Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The words do not have to be perfect.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

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

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

T R E 4 5 O N

No one could have predicted…

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Republicans in disarray!

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Resisting!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Resisting!

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Maybe it’s just me, but… the present social moment reminds me of the Anita Hill – Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. All the nice white men (and some women!) shook their heads and said Not my mother! My wife! My daughters! Nobody would dare treat my women like that!…

And then ‘their’ women told them the stories they hadn’t been able to share, because they needed that job and all the girls expected to be treated like that and what good would it have done to complain?

Or ‘their’ women just looked away, because really, what could they say?

That didn’t stop Justice Thomas’ confirmation, of course, but it did — as the expression was — change the conversation. Suddenly sexual harassment was a real problem, not just a smutty joke.

Let’s be the snowflakes that start the avalanche…

From a BJ commentor. Dogs know which people can be trusted:

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    bemused

    There was one arrest at women’s march, St Paul, MN. A man carrying a sign with bible verses said to be anti-gay threw a punch at a woman and then sprayed everyone around him with a chemical irritant. He was arrested and charge with aggravated assault.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Gonna be a long day. Been awake since one.

    He (Chris Wallace) showed side-by-side photos from Trump’s inauguration and President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 to compare crowd sizes. “Take a look at those pictures,” he said. “Which one is bigger?”

    “Listen, you’re also not saying that that picture was taken before he was even speaking,” Priebus interrupted. “I could take a picture of the Mall right now—”

    “I was there! I was there on the Mall!” Wallace said, speaking over Priebus. “I mean let me say first of all I think this is a ridiculous conversation, but there were huge areas. He said there were crowds all the way to the Washington Monument.”

    “There was,” Priebus said. “I was sitting there.”

    “Reince, there weren’t,” Wallace said.

    “Yes there was,” Priebus insisted. “I was sitting there looking.”

    Reminds me of conversations I used to have with my ex. Not even FOX news can spin this bullshit.

  3. 3.

    Shantanu Saha

    I’m beginning to suspect that the violent “protestors” in DC on Friday were either Trump supporters or paid goons doing a false flag operation.

  7. 7.

    Yoda Dog

    Morning. (raises coffee mug)

    Been up since 3am with wee-man and now he wants to sleep and I’m wide awake. Just another day at the office.

    What a great weekend. I’m not really a SNL watcher but Anziz Anzari had a great opening monologue in case anyone missed it.

  9. 9.

    raven

    Morning Joe starting with “For What It’s Worth” and nothing but Women’s March video! The entire song too!

  10. 10.

    CarolDuhart2

    And the usual suspects. But I suspect even the usual suspects were stunned at the low turnout. Nobody showed up to form crowds, which probably tamed some of the proposed actions.

  12. 12.

    Lounger

    Was just reading the Times’s “Rocky First Weekend” story — some juicy nuggets there, and it’s fascinating to speculate about who the sources were, but the editors nonetheless seemed to be at pains to normalize the insanity as much as possible. This passage was particularly irksome:

    However, Mr. Trump later adopted the more above-it-all demeanor that presidents typically take. “Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy,” he wrote on Twitter. “Even if I don’t always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.”

    I’m sure the reporters know as well as we do that one of his flacks tweeted that.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Yoda Dog: Heh, AA on GWB:

    “What the hell happened? 16 years ago I thought he was a huge dildo. Now I’m looking back at his old speeches and thinking ‘What a great leader.'”

  14. 14.

    japa21

    Well, getting ready to leave for the hospital to have some shoulder repair done. My wife and I are having a pool as to how many outrageous things Trump can do by the time I come out of anesthesia. I’ll check in here when i get back and find out.

  15. 15.

    Yoda Dog

    @raven: Halperin? We talking about the same guy? You’re making me want to turn on Schmoe and Weaka just to see for myself but I cant help but feel like Im being trolled here a little bit..

    ETA: He’ll bring the topic back to Obama being a dick somehow. No idea how but I got faith in him. Grade A pure fuckboy that he is.

  19. 19.

    japa21

    @raven: I am as stunned as Yoda Dog. Considering Joe, although he still denies it, had a major role in making Trump electable.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    @raven: fuckers. it’s almost like: well we took down our bête noir, she won’t be pres. now let’s start doing our job. to hell with the effects on the people of our choice.

  26. 26.

    Yoda Dog

    @raven: Too little, too late, Schmoe.

    When can we get rid of that asshat is what I want to know… Half my idiot friends think MSNBC is the “liberal version of fox”. FFS… they practically are fox news.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @Yoda Dog: Tell them that’s true only with their primetime programming and Joy Reid.

