Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Fight them, without becoming them!

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

In after Baud. Damn.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Carne Vale!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Carne Vale!

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(courtesy Ozark Hillbilly)
.

Of course most of the Mardi Gras parties happened last weekend, or even earlier, but today it’s official. Even if you’re not a Lenten observer, why pass up a chance to eat pancakes?

But of course there’s always a political component… even leading aside the President-Asterisk’s speech tonight. Per the Washington Post:

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Every year, an onslaught of high-octane soca music is released ahead of Trinidad’s pre-Lent Carnival. The songs are new, but the themes are well-worn: Rum. Partying. And the allure of a woman’s gyrating body, preferably backed into a man’s grasp.

So it’s a little surprising that one of this year’s most popular Carnival tunes is a jaunty ballad performed by the 76-year-old music legend Calypso Rose and titled matter-of-factly “Leave Me Alone.” The song features a woman trying to party in the streets without interference from men, exhorting them to “leave me, let me free up.” And it’s being hailed as a feminist anthem.

“It’s like a rallying cry for women who just want to be able to have the option of enjoying their Carnival — Carnival being that space of freedom,” said Attillah Springer, 40, a Trinidadian writer and activist. “And then you have to deal with people who are trying to control how much freedom you feel.”…

The discussion about women’s roles in Carnival is part of a wider soul-searching about the state of the celebration and how it has changed from the traditions of decades ago, when Carnival costumes depicted figures from history or folklore and often encapsulated stinging political or social statements.

But Gabrielle Hosein, head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, said the current bikini-and-beads iteration of Carnival doesn’t necessarily exclude political or social activism.

“It’s the largest movement of women in Trinidad and Tobago seeking autonomy and self-determination around their sexuality and their bodies, in opposition to a particular kind of respectability politics . . . purely for the joy and pleasure they experience,” Hossein said. “One can see those goals as highly political in our world today.”.

Ayoung-Chee said she wants to help people see how the free-for-all Carnival vibes can align with the tradition of activism and rebellion.

“Coming out in the streets in the tens of thousands, owning your space, owning your freedom,” Ayoung-Chee said. “What is that besides activism?”

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  4. 4.

    ThresherK

    Awake after too little sleep.

    I never thought of T+T and Mardi Gras, which is a dang ignorant thing on my part even tho I am a northeastern suburbanite. Glad to.see them combining activism and a party after the pro-Trump rallies covered downstairs.

    (Hey, who else gets auto corrected to Marie Bras today?)

  6. 6.

    geg6

    Happy Fat Tuesday, BJers!

    Trying to figure out what to watch tonight to avoid Shitgibbon cooties flowing from my teevee screen.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Missouri ranks in bottom third of nation in new report

    When it comes to how well states serve their residents, a new report puts Missouri 13th from the bottom of the 50 states, primarily for falling short in categories such as crime, the economy and transportation.

    We’re # 37! We’re # 37! We’re # 37! We’re # 37!

    Among neighboring states, Iowa came in at No. 6 and Nebraska was 13th, followed by Kansas at 28th.

    Kansas ranked 28? Somebody must have misplaced a decimal point.

    Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arkansas trailed Missouri.

    I am shocked, shocked I tell you!

    And what are the top 5 states?

    The top five best overall states are geographically and politically diverse. Following Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Minnesota are the No. 2 and No. 3 best overall states, respectively. North Dakota places fourth, and Washington rounded out the top five.

    Massachussets is #1? Why I never would have guessed that they would take governance seriously.

  9. 9.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I’m starting to see more whining at people who mock Twitler. Lots of “he’s ‘our’ President and needs and is entitled to respect”.

    My persistent response is “fuck that depraved pervert fraud. He gets nothing from me but contempt.”

  14. 14.

    Kay

    Oh, no. Not this again. “Opportunity” is a bad campaign slogan. It’s a bad campaign slogan because no one knows what it means. It failed in Democratic state races in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.

