Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Fight them, without becoming them!

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

This fight is for everything.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

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

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Optimism opens the door to great things.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2017 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Find Joy Where You Can

Monday Morning Open Thread: Find Joy Where You Can

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What’s on the agenda, as we start the new week?
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***********

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Meanwhile, in Alabama…

Reader Interactions

195Comments

  1. 1.

    Ohio Mom

    Ha! On gun manufacturers. In addition to losing the scary president to term limits, they’ve saturated their market. And were too dumb to see any of this coming, and clearly never gave a moment’s thought to diversifying.

    Good morning all!

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    What’s on the agenda, as we start the new week?.

    A colonoscopy… for my wife. Currently waking her up every 15 mins or so to make sure she gets another dose of the vile piss they make you drink. She’s threatening divorce right now.

  4. 4.

    akryan

    If Dems can’t win in AL with a really good candidate against maybe the worst senate candidate in living memory, then Alabama is without hope. Even before the child predator shit coming up, Moore was an absolute nut case. In a sane state he would be barking about the end times from a street corner.

  5. 5.

    ruemara

    Went to bed in time to get a full 7+ hours before an early flight. Woke up an hour ago after 3 hours of snoozing & I can’t get back to sleep. I guess I’m starting this week cranky.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    Temperatures today are going to reach the fifties, and that will help with snow removal. I was in Boston during the great snow event, and I returned to down limbs and lots of snow. There are privets between my house and a neighbors, and I don’t see them being trimmed back before the holidays. It might be time to buy boots.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Chord progressions today for The Girl and me. After much work, my motor skills are good enough (and my left pinky finger finally strong and flexible enough) to form chord shapes in a sufficiently timely fashion. (A jackal commented to say I hadn’t mentioned The Girl in some time. We’re both touched that you guys care.)

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Yep, that;s the one. And she was up all night because she had to use the toilet every 15 mins. Now all she wants is sleep and I keep waking her up. Speaking of which…

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @OzarkHillbilly: And she couldn’t drink the next 8 ozs. I’m gonna give her a half hour and then we’ll try again. She is this close to the point where I am going to say, “Close enough to done.”

  12. 12.

    Mustang Bobby

    Cold snap in Miami (current temp 50F at my house). On the train this morning there was a guy all bundled up: stocking cap, scarf, heavy jacket… and shorts and sandals below.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    From ProPublica: A Dubious Arrest, a Compromised Prosecutor, a Tainted Plea: How One Murder Case Exposes a Broken System

    If any case should cause prosecutors to concede mistakes, Nethercott said, it’s Smith’s. “What’s so striking about Demetrius’ case is there are very few times when you come in with an innocence claim that’s supported, endorsed and proven by the Unites States government,” she said. “If that doesn’t move people, it’s hard to see what would.”

  18. 18.

    magurakurin

    @PsiFighter37: me too. I certainly hope he does win though. But not real hope hope. There are some people who are following it pretty closely, though, who think he has a good shot at it. I will celebrate if he wins. It will be a crap fest of boasting from Shitgibbon if Moore wins. It will be horrible.

  19. 19.

    Emma

    @rikyrah: Hey, first time being up early enough to say good morning back! I wish it were for a better reason. My dad is in rehab and he seems to be suffering from night terrors. Second day in a row he’s woken me up in a panic at around 4:30. My sister called the night nurse and she said he was asleep. Sigh.

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    @Ohio Mom:

    Ha! On gun manufacturers. In addition to losing the scary president to term limits, they’ve saturated their market. And were too dumb to see any of this coming, and clearly never gave a moment’s thought to diversifying.

    If there were a left-side version of Alex Jones, your comment would trigger (sorry) a response of “The NRA will set up a false-flag operation to boost gun sales.” [Not quite sure what that false-flag would take the form of, but it would be something on the order of “the blacks rioted in Sleepy Suburb, Iowa, and raped a bunch of soccer moms and killed scores of brave police officers.”]

    By the way: anybody have any tinfoil they can spare? Mine’s a little ratty.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @SFAW: oh I have tinfoil aplenty. Costco has a deal on two rolls of the heavy duty stuff. Which leads me to ask —

    Whatever happened to the Los Vegas shooting investigation? That’s it? We don’t know why the guy did it or who he really was? But why did ISIS claim responsibility almost immediately which they almost never do?

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    Alabama has the worst poverty than anywhere in the developed world:

    Roy Moore will fix that! Unfortunately, his method would get Alabama moved from “developed” to “undeveloped,” but at least it wouldn’t be at the bottom of the list at that point.

