The White House is pushing for another showdown vote on repealing Obamacare next week, to coincide with President Donald Trump’s hitting the 100-day milestone in office.
Legislative text of a new deal that could revive the House Republican bid to repeal Obamacare is likely to be circulated Friday “or by the weekend,” according to two senior White House officials, with an eye toward holding a House floor vote next Wednesday or Thursday.
I don’t say this lightly but….to the barricades.
If you can hit a townhall, do it.
Corner Stone
I thought this was going to be about GA-6 Congressional race.
Doug!
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, that probably would have been better, but this one just came to me
?eric
will be very very very hard to argue that the minority party caused the shutdown to the low information voter when the GOP holds both chambers and the white house. bring this mother fucker on!
Chris
I was afraid they weren’t done. Knock on wood that this one ends the same way…
Betty Cracker
How utterly unsurprising that the son of a bitch would fuck with people’s healthcare in a way that is almost certain to cause massive political damage to his own goddamned party to try to squeeze off an “accomplishment” in his first 100 days. The last ill-conceived Trumpcare train wreck was ginned up and pointlessly rushed to coincide with the anniversary of Obamacare’s passage. I hope this one blows up in the orange ass-cyst’s face even more spectacularly and rains shrapnel on every one of the vile shitheads in the GOP.
Shell
Whats the definition of insanity?
Frankensteinbeck
@Shell:
Hiring Steve Bannon?
A Ghost To Most
@Shell:
Quoting Charlie Daniels on Balloon Juice?
David Spikes
The WH really doesn’t care what’s in the bill as long as it gets passed in time for a foto-op. The repubs are usually only this callous and reckless when they know a democrat is there to veto it.
But yes, to the barricades!!!! Went to a Heller townhall this weekend-mostly dems yelling do your job. Our rep-Amodei R., was there mouthing platitudes. They are both listed as highly endangered for ’18. Who’d a thunk Nevada would go so blue so fast?
Call and keep calling.
Corner Stone
This has Ultimate Fail written all the F over it. These guys are all about the optics of faux bullshit. Ryan may be the weakest Speaker in modern history. He is making Johnny Bones look like a Churchillian Statesman.
Corner Stone
We are not two to three weeks away on a tax
reformcut bill, Mr. Mnuchin.Chris
@Shell:
Feeding a Republican, hoping it will eat you last?
Another Scott
Yes, we must fight them every single day.
TheHill has more:
Donnie is desperate because he can’t get a yooge tax cut bill without gutting Obamacare first. Donnie doesn’t want to pay the AMT any more, so he’s pressuring them. But it’s not clear that the outcome is going to be different if they really force a vote.
But we can’t take any chances. Keep fighting!!
Cheers,
Scott.
TenguPhule
We need a stake, a bonfire, an axe and just to be safe, a woodchipper.
Zombiecare has to be destroyed. And this time stay in the grave.
/And FFS no, this is not in reference to the legislators.
TenguPhule
@Shell:
Donald Trump.
SatanicPanic
Before Donald came along I would have thought that there was no one in politics dumber than a Republican House member. Nope. I am reasonably sure they’re not this dumb, but then again, I’ve been wrong before, like in thinking they were the dumbest.
dmsilev
‘Pass within the first 100 days’ makes every bit as much sense as the previous aspirational goal of ‘pass on the anniversary of Obama signing the ACA’. Maybe, just maybe, if they spent as much time thinking about the actual policy as they do looking for ways to give liberals an upraised middle finger, they might be able to get something done.
Mike in NC
Wasn’t repealed on Day One. Won’t be repealed on Day 100. Moron is surrounded by fawning sycophants who indulge his stupidity.
StringOnAStick
The bad news is they have yet another DOA bill they want to wave around. The good news is that they’ll keep wasting time on gestures like this that can’t pass, instead of doing worse things. I guess; though I suppose there is that issue of funding the government that they seem to be ignoring while the clock loudly ticks. The longer they rail on this, the more popular the ACA grows and the more congresscritters go home to loud and angry town hall meetings. Those that are in seats that HRC won have to be nervous, and even those in not so risky seats have to be wondering a bit about being beholden to a Russian asset as prez.
