What is increasingly obvious to everyone, even the media, is that the Trump administration is just in complete chaos, no one is really in charge, most of the agencies and staff positions are missing personnel, let alone qualified personnel who know things, and it’s sort of just a slow motion disaster. It’s kind of like when a well run business gets sold out to a bunch of idiots who know nothing about business, and everyone keeps trying to get in touch with the people who used to run things, but they are long gone, no one has been hired to replace them, and the phones don’t get answered or if they do they get answered by one of the new owner’s kids who has no idea what the hell is going on.
It is also completely obvious that there is quite simply NO ONE in the administration who can tell Orange Julius Caesar no. He either won’t listen to advice, can’t listen to advice, can’t understand the advice, or is too addled to remember what the advice is, and there is no one there in real time with the power to keep him on the straight and narrow. I’m personally of the opinion that he is mentally ill, but were he of sound mind, would still be fantastically under equipped mentally to handle the position the idiot GOP peter principled him into.
The Mika/Morning Joe shitshow from Il Douche is just additional evidence of this, something that can be added to the growing pile of fail that already includes the Comey firing, the “I has recordings oh wait no I don’t” and on and on and on. But the important thing to remember in all of this is that while all this is going on, Republican operatives are using the chaos to fulfill life long goals.
The Kris Kobach/Hans von Sapovsky voter purge, the destruction of medicaid, destroying longstanding alliances and trade agreements, immigrations “reforms,” stacking the courts, gutting the EPA and actively using the government to attack CLimate Science, etc. It’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the evil shit that is going on, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump doesn’t know of 99% of the shit that is happening.
The last 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/InK2gqFFOU
— Mazel Tov Cocktail (@AdamSerwer) June 30, 2017
Trump really is, in every sense of the phrase, a useful idiot. Not just for Putin, but for the fuckers in the GOP, as well. It’s going to take us decades to recover from this administration, if we can.
Major Major Major Major
Did I read somewhere that against the advice of everybody not named Bannon or Miller he’s planning to slap a bunch of big tariffs on people we don’t like? Related question: how can the executive just do that?
GregB
We are witnessing the end of an empire in hyperdrive speed.
Jeffro
JC:
Oh I bet he does. But as I noted in an earlier thread (and as recommended by Sara Kenzidor), it’s important that we all keep track of this crazy heartless shit.
In the meantime, Paul Krugman nails it as usual: K-Thug: Understanding Republican Cruelty
And then he finishes with something that should be in every Democrats’ stump speech from now until 2018, 2020, and eternity:
Jeffro
@Jeffro: And along those last lines…even “moderate” Ben Sasse is calling for the GOP to just repeal Obamacare and then figure out the pesky “replace” part down the road. 32 million people would lose coverage, markets thrown into turmoil, but what the hey – we’re Republicans, we don’t change our minds based on facts, and by the way fuck your feelings. This is what they do; this is who they are.
ETA: and while I’m thinking of it…isn’t it amazing that it’s ok to say “fuck your feelings [libs]” if you’re a Tea Party Republican? They don’t really believe in facts, and they don’t care about anyone else’s feelings either…it’s all about THEIR. FEELINGS. Fucking spiteful, damaged, little babies.
Felanius Kootea
We can keep track of every insane executive order, every sensible law repealed, voters disenfranchised and right these wrongs when the Dems have a majority, but you’re right – it’s easier to destroy than build so it will take more time to repair the damage the Republicans are doing now than it is taking them to wreck things.
The thing that keeps me up at night though is: how do we get rid of Fox News or render it irrelevant? This “Hutu Power Radio” of America is the single biggest obstacle to marginally sane people (in the 99%) on the right realizing what’s happening to the country and acting to stop it. The levels of misinformation doled out by that network are insane.
SatanicPanic
I don’t know if his input into the healthcare debate is all that useful for the Republicans. He seems to be de-pantsing them at every turn. I assume by accident, but still, he’s not helping.
pat
Don’t forget the war on women’s reproductive rights and LGBT rights.
These assholes are pure evil.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@GregB:
And not with a bang but a whimper….
Raoul
I was just in New Orleans and visited the Katrina museum in the French Quarter. Something like that strikes under Trump, and the estimated 1,836 deaths from that federal disaster will pale by comparison.
More broadly, though, John, I agree that the if we can part seems damnably uncertain right now. I’ve also visited Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro and there is no reason to think that we might be about to tip into decades of right-wing tinged graft, decay and degeneracy. Ugh.
SiubhanDuinne
He is psychologically damaged, mentally unstable, intellectually limited, temperamentally unfit, and politically authoritarian. It’s almost eight months since the election, and every day I still wonder how we managed to go overnight from one of the best presidents in at least the past 70 years to this entirely unprepared, ill-equipped charlatan.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: I had the same question, and there are laws that say he can on certain conditions(State of War and National Emergency).
Seanly
I love how we now have a government of the assholes, by the assholes, for the assholes.
The first big crisis promises to be an entertaining shitshow except for all the dead and/or drowned people left in the wake. Like at least Bush had someone in FEMA. We won’t even have that.
Why can’t all these asshole white male septuagenarians just slither away with their millions & billions and leave the rest of us alone?
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes. It was posted in the morning open thread.
Jeffro
Btw John, for this:
…there may be no one who can tell him “no”, but there is a small cabal that can get Orangemandias to do almost anything they want. All they have to do is a) praise him, then b) tell him that something was Obama’s idea/policy, c) propose doing the opposite. He knows/understands next to nothing, and he’s definitely addled, and he’s definitely mentally ill to boot…but he is a most useful idiot to Bannon, Miller, Tillerson, Ross, Kushner, Priebus, Mnunchin, and Pence, among others. And they know how to avoid getting to a point of “no”, by manipulating him to their “yes”.
Another Scott
In other news, DC public radio outfit WAMU had a small station for broadcasting Bluegrass music. A year or so ago, they tried to find a buyer for it..
The station ownership has changed: Russian-Funded News Station Replaces Bluegrass on 105.5 FM.
“The call is coming from Inside The HOUSE!!”
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
Thanks to the gracious and merciful and lovely Lady Cracker for an excellent post about the fraudulent Trumpster voter BS nonexistent fraud pretext investigation attempt at voter suppression. I think the two most important issues are voting rights and climate change, since there is a danger involved of getting us into fixes that we cannot get out of, with any finite amount of money or effort. Climate change should be obvious. Voter suppression is in same category, since it could well prevent popular opinion of the country from objecting to malfeasance and criminality of this administration and congress and removing them from power.
So, sorry I didn’t get the name of the commenter who mentioned in a thread below that, AFAIK, first GOP Secty of State told Trumpsters to stuff it on their demand for 10 years of sensitive voting data. So, that makes five states so far: California, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia.
The demand was to turn over the data within two weeks. Everyone should read Cracker’s post, and contact your Secty of State to demand that they refuse the request, or to thank their Secty of State for making the appropriate response.
Edit: Maybe Cole or some other front poster brass could put up a permanent header to remind readers of the blog about issues we need to call or write about to relevant officials?
smintheus
We can’t recover from Trump’s presidency because he has already undermined our leadership position. Allies have concluded rightly that the US can no longer be trusted and have started to move beyond the post-WWII alliances. They’re never going to forget that the American voting public proved itself insane. Anyway, how would the US recover its leadership after Trump? Does anyone think they’ll just fall back in line behind Trump’s successor, just for old time’s sake? You squander your preeminence internationally, and it’s gone for good.
Sorry to be a downer, but the first few months of the Trump administration were the car wreck for our alliances; the rest of his term will just be the inevitable pile-up.
rikyrah
Don’t tell me that I can’t hold Dolt45 voters accountable.
They did this.
THEY DID THIS.
