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1
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 9:42:45pm

From the previous thread:

Blown Smart car drag races a Ford Mustang (3:03)

WHEELSTANDING “BLOWN” SMART CAR OUTRUNS MUSTANGS!!

2
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 9:48:12pm

Since you mentioned them… sitting at a light next to a used car dealer - yanno one of those “lousy credit? no problem!” dealers, I saw one Mustang after another. Just made me go “hmmm”.

3
wheat-dogg  Mar 18, 2017 • 9:55:23pm

re: #1 Anymouse

Smart wins on the power-to-weight ratio, for sure.

4
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 9:56:01pm

re: #3 wheat-dogg

Smart wins on the power-to-weight ratio, for sure.

I would imagine the biggest obstacle is keeping it on the ground.

5
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 9:56:28pm

re: #2 allegro

Since you mentioned them… sitting at a light next to a used car dealer - yanno one of those “lousy credit? no problem!” dealers, I saw one Mustang after another. Just made me go “hmmm”.

I’m inspired now to soup up my car. I always wanted to do wheelies on the Interstate. /s

I also sent that clip to my village attorney/county prosecutor (the only other person in the Panhandle of Nebraska that owns a Smart.)

6
Belafon  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:00:27pm

re: #1 Anymouse

From the previous thread:

Blown Smart car drag races a Ford Mustang (3:03)

[Embedded content]

Video

When I was a kid, I used to race people over the length of my five house block. I would run and they would be on bikes. I never lost, because I could out accelerate them in the early part of the block.

7
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:04:25pm

I’ll keep my new Hyundai Sonata…

It’s purty. And fun to drive and has fun 21st century toys. :D

8
wheat-dogg  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:09:37pm

re: #5 Anymouse

I’m inspired now to soup up my car. I always wanted to do wheelies on the Interstate. /s

I also sent that clip to my village attorney/county prosecutor (the only other person in the Panhandle of Nebraska that owns a Smart.)

It looks like the owner took out the stock engine and replaced it with a powerplant from a different car. The commentary is hard to understand over the racing noise in the background.

Even with a modified stock engine, the PtoW ratio would allow some pretty quick 0-60 times.

9
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:10:35pm

re: #7 allegro

Is that particular car yours?

We were hiding in Canada last summer with ours during the Republican Convention.

Us hiding in northern Canada during the Republican convention.
10
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:14:28pm

re: #9 Anymouse

Is that particular car yours?

We were hiding in Canada last summer with ours during the Republican Convention.

[Embedded content]

That is a google pic of the model and color of my car.

11
austin_blue  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:17:33pm

Had a friend in high school who challenged all comers to a one block race against his VW super beetle. This was 1974 and there were gear heads galore in my high school. He never lost a race. That thing lugged like a show pony for three hundred feet.

I had a ‘73 Torino with a a 428 dropped into it and a Hurst mystery shifter and a two-speed rear end and that little fucker beat me every time over a block. Then again, I tended to use up tires pretty quickly.

12
teleskiguy  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:18:49pm

My favorite touring band is in L.A. tonight.

13
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:20:57pm

People don’t take their internet journalism seriously enough.

Now on The Daily Beast front page:

14
The Dude Abides  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:21:38pm

re: #12 teleskiguy

My favorite touring band is in L.A. tonight.

[Embedded content]

Who’s that guy sitting next to the toilet?

15
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:23:21pm

re: #14 The Dude Abides

Who’s that guy?

Jeff Bridges, son of Lloyd, brother of Beau.

16
teleskiguy  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:24:54pm

re: #14 The Dude Abides

Who’s that guy sitting next to the toilet?

You’re in on the joke.

17
The Dude Abides  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:25:12pm

re: #15 allegro

Jeff Bridges, son of Loyd, brother of Beau.

Yeah, well you know….that’s just like…your opinion, man.

18
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:26:20pm

My wife wants me to make my famous Hamburger Helper for dinner tonight …BRB

19
allegro  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:26:31pm

re: #17 The Dude Abides

Yeah, well you know….that’s just like…your opinion, man.

I’ll go to the corner now.

20
austin_blue  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:33:56pm

Surprise guest performer at SXSW tonight at Auditorium Shores: Garth Brooks.

We left the back door open and listened.

He did Billy Joel’s Piano Man. Pretty decent cover. Until he got tangled up in the third verse.

21
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:37:06pm

Gov. Mike Huckabee channelling his inner Andrew Jackson:

22
Targetpractice  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:39:16pm

re: #21 Anymouse

Gov. Mike Huckabee channelling his inner Andrew Jackson:

[Embedded content]

Yeah, just go full dictator. Why bother with the impression that we’re a democracy?

23
teleskiguy  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:43:07pm

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

24
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:44:49pm

re: #23 teleskiguy

AjOJovo+7bjhYmuiPjJk8UuAZN09Czja

25
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:45:35pm

re: #23 teleskiguy

LGHNWKPNCMwacuAngD46AJQUdIfMVSZzjcwNH+Qj1aHUFiqXFdX4zZsfMarr3c+y

26
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:46:07pm

re: #22 Targetpractice

Yeah, just go full dictator. Why bother with the impression that we’re a democracy?

Big fan of genocide, Mike Huckabee is. Must be part of his religious beliefs. (Great Flood, Armageddon, &c)

27
Targetpractice  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:49:43pm

So Sessions lies about his meetings with the Russia emissary, then Pruitt gets caught lying about email. Both are simply allowed to “clarify their testimony” and get right with Congress.

This after we just got done with a long dog-and-pony show about how a presidential candidate needed to be charged with perjury for allegedly lying to…wait for it…Congress!

Puts all that bullshit about “two systems of law” in perspective, doesn’t it?

28
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:51:58pm

re: #27 Targetpractice

So Sessions lies about his meetings with the Russia emissary, then Pruitt gets caught lying about email. Both are simply allowed to “clarify their testimony” and get right with Congress.

This after we just got done with a long dog-and-pony show about how a presidential candidate needed to be charged with perjury for allegedly lying to…wait for it…Congress!

Puts all that bullshit about “two systems of law” in perspective, doesn’t it?

Impeachment by adulterers over a President who apparently was behaving in adulterous behaviour (and we really don’t know as Hillary Clinton might only have cared about the public perception) - throw him under the bus.

A whole administration colluding with Russia and lying to Congress: Nothing to see here.

29
Kragar  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:52:20pm
30
Kragar  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:53:14pm
31
Targetpractice  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:54:02pm

re: #29 Kragar

[Embedded content]

“Imminent threat”? To who? Some poor fish in the Sea of Japan?

32
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:54:10pm

re: #29 Kragar

I’m all for drafting Rex Tillerson and let him take up a position on the DMZ. Give him a machine gun and let him go at it.

33
Dave In Austin  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:57:44pm

re: #29 Kragar

So how long does it take to take out 10K artillery pieces in hardened and semi-hardened positions?

How much damage to Seoul after a couple of hours or sustained bombardment?

34
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:58:33pm

re: #33 Dave In Austin

So how long does it take to take out 10K artillery pieces in hardened and semi-hardened positions?

How much damage to Seoul after a couple of hours or sustained bombardment?

Seoul would be destroyed.

35
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:58:42pm

re: #33 Dave In Austin

So how long does it take to take out 10K artillery pieces in hardened and semi-hardened positions?

How much damage to Seoul after a couple of hours or sustained bombardment?

I don’t want to find out.

36
Dave In Austin  Mar 18, 2017 • 10:59:36pm

And I pretty much believe Malcolm Nance is a straight shooter on these matters.

37
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:04:12pm

I’m afraid to find how crazy both leaders are. Then it depends on China…

38
teleskiguy  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:04:13pm

re: #25 retired cynic

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

39
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:06:47pm

re: #38 teleskiguy

Got it! Thanks! It’s a whole different world for us flatlanders. The bluff behind my house is about 100’ tall at the most, so I imagine, as I look at the bluffs across the river bottom, that I’m looking at a distant mountain range.

40
Kragar  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:07:52pm
41
austin_blue  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:08:48pm

re: #29 Kragar

[Embedded content]

“Imminent threat” is fightin’ words. The Norks have +/- 24 fission weapons. We don’t know how successful they have been in miniaturizing them. Can they place them on their missile platforms and get them to South Korea and Japan? We know they have missiles that can easily reach targets in SK and Japan.

The rockets they’ve got to reach SK and Japan are truck mounted. That truly sucks as a targeting scenario.

Everyone should be molto nervoso about this potential standoff. We’re OK, but the ROKS and the Japanese have got to be shitting soda straws out of their butts right now given the rhetoric out of T-Rex’s State Department.

42
Kragar  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:10:16pm

re: #33 Dave In Austin

Any fight with North Korea would mean the near total destruction of Seoul and the surrounding region.

The population of the Seoul capital region is 50+ million.

43
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:10:33pm

You know, we have been grumbling about the WWC economic anxiety thing, and how the MSM keeps interviewing people as though they represented multitudes. This blog post is from a woman who is different, but sometimes hits a nail on the head, and she did with this. Why don’t we hear about the 90% or so of black women who heard all the same rhetoric, have much more economic anxiety as a group than most, and who voted for Hillary? Sounds like we should have more black women running our country!

hecatedemeter.wordpress.com

44
teleskiguy  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:15:54pm

re: #39 retired cynic

Got it! Thanks! It’s a whole different world for us flatlanders. The bluff behind my house is about 100’ tall at the most, so I imagine, as I look at the bluffs across the river bottom, that I’m looking at a distant mountain range.

Us freeheel skiers are pretty hardcore. I know I am. And this dude (picture was snapped *years* ago).

45
retired cynic  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:17:37pm

re: #44 teleskiguy

Us freeheel skiers are pretty hardcore. I know I am. And this dude (picture was snapped *years* ago).

[Embedded content]

‘My’ bluff has a pitch like that, but something tells me that is taller than 100 feet!

On that note, I think I’ll head for bed, so that I can get up before noon tomorrow!

