Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

… among the most cringeworthy communications in the history of the alphabet!

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

We still have time to mess this up!

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

I was promised a recession.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Music / Friday Morning Update: Weekly Progress Open Thread

Friday Morning Update: Weekly Progress Open Thread

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(h/t commentor Cosima)

I want to implement commentor Jenn‘s idea of a weekly Progress Open Thread, even though it’s apparently a bit soon for specific responses.

Great idea from commentor Mary G:

I went to whitehouse.gov and sent the Obamas a message:

Dear President and Mrs. Obama:

I haven’t always agreed with you, particularly on foreign policy, but boy am I going to miss you. You have done your country a great service and I thank you so much for all your hard work, and sacrifice of your privacy and freedom of action. I plan to be active in resisting the rollback of your achievements. Especially the ACA. You have been the best president and presidential family of my 60-year-old life.

What will happen to the videos and photos of your speeches and events currently on whitehouse.gov? When I am down and discouraged, I watch a speech or look at a few pictures to get fired up and ready to go. There are so many I want to see, but haven’t had time to.

God bless you, Mary

And via commentor Kathleen — Go sign Sherrod Brown’s petition that PEOTUS fire Steve Bannon. (Yeah, it’s not gonna happen, but it’ll irk both the neo-Nazi and his catspaw that us commoners aren’t being respectful.)

***********
Who’s got progress to report, or ideas to implement, as we wrap up the week?

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  2. 2.

    Schlemazel

    Wifes bandages come off today. We’ll see how that goes.
    I returned to work yesterday to a mountain of stuff yet to be done. I am building a who new team to perform a set of tasks that have never been done at my place – really I have never seen it done this way anywhere I have consulted or worked. There is some enjoyment be building a thing that is desperately needed and basically having a free hand to do it the way I see fit. There are lots of problems that could get in the way of success but at lest I get to try.
    Given that I have to work until I die this is a good thing

  3. 3.

    mai naem mobile

    I saw the comment from Mary last night and went to Whitehoise.gov and did the same. It felt good doing something good instead of wallowing in the negative.
    Speaking of the negative, I went on Twitter and,jeezus, there are some horrible nasty Trumpkins/White Nationalists on Twitter. Somebody said after the elections that reddit was full of young white male Trumpkins. Anecdotally it sure seems like that to me. Everytime I see a Trump bumper sticker it seems to be a young white guy. BTW,I don’t know if it says anything but I haven’t seen that many Trumpy bumperstickers since the election. Heck,I think I’ve seen more HRC and old Obama Biden stuckers.

  11. 11.

    Schlemazel

    @NotMax:
    I am going to guess Mr. Deligatti did not dine on his creation regularly!

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Thats sad, he played a great part. I may have to dig out the Warty Towels tapes & rewatch tonight. Could use the laughs I believe there are 12 episodes but it is a fantastic series Faty Owls

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: DOH!!!!

    ETA It’s been a while since I watched them. Between that and my failing memory, which I blame on cell phones, those are my excuses and I’m sticking to them!

  15. 15.

    Schlemazel

    @NotMax:
    hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm, everyone else must be doing it wrong then!

    I did a gig for McDs once, it was interesting. FOr a company selling fun they were they were among the most humorless about their work I can remember,

    @Baud:
    Thanks

  17. 17.

    mai naem mobile

    @OzarkHillbilly: I saw an old fading 04 W sticker on an older small Toyota Corolla like sedan a couple of weeks ago. The driver was a younger Hispanic girl – I would guess late teens/early twenties. Anyhow, I bet she had no idea what the sticker was about,being that it only had a “W” but no “Bush” on the sticker.

  18. 18.

    Ohio Mom

    I love my Senator. I used to call his office and very now and then just to say Thanks! You’re doing all the right things and I really appreciate all of it!

    Think I’m going to have to take up doing that again.

  20. 20.

    evap

    @OzarkHillbilly: They made 12 episodes. I agree, greatest tv comedy ever. We watched four of them last night in honor of Sachs, including my favorite: The Germans. (Don’t mention the war.)The writers (mainly Cleese and Connie Booth) spent weeks writing each episode, making sure that the scripts were perfect (they were!). Which is why they made only 12.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    In Virginia, a state have not spent a lot of time in but which stands as a place where had both one of the worst meals ever (McD’s in either Tyson’s Corners or Falls Church – time has made the location vague) and also one of the best. The latter, oddly enough, shrimp jambalaya at the dining room of a Holiday Inn in Emporia on Xmas eve.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @evap: I have always wondered why it had such a short run. I think the last time I was able to watch an episode of FT was at least 2 decades ago. I’d love to buy it but it would probably be as out of reach for me as MP’s Flying Circus, which last I checked was $245- I just can’t justify it.

  25. 25.

    Schlemazel

    @NotMax:
    I have a thing for their breakfast burritos & have them maybe twice a year. But I have no recollection of the last time I had anything else, certainly more than a decade when the kids were little.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    You betcha. Was given what I described at the time and ever since as an effluent burger. Meat was so spoiled, rancid, rotten that had to spit out the first bite. Management flatly refused to refund the cost or replace the item. Have shunned the chain ever since.

    I will have coffee there if people insist on going, provided someone else pays for it.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Today’s addition to the “No shit???” files: Bomb detector works better with fake dog nose on the end

    Struck by the legendary sniffing skills of man’s best friend, scientists in the United States fitted a dog-inspired plastic nose to an explosives detector and reported that it worked 16 times better.

