Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Everybody saw this coming.

He really is that stupid.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

When we show up, we win.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Open Thread: Good Work, Senator Warren!

Open Thread: Good Work, Senator Warren!

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Senator Elizabeth Warren went to the Senate floor on June 8, 2016 to call for unanimous consent votes for 15 federal district court nominees who have moved through the Judiciary Committee but have not been scheduled confirmation votes by the Republican majority. Senator Mitch McConnell objected to the unanimous consent request.

Listen to the whole thing. *This* is why we need to keep Elizabeth Warren in the Senate.

Orrin Hatch gets a cameo, looking like a man who’s just been given a choice between a colonoscopy without anesthesia and a total orchiectomy. And (yes!) in her closing statement, Sen. Warren goes there…

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    If anyone is trying to find us at the meetup at Kings Row in Old Town Pasadena, we’re out on the patio. Bill has his UCLA shirt and I’m wearing a purple cardigan. There are 6 of us so far!

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Waiting for asswipe Drumpf to call the senator “Pocahontas” again, because that will play so well.

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    The GOP may be within the rules to be obstructionist jackals. I deeply resent all the bothsiderism that lets them get away with it, culturally, under all the bullshit “pox on both their houses” finger wagging. A senate that only operates on the barest guardrails of rules rather than fair play and an actual, gosh, investment in having our country function is why the nation is in a generally sorry state, and why, in particular, an utter horror/soiled asswipe like Trump is the GOP nominee.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Watched the entire ~15 minutes. Senator Professor Warren is like one of those dogs that clamps its jaws around your ankle and Never.Lets.Go.

    I’m very much on the team that says she is right where she belongs in the Senate, and anyhow she comes from a state with a Republican governor. I’m sure she’d do well as a VP candidate, and as VPOTUS, but there are a lot of candidates out there who would do as well, maybe better. In the meantime, she is a needed voice and conscience in the Senate. For the time being, she is where she needs to be.

    ETA: Oh, and for the record: Fuck McTurtle. Fuck Hatch. Fuckers.

  14. 14.

    gf120581

    @Mike in NC: I know Scott Brown has latched himself onto Trump, so he may be giving him some ideas (bad ones, since that Pocohantas thing serious backfired on him in 2012).

  15. 15.

    Rafer Janders

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’m very much on the team that says she is right where she belongs in the Senate, and anyhow she comes from a state with a Republican governor.

    Which is a big problem in itself. There should be no Republican governor, senator or congressman anywhere in New England. Sweep them all out.

  16. 16.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I just saw Newt Gingrich called a bigoted assferret on Twitter. And people say it has no value.

  17. 17.

    FlyingToaster

    @Rafer Janders: It’s nowhere near that simple. We have our old coots, our lunatic fringe, and craptastic machine politicians, just like everywhere else.

    Outside of New England, Charlie Baker (MA Gov) would not be electable inside the GOP. Fiscal conservative/social moderate, a throwback to Eisenhower. And his opponent — well, she also lost to Scott Brown.

    I can’t comment as to the human bowling jacket in Maine; when the D and the I candidated cancel each other out — twice — you get your lunatic.

  18. 18.

    Smiling Mortician

    Why would you tell me to watch the whole video when it requires me to listen to Mitch McConnell? What did I ever do to you?

  19. 19.

    Rommie

    The murmurs of a Coup in Cleveland are stirring again. I’ll believe it when I see it, but maybe, just maybe, some of the rational ones see what Zapp Brannigan being the CO *really* means.

  20. 20.

    Davebo

    That was very well prepared and should have embarrassed McConnell but he’s not capable of embarrassment and sadly not many people will see it unless one of the “comedy” shows cuts it just right and broadcasts it.

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    and they will sit there in front of the cameras and stare into the lens and sincerely state that Washington is broken and only the GOP can fix it, never mind they’re ones who’ve been breaking it and making it dysfunctional and our “both sides do it” media will let them say that and say nary a word.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Who’s “we”, Chuck?

    Charles Lane ‏@ ChuckLane1 3h3 hours ago
    If the GOP had superdelegates, we might not be in this Trump mess

    also, too

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m sure she’d do well as a VP candidate, and as VPOTUS,

    I can think of few Dems I would less want to see pledge to be a loyal number two who always sticks to the administration’s– any administration’s– agenda. (Which his also the idea that Bernie! could ever be Veep, anybody’s, is ludicrous.)

  26. 26.

    Major Major Major Major

    Anybody want to help me write Daily Mail headlines for my story where the fish disappear? So far I have

    SHARIF LIKES IT:

    MUSLIMS ACROSS E.U. HOARDING FISH IN RECENT WEEKS FOR HALAL ‘CELEBRATION’

    SEEN GATHERING AT NIGHT, TO FEAST, FACES COVERED

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    Mike Memoli ‏@mikememoli 3h3 hours ago

    .@jimmyfallon: “Do you think the Republicans are happy with their choice?”

