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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Books are my comfort food!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans in disarray!

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

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

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Breathe!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Breathe!

by Anne Laurie|  November 14, 20175:18 am| 139 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Readership Capture, Republicans in Disarray!, Daydream Believers

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Your daily moment of Zen, many thanks to commentor Lahke. Check out the whole Comedy Wildlife Finalists 2017 page — lots of good pics, but this is definitely my favorite!

Apart from appreciating every morning, what’s on the agenda for the day?

***********

Also well worth a look (it won’t be out in time for this year-end’s gift-giving, but maybe you know a young person or an old crank whose name deserves to be included):

Kids should know the story of a president who represented the best of us—and how they can follow his example to make change.

"Our President Was Called Barack: A Book for Kids" is available for a limited time on Kickstarter:https://t.co/Y8jle9FV7J pic.twitter.com/sHlxUaalgC

— BarackBook (@BarackBook) November 12, 2017


.

And for those of us cynics who prefer to start our mornings with a nice piece liverwurst and a big swig of Clamato…

New GOP message to AL voters: Go ahead and vote for the alleged child molester w a clear conscience. We'll make sure he doesn't serve. We promise.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 13, 2017


From Moore's perspective, why drop out? What's in it for him?

He's been booted from the AL Supreme Court TWICE already.

He is un-shameable.

— Dan Lavoie (@djlavoie) November 14, 2017

NYT: One idea now being discussed, brought up by two W.H. officials, would be for AL Gov. Kay Ivey to block Roy Moore if he wins, and then immediately appoint Jeff Sessions. https://t.co/wluorqpgLt

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2017

Is there any reason we should assume Sessions would agree to any of this?

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 13, 2017

Alabama GOP Sen. Richard Shelby on a potential write-in candidate: "A strong one would be Sen. Sessions."

— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) November 13, 2017

Four days ago I pitched the “Sessions for Senate” thing as a joke, but I keep forgetting that we fell through a wormhole https://t.co/wCB8VMH2iG

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 13, 2017

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Previous Post: « Benjamin Wittes Shares Some Expert Thoughts on AG Sessions’ Letter to Congress
Next Post: All about the prices »

Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    NobodySpecial

    November 14, 2017 at 5:30 am

    Why would they do something so unpopular with the base as firing Moore would be, considering she’s running for reelection?

    Jeebus, they are so desperate for a grown-up in GOP land, it hurts to watch.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 5:33 am

    Sigh. I’m stuck in a bad dream and I can’t wake up.

  3. 3.

    Bruce K

    November 14, 2017 at 5:36 am

    Look, at this point, any outcome that’s good for the country is going to be bad for the GOP, and I’m having trouble thinking of anyone in the modern GOP who’s willing to come down on the right side of that XOR choice when their personal metaphorical butt is on the line.

  4. 4.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 5:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We all are.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 5:51 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: At least I’m not alone.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 5:51 am

    I hate to say it, but a small part of me admires Alabama Republicans’ commitment to voting.

  7. 7.

    mai naem mobile

    November 14, 2017 at 5:52 am

    You want Sessions who may very well have committed perjury? And there’s a decent chance he’s involved in the Russian probe? You’d be better off with a write in campaign for the previous Alabama governor who got caught up in the affair. I wonder if Don Sieglemon has any opinions on this. I am guessing he’s had dealings with all the main characters.

  8. 8.

    raven

    November 14, 2017 at 5:52 am

    Why did the salmon cross the road?

  9. 9.

    Amir Khalid

    November 14, 2017 at 5:53 am

    The Governor of Alabama is named K. I. V.? This is something I shall keep in view.

    As for Roy Moore, it still surprises me that a man who has twice been expelled from Alabama’s Supreme Court for disregarding the law is nonetheless a viable contender for the US Senate. Let alone one facing prima facie credible accusations that he was a serial child molester as a young man.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    November 14, 2017 at 5:57 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  11. 11.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:00 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:01 am

    @Amir Khalid: Economic anxiety.

  13. 13.

    NorthLeft12

    November 14, 2017 at 6:04 am

    @Amir Khalid: Mr. Moore’s expulsion from the Alabama Supreme Court is a badge of honour for him, and even more so to a lot of his supporters.
    Disobeying the law for religious extremism is not a negative apparently.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 6:14 am

    @raven: To get to the other side? Nice addition to this thread.

  15. 15.

    Aleta

    November 14, 2017 at 6:14 am

    @NorthLeft12: Caring for the needy is apparently the new extremism.

  16. 16.

    Wag

    November 14, 2017 at 6:16 am

    Child molestation? No big deal. Now if he’d been caught with p0rn in his computer? THAT would be too icky, even for AL voters. The visual of Moore pleasuring himself goes too for for anyone…

  17. 17.

    raven

    November 14, 2017 at 6:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I love the pups peering at them!

