Photo of the Day: President Obama Meets With Advisers in Situation Room on Ukraine

Right wing bloggers now zooming in and scrutinizing the pixels
Images • Views: 47,946

Via the Twitter timeline of official White House photographer @petesouza, our photo of the day. I’m sure conservatives will be pleased that the President is wearing an expensive suit for this one. Actually, I’m not sure.

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838 comments
1 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:18:41pm

HE DRINKS TEA FROM A TEACUP WITH A DAINTY SAUCER LIKE A SISSY NANCY!!!!!!!

2 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:21:51pm

re: #1 Pie-onist Overlord

A gold-trimmed teacup, no less.

OBAMA IS MELTING DOWN FORT KNOX’S GOLD FOR CHINA!

3 MagnaniomousCoward  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:21:51pm

Shirtless is the new shirt.

4 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:22:09pm

WHY IS THERE NO COASTER FOR THE SAUCER AND WHY IS IT SO CLOSE OT THE EDGE OF THE TABLE AND NEAR HIS SHOE WHERE YOU CAN ALMOST SEE THE BOTTOM OF HIS SOLE?!?!?!?!

5 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:22:30pm

THE GENERAL ISN’T EVEN LISTENING TO HIM, HE’S DOODLING!! OUR TROOPS HATE OBUMMER!!

6 MagnaniomousCoward  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:23:12pm

re: #1 Pie-onist Overlord

HE DRINKS TEA FROM A TEACUP WITH A DAINTY SAUCER LIKE A SISSY NANCY!!!!!!!

Why doesn’t he drink from a samovar, like manly men?

7 jaunte  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:24:00pm
The Russian central bank, meanwhile, confirmed on Monday it has increased its involvement in the currency market after the ruble plummeted and said it will continue to shift its main monetary policy focus to inflation targeting after the situation on markets stabilizes.

Traders estimated the central bank sold in excess of $10 billion on Monday to prop up the ruble.

In midday trading, the dollar was up nearly 1.5 percent versus the Russian currency around 36.60, while the euro rose about 1.2 percent to 50.35. cnbc.com

I wonder how much continued propping will cost them by next week.

8 bubba zanetti  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:25:02pm

Who wants to whip up some red herring “error analysis” images that conclusively prove the coffee cup was photoshopped in?

9 chadu  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:25:11pm

re: #1 Pie-onist Overlord

HE DRINKS TEA FROM A TEACUP WITH A DAINTY SAUCER LIKE A SISSY NANCY!!!!!!!

I knew a Sissy Nancy in high school.

She played bassoon.

(sad bassoon)

10 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:25:33pm

HE PUT HIS LIPS ON NANCY REAGAN’S HOLY TEA SERVICE, IMPEACH TEH MONSTER!!!11!!!!!!

11 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:25:45pm

re: #5 b.d.

THE GENERAL ISN’T EVEN LISTENING TO HIM, HE’S DOODLING!! OUR TROOPS HATE OBUMMER!!

MY… BOSS… IS… A… LIBTARD!!

12 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:26:13pm

PUTIN DOESN’T NEED TO CONSULT WITH HIS UNDERLINGS, HE DOES STUFF!!!

13 chadu  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:26:17pm

re: #6 MagnaniomousCoward

Why doesn’t he drink from a samovar, like manly men?

I don’t know ‘bout dat, Clem. “Samovar” sounds kinda fruity.

14 chadu  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:26:52pm

re: #10 Pie-onist Overlord

HE PUT HIS LIPS ON NANCY REAGAN’S HOLY TEA SERVICE, IMPEACH TEH MONSTER!!!11!!!!!!

Definitely a euphemism.

15 Charles Johnson  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:28:38pm

If you zoom in 2000% on the tip of his shoe, you can clearly see pixellation. Case closed.

16 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:28:46pm

HURR HURR!!!!!!

17 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:34:16pm

re: #16 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

19 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:35:49pm

Despite sharing a language and cultural heritage, there are significant differences in the approach to freedom of speech around Latin America. Some countries, such as Venezuela, have enacted strict regulations on content and media ownership, while others, such as Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, have sophisticaded media operations backed by access to information laws and no restrictions on free speech beyond those against slander.

Omidyar Network

20 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:37:01pm

OT: I liked my original car loan company, but, as these companies often do, they sold the loan to another company I am not very fond of.

This new company charges me a NINE DOLLAR fee to make a payment either online or the phone, the only way I can avoid the fee is by sending a check or money order.

So screw that, I’ll be paying this loan off with cashier’s checks as long as I can.

21 Kragar  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:38:22pm

Obviously, the solution is to lower taxes and immediately begin bombing Russia.
///

22 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:40:09pm

re: #21 Kragar

Obviously, the solution is to lower taxes and immediately begin bombing Russia.
///

In Obama’s America, Russia Bombs you!

(or so say the wingnuts…)

23 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:43:13pm
24 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:43:41pm

The thing, is the people in power almost always benefit from a war economy. They gain more money, more control and more dominion over us commoners.

They use fear of the enemy and patriotism as tools to get us to follow in lockstep with whatever plans they come up with. Instead of questioning our masters, we’re expected to be good little American freedom lovers prepared to do whatever’s necessary “for the cause”.

Because if we don’t, the big bad enemy is going to blow us to smithereens and the America we love and cherish will simply cease to exist.

With the odds that high, what’s a little looser regulation, increased commodity prices and food rationing? Surely we don’t want to lose, do we?

25 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:44:14pm

re: #19 Gus

Despite sharing a language and cultural heritage, there are significant differences in the approach to freedom of speech around Latin America. >Some countries, such as Venezuela, have enacted strict regulations on content and media ownership, while others, such as Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, have sophisticaded media operations backed by access to information laws and no restrictions on free speech beyond those against slander.

Omidyar Network

Is Pierre laying the groundwork for yet another one of his coups?

26 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:44:35pm

re: #25 b.d.

Is Pierre laying the groundwork for yet anotherone of his coups?

For all we know…

27 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:45:40pm

re: #15 Charles Johnson

If you zoom in 2000% on the tip of his shoe, you can clearly see pixellation. Case closed.

By Bob! You are right!

28 PhillyPretzel  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:45:57pm

I know it probably does not matter to most folks commenting in this thread the china is Lenox and it is an older cup because of the shape of the cup. Nancy’s set was trimmed in red. This patten is probably the Eternal Gold and yes it is trimmed in 24 karat gold. Here is a current sample from Amazon. amazon.com

29 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:47:28pm

re: #20 Eclectic Cyborg

OT: I liked my original car loan company, but, as these companies often do, they sold the loan to another company I am not very fond of.

This new company charges me a >NINE DOLLAR fee to make a payment either online or the phone, the only way I can avoid the fee is by sending a check or money order.

So screw that, I’ll be paying this loan off with cashier’s checks as long as I can.

Is it the company or Western Union (or a company like them) who is charging? Everytime money changes hands, someone wants a cut. If they have to utilize a 3rd party to transfer funds —then there will be a charge.

30 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:48:23pm

Anywho. What difference does it make. The Intercept will get a handful of people to read their derp. The US government won’t pay attention to it. About the most it will get is another handful of Bolivarian blowhards to bring it up in bits and pieces. The protests continue.

31 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:48:56pm

re: #28 PhillyPretzel

I know it probably does not matter to most folks commenting in this thread the china is Lenox and it is an older cup because of the shape of the cup. Nancy’s set was trimmed in red. This patten is probably the Eternal Gold and yes it is trimmed in 24 karat gold. Here is a current sample from Amazon. amazon.com

That doesn’t look like the same pattern. The Lenox cup is flared and Obama’s cup looks more rounded.

32 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:48:57pm

re: #28 PhillyPretzel

I know it probably does not matter to most folks commenting in this thread the china is Lenox and it is an older cup because of the shape of the cup. Nancy’s set was trimmed in red. This patten is probably the Eternal Gold and yes it is trimmed in 24 karat gold. Here is a current sample from Amazon. amazon.com

All those 24 K gold cups have to be hand washed too! The gold will wear off in the dishwasher. I can’t imagine what a commercial dishwasher with the kryptonite eating soap would do to them.

33 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:49:11pm

re: #23 Gus

[Embedded content]

That’s too much food even for me. Three eggs is good, though I’d have ‘em scrabbled, but the bacon has to be cut back to 40% of the current amount and half the toast taken off. I’d also need some orange juice.

/Just having a little fun.

34 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:49:13pm

re: #29 FemNaziBitch

Is it the company or Western Union (or a company like them) who is charging? Everytime money changes hands, someone wants a cut. If they have to utilize a 3rd party to transfer funds —then there will be a charge.

The online payments are through Western Union, I understand the fee there, BUT why should I have to pay a 9 dollar fee when I call the company directly? Am I really supposed to believe that a large loan servicer has no ability to handle its own credit card payments? That’s freaking ridiculous.

35 Kragar  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:49:20pm

re: #20 Eclectic Cyborg

OT: I liked my original car loan company, but, as these companies often do, they sold the loan to another company I am not very fond of.

This new company charges me a >NINE DOLLAR fee to make a payment either online or the phone, the only way I can avoid the fee is by sending a check or money order.

So screw that, I’ll be paying this loan off with cashier’s checks as long as I can.

And they have the nerve to call it a “convenience fee” to charge you for it.

36 PhillyPretzel  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:50:07pm

re: #31 Pie-onist Overlord

The older cups are rounded the newer cups are tapered.

37 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:50:10pm

re: #35 Kragar

And they have the nerve to call it a “convenience fee” to charge you for it.

Kind of like the “broadcast fee” I noticed on my last cable bill or the “facility charge” that Ticketmaster cleans you out for.

38 PhillyPretzel  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:53:13pm

From Wiki it has a picture of Nancy’s red trimmed china. en.wikipedia.org

39 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:53:14pm

re: #7 jaunte

“I wonder how much continued propping will cost them by next week.”

Maybe they’ll peg it to Bitcoin.

40 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:54:23pm

re: #15 Charles Johnson

THE PIXELS SHOW OBUMMER’S REALLY WEARING PUMPS.

41 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:54:35pm

re: #16 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

We’ll see how long this comment remains at theintercept.

Mr Bunny

03 Mar 2014 at 9:02 pm

I’m confused. Glenn Greenwald in 2005:

In some countries, most notably Venezuela, this vintage left-wing, anti-American fervor is not small, but is predominant, which is what has led that country to be under the repressive thumb of Fidel Castro-copy Hugo Chavez, whose primary interest in attending this Latin American regional summit seems to be to lure Bush and the U.S. into some sort of game of childish taunts rather than doing something constructive to aid his impoverished, unstable country.

glenngreenwald.blogspot.com

42 bubba zanetti  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:56:48pm

Error analysis of level 1 jpeg compression deltas.

43 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:56:56pm

re: #41 b.d.

We’ll see how long this comment remains at theintercept.

glenngreenwald.blogspot.com

Woohoo!

Fidel Castro has been one of the world’s most repressive, spirt-slaughtering dictators for the last 40 years. Is it really a sign of “trouble” for Bush if a crowd which worships Castro protests against him? Only in the eyes of lazy, mindless reporters would this affirmatively pro-Castro crowd and its behavior be seen as something meaningful, credible and noble.

44 Killgore Trout  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:57:19pm

The frogs are talking about sexytime tonight. the first time this year. It’s always nice to hear them after a winter of silence. Glad to know they made it another year.

45 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:58:30pm

re: #29 FemNaziBitch

Is it the company or Western Union (or a company like them) who is charging? Everytime money changes hands, someone wants a cut. If they have to utilize a 3rd party to transfer funds —then there will be a charge.

Nine bucks for an online payment? Online should be cheaper than a paper check or MO. WTF?

46 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:58:58pm
47 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:59:18pm

During Hurricane Katrina, newspapers in Brazil were filled with left-wing Op-Ed columnists and letters proclaiming, with a straight face, that Katrina happened because Bush did not sign the Kyoto Treaty and, as a result, Americans were getting what they deserved. That is the intellectual and moral level of this small crowd.

48 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:59:18pm

re: #43 Gus

Woohoo!

Fidel Castro has been one of the world’s most repressive, spirt-slaughtering dictators for the last 40 years. Is it really a sign of “trouble” for Bush if a crowd which worships Castro protests against him? Only in the eyes of lazy, mindless reporters would this affirmatively pro-Castro crowd and its behavior be seen as something meaningful, credible and noble.

It’s like the evil goateed version of Greenwald speaking.

49 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 6:59:43pm

re: #48 b.d.

It’s like the evil goateed version of Greenwald speaking.

I like that Greenwald better. LOL

50 klys  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:00:04pm

re: #46 Gus

Only the Mighty Greenwald is allowed to change his opinions. Everyone else is exactly who they were 5 years ago.

//(need I?)

51 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:00:11pm

re: #39 jonhendry

“I wonder how much continued propping will cost them by next week.”

Maybe they’ll peg it to Bitcoin.

They might want to, as prices are rising today, but Russia has made Bitcoin illegal. So, they’re outta luck.

52 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:02:06pm

The September 11 attacks did not take place in Sao Paolo and Al Qaeda is not declaring war on Peruvians. It is therefore perfectly understandable, but equally irrelevant, that Latin Americans do not perceive the need to change the Middle East as being as critical and urgent as Americans perceive that need to be. It should be axiomatic that the risks posed to American national security will best be understood and appreciated by Americans, not by those in other countries.

And yet, the American media refuses to understand what American citizens understand quite well: particularly as to matters of American national security, the fact that people in other countries are opposed to what we are doing does not mean that what we are doing is misguided or wrong. That seems like a simple concept to grasp, and yet a central argument of the American media, vividly re-appearing with Bush’s Latin American trip, is that the “people in other countries dislike Bush, therefore he is a bad President.”

The overwhelming majority of people here in Brazil, and throughout Latin America, are not spray-painting walls or leaving their jobs and children to attend anti-Bush rallies. Only a tiny number of Che Guevera worshippers are doing that. But none of that will stop the American media from depicting reality here much differently, because large-scale anti-Bush rallies are exciting, fun and consistent with their ideology.

53 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:02:40pm

The overwhelming majority of people here in Brazil, and throughout Latin America, are not spray-painting walls or leaving their jobs and children to attend anti-Bush rallies. Only a tiny number of Che Guevera worshippers are doing that.

Hahahaha!

54 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:04:55pm

re: #53 Gus

The overwhelming majority of people here in Brazil, and throughout Latin America, are not spray-painting walls or leaving their jobs and children to attend anti-Bush rallies. Only a tiny number of Che Guevera worshippers are doing that.

Hahahaha!

Holy smokes!

55 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:06:23pm

re: #54 b.d.

Holy smokes!

UPDATE II: Photographs of the demonstration speak volumes about what really went on there and about the truly odious nature and authoritarian viewpoints of the “protesters.”

56 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:07:01pm

re: #54 b.d.

Holy smokes!

Cracks me up that he has managed to pass as a left-winger for decades.

57 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:07:04pm

re: #50 klys

Only the Mighty Greenwald is allowed to change his opinions. Everyone else is exactly who they were 5 years ago.

//(need I?)

NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
Y U NOT PAYIN MOAR ATTENTION 2 MAI TWEETS, YO!!!!!

58 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:08:48pm

Rumors…some are dumb and some are entertaining…

59 b.d.  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:08:53pm

re: #55 Gus

>UPDATE II: Photographs of the demonstration speak volumes about what really went on there and about the truly odious nature and >authoritarian viewpoints of the “protesters.”

These demonstrators hate the United States because they are genuinely opposed to economic freedom and individual liberty, and they seek to impose the collectivist authoritarianism of Fidel Castro onto the entire Latin American continent. It really is that simple. We know this because they said (and showed us with pictures) that that’s what they want.

Why would anyone act as though their views should be accomodated or taken as credible? Isn’t it more a badge of honor than anything else to be protested against by truly odious people like this?

**Flat out F*cking Faint**

60 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:09:38pm

re: #59 b.d.

**Flat out F*cking Faint**

Who killed Glenn and how did they replace him with that IMPOSTER?

61 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:10:03pm

re: #56 Decatur Deb

Cracks me up that he has managed to pass as a left-winger for decades.

I bet if Greenwald was straight and had a hot wife he’d be a God to the RWNJs.

62 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:10:11pm

re: #55 Gus

>UPDATE II: Photographs of the demonstration speak volumes about what really went on there and about the truly odious nature and >authoritarian viewpoints of the “protesters.”

The man an even bigger lie merchant than David Brock.

63 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:11:18pm

I went to an anti-Bush protest in Canada in 2004. I had a great time actually. Nearly got tear gassed but still a lot of fun.

I didn’t go because I hate the United States. I went because I disliked Bush and felt the Iraq war was a colossal mistake.

64 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:12:08pm

re: #57 Pie-onist Overlord

NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
NOTORIOUS HATE SITE!!!11!!!!
Y U NOT PAYIN MOAR ATTENTION 2 MAI TWEETS, YO!!!!!

Notorious Hate. Lizard rap group?

65 Killgore Trout  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:12:14pm

re: #58 NJDhockeyfan

Rumors…some are dumb and some are entertaining…

[Embedded content]

Crimea is oddly quiet all of a sudden. No reports of movements or anything.

66 Shiplord Kirel  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:14:36pm

Obviously the Bush/Cheney cartel recognized talent when they saw it so they hired Greenwald to defect to the global left and destroy it from within by exposing its agents and making them look like fools, seditionists, and megalomaniacs.

67 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:15:07pm

re: #65 Killgore Trout

Crimea is oddly quiet all of a sudden. No reports of movements or anything.

Catching a delayed Oscar broadcast.

68 Political Atheist  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:15:42pm

re: #66 Shiplord Kirel

Obviously the Bush/Cheney cartel recognized talent when they saw it so they hired Greenwald to defect to the global left and destroy it from within by exposing its agents and making them look like fools, seditionists, and megalomaniacs.

Perfect Klein bottle conspiracy model.

69 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:16:05pm

re: #65 Killgore Trout

Crimea is oddly quiet all of a sudden. No reports of movements or anything.

Well, it’s only about 6am over there. Most people are still asleep or just getting up.

70 Charles Johnson  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:16:34pm
71 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:17:39pm

re: #65 Killgore Trout

Crimea is oddly quiet all of a sudden. No reports of movements or anything.

Last I heard was that they knocked off power and water. Earlier today they wouldn’t let the wives deliver food.

72 Pie-onist Overlord  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:18:54pm

The Putie-worship on Twitter is reaching critical mass. Remember, these are the folks who are TEH MOAST PATRIOTIC and HURR HURR UR A COMMUNIST LIBTARD!!!!!1!!!

73 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:22:49pm

re: #71 NJDhockeyfan

Last I heard was that they knocked off power and water. Earlier today they wouldn’t let the wives deliver food.

[Embedded content]

Standard procedure in a siege: No food or water allowed in, so that the besieged must surrender or starve.

Ukraine does have its own Mi-8/17 Hips and Mi-24 Hinds. It might be worthwhile to try to fly in supplies via helicopter. The Russians would have to open fire to stop the airlift which they likely don’t want to do.

74 Charles Johnson  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:23:40pm
75 RealityBasedSteve  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:28:33pm

re: #28 PhillyPretzel

I know it probably does not matter to most folks commenting in this thread the china is Lenox and it is an older cup because of the shape of the cup. Nancy’s set was trimmed in red. This patten is probably the Eternal Gold and yes it is trimmed in 24 karat gold. Here is a current sample from Amazon. amazon.com

I’ll have to start bringing you to auctions with me. I don’t do china, since I have no idea what’s what…. a sure fire recipe for buying at full market value, at best.

RBS

76 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:28:46pm

77 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:28:54pm

re: #74 Charles Johnson

Greenwald’s attitudes and politics seem to turn with the wind.

78 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:30:06pm

re: #76 Gus

Putin’s pants are too long.

79 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:30:28pm

Awesome! I don’t think it is going to stop Putin but a little finger in the eye is always good.

80 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:31:08pm

This is an amazing bit of drivel-by-committee. The WaPo board uses antagonistic flummery to describe that Obama is doing just what they think has to be done.

President Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy

washingtonpost.com

81 RealityBasedSteve  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:31:14pm

re: #37 Eclectic Cyborg

Kind of like the “broadcast fee” I noticed on my last cable bill or the “facility charge” that Ticketmaster cleans you out for.

When I got my Tommy E tickets, since I was going to actually print them out myself, they couldn’t really charge me a postage and handling fee, or a service charge for will-call. Not to worry, they just made up a “Convenience Fee” and tacked it on. Come on…. you’re not even trying to hide the greed any more.

RBS

82 palomino  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:31:48pm

re: #23 Gus

At which point in the meal do you “eat the gun”?

83 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:33:09pm

re: #73 Dark_Falcon

They need some of those trebuchets from the Kiev protests. Lob some happy meals over.

84 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:33:38pm

re: #82 palomino

At which point in the meal do you “eat the gun”?

In between courses to clean the pallet.

85 Kragar  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:33:50pm

re: #82 palomino

At which point in the meal do you “eat the gun”?

When you’re done with the newspaper

86 RealityBasedSteve  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:36:15pm

re: #82 palomino

At which point in the meal do you “eat the gun”?

that’s to shoot the rice with to make the cereal. (‘cept Putin uses a cannon)

RBS

87 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:36:16pm

re: #81 RealityBasedSteve

When I got my Tommy E tickets, since I was going to actually print them out myself, they couldn’t really charge me a postage and handling fee, or a service charge for will-call. Not to worry, they just made up a “Convenience Fee” and tacked it on. Come on…. you’re not even trying to hide the greed any more.

RBS

Universities charge “student activity” fees, too. That bothered me back when I was a grad student, because I was paying for something I wasn’t using. I lived off campus and was working part-time. I had no time to use the student activity center.

But it helped keep the tuition charge “low,” I suppose.

Banks are notorious for charging fees for everything now. It’s one of their main sources of income.

88 Killgore Trout  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:36:32pm

re: #80 Decatur Deb

This is an amazing bit of drivel-by-committee. The WaPo board uses antagonistic flummery to describe that Obama is doing just what they think has to be done.

President Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy

washingtonpost.com

I think that’s reasonable criticism.

89 CuriousLurker  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:36:35pm

Before I head for bed, the last 30 minutes or so of updates from the BBC:

03:27: Dr Michael Slobodchikoff also says that if there was an ultimatum delivered to Ukrainian troops in Crimea it probably came from more local authorities. “It doesn’t make much sense for Russia to go in guns blazing and create a situation that’s far worse than it is now,” he says.

03:22: Dr Michael Slobodchikoff, political science lecturer at Troy University in the US, tells the BBC he believes President Putin may be willing to give up Crimea if there is a referendum on secession in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

03:12: Our Washington correspondent Barbara Plett Usher says several meetings on trade deals between the US and Russia have been cancelled, with reports that all moves to deepen trade and investment ties have been put on hold.

02:57: We’re approaching the reported 03:00 GMT deadline that Ukraine says its forces in Crimea have been given to surrender. Russia has strongly denied the claim. So far we’ve had no reports of any incidents.

02:56: Moscow intends to discuss the Ukraine crisis with the West on two key conditions, a source at the Russian foreign ministry tells Ria Novosti news agency. The source says the 21 February agreement - signed by ousted President Yanukovych and the Ukrainian opposition - must be implemented, and that all Ukrainian political forces must take part in negotiations.

bbc.com

At the link there’s also interesting video from throughout the day.

G’nite, everyone.

90 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:37:53pm

re: #65 Killgore Trout

Crimea is oddly quiet all of a sudden. No reports of movements or anything.

You want movement? You got it…

91 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:38:03pm

I just found this online. Most of it is stuff we aready have heard, but it does give details about the Russian brigade based in the Crimea:

The main Russian military base in Ukraine is the fleet headquarters and naval infantry brigade headquarters at Sevastopol. There are four coastal missile regiments each located in four different bases.

The 810 Naval Infantry Brigade is the main combat unit of Russian armed forces based in Sevastopol with a total of 1,088 personnel.

This unit is equipped with BTR-80 (8x8 armoured personnel carrier), BTR-82A (8x8 armoured personnel carrier) BMP-2 (Armoured infantry fighting vehicle), BPM-1K (Command post tracked vehicle). 2S1 Gvozdika (122mm self-propelled howitzer), 2S9 Nona (mortar carrier vehicle), 2S23 (mortar carier), SA-8 (Surface-to-Air defense missile system), MT-LB (multirole tracked armoured vehicle), PRP-3 (Reconnaissance armoured vehicle), PRP-4 (Reconnaissance armoured vehicle), BTR-60 PU-12 (mobile command post), 1V19 (Artillery support vehicle), BREM-2 (Tracked armoured recovery vehicle), MT-55A (armoured vehicle-launched bridge) and MTU-20 (tracked bridge layer vehicle).

92 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:38:55pm

re: #88 Killgore Trout

I think that’s reasonable criticism.

So whether it’s based on fantasy or on cold, hard realpolitik he should do what he’s doing?

93 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:39:13pm
94 freetoken  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:39:29pm

Yeah yeah, fancy meetings with fancy suites.

WHERE’S THE BOMBS??!!

95 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:39:41pm

re: #90 NJDhockeyfan

You want movement? You got it…

[Embedded content]

Dawn is a traditional time to attack. We’ll have to see how hard the Russians are prepared to play this.

96 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:41:14pm

re: #89 CuriousLurker

Sounds like Putin is trying to enforce (with threat of arms) the trade agreement with Russia that Yanukovych pushed through the Rada, over the objections of the Ukrainian people, which abrogated previous trade negotiations with the EU. It’s an interesting business model, borrowed no doubt from the Russian mafia.

“Here, sign this contract, or Boris here will begin breaking your fingers one by one.”

97 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:41:29pm

5:41 AM
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 (EET)
Time in Ukraine

98 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:41:59pm

re: #81 RealityBasedSteve

When I got my Tommy E tickets, since I was going to actually print them out myself, they couldn’t really charge me a postage and handling fee, or a service charge for will-call. Not to worry, they just made up a “Convenience Fee” and tacked it on. Come on…. you’re not even trying to hide the greed any more.

RBS

Yeah and that’s really messed up because you if think about it they are charging you a fee to use YOUR paper and YOUR ink and YOUR printer to do their work for them.

It’d be like if the prices were higher for self check than for regular grocery lanes.

99 Charles Johnson  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:42:19pm
100 freetoken  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:43:00pm

re: #88 Killgore Trout

The DC media have a vested interest in conflicts. That’s how they get eyes on their product (“news”). I consider the WaPo no less a disinterested party than the defense contractors that surround them.

101 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:43:20pm

re: #87 wheat-dogghazi

Universities charge “student activity” fees, too. That bothered me back when I was a grad student, because I was paying for something I wasn’t using. I lived off campus and was working part-time. I had no time to use the student activity center.

But it helped keep the tuition charge “low,” I suppose.

Banks are notorious for charging fees for everything now. It’s one of their main sources of income.

Same trick the airlines use. Keep the “fares” low, just boost the price after the fact by tacking on every fee you can think of. Then they can keep advertising their awesome low fees all the while hosing the customers as much as they want.

102 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:44:02pm

re: #99 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

103 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:44:12pm

re: #100 freetoken

The DC media have a vested interest in conflicts. That’s how they get eyes on their product (“news”). I consider the WaPo no less a disinterested party than the defense contractors that surround them.

