The practical upshot from the chaos in the House GOP with Orange Julius now gone and Paul Ryan now Speaker of the House is that the Austerity Death Star will soon be fully operational.
The Wisconsin Republican who claimed the gavel last week is one of Congress’ preeminent tax experts, an ardent advocate of rewriting the code with lots of ideas on how to do it. Over the years, he’s gone further than most lawmakers in pushing politically fraught changes that have gone nowhere, such as wiping out a major tax break for employer-provided health plans and making it harder for the wealthy to claim the hugely popular mortgage-interest deduction.
But now Ryan has far more power to put the issue on Washington’s agenda — and the latest budget deal between congressional leaders and the White House should give him ample room to launch his speakership without being distracted by constant battles over funding the government and raising the debt limit. So some advocates are recalibrating the odds of a long-elusive tax overhaul that they say could spur new jobs and bring corporate money back from overseas.
Sweeping tax change won’t happen this year, supporters say, with lawmakers still staring at a stack of unfinished business — or next year, when the 2016 election will loom even larger. But they say it’s suddenly a lot more likely in the early years of the next presidency, especially if the Republicans win the White House.“It certainly comes as close to guaranteeing it as possible,” said a top Republican staffer. “It’s his No. 1 priority — it’s what he cares about most.”
The sort of ambitious reform Ryan has in mind, which would be the first since 1986, promises to cut both individual and corporate tax rates in exchange for junking scores of credits, deductions and other special provisions. Any rewrite would be hugely controversial, with an array of powerful interest groups sure to line up to defend their favorite provisions, not to mention many Democrats who’ve long complained that Ryan’s plans amount to a giveaway to the rich.
In a speech to the House just before his swearing-in Thursday, Ryan named tax reform as one of his top priorities.
It was bad enough when the Ryan Austerity Budget was a club used to get sequestration into play in 2013. But as Speaker, Ryan now has significant power as far as bringing his austerity monster to life. If you still had questions as to what’s at stake a year from now, better hope the GOP doesn’t have the keys to both Congress and the White House when Congress gets called into session in January 2017.
Otherwise, the Austerity Death Star is going to do a pretty good job of blowing America up.
Michael Bersin
And if the republicans win everything in 2016, many more Bothans (and Americans) will suffer…
danielx
NEED MOAR KITTENS!
Amir Khalid
Paul Ryan is no expert. Certainly not on taxes or anything else to do with finance. The Krug said that in 2012 and it’s still true.
beltane
The Guardian tells me that Wisconsin is a major hub for human trafficking http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/02/hub-human-trafficking-underground-sex-trade-milwaukee. Coincidence? You decide.
debbie
I thought Ryan’s saying Obama was untrustworthy was pretty rude. Where’s the White House response?
jeffreyw
Looking good on mobile, yay Tommy!
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
If Paulie is fixing to start a shouting match with the White House, I think they’d be better off letting him do all the shouting.
Mathguy
You should have provided a trigger warning for that Politico link. Yuck, my eyeballs hurt.
Dolly Llama
Testing. Testing. Testing.
ETA: Tommy, it appears that when you try to put something in italics, it’s posting as if you’re trying to link to something. If someone’s mentioned this before, my apologies.
Elizabelle
LOL. I see a JG Cole tweet on sidebar that Fred Thompson has more energy (dead) than Jeb! Ouch.
Caught a tiny bit of Meet the Republicans overnight, as was waking up early. Jeb was soft-spoken, and then he got into the “Obama has polarized us” spiel. Found something else to do. Click went the TV.
The Bushes are silk stockings full of mud. Polarization is their business.
MattF
I’m a bit reluctant to give a link here, but WaPo columnist Samuelson supplies the paradigm case of ‘both sides do it’ and ‘suffering is good for you’.
Sicilian Dish
I’m beginning to believe that the fastest way out of the Austerity/Inequality/deregulate everything trap the Republicans think will unleash the countries potential is to let it happen. Both houses of congress, the Supreme Court and a crazy Republican person in the White House. When whole communities get sick and die from bad meat and no healthcare, when we are hit with an epidemic of resistant tuberculosis and no health care, when unemployment shoots up to 18 to 20 percent when the President fires most of the government and the job losses takes the private sector with it. A Republican induced economic apocalypse will turn the 99% into Democrats by the mid-terms. Paul Ryan would not be Speaker in 2018, Mitch McConnell would not be the Senate Majority Leader, John Roberts would tie himself into knots and in 2020, ANY Democrat running for President would win for a generation.
