Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

No one could have predicted…

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Let’s Start Our Day on a Positive Note

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    Happy February.

    Agree. Merrick Garland or go home. And stick to it.

    ETA: and make a point that Senate Republicans would not even give Garland a hearing. Point out their cowardice and obstruction. People paying attention now.

    Obama’s popularity is only going to rise in the next months, and Trump’s will continue to crater.

    Make this hurt.

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    I joined up with my neighborhood Indivisible group. Every day I am emailed talking points for calls and letters to my MoCs.

    It’s truly depressing to read in detail exactly how awful each cabinet nominee is. I am glad to be excused from learning much about this fellow whose name sounds like someone getting ready to spit out a big wad.

  4. 4.

    Big Ole Hound

    Of course…let the GOP taste their medicine for a change and while your at it do not ratify any cabinet nominees either.

  5. 5.

    Tokyokie

    Hell, Gorsuch being the spawn of the evil Anne Gorsuch is enough to disqualify him in my mind.

  6. 6.

    reality-based (the original, not the troll)

    True Dat. You don’t get to steal a Supreme Court seat. Well, obviously, they did – so it should be Justice Gorsach* in the record books till the end of time.

    Dems not bringing a knife to a gun fight anymore. Bring on the land mines.!

  7. 7.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    It takes 40 Senators to filibuster, and they should do so.
    It takes 20 Senators (or less!) to demand recorded roll-call votes on EVERYTHING
    It takes ONE Senator to withhold ‘unanimous consent’, and require votes for EVERYTHING
    Add in a bunch of “quorum calls” and “call to adjourn”, “points of order”, “points of information”,
    and McConnell’s Dishonest GOP Senate can be ground to a halt.

    Goose/Gander. Suck it, Mitch.

    The Democrat’s immediate goal should be to make McConnell stroke out before the midterms.

  8. 8.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Nice critters Cole. I deleted my response that didn’t help keep the happy theme emphasized. See, I can be cooperative.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    Gorsuch is willing to knowingly receive stolen goods (e.g., Garland’s seat), which would be enough to make me suspect he’s a man without honor even if a bog-standard Republican nominated him. But the fact that he was nominated by Trump automatically makes him garbage. Anyone who colludes with Trump in any sphere is transformed into a walking human shit via trumpsubstantiation, surrendering their dignity and other worthy qualities to become ambulatory feces. A decent person wouldn’t consent to such a process. Therefore, I already know all I need to know about Gorsuch.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    What’s this I keep hearing about the Juicitariat pining for me? I wouldn’t have thought anyone pining for me was particularly plausible.

    So anyway, with this new Trump administration the hits just keep on coming, don’t they? It’s like Donald J was deliberately trying to wreck America. His is turning out to be the train-wreck presidency every sane person in the world feared — and also what half the voters in America wanted and expected when they picked him. It’s really that last bit that, to quote Sir Mick Jagger, that has me mystified.

  15. 15.

    delk

    I got out of the hospital yesterday. How’s that for positive note? Seriously, I’d like to thank everybody for the well wishes. I was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease (figures, I’m a White Sox fan, lol).

    I am sure glad January is over!
    January 2015: Fractured back.
    January 2016: Rotator cuff surgery for two massive* tears and a hole.
    January 2017: Addison’s Disease.

    That said, it is nice to get the deductibles out of the way so early. :-)

    *Massive tears are greater than 5 cm and are usually found in men 10 years older than me.

  20. 20.

    Spanky

    Propane Jane asks a very interesting question:
    (Link to DK)

    On the morning of the historic Women’s March in protest of the inauguration of Donald Trump, I received a prescient text message from one of the most important women in my life. I call her my big sister, though we aren’t related by blood, and her wisdom and guidance in life and all things political have helped to make me who I am today. She was writing to let me know that she’d just gotten home from sending three busloads of frustrated black women to Austin to participate in Texas’s rendition of the resistance, and that the experience had raised a very pressing question in her mind. From her text:

    “This women’s march thing is hot. Propane needs to speak to the significant women’s suffrage march and our misogynistic president not participating. Millions of women are marching in Washington and all over the country and he thumbs his nose. Why do we never hear him discuss his mother, just his f***d up father?”

  24. 24.

    Schlemazel

    @Amir Khalid:
    Nice to see you back. I was worried you were pining for the fjords

    EDIT: and I see @OzarkHillbilly: got there first. nertz!

    Wdit !! – crap! EVERYBODY got there first. In my defense I have been sick. Got the flu & the shot was no protection I get. I have been miserable for 2 weeks now

  25. 25.

    martian

    I think where I land is that Gorsuch is not a good man. Because no one who has any ethics or integrity, who cares about this country and it’s democracy and history, could accept Merrick Garland’s seat. Trump should have had to ransack the courtrooms of America down to the municipals looking for someone low enough to accept his offer. To happily accept Trump’s offer is to lack the character and ethics requisite for a place on the nation’s highest court.