  18. 18.

    Aleta

    November 14, 2017 at 6:22 am

    @raven: They look like they’re getting the hell out of Dodge.

  19. 19.

    Jack Canuck

    November 14, 2017 at 6:28 am

    Feeling a bit nervous: tomorrow (Wednesday) night (it’s currently bedtime Tuesday here in Oz) I’ll be back on stage with a band for the first time in (mumble mumble twenty-plus) years. Looking forward to it, and that was kind of the whole point of finding a band to play with again, but still. It’s been a long time. Not singing in this band though, just playing bass, which is working nicely for me, and I like the shoegaze/dreampop style of the music. Got that edge of excitement plus trepidation when I think about the gig, you know? I suppose that’s what performing live is all about though!

  20. 20.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:35 am

    @Jack Canuck: Break a leg.

  21. 21.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    November 14, 2017 at 6:41 am

    All those Progressive Betters who insisted Assange/wikileaks wasn’t taking sides in the election sure must feel dumb today.

  22. 22.

    Ben Cisco

    November 14, 2017 at 6:42 am

    Watching the Moore proceedings with a considerable amount of disgust; my family is from there and many of them live there still. They are determined to fight the good fight, and for reasons that should be obvious have not much use for the garbage hot takes wrt “jettisoning” the state from the union. Agree with Dean’s take regarding strategy. Cautiously optimistic that the decent voters of the state will outnumber the ogres, even if only barely.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:43 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: All the way to the bank dumb.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:45 am

    @Ben Cisco:

    garbage hot takes wrt “jettisoning” the state from the union.

    That talk is always stupid talk, but especially after the country as a whole elected Trump.

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    November 14, 2017 at 6:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Isn’t that part of why the dream is bad?

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    November 14, 2017 at 6:47 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Progressive Betters never feel dumb. I am sure they will proclaim vindication! I just can’t bring myself to go to the GOS to find out..

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 6:47 am

    Good morning, jackals.

    Love the little critter on the flower stalk. Happy Tuesday to us.

  28. 28.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    November 14, 2017 at 6:49 am

    Something About This Russia Story Stinks

    Nearly a decade and a half after the Iraq-WMD faceplant, the American press is again asked to co-sign a dubious intelligence assessment

    By Matt Taibbi
    December 30, 2016

    Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media

    Russia scandals have bloodied the Trump administration. But it carries dangers for those reporting it

    By Matt Taibbi
    March 8, 2017

    Matt Taibbi‏ @mtaibbi

    A won’t-be-shared-a-lot news story: The Latest: France says no trace of Russian hacking Macron

    3:23 PM – 1 Jun 2017

    How could Taibbi have been so consistently wrong.

    I’m shocked!

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 6:49 am

    @raven: Yep!

    @Aleta: Ouch. 50 lashes with a wet noodle for that one.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:50 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Guten Morgen

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 6:54 am

    @Baud: Indeed. Tell me again, where are you scoping out your post-presidential compound? Where are you headed in South America? (You are a lucky puppy too?.)

  32. 32.

    Aleta

    November 14, 2017 at 6:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s actually a beautiful video.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 6:57 am

    @Elizabelle:

    your post-presidential compound

    Knowing me, probably a supermax somewhere.

    Leaving on vacation next month.

  34. 34.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:00 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    How could Taibbi have been so consistently wrong.

    High quality drugs.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:03 am

    @Elizabelle:

    If you end up staying away longer than planned (and we know you will), please be sure to register. We still need every single vote.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:04 am

    @Baud: Ah, undisclosed location. OK. Vacay is good.

    ====

    Have you all noticed how the news stories about Roy Moore and Alabama’s voting predicament (a nominee who’s been banned from a Gadsden Mall, LOL, because he’s a serial predator of teenage girls) don’t seem to mention Doug Jones or his background? The invisible man. As they treat most Democrats.

    Republican is always the default setting. Le sigh. Although it is entertaining to watch this crowd in their various predicaments. The skeeviness is catching up with them.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:04 am

    @debbie: Good morning. Register for what?

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:05 am

    Senate Republicans are not going to unseat Moore. They’re just not. They don’t have the unity or guts. Some will be up for it, most won’t. Plus, McConnell is a lazy bastard who’s only good at corralling protest votes. He couldn’t get the thing Republicans want most to pass, because he just had to make it as poisonous as possible. I’m not entirely sure he’s going to pass his tax cuts, which elected Republicans want almost as much as ACA repeal, but consider way less controversial.

    Alabama conservatives rule their electorate, and are the foulest slime in America. I am not optimistic about the election, but boy, would it be awesome. Certainly liberals are pissed like I’ve never seen.