46
Varek Raith  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:17:51pm

re: #23 teleskiguy

U88Hmm4cNI0ssU+qT6trX2YvVXaoadSUzz97Xx1SfaM=

47
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:18:56pm

re: #45 retired cynic

‘My’ bluff has a pitch like that, but something tells me that is taller than 100 feet!

On that note, I think I’ll head for bed, so that I can get up before noon tomorrow!

What’s noon? /s

48
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:22:57pm

The liberal media at work:

49
Scout  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:23:20pm

I wish we didn’t dehumanize people by calling them names like Norks.

50
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:30:04pm

re: #49 Scout

I wish we didn’t dehumanize people by calling them names like Norks.

I suppose that’s something like USAians.

I’ll stick to “North Koreans.”

51
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:31:34pm

re: #48 Anymouse

The liberal media at work:

[Embedded content]

FFS.

52
Jebediah, RBG  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:32:22pm

re: #47 Anymouse

What’s noon? /s

It’s like midnight but opposite.

53
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:32:41pm

All the strobing gifs on Kurt Eichenwald’s Twitter feed are gone, and he says he turned over the information he collected from the posters to the FBI.

In the meantime,

54
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:33:11pm

re: #52 Jebediah, RBG

It’s like midnight but opposite.

6:30? /s

55
austin_blue  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:37:35pm

re: #49 Scout

I wish we didn’t dehumanize people by calling them names like Norks.

I wish there weren’t governments who didn’t starve their people to death and kill them in concentration camps to maintain power.

They have been Norks and ROKs for 65 fucking years for Dog’s sake. Grow a pair. This is a very dangerous regime, and they pose a clear and present danger to East Asia and some of our most loyal allies.

56
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:46:44pm

re: #55 austin_blue

I wish there weren’t governments who didn’t starve their people to death and kill them in concentration camps to maintain power.

They have been Norks and ROKs for 65 fucking years for Dog’s sake. Grow a pair. This is a very dangerous regime, and they pose a clear and present danger to East Asia and some of our most loyal allies.

I am not sure if Nork qualifies as a slur, but taking a people’s national identity and shortening it into a different term has long been used to demean them. (Think for example of what in the past we’ve called the Irish, the Italians, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, Native Americans, &c.) I’ll stick with “North Korean.”

The regime is dangerous; the North Korean people are mostly brainwashed but not dangerous.

It’s not a big step from denying a societal identity to justifying taking rights. eugenics, or genocide.

Bernice King just weighed in on this issue with FOX News, with a clip from them doing the same… .

57
Anymouse  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:52:12pm

DARVO from Russia with Love …

58
JordanRules  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:52:21pm

Gotta keep golfing and funding the golden tower of shame though…

59
wheat-dogg  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:56:21pm

re: #29 Kragar

It’s important to note the IJR is a right-leaning, Republican outfit and the only media outlet that had a reporter tagging along with Tillie.

60
Targetpractice  Mar 18, 2017 • 11:58:27pm

re: #57 Anymouse

DARVO from Russia with Love …

[Embedded content]

It never happened, it’s a total lie…oh, by the way, it did happen, but it was totally a false flag.

PICK A STORY AND KEEP TO IT!

61
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:00:47am

re: #60 Targetpractice

It never happened, it’s a total lie…oh, by the way, it did happen, but it was totally a false flag.

PICK A STORY AND KEEP TO IT!

Nope - gets memory holed and the previous position never happened. See also: Just about every statement by Mr. Trump.

62
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:02:03am

re: #55 austin_blue

I wish there weren’t governments who didn’t starve their people to death and kill them in concentration camps to maintain power.

They have been Norks and ROKs for 65 fucking years for Dog’s sake. Grow a pair. This is a very dangerous regime, and they pose a clear and present danger to East Asia and some of our most loyal allies.

OK, how long have whites called black people “ni**ers” or Chinese “ch*nks”? Does the length of time a slur is used make the slur OK to use? Neither of those slurs are acceptable anymore, except among racist dirtbags.

So, drop the slurs, OK? I’m no fan of North Korea (meaning its government), but I am not going to stoop down and use pejorative terms for an entire nation of people just because their government is oppressive and batshit crazy.

63
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:10:16am

The article linked below warms this editor’s pedantic heart. An overtime case that hinged on the omission of a serial (Oxford) comma - where both sides in the case pulled out the state legislative style guide of Maine to argue their cases.

qz.com (goes to Quartz)

64
austin_blue  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:18:35am

re: #62 wheat-dogg

OK, how long have whites called black people “ni**ers” or Chinese “ch*nks”? Does the length of time a slur is used make the slur OK to use? Neither of those slurs are acceptable anymore, except among racist dirtbags.

So, drop the slurs, OK? I’m no fan of North Korea (meaning its government), but I am not going to stoop down and use pejorative terms for an entire nation of people just because their government is oppressive and batshit crazy.

Is the shortening of North Koreans to Norks any different than shortening the Republic of Korea to ROKs, which is readily accepted, even by the South Koreans?

Really, you have posited an argument based on ignoratio elenchi. It’s invalid. You are a teacher. Can you justify your point? It’s not a slur. It’s a contraction. And it has been used for 65 years.

Sheesh.

65
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:19:14am

A related grammar rule that many people use every day but are unaware of:
qz.com

That quote comes from a book called The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase. Adjectives, writes the author, professional stickler Mark Forsyth, “absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.”

Mixing up the above phrase does, as Forsyth writes, feel inexplicably wrong (a rectangular silver French old little lovely whittling green knife…), though nobody can say why. It’s almost like secret knowledge we all share.

66
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:20:50am

The unmitigated gall and privilege stinks to high heaven.

67
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:22:09am

re: #64 austin_blue

Is the shortening of North Koreans to Norks any different than shortening the Republic of Korea to ROKs, which is readily accepted, even by the South Koreans?

Really, you have posited an argument based on ignoratio elenchi. It’s invalid. You are a teacher. Can you justify your point? It’s not a slur. It’s a contraction. And it has been used for 65 years.

Sheesh.

“North Korea” is a nation - a political construct. It is normally considered acceptable to abbreviate the names of nations (in this case the correct abbreviation is DPRK). “North Koreans” are people. It is not usually considered socially acceptable to shorten their nationality (“Japanese” versus “Jap”).

68
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:28:07am

Further: ROKS is the English-language abbreviation for a South Korean naval vessel (“Republic of Korea Ship Cheosan,” similar to USS “United States Ship Enterprise”).

69
Single-handed sailor  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:30:04am

Don’t worry guys, you all are just Yanks to us.

70
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:31:38am
71
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:32:12am

re: #64 austin_blue

Is the shortening of North Koreans to Norks any different than shortening the Republic of Korea to ROKs, which is readily accepted, even by the South Koreans?

Really, you have posited an argument based on ignoratio elenchi. It’s invalid. You are a teacher. Can you justify your point? It’s not a slur. It’s a contraction. And it has been used for 65 years.

Sheesh.

Sheesh indeed. Maybe those terms have been used for 65 years. So fucking what?

Your argument is not convincing at all. Whether South Koreans accept ROK as a term for themselves I can’t comment on, since I don’t know one way or the other if they do. As a guess, I’d assume they might use among themselves, but might not appreciate it coming from a white guy.

Yes, I am a teacher, which is why I tend to be sensitive about slang terms for nationalities of potential students. It’s not that much harder to type North Korean than Nork or South Korean for ROK. Norks and ROKs sound like we are talking about things, and not people.

Meanwhile, I am befuddled why you insist on using the terms if at least two of us find them offensive. If you want to use them elsewhere, go right ahead. Just not here. Deal?

72
austin_blue  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:36:59am

re: #67 Anymouse

“North Korea” is a nation - a political construct. It is normally considered acceptable to abbreviate the names of nations (in this case the correct abbreviation is DPRK). “North Koreans” are people. It is not usually considered socially acceptable to shorten their nationality (“Japanese” versus “Jap”).

Oh, FFS. This a government that is so oppressive that it routinely puts its citizens into concentration camps where they are “worked” to death. I’ll call them whatever I want to call them: Norks, Motherfuckers, Babykillers, Childrapers, Wifegutters, Goatlovers, &c.

The point is that they present a clear and present danger to the west and we must formulate a policy to address that situation.

And I’m for the rack. Night all.

73
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:42:21am

Well, then.

74
austin_blue  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:42:48am

re: #71 wheat-dogg

Sheesh indeed. Maybe those terms have been used for 65 years. So fucking what?

Your argument is not convincing at all. Whether South Koreans accept ROK as a term for themselves I can’t comment on, since I don’t know one way or the other if they do. As a guess, I’d assume they might use among themselves, but might not appreciate it coming from a white guy.

Yes, I am a teacher, which is why I tend to be sensitive about slang terms for nationalities of potential students. It’s not that much harder to type North Korean than Nork or South Korean for ROK. Norks and ROKs sound like we are talking about things, and not people.

Meanwhile, I am befuddled why you insist on using the terms if at least two of us find them offensive. If you want to use them elsewhere, go right ahead. Just not here. Deal?

No. Sorry. I sat nuclear alert in the Air Force. I know what those weapons can do. The Norks are a clear and present danger and they don’t appear to have any real concept of the game they are trying to play. There are no real winners. Just dead humans on a massive scale.

75
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:45:53am

re: #72 austin_blue

Oh, FFS. This a government that is so oppressive that it routinely puts its citizens into concentration camps where they are “worked” to death. I’ll call them whatever I want to call them: Norks, Motherfuckers, Babykillers, Childrapers, Wifegutters, Goatlovers, &c.

The point is that they present a clear and present danger to the west and we must formulate a policy to address that situation.

And I’m for the rack. Night all.

Hm. Japan in another era was also a threat. “Jap” wound up dehumanising every Japanese person - a citizen of Japan, or a citizen of the USA.

Even today I get called “Pollack” (note Firefox spellcheck does not hit the slur as misspelt or unacceptable), despite being a second-generation American. And the correct term in English is Polish-American.

“Pollack” is used to dehumanise me: The term carries a whole host of (untrue) assumptions about those of Polish descent.

