I’m sorry, but I just don’t think a man is strong enough to be president. https://t.co/YbmVCC0E9K
— Dennis DiClaudio (@dennisdiclaudio) July 22, 2019
GUARDIANS OF DEMOCRACY tank to scrub the dog. https://t.co/syZOkHTmCk
— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) July 21, 2019
What are Iowans saying about Kamala Harris?
"She'll make a wonderful president."
"I can see her bringing the fight to Donald Trump."
"She's the type of person to bring together."
"She talked about lifting people up, and bringing hope, and that's what we need."
"She's tough." pic.twitter.com/WPiU8Ru1Bv
— Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) July 22, 2019
Fmr. Democratic Whip David Bonior shares his endorsement of @ewarren in front of packed crowd in the heart of his old district in McComb Co., MI — arguably the critical swing county in MIchigan. #MIPol pic.twitter.com/q3ddirbvHp
— Neil Sroka (@nsroka) July 22, 2019
And Harris just locked down the Jersey vote. https://t.co/X2Qq3lZ5zM
— laura mckenna (@laura11D) July 22, 2019
And a fun little interactive NYTimes story: “How to Get a Selfie With Elizabeth Warren in 8 Steps” —
LANSING, Mich. — Sure, you could wear a campaign button. But a photo with the candidate is so much more versatile: suitable for avatars, posting with a clever hashtag, even printing out and framing if you want to go analog.
Posing for the camera with a presidential candidate used to be a perk generally reserved for wealthy donors. At Senator Elizabeth Warren’s events, all it costs is passing some time in a well-organized selfie* line…
Eight hundred of the 1,700 people at that particular event opted for their selfies. Which I can believe, because I attended a much smaller Warren town hall last fall, and more than half the 200 or so people in the auditorium were waiting for their shots when I decided I was too shy to join them!
Extra-credit Midwest/Canadian “nice”:
.@sethmoulton didn't make the next Democratic debate, but that doesn't mean he can't be on TV that night! pic.twitter.com/hBKRUbOY3z
— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) July 19, 2019
Baud
“Most strong”?
Tony Jay
In the absence of an unexpected and implausible twist of fate (like a fuckwit-specific Rapture or the destruction of Conservative Central Office via swarms of telepathic monkeys, the mating rituals of two hyper-evolved Übersquids or being rammed by a suspiciously over-charged mobility scooter, we’re about to see Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson anointed as Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party and thus de facto Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
This is less than optimum.
Baud
It’s easy to be strong against Trump. Only Baud! is strong enough to stand up to every American.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
I assume the classic British understatement is present in our last sentence.
satby
@Tony Jay: the Queen probably bangs her head on her desk in private watching what’s gone on in Parliament for the last two years. But thanks for keeping us company in the “lead by idiots” section of the world community. It’s getting to be a deep bench.
OzarkHillbilly
Kamala has an infectious smile.
Quinerly
Good morning from Poco and his tribe! Looks to be a beautiful day in St. Louis!
Tony Jay
@Baud:
So very far under it just tripped a Chinese gangster on his way to beat up some anti-Government protesters.
debbie
@Tony Jay:
I heard something on the BBC overnight that because he’s supported by a small minority of Conservatives, Boris is sure to lose if a new election is called. What do you think the odds of that happening are?
debbie
@Quinerly:
Here too! Humidity will be in the 30s today — unheard of!
plato
Aaand bumbling boris it is. 2 to 1. Bummer.
Even his ‘clapping’ looks so artificial and so awful.
Tony Jay
159,320 people were sufficiently deranged as to be considered eligible to vote in a Tory Party election, turnout was 87.4%, and there were 509 rejected ballot papers.
Clown Prince Flobalob replaces May the Undead with a smashing 66% of the vote.
That’s not exactly the titanic victory his backers were predicting just a few weeks ago.
Tony Jay
@satby:
You are welcome. Special Relationship and all that.
Baud
@Quinerly:
Good morning.
Quinerly
@debbie: That’s great! Enjoy your day! Want to get Poco out for a long walk. He just gave me “the look.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Tony Jay: “Hold my beer. Watch this!”
Kay
Smart. The best endorsement, IMO, is from someone you know and like – the Obama campaign called this “validating”, which is weirdly “scientific” sounding and cold, admittedly, but same general idea :)
They’ll pass them around to their friends.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
Well, that’s tricky. A fairly large chunk of the Tory Party can’t stand the useless chump, but that wouldn’t stop them from voting for him if the only other option was a Corbyn Government and (horror of horrors) an end to Austerity, steps taken to end inequality and generally the possibility that Those People might start being considered as worthy of Government largess as the average Tory voter. The fact that Labour is ahead in most polls, despite the most outrageously cynical campaign of Media-led smearing I’ve seen since that Clinton woman won the Democratic Primaries, can only be making them increasingly nervous that the Red Flag could be flying over Downing Street sooner rather than later.
But…. it wouldn’t take that much of a swing for Labour to become the largest Party in the Commons, and if the Lib Dems gobble up a large chunk of light-blue Tory votes out in the sticks, plus the Tories and the Brexit Corporation split the White Nationalist vote in enough marginal seats…. yeah, Johnson could win the race only to see it all snatched away by his own unpopularity.
Which would be nice.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
When does the next election have to be?
debbie
@Tony Jay:
Thanks. No thread is too slender to cling to!
Quinerly
@Baud: Have you broken it to Poco that he’s off the “Baud/Poco 2020” ticket? He’s planning on a NC campaign trip in about 6 weeks. I don’t think he has a clue. ?
satby
Good morning all! Beautiful day here. Going to unplug from the ‘net as much as possible today and enjoy the cooler temps and lack of humidity. Also not watching the Mueller testimony, I’ll catch highlights (or lowlights) later.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ???
rikyrah
@satby:
Yes????
I feel you, satby
Kay
Three guesses which newspaper’s political team portrayed going from +12 to – 2 as good news for Donald Trump.
Imagine Obama going from +12 to – 2 between ’08 and ’12, and how that would be portrayed.
Patricia Kayden
@Tony Jay: It’s too bad that Labour isn’t posing much of an anti-BREXIT challenge to the Conservatives.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: waves, soft meows, tail wags back at you! Have a great day!
rikyrah
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) Tweeted:
This is a MASSIVE and DANGEROUS change.
