I am on the bus after Drinking Liberally, and am behind someone who smells strongly like vaping. I have smelled worse many times on the bus, or on the light rail. Hell, many times on this route.
But what is our obligation to smell reasonable on the bus? And did this person move in that direction by switching from smoking to vaping?
I would like to now go on record that I’m officially through reading about or listening to White House staffers’ sadness and frustration at the state of chaos in their workplace.
Fuck those idiots. Like every single other aspect of this ongoing unraveling of “conservatism” this shit is all self-imposed. They are doing this to themselves. They can stop at any time.
Stop serving President BabyShits. Stop defending Nazis. Stop calling for more violence. Stop lashing out at poor people looking for work. Stop burning people’s ballots. Stop dog whistling racists. Stop defending failure. Stop being Republican. Just stop.
Do that, then maybe we’ll listen to their shit again.
Maybe.
So I guess the Stock Market is NOT loving this divided government now. Last weeks fart of the love of divided government seems to have waft away into the smell of a rose (the market doesn’t like the smell of roses).
Or this could all be some gimmick for some to take advantage of others. Those that bought high and then were stupid enough to sell low (I admit – I use to be one of those idiots). Take their money and run.
Forty newly elected House Democrats. Twenty eight of them women or POC.
Thirty one newly elected House Republicans. Thirty of them white dude-bros named Squi.
Remember the 2010 “wave” mid term when uppity Democrats were “punished” for “overreach”?
Republican margin was +6.6%.
Now we come to this midterm when, once again, uppity Democrats are being “punished” for “overreach” (plus also being mean to juvenile gang rapists). Republican margin was -6.7% and still growing.
Don’t you know, Carl, nobody has any sense of civic obligation anymore, which is why most people think buses are for other people to ride so they can get home faster in their cars.
Not having a sense of civic responsibility also makes it possible to vote Republican.
@1 Are you demanding 100% compliance, 95%, 75%, 50%, or will you take 30%? Asking for a casual acquaintance I don’t know very well.
@2 “So I guess the Stock Market is NOT loving this divided government now.”
That has little to do with it. This is mostly about the strong dollar and rising interest rates, overlaying the slowing economy (yes, it’s slowing).
Prior to 1861 the Unites States Attorney General did not have any direct authority over the United States Attorney’s Offices. Each independent USAO instead answered to the Solicitor of the Treasury. There was no central legal department in the federal government to oversee federal prosecutors and direct the prosecution or declination decisions regarding possible violations of federal laws. And the DOJ wasn’t created until 1870.
In an effort to square a Presidential temper tantrum with The Law the DOJ’s Office of Legal Council was directed by The Counsel to The President, Mr. Emmet Flood, to prepare a memo explaining the decision to appoint a deeply unqualified partisan throne sniffer as “acting” Attorney General. In their memo they find but one single historical precedent for grabbing a random shoe shine and trying to name him “acting” AG. And that instance was before the DOJ even existed, when the AG’s duties were functionally and legally limited to serving as a cabinet adviser, and at a time when every single USAO was operated independently.
It is well worth noting here that until Don McGahan’s replacement Pat Cipollone can manage to pass a background review (wife beating anyone?) Mr. Flood, as “acting” White House Counsel, is in a legally conflicted position regarding the legality of this appointment. Since Mr. Flood is also serving as President Stupid’s criminal defense counsel. He has a very significant interest in finding that the appointment is “legal”.
The OLC memo then goes on to essentially dodge entirely the question of whether or not the former AG was fired or resigned voluntarily. But OLC does insist that it doesn’t matter because the effect is the same, providing the novel reasoning that “firing” the AG would render him “unable to perform the office functions”. We haven’t seen much of Sesh since his departure last Wednesday night. But I do think it’s worth noting that over the course of the twelve hours that followed the announcement of his further “inability to perform the office functions” he got quite a lot done in a very official capacity.
The effect of all this is uncertain, to say the least. But I’m inclined to think that in the performance of his duties Flood put this together in consultation with Whitaker as a fig leaf for President BabyShits during what was, by all accounts, and even for him, an unprecedented emotional melt down. And while we may never know how DAG Rosenstein or SC Mueller view the legality of Mr. Whitaker’s authority, they are probably safe to ignore it in the near term and leave it to Mr. Whitaker to push the issue if he dares. Judging by the quality of this memo he’d be wise to continue hanging his official portraits throughout the halls and offices at main, and otherwise leave the lawyerin’ to the lawyers.
We have over $21 TRILLION in national debt, and I don’t hear anyone, Democrat or Republican, saying anything at all about getting that debt paid-down. Even a little bit! It’s always about spending. No one ever talks about paying-down the debt!
