HorsesAss.Org

Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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The Daily Show: Iran’s Foreign Minister vows not-so-swift revenge

Wired: Former Secret Service agent explains how to detect counterfeit money.

Roll Call: Authorizing conflict—The AUMF and Congress explained.

Bruce Nelson: Staying hopeful in troubled times, aka, “The shit song”.

The Dotard Трамп and Other Murderous Dictator Wannabees:

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses of the week.

MoveOn: Nationwide news coverage of #NoWarWithIran protests.

The Atlantic: The dramatic 5-year journey of opening a zero-waste restaurant.

Rachel Maddow: Another vindication for Clinton as probe reportedly hits dead end.

Twenty-twenty Vision:

Vox: How to fix our unreliable power grid.

Bruce Nelson: It can only get better once it can’t get worse.

The Atlantic: How cities became childless

Farron Cousins: After 3-year investigation, DOJ still can’t find any way to prosecute Hillary Clinton.

Robert Reich: Four reasons why millennials don’t have any money

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Comments

  1. 1

    If the War Powers Act is going to be stretched and ignored by Presidents, it may need to be reformed.

  2. 2

    GOP Pollster and doublespeak guru Frank Luntz:

    On this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, Vanity Fair special correspondent Gabriel Sherman, who was attending the Globes for his show, The Loudest Voice, relayed a story that sums up the Trump presidency and the mess we’re currently living in. Standing near the bar, Sherman ran into Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, and the two started chatting. Sherman asked Luntz when he last saw the President. “Last week, at the White House Christmas party,” Luntz said. Sherman asked what the two men talked about, to which Luntz replied that he had asked Trump what his middle initial “J” stands for. “Genius,” Trump responded.

  3. 3

    A Look inside the numbers. When the Orange Messiah says “Your (sic) doing better than any time in history because me.””

    12,000 manufacturing jobs lost in Dec.

    8,000 mining jobs lost in Dec. (24,000 mining jobs lost in 2019)

  4. 4

    @ Pilsner #3

    Boeing is starting layoffs in Kansas City and Wichita, 6500 slated for retirement buyouts and layoffs with a pretty little severance. More to come. Those 737 MAX aircraft may never fly again and there are several dozen major airlines setting up to sue the company. The eventual payout total might even exceed those of PG&E in California last year.

    Point # 2, the machine shops that are doing civilian aircraft parts are slowing down a LOT, several in Wichita are already laying people off and one is just closing while the getting is good, that’s about 35 people right there. That means the Lazy B is not buying parts like they were last year.

  5. 5

    ” “We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” Benito Mussolini”

    – John Cornwin (R) Texas

  6. 6

    Can a state rescind its ratification of a constitutional amendment? And once Congress adopts one, is there a deadline for its ratification by three-fourths of the states?

    Those questions may be tested in the courts, as Virginia is about to become the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which Republicans oppose because, um, they’re against equal rights for women.

    It’s bad enough they can vote, you know.

  9. 9

    @8

    Susan is going to agonize over it and do exactly what Mitch tells her to do. That’s why she’s on her way out.

    Her approval in mMaine is 35/50. Once a person has been in office for 12 years and has a deep record of votes and half the voters think she sucks that’s a hard ship to turn around in the last ten months or so.

  11. 11

    3,
    I think the question we all have to come to grips with is just how much do any of these numbers matter to a GOP Presidency in the end?

    How many of the people who voted for Trump in 2016 in the places where it counts even want jobs?
    How many of the people he needs to vote for him in 2020 in the places where it counts want jobs?

    There have been long term trends in the vote composition that are not favorable to the GOP for many years. Historic events in the first two decades of the millennium had measurable effects on turnout composition in each of the four general elections. The 2020 election may be no exception. But the underlying trends continue to work against the GOP. Accelerating declines in Baby Boom and Silent Generation may see their percentage of the eligible vote drop below the 40% mark for the first time. And despite their historic greater turnout, increasing turnout among younger generations of voters could result in them being swamped for the first time.

    Whether the GOP has created new coal jobs for their voters, or cashier jobs for their voters may not be the question. Instead the question may be do they even care? And do they even matter?

  13. 13

    He just can’t help the white supremacist shit. Donald in Ohio, “A couple hundred years ago no one was here.”

    Putting aside Ohio became a state in 1803 (a couple hundred plus 16)

    The Shawnee has been there for centuries and were driven from Pennsylvania by Europeans and warring tribes to Ohio by the mid 1700s

    Ohio is an Iroquois word because well….they were there.

    Ever joke about Kickapoo joy juice (alkeyhol). Kickapoo is an Ohio people.

    I could go on but you get the point.

  14. 14

    Hey Dumbfuck. Versions of this are blowing up Twitter. You probably don’t want to make it the primary argument for economic strength in a campaign…

    (Image of CNBC/FOX/CNN “Dow hits 29,000!)

    “I can’t pay my rent, none of my friends have health insurance, my sister cannot get paid time off to care for her newborn baby, and my girlfriend’s insulin is twice what she could reasonably pay for it.“

    “RELATED: The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009.“

    @YESSS! Now we all can fill our fridges & get our health checkups! ……….

    oh, thats not what that means?
    huh“

  15. 15

    10,
    If only he had lived, and if only all us filthy “elitists” had been nicer to him…
    …he might have gone on to vote for Jesse Ventura.