TenguPhule
@SatanicPanic:
Their voters. Always.
TenguPhule
@StringOnAStick:
Except there’s a little problem called funding the federal government which is due at the end of the month.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Give them nothing. Take…everything!
pk
It would be nice if the bill goes down in flames on the 100 day mark. It would be nice if the entire republican congress goes down with it.
dmsilev
Doesn’t Congress have to pass a “keep the Federal government running” bill next week? Normal people might regard that as being slightly higher up on the priority list than trying to feed the illusion that Trump is a successful President.
LurkerNoLonger
This whole repeal thing is like the killer in a horror movie. The final girl has pumped 17 shots into him and he’s lying on the floor in a pool of blood when all of a sudden he springs back up and slashes at her with a butcher knife. Call it Trumpcare 2: The Sickening. Let’s make sure there’s no sequel this time.
p.a.
Here’s Paul Ryan’s reaction to the news.
(sorry for using an icon, but I think the look says it all.)
geg6
OT, but apparently my email to Perez and the DNC to leave me alone about money and volunteer work simply meant they decided I would be more amenable to Keith Ellison. So I just emailed him and told him that if I wasn’t going to listen to Perez, I sure wasn’t going to listen to a Bernie fanboi and that he could fuck right off, too (not in those actual words, but the jist was there). Wonder who they’ll have emailing me next?
This may be OT, but the post title fits my feelings on the matter.
TenguPhule
@dmsilev:
Yes. And Trump is already trying to screw that up too.
The Moar You Know
@geg6: Bernie himself. With a link to his PAC.
Hunter Gathers
This is what happens when you don’t receive treatment for your addiction to chicken fucking.
Betty Cracker
Since November 2016, I’ve tried to avoid underestimating the stupidity of the American people, low-balling the malevolence and venality of the Republican Party and selling the clownishness of Team Trump short. But it’s really difficult to imagine a scenario in which Trump’s minions craft a healthcare bill cruel enough to satisfy the Freedom Caucus ghouls without scaring off the flinchy moderates and thoroughly enraging the public. Never say never, but they’ve boxed themselves in, and Democrats have exactly zero incentive to work with them.
Kay
I know everyone gets tired of this and God knows I get tired of it myself, but can you imagine the media freak-out if Obama’s guests had done this in the White House?
Trump is a fucking classless buffoon. He lacks ordinary manners. These are nasty, small people.
The weird obsession with publicly humiliating Hillary Clinton really deserves some attention. WTF IS this? Why is it acceptable when it wouldn’t be acceptable with anyone else? It is uniquely mean spirited and it continues although douchebag and his sleazy pals run the joint. Is there an adult who can make them stop?
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
And then he will get the full force and exact wording of my fuck right the fuck off that Perez and Ellison were lucky enough to avoid. I don’t give a shit about being polite to him, so he’ll get the real me.
Raoul
@dmsilev: Well, let’s hope they don’t figure that out, then.
catclub
@?eric:
My theory/worry is that the threat of a shutdown forces all the GOP to vote together – no democratic votes. So all the usual political poison pills can be included. Then the only stopper to it is Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Yes, But I’ve promised to be on better behavior now, so I no longer can.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
Freedumb caucus. We have three factions in the House and only one of them is sane. The problem is that the stupid crazy are at war with the evil crazy.
rikyrah
Sociopaths.
The entire lot of them.???
catclub
@Mike in NC:
Trump was notably wiser than the rest of the GOP field on Iran sanctions. UNlike all the others who said they would pull the US out of the agreement on day 1, Trump did not. I am very sad that Trump is being somewhat misunderstood by the press on this issue.
Elizabelle
I don’t want those jackholes anywhere near healthcare. It scares me.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They’re rotten people, Kay.
All of them.
They have no home training.
They are pure trash-the entire lot of them ??
