Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

You cannot shame the shameless.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

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

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

So many bastards, so little time.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

The willow is too close to the house.

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / Elections / I'm With Her 2016 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Counting Down

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Counting Down

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Who’s ready to start fresh, at least with a new calendar?
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265Comments

  3. 3.

    Chyron HR

    Ha ha, everybody knows when Republicans do something it doesn’t set a “precedent”. See the VA house race where it suddenly turned out that you CAN take a spoiled ballot and decide who the person meant to vote for, despite the SCOTUS ruling the exact opposite way in Bush v. Gore.

  8. 8.

    Bostonian

    There is no way to look at that ballot and conclude that the voter intent is clear unless you decided what you want the voter intent to be before you look at it. It should be the reference picture under “spoiled ballot.”

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel

    @Chyron HR:
    Bush v Gore specifically states that the decision cannot be used as a precedent for any other case. The rotten bastards knew what they were doing was bad law and didn’t want to pay fo it down the road.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: From the NWS:

    Overnight
    Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 3am. Low around 29. North wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
    Saturday
    A 50 percent chance of snow, mainly before 9am. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 39. North wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light northwest in the afternoon.

    The very definition of “blech”.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    I would have written sooner but I heard Cole was using Balloon Juice servers to mine bitcoins. Turns out that was FAKE NEWS! I’m glad. I would have missed you jackels.

    I’ll be intermittent for a bit longer. Try not to do anything too stupid in the meantime.

    @Quinerly:
    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  18. 18.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: So now you show up? You picked a fine to just abandon us. Poco’s campaign has gone to the dogs.

    Oops! Poco/Bohdi 2020!??

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s the problem here too. This is the first moisture we’ve had in well over a month and one can’t even call it rain and an inch of snow ain’t squat. If we had any to spare I’d gladly send it your way.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    Snow/freezing rain here (central MA), or what the weather zombies have started calling “a wintry mix” in the last couple of years. (It’s an irrational pet peeve of mine, but I have started to hate that phrase almost as much as I hate the breathless “OMFG Nor’Easter 20XX” when six inches of snow is predicted. I still don’t hate that nearly as much as I hate hearing Shitgibbon’s whine, or seeing his ugly face, of course.)

  29. 29.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    President of the Rose Bowl? DIdn’t know there was such a job.

    “We’re gonna build a float, it’ll be a YOOO-ge float, you’ll get tired of floating. AND MEXICO WILL PAY FOR THE FLOAT”

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel: I would prefer that to what we are forecast. I like winter to actually be winter, not the last dredges of autumn refusing to let go.

  34. 34.

    SFAW

    Maybe this has already been noted in previous threads, but I see from Cole’s twit feed that Joan Walsh has been fired? WTF?

  35. 35.

    Raven

    It’s a comforting that he said the game was started to support the parade and it was meant for people to go to both. That is obviously not the case these days with 800,000 people at the parade!

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    I can only imagine what a nightmare job that is. I was going for the cheap joke.

    BTW – Do you know where Emerson, GA is? I just saw a street sign for the intersection of Old Alabama Rd and Old Old Alabama Rd. Found that humorous too.see: comment 37

  43. 43.

    Schlemazel

    @Raven:
    Jeez don’t say that or they will demand the government fund a 900,000 seat stadium with state of the art corporate suites and 75,000 sq ft video displays!

  44. 44.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Schlemazel: We don’t do government funded stadiums here in LA. Also the folk around the Rose Bowl won’t allow any changes to the current tenancy, and they have the money to hire lots of lawyers.

    ETA: There’s actually been some discussion of UCLA moving it’s games to the new Rams Stadium when it opens in Inglewood.

  49. 49.

    Lee

    I’ve got a serious question for fellow BJer’s.

    It turns out a old college friend is a full blown alt-right nutter (still doesn’t believe Obama was born in Hawaii). He is also CEO of a company that seems to have working partnerships with some of the big hitters in the tech world. What is the best way to get some exposure on this?

  53. 53.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Isn’t today Festivus? I got a lot of problems with you people!

  55. 55.

    Schlemazel

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    And Pasta bless them for being level headed. In the past decade the morons here dumped 3/4 of a billion into a baseball stadium and more than a billion into a large black pustule for the football team to play in. SOcialized cost, privatized profits. Our reward is a week long disruption for the Stupor Bowel early next year.

  62. 62.

    SFAW

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    And yet, the ambulatory cream cheese sculpture is still there.

    Fortunately, I read some of the tweeterings, ’cause I had forgotten that epithet. But in response:
    1) That’s an insult to REAL sculptors everywhere
    2) Fuck Andrew Lack

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    I have been busy with work, and haven’t been online a lot. In fact, I have to work today.
    So, I would appreciate someone clarity.
    Dolt45 signed the Tax Scam this week?
    Thus, making it effective in 2018?

