Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

We still have time to mess this up!

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

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Programming Note and Open Thread

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At 2 PM Eastern, Dios Mediante, we’ll be trying something new, a Q&A. A long-time commenter who works in the nuclear industry will be answering questions about nuclear power. I’ve been taking my medication on my Fukushima obsession but I asked him a few to prime the pump, which I’ll post at 2 to start things off.

This guy has been a reactor operator, trainer and consultant (I’ve checked his real-life credentials), so it should be interesting.

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  2. 2.

    Southern Beale

    Wish this story would get more attention:

    Iowa State Senator Allegedly Wanted Cash for Ron Paul Presidential Endorsement

    A few days before the 2012 Iowa presidential caucuses, Kent Sorenson, an influential Republican state senator in Iowa, caused a stir by cutting ties with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and endorsing libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). “The decision I am making today is one of the most difficult I have made in my life,” Sorenson said. “But given what’s at stake for our country, I have decided I must take this action.”

    Making Sorenson’s decision a lot easier was, allegedly, the offer of a whole lot of cash.

    According to an October 2011 email obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), an ally of Sorenson’s allegedly told Ron Paul’s campaign that they could have Sorenson’s full support in exchange for an $8,000-a-month salary for Sorenson, $5,000-a-month salary for an acolyte of Sorenson’s, and $100,000 in contributions to a political action committee run by Sorenson. (It remains unclear how much, if any, money actually changed hands. Iowa campaign finance filings contain no record of a $100,000 donation to Sorenson’s Iowa Conservatives Fund PAC.)

    In exchange, the email says, Sorenson would ditch Bachmann’s campaign, endorse Paul, join Paul on the campaign trail in Iowa, and provide Paul’s campaign with a member list of the “main Iowa home-school group” for “targeted home-school mail.” The bombshell email was allegedly written by Aaron Dorr, who runs Iowa Gun Owners, and is addressed to John Tate, Paul’s 2012 campaign manager. An aide to Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign, Dennis Fusaro, gave the email to CRP, which you can read below:

    Iowa Gun Owners. Of course.

    It’s increasingly clear that our entire political system is nothing more than just a massive shuck-and-jive as the money changes hands.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    As that will be 8 a.m. here, shall have to check it well afterwards.

    Homey don’t do mornings.

    But if someone could ask his thoughts on the sporadic recurrences of radioactive xenon detected at one of the Fukushima plants, it would be appreciated.

  4. 4.

    imonlylurking

    I won’t be able to attend realtime but I’ll definitely be checking back later. I did a small research project about a decade ago on the economics of nuclear power, and I was really shocked by how many of their issues are self-created. The biggest scam in the universe is how nuclear power proponents have managed to blame all of nuclear power’s problems on environmentalists and completely ignore the mistakes made by the industry.

  7. 7.

    MikeJ

    @Suffern ACE: I’d bet you can get state senators a lot cheaper than that. He was only valuable for his campaign connections in a super early state. If you had to go over $15k for a run of the mill state senator I’d be shocked.

  8. 8.

    Poopyman

    @Suffern ACE: You’re thinking too small. I say we should go for a US Senator. Now what Republican Senators are vulnerable? No fair picking the human-turtle hybrid. His opponent is already doing well.

  10. 10.

    Poopyman

    @Poopyman: Of course, funding a political candidate would probably drain animal rescue resources, so maybe I’ll reconsider.

  11. 11.

    NonyNony

    @fka AWS:

    Why would we pay for a fucking Republican State Senator?

    Ew. I wouldn’t pay for THAT. I mean, everyone has their kinks, but ew.

  12. 12.

    beltane

    @fka AWS:

    Why would we pay for a fucking Republican State Senator?

    I don’t know. Are Republican state senators any good at mopping floors and cleaning windows?

  13. 13.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @MikeJ: Was it Randy McNally who told an interviewer after the conclusion of a later, similar sting that when he saw the first bribe he had accepted he was a bit insulted at how little they thought his vote was worth?

    (He went to the FBI after the first guy approached him and agreed to be bait.)

  14. 14.

    NonyNony

    @fka AWS:

    You’re thinking too small. I say we should go for a US Senator.

    US Senators have too many patrons – you’d have to spend a hell of a lot more.

    You could probably buy most state senators with $50K-$75K. You could have most of the Ohio GOP Senate caucus in your pocket if you could raise $1.4 million dollars a year to hand out to them.

    This, by the way, explains a lot about our current political headaches. And why letting people amass giant fortunes where they can make $250 million purchases for what amounts to 1% of their net worth is actually an existential danger to democracy. (To put it into perspective, even if we take $150,000 as the “going rate” for a state senator, which I think is high, then someone like Jeff Bezos would only have to expend 0.0006% of his net worth to buy one. Using the current average net worth of American citizens – cited as being 77K, which is way down due to “economy goes boom” – this would be equivalent to pulling $0.46 out of savings to buy yourself a state senator. This pretty much explains why almost every state in the country has a state legislature that is completely fucked up.)

