Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

He really is that stupid.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The revolution will be supervised.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Agonize - Organize / MondayWednesday Evening Open Thread: Goddess Bless Nancy Pelosi

MondayWednesday Evening Open Thread: Goddess Bless Nancy Pelosi

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This is a very sensible position, per the Washington Post:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that single-payer health insurance is not a litmus test for Democrats and that she is focused on protecting health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) declined to endorse “Medicare for All” legislation backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and instead called on Democrats to release a wide range of proposals to fix and improve President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law. Her position on health care is the latest evidence that Democrats in the House are willing to ignore pressure from liberal factions aiming to drive the party further to the left.

“I don’t think it’s a litmus test,” Pelosi said in an interview. “What we want is to have as many people as possible, everybody, covered, and I think that’s something that we all embrace.”

Pelosi said that she would like a variety of health-care ideas to be vetted and analyzed by budget scorekeepers but that she thinks none of them will succeed while the ACA is under attack from Republicans.

“Right now I’m protecting the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi said. “None of these things, whether it’s Bernie’s or others, can really prevail unless we protect the Affordable Care Act.”…

“Fortunately, I’m a progressive from San Francisco. I’m a liberal, and I have my own credibility on these subjects,” Pelosi said. “While we all share our values and priorities and the rest, I think Chuck [Schumer] and I are both strong Democrats.”

Both Democratic leaders have said they think it is their job to work with Trump where possible to pass legislation that meets the values of the party. Pelosi said it is her job to get bills passed.

“You can never satisfy everybody,” Pelosi said. “We don’t have a responsibility to get nothing done.”…

I suspect there’s more than a few Democrats going to tell their angrier leftist voters (all 27% of them) that they would totally vote Single Payer for All Starting Yesterday, were it not for their mean legislative mommy who does not understand what The People Want. And that’s part of Pelosi’s job — being the mean mommy who won’t allow anyone to jump off bridges or go to the bitchin’ rave just because it’s a school night.
***********

Apart from being grateful for legislators who see the wisdom in fighting for what’s possible instead of losing for what’s “best”, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

261Comments

  2. 2.

    Chyron HR

    Clearly a primary challenge from Wilmer Jr. hasn’t gotten the message across. Line up Wilmer III, we’re gonna double-primary the bitch.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    John Cleese sums up flyover country.

    Given your own disinterest in watching comedy, is it at all weird to you that people still want to talk about Monty Python?
    The more interesting thing to me is seeing how different types of people respond to Monty Python. People always say the English have a different sense of humor than Americans, but I think America itself has two senses of humor. There are the folk in the Midwest and in the South who are much more literal-minded in what they laugh about, and then once you go to the coasts you get an audience that’s totally at home with irony and absurdity.

    What accounts for that difference?
    To be perfectly honest, the people on the coasts and in the big cities are a lot smarter. Whenever you’re out in the sticks with a slower audience, it’s not that they enjoy the comedy less, because they’re still laughing, it’s that they don’t enjoy it as quickly. It’s always a bit disconcerting when people are laughing three seconds into the next joke because they just got the last one.

  6. 6.

    Chyron HR

    Meanwhile it’s understood that Berniecrats don’t need to support Rep. Conyers’s single payer bill in the house, because he’s one of those, uh, you know, “identity politicians”.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Multitask, people; don’t lose focus on the GOP. They’re still assholes. I just heard Ryan opine that there were very few centrists left in the Democratic Party, as if only people like Tim Ryan matter.

  9. 9.

    bystander

    Chuckles the Toddler was on the verge of breaking his pearl string tonight. The worry is furrowing his brow. “It’s a litmus test!” is their new narrative. They never go on to say what it’s litmus for. Who’s a real Democrat and who’s a Clintonian nanny poopoo?

    It doesn’t bother me that it’s being brought up. Bernie might as well throw his sabot in the works, too. But who for a moment believes that single-payer has the slightest chance of a snowball in hell right now? It’s magical thinking on a par with Mexico will pay for the wall.

    Sarah Applebee Sanders is a disgusting jerk. She always goes out of her way to say “thuh Democrat party”. I loathe her vile smarminess.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    @trollhattan: As someone who happily spent 15 years in flyover country (MI), Cleese isn’t being fair. At least part of the laugh-delay is not ‘taking a while to get the joke’, it’s ‘checking to make sure the people on either side of you also got the joke before you laugh.’ You don’t want to make a spectacle of yourself, rudely laughing at something that others might not think is funny!

    Garrison Keillor understood his audience, if you need an example.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    Zerlina Maxwell‏Verified account @ZerlinaMaxwell

    I agree w/ my former boss @jmpalmieri that SOMETHING BIG is abt to happen in the Mueller invest b/c of all of the front end attacks on Comey
    1:43 PM – 13 Sep 2017

  15. 15.

    Eric U.

    I remember being one of the people losing my shit on daily kos because the public option wasn’t going to be in the ACA. I guess that makes me a neoliberal shill nowadays.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    Rod‏Verified account @rodimusprime

    ESPN finding out that not picking a side is picking a side under this administration.
    1:50 PM – 13 Sep 2017

  18. 18.

    clay

    @lamh36:

    The U.S. State Department on Wednesday will stop issuing certain kinds of visas to some citizens of Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone because the nations are not taking back their citizens the United States wants to deport.

    The new policies, laid out in State Department cables sent on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters, are the latest example of U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to crack down on immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

    The cables, sent by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to consular officials around the world, said the four countries were “denying or unreasonably delaying” the return of their citizens from the United States, and that visa restrictions would be lifted in a country if it accepted its deportees.

    The State Department declined comment on the cables, saying it would not discuss internal communications.