    @POTUS: “We are.”

  39. 39.

    Renie

    Love Yertle’s reasoning that Dubya didn’t make x number of appointments by this time in his term vs. this time in Obama’s term. That’s got to be the stupidest reason. And why is it allowed that one person gets to make the decision? How is that democratic?

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: It is, but the internal rules of the World’s Greatest Deliberative Country Club make it much, much worse. All the worst structural problems in the Senate are the result of the rules Senators set for themselves, not because of anything in the Constitution.

  48. 48.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    Reports are circulating, if they can be trusted, that Warren will endorse Clinton. Get ready for the OUTRAGE!

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: I saw that. Apparently Senator Cotton missed the days in the schoolhouse when they went over the Army values:
    http://www.history.army.mil/lc/the%20mission/the_seven_army_values.htm

    The Seven Army Values

    Loyalty
    Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. constitution, the Army, and other soldiers.
    Be loyal to the nation and its heritage.

    The Decision at the Marias. The men thought the route ran to the northwest up the Marias River, while both Lewis and Clark thought the main river channel ran to the southwest. The men agreed to go along with the decision of the captains to proceed to the southwest, which was indeed the Missouri River.

    Duty
    Fulfill your obligations.
    Accept responsibility for your own actions and those entrusted to your care.
    Find opportunities to improve oneself for the good of the group.

    Fulfilling the Letter and Intent of Jefferson’s Order. The Corps of Discovery never wavered from its mission. Additionally, Lewis, Clark, and several of the men kept journals. Sergeant Ordway was the only one to make daily entries.

    Respect
    Rely upon the golden rule.
    How we consider others reflects upon each of us, both personally and as a professional organization.

    Diplomats with the Indians. The Corps of Discovery honored with dignity and respect all the tribes it met, offering gifts as a symbol of friendship and peace.

    Selfless Service
    Put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own.
    Selfless service leads to organizational teamwork and encompasses discipline, self-control and faith in the system.

    Adversity Along the Way. Hard physical labor characterized every day, but the Corps of Discovery conquered every navigational hazard and overcame a variety of physical ills – boils, blisters, bunions, sunstroke, dysentery, fatigue, injuries, colds, fevers, snakebites, ticks, gnats, toothaches, headaches, sore throats, bad mosquitoes, and prickly pear cactus.

    Honor
    Live up to all the Army values

    Importance of Character. Lewis and Clark were very thorough in selecting only the best men for the mission – those who would work together for the good of the group and pull their own weight.

    Integrity
    Do what is right, legally and morally.
    Be willing to do what is right even when no one is looking.
    It is our “moral compass” an inner voice.

    Degree of Freedom. Many times the men were on their own as the captains performed their duties. On the return trip, Lewis and Clark divided the Corps of Discovery into five separate detachments (under the commands of Lewis, Clark, Ordway, Gass, and Pryor) to accomplish independent missions. Only two men were discharged from the expedition – Reed for desertion and Newman for mutinous conduct.

    Personal Courage
    Our ability to face fear, danger, or adversity, both physical and moral courage.

    Into the Unknown. The men of the Corps of Discovery left not knowing what lay ahead or if they would ever return. Throughout the journals one phrase stands out – “we proceeded on.” This clearly characterizes the spirit of the expedition.

  51. 51.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Adam L Silverman: I can see how the sentence placement would make that unclear. It’s ‘ugh’ in all caps. Ugh! She’s awful. Well not awful. She’s one of those district-attorney-uses-tough-on-crime-stance-to-vault-to-higher-office types, known for stuff like being harsh with three-strikes laws. Her list of accomplishments is basically a bunch of awards for being a rising star, and the evidence of her being a rising star is that she’s won a bunch of awards. She’s an empty suit, and she’s going to be our next junior senator.

    On a personal note, her DA’s office also bungled an assault case in which I was the, ah, victim. So maybe I’m a little biased. Honestly the whole primary field for senate sucked here. Loretta Sanchez carried the “not Kamala Harris” vote but she’s sorta Repub-Lite from the OC.

    Harris was Gavin Newsom’s DA and it kind of shows. They’re both empty suits but Gavin’s at least stuck his neck out once or twice.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: Okay, that’s where I thought you were going. All I know about her is that everyone on the firearm websites and blogs hate her.

    And sorry to read you were assaulted.

