Kellyanne Conway Begs for Money Because Trump Won’t Pay Her Salary

Wingnuts • Views: 88,082

President-elect Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager-turned-Communications Counselor Kellyanne Conway will visit Buffalo this week for an exclusive fundraiser.

Conway will speak at a Thursday afternoon luncheon at the Westin Buffalo hotel. The $5000 per person event is intended to raise funds to cover the costs of Trump’s transition team, including their salaries.

“Mr. Trump held a fundraiser down in New York City a few weeks back and did raise some money, but they have – I would use the word – ‘struggled’ to raise the private funds needed to pay these individuals who are working on behalf of the taxpayers but not being paid by the government,” said Congressman Chris Collins, who has been an advocate for Trump since early in his presidential campaign.

Election campaign funds cannot be used to cover the expenses of the President-elect’s transition team.

More: Senior Trump adviser coming to Buffalo for exclusive fundraising event

You signed up for this Kellyanne. Sux 2 B U. So sorry not sorry.

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733 comments
1
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 2:05:55pm

Christ, what an asshole. May all of Trump’s worthless sycophants and ass-kissers enjoy the same treatment.

2
cat-tikvah  Jan 2, 2017 • 2:41:48pm

re: #1 jhncsy

Immediately after they lose their health coverage and have to pay out-of-pocket for everything.

3
nines09  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:29:08pm

Maybe she could get a few scenes on The Walking Dead. As a zombie. They wouldn’t have to use a lot of makeup.

4
HappyWarrior  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:32:43pm

OFFS. No self awareness at all.

5
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:33:12pm

This is another way in which Trump is different from preceding Presidents — and not in a good way. We are in for a hard, bumpy ride.

6
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:34:24pm

Had to promote this one because it’s really taking off on Twitter!

7
Eric The Fruit Bat  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:35:27pm
8
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:36:53pm

I thought she was wholly owned by the Mercer corporation. Won’t they pay her anymore?

9
Shiplord Kirel  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:38:51pm

Fortunately her boss isn’t president yet so she can still apply for food stamps and Obamacare.

10
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:39:16pm

in the meantime, DT is picking another international fight:

11
unproven innocence  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:41:04pm

Charles, in last thread you asked

If Trump and his people were actually undercover Russian agents, how would it be different from what they do now?

I’m guessing one difference would be K. Conway would be paid.

See! This PROOVES he’s not a Russian agent.

12
Scottishdragon  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:42:54pm

re: #10 Backwoods_Sleuth

in the meantime, DT is picking another international fight:

[Embedded content]

Jesus Christ…how long until he actually starts a fucking war.

13
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:43:10pm

re: #11 unproven innocence

Charles, in last thread you asked

I’m guessing one difference would be K. Conway would be paid.

See! This PROOVES he’s not a Russian agent.

If Trump actually paid anyone, people would know something strange was afoot.

14
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:43:34pm

re: #12 Scottishdragon

I guess I won’t be moving to Hawaii anytime soon.

15
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:45:08pm

re: #14 Skip Intro

I guess I won’t be moving to Hawaii anytime soon.

I dunno. NK can’t even get their nukes to work right. I don’t think they’d try to hit anything as small as Hawaii with an ICBM. The continental US is much harder to miss.

16
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:45:09pm

re: #13 Blind Frog Belly White

Trump is a known “slow pay” because he wants to see his idea of results. And even then he does not want to let go of any money.

17
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:45:29pm

Only 18 days until Trump gets the @POTUS account too.

I wonder what GWB would have tweeted about Iraq if the service existed back then?

18
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:46:26pm

re: #16 PhillyPretzel

“Why won’t these people I refuse to pay do anything for me???”

19
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:47:20pm

re: #6 Charles Johnson

Had to promote this one because it’s really taking off on Twitter!

I wonder if all the dipshits will be inspired to donate to her survival fund, then?

I think they might. I don’t get the American conservative thought process. They love to indulge in petty and stupid cruelties like burning down the environment and destroying the social safety net, but they fall all over themselves to help out the rich and the powerful. It’s not just greed, it’s like some twisted empathy.

20
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:48:15pm

re: #16 PhillyPretzel

Trump is a known “slow pay” because he wants to see his idea of results. And even then he does not want to let go of any money.

Trump: “The work was substandard! I’ll pay you half of what we agreed to! You want more, SUE ME!!!”

Contractor: “What the…..? Okay, fine.”

Trump: “Hey, I’ve got more work to be done. I’ll pay you top dollar!”

21
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:49:08pm

re: #15 Blind Frog Belly White

Is Trump threatening them because they won’t let him build a hotel at their only golf course? Maybe he’ll let them nuke the west coast if they change their mind. Just a bunch of far left loser never Trump voters there anyway.

22
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:49:30pm

re: #20 Blind Frog Belly White

exactly.

23
Scottishdragon  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:49:42pm

Hillbilly Heroin whisperer JD Vance gets a prime slot at the NYT to tell us all how:

As a working-class, conservative white kid, I was supposed to hate him.

…but that black guy in the white house does have a nice family so maybe he wasn’t all bad y’know? Oh, and those silly liberals keep talking about racism! He finally wraps up with this gobsmacking special bit…

On Jan. 20, the political side of my brain will breathe a sigh of relief at Mr. Obama’s departure. I will hope for better policy from the new administration, a health reform package closer to my ideological preferences, and a new approach to foreign policy.

But the child who so desperately wanted an American dream, with a happy family at its core will feel something different. For at a pivotal time in my life, Barack Obama gave me hope that a boy who grew up like me could still achieve the most important of my dreams. For that, I’ll miss him, and the example he set.

So thank God we have some fucking TRUMP in there to kill health care and screw over all my friends and family in East Ohio, but Obama was a nice example like you see on the Hallmark Channel.

I fucking can’t. I just can’t.

24
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:50:25pm

re: #17 Eclectic Cyborg

Only 18 days until Trump gets the @POTUS account too.

I wonder what GWB would have tweeted about Iraq if the service existed back then?

“Did you know that Iraq spelled backwards is QARI?”

25
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:50:40pm
26
KGxvi  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:50:51pm

re: #12 Scottishdragon

Jesus Christ…how long until he actually starts a fucking war.

On the bright side, it’s not like he’s done anything that would strain our relationship with China…

Oh, wait, yeah…

27
ObserverArt  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:51:13pm

Help Kellyanne…buy some of her new product.

(Shameless photoshop image pusher…posted yesterday too)

Introducing Kellyanne Conway’s New Cleaner. It’s effectiveness was seen in the most recent U.S. Presidential Election as it made a Known Con Man acceptable to 47% of America’s Registered Voters.
28
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:51:52pm
29
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:53:22pm

re: #25 Charles Johnson

It will happen about 5 minutes after he is sworn in. ///

I hope I am wrong but I think you right. G-D help the USA. We are going to need it.

30
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 3:56:03pm

Good god.

If Trump tries some nation building in North Korea, what is China’s response? I know the NK is a client state, but it’s also a major pain in the ass that all the sane nations humor and ignore. Does China engage because its reputation is on the line, or does it sacrifice face to let the US bleed itself out attacking the hyper-militarized North Korea?

31
Scottishdragon  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:00:21pm

If the NK’s conclude he is going to hit them somehow, they will absolutely start using nukes before they might lose them.

Most of Japan and everything below the 38th parallel will fucking go.

32
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:05:28pm
33
Joe Bacon  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:07:14pm

re: #27 ObserverArt

Help Kellyanne…buy some of her new product.

(Shameless photoshop image pusher…posted yesterday too)

[Embedded content]

A spray an hour turns Bullshit into Flowers!

34
BeachDem  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:08:44pm

So, not sure which “celebrity” show tonight has more people I’ve never heard of, Celebrity Apprentice or Celebrity Masterchef. Most of the apprentice ones I’ve heard of have already been on some other celebrity cooking shows (Laila Ali and Carnie Wilson)

Think I’ll be skipping both and watching some more Grace and Frankie, thank you very much.

Oh, and just in preparation for the yam mouthing off about how much better his stupid show did when HE was the host:

“The Apprentice” was a genuine hit in that first season, ending as the seventh-most-watched TV show of the year, averaging almost 21 million viewers a week.

Its ratings declined steadily each year after that, to 11th place overall in its second season, then 15th, then 38th. When, after its sixth season in 2007, it finished as the 75th

The celebrity show did better, but it has been middle of the pack all the way, with finishes ranking from 46th to 84th

This ratings history hasn’t stopped the notoriously boastful Trump from bragging about the show’s success, of course. Appearing before TV critics last January, he called “Celebrity Apprentice” the No. 1 show on television

chicagotribune.com

35
Pawn of the Oppressor  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:09:36pm

It’s strongly in evidence that Mr. Great Deals has no fucking clue how to do business in Asia. He’s insulted the Japanese, upset the Chinese, and now he’s mucking about with North Korea - the one piece on the board where we always do our business quietly, as a specific point of contrast to NK’s bluster and mania. They are the people you don’t piss off, not because we can’t defeat them, but because they are truly fucking crazy and can cause a shit-ton of bloody ruin in a matter of hours if they ever commit to open violence.

Puppet-boy also doesn’t connect it in his tiny half-a-head that the missile defense that so upsets his handlers in Russia, is also a key to keeping South Korea safe. Let’s see him try to square that circle.

36
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:11:38pm

Just realized the Rose Bowl is on…second half about to start.

Kellyanne’s money problems? Not my concern.

37
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:14:31pm

I’m going to miss our FLOTUS.

38
Interesting Times  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:15:37pm

re: #36 darthstar

Kellyanne’s money problems? Not my concern.

I prefer to think of it as comfort (of the schadenfreude variety).

39
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:15:44pm

re: #34 BeachDem

I’ll confess to watching a few episodes of “Celebrity Apprentice” before Trump began running around promoting birtherism. Impossible to believe that he’s President now. Yikes!

40
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:16:03pm

Yay Nancy…not mincing words. At least we have her in the House.

41
BeachDem  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:20:09pm

re: #39 Patricia Kayden

I’ll confess to watching a few episodes of “Celebrity Apprentice” before Trump began running around promoting birtherism. Impossible to believe that he’s President now. Yikes!

I’ll confess to watching a few episodes of the original show, (until I grew totally nauseated watching his bloated face and ego) as that premise at least made sense—that people would do marketing/business challenges to get a job with the yam (not a thing I would have ever aspired to, but it seemed logical.) But the celebrity version seemed ridiculous on its face.

42
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:20:32pm

re: #38 Interesting Times

I prefer to think of it as comfort (of the schadenfreude variety).

I prefer a good struedel. I resolved not to get emotionally invested in the eventual demise of Trump’s surrogates/lackeys/sycophants.

43
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:23:11pm

re: #40 darthstar

I keep telling myself, if the Republicans try to nuke healthcare and social security, the Americans who voted for the nightmare administration and the Americans who couldn’t be bothered for sane management will notice they’re getting screwed, and say no. And then the sane America can try and repair the damage, and hopefully after eight years it will stick.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

44
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:25:57pm

re: #43 jhncsy

I keep telling myself, if the Republicans try to nuke healthcare and social security, the Americans who voted for the nightmare administration and the Americans who couldn’t be bothered for sane management will notice they’re getting screwed, and say no. And then the sane America can try and repair the damage, and hopefully after eight years it will stick.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

I’d love to see them get vetoed by Trump and have him say, “I’ll sign it when you have a replacement.”

45
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:26:35pm

re: #43 jhncsy

I’ve already seen this movie around 1000 times. The GOP will load a megaton of shit bombs into something they’ll call “Saving the ACA”. The Dems, with some safe seat GOP help will kill it.

Fox News and talk radio: “Dems kill attempt to save the ACA, causing millions to lose their health insurance.”

46
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:27:58pm
47
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:30:30pm

Darn. That stack is gone again. :(

48
GlutenFreeJesus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:31:24pm

re: #32 Backwoods_Sleuth

49
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:31:41pm

re: #45 Skip Intro

I’ve already seen this movie around 1000 times. The GOP will load a megaton of shit bombs into something they’ll call “Saving the ACA”. The Dems, with some safe seat GOP help will kill it.

Fox News and talk radio: “Dems kill attempt to save the ACA, causing millions to lose their health insurance.”

You’re probably right. And it will work too.

50
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:31:49pm
51
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:32:16pm

re: #47 PhillyPretzel

Darn. That stack is gone again. :(

Hmm. Weird. I contacted the developer of Font Awesome and he replied that he thought the problem was fixed, but apparently not. I’ll switch back to the other version again.

52
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:33:06pm
53
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:34:06pm

re: #52 Backwoods_Sleuth

I confess his books are not my cup of tea at all (I don’t do horror, thank you very much) but his Twitter is pretty awesome.

54
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:34:20pm

re: #45 Skip Intro

I’ve already seen this movie around 1000 times. The GOP will load a megaton of shit bombs into something they’ll call “Saving the ACA”. The Dems, with some safe seat GOP help will kill it.

Fox News and talk radio: “Dems kill attempt to save the ACA, causing millions to lose their health insurance.”

They’ll deliberately set up a situation where insurance companies begin to bomb under the ACA, then use that “crisis” as an excuse to kill it in favor of their “alternative,” which they will have ready to reveal right around the time for the midterms.

55
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:34:53pm

re: #51 Charles Johnson

I have also noticed that certain icons i.e. Twitter have also changed or appear as a blue circle.

56
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:34:56pm
57
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:34:59pm
58
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:35:51pm

wonkette.com

Wonkette collected a list of police reports from all the people injured or killed by celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve, including a Democratic representative in Texas.

They also note the kindly people over at Breitbart’s comments about that representative (hint, those comments are not kindly).

59
mmmirele  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:36:39pm

re: #23 Scottishdragon

JD Vance can kiss my fat white fundament. His “hillbilly” family and friends are going to suffer greatly under Trump, and he ultimately doesn’t care. I despise people like him.

60
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:36:57pm

re: #55 PhillyPretzel

I have also noticed that certain icons i.e. Twitter have also changed or appear as a blue circle.

All those icons are part of Font Awesome, that’s why you aren’t seeing them. Reload and they’ll be back now.

61
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:38:00pm

re: #60 Charles Johnson

Thanks. :)

62
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:38:33pm

re: #45 Skip Intro

I’ve already seen this movie around 1000 times. The GOP will load a megaton of shit bombs into something they’ll call “Saving the ACA”. The Dems, with some safe seat GOP help will kill it.

Fox News and talk radio: “Dems kill attempt to save the ACA, causing millions to lose their health insurance.”

That won’t work. We saw Repubs try to repeal the ACA at least 50 times. Only those who want to be fooled will believe that the Democrats who passed the ACA would do anything to kill it.

63
Scottishdragon  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:39:08pm

re: #45 Skip Intro

I’ve already seen this movie around 1000 times. The GOP will load a megaton of shit bombs into something they’ll call “Saving the ACA”. The Dems, with some safe seat GOP help will kill it.

Fox News and talk radio: “Dems kill attempt to save the ACA, causing millions to lose their health insurance.”

It won’t matter. People always blame the party in power. We learned that after Ted Cruz fucked up the US credit score and the GOP took no damage for it. The GOP owns everything that happens after the 20th.

Everything. Hang that fucking dead albatross around their necks.

When the ACA is killed and 35 million people are back to using the ER for dialysis and whatever…you own that, Trump, Ryan et al.

When the trade war Trump starts next month raises Wal Mart prices by 50%, Trump owns it.

When North Korea kills a bunch of people based on something Trump says…he will own all of it.

The American electorate is supremely ill informed and has no basic understanding of how or why our government works in the first place. Our job is to point out who is fucking things up for them.

64
BeachDem  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:39:24pm

re: #53 klys (maker of Silmarils)

d0oNJmYfluxzPClt5IItkcX4NCwqmPbKqWC6YKMqjlw3wXZqtojaSluQkIKeSmmaY23H15fgbltI2q+fPmLI9pAZsHrNVQGlOVvh90JD0bPkynPJrlmmUuC9f0FMthn9kjpumMpzfBHZ158/jxssbNpmyqARYpOyVAbSzJ49rQ90M1hhWLvKUFOH3GrzZCPwny6tMFdPug2pmZrARWqGYOc/Blzj8+PBpacX0VSF7ME=

65
Dave In Austin  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:40:22pm
66
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:42:34pm

re: #41 BeachDem

The celebrity version was pretty much celebrities (of varying fame) calling friends to raise a lot of money for “charities”. Hmmm.

So I guess you saw the rise of the odious Omarosa Manigault. She certainly has vaulted into the public sphere and stretched her 15 minutes of fame from The Apprentice.

67
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:43:43pm

re: #65 Dave In Austin

::: running for the brain bleach :::

68
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:43:47pm

Only an hour to go until the final dinner party of the holiday season. My waistline could use a break.

We had our family Xmas gathering yesterday.

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

69
mmmirele  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:44:37pm

re: #65 Dave In Austin

Your spoiler tags didn’t exactly work and that picture is hideous.

70
jhncsy  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:44:46pm

re: #65 Dave In Austin

Is that… the statue?

Mayhap we’ll see more of those. Who knows? They could very well save the world!

71
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:45:38pm

re: #65 Dave In Austin

Oh…..

Your hide didn’t work on your post. Maybe it should look like this:

Spoiler

72
GlutenFreeJesus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:46:13pm

Guess what’s for breakfast tomorrow…

chefsteps.com

73
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:46:57pm

re: #68 calochortus

Only an hour to go until the final dinner party of the holiday season. My waistline could use a break.

We had our family Xmas gathering yesterday.

[Embedded content]

Sounds like you had a good Christmas, and I’ll bet your waistline is just fine.

74
unproven innocence  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:46:58pm

re: #71 Anymouse

Your hide didn’t work on your post. Maybe it should look like this:

Spoiler

[Embedded content]

I had to copy the link and paste into addr bar on a new tab.

75
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:48:06pm

What the GOP will do is stage a “repeal” vote that runs aground on a Dem filibuster and use that to blame them for the damage that’s done when the GOP then uses the budgetary process to deprive the ACA of all funding. The damage done will then be used as “proof” that the ACA is a failure and a repeal of it made into a midterm campaign issue with all Dems who voted against the initial “repeal” vote portrayed as responsible for millions losing their access to healthcare.

76
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:48:28pm

re: #74 unproven innocence

I had to copy the link and paste into addr bar on a new tab.

Hmmm … works for me.

The picture it burns my eyes! What a hideous photo!

77
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:49:15pm

re: #73 Anymouse

Sounds like you had a good Christmas, and I’ll bet your waistline is just fine.

We did, thank you.
My waistline is a bit wider than it should be, but more to the point I have a bad knee and it would be good to get, say, 20 pounds of load off it. I have hopes…

78
BeachDem  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:49:36pm

re: #66 Patricia Kayden

The celebrity version was pretty much celebrities (of varying fame) calling friends to raise a lot of money for “charities”. Hmmm.

So I guess you saw the rise of the odious Omarosa Manigault. She certainly has vaulted into the public sphere and stretched her 15 minutes of fame from The Apprentice.

I do remember seeing Omarosa…and that Bill guy who married some stick figure show host. I would watch a couple of episodes each of the first few years, when he had some actual people who worked for him on as his associates. Some of the challenges were interesting, from a marketing point of view. Then he got rid of his associates and brought his odious children on (I believe that was when it really started tanking in the ratings.)

And as far as all the money he supposedly donated to all the charities, I believe it ended up that NBC gave the actual money—he just ran his mouth about what a charitable guy he was.

79
GlutenFreeJesus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:50:27pm

Too bad that’s not really Donny.

mirror.co.uk

80
Dave In Austin  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:51:29pm

Sorry… fixed

81
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:51:50pm

More Shocking Evidence of Trump’s Nazi Birth!!!!!

82
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:53:29pm

re: #77 calochortus

We did, thank you.
My waistline is a bit wider than it should be, but more to the point I have a bad knee and it would be good to get, say, 20 pounds of load off it. I have hopes…

“Waistlines go in, waistlines go out, you can’t explain it.” (::

I figure they go pretty much where they ought to be for the person in question.

83
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:56:06pm

re: #81 gocart mozart

More Shocking Evidence of Trump’s Nazi Birth!!!!!

[Embedded content]

“Hey, I’m just asking questions!”

84
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:56:23pm

re: #82 Anymouse

“Waistlines go in, waistlines go out, you can’t explain it.” (::

I figure they go pretty much where they ought to be for the person in question.

Well, it’s located between my hips and shoulders, so that’s a good thing.

85
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:56:26pm

re: #63 Scottishdragon

“When the ACA is killed and 35 million people are back to using the ER for dialysis and whatever…you own that, Trump, Ryan et al.”

Yet there are some on the Right who argue that being uninsured is a viable and sensible option. **shakes head in disbelief**
wnd.com

86
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:57:26pm

re: #84 calochortus

Well, it’s located between my hips and shoulders, so that’s a good thing.

It might be a problem if it was located around your right ankle.

87
Patricia Kayden  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:57:40pm

re: #75 Targetpractice

What the GOP will do is stage a “repeal” vote that runs aground on a Dem filibuster and use that to blame them for the damage that’s done when the GOP then uses the budgetary process to deprive the ACA of all funding. The damage done will then be used as “proof” that the ACA is a failure and a repeal of it made into a midterm campaign issue with all Dems who voted against the initial “repeal” vote portrayed as responsible for millions losing their access to healthcare.

That won’t work since millions of Americans now have insurance via the ACA and will directly be harmed when it is repealed. I don’t think Americans are as dumb as most Republicans think we are.

88
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 4:58:46pm

re: #87 Patricia Kayden

That won’t work since millions of Americans now have insurance via the ACA and will directly be harmed when it is repealed. I don’t think Americans are as dumb as most Republicans think we are.

Exhibit A: Most of them didn’t turn out to vote.

89
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:05:30pm

re: #85 Patricia Kayden

“When the ACA is killed and 35 million people are back to using the ER for dialysis and whatever…you own that, Trump, Ryan et al.”

Yet there are some on the Right who argue that being uninsured is a viable and sensible option. **shakes head in disbelief**
wnd.com

“You don’t need insurance if you’re young and healthy! And if you don’t get it, and it turns out you needed it, we’ll call you irresponsible and refuse to help!”

90
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:07:08pm

re: #89 Blind Frog Belly White

“You don’t need insurance if you’re young and healthy! And if you don’t get it, and it turns out you needed it, we’ll call you irresponsible and refuse to help!”

You must be a closet Republican.

91
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:09:21pm

Thirty-seven year old Spokane man banned from Starbucks after asking a sixteen year-old barista working there on a dinner date.

cbsnews.com

He runs a Facebook page on “age-gap love.” (Blech)

Another reason for me not to be on Facebook.

92
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:10:07pm

re: #90 calochortus

You must be a closet Republican.

59 years of watching how they work.

93
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:10:33pm

re: #92 Blind Frog Belly White

59 years of watching how they work.

That’s what they all say.
/

94
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:12:42pm
95
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:13:43pm

re: #91 Anymouse

Thirty-seven year old Spokane man banned from Starbucks after asking a sixteen year-old barista working there on a dinner date.

cbsnews.com

He runs a Facebook page on “age-gap love.” (Blech)

Another reason for me not to be on Facebook.

I’ve been making heavy use of the “Don’t ever show me anything from this site ever again!” button on FB. I have no idea how much noisome dreck my wingnut cousin might be throwing, but I only see things from sites I haven’t blocked yet.

Meanwhile, I get to share cute pics like this one:

96
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:14:18pm

re: #93 calochortus

That’s what they all say.
/

Only the ones my age.

97
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:16:47pm
98
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:16:48pm
99
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:16:54pm

No town meeting tonight due to the Federal holiday. I think I’ll go take a nap instead. Back later… .

100
calochortus  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:18:28pm

I guess I’d better get ready to head out for dinner.

Hasta mañana.

101
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:18:41pm
102
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:20:14pm
103
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:22:45pm

re: #102 darthstar

Such a modern computer wow. ///

104
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:23:03pm

re: #6 Charles Johnson

Had to promote this one because it’s really taking off on Twitter!

Thanks for the promotion Charles! Saw it on Wonkette.

105
Belafon  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:24:25pm

re: #98 gocart mozart

[Embedded content]

I keep having images of the pigs from Animal Farm. The voters picked Trump thinking he would undo Washington, but instead, he’s the worst of all of them.

106
Mattand  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:26:16pm

re: #23 Scottishdragon

Hillbilly Heroin whisperer JD Vance gets a prime slot at the NYT to tell us all how:

…but that black guy in the white house does have a nice family so maybe he wasn’t all bad y’know? Oh, and those silly liberals keep talking about racism! He finally wraps up with this gobsmacking special bit…

On Jan. 20, the political side of my brain will breathe a sigh of relief at Mr. Obama’s departure. I will hope for better policy from the new administration, a health reform package closer to my ideological preferences, and a new approach to foreign policy.

But the child who so desperately wanted an American dream, with a happy family at its core will feel something different. For at a pivotal time in my life, Barack Obama gave me hope that a boy who grew up like me could still achieve the most important of my dreams. For that, I’ll miss him, and the example he set.

So thank God we have some fucking TRUMP in there to kill health care and screw over all my friends and family in East Ohio, but Obama was a nice example like you see on the Hallmark Channel.

I fucking can’t. I just can’t.

Said it before, will keep saying for the next four years (max, hopefully): I just do not understand how people like this function in society. I really mean this. I don’t get how a guy like this can tie his shoes without setting himself on fire, let alone handle things like a job and raising children.

Also, major LOL at “hillbilly heroin whisperer”.