    “Not discuss internal communications”?!? If this is now official U.S. policy, then it should be discussed openly and honestly!

    Someone explain to me again why Tillerson is the reasonable one?

  19. 19.

    efgoldman

    Pelosi (D-Calif.) declined to endorse “Medicare for All” legislation backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and instead called on Democrats to release a wide range of proposals to fix and improve President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law.

    Well that’s it, then! Definitely time to turf Nancy SMASH! and put in a superwonk like Granny Starver!

  21. 21.

    WarMunchkin

    I don’t like the idea of using “mean mommy” and other relatively tropey and dismissive ways of characterizing female politicians. She’s an intelligent politician, full stop.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Phillip Henry‏Verified account @MajorPhilebrity

    IMAGINE if Obama demanded Donald Trump be fired from The Apprentice for his birther allegations.
    1:24 PM – 13 Sep 2017

  26. 26.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Monty Python was ha ha laugh-out-loud funny. Garrison Keillor is more wry and chuckle humor. You need to know Minnesotans (or equally stubborn, set-in-their-ways people) to get the humor.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    Yamiche Alcindor‏Verified account @Yamiche

    The White House just sent out a photo of Senator Tim Scott meeting with President Trump. They call him, “Tom Scott.”

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    Jon Snarkgaryen‏ @Parkour_Lewis

    Also, if Jemele is fired, I gotta feel this is an ACTUAL question of Free Speech since the actual administration said “Fire her”
    1:17 PM – 13 Sep 2017

  33. 33.

    Chris

    @Chyron HR:

    Well, our centrists were people like Joe Lieberman, so I’m thrilled to have them gone, but more to the point, I see no reason why we should operate centrists when Ryan’s party runs them out on a rail as “RINO” “liberals.”

  35. 35.

    efgoldman

    @rikyrah:

    They call him, “Tom Scott.”

    It looks as if the WH communications office actually has a position for “designated fuckup.” S/he’s responsible for editing press releases so everyone looks like a moron.

  36. 36.

    ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    I have a friend whose mom had that built in delay. A great lady, her sense of humor just had a built-in filter. Also I don’t think she liked to laugh in public to “racy” jokes.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @debbie:
    True. Being of Midwest Lutheran stock I knew he had us down to a gnat’s eyelash from the beginning. His ability to develop characters and capture their interactions over literally a generation were the reward for those who stuck with him over time and are testament to his writing skills.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    @trollhattan: I like Garrison Keillor a lot. Gentle but biting humor, and usually some pretty good columns these days.

    WRT not laughing in public: I wonder if a lot of the DC press corpse got the jokes Stephen Colbert was telling, and some may have agreed with him, but those around them were not laughing…

    Not speaking, of course, of the Chuck Todds of the world, who do. not. get. it. But real journalists … um, who are in the DC press corpse, and that is a stretch, but they do exist …

  49. 49.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I find GK and Prairie Home Companion totally unfunny. I just don’t get it.

    To be perfectly honest, we’re not his target audience.

    (I can only take him in measured doses, and because I spent those years getting attuned to the “Midwestern” Calvinist/Scandinavian sensibility. I still can’t deal with Scandinavian films — just can’t wrap my Celtic mind around Ingmar Bergman, much less his younger heirs… )

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I will take Garrison Keillor any day over his replacement host, Chris Thiele.

    Never listen to the “live” Saturday PHC broadcast, but usually have the “encore” going in the background on Sunday mornings. There are still good musical guests, and I appreciate them, but Thiele’s voice (speaking and singing) drives me right up the wall, his “humor” is forced and ham-handed, and it’s just kind of an embarrassment to listen to him. I’ve tried to give him the benefit of the doubt for the past (almost) year, but I think Garrison made a bad call when he named Chris as his permanent replacement in 2016.

  55. 55.

    schrodingers_cat

    Ever since T started bleating about murderous and moocher immigrants, I has been homesick for the land of my ancestors, hopefully I can go there this year, by the end of this year. Also want to interview some older relatives for the book I am working on.

    ETA: Last time I was there, I couldn’t wait to get back. So this certainly a very strange feeling on my part. Identity crisis, I has it.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Single payer is not going to happen anytime soon, but it’s important to get it out there.

    I think improving ACA is part of the incremental process to rationalizing our health care provisioning which will eventually culminate in a single payer system.

    Several steps at a time.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @lamh36:

    I know. Gross, right? They have a “bond” with Donald Trump. That bond will now mean millions of dollars for both of them, so I’m glad that worked out well- for 2 people, anyway.

    The relationship between the NYTimes and Donald Trump is as bizarre and unprofessional as the relationship between the NYTimes and Hillary Clinton. It’s all very, very personal in this appalling way that has nothing whatever to do with serving their readers well.

    This mutually beneficial deal media has with Donald Trump has been going on for decades. I don’t think the mere “public interest” will cause a divorce.

  59. 59.

    Ian G.

    RIP Frank Vincent. The man could take a savage beating in a Scorsese flick like anyone. Glad Marty let him (spoiler alert) have his revenge in “Casino”. Also, enjoyed him as the violent old school gangster in “The Sopranos”.

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    It’s more or less a music show now but the phenomenal parade of talent they’re bringing through keep me listening. The former story-telling “driveway moments” are a thing of the past. No more Bruno the fishing dog.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Oh, yes indeedy! In fact:

    The announcement that New York Times White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush have agreed to do a Trump book for Random House, as I first reported Tuesday, was both bombshell journalism news and something of a foregone conclusion. Haberman and Thrush, two veterans of the New York tabloid world who both worked at Politico before joining the Times, have been the foremost chroniclers of the West Wing reality show. Haberman, in particular, is enviably sourced, and has a bond with the president himself that’s frayed at times but not broken. Thrush, wearer of a signature fedora, was parodied on Saturday Night Live by Bobby Moynihan. They are two of the essential stars of the Trump administration.