Nemo_N
OT: Allah help us, CNN is going to do a special report on the Gore/Bush election. They are selling it right now as “politics as usual”.
debbie
@Sicilian Dish:
No thanks. There were periods during the Reagan and Bush II administrations when the Republicans had plenty of power, and look where it’s gotten us.
Baud
@Sicilian Dish:
Kansans agree.
Amir Khalid
@Sicilian Dish:
You cannot seriously want these things to happen to America. Besides, the lesson would be lost on the Republican party.
MattF
@Sicilian Dish: No. ‘Worse is better’ is simply an incorrect argument.
OzarkHillbilly
@Sicilian Dish: Or we could just all commit mass suicide.
japa21
When the term “Preeminent tax expert” was used to describe Ryan, I knew the article was totally worthless. Not that I disagree with the wealthy having more difficulty claiming mortgage interest deductions, but I thought there was already a cap on that. And mortgage interest deductions are the only thing keeping the housing business afloat.
And, besides, anybody who thinks Ryan would do anything to negatively impact the wealthy has forgotten to take their meds.
Anonymous At Work
290 and 67 remain the numbers he has to have. And he’s a pinko lefty RINO if he can’t get them for his budgets. That’ll be the hill he dies on. I’m not sure he appreciates how real this is for him and that the Republican motto for its leaders is “Win big or die”
rikyrah
THIS IS HUGE!
…………………
OBAMA BANS THE BOX
By Ari Melber
—————————–
On Monday, President Obama is announcing a new order to reduce potential discrimination against former convicts in the hiring process for federal government employees and contractors.
It is a step towards what many criminal justice reformers call “ban the box” – the effort to eliminate requirements that job applicants check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record. While the rule was once seen as a common sense way for employers to screen for criminal backgrounds, it has been increasingly criticized as a hurdle that fosters employment discrimination against former inmates, regardless of the severity of their offense or how long ago it occurred. Banning the box delays when employers learn of an applicant’s record.
.
.
The President is announcing several other measures Monday, including public housing and money for re-entry programs, and he is speaking about prison reform in a speech and an exclusive interview with NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt.
dmsilev
@Sicilian Dish: We tried that experiment in 2000-2006. Sure, we got a Democratic Congress and President by 2008, but we also got two extremely conservative Supreme Court Justices, a historically-bad recession, and an electorate with such a short memory that they gave the GOP the House back in 2010.
gene108
@Sicilian Dish:
If the 2008 economic disaster and the Iraq War fiasco did not usher in permanent Democratic majorities forever nothing will.
One of the first things a Republican government will do is repeal the Voting Rights Act in its entirety. Therefore welcome back literacy tests.
If you are a registered Democrat and you forgot a comma in a sentence, then you are illiterate and barred from voting. And all primaries will be closed primaries, therefore only registered Democrats (who are illiterate, per the local Republican BoE) can vote. So Republicans get some pretty weak challengers and very little opposition.
If 2010 shows us anything, when Republicans get into power they will do everything they can to stack the deck in their favor, so they will never lose power no matter how terrible their governance is for most people.
How will this get past courts?
You mean the judges appointed by Republicans, who get approved by a Republican Senate?
They’ll work hand in glove to insure a permanent Republican majority forever.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Republicans don’t think these things will happen to America, only to those people.
jeffreyw
@danielx: moar kittehs!
gene108
I’ve had trouble getting the website to load on my iPad. Not sure, if anyone else has this problem.
RSA
Tommy, with respect to layout, it would help if the stuff right below the title of a post (date, # comments, keywords, and author) were visually distinguishable from the beginning text of the post. Also, I like to see who’s written a post, and because the author is listed at the end, that information isn’t in a consistent place on the screen.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
The R base has the same attitude that was attributed to the women of Sparta. Either come home carrying your shield or on it.
Compromise = cowardice.
bystander
Moanin’ Joe has the debate sadz. He explained how the entire media are controlled by liberals like Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw and Walter Cronkite. If only there were real repubs to interview Ben Carson! Then we’d get that substantive discussion we all thirst for.
bystander
@gene108: No problems with viewing on, or posting from, my iPad.
rikyrah
But, there’s no difference between the parties…right?
…………
Republicans Just Killed A Vital College Loan Program For Low-Income Students
by Vera • October 12, 2015
Small colleges, standalone law schools, and the low-income students that hope to earn a degree there could be in trouble, thanks to a heartless decision by Senate Republicans to do away with a vital and long-standing college loan program.