    Close to it, but not the absolute bottom.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @magurakurin:

    It will be a crap fest of boasting from Shitgibbon if Moore wins.

    And if moore loses it will be a crapfest of complaning about witch hunts and rigged elections. Face it, America is just a nonstop crapfest.

  29. 29.

    Derelict

    Sadly, I can see a scenario in which Jones wins by a couple of points. And then McConnell refuses to seat him because Moore “should have won” and, besides, Jones is a Democrat. With the Supreme Court now stacked with conservatives, I can see a new Constitutional principle being set that the Senate Majority Leader gets a final say on who gets seated as a Senator.
    After all, we have already established a new Constitutional principle that Democratic presidents are no longer allowed to appoint Supreme Court justices.

  31. 31.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Quinerly:

    So far, U.N. investigators have visited cities and towns in California and Alabama, and will soon travel to Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

    Uh oh. Well, U.N. you had a good run at your New York Headquarters. I’m sure France will take you in.

  32. 32.

    NobodySpecial

    Forgive me for sounding overly optimistic, but special elections are all about boots on the ground doing gotv and enthusiasm. I’m not seeing the amounts of money on their side or the total enthusiasm for the pedophile that I do on our side for this stuff. If Alabama Dems on the ground do a good job of rounding up votes, I’m sure Jones takes it.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: Only until I drop her off at the hospital. Then I get to take her car for an oil change and safety inspection. After that it will be time for the post-colonoscopy all you can eat banquet.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: I know. It is not humanly possible to drink all they say you have to drink in the time frames they require. Or at least not Hillbillyly possible. There are about 2 &1/2 cups left in the jug. Close enough. She’s sleeping now.

  43. 43.

    satby

    @rikyrah: I swear to god I saw the same guy, also shirtless, striding down Lincolnway street here in South Bend when it was snowing here and just under 30 degrees out. He was walking a dog. Strange.

  44. 44.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I have a theory, for what thats worth. I think they know most people hate that stuff and struggle to choke it down. Few get all of it done. The increase the amount they require so people don’t quite early. You may only need half as much but if people believed that they would still thin 2/3rds of the amount was close enough. If they tell you a gallon you are more likely to drink 1/2 a gallon. If they said 1/2 gallon a lot of people would only drink a quart

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Amir Khalid: Glad to hear you’re enjoying the process of becoming proficient! You’ll have to make a YouTube of yourself playing once you feel like sharing a tune so we can all enjoy it!

  47. 47.

    Ian G.

    @Ohio Mom:

    As a marketing professional, I honestly think those lunatic ads are aimed at liberals. The NRA is trying to open a new market segment by convincing people like us that the Trumpkins are going to massacre us all.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:

    When a business is unable to service its debt or pay its creditors, the business or its creditors can file with a federal bankruptcy court for protection under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11.
    In Chapter 7, the business ceases operations, a trustee sells all of its assets, and then distributes the proceeds to its creditors. Any residual amount is returned to the owners of the company.
    In Chapter 11, in most instances the debtor remains in control of its business operations as a debtor in possession, and is subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the court.[2]

    I do not want to allow the NRA to be put on life support. I want the NRA dead dead dead,

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @satby:

    There’s a guy in my neighborhood who runs shirtless and in shorts throughout the year, even in snowstorms. He wears a Santa hat this time of year. At other times, he’ll run by in a jester cap. Weird dude.

  51. 51.

    Schlemazel

    @PsiFighter37:

    I sent him $50 a couple months ago because I thought it is good to fight the bastards at every turn. I would have sent more if I could have, particularly after his history came out. But after all that I still don’t expect him to win. I will be surprised if he gets to the upper 40s, it is Alabama and always will be. He could pull it off I suppose but it will be a miracle and those have been in amazingly short supply.

  53. 53.

    mike in dc

    Happening today: Trump accusers press conference at 10:30.
    Manafort/Gates court appearance (presumably involving their bail conditions)

  56. 56.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    I’ve gotten so good at the tinfoil hats that I’m making fascinators worthy of the royals with the stuff.

    Did you hear Roy Moore say he’s more akin to Putin and then deliver a message to him in fluent Russian?

  57. 57.

    gene108

    @Quinerly:

    1. Have they looked at Mississippi? They can give Alabama a run for its money on poverty.
    2. I bet the areas with the worst poverty and environmental quality are largely African-American, though it is not explicitly stated in the article.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ian G.: That occurred to me too. The ads with Dana Loesch come about as close to calling for open season on liberals as legally possible.