    As Democrats battle President Trump on a multiplying array of issues, from immigration and climate change to health care and transgender rights, a group of Democratic governors is pressing the party to set one concern above all the rest: jobs.

    Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut, who is the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, accused Mr. Trump of ignoring his campaign pledge to move quickly on a huge infrastructure program. And he branded Republican health care policies as job killers.

    Ms. Raimondo, 45, a former venture capitalist, stressed that she did not believe the party should change its liberal platform on social issues and called for fierce resistance to Mr. Trump.
    But she urged Democrats to define their agenda broadly as a matter of pursuing economic growth, “equally distributed for people of color, women, immigrants, regardless of sexual orientation, who you love.”

    Also these two governors are unpopular so no one should take their advice on popular slogans.

    They’re really planning on saying “pursuing economic growth”. The Ladders are back. Ladders of Economic Opportunity. What is wrong with them? Why can’t they talk to people without sounding like this?

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @Kay: To be fair, Kay, “pursuing economic growth” isn’t part of the quote. So as far as we know, it’s the NYT that is garbage.

  17. 17.

    bystander

    I wish there was something more I could do to express “not my president” other than not watching. MSNBC is devoting the entire day as a lead up to another childish braying from the short fingered WATB.

  18. 18.

    debbie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I’m starting to see more whining at people who mock Twitler. Lots of “he’s ‘our’ President and needs and is entitled to respect”.

    I’ve got a FB friend complaining about my anti-Trump posts and my perceived rudeness to him. She conveniently “forgets” the treatment given to the Obamas. I point that out and she says she’d forgotten. Then it starts all over. Clearly I’m not being rude enough.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Oh, they’ll say it Baud. You know they will. Malloy is one the most unpopular governors in the country.

    This is the economic message of Republican governors in swing states circa 2010. I swear that’s where it came from.

    They can’t be John Kasich and Rick Snyder in 2010 because Republican governors don’t win on “opportunity”- they win on cutting taxes. They have to have their own thing.

  25. 25.

    satby

    @Baud: Bizzarely, it does seem that my interactions with the government in IN since I moved here, limited to the DMV and county assessor, have been efficient and very responsive. But tbh, not that dramatically better than IL or MI.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @amk:

    If they want to take this route, an economic response to Trump, they need to stress economic security not opportunity. They already tried this. It loses.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @Kay: I don’t know why Malloy is unpopular. But in the passage, he’s talking about the infrastructure program, which I thought all Dems were united on.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: Includes jobs and shoring up the safety net. GOP might not want to vote for any jobs but the military, but hang them out to dry on wanting to destroy the safety net. It is true, too.

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    For the GoT-ers here: apparently Neil Fingleton, a/k/a Mag the Mighty, has passed away at age 36.

    I don’t “do” GoT, but it made the local news, since he came here from England as a teen.

    RIP

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You know what ‘economic security’ means? It means handouts for losers.

    Don’t you mean “handouts for winners”? Because if the losers get the money, then the snowflakes (WWC and otherwise) end up with “economic anxiety.”

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    That Sanders organizing piece is good. Thanks. We’re having the first local meeting of “the resistance” at my house Sat. I will mention this and see what they think.

    I started using The Resistance as a joke but people like it and they use it seriously. I sort of get that.

  43. 43.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    I’ll take your word for it. I’ve watched exactly as many minutes as the number of times I want to see Shitgibbon ever again. (Well, excluding impeachment proceedings.)

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Massachussets is #1? Why I never would have guessed that they would take governance seriously.

    A lot more seriously than you take your speling, apparently.

    I know, I know, it’s the “post-correct period” in American politics.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: No, winners don’t need economic security because their winners, see? All they do is win winwinwin win. All you losers need somebody to hold your hand and give you warm hugs and say they’ll take care of you.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Trump will completely discredit infrastructure. He’s put three contractors in charge of it. It’s gonna be a fucking sinkhole of corruption and graft and sorrow and broken dreams. Propublica should hire ten people just for that.