  16. 16

    @ 9 Re Susan Collins

    I believe that 35/50 split was from a poll in October – I searched briefly and did not find anything on her more recent.

    However, Morning Consult has polled Trump monthly, and Trump’s numbers are + 7 from October to December.

    I’m not saying Collins’ approval numbers are not underwater. I’m saying you’re overselling it, Cz-252. After the “absolute lock” embarrassment you suffered, one would think you had learned something from it. Apparently not.

  17. 17

    @ 4

    Boeing is starting layoffs…

    ‘froggy, look at the bright side. You have company in the unemployment line, for a change.

  18. 18

    538Nate has a piece out

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/biden-is-the-front-runner-but-there-is-no-clear-favorite/

    about the Democrat presidential clown show.

    His third-most-likely scenario is a possible brokered convention.

    There’s also a 14 percent chance — about 1 in 7 — that no one will win a majority of pledged delegates by June 6, which could lead to a contested convention.

    He also makes a statistical case that Iowa is very important.

  19. 19

    @ 9, 16

    I should have added some more info on that Morning Consult mention. Trump’s jump was actually from November, not from October.

    Among states being watched closely ahead of this fall’s election, Trump saw the best month-to-month improvement in his approval in Maine, which splits its Electoral College votes and is home to GOP Sen. Susan Collins, among the most vulnerable senators up for re-election this year. Forty-six percent of Maine voters approve of Trump and 52 percent disapprove.

    https://morningconsult.com/2020/01/06/trump-posts-best-net-approval-of-2019-in-month-he-was-impeached/

    I guess the point I would make is that if Trump’s support in Maine has jumped as a result of the impeachment and a sense among voters that it wasn’t a fair process, then it’s reasonable to think that support for a home state US senator who has supported Trump, despite reservations, in no small part because of the unfairness of the process would also see a substantial rise.

    $3.8M in a GoFundMe-like account composed of out-of-state money is just not that impressive, Cz-252. Not in an era in which the two billionaires in the race for the Dem nomination have self-funded to the tune of $120M and $80M, respectively. So far.

    Good luck with that Defeat Collins thing, Cz-252. Ask Feingold and Bayh about polling vs. outcome.

  20. 20

    “… if Trump’s support in Maine has jumped as a result of the impeachment and a sense among voters that it wasn’t a fair process…”

    “We have to get rid of the babies. That’s a big problem, just stopping having babies. That’s not enough. We need to eat the babies! This is very serious, please give a response,”

    MAGA!

  21. 21

    “You have company in the unemployment line, for a change.”

    The unemployment lines at the Seattle unemployment office building on Taylor Street during the early 1970s were really, really something. Set up like a long bank counter with probably 10 people interviewing the unemployed, the lines streamed out of the entrance doors and all the way around the block.

    After they moved out in the late 1970s I did some work in that building and all the counters and signs were still there so I took a small, engraved phenolic sign for a souvenir. I still have it around here somewhere.

  22. 22

    @16 so much for providing factual information and nothing but crap.

    How do you determine when you like to cite polls and when you like to poo poo them, does it depend on the results of the poll?

  23. 23

    “the Democrat presidential clown show”

    Sure, there are clowns on the left, including candidates. But at least they’re for the most part decent people who believe fervently in American democracy.

    Sadly, Doctor, you on the right have Klowns. As I have long said here, a Klown is a fascist POS traitor in love with Putin who has no fucking respect whatsofuckingever for American fucking democracy. Most have long fucked farm animals, dogs, cats, washing machines, watermelons and children, only now their ever increasing depravity has led them to include fucking caged toddlers and chickens.

    Are you a Klown, Doctor? Heh. You already know my opinion.

  24. 24

    23,
    In 2016 there was particularly noteworthy clown in the GOP nom race.

    And that clown rake stomped his way from one crushing victory to the next, storming the primary and owning the convention.
    And bot-farm’s sources predicted a brokered convention there too.

  25. 25

    In re 19,
    Did anyone outside Wisconsin even know Ron Johnson’s name in 2016?
    Did anyone know Todd Young? Do they even today?

    My bartender knows Susan Collins name. His wife, his sister, and his mother all told it to him. He knows a surprising amount about her recent voting history in the Senate.

    Like it or not, Mitch McConnell has made Susan Collins a household name in most of America. And while $3.8 mil wouldn’t be a lot in a nationwide Presidential campaign, it’s a shit ton in a tiny market like Maine. So’s $1 mil in the first week.

    I don’t think there can be any doubt that owing to events over the last couple of years, Collins has purchased the backing of nearly every major GOP political donor and PAC. And that will certainly go a long way to help her hang on. But it may also go a long way to further drive her numbers into the shit bin, as Mainers increasingly come to view her as a creature of her party, her RapeFantasy president, and her corporate and billionaire backers. And those same events have also painted a neon “Kick Me” sign on her back for millions of American women.

  26. 26

    Collins in many ways faces exactly the same general framing challenge as president RapeFantasy. Which is the same general framing challenge facing every incumbent.

    Trusted leadership/experience/stability
    – versus –
    new direction/change/overhaul.

    People with experience running re-election campaigns recognize what a dangerous place Collins finds herself in. Most of the time, as an incumbent, the candidate uses their platform and their access to establish the preferred narrative early in the cycle, putting any challenger at a distinct disadvantage by forcing them to create and promote the countervailing narrative. In this case, however, owing to the events forced upon her by her party, her Senate leadership, and her RapeFantasy president, Collins finds herself with the roles reversed, having to fight to come from behind in terms of narrative framing.

