.
As it happened, we only got about a foot of light, fluffy snow here north of Boston, and the snowblower (which is, thank goddess, in the Spousal Unit’s domain) dealt with the accumulation handily. Hope those of you suffering from other weather events — whether Nola’s tornado, California’s mudslides, or just the random insults of freaky February in the Anthropogenic Era — can recover with equal ease!
***********
Good advice from someone who knows — Barney Frank, at Policy.mic, “Here’s how to not waste your time pressuring lawmakers“:
After 32 years in the House of Representatives, here is my advice on how people opposed to President Donald Trump’s assault on our basic values — a majority of those who voted last November — can best influence members of Congress. Done the right way, communications from citizens can have a significant impact on legislators, even when they claim to be immune to “pressure.” (“Pressure,” in legislative jargon, is the expression of views with which legislators disagree, as opposed to “public opinion” — the term used for sentiments that reinforce their own.)
The key to doing it right is being clear about the goal, which is to persuade the Senator or Representative receiving the communication that how he or she votes on the issue in question will affect how the sender will vote the next time the legislator is on the ballot…
Make sure you’re registered to vote — lawmakers check.
Many office holders will check this, especially for people who write to them frequently. Elected officials pay as much attention to those who are not registered to vote as butchers do to the food preferences of vegetarians.Lawmakers don’t care about people outside of their district…
Your signature — physical or electronic — on a mass petition will mean little.
You are trying to persuade the recipient of your communication that you care enough about an issue for it to motivate your voting behavior. Simply agreeing to put your name on a list does not convey this…The communication must be individual. It can be an email, physical letter, a phone call or an office visit. It need not be elaborate or eloquent — it is an opinion to be counted, not an essay. But it will not have an impact unless it shows some individual initiative.
Know where your representative stands…
Communicate — even if you and your representative disagree.
…[E]ven where you are represented by people whom you know oppose you on an issue, communicate anyway. Legislators do not simply vote yes or no on every issue. If enough people in a legislator’s voting constituency express strong opposition to a measure to which that legislator is ideologically or politically committed, it might lead him or her to ask the relevant leadership not to bring the bill up. Conflict avoidance is a cherished goal of many elected officials.Say “thank you.” …
Enlist the help of friends in other districts.
Your direct communication with legislators outside your voting area will have no impact. But you do have friends, relatives, associates etc. Find out who the potentially influenceable legislators are on issues of prime importance to you, think about people you may know in their constituencies, and ask those who share your views to communicate with those who represent them…
Yeah, you say: Obvious! But you can read the whole thing (it’s not long), forward it to your acquaintance who think that Change.org petition is the height of civic involvement, share it on social media for the use of those who aren’t as politically woke as us BJ regulars…
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up another busy busy week?
NotMax
Repeating for the morning crowd.
Is it creaky? Yes. Is it clunky? Yup. Is it stilted? Uh-huh. Is it trite? Indubitably. Is it dated? You betcha.
Nevertheless, an exemplar of the learning curve of Hollywood while transitioning from silents to sound films. Rising above the middling material, every moment he is on screen 62-year-old George Arliss is mesmerizingly modern (he received an Oscar nomination for best actor, his second consecutive best actor nomination) and obviously enjoying himself no end. Worth watching just to marvel at his skill.
TCM, Saturday, 7 a.m. – The Green Goddess (1930)
Jeffro
Holy cow, you go to bed at a decent hour, you miss eight threads…
…ah well, happy Friday everyone! Be happy warriors today!
OzarkHillbilly
Anybody home? Nice that Anne was able to dig out long enough to put up a morning thread for us.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
HinTN
@rikyrah: Good morning, sunshine.
Kay
I would never contact an employer and intervene if one of my grown children was fired. They HAVE been fired. It wouldn’t occur to me to launch a public campaign against their former employer. I can’t imagine doing it. I would never do it partly because my grown children would be horrified and embarrassed if I did. It doesn’t matter if I thought it was a good idea. THEY would be mad. They’re adults. They have their own expectations and standards of behavior.
Trump alone isn’t causing all these problems. None of these people have any ethical standards or boundaries. No one ordered Ivanka Trump to play such a huge role – sitting in on meetings, planting pieces in the press about how she and her husband influence policy- all of this is voluntary on their part. None of them have the capacity to self police- not Trump family members or Trump staff.
Peking Man
A post at language log (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=30976#more-30976) discusses Betty’s favorite name for Trump. According to the linked article in Slate the earliest known use of shitgibbon referring to Trump was in 2012! Someone was very prescient.
amk
@Kay: I wonder how this real life reality show is playing amidst the trumpanzees and the raygun ‘democrats’.
NotMax
@Kay
If the White House walls had ears:
“What’s that? The new phone book?”
“Nah, the enemies list.”
JPL
From the twitter feed of Philip Rucker of the Washington Post
WaPo homepage:
-Court against ban
-Flynn talked sanctions
-Trump calls Xi
-Kushner shadow diplomat w/ Mexico
-Conway gaffe
-WH probes leaks
Baud
@amk: He’s a member of their clan and we are not. That’s all they care about.
Baud
@Kay: You’re either a bad mom or not a billionaire.
Kay
I contacted Latta in the US House about the Trump staff and family ethical breaches. He’s my congressman. I doubt he’ll do anything because he’s 1. a potted plant and 2. he only has the job because his father had it before him.
Republicans in Congress can do something about this. It’s bullshit that they’re helpless. Congress has huge power in our scheme of government and they have a majority. They’re allowing the Trump family and Trump’s low quality hires to make the United States part of their personal “brand”. They’re not even improving the brand! The brand was BETTER before it was associated with them.
Baud
@JPL:
No emails. All is well.
Mom Says I'm Handsome
It’s helpful to hear from those in the know about which efforts to contact lawmakers are effective, and which ones pass like a fart on the wind. In the past five days I’ve left three voice messages for my senator, Cory Gardner (CO – 3:10 To Yuma), and thanks to the new voicemail system he boasts has “infinite” capacity, he and his staff will hear from me another 600 times before we vote his Tea Party ass out in 2020.
debbie
@Kay:
I thought the turnout at Chaffetz’s town hall was great. I’m not sure which side they were on, but it was good to see a Republican getting a lot of noisy shit.
