Louie Gohmert, at pro-Moore event in Montgomery, says Trump has "gotten some bad advice. But he's a faster learner than anybody I've seen"
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) September 22, 2017
To be fair, I'm pretty sure Gohmert only hangs around with idiots. https://t.co/GKVZmOgIhc
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) September 22, 2017
.
Seems like I picked a pretty good week to be mostly out of the news loop. But then, that’s been true ever since 9/9/16…
Apart from waiting on the Friday news dump, what’s on the agenda for the day?
OzarkHillbilly
On the agenda for the day? Sleep. I hope.
Amir Khalid
I remember that during the transition, Trump just blew off many of his briefings; and now we see the consequences. Maybe he thought he already knew it all, maybe he knew he couldn’t keep up, maybe he just preferred watching Fox News and tweeting late at night. Whatever. His job performance so far has exposed him as the opposite of a fast learner.
efgoldman
It’s very disconcerting when fire & rescue comes up our street at 0530am and they stop a few houses down the hill, I’m not going to bother putting on clothes to go find out why; they wouldn’t tell me anyway.
We have several neighbors who are older than we are,
efgoldman
@Amir Khalid:
It wouldn’t have mattered; he’s incapable of absorbing and internalizing that level of information, even if he wanted to.
bystander
Moanin’ Joe is off on how Bernie is sabotaging the Dems with his single-payer fairy tale quest. Repubs can claim they’re offering healthcare that embodies Freedumb and Liberty, while the Dems just serve up Marxist-Leninism. Definitely back to a Lawn Odor rerun.
Amir Khalid
The online market where i get my guitar stuff has given me a refund I didn’t ask for. I have no idea why, and I think it would be a waste of time to ask. I am going to purchase the item again with the store-credit refund, this time from a different seller who (I hope) won’t refuse my money.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
Odd, I wonder how they stay in business.
Aimai
Sleepless night. Mr aimai heads down to florida to help his recently widowed mother. I may be presenting my first case to team at the clinic. My mind was racing all night and I need to get up now and prep meals and get to work by eight in case I need to rewrite my case presentatiin before morning meeting st nine. Then meetings or patients all day hntil 4:30. Im a wreck. It will go fine but I really had planned on getting a few hours of sleep.
efgoldman
@efgoldman:
And there they go. Once they got out to the main drag, it was full lights and siren.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman: There is an off-road park on the other side of the ridge from me. I can always tell when somebody’s died. Fire trucks show up, volunteer firemen every 2-3 mins, an ambulance or 2, then it gets quiet for a while. When the ambulance leaves without lights or sirens, it’s all over.
efgoldman
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, we have an subsidized elderly high rise in the other direction, a couple of streets over. We can see through the trees when fire & rescue show up over there.
Some of the smaller rural towns around here have volunteer departments, or volunteer support. Our town, like most, have full-time unionized fire service. For some strange and complicated historical reasons, we used to have four fire districts, each with own taxing authority, administration, and purchasing. Finally, a few years ago, the legislature changed the law, allowing them to merge, and saving taxpayers significant money in the bargain without reducing services.
Mustang Bobby
Good morning. What is with Alabama? Are they trying to make Mississippi look good by comparison in terms of bug-eyed Jesus-shouting haters?
Patricia Kayden
@Amir Khalid: Why would you elect a “fast learner” instead of someone who already had a firm grasp of the pivotal issues? The only qualified candidate wasn’t elected. Trump isn’t interested in learning about matters which don’t personally impact him.
Betty Cracker
@Aimai: I hope it all goes well for both of you!
Amir Khalid
@Mustang Bobby:
It’s not just a Christian(ist) thing. Bug-eyed fundies of every religious stripe are very competitive about their bug-eyed fundiness, dint’cha know?
Betty Cracker
@Mustang Bobby: I’m sorta rooting for Moore in the AL GOP senate race. Both would be horrible, but Moore is the more obvious clown, and it would be a black eye for Trump if Moore beat Strange. Since it’s Alabama, the Democrat almost certainly won’t win, but maybe the prospect of Moore representing the state would drive turnout higher among sane people.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: It’s Ala-fucking-bama Betty. Sane people are a definite minority.
Mustang Bobby
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, he does have a certain train-wreck appeal, and swapping out one right-wing nut for another is a zero-sum, but it makes me wonder if it’s giving thoughts of bad intentions to some folks down here in Florida. I overheard a conversation in Ocala about how Rick Scott running for the Senate would be “just ‘nother Bill Nelson.”
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman:
Obviously you don’t live in the STL metro area where defending ones little fiefdom from all threats of consolidation in the name of saving money is a cottage industry. “We don’t want our tax money going to those people.”
Lapassionara
Good morning. Looks like my iPad has started experiencing the blue screen of death whenever I use it to search the web. Purchased in 2012, so I suppose I should consider myself lucky that it has lasted this long. Just the thought of spending money on a new one is demoralizing.
Kay
@Patricia Kayden:
Trump really ran on that, though. The idea that he would be naturally and inherently better than people who had worked hard and learned thru experience- three quarters of his campaign was saying no one in government knew anything and he knows everything and therefore it would all be easy.
It’s the opposite of “merit”- it’s “I was born to lead”. An alarming number of people believe this. I was once told by a school principal that my middle son had “leadership qualities”. This was the kid we rode constantly because he’s good looking and charming and LAZY. I was horrified. People do follow him- he has lots of friends- but he skates. His entire school career I was telling people “he’s snowing you” and I’m his mother. They want to believe there’s something “natural” about success- that it’s inborn, unearned. I don’t really get it- why it’s so popular.
rikyrah
Anyone have a Crock-Pot recipe for a turkey breast?
