditioning for a position in the Trump administration, and I’m thinking he’s going to be under secretary for Agriculture before the month is out.
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Peter said on March 3, 2017 at 1:36 pm
And the Tribune is carrying a story from the Detroit Free Press that says EPA funding for the Great Lakes will be cut by a mere 97%.
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Jakash said on March 3, 2017 at 1:53 pm
What really irks me about Ticketmaster, and even that “bargain” $12.50 fee that Julie paid, is that it’s SO transparently a money-grab. It seems obvious that computerization and the replacement of transactions requiring human interaction with electronic ones saves money for the seller, and should make the tickets cheaper, if anything. Back when they had to staff a box office with real people, painstakingly keeping track of and doling out actual tickets, the cost of that activity was just part of the price. But now that the actual cost of a providing a “ticket” must be proportionately much less, they charge an outrageous price for the transaction. It really is remarkable to me that this state of affairs became normalized so readily and is accepted by the hoi polloi, though grudgingly, of course.
The thing I compare it to is ATMs. Banks pushed ATMs because of the savings for THEM, of not needing every transaction to require an employee’s participation. Then it was like “oh, folks like this convenience” and it was off to the races with increasing fees for something that saved them money. Aargh!
In Chicago, our local grocery stores used to have the self-checkout aisles that we still see in other places. Again, that would save the retailer money, and at least they didn’t charge extra for it! But our nearby store eliminated them, ostensibly because of pilferage. It makes me wonder how much they must have been losing, to go back to having to pay cashiers and baggers for the work that many shoppers were perfectly willing to do for themselves. I actually much preferred the self-checkouts, because I found it was a good way to make sure that I wasn’t overcharged, as so often happens. I only stole 3 or 4 items per visit; certainly that’s reasonable. ; )
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Icarus said on March 3, 2017 at 2:05 pm
what really irks me about Ticketmaster (and lots of things do so narrowing it down to a top one is hard) is that they charge the fees per ticket. It shouldn’t cost any more to hold or send 4 tickets than 1, an obvious money grab.
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Judybusy said on March 3, 2017 at 2:27 pm
I am lucky enough to be within walking distance to the actual box office for Hennepin Theater Trust, which operates 3 theaters. So, the once a year Mother’s Day musical extravaganza at least doesn’t include fees. The people that work there are so helpful, too. We’re seeing Wicked this year.
Peter, that’s ghastly.
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 3:23 pm
I always wonder how much the orgs are paying Ticketmaster to sell the tickets, too.
I bought tickets to a UW women’s basketball game last week through Ticketmaster and there was no human involved, no shipping or handling, but I still had to pay a convenience fee for the convenience of going online a purchasing a ticket and loading it on my phone. The marginal cost of my ticket was a minuscule fraction of my fee.
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basset said on March 3, 2017 at 3:37 pm
Both the arena and the symphony hall, and for that matter the Ryman Auditorium, are all within walking distance of my workplace – but slipping down there to pick up tickets on my lunch break doesn’t save a penny, fees are still in place. IIRC there was a “facility” fee and a “convenience” fee this morning, believe that last one was in effect whether you picked up your tickets, mailed them, or printed at home.
Bullshit like that is the main reason I haven’t been to an arena show since Seger’s next to last tour – here in Music City it happens on a lot of bar shows too.
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Danny said on March 3, 2017 at 3:56 pm
Man, Ticketmaster gripes go back ages. Brian can probably weigh in with authority here, but I believe Pearl Jam took a strong stance against them back in the day and would not let TM sell tickets for their concerts.
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Icarus said on March 3, 2017 at 4:20 pm
In the early 90s while finishing up college, I had a gig working in the mail room of a law firm. A guy I worked with made extra cash by waiting in line at the Rose Records (remember those) and being first to purchase prime seats at whatever concert was coming up. It was rather lucrative way to stay up all night but I suspect he gave that gig up long before online sales put him and his friend out of business.
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David C. said on March 3, 2017 at 4:40 pm
You’re half right, Joe. The cleaning out the system part of saunas is pure nonsense like any type of cleanse. Relaxing, though, very.
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 5:05 pm
Rats starting to devour each other:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/jd-gordon-change-story-gop-platform-ukraine-amendment
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coozledad said on March 3, 2017 at 5:26 pm
I “hear” by declare anybody who votes Republican a preliterate dumbfuck.
https://twitter.com/MikeMadden/status/837771130224136192
Fucking bottom feeders.
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Joe K said on March 3, 2017 at 5:29 pm
David C,
Medically you are probably half right yourself, but I would argue unmedically that a good sweat be it from running or by sauna does release toxin from your body, I’m a runner and use the sauna and I can’t remember the last cold or flu that I have had, the Finns seem to be a pretty healthy lot.
You are right it is certainly relaxing maybe the stress release keeps you from getting sick.
Bassett, I would guess the best part of living in Nashville would be seeing performers for free or just a small cover in some of the small bars that seem to be all over, especially in East Nashville, or has the Hippster country wannabes ruined that part of town all ready?
