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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: “Nevertheless, She Persisted”

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: “Nevertheless, She Persisted”

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It’s not as though Mitch McConnell would be going down in the record books for any positive actions, after all. Given the history of Southern racists’ fragile ‘honor’, I suppose we should be grateful these ‘gentlemen’ are no longer allowed to carry weapons in the chamber. Per the Washington Post:

Senate Republicans passed a party-line rebuke Tuesday night of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for a speech opposing attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, striking down her words for impugning the Alabama senator’s character.

In an extraordinarily rare move, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) interrupted Warren’s speech, in a near-empty chamber as debate on Sessions’s nomination heads toward a Wednesday evening vote, and said that she had breached Senate rules by reading past statements against Sessions from figures such as the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the late Coretta Scott King….

“Sen. Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation,” he said. “Nevertheless, she persisted.”

Other Democrats later came to her defense and tried to have King’s letter placed into the Senate record. But Republican senators quickly objected. They did so again when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), the chamber’s only African American woman, asked that Warren be allowed to resume participation in the debate…

Public reaction quickly intensified online. RedBubble.com, an online clothing website for independent designers, began selling a “She Persisted” T-shirt or sweatshirt — seizing on McConnell’s admonition of Warren. Democrats began using #LetLizSpeak on Twitter and posted copies of King’s letter on Facebook to draw more attention to Warren’s speech…

(Olivia Pope would’ve told McConnell he was making a serious mistake, one suspects.)

Reader Interactions

208Comments

  2. 2.

    amk

    keyword here is party-line. the dems need to learn to how to use that power. no more pablum about decorum or such bs.

  4. 4.

    Dr. Omed

    Censuring Warren seems remarkably stupid on McConnell’s part. He’s vile, but not stupid. Gave Warren a big boost. Why did he do that?

  6. 6.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mustang Bobby: Is it? How? When? Naw. The GOP will be fine. They’ll get Sessions in as the AG and the minorities in this country will be screwed. Republicans have gotten away with pretty much everything for the last 8 years. Shutting down the government, obstructing President Obama, wasting time and resources voting against the ACA numerous times, running a no-nothing Bigot for President, etc. This is just another notch in their belt.

  7. 7.

    satby

    Silencing Warren will go down just fine with their racist base but nowhere else. Makes them look afraid (of icky girls even) and weak. #whataretheyafraidof should probably be attached to every tweet about Republicans going forward, it works for science, free speech, human rights, the voting suppression tactics, pretty much everything that party opposes.

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    Nevertheless, she persisted.

    Now I know how I’ll end my call with Collins’ office tomorrow.

  10. 10.

    slakko

    The rest of the Dem caucus need to continue with this, not just Merkley. Either Warren needs to have the rebuke revoked to show how craven the Repubs are or all 48 Dem Senators need to be gagged to show that the Sessions hearing is a sham.

  12. 12.

    PaulW

    @Dr. Omed:

    Censuring Warren seems remarkably stupid on McConnell’s part. He’s vile, but not stupid. Gave Warren a big boost. Why did he do that?

    Fear. The entire GOP leadership driven by fear. Fear of criticism. Fear of self-awareness. Fear of the weight of history.

    They would rather silence protest than risk the possibility of anyone among them regaining a conscience.

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    On a sad note, apparently Professor Irwin Corey, the World’s Foremost Authority, has died at the age of 102. (Apologies if this was previously noted somewhere here.)

    What is amazing is that, in the context of a rational, non-evil world, ANYTHING the Professor ever said made more sense than ANYTHING Shitgibbon has said/done.

  15. 15.

    SFAW

    @Dr. Omed:

    Why did he do that?

    Because he can? With impunity?

    Perhaps Shitgibbon’s/Bannon’s insanity/evil will galvanize the electorate to sweep out those treasonous fucks (i.e., Rethugs) in 2018, but if I were treasonous fuck McConnell, I’d take that bet, because (among other reasons) Voldemort, Brownback, and LePage are still Governors.

  16. 16.

    Raven

    How dumb was it to actually arrive at the hospital 30 minutes before my appointment like they said to?

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW:

    What is amazing is that, in the context of a rational, non-evil world, ANYTHING the Professor ever said made more sense than ANYTHING Shitgibbon has said/done.

    Naw, that’s expected. What is amazing is that my Labrador Retriever makes more sense than Trump does.

  19. 19.

    oldster

    49 Reps voted to impose Rule XIX.

    I cannot find a roll-call of the actual vote yet, but I believe that means that either Murkowski or Collins must have voted with the Reps, right?

    Worth remembering in case anyone thinks that they are better than the other Republicans.

    They are–except on any issue where it matters. Then they follow a multitude to do evil.

  23. 23.

    Patricia Kayden

    @oldster: I’m trying to figure out how Warren speaking against a nominee can be censured. Why are Republicans bothering with the pretense of a hearing at all? Just vote Sessions in.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    Liz is my Senator. This makes me mad plus. Of course the only reason they could stop her is because Sessions gets to vote on himself because he is a Senator. This would have been completely normal debate regarding any non-Senator appointee. Asses.

  25. 25.

    gene108

    @PaulW:

    Fear. The entire GOP leadership driven by fear.

    The GOP leadership, the guys lining up he vote and getting the voters and Party in-line, and not the attention whores like either Rep. King or Gohmert, are cold-blooded, conscious less, humorless operatives, who are very, very smart and have only one goal in mind: unlimited GOP power.

    It is a recurring mistake on our part to think the attention whores represent the GOP leadership.

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Agreed. None of this is going to hurt the GOP. No one, but political junkies, such as our selves, really pay attention to Cabinet appointments.

    I don’t see how this will mobilize voters in red-states to turn against their incumbents, and we need to win a few of those seats to retake the Senate.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @Raven:

    How dumb was it to actually arrive at the hospital 30 minutes before my appointment like they said to?

    I figured it was because they told you “remember to show up at least 2 hours early, to be able to get through the metal detectors and other inspections,” and you were just being contrary?

    Good luck and best wishes today. I hope the tests show that it’s nothing of import.

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    @gene108: Shutting up a lie-brul woman who was reading a Negress’ letter to oppose the appointment of a racist to the AG position is probably a huge plus in the eyes of Trump’s White Supremacist supporters.

  28. 28.

    gene108

    @SFAW:

    because (among other reasons) Voldemort, Brownback, and LePage are still Governors

    They benefitted from the Great Recession and the Obama recovery.

    They ran on a “jobs, jobs, jobs” platform in 2010, and downtrodden voters were in a throw the bums out mood, because the economy was not recovering quickly enough.