107
Mattand  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:27:30pm

Also,
[dr nick]
Happy New Year, everybody!
[/dr nick]

108
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:27:57pm

re: #103 PhillyPretzel

Such a modern computer wow. ///

I’m surprised they didn’t use a screenshot from War Games.

109
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:28:00pm

The Plot Thickens!

110
Mattand  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:29:25pm

Oh, yeah, and how can I not express my schadenfreude at the OP?

It’s like the upper class version of Walmart having to have food drives for their own rank-and-file because they pay their workers shit wages.

111
Belafon  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:31:36pm

re: #75 Targetpractice

What the GOP will do is stage a “repeal” vote that runs aground on a Dem filibuster and use that to blame them for the damage that’s done when the GOP then uses the budgetary process to deprive the ACA of all funding. The damage done will then be used as “proof” that the ACA is a failure and a repeal of it made into a midterm campaign issue with all Dems who voted against the initial “repeal” vote portrayed as responsible for millions losing their access to healthcare.

Too complicated for those that depend on the ACA yet voted for Trump. All you have to say is Republicans killed it. It doesn’t require much of an explanation.

112
Mattand  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:31:49pm

re: #109 gocart mozart

[Embedded content]

Turns out they all look like Zapp Brannigan.

I’ll leave to you, gentle reader, to decide whether’s that a plus or not.

Imgur

113
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:32:19pm

re: #106 Mattand

Said it before, will keep saying for the next four years (max, hopefully): I just do not understand how people like this function in society. I really mean this. I don’t get how a guy like this can tie his shoes without setting himself on fire, let alone handle things like a job and raising children.

Also, major LOL at “hillbilly heroin whisperer”.

I read his book. He had an incredible load of good luck in his life, and almost no bad breaks — but he just doesn’t realize that he’s a unicorn.

114
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:34:14pm
115
Belafon  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:51:11pm
116
Barefoot Grin  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:51:35pm

re: #114 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Americans—real Americans—don’t care how the sausage gets made…. //

117
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:52:53pm
118
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:53:30pm
119
Belafon  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:55:24pm

re: #114 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

I saw something that said that there has to be a vote on this when Congress starts.

120
Joe Bacon  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:55:30pm
121
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:57:46pm

re: #119 Belafon

I saw something that said that there has to be a vote on this when Congress starts.

It’s part of the House rules package to be adopted tomorrow.
washingtonpost.com

122
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 5:58:14pm
123
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:03:27pm

re: #115 Belafon

How can you not like a guy whose middle name is “no socks”?

124
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:04:01pm

re: #122 Backwoods_Sleuth

Praying for rain? These people have very little grey matter.

125
Skip Intro  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:04:46pm

re: #124 PhillyPretzel

Praying for rain? These people have very little grey matter.

It always works if you wait long enough.

126
Dave In Austin  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:06:22pm

Wrapping up season 3 of “Mozart in the City”. What a great series! A real feel good for crazy times.

127
BigPapa  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:06:28pm

re: #123 darthstar

How can you not like a guy whose middle name is “no socks”?

I was thinking Joey Sink like a boat anchor. No, that’s not a stereotype. I was thinking fisherman, getouttahere.

128
ObserverArt  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:07:26pm

re: #124 PhillyPretzel

Praying for rain? These people have very little grey matter.

I wonder if they will ever figure out the way nature works is what their God has always intended. If the climate can no longer sustain human life…it will no longer sustain human life. Pray all you want…the plans are already in place.

129
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:10:21pm

re: #124 PhillyPretzel

Praying for rain? These people have very little grey matter.

We’re expecting between 45 and 72” of snow in Tahoe in the next 72 hours. Let it rain on the lower elevations.

130
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:11:15pm

re: #129 darthstar

We’re expecting between 45 and 72” of snow in Tahoe in the next 72 hours. Let it rain on the lower elevations.

Oh, you were talking about something political.

131
Scottishdragon  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:12:24pm

Binge watched The OA yesterday on Netflix.

Crazy, fascinating, perplexing…and I really want to see season 2 now.

132
JasonA  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:14:50pm

Started watching The Expanse on Amazon Prime today. Pretty cool show.

133
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:15:48pm
134
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:17:19pm

re: #132 JasonA

Started watching The Expanse on Amazon Prime today. Pretty cool show.

Best space opera ever on TV. Watch carefully when our favorite cop pours a drink. Now _that_ is scientific accuracy on a level TV almost never touches. I can’t wait for Season 2 to start.

The books are quite good but the show is actually _better_.

135
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:18:56pm

re: #133 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Huh. So ‘Draining the Swamp’ was just to make room for the raw sewage.

136
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:20:26pm

re: #133 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

We are so fucked.

That’s all I’ve got.

137
JasonA  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:27:12pm

re: #134 William Lewis

Best space opera ever on TV. Watch carefully when our favorite cop pours a drink. Now _that_ is scientific accuracy on a level TV almost never touches. I can’t wait for Season 2 to start.

The books are quite good but the show is actually _better_.

There’s something you don’t hear every day.

138
Belafon  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:27:54pm

re: #133 Backwoods_Sleuth

So it won’t be unethical for Democrats to leak information.

139
JasonA  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:28:36pm

re: #138 Belafon

So it won’t be unethical for Democrats to leak information.

No, Democrats have to follow the rules. Because.

140
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:32:01pm
141
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:33:48pm

re: #139 JasonA

No, Democrats have to follow the rules. Because.

An important part of resistance is maintaining the moral high ground.

142
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:40:01pm
143
goddamnedfrank  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:45:49pm
144
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:48:22pm
145
Mike Lamb  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:54:21pm

re: #143 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

Wouldn’t that be unenforceable under whistle blowing statutes? Wold any prosecutor ever win that case? “You’re going to jail for reporting a crime!” Good luck with that.

146
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 6:56:32pm

qM51GCdz+SFCdMXchOzOq16JNkUlqwWvSvETs9TQ5tSV0n9cIdoaTEATVllpoGu15TEmnOM5+yYJaBFNJhUrp6Kr1gZ2jvwLBsB+STm5rLYdEfGIxcLiwlTSJi7de7lIVTFpLubDpKoYTHn3YVFTzTRebnpP5RXhDApdED844wVAXhLsQ78kdTo7rh4roHIsKHoERUK7WlMbsbq0Ufecm+texQLlgwzlf/ua8tLGWL654irXH/GrhODdwVluFie3GRvHPyf5Z30=

147
darthstar  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:01:35pm

re: #131 Scottishdragon

Binge watched The OA yesterday on Netflix.

Crazy, fascinating, perplexing…and I really want to see season 2 now.

I like binge-watching certain shows, but I wish they’d make the next season available when I want it.

148
PhillyPretzel  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:03:29pm

Speaking of binge watching PBS is finishing up the New Years Marathon of Downton Abbey. :)

149
gocart mozart  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:04:53pm
150
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:06:52pm

re: #144 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

LOL So glad I did all my airporting yesterday :)

151
Barefoot Grin  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:08:02pm

re: #148 PhillyPretzel

Speaking of binge watching PBS is finishing up the New Years Marathon of Downton Abbey. :)

I’ve been waking up at 1:30 and 2 in the morning a lot lately. I do my binge watching at night, though it’s usually not quality. A go-to is “Forensic Files” on that CNN fringe thing. But I’ve seen them all. Last night I watched “Sherlock.” It was ok, but I don’t like shows that merely tee the ball. But somehow the audacious stupidity of what people do to be on Forensic Files or the overstimulation I get from Sherlock makes my own “dark night of the soul” problems vanish for a couple of hours.

152
baileylamb  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:09:15pm

re: #14 Skip Intro

I know that was one of my alternative plans…maybe I should start brushing up on my Spanish and let myself be accidentally deported to Mexico. It might be the safer bet.

153
Interesting Times  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:10:55pm

Someone wrote a thing to express the very state of affairs I suspected:

154
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:16:29pm

Hyperbole? Or nah.

155
makeitstop  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:24:15pm

re: #154 Stanley Sea

[Embedded content]

Hyperbole? Or nah.

Sounds pretty right on.

156
Charles Johnson  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:25:46pm
157
Jenner7  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:25:52pm
158
Jenner7  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:27:44pm

All this shit happening, and he’s still not in office yet.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

159
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:28:14pm
160
Decatur Deb  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:33:02pm

Four dead in our county—January 2nd tornado. (We’re not home, we’re up in Birmingham.)

161
Odie Hugh Manatee  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:46:58pm

re: #10 Backwoods_Sleuth

in the meantime, DT is picking another international fight:

Err Furor has a uncontrollable mental condition that causes him to Tweet random things that bounce off the bumpers in the pinball machine that passes for his mind.

I’m calling it Tweetourette’s Syndrome.

162
Jenner7  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:47:05pm
163
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:50:51pm

So is there gaslighting going on? #thatfucker tweets war & the congress does a quiet fascist slow move?

Sane government is a thing of the past. Hold on everyone.

164
Decatur Deb  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:51:48pm

re: #163 Stanley Sea

So is there gaslighting going on? #thatfucker tweets war & the congress does a quiet fascist slow move?

Sane government is a thing of the past. Hold on everyone.

Should be fun watching Trump and Kim trying to out-weird each other.

165
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:52:10pm

re: #157 Jenner7

[Embedded content]

I posted this article to FB. A Republican friend (likes to think of himself as Burkean) commented ‘I don’t like this either’.

Big fuckin’ deal, you don’t like it. What are you gonna do about it? Vote Republican again, because he thinks there’s any of the party he thought it was when he signed up way back when.

ETA: I’m done cutting slack for people who are unwilling to see the GOP for what it’s become, and so enable fascism.

166
retired cynic  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:52:29pm

re: #164 Decatur Deb

Should be fun watching Trump and Kim trying to out-weird each other.

I could do without that sort of fun. No Drama Obama was just fine by me!

167
Moebym  Jan 2, 2017 • 7:55:54pm

re: #166 retired cynic

Having no drama for eight years was so bo-ring. It’s so going to be so much more fun with all-drama-all-the-time Shrump as President!

/s

God, we are so screwed.

168
Decatur Deb  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:01:16pm

re: #167 Moebym

Having no drama for eight years was so bo-ring. It’s so going to be so much more fun with all-drama-all-the-time Shrump as President!

/s

God, we are so screwed.

Imagine The Missiles of October redone by the director of Saw.

169
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:02:30pm

re: #160 Decatur Deb

Four dead in our county—January 2nd tornado. (We’re not home, we’re up in Birmingham.)

Sorry, DD. You probably didn’t know any of these folks personally, but when you live in the places you and I live, you know that it could be you on any given day. You just wouldn’t look for it in early January. Rest them all.

170
Mike Lamb  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:04:16pm

re: #154 Stanley Sea

[Embedded content]

Hyperbole? Or nah.

Even if they didn’t make it a crime to report a crime (and fuck you Orwell for writing instruction manuals), placing the investigators under the thumb of the people they are investigating is about the dumbest fucking thing ever.

171
Decatur Deb  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:05:07pm

re: #169 whitebeach

Sorry, DD. You probably didn’t know any of these folks personally, but when you live in the places you and I live, you know that it could be you on any given day. You just wouldn’t look for it in early January. Rest them all.

The whole region was raked. Now the concern is widespread flooding. Way to go 2017.
wunderground.com

172
retired cynic  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:05:32pm

re: #169 whitebeach

Sorry, DD. You probably didn’t know any of these folks personally, but when you live in the places you and I live, you know that it could be you on any given day. You just wouldn’t look for it in early January. Rest them all.

We lost our house in a freak southern Illinois tornado right before Christmas back in 1957. Fortunately, we weren’t in it. Also fortunately, the people in it got under my father’s extra stout workbench, and survived when the two-story chimney came down on them. You never know.

(edited for typo)

173
scottslemmons  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:12:34pm

Honestly, I’m expecting the first couple weeks of the new Congressional session to be filled with rapid and shocking rollbacks of nearly all our rights, all passed with almost sneering glee by Republicans and reported glowingly by the genuflecting media.

The GOP knows they’ll face zero blowback for anything they do, so I expect Obamacare to go — no four-year delay, like some are speculating — I expect Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the right to vote, you name it, straight down the drain. The press will applaud, because that way, they’ll get lots of interviews with the Yam.

By March, we’ll be nostalgic for the happy days of 2016.

If you’re a member of a vulnerable population — i.e., anyone but straight white males — you should really be making your plans for how you’re going to get to safety. The government will not help you. The police will not help you. The military will not help you. The church will not help you.

Yes, I’m a pessimist, but that’s because evil always wins and good always loses.

174
bratwurst  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:14:43pm
175
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:20:44pm

re: #156 Charles Johnson

176
GlutenFreeJesus  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:21:06pm

re: #156 Charles Johnson

Thinking about this. Republicans and Trump WANT violent protests. They have a chubby just by thinking about it. Images of violent inner city minorities and youth is the surest way to hold on to that rust belt vote that pushed him over 270.

And the cops get to dust off all their military-grade toys hardware

177
Joe Bacon  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:23:13pm

re: #176 GlutenFreeJesus

It’s going to get very evil very fast starting tomorrow.

178
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:26:13pm

re: #176 GlutenFreeJesus

Thinking about this. Republicans and Trump WANT violent protests. They have a chubby just by thinking about it. Images of violent inner city minorities and youth is the surest way to hold on to that rust belt vote that pushed him over 270.

And the cops get to dust off all their military-grade toys hardware

That’s the ultimate goal. Republicans are of the belief that they can destroy the government and rebuild it as an empire under their outright control.

And yes, I do believe that we are headed for a violent reaction. Only it’s going to be much worse than we think it will be. LEOs may not be able to contain it like we think they will.

President Obama’s farewell address next week may be the last farewell address we will ever see.

179
GlutenFreeJesus  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:26:23pm

re: #177 Joe Bacon

It’s going to get very evil very fast starting tomorrow.

4 years of “Get over it. He won!”.

180
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:27:46pm

re: #179 GlutenFreeJesus

4 years of “Get over it. He won!”.

While at the same time, blood pours in the streets and the USA self-destructs forever. Because e-mails.

181
scottslemmons  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:27:59pm

re: #176 GlutenFreeJesus

Thinking about this. Republicans and Trump WANT violent protests. They have a chubby just by thinking about it. Images of violent inner city minorities and youth is the surest way to hold on to that rust belt vote that pushed him over 270.

And the cops get to dust off all their military-grade toys hardware

I’m not even sure they care if they’re violent protests. Any protests will be painted as violent, especially when cops start shooting into crowds for funsies.

They say fascism starts up fast, and I get the feeling it’s going to go faster than we can believe. At this rate, I’m thinking it could happen before February 1.

182
jaunte  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:33:08pm

re: #157 Jenner7

[Embedded content]

The move to gut congressional ethics office was partly orchestrated by congressmen it has investigated

Trying to find ANY mention of this story on cable is like visiting an alternate universe where the news anchors are still bemused over Trump’s quaint refusal to adhere to convention.

183
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:34:31pm

re: #178 Myron Falwell (no relation)

I do not want to subscribe to this fatalism.

But I do.

184
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:36:08pm

re: #19 jhncsy

I wonder if all the dipshits will be inspired to donate to her survival fund, then?

I think they might. I don’t get the American conservative thought process. They love to indulge in petty and stupid cruelties like burning down the environment and destroying the social safety net, but they fall all over themselves to help out the rich and the powerful. It’s not just greed, it’s like some twisted empathy.

It’s called authoritarianism. Free book online describing their personality and characteristics by Political Scientist Bob Altermeyer, called The Authoritarians. Based on 50 years of his research. John Dean based his book on what was wrong with conservatives during the Bush years on his research. Basically they are Nazis or people who support demented authority figures because they get off on hurting people. The authority figure is their daddy figure who can do no wrong in their eyes. They lack the ability to reason. So facts never work on them.

As my late Cuban grandmother would say to Conway scarastically, porbrecita.

185
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:41:38pm

re: #181 scottslemmons

If Republicans really don’t care, then we will be witnessing 1792 France all over again.

186
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:43:06pm

Hey, fuck y’all and your fatalism. I’m not having it. Repeat of the French Revolution? Last presidential Farewell Address? What. The. Fuck. Get a hold of yourselves! JEEBUS!

187
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:44:27pm

I’ll stop reading LGF for a while if it’s going to be nothing but mushroom clouds and permanent martial law. You guys are being stupid.

188
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:44:59pm

re: #187 teleskiguy

I’ll stop reading LGF for a while if it’s going to nothing but mushroom clouds and permanent martial law. You guys are being stupid.

Counter with your hopes.

189
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:45:45pm

It’s bad, to be sure. But it’s death by a thousand paper cuts bad, not world-ending cataclysm bad. We can and will get through this. So stop it with the fucking catastrophizing, it isn’t helping.

190
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:47:35pm

re: #189 teleskiguy

It’s bad, to be sure. But it’s death by a thousand paper cuts bad, not world-ending cataclysm bad. We can and will get through this. So stop it with the facking catastrophizing, it isn’t helping.

Death by papercut, or death by world-ending cataclysm is still dead. “I never heard a corpse ask how it got so cold.”

191
retired cynic  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:48:23pm

re: #189 teleskiguy

This, by Jay Rosen, is a long 2-entry post about what journalism can do to recognize and then begin to counteract the stream of lies from the coming administration. (Oh, shudder.) It is very long, and the comments are longer, and there are good ideas there, too. I recommend it for putting some starch in your spine.

pressthink.org

192
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:48:25pm

re: #190 Blind Frog Belly White

Death by papercut, or death by world-ending cataclysm is still dead. “I never heard a corpse ask how it got so cold.”

Death by paper cuts takes a *long time*. Death by cataclysm is instant. If you have time, you can remedy shit.

193
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:48:54pm

re: #189 teleskiguy

And don’t forget that a lot of power still resides in the states. Blue states are not going to abandon themselves to DT’s machinations.

194
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:50:45pm

re: #193 Resistance Is Not Futile

And don’t forget that a lot of power still resides in the states. Blue states are not going to abandon themselves to DT’s machinations.

I’m counting on them. We all need to be.

195
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:51:06pm

re: #173 scottslemmons

Yes, I’m a pessimist, but that’s because evil always wins and good always loses.

Nice fuckin’ attitude. If that’s the case then we should all kill ourselves, AMIRITE?!?

196
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:53:30pm

Once again, must note we are all dealing with this in our own ways.

All ways need to be accepted.

This is the biggest unknown but in our face fucked up situation ever. Ever.

197
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:53:55pm

Sounds like some of you are prepared to just roll over and hope to die. Well, count me the fuck out.

198
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:56:36pm

re: #63 Scottishdragon

It won’t matter. People always blame the party in power. We learned that after Ted Cruz fucked up the US credit score and the GOP took no damage for it. The GOP owns everything that happens after the 20th.

Everything. Hang that fucking dead albatross around their necks.

When the ACA is killed and 35 million people are back to using the ER for dialysis and whatever…you own that, Trump, Ryan et al.

When the trade war Trump starts next month raises Wal Mart prices by 50%, Trump owns it.

When North Korea kills a bunch of people based on something Trump says…he will own all of it.

The American electorate is supremely ill informed and has no basic understanding of how or why our government works in the first place. Our job is to point out who is fucking things up for them.

You mean the same electorate that believed Iraq had WMD, 911 was Bill Clinton’s fault, the Iraq invasion was Hillary Clinton’s fault, the Great Recession and bank bailout was Obama’S fault and every bad trade deal is the fault of the Democratic Party that does not give a shit about the white working class?

The conservatives own the media. They always spin their failures onto the Dems. They are never held accountable. EVER! Even after they royally screw up, they get voted back in the next election cycle to do more damage, while they undermine the Democrats at every turn. We have one party rule in the US. Not a real democracy. We have got to stop pretending the next election cycle will fix things, or Dems can fix things once back in power or that the American people will finally learn not to trust the GOP after 40 years of fuck ups. Just look at the last sixteen years!

199
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:58:31pm

re: #198 SirMixALot

Democrats need to grow a spine, get mean, and (unfortunately) use the obstruction tactics that Republicans have used the last eight years.

200
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:59:19pm

re: #193 Resistance Is Not Futile

And don’t forget that a lot of power still resides in the states. Blue states are not going to abandon themselves to DT’s machinations.

Indeed. California might have to carry this country on its back for awhile.

201
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:59:20pm

re: #195 teleskiguy

No we resist. Wide eyed and aware of what’s coming.

So don’t be surprised when they start equating peaceful protest with “terrorism” and start throwing people out of helicopters like in Argentina or arming death squads to kill “drug dealers” like in the PI. The DEA raids on the pot sellers in CO & CA will be large and well armed.

When you combine that with what will happen when ACA is gone & Medicare & Social Security are gone by the end of the year? There will be a lot of dead people before this regime is overthrown.

202
retired cynic  Jan 2, 2017 • 8:59:41pm

Am I discouraged and mad? Yes. But if I am going to sleep tonight, and get up and put my feet on the floor in the morning, I have to have hope. And so I am going to leave you for the night, and hope tomorrow brings better counsel. Nighty-night!

203
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:00:32pm

re: #183 Stanley Sea

I do not want to subscribe to this fatalism.

But I do.

No, no, no, no!

204
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:00:53pm

re: #192 teleskiguy

Death by paper cuts takes a *long time*. Death by cataclysm is instant. If you have time, you can remedy shit.

How about death by cataclysm at the end of 1000 papercuts?

The thing about Trump is that we really don’t have any clue what he’ll do. Not. A. Fucking. Clue.

What we DO know is that he sees everything as a contest of dominance, and he appears willing to do literally anything to win. And we know that so far the GOP Congress, which is the only body tat can seriously rein him in, seems happy to let him do what he wants, as long as he helps them fuck everyone who isn’t rich, especially those who aren’t white, straight, Christian and rich.

205
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:01:48pm

re: #193 Resistance Is Not Futile

And don’t forget that a lot of power still resides in the states. Blue states are not going to abandon themselves to DT’s machinations.

33 states are now controlled by the Russian Republicans. I am not being pessimistic, when I say a French Revolution might be the only thing that saves us. The entire GOP at every level is corrupt, evil and insane. We have one party rule because the GOP have cheated their way to power at every level. Now they are colluding with Russia. Fuck em.

206
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:02:27pm

re: #201 William Lewis

You say all that shit like it’s a foregone conclusion.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, FOLKS! Go outside. All is not lost.

207
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:02:31pm

re: #197 teleskiguy

Sounds like some of you are prepared to just roll over and hope to die. Well, count me the fuck out.

Do you even shoot, bro?

208
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:02:40pm

re: #186 teleskiguy

Hey, fuck y’all and your fatalism. I’m not having it. Repeat of the French Revolution? Last presidential Farewell Address? What. The. Fuck. Get a hold of yourselves! JEEBUS!

I used to be a conservative, and am still coming to terms with the thought that much of my life was a lie. Thus belies my fatalism.

Usually I keep that frustration in check, but it slipped past me tonight. 😔

209
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:03:01pm

re: #207 whitebeach

Do you even shoot, bro?

Owner of two rifles and a shotgun, bro.

210
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:03:51pm

re: #160 Decatur Deb

Four dead in our county—January 2nd tornado. (We’re not home, we’re up in Birmingham.)

Well, glad you are OK, but shit, that sucks. Reports say all 4 were in one structure.

211
Jenner7  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:03:52pm

Welp, enough of that. Goodnight.

212
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:04:13pm

re: #206 teleskiguy

You say all that shit like it’s a foregone conclusion.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, FOLKS! Go outside. All is not lost.

Liberty Dies

213
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:04:23pm

re: #209 teleskiguy

Owner of two rifles and a shotgun, bro.

Que bueno, ‘mano.

214
wheat-dogg  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:05:51pm

OK, I’m with teleskiguy here. The world is not ending, the USA is not a one-party dictatorship, Trump is not Mussolini or Mugabe. It’s not a bed of roses now, but conceding defeat now is just plain stupid. Trump did not win the popular vote, and some Dems were elected to formerly GOP seats in Congress. The news media has not been entirely co-opted, and no journos have been arrested or disappeared.

I live in a one-party state, and I can tell you the USA is not a one-party state now, nor it will be. I heard the RWNJs rant and rave for 8 years about Obama the tyrant and how the USA was a dictatorship, blah blah blah. Well, it wasn’t then and it won’t be now — not as long as people can push back against the stupidity of Trump and Co.

So, please stop with the hyperbole. Find a constructive way to fight the good fight, instead of indulging in pointless handwringing.

215
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:07:11pm

re: #214 wheat-dogg

OK, I’m with teleskiguy here. The world is not ending, the USA is not a one-party dictatorship, Trump is not Mussolini or Mugabe. It’s not a bed of roses now, but conceding defeat now is just plain stupid. Trump did not win the popular vote, and some Dems were elected to formerly GOP seats in Congress. The news media has not been entirely co-opted, and no journos have been arrested or disappeared.

I live in a one-party state, and I can tell you the USA is not a one-party state now, nor it will be. I heard the RWNJs rant and rave for 8 years about Obama the tyrant and how the USA was a dictatorship, blah blah blah. Well, it wasn’t then and it won’t be now — not as long as people can push back against the stupidity of Trump and Co.

So, please stop with the hyperbole. Find a constructive way to fight the good fight, instead of indulging in pointless handwringing.

QFT. Thank you wheatdogg.

216
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:07:15pm

re: #203 prairiefire

No, no, no, no!

My life is safe. Blah blah blah it will go on. These few years.

Seriously everyone. We need to be clear that we could possibly be the good Germans.

Same shit again…not us oh no, not us, over reacting.

Fucking a.

217
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:09:03pm

And now a moment of levity.

218
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:09:32pm

re: #209 teleskiguy

Owner of two rifles and a shotgun, bro.

