My reaction on health care right now.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters she is a No on the motion to proceed vote @CQnow
— Mary Ellen McIntire (@MelMcIntire) July 18, 2017
And that's three. https://t.co/USCFtyF9ec
— Adrianna McIntyre (@onceuponA) July 18, 2017
rikyrah
Finally.
A good three.
Let’s keep it going.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
(*sees staked vampire twitching*)
(*immediately decapitates corpse, cremates body*)
rikyrah
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAH A
Mnemosyne
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
…. and then scatter the ashes over running water to make sure they can’t be brought back.
I’ve seen my Hammer films.
pamelabrown53
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): @ 2.
Exactly. Part of me wants to start the celebration but an inner voice reminds me of the ghouls and monsters in the horror movies that aren’t really dead!
LAO
Yarrow
Massive humiliation for McConnell. I need a cigarette and I don’t even smoke.
Also, too:
rikyrah
That’s at least three. GOP women step up–Capito, Collins, Murkowski
— Carl P. Leubsdorf (@CarlPLeubsdorf) July 18, 2017
JMG
The women having led, expect a few male camp followers like Heller and Portman to come out to cut up the wounded.
rikyrah
Women save the day. https://t.co/FuDrtyKcx9
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) July 18, 2017
Brachiator
The Republicans are intent on finding a way to do something stupid. And Trump seems to have totally dropped the mask over wanting to replace Obamacare with something “better” and now just wants to rip out the current health care plan because he hates Obama and anything associated with his administration. Meanwhile, idiot Republicans are whining about “what was so bad about the status quo?” and strangely think that they can easily go back to the way things were without causing major disruptions.
Funny. After all their promises and bluster, the Republicans main problem is that they never left themselves with an exit strategy. This always bites them in the ass.
Yarrow
@LAO: @rikyrah: The Resistance is female.
dww44
Trump is on my teevee making no sense and railing on and on about the failure of Obamacare and how the Democrats should have voted for the bill. He cannot give up using Democrats as substitute for a slam. Why would anyone think you couldl get Democrats to vote with you when every other word out of your mouth is a slam at them and at Obama?
I had to walk away, but not before husband give a new name to the Vice-President, “Bobble-head”. He really does sit in those photo ops and when DT turns to him he nods. He nods even when DT is not looking at him.
Major Major Major Major
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I found a story in the very early literature of a vampire who was staked, pulled it out, and said, “how friendly you are, to give me a stick with which I can drive away the dogs.”
Decapitate and burn it indeed.
LAO
OMG — Harwood says quote is genuine. I can’t even.
LAO
@Yarrow: As long as it’s not futile — I’m all in.
Yarrow
Knives may be out for McConnell. Amanda Carpenter is former Cruz communications director.
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
You forgot to scatter the ashes.
Aleta
8th person at T tower meeting w/Jared and Junior:
Major Major Major Major
https://twitter.com/johnjharwood/status/887356033894580228
ETA: dang, beaten to it!
JMG
You know, if I’m McConnell, I’m thinking about how Trump was less than no help on the biggest disaster of my career and wondering why the hell I should insist on Senate Intelligence slow walking their investigation of Trump-Russia.
MomSense
@LAO:
Wow. Unbelievable.
MattF
@LAO: And he doesn’t get why Senate Democrats won’t cooperate.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Funny how the GOP initially excluded their own women members from the major discussion about the healthcare bill.
LAO
MomSense
@JMG:
My guess is that McConnell is implicated. He will slow walk the investigation for self preservation. Same for Ryan.
TenguPhule
@JMG:
You forget Russia has his pedophile emails (or whatever its equivalent is that he’s willing to risk killing other people to keep quiet) from the RNC.
Wedded to Trump at sword point and this was supposed to be the honeymoon.
LAO
@MomSense: @MattF: As a Penn grad (in addition to be a human being of average intelligence), I find Trump’s outright stupidity mind boggling.
ETA: And embarrassing. Very embarrassing.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Major Major Major Major: If memory serves the OG vamps have to be staked with hawthorn.
@TenguPhule: Of course.
Did you get the chicken punchline yet?
Major Major Major Major
I liked the Axios (blech) headline “The Fallout: Admit defeat, move on to bigger defeat?”
scav
Maybe if the White House Imperial Catering Service can arrange for a paper placemat with space for his signature then things will calm down for a bit. They can collude with Imperial Parking for a few more big trucks to be left with their doors unlocked and make assurance double sure.
dmsilev
@Brachiator:
The main problem is deeper than that. The GOP ended up agreeing in public with the basic philosophical premise of the ACA, that more people being covered by health insurance was a good thing, but in private wanted to reverse those gains. The tension between what they said they wanted to do and what they actually wanted to do is what caused this.
Kay
I’m waiting for Kelly Anne Conway to say there’s too much coverage of Trumpcare and they should go back to covering Russian collusion.
Russia was probably better for them- no one knows what the hell happened there.
Aleta
About Irakly Kaveladze, 8th person a T tower meeting w Kushner (NYT)
via S Kenzidor
Yarrow
@JMG:
Because McConnell is guilty as well and he doesn’t want them to find it.
Amir Khalid
@LAO:
Impressive by any standard? I guess so*, unless the standard one has in mind is “success”.
*Not actually my opinion.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Major Major Major Major: The tale seems to be a recounting of a 1706 incident in Bohemia, from Charles Ferdinand de Schertz’ Magia Posthuma.
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Actually no, you’re gonna have to explain that one to me, I’m afraid.
dmsilev
@LAO:
I think that’s what The Hair really meant.
And, again for the record, Harry Reid got his caucus to vote 60-0 for the ACA.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Who knows what evil lurks in the Heart of Trump Towers?
The NSA damn well knows.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Major Major Major Major: And Yertle just rented out the free candy van last night.
Kay
Me, me, me. You can’t cure that. He lacks character and you don’t just develop it at 71. Too late for that. His horrible spinmeisters keep running into it because it’s what he is.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
I figure the best approach is to try every trick in the book until you find one that works. Then continue trying the rest of them just in case the one you found is only temporary.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@TenguPhule: It’s a dick joke.