    Is that hyper partisan of me? I’ve genuinely been pondering whether I am and just can’t see it.

    ETA: Oh, I see Betty got there first and more eloquently while I was puzzling over my words. What Betty said.

  29. 29.

    gvg

    I actually do think we should learn about him, because 1)it will probably reflect badly on Trump and that may help us persuade someone of something down the line. 2) if he gets the seat, the sooner we know what his specific type of bad rulings will be, the better we can plan to keep the damage down.
    Supreme Court Justices have not always ended up ruling the way their Presidents planned, especially as time goes by. Trump is surrounded by opportunist people who have non identical beliefs and he is a terrible judge of character and competence although he thinks otherwise. this means this guy can have several different downsides. I doubt he will turn out to be any good to us down the line but I have wondered about Roberts. Actually all the conservatives already on the court, may dislike a lot of Trump actions. The Federal Marshals not following court orders and such, ought to upset them. It upsets me. Trump is radical.

  30. 30.

    D58826

    I continue to be amazed at the stupidity of the average GOP voter. The GOP/Faux news spin machine promises to return America to some gold age from the mythical past. Yet depending on when that time period is, most of the GOP voters would have no place in that society. You don’t have to go back very far to find a time period in which A/A Goper’s would be riding the back of the bus. Clarence Thomas would still be picking cotton an d certainly not living in an upscale Va., suburb with his white wife. Go back a few more years and KellyAnne Conway would be at home barefoot, pregnant and with very few rights outside of her husband’s name. A few more years in the gold past and she could not vote. She would not be polluting the air waves on a daily basis. There would be no Scalia model SCOTUS justice since Italian/Catholic Nino would never have made it into an elite Ivy League law school let alone to the Supreme Court. It hasn’t been that many years since Italian immigrants were viewed with the same degree of suspicion and hate that Muslim immigrants face today. All of the Jewish GOPers would have been met with a ‘no Jews allowed’ sign as we returned Jewish refugees to the tender mercies of Hitler’s death camps.

    This new nominee believes the Court should decide cases based on the original intent of the signers. ‘Original intent’ is simply bigotry dressed up in a tux. The original intent of the founders was a government run by white, male, anglo-saxon, overwhelmingly protestant, property owners. While today’s 1% is a bit more diverse, the founding fathers would have been quite at home in that group.

    And if the political process hasn’t been sufficiently out of control – Jerry Falwell jr. has been named to heard a commission on higher education reform.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    @Amir Khalid: Welcome back! Don’t be a stranger.

    Trump is a disaster. We have to fight him and his minions (not the DLC, not HRC, not the DNC, not Wilmer) every single day.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @Schlemazel: There have been various things going around, and some linger. I hope you’re fully recovered soon. Keep up the fight!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    D58826

    ok, now this is really really REALLY REALLY important

    U.S. Bacon Reserves Hit 50-Year Low.Pig farmers are struggling to keep up with the vast U.S. appetite for bacon, causing reserves to hit the lowest level in 50 years and sending prices flying upward. “Today’s pig farmers are setting historic records by producing more pigs than ever,” said Rich Deaton, president of the Ohio Pork Council. “Yet our reserves are still depleting.” Deaton reported Tuesday that demand for frozen pork belly is outpacing farmers’ ability to produce and sell. But, he added: “While bacon may become more expensive for consumers, rest assured the pork industry will not run out of supply.”

    time to declare a state of national emergency.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/02/01/u-s-bacon-reserves-hit-50-year-low.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl

  36. 36.

    gvg

    @Betty Cracker: I am not willing to go that far. Someone will fill that seat eventually and it’s the GOP congress of last year who are the people to blame.
    It doesn’t sound like the case here but I have honestly thought some people would end up taking the positions just to keep Trump from picking someone worse sooner. They’ll eventually get fired and their reputations will be trashed but I was actually hoping for a few. more likely in lower profile positions.
    The 25th Amendment needs a cabinet to trigger removal I think. I also think it didn’t envision a batshit crazy President from the start, it was meant for someone who started OK and lost marbles. Its been stunning that so many people don’t recognize and value competence, how we fix that I don’t know. I am guessing that America’s relatively long stretch of pretty good times is part of it.

  39. 39.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Amir Khalid: Amir! OK, this is now a good day no matter what I might be dealing with.

    fuckinguversecustomerservicemuttermutter

  44. 44.

    Tokyokie

    @lamh36: Well, what would you expect? Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch were both immigrants, and their company is now owned by a Belgian multinational conglomerate.