    By 2014, Obama’s policies had lifted the overall economy enough that any idiot, in any office, was able to say “under my watch, ‘x’ many thousands of jobs were added”, so re-elect me.

  33. 33.

    germy

    No silencing of Cruz when he called Mitch a liar? So selective enforcement of the “rule” only applies to Warren.

    Also disgusting, seeing old man Hatch sitting there like a toad behind the turtle, wiping his snot onto a rag and then studying it intently. If he has respiratory issues maybe he should take one of his son’s vitamin supplements.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    Interesting that there is a rule against impugning a senator, but not a president. Hope the Dems have taken note of that.

  36. 36.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Oh my! It looks like this protest IS going to happen, provided we gather enough bodies.

    Mitch McConnell’s church, bitches….

    Suck it, Talibornagain tools.

  39. 39.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Patricia Kayden:

    My guess is that it is easier to invoke parliamentary bullshit on a woman – y’all tend to internalize rules and accept them even when applied unfairly. A guy is more likely to persist, forcing the presiding member to have to make an uncomfortable choice, up to physical force.

    I’m not making a criticism – the respect for institutional rules is an important reminder.

    Me, they’d have had to drag me out, still talking, which is why the guys got a pass.

  41. 41.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Another observation – notice how that tool Hatch ignores and invokes rules on a whim.

  42. 42.

    Emma

    Jesus Christ, stop it with the moaning and kvetching. No, probably the deplorables won’t turn against their masters. THEY NEVER HAVE. But even a few.percentage points of the pathetically uninterested getting upset enough to turn activist will help.

  43. 43.

    debbie

    I’m getting really fed up with Trump’s limited vocabulary. His only descriptor is “disaster” and his only verb is “destroy.” These are not the words of a leader, but of a frightened, small boy.

  44. 44.

    bemused

    @Raven:

    Fox news should be banned from every hospital/clinic waiting room in the country. Probably every hospital room, also too. Anyone watching that crap has to have blood pressure spikes, liberal or rightwinger alike.

  45. 45.

    James E Powell

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I get slammed for being negative, but I agree with you completely. We had many moments such as this one during GWB’s first term. He still got re-elected, he still got to appoint Roberts & Alito, and we still got screwed.

    Are the Democrats going to filibuster Sessions?

  47. 47.

    Dr. Omed

    @PaulW: But they didn’t silence Warren; in effect, they amplified her. Had they just let her alone the speech would not have gotten near as much attention. Surely McConnell would realize that. So, did he do it just because he could, because Warren pisses them off that much, or is there some sort of ulterior motive or strategy in operation?

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @Dr. Omed:

    I think he did it as a knee-jerk reaction and didn’t think about possible consequences like being mocked on Twitter. If there’s a big-enough negative reaction, maybe he’ll think twice next time.

  49. 49.

    JMG

    @James E Powell: Cabinet nominations cannot be filibustered. I think this was out of fear, not a power-grab. Sessions’ is the absolute must appointment for Trump. Not just for racism/vote suppression, etc., but because Sessions will protect any and all of Trump’s illegal activities.

  50. 50.

    Morzer

    I am just remembering that the last time a gag rule was imposed in American politics it was by a party of southern secessionists desperately defending the “peculiar” institution of slavery. Much to the credit of John Quincy Adams (Massachusetts, represent, again!) he managed to destroy that despicable rule, just as Elizabeth Warren will, I hope, destroy its most recent iteration.

    I see two possible explanations of McConnell’s behavior:

    1) He is so confident that his party has established its base for permanent rule that he is exposing his inner tyrant for all the world to see.

    2) He believes that the Trump/GOP tyranny is so fragile it must suppress any and all criticism in order to survive.

    The facts seem to support 2) over 1) thus far, given the ignominious failure of Trump’s Master Plan to date and the mounting evidence that he and the GOP are incapable of providing even marginally competent and clean government.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    So funny to watch the big loudmouth whine now that he’s in charge and his fantasy of “President” isn’t the same as reality:

    Yemen has withdrawn permission for the US to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terror groups.

    I’m fascinated by this:

    Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others’ feelings.People affected by it often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or about their appearance.

    Supposedly the worst thing you can do to one of these people is withdraw approval. They take that to mean they have to pursue and retaliate- you’ve taken something from them and they have to get something back from you. It explains the hectoring quality of the Trump Team to me, how they’re demanding people like and respect them. It seems so weird to me “you WILL approve of us!” – the opposite of how people usually try to become “popular”.

  54. 54.

    Lurking Canadian

    The Dems need to resurrect the old phrase “anti-American”. In every interview, they should call this the “anti-American suppression of the free speech of a Senator”, they should refer to Trump’s “anti-American immigration policy” and so on.

    Wrap yourselves up in the flag. The Republicans clearly have no respect for it.

  55. 55.

    Morzer

    @Emma:

    27% of the country are irreconcilable morons, racists and frauds. That’s not enough for anything like a majority. The question is this: at what point do the relatively less deplorable decide that they have no intention of joining the crash and burn fiscal and racial terrorist junta on their path to ruin. One hopes they might rediscover sufficient sanity and shreds of self-respect to do so by 2018 and then stay their better course until 2020 and beyond.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dr. Omed: Never underestimate the Republican’s ability to engage in rank stupidity or the American electorate’s ability to accept it.

  64. 64.

    MattF

    I guess that when Cruz called McConnell a liar on the Senate floor, that didn’t count as impugning anyone.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: My personal opinion is the Media reports events, without any messy analysis or context, (because that would surely receive an accusation of liberal bias) and let you decide.

    Whoever the new head of the DNC is, his first job is to find a solution to the co-opting of the press by the GOP.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    Voters knew this, James. They knew Trump would make appointments. At what point should they have to live with the consequences? They rolled the dice on this incompetent moron and unless they live with the consequences personally they’ll do it again because voting is some “expression of anger” to them instead of a hiring process.

    Reap the whirlwind.

  69. 69.

    Amir Khalid

    @Immanentize:

    Sessions gets to vote on himself because he is a Senator.

    But, but … shouldn’t a Senator who is the subject of a Senate vote be mandatorily recused from participating in that vote?

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    They’re interviewing Trump voters in these WWC areas where there is a large number of people on SS disability and they’re saying things like they “hope” he doesn’t cut off Social Security disability. Were they really in a position to gamble on this guy? They thought that was smart, putting their entire income on the roulette table? How long should Democrats protect them from these decisions they make?