  56. 56.

    serge

    And there’s our Timmy trying desperately to look like he knows what he’s doing as Chair. Mr President…! God our state is such a fucked up place. What do McConnell and Hatch do when they go off together to order some more bespoke contrasting collar shirts? Do they give each other reach-arounds in the fitting room? That’s a grotesquerie that fragile minds shouldn’t ever view.

  61. 61.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: That’s funny – not that the rules are funny – just funny I’d see these now. I’m reading a book a friend of mine wrote about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. These rules were developed by the Corps of Discovery?

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    @Adam L Silverman: You might be interested in this by Ken White (his blog is Popehat). It’s about the Brock Taylor case, written with the perspective of a defense lawyer, and how a judge can occasionally over-empathize with a defendant whose privileged background is similar to the judge’s.

  64. 64.

    burnspbesq

    Harris will be fine in the Senate (ETA: the people of San Francisco liked her work as DA well enough that they re-elected her). Not so sure about Sanchez.

    Incidentally, the guy that Sanders endorsed in the primary to fill Sanchez’ House seat got massacred. Third place, 13 percent.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: No, they weren’t. Whoever handles the website that has the Army Values and the Warrior Ethos web pages decided to illustrate each of the seven values with an example from the Lewis and Clark expedition.

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Aleta: Thanks. I’m familiar with the site, I’ll check it out tomorrow (most likely). And that makes perfect sense within what we know about the Sociology of Law (sometimes also known as Pure Sociology).

  70. 70.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: I thought about removing the Lewis and Clark stuff, but decided to leave it in as I was directly copying and pasting from the website.

  73. 73.

    daves09

    The repubs want the donald to be more presidential. But the donald wants to run on free publicity. Which he won’t get if he’s presidential. My, my, just one dilemma after another.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: actually what’s funny is that Nile perch is the preferred fish for a lot of the Egyptians. And Tigris/Euphrates carp is the preferred fish for the Iraqis. So I would expect that perch and carp are in high demand and low supply right now.

  75. 75.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Aleta: So now it you can see that the evidence put forward in the case might not have really matter to the judge for sentencing purposes? Yesterday, my “I doubt it” was deem irrelevant. Cool.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Sociology: the science of taking a crystal clear concept and rendering it opaque.

    Lewis & Clark sure ordered and lugged around a sh*tload of laxative pills.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Omnes Omnibus: @Aleta: Would having eemom ask the question help? You posited that making college athletes sign something indicating that they knew what constituted rape could have changed the sentence. I said that I doubted it. I have been a lawyer for 20 years. I am right. It won’t stop assaults.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I can think of few Dems I would less want to see pledge to be a loyal number two who always sticks to the administration’s– any administration’s– agenda.

    In public, yes, the Veep is expected to reflect and loyally promote the Administration’s agenda. But I have a very strong sense that Obama and Biden, for instance, consult often. In the event of disagreement on policy or tactics or personnel or whatever, I expect behind closed doors Biden makes his case as forcefully and persuasively as he knows how. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes there’s a compromise. I would expect that anyone Hillary selected would have — be encouraged and expected to have — the same freedom to express an honest opinion. In fact I would hope that would be the case with any member of her Cabinet or administration. So, as far as Elizabeth Warren is concerned, that’s the least of my worries.

  92. 92.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Rafer Janders:

    There should be no Republican governor, senator or congressman anywhere in New England.

    Mass clearly likes its occasional soft bidness-friendly GOP governor to offset a legislature that’s overwhelmingly in Dem hands — bona fide machine politics — and it didn’t help that Martha Coakley repeatedly managed to give WEEI-listening Massholes reasons to vote against her.

    I’d almost like Warren to be the VP nominee in order to kick Trump around for six months, then resign before being sworn in and go back to a Senate in Dem hands. Mostly, I think it’s important for Dem senators to gain seniority, both on the left and in purple states, but the other typical source of potential veep candidates — ex-governors — is more limited thanks to GOP successes at state level or various bits of scandal.

  96. 96.

    Fake Irishman

    @Renie: By Yertle’s reasoning, we’re owed five more circuit confirmations. I’d take that deal. He’s not offering it though.

  98. 98.

    sherparick

    @dr. bloor: If a state has Republican Governor, I don’t want the VEEP nominee to be a senator from that state. Anyway, I have a “man crush” on Tom Perez, Secretary of Labor, and former Chief of the Civil Rights Division at Justice. He simply has been outstanding at Labor and really has been a standout in Obama’s cabinet.

  99. 99.

    Scotian

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Wow, thanks for nearly giving me a seizure (those opening credits, damn they hurt the head), and reminding me of just how old I actually am the same week I turn 49, because I do remember those cartoons from my childhood, although I had managed to forget them until you reminded me! LOL

    The preceding is not a serious complaint, more in a dry slightly snarky tone (one of the things I *HATE* about text is how hard it is to impart the right tones to words without such add-ons), I’m not really annoyed. I wasn’t kidding so much about the near seizure though, those credits really did hurt my head, and they did when I was a child too as I recall.