    With the prosthetic nose, and programmed to take quick “sniffs” of the air rather a single long breath, the machine was 16 times much more sensitive in detecting molecules in the air, the team reported in the journal Scientific Reports. “By mimicking the way a dog sniffs we can improve the performance of commercial trace vapour detection systems,” said study co-author Matthew Staymates, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist).“Our findings suggest that the next generation of … detection systems may benefit from lessons learned from the canine.” This may improve detection of anything from explosives, narcotics, disease-causing pathogens and perhaps even cancer.

    Staymates and a team read up on the workings of the canine “nose” when the dog is sniffing. The organ exhales and inhales about five times per second to collect odours, which are then analysed by 300m receptor cells. The team then used a 3D printer to create the outer shell of a plastic “nose” fashioned after the snout of a Labrador retriever. The prosthesis was fitted to a commercially available explosives detector, which was also reprogrammed to inhale and exhale in quick succession – sniffing in essence, rather than sucking continuously. With the alterations the machine was 16 times better at detecting odours from a distance of four centimetres (1.6 inches), the team observed. Though it seemed counterintuitive, breathing out during sniffing actually drew odour-laden air towards the nostrils, the researchers found.

    Next they plan to cover the bomb detectors in fur and see if petting them reduces heart rates and blood pressure.

  29. 29.

    Cermet

    @rikyrah: @Baud: Thanks; And another good morning to you’all.
    @Schlemazel: Best to you and hope all is well.
    @Schlemazel: Understand; built a one-of-a-kind, never done beore (for good reason) piece of very complex equipment (a fiber optic/computer system) and if anything went wrong with it (hardware or code (all of which I wrote alone)), hundreds could have died. Kept me up many a night figuring out all possible failures/errors or operator screw ups so they wouldn’t result in death (yes, I know the old saying about fool proofing – but it was all automated and simply provided critical information) … so far, never read of any incident occurring after 15 years so I think I got it right. One of the best technical research/construction assignments that I have ever done and I am still very proud of it (it is still “black” so no details allowed.)

  30. 30.

    Cermet

    @rikyrah: @Baud: Thanks; And another good morning to you’all.
    @Schlemazel: Best to you and hope all is well.
    @Schlemazel: Understand; built a one-of-a-kind, never done before (for good reason) piece of very complex equipment (a fiber optic/computer system) and if anything went wrong with it (hardware or code (all of which I wrote alone)), hundreds could have died. Kept me up many a night figuring out all possible failures/errors or operator screw ups so they wouldn’t result in death (yes, I know the old saying about fool proofing – but it was all automated and simply provided critical information) … so far, never read of any incident occurring after 15 years so I think I got it right. One of the best technical research/construction assignments that I have ever done and I am still very proud of it (it is still “black” so no details allowed.)

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    A lot more episodes (60!) over two seasons of Car 54, Where Are You? but could come up with 12 from that run which would give Fawlty Towers solid competition for comedic chops.

  37. 37.

    satby

    More people voted for her than him. It’s how I keep myself from the deepest despair, though I usually need to repeat it like a mantra a few times.

  39. 39.

    satby

    @NotMax: Careful. When I tell my kids I remember prices like that I see them mentally sizing me up for the old folks home. Because they think it’s impossible and I’m going senile.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @satby:

    At the presidential level since 1992, American voters have gotten it wrong only once — in 2004.

    But it’s clear now we need to overperform to have a fair shot at being represented by our government.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    I’m sure I missed the discussion here, but Trump’s masturbatory “thank you rally” in Cincinnati was a real beaut (didn’t attend, but it lead off the local news). He proved, even when giving thanks, that his world (now ours) is, and will be, solely about him.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: I am loathe to admit it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an episode of Car 54. I’ve heard plenty about it, but somehow or other I don’t think I’ve ever managed to actually watch it. Sad!

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Prez-elect Sniffles described (repeatedly) his win as” a landslide” yesterday, which the MSM will duly report without pushback. Now destined to become part of the common wisdumb (not a typo).

  52. 52.

    iwritesometimes

    I went last night to volunteer orientation at Planned Parenthood. And tonight, fwiw, I’m on a “conference call” organized by my state dems. Hope to hear from my local dems soon about stuff to do in the neighborhood!

    Try and have a good weekend, everybody.<3

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    Excellent piece in WaPo today about a family in Alabama whose toddler accidentally killed his 9-year-old sister with a gun a relative had carelessly left unattended.

  54. 54.

    AMinNC

    So I have started a regular (shooting for every week, but we’ll see) Call Sheet, where I pick a few issues for people to take action on, suggest actions to take, write up a few talking points about each issue, and email it to interested friends/family/acquaintances.
    This week had, for example, Betsy DeVos nomination – call senators, write letter to local newspaper – info about her problematic “privatize schools” ideology and her failure with Detroit Schools. Another item on the list was Medicare privatization – Call Senators and Reps, contact your parents/grandparents and let them know what’s going on-Talking points about Ryan’s Plan and Trump’s pick of Price indicates they’re going after Medicare. I am trying to put a few issues each time so that people can pick issues they really care about, or they can take action on everything. From what I keep hearing, representatives at every level of government tend to hear overwhelmingly from the right side of the political spectrum. It might make a difference if they start hearing regularly and in great numbers from the majority of us, for a change. Plus, any time we get a progressive point of view in a local newspaper, it spreads our message in an organic way.

  56. 56.

    satby

    @Botsplainer: that link leaves me not knowing whether to laugh or cry (or combine both into a bout of hysteria).

