Kamala Harris just handed Jeff Sessions his ass https://t.co/6SGRQVoF6V pic.twitter.com/jcOrIQya10
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) June 13, 2017
It's unacceptable that Sessions – the top law enforcement official in the country – cannot name his legal basis for evading questions.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 13, 2017
Sessions during questioning from Sen. Kamala Harris: “I’m not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.” https://t.co/LaEV7O06ax
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 13, 2017
Kamala Harris is single-handedly destroying another Confederate monument. #SessionsHearing
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) June 13, 2017
Harris did a very effective job there in getting Sessions to admit the policy he's citing to not answer questions doesn't actually exist
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) June 13, 2017
Kamala Harris pummels Jeff Sessions so bad John McCain has to jump in to stop her https://t.co/ODX9sIA3wK pic.twitter.com/D4vhI7tL0B
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) June 13, 2017
What is it about Kamala Harris that makes her the only Senator Republicans interrupt at every hearing?
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) June 13, 2017
Kamala Harris: What policy are you using to avoid answering?
Jeff Sessions: White privelege
KH: That's not a
Burr: WHITE MALE PRIVILEGE
— Frederick Douglass (@HITEXECUTIVE) June 13, 2017
Re-read Harris's questioning of Sessions: maybe the reason McCain/Burr wanted to shut her down is that she was so thoroughly pwning Sessions https://t.co/hJtRU5GRHg
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) June 13, 2017
I don’t want to make this post any longer, but y’all should definitely go read the Jezebel and Chait links, because they are mood-enhancing.
Jason Miller: Sessions knocked away "hysteria from Kamala Harris"
Kirsten Powers: “How was Sen. Harris hysterical?” https://t.co/ivRYRNSzBZ— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 14, 2017
Quinerly
Thank you for this thread!❤
Jeffro
Yes, thanks AL!
Dems, you will pay exactly ZERO price for telling Republicans off to their face and calling their lies “lies”. Trump is indeed a “narcissistic maniac” and now Ralph Northam is the favorite to win the VA governorship. Kamala Harris has been launching broadsides at every clown they’ve put in front of her and I’m ‘this’ close to ordering up some KAMALA 2020! gear (or making my own).
Let’s. Get. Fired. Up!
Thoroughly Pizzled
I like her.
Today, President Harris nominated former president Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to fill the Supreme Court seats vacated by the resignation of Chief Justice John Roberts and the impeachment of Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.
A man can dream.
Jeffro
Torraine Harris’ tweet is pure genius btw
amk
nice of fucking nbc to act as jeff’s faithful stenographer.
Ben Cisco
Yes, much appreciated. LOVE how the Confederate Elf, Mr. Lawn Order his own self, got “nervous” while being questioned by a REAL lawyer. Yet, “Maverick” and Burr keep running interference for this low rent Malekith wannabe.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: AG Sessions Was Nervous and Defensive
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 13, 2017 7:03 PM
* Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified at the Senate Intelligence Committee this afternoon. His demeanor was in sharp contrast to former FBI Director Comey’s recent appearance. The latter was calm, confident and very well-prepared while the Attorney General seemed nervous and defensive. Here’s a quick summary from Josh Marshall:
hovercraft
Michelle Obama
Valerie Jarrett
Susan Rice
Kamela Harris
It feels like I’m missing something, hmmm……………
Major Major Major Major
For a brief and shining moment yesterday Harris’s Wikipedia bio said in the first paragraph that she makes the attorney general nervous.
NorthLeft12
Thanks for the video of Kirsten Powers pushing back on the “hysterical” charge. Miller and all the other jerkoffs like him are an embarrassment to males everywhere. He is so threatened by an intelligent and forceful woman that he has to trot out this tired old trope.
Bonus points to Ms. Powers for identifying herself as being “hysterical” in her persistent and illuminating responses to the douchebag Miller.
rikyrah
Sessions Couldn’t Get His Story Straight About Russia
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 14, 2017 8:00 AM
Yesterday I suggested that Attorney General Sessions was nervous and defensive during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He did nothing to bolster confidence in himself or this administration. Most of the reaction will be to Sessions’s bizarre invoking of what we might call “preemptive executive privilege” to avoid answering questions..
Yvette Cabrera has a good rundown on that.
I’d like to focus more narrowly on the various statements Sessions made about Russia. First of all, on a couple of occasions, he emphasized the seriousness of the probe into whether or not they attempted to influence the election. But then, there was this exchange:
Sessions went farther than that and said that during his tenure as attorney general he has never been briefed on Russia’s interference in our election.
rikyrah
@hovercraft:
Hmmm…
what do they have in common……
Jeffro
Btw (sorry but this is an open thread): this is just jaw-dropping. You almost have to laugh at this point.
