Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

People are weird.

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Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

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Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

This really is a full service blog.

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if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Restore the Vote

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Restore the Vote

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… On the eve of the four-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down key parts of the VRA, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-AL, told a crowd of voting rights advocates and supporters gathered on Capitol Hill that it is time to “restore the promise of voter equality.”

“Today, I’m introducing the Voting Rights Advancement Act because I believe that the right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights in our democracy,” Sewell said. “As state after state create new barriers to the polls, our work to prevent discrimination and protect the rights of all voters has taken on a new urgency. The time to restore the vote is now.”

The Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) aims to modernize Section 4 of the VRA that the Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder was outdated on June 25, 2013. Under the new act, local and state governments with a history of voter discrimination from the past 25 years would have to obtain federal approval before making changes to voting policies or procedures.

These states would include: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

The bill has 180 Democratic co-sponsors, but has yet to garner support from across the aisle. Without it, the bill cannot forward in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, while calling on her GOP colleagues to make it a bipartisan measure, said the bill “will be introduced on the very first day” Democrats regain control of the House in 2018.

“We want people to understand they have the right to vote and their vote will be counted and counted as cast. Many people sacrificed so much for the right to vote in our country,” Pelosi said. “You have our commitment that this will become the law when we become the majority and we want it to become the law even before then.”….

Apart from fighting onward, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

274Comments

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    what’s on the agenda for the day?

    The high today is supposed to reach a brutal and blistering 78. I think I’ll enjoy my day in the garden.

  5. 5.

    mai naem mobile

    I’ve seen a lot of rumors Kennedy might be announcing his retirement on Monday. Would he really want Dolt 45 appointing his replacement ? I mean this as a serious question. Unless he’s got an illness or emergency in his family. I hope this is all smoke,no fire.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    House Democrats introduced legislation to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act

    Which is sadly only feel good publicity. We need majorities to actually get it done.

    And the evil fuckers known as the GOP aren’t going to let that happen because voting while non-white is anti-Republican.

    What really needs to happen is that the Republicans who keep ratfucking our elections to reduce Democratic votes need to be dumped out at sea with cement shoes.

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Climate change is a Chinese Liberal hoax.

    Baud, China was 2016. They’ve paid their bribes for 2017, so the blame is now on liberals and Al Gore is Fat.

  17. 17.

    magurakurin

    @Baud: it seems pretty sure Jane did something illegal, but the news that the Bern himself might have abused his office is new. That they both lawyered up sounds bad. what sad joke this all is turning out to be. America failed when it rejected Baudmentum.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @magurakurin: That is new news, and it is quite pathetic what’s happening.

    At this rate, I’ll win in 2020 simply because I’ll be the only non-felon left.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    At this rate, I’ll win in 2020 simply because I’ll be the only non-felon left.

    No you won’t, because not being a Republican will be a felony by then.

  24. 24.

    germy

    Brady Toensing of Burlington, the man responsible for the claims filed to the U.S. attorney for Vermont, was a chairman for the Trump campaign in his state.

    “I filed a request for an investigation in January 2016 and an investigation appears to have been started right away,” he said in an email to CBS News. “It was started under President Obama, his Attorney General, and his U.S. Attorney, all of whom are Democrats.”

    “My only hope is for a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation,” Toensing added.

    CBS

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @magurakurin: I know we all dislike Wiimer, but lawyering up is for the innocent too.

    @Baud:

    I’ll be the only non-felon left.

    That will be held against you.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    Brady Toensing of Burlington, the man responsible for the claims filed to the U.S. attorney for Vermont, was a chairman for the Trump campaign in his state.

    Excuse me, but I think this person has serious fucking credibility issues here.

  29. 29.

    germy

    Brady Toensing‏ @BradyToensing May 2

    Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson snared in growing pursuit of personal email

    Brady seems… proactive.

  30. 30.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    prosecutors might also be looking into allegations that Sen. Sanders’ office inappropriately urged the bank to approve the loan.

    Burlington attorney and Sanders supporter Rich Cassidy has reportedly been hired to represent Sen. Sanders. And high-profile Washington defense attorney Larry Robbins, who counseled Libby “Scooter” Robbins, former Chief of Staff for the Vice President, is protecting Jane Sanders.

    Me laughing ↪️ (video )

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    I hope the Sanders’ are treated more fairly than Hillary Clinton was.

    I expect the usual suspects will jump on the “guilty until proven guiltier!” here. Never mind that the source of the claims seems to be a fucking TrumpNazi.

  35. 35.

    germy

    @TenguPhule:

    And the evil fuckers known as the GOP aren’t going to let that happen because voting while non-white is anti-Republican.

    Remember after RMoney’s loss, when they decided the path forward was to “reach out” to minorities?

    Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! [wipes eyes and blows nose]

  36. 36.

    mai naem mobile

    @magurakurin: Well,thank dog Bernie isn’t a Democrat and can’t sully the Democratic brand. I am sure that Dolt 45s FBI is going to treat Sanders very fairly, as soon as Dolt appoints the Vermont US Attorney. Jared hasn’t gotten around to googlw search vetting those candidates yet.

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    Remember after RMoney’s loss, when they decided the path forward was to “reach out” to minorities?

    Reached out and grabbed em by the Pu%$y.

  40. 40.

    gene108

    Need to include Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania and some other states that have gerrymandered their districts to lock in Republican majorities and have strict Voter ID laws that make it hard for some people to vote.

  42. 42.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @TenguPhule: THIS. IS. FUCKING. HILARIOUS

    Sarandon and all the clowns said Hillary was more dangerous than Trump and Trump would usher in a revolution and now it’s Trump’s people hauling the Sanders into the dock.

    This is why children shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches – they burn themselves..

  43. 43.

    germy

    @TenguPhule: They thought about “reaching out” for about five minutes. And then someone at the meeting said “Wait, what if we just keep them from voting?” and everyone nodded in agreement. Some backslapping and high-fives as they left the conference room.

    And here we are.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud: I think there needs to be a law that anyone involved in the “Hillary for Prison” bullshit in any format needs to do 10 years hard labor as unpaid farmworkers picking crops. Overseen by Mexican supervisors.

  46. 46.

    mai naem mobile

    @germy: I wonder if Brad Toensing is related to Victoria Toensing. Another Clinton Monica RW harpy. Is she still around or did she kick the bucket? Maybe she became a real estate sales lady like Bay Buchanan.

  48. 48.

    Quinerly

    @mai naem mobile:
    Her asshole husband is still around. I remember catching snippets of her husband attacking HRC about a year ago. Drawing a blank on his name right now.

  49. 49.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Sarandon, an outspoken supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, told MSNBC, “nobody’s even talking about this indictment”.

    “Well, there has been no indictment,” Jansing responded.

    “No, but there’s going to be. There’s going to be. I mean, it’s inevitable,” Sarandon said.

  50. 50.

    TenguPhule

    I have steaks marinating in onions for dinner tonight, a bottle of yuzu sake chilling in the fridge and I am just about out of fucks to give in regards to our media, the scumsucking general public who are too fucking stupid and lazy to notice that Fascist traitors have taken over the country and said fucking Fascist Traitors.

    If the world does not end in the next 16 hours, I plan to enjoy them.

  53. 53.

    Chyron HR

    @TenguPhule:

    I expect the usual suspects will jump on the “guilty until proven guiltier!” here.

    As opposed to demanding that the whore release her SPEECH TRANSCRIPTS so we can comb through them for proof of her guilt.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    Good guy Colin Kaepernick

    I mean, we have a presidential candidate who’s deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn’t make sense to me, because if that was any other person, you’d be in prison. So what is this country really standing for?”

    The adoption of right wing culture was pervasive and rotten.

  56. 56.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    You have to wonder how in the hell did the Sanders think they could keep this quiet.

    I realize they defrauded a small hippie credit union in rural fly over country, but it was 10,000,000 freaking dollars.

    Based on his actions, I was convinced he was gonna run in 2020, now it’s an open question if he runs for another senate term next year.

    Hell, he may even have to resign so he can do paid speeches to pay off his high priced criminal defense team.

  61. 61.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    “Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is Charlie Bashar al-Assad.”

    If only Charlie’s Assad’s Angel (Tusli Gabbard) had kept her employment arrangement confidential; she’d be running the Sandernista ticket in 2020.

  62. 62.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @Baud: football related concussions (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy)

    but, you are right, it’s CDS.

  63. 63.

    Raven Onthill

    A disabled person elsenet, responding to the abuse of the disabled protesters and the proposed Medicaid cuts, asked what kind of country does that to its own citizens. I realized that the answer was Nazi Germany.

    It’s been very nice, but I have to scream now.

