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… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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Mid Day Open Thread

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A Florida congressman, Trey Radel (R, Of Course) who voted to allow states to drug-test SNAP applicants and recipients has plead guilty in Washington, D.C. District Court with Misdemeanor Cocaine possession.  He has been sentenced to one year supervised probation.

UPDATE:  The OK National Guard will stop processing ALL ID cards and DEERS transactions at “all” OK Guard facilities that are owned by the state.  Basically, they’ve decided that if they can’t discriminate against gay people in the military, they’ll stop providing services to ALL military personnel under the rubric of “equal treatment.”  Of course, as I noted earlier, all but one of the OKNG facilities that issue ID Cards or do DEERS transactions are owned by the federal government, and those facilities are complying completely with federal law, but the state’s original attempt to keep operating the DEERS site at state HQ and only service straight personnel and their families apparently ran afoul of federal law in the respect that while the state owns the HQ, most of their budget comes from the feds and you can’t use federal money to discriminate.

So now ALL military personnel in the state of Oklahoma are being treated equally badly by the state.

Open Thread

 

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    Bob2

    God forbid they should mention how Rick Scott personally profited the first time this went around…
    or how much money it wasted in taxpayer dollars testing compared to how much it would cost to just give people benefits.
    …or just how poor you need to be to even qualify for SNAP
    …which they just cut payouts for…

  2. 2.

    Face

    Looks like he wont be receiving his SNAPs anytime soon….or at least until the coke clears his system.

    Also — coke possession can be a misdemeanor? I thought all “hard drugs” selling/buying/posessing were at least a felony. Does anyone believe a poor black man busted on skid row for the same crime gets the same misdemeanor charge?

  4. 4.

    Linda Featheringill

    War on the poor.

    It is an old technique to rally your supporters by waging war on some Other. For some Righties, poor people are The Other and are scapegoated for all kinds of things.

    Sometimes it’s a bitch being part of the human race.

  5. 5.

    Mnemosyne

    who voted to allow states to drug-test SNAP applicants and recipients

    To be fair, since Republicans assume that everyone thinks the same way they do, of course this guy thought that everyone else was secretly doing crack, too, and just hadn’t been caught yet.

    The hardest thing to explain to conservatives/Republicans is always that, no, not everyone cheats on their taxes (or their spouse) just because they do.

  6. 6.

    Tone in DC

    With the mandatory sentencing guidelines already in place, I am surprised this misdemeanor charge would even be leveled. I have a feeling had this Radel person been someone else, he would be facing a felony, or three.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    I’m impressed the guy pled guilty and fessed up so quickly.

    He didn’t make his family and constituents go through a Rob Fordathan, or shriek about law enforcement out to get him.

    Former television reporter.

    Hope he’s a former congresscritter this time next year, but who knows what his “solidly Republican” district will york up next.

  9. 9.

    scav

    “My dear! Those poors were seen visibly using my drug of choice and driving up the price! SOMEthing had to be done about it.”

  11. 11.

    rea

    he wont be receiving his SNAPs anytime soon….or at least until the coke clears his system.

    Drug testing for benefits favors cocaine use and disfavors marijuana use, because cocaine use is detectable only for a ouple of days, whiel marijuana remains detectable for a month.

  15. 15.

    No One of Consequence

    Dood…

    What is with the auto-play video ad from what looks like MySpace?! Auto-play videos aren’t cool for those trying to watch their bandwidth, and autoplay videos from ads are even *less* cool. Is anyone else here getting that kind of crap?

    Hadn’t felt the need to ever download and install AdBlock, but that little bit of bullshit changed my mind and gave me the impetus.

    Peace,

    – NOoC

  17. 17.

    Hill Dweller

    Sarah Kliff had this little gem in her Wonkblog post on the Obamacare “fix” :

    Texas is among a handful of states that has said it will not take any action to enforce the health law’s new insurance rules, such as the requirement that insurers accept all customers. That leaves the federal government, then, to check in on Texas health plans and make sure they’re up to snuff.
    Since Texas has refused to implement the health law’s new regulations, it has also said it would not stop non-complaint plans from selling in its market. That was true before the president’s announcement, the Texas Department of Insurance says, and afterward.
    “Because Texas is not enforcing the Affordable Care Act, it remains to be seen how President Obama’s executive order will impact the marketplace and consumers,” TDI spokesman John Greeley said. “Whether a company offers or withdraws a policy is a business decision for that company.”

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @Tone in DC:

    That’s what a plea bargain is for, though — you agree to a lesser charge so as not to take the chance of being convicted of the bigger one.

    Though, yes, he probably got a really good plea because he’s a congresscritter.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    @Belafon:

    Could be. He fessed up to being an alcoholic too.

    This is one dude who should step down (or not run for re-election) to mend things within his own family.

