convenient night for Democratic messaging purposes to have a famed civil rights lawyer win the Senate primary in Alabama
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) August 16, 2017
From the local site AL.com:
… Jones, a former U.S. Attorney known for the prosecution of convicted killers Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry for the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, has picked up several endorsements from Democratic leaders, including Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Rep. Terri Sewell.
Last week, Jones also received an endorsement from former Vice President Joe Biden.
“All my life I have been trying to work with folks to make sure people have equal opportunities–they’re treated fairly, they’re treated the same under the law, they re treated with dignity and respect,” Jones said when he arrived to his watch party after learning he had won.
“You know, 15 years ago, I actually went up against the Klan. And we won,” Jones said…
Meanwhile, the Repubs get to duke it out, until September 26, over a choice between Roy ‘Ayatollah of Alabama’ Moore and Luther ‘Trump’s Pick’ Strange.
I am well aware that everybody considers the Alabama Democratic Party a mere placeholder for some future Day of Jubilee… but it should interesting (and, I sincerely hope, damaging to the GOP in general) to watch Strange & Stranger battle for the ‘Most Sincere Revanchist’ crown.
Anybody here know enough about Alabama politics to tell whether it’s worth contributing to Doug Jones’ campaign, just for the look of it? Or should we concentrate on rooting for Repub injuries?
Spotted at Doug Jones party: homemade shirt celebrating his Birmingham church bomber conviction #ALSen pic.twitter.com/jIqYQkEC7h
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 15, 2017
*(Nope, not our DougJ)
efgoldman
Good for him and all, but he’ll be lucky to get 40% against either of the christofascist RWNJs.
Sorry, hate to be defeatist, but you’ve got to recognize the reality of a gerrymandered (even though it’s a statewide election) Traitor State.
wonkie
https://www.publicnow.com/view/2EAF724359ABC49C1DA1037A21044CE991B7FCEB
Major Major Major Major
I still maintain that Luther Strange could not possibly be the name of a real human person.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yarrow
Could be both are worthwhile. Also contributing to organizations to help people vote would be good.
burnspbesq
Fuck yes give money. Nobody thought Josh Gottheimer could beat Scott Garrett until it happened. Throw a little seed corn on the ground and maybe something will sprout.
WTF
Have you guys seen the latest Cantwell Video? The radical agenda guy from the Vice interview?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyeTj002DCo
Mike J
@efgoldman: Just glad he beat “Robert Kennedy Jr” (no relation). Looked like ratfucking to me.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: @burnspbesq: He brought two of the Birmingham church bombers to justice. After all those years. He deserves support.
efgoldman
@Mike J:
A long and storied practice in Boston city and minor office Massachusetts state electoral politics, especially one party primaries.
One year (in the 70s, if I recall) there were eight or ten John, Robert, and Edwrd Kennedys on various lines of the primary ballot.
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, ran across a couple of articles today I thought were in your wheelhouse.
Jack Posobiec, Controversial Conservative Navy Intel Officer, Opens Up About His Military Service
Pentagon Forces Out Popular Press Spokesman
Mary G
Nobody thought Doug Applegate had a chance against Darrell Issa in June of last year and he came within 1,671 votes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
on the Bannon interview:
T
“they” being North Korea, and Bannon having said there’s pretty much nothing we can do about it
another possibility, the fat boozebag Bannon telling the spit-and-polish General Kelly, “Discipline this!”
Major Major Major Major
@Mary G: Applegate could’ve won, too, if he’d gone to Wisconsin.
efgoldman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Maybe he knows goddamned well that when he’s called to testify (and he will be!) he will throw Peach Pustule under the bus, truck, and autogyro to save his own sorry fat nazi ass.
Major Major Major Major
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
Every other president going back to Carter managed it when he needed to, What makes Orange Julius such a special snowflake?
ETA: I was never president and never will be, but I read plenty of scripts live on the air while all kinds of distractions were going on around me.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: Clickhole is an Onion property, you know.
dmsilev
@efgoldman: Clickhole.com is a subsidiary of The Onion. You might want to recheck your satire detector.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: I know Steve. That the loyalty screeners at the White House would do that to him just sucks. Excellent Public Affairs Officer.
As for Posobiec, he’s going to be lucky to come out of this with an honorable discharge.