    He didn’t wait until January, which would have made it effective in 2019?

    What is true?

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    There is supposed to be something in the stopgap budget bill that delays the cuts to 2019, but I’m not having luck finding anything on Google.

  66. 66.

    IvankaThrowUp (AKA RedDirtGirl)

    Good morning, friends. Am going to make Adam’s Salted Caramel Cheesecake this christmas. Wish me luck. And welcome back, BAUD!

  68. 68.

    Raven

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: $60 for lots 1 and 2 on the golf course. I just can’t see half-steppin when we’re investing so much anyway. I found out that, if we win, I get national championship tix. They are $475 face and $1800 on stubhub now. With the other side being either Clemson or Bana the price will only rise. That’s when I’ll really be challenged!

  70. 70.

    Lapassionara

    @rikyrah: the bill itself says it becomes effective Jan 1, 2018, per report. This is a very short time. But in April, we will file tax returns under this year’s rules. First paychecks for 2018 income should reflect withholding under new rules. This is what R’s are banking on to sell bill. Look at all the new money we have given you!

    They seemed to have waived the Paygo rules that meant $25 billion a year from Medicare, but I Am hoping the fact that R’s were willing to vote FOR a bill with that effect will get senior’s attention.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: @laura: it’s just more fuel for the fire just more water for the tsunami just more boulders for the landslide

    Hey so about this XM Sirius radio or whatever it’s called … I got a four month free trial with our new outback

    Upside: “Ozzy’s boneyard” – nonstop Judas Priest Ozzy Osbourne and iron maiden

    Downside: I left the radio on “hair nation” last night and the first song that came up this morning when I started the car was a cover of “You’re So Vain” by faster pussycat . It’s good to leave the past behind (at least parts of it!)

  76. 76.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Under appreciated aspect of battle for Senate: *if* D’s could manage a majority, they could use the Garland Precedent to hold off any SCOTUS noms until 2021.

    Oh you know the rage about incivility would be incredible. The whole real objective of the Conservative moment is to protect the corporate citizen.

  78. 78.

    Victor Matheson

    @Bostonian: As a professor who occasionally gives multiple choice tests, I think that ballot is clearly for the GOP candidate. I get answers like this all of the time and have to make a choice. I would have liked to see the Democrat win, but I would people’s choices to be honored even more.

    And yes I know that the racist and stupid electoral college and the partisan gerrymandering clearly violates people’s choices, but that doesn’t mean taking away their choice here.

  82. 82.

    Schlemazel

    @Victor Matheson:
    Assuming the rules were the same for every ballot and there is no evidence of that happening here. How many of the ambiguous ballots would you look at and say “They clearly intended to vote of X not Y”? We don’t know because you only saw this one and the GOP has destroyed the foundation of trust and fairness that is the actual cornerstone of voting. I would no more trust a GOP judge to decide fairly than to trust my child to Jeffrey Dahmer for a dinner date. It didn’t used to be this way but over the last few decades they have amply demonstrated that winning is everything & nothing else counts so cheating is encouraged

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    Not something would make all the time but the tomato-basil bread cranked out yesterday is a tasty change of pace.

    A little morning holiday type music, classical decked out in sprightly modern dress.

  85. 85.

    debit

    @Victor Matheson: Call me crazy, but a ballot isn’t a test sheet. You can take your ballot to any poll worker, say, “I screwed up and need a new ballot.” I think it should have been discounted, but alas am not in charge of anything. Maybe because I’m crazy.

    ETA: @?BillinGlendaleCA: makes the same point in fewer, better words.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    @Raven: Ditto. The only slightly unclear part of it for me was the vote for Governor – the X plus filled in circle in the same spot. Since there were no other marks for Governor, it seems about 95% likely that that vote was for the Republican (as opposed to no vote for Governor).

    All the other clear votes on the ballot were for the Republican.

    All that together make it 95% likely to me that s/he intended to vote for the Republican in the HoD as well.

    What bothers me about this is the process. The rules seem to be clear about how challenges are done, etc., and it seems like the Republicans wanted a do-over after the end of the process. But that’s just my impression. And (unlike Florida in 2000) what ultimately should happen is that every valid vote should be counted above all, no matter what the process says.

    What we need to do now is hope that the correct (long?) straw is drawn when they do the lots.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    JMG

    Freezing rain is the worst thing winter has on tap. So much to do today and it’d be dangerous just to step on the front stoop right now.

  92. 92.

    tobie

    @SFAW: Thanks for the tip. Joan Walsh was fired from MSNBC. The one MSNBC host to tweet in support of Joan was Joy Reid. I’m curious what we as news consumers can do. I gather the telephone number for NBC and all NBC affiliates is 212-664-4444. Any other idea how to voice displeasure with this decision?

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Lee: Not use Paypal? Or did he sell it? I really don’t know but it matters not to my larger point which is merely that the self declared Masters Of The Universe think the world and all it contains exist only for their own enrichment. Silicon valley is full of those people.