    @Amir Khalid:
    Southern evangelicals don’t think child molestation is a big deal. Seriously. They view children as property, and their mindset about what’s right for them centers solely around making sure those children grow up with the religious bigotries of their parents. ‘Marry them off early’ and ‘let a good Christian warrior take his prize’ both are admirable to them. When they screech ‘What about the children?!’ it’s always in a context where they would get more control over their children.

    @Immanentize:
    I know one, and I can barely maintain our friendship over it. Their attitude is ‘Democrats want to destroy the safety net and let the banks take over, so thank goodness we stopped that racist, warmongering, corrupt Hillary.’

  39. 39.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:05 am

    @Baud: The proof of life at the Pasadena meetup was posted last evening.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:07 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Senate Republicans are not going to unseat Moore. They’re just not.

    Agree completely.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Saw that. Good looking meetup!

  41. 41.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:09 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    I got truly awful sleep on Saturday night, and barely made it to a late afternoon movie with a friend. I wish I could have made it, but there was no way.

  42. 42.

    JR

    November 14, 2017 at 7:10 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: some people want so badly to be contradictory.

  43. 43.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:12 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: I didn’t sleep all that well Saturday night either, but somebody had to take pictures.

    (Also Opiejeanne mentioned that we didn’t get to talk at all at the last meetup since I was at the other side of the table.)

  44. 44.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:14 am

    @Baud:

    Good looking meetup!

    It helped that I was BEHIND the camera.? I surely would have brought the average down considerably.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:17 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Voting!

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:18 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    One of the most despicable sides of this is that they’ve waged a decades-long and successful war to convince the rest of the country that there’s an army of pedophiles on the streets and internet just waiting to ambush our children. There isn’t. That kind of predation is rare, and the victims are overwhelmingly children who have already been sexually abused… by their parents. By making everyone afraid of outside abusers, evangelicals have distracted everyone from the fact that most abuse occurs in the home, from family members or other trusted figures. Convinced the country to give them much more power to keep their children under their abusive thumbs, in fact.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:18 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: How do you get behind a 360° camera?

  48. 48.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 7:18 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?!

    @Jack Canuck: it’s going to go great! Good luck!

  49. 49.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:19 am

    @Baud:
    PRACTICE!

  50. 50.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:19 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Their attitude is ‘Democrats want to destroy the safety net and let the banks take over, so thank goodness we stopped that racist, warmongering, corrupt Hillary.’

    The progressive movement is a failure. We need to acknowledge that and rebuild something more viable.

  51. 51.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:19 am

    @Baud: Very carefully.

    ETA: I’m in the 360 degree pic, looking down at my phone. Mnemosyne isn’t, she was behind another jackal.

  52. 52.

    Schlemazel

    November 14, 2017 at 7:20 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    I assume the suggestion that the Senate GOP will not seat Moore is a dodge to get the undecided to believe they are safe in voting for Moore. They will assume Moore is denied & there will be new elections without the predator so the seat is still in Republican hands. I doubt they will block Moore though, its just a smoke screen to hide behind

  53. 53.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 7:21 am

    @debbie: don’t think Baud will be away THAT long. Hope not, you know the threads go to hell.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:22 am

    @satby: Elizabelle is going to Germany for an extended stay.

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    November 14, 2017 at 7:23 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yup.

    There’s a headline at TheHill now saying some Alabama poll said, roughly, “I will continue to support Roy Moore because he’ll vote the right way”.

    It’s all about power with them.

    Sensible Alabama voters need to turn out and make about as clear a choice as is ever presented…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:23 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    One of the most despicable sides of this is that they’ve waged a decades-long and successful war to convince the rest of the country that there’s an army of pedophiles on the streets and internet just waiting to ambush our children.

    And it turns out to be them. To paraphrase, they doth protest too much, methinks. That’s always the first clue to who “they” are.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 7:23 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: The question is, would DEMs help them? On one hand, moore is a truly vile sack of shit. On the other hand he is hung around the necks of Repubs. What to do, what to do…

  58. 58.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:24 am

    @Baud:

    Just in case, you should also register.

  59. 59.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 7:24 am

    @Baud: Elizabelle usually still pops in to say hi. You: radio silence. Us: bereft.

    (You do know j/k)

  60. 60.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:24 am

    @Schlemazel:
    Probably. I think most GOP congressmen are exactly like their constituents, but there are a few cynical manipulators, and because they’re like their constituents, the rest will gleefully jump on any train of corruption or partisanship.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:27 am

    @debbie: Gotcha. My visit to Germany and then traveling around for a month is not that extended.

    Am only gone ’til mid-January at the latest, I think. Virginia has already voted, and I’m delighted with the results. As in: don’t need to flee to California or another reliably blue state that quickly. But still considering that. Or being an expat.

  62. 62.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Understood. If I were in your traveling shoes, I wouldn’t come back.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:28 am

    @debbie: I’m registered and vote in every primary and election.