And, everything that happens to this country is their fault, and they should be called on it, at every turn.
schrodingers_cat
I know that Trump’s tweets about a TV personality who was a big enabler of his rise are so important that they deserve a mention in every other post. But not even a single post about the reinstatement of travel ban lite? The people impacted are not blonde and don’t have a TV show, but still…
Raoul
@Felanius Kootea: This is a chilling but essential notion. Calling it Hutu Power Radio just makes it stunningly clear. In my more pessimistic days (all of them Katie) I don’t think we can ever put the Fox + Internet RW memeograph machines Genie back in the bottle. I don’t know what would shift the public back towards any sort of more community-minded, we’re-in-this-together mode.
Someday the pendulum may swing. Or we’ll be Thunderdome. I tend to think the latter is sadly more likely. The combo of rapid industrialization, penicillin, internal combustion engines etc was a fabulous run for humanity (not for other species, in many cases) but we may have peaked. Or maybe at some point another upswing will come. IDK.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
My Secretary of State is Alex Padilla of California, so I need to send him a thank-you email. ?
DanF
It took eight years to sorta recover from the last time the GOP held all the reins of power, but her emails. And he was black, also too.
LurkerNoLonger
@Jeffro: This is what they do; this is who they are.
It’s frustrating that this is so clear to me, but so many people don’t see it, or they choose not to see it, or they make excuses for it. These are awful people doing awful things.
gvg
You know I think mentally ill doesn’t necessarily describe him. He has been brought up too rich and spoiled and has been surrounded by yes people for decades. Add in watches too much TV that is not well connected to the facts and I think you get someone much like Trump. To us, he acts deranged, but like a person brought up in a dysfunctional family, he has been warped and the odds of him coming out OK were always poor. There have been rich people who have worried about their kids growing up too rich, and I think he is a good example. Wasn’t it Bill Gates that wanted to give most of his money away because he didn’t want his kids to be that rich? In a kindly meant way..i think their have been others.
Not that I care about him. He has too much power to hurt people, but just wondering.
I really think Fox and even the tabloids like National Inquirer plus talk radio scum have a lot to do with producing a large crop of lunatics.
Another Scott
@smintheus: The people voted for Hillary. By nearly 3M votes.
Don’t forget that.
Plus, Team D picked up (a few) seats in the House and the Senate.
Don’t forget that, either.
Donnie and Team Teabagger didn’t get a mandate. Their win was a fluke.
Of course we must fight them, and we must do everything in our power to prevent flukes from happening ever again.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike in DC
Germany will (re)invade Poland in September 2019 to liberate it from Russian occupation after Trump decides they “aren’t paying us enough” to defend them.
Elizabelle
@Felanius Kootea: I agree. We need to pull Fox News and its ilk down. Trump would not be possible without them. They salted the fields. The First Amendment cannot protect us against fear-based propaganda and misinformation, repeated 24/7. These viewers are literally programmed against democracy.
Raoul
@SiubhanDuinne:
Racism has driven this nation for centuries. Trump is the deadly whirlwind reaped by all the anger and misery and bullshit of our unrecovered, unaddressed and unfinished work of slavery, the creation of whiteness, and our national acceptance of class hegemony enforced via race politics.
jl
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for doing that. I’m writing him a paper letter, suitable for framing. I’ll put my family coat of arms on it, so Padilla has something as fancy as what the Trumpsters send to him.
It occurs to me that the fives state that have refused so far, California, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia, are a mighty fine cross section of the country, and OFFICIALLY BIPARTISAN. That might be a good thing to mention when people contact their Secty of State.
VOR
@jl: Minnesota refused too. “I will not hand over Minnesota voters’ sensitive personal information to the commission,” Simon, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday. “I have serious doubts about the commission’s credibility and trustworthiness. Its two co-chairs have publicly backed President Trump’s false and irresponsible claim that millions of ineligible votes were cast in the last election.”
The article references a tweet from Andrew Cuomo saying New York won’t provide information either.
Jeffro
@Felanius Kootea: @Raoul:
There are a lot of options for combatting Faux Noise…all of them would involve finding ways to communicate to/with FN viewers outside of their usual channels. I’m trying to think of what that might be…
LurkerNoLonger
@Raoul: I think cranky, old white people and Fox News viewers (but I repeat myself) will have to die before it changes.
smintheus
@jl: In Pennsylvania the office is Secretary of the Commonwealth (held by Pedro Cortes). His office number is 717-787-6458.
kate p
Ohio has refused too. I left a message with Husted’s office earlier today and an hour later, he made the statement that he would not be sharing SS #’s or DL licenses. So I am taking credit for it. For that matter, Kansas also said no.
MattF
It’s clear that Trump feels he’s doing his job– after all, the tweets were sent out at 9 am, on a Thursday morning.
A new day, a clear head, a deep breath– now, tweet a bizarre, misogynistic lie. All in a day’s work.
jl
@Another Scott: Thanks for the encouragement, but it won’t mean shit if we do not do everything we can to protect voting rights. People should talk to their friends family and neighbors about this too. And good idea to remind them that it is not just Those People on the list of groups whose voting rights have been targeted for suppression. Oldsters have been on the list too. That includes a lot of Trumpsters, older white people who assume it can’t ever be them. But it not only can, it has been. Those who feel safe are merely those whom authoritarian state governments have not heard making electoral squeaks yet.
Edit: changed ‘who’ to ‘whom’ for the BJ grammer police, even though it’s total BS.
schrodingers_cat
@Jeffro: We need a news gathering organization which is neither RWNJ propaganda nor both-sides-do-it but Dems are worse (R lite).
Gin & Tonic
I thought I read that NY has also refused.
smintheus
@Another Scott: I’m talking about the damage Trump has already done in international relations. A lot of it can never be undone.
Gin & Tonic
And I’m pretty sure a commenter here said that MA also refused, inviting the commission to contact each town in the state (there are 350 of those.)
LAO
@Gin & Tonic: Yes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Somehow, I don’t think the coat of arms with a double wide and a can of Bud will impress the Secretary of State.
randy khan
@jl:
I think we will have a pattern – states run by Democrats are going to ignore the request for voter data and states run by Republicans are going to jump right to it. (Although if I were, oh, the Governor of Maryland, I would think twice about going along with this charade if I wanted to be re-elected in 2018.)
jl
@schrodingers_cat:
” We need a news gathering organization which is neither RWNJ propaganda nor both-sides-do-it but Dems are worse (R lite). ”
Cole says he wants the blog to pay for itself, so maybe a way to monetize this loony bin?
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: thanks. Contrary to popular belief I don’t read every thread!
Tom
@Felanius Kootea: In support of your thesis, an opinion poll released yesterday announced: Donald Trump’s approval rating. Among people who watch Fox News: 89%; everyone else: 25%.
eclare
@jl: Add Tennessee to the list! The list is growing steadily…..
jl
@randy khan: Secty of State for Indiana is GOP, that is way I said the refusal was officially bipartisan now. The request is pure GOP/Trumpster. So, even Wolfy and Chuckles must approve of states refusing to comply.
Ian G.
@Raoul:
I worry about something like the Cascadia earthquake finally striking the Pacific Northwest. Would the Trump administration, even if it were competent enough to do so, be willing to help with a thousands dead/hundreds of thousands homeless/trillions of dollars to rebuild disaster? I honestly doubt it. He’d probably taunt Seattle and Portland libtards on Twitter, to the joy of his cult of followers.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: But doncha know that “fake America”, real America voted for T and we need to understand their cultural biases, Fareed Zakaria told me so, in his WashPost op-ed, a few days ago.. Was he always this hacktacular?
MattF
@Ian G.: Actually, I imagine he’d head for the WH basement, and cower there for a week or two.
Ian G.
John, I maintain that things would be a lot fucking worse if he had a shred of competence to him. Chile, 1973. Trump wants to be Pinochet, he just has none of the general’s intelligence, work ethic, or cojones.
LesGS
@Seanly: The new FEMA Administrator, Brock Long, started this month. I don’t know if he’s any better than Brownie, but at least there’s someone in the position. :/
NCSteve
So basically, things are going so exactly like the way I knew they would when I was shaking my cane at the Bernitdowners all through last summer and then when I was literally vomiting on Election Night, that I’d be spooked, if not for the fact that it was all so very predictable.