    The stimulus had corruption- it was huge and fragmented so there will be some- but I think it was considered “clean” by huge project standards.

    Giving Donald Trump 20 billion dollars to pass out is insane. He operates on anecdote. He’s a terrible manager.

  48. 48.

    satby

    @SFAW: Yeah, not watching and I turn my classical music radio station off when NPR comes on and lets the shitgibbon spew. I did the same thing the entire span of W’s occupation, and I was a calmer person for it.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    No, winners don’t need economic security because their winners, see? All they do is win winwinwin win.

    You just don’t get it.

    If the handouts go to the wrong people, then the winners, a/k/a the white right people will feel economic anxiety because someone else is getting things that THEY (i.e., the whiners winners) deserve, and then they will get magically transformed from winners to LOSERS! (or LOOZAHS! in Massachusetts), and we can’t have that. It’s similar to the idea that if gay people are allowed to marry, then straight people’s marriages will be destroyed.

    Honestly, must I ‘splain EVERYTHING to you?

    ETA: Also, if you need help spelling the name of that blue state which is giving you trouble, it’s spelled correctly in my second paragraph.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Kay: Trump will discredit everything. Including the social safety net. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight for those things that are right.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW:

    must I ‘splain EVERYTHING to you?

    Yes. ‘Splain it again cause I just don’t get it. I mean, I thought they were WINNERS! but your telling me they’re WHINERS!?

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: how about : “education, healthcare and jobs for everyone who wants it.”

    Is that too hard a slogan?

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I agree. There should be a ban on talking about cutting Social Security. Just no. They like the “family budget” idea so they can think about it like that. When you do a real budget you take some things off the table. Just take that off and forget about it.

    President Donald Trump has promised to revitalize America’s aging roads, bridges, railways and airports, but a plan put forward by his economic advisers relies on a transportation financing scheme that hasn’t been tried before and comes with significant risks.
    The plan was set out just before the election by billionaire leveraged buyout specialist Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and conservative economics professor Peter Navarro, whom Trump has tapped to head his National Trade Council. They recommended the government allocate $137 billion in tax credits for private investors who underwrite infrastructure projects.
    Ross and Navarro estimate that over 10 years the credits could spur $1 trillion in investment. That’s how much Trump promised to spend on infrastructure — a key part of his job-creation plan.

    This is the same magic formula conservatives always use for tax credits to private entities and it’s always bullshit. Kasich’s plan was exactly this and it’s a flop. They had to go all the way to the state supreme court to make sure no one knew what exactly happened with it- they set it up as a private company to evade sunshine laws.

    Kasich never mentions it anymore.

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yes. ‘Splain it again cause I just don’t get it. I mean, I thought they were WINNERS! but your telling me they’re WHINERS!?

    OK, little ‘Billy, stay after class today, and Adjunct Professor SFAW will try to help you out.

    Bring money. Lots of it. (What, you think Adjuncts get paid anything close to a livable wage?)

  65. 65.

    amk

    @Kay: just one word. chris christie. ok, that’s two. dems getting pissed off at their own governors ‘cos of ‘messaging’ deserve the replacement gopee corrupt clowns. also. too. twitler.

  66. 66.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    While I assume this has already been pointed out, I’m late to read of it. What the ever loving fuck? Knock down a little old lady and pepper spray people who are trying to help her up? Will Mexico take back AZ and TX if we pay them enough and throw in NM too?

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @amk:

    This only works with partisan Dems though- 25%. They won’t win if they tell people “it’s me or The Republican”.

    We just went thru this. Democrats bled states from 2010 to 2017. They have to think about why that’s happening instead of getting mad at voters. They CAN get mad at voters but it won’t help. Governing parties run states. The Democratic agenda is much more suited to state law than federal law, really. The helplessness that rank and file Democrats feel in vast swathes of the country is directly tied to the fact that what they care about is primarily state law and they have no power in states. Rather than taking advice from Malloy why not figure out why he’s so unpopular?