Damned if I can tell why you keep downdinging me, then. All good wishes for all of us.

219
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:09:33pm

It’s hard to know how much to panic. It seems silly to start talking about Nazi Germany, brownshirts, and concentration camps. OTOH, I suspect the Germans of the 1930s also thought it was silly to talk about that shit, too.

220
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:09:37pm

re: #216 Stanley Sea

My life is safe. Blah blah blah it will go on. These few years.

Seriously everyone. We need to be clear that we could possibly be the good Germans.

Same shit again…not us oh no, not us, over reacting.

Fucking a.

I do not regret this comment.

I would rather be on the side of an outrage fear yelling person rather than one who sat back.

No matter.

Trump is nothing we’ve seen in ever in my lifetime. He’s fucking unhinged & controlled.

221
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:10:16pm

re: #206 teleskiguy

You say all that shit like it’s a foregone conclusion.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, FOLKS! Go outside. All is not lost.

I am not fatalistic. We’re up against something more powerful than all of us, the cycles of history. I have faith that American history will repeat and the liberal heroes win again like the last three times we were in a crisis era (American Revolution, Civil War and Great Depression/WW2).

222
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:10:21pm

re: #218 whitebeach

Damned if I can tell why you keep downdinging me, then. All good wishes for all of us.

It’s the ‘bro’ part, sounds rather condescending.

223
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:10:21pm

re: #216 Stanley Sea

I meant, no, I know you will fight, darlin. I know you will and millions of others.

224
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:11:56pm

re: #219 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s hard to know how much to panic. It seems silly to start talking about Nazi Germany, brownshirts, and concentration camps. OTOH, I suspect the Germans of the 1930s also thought it was silly to talk about that shit, too.

I agree. It can happen before you know it.

“First they came for the people who accept climate change and I said nothing…”

That said I still have enough faith in America to rise up and put a stop to shit before it gets seriously out of hand.

225
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:13:21pm

When strangers call me “bro” (doesn’t matter if it’s meatspace or Internet) it rubs me the wrong way. You’re not my fucking bro, bro.

That said, whitebeach, I’ll rescind the downdings. We’re supposed to be friends here, right?

226
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:14:24pm

re: #222 teleskiguy

It’s the ‘bro’ part, sounds rather condescending.

Many apologies. Didn’t mean it that way, but kind of comically. You’re a lizard I’ve always pretty much admired.

227
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:14:26pm

re: #219 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s hard to know how much to panic. It seems silly to start talking about Nazi Germany, brownshirts, and concentration camps. OTOH, I suspect the Germans of the 1930s also thought it was silly to talk about that shit, too.

Exactly.

Gosh, one of the best parts of the book WWZ was the Israelis who always had someone in their meetings who (after the Holocaust) would present the most outrageous situation. To debate, to consider. Against all usual thought. That part of the book has stuck with me. Profound, hopefully true.

228
scottslemmons  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:14:59pm

re: #221 SirMixALot

I have faith that American history will repeat and the liberal heroes win again like the last three times we were in a crisis era (American Revolution, Civil War and Great Depression/WW2).

Not me. We’ve been very lucky. We can’t always be lucky.

I’ve stopped believing the stuff about the long arc of history. History doesn’t have a narrative like a novel. I think we’re going to see things run the Nazis’ way for a while. Maybe not long, because either their environmental policies or Trump’s hard-on for nuclear war will finish us off pretty fucking quickly.

229
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:15:25pm

re: #200 Eclectic Cyborg

Indeed. California might have to carry this country on its back for awhile.

And New York… (I’ve heard statements from officials in both states). Plus, probably, others.

230
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:15:41pm

re: #214 wheat-dogg

I have been in a one party state as well - recall my son is from Vietnam. They were less corrupt than the GOP (and yes, they are corrupt) and had more people running in _contested_ races with that one party than the Democrats could be bothered to find in Wisconsin. We are on that road. I do not think that it has to end there but we do ourselves ill if we do not understand exactly what they are trying to create with Russia’s help.

As I said earlier today, Herr Trumpenfuhrer is not the danger - it’s his puppet masters that are the danger. Him we laugh at; them we fight.

“Die trying is the proudest human thing.”
Robert A. Heinlein - Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958)

231
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:15:52pm

re: #228 scottslemmons

Go somewhere else with that bullshit.

232
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:16:06pm

re: #223 prairiefire

I meant, no, I know you will fight, darlin. I know you will and millions of others.

And I’m coming to homestead with you if needed.

233
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:16:40pm

re: #214 wheat-dogg

OK, I’m with teleskiguy here. The world is not ending, the USA is not a one-party dictatorship, Trump is not Mussolini or Mugabe. It’s not a bed of roses now, but conceding defeat now is just plain stupid. Trump did not win the popular vote, and some Dems were elected to formerly GOP seats in Congress. The news media has not been entirely co-opted, and no journos have been arrested or disappeared.

I live in a one-party state, and I can tell you the USA is not a one-party state now, nor it will be. I heard the RWNJs rant and rave for 8 years about Obama the tyrant and how the USA was a dictatorship, blah blah blah. Well, it wasn’t then and it won’t be now — not as long as people can push back against the stupidity of Trump and Co.

So, please stop with the hyperbole. Find a constructive way to fight the good fight, instead of indulging in pointless handwringing.

I agree with you, and hope that the polity will agree with you.

My fear is that the hard right will dismantle everything that has been done in the last eight years, supported by the newly ascendant Alt-Reich that has been emboldened by this election.

I’ll wait and see what this Kakistocracy does. I don’t have any illusions of what they are capable of doing.

234
Single-handed sailor  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:17:26pm

I tend to look towards Hunter S Thompson for my inspiration…

“There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It’s a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ‘80’s

235
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:18:01pm

re: #201 William Lewis

No we resist. Wide eyed and aware of what’s coming.

So don’t be surprised when they start equating peaceful protest with “terrorism” and start throwing people out of helicopters like in Argentina or arming death squads to kill “drug dealers” like in the PI. The DEA raids on the pot sellers in CO & CA will be large and well armed.

When you combine that with what will happen when ACA is gone & Medicare & Social Security are gone by the end of the year? There will be a lot of dead people before this regime is overthrown.

No doubt that Republicans try to equate protests with terrorists. But responding in kind with armed forces and LEOs would be cataclysmic for them.

They are more apt to accuse, smear and gaslight the hell out of dissenters… more mental warfare than physical (LEO intimidation counts; ex., the DAPL protests).

236
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:18:50pm

re: #231 teleskiguy

Go somewhere else with that bullshit.

Who died and made you boss?

237
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:19:08pm

re: #216 Stanley Sea

My life is safe. Blah blah blah it will go on. These few years.

Seriously everyone. We need to be clear that we could possibly be the good Germans.

Same shit again…not us oh no, not us, over reacting.

Fucking a.

Exactly. When the White Rose stood up - and were then executed for it - in 1942/43, things had been going wrong for over a decade. We don’t have the luxury of that much time.

238
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:19:21pm

re: #232 Stanley Sea

And I’m coming to homestead with you if needed.

I should probably homestead with you in your blue state. Get out of my red state and nuke bulls eye town. God, it has been many years since I have worried about that!

239
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:19:27pm

Fair warning, any overt catastrophizing will be met with my scorn. I’m beyond the grieving process, it’s time to get mad and take action any way we can. Our country went through a civil war that killed off perhaps a quarter of its young men. I don’t fucking see that happening anytime soon.

240
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:20:18pm

re: #236 Blind Frog Belly White

Who died and made you boss?

No one, I’m just saying that those comments are stupid and unproductive here, perhaps they’d be more well received elsewhere.

241
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:23:01pm

re: #236 Blind Frog Belly White

Who died and made you boss?

And I bet if Alouette said something like I did, you wouldn’t say shit. And she’s done that a fuckton over the years.

242
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:23:35pm

re: #219 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s hard to know how much to panic. It seems silly to start talking about Nazi Germany, brownshirts, and concentration camps. OTOH, I suspect the Germans of the 1930s also thought it was silly to talk about that shit, too.

When Hitler came to power, the (unitary) Weimar Republic had existed for 20 minutes, and everything was shit (the economy especially). We are 50 states, with a centuries long history.

And the Rethuglicans are so united behind DT that McConnel just reversed himself and said he will support hearings on Russian hacking.

243
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:23:48pm

re: #238 prairiefire

I should probably homestead with you in your blue state. Get out of my red state and nuke bulls eye town. God, it has been many years since I have worried about that!

I will make room for your entire family. One days notice friend!

244
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:23:58pm

re: #239 teleskiguy

And I will laugh at your scorn because I have too much love for this nation to be sidetracked by foolishness. Resist with us or get the fuck out of the way.

245
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:23:59pm

re: #240 teleskiguy

No one, I’m just saying that those comments are stupid and unproductive here, perhaps they’d be more well received elsewhere.

The people who make these comments do so because this place isn’t DailyKos or DU or such. We see bad shit happening, and we don’t see anyone with the actual power to stop it.

246
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:24:11pm

re: #214 wheat-dogg

OK, I’m with teleskiguy here. The world is not ending, the USA is not a one-party dictatorship, Trump is not Mussolini or Mugabe. It’s not a bed of roses now, but conceding defeat now is just plain stupid. Trump did not win the popular vote, and some Dems were elected to formerly GOP seats in Congress. The news media has not been entirely co-opted, and no journos have been arrested or disappeared.

I live in a one-party state, and I can tell you the USA is not a one-party state now, nor it will be. I heard the RWNJs rant and rave for 8 years about Obama the tyrant and how the USA was a dictatorship, blah blah blah. Well, it wasn’t then and it won’t be now — not as long as people can push back against the stupidity of Trump and Co.

So, please stop with the hyperbole. Find a constructive way to fight the good fight, instead of indulging in pointless handwringing.

Denial. One political party will control all three branches of the federal government, 33 state governments and a majority of the lower courts. One political party is able to undo election results with obstruction, sabotage and can now ultimately repealing everything they dislike. One political party is maintaining their power despite being in the miniorty with voter suppression and gerrymandering. One political party can literally commit war crimes and collude with a foreign government and get away with it. One political party can screw over the blue states with more federal tax cuts and gutting federal regulations. Their bullshit always trickles down!

The vast majority of the media was co-opted long ago. The few media outlets that still engage in real journalism are reporting in a vacuum to liberals who are always ignored. No need to arrest journalists because journalism ceased being relevant a long time ago.

247
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:26:32pm

re: #228 scottslemmons

Not me. We’ve been very lucky. We can’t always be lucky.

I’ve stopped believing the stuff about the long arc of history. History doesn’t have a narrative like a novel. I think we’re going to see things run the Nazis’ way for a while. Maybe not long, because either their environmental policies or Trump’s hard-on for nuclear war will finish us off pretty fucking quickly.

You probably need to take a deep breath. Are there neo-Nazis?

Yes. Do they have any real political power in the West? Maybe a little, in some countries.

Is Trump really going to change the Capitalist embrace of renewable energy as a money-making future for energy production?

Nope.

Will the Trump Admin result in us dying in a nuclear holocaust?

Pfft.

248
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:26:33pm

re: #245 Blind Frog Belly White

The people who make these comments do so because this place isn’t DailyKos or DU or such. We see bad shit happening, and we don’t see anyone with the actual power to stop it.

And everyone is entitled to their own fucking opinion & how to deal.

Let us be. We may be the voice you wished you listened to.

249
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:26:49pm

I seem to be paddling up Shit Creek with a turd for a paddle around here.

250
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:28:10pm

\re: #249 teleskiguy

I seem to be paddling up Shit Creek with a turd for a paddle around here.

When you leap in throwing elbows, you’re likely to get elbowed back. Suck it up, walk it off. You’re a big boy.

251
Teukka  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:28:35pm

re: #219 Blind Frog Belly White

It’s hard to know how much to panic. It seems silly to start talking about Nazi Germany, brownshirts, and concentration camps. OTOH, I suspect the Germans of the 1930s also thought it was silly to talk about that shit, too.

I would not panic as much as I would have a handful of contingency plans. Donald Trump and Vlad & The Kremlin Crew have between themselves ticked of enough of the fascist checklist to be considered (intellectually un)armed and dangerous.

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is most likely a duck (or a damn good ripoff), IMO.

Speaking of which, anything from our deep cover Lizardim?

re: #224 Eclectic Cyborg

I agree. It can happen before you know it.

“First they came for the people who accept climate change and I said nothing…”

It’s the modus of many a fascist regime, the “boiled frog phenomenon”… People don’t see what’s afoot until the fat cats have cemented their position.

252
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:29:23pm

I mean, how the fuck do we deal with this normalization?

By saying all’s A-OK?

253
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:29:36pm

re: #250 Blind Frog Belly White

When you leap in throwing elbows, you’re likely to get elbowed back. Suck it up, walk it off. You’re a big boy.

I’m throwing elbows because I sense a hopelessness around here and that makes me mad. If the hopeless folks want to elbow me back, I’ll fucking punch them.

254
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:31:05pm

re: #244 William Lewis

Yeah, and fuck you, too! You think I’m not going to resist?!?

255
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:31:55pm

re: #227 Stanley Sea

Exactly.

Gosh, one of the best parts of the book WWZ was the Israelis who always had someone in their meetings who (after the Holocaust) would present the most outrageous situation. To debate, to consider. Against all usual thought. That part of the book has stuck with me. Profound, hopefully true.

My grandparents left Cuba in 1953. They warned their families and friends about Bastista and later Castro. My grandfather told me no one believed him until it was too late, including his parents! They lost everything. You can not be too alarmists. You can hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Don’t wait. You need a Plan A and Plan B.

256
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:32:35pm

re: #254 teleskiguy

Don’t fuck you to William.

You are being divisive.

257
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:33:03pm

Geeze, it feels like the old days in here! Like a sauna, everybody sweat it out, damit!

258
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:33:31pm

re: #256 Stanley Sea

Don’t fuck you to William.

You are being divisive.

And he’s NOT?!?

And I quote…

Resist with us or get the fuck out of the way.

259
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:33:36pm

re: #249 teleskiguy

I seem to be paddling up Shit Creek with a turd for a paddle around here.

Nope, you just need to rub some dirt in it when people pop you in the nose.

Look, my man, everyone is really really cranked up right now. Hyperbole is the norm.

Don’t take it personally (nor should any other Lizards! Okay?).

We are here as friends and colleagues, and should disagree as friends and colleagues.

260
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:34:42pm

re: #258 teleskiguy

And he’s NOT?!?

And I quote…

Indirect < Direct hit

261
makeitstop  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:35:11pm

This looks like one of those nights that will result in a morning’s worth of ‘maybe I shouldn’t have said that’ posts.

Neutral corners and deep breaths, everyone.

262
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:35:51pm

re: #261 makeitstop

This looks like one of those nights that will result in a morning’s worth of ‘maybe I shouldn’t have said that’ posts.

Neutral corners and deep breaths, everyone.

Nice subtweet.

263
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:35:52pm

re: #242 Resistance Is Not Futile

When Hitler came to power, the (unitary) Weimar Republic had existed for 20 minutes, and everything was shit (the economy especially). We are 50 states, with a centuries long history.

And the Rethuglicans are so united behind DT that McConnel just reversed himself and said he will support hearings on Russian hacking.

You trust McConnell to follow through? The man’s wife is in Trump cabinet! I will believe it when I see it! It might just be one big political farce with the GOP protecting their President and concealing evidence.

264
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:37:10pm

re: #254 teleskiguy

Yeah, and fuck you, too! You think I’m not going to resist?!?

At this point all I see is a head buried in the sand. Prove me wrong.

265
SirMixALot  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:38:02pm

re: #251 Teukka

I would not panic as much as I would have a handful of contingency plans. Donald Trump and Vlad & The Kremlin Crew have between themselves ticked of enough of the fascist checklist to be considered (intellectually un)armed and dangerous.

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is most likely a duck (or a damn good ripoff), IMO.

Speaking of which, anything from our deep cover Lizardim?

It’s the modus of many a fascist regime, the “boiled frog phenomenon”… People don’t see what’s afoot until the fat cats have cemented their position.

Thank you.

266
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:38:06pm

re: #264 William Lewis

At this point all I see is a head buried in the sand. Prove me wrong.

And there you go, thinking I’m some kind of ignoramus oblivious to the dangers our country faces.

Fuck you, again.

267
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:39:30pm

re: #263 SirMixALot

You trust McConnell to follow through? The man’s wife is in Trump cabinet! I will believe it when I see it! It might just be one big political farce with the GOP protecting their President and concealing evidence.

I would actually laugh if Trump turns heel and dismisses McConnell’s wife for the same bizarre irrational rationalizations that DQed John Bolton and Newt.

268
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:39:32pm

re: #264 William Lewis

At this point all I see is a head buried in the sand. Prove me wrong.

Is that a nice response?

C’mon. Be an adult.

269
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:39:41pm

Here’s the thing, for me - I am a skeptic. I don’t take things on faith, because I don’t have that ability.

Sure, I think that it’s highly unlikely that Trump gets us all killed in a nuclear firestorm. But the fact is, we’ve come DAMNED CLOSE before through bad choices and bad luck. In 1962, before I even turned 5 years old, we came within a hairsbreadth of it, and the only thing that stopped it was a President who could thread the needle between giving in and attacking. I don’t see that ability in Trump, so I can see how he could get us there.

But beyond that, I look at the shit sandwich the GOP is promising to serve up - reversing progress on Climate Change; repealing the ACA out of spite and not replacing it; voucherizing Medicare; cutting Social Security benefits; repealing the regulations put in place to prevent another 2008-style crash; appointing SCOTUS justices who will happily undo Obergefell and Roe v Wade, and a judiciary that will side with the powerful against the weak; undoing the VRA and further restricting minority voting rights; undoing protections for our LGBT brothers and sisters. None of that is ‘crazy talk’, it’s what they’ve fucking PROMISED TO DO!

Isn’t that bad enough? Me? I’m an affluent, straight white guy who works in Pharma. I’ll probably be okay. But nonwhite, nonstraight, nonguys? Not so much.

270
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:40:13pm

re: #264 William Lewis

At this point all I see is a head buried in the sand. Prove me wrong.

I don’t have to prove shit to you. You’ve read my comments everyday here over the years, you know where I stand and my knowledge base, you know that I take Fuckface Von Clownstick very seriously. You know that I hope for the best and prepare for the worst. You know that, and you still think I’m an ignoramus oblivious to what’s happening.

Fuck you.

271
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:40:48pm

I’m as much for a bit of primal screaming as the next guy, but I think we need to cool it a bit. Before somebody says something they regret.

272
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:40:59pm

re: #266 teleskiguy

And there you go, thinking I’m some kind of ignoramus oblivious to the dangers our country faces.

Fuck you, again.

As is usual when you get worked up later in the evening you’ve stopped thinking. I’ll discuss this with you sometime tomorrow or so when you’ve engaged you brain again. Right now you’re doing the same lashing out you’d do when you’d let DF get under your skin.

273
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:41:02pm

Remember the days when LGF was a fight fest?

HA. Used to be conservative Islam haters v. common good folks.

Stop the good folks on good folks BS.

274
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:41:21pm

Please, Lizards, let’s just take a breath.

This is the kind of night that results in real harm to an on-line community.

275
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:41:38pm

re: #263 SirMixALot

You trust McConnell to follow through? The man’s wife is in Trump cabinet! I will believe it when I see it! It might just be one big political farce with the GOP protecting their President and concealing evidence.

He’s not the instigator, he was dragged by other colleagues.

276
makeitstop  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:41:41pm

re: #271 Targetpractice

I’m as much for a bit of primal screaming as the next guy, but I think we need to cool it a bit. Before somebody says something they regret.

That’s what I’m saying.

277
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:43:40pm

re: #261 makeitstop

This looks like one of those nights that will result in a morning’s worth of ‘maybe I shouldn’t have said that’ posts.

Neutral corners and deep breaths, everyone.

The good news is, I start a new full-time job this morning, so I’ll be signing off for the night. Small victories I guess.

278
makeitstop  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:44:42pm

re: #277 Myron Falwell (no relation)

The good news is, I start a new full-time job this morning, so I’ll be signing off for the night. Small victories I guess.

Congrats and good luck! Go get some sleep.

279
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:45:09pm

re: #277 Myron Falwell (no relation)

The good news is, I start a new full-time job this morning, so I’ll be signing off for the night. Small victories I guess.

Congrats!!!

And I’m facing a 2 week ton of emails. That’s why I’m still up. Grabbing onto life before the work hell.

280
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:45:58pm

We probably need a little discord around here. Complacency has given way to hopelessness in record time. I’m not going to let the hopelessness just pass. We can’t give up the fight, but some folks truly think that evil will triumph over good for good. Fuck that.

281
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:48:21pm

In between the time I left for work and now, I caught the O.C.E. story and immediately marveled at the rank hypocrisy on display by the GOP. “Due process”? These assholes spent the better part of two years insisting that every single lurid detail of the email “scandal” be made public lest the White House be accused of “whitewashing.” The director of the FBI stood before the press TWICE and revealed information from his investigations that had nothing to do with acts of a criminal nature, barring the criminalization of stupidity. The week before the election, that same director released an email to the public concerning emails that MIGHT have something to do with an investigation he’d announced months earlier was finished, then corrected himself to little fanfare just days later.

“Due process,” my lily-white ass. The O.C.E. was created in 2008, or in other words it was created in response to the “Culture of Corruption” that the GOP has spent the first decade of this century cultivating. Now they’re rolling back the rules because they’re back in power. “Draining the swamp” was never more a joke than it is tonight.

282
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:48:50pm

“[Teleskiguy]’s right. Psychotic… but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!”

283
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:51:01pm

re: #282 Blind Frog Belly White

284
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:52:50pm

My bottom line, I will not sit by and be a good German. Hoping for the best while they do everything we fear. Right before our eyes.

NO.

285
makeitstop  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:53:17pm

re: #280 teleskiguy

We probably need a little discord around here. Complacency has given way to hopelessness in record time. I’m not going to let the hopelessness just pass. We can’t give up the fight, but some folks truly think that evil will triumph over good for good. Fuck that.

I dunno if we’ve given in to hopelessness just yet. Sometimes when you come up on problem, the first reaction is often ‘damn, that’s a big problem.’ It’s natural, especially since we haven’t seen a problem like this in a while, if ever.

We’re currently gaping at the size of the problem. We’ll get to the solution part before long.

286
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:54:50pm

re: #280 teleskiguy

We probably need a little discord around here. Complacency has given way to hopelessness in record time. I’m not going to let the hopelessness just pass. We can’t give up the fight, but some folks truly think that evil will triumph over good for good. Fuck that.

No, I just think there are a shit load of people unwilling to understand just what the cost to save our nation is going to be, in effort and in lives. I do not expect to survive this regime. Perhaps I will be wrong about that but to look at things that way makes it easier to do what has to be done. But 20 January 2017 will be mentioned in the same breath as 30 January 1933 if we do not spend every day; every breath; fighting against them.

Right now, though, on 20 January 2017, the title “Leader of the Free World” will go to the current Chancellor Of Germany (who was raised in East Germany) and that’s an irony of history I would have never expected to see.

287
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:56:19pm

re: #280 teleskiguy

We probably need a little discord around here. Complacency has given way to hopelessness in record time. I’m not going to let the hopelessness just pass. We can’t give up the fight, but some folks truly think that evil will triumph over good for good. Fuck that.

re: #282 Blind Frog Belly White

“[Teleskiguy]’s right. Psychotic… but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!”

I just don’t like lizards saying “Fuck you!” to each other.

Them’s fightin’ words!

May I strongly suggest a milder form of disagreement?

“Lick a dog’s ass ‘til it bleeds.”

Much better, isn’t it?

288
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 9:57:38pm

In an alternate universe, we’re worrying about how Hillary and the barely Democratic Senate are going to deal with Paul Fucking Ryan.

Seriously, that was what worried me before the election. Because there’s so much that needs to be done, and Ryan and the GOP would have done anything they could to stop it.

And now, all that shit that STILL fucking needs to be done won’t get done while we spend the next 4 or more years fighting the return of the 19th fucking century.

THAT is what leads me to despair, more than the nuclear annihilation worries.

289
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:00:48pm

re: #286 William Lewis

There you go with the catastrophizing. Are we building a massive army to take over the continent like Nazi Germany? Are we instituting systemic and governmental racism and bigotry like Nazi Germany? Are we having rallies where hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens show up and give praise to our dear leader who will save us all? Get a grip, dude.

290
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:02:58pm

re: #287 austin_blue

I just don’t like lizards saying “Fuck you!” to each other.

Them’s fightin’ words!

My I strongly suggest a milder form of disagreement?

“Lick a dog’s ass ‘til it bleeds.”

Much better, isn’t it?

I generally stick with the time honored, “Bite me.”, or, if I’m feeling condescending, “Oh, bite me.”

I got in trouble when I moved to California, because I’d grown up in a family that likes to argue, and in which we will tell family members whom we love dearly and respect deeply that they’re full of shit.

Not everyone takes that as a friendly jibe, it turns out. Some folks get REALLY OFFENDED.

291
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:04:05pm

re: #290 Blind Frog Belly White

Not everyone takes that as a friendly jibe, it turns out. Some folks get REALLY OFFENDED.

Yeah, who could possibly be offended at that?

/

292
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:04:25pm

re: #290 Blind Frog Belly White

I generally stick with the time honored, “Bite me.”, or, if I’m feeling condescending, “Oh, bite me.”

I got in trouble when I moved to California, because I’d grown up in a family that likes to argue, and in which we will tell family members whom we love dearly and respect deeply that they’re full of shit.