Even what I believed would be an inevitable slide into a psychotic break is exactly on time.
MattF
@schrodingers_cat: I suspect that Zakaria has joined the large group of pundits who once said something positive about Trump, and then (re-)discovered why that’s such a bad idea.
The Dangerman
It’s possible, maybe even probable, but I’m completely sure that there are some things that he simply won’t let slide; apparently, talking about his tiny hands, and, by extension, the length of his schlong, really sets him off. Let’s all hope that Kim Jong Un doesn’t say anything about Little Donald or there will be hell to pay.
schrodingers_cat
@Ian G.: He wants to be his shirtless buddy in Russia.
jl
@jl: Can’t edit my own comment, so for typos and amplification:
Secty of State for Indiana is GOP, that is why I said the refusal was officially bipartisan now. The request is pure GOP/Trumpster. So, even Wolfy and Chuckles must approve of states refusing to comply.
For those with GOPer Secty of States, might be good to remind them that the GOP has refused to participate in similar efforts that would involve possible release of sensitive information under Obama administration. I think at least one of those was related to Russian hacking attempts of state voter information. So, important that the do not display what could be interpreted as partisan double standard. Also point out the the Obama request for Russian hacking attempt was for a far more credible purpose that this Trumpster request, which is based on Trumps fantasy, or dishonest pretense,that millions of votes in 2016 election, that he WON, were fraudulent. Zero evidence, credible or incredible, has been produced to support that claim.
Edit: I’ll have to do some research this weekend to remind myself of similar federal voting security efforts under Obama. Anyone know more details about them?
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat:
I think we have that…and I think we Dems might want to think about how we can ‘work the refs’ in the mainstream media even more effectively. Heck, at least WE respect their role and the work that they do.
Beyond that, what I’m wondering is, how could we jar Faux viewers into realizing they’re zombies? Help them lead themselves out of the abyss, as it were. Billboards? Our own tabloid? Ads in Geriatric Weekly?
cain
@SiubhanDuinne:
We are going to have a natural disaster at some point. He’s going to botch it. Botch it to the point that mass number of people are going to die because he’s cut the budget for everything. I hope it won’t happen, but we are very close tha that any kind of national disaster will show how completely incompetent the U.S. government has become.
Republicans will try to cover, and perhaps cry some crocodile tears, but inside they’ll be happy since the poor will suffer the most and their land can be retargeted by greedy land developers.
cain
@rikyrah:
So this guy is going to cause a trade war with our… allies? Sounds like a big win to me. /s
Ian G.
@schrodingers_cat:
He doesn’t have any of Vladdy’s brains or balls either.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
That’s what I keep calmly telling my cousin from Waukesha. She’s stopped responding to me. Too bad.
schrodingers_cat
@Jeffro: Which organization are you talking about? Blogs are derivative, while they are nice, we need something that has actual news gathering capacity.
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
So they can get 350 different versions of “No”?
Another Scott
@smintheus: Never is a really long time. ;-)
Things can and do change quickly with the right people in place. These are human institutions and humans can fix them.
Fixing our politics isn’t like trying to invent cold fusion. We’re not creating new physics here. We know how to ensure voting rights, create broad-based prosperity, support multilateral international institutions, and all the rest. Of course, it isn’t easy.
We’ve hit a serious bump in the road, but we’re not doomed. We have to fight them every single day, and make our case to persuadable voters. We [shouldn’t] wallow in despair, and we can’t surrender the America our parents and grandparents fought and died for to a bunch of know-nothing grifters.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro:
Or just wait for them to shuffle off this mortal coil.
catclub
@jl:
It occurs to me that is four states.
Brachiator
Everything is going according to plan. The Moneymen love the idea of a weak federal government. More power is inevitably accruing to the states. So, you have brazen shit like the Governor of Kentucky approving a law encouraging “Bible Literacy.”
In addition, these fools are willing to sacrifice the work of essential government agencies in order to strangle those they think are useless or which oppose business interests, such as the EPA, the Labor Department, etc.
Yeah, the moneymen are worried that they are not getting their tax cuts fast enough or the repeal of Obamacare. But time is on their side. They control the Congress and look to get a lock on the Supreme Court for the next 25 years.
Trump is a wild card, but when he stumbles into a moment of effectiveness, it is to safely endorse a conservative position.
Tom
I’m hearing a lot about “End of an empire”, ” “No one will ever want to be in an alliance with us again”, etc., etc. I’m thinking that the position of the US as the only global superpower is coming to an end, but that this is the culmination (though on steroids, thanks to Trump and the current Republican Party) of something which really started to unravel when W “decided” (the verb implies a thoughtful decision process, for which facts not in evidence) to invade Iraq. However, 1) there have been lots of times in history that there have been several centers of power instead of just one overarching demigod, 2) maybe there will be advantages to the US restructuring itself as a regional power. I’d be glad to have the thoughts of Adam, Cheryl and any one else on this. Of course, from a domestic economy and interest rate perspective it will suck when the US dollar is no longer the world’s sole reserve currency, but cest la vie.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Massholes are talented in giving a cold shoulder.
cain
@smintheus:
They won’t trust us until the Tea Party republicans have completely been ousted and the strain of ‘conservatism’ that exists have been purged with extreme violence.
Raoul
@LurkerNoLonger: So, I was on a flight the other day. Last to board were an older white woman, looked a bit like a tiny version of Kellyanne Conjob. With her is a girl about 11 years old, and I’ll just say it: I read the girl as pretty clearly biracial.
As last aboard, they are in two middle seats separated from each other, and I’m in the window by the older woman. She was headed to her son’s town to have surgery and recover at his house. She was hoping not to miss more than a month’s work as flight attendant for a regional airline, and seemed quite stressed out. Regional FAs working in their late 50s aren’t doing it just for the travel benefits, it was clear she needed the work – but they also have the worst pay of the flight attendant options.
We chatted a bit more and then we each started our seatback TVs.
She watched Fox News for the last 90 damn minutes of the flight.
And I’m sitting there thinking, “This working class, divorced woman, worried about her career, and with a biracial cute curly haired granddaughter is watching Fox. Jeepers, she’s glued to the voice of her oppressors. It’s so disturbing.”
Then a few nights later, at a New Orleans banquet hall, we meet our very nice waitress, a 60-something black woman. When she finds out we’re church people, she starts talking only vaguely coherently about Pat Robertson and the New World Order he is warning darkly about. She seems to have about an 8th grade education.
IOW, our media slumlords go after far more than the white loafer Florida retiree set. We have shit-tons of work to do, and with a tattered and uncertain road map of how to get past this media thicket.
Geeno
@kate p: But will he be sharing names, addresses and party affiliation?
Geeno
@jl: Pronomial cases are NOT BS – you take that back.
cain
@Jeffro:
It’s called writing a ransomeware virus that locks everyone’s settop box away from Fox News.
schrodingers_cat
@Raoul: Fox News is not the only problem. The emailz story was pushed every fucking day by the Vichy Times. Adam Server’s Atlantic had endless stories about WWC and the “connection” T made with them. Newshour is no better when it comes to mainstreaming R idiocy.
Tom
I’m giving some thought to the fact that we are currently ruled by a party which only attracts a minority of voters. Even more glaring than the disparity in the popular vote was the fact that the counties that voted for Hillary Clinton produce about two thirds of the total GDP. What happens when productive and relatively well to do urban dwellers come to resent being under the legislative and judicial thumb of a bunch of economically and intellectually impoverished goons? For instance, I could see a time when the productive counties announce that since the Gorsuch appointment was stolen in every sense of the word, any ruling where he supplies the deciding vote will just be ignored. Thoughts on this?
jl
@catclub: Well, excuuuuuse meeee. I was going to add Tennessee, but forgot.