The Perkins Loan program is the government’s oldest financial aid program, founded in 1958 and has spanned 11 administrations and provided $36 billion in aid to 30 million low-income students during its lifetime. With the program’s expiration, small schools that rely on tuition for funding will be left without a major lifeline. The report was published by credit rating agency Moody’s, and it said that small schools can expect “greater pressure on university financial aid budgets and enrollment volatility.”
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/republicans-just-killed-a-vital-college-loan-program-for-low-income-students/
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: FOX News headline:
OBAMA GIVES FREE STUFF TO HIS CRIMINAL ALLIES
Tax hikes on hard working middle class families will be unilaterally imposed
jeffreyw
@danielx: One moar time, damnable stubby fingers!
Antonius
Thanks for the font change, looks great!
Patrick
@bystander:
Willie Geist claimed that that CNBC had no bias; pretty absurd considering Rich Santelli was one the Republicans asking questions.
Patrick
@Sicilian Dish:
Will never happen. Half the people won’t bother to vote irregardless of what happens. Another 25% is more concerned about social issues and will never vote Democratic irregardless of what happens.
Zandar
@Sicilian Dish:
Nope. 100% incorrect.
It’ll be Obama’s fault.
The solution will be even more austerity, deregulation, tax cuts and “free market solutions” to get rid of “Obama’s leftover big government regime”. Even more people will suffer, and millions will happily vote for against their own self-interest as long as those people suffer the most.
Austerity can never fail, only be failed.
low-tech cyclist
Unfortunately, if you’ve got power, and you don’t care if things get fucked, you don’t need to be an expert.
But it would be nice if our media mentioned that the Ryan budgets never mentioned how they were going to pay for the tax cuts, and there aren’t enough loopholes to close to pay for them.
bystander
@japa21:
Ryan only couches it as removing a tax exemption for the wealthy. He really is targeting middle and low income people. Don’t forget, if all those laggards hadn’t forced banks to lend them money for over valued properties, we would never have had the financial collapse that heralded the coronation of our Kenyan Prince. They can all feel the freedom of not being chained to the demands of home ownership.
BGinCHI
Politico write about Paul Ryan like Tiger Beat writes about Bobby Sherman.
And they are both equally talented.
sparrow
@gene108: yes. this. half the country doesn’t really believe in democracy.
sparrow
why am I in moderation? Is democracy a keyword now?
Gremlins–SG
Eric S.
I’m just starting to poke around on the redesigned site. I’m liking the look and the feel of it both on the laptop and on mobile. Very well done, Tommy! And as a fellow software designed and developer you have all my sympathy and patience when it comes to bug fixes.
bystander
@Patrick: I found it absurd that of the three great examples of how the media are controlled by liberals, Russert, Brokaw and Cronkite, two are dead and one has been retired for 20 years. Why go into how Russert was the Cheney gang’s favorite squish?
Tripod
Given his district’s PVI, and the drift of the GOP southward, It wouldn’t shock me if he ends up getting Tom Foley’d.
benw
@Amir Khalid: Also still true: Paul Ryan is a zombie-eyed granny starver.
MomSense
O/T but there is an arrow to zoom to the top. Nice.
MomSense
@Eric S.:
I like it, too. Much easier to read both on the desktop and the smahtphone.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I am so happy about this change. It is going to make a big difference for people who are trying to rebuild their lives. Good for their families, too.
Roger Moore
@Sicilian Dish:
Thanks for volunteering to be the victim. “Nach Hilter, uns” is a terrible strategy.
Patrick
@bystander:
And Brokaw isn’t exactly a Democrat; at least I doubt it considering how awful his coverage on WMD’s was prior to the idiotic attack on Iraq.
MattF
@bystander: And Cruz thinks the moderators should be Limbaugh, Levin, and Hannity. Entirely bias-free.
Elizabelle
O/T: I am thinking of buying an iPad this week. Don’t know much about them. I’m also thinking of taking it through an extended trip abroad; will want to pick up wifi as I travel. Want to take great pics and send them to my buds. Have never watched streaming movies, but maybe that will be a thing too.
Any suggestions? And where is the best place to buy? Also, I think you guys have suggested an excellent keyboard to use as well. (Onscreen keyboards slow me down.)
Many thanks.
OzarkHillbilly
Conservative Texas court to decide if homeschoolers can wait for the Rapture instead of teaching their kids
Just let that sink in for a moment.
“Texas does not require home-school families to register with state or local educational officials, and they also aren’t required to teach state-approved curriculums or give standardized tests.”