    The NYTimes apparently sees nothing wrong with “two of the essential stars” of the Trump Administration covering the Trump Administration.

    Random House only acquired the book, via literary agent Elyse Cheney, within the past two weeks, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told me. During the process, Haberman and Thrush have quietly looped in a small circle of Times and White House insiders, sources said, and are still ironing out the details, such as if and when they’ll take book leave and whether their potential leaves would coincide. Word about the advance is being closely held—but political books by similarly placed reporters have earned advances into the millions. Haberman and Thrush both declined to comment.

    That’s cozy, isn’t it? The NYTimes and White House “insiders” discussing a book deal.

    The bizarre unprofessional vendetta against Hillary Clinton makes a lot more sense with this new information- which didn’t come from the NYTimes.

    It’s a farce. A charade. Trump pretends to hate them and they pretend to cover Trump. Working out great for all of them. The only people who aren’t in on the game are their readers.

  65. 65.

    Frankensteinbeck

    pressure from liberal factions aiming to drive the party further to the left.

    Absolute bullshit. Hillary was more liberal than Sanders ever was. He had more extreme positions on two or three hobby horses, positions so extreme they were really just slogans. His followers sure as Hell aren’t pushing the party of Obama any further left, they’re just demanding things be done their (short-sighted buzzword) way.

  66. 66.

    lamh36

    @Kay: I recall being told that Maggie’s a good reporter…not just a stenographer…she’s a real true journalist, it’s NOT about money clicks, it’s about the story…is it okay to say she’s a hack now?

    Her and Thrush are basically trying to write the next Game Changer of this election cycle…which makes em the same type of hacks as Mark Halpern

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    just listening to Ari Melber’s show on line, he had some Republican drone on insisting that trump is not a racist. The missing question: “So explain his five year birther crusade”. Ball dropped, Ari.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    Oh boy, after Joe Apraio who might be next?

    Roger Stone, an on-and-off adviser of President Donald Trump, says he will be in Las Vegas this Friday to demand a pardon for rancher Cliven Bundy and his co-defendants, who are currently awaiting federal trial. Stone also made public appearances in July in Nevada to urge Trump to intervene in the Bundy case, which is centered on the 2014 standoff between armed Bundy supporters and federal employees attempting to round up the rancher’s illegally grazing cattle.

    The case has become a symbol of longstanding disagreements in Western states over how public lands should be managed, as well as a rallying point for the “Patriot” movement, a loose network of militias and far-right individuals and groups across the country, including in the rural West. The arrival of Stone, a controversial political operative, in Las Vegas this week, is another strange turn to a series of cases that have vexed federal prosecutors from Oregon to Nevada.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @O. Felix Culpa: While awaiting sentencing, Shkreli has harassed women online, prosecutors argued, and even offered his Facebook followers $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair during her book tour. Shkreli, who faces up to 20 years in prison, apologized saying that he did not expect anyone to take his online comments seriously.

    Jesus christ

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    The Associated Press‏Verified account @AP

    BREAKING: Ex-pharmaceuticals company CEO Martin Shkreli has bail revoked in New York securities fraud case, heads to jail.
    3:08 PM – 13 Sep 2017

  76. 76.

    japa21

    @Villago Delenda Est: I agree it should be part of the conversation. The problem is when some supporters of single payer attack people who aren’t gung ho on single payer, particularly at this point in time. Nancy is right. It should not be a litmus test but it should be part of the conversation.

    Personally, I am not necessarily fond of the phrase single payer. It is catchy, just like free market is catchy. But just like there is no such thing as a free market, single payer isn’t exactly single payer either. Take Medicare for all. Medicare is not single payer, though people think it is. Or more properly, if a person wants adequate coverage, they need to go beyond just Medicare.

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    part of me appreciates his honesty, in the sense that I wish Paul Ryan would let his Randian freak flag fly,

    Paul McLeodVerified account @ pdmcleod
    Lindsey Graham revealing his Obamacare repeal bill: “If you believe in universal health care, this is your worst nightmare.”

    but.. how did this sound to you when you said it out loud, Lindsey? What do you think “universal health care” is, and why is it bad?

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Single payer is not going to happen anytime soon, but it’s important to get it out there.

    Totally agree. If nothing else, it’s important to remind Repubs that there are many, many more left-leaning solutions to health care out there and the ACA is nowhere near as far left as they’ve been brainwashed to believe. Heck, it’s not even ‘left’.

  82. 82.

    Gretchen

    HRC adressed this in her interview with Ezra Klein today. 50% of us get our insurance from employers. Tell all those people that you’re going to end that and replace it with something awesome that we haven’t quite worked out the details yet and they’ll vote against you. Remember how much traction repubs got with if you like your plan you can keep it? HRC said she’s been observing the politics of this for a very long time.

  83. 83.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @debbie: I remember something vaguely about DNA testing, but I couldn’t find confirmation in a hasty google search (must get dinner started!). Regardless of his intention, it seems clear that Shkreli is an unstable and potentially dangerous asshole. It appears the judge came to the same conclusion.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @lamh36:

    Her and Thrush are basically trying to write the next Game Changer of this election cycle…which makes em the same type of hacks as Mark Halpern

    It does except Halperin doesn’t call himself a reporter, so he’s actually better. It goes back to arrogance. The reason people worry about conflict of interests is because human beings are fallible- they behave poorly when they’re trying to serve two masters. They will swear up and down they’re being “fair” but they’re fallible so we don’t accept that- instead we avoid conflicts with the recognition that we are flawed and need bright lines.