From other commenters said above, looks like up to ten states now, completely or partially, refusing to comply with BS Trumpster voting fraud racket fake investigation.
kindness
It’s almost as if they want to see The Bannon Effect listed in the new dictionary or something.
J R in WV
I was puzzled at the name of this grifter appointed to the instant federal commission:
Hans Anton von Spakovsky, originally from Huntsville, Alabama, is a second-generation American whose German middle class mother and Russian father of minor noble lineage immigrated to the United States in 1951.
So he isn’t really of American stock, he’s maybe of Russian nobility… but the “von” is usually a Germanic way of denoting upper class. von Spakovsky doesn’t sound the least bit Russian, although the Anton does. His parents met in a displaced persons camp in Europe after WW II, so his father may have wanted a German name and taken his new wife’s last name, there were Russian war crimes, after all.
Not from a family fond of democracy and allowing everyone to vote, either. I’m a little shocked that the republicans want someone with such a foreign name hanging around their foundations and sharing in the grift money. Although they seem to be fond of Russians and fascists, now, so…
germy
What inspired Eric Holder to say this to DOJ staff?
Does he have some inside information about some upcoming shenanigans from cheato’s people?
Gin & Tonic
@Roger Moore: I think the point was that elections are run by towns here in New England (counties are largely irrelevant), and the state may not have a voter list at the state level. Hell, lots of towns still set their expenditure budget and their tax rate by means of Town Meeting – the town I live in has been doing that for something like 280 years now.
Emma
@randy khan: Actually, I am pleasantly surprised but a number of Southern states have said “only public data and under certain conditions.” Someone (JM?) is keeping a Google Spreadsheet of the answers.
smintheus
@Another Scott:
Any day now, then, Athens should be recovering its Mediterranean hegemony after that temporary mistake of giving power to Alcibiades.
eclare
@jl: Called my SOS in TN to thank him for his stand, spoke with a very courteous person who answered the phone quickly. Hope he gets a lot of thank you calls.
RS
Keep on fighting!
smintheus
@germy: WaPo is said to be on the verge of publishing a catastrophic story about Trump and (?) Russia.
Raoul
@LesGS: This Forbes article (eventually, after excessive throat clearing) makes this appointment not sound nearly as bad as most others. Whether by accident, luck, or someone on the Rump team recognizing that a Katrina on his watch would be politically devastating, they may have put in someone at least qualified, maybe even competent. Whocouldaimagined?
germy
@Felanius Kootea:
Even if they disappeared tomorrow, we’d still have Andy Lack running NBC news. He’s been up to all sorts of mischief since his promotion. Remember Matt Lauer’s “interview” with HRC during her campaign? Matt was following his boss’s orders.
There’s also hate talk radio up and down the FM dial. No need for special subscriptions. Syndicated as well as local (ambitious hopefuls gunning for national syndication) jocks who repeat the vilest bullshit for drivetime.
Ohio Mom
@kate p: Hey! I called too! I get half the credit!
Seriously, thank you for sharing this good news. Even if Hustad is sorta half-complying, it’s more than I would have bet on.
Roger Moore
@jl:
Another important thing to consider is that the commission is inherently an insult to state election officials. The whole premise of the charade is that the states have been doing such a terrible job running elections that there have been millions of fraudulent votes. Is it any surprise that those same election officials are in no hurry to turn over information the commission intends to use to prove how bad a job they’ve been doing?
Brachiator
@LesGS:
He seems to have a background in emergency management. Might be one of the few solid Trump selections.
germy
@smintheus: Is that what the Holder tweet is about? He seems to be warning about an attack on the DOJ from the shitzgibbon’s enablers.
SiubhanDuinne
@cain:
Yes. It is guaranteed that there will be a natural disaster sooner or later, and quite probably more than one. Given sufficient suddenness (a massive earthquake, say, in a highly-populated area) or severity (a Cat 5 hurricane), it is almost guaranteed that there will be not only mass casualties, but also destruction of land/property/infrastructure sufficient to displace huge numbers of people for a long time. The budget cuts are obviously a big part of the problem, but so too is the belief among Trump and his entire maladministration (and the Republican Party as a whole) that putting experienced, effective staff in key roles is just wasteful. Money’s important, but so is competence.
Frank Wilhoit
“…It’s going to take us decades to recover from this administration, if we can.” No: it *would*have* taken two human lifetimes to recover from the Reagan administration, *if* recovery had been a unanimous priority. But the attempt never began and now it never will.
Always bear in mind that *nothing* has changed since 1979. Nothing has gotten worse or better. Trump’s people are Reagan’s people and their soul-dead spawn. They will never consent to coexist with us.
TriassicSands
Trump is a great example of the failure of the Peter Principle. Trump hasn’t been “promoted” above his level of competence. He’s way beyond that. The only job he’s ever been competent to perform is that of scam artist. And only then was Trump fit to scam greedy (or desperate) people hoping to use him to make a fast buck.
germy
@Brachiator: His porn name, right?
jl
@smintheus:
” WaPo is said to be on the verge of publishing a catastrophic story about Trump and (?) Russia. ”
There must be a reason the Trumpsters have been running the trial balloon of “So what if Trump collaborated, is that a crime?” Well, very high likelihood that if it more than Trump publicly cheering the Russians on during the campaign, it is a very serious crime. I hope we find out what that trial balloon has been about, and find out soon.
smintheus
@germy: That’d be my guess.
Mike E
@Raoul: It just shows to go you, don’t it?
jl
@Brachiator: Hard to believe, but from what I read in the news, some good appointments, and even some good executive orders are slipping through the Trumpsters’ filter. We are lucky that they, so far, have been incompetent at everything they try to do.
J R in WV
@jl:
Can you not count? You keep saying “five states” refused to provide data, and then list four!!
Gin & Tonic
@Frank Wilhoit:
I’ll be sure and pass that along to my happily married gay friends.
trollhattan
Per this, twenty states are refusing to provide voter data.
Cheryl Rofer
Latest I’ve seen:
And yes, I have my internet back.
Patricia Kayden
@GregB:
That would be ideal but I have a feeling that Congressional Republicans still want Trump around so that they can put as much hurt on average Americans as possible while giving the maximum tax cuts to their wealthy buddies. Our national nightmare is not over quite yet.
Mart
@Jeffro: Been following Amy Siskinds lists since Digby referred to them over half a year ago. Do not know how she keeps up with the chaos.
jl
@J R in WV:
” Can you not count? You keep saying “five states” refused to provide data, and then list four!! ”
Fake news, fake news on BJ blog! Shut up, I explain!
Deep state egghead number checking! Banning offense!
You are unclean.
States are refusing fast and furiously, so we need someone who can count to make a list. I am a statistician, so I think like horseshoes. I was close enough.
@Cheryl Rofer: Thank you, egghead front poster who can do suspiciously intellectual stuff like counting, for vindication.
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: I don’t see Maryland in that bunch of states. Sadly we have a Republican Governor. If he screws up and goes along with Kobach, that may be enough for MD voters to wake the hell up and vote him out.
germy
Maniac.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Sounds like a great idea. The more they hear no, the better. I’d like it even better if at least one response was NFW.
@Another Scott:
The only advantage I can see is that drumpf and crew are so bad, ineffective and just plain ignorant, that they might just burn down the republican brand. To the ground. It’s getting close to that level in parts of the country, what might it take to make it more widespread?
jl
@Patricia Kayden: You need to call him.
schrodingers_cat
@jl: I understand, I like doing problems without numbers, arithmetic is so not my strong suit.
Tenar Arha
@Gin & Tonic: Just in case you missed it, this was from yesterday: “Galvin won’t cooperate with Trump voter fraud panel: Voter information is not a public record, says spokesman”
ETA My favorite part was this paragraph:
cain
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oregon is due for a ‘big one’ very soon, and the entire west coast could be affected. I shudder to think of the loss of life and property that will ensue afterwards. We should probably count on new federal support if Trump is in charge when it happens.