LAO
@Amir Khalid: @dmsilev: I’m going to outsource my reply to Keith Olbermann (who has been driven insane by Trump’s election):
MattF
@dmsilev: Also, aside from any questions about healthcare policy, the notion of using the savings from gutting Ocare to finance a tax cut for the wealthy was a disaster.
Kay
@TenguPhule:
Russia is all messy and foreign and probably boring to a lot of people. Big healthcare disaster they understand.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Yarrow: Good. Let’s flip him on the back of his shell and see what happens. (Sorry, I have come to utterly hate the smirking bastard.)
TenguPhule
@Kay:
So Trump’s very cunning plan is to announce that he’s going to sabotage the health insurance market….and believes he will not be blamed for sabotaging the health insurance market because he’s as dumb as a turnip?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around every once in awhile, you just might miss it
TenguPhule
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
I thought that was choking the chicken.
Yarrow
@Kay:
Yes they do. Mueller and his team know. And we’ll all know, at least a lot of it, fairly soon. Mueller’s hiring in prosecutors to his team. That wouldn’t happen unless the investigation is nearing its end. As someone else said, we’re in the second half of a “Law & Order” episode.
Roger Moore
@JMG:
The answer is obvious: the Senatortoise is in the Russia business over his shell. He helped to block any announcement about Russian interference before the election, so he’s at the very least an accessory after the fact. He’s also taken a corrupt payoff in the form of a cabinet post for his wife. McConnell is not going to give up on Trump any time soon.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@LAO:
That Senate panel of 13 or 14 white dudes produced a big plate of steamed failure with humiliation gravy.
Ocotillo
@Yarrow: John Boehner says hello.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Its James Bond without the charismatic lead and more boobs.
Cites facts not in evidence for 70% of Republicans.
Kay
@LAO:
Because so many Republican voters are “on Medicaid” as they say around here. “On Medicaid” or “on the Buckeye” which is the privatized version of Medicaid.
Republicans ran headlong into the fact that their voters get a lot of government benefits. It’s weirdly gratifying to me because it’s always been so obviously true yet they’ve been peddling this bootstrap self- image for 50 years.
It finally happened. GOP voters met reality.
Major Major Major Major
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Not really such a thing as an “OG vamp”, too varied in origin. As for where that story’s from, that could be, my occult reference is at home per usual. Just a quote I have written down in my story notes with a page number.
scav
@LAO: mmmmph, much as I hate to even venture near correcting KThug on anything resembling numbers, I’m pretty sure that given his record on raw votes and crowd-size etc, plus the result under immediate discussion, Trump is a less-than-half-wit.
ETA Olbermann? Oh, phew, then I’m far less worried about the math! Can’t read worth toffee though.
rikyrah
@Kay:
How is treason boring?
Major Major Major Major
@Kay: I don’t see how he thinks he can say “I’m going to let it fail” and think he can keep his hands clean when people get hurt.
Then again, I’m attempting to say there’s “thinking” involved at all…
LAO
@Kay:
I certainly hope that you are right but I’m not convinced, yet.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Brachiator:
Woudln’t want the little ladies to get all upset, now would we?
/snark
StringOnAStick
My younger sister is plugged into the NV politics scene from having worked for a prior governor many years ago, NV has a low population so the pool they draw the politicians from isn’t that big. This is what she says about Senator Heller and Governor Sandoval. Heller is a just a local connected Mormon guy who was selected for the job because he looks OK and doesn’t act too scary, but isn’t terribly bright. He’s scared shitless of having to take a stand on BRCA or anything else since the state went D in the last presidential race. I also just read that Clark County (Las Vegas, main population area) will now allow “Voting Centers”, where you can vote without having to be in the correct precinct for that country. The legislature passed a bill to allow this for the whole state but Sandoval vetoed it. Still, Clark County is heavily Democratic and this Voting Center idea is a good one.
The one to watch out for in the long run is Sandoval; extremely ambitious and has that “Hispanic but GOP” thing going for him so he gets funded (plus Adelson of course). Sandoval almost ran to replace Reid but that would have meant pulling a Palin on the Governorship and he’s got a history of not finishing his elected office terms so was talked out of running last time. He’s a “wants it all now” kind of guy and after bailing out of several elected positions in order to run for the next highest one to come up, he’s got a reputation of looking out for #1 to say the least. Instead, NV got the very competent and quiet Cortez-Masto; my sister has worked with her and says she is quiet and scary smart, plus excellent about not giving the R’s any opening to mess with her.. She’s a comer, for sure.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
And immediately declared it was the wrong color and tried to stand their ground against it.
MattF
@Kay: His strategy is to aim for the worst possible result for Republicans. The ‘worse is better’ argument, personified.
Ocotillo
@TenguPhule: Pedophile sounds horrible and scandalous but then you realize the former GOP Speaker of the House is sitting in a Federal prison right now for trying to hide that he was one. Been there done that, what else ya got?
Yarrow
@rikyrah: It’s not. Treason is not boring. It’s just kind of approaching treason for most people at this point so not everyone is paying attention. The big stories have yet to drop. When they do it’s going to be chaos.
d58826
I wonder if it would be good PR/politics for the D’s to come our with a short list of the needed fixes to Obamacare. Saying see how easy it would be. Won’t go anywhere,
On the other hand when the GOP is digging a hole maybe best to just give them a bigger shovel
cain
Obamacare is going to fail once that shitstain in charge of HHS kills it from the inside. Trump will kill anything remotely related to Obama and damn the consequences.
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
A god damn miracle, given the caucus in question.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Yarrow:
I don’t think I ever said this, but it’s good to have you back with us. I really enjoy your comments.
Ksmiami
@LAO: that’s how I feel about Elaine Chao and I sharing a collegiate link: ugh- they both are so unrepresentative of everything our schools are for and such vile humans
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@cain:
To his and the GOP’s peril. They own this thing.
Ksmiami
@cain: but remember the GOP is completely in charge and when people start dying etc they tend to blame those in power
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
To put it another way, the most effective attacks on Obamacare were from the left: it didn’t cover enough people and people were paying too much. The Republicans cynically adopted those attacks to win, and now are discovering that people are angry that they’re abandoning their promises to come up with something better.