Kay
@Baud:
I’ve fired people. I don’t know what I’d say if their dad called me. Nordstrom really has to explain that the line isn’t selling? To the President?
There are thousands of lines of women’s clothing. It’s HUGELY competitive. The displays and racks are like valuable real estate- there’s only so much. You would think the real estate heirs would get that immediately.
Quinerly
Good morning from Cerrillos, NM! Great day in Santa Fe yesterday. Wonderful night hanging with friends here in their beautiful home. The coyotes did keep Poco, the city dog, wound up most of the night, though. Starting our 4th day of the 6 week road trip with a hike through Cerrillos Hills State Park. Have a great day and thanks for all the will wishes yesterday!
Taylor
@Kay: We’re now getting a feel for what ‘L’Etat, c’est moi” is like.
JPL
@Quinerly: Send pictures to Anne!
Kay
@debbie:
I listened to some of the clips that were posted on Twitter. The “do your job” chant seemed to be about Congress not holding Trump(s) accountable for ethical/legal breaches. We should pursue that. Trump made good use of calling everyone else crooks in his campaign. These people are sleazy. They’re vulnerable on sleaziness.
liberal
They could impeach that prick tomorrow if they wanted to. They choose not to, and continue to endanger the nation.
Repeat after me: any Democratic candidate for Congress in 2018 who does not nationalize his/her election campaign is incompetent.
Baud
@Kay:
Someone needs to start a meme regarding Ivanka and participation trophies.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
satby
@Jeffro: yeah, I have to catch up all morning.
Baud
@satby: Nah, it’s all crap after I go to bed.
Have you been absent more lately or is it me?
satby
@Baud: more absent, it’s kind of you to notice. I’m feeling a bit burned out by everything, so I’m trying to pace myself to keep engaged. I catch up on lots of threads after the fact, though too late to chime in.
debbie
@Baud:
She’s also lost Marshall’s, which is pretty sad.
@Kay:
I’m not surprised by the sleaze, having known about Trump since the late 1970s. I’d like people to also focus on his outrageous belief that the executive branch isn’t accountable to the judicial branch.
Last night, Colbert said something about Trump’s having to ask if a strong or a weak dollar was good for the economy. Really??? If nothing else, this belies his “reputation” of being good at business.
James E Powell
@amk:
As long as he’s pissing off liberals, they love him.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Cerrillos Hills State Park is known for it’s tarantulas.
satby
@Quinerly: @OzarkHillbilly: uh-oh, hope she’s not gone yet and sees that. Or already knows that.
Immanentize
Why doesn’t Evan McMullin prove he is the real deal and not a grifter by finding someone to primary Chavetz? I think his earnest Morman self, with maybe a little Romney backing would work.
Baud
@satby: Lots of good people are posting less frequently. It’s sad.
p.a.
Huh. Here in S New England the stuff weighed a ton, especially what dropped the first half of the storm: instant ice when you compress it. I’m in the Pawtucket Y parking lot waiting for them to open- 8am (normally 5:30) Apparently their plowing contractor has never heard of salt n sand (and it’s sloped, not level). Should have brought ice skates.
WereBear
And the Trump administration has wiped out data from the Department of Agriculture about mistreatment of animals, closing down puppy mills, and testing pet food.
Trump wipes animal welfare data
Recalls of dangerous pet food? Now we don’t have to worry about them. We won’t know.
Keith Olberman: Life in Trump’s America just got worse for your dog
Baud
@Immanentize: Yeah, people keep praising him for being a Republican who is going after Trump hard, but what has he actually done to organize an opposition?
satby
@debbie: I did too, and that they clearly expressed their anger with his positions so well that he ran away after cutting the meeting short. But I just read the piece from Barney Frank and it’s killing me how many people don’t vote. It’s all for naught if we don’t get these people out voting.
satby
@Baud: well, the ones I communicate with offline (like Watergirl) are still around but super busy IRL. They’ll be back.
Lapassionara
Good morning. I think it was Kay who pointed out that his incompetence may matter most to the voting public, and anything that punctures the myth of his “competence” is worth amplifying. The unethical stuff bothers me a lot, and I think he is a walking emoluments clause violation, but I don’t think most of his supporters care about that. I recall that a lot of people stood by Nixon until they learned, when the tapes were published, that he used expletives every other word. Then he was toast.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Look on the bright side, it creates room for all us horrific types to post more.
WereBear
If there was a clue hammer… I’d use it.
Over and over I get into this subject with non-voters. “Guess what? You don’t vote. You are invisible.”
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hiked it many times! Never seen one. Last year when Poco and I stayed in neighboring Madrid, NM for a month we were in and out of that sweet little park a couple times a day. If anyone is ever in the area, check out the old “Cerrillos Catholic Cemetery” on the right of the dirt road before you enter the park. Most NM cemeteries are pretty great (my favorites are in Nambe and outside of Truchas)but this one is easily in the top 5. And good morning to you, Mr. Hillbilly! Our friend, Red, checked in….my house is secure and the kitties are stoned on Red’s special blend……of kitty nip.❤
amk
@James E Powell: The thing is we are gonna win big, so big that you’ll be tired of winning and the draining the swamp memes are taking yuuuge hit after hit every day. This must open the eyes of fucking raygun democrats and the gullible union fools at the very least, no?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s why I’m still here.
p.a.
@satby: What do people here think of a movement to do away with the EC? We certainly have the argument in our favor and: W and tRump, and maybe the time and public attention is right. Worth/not worth the resources needed? Tying it to Voting Rights movement(s)/orgs?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: speak of, where’s raven? He mentioned his test went ok yesterday, anyone see him since?
Baud
@amk: Trump has one job with them and that is to dominate us psychologically. If he fails at that, then they will get discouraged IMHO.
satby
@Baud: without you, we are bereft.
Baud
@p.a.: I support a popular vote.
amk
@Baud: even the trump curious or supporting dems?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Tried Morning Joe – they were making concerned faces and bringing on RWNJ “experts” who were going on and on about how the 9th was “wrong”.