Trumpov calls mayor of shrinking Chesapeake Island and tells him not to worry.
Yes, you read that correctly. Orangemandias took time out of his busy golfing-and-Hicks-banging schedule to call the mayor of Tangier, VA (because he saw him on TV, natch – and not just on TV, but proclaiming “I love Trump as much as any family I’ve got”)
That’s good that neither of these two fine minds believes sea levels are rising. Heck, if it was only Trumpov, the force of that intellect alone would hold back the seas!!
And yet…Eskridge wants a sea wall built around his entire island. Seriously. Just in case.
*got that? The sea isn’t rising, but “we’re running out of land to give up”(!)
“I never thought climate change and sea level rise would affect MY island”, said the man who voted for the Sea Levels Gonna Rise All Right party.
hovercraft
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Hillary would have been great, but unfortunately she’s too old, as was Garland in my opinion. Obama has said he would not want it, so while I’d love to watch him drive the GOP nuts, okay more nuts, the man served his time and did his best for us, so lets not make him do something we know will make him miserable.
rikyrah
To Win in 2018, Democrats Need to Go on the Offensive in the Voting Wars
If Republicans succeed in rigging the 2018 election, Trump’s unpopularity won’t matter.
by Mike Males
June 14, 2017
In the wake of accumulating scandals and low popularity plaguing President Donald Trump’s White House and the failures of the even more unpopular Republican Congress, Democrats eagerly anticipate huge electoral victories in the 2018 midterm elections, perhaps taking both the House and Senate.
Democrats’ high hopes for 2018 overlook one huge complication. Republicans may not allow anything resembling a free election in the 27 states where they hold complete legislative/executive control or veto-proof legislatures — or nationally, if Congress (under Section 1, Article 4 of the Constitution) imposes voting restrictions on states. Montana’s special congressional election, in which Republican billionaire Greg Gianforte defeated Democrat Rob Quist despite choke-slamming a reporter on the eve of the election, received a ton of national news coverage. But what didn’t get enough attention is that Gianforte was helped by the record-low turnout Republicans had hoped for, proving yet again that Democrats depend on vigorous voter participation.
Despite some promising recent Supreme Court rulings, Democrats may not be able to count on the judiciary to protect the right to vote. Chief Justice John Roberts declared that “nothing should be read” into the Court’s decision to let stand the Fourth Circuit’s rejection of North Carolina’s brazenly racist voting law based on narrow issues of standing, not merits.
The Court—whose newest member, Neil Gorsuch, harbors evident support for Republican-instigated voter suppression—may soon have another seat for a right-wing ideologue to fill. That eventuality, despite an encouraging ruling against gerrymandering (in which Gorsuch didn’t participate), would likely mean the rubber-stamping of almost all voter suppression tactics by the Court.
To provide the rationale for suppression, Trump has appointed a “Presidential Commission on Election Integrity” stocked with key politicians committed to disenfranchising the Democrats’ young, urban, nonwhite base. The commission chair is Vice President Mike Pence, and co-chair is Kansas Secretary of State Chris Kobach, the most extreme official champion of drastic limits on voting based on blatantly false fear-mongering.
Kobach, among many demagogueries, baselessly accused supposed illegal Somali voters of stealing an election, promised he would prosecute “hundreds” of “likely” illegal-immigrant voters, and was the source for “the president’s unsupported claim that millions of illegal votes tipped the popular vote in Hillary Clinton’s favor.” Kobach also baselessly claimed that out-of-state residents voted illegally in New Hampshire to defeat Republicans.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/13/17
Trump team desperate to explain Comey firing
Rachel Maddow shows what a rarity it is for an FBI director to be fired and runs through the series of failed explanations for Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey up to today’s refusal by Jeff Sessions to answer questions in the Senate.
Immanentize
@hovercraft: but but but
Condoleezza!!!!
SFAW
I’m torn re: whether I want to watch her questioning of the Evil Elf: on one hand, I’d love to see her rip him up one side and down the other; on the other hand, I am worried that my neighbors — who do not live THAT close to me — will call the police when they hear me yelling “SHUT UP!! YOU MOTHERFUCKING LIAR!!!!!” at Evil Elf, every time he opens his lie-hole.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah:
I’m still thinking…can’t quite put my finger on it.