9,
Plenty of Democrats are talking about it. Maybe you just aren’t listening?
Incoming House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith, WA, says “… it is my firm belief that, given the $22 trillion debt and trillion-dollar deficit produced by the Republicans’ tax cuts, the Pentagon is going to have less money in the future. We need to scrub the defense budget to better reflect that reality”.
$70 billion to build and $150 million per year to operate and maintain a border wall that a child can walk around? Nope.
Trashing nuclear containment of Korea and Iran in order to justify a $1.2 trillion expenditure to modernize and expand nuclear arsenal? Nope.
$1 trillion dollars per year in tax Republicunt giveaways to billionaires and corporations? Nope.
That game is played out. Treasonous EEEN-DEE-PEN-DUNCE who traded away their patriotism for permission to tell racist jokes around the water cooler can go fuck themselves. They never cared about deficit spending when it was paying to lock sobbing Guatemalan toddlers in darkened tile lined rooms to await their rapists. They don’t get to care now. Get the fuck out of the way and let Democrats take care of things. The rest of you can not be trusted.
anyone else getting a word press “potentially Dangerous” error message?
The lawyer for President BabyShits’ Sticky Porn Lady Girlfriend got into a DV scrape with his wife today and got arrested.
It’s gonna just kill Teh Dumbfuck to read that and not be able to jump on it in the comments.
#theotherstuff
Hey, the bitch hit me first!
@8 “We haven’t seen much of Sesh since his departure last Wednesday night.”
He’s probably panhandling for a rainmaking billet with a D.C. law firm willing to pay him a million bucks a year.
@9 No need to pay it off or down, all you need do is roll over maturing bonds and pay interest. The latter could get a wee bit sticky if the debt and/or interest rates continue rising, but you can always raise taxes or cut military spending (e.g., get out of Afghanistan) to cover higher debt service costs.
@11 A lot of shit happens to my computer, but that particular shit isn’t happening to my computer.
@13 Apparently not hard enough.
Insiders say a “dark mood” has descended over the White House. CNN reports,
“Friends of the President describe him as embittered by the election losses and troubled by the Mueller investigation. … Some of his longtime confidants are worried for his health, believing he’s gained weight and looks unwell.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/politics/donald-trump-mood-pissed-white-house-intrigue/index.html
They say Hitler became depressed and pale, too, and suffered from trembling hands when told the Russians were just down the block.
@9 I’ve talked about the debt, for the last 15 years. Stop cutting taxes, and raise them instead, that will lessen the debt. Start with raising the cap on the Social Security taxable income limit for one.
Republicans give two shits about the Debt, they just use it as a wedge. They don’t really care about spending for investment either.
Not sure if you are Democrat or Republican (or Independent or closeted Republican) but your timing of chiming in about the Debt, after the mid term elections, is really strange. And why should reducing the debt only be about cutting spending. How about raising taxes?
When most people have trouble with their own personal expenses, they try to do a little of both – they try to reduce unnecessary expenses and reduce costs as well as try to earn a little more with odd jobs or a looking for a better job – Doing both leads to success. If you just think of eliminating all your expenses, you just become homeless and more of a problem to society.
I’m all in favor of getting out of Afghanistan. While we’re at it, let’s end all of our overseas outposts as a cost cutting measure. Why does the US have to have hundreds of overseas bases? How about ending this crap?
@19 “Not sure if you are Democrat or Republican (or Independent or closeted Republican) ”
Your answer is @20, he’s a Randian isolationist.
@9
“The growth of revenues from tax cuts will bring down the deficit.”
It’s complete bullshit and repeatedly real world tested bullshit but if you’re the GOP Bullshit smells like roses.
Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief get his report card:
“The Trump administration’s new National Defense Strategy is insufficiently resourced and the US runs the risk of a military defeat by China or Russia, according to a report by a congressionally mandated panel of bipartisan experts that was released Wednesday.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/politics/us-defense-strategy-risk/index.html
@21
Talk about being short-sighted. Something about, “fight them when the are not on your home soil.”
Now if we could just do something about the home-grown angry white males…..
20,
What? You never heard of Castle and Cook? Union Carbide?
So your little Murica Furst! plan involves launching trade wars with half the globe, cutting off our access to cheap unskilled labor while simultaneously wrecking the “security relationships” our corporate overlords depend on. Marvelous! I guess your kids will have to pay for your retirement by “monetizing” their Instagram.
@24 He’d rather fight them in the Hawaiian Islands than the Spratly Islands.