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Huh:

    Until a century ago, Greenlandic hunters would cut maps out of driftwood. “The wooden part would be the fjord, so it would be a mirror image,” Siggi says. “Holes would be islands. Compared to a paper map, it was actually quite accurate.” These driftwood sculptures were first recorded by a Danish expedition in the 1880s, along with bas-relief versions of fjords, carefully grooved and bevelled to represent headland depths. A Danish ethnologist, Gustav Holm, noted that notched into the wood, “the map likewise indicates where a kayak can be carried” when the path between fjords is blocked by ice. Unlike drawings, the contoured wood could be felt by hand – useful in a region where the sun disappears for months at a time.

    I find this fascinating, but then I would.

  74. 74.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    This was horrifying:

    Slate’s aggregated piece on a new CBP conduct filing

    Suha Amin Abdullah Abushamma, a Sudanese doctor who was returning from a brief trip to Saudi Arabia to visit her family, says she was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than 10 hours. Upon her arrival at JFK, Abushamma said, “CBP agents confiscated my passport and threatened to take away my phone. I was not told why my passport was being held and I received no information about how long I would be detained.” She says she “[was] never permitted to speak on the phone with my lawyers while in CBP custody despite my initial and subsequent requests to do so. … [CBP] Agent Lam told me that the only way I was going to leave detention was if I signed a form to return to Saudi Arabia—the country I had flown in from. He showed me a document and told me that I should sign it. I was not allowed to call my lawyer or ask questions about what was in the document.”

    “I again told Agent Lam and his supervisor that there were attorneys who were working on my behalf,” Abushamma continued. “I repeatedly begged Agent Lam and his supervisor to give me more time. Agent Lam’s supervisor then told me that an order that would allow me to stay in the United States would need to come from the Supreme Court, and that this would not happen. They told me that my lawyers could not do anything to help me in my situation and so I should just sign the form.”

    According to Abushamma, the CBP agent also said that “if I did not sign the form right away, it would mean that I had chosen to be forcibly removed from the United States, and that I would be forced onto the plane anyway, but would then be banned from the United States for five years. … I was so scared. Without being allowed to speak to my attorney on the phone despite my repeated requests, and because of all the negative consequences that Agent Lam had told me would occur if I did not sign the form, and feeling like I had no choice, I signed the form.”

    There is more at the link. Conduct done in our names by thugs.

    I’ve mentioned before that CBP have been acting like assholes at the jetway and while directing queues for years. I have no doubt as to the truth of most of these allegations.

    I’m also going to predict that I’m going to start getting intrusive secondary screenings, where I intend to act like myself, a raging asshole with no sense of civility, and fully intend to punch downward at my questioners so as to make their experience as unpleasant as possible.

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: When they found my blood clots the first time, before I even got to the door the tech said, “Your Doctor’s on the phone for you.”

    Talk about an “Uh-oh” moment…

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    Say nothing really happens to WWC Trump voters. He goes after black people and brown people but leaves their lives pretty much as they were – they still have a functioning government, whatever federal subsidy they’re receiving still shows up monthly- who or what do they elect next? It could get worse. They could make an even worse decision next time. There has to be moral hazard. They’re betting but they’re putting other people on the line. It has to be them.

  79. 79.

    Another Scott

    So Session’s vote was required to get DeVos to 50. That’s why his vote had to come after hers when it was clear that it was going to be 50:50 – if he was AG, he wouldn’t have a vote in the Senate any more.

    How’s it going to work with his own confirmation hearing? Does he get to vote for himself? Presumably so. But I haven’t heard that the vote is going to be close (though they keep putting it off…).

    It’s a sad state of affairs when Incompetent Evil (deVos) gets more overt opposition than Competent Evil (Sessions) in the GOP. Are Collins and Murkowski really going to vote for him and throw away their carefully cultivated “moderate” image so soon?

    When I’m Benevolent Despot, Senate nominees won’t get to vote for themselves for Executive positions or others that require Senate confirmation. If the vote is so close that their vote matters, that means they don’t have enough support to take the job.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @Lurking Canadian:

    The Dems need to resurrect the old phrase “anti-American”. In every interview, they should call this the “anti-American suppression of the free speech of a Senator”, they should refer to Trump’s “anti-American immigration policy” and so on.

    That’s so SHRILL!!!!

  81. 81.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Trump is freaked out about the Appeals Court hearing on his Muslim ban. I suspect he’s not used to being told no or having his actions so publicly called into question.

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 1h
    1 hour ago

    More
    If the U.S. does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics!

    Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 13m
    13 minutes ago

    More
    I will be speaking at 9:00 A.M. today to Police Chiefs and Sheriffs and will be discussing the horrible, dangerous and wrong decision…….

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @raven: Hope the results come back benign. Chill out.

    Good morning, all.

    Grey day at the beach. On dolphin watch. Nothing going on out there, but waves and surf and seagulls standing around.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    oo, I guess I should feel good then!

    What are you, a closet Republican? Feeling good because someone else has/had it worse?

    On the other hand, it’s only OzarkHillbilly, who apparently has conversations with Labrador Retrievers, so I’ll cut you some slack here.

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    @germy: I noticed that too. The cameraman probably used that frame on purpose, also too.

    In candid moments, so many of the people who nominally represent us look like they should have retired years ago. I can’t help but think that part of the reason why the GOP is so sclerotic and Congress is so broken and afraid of its shadow is that so many oldsters are taking up space…

    But it could be worse, there could be a majority of young, workaholic, go-getter Competent Evil people in their place. :-/

    So, small favors, amirite!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    germy

    @Kay:

    whatever federal subsidy they’re receiving still shows up monthly-

    You think drump will keep his promise not to mess with their social security and medicare? I think it’ll be the same as his promise to “go after the wall street guys” (it’ll just take a bit longer). Ryan has a plan.

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady: Poor police chiefs and sheriffs.

    Talk about an audience that has had to watch and deal with unstable personalities up close, for years. Would love to see the thought bubbles in the audience.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    will be discussing the horrible, dangerous and wrong decision…….

    He’s pissed that people voted for him? That’s a surprise.

    On the other hand, as efgoldman is wont to write:

    Fuckem

  90. 90.

    sherparick1

    I hate to look at this at the other side’s point of view, but I expect that McConnell made himself a hero of the moment for Trump and his Zombie coalition of white resentment and grievance by telling (and demonstrating the power) to tell Senator Warren to sit down and shut up.

    And in the end result is still that Nathan Beford Forrest is about become Attorney General of the United States who will enable and his agenda will be to establish white supremacy and to smash dissent and enable President Small Fingers increasing revenge fantasies percolating in his Id. All the result of Secretary Clinton failing to get about 500,000 more votes in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Thank you again, Comey. Also, Glenn Greenwald, Dr. Stein, and Naked Capitalism, et. al., who all said, Hillary Clinton would be worse. FYS to all of them.