Never done a turkey breast in my Crock-Pot.
Baud
@Kay: Charisma goes a long way.
BlueDWarrior
@Kay: Sometimes when I am in a more morose or depressed mood, stories like that lead me to believe some people just want to be lead – that having to ‘think for yourself’ is just too hard for them and they’d rather be told what to do because then that’s less energy they have to spend on things like understanding issues and evaluating the actual performance of people.
To bring it back up to Trump, some people just want to believe what he says because he at least mouths the words they want to hear, and everything else is immaterial so long as he allows them to indulge their righteous indignation at the world, however that manifests. Trump will only become useless to them the same way Bush did, when it becomes evident he simply can’t do the things he said he was going to do, and his own faults become an embarrassment to them personally.
Bush never lost the Republican Party until after Katrina and Iraq really went sour, they were all for him until he became such an embarrassment even they couldn’t deny it to themselves.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Streakers take over Philadelphia game (photo) NSFW
rikyrah
@Kay:
This is a White People thing, Kay.
Had this discussion on another blog just yesterday.
non-White people simply wouldn’t put up someone like Palin, who is Dolt45’s predecessor. Someone non-White who did what Palin did in 2008 would have been laughed off the national stage, never to be heard from again, automatically disqualified.
44 was aspirational. That he is smarter than 99 out of 100 people in a room is obvious. But, because the Black man did it, White people said that ANYONE can be President. Which is why they cling to Dolt45. Which is why they try to normalize him. Which is why they have created this tremendous curve for this obviously Unqualified White Man.
Central Planning
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s weird. Why would so many people show up? Slow night?
When my wife suddenly had a pain in the middle of her abodomen, went pale white and was sweating profusely (thanks, Zithromax for screwing up her liver), the call to 911 got the first responder in a jeep and then an ambulance about 10 minutes later. No fire trucks, cops, sirens, or anything else.
Good times. Turned out that when she was in the hospital for the Zithromax issue, one of the antibiotics “clogged” the ductwork in her pancreas or liver or gall bladder or something like that. Just needed time to work all that crap out of her system.
Just One More Canuck
@Baud: you’re proof of that
Kay
@Patricia Kayden:
I may be overthinking this- wouldn’t be the first time- but I think it goes back to the kind of tribalism conservatives are really vulnerable to- Trump is the best example. All that stuff about “family” and his bloodlines and his inherent, inborn gifts – it’s really anti-merit. How they had whole conspiracy theories about Obama’s ORIGINS- like that was the central question- tracking down his parents and grandparents rather than listening to him or watching him. Like the “truth” about someone is immutable, baked in, bred, not earned.
I see it with conservatives here. I once had the GRANDCHILD of a career criminal discussed in “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!” terms, like she had criminal bloodlines or something. I think it’s fucked up and archaic and probably aligns really well with racism and fixed ideas about the superiority of certain ethnicities. If you’re pegging people by their last name – and Trump is the king of that- you’re a small step away from pegging them by the color of their skin or their ethnicity. It’s the same idea.
Woodrowfan
@Aimai: Good Luck!! You’ll do GREAT!!!!
Lurking Canadian
@Kay: As happens so often, you’ve said what I’m thinking.
One of the reasons I am so invested in seeing Trump brought down for (one or all of) his many crimes is that I think democracy itself is on trial. He thinks, and acts, like he’s just better than everyone. Laws are fine for the little people, but should not trouble the great.
That is poison. It’s poison that millions have died over more than two centuries to overcome. We can’t let it make a comeback.
Baud
@Just One More Canuck: The Internet is a godsend.
evodevo
@Kay: This sounds SO familiar … our son was one of those. Skated all the way thru HS, skinning through by a hair. THEN he got to college and tried it ….didn’t work so well there. Flunked out and was mightily surprised lol… worked at Kmart part time, worked in a factory on the line for, I think, a WEEK and quit (toooo harrrd), got a job with an architectural firm as a gofer and rose through the ranks as an IT person, but then hit the “needs a degree” ceiling AND met his future wife (thank goodness) who finally lit a fire under him. He’s now flying in the AF as an officer, and has a career. Sometimes it takes a woman to goad them into being what they can be. If he hadn’t met her, I don’t know if it would have happened …anything WE said certainly didn’t have any effect.
Lapassionara
@rikyrah: Yes. Reminds me of the scene in “Being There” in which the African-American women who have known Chauncey the gardener for years see him on the TV and assess him accurately as having “mush for brains.” Rueful head shakes.
Jack the Second
@rikyrah: You know, I hadn’t thought of that angle to it. White supremacists literally believe the worst white man is better than the best black man, and they followed up the Presidency of one of the best (black) men by electing one of the worst (white) men.
Woodrowfan
@rikyrah: I disagree. I think it’s a human quality. Look at Marion Barry. He did good things for the 8th Ward of DC, but he was a crook and a thief. He kept getting elected over and over though. It’s not as if there were not other talented African-American politicians in DC, but he was successful because he could play the tribal card very, very well.
Then there is this winner who was re-elected.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/texas-lawmaker-allegedly-spent-over-51000-on-online-psychic/
I could be convinced it’s easier for a white to pull this off, but I think the tendency to excuse “one of us” is something every group does.