  66. 66.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Here’s the thing about The Cloud (Peace Be Unto It) – I’ve always assumed that it is a Dark Web hacked and Russian Government compromised set of servers located in Novorossisk.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    Remember after RMoney’s loss, when they decided the path forward was to “reach out” to minorities?

    Remember how many useless ACA repeal bills got introduced in the house? Until all of a sudden they weren’t useless (to Granny Starver and The Pain KKKrazy KKKaukus) any more.
    It’s good politics to pick an issue like apple pie, motherhood, the flag, and voting, and make the other guys look bad by voting against it or refusing to take it up. Find a microphone and a camera every fucking day, and talk about it (something that should have been done for the last two years with the senate.)
    As mine grandmother said: Vouldn’t hoit!

  69. 69.

    Another Scott

    @germy: I think it’s better to remember that a “bipartisan” immigration reform bill did pass the Senate and it was stopped in the House by one man – Bob Goodlatte.

    It’s not a nebulous “they” that determines policy – it’s particular people in the leadership at the time.

    That’s why one can vote for Lefty McLeftish in a primary but when the general election comes around, one votes the party even if Righty McBluedog is the candidate. The majority party determines who is in the leadership, and the leadership determines what gets done.

    For every ad Handel ran about how horrible Pelosi is, there should have been 3 ads pointing out how horrible Ryan is (tailored to the district, of course)….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  70. 70.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Joe West umpired his 5,000th game Tuesday night (he got a standing ovation from the CO fans at the beginning of the sixth inning when the game became official) This made me laugh:

    West always has had a fondness for St. Louis, which included late nights at the old Missouri Bar and Grille, where he and proprietor Trifon Panopoulos would engage in spirited debate, which even carried over to Chicago’s Wrigley Field, where, on a dare from a couple of St. Louis sports writers, West, at first base, had the ushers eject Trifon from his first-base box seat for ostensibly misbehaving.

    Rick Hummel, long time STL sports writer and the author of the linked piece, makes no comment on his own involvement or lack thereof in the dare.

  71. 71.

    debbie

    @efgoldman:

    It’s good politics to pick an issue like apple pie, motherhood, the flag, and voting, and make the other guys look bad by voting against it or refusing to take it up.

    Don’t leave out their most effective ploy: Define the other side before they can define themselves. (Which I think is the Dems’ biggest problem. Playing catch-up is useless.)

  73. 73.

    efgoldman

    @germy:

    Tulsi Gabbard Is Not Your Friend – Jacobin

    If she runs in the primary, why she might do almost as well as Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Linc Chaffee.
    Might not, too.

  76. 76.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Larry Robbins, the renowned Washington-based defense attorney who has represented I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and disgraced former Rep. Bill Jefferson, to represent Jane Sanders in the matter.

    Renowned for what? Scooter Libby and Bill Jefferson were both found guilty. They should hire someone who wins. Better call Saul.

  77. 77.

    efgoldman

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Joe West umpired his 5,000th game Tuesday night (he got a standing ovation from the CO fans at the beginning of the sixth inning when the game became official)

    I always found this very strange. When MLB broke the old umpire’s union (in the 80s?) Gammons had an insider interview (of course) with an unidentified MLB official who said the principal reason for breaking the union was so they could get rid of bad umpires like Joe West. (specifically naming him)

  80. 80.

    efgoldman

    @Immanentize:

    This is one of the weirdest morning open threads comment sections ever.

    It’s Saturday. The weird people don’t go to work.

  81. 81.

    Aimai

    @TenguPhule: jesus–you are either whining that the democrats don’t have a public relatiins strategy identical to that of the billionaire financed right wing or you are complaining that the public steps they take to define their image and policies are shallow.

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Calling this am thread “the weirdest ever” is like calling Mitch McConnell the “evilest elected Republican ever”.

  86. 86.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Hi there, Juicers. I’ve been mostly lurking here since 2008, but I wanted you to know that I’m am officially retired from the Smithsonian Institution. I worked there developing and organizing museum exhibitions that travel the country for over 30 years. While my retirement is for mainly personal reasons, considering what tRUMP and that evil orc Mulvaney have proposed for federal retirees (under their proposals, no retirements until 65) and that I could not be politically active due to the Hatch Act, I think my timing couldn’t be better.

    Talking about Voting Rights on this thread couldn’t be more perfect. I’ve been passionate about getting people the proper ID to register and vote ever since I started genealogical research on my family and realized how many of them couldn’t have voted under today’s laws due to births at home, delayed birth certificates, informal name changes (many of my family has adopted their middle name as their primary name once they became adults), no driver’s licenses (my grandmothers didn’t drive) and divorce.

    Now that I am no longer a federal employee, I can get out there! My research on volunteer opportunities have shown me that many organizations, such as Vote Riders, don’t have the hands-on experience I desire and that I think people need. So I’ll be volunteering at the Foundry Methodist Church in DC at their I.D. clinic to help those who need someone to kick bureaucratic ass. They wanted me to start next week, but I need a few weeks off.

    While I’m energized about this, I’m appalled at what this country has become regarding documentation and voting. So I will also be decompressing by traveling with my husband, and, I hope, being accepted for hands-on work at a nearby rescue center for owls, falcons and hawks.

    Thanks to all for being a source of sanity and enjoyment.

  90. 90.

    MJS

    @efgoldman: Exactly! Bill after bill after bill re: voting rights, then the ads asking why Rep. X is against voting. They won’t sway current voters, but will hopefully drive up turnout.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize:
    Poco has a sad. He wanted on the Baud! ticket. He has been in school all week…he can shake hands, lick babies, and he has always given good goose to the ladies. There are two younger, larger, male dogs that he doesn’t like and has had a couple of run ins with. When they were having down time…napping…he strutted across the room and pissed on them. Once in the AM and once in the afternoon. I have it on good authority that these dogs are Republicans.

  94. 94.

    Betty

    They really need to set uniform standards for federal elections at least. So much more could be done to encourage more people to vote. In a way, this issue represents a war between the parties as the R’s continue to do what they can in all the states to discourage certain voters.

  98. 98.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Only snarling jackals and cynics really understand the world. Pollyannas have their fingers in their ears going “La, La, La.” I prefer the former.

  99. 99.

    Jeffro

    @Immanentize:

    This is one of the weirdest morning open threads comment sections ever.

    It’s like way, waayyy open today. Which is good!

    For folks who are interested, today’s WaPo has some seriously interesting and offbeat articles:
    1) Running a Capitol Hill used bookstore…including the owner’s ethical code for when he stumbles across a rare find.

    2) a stumbled-across-in-DC memorial to executed German spies

    3) And a piece about the three basic rules of the internet…fortunately only two of these come in to play at Balloon Juice!

    Time to go make some fruit salad and buffalo chicken dip for the neighborhood block party later today…back in a bit!

  100. 100.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    My research on volunteer opportunities have shown me that many organizations, such as Vote Riders, don’t have the hands-on experience I desire and that I think people need. So I’ll be volunteering at the Foundry Methodist Church in DC at their I.D. clinic to help those who need someone to kick bureaucratic ass.

    Good on you! That’s important work. I have been supporting VoteRiders but was stunned in one of their emails to learn, if memory serves correctly, that they got all of 300 people registered in Wisconsin last year. Maybe that reflects how hard it is for people to register there, but seriously, we have to do better than that.

    Enjoy retirement. Don’t overcommit yourself to volunteer activity (which I did, initially). Do good work and save some fun time for yourself!

  102. 102.

    Quinerly

    On a serious note, if anyone has an overly anxious/nervous pup…problems with separation anxiety…Poco and I suggest the herbal supplement called L-Theanine. It’s OTC (and for people). He’s on 100mg twice a day and I can’t believe the difference it has made in ONE WEEK. The trainer suggested it and our vet was very supportive of it. We had tried Xanax (him, not me) and it made him woozy for the first 30 minutes, then actually more anxious after. There’s a doggie branded L-Theanine but it is terribly expensive. Get the one at a drugstore or on Amazon. Just check the label for fillers (no green tea). Check with vet re dosage for the dog’s size. Don’t skip dosages. The Xanax was for situations and caused more problems than it helped.

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: Yup.

    Also too, all these brainiacs talking about how stupid the government is not to have everything on AWS and the like need to remember – it was government scientists and engineers, government specifications, government contracts, and government money that created the Internet. ARPANET was running 9 years before Jared was born… People in the trenches aren’t stupid – they do amazing work considering all the constraints.