LAO
@rikyrah:
This could get very interesting, very quickly:
rikyrah
Collapse of the GOP health plan leaves House Republicans in a bind
07/18/17 12:41 PM
By Steve Benen
As the Republicans’ health care gambit unraveled last night, I thought about a quote Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) gave to the Washington Post after the far-right House plan passed in May, with his support.
As we’ve discussed, even at the time, this seemed more like wishful thinking than a credible legislative strategy.
But the political context matters. House Republican leaders went to Diaz-Balart and members like him with a specific message: let’s just keep the process moving. Vote for the flawed House bill, the argument went, and the Senate will make it better. Lawmakers will have more than one bite at this apple, and voting “no” would derail the entire initiative, years in the making.
The pitch worked, but just barely: 217 House Republicans linked arms and voted for a dreadful piece of health care legislation. Among the 217 were 33 members of the Tuesday Group, made up of “moderate” GOP lawmakers, who succumbed to party pressure, followed House Speaker Paul Ryan’s lead, and toed the party line.
Two months later, what do they have to show for it? After having stuck out their necks to support a regressive health care plan the American mainstream abhors, what’s their reward for their risk?
………………..
What’s more, far from getting a second bite at the apple, it appears Senate Republicans are poised to pass nothing. These 217 House Republicans, many of whom represent districts that will be competitive in next year’s midterms, will somehow have to defend voting for an ugly bill in exchange for nothing.
TenguPhule
@Ocotillo:
Its one of the few things that still gets Republicans thrown out of office and into jail.
For now.
Frankensteinbeck
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
If ‘OG’ means ‘Original German’, that isn’t really a thing. Vampires as we know them today are an invention of Bram Stoker. Mythologies all over the world are filled with vampire legends, but only if you define ‘vampire’ as ‘drains life from humans.’ Some of them drink blood, some of them drain you through sex, and almost none of them are undead. Usually they’re demons or cursed humans/objects/animals. Bram took some vampire legends he liked, undead legends he liked, and a couple ideas of his own, and jammed them all together to create Dracula. Ever since then, people assumed he was referencing some specific thing.
EDIT – The stake through the heart and cut off the head stuff comes from burial legends. A hugely common piece of folklore across most cultures is that if someone is evil enough, they will refuse to die and their corpse will get up and attack the living. More zombie than vampire. Burial practices mostly are different attempts to prevent this! That’s why we bury people so deep, you see.
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
Hell, they didn’t even seem to have an *entrance* strategy. But yeah, they were more than willing to paint themselves down a rabbit hole, all the way down, so to speak.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@TenguPhule: The intended punchline is the first comment accompanying this annotation.
Major Major Major Major
@Frankensteinbeck: There’s a somewhat coherent Greek/Italian/Romainan legendarium that forms the ur-myth from which Stoker drew.
ETA: As baseline inspiration, it’s not a 1:1 mapping or anything.
DesertFriar
@Ocotillo:
Former Speaker Dennis Hastert was released from prison today to a halfway house.
Roger Moore
@hedgehog the occasional commenter:
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on it’s back. The tortoise lays on it’s back, it’s belly baking in the hot sun, beating it’s legs trying to turn it’self over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
Nelle
How do I turn off the autoplay ad which is playing over and over – hear it about every two minutes. (Yes, I’m illiterate in how to make this machine work.)
Yarrow
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Thanks. I was really sick with the flu. And yes, I got a flu shot because I deal with a lot of older people and don’t want to take a chance. It swept through the retirement community of someone I help care for, who also got it (also had a flu shot), so that’s probably where I got it. It must have been a different strain from what was in the flu vaccine. The health department got involved, shut all activities down so it would hopefully stop spreading. A lot of people there ended up in the hospital. Some died. it was awful. Then everyone (including me) got food poisoning at a gathering. It has been a long haul.
Aleta
No Rose Garden beer party for the Senate even though they worked just as hard.
Frankensteinbeck
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m pretty sure the Greco-Roman vampires were themselves variations of the lilim, right? Sexual vampires that came in the night. Not much like the modern vampire, but you can see how that’s one of the things Stoker took.
Jeffro
Greg Sargent, in the WaPo just now:
“ScamPublicans” – that has a nice ring to it, don’t y’all think?
Major Major Major Major
@Frankensteinbeck: In Northern Italy they were probably early misunderstandings of contagion… that’s the region I was thinking of, not on the coast.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
One of the gags in Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers is when someone tries to fend off a vampire with a crucifix and the vampire says, “Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!” ?
If you can find it, I read an excellent book years ago called Vampires, Burial and Death that discusses vampire/revenant legends from all over the world and why every culture has some form of restless dead that comes back to prey on the living. Very interesting, if sometimes a little gruesome in the details of decomposition.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Frankensteinbeck: It actually means “Original Gangster” –i.e., the original, in this case Eastern European vampires (OG being a common YouTube shorthand for the original versions of rap songs). I’m broadly aware of the origins and variations of vampiristic creatures.
Aleta
@Yarrow: That’s terrible. Glad you’re better and I hope your cared for person and friends are recovered too.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne:
One of my very favorite vampire stories is the X-Files episode Bad Blood, where they’re after a killer who sure seems to be acting like a vampire. Mulder thinks they’re hunting a vampire, but Scully thinks they’re hunting a serial killer who’s seen too many Dracula movies. It turns out they’re hunting a vampire who’s seen too many Dracula movies.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: Also, vampires are characters in lots of SFF literature, so the concept is very much a live one. I can think of four or five different novels or sets-of-novels off the top of my head with vampires or variations on vampires. Something about fangs, I guess.
LAO
@Mnemosyne: My favorite vampire movie. I’m shallow and easily amused.
Major Major Major Major
@MattF:
Are you sure it’s not an… undead one? ? ? ?
I’m writing a story with vampires right now, if people couldn’t tell.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Frankensteinbeck: The strigoi – name comes from the Latin-by-way-of-Greek words for owl, and at any rate is the Romanian version. Still upset that vampires with vulturine or corvid motifs have never caught on.