    How much of this kind of inability to recognize reality is tied to the fundamentalist belief in faith instead of works? Because his voters seem to have relied on whatever bullshit he spouted at the moment and were stubbornly refusing to look at his track record I keep thinking they were primed to fall for that by a lifetime of conditioning in churches where what you do doesn’t matter, just how loudly you proclaim your belief.

  58. 58.

    sherparick

    @OzarkHillbilly: Actually 12, 6 in 1975 when John Cleese and Connie Booth were still married and 6 more in 1979 after they had divorced. Until I read the Wikipedia article I had not been aware that Connie Booth is American (or was an American) and that she has been a psychotherapist the last 16 years (she must kid her ex-husband Cleese about he caused her change professions).

    Much rather talk about this then what is happening to the country. Now realize Idiocracy was a documentary.

  59. 59.

    Botsplainer

    @NotMax:

    Always keep the marks optimistic, and always be selling.

    You don’t even have to be particularly smart to make it work. Particularly if you’ve got a string of cringing media mediocrities shilling for you and a large cohort of credulous churchgoers bathed in the stupid of Calvinism ripe for your message.

  60. 60.

    Botsplainer

    @satby:

    A metric shitton of it is related to faith over works.

    My comfortable version of Christianity has been forever shattered, and it really is dead to me.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: It is hideously depressing for sure. But it’s also revealing. Through the family members’ own words, the reporter shows how each grapples with guilt and how they rationalize (or fail to rationalize, in the case of the grandmother) gun culture. I grew up among people just like that, so the story really resonated with me.

    If you’re for greater gun control, it’s also a depressing reminder of what you’re up against. If you’re a mother whose child killed your other child with a gun and your response is to acquire more guns to counter some vaguely imagined outside threat, well, what does that say about your ability to rationally assess danger?

    Unfortunately, that cracked reasoning can be applied to any number of other scenarios, and hence, “why we can’t have nice things,” and why instead we get shitty things, such as an unqualified buffoon in the White House. It’s all right there.

  64. 64.

    low-tech cyclist

    Mary G asks:

    What will happen to the videos and photos of your speeches and events currently on whitehouse.gov?

    Probably the same thing that happened with the whitehouse.gov content from the Bush Administration, which is available at https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/ .

    As you can see, this is maintained by the National Archives at their website, archives.gov. So my expectation is that shortly after Obama finishes his Presidency, there will be a https://barackobama-whitehouse.archives.gov/ website there as well.

    (Don’t click on that link yet – assuming that turns out to be the applicable URL, it won’t be populated for at least another seven weeks.)

  65. 65.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Remember I was telling you but the Clinton Nuke plant?

    SPRINGFIELD — The 29-year-old Clinton nuclear power plant — facing a June 1, 2017, closing date by Exelon Corp. — got a new lease on life Thursday night with the passage of a wide-ranging energy bill by the Illinois General Assembly.

    The House OK’d the so-called Future Energy Jobs bill (Senate Bill 2814), 63-38, and the Senate followed less than an hour later with approval on a 32-18 roll call. The bill now goes to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who said Thursday night that he would sign it.

    “This legislation will save thousands of jobs. It protects ratepayers, through guaranteed caps, from large rate increases in years to come. It also ensures taxpayers are not on the hook to keep the power plants open and online,” he said. “This process shows that when all parties are willing to negotiate in good faith, we can find agreement and move our state forward.”

  66. 66.

    Oldgold

    178,000 jobs added in November. Unemployment drops down to 4.6%. BUT, big news is Trump $aves 1,000 jobs. Sigh.

  69. 69.

    normal liberal

    @raven:
    As someone who lives 30 miles north of Clinton, and who remembers how close the plant came to not being approved to operate at all (let us not even speak of the massive cost overruns), I have to say this is a very mixed blessing. I would love for Exelon to get bounced from central Illinois. Good for Clinton, though, in the short term.

  72. 72.

    raven

    @normal liberal: I was telling Ozark about it the other day. I lived in Champaign-Urbana from 69-84 and had a great many friends who worked there while it was being built. One of the reasons I am so skeptical of unions is because of direct knowledge of what it was like building that plant.

  73. 73.

    JPL

    @Betty Cracker: It is a tough, but important read.

    Even in 2010, when a .25 pistol toppled off a bedroom closet shelf, hit the floor and went off, the bullet grazing his wife’s arm and narrowly missing Kimi, he dismissed it as a freak accident.

    Since I wasn’t raised around guns, it’s difficult for be to understand, but that sentence alone, is horrifying.

  74. 74.

    raven

    @Baud:On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump visited Carrier Corp. in Indiana and claimed victory for a deal that, according to The Wall Street Journal, will result in 800 factory jobs staying in Indianapolis that had been slated to go to Mexico. Carrier still plans to move 600 jobs from that plant to Mexico, plus 700 more from a factory in nearby Huntington owned by Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies. In return, Indiana will give United Technologies $7 million in tax breaks and other financial incentives over 10 years, and Carrier will invest some $16 million in Indiana. Carrier said Wednesday the “incentives” were “an important consideration” in its decision.

    http://theweek.com/speedreads/665041/indiana-giving-carrier-7-million-save-800-jobs-not-everyones-impressed-trumps-deal

  75. 75.