Not everyone takes that as a friendly jibe, it turns out. Some folks get REALLY OFFENDED.

My father has told me to go fuck myself a number of times during the Obama years, and I’ve done likewise. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and IPAs on New Year’s Eve, so …

293
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:05:15pm

re: #289 teleskiguy

There you go with the catastrophizing. Are we building a massive army to take over the continent like Nazi Germany? Are we instituting systemic and governmental racism and bigotry like Nazi Germany? Are we having rallies where hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens show up and give praise to our dear leader who will save us all? Get a grip, dude.

Did you mean that to come across as sarcastic?

294
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:05:29pm

re: #289 teleskiguy

Yes they are. And we already have more than enough military to back it up. Sorry to harsh your mellow dude.

And as for the rallies, if you don’t see the resemblance between the Nürnberg rallies and der Trumpenfuhrer’s “Victory” tour, well, I can’t help you.

295
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:06:20pm

re: #289 teleskiguy

There you go with the catastrophizing. Are we building a massive army to take over the continent like Nazi Germany? Are we instituting systemic and governmental racism and bigotry like Nazi Germany? Are we having rallies where hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens show up and give praise to our dear leader who will save us all? Get a grip, dude.

None of that was happening in Germany in 1932. That’s not to say we’re becoming Nazi Germany, but it helps to remember that Germany went sideways pretty fucking quickly once Hitler came to power. Consider how quickly this country went from 9/11 to putting troops in Afghanistan. In less than 2 years after 9/11, we were not only involved in two wars, but we had a slew of laws that trampled all over civil liberties for Americans as well as foreign citizens.

296
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:07:07pm

re: #286 William Lewis

No, I just think there are a shit load of people unwilling to understand just what the cost to save our nation is going to be, in effort and in lives.

We can’t afford to be complacent, or to look away — but in fact, all this is just hypothesizing at this time. We don’t really know just how far they’re actually willing to go yet. And it is my gut feeling that the Rethuglican leadership consists of bullies and that bullies are fundamentally cowards.

297
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:07:37pm

re: #291 Resistance Is Not Futile

Yeah, who could possibly be offended at that?

/

I used to have a girlfriend, a coworker in the lab, who would come to me for advice. If she didn’t like the advice, she’d say, “Eh, you’re full of poo.”

I didn’t take offense, but I DID ask her why she asked my advice if she already knew what she wanted to do.

298
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:08:06pm

re: #295 Targetpractice

None of that was happening in Germany in 1932. That’s not to say we’re becoming Nazi Germany, but it helps to remember that Germany went sideways pretty fucking quickly once Hitler came to power. Consider how quickly this country went from 9/11 to putting troops in Afghanistan. In less than 2 years after 9/11, we were not only involved in two wars, but we had a slew of laws that trampled all over civil liberties for Americans as well as foreign citizens.

Vigilance & no pollyanna bullshit.

299
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:08:27pm

re: #288 Blind Frog Belly White

In an alternate universe, we’re worrying about how Hillary and the barely Democratic Senate are going to deal with Paul Fucking Ryan.

Seriously, that was what worried me before the election. Because there’s so much that needs to be done, and Ryan and the GOP would have done anything they could to stop it.

And now, all that shit that STILL fucking needs to be done won’t get done while we spend the next 4 or more years fighting the return of the 19th fucking century.

THAT is what leads me to despair, more than the nuclear annihilation worries.

Fair post. I think we all worry about 20-30 million people losing health care, pushing them back into emergency rooms that are paid by local taxpayers, who are already under great duress.

Dreamer legislation? Gone. Middle class tax relief? Dead. Minimum wage on the national level? Gutted. Overtime wage abuse? Extinct. Renewable energy? Meh. The EPA? So last century.

Good times for everyone but us!

300
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:08:34pm

re: #294 William Lewis

Do you really think we’re going to go all Lebensraum? Invade Canada and subjugate their citizens for the great American Fatherland?

As for Trump’s victory rallies, they fucking pale in comparison to the Nuremberg rallies.

Yeah, you can’t help me because you’re being ahistorical.

301
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:10:09pm

re: #292 teleskiguy

My father has told me to go fuck myself a number of times during the Obama years, and I’ve done likewise. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and IPAs on New Year’s Eve, so …

The Older Boy and I will sometimes say to each other, “Fuck you! FUCK YOU!!! FUCK YOU!!!”, like when the other one ate the last cookie. All for grins.

302
BeachDem  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:11:05pm

re: #269 Blind Frog Belly White

Here’s the thing, for me - I am a skeptic. I don’t take things on faith, because I don’t have that ability.

Sure, I think that it’s highly unlikely that Trump gets us all killed in a nuclear firestorm. But the fact is, we’ve come DAMNED CLOSE before through bad choices and bad luck. In 1962, before I even turned 5 years old, we came within a hairsbreadth of it, and the only thing that stopped it was a President who could thread the needle between giving in and attacking. I don’t see that ability in Trump, so I can see how he could get us there.

But beyond that, I look at the shit sandwich the GOP is promising to serve up - reversing progress on Climate Change; repealing the ACA out of spite and not replacing it; voucherizing Medicare; cutting Social Security benefits; repealing the regulations put in place to prevent another 2008-style crash; appointing SCOTUS justices who will happily undo Obergefell and Roe v Wade, and a judiciary that will side with the powerful against the weak; undoing the VRA and further restricting minority voting rights; undoing protections for our LGBT brothers and sisters. None of that is ‘crazy talk’, it’s what they’ve fucking PROMISED TO DO!

Isn’t that bad enough? Me? I’m an affluent, straight white guy who works in Pharma. I’ll probably be okay. But nonwhite, nonstraight, nonguys? Not so much.

I’m still having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I can’t sleep, then I can’t get up—and I’ll have a little 30-second window when I first wake up and think, it must be election day and I’ve been having a nightmare.

Then reality sinks in and I shudder when I realize that we really did elect this asshole and he really is choosing the most heinous possible people for his cabinet, and the Republicans really do control all three branches of our government, and they are really going to shape the Supreme Court for a generation and they’re going to roll back every positive thing that’s happened in my lifetime and institute horrible, ugly policies that are going to fuck up everything possible.

Then I just want to crawl back into my bed. And most of what they do probably won’t directly affect me—I’m old, I have no children, I own my house, have no debt and have some cash on hand. But it makes me sick to my stomach to think about all the lives around me who are going to face some horrible things.

And some days I think I’m too old and tired to fight it, but I smack myself in the head to get over that attitude. I might not be the person who leads the charge, but I’m here to fight it, and to do whatever I can.

I’m not sure what I can do, but I know I hate these assholes with the heat of a thousand suns and I will do everything in my power to keep them from ruining our country and our dreams and everything we’ve fought for and worked for.

303
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:13:50pm
304
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:13:55pm

re: #300 teleskiguy

As for Trump’s victory rallies, they fucking pale in comparison to the Nuremberg rallies.

Come on, Ski. There’s this thing now called TV.

305
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:15:15pm

re: #304 whitebeach

Come on, Ski. There’s this thing now called TV.

And no one is watching. They’re too busy with The Bachelor and Dancing With The Stars.

306
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:16:02pm

re: #301 Blind Frog Belly White

The Older Boy and I will sometimes say to each other, “Fuck you! FUCK YOU!!! FUCK YOU!!!”, like when the other one ate the last cookie. All for grins.

Yes, but not here. There is not much context, or history, or face-to-face history on this board. It’s a harsh thing on-line. No nuance. My two cents.

307
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:16:36pm

One of the lessons of the rise of the Third Reich is that the right set of conditions can turn a democracy upside down virtually overnight. We say now that Trump won’t be able to do too much damage because support for him is abysmal and the public will raise a fuss. But imagine another 9/11, another national tragedy that gives Trump the sort of boost that Bush got (80%+) in the national polls. How much damage could he do with that before the public wised up?

308
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:17:08pm

re: #306 austin_blue

Yes, but not here. There is not much context, or history, or face-to-face history on this board. It’s a harsh thing on-line. No nuance. My two cents.

When someone has read my comments for years on end and still calls me stupid and dumb, I have no qualms for such harshness.

309
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:19:16pm

re: #199 teleskiguy

Democrats need to grow a spine, get mean, and (unfortunately) use the obstruction tactics that Republicans have used the last eight years.

They also need to run for office, everywhere, for every position.

I would like to quit turning in blank ballots because there are only Republicans on mine.

But, but, but “I’m too busy to run for (school board, town council, cemetery board, pick one)

The Republicans aren’t too busy.

I asked a couple days ago how many people complaining here are considering running for any position at all in their next local election. Crickets.

My conservative town elected a Democrat (the only one in my part of the state who ran for office) who is publicly known to be an atheist, edit erotic Romance novels, and run a sex blog.

Whining will not fix anything. Running for office might. If you can’t find someone who can.

310
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:20:49pm

re: #289 teleskiguy

There you go with the catastrophizing. Are we building a massive army to take over the continent like Nazi Germany? Are we instituting systemic and governmental racism and bigotry like Nazi Germany? Are we having rallies where hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens show up and give praise to our dear leader who will save us all? Get a grip, dude.

Oh, you were serious? Well then…

Are we building a massive army to take over the continent like Nazi Germany?

What, ANOTHER most powerful military in the entire fucking world, in addition to the one we already have?

Are we instituting systemic and governmental racism and bigotry like Nazi Germany?

Muslim registry? He’ll think about it. Ban all Muslims from entering? Already proposed it. Voting Rights Act? Gutted. What’s left of it won’t be enforced. If the GOP retains control of government in 2020, a lot of states that aren’t already will be gerrymandered to hell and gone, and the 100 new Federal judges Trump appoints will have no interest in overturning it, no matter how egregious.

Are we having rallies where hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens show up and give praise to our dear leader who will save us all?

Trump has more people watching his rallies on a bad day than Adolph had on his best day. Technology no longer requires gigantic stadia for gigantic audiences. And he’s only just started.

311
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:21:36pm

re: #307 Targetpractice

One of the lessons of the rise of the Third Reich is that the right set of conditions can turn a democracy upside down virtually overnight. We say now that Trump won’t be able to do too much damage because support for him is abysmal and the public will raise a fuss. But imagine another 9/11, another national tragedy that gives Trump the sort of boost that Bush got (80%+) in the national polls. How much damage could he do with that before the public wised up?

I say again, the Weimar Republic was fatally flawed (and mostly hated by its own citizens) from the beginning, and it was 13 years old when Hitler came to power. We are in much better shape than that, and most of us know how much we have to lose if we don’t defend it.

312
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:23:35pm

re: #311 Resistance Is Not Futile

I say again, the Weimar Republic was fatally flawed (and mostly hated by its own citizens) from the beginning, and it was 13 years old when Hitler came to power. We are in much better shape than that, and most of us know how much we have to lose if we don’t defend it.

Right. We have their example, too. The thing is, some of us *ahem* think we’re catastrophizing to worry about the parallels.

313
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:23:59pm

If y’all think Fuckface Von Clownstick is as skilled and clever as Adolf Hitler, then I recommend a good acid trip or four grams of psilocybin, it’ll help you chill the fuck out.

314
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:24:39pm

re: #311 Resistance Is Not Futile

I say again, the Weimar Republic was fatally flawed (and mostly hated by its own citizens) from the beginning, and it was 13 years old when Hitler came to power. We are in much better shape than that, and most of us know how much we have to lose if we don’t defend it.

But, they succeeded.

Are we better than their opposition?

315
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:24:50pm

re: #309 Anymouse

Exactly. And like you, it needs to be at that lowest level to build from. Put people on village boards, city councils, school boards especially. If they are allowed to destroy education, nothing we do will matter.

316
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:25:17pm

re: #305 teleskiguy

And no one is watching. They’re too busy with The Bachelor and Dancing With The Stars.

I can’t even say “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Because Trump would never have been anything politically unless he was a “reality TV star.” Tell me more nice stories in the administration of President Kardashian.

317
Interesting Times  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:25:38pm

re: #307 Targetpractice

But imagine another 9/11, another national tragedy that gives Trump the sort of boost that Bush got (80%+) in the national polls. How much damage could he do with that before the public wised up?

That’s my biggest immediate concern as well, and the reason I keep harping on Operation Northwoods (trump isn’t nearly smart enough to plan something like this, but Gen. “Find a way to blame Iran for Benghazi” Flynn could be)

318
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:26:20pm

re: #309 Anymouse

They also need to run for office, everywhere, for every position.

I would like to quit turning in blank ballots because there are only Republicans on mine.

The Republicans aren’t too busy.

I asked a couple days ago how many people complaining here are considering running for any position at all in their next local election. Crickets.

My conservative town elected a Democrat (the only one in my part of the state who ran for office) who is publicly known to be an atheist, edit erotic Romance novels, and run a sex blog.

Whining will not fix anything. Running for office might. If you can’t find someone who can.

If I weren’t where I am, I might - though, honestly, running for office is about the last thing a low social needs introvert with social anxiety wants to do.

319
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:26:53pm

re: #313 teleskiguy

If y’all think Fuckface Von Clownstick is as skilled and clever as Adolf Hitler, then I recommend a good acid trip or four grams of psilocybin, it’ll help you chill the fuck out.

Sigh.

#230 -

As I said earlier today, Herr Trumpenfuhrer is not the danger - it’s his puppet masters that are the danger. Him we laugh at; them we fight.

320
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:26:56pm

I’ll eat crow if there are concentration camps for LBGT, atheists, and the like. I’ll admit I’m wrong when a ten mile column of troops marches into Montreal. I’ll admit I’m wrong when the Muslim registry takes place. I will eat my own shoes when Fuckface Von Clownstick gets reelected on the platform of utter White Supremacy. Until then, this thread and all the handwringing is a fucking waste of time.

321
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:27:43pm

re: #311 Resistance Is Not Futile

I say again, the Weimar Republic was fatally flawed (and mostly hated by its own citizens) from the beginning, and it was 13 years old when Hitler came to power. We are in much better shape than that, and most of us know how much we have to lose if we don’t defend it.

Do we really? While we’re engaging in historical parallels, let’s consider that the Roman Republic existed for centuries and yet was twisted into becoming an empire in just a matter of years. The word “dictator” did not always have negative connotations.

322
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:27:54pm

re: #310 Blind Frog Belly White

So, which local office are you running for in your next election? School board? Town council? Which ones did you run for in this election?

Or are you just going to gripe? Because if only one party is running candidates, only one party will win.

323
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:27:58pm

re: #312 Blind Frog Belly White

Right. We have their example, too. The thing is, some of us *ahem* think we’re catastrophizing to worry about the parallels.

And I’m not saying we shouldn’t worry, I’m saying it’s way too soon to panic or despair.

(The third volume of the John Lewis graphic novel March just came out. I recommend it for its own sweet sake, as well as the two that came before it, but also to remind us that people overcame impossible odds not so long ago — and this our country was a real shitshow in many ways not so long ago.)

324
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:28:28pm

re: #308 teleskiguy

When someone has read my comments for years on end and still calls me stupid and dumb, I have no qualms for such harshness.

Well, then tell him to lick a dog’s ass until it bleeds.

Tell him to have an affair with a syphilitic wombat.

Suggest that he should have fellatio with a cobra.

Just don’t say “Fuck you!”

I mean, come on! We’re Americans! We’re creative humans! Why settle for the cliche?

325
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:28:38pm

re: #312 Blind Frog Belly White

Nice subtweet.

326
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:28:55pm

re: #313 teleskiguy

If y’all think Fuckface Von Clownstick is as skilled and clever as Adolf Hitler, then I recommend a good acid trip or four grams of psilocybin, it’ll help you chill the fuck out.

I laughed at that fucker all through the campaign. Belittled him, mocked him, pointed out what a buffoon and transparent con man he is.

And he got fucking elected, didn’t he?

And here he is, more powerful than Adolph could have ever dreamed.

327
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:29:26pm

re: #318 Blind Frog Belly White

If I weren’t where I am, I might - though, honestly, running for office is about the last thing a low social needs introvert with social anxiety wants to do.

But you could hunt up someone who can run.

328
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:29:28pm

re: #320 teleskiguy

I’ll eat crow if there are concentration camps for LBGT, atheists, and the like. I’ll admit I’m wrong when a ten mile column of troops marches into Montreal. I’ll admit I’m wrong when the Muslim registry takes place. I will eat my own shoes when Fuckface Von Clownstick gets reelected on the platform of utter White Supremacy. Until then, this thread and all the handwringing is a fucking waste of time.

So we…what? Go forward saying it can’t ever happen, there’s no set of circumstances where Americans could be convinced that it is not only necessary, but totally legal? Do I need to bring up that we had an Attorney General make official policy that it’s not torture if you’re an “enemy combatant”?

329
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:29:38pm

re: #320 teleskiguy

I’ll eat crow if there are concentration camps for LBGT, atheists, and the like. I’ll admit I’m wrong when a ten mile column of troops marches into Montreal. I’ll admit I’m wrong when the Muslim registry takes place. I will eat my own shoes when Fuckface Von Clownstick gets reelected on the platform of utter White Supremacy. Until then, this thread and all the handwringing is a fucking waste of time.

I’m sure that will be a comfort to them.

330
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:30:17pm

re: #327 Anymouse

But you could hunt up someone who can run.

The thing is, there’s no need, here in the Bay Area.

331
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:30:24pm

re: #329 Blind Frog Belly White

I’m sure that will be a comfort to them.

I’ll fucking go with them to the gas chambers!

Mother fuck!

332
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:30:54pm

re: #328 Targetpractice

So we…what?

Have another Civil War, I guess.

333
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:31:29pm

re: #332 teleskiguy

Have another Civil War, I guess.

Just trying to catastrophize. Not productive at all.

334
wheat-dogg  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:31:49pm

re: #233 austin_blue

I agree with you, and hope that the polity will agree with you.

My fear is that the hard right will dismantle everything that has been done in the last eight years, supported by the newly ascendant Alt-Reich that has been emboldened by this election.

I’ll wait and see what this Kakistocracy does. I don’t have any illusions of what they are capable of doing.

I am not saying we have nothing to worry about. The RWNJs now in power will do their damnedest to dismantle every halfway progressive advancement we’ve made since 1933, or perhaps even 1860. We will need to fight them tooth and nail every step of the way, but that’s the thing. We *are* able to fight them, in public, on the Internet, in the media. Until and unless they start trying to subvert the First Amendment, we can put up a fight. The Dems are weak, but still extant, and we may yet see some Democrat grow a backbone and become a potential presidential candidate for 2020.

Getting hysterical about imminent autocracy is the wrong approach. We have every right to be worried, but the correct approach, AFAIK, is to be cool and methodical in our opposition. Mock Trump, expose the GOP hypocrisy, watch for corruption and illegality and expose it, support progressive organizations. The Right has been gradual in its subversion of the two-party state, but not completely successful. We need to be as determined as they to take back what we believe is the True America. Considering a majority of the voters chose Hillary Clinton over the Orange Yam, our position is not weak at all.

It is too soon to give into despair.

335
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:32:02pm

re: #320 teleskiguy

I’ll eat crow if there are concentration camps for LBGT, atheists, and the like. I’ll admit I’m wrong when a ten mile column of troops marches into Montreal. I’ll admit I’m wrong when the Muslim registry takes place. I will eat my own shoes when Fuckface Von Clownstick gets reelected on the platform of utter White Supremacy. Until then, this thread and all the handwringing is a fucking waste of time.

You are accepting the possibility of the major fucks. Just not the major major fucks.

336
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:32:29pm

re: #321 Targetpractice

Do we really? While we’re engaging in historical parallels, let’s consider that the Roman Republic existed for centuries and yet was twisted into becoming an empire in just a matter of years. The word “dictator” did not always have negative connotations.

It’s much too late an hour for me to enter into that, but I don’t think the cases are similar enough for that to be helpful. And DT is neither as charismatic as Julius Caesar nor as smart as Octavian. Octavian was capable of building alliances as well, which DT certainly isn’t.

337
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:32:50pm

re: #329 Blind Frog Belly White

I’m sure that will be a comfort to them.

Doesn’t matter. By that time, since he’s a customer of the CO shops, the DEA will have him on their own lists. Dead or in a cell, they won’t care which because smoking herb is as evil as it gets to them.

338
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:33:38pm

re: #320 teleskiguy

I’ll eat crow if there are concentration camps for LBGT, atheists, and the like. I’ll admit I’m wrong when a ten mile column of troops marches into Montreal. I’ll admit I’m wrong when the Muslim registry takes place. I will eat my own shoes when Fuckface Von Clownstick gets reelected on the platform of utter White Supremacy. Until then, this thread and all the handwringing is a fucking waste of time.

Our nation already did that with Japanese and German-American interment camps in WW2, and the Supreme Court decision which upheld that has not been overturned.

As for the Muslim registry, the GOP has been in the press floating the idea how they can do that and make it legal.

Now they want to put the Congressional Ethics Office under Congress’s oversight.

339
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:33:45pm

re: #322 Anymouse

So, which local office are you running for in your next election? School board? Town council? Which ones did you run for in this election?

Or are you just going to gripe? Because if only one party is running candidates, only one party will win.

Mouse, he lives in the bluest of blue states, California, as do I. It’s the Republicans who don’t bother to run candidates here — or who see them fall by the wayside in the first round of voting.

340
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:33:47pm

re: #335 Stanley Sea

You are accepting the possibility of the major fucks. Just not the major major fucks.

What the fuck is this supposed to mean?

Yeah, I’m safe. Straight, white, male. Just not Christian, that’s a strike against.

OK, I’ll eat my shoes if we nuke Lichtenstein. (???)

341
Stanley Sea  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:37:05pm

re: #340 teleskiguy

What the fuck is this supposed to mean?

Yeah, I’m safe. Straight, white, male. Just not Christian, that’s a strike against.

OK, I’ll eat my shoes if we nuke Lichtenstein. (???)

Your comment was blase to the real fears, you went to the extreme.

342
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:37:11pm

re: #339 Resistance Is Not Futile

Mouse, he lives in the bluest of blue states, California, as do I. It’s the Republicans who don’t bother to run candidates here — or who see them fall by the wayside in the first round of voting.

Hey, I was just in California a couple weeks ago. It didn’t look like the flaming bankrupt dystopia I keep hearing about. (:: And California’s property tax rate is way lower than mine.

I do have trouble trying to understand why people would vote to reëlect people who make real flaming bankrupt dystopias like Kansas.

343
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:37:17pm

re: #332 teleskiguy

Have another Civil War, I guess.

I’m not trying to argue that any of this shit WILL happen, only that it CAN happen under the proper set of circumstances. I’m not promoting apocalyptic thinking, but cautionary thinking instead. When we say that something cannot happen under any circumstances, we leave ourselves open to being caught by surprise. After all, did anybody expect to check the news tonight to find the GOP gutting ethical oversight at the 11th hour before the new Congress is sworn in?

344
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:37:29pm

re: #334 wheat-dogg

I am not saying we have nothing to worry about. The RWNJs now in power will do their damnedest to dismantle every halfway progressive advancement we’ve made since 1933, or perhaps even 1860. We will need to fight them tooth and nail every step of the way, but that’s the thing. We *are* able to fight them, in public, on the Internet, in the media. Until and unless they start trying to subvert the First Amendment, we can put up a fight. The Dems are weak, but still extant, and we may yet see some Democrat grow a backbone and become a potential presidential candidate for 2020.

Getting hysterical about imminent autocracy is the wrong approach. We have every right to be worried, but the correct approach, AFAIK, is to be cool and methodical in our opposition. Mock Trump, expose the GOP hypocrisy, watch for corruption and illegality and expose it, support progressive organizations. The Right has been gradual in its subversion of the two-party state, but not completely successful. We need to be as determined as they to take back what we believe is the True America. Considering a majority of the voters chose Hillary Clinton over the Orange Yam, our position is not weak at all.

It is too soon to give into despair.

Preach! So says the guy who lives and works in a ONE PARTY STATE.

Y’all are fucking insufferable with your hopelessness tonight. What the fuck?!?

345
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:37:46pm

I went to see Rogue One tonight.

No spoilers. Just a movie. Uplifting and depressing at the same time. An impressive feat.

I’d still recommend it to all Lizards. Some useful messages in there.

Life does continue to go on. Until it doesn’t, maybe, but I’m still here and still going and sometimes all you have to do is keep living. Tomorrow mr. klys gives notice. We don’t have another job lined up yet. Some worries are more immediate. Sometimes you have to take the break for your mental health.

Reminder that there is nothing wrong with that.

346
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:38:36pm

re: #342 Anymouse

Hey, I was just in California a couple weeks ago. It didn’t look like the flaming bankrupt dystopia I keep hearing about. (:: And California’s property tax rate is way lower than mine.

I do have trouble trying to understand why people would vote to reëlect people who make real flaming bankrupt dystopias like Kansas.

CA’s property tax rate is its own mess that’s dragging down things, make no mistake. Prop 13 fucked up an awful lot.

347
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:39:04pm

re: #345 klys (maker of Silmarils)

I went to see Rogue One tonight.

No spoilers. Just a movie. Uplifting and depressing at the same time. An impressive feat.

I’d still recommend it to all Lizards. Some useful messages in there.

Life does continue to go on. Until it doesn’t, maybe, but I’m still here and still going and sometimes all you have to do is keep living. Tomorrow mr. klys gives notice. We don’t have another job lined up yet. Some worries are more immediate. Sometimes you have to take the break for your mental health.

Reminder that there is nothing wrong with that.

I’d love to see the movie, Ms. Klys. Please send us a movie theatre. /s

348
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:40:18pm

re: #347 Anymouse

I’d love to see the movie, Ms. Klys. Please send us a movie theatre. /s

It’ll be out on DVD in less than 3 months, I would guess. The messages will be no less relevant then.