Now, if ICE believes someone is undocumented and has lived in the US for less than two years—with the burden on the immigrant to prove otherwise—they can deport that person within days, with almost no court review allowed. https://t.co/cH9rHCiki8 https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1153295330244476929?s=17
Tony Jay
@Baud:
It doesn’t – have – to be until 2022, thanks to the Fixed-Term Elections Act shoved through by the Tory/Lib-Dem Coalition Government. Normally it takes a 2/3 majority vote in Parliament to call one anyway (as in 2017) Johnson isn’t going to call for that unless he has to.
But…
There are, of course, some things that could happen to derail the gobshite’s ultimate grip on power, but almost certainly won’t.
According to Britain’s unwritten constitution the Queen can only invite someone to form a Government if the outgoing Prime Minister can ‘honestly’ advise her that their replacement has the full faith and loyalty of enough sitting MPs to pass business (specifically a budget) through the Houses of Parliament. That’s never normally a problem, since traditionally the incoming Prime Minister has just won a majority in a General Election and/or has cobbled together a Coalition of some sort that acknowledges them as leader before they go near the Palace. Theresa May herself was in this position in the wake of the 2017 Election, in which she lost the Tory Party’s majority and had to pay the Democratic Unionists a cool £1 billion bribe to prop up her Government with their 10 votes. Being in hock to a bunch of flat-shoed fascists like the DUP probably doomed any lingering chance of May changing her position on Brexit to accommodate inconvenient reality, but that was the bed she chose to lie in when she cut the majority of the country out of negotiations so fuck her very much.
This time could be a wee bit different. Following the (second) suspension of Charles Elphicke, the MP for Dover (and that bit of France that a majority of people in the constituency see looming across the Channel like a blurry claw of bureaucratic oppression and persistent not-Englishness) over long-running charges of sexual assault the Tory/Democratic Unionist majority is down to 2 and highly likely to fall even further come August 1st and the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, a Welsh constituency in which the Tory candidate was unseated after being convicted for fiddling his expenses, but was then reselected by the local Tories who will NOT be dictated to by the plebeians and are just happy to have a candidate willing to go that extra mile in order to represent the Party’s true values. All the smart money is on the Liberal-Democrats nicking that seat, which means Johnson would be down to a majority of 1 even before you factor in the large number of Tory MPs who despise him as a back-stabbing celebrity shit. It’s not out of the bounds of possibility that May could sit down with the Queen and when asked, can this shitshambles of a man actually Govern through Parliament, she gives the honest answer, which is “Probably not, your Majesty, he’s a prick”.
Would she do that to stop Johnson? Nah. She’s a Tory through and through. She’ll look Lizzie in the eye and lie like a trooper.
Then there’s the possibility of a full-scale Tory Party mutiny in which enough not-insane Conservative MPs join with Labour, the Scottish Nationalists and the minor Parties in a pre-emptive vote of No-Confidence in Johnson’s Government. Quite a few have already announced that they do not support his leadership and – specifically – even more will fuck him sideways with a length of knotted birch if he’s stupid enough to try and drag Britain out of the European Union without first negotiating a withdrawal agreement that can win a Parliamentary majority. Exactly the same bind Theresa May was in, but worse, because if there’s one thing Boris Johnson excels at, it’s rubbing people up the wrong way with his incompetence and propensity to lie like a multiple bigamist in the run up to Christmas. He spent the whole first part of the Leadership Contest hiding out from the Media while promising wildly different things to anyone with a vote, and while that was explained away by his fluffers in the Press as a willingness to be flexible, it can’t have gone unnoticed on the Tory benches that Johnson’s one and only loyalty is to himself and his future earning power. He’ll happily break any promise if it hinders his naked ambition, and they all know it. If enough of them let it be known that Johnson is unfit for office and won’t have their support in a no-confidence vote, we can be on our way to a General Election within a couple of weeks.
Will they do that? Nah. Tories do be Tories. They’ll ‘give him a chance’ to unshit the bed. By the time we get to September, though…. things may be looking a lot more dicey for the Caricature in Chief.
I’m morally sure we’re going to have an early General Election, but it’s not going to happen for a couple of months yet.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
@Quinerly:
Never tell a dog he’s about to be neutered. Tell him he’s going to the park.
rikyrah
@Kay:
We all know how it would be portrayed, Kay.??
Litlebritdifrnt
@Tony Jay: To be fair Tony, obviously us Brits thought that the Americans were having all the fun by having a bumbling idiot running things so they decided that we needed a bumbling idiot of our own to even things out.
Amir Khalid
@Tony Jay:
Now that you mention it, who was the most recent Tory leader who wasn’t a useless chump?
rikyrah
Dennis Mersereau (@wxdam) Tweeted:
Bernie’s press secretary defending her vote for Jill Stein in 2016 is exactly what he needs to convince primary voters still weary over the last primary that he’s going to unite and build the party this time around. https://t.co/QZJKpWiCxQ https://twitter.com/wxdam/status/1153487405170745344?s=17
Baud
@Tony Jay:
So you’re saying there’s a chance…
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: Good morning! “Our” Red and I have started laying the floor tile in the walk out basement rental apartment! She found these wonderful 12 x 12 mesh mounted, even, small, cream pebbles from Hoods (do you remember the old Hoods on Jefferson? I miss it. ). It’s a very “forgiving” product, and fits together like a puzzle so the seams don’t show. Seal it top side before it goes down, do not grout it. Gloss seal again when all down. I thought it would be weird to walk on but it’s really cool. So smooth, even. It almost massages your feet. Our Red is amazing with the stuff she comes up with. ??
Baud
@Kay:
Does its name rhyme with harbage?
Quinerly
@Baud: Is that what McGovern told Eagleton in ’72?
Tony Jay
@Patricia Kayden:
(Gouges own eyes out with frustration)
Labour is the Opposition, and has a chunk of MPs and voters who actually support Brexit. The leadership’s one job has been to keep the Party in one piece and vote against Tory Brexit policy every chance it gets until such a time as enough Tory MPs are willing to do the right thing and bring the Government down. And despite three years of such intense backstabbing that even Julius fucking Caesar could only shake his head in disbelief, the leadership has done just that.
Other parties have made Bollocks to Brexit their slogan, but that’s all it is, a slogan. They’ve no actual policy on how to stop Brexit and have never been asked to provide one, so they’ve been free to frolick away on the sun-dappled slopes of Purity Mountain while Labour has done the hard work for them.