  94. 94.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Oh, Jesus. Now #metoo is going after the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, which is in about the only genre of Christmas music I like.

    Joyless minions they are…

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @jeffreyw: That is about what things look like now. Pretty to look at but it will soon start melting and turn all the dried up and denuded patches into a muddy mess.

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    Random thought while wrapping presents. We have a long standing pattern in this country of electing the person who is the ultimate opposite of the last president. For this reason, I think our next nominee should be Sally Yates. She also happens to be wickedly popular with the youngs and she has that combo no nonsense demeanor plus southern accent.

  99. 99.

    laura

    @Jeffro: sirius xm came with my old lady mobile.
    I LOVE it! Beatles channel 14. GnR Channel 41. And for help me dog -Howard Stern! While I’m not keen on much of the silliness, his long form interviews are unbelievable. A nimble interviewer who prepares and an astonishing ranges of topics. Right now, Howard 100 is running back to back interviews. Who knew I’d enjoy Miley Cyrus -not me. Heck, Rosie O’Donnell and Howard Stern are actual real life friends.

  100. 100.

    N M

    Maybe I’ve missed it, and bad on your FPers if so, but has there been any news reporting about the Trumpenfuhrer’s lawyers meeting with Bobby Three Sticks band of merry men this week? No news is good news?

  111. 111.

    Sloane Ranger

    Today in UK First world problems, The Sun tabloid is reporting consumer fury as “Cadbury’s US owners” drop fudge from their Christmas chocolate selection box in favour of Oreo. “Christmas is ruined!” moans one person quoted. God knows how these people would react if faced with a real crisis!

  113. 113.

    danielx

    Snow on the ground! First white christmas in a few years, likely among the last I’ll see the way things are going climate-wise. Trying to type with my man Boris lying on the table on front of the laptop, occasionally reaching out to bat at the cursor. He’s gotten to be such a big boy in the last six months! Becoming owned by he and Natasha is about the only good thing to happen in 2017…

  114. 114.

    Yarrow

    @MomSense:

    For this reason, I think our next nominee should be Sally Yates. She also happens to be wickedly popular with the youngs and she has that combo no nonsense demeanor plus southern accent.

    My friend from Atlanta is all for this! We talked about what office Yates should run I was thinking Governor or a House seat. Then my friend said, “She should run for President!” I was a little less enthusiastic about that because she hasn’t run for anything before, has she? Seems like a bit of a long shot. But only for that reason. Otherwise, she’s awesome.

  115. 115.

    WereBear

    We have a lovely snowfall, but freezing rain for drive times… if my party guests opt to stay home for safety, that is fine… all goodies will keep for when any of them can come… place needed cleaning anyway, of course!

  119. 119.

    Yarrow

    @N M: No news, as is typical from Mueller’s team. I saw a rumor that the lawyers were there until 8:00 p.m., but that wasn’t verified. Mueller runs a very tight ship. No one talks.

  125. 125.

    Mike in DC

    @Yarrow:
    Thanks for the info. 8pm. They’re probably briefing Trump this weekend. If he’s going to move, he will do it now, when Congress is in recess and people are away on holiday. Because he’s a coward. He might remove rosenstein and mccabe, instead of going after Mueller directly.

  128. 128.

    Yarrow

    @Mike in DC: Again, it was a rumor. Maybe they were only there an hour. We don’t know.

    Trump can point his finger at Mueller and say, “You’re fired!” and it will do nothing. Trump does not have the power to fire Mueller. He’s going to have to get rid of the other guys and either appoint someone who will do it or keep firing people until he finds someone who will.

  130. 130.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mike in DC: trump can not directly fire Mueller. Ronsenstien has to, unless he is fired for not doing so, in which case it will be his replacement.

  131. 131.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Victor Matheson: You may be right, but part of what sticks in my craw is my certainty, which I cannot prove, that this would not have been the ruling were the parties reversed. (It certainly wasn’t in Florida in 2000.)

  132. 132.

    MomSense

    @Yarrow:

    I think she has come to represent defense of our constitution and integrity. She has major street cred with millennials and I don’t think she is viewed as a partisan.

  133. 133.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @danielx: I’ll note that we went though amateur hour here in CA with the Goverator(though he was much, much better than Trump) and went for the most tested pol as a replacement(Gov. Jerry whose now on his 4th term). I don’t think that emulating Republicans by choosing a blank slate is a path that we should go down.

  134. 134.

    BC in Illinois

    @NotMax:

    I now see — from Wikipedia, from which all knowledge flows — that there are other Chesters, in England, Pennsylvania, and Texas (pop. 312).

    Around here, the REAL Chester has a couple of prisons and a statue of Popeye. (It’s a long story; see the “Popeye Character Trail”.)