    Someone posted a link in a previous thread to a site that aggregates (some) government server traffic. The biggest sites listed were the public USPS and the NWS sites. Those are hardly “server farms” in the same league as things like the DoE Exascale Computing Project or the NSA Utah Data Center, or even Social Security, Medicare, FERS and CSRS, and all the rest. The USPS is quasi-private (and operates under all sorts of Congress-imposed rules (e.g. them having to prepay their vast retirement expenses) that limit what they can do and what they can spend and how much they can raise their income, so is hardly a fair example. The public doesn’t have access to all the NWS supercomputer hardware running and optimizing and creating new models of the weather and climate.

    Jared and Trump’s photo-op was stupid (as usual).

    Modernizing the federal computing systems isn’t going to save money, it’s going to cost a mountain of money. What it will do is make things more efficient, make things more transparent, improve data retention and security, and make it easier for workers, policy makers, and the public to gain access the data and knowledge that we all pay for. If it’s done smartly. Simply contracting out federal IT to AWS or Google or Apple or MS (or IBM or Raytheon) isn’t the answer. Companies like that don’t care about data from, say, 1912 – it doesn’t help them sell ads and clicks and AI – but the government has to.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    We will have to his drug use, though. Don’t you think? Herbal supplements make him sound like too much of tree hugger. Your call.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    informal name changes (many of my family has adopted their middle name as their primary name once they became adults),

    This is actually surprisingly common. You’ll run into it all the time with names- it’s not at all archaic. The middle name dropping on and off documents and creating an opportunity to challenge the voter’s identity happens a lot.

    Michigan has state case law that allows for it- usage can become a common law name change- but of course your ordinary poll worker wouldn’t know about that.

    What is enraging about the Supreme Court voting rights cases is the cluelessness because that comes from arrogance. An inability to learn or be taught- if it isn’t part of their personal experience they haughtily dismissed it as unimportant. They didn’t even attempt to imagine real life- how complicated peoples’ lives are. Names aren’t at all simple or cut and dried.

    It was genuinely elitist. They started with these crazy assumptions- everyone travels by air, everyone has a bank account, everyone has perfectly consistent document sets- these things aren’t true. They’re true for Supreme Court Justices. They’re not true for voters. We genuinely would have done better with municipal court judges, I don’t know, traffic court. They deal with these things every day. They’re not laboring under some delusion that everyone regularly boards an airplane.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Congratulations, and thank you for getting so directly involved in fighting for voting rights. Everything else in politics is determined by the vote. It needs to be the [issue] of our time.

    Enjoy!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    tobie

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Congratulations on your retirement and thanks so much for your volunteer efforts. I can’t think of anything more important than helping people get the documents they need to register to vote. I’d be really grateful if you could keep us posted on what you learn volunteering at the Foundry Methodist Church in DC. I would love to know if they partner with other churches or organizations in places like Milwaukee or Detroit. If VoterRiders managed to register just 300 voters in Wisconsin, that is really depressing. (1 in 7 African-American voters were disenfranchised in that state.) Voting rights are such an urgent issue and I don’t feel like there’s enough of a grass-roots effort to them defend them. Good on you for doing this work!

  112. 112.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Another Scott:

    USPS is quasi-private

    Postal myths: #2 The USPS isn’t part of the federal government

    Most of the quasi-confusion can be traced back to the 1971 Postal Reorganization Act, which eliminated the old Post Office Department, replacing it with the US Postal Service. The act was intended to make the USPS self-financing from its own revenues, and to make it an independent, non-political public service. Prior to the PRA, postmasters (including the postmaster general) were political appointees; rates were set by Congress, and the POD had to go through the appropriations process to get the money it needed to operate.

    The PRA established a Board of Governors who were responsible for selecting the PMG and setting policies and budgets. It allowed the USPS to use its revenue to finance its operations without any appropriation process. It set up a separate commission to set postage rates.

    What it didn’t do was privatize the postal service in any way, shape or form. Some in Congress, then as now, would have favored privatization. Consideration was also given to making the USPS a government owned corporation, like the TVA or Amtrak. But neither of those things happened. Here’s what the Act says:”The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States”. It also defines the USPS as “an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States” Being “independent” doesn’t make the USPS a “quasi-” anything- it simply means it is not part of one of the cabinet departments. Other “independent” agencies include the CIA and NASA.

  116. 116.

    Another Scott

    @Boudica: 69 in a 35 is really truckin’.

    I wonder if he was legally drunk at the time, also too.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    I have a middle name that has dropped off and on. I just ran into a challenge with it renewing my driver’s license. No problem for decades. All of a sudden it’s flagged. I thought “oh, you picked the wrong person to ask about this- my favorite subject! Pull up a chair :)

    Needless to say, it was resolved but if I didn’t know better I would have been shunted off to the Social Security office, which is 30 miles away. That’s real life for people.

  121. 121.

    ruemara

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Welcome to retirement. Thanks for the years of work and also double thanks for such worthy work you’re about to start. May I ask what you think Vote Riders can do to shore up its efforts or is any org working it we can support?

  122. 122.

    Quinerly

    Even Poco knows nothing good can come of putting a “Mad Dog” in complete charge of anything. It gave him “paws” from the beginning. He is more in favor of “Sleepy Kitty.” That could present its own problems, though. Seriously, the piece on Mattis is worth the read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/why-mattis-in-charge-is-a-formula-for-disaster/2017/06/23/614a9182-5822-11e7-b38e-35fd8e0c288f_story.html?utm_term=.2aca9f0fd853

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @D58826:

    Trump’s team are boldly and blatantly lying about the health care law, so that’s a bit of a hurdle, I would say. The press secretary blatantly lied yesterday when asked about Medicaid cuts. Said no one currently on Medicaid would be affected. That’s a lie and it was blasted out by every news outlet. They should cut off the feed when the lies start. There has to be some ethical issue with allowing these people to lie like this. Christ almighty, give people a fighting chance to know what’s going on. Don’t stack the deck against them.

  128. 128.

    JMG

    So Mike Lee of Utah, one of the most conservative Senators extant, said the Senate bill is a piece of garbage in an op-ed. This will be useful in ads around the country when he winds up voting for it. Really, his description of the bill could’ve come from Bernie. These guys really depend on the public having amnesia.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    Benjy Sarlin Retweeted Donald J. Trump
    Okay a last one: There is no “keep your doctor, keep your plan” part of this bill. It would change insurance a lot, just like ACA did.

    I can see we are going to get really rigorous and thorough analysis of this plan. Yes, sir. Great work. It will “change insurance a lot” “just like” the Affordable Care Act. Hysterically, they’re tweeting this to the President. That’s the “access” they get. Boy that sure was worth all the ass-kissing. He hasn’t blocked them on Twitter. Yet.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @OzarkHillbilly: I thought the rest of that sentence made it clear that Congress has a huge influence on what the USPS can and cannot do. ;-)

    Bloomberg:

    In response, President Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission in 1967, led by Frederick Kappel, the recently retired chairman of AT&T, to come up with a plan to repair the system. He and his fellow commissioners, who’d been recruited from General Electric, Campbell Soup, Bank of America, and Harvard Business School, were dismayed when they learned that the postmaster general had no say over postal rates.

    The Kappel Commission called for the creation of the U.S. Postal Service, a so-called government corporation, which, in theory at least, would be free from outside meddling. In 1970, Congress adopted the plan. Control over stamp prices was almost within reach of the post office, but, at the final hour, Congress created an outside body called the Postal Rate Commission, which would have the power to approve or reject any proposed price increases. The rate commissioners saw it as their mission to make sure the USPS, which had a monopoly on letters and junk mail, didn’t gouge the American public.

    The rate commission destroyed the dream of a more businesslike Postal Service. When the USPS wanted to increase its rates by a few cents, the commission often took more than a year to reach a verdict.

    Yeah, “quasi-private” is too simplistic and possibly misleading. And, yes, lots of parts of the government aren’t directly controlled by Congress. Another example is parts of the Pentagon operate under Working Capital Funds and don’t have specific line items in the budget and operate like a (government controlled) business.

    Thanks for the correction.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  133. 133.

    Spanky

    Oh boy! Bernie wrote me another letter!

    Dear MoveOn member,

    This weekend, I am partnering with MoveOn and going back on the road to visit states where there are Republican senators who can and should vote against the effort by Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell to throw 23 million people off of health insurance and, in the same bill, give huge tax breaks to multinational corporations and the rich.

    They call it a health care bill, but how can it be a health care bill when it throws 23 million people off of insurance, cuts $834 billion from Medicaid, and defunds Planned Parenthood? God knows what the implication of this legislation will be on our children, the elderly, and those of us with chronic illnesses.

    It is literally insane. I have a hard time understanding what kind of world these guys are living in sometimes.

    This is a bill that impacts a sixth of the American economy and touches every single American family. Yet they kept the bill secret, kept it hidden. And now, in the last possible second, they are going to rush it before the U.S. Senate to get a vote.

