Compare:
JUST IN: Veteran Congressman John Conyers announces he is "retiring today" and endorses his son, John Conyers III, to fill his seat. https://t.co/tDUNsk1hZc pic.twitter.com/4MMgDIfHwp
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 5, 2017
and Contrast:
RNC official confirms to me that national party is again "involved" in Roy Moore race. Will be sending money to Alabama GOP "for their efforts."
— Henry J. Gomez (@HenryJGomez) December 5, 2017
But her emails!!!
I think I’m getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen up here on the moral high ground.
Roger Moore
So there’s one more piece of evidence that Republicans’ real values are:
1) Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing
2) IGMFY
Betty Cracker
We’re better than the Gross Old Perverts party for sure, but fuck Conyers and fuck his fucking son. This isn’t a dynastic succession. I hope the voters in that district nominate and elect a Democrat who is not named Conyers.
schrodingers_cat
I wouldn’t expect anything different from Gutless Old Pedophiles.
JPL
Brent Fahrenthold is staying, so once again IOKIYR.
marcopolo
I’m good with this except the endorsement of his son for his seat. Mind you, I don’t know anything about his son but I generally think the idea of trying to pass seats along in families stinks. Note: my congress critter Lacy Clay is a legacy representative & not nearly the man his father was when it comes to getting out front on just about anything.
But her emails!!!
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t know anything about his son. For all I know, he could be a fantastic candidate.
d58826
Sigh. I see by some twitter comments that people are outraged that Conyers is endorsing his son as a replacement. Ah so what. There will be an election to fill the seat and if the voters decide to send Conyers the younger to Congress that is their choice. Remember that is what Yurtle is saying about Moore.
And since I don’t live in the district that and 2.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks
Betty Cracker
@But her emails!!!: I don’t either, but even if he’s the second coming of Jesus Christ, his father is resigning under a cloud for sexual harassment. Here’s what Rep. Conyers said (via WaPo):
A medieval monarch couldn’t have sounded any more goddamned entitled. Fuck his legacy.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker:
Ugh. Agreed. Glad he’s going. But his son? WTF? Let the Governor or whoever appoints his replacement pick the best candidate.
SFAW
@d58826:
Is that “on clearance”?
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: The Governor is a RWNJ.
The Moar You Know
YAY WE GOT A SCALP!
Good going, my fellow Dems. Yet another must-win seat added to the load for 2018.
@Roger Moore: We have the system we have. So of course the GOP should be that way. As should we; if you don’t win, you don’t get what you want. Period. Bitch about the GOP all you like but they are winning, and getting what they want. If there are things we want, we’re going to need to start winning.
MJS
@Betty Cracker: That would be quite the campaign. Press – “What about your father’s reputation as a serial sexual harasser?” John Conyers III- “That’s my father, not me.” Press- “Why should people vote for you?” JCIII- “Because my father did a great job.”
d58826
@SFAW: well half a cup then
marcopolo
@Yarrow: Pretty sure the Constitution states that Representatives can only be replaced through special elections, not via appointment. Senators get different treatment.
Yarrow
@Gin & Tonic: Well, every state has their own method for dealing with representatives leaving office, so whatever the method that is what should be followed. He’d have a better legacy if he endorsed a smart, younger up and coming Dem politician. Maybe that person is his son, but the quote Betty highlighted makes it sound dynastic.
Edit: Maybe I’m wrong about states having different methods of dealing with vacancies. They do for state offices and I might be mixing it up.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Do Governors get to appoint Congressmen?
I thought they only get to appoint Senators.
Fair Economist
Um, does anybody expect Conyers *not* to endorse his son? Really?
If he’s the best running, then he should get the job. Otherwise, not. It’s the voters’ decision.
rikyrah
@JPL:
Phuck PajamaDude.
How about the muthaphucka that paid out $150,000 because folks wouldn’t push Clinton investigations?
marcopolo
@The Moar You Know: Um, take a chill pill. This is a safe D district. D +32.
Yarrow
@rikyrah: I don’t know. I think I’m mixing it up with state offices.
AnonPhenom
“It’s the constituency, stupid.”
Fair Economist
@MJS: That seems a pretty reasonable campaign. He’ll continue his father’s political policies (which have been very good) but not commit sexual harassment (which is bad). Actually, isn’t that what we’d like to see from the occupier of his seat?
germy
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
I was furious this morning with Rachel Martin on NPR. She had the Congressional reporter on and set up a conversation about sexual harassment in Congress by saying something like “there are at least two cases,” and then only asked about Conyers. Never mentioned Farenthold.