    The reason her polling is underwater is not because she is perceived by a majority of Maine voters as a bad or flawed person, but rather it is because a sizable majority of Maine voters are ready for a change. Her tenure in office is not an asset to her in this cycle. And that is entirely the fault of her party and its leadership. Opportunities for her to use her incumbency and her position to establish a more favorable narrative for her campaign have been ignored or rebuked by party leaders and donors.

    The impeachment trial will be a last chance for Collins and the GOP to re-brand her leadership in a more favorable light. But there can not be a more glaring national spotlight for her in which she must convey uniquely parochial interests on behalf of her state. Offering her this charade of an opportunity to “quietly broker” lipstick onto Yertle’s pig is likely to fall well short of the mark.

    Were they to offer her a leadership role in the trial with an opportunity to set the rules and run the proceedings she could certainly turn things for her campaign around. But president RapeFantasy could never stand for his fate to rest with any woman, no matter how well arranged it might be.

    Yes, that’s right folks. This is another #owngoal

  27. 27

    @ 22

    How do you determine when you like to cite polls and when you like to poo poo them, does it depend on the results of the poll?

    By getting my ass kicked by Darryl in 2012 and 2016, and trying to learn from it so it doesn’t happen the next time.

    Trump and Clinton Finish With Historically Poor Images

    Trump’s 61% unfavorable score is worst in presidential polling history
    Clinton’s 52% unfavorable score is second-worst
    Candidates roughly matched in highly unfavorable images

    https://news.gallup.com/poll/197231/trump-clinton-finish-historically-poor-images.aspx

    A guy with 61% disapproval won the presidency, and beat the Democrats’ best option, who had 52% disapproval. With numbers that bad, I’m supposed to quiver with fear about Collins’ 35/50 numbers, three months ago? Nope. What we thought we knew about incumbent disapproval and likelihood of re-election probably needs to be rethought. We’re in a world of billionaires who think they can be president, and willing to spend whatever. What sets Trump apart is he did it and spent other peoples’ money, not his own.

    I generally call out poll shit when it’s clearly bogus or badly flawed. I generally don’t spew Rasmussen because of the instant blowback I would get if I did. I’ll use a likely voter poll over a registered voter poll over a poll of ‘adults’, and I won’t use an online poll without mentioning it’s online.

    Getting my ass kicked by Darryl is no fun. Gonna try to avoid that in 2020.

    What would be even less fun is writing a thread topic like Goldy did, just before the 2016 election, calling out Trafalgar and others for “bullshit polls”

    http://horsesass.org/garbage-i.....hit-polls/

    Republican consultancy shop Trafalgar Group (infamous robocaller and former Chris Christie advisor Robert Cahaly) has generated a wave of weirdly-worded surveys that purport to reveal a “shy Trump-voter” demographic that every other pollster has missed! Trafalgar too calculates its margin of error to the second decimal place, a level of precision that feels out-of-place amidst their outlier results. (Trump is up 2 points in Michigan, or something!)

    only to see those polls prove relatively accurate. Less fun for Goldy but I have had a lot of fun with it.

    The reality is that there are a shit-ton of voters who quietly like enough of what Trump is doing that they’ll pull the lever for him, but will never admit it in any type of poll. The better the economy, the more likely he’ll be re-elected. And in November, Soleimani will still be dead.

    These were Goldy’s closing thoughts:

    But I’ve no doubt that Republicans are attempting to game the system in a way that makes this whole poll aggregation endeavor far less useful than it was in the past two presidential cycles. So don’t be surprised on Tuesday night if the presidential election turns out to be less competitive than we’ve all been led to believe.

    He was half-right. This whole poll aggregation endeavor was far less useful than it was in the past. I suspect the same this year as well.

    Most importantly, don’t believe Goldy’s bullshit. Ever. He shills for a leftist billionaire in order to feed himself, and a lot of leftist billionaires were wrong in 2016. Very wrong.

    People like YLB, The Fucking Moron, and The Fucking Moron II take people like Goldy at their word. It’s why they’re third-tier around here.

  28. 28

    Y’all know I hang out at Mar-a-Lago to give a hand job to the orange shit-lord ever chance I get.

    But hell if I’m gonna vote for letting Dear (orange) Leader start another endless war..

    cuz… cuzz..

    I got a crush on Tulsi…

  30. 30

    @27

    WHITE POWER!

    I love to watch men in tights… Shirt sleeves is me suiting up for the mat!

  31. 31

    @27

    WHITE POWER!

    Ever hear my mastery of Tlingit? I ride shotgun without a seat belt..

    I’m f’ing indestructible..

  33. 33

    @27 I’m not going to pretend to understand anything, but something tells me that the electoral system had something to do with The Hump winning that no polls could ever predict or reflect.

  34. 34

    By getting my ass kicked by Darryl in 2012

    Yt supremacists couldn’t deal with the ass kickin’ I gave them back in the day. It shattered their fragile world.

    Is Darryl yt? Figures.

  37. 37

    33,
    78,000 vote margin in three states that made the difference for president RapeFantasy in 2016. Collins will lose by more than that.

