Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

This blog will pay for itself.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

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

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

You cannot shame the shameless.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / NANCY SMASH! / Monday Morning Open Thread: Remember the Ladies!

Monday Morning Open Thread: Remember the Ladies!

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What’s on the agenda as we start another week in the Resistance?
.

… “I want to know what the Russians have on Donald Trump,” the California Democrat told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I think we have to have an investigation by the FBI into his financial, personal and political connections to Russia, and we want to see his tax returns, so we can have truth in the relationship between Putin, whom he admires, and Donald Trump.”…

Trump on Saturday diminished Russian President Vladimir Putin’s human rights violations in an interview with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, saying, “You think our country’s so innocent?”

Earlier Sunday on “Meet the Press,” Todd asked Vice President Mike Pence, “Why can’t [Trump] say a negative thing about Vladimir Putin?”

“The president has said many times if we got along with Russia better, that would be a good thing for the world,” Pence answered. “Maybe it’s not going to work out. But I think he’s absolutely determined. He had a productive conversation with President Putin.”

It’s not just Trump: All the Republicans are happy to enable Vladmir Putin!

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  6. 6.

    Patricia Kayden

    Hopefully, Democratic Senators will block more than just Devos. Sessions doesn’t need to be our next AG. No Republican nominee should ascend to SCOTUS.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Despite last year’s public outcry over surging drug prices for some medications, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager said drug spending actually slowed. North St. Louis County-based Express Scripts said its plans spent $1,078 per person on prescriptions in 2016, a 3.8 percent increase from the year prior, and a smaller rise than the 5.2 percent increase experienced in 2015.

    Glen Stettin, Express Scripts chief innovation officer, said the figures the company released Sunday may surprise some given last year’s headlines about drug price hikes, most notably the EpiPen. “People are probably scratching their heads,” Stettin said.

    ETA I blame Obama.

  11. 11.

    robert thompson

    @Baud: Exactly so. That is why we have to hammer the themes that Trump is 1) a friend of the Ruskis for evil and immoral reasons. There are a lot of Americans who still have this deep suspicion of the Russians from the Soviet era. We need to plant doubt firmly in their ADD minds, and 2) Trump is an immoral pussy grabber. Watch the face of a good Christian middle-aged woman who is a Trump supporter when you say that’s one reason you despise that man. They know it and you can see they know it’s true. They are ashamed. Nancy is completely correct. We need to drill down on those two facets of his charming personality. The Trumplodytes don’t care about immigrants, civil rights or voter suppression, but they do care care about sexual immorality. Hit ’em where it hurts. I don’t care if it’s fair or civil.

  17. 17.

    amk

    We’re going to win. We’re going to win so much. We’re going to win at trade, we’re going to win at the border. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go Please, please, we can’t win anymore.

    Sad!

  20. 20.

    Kay

    They won’t block DeVos. She’s got 50 + Pence. She got so much attention because they had a real shot. Two Republicans defected and they just needed one more -the Nebraska Senator was on the fence but she went with DeVos.

    She’s easily the most unpopular Sec of Ed in history, though, and it matters because school law is mostly state law. She’ll need the consent and cooperation of state legislators and public schools. Schools have their own jurisdictions, their own elected governance. They have to follow federal laws, but they don’t have to follow her lead on anything else. Most “reforms” are adopted by consent. She’ll be ineffective – she really can’t just boss them around. It doesn’t work like that.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Iran has lifted a ban on U.S. wrestlers, allowing them to take part in the Freestyle World Cup later this month in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, Iranian media reported Sunday.

    The Sunday report by state TV quotes Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi as saying that the ban was lifted after the “discriminative restrictions” on Iranian nationals travelling to the U.S. was suspended by a U.S. federal judge.

    The question is, will they be allowed to come back?

  23. 23.