The final piece in the puzzle is that chunk of Tory MPs willing to vote against their own Government. It’s all up to them and it always has been.
Rant over.
Patricia Kayden
Multiple cops fired.
https://twitter.com/FamousBL3/status/1153468349751447552
Scary times.
JPL
@Tony Jay: Reading that made me think of Ian Richardson in House of Cards.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
We Americans are big on the transformative power of LEADERSHIP.
Tony Jay
@Litlebritdifrnt:
In our defense, this one is down to the 139,000 or so brain-damaged lunatics who form the Tory Party membership. OTOH the 13.5 million people who voted Tory in the last Election bear some major responsibility too.
We warned you, you daffy bastards, but would you listen? Noooooooo, you would not. Now look at the mess you’ve made, there’s Johnson everywhere.
Tony Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Francis Urquhart.
plato
Butcher of Beijing gone at 90.
Amazing how the evil around the world lives so long and goes unpunished.
Baud
@Quinerly: Yes.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
According to my calculations about 1-in-175 million, but I’m not good with decimal points.
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: Our sympathies. Trump just tweeted that BoJo “will be great,” so y’all have that going for you.
Immanentize
@satby: The heat broke here, too. It rained all night and the temps are in the mid-60’s right now. So very lovely.
JPL
@Immanentize: It’s a perfect day to celebrate a birthday.
BC in Illinois
The Scottish National Party is announcing B Johnson’s selection.
It’s interesting to see how the scary image of Trump can be used by people elsewhere as a warning.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
8-) And that’s why you’ve got at least a slugger’s chance of getting on the Warren or Harris ticket come next Spring.
The Lady/Baud 2020
Always Behind You, Always Pushing
Tony Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Thanks, Shit-Midas, but the Oxbridge Oaf can fuck this up without any assistance from your tiny toy hands.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I always like reading what Iowa voters are saying, even though we don’t live there anymore. I’m not surprised by the support for Harris. She’s great. But also, when we moved there 20 years ago, people told us Iowa Ds were more liberal than average Ds and Iowa Rs were more conservative than average Rs. At the time, the senators were Grassley and Tom Harkin. I don’t know whether the Ds and Rs still break down that way, but it always seemed true while we were there.
Another Scott
@Patricia Kayden: Corbyn has said (fairly recently) that he and Labour are “anti-Tory-Brexit”. He hasn’t said that he’s anti-any-Brexit, yet, but at least he’s heading in the right direction.
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: No, you tell him he’s going to be tutored.
Immanentize
@Tony Jay:
This is an example of why I continue to read this blog
OzarkHillbilly
@Amir Khalid: Tony Blair was a useful idiot, just ask W.
gene108
@Kay:
Any other President, who has always had a net negative approval rating, would not be portrayed as unbeatable either.
The media treats Trump differently
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Sounds cool.
BC in Illinois
And from Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister:
And in this way, Scotland will be “congratulating” and “working with” PM Johnson.
Immanentize
@JPL: It is. Thank you!
Sadly my celebrations this year include a pre-op visit for the Immp. But he did take me out for a very yummy sushi lunch yesterday. ?
I may start drinking — champagne? — today at lunch, just for some novelty. This B-day is a big one in that it includes a zero.
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden: The wonderful shining metropolis of Gretna. My youngest lives there.
ETA, I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised they fired them.
Aleta
@Immanentize: Here too. The birds even sound relieved.
Tony Jay
@Another Scott:
Labour have been officially anti-Tory Brexit ever since May announced what a Tory Brexit consisted of.
Here. I lifted this off another site because it’s lovely and succinct.
Labour’s official position on Brexit
“The Labour Party should confirm that whatever deal is negotiated by the new Tory Prime Minister or an exit based on no-deal should be put to the people in a public confirmatory vote. The options must be:”
1. Accepting the deal or a Tory no deal in the knowledge of its terms
2. Remaining in the European Union.
In this event, the Labour Party should campaign to remain in the European Union.
“In the event that a general election is called, Labour’s manifesto position should be:
“Negotiating with the European Union to respect the Brexit vote outlined from 2016, reflecting the negotiating priorities that Labour has outlined”
Any final Labour deal should then be put back to the people.
The options on the ballot paper should be:
1.Accepting the Labour negotiated deal
2.Remaining in the European Union
The Labour Party’s campaign position on such a ballot should depend on the deal negotiated.
That’s an actual policy that leads through every route to a new Referendum in which Labour backs Remain, but only after being seen to at least try to negotiate something that ‘respects’ the 2016 Referendum, which won’t work, because there’s no negotiable deal with the EU that meets Labour’s tests for a ‘good’ Brexit, and everyone knows it. It’s all about keeping the Leave voting Labour vote onside so Labour can win an Election and actually get in a position to do more than bitch and complain while polishing the Shiny Knob of Purity.
The people in Britain whining that Labour is ‘pro-Brexit’ or ‘doesn’t have a policy’ are talking through their arses, unfortunately the British Media have placed the mouth of their megaphone right there so it’s all anybody ever hears.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
preceded by a….
Kay
@gene108:
I like advocates, generally, but I like when they know they are advocates. The test for me is this: could one write this in the opposite direction and it would be completely valid? So- “Donald Trump has lost 12 points in this crucial swing county, and is now negative”.
It’s a good rule. It seems to work. Another one I use is if Glenn Greenwald writes “clearly…” then it is not clear and he knows it so he has to put that “clearly” in to manipulate his readers. If it’s “clear” he doesn’t need it. Clearly.
Ken
@Tony Jay: I don’t see the option where the Queen has Johnson hung in chains from the Tower Bridge. Isn’t that still one of the monarch’s reserve powers?
ETA: I see from Wikipedia it isn’t, but she does theoretically have the power to dismiss a Prime Minister and government, last exercised in 1834 by William IV, and appoint a Prime Minister of her choosing, last exercised in – well, well, 1963 by Elizabeth II.
Tony Jay
@Immanentize:
And happy birthday to you. 8-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I have been zeroed more than once! This last birthday was post-zero though.
For you and Immp, I recommend mindless entertainment. When I was in the hospital, I watched multiple episodes of Property Brothers. I was too distracted for anything else.
Ken
@Kay: Terry Pratchett called “clearly”, “obviously”, and so forth “wallpaper words”, used to paper over the big cracks in the argument.