    We’re going to be visiting Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia on Saturday and Sunday. If you can, please show up. But we cannot pull off this tour alone. We need your help.

    Yada yada, give MoveOn money, yada yada….

    On this tour I will ask why it is that the United States is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all of its people as a right. I will ask why we pay far more per capita than any other nation for health care—with worse outcomes—and the highest prices for prescription drugs. And I will discuss the Medicare for all, single payer legislation that I will soon be introducing in the United States Senate.

    But first, we must stop Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

    Thank you for joining me and MoveOn in that effort.

    In solidarity,

    Bernie Sanders

    How many bills has Bernie introduced in the Senate, anyway?

  134. 134.

    germy

    Carina Hsieh ✔@carinahsieh

    me: *sweat forms on my upper lip as i use 118% brain power to write two blog posts a day*

    also me: whither art my book deal

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @JMG:

    Delay hurts them, though. The longer it’s delayed the more people find out what’s in it. It will probably still pass but every day it’s revealed hurts them. It’s unpopular now and no one knows what’s in it. Wait until they find out. If. If they find out.

  137. 137.

    Quinerly

    @Baud:
    We do have a potential scandal with a Baud/Poco ticket. Poco was quite the Romeo when he was out and about on the wild streets of South St. Louis before he had his surgery. I’m pretty sure he has never paid child support. This will be between you, Poco, and me for now. Don’t tell anyone.

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    For frontpagers, please find the video of last night’s LarryO with the mother whose child is on Medicaid. It was powerful, brutal, and will bring you to tears. It should be shared.

  139. 139.

    Sab

    @Kay: When I went to Social Security to change my name after my second marriage the guy there, without asking, typed in my old middle name as my new middle name, dropping my maiden name altogether. Since I already had a decade as a licensed professional this was not what I wanted, but after he pushed the button it was really complicated to fix. Fortunately our county clerk gives out a little laminated copy of the marriage license. I have to present it all the time to prove who I am.

  140. 140.

    Quinerly

    OK, what’s the deal? I’m in moderation for suggesting a miracle herbal supplement, vet approved that has completely changed Poco’s life? Less separation anxiety. What kind of fucking operation is Cole running here??

  142. 142.

    Kay

    Well, I’ll tell all the Medicaid recipients I see that Trump lied to them and is cutting Medicaid (I see a lot of them and this county went 70% Trump) – I believe I’m credible on Medicaid with them because I do know how it works- but it can feel futile. It’s a big fucking country. One by one is a really big job :)

  143. 143.

    germy

    @Quinerly:

    I’m pretty sure he has never paid child support. This will be between you, Poco, and me for now. Don’t tell anyone.

    James Carville: “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a dog park, you never know what you’ll find.”

  147. 147.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    I’m in the same one by one persuasion exercise, Kay. The thing that I find frustrating is that the 20-30 minutes I spend once a week with someone is completely undone the next time I see that person. I don’t think it’s a retention issue. They just go back to their lives and they are immersed in right wing media.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly:

    I’m pretty sure he has never paid child support.

    That will get you the support of Men’s Rights activists everywhere!

  149. 149.

    germy

    I picked up Nancy MacLean’s Democracy In Chains last week and quickly devoured it. It is the kind of book that shows how history can used to fight political battles in the present, and the importance of historical research as a way of uncovering hidden realities.

    The book is about James Buchanan, an obscure name despite winning the Nobel Prize for economics in 1986. MacLean essentially argues that while most of us tend to see Milton Friedman as the godfather of modern day right wing (there is good reason not to use the word “conservative”) political economy, it is Buchanan who has by far had the bigger impact. A good part of the reason is that Buchanan’s ideas were completely embraced by the Koch brothers, who have used their wealth to spread their influence.

    MacLean derives her title from one of Buchanan’s central tenets, namely that democracy is inimical to freedom. Of course, it is the libertarian notion of “economic freedom,” which essentially boils down to the supremacy of property rights. Because those pesky voters want to finance the social safety net with the money of the wealthy, democracy must be limited in the name of “liberty.”

    Tactically, Buchanan thought it was best not to reveal to the public the true nature of his preferred agenda. Thus attempts to cut back on Social Security would couched as attempts to “save” it. The safety net was to be gradually weakened to the point of ineffectiveness, at which time it would be easy to eliminate. At that point, according to his strict ideology, freedom and liberty would reign supreme. Notice there was no supply-side argument about boosting the economy in his thinking. Allowing the wealthy to have their money was to him a moral imperative, pure and simple.

  151. 151.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: Excellent carpenters? Fascinating carpenters? Phenomenal carpenters? Next thing you’ll be asking for rainbow farting unicorns that shit gold!

  152. 152.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    I was a sobbing wreck after watching it. I don’t know how Nancy Giles and Joan Walsh could speak after that.

    When he said he has had a hard time sleeping since Nov 9th I felt such rage. That young man is just trying to live each day and that he has to spend a minute of his precious life force worrying about what those vile, GOP psychopaths will do to him is the ultimate injustice.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @Sab:

    Isn’t it crazy how such a small thing becomes such a big thing? A keystroke. I spent a lot of time thinking about this during the Trump birther campaign because birth certificates are state records and they’re accepted without question. I attach them to something or other and submit them to a court at least weekly. I have never even had one questioned. It was like down the rabbit hole, because if that document isn’t considered valid everything just grinds to a halt. Everything else is based on the first document.

    I was imaging crazy things- searching for the attending physician at birth, testimony from the mother, because some of these “norms” have to do with a kind of efficiency. We have to get on with it. Obviously I don’t know that the signature of the state records official is ACTUALLY that person. I didn’t see anyone sign it! Her birth certificate could be bogus too and then she’s not the person she says she is!

    The big machine would grind to a halt if everything required some kind of independent “authentication”. During the birther craze I had a conversation with a state records clerk in Indiana- I needed a birth record. She said “do you want the long form?” I guffawed. That’s how weird it seemed to us- how all of a sudden this record that no one ever questioned became some kind of legit “controversy”.

  154. 154.

    JMG

    @Kay: Those who don’t find out before the vote will find out in a hot hurry should it become law. This is the thing. It’s way easier to lie about something before it happens than after it does.

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    Congratulations on a well-deserved retirement from an important and fascinating career — and thank you for your imminent volunteer work on behalf of two crucial causes!

    Now that you’re no longer under Hatch Act constraints, please don’t be a stranger at Balloon Juice. I hope you’ll comment often!

    And if you feel like meeting your fellow jackals in person, let one of the FPs know your itinerary so they can post a meet-up thread.

  157. 157.

    GregB

    Perhaps Democrats should push with as much zeal on voting rights as the Republicans do with gun rights.

  158. 158.

    Quinerly

    @germy:
    Hell, probably just a box of dog biscuits and a package of cheap American cheese from Aldi’s. Don’t tell Baud that we are so fucked if our opponents get a strategy…100 bucks will buy a ton of AMERICAN cheese. They can cove a lot of St. Louis doggie parks with slices of that stuff. Added bonus for them…that stuff is AMERICAN and the color of their candidate.?

  159. 159.

    Another Scott

    @Sab: People should be able to call themselves whatever they want without it impacting anything like voting rights. It’s senseless.

    A friend at work and his wife have different last names (she didn’t change hers). My J and her twin sister didn’t either. When the friend and his wife adopted a pair of twin girls from overseas, they gave them last names that were a combination of their last names (e.g. (not their real names) Rodham + Obama = Rodama). It was interesting and clever, but I wonder if it is going to cause problems for them down the road if we don’t fix this stupid voter ID, etc., stuff. :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I have used my confirmation name as my middle name since, well, since I was confirmed. It proved prophetic for my career (patron saint of the hopeless cases).

    But the middle name on my social security card is different (slavic saint with famous church in Vienna). Am I ever screwed! Unless I move to Prague….

  161. 161.

    MomSense

    @Raven Onthill:

    Yes. The GOP is following the fascist playbook. It has been obvious to anyone paying attention. Labor unions, the disabled, religious minorities, state control of women and reproduction, and so on. We are living the prequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.

  162. 162.

    Quinerly

    Please release my comment around 101. Very good info on this herbal supplement for dogs….and separation anxiety. I’m convinced it has saved Poco…and my sanity. I’m out of here…a day of live, local music starting at 10:00 AM. Have a great day!

  163. 163.

    D58826

    Listening to a GOOP explain that the GOP isn’t against giving the truly needy healthcare. They just want to go back to a market based healthcare system where people can choose if the want health care. That the health care market will work just like any other market based product.