76
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:48:27am

Meanwhile, Rex the Tillerson has not left a favorable impression here in the Far east.

scmp.com

Throughout his trip, South Korea, Japan and China alike were looking for ways to gauge Tillerson’s real influence in the Trump foreign policy machine. His early weeks suggested that he would be far more marginal to the process of US foreign policymaking than his immediate predecessors in the Obama administration. His time in these three capitals wasn’t entirely unproductive, but Tillerson hasn’t successfully set himself up as an indispensable point-of-contact within the Trump administration unlike Mattis during his early-February tour to Seoul and Tokyo.

For now, Tillerson remains an outsider and US allies and adversaries in Asia will remain uneasy about the Trump administration’s plans for the region.

His committed a diplomatic faux pas by standing up the South Korean dinner invitation. He claims there was no invite, but any diplomat would expect one. It’s pro forma for visiting dignitaries. Then he left SK earlier than expected. Whether intentional or not, it was a slap in the face to the South Koreans, and face is a big deal in this part of the world.

AFAIK, he did not commit similar errors in Japan or China, but his visit here left barely a ripple on local media.

77
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:52:16am

re: #76 wheat-dogg

He’s also part of an Admin with no credibility who lie constantly so yeah sure Rex, no invite. *rolls eyes*

78
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 12:59:29am

re: #74 austin_blue

No. Sorry. I sat nuclear alert in the Air Force. I know what those weapons can do. The Norks are a clear and present danger and they don’t appear to have any real concept of the game they are trying to play. There are no real winners. Just dead humans on a massive scale.

You know, it is possible to separate governments from the people they govern. Using Nork would lead someone to believe you mean all North Koreans, including the poor schmoes in prison camps and the refugees. You got a beef with the government, fine. So do I. Then be specific and refer to the government, or the regime, or Kim JongUn.

The average North Korean is not responsible for his government’s policies, or for the nukes NK may have at its disposal. That’s my point. You are demonizing an entire nation of people by calling them a quasi-pejorative term. Maybe that is not your intention, but it comes off as such. Maybe it was all just fine using Nork and ROK in the USAF, but this is not the Air Force. You could adapt.

Again, you’re being really stubborn about this. I don’t get it. How hard is it to type North Korean?

How fucking hard is it to police your speech on a public forum?

79
Cheechako  Mar 19, 2017 • 1:02:31am

I’m going off topic with an article that I thought Anymouse and others might find interesting. It’s about installing broadband internet in rural areas in Alaska.

As expected, the primary issue is money. Here in Alaska, one company received substantial Federal assistance and built the primary system. Now, with the system in place, they have a monopoly on the service and are freezing out any competitive services by charging high rates to piggy-back on their system. Yet, the primary funding to build the system was paid by the taxpayers.

For rural Alaska broadband, the ‘middle mile’ is everything

Take note, there’s some really cool photos in the article.

80
Eric The Fruit Bat  Mar 19, 2017 • 1:17:16am

Propublica: Fired U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Said to Have Been Investigating HHS Secretary Tom Price
Trump’s head of the Department of Health and Human Services traded stocks of health-related companies while working on legislation affecting the firms. A source says Bharara was overseeing an investigation. The White House didn’t immediately comment.

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was removed from his post by the Trump administration last week, was overseeing an investigation into stock trades made by the president’s health secretary, according to a person familiar with the office.

Tom Price, head of the Department of Health and Human Services, came under scrutiny during his confirmation hearings for investments he made while serving in Congress. The Georgia lawmaker traded hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in health-related companies, even as he voted on and sponsored legislation affecting the industry.

Price testified at the time that his trades were lawful and transparent. Democrats accused him of potentially using his office to enrich himself. One lawmaker called for an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing concerns Price could have violated the STOCK Act, a 2012 law signed by President Obama that clarified that members of Congress cannot use nonpublic information for profit and requires them to promptly disclose their trades.

The investigation of Price’s trades by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, was underway at the time of Bharara’s dismissal, said the person.

Bharara was one of 46 U.S. attorneys asked to resign after Trump took office. It is standard for new presidents to replace those officials with their own appointees. But Bharara’s firing came as a surprise because the president had met with him at Trump Tower soon after the election. As he left that meeting, Bharara told reporters Trump asked if he would be prepared to remain in his post, and said that he had agreed to stay on.

When the Trump administration instead asked for Bharara’s resignation, the prosecutor refused, and he said he was then fired. Trump has not explained the reversal, but Bharara fanned suspicions that his dismissal was politically motivated via his personal Twitter account.

“I did not resign,” he wrote in one tweet over the weekend. “Moments ago I was fired.”

“By the way,” Bharara said in a second tweet, “now I know what the Moreland Commission must have felt like.”

81
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 1:41:43am

re: #79 Cheechako

I’m going off topic with an article that I thought Anymouse and others might find interesting. It’s about installing broadband internet in rural areas in Alaska.

As expected, the primary issue is money. Here in Alaska, one company received substantial Federal assistance and built the primary system. Now, with the system in place, they have a monopoly on the service and are freezing out any competitive services by charging high rates to piggy-back on their system. Yet, the primary funding to build the system was paid by the taxpayers.

For rural Alaska broadband, the ‘middle mile’ is everything

Take note, there’s some really cool photos in the article.

Thank you for that (and the photos are cool).

That’s the real problem with Internet service in extremely low-density areas (though I imagine that Alaska is lower density than western Nebraska): No company is going to put the money in because there are not enough customers. On the other hand, the government giving loans to a monopoly corporation then not regulating that corporation prices Internet service out for many people.

82
Targetpractice  Mar 19, 2017 • 1:43:21am

re: #80 Eric The Fruit Bat

Propublica: Fired U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Said to Have Been Investigating HHS Secretary Tom Price
Trump’s head of the Department of Health and Human Services traded stocks of health-related companies while working on legislation affecting the firms. A source says Bharara was overseeing an investigation. The White House didn’t immediately comment.

The man who ran on “Draining the Swamp” has happily invited the alligators into the White House.

83
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 1:47:25am
84
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:36:01am
85
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:47:40am

re: #56 Anymouse

I am not sure if Nork qualifies as a slur, but taking a people’s national identity and shortening it into a different term has long been used to demean them. (Think for example of what in the past we’ve called the Irish, the Italians, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, Native Americans, &c.) I’ll stick with “North Korean.”

Thanks, this word always bothered me.

86
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:54:35am

On the other hand that is a general problem in language. I see people say “Russians” to mean the government, even though the primary meaning of “Russians” is “the citizens of Russia” (or the Russian ethnic group, as things may be). So saying “Russians did this and that” to refer to the govt actions is ambiguous and is bordering on blaming the people. I have to remind myself each time that “that’s just how they talk, it’s not meant personally”.

With “Norks” the insult of something that looks like an ethnic slur is added to the injury of the ambiguous language.

87
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:55:56am

re: #64 austin_blue

Is the shortening of North Koreans to Norks any different than shortening the Republic of Korea to ROKs, which is readily accepted, even by the South Koreans?

Yes. It looks like “orcs”.

88
Teukka  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:56:10am

re: #86 Nyet

On the other hand that is a general problem in language. I see people say “Russians” to mean the government, even though the primary meaning of “Russians” is “the citizens of Russia” (or the Russian ethnic group, as things may be). So saying “Russians did this and that” to refer to the govt actions is ambiguous and is bordering on blaming the people. I have to remind myself each time that “that’s just how they talk, it’s not meant personally”.

With “Norks” the insult of something that looks like an ethnic slur is added to the injury of the ambiguous language.

Personally, I prefer to use “Vlad & the Kremlin Crew” so I do not paint all Russians with the same brush.

89
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 2:57:40am

re: #88 Teukka

I use Putin, Russian govt, Russia, or Putin’s Russia when appropriate.

90
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:00:52am

re: #55 austin_blue

I wish there weren’t governments who didn’t starve their people to death and kill them in concentration camps to maintain power.

They have been Norks and ROKs for 65 fucking years for Dog’s sake. Grow a pair. This is a very dangerous regime, and they pose a clear and present danger to East Asia and some of our most loyal allies.

Appealing to a word appearing in the 1950s as an indicator of its legitimacy is not the best argument. I’m just sayin’.

91
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:09:47am

re: #86 Nyet

On the other hand that is a general problem in language. I see people say “Russians” to mean the government, even though the primary meaning of “Russians” is “the citizens of Russia” (or the Russian ethnic group, as things may be). So saying “Russians did this and that” to refer to the govt actions is ambiguous and is bordering on blaming the people. I have to remind myself each time that “that’s just how they talk, it’s not meant personally”.

With “Norks” the insult of something that looks like an ethnic slur is added to the injury of the ambiguous language.

My wife’s brother’s wife (to differentiate her from my sister’s wife, whom I have also written about here) is an American citizen originally from the Soviet Union.

Using her (because anecdotes prove zip), she refers to the government of Russia either by its leaders’ names (such as Vladimir Putin), its parliament (the Duma), &c. She does not use the terms “the Russians” to refer to Russia.

I don’t either: when referring to the nation I use “Russia” (or prior to its fall, the Soviet Union), not “the Russians” or “the Soviets.”

92
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:16:38am

Comparing leaders … while memes don’t really say everything about a topic or person, this is an apt comparison:

93
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:34:23am

Ubiq pointed me to an even more swell article by Seth Abramson:

huffingtonpost.com

Draw up blueprints for the impossible and you find, in time, that individual pieces of an impossible plan become first improbable and then merely unlikely and then even odds and finally, at long last, possible. Repeat that procedure enough times and universal wavelength function tells us that the very fabric of reality can be altered.

[…]

So when I wrote that “Bernie Sanders Is Currently Winning the Democratic Primary Race, and I’ll Prove It to You,” I was offering a “minority report” of the Real

That almost beats the alternative facts.

Abramson’s twitter CTs should be seen in the light of his weird mindset.

94
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:36:31am

re: #93 Nyet

Ubiq pointed me to an even more swell article by Seth Abramson:

That almost beats the alternative facts.

Abramson’s twitter CTs should be seen in the light of his weird mindset.

As opposed to repeating the same thing over and over getting the same results (the Kansas and Louisiana budgets).