    The avoidance of conflict of interest isn’t about the person who has the conflict. It isn’t about whether you’re a good or bad person. It’s about the person they;re supposedly serving. Exempting yourself because you’re a superior human being who operates outside the laws of human nature and are so super-duper fair that you aren’t swayed by self interest is arrogant and delusional.

  89. 89.

    lgerard

    While awaiting sentencing, Shkreli has harassed women online, prosecutors argued, and even offered his Facebook followers $5,000 to grab a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair during her book tour.

    All part of his effort to re-brand himself as an Alt right icon

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Steve KopackVerified account @ SteveKopack
    Treasury Secretary Mnuchin requested government jet for European honeymoon – ABC News

    a quick google search suggests his net worth can be conservatively estimated at $300 million

  93. 93.

    debbie

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Unfortunately, I found it:

    The infamous internet troll has been ramping up his social media posts about Clinton ahead of the release of her new memoir “What Happened” next week.

    Last Friday, the Pharma Bro claimed he possessed Clinton’s DNA, writing, “Cloning Hillary Clinton would be a societal and environmental catastrophe the likes of which the world has never seen….I hold in my hands a whole exome sequence of this monster.”

    He also posted a photograph of himself holding up a small plastic bag with a biohazard symbol printed on it, claiming Clinton’s DNA was inside.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    No.I was swamped today. Thanks. I’lll go to the twitter voting rights people and catch up. There are several good ones. Ari Berman is a godammned national treasure.

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I’m a lifelong East Coaster and don’t understand the Garrison Keillor hate. Maybe it’s generational. I’ve been listening to and enjoying him on and off since the 80s. And I disagree that you have to know midwesterners to get it, any more than you have to be Chinese to laugh at Margaret Cho’s ethnic characters. For me, his show was a way of getting to know a tribe I never would have known otherwise, as the musical guests caused me to listen to and enjoy music I never would have listened to either.

    Chris Thiele is not a writer, he’s apparently a hotshot mandolin player and was (I would guess) hired for his musical talents. So he’s obviously going to take the show in a different direction, as he should.

    I met Keillor in person (local PBS station event), and he was pretty much the same person, the same quiet wry humor, that he was on stage. And also basically a shy person. He spent the first five minutes of the reception staring at the centerpiece and then joking about it, before actually interacting with the public.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think what they love about it is the US seal- the legitimacy and power of a nation. He could buy a ride on a jet but he couldn’t buy that. It’s like a bauble to add to the collection.

    It’s why they went insane every time they saw Obama on Air Force One. They’re so much richer than him! Why don’t they get the special United States plane!

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s proof that talent in one field doesn’t translate to others. He is a sublime mandolin player; unfortunately he’s not very good at speaking, as you point out.

  101. 101.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bystander:

    Sarah Applebee Sanders is a disgusting jerk.

    She’s as nasty as her father and her dog-killing brother are. Just an awful family. To be a Republican in good standing, it appears that one must be nasty, bigoted and narrow minded. And an excellent liar, which is certainly what SHS has shown herself to be.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    I didn’t mean literally, but you had to understand that people in the Great Midwest Beyond had different lives. Many NYCers I knew couldn’t relate to that. They had no concept of regional differences. When I was in publishing, many NYC editors assumed that a book that was popular in Manhattan would sell just as well in Kansas.

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: I think what they love about it is the US seal- the legitimacy and power of a nation.

    I hadn’t thought of that. The pomp and circumstance of landing at CDG or Heathrow to what I presume is some secured section that by-passes the plebs altogether. Something for Louise to tweet about

  106. 106.

    SFAW

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Does Putin have dirt on Sulzberger?

    Well, I guess that’s possible, but Pinch has been Times’ publisher since 1992. And, I’m sure coincidentally, the Times started treating the Clintons like History’s Greatest Monsters in … let’s see … 1992, I think it was. I wonder if there’s some sort of connection.

    Although he does not write a column, Pinch is one of those referred to by Villago’s nym/nom.

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    They Can’t. Not. Lie.

    Jamie Lovegrove‏ @ jslovegrove 4h4 hours ago
    Did SenatorTimScott express displeasure with Trump’s #Charlotteville response?
    “Not at all,” PressSec says. Focused on “moving forward.” …

    Hmm. I asked Scott if this characterization is accurate. He says he started meeting by explaining concerns w/ #Charlottesville response…

  109. 109.

    Kay

    My guess is that Pelosi is worried about SCHIP, hence her strategizing. The program is something she’s proud of (and she should be- huge success) and I think she’d put all her formidable skills to work protecting it. There’s a large group of people who ONLY had or have health care as children because Democrats fight for SCHIP every year. You-all remember when Bush and the GOP went after it. Pelosi was all over that. And she won :)

    A popular federal-state program that provides health coverage to millions of children in lower- and middle-class families is up for renewal Sept. 30.
    But with a deeply divided Congress, some health advocates fear that the Children’s Health Insurance Program could be in jeopardy or that conservative lawmakers will seek changes to limit the program’s reach. Other financial priorities this month include extending the nation’s debt ceiling, finding money for the Hurricane Harvey cleanup and keeping the government open.

    It’s 9 million children.

  111. 111.

    Insane Clown POTUS

    I enjoyed Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keilor and have seen it live three times. It was pleasant to listen to in the car when I’m running errands on the weekend and it introduced me to musical styles I’d have never listened to. I haven’t really warmed to the new guy, though. I’m pretty far from midwestern, as I’m from Dublin and have only lived on the coasts in the US. I also really enjoy Monty Python, so it’s not really an either-or.