Morzer
@Jeffro:
The Mayor of Tangier and the Tangerine Scream .. sounds like a match made in heaven.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/13/17
New Trump team strategy: refuse to answer Trump Russia questions
Rachel Maddow looks at the emerging pattern of Trump White House officials who are using specious, non-legal excuses to refuse to answer certain questions in Trump=Russia Congressional hearings
Jim, Foolish Literalist
They don’t seem to have a firm grip on what they’re “desperate” about
also, too
Bupalos
Good on Kirsten powers, that’s exactly what is needed in these both-sides venues. Kind of hilarious how Jeffrey lord lights up, he’s very used to the idea that this is winning ground for the pepe covfefe’s. And it probably still is. But not for long. This is where we have to fight and win. As long as you can call a woman agressively questioning a guy like sessions “hysterical” and get away with it, the world will be the Trumpublicans oyster.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/13/17
Senator Schumer: ‘Sessions is in dereliction of his duty’
Senator Chuck Schumer, top Senate Democrat, talks with Rachel Maddow about Trump officials making non-legal excuses for not answering questions from members of Congress in the Trump-Russian investigation.
O. Felix Culpa
Indulge me: could you imagine if HRC had responded like that during questioning?
ETA: I mean, seriously, could there be a more wussy response?
Immanentize
@Jeffro:
Xenophobic Xerxes??
Captain C
@rikyrah:
To be fair, seeing as how he’s probably one of the prime subjects of the investigation, and the CI people aren’t nearly as dumb as he is, I’m not surprised no one’s briefed him (nor that he’s incurious enough not to ask). Of course, if it turns out he lied, I wouldn’t be surprised, either.
Frank McCormick
@Ben Cisco: A real ATTORNEY GENERAL!
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/13/17
Schumer: Republicans hiding health bill because they’re ashamed
Chuck Schumer, top Senate Democrat, talks with Rachel Maddow about why Republicans are hiding the drafting of their version of an Obamacare replacement.
Morzer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ll take “married to their own siblings” for 20, Alex.
Chris
@Jeffro:
Uh, this statement applies to the global warming phenomenon in its entirety.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: maybe they can just be the next Venice or something? Nah, that’s too Euro-trashy for these fine ‘Muricans
Maybe they can just camp out on the roofs of their houses, tying their crab boats to their second-story window sills or something?
randy khan
Harris did a very nice job there. I can imagine why Sessions was nervous.
Wyatt Derp
Kamala Harris asks pointed questions and tolerates no bullshit from Sessions.
Sessions literally says “stop going so fast you’re making me nervous”.
And the black lady is the hysterical one…
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
I watched the piece about the island on Sunday, I wish someone had asked the pair of morons to explain what happened to the other islands around Tangeir, there were more of them when both men were born, the island itself is losing if I remember correctly, 16 feet of shoreline per year, is their faith that it’ll work out going to stop that? Oh and the mayor and his fellow Twitler acolytes swear they aren’t going anywhere, so I guess they should invest in floating houses, hey maybe that’s where their future lies, the new capital of the house boat industry. Morons.
oldgold
McCain is a guest at this committee hearing. As such, his continued hectoring of a member of the committee is even more outrageous.
Also, if you watched closely, although McCain was slightly better yesterday than during the Comey hearing, the second he left his scripted questions, he was adrift.
In no other area of life, except the US Senate and bingo games, do people in their late seventies and eighties run things. I think a maximum age of 75 should be imposed.
Jeffro
@Chris:
I love it, I truly do! No need to worry, sez the president* and mayor…but since we seem to be losing all our land, let’s build a huge sea wall all the way around this island, which is not disappearing btw.
“bip-bip-a-beedly-do-wop-a-dop-derp-DERP” = both men’s most recent EEGs
Jeffro
@Wyatt Derp:
Still waiting for the talking heads to point out…if any of these clowns were even remotely innocent…what would there be, to be nervous about?
Comey sure wasn’t nervous…
hovercraft
@Immanentize:
Well you do always need to have a few to push out front when you are charged with the most hurtful of all insults, the current holder of the position Omarosa is doing as good a job at minority outreach as Condi did as both our face to the world and as National Security Advisor.
schrodingers_cat
What can I say, she is a goddess.
Kamala==One of Lakshmi’s many names.
Kamal==Lotus
Steeplejack
That Frederick Douglass tweet is hilarious. He continues to do an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.
Tenar Arha
@Jeffro: Much yums, leopards and faces… it’s leopards eating faces all the way down.
Chris
@schrodingers_cat:
I’ve been involuntarily picturing the latest Miss Marvel whenever I hear the name “Kamala” come up in these discussions.
Jeffro
@hovercraft: If only Tangier Island had some of that precious, precious coal on it…
What’s amazing is, conservatives could have owned the shit out of climate change and related issues a long time ago. They could have even helped their fossil fuel buddies make a nice chunk of change as things gradually shifted over to cleaner energy sources. But nooo…gotta dig up/pump out every last bit o’ carbon and burn it for profit. Pitiful.