    Wingnut welfare will be waiting somewhere for him, with that skillset and a compelling story of redemption.

  21. 21.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    A happy ending to the tragic story of a nice white Republican man in the clutches of alcoholism! I’ll never understand why Democrats and people of color can’t confront their problems and overcome them like this.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hill Dweller:

    That leaves the federal government, then, to check in on Texas health plans and make sure they’re up to snuff.

    And if the feds don’t monitor as closely as they should and some people get screwed, I’m sure Keith G will be here to tell us how it’s all Obama’s fault, because why should the state of Texas have any responsibility towards its own citizens?

  23. 23.

    LanceThruster

    @Elizabelle:

    He used the alcoholic admission as a mitigating circumstance for the illegal drug use.

    I’m too much of a drunkard to know right from wrong!

  27. 27.

    Belafon

    @Hill Dweller: So Texas’ – the state I live in – take on the Civil Rights Era was that you don’t have to enforce a law until the Federal government nationalizes your Guard troops?

  29. 29.

    Hal

    What is with the “I’m an alcoholic, so that explains the drug use” excuse? Is there an actual link between alcoholism and use of other drugs, or does Mr. Hip Hop conservative just not want to admit to being a coke head?

    Also, Radel is one of the idiots who wanted yet another vote to repeal the ACA because as freshman congress folks they hadn’t had their chance to vote for appeal yet. Because that’s how legislation works of course. Once a law is passed each new iteration of Congress gets to vote yay or nay.

  30. 30.

    Violet

    Is there any way that we can push for drug testing for our elected representatives? I think random drug testing would be excellent. Like with top level athletes–drug testers show up unannounced and they have to pee in a cup and give a blood sample right then and there. Too bad if you’re in the middle of a fundraiser or giving a speech. Right now is when you’re being drug tested.

  31. 31.

    Hill Dweller

    @Mnemosyne: We’re watching in real time a coordinated attempt to destroy a Presidency. The Republicans, big business and their mouth pieces in the media see the Obamacare roll out as their opportunity to destroy Obama and any future attempt to pass health care.

    Also, too, have you noticed how many people in the Village have called this a referendum on liberalism? If Obamacare fails, they’ll go after the safety net next.

  35. 35.

    Suffern ACE

    @Elizabelle: That’s good news.

    @Hill Dweller: Being that we’re probably the only country in the developed world that will end up in a civil war over healthcare (seriously, everyone else has managed to somehow figure out how to deliver health services without destroying their polticial system bankrupting their middle class in the process), we might as well just get it to work where it is polticially feasible.

  37. 37.

    cckids

    Nothing quite makes me feel like I’m already running late than to fire up the laptop in the morning, come here & see “Mid-day open thread”. FFS. Mid-day my ass.

  39. 39.

    scav

    @LanceThruster: “zactly. Bring back the 18th!

    Now, wouldn’t that one be fun to watch, although I doubt there are enough devout axe wielders to really threaten the business interests.

  44. 44.

    Violet

    The pushback against the lack of mental health facilities has begun:

    At least three nearby hospitals had available beds the day before the son of Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds apparently stabbed his father and then shot himself to death, officials confirmed Wednesday.
    …
    Officials with Western State Hospital in Staunton, Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg and the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville — all within an hour’s drive of Lexington, where Austin Deeds was evaluated — confirmed Wednesday that the facilities had been in a position to accept Deeds’s son but were never asked to.

    The news was sure to bring new scrutiny to state and local mental-health services.

    “We were not contacted,” said John Beghtol, director of community services for the state-run Western State Hospital. “We had beds and we were not called.”

  45. 45.

    jharp

    It’s a felony in Indiana punishable by 6 months to 3 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

    I think we need to start drug testing all of Congress. Maybe then we can get an explanation for the fucking crazy.

  46. 46.

    Another Holocene Human

    Anybody else had trouble actually choosing a plan in healthcare.gov? Finally got the list of plans (awesome!), selected one, server just hung forever. We’re calling the hotline later today to see if they can help.

  47. 47.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    UPDATE: The OK National Guard will stop processing ALL ID cards and DEERS transactions at “all” OK Guard facilities that are owned by the state.

    Oklahoma, Steers & Queers but NO DEERS.

  48. 48.

    Another Holocene Human

    He’s in a safe R+11 district:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida%27s_19th_congressional_district

    Ignore the pre 2010 election results, those were with totally different district lines.

    Looks like the coasts are right out, so like the shitty suburbs for wannabe’s, plus part of Coral Springs. The lines go ‘hood by ‘hood so they clearly were stacking the deck and keeping it non-competitive.

    Like Jeb’s daughter… more hypocrisy.

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    @Hill Dweller:

    We’re watching in real time a coordinated attempt to destroy a Presidency. The Republicans, big business and their mouth pieces in the media see the Obamacare roll out as their opportunity to destroy Obama and any future attempt to pass health care.