  46. 46.

    D58826

    @Quinerly: Well we can look on the bright side. Going forward his ‘original intent’ jurisprudence would keep women out of government jobs. Didn’t Jefferson say something to the effect that he would rather see a black man in government then a woman?

  47. 47.

    ant

    Dems filibuster him until McConnell blows up the filibuster.

    Does he have to wait two years, and keep majority in order to do so?

    I don’t under stand why he didn’t eliminate the filibuster already. And not just for SC justices, but for everything.

  48. 48.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    A friend of mine was remarking on this about an hour ago. I was bitching about him, his record and his 1988 yearbooknslobber over Kissinger (and about his piece of shit, should have been indicted mother).

    She feels like this is the poisoned pill we get to fight about before the nom is withdrawn. The following is going to be even more odious, and McConnell will choose that moment to go nuclear.

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @delk:

    Wow, that’s quite the litany of awful Januaries. Hope this third time breaks the evil spell. Glad you’re out of hospital with your sense of humour intact.

  57. 57.

    Tokyokie

    @Amir Khalid: Amir, Glad to see you’re still with us. Even after a crushing loss by our Anfield lads. But then, I probably jinxed them by acquiring that retro LFC jersey a few weeks back.

  58. 58.

    JMG

    @ant: The filibuster protects the majority as well as the minority. It allows majority Senators who are afraid legislation popular with their base but more broadly unpopular to vote for it knowing it’ll fail and they won’t have to deal with its consequences. It’s a cop out device, and all pols love those.

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    Nice pics, Cole.

    Steve, of course, scares me. He’s plotting. Don’t know how you don’t sleep with one eye open everynight.

    I don’t even need to know the guy’s name.
    HE.SHOULD.NOT.GET.A.VOTE.
    PERIOD.

  61. 61.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Tokyokie: funny, I was considering posting live posts for Amir’s favorite team matches in hopes of drawing him back, Amir-bait, as it were.

  63. 63.

    Tokyokie

    @delk: Well, on the bright side, now you know what ails you, and Addison’s is fairly easy to control with medications. Beats learning you have a progressive degenerative disease of some sort.

  64. 64.

    A Ghost to Most

    Making T. coli and especially Yertle eat this nomination would bring so much energy to the resistance. Strong knees, Senators.

  65. 65.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    It was either pining for you, or for the the fjords.

    Since I don’t have any beautiful plumage, I went with you.

    Really glad to see you’re back!

    ETA: And I know you came back just for the Super Bowl.

  66. 66.

    artem1s

    It takes 40 Senators to filibuster, and they should do so.
    It takes 20 Senators (or less!) to demand recorded roll-call votes on EVERYTHING
    It takes ONE Senator to withhold ‘unanimous consent’, and require votes for EVERYTHING
    Add in a bunch of “quorum calls” and “call to adjourn”, “points of order”, “points of information”,
    and McConnell’s Dishonest GOP Senate can be ground to a halt.

    this. Hopefully the Dems will learn to tag team this shit. It’s going to take constant vigilance to keep up this obstruction. The upside being the Rs have forgotten how to do anything except obstruct and glad hand the Koch Bros long ago. If they have to be in DC all day, every day, then they can’t go home and con the WWC rubes and collect their Koch Cash. Dems will get MORE funding and support every time they grow a spine. They should be asking for money like they are running a marathon. Please donate $XXX for every hour of filibustering, for every NO vote, every time John Lewis parks his butt in the well of the Senate and leads a sit in.

  67. 67.

    Corner Stone

    All the same shit conservatives are saying about how Gorsuch “deep belief in the Constitution, deep belief in Bill of Rights” and “he’s a judicial conservative who believes in small government” and etc, is the exact same bullshit they all said about Justice Roberts when he was nominated.

  68. 68.

    ant

    My understanding is that to change the rules eliminating the filibuster can also be filibustered, unless it’s done in the beginning when the new Senate is first swarn in every two years. Mitch failed to do this this year yes?

    Is this correct?

  69. 69.

    SFAW

    @ant:

    but why keep the filibuster for scotus?

    They won’t. The only question is: what completely-bullshit excuse will that treasonous, seditious fuck (a/k/a the Turtle) use to “justify” nuking it?

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    I wish Jon Stewart would just go away. I fail to find anything he says nowadays humorous or useful.

  74. 74.

    Bupalos

    I’m open to an argument that a knee-jerk tit-for-tat here (that in the end is only symbolic) helps us do this, but the only “this” that matters at this point is that we have to win at the ballot box in 21 months.

    A big fight over the character and temperament of this guy to me would be a big mistake. Only if dems can get together on a one-voice stand that the seat is stolen and cannot honorably be filled at all would I want them to push it to filibuster nuking.