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I am not often or easily moved to tears, but this made me choke up, thinking about an eight year old going through this. The little kid has been released from the hospital

    The family of an 8-year-old biracial boy in Claremont, New Hampshire, said a group of teenagers hurled rocks at him, called him racially charged words, and then pulled a rope around his neck and hung him.
    The boy’s grandmother, Lorrie Slattery, said the incident occurred on an afternoon in late August when her grandson was playing with teenagers in the neighborhood in a backyard.
    “The (teenagers) said, ‘Look at this,’ supposedly putting the rope around their necks,” Slattery told the Valley News. “One boy said to (her grandson), ‘Let’s do this,’ and then pushed him off the picnic table and hung him.” The boy survived.
    The alleged details of the events are based on Slattery’s account, which itself is based on what the boy and his 11-year-old sister, who was present, told their mother, Cassandra Merlin.
    The boy’s uncle, Lyric Merlin, posted a photo of the boy’s injured neck on Facebook on Aug. 28, the day of the alleged incident.
    “My nephew was hung from a tree by a 14yr old who claims ‘it was an accident,” Merlin wrote. “I don’t care what kind of excuse this teenager has but you DO NOT play with somebody’s life.”
    BuzzFeed News has reached out to the boy’s uncle, grandmother, and mother for comment.
    The young boy was driven to a local hospital for treatment by his mother, and was subsequently airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the Valley news reported.

  114. 114.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Trying to outdo his daddy, is what it comes down to.

    Well, I don’t remember following the intricacies of FTFNYT coverage before Bill Clinton arrived, but my sense is that Punch was not like like his evil son, integrity/morality-wise.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    This is not very generous of me but I thought his wife’s apology was weird. It was excessive. Almost a parody of apologizing.

    I had a juvenile once who was a smart ass. Well, “once”. Most of them. Anyway. I prepare them for judges by explaining what judges expect – they have to look at the judge, they have to say “sir” (or ma’am) and they shouldn’t try to be funny or show off. This kid said “sir” and “your honor” so many times and so dramatically subserviently that I realized he was being sarcastic. He was entertaining his co-defendants. I had to kick him under the table. That’s what her apology reminded me of. It can go too far.

  119. 119.

    TenguPhule

    @clay:

    Someone explain to me again why Tillerson is the reasonable one?

    He’s not quite as bat shit insane as the rest of them.

    A low bar, yes.

  121. 121.

    rikyrah

    sean.‏Verified account @SeanMcElwee

    Republicans are pushing to make the IRS more aggressively target poor folks, helping the rich evade taxes.

  123. 123.

    But her emails!!

    @Kay:

    I think what they love about it is the US seal- the legitimacy and power of a nation. He could buy a ride on a jet but he couldn’t buy that. It’s like a bauble to add to the collection.

    Eh. It’s a general sense of entitlement. It the same thing that underlies Munchin being worth 300 million, but screwing over poor homeowners for the equivalent of the change in his sofa cushions. He probably also had his company pay for or otherwise provide for his poorly disguised personal travel.

  125. 125.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Senator Scott is a Republican. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t criticize Trump’s Charlottesville comments to his face. Not at all. But given how easily Trump and his sycophants lie, if Scott said he brought up concerns about Charlottesville, I’d take his word for it although it would be better if he publicly criticized Trump for his general bigotry.

  127. 127.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Yeah, I think they want the IRS to audit everyone who files for EITC. Interestingly enough, that seems to be mostly poor(er) people. Who’d’a thunk?

    ETA: With the result being that there are fewer auditors/investigators to go after the rich tax dodgers.

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I think improving ACA is part of the incremental process to rationalizing our health care provisioning which will eventually culminate in a single payer system.

    Several steps at a time.

    Except now we have people proposing to skip the steps and just boldly jump off that cliff and hope the lord will provide.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @SFAW:

    Yeah, I think they want the IRS to audit everyone who files for EITC. Interestingly enough, that seems to be mostly poor(er) people. Who’d’a thunk?

    You are partly correct. What they want is to increase the paperwork for the EITC AND trigger an increase in audits when inevitable problems in the automatic reconciliations pop up due to human or computer error. The IRS would actually be losing money on these audits given the ratio of resources spent vs funds collected on average.

  133. 133.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    Last I heard de lawd doesn’t provide votes.

    Don’t you know that only sell out corporate shills bother to uphold this corrupt capitalist system through actually voting and that the true driver of progress is the will to make demands of the government with the power of the people behind you? //

  135. 135.

    Kathleen

    @schrodingers_cat: That was my reaction when he started pimping the idea right as the Zombie Rethugs started introducing legislation to eat people’s brains. I thought it was dangerous to fragment the opposition. Nancy Smash did the right thing for the right reasons.

  140. 140.

    japa21

    @TenguPhule: IOW, in a sense, they want the IRS to target specific groups of people, mostly those who would vote Democratic. Example 12, 472, 621 of GOP hypocrisy.

  141. 141.

    debbie

    @SFAW:

    No, sorry for not being clearer. It’s the son being a distant second. It’s like GWB trying to outdo his father. It’s like Donald trying to outdo Fred. It’s like Fredo.

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    @trollhattan:

    to demand a pardon for rancher Cliven Bundy and his co-defendants, who are currently awaiting federal trial.

    Yeah, we can pretty much stop pretending that laws matter anymore if this happens.

    Tax evasion and “sovereign citizens” will fucking explode in numbers.

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    Crap. Three busloads of 8th graders just arrived at my nice, quiet writing retreat.