    Central Planning

    Just got back from the gym. I bought two squares in the Super Bowl pool and won just under $300. And I didn’t watch the game. A great return on $20

    And, they are all trump-supporting authoritarian republican wingnuts. Their tears ARE sweet.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    Congress will give Trump legislation that cuts taxes for the top one percent and tell him it does the opposite. He’ll then go on Fox and tout the bill as the biggest tax cut to the middle class ever, and they will repeat the lie.
    After all over 109 people were inconvenienced by the travel ban.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I’m glad Trump’s unpopularity bothers him. I figured it did, and I figured he’d blame everyone else.

    Imagine Trump if the economy slows or starts to sputter. That was his entire pitch. It can’t go down and it will go down to some extent. It’s just a matter of time. If unemployment ticks up they are going to go into a frenzy. Not of activity- of denial and lying. Bush couldn’t even accept that the economy was crashing when it was obvious to anyone. He denied it publicly for months.

  28. 28.

    Gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: prices rise, buying falls. What is so odd about rising drug prices resulting in less spending? It depends on where on the curve of trade offs you were but really this is stupid.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Arne Duncan had more power. He had stimulus funding and they all basically abandoned NCLB because it was unworkable. He issued “waivers” to states which left room for him to push them to adopt his ideas.

    DeVos has a new law, ESSA, that gives her a lot less power and the GOP already cut school funding, in 2010. The only way she can push her ideas is thru Congress, probably thru the tax code. States still would have to pass enabling legislation though and she’s already so reviled they’ll get ferocious pushback.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @danielx:

    I personally find Trump physically repulsive so the idea of him padding around in his bathrobe will stick with me. It always amazes me that the men who are hardest on women (appearance) are always gross. This has been true my entire life. They have no idea how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut when one of them starts critiquing a woman’s appearance. I’m sputtering inside “OMFG, YOU are saying this!?” It’s like once a month.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gvg: Well then, why do I keep spending more and more for the same drugs I’ve been taking for years? Ummmmm…. Let me think about it….. Because without them I’d die?

    Try again.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They had two high profile school reform billionaires defect and oppose her and I think that’s why they did it- they see her as discrediting the idea. It was a dumb appointment and I’m 99% sure it wasn’t Trump- it was Pence. Her agenda was his Indiana agenda.

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: I remember David Letterman having Rush Limbaugh on, and Limbaugh was saying that Hillary looked like the chrome figurehead on a Buick.

    Letterman: That must hurt doubly, coming from such a fine physical specimen as yourself.

  40. 40.

    satby

    @Kay:

    They have no idea how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut when one of them starts critiquing a woman’s appearance. I’m sputtering inside “OMFG, YOU are saying this!?”

    and why would you not say something? Stuff like that screams for a response.

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    Still one of my favorite Letterman moments was the time Rush Limbaugh was on as a guest. Rush got on the subject of Hillary Clinton and immediately started to body shame her. Dave in his sky, understated way said ‘And you can say this because you’re a perfect physical specimen’. The audience went nuts and Rush had nothing more to say.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    I still miss Letterman. He did something similar with Trump on several occasions back when Trump was young and brash (like getting Trump to admite he wasn’t very nice to women).

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    We have a prosecutor who is overweight. You would not believe the men who jeer at her. One of these days I will blow and start screaming “YOU? You can’t even walk up the stairs!” It’s an amazing lack of self-awareness.

  47. 47.

    satby

    I was watching Casablanca last night while mist of you were watching some sport thing, but that 84 Lumber “Journey” ad was so great I shared the complete YouTube version on FB and even some of the conservatives still following me on FB liked it. Though I’m sure Breitbart will be organizing a boycott soon.

  48. 48.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I see Trump is awake.

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 23m
    23 minutes ago

    More
    I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 30m
    30 minutes ago

    More
    Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Either way Trump’s an idiot: He didn’t read what he was signing, or he thought the very unqualified Bannon should replace both the DNI director and JCS head?

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    The Fuck the Fucking New York Times profile was kind of interesting.

    How alone Trump is. The walking around in a bathrobe — not suitable for thinking about over morning coffee. But his wife is (happily) 4 states away and probably breathing more easily, and he has nothing but sycophants around.