Chris
@Jeffro:
What’s the version of “no atheists in foxholes” for science?
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@rikyrah: Glad this is receiving more attention in the media. The GOP are trying to fix elections and turn this country into a one-party-state. But according to idiots like NR, that’s just “scare tactics” and a distraction from “moving the party left on economic issues”. Never mind the actual validity or electoral chances of those ideas succeeding. Or that Democratic policies are already fairly left
Immanentize
@hovercraft: It goes beyond tokenism. It makes me crazy. It’s like having one black family that attends your church absolves you forever from being a stone cold racist
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Jeffro: They’re anti-intelectuals, what do you expect? Rationality?
Jeffro
@Steeplejack: That is good…will have to go and follow him in a second…
In a perfect world, Kirsten Powers responds to Jason Miller with ” ‘Hysterical’? You mean ‘hysterical’ like baby-daddy-panic hysterical?”
Chris
@Jeffro:
That’s why the more I go, the less I believe that profit is a major factor in Republicans’ calculations. The “Sane Billionaires Versus Insane Billionaires” meme is much more accurate.
Immanentize
@Chris: only atheists in the lab?
Morzer
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:
Technically they are anti-interlick chewals.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@oldgold: He’s just being a Maverick! Totally not dementia.
hovercraft
@oldgold:
As I said last week Di Fi, Leahy, McCain, and Hatch need to retire, apart from seniority, and whatever benefits that come from that, very little now that there are no earmarks, they are doing their constituents a disservice. They are no longer as sharp as they need to be, they should step aside and allow people with fresh perspectives to take their places. Of this bunch I actually think McGrumpy is the worst, if he’s not talking about his favorite hobbyhorse, more war all the time, he does tend to ramble.
The Notorious RBG on the other hand is as sharp as a tack and still has the ability to get to the root of an issue as well as anyone on that court, so to her I say carry on oh wise one.
trnc
While wingnuts are screaming that she wouldn’t let him answer the question, I can’t help but notice that he interrupted her questions quite a bit.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Morzer: Yeh. Reel smert peopple git thar dagrees frum Trump U or Libertea U
Jim Parish
It may be worth noting that “Senate” and “senile” are derived from the same Latin root.
SFAW
@Morzer:
Oh, come ON!! First cousins are not siblings. Well, at least not in the first generation.
As Tom Lehrer sang: “His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother.”
Quinerly
Someone may have posted. Haven’t read through all the comments. Short and sweet: https://www.axios.com/jeff-sessions-testimony-update-next-steps-2441523755.html
Jeffro
@hovercraft: I’m good with mandatory retirement for any/all of these folks at 72, 75, something like that. I’m also good with getting rid of the Senate entirely. And while I’m at it, I may as well wish for a pony too.
Jack the Second
Since the root word of “hysterical” means “womb”, and Republicans do basically have a problem with anyone with a womb, it’s kind of hysterical they latch on to the word “hysterical”.
oldgold
In addition to senility and gross incompetence, the problem with these hearings is the format. Could there be a worse system for eliciting meaningful information?
Each party should have an attorney question the witness and after they have finished, give the Senators a chance to follow up [grandstand].
O. Felix Culpa
I love Senator Harris’s demeanor during the questioning. Clear, straightforward, and – yes – persistent. Poor, poor wee [white] elfie having to deal with that kind of person examining his probity.
Frankensteinbeck
Has this been pointed out, yet? Interesting twitter thread about a salesman team whose jobs were built on lies, related in the context of why Twitter is so deferential to racists and misogynists.
EDIT – It is a story to inspire schadenfreude.
germy
It was obvious the elfin neo confederate was running out the clock during Harris’s questioning. Talking. . . very. . . slow, . . . digressing. He assumed she’d sit there quietly while he drawled through her allotted time. And then when she pressed him for actual, you know, answers he got flustered.
Before her turn came up, I remember wondering if Harris would be cut off again. “Nah, they can’t be THAT shameless.” But sure enough, Grandpa WestpointBottomOfHisClass Palin roused himself from his nap to scold her.
germy
Msb
Can anybody say whether Sessions beat Alberto Gonzales’ 182 “I can’t recall”s during the US attorney hearings? Be nice if some state other than Texas had the current Biggest Idjit/Scoundrel in Govrrnment title for awhile.
Laura
@rikyrah: what DO they have in common in addition to their awesome badassedness?