TenguPhule
It’s a day ending in Y, Time for House Republicans to be Evil.
These stupid fuckers just don’t stop!
These IDIOTS are undermining the pillars of the financial system and think its just a fucking GAME.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Is that a cry for help?
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro:
I think he’s wrong about what the ‘bad’ were, but heaven forbid anyone should suggest Republican voters are racist. The end result is the same. You can’t satisfy the large bloc that is so mean they hate helping anyone, the large bloc that now that they’ve had healthcare refuses to give it up, and the large bloc that will hate any health care bill because it reminds them a black guy gave them charity. To make matters worse, there’s big overlap in those groups, especially between the latter two. You can’t balance it without putting open racism, and lots of it, into the bill. That’s politically dead on arrival itself.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: @TenguPhule: “I have a friend who’s writing a story about vampires.”
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: No, it’s a webcomic.
Mike in NC
In the never-ending horror movie that is the Trump administration, when Jason finally removes the hockey mask it is to reveal a bloated, ugly, orange face with a creepy combover on top.
Yarrow
@Aleta: Thanks. It was. Fortunately they were on top of things by the time my loved one showed symptoms. The nurse contacted the doctor and got Tamiflu right away. It didn’t prevent the flu from going forward but more seemed to keep the symptoms a bit milder.
It has just taken quite awhile for all of us to recover. Flu is nothing to mess with, especially in the older population, and even though symptoms are gone, it takes awhile for one’s energy to come back. I think that’s why we were susceptible to the food poisoning–weakened immune systems. That was just no fun on the heels of the flu.
Jeffro
Btw folks, next battle: holding the line against “reasonable-sounding” (i.e., not Trump) Republicans who talk like this:
* bullshit
** more bullshit – only 1 side is extreme
*** which is what Obamacare is already taking care of
**** why are we talking cuts to Medicaid, anyway? more bullshit
***** which is what Obamacare is already taking care of
****** even more bullshit
Kasich managed to get this published just today. They’re going to try and make the credit for any “fixes” include the entirety of Obamacare itself, while still chipping away at Medicaid (and probably while taking a shot at Planned Parenthood, too). Let’s enjoy the 1-2 punch of the BRCA going down in flames and straight repeal being a non-starter, but always remember: these are still Republicans. They’ll lie like nobody’s business while giving working families the shaft.
Sorry – multiple edits here
Just One More Canuck
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGiYN-Lwi4w
Kay
I feel like it’s progress. They had to admit their constituents need 1. healthcare and 2. help with health care. Now we don’t have to go over that again.
TenguPhule
Swing Voters? No, FUCK these assholes with a rusty chainsaw.
I don’t want to save these people. I want to see them burn too.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
See the book I recommended above to Major^4 — every culture has some kind of restless dead that prey on the living, but the details vary greatly, and they are often more in the realm of what our culture would consider ghosts than actual reanimated dead bodies.
I like Chinese hopping vampires myself. And if you want to read a fun novel that manages to work every fictional vampire into the narrative, try Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. It’s a whole series, but I’ve only read the first one, and it was a hoot.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
Heh. We accuse Republicans of an I Got Mine Fuck You philosophy. A side effect of that is that once they get theirs, they for damn sure don’t want anyone taking it away.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
But McConnell is bringing up a straight up repeal bill for them to vote on. So we do have to go over it all over again.
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
Well, no. Not quite. The Republicans blandly asserted that the free market, without interference by the government, would provide for health insurance coverage, if people wanted it. And they threw out the weak option of vouchers to help people get health care, if they wanted it. But if strong, magically healthy people did not want or need health insurance, the GOP was fine with that, too.
Ultimately, the GOP did not and does not look at health insurance as a public good, nor do they believe in the premise that more people being covered by health insurance is a good thing. Instead, they are stuck on a liberty and choice model in which health insurance is little more than a product that those with enough money can buy. The fantasy is that the operation of the free market will let more people, buy insurance if they want it. But apart from that, the GOP is only interested in helping insurance companies run their businesses as profitably as possible, even if that means excluding people or pushing out garbage insurance plans.
Their guiding philosophy of the Republicans is to keep the government out of the health insurance industry, and ultimately to kill Social Security and Medicare.
low-tech cyclist
@Frankensteinbeck:
Tru dat. Ben Nelson (Cornhusker Kickback), Mary Landrieu (Louisiana Purchase), Joe Motherfucking Lieberman…those were votes 58 through 60 that Reid had to somehow corral.
Still amazing. And on account of that, we’ve got this Obamacare thing that’s worth fighting to keep alive.
Thanks, Harry. We all owe you.
hitless
@dww44: I look forward to all the stories about how Trump has failed to have the Dems over for martinis and so has been divisive.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
That one just failed.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
Ugh. There seemed to be a second strain of the flu that went around late in the season this year. I managed to catch it in May, and then gave it to my husband, who still has a touch of bronchitis from it. It was the first time I’ve had a fever in years.
Kay
@MattF:
I’m pleased he knows it’s a big loss. Because he’s arrogant. It’s arrogant to run around for two years saying this is easy and everyone else is stupid. It’s not easy. Obama was much better at it and it’s a skill
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
… and works as a pizza delivery guy!
Major Major Major Major
@Jeffro: Kasich is dangerous, and so is Sasse, but for either to get traction outside the totebagger crowd, the GOP has to ditch the hardcore white nationalism.
Ruckus
@TenguPhule:
What do you have against turnips?
SiubhanDuinne
@Ocotillo:
Actually, he was released today.
Mnemosyne
@LAO:
I keep meaning to see that one. And Love at First Bite holds up surprisingly well if you can find a copy with the restored soundtrack.
Yarrow
@Kay:
Where do you get any of that out of what happened?
1. Republicans will never admit constituents need healthcare
2. They still believe that who needs help with healthcare needs more bootstrap work or should die quickly.
3. They didn’t learn anything. We’ll go over it forever.
All of that is why we need to work to make sure they own this mess. Republicans want to take healthcare away from you. That was their goal. They only quit because you made so much noise. They could have worked on a bill to improve Obamacare but they didn’t; they only wanted to take healthcare away. Vote them out and vote in sensible people who will reform and improve Obamacare.