    Not really true. But you’ll probably never convince them MSNBC is conservative. It throws off their sense of balance.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    Is The Nation a good liberal magazine or a contrarian liberal magazine? I might have access to it and wonder of it’s worth my time.

  32. 32.

    japa21

    @Baud: Considers itself a progressive magazine. Was very pro Bernie. None the less, still probably one of the better ones out their.

  33. 33.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning!
    It is a better morning. Yesterday people who found out I had gone to one of the marches were excited and congratulatory. I think a lot more people wanted to attend but life was in the way.

    An old metric I remember about customer service was that for every actual person who contacts you to complain, assume about 9 other people just walked away, never to return. If that’s remotely accurate, those marchers mean even more people behind them, and media knows it.

  34. 34.

    Yoda Dog

    @Baud: I do tell them that but as an actual open democrat, bothsiders and purity ponies (which comprises most all of my friends) never listen to me for shit.. People, man…. People are the worst. That’s why I like to chill here with all you Russian troll bots.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @japa21: “I’ll see your rotator and bicep and raise you one labrum.” ;-)

    (just had my rotator and bicep done 4 months ago)

  37. 37.

    Immanentize

    One another topic. Patriots versu Falcons. Patriots crushed the Steelers. Likely same result in the Super Bowl?

    ETA. Just asking to see who in Atlanta is awake this Monday.

  38. 38.

    TS

    @raven: You sure wouldn’t want to be a friend of these folks. They change sides as the wind changes. No courage & no convictions.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    @Yoda Dog: I can’t be friends with people who don’t respect me. It’s why I have no friends.

    I’ve always wondered how non-Christians can be married to evangelicals who think they are going to hell.

  43. 43.

    Inmourning

    Good morning, everyone. Did I dream that Comey had announced a press conference for Jan. 21? Have seen zilch about this, so assume that was in the alternate universe where Trump gets no where near the WH.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    At a news conference last week, now-President Donald Trump said he and his daughter, Ivanka, had signed paperwork relinquishing control of all Trump-branded companies. Next to him were stacks of papers in manila envelopes — documents he said transferred “complete and total control” of his businesses to his two sons and another longtime employee.
    Sheri Dillon, the Trump attorney who presented the plan, said that Trump “has relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization.” Everything would be placed in a family trust by Jan. 20, she said.
    That hasn’t happened.

    Propublica checked records in NY, Fl and Delaware and the Trumps had not filed anything to change ownership as of 1/20.

  47. 47.

    Yoda Dog

    @Immanentize: No. Dont sleep on the dirty birds. Noone has stopped that offense all season long. Its going to be a great game but I like the Falcons to win.

  52. 52.

    Bruuuuce

    @Immanentize: What self-respecting fan would root for a team where the owner (Kraft), the head coach (Belichick), and the quarterback (Brady) are all self-professed Trump fans? Go, Falcons!

  57. 57.

    charluckles

    It was worth it. Don’t let anyone ever say differently. I come from a very conservative place, and while a lot of that fauna are pro-Trump idiots, I was completely and totally shocked at the level of both enthusiasm for the march as well as anger and vitriol directed at Trump etal, and all of it coming from some very apolitical friends. Fellas, who I had never known to talk about anything but sports and TV were white hot with enthusiasm and righteousness discussing their wives and mothers going to march. Something got sparked. I am going to the next one.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: You can’t steal that which is freely given.

    @debbie: Nah, 4 year olds have a more enduring relationship with the truth than my ex ever did.

  61. 61.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic: Putin doesn’t have fellators, but if he did they’d be the best in the world! Suck the chrome right off a trailer hitch, they would.

  63. 63.

    Yoda Dog

    Arthur Blank, Dan Quinn and Matt Ryan could all easily be wingers too. (Blank is, I know…) But I gotta root for somebody and I would bet money that Quintoris Lopez “Julio” Jones is as cool as his name and his game would suggest. Julio. What a fun word to say out loud. Julio. Go birds.

  64. 64.

    Eric S.

