Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

This really is a full service blog.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

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

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

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

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

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Open Thread: The Weight of History

Open Thread: The Weight of History

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While we’re on the topic of ugly history… CAN’T SAY YOU WEREN’T WARNED, REPUBS…

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164Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    It was done to boost morale, especially on the west coast, not deal with a legitimate risk.

    It was also done to steal as much stuff from the Japanese Americans as possible. Greed was a vital part of the whole equation.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    My house Rep was born in the Poston, AZ internment camp. All of my childhood Japanese friends’ parents had lived in the camps, only this was never discussed (I think mostly to not call attention to their country’s shame). The fabric of the internments was woven throughout society.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Yesterday Cory Gardner, R Sen of Colorado, whined that out-of-state paid activists were filling up his voicemail box. Now, we have Dave Brat, the guy who took out Eric Cantor

    Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th, is feeling some political pressure as Republicans in Congress move to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
    “Since Obamacare and these issues have come up, the women are in my grill no matter where I go,” Brat told an audience Saturday at a meeting of conservative groups at Hanover Tavern.
    “They come up — ‘When is your next town hall?’ And believe me, it’s not to give positive input.”
    Brat, R-7th, asked the GOP-friendly audience to get organized.
    “Help us write newspaper articles. We’re getting hammered,” he said.
    …
    “We need activists coming out on everything,” he said.
    In a phone interview Monday, Brat said he thinks many of the people protesting the Trump administration are paid activists from outside their area of protest.
    “I had one woman on my Facebook say she was going to get up in my grill,” he said. “There’s paid protesters … paid activists on the far left, not my Democratic friends I go to church with.
    “They’re being paid to go around and raise havoc.    ”

    ETA: My point, and I did have one, is that the protests and phone calls and contacts are working. They’re nervous about getting their fingerprints on health care. They don’t want to be known as the party of Trump. We haven’t won yet, but we’re in the fight.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    First dem question for SCOTUS pick should be whether #Korematsu is still good law.

    IIRC, it is and should be good law in that the case establishes that discrimination on the basis of national origin is subject to the highest level of judicial scrutiny. The court simply bothched the application of that test in that case.

  10. 10.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @? Martin: This is very likely in “Too soon!” territory, but I heard a half-joking suggestion that Hillary Clinton should be cast to play General Organa in the ninth Star Wars film if they decide not to write the character out. She actually does look more than a bit like Carrie Fisher, and she is the perfect sort of person to lead a rebellion against an evil empire.

    The future of Doctor Who certainly is a potential major crisis, though.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Man, I wish I were being paid for my activism.

  18. 18.

    Peale

    @p.a.: Glenn Greenwald will leak her plans and note that she’s the real war monger…not that guy who continues to build Death Stars.

  19. 19.

    geg6

    @? Martin:

    Oh lord, no. Not even Barack and/or Michelle could get me to watch that show. Now, PBO doing a cameo in the next Star Trek movie as a Vulcan? That’s must see!

  22. 22.

    Major Major Major Major

    Getting real sick of libertarians. Today’s marching orders seem to be “hurr hurr obama banned refugees too.”

    @geg6: wow, you have a surprisingly strong negative opinion of it for a foreign children’s fantasy programme.

  24. 24.

    Renie

    I haven’t gotten any checks from Soros yet and my Obamaphone broke.

    My idiot rep, Peter King (NY2CD) never even has town halls. Local paper had article where he claims Guiliani was mistaken in saying King had anything to do with the EO. But he does support it.

  25. 25.

    Ian G.

    @Brachiator:

    And every good liberal I know, who praises FDR for his actions during the depression and much of WWII, knows this is one of the darkest moments in living memory in American history.

    10, 20, 50 years from now, if there are any groupies for Cheez Whiz Ceausescu left, do you think any of them would dare suggest he did anything wrong while in office? Hah!

  28. 28.

    amk

    @? Martin:

    “We’re here,” Basiago claims the young president-to-be said to him.

    And the supposed reason for the secret teen task force’s Red Planet expedition? To “acclimate Martian humanoids and animals to their presence,” according to Basiago.

    so, the hot heads still needed the cool headed kenyan to play the good cop?

  32. 32.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @dmsilev:

    They inevitably fancy themselves smarter than everyone else. They would never be fooled by Carter, Reagan, Bush the Elder, Clinton, and so forth. Smug, self-righteous knuckleheads libertarians are.

  33. 33.