    We have to see that they fail with that.

    We have to get the word out, person to person.

    fuckwit mentioned the Obama OFA call Monday night. OFA is recruiting folks to “truth squad” type activity.

    Obama administration is well aware of the Village courtiers in the major media they are stuck with.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    Catch you guys later. It’s sunny, and I should remove a layer or two of leaves in the backyard. Ciao for now.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    PS: Soonergrunt:

    Isn’t that the proud, self-reliant Oklahoma way?

    Unhand that sparrow from that curtain rod.

  53. 53.

    Another Holocene Human

    UPDATE: The OK National Guard will stop processing ALL ID cards and DEERS transactions at “all” OK Guard facilities that are owned by the state. Basically, they’ve decided that if they can’t discriminate against gay people in the military, they’ll stop providing services to ALL military personnel under the rubric of “equal treatment.”

    This reminds me of Dave Barry’s comment on the Civil Rights movement and the push to end “Separate But Equal”: an epic struggle that has required much sacrifice and pain, but which has enabled the United States to progress, in just three decades, from being a nation where blacks were forced to ride in the back of the bus, to being a nation where, due to federal cutbacks, there is no bus.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @Violet:

    “We had beds and we were not called.”

    My guess? Those hospitals didn’t take the Deeds’ family’s insurance, so they didn’t bother to call them. Even a congressman would have trouble paying out-of-pocket for a psychiatric stay at $200 per day or more.

  55. 55.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Elizabelle: proud and self-reliant? That’s what you describe an economy entirely reliant upon the fossil fuels extraction industry?

  56. 56.

    askew

    I just can’t take this hysterical overreaction by liberals right now. It started with the overreaction to Syria (Obama is trying to get troops on the ground in Syria for another war) and has just not let up. MSNBC is full-on hysterical everyday and everyone has pretty much decided Dems are going to lose the Senate in 2014. This hysteria is what killed us in 2010. All the doom and gloom is just going to depress turnout for our side and energize the other side.

    In 2014, millions of Americans are going to have healthcare for the first time. Millions of people will have extra money in their pockets to spend on the economy from health care savings. We are going to be ending the Afghanistan War. There is positive news to come. But no one will hear it if the WH doesn’t do a better job of communicating.

    I blame the Obama WH in part for sucking so badly at communications that they’ve let the GOP set the narrative for the past 5 years. I also blame them for not doing more on the executive side to show that government is still working and not publicizing what they do. They are also wasting Obama’s time by having him do these stupid events during the day that the media has been ignoring for 5 years. But, at least they are doing something. Dems in Congress have just sat back and let the GOP define politics for the past 5 years. They’ve run cowering from the ACA. Done almost nothing to push positive stories and let Obama sit out there and get beaten like a pinata in the media. He’s basically been a 1 man show for years now while he is being attacked from both sides.

  57. 57.

    Another Holocene Human

    @askew: Blame Obama? No, just recognize that he has no friends in the media, and few in the Republican party.

    Let’s keep calling out the comfortable white liberals and emoprogs in the media who Blame Obama First when they know DAMN well there is more to the story.

    They know that they should be communicating all the sides to the story, not breathlessly following some sort of stock market ticker of media badminton, as if they’re just helpless bystanders in another Republican shell game.

    I also really have to wonder about so called liberals who distrust Obama so deeply or feel like they have to reflexively disavow him.

    They used to do that to us gays, too. It didn’t save their electoral changes and it hurt.

    Guys–stop doing that.

  59. 59.

    Belafon

    @askew:

    I blame the Obama WH in part for sucking so badly at communications that they’ve let the GOP set the narrative for the past 5 years. I also blame them for not doing more on the executive side to show that government is still working and not publicizing what they do. They are also wasting Obama’s time by having him do these stupid events during the day that the media has been ignoring for 5 years. But, at least they are doing something.

    So, Obama’s doing too little and too much, but at least they’re doing something?

  60. 60.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Joey Maloney:

    I’m too much of a drunkard to know right from wrong!

    It’s the Rob Ford defense!

    It’s a proud Republican tradition stretching back through Mark Foley all the way to Bob Packwood. Maybe even further back than that if someone cared to check.

  61. 61.

    mzrad

    Is it possible to get a gun license without owning a gun? I’ve been thinking about how to take a Tai Chi approach to voter suppression. Please advise.

  62. 62.

    Jockey Full of Malbec

    So now ALL military personnel in the state of Oklahoma are being treated equally badly by the state.

    Extremism in the name of Liberty is no Vice!

    (or… so I’ve heard).

  63. 63.

    Belafon

    @mzrad: You’d probably have to own one at least for a little bit, or borrow one. Making it too obvious would be like wanting to learn to fly a plane without wanting to learn to land. And the people you would be trying to get the license from would be rather sensitive to wanting a gun license for nefarious purposes, like voting.