    @japa21: The trfiecta plus. Yikes! I how they give you the shoulder sleeve and cooler to pump to ice water on it. That thing was awesome.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    Good piece on how they distributed those pussy hats:

    And so the “pussyhat project” was born. Knitters — mostly women — started crafting handmade pink caps with cat ears, a reference to Trump’s vulgar statements about grabbing women’s genitals, which were revealed in a leaked video shortly before the election.
    What started as a project among Suh, Jayna Zweiman and other friends at the Little Knittery in Atwater Village has turned into a global movement. Knitting groups at yarn stores, cafes and coffee shops from Seattle to Martha’s Vineyard have been churning out hats, and craft stores have reported a run on pink yarn. As word spread on social media, thousands of hats — knit with skeins of thick magenta or fuchsia yarn — have been made around the world, including in Australia and Austria. They’re all being sent to collections spots around the country and a basement in Virginia ahead of the Saturday march.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    @satby:

    those marchers mean even more people behind them, and media knows it.

    Good morning all. And yes, this is why Morning Whore and others are changing their tune, at this time. They’re weathervanes, mere weathervanes.

    Satby’s right; think of all the people who could not march on that Saturday, but are there in spirit. We can keep these peaceful, powerful marches going a long time. And bring even more kids and families.

  67. 67.

    Spanky

    Speaking as a Stillers fan, I’m naturally inclined to root against the Pats. But I don’t think anyone should go looking for players’ political views to help decide whether to root for or against. The great majority of pros seem to be pretty quiet about their political views, which seems to be the smart thing to do. If you have to do some research to come up with political leanings, you’re overdoing it, IMO.

    That said, if a player or coach is an outspoken supporter of Trump, well then they’re dicks.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    Good morning everyone!

    Don’t forget to gently suggest to all Women’s March marchers that they give their MoCs a call sometime this week. For those that are especially receptive, a link to the Indivisible Guide might be helpful as well.

    Btw is there a pool going as to when the first indictments for Manafort, Page, Stone, Flynn, etc will drop? I’m thinking in about 2 more weeks…

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    @Elizabelle:
    I think that the satellite marches were also powerful. They could try and ignore if it was only DC. But, it was everywhere in this country. THAT is what made it in your face and unable to dismiss.

  74. 74.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    Yup. Don’t forget the crocheters and the stitchers. I saw women posting patterns for taking old sweaters and sewing them into hats. There were lots of handmade fleece hats marching, too. IG has been so much fun as we all post photos of our hats. We have been encouraging each other in our craftivism.
    Even though we knew it was a “thing”, I don’t think any of us realized just how big it was. And everyone is saying that Saturday was the beginning. We aren’t putting our hats away.

    Remember, we are the same people who took on the IOC and won a few years ago.

  75. 75.

    Yoda Dog

    @Spanky: Agreed but I think most evrybody outside of NE already loathes those dudes so the shitgibbon angle just makes it all the more fun to hate on ’em.. Belichick and Brady haven’t really been outspoken about it, but they haven’t really hidden their support either. Fucking pricks.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I wondered how they got so many out. There were probably a million of them. LIT-erally. The one-color visual is, IMO, a good idea. It really was a sea of pink.

    This is hysterical but it’s typical of my daughter who has this great..remove from things. She’s PRESENT at events but always a little distant, a little..off. She went to a march in Pittsburgh and someone gave her a hat. I asked her if she wore the pussy hat and she thought it was a uterus hat. She’s a medical/anatomy person and that’s what she (seriously) thought it represented. I was dying laughing.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I asked her if she wore the pussy hat and she thought it was a uterus hat.

    Now that’s just plain funny.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    I have a co-worker who passed away last year. I thought of her. Not only would she have been there on Saturday, she would have made all of us hats in the department. I imagined her taking our head measurements ???

  83. 83.

    Yoda Dog

    @JPL: They will surely try but unless they pull out a Night of Long Knives, I doubt they have the necessary allies in place to make it happen. And I doubt a purge would work today either. They didn’t have twitter in the 1930’s IIRC…

    Or maybe Im just being naive, hard to tell sometimes. Would definitely like to hear more from Adam on this topic.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah: Yes! And the unexpected crowds that turned up. And will turn up again.

    Much love to the marchers for giving us something positive to rally around. It’s been tough sledding since 11/9.

  89. 89.

    Shalimar

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Never used Sling TV, but dumped DirecTV a year ago and relatively happy with it. I am considering getting Sling Blue and Lifestyle Plus Extra, which includes every channel I used to watch for only $30 instead of the $70+ I was paying.

  93. 93.

    raven

    @Shalimar: DISH with the Hopper is awesome. The Dish Anywhere lets me watch my tube on any computer, tablet or phone. it uses Sling technology.

  94. 94.

    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    @Baud: Whaat?