  76. 76.

    Tokyokie

    @Alain the site fixer: I decided to root for LFC years ago because they’re the favorite EPL side of Ireland and they wear red. But how can you not like a team whose fans sing an unsingable Rogers and Hammerstein number (it ranges from middle C to the G above the treble clef) and do so badly before every home match? (Although I’ll admit it was difficult when that bastard Tom Hicks owned the club.)

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    I wish they would stop saying Gorsuch is “replacing” Scalia on the court. That seat should have already been filled.

  87. 87.

    martian

    @Amir Khalid: From a mostly lurker, Amir, there’s definitely been an Amir-shaped space in the blog since you’ve been gone. The intense embarrassment of Trump’s election should prevent anyone from pressing you, though. After this, what person of taste wouldn’t give all Americans the side eye and wonder what really lies beneath?

    @delk: Sympathies and best wishes for an easy recovery. That’s a hell of a way to start the year but, hey, enjoy all the free healthcare to come! It’ll almost be like living in a proper first world nation.

  88. 88.

    Schlemazel

    @Another Scott:
    I am not sure if if its the sick or not but I have been concerned the last couple days because I just don’t have the energy for the fight right now. I am worried I have ‘battle fatigue’ and we are not even a month in yet. I need to call and write again but I just don’t have the energy. I’m hoping that goes away when I get better.

  90. 90.

    ant

    @amk:

    Harry Reid did it in nov 2013.

    I see.

    So Mitch can nuclear the scotus filibuster just as soon as he has 50 senate votes to do so. That shouldn’t be very hard to accomplish.

    sigh.

    Opposing Trump SC pick doesn’t change anything in the long run.

  92. 92.

    p.a.

    Since ‘positive’ this is from Albert Hunt (had not heard of him in a while, remember him as a conservative, but unsure if neo, paloe, christo, etc., but anyway):

    Here’s a simple exercise for those old enough to perform it: Think back to January, 1973. Nixon was starting his second term after a crushing re-election victory. Now ask yourself, did you predict that a peanut farmer who was governor of Georgia would occupy the White House four years later? Did you anticipate the rise of Barack Obama 12 years ago? Or, in 2013, of Donald Trump? Focus more on whether Democrats are replenishing their ranks at the state and local level.

  93. 93.

    Yarrow

    @ant:

    Opposing Trump SC pick doesn’t change anything in the long run.

    NOT opposing his SC pick definitely won’t change anything. You don’t know what opposing his pick might change.

  94. 94.

    Weaselone

    @D58826:

    U.S. Bacon Reserves Hit 50-Year Low.Pig farmers are struggling to keep up with the vast U.S. appetite for bacon, causing reserves to hit the lowest level in 50 years and sending prices flying upward. “Today’s pig farmers are setting historic records by producing more pigs than ever,” said Rich Deaton, president of the Ohio Pork Council. “Yet our reserves are still depleting.” Deaton reported Tuesday that demand for frozen pork belly is outpacing farmers’ ability to produce and sell. But, he added: “While bacon may become more expensive for consumers, rest assured the pork industry will not run out of supply.”

    This is the reason restricting Muslim immigrants is foolish. We get the skills, the labor and the manpower without further stressing our already beleaguered pork suppliers. They work, pay taxes and we get to keep all the bacon.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle:I agree with John and with all of this

    Agree. Merrick Garland or go home. And stick to it.

    ETA: and make a point that Senate Republicans would not even give Garland a hearing. Point out their cowardice and obstruction. People paying attention now.

    Obama’s popularity is only going to rise in the next months, and Trump’s will continue to crater.

    Make this hurt.

    Let your senators know, people, and let ’em know weekly until you either hear that they’ve committed to filibustering/voting “no”.

    Also, Trump is a grandstanding dick and I think he may actually blow past the 27% mark on his way down.

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    @Bupalos: Trump filed for reelection on the day he was sworn in so he could begin collecting campaign money for 2020 and has already socked away a few mil. Since the Republicans said Obama couldn’t seat a justice during a campaign, the same rule should apply to Trump. How did they put it: “Let the people decide?” Yeah, that.

  104. 104.

    Morzer

    http://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/

    I think young D over there is the only born Nazi in the room. Young D is the spoiled only son of a doting mother. He has never been crossed in his life. He spends his time at the game of seeing what he can get away with. He is constantly arrested for speeding and his mother pays the fines. He has been ruthless toward two wives and his mother pays the alimony. His life is spent in sensation-seeking and theatricality. He is utterly inconsiderate of everybody. He is very good-looking, in a vacuous, cavalier way, and inordinately vain. He would certainly fancy himself in a uniform that gave him a chance to swagger and lord it over others.