    The winner-take-all systems in most of the fifty states create these kinds of perverse and impossible to predict results. Trump backers like bot-farm neeeeeeed these kinds of things to repeat themselves. And they absolutely could. It is a “feature” of our system.

    But his logic seems to be that since something that could not be statistically detected in 2016 did take place, therefore it must take place a second time in 2020. And more broadly Trump backers like bot-farm seem to be arguing that all this represents a new electoral reality in which the opposite of what polls and statistical analysis predict will always come true.

    If he were not merely a troll you’d have no choice but to conclude that he was insane.

  38. 38

    Don’t forget me. I still do my show. My word still carries weight.

    Sean Hannity can’t carry my big boy shorts.

    @27 WHITE POWER!

  39. 39

    Interesting wrinkle afoot in NC.
    A white supremacist org that recently negotiated a secret $2.5 million cash payment from the UNC Board of Governors over a controversial monument to slavery turns out to have been operating illegally as a tax exempted 501(c)(3) charity while simultaneously operating a right wing PAC that supported dozens of GOP state lawmakers.

    The whole thing involves a fairly large number of criminal violations on the part of the org’s leaders. But beyond that are stirrings that some of the campaigns may have participated in the ruse and may also face criminal penalties.

    Neato! Flipping North Carolina would make for a nice bouncing of the RapeFantasy rubble in 2020. And Gov Cooper gets to clean house on the UNC BOG.

    Bathroom bills looking good on them!

  40. 40

    @27 I’m counting on your support at your local Democratic Precinct Caucus after Super Tuesday.

    I’m betting you’ll have the whole place to yourself.

  42. 42

    @27,
    Hi! We just wanted to reach out and make sure you knew that according to our records and your assigned precinct there is an update for the location for your upcoming Presidential Primary Caucus.

    Your assigned location will be a horse trailer in the parking lot immediately to the west of the dumpsters at the Hong Kong Gardens restaurant in Clinton, Washington. The address is 9324 WA-525 Clinton, WA 98236

    Sign ins well begin at 11pm. Be sure to bring picture ID along with plenty of cash and jewelry. Loose, comfortable clothing is advised as this year things are expected to be “warm and cozy”. Lube will be supplied.

    See you there!

  43. 43

    @39 Republicans have contempt for campaign laws. FREEDUMBZ!!! See, e.g., Scotty Walker in Wisconsin.

  45. 45

    “The radio operator was 21-year-old Larry Goldstein, … from Brooklyn …. From a large Jewish family, Goldstein was the fourth child of six. Soon after Pearl Harbor, … he joined the Air Corps … he had dreamed of becoming a pilot, but instead was earmarked to become a radio operator. … After gunnery school he was sent to a brand new airfield at Moses Lake, Washington State, where he saw his first B-17 …. ‘I must admit,’ Goldstein recalled, ‘… was overwhelmed ….’ The B-17 was little more than a tin can: cramped, difficult to move about in ….No part of the aircraft was pressurized and so at bombing heights the crew had to operate with oxygen and at sub-zero temperatures. … The truth was, young men were not really designed to fly … for hours on end … in rattling, noisy, cramped, largely comfortless conditions … being shot at or flying through dense flak. … Nonetheless, Goldstein soon got to grips with the demands of the job, helped by the immediate gelling of the crew, who nicknamed him ‘Goldie.'” — James Holland, Big Week, pp. 145-146

    Wonder if it he was relative?

    Easy to forget now what these guys did and what they went through to do it. Of those who survived, not many are left now to tell their stories. I remember going to Boeing Field in the 1980s to see a restored B-17 that was visiting Seattle. An older guy — he was maybe in his early 60s then — looked over the plane, then told me he’d been a turret gunner on a ’17 in the war. Didn’t tell me anything else. Didn’t need to.

    Btw, this particular aircraft, which is still flying and touring the country, was built too late in the war to see action. So no wartime memories were made within it. But one B-17 is pretty much like another, and I’m sure seeing it brought back memories for that guy. As best I recall, he did tell me he’d been shot down and was a POW in Germany for a while.

  46. 46

    I never flew in a B-17, but I flew in C-123s, C-130s, Hueys, and Chinooks. I flew into Vietnam on a DC-8, the only civilian jetliner that could use its thrust reversers in flight, and the pilots did, dropping us from 30,000 feet to the runway at about a 60-degree angle. So we wouldn’t get shot down coming in to land, because the Marines didn’t control the perimeter for more than about 1/2 mile out from the runway. It was interesting. The whole plane shook violently, and anybody standing in the aisle ended up in a pile of arms and legs in the cockpit behind the pilots’ seats. I was in a seat, in a manner of speaking, i.e. I was more or less standing on the seatback of the seat in front of me. The cockpit door was open and I could look through the windshield straight at the ground coming up to meet us. Like I said, it was interesting. You don’t have experiences like that on civilian airliners. I didn’t see tracers flashing past the window, but I’ll bet there were some. That was my introduction to Vietnam.

    Now, I don’t begrudge Trump chickening out of it; I don’t begrudge anyone who got out of it. It was no picnic. And as I’ve posted many times, I don’t want to be in a foxhole with a coward. But, you know, the guy has no understanding. Know what I mean? No understanding. The commander-in-chief should be someone who at least has an inkling. He has none. He has no business being there, in that job, making those decisions. You have to be a real dumbshit to vote for somebody like him. The idea that all our military people love him is laughable. Of course, they can’t say anything, because he’s above them in the chain of command. So they’ll never tell you. But I’m sure they’re thinking it.