  60. 60.

    Schlemazel

    @Ian G.:
    They have done similar. A couple of decades ago they noticed women don’t buy and carry so they made a special effort to target women in their ads. The manufacturers joined in and made smaller frame pistols, some with pink accents (Isn’t that precious?) S&W had a whole line called “LadySmith” (double precious!). But their market was played out long ago & the only sales these days are to the same tiny group that owns most of the guns already. Its a dying business (pun unintended) and the only questions are how long can the zombie shuffle along and how much mor3e damage will it do to America?

  61. 61.

    HeleninEire

    Just got the formal offer from DCU. I get 21 vacation days, the week between Xmas and New yrs, and 9 bank holidays off. That’s 36 days off. I love academia.

    And they didn’t even tell me how many sick days! Not that I ever take sick days. I must have given back 2 years of sick days in my life. And that is not a complaint. I thank the Goddess for good health.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe)

    By binding agreement ceding the site, the land on which sits the U.N. New York headquarters complex (approx. 18 acres) is extra-territorial, neither owned nor operated by the U.S.

    The site of UN Headquarters is owned by the United Nations. It is an international territory. No federal, state or local officer or official of the United States, whether administrative, judicial, military or police, may enter UN Headquarters, except with the consent of and under conditions agreed to by the Secretary-General of the Organization.

    However, the United Nations is bound by an agreement with the United States, its host country, to prevent its Headquarters from being used as a refuge for persons attempting to avoid arrest under the Federal, State or local laws of the United States. People being extradited by the United States Government are also denied use of United Nations Headquarters in attempts to avoid arrest. The UN has its own fire fighting and security forces, and its own post office branch. Source

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gene108: The UN guy is in Butler and Lowndes Counties, the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt (originally named for the color of the soil but now meaning something else)

  66. 66.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Naw, he’d rationalize it away. I just listened to the head of CWA state that even though she’d suffered sexual harassment and sexual abuse, she was voting for Roy Moore because he deserved due process and a fair hearing.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:

    she was voting for Roy Moore because he deserved due process and a fair hearing.

    Wait a minute, he’s been arrested? How’d I miss that?

  74. 74.

    satby

    @debbie: I think it’s some sort of bodybuilding thing, cold activates the brown fat in our bodies to burn off the unhealthy white fat that might hide muscle definition. But there must be easier ways!

  76. 76.

    HeartlandLiberal

    We are originally from Alabama, but left in 1969.

    We had good friends visit us overnight twice in past few months on their way to and back from Madison, where their son started grad school this year. Particle physics. He got a double dose of good genes, and is,to be frank, a genius

    They live in Mountain Brook, a well to do suburb just over the mountain to the southeast of Birmingham. They are utterly disgusted that Alabama is willing to elect Roy Moore. They say they know no one who voted for him in the primary, even their Republican friends. They say it is almost impossible to find a Roy Moore yard sign. Yet they believe he will squeak it out.

    Because: Alabama.

    It all really comes down to turnout. If you are a Democrat in Alabama, you gave up years ago Hell, we gave up fifty years ago when I finished college. Many of our friends from college fled the state, too, and have never returned.

    Yet if the Black population in Alabama could be motivated to turn out and vote, their numbers are great enough to put Jones in the Senate.

    Jones is the one who finally got some shreds of justice for the four little Black girls killed in thehurch bombing, when I was a teenager.
    You would hope that would motivate someone.

    Anyway, I honestly weep for my home state. I just read an article on RawStory reporting that UN human rights observers visiting rural Alabama have found poverty and lack of even modern sewage facilities that rank right up there with the worst spots in the undeveloped third world.

    I am honestly not surprised.

    P.S. If you ever do visit Birmingham, DO NOT MISS the Civil Rights museum, which is in the block adjoining south of the church that was bombed. It is one of the finest museums I have ever visited ,that uses traditional displays and adds video and media, to make an entire century of history come alive before your eyes. It has deservedly become a must see attraction. Also, walk through Kelly Ingram park across the street to the east. You can walk between two statues that are of police officers holding their dogs on leashes as they lunge at you as you walk between them. The museum also house the driver end of the bus that was firebombed in Anniston.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    Well, I’m gonna be optimistic about the Alabama election. If Jones wins it will be a much better win that your average win so there’s a huge upside and if he loses- well, everyone thought he would lose anyway.