    Renie

    anyone watch press conferences? is it true spicer puts up print outs of tweets trump doesn’t like

  42. 42.

    MomSense

    And Yates was fired. The statement I just read is I don’t even know what it is. Our institutions are just crumbling. We have to stay on these assholes. We have to be in the streets and in the phones and in our congressional offices every day.

  43. 43.

    Percysowner

    @PsiFighter37:

    Yates just got canned. Not surprising.

    Shades of the Saturday Night Massacre. We’ll see if the rest of the employees of the Justice Department will stand up to Trump.

  44. 44.

    Yoda Dog

    @Baud: Well I am being paid handsomely but Im just a robot in Siberia, so no biggs…

    Приветствуйте, товарищи ваш новый ад!

  47. 47.

    geg6

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I find it quite literally one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen and do not understand why people I normally find to be intelligent and of good taste are so obsessed with it. I feel the same way about Game of Thrones, except it’s not quite as stupid. And my grandparents were British. Don’t blame it on it’s being British and me not getting it. I understand quite well the odd sensibilities of my ancestors. It’s Benny Hill bad. Even my grandfather thought Benny Hill was unfunny in the extreme. That’s how I feel about the Doctor. Dumb show with which smart people, for some reason I can’t fathom, are obsessed. YMMV.

  48. 48.

    Mary G

    @geg6: Oh thank FSM; I don’t have the Dr. Who gene either. Almost everyone I know and love loves it, but I can’t watch more than a few minutes without something twitching.

  56. 56.

    PsiFighter37

    Dana Boente, Eastern District of VA Attorney General, is current acting AG. He was appointed by Obama to his current position in late 2015…wonder if he will have the balls to do the same thing.

    If Trump has to keep firing acting AGs until Sessions gets confirmed, it should signal that there is something very, very wrong with the current state of affairs.

  58. 58.

    Lizzy L

    Sally Yates has been relieved of her duties. The new Acting A. G. is Dana Boente, currently U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of VA.

    Shit gonna get interesting now. Boente is also an Obama pick.

  65. 65.

    ? Martin

    Well, took Nixon two terms to abuse power, Trump got there in two weeks. No non-partisan explanation given, Trump says she ‘betrayed the DOJ’.

    Eventually Republican members of Congress will no longer be able to suck up to this kind of behavior.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @Ian G.:

    And every good liberal I know, who praises FDR for his actions during the depression and much of WWII, knows this is one of the darkest moments in living memory in American history.

    Too many good liberals at the time said nothing, did nothing.

    We will see what good liberals do in the dark days ahead.

  74. 74.

    raven

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    President Obama nominated Yates to be U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia. She was confirmed by the Senate on March 10, 2010.[4] During her time as a U.S. Attorney, Yates was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as Vice Chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.[7]

    UGA Law School!

  77. 77.

    PsiFighter37

    @hilts: Yes, see the same thing on the Twitters. Guess a man doesn’t have enough balls to do what a woman did…stand up to Trump.

  79. 79.

    hilts

    @? Martin:

    Trump went from Zero to Batshit Crazy on the day he announced his candidacy yet still won, which only proves that this is one dumb fucking country.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    @? Martin:

    Eventually Republican members of Congress will no longer be able to suck up to this kind of behavior.

    You really are an optimist.

    Republicans who felt that Nixon should have been protected will now be able to provide cover for their Dear Leader Trump.

  83. 83.

    patroclus

    Wow – a Monday Night Massacre! So Boente is the new Bork. This raises real questions about Sessions and his Heydrich-like history. If the Republican Reichstag rolls over for this, they’ll be hell to pay.

  84. 84.

    hilts

    @PsiFighter37:

    Guess a man doesn’t have enough balls to do what a woman did…

    On Election Day, millions of Americans lacked the balls or the brains (or both) to do the right thing and now we’re stuck with cocksucker Trumpenstein for 4 fucking years.

  91. 91.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Zeddy ‏@ZeddRebel

    Holy shit. WH poached Hill staffers to write EO, made em sign NDAs so couldn’t tell bosses. Hilarious AND Terrifying

    13 replies 234 retweets 149 likes

  92. 92.

    PsiFighter37

    @Fernando poo: I’m a bit confused if Boente can sign them or not.

    What’s worse is that he says he will do Trump’s bidding.

    @Corner Stone: Absolutely no way that happens. No one in the GOP has a fucking spine.

  94. 94.

