I can't believe this is happening to me....

by Ugh

Between my sons playing Little League and the Nationals, I think I've, I, er, I may have become a, uh, baseball fa-

NO I CAN'T SAY IT!!  

Over to you, Mr. J. T.

:-)

Open thread (naturally).

Comments

[Nigel]

You had a similar problem with the alleged crimes which are likely to result in Trump’s impeachment, Marty.

[Pro Bono]

Occupying armies are permitted some degree of usufruct. But invading in order to take the oil is unambiguously illegal.

[cleek]

But invading in order to take the oil is unambiguously illegal.

ask Iraq c. 1991.

[John D. Thullen]

"not saying it doesn't just that I don't know why it would be.

That's an odd formulation.

Legally drunk.

Well, if it's legal, then what's the problem?

We could test the legality of all of this when a Democratic President sends federal troops into the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico and halts all fracking until methane emissions are fully capped and prevented from entering the atmosphere and in response, the conservative movement, the conservative government of Texas, and oil oligarchs, and Donald Trump and Mike Pence from their jail cells on Death Row label the action an Act of War against all right-thinking Americans.

[John D. Thullen]

"ask Iraq c. 1991."

The Kuwaiti oilfields seized by Saddam.

Desert Storm.

Norman Schwartzkopf.

[Girl from the North Country]

Yes, much joy and many congrats sapient! And may this be a harbinger of what's to come, and the first sign of what will finally force the rats to desert the sinking ship.

But it's just as likely that Trump will do something desperate, like start a war (maybe with Iran?) in order to become a "war president" in time for 2020.

[John D. Thullen]

"not saying it doesn't just that I don't know why it would be."

Especially odd formulation about the spoils of war coming from someone seeking to end U.S. involvement in endless wars, a position I sympathize with, though not absolutely, because any position ... total isolationist ... held by Pat Buchanan has to be suspect.

I'm such a warmonger.

The U.S. military would have to garrison all of those oilfields, and all of them would be deservedly butchered in the attempt, leading to a US invasion and possibly the introduction of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

[sapient]

But it's just as likely that Trump will do something desperate, like start a war (maybe with Iran?) in order to become a "war president" in time for 2020.

And this kind of stuff is happening. But if we're vigilant, maybe we can get rid of this scourge.

Thanks GftNC!

[hairshirthedonist]

Yay, Virginia! Yay, sapient!

[hairshirthedonist]

And you gotta love this:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/06/juli-briskman-woman-flipped-off-trump-wins-virginia-election/4175648002/

[John D. Thullen]

"the rats to desert the sinking ship."

Those carriers of the right wing plague mustn't be allowed to make landing and scuttle back into the body politic.

Those ICE detention centers would serve as holding pens, until .....

"like start a war (maybe with Iran?)"

He might start a war on the American mainland. I mean if you are going to being the troops home, how will you keep them busy?

[sapient]

And you gotta love this:

Yep!

[wj]

But it's just as likely that Trump will do something desperate, like start a war (maybe with Iran?) in order to become a "war president" in time for 2020.

But to become a "war president" you generally have to have a war that a major portion of the population agrees is really necessary. And it helps if, at least initially, it looks like it could be a "short, victorious war." Which a war with Iran wouldn't be. (Unless Trump decides to up the ante by using nukes. Which would pretty much guarantee a massive loss in November.)

I'd guess he's more likely to go for a military strike somewhere, against someone with no ability to hit back. Then call it a war, and declare victory -- "Fastest victory ever!!!"

My sense is that the "war president" gig might have worked if he'd tried it last year. But by now, it just reads as desperation.

I'm more worried about how he might lash out between losing in November and Inauguration Day. Two months to leave a horrible mess for whoever had the temerity to defeat him. Shudder.

[wj]

I suppose that if you expect/intend to have things essentially wrapped up before Super Tuesday this makes sense. Maybe. And it's not like a Democrat, any Democrat, is going to lose the state in November.

But still, I do wonder what the calculation was.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/11/06/joe-biden-elizabeth-warren-california-democratic-party-forum/

[John D. Thullen]

I'm watching fascist oligarch Bevin's refusal to concede the Governorship in Kentucky for how it might serve as a warm-up for p refusing to concede the Presidency in the event of impeachment or the failure of the Republican Party to steal the election for him in 2020.

I'm especially interested to see if p orders Barr and the FuckJustice Department to intervene on Bevin's behalf with whatever bullshit "election irregularities" (read" some blacks and drag queens voted) Bevin concocts.

They will come up with ever-refreshing, unimagined bullshit going forward, since they long ago exhausted the busting of all traditional political norms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF-LPsCsdr8

"I'm more worried about how he might lash out between losing in November and Inauguration Day."

Be assured that there will be no traditional transition. That precedent was put in place following the 2016 election.