Not gonna lie, just pictured Batman, Superman and Green Latern in a press gallery.

104 makeitstop  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:45:29pm

re: #99 Charles Johnson

I mean, just read this piece and tell me exactly how Greenwald isn’t the worst kind of hypocrite:

GG really seems to have a thing for the word ‘odious.’ He uses it all the time.

105 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:45:48pm

re: #101 Eclectic Cyborg

Same trick the airlines use. Keep the “fares” low, just boost the price after the fact by tacking on every fee you can think of. Then they can keep advertising their awesome low fees all the while hosing the customers as much as they want.

Same here in China. The discount airfare websites advertise low, low fares, but then you see the airport taxes and fees in small print just below the fares. Sometimes the taxes and fees equal the fares, so the low, low fare isn’t really so low, low.

106 RealityBasedSteve  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:46:59pm

re: #101 Eclectic Cyborg

Same trick the airlines use. Keep the “fares” low, just boost the price after the fact by tacking on every fee you can think of. Then they can keep advertising their awesome low fees all the while hosing the customers as much as they want.

“In the unlikely event of sudden cabin depressurization oxygen masks will drop from the overhead compartment for those of you who purchased the “Supplemental Oxygen Supplement” when you got your ticket, or who are in the top tier of our frequent flyer programs. If you would like to purchase oxygen in the case of an emergency, our flight attendants will be available. Cash only, and no change please. Thank you for flying with us”

RBS

107 Killgore Trout  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:47:45pm

re: #92 Decatur Deb

So whether it’s based on fantasy or on cold, hard realpolitik he should do what he’s doing?

Ah, the fantasy thing is an insult but the core of the criticism is valid.

as long as some leaders play by what Mr. Kerry dismisses as 19th-century rules, the United States can’t pretend that the only game is in another arena altogether. Military strength, trustworthiness as an ally, staying power in difficult corners of the world such as Afghanistan — these still matter, much as we might wish they did not. While the United States has been retrenching, the tide of democracy in the world, which once seemed inexorable, has been receding. In the long run, that’s harmful to U.S. national security, too.

As Mr. Putin ponders whether to advance further — into eastern Ukraine, say — he will measure the seriousness of U.S. and allied actions, not their statements. China, pondering its next steps in the East China Sea, will do the same. Sadly, that’s the nature of the century we’re living in.

108 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:50:03pm

re: #34 Eclectic Cyborg

The online payments are through Western Union, I understand the fee there, BUT why should I have to pay a 9 dollar fee when I call the company directly? Am I really supposed to believe that a large loan servicer has no ability to handle its own credit card payments? That’s freaking ridiculous.

Well, instead of the USPS delivering the money to them, they have to go get it —in a sense.

All I can say is that if it takes extra work, is another step in the process, or involves a 3rd party, there will be a charge.

109 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:50:18pm
110 Killgore Trout  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:50:47pm

..and that’s part of the reason I can’t get excited about and epic speech or a powerful photograph. I’m more interested in what we can do and if we’re willing to do it. The speeches and pictures are for domestic political purposes and don’t much change what happens in the rest of the world.

111 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:51:04pm

re: #45 wheat-dogghazi

Nine bucks for an online payment? Online should be cheaper than a paper check or MO. WTF?

Hey, I don’t make the rules. I’m sure they will tell you they are in total compliance with FTC regulations … .

112 freetoken  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:51:22pm

re: #107 Killgore Trout

I reject the claim that their criticism is “valid”.

Do they offer any evidence of their claims such as ” … the tide of democracy in the world, which once seemed inexorable, has been receding” ?

I’m not even sure if the phrase “tide of democracy” has any meaning. It’s one those word-blends created to sound nice, but that is about all.

113 jaunte  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:53:09pm

Top Russians Face Sanctions by U.S. for Crimea Crisis

“…If Moscow does not reverse course, officials said they would ban visas and freeze assets of select Russian officials in the chain of command as well as target state-run financial institutions. Congressional leaders signaled that they would follow with sanctions of their own, plus quickly approve economic aid for the fragile, new pro-Western government in Ukraine.”

114 Decatur Deb  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:53:38pm

re: #107 Killgore Trout

Ah, the fantasy thing is an insult but the core of the criticism is valid.

WaPo could ask Bin Laden and Gadaffi how much of his policy is fantasy-based.

115 Lidane  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:53:53pm

I am still waiting for the ZOMG OBAMA NEEDZ TO DO SOMETHING crowd to explain exactly what the fuck he’s supposed to do in order to satisfy them.

Invasion and/or a ground war is out of the question unless you want to be the one to reinstate the draft, or be held responsible for any nuclear fallout. Sabre rattling has to be done with care, since Russia has just as much shit pointed at us as we do at them. And after a decade plus of two wars, the American people really don’t want to get sucked into another prolonged deployment.

Exactly what is POTUS supposed to do in this situation? And if you know so damn much, why aren’t you the one making that decision?

116 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:55:55pm

re: #109 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

Great stuff.

117 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:57:30pm

118 Ming  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:57:55pm

As we’ve all noticed, the right-wing media seem to barely notice the Russia / Ukraine crisis, except in the context of criticizing Obama. This makes me curious about the influence of the American right wing in other countries. I get the feeling that to many of them, there are no boundaries between countries, compared with the Great Boundary between pro-Obama and anti-Obama.

Of course, this is a very general concern, with no specific evidence, but I’m intrigued by the stunning absence of any right-wing support for our President during this foreign-policy crisis. It makes me wonder about guilty consciences… what are the various forces and interests that led to this crisis? Why are these people so quick to respect Putin?

Again, no specific evidence… just curious.

119 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:57:59pm

re: #111 FemNaziBitch

Hey, I don’t make the rules. I’m sure they will tell you they are in total compliance with FTC regulations … .

Well, I know you don’t, but it logically doesn’t make sense. A paper check or MO requires someone to deliver the mail, open the envelope, record the payment information, and take it or send it to the bank. An online payment would (if their systems were set up correctly) would eliminate all the walking around, be recorded automatically in the system, and be remitted by ACH to the bank. The computer equipment required should already be amortized in the capital budget, so a $9 fee is not justifiable, IMO.

It’s backwards from the way most companies do things, is what I want to say.

120 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 7:59:34pm

re: #119 wheat-dogghazi

Well, I know you don’t, but it logically doesn’t make sense. A paper check or MO requires someone to deliver the mail, open the envelope, record the payment information, and take it or send it to the bank. An online payment would (if their systems were set up correctly) would eliminate all the walking around, be recorded automatically in the system, and be remitted by ACH to the bank. The computer equipment required should already be amortized in the capital budget, so a $9 fee is not justifiable, IMO.

It’s backwards from the way most companies do things, is what I want to say.

I used to get charged $25 for an electronic check for my mortgage payment. I figured it was cheaper than a ding on my credit rating.

There used to be a time when banks paid you for using your money —now … .

121 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:01:21pm

122 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:02:35pm

re: #121 Gus

I’m having trouble imagining Putgan telling Gorbachev to tear down this wall, somehow.

123 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:04:59pm

How come there are some people that no matter what you say to them, you feel like it will come back to bite you at some time in the future.

Met a former co-worker at the store tonite and now I have that creepy feeling.

Good think I am not a politician.

124 palomino  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:05:36pm

re: #86 RealityBasedSteve

that’s to shoot the rice with to make the cereal. (‘cept Putin uses a cannon)

RBS

Just like Kim Jong Un. Great statesmen think alike, I guess.

125 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:06:37pm

re: #124 palomino

Just like Kim Jong Un. Great statesmen think alike, I guess.

Maybe Putin is living in an alternate reality where he is really James Bond and Daniel Craig is the statesman.

126 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:07:20pm

127 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:08:15pm

re: #126 Gus

[Embedded image]

Are you having fun or just bored?

:)

128 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:09:02pm

re: #126 Gus

BTW, I am impress with your photoshopping.

129 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:09:37pm

re: #117 Gus

Putin actually doesn’t look half bad with Reagan’s hair.

131 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:13:16pm

re: #107 Killgore Trout

“Ah, the fantasy thing is an insult but the core of the criticism is valid.”

Except they say they don’t want war.

Which pretty much makes the column all bullshit.

132 palomino  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:13:20pm

re: #125 FemNaziBitch

Maybe Putin is living in an alternate reality where he is really James Bond and Daniel Craig is the statesman.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but after watching all the stars last night, I think Benedict Pumpkinpatch might actually make a really good James Bond. I don’t think Craig wants to do many more Bond films, so they’ll need a replacement soon.

Maybe not as much a tough guy as Craig, but still believable in action scenes and probably more suave and debonair. Like Pierce Brosnan if he had a brain.

133 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:14:12pm

Oh wait, I think I finally had the light bulb moment.

RWNJ think this should be like Grenada or the Kuwait —right?

We go in and make it all better —sort of.

I’ve been otherwise distracted —it just came to me.

134 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:14:34pm

re: #132 palomino

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but after watching all the stars last night, I think Benedict Pumpkinpatch might actually make a really good James Bond. I don’t think Craig wants to do many more Bond films, so they’ll need a replacement soon.

Maybe not as much a tough guy as Craig, but still believable in action scenes and probably more suave and debonair. Like Pierce Brosnan if he had a brain.

Jason Stathem.

135 palomino  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:15:50pm

re: #134 FemNaziBitch

Jason Stathem.

Definitely more of a badass than Cumberbatch. Good sense of humor too.

136 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:16:05pm
137 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:16:24pm

re: #135 palomino

Definitely more of a badass than Cumberbatch. Good sense of humor too.

and suave and debonair —being a former male model and all.

138 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:16:25pm

re: #115 Lidane

And Obama can’t draw any “red lines”. Because that is generally assumed to require a military response if the line is crossed, with anything less being weak or showing insufficient resolve or other Lindsay Graham-brand nonsense.

139 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:17:17pm

re: #138 jonhendry

And Obama can’t draw any “red lines”. Because that is generally assumed to require a military response if the line is crossed, with anything less being weak or showing insufficient resolve or other Lindsay Graham-brand nonsense.

Lindsay Graham is an asshole.

140 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:17:35pm

re: #118 Ming

“Why are these people so quick to respect Putin?”

Well, for one they might be cashing checks from Putin.

141 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:18:29pm

re: #140 jonhendry

“Why are these people so quick to respect Putin?”

Well, for one they might be cashing checks from Putin.

and charging a hefty fee for each transaction

:)

142 dell*nix  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:20:07pm

re: #33 Dark_Falcon

Tell the server I will be there shortly, order the same for me but hold the bible.

143 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:20:26pm

re: #139 FemNaziBitch

Indeed. Never saw a war he wasn’t willing to make other people fight.

144 freetoken  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:27:11pm

Working on the family of one of my 8th (and simultaneously 10th) great grandfathers, way back before there was anything called the “United States of America”.

Amazingly, those folk had a functional economy, a functional legal system, property rights (including for women), even a form of representation (at least for the heads of households).

How ever did mankind function without the US to save the day?

145 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:27:16pm

BBC:

04:15: Ukraine’s Customs Service is reporting a “gathering of military machines” in the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions just across the Russian border, according to Evhen Perebyinis, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

146 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:29:08pm

re: #145 jonhendry

Let’s ask Steven Seagal what he thinks

147 andres  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:31:31pm

re: #117 Gus

I’d say it’s the other way around. RWNJ see Reagan as a Putin-esque figure and compare Putin to the Putin-esque Reagan.

148 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:35:01pm

re: #139 FemNaziBitch

Lindsay Graham is an asshole.

No, he isn’t. He’s a sane man who is running in a state where most of the voting public hates Barack Obama. This crisis is an opportunity for him to push hard to get over 50% in the primary. So he has to attack Obama as hard as possible in order to win over the South Carolina voters.

Hate the game, not the player.

149 Eclectic Cyborg  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:35:34pm

Statham is 46. Probably a bit too old for Bond. Brosnan was 39 when he started in the role.

150 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:35:54pm

re: #148 Dark_Falcon

No, he isn’t. He’s a sane man who is running in a state where most of the voting public hates Barack Obama. This crisis is an opportunity for him to push hard to get over 50% in the primary. So he has to attack Obama as hard as possible in order to win over the South Carolina voters.

Hate the game, not the player.

In other words, he is a politican.

151 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:37:34pm

re: #147 andres

I’d say it’s the other way around. RWNJ see Reagan as a Putin-esque figure and compare Putin to the Putin-esque Reagan.

And they dishonor Ronald Reagan’s memory in so doing, for Putin’s view of the world is what Ronald Reagan spent much of his life opposing.

152 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:38:32pm

re: #149 Eclectic Cyborg

Statham is 46. Probably a bit too old for Bond. Brosnan was 39 when he started in the role.

Fun fact: Moore was actually older than Connery when he took the role

153 Charles Johnson  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:39:08pm
154 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:39:11pm

re: #149 Eclectic Cyborg

Statham is 46. Probably a bit too old for Bond. Brosnan was 39 when he started in the role.

Statham is comes across wrong for Bond, he’s more ‘fist in the mouth’ than ‘smooth’. Of course that holds a certain appeal in action movies, though not in real life.

155 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:40:39pm

re: #154 Dark_Falcon

Statham is comes across wrong for Bond, he’s more ‘fist in the mouth’ than ‘smooth’. Of course that holds a certain appeal in action movies, though not in real life.

A lot of that has been the roles he has played. I think there is alot more talent there.

Bond, in the books, was a thug afterall.

156 FemNaziBitch  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:40:51pm

bbl

157 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:42:03pm

re: #150 FemNaziBitch

In other words, he is a politican.

Yeah, he’s a politician. But he’s the best choice of the Republicans for the South Carolina Senate seat that’s up this year, and the political climate of the state means the GOP candidate is a virtual lock to win. So I’ll accept it if Lindsey Graham needs to yerp and derp at Barack Obama since the alternative to Graham is much worse.

158 Lidane  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:44:55pm

Not The Onion:

159 jonhendry  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:46:59pm

re: #148 Dark_Falcon

Graham was also an asshole when Bush was President.

160 klys  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:49:29pm

re: #148 Dark_Falcon

No, he isn’t. He’s a sane man who is running in a state where most of the voting public hates Barack Obama. This crisis is an opportunity for him to push hard to get over 50% in the primary. So he has to attack Obama as hard as possible in order to win over the South Carolina voters.

Hate the game, not the player.

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that the rabid base of the GOP is such that this is necessary to get to over 50% in the primary?

Serious question, Dark. What does the opposition look like and why is running to the right so necessary? At what point does this become self-defeating in the general? At what point is it worth the damage it does to individual rights for women and minorities that your ‘team’ stays in power?

161 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:49:57pm

re: #158 Lidane

Not The Onion:

So they have to come nude?

//

OK, OK, I know, but who’s checking to see if they got their knickers on?

162 NJDhockeyfan  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:50:16pm

The stock market has opened in Russia…


I hope they break yesterday’s numbers!

163 klys  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:50:45pm

re: #134 FemNaziBitch

Jason Stathem.

I remain grateful for his role in The Transporter.

164 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:51:03pm

Here’s a Russia Today photo that is just begging to be given an improved caption. I submit this to the group and ask for your ideas:

165 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:51:06pm

re: #145 jonhendry

BBC:

That’s worrisome news. Most of my Ukrainian friends are in Luhansk.

166 The War TARDIS  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:52:49pm

This guy has thoughts on Putin:

Ukraine billionaire and newly appointed Dnipropetrovsk governor Igor Kolomoisky says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is as “a small-sized schizophreniac” who “went insane” and whose attempts to “revive the Russian Empire to the 1913 borders can bring world to disaster.”

167 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:53:09pm

re: #160 klys

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that the rabid base of the GOP is such that this is necessary to get to over 50% in the primary?

Serious question, Dark. What does the opposition look like and why is running to the right so necessary? At what point does this become self-defeating in the general? At what point is it worth the damage it does to individual rights for women and minorities that your ‘team’ stays in power?

In South Carolina the Republicans are all but assured of keeping the seat, which means the question is: “What sort of Republican do you want in the seat?”.

168 Lidane  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:53:55pm

re: #146 Aqua Obama

Let’s ask Steven Seagal what he thinks

169 klys  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 8:58:03pm

re: #167 Dark_Falcon

In South Carolina the Republicans are all but assured of keeping the seat, which means the question is: “What sort of Republican do you want in the seat?”.

And I ask you again, why is it that Republicans need to run SO FAR TO THE RIGHT in order to get through the primary? At what point does this become out of touch with the reality of the majority of voters? I don’t for a moment believe that this is truly representative of the majority of the public in SC, although I didn’t quibble because you did specify voting public.

The question for you was more related to: how far are you willing to stomp all over minority and women’s rights in order to wave your “go team go” flag?

170 Petero1818  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:00:03pm

My idiot mayor Rob Ford about to appear live on Jimmy Kimel. I hope Kimel teaches him a lesson tonight. This putz craves attention like no other. I would like him to just stay in his basement like his brother advised him.

171 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:03:23pm

re: #162 NJDhockeyfan

The stock market has opened in Russia…

[Embedded content]

A Russian showed up on a forum I occasionally read:

A lot of people here believe that Putin has gone insane, batshit crazy. Seems about right. Some sources claim that the decision to go to war is his (duh) and is fully supported with 6 closest accomplices who incidentally have no assets in the West.

The post also mentioned the jingoism is unprecedented.

172 Dr. Matt  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:06:25pm

re: #148 Dark_Falcon

No, he isn’t. He’s a sane man who is running in a state where most of the voting public hates Barack Obama. This crisis is an opportunity for him to push hard to get over 50% in the primary. So he has to attack Obama as hard as possible in order to win over the South Carolina voters.

Hate the game, not the player.

Translation: He’s an asshole. Smearing and attacking his president for the sake of radical Teabag votes is proof he’s an asshole.

173 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:10:38pm

The Russo-Georgian War and the Balance of Power
Geopolitical Weekly
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

…

The Western Encirclement of Russia

To understand Russian thinking, we need to look at two events. The first is the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. From the U.S. and European point of view, the Orange Revolution represented a triumph of democracy and Western influence. From the Russian point of view, as Moscow made clear, the Orange Revolution was a CIA-funded intrusion into the internal affairs of Ukraine, designed to draw Ukraine into NATO and add to the encirclement of Russia. U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton had promised the Russians that NATO would not expand into the former Soviet Union empire.

That promise had already been broken in 1998 by NATO’s expansion to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — and again in the 2004 expansion, which absorbed not only the rest of the former Soviet satellites in what is now Central Europe, but also the three Baltic states, which had been components of the Soviet Union.

The Russians had tolerated all that, but the discussion of including Ukraine in NATO represented a fundamental threat to Russia’s national security. It would have rendered Russia indefensible and threatened to destabilize the Russian Federation itself. When the United States went so far as to suggest that Georgia be included as well, bringing NATO deeper into the Caucasus, the Russian conclusion — publicly stated — was that the United States in particular intended to encircle and break Russia. The second and lesser event was the decision by Europe and the United States to back Kosovo’s separation from Serbia. The Russians were friendly with Serbia, but the deeper issue for Russia was this: The principle of Europe since World War II was that, to prevent conflict, national borders would not be changed. If that principle were violated in Kosovo, other border shifts — including demands by various regions for independence from Russia — might follow. The Russians publicly and privately asked that Kosovo not be given formal independence, but instead continue its informal autonomy, which was the same thing in practical terms. Russia’s requests were ignored.

…

174 Petero1818  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:13:01pm

re: #148 Dark_Falcon

No, he isn’t. He’s a sane man who is running in a state where most of the voting public hates Barack Obama. This crisis is an opportunity for him to push hard to get over 50% in the primary. So he has to attack Obama as hard as possible in order to win over the South Carolina voters.

Hate the game, not the player.

seems to me he can be and is both an asshole and a political opportunist.

175 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:14:12pm

Continues.

From the Ukrainian experience, the Russians became convinced that the United States was engaged in a plan of strategic encirclement and strangulation of Russia. From the Kosovo experience, they concluded that the United States and Europe were not prepared to consider Russian wishes even in fairly minor affairs. That was the breaking point. If Russian desires could not be accommodated even in a minor matter like this, then clearly Russia and the West were in conflict. For the Russians, as we said, the question was how to respond. Having declined to respond in Kosovo, the Russians decided to respond where they had all the cards: in South Ossetia.

Moscow had two motives, the lesser of which was as a tit-for-tat over Kosovo. If Kosovo could be declared independent under Western sponsorship, then South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions of Georgia, could be declared independent under Russian sponsorship. Any objections from the United States and Europe would simply confirm their hypocrisy. This was important for internal Russian political reasons, but the second motive was far more important.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin once said that the fall of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical disaster. This didn’t mean that he wanted to retain the Soviet state; rather, it meant that the disintegration of the Soviet Union had created a situation in which Russian national security was threatened by Western interests. As an example, consider that during the Cold War, St. Petersburg was about 1,200 miles away from a NATO country. Today it is about 60 miles away from Estonia, a NATO member. The disintegration of the Soviet Union had left Russia surrounded by a group of countries hostile to Russian interests in various degrees and heavily influenced by the United States, Europe and, in some cases, China.

176 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:14:54pm

The meat and potatoes.

The war in Georgia, therefore, is Russia’s public return to great power status. This is not something that just happened — it has been unfolding ever since Putin took power, and with growing intensity in the past five years. Part of it has to do with the increase of Russian power, but a great deal of it has to do with the fact that the Middle Eastern wars have left the United States off-balance and short on resources. As we have written, this conflict created a window of opportunity. The Russian goal is to use that window to assert a new reality throughout the region while the Americans are tied down elsewhere and dependent on the Russians. The war was far from a surprise; it has been building for months. But the geopolitical foundations of the war have been building since 1992. Russia has been an empire for centuries. The last 15 years or so were not the new reality, but simply an aberration that would be rectified. And now it is being rectified.

177 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:16:37pm

re: #176 Gus

Also this:

“He has a discussion there about Big Russia and Little Russia — Ukraine,” Russian news wires quoted Putin as saying after laying a wreath in Moscow at the grave of Denikin, who is now portrayed as a Russian patriot. “He says that no one should be allowed to interfere in relations between us; they have always been the business of Russia itself.” (See TIME’s Person of the Year: Vladimir Putin.)

…

Putin’s words are seen as the latest in an ongoing volley of pointed warnings to the West not to meddle in Ukraine, which has such close historical and cultural ties to Russia that the Kremlin considers the country firmly within its sphere of interests.

Putin is not known for his tact when speaking of Russia’s western neighbor, which declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In April 2008, a source told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper how Putin described Ukraine to George Bush at a NATO meeting in Bucharest: “You don’t understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state. What is Ukraine? Part of its territories is Eastern Europe, but the greater part is a gift from us.”

178 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:16:45pm

Again. Georgia was the freaking warning. Not this.

179 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:19:06pm

By invading Georgia as Russia did (competently if not brilliantly), Putin re-established the credibility of the Russian army. But far more importantly, by doing this Putin revealed an open secret: While the United States is tied down in the Middle East, American guarantees have no value. This lesson is not for American consumption. It is something that, from the Russian point of view, the Ukrainians, the Balts and the Central Asians need to digest. Indeed, it is a lesson Putin wants to transmit to Poland and the Czech Republic as well. The United States wants to place ballistic missile defense installations in those countries, and the Russians want them to understand that allowing this to happen increases their risk, not their security.

180 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:22:16pm

This lesson is not for American consumption. It is something that, from the Russian point of view, the Ukrainians, the Balts and the Central Asians need to digest.

181 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:22:22pm

Boom!

182 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:24:25pm

re: #177 Aqua Obama

Also this:

This?

themoscowtimes.com

183 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:27:14pm

My link was:
content.time.com

There must be easier ways to sway opinion than this. Constantly telegraphing antagonistic nationalist aggressions usually doesn’t win people too many friends because they are still the source of the risk.

184 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:27:26pm
185 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:31:00pm

I mean Russia did simulated nuke runs on freakin Sweden, and they aren’t even part of NATO!!

186 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:38:21pm

September 8, 2008 8:09 pm
Invasion’s ideologues: Ultra-nationalists join the Russian mainstream

EUROPE WORRIES THAT KREMLIN SIGHTS MAY BE ON UKRAINE

Russia’s invasion of Georgia and its attempt to partition the country by recognising the enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent have prompted concern across the European Union about what else might be in the Kremlin’s sights. Anxiety is mounting that it could ultimately be Ukraine.

With 46m people, of whom 18 per cent are ethnic Russians, and a territory almost the size of France, Ukraine is shaping up as the crucial geopolitical battleground between Moscow and the west. “Ukraine is Georgia multiplied by 10,” says Michael Emerson of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels think-tank.

There is particular concern about Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, where Russia’s Black Sea fleet is based, with a lease that expires in 2017. Ethnic Russians form a majority of Crimea’s population and pro-Russian politicians nostalgic for the Soviet era are a powerful force. Thousands of Crimeans hold Russian passports, offering an excuse for Moscow to intervene in the peninsula as it did in South Ossetia last month.

“All that provides Moscow with a leverage of influence over the peninsula and a pretext for taking an interest in Ukraine,” says Vsevolod Samokhvalov, a former visiting fellow at the EU’s Institute for Security Studies.

The need to put EU-Ukrainian relations on a firmer basis will dominate discussions this Tuesday in Paris between Viktor Yushchenko (right), Ukraine’s president, and EU leaders including Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission chief, both fresh from Moscow. “If the summit fails, it will send a negative message to Georgia, Belarus and Moldova. Everyone in our region is watching closely what will happen,” says Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister responsible for EU relations.

But in the light of Russia’s disregard for Georgia’s territorial integrity, is the EU ready not just to express solidarity with Kiev but to offer a clear path to EU membership - something it has shrunk from in the 17 years since Ukraine won independence from the Soviet Union? In Paris, to bitter Ukrainian disappointment, no such offer will be made. The EU is divided, with Poland and Sweden among the most fervent supporters of Kiev’s aspirations but older EU members, notably Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, more hesitant.

“We have lots to do to reinforce ties with Ukraine, without possible accession,” Mr Sarkozy said after an EU summit last week.

Central and eastern European countries that joined the EU between 2004 and 2007 fear that the longer Ukraine is kept in limbo, the more Russia will be tempted to wrench it closer into the Kremlin’s sphere of influence - an outcome that would have grave implications for their own region.

“Neither we in the EU nor the Ukrainians are ready for membership tomorrow, but we should offer them a membership perspective,” says one government minister of a former Soviet bloc country.

Since 2004, the EU has dealt with Ukraine through its European Neighbourhood Policy, of which officials in Kiev take a dim view: it groups Ukraine with non-European places such as Algeria, Libya and Syria. “The events in Georgia proved that the ENP has completely failed. We have been saying for years that the ENP is nothing,” Mr Yeliseyev says.

Last June, EU leaders endorsed a Polish-Swedish proposal for an “Eastern Partnership” project, under which relations with Ukraine - as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and, subject to domestic reforms, Belarus - were to be given special attention. The partnership plan is likely to be accorded higher priority after Russia’s assault on Georgia. This will mean faster action on a free trade accord and on easier travel for Ukrainians to the EU. The route to a trade deal was opened in May when Ukraine joined the World Trade Organisation - a status Russia still lacks.