That Junior Senator of mine’s right up there in the business and brings her A-game every time. MOAR of that’s like a tonic.
dogwood
My problem with Harris’s questioning strategy in these hearings is she cuts people off too soon. Let them really make fools of themselves before jumping on them. It was evident with Rosenstein. She spent her entire time with him demanding a yes or no answer that he wasn’t willing to give. Eventually Burr enabled him to answer the question, which he did by citing statutes and DOJ policy, and her time was up. I don’t know if his answer was accurate or ridiculous and she didn’t get to challenge him on his thinking because she wasted too much time cutting him off.
Jim Parene
@Morzer: I’m glad you said what I’m thinking.
D58826
I noticed that the wave of the future Bernie candidate lost bigly in the VA. primary yesterday
Jeffro
One more bit of OT fun before I get back to doing some work here: The Hidden Structures of “Choose Your Own Adventure” books!
CYOA is the best (especially the first dozen books!)
Atlas Obscura is also the best – one of the few newsletters that I read daily (other than Baud’s)
O. Felix Culpa
@dogwood:
I suspect that, as an experienced prosecutor, she would give them more rope to hang themselves with if she weren’t time limited. But she knows that they’ll just blather on to run out the time, hence the cutting-off strategy to bring them to point.
ETA: Kamala’s the experienced prosecutor, not me, in case the referent wasn’t clear. :)
Just One More Canuck
@rikyrah: King: “Do you think Russians interfered with 2016 election?”
Sessions: “Appears so.”
King: “But you never asked about it?”
Sessions: “No.”
Say what – this is the ‘top cop’ saying he has no curiousity about Russian interference? I guess he wants to focus on important things like prosecuting LEGAL medical marijuana programs
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@D58826:
Yes, and it’s Hillary and the DNC’s fault because reasons.
Also, shooter’s FB page is all Bernie Sanders and Democratic Socialism, FWIW.
SFBayAreaGal
@Frankensteinbeck: What a great story.
SiubhanDuinne
Shooter seems to be a big admirer of the Independent Senator from Vermont, if reports of his social media accounts are accurate.
clay
This isn’t good ( from WaPo):
? Martin
I told y’all she was being groomed to run in 2020. That’s why she got assigned to that committee.
@dogwood: She knew the answer to his question – no, he didn’t review his written notes, and no, he didn’t get briefed by DOJ lawyers regarding his legal obligations in that context. Harris was the Atty General of California. She knows his job better than he does. She is offended that a hack and a liar is in that job.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
I find it so heartwarming that someone over 120 years old is so adept at social media.
O. Felix Culpa
@? Martin: “I told y’all she was being groomed to run in 2020.”
O. Felix Culpa
@O. Felix Culpa: Apologies for block quote fail.
? Martin
I’ve been saying that the GOP obstructionism/secret dealings/refusing to listen to constituents would lead to violence. Democracy requires participation to function, and when elected officials block that participation it stops being a democracy, which opens us up to all of the remedies that occur in non-democracies. I have a close family member that is going to have to move in order to be in a state that will allow him to buy health insurance. Without it, he dies. I fail to see much of a distinction between legislators removing his ability to get health care and an intruder showing up at his door with a gun. They are both threats of violence, and we have lots of experience with how people behave when threatened with violence.
I can only imagine there will be more of this, unfortunately.
Frankensteinbeck
@O. Felix Culpa:
It happens to all of us at a certain age.
Chris
@? Martin:
This. I don’t even know if I agree with all of your post, but totally this.
dogwood
@O. Felix Culpa:
I get that, but I would have preferred to hear her response to his rationale. Rosenstein is also an experienced prosecutor, so she might want to hear him out a bit and challenge his actual thinking.
dogwood
@? Martin:
Rosenstein is a hack?
aimai
@? Martin: You should stop saying it, though. Violence is going to be on the rise in this society because Trump and his fans love violence for its own sake and use it as a method of social control. The kind of violence that you are imputing to the situation, that arises because of government failures to supply goods/services, is not going to be perpetrated by liberals or by our voters generally because its not their preferred method of problem solving. But these calls about violence are going to be read as/taken as covert threats of revolutionary action. We are simply not going to see that level of organized pushback against the destruction of the country. You don’t assault the courts over the end of the rule of law, you don’t take over the radio stations in defense of free speech.
Our voters and the entire country are going to go down to destruction unless we can find a political solution to this problem. Violence will increase but it will be random, stochastic, despair induced violence that will be as frequently turned on family members as on representatives of the government.
Amir Khalid
@clay:
This is a sentiment shared by many in the Juicitariat, although I doubt anyone here would resort to armed violence to express it.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@? Martin: Very true unfortunately. Expect more of this to happen in the future when people lose their health coverage and have nothing left to lose. It’s going to be absolute chaos, and innocents (not including goopers) will be caught in the crossfire.