    This is just me musing and remembering some things on a Saturday afternoon after a war scare earlier this week. Don’t pay any attention if you don’t want to.

  49. 49

    43)I used to get mailers from the GOP, since I used to be a GOP pollbook judge for King County Elections. I was thinking of changing this time around in the primary. Hopefully write-ins are still going to be allowed.

  50. 50

    @46. Thanks for your service Roger. All I remember back then was being scared as a kid. My dad would watch the nightly news at dinner, and each night was more dead bodies. Not sure why my Dad thought it would be great to eat dinner with the gory news on. Towards the later years, or after, when I turned 16 my Dad marched me and my brother down to the post office to register.

  51. 51

    @ 33

    …but something tells me that the electoral system had something to do with The Hump winning that no polls could ever predict or reflect.

    • Yes, the electoral system had “something” to do with Trump winning.
    • At the top of the HA link @ 27 is a graphic in which Trump’s chance of winning was listed at 30.4%. That means that a substantial number of the Monte Carlo simulations came up with Trump winning.
    • Even after Darryl’s final analysis 11/7/16 Trump had a 15.5% chance of winning.

    Today, after 100,000 simulated elections, Clinton wins 84,508 times and Trump wins 15,492 times (including the 2,449 ties). Clinton received (on average) 282 (-8) to Trump’s 256 (+8) electoral votes.

    http://horsesass.org/poll-anal.....ble-polls/

    Some poll, somehow, is going to pick Trump if he’s got a 15+% percent chance of winning. In November 2016 that probably would have been Trafalgar:

    Few, it seems, paid attention to the surveys from the Trafalgar Group – a Georgia-based consulting firm that, on its website, celebrates the time RealClearPolitics picked up one of its Florida primary polls – showing Trump ahead. The group’s Pennsylvania poll was the only one of dozens since late July to show the GOP nominee in the lead there – but it was also the only poll conducted into this past weekend, as voters made their final choices.

    The Trafalgar Group was somewhat prolific on Monday, the day before the election, releasing surveys in Florida (Trump ahead by 4 points), Michigan (Trump ahead by 2 points) and Georgia (Trump ahead by 7 points).

    https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/how-could-polling-be-so-wrong-2016-231092

    and

    Robert Cahaly, senior strategist for the Trafalgar Group, made a name for himself in 2016 by being the only pollster to correctly show Donald Trump with a lead in Michigan and Pennsylvania — two key states he carried — heading into Election Day. (He did not poll Wisconsin, another surprising win for Trump.) Cahaly also showed Trump ahead in North Carolina and Florida, both of which he won, securing his improbable 304-227 Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton.

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/11/10/pollster_who_got_it_right_in_2016_does_it_again_138621.html

    I had not seen this before, but it is consistent with what I wrote @ 27 about people who wouldn’t admit to their plan to vote for Trump – it’s described as the “shy Trump effect”:

    …adding a question to his surveys designed to isolate the effect of social desirability bias among Trump voters – the concept that people won’t tell pollsters their true intentions for fear of being stigmatized or being politically incorrect.

    After asking voters who they were supporting in 2016, the pollster followed up by asking them who they thought their neighbors were supporting, Trump or Clinton. Cahaly consistently found a high degree of variance between who respondents said they were voting for and who they thought their neighbors were voting for, suggesting there was in fact a “shy Trump effect” at play.

    I look forward to HA’s 2020 Monte Carlo fun. I especially look forward to Cz-252’s pronouncement of the number of absolutely locked EVs the Democrat candidate has on the day before the election.

    Guys – and YLB – please don’t nominate a McGovern or a Mondale this year. Please.

  52. 52

    I’m considering changing my screen name to “social desirability bias”. The problem is, as November approaches the probability of Goldy goin’ Godwin ‘gain rapidly approaches 1.0.

  53. 53

    51,
    cute theory.

    There’s only one type of voter it fails to explain.

    You.

    If your RapeFantasist were indeed all that popular then a lifelong GOP voter like yourself would not feel compelled to lie about your support for him on an anonymous liberal blog.

    Probably best you don’t think about that one too much.

  54. 54

    Somehow this is not as bad as Roger Ailes. ’cause it’s a liberal network.

    CNN Sets Record $76 Million Back Pay Settlement With National Labor Relations Board

    The dispute began in 2003 when CNN fired a group of unionized subcontractors working as video technicians and in other technical and support roles.

    The cabler then hired new, non-union employees for most of the same functions.
    …
    An administrative law judge first ruled against CNN’s position in 2008. The NLRB affirmed the ruling on behalf of the unions in 2014. That decision was taken to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that CNN had to stop refusing to negotiate with the unions. That panel — which featured Chief Judge (and former Supreme Court nominee) Merrick Garland and Trump’s future Supreme Court appointee Judge Brett Kavanaugh — sent the question of the financial settlement and other details back to the NLRB for sorting out.

    https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/cnn-backpay-settlement-76-million-labor-1203463615/

  55. 55

    @54 Now why aren’t you and your fellow Republicans up in arms about workers winning a labor dispute before the NLRB? Against CNN … oh.

  57. 57

    Guys – and YLB – please don’t nominate a McGovern or a Mondale this year. Please.