Uncle Cosmo
@JMG: Unless you i.e., McTurtle, are yourself in it up to the tippy-top of your shell. Which Yertle probably is.
MattF
@TenguPhule: Appears to be DOA. Unless… Senate Democrats force a vote.
Kay
@MattF:
You don’t know with Trump if he believes this stuff. Does Donald Trump believe Canada offered “concessions” on NAFTA because Canada agreed the US should enforce the terms of the deal? That’s all they “offered” and the US could have ALWAYS enforced terms. They gave him nothing other than a political talking point and it’s such an obvious talking point he could have come up with it himself. “Sure! Absolutely! You really should enforce your own fucking treaty! Be our guest!”
I don’t know if he feels bad for “failing” because I don’t know if he understands it enough to know he failed. Maybe he’s like “wow- I really got one over those Canadians- this IS easy!”
TenguPhule
Just Die John McCain. Love, Republicans. No, really.
Hahahahahahahaha!!!
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck: This is McConnell’s Plan B.
Patricia Kayden
@dww44: You say that Trump is on your tv making no sense as if this is out of the norm. I’ve yet to see him make sense anywhere unless he’s awkwardly reading from someone else’s speech. Otherwise, he’s practically illiterate.
Why he expects Democrats to save his presidency is beyond me. But pretty much the entire Republican Party is way beyond my limited comprehension.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Yarrow: That sucks! Especially the flu during the summer. Sorry to hear some of your residents at the place you work at died too. I going to school to be a nurse, so I’ll learn what that’s like someday.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: The one that they just got the third public ‘no’ vote for?
catclub
@dmsilev:
Wouldn’t a complete repeal of the ACA require action outside of reconciliation rules – ie. 60 vote supermajority?
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
They lack texture and flavor.
Patricia Kayden
@TenguPhule: What a horrible world. Imagine having to apologize just because you wish death on someone whom your President mocked for being imprisoned by a foreign enemy. Sad!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Only way that could have been better is if the Annoying Orange himself had retweeted it
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: Yes, what Yertle wants to do would merely remove all funding, keeping the regulations. It would destroy the insurance industry.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes, that one. Still hasn’t been pulled, so its not dead yet.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
What, preventing Justice Garland wasn’t enough for them?
Turtle is a damn good pok…card player but his hand here was pretty weak given how badly Ryan and crew screwed the pooch on their bill. I’m happy as hell he’s lost and perhaps lost his mojo, but bog help us when we see his replacement, should he be ousted. I’m sure Cruz would lurve to get the job but not even his dog likes him.
TriassicSands
If only it were truly over. But it’s not. The GOP is going to screw poor people no matter what the cost.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: By that reasoning, the one that died yesterday isn’t dead yet either, since they’re the same bill. Come on.
trollhattan
@TenguPhule: Turnips are the worst root vegetable, there is no second place. They’re like underground kale.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Aleta:
Beer is for winners.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
23 Million out of coverage was the last bill. This one is the 32 million out of coverage because just a flat repeal.
Major Major Major Major
Trump was once again playing in a truck as Trumpcare fell apart once again.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
Easy to excel at the Art of the Deal when you just make up shit, isn’t it?
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
The only time I’ve had them was in Guinness beef stew at an Irish pub in Santa Monica (Finn McCools). They were quite tasty there — similar to potatoes, but held up better while being cooked a long time.
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
Agreed. Worse, they can look like mashed potatoes so the only way you find out the difference is when you bite into it.
MattF
@Major Major Major Major: If Trump ever appears in a flight suit… I don’t wanna see it. DON’T.
Barbara
@Kay: Yes, but it’s still amazing to me that the senators from Kentucky were were more than willing to keep ignoring this fact forever. Senators from West Virginia, Alaska and Maine were not. Also Arkansas, North Dakota, and Montana — all red states that expanded Medicaid with senators apparently willing to drink the kool-aid. With the exception of Arkansas, these states are virtually all white.
Gravenstone
@LAO: So wins and losses aren’t important in Trumpworld, only the score. Appearances uber alles!
Kay
We had huge fights on Balloon Juice over Obamacare and although it wasn’t my preferred law (I would like PUBLIC health care for most things and then buy insurance for the expensive things) we did know that the Medicaid expansion would be resilient, as in hard to repeal, because people actually love public health insurance :)
What were were wrong about was that it would help Democrats politically. They got nothing from it, which makes it oddly noble.
Medicaid for all. I’ll take that even though PUBLIC health care for ordinary care and insure everything else would be better.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
I’ve had them in that stew too.
They hold up better because they’re watery, not starchy, so they don’t melt like potatoes do.
Not an experience I can forget, no matter how hard I try.
Barbara
@StringOnAStick: For all intents and purposes Clark County is Nevada. It has more than 70% of the population of Nevada.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: They are literally the same bill. Mitch is suggesting they vote on the motion to proceed and then he’ll offer an amendment changing the language to a (non-full cuz reconciliation) repeal.
catclub
@Nelle: adblock plus
FlipYrWhig
@LAO: I guaran-damn-tee you they didn’t have 48 yeses in their pocket either. They maybe had 40.
Kay
@Barbara:
Ohio Senators can’t ignore it any more than the governor did, it’s just that Portman is a particularly wily politician so he never had to admit he couldn’t vote for it.
Children and old people alone on Medicaid in this county is huge. It would be like an earthquake. We have a dentist who has a booming practice limited to children on Medicaid and there are only 30k people in the whole county. That’s a lot of children on Medicaid.
catclub
@Kay:
Take a lesson from perennially wrong Bill Kristol. His 1993 memo stated that if the GOP allowed the Democrats to pass healthcare, it would be a political disaster for the GOP – the Democrats would win politically from it.
Um – just like the Democrats passing – and protecting – Medicare has put seniors forever in the Democratic voting column.