This could be used as an excuse to clamp down, I suspect. They’ll vote to give themselves more protection and that will be that
schrodingers_cat
If the perpetrator’s FB profile pans out, the Democratic party should use this event to distance themselves from the Senator from Vt. His supporters in the comments section too calling for violence and I was called childish for calling them out by another regular. No idea how many are real people and how many are bots
*edited for clarity.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
Heh. I just sent that link to G because it reminds me of the job he got laid off from. Have I mentioned lately how much happier we all are since that happened?
dogwood
@schrodingers_cat:
Certainly a good time to remind people that Bernie ain’t a democrat.
The Moar You Know
The fucking wingers in my office are so happy right now. Besides themselves with joy. They got their goddamn Reichstag fire and they know it. Complete with a Marinus van der Lubbe. And it’s already cemented as a “Democrat shooter”.
“He’s a Bernie supporter”
“Well, Bernie was a Democrat, right? That’s what he ran on, right?”
We are fucked.
Chris
@The Moar You Know:
Wow.
Then again, this was Mitt Romney’s reaction to Benghazi. Of course, those were diplomats, whom wingers hate anyway and on any other day would be deriding as pussies and useless dead weight.
NorthLeft12
@Jeffro: I believe Deadbeat Donald has found his soulmate. Mayor Eskridge has to be the most ignorant dumbass I have heard today.
“Help us dear Leader!” “I agree we don’t have any reason to fear!” “Build us a wall dear Leader!”
I usually don’t wish ill on anyone, but I hope I live long enough to see Mayor E. up to his ass in water while trying to get into his house. Maroon.
hovercraft
@Amir Khalid:
Exactly, we piss and moan here and make idle threats, we are not about to jump up grab a gun and start shooting.
clay
@Amir Khalid: Anyone seen Tenguphile lately?
? Martin
@aimai: I’m not sure why I should stop saying it. We shouldn’t stop saying that failing to address climate change will kill people or that free access to handguns makes it easier for people to impulsively shoot others.
It’s uncontroversial that societies that are not free and open often (eventually) descend into violence if political solutions fail – and that’s true even in places where the gun per capita ratio is 1.0) It’s increasingly apparent that political solutions in the US, if they are not failing broadly, then they are at least failing (or succeeding) in new and unfamiliar ways.
I’m not advocating for violence at all, I’m just predicting it, and I’m arguing that the solution to the violence is to step away from the political cliff that we are now standing on. The response to this is almost certainly going to be the wrong one – the GOP will play the victim, cast Democrats as terrorists, ratchet their agenda up even tighter, be less open, have fewer town halls, and leave us with even fewer political avenues to work.
Mnemosyne
That’s our junior senator! Very proud of her.
NorthLeft12
@O. Felix Culpa: Yes, but you have to remember that he was being questioned by a “hysterical” woman. Poor gentleman Jeff was just overwhelmed. If only these questions had been asked in a more demure manner, I am sure the Criminal in Chief would have accurately and politely answered them.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@The Moar You Know: Panic won’t do anybody any good. We’ll deal with whatever happens when it happens.
sukabi
@Just One More Canuck: never asked about it because he needed plausible deniability. As in:
“Hey Jeffy, we’re meeting with the Russkis’ in here about the election. Don’t ask any questions, ?.”
Keebler replies “? So I get to be Attorney General then?”
Mango Menace replies “Yes, if you promise to NEVER tell anyone about the Russkis, and keep the DOJ out of my business.”
“Oh great one, I’d never betray you.”
See, plausible deniability.
Joeso
Last night on Claude Taylor’s twitter I was dismayed to see him retweet a post from lady asking how far people were willing to go to resist Trump, with the people responding sounding like members of the Bundy Clan saying how Second Amendment solutions weren’t only for the Right. This line of thinking is incredibly counterproductive to the progressive movement, immoral, and teetering on illegal. The more I see of the Trump Crime Cartel, the more I see that while they’re evil, they’re also really dumb and lazy. No need to cry WOLVERINES!!! just yet. I’m done with Taylor, and today I’m glad I reported that lady’s ass to twitter.
aimai
@? Martin: Because you sound like a toddler shouting that you will make the grownups pay if they don’t give you cake. The right wing isn’t listening and the left wing doesn’t need your cassandra act.
Jeffro
By the way, did y’all know that Democrats are actually the ones colluding with Russia, by…asking questions about Republicans colluding with Russia?
‘s true…Marc Thiessen says so.
Also up is down, down is up, and we Dems have always been socialist colluders with Putin.
schrodingers_cat
@aimai: Thanks.