    This is gonna suck. ?

  145. 145.

    TenguPhule

    @japa21: And stop poor people from claiming benefits they’re entitled to and hurt the IRS by making it waste time and lose money. A threefer.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    Three busloads of 8th graders just arrived at my nice, quiet writing retreat. This is gonna suck.

    You have to ask yourself, what did you do to deserve this?

  147. 147.

    MomSense

    Dog rolled in a muddy stream bed and then leaves, grass, pine needles, and other assorted forest floor things.

    She was then hosed off with cold water outside. She’s now inside the house, still stinky, and in a baaaad mood.

    Boy was she pleased with herself earlier. I’ve never seen her happier.

  149. 149.

    TenguPhule

    @MomSense:

    She was then hosed off with cold water outside. She’s now inside the house, still stinky, and in a baaaad mood.

    You didn’t give her a bath with soap?

  150. 150.

    Luthe

    Ok, jackals: I’m going to a Clinton book-signing on Saturday. If anyone has a message they’d like passed along to the great lady, email it to luthemeetshrc [at] gmail. I will put all the messages in a Word file and print them out to give to her.

    Note: I reserve the right to edit or omit any rude, nasty, or negative commentary. This is for good stuff only.

  154. 154.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl: I tried to find it again after that comment, but I couldn’t locate it. Something about the Dems criticizing what the voting commission was doing.

  156. 156.

    Citizen Scientist

    So, is the phrase “farting in a punch bowl”, or a variant of it, a common saying in parts of the South? Just heard it from a work colleague from NC; never before (and i have a number of southern by birth or transplanted acquaintances).
    Also, go Nancy Smash!

  157. 157.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Something about the Dems criticizing what the voting commission was doing.

    Old news, that was yesterday.

    They’re still on it, criticisms be damned.

  159. 159.

    TenguPhule

    @Citizen Scientist:

    So, is the phrase “farting in a punch bowl”, or a variant of it, a common saying in parts of the South? Just heard it from a work colleague from NC; never before (and i have a number of southern by birth or transplanted acquaintances).

    I thought it was shitting in the punch bowl.

  161. 161.

    TenguPhule

    Shkreli, wearing a lavender button-down shirt and slacks, was taken into custody immediately after the hour-long hearing. He did not appear to react at the judge’s decision though he appeared more nervous than when he entered court and refused to ride the elevator with one reporter because they were “fake news.” He will be sent to a maximum-security prison until his sentencing hearing in January.

    This sounds…promising.

  164. 164.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Yes. From where I am (Medicare universal health Insurance) you wouldn’t start where the US is to get where you want to go!

    I don’t understand how the single Payer scheme is going to cope with your system of employer based insurance for starters.

    Shouldn’t the progressive goal be ‘universal access to affordable health care for all’, and then take a step by step process to permit for example, ‘buy in’ to Medicare for over 55s, plus automatic coverage for people who lose their jobs. Extend PACA subsidies for the low paid and small business owners who make less than an adjusted, stipulated amount.

    Then look at how the employer system could be ‘supported better’ by offering bigger, better cost controls on suppliers of health care services that supply to employer schemes.

    Single Payer looks like becoming a mantra rather than a politically doable policy goal to fundamentally fix the disastrous US health care system.

    I agree with Universal health care it goes without saying, but it is unserious to tie such an important goal to some kind of untested, rallying cry that people must salute, before proper discussion of a plan to get there that can be discussed with the constituencies that it would benefit.

  168. 168.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Well, if they are going to stay on it, at least they should make themselves useful.

    As useful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

  169. 169.

    Baud

    @Aussie Sheila:

    but it is unserious to tie such an important goal to some kind of untested, rallying cry that people must salute, before proper discussion of a plan to get there that can be discussed with the constituencies that it would benefit.

    It’s like shouting “Wolverines!” before anyone has even invaded.

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    Everyone knows that Regency London was covered in shit, but we all ignore it, just like we ignore the fact that even aristocrats were missing half their teeth by the time they were 30.

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    OK, you’re just typing to see yourself type, now.

    Who shit in your cheerios? You’re giving me grief over talking to Mnemosyne, FFS.

  179. 179.

    Shana

    @O. Felix Culpa: Good. There’s something just so… off about him. Is he on the autism spectrum? The inappropriate smiling, the crap he says. There’s something just not quite right about his demeanor, not to mention all the criminal activity of course.

  182. 182.

    Elizabelle

    OT: found a showing of Jaws on cable. The dog has just gone into the water. Mayor concerned about closing the beaches.

    Dog missing. Stick floating.

    Cue the shark music. Blood in the water.

    As much predation as I can take.

  185. 185.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:

    Now my roommate and I are seriously considering driving into town, buying a bunch of red balloons, and planting them in various places in the woods. ?

  186. 186.

    cmorenc

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I will take Garrison Keillor any day over his replacement host, Chris Thiele.

    Thiele is the better singer and musician – maybe he needs to put his skits to music to make his presentation better play to his strong suits. Keilor could sing very well, but his real talent is storytelling. If you ever attended any of his live shows, they usually start with him entering from the back of wherever he’s playing rather than from any of the stage entrances, and spends the first 10 minutes slowly working his way frontward winding through the audience telling some extended sketch as he goes. If you’re not expecting it, you may initially mistakenly assume this is some prerecorded prelude to his actual entrance on stage until you realize that’s actually him speaking live somewhere behind you.

  187. 187.

    efgoldman

    @TenguPhule:

    You’re giving me grief over talking to Mnemosyne

    I’m giving you grief about taking over every fucking evening thread and making it very difficult to see what other commenters are saying.

  190. 190.