Jim, Foolish Literalist
can’t imagine the loss of docile vote will make this easier
I’ve been skeptical of speculation about an affair, but other than illness, which he wouldn’t be so coy about, the speed of this does suggest that it’s more likely
Steve in the ATL
@A Ghost To Most:
IIRC, when he wrote this song, Mr. Daniels was still a long-haired pot smoking anti-war hippie. Therefore one can argue that it’s ok to post that lyric here. Counterpoint, of course, is that he and his entire oeuvre should be dead to us since he became a lying RWNJ. Perhaps we can debate this until we hit a TBogg unit again.
catclub
@The Moar You Know: Evan Bayh. Rahm Emmanuel, Manchin.
rikyrah
23
The number of GOPers from districts that Hillary won.
We should concentrate on them.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
Which is why Tillerson is going out there and making noise about withdrawing from the Nuclear agreement.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TenguPhule: I imagine Nancy Pelosi making Paul Ryan come to her office to discuss her price like Diana Rigg on GOT
Young Paulie Blue Eyes: May I sit?
Nancy: No
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What is happening with this?
He ran in November, and suddenly needs to leave in April?
Something is rotten here.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Paul Ryan can’t afford her rates. Especially since one of them is sure to involve a riding crop and his rear.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah His underage mistress is pregnant? The timing fits and it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Steve in the ATL
@TenguPhule:
actually, he married very, very well, so perhaps he can. I believe that’s one of the reasons he has adopted the IGMFY philosophy.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Meanwhile, millionaire pundits are too busy sifting through the ashes of the Clinton campaign and whacking off over any salacious gossip they can flush out about Clinton or hangers-on to chronicle the global graft, foreign entanglements, multiple pathologies and plain old tackiness on display in the Trump White House every goddamned day. It’s crazy-making.
Taylor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This has the smell, just the smell, of Spiro Agnew resigning.
Like people are being moved out of the way.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s either an affair or an impending indictment.
Or possibly both.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: OTOH, he always has had as much substance and heft as a toy sailboat made out of a walnut shell
aimai
There’s a rumor in Utah that he’s resigning to take Bill O’Reilly’s spot on Fox. Shudder.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL: Her demand for a pound of his flesh would not be metaphorical.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@aimai: I don’t think Wee Jacey is butch enough for the O’Reilly crowd. Tucker Carlson could stare down Chaffetz
ETA: of course, eh could revamp the show as a quasi-committee hearing and ‘investigate’ the Clintons and Susan Rice for the next five years. Still don’t think he has the right affect for the wheezy diabetics on their Medicare scooters
bemused
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Palin quickly quit the gov gig to go grift when the time was ripe. Chaffetz will most likely be doing the same thing if the rumor he will get a job at Fox is true.
catclub
@TenguPhule:
I think you could find honest Obama admin negotiators who would say this and only add “and it was the best fucking deal we could bring all of the parties to agree on.”
The GOP will trot out this line over and over, but will they actually withdraw from the agreement, so that Iran can withdraw and throw out any inspectors? I have my doubts.
SenyorDave
Charles ClymerVerified account
Report: Jason Chaffetz expected to resign as early as tomorrow
Dead girl, live boy or just some good old-fashioned farm animals? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
They know in their hearts that Hillary beat them, and they can’t stand it. They’re going to continue pissing on anything that reminds them of her to make themselves feel better about it. Yes, these are people whose egos are so much bigger than their hearts that it’s hard to fathom.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@catclub: wasn’t the goal always that a deal like this would (help) lead to a sort of glasnost, and gradually weaken the mullahs/extremists domestically?
I remember in the last nineties it was creeping CW that moderation was just around the corner. It may never have been true, but I can’t believe we’re still dealing with the fall out from the “Axis of Evil” speech, from Tehran to Pyongyang, all because an arrested adolescent had dreams of striking a Churchill pose
and David Frum is on my TV almost every day
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Uppity woman wanted to boss them around, and needs to be put back in her place.
Ian
Why do they keep releasing the bills only a week before they vote? (rhetorical-so no one can read whats in them) The optics is terrible and it makes a total lie of the past eight years of “Slow Down and Deliberate” whines we heard from their side.