    I’m amazed they got such a high quality candidate in such a red state. Whatever you think about Alabama they somehow came up with this Jones guy so they can’t be all bad :)

    Imagine our how furious our petulant, petty, mean-spirited president and his low quality administration will be if the child molester loses. Imagine how mad the multi-millionaire professional liars on Fox will be if this propaganda campaign they’re conducting fails. Horrible people. It’s a long shot but they could lose big. Delightful!

  80. 80.

    satby

    @NotMax: no, sigh. Exhausting weekend with whiteout conditions Saturday causing a jackknifed semi and closed road in my way home from a bazaar I was vending at, resulting in a long detour over unplowed icy country roads to get home. I really hate driving in extreme winter weather as I get older and less agile. Took the dogs out and fell asleep in my chair. Now planned for later this week.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    Jones was a good candidate. I know that it’s Alabama, but he deserved all the support that could be given. It really is about GOTV at this point.

  83. 83.

    Peale

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: part of me knows that Trump has his eyes on redevelopment of all that property the Rockefellers gave to the UN. Worth billions if he could remove those pesky tenants. At the same time there already is a trump tower by the UN which is probably filled with people who do business with them. So maybe keeping his current building solvent will prevent him from leaving altogether.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I saw on Twitter they have bad call lists, but “bad call lists” is a constant now with cell phones so maybe they’re no worse than usual.

  85. 85.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @debbie:

    I seem to recall that there was one period of time around 10 years ago when the director of CWA was a man and that most of their blog pieces were written by men.

  86. 86.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning! My dog is not inclined to get out of bed yet, and I’m inclined to agree with him.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it will allow movie theatres to open in the conservative kingdom next year, for the first time in more than 35 years, in the latest social push by the country’s young crown prince.

    It’s a stark reversal in a county where movie theatres were shut down in the 1980’s during a wave of ultraconservatism in the country. Many of Saudi Arabia’s clerics view Western movies and even Arabic films made in Egypt and Lebanon as sinful.
    [snip]
    It was not immediately clear if movie theatres would have family-only sections, segregating women and families from male-only audiences. Another unknown was whether most major Hollywood, Bollywood and Arabic movie releases would be shown in theatres and how heavily edited the content will be.

    In a statement carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the Ministry of Culture and Information said that movie content “will be subject to censorship” to ensure films do not contradict Islamic law, or Shariah, and the kingdom’s moral values.

    The government said it will announce additional regulations in the coming weeks. Source

  89. 89.

    satby

    @satby: and the winter storm watch is back on, extending to 7am Wednesday morning. Expecting another 5-9 inches in top of the 4 still on the ground. Snowing again now.

  90. 90.

    Citizen_X

    @debbie:

    she was voting for Roy Moore because he deserved due process and a fair hearing.

    Fuck, this drives me nuts. THIS IS A JOB INTERVIEW, YOU IDIOT, NOT A TRIAL.

  91. 91.

    Ian G.

    @rikyrah:

    It’s a huge bus terminal an avenue block west of Times Square. The subway lines underneath connect to Times Square station, so we’re talking a big transit hub of subways and buses.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    Also FYI.

    Three people have been arrested for allegedly throwing firebombs at a synagogue in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, the second anti-Jewish attack in the Nordic nation in two days. Jewish groups condemned the attacks as “unconscionable” and demanded that authorities take action.

    No one was injured in the attack late Saturday during a youth event at the synagogue and the adjacent Jewish centre in Sweden’s second-largest city. Gothenburg police spokesperson Peter Nordengard said Sunday it is being investigated as an attempted arson.

    The attack took place after some 200 people rallied late Friday in the southern city of Malmo, yelling anti-Jewish slogans and waving Palestinian flags to protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Source

  95. 95.

    dimmsdale

    @rikyrah: rikyah: all of those. Major bus terminal, where all the suburban commuter bus lines come in & out, and all the intercity/state bus lines come in & out. Plus, below that, an intersection point for a bunch of main subway lines. If the intention was to snarl traffic at the height of the AM rush hour, a pipe bomb would do nicely.

    Interesting that at this point the digital papers (Wapo, NYTimes) have nothing on this. I read it here first, then realized I’ve been hearing a hovering chopper overhead for the last half hour, plus sirens occasionally (I’m 40 blocks away)–hovering choppers and sirens usually a sign of some sort of transit disaster (or a major demonstration, e.g. Occupy back when).

  96. 96.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Bad call lists are a given everywhere. People move, change numbers, plus cell phones, and the only answer is to keep calling all the numbers you have and clean up the lists as you go. Door to door work is important too, and maybe even more effective.