Bill
Except they’ve gotten virtually nothing done. The R’s have been surprisingly ineffective at putting terrible legislation in front of Trump to sign.
They’re trying. But They’re bad at it.
J R in WV
@NCSteve:
Last 2016 election was the worst since 2004 for me. My Dad died on election day 2004, and W Bush was re-elected.
Hard to say for sure, but I’m thinking that 2016 was worse. The best candidate won the election, but lost the presidency. And Dad had been in hospice care for a couple of months at least when he slipped away. 3 weeks before he would have turned 81. So that was a good run, he and Mom toured the world together, dancing to their music on the Queen Elizabeth.
But Trump, now this is some seriously bad news for billions of people!!
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@jl: In Utah, Lt. Governor Cox has announced they’ll turn over the public portion of the voter registration information they have, but will not deliver Social Security or driver’s license numbers or any other information that should be held secure. Cox has been critical of the voter fraud claims all along, and does not seem to be viewing Kobach’s work with approval. He is a Republican himself, but as the authority in charge of elections in Utah he seems to be taking this personally, maybe.
Also, a US magistrate judge has fined Kobach $1K over his fun and games earlier this year. Remember when he was photographed with Trump with those tantalizing documents plainly visible? This is all about that. I’m getting the feeling the federal judiciary as a whole is not inclined to look upon Mr. Kobach’s works benignly.
Raoul
@Brachiator: It would probably result in death threats and likely the school would be firebombed, but I desperately want a public charter school in Blevin’s state to offer an elective course on the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita or the Sutras of Buddhism.
Karen
@gvg: Over the years I have dealt with a number of groups of people who live in their own personal bubbles; their friends and family are all part of that bubble and they have little or no contact with people who aren’t the “same.” I was in way lucky, my parents were from two totally different worlds, do growing up I got to be part of two bubbles that only touched in one small spot. But I have to say that the old money country club set has no clue about the rest of world of people. They have nice places in other parts of world and have contact with only those who are the same. Dolt45 is what grandma called “new rich” she called them the worst of the rich, they believe they are somehow, someway better because they now live in tacky gold plated dwellings. These are the ones that are the new “robber barons” who look at the rest of humanity as there to serve them and give them money.
randy khan
@smintheus:
I think there is a chance (don’t know how big) that the rest of the world actually prefers a world with U.S. leadership, and will be delighted if we elect someone responsible in 2020. Remember what happened when we went from Bush II to Obama.
randy khan
@Emma:
Yeah. I’m really happy to be wrong about this.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raoul:
Hadn’t seen this, although it’s a natural. Made me laugh.
jl
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): If you live in Utah, you should call to thank him for getting it half right, but complain that he is still getting it half wrong. And, sadly and with regret, when you vote, the half wrong part will have to be weighted far more than the half right part. If he is appointed, then you’ll have to vote for the other party.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@schrodingers_cat: A co-worker is taking her teenage son to visit friends and relatives in France and western Africa next month. She’s looking forward to every part of the trip except the bit between deplaning from the transatlantic flight back to the US and getting on the plane to Tennessee. In other words, Customs and Immigration. And they are US citizens with passports and everything.
efgoldman
@Seanly:
HEY!
Patricia Kayden
@jl: I just emailed Maryland’s Secretary of State about this. Yesterday, I had contacted both of Maryland’s Senators. They’re usually good about responding so I’m eagerly looking forward to hearing what they are doing to address this outrage.
Mary G
@Cheryl Rofer: I was so happy to see that. Now we need to ask the secretaries of state in the 28 other states what they are doing, and if any have supplied the info to Kobach, they must be named and shamed. Off to Twitter to see if I can find out.
Raoul
@Tom: I think what is more likely is that red staters will be hoist on their own petards, and I’m willing to help: Since they frame everything in terms of taxes and fairness, fine. I’ll go along. And millions of others will too — No net tax exports from blue states. Let the real moochers pay for themselves, or fucking starve. I’m looking at you, South Carolina, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, etc.
SiubhanDuinne
@Emma:
The Southern states (lots of others, of course, too) really resent Federal Government high-handedness and anything resembling an “unfunded mandate.” Even when the goals may align, this is not a region of the country that takes kindly to orders from Washington, DC. “You’re not the boss of me.”
Patricia Kayden
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): It’s pretty clear that the “Muslim Ban” isn’t designed to and won’t only be a burden to folks from those 6 named countries. I’m traveling with a friend to Montreal in August and since we’re both Black it may be interesting to see what happens upon our return to the U.S. Shouldn’t be a problem since we’re both U.S. citizens but who knows.
TriassicSands
@Jeffro:
I have no right to call on others to suffer, but neither do I control what happens. If the Republicans go ahead and repeal the ACA and that causes millions of people to lose their insurance, and as a result the GOP loses control of one or both houses in 2018, that could be the best possible outcome for the long run. Stopping the Republican agenda is vital and we need control of at least one house to accomplish that.
Millions of people losing their health insurance would be a disaster, and many people would die. (I might be one of them.) But if it derailed the Republican freight train to hell, it might actually be better for more people in the future. Most people would survive and their prospects would be greatly improved by having the GOP out of power. It’s going to take something big for the Democrats to win either house next year. Shutting millions of people out of health insurance might be that thing. However, it’s a sign of what a low opinion I have of the average American voter that I doubt even that catastrophe would be enough.
Cheryl Rofer
Cheryl Rofer
@Patricia Kayden: Probably too late in the afternoon now, but call the governor and Secretary of State.
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: Everyone with a valid visa should be allowed according to the SC ruling. The weeding will take place at the embassies and consulates. Airports should be OK, but with the current people in charge, who knows.
Cheryl Rofer
Miss Bianca
So here’s Senator Cory “Shitweasel” Gardner’s response to my letters:
And here is the first draft of my planned response:
Dear Senator Shitweasel,
Once again, way to spectacularly miss the point of your constituents’ objections. Pro-tip when you’re talking to them, Senator: Do not make the mistake of kidding yourself that they are all as cruel, venal, stupid, and/or willfully misinformed as you are. Not all of us are spending our time yucking it up with the Koch Brothers at the Broadmoor Hotel, rejoicing in their ability to lavish them with more tax breaks on more money than they, or their descendents’ descendents’ descendents, can spend in eighty lifetimes. Some of us – including the advocates for the disabled currently camped out in your office – are spending our time wondering how the hell we are going to make it if and when you succeed in your barbarous plan to “fix” the “failed” Affordable Care Act. One more time, asshole, and maybe this time enough people screaming it at you will make it worth your while to get it: THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT HAS NOT “FAILED”. YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR GREEDY, HEARTLESS, VICIOUS GOP COLLEAGUES HAVE FAILED THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.
Any “failings” of the ACA have been the result of deliberate GOP sabotage. If you were serious, you would address the four items for fixing the “failed” ACA that I outlined in my last letter. But you are not serious. You are cruelly, callously flippant to the point of actual sociopathy. For the good of the body politic, you must be excised from office like the cancer that you are. At least you will still have some mighty gold-plated health care, courtesy of that “failed” ACA, when YOU lose your job, In that respect, you are luckier than the 99% of your constituents you are planning to screw, in order to blow the other 1%. This shall not stand, Senator. This shall not stand.
Regards,
Miss Bianca
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Colorado (cut and pasted from SoS website. TL; DR: no SSN’s, driver’s license info, etc.) Still wish Hick had directed the SoS to tell Kobach to pound sand.
DENVER, June 29, 2017 — Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said today that his office will release voter-roll information that is public under state law to a presidential election commission that asked for “publicly-available roll data,” but it will withhold data that is confidential.
Williams received a letter on Wednesday from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity signed by vice chairman Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state. The commission was created by President Donald Trump in 2017. The commission contacted secretaries of state and election officials nationally for publicly-available election information from their states to help the commission “fully analyze vulnerabilities and issues related to voter registration and voting.” He also asked for publicly available voter histories, overseas voter histories and such. (The letter is attached to this release.)