Kay
@Ken:
That’s funny. I look for “clearly” in pleadings as “bullshit ahead!” and I can’t be the only one.. Ping, ping, ping! I’m alert then. No one has the nerve to use “obviously” :)
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Preceded by a number not zero. Somewhere between 5 and 7.
Immanentize
@Kay:
Re: “Clearly”. I teach my students never to use that word as it signals the biggest weaknesses in your argument. As do “obviously” and “patently.” In fact, as of last year, I now tell them to eliminate (unless quoting someone) All Soft Modifiers! I explain to them that it is very very important to do so….
ETA Ken — I like the Wallpaper Words image. Thanks!
Tony Jay
@Ken:
1963? Are you suggesting that Liz used her reptillian powers of fascination to trick MacMillan into thinking he had cancer so he’d step down as Tory leader in the wake of the Profumo Affair? I thought that information was under a D Notice. Please wait by your phone, an agent will be there to pick you up for debriefing shortly.
Steeplejack
@satby:
Led by idiots. Led. Autocorrect is of the devil.
Now that we’ve (mostly) won the reign/rein battle, this lead/led thing is trending.
Along with missing commas in such constructions as:
But I don’t know if I have the strength to take up that fight in these parlous times.
RAVEN
@Immanentize: pup
Immanentize
@RAVEN: Yup
Quinerly
@Immanentize: Have to leave the thread and get on with my day so haven’t read everything. You having a big birthday today? Happy, happy. Thinking about you and your son. Take care.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: That’s a good one, IIRC. Congrats.
Spanky
@Immanentize: Divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
A magic number! Congrats!
(Now work on hanging in there.)
Haroldo
@Tony Jay:
At the risk of prompting you to lose your third, remaining eye, where would you suggest a person look to get some media (or blog analysis) that does not have it in for Corbyn? Everything (admittedly an infinitesimal and limited sample) I read or hear points to an ineffectual Labour leadership, tho’ you posit strongly otherwise.
I concur with your primary analysis of Brexit, the Tories, Johnson and the sad state of UK politics. It bears a non-coincidental resemblance to the shit shows in the US and Australia (and shares one of the same causal motor forces, the Murdoch press empire). I am familiar enough with Oz and US politics to make fairly astute judgments about what’s going on there and here, but lack the requisite UK knowledge to provide much nuance to my thinking. So any help would be welcome.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
There’s a reason a certain band decided not to spell its name “Lead Zeppelin”.
Steve in the ATL
@Tony Jay: That’s gold, Jerry! Gold.
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: We know all about it thanks to The Crown.
Immanentize
@Spanky: Very cool. Did not realize this….
Steeplejack
Somebody help me check my unexamined bigotry here. I mostly slept through the controversy a few months ago when one of the reps now in the Squad said some things that might or might not have been anti-Semitic. Then last night one of the guest pundits on MSNBC referred to “all about the benjamins” and said that was clearly anti-Semitic, and I was all like “Wait, what, now?”
I have always thought that it was a slangy reference to the fact that Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill. Is that wrong? Do most people see it as an anti-Semitic slur?
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: You forgot “1”. ;-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
Aleta
@Immanentize:
Happy birthday
NASA’s astronomy picture for 2019 July 23
Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
Steve in the ATL
@Kay:
We were taught in law school that the word “clearly” is a tell that what follows it will anything but clear.
Naturally, I use that word frequently!
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: you are quite articulate for a 06 year old.
You know, maybe BillinGlendaleCA was right about lawyers not being funny….
Spanky
@Immanentize: Minutes/hour, seconds/minute, arcminute/degree, arcsec/arcmin …
Sab
Immanentize,
Do you or the Immp like adult coloring books? Sort of a mindless way to concentrate and pass the time without having to think. I found them kind of soothing after my surgery a few years ago.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I once had a dean whose tell was “frankly.” It was a sure sign he was lying. But then, so was opening his mouth.
JPL
@Immanentize: I hope the pre-op visit isn’t to stressful for little immp. I had a zero ending birthday last week and first time ever, it bothered me. I realized that I might not be around when the five month grandson graduates from college. As you know there are no guarantees in life, so I’m mostly over it. Although I hate to admit that I’m a few months older than Raven
Enjoy your day as best you can.
Spanky
@Steeplejack: People on television tend to be morons saying moronic things. If no one corrected that in real time, assume they’re all morons. Probably with an agenda.
It was Morning Joe, wasn’t it?
Aleta
@Steve in the ATL: I use murkily.
Steeplejack
As my comments above indicate, I am doing a little sawdust-sawing before diving into the feteid swamp of the day’s politics. Maybe I need a palate-cleansing episode of Perry Mason to show me there can be justice and moral rectitude in the world (or at least the imaginary mid-century version of it). Got one coming up in a few minutes on MeTV.
The heat wave is but a memory here in NoVA. It’s pleasantly gloomy and gray outside, drizzling occasionally, with the current temp 69° and the high today around 74°. Sunny and highs from 83° to 90° the rest of the week. Quite nice.
Also thinking seriously about getting a new computer, but I’ll save that for another time.
TS (the original)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Following the US down the rabbit hole is the only way I can think to describe it
Steeplejack
@Spanky:
No, it was one of the evening shows, probably Chris Matthews. Although that level of discourse would be right at home on Morning Joe.
So it’s not an anti-Semitic dogwhistle? I seem to remember it becoming popular around the time of the (excellent) movie Dead Presidents (1995).
Raven
@Sab: I’m coloring in my Bob Dylan Short Timer Calendar!
rp
@Tony Jay: You left out the period before the Brexit vote. That’s when Corbyn and Labour had a real chance to kill it, but he half-assed it. And this is one case where LEADERSHIP would have made a big difference.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
Use those bright Day-Glo colors! Milton Glaser would want it that way.
ETA: What are you, down around 40 days? Don’t volunteer for any patrols!
germy
Steve in the ATL
@Steeplejack: you are exactly correct. It’s not anti-Semitic at all.
I can’t believe I just said Steeplejack was correct….
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: You’re correct that it was a slangy reference to Franklin on the $100, but the issue was that implying that Jewish folks use money to control American politics is…problematic. Omar apologized for it “unequivocally.” I don’t think she meant to say something that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, but she did use a dangerous trope, so I can see why people were offended by it. On the other hand, we have to be able to discuss all lobbying outfits’ influence on policy. Here’s Trump just minutes ago:
I don’t believe for a second he would refrain from lying about Omar, no matter what she said or didn’t say. He lies all the time, and if Omar hadn’t made the “Benjamins” comment, he’d glom onto something else. But when Omar’s comment made news by pissing off fellow Democrats, that made Trump’s hatchet job easier. IMO, Omar’s critics overreacted, and that made Trump’s job easier too.