    Mrs. E would go Nazi as sure as you are born. That statement surprises you? Mrs. E seems so sweet, so clinging, so cowed. She is. She is a masochist. She is married to a man who never ceases to humiliate her, to lord it over her, to treat her with less consideration than he does his dogs. He is a prominent scientist, and Mrs. E, who married him very young, has persuaded herself that he is a genius, and that there is something of superior womanliness in her utter lack of pride, in her doglike devotion. She speaks disapprovingly of other “masculine” or insufficiently devoted wives. Her husband, however, is bored to death with her. He neglects her completely and she is looking for someone else before whom to pour her ecstatic self-abasement. She will titillate with pleased excitement to the first popular hero who proclaims the basic subordination of women.

  105. 105.

    Yarrow

    @Major Major Major Major: It’s not common for presidential candidates.

    @Betty Cracker: I agree. Since Trump wants to be a perpetual candidate, let’s use that against him when we can. It’s not proper to vote on a SC nominee during a campaign. Let the people decide. If that means we need a placeholder candidate to declare for the Dems, let someone do that too.

  106. 106.

    Bill

    I have zero confidence Senate Democrats have enough spine to actually filibuster. I’m already reading articles indicating they won’t because they’re worried about losing the filibuster for future battles.

    Fact is, if Trump/McConnell are going to nuke the filibuster, they’ll do it whoever the Democrats decide to use it. Force the Republican’s hands and make them own this.

  107. 107.

    philpm

    Apparently, the coup is on: Via an AP alert I just got on my phone, the ‘pubs on the Finance Committee just changed the rules and moved Price and Mnuchin’s confirmation to the floor without Dems present.

  109. 109.

    Major Major Major Major

    @amk: Just picking a random congressperson, Pelosi filed on 11/16/2016.

    ETA: @Yarrow: Yea but that’s not the kind of ‘not normal’ we’re on the look out for, it’s merely unusual. It’s not part of some evil master plan to muzzle dissent.

  112. 112.

    Yarrow

    @philpm: So frustrating. The Dems need a representative at every meeting, every everything. At least someone to sound the alarm.

  114. 114.

    Morzer

    @philpm:

    The Democrats must decide whether to fight with everything they have against the tyranny of a corrupt, vicious minority conservative/fascist junta, or else to die whimpering about the rules and achieving nothing. Les jeux sont faits.

  116. 116.

    Yarrow

    @amk: They look like they’re at a beach. Anyone know where they’re vacationing? I hope they are getting their well-earned rest.

  117. 117.

    amk

    @philpm: Not surprised at all. The thugs break all kindsa rules, convention and decorum and only the dems have to play nice? Hopefully dems will say Fuck that noise.

  118. 118.

    philpm

    @Yarrow: By having one Democrat show up at the committee, they would have had a quorum, which is why they were boycotting the meeting in the first place. GOP Senators changed the rules without them present, so nothing they could have done in that instance.

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

    Two unrelated thoughts to add before disappearing into work for a bit:

    1) Y’all need to follow Trump Draws on Twitter ( @TrumpDraws )…it’s good to interrupt your feed with the man-baby’s latest artwork a couple times a day

    2) This Gorsuch thing made me kinda mentally circle back to the Dems’ recent infrastructure bill/proposal…in addition to everything else we are doing and our Democratic MoCs are doing, it would be great for Dems to preempt Trumpov’s bullshit on a weekly basis by continuing to propose, y’know, actual good-government proposals and bills. Not only would it steal some of the limelight from Trumpov, it would fight the perception that the Dems are only knee-jerk opposing Trumpov, that they have no ideas of their own. And the contrast would be EXCELLENT as we continue to progress towards the 2018 elections.

    So…next time you’re on the phone to your MoC, once you weigh in on the Outrage Du Jour, be sure to let her or him know you’d like to see the Dems putting forward their usual principled, thoughtful solutions, policies, and legislation in order to pre-empt Trumpov and create a clear contrast for 2018.

  122. 122.

    Schlemazel

    @Yarrow:
    by not being there they were effectively blocking the nomination. I get what you are saying but in this case it was serving a purpose

  124. 124.

    Deborah

    @Jeffro: My senators are Blunt and McCaskill. I sent McCaskill a fax (counts as a call) about SCOTUS and called Blunt about EO. Should I call Blunt about SCOTUS? He will vote for him, of course.

  125. 125.

    Morzer

    http://www.eschatonblog.com/2017/01/rules.html

    This point has been made a thousand times, but when one side decides it’s cool to play with 15 players on the field and keeps firing refs until they find one who agrees, the other side doesn’t get any points for sticking with 11. Qualified praise about sportsmanship from the Washington Post editorial page doesn’t count as a victory.