(Added) I went back to your post. I agree it’s easier for a white person to do on a NATIONAL stage. And a person of color as dumb as Palin would, as you said, have been laughed off the stage. Although Al Sharpton’s early career as a race baiter (anti white and anti-Asian) and the fact that he’s still popular on the left makes me wonder.
Kay
@rikyrah:
He was. I think it’s one of the reasons Palin failed, yet still did real damage to the Republican Party. The idea she promotes is “you’re great, white people. You don’t have to try hard or change anything about yourselves – everyone else does- you’re the norm that everyone else has to accept”. Trump is just that on steroids. It’s weirdly anti-merit, how she sort of reveled in the fact that she didn’t work hard in school and constantly quit jobs- this made her a role model. She basically demands nothing of herself- she’ll just wing it because she’s a “natural”.
Trump hiring his family is perfectly in keeping with this. Who is better? No one. They were BORN to lead.
It’s gross to me. I vehemently disagree with all of it. I think it’s almost tragically wrong-headed, but boy is it appealing.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: I’ve made turkey breast in the crock pot a time or two, and it turned out great — nice and moist. I don’t have a recipe written down, but here’s what I did:
– Cut up onions, carrots and celery in big chunks and place in crock pot
– Make a paste with poultry rub, olive oil and butter; slather all over turkey breast, then place in crock pot
– Cook on low for about 6 hours
I like to put the turkey breast under the broiler for a few minutes after it finishes cooking for a crispy exterior, but you don’t have to. Also, the liquid left over in the crock pot makes a really nice gravy.
bystander
@rikyrah: Not a crock pot recipe but Ottolenghi’s marinated and roasted turkey breast is as easy as crock pot cooking.
Moanin’ Joe pressing their repub narrative about how Graham-Cassidy is all that will save them from single-payer broadsided Chris Murphy with the fantasy. Murphy was really caught off guard.
satby
@Aimai: Good luck!
@rikyrah: Good morning ☕ How about this one?
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I’m listening to Maddow from last night and she’s talking about how this administration is enacting a spoils system, hiring people like a RNC intern to be in charge of something in the Ag Dept. Now she’s onto the way cabinet members expect someone else to pay for their high flying life style.
Baud
@Kay: People are always looking for messiahs.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
As you’ll recall, Trump said he knew more about ISIS than his generals did. I think his strategy is to assume everyone thinks like he does. If he thinks A is best for dealing with ISIS, he’s sure the generals will think the same thing too.
Same with Kim Jong Un, though I think it’s gotten to where when he mentions him, he’s really referring to himself, as in this tweet:
bystander
@Jack the Second: That’s the sad truth.
OzarkHillbilly
@Central Planning: Vehicular accidents often involve extraction from a crushed vehicle. Add to that the volunteer fireman who are expected to answer all calls if possible and may be anywhere from 5 to 30 miles away when the call goes out and come in their own personal vehicles. This place is well known among first responders and tow truck drivers as some of the trails definitely push the limits of vehicular capabilities.
The last time they sent out 2 FD trucks (1 an upgraded P/U truck for fighting forest fires, the other the rescue truck with all the gear one might imagine could possibly be used including the “Jaws of Life”) 2 ambulances (meaning multiple victims) and then about 6 or 8 volunteer fireman over a 20 min period or so, and a tow truck. The local rag reported that a guy took a turn too fast and rolled his hopped up off-road machine and was ejected (killed) and his passenger who was not ejected suffered various minor injuries.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: I’ve got tons of family around Mobile and used to spend a lot of time up there with my grandparents. A few years ago, when our granny was sick, my sister and I stayed in a hotel in downtown Mobile for several days, and for the first time in our lives, we got a peek at Mobile night life. Fun town! Who knew?
But her emails!!
@bystander:
He made the classic mistake of underestimating the stupidity and credulousness of the pundit class.
Kay
@evodevo:
He’s okay now- he’s an electrician. He’s good with his hands and he likes the moving from job to job and working in a crew. He works constantly – is never laid off- and that’s the measure of worth among commercial electricians- if contractors “pick them up” and keep them so he must be performing.
His 7th grade teacher was this very kind person and she got bent out of shape with me at the parent teacher because I was attacking him and she was defending him but I had seen this before! I had seen earnest people spot his “leadership” qualities and then ignore that he didn’t do any work. It was bizarre. I felt like I was in the wrong role, on the wrong side of the desk, like she should be telling me this.
Eric S.
@OzarkHillbilly: Next door here in Illinois no one is entirely sure how many individual taxing districts actually exist. This boggles my mind but last I heard on the topic the NGO Better Gov’t Org (something like that lead by a Chicago political beat reporter) said there were over 6,000.
satby
It’s going to be in the 90s with high humidity for the next four days here. Horrible weather to me, but the people who are already kvetching about winter coming are happy. I always wonder about people so focused on the negative (like winter) that they miss how beautiful autumn is. And truthfully, winters have gotten more mild in general, so all the dread seems misplaced. But then, I don’t like hot humid weather, so maybe it’s just me.
Betty Cracker
@Lurking Canadian:
QFT. I tried to convey a similar thought to a Trumpster relative, who said my hope that Trump fails is tantamount to rooting for America to fail. Nope — it’s the EXACT OPPOSITE.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: What Palin promoted was the idea that the “real America” was in the rural (read “white”) areas and that all those people in the urban areas (read “not white”)(or if white, then “elitist”) weren’t “real Americans”.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: Yep. It’s like rooting for cancer to succeed simply because it’s part of the body.