    On some level, he probably realizes he is not hearing the whole story from his aides, and may even doubt his ability to make the choices required in this job, for which he is ill-suited.

  58. 58.

    satby

    @amk: The trumpgrets in that Twitter thread are just pathetic in a “really, you were that stupid?” way.

    We can’t avoid people projecting what they want onto candidates, but insisting on a media that covers actual policies promised by candidates instead of innuendo and gossip would reduce the delusions at least a little.

  59. 59.

    amk

    For those of you who want to play the drinking game: Fake news, Iran, Sad, Bad, and 'so-called' are all acceptable triggers for a drink.— Josh Withey ❀ (@josh_withey) February 6, 2017

  63. 63.

    satby

    @debbie: I think that Twitler not reading what he’s signing is info that has the power to damage him further with his voters, because it directly undercuts the “smart businessman in charge” image they projected onto him.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @Iowa Old Lady: It would almost be better if Trump were lying about “any negative polls” being “fake news” — that would merely be cynical. But I think he actually believes what he’s saying there. I don’t think he’s capable of acknowledging the validity of any fact, study, finding, opinion, etc., that would cause injury to his pathologically inflated ego.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    Something about the Russian question from O’Liely to Dolt45:
    This was FOX.
    This made it past the editing at FOX.
    So, what was left on the editing floor?

  69. 69.

    Gin & Tonic

    In two separate “call readouts” — with Jens Stoltenberg and with Petro Poroshenko — the White house refers to the “conflict along the Ukrainian border.” It’s a “conflict” in the sense that Germany and Czechoslovakia had a “conflict” in 1938, and it’s not “along the border” at all — it is deep inside Ukrainian territory.

    Oh, and why isn’t there a “call readout” from his conversation with Putin? Because they turned off the recording equipment before the call.

    I’m glad Pelosi is asking the question as directly as she is. It is beyond obvious that the orange one is, as the kids say, pwned.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Dear Germany,

    As an American child of immigrants (we are all children of immigrants), as the husband of an immigrant, let me just say that I find Der Spiegel’s cover of Trump beheading the statue of Liberty, to be the perfect visual of what Trump is doing to my country. I also want to tell all those news organizations who strangely find it offensive, to grow a pair. That cover is no where near as offensive as Trump.

    Sincerely,
    OzarkHillbilly

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    The thing is.. this recovery has been entirely private sector based. If he would do a genuine infrastructure plan, and not the scam he proposed, the economy would stay on an even keel. But, he is too phucking arrogant to do anything genuine and honest, that would help people and not his cronies.

  79. 79.

    satby

    NPR is reporting that Putin wants an apology from Billo for calling Putin a killer. That’s going to go over well with O’Lielly.

  82. 82.

    satby

    Well, I have to go cut some soap (lavender-oatmeal, heavenly, if I say so myself ?). Supposed to be a nice, sunny unseasonably warm day, so I need to get a walk in before work. Everyone have a great day! ?

  83. 83.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Elizabelle: I’m guessing the “call my own shots” part of that sentence is a reaction to the claims that Bannon tricked him. I have zero idea where or why he’s getting the accumulation of data stuff.

    ETA: Or what rikyrah said.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    @Iowa Old Lady: Agree — that is a reaction to the President Bannon stuff. Maybe President Kushner came up with “accumulation of data” and “marginalize” — doesn’t sound like Trump’s phraseology.

  89. 89.

    MattF

    I used to think that Trump’s Putin-love was mainly due to Putin saying Trump was ‘smart’. It’s the thing Trump keeps claiming but is also the claim no one really pays attention to.

  93. 93.

    satby

    @Baud: in that vein I tweeted this:
    in reply to @realDonaldTrump 5m
    Sharon Barrett‏ @sbarrt
    @realDonaldTrump @POTUS too bad they’re not checking you out as thoroughly as refugees are vetted. What does President Bannon say?