  127. 127.

    Morzer

    @D58826:

    KellyAnne Conway would be at home barefoot, pregnant and with very few rights outside of her husband’s name. A few more years in the gold past and she could not vote.

    Alright, alright, you’ve convinced me! There’s something to this radical conservatism after all.

    Whaddaya mean, that wasn’t the plan?!

  130. 130.

    waysel

    Does anyone know of a place where a listing of Trump regime travesties, EO illegalities, threats to national securities, etc, may be found?

  132. 132.

    Morzer

    @waysel:

    I believe there’s a badly secured private server in the White House. Give it a day or two and Sean Spicer will tweet out all the information you need to slide past the security systems.

  133. 133.

    Major Major Major Major

    @waysel: somebody linked to a place the other day in the comments but now I can’t remember what it was. In short, no, and Obama didn’t do it either so while it’s still bad it’s not 100% troubling. The documents are still filed properly, they’re just not immediately available in full text online.

  134. 134.

    tobie

    Rules are for wusses. I’m afraid we’ve become a lawless state. Orrin Hatch just summarily changed the rules to get Mnuchin and Price through:

    Senate Finance Commitee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) suspended the rules to advance Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary and Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as Secretary of Health and Human Services. All Republicans were at the Finance hearing on Wednesday morning but no Democrats were present to put their opposition on the record.

    Full article at Washington Post.

    I’m scared. I’m not sure what we can do any longer…

  135. 135.

    D58826

    According to a David Frum tweet – comment made by das Fuhrer before a group of A/A –

    Trump just described Frederick Douglass as “someone who has done a terrific job that is being recognized by more and more people

    The Onion could not come up with something that stupid!

  136. 136.

    Morzer

    @tobie:

    We can fight with everything we’ve got and if we can regain power we declare any and all acts of the Trump administration to have been unconstitutional and unlawful, including the elevation of Gorsuch to the supreme court.

  137. 137.

    Yarrow

    @Major Major Major Major:

    CNN calling the GOP rule change for Price and Mnuchin “an extraordinary step”.

    I guess they can’t quite bring themselves to say, “The Republicans are flouting all rules and conventions and our system of government is being overthrown by a gang of religious zealots and nihilists who are being funded by the Russian government.”

    But still, points on the board for them.

  138. 138.

    amk

    @tobie: from a reasonably functioning democracy to a tinpot dictatorship with willing courtiers in under three weeks. hoocuddanoed.

  139. 139.

    Morzer

    @Yarrow:

    It’s noteworthy that both Price and Mnuchin have been caught lying blatantly under oath during their testimonies, such as they were. The GOP are clearly desperate to avoid any further public displays of incompetence, dishonesty and corruption. How long before they do the same thing with the fraudulent idiot DeVos?

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @lamh36:

    Damn, that could actually get me to buy a Budweiser, which is something I haven’t done (voluntarily) in, uh, decades.

  142. 142.

    dww44

    @Elizabelle: It’s going to take a lot more and worse missteps from the Trump Administration to move those around me who still believe in the “Trump has done more in 1 week than Obama did in 8 years” meme. They believe this because their knowledge is superficial, they adore leaders with authoritarian tendencies and they are STILL daily overdosing on Fox and talk radio.

    But there is humor to be found in social media world. Yesterday a FB friend, a longstanding member of the white, private school attending, upper middle class in this small city, posted that she had voted Republican for every President since Reagan, but voted for Gary Johnson last November in order to rebut being called a “liberal snowflake” by one of her conservative friends for not voting for Trump. Some of the comments were very revealing. One of her friends didn’t know what liberal snowflake meant. Then there was another FB friend posting on her own timeline to ask if she should join AARP and was immediately told (by white guy friends of a certain age) that if one was conservative one would NOT spend one’s money to join that far left organization!

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    And I saw a hilarious tweet yesterday: Donald Trump shouldn’t be allowed to nominate a Supreme Court justice in the last year of his presidency.

    That’s just subtle enough to make it all the more brilliant.

  144. 144.

    Betty Cracker

    @Morzer: They lied under oath, and both are self-dealing crooks who make it obvious that Trump’s “drain the swamp” slogan was a cynical lie. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that the Republicans upended the rules to sleaze that pair of swindling scumbuckets onto the cabinet. They own those motherfuckers 100% now, without benefit of democratic processes.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I am having trouble wrapping my head around the plain fact that Republican President Asterisk and his gang of enablers have been in power for only TWELVE FUCKING DAYS!!

    It feels a lifetime already.

  149. 149.

    Morzer

    @dww44:

    Donnie Putinobitch will either continue to do the extremely stupid things that his minority hate mob think they want (leading to disaster for all) or else do nothing and disappoint his followers (especially ISIS). Either way, I think there’s going to be an almighty backlash in 2 years time, if Trump and Bannon decide to allow elections of any sort.