95
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:45:52am

re: #94 Anymouse

Not this Tea Pain idiot again…

96
Eventual Carrion  Mar 19, 2017 • 3:49:26am

re: #32 Anymouse

I’m all for drafting Rex Tillerson and let him take up a position on the DMZ. Give him a machine gun and let him go at it.

Can’t, he’s a little tired at the moment.

97
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:02:11am

re: #95 Nyet

Not this Tea Pain idiot again…

Oh I think he’s funny.

If that’s not the consensus here, however, I’ll refrain from posting things from that account (and just read them on my own).

98
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:06:49am

re: #97 Anymouse

I think it’s a funny character account too. I wonder if it did something we don’t know about.

99
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:07:07am

re: #97 Anymouse

Oh I think he’s funny.

If that’s not the consensus here, however, I’ll refrain from posting things from that account (and just read them on my own).

It’s not a consensus. It’s my opinion.

100
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:12:56am
101
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:13:41am

Yikes if this is true:
itsgoingdown.org

At 5:30 PM on March 25, white nationalists from throughout the region will be assembling at the Joppatowne Memorial VFW Post 5838 at 501 Pulaski Highway for a St Patrick’s Day gathering. The 11th annual event was recently announced on hate site Stormfront (dot) org and is being coordinated by Baltimore area far-right record label Label 56. In light of the recent election of Donald Trump and the subsequent emboldening of white nationalism, the potential for this event to draw large numbers of militant white supremacists to recruit, network, and organize is significant.

(more at the link, including some wonderful people like Matthew Heimbach).

There’s nothing on the post’s Facebook page about this:
facebook.com

Their Website looks like nothing but a placeholder on WordPress:
vfwpost5838.org

102
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:19:03am

re: #101 Anymouse

No offense to the fine denizens of Joppatowne, but its name sounds mighty funny to the Russian ears (something like Butt Town ;).

103
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:19:26am

re: #99 Nyet

It’s not a consensus. It’s my opinion.

Okay, I’ll go with this one then.

104
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:24:03am

re: #103 Anymouse

Uggh, not this Tea Party Cat idiot again! \

105
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:27:55am

re: #104 JordanRules

I didn’t see the Honorable Cat spread fake news like this:

106
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:36:05am

re: #105 Nyet

I didn’t see the Honorable Cat spread fake news like this:

[Embedded content]

Perhaps said Cat was referencing this fake news reporting on it:
independent.co.uk

Can’t trust those British papers though, they’re not FOX News Channel.

107
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:42:19am

re: #106 Anymouse

Perhaps said Cat was referencing this fake news reporting on it:
independent.co.uk

Can’t trust those British papers though, they’re not FOX News Channel.

You are in your usual superficial style.

1. None of the names in the article are in the Steele dossier, contrary to the fake news peddler you find funny.

2. There is no evidence any of the people in the article are linked to Trump. The only one “linked” to the dossier, Erovinkin, was “linked” by the conspiracy theorists *due to* his death, not any concrete facts, so using him as evidence is arguing in a logical vicious circle.

3. There is no evidence of foul play in most of those deaths.

4. Googling does not amount to critical thinking + research.

108
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:43:49am

re: #105 Nyet

Has he done it on more than that story? I certainly hope it’s not a pattern. Others also pointed out in the timeline that there is no credible story there.

I have folks in my life that make mistakes.YMMV

109
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:45:13am

re: #108 JordanRules

Has he done it on more than that story? I certainly hope it’s not a pattern. Others also pointed out in the timeline that there is no credible story there.

I have folks in my life that make mistakes.YMMV

It’s not that he’s made a mistake. It’s that he has not corrected his tweet, retweeted 8K+ times, in any way. The person is a hack who doesn’t care about the truth.

110
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:49:45am

So, I watched Iron Fist episode 2. Still thinking the plot is a bit slow, but the writing is growing on me. At least now I have an explanation about the “no passport” issue, but not about how Danny managed to get from Astral Plane Asia to NYC with no money. This would be useful information for those of us in the real world.

As an aside, Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing) bears a remarkable resemblance to one of my former students. I’m not sure if my student has had a chance to watch the show yet.

111
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:50:48am

re: #109 Nyet

Idiot and hack, got it.

112
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:52:23am

re: #111 JordanRules

Idiot and hack, got it.

A very popular one among the liberals too, it seems.

113
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:54:19am

re: #107 Nyet

You are in your usual superficial style.

1. None of the names in the article are in the Steele dossier, contrary to the fake news peddler you find funny.

2. There is no evidence any of the people in the article are linked to Trump. The only one “linked” to the dossier, Erovinkin, was “linked” by the conspiracy theorists *due to* his death, not any concrete facts, so using him as evidence is arguing in a logical vicious circle.

3. There is no evidence of foul play in most of those deaths.

4. Googling does not amount to critical thinking + research.

I appreciate your fact-checking on this, because the idea that all the people mentioned in the Steele dossier are ending up dead sounds like it came from a spy novel. If it were in fact true, the intelligence agencies would be on high alert and the security around Trump & Co. would be even tighter than it is now.

Now if Trump associates start dying under mysterious circumstances, I’ll believe something is afoot. Until then, the “dead Russians” tweets are not helping anyone understand the truth.

114
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:55:06am

re: #107 Nyet

You are in your usual superficial style.

1. None of the names in the article are in the Steele dossier, contrary to the fake news peddler you find funny.

2. There is no evidence any of the people in the article are linked to Trump. The only one “linked” to the dossier, Erovinkin, was “linked” by the conspiracy theorists *due to* his death, not any concrete facts, so using him as evidence is arguing in a logical vicious circle.

3. There is no evidence of foul play in most of those deaths.

4. Googling does not amount to critical thinking + research.

4) First. I have a vast capability of research from a village on the High Plains with my armada of agents and reporters. (That’s snark.) As such, I have to rely on press reports (that don’t come from my local Rah Rah Trump Everyday local newspaper, Christofascist hate radio stations, or the local FOX TV channel) that come from outside the area (or outside the country).

3) On foul play: Well, we can’t say for sure about Russia’s UN Ambassador, as the State Department told the New York Coroner’s office not to release their results (as reported in various media outside my area). I can’t imagine why they would issue such an order, so I have to speculate. If he simply died from natural causes (heart attack, stroke, whatever), there is no great state secret there. So why the cloak-and-dagger over his death?

2) As for Mr. Erovinkin, he was also aide to former PM, Igor Sechin, currently CEO of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company and pal of Trump cabal member, Carter Page who allegedly was offered a 19% private stake in Rosneft by Sechin if he could get Trump to lift the economic sanctions on Russia.

Nope, nothing to investigate there. Move along.

1) I don’t have the Steele dossier, so I can’t say definitively what’s in it. I wasn’t at the Alamo either so I can’t say definitively Davy Crockett was there. I have to depend on reliable sources and reporting, in which I include sources such as The Independent.

Is it possible that six diplomats died since the election and it was coincidental? Sure. Lots of people die every day. Six Russian diplomats? Becomes a bit less coincidental. How many American diplomats have died in the same period? (none)

So I post a funny Twitter post noting the unusual coincidence. That doesn’t take away that it is unusual, and the GOP here seems awfully reticent about investigating anything Russia-related concerning the election.

115
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:58:10am

re: #113 wheat-dogg

It’s not just tweets, it’s also silly articles like the one above from The Indepedent.

The m.o. is simple: start adding any Russian officials dying since the election (doesn’t matter if they mostly die of natural causes at the age when it’s normal for an average Russian male to die, which is a much lower age than that for Americans) and you have a nice self-perpetuating CT.

Since Russian officials will continue to die (because, um, people die) the “dead Russians” list can go on forever…

116
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 4:59:33am

re: #112 Nyet

What did he do before that tweet that would make him unpopular with liberals?

117
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:02:07am

re: #115 Nyet

It’s not just tweets, it’s also silly articles like the one above from The Indepedent.

The m.o. is simple: start adding any Russian officials dying since the election (doesn’t matter if they mostly die of natural causes at the age when it’s normal for an average Russian male to die, which is a much lower age than that for Americans) and you have a nice self-perpetuating CT.

Since Russian officials will continue to die (because, um, people die) the “dead Russians” list can go on forever…

Nothing to see here, move along. Got it. No need to investigate anything, Mr. Attorney General Sessions. Libtards lost the election, get over it.

I’ll stick to non-controversial tweets then, tweets that don’t involve investigating connexions between people (I do not play a police officer in real life, nor an FBI agent).

118
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:04:42am

Good night, y’all. The sun will be up soon, the church bell will be ringing across the street to keep away the atheists, and I’m tired.

119
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:10:05am

re: #114 Anymouse

3) On foul play: Well, we can’t say for sure about Russia’s UN Ambassador, as the State Department told the New York Coroner’s office not to release their results (as reported in various media outside my area). I can’t imagine why they would issue such an order, so I have to speculate. If he simply died from natural causes (heart attack, stroke, whatever), there is no great state secret there. So why the cloak-and-dagger over his death?

Even if there was anything suspicious there, you would still be isolating 1 death, when most of them were still natural. But the official explanation is sufficient: it’s not up to the US to release private information about causes of death of persons with diplomatic immunity.

So, to sum up, there is no evidence whatsoever of any foul play in Churkin’s case; and even if there were, there is no plausible scenario based on credible evidence that would link this death to any matters pertaining to the American election.

2) As for Mr. Erovinkin, he was also aide to former PM, Igor Sechin, currently CEO of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company and pal of Trump cabal member, Carter Page who allegedly was offered a 19% private stake in Rosneft by Sechin if he could get Trump to lift the economic sanctions on Russia.

Nope, nothing to investigate there. Move along.

Dry fact: there is no evidence linking Erovinkin’s death to any American matters. Speculation is not evidence. Speculation based upon the mere fact of his death is doubly not evidence.

There might have been something funny had the speculations about him having been Steele’s source appeared *before* his death. Since they appeared after it and were based on it, only a CT mindset will notice a link there.