    Couple of problems of course. Trump care isn’t really a market based system. It is a huge tax cut for the 1% and a every person for themselves and the devil take thew hindmost approach to health care. If the pre-Obamacare market based system was such a success why did Americans pay more for healthcare than any one else in the world and for that kings ransom we had 50 million or so w/o coverage and the worst medical cafe outcomes of any first world (and some 2nd/3rd world) countries. As far as working like any other market that is beyond absurd. I’m thinking of buying a new car. Since I can’t afford a BMW I will have to settle for a Chevy, and maybe used. I really don’t plan on having a heart attack and preemptively search the local medical care market for a hospital/doctor that have bypass surgery on sale.

  164. 164.

    MomSense

    @Quinerly:

    Ha!! I buy the cheapest AMERICAN cheese I can find for my pup. I’m living a behold the power of cheese commercial with her.

  165. 165.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy:

    Allowing the wealthy to have their money

    Being the crushing weight at the top of a pyramid built for the sole purpose of keeping the few in gold gilt doesn’t make it “their money”.

  166. 166.

    Immanentize

    @Cheryl from Maryland:
    I don’t know if you are still reading this thread, but good on you! I actually have a leave scheduled for the spring semester ’18. I have a proposed research project about lawyer ethics versus law professor ethics. But after the Trump election, our school has indicated, in the spirit of experiential education, that folks on research leaves may be allowed to do direct service projects rather than formal type research. Depending on family circumstances, I plan on taking that option (I’ll probably do both because the ethics issue is facinating to me). But I am torn between working with Juvenile Law Center in Philly on juvenile sentencing issues versus voting work. The reason I have not finally decided in favor of voting work is the one you identify — I haven’t found the right creative, flexible, aggressive entity to hook my wagon to yet. So if you (or anyone) has suggestions, please let me know!

  170. 170.

    Immanentize

    @Another Scott: I have a law school mate (still a friend) whose name was White. He married a woman whose last name was Leaf. They had their names changed to Whiteleaf. Then divorced. Back to their originals!

    I do think that at some point we will need federal ID laws if only because of the constitutional right to travel. There is a good argument there for some kind of lawsuit.

  172. 172.

    D58826

    Watching MSNBC and the comment was made that all it took to get Trump to admit the Russian hack is true was an opportunity to blame it on Obama. And I think this goes to the heart of much of what is happening. The hatred of Obama/liberals is so blindingly unreasonable on the right that they find any action acceptable if you can blame Obama and the left, whither that blame is valid. I don;t know if that same blind hatred exists on the left, or at least among the opinion/political leaders on the left. It is no secret that the left did not like Saint Ronulus the Unready but no one took any pleasure in the deaths of 250 marines and 60-80 diplomats in Beirut just to have a gotcha moment. It is equally no secret that the left was unhappy with the 2000 election and questioned W’s legitimacy/competence. Yet no one wanted to see that proven by the events of/in 9/11 or Iraq or Katrina.

  173. 173.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Actually, carpenters have to show up early and they never clean up after themselves, that’s what laborers are for. ;-)

  174. 174.

    tobie

    @Immanentize: Thanks so much for volunteering part of your sabbatical for community service. I gather that Kander’s organization Let America Vote has opened an office in Manassas, VA to help register voters in an effort to retake the state legislature. I wonder if they’ll be opening an office in North Carolina. We really need an organization like ACORN with a national scope. Acorn was good…that’s why the GOP did everything in its power to kill it.

  175. 175.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    I wonder if “X*nax” is what triggered it? I’m sure it doesn’t work for all dogs. I’m just amazed how it has calmed Poco. Wish I had known about it 3 years ago. I think it can help a lot of dogs…including some of our BJ dogs. I’d link to the Amazon one I ordered but don’t want to start the moderation thing up again. Thanks, Santa Fe chick!

  176. 176.

    Peale

    @Another Scott: did the article say how much those costs were? Because people will think that they must be much higher than they actually are. In this fire, it’s less than 10k pounds to protect millions of property and kives.

  177. 177.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Consider my fruede is sufficiently shcadened:

    Creationist Ken Ham built the $92 million Ark Encounter project in Williamstown, Kentucky. The “dismal failure” of the project has backers lashing out at “intolerant atheists” for mocking the return on investment taxpayers have received.

    “Sadly, they are influencing business investors and others in such a negative way that they may prevent Grant County, Kentucky, from achieving the economic recovery that its officials and residents have been seeking,” complained Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis.

    “Why so many lies and misinformation? Simply because we are in a spiritual battle, and the intolerant secularists are so upset with such world-class attraction like the Ark (and Creation Museum) that publicly proclaim a Christian message,” Ham claimed. “They will resort to whatever tactics they deem necessary to try to malign the attractions.”

    I actually would like to go to it, if only for the opportunity to point and laugh.

  178. 178.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    @germy:

    I have long posited that redistributionist politics of the left populist variety represents another facet of economics, where people without economic mobility or income security leverage their last valuable assets – votes and voices – to acquire necessary services, food, shelter and employment.

  180. 180.

    Fair Economist

    @gene108: Why not put voter protections in every state? That would get around the fig leaf the conservajudges used to get rid of the old act.

  181. 181.

    Quinerly

    @MomSense:
    Quick American cheese and pup story. My dad’s last dog was Ruby (people across the street got divorced, my dad got the dog). Ruby went everywhere with my dad in his beat up pick up truck…country roads, country stores. He taught her how to eat cheese “in 8 positions.” The first ones were essentially your garden variety dog eating cheese positions. The grand finale, the real old men in country store crowd pleaser was “Centerfold.” The routine was always done in the same order..on the 8th position, Ruby would drop to her back, spread her legs, give a little come hither look. My dad then dropped cheese in her open mouth. AMERICAN cheese. None of that French stuff.?

  182. 182.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and good wishes. For those of you who asked about Vote Riders, I found their plan of generating instructions for people who need ID to be not on point. Instructions alone don’t cut it; I feel people need a guide who is knowledgeable and ready to work around red tape assholes. If these people knew how to work the system, they wouldn’t need ID assistance.

    My husband retired on disability from the FDA (he was a lawyer), and we have spent a lot of time battling insurance companies, OPM, etc. Because of our training and experience as over educated bourgeois white people, we have got shit done, including this year when a $1000 a week medication now costs us $35 a month. My husband’s doctors have asked for the documents of our battles to share as templates with their less “experienced” patients to help them get the assistance they need.

    In person assistance with ID isn’t just for voting, its important for life. Aside from Foundry UMC in DC, a Google search brought up Homeless ID Arizona, which also provides an address receiving and storing documents. Hopefully there are more places in more states.

    As Kay said, only privileged people fly, don’t move often, have safe deposit boxes, etc. Thinking our lives are the norm is arrogant.

  183. 183.

    MomSense

    @Quinerly:

    My dog assumes centerfold position even without cheese. One of our big dog jokes chez moi is imagine if people jumped right from hello to here’s my crotch like our dog does.

  185. 185.

    D58826

    And David Kay Johnson is talking about Trumps connections to the mobster Felix Sater. Sater got a get out of jail free card on a stock fraud case because he told the Feds he had ME/terrorist connections that would help retrieving stringer missiles. Which means, according to Johnson, Der Fuhrer has one degree of separation from these ME terrorists. No wonder he wants to shut the investigation down.

  187. 187.

    Another Scott

    @Peale: TheGuardian:

    Material used in the cladding that covered the Grenfell Tower was the cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options, an investigation of the supply chain has confirmed.

    Omnis Exteriors manufactured the aluminium composite material (ACM) used in the cladding, a company director, John Cowley, confirmed to the Guardian.

    He also said Omnis had been asked to supply Reynobond PE cladding, which is £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative Reynobond FR, which stands for “fire resistant” to the companies that worked on refurbishing Grenfell Tower.

    Emphasis added. I assume the cost to the UK government was higher (that seems to be the wholesale price difference).

    (Dunno why there’s a discrepancy about the manufacturer’s name in the two stories. I assume that the NYTimes story named the actual manufacturer and the Guardian story lists the UK distributor’s name or something. Just a guess though.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  189. 189.

    Another Scott

    @Cheryl from Maryland: I’ve been a VoteRiders supporter for quite a while. They’re not anywhere as big as the League of Women Voters (who I also support) and they don’t have the manpower and funding to do the things that larger groups can. But I think they punch far above their weight and are worthy of support. Yes, their Voter ID info cards aren’t the same as having people in every voting locality with in-person help, but it’s an important baseline resource for those who want to help locally.

    There’s enough that needs to be done that there are lots of ways that people can help. I’m glad you’ve found a group that fits your interests, passions, and area needs. Knock ’em dead! ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  191. 191.

    Another Scott

    Oh, that reminds me.