  65. 65.

    Tommy

    Gosh folks like Trey Radel piss me off. I don’t even know where to start. A $250 fine. Wonder if he was a 20 year old African American caught under the same situation in SE DC what the fine would be? Wait, bet he/she would be in jail.

  66. 66.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    I don’t know why You People think Trey Radel got off easy. There’s a pretty good chance he had to re-dedicate his life to Christ and that shit ain’t for pussies: church every week, prayer meetings, godly counseling. I feel sorry for the bastard.

  67. 67.

    LanceThruster

    @scav:

    although I doubt there are enough devout axe wielders to really threaten the business interests.

    I’m pretty good at swinging a blade.

    It’s you and me against the world.

    When do we attack?

    xD

  69. 69.

    StringOnAStick

    OK, open thread and I need to emote. A very good friend died last night after an ugly and painful battle with cancer; thankfully he was well insured and got top notch care, plus he was able to stay in his home. We hadn’t been able to say goodbye because every time we’ve been there recently he was too medicated to be conscious.

    This past Monday I had arranged to go spend today doing various construction and gardening projects that need to be taken care of before our fall weather ends and it hits 20 degrees tonight. With his passing, most of those projects are no longer necessary, but I need to get the irrigation timer off the faucet and put the drip system away today, because in 24 hours it will all be ruined. His wife has been just as much a prisoner of ‘cancer planet’ as he was, and was convinced until last week that he was getting better; she’s numb right now.

    I am leaving now to go do these things, and dreading knowing that he’s no longer there. It was a mercy in many ways because he was suffering horribly. This is going to hurt, but the good thing is that his suffering is over.

  70. 70.

    dww44

    @Suffern ACE: Based on someone’s comment about Texas, I absolutely agree with you. Obama should just come out and say that from hereon “We are focusing ONLY on the states that are cooperating with the law with the sole motivation of making healthcare more affordable and accessible for their citizens. We, the Federal Government, have limited resources and since we were denied the funding that was actually needed to get the ACA up and running. We tried to get these states to buy-in to the program and they’ve refused. So, we will now concentrate on working with those states that want their citizens to have access to good, yet affordable, healthcare.”

    Then, let’s see if states like Texas sue the federal government for not administering the law equally. Then, Obama can say with real clarity, tinged with anger and disappointment, that if states don’t cooperate, the burden is on them. and let the courts decide. Seriously, he should do this. He needs to start playing in the same game with the same tactics as the GOP does. We who support him need to seem him fight for our values and our programs, using the tactics that have been employed against him, and, sadly, with great success.

  71. 71.

    Chyron HR

    So now ALL military personnel in the state of Oklahoma are being treated equally badly by the state Obama.

    Fixed.

  72. 72.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: Really? I thought that godly stuff was all about the pussy b/c godly, modest women know better than to speak out of turn and tell the world they were coerced or raped or spiritually abused. They know better than to refuse sex to their husbands at any times or question his outre requirements. If that’s not your thing, there’s always the vulnerable teen boys in the youth groups to molest and rape. They can’t say anything because everyone would think they’re not a man and/or gay.

  74. 74.

    Cassidy

    I blame the Obama WH in part for sucking so badly at communications

    Really? Not the media instead? The people who went out and served up all the Republican framing as news no matter what? Interesting.

  75. 75.

    Another Holocene Human

    @dww44: You are wrong about the game. He is playing a game–the long game. Even a half-assed ACA rollout in Tejas is better than nothing–why do you think the state GOPs are so livid? It means more Democratic voters in the years to come.

  77. 77.

    Jeremy

    @Another Holocene Human: Exactly ! The Obama whitehouse has improved when it comes to communication but it doesn’t matter as long as the media is shilling for the GOP and the majority of dems are saying and doing nothing. I will say that we need to calm down and chill because we have been through this before. The media has tried so many times to destroy the president and it’s backfired each time. The 2014 election is next year and things can change quickly.

  78. 78.

    Another Holocene Human

    If every “real liberal” and “real progressive” doesn’t jump on the chance to motivate poor people to crawl over broken glass to vote D for Medicaid expansion, literally the best “heightened contradiction” to have rolled over the pike in thirty fucking years, then they are STUCK ON STUPID.

  79. 79.

    askew

    @StringOnAStick:

    I am sorry for your loss.

    I was at the hospital with my grandmother last night who came down with a horrible case of pneumonia and they thought was not likely to make it through the night. She made it through the night but is really medicated and isn’t really awake enough to know that anyone is there. They are talking about hospice care and don’t think she is likely to have much time left. She has dementia and has been ready to go for some time, so while it would be so sad to lose her she would get some peace. I hate to see her so upset and in so much pain.