Amir Khalid
@MattF:
You’ll never see Trump in a flight suit, I can assure you. They don’t make’em that big at the waist.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Wait, what? I’m seeing the reports in the news that McConnell is trying for straight repeal by using the original House bill for the vote, not the Senate version they came up with.
catclub
@Major Major Major Major:
aha! I knew it. The Democrats needed 60 to pass ACA.
Uncle Cosmo
Wonder what Mayhew/Anderson makes of this announcement from my senior Senator:
IMO it’s a good thing to get something like this on the record: Democrats know the ACA isn’t perfect, but rather than throw it out, let’s fix it; here’s how.
debbie
@TenguPhule:
Years ago, I had to eat a plateful of turnips to set a good example for my youngest brother. I don’t know how I kept them down.
Major Major Major Major
@catclub: Exactly. It would just eliminate all funding, none of the regulations, destroying the insurance industry.
@TenguPhule: Perhaps I am mistaken.
catclub
Did I just miss that Obama made a lot of statements to the press, or is my impression that every word Trump gives out is reported in the press while not so with Obama.
Or does Trump just blabber on continuously ( and the press reports it), while Obama did not?
gene108
@TenguPhule:
Which idiots? The ones in the financial system or the ones in Congress?
They really want people to break out the pitch forks and torches, the next time the economy crashes.
tobie
Seeing the Republicans flounder like this makes me respect Harry Reid and LOVE Nancy Pelosi. She knows how to organize a raucous caucus.
MattF
Russians are bummed about US seizures of Russian properties:
I’ll allow that Trump spares us from that particular accusation.
TenguPhule
@gene108:
Yes.
Aimai
@Yarrow: not redemption, of course. Revenge.
Sab
@JMG:I do love that image of Portman as a camp follower.
TenguPhule
@debbie:
My condolences.
Stewed or Mashed, turnips are a punishment food.
Baud 2020: Make Republicans eat Turnips for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
gene108
@catclub:
Giving a President a “win” helps the President and not the opposition Party.
I think that was the one time Kristol got it right. The one and only time.
LAO
Holy shit — there really is a Trump Tweet for every occasion. LMAO:
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@MattF:
Do they even have a leg to stand on with this?
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Yarrow: For “redemption”, substitute “revenge”.
rikyrah
@MattF:
but.that was the point.
it was always a tax cut bill masquerading as a healthcare bill
Shell
Buried at a crossroads at midnight.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
Where are you hearing this? I’m not disputing you, but obviously this is important news we should know more about.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
I could seem them as fellow travelers in a very rich stew, maybe braising forces them to take up some actual flavor. It’s not as though I’d pick them out and fling across the room. But as a discrete dish no amount of butter and cream seems to force character upon them. For the record, dad liked them and mom didn’t and since dad didn’t cook I was raised turnip-free.
Peale
@LAO: Even were this Cricket, that would be a poor score.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@rikyrah:
Yeah, but the optics of using the savings to finance a tax cut bill reeks of naked greed and average people understand that crystal clear. Dems next year would be fools not use that in attack ads
trollhattan
@Shell: Take it down to Highway 61.
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck: From here
So while it looks like it should be DOA, we thought the same thing when that same bill was in the House too.
Best to keep up the pressure anyway, I think.
Kay
Teenagers say “rat talking” now to mean saying something bad about someone else. They actually say “rat talk’in” – it’s so weird how they get a phrase and it just spreads. I like that one. Sounds like what it means.
I get distracted by their folkways. I should probably not treat them like they’re from another planet, but they are. From another planet.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
That is the bill that just failed.
EDIT – Obviously last minute changes can happen, but McConnell has publicly admitted that plan is dead. I agree that we will always have to be on guard.
Peale
@MattF: You know, back when the Marxists would take over a place and seize US assets in redistribution schemes, we’d just stop doing business in those places (until we would overthrow them, but why quibble). Perhaps Russia could take the hint. I for one find the whole place such a cesspool of corruption that doing business there is bad for the souls of even the most soulless capitalist masters of the universe. I think we could get by just fine without Russian thieves buying beachfront homes.
Kristine
@Mnemosyne:
Oh–just bought an updated edition from B&N online. Thanks for the tip!
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck: Okay. I was getting confused because I knew there were two different bills being put up and Major kept telling me they were the same one.
catclub
@gene108:
But that was not what Kristol was claiming. He was claiming that it would mark a generation long change in the fates of the two parties.
Exactly the opposite of a temporary boost to the President’s party.
ETA: Also, how did Obama getting a win on the ACA help his party in 2010?
Shell
I nominate parsnips for that position.
Those little white and purple turnips are quite good.
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
In the stew of which I speak, it was hard to tell them apart from carrots, except that they were a little firmer in texture. And, yes, being simmered for hours in beer and beef broth definitely gave them a decent flavor.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Perhaps that was the problem in my stew. Not enough beer.
Captain C
@Roger Moore: Because the turtle threatened to take health care coverage away from millions. Even as it’s flailing, it’s shouting “Turn me over! I have to take away health care from millions so my sponsors can get a huge tax cut!!”
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
Obamacare would have been a generational win for the Democrats if Karl Rove hadn’t figured out how to gerrymander the country using funding from the superpacs that Citizens United allowed.
Tazj
@Jeffro: I see Kasich is behaving like a jerk again. I hate that bs about the Democrats ramming through the ACA, after a year of debate and public hearings.
@catclub: Trump has been treated like the Oracle of Delphi by the press ever since he announced he was running for president.
O. Felix Culpa
@Yarrow:
Sounds awful. Glad you’re feeling better.
rikyrah
@Shell:
I put turnips in with the vegetables when I fix beef in the crock pot. Love them that way.
and, diced up in with turnip greens.
Aleta
@Mnemosyne: Had them in a curry at NYC’s Ayurveda Cafe ; very good and the best ones I ever had.
Stan
@dww44:
Let’s not be too sure this won’t work. Seriously. Most people don’t pay a ton of attention to politics Don’t be shocked if somehow, next year, they are blaming the whole mess on democrats as they try to win the midterms.
Chris
@Kay:
I really wish I believed they would learn anything from it.