Central Planning
@OzarkHillbilly: I had to reread your original comment. My brain thought you wrote trailer park, so I was trying to figure out why you would need to send fire trucks to an ambulance call. Now that I reread it, everything makes sense (except for my comment)
Kay
@Baud:
I liked that about Obama- he had a hard view that would come out periodically- “life is difficult” :)
I really took to that, because it’s true. He really isn’t an easy fix person. I’m sick of them. I don’t believe them.
Another Scott
@Aimai: Nervous energy is good. Harness it.
And rest well when you’re done! :-)
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Kay:
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think what she missed was what rikrah pointed out though- aspiration. It isn’t true that poor white people don’t want their kids to go to college. Poor white people are really proud when their kids go to college. She has such low expectations for them! It’s an anti-merit message that Trump took and ran with- “it’s okay that you’re screaming obscenities at reporters- it’s more than okay, it’s GREAT”
There’s no incentive to get better, whereas Obama was all about “a more perfect union”. Obama was all about reaching. Trump tells them “you don’t have to try hard or change anything- we’ll fit the country, the world(!), around you”.
It’s a HORRIBLE message – they’re bad role models. White people do have to change. The whole world isn’t going to retrofit around their needs and wants.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@debbie: It’s always projection with these people. Always.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I used to spend a fair amount of time caving in AL a ways back when. AL (and TN and GA) cavers are some of the best people in the world, too much fun and always willing to share whatever they have. I think it’s necessary to hang onto one’s sanity amongst so much bugeyed crazy. That does not surprise me at all about Mobile. Such enclaves of fun exist all over the Bible Belt. It’s where all the Baptists go when they just can’t keep their lusts contained any longer.
debbie
@Kay:
My mom treated one of my brothers similarly, to the point of demeaning him. I was glad to be there to witness her telling him that she had been wrong.
OzarkHillbilly
@Eric S.: Stupid is as stupid does.
debbie
@satby:
No, it’s me too. I was so happy with the early cool-off. It’ll be in the 90s here too and combined with foliage turning already, it’s topsy-turvy time.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay:
Trump certainly didn’t conduct himself like someone who was born to lead during the election cycle. His speaking skills are nonexistent. He falls back on childish insults when dealing with opposing viewpoints. His tweets are filled with grammatical and spelling errors. He doesn’t appear to have the ability to pick up concepts quickly or to assimilate newly acquired information. He lies constantly and contradicts himself depending on his audience. He craves praise in the same manner that a little child loves to be told that he/she is good.
I don’t see how anyone who paid attention to his primary run and general election run could say that he was born to lead. Huge sigh.
Kay
@Baud:
Exactly. I was thrilled. A grim message of hardship and toil! :)
That was my favorite Obama. Stern Obama. Conservatives saw it as “preachy” and that was doubled by the black man preaching to them, but sometimes you need a sermon. Palin shouldn’t be telling them drinking gallons of pop is some kind of cultural marker. It’s bad for them! Nothing to brag about! OMG, eat better. You’re dying.
Bad role model. Low expectations for white people. Not helpful.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
A cousin and his family live in AL, and they’re always on guard about what can be said or not, like his Jewish faith.
OzarkHillbilly
@Central Planning: Heh, it happens. I forgot to add one more thing to my above reply: Every night is a slow night around here.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
My take as well. Alabama’s contributions to the Senate in the form of Senate votes would be no different, however, he’s a goldmine of crazy hate quotes that can have an outstanding effect on House and Senate races in suburban voting districts in PA, FL, VA and NV.
bemused
@Kay:
When one of our nephews, extremely bright and brilliant at persuasion, was in high school, his high school teacher mother said her kid had ALL his teachers snowed which drove my sister-in-law nuts. She had his number but had a hard time convincing his teachers. His own grandfather once said when nephew was in grade school that he would either grow up to be very wealthy or in prison. Thankfully, he grew up to be a great adult and the whole family breathed a sigh of relief.
Kay
@debbie:
I adore him. He was my most affectionate child and he’s generous and kind and really tolerant. He never says a bad thing about anyone. I pushed him because he needed pushing. I don’t think it was mean, I think it was necessary. His grandmother, my husband’s mother, agreed with me. She paid for private school for a year – he went there and made a lot of friends and did no work. I knew it wasn’t the school :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
And yet the Republican party has spent years denigrating the “experts” and “liberal university professors” and “pointy headed intellectuals” and actually reveling in ignorance as tho it was a virtue. It is a winning message among a certain electorate.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Moore is jockying for the next Supreme Court vacancy. Would it be better or worse if he won the Senate seat?
Another Scott
@Spanky: Moore wasn’t on Donnie’s previous lists, so there’s that. Not that it means anything of course…
It would be great if Moore and Strange split the Teabagger vote and a weakend Moore wins, then Moore is defeated by DougJ…. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Spanky: Too old. Will never happen.
rikyrah
@Lurking Canadian:
I hear you.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Indeed, Mr Gohmert, it only to a US Marine general and the weight of the US intelligence community to get Trump to modify is views. But to be fair, Gohmert hangs with wingnuts so any reaction to reality base information is fast learning.
rikyrah
@Woodrowfan:
Because Al Sharpton shows up and speaks out when nobody else does.
Period.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
simple, but looks delicious.
thanks, B.C.
rikyrah
@bystander:
thank you.
rikyrah
@satby:
thanks satby
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
No qualifications….all you gotta be is White.