  91. 91.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    The funny thing about the Yemen decision is Trump spent a good bit of the campaign slamming Obama and Hillary for not leaving behind a military force in Iraq, despite our inability to reach a mutually agreed upon Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq.

    Love to see how he negotiates a better deal with Yemen; a deal Yemen can’t refuse, now that the shoe is on the other foot.

  92. 92.

    oldster

    Good on Merkley for going ahead and reading the King letter.

    But why was he not then in violation of Rule XIX? And if he was, why didn’t the Republicans invoke it? That’s some double-standard BS right there.

    I want every Democratic Senator to repeat the words that got Liz into trouble, and I want them to shut the goddamned Senate right down if they have to.

  93. 93.

    germy

    @Another Scott:

    In candid moments, so many of the people who nominally represent us look like they should have retired years ago.

    Good point. I’m always amazed when I see local and national politicians who have been warming seats with their behinds for thirty plus years. Of course, people like Hatch use it as an excuse to raise the retirement age for the rest of us: “Look at me! I’m still working!” even though Orrin’s job seems to consist of sitting on his ass, blowing his nose, and examining the handkerchief. And taking donations.

  94. 94.

    Peale

    @germy: no. When they cut social security, as long as they add in a rider that green card holders get less, no matter how long they’ve paid into the system, they’ll lose no support.

  95. 95.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @gene108: Plus like with Brownbeck, it’s Kansas, so the voters will never vote Democrat even to save their lives.

  96. 96.

    Another Scott

    @randy khan: Dunno.

    The Senate is so insular, and the Record is so important to them, my take is he thought that keeping King’s remarks about Sessions attacking old black people out of the Record was sufficient to remove the criticism from history as far as the Senate is concerned. They don’t want it to be there, waiting to be used in the future.

    McConnell knows how to count votes. Presumably he knows he has the votes he needs to ram Sessions through no matter what Warren said – otherwise he wouldn’t be moving it forward now. This is about internal Senate optics. He wants to put her “on notice” and the rest of the Democrats as well, that he’s not going to tolerate certain types of debates – even though they’re fair and appropriate and necessary. He wants to make the Democrats cower here and going forward, make them worry about their words being “taken down” and the like.

    I don’t think he cares one bit about public opinion on this, or Warren getting a bounce, or any of that. They didn’t care when 90% of people wanted the Senate to act on gun legislation after Sandy Hook. They didn’t care about people screaming for jobs and infrastructure bills. They don’t care about all the people who will be hurt by messing with Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid. The GOP only cares about power in their sandbox and in getting reelected by their base.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Dr. Omed:

    But they didn’t silence Warren; in effect, they amplified her. Had they just let her alone the speech would not have gotten near as much attention. Surely McConnell would realize that. So, did he do it just because he could, because Warren pisses them off that much, or is there some sort of ulterior motive or strategy in operation?

    So, in other words, is Turtle having his cake and eating it too? It does seem like by attacking a woman Turtle gets to out how the Trump admins sucks ass while at the same time looks like a loyal Republican while doing the back stabbing?

    Politics for you.

  102. 102.

    Bupalos

    @PaulW: That’s one possibility. I think a far more likely one is that they are happy to amplify anything that is connected to racial issues. In an us/them world, that’s what they’re betting on.

    Hopefully they’re wrong on this one. It is hard to believe how bad McConnell shot himself in the foot with that wording.

  103. 103.

    danielx

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just knew there was an area where my spouse has been letting me down for years.

    Also too, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III cannot be impugned. McConnell seems to be as thin-skinned as lord shortfingers, particularly since everything she said about Sessions is true.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @germy:

    It isn’t just Social Security and Medicare. I live in a WWC area. I could write down one of their names and then start listing programs they or their family members use. Medicaid alone – nursing homes. All those angry WWC men are going to find it difficult to have time to be angry when they’re caring for their grandparents 24/7.

    There’s a USDA mortgage program that might as well be titled “a subsidy for white people’. I see the mortgages all the time. it’s a GREAT deal. Exclusively for eonomically depressed rural areas.

    They were real cavalier about throwing black and brown people under the Trump train. let’s see how fun it is when it threatens them.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW:

    it’s only OzarkHillbilly, who apparently has conversations with Labrador Retrievers,

    It’s worse than that, I have intelligent conversations with my dog. That say’s something about me or my dog and I’m not sure which it is.

  110. 110.

    Morzer

    @Dr. Omed:

    It’s possible that McConnell thinks that he can intimidate opponents by showing so publicly that he can use the GOP senate to gag them whenever he pleases. I wonder though whether this was something Trump demanded, given that Warren regularly went after him during the presidential election.

  111. 111.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Another Scott:

    I can’t help but think that part of the reason why the GOP is so sclerotic and Congress is so broken and afraid of its shadow is that so many oldsters are taking up space…

    Isn’t that also true of their voters too; they skew strongly to over 55? So basically this is just Elder Care.

  112. 112.

    Jack the Second

    @Kay: We fight because the rain does not fall on the unjust alone.

    I would rather see a hundred guilty men go free than one innocent jailed; I would rather fight to save Social Security knowing these assholes will benefit than stand back and let it be stripped from one good person.

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack (tablet): Virginia Beach. Chilling a bit, in the off season.

    Someone has a small Italian greyhound who is out on the beach at cocktail hour. In a sweater, if needed. It was 66 here yesterday at 5:00 p.

    Also: where is Baud? Miss him when he’s not here.

  117. 117.

    Morzer

    @Jack the Second:

    I don’t know. When I contemplate the GOP, I am mighty tempted by the idea that it would be worthwhile to crucify the occasional innocent if I could guarantee that their final experience would be shared by an hundred GOP critters. ROI, you see.

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @oldster: When I was a kid, I would spend hours looking at maps. Later as an adult, I spent decades surveying caves and drafting maps of them. A map is more than just “Here we are.” They take one places and I am captivated by them.

  119. 119.

    Bupalos

    News organizations really have an opportunity to set themselves apart with upping their real-time fact-check game. After praising NPR’s evenhandedness so the interviewer was busy saying “thank you” while he went on to make this claim, Rep Mike Johnson just got away with this: a Fordham study found that 20% of US ISIS attacks “involved” refugees. Since he was dumb enough to actually name the study, it took me 18 seconds to find that the real number there would be 7.5% and of course that includes the Bowling Green massacre as an “attack” with 0% Syrians, and the number of any refugees involved in any events at all since Obama tightened up vetting is 0%. The number he was reporting were non-citizens on the whole, the takeaway being that 80% of U.S. ISIS events involved US Citizens or that it is overwhelmingly not a travel/refugee issue at all.