    ETA – – It’s early in the morning, for one who was up late at night. It took another reading for the light to dawn on “Festus,” “Chester,” [and Marshall Dillon]. Took a while.

  136. 136.

    Yarrow

    @MomSense:

    I think she has come to represent defense of our constitution and integrity.

    She certainly has for me. I’m glad to hear she’s popular with the youngs.

  138. 138.

    Steeplejack

    I’m suddenly in a grumpy mood. Was flailing around on the MSNBC website trying to find a video snippet to send to a friend. The MSNBC site sucks. They should just create a YouTube channel and put their stuff there. (Same holds true for almost all video-heavy news sites.) Yeah, I know: advertising and brand promotion.

    Then I got further pissed because I was reminded that I was looking for a goddamn Peggy Noonan clip. She was absolutely awful on Brian Williams’s show last night. That’s not unusual. But she was one of only two guests for an extended block, and it was like a K-tel greatest-hits collection of “why Peggy Noonan is awful.” In some of the cutaways even BriWi was looking like “Christ, how did my life end up like this?”

    Anyway, couldn’t find the clip. Then I got pissed off at my friend because of having to find the clip for her. She fancies herself politically aware and always wants to “talk politics,” but (in that context) the range of stuff she doesn’t know is astonishing. “Who’s Peggy Noonan?” “Oh, I never watch the political shows. I get the news from reading.” Reading what, exactly?!

    Plus I have a ravenous urge for scrambled eggs. Do I have eggs on hand? No, I do not. Do I feel sufficiently motivated to gear up (read: put on pants) and go get eggs? No, I do not.

    So now I just want to go back to bed for an extended nap. It’s quiet and dull gray outside, so that fits. Maybe I’ll take a chance on A.M. Joy first. At least if I get into a new rage it will be for a good cause. Joy knows how to channel me.

  142. 142.

    tobie

    @MomSense: Yates has that ‘non-partisan’ respectability that Americans seem to long for. I personally like partisans but that’s not what middle America seems to want.

  144. 144.

    Hellbastard

    Looking through the Chris Hayes thread, there are actually liberals arguing that the dems should take the high road and give a Trump nom a fair hearing. To reestablish the norms,etc. etc. Screw that. If the dems do take the senate I want them to block every last nomination that comes out of the White House.

  149. 149.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @tobie: Yeah, that’s what folk said here in CA until the Governator; then they went for the guy who’d been Governor 30 years earlier.

    ETA: I think that Trump may point out in vivid terms the need for experience.

  151. 151.

    japa21

    @Aimai: Jingle Bells is racist sexist, Baby It’s Cold Outside is sexist rapey (which I agree with). Net thing you know Away in the Manger will be described as talking about the perils of unprotected sex outside of marriage.

  152. 152.

    N M

    @Yarrow: I follow you on the omertà paths of the Mueller team, but I find it interesting that Trump’s lawyers weren’t out there crowing about this and that. Seems Mueller’s team shut them up!

  154. 154.

    Starfish

    @Aimai: Why did people decide that 2017 was a year to make a gender-flipped version of this song? Why did Lady Gaga agree to do this? Do her fans care? I was really annoyed by the whole thing.

  155. 155.

    Bostonian

    @Victor Matheson: I think that if we accept the vote for Edward Gillespie for Governor, which is both filled in and with lines through it, then we must accept this as a vote for Shelly Simonds for Delegate, as it is also filled in and with a line through it.

    If the vote is accepted for Yancey for Delegate, then the vote for Governor should be considered spoiled.

    Either way, the ballot is spoiled. This is an invalid ballot and should be rejected.

  156. 156.

    Jeffro

    @Hellbastard:

    there are actually liberals arguing that the dems should take the high road and give a Trump nom a fair hearing. To reestablish the norms,etc. etc. Screw that. If the dems do take the senate I want them to block every last nomination that comes out of the White House.

    Abso-fucking-lutely. From here on out, we give exactly what we got. Block nominations (especially SCOTUS). Party-line budget and tax votes (to undo the #GOPTaxScam and then tack on additional taxes on the 1% too). Expand Obamacare. Increase clean energy spending. Tax the hell out of Big Oil. Start picking up at least some of the tab for higher ed. Hit the red states and Republican voters however possible. Investigate the holy living crap out of this maladministration.

    They can have some bipartisanship when they come crawling to us on their hands and knees begging for it, and maybe not even then.

  157. 157.

    Starfish

    @Hellbastard: Even if they give Trump nominations a fair hearing, the Trump nominations so far have been so unqualified that they would never pass a fair hearing. Democrats would be accused of playing politics even if they just sat there listening to and voting against unqualified candidates.

  159. 159.

    Amir Khalid

    @Sloane Ranger:
    Oreos represent American cultural imperialism of the worst kind!
    (Fuck The Sun. This Liverpool fan saw the Hillsborough tragedy on live TV, and I’ll never forgive them for the lies they told about those dead kids.)