NonyNony
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Or, perhaps Bannon is a drunken idiot:
https://www.axios.com/bannons-colleagues-disturbed-by-interview-with-left-wing-publication-2473835346.html
Sounds like the drunken sot forgot to tell the reporter he wanted it off the record.
rikyrah
CNNVerified account @CNN
Hillary Clinton’s supporters say she tried to warn voters of Donald Trump’s behavior http://cnn.it/2uK9Z4I
mai naem mobile
I know it’s not going to happen but I would love Doug Jones to win and shock the shit out of the GOP. They would abandon Dolt 45 so fast it would make his head spin. Paul Ryan and Yertle would be pooping in their pants. I think even Hannity would abandon him.
burnspbesq
Good day for the right to vote. North Carolina:
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/344714-federal-judges-order-new-north-carolina-district-lines
Texas:
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=94308
rikyrah
Listening to the 11th hour, and Brian Williams is being harsh.
Damn.
Mike J
@rikyrah:
It seems like having actual video of her saying almost exactly this, one could take off the qualifier.
Kent
What’s going on with the Bannon article on American Prospect? When I try to click through I get a weird error message like someone is hacking the site or something
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: I think their server is crashing from what may be an unprecedented number of clicks
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah:
Shalimar
@Mike J: No clue who Robert Kennedy, Jr. is in Alabama. There is a Mark Kennedy who served on the Alabama Supreme Court in the ’90s. Son-in-law of George Wallace and victim of one of Karl Rove’s most vicious smear campaigns. But no Robert in the family iirc.
Mike J
@Kent: Try this cache
mai naem mobile
@NonyNony: I don’t believe that for one second. Kuttner has been around for decades so there’s no way Bannon didn’t know who he is or what he does. Nah,Bannon is sending a message to his WH adversaries and Dolt. I do find it hard to believe that Bannon doesn’t have some Russian dirt on him unless they’re trying to play a mutual destruction game with Dolt,Kelly and Kushner.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah:
Mike J
@Shalimar: Sorry, not Kennedy Jr, Robert F. Kennedy.
http://www.wsfa.com/story/36142852/kennedy-concedes-in-al-democratic-senate-primary-race-endorses-jones
Matt McIrvin
@burnspbesq: That is huge.
tobie
@rikyrah:
OMG, stop the presses, the media finally acknowledges that Clinton supporters exist. I don’t think I’ve seen this once since November 8.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
I think their hearts are broken when these lines appear on their reports:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Asia
Indigenous Native
rikyrah
I want my Hillary t-shirt. All it would say on the back, with the Hillary picture on the front:
SHE.WAS.RIGHT.ABOUT.EVERYTHING.
Carolina Dave
@efgoldman: explain exactly how a gerrymandered statewide election works. Show your math.
NotMax
“Best of luck with it, Mr. Jones.”
– Sisyphus
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: They’re special. Specially stupid.
Adam L Silverman
This makes perfect sense. I didn’t recognize Cantwell because he’d lost so much weight. And good for him for doing so. He’s a much healthier nut job.
sigaba
@Adam L Silverman: Doesn’t so much kill irony as it paint itself pink and dance naked on top of a harpsichord, singing, “Irony is Dead My Friend.”
efgoldman
@dmsilev: @Major Major Major Major: But, see that’s the problem since about 2004, isn’t it. The RWNJ “reality” is so unmoored from facts and the world, it’s really hard to tell the satire from the real thing.
Carolina Dave
@Adam L Silverman: hahaha, friends and family who like to say they are 1/8 or 1/16 Cherokee, I’ve told them, no your not. You’re 1/8 or 1/16 black. It’s basic demographics and geography. Science, how does that work?
sigaba
@Adam L Silverman: He loves that clip-on PTT mic. I had HAM radio friends in high school that walked around with those.
Shalimar
@Carolina Dave: He might have gotten a little carried away, but he isn’t wrong about the results. Satan could come to earth and run as a Republican and the good idiots of Alabama would vote for him, with their preachers leading the way.
rikyrah
THREAD:
Kristin Rawls @kristinrawls
Okay, so they’re reporting that weapons caches were found in Charlottesville in the possession of white supremacists.