“We will provide publicly available information on the voter file, which is all they have asked for,” Williams said.
State law requires the office to provide a copy of the voter registration list upon request. The publicly available list includes the full name, address, year of birth, political party and vote history of persons registered to vote in the state. It does not contain personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or full dates of birth — and that information will be withheld from the commission.
The commission also sought the “views and recommendations” from secretaries of state across the political spectrum on seven specific issues, including whether they have evidence of voter fraud or registration fraud in their state, how the commission can support election administrators with regard to information technology security and vulnerabilities, and how voters can be protected from intimidation or disenfranchisement.
“We are very glad they are asking for information before making decisions,” Williams said. “I wish more federal agencies would ask folks for their opinion and for information before they made decisions.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Cheryl Rofer: That was confusing me; I saw Kansas on the list of states not complying and isn’t Kobach the SoS of Kansas?
Raoul
@cain: I spent one night in a lovely coastal Oregon town a couple years ago. I had just read a frightening but very credible article about how a tsunami could kill vast numbers of folks in the Pacific NW.
I noticed that my hotel had zero info on what to do if an earthquake happened or the town’s tsunami warning system were activated.
I mapped my own escape route, but also noted that I’d have to be a far better sprinter than I’ve ever been. How long does a jag of fight or flight hormones last?
I got home safely, obviously. But at some point, some folks may well not.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Miss Bianca: Righteous!
jl
@Patricia Kayden:
” I just emailed Maryland’s Secretary of State about this. Yesterday, I had contacted both of Maryland’s Senators. They’re usually good about responding so I’m eagerly looking forward to hearing what they are doing to address this outrage. ”
Use your judgment. I’ve bugged DiFi’s office so much, her staff seems to have put me on all of her damned distribution lists, as some kind of punishment.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@smintheus:
Trump “won” the electron with the aid of a foriegn power.
trollhattan
This is how things work in Trunp’s America.
The American Chemistry Council writes (62817) the EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Land and Emergency Management about NOT enforcing a 2014 decision on trichloroethene, a widely used solvent, industrial hazard and environmental contaminant. They want, well, moar study.
And who might be responsible for such study? Here’s a tidbit from a toxicologist friend:
What’s that thing Charlie Pierce advises–This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.
p.s. For a little insight on TCE as used today.
Cheryl Rofer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I think he was. LOL
? Martin
Proud of California giving an early and hearty fuck-you to Kobach.
And I would better tolerate having an Ernst Blofeld as president so long as he was properly competently evil. If you’re going to do this shit, then do it well, do it on the down low so we don’t look evil, and make sure there are legitimate benefits to the country for doing so. Blackmailing a cable news journalist using the National Enquirer? Holy shit, how fucking amateur and punk-ass can you get? The GOP used to worry that Obama was going to assassinate them from orbit and hold covert military exercises for take-over of states. See, at least the GOP assumed that Obama was properly competent while they accused him of destroying the country. There was more respect in their conspiracy theories than they realized.
gene108
@smintheus:
Nope.
Because of his successor loses in four years, it is back to square one, with whatever whims the new President has.
One thing with regards to Post-WW2 Presidencies was a general continuity in how things were done and a commitment towards our allies.
We’ve lost that.
We sort of lost it with Bush, Jr’s Excellent Mesopotamian Adventure, but even Bush, Jr. wasn’t trashing NATO, and after realizing he totally screwed on North Korea, got N. Korea’s neighbors together to try and do something.
But Obama got it back.
There’s no getting it back from Trump. He’s too far off the deep end. And the Republican voters do not seem interested in anyone less crazy than Trump running the country.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Heh, that’ll learn ya.
Mary G
This maroon: Even Kobach Won’t Give Voter Data He Asked For
In his capacity as Secretary of State for Kansas, Kris Kobach is refusing the request for voter Social Security numbers by Vice Chair of Trump’s voter fraud delusion, Kris Kobach.
Edited for duplicate use of a word.
We are only being given a light in the tunnel by the sheer incompetence on display in this administration. Lord, I miss No-Drama Obama so much.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@jl: I’m in Tennessee; I was just following up something I saw on Twitter earlier. However, I expect that in general, those officials who are consenting to turn over some information, but not things like Social Security numbers, are constrained to do so by law–while some states, like Massachusetts, may not consider basic registration information to be public record, those states that do class it as such must comply with requests to release it while doing their best to comply with privacy requirements. They really have no choice, but most, if not all, seem to making their distaste for Kobach and his methods pretty plain.
trollhattan
@Raoul:
I’m surprised, as tsunami warning signs and escape routes are generally prevalent along the west coast. It’s been relatively recent that they grasped the size and significance of the Cascadia Subduction Zone and we’re in no way prepared for a major event, even after the Great Japan Quake.
Ruckus
Just checked my email. Got another email from the LA County republican party.
Responded to them in rather unpolite terms. Not totally unpolite, I didn’t tell them to eat shit and die. That’s the next one. Fuck those assholes.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
” That was confusing me; I saw Kansas on the list of states not complying and isn’t Kobach the SoS of Kansas? ”
Kobach will have to write a threatening letter to himself, then.
SiubhanDuinne
@? Martin:
That strikes me as very profound. Thank you.
Emma
@SiubhanDuinne: True, that. Still I’ll take the win in whichever form I can get it.
JDM
The USA is Sears. Once a mighty colossus, now circling the toilet.
schrodingers_cat
Its hard to analyze history as its unfolding. I wouldn’t be too quick to write an epitaph yet.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, well, you can go to hell. When you need to know the monthly timeline of DiFi’s inside baseball plotting to get SF Bay delta levee repair funded, you’ll just have to go someplace else, asshole.
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
See my comment at #152
les
@kate p:
Given that Kobach is our sec o state, that’s hard to believe–gotta cite?
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: Where the hell is CO inthis list. Time to get on the horn to the SOS!
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Oh, FUCK that shit. I am contacting that asshole and telling him NO information, publically available or otherwise.
germy
@smintheus:
Another one?
efgoldman
@jl:
Bill Galvin in MA told them today to stuff it up Kobach’s ass. except I don’t think he was that polite.
Even if he hadn’t (and I never had any doubt) the AG, Maura Healey, would have done the same.
Brachiator
@Raoul:
Absolutely agree with you. Of course, I would also volunteer to teach a course on “The pagan roots and vestiges in the Bible.” We would start out easy on how the Epic of Gilgamesh anticipates the later Noah’s Ark myth.
Cheryl Rofer
@Miss Bianca: Go for it!
Patricia Kayden
So Trump is now tweeting that Republicans should repeal the ACA and replace it with … Nothing.
That’s exactly what Republicans want in the first place. They can give up the song and dance that they want to replace the ACA with “something better”.
Quelle Surprise.
Yutsano
This response tho…
And from an unexpected source.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: I’ll have to live in ignorance.
Brachiator
@germy:
Ya know, I was thinking that, but was going to just let it hang out there …
les
@Ruckus:
Padilla in CA came pretty close…
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
” I’ll have to live in ignorance. ”
You do live in that part of Lousy Angeles…. so… not surprised.
No wonder they kicked our ass out of Simi Valley, which is a class joint.
Aleta
One report on Maine:
About the Maine SOS:
Patricia Kayden
@Cheryl Rofer: I emailed the MD Secretary of State so hopefully he’s getting deluged with other residents’ emails and phone calls.
Here is his email address for any Marylanders: [email protected]
His name is: John C. Wobensmith
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Wrong valley dude. Anyway I left the Conejo Valley for the bright lights of the big city.
Aleta
Right wind media:
Announced in March; and then Ivanka had a cover on June 7 Us Weekly: “Why I disagree w my dad”
eclare
Add MS to the list of states…
SoS has a very good suggestion for the commission…
? Martin
@Patricia Kayden: They’re replacing it with the free market. Better is baked right in.