My ex should’ve moved to Texas.
Frankensteinbeck
This completely overlooks the comparison between Ryan and Boehner. It is impossible for Ryan to work harder for tax cuts than Boehner unless he really is willing to blow up the government. As a loyal shill to the wealthy, this is unlikely.
EDIT – @Patrick:
Brokaw was on a round table on CNN a couple of years back, and gave an impassioned monologue about how the middle class ‘will have to learn to live without entitlements.’ He is disgustingly conservative. And you know what’s even more nauseating? Everybody else nodded like he was passing down wisdom from on high.
Mike in NC
Ryan’s # 1 priority will be to have his goddess Ayn Rand put on the $20 bill.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I really like my iPad mini. It’s the size of a trade paperback, plus I think taking photos with a full-size iPad might be somewhat unwieldy.
Ohio Mom
Type face needs a little more weight, hard to read for those of us whose opthomologists are making us wait a little longer until they remove our cataracts.
I once had a job where I had to produce booklets of spreadsheets comparing various cities’ pay scales. Now I wince at how tiny the thirty-year old me made that type. You really don’t understand how bad late-middle age/early senior citizen age eyesight can be until you live it.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: I bought an iPad mini with a ClamCase keyboard. I’ve used it for traveling and I really like it. The ClamCase is not inexpensive, but it is solid as a rock. I went with the Mini because a full-size iPad with a keyboard just seemed an awful lot like a laptop, which I was trying not to carry. It’s small for typing, but not absurdly so, and I’m not a super-fast typist anyway.
Roger Moore
@Patrick:
If he isn’t cheerleading for the latest in Republican stupidity, he’s a Democrat. That’s the way today’s Republicans think.
BGinCHI
@Elizabelle: IPad Mini.
@debbie: Second this.
Have my mini here in Norway and it has been great for so many things: reading books, listening to music (subscribe to Apple Music or another service and get a portable bluetooth speaker), pics, videos.
In addition to a small Macbook Pro it’s a perfect combo.
BGinCHI
@Elizabelle: Also, look for a refurb on Apple’s web site. There is no risk and you save money. Have had great luck with these in all forms.
gene108
@bystander:
So the liberal media is similar to spy agencies in Brian Lumley’s Necroscopee series, i.e. The liberal media is run by ghosts.
OzarkHillbilly
Job-Killing Obama
rikyrah
Because, when the judge asked for the receipts for where these women would go for their healthcare, they gave him some bullshyt list, not thinking that the judge has a staff that would VERIFY that the people on the list could be legitimate providers……
the judge found chiropractors and dentists and all sorts of folks that didn’t qualify.
The judge then pointed this out, and asked for a list of LEGITIMATE PROVIDERS that could be used as alternates to Planned Parenthood.
The list returned had less than 50 names on it.
thus…THIS!
…………………
Trish K.
@tkaz99
Well this is good news. Judge orders Jindal to restore funding to Planned Parenthood #IstandwithPP #gopfail http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/258660-planned-parenthood-scores-legal-victory-in-louisiana# …
'Niques
@Amir Khalid: It would be God’s will because sex. No lessons learned.
dogwood
@Elizabelle:
Several years ago when my laptop needed replacing, I decided to go with an iPad instead. I had retired, so did t think I needed more than accessing the web and streaming. I haven’t been sorry at all. Last year when I went to Ecuador for the winter, I wanted something smaller. I ended up with a kindle fire because it was cheaper than the iPad mini. It worked perfectly for me. I’m not sure if the separate keyboard works with the kindle fire. Decide what you need, and make a choice. I know when I’m traveling, I like having the streaming option. I could stream from my Netflix account in Ecuador.
rikyrah
GOP contenders demand greater control over crucial debates
Nov 1, 2015
excerpt:
The campaigns reached an early consensus on one issue, according to several operatives in the room: the secure standing of Fox News Channel. Any changes would be applied to debates after next week’s Fox Business Network debate. Among the reasons, according to one operative in the room, was that “people are afraid to make Roger [Ailes] mad,” a reference to the network’s chief.
Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz recommended that Telemundo be reinstated after being dropped along with NBC. But the campaign of businessman Donald Trump, represented by manager Corey Lewandowski, threatened to boycott a debate if the Spanish-language network that Trump has clashed with was granted one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-contenders-demand-greater-control-over-crucial-debates/2015/11/01/c1226c0c-80a0-11e5-8ba6-cec48b74b2a7_story.html
Mike J
@Ohio Mom: Hoping there’s another airing of grievances thread today. I just wrote a rant agreeing with you that I then deleted since I don’t want to derail. Every thread for the next week could wind up being about the redesign if we don’t control ourselves.
shell
Saw my glorious gov, the pandering weasel Chris Christie on Morning Squint this morning. Long story short,everything is Obamas fault.