  97. 97.

    Shana

    On the subject of “Find Joy Where You Can” and from last night’s conversation about Hallmark Christmas movies, I open the WaPo this morning, start reading the Style section and there’s a big article about Hallmark Christmas movies.

    Is the author a BJ reader or are we just very good at tapping into the zeitgeist?

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Jones was a good candidate. I know that it’s Alabama, but he deserved all the support that could be given.

    Was listening to Morning Edition (NPR) interviewing the head of some national talibangelical group (might have been the same thing debbie @ 66 heard). I had to shut it off a couple of times because her insanity was getting too many “FUCK YOUs” from me. Anyway, this jeenyus said that Doug Jones was worse than Moore because he is “pro-abortion.” Also, she thought it was curious that the WaPo waited “until the last minute” to do the story about the (fake) complaints about Moore’s pedophile nature.

    Fucking evil assholes. They have no understanding that, were Jesus REALLY to come back, they’d be the first ones cast into Hell, and Jesus would be A-OK with the liberals. Being able to witness that is almost justification enough to become a non-atheist.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    Shorthand for Port Authority Bus Terminal.

    ABC News quotes police sources as saying that a possible pipe bomb was detonated in a passageway below ground at the terminal.

    One person is in custody and there is at least one injury, according to cable networks.

    The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the largest in the US, serving more than 65 million people a year. Source

  104. 104.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That’s how I’m choosing to view it too. If Jones wins, that’s yet another repudiation of Trump — from deepest red Alabama — and a sign of how far the Trump Republican Party has fallen, that they’d endorse a nutcase who has been credibly accused of child molestation and sexual assault. If Moore wins, well, it’s ‘Bama, and a nutcase and child molester will join the US Senate courtesy of the Trump Republican Party.

    I’ve seen folks imply that it won’t make any difference if Moore joins the US Senate since the Republicans are already round the bend and their president is a non-stop embarrassment anyway. I can see why people might make that assumption, but Moore is a different brand of crazy — and an attention seeker.

  111. 111.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Quinerly:

    Personally, I’ve stopped giving a shit. If our press devoted a fraction of the effort they’re throwing at these stories, we’d have had detailed mainstream articles on Trump’s bankruptcies, Ivanka’s sweatshops, Trump corruption, Kushner corruption, NRA perfidy, etc.

    Instead, the world is going to hell in a handbasket and feminist activists are using anonymous claimants to pick off prominent liberal men for 20 year old complaints and advocating a social conduct code that exists literally no place on earth.

    Done.

  114. 114.

    Shalimar

    @Betty Cracker: Moore is also very anti-McConnell after the primary. Even if he is a lockstep vote for Republican bills, he will still provide voluminous quotes about how horrible they are.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    In the 2004 Bush/Kerry election in Ohio Republicans ran specifically against gay people. One of the most disgusting aspects of that was fundamentalist Christians saying gay men were pursuing little boys. We knew it was resonating even among rural Democrats because they would do this fake-concern thing- “can we REASSURE parents on this?” No. Because you’re dumb and you won’t admit you believe it.

    Fast forward to 2017 and I am now watching Republicans enthusiastically endorse a child molester.

    They can blame Trump all they want and David Brooks can get all weepy but this was a process- they got here. They took steps and time and effort to end up here. It will take steps and time to knock them back. And it DOES change – they won’t be able to run another anti-gay people campaign in Ohio. As it turns out the 2004 Bush effort was the last gasp but none of us knew that when we lost in 2004 and we were despondent and hopeless.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    @Shalimar

    Should it come to pass (FSM forbid), will Moore throw a Richter scale tantrum when he discovers he can’t carry his widdle gun into the Senate chamber?

  120. 120.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    Yeah – gay marriage was barely on the horizon (and my gay friends – even those who had partnered up – were not super keen on the idea of marriage), and the next thing I know, there are constitutional measures on ballots all over the country that fall in order to make it hard to do by legislative action.

  121. 121.

    Quinerly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Cranky much?? Posted because a teaser was posted on another thread….hell, maybe the teaser was earlier in this thread. People were speculating and I follow the Eater site. I’m actually sick of everything coming back around and having to be about Al Franken. Read or don’t read. Yes, I’m snotty today.

  122. 122.

    Ben Cisco

    @Kay:

    Well, I’m gonna be optimistic about the Alabama election. If Jones wins it will be a much better win that your average win so there’s a huge upside and if he loses- well, everyone thought he would lose anyway.