349
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:43:34pm

re: #348 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Strength for your hubs next adventure! That takes some balls, that does.

350
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:43:44pm

Goodnight all. Please settle your differences to the degree that you can. This kind of sucked tonight. Teleskiguy, I love you, but you ran off the black diamond a little bit and mashed into the trees.

351
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:43:49pm

re: #336 Resistance Is Not Futile

It’s much too late an hour for me to enter into that, but I don’t think the cases are similar enough for that to be helpful. And DT is neither as charismatic as Julius Caesar nor as smart as Octavian. Octavian was capable of building alliances as well, which DT certainly isn’t.

Fair enough, I’ll just leave this thread with the parting argument that C+ Augustus was no Rhodes Scholar and yet he got the world to follow him into the quagmire that was Iraq.

352
wheat-dogg  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:44:28pm

re: #246 SirMixALot

Denial. One political party will control all three branches of the federal government, 33 state governments and a majority of the lower courts. One political party is able to undo election results with obstruction, sabotage and can now ultimately repealing everything they dislike. One political party is maintaining their power despite being in the miniorty with voter suppression and gerrymandering. One political party can literally commit war crimes and collude with a foreign government and get away with it. One political party can screw over the blue states with more federal tax cuts and gutting federal regulations. Their bullshit always trickles down!

The vast majority of the media was co-opted long ago. The few media outlets that still engage in real journalism are reporting in a vacuum to liberals who are always ignored. No need to arrest journalists because journalism ceased being relevant a long time ago.

They do not yet have total control. There is an opposition party, and even some Republicans are not going to follow the extremists.

I am not in denial. There is certainly potential danger. We should not be complacent; neither should we be alarmist. Going off half-cocked now, screaming dictatorship and one-party rule is not going to persuade people on the other side they should join us. Remember, they’ve been conditioned by 30 years of RWNJ indoctrination to believe liberals and progressives are insane, unpatriotic woosies. Acting like an insane, unpatriotic woosie only reinforces their conditioning.

It’s OK to retweet and publicize the House hamstringing the ethics commission, but it’s also necessary to tell people WHY that is a big deal. It’s not very hard to persuade voters of any party that Congress-critters can be corrupt. It shouldn’t be hard to persuade them that making the ethics watchdogs ineffective will enable further corruption.

Assume the voters are stupid, and proceed from there.

353
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:44:37pm

re: #348 klys (maker of Silmarils)

It’ll be out on DVD in less than 3 months, I would guess. The messages will be no less relevant then.

I’ll get to see the movie then, I guess.

Prop 13 certainly fouled up the way California collects and raises property taxes, but there are other ways to collect taxes. The last time I read about California’s treasury situation, the state was in the black.

Not like Kansas, looking to raid its future development fund to plug its budget hole only through the end of June. Their answer appears to be “cut more taxes on the wealthy and raise them on people making less than $20,000 a year.”

My wife and I had a discussion about that last night (the neighbours hearing us square off on political positions again). She is still a fan of flat taxes, though I have been slowly chipping away at that idea.

354
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:47:00pm

re: #349 prairiefire

Strength for your hubs next adventure! That takes some balls, that does.

He’s in the interview process at two places, so there is that. But there’s still some definite uncertainty in the air right now and like most humans, I focus on the immediate concerns first. :) We’ll survive, I just hate uncertainty and it’s been a pretty constant companion for the past few months.

355
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:48:16pm

See, as I said the other day, I’m the sort of cynic who assumes the worst so he can be surprised when it doesn’t come to pass. I intend to go forward assuming that Trump and the GOP will do their level best to fuck this country six ways to Sunday. And that at least 50% of it will make it into law. I don’t assume the world will end, that there will be a civil war, or that we’re going to become Nazi Germany. But I’m certainly prepared for those eventualities.

356
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:48:49pm

re: #317 Interesting Times

That’s my biggest immediate concern as well, and the reason I keep harping on Operation Northwoods (trump isn’t nearly smart enough to plan something like this, but Gen. “Find a way to blame Iran for Benghazi” Flynn could be)

Operation Northwoods would have been an American version of the Reichstag Fire had it been allowed to proceed.

While the minority-president elect is probably not smart enough to figure out something like that, he certainly has a cadre of sycophants that are.

357
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:49:34pm

re: #316 whitebeach

I can’t even say “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Because Trump would never have been anything politically unless he was a “reality TV star.” Tell me more nice stories in the administration of President Kardashian.

Jesus Christ, teleskiguy, you downdinged this too? What is it with you tonight?

358
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:49:41pm

re: #356 Anymouse

Operation Northwoods would have been an American version of the Reichstag Fire had it been allowed to proceed.

While the minority-president elect is probably not smart enough to figure out something like that, he certainly has a cadre of sycophants that are.

Hell, they won’t Tell him so it sounds better on TV!

359
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:50:04pm

re: #355 Targetpractice

See, as I said the other day, I’m the sort of cynic who assumes the worst so he can be surprised when it doesn’t come to pass. I intend to go forward assuming that Trump and the GOP will do their level best to fuck this country six ways to Sunday. And that at least 50% of it will make it into law. I don’t assume the world will end, that there will be a civil war, or that we’re going to become Nazi Germany. But I’m certainly prepared for those eventualities.

Are you my wife? /s At her Website linked in my name here, she calls herself “Head Cynic.”

360
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:51:13pm

re: #358 William Lewis

Hell, they won’t Tell him so it sounds better on TV!

So it looks better on Twitter.

361
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:53:19pm

re: #354 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Yep, I feel the same way. Uncertain, for sure. I take some comfort in the memory of my mom being almost hysterical over Nixon winning and then the delicious schadenfreude of Watergate.

362
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:54:27pm

re: #359 Anymouse

Are you my wife? /s At her Website linked in my name here, she calls herself “Head Cynic.”

Hey now, there’s no need for insults.

//

I still prefer the bit that I stole from Yahtzee Croshaw: “The cynic in me (sorry, that should have read ‘the cynic that IS me’)…”

363
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:55:05pm

re: #361 prairiefire

Yep, I feel the same way. Uncertain, for sure. I take some comfort in the memory of my mom being almost hysterical over Nixon winning and then the delicious schadenfreude of Watergate.

Trumpgate would be awesome but it would have to be one hell of an epic scandal to get the GOP to turn on him.

364
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:55:13pm

re: #361 prairiefire

Yep, I feel the same way. Uncertain, for sure. I take some comfort in the memory of my mom being almost hysterical over Nixon winning and then the delicious schadenfreude of Watergate.

I was twelve when he was elected in 1972. I was quite happy to see him go a couple years later. (I read the newspaper a lot, since I was a paperboy then.)

365
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:56:00pm

re: #350 austin_blue

Teleskiguy, I love you, but you ran off the black diamond a little bit and mashed into the trees.

Meh.

366
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:56:34pm

re: #357 whitebeach

Jesus Christ, teleskiguy, you downdinged this too? What is it with you tonight?

It’s a downding on an Internet comment board. Who fucking cares?

367
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:57:04pm

re: #362 Targetpractice

Hey now, there’s no need for insults.

Hey, if you were my wife running another account here, I would hardly consider that question an insult. /s

That said, she is watching “Twilight Zone” (the original series) on her computer now, so I am pretty sure you are not my wife.

368
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:57:21pm

re: #366 teleskiguy

It’s a downding on an Internet comment board. Who fucking cares?

It’s generally considered poor etiquette around here to downding for no reason.

369
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:58:11pm

re: #364 Anymouse

I was twelve when he was elected in 1972. I was quite happy to see him go a couple years later. (I read the newspaper a lot, since I was a paperboy then.)

Aw, a little nerd like me. I asked for a Time magazine subscription for Christmas when I was 12.

370
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:58:19pm

Like I said, the alarmist catastrophizing on this thread is bullshit. Sounds like some people are ready to accept that the United States - with its turbulent history and chaos - is finito, dunzo, kaput, hopeless. Fuck that noise.

371
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:58:37pm

re: #367 Anymouse

Hey, if you were my wife running another account here, I would hardly consider that question an insult. /s

That said, she is watching “Twilight Zone” (the original series) on her computer now, so I am pretty sure you are not my wife.

No, definitely not me. Too busy sitting in a hotel lobby and trying to fake looking busy to be watching Twilight Zone.

372
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:58:54pm

“You get a downding! And you get a downding! Everybody gets a downding!” - Oprah Winfrey if she were on LGF. /s

373
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:59:00pm

re: #368 Eclectic Cyborg

It’s generally considered poor etiquette around here to downding for no reason.

So I need to give a reason for every downding. OK. Fine.

whitebeach was being a condescending asshole.

374
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 10:59:34pm

re: #371 Targetpractice

No, definitely not me. Too busy sitting in a hotel lobby and trying to fake looking busy to be watching Twilight Zone.

LOL

375
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:00:46pm

re: #361 prairiefire

Yep, I feel the same way. Uncertain, for sure. I take some comfort in the memory of my mom being almost hysterical over Nixon winning and then the delicious schadenfreude of Watergate.

I understand why folks are feeling the way they are.

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

376
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:01:18pm

re: #316 whitebeach

I can’t even say “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Because Trump would never have been anything politically unless he was a “reality TV star.” Tell me more nice stories in the administration of President Kardashian.

Well, we elected Ronald Reagan, and now Donald Trump, so I don’t see a President Kim Kardashian as too much of a stretch.

377
The Dude Abides  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:01:55pm

re: #356 Anymouse

Operation Northwoods would have been an American version of the Reichstag Fire had it been allowed to proceed.

While the minority-president elect is probably not smart enough to figure out something like that, he certainly has a cadre of sycophants that are.

There is a crapton of Trumpistas who would go from tsk-tsking a supposedly ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in California to cheering it on once it’s revealed that it was actually planned and carried out by Trump’s underlings as a false flag operation. Although the odds of something like this happening are minuscule, they’re still non-zero. Hatred of California liberals runs pretty high in a lot of the rural areas in red and purple states.

378
austin_blue  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:03:00pm

re: #365 teleskiguy

Meh.

No, really. You did. Pull up your big boy pants and apologize to the board.

And goodnight to all. See you tomorrow.

379
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:04:32pm

re: #377 The Dude Abides

There is a crapton of Trumpistas who would go from tsk-tsking a supposedly ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in California to cheering it on once it’s revealed that it was actually planned and carried out by Trump’s underlings as a false flag operation. Although the odds of something like this happening are minuscule, they’re still non-zero. Hatred of California liberals runs pretty high in a lot of the rural areas in red and purple states.

I don’t know about other red states (or even all of mine). All I got when we got back was “Did you take pictures?” (Yes) “Can I see them? Wow, what was California like?” &c

380
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:05:52pm

re: #360 Anymouse

So it looks better on Twitter.

Point, set, match.

381
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:06:52pm

Epic thread continues from yesterday.

382
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:07:13pm

re: #376 Anymouse

Well, we elected Ronald Reagan, and now Donald Trump, so I don’t see a President Kim Kardashian as too much of a stretch.

President Rush Limbaugh.

/*ducks*

383
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:07:21pm

re: #366 teleskiguy

Well, given that… < rolls eyes >

384
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:08:10pm

re: #368 Eclectic Cyborg

It’s generally considered poor etiquette around here to downding for no reason.

He’s in one of his moods. Like when he’d get screaming at DF. No different.

385
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:08:13pm

I don’t feel like I need to apologize for anything. I’m mad. I’m worked up. I want others to feel the same. If my comments tonight were too abrasive or off the mark, well, downding it and report it to Charles, ‘cause I don’t take back any of it.

386
Scout  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:11:24pm

My pessimism is not confined to the U.S.

I am 100 percent convinced that this crowd coming in will start at least one war of choice before 2017 becomes 2018.

Remember when the Bush team invaded Iraq (this website was an ardent cheerleader)? Estimates of the civilian deaths in Iraq vary, but it has certainly been in the hundreds of thousands.

That stupid, stupid invasion has been devastating to average Iraqis, the ones who are still alive, anyway.

What these scumbags are going to do to America will be bad, real bad. But what they are going to do to people in other parts of the world will likely be a lot worse.

387
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:13:50pm

re: #384 William Lewis

He’s in one of his moods. Like when he’d get screaming at DF. No different.

Not even in the same fucking ballpark. Dark_Falcon is a right-wing reactionary who loves what’s going on right now. Tonight? It seems some are willing to accept Nazi America, and I will not abide by such asinine bullshit, we’re better than that. Or so I thought.

388
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:13:52pm

re: #381 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Epic thread continues from yesterday.

[Embedded content]

I must have missed it yesterday. My only question is, if sheep are so all-seeing and astute and impossible to sneak up on, why did we ever need shepherds and sheep dogs?

389
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:13:55pm

re: #369 prairiefire

Aw, a Lile nerd like me. I asked for a Time magazine subscription for Christmas when I was 12.

Lile? I don’t understand that word.

I delivered the Detroit Free-Press in my Michigan village (that is bigger than my current Nebraska village).

The Vietnam War pretty much caused my interest in political doings. While Central Michigan was hardly a hotbed of anti-war protests, I did have a personal stake in that war. The politics surrounding our nation’s involvement in that war caused me to become interested in politics at around age eleven.

In a way, that even helped me become an exchange student in High School: I applied to Rotary International to be an exchange student.

Rotary, as part of its screening process, issued a questionnaire to every applicant about the various political and social issues of the day; my answer just on their question about Vietnam (Was our involvement in the war worthwhile) elicited a four-page essay for an answer from me.

(My mom thought I wouldn’t be selected so she let me apply to teach me a lesson about handling failures in life. When they picked me and one other person from my state, she was scrambling for a solution to the problem of how to pay for my plane tickets - that was solved when she won the Michigan Lottery.)

390
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:14:37pm

re: #379 Anymouse

I don’t know about other red states (or even all of mine). All I got when we got back was “Did you take pictures?” (Yes) “Can I see them? Wow, what was California like?” &c

That’s why we have to keep working with our neighbors. If they understand we’re all the same in the end, we don’t end up trying to kill each other.

“Love your neighbor as yourself”. You don’t have to be religious to understand that’s a fucking good idea. Same thing with Mathew 7:12 - “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.”

391
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:16:03pm

re: #387 teleskiguy

Sorry son, but your actions are exactly the same. You don’t like what’s being said so you’re freaking out. Shrug. Such is life.

392
prairiefire  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:16:36pm

re: #389 Anymouse

Great story, how much did she win?

393
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:17:54pm

re: #388 whitebeach

I must have missed it yesterday. My only question is, if sheep are so all-seeing and astute and impossible to sneak up on, why did we ever need shepherds and sheep dogs?

The latter are to protect the sheep from the former.

/I’m going to Hell for that one.

394
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:18:25pm

re: #391 William Lewis

Don’t call me son, boy.

395
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:21:01pm

FFS, would you two just kiss and get it over with? This has gone from a semi-legitimate argument into a sniping competition.

396
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:21:44pm

re: #394 teleskiguy

Don’t call me son, boy.

I’ll apologize for that but not for the rest. You’re still wrong and you’re still knee jerking the same exact way you did when you’d go off on DF getting under your skin. And that _is_ childish even if you don’t want to admit it.

397
William Lewis  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:22:23pm

re: #395 Targetpractice

No.

And good night.

398
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:22:38pm

re: #393 Targetpractice

The latter are to protect the sheep from the former.

/I’m going to Hell for that one.

LOFL. I had never considered this ram-ification. Praise gawd.

399
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:23:09pm

re: #390 William Lewis

That’s why we have to keep working with our neighbors. If they understand we’re all the same in the end, we don’t end up trying to kill each other.

“Love your neighbor as yourself”. You don’t have to be religious to understand that’s a fucking good idea. Same thing with Mathew [sic] 7:12 - “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.”

Well, I probably wouldn’t go for the religious angle, being who I am and all, plus anyone here seeing me invoking the Bible would probably take that the wrong way as I am an atheist.

That said, folks in California gotta eat, just like we do here. Nebraska ranchers and farmers make a hell of a lot of money selling their stuff to California; pragmatically, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to demonise your customers.

They even let me off the hook here knowing my sister is in a same-sex marriage (this state was really opposed to that concept). The folk around here can see I am not trying to “subvert the sanctity of marriage” even though I support marital rights for everyone. The idea I might be trying to subvert marriage really doesn’t square with my very hetero marriage. Mostly, folk around here are “meh” about all that.

When the Obergefell v Hodges decision came out, my wife contacted the county prosecutor/village attorney asking if the state would honour her ULC credentials if she held same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Though he 100% Republican, he said he would check for her. (Our county courthouse does not solemnise marriages, and never has.) He contacted the state attorney general, then got back with my wife: “Sure. Just need witnesses on the certificate.”

400
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:23:45pm

re: #370 teleskiguy

Like I said, the alarmist catastrophizing on this thread is bullshit. Sounds like some people are ready to accept that the United States - with its turbulent history and chaos - is finito, dunzo, kaput, hopeless. Fuck that noise.

So far, I haven’t seen anyone here saying it WILL happen. We’re saying it CAN happen. You seem to be arguing it can’t. Pardon me if I don’t find that comforting. This year, I’ve seen a lot of things happen that very smart people told me could never happen.

You know, my whole lifetime, I felt like the US was moving in the right direction. The Civil Rights movement, the Women’s Rights movement, the Gay Rights movement. Marriage equality. A black President. It made it seem like MLK was right about the arc of the moral universe. It seemed like racism, sexism, homophobia - all the -isms and -phobias were dying out. Yeah, they might win some rearguard actions, but over time, demographics would finally do them in.

Then came Trump, appealing to every single goddam -ism, and WINNING. Spouting the stupidest, most transparent Jingoistic horseshit, and WINNING. Lying his ass off every time he opens that stupid little mouth, and WINNING.

I could see how a McCain, or a Bush, or a Romney could win. You could actually imagine them doing the job of President. It would be bad, but it would be bad within normal limits. Trump? I could not see how he could win the Presidency. And yet, inexorably, he got closer and closer and closer. He said things that would have ended any other candidacy. The ‘Pussy Grabber’ tape came out, and then a dozen women said, ‘Yeah, he really does that!’ The news about just how corrupt his Foundation is came out. All these things that should have done him in, and he kept coming.

And he fucking won.

To me, this means a lot of what I thought I knew about America was wrong. It means I don’t know what else I think I know about America is also wrong. So, I’m not gonna sit here and say, “No, it can’t happen HERE!”, because how the fuck would I know? I didn’t think THIS could happen here.

But even if we don’t become The Fourth Reich, what the GOP has promised to do, and what they now have the power to do, is absolutely fucking catastrophic, and that is not hyperbole. And you’re minimizing that catastrophe, as if Muslims and LGBT folks need to be marched into camps for this to be a fucking disaster for them, and anything less is just peachy.

401
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:24:32pm

re: #395 Targetpractice

FFS, would you two just kiss and get it over with? This has gone from a semi-legitimate argument into a sniping competition.

Since I am here and would be witness to that, can my wife and I put that on our blog? /s

402
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:25:08pm

re: #396 William Lewis

I’ll apologize for that but not for the rest. You’re still wrong and you’re still knee jerking the same exact way you did when you’d go off on DF getting under your skin. And that _is_ childish even if you don’t want to admit it.

No one has gotten under my skin. I’m just quite alarmed at the predictions for the next four years from some of you. The predictions seem to be that I’ll have to hide Muslims and gay people in my basement before long, and millions of poor people are going to die in the streets over the next four years. Fucking bullshit.

403
Targetpractice  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:27:19pm

re: #401 Anymouse

Since I am here and would be witness to that, can my wife and I put that on our blog? /s

“50 Shades of Scales”?

//

404
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:28:18pm

Y’all need to get some *fight* in you, or else some of your predictions might just come true.

405
whitebeach  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:28:18pm

re: #400 Blind Frog Belly White

This. This, goddamnit.

406
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:29:51pm

re: #400 Blind Frog Belly White

About Mr. Trump winning with all his -isms and -phobias, I would argue that Mr. Trump’s appeal (and remember, he is the minority President-elect) is something like the German Battle of the Bulge.

It is the last dying gasp of that old Jim Crow order, and they have thrown everything they have into the final battle.

The line may bend, but it will not break. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was not wrong, and this seems more like a setback rather than destruction of Progressivism.

No combat, social, political, or military consists of a string of victories. Sometimes the losses are painful.

But even if the reactionaries succeed in dragging us backward, they cannot drag us back all the way (two steps forward, one step back).

407
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:34:00pm

re: #401 Anymouse

Since I am here and would be witness to that, can my wife and I put that on our blog? /s

My wife says that should be corrected to “can she put that on flog.”

408
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:35:24pm

This makes me laugh. I sense a pattern.

409
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:37:24pm

THE ORANGE COUNTIES ARE REAL AMERICA, AND WE’RE COMING FOR YOU! THE DAY OF THE ROPE IS UPON US!

410
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:40:26pm

re: #406 Anymouse

About Mr. Trump winning with all his -isms and -phobias, I would argue that Mr. Trump’s appeal (and remember, he is the minority President-elect) is something like the German Battle of the Bulge.

It is the last dying gasp of that old Jim Crow order, and they have thrown everything they have into the final battle.

The line may bend, but it will not break. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was not wrong, and this seems more like a setback rather than destruction of Progressivism.

No combat, social, political, or military consists of a string of victories. Sometimes the losses are painful.

But even if the reactionaries succeed in dragging us backward, they cannot drag us back all the way (two steps forward, one step back).

I hope so.

The thing is, I am by nature a problem solver. I do that by trying to understand as much of the problem as possible, to see how to fix it, and what could go wrong with that.

At this point, I’m still dealing with understanding the scope of the problem, which is, frankly, still developing (e.g. the GOP House voting to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics). I can’t see a single Big Fix. Every single thing will have to be fought retail, and as it comes.

And the part of me that predicts what might go wrong is working overtime. All the outcomes I see are fucking awful AT BEST, and last for decades. The ONLY WAY this works is changing enough minds, and I can’t even get my gay Republican friend, who hates Trump, to see that the Republican party he thinks he belongs to never really existed, and the one that he ACTUALLY belongs to would be just as happy to see him fucking die and burn in hell (which his own brother told him is what will happen to him).

411
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:44:30pm

re: #409 teleskiguy

That goes back to that argument I made a few weeks ago that got me involved in a long-running argument.

Half the populace may only live in about 150 counties, but all states have electoral votes, and the other half do not live in those counties.

Unless the game can be changed (the Electoral College), the rules are you have to run to win the majority of the electoral votes, including those in my state (5), Wyoming and North Dakota (3), &c.

Those electoral votes add up quickly. Ceding those electoral votes to win a handful of counties is not a winning strategy. (We need a fifty-state party, not a 144 county party.)

It was argued whether Democrats should pander to bigots. (We’re not all bigots out here, by the way.) Well, bigots get to vote, too. As for pandering to bigotry, no. We don’t need to do that. We have a good message that would benefit all the people, we just need people to run in more than 144 counties.

412
Resistance Is Not Futile  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:48:04pm

re: #410 Blind Frog Belly White

I hope so.

The thing is, I am by nature a problem solver. I do that by trying to understand as much of the problem as possible, to see how to fix it, and what could go wrong with that.

At this point, I’m still dealing with understanding the scope of the problem, which is, frankly, still developing (e.g. the GOP House voting to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics). I can’t see a single Big Fix. Every single thing will have to be fought retail, and as it comes.

And the part of me that predicts what might go wrong is working overtime. All the outcomes I see are fucking awful AT BEST, and last for decades. The ONLY WAY this works is changing enough minds, and I can’t even get my gay Republican friend, who hates Trump, to see that the Republican party he thinks he belongs to never really existed, and the one that he ACTUALLY belongs to would be just as happy to see him fucking die and burn in hell (which his own brother told him is what will happen to him).

Change 100,000 minds in three states. Or get the same number ID that will be acceptable under the new rules.

And on that note, I have to go to bed. Tomorrow will come whether we want it to or not.

413
teleskiguy  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:52:40pm
414
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:55:28pm

re: #410 Blind Frog Belly White

I hope so.

The thing is, I am by nature a problem solver. I do that by trying to understand as much of the problem as possible, to see how to fix it, and what could go wrong with that.

At this point, I’m still dealing with understanding the scope of the problem, which is, frankly, still developing (e.g. the GOP House voting to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics). I can’t see a single Big Fix. Every single thing will have to be fought retail, and as it comes.

And the part of me that predicts what might go wrong is working overtime. All the outcomes I see are fucking awful AT BEST, and last for decades. The ONLY WAY this works is changing enough minds, and I can’t even get my gay Republican friend, who hates Trump, to see that the Republican party he thinks he belongs to never really existed, and the one that he ACTUALLY belongs to would be just as happy to see him fucking die and burn in hell (which his own brother told him is what will happen to him).

Well, I can’t say I understand all the problem, nor can I foresee what might come up. That’s the thing though: Lots of things could happen, but once the opposition picks the path they choose to follow, then the responses quickly narrow to the ones that would be effective against that path.

That said, I’ve had the same argument with my wife, that the Republican Party she imagines never existed in the first place. (Her fist Presidential vote was to reëlect Ronald Reagan.)

I do like people who are interested in problem-solving. Those are the people we need running for office (hint). I much prefer problem-solvers to problem-makers.

As far as I can tell for my life since Richard Nixon was President is that the GOP is the party of problem-makers. The solution is to convince enough voters of that, and for that we need a better problem-solver than me.