1) I don’t have the Steele dossier, so I can’t say definitively what’s in it. I wasn’t at the Alamo either so I can’t say definitively Davy Crockett was there. I have to depend on reliable sources and reporting, in which I include sources such as The Independent.

The Independent does not claim that the names appear in the Steele dossier (which any schoolboy is able to find by googling, but you apparently aren’t).

The fake news peddler whom you find funny does though.

Is it possible that six diplomats died since the election and it was coincidental?

Not only possible, but probable. But even if it were not coincidental (for which there is zero evidence), it would steal be a leap of faith to link those deaths to any American matters. Very simply, due to the lack of any evidence of such a link.

To sum it up: you are free to post tweets by dishonest CT peddlers. Just as I’m free to point this out.

120
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:10:22am

re: #118 Anymouse

Good night, y’all. The sun will be up soon, the church bell will be ringing across the street to keep away the atheists, and I’m tired.

[Embedded content]

I looked at a nice apartment once in our village, but it was located directly opposite the church, which tolls every day at 7am on weekdays (8am on weekends)…and 11.30 and 6pm on weekdays as well…and for church services on Sunday…as it is I am about 200 yards away from the church and it still wakes me up, but I can go back to sleep most of the time.

121
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:12:06am

re: #117 Anymouse

Nothing to see here, move along. Got it. No need to investigate anything, Mr. Attorney General Sessions. Libtards lost the election, get over it.

I’ll stick to non-controversial tweets then, tweets that don’t involve investigating connexions between people (I do not play a police officer in real life, nor an FBI agent).

[Embedded content]

No no, feel free to continue posting conspiracy theories.

122
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:15:07am

Get a load of this pantsload:

123
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:15:20am

I don’t want leaks and tweets, I want the President to publish his financial history and involvement with foreign companies and governments.

I want the press to badger him about this at every press conference until he relents.

And I want a mohair saddle blanket for my unicorn…

124
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:19:37am

re: #116 JordanRules

What did he do before that tweet that would make him unpopular with liberals?

Better question is what he did to become so popular. Looking at his TL I’m not sure what to think, except that simplistic soundbites work.

125
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:28:33am

I’m sort of starting to understand Masha Gessen’s take on the Russia story, even if in the end I don’t agree with the main conclusion as I think she is ignoring some legit stuff. That said, a stereotype-laden conspiracist thinking is abound where a sober look is needed.

Russia: The Conspiracy Trap

And the US intelligence agencies sometimes fall victim to stereotypes and insufficient understanding of what goes on in Russia.

Russia, Trump & Flawed Intelligence

Case in point:

According to the report:

Pro-Kremlin proxy Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, proclaimed just before the election that if President-elect Trump won, Russia would “drink champagne” in anticipation of being able to advance its positions on Syria and Ukraine.

In the Russian political sphere, Zhirinovsky is far from the mainstream. A man who has advocated mobilizing the Russian military to shoot all migratory birds in order to prevent an epidemic of bird flu, he is a far-right comic sidekick to the Kremlin’s straight man. Dictators like to keep his kind around as reminders of the chaos and extremism that could threaten the world in their absence. In Hungary, for example, the extremist Jobbik party allows Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to look moderate in comparison. The particular statement about drinking champagne was made during a televised talk show in which several Russian personalities get together to beat up rhetorically on a former insurance executive named Michael Bohm, who has fashioned a career of playing an American pundit on Russian TV. Here is the exchange that preceded Zhirinovsky’s promise to drink champagne:

They threaten to cut Russia off from international financial systems. They can do that! But then we won’t give America a single dollar back. That’s hundreds of billions of dollars! Hundreds of billions! If they cut us off, they cut off the repayment of all our debts. Hundreds of billions! They are not dumb, so they’ll never do it. Never. As for the arms race, sometimes we are ahead and sometimes they are. We’ve got parity. But there is another danger to America. They have a hundred nuclear power stations. And we can reach all of them. And the destruction of a single nuclear power station kills every living thing on a territory of five hundred thousand square kilometers. That’s fifty million square kilometers. But all of America is just ten million square kilometers. So a single explosion will destroy America five times over. Same thing with us. But our stations are on the fringes. Theirs are in densely populated areas. So blowing up their nuclear reactors will kill more people in America. Plus, we have lots of empty space. So they have weighed it: Russia’s survival rates will be higher than America’s. More of them will die in case of nuclear war.

Host: Remember you also told us about magnetic weapons that will make us stick to our beds and incapable of getting up?

Zhirinovsky: Yes, there is that, too.

[A brief exchange about the arms race between two other participants]

Zhirinovsky: I hope that Aleppo is free of guerrilla fighters before November 8!

Sergei Stankevich [a largely forgotten Yeltsin-era politician]: But then we have to think about what happens November 9, if we’ve already liberated Aleppo.

Zhirinovsky: We are going to be drinking champagne to celebrate a Trump victory! [to Bohm] And to the defeat of your friend Hillary Clinton!

Remarkably, the report manages not only to offer a few words thrown out during this absurd exchange as evidence of a larger Russian strategy, but also to distort those words in the process: contrary to the report’s assertion, Zhironovsky made no mention of being able to advance Russia’s positions in Syria and Ukraine following a Trump victory. Of course, he could have—indeed, he could have said anything, given the tenor of the conversation. Whatever he said, it’s difficult to imagine how it could be connected to Russia’s ostensible influence on the American election.

126
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:45:38am

re: #124 Nyet

The other night when some were complaining about the NYT and had examples of bad stories your retort was that the approach to assessing them was wrong in that the good stories were being ignored.

A comedic Twitter account (in addition to others, some actually in the media, who shouldn’t have sent it out) sends out a bad tweet and you seem to hold him to a higher standard than the NYT and just discount any entertainment folks may get out of it as if he was already an idiot and a hack prior to that tweet a week ago. That’s why my question was phrased the way it was and we didn’t need a ‘better’ one.

As I mentioned, others also pointed out the non-story and they might still go there for a snark bite or two.

One thing I like about this site is that people generally don’t go around shitting on other people’s entertainment preferences even if they’re not sophisticated or one’s particular taste.

127
steve_davis  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:58:10am

re: #65 Anymouse

A related grammar rule that many people use every day but are unaware of:
qz.com

mixing it up doesn’t bother the syntax in the slightest. it’s more like the original author found an example and then created a rule to conform to it.

128
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 5:59:15am

re: #126 JordanRules

The other night when some were complaining about the NYT and had examples of bad stories your retort was that the approach to assessing them was wrong in that the good stories were being ignored.

A comedic Twitter account (in addition to others, some actually in the media, who shouldn’t have sent it out) sends out a bad tweet and you seem to hold him to a higher standard than the NYT and just discount any entertainment folks may get out of it as if he was already an idiot and a hack prior to that tweet a week ago. That’s why my question was phrased the way it was and we didn’t need a ‘better’ one.

As I mentioned, others also pointed out the non-story and they might still go there for a snark bite or two.

One thing I like about this site is that people generally don’t go around shitting on other people’s entertainment preferences even if they’re not sophisticated or one’s particular taste.

The NYT is not a monolith. It consists of many people of different opinions and ways. So condemning the whole of the NYT for what some of its journalists write in clearly marked opinion pieces is silly, even if it has become commonplace. I have no problem with dismissing the journalists in question. They are not the whole of the NYT.

T.E.A. Pain(e) is one person so yes, the standard is different since the opinions/actions of one person are not easily separable. Just as I can say “David Brooks is a dishonest hack”, so I can say “Tea Pain is a dishonest hack”.

As for entertainment preferences, everyone is entitled to theirs. That was hardly the point. Just as I said, folks are free to post from any sources they want, just as other folks are free to point out that those sources may stink.

129
JordanRules  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:01:23am

re: #128 Nyet

If I post a joke from someone, they are not my source on anything.

130
Patricia Kayden  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:03:03am

re: #27 Targetpractice

So Sessions lies about his meetings with the Russia emissary, then Pruitt gets caught lying about email. Both are simply allowed to “clarify their testimony” and get right with Congress.

This after we just got done with a long dog-and-pony show about how a presidential candidate needed to be charged with perjury for allegedly lying to…wait for it…Congress!

Puts all that bullshit about “two systems of law” in perspective, doesn’t it?

Democrats in Congress shouldn’t be letting this issue go away. They should be hammering it every chance they get.

131
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:07:45am

re: #129 JordanRules

If I post a joke from someone, they are not my source on anything.

This may be true for you but not necessarily for others. Look closely at the comments under that CT tweet. Some dissident voices aside, most people took it as a straight piece of info. In fact, it was posted as such here and was well-received too.

Moreover, the whole point of most of TP’s jokes is that there is supposed to be truth in them. (And quite often there is, of course.)

Which is why something being a joke is not a reason not to push back (at times).

It’s not like I got pissed at some obscure account for indiscernible reasons. This stuff is spreading and I see the “dumbing down” of politics as a serious issue. It was started by the conservative right, and insofar the liberal left falls for it I find it disheartening.

132
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:08:48am

re: #127 steve_davis

mixing it up doesn’t bother the syntax in the slightest. it’s more like the original author found an example and then created a rule to conform to it.

No, he’s referring to a well-known rule among grammarians. See here: dictionary.cambridge.org

As an EFL teacher, I have a hard time explaining to my Chinese students why “a Chinese beautiful girl” is wrong, while “a beautiful Chinese girl” is correct — or at least according to the norms of modern English syntax. Being able to point to a “rule” simplifies matters as a teacher.

133
Anymouse  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:15:04am

Oh boy, the BBC stepped in it, with a question on BBC Asian Network: “What is the right punishment for blasphemy?”

The question was asked in the context of Facebook and Twitter being asked by Pakistan to come to their country to help enforce their blasphemy laws on their sites. Facebook has agreed to do this (money trumps principles with libertarian dudebros and Zuckerburg would sell his mother before he gave up a whole nation of potential data mining).

Nevertheless, the question was a horrendous one - and the BBC is being pilloried over the tweet on the subject. (They issued a sort-apology).

Pretty much everyone answering the question is answering it with “None, and why did you even ask such a stupid question in the XXI Century?”