  69. 69.

    Baud

    Culprit apprehended (Reuters)

    An accountant for the Academy Awards botched the meticulous procedure for announcing the Oscar for best picture when he handed victory to “La La Land” before declaring “Moonlight” the real winner, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday.

    Accountant Brian Cullinan, who media reports said had been tweeting backstage shortly before, gave presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope for the movie industry’s top award on Sunday, the accounting firm said in a statement.

  70. 70.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Kathleen: I forgot to say howdy to everyone!

    (And I haven’t forgotten that I owe you and email, also too.)

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have always loved pointing out to my friends in the South that Massholes also have the lowest divorce rates in the country. Maybe its all those shotgun gay marriages….

  73. 73.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: I met a city official from a Cincinnati suburb who decided to run for office. He had no prior experience in politics. He decided to knock on doors and expressed surprisrd at how willing people were to talk to him. They said he was first candidate to knock on their doors. He also discovered there were many artists in the community which surprised me because I had lived in close proximity for many years.

    My former state rep now county commissioner is great believer in knocking on doors and can tell you how many in any given campaign. It’s in the thousands.

  74. 74.

    amk

    @Kay: From what I have seen of Malloy, he seems to be advocating a strong dem agenda all the time and was great at pushing back against the twitler. If he is unpopular, may be the voters, partisan or not, are to be blame.

  75. 75.

    Immanentize

    @Kathleen:

    Thank goodness for Law and Order reruns.

    You are talking about Trump’s upcoming speech, right? And his retread “Nixon’s the One” campaign speeches, amirite? Law and Order means that to oppose Trump is to be a criminal. People say he is going to pull a Reichstag Fire thingy. I worry much more about him recreating the Erdogan/Turkey example of ‘discovering’ a coup plan, and then jailing or killing all dissenters as part of the plot against him.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    Trump grades himself: A for achievement, C/C+ for messaging because “I or my people” ? haven’t explained well enough

    I’m surprised by this. He knows he’s unpopular. He thinks it’s because of his policies but I don’t think it is- he hasn’t done much. Most of this shit is basically pumped-up press releases political media is blowing up into “action!” . He’s unpopular because he’s a horrible person, he won with a minority of votes and he hasn’t expanded his appeal outside the people who voted for him. I don’t just dislike Donald Trump’s policies. I wouldn’t want to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary with him. He’s a bore. He talks about himself constantly. He’s the older white guy blowhard who dominates the conversation at the restaurant table. Half the people are kissing his ass and the other half are dying to get out of there and wondering why he’s listened to at all.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Aren’t you near a Porto’s Bakery? If so, what are your favorites?

    SoCal news full of residents exulting that a new one opens tomorrow in Buena Park. Have never been to Porto’s, but it’s going on the list for next visit out. Potato balls.

    Cuban bakery, started by a Cuban exile mom in a small apartment in Echo Park area of LA in the early 70s. Sounds delicious and affordably priced. Rosa Porto, still living, is a real jobs creator.

    From the Orange County Register:

    When the long-anticipated Buena Park café opens Wednesday at 7640 Beach Blvd. with actor Andy Garcia at the ribbon cutting, expect epic lines. Over its 46-year history in Los Angeles, the Cuban bakery has earned a reputation for serving addictive – and dirt cheap – sweet and savory baked goods.

    Porto’s expansion to Orange County, and next year to West Covina, comes as Cuba has seized a moment in the pop culture zeitgeist.

    Former President Obama reestablished diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba in 2015. The death of Fidel Castro in 2016 helped accelerate the diplomatic thaw. Travel is again permitted to the once-forbidden island nation. And now Cuban Americans – and even boxes of Porto’s treats – are at the center of a Netflix reboot of “One Day at a Time.”