    brighid

    I am pretty disillusioned this week. I live in Vermont which should be sane but the number of confederate flag shirts, hats and stickers popping up is disconcerting. Peter Welch (D VT) had a Vermont wide conference call Tuesday and said that his constituents wanted unity and he claimed he was willing to work with trump on prescription drugs. I get the impulse of the wait and see attitude but to already be striking such a conciliatory tone troubles me. I called his office on Wednesday to ask him not to give bi partisan cover to Trump but I am not sure it’s really effective.
    Bernie is still talking about the common ground he shares with trump supporters because they want access to affordable housing and healthcare too. What Bernie doesn’t seem to get is they want it for themselves, they don’t want those ‘others’ to get it. It seem that for the mythical white working class social programs for them are a hand up or something they ‘earned’ somehow and social programs for you are a hand out. And frankly if Bernie cares so much about the working class he needs to look to his district. In Bennington, Vermont 43% of residents earn less than 20,000 annually, 25% earn under 10,000. Bennington was a manufacturing town, a major composites factory moved to Michigan in 2015 . Nothing from Bernie. In 2009 that same company got a huge defense contract and Bernie campaigned on the possibility of 300 new jobs, which never materialized. So what do you do? I guess we have to keep calling and writing and all that but it doesn’t seem like it matters.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @brighid: well I think we all remember what an important part of the confederacy that Vermont was…

    … “economic anxiety” my butt

  79. 79.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:

    It’s down to 800? What happened?

    300 of the jobs are white collar jobs that were never scheduled to be moved.

  80. 80.

    dww44

    We watch a lot of CNBC in the a.m. as that’s the SO’s preferred morning time viewing. So just now there was a round table of financial types on with Joe Kernan whose political biases are not subtle. One of the CNBC regulars was pointing out that the jobs report for November just came out and it was like a plus 156,000 jobs. Then he notes that during the election people heard that “one party was going to lower taxes and decrease government and the other one was going to raise taxes and increase government”. Then one of the guests opined that “Trump was appointing very capable people to head OMB, etc. ” With all seriousness. We changed the channel.

    Not only can I no longer stomach watching Trump on my TV like that ridiculous lying event he had last evening, but I can no longer handle educated pundits who are so thrilled that capitalism is going to have a totally free hand that they ignore and tacitly endorse the outright racism of the President-elect.

  81. 81.

    hedgehog mobile

    I’ve set up automatic contributions to the ACLU, Food Bank of the Rockies and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Also going to add TransLifeLine to the list.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s all right there.

    It’s all around me Betty. I bump up against that kind of magical stupidity every time I go to town. I know their rationalizations by heart. I dropped my preteen sons off at my ex’s once and found a loaded handgun on the kitchen table, untended and forgotten. I know my words about gun safety uttered thru barely controlled fury were forgotten as soon as I unloaded it and walked out the door.

    After my oldest had finally had enough and called me to come and get him out of that violent household, I was treated to him pointing at his shotgun at the foot of his bed and saying, “It’s loaded if you need it, Mom.” and she just nodded like it was the most normal thing in the world for a child to keep a loaded shotgun at the foot of his bed.

    My sons somehow, someway, managed to survive, but I’ve never forgotten that low grade fear that was just a part of my everyday life for so very long.

  83. 83.

    sherparick

    @Oldgold: CNBC, Fox, Fox Business, Morning Joe, and CNN will say this is all the result of Donald Trump’s business acumen! He will get credit for the next 12 to 16 months of good news, and when his Federal Reserve appointees tank the economy, somehow that will become retroactively Obama’s fault.

    If you want to be depressed, look at web sites for CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and of course Fox, pretty much look like the Trump twitter and press release forums. Everything is now AWESOME with the billionaires in charge. As Cole says, we are so fucked.

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Baud:

    What Ravens said. Also, Trump originally said 1,100, but that later turned out to include 300 managerial jobs that weren’t going to Mexico; hence the 800 remainder.

    (For some reason the tablet is not letting me copy links and quotes from the universally reviled New York Times‘s website.)

  86. 86.

    Baud

    @brighid: Let’s see. Remember the GOP’s public line was that they wanted to work with Obama but he wouldn’t meet then halfway.

  87. 87.

    SenyorDave

    Poor Kellyanne Conway has a sad:

    Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri condemned Bannon, who previously ran Breitbart, a news site popular with the alt-right, a small movement known for espousing racist views.

    “If providing a platform for white supremacists makes me a brilliant tactician, I am proud to have lost,” she said. “I would rather lose than win the way you guys did.

    Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, fumed: “Do you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform?”

    “You did, Kellyanne. You did,” interjected Palmieri, who choked up at various points of the session.

    Kellyanne Conway truly deserves the olds line “I wouldn’t piss on her if she were on fire”. Would a disgusting human being. If there is karma she will die because she can’t pay for an operation due to her Medicare vouchers not covering it.

    Ank kudo to Palmieri for not sugarcoating anything.

  88. 88.

    bemused

    I did some cable news channel surfing later after trump ego trip (did not watch!!!) and CNN reporter questions Trump supporters after they attended the shit show. There is no hope for these pathetic saps, all smiles and pumped up from getting Trump fix.

    Give Trump a chance. He’ll do amazing things. Self-described small business owner very excited Trump will be giving him a big tax break. Most said their family and friends not Trump voters aren’t talking to them anymore but they should give him a chance and they will see what great things he will do.

  89. 89.

    SenyorDave

    Headline:

    Paul Ryan assures America that he has spoken to Donald Trump about the Constitution

    Well, now I’m relieved. Just knowing that noted constitutional scholar Paul Ryan has educated Trump about the constitution should calm everybody’s fears.