    Steeplejack

    @trollhattan:

    Huh. Odd that Cleese apparently has not seen any “literal-minded,” “slower” audiences in Britain, especially since he portrayed many such characters in Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I guess everyone in Britain is “totally at home with irony and absurdity.” Good to know.

  192. 192.

    John M. Burt

    “We don’t have a responsibility to get nothing done.” — Nancy Pelosi, 2017

    “Our first responsibility is to get nothing done.” — Mitch McConnell, 2009

  194. 194.

    Elizabelle

    And now the fools on the dock with the roast they bait the shark with.

    Jaws’ editing is so good. I like how you don’t see the beast, for a long, long time.

  195. 195.

    Jack the Second

    Jesus it’s quiet in here. Are all the bros busy in another thread, or is it just that it’s 3am Moscow time?

  199. 199.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    During a Facebook Live Q&A session, Gov. Matt Bevin answers a question about the potential for a mass exodus of Kentucky teachers if major changes are made to their pension plan. “If you happen to be a teacher who would walk out on your classroom, in order to serve what’s in your own personal best interest at the expense of your children, you probably should retire,” he said.

    Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article172961586.html#storylink=cpy

    From your link.

    I hope all the teachers leave.

    If a Wall Street billionaire or millionaire is told to take a pay cut for the greater good, they’d try and destroy whoever said that, like they did with Obama when he called them “fat cats”.

    I really hope all the teachers in Kentucky push off. Maybe then Bevin can get his goal of reducing college departments, as none of them will need education departments.

  201. 201.

    efgoldman

    @Elizabelle:

    Jaws’ editing is so good.

    It was way scarier in wide screen full stereo theatrical release, which is how I saw it when it was new.
    I have never been that surprised or frightened at a flick.

  207. 207.

    Elizabelle

    @efgoldman: In Long Beach, CA, Jaws would close out the movies on the beach film series. Such an effective, big screen thriller.

    I heart Roy Scheider.

  209. 209.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I took that to be a contrast, assuming that both were using their grammar advisedly, Pelosi saying their obligation is to do something, not nothing. I think. My head hurts now.

  211. 211.

    msdc

    @Chris:

    Well, our centrists were people like Joe Lieberman, so I’m thrilled to have them gone, but more to the point, I see no reason why we should operate centrists when Ryan’s party runs them out on a rail as “RINO” “liberals.”

    Ryan’s party panders to a demographic majority that is geographically optimized for our antiquated electoral system (and benefits from a timely gerrymander or two). They can afford to run out the sane ones.

    We represent everybody else – a coalition of racial minorities and geographically concentrated citydwellers. We can’t afford to be such purists.

    Also, Ryan’s party is fucking crazy and maybe aren’t the best role models.

  212. 212.

    MomSense

    @TenguPhule:

    Oh dog no! We would need reinforcements to do that. She is a spirited dog.

    @WaterGirl:

    No cheese!!! Fortunately she is exhausted from her adventure today so she is asleep with her leash on and the loop handle under the table leg so she can’t get on the furniture in her state. Her dog bed cover is washable. I think tomorrow she and her bed will get a good scrubbing.

  213. 213.

    tobie

    @Luthe: Have fun at the event. Tell her to keep on fighting for what is right and to ignore the nay-sayers. We admire her courage.

  215. 215.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @Anne Laurie: I find GK and Prairie Home Companion totally unfunny. I just don’t get it

    Because you are under a certain age. I am not a fan of the show. My mom loves it (or did before GK retired).

  219. 219.

    Tripod

    Can’t do anything about medical groups and hospitals getting subsumed by enormo-corp, so throw some BS at the wall on the payor side, because everyone hates death and taxes.

    Hopefully the next Democratic President and Congress ram a stiffened Medicaid expansion up the backsides of red state America and the Supreme Court, and then forget about healthcare, but I’m an optimist.

  221. 221.

    Patricia Kayden

    @gene108: I loved PHC and Keillor and am nearly 50. His humor worked just fine for me. Haven’t listened to the show since a couple years before his departure.

  223. 223.

    Redshift

    I’m with Nancy. I’m fine with single payer being brought up, but I want to see a lot of alternative proposals and a healthy debate. I’m expecting another round of “I don’t know anything about the alternative, but if you favor anything but what Wilmer says you’re an establishment sellout who’s no better than the Republicans.”

  224. 224.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @gene108: I’m not quite fifty, I liked it when I first started listening, maybe appropriately, in my mid-thirties. The music was good– Emmylou, Sam Bush, John Prine– and Keillor’s writing about Lake Woebegone could be good, quirkily funny and sometimes moving. His own singing was a self-indulgent affront, and in the last few years he seemed to abandon the good Americans roots- folky- alt-country stuff for a rotating crew of Andrews sisters wannabes who tried too hard and actually hurt my ears.

  225. 225.

    Elizabelle

    @Davebo: I biked home in the dark from the Jaws showing. Knew there would be very few sharks on the Long Beach harbor bike path, but still spooked. In a good way.

  226. 226.

    feckless

    “We don’t have a responsibility to get nothing done.”…

    MS PELOSI YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AND STOP COLLABORATING WITH FOREIGN PUPPETS & THE REST OF THE KKK/GOP

    Is that possible? Or some commie pipe dream? Just stop propping up the GOP and stop cleaning up their messes.

    The confederacy wants small government when its time to zone a flood prone city or taxing themselves at the state level. LET THEM HAVE IT.

    Obstruct them a EVERY turn. No don’t lift the debt ceiling, no don’t help hurricane victims, save the country itself. Why? Because half a Nazi sandwich is still a Nazi sandwich.