Yes, we have discussed this, and Kay rightly brings up the ‘security’ costs for these self-important clowns.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: And many accuse him of trying to hog the spotlight when he does.
rikyrah
THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 9/21/17
Kimmel: these guys won’t tell the truth so I have to
Jimmy Kimmel spends a third night explaining why his health care fight is worth the risk and this time he takes on the President. Joy Reid, Eugene Robinson and Josh Earnest join Lawrence O’Donnell.
rikyrah
Kimmel showed a ‘better grasp of health policy’ than GOP’s Cassidy
09/21/17 04:34 PM
By Steve Benen
It started in May. As regular readers know, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel spoke on the air about his young son’s heart surgery, and his belief that all Americans should have access to affordable, potentially life-saving, care.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) soon after began referencing the “Jimmy Kimmel Test”: for a health care proposal to have merit, the Louisiana Republican said, it should ensure families are covered regardless of income. Cassidy even appeared on Kimmel’s show, vowing to protect Americans who need protecting.
The GOP senator, however, changed quite dramatically, abandoned the “test,” and partnered with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on a radical, regressive proposal – which the ABC host shredded in a brutal monologue on Tuesday night. Cassidy, Kimmel said, “lied right to my face,” referencing an appearance the Republican made on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
The senator quickly defended himself, making a variety of television appearances in which he argued that Kimmel doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “I am sorry he does not understand,” the senator told CNN. “More people will have coverage, and we protect those with pre-existing conditions.”
So, who’s right? In reality, more people won’t have coverage, Cassidy isn’t protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and Politico published a piece quoting health care analysts who concluded that between the host and the senator, “the late-night host has the better grasp of health policy.”
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
He shows up when the family has asked him to show up. Because, they don’t think the matter with their family member is getting enough attention.
rikyrah
Yes, Roy Moore Hates the Gays
by Martin Longman
September 21, 2017
I am a little perplexed that people are focusing so much today on the fact that Roy Moore, an Alabama candidate for U.S. Senate, said back in 2015 that homosexuality ought to be illegal. I thought that this was a core belief of Moore’s that pretty much everyone who knew even a tiny bit about him already understood. I mean, isn’t the following the most basic biographical information about Moore?
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: I know, and he still gets accused of being an attention hog, and the usual people swallow that line whole. “There he goes again.”
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Right. It’s a fundamentally different view. I think tribalism is regressive- everyone has it in one form or another but I don’t think it’s something to brag about. It all goes back to birtherism for me. To me a birth certificate is a state record. To them it’s all you need to know about someone, as if it solves a riddle and predicts the future. I’ll never forget the woman at the town hallwho had hers in a Ziplock baggie- WTF? She doesn’t exist without that “certificate”? What does it stand for? Why is it so meaningful? I STILL get questions on birth certficates. I love to tell them “it’s a duplicate original” which is the actual term for the one you get when you lose the original. It has the raised seal which is ALL you need.
Trump with his “German blood”- OMFG evolve, would you?
rikyrah
Who Is Telling the Truth About Pre-Existing Conditions?
by Nancy LeTourneau September 21, 2017
Since the day that a Republican first uttered the words, “repeal and replace” in reference to Obamacare, the party has been promising to keep the regulation that prohibited insurance companies from charging higher premiums to those with pre-existing conditions. The reason is, of course, because that is one of the most popular provisions in Obamacare. Does Graham-Cassidy keep that promise?
Obviously Jimmy Kimmel’s segment the other night, in which he made it clear that the answer to that question is “no,” had an impact. Yesterday morning Trump tweeted this:
One of the authors of the bill, Sen. Lindsay Graham, followed up with this:
What most Americans will hear is that Kimmel said the Republican bill will not protect those with pre-existing conditions while both the president and the author of the bill say that it will. That is a classic case of bothsiderism—which means that people will believe whoever it is that they trust.
This is precisely why Trump and Republicans have worked so hard to discredit the media. It allows them to suggest that any fact-checks on their claims can simply be called #FakeNews. It is also why we are beginning to see personal attacks on Jimmy Kimmel. Anything that goes contrary to their claims must be discredited.
For those who are actually interested in the facts, there are people like Sarah Kliff who have explained how Graham-Cassidy neuters the current protections for those with pre-existing conditions. But the truth is a bit complicated and most people won’t be willing to dig that hard to find it.
This provides us with a perfect example of how our culture feeds political polarization. But in this one instance, we have an interesting check on that. Take a look at what a company that would be perceived as the beneficiary of a rollback of these regulations had to say.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: How Do You Buy a Vote to Repeal Obamacare?
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
September 21, 2017
Things must not be looking good for passage of the Graham-Cassidy bill because Republicans are apparently trying to buy Sen. Murkowski’s vote with these additions:
This pretty much nails what’s going on.
rikyrah
Anti Trumpcare Toolkit:
https://trumpcaretoolkit.org/
rikyrah
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that David Horowitz would espouse white supremacist sentiments.
Suggesting that African Americans should be grateful that, after almost 250 years and a Civil War, we finally ended slavery is bad enough. But think for a moment about who Horowitz credits for the brilliance of Coates’ writing, which is what brought him a modicum of fame and fortune…white America.
Let’s add this one to the list, “You might be a white supremacist if you think white people deserve credit for the achievements of black people.”
Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)
@Amir Khalid: The opposite of a fast learner is a slow learner. Trump doesn’t learn at all.
BruceFromOhio
The Google doodle to mark the first day of Autumn is the cute little mouse with a scarf having tea in the burrow with the leaves turning color outside.