  15. 15.

    Ronnie Pudding

    Are Libertarians opposed to laws against bribery? Why not let the market determine support?

  16. 16.

    fka AWS

    @beltane:

    Are Republican state senators any good at mopping floors and cleaning windows?

    They seem to be much better at ripping up the floor and breaking the windows.

  17. 17.

    handsmile

    Mistermix:

    Thank you for arranging this timely Q&A. I appreciate your channeling your Fukushima “obsession” to periodic posts on the subject here.

    Unfortunately, off-line obligations demand my attention this afternoon, but I will be reading through the thread tonight.

    One question I would pose (perhaps somewhat tangential to the Fukushima clusterf*ck) is the issue of “wet” (pool) vs. “dry” (cask) storage of spent nuclear fuel rods, as well as the broader issue of long-term nuclear storage itself.

    Also too (if you care to reveal now), is the expert commenter Robert Sneddon?

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Rumor, rumor, who’s got the rumor?

    Mediaite has learned from a senior source in the cable news industry with knowledge of MSNBC’s programming that actor Alec Baldwin is getting his own weekly show in MSNBC’s primetime lineup.

    According to our source, the so far untitled show will air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET and will feature a large dose of Baldwin’s outspoken liberal politics. Source

  19. 19.

    low-tech cyclist

    One question I’d pose: when I mention Fukushima as a reason we should probably be less than eager to build more nuclear power plants in America, conservatives fire back with something like “Oh, Fukushima had an outdated design, the plants being built now are inherently much safer.” Is there any truth to this?

  20. 20.

    BGinCHI

    If the nuclear operator expert guy turns out to be Just Some Fuckhead, I’m going to be really worried.

  22. 22.

    Another Holocene Human

    @NotMax: Alec Baldwin is a liberal?

    Is this like when they were calling God’s Other Son Don Imus a liberal? Where “liberal” means “sexist, tribalist, Northeastern country-music-hating prolapsed pig rectum” as opposed to the gun-toting, redneck-airs kind?

    Kind of how student-loan-program-defrauding, anti-choice Southie machine boy Stephen Lynch is a “liberal”.

    “Liberal” Massachusetts, no wait, I mean actually liberal Massachusetts gave him the thumbs down. Nice try, Southie.

  24. 24.

    Another Holocene Human

    ot: haha, that wiki page on Imus is such a deep vein of lulz, I mean there’s Howie Carr[‘s wife], Imus, and Alan Dershowitz all wrapped up in a war of insults and accusations. I suggest cage match, Carr vs Imus. No matter who leaves in a body bag, we all win.

    Dershowitz can defend the “winner” in court.

  25. 25.

    Poopyman

    And as a result of the NRC visiting the nuclear power plant closest to DC:

    The second violation, also NRC-identified, cites CENG for failing to maintain guidance in emergency operating procedures for an alternative action to cool down the reactor coolant system for a steam generator tube rupture event with a loss of offsite power, and the single failure of the unaffected steam generator atmospheric dump valve, the report said. This issue, according to the report, could result in the inability to stop leaking into the affected steam generator atmospheric dump valve to control the steam generator level, resulting in an additional dose to the public.

    This was classified as more than minor because it affects the objective to provide reasonable assurance that physical design barriers protect the public from radionuclide releases caused by accidents or events. However, the report states that the finding doesn’t represent an actual open pathway in the physical integrity of reactor containment.

    Fortunately Murphy never strikes a nuke. Nice to know we’re safe. yeah.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @imonlylurking:

    The biggest scam in the universe is how nuclear power proponents have managed to blame all of nuclear power’s problems on environmentalists and completely ignore the mistakes made by the industry.

    Well, you know, there are all these irradiated beams in their eyes…

  30. 30.

    burnspbesq

    Speaking of money and politics, can we all just get over the fact that Jim Messina is working for the Tories?

    The idea that a political consultant somehow “sells out” or “betrays” anyone or anything when he or she goes from working for a candidate of whom you approve to working for a candidate of whom you disapprove is the worst kind of nonsense. Campaign consultants are the political equivalent of litigators: they come in to do a specific job, they get paid well for doing it, and when the job is done, they leave. Except for changing the contact information, Jim Messina could (and probably should) carry the same business card as Paladin (for those of you too young to remember one of the great early TV series, Paladin’s business card read “Have Gun, Will Travel”).

    Jim Messina didn’t sell you out, whoever “you” are. He was never part of “you.” He was a specialized tool that “you” bought, used for its intended purpose, and discarded when “you” were done with it. If “you” don’t want him working for the Tories, match what they’re paying him, and pay him to do nothing, or pay him to train a generation of committed activists so that “you” no longer need hired guns.

  32. 32.

    The Sailor

    OT: I haven’t been able to be here for a few days, but it’s been on my mind a lot; has anyone heard from Higgs Bosun’s Mate?

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