    Everyone who shops at Amazon fairly regularly should probably sign up to tie their favorite charity with Amazon Smile. With it, 0.5% of your purchase price will be taken from Jeff Bezos’s pockets and given to that charity. It costs you nothing (Amazon probably gets a tax write-off for it) and a little something something goes to a deserving cause. It can be used on top of Prime, so it doesn’t affect “free” shipping, etc. (Dunno if it affects Amazon referral dollars to places like BJ – I would assume not, but dunno.)

    VoteRiders is one of the Smile charities.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  192. 192.

    D58826

    So cutting 800 billion from Medicaid is not really cutting Medicaid because we can’t afford the program. But we can’t afford Medicaid as currently structured because of the deficit but we can give tax cuts, the deficit be d***m. Now this critter is talking about reforms such as moving away from fee for services, wellness programs and stop funding inefficient programs. Not to put to fine a point on it but that is what Obamacare aimed to do. He also wants to make the program more efficient by making them, do more with less. Sam Brownbeck has proven over the past 6 years that what you get with less tax dollars is less services. He wants to, in effect, bend the cost curve down. There is another term for that -OBAMACARE.

    He also voted for the Buffalo amendment that will move the tax burden from the Buffalo area tax payers and move it to the state tax payers. Sounds like welfare for Buffalo taxpayers.

  193. 193.

    Original Lee

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Congratulations and thanks for joining the Resistance! Not sure I mentioned this before, but I took involuntary early retirement on March 1 and have become increasingly politically active, too. I think when you’re used to keeping politics away from work, it takes a while to move away from that mindset. I hope to volunteer with a voter I.D. organization starting the fall, so if there are any in Maryland that you think I should steer away from, please feel free to say so. The Spouse is also a federal employee and we’re just hoping he can retire when he intends to next year (or that he gets a generous buyout – ha!). Hard to believe that not even a year ago, I wasn’t too worried about my health insurance and now I’m back to thinking about Bake Sales for Essential Pharmaceuticals.

  194. 194.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @TenguPhule: Oldies, but goodies!

    And you’re right about VRA restoration; will only happen if Dems have veto-proof majorities.

    Roberts will burn in Hell for this alone. Extra heat for the abomination that is Citizens United.

  195. 195.

    ArchTeryx

    @rikyrah: He’s lined up for death now. So was I and I am not the only one even on this blog full of snarling jackals.

    I continue to boggle my bosses why a privileged white PhD would tear into a paper-shuffling job like Noah building the Ark. And if they ever find out the real reason, I’m probably hosed, because there is no bigger sword to hold over my head now then imminent death.

  196. 196.

    Immanentize

    @tobie: My friend was the head of North Carolina ACORN. He is such a smart and savvy guy. No wonder they went after that organization

  198. 198.

    randy khan

    @efgoldman:

    It’s important to remember that the owners really wanted to break the union to show that they could break a union. Any justification was just for convenience. (I’m not saying West was good at the time, but it’s entirely possible that they just picked him at random.)

  201. 201.

    Suzanne

    Were still in the middle of a heat wave, so it’s a water park day. Hopefully, the Spawns will get nice and tired.

    Oh hell, who am I kidding…… I’ll be the tired one.

  202. 202.

    Quinerly

    @Just One More Canuck: That could be hard. Poco comes from a mixed family..Lab and Golden Retriever, plus some Pit Bull. Gonna be hard to get that on one piece of paper. More obstacles for the Baud/Poco ticket.

  203. 203.

    D58826

    I am so tired of hearing about how poor hardworking Americans are bearing an unsustainable tax burden that makes it impossible to live and support their families. So the GOP solution is to cut taxes and then complain that the government can’t afford the program. Fine simple approach – cut taxes and give the money to the 99%. If that will have such a great impact on the economy then the cost of programs like Medicaid/SNAP/ETC will come down on their own because the 99% will no longer need the program. Instead the GOP will cut the program, give the money to the 1% and let every one else drown.

    Listening to the relatively sane conservative Avik Roy. Trumpcare will replace
    the Obamacare medicaid expansion with tax credits. More people will be covered in TX for example because the credits will be available to everyone. If it wasn’t for the Roberts court and decisions by TX politicians all those uncovered people in TX would already be covered by Medicaid.

    All of the pros and cons aside of Obamacare vs Trumpcare the French have a system that covers everyone from birth to death ( and even the occasional sick American tourist) without deductibles, copays. mandates, refundable tax credits and all of the rube goldberg catch phrases of the American system. The system consumes a lower share of the French GDP but delivers better results than the US system. Obviously the system is funded by French taxes. There is no free lunch. It almost looks like in the US we developed two lists. One is how to do it matching good outcomes with an efficient delivery process. The other list combines processes that maximize the cost of delivering bad outcomes and then doubles the cost. And we then pick every item on list 2

  205. 205.

    Kathleen

    @magurakurin: Conspiracy by Big Banksters and Hillary to besmirch his purity. Because he has been such an advocate for talking about income inequality. Just hopped on and haven’t scrolled thru comments but I’m assuming the WouldaStalkers quickly swarmed the Comments?

  206. 206.

    Kathleen

    @magurakurin: I read about allegations of him putting pressure on the bank during the campaign. This story has been percolating for a long time. But of course national media didn’t bother to report because clouds and shadows and things.

  207. 207.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I think of it as an upside down pyramid. All that weight of the gold on the top with the pointy end down, of course it’s unstable unless it’s firmly planted in the backs of the little people.

  208. 208.

    Kathleen

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not all of the claims. Only the claim about Bernie’s role. Jane’s actions are part of public record. I thought I read somewhere that the allegations about Bernie were never proved but Jane’s are a thing.

  211. 211.

    CaseyL

    @MomSense: I salute all of you who are trying. I don’t bother anymore.

    Today is Too Damned Hot in Seattle. I’m supposed to go visit a friend but haven’t yet heard from her, so the weekend may need to be reshuffled. With temps expected to reach 90, my “reshuffle” might consist of putting a bathing suit and staying in the pool all day.

    Though Greenwood is holding its annual Classic Car Show today, which I always enjoy. Maybe I’ll risk heatstroke and go.

  212. 212.

    ? Martin

    @D58826: Well, the main failing of this exercise is that the GOP wants to apply free market economics to a market that isn’t free. Suppliers lose pricing power when the consumers are free to walk away and buy nothing. That’s not true for healthcare. It’s immoral to signal to the public that if they think the ambulance is too expensive, they should simply bleed out on the sidewalk. It’s actually illegal for a parent to make that decision on behalf of their child (unless you invoke a religious belief, apparently.) Because people are not free to exit the healthcare market entirely, suppliers have tremendous pricing power. Just look at Mylans ability to control pricing for Epipen despite the huge outcry by the public.

    That’s not a free market, it’s a captive one. The only way out of it is either massive regulation, or having the government capture that industry directly (or a combination of the two, which I think would be most effective). Government doesn’t need to nationalize Mylan, just the buyer of Mylan’s products – which should be the insurance layer.

    The reason why the US appears to have two lists is that the efficiency and benefits that accrue to consumers is a byproduct of capitalism. It really does work for a great many things. (Corporatism, which we increasingly creep toward is actually the opposite – but the GOP can’t tell the difference.) But in situations where consumers can not avoid the marketplace – electricity, water, etc, particularly those with high barrier to entry (which is why food isn’t a problem – anyone can grow/make food, not everyone can deliver electricity) need to either be regulated or government run.

    Liberals that acknowledge the benefits of both systems are too often tagged as corporatists. Republicans refuse to acknowledge the failings of the free market except when it suits them. Many liberals are also overly enamored with socialist systems – which is why housing in SF costs millions of dollars – because it’s become nearly impossible for developers to build new housing there. The same people that are supposedly looking out for the welfare of all, are also profiting from the high market valuation because they bought in decades ago. They claim to be helping people but they’re just gaming the system to keep themselves rich, and Prop 13 is helping them. If you repealed Prop 13 and their property taxes went from $3K per year to $90K per year because the tax assessed value of their home increased from $100K to $3M, they’d change their tune in a fucking heartbeat.

  213. 213.

    Kathleen

    @efgoldman: I read about your dialysis in the earlier thread but was too late to respond. I’m so sorry you have to deal with this but it sounds like you can be accommodated from your home and based on what other commenters said you can get some relief from this. That being said, being sick totally sucks and I’m sending good energy vibes to you and Mrs. EF.

  214. 214.

    ArchTeryx

    @CaseyL: Until the fever of polarization, partisanship and naked tribalism breaks, persuasion is of little use. Most people’s minds are already made up, and it’s a question of whose side shows up at greater numbers at the polls.

    Or whose side dies more before the election.

  215. 215.

    henqiguai

    @Sab(#139):

    …but after he pushed the button it was really complicated to fix.