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes.
I think it’s that, and a basic recognition that Iran is 1) one of the most powerful countries in the region, 2) not going anywhere, and 3) rational enough for us to do business with. And also the fact that as with Cuba, the policy of snarling pointlessly at them wasn’t getting us anywhere.
I like to think there was also a recognition that it wasn’t Iranians or Shi’ites who hit us on 9/11 or who are the biggest source of anti-Western terrorism in the region, and that the people we’ve been fighting since 9/11 are as big a concern for Iran as they are for us.
(Again, I welcome corrections by Adam).
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Either that or an indictment. Sadly, if it is an indictment, it’s most likely to be for something mundane and not associated with the Russia business.
SatanicPanic
@SenyorDave: Whoa, that’s interesting. If he doesn’t announce a new job today there is definitely something up.
hueyplong
What if a massive “we couldn’t even fund govt” turned out to be the most memorable “accomplishment” of Trump’s first 100 days?
Mnemosyne
@geg6:
My guess is that they didn’t have an actual human read the email, their ‘bot detected the word “Bernie,” and they assumed that you’re a disaffected Berniebro, because that’s mostly who they hear from.
Mike in NC
When Ryan and the rest of the ghouls finally push through a bill for shitgibbon to sign, it’ll require that people going to the ER have a body part amputated: finger, toe, eyeball. It’s how they roll.
eemom
@Steve in the ATL:
WTF HAPPENED to Charlie Daniels that he did that, anyway? Ditto Jon Voigt. It is a weird phenomenon.
Love the song Uneasy Rider.
Steve in the ATL
@eemom: I think it was 9/11. That freaked out a lot of otherwise sane people. maybe in combination with getting old and losing mental flexibility. Or maybe not having a hit song in a few decades.
? Martin
I would bet Chaffetz retirement winds up being related to Russia. If Russia was trying to influence the election and install Trump, being able to influence the chair of House Oversight after that action would be crucial.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
The bigger issue is that there’s no way to guarantee that Iran will remain non-nuclear in perpetuity without eliminating the country entirely. Even if we could have gotten an agreement to that effect, there’s always the possibility they could abrogate it later. No form of agreement can guarantee the future, and anyone who expects such a thing is either crazy or stupid.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Taylor:
Yeah, this is such a rapid descent for a high-ranking congresscritter from such a bulletproof seat…there’s a ginormous shoe yet to drop. Clown/Doc Martin/Italian loafer?
? Martin
@rikyrah: Agreed. There are 4 GOPs just in my county. We already have good candidates for 3 of them.
misterpuff
@bemused: Unless he is playing Clancy Wiggam in a live action remake of The Simpsons on FOX, I don’t see it….
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
Waders.
? Martin
@Roger Moore: Correct. The cost of acquiring a nuke will only go down, making it increasingly accessible to smaller nations. It’s a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle, you can only manage it in an ongoing manner. Japan is a nuclear capable nation. They could likely have ICBM capable nukes within a year, and they have a successful rocket program. They haven’t wanted nukes, but the environment around the nation and relationship with the US is changing and their assessment could therefore change. Same holds for Iran or any sufficiently advanced nation, which is a steadily growing list.
TenguPhule
@catclub: They don’t have to officially withdraw. Just breaking the terms on our side would do it.
/Hence how Bush II managed to break the North Korean nuclear agreement without actually withdrawing from it first
? Martin
Oh, and who gives a shit if the House passes their health care bill – it won’t make it through the Senate. The only thing worse than jerking off in public is then failing at the effort.
clay
@eemom: People get old and cranky, and they start fearing change. Lynyrd Skynyrd went from supporting Jimmy Carter and writing the anti-gun song “Saturday Night Special”… to playing at the Sean Hannity Freedom Concert (ugh) and releasing an album called God & Guns.
Frankly, the same thing happens to most people. I, myself, am getting crankier as I age — and I’m only 41. My political positions haven’t changed, but I’m tired of these idiot youngsters with their idiot ideas.