    Yeah, I use my real name. Fuckem.

  94. 94.

    raven

    @Immanentize: Yea I’m fine, I like the Falcons but I don’t live and die with them like I do the Dawgs. Georgia has done enough to steel me against disappointment that I just took it in stride.

  96. 96.

    Elizabelle

    How long until we see a tweet about accumulation of “alternative” facts?

    With advisors like President Bannon and Kellyanne “Bowling Green Massacre” Conway … it’s good that Trump may have awoken to Bannon’s slotting himself into the sphere that Trump had reserved for Pence.

    Retired Admiral Mike Mullen (former chair of the Joint Chiefs) has an op ed in Fuck the Fucking New York Times today stating Bannon does not belong on the National Security Council. That W refused to allow Rove a seat; dangers of politicizing national security decisions (that ship has sailed, but …)

    The second much needed adjustment to Mr. Trump’s arrangement of the council [after seating the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence] is the removal of Mr. Bannon from the principals committee. Putting aside for a moment Mr. Bannon’s troubling public positions, which are worrisome enough, institutionalizing his attendance threatens to politicize national security decision making.

    The security council was formed in 1947 to serve a unique role in our government. It facilitates and coordinates, providing a forum through which federal agencies discuss and debate policy and, ultimately, provide counsel to the president about how best to keep the American people safe. At N.S.C. meetings, representatives from the State Department, the Pentagon, the Treasury Department, the intelligence community and other agencies speak freely and critically about the full breadth of options available to the United States. Those discussions can get heated at times. They can certainly get territorial. But they seldom get political — nor should they.

    Mr. Bush understood this, as did his successor. As has been widely reported, Mr. Bush barred Karl Rove, his chief political adviser, from council meetings. And while I remember David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s political adviser, attending meetings early in that administration, he did not vote or otherwise engage in the discussion.

    Having Mr. Bannon as a voting member of the principals committee will have a negative influence on what is supposed to be candid, nonpartisan deliberation. I fear that it will have a chilling effect on deliberations and, potentially, diminish the authority and the prerogatives to which Senate-confirmed cabinet officials are entitled. They, unlike Mr. Bannon, are accountable for the advice they give and the policies they execute.

    ….Every president has the right and the responsibility to shape the security council as he sees fit. But partisan politics has no place at that table. And neither does Mr. Bannon.

    Can you imagine having Bannon there, glowering and taking notes on who said what? Would you give your honest assessment? Chilling is the word.

  98. 98.

    gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: thats you, and of course many others, and this is why our current too wild capitalism is immoral for healthcare, but SOME of healthcare spending is more optional AND the really poor avoid going to the doctor and being told they need something they can’t afford, then they suffer and sometimes die OR they can’t get it because it’s too expensive etc. Mostly though people cut the doctors visits for colds or sprains and don’t buy some meds that don’t seem to help. Also insurance influences it by making providers pick less expensive drugs that do the same things. Margin stuff.
    Economics always apply. Healthcare is less sensitive than say the market for beanie babies because of the life or death issues but it still applies. I was questioning the article because I thought it was too glib and unconvincing.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    There have been a few moments in his life, Tarell Alvin McCraney tells me, when he has felt like he’s hit the clock in a game of chess, and stopped the world turning.

    The first of these moments occurred when he was six or seven years old and had been away for the weekend from his mother’s home in Liberty City, a low-rise housing project in north Miami. Home at the time was not only where his mother lived but also where her boyfriend, Blue, lived. McCraney was small for his age, and bullied at school for being different, for being silent, for not being into sports. He would be beaten, called “faggot” before he knew what that word meant. In the emotional absence of his own father, Blue was the first man in his life who really looked out for him, the first man he could look up to. Blue taught him to ride a bike, took him to the ocean, held him as he learned to swim, made him feel like he might have a place in the world after all. Blue was also a drug dealer, but in Liberty City in 1987 that wasn’t unusual.