If the context (as the BBC claims) is the Facebook issue, then the question should be “Do you think Facebook should be helping to enforce a blasphemy law?” As of yet, the BBC has not walked back or altered the question.

134
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:15:07am

So, security

Someone with a brain needs to sit little Donnie down and tell him why retreating to a public venue every weekend is bad idea for security (as in his personal safety) reasons.

135
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:19:43am

Guess what? Trump was wrong again.

I know. Shocking, right?

136
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:21:28am

re: #133 Anymouse

What should be a punishment for asking such stupid questions? /

137
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:29:38am

re: #135 wheat-dogg

Guess what? Trump was wrong again.

I know. Shocking, right?

[Embedded content]

I think Trump is just totally ignorant to what treaties actually do. He really seems to want to run our nation like a mob protection racket. His attitude towards our allies really really pisses me off.

138
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:31:05am

re: #133 Anymouse

Oh boy, the BBC stepped in it, with a question on BBC Asian Network: “What is the right punishment for blasphemy?”

The question was asked in the context of Facebook and Twitter being asked by Pakistan to come to their country to help enforce their blasphemy laws on their sites. Facebook has agreed to do this (money trumps principles with libertarian dudebros and Zuckerburg would sell his mother before he gave up a whole nation of potential data mining).

Nevertheless, the question was a horrendous one - and the BBC is being pilloried over the tweet on the subject. (They issued a sort-apology).

Pretty much everyone answering the question is answering it with “None, and why did you even ask such a stupid question in the XXI Century?”

If the context (as the BBC claims) is the Facebook issue, then the question should be “Do you think Facebook should be helping to enforce a blasphemy law?” As of yet, the BBC has not walked back or altered the question.

[Embedded content]

One man’s blasphemy is another man’s humor. There shouldn’t be blasphemy laws since frankly blasphemy is a bs construct. Lots of things I find offensive but that doesn’t mean I think the speech there of should be criminalized.

139
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:35:53am

The right punishment for blasphemy is to burn forever in a lake of fire. If you have no lake, and no forever, just carry on.

140
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:36:40am

re: #139 Decatur Deb

The right punishment for blasphemy is to burn forever in a lake of fire. If you have no lake, and no forever, just carry on.

So in otherwords, don’t commit blasphemy in Minnesota.

141
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:36:54am

re: #138 HappyWarrior

One man’s blasphemy is another man’s humor. There shouldn’t be blasphemy laws since frankly blasphemy is a bs construct. Lots of things I find offensive but that doesn’t mean I think the speech there of should be criminalized.

Right. Blasphemy is directed against ideas anyway. There is nothing wrong with criticizing theological concepts or make fun of them.

Steps should be taken to make sure that one criticizes or makes fun of the ideas (like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism…) rather than large groups of different individuals (Christians, religious Jews, Muslims, Hindus), which is no longer blasphemy anyway, but that’s that. This desire to drag the rest of humanity back into the dark ages is despicable.

142
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:37:35am

re: #139 Decatur Deb

The right punishment for blasphemy is to burn forever in a lake of fire. If you have no lake, and no forever, just carry on.

You can buy a DIY set on ebay.

143
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:38:15am

re: #138 HappyWarrior

One man’s blasphemy is another man’s humor. There shouldn’t be blasphemy laws since frankly blasphemy is a bs construct. Lots of things I find offensive but that doesn’t mean I think the speech there of should be criminalized.

It may be bs to us, but in some countries around the world people take it very seriously, and the punishments are severe. But, as you note, there are no hard and fast rules saying what blasphemy is, so it’s pretty easy to piss someone off.

144
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:38:22am

re: #142 Nyet

You can buy a DIY set on ebay.

Free shipping?

145
Jay C  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:38:40am

Jeez, is there nothing today’s “alt-right” won’t try to promulgate, regard of how ahistorical/nonsensical it might be?*

A tad late for St. Pat’s Day, but I found this at the New York Times’ site: The Myth of “Irish Slaves”

Complete with “cites” from Alex Jones, and reeking of racist subtext: what a shock…..

* rhetorical question: of course not

146
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:38:57am

re: #141 Nyet

Right. Blasphemy is directed against ideas anyway. There is nothing wrong with criticizing theological concepts or make fun of them.

Steps should be taken to make sure that one criticizes or makes fun of the ideas (like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism…) rather than large groups of different individuals (Christians, religious Jews, Muslims, Hindus), which is no longer blasphemy anyway, but that’s that. This desire to drag the rest of humanity back into the dark ages is despicable.

Absolutely, criticizing and making fun of theological concepts is really no different than doing the same to government or other groups. But yes making fun of ideas rather than individuals. Agreed.

147
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:39:12am

re: #144 Decatur Deb

Free shipping?

Yes, they ship you./

148
jeffreyw  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:40:25am

Imgur
Good morning!

149
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:40:46am

re: #147 Nyet

Yes, they ship you./

No small thing. It’s almost impossible to have an American’s ashes scattered on a mountainside in Italy. I’ve checked.

150
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:41:10am

re: #143 wheat-dogg

It may be bs to us, but in some countries around the world people take it very seriously, and the punishments are severe. But, as you note, there are no hard and fast rules saying what blasphemy is, so it’s pretty easy to piss someone off.

It’s problem is subjectivity. I understand why people are sensitive about their sacred cows like religion but as you say, it’s pretty easy to piss someone off. I remember imitating the last supper (this is my body) routine with my breadsticks when we had spaghetti in grade school. Now to most of us, that’s just some silly kid playing with his food but someone could easily interpret that as blasphemous. We need to respect people more so than ideas.

151
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:41:25am

re: #130 Patricia Kayden

So Sessions lies about his meetings with the Russia emissary, then Pruitt gets caught lying about email. Both are simply allowed to “clarify their testimony” and get right with Congress.

Look, the takeaway from this will simply be that lying about the Russians is not perjury like getting a blowjob from a bimbo is not cheating on your wife.

152
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:42:20am

re: #151 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Look, the takeaway from this will simply be that lying about the Russians is not perjury like getting a blowjob from a bimbo is not cheating on your wife.

We are all paying for that free blowjob.

153
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:42:34am

re: #145 Jay C

Jeez, is there nothing today’s “alt-right” won’t try to promulgate, regard of how ahistorical/nonsensical it might be?*

A tad late for St. Pat’s Day, but I found this at the New York Times’ site: The Myth of “Irish Slaves”

Complete with “cites” from Alex Jones, and reeking of racist subtext: what a shock…..

Great, detailed piece by the NYT. And yes, this meme comes up often.

154
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:42:48am

re: #145 Jay C

Jeez, is there nothing today’s “alt-right” won’t try to promulgate, regard of how ahistorical/nonsensical it might be?*

A tad late for St. Pat’s Day, but I found this at the New York Times’ site: The Myth of “Irish Slaves”

Complete with “cites” from Alex Jones, and reeking of racist subtext: what a shock…..

I really hate the “Irish slaves” crap because it uses the very real difficult lives that Irish people faced in the first waves of Irish emigration to shit on other groups i.e. African Americans and Native-Americans that fared far worse. I have no doubt that life was tough for my Irish ancestors but at the same time, Emmett Till was brutally murdered and his murderers acquitted in my father’s lifetime.

155
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:43:13am

re: #152 Decatur Deb

We are all paying for that free blowjob.

Better than paying for torture.///

I know, I know…

156
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:43:36am

re: #133 Anymouse

Pretty much everyone answering the question is answering it with “None, and why did you even ask such a stupid question in the XXI Century?”

Yes, there are a lot of questions like that being asked these days.

Like Turkey trying to enforce lese-majeste laws outside their own borders.

157
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:45:49am

re: #153 Nyet

Great, detailed piece by the NYT. And yes, this meme comes up often.

Actual Irish historians resent the hell of it. It’s mostly done by people in the Irish diaspora to put down other groups. I mean as I said, I have no doubt that my second great grandfather had a difficult life- he was an Iron Puddler during the Industrial Revolution and only three of his eight children made it to adulthood but to shit on people whose families were actually separated, people who did not receive any wage at all, or people who ahd to worry about being murdered with no legal consequences if they so much as looked at a white person the wrong way, it’s bs.

158
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:46:29am

re: #154 HappyWarrior

I really hate the “Irish slaves” crap because it uses the very real difficult lives that Irish people faced in the first waves of Irish emigration to shit on other groups i.e. African Americans and Native-Americans that fared far worse. I have no doubt that life was tough for my Irish ancestors but at the same time, Emmett Till was brutally murdered and his murderers acquitted in my father’s lifetime.

How many Irishmen ended up hanging from trees?

Conversely, how many former slaves ended up being cops before 1900?

159
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:47:05am

Caught something interesting on YouTube last night about the British Free Corps volunteers. If you’re interested, it’s called The Brits Who Fought For Hitler.

160
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:48:37am

re: #158 wheat-dogg

How many Irishmen ended up hanging from trees?

Conversely, how many former slaves ended up being cops before 1900?

Exactly. I’ll compare it to when the WH tried to All-Lives the Holocaust. Again, no doubt Eastern Europeans suffered in WWII but the Jewish people were the ones targeted for systematic genocide. That doesn’t mean Poles and other groups did not suffer under the Nazis but the Jews by far suffered the most.

161
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:49:17am

re: #159 HappyWarrior

Caught something interesting on YouTube last night about the British Free Corps volunteers. If you’re interested, it’s called The Brits Who Fought For Hitler.

People like to forget or ignore how big the British fascist movement was in the 1930’s.

162
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:49:31am

re: #156 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Yes, there are a lot of questions like that being asked these days.

Like Turkey trying to enforce lese-majeste laws outside their own borders.

Thailand’s lese-majeste laws are brutal. People were being arrested for questioning the health of the former king, who was in fact not well at all. The police have gone after kids who said the wrong thing around someone in public.

I’m not sure if matters will improve under the new king, as the military is still controlling the government.

163
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:50:02am

re: #159 HappyWarrior

Caught something interesting on YouTube last night about the British Free Corps volunteers. If you’re interested, it’s called The Brits Who Fought For Hitler.