    Worked great for me. Secured my place in history. And Gerry made a fine successor (saved my ass) when he wasn’t taking falls out of Air Force One.

    As my younger disciple, David Duke (R-La) is fond of saying;

    White Power.

  58. 58

    American Evangelicals – It’s ok to sin, if its the their sin; look the other way, look that way towards the gays and baby killers.

  60. 60

    Looking at many of the comments @ 28 through 47 I am moved to suggest that the only way HA will ever have more than a dozen or so commenters is if all of the rest are sock puppets.

    Until Monte Carlo time, that is.

  61. 61

    Re Cz-252 @ 2

    Frank Luntz
    Verified account

    @FrankLuntz

    I’ve been telling this joke at parties for years, and @GabrielSherman is the first person to think it was real. That’s what happens when the media wants to spin anything as “Orange Man bad!”

    Gonna be a long 5 more years… 🤦🏼‍♂️Frank Luntz added,

    Nick Bilton
    Verified account

    @nickbilton
    🚨 On Inside the Hive this week @gabrielsherman tells this short hilarious and sad story about Trump that pretty much sums up his presidency. 🚨 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/01/you-wont-believe-what-trump-said-about-his-middle-name …
    8:30 AM – 11 Jan 2020

    And I guess Cz-252 is the second person to think it’s real.

    Lotta fake news out there, guys and YLB. Don’t embarrass yourselves too badly. Five years is a long, long time.

    Not a good week for Cz-252. Howz the Third Tier lookin’?

  62. 62

    This is how far left Democrats have migrated.

    In 2008:

    Frank Luntz
    Verified account

    MoreFrank Luntz Retweeted Maggie Haberman
    During the 2008 primary, Barack Obama’s candidacy was compared to George McGovern and mainstream Democrats worried about his electability.

    👉🏻 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/barack-obama-campaign-electability-risky-progressive-unelectable.html …Frank Luntz added,
    Maggie Haberman
    Verified account

    @maggieNYT
    “If I were a campaign manager for Donald Trump and I look at the field, I would very much want to run against Bernie Sanders,” Messina said. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/11/bernie-sanders-trump-jim-messina-097578 …
    6:03 PM – 11 Jan 2020

    In 2019:

    Barack Obama, conservative

    Barack Obama, conservative – The Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com › outlook › 2019/11/22 › barack-obama-c..

  64. 64

    The State Department has announced that proof that Soleimani was planning four imminent attacks on embassies in the Mideast has now been made available to the public, and has been migrated to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s homebrew server for viewing.

    No password necessary for access.

  65. 65

    Can one be progressive and yet still a conservative (or moderate liberal/conservative)? Why does one size have to fit all?

    Why is that Repukes like to label everything and mis characterize to fit their narrative and fear politics.

    Reality is that the Right Wing nut jobs have become all out fascists and lovers of dictators with no solutions. All they want is complete full control over the freedom of others. They are stuck in the ice ages or want to revert back to the ice ages.

    Liberals, on the other hand. just want solutions to the problems of an ever evolving and changing world and country.

    It all boils down to one thing – Money. and the greed of money, and instilling fear in the less fortunate hillbillies that are shy of $500.00 in the savings account in the bank.

  66. 66

    How bad a week is it for Cz-252?

    Here he is just before the electionon the morning of the 2016 presidential election

    http://horsesass.org/poll-anal.....nt-1325561

    poking fun at the same Trafalgar approach to its polling that was lauded by Politico @ 51 as the basis for Trafalgar’s success in comparison to all of the other bigshot polling firms.

    It’s not important that Trump won, you see. What’s important is that for a brief couple of daysabout 11 glorious hours, Cz-252 was able to have fun at the prospect of Trump’s loss.

    Cz-252, you’ve been a gold mine. It’s more worthwhile to follow you than to follow Roger Dumbfuck Rabbit. Your turn to get fleeced.

  67. 67

    @ 65

    Liberals, on the other hand. just want solutions to the problems of an ever evolving and changing world and country.

    And for someone else to pay for everything, preferably someone they don’t like.

  68. 68

    The Cancel Culture force is strong these days.

    thebradfordfile™
    ‏@thebradfordfile

    Tweets by Democrat presidential candidates supporting Iranian protesters today:

    Joe Biden: ZERO

    Elizabeth Warren: ZERO

    Bernie Sanders: ZERO

    Tulsi Gabbard: ZERO

    Mike Bloomberg: ZERO

    Amy Klobuchar: ZERO

    Cory Booker: ZERO

    Pete Buttigieg: ZERO

    Why is that?

    6:28 PM – 11 Jan 2020

  69. 69

    It’s something like 70 degrees out in NYC this morning. Yesterday Pittsburgh broke a 103 year old record high. Many records being broken.

  70. 70

    Tweets by any Zero (Republican) – many.

    I wonder what Susan Collins has to say. I’m sure it’s inspiring.

  71. 71

    Hard to say whose week is worse: Cz-252’s? Or Iran’s?

    High-level pro-Iran militia commander is assassinated in Iraq by unknown gunmen

    U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military activity in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com about the shooting.

    It follows the January 3 U.S. drone strike that killed another PMF leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, alongside Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7876991/High-level-pro-Iran-militia-commander-Iraq-killed-unknown-gunmen.html

  72. 72

    It isn’t any more effective when you fucks do it, either.