  80. 80.

    dww44

    @Another Holocene Human: I disagree. Obama’s inability to play the shortgame can and will likely result in our loss of seats in the November 2014 elections and further cement his role as a lame duck President. It may not be part of who he is, but, by golly, he needs to show some spine. I was on the OFA call Monday evening and he just sounded tired and said nothing new to support the implementation of the ACA. He wasn’t inspiring in the very least. He said nothing that would cause those on that call to go out and fight for the ACA.

  82. 82.

    catclub

    @mzrad: I expect it is, but not free. I was thinking about that for Texas, also. But there is no way you can ask for a fee waiver on a gun license – which is required for ID that allows voting. Although, remember in Wisconsin that the staff was told NOT to tell people they could get a free ID if they demand it for voting? Ha, fuckin ha.

  83. 83.

    scav

    @LanceThruster: Well, do you mind if we go after the bankers and other megas first, leave big alcohol for a chaser if nothing more urgent shows up? I like micros, but am saving my best revolutionary beserking for other issues I think. Thoughts?

  84. 84.

    PaulW

    From what I’ve heard, they arrested the congressman after they had busted his dealer and used the dealer to catch Radel in the act.

    To me, his having a regular dealer on hand is evidence that Radel has been using cocaine for a good while. I wonder if the voters in the 19th district realize this as well: that they voted a coke-head hypocrite to represent them.

    I hope the Dems have a respectable candidate running for the 19th in 2014.

    Don’t vote Republican.

  85. 85.

    boatboy_srq

    IIRC Thatcher tried OK’s trick back in the day with international couples. There were residency benefits for foreign spouses, but not for SS partners. Rather than add SS couples to beneficiaries the Tories killed the entire benefit for everyone. The nastiness/pettiness is palpable.

  86. 86.

    askew

    @Cassidy:

    Really? Not the media instead? The people who went out and served up all the Republican framing as news no matter what? Interesting.

    Key part of my sentence is “in part”. The WH communication team has been horrendous. They have almost no presence on cable news and they seem to have no capable spokespeople besides Obama and Biden. Where is the Obama admin’s Carville, Begala, etc.? The loyal soldiers who can go out and push the admin talking points. We have liberal pundits who hate on Obama from the left and conservative pundits who hate on Obama from the right and nothing from Obama’s team at all. The two good admin spokespeople they had were Stephanie Cutter and Anita Dunn and they got rid of both of them and kept Dan Pfeiffer and Robert Gibbs instead.

    That doesn’t excuse how shitty our media is but the media has been shitting for years and the Obama WH hasn’t done anything to counter them at all. It’s frustrating.

  88. 88.

    boatboy_srq

    @StringOnAStick: [[HUG]]

    I lost one parent to cancer (the other to old age). The S.O. just lost an aunt – and last surviving relative – yesterday morning. It never gets easier.

  89. 89.

    mike with a mic

    @LanceThruster:

    It’s not really that alcoholism is an excuse. I take it you’ve never had the luxury of going through the legal system. As someone who’s done it in Washington DC let me enlighten you…

    The court system exists to accomplish two things and it does these very well. The first is to make a rack ton of cash without raising taxes, the second is to lock away people who can’t find jobs to keep unemployment down and keep them from annoying people who pay taxes. IE it’s a solution to the homeless issue. It serves no other function.

    So if you land up in the legal system here and you have money… you pay your way out the next morning (if you even go in) and then you pays your lawyer. Your lawyer then comes up with some bullshit thing for them to charge you with that carries more fines with it, but makes damn sure you will be out on the street working and spending money ASAP. You plead to said bullshit charge and pay your fines/court fees and the state gets some free labor out of you through community service. They make damn sure the charges that go on your record don’t really impact your future ability to make money (they’ll deliberately move shit if you have a security clearance or you work for a local institution).

    No matter what you do you will end up with “a drinking problem” though. That way they can send you to state sponsored programs where they again… charge you more money! These are always done after work hours, and once you complete them (and pay your bills) you are cured and it gets… removed from your record. Now… if you don’t have money your ass sits in jail till your trial date and then they give you time and lock you away. Great for unemployment numbers and frees up jobs for other low income people.

    People with money develop drinking problems and pay a shit ton in fees and various things to fix it and never do time. People without money or important jobs go to jail. The city either gets paid or gets to work on it’s unemployment levels.

  91. 91.

    Jeremy

    @dww44: I’m so tired of hearing liberals say the president needs to show a spine. The man has shown it time and time again. The fact that he even decided to run for president in a racist ungrateful country shows that he has a spine. And maybe if so many people including his so called “allies” weren’t always shitting on him maybe he would show more energy.