415
Anymouse  Jan 2, 2017 • 11:57:53pm
416
Anymouse  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:12:12am

Mr. Jim Wright on Donald Trump, and who we are and what we stand for as liberals.

stonekettle.com

As usual, Mr. Wright hits another essay out of the park.

417
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:40:29am

Merry Go Bye Bye

We reached for an outside point of view
But its out of touch with me and you
I feel I’m walking into suicide
But you’ll be right there by my side
To beam my message into space as I die

Bring back the shame of a man that follows through
Get on your knees ‘cause I’ll be coming back to you
Bring back the pain of an inverse world for two
It keeps me coming back to you

418
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:47:43am

re: #406 Anymouse

About Mr. Trump winning with all his -isms and -phobias, I would argue that Mr. Trump’s appeal (and remember, he is the minority President-elect) is something like the German Battle of the Bulge.

It is the last dying gasp of that old Jim Crow order, and they have thrown everything they have into the final battle.

The line may bend, but it will not break.

.

That analogy assumes we have the Russians on our side.

I fear that a lot of the damage will take a long time to recover from.

Everybody must get Bastogned

419
Shiplord Kirel  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:53:21am

420
Honey Punch!  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:54:00am

re: #376 Anymouse

Well, we elected Ronald Reagan, and now Donald Trump, so I don’t see a President Kim Kardashian as too much of a stretch.

That could never happen; Kim Kardashian’s a woman.

421
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:01:55am
422
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:26:34am

Facebook Post

She needs to move to a ski town, dudes will be knocking her door down.

(I know it’s The Onion, so spare me the semantics)

423
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:28:35am
424
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:34:39am

re: #422 teleskiguy

She needs to move to a ski town, dudes will be knocking her door down.

(I know it’s The Onion, so spare me the semantics)

One reason I left Flagstaff was a lack of women like her…

425
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:40:34am

re: #424 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

One reason I left Flagstaff was a lack of women like her…

I hope that sometime in my lifetime “ski town” is not synonymous with hardcore dude culture, which it still is at this point. Though some rad gals are bucking that trend little by little.

Instagram

Today, I skied Benson and Hedges (pictured here) with @rob.lea and @acpictures and it was glorious. Afterward, Rob told me that when we skied this together two years ago, it was his first backcountry couloir. It’s been so much fun to see his stoke for backcountry skiing blossom, and it’s helped me keep the stoke high in what I do. In past relationships, I sometimes relied on men to show me the way and take me to the lines of my dreams. Now, after years of hard work, I’m proud to be at the point in my sport where I can lead others into the mountains and share some of what I’ve learned along the way. What I love most about ski mountaineering is there’s always more to learn. One of the things I’m most looking forward to this season is taking my avy 3 course!
#bigmtndreams

426
Anymouse  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:42:15am

re: #422 teleskiguy

I still get a kick that The Onion gave my village a shout-out.

theonion.com

427
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:53:16am

Methinks it was good I wasn’t on here last night during that argument…

428
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:56:41am

re: #427 Timothy Watson

Methinks it was good I wasn’t on here last night during that argument…

Most downdings in months for me!

Meh.

429
Anymouse  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:59:40am

re: #428 teleskiguy

Most downdings in months for me!

Meh.

While I prefer upfists to downdings, I figure that if my commentary is not worth reading, folk will skip past me. If I wander too far out of bounds, our esteemed host Mr. Johnson would kick me off his Website (this is his house, not mine).

430
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:01:15am

re: #429 Anymouse

While I prefer upfists to downdings, I figure that if my commentary is not worth reading, folk will skip past me. If I wander too far out of bounds, our esteemed host Mr. Johnson would kick me off his Website (this is his house, not mine).

It takes especially egregious conduct to get booted from here. As far as I’m concerned you don’t even know where the reservation boundary is. :)

431
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:01:47am

re: #429 Anymouse

While I prefer upfists to downdings, I figure that if my commentary is not worth reading, folk will skip past me. If I wander too far out of bounds, our esteemed host Mr. Johnson would kick me off his Website (this is his house, not mine).

I downding personal affronts, unfounded racist or bigoted comments or things that do not comprise civil discourse between educated and cultured people. there are plenty of sites out there for those who want to go down that road…

432
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:09:18am

Just a freak occurrence. Most likely has nothing to do with climate.

433
Shiplord Kirel  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:27:23am

Go to your room, Hunt.

Facebook Post

434
Anymouse  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:29:11am

My wife is calling me to bed. It’s bedtime and I don’t ignore my wife when she makes such demands. Night, y’all.

435
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:31:33am

re: #433 Shiplord Kirel

I left a constructive comment for Mr. Hunt.

436
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:39:27am

Sunday’s change “provides a legal foundation to combat potential terrorist activities brought by the further opening-up of Tibet,” the paper quoted Wang Chunhuan, a scholar of the Tibetan Academy of Social Science, who worked on the new law, as saying.

The measure brings land ports and trade zones within the scope of the previous law, and charges low-level government with the responsibility of tipping off police to help regulate the border, according to the article, published late on Monday.

“The need to combat separatism, infiltration, illegal migration and terrorism is growing more severe by the day,” as Tibet’s economy opens to the world, Ba Zhu, deputy head of the region’s border defense police, said in a Dec. 14 announcement, the official Tibet Legal Newspaper reported at the time.

Rights groups say China tramples on Tibet’s religious and cultural traditions, charges denied by Beijing, which says its troops peacefully liberated Tibet in 1950.

437
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:45:25am

Featuring Neil Young on guitar.

438
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 2:48:43am

Pearl Jam. The only “grunge” act to still exist after all those heady days in the 90s. Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2017. Well deserved.

439
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:05:10am

Instagram

Happy birthday mama. Miss your smile and your magic. Wish you were here 💗

I wish I could say the same. Gail Zappa has done irreparable damage to her family in death. Moon and Dweezil are not on speaking terms with Ahmet and Diva, except through lawyers.

440
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:07:03am
441
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:12:47am

re: #436 teleskiguy

The government also required Uyghurs in Xinjiang to submit to DNA tests to obtain passports, and is restricting their travel abroad, all supposedly to combat terrorism and extremism.

There is some evidence that Daesh is trying to radicalize Muslims in Xinjiang, though the extent of their success is unknown. Mostly, the Party is trying to quash both Uyghur and Tibetan national identities and separatist movements, while the Han majority tries to “harmonize” minority groups into Han society.

Study China’s policies toward its minority groups and dissenters, and you will see the methods that could be applied here.

442
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:14:22am
443
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:22:26am

re: #442 teleskiguy

For the record, I’ll be in Japan when Trump takes office. I’m hoping he manages not to start a war with China, because I kinda like my job there and I hope I’m not stopped at border control because of my US passport.

China is testing us, specifically Trump, to see how far we will let them go with their sabre-rattling. His phone convo with Taiwan’s president and subsequent jabs at China did not go over very well here. He’s opened up a powderkeg and just one stray flame could blow it all up.

Thanks, Donnie.

444
Lupin  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:24:19am

I admire (not) how our authorities are willingly giving the keys of our country to a known Russian puppet/mole.

Maybe we should make it a tad more official by arranging a simultaneous ceremony on Jan 21st, like this:

link

I’d suggest inviting Angela Lansbury, but not enough people would get it, I fear.

445
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:56:19am

I’ve read through the comment thread a few times now, because I - and I alone, it seems - am the cause of such discord.

And you know what? I’m not sorry. Not sorry for any of my comments or downdings.

We need to grow a spine, or y’all will be correct with your stupid fucking asinine assumptions of a Fourth Reich.

446
teleskiguy  Jan 3, 2017 • 4:01:50am

I downding folks who insult my intelligence. And that happened *a lot* in this thread, with Lizards that I consider friends.

447
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:15:37am

Well aren’t y’all just a bunch of little rays of sunshine this fine back to work morning?

448
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:22:36am

re: #447 The Vicious Babushka

Well aren’t y’all just a bunch of little rays of sunshine this fine back to work morning?

Something in the water, I think. I dropped my 2 cents, then went back to grading exams.

449
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:33:11am
450
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:37:49am

re: #445 teleskiguy

I’ve read through the comment thread a few times now, because I - and I alone, it seems - am the cause of such discord.

And you know what? I’m not sorry. Not sorry for any of my comments or downdings.

We need to grow a spine, or y’all will be correct with your stupid fucking asinine assumptions of a Fourth Reich.

Tune it out. That’s what I’m trying to do. The sky isn’t falling…it’s just a little dark.

Focus on the positive. Like the 80” of white stuff we’re getting this week. Next week it will be all over you.

451
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:44:46am
452
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:45:09am

re: #144 Backwoods_Sleuth

A US Customs computer outage has affected airport operations nationwide, officials say

Looks like a bit of Яusski Яetaliation to me…

453
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:49:58am

re: #445 teleskiguy

I’ve read through the comment thread a few times now, because I - and I alone, it seems - am the cause of such discord.

And you know what? I’m not sorry. Not sorry for any of my comments or downdings.

We need to grow a spine, or y’all will be correct with your stupid fucking asinine assumptions of a Fourth Reich.

I have, admittedly, not read the whole thread but…

Okay, we’re supposed to be mad/terrified as hell. And then what? Do we have a plan for after that?

And since the election, I’ve been biting my tongue as people have jumped on every crazy ass plan/conspiracy theory. I got to ask now, what did giving over $5,000,000 to Jill Stein accomplish? Do you think that money could have been better spent by giving it to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, or the ACLU, SPLC, etc.?

And in the meantime, as we supposed to be miserable as hell and stop living our lives?

And, yeah, this is coming from the guy who is usually sardonic as hell.

454
jeffreyw  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:50:46am

Imgur


Thread in bad need of moar kitteh!

455
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:51:35am

It is 2017. Soon Justin Trudeau will become the Leader of the Free World.

456
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 5:58:11am

re: #173 scottslemmons

Honestly, I’m expecting the first couple weeks of the new Congressional session to be filled with rapid and shocking rollbacks of nearly all our rights, all passed with almost sneering glee by Republicans and reported glowingly by the genuflecting media.

Yes, I’m a pessimist, but that’s because evil always wins and good always loses.

and they will brag about how much they can accomplish without an obstructionist tyrant in their way…

Even in my most optimistic mood, I am aware that things have to get a lot worse before they can even begin to get any better.

457
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:02:20am

re: #453 Timothy Watson

I have, admittedly, not read the whole thread but…

Okay, we’re supposed to be mad/terrified as hell. And then what? Do we have a plan for after that?

And since the election, I’ve been biting my tongue as people have jumped on every crazy ass plan/conspiracy theory. I got to ask now, what did giving over $5,000,000 to Jill Stein accomplish? Do you think that money could have been better spent by giving it to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, or the ACLU, SPLC, etc.?

And in the meantime, as we supposed to be miserable as hell and stop living our lives?

And, yeah, this is coming from the guy who is usually sardonic as hell.

My immediate concern is marking about 150 final exams and issuing final grades before next Monday. The day after, I leave for a 2-week tour of Japan with my son, which I might extend to 3 weeks if I don’t spend my budget by then. I will be thus be mostly separated from the news, which will probably do my state of mind a world of good. I’ve been in a funk since the election.

458
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:06:14am
459
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:07:18am

re: #458 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

Is this some kind of shocking news? Every Ford Crown Victoria was made in Canada and I think every Nissan Versa is made in Mexico.

460
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:07:50am

re: #456 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Even in my most optimistic mood, I am aware that things have to get a lot worse before they can even begin to get any better.

They were getting better for eight years. I’m not entirely sure why we threw that streak away.

461
sagehen  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:08:45am

re: #460 darthstar

They were getting better for eight years. I’m not entirely sure why we threw that streak away.

Because e-mails.

Duh.

462
Scottishdragon  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:10:25am

re: #460 darthstar

They were getting better for eight years. I’m not entirely sure why we threw that streak away.

Short answer: Black man in white house.

Longer answer: 35 years of the GOP assaulting civic/government institutions and the media left us vulnerable to a proto fascist populist movement.

463
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:12:57am

Greets and saluts from the gloomy and soggy NYC metro area. Conway’s begging for money to cover the transition team costs, and they’re finding it difficult to raise the funds? Too bad, so sad.

And then Conway goes out there and claims that Trump is going to require that any replacement Obamacare plan will cover all those who previously had coverage under Obamacare.

Trump has repeatedly stated that he’s the final word, and that one shouldn’t take his underlings at their word. There’s no reason not to trust Trump on this. He’s stated he’d gut Obamacare. His nominees for HHS and other cabinet picks would gut Obamacare and other safety net programs. The House GOP would repeal Obamacare without offering up a plan to be scored.

Failing that, they’d pass some nonsense in the dead of the night, just as they did in gutting the House ethics oversight office. The GOP cabal is in full metal extremist mode and there’s nothing stopping them. They made sure that voting wouldn’t matter (voter suppression), and they got rid of the roadblocks to controlling all the branches of government.

All the lies and the media still doesn’t want to call them lies. They’re too concerned that calling lies lies and objectivity would eliminate access.

Ultimately, that’s what they’re worried about. Access = ratings and scoops. Facts and objectivity have been relegated to an afterthought, and the media is more and more frequently being used as a mouthpiece for the GOP and Trump.

None of this bodes well for the nation.

464
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:16:18am

re: #204 Blind Frog Belly White

How about death by cataclysm at the end of 1000 papercuts?

Reminded of old joke:

Two explorers are captured by native tribesmen and dragged before the chief. They are told that they have violated sacred burial ground and must now suffer the consequences: death or chi-chi.

First fellow says “I don’t know what chi-chi is, but it can’t be worse than dying!” So he chooses chi-chi.

At which point, two big strapping tribesmen come out and sodomize him within an inch of his life and leave him a blubbering wreck in the dirt.

“No way I will suffer that,” says the second fellow. “I choose death!”

“Alright,” says the chief. “Death it is. Death by chi-chi”.

465
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:16:58am

re: #462 Scottishdragon

Short answer: Black man in white house.

Longer answer: 35 years of the GOP assaulting civic/government institutions and the media left us vulnerable to a proto fascist populist movement.

Proto facsist populist? The new founders…

466
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:23:21am

re: #315 William Lewis

Exactly. And like you, it needs to be at that lowest level to build from. Put people on village boards, city councils, school boards especially. If they are allowed to destroy education, nothing we do will matter.

that has already happened. starting in the 80’s when the Religious Right saw that it had been betrayed by Reagan and started insinuating its people into all levels of education, the military, public administration and politics.

467
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:23:56am
468
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:24:15am
469
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:24:36am

Wow we should admire The Hair Leader for attending an intelligence briefing once in a while when he’s in the mood.

470
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:27:08am

re: #454 jeffreyw

[Embedded content]

Thread in bad need of moar kitteh!

471
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:27:40am
472
darthstar  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:28:02am

Okay, need to get an early start today. Want to be on the right side of the fan before the shit hits it.

473
Joe Bacon  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:30:30am

re: #316 whitebeach

I can’t even say “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” Because Trump would never have been anything politically unless he was a “reality TV star.” Tell me more nice stories in the administration of President Kardashian.

I got a creepy feeling that the GOP has President Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the wings as a follow up…

474
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:40:19am

re: #473 Joe Bacon

I got a creepy feeling that the GOP has President Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the wings as a follow up…

When I’ve heard him in interviews, he sounds rational and it doesn’t feel like he’s self-centered like Trump. I went to look up his political stances, and he’s suggested running against Trump in 2020.

475
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:40:38am
476
jeffreyw  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:43:18am

re: #470 darthstar

[Embedded content]

“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a cat!”
Who is the old woman with you, Darth?

477
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:43:45am

From David Cole, National Legal Director of the ACLU, The Way to Stop Trump:

… There is no question that President Trump will be a disaster—if we let him. But the more important point is that—as the fate of American democracy in the years after 9/11 has taught us—we can and must stop him… [I]f we now and for the next four years insist that he honor our most fundamental constitutional values, including equality, human dignity, fair process, privacy, and the rule of law, and if we organize and advocate in defense of those principles, he can and will be contained. It won’t happen overnight. There will be many protracted struggles. The important thing to bear in mind is that if we fight, we can prevail.

If you think this is overly naive, consider the fate of George Bush’s “war on terror.” In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Bush acted as if he were entirely unconstrained. He had reason to think that he could get away with it. His popularity soared to its highest level. The Supreme Court had just voted to put him in office. He had a solid Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and the Democrats had only a razor-thin majority in the Senate (thanks to Senator James Jeffords’s decision in June 2001 to switch from Republican to Independent, and to caucus with the Democrats)…

For much of his first term, Bush did indeed get away with such tactics. But much to his dismay, Americans did not sit back and accept that the executive was above the law. As I describe in my recent book, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law, they protested, filed lawsuits, wrote human rights reports, lobbied foreign audiences and governments to bring pressure to bear on the United States, leaked classified documents, and broadly condemned the administration’s actions as violations of fundamental constitutional and human rights. Human Rights First organized retired generals and admirals; the Center for Constitutional Rights and Reprieve, aided by an army of pro-bono lawyers, brought the plight of Guantanamo detainees to the world’s attention; the Bill of Rights Defense Committee sparked a grassroots protest through local referenda on the Patriot Act; and the ACLU used the Freedom of Information Act to dislodge thousands of documents detailing the CIA’s torture program, which it and PEN American Center then disseminated in accessible form. The academy, the press, and the international community all joined in the condemnation.

As a result, the course of history changed. By the time Bush left office in 2009, he had released more than five hundred of the detainees from Guantanamo, emptied out the CIA’s secret prisons, halted the CIA interrogation program and extraordinary renditions, and placed the NSA’s surveillance program under judicial supervision. His claims of uncheckable executive power had been rejected, and the Geneva Conventions applied to all detainees…

So if Bush could be stopped, notwithstanding widespread popular support, a large-scale attack on US soil leading to a war footing, and a history of judicial and congressional acquiescence in similar prior periods, Trump is also stoppable. He doesn’t have anything like the popular support Bush had after 9/11. And the recent history of the repudiation of Bush’s abuses will make it harder to repeat them…

h/t Balloon Juice

478
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:53:04am

re: #477 Belafon

From David Cole, National Legal Director of the ACLU, The Way to Stop Trump:

h/t Balloon Juice

That’s a lot more optimistic than the impression you will get after reading the late Chief Justice Rehnquist’s book, “All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime”, which was published in 1998.

And not to mention, but the Supreme Court was deferential to the Bush administration in the Gitmo cases.

479
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:54:29am

re: #470 darthstar

That’s a picture of me right now!

480
Joe Bacon  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:54:38am

re: #477 Belafon

So has the ACLU finally come to their senses and reversed their support of Citizens United??????

481
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 6:55:42am

re: #474 Belafon

When I’ve heard him in interviews, he sounds rational and it doesn’t feel like he’s self-centered like Trump. I went to look up his political stances, and he’s suggested running against Trump in 2020.

The Rock has a sense of humor, which suggests intelligence. Trump has no sense of humor, by contrast.

482
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:01:20am

re: #474 Belafon

When I’ve heard him in interviews, he sounds rational and it doesn’t feel like he’s self-centered like Trump. I went to look up his political stances, and he’s suggested running against Trump in 2020.

Well speaking of The Rock, I watched the new Jack Reacher movie on the plane (pro-tip: Bring your own headset if you want to watch movies on an airplane. The earbuds they hand out are shit.) As with the previous movie, li’l shortstuff Tom Cruise totally sucked at playing a 6’5” 250-lb dude. The Rock would have been a much better choice.

483
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:02:02am

Trump’s busy saying how North Korea will never get nuclear weapons that can hit US territory. How exactly is he going to manage that? Wishful thinking isn’t a strategy, and it’s entirely possible North Korea has the missile tech to reach Guam, and miniaturization of a warhead is a function of time. Sanctions have slowed but not stopped North Korea. Their nuclear program continues, and will continue.

What’s particularly odd is that Trump sounds more like Kim Jong Un than Jong Un does with his unhinged, irrational, and petty attacks against anyone/everyone out there.

It also increases the chances that Trump launches a war on the Korean peninsula and a nuclear exchange occurs.

484
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:03:49am

re: #483 lawhawk

Trump is about to learn that none of the other countries in the world have to listen to him, and he can’t throw money or his name around to make them work with him. If he ever becomes self-aware, he’ll learn that the only countries that let him talk are the ones manipulating him.

485
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:07:12am
486
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:11:16am
487
wheat-dogg  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:12:14am

re: #484 Belafon

Trump is about to learn that none of the other countries in the world have to listen to him, and he can’t throw money or his name around to make them work with him. If he ever becomes self-aware, he’ll learn that the only countries that let him talk are the ones manipulating him.

China already considers him a buffoon. I suspect they’ve already sussed out ways to provoke him to achieve a desired result. He’s as predictable as the sunrise.

488
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:13:08am

re: #487 wheat-dogg

China already considers him a buffoon. I suspect they’ve already sussed out ways to provoke him to achieve a desired result. He’s as predictable as the sunrise.

Yep, and yet he thinks he’s being unpredictable.

489
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:17:06am
490
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:18:43am

AAAND here comes the media spin
PLEASE NOTE: President-Elect Von Clownstick has no problem with shutting down the Ethics Office, he just questioned why it had to be done first.

491
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:18:44am

re: #478 Timothy Watson

That’s a lot more optimistic than the impression you will get after reading the late Chief Justice Rehnquist’s book, “All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime”, which was published in 1998.

And not to mention, but the Supreme Court was deferential to the Bush administration in the Gitmo cases.

That’s also 1998 vs the end of the Bush terms. And David Cole isn’t saying we can just wait for a good outcome. We’ll have to fight for it.

492
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:23:00am

re: #490 The Vicious Babushka

But, we can use this: Even Trump says Congress shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight! Drive a wedge between everyone involved. There’s no reason we can’t use their actions against them.

493
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:25:46am

re: #489 Backwoods_Sleuth

494
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:30:32am

re: #490 The Vicious Babushka

AAAND here comes the media spin
PLEASE NOTE: President-Elect Von Clownstick has no problem with shutting down the Ethics Office, he just questioned why it had to be done first.

Pres.-elect Trump questions House Republicans’ move to rein in independent ethics watchdog. “So many other things of far greater importance”

like making lots of money and covering up any trace of where it came from or what was offered in exchange for it…

495
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:40:06am
496
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:49:37am

I’m renaming this the Trump Song and will lobby PRIMAS to re-release as such……

Primus - Tragedy’s A’ Comin (2011)

497
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:51:25am
498
(alpuz)  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:53:30am

re: #496 Dave In Austin

I saw those guys in a room of about 60 people in Madison, WI. They had just released “Suck on This” and were touring. I stood about 8 feet away from Claypool playing his base on a 2’ stage. That was my introduction to Primus. One of the best concerts ever.

499
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:54:35am

re: #490 The Vicious Babushka

It also sets up the false narrative that he’s above the GOP House leadership.

I mean, he’s going to eventually turn on Ryan, McConnell, et. al, as the ultimate shit show descends upon us all. But not now.

He owes them bigly, and they owe him bigly.

500
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:56:46am

“I don’t want your viewers to be left with the impression that there’s no mechanism to investigate what I would call consumer complaints, constituent complaints,” Conway said. “There’s a new office. And this new office will really cut down on the overzealousness.”

snip

“Many of these people — members and their staffers who have been under investigation — have complained about their due process rights being violated and being compromised,” she said. “They need protections as well.”

501
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:58:15am

re: #498 (alpuz)

Bizzaro Good!!

Primus - Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver

502
PhillyPretzel  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:59:07am

re: #500 Backwoods_Sleuth

We destroyed the village in order to save it.

503
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:59:24am

re: #500 Backwoods_Sleuth

Kellyanne needs to make this a part of her beg-a-thon WRT the above post. Tammy Faye would be jealous.

504
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:02:38am
505
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:06:02am
506
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:07:20am

re: #474 Belafon

When I’ve heard him in interviews, he sounds rational and it doesn’t feel like he’s self-centered like Trump. I went to look up his political stances, and he’s suggested running against Trump in 2020.

Last thing I want to think about is the likelihood of Vince Fucking McMahon acting as a literal kingmaker for the United States (remember that Trump is in the WWE Hall of Fame).

Yeah, Dwayne Johnson would make a better president… but Bob the Third Shift Janitor would also make a better president.

507
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:07:34am

They are making a hybrid Mustang and a hybrid F-150!

508
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:07:57am

Hybrid police interceptors!

509
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:08:36am

re: #505 The Vicious Babushka

Trump to take credit for this in 3…2…1…

510
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:08:45am

re: #504 The Vicious Babushka

WOW!!!! Congratulations

A hybrid F-150. Finally.

511
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:09:17am

re: #502 PhillyPretzel

We destroyed the village in order to save it.

“Vikings? There ain’t no vikings here. Just us honest farmers.
The town was burning, the villagers were dead. They didn’t need
those sheep anyway. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.”

512
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:09:17am
513
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:09:37am

re: #506 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Last thing I want to think about is the likelihood of Vince Fucking McMahon acting as a literal kingmaker for the United States (remember that Trump is in the WWE Hall of Fame).

Linda McMahon is a bigger benefactor to the Trump Foundation than Donny Trump. And that’s enough of a reason that she’s his SBA pick. Pay to play is all that matters to Trump.

514
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:10:09am

re: #509 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Trump to take credit for this in 3…2…1…

The tweet is already in the queue.

515
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:10:27am

re: #507 The Vicious Babushka

They are making a hybrid Mustang and a hybrid F-150!

*suspicious look*

I’m not sure why someone would want a hybrid Mustang unless they can put at least a V6 in there.

516
A wild WITHAK appeared!  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:10:31am

re: #505 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

This is very cool, but this’ll have that Trump stank all over it shortly…

517
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:11:19am
518
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:11:33am

Mark Fields is now thanking the UAW.