    Tough! He screwed up, he should fix it. Now, *you* have to carry around, and show, additional ID for something a clerk got wrong. Make him earn his pay.

    Durned unseen additional entries screwing up the count; fixt my reference.

  216. 216.

    Kathleen

    @Quinerly: If Poco ran with Baud, I think he should be allowed to piss on McConnell, Ryan and Sessions. Of course media would then hype the “PocoLeaks” scandal which would destroy the campaign, but it would sure be worth it.

  217. 217.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: Brady Toensing of Burlington, the man responsible for the claims filed to the U.S. attorney for Vermont, was a chairman for the Trump campaign in his state.

    Before signing up for gov’t work, according to the google, Brady Toensing worked for the DC firm of diGenova and Toensing. Those of you who got addicted to political cable during the Clenis years may remember those names associated with a bluff “regular guy” who liked to use an unlit cigar as a prop as he blustered about the Clenis, and an impeccably groomed woman who was always careful to hold her head at a good angle as she passive aggressively spread every innuendo Ken Starr wanted to get “out there”, to quote the Cokie Roberts rule (again, for those of you of a certain age– mine).

  219. 219.

    Elizabelle

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Yea Cheryl! Enjoy your well-deserved retirement, and good on you for staying active.

    You are close enough to parachute into Virginia this fall for some door to door canvassing and voter reg events, as you like. Big governors race. Got to succeed Governor Terry McAuliffe with Ralph Northam. A Republican is unthinkable. Need a check on the conservative GOP legislature we are stuck with (thanks, gerrymandering).

    Close enough to show for a DC area meetup late this summer/early fall too. We will have to get that organized.

    Small world: I used to live about 1.5 blocks from the Foundry church. Used to park in their lot very occasionally (and that was bad of me, but we were having such issues with car break-ins those years…) President and Mrs. Clinton would go to services there occasionally.

  220. 220.

    Elizabelle

    @Kathleen: Peeing’s OK. Especially on McConnell. And better Poco than baud for that chore, much as baud might find it appealing.

    Humping Republicans’ legs, though, seems to be a media job, and I don’t want Poco kicked by, say, Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, or any of the Fuck the Fucking New York Times’ fine stable of character assassins/Politico alumni. If he sees a tire swing, Poco needs to get his street dog head out of the way.

    #Keep Poco safe on the trail.

  222. 222.

    Tazj

    @D58826: I caught a little of Joy’s healthcare panel before I went out the door and I didn’t care for David Cay Johnston’s(Johnson’s?) retort to Avik Roy. Joy asked him to bring the discussion out of the weeds and it seemed to me like he brought the discussion right back in. Though the French healthcare system may be superior what’s the point of bringing that up now when we are fighting just to preserve Medicaid and patient protections under the ACA? I’m not opposed to single payer, but what is the argument in Medicaid and insurance with subsidies for lower income and middle income people vs tax credits?I thought the ACA was superior to tax credits for most people especially considering the regulations that exist in the ACA that won’t in the AHCA?

    I not at all a healthcare expert so I could be completely wrong, but was disappointed in his counter argument.

  223. 223.

    MomSense

    @Tazj:

    I was wishing she could have had our David Anderson on to break it down.

    ETA Did you catch Rep Reed? He actually referred to the AHCA as “our tax bill”. Oops

  224. 224.

    Kathleen

    @germy: Thank you for bringing this up. Powerful people have been trying to undermine New Deal and any other programs that benefit middle/working classes,the poor and African Americans since the early 30’s, as well as the idea of democracy itself. This coup we just experienced is the logical result of a long, concerted effort that’s taken decades to come to fruition in a form that is at least now more recognized by white people. (I cannot speak for African Americans but too many of them have already experienced home grown terrorism for far too long that whites are just starting to see or experience).

    These “elements” like the Koch’s, etc., have been around in many forms but they are not alone. Many of our Glibertarian Tech Bretheren hate democracy as well (Peter Thiel is just one example). I think they have temporarily succeeded, but the fight is not over. I think however in order to fight more effectively we have to comprehend the depth and breadth of the evil we are fighting and trace the events today back to their modern origins as a start.

  226. 226.

    liberal

    A Presumption of Guilt (first paragraph):

    Late one night several years ago, I got out of my car on a dark midtown Atlanta street when a man standing fifteen feet away pointed a gun at me and threatened to “blow my head off.” I’d been parked outside my new apartment in a racially mixed but mostly white neighborhood that I didn’t consider a high-crime area. As the man repeated the threat, I suppressed my first instinct to run and fearfully raised my hands in helpless submission. I begged the man not to shoot me, repeating over and over again, “It’s all right, it’s okay.”

    I haven’t had time to read the whole thing yet.

  230. 230.

    Tazj

    @MomSense:

    I was wishing she could have had our David Anderson on to break it down.

    That would have been great if he could have been on.

    Not really, I just caught the very end when they went to commercial. I’m not surprised that he called the “ACHA” that, unfortunately, that framing works with many people.

  231. 231.

    Jeanne

    @Elizabelle: Small world, part 2: I lived on the same block as the Foundry during the 90s. My apartment deck faced the back of the Foundry, separated by a soccer field.

    Bill and Hillary attended mass there the day after Bill was impeached. I joined a crowd outside the church that day. We all cheered and applauded them when they emerged from the presidential limo. I vividly remember one guy holding a homemade sign saying: God Bless our Prez!

  232. 232.

    randy khan

    @Elizabelle:

    Don’t give up on the legislature (although we definitely need Northam as a firewall). The Dems are working pretty hard on the House of Delegates this year, and the State Senate is very close.

  235. 235.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kathleen:

    I like the thought of Bernie(Piss Be Upon Him) in prison khakis, great mediocrity that he is. As his tenuous grip on sanity slips, he can keep muttering about “millyunayuhs and billyunayuhs” as he dribbles tapioca out of the corners of his mouth in the prison cafeteria….

    Fuck the Bern!

  236. 236.

    MomSense

    @Tazj:

    It was definitely a slip. We all know it’s a tax bill paid for with human misery but they aren’t saying it outright.

  237. 237.

    germy

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo fka Edmund Dantes: It’s funny how now even Jill Stein is being invited on “the shows”. They were both invisible to the mainstream until HRC decided to run. Now Jill and Bernie are getting all the invites.

    interviewer: “Yeah, yeah, sure, your ideas… but tell us more about the Democrats!”

  238. 238.

    Citizen Alan

    @mai naem mobile:

    The Supreme Court is why I will hate the Wilmerbot and Stein crowds until the day I die. Because everything they say they want has been put irretrievably out of their reach for a generation or more. If Shitgibbon replaces Kennedy, or God forbid RBG, I fully expect to see a supreme court opinion which strikes down the EPA as unconstitutional. Ditto minimum wage laws.

  239. 239.

    Russ

    @magurakurin: Brad Toensing has gone after just about every well known Democrat in Vermont. Previous governor Peter Shumlin, previous Attorney General of Vermont were accused of misdeeds and once the headlines faded so did the supposed crimes. I’m would bet that the accusations against either of the Sanders is for something that is sour grapes because the Catholic Church used to own the property and once the school went belly up someone who was part of the school loan thought they should have been the one to turn the parcel that was vacant into homesites.

  240. 240.

    Miss Bianca

    @Cheryl from Maryland: welcome, welcome from lurkerdom! I just found out that my father’s family had roots in Maryland going back about 300 years, altho’ his branch migrated to Delawar sometime in the early 1900s.I’ve been meaning to go back to the area and do some genealogical research myself. Congrats on your retirement and your activism!

  243. 243.

    JR in WV

    Last night was stormy here, with heavy rain from around 10 pm until sometime around 3 am. So about 3 or 3:30 am I was dreaming we were asleep on the floor of an ancient church in France, with the midnight shift of nuns singing softly. Pretty peaceful, except for dreaming that I was asleep, and dreaming, how deep can that recursion go?

    Then the scene shifted, and we were sleeping on a tiny spot of soft lawn in Paris, and I was about to wake up because of the Chinese restaurant across the street. They had flickering neon signs in their window telling everyone about the various animals they could stir-fry for their customers.

    Then Mrs J called out loudly in her dream, and I woke up, and woke her up because of her bad dream which she couldn’t remember. So I got up to get a glass of cold water, to help break her dream cycle. Then, rain slacking off, I went to see if the network connection was restored, it was, so I surfed a little before going back to sleep.

    I didn’t want to sleep by a sidewalk in Paris any more, esp. with that restaurant across the narrow street. Sometimes if I have a very real dream like this one I slip back into it if I go right back to sleep. Strange night. Went to sleep fairly early for us, then slept til NOON, which is late even for us night-owls.

    I’m pretty sure the Chinese restaurant was a dream inside my dream about sleeping in the ancient church. I can still see the carvings up high supporting the ceilings.