Yoda Dog
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: @The Moar You Know: I don’t believe we are any more fucked than we were yesterday. This will pass. He’s a lone lunatic, so the fuck what if he’s a berner.. Let the puke funnel spin it into derp flavored cotton candy for the wingers, so the fuck what. Most everyone eating that shit up voted trump and we’ve established we dont need/wont get those people ever anyway.
I got 1000 problems today but the political affiliation of the ballpark shooter aint one of them..
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@aimai: That’s a completely unfair characterization of what he said. What specifically didn’t you agree with?
Waratah
@O. Felix Culpa: I agree and Warner was clearly frustrated and angry, he had more time but a lot of question he wanted to ask.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@Yoda Dog: Perhaps. Trump will probably do or say something else to distract accidentally, or fuck something up colossally
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: In case I was not clear I am not blaming the senator for this deranged person’s actions who claims to be his follower. Its good that he has come out promptly with a statement against the shooter.
Yoda Dog
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: He most certainly will, it’s all he knows.
They’re going to pass the AHCA. That is the much larger problem.
I’ve called my senators and I thank you all who have called yours.
? Martin
@aimai: But I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is that we should be mindful of how we empower people (guns) and disempower them (restricting access to democracy). That lesson applies to all kinds of situation – how you parent your kids, how you supervise your employees. When you take away one form of agency you can expect people will respond by exercising another. With your kids it’s hopefully confined to slamming their bedroom door rather than turning to drugs, etc. With your employees you can expect them to quit.
If you grant ever more agency through firearms and restrict it from voting rights, I’m not sure how it’s in any way controversial to note that at least a few people are going to use the former to compensate for the latter. I don’t wish it at all, but at the same time we’re too eager to blame this on mental illness or character failing if the perpetrator is someone we identify with in some way, or blame it on ideology if it isn’t. We had this little aside yesterday in a thread talking about how routinely people are swayed by cultural and institutional biases – how 1930s Germans would succumb to Nazism so broadly but 2010 Germans would so thoroughly reject it and nationalism in general. The people here didn’t change individually on their own, they changed in their culture and institutions which encouraged the populace to move in a given direction. They don’t all go, but enough do to make it stable.
What I suspect we’re seeing here is the same thing – but in a negative rather than positive direction. We’ve had calls for political violence for the better part of the last decade, including from the President himself, and calls that the remedy for elected officials who fail to do the will of the people should be violence. And suddenly when some individual feels that the aren’t being heard, that Congress will pass legislation that the public broadly dislike per polls, and announce they are unwilling to even disclose the legislation that may affect your personal wellbeing, that we should be shocked that they listened to all of that prior advice calling for political violence and take it to heart? Come on… We need to own up to this shit, not hide from it.
Corner Stone
@aimai: Shorter: “It can’t happen here!”
Corner Stone
@Joeso: I didn’t see that kook’s feed so not sure what went on there. But you do realize we are down to one person, right? This republic is down to whether Bob Mueller can successfully navigate what did or did not happen with the election and now, most likely, obstruction of justice by POTUS.
Because if he can’t, then we are going to have a choice.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Not exactly. I said ignoring it or dismissing it out of hand seemed to me to be a childish way of addressing real issues.
ruemara
@The Moar You Know: You can go be fucked. I have things to do. These people have been threatening and killing liberals, progressives and POC for years. 1 inept gunman who’s part of the Bernie cult is supposed to signal that “we” are screwed. FOH. Utter nonsense. If you can’t push back then just stay out of the way.
Tazj
Yashar Ali Retweeted
Tom Winter @ Tom_ Winter -50m
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: What would be an adult way of handling it, then? Talk of violence and violence itself are counterproductive even if the underlying anger/fear itself has a valid basis. If I was dismissive, I was dismissive of one particular commenter who for months has indulged in violence porn.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Thank you. That’s another response I am tired of seeing. Hitting the panic button and running around in circles accomplishes nothing especially in a real emergency.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
He’s a shining example to all of us rapidly aging geezers.
ruemara
@Tazj: Funny how violence against women is a trait to these nutbars.
Gelfling 545
@Jeffro: If the see isn’t rising they’d better look into just where all that land is going!
Ben Cisco
@Tazj: That was fast.
pluky
@Jeffro: sea walls won’t protect a barrier island; sand is porous.
Stan
@O. Felix Culpa:
Translation “I’m afraid of girls”
Kristine
@rikyrah:
You don’t need to investigate what you already know. Especially when you helped.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: I disagree. Discussion of violence must be addressed, especially if the underlying basis is valid. I am not proposing it and I am not in my cami’s with the face paint schmeared on. Fear serves a purpose and it is my opinion that understanding what all options are is useful, even if I do not endorse some or most of them.