ETA: This is the second day in a row I’ve been pissed at Rachel Martin specifically. Yesterday she used “Democrat” as an adjective.
gvg
I have know of a few cases where a governor has appointed a wife to fill a seat on the basis she knows approximately what her husband intended and promised his constituents. I think it seemed ok in results and I don’t think most ran for reelection. Children, not so much. In this case I don’t know that we would want to “continue” his legacy exactly.
Who appoints the temporary replacement until a new election? We do need our nay votes
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: Been wondering what your take on the James Levine scandal is. I know you are an opera fan.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
You know how we know Pizzagate was a hoax? Roy Moore never hangs out there.
MJS
@Fair Economist: Sure, but fairly or unfairly, “Vote for John Conyers” is probably not going to be a winning slogan, at least in a primary. Given how blue the district apparently is, it might still work in the general, though.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve been sort of suspicious of Rachel for a while. She spent time at ABC, home of republican mole jon karl. She’s probably at NPR to spread a certain narrative.
The drumphistas really aren’t aware of how many moles have made themselves at home at what the drumphistas call “librul media.” Stealth conservative journalists.
Ryan
I fail to see how Hillary is responsible, could someone elaborate?
marcopolo
Hah! At least at this moment there will be two Conyers running to replace. His son & a great nephew.
I admit I am a totally cynical bastard when it comes to my expectations of just about all politicians (party affiliation be damned though Rs are worse), but I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the delay with Conyer’s retirement decision wasn’t gaming things out & lining up the ducks for his son to take over his seat.
germy
Over at WaPo I saw some of the footage of the John Oliver/Dustin Hoffman dustup. Very tense conversation about Hoffman’s misconduct. Hoffman yelled “You weren’t there!” Oliver replied “I’m glad.”
MJS
@germy: I was never of the opinion that Trump would fire Mueller. This development has me thinking he might.
MisterForkbeard
@Ryan: The payments to the victims were from the Clinton Foundation. Also, Hillary probably killed the victim’s kids and/or family as a threat.
We don’t know yet how her mail server is involved, but it’d be irresponsible not to speculate.
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: I’m not SD, but I have friends who have worked there and elsewhere in the NYC classical music biz. This is about as surprising as the sun rising in the east this morning.
The Moar You Know
@marcopolo: Funny, that’s what I was told about Hillary all the way up to about 7:30 PDT Election Day 2016, and then it wasn’t.
No such thing as a safe “D” district anymore. Get a clue. We are at war, but only one side seems to understand that.
Yarrow
@MJS: How’s Trump going to fire Mueller? Can you game out the steps? He can tell Mueller, “You’re fired!” but that won’t do anything. He can’t fire Mueller directly.
Chyron HR
@Ryan:
Because DYNASTIES BAD SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
germy
@MJS:
The “red line” has been crossed? But isn’t this ultimately about laundering russian money?
Yarrow
@Gin & Tonic: Yes, I understand it’s been an “open secret,” much like the Harvey Weinstein’s abuse was. I’m curious about the impact it will have on the Met and opera in general.
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: Opera has been a den of iniquity for hundreds of years.
Steve Crickmore
Conyer’s retirement and concern for the passing of his legacy to his game of thrones’ son or great nephew- the news comes after Conyers’ great-nephew, 29-year old Michigan state Senator Ian Conyers, told CBS News’ Jonathan Blakley he would be running for the elder Conyers, as well-reminds me of the fight for the legacy. power and position of the recently resigned nonogenerian Robert Mugabe. It is just as tawdry, and no doubt merely the changing of one crook for another
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I have no opinion on the candidates to succeed Conners, but Michigan seems to like dynasties. MI-12, created in 1933, has never had a Rep not named Dingell
marcopolo
@The Moar You Know: First, this year I’ve both made calls and knocked on a couple hundred doors for D candidates in special elections so I’m on the front lines of the war–how about you? Second, I’m sure you are aware of this, but perhaps not and you are just an idiot–the US voting electorate in the 2016 presidential election was not D+32. So get a clue yourself.
MJS
@Yarrow: I see scant difference between Trump firing him directly and getting someone else to do so. I’m also not of the belief that he’d have to fire numerous people to find someone who would do it. Norms are gone. As a rule, Republicans have no respect for the rule of law.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Sad and furious and not in the least surprised. There have been rumors for years.