    Just hire a couple of google-foo people that can buzz-in and they could rack up some high-profile slap-downs in short order.

  123. 123.

    danielx

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Trump is freaked out about the Appeals Court hearing on his Muslim ban. I suspect he’s not used to being told no or having his actions so publicly called into question.

    No great wonder about that; courts are the only places where Donald Trump has been told “no” about anything*. He found that unreasonable, since he regards everyone not personally related to him as inferiors, to greater or lesser degrees.

    *During the course of his bankruptcy proceedings.

  126. 126.

    Morzer

    @rikyrah:

    I’ve been hearing rumors that he’s been wearing a diaper for some years now, since his control of his bladder is apparently as bad as his control of his corrupt and vicious little mind. It seems we live in the Pisspants Presidenting Era.

  130. 130.

    Morzer

    @Kay:

    OTOH, Trump did shower those people with all manner of golden promises, so what happens when none of that … comes true? I suspect they aren’t all going to react with the gratitude appropriate to their Lord and Savior Donald J. MacChrist Trump.

  132. 132.

    LAC

    @rikyrah: me neither. Maybe some actual real economic shitting on by the very person they elected is overdue. I am tired of stupid scared bigots being given the gauzy soft lens treatment. Maybe actually suffering and seeing that they will not be exempted out of the impact of cuts to programs and healthcare expenses might wake them the fuck up. Clearly appeals to basic decency isn’t doing it.

  134. 134.

    Morzer

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-yemen-raid-agree-to-policy-barack-obama-would-not-do-james-matthis-qassim-al-rimi-a7566861.html

    It is currently unclear how al Rimi escaped or if he was even at the site at the time of the raid but he later released a video taunting Mr Trump as a “fool”.

    Mr Obama had reportedly been told about the plan to kill al Rimi, who took over control of the Yemeni affiliate of the terror organisation in 2015, but held off approving it because his advisors had wanted to wait until a moonless night which would not have happened again till after he left office, the New York Times reported.

    But Defence Secretary, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, reportedly convinced Mr Trump to go ahead with the raid by suggesting Mr Obama would never have been so bold as to actually go through with it.

    So, now we know that Trump is a weak-minded moron and his generals are incompetent meatheads who are capable of manipulating Donnie Putinobitch, but incapable of planning a military operation. What a wonderfully reassuring situation this is.

  135. 135.

    SFAW

    @LAC:

    Maybe actually suffering and seeing that they will not be exempted out of the impact of cuts to programs and healthcare expenses might wake them the fuck up.

    My, my, aren’t WE the optimist?

    Here’s how it will REALLY go:
    “Goddammit! My benefits is cut again because of them darkies! And them Messicans!”

  136. 136.

    Morzer

    @SFAW:

    Trump will weep golden crocodile tears and explain how he wanted to help honest, hard-working, white American men, but the eeeevil Democratic majorities in Congress and the Senate refused to work with him. And the salt of the earth (you know, morons) who have trouble counting to 10 when all their fingers are present will almost certainly believe him.

  137. 137.

    O. Felix Culpa

    IOL #53: “I’d like to see every D senator get up and read King’s letter. Let them be silenced one by one. Let’s see the optics of that.’

    They’ve started. Apparently Senator Udall is reading Coretta Scott King’s letter on the Senate floor now! Woo hoo!

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    @Morzer:

    So, now we know that Trump is a weak-minded moron and his generals are incompetent meatheads who are capable of manipulating Donnie Putinobitch, but incapable of planning a military operation. What a wonderfully reassuring situation this is.

    We knew before this of course.

    What I really fucking hate is that we have seen what the constitution really looks like to republicans. Toilet paper. Used. Of course they may still be thinking the one’s their states wrote up in the mid 1800s are in force. They have silenced a senator that they don’t like. There is no rule of law in the minds of republicans. There is nothing these tiny minded, poorly raised, petulant children will not do.

  145. 145.

    hovercraft

    @debit: You are winning right now, can’t you feel it? We have a wonderful new Education Secretary, we will soon be blessed with an Attorney General who has demonstrated his entire life how important race is to him. The entire cabinet is made up of people who are free from the corruption of previous work in the government, they are pure capitalists who will do what is best for the shareholders.
    WINNING!!

  148. 148.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay:

    Melissa McCarthy captured that aspect of the psychology so brilliantly. I know it was written for her, but she acted it to a tee!

  149. 149.

    Tazj

    @LAC: I’m tempted to feel that way myself, especially since my son came home from school the other day telling me his substitute teacher was thrilled that Trump won. She went on to say how great is was that Trump ” was going to change every thing in the country.” This was the second teacher he has that has said they were happy that Trump won. The boys in his class were all thrilled, he thinks it’s funny.
    I want to call the school and tell them that I would appreciate it if their teachers didn’t extol the “virtues” of a racist, sexist, xenophobic, ignoramus.

  152. 152.

    hovercraft

    @Morzer: The Trumpenfuror is showing just how great a president he will be, he has managed in less than three weeks, ( FSM has it really only been 18 days), to insert spines into the backs of those mushy democrats in the senate. Turtle is not helping himself either, trying to silence EW was bound to fire up the democratic base, the internets are all over this, if he had let her read the letter there would have been a brief mention about it, but now it’s blown up all over the place. Sessions was always going to be conformed, but now he’ll go in as the guy Corretta Scott King objected to, and a racist. This election and the republicans inability to not go scorched earth on our side has also riled up people who’ve never been political, even my non political sister, she votes democrat, but never paid attention, is paying attention, as are all her facebook friends. So I say carry on, democrats normally check out as soon as the voting is done, not this time.

  153. 153.

    Princess

    I think McConnell made a genuine mistake with Warren, and I think the reason he did so is that whipping is caucus for the DeVos vote was harder than it appeared on the surface. I think a few senators are worried about their DeVos votes because of the phone calls and he is getting pressure from within the GOP as well as from the White House. I think he thought unless he shut down the opposition to Sessions right quick, those antsy GOP senators would get even harder to control. I am thinking of senators who are up in 2018 in states where there is already one elected Dem.

  154. 154.

    hovercraft

    From the Vichy Times:

    Yemen Forbids U.S. Ground Missions After Flawed Raid

    By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT

    + Yemen was angered by civilian deaths, apparently including children, in a raid last month, officials said.

    + The suspension of commando operations is a setback for President Trump, who wants to take a more aggressive antiterror approach.

    I guess this presidenting thing is harder than it looks.

  156. 156.

    James Powell

    @Kay:

    They rolled the dice on this incompetent moron and unless they live with the consequences personally they’ll do it again because voting is some “expression of anger” to them instead of a hiring process.