Yet in commercial terms, Russia is a far more important partner than Ukraine for the EU - and Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies makes it improbable that this will change. The EU accounts for 70 per cent of Ukraine’s foreign direct investment but this amounted to only 𠫅.5bn ($7.8bn, £4.4bn) in 2006.

“The main obstacles faced by EU investors so far have been frequent changes in regulations, lack of transparency, failings in implementation and enforcement of laws, discriminatory regulation and corruption,” says a European Commission paper.

Such problems are not the only argument cited by certain EU countries as a reason to withhold an explicit offer of membership from Ukraine. Another is the country’s sheer size - it would be one of the EU’s five or six biggest by population, forcing a complete rethink of the bloc’s agricultural and regional aid policies.

A third issue is Ukraine’s seemingly endless political instability. Only last week, the ruling coalition split up in acrimony and Mr Yushchenko threatened to call a snap election. “The Ukrainians are their own worst enemy,” sighs one EU foreign minister.

On the other hand, Ukraine has made huge strides since the 2004 Orange Revolution, with a political culture founded on pluralism and free elections. For all their similarities in language, customs and history, Ukraine appears set on a path different from that of Russia with its more authoritarian habits.

This poses perhaps the greatest challenge to the Kremlin. As Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former US national security adviser, observed in 1997: “Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”

187 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:42:13pm

Yet again in 2008.

188 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:48:49pm

Boy I can’t imagine why Russia is so unpopular

189 The War TARDIS  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:50:20pm

re: #188 Aqua Obama

I’m hoping this wakens Sweden from its stupor and gets it to rearm. And hopefully the moonbatty Left and Green Parties there take the hit.

190 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:53:24pm
191 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:54:27pm

“I regret to inform you that we’ll need to point our nuclear arsenal at your country, because a radioactive moonscape is preferable to your membership in NATO. I’m so very, very sorry.”

192 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 9:54:54pm

“And you should be too”

193 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:04:55pm
Commander of Ukraine’s Belbek base just got a call from Russian counterpart. Another ultimatum: surrender by 16:00. This is the 3rd one

Stop hitting the snooze button dammit

194 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:21:41pm
195 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:27:23pm
196 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:27:36pm
197 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:27:59pm
198 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:28:08pm

Weird.

199 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:29:51pm
200 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:30:41pm
201 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:31:30pm
202 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:31:45pm
203 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:35:20pm
204 The War TARDIS  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:37:49pm

re: #203 Gus

Huh.

205 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:42:41pm

BREAKING NEWS:

Russian troops on military exercises on Ukraine’s borders ordered to return to their bases by President Putin, spokesman says

206 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:50:30pm
207 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 10:52:04pm
208 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:02:08pm

Soft power vs. hard power, who wins?

209 Kragar  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:02:38pm

re: #207 Gus

[Embedded content]

Ukranians are going to make sure its the Russians who draw first blood.

210 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:04:44pm
211 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:06:26pm
212 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:07:22pm

@shustry

213 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:07:31pm

Live feed from Tatar TV station

214 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:12:10pm
215 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:17:06pm

Another feed

216 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:18:17pm
217 austin_blue  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:22:38pm

Don’t know how old this Google Maps image is, but I count at least 42 MIGs and Sukhoi’s in this capture. Ten soldiers ain’t going to feed the bulldog:

google.com!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x409530322fc20233:0xba8d5d32b123639a

218 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:27:42pm

Jesus. Does that guy ever stop talking?

219 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:32:06pm

Some guy on Reddit noticed that one of the Russian numbers stations changed its tone earlier today. Who knows what that means, but the amateur radio guys are always listening.

220 Aqua Obama  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:34:04pm

Simon Shuster ‏@shustry 30s
The red flag the Ukrainians marched with is the banner of the fighter pilots who fought Nazis in 1941 and guarded the Yalta Conference

221 Gus  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:42:07pm

You know who reminds me of Herman Munster? A little bit. :D

222 austin_blue  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:47:02pm

re: #220 Aqua Obama

Simon Shuster ‏@shustry 30s
The red flag the Ukrainians marched with is the banner of the fighter pilots who fought Nazis in 1941 and guarded the Yalta Conference

“Hey, dudes, we just want to fly our planes out of here so we won’t be a threat to you.”

Don’t think so, chelovik!

223 Backwoods_Sleuth  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:55:08pm

I really REALLY hope this is the last time I have to stay up all night babysitting the plumbing. Hate single digit temperatures and really hoping it doesn’t get below zero, but it’s 5F at the moment and dropping.

sigh.

224 austin_blue  Mon, Mar 3, 2014 11:59:06pm

re: #223 Backwoods_Sleuth

I really REALLY hope this is the last time I have to stay up all night babysitting the plumbing. Hate single digit temperatures and really hoping it doesn’t get below zero, but it’s 5F at the moment and dropping.

sigh.

We just cracked thirty two, but it’s starting to piss down sleet and Texans, well, they don’t do well with this.

225 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:02:04am

Idina Menzel, Jimmy Fallon, and The Roots doing “Let it Go” from Frozen on classroom instruments:

Youtube Video

226 The War TARDIS  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:07:05am

re: #220 Aqua Obama

I swear, I must be having a psychotic break.

This is surreal. You just toodle out of your base where you are being held in? What?

227 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:13:26am

This is a war of nuance and symbolism that goes beyond the ability ot Twitter to discuss.

228 The War TARDIS  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:14:15am

re: #227 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

It also appears to be trying to go towards Salvatore Dali.

229 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:16:40am

It certainly cannot be discussed in buzzwords and bullet points.

230 freetoken  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:52:05am

MP3 Audio

231 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:08:25am
A Kremlin aide was quoted on Tuesday as saying that if the United States were to impose sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, Moscow might be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks.

Image: 350947-ron-paul.jpg

232 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:12:24am

Lucky for her the police let her keep her phone to tweet about it…
//

233 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:18:59am

She says she’s in jail at the Cairo Airport…tweeting photos of the jail and the jail food.

234 klys  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:20:47am

I have successfully vanquished this round of bugs caused by being an idiot (a nontrivial source of error in coding). I can have a cookie?

235 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:21:31am

re: #231 Aqua Obama

A nice way of reminding us that we are in absolutely no position to put any financial or diplomatic pressure on Russia…

236 urbanmeemaw  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:45:51am

re: #46 Gus

Also, too, before American elected an blah President.

237 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:47:36am

re: #235 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

A nice way of reminding us that we are in absolutely no position to put any financial or diplomatic pressure on Russia…

In Russia, you rate credit agencies?

238 goddamnedfrank  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:48:59am

re: #231 Aqua Obama

Oh please, do let that happen. Russia might optimistically own all of 2% of US total debt, which limits our exposure here. However in exchange nobody would loan them money or invest significantly in their economy ever again.

239 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 1:56:41am

re: #238 goddamnedfrank

They are, however, responsible for a lot of the gas supply in Western Europe…we cannot afford to f*ck with them to any great extent, if Western Europe goes down, it will take the US financial markets with it…

240 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:02:50am

Your ‘Good Morning’ gun news, via TPM:

Kentucky Churches Giving Away Guns To Help People Discover Jesus

thinkprogress.org

241 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:08:03am
242 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:09:17am
243 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:11:45am

I see Medea Benjamin has finally cracked in half. Meanwhile…

244 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:13:14am
245 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:16:24am

Then dollars will become more valuable in Russia…everyone knows the ruble is propped up shit.

Kremlin aide: If US imposes sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, Moscow might be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency - @Reuters

end of alert

246 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:18:55am

re: #232 Backwoods_Sleuth

Apparently, Egyptian police are the only ones who allow people to keep a smartphone on hand when they’re arrested. Who knew?

247 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:35:47am

So who will use Russian rubles? Its client states? It’s not the most stable currency right now. This is pretty much “rose-colored glasses” hype, IMHO.

Russia warns could ‘reduce to zero’ economic dependency on US

(AFP) - 1 hour ago

Moscow — Russia could reduce to zero its economic dependency on the United States if Washington agreed sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine, a Kremlin aide said on Tuesday, warning that the American financial system faced a “crash” if this happened.

“We would find a way not just to reduce our dependency on the United States to zero but to emerge from those sanctions with great benefits for ourselves,” said Kremlin economic aide Sergei Glazyev, saying Russia could stop using dollars for international transactions.

“An attempt to announce sanctions would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States, which would cause the end of the domination of the United States in the global financial system,” he added.

google.com

248 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:39:22am

The Russian bootleg film and CD market would certainly experience an unprecendented boom…

249 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:41:53am

Evidently Putin giving speech right now on Ukraine.

Russia’s President Putin says there has been an anti-constitutional coup in the Ukraine, a military seizure of power - live video

end of alert

(found no link to live video)

250 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:42:41am

The bullshit is strong with this one:

251 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:42:47am

…but aside from fashion, films and popular music, Russia is not really dependent on any outside nation for anything, especially raw materials and energy.

Putin knows that and is using that leverage to his full advantage.

The US sold out that advantage decades ago.

252 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:47:33am

Pootie Poot haz a sad that his puppet was overthrown:

253 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:48:26am

re: #247 Justanotherhuman

So who will use Russian rubles? Its client states? It’s not the most stable currency right now. This is pretty much “rose-colored glasses” hype, IMHO.

Russia warns could ‘reduce to zero’ economic dependency on US

(AFP) - 1 hour ago

Moscow — Russia could reduce to zero its economic dependency on the United States if Washington agreed sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine, a Kremlin aide said on Tuesday, warning that the American financial system faced a “crash” if this happened.

“We would find a way not just to reduce our dependency on the United States to zero but to emerge from those sanctions with great benefits for ourselves,” said Kremlin economic aide Sergei Glazyev, saying Russia could stop using dollars for international transactions.

“An attempt to announce sanctions would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States, which would cause the end of the domination of the United States in the global financial system,” he added.

google.com

I suspect dropping the dollar would hurt Russia more than it would us. Now, if China dropped the dollar, we’d be in big trouble …

254 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:48:53am

re: #251 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

…but aside from fashion, films and popular music, Russia is not really dependent on any outside nation. Putin knows that and is using that leverage to his full advantage.

The US sold out that advantage decades ago.

Don’t judge the rest of Russia by the high fliers in Moscow and narcissistic Putin’s Olympics posturing and horseback riding. There is deep poverty in Russia.

Olympic glitz masks poverty within Russia’s Sochi

SOCHI, Russia — A new $635 million highway on the outskirts of Sochi runs by a crumbling apartment block with a red “SOS!” banner on its roof.

“The residents of 5a Akatsy street have lived for years without running water or a sewage system. And construction for the 2014 Winter Games has made their lives more miserable: The highway has cut them off from the city center. Even their communal outhouse had to be torn down because it was found to be too close to the new road and ruled an eyesore.

“While state-run TV trains its cameras on luxury malls, sleek stadiums and high-speed train links, thousands of ordinary people in the Sochi area put up with poverty, squalor and environmental waste. Villagers live next to an illegal dump filled with Olympic construction waste, and family homes are sinking into the earth.”

Read more: triblive.com
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

255 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:53:34am

re: #254 Justanotherhuman

Life in Russia for the common people has not really changed much from the days of serfdom in tsarist times. New bosses are just like the old bosses. Putin’s striving for Russia’s greater glory (mostly his), not to make his people’s lives better.

256 andres  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:55:40am

And Putin starts the International Tea Party.

The situation seems worst than I hoped. I no longer hope the invasion will stop at securing Crimea. My fear now is that he’ll go as fas as he is allowed. He will try to use the international organisms indecision1 to grab as much as he can.

1. Not really criticizing the international response. Under these circumstances, it’s the best they can do.

257 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:55:45am

re: #254 Justanotherhuman

I am not saying that Russia is prospering without the West, just that they are not dependent on anything from outside.

It is the Russian oligarchy that imports the most Western luxury goods, cars and electronics, but they can always find a way around a blockade the west might impose.

258 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:57:29am
259 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:58:17am

re: #255 wheat-dogghazi

Life in Russia for the common people has not really changed much from the days of serfdom in tsarist times. New bosses are just like the old bosses. Putin’s striving for Russia’s greater glory (mostly his), not to make his people’s lives better.

Things have improved, but not at a level comparable with Western Europe.

Older folks look back fondly on the heyday under Brezhnev when Russia was able to use oil revenues to import tons of consumer goods to keep the masses happy, but outside the major urban centers, progress has been slow to negligible.

260 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:04:39am

re: #259 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Things have improved, but not at a level comparable with Western Europe.

Older folks look back fondly on the heyday under Brezhnev when Russia was able to use oil revenues to import tons of consumer goods to keep the masses happy, but outside the major urban centers, progress has been slow to negligible.

Several years ago I dreamed I visited Russia. Once I got outside the city, into a suburb, the roads weren’t even paved and people were truly struggling. I was appalled at the poverty—it was what I remember as the rural south in the late ’40s and ’50s.

I expect that dream wasn’t so far-fetched.

261 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:08:10am
262 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:21:29am

Holy crap. And Putin says he “sheltered Yanukovych” out of “humanitarian concerns”. Thought the new govt would kill him. Well, if you think impeachment and a criminal trial is death, I suppose. Only political death, and Putin says Yanuk has no political future. Does that mean Russia, too? Probably, since he failed his Moscow bosses.

Putin says armed groups which seized power in Crimea were ‘local forces of self-defense,’ denies they are Russian soldiers - @Reuters
end of alert

263 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:29:46am

Okay, I guess I must be still dreaming, because I thought prior to today that Putin’s view was that Yanuk was the duly elected leader of Ukraine and should be returned to power until elections in December. Is he now backing away from that by saying that Yanuk has “no political future”?

264 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:38:41am

Oh, this has all kinds of meaning…

265 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:39:33am

Does this mean Tymoshenko’s political career is dead, too?

266 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:40:27am

re: #263 Targetpractice

Okay, I guess I must be still dreaming, because I thought prior to today that Putin’s view was that Yanuk was the duly elected leader of Ukraine and should be returned to power until elections in December. Is he now backing away from that by saying that Yanuk has “no political future”?

Putin may mean that Yanukovych has no long-term political future beyond 2014; there was supposed to be a Presidential election in December according to the negotiated agreement, and perhaps Putin means that Yanuk would sit as President until then, but beyond that, he’s written him off.

Putin seems to be living in an alternate reality, not too far off from what Chancellor Merkel observed about him.

267 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:40:52am

re: #264 Justanotherhuman

Oh, this has all kinds of meaning…

[Embedded content]

Seriously? Alright Vlad, let’s make that simple: All treaties signed between the US and Soviet Union are irrelevant now because the USSR no longer exists. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re gonna make busy boosting our nuclear arsenal again.

268 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:41:14am
269 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:42:57am

re: #267 Targetpractice

Seriously? Alright Vlad, let’s make that simple: All treaties signed between the US and Soviet Union are irrelevant now because the USSR no longer exists. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re gonna make busy boosting our nuclear arsenal again.

Oh, and while we’re at it, Vlad, you can kiss your seat on the UN Security Council goodbye, because, you know, no more Soviet Union.

We’ll still let you hang around and take notes though. And enjoy the pastries and coffee.

270 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:43:36am

Putin also said rumors of Yanuk having a heart attack were false. What fucking rumors? I haven’t seen that reported anywhere.

271 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:45:28am

re: #270 Justanotherhuman

Putin also said rumors of Yanuk having a heart attack were false. What fucking rumors? I haven’t seen that reported anywhere.

[Embedded content]

Heh. Chancellor Merkel may well have been right about Putin not “being in touch with reality”. A rather nice way of saying he’s delusional.

272 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:46:11am

Breaking up is hard to do.

Putin to Ukraine: You are dead to me. Well, almost. I want the china and the computer, and the newer car.

273 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:48:44am

re: #251 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

…but aside from fashion, films and popular music, Russia is not really dependent on any outside nation for anything, especially raw materials and energy.

Putin knows that and is using that leverage to his full advantage.

The US sold out that advantage decades ago.

Much of it is just a hangover from the Soviet ‘2nd World’ economy. They can do it, but it’s not much fun.

274 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:49:30am
275 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:51:37am

re: #274 Lidane

[Embedded content]

Sounds legit.

///

276 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:51:56am

re: #270 Justanotherhuman

Putin also said rumors of Yanuk having a heart attack were false. What fucking rumors? I haven’t seen that reported anywhere.

[Embedded content]

Just about anything that could be rumored has been rumored. The Intertubes and its citizen reporters showed the limits of highschool hallway journalism.

277 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:53:27am

re: #270 Justanotherhuman

Putin also said rumors of Yanuk having a heart attack were false. What fucking rumors? I haven’t seen that reported anywhere.

[Embedded content]

I did see a couple of tweets yesterday that there were rumors that Yanuk had died of “cardiac issues”.

278 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:54:13am

Meanwhile, back in the UK, another wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Aide to UK’s PM arrested in child porn inquiry

bigstory.ap.org

LONDON (AP) — A senior aide to Prime Minister David Cameron has been arrested and has resigned after images potentially related to child pornography were found on computers.

“Cameron’s Downing Street office says officials found out about the potential offense on Feb. 12 and notified the National Crime Agency. A spokesman says Patrick Rock was arrested at his home the next day.

(snip)

“The 62-year-old Rock served as deputy head of a Downing Street policy unit and was also advising the government on its plans to have Internet providers use filters to prevent the distribution of child pornography.”

WTF is wrong with these “conservatives” anyway?

279 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:54:44am

re: #277 Backwoods_Sleuth

I did see a couple of tweets yesterday that there were rumors that Yanuk had died of “cardiac issues”.

No doubt rumors planted in advance of Putin’s speech?

P.S. I did say “reported”. : )

280 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 3:58:15am

Cheeeez, what’s Putin going to say next?

If Ukraine holds elections under current conditions of ‘terror,’ Russia will not recognize results - @Reuters

end of alert

281 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:00:43am

From the BBC:

11:52:

The BBC’s Steven Rosenberg in Moscow says that the Russian president during his news conference described his country’s actions in Ukraine as a “humanitarian mission”. “All citizens of Ukraine, wherever they live, must have an equal right to participate in the life of the country and in deciding its future,” the president said.

For sheer cynicism, Putin is right up there with Stalin.

282 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:01:13am

re: #260 Justanotherhuman

Several years ago I dreamed I visited Russia. Once I got outside the city, into a suburb, the roads weren’t even paved and people were truly struggling. I was appalled at the poverty—it was what I remember as the rural south in the late ’40s and ’50s.

I expect that dream wasn’t so far-fetched.

It was exactly like that where I lived in Rublyovo, just outside the Moscow Ring Road: on one side, 18-story high rises, on the other side, a village without flowing water in the houses.

283 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:03:44am

re: #281 Dr Lizardo

From the BBC:

For sheer cynicism, Putin is right up there with Stalin.

Hey! He said ‘equal’. He didn’t say ‘much’.

284 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:04:30am

re: #260 Justanotherhuman

it was what I remember as the rural south in the late ’40s and ’50s.

Hell,,, I witnessed that a mere 25 miles outside of Boston in the late 50’s when I was a kid!!

285 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:04:48am

re: #283 Decatur Deb

Hey! He said ‘equal’. He didn’t say ‘much’.

Some animals are more equal than others.

286 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:05:08am

re: #282 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

It was exactly like that where I lived in Rublyovo, just outside the Moscow Ring Road: on one side, 18-story high rises, on the other side, a village without flowing water in the houses.

Yes, and I’ve read that real estate operators are refurbishing the old Stalinist-era apt blocks inside the Ring Road and making a killing, either selling or renting them, also.

287 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:05:21am

re: #280 Justanotherhuman

Cheeeez, what’s Putin going to say next?

If Ukraine holds elections under current conditions of ‘terror,’ Russia will not recognize results - @Reuters

end of alert

But if the elections can happen with the Russian Army there to impose “order,” then he’s totally okay with the puppet of his choice being elected.

288 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:07:07am

re: #287 Targetpractice

But if the elections can happen with the Russian Army there to impose “order,” then he’s totally okay with the puppet of his choice being elected.

Yes, “parallel universe” to describe his and Yanuk’s speeches is just spot on. : )

289 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:07:34am

re: #285 wheat-dogghazi

Some animals are more equal than others.

It’s all a bit generational perception. We had blocks of ice for the box delivered by horse wagon, circa 1950—in the middle of Pittsburgh.

290 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:09:23am

re: #289 Decatur Deb

It’s all a bit generational perception. We had blocks of ice for the box delivered by horse wagon, circa 1950—in the middle of Pittsburgh.

Yup. I remember my paternal grandparents still having an “ice box” in their apt in Chelsea Mass, 1st city north of Boston, in the 50’s

My father told me that as a teenager he had a job delivering said blocks of ice

291 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:09:28am

re: #286 Justanotherhuman

Yes, and I’ve read that real estate operators are refurbishing the old Stalinist-era apt blocks inside the Ring Road and making a killing, either selling or renting them, also.

The Stalinist-era buildings were built to last and are worth refurbishing, but starting in the 60’s, they started knocking up hideous prefab housing units that were only built to last for 30 years,

Why only 30 years? It was fully expected that by then, True Communism would have triumped and the people would be able to more substantial housing.

So a lot of these buildings are 20 years past their best-by date and have also been only minimally maintained.

292 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:13:19am

re: #288 Justanotherhuman

Yes, “parallel universe” to describe his and Yanuk’s speeches is just spot on. : )

Yes, but reading our RW blogs has convinced me it’s parallel universes ‘all the way down’—millions of them.

293 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:15:22am

re: #291 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

The Stalinist-era buildings were built to last and are worth refurbishing, but starting in the 60’s, they started knockeing up hideous prefab housing units that were only built to last for 30 years,

Why only 30 years? It was fully expected that by then, True Communism would have triumped and the people would be able to more substantial housing.

So a lot of these buildings are 20 years past their best-by date and have also been only minimally maintained.

Heh. I live in one of those pre-fab apartment blocks; in my case, it’s been fully renovated inside and out.

A proper renovation extends the lifespan of the buildings, and I must say - at least in the case of the building I live in - it’s not bad at all. But once they fall into major disrepair, the only alternative is to knock them down.

In my part of Ostrava, almost all of these panelák buildings have been totally renovated, but I do have my eye on the block next door - it’s getting to the point that it needs renovation pretty urgently, but whoever owns that building is either unwilling to do it, or they can’t afford to; it’s not cheap.

294 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:26:33am

Apparently, despite all evidence to the contrary, we’re supposed to believe that Russia is really interested in honest elections in Ukraine and would accept whoever should wind up in power, even if they wish the bring the country more into the EU and thus imperil Russia’s virtual death grip on natural gas exportation into Europe.

295 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:32:11am

re: #294 Targetpractice

In this, Putin is in a lose/ lose predicament

If the Ukranians vote a pro-Russian in to office, it will be perceived as Putin strong arming and/ or fixing the elections

If the Ukranians vote someone that is pro EU alignment, it will be perceived as Putin (and to a lesser extent, the Russian economy) being weak

296 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:34:51am
297 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:37:13am

re: #296 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Youtube Video

Pictures At An Exhibition
The Great Gate of Kiev

298 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:37:50am

re: #232 Backwoods_Sleuth

Lucky for her the police let her keep her phone to tweet about it…
//

[Embedded content]

Let me see if I have any fucks left to give about Medea Benjamin. Maybe on the top shelf of the closet.

Nope. No fucks there.

299 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:38:09am

re: #296 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Heh. Take that, Gazprom.

I looked it up a couple of days ago, and Poland is believed to be sitting on perhaps the largest shale gas deposit in Central Europe. Estimated size is said to be 200 times Poland’s annual gas consumption.

300 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:38:13am

re: #297 sattv4u2

[Embedded content]

Pictures At An Exhibition
The Great Gate of Kiev

Been waiting for Freetoken or someone to do that.

301 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:38:43am

re: #295 sattv4u2

In this, Putin is in a lose/ lose predicament

If the Ukranians vote a pro-Russian in to office, it will be perceived as Putin strong arming and/ or fixing the elections

If the Ukranians vote someone that is pro EU alignment, it will be perceived as Putin (and to a lesser extent, the Russian economy) being weak

I’d argue that in the event a pro-EU government were elected under conditions Putin set, it actually would weaken his position, as he’d be trying to argue that the Ukrainian people want a pro-Russia government in power when the people obviously do not.

302 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:39:20am

Good comment from another forum

We do actually, and we blame ourselves that we have failed with letting Putin become president for the 3rd time. In 2012, after the elections, Russian parliament changed the law, and now the personal costs of peaceful protest are high. And still people went to the streets past Sunday, at least 15-20 hundred of them. Hundreds were arrested, and now a lot of them face fines up to 300k Rubles (around $8000) or up to 15 days in jail. Police officers customarily lie in their reports, while judges decline any audiovisual evidence that may call them on their lies. I personally was away for the last 2 days, but the sad truth is that I am not sure if I would go on the streets. I fully realise that all of us, those who choose to stay away, just make the whole endeavour that much riskier for those who choose to go and stand on the street. In the last 2 weeks we have seen more than a thousand Muskovites arrested for political activity, almost all of those people - writers, journalists, scientists, professors, even movie producers, and, naturally, political activists.

This is just in: Professor Andrei Zubov was fired from MGIMO (almost all in Russian diplomatic corps have undergrad diplomas from this school) for writing anti-war articles for Vedomosti.

Reminds me of bit of our Sergey Romanov. Hope he’s doing okay, wherever he is.

303 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:39:30am

re: #301 Targetpractice

I’d argue that in the event a pro-EU government were elected under conditions Putin set, it actually would weaken his position, as he’d be trying to argue that the Ukrainian people want a pro-Russia government in power when the people obviously do not.

Hence why I stated Lose/ Lose

304 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:39:55am

re: #300 Decatur Deb

Been waiting for Freetoken or someone to do that.

Well,,, Na Na Boo Boo!!!!

305 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:40:08am

re: #299 Dr Lizardo

Heh. Take that, Gazprom.

I looked it up a couple of days ago, and Poland is believed to be sitting on perhaps the largest shale gas deposit in Central Europe. Estimated size is said to be 200 times Poland’s annual gas consumption.

So—Poland is good for the next 200 yrs.

306 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:40:43am

re: #300 Decatur Deb

Been waiting for Freetoken or someone to do that.

I remember years ago, some orchestra was going to perform “Pictures at an Exhibition” while they projected each picture on to a big screen as the corresponding musical piece was played.

It turns out they couldn’t even FIND all the pictures, and the ones that they did find were really lame.

The artist apparently was a friend of the composer who was doing him a favor for a gallery showing, but the composer’s talent surpassed the artist by far.

307 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:43:15am

re: #296 Backwoods_Sleuth

Sec Kerry lands in Kiev, announces US extending a $1B loan guarantee to Ukraine and 4 cases of Heinz Ketchup!!
/

308 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:43:38am

re: #305 Justanotherhuman

So—Poland is good for the next 200 yrs.

They’re also looking in Romania, and here in the eastern part of the Czech Republic as well. Haven’t heard if they’ve found anything yet, but I think this latest gambit by Moscow is likely to increase the search for alternatives to Russian energy sources.

The Czechs are also looking at nuclear power; there was a plan for a nuclear plant about 8 miles from where I live, but it was shelved a couple of years ago. Apparently from what I read in a local source, that plan has been dusted off.