    When McCraney got home that weekend, though, he knew something was different. His mother, who had by then started on a downward path into crack cocaine addiction, was alone.

    “Where’s Blue?” he recalls asking her, as if it were yesterday. “He’s gone,” his mother said.

    “Gone?”

    “Blue’s been shot and killed.”

    The opening of a profile of the writer of Moonlight.

  101. 101.

    JPL

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yup.. I just found this on twitter

    MJoe showed Bannon Time mag cover, played SNL clip of Trump & “President Bannon” & discussed “maybe Bannon’s calling all the shots”

  102. 102.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: I saw one older British gentleman promise to shut down the country if Trump steps foot in England on an official state visit. Smile.

  107. 107.

    gvg

    @Elizabelle: I have to say though that Trump doesn’t have to listen to the National Security Council, he can listen to whomever he wants to. I am not sure that he actually has to even hold meetings or attend them. Putting Bannon on and removing the Intelligence and Military is bad optics which IMO correctly shows Trumps priorities and views so we should make a fuss, but even if we get the committee restored, we will still have to watch him. I hope reporters can at least keep track of if he attends meetings and if there are any….
    Blaming Bannon is a cop ot that give Trump too much leeway. He picked Bannon and gave him power and this is the idiot who said he knew more about ISIS than the generals. Another point where he should have been laughed out of the race.

  108. 108.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think Express Scripts’ costs are going down because they are cutting big deals with the pharmaceutical companies. My husband’s insurance company switched his most expensive medication from the pharmacy of his choice to Express Scripts. Cost — $35.00 a month now vs. $500.00 a month then. This despite spending a fair amount of money on specialized shipping and packing as the medication has to stay refrigerated when they UPS it. Congress put Medicare and Medicaid at a severe disadvantage by not allowing them to negotiate. Which Trump now supports.

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @robert thompson:

    but they do care care about sexual immorality.

    And you based this statement on your accumulation of the data?

    I must be working from a different data set.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gvg:

    Economics always apply.

    and free markets don’t exist. The article wasn’t going very deep and wasn’t trying to make any broad statement outside of the fact that inflation for prescriptions is flattening. It didn’t even try to say why. (it is the Post Disgrace, if one wants deep informative journalism, you need to go elsewhere)

    As to glibness, I was the one being glib, with my natural sarcasm. I couldn’t decide whether to blame Obama or credit Trump.

    My apologies.

  112. 112.

    ThresherK

    @Elizabelle: I remember Letterman interviewing Rush as the primo example of how much a wimp Limbaugh is: When he can’t screen out smart people, cut off mics, retcon for five minutes about how someone who just whipped his ass is wrong, or edit the final tape, Limbaugh will be beaten like a rented redheaded stepmule..

    Pedant time: The hood ornamnent referred to was from Pontiac. (H/T My Dad, source of all my old-car geekery.)

  117. 117.

    Shalimar

    China, Japan, Germany, and France all have economies at least twice as large as Russia’s. Mexico and Australia aren’t far behind it. The tell isn’t how much Trump wants a better relationship with Russia. It is that he doesn’t care about good relations with anyone else.

  118. 118.

    laura

    @Elizabelle: Great. Now that Gorka fellow is going to get on my radio and douche-splain why Mr. Bannon is perfectly suitable to be in charge and that we little people ought not question our betters.

  120. 120.

    lollipopguild

    @Shalimar: Russia is a regional power both in it’s economy and it’s military. We need to talk to them and keep an eye on them but we do not need to see them as an equal. Other than having nukes they are not our equal. Trump acts towards Russia like a younger brother who needs to keep his older brother happy all of the time. We need to keep asking-thanks Nancy Smash- what does Russia have on trump?

  121. 121.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    I think Express Scripts’ costs are going down because they are cutting big deals with the pharmaceutical companies.