    It’s an expression of anger and, even more, a declaration of identity. The latter, I think, is the reason their attachment to the Republicans is so strong. I do not know what to do about misogynist racists. When I was younger, I thought they would die off. I had some faith in the demographic trends and those may eventually pan out. But I’m going to die with whichever piece(s) of shit Trump puts on the supreme court still issuing 19th century rulings. It’s fucking February and I’m still so pissed off I can’t even talk to friends about this.

  157. 157.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Another Scott

    He wants to put her “on notice” and the rest of the Democrats as well, that he’s not going to tolerate certain types of debates – even though they’re fair and appropriate and necessary. He wants to make the Democrats cower here and going forward, make them worry about their words being “taken down” and the like.

    Yep. Intimidation 101. Attack one person and silence the rest out of fear. I’m hoping the Democrats stand together against this bullying and continue to push back. Love that they all voted as one against Devos. That’s very encouraging.

  158. 158.

    hovercraft

    @Major Major Major Major:
    But he kept telling us during the campaign that he would listen to the generals, except when he wouldn’t because he knows more about ISIS that the generals. I’m confused who’s in charge here, if we are attacked it’s Mattis fault because we don’t torture, but the Trumperfuror is totally in charge because he’s the smartest president evah, but this failed raid is Obama and the generals fault? What exactly is his area of responsibility?

  159. 159.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    I was working with some prisoners in a literacy class and a couple of them had no idea that the blue stuff was water.

    That both fascinates and saddens me. It seems so self-evident, but I suppose there was a time when had to actively learn cartographical legends.

  160. 160.

    Yarrow

    @Bupalos:

    News organizations really have an opportunity to set themselves apart with upping their real-time fact-check game.

    I think fact checking must be increasing in popularity. I caught a minute or two of the Today Show this morning and after talking about the various political things (DeVoss confirmation, immigration case) they did a fact check on Trump’s claim that crime is up by 47% and is at the highest level ever (or whatever lie he said). They even had a graphic intro for it and Matt Lauer said “It’s time for the Today Fact Check.” Somehow they still managed to leave the impression Trump wasn’t totally lying. No surprise.

  161. 161.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Bupalos:

    Since he was dumb enough to actually name the study, it took me 18 seconds to find that the real number there would be 7.5% and of course that includes the Bowling Green massacre as an “attack” with 0% Syrians, and the number of any refugees involved in any events at all since Obama tightened up vetting is 0%.

    This is important. Why couldn’t NPR do what you did and do a follow up report? Why do they allow politicians to lie so blithely and get away with it? This is why I don’t regret my decision to stop watching news programs altogether after the Election. I can get my news from websites like this one (BJ, LGF, LGM, JMG) just as well without the lying. Plus, I subscribe to Washington Post which is pretty good. Too many liars on radio/tv news programs to make them of any use.

  164. 164.

    hovercraft

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Intimidation 101. Attack one person and silence the rest out of fear. I’m hoping the Democrats stand together against this bullying and continue to push back. Love that they all voted as one against Devos. That’s very encouraging.

    Their boss is also trying it out on the 9th Circuit, I don’t think it’s going to have the effect he wants.

    Trump Criticizes Judges Deciding On His Order: ‘Courts Seem To Be So Political’

    By Matt Shuham Published February 8, 2017, 9:56 AM EDT

    President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a federal appeals court would earn “respect” if it allowed for the immediate enforcement of his immigration executive order.

    Speaking to the Major County Sheriffs’ Association and Major Cities Chiefs Association joint conference, Trump began his remarks by talking about the case, which will determine whether his immigration executive order can be enforced in the immediate short term.

    “It is really incredible to me that we have a court case that is going on so long,” Trump said of the appeal process, before reading a paragraph of the law under which lawyers argued for his authority to suspend immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. “A bad high school student would understand this,” he later said of the law’s wording.

    Later, Trump addressed the three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the case, though the President refrained from criticizing them directly.

    “I listened to a panel of judges and I’ll comment on that — I will not comment on the statements made by certainly one judge, but I have to be honest that if these judges wanted to, in my opinion, help the court in terms of respect for the court, they’d do what they should be doing,” he said.

    Later, he returned to the court, seemingly trying to restrain himself.

    “And I don’t ever want to call a court biased so I won’t call it biased, and we haven’t had a decision yet. But courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what’s right,” he said. “And that has to do with the security of our country, which is so important. Right now we are at risk because of what happened.”

  165. 165.

    Major Major Major Major

    @hovercraft: Republicans can only be failed. Even when they hold all three branches of government and a near-supermajority of the states they don’t have any actual responsibility for things.

    @Yarrow: even fact checking isn’t that useful outside the pointy-headed poindexter circles. In psych studies people seem to just hear the lie followed by a bunch of Charlie Brown teacher noises.

    @Patricia Kayden: I still like NPR’s non-news programming a lot, including the bulk of All Things Considered, APM and local programming.

  168. 168.

    JosieJ (not Josie)

    @Morzer:

    Thank you. Thank you very much. That will be ever so comforting to me when they yank my Social Security Disability and I’m forced to pay out of pocket for a very expensive open-heart surgery (since my Medicare coverage depends on my disabled status). Of course, I could always forgo it and die, but why should I have to pay the ultimate price for somebody else’s bad choices?

  169. 169.

    hovercraft

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I think it’s sad, I remember as a kid the picture books were full of images of rivers, lakes and oceans, not knowing that the blue is water means that no one ever read those books to/ with them, they were not exposed at all to books. I’m a reader, I love to read, and in a pinch I’ll read just about anything, just for the sake of having something to read, it’s my escape from life’s problems, a chance for me to slow everything down and just breath. I can’t begin to imagine what my life wold be like without books.

  172. 172.

    Bobby Thomson

    Republicans will confirm and suffer the short-term blowback, and voters will forget within a few weeks.

  173. 173.

    Yarrow

    @hovercraft: Authoritarians always go after the Judiciary. So this is the first step in that.

    @Major Major Major Major: Yeah, I don’t think the fact checking works. I was more kind of amazed that they had a segment in the first 30 minutes of the show (the “newsy” half hour) and the way it was set it up left the impression it was a regular thing. I haven’t watched the Today Show in ages so I don’t really know. It did have it’s own graphic, so they didn’t just “fact check” in the middle of a story.

  174. 174.

    PIGL

    No single branch of the current federal government can be considered legitimate by anyone who is not a corrupt, lying, sack-of-shit Republican (but I repeat myself) How long will the few blue states, who contribute 2/3 of the GNP, consent to be governed on these terms? It is long past the point where these criminal lunatics should have been forcibly removed from office. If for other, better reason, the current GOP government is a clear threat to your national security

  175. 175.