Similarly with Peter Martins, the long-time director of NYC Ballet and teacher at the School of American Ballet.
The Moar You Know
@Gin & Tonic: True. But just wait until the dance people start talking. That, at best, is going to be horrific.
germy
Speaking of “open secrets” here’s an anecdote from me:
When I was in elementary school my parents subscribed to all the major magazines: Life, Look, Newsweek, Time, Readers Digest… Since there were no video games back then, I’d read them all cover to cover when there wasn’t anything good on our B&W TV. Lots of the stuff I read, I didn’t really understand.
Dustin Hoffman’s “The Graduate” movie came out. At that age, all I knew of “grownup” movies were the Mad Magazine parodies I’d read. But all of the magazines couldn’t stop writing about “The Graduate”… the reporters were just fascinated with that film. And Dustin Hoffman keep getting written up as an exciting new young actor, etc.
I remember one of the articles mentioning (very briefly, in passing, with no further comment) that Hoffman had groped Anne Bancroft during the shooting of one of their scenes. It was sort of mentioned in the context of an unexperienced, unsophisticated actor overwhelmed by his new role, or something like that. “He’s just a kid! Doesn’t know how to behave!” Even at the age of ten, I found it odd, and remember mentally filing it away; the strange fact that actors sometimes felt up actresses while making movies.
I hadn’t thought about it for years, until these recent accusations against Hoffman surfaced.
Ridnik Chrome
@MJS: I’ll say it again: if the Orange Clown was going to fire Mueller (and remember, in order to do that he’d have to fire Sessions and probably a lot of other people first) he would have done so by now. If ever there was a time when he could have done it and gotten away with it, that time is long, long gone.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
I didn’t know that, but the recent tells strike me as pretty blatant.
Is Mar-a-Liasson still on Fox, do you know?
JaneSays
@Yarrow: House seat vacancies aren’t filled by appointment, only by election. The seat will remain vacant for a few months, which is actually pretty typical. The House is very often not at a full 435 members at any given time.
Mnemosyne
@Ryan:
If Hillary had divorced Bill, then all predatory behavior by all men would have ceased the moment the decree became final. It’s science! //
rikyrah
Jared Kushner’s family business received a $285 million loan from Deutsche Bank 1 month before the election.
Naturally, he failed to disclose it.
/4/https://t.co/3QhaLvAM5K pic.twitter.com/er1wmubTSk
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) December 5, 2017
Mnemosyne
@Chyron HR:
Exactly! We had to elect the “billionaire” son of a millionaire to avoid the horrible possibility that someone might be elected president partially based on their family connections.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know if Liasson is still on Fox. I used to hear her on public radio and her RW talking points were so subtle as to be almost subliminal. The word choices she made, how she framed things. She has a job to do and she does it well. Horribly well.
AnonPhenom
“We arrest our alleged rapists, they elect them”
Yarrow
@MJS: Well, Sessions won’t do it and Rosenstein (next in line) has said he won’t do it, so he’d have to fire at least two people to get to someone who would. Meuller got himself hired in such a way that Trump can’t just fire him–he wasn’t just appointed he was hired under civil service rules or something. I can’t remember the specifics. Trump can try but Mueller doesn’t have to go anywhere until and unless the proper steps are followed.
@SiubhanDuinne: It sounds awful. I read the NYT article with the three men who went public about the abuse. They are in their 40’s-60’s now and still sound really broken by what happened. Levine was so protected. People knew they just didn’t want to have to do anything about it.
rikyrah
Looks like it’s happening. Trump told Abbas this morning that he plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudineih says. Abbas warned Trump of the dangers of making that move.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) December 5, 2017
News breaking that @POTUS Donald #Trump has informed the #Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he will move the #US Embassy to #Jerusalem. #Turkey warns it will cut diplomatic ties with #Israel. #CBC
— Margaret Evans (@mevansCBC) December 5, 2017
MJS
@Ridnik Chrome: I’m not saying he’s going to get away with it. But he has stated that Mueller digging into his business dealings/personal finances should not happen. Well, it’s happening. Next you’ll hear the howls from Fox News, Rush, et al echoing the “witch hunt” claim. Lastly, you have a lot more faith in Republicans than I do if you think he’ll have to fire a lot of people to find one that will fire Mueller.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Is this a new piece of information? Or just a re-hashing of an earlier “Jared forgot to tell people about X” bit of news. Considering how many there have been, in all the excitement, I’ve kind of lost track myself.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/1/17
Why did Trump ignore repeated warnings Flynn was compromised?