JPL
Cruz’s plan would be awesome for Seniors. Many would have to pay the ten percent flat tax and then they’d get the double whammy of the additional sixteen percent vat tax. Wahoo!
Gin & Tonic
@Mike J: Every thread for the next week could wind up being about the redesign if we don’t control ourselves.
You’re new here?
benw
@OzarkHillbilly: every ode to Paul Ryan, economic genius, should just be followed by a link to Krugman (or Pierce).
Woodrowfan
I find the new screen font and such very difficult to read. clearly I need a tax cut to fix it.
(is there a way to increase font size??)
Anoniminous
@benw:
And his “Rape is just another method of conception” quote.
danielx
@jeffreyw:
Thankyewverymuch.
beltane
It’s uncorroborated at this point, but Anonymous is claiming that several US Senators are members of KKK affiliated sites: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/02/1443426/-My-Senator-the-KKK-Member
A little investigative journalism to either confirm or disprove these claims would be appreciated.
amk
@Woodrowfan: ctrl +
beltane
@Woodrowfan: I would also like a bigger font and less blank space. Other than that, I like the new site design.
danielx
Also too, the redesign sucks. Just getting that off my chest.
Seriously, need a link to Balloon Juice lexicon. For whenever I have to look up Peak Wingnut.
JPL
@beltane: I have trouble believing that Isakson is anyway involved with the Klan.
He has used his appointments to the military academy to further the education of some black students. I would think that would exclude him.
Woodrowfan
@amk: thank you. I thought maybe there was another setting. but that works. thanks!
Woodrowfan
@beltane: I’d like to see their evidence, but oh, please God, let it be true@
debbie
@Anoniminous:
When did he say that?
JPL
@danielx: I’m going to give it a chance but hope when they finish, the comment section is changed for the better.
beltane
@JPL: This is why the claims need to be investigated. My FB feed is now lit up with “KKK Senate” posts. Anonymous has been wrong in the past and I sure hope they are wrong this time.
Mike E
So…just the main column for me on my droid maxx with os 4.4.4, no side bar or nav buttons. Pinch zoom works, so I’ll include at least one positive comment! Otherwise, back to the previous mobile version…
amk
@Woodrowfan: No problem. If you use firefox, it remembers the font size setting for each site
JPL
@Woodrowfan: I’d love to see my local mayor on the list.
mai naem mobile
I likee nu sitee. Pritea lukin. Can we has add last comment right under post because my finger is too lazy to scroll through 300 comments.
NorthLeft12
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop it, you’re killing me! This is so laughable on so many levels. From the “unfinished business” [snicker], “can’t do it next year” [because we don’t want to give away the game and not get elected – HAR HAR!] , and finally the punch line of a repub President [HOOOOO HAAA!!].
I think it is highly more likely that Mr. Ryan will no longer be Speaker by 2017. For a variety of reasons, from a casualty of infighting, to medical or familial reasons, or that the Dems win the House. Yeah, I know, that’s a bit of a joke as well.
Southern Beale
This is unrelated but it’s breaking news: Anonymous has begun outting KKK members and there’s a member of Congress on the list: Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@beltane: I can’t say I’m surprised to see Thom Tillis’ name in that list. Definitely something to watch as Anon dribbles out more info over the next five days.
Germy Shoemangler
@Southern Beale: I’m curious if this will be ignored by the village media experts. I’m sure it’ll light up every blog I visit, but somehow I doubt I’ll see it on the evening news.
I hope I’m wrong.
mdblanche
That’s weird. I thought he’d just become Speaker of the House.
MomSense
@Woodrowfan:
The pastebin links have raw data including emails, phone numbers, etc. I think this first link is not officially from anon but someone related to the group.
I looked at it early this morning and was pretty sleepy.
Germy Shoemangler
@MomSense:
There has been no verification of the details so far, but Anonymous has vowed to reveal the full identities of up to 1,000 members of the KKK Thursday, Nov. 5 to coincide with the group’s global protest movement, called the Million Mask March.
Why do they wait until after election day?
Southern Beale
@Germy Shoemangler:
I know, me too. You know “Anonymous” are those dirty great unwashed kids in their basements. As opposed to Drudge who was a Serious Journalist when they outted his blow job with Monica.