Turned it off before I ever saw a commercial from an advertiser to boycott.
Thinking of taking a news break and doing net surfing that is more edifying and pleasing. Maybe a combination of clickbait and porn…
HRA
I know from personal experience that some lawmakers do care about people out of their district.
Some years back I had advocated a problem for a very close relative that concerned the military. My own representative in Congress would not even offer any advice for the solution to it. He really did not care.
I had been surfing the TV when I came across a Congressman giving a speech to the House of Representatives. I chose him to petition for aid in the problem. I called his office and spoke to an aide. The next day the Congressman called me personally and told me he would work on it. He kept his word and solved it.
OzarkHillbilly
I think the time has come to change the name of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the more appropriate SchutzStaffel.
Baud
@satby: You spelled “better off” wrong.
@amk: I think a very small number of them were star struck by Trump’s celebrity, and a slightly greater number were simply misogynist. Those people may return to the fold more easily.
Being a Dem doesn’t really mean much. We’ve been hemorrhaging white people since 1964. Some Dems are simply legacy Dems.
aimai
@Kay: Its silly to keep talking like Trump thinks that business is about business and money talks/bullshit walks. That’s not the kind of developer or businessman he is–he knows perfectly well that you can make money by forcing some other guy to take your losing product off your hands, or licensing your name, or marking up shit way over its value and then dumping it and taking a tax loss. He doesn’t care about Nordstrom’s bottom line–that’s not his problem. Nordstrom’s is just another sucker who needs to be conned, or browbeaten, into signing on the dotted line to buy a condo that is yet unbuilt. If he’s annoyed its just that the target left the room before the deal closed.
Immanentize
@Baud: I hate to admit it, but I really believe there is a huge space for a sane and moderate republican movement right now. Look at our MA Governor, Baker. Luckily for Dems, Reagan’s eleventh commandment prevents such a group from acting to gain power.
satby
@p.a.: I’m honestly not sure that resources for that wouldn’t better be spent building a better Democratic party and turning out the vote. The EC was designed to be the last line of defense, but as long as the electors belong to the “party before country and Constitution” party, it isn’t functional. But if the Democratic party gets back into the game at all levels of government and rebalances the system, we should be ok with the EC again.
The failure there wasn’t really the EC, it was that Republicans sold their souls to the devil.
OzarkHillbilly
@HRA: Who was it?
Baud
@Immanentize: I don’t know. I think Hillary believed that Trump was a bridge too far to that cohort, and it turned out that they are either tiny in number or not as sane or moderate as we would like.
Baud
@Immanentize: Remember that before Baker, Romney was the sane and moderate Republican governor from Massachusetts.
HRA
@OzarkHillbilly:
Bill Paxon
Immanentize
@Baud: I think there is a pretty sizable number of republicans who are really disgusted with Trump. But they hated on Hillary more. Maybe a third? Of Trump voters hate being now associated with the guy. If I had the cash, I would commission a poll that asked two questions: “If the election was held today, who would you vote for (Trump or Hillary)” and “Who did you vote for?” There is always drop off and self-misreporting on the latter question when the president’s popularity drops. I would love to know if there is significant drop off already — buyers remorse? That would answer your question.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Oh, this isn’t fair. Ivanka needs to reach under her pillow, roll over and hand him his phone back – the tweet delay is killing me!
Tripod
@Immanentize:
They’ll elect nice polite Democrats that are anti-tax and pro biz – this will make wilmers supports nuts; but why fight for legacy voters and districts that don’t want to be on the team?
Immanentize
@Baud: I know — I think Romney was not a bad national candidate but he had two big problems — he was from (evil liberal bad) Massachusetts and he was running against B. Obama, perhaps the political greatest of all time. Or at least since the end of WWII.
Baud
@Immanentize: Such a poll after the fact would be even more meaningless than the polls that showed Hillary winning prior to the election.
Tripod
@Baud:
Also in the wrong places for the EC.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
Reality begs to differ. Being sane is the surest way to be tagged a RINO and primaried.
Baud
@Tripod: Yep.
amk
///
hoo cudda thunk.
Immanentize
@Tripod: I am not sure who “they” is referring to in your comment — but democrats better figure out how to fight for a lot more team members if we want to have our policies enacted or enforced. We are in a very bad place right now.
Tripod
@amk:
They love a heel turn. Just as long as the heel gets his in the end.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: maybe. But I worry very much that our next president will be a “sane” republican who fights against Trump and wins that primary. All the drama in the primary would be on that fight and who would the Dems run?
OzarkHillbilly
@HRA: A New York Republican. As I recall he was fairly sane. Nice that he helped you.
SFAW
@debbie:
So she’s lost the high-priced crowd, she’s lost the “off-price” crowd. The middle class is no longer large enough to matter — not that she’d shoot for that demographic, I mean, they’re like servants and stuff!
Maybe Shitgibbon can create a Cabinet-level Department of (shitty) Style, and make her the Tsarina (“Don’t call me a ‘secretary,’ Daddy! I’m more important than that!”) of (shitty) Style. Or make her Ambassadoress to Israel?
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: I can’t find the time to worry about what Republicans might run with after Trump, I’m too busy worrying about what Trump is doing now. :-(
That being said, I think your worries are a little misplaced. Trump is the uber-Republican. He represents everything they say they are in favor of, and is pushing their preferred policies forward at breakneck speed despite opposition that has already reached historical proportions. If Trump actually serves his full term, the GOP brand will be so broken they will be unable to win a national election for at least 4 years.
Or at least, that is my delusion.
SFAW
@HRA:
I haven’t seen much of him since Twister, I was wondering where he landed.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Is that four years starting (approximately) now?
ETA: My frat had a slogan: “Not four years, but a lifetime!” If the Rethugs get their way, that’s how long we’ll be stuck with Shitgibbon.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you. The comment you were responding to was despair fodder.
A lot can happen in three years. A lot can happen this year. Courage, and don’t wallow or look for despair.
Morzer
https://newrepublic.com/article/140245/obamas-lost-army-inside-fall-grassroots-machine
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Depends on how people react to the fact that there are no more dog whistles.