Ruckus
@jl:
I wouldn’t go that far. I know someone on the Simi council from another life. Not someone you might call liberal. Not in any universe.
Yutsano
@eclare: I love that the response actually is on the website. I linked to it above because it’s too beautiful to not be seen.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: There’s a reason the Reagan Library’s in Slimi Valley and there’s the whole Rodney King trial.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodingers_cat: The “who knows” in your comment is exactly why I am a little anxious but we’ll see. Sigh.
@? Martin: Trump is so out of control that we really don’t know what will happen. It seems that he is hellbent on destroying the ACA if (a) Republicans can’t get the votes for Trump Care or (b) Republicans can’t gin up the votes to repeal the ACA altogether. We’re in for a fight in the next few years. This is going to get ugly.
joel hanes
@Raoul:
public charter school in Blevin’s state to offer an elective course on the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita or the Sutras of Buddhism.
Better yet, the Tao Te Ching
“The great prince issues commands, founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed.” — Nick Danger
jl
@Ruckus: I was just razzing my ‘Honorable’ colleague BillinGlendaleCA because he has it coming, and will have it coming for all eternity, because it’s fun, that’s why.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
I want to marry Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and have all his babies.
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden:
This is typical Trump. His way of doing a deal. He threatens or hints at something drastic if he doesn’t get his way or an immediate vote.
Didn’t he threaten to stop funding the ACA?
Oh, yes, back in April
Rand Paul has also been arguing for a “clean repeal,” with a fantasy replacement bill deferred until a future date. Of course, this kind of crap would only accelerate the collapse of the current insurance markets and leave millions of people without any health coverage at all.
eclare
@Yutsano: My bad, I didn’t see that!
Yutsano
@Brachiator:
It’s also dead in the water. Full repeal requires 60 votes. Plus it makes the “tax reform” math that much harder.
Frank Wilhoit
@Gin & Tonic: I hope, and confidently presume, that they are not such fools as to imagine that their lives or property are safe.
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: So, there’s no real “contact” via email for the SOS’s office – you can contact him with “suggestions”. So I wrote:
Here’s my suggestion: Join the 22 other states which have so far said NO to providing ANY information to the so-called “Commission on Electoral Integrity”. To comply with this request is to admit that this commission has some sort of legitimacy. Do you really want to come out in favor of a commission that intends to try to prove that the state secretaries are somehow allowing or promoting voter fraud? Seriously, why aren’t you telling them that you, as an honorable office-holder honorably upholding and promoting the election laws of this state, are grossly insulted by this request?
Ruckus
@Yutsano:
He came about as close to NFW as possible without actually saying it.
I wonder if many of the Secretaries of States are just laughing at their colleague from KS for this. They have to know how badly KS has been fucked up and Kobach is certainly a part of that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Simple minds, simple pleasures.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Absolutely.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
” There’s a reason the Reagan Library’s in Slimi Valley and there’s the whole Rodney King trial. ”
The Reagan Library is in an unincorporated area between Simi Valley and Moorpark. And the King trial is a Ventura County issue.
BillinGlendaleCA = Fake News.
Edit: probably a trollbot of some kind. I’d guess operating out of some old communal commie apartment bloc in Belarus,
mai naem mobile
Why do they need party registration on this info? What does party registration have to do with voter fraud?
I was wondering if it would be better Dems in red and purple states to register as Republicans to prevent from being purged from the voter rolls. Of course if people registered as Republicans and the votes weren’t 100 % GOP, the GOP would cry ‘voter fraud.’
Ruckus
@jl:
I know that. But many people might not know Simi for what it is.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
Off topic, but it’s the only way I know how to get this to Cheryl. The magazine Science just came out with an article on the “glovebox photo” that you were talking about a week or two ago. Science article link here
joel hanes
@Miss Bianca:
It’s a righteous rant. Send it.
But the target will never see it. A staffer will get to the first epithet and file it in the round file.
SO: wait 24 hours, and in the cool light of reason make a second version that elides all the insults, calumny, capital letters, etc. and that quietly points out that message discipline is all very well, but contitutents are not fooled when their detailed objections are ignored away, nor are they confused about deliberate Republican sabotage of the ACA for purely partisan reasons.
Send that too.
“If you remove all the parts that begin ‘Look, dickweed”, civility becomes child’s play” — Heebie at unfogged
jl
@Ruckus: In some ways Simi Valley is a class joint. Political conservatism aside, those CA Mormons know how to keep a nice place.
I feel that I have to defend whatever honor it has, since several of my ex students live and/or work there now.
john fremont
@Miss Bianca:
Yep, Marco Rubio bragging about cutting the legs out from the reinsurance program knocked out a few of the non profit co-ops here. At least his office wrote a reply, I’ve been getting nothing but voice mails when I call his number.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Technically true, but here’s the address:
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
40 Presidential Drive
Simi Valley, CA. 93065.
The library and parking is in an unincorporated area, however the entry road is in Slimi Valley and it’s pretty far from the city limits of Moorpark(kraproom spelled backwards).
Ruckus
@jl:
As you probably well know the entire valley is called Simi, not just the city, very much along the lines of a discussion I had with Sab the other day. Told me the city of LA only has a population of 4+ million. It does. But when locals say LA they mean greater LA, that area from about Malibu to Orange county and to Riverside and San Berdu. From the San Gabriel Mtns to the sea. At that point it is well over 12 million people. Making it in population size between the 4th and 6th largest states.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:more fake news.
Who are the right thinking people of this blog expected to believe? Some anonymous commenter who has taught some fine upstanding doctors, pharmacists and engineers in Simi Valley, or some anonymous commenter who was kicked out of Simi Valley and slunk into JackRabbit Valley of the sticks of Lousy Angeles.
I rest my case.
@Ruckus: or some anonymous commenter ‘Ruckus’ Sounds very suspicious.
Ruckus
@jl:
Let’s not mince words here. It’s a republican shit hole.
Timurid
@germy:
It’s after 6:00 on the East Coast, so it may be staying in their pocket at least another week…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus:
You used to watch Jerry Dunphy on Channel 2?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Oh silly jl; I’ve never lived in Slimi Valley, so it would be difficult to ‘kick me out’.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Have probably seen him once or twice but then I’ve also lived at the actual foot of those mountains and just a skip and hop from the Pacific.
Mike in DC
@Timurid:
The scoops have come as late as 7 or 8 pm before.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl:
Trick question. The “right thinking people of this blog” do not exist.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: That was his tag line, “From the mountains to the sea…”, to start the news every weeknight.
Miss Bianca
@joel hanes: LOL! OK, I just think the word “dickweed” is inherently funny.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I remember. Vaguely. Just like I remember a lot of other things these days. Some of it important stuff too.
Ruckus
@Miss Bianca:
Also these are trying times, so maybe a bit of anger and less than polite language might just get through to the dickweeds. Do have to admit though that I hadn’t heard it used in a while.
BC in Illinois
Statement by Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. (Yes, he’s the son of the Bush Atty General John Ashcroft. His only accomplishment.)
Doesn’t say anything about sending Kobach the info on party affiliation, past voting records, etc. Or the prospect that the data can be used—as the WaPo indicated—for a pet voter suppression project, namely, cross-check names from state to state to locate “fraudulent” registrations and then purge rolls (until the voter can prove that they are not cross registered). The hassle resulting is the goal. A feature, not a bug.
I moved from Illinois to Missouri two years ago. I can guarantee that my name is still on the books in Illinois. (My children’s names stayed on the books, long after they had moved away.)
I can also tell you that if I voted in Missouri, and then drove an hour or so to vote in Illinois, that
1) my chances of being caught are 100%. “BC! Why are you here? You moved away! _____ has been living at your old house for two years now!”
2) my chances of tipping the election in St Louis County or in _____ County, IL, are virtually nil.
3) the price of criminal prosecution is not worth the risk.
But for the likes of Kobach and von Spakovsky, purging voter rolls of real voters is more important than preventing foreign influence on voting data, fighting vote COUNTING fraud, and bringing as many voters to the polls as possible.