  90. 90.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    I called Senator Blunt’s office this morning. I was perfectly polite, but the lady who answered sounded very testy after I finished speaking. She didn’t even ask for my zip code before hanging up! Keep the calls coming!

  91. 91.

    Betty Cracker

    @SenyorDave: Conway is a truly vile and evil person, a step down from a mere soulless, hired flack. Like her boss, she is a gratuitously cruel bully and bald-faced liar. I’m glad Palmieri called her out.

  92. 92.

    hovercraft

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    After my oldest had finally had enough and called me to come and get him out of that violent household, I was treated to him pointing at his shotgun at the foot of his bed and saying, “It’s loaded if you need it, Mom.” and she just nodded like it was the most normal thing in the world for a child to keep a loaded shotgun at the foot of his bed.

    My sons somehow, someway, managed to survive, but I’ve never forgotten that low grade fear that was just a part of my everyday life for so very long.

    This is just horrifying to me, as much as I hate guns, someone willing to endanger my child by leaving loaded weapons lying around might cause me to pick one up and use it on them. WTF is wrong with these people.
    I guess I should just stop trying to understand or reason with these people, or they are going to drive me to drink. At this point I need to just accept that they are insane, and we live in a country full of them, and the best thing to do is to avoid situations that bring me into contact with them.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    Who Should Head the DNC?
    by Martin Longman
    December 1, 2016 3:07 PM

    I don’t have strong opinions on who should head the Democratic National Committee. From what I’ve seen of him, I like Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. I believe I even did some work with his staff when I was consulting for Democracy for America. The opposition file dump on him just came out, and it’s substantial. I don’t know if the party wants that kind of headache, but I think it really comes down to whether Ellison would be good at the job.

    On that score, my concern is that he’s a full-time congressman, and that doesn’t leave enough time for another full-time job. He could have the greatest ideas in the world, but I’m skeptical that he’d be able to devote enough attention to heading the DNC.

    I saw that Markos Moulitsas endorsed NARAL’s Ilyse Hogue. I agreed with a lot of his reasoning, although I don’t really care all that much that she has a background in the Netroots. It’s nice, but her ideas are more important.

    Howard Dean is an interesting case because he doesn’t fit neatly into any particular camp. It’s telling that Markos, who actually worked for Dean in 2004, didn’t even devote time to making a case against him. Dean is not a clear favorite of the establishment of the party, and Chuck Schumer endorsed Ellison which tells you that he and Dean are still on the outs. This shows that the old Emanuel/Schumer war with Dean may always have been more personal than ideological, as Ellison is clearly as progressive as anyone under consideration.

    Yet, despite Dean lacking support from quarters where you might expect it, it’s widely conceded that he was an effective chairman of the DNC. He did a good job before, so why couldn’t he do a good job again?

  95. 95.

    hovercraft

    @SenyorDave:

    If there is karma she will die because she can’t pay for an operation due to her Medicare vouchers not covering it.

    Unfortunately she makes a great deal of money as a ‘consultant’ and pollster, not just for the gop, but also for corporations, plus her husband is an attorney in the NY metro area so I doubt he’s hurting for money. She will die in the comfort of her suburban home, smug with the knowledge that her family and her have got theirs, and the rest of us can just STFU. That’s assuming the shithead she just helped elect doesn’t blow us all up.
    Palmieri and the rest have nothing to be ashamed of, they ran a good campaign, not a perfect one, there were some mistakes, but they did not dishonor themselves. Like Hillary they will be blamed for not anticipating the depth of the medias corruption and complicity in bring our country to where we are today, but even against the tidal wave of negativity the was thrown at her, she still carried the popular vote and almost won. They should all be proud.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: My top priority for the DNC leader is that he or she doesn’t buy into the appallingly popular view that our strategy going forward has to be downplaying “identity politics” and focusing on the WWC. That is tantamount to embracing white identity politics instead of inclusion, IMO, and anyone espousing that strategy is my political enemy.

    Ellison was a Bernie guy, but from what I’ve seen and read, he does not buy into the steaming load of horseshit described above, so he clears my first hurdle. I agree with Booman about the full-time job aspect of DNC leadership. The statements Ellison has made that the ADL finds “disqualifying” seem like a nothingburger to me, but maybe I’ve missed something. TBH, I haven’t paid that much attention.

  97. 97.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    7 meeeleeyon dollars (pinky to side of my mouth) for 800 jobs?

    We’ll get the best deals. Believe me. We’ll do so much winning you’ll be sick of winning. Believe me.

    I’m already sick of winning. SMDH

  99. 99.

    gvg

    @rikyrah:

    Yet, despite Dean lacking support from quarters where you might expect it, it’s widely conceded that he was an effective chairman of the DNC. He did a good job before, so why couldn’t he do a good job again?

    Actually it’s been awhile, but some other posters have explained that Dean actually wasn’t that good in practice. I think Kay was one, but I don’t recall. Anyway, they said he wasn’t that organized or effective and didn’t help the local efforts. Apparently he came up with a good sound byte that resonated with a lot of us and all of us thought we knew what he meant and it was good, but he wasn’t actually effective at carrying through. AFTER he was out, Obama and some others did something like we thought was needed and got good results. Dean tended to be credited with those results. We were also helped by a bunch of corruption scandals among GOP just before 2006, plus disgust over Katrina and Iraq so it wasn’t just the 50 state stratagy. I do recall how big a deal it was when Obama visited some states that apparently candidates hadn’t visited in decades. It struck me that people really appreciated that.
    Its still mostly on the actual local and state parties to do their own work and the democrats have a lot of lame locals.