Tripod
@Immanentize:
Moderate R leaning suburban voters. House D establishment is scratching it’s head and wondering if maybe they should target suburban Clinton districts, rather than traditional out country Democratic areas that now have Trump +20 PVI’s.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Trump is working to make it even longer than that, but I have faith in the American electorates very short attention span. One could be forgiven for thinking that after W people would say, “Never again…” but never under estimate our capacity for collective stupidity.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Morzer:
Kind of a bunch of unicorns and puppies Bernfeeling bullshit.
DISCLAIMER – I hated Lotus, so I may be biased.
Baud
@Morzer: Thank you. I miss blaming Obama.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I see a whole lot of negative reactions and anger. The question is, is it sustainable? We’ll get a good feel for that in the mid terms. We all know DEMs tend to under vote in those, but if they get out in numbers, it should be a harbinger.
Again, that is my delusion.
satby
@Baud: yeah, it’s like no one ever heard of civic duty, responsible citizenship, yada yada yada before Obama came along.
Seriously, I am sick of some people looking at everything but themselves and their privilege to blame for what happened. The ones who didn’t vote, or voted third party, because their vote isn’t an act of joining with fellow citizens in civic responsibility but a comment on their special and unique value system and pure intentions.
Morzer
@Baud:
What a waste of time the Democratic party is.
amk
@Morzer: LOL.
Tazj
@Immanentize:
That about sums how much due diligence these people put into their decision about the election. California farmers who voted for 45 are now frightened that there will be no one to harvest their crops. Some people are now worried that he might really repeal the ACA(these 45 voters I might have the most sympathy for). Others might now claim to be upset to have seen families separated because of the ban but loved his rhetoric during the campaign.
I have nothing but disdain for the majority of “reluctant” 45 voters who are only now seeing the light.
O. Felix Culpa
@Kay:
Apparently it’s political theater. Nordstrom informed Ivanka about discontinuing her line in January.
Per The Atlantic:
Baud
@Morzer: Agreed. The Dems spent the last 8 years moving left with no discernible electoral benefit. A complete waste of time.
Jeffro
@JPL:
I know, right? When I got our dead-tree edition out of its plastic bag this morning, I was like “heeeeyyyy…hap-py FRIDAY!” =)
And that’s not just “Trump calls Xi” either – it’s “Trump agrees to honor the ‘one China’ policy”, too. He does have some serious financial interests over there and I’m sure Good Sir Jared reminded him about that.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I like your delusions.
Immanentize
@Elizabelle: realists look at the moon.
Jeffro
@amk: love the Favreau tweet, that’s basically the whole ballgame right there, isn’t it?
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: So do I, that’s why I feed them regularly and richly.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t. But I’m sure Betsy DeVos will turn that around.
Elizabelle
@Immanentize: Which means what?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s why I continue to play the lottery.
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly:
After seeing the footage of that Chaffetz town hall, I don’t think it’s any delusion. These clowns are going to have nowhere to run – if they show up, they have to answer questions and they have no good answers. If they don’t show, they get “MISSING: my MoC” posters slapped up all over their district.
You know, when Trump was elected, many a columnist noted that “our institutions [were] going to be tested as never before.” Well it isn’t going smoothly or well thanks to the GOP’s utter corruption and refusal to enforce any standard beyond ‘whatever keeps us in power = good’, but it’s still going, at least. This creaky old system is responding.
Btw while I was swimming laps this morning, I was returning to my thoughts of what – in magical unicorn fairy land – we ought to do as a country to get ourselves back on an even keel, repair the damage, inoculate ourselves better against the next Orangemandias, and move forward. I bet if I push myself a bit, I could get a short book out by June. So in addition to losing 30 pounds by summer, that’s the goal here!
OzarkHillbilly
Via Josh Marshall, my word for the day: Tergiversation
1: evasion of straightforward action or clear-cut statement : equivocation
2: desertion of a cause, position, party, or faith
As in,
SFAW
@Baud:
Not sure why you no longer can. I mean, Shitgibbon and the Rethugs (which may or may not be a good name for a band) will be doing that for as long as they can — four years at least, eight when Trump gets re-elected..
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Elitist.
LAC
@Elizabelle: ditto on the thank you to Ozark. Despair porn is pop up I can do without. Black history month (well, just about every month) is a reminder about facing the fight with resolve. I keep that in my heart.
Elizabelle
@SFAW: comments like that might be why people are staying away from Balloon Juice.
I’m serious. It’s self-defeating. Too many of those on a thread and I just stay away.
Elizabelle
@LAC: Thank you.
To those who want to talk about eight years of Trump, put a fucking sock in it.
Grow some balls.
LAC
@Morzer: so, besides your usual “bernistas are people too”, now it was obama’s fault, 8 years ago. Good to see you are not just one note, but two.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
“But vote for Hillary? Well, I just don’t know, there’s something about her that seems too … I don’t know, just SOMETHING.”
I figure the number of Trumpistas that “turn” would be about the same as “mainstream” Rethugs who said they wouldn’t support Shitgibbon … and stuck to it. Meaning, nigh on zero.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: That is such a depressing thought. Thanx, my day can only get better from here. ;-)
Jeffro
Btw folks, if we consider what Flynn did in talking to the Russians, and how it set Pence up to be seen as a liar…it’s not hard to see the GOP lining up to force Flynn (and Bannon too btw) out. This should send Trump over the edge (obviously) as they’re his top two guys besides Kushner and Priebus (who’s not really Trump’s guy anyway)
I can see the Republican Civil War kicking off before March. I mean, that’s also what I want to happen, so I’ll re-evaluate. But Flynn and Bannon are clearly the two who the more mainstream Rs would like to see gone.
ThresherK
@O. Felix Culpa: The staff at TJMaxx/Marshalls are also trying to distance themselves from Ivanka Trump’s line.