309 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:44:11am
310 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:44:57am

re: #303 sattv4u2

Hence why I stated Lose/ Lose

Oh I agree, I just disagreed as to how it would be interpreted. Won’t be a matter of his being seen as “weak” so much as his arguing that the Ukrainian people will vote in Russia’s best interests. A pro-EU government elected instead would leave him arguing that the people don’t know what they really want and Russia needs to impose a government upon them.

311 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:47:13am

Andrei Zubov:

rferl.org

RFERL: You point out in your article that Russia faces international sanctions, political isolation, an irreparable fall-out with its Ukrainian neighbor, and possibly even retaliation from Turkey, which has close ties with Crimean Tatars. It seems like a very high price to pay for the sake of turning Russians against Ukrainians. Do you think Putin is aware of the risks?

Zubov: It’s hard for me to judge, I haven’t spoken to Putin personally. But in this case, not a single political analyst will make any serious prognosis. We always make prognoses based on the assumption that the politician, even if selfish and cruel, is intelligent and rational. But what we are now witnessing is the behavior of a politician who has clearly lost his mind.

These actions are absurd because of [the possibility of international] sanctions and of the sharp economic downturn, which is causing the collapse of the Russian financial market. If this continues, it will lead to an impoverishment of the population in a matter of months and huge social protests.

RFE/RL: What prompted you to pen such a virulent critique of Putin’s actions toward Ukraine?

Zubov: Firstly, I wanted to tell the truth and bring Russians to their senses. People have been going crazy on the Internet, pledging to forgive Putin everything if he succeeds in returning Crimea. Secondly, I wanted to show Ukrainians that not everybody in Russia shares Putin’s opinions, that there also is another Russia. This is my duty as a Russian citizen. I’m very grateful to the “Vedomosti” newspaper for its decision to immediately publish my text online on Saturday [March 1] evening.

312 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:47:30am

re: #308 Dr Lizardo

They’re also looking in Romania, and here in the eastern part of the Czech Republic as well. Haven’t heard if they’ve found anything yet, but I think this latest gambit by Moscow is likely to increase the search for alternatives to Russian energy sources.

The Czechs are also looking at nuclear power; there was a plan for a nuclear plant about 8 miles from where I live, but it was shelved a couple of years ago. Apparently from what I read in a local source, that plan has been dusted off.

I think this latest BS from Putin has put a lot of Eastern and even Western Europe into the mindset of looking to remove the yoke that Russia was keeping on them. Up til now it was mostly a necessary evil, Russia being such a major exporter of petroleum and natural gas. But now, in light of Russia using those exports to control the response to its adventurism, the quest for alternatives is likely to begin anew.

313 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:49:53am

re: #312 Targetpractice

I think this latest BS from Putin has put a lot of Eastern and even Western Europe into the mindset of looking to remove the yoke that Russia was keeping on them. Up til now it was mostly a necessary evil, Russia being such a major exporter of petroleum and natural gas. But now, in light of Russia using those exports to control the response to its adventurism, the quest for alternatives is likely to begin anew.

Also, if the former satellites look more to the west, they’ll find the alternatives all of us will need and should be utilizing to get rid of all dependency on carbon fuels.

314 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:50:29am

re: #312 Targetpractice

I think this latest BS from Putin has put a lot of Eastern and even Western Europe into the mindset of looking to remove the yoke that Russia was keeping on them. Up til now it was mostly a necessary evil, Russia being such a major exporter of petroleum and natural gas. But now, in light of Russia using those exports to control the response to its adventurism, the quest for alternatives is likely to begin anew.

You bet it will. The Europeans are waking up to find out that Moscow is pursuing an aggressive revanchist foreign policy, and particularly in areas that were former members of the Warsaw Pact, they view it with a good deal of alarm.

315 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:51:15am

White House says US is sending teams to Kiev, Ukraine, this week to work with authorities on identifying stolen assets and managing financial market pressures - @Reuters
end of alert

316 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:53:30am

US ready to impose sanctions against Russia ‘most likely very soon’ in a matter of days as opposed to weeks, senior US official says - @Reuters
end of alert

317 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:53:45am

re: #315 Justanotherhuman

White House says US is sending teams to Kiev, Ukraine, this week to work with authorities on identifying stolen assets and managing financial market pressures - @Reuters
end of alert

Good to hear. I have no doubt the Russians won’t like that one damned bit. Too bad.

318 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:55:56am

re: #313 Justanotherhuman

Also, if the former satellites look more to the west, they’ll find the alternatives all of us will need and should be utilizing to get rid of all dependency on carbon fuels.

Clean Peat !!!

319 Eventual Carrion  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:56:35am

re: #289 Decatur Deb

It’s all a bit generational perception. We had blocks of ice for the box delivered by horse wagon, circa 1950—in the middle of Pittsburgh.

My youngest son still laughs when I take the milk out of the fridge and shake the jug. It is just habit, a good feeling I guess. He would say, “why did you do that”? I grew up in the days when the milk got delivered from the farm up the road (backwoods Pennsylvania). It was pasteurized, but not homogenized so it would separate while it sat. Just mixing it back up again.

320 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:57:13am

re: #318 Decatur Deb

Clean Peat !!!

Why? Was he out playing in the mud again!?!?!

321 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:58:52am

re: #319 Eventual Carrion

My youngest son still laughs when I take the milk out of the fridge and shake the jug. It is just habit, a good feeling I guess. He would say, “why did you do that”? I grew up in the days when the milk got delivered from the farm up the road (backwoods Pennsylvania). It was pasteurized, but not homogenized so it would separate while it sat. Just mixing it back up again.

I’m surprised that the phrase “like a broken record” is still being used.

322 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 4:59:34am

Putin has only succeeded in pushing Ukraine and the eastern European nations closer to the EU and the USA.

323 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:00:03am

re: #319 Eventual Carrion

My youngest son still laughs when I take the milk out of the fridge and shake the jug. It is just habit, a good feeling I guess. He would say, “why did you do that”? I grew up in the days when the milk got delivered from the farm up the road (backwoods Pennsylvania). It was pasteurized, but not homogenized so it would separate while it sat. Just mixing it back up again.

Everything at our highschool was run by the kids, including the small dairy operation. Amateur pasturized burned milk is one of the enduring memories.

324 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:00:38am

re: #321 Pie-onist Overlord

I’m surprised that the phrase “like a broken record” is still being used.

Or “dial a number” or “dial tone.” Do kids even know what a dial refers to anymore?

325 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:01:10am

re: #323 Decatur Deb

Everything at our highschool was run by the kids, including the small dairy operation. Amateur pasturized burned milk is one of the enduring memories.

Was this the juvenile detention facility where you were incarcerated, for stealing hubcaps or something?

326 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:03:16am

re: #142 dell*nix

Tell the server I will be there shortly, order the same for me but hold the bible.

Too much fiber?

327 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:05:37am

re: #325 Pie-onist Overlord

Was this the juvenile detention facility where you were incarcerated, for stealing hubcaps or something?

No, but it was run by same Franciscan order. This was a ‘minor’ seminary run on the old monastic model. The milk failures were nothing compared to the Great Chicken Catastrophe. The heat failed in the middle of the coldest Pennsylvania night, and the whole barn piled up in a great dead mound.

328 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:05:52am

re: #158 Lidane

Not The Onion:

[Embedded content]

I don’t even.

329 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:07:58am

re: #326 chadu

hey you!
I talked with MrBWS last night. The Skype connection wasn’t very good, but he is enjoying your book. Something about a “marshmallow jamboree” (?) he described as a crazy “Narnia meets Willy Wonka” that was making him crave sweets. He is up to the story about the witch and the tailor and likes that one a lot; said it was like a parable.
He also says you are great at characterization…he can visualize each of them.
And he is convinced it’s a great kids’ book.

330 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:11:23am

re: #202 Gus

Pope “Fuckin’ A” Frankie.

Love him.

331 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:12:21am

Take all defection stories from Russia Today with a grain of salt- here’s what they had to say about the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy:

She joined the Naval Force of the European Union (EUNAVFOR) in early January 2014 for anti-piracy operations. As she refueled in Greece while Russian forces seized control of Crimea, Russian media claimed on 1 March 2014 that the ship’s crew had defected to Russia and raised the Russian flag.[7] Shortly afterwards, independent news organizations reported that the ship was still flying the Ukrainian flag in port in Crete.[8] The commander of the ship confirmed that the crew had never defected to the Russians.[9]

332 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:12:53am

re: #319 Eventual Carrion

My youngest son still laughs when I take the milk out of the fridge and shake the jug. It is just habit, a good feeling I guess. He would say, “why did you do that”? I grew up in the days when the milk got delivered from the farm up the road (backwoods Pennsylvania). It was pasteurized, but not homogenized so it would separate while it sat. Just mixing it back up again.

My grandmother would skim the cream off the top for coffee; we kids were getting low fat milk even back then.

333 Eventual Carrion  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:13:34am

re: #312 Targetpractice

I think this latest BS from Putin has put a lot of Eastern and even Western Europe into the mindset of looking to remove the yoke that Russia was keeping on them. Up til now it was mostly a necessary evil, Russia being such a major exporter of petroleum and natural gas. But now, in light of Russia using those exports to control the response to its adventurism, the quest for alternatives is likely to begin anew.

Just a pity it takes a crisis to get the search going again.

334 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:14:52am

re: #240 Decatur Deb

Your ‘Good Morning’ gun news, via TPM:

Kentucky Churches Giving Away Guns To Help People Discover Jesus

thinkprogress.org

Because when I think of Jebus, I think of him aiming a pistol at a dude and saying, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”

335 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:15:35am

US ready to impose sanctions against Russia ‘most likely very soon’ in a matter of days as opposed to weeks, senior US official says - @Reuters
end of alert

336 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:15:47am

re: #331 Aqua Obama

Take all defection stories from Russia Today with a grain of salt- here’s what they had to say about the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy:

I imagine we’ll hear a lot of that in the next few days, as the Russians seem to be trying to demoralize the Ukranian military and convince them to either defect or to simply refuse to accept orders from Kyiv.

337 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:18:01am

Woops, that last was a repeat. But good news anyway.

338 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:21:35am

Since when? The blowhard speaketh.

Putin: Russia has right to use force in Ukraine

washingtonpost.com

MOSCOW — Accusing the West of encouraging an “unconstitutional coup” in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians there. The Russian leader’s first comments since Ukraine’s fugitive president fled to Russia last month came just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was flying to Kiev to meet with Ukraine’s new government.

“Putin also declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine onto anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places on Russia for its actions in Ukraine there will backfire.”

339 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:22:39am

re: #315 Justanotherhuman

White House says US is sending teams to Kiev, Ukraine, this week to work with authorities on identifying stolen assets and managing financial market pressures - @Reuters
end of alert

Send in a special Goldmann-Sachs Task Force, they are the Best and Brightest because they are the highest-paid, and can solve any problem the Ukraine is confronted with!

/

340 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:24:18am

re: #329 Backwoods_Sleuth

hey you!
I talked with MrBWS last night. The Skype connection wasn’t very good, but he is enjoying your book. Something about a “marshmallow jamboree” (?) he described as a crazy “Narnia meets Willy Wonka” that was making him crave sweets. He is up to the story about the witch and the tailor and likes that one a lot; said it was like a parable.
He also says you are great at characterization…he can visualize each of them.
And he is convinced it’s a great kids’ book.

The Marshmallow Jamboree one is by one of the other authors with stories in the book, Scott Kane. It’s fun and very silly!

But I totes wrote the Blue Tailor story, and am very proud of it.

Thanks!

341 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:25:40am

re: #338 Justanotherhuman

As its been noted on other forums, even the Soviet Union was incapable of even existing without American grain imports. I wonder if Russia really believes this autarky propaganda.

342 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:26:19am

re: #338 Justanotherhuman

Since when? The blowhard speaketh.

Putin: Russia has right to use force in Ukraine

washingtonpost.com

MOSCOW — Accusing the West of encouraging an “unconstitutional coup” in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians there. The Russian leader’s first comments since Ukraine’s fugitive president fled to Russia last month came just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was flying to Kiev to meet with Ukraine’s new government.

“Putin also declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine onto anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places on Russia for its actions in Ukraine there will backfire.”

Keep talking, Vlad. All you’re doing is driving Ukraine into the waiting arms of the West.

I wonder how you say “blowback” in Russian?

343 dell*nix  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:27:09am

re: #326 chadu

Too much acid content.

344 Eventual Carrion  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:27:49am

re: #324 wheat-dogghazi

Or “dial a number” or “dial tone.” Do kids even know what a dial refers to anymore?

Busy signal is a thing of the past also. I still remember my phone number from when I was a kid. It is now the number of a communications company here. The guy that owns the company was the person on our party line across the road back in the day. Still has it, but party line is a foreign concept to youth today.

[Monty break]
I had to get up in the morning at ten o’clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.[
/Monty break]

345 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:28:35am

re: #342 Dr Lizardo

Well, the word is “хвастун”.

Don’t ask me how to pronounce that. : )

346 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:30:11am

re: #344 Eventual Carrion

Busy signal is a thing of the past also. I still remember my phone number from when I was a kid. It is now the number of a communications company here. The guy that owns the company was the person on our party line across the road back in the day. Still has it, but party line is a foreign concept to youth today.

[Monty break]
I had to get up in the morning at ten o’clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.[
/Monty break]

Because shut up.

I was on a party line once… : ) You could always tell when someone was listening in, though.

347 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:30:26am

re: #341 Aqua Obama

These people that the Russians brought onto to base remind me of some of the Arizona militia

As its been noted on other forums, even the Soviet Union was incapable of even existing without American grain imports. I wonder if Russia really believes this autarky propaganda.

According to the sites I checked, Russia is back to exporting wheat.

They would not prosper without foreign trade, but they do seem less dependent on critical resources than the USA

348 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:32:13am
349 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:36:37am

translate.google.com

Minister of Culture of Russia called russian citizens to spend their summer vacation in Crimea. According to the minister, Crimea is now the safest region in Ukraine, tour operators are willing to provide huge discounts.

wat

350 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:37:54am
351 Eventual Carrion  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:39:47am

re: #349 Aqua Obama

translate.google.com

wat

“Remain Calm! All is well!”

352 William Barnett-Lewis  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:44:05am

re: #347 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

According to the sites I checked, Russia is back to exporting wheat.

They would not prosper without foreign trade, but they do seem less dependent on critical resources than the USA

I wonder if that is because they’re exporting it to places that used to be in the USSR and would have had it transferred there anyway?

353 Eventual Carrion  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:45:42am

re: #352 William Barnett-Lewis

I wonder if that is because they’re exporting it to places that used to be in the USSR and would have had it transferred there anyway?

Playing with the numbers to make things look good? Well I never!

354 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:45:45am

On a side note, it’s national pancake day:

355 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:46:33am

re: #354 Dr. Matt

On a side note, it’s national pancake day:

[Embedded image]

Sugar coma for me. : )

356 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:46:41am

re: #354 Dr. Matt

On a side note, it’s national pancake day:

[Embedded image]

I feel myself developing diabetes just from looking at that.

357 sattv4u2  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:48:36am

re: #354 Dr. Matt

On a side note, it’s national pancake day:

[Embedded image]

Yup

Go to IHOP,, get a free short stack

Make a donation (it goes to the Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals)

358 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:49:05am
359 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:49:14am

Lets bomb Russia with pancakes

360 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:50:03am

So, the latest RWNJ meme is that Russia invading the Ukraine is proof Mittens was correct that Russia is the biggest threat to the US.

Just let that sink in….

361 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:51:51am
362 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:51:55am

re: #360 Dr. Matt

So, the latest RWNJ meme is that Russia invading the Ukraine is proof Mittens was correct that Russia is the biggest threat to the US.

Just let that sink in….

AND PALIN TOO!!!! PALIN WAS RIGHT!!!! IMPEACH OBAMA & THEN MITT WILL BE PRESIDENT & SARAH WILL BE VICE PRESIDENT!!!11!!!!

363 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:51:56am

re: #359 Aqua Obama

Lets bomb Russia with pancakes

With Freedom Pancakes!

364 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:52:25am

Josh Marshall over at TPM points out something that nobody else covering the developments in Ukraine has. The Russian Ambassador read a letter today at the UN Security Council meeting, claiming it was from Yanuk, that essentially gave a green light to Russia’s occupation of Crimea. Yet the last anyone heard directly from Yanuk was the televised speech given shortly after being ousted, in which he bitched about how the coup was illegitimate and he did not approve of Russian military involvement. Of course, Josh notes that Yanuk may have changed his mind since then, but if so, he’s not said so in person.

365 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:56:31am

re: #343 dell*nix

Too much acid content.

366 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:57:16am

re: #364 Targetpractice

Here’s what he said:

“It would not be correct on my part to say what Russia needs to do,” Yanukovych said in his first public appearance since he fled Ukraine, turning up in Moscow this week. “But Russia cannot stand aside, it cannot be indifferent to the destiny of such a big partner as Ukraine,” he said.

“Russia needs to use all the leverage it has to prevent the chaos and terror in Ukraine,” he added. “It’s hard for me to give any kind of tips. I do not accept any attempt at intervention that would violate the integrity of Ukrainian sovereignty.”

“I believe that Russia will act,” he said. “Since I know the character of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, I am surprised he has kept silent. This is a big question.”

367 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:59:06am

re: #349 Aqua Obama

Exclusive photo of the Russian Minister of Culture:

368 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 5:59:21am
369 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:01:06am

re: #366 Aqua Obama

Here’s what he said:

“Russia needs to use all the leverage it has to prevent the chaos and terror in Ukraine,” he added. “It’s hard for me to give any kind of tips. I do not accept any attempt at intervention that would violate the integrity of Ukrainian sovereignty.”

I think right there is what Josh is thinking of, as Russia marching on Kyiv would be a serious violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Though I’m sure if it meant Yanuk were returned to power, he could write it off as “peacekeeping” or “restoring order.”

370 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:03:15am

re: #358 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

Mr. Putin, what about the snipers in Kiev who were firing on civilians? Who gave them orders to shoot? Those were provocateurs. Didn’t you read the reports? They were open source reports. So I don’t know what happened there. It’s unclear. But did you see the bullets piercing the shields of the Berkut [special police]. That was obvious. As for who gave the order to shoot, I don’t know. Yanukovich didn’t give that order. He told me. I only know what Yanukovich told me. And I told him, don’t do it. You’ll bring chaos to your city. And he did it, and they toppled him. Look at that bacchanalia. The American political technologists they did their work well. And this isn’t the first time they’ve done this in Ukraine, no. Sometimes, I get the feeling that these people…these people in America. They are sitting there, in their laboratory, and doing experiments, like on rats.

Whoa.

371 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:03:28am

re: #361 Backwoods_Sleuth

So, in Giuliani’s mind, a leader is one who sends the army and navy to occupy part of a sovereign nation for trumped-up reasons, threatening the entire balance of power and security of eastern Europe and the EU.

OOOKay!

372 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:03:44am
373 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:04:20am

re: #358 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

From the article:

For the last few years, it has become something like conventional knowledge in Moscow journalistic circles that Putin was no longer getting good information, that he was surrounded by yes-men who created for him a parallel informational universe. “They’re beginning to believe their own propaganda,” Gleb Pavlovsky told me when I was in Moscow in December.

Epistemic closure strikes again, and this time, in a man with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal.

O_O

374 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:04:24am

You know that couple in California who found $10 million in gold coins while they were out walking their dog?

It turns out those gold coins are probably from a bank robbery 114 years ago.

375 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:06:27am

Giuliani and Palin are both praising Putin….how more fucking pathetic can two humans be?

376 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:08:23am

re: #374 Pie-onist Overlord

You know that couple in California who found $10 million in gold coins while they were out walking their dog?

It turns out those gold coins are probably from a bank robbery 114 years ago.

So—will they get to keep them or will the previous owners or their heirs be traced?

377 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:08:24am

Greets and saluts from the bitterly cold NYC metro area. It’s cold, but it’s the people who are bitter. We’re done with winter, so we can bitch about spring (and the never ending allergy season), summer (and it’s incomparable heat and humidity that turns even basic outdoor activities into a marathon sprint between air conditioned buildings or cars), and fall, when we once again have to deal with allergies, hurricanes, and leaf collection schedules that don’t make sense.

But on the plus side, this should cheer people up.

You too could get Rep. Steve Stockman trying to get you to stop showing his mug shot.

378 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:09:03am

Heh.

379 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:09:30am

re: #377 lawhawk

Greets and saluts from the bitterly cold NYC metro area. It’s cold, but it’s the people who are bitter. We’re done with winter, so we can bitch about spring (and the never ending allergy season), summer (and it’s incomparable heat and humidity that turns even basic outdoor activities into a marathon sprint between air conditioned buildings or cars), and fall, when we once again have to deal with allergies, hurricanes, and leaf collection schedules that don’t make sense.

But on the plus side, this should cheer people up.

You too could get Rep. Steve Stockman trying to get you to stop showing his mug shot.

[Embedded content]

Hmm. Public record? Sorry, Steve.

380 Internet Tough Guy  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:10:44am

re: #375 Dr. Matt

Apparently they didn’t get the memo telling them that fifth columns work behind the scenes to undermine a country.

381 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:10:51am

re: #376 Justanotherhuman

So—will they get to keep them or will the previous owners or their heirs be traced?

From the article seems like the coins were the property of the US Mint.

382 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:11:13am

re: #375 Dr. Matt

Giuliani and Palin are both praising Putin….how more fucking pathetic can two humans be?

Well, one could listen to and believe either or both of them, that’d be pretty pathetic.

383 Internet Tough Guy  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:12:00am

re: #373 Dr Lizardo

Epistemic closure strikes again, and this time, in a man with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal.

No wonder Putin and Bush got along so well; they’re wired the same way.

384 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:12:49am

re: #375 Dr. Matt

Giuliani and Palin are both praising Putin….how more fucking pathetic can two humans be?

Now there’s a dream ticket for 2016.

385 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:13:37am

I… feel the need to share this picture of Biden, trying to sell ACA to a Canadian tourist.

Image: qirj0uge5riu3xwbsfcl.jpg

Those sunglasses

386 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:15:51am

re: #385 Aqua Obama

I… feel the need to share this picture of Biden, trying to sell ACA to a Canadian tourist.

Image: qirj0uge5riu3xwbsfcl.jpg

Those sunglasses

Aviators, but they don’t suit him well. Maybe gold frames would look better.

387 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:16:26am

re: #385 Aqua Obama

I… feel the need to share this picture of Biden, trying to sell ACA to a Canadian tourist.

Image: qirj0uge5riu3xwbsfcl.jpg

Those sunglasses

RayBans, Unca Joe! RayBans!

388 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:16:38am

re: #373 Dr Lizardo

From the article:

Epistemic closure strikes again, and this time, in a man with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal.

O_O

Come to think of it, Putin’s shirtless posing in manly events isn’t all that different from Bush’s brush clearing for the cameras. It wouldn’t surprise me to discover he was equally insecure.

389 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:16:51am

re: #383 Internet Tough Guy

No wonder Putin and Bush got along so well; they’re wired the same way.

There’s nothing more dangerous than when a leader is not getting information that may be contrary to his individual point of view. Without hearing contrary information, proper decisions cannot be made, and the results can run the gamut from laughable to catastrophic.

390 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:18:18am

Sec. State Kerry is in Ukraine right now, visiting sites around Kiev where protesters were shot by security forces loyal to Yanukvych.

391 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:18:20am
392 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:20:58am

re: #391 Justanotherhuman

[Embedded content]

Hearing the dudebros and wingnuts alike taking Putin’s side on this, to the point of just ignoring the protests going on in Russia and the subsequent crackdowns, is just fucking sad.

393 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:22:01am

UCH

394 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:22:42am
395 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:23:30am

I don’t think FB has removed those “Lynch Obama” pages either.

396 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:23:36am

These are the young people Yanuk called “terrorists”.

397 Ian G.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:24:09am

Mornin’ Lizards. You know, the wingnuts’ love of Putin kind of makes sense. After all, they have mancrushes on other leaders who blundered into invasions of other countries under dubious pretenses without any plan of action, drawing worldwide condemnation.

398 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:24:23am

re: #393 Pie-onist Overlord

UCH

[Embedded content]

Huh?! That’s not a blatantly anti-Semitic image?!

Whatever they’re smoking at Facebook must be some pretty strong shit.

*headdesk*

399 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:25:37am

So glad I don’t do FakeBook. It’s pretty much a sewer.

400 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:27:29am
401 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:28:10am

re: #399 Justanotherhuman

So glad I don’t do FakeBook. It’s pretty much a sewer.

I have unfreinded people for being overtly & excessively partisan political on FB, there are plenty of political sites to vent/spew that sort of thing.

402 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:30:26am

re: #377 lawhawk

Greets and saluts from the bitterly cold NYC metro area. It’s cold, but it’s the people who are bitter. We’re done with winter, so we can bitch about spring (and the never ending allergy season), summer (and it’s incomparable heat and humidity that turns even basic outdoor activities into a marathon sprint between air conditioned buildings or cars), and fall, when we once again have to deal with allergies, hurricanes, and leaf collection schedules that don’t make sense.

But on the plus side, this should cheer people up.

You too could get Rep. Steve Stockman trying to get you to stop showing his mug shot.

[Embedded content]

That’s the first time I’ve seen his mugshot. Masterstroke.

403 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:33:36am

re: #377 lawhawk

Greets and saluts from the bitterly cold NYC metro area. It’s cold, but it’s the people who are bitter. We’re done with winter, so we can bitch about spring (and the never ending allergy season), summer (and it’s incomparable heat and humidity that turns even basic outdoor activities into a marathon sprint between air conditioned buildings or cars), and fall, when we once again have to deal with allergies, hurricanes, and leaf collection schedules that don’t make sense.

But on the plus side, this should cheer people up.

You too could get Rep. Steve Stockman trying to get you to stop showing his mug shot.

[Embedded content]

Lolol.

404 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:34:10am

re: #400 darthstar

[Embedded content]

Blitzer is such as douche.

405 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:34:20am

re: #393 Pie-onist Overlord

UCH

[Embedded content]

I just checked and FB removed that page.

406 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:35:22am

re: #400 darthstar

[Embedded content]

Blitzer tries to close with a comment about the Ukranians being anti-semites, gets closed down by Amanpour, tries to repeat it(saying it’s what the Russians are saying but leaving it as the last word) and she shuts him down again.

407 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:37:52am

re: #372 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Here is the video of Albright talking about Putin…

Youtube Video

408 Weet  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:40:09am

This article has a chart that shows EU gas consumption by source.

Only Germany appears to use Russia as its main source. Correction: Some of the smaller countries apparently only use Russia as a source. I’m not sure how many would be affected if Russia turned off the gas going to Ukraine.

Peter Weber on EU Gas

409 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:41:53am

What’s with the moonbats and wingnuts and believing Russian propaganda?
So annoying.

410 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:42:00am

Image: PancakeAutomation.gif

411 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:44:06am

re: #409 Varek Raith

What’s with the moonbats and wingnuts and believing Russian propaganda?
So annoying.

Media outlets here in the US are pumping ratings and ignoring well, facts, history, or logic.

Add the multi-channel variety of news, and a place like Putin mouthpiece RT can stream the pro-Russia propaganda on a 24/7 basis and pretty soon people who aren’t really paying attention to the news think that this is a legitimate news source and that they’re reporting the facts on the ground, rather than the propaganda and wishful thinking that they want things to be.