    @satby: True. It will be radio silence from me for a while. You’ll survive. Thrive even.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    November 14, 2017 at 7:29 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    All those Progressive Betters who insisted Assange/wikileaks wasn’t taking sides in the election sure must feel dumb today.

    There does need to be some back-tracking there. Whatever else they are or do, they were definitely working on behalf of Trump in the election. Denying it at this point is delusional.

    Did you see Assange, the “radical transparency” advocate, ducking questions yesterday? Guffaw.

    Someone needs to steal his communications and show us- all of them. Information wants to be free. I want the “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” ethos applied to Donald Trump and Wikileaks.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:30 am

    @Kay: All of a sudden, they’ll be like “look forward, not back.”

  66. 66.

    debbie

    November 14, 2017 at 7:32 am

    Wonderful. Neo-Nazis are womens’ fault for not dating them.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @satby: I know. Baud jokes about it, but he is a big part of keeping us sane here, with the humor as relief valve. He and Betty Cracker should ask for a raise! They are “readership capture.”

    Did you guys catch Betty writing yesterday on Alabama? So you nominated a pedophile …

    Moore’s opponent, Doug Jones, who is like Atticus Finch from the FIRST Harper Lee novel, only with a better jury pool.

  68. 68.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    November 14, 2017 at 7:32 am

    @Jack Canuck: Go you! Have a great time.

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Like Jill Stein voters, those people aren’t capable of feeling stupid.

  69. 69.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 7:33 am

    @Baud:

    You’ll survive. Thrive even.

    Fat chance.

  70. 70.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 7:34 am

    @Baud: I was teasing. Unplugging is good for the soul, and hopefully makes your time away a real vacation. So I hope that’s what you have.

    And in January I’m going to be pretty unplugged myself in northern Thailand and Cambodia. Volunteer vacay, expecting a rustic stay. Or so we’ve been told.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:34 am

    @Elizabelle:

    he is a big part of keeping us sane here

    I’m obviously not doing a very good job.

  72. 72.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:35 am

    @satby: Wow, that sounds great. And volunteering too. You are the best.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:35 am

    @Baud: Eh. You couldn’t do anything about our baseline.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:36 am

    @satby: Sweet. We’ll miss you, but it’ll be a great trip for you.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 7:36 am

    @satby:

    You: radio silence. Us: blessed.

    FTFY ;-)

  76. 76.

    Kay

    November 14, 2017 at 7:37 am

    @Baud:

    They insisted there was no coordination between Wikileaks and the Trump campaign. That is not true. They were working together.

    This made me laugh:

    One: Roy Moore did not get along with his colleagues in law school or on the Supreme Court. The arguments were not over Christianity.
    In law school, the arguments arose from what Disraeli called “falling into a deep groove of illogic and being helpless to allow reason to pull you out.” If Moore’s analysis of a case was tantamount to thinking 1 + 1 = 3, and his classmates reasoned otherwise, there was no backing down by Moore. The class was willing to fight to the death against illogic that no legal mind but one in America would espouse.
    Moore never won one argument, and the debates got ugly and personal. The result: gone was the fulfillment a teacher hopes for in the still peace of logic and learning. I had no choice but to abandon the Socratic method of class participation in favor of the lecture mode because of one student: Roy Moore.

    Rarely do you see that kind of specificity :)

    He was the worst! Usually they couch these things in “I had many idiot students but I do recall that one…”

  77. 77.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:38 am

    @Kay: Sometimes I blame my mother for turning me away from assholery and ruining my professional success.

  78. 78.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @Elizabelle: just average ?
    @Baud: Thanks. We’ll miss you too. Even Ozark will, though he pretends not.

  79. 79.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2017 at 7:43 am

    @Baud:
    Interesting that the writer is himself a hyper-conservative asshole who thinks Moore will vote against conservative legislation, because Moore is legendary, incomprehensible-to-others levels of stupid and contrary.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    November 14, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @Baud:

    That’s why I found Virginia quite heartening. He just seemed decent. I don’t know if he’ll be a good governor or if he’s liberal enough or whatever, but he seemed like a decent person and that person won.

    God almighty it was nice to see the asshole in the race get trounced – the boaster, the bragger, the racist cynic who had nothing to run on other than crap conservative policy that is unpopular so ran on fear. That tactic lost.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:44 am

    @Kay: I wonder how long ’til we start hearing from Moore’s fellow cadets at West Point. He could not have hidden his true characteristics for the full four years.

    Plus, haven’t we been told he was in danger of being “fragged”? LOL. Talk about a perceptive take by those who were serving with him. As if being in a war wasn’t bad enough.