  92. 92.

    mzrad

    @Belafon and @catclub: I was so heartened at the patience that people had to wait in Florida’s long voting lines in the last election. It’s so obvious that the right wants to prevent people from voting so, if you can vote with a gun license (but not a student ID), then why doesn’t OFA/MoveOn, etc. get on the stick with helping prospective voters get the most acceptable ID. Let’s be ready for this, no?

  94. 94.

    mike with a mic

    @PaulW:

    You can get coke, meth, x, special K, or just about anything easily in DC. Just go into any gay bar in Dupont and you can find it in mins. Or any of the hipper places off U Street. Periodically the cops sweep through various places and make arrests to clean up the problem. Then the next night everyone is back blowing lines.

    Some things are less common than others, but powder is just as common as alcohol in various parts here.

  100. 100.

    Belafon

    @Jeremy: It’s the newest “He didn’t do it my way,” my untested but obviously better way. They say hold more talks about the ACA, and when it’s pointed out that he has, it’s he should hold more talks with regular people, and when it’s pointed out that he has, they say he’s not doing them right.

  101. 101.

    Jockey Full of Malbec

    @dww44:

    if states don’t cooperate, the burden is on them. and let the courts decide

    With this SCOTUS?

    Watch the Roberts Five find some effed up way to turn the case into a broad-based mandate on Federalism.

  102. 102.

    boatboy_srq

    @Elizabelle: Meh. “I’m a sinner” mea culpa histrionics are usually good for the Reichwing. Look at Vitter, Sanford et al and you’ll see the pattern at work. Rather than suffer for it, this joker is on the short list for the next FL Senate primary to go up against Nelson or (especially) Rubio.

  104. 104.

    fidelio

    @StringOnAStick: I’m so sorry. It’s awful knowing that things like that (and they are useful) are all you can do, because you can’t really fix what’s wrong.

    May his name be a blessing.

  105. 105.

    rdldot

    @Mnemosyne: Just like those ‘saved Christians’ who assume that anyone else who hasn’t been saved really needs to be because they must be as big as an asshole as the ‘saved’ guys used to be. Not everyone needs to be a Christian to be a decent person.

  106. 106.

    hoodie

    @Jeremy: Yes, particularly from such steel-spined individuals as blog commenters. I doubt he’s all that worried about dww44 having his back. This is just the inevitable shitstorm that was bound to come with the rollout of the ACA. The GOP bet their lot on repeal, this is about their last shot on that front, and you can already sense guys like Christie preparing the ground for a pivot towards “improving” the ACA rather than repealing it. Regarding 2014, Dem candidates have to get shaking, and not rely on Obama to get them through. At least Nancy has raised them a shitload of money.

  108. 108.

    mike with a mic

    @boatboy_srq:

    It’s probably for legal reasons as well. The dude has money so the legal system is going to get paid. Milk him for some rehab and other items, extract some fines, get some free labor through community service… then make him whole again!

    People who don’t have jobs or have low paying jobs that someone off the street could take are criminals and go to jail, thus unemployment goes down. People who have good jobs are forced to say they have a problem and pay lots of money and the state gets to fund things without taxes. In DC arresting “drug groups” or sweeping “known problem areas” is often little more than raking in money from rich people because DC needs to get paid. I’ve known lots of people that ended up with “a drinking problem” and a few thousand bucks less in savings for similar chicanery.

    If you don’t have money… well then you don’t have a drinking problem because you can’t pay to solve it. Then you just go to jail.

  109. 109.

    Ben Cisco

    @askew:

    I blame the Obama WH in part for sucking so badly at communications

    wasting Obama’s time by having him do these stupid events during the day that the media has been ignoring for 5 years.

    While I would agree that communications are not what I would have them to be, I think the attribute “sucking” has been rather badly misplaced…

  110. 110.

    Jeremy

    @Belafon: Yep, in other words nothing is ever good enough. I have questioned the administration’s messaging in the past but I don’t understand why so many people expect Obama to be superman.

  111. 111.

    Chris

    @Jeremy:

    I agree. I get emails practically every day from the Obama campaign (simply for having donated cash a couple times) and I rarely get any messaging problems from there.

    The problem is the media. We have an entire media that’s decided to bombard the airwaves with nonstop coverage of a shitty website, plus the people who’ve “lost” their health insurance, and the attendant “Democrats In Disarray”/”Obama’s poll numbers catastrophic” message (despite the fact that from what I’m seeing on Gallup, he’s pretty much where he was a couple months ago – and Gallup ain’t exactly a liberal front). There’s barely a word about the tons of people who have health insurance for the first time in their lives and barely a word on the borderline criminal behavior of red state governments and insurance companies. I don’t know WTF Obama could do to breach that other than what he’s already been doing.

  112. 112.

    C.V. Danes

    So now ALL military personnel in the state of Oklahoma are being treated equally badly by the state.

    Is it discrimination if you hate everyone equally?