    The TV family’s obsession with the Cuban bakery hits close to home for hard-core fans like Oviedo. She’s tried every item behind the counter – 98-cent potato balls, 80-cent cheese rolls, 99-cent croquettes. Her go-to cake? Mango mousse.

    “I’ve never had a bad meal here,” the 48-year-old said.

    Keeping up with demand

    The scene at the three Porto’s bakeries in Glendale, Burbank and Downey can be best described as controlled chaos.

    In Downey, the café’s second largest after Buena Park, employees look like Secret Service agents – armed with ear buds and walkie talkies.

    Their main duty: traffic control.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @amk:

    I’m fine with the voters are to blame but a political Party can’t really adopt it, or they’re not a political Party, they’re sort of advisers to voters. Part of the problem with the “opportunity agenda” is it comes off as advice. The Obama people were particularly prone to this. No one wants advice from politicians. There is no voter who says “education? Gee. Why didn’t I think of that?” There is no unemployed person in Cleveland who needs career advice from Arne Duncan. Advocates, not advisers. It’s 2 different roles.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    @Kay: Did you see the latest outrage this morning?

    Monday evening, the Education Department issued a statement from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that has infuriated many advocates for historically black colleges. The statement comes when many leaders of black colleges are in Washington for meetings at the White House and with Republican Congressional leaders, who have been wooing black colleges and pledging to help them.

    Most of the statement is innocuous. She praises black colleges. In perhaps a sign not to expect too much money from the Trump administration, she says, “[r]ather than focus solely on funding, we must be willing to make the tangible, structural reforms that will allow students to reach their full potential.” And she notes that black colleges were created when “there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education.”

    But DeVos goes on to link black colleges to the issue of school choice — a cause for which she is an advocate. “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” she said. “They are living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.”

    I’d say there is a messaging problem.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: What always amuses me is how liberal the topics discussed on Law and Order. Or at least the approach to them, with the cast taking a (pun, pun) good cop, bad cop tack to the discussion.

    But the show has addressed so many social issues over the years.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The problem is that if Trump moderated just a little bit, too many people would praise him and his approval would skyrocket. The good news is that he seems incapable of doing that for any length of time.

  85. 85.

    amk

    @Kay: As opposed to the other party, who are all for your welfare and economic growth? Sorry Kay, it seems to me missing the forest for the trees. There is really one party which even gives a shite about the voters, regardless of their perceived messaging issues. Voters need to grow the fuck up.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I wouldn’t want to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary with him.

    You are a lot more generous than I Kay. I wouldn’t spend any more time than it took to commit seppuku.

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: That’s hilarious. I wonder if Secretary DeVos (R- campaign contributions) ever heard of Brown v the Board of Education. Or, more pertinently, Farmville (yep) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, which closed its schools for years rather than comply with desegregation.

    The Prince Edward Academy. Symbol of Massive Resistance. Shameful episode in the Old Dominion.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: You have to talk to voters in their language, not yours. Treating them like 3 yr olds, no matter how much you think they are acting like 3 yr olds, isn’t going to win any of them over. It is going to have the opposite effect:

    “You think you are better than me. Fuck you.”

  91. 91.

    amk

    “You think you are better than me. Fuck you.”

    heh, if they speak like a 3 year old …

    One can either grow up or bitch and moan about twitler & co.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: But they really do need to get past their toddler twos of saying “No” to everything. That is what Fox News is training them to regress to.

    ETA: OK. Maybe three years old. But it’s a stage. Not meant to be permanent.

  93. 93.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    President Donald Trump has promised to revitalize America’s aging roads, bridges, railways and airports, but a plan put forward by his economic advisers relies on a transportation financing scheme that hasn’t been tried before and comes with significant risks.
    The plan was set out just before the election by billionaire leveraged buyout specialist Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and conservative economics professor Peter Navarro, whom Trump has tapped to head his National Trade Council. They recommended the government allocate $137 billion in tax credits for private investors who underwrite infrastructure projects.
    Ross and Navarro estimate that over 10 years the credits could spur $1 trillion in investment. That’s how much Trump promised to spend on infrastructure — a key part of his job-creation plan.

    said it before…if it was a genuine infrastructure plan, the Dems would be all over in support.