Rachel Maddow looks at the warnings Donald Trump received about Mike Flynn and the inexplicable way Trump held Flynn in favor even after he left office.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Personally, I doubt the Levine scandal will have much overall or long-lasting impact on the opera world. The Met has bigger problems than Jimmy’s history of molesting little boys several years ago.
rikyrah
@SFAW:
There was a story in the past couple of days about Jared lying again.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
OK, thanks.
B.B.A.
@The Moar You Know: So you’d have Conyers stay on until he can’t remember when he’s supposed to vote yea or nay? He hasn’t been all there in years, and should’ve retired when his mental decline became clear.
germy
Not sure if this is true, but here’s Justin Davidson’s take:
The Met May Not Survive the James Levine Disgrace
d58826
@rikyrah: well if that actually happens then I hope he asks for a major increase in embassy security budgets because it will make the Benghazi attack look like a Sunday picnic.
germy
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I dragged Tamara Keith on Twitter the other day for a spot she did on Trump’s tax plan speech. We had a back-and-forth about it, and she ended by noting that every spot is an opportunity to do better. Working the refs! :)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah: I’m increasingly wondering if trump isn’t genuinely a useful idiot and if Jared isn’t Moscow’s man in the White House– not that he’s a mastermind, a less idiotic but more useful useful idiot.
Chyron HR
@Steve Crickmore:
HMM YES INTERESTING BY ALL MEANS ELABORATE
rikyrah
Seeing the Republican tax plan as a tool to punish Democrats
12/05/17 10:01 AM—UPDATED 12/05/17 10:21 AM
By Steve Benen
………………………
SFAW
@d58826:
Well, I doubt Congress will go along with that — they wouldn’t do it when Hillary requested it, so why would they change that position now? Wouldn’t make sense.
The Moar You Know
@AnonPhenom: Thank you for my first genuine laugh of the day. If there were more “equality and acceptance within the movement”, then they wouldn’t be Nazis, now would they?
Oughta find a better class of man. And it won’t be hard, if that’s the pool they’ve been swimming in.
Ridnik Chrome
@AnonPhenom: Again, maybe I’m giving them more credit than they deserve, but I really do think there will be a revolt by Republican women if Roy Moore wins that Senate seat. One or two might even switch parties.
SFAW
@Chyron HR:
Oh, don’t pretend you haven’t heard about Conyers imprisoning or killing his political rivals.
Miss Bianca
@AnonPhenom: Women who ally themselves with movement that worships the white male and then are shocked that the “male” part excludes them and their petty little woman concerns?
OH, I HAZ A SAD FOR THEM. HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY HAVE GUESSED?!
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
It is horrible and heartbreaking for them, and that absolutely needs to be the focus. But it’s also heartbreaking for Levine’s legacy. He was, and is, one of the most brilliant and gifted musicians of my lifetime, certainly. So sad that he will (probably) never conduct again, and that all his archival recordings will carry this taint, and that his obituary will mention his sad downfall in the first paragraph.
rikyrah
The Retaliatory State: How Trump Is Turning Government Into a Weapon of Revenge
By Jonathan Chait
………………………
SFAW
@Ridnik Chrome:
One or two voters? Because no Rethug female Rep/Sen would switch. Or were you being snarky/ironic?
d58826
@SFAW: isn’t reporting on Jared lying more like reporting the stock market close – you do it on a daily basis
Joey Maloney
@Yarrow: How does Orange Julius fail to get away with it, assuming he can stay on task long enough to fire enough people to dig down to his own Robert Bork? Who can enforce consequences on him?
It may be the case that NY AG Schneiderman can bring state (non-pardonable) charges, but that’s months or years before it came come to fruition. Aside from that, it’s up to Congress. So he’s home free.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Good for you, Betty! And good for her for recognizing that there’s always room for improvement.