  160. 160.

    Gvg

    @Hellbastard: well there isn’t that much difference. All nominees by Trump have been unqualified. Demonstrating that is more work though.
    Trump doesn’t even know what to look for. Any of his nominees that have tried to learn their jobs get undercut by him. Smart departments keep their mouths shut and try not to get noticed by him.

  161. 161.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Aimai:

    In the song, she wants to stay, but is tugged by society to not stay. It’s a coy little ditty of her coming up with ways to not do what she wants to do, as he gives her all the excuses she needs.

    This grey Dworkinesque utopia you seek seems a joyless place.

  162. 162.

    Yarrow

    @N M: Given how McGahn signaled he’s not taking the fall for Trump for obstruction of justice (by saying he told Trump about Flynn), I think the lawyers are now looking out for themselves. Trump may not know it yet but it’s all rats for themselves at this point on that sinking ship.

  164. 164.

    tobie

    @Bostonian: I can’t imagine that with so much at stake the Democratic Party of VA hasn’t been exploring what legal recourse it has. I gather Marc Elias is representing the Simonds campaign. But, man, it’s frustrating that we’re not seeing some self-righteous anger about the attack on democracy and on the rule of law with this arbitrary three-judge panel decision on TV. Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot…

  165. 165.

    Steeplejack

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yeah, no.

    A.M. Joy is only stoking my rage, so it’s over to English football. Maybe lowly Bournemouth can upset Manchester City. That would be nice. The announcers’ voices are soothing, at least.

  167. 167.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    I’m all for it. I was deeply depressed yesterday by a WaPo lineup of probable Dem 2020 candidates that was headed up by Wilmer.

  169. 169.

    Starfish

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: We are in a completely different Zeitgeist now. The societal expectations that people had in that period no longer exist.

    We are in a time where a lot of women have lost their careers because they rejected the sexual advances of men who had power over them. The whole thing seems really gross especially with the abuses that went on in the film industry.

  171. 171.

    tobie

    @zhena gogolia: FWIW, the 20-somethings I know all like to mimic Wilmer’s accent and rants but the mimicry is in part mockery. They like his persona as a cranky-pants uncle but don’t respect him as a politician. The media has pushed him so they can claim they have balance while still promoting someone who hates Dems. Case in point: Nina Turner’s appointment as a commentator on CNN vs. Joan Walsh’s canning at MSNBC.

  174. 174.

    Amir Khalid

    @Hellbastard:
    I don’t know about this. The business of governing needs to be done for the country’s sake. If Democrats abandon governing to retaliate against Republicans for doing the same, I don’t see how they’re better than Republicans, and I certainly don’t anticipate a good outcome for the country.

  176. 176.

    WereBear

    @tobie: I personally like partisans but that’s not what middle America seems to want.

    Middle America seems to want ways of being Republican without being ashamed of it. Good luck with that one.

  179. 179.

    tobie

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, I gather Megyn Kelly has not brought in viewers to the morning show, and Greta van Susteren’s show was cancelled. My wish list of whom they should can: Chuck Todd, Chris Matthews, and Hugh Hewitt.

  180. 180.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Amir Khalid: Then, if given the leadership in the Congress, the Democrats should propose their own agenda AND block Trump’s agenda. The blocking should NOT include government shutdowns and defaulting on the debt, but blocking nominees is fair game.

  181. 181.

    Schlemazel

    @Amir Khalid:
    If we fight back against the Nazi’s we will become just as bad as they are and that can’t be good for the world.

    DOes it sound better that way?

  182. 182.

    Nora

    @germy: “You fucked up, Flounder. You trusted us.”

    The New York Times should just have a template for this story: Group X voted for Trump. Trump screwed them. Quotes from members of Group X saying they’re still for Trump.

    They quoted some people who weren’t Trump supporters, so I suppose this counts as progress.

  184. 184.

    germy

    @tobie:

    My wish list of whom they should can: Chuck Todd, Chris Matthews, and Hugh Hewitt.

    I can totally see the Me Too movement eventually catching up with Matthews and Hewitt. Chuck Todd, though will probably be broadcasting for the next fifty years. Eventually they’ll make him the grand old man of villagers. “We’ll have to leave it there.”

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @tobie: Shannon Pettypiece, a Bloomberg “reporter” who works hard to give every story a White House spin. The other day she said Republicans attacking Meuller were “learning from the Clinton playbook” with Ken Starr. I’m guessing when Ken Starr was on his Great Crotch Sniffing Crusade she was worrying about starting middle school and [insert pop culture reference from 1997 here]

  194. 194.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @IvankaThrowUp (AKA RedDirtGirl): Sure, but I hope you aren’t being sarcastic. That blocking Obama’s pick was obvious when you think of it in Corporate Citizen terms. Obama is a lawyer after all and I’ll bet his pick didn’t buy into that BS.