Smitty
@schrodingers_cat: what we need is for the Democratic party to publicly counter each and every piece of crap that the Republicans, Trump, Fox, Christianists spew forth. Democrats must provide the history, science,economics, foreign policy that the voting public needs to know. Buy an hour of primetime every evening. Clearly state why the opposition is wrong and present solutions that will be the basis for Democratic policy. Trump voters don’t read progressive blogs but they suck up tv. Force conservative media, NRA, Republicans to respond. Some smart media savvy people,given the proper funding, can produce an hour of must watch programming. Equal time be damned.
Spanky
@Ruckus: Point of order: I thought the term was “dickwad”.
Cheryl Rofer
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: Thanks!
Iowa Old Lady
I am ashamed of myself for this, but see that puckered mouth on Trump’s picture? When my kid was a pre-schooler, I once heard him call someone a dummy, fucker, asshole face. I have never seen anyone whom that phrase fit better.
Cheryl Rofer
Almost half the states now.
I hope there is no big news drop tonight. Been a busy week for me, with more to come next. Mostly positive, but exhausting.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
To get there, you go to The Middle of Nowhere and take a sharp right turn.
Miss Bianca
@Cheryl Rofer: Well, I got a quick response from the Secy. of State!
To which I, quick as a flash, riposted: No, Secy. Williams, you are missing the point. You should not be providing ANY of this information. Period.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Patricia Kayden: Here’s the latest. I’ve sent them and the AG, Brian Frosh, messages through Facebook. Got back replies for both — Mr. Frosh’s office let me know he can’t act with out the State Board of Elections. The State Board sent an anodyne reply, but not one that had a “go away little person” tone. So to the web, fellow Marylanders.
jl
@Miss Bianca: Yes. And ask that not one penny of state funds be used to comply with the request. And ask that the feds be billed for state funds that have been expended on this dangerous nonsense, including cost of providing constituent services incurred.
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: I see that now Mississippi has joined in the “No!” chorus. Mississippi.
What happens to that commission if they have no data to work with?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Exactly, not one penny of state funds should be expended on this snipe hunt.
Another Scott
@smintheus: I guess you’re right. We’re Doomed! I’m going to quit my job, sell my stuff, and go live in the woods.
I better get going to beat the rush.
Thanks!!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@Gin & Tonic:
Really dumb question. They’ll do what they always do and what they were going to do anyway:they’ll make shit up.
Jeffro
@Raoul:
There was something – genuinely can’t remember if it was a 60 Minutes-style interview, or a magazine piece, how’s that for getting older? – where a school district realized that it had a couple of schools in the ‘death zone’ (whether a quake or tsunami or both hit). They were going to a referendum to see about building new schools well away from the ‘death zone’, in a much higher-elevation, away-from-the-coast area of the district.
Naturally the referendum was defeated by the olds.
Ohio Mom
@Miss Bianca: Heh. I may plagiarize that letter. It is pretty much what I sound like on the phone to those interns these days.
I figure they need my anger to be as explicit as possible, they seem a rather dense lot to me.
Jeffro
@? Martin:
Mrs. Jeffro and I were catching up about the news of the day just a few minutes ago and she was all “can you BELIEVE this shit?”
I told her, “It helps if you think of him as a pretty low-IQ version of the Godfather, maybe?”
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
” Exactly, not one penny of state funds should be expended on this snipe hunt. ”
Wise words. Now I have to end my mindless vendetta against you? Dammitall!
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Miss Bianca: They can’t refuse to provide the basic publicly-available information, if the state law says the basic registration information is a matter of public record*. Indeed, most states are stating they will do that, but cannot deliver on things like Social Security and license numbers and other confidential data.
I like Wisconsin’s approach–they pointed out the complete list (I assume it’s name and addresses, and possible party registration) is available and is regularly purchased by political campaigns and parties–for $12K. There was a distinct implication that they were waiting for the check to show up before they did anything.
*It isn’t in Massachusetts, as has been noted–which is why Galvin was able to deliver a complete “Go pound sand,” response.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: FWIW much of what is done wrt elections at the state level is funded by federal grants.
Another Scott
@Ruckus: The US Government can run on autopilot (as it is doing now) for quite a while, but not indefinitely.
The Teabaggers have to pass a FY18 Budget by October 1 and a Debt Limit increase sometime around then (+/- a few weeks). Those are hard deadlines.
If they mess those things up, and credit dries up (making the Great Recession look like a hickup), or if people don’t get the Social Security checks on time, or if US Government checks for the roughly $400B/y in stuff that Uncle Sam buys every year start bouncing, then lots of people are going to be very, very unhappy and Donnie’s Twittering isn’t going to distract them.
And that’s just the hard deadline – to actually do their jobs – that the Teabaggers and Donnie directly control. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition…
Cheers,
Scott.
joel hanes
@Miss Bianca:
Oh, me too. That’s one reason I love that quote.
re: funny words/ names :
California’s Sierra Nevada is home to a forb with bright yellow flowers, named “Sticky monkeyflower”
And it’s childish of me, but I have often enjoyed identifying and pointing out the wildflower whose scientific binomial is Dichelostemma capitatum
danielx
@Seanly:
More. They want more. And since Trump in particular believes life is a zero sum game, that means it has to be taken from someone else. No such thing as win-win in Trumpworld.
ETA: AM I wrong in my perception that Donald Trump has a repertoire of three, and only three, facial expressions: smirk, scowl or pout?
jl
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio):
” There was a distinct implication that they were waiting for the check to show up before they did anything. ”
People should write their Secty of State and give WI as a model response. States with data that cannot be withheld need to be compensated for the bother of dealing with this BS.
Gin & Tonic
@joel hanes:
“Forb” is a pretty funny word in its own right.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@joel hanes: Down here in SoCal after fires we get a plant called “Poodle Dog Bush” with pretty purple flowers. However, don’t touch it, it causes a similar reaction as, actually worse than, poison oak or ivy.
Omnes Omnibus
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): WI has open primaries and does not track party affiliation in the registration process.
Miss Bianca
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): ah, thank you for the primer on the distinctions in the matter of “public information. I too favor the Wisconsin approach.
Citizen Alan
@rikyrah:
I have told Trump voters to their gace that I hope they burn in hell. And meant it.
sm*t cl*de
@Major Major Major Major:
Kind of like putting a blockade around your own country. Smart!
Citizen Alan
@randy khan:
Actually, the Republican SOS in Mississippi (the delightfully named Delbert Hoseman) reportedly said the Commission could go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.
joel hanes
@Gin & Tonic:
Yup.
The plant that might have my favorite common name is the Furbish lousewort.
Somewhere, the ghosts of Bill Gaines and Don Martin smile every time someone says that aloud.
jl
@joel hanes: So, it’s really a ‘Furb’, not a ‘forb’?
But thanks for reminding me of my undergrad taxonomy and phylogeny class.
Ruckus
@Spanky:
Point of order. They are interchangeable. Mostly I think it depends on where you are from.
Ruckus
@danielx:
I thought they were all the same. Fucking Ugly.
ETA. Also. The rich that play this game have far more than enough to live the high life for several lifetimes. It’s now a pissing contest to see who can acquire the most. Or dick measuring if you will
Barney
Douglas Adams, as so often happened, described the problem many years ago:
Ruckus
@Barney:
Sounds exactly like the type that runs for HOA president. They aren’t good neighbors, they usually are a major pain in the ass, and a good portion of the time they don’t seem to even be ruling in accordance with the HOA bylaws. Unless one reads the bylaws held upside down with the left hand and while standing on your head.
Woodrowfan
@Another Scott: and Thom Hartman is one of their shows. Idiot.
Woodrowfan
@J R in WV: and his Dad fought for a pro-Nazi side in the war.
Stressed out
@Jeffro: Which is beyond sad,
Wayward
@Another Scott: Bravo.