    Aleta

    In that clip of T speaking to the sheriffs about his EO, he’s pretending that the judges’ questions were not about legality, but about their lack of comprehension. This isn’t because he’s stupid. It’s his (stupid) way of trying to deflect.

  176. 176.

    DesertFriar

    McConnell is just reveling in “textualism” of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate
    Next on his agenda:

    SR Rule XXV: Standing Committee
    – Eliminating chairs for the Democrats

    SR Rule XXVII: Committee Staff
    – Since the Republicans are crooks and their voters sheep, McConnell orders a replica of the Pope’s staff

    SR Rule XXXVII: Conflict of Interest
    – Yeah right!

    But he’s gotten Trumplethinskin’s attention on this one.

    SR Rule XVII: Motions to Discharge

  177. 177.

    The Moar You Know

    Trump Criticizes Judges Deciding On His Order: ‘Courts Seem To Be So Political’

    @hovercraft: Of course he wouldn’t know this (no snark). His dealings with the courts have all been over money and property.

    Whole new world out there, Donald. Learning is fun! Well, to be honest, it won’t be fun for you.

    ETA: rest of your comment is comedy gold. Someone told him in no uncertain terms to STFU and behave nicely, like he’s talking to his dad, when it comes to the court system.

  179. 179.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Tell her you’re spending it on booze and hookers. That will mollify her.

    This would make my wife mad, but she’s mostly be disappointed that it was $25 hookers. I’m better than that, right?

  180. 180.

    Kay

    The Associated Press ‏@AP 48m48 minutes ago
    More
    BREAKING: North Carolina court temporarily blocks law that limited governor’s powers, including Cabinet appointees.

    Yay! You forget people are still toiling away on these things once they’re out of the news.

  181. 181.

    James Powell

    @Mnemosyne:

    The fact that you are still talking with your Republican family members shows that you are a much stronger and better person than I am.

    There’s this thing that happens with some of these trumpistas, when it begins to dawn on them that their vote for “This’ll really piss off all those people I hate” was a stupid idea, when they joy they felt reveling in making fun of every liberal they knew throughout the holiday season begins to wear off, that they dig in even harder on their insistence that putting this asshole in the White House was a great idea.

    I recall the same thing happening with people who were calling George W Bush our generation’s Winston Churchill only to learn he was a clueless prick who only wanted to lower taxes on the rich and play at presidentin’

  182. 182.

    Another Scott

    One for Orogeny and M^4 and the rest of us. Calculated Risk:

    From housing economist Tom Lawler: Household Projections: New Population Estimates + New Administration = Time for an Update

    When the Census Bureau released its estimates for the U.S. population in December, most press coverage focused on which states saw the fastest population growth last year. What many missed, however, was that the Census Bureau significantly reduced its population estimates for each of the past several years, with the major reason for the downward revisions stemming from reduced estimates of net international migration. The latter reductions were the result up an updated methodology used to estimate foreign-born emigration, as discussed in the following excerpt from the 2016 vintage “release notes.”

    About 1 M people “disappeared” (December 2016 USA population now estimated at 324,142,480 people)…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    hovercraft

    White House aides are already eager to dish dirt about Trump
    02/08/17 11:20 AM

    By Steve Benen

    The Huffington Post highlighted an anecdote last night that’s apparently making the rounds: Donald Trump was confused about whether a strong dollar or a weak one is better for the economy, so he placed a 3 a.m. phone call to his national security advisor, Mike Flynn, who didn’t have an answer.

    It prompted Poltiico’s Michael Crowley to joke that we’ve gone from focusing on a president fielding a scary 3 a.m. phone call to considering a president placing a scary 3 a.m. phone call.

    But as interesting as the anecdote is – a president really should have some basic familiarity with monetary policy, and he should know not to call a retired general with such questions – the fact that we’re even aware of the alleged incident is a reminder that this White House leaks like a sieve. As the Huffington Post’s piece added, what we’re hearing from Trump World frequently makes the president seem like a confused and intemperate child, but members of his team just keep leaking anyway.

    …Trump’s volatile behavior has created an environment ripe for leaks from his executive agencies and even within his White House. And while leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic, Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct. […]

    While some of the leaks are based on opposition to his policies – the travel ban on all refugees and on visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations, for instance – many appear motivated by a belief that Trump’s words, deeds and tweets pose a genuine threat.

    Throughout the campaign, there were countless reports on aides dishing about the Republican candidate and the turmoil that unfolded behind the scenes. Voters – enough of them, anyway – didn’t much care, and Trump is now in the Oval Office, where he has staffers who continue to offer unflattering behind-the-scenes insights.

    The Huffington Post’s report, for example, is the result of insights “from individuals in executive agencies and in the White House itself.”

    Four weeks into Trump’s presidency, what’s surprising is how unsurprising this has become. Members of the Republican’s team started sharing embarrassing insights literally within the first couple of days after Trump’s inauguration. As regular readers know, this has continued, more or less non-stop. Vox’s Yochi Dreazen recently noted that many of Trump’s own aides “seem to dislike him as much Democrats do.”

    A Washington Post piece last week, which characterized the White House leaks as “totally bananas,” raised the possibility that “there are people at senior levels within the administration who have major concerns about Trump and his fitness for office. In the long tradition of whistleblowers, they [may be] using selective leaks to make sure that people know what is really going on inside the White House.”

    I’m not in a position to know the leakers’ motivation – though if aides fear Trump’s unfit after four weeks, that’s something the country needs to talk about – but it’s safe to say there’s no modern precedent for a White House dishing quite this much, this early, in ways that make the sitting president sound like a buffoon.

    Postscript: In case anyone’s curious, the benefits of a strong vs. weak dollar depend on circumstances and policy goals. As Kevin Drum noted, a weak dollar “is good for boosting exports and reducing the trade deficit, so that’s probably what Trump was looking for.”

  187. 187.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @hovercraft:

    I was lucky enough to grow up, quite literally, in a bookstore that my family owned. Every room at home was filled with books, and we had a good-sized globe as well as huge atlases. Like you, I will read anything and can’t imagine a life without books. I’ve been in people’s homes in which there wasn’t a book, let alone a bookshelf or bookcase, to be seen, and it always made me almost physically uncomfortable.

  188. 188.

    hovercraft

    Hey democrats in the senate, here are your marching orders.

    A majority of Democratic voters want their congressmen to “stick to their principles” when dealing with President Donald Trump’s administration even if that means blocking all its nominations and legislation, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday.

    56 percent of Democratic voters said that Congressional Democrats “should stick to their principles” when working with the White House “even if that means blocking all legislation or nominees for government posts.”