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Thank FSM the Congressional Rethugs will rein in Shitgibbon’s revenge porn fantasies.
d58826
@SFAW: And when an embassy is sacked they can blame Hillary.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ridnik Chrome: I don’t understand Susan Collns. At least with Snowe, as people on the internet have told me, there was some long-standing personal resentment against Maine Democrats, some nasty attack on her immediate family, IIRC. I don’t understand Bill Cohen, Collins’ patron in ME politics, never speaking up (that I’ve seen). Everything she says about tax bill is in almost direct contradiction to what she said about health care a month ago. I think she’s dumb but I can’t believe even she’s dumb enough to believe that McConnell et al are gonna vote for Murray-Alexander, never mind the House.
Just on a human– human politician– level, she could be exercising real power right now. She could make McConnell and arguably even Ryan dance to her tune. She just doesn’t want to.
Ridnik Chrome
@SFAW:
Maybe not at the federal level. But I think we might see some at the state level, most likely in blue or purple states.
Let’s say I’m being optimistic.
d58826
@germy: Does she allow Mike to sit in the room with Trump w/o her being present???
Yarrow
@Joey Maloney: I don’t think so. If he starts firing people in the Justice department to get to someone who will fire Mueller the floodgates will open on all the stuff the intelligence community has. Both here in the US and with our allies abroad. It will not go well for Trump nor for the Republicans who are enabling him. They are guilty and involved in this Russian infiltration of our government and the IC has the goods to prove it. It is being held back to use in the investigation but if Trump starts firing people all bets are off.
germy
@d58826:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I predict wishing seventy-two hours we’ll see a photo op where Mother Pence is forced to stand there smiling while The Beast makes gross comments about how much she loves him, “Right, Karen?”
Ridnik Chrome
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think Collins probably had her arm twisted almost clean out of its socket on the tax bill. Who knows what they used on her, but that bill was going to pass, no matter what. It was the one absolute non-negotiable thing on the Koch/Mellon/Scaife wish-list, and they were going to do whatever it took to get it done. Whatever else they may fail at, Republican administrations always manage to pass their tax cuts.
bemused
@rikyrah:
The Donald can’t stand to be told what to do or not to do about anything, by anyone, no matter how minor the suggestion.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Al Franken can assbang Joni Ernst in the well of the Senate to furious objection, and I can say I’m beyond the capacity of concern.
PPCLI
@SiubhanDuinne: Using “Democrat” as an adjective is an infallible tell, right up with the British spy of folklore who betrayed himself to the Nazis by first looking left crossing the street.
Thanks for the info – It’s a real time – saver. Now I know to switch off the radio whenever she comes on. You would think a right wing mole would avoid the basic slip-ups
Heidi Mom
@Miss Bianca: That was an observation made in The Handmaid’s Tale (read the book, haven’t seen a filmed version): The wives of the leaders had supported their husbands’ plans, thinking there would be an important role for them in the brave new world. There wasn’t.
d58826
@germy: saw that yesterday. The Borgia’s and the Medici had nothing on this den of vipers.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
I’m disinclined to take any woman whose spouse calls her “mother” without her slicing his genitals off with rusty school scissors seriously.
On the whole “mother” thing, how does sexytime talk work in that house?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ridnik Chrome:
Hahahahahhaa!!!!!
Joey Maloney
@Yarrow: Yeah, there will be a lot of noise and many furrowed Republican brows and perhaps even a sternly-worded letter or two, but when it comes right down to it the only thing that can stop Trump is a majority of this House and three-fourths of this Senate, and that will never happen.
germy
@PPCLI:
I’ve noticed they’ve all gotten sloppy since dolt45 got sworn in.
Their politicians are saying the quiet part out loud. Their reporters are getting more brazen.
d58826
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Didn’t St Ronulus the Unready call Nancy ‘mommy’ in public? What they call each other behind closed doors is probably unfit to repeat on a family blog
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
No talk. Just squinting and grimacing. A muffled whimper perhaps, and Dence shudders; releases. Then they both pray.
Joey Maloney
@d58826: Supposedly said, “Mommy, I forgot to duck,” after being shot.
ruemara
I could give two fucks about him endorsing his son. I see us taking some strong moral stand – while republicans win. I swear this is a ridiculous moral victory.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
He’s kind of saying what I tried to say in my comment #64. The Met has huge problems, including but not limited to, attracting and retaining audiences. The money issues are never-ending, and the sheer size and complexity of the Met (both the physical space and the operation in general) is both its greatest glory and biggest impediment.
So the Levine scandal will likely have an impact, but the baked-in problems, I believe, are more significant to the Met’s long-term future.