JMG
@rikyrah: I think mashed turnips are delicious! We have them every Thanksgiving.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
They were also cut fairly small — like 1/2-inch cubes. That probably helped as well.
Major Major Major Major
@Tazj:
Man, I wish his insanity was only the result of huffing.
Jeffro
Hey, more of this plz: Let’s Outline Trumpov’s Achievements During His First Six Months In Office
Ruviana
@Shell: I love parsnips! I love turnips. Everyone’s hatred means more for me!
WTF
@Kay:
The real vampires in this story are the insurance racket and their lobbyists. Pols are just Renfields.
Insurance “Industry” is a euphemistic oxymoron at best but is extortion when involved with health.
ymmv
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
The ones I had were too. It didn’t help.
LAO
I know wrong thread — but no Russian Shenanigans thread!
? Martin
@Kay: No they didn’t. They may need these programs but it’s still the fault of liberals that they are so inefficient, because reasons. Nothing changes. And just because McConnell was defeated here doesn’t mean that Trump/Price can’t still knife the baby. The ACA can still be destroyed in order to accomplish other legislative goals – mostly to force everyone’s hand toward McConnell’s legislation. When you see Congress willing to stand up to Price for doing that, then maybe we can declare victory, but I see no evidence that Republicans are interested in doing that. Price is free to do as much harm as he pleases.
TenguPhule
@JMG:
I don’t know you anymore.
Kristine
@JMG: I love mashed turnips. Also mashed parsnips and mashed cauliflower. Yes, the cream/butter/sour cream add a lot, but what I like about them is that they fulfill the function of mashed potatoes without the starchy heaviness.
I love mashed sweet potatoes, too. I add herbs, spices, and butter so they’re more savory than sweet.
Gravenstone
@Peale: We would. Trump, not so much.
Kay
@WTF:
My daughter and son in law are health care providers and they don’t care who pays them. I don’t see either of them as the sort of people who want to spend a lot of time billing various entities and and sorting all that out. They really are focused on caring for people. I know some doctors who are really focused on the business aspects of health care (more dentists, probably) but wouldn’t most of them just like to do the one job? It’s a hard job. They’re also supposed to maximize profits?
Major Major Major Major
@Kristine: Cauliflower is super versatile! I love it.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Hey, turnips are *awesome* in chicken stew! Unlike the Donald, who isn’t awesome anywhere, anyway, anyhow.
So, the rufous hummingbirds are back…the males are bright orange and have very aggressive, territorial attitudes towards “their” feeders. IGMFY. Chez miss Bianca they are all now christened “Donny” – Donny 1, Donny 2, Donny 3…
The Moar You Know
@MattF: They sure are. Those two spots they’re throwing such a fit about were chosen because they are literally the best places in the nation for electronic reconnaissance of the Capitol and the Pentagon.
I will always wonder if they had time to get the radio gear out. I doubt it. Notice how you’ve never heard a word about what we found there after we booted them?
Miss Bianca
@Ruviana: I’m with you on the turnips and parsnip truck! I mash ’em up with potatoes and carrots for Jumbled Roots. Love ’em!
scav
I’ve no idea how they compare to their siblings in nomenclature, but hakurei turnips were quite the discovery this season. And I adore their greens. But, as these are so good fresh that heating them seems pointless, I’m thinking they must be radically different beasts.
Ladyraxterinok
@DesertFriar: Remember he’s an alum of Wheaton (possibly the consevative Christian college with the best academic reputation), their law school was named for him, and he was on the board of regents. He was kicked off the board, and his name was removed from the law school.
Btw, whatever happened to Foley?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you see Mitch McConnell lying on his back, baking in the sun….
Redstatefemdem
Just posted on another thread under “How to Tell a Russian Operative” and will repeat it here, hopefully more succinctly, which is not my forte. A law school professor told our class that the purpose of college was to teach us to think, and that of law school was to teach us to think like lawyers. I restarted college at 40 and that’s when I became a Democrat, and maybe one reason Republicans are opposed to education-they certainly don’t want their constituents to think. As a lawyer, I don’t have a legal opinion on the Trump campaign members’ and administration’s actions, but my gut tells me there is HUGE dishonesty going on. I understand I’m not the only person with these thoughts and feelings. The reason I’m commenting is, watching Popeye cartoons in the ’50s, he would take insult after insult from Bluto, then say “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”. Being from Louisiana, there’s not much I can do to effect things,(except vote, which I do, but not to much effect, although we do have a Democratic governor) so thank you, thank you to all of you from other states for making calls and doing things that do have an effect. Also, thank you Balloon Juice and other websites where I can read articles and comments written by people with whom I am simpatico. It’s been my experience that the Truth (however you may define it) ALWAYS wins out. The path to the Truth can be painful, but thank goodness we have each other to help us get through it, and this website especially is filled with kind people that support each other here. Thanks for listening, and take care and have heart.
TenguPhule
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
You smash his legs with a rock and walk on.
Villago Delenda Est
I’ll see your clip, Anderson/Mayhew, and raise you this one.
Mnemosyne
@Jeffro:
I saw some jackass at Lawfare whining that the leak that the cyberattack in Qatar was faked was totally unfair and the leakers should be punished because leaking is always bad. Even if the leak prevented a war and saved lives, leaking is morally wrong, so it would have been better to start a nasty war in the Middle East than for the IC to (gasp!) leak information to prevent a war.
Not surprisingly, he left out all the stuff about the leaks preventing a shooting war while he was wringing his hands about how terrible leaks are.
Kay
@? Martin:
But the exchanges are such a small piece and they’re the LEAST liberal piece.
Republican governors and voters adore Medicaid, Martin. We didn’t know but now we do! :)
They hate the conservative parts of health care reform. They hate all the market-y parts. Not that I blame them, but this would have been a lot easier if they had admitted it. Medicaid for all, sliding scale. I paid for a pregnancy and delivery with sliding scale a 100 years ago. You’ll love it. Fair, easy, it’s great.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: Because the tortoise is Mitch McConnell?
GregB
Three, it’s the magic number.
Blind Melon covers School House Rock.
A favorite.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVfe6rdHRKI
LesGS
@Amir Khalid: Plus, unlike Bush, Trump couldn’t actually fit in a jet’s cockpit.