Mnemosyne
@clay:
I really think you can’t discount Fox News, though. It’s been an enormously successful propaganda outlet that’s rotted the minds of many Americans, and it was designed to do that.
catclub
@? Martin: You’re not the only one.
from some bipartisan(!?) website.
Spanky
Speaking of the Nucular Axis of Evil ….
Big satellite photo there with a drawn square saying “Probable volleyball game in progress”.
Cue the scary musak!!11
catclub
@Mnemosyne:
The impressive (-ly evil) thing about this is whether it has also rotted the minds of Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes – two old white guys – or ithey are immune to its attractions/their minds were already pre-rotted. But they could still design something that would affect many other old-white-guy minds the same way, but not theirs.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@clay: Shocking transformation from the band behind Sweet Home Alabama (leave racists in the south alooooone!) how’d that happen? /snark
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
I think they started it as a con, and then got caught up in it. That’s one of the risks of running a long-term con — odds are high that you’ll start believing your con is true.
catclub
@Roger Moore:
Like they always say, Why not both?
Ian G.
@clay:
Lynyrd Skynyrd? Don’t they have like one member of the original “Free Bird”/”Tuesday’s Gone” band left alive?
Ronnie Van Zandt would probably punch Hannity.
Doug R
@Spanky: That’s about how big the uranium ball would be, except it would weigh about 70 pounds.
Chris
@? Martin:
The earlier it’s killed, the better. I don’t trust “moderate” “statesmen” of the conservative persuasion in the Senate not to throw all their poor constituents under the bus in exchange for one or two blustering speeches about Iran and Korea.
This, however, is a fantastic saying/analogy.
clay
@Ian G.: Ronnie Van Zandt of the ’70s would, sure. A hypothetical Van Zandt of today… who can say? His brother took over his spot, so there’s there’s some indication that he would’ve turned right-wing, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ian G.: IIRC Jimmy VZ, Ronnie’s cousin, and he has a co-writing credit on Tuesday’s Gone
opiejeanne
OT because I need to vent.
Shopping While Mexican:
My niece recently married a wonderful young man whose family originated in Mexico. I think they’ve been here a little over 100 years: his grandpa is 99 years old and was born here. He’s a good human being, generous, warm-hearted, and lots of fun, and we adore him.
Yesterday he went into a store where everything costs about a dollar, couldn’t find what he was looking for, and as he walked toward the door the clerk at check-out yelled at him to stop and empty his pockets, saying he had stolen something. He told her that he hadn’t stolen anything, that he wouldn’t empty his pockets, and when she threatened him with the cops he told her to go ahead and call them. The cop asked her if she had seen him take something. She admitted that she hadn’t but that he “looked suspicious”.
The cop was not amused and informed the idiot that he could sue her ass, that my nephew has grounds for a lawsuit. Meanwhile, he’s being stared at by other shoppers in the store, he’s wearinghis work uniform so they can see who he works for as well as his name, and he is feeling humiliated by the whole thing.
My niece is busily calling and emailing the top brass in this company because she’s so annoyed but she doesn’t expect a useful response.
This happened near Mt St Helens but she seemed to think he was in Oregon. She described it as a super-white area.
I swear, I don’t know how he can be so nice. He got shit on a couple of days ago for being Mexican, and before the wedding one of her aunts asked him if he was legal; the rest of the family yelled at this aunt but there was a fear she’d call ICE and they’d show up at the wedding. I don’t know how to make this better and it infuriates me.
hovercraft
@Kay:
No. The media is bound and determined to beat up on Clintons and for that matter democrats. How many rumblings have you already seen about democrats needing to work with the Shitgibbon. They should not just be the party of no.
Yesterday, Steve M. had this over at Nomoremisterniceguy
WITH NO HILLARY TO KICK AROUND, THE NEW YORK TIMES POLITICS DESK MAKES DO
Hillary Clinton’s not around anymore to act as an everyday punching bag, so how will New York Times politics writers stay in fighting trim? Well, it looks as if they’re found someone new to pound on:
Bonus points for that swipe at Chelsea Clinton — anyone know if Peters has harrumphed in response to the suggestions that Donald Trump Jr. might run for mayor or governor of New York, where his father is wildly unpopular? — but the new target of choice, at least today, is Jon Ossoff.