The forecast high today for northern Ohio is 88 degrees. Not quite scarf weather yet.
rikyrah
GOP eyes special side deal to buy key senator’s health care vote
09/22/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
……………………………………
The scheme has already received quite a few unflattering nicknames: “Alaska Purchase,” “Klondike Kickback,” and my personal favorite, “Polar Payoff.” Whatever you’re inclined to call it, the underlying idea appears to be a straightforward pitch to Murkowski: if she’ll vote with her party to repeal Obamacare, Republicans will let Alaska keep Obamacare. The irony of such a move, of course, appears to be lost on the idea’s proponents.
There’s a lot to this development, so let’s take the various elements one at a time:
1. Though the reports about this attempted pay-off have not yet been confirmed, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the lead architect of the Graham-Cassidy plan, didn’t exactly deny the reports’ accuracy. His spokesperson only said that “no changes of any kind have been finalized.”
2. As recently as June, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the other half of Graham-Cassidy, said that efforts to buy senators’ votes with side deals are “crap,” and if his party started going down this road, “they’re going to lose me.” Perhaps he’s changed his mind?
3. In July, there was related chatter about Republicans trying to effectively bribe Murkowski with a special side deal for Alaska, and at the time, she said she wasn’t interested. “Let’s just say that they do something that’s so Alaska-specific just to, quote, ‘get me,’” Murkowski said at the time. “Then you have a nationwide system that doesn’t work. That then comes crashing down and Alaska’s not able to kind of keep it together on its own.” If she hasn’t changed her mind, this new gambit will fail.
4. Creating a new, national law that exempts a handful of states may not be constitutional.
5. If Republicans are prepared to shield Alaska from the brutality of their own legislation, won’t other senators ask for similar deals for their own states?
Kay
@rikyrah:
I love the “freed”. Skips past all that messy “enslaved them and fought like hell to keep them enslaved” part.
Kind of dumb person history. Shorter,but more upbeat!
Nothing is earned either. We “gave” him everything. Because we’re generous and everything rightfully belongs to us, really.
rikyrah
@BruceFromOhio:
Ours is 94 degrees. :(
I WANT MY FALL!!
Barry
@Mustang Bobby: “Good morning. What is with Alabama? Are they trying to make Mississippi look good by comparison in terms of bug-eyed Jesus-shouting haters?”
Short answer – yes. They look at the dregs of the country, and say ‘why isn’t that us?’/
Kay
@rikyrah:
When I call Portman today I’m using that- except “why didn’t you get anything for Ohio?”
That’s their bread and butter- bringing home the goodies. No one admits it but it’s true and he knows it.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Head? Meet desk.
rikyrah
Trump aides ‘aren’t sure’ about real-world impact of repeal bill
09/22/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
When House Republicans first tried to pass a far-right health care plan in the spring, it enjoyed Donald Trump’s enthusiastic support. When House GOP officials tried again two months later with a slightly different proposal, the president endorsed it, too.
In the Senate, Trump quickly threw his support behind the Republican leadership’s plan. When it failed, and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) pushed an alternative approach, Trump endorsed it. When it failed to garner support, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) unveiled a related bill with several key changes, Trump endorsed it, too. When it fell short, and Republicans pursued “skinny repeal,” Trump, once again, backed the plan.
The various GOP health care proposals have varied in important ways, but they’ve all had one thing in common: the enthusiastic support of the Republican president who appears to be hopelessly lost about even the most rudimentary details in this debate.
Now, with congressional Republicans making one last regressive push to uproot the nation’s health care system, Trump has – you guessed it – endorsed the Graham-Cassidy plan. But as Politico noted, the White House has no idea what would happen to Americans if the proposal were actually imposed on the public.
At least we’ve achieved some degree of unanimity on this: congressional Republicans who are eager to pass the bill have no idea what would happen if it’s implemented, and the president who’s eager to sign the bill is similarly clueless. None of these GOP officials has the foggiest idea how many Americans would lose coverage, how unstable the markets would become, how states would respond, or how much more consumers would pay for care – but it might pass next week anyway.
Kay
@rikyrah:
The Toledo Blade once printed a whiny piece about how Marcy Kaptur is too much of a fiscal conservative and doesn’t get enough federal dollars for Toledo. It was sort of true- she’s genuinely a tightwad. Liberal, but frugal.
It just made me laugh because finally they stop this bullshit with their furrowed brow about the deficit and insist she bring back bags of cash. She does it now, too. It worked.
bemused
@rikyrah:
A relative brought crock pot shredded chicken breast to summer family reunion. Quite tasty on rolls/buns. There a lot of recipes out there. I plan to experiment with other seasoning, mexican, asian, etc.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Good idea. I’ll do the same with Blunt.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/17
Trump government hires based on politics, not qualifications
Rachel Maddow looks at the grifty nature of the Trump administration, from handing out government jobs to unqualified staffers as a political favor, to cabinet members using their office to increase their own wealth.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/17
Trump finds others to pay family legal bills
Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, talks with Rachel Maddow the laws around how money raised for a presidential inauguration can be spent.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/21/17
Grassley runs into conflict with Mueller investigation
Ron Weich, former assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, talks with Rachel Maddow about which investigation takes precedence when Congress conflicts with Robert Mueller.
bemused
@rikyrah:
WH staffers really aren’t “sure” what the impact would be passing Graham-Cassidy would be? It doesn’t take much thought to realize it would be very, very bad for Americans, hospitals, nursing homes, state economies and the GOP. Then again, Republicans never think the GOP will be negatively affected by anything they do which is mostly true but this horror of a bill could change that. It should be called GOP Care.