I’m much more a TJMaxx/Marshall’s shopper (still a bachelor at heart), however I’d like to have some reporter ask Trump about how his brand name is becoming too disreputable for Marshall’s, let alone Nordstrom.
hovercraft
@Immanentize:
I don’t think that group is as large as you think it is. JEB ! was what passes for a normal run of the mill republican these days was the best financed and least successful candidate in the primary, while it may be true that the media always over stated his chances, and they may have been eager to overlook the legacy of his brothers presidency and the drag that would be. It still doesn’t explain the inability of Rubio to catch fire, he had glowing media, money and the hollow image as a serious hawk, but he couldn’t break through. I know everyone goes back to the Shitgibbon only winning a plurality of the votes, but that is an accomplishment in a field that large, Hillary was deemed by many a weak nominee because she didn’t blow Wilmer out of the water. But back to the republicans, this is who they are, right now the Shitgibbon’s approval rating with republicans is 80%. So at most right now only 20% disapprove of him which is astounding.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
Give me a fucking break. You pick out a throwaway line from some mild snark directed at Baud, and now I’m part of the reason why people “stay away”?
You don’t see me running around here, screeching “whatever will we do? Oh my gracious!” etc., etc.
But also, if you think that Trump doesn’t currently have the advantage for 2020 — no matter how many “buyer’s remorse” stories we hear about — then you’re kidding yourself. It took the Iraq disaster to get people to consider not re-electing W, and that was a lot closer (time-wise) to the 2004 election. Can Trump maintain his level of evil/stupidity/insanity — enough to get him to below-27-percent land — for another three years? (Yes, I know he’s close to it now. So was Rick Scott, a year before he won re-election)
Doesn’t mean we stop trying to keep him (and Yertle and ZEGS and Bannon) from destroying the America we love. It just means that it’ll be harder to overcome. It takes a lot of effort to reverse 40 years of Rethugs trying to return America to pre-New Deal (or pre-Civil War) times, but it can be done.
James Powell
Looking around for the next generation of Democratic leaders who matter nationally I’m seeing and hearing Kirsten Gillibrand, Jason Kander, and Kamala Harris. Am I missing anybody?
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Glad I could be of service. Although some might disagree.
D58826
OT – we are going to need a bigger swamp –
https://politicalwire.com/2017/02/09/ken-starr-frontrunner-job-trump-administration/?utm_content=bufferc49ea&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
hovercraft
@amk:
It’s mind boggling that this moron somehow thought that being president was just another thing he could yada, yada his way through. I know he’s gotten away with that for the past 70 years, but this is the presidency not the ponzi scheme of an empire he’s built, he’s now actually responsible for stuff. The stupid myth that America is just like a business needs to be laid to rest once and for all, America can’t just cut of the unprofitable divisions, I’m looking at you MS and AL, you can’t lay off the unproductive members of society, and you can’t just declare bankruptcy and walk away, your creditors are mostly American retirees and corporations.
I hope and pray that he’s miserable, everyone hates him, everyone is constantly laughing at how ignorant and inept he is, the respect he expected for getting the brass ring never came, and the ring turns out to be a plastic one made in China.
OzarkHillbilly
@James Powell: Tho I don’t see her moving out of the Senate, Elizabeth Warren belongs on that list too.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
I love my senior Senator, but she’s a few months away from turning 68. I’d vote for her in a heartbeat, would work for her org, etc., but she unfortunately is not of the “next generation.”
Doug R
The foot of snow here and 2 feet in Abbotsford is finally washing away. However, ALL 3 highways to the interior of our province are closed due to avalanche conditions. The only way out right now is through the United States. Fortunately we don’t have to go anywhere this weekend. Storm forces closure of highways linking B.C.’s south coast, Interior
Elizabelle
@SFAW: You have been a pretty consistent purveyor of despair porn.
Who does that benefit? It’s not as “intelligent” a stance as you think, and it’s enervating.
Elizabelle
@Doug R: Hope you are well provisioned, with some good company and books.
James Powell
@OzarkHillbilly:
I didn’t include Warren because she’s already a Democrat who matters nationally, but she’s definitely showing leadership.
Does Franken merit inclusion? I really like the guy, but he seems mostly concerned with being senator from Minnesota.
hovercraft
@Morzer:
Bullshit.
Obama was the most progressive president we’ve had in decades. People who think their responsibility ends election day deserve what they get. Every politician needs to be pushed to do the right thing, you have to make them do it. The GOP mobilized after the ’08 election, I know a lot of the protests were astroturfed, but they still got people out there who the media covered as proof that Obama’s agenda was unpopular. Where were these precious purity ponies when this was going on, were they out on the streets encouraging democrats to stand up for the things that were important to them, were they telling them they’d have their backs if they voted the right way? No they sat back and watched, in fact they piled on, they demanded the perfect health care plan. OFA made mistakes, but they did initially try to keep people engaged but since they barely got a response they eventually gave up, far too easily in my opinion, but they did try. The democratic base went back to fighting small petty territorial battles against each other and our own elected officials. Obama, Pelosi and Reid had bigger things on their plates than holding our hands back then. For those pissed off by the ACA, who chose to stay home in 2010, what about the results made you thnk even more of you staying home in 2014 was a good idea?
The Green Lantern is a comic, grow the fuck up, Obama was a great leader, if you chose to hold out for a perfect one that’s your problem. I hope you are enjoying standing up for your principles right now as the Shitgibbon and his minions destroy everything you claim to care about.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@James Powell: Baud!
Elizabelle
@hovercraft: Thank you, again.
rikyrah
@Lapassionara:
Kay is right about that. Which is why I like pushing President Bannon. How can he be so decisive if someone else is running the White House?
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: I see her as of the “next generation of Democratic leaders” because she has only been in Washington for 4 years, unlike Nancy Pelosi (30 years) or Chuck Schumer (37 yrs). Her age is of no importance to me (tho I’m sure it is to her as far as how long she remains in DC).
amk
@hovercraft: impotent bs bots are worth just a lol at this point.
chris
@Doug R: Other end of the country here. Not as bad as expected but way more coming on Sunday-Monday.
Yesterday morning looking out my front door. And today. Blecch.
hovercraft
@OzarkHillbilly:
Who knew that the new administration would broaden my vocabulary so much, all these terms I’ve learned.
Tergiversation
Maskirovka
Kakistocracy
By the time this is over I’ll be the new Scrabble champion in my house.
rikyrah
no new post about Flynn and his TREASON?