Per a newly-historical history channel, after the Germans occupied Jersey and some other islands, the nice Bobbies helped them ship at least three resident Jews to the continental camps.

164
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:50:12am

re: #160 HappyWarrior

Exactly. I’ll compare it to when the WH tried to All-Lives the Holocaust. Again, no doubt Eastern Europeans suffered in WWII but the Jewish people were the ones targeted for systematic genocide. That doesn’t mean Poles and other groups did not suffer under the Nazis but the Jews by far suffered the most.

It also does mean that some Poles and Eastern Europeans were not complicit or active in persecuting their own Jewish populations.

165
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:50:24am

re: #161 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

People like to forget or ignore how big the British fascist movement was in the 1930’s.

And also how fascism had a lot of intrigue with some British aristocrats. I mean Hess’s Scotland mission was crazy but there were Axis sympathizers in Britain.

166
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:50:44am

re: #162 wheat-dogg

Thailand’s lese-majeste laws are brutal. People were being arrested for questioning the health of the former king, who was in fact not well at all. The police have gone after kids who said the wrong thing around someone in public.

I’m not sure if matters will improve under the new king, as the military is still controlling the government.

People got in trouble for making fun of his dog.

167
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:53:42am

re: #164 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

It also does mean that some Poles and Eastern Europeans were not complicit or active in persecuting their own Jewish populations.

Caught another thing about the Polish sewer worker, Leopold Socha who helped the Jews of Lviv. I believe Poland has the highest number of Righteous Among the Nations. But right, there were people in the local populations who went above and beyond and did the right thing. Others unfortunately who did the total opposite. And others more yet who just tried to survive wartime occupation. There’s a family legend on my mom’s dad’s side that his cousin was killed and the survivors joined Tito. I can’t verify that. I honestly have no idea what my Eastern European family did in WWII. I do know that their American cousins- my great uncles were all in uniform with the exception of two of my mom’s uncles who were deemed essential because of their wartiem jobs.

168
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:54:29am

re: #163 Decatur Deb

Per a newly-historical history channel, after the Germans occupied Jersey and some other islands, the nice Bobbies helped them ship at least three resident Jews to the continental camps.

Didn’t know about that.

169
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:55:09am

re: #168 HappyWarrior

Didn’t know about that.

en.wikipedia.org

170
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:57:53am

The problem is people want to use the fact that their ancestors suffered to put down other people. I guess I’m just a bleeding heart because I go the opposite route. No one in my immediate family i.e. parents or grandparents was an immigrant but each of my grandparents had at least one parent or grandparents who was one. So, yeah, while I don’t understand what today’s immigrants experience directly, I do have an empathy for them. And I guess that’s what so much of American society seems to be lacking these days. So many of us have our successes and I don’t begrudge that success but so many of use our or our family’s successes as a means to look down on people.

171
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:58:48am

re: #169 Decatur Deb

en.wikipedia.org

Thanks and I imagine those Bobbies had pretty normal lives after the war like nothing had happened.

172
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:59:13am

re: #166 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

People got in trouble for making fun of his dog.

Exactly.

Thailand also has problems with religion, as well. It’s a majority Buddhist country, which treats its Muslim minority like shit. Thus there is unrest in the southern areas, near Malaysia, and in the northwest the locals are not accepting of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The State Department periodically issues travel advisories to avoid those areas.

173
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 6:59:24am

Sweet or savory breakfast today or both, that is the question!

174
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:00:23am

re: #173 HappyWarrior

Sweet or savory breakfast today or both, that is the question!

Why not both?

175
Decatur Deb  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:06:16am

re: #171 HappyWarrior

Thanks and I imagine those Bobbies had pretty normal lives after the war like nothing had happened.

Dunno. There are a couple non-superficial references at the Wiki.

176
Jay C  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:08:15am

re: #161 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

People like to forget or ignore how big the British fascist movement was in the 1930’s.

Maybe: but their popular support (and political influence) was always a great deal shallower than their own propaganda tried to trumpet. To be sure, they had a great deal of intellectual/pseudo-intellectual backing among the political-minded upper-crust; and, it being Britain, the usual rabble of street louts - but the timeline of British Fascism as a movement shows (AFAICT) a steady downward slope: an initial upsurge at the tail-end of the Depression, followed by steady alienation of the public, til by the time the War broke out, they were (despite their aristocratic backers’ delusions) an irrelevant fringe.

177
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:15:26am

Ah, man. Jimmy Breslin has died.

178
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:19:15am

re: #160 HappyWarrior

Exactly. I’ll compare it to when the WH tried to All-Lives the Holocaust. Again, no doubt Eastern Europeans suffered in WWII but the Jewish people were the ones targeted for systematic genocide. That doesn’t mean Poles and other groups did not suffer under the Nazis but the Jews by far suffered the most.

Being Jewish meant, in most cases, a death sentence (sometimes a “delayed” one), while being a Pole, Russian, etc. didn’t, except under certain circumstances (e.g. the deaths of ~3 million Soviet POWs were systematically arranged, so being a Russian POW in the early stages meant death with a great probability, outside of that context not so much).

179
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:23:22am

re: #174 wheat-dogg

Why not both?

That’s what I ended up doing. Bagel with corned beef and Swiss and some fresh fruit.

180
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:23:49am

re: #178 Nyet

Being Jewish meant, in most cases, a death sentence (sometimes a “delayed” one), while being a Pole, Russian, etc. didn’t, except under certain circumstances (e.g. the deaths of ~3 million Soviet POWs were systematically arranged, so being a Russian POW in the early stages meant death with a great probability, outside of that context not so much).

Exactly.

181
wheat-dogg  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:30:56am

re: #179 HappyWarrior

That’s what I ended up doing. Bagel with corned beef and Swiss and some fresh fruit.

I lucked out today. My local bakery had just pulled out loaves of the bread I like for breakfast. I ate some even though it was mid afternoon. They don’t wrap the loaves, so usually by the time I get to them, they’ve dried out some.

My breakfast tomorrow will be easy.

182
jeffreyw  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:35:14am

re: #173 HappyWarrior

Sweet or savory breakfast today or both, that is the question!

I like to keep my options open.

Imgur

Imgur

183
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:40:44am

A stormfronter on that Cabaret song:

Many self-righteous “anti-racists” take a great deal of smirking pleasure in the fact that this song, so beloved of Wicked, Evil, Monstrous Dumb Racists, was in fact written by pair of jews. But the laugh is actually on them, for, in trying to illustrate the “horrors of Nazism,” the jews as usual overreached themselves, producing a magnificent proWhite anthem in spite of their intentions.

184
The Vicious Babushka  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:41:36am
185
Ace Rothstein  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:44:14am

re: #184 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

Family values.

186
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:46:28am

re: #184 The Vicious Babushka

Notably, among the GOP crowd, the live boys win against the dead girls.

187
Ace Rothstein  Mar 19, 2017 • 7:51:58am

re: #184 The Vicious Babushka

In 2012 he proposed a bill outlawing the use of aborted fetuses in food.

188
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:15:00am

re: #187 Ace Rothstein

In 2012 he proposed a bill outlawing the use of aborted fetuses in food.

Another example of conservatives legislating against their own fevered imaginations.

189
makeitstop  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:16:31am

re: #89 Nyet

I use Putin, Russian govt, Russia, or Putin’s Russia when appropriate.

Putiniks?

190
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:19:18am

re: #189 makeitstop

(S)putniks :D (“sputnik” = “fellow traveler” btw).

191
Stanley Sea  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:25:06am
192
Joe Bacon  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:27:41am
193
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:29:27am

re: #192 Joe Bacon

They’ve been talking about this mythical “good bill” for almost eight years now.

194
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:30:01am
195
BigPapa  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:30:30am

re: #193 jaunte

They’ve been talking about this mythical “good bill” for almost eight years now.

Snipe Hunt Legislation

196
Joe Bacon  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:34:49am
197
Varek Raith  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:35:11am

Good morning.
clips.twitch.tv

198
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:40:57am
199
Joe Bacon  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:42:54am
200
BigPapa  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:42:55am
201
Nyet  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:46:53am

re: #200 BigPapa

Nah, this is the actual finale, a Hollywood happy end.

littlegreenfootballs.com

202
BigPapa  Mar 19, 2017 • 8:58:10am

Damn 90 and still cracking. Awesome.

203
Barefoot Grin  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:04:48am

I read some of the testimony Nyet posted on Babi Yar and it fucked up my dreams last night. Should not have tried to imagine the scenes or the terror of those being led into to ditches. Ugh.

204
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:12:00am

Where does Trump find all these deep thinkers?

205
Ace Rothstein  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:19:03am

re: #204 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Where does Trump find all these deep thinkers?

CPAC.

206
makeitstop  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:21:31am

I’m sad to hear of Breslin’s passing. He was so good at chronicling NYC, better than anyone before or since.

In a way, he was the Chuck Berry of NYC columnists - he developed a language specific to the Five Boroughs, which writers often borrow from yet never use as well.

RIP, Mr. Breslin.

207
Varek Raith  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:23:58am

re: #204 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Where does Trump find all these deep thinkers?

JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER COUNTRY DOES!
Oh wait…

208
Jay C  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:26:23am

re: #204 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Where does Trump find all these deep thinkers?

It’s not just Trump: he might have picked these buffoons for important slots, but it’s the Senate who confirmed them. How many of Donald’s nominees have actually been voted down? Zero? One?
Senate Republicans have as much responsibility for acquiescing in the placement of these incompetents as the Incompetent-in-Chief does for putting them up in the first place.
But how many times are we likely to be reminded of that… Zero? One?

209
HappyWarrior  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:29:46am

re: #204 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Where does Trump find all these deep thinkers?

This is the same butthead defending cutting breakfasts because there’s “No proof” they work. Heartless dick but hey let’s enable the military industrial complex some more!

210
Belafon  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:33:36am

re: #196 Joe Bacon

[Embedded content]

The AHCA, like Trump’s budget, it designed to pit the middle class against the poor, and whites against blacks. That way the wealthy can laugh.