    Seriously, interesting find, and I thought someone should chime in with a recollection of them, and since I didn’t see anyone else doing so…*shrug*, here ya go!

    BTW, I enjoy your work overall, substance with seriousness is so refreshing in this day and age.

  100. 100.

    sherparick

    @Aleta: This is a terrific piece of writing. The conclusion is outstanding:

    …This means that the system is generally friendly to defendants who look like Brock Allen Turner and generally indifferent or cruel to people who don’t look like him. No high school dropout who rapes an unconscious girl behind a dumpster is getting six months in jail and a solicitous speech from the likes of Judge Persky. Judges take their youth as a sign that they are “superpredators,” not as grounds for leniency. If you tell a judge that they aren’t a danger to others, the judge will peer over his or her glasses and remark that people who rape unconscious girls in the dirt are self-evidently dangerous, and don’t be ridiculous. Judges don’t think that a good state prison stretch will have too severe an impact – after all, what are they missing, really?

    So you won’t find defense lawyers like me cheering Brock Turner’s escape from appropriate consequences. We see it as a grim reminder of the brokenness of the system. We recognize it as what makes the system impossible for many of our clients to trust or respect. And we know that when there’s a backlash against mercy and lenient sentences – when cases like this or the “affluenza” kid inspire public appetite for longer sentences – it’s not the rich who pay the price. It’s the ones who never saw much mercy to begin with.

    There are two ways to see good fortune and bad fortune. You can say “someone who has enjoyed good fortune should be held to a higher standard, and someone who has suffered bad fortune should be treated with more compassion.” But America’s courts are more likely to say “someone who has enjoyed good fortune has more to lose, and someone who has suffered bad fortune can’t expect any better.”

    Judge Persky and his ilk can’t stop being human. But they are bound by oath to try to be fair. When a judge says you are very fortunate and therefore it would be too cruel to interrupt that good fortune just because you committed a crime, they are not being fair. For shame.”

    (My only dissent about Mr. White’s post is his assumption that Brock Turner defense lawyers committed an error in having the Dad’s and Leslie Rasmussen letters of support, letters that while celebrating Brock’s true nobility and emphasizing his suffering of Brock were, in one case, dismissive and dehumanizing about the victim and in the other letter actually shifted the responsibility for the crime from Brock to the victim. I expect that the defense attorneys, sizing up this particular judge, thought the letters would be helpful persuading the judge to indulge his tribal identity with Brock and to be even more dismissive of the victim’s humanity.

    Rick

  101. 101.

    sherparick

    @Aleta: I read the judge’s decision which was excellent, and her sentence was actually lenient under the sentencing guidelines. I note that that the judge was woman, and hence able to empathize with the victim. Letter’s like Brock Turner and Leslie Rasmussen would not have been part of the packet I submitted to this judge if was the defense attorney in this case.

    http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/brock-turner-the-sort-of-defendant-who-is-spared-severe-impact/10288

  102. 102.

    sherparick

    Also, in the sense of two wrongs do not make a right, some people are using this as an excuse to indulge their own pleasure in the power of inflicting pain. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/08/us/stanford-rapist-defender-backlash/index.html

    Brock’s friend, Leslie Rasmussen, is also a cautionary example of when asked to write or submit a character affidavit for a friend in legal trouble, don’t rely on your friend’s lawyers to protect you from yourself. Have your own lawyer or representative look at it and edit out things you cannot talk about from your own personal knowledge. She got herself in trouble by politically pontificating about charge and giving an opinion about a person, the victim, that she did not know and only had Brock Turner’s and his lawyers portrait of her. Her letter, from a young woman of approximately the same age and social class as the victim, was useful in confirming that portrait, a portrait of a slatternly, drunk, “party girl” in Judge Persky’s mind. I think she now realizes she was used and treated just as another instrument to help Brock, regardless of the adverse consequences to her (since once she saw victim’s letter I expect the light bulb went off that Brock had not told her the full story.)

  105. 105.

    Original Lee

    @sherparick:

    There are two ways to see good fortune and bad fortune. You can say “someone who has enjoyed good fortune should be held to a higher standard, and someone who has suffered bad fortune should be treated with more compassion.” But America’s courts are more likely to say “someone who has enjoyed good fortune has more to lose, and someone who has suffered bad fortune can’t expect any better.”

    Very well put. I think you’re the first one I’ve read on this case that has put the problem so succinctly.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Scotian: Yeah, the opening sequence is a bit much! Didn’t mean to create early morning neurological issues for anyone.

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