    This time around, the regime will continue to try to blame the United States, but that refrain rings increasingly hollow.

    washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/11/airliner-shoot-down-is-make-or-break-moment-irans-regime/

  74. 74

    Looks like triggered badly this am.

    I said it was probably best if he didn’t think about it too much.

    He was warned. Still…
    #owngoal

  76. 76

    Time Masheen not working.

    The nomination of a Democratic candidate who is less appealing to African Americans does not produce additional votes for the GOP. It produces reduced turnout among African American voters in key districts and key states (you go, Mississippi).

    2020 will likely be the first cycle in which Hispanic voters surpass African American voters. What is most likely to prevent that would be the nomination of a Democratic candidate who is appealing to African American voters. Another possibility would be if the GOP tones down its openly racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. But nobody really expects that.

    #youbuiltthat

  77. 77

    @ 76

    Trump received 8% of the black vote in 2016. My point was that the 4% in the poll I referenced @ 75 was not a believable figure, as it would require a halving of Trump’s black support in an environment in which black unemployment rates have fallen quite substantially.

  79. 79

    Only girly men hallucinate I have an adam’s apple. Trump’s building a border trellis and she talks like a woman but I’m voting for HER anyway.

    @73 oooh white power!

  82. 82

    Your assigned location will be a horse trailer in the parking lot immediately to the west of the dumpsters at the Hong Kong Gardens restaurant in Clinton, Washington.

    Can’t wait. Remember the lube. I can talk dirty if you need me to.

    An asian female human serving up “hot candy” has got nothing on me.

  84. 84

    So about that Iran…

    Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s order to assassinate Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, but admitted he “didn’t see” any specific evidence backing up the president’s claim that Soleimani had been planning imminent attacks on multiple U.S. embassies.

  85. 85

    Maybe they should run on healthcare?

    GOP is terrified of the idea.

    Trump Administration Says Obamacare Lawsuit Can Wait Until After the Election

    The Department of Justice told the Supreme Court that the case did not represent an “emergency” that would require a speedy ruling.

    Maybe they can run on the dow and saving coal.

    Because it’s really not that important…“When we win on November 8th and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare — have to do it,”

  88. 88

    @85,
    I’ll be running in support of democracy in Cambodia…
    … while protecting a dictatorship here at home.

  89. 89

    @85,
    I’ll be running to support Eric Trump and all the other overlooked and uncounted Trumps.

  90. 90

    GOP is terrified of the idea.

    Doing the same thing expecting different results doesn’t describe terrified to me.

    The GOPP is fearless.

  91. 91

    President Putin wants Republicans to win.

    Fine by me.

    I welcome his support. And that aluminum plant in my home state is a nice touch. You are welcome, friend.

  92. 92

    President Putin is white. Oleg Derepaska is white. President Trump is white. I’m white.

    This is a fine world we’re living in at the moment. White power.

    Now don’t you DARE look cross-eyed at Elaine. Her skin is infinite shades lighter than Michelle Obama.

    Aung San Suu Kyi wanted to smooch me once. Oooh. That was so arousing. She’s done an excellent job defending her country’s right to remind an uppity minority of its proper place.

    Just like white people here do.

  93. 93

    @ 85

    If this were really an emergency, petitioners would not have waited 16 days to bring it to this Court’s attention.

    Cz-252, apparently Democrats need John Roberts to agree that this is an emergency, otherwise it’s a routine decision by SCOTUS and won’t be decided before the election.

    You don’t want the decision. You want the issue. It’s why you’re so desperate for the Soleimani killing to blossom into a full-blown Mideast war.

    Without it there’s not chance to beat Trump.

  94. 94

    There’s a word that true conservative Republicans aka Real Americans have for those Republicans who are faint-hearted about reminding minorites, “those people”, of their proper place.

    Real Americans call these faint-hearted Republicans cuckservatives.

    Couldn’t agree more.

    Greetings friend @ 93. You seem like a Real American.

    White Power.

  97. 97

    @92 No Nobel Prize has ever been revoked, but there’s a first time for everything. Sure it’s against their own rules, but that doesn’t stop Trump, so why should it give the Swedes pause? We now live in a world of no rules, where populist sentiment alone rules.

  98. 98

    @83 I want to see that statement from whoever issued his license to practice law, followed by action to enforce it.

    Should that actually happen, then the question becomes, does being disbarred or suspended disqualify a sitting attorney general from continuation in office?

    We already know that’s not grounds for impeachment or removal. As long as McConnell remains Majority Leader, the Senate would confirm a dog for the AG job if Trump appointed one.

    In fact, they already have. I have it on good authority that Barr stands in front of a Trump portrait and barks “Woof!” every morning upon arriving at the office.

  100. 100

    Trump defenders and apologists like Grisham describe his leadership style as “unconventional” and “norm-busting,” as if that’s somehow a good thing.

    But I think of that attitude as similar to driving on the sidewalk to get around a stopped school bus.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UTM40K53K8

  101. 101

    “you’re so desperate for the Soleimani killing to blossom into a full-blown Mideast war.

    Without it there’s not chance to beat Trump.”

    The desperation ones were you and your orange moron with your ill-conceived-by-dumbfucks assassination which was all about politics.

    Imminent threat? But you don’t know when. Vile fascist dumbfucks. All of you.