Ladyraxterinok
@MattF: There are a great many vampire novels on various free internet novels sites. A very popular series (also in print) is Laurel Hamilton’s series Anita Blake Vampire Hunter. As with many book series, the earlier ones are the best.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ladyraxterinok:
They do get pornographic several books in. And then more pornographic. I understand they somehow got even more pornographic after I stopped reading. That’s cool for those who want it, but definitely something to make sure a reader knows!
Tazj
@Kay: I wonder if all those Republicans feel grateful that their butts were saved(all our collective butts actually) by disabled fellow citizens on Medicaid who put themselves at risk by protesting and being manhandled by police and arrested.
WTF
@Kay:
Kudos to your kids for choosing to be healers in this crazy inefficient system.
I come from a family of medical researchers and academics. My father was an MD. Mother would have been but, marriage. Some go into the med/healthcare field because it is their calling. There is no law prohibiting a person from getting an MD and an MBA. Perhaps there should be. They don’t make very good doctors and that is because a medical license is just a means to another goal .
Also, my great uncle Solomon was involved in the insurance racket. A little over a century ago, insurance salesman were less popular than homeless derelicts, panhandlers, or lepers, Every door in every city or town had the sign on it that read:
NO PEDDLERS, SOLICITORS OR AGENTS
My great uncle Solomon and his brother, my grandfather, were both academics at Wharton. Gramps wrote over 30 texts on Commerce and Transportation. This was at a time when “trucking industry” was a meaningless phrase waiting to be coined. Gramps also wrote this cute little leather bound primer called “There and Back,1(906?” If memory serves. I had a copy but sent it back to my mother years ago. Grover pointed out in simple words and pictures that the practice of the day was extremely inefficient in almost every fashion. People would send their buckboards loaded from A to B and back from B to A empty because this is America and everyone needs to have his own horse and buggy to impress the ladies. Grover set Tariff rates for the Panama Canal as well. Now if you have a cargo ship traversing the canal with goods, insurance is a great idea. But in those days, individuals buying life insurance was a laughable idea. But Solomon had this crazy idea that people, people’s lives, had value. A couple of books were written about him, (real page-turners) and his work to make underwriting respectable and worthy of being studied and taught as an academic discipline in its own right at Wharton. He went on to found the American College of Underwriters, and blah, blah, blah. Aside from sharing a birthday with Trump, that’s another cross I bear, but I assure you that Solomon would have some very choice words about the current state of the racket. “Maximize profits” has never been a term I’m comfortable with. But I am German-Scot so cheap and efficient works for me. Economic efficiency with beneficial outcomes?
ruckus
@Yarrow:
I am of course an old and got the shot. And the flu. Like you I got treatment asap. Food poisoning would have killed me at that point. And yes I’ve had food poisoning before, twice.
Sucks donkey balls.
ruckus
@Brachiator:
Do republicans ever want any public good?
I can’t think of any.
different-church-lady
New York man enters facility, smashes everything, can’t understand why nothing works.
nightranger
You people are dillusional if you think this is going away. They will keep trying and will eventually pass some garbage that is just a little less repulsive than this garbage. It does not matter how many phone calls you make.
Ladyraxterinok
@MattF: There are a great many vampire novels on various free internet novels sites. A very popular series (also in print) is Laurel Hamilton’s series Anita Blake Vampire Hunter. As with many book series, the earlier ones are the best.
@Frankensteinbeck: Quite true. Never understood what happened. I think something happened in the author’s personal life. IIRC her picture on later books looked like she’d aged drastically.
ruckus
@TenguPhule:
Still, to compare drumpf to them, that’s pretty harsh.
And turnips do have flavor. It’s the veggie version of shit but still……..
different-church-lady
@nightranger: Wile E. Coyote: SUPER genius!
Nelle
@Redstatefemdem: Being from Kansas, I don’t think there is much I can do. But I call (as do so many others) and for whatever reason, our senator was a no on the bill.
Jeffro
@The Moar You Know:
Just add it to the list of charges once Trumpov’s in the dock. “Abetting espionage”, is that the right charge? Unbelievable.
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: Hmm, to me it kind of feels like we are in the commercial break, waiting to hear the classic Law & Order sound that ushers in the second half of the show.
WaterGirl
@LAO: BJ attorneys, does this bode well for Mueller’s investigation or is it an indication that it’s not going well? I seem to recall speculation that Mueller wouldn’t want people testifying publicly because it could hurt his case.
WaterGirl
@DesertFriar: Already? What, was he sentenced to 45 minutes in prison?????
WTF
@ruckus:
That’s the irony of it all. Republicanism prized public virtue, the dedication of oneself to the public good without expectations of remuneration. That and a firm belief that for any republic to survive, relative equality of property was required. Trump and the GOP are the very antitheses of republicanism.
ruckus
@WTF:
Republicanism prized public virtue
When was this?
Slightly_peeved
@Yarrow:
I wouldn’t be surprised, given that part of the reason the second bill went down was O’Connell was promising different things to different senators, and a reporter from TPM pointed it out to a senator. Why should any senator back him up on anything now?
Ohio Mom
@Frankensteinbeck: and stick a big heavy stone on top.
Redstatefemdem
@Nelle: Thank you-will call Senators.
satby
@TenguPhule: Add me to rhe unknown list… Though we had rutabaga mashed that my dad called turnips.
@Mnemosyne: And if the turnip in the Guinness stew looked like carrots, it was probably rutabaga too.
We Irish love our root veggies.
J R in WV
@trollhattan:
Wait, wait…
What about rutabagas??? Are they better or worse than turnips?
WTF
@ruckus:
Ruckus,
Based on extensive reading of Plato, of course. Certainly, at the time the Colonials familiarized themselves republicanism before, during and after the revolution. In Lincoln’s time certainly and the IRA were initially Republican socialists. Orwell fought with the Republicans in Spain, also socialist. That was the last time most people understood what republicanism actually entailed.Although in the text, Laws, rather than the Republic itself, this short passage has always seemed to be the quintessential spirit of the concept.