Barbara
@Gin & Tonic: @SiubhanDuinne: I read the article yesterday and there is no doubt that he used these teaching events as a way to groom young musicians to be sexual partners. It’s just revolting. At least one of the men was too young to give any kind of consent, the other two are less clear, but given student/teacher relationship were clearly vulnerable. But at the same time “knowing someone likes them young” isn’t the same thing as committing statutory rape, so it is a little frustrating to read the “everyone knows this is true.” It does depend what the “this” actually is. I felt bad for the men in the article, but for at least two of them whose relationship with Levine extended well into their adulthood, it did trouble me that they were blaming Levine for things that perhaps were not totally his fault. They didn’t say that he would have punished them if they looked for another job. I am going to guess that they got as far as they did in the cut throat landscape of professional arts and music because of his patronage. Which doesn’t make what he did to them right, but it means that he also wronged various organizations by favoring people for reasons that did not relate to their talent. A very, very ugly story every which way you think about it.
Brachiator
@AnonPhenom:
I’m with Moar on this one. Thank you for the laugh. I really needed one today.
A racist woman’s only human
You should understand
She’s not just a plaything
She’s a vicious fool just like her man
If you want an alt-right-all-day woman (woman)
You’ve got to be a alt-right-right-all-night man (man)
MJS
@d58826: My understanding is that Nancy called Ronnie “Frank” behind closed doors.
rikyrah
@germy:
Lips pursed
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Ugh. Well, I was going to have some lunch, but that option is no longer available to me, thanks to your skill at word-painting.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Knowing what I do of Anne Bancroft (only what I’ve read), I’m a little surprised he didn’t end up with a black eye for that. She was no shrinking violet.
martian
@marcopolo: I really didn’t think Conyers would voluntarily leave, but I’m wondering if this was Pelosi pushing quietly behind the scenes rather than publicly so as not to cause loss of face for Conyers. Also, with the talk of not tainting the “legacy”, I’m wondering if an actual investigation was about to reveal a mountain of shit that would sink both Conyers and his dynastic hopes.
That investigation of Conyers that was announced, anybody know if a resignation shuts that down?
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No. They’ve been cultivating Dolt45, beginning while Jared was in elementary school.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I just wanted to see that again. RIP, Phil Harttman and Jan Hooks
@Mnemosyne: Katharine Ross also, I think very recently, said he did the same thing to her
Barbara
@germy: If Pence’s wife hates Trump, I can’t decide whether that speaks better of her or Trump. Trump is a walking reproof to everything she claims to stand for, including the fact that she actually stands for what she says she does. Either way, that the serial abuser of women and the ultra-judgmental priggish hypocrite have to endure each other is a kind of karmic justice.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/melanie-martinez-accused-sexual-assault-080129312.html
Well, that didn’t take long. Women accusing each other of sexual assault.
I think people are losing sight that the issue is people in power using their power to abuse subordinates. Not the great national airing of grievances that other people do stupid or bad things time to time.
SiubhanDuinne
@PPCLI:
It definitely is for me. Sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
It is sad, but — and I know you know this — he did it to himself. The only person to blame for Levine’s self-destruction is Levine.
germy
@Mnemosyne:
I dimly remember the article, but her reaction was swift and (it was implied) physical.
She probably slapped his face.
I just it was odd how they just mentioned it in passing, as if it were the normal behavior of an awkward young actor towards an older, more experienced actress. I’m guessing whoever wrote the magazine piece had issues of his own.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Ooh – fun. After the prayers, they slink to their separate beds in humiliation and shame for what they just did.
The Moar You Know
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: My pistol was designed for shooting paper targets (seriously, it’s a competition-grade firearm custom-made for this). Set it loose in public and it’ll probably just get used in a string of crimes.
Same with this very needed accounting of men in power using that power to rape women. The weapon’s been put out there in public, people know it exists, know how to make it work. It was never going to be used only against powerful men who deserve it.
As someone here a few weeks ago said, the backlash is going to be huge, spectacular and awful. And there will be one. Shouldn’t be so, but there will be.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Similarly in MI-5 (Flint-Saginaw-Bay City), which was represented by Dale Kildee (D) for 36 years, 1977-2013. He was succeeded by his nephew Dan Kildee, who is the current rep.
Miss Bianca
@Heidi Mom: yep, I remember that passage well. Patriarchal enforcer makes her bank telling other women they ought to be happy staying home and baking cookies, and then gets forced into it herself and is furious. Keep thinking that right-wing women will learn that patriarchal enforcement is a sucker’s game, but hey…it’s been “working”, after a fashion, for them for thousands of years now. Le sigh.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
You Democrat wimmins have no sense of humor.