    They have always cut deals with pharma companies. Our Insurance company does the same. If I go to a BJC hospital/clinic/physician, my costs are 1/2 or 1/3 of what they would be if I went to a Sisters of Mercy hospital/clinic/physician. In fact, our insurance company is trying to force us into using one of the online pharmacies, maybe even Express Scripts. (I am resistant, been with this local pharmacy ever since I moved out here)

    As to why script costs are flattening? (shrug) Ida knows,

    It will be interesting to see how Republicans go about threading the ACA needle. There is a lot at stake, any and all blame will be theirs and they know it.

  122. 122.

    Weaselone

    @Shalimar:

    Yep. Russia is incredibly weak economically. They’re essentially a hydrocarbon state, dependent on oil and natural gas prices. Once you subtract the nuclear weapons, they’re also not all that militarily. They’d be hard pressed to defeat Germany, France or the UK in a one on one conventional conflict.

  124. 124.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MattF:

    I used to think that Trump’s Putin-love was mainly due to Putin saying Trump was ‘smart’.

    But Putin never said that. He used a word which in some contexts can be poorly translated as “bright” but really is a lot closer to the English “colorful.”

  125. 125.

    Wapiti

    @lollipopguild:

    We need to keep asking-thanks Nancy Smash- what does Russia have on trump?

    I think Putin has Trump’s balls. He’s keeping them in the same dresser drawer where he has the Superbowl ring he took from Robert Kraft.

  126. 126.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby:

    Well, I have to go cut some soap (lavender-oatmeal, heavenly, if I say so myself ?).

    Seconded! Satby’s products are great. I’m a repeat buyer. (No favors or dark money were exchanged for this testimonial.) :)

  131. 131.

    JPL

    haha Trump blamed Obama people for leaking the transcript of the phone call with Australia. I sure wish the same people would leak the call with Putin.
    link

  134. 134.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    On the premise that president FUBAR fits NPD profile and who knows what other disorders, how likely is a massive narcissist to suffer a complete psychotic breakdown that would require hospitalization?

    Anyone in mental health field have insights?

  136. 136.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    In a minor key, you see this in some sit-coms where an out of shape slob of a man is married to gorgeous woman. That’s such a male fantasy. Only on TV.

    There’s a term for that among TV critics: Male Pattern Optimism

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    A black Dallas family ‘did everything America said we should’ but still endures racism daily
    Sarah Mervosh, Breaking News Enterprise reporter

    A black gunman hunts police officers at a peaceful rally in downtown Dallas. He takes out three cops at one intersection, sneaks up on another from behind. Bullets slice the air.

    By the time the night is done, five officers will be dead.

    When the shooting starts, James Waters is less than a mile away, working late at his law office overlooking Victory Park. An American flag hangs above his desk. From where he sits, he cannot hear the gunshots or see the crowd scatter in fear.
    His phone rings about 10 p.m. It’s his wife, and she has seen the news.

    “I need you to promise you’ll stay there,” she tells him.

    It’s July 7, 2016, and the country is already on edge with racial strife fueled by police killings of black men. Alton Sterling, on the ground in Louisiana. Philando Castile, in his car in Minnesota, his T-shirt soaked in blood.

    Frances Cudjoe Waters can envision what might happen if her husband leaves the office. There, he’s safe, well-known and well-regarded. Out on the streets, she believes, he’ll be just another black man, a potential target on this night of fear and fury and revenge.

    James scrolls through the news on his computer. It has been a long day and he’s ready to go home. The drive takes only 10 minutes. He would probably be fine.

    Probably. That small uncertainty captures what it’s like to be African-American today. Making this decision, weighing the risks, when all you want to do is go home to your family, something you could do without a thought if you were white.

    James doesn’t want to worry his wife. As helicopters hover over Dallas, he spends the night dozing at his desk, rumpled in his suit, waiting for the sun to rise.

    A divide in America
    The Waters family should be enjoying all the fruits of the American dream.
    James graduated from Columbia University, the first in his family to finish college.

    Frances got a degree from Stanford University, after her grandmothers worked as maids for white families, and her parents worked their way through school.