Ladyraxterinok
@Tony Jay: Thanks for your posts on today’s UK politics.
In OK, it’s sad to see other places can be as moronic as we often are.
Does OK GOP Sen Inhofe still win a RWNJ prize with his throwing a snowball on the Senate floor to ‘prove’ that ‘Global warming ia a hoax!!’??
Dog Mom
@Immanentize: Last week I had several crappy and stress filled days – my birthday was/should not be memorable. But I am still here and after a few days to get myself into the right frame of mind, I am thankful that I still have fight in me and can envision a better future. I am so sorry that your son has to deal with health issues when he should have this time to enjoy all the new opportunities that life and education provide, and so sorry for the stress that it brings to you. Still I hope that you have some peace and good moments today. I hope that all the caregivers you deal with are at the top of their game, filled with compassion and ready to make all of this as easy as possible. Best wishes for strength to you both!
OzarkHillbilly
UK must look after its own ships in the Gulf, says Pompeo
Iran rejects UK’s proposal for European-led maritime force
Critics point to irony of UK calling on EU support while heading for Brexit
Heh. How’s that Brexit or bust working out for you Boris?
Spanky
@Ladyraxterinok: Yes. Besides, Imhofe has locked up a Lifetime Achievement Award in RWNJ wanking.
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: @Dog Mom: What Dog Mom so beautifully said. Wishing you a happy birthday and Immp the best of all possible outcomes.
Raven
@Steeplejack: 39 and a wake up but it’s weird. I had to be working the on the day of the first game so I chose 9/3 because 9/1 is a weekend. That’s my last day of work but our retirement system requires the first so they kicked the official day to 10/1. Sine 9/3 is the 50th anniversary of me coming home I thought that was a good day so I’ll take half of my huge leave accumulation for October. Everyone said not to take the money for leave so I’m going to roll the rest into a 403b. I also have nearly 9 months of sick leave and they tack that onto my pension so that’s good.
JR
@Steeplejack: I think it’s the old Jews and money trope. Comment made in reference to AIPAC IIRC. Honestly I barely remember that affair and while casual antisemitism is everywhere that didn’t ring any real alarm bells for me.
Quinerly
@Dog Mom:
?
Immanentize
@Aleta: What a beautiful present. Thank you!
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Way back in the dark ages, one of my best friends contracted a form of cancer that was generally considered to be terminal (at that time.) Most everyone treated him as if he were terminal. He lost a semester(?) year(?) of college due to chemo and surgery and all that crap.
Long story short, he didn’t die, went back and finished college, went to med school and became a happy and successful eye surgeon. Married, had three wonderful kids, all grown now, and he’s retired and devoting much of his time to fly fishing. Still my friend, and we still joke about all those people who wrote him off.
Not much point to this rambling other than to say the long run can be good even if the short-term outlook has challenges.
Cacti
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can’t lie.
Seeing the Brits get their nose tweaked by a former colony is kind of funny.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
Okay, I think I’ve got it. It wasn’t just the Benjamins, it was including that phrase in some statement about Jews and money.
@Steve in the ATL:
Inorite. I get a little light-headed myself when I turn out to be right about something.
Gin & Tonic
@Raven:
I apparently can’t do that, and may have to take a lump-sum payout. Gotta talk with an accountant about what my alternatives are. I thought I could clean out my desk and leave but have the official day be a couple of months later after my time off runs out, but they say that’s not allowed.
Immanentize
@Dog Mom:
Thank you. I know how lucky I am to be in the Boston area. Never thought I would be wound up in serious health care issues, but no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I am grateful the best care possible is right here just a T ride away.
Scotian
Update from the hospital:
While the clot in my left leg is slowly improving, it turns out the bad one in the right has only stopped getting worse. I also have cellulitis on that right foot, and I have spent the overnight weeping fluid through the skin at my waist. The doctor this morning was not wearing a happy face at all while discussing this with me.
The pain management is holding, so there is that, but taken overall it is hard to hear, especially when yesterday it was initially thought both legs were improving.
My pain meds are starting to hit again, so I’ll leave it there for now and check the site once I wake up again. I wanted to update first given all the caring and concern the jackels have shown me and mine.
David Macdonald
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Huh, I spose it’s different for every institution. I thought you could put it in a 401k no matter what the entity is? I started my social security in June and I’m going to use those funds for this ridiculous offshore trip.
Immanentize
And we’re off! Thank you everyone.
And, I’ll see you all in the funny papers!
Betty Cracker
GOP Chair (more like an ottoman, really) Ronna Romney McDaniel was lying on Twitter about Reps. AOC, Omar and Tlaib yesterday:
Just lying like a common Trump.
Scotian
@Immanentize:
Before I doze off I wanted to wish you and your young one best of luck with your cancer issues too. I’m glad you live in one of the best cities for med research, may it serve you both well.
Elizabelle
@Immanentize: Happy birthday on the fly there!
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Happy birthday! ? This is a big one, right?
Steeplejack
Okay, computer blow:
I managed to make it through the bombardment of Amazon Prime Day (and the tag-along sales by a bunch of other outfits) pretty much unscathed—I bought a few minor things I needed anyway and got them at hefty discounts—but they got me to thinking (again) about getting a new computer.
Recently I told a friend that it’s a damn shame when a man’s cell phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e—love it) is more expensive than his computer, and that got me looking up the details on this Lenovo notebook (X130e). I got it as a refurb from Woot in December 2012. That blew my mind. I knew it was old, but, damn, how time flies. Think it cost about $150-200.
Yet it has stood me in good stead. I goosed up the memory from 4 GB to 8 GB. I kept planning to get an SSD but never did. It has been fine for Web browsing, email, writing and mid-level sheet-spreading. The biggest factor in user experience these days is your Internet connection speed, I think, and I have no complaints there.
But I’m ready to upgrade, and I think I’m ready to spend a little more than last time! The X130e is 8¼” by 11¼”, but it’s an inch thick and heavy. And the screen is only 11½”. I thought it would be good for travel, but now I’ve got a 10″ Chromebook that works for that.