412 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:44:31am
413 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:47:05am
414 ericblair  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:50:29am

re: #409 Varek Raith

What’s with the moonbats and wingnuts and believing Russian propaganda?
So annoying.

Because RT was the go-to site for Snowden/NSA outrages of the day, where you could get your dose of Obama hate-ons. Now it’s 24/7 full-court press anti-Ukie propaganda, so they lap that up too.

415 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:50:41am
416 Internet Tough Guy  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:50:47am

re: #413 NJDhockeyfan

I’m seriously wondering whether Putin wants a shooting war with NATO now.

417 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:51:48am

re: #414 ericblair

Because RT was the go-to site for Snowden/NSA outrages of the day, where you could get your dose of Obama hate-ons. Now it’s 24/7 full-court press anti-Ukie propaganda, so they lap that up too.

With one small exception, in the tweet I just posted above. But yes, RT is the FOX equivalent.

418 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:51:54am

re: #414 ericblair

Because RT was the go-to site for Snowden/NSA outrages of the day, where you could get your dose of Obama hate-ons. Now it’s 24/7 full-court press anti-Ukie propaganda, so they lap that up too.

So freaking annoying.

419 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:52:01am

Max is doing a lot of radio and TV lately.

420 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:53:17am

re: #416 Internet Tough Guy

I’m seriously wondering whether Putin wants a shooting war with NATO now.

Putin wants to sow confusion and distrust. Make the situation so volatile that people won’t have time to watch him re-annex the Ukraine as they’ll be busy preventing melt-downs elsewhere.

421 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:53:18am

re: #416 Internet Tough Guy

I’m seriously wondering whether Putin wants a shooting war with NATO now.

Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts.
- Londo Mollari

422 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:55:14am

re: #415 darthstar

[Embedded content]

What’s an American (I’m presuming here from her accent) doing working for a party-line Russian TV network anyway?

423 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:55:32am

re: #421 Varek Raith

Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts.
- Londo Mollari

My strategy is to get all my enemies to surround me, then boom! I take ‘em all out at once and win! Still working on the boom! part and how that will play out.

424 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:56:03am

re: #422 Justanotherhuman

What’s an American (I’m presuming here from her accent) doing working for a party-line Russian TV network anyway?

It’s a paycheck.

425 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:57:06am

Quick! Get McCain and Graham to call the president weak again! We must stop this from happening!

426 darthstar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:57:34am

Time to walk the dogs.

427 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:57:50am

re: #424 darthstar

It’s a paycheck.

Famous last words.

428 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 6:58:30am

re: #393 Pie-onist Overlord

UCH

[Embedded content]

The original poster actually has the term “High Finance” on it (to go along with Marxism, of course). You could remove the swastika and it probably could have been used in the 2010 elections. Populism never really changes.

429 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:00:02am

re: #428 Aqua Obama

The original poster actually has the term “High Finance” on it (to go along with Marxism, of course). You could remove the swastika and it probably could have been used in the 2010 elections. Populism never really changes.

Especially when it comes to firing up disenchanted masses against Jews…

430 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:01:34am

re: #416 Internet Tough Guy

I’m seriously wondering whether Putin wants a shooting war with NATO now.

I doubt it, but who knows? Maybe Putin feels the time to strike is now - 20 or 30 years down the road, Russia may well not have the capability to sustain major offensive conventional military operations.

431 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:02:58am

Temperature is up to 16F, so it’s probably safe for me to stop babysitting the plumbing and go take a nap for a couple of hours…

432 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:03:57am

re: #429 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Especially when it comes to firing up disenchanted masses against Jews…

They’re rich! Communist! Shadowy

433 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:04:18am

Putin’s gangland politics

blogs.reuters.com

434 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:04:52am

re: #432 Aqua Obama

They’re rich! Communist! Shadowy

COSMOPOLITAN!!!

435 Aqua Obama  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:04:52am

And they probably like chocolate jellies, too!

436 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:06:24am

So, have any RWNJs brought up the “fact” that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is just Obama distracting us from Benghazi and Obamacare? Cause you know it’s coming….

437 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:07:48am
438 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:09:50am

re: #425 darthstar

Quick! Get McCain and Graham to call the president weak again! We must stop this from happening!

[Embedded content]

Really the only reason I can see to harp so much on foreign policy right now, because back home domestic policy is either slowly curdling or actively turning against the GOP.

439 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:10:28am

re: #354 Dr. Matt

On a side note, it’s national pancake day:

[Embedded image]

440 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:12:45am

re: #421 Varek Raith

Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts.
- Londo Mollari

That’s all we need, Putin as Cartagia.

441 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:15:30am

re: #436 Dr. Matt

So, have any RWNJs brought up the “fact” that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is just Obama distracting us from Benghazi and Obamacare? Cause you know it’s coming….

I’m sure the thought has crossed both Alex Jones and Glenn Beck’s mind.

442 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:15:40am

re: #409 Varek Raith

What’s with the moonbats and wingnuts and believing Russian propaganda?
So annoying.

Russia is freer than Obama’s America! That’s what Snowden says!

Putin is a bear wrasslin’, gay bashin’, strong armin’ REAL MAN unlike Obama and his mom jeans.

443 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:16:22am

re: #425 darthstar

Quick! Get McCain and Graham to call the president weak again! We must stop this from happening!

[Embedded content]

It doesn’t hurt that many prominent corps have jumped on board with the increase so people I imagine see through the right’s “THIS IS BAD FOR BUSINESS” nonsense.

444 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:18:04am

re: #442 Lidane

Russia is freer than Obama’s America! That’s what Snowden says!

Putin is a bear wrasslin’, gay bashin’, strong armin’ REAL MAN unlike Obama and his mom jeans.

The wingnut obsession with how Putin “projects” masculinity especially that one famous topless image of him on horseback. They see a strong leader. I see the wonderful art of propaganda at play.

445 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:21:05am

Cleaning up the detritus in Kiev.

instagram.com

446 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:24:34am

I am starting to see a little pushback on the Putie love this morning on Facebook, among friends of mine who are conservative but not completely insane. Basically it boils down to ‘You’re supposed to be Americans - look at what you’re saying.’

I am slightly encouraged.

447 Ian G.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:28:27am

re: #446 makeitstop

I am starting to see a little pushback on the Putie love this morning on Facebook, among friends of mine who are conservative but not completely insane. Basically it boils down to ‘You’re supposed to be Americans - look at what you’re saying.’

I am slightly encouraged.

It shows the degeneracy of the American right that that love for a former KGB colonel-turned corrupt autocrat even needs pushback. Kind of like how a washed-up rock musician with Neo-Nazi views needed denunciation last week…..

448 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:29:02am

If Putin’s mouth is moving, he’s lying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Ukraine situation with China’s Xi Jinping; Kremlin says their positions on the crisis are close - @Reuters
end of alert

449 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:31:20am

re: #447 Ian G.

It shows the degeneracy of the American right that that love for a former KGB colonel-turned corrupt autocrat even needs pushback. Kind of like how a washed-up rock musician with Neo-Nazi views needed denunciation last week…..

Word. But Putin I think is everything the right wants in a leader. He projects an image of traditional masculinity, wants the church in state affairs, hates gays, and rules with an iron fist. Oh and he’s not Obama.

450 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:32:22am

Saw the other day that Dana Rohrabacher who once defended the Taliban was crying about people “demonizing” Vlad. Has that guy ever met an authoritarian regime he hasn’t liked?

451 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:33:01am

Dudebro fake currency continues to fail:

452 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:33:27am

re: #449 HappyWarrior

Word. But Putin I think is everything the right wants in a leader. He projects an image of traditional masculinity, wants the church in state affairs, hates gays, and rules with an iron fist. Oh and he’s not Obama.

Exactly. It goes back to the authoritarian personality.

They want to be ruled by a strong authoritarian leader while at the same time wishing to rule over others they view as “less worthy” in the same fashion.

453 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:34:44am

re: #449 HappyWarrior

Word. But Putin I think is everything the right wants in a leader. He projects an image of traditional masculinity, wants the church in state affairs, hates gays, and rules with an iron fist. Oh and he’s not Obama.

That bare chest of his makes an awesome surface for them to project their ideas of what they want in a leader.

454 The Ghost of a Flea  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:35:06am

re: #444 HappyWarrior

The wingnut obsession with how Putin “projects” masculinity especially that one famous topless image of him on horseback. They see a strong leader. I see the wonderful art of propaganda at play.

I see a modern recursion of the ancient Indian practice of a new sultan marching through his capital, naked from the waste down, to demonstrate his health and manliness by his ability to maintain an erection.

Time is a flat circle. If we look at history from the outside, we’re all just doing the same things over and over. Also, lots of dicks.

455 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:35:10am

re: #452 Dr Lizardo

Exactly. It goes back to the authoritarian personality.

They want to be ruled by a strong authoritarian leader while at the same time wishing to rule over others they view as “less worthy” in the same fashion.

Right, and also Putin projects things in a black and white way that Obama would never. To the right, the world is full of good guys and bad guys rather than the good guys capable of bad things or bad guys capable of good things complexity.

456 Weet  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:35:26am

re: #448 Justanotherhuman

If Putin’s mouth is moving, he’s lying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Ukraine situation with China’s Xi Jinping; Kremlin says their positions on the crisis are close - @Reuters
end of alert

Well, Putie, that’s not what China stated at the UN yesterday: “LIU JIEYI (China) condemned the recent violent actions in Ukraine, saying his Government had been urging all sides to resolve their internal differences peacefully within a legal framework and conscientiously to protect the legitimate rights of all Ukrainians. Emphasizing that China consistently stood up for the principle of non-interference and respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, he said there were reasons why events in Ukraine that country had progressed to the present stage. China would follow events on the ground closely and call on all sides to hold dialogue on the basis of international law.”

UN Summary 3/3/14 Security Council Meeting

457 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:35:41am

re: #453 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

That bare chest of his makes an awesome surface for them to project their ideas of what they want in a leader.

Yeah, I think it’s creepy myself. I liked the image of the baby on the horse.

458 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:36:55am

re: #455 HappyWarrior

Right, and also Putin projects things in a black and white way that Obama would never. To the right, the world is full of good guys and bad guys rather than the good guys capable of bad things or bad guys capable of good things complexity.

The right has a strong case of Manichean thinking; absolute good or absolute evil. There is no middle ground in that mentality.

459 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:37:34am

re: #451 Lidane

Dudebro fake currency continues to fail:

These bright lights had close to 900 Bitcoin (about $630,000) hacked from their online wallet. They advertised themselves as a safe online storage place for your Bitcoin.

Not quite.

On the old-fashioned money front, I read that the Royal Bank of Scotland lost some money, too. Taxpayer money. So, it’s not just Bitcoin that’s got troubles.

460 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:38:01am


Putin may have seen what the invasion was doing to his fellow oligarchs, and they didn’t want to see their gains go up in smoke so they’re putting pressure on him to back off the bellicosity? Or US efforts paying off? Or realizing that Putin bit off more than he could chew?

Saw this morning a comparison of military forces, and while Russia would still have an advantage over Ukraine in men and equipment, both have common training/tactics, and the Ukrainians would be defending their home turf from invasion. Russia would have the upper hand at the outset, but if it gets into a prolonged situation, Russia would find itself on the short end economically, and it’s an economy that can ill afford a sustained hit.

461 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:38:21am

re: #458 Dr Lizardo

The right has a strong case of Manichean thinking; absolute good or absolute evil. There is no middle ground in that mentality.

Right and it reflects in how they want their elected officials to deal with Obama and view Obama’s policies. It’s not that ACA could be bad policy but it has to be akin to the worst excesses of the Third Reich. It has to be evil.

462 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:39:18am

re: #453 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

That bare chest of his makes an awesome surface for them to project their ideas of what they want in a leader.

No shirt, No shoes, No Sevastopol.

463 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:39:35am

re: #459 wheat-dogghazi

If a US bank is FDIC insured, you’re protected up to the limits under law. Bitcoin? Caveat emptor (particularly when someone empties your account by hook, crook, or hack).

464 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:39:35am

re: #452 Dr Lizardo

Exactly. It goes back to the authoritarian personality.

They want to be ruled by a strong authoritarian leader while at the same time wishing to rule over others they view as “less worthy” in the same fashion.

Not surprising, considering their ideological predecessors swooned over Hitler and how he was such a great man for rebuilding Germany while FDR was engaging in “socialism” to combat the Great Depression. It’s why they started the meme, which their descendents adopted, that it took WWII to drag America out of the Depression.

465 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:40:21am

re: #456 Weet

Well, Putie, that’s not what China stated at the UN yesterday: “LIU JIEYI (China) condemned the recent violent actions in Ukraine, saying his Government had been urging all sides to resolve their internal differences peacefully within a legal framework and conscientiously to protect the legitimate rights of all Ukrainians. Emphasizing that China consistently stood up for the principle of non-interference and respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, he said there were reasons why events in Ukraine that country had progressed to the present stage. China would follow events on the ground closely and call on all sides to hold dialogue on the basis of international law.”

UN Summary 3/3/14 Security Council Meeting

The Chinese response has many words, but little clear meaning. It’s hardly a rousing defense for Putin’s actions, and I doubt President Xi was gushing to Putin about the invasion. China has investments in Ukraine.

466 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:41:00am

re: #461 HappyWarrior

Right and it reflects in how they want their elected officials to deal with Obama and view Obama’s policies. It’s not that ACA could be bad policy but it has to be akin to the worst excesses of the Third Reich. It has to be evil.

You see that kind of absolutist thinking most clearly visible in their ridiculous hyperbole.

These are folks who simply lack the equipment to handle the notion that there do exist nuances, shades of gray, in this world. It’s beyond them.

467 dog philosopher  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:41:19am

Pootie Backs Down

Putin slammed Western powers for backing what he called an “armed seizure of power” in Ukraine, but also emphasised that he saw no immediate need for Russian military intervention, which he described as a “last resort”.

He also said Russia was willing to work with Western states and the International Monetary Fund on financial assistance for Ukraine, and cooperate with the new authorities in Kiev although Russia does not regard them as legitimate.

and with that, “obama is weak & indecisive & putin’s bitch” disappears like a patch of snow in the sunshine

468 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:42:18am

re: #464 Targetpractice

Not surprising, considering their ideological predecessors swooned over Hitler and how he was such a great man for rebuilding Germany while FDR was engaging in “socialism” to combat the Great Depression. It’s why they started the meme, which their descendents adopted, that it took WWII to drag America out of the Depression.

Right, Mussolini was similarly admired for ridding Italy of the socialists and making Italy strong again. These people also love Augusto Pinochet in Chile and other rightist regimes in Latin and South America. Their chief problem with communist regimes is not the authoritarianism of such regimes. If it was, there’s no way in hell they would love Pinochet the way they do.

469 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:43:33am

What’s pathetic is like clockwork Senators McCain and Graham spouting off the usual bullshit. Obama is weak. Blah blah. It’s like these guys have never heard of the old phrase- choose your battles wisely.

470 wheat-dogghazi  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:43:36am

re: #463 lawhawk

If a US bank is FDIC insured, you’re protected up to the limits under law. Bitcoin? Caveat emptor (particularly when someone empties your account by hook, crook, or hack).

Yup. Caveat emptor. The trouble with Bitcoin now is that anybody who can create a website and write (or copy) some code thinks he can also be responsible for people’s money. These guys underestimate the greed and skill of blackhats who really know how to code, and swipe digital currency right under the website ops’ noses.

471 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:44:41am

re: #468 HappyWarrior

Right, Mussolini was similarly admired for ridding Italy of the socialists and making Italy strong again. These people also love Augusto Pinochet in Chile and other rightist regimes in Latin and South America. Their chief problem with communist regimes is not the authoritarianism of such regimes. If it was, there’s no way in hell they would love Pinochet the way they do.

The chief issue of the right when it comes to authoritarianism is that it’s perfectly acceptable, even desirable.

As long as they are the authoritarians.

472 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:45:34am

re: #451 Lidane

Dudebro fake currency continues to fail:

[Embedded content]

“Bitcoin, when fiat currency isn’t virtual enough.”

473 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:45:55am

re: #467 dog philosopher

Pootie Backs Down

Putin slammed Western powers for backing what he called an “armed seizure of power” in Ukraine, but also emphasised that he saw no immediate need for Russian military intervention, which he described as a “last resort”.

He also said Russia was willing to work with Western states and the International Monetary Fund on financial assistance for Ukraine, and cooperate with the new authorities in Kiev although Russia does not regard them as legitimate.

and with that, “obama is weak & indecisive & putin’s bitch” disappears like a patch of snow in the sunshine

Can’t wait 24 hours for results in this Age of Twitter/Sound-Bite Diplomacy.

474 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:45:59am

re: #468 HappyWarrior

Right, Mussolini was similarly admired for ridding Italy of the socialists and making Italy strong again. These people also love Augusto Pinochet in Chile and other rightist regimes in Latin and South America. Their chief problem with communist regimes is not the authoritarianism of such regimes. If it was, there’s no way in hell they would love Pinochet the way they do.

Whaddaya want? Repsect for human rights & dignity or do you want the trains to run on time?

475 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:46:55am

Senator Turtle and Rand Paul will be upset:


On the bright side, they now get to raise money from the outraged.

476 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:46:57am

HURR HURR TAX TEH POORS!!!!! THAT MAKE IT MOAR FAIR!!!!!!

477 Bubblehead II  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:48:24am

re: #469 HappyWarrior

What’s pathetic is like clockwork Senators McCain and Graham spouting off the usual bullshit. Obama is weak. Blah blah. It’s like these guys have never heard of the old phrase- choose your battles wisely.

It’s not just McCain and Grahm. Rummy chimed in on Greta’s show yesterday.

Ex-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Ukraine: ‘It is US weakness that has shaken the world’

*Edited to remove an extra yesterday

478 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:48:44am

re: #476 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR TAX TEH POORS!!!!! THAT MAKE IT MOAR FAIR!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

Yeah about that, your pal Ronnie increased taxes and the size of government.. So you can use the nice picture of smiling Reagan all you want. I’ll just stay here in reality where Ronald Reagan was a fraud who talked about the evils of big government and taxes and yet had no problem doing so himself.

479 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:48:56am

re: #476 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR TAX TEH POORS!!!!! THAT MAKE IT MOAR FAIR!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

That photo was probably before the mental deterioration set in, the statement after.

480 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:49:22am

re: #477 Bubblehead II

It’s not just McCain and Grahm. Rummy chimed in yesterday on Greta’s show yesterday.

Ex-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Ukraine: ‘It is US weakness that has shaken the world’

Fuck Cheney and Rumsfeld seriously. These guys fucked our reputation globally and they have the nerve to accuse Obama of “weakening us.”

481 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:49:26am

re: #475 Lidane

Senator Turtle and Rand Paul will be upset:

[Embedded content]


On the bright side, they now get to raise money from the outraged.

I think the wingnuts are moving away from ‘splodey-headed outrage and more to resentful sadness that American culture is changing, and there’s precious little they can do about it.

482 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:49:28am

Via AP:

Raw: Shooting Incident at Airbase in Ukraine

Youtube Video

483 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:49:43am

re: #478 HappyWarrior

Yeah about that, your pal Ronnie increased taxes and the size of government.. So you can use the nice picture of smiling Reagan all you want. I’ll just stay here in reality where Ronald Reagan was a fraud who talked about the evils of big government and taxes and yet had no problem doing so himself.

Do not confuse the Reagan of History with the Reagan of Republican Ideology.

484 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:51:41am

re: #476 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR TAX TEH POORS!!!!! THAT MAKE IT MOAR FAIR!!!!!!

Can’t be for BIG government, big taxes & still be for the little guy!

But wait: isn’t the RWNJ argument that big govt and big taxes is what punishes the “big guys”/makers for the benefit and reward of the “little guy”/takers/moochers?

485 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:52:34am

re: #482 Justanotherhuman

Via AP:

Raw: Shooting Incident at Airbase in Ukraine

[Embedded content]

Earlier incident. Shooting, not hitting. No shortage of balls in Ukraine.

486 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:52:53am

re: #484 chadu

But wait: isn’t the RWNJ argument that big govt and big taxes is what punishes the “big guys”/makers for the >benefit and reward of the “little guy”/takers/moochers?

[Embedded image]

Plot hole mi amigo.

487 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:53:08am

re: #477 Bubblehead II

It’s not just McCain and Grahm. Rummy chimed in yesterday on Greta’s show yesterday.

Ex-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Ukraine: ‘It is US weakness that has shaken the world’

If that’s one of the things I will fault the President for, it’s not putting Rumsfeld and the rest of that pack of jackals on trial, but instead employing the Ford-esque “All is forgiven” handwave in the hopes that Republicans would approve.

488 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:54:18am

re: #482 Justanotherhuman

Via AP:

Raw: Shooting Incident at Airbase in Ukraine

[Embedded content]

Who is who in that clip? Is that Ukrainians with flags marching on Russians without markings on their uniforms?

489 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:56:05am

re: #488 Killgore Trout

Who is who in that clip? Is that Ukrainians with flags marching on Russians without markings on their uniforms?

“Defense Group”. We have it on good authority that there are no Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The marchers were the airbase commander and his unarmed men per this morning’s traffic.

490 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:56:13am

re: #479 Decatur Deb

That photo was probably before the mental deterioration set in, the statement after.

Or it could just be another made-up Fake Quote.

491 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:56:19am
492 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:57:28am

re: #490 Pie-onist Overlord

Or it could just be another made-up Fake Quote.

Probably real. Reagan made his living saying what other people wrote about GE refrigerators.

493 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:57:56am

re: #485 Decatur Deb

Earlier incident. Shooting, not hitting. No shortage of balls in Ukraine.

Yes, just hadn’t seen that one.

I am encouraged by the on-going clean up in Kiev, as well. No doubt the same folks who made it are cleaning it, also.

494 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:58:09am

re: #487 Targetpractice

If that’s one of the things I will fault the President for, it’s not putting Rumsfeld and the rest of that pack of jackals on trial, but instead employing the Ford-esque “All is forgiven” handwave in the hopes that Republicans would approve.

Me, I saw it as realpolitik to avoid utter governmental breakdown, with a side-order of an honest-to-God civil war, with shooting and whatnot.

And that’s before having seen the depths of vileness — and said vileness’s spread into rank-and-file Republicans — the RWNJs have displayed over the past 5 years in the mass-media and online.

*shudder*

495 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:59:36am

re: #492 Decatur Deb

Probably real. Reagan made his living saying what other people wrote about GE refrigerators.

496 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 7:59:57am

BBIAB

497 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:00:16am

re: #494 chadu

Me, I saw it as realpolitik to avoid utter governmental breakdown, with a side-order of an honest-to-God civil war, with shooting and whatnot.

And that’s before having seen the depths of vileness — and said vileness’s spread into rank-and-file Republicans — the RWNJs have displayed over the past 5 years in the mass-media and online.

*shudder*

Same, I saw it being close to the spirit of what Lincoln talked about in his second inaugural. I think Obama sincerely did believe that he’d have a truly loyal opposition. He was unfortunately wrong. I knew the Republicans and right were nasty before Obama became president but I didn’t know they were this assholic.

498 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:00:57am

From BBC:

15:43:

High-level contacts between Ukraine and Russia have begun, says Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, quoted by Reuters. “Consultations have started at the level of ministers,” he told reporters, without going into detail.

I wonder if Putin was hoping that his gambit in Crimea would spark uprisings in other regions where ethnic Russians are a majority, providing a pretext for greater intervention.

If that was his intention, thus far, he has failed.

499 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:01:36am

re: #497 HappyWarrior

Same, I saw it being close to the spirit of what Lincoln talked about in his second inaugural. I think Obama sincerely did believe that he’d have a truly loyal opposition. He was unfortunately wrong. I knew the Republicans and right were nasty before Obama became president but I didn’t know they were this assholic.

Basically we always have to forgive the bastards or we become ungovernable. Call it the Ford-Nixon doctrine.

500 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:02:52am

re: #499 Decatur Deb

Basically we always have to forgive the bastards or we become ungovernable. Call it the Ford-Nixon doctrine.

Right. I mean I hated the Bush admin but I was ready to turn a new leaf. Of course, the right flips its shit every time Obama or someone else mentions the previous administration. As if Jimmy Carter isn’t still a boogeyman for the right.

501 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:03:07am

re: #498 Dr Lizardo

From BBC:

I wonder if Putin was hoping that his gambit in Crimea would spark uprisings in other regions where ethnic Russians are a majority, providing a pretext for greater intervention.

If that was his intention, thus far, he has failed.

Because the Ukrainian kids have been astoundingly disciplined as well as brave. That’s something missing from OWS and it pissed me off.

502 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:06:14am

re: #498 Dr Lizardo

From BBC:

I wonder if Putin was hoping that his gambit in Crimea would spark uprisings in other regions where ethnic Russians are a majority, providing a pretext for greater intervention.

If that was his intention, thus far, he has failed.

I believe he was hoping for a replay of South Ossetia, hoping Ukraine would shoot first and give him the pretext for an invasion. Without which he’s trying desperately to argue that the world should allow him to march to Kyiv and reinstall Yanuk, and that doesn’t seem to be as popular as he figured.

503 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:08:16am
I’m sure conservatives will be pleased that the President is wearing an expensive suit for this one. Actually, I’m not sure.

He’s almost got his foot on the DEsk!!!11 Weakness!! Dithering!@!!

505 GunstarGreen  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:09:29am

Remember the days, in that ancient bygone era of 2002 or so, when trash-talking the president on foreign matters was considered to be treason by those on the American Right?

Man, how times have changed.

506 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:11:05am

re: #469 HappyWarrior

I hope Obama’s done sending the McCainGraham tag-team as special envoys overseas.

507 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:13:48am

re: #505 GunstarGreen

Remember the days, in that ancient bygone era of 2002 1797 or so, when trash-talking the president on foreign matters was considered to be treason by those on the American Right?

Man, how times have changed.

monticello.org

508 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:13:52am

Bizarre Chicago Teacher “PD” session gets noticed big time
Youtube Video

???

forgive me, I’m still my first cuppa.

509 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:14:09am

re: #505 GunstarGreen

Remember the days, in that ancient bygone era of 2002 or so, when trash-talking the president on foreign matters was considered to be treason by those on the American Right?

Man, how times have changed.

I’m so old I remember when history started on January 20, 2009.

510 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:14:36am

re: #504 Killgore Trout

Putin: Ukrainian ‘corruption has reached dimensions that are unheard of here in Russia’ (Transcript - Part 1)

It’s good, but it’s not going to get him Leno’s slot.

511 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:15:22am

Forbes: ‘The Invasion of Crimea Is Crushing Russia’s Stock and Currency Markets’

Link to Pages.

because, you know, we need to show military strength in this situation …

//

512 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:16:48am

re: #502 Targetpractice

I believe he was hoping for a replay of South Ossetia, hoping Ukraine would shoot first and give him the pretext for an invasion. Without which he’s trying desperately to argue that the world should allow him to march to Kyiv and reinstall Yanuk, and that doesn’t seem to be as popular as he figured.

By denying Putin the pretext for an invasion - so far, at least - the Ukrainians have no doubt disappointed him.

Maybe he needs another day or two to cook something up, like the Gleiwitz Incident.

513 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:17:08am

Shit, it’s on again.