519
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:12:15am

re: #516 A wild WITHAK appeared!

This is very cool, but this’ll have that Trump stank all over it shortly…

and final proof that he is gonna make America great

no matter how clueless he might be in other areas, he obviously has a very refined media strategy in place and will continue to keep the major news networks dancing to his sousaphone of slime for the rest of his term in office…

520
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:12:18am

Will Trump claim credit for something that will reduce demand for oil?

521
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:12:31am

Oh FUCK….

522
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:12:38am

Now talking about new GOP policies to “spur innovation”
PUKE.

523
William Lewis  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:13:38am

re: #507 The Vicious Babushka

They are making a hybrid Mustang and a hybrid F-150!

I want a pure electric Mustang.

524
makeitstop  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:15:14am

re: #498 (alpuz)

I saw those guys in a room of about 60 people in Madison, WI. They had just released “Suck on This” and were touring. I stood about 8 feet away from Claypool playing his base on a 2’ stage. That was my introduction to Primus. One of the best concerts ever.

Primus Sucks! :)

525
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:15:15am
526
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:15:28am

This must be why the GM poke this morning.

527
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:16:23am

re: #525 The Vicious Babushka

That’s awesome. Preempt the king!

528
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:17:01am

re: #520 Belafon

Will Trump claim credit for something that will reduce demand for oil?

That’s actually a good question. This is the last thing a Rex Tillerson or a Rick Perry would want to hear.

529
I cannot.  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:18:11am

re: #506 Myron Falwell (no relation)

From listening to Jim Cornette talk on that subject…he says of ALL the people Trump’s picked for anything, she might be the least bad of the bunch.

Just let that sit there for a minute.

530
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:20:35am

re: #527 Belafon

That’s awesome. Preempt the king!

Who are you going to believe? Mr MAGA or a buncha guys who import cars from Mexico?

531
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:21:10am

re: #515 Timothy Watson

Low end torque, or highway cruising. Or city driving fuel economy.

It all depends on how they set up the hybrid. They could use it to boost horsepower without sacrificing fuel economy, or they could use it to boost fuel economy under certain circumstances.

532
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:22:29am
533
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:22:51am
534
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:23:08am

re: #530 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Who are you going to believe? Mr MAGA or a buncha guys who import cars from Mexico?

Set this rhetorical question on repeat for God knows how long.

535
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:27:12am

re: #534 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Set this rhetorical question on repeat for God knows how long.

“It may be possible to prove all that as a matter of logic. But logic has never cured a mental disease.” -John Foster Dulles

536
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:27:40am

re: #515 Timothy Watson

*suspicious look*

I’m not sure why someone would want a hybrid Mustang unless they can put at least a V6 in there.

The hottest hypercars in the world are hybrids.

537
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:28:07am

re: #534 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Set this rhetorical question on repeat for God knows how long.

This is the same logic you find when you point out that drug-testing welfare recipients finds almost nobody testing positive. Counter argument: they stayed straight because they knew they would be tested!

Same here: They did so to keep a step ahead of the irresisitible MAGAnitude of the New President.

538
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:29:27am
539
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:31:23am

re: #492 Belafon

But, we can use this: Even Trump says Congress shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight! Drive a wedge between everyone involved. There’s no reason we can’t use their actions against them.

Yeah, no.

What he said was they shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight FIRST.

540
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:34:34am

re: #539 Blind Frog Belly White

Yeah, no.

What he said was they shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight FIRST.

So? All you have to tell people who voted for Trump is that he opposes Congress weakening ethics oversight. “Drain the Swamp” was a big reason they voted for him; I can give you plenty of anecdotes proving it. You can use this to separate them from Congressional Republicans. Tell them that this oversight group was set up by Democrats. Then, when he backtracks, you go after Trump.

We’re parsing this way too much.

541
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:36:14am

re: #539 Blind Frog Belly White

Yeah, no.

What he said was they shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight FIRST.

Exactly. It’s creating a false narrative that he will be both independent and critical of the GOP, whether it’s intended or not.

542
makeitstop  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:38:31am

re: #541 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Exactly. It’s creating a false narrative that he will be both independent and critical of the GOP, whether it’s intended or not.

In a word, Kayfabe.

543
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:40:23am

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

544
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:41:25am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

If I could reply, I would post a link to the other source.

545
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:41:31am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

[Embedded content]

Too late. The headline is out there and the Confirmation Bias has already worked its wonders.

546
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:42:43am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

Fox “News” already writing the script, I see.

547
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:42:57am

re: #500 Backwoods_Sleuth

“I don’t want your viewers to be left with the impression that there’s no mechanism to investigate what I would call consumer complaints, constituent complaints,” Conway said. “There’s a new office. And this new office will really cut down on the overzealousness.”

So there will be a new “mechanism” to investigate ethic complaints and stuff like that but it won’t really investigate ethic complaints zealously.

/

548
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:44:39am
549
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:45:20am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

[Embedded content]

Welcome to the New Reality. Everything that happens is now about Trump.

550
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:45:56am

re: #542 makeitstop

In a word, Kayfabe.

This is a WWE Invasion storyline no one really wants to see.

551
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:46:05am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

[Embedded content]

We can expect announcements like this every couple of weeks or months; said company says it’s canceling plans to build a plant or ship jobs somewhere else, will expand in U.S. Media will report but not notice the supposed plans to ship jobs somewhere else were never real, the new jobs never get created, and the companies will routinely trot out the same claims every so often for the media to talk about all the jobs being saved.
//

552
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:46:39am

I guess the GOP Congress wants to set a new record for how unfavorable Congress is but they’ll still mostly get re-elected due to lazy turnout and Gerrymandering.

553
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:46:47am

re: #548 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Have any Democrats spoken to the press about this?

554
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:47:01am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

If someone higher up than me were smart, they would take the Ford statement and use it to show that even businesses are worried that Trump is going to turn the country into his own kingdom.

555
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:48:22am

re: #551 Sir John Barron

We can expect announcements like this every couple of weeks or months; said company says it’s canceling plans to build a plant or ship jobs somewhere else, will expand in U.S. Media will report but not notice the supposed plans to ship jobs somewhere else were never real, the new jobs never get created, and the companies will routinely trot out the same claims every so often for the media to talk about all the jobs being saved.
//

And when the economy still fails to grow or recover despite all the awesome MAGAing going on, then that is the fault of all that cumbersome government regulation that Obama left in place…

556
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:49:09am

re: #553 Sir John Barron

Have any Democrats spoken to the press about this?

Pelosi and a few others.
But it’s not really being reported much.

557
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:50:45am

re: #518 The Vicious Babushka

Mark Fields is now thanking the UAW.

Am I bad person for wishing ill on UAW workers who might have voted for Trump?

This is a serious question, I don’t know if I’m being an asshole or if it’s justified (or both).

q7skJEPZFxx4NXBYrd2trZeKfVCNPpYhehT/ciIH4sVQ5SKbQnXT87XGByf2n5jeltDlhu6jn3bYiHvNbtY3AxrcIWfBTh+7BYiYg5okYssSRV8jFLJ+J0wdDj3NM2WTV0t/2VnNjDRHjWI6ZkYUZ4LbaSp5yX3BHoHPpuW/MwG0NYbusnCZJE4OCWjpKrx7M7s3aq3idoo2kx9/878/qK6H2KlX5lBa6xQaExLKAmN25JmgN6EjjMrlovJWP/ICtiLXyYF76SoFGVm3LRQwfhoqXA9yT8/yZvZ4g9L23/5e0zlLCYFiTQaAr803cfCGMXKDwacPfbi/XORAqynoCEyhmfTlygowIhiKMAVrJbI=

558
I cannot.  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:50:50am

re: #550 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Iunno, if we get a good gimmick match out of this…maybe an Elimination Chamber but with Ambrose-levels of improvised weapons? I’d pay Vinnie-Mac a good piece of change to watch McConnell turtle so when Trump throws a fire extinguisher it goes over his head beans Paul Ryan…

…I don’t care about who wins in this case. I’m rooting for injuries.

559
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:51:26am

re: #492 Belafon

But, we can use this: Even Trump says Congress shouldn’t weaken ethics oversight! Drive a wedge between everyone involved. There’s no reason we can’t use their actions against them.

Morning!

Has the dust settled from the overnight?

Speaking of wedge driving…has this article been mentioned here? it’s a couple days old now, but an interesting read.

The Guardian - Is Obama using Russia to force a wedge between Trump and his party?

I’m only going to put up the meat of the article…more at link.

This kind of weaponized transparency has a certain appeal, as the reactions across the political spectrum to the DNC hacks have demonstrated. But there’s also a dangerous potential for escalation, as neither the US nor Russia has clearly defined cyberwar laws. This danger is exacerbated by the maddening fact that an unstable ignoramus is about to assume control of the US national security apparatus, and no one knows how he might use it.

Trump has consistently indicated a desire to improve US-Russian relations, with the encouragement of several advisers and planned cabinet appointees who have close ties to Moscow. This puts him at odds with the longstanding position of the Republican party, which includes hawks such as Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both of whom are now pressing for an investigation into Russia’s role in the election.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and House speaker, Paul Ryan, also support this, although CIA sources told the Washington Post that McConnell blocked any investigation prior to the election, a breathtakingly cynical move that explains why Obama is only now retaliating.

Having compromised national security in order to defeat Hillary Clinton, the Republican leadership may now see Trump as expendable. After all, he chose a standard rightwing Republican, the Indiana governor, Mike Pence, as his running mate, which means McConnell and Ryan can always arrange to have Trump impeached if he becomes too much trouble.

For Obama, Russia is thus a uniquely effective wedge issue, with the potential to divide the president-elect from his party. If Trump tries to remove the new sanctions, he could face blowback from Congress; if he doesn’t, his friendly relationship with Putin could be damaged.

560
Smith25's Liberal Thighs  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:52:00am

re: #556 Backwoods_Sleuth

Pelosi and a few others.
But it’s not really being reported much.

Another part of the new reality…

When Democrats speak about specifics, and the nuts and bolts of things, or especially if nuance is involved- no attention.

561
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:53:05am

re: #555 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

And when the economy still fails to grow or recover despite all the awesome MAGAing going on, then that is the fault of all that cumbersome government regulation that Obama left in place…

Yes, but now the unemployment rate and other government data Trump claimed was fake will now be accepted, so all of a sudden, we have 5% unemployment.

//

562
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:56:05am

re: #557 Timothy Watson

Am I bad person for wishing ill on UAW workers who might have voted for Trump?

This is a serious question, I don’t know if I’m being an asshole or if it’s justified (or both).

[Embedded content]

KBe8B/AeBctc+X+UkVLhmgczSumB3GYRbCx96f9uCW20uSxEYfA4azdRV8pXXZ+umc0/QZoNN//Uo2ghHmFEuJtGB8M5ZIEgEIwZZkDm75a+w3wP0CjPHnqlbwlYneHia75hHxVzgDMcLu3ZszS+73F4FEHQoMzHgqqU5IX9EBsowqjwbavepCMFUMhS4F8K7snqMg+L9hLwd3xvPEdX53b2cX07MZc2Y/UpneEeew2solR46KWYf2jHepk9fGixeTTWSvudGM7MWZcVJxKEz0GqUJjszsXq5m0AYvoVJLjppkPhagT6hQ4RYVRyK4Jj9vvvngR5mpowcIesiNGFHY7GzsoJcUTdCOEDTS5sqlhOcbl7b9KL/o45N6sOeGuzsT+4D061XGUYNZafYmJj9JwZD06TC8Fwiqb+ahekrznl/9pdnyHFGBpaWqIlOhZa2bNHwIaaMIGWu4HQ2A3kHzEbTNdkHmPGad5tEjU2bzdv/hXsS4P8K3n1z/Y5b2lla99EWmMJpwIvbDuNowWNJYY9UDpm4C3GwZCVg6u6nLYCqHqn5lq3uEJ11bW089oJs9r3qViYIJg=

563
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:56:38am

re: #507 The Vicious Babushka

They are making a hybrid Mustang and a hybrid F-150!

Trump, Putin, and the oil folks are not gunna be happy about this!

Why, it is just like coal and Westbygod Virginia…

564
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:56:39am

re: #560 Smith25’s Liberal Thighs

Another part of the new reality…

When Democrats speak about specifics, and the nuts and bolts of things, or especially if nuance is involved- no attention.

Once again, I think this goes back to going local. Democrats need to go to their local TV stations and newspapers and do interviews. That will get them seen, and they can go around the major news networks.

565
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:57:22am

Yup. Took credit. It was just in his tweet queue.

566
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:57:28am

re: #558 I cannot.

Iunno, if we get a good gimmick match out of this…maybe an Elimination Chamber but with Ambrose-levels of improvised weapons? I’d pay Vinnie-Mac a good piece of change to watch McConnell turtle so when Trump throws a fire extinguisher it goes over his head beans Paul Ryan…

…I don’t care about who wins in this case. I’m rooting for injuries.

Throw in a Montreal Screwjob and I’m sold.

567
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:58:48am

re: #565 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Yup. Took credit. It was just in his tweet queue.

What a boob.

568
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:59:21am

re: #565 lawhawk

Yup. Took credit. It was just in his tweet queue.

“You know that guy in your office, who always takes credit for other people’s work?”

569
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 8:59:38am

NO HE FUCKING DID NOT. GAH.

570
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:01:47am
571
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:02:05am

re: #515 Timothy Watson

*suspicious look*

I’m not sure why someone would want a hybrid Mustang unless they can put at least a V6 in there.

Tim…have you ever watched a Formula One or LeMans race?

Hybrid cars that are as fast as previous race cars. Though they still have gas engines, but those engines are tiny little turbos used to generate the power for the electric motors.

Because of the all-wheel electric drive in the LeMans cars, they have way more torque to the wheels than an all gas engine car. They will literally tear the tires from the rims.

The formula one cars are rear drive only, but massive torque in them too.

It is the future. And don’t forget the very quick Tesla sports cars.

572
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:03:27am

re: #570 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Yep.

573
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:04:31am

KAYFABE IN ACTION

574
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:07:14am

re: #571 ObserverArt

Tim…have you ever watched a Formula One or LeMans race?

Hybrid cars that are as fast as previous race cars. Though they still have gas engines, but those engines are tiny little turbos used to generate the power for the electric motors.

Because of the all-wheel electric drive in the LeMans cars, they have way more torque to the wheels than an all gas engine car. They will literally tear the tires from the rims.

The formula one cars are rear drive only, but massive torque in them too.

It is the future. And don’t forget the very quick Tesla sports cars.

The most powerful Tesla Model S sedan beats the Dodge Charger Hellcat 0-60, and in the quarter mile.

575
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:09:28am

re: #573 Myron Falwell (no relation)

“Hey, Democrats: Phone calls form constituents work!”

576
Unshaken Defiance  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:09:44am

re: #571 ObserverArt

Fuel cells will replace batteries. Might be later on, but there is your quick fill up of energy.

577
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:12:45am
578
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:13:55am

I’m a car racing nut, what can I say. Here are some images of the Porsche 919 Hybrid LeMans Racer. Look at how small the back end of the car is. The second image shows the tiny engine and how it is used to generate power to the batteries that feed the electric drive units on both axles.

Porsche 919 Hybrid LeMans Racer - Exterior
Porsche 919 Hybrid LeMans Racer - Power Unit
579
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:14:01am
580
makeitstop  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:14:17am

re: #575 Belafon

“Hey, Democrats: Phone calls form constituents work!”

I still need to be convinced that all this ‘reaction’ isn’t just coordinated theater.

It’s like WWE without the metal chairs as far as I’m concerned. They’re all on board with this, and have been from the jump. All these ‘reservations’ and ‘objections’ are just to give the media something to run with. 100% pure chaff.

ETA: As is this ‘pulling’ of the change. I got a crisp 20 dollar bill that says they’ll wait a week and just implement after everyone’s stopped paying attention.

Call me cynical.

581
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:16:28am

re: #580 makeitstop

I still need to be convinced that all this ‘reaction’ isn’t just coordinated theater.

It’s like WWE without the metal chairs as far as I’m concerned. They’re all on board with this, and have been from the jump. All these ‘reservations’ and ‘objections’ are jst to give the media something to run with. 100% pure chaff.

DT has one hell of a media strategy. Would be great if he had policy and diplomatic strategies that were half as well thought out.

582
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:17:55am

re: #580 makeitstop

I still need to be convinced that all this ‘reaction’ isn’t just coordinated theater.

It’s like WWE without the metal chairs as far as I’m concerned. They’re all on board with this, and have been from the jump. All these ‘reservations’ and ‘objections’ are jst to give the media something to run with. 100% pure chaff.

I am also worried that everyone is turning everything into conspiracy theories. Republicans are greedy bastards, and they will overstep their bounds if given the chance. The people who pushed the rule changes are those being investigated.

583
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:17:57am

re: #563 ObserverArt

Trump, Putin, and the oil folks are not gunna be happy about this!

Why, it is just like coal and Westbygod Virginia…

Excuse me while I fail to shed a tear for any of those people.

584
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:20:27am
585
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:22:00am

I’m trying to use LGF’s meme generator, is there any way you can add line breaks to your text?

586
BeachDem  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:23:54am

re: #543 The Vicious Babushka

NO THEY DID NOT. THE DECISION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH TRUMP.

[Embedded content]

Ah, Rupie’s talking point—so we can expect a similar spin from the WSJ and Fox within an hour.

587
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:24:55am

re: #582 Belafon

I am also worried that everyone is turning everything into conspiracy theories. Republicans are greedy bastards, and they will overstep their bounds if given the chance. The people who pushed the rule changes are those being investigated.

The GOP rank-and-file is incredibly dysfunctional and easily will overstep their bounds over and over again.

Trump, who thrives on publicity stunts and pitting people against each other, is in a rather advantageous position. He knows the media will credit him carte blanche if the GOP caves to voter objections.

588
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:25:26am
589
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:26:02am

re: #587 Myron Falwell (no relation)

The GOP rank-and-file is incredibly dysfunctional and easily will overstep their bounds over and over again.

Trump, who thrives on publicity stunts and pitting people against each other, is in a rather advantageous position. He knows the media will credit him carte blanche if the GOP caves to voter objections.

And he knows his supporters dislike “establishment” Washington politicians, be they democrats or Republicans.

590
Jenner7  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:26:39am

New thread please, it’s so slow. Can’t keep up.

591
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:26:43am

re: #588 The Vicious Babushka

Ford cancels Mexico plant and announces investment in Michigan. Its CEO says the move is unrelated to Trump’s tweets

too late, Trump has pissed on that stump and that territory is now his

592
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:27:58am
593
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:28:38am

re: #592 Backwoods_Sleuth

It’s so amazing how the GOP have totally screwed up their first day of the new Congress.

and in doing so, made Trump look better

that takes talent

594
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:28:41am

gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

595
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:29:03am

re: #589 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

And he knows his supporters dislike “establishment” Washington politicians, be they democrats or Republicans.

Yup. It’s all a goddam game. A game we can feasibly win, but still, a game.

596
BeachDem  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:29:13am

re: #565 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Yup. Took credit. It was just in his tweet queue.

And “quotes” (because he doesn’t know how to retweet) his own media guy as his source. It’s just one giant circle jerk.

597
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:29:18am

re: #584 Backwoods_Sleuth

Walter Jones says he’s been surprised by the number of calls his office has received about gutting OCE.

— Matt Fuller

“Sure, yeah, we held 25 Benghazi committees, complained about Obama’s and Hillary’s corruption, cheered on a guy who threatened to put Hillary in jail, but we didn’t think people really cared all that much about ethics.”

/

598
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:29:38am

re: #594 Backwoods_Sleuth

gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

That made me laugh out loud.

599
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:30:28am

re: #592 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

nah that was just a trial balloon. They won’t allow any serious ethical investigations of themselves anyway.

600
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:30:36am

So will Von Clownstick claim credit for bringing snowpack back to the Sierras or use this as “proof” that Climate Change is a “hoax”

601
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:31:59am

my shocked face…

602
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:32:08am

re: #600 The Vicious Babushka

So will Von Clownstick claim credit for bringing snowpack back to the Sierras or use this as “proof” that Climate Change is a “hoax”

There is no drought. There has never been a drought.

603
Jenner7  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:32:22am

All of this bullshit, just from this morning, is why people are all doom and gloom.

Regardless of facts, Trump will get credit for every little thing. And regardless of facts, he will get away with all his corruption.

And I’m calling it now, he will be re-elected.

604
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:32:40am

re: #602 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

There is no drought. There has never been a drought.

the drought got prayed away…

605
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:33:00am

re: #597 Sir John Barron

“Sure, yeah, we held 25 Benghazi committees, complained about Obama’s and Hillary’s corruption, cheered on a guy who threatened to put Hillary in jail, but we didn’t think people really cared all that much about ethics.”

/

“Sure, our whole campaign was about EMAILS! but these ethics investigations of us was just really tiring and overzealous.”

/

606
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:34:00am
607
unproven innocence  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:34:04am

re: #594 Backwoods_Sleuth

gaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

And God said “Let there be light.”
Then he said “I can see! I can see! … It’s a miracle.”
—yet another eyewitness account

608
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:35:01am

re: #601 Backwoods_Sleuth

my shocked face…

[Embedded content]

She’s still a hack but good.

609
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:35:43am

re: #576 Unshaken Defiance

Fuel cells will replace batteries. Might be later on, but there is your quick fill up of energy.

Yep. Ohio State’s Center for Auto Technology is working on that and have run a Bonneville Salt Flats racer and I believe set a land speed record for a hybrid car with a very unique fuel cell power generator system.

Where I used to work, we sold them racing parts and did graphics for the cars at one time. I loved those kids! They were racers at heart and future engineers.

It shows Ohio State is good at more than just football…and they can win at other things too!

Here is recent info and an image.

Ohio State and Venturi’s VBB-3 Smashes Electric Land Speed Record: 341 mph

Ohio State University, in cooperation with Monaco-based luxury carmaker Venturi, again established a new electric world land speed record in the VBB-3 prototype race car.

The sleek black and red rocket of a land speed racer with a drag coefficient of only .13, completed two runs on the 11-mile Bonneville Salt Flats course in Utah within a required hour, and posted an average speed of 341 miles per hour.

That speed beat the previous record of 307 mph set by the VBB-2.5 set in 2010.

The car also reached a top speed of 358 mph, breaking another record.

VBB-3 — its nickname for Venturi Buckeye Bullet — is the third land speed car to come from the university’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Columbus, Ohio.

“It shows that our partnership between students and a manufacturer can bring a lot in this new automotive industry in terms of research and development,” said Venturi owner Gildo Pallanca Pasto on the company’s website.

It took the student team of mechanical engineers, speed junkies, and gearheads 18 months to build the latest VBB.

Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research - Buckeye Bullet Land Speed Record Car
610
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:36:19am
611
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:36:19am
612
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:36:24am

re: #606 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

I’m sure the kid’s a nice kid but this is exactly the problem with how conservatives want to handle education in this country.

613
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:38:22am

re: #603 Jenner7
The amount of suckitude will depend on just how Trump plays the game.

I’m not ruling out a backstabbing against Ryan and McConnell, and may even be content with having the Democrats regain either the House or Senate. Whatever makes him look better in the public eye…

614
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:38:28am

re: #610 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Someone mashing up Hunger Games and Star Wars?

“That’s impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?”

“The Regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.”

615
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:39:19am

I’m not sure what’s going to happen. What I do hope is the Republicans get the same impatient electorate to turn on them the way they did Democrats in 2010.

616
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:39:20am

re: #600 The Vicious Babushka

So will Von Clownstick claim credit for bringing snowpack back to the Sierras or use this as “proof” that Climate Change is a “hoax”

[Embedded content]

Probably both…just depends on who he is bullshitting at the time.

617
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:40:07am

re: #601 Backwoods_Sleuth

my shocked face…

[Embedded content]

I knew it would be NBC. I felt it in my cynical bone!

618
Jenner7  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:40:41am

It doesn’t matter what Trump does.

Trump voters won’t care.

Those who couldn’t get off their ass to vote won’t care.

The only people that care don’t matter to this country.

619
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:41:28am

re: #601 Backwoods_Sleuth

my shocked face…

Does Fox replace her with Tucker or Tomi Lahren?

620
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:41:54am

re: #611 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

The rule will only be invoked at the pleasure of the Speaker, or some such nonsense.

621
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:43:06am

re: #619 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Does Fox replace her with Tucker or Tomi Lahren?

I’m sure Rupert will find someone at the blonde factory.

622
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:43:32am

re: #619 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Does Fox replace her with Tucker or Tomi Lahren?

Tomi, because she’s hotter than Tucker.

623
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:43:40am

re: #621 HappyWarrior

I’m sure Rupert will find someone at the blonde factory.

they are hatching one out of the axolotl tanks as we speak…

624
makeitstop  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:44:00am

re: #619 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Does Fox replace her with Tucker or Tomi Lahren?

Tomi. Tucker’s got ugly legs, and we’re talking about Fox here.

625
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:44:03am

re: #615 HappyWarrior

I’m not sure what’s going to happen. What I do hope is the Republicans get the same impatient electorate to turn on them the way they did Democrats in 2010.

Or the Republicans in 2006…

626
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:45:32am

re: #625 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Or the Republicans in 2006…

or the Dems in 94. Hell with the exception of 2002, most first midterms aren’t good for the President. That’s not to say I’m necessarily optimistic but we’ll see what happens.