Also see Peters’s colleague Glenn Thrush:
On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” New York Times White House Correspondent Glenn Thrush reported, “my inbox this morning’s been flooded by Democrats who are sort of saying Ossoff was a terrible candidate.”
… Thrush added, “[H]e was not electric. He was more static electric. But I think, in general, that is an issue. Look, the other thing is, look how deep the bench was down there. There were a lot of people who wanted that seat. I think the larger issue that we’re dealing with here right now, is the fact that the Democrats just don’t have a lot of candidates, not just in Georgia, but around the country in general. There’s not a lot of people to kind of catch this Trump wave.”
Here’s a clue to which Democrats — or “Democrats” — are badmouthing Ossoff:
Times alum Frank Rich, now at New York magazine, also puts the boot in:……
…….Ossoff and everyone who thought he would win outright yesterday were naive to think that was a posibility, and Ossoff was inept because winning should have been a gimme. Makes perfect sense!……….
Jeremy Peters calls Ossoff “unelectable,” but FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten says the general election is a tossup. That’s good. As Enten has noted, this isn’t even a district where Democrats should be expected to win in a majority-shifting election cycle:…………
Chris
@catclub:
I think it’s pretty much impossible to wield the kind of power that the Newscorp empire grants them without having it turn your head, positive-reinforce your worst tendencies, and, yes, rot your brain/soul.
clay
@Mnemosyne: Ah, but does Fox News attract cranky old white people, or does it turn people into cranky old white people?
It’s a real chicken-and-egg situation.
Patricia Kayden
@geg6: Thankfully, Hotmail allows me to simply kick those types of emails to a junk spam folder where I can delete them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hovercraft: they’re getting help from the Usual Suspects. Wells Fargo Princeling Matt Stoller was tweeting about how “all the advantages should be with the Democrat” in Newt Gingrich’s former district of mostly rich white people in suburban Georgia.
rikyrah
@opiejeanne:
vent away
He’s calm because this isn’t the first time this has happened to him.
Won’t be the last.
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: Wow. So nice to see that the “liberal” NYT is actively rooting against the Democratic Party. Good to know.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan:
fur-lined jackboot
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Two Dems have started the process of running for congress in KS, vulnerable Barbara Comstock has strong challenger, and…. Looking for that Frank Rich piece, or was he on Morning Joseph?, I find this:
clay
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I’m not a huge fan of “Sweet Home Alabama,” but it’s a bit more complex than you portray it to be.
Did you know that during their ’76 tour, they changed a “Sweet Home” lyric to “Mr. Carter’s got the answer”?
Patricia Kayden
@clay: Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote the infamously racially insensitive “Sweet Home Alabama” to counter Neil Young’s “Southern Man” which was anti-violence and anti-racist. Didn’t know LS used to be more liberally minded because they’ve always struck me as Rightwing douches with their confederate flags and all.
Steve in the ATL
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
“Sweet Home Alabama” has been coopted by rednecks and racists everywhere and by frat boys all over the Southeast, but the song is actually anti-racism. Ronnie Van Zandt was, to quote his good friend Neil Young, “no ordinary redneck.” The post-RVZ version of the band was a pale imitation of its former self.
Full though unnecessary and irrelevant disclosure: back in my misspent youth, I did some legal work for a member of the band.
opiejeanne
@rikyrah: Yeah, I know. It’s a bit worse since his job moved him to Washington from SoCal where Hispanics are much more common, but this assholery has really ramped up since the election. I don’t hold out much hope for it to go away after Resident Evil leaves the WH.
They live in Puyallup so we have them over pretty often; I think it helps with the homesickness. Just before my daughter’s wedding last summer he asked if he was going to be the only non-white person there. We laughed a little but it was a poignant question. Of course he wasn’t but he didn’t know.
clay
@Patricia Kayden:
From Wikipedia:
and
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
Ugh. I hate to say it, but he might want to start carrying his US passport with him (or get one if he doesn’t have one already). With ICE being so overzealous right now, it might help prevent an arrest.