When we say 23M are going to lose their healthcare and all the rest of the nasty shit the R’s want to do, the reason they are in a position to accomplish those things is by, in part, political violence.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Mnemosyne: It’s kind of funny that I keep seeing all these cries and concerns about the lack of New Leaders for the Left here and elsewhere on the internet. Meanwhile I see stories about Harris, Gillibrand, Schiff, and several other young politicians making waves almost every day.
Mnemosyne
@Uncle Ebeneezer:
Yes, but those are all Establishment Democrats, which means they’re all part of the evil conspiracy to keep
white menReal True Progressives down. What we really need is a true revolution, which can only be led by the, er, right people, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.TriassicSands
Harris was a prosecutor (if I’m not mistaken) and she questions people like she would if she were a prosecutor with the added observation that unlike prosecutors in the courtroom senators in congressional hearings have time limits and experienced witnesses know how to run out the clock. As soonn as the person she is questioning starts to ramble or is clearly just wasting time, which was what Sessions spent most of his time doing (when he was being questioned by a Democrat), Harris tried to cut in and move the questioning along. The job of Republican Senator asthey see it, is to protect Sessions from aggressive Democratic questioners. Harris was aggressive, as she should have been, but that’s never going to be OK with the GOP senators. The fact that she’s a woman makes it worse for most if not all male Republican senators. Her color probably really grated on the racist Sessions, as well as on other racist Republican senators. Heinrich from NM was also aggressive but I don’t remember anyone admonishing him to go easier on Sessions. This is the second recent hearing in which Harris has been called out for being too aggressive.
I appreciate her approach. Senators aren’t there to pamper witnesses but to get information. The time limits are designed to allow witnesses to take off on unrelated tangents (and to prevent senators from making lengthy, self-serving speeches) and Harris just tries to make the most of her limited time. Good for her.
I very much enjoyed watching Harris put pressure on the thoroughly disgusting old racist from Alabama. If she hadn’t tried to force him to answer succinctly, he probably would wasted time by telling her his wife’s recipe for “Stonewall Jackson” grits.
Mnemosyne
@TriassicSands:
I agree that Harris’s gender and color helped rattle Sessions. You could almost see him thinking, Why is That Woman being allowed to question ME?!?!
Also, totally OT, are you the commenter who also had a kitty with pemphigus, or was it someone else? If it was you, our kitty is doing much better after 2 weeks of steroids and now we get to figure out her maintenance dose.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: Exactly. Violence comes through not because we discuss these things, but because we fail to acknowledge that someone out there will connect the lines of desperation in their mind and perform an act we’re afraid to talk about.
We’re the first on the line to say that people that are unstable and have a history of violence should be denied access to guns, but there’s a pretty big delta between people with a historical pattern of violence and those who would be seen as normal, but who are situationally stressed to a point that causes them to act. Venezuela has been in constant turmoil for weeks now – protestors just set their Supreme Court building on fire. And these protestors aren’t ‘thug’ or ‘unwise youths’, they’re middle-aged, moms, grandmas, etc. who are trying to take care of their families, and no longer can, and have been pushed to their limits. Does the violence help? No, of course not, but they weren’t given any other recourse.
If your representative is threatening to take away your access to healthcare, refuses to meet with constituents, refuses to even listen to polls, refuses to release the wording of legislation to voters to even have an opportunity to provide feedback, let alone issues related to voter suppression, gerrymandering, and so on, you are pushing people out of valid democratic feedback systems and into… what? If we don’t identify the what, then we can’t work on ways to prevent those things from happening.
john (not mccain)
“That may be the way things were done in your beloved Confederacy, Mr. Sessions, but this is the United States of America.” – is something I hope to hear one day.
? Martin
@TriassicSands:
Well, the point she was trying to make was that Sessions wasn’t prepared and wasn’t taking this seriously, and allowing him to bullshit for 10 minutes is his way of hiding from that. She pushed him on ‘did you review your notes’ and when he stammered looking for an answer, that became a clear ‘no’ and she moved onto the next one.
I warn my students that’s a common way that they will be tested on their knowledge by instructors and interviewers. That’s what a whiteboard interview is about – give you something fairly routine that you expect someone to know and see how they react to it. If they have to stop and rack their brain, or are lost by the question, then they don’t know it. You learn that within the first few seconds. You don’t actually even need to do the exercise, the answer is known immediately. That’s the difference between knowing something and knowing it cold. The atty general of the US should know the job cold. Harris knows that job cold. Sessions doesn’t have a clue. That was clear as could be in that exchange.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@hovercraft:
Nope. If you add in Elizabeth Warren and Hilary Clinton you only take out one ccommonality.