  101. 101.

    gogol's wife

    @satby:

    Yeah, I’ve been doing that too.

    But my despair over the insanity of this is very deep. It feels as if the USA is over.

  102. 102.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Betty Cracker: The Republicans (I am stating this based on the words they have written here and there on the innertubes, not imaginary Republicans) are salivating for the Dems to make a liberal black Muslim who has a history with problematic black Muslim figures their figurehead.

    I like Ellison well enough. I read the ADL’s statement twice today and I think I get what their concern is (there are correct ways to point out that our middle eastern policy is slanted towards Israel, and wondering why a country largely populated by this particular ethnic group just happens to hold a particular level of mysterious influence is not one of them).

    @gvg:

    AFTER he was out, Obama and some others did something like we thought was needed and got good results.

    So, like, 2010?

  103. 103.

    Glidwrith

    I called Congressman Lamont (R-Texass) who is the head of the Science Committe (202-225-4236) about their tweet linking to Breitfart conspiracy for global warming. I can’t reproduce it in full but basically told them it is bad enough the Angry Orange Clown from Outer Space is going to be our president, but did they have to show how gobsmackingly stupid Americans are?

    Also included a bit of a rant on the billionaires looting the Treasury when they collapse the tax brackets and the ridiculous touting of 800 jobs saved when we generated 180,000 jobs in November alone.

    End of rant/off to work

  104. 104.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @gogol’s wife:

    It feels as if the USA is over.

    It feels like it, because it is. Every empire falls. There was nothing exceptional about us, so we couldn’t keep the Republic. No liberal democracy can survive the numbers of uninformed, misinformed, willfully ignorant citizens that we have – and I blame the corporate media the most. Not enough people understand civics and the way things work, and they’re too distracted to care by design.

  105. 105.

    Major Major Major Major

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    No liberal democracy can survive the numbers of uninformed, misinformed, willfully ignorant citizens that we have

    We have, with one notable exception, for almost 250 years.

    I blame the corporate media the most. Not enough people understand civics and the way things work, and they’re too distracted to care by design.

    …and the corporate media, such as it is, wasn’t around for most of that.

  106. 106.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    It was a nice run, but this situation doesn’t have a happy ending . I’ve read too many dystopian novels to not see where we’re going. If I were an evil mastermind out to destroy America, this is exactly how I’d do it, so that the plutocrats end up with everything worth having, just for themselves.

  107. 107.

    Elizabelle

    @bemused:

    Most [Trump supporters] said their family and friends not Trump voters aren’t talking to them anymore but they should give him a chance and they will see what great things he will do.

    That made me laugh.

  108. 108.

    hovercraft

    @Betty Cracker:

    My top priority for the DNC leader is that he or she doesn’t buy into the appallingly popular view that our strategy going forward has to be downplaying “identity politics” and focusing on the WWC. That is tantamount to embracing white identity politics instead of inclusion, IMO, and anyone espousing that strategy is my political enemy.

    I found this suggestion from kos to be intriguing, she seems to be fighting for todays democratic priorities.

    Amidst several great candidates, I’m backing Ilyse Hogue for DNC Chair

    On one side we have Rep. Keith Ellison, who is a personal hero of mine, and would be a great spokesperson for the party. I have nothing bad to say about him, other than the fact that he’d be another part-time chair when the party deserves full-time attention. Ellison already has a great perch at the top of the House Progressive Caucus, and the person who whips that caucus up into a national fighting force in the mold of the Republican Study Group will be a national hero. Ellison can do that. And really, I’ll be perfectly happy if he wins the DNC chairmanship. He’d be great.

    But I’m casting my lot with NARAL President Ilyse Hogue.

    There are policy reasons. Her agenda delivers a great deal on what I’d love to see happen—from forging ahead with our national-majority broad-based coalition, to focusing on combating our rigged system, to reforming the primary calendar, to refocusing on rebuilding the state parties.

    But there’s another, more fundamental reason: Ilyse hails from the netroots, having spent years at MoveOn and Media Matters, as well as Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network. She has been a staunch defender of women’s rights at NARAL in the face of vicious right-wing vitriol, the worst possible kind. She has spent all her time in activism outside the party apparatus, frustrated as we are at its failings, but realistic about its possibilities. In other words, not only would she be a full-time chair, but she’d come to the job from the same place most of us reading this today would.

    Check out her platform. I’ll be happy to share Ellison’s platform when he releases his as well, as I hope all the candidates adopt this agenda (so we, as Democrats, all win, no matter who wins the chairmanship).

    ETA: here is a lnk to her statement of what the NC should focus on going forward. https://medium.com/@Ilysehogue/moving-forward-ideas-for-the-dnc-d0cbf490a9fb#.9kg69p3wt

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    I think the DNC head should be a non-elected official. Period.

    And we have plenty of them. Put them to use.

    Keith Ellison seems like a wonderful congressperson, but he’s got lots on his plate already. We’ve been that route.

  110. 110.

    misterpuff

    @MomSense: The majority of those saved jobs were management and engineering white collar jobs.
    The working class jobs are going bye-bye.
    Thanks, Trumpy.

    When will his (supposed) core voter figure that out?

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    @hovercraft: Sounds interesting. To be honest, I sometimes find it hard to give a crap who gets the DNC job because I wonder if it will even matter, given our slide toward an autocratic kleptocracy. But one has to try to fight back, so I guess it still matters.

  113. 113.

    SenyorDave

    @misterpuff: When will his (supposed) core voter figure that out?