Timurid
@rikyrah:
Gaslighting 101: Hurt somebody. Stop hurting them and then demand thanks for your “kindness.”
Kay
What’s being missed (I think) in the Kimmel/Cassidy fight is Cassidy used Kimmel’s NAME to bullshit people about Cassidy’s intentions. CASSIDY invented the Kimmel test. It was cynical and sleazy. He wanted to fool people by using a celebrity as an implicit endorsement of any eventual law.
He deserves everything he gets. It fucking BOOMERANGED on him and I am thrilled. Oh, well. Next time don’t use someone else’s name and kid to sell your garbage law.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: TNC must have touched a raw nerve. BTW who is Horowitz? I have never heard of him.
Elizabelle
Good morning, all. Happy first day of fall. (Arrives around 4:00 p today, Eastern.)
@BruceFromOhio: Thank you for telling me about the Google doodle. It’s very cute.
We are seeing the very beginning of some color change in Virginia; just the extremely early stuff.
What does it look like in your areas? (Would love to do some leafpeeping driving this fall.)
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: A dotard who used to be a far leftist in the 60s and became a wingnut during the Reagan years. No reason you should have heard of him — he’s just one insignificant clown in the circus.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Wasn’t lost on me.
Kimmel told him..
TAKE MY NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH.
When Cassidy refused….and, Kimmel thinks he’s playing with the lives of children….
yeah, that shyt’s PERSONAL.
Kay
You tell me ONE other President in the last 40 years who broke such a huge promise and was not even asked about it.
Name one. They give him special treatment. They set the bar lower. He lies constantly so they decided “that works!” and they don’t call him out on it. This will do permanent damage to the country.
God almighty, “read my lips” became a political cliche and they ranted for months on Obama’s “if you like your health care you can keep it”
They don’t even ASK Trump about the Medicaid cuts. Don’t tell me they are doing a good job. They’re not.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Thanks BC. So this Horowitz person is a previous incarnation of the current BS bros. That explains the cluelessness.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Our MSMers are R pimps.
schrodingers_cat
OT did you guys read that story about the woman who refused chemo so that she could have a baby. Her sixth. And now the baby is dead, as is the mother. It was truly horrific.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
The NYTimes has another “let’s get INSIDE the Trump Movement!” piece because they’re fucking fascinated and in love with him.
He said he wouldn’t cut Medicaid. He’s cutting Medicaid. Ask him why he lied.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I couldn’t care less. I don’t remember even a fraction of this interest in Obama’s winning coalition in 2008 by the Vichy Times.
rikyrah
Governors become important foes of Republican repeal plan
09/22/17 10:14 AM
By Steve Benen
When four Republican senators unveiled the Graham-Cassidy health care plan last week – yes, it really was just last week – a reporter asked the quartet if they’d secured the support of governors who’d been skeptical of previous repeal plans. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) replied that it was still a “work in progress.”
A week later, we can now say those efforts failed spectacularly. The Nevada Independent reported last night:
Sandoval is hardly alone. Even if we put aside criticism from Democratic governors – whom GOP senators are inclined to ignore – the number of Republican governors who are publicly opposed to the Graham-Cassidy plan continues to grow.
rikyrah
Graham-Cassidy cuts Medicaid. Reminders of what that’d mean…
for kids https://t.co/ImVha5aJqi
& for the disabled https://t.co/jim6J1l9uQ
— Jonathan Cohn (@CitizenCohn) September 22, 2017
rikyrah
@Kay:
The curve for unqualified White men is REAL.
BruceFromOhio
@schrodingers_cat: That was very sad. Her suffering was horrific, and all for naught.
Lurking Canadian
@schrodingers_cat: Not even close. Horowitz was a “red diaper baby”. He used to be a Maoist.
Around the time he was in university, he decided Black Panthers scared him so much that he went ALLL the way the other way. For about forty years now he’s been one of the most offensive voices on the right. Imagine if you ground up Ross Douthat, Jonah Goldberg, William f Buckley, Charles Murray, Robert Bork and John Bolton, put them into a crucible and let it simmer. Then you made a person out of the disgusting gunk that stuck to the bottom of the pot. That’s Horowitz.
I know you don’t like Bernie bros, but there’s really no comparison.
schrodingers_cat
@BruceFromOhio: I also question the wisdom of her decisions 37 years old, with 5 kids, 3 under 5. Its like that’s the only purpose a woman’s life has, to make as many babies as possible. Why was having this sixth child so important?
Doug R
@Amir Khalid: Will you pay them again when another item you didn’t order shows up? ;)
schrodingers_cat
@Lurking Canadian: Thanks for a quick gist about Mr. H.
rikyrah
Is anyone calling Klobucher and Wilmer’s offices, asking why they’re doing this bullshyt thing on CNN?
BruceFromOhio
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, I can understand that conclusion. However, knowing some of these hard-core Christian folk up close and personal, it’s pretty clear when she stated her decision why she made it. That’s not a defense, just an observation. There’s no doubt there exists these ‘full-quiver’ families, whether this poor soul was one of them I don’t know if we’ll ever know. But she made a heart-breaking call, and it didn’t work out. And that makes it even more heart-breaking.
Also: fuck cancer. It’s the most heartless of all, no matter who it is.