5:48 PM – 15 Aug 2017 from Connecticut, USA
https://twitter.com/kristinrawls/status/897621132853080064
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: Clickhole can skirt the edge pretty well sometimes, but I thought that one was fairly obvious.
I’ve always been a big fan of The Time I Spent On A Commercial Whaling Ship Totally Changed My Perspective On The World.
prostratedragon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bravo!
Calouste
@Shalimar:
From that well-known Canadian philosopher Neil Young
Carolina Dave
@Shalimar: the results will probably fall according to past history. But the election is in December, Trump’s popularity is likely to fall. It’s the only national election in December. The DNC should throw resources and media messages as well as GOTV efforts.likely loss, yes. But find what works on a deep red Southern state. First big test for the Perez DNC. Fight, MFers, fight
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Wow. A news organization finally acknowledges Hillary Clinton both had (has) supporters and was right about something? Up is down. Pigs flying.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: Things have just gotten that bad.
p.a.
…she tried to warn…
Could any fucking body in the NATIONAL MSM have just reported his Central Park 5 actions into a series of articles to demonstrate he isn’t qualified to hold elective or appointed office at any level in any civilized society*? The NY Daily News couldn’t do it by itself.
*any society, really, above the level of being beaten to death with clubs over clan disputes.
Shalimar
@rikyrah: McAuliffe said this more than 24 hours ago on a podcast. It’s strange that there has been no official statement on these weapons caches from anyone since then. There does a pear to be something to it if the person in the twitter thread saying daily Stormer members were discussing it is accurate. Just unusual there has been no confirmation.
Shalimar
@Carolina Dave: You’re right, it can’t hurt. And I would love it if more Alabamaians could see through Roy Moore’s obvious self-promotion. He wouldn’t know a principle if it bit him in the ass.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Odd, I was expecting Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Dana. Too WASPy?
Carolina Dave
@rikyrah:
I posted without even reading the article. Because I know the demographics and geography of the south. The defense mechanism was and continues to be “my great grandparent was native American.” Uh, no.
Carolina Dave
@Shalimar: first, the intraparty fight between Moore and Strange could be brutal. Jones gets to take on the damaged winner. If the DNC won’t try hard to win that seat, what the hell are they doing with all their money?
Bess
Black Dutch where I lived.
Another Scott
Doug has a good web site and makes a good case. He’s got strong, sensible policy positions. He sounds like he would be a great senator for Alabama.
Donated. Thanks for the pointer AL.
Cheers,
Scott.
LunarG
https://twitter.com/NWithAHat/status/898035504729526273
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, wow. I remember that episode. He has lost a lot of weight. And he’s obviously been a d-bag for a long time.
prostratedragon
Kuttner’s interview came up for me a few minutes ago, though a bit slowly. Bannon:
Yeah. Wonderful too to see he’s been giving this China thing a great deal of thought. And (this might really be a bit of good news) that he seems to have heard of Seoul.
Omnes Omnibus
@Carolina Dave: Are we assuming that no money will be put into that election if the Dem. has a chance? It seems that we are.
Omnes Omnibus
@Carolina Dave: And also, hi, I am OO. Who are you?
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, it had to be something pretty recognizable.
bluehill
Interesting to see a few fox news commentators get woke. I’m not sure how they could be surprised after everything that Trump said not only during his campaign but also throughout his life. Then I thought maybe they really believed that Trump was just acting like a racist and misogynist to rile up the dems and that he didn’t really believe all the vile things he said. It’s got to be an emotional blow to realize it wasn’t an act.
Now, do they stay woke and what will they do going forward or do they take the blue pill and go back to blissful ignorance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Two Years … isn’t?
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve never read it and certainly wouldn’t recognize it from the first three words.
Steve in the ATL
@Carolina Dave:
Suppressing the asshole vote
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Read it. It is worth it.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: Gotta finish a few murder mysteries first…
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Take your time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: I have no data to back this up, but my hunch is that Trump brought out more of the asshole vote than folk switching from Obama to Trump.
ETA: So suppressing the asshole vote is a nationwide strategy, not just limited to the South.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
The butler did it.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: Gotta murder a few Finnish mysteries.
Steve in the ATL
@Mike J: well played
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I agree with you. It’s actually a good strategy worldwide. Would have prevented Brexit and a slew of corrupt and/or dictatorial leaders across Europe and Africa.