Beshear: Kentucky will appeal federal judge’s ruling in same-sex marriage case without Conway

Read more here: kentucky.com

514 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:17:11am

re: #509 Lidane

I’m so old I remember when history started on January 20, 2009.

I can’t seem to get past Feburary 12, 2013

515 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:18:18am

New York and Connecticut take action against food stamp cuts

516 nsmith25  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:18:38am

re: #513 Justanotherhuman

Taking the Political Pressure off Conway. He’ll be the Dem nominee for Gov. after Breshear.

517 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:20:44am

re: #305 Justanotherhuman

So—Poland is good for the next 200 yrs.

Shale gas, however, does mean fracking. And that gets some people really worked up.

519 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:21:35am

Deep, insightful commentary:

520 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:21:50am

re: #518 FemNaziBitch

Paul Ryan Searches for Waste in 16 Anti-Poverty Programs, But Reveals They’re Amazingly Efficient

Ha, Ayn Rand’s biggest fan boy in Congress got pwned.

521 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:22:17am

Key expert in Michigan’s same-sex marriage trial under fire

So many resources being wasted on hatred.

522 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:22:23am

re: #519 Lidane

Deep, insightful commentary:

[Embedded content]

Rofl.

523 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:22:36am

re: #519 Lidane

Deep, insightful commentary:

[Embedded content]

I see America’s favorite half-term governor doesn’t understand how propaganda works.

524 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:22:56am

re: #487 Targetpractice

If that’s one of the things I will fault the President for, it’s not putting Rumsfeld and the rest of that pack of jackals on trial, but instead employing the Ford-esque “All is forgiven” handwave in the hopes that Republicans would approve.

What crime did Donald Rumsfeld commit?

525 brennant  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:23:08am

re: #519 Lidane

Keeping it classy, I see.

526 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:23:16am

re: #519 Lidane

Whatever Politico earns for itself is surely far less than it deserves, given the originality and profoundness of its investigative journamalism. //

527 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:23:29am

Conservatives eating up and conveying Russian propaganda.
What a world!

528 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:23:39am

re: #520 HappyWarrior

Ha, Ayn Rand’s biggest fan boy in Congress got pwned.

That is because it makes no economic sense not to help those in need. One doesn’t have to be a bleeding heart to support these programs. It’s dollars and sense.

529 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:24:29am

re: #510 Decatur Deb

It’s good, but it’s not going to get him Leno’s slot.

It’s really tough to interpret what he’s getting at. He seems mostly interested in keeping Crimea but he also talks a lot about the legitimacy and corruption in Kiev and the rest of the country. It’s hard to tell how far he’s going to go. It almost seems like this whole thing is about loyalty to Yanuk. The Russians don’t want to put him back in power but they want all the technical procedures followed. I guess this might allow them to game the system and lay the groundwork for installing another Russian lackey in Kiev without invading the entire country.

530 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:24:37am

re: #523 HappyWarrior

I see America’s favorite half-term governor doesn’t understand how propaganda works.

Peaked too soon—you’re only as good as your last turkey slaughter.

Youtube Video

531 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:24:48am

re: #528 FemNaziBitch

That is because it makes >no economic sense not to help those in need. One doesn’t have to be a bleeding heart to support these programs. It’s dollars and sense.

Right but good luck convincing Paulie that.

532 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:25:27am

OK, this made me laugh.

533 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:26:02am

re: #524 Dark_Falcon

What crime did Donald Rumsfeld commit?

UnAmerican activities. “Mr. Rumsfeld, are you know or have you ever been a member of the Republican party?”
/

534 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:26:20am

re: #527 Varek Raith

Conservatives eating up and conveying Russian propaganda.
What a world!

That’s because the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War were the worst things to happen to the American right. They can’t function without the Red Scare. The world doesn’t make any sense.

It’s why they love Pootie Poot so much. They need a good authoritarian like him to rebuild the USSR so all will be right again.

535 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:27:33am

re: #519 Lidane

Deep, insightful commentary:

[Embedded content]

Caribou Barbie says what?


Serious, if Saturday Night Live has a new show this week they seriously should see if Tina Fey can do a guest spot giving Sarah Palin the mockery Palin so richly deserves.

536 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:27:34am
537 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:27:54am

re: #530 Decatur Deb

Peaked too soon—you’re only as good as your last turkey slaughter.

[Embedded content]

Ha I remember that.

538 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:29:25am

re: #536 Lidane

[Embedded content]

McCain and Graham are looking for something to clutch their pearls at here.

539 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:29:27am

re: #533 Killgore Trout

UnAmerican activities. “Mr. Rumsfeld, are you know or have you ever been a member of the Republican party?”
/

Yeah, that’s it!
e_e

540 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:29:27am

re: #535 Dark_Falcon

Let’s never forget that the GOP wanted that twit a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And that people on the right are busy gloating about how “right” she was about Putin.

541 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:29:55am

re: #519 Lidane

Deep, insightful commentary:

[Embedded content]

Gee, I can’t imagine why anybody would think she’s not ready for the presidency.

////

542 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:31:05am

Texas Republican official: Founding fathers would never allow ‘sodomites’ to marry

So what is the name for when someone “godwins” the Founding Fathers?

This card is getting worn and tattered.

543 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:31:05am

re: #540 Lidane

Let’s never forget that the GOP wanted that twit a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And that people on the right are busy gloating about how “right” she was about Putin.

For the man who would have been the oldest presidential elect ever. But yeah. We rightfully laugh at Palin now but McCain and his people thought she was good enough to be number two for the whole country. I honestly suggest I wouldn’t want her for number 2 for my county let alone nation.

544 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:31:14am

Ukraine: Russia shows ‘complete disregard’ for Black Sea Fleet agreement in Crimea

kyivpost.com

Here are some of the violations:

1.According to the agreement, the total number of personnel, ships, vessels, arms and military equipment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Fleet cannot be increased without prior agreement with Ukraine. However, the number of contingent grew from from 3,000 to 16,000 in the past week.

2.Russian military units are operating outside of their bases. They are blocking a number of government and infrastructural objects, including several military units of Ukraine’s army. Attempts to disarm the Ukrainian servicemen have also been recorded.

3. Since Aug. 13, 2008, according to the National Security and Defense Council decision, Russians are obliged to notify Ukraine within 72 hours about any military units that are sent to the dispositions of the Black Sea Fleet and are crossing the state border, as well as to provide full information on the number and type of military weapons to be carried. On Feb. 28 eight Russian military helicopters, four Ilyushin Il-76 airplanes with paratroopers, and hovercraft “Zubr” were transported illegally from Russia to Ukraine.

545 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:31:22am

re: #540 Lidane

Let’s never forget that the GOP wanted that twit a heartbeat away from the Presidency. And that people on the right are busy gloating about how “right” she was about Putin.

I can see Putin’s soul from my house!

546 b.d.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:32:18am

RUN SARAH RUN!!!!!

547 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:32:31am

re: #542 FemNaziBitch

Texas Republican official: Founding fathers would never allow ‘sodomites’ to marry

So what is the name for when someone “godwins” the Founding Fathers?

This card is getting worn and tattered.

There’s no formal name for it but I call it “I think I can tell you what the founding fathers would think because I’m a self righteous ass.” And honestly, he’s probably right but for all the wrong reasons, just because the founders would have a problem with something doesn’t mean it should be legalized. I mean many of the founders accepted the legality of slavery.

548 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:33:18am

re: #537 HappyWarrior

Ha I remember that.

That one actually didn’t bother me much. In order for my extended family to have a turkey dinner, a turkey has to be killed. Moreover, Sarah Palin grew up hunting and learning to clean just-killed game birds and animals. The sight of a turkey being slaughtered likely doesn’t give her much pause.

I’d say she was being tone-deaf by letting the camera shoot something that would upset a lot of people, but I also think she got much wanted attention out of that and the people who were shocked were not people she appeals to anyways.

/My 2 cents.

549 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:34:22am

re: #547 HappyWarrior

There’s no formal name for it but I call it “I think I can tell you what the founding fathers would think because I’m a self righteous ass.” And honestly, he’s probably right but for all the wrong reasons, just because the founders would have a problem with something doesn’t mean it should be legalized. I mean many of the founders accepted the legality of slavery.

Or women getting the vote…

550 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:34:42am

President Obama sends Congress $3.9 trillion election-year budget focused on economy, job creation - @AP
end of alert

551 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:35:31am

re: #548 Dark_Falcon

That one actually didn’t bother me much. In order for my extended family to have a turkey dinner, a turkey has to be killed. Moreover, Sarah Palin grew up hunting and learning to clean just-killed game birds and animals. The sight of a turkey being slaughtered likely doesn’t give her much pause.

I’d say she was being tone-deaf by letting the camera shoot something that would upset a lot of people, but I also think she got much wanted attention out of that and the people who were shocked were not people she appeals to anyways.

/My 2 cents.

Got her the Dadaist vote.

552 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:36:02am

re: #548 Dark_Falcon

That one actually didn’t bother me much. In order for my extended family to have a turkey dinner, a turkey has to be killed. Moreover, Sarah Palin grew up hunting and learning to clean just-killed game birds and animals. The sight of a turkey being slaughtered likely doesn’t give her much pause.

I’d say she was being tone-deaf by letting the camera shoot something that would upset a lot of people, but I also think she got much wanted attention out of that and the people who were shocked were not people she appeals to anyways.

/My 2 cents.

It didn’t bother me. It was just the oddness of the turkey being slaughtered with her just going on camera as if nothing is happening in the background. I had a bigger problem with her not knowing any Supreme Court case outside of Roe and the claims that she and her surrogates tried to make that by virtue of her being a governor she was somehow more qualified than Biden even though Biden was first elected to his position at the time thirty six years prior while Palin was in her first term governing one of our smallest states population wise. McCain’s people were like SHE GOVERNS THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNION. Yeah one that is smaller than the county I grew up in.

553 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:36:36am

Take strong decisive action the GOP says…

… as they sought to constrain US action in Libya via NATO operations;
… as they warned and demanded limits on any action in Syria;
… as they carp about the President warning Russia about its actions in Ukraine for months with no actual plan.

It’s good to be the party out of power. You get to complain about anything and everything the party in power does. But don’t expect any kind of logical consistency, let alone policy consistency once you’re in office, because you end up doing many of the same things your predecessors did.

President Bush had to deal with Russia and Vlad Putin over South Ossetia and Georgia, including a trumped up invasion. The US didn’t send in the military or impose sanction. Lots of talk, signifying not much. Russia got what it wanted, Georgia lost territory, and it faded in to the woodwork.

Now, Ukraine and Russia are facing off, and President Obama faces the same constraints. The GOP complains he’s not taking more decisive action, or that his very existence predicates Putin taking advantage of the situation.

And yet, the President signaled that the US is taking more decisive actions than over the South Ossetia conflict. That includes cutting off military relations, talk of sanctions, economic aid to Ukraine, and other steps that undermine Russia’s economy, as well as refusing to send a delegation to the Sochi Paralympics starting this Friday.

That sounds like more than what President Bush did, but somehow the GOP thinks that anything short of sending in the bombers and Marines is giving in to Putin (who many of the GOP think is the very model of a modern politician, but I digress).

554 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:36:50am

re: #549 Justanotherhuman

Or women getting the vote…

Right. I mean the founders had some great ideas but let’s stop treating them like Gods and realize they were capable of error. The whole Civil War I think proves that the Founders did make mistakes.

555 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:37:06am

Hey, it’s FAT TUESDAY!

556 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:37:49am

re: #549 Justanotherhuman

Or women getting the vote…

Actually some of the founding fathers were from New Jersey—a state that allowed women to vote for a decade or two after the ‘Founding’.

557 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:38:11am

re: #543 HappyWarrior

For the man who would have been the oldest presidential elect ever. But yeah. We rightfully laugh at Palin now but McCain and his people thought she was good enough to be number two for the whole country. I honestly suggest I wouldn’t want her for number 2 for my county let alone nation.

McCain was somewhat forced into nominating her, but he still shouldn’t have done it. There were non-crazy people who were conservative enough that he could have nominated. They wouldn’t have made as big a splash, but they wouldn’t have turned into a liability, either.

558 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:38:21am

re: #554 HappyWarrior

Right. I mean the founders had some great ideas but let’s stop treating them like Gods and realize they were capable of error. The whole Civil War I think proves that the Founders did make mistakes.

We honor them for what they did, not who they were. Most—MOST of all, those that became POTUS —gave up power when their terms were up.

IMHO, this is the lesson to be stressed.

559 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:38:56am

re: #555 FemNaziBitch

Hey, it’s FAT TUESDAY!

WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?!?!
:P

560 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:39:21am
561 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:39:24am

re: #548 Dark_Falcon

I wasn’t bothered by the turkey slaughter. I just thought it showed how low-rent, amateur, and completely unprepared for prime time Sarah Palin was. It cemented my perception of her as a total joke.

562 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:39:37am

re: #559 Varek Raith

WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?!?!
:P

I’ve never known the dead to be fat.

563 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:40:53am

People need to face the truth: The FFs may have been progressive for their day, but that was 3 centuries ago. They laid a foundation for progress, not a particularly good road map and could not predict the future.

Grow up, Repubs.

564 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:41:27am

re: #557 Dark_Falcon

McCain was somewhat forced into nominating her, but he still shouldn’t have done it. There were non-crazy people who were conservative enough that he could have nominated. They wouldn’t have made as big a splash, but they wouldn’t have turned into a liability, either.

And that speaks to the man’s judgment and decisiveness. I’ll tell you what I think. I think McCain and his people thought they’d somehow get the woman’s vote by bringing her on and didn’t think to do their homework.

565 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:41:31am
566 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:42:14am

re: #560 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

If you need to discriminate to practice your religion, you’re doing it all worng.

567 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:42:42am

re: #565 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Fucking fascist fucks.

568 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:42:49am

Here is a summary of the documents they found in Yanuk’s lake. Really interesting stuff.
Notes of a personal bodyguard

His notebooks and documents provide a rare insight into how exactly Yanukovych’s security was set up, how tight it became in the final days before Yanukovych’s departure, and who was most insisting on meeting the president in person

569 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:42:54am

re: #564 HappyWarrior

And that speaks to the man’s judgment and decisiveness. I’ll tell you what I think. I think McCain and his people thought they’d somehow get the woman’s vote by bringing her on and didn’t think to do their homework.

The lesson is that she appealed to MEN.

One should nominate women who appeal to women voters if one is trying to pander to for the female vote.

570 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:43:09am

re: #563 Justanotherhuman

People need to face the truth: The FFs may have been progressive for their day, but that was 3 centuries ago. They laid a foundation for progress, not a particularly good road map and could not predict the future.

Grow up, Repubs.

Brilliant.

571 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:44:14am

re: #569 FemNaziBitch

The lesson is that she appealed to MEN.

One should nominate women who appeal to women voters if one is trying to pander to for the female vote.

Yeah she appealed to the GOP male who votes with his dick rather than his head. OH SHE HUNTS AND TALKS TOUGH AND SHE’S NOT BAD LOOKING! Not saying every GOP male is like that to clarify but that is the mindset she appealed to and continues to do so.

572 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:44:52am

Most Americans are today morally superior than any of our Founding Fathers.

PROGRESS!
Er…
OUTRAGE!
SOMETHING!

573 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:46:55am

re: #542 FemNaziBitch

Texas Republican official: Founding fathers would never allow ‘sodomites’ to marry

So what is the name for when someone “godwins” the Founding Fathers?

This card is getting worn and tattered.

Well you know what “sodomites” are according to Scripture:

People who are cruel to the poor and homeless.

574 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:47:58am

re: #564 HappyWarrior

And that speaks to the man’s judgment and decisiveness. I’ll tell you what I think. I think McCain and his people thought they’d somehow get the woman’s vote by bringing her on and didn’t think to do their homework.

I think they just didn’t know how big a flake she is, and they were afraid to question her hard enough to find out. With good reason, mind you, for if they’d pushed hard enough to weed her out the story might well have leaked out to James Dobson and Co. that the McCain team was “rejecting a Good, Christian Conservative”. Had that happened, Dobson would have flounced from the campaign and urged his followers to do the same. The result would have been Game Over for the McCain campaign.

As an aside, even though the McCain team didn’t know it in August 2008, its worth remembering that by that time their campaign was doomed no matter what they did. The fall of Lehman Brothers ensured an Obama victory.

575 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:50:07am

re: #559 Varek Raith

WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!?!?!
:P

Sh-Rove.

576 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:51:23am

Headlines in very poor taste.

Or maybe outright racist?

577 Lidane  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:52:34am

re: #574 Dark_Falcon

I think they just didn’t know how big a flake she is, and they were afraid to question her hard enough to find out.

That should be an entire factory full of red flags for anyone.

The most critical appointment a Presidential hopeful makes is his VP selection. It tells you everything about their decision making and what they consider important in their potential Presidency. The fact that McCain’s team didn’t want to properly vet Sarah Palin was a sign they weren’t serious. Lehman Bros or not, they deserved to lose by nominating her.

578 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:52:48am

re: #570 HappyWarrior

Brilliant.

Well, no one ever called me “brilliant” but my PoliSci 101 instructor said I had a “first rate” mind, although I demurred.

Thanks, though! : )

579 jonhendry  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:52:56am

re: #168 Lidane

[Embedded content]

I was wondering why Travolta was wearing a different wig at the Oscars. Turns out Steven has Travolta’s “GI Joe Hair” wig.

580 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:54:58am

re: #574 Dark_Falcon

I think they just didn’t know how big a flake she is, and they were afraid to question her hard enough to find out. With good reason, mind you, for if they’d pushed hard enough to weed her out the story might well have leaked out to James Dobson and Co. that the McCain team was “rejecting a Good, Christian Conservative”. Had >that happened, Dobson would have flounced from the campaign and urged his followers to do the same. The result would have been Game Over for the McCain campaign.

As an aside, even though the McCain team didn’t know it in August 2008, its worth remembering that by that time their campaign was doomed no matter what they did. The fall of Lehman Brothers ensured an Obama victory.

So they should have operated under fear of James Dobson? Again, you’re just re-affirming my belief that McCain isn’t cut out for the decisiveness and leadership one wants out of their commander in chief.I think they shouldn’t have even considered her. She was in her first term and governing a state with about 700,000 people. The ultimate big fish in a smal pond. Oh and McCain still is too pigheaded to mention that he failed up with her. The guy operates way too much in fear of the crazy parts of your party and it’s sad because I used to respect McCain for being willing to criticize the unsavory parts of your party machinery but ever since 2008 he’s been willing to chummy up with some dickish individuals.

581 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:56:33am

re: #574 Dark_Falcon

I think they just didn’t know how big a flake she is, and they were afraid to question her hard enough to find out. With good reason, mind you, for if they’d pushed hard enough to weed her out the story might well have leaked out to James Dobson and Co. that the McCain team was “rejecting a Good, Christian Conservative”. Had >that happened, Dobson would have flounced from the campaign and urged his followers to do the same. The result would have been Game Over for the McCain campaign.

As an aside, even though the McCain team didn’t know it in August 2008, its worth remembering that by that time their campaign was doomed no matter what they did. The fall of Lehman Brothers ensured an Obama victory.

GOP assume women are flakes—even the feminist type who were telling them that Sarah was a flake.

582 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:57:26am

re: #577 Lidane

That should be an entire factory full of red flags for anyone.

The most critical appointment a Presidential hopeful makes is his VP selection. It tells you everything about their decision making and what they consider important in their potential Presidency. The fact that McCain’s team didn’t want to properly vet Sarah Palin was a sign they weren’t serious. Lehman Bros or not, they deserved to lose by nominating her.

Exactly. Let’s contrast this with Obama shall we. Obama could have stuck with the new theme and chosen someone totally unprepared for the national and by extension international stage. He instead chose Biden. A man who knows how both Congress and foreign relations work quite well. McCain didn’t need a thirty six year veteran of the Senate but he didn’t need someone who had just achieved their first major election two years prior either and as I said governing a state with less residents than Fairfax County.

583 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:57:35am

re: #563 Justanotherhuman

People need to face the truth: The FFs may have been progressive for their day, but that was 3 centuries ago. They laid a foundation for progress, not a particularly good road map and could not predict the future.

Grow up, Repubs.

More to the point. They understood the shortcomings of the Constitution better than many of the pundit class, which is why they established an amendment process that has been used successfully 27 times (including the original Bill of Rights - the first modification of the Constitution). That doesn’t count attempts to amend the Constitution since, and which have not been enacted.

Several proposals to amend the Constitution have been enacted but not ratified. But nearly 2,000 attempts haven’t made it out of Congress. That includes proposals to have a balanced budget amendment, repealing the 22nd amendment (on several occasions), term limits for Congress, etc.

584 dog philosopher  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 8:58:50am

re: #563 Justanotherhuman

People need to face the truth: The FFs may have been progressive for their day, but that was 3 centuries ago. They laid a foundation for progress, not a particularly good road map and could not predict the future.

Grow up, Repubs.

if the morons in the ‘tea party’ were around then, we would be hearing all about how the bible clearly says that it is god’s plan for commoners to be ruled by kings, and it is sacrilege for them to overturn god’s anointed rulers - since this was actually the stated position of the conservatives of the time

585 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:00:04am
586 Majacita  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:00:07am

Just as a quick comment, McCain didn’t lose because of the financial crisis. I voted for McCain in the primaries and for Obama in the general, and one of the main reasons was Palin. It took me ten minutes of Google after I heard her name for me to make my decision. McCain could have won if he’d really put Country First. There were some legitimate worries about Obama’s lack of experience. Those were immediately upstaged by Palin.

587 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:00:15am

President Obama, speaking live just moments ago, said some reporting that Putin is acting in a brilliant strategic manner is wrong. He believes Putin is further isolating Russia from eastern European countries and garnering deep suspicion and concern that is not in Russia’s interest.

I think he is right. Putin over-reacted and is in a jam.

588 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:01:30am

re: #584 dog philosopher

if the morons in the ‘tea party’ were around then, we would be hearing all about how the bible clearly says that it is god’s plan for commoners to be ruled by kings, and it is sacrilege for them to overturn god’s anointed rulers - since this was actually the stated position of the conservatives of the time

That wouldn’t surprise me and it wouldn’t surprise me further if they embraced absolute monarchy. A lot of things we take for granted are due to the work of small letter l- liberals and small letter p-progressives. People who challenged the divine right of kings, the power of one religion to rule supreme over others. Ironically, it’s the same Separation of Church laws that they despise that have allowed the evangelical churches to flourish. Jefferson’s famous letter regarding the wall of church and state was to Baptists. Baptists who at the time I’m sure valued the separation of church and state given that many came from parts of the world where their religion was actually discriminated against because it wasn’t the state religion.

589 dog philosopher  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:01:42am

conservatism, 1789

- commoners can’t rule themselves, all history proves it and the bible supports kings

- only europeans are fully human - other ‘races’ are wild and childish

590 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:01:45am

re: #584 dog philosopher

if the morons in the ‘tea party’ were around then, we would be hearing all about how the bible clearly says that it is god’s plan for commoners to be ruled by kings, and it is sacrilege for them to overturn god’s anointed rulers - since this was actually the stated position of the conservatives of the time

Royalists forever. They would crown Jesus king and Ayn Rand queen.

591 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:01:49am

re: #585 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

What does WND know about class?

592 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:01:56am

The ‘weak president’ chorus on Facebook has suddenly gone silent.

Waiting for the new talking points to arrive, I reckon.

593 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:02:30am

re: #592 makeitstop

The ‘weak president’ chorus on Facebook has suddenly gone silent.

Waiting for the new talking points to arrive, I reckon.

Prediction: OBAMA IS BULLYING PUTIN.

594 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:02:46am
Why do I mention this? Because of Aaron Carroll’s tidy little summary of some Brendan Nyhan research on how to persuade people that the MMR vaccine is safe:

When they gave evidence that vaccines aren’t linked to autism, that actually made parents who were already skittish about vaccines less likely to get their child one in the future. When they showed images of sick children to parents it increased their belief that vaccines caused autism. When they told a dramatic story about an infant in danger because he wasn’t immunized, it increased parents’ beliefs that vaccines had serious side effects.

Basically, it was all depressing. Nothing was effective.

595 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:03:24am
596 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:03:33am

re: #588 HappyWarrior

That wouldn’t surprise me and it wouldn’t surprise me further if they embraced absolute monarchy. A lot of things we take for granted are due to the work of small letter l- liberals and small letter p-progressives. People who challenged the divine right of kings, the power of one religion to rule supreme over others. Ironically, it’s the same Separation of Church laws that they despise that have allowed the evangelical churches to flourish. Jefferson’s famous letter regarding the wall of church and state was to Baptists. Baptists who at the time I’m sure valued the separation of church and state given that many came from parts of the world where their religion was actually discriminated against because it wasn’t the state religion.

King in Heaven, Pope on Earth.

597 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:04:59am

re: #596 FemNaziBitch

King in Heaven, Pope on Earth.

Right. Monarchism and clericalism were heavily tied hence why many especially high ranking clerics were sympathetic to the rightist movements of the past and present.

598 b.d.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:05:00am
AUSTIN — Tuesday South by Southwest organizers announced that NSA leaker Edward Snowden will speak at SXSW Interactive on Monday March 10 at 11 a.m.

Rolls Eyes

kvue.com

599 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:05:50am
600 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:06:19am

[Deleted]

601 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:06:22am

re: #585 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Ah, the witty social commentary of White Nationalist Daily World Net Daily.

*facepalm*

602 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:06:45am

Oops.

603 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:06:49am

I like the Twain quote on the French Revolution though and how he grew more radical upon re-reading a particular history of it.

604 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:07:47am

Any one know anything about sleep science?

I’ve been doing the JawBone UP24 for a month or so now and just wondering if there is anyone I can use as a resource.

605 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:08:14am

re: #599 Gus

[Embedded content]

Oh you know, they’re just >concerned with big government upset that they’re not in control of Washington.

606 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:09:46am

re: #598 b.d.

Rolls Eyes

kvue.com

I think the NSA should scramble the feed and then cite “technical difficulties”, thereby paying Putin and his poodle back in their own coin.

607 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:11:23am
608 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:12:22am
609 b.d.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:12:42am

re: #606 Dark_Falcon

I think the NSA should scramble the feed and then cite “technical difficulties”, thereby paying Putin and his poodle back in their own coin.

Interspersed with connected footage from Ukraine

610 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:13:01am
611 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:13:12am

re: #595 Gus

[Embedded content]

That’s the same Abby Martin folks were praising earlier for “criticizing” Putin going to Ukraine.

If they’re on RT, they’re working for Putin, and her comment was obviously an attempt at obfuscation.

612 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:13:47am

re: #596 FemNaziBitch

King in Heaven, Pope on Earth.

Though New England Baptists hated the papacy, and commonly got together to burn effigies of the pope on the 5th of November. That went on until 1776-1777. when George Washington ordered the practice to be ended.

613 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:15:45am

re: #612 Dark_Falcon

Though New England Baptists hated the papacy, and commonly got together to burn effigies of the pope on the 5th of November. That went on until 1776-1777. when George Washington ordered the practice to be ended.

Pope = Powerful man(s) on earth to interpret God’s word for the womens and powerless men to obey

614 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:15:55am

re: #608 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Medea Benjamin is an anti-American radical, but she does not deserve to be attacked and brutalized by those thugs in uniform.