    ? Martin

    @Brachiator: Dave Brat: “Since Obamacare and these issues have come up, women are in my grill no matter where I go, they come up – ‘When is your next town hall?’ And believe me, it’s not to give positive input. We’re getting hammered.”

  101. 101.

    Larkspur

    Are there any Buffy folks here? Because I keep thinking there must be a “Wishverse” amulet that Giles can crush to return us to our regularly scheduled reality.

  105. 105.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    This is the problem with liberals, they promise us all these great things, FEMA camps, magic ponies, free phones and monthly checks to bother “true patriots”, and then they never deliver. If we had a True Leader like Baud, then we could all sit back and watch the checks roll in.

    Baud Will Fix It !!! 2020

  106. 106.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @(((CassandraLeo))):

    It’s actually a matinee, 12:55 pm EST curtain. If you’re going n a different time zone, check local listings. By all accounts, it is well worth seeing.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    @Lizzy L: There’s a chance, however small it may be, that the action to fire Sally Yates ahead of the Sessions confirmation hearing may energize opposition to JS as AG.
    We can hope.

  109. 109.

    Larkspur

    @Mary G: yeah, I cannot get a message through to her. I’m liking my congresscritter Jared Huffman, but maybe too soon for him.

  112. 112.

    PaulW

    more and more the Trump people try to cover up their crimes by exploiting and destroying others.

    more and more they reveal their own incompetence and hatred.

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @Mary G:
    Done with DiFi for awhile now but the water deal she championed recently was the clincher. And yet she’s considering running in ’18. [eyeroll]

    Don’t actually believe Willy Brown’s scenario about her resigning and Jerry taking the seat, but it’s amusing to consider because he’d ruckus the joint from day 1 (hopefully the prostate cancer is under control).

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    @Mary G:

    .OK, fellow Californians, she doesn’t appear to be getting the message, probably because they took the phones off the hook

    Feinstein should resign and let Brown appoint someone, someone young, or at least younger. Maybe controller John Chiang.

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Cannot edit my own comment, FYWARTWP, but I see about a squillion people thought of the Saturday Night Massacre analogy before I had time to put my pants on.

  122. 122.

    Ksmiami

    @Roger Moore: Yes. I grew up in PV and learned later that prior to WW2, a number of Japanese strawberry farmers were there. So land confiscation was definitely part and parcel of the internment result

  124. 124.

    Lizzy L

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh yeah, I remember. Elliot Richardson, stand up guy. He was a platoon leader in the Normandy invasion.

    Robert Bork, toad.

    I expect we’re going to see a lot more of this.

  127. 127.

    chris

    @chris: Cancel that appointment, got it off Twitter. She became an Asst US Attorney in Georgia in 1989.
    FYWP can’t edit previous comment.

  128. 128.

    Ksmiami

    @hilts: At least the Germans had the excuse of a really horrific economy and a very one dimensional news system. I’m to the point though where I openly confront Trump supporters for giving rise to fascism.

  131. 131.

    Mary G

    @Lizzy L: I just want to see Jerry troll the president. Actually, I have recently fallen head over heels for Rep. Ted Lieu. Young, liberal, Asian-American, ex-military, funny as hell on twitter.

  132. 132.

    Percysowner

    @efgoldman:

    Who here is old enough to remember Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre”?

    You are. I are. Raven are too.

    I’m part of the old people’s club!

  139. 139.

    hovercraft

    @Ian G.:

    if there are any groupies for Cheez Whiz Ceausescu left

    Nuh uh, they do not get to disown this, they did this, we all saw them do it, and it wasn’t just a bunch of old white dudes who did it, and will be dead soon. 53% of white women, and white voters overwhelmingly voted for this. When President Consuela Martinez is elected and she tells them that she won fair and square and they should shut the fuck up, this is our country too, I don’t want to hear shit from any of them, they have shown themselves to be irredeemably irresponsible, so they don’t get a say. They had their tea party tantrum, which was destructive enough, but this time they have gone too far, I’m one of the people who now says fuck em, I hope they get everything that they deserve, I know all this shit hurts us all, but since karma is a bitch, it’s hurting them more, because they had less to begin with. We live longer, make more, are better educated and even in this storm we will maintain our superiority. I hate them, and I hate that they made me hate them.

  142. 142.

    hilts

    @efgoldman:

    I’m old enough to remember that incident.