  198. 198.

    Schlemazel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    At some point it will because the alternative is to always give the GOP the advantage. It didn’t used to be this way. Back when they were interested in the well being of the nation, Those days are gone.

  199. 199.

    Amir Khalid

    @Schlemazel:
    If Republicans can’t govern and Democrats won’t, who’s left in charge? I’m not saying Democrats should lie back and take it. I am saying that retaliation may feel satisfying, but it hurts the country and doesn’t help make the case that Democrats can run the country better. You wanna win the game, you gotta stay on the field.

    When der Scheißgibbon nominates an idiot, don’t refuse to have a hearing; use it to pick the idiot apart and expose his unfitness. It’s all part of pushing back.

  200. 200.

    Schlemazel

    @raven:
    “Get” as in given to you or “get” as in have the opportunity to pay for them? Its good either way if you are into the teams there (and you are). just curious.

  202. 202.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemazel:

    At some point it will because the alternative is to always give the GOP the advantage.

    Bullshit. A guy is beating you over the head with a brick. Is the only answer to pick up a brick and beat him over the head with it?

  203. 203.

    BC in Illinois

    @Amir Khalid:

    I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell. – – Harry Truman

    When the Democrats come back in power, everything they do will be an improvement — and a rebuke — to the corrupt and Russian-connected GOP. For us, the truth is our friend.

    Tell the truth. While speaking of legislation, speak openly about the money that has been given to the opponents.

    In committee hearings, bring in experts to speak knowledgeably about the economy, the climate, education, etc — and call the opponents bullshit, “bullshit.”

    When faced with an unqualified nominee, announce that you will not be voting in their favor — because they’re unqualified.

    Bring tax policy — and Trump tax returns — to light.

    My picture of life during the American Restoration is that norms and laws and ideals [“the common good”; the value of every person; opposition to torture, to corruption, and to simple meanness and cruelty, etc.] will be held higher and higher. A return to Civics 101 – – “This is what America should stand for.”

    At the same time, I call for a reduction in civility. Study the UK, where a speech in Parliament can be greeted with laughter and cries of “Nonsense!” Where a a newsperson can say to a politician, “That’s simply false.” I would like to see the amounts of money the opposition received, and who they received them from, be a part of debate on the floor.

    Tell the truth. They’ll think it’s hell.

  207. 207.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Starfish:

    There are systems in place to address this stuff. They actually work pretty well – people get paid, and decisionmakers have the motivation to correct or terminate, without having anecdotal evidence pile up for decades.

    If any one of Matt Lauer’s targets wandered into just any lawyer’s office in New York when he was acting like a shithead, it would have been dealt with. It wouldn’t have even needed to be a good lawyer, just minimally competent. He was on a contract worth 10s of millions per year for a bunch of years – woman gets financially whole and can then do anything she wants in life, he gets chastened and is wiser for it. Instead, because adult women apparently can’t adult themselves into availing themselves of the protections we built, it went on and on and on and got worse.

    In other words, adult women need to use the tools that are out there.

    Now, back to watching White Christmas, a tale of predictably poor business decision-making by a senior warmonger and of men who use their superior entertainment industry power to subjugate and bed two womyn.

  208. 208.

    Starfish

    @BC in Illinois: Yes. I am on this team. I think Bruce Bartlett said that when Democrats take charge of certain committees in the House and Senate, they have the power to make Trump’s tax returns public.

    The day the next Congress reconvenes with a Democratic majority in either house, the Ways & Means Committee or Senate Finance Committee should obtain & make public Trump's tax returns, which they have the power to do under existing law. https://t.co/H6k8qVtnU9— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) December 21, 2017

  209. 209.

    Jeffro

    @germy: Yes…who could have foreseen that a guy who uses cheap imported in all of his projects might not be the savior of American steelworkers…

  211. 211.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud: Baud!! Hope you are having a wonderful time and thanks for checking in – your personal pack of fan-jackals has missed you!
    : )

  212. 212.

    Starfish

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You live in an alternate reality. Anyone who would walk into an attorney’s office would give up the privacy and safety of their family, would agree to becoming a public figure, would agree to possibly never returning to their particular field, and would agree to being disparaged by Matt Lauer. Matt Lauer can probably afford more attorneys than any random low-level employee can. And Matt Lauer can bank roll attorneys for longer than anyone would take your case pro bono. The attorney you choose may have business with Lauer or his associates and may withdraw himself from consideration due to conflict of interest.

    But I wasn’t really talking about the Matt Lauer problem, I was talking about the Weinstein problem. That problem ended many more careers than Lauer did.

  214. 214.

    frosty

    @Victor Matheson: Thanks for that reply. I thought it was clearly for the R too*, especially because every other vote was for an R, something I heard but didn’t see on a posted scan.

    * Dammit!!