615 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:16:44am

Obama Now the Face of Black Market Viagra in Northern Pakistan

In a clip flagged by Raw Story this morning, an AFP reporter describes how Obama has become a “symbol of power and virility” as his face is plastered on tin cans full of the blue sex pill:

Though the drug is illegal in Pakistan, consumers still buy it in droves, whether in pill, gel, or powder form. The AFP report shows one container of the drug featuring “AMERICAN SUPERMAN” labeling:

616 Political Atheist  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:18:00am

re: #615 Killgore Trout

*snicker*
Winning hearts and minds.

617 Timothy Watson  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:19:14am

re: #590 Justanotherhuman

Royalists forever. They would crown Jesus king and Ayn Rand queen.

Rand won’t like that, but her “fans” are too stupid to actually read her books and what she wrote about Christianity.

618 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:19:55am

re: #611 Justanotherhuman

That’s the same Abby Martin folks were praising earlier for “criticizing” Putin going to Ukraine.

If they’re on RT, they’re working for Putin, and her comment was obviously an attempt at obfuscation.

I think they were also upset that Maddow’s theory that the Boston Bombers were motivated by American right wing extremism undermines the connection to radical Chechnyan/Islamist motivations.

619 Bubblehead II  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:20:09am

RE #616

PBO as 007. I Love it.

Image: aobama.jpg.jpg

620 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:20:39am

re: #616 Political Atheist

*snicker*
Winning hearts and minds.

Love drone!

621 Decatur Deb  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:20:55am

re: #615 Killgore Trout

Obama Now the Face of Black Market Viagra in Northern Pakistan

This will not play well on Freep.

622 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:21:27am

re: #614 Dark_Falcon

Medea Benjamin is an anti-American radical, but she >does not deserve to be attacked and brutalized by those thugs in uniform.

It is an example of how this is a Women’s issue, not a White women or Women of Color or Muslim Women or Foreign Women’s only issue.

Sadly, unless it is a white american women, most people don’t take notice.

#freemarissa

623 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:21:34am

re: #608 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

re: #608 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

That’s what she said. Such an attention whore she gives out her phone number. I hope it gets jammed.

624 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:21:44am

re: #617 Timothy Watson

Rand won’t like that, but her “fans” are too stupid to actually read her books and what she wrote about Christianity.

I’ve noticed that.

625 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:22:38am

This clip has a lot of people excited today
Rachel Maddow Cringes At ‘Awkwardness’ Of U.S. Condemning Russia

626 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:24:02am

re: #614 Dark_Falcon

Medea Benjamin is an anti-American radical, but she >does not deserve to be attacked and brutalized by those thugs in uniform.

How do you know it’s the truth? It’s Medea Benjamin who has been caught in lies before.

hpmonitor.blogspot.com

627 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:24:21am
628 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:25:59am

TCOT seems kind of lost today. I guess their hive brain has got the message that Teh Putie Luv is not cool, but they haven’t received the Meme Of The Day so it’s just a rehash of BENGHAZI!!!!! and HATE TEH POORS!!!!!

629 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:26:00am

re: #625 Killgore Trout

This clip has a lot of people excited today
Rachel Maddow Cringes At ‘Awkwardness’ Of U.S. Condemning Russia

As head-desking as Putin criticizing Ukranian corruption…

630 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:26:35am

re: #617 Timothy Watson

Rand won’t like that, but her “fans” are too stupid to actually read her books and what she wrote about Christianity.

To be fair to Ayn Rand, she would not have wanted herself or anyone else to be a monarch. She had seen how badly monarchy had ended up failing when the Romanovs were overthrown in Russia.

Note: That does not mean Ayn Rand was right about most things. As I often do, I like to make clear what the thoughts of the person in question actually were/are, as best as they made their thoughts and views clear.

631 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:27:34am

re: #627 Gus

[Embedded content]

Is that offensive? I couldn’t get past the sheer stupidity of illustrating serious international events with animated memes of pretty blonde girls.

632 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:28:27am

re: #625 Killgore Trout

This clip has a lot of people excited today
Rachel Maddow Cringes At ‘Awkwardness’ Of U.S. Condemning Russia

Rachel, you’re a good reporter but this time you goofed up pretty bad. FAIL

633 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:28:34am

re: #618 Killgore Trout

I think they were also upset that Maddow’s theory that the Boston Bombers were motivated by American right wing extremism undermines the connection to radical Chechnyan/Islamist motivations.

Well, by using “American right wing extremism” as the gold standard of fascism, she seems to be saying that there are no right wing elements elsewhere?

That’s pretty stupid.

634 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:29:21am

re: #625 Killgore Trout

This clip has a lot of people excited today
Rachel Maddow Cringes At ‘Awkwardness’ Of U.S. Condemning Russia

Are you suggesting the invasion of Iraq has no bearing on how other nations perceive our positions on unlawful actions by others?

Not to say all things are equal, but there is some hypocrisy involved that can’t be denied.

The decision to go to war in Iraq will haunt us for a very long time.

635 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:29:31am

Someone let Maddow know that Kerry represents a different White House administration.

636 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:31:20am

re: #634 blueraven

Are you suggesting the invasion of Iraq has no bearing on how other nations perceive our positions on unlawful actions by others?

Not to say all things are equal, but there is some hypocrisy involved that can’t be denied.

The decision to go to war in Iraq will haunt us for a very long time.

I think RM is confusing apples w/oranges there. That was the Neocons’ war, not Obama’s.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, as they say.

637 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:31:39am

re: #631 Killgore Trout

Is that offensive? I couldn’t get past the sheer stupidity of illustrating serious international events with animated memes of pretty blonde girls.

It’s offensive because it showed Spencer Pratt’s simpering face but did not end with Vladimir Putin shooting Pratt in the head.


//kidding

638 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:32:35am

re: #634 blueraven

Are you suggesting the invasion of Iraq has no bearing on how other nations perceive our positions on unlawful actions by others?

Not to say all things are equal, but there is some hypocrisy involved that can’t be denied.

The decision to go to war in Iraq will haunt us for a very long time.

The whole “moral authority” thing very rarely plays into international policy. A rare example is after 9-11 pretty much everybody around the world agreed that we had the right to go into Afghanistan. Most of the time it’s not a factor outside of domestic political reasons.

639 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:33:37am

re: #636 Justanotherhuman

I think RM is confusing apples w/oranges there. That was the Neocons’ war, not Obama’s.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, as they say.

True…we know that. But my argument is that other nations will not discriminate between leaders. It is what it is. The damage is done.

640 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:34:05am

Here Are All the People Who Think Putin Has Straight Up Lost His Mind

and if I may say so, My gal Madeline has a pair of eyes!

641 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:38:16am

re: #630 Dark_Falcon

To be fair to Ayn Rand, she would not have wanted herself or anyone else to be a monarch. She had seen how badly monarchy had ended up failing when the Romanovs were overthrown in Russia.

Note: That does not mean Ayn Rand was right about most things. As I often do, I like to make clear what the thoughts of the person in question actually were/are, as best as they made their thoughts and views clear.

I really wish people would read Rand, not just her fiction. She is a philosopher — not an economist, or a guru, or much of anything else.

With all philosophers, there is good stuff and bad stuff.

I learned a lot from Rand, I just have never seemed to apply it as most others have.

642 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:38:31am

re: #621 Decatur Deb

This will not play well on Freep.

They’ll want the cans with Putin on them.

643 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:39:23am

re: #639 blueraven

True…we know that. But my argument is that other nations will not discriminate between leaders. It is what it is. The damage is done.

It’s also preposterous to imagine that if Russia elected a slightly-more-reasonable leader than Putin in the next few years, anyone in the US would suddenly regard him as someone with the moral authority to criticize US foreign policy.

644 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:43:25am

re: #634 blueraven

Are you suggesting the invasion of Iraq has no bearing on how other nations perceive our positions on unlawful actions by others?

Nah, he just can’t resist the opportunity to take a swipe at Maddow.

645 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:44:46am
646 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:45:06am
647 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:45:54am

re: #639 blueraven

True…we know that. But my argument is that other nations will not discriminate between leaders. It is what it is. The damage is done.

Not so sure about that, though. Everyone seemed to know the differences in the various USSR leaders when communism was crumbling.

I don’t judge people in other countries by the level of inattention in this one.

648 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:47:05am

re: #645 Gus

[Embedded content]

[eyeroll]

649 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:47:52am

re: #648 Dark_Falcon

[eyeroll]

I didn’t click through. That Tweet was enough information. :D

650 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:48:54am

The Confederacy Agrees With Ron Paul on Ukraine

651 Political Atheist  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:50:26am

re: #643 iossarian

It’s also preposterous to imagine that if Russia elected a slightly-more-reasonable leader than Putin in the next few years, anyone in the US would suddenly regard him as someone with the moral authority to criticize US foreign policy.

Not necessarily so. Depends on his or her actions and policies. Getting behind this “Russia and Ukraine is just like Bush and Iraq” thing is both a load of crap, and a deliberate weapon of choice of our enemies and opponents out there. How hard do we want to back that attitude? How hard do we want to insist they are right about that?

I’d say not at all. The differences are vast and undeniable. Every US policy need not begin with a GW Bush mea culpa for eternity.

652 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:51:37am

Here’s a BBC report explaining the earlier encounter with the warning shots
Ukraine: ‘Snipers on the bank’ at Belbek air base

653 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:51:54am

re: #651 Political Atheist

Not necessarily so. Depends on his or her actions and policies. Getting behind this “Russia and Ukraine is just like Bush and Iraq” thing is both a load of crap, and a deliberate weapon of choice of our enemies and opponents out there. How hard do we want to back that attitude? How hard do we want to insist they are right about that?

I’d say not at all. The differences are vast and undeniable. Every US policy need not begin with a GW Bush mea culpa for eternity.

What’s the statute of limitation for the Axis powers? //

654 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:52:10am

re: #646 Gus

Once again the far-left and the far-right are circling the wagons drain. They did it with Syria and now they’re trying it with Ukraine. SOS.

Altered that a bit.

655 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:54:41am

Oh boy.

656 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:55:28am
657 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:55:50am
658 dr. luba  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:55:55am

Found on my FB feed today:

Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, a chief rabbi of Ukraine, accused Russia of staging anti-Semitic “provocations” in Crimea in order to justify its invasion of the former Soviet republic.

At a press conference in the Manhattan office of the United Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe, Bleich compared Russia’s behavior to that of the Nazis prior to the Anschluss invasion of Austria in 1938.
“Things may be done by Russians dressing up as Ukrainian nationalists,” he said, adding that it’s “the same way the Nazis did when they wanted to go into Austria and created provocations.”

…..Asked about anti-Semitism among Ukrainian nationalists, particularly two far-right parties that have been included in the new government, Bleich acknowledged concerns but said the Jewish community has received assurances from top government leaders that their safety will be protected.

“The Russians are blowing this way, way out of proportion,” he said, referring to the issue of anti-Semitism among some Ukrainian nationalist factions.

He said that Ukrainians were united in response to the Russian intervention. “There were many differences of opinion throughout the revolution, but today all that is gone,” he said. “We’re faced by an outside threat called Russia. It’s brought everyone together.”

659 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:56:07am
660 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:56:40am
661 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:58:23am

re: #651 Political Atheist

Not necessarily so. Depends on his or her actions and policies. Getting behind this “Russia and Ukraine is just like Bush and Iraq” thing is both a load of crap, and a deliberate weapon of choice of our enemies and opponents out there. How hard do we want to back that attitude? How hard do we want to insist they are right about that?

I’d say not at all. The differences are vast and undeniable. Every US policy need not begin with a GW Bush mea culpa for eternity.

I disagree that the differences are “vast and undeniable”. The US invaded Iraq on trumped-up charges. At the very best, you could make a shaky case that we did it to remove a tyrant from power. A more plausible explanation, given that we’d backed the same tyrant in the past, is that we regarded regime change as beneficial to our long-term strategic interests.

As to the “leader discontinuity” argument, it has some merit, but it would have more if we actually owned up, as a nation, to having fucked up over Iraq, and maybe committed to some kind of reparations in kind. But we’re not likely to do that, are we? Because that would mean a) admitting that our leaders in Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (remember him?) et al. had actually done something wrong, and b) sharing some of our wealth with people outside our borders, neither of which are things we’re particularly good at.

662 HappyWarrior  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:59:32am

re: #660 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

That’s stupid even for Fox.

663 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 9:59:48am

re: #645 Gus

[Embedded content]

Ha…Paul is trying to co-opt a war weary nation’s public opinion on a couple of stupid online surveys as being “in agreement with him”.

Cheap trick

664 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:01:25am

re: #542 FemNaziBitch

Texas Republican official: Founding fathers would never allow ‘sodomites’ to marry
.

Fer Fucks Sake…The Founding Fathers would never allow women or blacks to vote.

665 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:04:20am

Sarah is getting her Putin on.

Palin: Obama wears ‘mom jeans’ while Putin wrestles bears and drills for oil

666 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:05:29am

re: #665 Kragar

Sarah is getting her Putin on.

Palin: Obama wears ‘mom jeans’ while Putin wrestles bears and drills for oil

So bizarre. First Putin’s “rearing his head” over Sarah’s virgin territory. Now he’s “drilling for oil”.

667 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:07:13am

re: #665 Kragar

Palin: Obama wears ‘mom jeans’ while Putin wrestles bears and drills for oil

Ah, the true intellectual heavyweight of the right chimes in.

668 b.d.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:08:31am

How dare the US condemn Russia after what we did in Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, Grenada, Kosovo, Panama, Iraq I, Beiruit, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq 2!!

669 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:09:31am

EDIT: This is a parody account.

670 Political Atheist  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:09:58am

re: #661 iossarian

… but it would have more if we actually owned up, as a nation, to having fucked up over Iraq, and maybe committed to some kind of reparations in kind. But we’re not likely to do that, are we? Because that would mean a) admitting that our leaders in Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld (remember him?) et al. had actually done something wrong, and b) sharing some of our wealth with people outside our borders, neither of which are things we’re particularly good at.

“Leadership discontinuity” is a marvelous way to diminish the huge importance of the differences between the administrations and the circumstances.

I’m sorry but this just is a whole completely other thing. The Ukraine has just about nothing in common with Iraq, it ain’t GWB and our past mistakes hardly take away our ability to object to acts like what we see in Crimea and Ukraine. Some seem to think we need to publicly self flagellate for a few decades before we can speak up again as a nation. I don’t buy it.

This unending sour grapes domestic angst about GWB & Iraq that has little or nothing to do with realpolitik in the Ukraine is not helping anyone anywhere. Pure grist for the still mad about Iraq population. Other issues abound that fit that point of view far better.

671 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:11:02am

re: #668 b.d.

How dare the US condemn Russia after what we did in Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, Grenada, Kosovo, Panama, Iraq I, Beiruit, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq 2!!

Of course we should condemn Russia…wrong is wrong.

672 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:11:09am

re: #640 FemNaziBitch

Here Are All the People Who Think Putin Has Straight Up Lost His Mind

and if I may say so, My gal Madeline has a pair of eyes!

Ditto for Karl Marx, he had some interesting insights into the relationship between labor, laborers and the things they produce. But likewise, the practical application side is another matter entirely…

673 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:11:15am

Moonbats are still freaking weird.

674 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:11:24am

re: #669 Gus

Glenn Greenwald sold Snowden’s cache of information back to American imperialist Pierre Omidyar

Journimalism!

675 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:14:49am

re: #665 Kragar

Sarah is getting her Putin on.

Palin: Obama wears ‘mom jeans’ while Putin wrestles bears and drills for oil

Does she have some sort of crush on Putin? Her words sound more worshipful of Russia’s strongman than aghast at his misdeeds.

676 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:15:25am

re: #670 Political Atheist

“Leadership discontinuity” is a marvelous way to diminish the huge importance of the differences between the administrations and the circumstances.

I’m sorry but this just is a whole completely other thing. The Ukraine has just about nothing in common with Iraq, it ain’t GWB and our past mistakes hardly take away our ability to object to acts like what we see in Crimea and Ukraine. Some seem to think we need to publicly self flagellate for a few decades before we can speak up again as a nation. I don’t buy it.

This unending sour grapes domestic angst about GWB & Iraq that has little or nothing to do with realpolitik in the Ukraine is not helping anyone anywhere. Pure grist for the still mad about Iraq population. Other issues abound that fit that point of view far better.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that. However, the mere mention by Obama that America has made mistakes in the past prompted a whole meme of an apology tour…Apologizing for America!! unthinkable!!

677 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:15:46am
678 ericblair  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:15:58am

re: #661 iossarian

The US invaded Iraq on trumped-up charges.

Agreed, and most of the rest of the world seems to think so too. Which means that Russia tying Ukraine to the US’s invasion of Iraq is a fucking stupid argument to make regardless of how it reflects on the current US administration. Either Russian propaganda artists are seriously misreading popular world opinion or they got far too caught up in a tit-for-tat “they got to invade Iraq, so we get Ukraine” mindset.

679 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:16:34am

re: #670 Political Atheist

Look - I think we should put pressure on Russia over the Ukraine situation in whatever way we can. I also agree with you that the point on whether we have any kind of moral credibility is, in fact, tangential to this specific situation.

Where we appear to disagree is on the lack of parallels between the two situations. I think the best explanation for *why* we went to war in Iraq is that it served our long-term strategic interests to do so (at least, in the “minds” of our then-leaders). For me, this brings it straight in line with what Putin is doing. But, if you disagree, please tell me why.

I would also say that, *if* indeed we erred over Iraq, there is something very simple we could do to partially atone for this: admit that we made a mistake and apologize. Why wouldn’t we do that?

680 b.d.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:16:56am

re: #669 Gus

[Embedded content]

I wonder who will get custody of Assange after this breakup is complete?

681 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:17:10am

re: #677 Gus

[Embedded content]

Does he want people to think he is a Republican?

682 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:17:49am

re: #669 Gus

Pass the popcorn

683 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:17:57am

re: #681 Pie-onist Overlord

Does he want people to think he is a Republican?

Smells like a La Rouche “Democrat.”

684 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:17:59am

re: #677 Gus

[Embedded content]

Larouchite posing as a Dem.

Voted this morning in the primary. Made sure to vote against this witch.

685 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:18:04am
686 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:18:48am

re: #677 Gus

Kesha Rogers (the candidate) is a nut.

687 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:18:50am

re: #650 Gus

The Confederacy Agrees With Ron Paul on Ukraine

We agree that Ukraine is a foregn country and whatever Obama is doing about the situation there, it is WRONG!!!

688 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:18:54am

re: #681 Pie-onist Overlord

She. And she’s a loony LaRouchian nutjob.

I get the sense that she ran on the D line because she couldn’t differentiate herself from the rest of the GOP line. /

689 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:19:01am

re: #684 blueraven

Larouchite posing as a Dem.

Voted this morning in the primary. Made sure to vote against this witch.

Perzactly.

690 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:19:29am

re: #677 Gus

[Embedded content]

Kesha Rogers has Texas Dems worried they might be facing a situation similar to what Republicans faced in next door Louisiana when David Duke won the Republican primary. They want Rodger gone desperately, since just having Rogers in a state-wide runoff is going to hurt them.

691 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:19:34am

shocka!

692 GunstarGreen  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:20:16am

re: #566 HappyWarrior

If you need to discriminate to practice your religion, you’re doing it all worng.

If you need to discriminate to practice your religion, you’re following one of the major organized world religions.

It’s in their holy books. Right there, plain text, black and white, clear as day for all to see. Choosing to ignore those inconvenient passages is not an excuse. Intolerance and discrimination is a built-in feature of every major world religion. Smart people know that it is wrong and pretend it doesn’t exist so that they can go on practicing with minimized guilt, but it’s still there.

693 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:20:23am

Cripes. Who opened up the monkey cage this morning?

694 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:20:54am

They’re out in force today.

695 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:21:46am

So, can I get a little catty here?

WTF WITH THE HAIR

696 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:23:09am

re: #695 FemNaziBitch

697 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:25:37am

re: #696 Kragar

[Embedded image]

the RC school uniform shirt cap sleeves in red with the hair.

What decade is this?

698 Ian G.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:26:08am

re: #695 FemNaziBitch

So, can I get a little catty here?

WTF WITH THE HAIR

[Embedded content]

Given that I imagine that 90% of GOP’s obsession with her has to do with, er, what Rich Lowry called “starbursts”, I’m guessing she’s just about done. Live by a party of misogyny, die by it.

699 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:26:16am

Glenn is a classic sociopath, lying even when there is evidence in plain sight.

700 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:27:34am

re: #693 Gus

Cripes. Who opened up the monkey cage this morning?

Sorry dude, my bad.

///

701 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:28:21am

re: #693 Gus

Cripes. Who opened up the monkey cage this morning?

We didn’t come from no cage.

702 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:28:48am

re: #700 Targetpractice

Sorry dude, my bad.

///

I don’t mind. They are cute and cuddly.

703 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:28:50am

re: #696 Kragar

[Embedded image]

With that caption in the lower right corner it looks like Putin’s ‘grab’ was her leg or something.

704 Political Atheist  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:30:19am

re: #679 iossarian

Look - I think we should put pressure on Russia over the Ukraine situation in whatever way we can. I also agree with you that the point on whether we have any kind of moral credibility is, in fact, tangential to this specific situation.

Where we appear to disagree is on the lack of parallels between the two situations. I think the best explanation for *why* we went to war in Iraq is that it served our long-term strategic interests to do so (at least, in the “minds” of our then-leaders). For me, this brings it straight in line with what Putin is doing. But, if you disagree, please tell me why.

I would also say that, *if* indeed we erred over Iraq, there is something very simple we could do to partially atone for this: admit that we made a mistake and apologize. Why wouldn’t we do that?

Why we went into Iraq has as many explanations as sides in the whole issue. “Long term strategic interests” is non specific enough to fit almost anywhere. Russia is hardly into Crimea to remove a tyrant. They are protecting a population against a possible threat as yet wholly unrealized and to protect sea access and a couple bases. I don’t see much of a parallel. Certainly not enough of one to encumber President Obama or Sec. Kerry.

If the category is “unwise invasions based on invented threats ” sure they Crimea and Iraq have that much is common. But the more specific one gets the less the similarities hold up.

What bugs me is a false equivalence being used to diminish our legitimate part in this. That’s playing right into Putins hands and I object to that.

705 Chrysicat  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:30:40am

Am I the only one kind of glad we didn’t elect Kerry 10 years ago, because he doesn’t seem like the most overwhelming of public speakers, especially compared to his boss?

706 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:31:12am

re: #703 wrenchwench

With that caption in the lower right corner it looks like Putin’s ‘grab’ was her leg or something.

She wishes.

707 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:31:30am

My Facebook wingnuts are trying to walk back their Putin Love - ‘Just because you think Putin’s a better leader than Obama doesn’t make you a Putin fan.’

Um… yeah, it does.

708 FemNaziBitch  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:31:33am

bl

709 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:31:37am
710 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:32:13am

re: #669 Gus

[Embedded content]

Oops. This is a parody account.

711 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:32:21am

But enough talk about hos nasty Russia’s Crimean Incursion is, let’s go the good part. Here’s some of the guns the Russians are using.

Image: AK-74M-and-GP-25-Imgur.jpg

712 Skip Intro  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:33:21am

re: #581 FemNaziBitch

GOP assume women are flakes—even the feminist type who were telling them that Sarah was a flake.

Sarah Palin was never intended to be anything but raw meat for the GOP mouthbreathers who saw her as “hot” and a “conservative babe”, and it worked, just not well enough.

It continues to this day with her appearances on Roger Ailes’ Fox “News”.

713 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:35:17am

re: #709 Pie-onist Overlord

As much as I love Wonkette, the snark gets a bit unbearable at times. Sometimes I just want the facts.

714 The Ghost of a Flea  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:35:43am

Vladimir Putin: the dictator your democratically-elected president could smell like.

He’s on a horse.

715 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:37:59am

re: #709 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

“It is believed that, immediately following the interview, Lloyd’s of London declared the half-term governor’s panties to be a total loss.”

LOL

716 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:38:30am

Is it a full court press when Mona Holland and Gleen Greenwald appear on the same thread to defend him?

717 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:41:10am
718 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:41:31am

re: #704 Political Atheist

Why we went into Iraq has as many explanations as sides in the whole issue. “Long term strategic interests” is non specific enough to fit almost anywhere. Russia is hardly into Crimea to remove a tyrant. They are protecting a population against a possible threat as yet wholly unrealized and to protect sea access and a couple bases. I don’t see much of a parallel. Certainly not enough of one to encumber President Obama or Sec. Kerry.

They’re not there to “protect a population” - that’s a pretext. They are there to preserve their access to the Black Sea (number one) and to potentially retain the entire Ukraine in their sphere of influence (more of a stretch).

Similarly, the most plausible explanation for our invasion of Iraq is not that we wanted to “remove a tyrant” (again, pretext, given that we’d backed him in the past). It is that we wanted to preserve our influence in an oil-rich part of the world.

What bugs me is a false equivalence being used to diminish our legitimate part in this. That’s playing right into Putins hands and I object to that.

But what *is* our “legitimate part in this”? Are you, in fact, saying that America’s foreign policy should be predicated on helping people in foreign lands, and not on maximizing our ability to maintain access to global resources such as (mostly) oil?

As for “playing into Putin’s hands”, I think we’re going to act in a certain way on this regardless of what people think about Iraq, Central America or anything else. My point is simply that, if you want to use words like “legitimate” you have to also admit that in the past we have acted less than legitimately.

719 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:42:00am

re: #717 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

Nah, it just proves that he’s a grifter.

720 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:42:08am

re: #716 wrenchwench

Is it a full court press when Mona Holland and Gleen Greenwald appear on the same thread to defend him?

[Embedded content]

I blocked Mona after her meltdown last week.

721 GunstarGreen  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:42:39am

So, lesse here. The Big G’s legislature is now considering bills pertaining to the following:

* Installing a monument of the Ten Commandments at the capitol
* Removing abortion from state employee health coverage so that people ‘don’t have to spend their tax dollars supporting something that’s against their religion’
* Boilerplate ‘Religious Liberty’ a.k.a. ‘Right to Discriminate’ law

Sometimes I feel like this shithole of a state needs a reminder of what “separation of church and state” means. With a cleaver.

722 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:42:40am

re: #717 Pie-onist Overlord

As long as people are talking about him, it’s all good.

723 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:43:43am
724 CuriousLurker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:43:49am

re: #695 FemNaziBitch

So, can I get a little catty here?

WTF WITH THE HAIR

[Embedded content]

After Kragar’s #665 I can’t help but think:

Putin wrestles bears >>>> mama grizzly
drills for oil >>>> drill baby drill!

Brain bleach, stat!

725 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:45:09am

re: #723 Kragar

[Embedded content]

I was looking for the updinger on that one. I’ll have to settle for retweet.

726 Dr. Matt  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:45:10am

Is GG actually inserting himself into the Russian-Ukraine story? What a fucking ego on this idiot.

727 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:45:31am

Buzzfeed sucks.

728 RadicalModerate  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:46:34am

re: #542 FemNaziBitch

Texas Republican official: Founding fathers would never allow ‘sodomites’ to marry

So what is the name for when someone “godwins” the Founding Fathers?

This card is getting worn and tattered.