    Trump is much dumber and more dishonest than Nixon and John Dean believes Trump will be worse:

    “I used to have one-on-one conversations with [Nixon] where I’d see him checking his more authoritarian tendencies,” John Dean recalled. “He’d say, ‘This is something I can’t say out loud…’ or, ‘That is something the president can’t do.’” To Dean, these moments suggested a functioning sense of shame in Nixon, something he was forced to wrestle with in his quest for power. Trump, by contrast, appears to Dean unmolested by any such struggle.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/john-dean-interview/513215

  144. 144.

    patroclus

    I remember the Saturday Night Massacre like it was yesterday. Then, there was an enormous reaction to force the new AG to be independent of the President. Now, the Republicans are likely to put party over country and railroad Sessions through, despite him having been behind the unconstitutional Muslim ban EO. Wasn’t McCain’s slogan “Country First”? All it would take would be 3 patriotic Republican Senators and it could happen again.

  145. 145.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mike in NC:

    We never thought Trump/Pence would resemble Nixon/Agnew in only a matter of days, did we?

    I was sure they’d get there, but I’ll admit I figured it would take them at least a few months.

  147. 147.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:

    I’m thinking, nothing gets him hard. Not enough Viagra in the world.

    This.
    Between the small hands and his inability to get it up, he is overcompensating.

  148. 148.

    hilts

    @Mike in NC:

    Trump/Pence will be a lot worse than Nixon/Agnew. As John Dean pointed out in a quote I cited in a previous post, Nixon possessed some restraint. Trump is pure id and pure unadulterated scum.

  151. 151.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:

    I’m thinking, nothing gets him hard. Not enough Viagra in the world.

    This.
    Between the small hands and his inability to get it up, he is overcompensating.

  152. 152.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mary G:
    @trollhattan:

    This is when the jungle primary works in our favor, if we can get a good Democrat to run against her and not, say, a second run by Loretta Sanchez.

    I think my former rep Adam Schiff would be a great senator, but some folks might not like him kowtowing to Big Entertainment.

  157. 157.

    Shalimar

    Next in line for Acting Attorney General was the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virginia? I haven’t looked at an organizational chart for DoJ, but that seems odd.

  159. 159.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I remember the Saturday Night Massacre, almost like it was yesterday. Wife was city editor for an AM paper, and Saturday night was our day off, the PM Paper did Sunday morning’s paper. We were are a staff party that night, and the radio news at the top of the hour came on with a list of people Nixon had fired.

    The party broke up not long after that, even though we usually worked until 11 or so in the evening. Mrs J and I went straight to the newspaper, to the wire room, where the teletypes were typing that night’s news. There were 3 AP machines, 2 UPI, the NYTimes wire… there were more, I’m not remembering them all.

    They typed on endless sheets of paper in big boxes under the teletype machines, connected to Wire Service bureaus, the NY Times HQ, etc by dedicated telephone lines – this was 15 or 20 years before Internet Technology started. You could tell how important each story coming over the wire was by the number of Bell characters at the front of the story.

    5 bells was Second Coming, Pearl Harbor Bombed, War Declared, D-Day Invasion, President Fires Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General Soliciter General Appointed Acting AG, Fires Special Prosecutor.

    We watched 5-bell stories, rewrites, write-throughs, and because the Sunday AM paper was already published by then, no one else was there. The lights were off in the Newsrooms, you could feel the press running 3 floors down, the whole building trembled when they got it up to speed. And the bells kept ringing, just for us.

    That night is why I still have a little optimism that the Trump Regime will end quickly, cut off short, by real Americans, willing to read the simple American English of the Bill of Rights. Hope, anyway.

  160. 160.

    J R in WV

    @Jay S:

    It wasn’t a resignation, asshole, it was a firing, of a person originally hired into the Justice Department during the Bush Administration. They also fired AG Lynch, on Jan 20th. So that’s two.

    I expect the US Attorney for Eastern Virginia was quizzed about his willingness to defend the Executive Orders of President Trump before being appointed Acting Deputy AG by President Bannon, er, Trump.

    Otherwise there could have been more firings, and more similarities with Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre.

  161. 161.

    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    @Corner Stone: I just keep hearing this combo in my head:

    without law there are no property rights,
    without property rights any company is fair game,
    if any company is fair game then why oh why are they going along with this…

    I think I was thinking of the rhyme For want of a nail. Any of you all feel free to play with this.

  164. 164.

    Peale

    @liberal: it was after he got out of office that Nixon did the really bad things. Like rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the punditry.

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