I bet we get CRICKETS until someone presses the issue.
Southern Beale
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Oh shit I missed Thom Tillis, too?
Calouste
@MomSense: emails, phone numbers, addresses are all public available information. I’d be more convinced if they had credit card numbers.
Not that I don’t think your average Southern GOP Senator wouldn’t be a KKK member, just that the data that’s been made public so far could be very easily faked.
Germy Shoemangler
@Southern Beale:
He had a fedora!
Southern Beale
Hmm I don’t see Thom Tillis on the list.
Southern Beale
@Germy Shoemangler:
STILL DOES!!!!! LOL
Also, don’t forget Boy Journalist James O’Keefe
rikyrah
92Y On Demand
@92YOnDemand
.@mistyonpointe on the accusation that she focuses on being black “too much.” Full video: http://92yondemand.org/a-ballerinas-tale-with-misty-copeland …
Elizabelle
@debbie:
Thank you all for suggesting the mini. Hadn’t considered the mini; will have to look into it.
@BGinCHI: Ta. And thank you to whoever suggested Apple refurbished. Did that for my 2007 Macbook — which I’m using this very moment — and it’s been great.
dogwood: Ecuador, hmmm? We have to talk.
rikyrah
Chicago TribuneVerified account
@chicagotribune
Jeb Bush gave this black community a charter school. Then he moved on http://trib.in/1LLi8VR
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Oh brother. Misty is perfect.
Elizabelle
Staying off TV today, but do tell me if and how the MSM picks up the Anonymous KKK story. I’d guess they’re going to be very, very careful and need super duper sourcing.
Lamh36
@beltane: hmm… don’t see MSM. doing it though… too many possible skeletons in their closets…plus they all seem scared to bring it to pols and get in their faces bout shit
Mike E
@mai naem mobile: Here’s one weird trick: hit the reply button of any comment up at the top of the thread and BOOM…yer welcome!
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you. I’ll have to see if I can get a keyboard for a mini. I am a relatively fast and very impatient typist.
PS: thanks for the Clam Case recc. Might save a digital life.
Roger Moore
@Germy Shoemangler:
I don’t think they’re particularly politically sophisticated. They seem to be mostly interested in doxxing people because they can, and because they dislike secrets, not because they have some overriding political philosophy. Insert Big Lebowski quote here.
Geeno
Is there a way to enlarge the font a tick? It’s a little hard for my old eyes when viewing on the laptop.
rikyrah
Charles C. W. CookeVerified account
@charlescwcooke
If this is true, then Bush and/or his team must be really, really desperate. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/mitt-romney-jeb-bush-marco-rubio-215423#ixzz3qGQ3s4rB …
JPL
@Elizabelle: If Hillary or Bill appeared on the list, it would be irresponsible for the media not to report a rumor. IOKIYR
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
They seem to have some other random information, e.g. car models and VINs, email and password, etc. This is not at all consistent from person to person, so it’s likely that they’ve just dug up a bunch of stuff and are putting it out there.
burnspbesq
Ryan is about as much a tax expert as i am an expert on rap music.
Lamh36
@JPL: there is precedent though for folks being members of the Klan as “social grouping” back in the day who hid it by occasionally showing goodwill towards the “good ones”… never know
I’d like to know how exactly are they getting this list… I mean the KKK isn’t a business company right? I mean they don’t have a list of members just floating around?
rikyrah
Stefan BC
@Stefan_BC
Welfare reform was a racist disgrace and the Clinton’s haven’t paid the price for it by a long shot http://theweek.com/articles/586183/hillary-clinton-admit-that-welfare-reform-failure …
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
Jeb’ll say anything at this stage.
amk
@Amir Khalid: more like lil jebbie is the nail that every one else is hammering on.
rikyrah
Am I supposed to have one solitary ounce of sympathy for these people?
Really?
……………………………..
The Texas county where only 12 people signed up for Obamacare
Why the uninsured in Borden County may stay that way as the health law’s third enrollment season begins.
11/02/15 05:11 AM EST
GAIL, Texas — In rural Borden County, 12 people signed up for Obamacare this year.
Livid over the government telling them they must buy something and loath to take anything that looks like a “handout,” the uninsured here are likely to stay that way. As Obamacare’s third open enrollment season began Sunday, this rock-solid conservative community of about 650 people offers a window into the challenges health law advocates face to expand coverage around the country.