I’d like to get a 13″ or maybe even 14″ screen without going up too much on the form factor, which I should be able to do, because screen bezels have gotten so much smaller. So far I’m looking at the Dell XPS 13 and a high-end Lenovo, maybe even the X1. But no “tablet mode” or touchscreen! (Not rabidly opposed, just don’t want them.)
Recommendations and kibitzing welcome.
Nicole
@Immanentize: Wishing you a year ahead of joy, good news (you deserve a lot of it) and peace and health.
I read that the majority of patients who have a complete removal of the stomach due to cancer are back to eating a normal or near-normal diet by a year afterwards, so I will send lots of good thoughts out for Immp’s recovery to follow that path. My mind was blown to learn that surgeons can turn part of the intestine into a makeshift new stomach. SCIENCE!
(I was really upset to read the news about Immp and I deal with bad news by googling information. During the course of googling, I found this heartening article about a marathoner who had a similar experience to Immp- went in for genetic testing for the same gene he has, found out she was in stage 1, also had her stomach removed. Spoilers: she’s back to running marathons):
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/cancerwise/marathon-after-stomach-cancer-gastrectomy-CDH1-gene-mutation.h00-159142089.html
OzarkHillbilly
@Scotian: Sleep well.
Ladyraxterinok
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I still remember whe Grassley was elected. The GOPincumbent was found to have charged some prostitute visits tohis credit card!?!
Chuck ran on $300? screwdrivers the Pentagon was buying. I heard some retired farmers in a cafe discuss why his dem opponent would lose their vote–he obviously didn’t work very hard because he took timd off to get a (nice) haircut!!
Nelle
@Immanentize: You and little Imp are often in my thoughts and best wishes.
laura
@Tony Jay: Billy Bragg said it so succinctly “I’d give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage,” from his song “Between The Wars.”
To think that the conventional wisdom considers that excessive and unreasonable.
lamh36
That’s 3 proposed policy bills with 3 House members and yet ya got folks still claiming they don’t know what Kamala policies are??
Notice too, these are policies that actually may have chances of being passed!!
Gelfling 545
@Kay: One of the things attracting me to Warren is the high degree of organizational ability she exhibits. I presume we have only the most modest idea of the mess Trump will leave in his wake and it’s going to be a heavy lift to restore any sort of order to the, to coin a phrase, sh!thole he’s created.
Ladyraxterinok
@BC in Illinois: Is Johnson auditioning candidates for a 21st century ‘Butcher of Culloden’??
JanieM
@Baud:
Seconded.
Where do they get these people? /rhetorical question
Tony Jay
@Haroldo:
Not really. One of the reasons I spend so much time lurking over here is because I’ve never found a British political blog that is simultaneously as informative and entertaining as BJ. Most of my political opinionating comes from reading the shite dripping out of the British Press (usually the BBC News, the Guardian and Independent (since the rest is unabashedly hard to far Right and next to useless) and checking their reportage against what Labour actually says and does. From the bits they choose to leave out or misquote you can usually tell what the real story is.
The problem, and I’ve moaned about this a lot before, is that even the ‘centre-left’ Press in Britain sees Corbyn’s Labour Party as an existential threat to the comfortable centre-right consensus that’s dominated for decades and treat it accordingly. Their bias is extreme and cynically deployed, so that every single story gets twisted and beaten into a narrative of failure and betrayal to justify their opposition and big-up the factions within Labour that they feel much more comfortable with.
The simple fact of the matter is that Labour is divided right down to its foundations by Brexit and could easily have splintered if Corbyn hadn’t spent three years straddling the fence and trying to build a consensus. A genuine Press with an interest in informing its readership would have reported on what Labour was doing, why it was doing it, and how it was working, but that’s not what they see their job as being. Far, far easier to act as a PA system for Corbyn’s internal opposition while they hoot and holler about how Labour simply backing a People’s Vote and Remain in all circumstances would magically make Brexit go away and put the Party 20 points up in the polls without any downside whatsoever. That’s transparent bullshit, but they’re never, ever asked to provide proof for their claims. They just get to pose as heroic Tellers of Truths when in reality, following their prescriptions would have pushed between 1/4 and 1/3 of the Labour electorate into the Brexit or Bust camp and guaranteed a Conservative victory in the next Election. You can get away with claiming any old thing as long as no-one ever questions you about it and just nods along approvingly.
The leadership doesn’t have that luxury. They’re trying to ensure that Labour has a chance of doing the only thing that matters and replacing the Tories as the Governing Party, and for that they need the Party in one piece. The backstabbing faction within the Party knows this but they’d rather burn the whole thing down trying to expel the democratically elected leader than lift a finger to help, and why wouldn’t they? It’s not like the Media are going to blame any of them if it all goes tits up.
Obviously, YMMV. 8-)
Tenar Arha
@Steeplejack: Expanding on this…to make this clearer, her critique was of AIPAC lobby shop, ie the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She definitely wasn’t criticizing Jewish Americans as a group. And the usual suspects decided to conflate criticism of Israel, & its lobbyists efforts, with anti-semitism.
Unfortunately she came just close enough to all those stereotypes that have built up around Jewish people & money. Although a lot of liberal Jewish people knew that she was just criticizing Israeli policies, I knew she was going to get the full range of “let’s educate her” to “attack!” And basically everyone who knew anything warned the “let’s educate her” crowd that their “advice” was going to be used as a cudgel against the black Muslim woman, et voila!
Now, Josh Hawley just gave a full speech loaded with more pernicious stereotypes than you could shake a stick at. He literally & repeatedly paired “cosmopolitanism” & “globalism” over & over & over again, & there’s been bupkis & self-justifying pablum from all the usual suspects. & as far as I can tell, not a peep from AIPAC. It’s the usual IOKIYAR.
Ladyraxterinok
@Spanky: Still remember when my dad hit that age when I was 8. His friends and relatives made a big deal of someone attaining that age. From today’s vantage point I wonder if that age for men was such a big deal in 1948 because so may had died in the war.
Tony Jay
@rp:
Oh bullshit. He backed Remain, he explained his reasoning honestly and he delivered the vast majority of Labour votes for the Remain side. Meanwhile the Austerity Twins refused to let the EU defend itself, treated the Referendum like an internal Tory Party debate and ran away as soon as their shitty campaign lost the argument The ‘Blame Corbyn’ din that started immediately afterwards was just the usual claptrap and as boringly predictable as a Panorama ‘exposé’.