  154. 154.

    Larkspur

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: I’m going to contribute to the happy theme, too. I just finished up a dog-sitting gig with a small, adorable tri-color Cavalier King Charles spaniel. He’s still pretty young, so each walk is a training session. He’s not allowed on the furniture, but he has lots of little dog beds right next to wherever anyone is sitting, and he is allowed to sleep on the bed with me. So comforting.

    Next up, at the end of the week, is a stay with one of my favorite elder dogs, a golden retriever. She loves being brushed and I love brushing her, plus the house has all the good tv and streaming stuff, and a hot tub, although the last time I tried a hot tub, there were just enough chemical components to make me sneeze and sneeze.

    In conclusion, let me recommend John Scalzi’s latest, A Fortnight of Trump. There is some positivity there.

  155. 155.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Morzer: Trump’s fans are a fucking UFO cult. Disaster or failure only makes them believe even harder that the targets of their hate are out to get them. And they’ll vote. We can’t count on them flipping, we have to get to his soft supporters if there are any and get our people to turn out.

  156. 156.

    Timurid

    People respected the filibuster because they knew that one day the wheel would turn and the other party would be back in power. But now Republicans have bet their entire fortune on this being the last turn of the wheel, the last cycle. Ever. That’s the whole point of Trump.

  160. 160.

    Morzer

    @Major Major Major Major:

    The hardcore Trumpzis just hate everyone and everything that stopped them from being mean-spirited, hateful bigots and imposed consequences for such behavior i.e. most of the human race. They won’t stop until they’ve wrecked the joint. That said, a substantial slice of Trump voters either didn’t think he meant what he said, hated HRC or simply were desperate for a better life. Those people can be won over or, at minimum, persuaded not to vote at all. We get that chunk of his vote, combined with our heavy majority in the popular vote and we can remove Trump and his rabble from the White House. If, and I think it’s a very big if, Trump and the GOP allow anything like elections to take place.

  161. 161.

    Larkspur

    @oldster: Done. My rep is Jared Huffman (D California 2d) and he’s strong on the good stuff, but I’m calling him on this and other stuff, too. Plus he always has a clerk/intern who answers the phone.

  163. 163.

    Morzer

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Sure. Either he can make the Democrats cave by threatening to destroy it, or he can blame them for forcing him to do what he wanted to anyway. It’s also just possible that he wants to have a check on Trump’s more lurid idiocies for which someone else can be blamed.

  164. 164.

    Larkspur

    @Schlemazel: Hell, no, you have the flu. All you should be doing now is resting and caring for yourself. Most of time time when you get the flu, its effects last weeks after you think you’re over it, so don’t be impatient with yourself. Also, thank you for being Schlemazel, because if you were Schlemiel, the rest of us would all be sick.

  167. 167.

    Elizabelle

    @Deborah: Yes. Absolutely. Call Blunt’s office to put your opposition on record. Maybe the lizard brains especially need to know, given their bubble.

  176. 176.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Deborah:

    Should I call Blunt about SCOTUS? He will vote for him, of course.

    YES YES YES YES YES!!! GOP legislators always need to hear from you! The Tea Party stormed all their legislators and now their agenda is being enacted. We must do the same.

  177. 177.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    Is Neil Gorsuch a member of the Federalist Society? That would be telling, but I can’t find anything on line. Only a quick search, I admit.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: nothing would get me to watch MSNBC. Nothing. But a link to what Franken said would be great. Was it about the Supreme Court?

  182. 182.

    Iowa Old Lady

    In speaking about Black History Month today, Trump first bitched about the press, then said

    Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.

    Doesn’t it sound as if he thinks Frederick Douglass is still alive?

  186. 186.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid: Amir sighting. Woo hoo!

    Please do not be gone so much. Although you may be just as tired as we are of Trump.

    ETA: and Lily sighting too. Moar Lily. Moar Amir. Thank you.

  187. 187.

    PaulW

    To all Democratic Senators:

    Vote Garland for the Supreme Court seat.

    Vote Garland for the Supreme Court seat.

    And tell McConnell to go to the deepest pit of hell where he belongs.

    You gonna worry about getting attacked for “uncivil” behavior in the Senate?

    It’s McConnell’s own damn fault. The second he publicly – GLEEFULLY – blocked Obama’s right to submit a judicial nominee as President, he threw every rule of good behavior out the door.

    Vote Garland for the Supreme Court seat.

    Keep voting Garland for the Supreme Court seat.

  189. 189.

    Jeffro

    @Larkspur: thanks, that piece is great!