    @Bruuuuce: I don’t know why, but I firmly believe that Myra Kraft would have told him to stay far far away. He’s different without her.

  97. 97.

    satby

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I used the free trial of Sling but the problems with spotty volume had me cancel before three days were up. I mainly subscribed as a way to get TCM through my Roku, but the sound on TCM was inaudible even with the volume turned to the max. No idea if that’s been corrected, but that was a deal breaker for me.

  101. 101.

    satby

    @MomSense: we’re all going to need earplugs because the whining is going up to eleventy. They already know they’re in the minority, but it got “rammed down their throats” with a side helping of pink fluff.

  104. 104.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: Now that you say that, yes, many of hats could be read a uterus with the corners representing Fallopian tubes.

    Some of the hats I saw had attachments that were very plainly ears, but the ones that were basically rectangles with floppy corners, those were more ambiguous images and could be read multiple ways — once someone like your daughter points out the alternative interpretations.

    And what is at the bottom of the uterus: a fully formed woman. Almost like Athena, giving birth to herself. We are the goddess of wisdom, personified.

    That is the power of visual metaphor, multiple interpretations that build and expand upon one another.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    Gov. Rauner’s disingenuous obstinacy and inflexibility

    Is the Tribune Editorial Board getting as tired and bored of writing editorials vilifying and demonizing House Speaker Michael Madigan as I am of reading them? In other subject areas, you have pointed out the futility and lack of effectiveness of simply demonizing opponents relentlessly. But in the case of Madigan, your constant vilification has become a pathological obsession of the editorial board. Your portrayal of the speaker/governor conflict has all the balance and finesse of describing the biblical conflict of the devil vs. the archangel Michael.

    May I point out that in the 34 years, but two, that Madigan has been speaker, Illinois has functioned and passed a budget each of those years under both Democratic and Republican governors. Madigan was able to work with George Ryan, Jim Edgar, and Jim Thompson.

    Suddenly Bruce Rauner comes along and the state grinds to a halt? Simple common sense and wisdom points to the new addition to the mix that is defective. Odd that the Tribune concludes that one of the elements in the machine that has worked for 34 years suddenly and coincidentally went “rogue” after the appearance of Rauner and is entirely to blame.

    Unfortunately, the Tribune only feeds the flames of Rauner’s disingenuous obstinacy and inflexibility. The fact is that we may have to struggle through another two years without a budget, and if we can survive, the state of Illinois will recover once we are rid of Rauner.

  110. 110.

    A Ghost To Most

    @raven: Signs of the Apocolypse!

    @raven:

    Charlie Ergen, head of Dish, is a fascist asshole. I’d stop watching TV before I paid him a dime.

    Before I knew about Dish and Ergen, I interviewed for a job there. Strangest, most leading interview ever. If I had taken the job, I would have been about 40 miles from work. I asked if we could work from home if there was a big snowstorm. They said I better leave for work early, so I wouldn’t be late. Fuck Ergen.

  111. 111.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Intriguing – trash Spencer or condone Nazi punching on Twitter using your real name, get a bunch of anonymous threats and images of Nazis – a shitton of liquid courage has to be involved.

    If I’m opposite of these animals, I must be doing something right in life.

  112. 112.

    Ohio Mom

    @MomSense: Fun! One of my favorite signs at the Cincinnati march had a drawing of a uterus and the words, “Shed Walls, Don’t Build Them.” A twofer, destigmatizing menstruation and getting a dig in at Trump.

    On another thread, someone points out that our hats are ALL made in the US, unlike Trump’s — I’ve heard that most are made in various Asian countries while a few are made here, and that the ones made here cost $10+ more.

    A nice bit of irony and it adds to the metaphor. If one of Trump’s measure of patriotism is how much you employ American workers, then we are more patriotic. We wore our patriotism on our heads. The thinking part of our bodies.

  113. 113.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: The fact that Rauner and what he’s done to Illinois hasn’t gotten the attention that Brownback and Kansas, or Walker and Wisconsin, has, is a real head scratcher for me.

  114. 114.

    Vheidi

    @BillinGlendaleCA: yes, we like it, $20 / month. we ditched hulu, still have roku & netflix. sling has bbc America, espn and food network, fun for us as we’ve never had cable.

  115. 115.

    zhena gogolia

    One great thing about the hats is that they are flattering! The lead singer in the video up top looks so damn good!

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Thank you.

    Let me know what kind of yarn you prefer, and could send some to you. For more than one hat. How expensive could postage be for such lightweight goods?

    Many thanks. And a pat for Korra.

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