  117. 117.

    Belafon

    @C.V. Danes: Yes, because outside of the bases the same sex personnel are still being discriminated against. They are only being treated equally badly when it comes to getting military benefits. When the state bans all benefits for married couples then it will no longer be discrimination.

  118. 118.

    the Conster

    @askew:

    I want to have your babies.

    ETA: I hate that the WH seems to be the only entity willing and able to communicate. Where are all the Democratic mic hogs? Is it really too much to ask of Dem leadership in the House to make themselves a PITA to the networks?

  119. 119.

    Citizen_X

    @dww44:

    he just sounded tired

    Oh, golly. Tired? I’d be fucking catatonic with a death grip on the bourbon bottle if I were dealing with the same shit he’s been dealing with.

    Anyone see Key & Peele on TDS the other night? They met Obama, and the first goddam thing he said to them was, “I need Luther [the anger translator]!” When he leaves in January 2017 I won’t be surprised if he gives the country two middle fingers up.

  120. 120.

    Jeremy

    @Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: It doesn’t hurt me and I could care less if people hate the president. I’m just stating facts, and I think some liberals need to stop depending on Obama to solve everything. I stand by what I said earlier about this country even if Obama wasn’t president.

  123. 123.

    aimai

    @StringOnAStick: Dear StringOnAStick, just in case you come back to see this please know how much I am thinking about you and about your friend’s wife. It will have meant so much to her that you have supported her/them all this time and that you came over today to help out. She is numb and her suffering has increased but your constant, loving, presence must mean so much to her. Even if you feel helpless, and grieved, and angry about how terrible and useless his death is please take a lot of comfort in knowing that whatever there was to be done to help you did it, and you are doing it.

  124. 124.

    slippy

    @Elizabelle:

    It makes me fucking crazy that incompetent and useless dumb-asses like this have a guaranteed living anywhere they go because they’re willing to fart out the lowest common denominator’s lazy opinion of a thing.

    He is in all other respects a completely parasitical being who provides zero value to the human race. Like virtually every other elected Republican in existence. They aren’t even good people, let alone useful.

  125. 125.

    slippy

    @Elizabelle:

    It makes me fucking crazy that incompetent and useless dumb-asses like this have a guaranteed living anywhere they go because they’re willing to fart out the lowest common denominator’s lazy opinion of a thing.

    He is in all other respects a completely parasitical being who provides zero value to the human race. Like virtually every other elected Republican in existence. They aren’t even good people, let alone useful.

  126. 126.

    Trollhattan

    @StringOnAStick:

    Very sorry to read of your ordeal, that pain and anguish run deep. I hope your friend’s wife and you both find some comfort in having been so supportive throughout it all.

    Fucking cancer.

  128. 128.

    Suffern ACE

    @scav: Since they forgot two times and no one seemed to be itching to throw them out, why bother voting? You’d think there’d be at least one town gadfly who runs in every election who’da raised the alarm.

  129. 129.

    scav

    @Suffern ACE: Well, nothing beyond a propensity to follow the rules and law is usually considered a virtue in govt. officials. They don’t want to bother with elections unless there is a call for it? Change the god-damned law, don’t blame it on the dog eating your ginko biloba.

    ETA, I mean, Ah hell, nobody’s itching to prosecute rich white boy crack, so why bother?

  130. 130.

    The Other Chuck

    I wonder what’s going to happen next time the OK NG state facilities send out an equipment request to the federal government. Hell, I think we should repossess any federal stuff that’s in those facilities right now.

  131. 131.

    cckids

    @Jeremy:

    things can change quickly.

    Yep. Wasn’t it just 3-4 weeks ago, after the shutdown, that the Republicans were on the run, clown car time, Obama ascendant? The media has the attention span & intelligence of a squirrel on crack.

  133. 133.

    cckids

    @Citizen_X:

    They met Obama, and the first goddam thing he said to them was, “I need Luther [the anger translator]!” When he leaves in January 2017 I won’t be surprised if he gives the country two middle fingers up.

    I agree. I’ve long thought & said that he should adopt this as his theme song.

    For those who can’t youtube, it’s Jill Scott’s “Hate on Me”.

    Sample lyrics: “If I gave you the world, on a silver platter, would it even matter, you’d still be mad at me. If I could find in all this, a dozen roses, which I would give to you, you’d still be miserable.”

  134. 134.

    Tone in DC

    That’s what a plea bargain is for, though — you agree to a lesser charge so as not to take the chance of being convicted of the bigger one.

    Though, yes, he probably got a really good plea because he’s a congresscritter.

    I get the idea of plea deal. I watch waaaay too much Law & Order SVU not to. I am just less than pleased that so few of the proletariat (defined as anyone making under six figures annually) would have even gotten anywhere near that kind of plea bargain.