“Now if we could just do something about the home-grown angry white males…..”
Put them to work digging trenches and stringing barbed wire on Waikiki Beach, our new front line of defense and forward operating base.
In which the President of the United States says you need ID to buy a box of cereal, so what’s the big deal with requiring ID to vote?
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-voter-id-cereal-grocery-store_us_5bec7b0ae4b0a2569fd13a0f
Roger Rabbit Commentary: It’s obviously been a long time since he’s done his own grocery shopping.
Yes, it’s true that asylum seekers are massing on the southern border of a North American country.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/record-number-us-citizens-sought-asylum-canada_us_5beca1c9e4b09f46700662ed
9,
I did a little number crunching, and at the current 30-year interest rate for bonds and the level of debt at over $21 trillion, it would take a payment of approximately $94,000,000,000 to pay off the national debt in 30 years of monthly payments. I think it’s safe to say this idea wouldn’t fly with the public
Even if we got serious about paying it off, it would probably take at least a century of monthly payments to retire all of the debt. I’d be happy if we were to eliminate the deficit first, then start whittling down the principal of the bonds over time. I think we could pay it all off in 200 years or so if we ever get serious about it.
@28 this past election gives me a little hope but either Canada or Ireland are looking pretty good now.
My parents have a home in Southern Italy. In the town where they were both born and raised. It’s my Father’s Mother’s home. I’ve been there many times, more than a handful. But not even sure I would go live there as opposed to Ireland. But I do plan to get my dual citizenship (Italy) soon. I guess it is always good to have.
29,
So you’re saying we can actually survive as a society without a hundred “stealth” LCS at $1 billion per?
Two thirds of the most expensive goverment procurement programs are in the navy.
Paying off the debt is a bad idea for the simple reason that Treasuries play an invaluable role in the financial system. Insurance companies, banks, and pension funds rely on them as a safe way to store money for future needs and earning interest in the meantime. Without this investment vehicle, those savings would be subjected to higher risk. There is no equivalent replacement for them. A financial world without Treasuries is like machinery without grease. It would run much less smoothly and break down far more often.
Moreover, a growing debt is not problematical per se. The nominal dollar value of the debt isn’t very meaningful. You should measure it as a percentage of GDP. A larger economy can support a larger debt, and a debt that’s growing more slowly than the economy is shrinking in practical terms. So you have to look at both debt growth and GDP growth to understand what’s really going on. As long as you limit deficits to GDP growth you are not going deeper into debt.
Did 45 finally break the GOP or was Dino a totally awful candidate.
I mean 45 managed 38% in King county but Dino only managed 35% in his own home city of Sammamish. How do you go to Starbucks in the morning knowing 65% of the people in there hate you, Dino?
Schrier wiped the floor with Dino in Issaquah, Maple Valley, Sammamish, Covington, Preston, Snoqualmie…
Could it be that 40 years of pitting white upper middle class Eastsiders against everyone else and ‘Real America East of the Mountains’ against ‘Pansy Seattle’ has finally made the GOP so toxic to the Seattle suburbs that even the Gerrymandered to save Dave Reichert 8th is now a dead zone for WAGOP?
It really doesn’t matter. All that matters now is WAGOP has pissed away what should have been an easy seat by running DINO!
Don’t hear about the migrant caravan anymore. With the election over, its usefulness has ended.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/politics/donald-trump-caravan/index.html
@33 Rossi, with the backing of a political party and a multimillion-dollar campaign war chest, could do about 10 percentage points better than Richard Pope in a statewide race and 5 percent better in a local race.
His extroverted personality (compared to Pope’s bland personality) may have given him an edge, but more likely he got the goatfucker vote in the tules and Pope didn’t.
Subtract the goat abusers and they’d probably run about even if you gave Rossi $1 million and Pope $10,000 to spend on their campaigns.
32,
You’ve obviously missed a key point.
We need to get the US gradually out of debt because the GOP economic plan is for the United States to retire, move into a trailer park next to a tire dump, and drink beer until it dies.
33,
We can probably thank PresidentPornAbortion for breaking the GOP in the far west. Watch closely now as a further wave of GOP House and Senate retirements spread like ripples in still water all across CA, AZ, NV, CO, NM, OR, WA, and yes even eventually ID, MT, and UT. Western states Democrats need to get and stay mobilized to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Well it’s official. Reliably Red and Conservative Orange County, CA will not be represented in Congress by a single Republican.
38,
Many media outlets are arguing that it was Latino mobilization that tipped the balance. But that really doesn’t explain Orange.