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on March 3, 2017 at 5:45 pm
I suppose if you don’t think it’s your job to say something isn’t true, you don’t think being functionally innumerate is a problem.
http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2017/03/you-arent-qualified-to-be-journalist.html
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David C. said on March 3, 2017 at 6:36 pm
Well, Joe, I think we can both agree that a good sweat, whether it cleanses or not, is better than giving yourself a case of the shits to “cleanse” yourself.
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Joe K said on March 3, 2017 at 6:48 pm
David C,
I’m with you on that.
Pilot Joe
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Deborah said on March 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm
I fell for that shitting cleanse crap a few years back. Lordy was that stupid. I have friends who still think it’s sacrosanct.
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Deborah said on March 3, 2017 at 8:01 pm
I’m in Abiquiu and for some reason have service.
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Basset said on March 3, 2017 at 8:07 pm
Joe@49, East Nashville is pretty much hipstered out and has been for awhile. I feel like I should have a passport or something to go over there.
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Suzanne said on March 3, 2017 at 8:40 pm
I should learn not to look at Fox News.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/02/28/phyllis-chesler-are-jews-ready-to-leave-america.html
“Most Jews have enjoyed safety and opportunity in America from the moment the Republic was formed. Anti-Semitism existed—private clubs, certain neighborhoods, elite colleges—were either closed to Jews or had quotas.That all changed for the better in the last half-century.”
So, I guess this means anti-Semitism wasn’t really all THAT bad. Just some private clubs and stuff and even that got better after people realized that anti-Semitism led to Hitler-ish things like death camps and started backing off.
Googled the author & (of course) she writes for Beitbart. But fair and balanced, right. Ugh.
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basset said on March 4, 2017 at 6:04 am
PJ O’rourke has a new book out and of course it’s about the recent election – he does describe Cheeto pretty well though. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/trump-is-the-big-stupid-bully-at-the-back-of-the-classroom-vr0ww78cx
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alex said on March 4, 2017 at 7:29 am
I saw P.J. O’Rourke interviewed on TV last night. He sounded like he was either stoned off his ass or has slipped into senile dementia. The whole affair came across more like a screed against liberalism rather than against Trump. And did I mention he looks like death warmed over?
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coozledad said on March 4, 2017 at 8:01 am
I hear by declare Russian stele gud.
https://twitter.com/JJohnson2u/status/837552178260647936
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coozledad said on March 4, 2017 at 8:18 am
I hear by declare Republicans is nervis:
But then J.D. Gordon, the Trump campaign’s national security policy representative at the RNC, told CNN that he had personally advocated for altering an amendment on Ukraine, providing vindication to the Republican delegate who initially proposed it.
“That’s a pretty big leap, isn’t it?” Diana Denman, a former Vice Chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party who served as a delegate for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at the convention (pictured above), told TPM in a Friday phone call. “J.D. is the one that stopped it and pulled it.”
Denman’s original amendment calling for the U.S. to provide “lethal defensive weapons” to Ukraine was tabled after Gordon and Matt Miller, another campaign official who’s since gone to work in Trump’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs, intervened, saying they needed to “clear it with New York,” according to her version of events.
Denman has told a consistent version of this story to outlets including Business Insider, the Washington Post and TPM. Gordon, however, had denied intervening, telling Business Insider in January that her version of events was “inaccurate.”
Then CNN’s Jim Acosta reported on air late Thursday that Gordon told him he was part of the Trump campaign’s “successful” effort to alter the language on Ukraine, which ultimately offered “appropriate assistance” rather than weapons. Going further, Acosta said Gordon told him he intervened on behalf of Donald Trump to include language the then-candidate “himself wanted and advocated for” regarding Ukraine.
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basset said on March 4, 2017 at 9:23 am
PJ’s been chasing his tail for awhile now, including the obligatory book about moving from NY to the country and the amusing foibles of the locals. Saw him give a lunch speech here awhile back and all he did was read from his latest book… some of his earlier stuff is genuinely funny, though, and the author of “How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed” deserves a break.
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David C. said on March 4, 2017 at 9:37 am
Oh oh. Some toddler found his phone and went on a Shabbat Tweet storm while Jared and Ivanka weren’t there to watch and swat his little hands away. Being Presidential only lasted three days. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-claims-obama-tapped-trump-tower-offices-election/
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coozledad said on March 4, 2017 at 10:23 am
Better get the codes away from him. It’s like handing them to Jimly Joe.
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coozledad said on March 4, 2017 at 10:43 am
via Propane jane
Anyone who belongs to the establishment @GOP is guilty by association and complicit in the coup that put Trump’s unstable ass in the WH.
I’ll paraphrase from here.
And now they want that vaguely animated newel post, that misogynist biblespunker “The Ponce” to step in.
Fuck that shit.
The best thing that can happen now is for the military to put all of them in a shipping container and blast that fucker into the sun. They colluded with the Russians, they suckled at the dicks of the KKK, and they ruined the international standing of the US just to get a little pocket money in return for one last chance to assfuck the poor.