“Health care is fine, if you can afford it,” said Brenda Copeland, a middle-aged woman who works at the Coyote Country Store and café, along with her two grown daughters, all of whom are uninsured. Copeland has had health insurance only once in her life, and opted to pay Obamacare’s tax penalty earlier this year rather than buy a plan.
“I hope Obamacare goes down the toilet,” she added.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/obamacare-texas-health-care-215415#ixzz3qLg5Ymt0
Gin & Tonic
@Roger Moore: If I were in Anonymous (which I’d of course deny) I’d think it would be fun to toss this stuff out a la LBJ’s pig-fucking concept.
Pogonip
@Sicilian Dish: Such a scenario would only be used as an excuse for war.
Mark B.
@Lamh36: My grandfather was in the Klan. I think it was a social thing for him, but racism against Blacks (and to a lesser degree, Hispanics) was still at the core of it, it was an opportunity for racists to trade offensive jokes about black people and have an occasional adventure in the name of white supremacy. Racism and the Klan were pretty much deeply integrated in the culture in the part of Texas I grew up in. Luckily, I escaped* from it, but most of the rest of my family is pretty deeply affected by it. Grampa had no troubles with a working with minorities, he managed a fruit packing shed and had hundreds of immigrants working for him.
*To a degree, nobody every fully escapes from their childhood, and racism is still with us, it’s just a little less overt. Emphasis on little, since overt racism still exists and is pretty common is some arenas like talk radio and internet comment threads.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Southern Beale: I was looking at the DKos link, which leads to a different pastebin than your post. Later comments in that diary strongly suggest the diarist got trolled.
It still would not surprise me if Tillis was on the final data dump.
Mark B.
@rikyrah: Hatred trumps self interest for these people. There are a bunch of noses lying on the floor of the Coyote General Store due to all of the spite in Borden County.
Mark B.
@Geeno: If you have a PC, hold down the cntrl key and scroll the mouse wheel. It will change the font size. I’m not sure how to do it on a mac or mobile device.
mai naem mobile
@Mike E: yeah but I still have to delete the reply to comment which takes the same amount of time to scroll all the way down unless it’s a tbogg thread. Also too, the old design had the add comment.
mai naem mobile
@burnspbesq: I think youre a bigger expert on rap music than Paul Ryan is on tax policy. Just sayin’.
benw
@rikyrah: I try to feel sympathy for them because they are dumb and hurting themselves while at the same time I desperately want to keep the people they vote for away from the levers of power so that they don’t hurt the rest of us.
Another Holocene Human
@beltane: wow, those women are heroes.
J R in WV
@mai naem mobile:
You can use the “End” button once you click on the page. That will take you to the bottom of whatever item has focus when you press “End”, if you’re in a comment block and press “End” you go to the bottom of the comment, if you then click outside the comment box on the page and press “End” you go to the bottom of the thread.
Hope this helps!
Lamh36
Speaking of KKK…
why white people…why?
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
As far as I can tell, they enjoy the part where their victims squirm, but they lack LBJ’s political motivation. They’re a bunch of dudebros who engage in digital breaking and entering because they can. They release the information they steal partly because it’s how they win a digital dick measuring contest and partly because they like watching their victims squirm. Some of they may have stronger political motivations, but my general impression is that they aren’t very impressed by electoral politics in general and wouldn’t time things to have an effect on elections.
Germy Shoemangler
@Lamh36: This KKK stuff deserves its own thread. The mayor’s cosplay as well as the list that’s circulating online.
Germy Shoemangler
@Roger Moore: I admit I don’t know much about it. I always assumed they were part of Occupy.
Mike G
@Sicilian Dish:
…Fixed Noise and the whole right-wing machine will make sure the Repuke-voting mouth-breathers blame it on the Dems.
gvg
@rikyrah: Perkins loans have been on the way out for years unfortunately. It was talked about but not quite done for several years. Both Democrats and Republicans have done this. We have been planning for this for several years in the financial aid community.
I actually think the ending of subsidized staffords for grad students is worse. A doctoral program can take 10 years in some research fields and that adds a lot of interest to the total. I also don’t see the point. Why do they think these changes are good?
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: Darn tootin’, Clinton should have shut down the government to prevent it.
scav
@Calouste: I’m not sure how credit card numbers are less easily faked than the other data and certainly they provide no more secure verification of clan membership, unless we get access to a credit history of multiple accused men all independently buying white sheets and chik-fil-et sandwiches right before (or after) and in the immediate vicinity of a documented cross-burning. I really think this is a just a dump of accusations and rumors, not technically evidence. (now, an email / posting chain, with all clues about networks, that could provide something more meaty).