Doug R
@OzarkHillbilly: Another donor who couldn’t bother to strap himself in.
rikyrah
@bystander:
Is anyone calling Klobucher and Bernie’s offices, asking why they’re doing this bullshyt thing on CNN?
This should be about killing TRUMPCARE.
This should be about shoring up Obamacare and saving healthcare for 32 million people.
Not some PHUCKING SINGLE PAYER FANTASY!
Felonius Monk
Wilmer apparently gave a speech yesterday about foreign policy. It seems to be getting high marks over at LGM.
Did anybody hear it?
schrodingers_cat
@BruceFromOhio: I wonder if a loved one tried to persuade her otherwise. I don’t get this level of religious zeal, at all.
BruceFromOhio
@Lurking Canadian:
LOLOLOL so accurate.
rikyrah
Nevada’s Dean Heller is at war with himself over health care
09/22/17 10:47 AM
By Steve Benen
Three months ago tomorrow, Sen. Dean Heller (R) of Nevada made a dramatic announcement. Standing alongside his home state’s Republican governor, Nevada’s Brian Sandoval, Heller became the first GOP senator to declare his opposition to his party’s health care repeal plan.
By any fair measure, it was a bold move, which changed the trajectory of the fight. After Heller broke ranks, citing the importance of protecting Medicaid beneficiaries, other Republican senators soon followed, and the initial plan crafted by the GOP leadership failed.
But as political pressure increased, Heller wavered. When it came time to consider the Republicans’ “skinny repeal” measure, for example, the Nevada senator toed the party line and voted with his party. Complicating matters, Heller soon after said he was “pleased” that the bill he voted for didn’t pass.
A couple of weeks later, Heller claimed credit for having protected Medicaid from his own party, only to turn around soon after and become a leading sponsor of the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson plan that would impose deep Medicaid cuts.
CNN reported yesterday:
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: BS excels at handing the Rs a gift at an opportune moment, doesn’t he? But I am sure its all a coincidence.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@schrodingers_cat:
Having the sixth child was important because Jesus. Now five children are without one parent, and dipshit husband will blunder about while making dumbshit statements about “mysterious and hidden plans of God and my personal lord and savior Jesus Christ”.
Harvey Keitel’s character in “From Dusk to Dawn” handled this sort of thing rationally, normally. These idiots, not so much.
Lurking Canadian
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
That’s different. He was a mean mmm- servant of God.
1stgengirl
@rikyrah: just put the turkey breast in the crock and set the pot to low. No need to add anything. No spice or water necessary. After 6-7 hours, breast will be tender and juicy. Thhere will also be lots of liquid for gravy.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Lurking Canadian:
*chuckle*
Could you see Keitel standing stupidly while loudly inveighing “why did you take both of them, God?”, like that idiot of a husband of hers did? It’s good I’m not doing medicine, because I’d have to say “because you facilitated her delusions in the cult that encouraged her to reject treatment, you fucking dipshit”, had I been there at the time.
schrodingers_cat
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I probably would have said the same, albeit more politely.
rikyrah
BREAKING: Avalere: Graham-Cassidy cuts Medicaid by $713 billion thru 2026. Over $1 TRILLION thru 2036 even if block grants are renewed. pic.twitter.com/oALzxrJ7H5
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) September 22, 2017
rikyrah
@1stgengirl:
Thanks.
Felonius Monk
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I would not have been nearly so empathetic in my response. Your restraint is admirable.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
Cool! We’re back to putting Granny on a bed in the living room and suing her adult children for billings related to medical treatment. Plus, alcoholic widower Gramps (who gambled or whored away every dollar he ever earned) can sue his ungrateful offspring for elder support AND invoke contempt power.
This is a MUCH better arrangement than skilled nursing care or hospice.
catclub
I think you mean 11/9/16 or is it 9/11/16? which is why I prefer 9-Nov-16
or did something traumatic happen last september 9th?
schrodingers_cat
@catclub: Why do we put the month first in the date is something I shall never understand. So confusing.
thalarctosMaritimus
@rikyrah:
“a country that freed his ancestors”
Freed them *from whom*, Horowitz?
I know he knows the answer to that one, but he thinks his target audience is so ignorant and hateful that they’ll let it slide.
sukabi
@Amir Khalid: check your credit card for other unauthorised purchases…perhaps the “refund” is their way of telling you your information was Equifaxed.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@schrodingers_cat: I think this is reasonably accurate, although given Wikipedia editing rules, I’m sure it’s as favorable to the subject as he can manage.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@schrodingers_cat: Especially when you consider the welfare of her other children–not that their father won’t do his best, but now he has to do it without her.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
She was dying already.
The headline was poorly chosen.
She had cancer, it came back terminal.
The radiation treatments might have gotten her another five years, but she had complications while pregnant that resulted in her being pretty much an unconscious living shell. In fact, given how bad it got so quickly, it probably would have worked out the same even if she’d gone the other way, just the order would be reversed.
sukabi
@schrodingers_cat: haven’t read the article but there seems to be two possibly intersecting explanations…she was fanatically religious and or had some mental instability issues.
Can’t fathom any other reason for a woman with 5 small children who has cancer to opt out of treatment to have another baby.
TenguPhule
@sukabi: Dude, one post up and you’ll see why.
sukabi
@TenguPhule: not a “dude”. What rational person, with 5 very small children, and terminal cancer would opt to further strain their failing body with a pregnancy AND deprive their living children of quality care / time knowing the time with living children is extremely limited?