OzarkHillbilly
@James Powell: Unsure about Franken, he could step up and I can see him being effective, but I don’t see any desire to do so on his part. He’s been pretty low key his entire time in DC.
geg6
@rikyrah:
Yes, this. This is the meme that I keep pushing. He’s so incompetent that there is a shadow president who is the one actually writing the EOs. The constant stupid and misspelled tweets, especially when he should be doing the nation’s important work such as receiving intelligence briefings, just reinforce the message. Keep tweeting, Manhattan Mugabe!
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
Cynicism does not equal “despair porn.” And noting that a far-too-large percentage of the electorate is/are clueless morons whose stupidity works against a happy America is not “despair porn.” And noting that voter suppression will make it that much harder for a Dem to win in 2020 is not “despair porn.” It might be “fucking pissed” porn, however.
“Despair porn” would be me saying “Shitgibbon is really going to fuck over X, Y, and Z groups, it sucks, nothing we can do about it, oh dear.”
Of course, I’m also someone who thinks “WASF” is an accurate statement that should spur us do the work to get us un-fucked, not an “Oh woe is us, why bother?” statement.
OzarkHillbilly
@hovercraft: Heh. You have found the silver lining to this very dark cloud hovering over our nation.
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
He will not allow anyone to force his dearly beloveds out, he has the upper hand in this relationship and they all know it. Corey and Manafort in any other campaign would have been pushed out long before he pushed them, until he thinks they will hurt HIM, he will not budge.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
Been seeing a lot of profiles and interviews with him in just the last few weeks. Don’t know if that’s purposeful on his part or just what happens when he is suddenly very high profile due the committees on which he sits having a lot of controversial hearings recently due to the confirmation process.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Fair enough.
hovercraft
@James Powell:
Seth Moulton (sic), I’m still holding out hope that the Castro brothers will come live up to the hype and become national players,that I think rounds out the young-uns, then we also have the EW’s, Sherrod Brown, Hickenlooper is good on some things and not so much on others, but I’m not sure if that’s because of the purple nature of his state.
OzarkHillbilly
@geg6: I am hopeful then, I’d like to see him step up.
tobie
@James Powell: I really like Kander but wonder what he can do to stay in the public eye now that he doesn’t hold an elected office. I thought his term as Attorney General of MO ended in 2016.
Woodrow/asim
@Immanentize: From the prior post, there is at least one challenger to Chaffetz, just announced.
LAC
@hovercraft: thank you! Fucking tired of this one.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@hovercraft: *applause*
geg6
@tobie:
I saw on FB that he is starting his own voting rights organization. And good for him. It’s a great thing to do and will give him some credibility with the people who do work in that area.
Tazj
@tobie: He just launched a group called “Let America Vote.” I just see someone else has explained this. I hope he does well in the future.
geg6
@Woodrow/asim:
Sounds like he’d be slightly better than Chaffetz, based on the article anyway. Probably the best you could hope for in that district.
LAC
@SFAW:
“And noting that a far-too-large percentage of the electorate is/are clueless morons whose stupidity works against a happy America is not “despair porn”
It isn’t.?
SFAW
Not that he’s “next generation,” and not that he has any interest in running for office again, but is there any reason the Dems do not use Barney Frank in a more widespread fashion? He’s certainly smarter than Rethug in Congress, and he can verbally smack those assholes around with the best of them.
My “focus” (so to speak) in this is that we could use someone who can/would be out there every day, giving good soundbite, to keep the Rethugs on defense.
I expect there’s some perfectly good reason, but I don’t (currently) know it.
SenyorDave
@tobie: I really like Kander but wonder what he can do to stay in the public eye now that he doesn’t hold an elected office. I thought his term as Attorney General of MO ended in 2016.
To me, Kander hits virtually all the check points on the face of it, supports women’s right to choose, pro-gay marriage, pro environment, basically pretty liberal for Missouri. Added bonus that he’s military, young, seems personable. On first view he appears very electable, his problem was that the morons in MO loved themselves some Trump (won by almost 19 points) and dragged along that useless sack of crap Blount (won by three points).
He’s also only 35, so he has time. Maybe there’s a seat in Congress he can go after in 2018.
tobie
@geg6: @Tazj: I saw the post about the voting rights group “Let America Vote” and agree that it’s a great thing to do. My only worry is that leading a grass roots organization may not be enough to propel someone to high public office. Unfortunately MO elected a new governor in 2016 so there’s no chance for him to run for that in 2018.
tobie
@SFAW: Yes, and seeing Barney go after someone can be, well, so schadenfreude-licious.
hovercraft
Someone’s still smarting from last nights decision. Via TPM
Trump Rails Against Court’s ‘Disgraceful’Decision Against Him
President Donald Trump condemned a federal appeals court’s decision to maintain a temporary suspension of his immigration executive order as “disgraceful.”
The dispatch, from Trump’s personal Twitter account, came at 8:15 a.m. ET Friday:
The tweet references a blog post from the editor-in-chief of Lawfare, Benjamin Wittes. In the post, Wittes wrote that he supports the court’s decision, but added that it was “a pretty big omission” to leave out any mention of a law granting the President broad authority to limit immigration.
On Thursday night, after the court’s decision was announced, Trump declared on Twitter: “SEE YOU IN COURT.”
ETA: I’m not sure how the hyperlink did that, sorry ;-) oops.
SFAW
@LAC:
No, it’s not. It’s a statement of “fact” (YMMV) that we need to keep in mind so that we don’t get complacent when things start to improve.
Is noting that there has been widespread voter suppression, and that more will be attempted by Rethugs, “despair porn”? I think of it as motivating us to focus on where we can (A) prevent its expansion, and (B) reverse where it’s already happened. But, amazingly enough, I can look on it as motivation, and still be pissed that we even have to think about that, all at the same time.
Miss Bianca
@OzarkHillbilly: If New Mexico tarantulas are anything like Colorado ones, you’ll only see them during the fall – when they’re on the move during mating season. I think Quinerly is safe. ; )
GregB
Looks like the long knives are coming out for Flynn.
Pence is troubled.(Insert Pence’s strained face emoticon here).