    What will save American democracy is that you fascist traitors are all so fucking stupid.

    Seeing as how having your head up Putin’s ass appears to be the only thing you’re good at, best that you go back to begging for help from Russia in 2020 like you did in 2016.

    It’s the only thing that’ll save you from getting your treasonous ass kicked by America’s women again.

    Americans by more than 2-1 said the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani has made the United States less safe, a nationwide USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds, amid broad concerns about the potential consequences ahead.
    A majority of those surveyed, by 52%-34%, called President Donald Trump’s behavior with Iran “reckless.”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/09/killing-soleimani-made-us-less-safe-trump-reckless-iran-poll/2835962001/

  102. 102

    Nice try dumbfuck.

    “By 47%-39%, those surveyed said Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in an attempt to divert the focus from his impeachment. There was little support for the idea of delaying the Senate impeachment trial until the crisis with Iran was resolved; that was opposed by 55%-26%.”

    It’s time to beg Putin for help, Doctor. Get on your knees, traitor.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/09/killing-soleimani-made-us-less-safe-trump-reckless-iran-poll/2835962001/

  103. 103

    According to what I see on Twitter the Refs cost the Seahawks another Lombardi Trophy.

    Sad

    Low energy

    So unfair

    Pelosi did it

    Hoax

  104. 104

    Quote Of The Day

    “Our president will start a war with Iran, because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate; he’s weak and he’s ineffective.

    “So the only way he figures he’s going to get re-elected, and as sure as you’re sitting there, is to start a war with Iran. …

    “To start a war to get elected, and I believe that’s going to happen, would be an outrage.”

    — Donald Trump in 2011

    https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-in-2011-a-president-could-start-a-war-with-iran-for-political-survival-76462661862

  105. 105

    “A majority of Americans said they disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran and feel less safe, according to a ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday. The poll shows 56% of Americans said they disapprove of the way Trump is dealing with escalating tensions with Iran while 43% said they approved.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/12/politics/americans-disapprove-trump-handling-iran-abc-poll/index.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: The same 42%-43% of morons who would still support Trump if he shot a random pedestrian on Fifth Avenue. Hitler would have salivated over this bunch. Who knows, maybe they’re reincarnated Hitler supporters, if you believe in that sort of thing. We must reform the Electoral College so a deranged minority can never again impose another Trump on the majority of us.

  108. 108

    Not all free speech is protected speech. Egging on your boyfriend to kill himself can get you jail time.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-will-not-consider-michelle-carter-appeal-urging-boyfriend-n1114381

    I can see how this might apply to a preacher who tells his flock to kill homosexuals, too. Or to a talk show jock who tells his listeners to “execute” liberals. And maybe even to a press secretary who goes on teevee and calls Democrats “terrorists.”

  109. 109

    Most people consider insider trading stealing. Lying to the FBI about it is a crime, too. But to a Republican congressman and Trump supporter it’s just business as usual.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/prosecutors-seek-maximum-prison-sentence-ex-rep-chris-collins-n1114591

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is no defense, because “intent” has a different meaning than “intend” in the law, but I believe Republicans honestly don’t realize they’re criminals, because to people steeped in Republican culture, lying and stealing simply seems like ordinary behavior.

  110. 110

    @ 109

    Most people consider insider trading stealing.

    The commissioner of Major League Baseball considers sign stealing to be stealing.

  112. 112

    @110 Is it shocking to you that rules still exist in some corners of our society even after 3 years of Trump?

  114. 114

    “An attorney for Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, has turned over photos, dozens of text messages and thousands of pages of documents to House impeachment investigators ….”

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/lev-parnas-house-documents/index.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: It’s probably safe to say that evidence turned over by a co-conspirator angling for leniency doesn’t exonerate the target of the investigation.

  117. 117

    Remember that time Amazon tried to buy a bunch of city council seats and failed spectacularly with ramifications for any corporate entity trying to do the same in the future?

    SEATTLE, WA (January 13, 2020) – The Seattle City Council voted today to pass a landmark campaign finance law that combats the influence of foreign corporate spending in city elections.

    The legislation, introduced by Councilmember M. Lorena González, prohibits corporations from spending money in Seattle elections if they are foreign-influenced, defined as more than 1 percent ownership by a single foreign national or more than five percent ownership by multiple foreign nationals.

    Corporations are people my friends unless lawmakers find a way to gut Citizens United.

  118. 118

    It was a simple misunderstanding. Bernie said that the 2016 outcome was understandable in the sense that any unlikable, corrupt, dishonest woman would have trouble getting elected, and Liz natch thought he was referring specifically to her.

  119. 119

    I guess those protesters killed by the Iranian regime are some of that crossfire that can be blamed on Trump by y’all libbies, too.

  120. 120

    I was joking @ 118 but according to Shaun King that’s what happened.

    Shaun King✔
    @shaunking

    Wow.

    Just spoke to a source who told me that Elizabeth Warren admittedly “embellished” the words of @BernieSanders to her friends after her meeting with him in 2018, saying that Bernie said a woman couldn’t win, but that he never actually said those words.

    Disgusting.

    2:45 PM – Jan 13, 2020

    Off-topic, but

    Q: Who taught Shaun King to lie about his heritage?
    A: Liz Warren.

  122. 122

    With Booker out of it there’s a lot more room in front of the makeup mirror before the Dem debates.

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