    I’m amazed they got such a high quality candidate in such a red state. Whatever you think about Alabama they somehow came up with this Jones guy so they can’t be all bad :)

    Quoted for truth.

  124. 124.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    @Schlemazel: Actually, black people are still getting that message loud and clear.

    Black gun owners groups such as the National African-American Gun Association and the Black Gun Owners Association have their membership rolls booming. We are purchasing firearms at a rate unheard of before Mango Mussolini ascended to the White Man’s House.

    It is, in fact, the only thing for which I can honestly say, “Thanks, Trump–” firearms and ammunition prices are dropping and I and many others of color are taking full advantage.

    You see, history shows us that in times like these we become targets for mobs of angry white men- and some of us are determined to take some of them to Hell with us.

    Red Summer 1919
    Tulsa 1921
    Rosewood 1923

  127. 127.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    Something totally different for a Monday morning from a favorite magazine. Short travel film on Mongolia.

    How did Poco like Mongolia? Is he in the film?

  129. 129.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    On the Challmark channel, natch.

    Win.

    ETA: Although I’m slightly disappointed that you didn’t work in something about a challah bush or challah berries.

  132. 132.

    Shalimar

    @NotMax: Are we 100% sure that senators can’t carry a gun anywhere they want? The only thing I am pretty sure of is that they don’t go through the metal detector.

  134. 134.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @MomSense:

    Did you hear Roy Moore say he’s more akin to Putin and then deliver a message to him in fluent Russian?

    Digby had (still has) that clip up. Apparently RM memorized the phrase years ago. Still disconcerting to hear, and the look on his face as he says it is beyond weird.

  136. 136.

    chopper

    @Derelict:

    if jones wins by a hair, you can count on the GOP recounting and litigating the race such that jones doesn’t take his seat for a while.

  137. 137.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    That’s terrific! Know you have loved your year of exploring and pub-crawling, but you must be pretty excited about starting this great new job.

  138. 138.

    Betty Cracker

    @SiubhanDuinne: True. From the photos / videos on Twitter, it appears the suspect had the bomb strapped to his midsection. Since he’s still alive and in one piece, looks like the bomb malfunctioned, which is fortunate.

  140. 140.

    PaulWartenberg

    finding out there was a pipe bomb explosion in NYC. I hope people are okay and that it turns out to be a crazy old white dude because it’ll mean Fox Not-News will cover it by blaming Hillary and Obama.

  141. 141.

    Sab

    Totally off topic, but I am a tax accountant. Here we are in mid-December and we have no idea what the tax law will be for next year. My clients have to budget and plan. Bigger businesses have to program their computers to track the correct data. And no one knows what the law is because they passed a law before they wrote it.

    I try to call my allegedly business friendly Republican Senator Rob Portman to express my concern, and every office has its answering machine turned on.

    He wrote an editorial published in all the major papers in the state defending this abomination of a tax bill. He wrote defending a bill that doesn’t actually exist yet.

    Urk!

    We don’t even know how much of it is retroactive. About ten years ago the GOP substantially changed a lot of the corporate tax rules retroactively on March 30 when the corporate returns had been due March 15.

  144. 144.

    AliceBlue

    @Betty Cracker:
    Here’s what terrifies me: If Moore wins, given his ego, he will make a run for the presidency. After last year, who’s to say that he won’t win the nomination and the election (courtesy of the Electoral College).

  146. 146.

    Kay

    Just 32% support the GOP tax plan; 48% oppose it, per USA Today/Suffolk U.
    That’s the lowest level of public support for any major piece of legislation enacted in the past three decades, including Obamacare in 2009.

    I feel like the overt, public contempt plutocrats now show towards regular people is refreshing. They no longer bother with the smarmy BS about “opportunity”. They’re like “fuck you- we’re taking everything and we don’t give a shit what you think about it”

    They loathe us as much as we loathe them.

  148. 148.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Sab: Welcome to government work! The kick-the-can continuing resolutions do the same thing to government workers, who have no idea what will happen once a budget is decided. Will they have spent their full budgets already and have to do barely-legal workarounds? Will they have to cancel contracts? Can the project proceed? All the fun of living with a Congress determined to break the country.

  150. 150.

    SFAW

    @Shalimar:

    Are we 100% sure that senators can’t carry a gun anywhere they want?