    Both James and Frances went on to study at Harvard Law School, where they met.

    They’re raising three sons — William, 16; Joshua, 15; and Christopher, 12 — in a safe and wealthy neighborhood in North Dallas. Their 5,800-square-foot home has five bedrooms, a diving pool and a tennis court in the backyard.
    They’ve worked hard for this life.

    James is a partner at a big Dallas law firm and holds board positions across the city. Frances is a United Methodist pastor who has her own strategic consulting company.

    They’re so busy that every day feels like a sprint: a blur of school drop-offs and client meetings and “what’s for dinner,” stolen trips to Tom Thumb for raspberry sorbet and little moments of quiet.

    “We did everything America said we should do,” Frances says.

    And yet, when they step outside their usual circles in Dallas — where they feel not only accepted but embraced by friends of all colors — they cannot escape racism in America. No matter their credentials or accomplishments, they’re still black.
    “We’re unprotected out in the world,” Frances says.

    It’s not that they have been harassed by a rogue police officer — the mistreatment that captures headlines. It’s the thousand other ways they are made to feel criminalized, less than, invisible.

  140. 140.

    rikyrah

    A Big Freakin’ Deal in the DNC Chair Race
    by D.R. Tucker
    February 5, 2017 11:00 AM

    Did former Vice President Joe Biden just do a favor for Rep. Keith Ellison?

    Biden’s endorsement of former Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee may have provided an unintentional boost to Ellison’s hopes to defeat Perez. Ellison’s backers have been promulgating the notion that Perez is an “establishment” hack who just can’t wait to betray progressives in favor of political insiders; Biden’s formal support of Perez could well destroy the former Justice Department official’s hopes to succeed Debbie Wasserman Schultz by further energizing Ellison’s already-passionate support base.

    Ellison and Perez are equally qualified to do the job; either man could turn the Democratic Party into an elite fighting force, recapturing the electoral ground Democrats lost during the Obama years. It’s a profound shame that this race is viewed as a brawl between the “establishment” and “progressive” wings of the Democratic Party, when both men have objectively strong progressive credentials. However, Perez has been tarred with the “establishment” brush, and such a stereotype may well be impossible for him to overcome.

    Either man would be a symbolic refutation of the Trump vision; the news of either Ellison or Perez becoming the new head of the DNC would be greeted by the usual slurs and sarcasm from America’s right-wing media empire. Like President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the eventual winner of the DNC chair race should welcome the right’s hatred; underneath such fury lies fear–fear that the new head of the DNC will orchestrate the party’s return to power.

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    The End of the Innocence
    by D.R. Tucker
    February 5, 2017 7:00 AM
    POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG

    Just remember, it’s supposed to be OK when Republicans say this stuff:

    President Trump, asked by an interviewer on Saturday why he respected President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia even though he is “a killer,” seemed to equate Mr. Putin’s actions with those of the United States.

    “You got a lot of killers,” he told the interviewer, Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. “What, you think our country’s so innocent?”

    ………………………..

    Mr. Trump has long expressed his admiration for the Russian leader’s strength. But his willingness to seemingly draw a moral equivalence to actions by Mr. Putin, who has brutally suppressed dissent by eliminating political enemies, led to an eruption on social media.

    Many asked how conservatives would have reacted had President Barack Obama, or other Democrats, compared American actions to Mr. Putin’s.

    …………….

    Remember the days when right-wingers would declare, “America–love it, or leave it”? Trump has indeed left America: he’s left this country scared, confused, embarrassed, heartbroken. He’s also left those who actually do love this country with a clear recognition that those who supported this man, and those who continue to defend this man, betrayed their fellow citizens by voting for him.

  142. 142.

    rikyrah

    What Is Your Red Line, Republicans?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 6, 2017 9:19 AM

    Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) tells us what he’s hearing whispered behind the scenes in Washington.

    “What I’ve heard from behind the scenes,’’ Moulton said during a telephone interview on Monday, is that Mattis and others who were left out of Trump’s decision-making loop on the immigration order are asking one another, “What will make you resign? What’s your red line?”