    Just 34 percent said Democratic lawmakers should work with the White House to “get things done.”

    Just say NO !!

  189. 189.

    Larkspur

    @hovercraft: I still remember my first trip to the public library when I was really young. I was a good reader, and I went into that blond-wood floor place with all the card catalogs and the cool librarians. I got a stack of kid books and the librarian raised her eyebrow, and my mother just said, “Don’t worry, she’ll bring these back in a week and take out a bunch more”. I spent so much time at the library. I remember my first sojourn over to the “adult” section, where I found Jane Eyre. I cannot imagine my life without reading and libraries.

  190. 190.

    Larkspur

    @SiubhanDuinne: I know, a house without books is weird. I recently dog sat at a really nice place for people I genuinely respect. No books in sight! Then I opened a walk-in closet and found shelves loaded with books books books. It was a delightful relief.

  192. 192.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: Years ago, when I was on temporary disability after an injury, I planned and built a really nice, oak, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling bookcase in my living room. Silly me, when I was building it I thought I’d get to put some of my books on it. My wife filled it almost immediately and blocked me out.

    We both suffer from this illness.

  193. 193.

    hovercraft

    Conway rolls out new defense for Trump’s frequent falsehoods
    02/08/17 10:07 AM
    By Steve Benen

    During the Bush/Cheney era, when the war in Iraq intensified, reporters would routinely ask the White House for explanations for the parts of Iraq descending into chaos. The Bush administration tried to focus on the positives, effectively arguing, “What about the areas in Iraq that aren’t on fire?”

    During Herman Cain’s presidential campaign, the Republican was confronted with allegations of sexual harassment, which used to be the sort of thing that hurt candidates for national office. Cain responded at the time by effectively asking, “What about the women I knew who haven’t accused me of misconduct?”

    And yesterday, Kellyanne Conway appeared on CNN where she tried to defend her boss’ problems with the truth by effectively arguing, “What about the things Trump says that aren’t brazen lies?”

    CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Conway repeatedly about President Donald Trump’s attacks on the press and spreading of misinformation. In response, she asked if those falsehoods should matter as much as what Trump does say and do correctly.

    “How about the President’s statements that are false?” Tapper asked at one point. “I’m talking about the President of the United States saying things that are not true, demonstrably not true. That is important.”

    “Are they more important than the many things that he says that are true that are making a difference in people’s lives?” Conway asked in response.

    This is not a good argument. Conway, a senior aide in Trump’s White House, didn’t even try to make the case that the president is always truthful – there are some claims even she won’t make – instead arguing that some of the things Trump says “are true.”

    By this standard, so long as the president keeps his uncontrollable lying to 49% of his overall rhetoric, we’re apparently supposed to think the problem isn’t that bad.

    About a month ago, asked about her boss’ penchant for jaw-dropping dishonesty, Conway argued that we shouldn’t “go with what’s come out of his mouth,” but instead it’s better to “look at what’s in his heart.”

    In other words, Trump may routinely say things that aren’t true, but so long as his heart is in the right place, we can adopt a “no harm, no foul” approach to presidential scrutiny.

    This was, of course, ridiculous – if we simply can’t believe the words that come out of the president’s mouth, he can’t expect to govern – but a month later, efforts to rationalize Trump’s truth allergy haven’t improved.

    The fact that they are trying to find a new way to spin his lies means they know that the constant lies and the bumbling are hurting them. Who knew living under the klieg light was so tough? Every pore is exposed and it never goes out. WINNING !! The Gallup Daily Tracking Poll disagrees but it’s just a fake poll!

  195. 195.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:

    James Grimmelmann‏ @grimmelm
    Then, as now, “dignity” and “respect” for the institution trumped open debate on actual issues of urgent importance. 13/

  196. 196.

    evodevo

    @sherparick1: Yes. I followed Naked Capitalism for years after the debacle of 2008….and then, last year, they started on a shrill anti-Obama anti-Hillary track that just put me off. I quit logging on in Nov. and don’t even read it now.

  198. 198.

    Major Major Major Major

    @evodevo:

    Yes. I followed Naked Capitalism for years after the debacle of 2008….and then, last year, they started on a shrill anti-Obama anti-Hillary track that just put me off.

    I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that they’re connected to Russian propaganda efforts.

  199. 199.

    donnah

    @Larkspur:

    Such a great memory! Mine was similar. My dad took me to the massive downtown library when I was about six, and he led me up to the children’s reading area. He told me I could borrow any books, and I built up a big pile. I lugged them to the check out desk and hoped they would let me borrow all of them. I timidly asked the librarian how many books I could take, and she smiled at me and said, “As many as you can carry, honey”. One of my best memories of my dad and of libraries.

  202. 202.

    gvg

    Our local library limits us to 99 books at a time. It used to be unlimited, but I was told about 3 people in the county had been checking out thousands at a time, causing shortages for others. Some sort of mental issue, their houses were described as the books were the furniture. Anyway, I thought the solution was thoughtful.
    I was surprised it was so high, but the librarians said that teachers would check out enough copies for a whole class!

    In my childhood my parents designated Wednesday as library night. We ate dinner, then went downtown and spent the whole evening all finding what we wanted for the week. I loved it. I also had access to my moms own library from 2nd grade on. She was a high school english teacher at the time but did not steer me away from things such as Greek mythology which was kinda shocking at that age. My second woodworking project was building bookcases. I expect to have to do more soon.

  203. 203.

    debit

    @Larkspur: My eyes are crap and reading on actual paper hurts. So I have very few physical books now, but my Kindle is loaded. Still, it’s nothing compared to my library before I moved. I have a van with three rows of seats and it took 5 fully loaded trips to Goodwill before I reached the “ok to throw away” books.

  204. 204.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    @Raven: I always bring a book.

    Or a tablet, with which to surf Balloon-Juice… AND a book, and the morning newspaper, and maybe a magazine. And snacks, unless its an appointment type for which that isn’t recommended.

    How did things go?

  205. 205.

    J R in WV

    @Patricia Kayden:

    “. I can get my news from websites like this one (BJ, LGF, LGM, JMG) just as well”

    Patricia, who or what is the JMG blog you mention? It doesn’t ring any bells, but maybe that’s just my ears off duty!

    Thanks!

  206. 206.

    LAC

    @SFAW: no WE are not the optimist. WE just get tired of being told that WE have to work some compassion buttons in order to make WWCs care.Let their self interest be their compass. I could give a rats ass

    And yeah, I know all about us being blamed for shit by dumb bigots . And?

  207. 207.

    The Lodger

    @hovercraft: I think kids don’t associate blue with water because there are so many black-and white handouts in schools instead of books with color maps.

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