    Anybody who voted for a guy who lives in multimillion dollar penthouse that contains a literal gold throne, and thinks he cares about the little people really has very little chance of ever figuring anything out.

  114. 114.

    hovercraft

    @misterpuff:

    When will his (supposed) core voter figure that out?

    I agree with @MomSense: , they will never figure it out, because nothing is ever their fault. All the bad things under Reagan were Carters fault, everything bad under Bush including them ignoring warnings about al Queda pre 9/11 were Clintons fault. Everything that befalls America over the next four years will be Obama’s fault, republicans in general and the shitgibbon in particular are never responsible for anything bad that happens, only the good. Which is why even though they’ve done nothing but sabotage the country for the last 8 years, they are responsible for all the positive things currently happening to the economy.

  117. 117.

    hovercraft

    @HRA:

    Keith Ellison is change. Ilysa Hogue IMHO is not change.

    Please elaborate, I’m not being snarky, I would just like to know your reasoning. I have nothing against Ellison except that he would be another part time DNC chair.

  123. 123.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Major Major Major Major: The states run the elections, and the DOJ and courts are supposed to make sure they’re satisfying basic civil-rights protections. During the W. Bush years this of course flipped completely upside down and the DOJ’s civil-rights division instead was pushed to go after bogus voter-fraud allegations, and undoubtedly that is going to happen again.

    Elections in Massachusetts or California are not going to become fake. But Trump is sufficiently extreme that I could see Southern states near the brink daring to go much further, and establishing the kind of Jim Crow-era rules that essentially kept African-Americans from voting entirely. The existence of an actual specific constitutional amendment banning poll taxes certainly helps, but I could see something like the “literacy tests” coming back–there are an unfortunate number of liberals who would even think they might be a good idea (if they’re not paying close attention). Staving off Idiocracy, and all that.

  124. 124.

    hovercraft

    Ilyse HogueFollow
    President of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Proud Texan. Pastimes include #sharkweek & hound dogs. Love new ideas, so bring ’em.
    ——————————————————————————–

    Moving Forward: Ideas for the DNC
    In conversations with family, friends, colleagues, fellow activists, and DNC members, a number of people have suggested I run for Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Having devoted my career to a wide range of progressive causes, from economic inequality to environmental justice to campaign finance reform to corporate accountability to my current position advocating for women’s rights, I know that the pathway to our vision of justice and equality is going to have setbacks. And even though this feels less like a setback and more like a freefall down a dark hole, experience has taught us that there’s only one way forward — to organize, organize, and organize the large majority of Americans who share our values.

    We know how to do this. This year in Nevada and North Carolina, social movements and Party members came together, and won. In Nevada, where my organization, NARAL Pro-Choice America, collaborated with the presidential, Senate, House, and state legislative campaigns, we won the whole ticket, top to bottom, even taking back both chambers in the state legislature. In North Carolina, a prophetic, multi-year fight by community and Party leaders defeated the Governor infamous for suppressing voting rights, attacking women’s rights, and demeaning trans people……

    I believe the DNC has an important role to play in regrouping after 2016, one that fully embraces the Wellstone triad approach to change: public policy that reflects peoples’ needs, grassroots organizing that honors peoples’ lived experience, and an electoral strategy that brings both to bear to ensure victory. The DNC should not just be a force every two years at election time, but it should also be a daily presence in peoples’ lives, relevant in policy discussions and responsive to the ideas and concerns of people where they live. And everyone needs to know that Democrats fight for people, not for big corporate interests……

    ….here are ten first ideas to shape the way we build our Party for the sustained fights ahead:

    1. UNITY THROUGH RESISTANCE:
    2. GO LOCAL: …..The DNC’s office in Washington can leverage organizing energy from around the country on policy fights of the day. And it should prioritize boosting the role of State Parties so the national reflects what is happening in the states, not the other way around.
    3. STAY TRUE TO OUR IDENTITY: We recognize that the world is complicated, and we know it’s worth fighting for dignity and a fair shake for everybody. We know that race, gender, geography, education, and age all affect our economic prospects, and we can engage in authentic conversation that acknowledges that reality and is inclusive of tailored, community-based solutions. Fighting Wall Street greed and protecting women’s fundamental rights aren’t at odds, they’re intertwined. Recognizing these intersections will be critical to build momentum from the outset for the hard policy fights and for electoral accountability come mid-terms. Diversity is our strength and must be our aspiration and our future.
    4. FOCUS ON THE RIGGED SYSTEM:
    · Fight voter suppression
    · Reform the Electoral College
    · Stop gerrymandering
    · Eliminate Super Delegates
    5. BUILD THE BENCH
    7. INVEST IN FUNDAMENTALS:
    8. PRIMARIES SHOULD REFLECT AMERICA:
    9. GET FUNDED FROM THE GROUND UP:
    10. LEAD WITH VALUES AND EMPATHY:

    We have no time to waste. Through their appointments, statements, and associations, the Trump Administration has already proven our worst fears about their racist, corrupt, chaotic, and damaging agenda to be true, even before they arrive at the White House. They will seek to divide people against each other attacking our sisters and brothers across America. We know there will be dire times, when checking out of the political process will feel tempting and reasonable.

    But we should not forget one basic fact: Democrats won the popular vote by a wider margin than any campaign in history whose candidate did not become president. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton received more votes for president than anyone who has ever run for the office, other than Barack Obama, and the math says Donald Trump is the biggest loser ever to walk into the White House. We have to remain grounded in the knowledge that we represent the majority of this country, and we cannot abandon the core values this Party holds.