    From wiki:

    Moore was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree. With the Vietnam War underway, Moore served in several posts as a military police officer, including Fort Benning, Georgia, and Illesheim, Germany before being sent to the Republic of Vietnam. Serving as the commander of 188th Military Police Company of the 504th Military Police Battalion, Moore was known to be very strict. Some of his soldiers gave him the derogatory nickname “Captain America“, due to his attitude toward discipline. This role earned him enemies, and in his autobiography he recalls sleeping on sandbags to avoid a grenade or bomb being tossed under his cot, as many of his men had threatened him with fragging.

    Alabama being all law and order (for others!) and respect the military, that could have some effect.

    Also, jebus, how many brag about having to avoid fragging?

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    November 14, 2017 at 7:50 am

    @Elizabelle:
    Wenn du Kommentar aus Deutschland noch geben können wirst, gibt es keinen Grund, den Schakalen auf wiedersehen zu sagen.

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 7:51 am

    Colin Kaepernick Is GQ’s 2017 Citizen of the Year

    Celebrating the man who became a movement.

    Colin Kaepernick Will Not Be Silenced

    He’s been vilified by millions and locked out of the NFL—all because he took a knee to protest police brutality. But Colin Kaepernick’s determined stand puts him in rare company in sports history: Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson—athletes who risked everything to make a difference.

    In 2013, Colin Kaepernick was on the cover of this magazine because he was one of the best football players in the world. In 2017, Colin Kaepernick is on GQ’s cover once again—but this time it is because he isn’t playing football. And it’s not because he’s hurt, or because he’s broken any rules, or because he’s not good enough. Approximately 90 men are currently employed as quarterbacks in the NFL, as either starters or reserves, and Colin Kaepernick is better—indisputably, undeniably, flat-out better—than at least 70 of them. He is still, to this day, one of the most gifted quarterbacks on earth. And yet he has been locked out of the game he loves—blackballed—because of one simple gesture: He knelt during the playing of our national anthem. And he did it for a clear reason, one that has been lost in the yearlong storm that followed. He did it to protest systemic oppression and, more specifically, as he said repeatedly at the time, police brutality toward black people.

    When we began discussing this GQ cover with Colin earlier this fall, he told us the reason he wanted to participate is that he wants to reclaim the narrative of his protest, which has been hijacked by a president eager to make this moment about himself. But Colin also made it clear to us that he intended to remain silent. As his public identity has begun to shift from football star to embattled activist, he has grown wise to the power of his silence. It has helped his story go around the world. It has even provoked the ire and ill temper of Donald Trump. Why talk now, when your detractors will only twist your words and use them against you? Why speak now, when silence has done so much?

    At the same time, Colin is all too aware that silence creates a vacuum, and that if it doesn’t get filled somehow, someone else will fill it for him. In our many conversations with Colin about this project, we discussed the history of athletes and civil rights, and the indelible moments it called to mind, and we decided that we’d use photography—the power of imagery and iconography—to do the talking.

    Much more at the 2nd link.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 7:52 am

    @Kay: That was a hopeful night.

  85. 85.

    Eric S.

    November 14, 2017 at 7:53 am

    @Jack Canuck: That’s fantastic. Break a leg. (Basis beat me to)

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 7:56 am

    @Amir Khalid: Gracias!

    Amir’s comment: “If you can still comment from Germany, there is no reason to say goodbye to the jackals.”

    Absolutely. No goodbyes to the jackals. In German, we are Schakalen, plural of Schakal (jackal). Cool that the words are so close.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    November 14, 2017 at 7:57 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Reading the accounts of Moore’s behavior with the girls I was struck by the fact that they’re different than the common pedo approach because Moore used this kind of religious paternalism to cover his behavior. He portrayed this as protective- that it was his job to get to these girls before they were ruined by the sinful world. Like he is not “a” father but THE father. This is new to me and I’ve been reading these abuse accounts for a decade. It is really disturbing. He doesn’t see them or their mothers as real people with agency. He comes at this from a belief that fundie Christian men are the “leaders” of everyone– that is his JOB to “protect” a 14 year from a family divorce or patrol a mall. This is a really twisted view.

  88. 88.

    Amir Khalid

    November 14, 2017 at 7:59 am

    @Elizabelle:
    De nada.

  89. 89.

    Humboldtblue

    November 14, 2017 at 8:00 am

    No Boaty McBoatface?

    Meet Ferry McFerryface.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    November 14, 2017 at 8:03 am

    @Elizabelle:

    And he witnessed the response to these beliefs- ordinary people thought it was weird and scary but he in no way corrected or examined his behavior. He believes he is ENTITLED to these girls- that they are somehow his charges- his to “protect” which really means “control” in his view- despite everything he saw and heard in the outside world even in his local community.

    Like girls are wandering around lost without Roy Moore to guide them. JUST girls. Not boys. Boys could do whatever they wanted at the mall without Father Protector intervening.

  91. 91.

    Eric S.

    November 14, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m guessing this is mostly snark but the answer is clear, we vote to deny this vile piece of shit everything.