Just read the biography on this guy
To call him a bigoted lunatic is not even the tip of the iceberg.

houstonpress.com

Hotze was able to better articulate his views in 1986, when he was one of dozens of ministers, professionals and laypersons who signed the Coalition on Revival’s Manifesto for the Christian Church. The coalition claims on its Web site to be a national network of religious leaders aligned in a mission “to help the Church rebuild civilization on the principles of the Bible so God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.” They want all aspects of life — government, science and education — to adhere to fundamental biblical beliefs. These beliefs include the following:

• A wife may work outside the home only with her husband’s consent
• “Biblical spanking” that results in “temporary or superficial bruises or welts” should not be considered a crime
• No doctor shall provide medical service on the Sabbath
• All disease and disability is caused by the sin of Adam and Eve
• Medical problems are frequently caused by personal sin
• “Increased longevity generally results from obedience to specific Biblical commands”
• Treatment of the “physical body” is not a doctor’s highest priority
• Doctors have a priestly calling
• People receiving medical treatment are not immune from divine intervention or demonic forces
• Physicians should preach to their patients because salvation is the key to their health
• “Christians need better health to have more energy, tolerate more stress, get depressed less often, and be more creative than our non-Christian counterparts for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.”

729 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:47:12am

re: #726 Dr. Matt

Is GG actually inserting himself into the Russian-Ukraine story? What a fucking ego on this idiot.

He was inserted by the fact that his boss, who is totally not his boss and won’t ever tell him what to do, was found to be an imperialist capitalist stooge who funded the Ukrainian revolt against the legitimate president.

730 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:48:47am

re: #728 RadicalModerate

“Christians need better health to have more energy, tolerate more stress, get depressed less often, and be more creative…”

Maybe try fewer Biblical spankings.

731 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:48:50am
732 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:49:14am

Haven’t mentioned it yet but I was thinking this morning that this morning’s “confrontation” in Crimea might have been a propaganda stunt. Then… I see this…

733 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:49:59am

re: #729 wrenchwench

He was inserted by the fact that his boss, who is totally not his boss and won’t ever tell him what to do, was found to be an imperialist capitalist stooge who funded the Ukrainian revolt against the legitimate president.

And that his money-maker (Snowden) got shopped to Russia, where he’s still holed up. But it’s not like Greenwald isn’t going to make this all about him, and that everyone’s out to get him because they don’t like him telling the truth, even as he can barely hold together his narrative because it collapses under closer scrutiny than reading just headlines.

734 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:50:34am
735 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:50:56am
736 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:51:08am

re: #712 Skip Intro

Sarah Palin was never intended to be anything but raw meat for the GOP mouthbreathers who saw her as “hot” and a “conservative babe”, and it worked, just not well enough.

It continues to this day with her appearances on Roger Ailes’ Fox “News”.

I think that she was to be a sort of blank canvas onto which conservative voters could project their image of the ideal candidate, but they did not reckon with her inability to refrain from self-promoting.

737 Bubblehead II  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:52:22am

re: #724 CuriousLurker

After Kragar’s #665 I can’t help but think:

Putin wrestles bears >>>> mama grizzly
drills for oil >>>> drill baby drill!

Brain bleach, stat!

Here you go.

738 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:52:39am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

739 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:52:56am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

BINGO!!!

740 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:53:37am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Pander lower now, Lindsey, how low can you go.

741 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:53:58am

Seriously. Senator Graham can go fuck himself. Fuck that asshole. Fuck him and fuck all those Benghazi lunatics. Fuck you!

742 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:54:07am
743 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:54:43am

re: #728 RadicalModerate

Just read the biography on this guy
To call him a bigoted lunatic is not even the tip of the iceberg.

houstonpress.com

lololol

Mullah Hotze there would fit right in with the Taliban; hell, he and Mullah Omar would probably get along famously!

Like two peas in a pod.

*spit*

744 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:54:48am
745 GunstarGreen  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:54:55am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

What about when Americans kill Americans and nobody pays a price?

/Zimmerman
/Dunn
/…

746 Political Atheist  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:55:29am

re: #718 iossarian

They’re not there to “protect a population” - that’s a pretext. They are there to preserve their access to the Black Sea (number one) and to potentially retain the entire Ukraine in their sphere of influence (more of a stretch).

I agree.

But what *is* our “legitimate part in this”? Are you, in fact, saying that America’s foreign policy should be predicated on helping people in foreign lands, and not on maximizing our ability to maintain access to global resources such as (mostly) oil?

Our legit interests include Euro/NATO/ ASEAN in a nutshell, historic relationships etc. Obviously to the degree we have greedy/corporate motives instead of good policy that would suck.

As for “playing into Putin’s hands”, I think we’re going to act in a certain way on this regardless of what people think about Iraq, Central America or anything else. My point is simply that, if you want to use words like “legitimate” you have to also admit that in the past we have acted less than legitimately.

Agreed here too. :-)

747 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:55:50am

re: #740 jaunte

Pander lower now, Lindsey, how low can you go.

It’s Pander Limbo!! How low can he go?!

748 RadicalModerate  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:55:54am

re: #677 Gus

[Embedded content]

This person is NOT a member of the Democratic Party.
That candidate is Kesha Rogers, and is a hardcore LaRoucheite - a fact that she advertises heavily.
The Texas state Democratic Party has completely disavowed themselves of her and are actively campaigning against Rogers.
thehill.com

Rogers’s controversial views and surprising surge have spurred state Democrats to quickly distance themselves from her.

Appearing Monday on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas) blamed her apparent rise on residual name identification the two-time congressional nominee has. She’s raised only $27,000 for her unlikely bid.

“The party is working very hard to make sure she’s not the nominee,” said Frost, a former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman.

The Texas Democratic Party has been sending out anti-Rogers material and information to Democratic infrastructure and counties all over the state, Texas Democratic Party spokesman Manny Garcia said.

“With the possibility of a low information election, you always want to make sure folks have some information to make their decision,” Garcia said.

749 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:56:16am

re: #741 Gus

Seriously. Senator Graham can go fuck himself. Fuck that asshole. Fuck him and fuck all those Benghazi lunatics. Fuck you!

People vote for these clowns, you know that, right?

That’s the most depressing thing about the Putin/Bush comparison for me. Putin’s a dick but at least you can claim that he’s only in power due to massive corruption in Russia.

People actually voted for Bush! And not just a few people either! There are whole states where a majority of people vote for these assholes!

750 GunstarGreen  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:56:18am

re: #742 Kragar

[Embedded content]

The president is whatever we need him to be so we can bitch about him this week.

The GOP has no ideas and no platform. All it has is FUCK OBAMA!!!1!!1!!!11

751 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:56:42am

re: #748 RadicalModerate

This person is NOT a member of the Democratic Party.
That candidate is Kesha Rogers, and is a hardcore LaRoucheite - a fact that she advertises heavily.
The Texas state Democratic Party has completely disavowed themselves of her and are actively campaigning against Rogers.
thehill.com

HURR HURR TYPICAL DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!

752 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:56:48am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Uhm, Putin was inspired to move on Ukraine because Congressional Republicans didn’t get Hillary scalp for BENGHAZI!!!!?

753 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:57:12am

re: #735 Kragar

I thought PBO engineered the Benghazi attacks to kidnap the ambassador and to distract attention from Benghazi, I mean the IRS, I mean, uh, something. /////

754 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:57:19am

re: #731 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Wingnuts would call Ike a liberal. I’d go with ‘moderate’, but its important to remember that back in 1952 only a moderate Republican could have gotten elected. The party’s right wing had been in disorder since FDR had first been elected 20 years before and it was not until later in the decade that William F. Buckley finally began returning order to their ranks. Sadly, that order did not survive Mr. Buckley’s passing.

755 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:58:17am

re: #746 Political Atheist

Thanks for that.

756 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:58:23am

re: #731 Kragar

if obama is an appeaser for letting Russian troops march into Crimea, what do we call Ike, who let them march into budapest?

A strategic realist.

757 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:58:35am

re: #738 Gus

These people are such patriots, much more patriotic, American loving than any of us. ////

758 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 10:58:58am

re: #742 Kragar

759 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:00:59am

re: #745 GunstarGreen

What about when Americans kill Americans and nobody pays a price?

/Zimmerman
/Dunn
/…

Dunn’s killer was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder, so he’s paying the price for his stupidity. He only escaped a murder conviction because the prosecution overcharged, going for a 1st Degree Murder conviction instead of 2nd Degree Murder.

760 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:02:17am

re: #735 Kragar

761 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:02:41am
762 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:03:39am

re: #742 Kragar

So, depending what minute of the hour of the day of the week it is, The President of the United States is either an oppressive dictator or a impotent Sissy Mary.

763 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:03:42am

re: #519 Lidane

Deep, insightful commentary:

[Embedded content]

Doesn’t her husband wear mom jeans, too?

764 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:04:32am
765 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:05:36am
766 Ian G.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:05:41am

OT, but there’s been a big outbreak of dudebro derp over at Kevin Drum’s blog today, with people defending Putin, calling the Ukrainian protesters a bunch of Nazis, saying the western media is lying, that the US installed the current Ukrainian government, etc. One particularly dumb commenter made the analogy of Ukraine:Russia::Texas:US (seriously).

I asked them how Russian meddling in the Ukraine would be any different from American meddling in Latin America (which, of course, the dudebros oppose). I’ve gotten no answer on that front.

767 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:06:58am

re: #548 Dark_Falcon

That one actually didn’t bother me much. In order for my extended family to have a turkey dinner, a turkey has to be killed. Moreover, Sarah Palin grew up hunting and learning to clean just-killed game birds and animals. The sight of a turkey being slaughtered likely doesn’t give her much pause.

I’d say she was being tone-deaf by letting the camera shoot something that would upset a lot of people, but I also think she got much wanted attention out of that and the people who were shocked were not people she appeals to anyways.

/My 2 cents.

Word on the street, Starsky, is that she specifically picked that site and view for her photo-op.

As in, having the camera-people move to that area, and not moving like they suggested when they pointed out the slaughter behind her.

768 Bubblehead II  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:07:51am

re: #758 lawhawk

@Pres_Bartlet with GOP cognitive dissonance, you don’t need to choose by day. You can claim both simultaneously.

Here at home he is an oppressive dictator trying to shove evil gay marriage and socialized health care down the throats of true muricans while abroad he is wimp who is trying to destroy murica by pulling our troops out of combat zones and refusing to engage in nation building (war).

How did I do?

769 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:08:04am

re: #764 Gus

[Embedded content]

Sounds like a butthurt-induced temper tantrum.

770 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:08:36am

re: #764 Gus

[Embedded content]

That’s Putin, showing strength in his favorite way.

USN: Challenge Accepted

The DDG 51 Flight I guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) has successfully completed two live fire tests of the Aegis Weapons System to the latest open architecture Baseline 9C standard.

Performed off the California coast on 8 February, both firings resulted in successful target interceptions by Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) area air defence missiles.

John Paul Jones is the first Aegis ship in the US Navy to receive the Baseline 9C version of the Aegis Baseline 9 Common Source Library. Baseline 9C integrates Aegis anti-air warfare (AAW) and ballistic missile defence (BMD) capability into one computer program and equipment suite to provide an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability.

771 Timothy Watson  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:09:04am

re: #735 Kragar

Kinda like how Ronnie! sold weapons to Iran less than two years after they murdered 241 American servicemen, for which not a soul was ever punished?

772 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:09:13am

re: #764 Gus

[Embedded content]

That’s swell, Russia. We have those too.

773 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:09:20am

re: #768 Bubblehead II

@Pres_Bartlet with GOP cognitive dissonance, you don’t need to choose by day. You can claim both simultaneously.

Here at home he is an oppressive dictator trying to shove evil gay marriage and socialized health care down the throats of true muricans while abroad is is wimp who is trying to destroy murica by pulling our troops out of combat zones and refusing to engage in nation building (war).

How did I do?

I’m from the Club for Growth and I have a sackful of money for you.

774 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:09:53am
775 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:10:48am

US DOLLAR-RUSSIAN RUBLE Exchange Rate
36.1033 Price of 1 USD in RUB 0.4776 1.31%
bloomberg.com

776 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:10:53am

re: #774 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE SATIRIST?!?!

777 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:11:00am

re: #552 HappyWarrior

It didn’t bother me. It was just the oddness of the turkey being slaughtered with her just going on camera as if nothing is happening in the background. I had a bigger problem with her not knowing any Supreme Court case outside of Roe and the claims that she and her surrogates tried to make that by virtue of her being a governor she was somehow more qualified than Biden even though Biden was first elected to his position at the time thirty six years prior while Palin was in her first term governing one of our smallest states population wise. McCain’s people were like SHE GOVERNS THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNION. Yeah one that is smaller than the county I grew up in.

*cough* Exxon Valdez *cough* life-long Alaskan *cough* Supreme Court: Baker v. Exxon *cough* the damages award was cut to $2.5 billion on December 22, 2006 *cough* JUST AFTER SHE WAS ELECTED GOVERNOR *cough*

778 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:11:07am
779 blueraven  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:11:08am

I hope like hell the republicans pay a price for their rhetoric over this situation with Russia.

During a crisis, real or perceived, leaders should try to present a united front. At the very least a respectful difference of opinion.

McCain, Graham and others should be ashamed of their attacks on Obama, who is being deliberate as he always is. He is not a reactionary hothead. I think, in general, Americans appreciate that fact.

Yes, there are some lefties who should STFU as well, but they are much less powerful than these senators. Putin is thanking McCain, Graham and FOX News for burnishing his cred.

780 Bubblehead II  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:11:37am

re: #773 iossarian

I’m from the Club for Growth and I have a sackful of money for you.

small unmarked bills if you please.

781 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:12:16am

re: #775 jaunte

US DOLLAR-RUSSIAN RUBLE Exchange Rate
>36.1033 Price of 1 USD in RUB 0.4776 1.31%
bloomberg.com

I recommend Moscow, where the American dollar buys seven rubles.

- [ Pager Beeps ] - Twelve rubles.

- [ Beeping Continues ] - Sixty rubles.

1 ,000 rubles! I must go!

-Russian ambassador, Simpsons

782 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:12:42am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

My goodness, that is absolute gold.

PISS OFF GRAHAM YOU BENGHAZI-BANDWAGON HUCKSTER. WE ALL KNOW YOU’RE NOT A TRUE OBAMA HATER AND PROBABLY GAY.

783 Timothy Watson  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:12:44am

It’s amazing how wingnut certain “moderates” have gotten. My local congressman, Rep. Robert Wittman (R-VA 1) could probably be called a moderate on most topics (except for abortion), but the guy has gone full wingnut since someone is running in the Republican primary against him.

784 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:12:55am

re: #781 Varek Raith

I thought they had bumped it back to 27 or so yesterday.

785 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:13:04am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

Man, when you lose Malkin, you know you’re dumb

786 Targetpractice  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:13:33am

So does this mean that Graham reached “peak wingnut”?

787 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:13:34am

Dump another 10 billion, see what happens.

788 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:13:46am

Boom! I agree with Malkin.

789 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:14:12am

Lol.

790 TedStriker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:14:20am

re: #735 Kragar

[Embedded content]

791 iossarian  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:14:39am

re: #786 Targetpractice

So does this mean that Graham reached “peak wingnut”?

I think it’s more that he’s trying to prove his wingnut boda fides, but the true wingnuts aren’t having it.

It’s like a secret handshake of derp.

792 CuriousLurker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:14:52am

re: #734 Gus

[Embedded content]

Okay, my brain just went chasing after the white rabbit and fell down a hole again:

President Obama gets sick & tired of the constant criticism of everything he or the First Lady does, so he calls a press conference and says, “I’ve had enough. America clearly doesn’t want me to continue being President, so I’m resigning effective immediately. VP Biden will now be your President. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America—you’re gonna need it.”

[Gasps from crowd of reporters, then stunned silence as he walks away.]

VP Biden steps up to the podium and says, “This is a big fucking deal, but if Barack is leaving, I’m leaving with him. Speaker of the House John Boehner will now be your President. I wish him luck, especially with that whole Republican civil war thing going on.”

[More gasps as he walks away also. Bedlam erupts. Reporters & cameramen race for the Capitol to find John Boehner and get a comment from him. He’s nowhere to be found. Finally, after a frantic search lasting more than an hour he’s found—in a coat closet, curled up in a fetal position and sobbing forlornly. The camera zooms in for a close-up of his bright orange, tear-streaked countenance, and he says…]

Then the FedEx guy interrupted with a package delivery. Sorry! LOL

793 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:01am

re: #788 Gus

Benghazi made Molotov and Ribbentrop think they could get away with it.

794 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:08am

re: #788 Gus

Boom! I agree with Malkin.

[Embedded content]

Youtube Video

795 makeitstop  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:19am

re: #788 Gus

Boom! I agree with Malkin.

[Embedded content]

Whoa, she actually made sense there! Now I’ve seen it all.

796 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:36am

re: #561 Lidane

I wasn’t bothered by the turkey slaughter. I just thought it showed how low-rent, amateur, and completely unprepared for prime time Sarah Palin was. It cemented my perception of her as a total joke.

As I mentioned above, rumor is that she did it on purpose.

Ponder that.

797 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:38am

re: #786 Targetpractice

So does this mean that Graham reached “peak wingnut”?

It means he’s gone as far as he can go with it. There are others who can take wingnuttery much further. So Sen. Graham needs to find some other tactics to get primary votes, though he may already have enough momentum to avoid a runoff.

798 TedStriker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:43am

re: #788 Gus

Boom! I agree with Malkin.

[Embedded content]

Broken clock and all that…she’s still certifiable on everything else.

799 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:15:53am

Malkin’s just defending her turf from the RINO.

800 lawhawk  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:16:13am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

When you offend the Benghazi-natics with your overzealous Benghazi-ing, you know you’ve gone off the rails.

801 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:17:03am

re: #571 HappyWarrior

Yeah she appealed to the GOP male who votes with his dick rather than his head. OH SHE HUNTS AND TALKS TOUGH AND SHE’S NOT BAD LOOKING! Not saying every GOP male is like that to clarify but that is the mindset she appealed to and continues to do so.

Apparently not all that well, so bonus for being non-threatening to one’s hunting ability.

802 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:17:53am
803 wrenchwench  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:18:00am

re: #792 CuriousLurker

Then the FedEx guy interrupted with a package delivery.

He ruined my morning!!!!

/

srsly, I lold

804 Ian G.  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:18:23am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

Broken clocks and all that. Graham should just collapse in a pile of shame if Michelle freakin’ Malkin makes him sound like an idiot.

805 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:19:45am
806 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:20:15am

re: #552 HappyWarrior

It didn’t bother me. It was just the oddness of the turkey being slaughtered with her just going on camera as if nothing is happening in the background. I had a bigger problem with her not knowing any Supreme Court case outside of Roe and the claims that she and her surrogates tried to make that by virtue of her being a governor she was somehow more qualified than Biden even though Biden was first elected to his position at the time thirty six years prior while Palin was in her first term governing one of our smallest states population wise. McCain’s people were like SHE GOVERNS THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNION. Yeah one that is smaller than the county I grew up in.

Alaska is the biggest state, but 2/3 of it is Federal land, and another 10% is tribal land, over which she has no direct jurisdiction…

and yes, remember her favorite Founding Father (“All of them!”). That was not a “gotcha” question, it was an attempt to find out her views on how this country should be governed, and she made it clear that she has no clear ideas beyond promoting her political career.

807 The Ghost of a Flea  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:20:17am

I was into Benghazi before it sold out and got commercialized.

Now I’m into this other scandal.

You probably haven’t heard of it.

808 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:20:37am

From BBC:

19:12:

Reports say Russia has successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from the southern Astrakhan region near the Caspian Sea.

Great. So now Putin is pulling a Kim Jong-un

*headdesk*

809 Bulworth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:21:09am

re: #799 wrenchwench

Also, Malkin “cares” about Benghazi only in the sense that she believes it to still be a useful tool in the RWNJ arsenal against Obama HRC.

810 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:21:12am

re: #577 Lidane

That should be an entire factory full of red flags for anyone.

The most critical appointment a Presidential hopeful makes is his VP selection. It tells you everything about their decision making and what they consider important in their potential Presidency. The fact that McCain’s team didn’t want to properly vet Sarah Palin was a sign they weren’t serious. Lehman Bros or not, they deserved to lose by nominating her.

They could have talked to, like, anyone in Alaska who wasn’t a GOP operative and found “dirt” (read: publicly available stuff in newspapers of record) like:
* Palin charging a per diem to live in her house in Wasilla instead of the Gov’s mansion in Anchorage.
* AK Legislators wearing “Where’s Sarah?” buttons because she was never in Anchorage.
* Her “Wild Ride” story, which, especially if true, should disallow her from holding any position starting from and above operating the fryolator at a fast-food restaurant.

811 TedStriker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:21:22am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

813 CuriousLurker  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:22:30am

re: #803 wrenchwench

He ruined my morning!!!!

/

srsly, I lold

LOL, be thankful that the FedEx guy the only part that actually happened IRL. I was totally on a roll till he interrupted my little episode of CL Fantasy Theater.

814 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:24:14am

re: #599 Gus

Page that.

815 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:24:59am
816 William Barnett-Lewis  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:25:24am

re: #759 Dark_Falcon

Dunn’s killer was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder, so he’s paying the price for his stupidity. He only escaped a murder conviction because the prosecution overcharged, going for a 1st Degree Murder conviction instead of 2nd Degree Murder.

Just a reminder DF - on that charge under FL law, he could have been found guilty of 1st or 2nd degree murder or manslaughter and the jury was so charged by the judge. The deadlocking jurors were holding out for total acquittal.

817 ericblair  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:26:35am

We can haz new thread nao? This one’s getting ratty and worn out in the crotch.

818 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:27:03am

Snowden to give speech at massive right wing extremist gathering in Texas! (just kidding, it’s wealthy progressives)
Fugitive and whistleblower Edward Snowden to speak from Russia at SXSW

819 Killgore Trout  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:27:31am

re: #815 Gus

[Embedded content]

Do we have the moral authority to complain?
/

820 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:27:37am

re: #816 William Barnett-Lewis

Just a reminder DF - on that charge under FL law, he could have been found guilty of 1st or 2nd degree murder or manslaughter and the jury was so charged by the judge. The deadlocking jurors were holding out for total acquittal.

So noted, and thank you.

821 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:28:21am

re: #815 Gus

[Embedded content]

lolwut?

Fucking pathetic; I see Putin has been studying Kim Jong-il’s How To Succeed In Diplomacy And Foreign Affairs.

O_o

822 Varek Raith  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:28:43am

re: #819 Killgore Trout

Do we have the moral authority to complain?
/

Nothing to complain about.

823 jaunte  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:29:03am

re: #815 Gus

Like a drunk waving a gun around.

824 William Barnett-Lewis  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:29:26am

re: #795 makeitstop

Whoa, she actually made sense there! Now I’ve seen it all.

Only to those who “really care” about Benghazi… and don’t care about the, what was it? 16? attacks under Bush. She’s only mad because he’s making it obvious how stupid their little obsession is.

825 Kragar  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:29:31am
826 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:33:01am

re: #717 Pie-onist Overlord

(been saving this…)

FALSE FLAG!

827 Gus  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:33:37am
828 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:41:46am

re: #806 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

and yes, remember her favorite Founding Father (“All of them!”). That was not a “gotcha” question, it was an attempt to find out her views on how this country should be governed, and she made it clear that she has no clear ideas beyond promoting her political career.

Her word salad is all sound bites and dog whistles.

Ever try to diagram a random sentence of hers? (Bring whiskey — you’ll need it.)

829 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:42:39am

re: #817 ericblair

We can haz new thread nao? This one’s getting ratty and worn out in the crotch.

You said “crotch.”

830 BeenHereAwhile  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:49:42am

re: #319 Eventual Carrion

My youngest son still laughs when I take the milk out of the fridge and shake the jug. It is just habit, a good feeling I guess. He would say, “why did you do that”? I grew up in the days when the milk got delivered from the farm up the road (backwoods Pennsylvania). It was pasteurized, but not homogenized so it would separate while it sat. Just mixing it back up again.

I still do that from force of habit.

Our milk came straight from our cow, no pasteurization, just cooled in the refrigerator to separate the cream from the milk.

Skim off the 1/2 inch of (Jersey cow) cream off the top. Shake the milk to even out the whole milk.

831 BeenHereAwhile  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:55:50am

re: #346 Justanotherhuman

Because shut up.

I was on a party line once… : ) You could always tell when someone was listening in, though.

We had a private line, but to call someone, you had to tell the operator a 4 digit number and a color like “6023 Blue.”

832 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 11:58:45am

re: #778 Gus

[Embedded content]

Hell haz frozen over…

833 Chrysicat  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:01:58pm

re: #759 Dark_Falcon

Dunn’s killer was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder, so he’s paying the price for his stupidity. He only escaped a murder conviction because the prosecution overcharged, going for a 1st Degree Murder conviction instead of 2nd Degree Murder.

Oh, Lord. THIS canard again. Still not California. Still allowed to simultaneously ask for convictions for 1st degree, 2nd degree and even manslaughter. Still jury-nullified even on the least of those.

834 Pie-onist Overlord  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:02:46pm

re: #810 chadu

They could have talked to, like, anyone in Alaska who wasn’t a GOP operative and found “dirt” (read: publicly available stuff in newspapers of record) like:
* Palin charging a per diem to live in her house in Wasilla instead of the Gov’s mansion in Anchorage.
* AK Legislators wearing “Where’s Sarah?” buttons because she was never in Anchorage.
* Her “Wild Ride” story, which, >especially if true, should disallow her from holding any position starting from and above operating the fryolator at a fast-food restaurant.

I thought the capital of Alaska is Juneau? When did it get moved to Anchorage?

835 Backwoods_Sleuth  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:08:11pm

re: #810 chadu

They could have talked to, like, anyone in Alaska who wasn’t a GOP operative and found “dirt” (read: publicly available stuff in newspapers of record) like:
* Palin charging a per diem to live in her house in Wasilla instead of the Gov’s mansion in Anchorage.
* AK Legislators wearing “Where’s Sarah?” buttons because she was never in Anchorage.
* Her “Wild Ride” story, which, >especially if true, should disallow her from holding any position starting from and above operating the fryolator at a fast-food restaurant.

And taking cookies and Bibles, along with Franklin Graham, to “support” the starving Native villages during a winter disaster when the people were freezing & starving.

Oh, and this:

In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help.

Troubled Alaska health programs face federal restriction

Read more here: adn.com

And, yes, this was while she was governor.

836 gwangung  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:08:30pm

re: #759 Dark_Falcon

Dunn’s killer was convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder, so he’s paying the price for his stupidity. He only escaped a murder conviction because the prosecution overcharged, going for a 1st Degree Murder conviction instead of 2nd Degree Murder.

Well, no…..2nd degree murder and manslaughter were also included.

837 BeenHereAwhile  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:37:29pm

re: #423 darthstar

My strategy is to get all my enemies to surround me, then boom! I take ‘em all out at once and win! Still working on the boom! part and how that will play out.

Release the “Hush-A-Boom!”

838 chadu  Tue, Mar 4, 2014 12:58:57pm

re: #834 Pie-onist Overlord

I thought the capital of Alaska is Juneau? When did it get moved to Anchorage?

When I was stoopid. ;)

Mea culpa.


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