    I am mildly exasperated at the idea floating about, that the fumbling bullshit nonsense these numpties are up to represents 11-dimensional super-chess political moves. Folks, no. Really, just, no. If they were 11-dimensional super-chess masters, they wouldn’t have had a negative polling rating eight days into their administration; they’d instead have made us delighted to waltz down the path to a comfortable and complacent fascism. But they didn’t, because they can’t, because they’re not that smart. A White House that spends four days litigating the size of an inauguration crowd is not a clutch of masterminds. Masterminds wouldn’t have given a shit about how many people showed up on the goddamn National Mall.

  190. 190.

    Peale

    @Major Major Major Major: Somehow, they are supposed to stop all nominees through magic. As we see with Mnchin, the Republicans will just change the rules and vote him out of committee anyway. But there will be 10 times less outrage at that than there will be for Democrats actually showing up to vote him down. I have no idea why this is. I guess the Democrats are supposed to break rules because of fascism and anyone doing anything to advance a candidate, incuding voting against him, is counted as a betrayal.

  191. 191.

    Timurid

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    I often dream about a seance at a Federalist Society meeting where they summon the spirit of their hero… and then Hamilton’s ghost floats around the room, dope-slapping each one of them and shouting, “What the fuck do you people think you’re doing?”

  194. 194.

    MomSense

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Yup. Sounds like he has no clue who he is.

    We have a moron for a president. And it really pisses me off that someone born to such privilege is so incurious and uneducated.

  196. 196.

    D58826

    @Peale:

    I guess the Democrats are supposed to break rules because of fascism and anyone doing anything to advance a candidate, including voting against him, is counted as a betrayal. I for one do not consider this a betrayal. The D’s don’t have the numbers so they will lose. A betrayal is when they don’t fight the good fight. It is when they vote yes for one of these candidates in the interest of ‘bipartisanship’ or ‘reaching across the aisle’. The only time the GOP will reach across the aisle is to stab you in the back. At least fight the good fight and lose with honor rather than becoming a Quisling. Heck in Texas the Alamo is a shrine and the Americans lost the battle.

  199. 199.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @D58826: Damn right original intent is bigotry dressed in a tux. So make them own this. Five justices. Original intent and practice. DT gets nothing until three more resign or die. Why should the GOP get all the poison pills?

  200. 200.

    dww44

    Just took an online poll from my R Congressperson. Question:

    President Trump recently issued an executive order that prohibits immigration to the U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. It also temporarily stops entry of people granted refugee status for 120 days while the administration reviews the vetting process. Do you support this executive order?

    Instant poll results when one answers: 72.01% of poll respondents are in favor of it. It really is disheartening to live in a very red state.

  203. 203.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @oldster:

    Have you called your Rep today about the Stream Protection Rule?

    Done. Thanks for the heads-up.

    @Amir Khalid: I will join the Welcome Back chorus! Was worried about you. Glad you’re here!

  204. 204.

    Dog Mom

    @delk: No disrespect – I wish you the best for improving health and healing. I have a 10 year old beagle with Addison’s, dx’ed almost 3 years ago. Regular meds, good diet, some exercise, managing stress and avoiding triggers keeps her happy and healthy. Find a good experienced doctor too. Hopefully you will have a crisis free future.

  205. 205.

    Miss Bianca

    @O. Felix Culpa: @oldster: Emailed Scott Tipton, as I can’t really call from work. I am sure it is shouting (scribbling) into the wind, but I had to register my protest somehow! (also posted the article link on my FB activist group page).

  206. 206.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    Hey AMIR! Glad to hear from you! Believe me, no one is more mystified about how we got where we are than the majority of people who voted for Hillary!!!

    I just hope Trump doesn’t manage to destroy the whole world, which he has multiple paths to trot down happily that would lead to that end.

    Hoping you are doing well there on the opposite side of the big blue marble we call Earth. Take care, stay in touch! Let us know if you need anything.

  207. 207.

    J R in WV

    @Another Scott:

    Actually, I’m happy to put Wilmer on the other side – not with Hillary, the Democratic party, etc. Isn’t he still an (I) in reality? Will he use the Senate rules to call for roll call votes on every little thing?

    Doesn’t it only take one Senator to push a stick into the spokes of McConnell’s smooth senatorial theft ring? Will Wilmer be that senator? Because if not, then his minions need to come to their senses and realize that Wilmer isn’t on our side, he’s on his side and doesn’t give a shit for anyone but himself.

    No forgiveness left for people who had any part in painting Hillary as teh Ebul…!!!

  208. 208.

    J R in WV

    @Weaselone:

    [Muslims…] They work, pay taxes and we get to keep all the bacon.

    Hurrah!! This is the snark we come to B-J for, thanks so much for participating!

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