    ETA: I see I have a minority opinion, and yes, getting a fresh ballot would have been the right choice. People can be stupid.

  215. 215.

    Jeffro

    @Steve in the ATL: Eh…umm…maybe Little Steven’s Underground Garage…maybe…

    I’m pretty happy with Ozzy’s Boneyard and Lithium, plus the electronic dance channels (which are not normally my thing)

  216. 216.

    NotMax

    @Jeffro

    Related: Also too (from a while back) –

    Donald Trump’s flagship hotel rooms are crammed with products made OUTSIDE America

    The £200million Trump International Hotel in W­ashington DC contains rooms where almost everything in them was made outside the US despite his pledge to buy AmericanSource

  217. 217.

    Major Major Major Major

    @frosty: This was also my reaction. I assume that they used the same rubric for judging all the other ballots and this one got overlooked/poorly litigated. Is it a spoiled ballot, yes, but in close recounts, obviously-spoiled ballots tend to be mind-read, for both sides.

  219. 219.

    Miss Bianca

    @HeleninEire: Hey, Helen, o/t but I have some questions for you re the residency in Ireland thing sometime. Specifically with regard to how taxes work.

  220. 220.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Starfish:

    Matt Lauer can probably afford more attorneys than any random low-level employee can. And Matt Lauer can bank roll attorneys for longer than anyone would take your case pro bono.

    This is true, but ol’ Matt would be doing so as an ex-NBC employee with his reputation soiled. Otherwise, as my comment indicated, I agree.

  221. 221.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Starfish:

    “My lifelong dream was to be a production assistant, earning a pittance behind the scenes to organize things and put up with angry tirades and the whims of on camera talent. I’d love to pass up retirement money to do that”.

  223. 223.

    Doug R

    @Victor Matheson:

    As a professor who occasionally gives multiple choice tests, I think that ballot is clearly for the GOP candidate. I get answers like this all of the time and have to make a choice. I would have liked to see the Democrat win, but I would people’s choices to be honored even more.

    And yes I know that the racist and stupid electoral college and the partisan gerrymandering clearly violates people’s choices, but that doesn’t mean taking away their choice here.

    You’d think that, but he also marked his ballot for governor with a circle plus two cross out marks or an X. Brings doubt into the intent of the rep vote. Maybe he was starting to X that? Intent doesn’t look 100%

  226. 226.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro:

    Hit the red states and Republican voters however possible.

    I agreed with you up to this part. Don’t punish the voters. Don’t immiserate their kids. If we do, we’re just another bunch of goons. Remember what this is supposed to be about.

  227. 227.

    Miss Bianca

    @Yarrow: Trump never ran for anything before, either. Look at how well that turned out!//

    As I recall, neither had Eisenhower.

  229. 229.

    J R in WV

    @Bostonian:

    I agree with you. So did the judge, who threw that ballot into the spoiled ballot pile. That created the tie which they are using chance to resolve, which is pretty common in tied election counts. And tied counts happen every year somewhere. In many places the two candidates must agree on a method of resolving the tie. Cutting a deck of cards, flipping a coin, playing one hand of poker, etc.

  230. 230.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Matt McIrvin: Have to note that punishing red state voters has never had any effect whatsoever on their voting when Repubs do it, doubt that it would when DEMs do it either.

  234. 234.

    NotMax

    grumble, grumble

    Helping someone out with a necessary task on Thursday involved my doing an amateur contortionist act (won’t bore you with (non-sordid) details).

    Yesterday was okay. Today, though, standing and walking on the one good leg is suddenly quite more than uncomfortable, from the hip down to the ankle.

    /call me Gimpy

  235. 235.

    J R in WV

    @Jeffro:

    My favorite stations are around 72, Bluesville, Watercolor which is jazz in the light melodic sense, Real Jazz which is what it sounds like, there’s a Frank Sinatra channel, wife likes Greatful Dead channel, Outlaw country is pretty good rock from the country roots. There’s also a set of classic music channels just above the jazz stations, Symphony, Met Opera, easy listening classical. etc.

  236. 236.

    Miss Bianca

    @J R in WV: Playing a hand of poker to decide an election result? Really? OK, that makes me laugh. Altho’ since I’d be a terrible poker player, not sure that’s how I’d want *my* election result to be decided!

  237. 237.

    Miss Bianca

    @J R in WV: oh, noes, I got thrown into moderation for using a FYWP Forbidden Word! Not sure how you finessed it. So, edited for moderation purposes:

    Playing a hand of p*ker to decide an election result? Really? OK, that makes me laugh. Altho’ since I’d be a terrible p*ker player, not sure that’s how I’d want *my* election result to be decided!

  240. 240.

    germy

    Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager who has an alleged habit of drunk-dialing female reporters, has been accused of unwanted touching, Politico reports. Joy Villa, a singer who gained popularity when she wore a “Make America Great Again” dress to the Grammy Awards, says Lewandowski slapped her butt not once, but twice at a recent invite-only holiday party.