[Writing that reminded me of a former boss who, after being inappropriate toward a couple of women in the group, tried to pass it off as “Hey, I was just joking around!” and said they didn’t get that he was just kidding. Except that I witnessed at least one of the incidents, and his behavior (comments, not touching) was worthy of getting punched.
HR gave him a stern talking-to, that was about it.]
different-church-lady
Well, at least we have the comfort of knowing we’re the minority party of not supporting pedophiles.
That gets us, what, a credit slip for three minor bills passed, right?
Emma
@different-church-lady: Oh yeah. And free ice-cream in heaven for eternity.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, of course. I hope none of my comments suggested otherwise. But I can still be heartbroken that a musician I greatly admired has, among his other sins/crimes, tainted an art form I love.
I’m not a football fan at all, but I can kind of sympathize with the Penn State fans a few years ago when the Sandusky/Paterno story broke. One can fully condemn the behavior and the perpetrators/enablers, fully sympathize with their victims, and simultaneously grieve that a previously much-loved sport or art or industry or institution has been tainted.
TenguPhule
@d58826:
That hasn’t been true for a long time in Hawaii.
Marcopolo
@martian: Once someone is no longer in Congress the Ethics Committee no longer has jurisdiction over them. So yes the investigation will go away.
ruemara
@different-church-lady: Meanwhile, the conservative stacked USSC is hearing a religious-based version of Jim Crow case and I can see it passing along party lines. The tax bill is specifically designed to hurt democratic states, allies and destroy government divisions that do important work. But we ditched Conyers and Franken should go too. Farenthold’s jowly ass is still sitting there, Moore’s neck & neck in Alabama, but at least we’ve showed the conservatives that we’re moral!
My green card expires in 2019. If I seem a tetch pissed, it’s because I am.
TenguPhule
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Al Franken could skullfuck Susan Collins and Alaska Bimbo on the Senate Floor right now and I’d clap and eat popcorn.
Fuck Civility at this point.
d58826
@MJS: Yes I remember reading the gossip on that. Not much new under the sun
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Not just an older, more experienced actress — Bancroft was married to Hoffman’s friend Mel Brooks. Hoffman dropped a part in The Producers to be in The Graduate.
Brachiator
@germy:
At the time of the production of “The Graduate,” Hoffman was 29 and Anne Bancroft was 35, not a huge age difference. Mike Nichols photographed her so that she looked older.
And we’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of the release of “The Graduate,” which had its premiere December 22, 1967. Still holds up pretty well.
d58826
was just watching Pete Willoiams explain the great cake case before SCOTUS. The baker is claiming that his cakes have 1st amendment rights because they are works of art. We have run out of rabbit holes to go down.
And an interesting visual from the WH today. In spite of all the ‘mean’ things Jeff Flake has said about Der Fuhrer, there he was sitting at his right side during a meeting on trade. Der Fuhrer was using it as an opportunity to praise Moore again. At the end of the day there are jelly fish with more ‘backbone’ than the members of the GOP.
Citizen Alan
@Steve Crickmore:
Are you seriously comparing John Conyers to Robert Mugabe?!? Jesus H. Christ!
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: Why the HELL would anybody go to a Starbucks in Hawaii? Christ, you guys have the greatest coffee in the world (I know, I’ve tried most of ’em) coming right to you from the Big Island.
I want to move to Kailua-Kona but the wife is not having it. She wants to live in Manhattan. Gonna be an interesting retirement, assuming most of it is not spent in GOP concentration camps.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
I appreciate how you balanced your recognition of the great talent of the conductor and your clear disapproval of his behavior.
d58826
thought for the day
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Citizen Alan: I have trouble keeping track of trolls, but I do believe Steve (that name again…) has a recurring role as a racist pop-up
BellyCat
@The Moar You Know:
“Winning”?!?!
Oh… Thought we were supposed to be “whining”.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
It does. It was one of the TCM Big Screen Classics not long ago, and was the first time I had seen it all the way through since 1967.
msdc
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Yes, it is awfully inconvenient for all those people who are assaulted or harrassed by their peers.
Ben Cisco
@ruemara:
I didn’t think a written description of Pajama Boy could get any worse than what I had seen previously. Clearly I was wrong. Well done.