627
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:50:44am

GAH!
*LIGHTS DESK ON FIRE, THROWS IT OUT THE WINDOW*

628
electrotek  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:51:13am

re: #578 ObserverArt

I’m a car racing nut, what can I say. Here are some images of the Porsche 919 Hybrid LeMans Racer. Look at how small the back end of the car is. The second image shows the tiny engine and how it is used to generate power to the batteries that feed the electric drive units on both axles.

[Embedded content]

And I thought I was the only one here that is into motorsports. Big up!

629
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:52:37am
630
I Would Prefer Not To  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:54:32am

Horrible, but it made me laugh

631
Skip Intro  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:55:49am

re: #588 The Vicious Babushka

Someone tell NBC.

632
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:56:08am

re: #626 HappyWarrior

or the Dems in 94. Hell with the exception of 2002, most first midterms aren’t good for the President. That’s not to say I’m necessarily optimistic but we’ll see what happens.

It almost feels like 2005 all over again WRT the GOP rank-and-file dreaming like they’ve never dreamt before (especially with privatizing Soc-Sec and Medicare) only to see it crumble before them almost immediately.

Not to say they fail to accomplish a damn thing, but if they are already shooting themselves in the proverbial foot with an unnecessary PR disaster ON DAY ONE

633
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:57:17am

re: #632 Myron Falwell (no relation)

It almost feels like 2005 all over again WRT the GOP rank-and-file dreaming like they’ve never dreamt before (especially with privatizing Soc-Sec and Medicare) only to see it crumble before them almost immediately.

Not to say they fail to accomplish a damn thing, but if they are already shooting themselves in the proverbial foot with an unnecessary PR disaster ON DAY ONE

but nonetheless, they succeeded in making Trump look better!

that is a rare talent

634
Unshaken Defiance  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:57:47am

re: #578 ObserverArt

I watched some of the Formula E races. Interesting to see, and hear.

635
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:58:00am

re: #632 Myron Falwell (no relation)

It almost feels like 2005 all over again WRT the GOP rank-and-file dreaming like they’ve never dreamt before (especially with privatizing Soc-Sec and Medicare) only to see it crumble before them almost immediately.

Not to say they fail to accomplish a damn thing, but if they are already shooting themselves in the proverbial foot with an unnecessary PR disaster ON DAY ONE

Yep. I know everyone understandably is pessimistic but I think there’s a realistic potential for backlash. I also don’t see Trump being re-elected. Four consecutive two term presidents sounds hard to believe for me. Not sure what’s going to happen. We do need leaders to emerge though over the next four years though. We’re going to need a standard bearer in 2020.

636
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:58:19am

sigh…

637
wrenchwench  Jan 3, 2017 • 9:58:24am

re: #627 The Vicious Babushka

GAH! *LIGHTS DESK ON FIRE, THROWS IT OUT THE WINDOW*

[Embedded content]

[Embedded content]

In the Master Spy, I read that as ‘GASLIGHTS DESK ON FIRE…’.

638
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:00:00am
639
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:01:23am

re: #636 Backwoods_Sleuth

sigh…

[Embedded content]

But but Clinton.

640
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:01:49am

re: #638 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Glad to see Pelosi leading. She takes a lot of crap but she’s a good leader.

641
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:03:08am

Morning Lizards.

Hope this back-to-work morning is going well for all of you. Today is going to be odd here. mr. klys is giving notice.

642
electrotek  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:03:19am

If any KLF fans are here.

643
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:03:28am

re: #640 HappyWarrior

Meanwhile, looks like Schumer’s off to a rocky start as Senate Minority Leader. I know him personally, but I think he’s not the right guy at the right time for fighting a rear-guard action against Trump and the feckless GOP.

644
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:05:12am

re: #641 klys (maker of Silmarils)

RHkgAs9Qi7b3VZnSigOR7e+RwLoIpzOV36JoKZRg6tBkDovhHG+MGPFKukqd6R/YKw+M2zgiTSmPajwMp26H0J0CxXKMIp+Tbd/4Hb9K1oDvg7AKOlsQHbCvdKl2CjCUuVQMkePQVu9rdEDMCBri2Z4drXBgIvzIYQ9wnDuFWcH9dbeRNkF2+2/uN166JHz29PNGMH1trddEJvAe5hYdY6o2qaTImeYPceEzqiaUERrzF2ixM5CaBboIotcLsFgI

645
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:06:13am

re: #643 lawhawk

Meanwhile, looks like Schumer’s off to a rocky start as Senate Minority Leader. I know him personally, but I think he’s not the right guy at the right time for fighting a rear-guard action against Trump and the feckless GOP.

Yeah. I don’t dislike Schumer but I’d rather someone else. Not sure who though.

646
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:06:41am

re: #644 Backwoods_Sleuth

/Wu04fe8W3JcA6Gq8dotMBfMU2vdOaqORiDfE+v24uxzcZ2bOUsCNEzg35o0g4GbUVSV8ltogLYC8Zh0Hyn9nivEOxKHmCnPrLpx3W6pE6okC9mzWCSRi4jAK27JKzgTMz9v6k7ggjktBTu+AdY/2cCorrn/wT+VZtu+OHcmpm//459QVshp7PgllgRTHmgeFDiUeAaYjxyP12E6bnQtiF8KVa2Lv6UCoyYkvQXLp6Vez/c6oNO4k9iRy7OaC/aKSyrnwseRAoU=

647
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:07:56am

re: #646 klys (maker of Silmarils)

[Embedded content]

N5z9a/BCRst1UDuVQTpeLzRrg8vuB5g86x5PccI8Bz3BXwHXz02BJw==

648
BeachDem  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:08:08am

re: #638 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

But the spin is in. Per CNN:

The decision comes less than two hours after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the timing of the vote, which was scheduled for the first day of the new congressional session.

Charles Pierce sees it for what it is:

There was a general uproar long before the president-elect wandered onto the electric Twitter machine on Tuesday morning. But that’s not going to be the story that gets told. We are rapidly approaching the weeping crucifix chapter of the tale.

esquire.com

Gah

649
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:09:16am

Wheeeee. (Otherwise known as dammit I hate running in the rain.)

650
Amory Blaine  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:10:17am

How can so many news outlets get the Ford story wrong? Either they are incompetent or propagandists. Or both.

651
BeachDem  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:10:49am

re: #646 klys (maker of Silmarils)

GBN6pM4AhMwV/MmhMd92cFIMMcvR2iPrZ7nCsaprfYbXhYUHcNClmGG3b7DtugF6yL8dnvsO1yUsvAMNOs70rsY5OjnyC4tapEKnHb7Ah29Cgz4Pndc6AcbywiArlWlWG9iazMe53GW6JRKLQqxTzU9C2+u9zvGCRvaPnCleE2lOEVukFJ4roR3o24++fRgtLNX2dRkQm8Xvxidx8NWr+oBVGq579RYQ3zAIIWk8uWMFoMkMkUbqfM8CEH5ntGTLNbetMQpw25SnVYjJu53yT8ECXxhg0HJDU1/hP2bldskOcQeKhPyGoA==

652
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:11:14am

re: #644 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

UbZ8hbgQ0NaPFT8a0QzncTTBIlAV2SZTOXqo0nEN0KegUnCp036ywelqVoanSIjGiKh0slT3sh9b98MFKPYofUDcv1bQgIlXdWP5MayFv6VXks6jp1abDVUZzAwyFjU6SSneOiXU/j0DYVn0aEFkji45YgngJUWqY3Z5ywS7dC2mGH4PI8HrRdBKaXZy8ZxiWUpXox2zPQynhGg75+S59sbG/MKApMy8K4XhOpYdkYFFjAQdEwwGBg==

653
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:11:27am

re: #650 Amory Blaine

How can so many news outlets get the Ford story wrong? Either they are incompetent or propagandists. Or both.

Incompetent and lazy.

654
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:11:52am

HE DOESN’T KNOW SHIT

655
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:12:04am

re: #650 Amory Blaine

How can so many news outlets get the Ford story wrong? Either they are incompetent or propagandists. Or both.

A bit of both: they just take a headline and re-package it without worrying about bakground or context

656
Amory Blaine  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:12:54am

Megyn Kelly moving to NBC? I’d cut the cord but it’s connected to an antenna. Sigh.

657
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:13:25am

re: #651 BeachDem

nEQ9zxQIj5tDmQBXK8z9Jr2XNL9VSremjJB5a3lRRp5ieyKKwSeBc2uYauoWft9PJ29IxEK+WNATN/ipR5vu1BPQh4oLzTiZ453r4ii8fhc/cMZZufN9s5NizJZ/UpSVP7FCocQZJjoRUlsWxbY3MKNGA/LEyKblICqRr/g55J8DEhip70SDWlIznHgzevJHjnofGGzwaq2t8SzrJKoO6BbSu4QuGcdAMj2Yqw47Qee5GWNF3ZZ3IJA7zrGnUD/dLHMXMo7tjjmW8qXgepz/rAjQAbNxm2GBp6/0WAwy7Y2xTJDv6EuD5iohIaTNYCOwdDvjyDjgejmfTUUTSP3vFKp8Uq5e4byIBNlUKMYPkQ3l5k+Zc/Y4qJmT+JlIIFK+BaFY55NL2TchQQYayE8kpyoNsCX4A5uPG5g7iR5c9AfWCk7iW7s5ezqrTWYSxIk1aHTliyOm7w8Y5LfW002LUmVfmBd0x6x9PXA83IebZ8Ukpe6jkIJBB7xVBMEVWRCAIUIMBUSEEtD/DQrpVCL1H0bzJIfXLYkAR7ZTkQQ5rN845uq4TMRJJwSbEie2HMjL78+qdBBO5HLy03gVJNfdTEKLCASp/y6KXqArvlGTdou4SgpV45CMp3gCUpyR/xJ+sLf2b8oFP8q9Q0bNrdvunQ0+KTBFghMI/gBYlMvWwNC51CdxHoj3IwIpTCnu+MqUFc/An0WxOu457ZIhn3FWuA==

658
wrenchwench  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:13:31am

re: #641 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Morning Lizards.

Hope this back-to-work morning is going well for all of you. Today is going to be odd here. mr. klys is giving notice.

The guy whose AirDyne I’m still working on looks just like Dick Van Dyke. I saw him when he dropped it off, but did not remember what (who) he looked like. He did not mind that his machine was in pieces all over my floor, and he really likes the mountain bike stems I found for him to use as bar ends on those [formerly] patented moving arm things. And I got some furniture polish to finish it off with, because I ran out of bike polish. So far, so good.

Luck to you in the world of the unemployed. Glad it was by choice, in so much as these things really can be.

659
BeachDem  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:16:56am

re: #657 klys (maker of Silmarils)

0SoHDtdPkVHaI/+RRvaae99hcoge3fM1rIA/JUAep4UeSoglGGgr/IkElnpPJn89HsOt0rYe80pQX3O4Wg9ADYOacdTa44Kxmghl66rswFWgAAYa+skDZRgLTekpKsAmmAzZu97oLsk=

660
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:16:56am

re: #654 The Vicious Babushka

HE DOESN’T KNOW SHIT

[Embedded content]

it’s gonna be a long four years, especially with media tweets like that.

661
I cannot.  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:18:15am

YAY! I got blocked by a WikiLeakslicker. CIRCULAR REASONING IS UNREASONABLE YOU MORON!

meh, I did a thing. Now back to doing important stuff like reading the Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide, because we may be living Fallout: The LARP for the rest of our lives…

662
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:18:20am

re: #658 wrenchwench

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

663
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:18:30am

re: #636 Backwoods_Sleuth

sigh…

[Embedded content]

if they weren’t dangerous people before, I’d kind of guess they would be now.

664
Feline Fearless Leader  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:18:34am

re: #388 whitebeach

I must have missed it yesterday. My only question is, if sheep are so all-seeing and astute and impossible to sneak up on, why did we ever need shepherds and sheep dogs?

Because lambs are yummy and taste good with mint sauce.

665
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:19:37am

re: #630 I Would Prefer Not To

Horrible, but it made me laugh

[Embedded content]

coulda happened to anybody.

666
Sir John Barron  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:20:32am

re: #627 The Vicious Babushka

GAH!
*LIGHTS DESK ON FIRE, THROWS IT OUT THE WINDOW*

[Embedded content]

and what “economic policies” would those be?

667
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:20:33am

re: #659 BeachDem

peDoU0po0oludT3GVFMetSyyQGJN7PIzg8tjjaz3OHTLD07wrUHfpgicrVDjYiVs7+9xWSeTScBJdliVWXmh2bOwj6aZn/IGe1XEyL4TpHKnPlKviQ6UGX7Jo++elUi79VtitE9LSDICozlFZvu8sZJotJesht6LPHmKYTwn9CNtT96UUNn1vYEWMpO4gUwUqq5vjx3yS/EgAF5KyydherVgKCMidBkR7XWeuth87JSbvy2mT88xp02sN1YNmrHg9MNcf1qM0uG98bs0jfU2zn0eotUDWExucaR3140GxNdSorsVHffrQeGq2HTHxdEbkOcuCPm67+MWg+RcBtaDRktsU1tb0C5578ATg14ndDUgIsQc+viPhA==

668
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:22:05am

re: #381 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Epic thread continues from yesterday.

[Embedded content]

Am I a total nerd if I read his name (“Shepherd Commander”) in the voice of Legion from Mass Effect?

669
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:22:07am

re: #666 Sir John Barron

and what “economic policies” would those be?

Threatening to punish companies that export jobs.

670
CuriousLurker  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:22:10am

Can’t stay, just wanted to drop this off. These idiots will be leading the free world soon.

671
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:23:00am

re: #668 Timothy Watson

Am I a total nerd if I read his name (“Shepherd Commander”) in the voice of Legion from Mass Effect?

Given some other things I’ve seen her say (I believe they’re a her, anyway), that may be intentional.

672
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:23:06am

re: #644 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

OlunOYh9MXoQWbNFE2wXsJGBGJocAo+piDAg5qvY+T+Pr6DROPmo3iecQ5UUsmFYIqVtgBqI6mO9ApngTZnWXbOdKLyiPG8KzLJKYhNDrbV3B2R402LSPTYiDWQAPEri

673
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:23:26am

re: #628 electrotek

And I thought I was the only one here that is into motorsports. Big up!

I worked with an IndyCar team back in the 90s and a Daytona Prototype team in the 2000s and have gone to sportscar type races since I was 10. I had a decent career in motorsports and auto related businesses for over 20 years. Still do some work with a client that sells suspension parts and custom shock absorbers, etc.

Full on car junkie.

674
Dave In Austin  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:25:20am

re: #601 Backwoods_Sleuth

my shocked face…

[Embedded content]

Probably to replace Rachel on MSNBC. Seems to be the direction.

675
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:26:28am

re: #670 CuriousLurker

Can’t stay, just wanted to drop this off. These idiots will be leading the free world soon.

[Embedded content]

So clever. //

676
makeitstop  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:26:30am

re: #642 electrotek

[Embedded content]

If any KLF fans are here.

Wow, haven’t heard that name in a long time. I rather liked them.

677
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:27:43am

re: #655 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

A bit of both: they just take a headline and re-package it without worrying about bakground or context

News release recycling. It’s all they do, Then they put it in front of a talking head and away we go!

678
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:29:35am

re: #677 ObserverArt

News release recycling. It’s all they do, Then they put it in front of a talking head and away we go!

Reminds me of my two local papers who take new releases from local police/sheriff’s office and essentially reprint them with no original reporting or attempt to verify or question the release.

679
Eclectic Cyborg  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:31:49am

re: #678 Timothy Watson

This is what happens when newsroom staff is too overworked and underpaid to give a shit.

680
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:32:55am

re: #679 Eclectic Cyborg

This is what happens when newsroom staff is too overworked and underpaid to give a shit.

In my case, I think it’s more so that they are so in bed with the powers that be they can’t be bothered to question anything.

681
ObserverArt  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:33:55am

re: #678 Timothy Watson

Reminds me of my two local papers who take new releases from local police/sheriff’s office and essentially reprint them with no original reporting or attempt to verify or question the release.

Learned that trick helping a race team PR staff. The head PR woman would write up a race report news release and put a stack of them in the media room at a race. Magazine and newspaper writers would pick them up and take them to work with. Within a few days I could read the exact wording in newspaper stories and a little later in the sports and racing magazines.

Cut and paste. even easier now with PDF documents. They don’t even need to type!

682
nines09  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:36:34am

re: #601 Backwoods_Sleuth

Spread the poison around….

683
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:37:40am

re: #681 ObserverArt

Learned that trick helping a race team PR staff. The head PR woman would write up a race report news release and put a stack of them in the media room at a race. Magazine and newspaper writers would pick them up and take them to work with. Within a few days I could read the exact wording in newspaper stories and a little later in the sports and racing magazines.

Cut and paste. even easier now with PDF documents. They don’t even need to type!

German news radio is like that…you can switch from station to station and hear the exact same sentences being read over and over word for word.

684
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:39:15am

re: #681 ObserverArt

Learned that trick helping a race team PR staff. The head PR woman would write up a race report news release and put a stack of them in the media room at a race. Magazine and newspaper writers would pick them up and take them to work with. Within a few days I could read the exact wording in newspaper stories and a little later in the sports and racing magazines.

Cut and paste. even easier now with PDF documents. They don’t even need to type!

One of the sheriff’s office would just send them out in Word Documents.

685
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:40:27am

re: #683 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

German news radio is like that…you can switch from station to station and hear the exact same sentences being read over and over word for word.

No different here. It’s why Trump’s spewing stuff off PRNewswire about jobs created or saved, when he has nothing to do with any of it. He reads the presser, and decides that he’s going to take credit for whatever happened, even though he’s not involved.

We’ll see a lot more of this going forward.

686
electrotek  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:43:56am

Hanz Zimmer at Coachella this year, damn!

687
Feline Fearless Leader  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:46:01am

A belated Happy New Year to the Lizards.

2017 decided to start off by kicking me in teeth.

Severe back pain started about 1am. I took a painkiller about 3am, and a second one at 7am - which took the edge off it. My take given the pain location was that it was a kidney stone, and I could possibly ride it out. The pain eased off for a few hours in the mid-afternoon, but came back full-bore in a slightly different location a few hours later. So about 10pm I took a taxi to the ER and ended up there until about 5am.

CAT scan, IV, Zoloft and a bit or morphine eventually to take the edge off. And it appears that a 13mm long stone was working its way down from my kidney to my bladder.

So now I get to zonk myself on pain killers for a few days until I get this thing passed. And see a urologist as well about further testing and treatment.

688
electrotek  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:47:46am

re: #686 electrotek

12K RT’s in 32 minutes, good God

689
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:50:09am

Dumbass in my mentions, gets shown the door, told to fuck self on the way out.

690
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:51:45am

oh FFS

691
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:55:23am
692
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:56:00am

THIS THREAD

693
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 10:58:57am
694
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:00:38am
695
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:02:58am

re: #690 Backwoods_Sleuth

“Trump is already delivering the jobs he promised America”

We have entered the Alternate Media Reality, the first stage of the Great American Idiocracy.

They so totally would not have done this if Hillary had won, heck, they would exporting more jobs to flee oppressive taxation and regulation.

696
Jenner7  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:03:56am

I’ll be back when there is a new theread. Too slow for me.

697
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:04:38am

It was my congresscritter…he votes “no” on just about everything:

698
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:06:16am

meanwhile in Kentucky:

699
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:07:29am

re: #668 Timothy Watson

Am I a total nerd if I read his name (“Shepherd Commander”) in the voice of Legion from Mass Effect?

I started replaying ME3 yesterday, so you’re not alone.

700
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:09:04am

re: #698 Backwoods_Sleuth

meanwhile in Kentucky:

[Embedded content]

701
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:09:45am
702
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:11:02am

re: #697 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

If Americans really voted for change, Tom, you’d be out of a job along with your buddy Rand.

703
HappyWarrior  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:12:13am

re: #698 Backwoods_Sleuth

meanwhile in Kentucky:

[Embedded content]

Yeah that’s what you do when you “bring” coal mining back, you weaken the unions, of course.

704
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:12:18am

*LIGHTS ANOTHER DESK ON FIRE*

705
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:13:24am

re: #701 The Vicious Babushka

I can see why: The ethics committee approved all of the attendance.

706
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:13:51am

*GIVE ME ANOTHER DESK*

707
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:14:45am

re: #704 The Vicious Babushka

“Trump is already delivering the jobs he promised America”

It was a condition for him not throwing her in prison.

708
Grunthos the Flatulent  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:14:53am

re: #654 The Vicious Babushka

HE DOESN’T KNOW SHIT

[Embedded content]

IF DONALD TRUMP DOESNT KNOW SHIT WHY IS HE SO GOOD AT MAKING IT UP, MISS SMARTY-PANTS

709
Skip Intro  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:15:22am

re: #704 The Vicious Babushka

GWB is going too.

710
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:16:09am

re: #709 Skip Intro

GWB is going too.

see #707

711
Skip Intro  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:17:39am

re: #710 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Will they all be wearing MAGA hats?

712
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:18:19am

re: #711 Skip Intro

Will they all be wearing MAGA hats?

That was a further condition to escape prosecution.

713
Belafon  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:19:02am

re: #706 The Vicious Babushka

*GIVE ME ANOTHER DESK*

So at least one more go before Obama leaves office. I wonder if all those people who called about ethics will call about this.

714
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:19:08am

re: #712 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

That was a further condition to escape prosecution.

Trump is the bestest negotiator.

////

715
Skip Intro  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:21:14am

re: #714 Timothy Watson

So it appears that the Five Families had a meeting and Trump agreed to split the spoils with them. All’s good now.

716
wrenchwench  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:24:07am

re: #701 The Vicious Babushka

[Key government source says this embarrassing story is key reason why Congress wanted to kill ethics office]

The story was in the Albuquerque Journal in May of 2015. An NM Dem. was on the trip (and other Dems. and Reps.) I’m doubting this story is the reason for trying to kill the ethics office, but one ‘leg’ of the trip taken by some was to Turkey, paid for by a Gulenist non-profit. Is that embarrassing?

717
lawhawk  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:26:53am
718
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:30:28am

Dick Black is not one to be outdone by Bob Marshall when it comes to getting media attention

719
jaunte  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:31:21am

re: #706 The Vicious Babushka

*GIVE ME ANOTHER DESK*

[Embedded content]

Looks like they’re dropping the fig leaf of “replace” and just going for eliminating health insurance for anyone with a pre-existing condition.

720
The Vicious Babushka  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:31:40am
721
Backwoods_Sleuth  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:32:51am

excuse me while I vomit…

722
Timothy Watson  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:33:48am

re: #721 Backwoods_Sleuth

When the votes are counted & the people have spoken, all of us accept the verdict.

Unless a Democrat wins.

723
weave  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:34:09am

re: #490 The Vicious Babushka

AAAND here comes the media spin
PLEASE NOTE: President-Elect Von Clownstick has no problem with shutting down the Ethics Office, he just questioned why it had to be done first.

[Embedded content]

It’s still something and what I was hoping he would be like. If there’s enough public outcry on something, Trump will shit over Republican Congress to make himself look like the hero.

We need to use this.

724
jaunte  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:34:52am

re: #721 Backwoods_Sleuth

“When the votes are counted & the people have spoken, all of us accept the verdict. And today, as one body, we pledge to redistrict and restrict voting rights until no one who disagrees with us has any influence at all.”

725
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:42:24am

re: #721 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

excuse me while I vomit…

At least the replies are pointing out that he’s lying or insane. One says “Good luck” then follows with “Just kidding, fuck you.”

726
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:47:30am

re: #649 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Wheeeee. (Otherwise known as dammit I hate running in the rain.)

[Embedded content]

Beats the hell out of cycling in the rain!

727
wrenchwench  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:51:55am

re: #726 Blind Frog Belly White

Beats the hell out of cycling in the rain!

As we used to say in Portland, OR: ‘If you don’t ride in the rain, you don’t ride.’

728
Blind Frog Belly White  Jan 3, 2017 • 11:58:45am

re: #727 wrenchwench

As we used to say in Portland, OR: ‘If you don’t ride in the rain, you don’t ride.’

Which is why I don’t live in Portland!

729
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Jan 3, 2017 • 12:39:38pm

re: #728 Blind Frog Belly White

Which is why I don’t live in Portland!

I have a friend in Portland. He’s surrounded by monstrous, Trump-supporting, horribly-racist, sore-winners at work, and trying desperately to get transferred back to Illinois where the quality of co-worker is much better.

730
TBPlayer  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:33:15pm

Crikey, it’s not like he doesn’t have a decades-long history of stiffing people he owes money to, including law firms who helped him stiff people he owed money to.

And didn’t some of his top campaign staff quit because they weren’t getting paid?

Anyone who does ANY kind of business with him without getting paid, in full, up front, is a sucker.

731
Barefoot Grin  Jan 3, 2017 • 1:37:06pm

re: #712 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

That was a further condition to escape prosecution.

No, no. This is to get close enough to shoot the poison dart.

732
Eventual Carrion  Jan 3, 2017 • 3:27:28pm

re: #584 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Steve King fucks poodles and other small woodland creatures.

733
Eric The Fruit Bat  Jan 3, 2017 • 7:54:33pm

re: #322 Anymouse

v04sxmM1XhYynuw9DNyGHMLwZleyAddT4FJTtUwsTWERDEVqzH79AXcRDpsJsuwBUOU+/LSghHo2N8P1vHLU2WdFhPognM60MeXS3N7dXf0FKtSI1aJof2VPBK4ZYp4i7TnWEu7Op8/UNBDC/nuDlpgPAGIf+aWNbVrFfIAWmPoVhRLPwJRlCQ==


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