    The incident reportedly occurred at Trump International Hotel in D.C., where Villa says her friend introduced her to Lewandowski in the ballroom. According to the report, Villa was pushed into posing for a photo with him, which is when Lewandowski allegedly touched the singer without her consent.

    I’d ask him to resign but… what exactly does he do for a living?

  243. 243.

    J R in WV

    @Yarrow:

    Trump can point his finger at Mueller and say, “You’re fired!” and it will do nothing. Trump does not have the power to fire Mueller. He’s going to have to get rid of the other guys and either appoint someone who will do it or keep firing people until he finds someone who will.

    And the someone who will attempt to fire Mueller will have to spend some time on the task. If they just jot a note that says your further services are not required, it won’t fly three feet.

    He’s hired under civil service and can only be fired for cause after due process, thanks to how the acting DoJ AG did the appointment of Mr Mueller. I think that’s part of why Trump hasn’t tried to fire him yet. What exactly will be the “cause” for which he was fired? Doing too good a job nailing members of Trump’s administration? Too good at rooting out Russian money laundering? This is a fun game, but I’ll stop now. Wait, I’ll do one more: taking too long to exonerate Trump?

  246. 246.

    J R in WV

    @japa21:

    Next…”Away in the Manger will be described as talking about the perils of unprotected sex outside of marriage.” Can’t be done, no sex in that pregnancy, read the book!! The real miracle was finding a guy in the nearly prehistoric Middle East who would marry a pregnant girl.

  247. 247.

    Jeffro

    @Matt McIrvin: many ways to approach it – I’m primarily interested in dinging the wealthy, corporations, extractive/dirty industries, and large estates. If that affects a large number of (republican) Texans, then oh well

  250. 250.

    J R in WV

    @lamh36:

    He’s Howie Long’s son. Howie is a good guy who played a long and successful career and now does half-time commentary. I think Howie is in the hall of fame, not sure. A very good looking guy. In the HoF as of 2000, Pro Bowl at Defensive End for 8 out of 13 seasons with the Oakland Raiders. So V highly regarded.

    His son Chris is contributing his 2017 salary to his foundation which drills drinking water wells in Africa to provide clean drinking water to the rural population. Could wind up in the HoF as did his father. Playing now with the Philly iggles.

    Chris met his wife at U Va where she was on the women’s lacrosse team. Probably the most physical contact game for collegiate women.

  251. 251.

    Another Scott

    @tobie: There was a tweet in a comment at BlueVirginia that says that according to the Virginia Code the decision on the recount cannot be appealed.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  252. 252.

    J R in WV

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Thanks to my dad’s interest, I have watched WVU lose to Notre Dame at the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship AND watched them lose to the Fl Gators in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve in NOLA – must admit if you gotta lose a huge bowl game, in New Orleans is the place to do it, the party afterwards is finest.

    Also got to watch them win quite a few. Wish we had gone to the Orange Bowl to see them beat Clemson something like 70-30 checking it was 70-33 and WVU tied or broke 8 different team and individual records. 2012. Was great to watch on TV.

  254. 254.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    “Thankful we haven’t yet reached the point where the number of Facebook likes is the deciding factor.” ETA: Of course I agree with this thought!

    Otherwise, Face…what? book? I don’t do that in any way. Glad they keep people without accounts from seeing anything posted. Just so willing not to go there.

  255. 255.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    Had a fall on our front steps last saturday, banged my chest into stone step. Can still be a pain. Driving home yesterday after visit to hardware and drugstore, had to dodge a mobile home being towed in rainy near darkness on a blind curve up on the ridgetop, pulled so hard at the steering wheel my chest burned all the way home. Missed the corner of that thing by inches! Ouch! Have been stiff all week. So I sympathize.

  256. 256.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:
    This creeping “Arabisation” of Muslim practice in Malaysia — and elsewhere, but the Japan Times story doesn’t mention that — has been going on at least since I was a teenager. People get the idea that Arabs are the Muslims closest to the roots of the faith, the strictest, and thus the most authentic and best. Which has been helped along in recent decades by the Saudi policy of promoting their Wahabism around the Muslim world, and which is bullshit. Saudi Arabia is trying to drag the world backwards into their 7th century tribal mindset,and gradually succeeding. There was a time when the most advanced society in Europe was Muslim, and the House of Saud is of an ilk with the people who put an end to that. The more liberal Saudi Arabia MBS claims to remember, which in his telling ended before he was born (so how does he remember it, I ask) never existed.

  259. 259.

    JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo

    @NotMax: There was an episode of the Orville, if anyone watches it, where there was a planet that made decisions based on up/down vote.

  262. 262.

    Citizen Alan

    @Aimai:

    What if it’s sung so that the female singer is pursuing the male? Because the married couple that wrote the song frequently sang it that way.

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