I swear to God it’s like people don’t even listen to Ryan Reynolds. ‘Green Lantern‘ was a pile of badly written shit, not a fucking How-To documentary.
Suzanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have been watching lots of “Property Brothers” and “Love It or list It” on my maternity leave. I am deeply annoyed by most of the “dining rooms” which are not really rooms, just a wide spot in the hallway.
Tony Jay
@Ladyraxterinok:
That was special, wasn’t it?
But with Blond Ambition in the hotseat over here, it could be a case of “Hold my Pimms and Lemonade“
Tony Jay
@laura:
This. (golf clap)
Fair Economist
@Tony Jay: It was probably good politics to temporize on Brexit in 2017, but at this point there’s a (slim) majority of voters for Remain, a large minority supporting No Deal, and only fringe support for the kind of soft Brexit that is Corbyn’s goal and the closest thing to an official policy for Labour. In 2017 it was reasonable for Remainers to support Labour on the grounds that a soft Brexit is better than a hard one but now continuing to temporize raises a very significant chance that Labour could just evaporate, with its Remain supporters switching to the Liberals (who aren’t too different in policy otherwise) and its Brexiter supporters going to the Brexit party. Corbyn has been pushing for a soft Brexit since the referendum and has refused to support a confirmatory referendum in general, so there’s every reason to suspect a Labour government would negotiate a soft Brexit and just ram it through. So, for a lot of, maybe a majority of, Labour voters a Lib Dem government would be preferable to a Labour government and that’s a *terrible* position for a party to be in.
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:
Open plans FTW!
(Not really, I’m pretty iffy on currently fashionable open plans.)
VOR
@Gelfling 545: I just finished reading “The Fifth Risk” by Micheal Lewis. The subject is the lasting damage Trump has inflicted on the US Government by appointing horrible people and failing to fill a LOT of positions. Then the general anti-science attitude is driving a lot of people into the private sector. One anecdote is about the vast improvement in tornado forecasting over the past decade and re-examination of how warnings are issued since the tragedy in Joplin, MO. But Trump’s nominee for head of the NOAA used to be the CEO of Accuweather and the book argues there is a conflict between the National Weather Service serving the public and maximizing Accuweather’s profits. This is of a piece with a coal lobbyist running the EPA and an anti-labor lawyer nominated to run the Department of Labor.
Steeplejack
@Tenar Arha:
I did follow the Hawley thing, and I was surprised at the silence as well.
Ladyraxterinok
@Spanky: I realized how really ‘off’ he is when some yrs ago he made a long speech on the Senate floor quoting the OT extensively to ‘prove’ that much of the territory of the Holy Land belongs to Israel because ‘God gave it to his people the Jews’! So there, you infidels!
Miss Bianca
@Tony Jay:
If it were possible to marry this phrase, ‘twould be a consummation most devoutly to be wished. Or something. Sorry, Will, if I’ve mangled your words, I’m only on my second cup of coffee.
TJ, presuming our two countries survive so long, the next time I am on old Blighty’s shores, a pint of beer with you, sir! Your wordsmithing has helped me thru’ some long dark teatimes of the soul.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Happy Birthday ?????
Steeplejack
@Ladyraxterinok:
I think it’s also general advances in health. In movies of the 1930s and ’40s people in their 60s are quite often referenced as “old people,” and they look old. Especially if they’re poor. Hmm . . . Whereas now 60 is considered late middle age or something like that.
rikyrah
Couple claims they were racially profiled during marriage proposal at N.Y. orchard
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/couple-claims-they-were-racially-profiled-during-marriage-proposal-n-n1032551
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Thanks.
Most of what little I know about what’s happening over there comes from the BBC. E.g. this story from February:
My recollection is that Corbyn was interviewed in the last month or two and said more categorically that Labour would not accept the May plan. (He’s apparently been saying that for a long time.) But there always seemed to be wishy-washy statements about what would come next. According to that BBC story, in June 2017 Labour’s manifesto accepted the result of the referendum. There’s been reporting about supporting a customs union and similar things.
tl;dr – I understand the need to make statements to keep a divided party together. But it hasn’t been at all clear that Corbyn’s Labour was whole-heartedly in support of staying in the EU. Sometimes triangulation is necessary, but sometimes it helps to be clear as well.
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Scott.
Leto
@Immanentize: @Nicole: There’s also this story from my home town area (same as your story): 16 Months After Stomach Removal, South Carolina Man Will Take On Ironman Again
Imman: wishing you and Immp nothing but the best. Tons of posi thoughts headed your way.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Everybody seems to want “open concept” now, so I wonder if they even use the dining room, or does everybody just congregate at the aircraft-carrier-sized island?
In my dream house I’m not going to have a room that I use five or 10 times a year (if that).
Miss Bianca
@Immanentize: Happy birthday, Imm! Best of luck to Immp!
Leto
@Steeplejack: agreed with a traditional dining room. It was the least used room in our house. I’m down for an aircraft carrier sized island as it eliminates my need to use the counter with cabinets hanging over the area for food prep, plus built in eating area. Some people still entertain large numbers so I guess they need that dedicated space. Kudos to them.
We used our dining room as the board game playing area. Better use of the space.
Ladyraxterinok
@Steeplejack: Hadn’t thought of that!
I like to read christianist ‘chck lit’ of pre WWII era. Unmarried women in their 30s plus wear black and are considered fit only to be maiden aunts and household drudges.
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: “The fact is…” is quite often another tell.
Cheers,
Scott.
Doug Gardner
@Baud: Thank you! My ever-alert editor brain (though I write software for a living) page-faulted on that one.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Steeplejack: In passing in another forum, I mentioned “I couldn’t care less” and my annoyance with the construction “I could care less”.
To which somebody replied, “No, no, ‘I couldn’t care less is a double negative’ so it actually means you care a lot.”
(Sob.)
However, I’d already said in mentioning that phrase, that I didn’t have the energy to actually wade into a fight about it. So I just left that comment there, untouched.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Ladyraxterinok: I remember once reading an F. Scott Fitzgerald story. I’ve forgotten what the story was actually about, but I remember the opening scene at some dance where the “matrons” were sitting around on the sideline gossiping as the young people danced. The matrons were in their 30s.
Steeplejack
@Leto:
I would like an island. I just want the short side to be wide enough so that, say, four people could eat together—two on one side of the corner, two on the other, as if at small dining table. I don’t like the “eight stools at a diner counter” configuration.