    But, it’s a privatization scheme…so, no.
    uh uh

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: This will not create any new infrastructure work — just give people who are doing work in states that can afford the work more cash to line their pockets. It’s Bolivia. (sorry Bolivia)

  98. 98.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    He’s unpopular because he’s a horrible person, he won with a minority of votes and he hasn’t expanded his appeal outside the people who voted for him. I don’t just dislike Donald Trump’s policies. I wouldn’t want to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary with him. He’s a bore. He talks about himself constantly. He’s the older white guy blowhard who dominates the conversation at the restaurant table. Half the people are kissing his ass and the other half are dying to get out of there and wondering why he’s listened to at all.

    I will continue to repeat this.
    This isn’t 2000.
    This isn’t even 2004 after Shrub lied us into 2 wars.
    This is on a whole other level.
    This isn’t just a matter of policy disagreements – of which there are many.
    This is about this man who COMPLETELY DISGUSTS US AS A HUMAN BEING. He’s vile. He’s hideous. He’s everything that makes you want to wretch. The ONLY thing that could be said about him as a positive is that he didn’t hide anything. We all knew- from many examples, WHY we believe he’s a DISGUSTING PERSON.

    And, because we don’t have to search far for our reasons, the act of voting for him condemns said voter. Shows their LACK OF CHARACTER.

  99. 99.

    hedgehog mobile

    Happy Mardi Gras, jackals. Mr.h and I are going out for dinner at a place with no TVs. We’re recording Colbert for his take on Dolt 45’s ” speech.”

  101. 101.

    rikyrah

    @Elizabelle:

    What always amuses me is how liberal the topics discussed on Law and Order. Or at least the approach to them, with the cast taking a (pun, pun) good cop, bad cop tack to the discussion.

    But the show has addressed so many social issues over the years.

    I always appreciated the cynical, but true staple of Law and Order:

    the rich getting away with their crimes.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @amk:

    I understand the adversarial frame and I’m a big fan. I love to fight – it’s sort of addicting.

    I’m just lately open to something different. That piece Baud linked is interesting. It is true people want to be heard. I don’t know if that’s a good organizing strategy but the basic premise is true.

    I go to 4 different courts on my rounds and 3 different judges have now told me everyone is going to hearing. No one makes a deal. One of them (my favorite- he’s as small as a child and wears pants that are too long and is always losing his glasses) thinks it’s the hostility of Trump. The nastiness. Like a national flu we’re all catching. I keep going back to the idea that there has to be some other way.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:

    Advocates, not advisers.

    I blame Cass Sunstein and his ilk in the Obama administration. Really. His notions of progressive paternalism were all about advice and the judgments that advice implied. But advocating for people’s needs — even self-defined needs — is strong government at work.

  106. 106.

    Kathleen

    @Immanentize: You know I thought of Nixon when I typed that. I wonder if Dock Wolfe thought of that when he created the series. It does bring back memories of the horrors of those times.

    I also share your fears. Pres Bannon loves to inflict pain, suffering and chaos. Rethuglicans do also. They actively will work to create it. It’s terrifying prospect.

  107. 107.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: What kind of cases (not criminal, I assume?) That is very interesting…. I need to check to see if that is happening in Boston-area courts as well.

  108. 108.

    Immanentize

    @Kathleen: Agreed. But I do think Nixon had a much stronger societal wind at his back and more clever — and committed — people around him. I am counting (like Kay) on the vast incompetence of this crowd to make their dreams fail. But there are so many incompetents in Congress willing to support him — it’s a bit scary that no one (no republican) has stepped up yet. I thought Flake might, but, no.

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