Steve in the ATL
@opiejeanne:
I always wanted to ask how it felt being the only black person in a school/class/fraternity/French class/etc. but didn’t want to offend. It has to uncomfortable. It was odd how uncomfortable many of my classmates became when the one black guy in our school was in a class with them.
Patricia Kayden
@clay: Ok. Hmmm. Always considered SHA to be a racist song but perhaps I’m wrong. Thanks.
Mnemosyne
@hovercraft:
Well, that can’t be true, because I was assured in a 500+ comment thread yesterday that Bernie’s fans are strong Democrats who support the party and would never undermine a candidate for insufficient purity.
Steve in the ATL
F Wilmer
F the NYT
F people who say “jif” for “gif”
But damn it, the people of BJ will stand up and defend Lynyrd Skynrd!
Suck on that, LGM and GOS.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. I have been nagging both of them to GET PASSPORTS. I reminded them again on Saturday. Both of theirs are long expired. I’m starting to sound like a broken record.
D58826
@TenguPhule: And all of the rules/regs being changed out in the agencies like EPA and Interior.
opiejeanne
@Steve in the ATL: I was invited to the wedding of a young woman who shared a hospital room with me after we both nearly died during surgery. The room was supposed to be private but the hospital was overcrowded. I met her whole family and they all invited me. Her grandfather, a retired Baptist preacher, prayed with us and while I dislike that sort of thing this was actually sweet. My own church sent a retired pastor who didn’t know us and it was like he was praying over the Sunday roast. Ugh.
So, when she insisted that we come to her wedding I asked if we would be the only white people there and she laughed at me. We were the only white people there but it was wonderful, everyone was welcoming although they were a little confused about who we were. Heh. They had a gospel choir perform at the wedding and they were amazing.
Then they insisted we come to the reception at her parents’ house and that was good too but we didn’t stay long because we thought we were making people uncomfortable. A lot of them just did not get why we were there but our meeting in the hospital was dramatic and felt important at the time.
I lost touch with her after the wedding so it was probably just the drama.
Ian G.
@Patricia Kayden:
No biggie. A lot of people think “Every Breath You Take” is a love song.
But yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd was pretty much saying, “we’re not all awful racist assholes down here, Neil”, which Young acknowledged.
J R in WV
@SenyorDave:
I like the cut of your jibe!!!
ETA: That’s a pun, son, and is spelled correctly for what I mean to say!
clay
@Steve in the ATL: Whatever their own merits, without Lynyrd Skynyrd, we wouldn’t have Southern Rock Opera by Drive-By Truckers. And that’s a world I wouldn’t want to live in.
J R in WV
@? Martin:
Anyone who thinks Japan can’t have useful special weapons in, say, 18 hours, is wishful thinking. Look where they are, who their enemies are in their region, and why.
History looms large in Asia.
Not that I know anything, just my belief about a country still being run by quite conservative nationalists. All “Hello Kitty” and cute and fuzzy on the outside. But still pretty dark and mysterious on the inside.
Steeplejack
@hovercraft:
Great piece by Steve M. I love this, from Todd Starnes at Fox News, on the GOP running 11 candidates in the GA-6 race: “It’s as if Republican leadership fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.” Carry on, Repugs!
lurker dean
@opiejeanne: the problem then becomes that you need to send your old passport as part of the renewal. they’ll send it back, but he’ll not have one at all (even an expired one) for some period of time. with the assholes in ICE, i’m not sure i’d want that. i guess he could carry his birth certificate, but i could see ICE being skeptical of those. it’s so horrible that it’s come to this even for natural born citizens, just because they aren’t white.
Ian G.
@clay:
I get the feeling we wouldn’t have the Truckers at all. It sounds like Hood wanted to be a rock star because of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
ruckus
@geg6:
How do you email them? I don’t think they look at email replies and there is no contact info other than a phone# on the website. Which I am calling tomorrow morning.