Exit polling indicates it was moderate women and younger voters who flipped most of these seats (but mobilization remains important for boosting performance statewide, and for flipping CV districts like Denham’s*). We’ll know more when we see vote file data. But it’s looking like ride-or-die for Associate Justice BeerDrunk McPunchFuck was a costly culture wars failure in both chambers.
*CA-10 led the vanguard among Latino turnout districts at 18%. But that’s actually down from 2016 despite unprecedented mobilization effort. Registrations are up. And it is hoped that a more sustained outreach can build improving turnout for the future.
Meanwhile in Florida, state judges and federal judges keep telling GOP,
“Yeah your election laws are fucked up and designed to depress the count and no. Count the ballots.”
Today’s ruling, ”You mean you have people with zero handwriting analysis background deciding the validity of signatures? AND The law says elections boards shouldn’t try to notify voters of rejection? Oh hell no. Keep counting”
@36 You’re confusing me with some other rabbit. I’m a Democratic party hack and liberal propagandist, not a Republican strategist.
@40 The military ballots. What about the military ballots? Yes, I know Trump doesn’t want to count them. That’s my point.
P.S., Recent military retirees among my circle of veteran contacts assure me the military vote isn’t as red as GOP propagandists would have you believe.
We learned yesterday that Facebook hired a GOP oppo firm to smear George Soros:
“Facebook hired a PR firm that attempted to discredit the company’s critics by claiming they were agents of the billionaire George Soros, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/14/facebook-george-soros-pr-firm-discredit-critics-crisis
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Nice. Maybe it’s time to regulate social media companies. After all, we regulate every other kind of business, including small businesses in no position to do remotely near the damage Facebook and Zuckerberg have done to our democracy.
21 – Say whatever you want. If it’ll help undo the past one hundred and twenty years of idiotic foreign policy, I do not care what you say.
A hand recount of the Florida Senate race was ordered this afternoon. State law requires a hand recount if the candidates are within 0.25%, and after the machine recount, the GOP lead is 0.15%, so the hand recount is automatic under state law.
@44 The past 120 years of U.S. foreign policy was not uniformly idiotic. Some of it was, most of it was not. The people who think we can disengage from the world, and live in peace and prosperity unaffected by what goes on elsewhere, are the idiots.
Is this thread really donkey show doc free? Fellow progressives, that’s progress!
One more time!
dino.. 4-time… lossi….
It’s just tooo goood!
Trump, to get Turkey off Saudi Arabia’s back for killing a dissident Saudi journalist on Turkish soil, is offering Turkey a dissident Turkish cleric who’s in the United States.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/white-house-weighs-booting-erdogan-foe-u-s-appease-turkey-n933996
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Trump gets a twofer here — keeps his Saudi murderer friends happy, and another dissident ends up dead.
Boo hoo, the poor pitiful “Nationalists” want global trade, access to cheap labor, plenty of natural resources, oceans of cheap oil and other fossil fuels, and adolescent K-pop girl groups to choke fap to. But they want it on their terms exclusively.
Do you like coffee? Well, you can’t grow coffee trees in Spokane, Cupcake. So you are going to have to trade for it. And the simple reality is that people in Brazil and Vietnam don’t have to take your shit anymore. They’ve got a great big world of options for trading partners.
The simple truth of the matter is that if you want access to foreign markets you have to relinquish just a teeny tiny bit of your precious FREEDUMB. Or you can stop drinking coffee, etc. etc.
What a rightwing creepshot looks like.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/creep-shot-firestorm-over-photo-ocasio-cortez-posted-twitter-n936906
“Is this thread really donkey show doc free?”
Yeah, that’s two threads in a row. I just hope he’s not under arrest, charged with lynching the loon (RIP). SAD!
47,
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
But unless I miss my bet he’s lurking and waiting for some kind of “overreach” that he can try to pounce on rhetorically. The problem with that this time is that these slow rolling results all seem to be coming up craps for the GOP. Even the “best case” Senate results remaining are a considerable failure, given the once-in-a-lifetime arrangement of vulnerable seats. And in the mean time Teh Cheeto Jeebus continues to decompensate while the WH staff look on in horror and the number of Senate confirmed principal officers remaining in government could easily share an Uber.
Might as well enjoy it while we can. Because if BatBoy pulls it out in FLA I’m sure Teh Dumbfuck will turn up to perform a lap or two of hip thrusting and fist pumping.
i.e., teh dumbfuck donkey show. That’s entertainment to HA HEROES.
We’ll remember the days of “eh, that not so ‘wave’ of blue”…
@47
He is waiting for the announcement that Hillary will run in 2020, then he will be back with his chortling of how awful of a candidate she was and for us to think of our sins.