Jeffro
@James Powell: Booker, Murphy, Castro, Perez…
SFAW
@tobie:
One of my faves was when he asked the Speaker (I think), vis-a-vis another Congressman who was being an asshole, something along the lines of “Is it against House rules of decorum for a Representative to call Congressman So-and-so an asshole?” It might have been during Newtie’s days, it’s all fuzzy now.
Immanentize
@James Powell: I was in a discussion on this with some friends in DC. Here are some other names floated:
Chris Murphy
Seth Moulton
Sherrod Brown
And even Deval Patrick (hmm not so much)
Of course Cory Booker was also on that list. (Ugh)
Steve in the ATL
@Kay:
“I am not at liberty to discuss that with you.”
JPL
@GregB: Pence has to appear to be troubled, since he was on Sunday talk shows lying about the conversation. He’s saving his own ass, but maybe Chaffetz thinks the office of vice president can’t be investigated, also.
Jeffro
@GregB: Getting Flynn out of there has to be one of the GOP’s top priorities (along with getting Bannon out of there)…he’s off the deep end.
Let’s say you’re McCain or Graham (or Priebus, for that matter). A Trumpov WH without Flynn and Bannon is one that cools it on the irrational anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, white nationalist stuff and gets back to focusing on the GOP’s pro-billionaire wish list. No more distractions or flare ups or own goals.
HowEVer…Trump will never go along with it (and neither will Flynn, and especially not Bannon). It’ll set off a nice little Republican Civil War, and I say ‘little’ only because ousting Trump himself would be the nice big Republican Civil War.
schrodingers_cat
The correlation between BS supporters and doom and gloom commenters is pretty high. I wonder why.
Jeffro
@hovercraft: I think we’re in agreement that he won’t allow it, or will at least fight to keep them (Bannon especially)
Immanentize
@Elizabelle: It’s a koan, ponder it. Also too, “Chew gum and walk at the same time.”
One can both be doing very important justice work and also ponder the real political chances presented in the future. If anything, I am overly optimistic, and not despairing (which is what I think Ozark was telling me?). But, just in case I am feeling that way, on my work monitor I have a fortune from a cookie that reads: “Do not despair, but if you do, work on in despair.”
I am not sure who named you attitude police, but FWIW I will pull out my record on achieving real justice for real people if you want to pull out yours.
hovercraft
Five Charts With Some Bad News For Trump Policies
A new poll, released Friday by the Democratic-leaning research firm Public Policy Polling, found broad-based opposition to many central items of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Perhaps most immediately notable for the Trump administration, more respondents were opposed to than supported the President’s immigration executive order, which halted immigration and travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, and suspended the United States’ refugee program. Forty-nine percent of respondents were opposed to the order, while 45 percent supported it. Six percent of respondents were not sure.
Just as notable, it seems a large percentage of respondents thought it was poorly executed. Dozens of travelers were left in limbo at airports around the country in the hours after the ban was signed, and huge crowds rallied against the order.
Only 27 percent of respondents said the order was well executed, as opposed to 66 percent who thought it was poorly executed. Seven percent were not sure.
And, in light of Trump’s repeated attacks on federal judges deliberating over the order, the poll also found that respondents trusted the judiciary more than the President to make the right decisions for the country.
Fifty-three percent of respondents trusted judges to make the right decision more than Trump, generally speaking, while 38 percent trusted Trump more than judges. Nine percent were not sure.
Respondents were generally unsupportive of Trump’s pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, too. Forty-seven percent of respondents were supportive of the health care law, while 39 percent opposed it and 14 percent were not sure.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of respondents preferred that Congress keep what works in the law and fix what doesn’t, while just 32 percent wanted to start over with a new health care law. Three percent were not sure.
Finally, while Trump has said American taxpayers will provide the up-front funding for a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, respondents were unsupportive of that proposal. Only 37 percent of respondents supported a border wall if it meant taxpayers would have to initially foot the bill, while 56 percent were opposed to it. Seven percent were undecided.
Speaking f that border wall…..Report: Border Wall To Cost Billions More Than Trump Said, Per DHS Internal Memo
Gee I wonder why he’s finding this whole presidenting thing harder that expected.
JPL
@JPL: I’m also going to add that Pence was already receiving intelligence briefings, before appearing on Sunday talk shows. Of course, Chaffetz won’t investigate though, because whatever.
amk
hovercraft
@schrodingers_cat:
because if Wilmer had been nominated, he would have been elected 45, and we would have shut down all the banks by now, and there would be no more drilling for fossil fuels and college would be free for everyone and Medicare for all would have started February first and there would be a chicken in every pot and a Model T in every driveway, and we would all have driveways and……….
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
Are you including me in the “BS supporters” group?
SFAW
@hovercraft:
Prius.
You also forgot unicorns.
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
The incompetence is what I find so jarring, one of the articles pointed out that everyone knows that all calls to the Russian embassy are monitored, you don’t need any top secret clearance to know that, so did they think that the IC wouldn’t tell or did they simply not care?
GregB
Has anyone leaked the contents of Trump’s phone call with Xi Jinpeng?
Also, do we know if Xinpeng stated: I drink your milkshake? Or bubble-tea.
Iowa Old Lady
I love PPP. Here’s an answer about Trump’s Muslim ban:
Immanentize
@hovercraft:
Heh indeedy
LAC
@SFAW: but you write as if this is the first time we are hearing this. Maybe my experience as an African American is what is at play here but I get the challenges and am not complacent about things. While I grieve what is in the office now, I have never underestimated the stupidity of folks (particularly a good number of white folks) in this country. Got a front row seat to that for the last eight years. Still progress was made. Slow steady and real. So, thank you giving us the hurdles, but a lot of us get it. Still going to volunteer and speak out when I can. And VOTE
hovercraft
@amk:
These people need to understand that the people of DC are not their friends, hop on a plane, you will not get the photo ops you are looking for in DC, it is the most democratic electorate in the country.
She won DC 92.8% to 4.0%
They fuckin hate you, so go bother someone else’s kids with your bullshit.
hovercraft
@Iowa Old Lady:
Why not Columbine, I’m sure the Muslim ban will help prevent the next school shooting.
Miss Bianca
@hovercraft: heh. Word, as the kids used to say, to all of it.