The Cabinet agencies will be stripped of all records, all files, computer and otherwise, and funds will go missing, in order to hide the massive sabotaging, traitorous criminal enterprise of the Trump Republican Party as it has wrecked out government.

All records of communications with foreign governments will vanish.

Should there be a new Democratic President, on day one he or she must issue an executive order firing every single trump appointee across the government, including the ones who attempt to insinuate themselves into permanent civil service employment in the interim.

Escort them from the premises of my government at gunpoint under heavily armed guard and search their bank accounts and residences for stolen files and funds.

Also, confiscate their passports and refuse their departure from the country until we can sort out who is who and what is what.

I expect much of the files on servers at the State Department and the White House will have already been removed and downloaded on to Russian and Russian-proxy servers by the time the new President takes office.

Of course, if trump is re-elected, not one republican in this country will be safe.

[John D. Thullen]

Demonization of trump's enemies is now official U.S. Government policy:

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2019/11/paula-white-donald-trumps-new-white-house-adviser-ratchets-up-fake-news-rhetoric-denouncing-demonic-networks.html

We're in a fucking horror movie.

Religious conservatives will get their religious war.

They aren't going to like it, because there is nothing more brutal and savage than a religious war.

This grifter isn't going to like her literal burning as a martyr to the bullshit Gods of the prosperity gospel.

When accused of being a demon, become one.

[cleek]

i suspect that this new precedent, where it's acceptable for the current administration to the tools of the Exec branch to investigate the actions of the previous admin, is probably going to be something the GOP is going to regret having established.

tee hee

[hairshirthedonist]

Too bad Obama didn't set it.

[John D. Thullen]

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/11/an-administration-of-vile-racist-scum

You go down there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpbq6nGbs50

[John D. Thullen]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/thanks-to-trump-booster-rand-paul-russian-media-are-naming-the-alleged-ukraine-whistleblower?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning

"President Trump is the best type of president for a foe.”

Bashar-al-Assad

Rand Paul, whose patriotic neighbor will be awarded the Medal Of Freedom for kicking the ass of a subhuman anti-American traitor, has that as a campaign bumper sticker in FAVOR of Trump on his vehicle.

[russell]

And you gotta love this

Briskman is now one of the Supervisors for Algonkian County.

Home of Trump National golf course. :)

[John D. Thullen]

https://www.mardigrasparadetickets.com/pages/parades

p has triple-bogeyed every hole on that course but somehow also holds the course record for best score.

He's made 27 hole-in-ones on the 13th, where the green consists of a huge hole in the ground hundreds of feet in diameter, with a flag at the bottom of it.

He holds the record too for most balls kicked out of the rough. Once, he skipped the tee-off and all of the intervening shots, rode his cart in to the green and dropped the ball over his shoulder directly into the cup and a hole-in-one.

He's rigged up a wireless system on each of the 18 holes in which he can trigger the cup to reject the ball each time it goes in, until the opponent's score is one over trump's.

The sprinklers come on every time his opponent is about to make a key putt.

Holes on particularly difficult greens have been known to mysteriously move away from the opponents' balls.

Opponents' drives from the tee have been known to be intercepted at the of their arcs by drones designed to look like seagulls, which is a two-stroke penalty.

Trump has trained the course's caddies to rip thunderous farts as his opponents start their back swings on the tee.

Trump beat Chi Chi Rodriquez to death with his seven iron on the 18th hole, and when no punishment transpired, he decided to run for President and take his campaign to Fifth Avenue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib6vz7ZltXU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRAKv1fXqss

[John D. Thullen]

Disregard the Mardi Gras link.

[John D. Thullen]

Mick Mulvaney floats in the biggest water hazard on the course wearing a snorkel and retrieves p's errant shots, bringing the ball back to p in his mouth, like a trained dog.

p trained Ben Carson to run out of the bushes on to the fairway and steal opponents' well-placed drives. P then makes disparaging remarks about black people to impress his Russian guests.

Lindsay Graham swings buck naked screaming like a howler monkey on a rope from a tree over the 17th green to distract opponent's as they putt.

Kellyanne Conway runs a putter-straightening and ball cleaning booth in the clubhouse.

Rick Perry.

That's it, just Rick Perry.

[John D. Thullen]

Mike Pence stands behind the p foursome on the 18th hole tee and yells "Abort" at the top of his lungs when Mitch McConnell takes a whack at the ball.

[John D. Thullen]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/stivers-republican-kentucky-delegitimizing-election-beshear-bevin

The slippery slope to bloody Civil War has now been announced in the State of Kentucky.

[John D. Thullen]

We demand, I say, we demand the transcripts!

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-right-loves-deep-states-covert-ops.html

Has anyone seen my reading glasses? By God, I've been struck blind!

[cleek]

Rand Paul should be censured, tarred, feathered, drawn, quartered, roasted, toasted and fed to rats.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Nah, Rand Paul should just be delivered to Galt's Gulch, AKA North Sentinel Island, for the delectation of the inhabitants.