211
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:33:43am
212
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:34:08am

re: #198 jaunte

They’re not blank, they’re just really, really white.

//

213
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:34:21am

re: #207 Varek Raith

JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER COUNTRY DOES!
Oh wait…

I hope at some point a reporter is able to ask Mulvaney why the entire population of Canada or the UK isn’t in jail.

214
Stanley Sea  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:36:51am
215
allegro  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:39:34am

re: #214 Stanley Sea

[Embedded content]

And he will donate his salary. Someday. Yanno maybe.

Wanna buy a bridge?

216
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:40:54am
217
Patricia Kayden  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:41:29am

re: #145 Jay C

Jeez, is there nothing today’s “alt-right” won’t try to promulgate, regard of how ahistorical/nonsensical it might be?*

A tad late for St. Pat’s Day, but I found this at the New York Times’ site: The Myth of “Irish Slaves”

Complete with “cites” from Alex Jones, and reeking of racist subtext: what a shock…..

* rhetorical question: of course not

I’m shocked. Wow, didn’t know that was a myth.

218
Jay C  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:44:39am

re: #214 Stanley Sea

[Embedded content]

Heh. Given the Trump Organization’s usual standards of accounting and financial reporting, I’m guessing that no matter how much money they make, they’ll figure out some way to declare it as a loss, and claim a tax write-off or refund from the government.

219
Stanley Sea  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:46:46am

re: #218 Jay C

Heh. Given the Trump Organization’s usual standards of accounting and financial reporting, I’m guessing that no matter how much money they make, they’ll figure out some way to declare it as a loss, and claim a tax write-off or refund from the government.

No biggie.

220
allegro  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:51:25am

re: #218 Jay C

Heh. Given the Trump Organization’s usual standards of accounting and financial reporting, I’m guessing that no matter how much money they make, they’ll figure out some way to declare it as a loss, and claim a tax write-off or refund from the government.

Also note that this only includes profits from foreign dignitaries and not profits from taxpayers $ for all the SS and staff he drags along to his every week vacation.

221
jaunte  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:55:34am
222
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 19, 2017 • 9:58:12am

re: #216 Backwoods_Sleuth

Also, his first name is Hassan.

Fuck these CBP assholes.

223
BigPapa  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:03:35am

re: #203 Barefoot Grin

I read some of the testimony Nyet posted on Babi Yar and it fucked up my dreams last night. Should not have tried to imagine the scenes or the terror of those being led into to ditches. Ugh.

I had some terrible dreams a few nights ago, highlighted by a situation where I was a gay monk in my monastery and a couple of thugs came to visit us. Hanging around, enjoying the terror they engendered, tormenting us. It was sorta Game of Thrones-y but with current context of Trump.

I recall thinking they’re either going to stab me, throw me over the wall, or leave… only to come back every so often and play the same game.

Woke up creeped the fuck out. Then thought people actually lived through this, and may still. And may again in the future.

224
Barefoot Grin  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:06:08am

re: #223 BigPapa

I had some terrible dreams a few nights ago, highlighted by a situation where I was a gay monk in my monastery and a couple of thugs came to visit us. Hanging around, enjoying the terror they engendered, tormenting us. It was sorta Game of Thrones-y but with current context of Trump.

I recall thinking they’re either going to stab me, throw me over the wall, or leave… only to come back every so often and play the same game.

Woke up creeped the fuck out. Then thought people actually lived through this, and may still. And may again in the future.

Wow! Yes, my dreams were not in Kiev but were something similar happening here. I think I may have become too anxious by over-engaging with news on the Trump admin. as well.

225
retired cynic  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:08:56am

I did not understand the NATO rules correctly, that the 2% of GDP the NATO countries pledged to contribute, was to build up their own defense. I should have known; 2% of GDP is BIG. So DT was over-the-top wrong in his pushing on “Germany owes us bigly” crap during the week. Martin Longman explained: boomantribune.com.

Boy, I felt dumb.

226
Barefoot Grin  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:15:11am

re: #225 retired cynic

I did not understand the NATO rules correctly, that the 2% of GDP the NATO countries pledged to contribute, was to build up their own defense. I should have known; 2% of GDP is BIG. So DT was over-the-top wrong in his pushing on “Germany owes us bigly” crap during the week. Martin Longman explained: boomantribune.com.

Boy, I felt dumb.

That’s because you’re capable of self-examination. Trump will double down.

227
scottslemmons  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:16:03am
228
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:17:34am
229
I Would Prefer Not To  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:19:32am

ABLE-BODIED SENIOR WHO WATCHES TV ALL DAY RECEIVES FREE GOVERNMENT MEALS

I Love Andy Borowitz

230
BigPapa  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:22:05am
231
Eric The Fruit Bat  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:26:11am

Robert Reich on Facebook:

I’ve spent much of this week in Washington – talking with friends still in government, former colleagues, high-ranking Democrats, a few Republican pundits, and some members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. It was my first visit to our nation’s capital since Trump became president.
My verdict:
1. Washington is more divided, angry, bewildered, and fearful – than I’ve ever seen it.
2. The angry divisions aren’t just Democrats versus Republicans. Rancor is also exploding inside the Republican Party.
3. Republicans (and their patrons in big business) no longer believe Trump will give them cover to do what they want to do. They’re becoming afraid Trump is genuinely nuts, and he’ll pull the party down with him.
4. Many Republicans are also angry at Paul Ryan, whose replacement bill for Obamacare is considered by almost everyone on Capitol Hill to be incredibly dumb.
5. I didn’t talk with anyone inside the White House, but several who have had dealings with it called it a cesspool of intrigue and fear. Apparently everyone working there hates and distrusts everyone else.
6. The Washington foreign policy establishment – both Republican and Democrat – is deeply worried about what’s happening to American foreign policy, and the worldwide perception of America being loony and rudderless. They think Trump is legitimizing far-right movements around the world.
7. Long-time civil servants are getting ready to bail. If they’re close to retirement they’re already halfway out the door. Many in their 30s and 40s are in panic mode.
8. Republican pundits think Bannon is even more unhinged than Trump, seeking to destroy democracy as we’ve known it.
9. Despite all this, no one I talked with thought a Trump impeachment likely, at least not any time soon — unless there’s a smoking gun showing Trump’s involvement in Russia’s intrusion into the election.
10. Many people asked, bewilderedly, “how did this [Trump] happen?” When I suggest it had a lot to do with the 35-year-long decline of incomes of the bottom 60 percent; the growing sense, ever since the Wall Street bailout, that the game is rigged; and the utter failure of both Republicans and Democrats to reverse these trends – they gave me blank stares.
What do you think?

232
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:26:52am
233
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:29:11am
234
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:30:46am

re: #233 Backwoods_Sleuth

Trump’s approval sliding to 37%(!) today.

That’s below Obama’s lowest approval ever, and we’re only two months in.

Pentagon has standing orders to initiate hostilities with its nation of choice as soon as figures dip below 30%

235
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:30:49am
236
Skip Intro  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:33:52am

re: #235 Backwoods_Sleuth

He will be in charge of the department that takes away your civil rights.

237
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:36:19am
238
Targetpractice  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:40:29am

re: #233 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

That’s going to chafe something fierce, that he’s now polling lower than the black man he thinks he’s better than.

239
Timothy Watson  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:44:14am

re: #237 Backwoods_Sleuth

is this a trick question frank

He needs to focus group it to be sure.

240
PhillyPretzel  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:44:21am

re: #233 Backwoods_Sleuth

And his staff will tell him the opposite. Even if they have to make up the numbers.

241
Jay C  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:46:33am

re: #238 Targetpractice

That’s going to chafe something fierce, that he’s now polling lower than the black man he every Republican thinks he’s they’re better than.

Fixt

ALSO: a 58-37 split means only 5% “don’t know”/no opinion. Not a lot of room there….

242
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:48:17am

re: #237 Backwoods_Sleuth

243
Targetpractice  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:48:54am

Dubya (IIRC) bottomed out at 25%, so Trump has plenty of room left to sink. It really says a lot that he’s now polling lower that Obama’s worst point and he’s not even three months into his first term.

244
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 19, 2017 • 10:49:04am

re: #241 Jay C

Fixt

Not every, but far too many.

245
mmmirele  Mar 19, 2017 • 11:01:46am

re: #243 Targetpractice

Dubya (IIRC) bottomed out at 25%, so Trump has plenty of room left to sink. It really says a lot that he’s now polling lower that Obama’s worst point and he’s not even three months into his first term.

I remember how awful Bush performed in his first months and thought, it’s just going to get worse. And then 9/11 happened. I don’t want that to happen again. :(

246
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 19, 2017 • 11:02:51am

re: #245 mmmirele

I remember how awful Bush performed in his first months and thought, it’s just going to get worse. And then 9/11 happened. I don’t want that to happen again. :(

It can be arranged…

247
stpaulbear  Mar 19, 2017 • 11:04:56am

re: #184 The Vicious Babushka

Shortey, 35, has not been charged with a crime.

“The Senate resolution stripped Shortey of his capitol office and parking space. It also removes him from two positions as a committee vice chair and terminates his membership in other committees. By mid-afternoon, workers had already scraped Shortey’s name off Room 412 and painted over his assigned parking space with a notice that the space is reserved for the Senate. The Oklahoma City Republican also must return a state-owned laptop and any other state property he has in his possession.

The Senate could have expelled Shortey by a two-thirds vote but didn’t, so he will remain the senator for Oklahoma’s District 44 in southwest Oklahoma City. However, he will have virtually no power or authority. His lone executive assistant has been reassigned and he cannot spend state money on office supplies or postage.

Shortey can still vote on the Senate floor and he will also still receive a monthly paycheck of $3,200 plus benefits.”

Sounds like they’re trying to shame him but he still gets his full pay and he keeps his senate seat. There are a couple pictures in that article that show Shortey posing with a couch full of guns. I wonder if he carried any of these penis extensions to his trysts?

There’s also an interview with a couple of women who voted for him because ‘christian’. They say that they could have forgiven him if he’d been with a hired man instead of a hired kid, and I believe that, because he’s a ‘christian’ lawmaker.


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