TenguPhule
@J R in WV: Doubtful. There’s a strong taboo about it for a reason.
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the ATL:
Living in LA, I’m actually able to have that experience in reverse, depending on the neighborhood. Being the only Caucasian person in Little Tokyo or Crenshaw is quite interesting and definitely unsettling, but it’s probably good for me.
ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s replacing Bill O?
Bess
@? Martin:
It could be that some Russian stuff is about to blow up and Chaffetz has decided that it’s best for his long term career to remove himself from the melee. Harder to get out once the poop starts bouncing off the walls.
Get out now. Take a Republican welfare job. Work his way into the Utah governor job and back into federal office a few years from now, untarnished.
(My preference is that he’s mired in up to his eyeballs and is trying to work a deal to limit his years in prison.)
hovercraft
@ruckus:
I saw somewhere that they are giving it to Tucker Carlson.
I think it was business insider or investor.
Here it is:
10 Facts About Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly’s Replacement At Fox News
BY ISHANI ROY @ROYISHANI_ROY ON 04/19/17 AT 11:37 PM
After Bill O’Reilly’s ouster from Fox News on Wednesday, host Tucker Carlson is all set to take the 8 p.m. slot on the channel, starting Monday, the channel said. The decision came soon after 21st Century Fox announced that O’Reilly would not return to the network amid sexual harassment allegations.
Shell
I was tickled when I found they took the name from Alan Shermans “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”
opiejeanne
@lurker dean: Yes, I just went through renewing my passport in December of last year. I was only without it for 3 weeks.
I warned them that the longer they waited to do this the harder it may become to get a passport. It’s still early days for this administration so they haven’t gotten around to screwing with that yet.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
Why not just unsubscribe?
TenguPhule
@opiejeanne:
Bush II already did it.
That’s why I rushed to get mine before the changes were put into effect.
Now its a royal bastard to get your initial passport.
Even renewals take longer, but its still easier then the first one.
lurker dean
@opiejeanne: 3 weeks, not bad. yeah, they should definitely do it now if they can, before the administration starts messing around with everything in the immigration dept.
debbie
If you haven’t heard or read Trump’s remarks today about healthcare reform, they’re astonishingly rosy and uninformed:
The report I listened to couldn’t confirm similar optimism from either the conservative or moderate Republican caucuses.
Every day and in every way, this guy proves himself oilier and oilier.
Julia Grey
HEY NOW.
Bess
Trump’s going to charge Assange.
Let’s hope Assange and his Russian friends have some choice stuff on Trump that they’re ready to dump. Burn Trump badly enough and Assange can make a plea for asylum somewhere on political persecution grounds.
Wonder if Upper Somewherestan would take him? I’m OK with exile from the comfortable world.
TenguPhule
@Bess: A ball, a chain, the Atlantic ocean.
Bess
@TenguPhule: Hey, if he can torpedo Trump and his merry band of varmints I’m willing to let Julian live out his life in obscurity far away from civilized folks.
But not in Ecuador. That’s a nice country.
clay
@Bess: I wonder if that will finally be enough to get Greenwald to become fully anti-Trump?
TenguPhule
@clay: He blamed Obama for this. Seriously.
clay
@TenguPhule: I believe you, but I don’t really believe it, if you know what I mean.
What twisted logic could possibly lead him to that conclusion? (That’s rhetorical; I don’t really want to know.)
Tripod
The incompetent saber rattling was at least helpful for the approvals. This will drive him under 30.
As for the House, those idiots do realize they can let go of the rope….???
J R in WV
@Patricia Kayden:
Went to see ZZ Top back in 2013 with cousins, and Lynard Skynard was the opening act. They were terrible. I wore my earplugs for the whole act, because they were over driving their amps. It hurt my ears.
After intermission, they tore down the Lynard Skynard setup, and ZZ Top’s setup was minimalist. Two mics, a low stand with a drum kit. They were great, and the sound was pleasant. They did the whole second set blues, after a girl came out with a tray with their blues hats on it.
Wonderful show. ZZ Top, I mean. Not …. that other band.