[wj]

cleek once again shows himself to be
Soft. On. Scum.

[John D. Thullen]

Lindsay Graham wants to know whose fault all of this is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKaQLYPf5hM

OK, cuck, you've used up your first two guesses, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ....

[CharlesWT]

Rand Paul is being a bit of a disappointment to libertarians too.

"Paul's enthusiastic and near-perpetual support for Trump actions continues to bum out many libertarians—who had hoped Rand would turn out more like his father, former Rep. Ron Paul—and limited-government conservatives, for whom the Kentucky senator was a bright spot back when the Tea Party movement showed promise and principles. In the #MAGA era, Paul has become one of the biggest cheerleaders of Trump-style Republicanism and a tireless defender of the president's perspective."
Rand Paul Wants Whistleblower Outed. Libertarians Want the Old Rand Paul Back

[cleek]

in Soviet Libertania government blows whistle on you.

[John D. Thullen]

"disappointed libertarians"

Is there any other kind?

%-(

[bobbyp]

Ron Paul is a stone racist and loony gold bug. He also engages in the standard right wing grifting of the rubes.

Rand Paul is no better, and never has been. If anything, he is more phony.

Real glibertarians! Found at last.

[John D. Thullen]

More campus free speech, as an AIPAC member threatens the student body:

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/11/speaking-of-campus-pc

[John D. Thullen]

More campus free speech, as an AIPAC member threatens the student body:

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/11/speaking-of-campus-pc

[bobbyp]

I'm bobbyp, and I can't stop beating this dead horse.

I approve this message.

[bobbyp]

Uzbekistan?

But how will they pay for it?

LOL

[wj]

Why is Medicare For All aspirational, and that's good. But a Republican Who Can Be Reasoned With isn't similarly aspirational? Just seems like something odd there. (Says the Republican, albeit admittedly not one in Congress, who thinks he can be reasoned with.)

[bobbyp]

wj,

whatever it is this good cloth coat republican 'aspirational' plan is, it is generally sold as 'feasible' (cf conversation above). i may be an old coot, but i have generally thought of feasible as somewhat orthogonal to rainbows.

As Pierce (and yours truly) has stated, even Joe Biden's health care plan has no chance of getting consideration in a moscow mitch senate.

So the whole thing, it would seem, from your end is to somehow reach "middle of the roaders" under the belief that they can come around to a plan that even you admit has shortcomings.

my approach is to appeal directly to those who can be moved by the message, who are generally of lower incomes, and are not all that connected to the political system.

so it's not about changing minds, it's about getting them.

but this yin and yang is a common thread wrt any political issue.

[wj]

bobbyp,
I agree, nothing will get passed until the Democrats control the Senate. That said, it becomes a matter of which proposed plan will bring in the most votes, does it not?

Some (including, I think, you) argue that the most liberal plan will inspire more low income voters. Specifically the ones who aren't already going to vote Democrat. Because it will benefit them more.

Others, including me, observe that the poor tend to be seriously risk-averse. (Which is entirely sensible of them.) Which means they are going to prefer small steps, steps which show no sign of taking away any little thing they already have. Even if, on any objective analysis, the bigger change would benefit them more.

[russell]

so it's not about changing minds, it's about getting them.

Turnout in the 2016 election was 55%. So, there may be something to this.

[wj]

OK, we need to be extra nice to the Libertarians among us:
https://pjmedia-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/pjmedia.com/trending/kentucky-libertarians-thrilled-with-results-we-split-the-vote-and-caused-delicious-tears/amp/

[John D. Thullen]

The pillow talk, if there is any left at this point, in the Conway household has got to be brutal:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-apprentice-white-house-could-be-the-reward-for-voting-trump-out-of-office-2019-11-07?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts

[John D. Thullen]

A mind is a terrible thing to lose.

[John D. Thullen]

I've been reading (absorbing) a book of Laurie Lipton's amazing drawings:

https://bgfa.us/Resources/Democracy1.jpg

[John D. Thullen]

These people will murder. The separation of church and state is now nullified:

https://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2019/11/it-takes-con-artist-to-know-con-artist.html

The least we can do is practice our demonic voices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HCyp_sq8Dk

[bobbyp]

Why is Medicare For All aspirational, and that's good. But a Republican Who Can Be Reasoned With isn't similarly aspirational? Just seems like something odd there.

Republicans Who Can Be Reasoned With are, for all intents and purposes, extinct. As an institution, the Party is one big shout out to bargaining in bad faith.

Consensus is a two way street.

[russell]

These people will murder.

There's somebody running around out there whose given name is actually "Dutch Sheets".

These simple things amuse me.

[hairshirthedonist]

much for agree

[cleek]

how does one become a professional in life trends?

[John D. Thullen]

"how does one become a professional in life trends?"

Charge more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5XYNQv6F_o