Immanentize
@Woodrow/asim: Thanks — that is heartening. When I lived in Texas, the Republican take-over was being completed (I was there when Anne Richards was governor and Jim Hightower was whatever he was state-wide). And there were Democrats on the two high courts. Then, no democrats anywhere for state-wide office. So, many of the Dems I knew started running as Rs. Maybe a not-so-bad R is what we can hope for in a R+25 district?
JPL
@GregB: Nope, but it will. Maybe they were renegotiating Trump’s loan from the Bank of China.
SFAW
@LAC:
OK, thanks for elaborating/explaining. I don’t see my comments as “hurdles,” and (unfortunately) not sure why you do, but I accept that you do, and will try — perhaps unsuccessfully — to be more circumspect.
Part of the background problem with respect to my cynicism is that, far too often, persons here have seen polls NN months before some key election, and start counting all those unhatched chickens. After all the times we’ve seen those fortunes reversed, you’d think there’d be less of that pre-counting. Or maybe I see it, and it’s magnified for me, because it’s a pet peeve.
When I ran for public office — once as a rank newbie, once as the incumbent — I ALWAYS ran as if I were going to get beaten badly. Helped provide motivation for me, kept me focused, turned out well in the end.
OK, I’ve gotten verbal diarrhea — another of my foibles — so I’ll stop for now.
But, thanks again for your comment, I really, truly do appreciate it.
James Powell
@hovercraft:
27 – The number of the beasts
Woodrow/asim
@Immanentize: Yeah. At the very least, it forces C-Money to defend a lot of the crap he’s done; I can see this opponent slamming him for chasing Clinton, and actually getting traction, even in that district, by posting it as a waste of resources given the lack of convictions.
More crucially, if he can sell that working with the “other side” is better than the current “piss on Democrats” regime and win, it sends a key signal to other GOPers that they don’t have to tow the Tea Party line and fear being ousted. That would be a win for the ability to stop fearing the 27%, and for getting back to something like a norm in politics — not great, but something we can all build on.
LAC
@SFAW: and thank you for your clarification. I am feeling a bit skittish coming to the site these days – it sometimes feels a bit like the Monty python ” bring out your dead” vibe here.
SFAW
@LAC:
Understood. I don’t get that same vibe, but that may be because my brain hurts.
Ruckus
@Kay:
At one very long point in my life I made tooling the packaging industry. Lots and lots of food stuff packaging. I would have customers come to me to build tooling because they saw lots of bottled water in their local supermarket. My first question to an outsider was always, how much shelf space have you either agreed to pay for or have actually paid for. They all thought I was crazy until they actually checked. In the case of say water/soft drinks, frequently the cost of shelf space was more than the cost of the product inside the bottle. Actually the cost of the product was usually the smallest line item in the cost chain. I can not imagine that clothing is all that different, considering the almost slave labor costs to sew it.
Uncle Ebeneezer
Good video on Indivisible on Luvvie Ajayi’s FB (which everyone should follow.)
Applejinx
@SFAW: For me, I’m not thrown by despair-squawking, I’m just bothered by the ‘first, stamp out Wilmer and the progressive left!’ refrain.
It’s dumb. With this crowd in charge we’re ALL the progressive left now. Other Republicans get turned into the progressive left by contrast. Conserving basic things like ‘citizens vote’ becomes hippie stuff, suitable for massive chaotic protests because it’s getting stomped out and replaced with simple dictatorship.
People’s experience under Trump is making ALL the more left-wing candidates look better in comparison, all the way down to Jeb Bush. STEIN would have done better than this. And that’s an astonishing claim, because she was and is a complete goofball even by lefty standards.
Ksmiami
@WereBear: fuck it buy only the Canadian acana- canidae brands and feed your dog human food and real meats fish etc. dogs survived for thousands of years without dog food. It’s a total racket.
Ruckus
@p.a.:
I think it’s past time to get rid of the electoral college. It has become a game to be played, as is obvious at this point in time. The founders didn’t trust the unwashed masses to select the “right” candidate to run the country. And yet do to that institution we have GWB now having to fight for his place in the six worst presidents as someone of the five has been bumped, the bottom slot is spoken for. Hopefully to never be bumped by someone even worse.
We live in a representative democracy. We are supposed to elect our representatives. How many of us feel like the current Republican president actually represents us? The majority of us did not vote for him to ruin the country. With the electoral college we do not have a representative democracy. We have a democracy by the fewer number of us, not the greater number.
Ruckus
@satby:
It’s the EC that allowed republicans to sell their souls (which of course they never had in the first place) for power. It is a line of defense for the wrong side, those in power who want to stay in power. An actual popular vote would defeat that.
Sure a majority could have a melt down and elect a madman but it’s less likely than what we have just experienced.
The parties would still have power, but even a disorganized local party could still prevail in not electing a mad man.
The EC takes the concept of representative to another level, one that is unnecessary.
Yes we might have fewer left of center politicians but we may actually elect some of them and people could maybe see over a longer period that good, decent governance is not a bad thing.
And I think it would force republicans to become an actual political party, instead of a cult.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
EW and I are the same age. I’m in pretty good shape (all you fuckers stop laughing) still work doing high precision machining and I consider the vast majority of people my age to be too old for the job of president. I liked that President Obama wasn’t my age or close, I liked that he could draw in younger voters, people who might actually think it was possible that someone younger might just still remember what it is like to not be an old, someone who can still look forward, not only back to see who is gaining on them, or can’t look at all. Our political class is run by olds, and yes there is currently a lot of us but that shouldn’t be the overriding criteria for election, old as dirt, and in the case of our current president. dumber than it as well.
SFAW
@Applejinx:
I think you’re mistakenly conflating the “BernieOrBust-ers can fuck off” sentiment with the “stamp out” thing. I put the BOB-ers in the same class as the Naderites who still pretend St Ralph the Pure had nothing to do with W winning in 2000. I don’t think the BJ-tariat is inimical to left-side thought or proposals by any stretch; it’s the Mumia sweatshirt thing that annoys a lot of us. [Sorry to others if I’m being presumptuous.]
Stein, however, could disappear, and we’d all be better off.