    I believe there is no shortcut to the hard work of organizing. But I also know when we organize as Democrats, we will fight the injustices together and build for the future of a Party from the ground up.

    This seems to be a pretty accurate list of the things I want the party too stand for.

  126. 126.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Matt McIrvin: I agree, and this is something to be vigilant of and perhaps start pushing back against right this second especially with Kobach coming in.

    I was responding to Betty suggesting Putin-style elections, which of course is a completely different animal.

  128. 128.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I don’t know what “a single message out of the many” even means, so maybe it is shorthand for “lady parts”. If I’ve learned one thing about Dems, is that there is never any single message out of the many – talking points are a Republican thing, usually provided by Frank Luntz.

  131. 131.

    Betty Cracker

    @Major Major Major Major: Well, I guess that depends on what you mean by “fake.” We’ve got a vindictive narcissist who is about to assume the levers of power. If you put it past him and his minions to use all means at their disposal to smear and disenfranchise opponents and manipulate legit and illegitimate media outlets to sell lies as the truth, I’ll just refer you to the results of the recent election, which were accomplished without Trump having the enormous powers that are invested in the presidency.

    Sometimes I think our only hope is that he’ll get bored and wander off to ogle and grope beauty pageant contestants again, because there won’t be much check on his power otherwise. But even in that scenario, we’re screwed, because there will be a line of malevolent assholes standing by to keep up his work.

  135. 135.

    HRA

    @Major Major Major Major:

    No I was not trying to get “lady parts” across. I am a lady! I believe in lady issues.

    I mean change first and foremost. I like experience shown in Keith Ellison’s resume that I read in Wikipedia.

    I decided to check out the closest Democrat Committee Party to my area moments ago. They have a FB page with the last entry in 2014. They take NYS for granted while the Rs make headway in the vicinity. Remember seeing Chris Collins speaking for the one I shall not name DT?
    PS There was nothing either sent out, anyone canvassing or a phone call for this election.

    I will have to catch up later here after running some errands.

  136. 136.

    hovercraft

    For all the people who constantly rag on the Garden State (myself included), here is some much needed pushback.

    * Every year a group called 24/7 Wall Street ranks the 50 states in terms of “the best to live in.” Here are the top and bottom five. Tell me if you see a pattern.

    Top Five:

    1. Massachusetts
    2. Connecticut
    3. New Hampshire
    4. Minnesota
    5. New Jersey

    Bottom Five:

    45. Alabama
    47. Arkansas
    48. Louisiana
    49. West Virginia
    50. Mississippi

  137. 137.

    Betty Cracker

    @Major Major Major Major: The recent election, you mean? Yeah. But my point is, once Trump assumes the enormous power of the US presidency, what’s to stop him from adopting truly Putin-like tactics to hang onto power and/or pass it along to hand-picked successors, such as buying off or persecuting opponents, rewarding cronies to preserve loyalty, etc.? It’s already starting!

  139. 139.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Betty Cracker: I just don’t see it happening. It’s going to be very very bad, but it’s not going to be that bad.

    @HRA: OK! Sorry. I just assume the worst right now from commenters I don’t recognize who say things like that.

    I still don’t get the single-issue comment though.

  140. 140.

    hovercraft

    @Betty Cracker:

    what’s to stop him from adopting truly Putin-like tactics to hang onto power and/or pass it along to hand-picked successors,

    Bite your tongue, Uday and Qusay are both already of age, and Lucretia will be by the time it completes it’s first term. Unlike it’s mentor Putin who keeps his daughters far away from public scrutiny while still shoveling money their way, the shitgibbon will want to establish a dynasty, with lesser beings such as the Bush’s and the Adams having two presidents, it could have back to back to back to back, and who knows maybe by then little Baron will be ready to assume his place too.
    Shoot me now.

  141. 141.

    jenn

    @AMinNC: That’s great! I’ve been doing something more informal, but I like your idea of how to spread around some facts and an easy way to act.

  142. 142.

    jenn

    @hovercraft: What does “primaries should reflect America” mean? Given the focus on superdelegates, as well, I’m a little concerned. I don’t want open primaries, and I’m not particularly fond of caucuses. If that means that we want to make sure that we are represented by more than just old white guys, then obviously, I’m for that.

  143. 143.

    jenn

    As for what I’ve been doing:

    1. calling Reps and Senators at the Federal level.
    2. writing letters to some folks who got some racist hate mail
    3. wrote a thank you letter to a journalist who wrote a brilliant article

    One of the things on my to-do list is to figure out what’s going on locally. I really don’t know what’s going on and when in my local/county/state, and I need to do that.

    Happy day, everyone!

  144. 144.

    hovercraft

    @jenn:

    What does “primaries should reflect America” mean?

    It’s about Iowa and New Hampshire always getting to go first, not about open primaries. She wants more diversity in the first contests. And she did add a bit at the end about how un-democratic caucuses are.

  145. 145.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @AMinNC: I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Seriously I’d be interested in checking it out if there’s a way we can connect. A big challenge for me (and I’m sure many others) is figuring out where to put my energy and avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed because there are SO MANY battles to fight.

  146. 146.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Major Major Major Major: Also, though, how fake are Putin’s elections really? My impression was that his usual method wasn’t to rig the vote or anything, but to just eliminate any inconvenient opposition, through either character assassination, arrest on bogus charges or literal assassination. We’ve seen the first already. The rest could certainly happen in Trumpworld.

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