    But you folks keep pushing republican-lite policy and see who turns out to vote (aka not the 27% whom you despise)-

  228. 228.

    debbie

    @gene108

    “If you happen to be a teacher who would walk out on your classroom, in order to serve what’s in your own personal best interest at the expense of your children, you probably should retire,” he said.

    Takes one to know one, Governor. Nah, nah, nah.

  232. 232.

    efgoldman

    @feckless:

    Just stop propping up the GOP and stop cleaning up their messes.

    You have no goddamned idea what you’re talking about. Did you happen to notice how many Dems voted for RWNJ Care? No, you didn’t, because the answer is ZERO.
    Sure let the debt ceiling lapse. You OK with nuking the economy of the Western world?
    Talk about “Republican light!”
    Asshole

  233. 233.

    Redshift

    @Patricia Kayden: I liked the show and Keillor, though it took me quite a while to warm up to it (basically by being at a friend’s house whose father had it on nonstop on Saturdays.) I saw it live once, which was fun, though it was an uncomfortably upper-middle-class white crowd. (Those are “my people,” but I’m not entirely comfortable around them in large numbers.)

    The thing that struck me about the live show was that there seemed to be a lot more music. Then I realized that I had been mostly listening to the monologues and comedy, and flipping channels or tuning out for a lot of the music. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t love a lot of it.

    So when it was announced that the new host planned to “return it to its roots as a music show,” my immediate reaction was that I was probably done with it.

  236. 236.

    Elizabelle

    Jaws: “Why aren’t you in the water?”, the mayor asks beachgoers.

    While he’s walking around in a suit and tie.

  238. 238.

    Original Lee

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t always find it funny, either, and I’m from the Midwest. However, I was not raised Lutheran, Methodist, or Baptist, so many of the jokes I need to research before I find them funny.

  242. 242.

    gene108

    @SFAW:

    Yeah, I think they want the IRS to audit everyone who files for EITC. Interestingly enough, that seems to be mostly poor(er) people. Who’d’a thunk?

    ETA: With the result being that there are fewer auditors/investigators to go after the rich tax dodgers.

    An EITC audit will be a lot simpler than auditing sleazy business guy, who owns a restaurant, a bar, and bakery, for example.

    All you really have to untangle is are the on the 1040 – like kids – actually the kids of the person filing the form. There are EITC audits, because there is EITC fraud, but the people auditing EITC fraud do not need as much training as those looking at others higher up the income ladder.

    Basically, the IRS would not be pulling people from auditing rich guys to auditing EITC filers. This is a pure asshole move.

  246. 246.

    james parente

    @Major Major Major Major: The thing I love about Firesign Theater is that they truly do love the genres they work in. Their production values are very high and their attitude is respectful, to said genre. Their content is a wonderful lampoon of their times.

  247. 247.

    OGLiberal

    @Elizabelle: My kids saw Jaws for the first time this year – end of the season showing on the lake beach at our vacation trailer community in the Poconos. I missed most of it…was at my fantasy football draft in NJ. I did show them the Quint Indianapolis story scene beforedhand…perhaps the greatest moment in film ever.

    Farewell and adieu, you fare Spanish ladies…

  252. 252.

    J R in WV

    @bystander:

    Sarah Applebee Sanders is a disgusting jerk. She always goes out of her way to say “thuh Democrat party”. I loathe her vile smarminess.

    She really is the Possum Queen, isn’t she?

  253. 253.

    chopper

    @TenguPhule:

    you have to understand that efgoldman thinks you’re a schmuck. a huge, unholy schmuck. like you were put together in a lab from parts of lesser schmucks.

  254. 254.

    Geeno

    @debbie: My Scandinavian ancestry made Garrison Keillor’s humor accessible to me. People for whom chuckling in public is being out of control.

  255. 255.

    Matt

    I suspect there’s more than a few Democrats going to tell their angrier leftist voters (all 27% of them) that they would totally vote Single Payer for All Starting Yesterday, were it not for their mean legislative mommy who does not understand what The People Want. And that’s part of Pelosi’s job — being the mean mommy who won’t allow anyone to jump off bridges or go to the bitchin’ rave just because it’s a school night.

    Yeah, she’s “mean mommied” the party right into the worst position it’s been in in generations. Sure the White House is occupied by literal white supremacists who may yet start a nuclear war, but at least those GODDAMN HIPPIES have been shown who’s boss!

  256. 256.

    Chet Murthy

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Senator Scott is a Republican.

    It could be “identity politics” on my part. But (a) I’ve read an article about Sen. Scott [note how I call him that, where I cannot call Dampnut anything other than a f**king epithet] describing how he’s been harassed for “driving while black”, even when going into the fricken’ Senate parking garage. It was actually pretty troubling, the description. I’m willing to cut him a lot of slack, in the hopes that someday he’ll see the madness of his position, and come over to the “good guys”. That said, 100% vitriol for any asshole votes. But still, unlike Yertle, ZEGS, and so many others, I can’t find it in myself to hate him. Pity, yes. But not hate.

    Just can’t.

  257. 257.

    Adrian A Lesher

    The Overton Window became a popular concept for a reason. Whether or not Bernie Sanders will achieve his ultimate proposals, he has expanded the range of acceptable debate and we should thank him for that, rather than sneer. For too long the moderate left gave in to the shift of “the center” toward the right.

  261. 261.

    No One You Know

    @Alain the site fixer: The pie filter fails, alas; insufficient pie commentary. Needs moar lines in the rotation. Maybe we could have a contest to add them?

    Also won’t work on fancy character nyms with in-line graphics, but maybe I missed a trick there (tried ordinary copy-paste).

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