    I thought I read somewhere (maybe here) that the NRA does not allow persons to bring guns into their headquarters.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    i loved the Crown – one of favorite lines of all time is when she tells her horrible husband who is making fun of the African- “it’s not a hat, it’s a crown“. “You idiot” is left unsaid.

    Royalty recognizes fellow royalty :)

  154. 154.

    Cheryl Rofer

  156. 156.

    Jack the Second

    @Ian G.: Does anything but the blue line actually run under Port Authority? I think everything else is under Times Square through that long-ass tunnel.

  157. 157.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Betty Cracker: I simply don’t get this obsession about the British royal family that so many seem to have. Living off blood money for centuries but so cute.

    ETA: Nazis had to return their loot but British royalty still wears theirs as crown jewels.
    Lesson: Loot from other places than Europe, then you will be loved.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I quit Netflix because my daughter made me get Hulu so we could watch Handmaid’s Tale and I’m a miser so I can’t have TWO streaming services. What am I, made of money! ?

    I do stupid shit like this all the time. I can’t buy anything without a sacrifice that exactly equals the cost of the new thing. My daughter is really good at not paying for things she thinks ‘we’ must have WHILE making fun of my dickensian miser tendencies. It’s magical how she pulls this off. I paid her car insurance like 5 years longer than I should have.

  160. 160.

    tobie

    @Sab: I’ve seen Chamber of Commerce like ads for this still unwritten but passed tax bill. Why can’t the Dems organize a variety of ads to attack the tax plan? You can appeal to different constituencies. To the middle class, who will see beloved programs slashed and their taxes go up; to struggling workers who will see their wages go down; to business owners who have no capacity to plan ahead since the details of the bill have yet to be hammered out; to well-heeled suburbanites who should just hate the whole process of getting this thing passed. Fine, let the GOP call it demagoguery. Such an assault on the principles of liberalism and democracy deserves a fiery response.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    Fox News (!) has Doug Jones (!) up 10 pts (!!!) in Alabama.Meanwhile Emerson has new poll with Roy Moore up 9 pts.

    None of this means anything. Don’t say ‘it all comes down to turnout” because THAT is a jinx!

    That’s scientifically a jinx :) It may be too late. Many of you have probably ruined everything.

  164. 164.

    ruemara

    @HeartlandLiberal: I know you mean well, but the black vote is not one that this hangs on. It is unfair, this constant characterization that blacks need to be motivated to vote against the bigoted, repellent conservative running for office. It’s voter suppression that keeps blacks from as much voting as is possible and it is up to unsuppressed white voters to not vote for the disgusting, bigoted, pedophile.

    @rikyrah: Port Authority is both a large transit hub & where the headquarters of the transit lines cops & regulating authorities have key offices.

  166. 166.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kay:

    I can just hear that conversation in my head! Guessing (but won’t know until I watch) that the African monarch in question was the wonderful Queen Sālote of Tonga. She charmed everyone at the Coronation.

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    @Schlemazel: On the one hand, Dems have been doing very, very well in elections since Donnie won. +15-20% compared to November, against more conventional Republicans. Will it be enough in Alabama? Dunno.

    On the other hand, Republican donors furious over RNC support of Moore.

    On the gripping hand, the only way things are going to get better in Washington is by winning elections. The wind is at our back, but we have to fight for every vote. Don’t give into feelings of despair and hopelessness.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    O. Felix Culpa

    So, hive mind, I seek your wisdom. I have taken a two-plus year sabbatical from work life to move and recover from a series of toxic job situations. But now I want to build a garage so that the packrats don’t generate thousands of $$$ in car repairs from chewing up the wiring. You may be shocked to learn that building garages costs money, and a fair amount of it. Not wanting to raid my savings, I’m thinking about seeking paid employment again (sob!). How do I handle explaining the recent hiatus and reference requests? Let’s just say my last employer and I did not part on good terms. :(

  177. 177.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    “If the candidate wasn’t Hillary Clinton Dems would be winning easily”

    Oh, wait. It’s a child molester versus a Democrat who is perfect for Alabama? In that case they’re worried about the economy so will vote for the child molester. Even though Donald Trump has done absolutely nothing for them on the economy.

    Republicans are running out of excuses. It’s becoming more and more clear they’re just horrible

  179. 179.

    Kay

    It’s so weird to lie to pollsters. How pathetic are these people that they give a shit what some random cold caller thinks of them?

    Why bother? We’re going to FIND OUT. If Moore wins it won’t be a big secret that they voted for a child molester.

  180. 180.