Ben Cisco
@Citizen Alan: Pastry time!
d58826
Totally OT but Russia has been banned from the 2018 Olympics due to doping charges.
patrick II
@Barbara:
she probably voted for him though, hate or not.
geg6
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
“Ooooo, do it again like that, Mother. Ahhh, Mother, more, more, more!”
“I see you’ve been a bad boy, Mikey. Crawl over here and Mother will punish you.”
Creepy, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.
geg6
@SiubhanDuinne:
The difference being that you sympathize with the fans, but no one seems to sympathize with the fellow employees who had nothing whatsoever to do with it. In fact, I am regularly excoriated for working at Penn State here. I don’t see that happening with the other musicians at the Met or the entire Miramax employee roster. But it happens to us all the time, like we were accessories to the crime because we work for the same institution. Hell, I work at a campus almost 200 miles away from the main campus and people right here at BJ have held me responsible for Sandusky.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@geg6: I haven’t wanted to type it out, but I agree. That’s their kink. I’d bet money on it.
(My grandfather (b. 1899) called my grandmother (b. 1900) “Mother”, but the older I get, and thinking about them, the more surprised I am they didn’t use “Mr” and “Mrs” with each other. Not warm people)
The Simp in the Suit
@Fair Economist: I don’t think Jimmy Carter would do it. Neither would Obama.
But then, they don’t have sons.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6:
That’s not the case. I didn’t specifically mention the Met orchestra musicians, or stage crew, or lighting designers, or costumiers, or singers. But I assume they are as devastated by the news as anyone else, and of course I sympathize with them. And surely no one would hold them in any way responsible. I’m sorry people blame you for Sandusky/Paterno. That’s just wrong.
The Simp in the Suit
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She’s lazy and stupid.
Someone has told her that this is a calculus that will both keep her in good standing with The Party and won’t result in losing the next election.
J R in WV
@The Moar You Know:
Regarding your custom pistol, I tried to fly to Arizona back in April, got as far as Atlanta, where storms the day before (!) had left Delta in a total shambles. After spending a night standing in line rather than in the front of an MD-80, when I finally reached the front of the re-ticketing line I just asked for a return flight home, as my business was already ending our west.
When I finally flew out of Atlanta, some of the the WVU shooting team was on board, after just winning the NCAA national championships. When we landed, most of their rifles were AWOL when luggage came up!
I’m pretty sure those babies are 5 figures each. I think only two showed up. I’m sure the rest appeared eventually, because it would have been big news if championship rifles disappeared. But still, if I was responsible for 8 or 10 match-grade rifles, whoo what a bad feeling when they didn’t all pop out of the luggage chute into the sunlight.
My checked to Arizona bag was on the flight back home, no idea how the luggage guys could be so together and the rest of the operation such a total failure, but there it was.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Tourists. Lots and lots of tourists.
She probably wants to sleep soundly at night. We have a small frog problem on the Big Island.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Simp in the Suit:
Jimmy Carter has three sons. They are a good bit older than Amy and never lived in the WH during Jimmy’s presidency. One of them (Jack, I think, or maybe Chip) ran for a Senate seat from Colorado or Nevada or someplace a few years ago. And grandson Jason Carter ran for governor of Georgia in 2014.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
A frog problem? Have you ever been to NYC? The first night I spent there in my wife’s 7th story apartment on 55th street I was pooped from my flight, cab ride, and going out to dinner, so we went to bed early around 10:30. Pretty normal traffic noise outside, cars, horns, people.
At midnight there was a hugely tremendous crash outside – the loudest urban crash I had ever heard. It was as if someone had pushed a steel dumpster off the top of a parking deck and it fell onto the concrete streets. I nearly jumped out of bed, but then laid back down.
And then it happened again, just a few moments after the first crash. It actually went on all night. They were tearing up the street and sidewalk, and dumping the big pieces of material into dumpsters to truck out of downtown. They work on the streets from midnight to about 6 am, so as to lessen the effect on in town traffic.
Frogs, I’ve heard them all over the big island. They sound sweet and rural to me, and to most people. I saw the exterminator trucks guaranteeing to kill all the frogs – that would be illegal most places, because frogs are part of the ecosystem.
Try a jackhammer, end loaders, dumpsters and trucks all night long!! You couldn’t hear frogs over the industrial roar!!
And it was a minor repair to something buried under the sidewalk, not even building a new subway!