  92. 92.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 8:12 am

    @Eric S.: pretty sure he was referring to Dems in the Senate helping McConnell cover his GOP party ass by voting with them to refuse to seat Moore.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 14, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @Kay: And his predecessor, McAuliffe, was a classic case of the Democrat being crapped on by all the Progressive Betters as a worthless sleaze, and still winning and turning out to be a decent governor.

  94. 94.

    Schlemazel

    November 14, 2017 at 8:15 am

    @Elizabelle:
    My grandfather was aus Deutschland and it always surprises me how many German words come very close to their English counterparts. He gave me some language lessons but they moved away when I was still very young so I lost a lot of the grammar.

  95. 95.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 14, 2017 at 8:16 am

    @Eric S.: Yeah, it is snark, and yes we vote against him, if for no other reason than to high lite the fact that a significant # of Repubs are on the side of a child molesting predator. (will enuf repubs vote him out to reach the 2/3s necessary?) Personally tho, I have to admit that I still wonder which result I hope for. The entertainment value would be huge.

  96. 96.

    hueyplong

    November 14, 2017 at 8:17 am

    Unless I misremember, 1969 would make Moore a classmate of Duke’s Coach K.

    For whatever that might be worth.

  97. 97.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 14, 2017 at 8:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We all are stuck in a bad dream and can’t get up. We’ll wake up once Trump is out of office. Come on, Mueller!

  98. 98.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 8:18 am

    Anyone hear about this?

    Gov. Jim Justice said it’s proof that the “tides are turning” in West Virginia. Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher called it “unprecedented.” Rep. David McKinley said it will “spur tremendous economic growth in our communities.”

    But concrete details about exactly what the 20-year, $83.7 billion in Chinese investment in West Virginia’s natural gas industry would bring to the state remained, at best, a bit sketchy Thursday.

  99. 99.

    Ladyraxterinok

    November 14, 2017 at 8:21 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: Or in church – see bobfelton blog and thewartburgwatch.com. There you’ll find more reports of child sexual abuse in Evangelical churches than any decent person could ever imagine.

    Tom Rich — who was investigated by his church (First Baptist Church in Jacksonville FL) and then kicked out b/c he questioned the staff’s financial dealings — has also discussed the insanity.

    Did you know churches are now advised to do do background checks on everyone, volunteer as well as paid staff, who works with young people or children? And 2 adults are to be with children at all times, even on a trip to the bathroom?

    IIRC, So Baptists are having a fight over whether each church should be required to check the sex criminal data base before hiring anyone.

  100. 100.

    Amir Khalid

    November 14, 2017 at 8:26 am

    @Schlemazel:
    English is a Germanic language, after all — from the Western branch of the family, like German itself and Dutch.

  101. 101.

    danielx

    November 14, 2017 at 8:30 am

    NYT: One idea now being discussed, brought up by two W.H. officials, would be for AL Gov. Kay Ivey to block Roy Moore if he wins, and then immediately appoint Jeff Sessions. https://t.co/wluorqpgLt

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2017

    Thus clearing the way for the ascension of AG Rudy Guiliani!

  102. 102.

    MomSense

    November 14, 2017 at 8:30 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    How could Taibbi have been so consistently wrong.

    When it comes to Taibbi and Russia, let’s just say he had a very good time there. Sex, drugs, and pre rock ‘n rolling stone. I personally found some of his accounts to be troubling and full of misogyny but he apparently thought it was good for his brand. I guess it was.

  103. 103.

    Amir Khalid

    November 14, 2017 at 8:32 am

    @Schlemazel:
    But beware of “false friends”, as they are called: Mist is German for “manure”, and Gift means “poison”.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 8:35 am

    Way interesting profile of Roy Moore, this September, from the Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (USA Today partner). On his contentious background. Nothing whatsoever about predation on young females, but the rest of the pugnaciousness and intolerance is there. Including that folks at West Point and in the military did not like him.

    Life in wartime: Roy Moore fights battles — and often goes looking for them

    Last photo is recent one of him, wearing a black “Military Police” tee shirt, riding his horse. You can see the horse thinking “how do I dump this asshole?” Horse looks wary.

    Last paragraphs:

    Moore has said he will carry out Donald Trump’s agenda if elected, but he has also targeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose Senate Leadership Fund has spent millions of dollars on attack ads against him. Moore says he will work to unseat McConnell as majority leader if elected.

    Means said he thinks Moore takes some positions to extremes, but says he plans to vote for him, saying “they haven’t seen anyone like Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate.”

    Uh, yeah they have. If we are speaking of sexual deviants and intolerant ideologues.

    And the photo in the MP tee shirt? Takes on added significance. He was preying on those young women as a representative of the legal system, and with a background of dealing with those under his command in the military as a hard-headed bully.