This time we can counter with Rossi, the 4-time loser that can’t even get elected as dog catcher in a hand-carved district that has always been GOP. Talk about a truly awful candidate. At least Hillary could win a statewide election.
Has anyone ever stopped to think that a contributing factor of why this economy is so Awesone and great is that people are addicted to making purchase like an addiction on crack because of the technology of email. I mean I get 20-30 emails a day of solicitation of sales. With this amount of marketing (otherwise they wouldn’t do it) it is definitely causing people just to spend and buy shit they don’t need that otherwise the wouldn’t be buying if they hadn’t gotten that marketing emsil. I the olden days no email, no impulsive purchases.
But the fucking Hump and GOP think he it’s them and that they are so fucking awesome with their extreme knowledge of money.
It’s reslly only been a couple of years now where people are targeted of merchandise based on cookies and you can’t go look at a retail website without being asked for your email.
@55 It’s even worse than that. They’re buying it with borrowed money. America has become financially illiterate.
What Trump’s government looks like from inside:
“‘In this administration, there are arsonists and there are firefighters. The President is looking to get rid of the firefighters. The more he does, the faster his administration is going to burn down,’ a senior administration official told CNN’s Jake Tapper.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-investigation/index.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Waytago, dumbfucks. If you voted for Trump, you built this.
#winning
Topping today’s news feeds, Trump has unleashed a kneejerk tweetstorm that’s prompting speculation about what set him off. There are clues:
“The President’s fury sparked questions over whether he has any advance knowledge of any indictments Mueller may be preparing, or has gleaned other insight about the case ….
“Those events included a visit by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is facing jail time on tax and fraud charges, to the special counsel’s office on Monday.
“Attorneys for Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort, who is cooperating with Mueller after his own conviction, were seen at Mueller’s office this week.
“Jerome Corsi, an associate of former Trump political adviser Roger Stone … [is] in plea talks with Mueller’s team.
“Stone, who also appears to be in Mueller’s sights, released text messages with an alleged WikiLeaks back channel about ‘big news’ about Hillary Clinton’s campaign six days before the site released hacked emails.
“Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has reportedly told friends that he could he could be indicted, possibly over a meeting he and other Trump campaign officials held with a Russian lawyer promising ‘dirt’ on Clinton. …”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/donald-trump-robert-mueller-investigation/index.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Yeah, there’s some reasons to be in a foul mood. Plus this:
“Mueller’s questions likely offered Trump his most explicit sense yet as to where the investigation may be going and … what witnesses have told Mueller. And the task of answering the questions, under the risk of perjury, may be a deeply unpleasant experience for him.”
I’m sure it is. Getting interrogated by the cops is never fun when you’re guilty as hell.
Breaking News – A federal judge appointed by Trump has ruled in CNN’s favor and ordered the White House to temporarily reinstate Jim Acosta’s press pass.
A bit too much Kremlinology for my taste.
But not for nuthin’, and for pretty good reason, there’s credible speculation that more indictments are coming real soon, like today.
Yesterday OSC asked for a brief delay in filing their status report on cooperation agreements (so many cooperation agreements) that was due today. Dudes are pros so they aren’t dicking the court around. They need more time to file because they’ve got something brewing that should not be made public. And I wouldn’t expect them to screw over everyone’s Thanksgiving travel plans.
Are those tanks rolling on Pennsylvania Ave?
“The Department of Education on Friday proposed new rules for dealing with sexual harassment and assault on college campuses that would bolster the rights of those accused of wrongdoing.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/politics/education-department-betsy-devos-sexual-misconduct/index.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: No one should be surprised that Trump and his education secretary, a billionaire who knows more about finishing schools than public schools, are more interested in protecting perpetrators than victims.
After all they’re the Party of Kavanaugh.
@60 Maybe there’s just a lot of them and they didn’t have a big enough wheelbarrow.
Last week, GOP Sen. Footinmouth said she’d love to have a front row seat at a good hanging, evoking Mississippi’s lynching past.
Yesterday, she tweeted, “And then they remind me, that there’s a lot of liberal folks in those other schools* who that maybe we don’t want to vote. Maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult. And I think that’s a great idea.”
* Mississippi has black colleges and universities
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cindy-hyde-smith-voter-suppression_us_5beea9b7e4b0c19de3fecb10
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This racist dumbfuck probably will be elected to the Senate in the Nov. 27 runoff. After all, this is Mississippi we’re talking about, which is barely part of the United States. True, the state’s population is 40% black. But as the GOP candidate points out, they’re not allowed to vote.