    Kathleen

    @Quinerly: There was nice thread on Twitter about this article. I rediscovered my old 45 (with Volt on the label) with Otis’rendition of I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.

  186. 186.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I quit Netflix because my daughter made me get Hulu so we could watch Handmaid’s Tale and I’m a miser so I can’t have TWO streaming services. What am I, made of money! ?

    Kay, between the two of them you’d be paying, what, $20/month?

    Come on, Kay.

  188. 188.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    @O. Felix Culpa: That big a gap in a work history is best explained if you were taking classed or were self employed. Writers, for instance, can always say they wanted to try to write full time but then realized they couldn’t earn a living. Did you do anything like that you can plausibly claim?

    You’ll need an explanation for why you left your previous job. Don’t lie. Write down why you did, explaining the reasons to yourself as clearly as possible. Then tell it to a friend who will help you work to sound fairly neutral.

    You must have other reference you can claim: jobs before the last one or a pastor maybe.

  189. 189.

    Ben Cisco

    @ruemara:

    @HeartlandLiberal: I know you mean well, but the black vote is not one that this hangs on. It is unfair, this constant characterization that blacks need to be motivated to vote against the bigoted, repellent conservative running for office. It’s voter suppression that keeps blacks from as much voting as is possible and it is up to unsuppressed white voters to not vote for the disgusting, bigoted, pedophile.

    Again, quoted for truth.

  190. 190.

    MoxieM

    @JPL: Which one? I was round for ’68, and ’78 (when Gov Dukakis called out the National Guard!); um… 92 or was it 93?; then the heinous winters of 2013 and 14 which were…heinous. And I had just moved to the snow-ward side of a ski slope-hill-bump. whatever. Anyway, it got a hella lot of more snow (micro climate is real) than even I was used to.

    So– which one was yours?

  191. 191.

    Aleta

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Quinerly linked to a story about discrimination in the workplace, which I think is legally defined as a civil rights violation (for now at least), and is also about employer liability. The restaurant industry cares about this, and lawyers with an interest in workplace liability do too. Care a lot I bet. It’s fine if you don’t, or if you’re tired, but you misrepresented the issue — the article is not about anonymous claimants and not about advocating a social conduct code.

  192. 192.

    J R in WV

    @Quinerly:

    Alabama has the worst poverty than anywhere in the developed world

    And they have worked damned hard to make sure of that! I have little to no sorrow for what the racists have done to Alabama as they tried their best to keep the peoples of color down.

    Lowering your foundation lowers your whole house!

    The last few times I have driven through Alabama it was just that – drive all day long, maybe a stop for gas, a bathroom break, and lunch, then back on the road. There are a couple of small pools of modern thought, Huntsville and the Redstone Arsenal, and the Mercedes Benz plant, for example. And around the universities.

    But most of it is happy to be stuck in the 1950s… best I can tell. We shall see tomorrow. I’ve invested a lot of money in Doug Jones, I hope it pays off!! I didn’t think doing phone work or visiting to do door-to-door would have helped that much, I can’t even fake that kind of accent. Wouldn’t want to, what if it stuck?

  193. 193.

    J R in WV

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Tell them exactly what you told us – you took a sabbatical !! Tell them you escaped a toxic work environment, recovered from that, and now want to get back to work because you’re ready to be busy and productive, which you couldn’t really do in your previous work place.

    If you have a previous work experience prior to your last toxic job, use that. Talk about the things you did to improve your capacity to work during your sabbatical, be positive, talk about your ability to succeed.

    Be outgoing. I did hiring for years, and the candidates with a positive attitude who seemed capable of learning new things were the people we hired. One guy got hired because he had bought a new suit for the interview. We knew this because he missed a tag on one sleeve. He had some experience, not with our tools, but being really eager to learn new tools plus the new suit made the difference.

    We always used a small committee to do hiring, because 3 brains are better than one. [This doesn’t mean we didn’t hire some losers, of course! Hiring is HARD, which is why we used a committee. Spread the blame… ] Things are going well economically because the Rs haven’t had time to fuck up Obama’s good economic management, so odds are people need capable new hires.

    Best of luck!

  194. 194.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Ben Cisco: What we need to be saying is that this, like many other elections, depends heavily on the ability of African-American voters to vote freely, without harassment or hindrance. Because these do depend on the Black Vote, but the reasons keeping African-Americans from voting are more often than not external. I wish more of my fellow whites realized the extent and insidiousness of voter suppression work, whether it is ID requirements, lack of places to register, lack of polling places, gerrymandering, or open harassment and retaliation.

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