    “Among the classmates I talk to, there’s a very strong memory among everybody that he was a pretty intolerant guy when he was a cadet,” Truscott said. “Very, very conservative, and intolerant of people who had different points of view than he did.”

    Moore graduated West Point in 1969. In July 1971, Moore, then a captain, took command of the 188th Company, 504th Battalion, supervising a military stockade in Da Nang.

    Moore writes in his autobiography that he was “shocked” at the lack of discipline in the company and began issuing Article 15 charges — common but controversial nonjudicial punishments during the conflict. The soldiers under his command recalled Moore focusing on regulation haircuts and constant salutes, and called him “Captain America,” not meaning it as a compliment.

    “His policies damn near got him killed in Vietnam,” Barrey Hall, who served under Moore, told The Associated Press in 2003. “He was a strutter.”

  105. 105.

    Calouste

    November 14, 2017 at 8:38 am

    @Wag: Moore spend years trying to get a high school virgin but the closest he got was marrying a 24 year old divorcee with a kid. Of course he has tons of “barely legal” p0rn, gotta keep the dream alive.

  106. 106.

    Argiope

    November 14, 2017 at 8:39 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Delurking to remark that while this outcome would be entertaining for many people, it won’t to young women in AL. Or grown women in the rest of the country, many, many of whom have had to endure creepy dude attention as teens. So while rooting for injuries is always cool, if Moore gets elected the injuries will extend far beyond the Republican party. Enjoying the spit fight between him and McConnell, though. Strategic popcorn reserve!

  107. 107.

    Baud

    November 14, 2017 at 8:40 am

    @danielx: I don’t understand how a governor can block a person elected to the Senate from being seated.

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 8:43 am

    @raven: Cool video. Thanks.

    Love the background sound on that film too — bird calls, water.

  109. 109.

    JR

    November 14, 2017 at 8:43 am

    @debbie: just like ISIS

  110. 110.

    danielx

    November 14, 2017 at 8:44 am

    @Baud:

    Nor I, just being goofy. Even if there is some arcane way of doing such a thing, Ivey would have to leave the state afterwards.

  111. 111.

    germy

    November 14, 2017 at 8:44 am

    This is significant. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro interviewed to be Deputy Attorney General during the transition. https://t.co/0ylQGSgE76— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) November 14, 2017

    Pirro has been among Sessions’ most aggressive critics https://t.co/dhn2B8dm7O— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 14, 2017

  112. 112.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 8:45 am

    Frustrated! I booked a ticket to the big screen showing of Casablanca for tomorrow as soon as it was announced back in June. Of course, now I can’t find a confirmation at all, though I have the charge showing on a bank statement. Wrote to the ticketing agency two days ago but no reponse, so it looks like I better buy another ticket. Luckily it’s only about $8.00.

  113. 113.

    Mike J

    November 14, 2017 at 8:45 am

    @Baud: I think the argument is either being put forth by the sort of idiot who thinks a strong leader is someone who just does what he wants, legal or not, OR by Republicans arguing in bad faith, knowing that it could never happen.

    Nobody should falls for the “after you vote for our pedo we’ll fix it up later” trick.

  114. 114.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 14, 2017 at 8:46 am

    @Baud: Me either, the Senate can refuse to seat him.

  115. 115.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    November 14, 2017 at 8:54 am

    @Baud: sounds like China’s gratuity for scrapping TPP

  116. 116.

    cmorenc

    November 14, 2017 at 8:54 am

    @NorthLeft12:

    Mr. Moore’s expulsion from the Alabama Supreme Court is a badge of honour for him, and even more so to a lot of his supporters.
    Disobeying the law for religious extremism is not a negative apparently.

    They view Moore along the lines of Martin Luther defying the Catholic Church (whose edicts were law back in the early 16th Century) and Martin Luther King defying…ok, in the latter case, only the part about the rest of the country thinking MLK’s defiance of the oppressive law on principle was noble rather than reprehensible. Them white folks in Alabamy got themselves a martyr!

  117. 117.

    cmorenc

    November 14, 2017 at 8:57 am

    @Schlemazel:

    My grandfather was aus Deutschland and it always surprises me how many German words come very close to their English counterparts. He gave me some language lessons but they moved away when I was still very young so I lost a lot of the grammar.

    That’s really tough to lose both your grandpa and your grammar at the same time.
    :=)

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 9:01 am

    To cleanse the palate after all this morning discussion of Roy Moore: new book out with photos of Julia Child’s life in France.

    Slideshow from the NY Daily News. Some terrific B&Ws, taken by Julia’s husband, Paul. Will have to give this book a good look.