  135. 135.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Jeremy: Why does it matter if you perceive someone as thinking Obama can solve all problems or if, in fact, a person thinks such a thing? I guess I’m not seeing the problem.

  136. 136.

    Violet

    All Congressional representatives need to be drug tested on a regular basis. Both scheduled and random. I’m particularly for testing them at odd times that might even be inconvenient for them.

  137. 137.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Violet:

    All Congressional representatives need to be drug tested on a regular basis. Both scheduled and random. I’m particularly for testing them at odd times that might even be inconvenient for them.

    Agreed, Senators in particular should be required to pee in a cup regularly as a prerequisite to keeping their job. These people are running the fucking country, I can’t imagine a more important group to monitor for drug abuse. After reading excerpts of Bobby Baker’s Unofficial History of Washington, I think they should have to take a breathalyzer prior to working each day. Who the fuck gets to come to work drunk?

  138. 138.

    Mike E

    @the Conster: Barney Frank retired and, haven’t you heard, he’s GHEY.

    /K Rove’in

    ETA Mebbe outspoken Dems have a bit of media savvy and know not to waste their breath during wall2wall moments like this…gotta pick yer spots

  141. 141.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Suffern ACE: Whatever we decide should be humiliating if they want to continue to receive a check from the government, particularly in light of Republicans recent refusal to do any work to earn their check.

  144. 144.

    mzrad

    @rdldot & @raven et al: wouldn’t it be interesting to get everyone who doesn’t have a driver’s license a gun permit so they could vote? Freak out in 3…2…1…!

  145. 145.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    @Citizen_X: We’re beyond that now. We have a lazy and criminal class of people in Congres pulling down handsome checks for doing nothing, or close to nothing. Your idea will just make the problem worse. We need to drop the hammer. I imagine running Congress something akin to a call center, with metrics measuring Paid To Log, Utility and other important statistics to weed out the folks who are just abusing government largesse.

  147. 147.

    piratedan

    @the Conster: part of the problem is, you gotta get someone to put a mic in your face to be quoted and if that never happens… just a less than subtle way of driving the narrative. Shit, just look at the Sunday talk shows, follow network news each nite and start counting up who’s on the air and why. I’ve said this repeatedly, it’s the people that shape the news, the directors and producers who decide who gets the face time and mike time and they don’t give a shit about if its working or if its fixed, they want eyes and click bait and nothing better than clueless Republican outrage on demand for that shit.

  148. 148.

    Davebo

    @StringOnAStick:

    Hang in there. I lost my wife unexpectedly in July to a brain aneurysm. Though there’s no good way to lose someone you love it was quick and I suppose better than a long drawn out illness.

  149. 149.

    Elizabelle

    Well the yard looks damn good, if I may say so myself.

    Cocktail hour started at 4:45 p.

    Now to catch up with this thread ….

  153. 153.

    StringOnAStick

    @Davebo: Oh, that is so sad; I am so sorry for your loss. It is brave and honorable of you to recognize that sudden may be better. I’m not sure I could survive without my spouse; bless you.

    Our friend had just turned 52, and his last 2 years were just one long, hard path of difficult treatment, surgeries, and pain. His father had died even younger from cancer, and I know that always weighed on him. He married his wife in the brief intermission he had between what they thought was the initial cure, and it all starting all over again.

    To everyone who had hugs and nice things to say, my deepest thanks.

  155. 155.

    dww44

    @hoodie: Blaming Obama’s problems on an insufficiently sympathetic and supportive media is weak tea and the antithesis of constructive support.

    @Jeremy: I campaigned and voted for Obama twice. I am not sh****on him. I am criticizing him when and where I think his approach is weak, lacking, and unfocused.

    He needs to bring on some pithy and succinct voices to counter punch what the media and the GOP are doing to HIS (and our) signature legislation. The failure of Obamacare to function properly at the outset is his responsibility, which he freely acknowledges, but he’s got to employ better tactics and more forceful voices to overcome the GOP rhetoric and bad press. The country needs to see other voices and faces right alongside his. They can’t just be the folks we see on MSNBC. They need to be speaking out on other platforms.

    He cannot PLAY the long game here, if by long game you and others are talking about 2 years or later from now. Heck, it’s gotta be turned around in short order and the messaging has to be turned around. I invite you to watch Chris Hayes from a few nights ago:

    http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-get-it-together-64907843651

    I’m sure this comment won’t get read, but I’ve been gone since mid-afternoon. Just had to do a little counter punching of my own.

  156. 156.

    Mikeyes

    @mzrad: The real advantage to having a concealed carry license (and no, you don’t have to own a firearm to have one) is that you can pull it out in the midst of a heated argument with your right wing cousin just to confuse him. (You’d be suprised how many liberals have one just for this reason.)

    The cognitive dissonance can cause heads to explode.

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