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: If TX had medicaid expansion they’d be running to sign up faster than pigs running for the trough. Even Brenda.
Another Holocene Human
@Lamh36: OK is a shithole and the white people there are nastier than a 3 legged junkyard dog. Racism because a) Native Americans b) Black people. Living. Breathing their air. Minding their own business. All too much.
Another Holocene Human
@Germy Shoemangler: Uh, no.
Some vaguely lefty activists sorts did get reeled into Anonymous and some offshoots because of Operation Chanology (where they trolled Scientology–the Church was an obvious target for having “taken on the internet” years earlier as an attempt by their lawyers to maintain their grip on censoring what could be said about them in public).
gvg
@Woodrowfan:
J R in WV
The post
gvg
and block quote didn’t seem to work. Well I will watch comments for further instructions. Other people have done it, so it must be me, not the “new” update.
Geeno
@Mark B.: Thanks much – I keep forgetting those kinds of controls.
Germy Shoemangler
I made a comment. Then I used the “edit comment” feature to italicize a word. I manually typed in the codes. The word didn’t italicize.
Also, my lunch wasn’t very good,
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: Mine wasn’t either. I blame Obama. AND Balloon Juice. No sooner does Cole tinker with the site than I get a crappy lunch. Coincidence? I think not! The minute I get home I’m going to turn on Fox News and get the real story.
Another thing that needs looking into: the Foxettes all have obviously expensive hair, clothes, and makeup and yet they look cheap. How is this paradoxical result achieved?
Patrick
@Frankensteinbeck:
Brokaw made millions per year when he was an anchor. He is so out of touch in his little bubble.
Germy Shoemangler
@Pogonip: The bitter dullness in their eyes.
Betsy
@Elizabelle: I don’t like using the iPad to take pics when touring or visiting. Too much trouble to bring the big thing out and unflap the cover, etc. — doesn’t fit it a pocket, so it’s not great for walking around with or carrying into a restaurant or other place .. At home it’s fine because it sits on a table til I need to take a photo. But when out and about, I would far rather have small camera. Quality of photos on my 2.0 iPad is not great, either.
Betsy
@Sicilian Dish: Yeah .. no. Ralph Nader got us GW Bush and forever-war, not to mention all the Great Recession stuff Barack is having to clean up is now being blamed on Barack.
Moreover, the worse things get, the more the Rs can use the strife and shock to get people upset over various moralistic and xenophobic distractions: brown people, fetuses, moochers, hating on the unemployed, attacking schoolteachers and public employees as “the source of all our problems!” etc etc etc etc.
By what magical formula do you think everyone (99%) will be converted into blaming the problems on the actual culprits?? Will FOX do the work on that??
Scorched-earth government. It’s what the far right wants — it’s what they THIRST for. And you want it, too??!!!
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: That can’t be it, you can barely see their eyes behind the falsies.
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: I googled a bit. Aging Republican men, Fox’s main audience, like the mid-priced hooker look, so that’s what Fox gives them.I have read that female TV reporters are sent to charm school. I wonder if Fox maintains a slut school?
Germy Shoemangler
@Pogonip: There is definitely a “look” that the fox makeup artists and hair stylists go for. And wardrobe is key, as well. And the camera placement reminds me of the famous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct.
Honey for catching eyeballs. And once they’re caught, the old men go out on election day and vote how they’re told to vote.
infovore
@Sicilian Dish:
A counterexample is the Khmer Rouge, whose economic policies didn’t work because they were actually unworkable. They figured that those policies couldn’t possibly fail, could only be failed, and set out to eliminate all the traitors who made them fail. Which goal they pursued with great gusto until the Vietnamese invasion interrupted them.
The lesson to be drawn is that the failure of Republican policies might result in the people pursuing them becoming more radical, not less, in the face of failure. And while they might become more moderate in the long run, that is the long run we’re talking about…
sacrablue
@Germy Shoemangler: Nov 5th is Guy Fawkes Day. Hence the mask.
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: Hee! I thought of Basic Instinct too. Maybe it’s used as a training video.
Germy Shoemangler
Re: The New Balloon-Juice Design.
I went to the blogroll, selected one of the other blogs, and nothing happened.
But that’s okay, because it’s fun here, too.
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: That is Cole’s sneaky way of ensuring you read Balloon Juice and nothing BUT Balloon Juice.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@infovore:
Indeed. An excellent, and terrifying, example.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.