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beb said on March 4, 2017 at 10:46 am
Apparently Il Douche can only go about a week without venting on twitter. Accusing Schwartzenegger of being fired and Obama of wire “tapp”ing him. It’s hard to believe we’re only two months into his 48 month reign because it already feels like years.
Josh Marshall writes a long piece on “The Innocent Explanation” about Trump’s involvement with Russians and Post-Soviet satellite nations…
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-innocent-explanation
But even here he admits that there are parts that don’t fit well. He also mentions getting a lot of support from people within the intelligence community to keep digging on Trump.
That Sessions has recused himself on any Russian investigation is pointless because his deputy, the man who would be in charge has some kind of mysterious, troubling background. President Obama abruptly removed him some the chain of succession just before Il Douche took power then the orange monster just as quickly named him acting deputy to DOJ. But no one seems to know why Obama demoted him. We can only assume that he is part of the conspiracy to destroy America.
Then there’s the new Sec of State, Rex Tillerson. Trump rejected Tillerson’s proposal of naming Elliott Abrams as Deputy. Abrams, if I’m recalling correctly, would have brought professionalism and experience to the department. Instead a Trump (Bannon) stooge was put in place. And this deputy reportedly insists that all aides report to him instead of directly to the Secretary. (I thought I read that on Mother Jones but all I can find right now is this:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/03/donald-trump-really-hates-state-department
)
If Tillerson is that isolated and castrated why does he remain there. Life would be more fulfilling going back to Exxon/Mobile.
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Peter said on March 4, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Hold the phone Beb – Elliott Abrams is Deck Cheney level evil. We lucked out on not getting that guy i there, even if it was solely due to him dissing Donald.
Sometimes having a thin skin can work out for you.
Today’s tweets? Nurse needs to adjust Donny’s meds, stat.
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coozledad said on March 4, 2017 at 8:24 pm
Now we may finally know which “Americans” were willing to jump in the fuckwagon with those gross peasant bugspray drinking Moscow whores.
https://twitter.com/justinjm1/status/838150275261161473
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Deborah said on March 4, 2017 at 9:13 pm
While I agree Peter, that Abrams is/was evil it’s astounding how much I even miss the W Bush admin as compared to this clusterfuck.
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brian stouder said on March 4, 2017 at 10:23 pm
I’ve been reading a book called The Six –
https://www.amazon.com/Six-Lives-Mitford-Sisters/dp/1250099536
which is by turns entertaining and also quite troubling. The upper-upper class folks in England in the 1920’s and ’30s were all-too quickly smitten by the fascists (the BUF – or British Union of Fascists – is a fairly big part of the story) and the nazis (including the 3rd-rate painter his-own-self), if only because they were NOT the communists, which presented the REAL (to them) existential threat.
Makes one appreciate all the more, the odd historical place the United States finds itself in, right about now.
Aside from that, and on a totally different subject, there is a ghost (of a ghost) chance that I could maybe find myself on the FWCS Board of Trustees….but we shall see
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coozledad said on March 5, 2017 at 8:14 am
The NYT can keep writing all the fawning articles on Ivanka and Jared, but they’re crooks; laundering money through real estate transactions.
https://twitter.com/Khanoisseur/status/836749446360641536
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coozledad said on March 5, 2017 at 10:10 am
Trump’s Ukrainian and Russian associates shouldn’t buy any green bananas.
https://twitter.com/flightpathbook/status/838324466644037632
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susan said on March 5, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions Gump the Third
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Sherri said on March 5, 2017 at 1:35 pm
Shadow President Bannon is the white supremacist who wants to distinguish himself from the run of the mill haters with his deep intellectualism. That’s why he’s been name-dropping obscure philosophers and books. It doesn’t change what he is, though.
Someone has tracked down another of his obscure references, and guess what? It’s totally racist! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-camp-of-the-saints-immigration_us_58b75206e4b0284854b3dc03
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Judybusy said on March 5, 2017 at 5:55 pm
I’ll second Brian’s read of the Mitford sisters. I’ve read a different account of them. They were quite varied, and fascinating. The two that fell in love with fascism were pretty revolting, of course.
Lovely day here in the tiny apple. Close to 60, species tulips and crocus up, as well as a columbine. This is freaking me out.
Had a good long walk with the dog while guffawing to Wait, Wait. The we went to an event for Clare Housing; we’re opening another 36 units of housing in September, and this was the major donor event to pump people up for our 30th year of service. Now stock for tortilla soup’s simmering on the stove.
I think others have commented about the strange disconnect in having one’s personal life going pretty well while there are so many awful things happening. Of course, as a county employee, if drastic cuts are made as promised, who knows what will happen?
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Sherri said on March 5, 2017 at 7:15 pm
I’ve been avoiding doing this, because I don’t think the country needs to know it, but given everything that is happening, I feel compelled to disclose my own ties to Russia.
One of my cousins was a Russian major in college in the 90s. She worked with Russian refugees in the US for a few years before going to law school, and eventually adopted a six month old Russian orphan.
One of my husband’s cousins lived on Sakhalin Island for a while as an engineer working for Marathon Oil.
I can not see Russia from my kitchen window.
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