    ETA: A Taste of “France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child”

    A blogpost book review. Linky: http://www.omnivoracious.com/2017/10/prudhomme-france-is-a-feast.html

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    November 14, 2017 at 9:13 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Their attitude is ‘Democrats want to destroy the safety net and let the banks take over, so thank goodness we stopped that racist, warmongering, corrupt Hillary

    I think I hate them more than the dumbfuck, Republican trump voters. I still can’t believe anyone fell for Assange/Wikileaks/Greenwald/Snowden. It seemed pretty obvious to me from the beginning that it was ratfucking.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    November 14, 2017 at 9:15 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    The only thing that would surprise me is the republican party doing anything close to a creditable thing. They’ve floated a lot of crazy ideas, that you’d expect, but finding one creditable thing, and doing that? That would be a surprise.

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 9:18 am

    @MomSense: The leftwing is apparently as whack and gullible as the rightwing. What not a surprise.

  122. 122.

    Steeplejack

    November 14, 2017 at 9:23 am

    @satby:

    Maybe you got an e-mail or text confirmation as well?

  123. 123.

    Davebo

    November 14, 2017 at 9:24 am

    Turned on CNN this morning. Did Roy Moore sexually assault Julian Assange overnight?

  124. 124.

    satby

    November 14, 2017 at 9:28 am

    @Steeplejack: that’s what I was looking for. And asked them to resend just in case. No luck so far, but $8.00 isn’t a huge loss in the scheme of things. I would have paid double for the chance to see it on the big screen anyway. Love that movie!

  125. 125.

    Davebo

    November 14, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Not really. They can expel him with a 2/3rd’s vote but they can’t refuse to seat him.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 14, 2017 at 9:30 am

    @mai naem mobile: Presumably the theory is that Sessions gets elected, he’s removed as AG, replaced with somebody who will fire Mueller, and the whole Russia problem just vanishes (pardons all around). It wouldn’t, but investigation would surely be hobbled to some degree with federal involvement over (at least until Democrats can take a house of Congress).

  127. 127.

    Davebo

    November 14, 2017 at 9:34 am

    @Matt McIrvin: The only way they pry Sessions out of the AG’s office is offering him a seat on the supreme court.

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 14, 2017 at 9:35 am

    @MomSense:

    he apparently thought it was good for his brand. I guess it was.

    If his brand is “raging, out of control asshole” I guess you’re right.

  129. 129.

    Watership

    November 14, 2017 at 9:37 am

    @Jack Canuck: That’s pretty amazing. Excited for you. And fortuitous timing, shoegaze/dreampop is making a comeback ;)

  130. 130.

    martian

    November 14, 2017 at 9:42 am

    Thanks, Anne! I pledged enough on the Kickstarter to get a book, colouring pack, and poster, and I am stoked! Looking forward to sharing this with my kids. They’re just becoming aware, and I so wish for Obama to be the first president they have real memories of. Taking them with me to vote last year did not end up the happy, formative memory I’d hoped. This has been a tough year to explain. More Barack and Michelle to talk about seems just the thing.

  131. 131.

    MoxieM

    November 14, 2017 at 10:01 am

    @Elizabelle: ahhh. Jealous. Going north or south? Daughter informs me where she lives (Hamburg) ist Schietwetter. I’m guessing just colder down south. But still, Christmas in Germany! Heaven. Mulled wine, sausages. mmm.

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 10:03 am

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think firing Mueller would end the Russia (and other corruption) investigations. Am sure Robert Mueller strategized for that, and has a dead man switch and other agencies/state investigators and prosecutors that could take over.

    I don’t think we can wait until January 2019, and then for a Congress full of leakers. This needs to continue NOW.

    Not a gloom and doomer. There’s a lot at stake.

  133. 133.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2017 at 10:05 am

    @MoxieM: Gonna land in Frankfurt, stay with a friend in Wiesbaden, and travel around a lot, in Germany and to neighboring countries. I would love to see Hamburg, and Berlin.

    Christmas will be good no matter what, and my first Noel/Natale/Navidad away from the US.

  134. 134.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    November 14, 2017 at 10:08 am

    @mai naem mobile: WTF? Of course they do!

    They want a new AG who can fire Mueller and they don’t want to lose a Senate seat!

    Why would perjury bother them when treason (in the vernacular) doesn’t?

    (Yes, treason as defined in the Constitution, blah blah… I mean working to help a foreign nation at the expense of the U.S.)

  135. 135.

    patrick II

    November 14, 2017 at 10:59 am

    The crazification factor was named based on an election in Illinois. I bet an election in Alabama will make us rethink that number.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    November 14, 2017 at 11:06 am

    @Jack Canuck:
    Good luck ?

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    November 14, 2017 at 11:09 am

    @satby:
    Sounds like a great trip ?

  138. 138.

    MomSense

    November 14, 2017 at 11:17 am

    @Jack Canuck:

    Have so much fun!!

  139. 139.

    Kathleen

    November 14, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    @satby: I bought ticket and went to theater only to find out AMC cancelled it. They refunded cr card and gave me free pass. It was too late to go to the other theaters.

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