    Anyone else dream about sleeping and having a dream? Ever?

  244. 244.

    Kathleen

    @Russ: The only allegation involving Toensing is Bernie’s intercession with the Bank. The allegation involving Jane is in public record.

  246. 246.

    D58826

    Some things still never change – even the D’s are blaming Obama for not doing enough about the Russian hack. With friends like these. And it is Nancy’s fault that the D’s lost 4 special elections in districts which have been red since the time of T-Rex.

    They were talking about how to win elections and it seems that there are 4 rules:
    1. register and get out to vote your base
    2. register and get out to vote your base
    3. time and resources permitting you might be able to peel away a few loosely attached R’s. While it might help to grow the base now and in the future don’t plan on it being a game changer in the current election
    4. REPEAT rule 1.

    If the D’s can’t get their base out they are not going to win elections by appealing to ‘disaffected’ R’s

  247. 247.

    D58826

    @Kathleen: It must be something in the air or maybe the Bar Assoc. is having a summer sale but I saw on Tweeter that Jane is lawyering up. Good career prospects for the 2017 law school graduating class

  248. 248.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @D58826: Speaking of staying focused on the Real Enemy. RoseAnn DeMoro, head of a nurses’ union who made a big splash endorsing Wilmer early on, is demanding, DEMANDING!, that Tom Perez step down as DNC chair.

    If you’re wondering, yes, that would be this RoseAnn DeMoro

    OAKLAND — As Washington grapples with health care policy again, the head of the 185,000-member National Nurses United is turning her attention to a seemingly unlikely advocate for a single-payer system. “The one I’m counting on the most is Trump,” RoseAnn DeMoro said,
    DeMoro, who serves as executive director of both the Oakland-based National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association, told POLITICO California on Thursday that she is “disgusted” with Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and believes that the president-elect may actually get action.
    “He’s a businessman, he has an international perspective — and his wife comes from a country where they have single payer,’’ said DeMoro, who also is an AFL-CIO national vice president and executive board member. “I think that Donald Trump is not about either party; he’s about something very different. He’s the one who can actually rise above this and do what’s right, and he knows as a businessman, it’s the most cost effective,’’ she said.
    And, she noted, Trump already has signaled to GOP party leaders that he’s willing to buck them on issues like ethics and the TransPacific Partnership.
    “He’s not like these progressive yo-yos who pop off while people are dying,’’ she said, adding that when it comes to single payer health care, “I hope that he has the courage to enact what’s right.”

    Progressive yo-yos. I’d say if she had any brains she’d be dangerous, but she’s plenty damaging without them.

    To be fair, I have no idea what the author of the article is talking about when she says Goofnuts likes trump’s flouting of ethics.

  251. 251.

    Another Scott

    @JR in WV: It seems to be pretty common with lots of interpretations out there. Islamic dream interpretation is kinda different:

    Sleeping in a dream also could represent a blessed journey, such as seeking knowledge or doing good deeds.

    […]

    Sleeping with someone’s wife in a dream means engaging in a profitable business with the husband.

    Gives “cuck” a whole new meaning! >;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  252. 252.

    D58826

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Even Will ‘I belong to no organized party’ must be rolling over in his grave.

    I can’t find the twitter link from earlier today but all other issues aside the D’s face a hugh geographical problem. They can win the PV in the House and Senate and still be in the minority and the PV for Potus and still lose the EV. For POTUS that has happened in 2000 and 2016. During that same time period, IIRC, it has happened in the House a couple of times as well. Not sure about the Senate, but when you can have 10 states (20 Senators) whose population could fit in LA county and CA only have two Senators it is easy to see the problem

    BUT FORTUNATELY we have a few golden oldies coming back to distract us. AT least both of them are better to look at than Der Fuhrer.

    Brad Pitt is back in love with Jennifer Aniston now that he’s sober, reports In Touch. The publication reveals Pitt recently called his ex-wife to make amends as part of his recovery process

  253. 253.

    D58826

    @Kathleen: While I think Hillary has every right to continue speaking out on issues, she must be tempted to go back in the woods and just send out the occasional zinger by Twitter or maybe carrier pigeon.

  254. 254.

    tobie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: RoseAnn DeMoro sounds totally unhinged.
    I’m beginning to think that it’s more important to give to DCCC, DSC, DGA and DNC than to individual candidates. I say this after having contributed to Parnell’s, Ossoff’s and Quist’s campaign but right now we’re facing a civil war and if we don’t unite we will fall.

  255. 255.

    Corner Stone

    Seven hours! Yeee-haw!! Is there some kind of code or slang for a thread that goes this long?

  256. 256.

    frosty

    @Kathleen: “Pocoleaks”! You’re all too funny today — I’ve been chuckling all through the comments.

    Nevertheless, I think we have a winning ticket here. Don’t worry about Poco’s scandalous behavior. That was just something he “experimented with” in his youth.

  258. 258.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: That’s not peppy enough. Doesn’t have the ring of “T-Bogg Unit”.
    And I will have you know I have been watching NCIS Ellie-Thon reruns on USA, so thank you very much!

  259. 259.

    D58826

    @germy: Trey ‘Benghazi’ Gowdy has no plans to investigate Trum, his money, his Russian connections or anything else even remotely connected to Trump. Sen. Grassley is opening an investigation into Loretta Lynch and her connections to Hillary’s e-mails.

    If Obama had gone public with the Russian hack and Hillary had won the e-mails would have been dropped to second place on the impeachment list. Obama’s meddling in the election would have been first. At the time I thought the only thing wrong with the ‘cast right wing conspiracy’ framing was the ‘vast’ part. I figured it was just Judicial Watch, Federalist Society, Mellon-Scaiffe and a few others. Given the benefit of 20 more years, I think she nailed it the first time. It is vast and, like kudzo, seems to be growing out of control. If you were even so much as at a Starbucks when Bill or Hillary (and now I guess Barak and Michelle) ordered coffee you better lawyer up because the RWNJ’s are coming after you.

  260. 260.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    God, she is awful. No way equipped to fill Ziva’s, uh, shoes, I guess. (Swinish joke omitted.)

    My video wallpaper today is golf, baseball and Insane Pools (skipping ahead to the reveals). Occasionally a spot of America’s Cup yachting just to marvel at the graphics.

  261. 261.

    Spanky

    @Steeplejack: Oh hell, in the interval I’ve had breakfast, gone to the dump, gone to the grocery store, fixed a telescope, and had lunch while skipping through the comments.

    You can have a life and still cruise BJ, ya know.

  265. 265.

    JR in WV

    @Another Scott:

    Went there and looked around a little, pretty goofy. No explanation for sleeping with your own wife? weird.

    Major^4, what happened if you put yourself into your pie filter? Just asking, don’t want to try it and get all messed up, make other people see my pie fantasies.

  266. 266.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JR in WV

    :what happened if you put yourself into your pie filter? Just asking, don’t want to try it and get all messed up, make other people see my pie fantasies.

    Have you seen Being John Malkovich?

  267. 267.

    Tazj

    @MomSense: OK, that makes more sense. Hopefully, it will make for some uncomfortable questions and bad publicity for him and Republicans. He seems to make out fairly well on the local TV stations in my neck of the woods because he will hold town halls unlike Chris Collins.

  268. 268.

    Kathleen

    @D58826: Both she and Obama possess such self control in public. I hope for the sake of their health that they vent, cuss, scream and throw things. But yes. Some zinger tweets from her would be tasty.

  270. 270.

    Kathleen

    @Corner Stone: Binge Blogging? Speaking as one who is as we type binge watching L&O SVU on Ion which entertains me as I clean. And binge blog.

  271. 271.

    Kathleen

    @D58826: THIS!!!! Any serious investigations would have never happened because they would have been political poison, thanks to the mocking of the media and its evil pundit partisan minions.

  272. 272.

    Kathleen

    @zhena gogolia: OK, as of April of this year Jennifer Aniston is still married to Justin Theroux. But it’s good that Brad wants to make amends. Though the tabloids will try to stir some stuff up.

  273. 273.

    D58826

    @Kathleen: And we have a new hammer to go into the bag of dumb hammers – Rep. Andy Briggs (R-AZ) is calling for Mueller to recuse himself from the Russian investigation because he is a friend of Comey’s. That is the entire investigation. Is self-firing anything self-deporting? At least Der Fuhrer won’t have to do it.

  274. 274.

    Kathleen

    @D58826: Of course. And Gowdy has said he doesn’t want to continue investigations into all things Russia. But they do want Loretta Lynch to testify about something (I believe another Juicer posted something about this earlier).

    As Tom Tomorrow said during the Bush years, “I’m on Outrage Overload”.

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