    The question, “What’s your red line?” is something that all Republicans – not just members of Trump’s cabinet – should be asking themselves right now.

    As David Brooks wrote last week, it is clear that Congressional Republicans have made a faustian bargain with the president.

    Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media…

    But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul.

  144. 144.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah:

    “What’s your red line?” is something that all Republicans – not just members of Trump’s cabinet – should be asking themselves right now.

    That is a question they should have asked themselves 16 years ago.

    but they respect the grip he has on their voters,

    Brooks can’t even tell the difference between respect and abject terror. No wonder he gets so much else wrong.

  145. 145.

    Larkspur

    @raven: This is a perfect response.

    On another topic, I’m thinking of sending Nancy Pelosi some roses for Valentine’s Day. It is a very girly thing, but so are pink pussyhats. Can anyone recommend a flower service that will deliver the best flowers for the most reasonable price? I’m flower-shy, having been ripped off in the past.

  149. 149.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: Just sputtering inside? Do you ever actually call out these gross men to their faces? Inquiring minds want to know!

  150. 150.

    Larkspur

    @Miss Bianca: I remember an incident back when I was a paralegal. I was getting coffee (yes, it apparently called for the services of a trained professional) for some lawyers during a break in a deposition.
    Our client was pursuing a relatively small med-mal claim. His longtime partner, a really nice woman, had a legitimate claim for loss of consortium but it was complicated because they weren’t married.
    They were both working class folks. She was smart and friendly and had beautiful long wavy strawberry blond hair. She was also a large woman, her skin kind of weathered, but the saddest thing was that she was missing a lot of teeth.
    We’d talked about it. Her remaining teeth and gums were clean, but she’d priced the cost of implants or dentures and couldn’t afford either, although she was trying to set money aside.
    Anyway, I was in the conference room with the lawyers when one of them joked about how bogus the loss of consortium claim was, basically because who would ever want to fuck an ugly toothless fat chick like her?
    And I didn’t defend her. I didn’t laugh along with them, and I got out of that conference room as soon as I could because I was afraid I was going to cry. But I should have smote down the lot of them and I didn’t. I’m still ashamed of myself. I should have said something – the worst that could’ve happened was that I’d get scolded by my boss. I’ll never forget that.

  152. 152.

    J R in WV

    @MattF:

    It’s a fact that Express Scripts gets good deals. The eyedrops I use (Restasis) cost me $75 for a three month supply, for which the retail price is over $1600.

    And the thing that makes that information abhorrent is that they are making a profit selling it at $75, and making $1,525 more selling it at “retail” prices.

    Despicable people setting prices at big pharma companies.

    My pharmacist has from time to time saved me hundreds of dollars by making a phone call, when I was about to be charged hundreds of dollars for a prescription that could be had for $75 or so. Always the same young woman. In pharmacy not just to make a lot of money, obviously.

    I know how expensive developing and testing drugs can be. A good friend I was in college with now works for a contract firm managing clinical trials. She flies into Brazil, or Italy, or Switzerland (etc) to meet with doctors to insure that all the places doing a clinical trial are following the same protocols. And that is just management.

  153. 153.

    Miss Bianca

    @Larkspur: It happens to all of us. Every woman has that story – that moment where she could have stood up for one of her sisters getting bullied or beat on by some asshole – and didn’t.The best thing about getting older – if we dare to grasp that nettle – is getting less afraid of speaking unpleasant truths to power.

  154. 154.

    Larkspur

    @Miss Bianca: Thanks. I mean it. And yes about getting older. In one way, you become kind of invisible, but in many other ways you’re freer than you’ve every been. I remember reading Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants. She had been wondering why so many old male comedians stay popular and respected, but older women start getting called “crazy”. She decided that being a “crazy woman” in that environment means that she keeps talking even after no one wants to fuck her anymore. I’m gonna keep talking.

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