Steeplejack
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
This is how America dies!
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: I’ve got a Lenovo L390 for work travel, and have almost bought one for home. The i7 version with 8 GB (expandable to 32 GB) and a M2 NVMe SSD is < $1k. Lenovo is having on-line sales all the time so the price bounces around a little. I just can't quite justify it yet…
It's not ungodly light, but it's very fast and expandable and I figure will last a long time. (My last Dell laptop developed a motherboard fault in < 3 years.)
I have an aftermarket USB dock (to drive 2 ea 24" 1080p monitors). I just got a USB-C to USB 3 hub for it too. It would be nice if it had more ports standard, but it's even worse with the thinner guys.
Backlit keyboard, too.
Good luck with your shopping. HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Back then, with girls getting married at 17-20, the “matrons” in their mid-30s would have tween kids or early teenagers.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Kay: Oh dear. I’m pretty sure I use that word in technical writing pretty often. But clearly (heh) the cultures differ between legal and scientific writing. If I say “clearly it doesn’t matter whether x is positive or negative” I really mean that it’s clear.
I promise I only use “intuitively obvious to the casual observer” as a joke.
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
I saw your comment back in early March and tagged it for the Deep Juice database. The L390 and some others are in the mix. I think I’m marveling at the X1 because, after realizing how long I’ve used this notebook as my main computer, the cost of the next one probably will be amortized over a very long time. So a high price tag would hurt less(?). And, of course, you always want to buy the most computer you can.
I like Lenovos because of the keyboard and the little eraser pointer thing. The keyboard on this one is not backlit, probably my biggest irritation and one thing I want to make sure the next computer has. (Although I use my Das Keyboard 90% of the time—also not backlit.)
I have had good experiences with Dells going back a long time, but I haven’t bought one (for myself or a client) in quite a while. The XPS 13 is the only one of theirs I’m looking at, and right now I’m leaning toward Lenovo, because the X1 is only slightly larger than the XPS but has a 14" screen. (Haven’t checked the dimensions on the other Lenovo models yet.)
Leto
@Steeplejack: Same. Four is enough. Any more than that and it’s time for a table.
Tenar Arha
@Steeplejack: I was on Twitter watching the thread Stoller put up (basically defended Hawley as some kind of anti-trust ally, when the speech was loaded with dog whistles) get taken down by the historians and a few left/liberal Tweeters while people like David French ~*spitting noises*~ made excuses.
It’s probably not the first editorial about it, but it’s the first I’ve read that pointed out all the problems with the direction that GOPers like Hawley are going. It’s only in Splice though.
ETA (the parenthetical)
satby
@Immanentize: Happy Birthday. Enjoy that champagne, you deserve it! And continued best wishes to the Immp.
satby
@Steeplejack: autocorrect is of the devil! Agree!!!
Steeplejack
@Leto:
I do like the aircraft-carrier size for prep space, casual party noshing, congregating, etc. Just need that four-person space at one end.
Which is why the island needs to overhang on two sides. I always shake my head when I see people bragging about a “waterfall edge” on their island. No knee room, no storage and more granite/marble/quartz used. Score!
Tony Jay
@Fair Economist: @Another Scott:
It’s the same answer in both cases. The Labour Party has tried to straddle a line that keeps its Remain and Leave factions in the same boat by offering them both something, but the most important thing is they stay in the boat. The Lib-Dems and the Pyronauts within Labour have been screaming about “Stop Brexit!” for ages, but they Have No Policy To Achieve This. None. Zilch. Nada. They never have. It’s protest politics and all it does it let the Tories and the Brexit Corporation whine that ‘They’ are anti-democratic elites who look down on hard-working British people etc, etc.
The Lib-Dems don’t think they can form a Government. They know far too many people remember why they voted against them in 2015 for that. But if they can make themselves the ‘Remain Party’ they can suck up enough Remain Labour and Conservative votes to increase their proportion of seats in the Commons and… well, that’s it. That’s the policy. It won’t stop Brexit, but hey, maybe they’ll get to go into Coalition with the Tories again.
The Labour Party position, carefully woven together over years so as not to splinter the Party and leave the Tories unopposed, is absolutely for a Public Vote with Remain as an option, the only sticking point is that Corbyn won’t come out 100% Remain in all circumstances until he’s had a chance to negotiate with the EU without May’s plethora of Brextremist-dictated red-lines so he can go back to his Leave-supporting voters (and MPs) and say “This is what the softest possible Brexit looks like. We tried. Let’s ask the country what they think about it“. It’s a policy designed to solve The problem (a pro-Brexit Tory Government), not stick a plaster on the symptom (not clapping loud enough).
Put it this way. We’re here with three months to go before the cut-off. The Tories are falling apart with a leader half the Parliamentary Party hates and the country has come to see as a discredited liar. The Lib Dems have just elected a leader who voted for every single Austerity bill while serving in the Cameron-led Coalition and thinks Thatcher deserves a statue. While Labour is ahead in most polls despite being led by History’s Worst Monster. Whose policy worked?
Tony Jay
@Miss Bianca:
It’s a date! Presuming we still have a country then.
Steeplejack
@Tenar Arha:
I did see one long thread that dragged Hawley up and down Twitter—along with someone who was conservasplainin’ how Hawley’s comments were totally innocuous—but I can’t remember where it was. I was referring to the silence from AIPAC and the others who are quick to jump on anyone from “the left” who even looks at Israel sideways (or is perceived to have done).
ETA: Thanks for the Splice article. Hadn’t seen that.
Steeplejack
@Tenar Arha:
Noah Berlatsky at Splice:
Okay, that’s pretty good.
Shana
@Immanentize: Ah, another 1959 baby. Welcome to the club!
Chetan Murthy
In comedy it’s the little things. The -little- things. “Lemme know; I’ll send you a car”. The way Sam Bee delivers that line. Oh man. I could never do that. Just …. man, that cracked me up completely.
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Thanks muchly.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tenar Arha
@Steeplejack: Yes dead thread, but if you check back….
Oh dear, Chait wrote about that Hawley speech & never mentioned the coded anti-semitism. ?♀️
Steeplejack
@Tenar Arha:
Got it.
Mo MacArbie
Dead, deader, deadest, but there’s a White Sox blog out there that uses “Clearly” the way this place uses “/s”.