Putin still would have won his elections, of course.
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: Ever read a Finnish murder mystery? Wonder if they’re any good.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major: The Danes and the Swedes both seem to know how to do who done it.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Finnish TV-wise, Bordertown (a/k/a Sorjonen) on Netflix is slow-burning, sometimes desultory, but quite watchable. trailer
sm*t cl*de
****** SPOILER ALERT ****** Alcohol was probably involved.
Quinerly
I’m a child of the South and this still amazes me….Confederate monument in Montana: http://helenair.com/news/local/city-of-helena-to-remove-confederate-fountain/article_606b058a-4e09-5802-a7b8-dc07f2b0a27e.html
Shalimar
@Carolina Dave: There has never been a brutal Republican primary fight in Alabama, though Bentley’s implosion might make this the first. Strange would be dead without Trump’s endorsement, but I don’t think even that gives him any chance of wounding Moore. We will see, though. Jones is the best Democratic candidate in ages, if there do happen to be some lucky breaks.
Walker
@Quinerly:
I am a child of the South that has lived in the North most his adult life. None of this surprises me.
frosty
@Adam L Silverman: My wife and I watched the video (sponsored by a travel agency) of people finding out they weren’t descended from the people they thought they were. We both thought having Trump supporters di the same thing would cause some heads to spin.
trollhattan
I {heart} Jackie Speier.
If you don’t know, Rep Speier was with Leo Ryan in Guyana, was shot and survived. She’s tougher than Trump will ever be.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: Oooohhh, that looks interesting. Shame it’s in Elvish, but that’s what subtitles are for.
Fair Economist
@Major Major Major Major: I love that the Republican primary will be “Moore Strange”. Apropos!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Yup, one tough lady.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
BTW (you may already know this), if you log in to Netflix’s site there are options there to adjust the font, size and color of subtitles. The changeover isn’t instantaneous, so don’t be surprised if it at first looks like nothing has happened.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Major Major Major Major: ‘
Alabama’s State Treasurer is named Young Boozer. Seriously. Here’s his bio page:
http://treasury.alabama.gov/about-young-boozer/
Shalimar
@Major Major Major Major: Of course Luther Strange is not the name of a real person. Strange owns a car dealership.
Shalimar
@JoeyJoeJoe: Young Boozer, III. His grandaddy and daddy were very proud of that name. I worked for Young Boozer decades ago. He wasn’t that bad by banker and Republican standards.
sukabi
@Quinerly: the daughters of the confereracy were very busy in the early 1900s…apparently there are a couple of confederate statues here in Wash. State… Didn’t know that until last nights local news…these are in a private park in Battleground…
NotMax
Very early feelers to Anne Laurie, if you would be so kind, about a NYC meet-up sometime on Labor Day weekend.
First off, would Friday, Saturday or Sunday night of the holiday weekend work best for people? Partial to Sunday myself, as that would likely provide a less crowded locale.
NotMax
Oops. Wrong thread. Repeating upstairs.
SRW1
@Adam L Silverman:
Some of their ancestors fucked with the wrong people,
Bobby Thomson
Doug Jones is a good guy.
But Alabama.
Another Scott
@Bobby Thomson: Things don’t change until they do.
Give change a little push if you can.
Cheers,
Scott.
Carolina Dave
@Omnes Omnibus: the occasional poster from NC. The online community is often so good at Balloon Juice that anything I wished to say has already been said more eloquently before I can finish the thoughta in my head
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Shalimar: Amen to that, but I’m hoping Strange and Moore will offend each other so much that one will run as an independent and split the vote. Moore especially is vainer than an ostentation of peacocks and is perfectly capable of going independent if he doesn’t win.
I would recommend that if people are uncertain about putting money into the race that they consider putting money into voter registration and ID efforts, as this is something that will pay off over the long term. Starting now will give people a jump on 2018, even if it doesn’t pay off for Jones in this race.
Michael Cain
@Quinerly: Since 1894, the United Daughters of the Confederacy have worked hard to put Confederate memorials everywhere.
The Moar You Know
@Quinerly: I’m not (parents are) and there was one here in San Diego! Little plaque put up in 2006 (oh yeah, historic motherfuckers). City council took it down last night, good on them.