Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

In my day, never was longer.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

T R E 4 5 O N

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Giving up is unforgivable.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

We still have time to mess this up!

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

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The lights are all blinking red.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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Good news

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Give a call to your state’s governors and secretaries of state tomorrow morning. For those who refused to share information with this voter suppression commission, thank them. For those that did share your information, give them a piece of your mind.

Open thread

Reader Interactions

104Comments

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Great point and will do, David. It will be nice to make a positive phone call or two for a change

  4. 4.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Excellent news to begin the new year. Another victory for the resistance. Celebrate and keep fighting.

  5. 5.

    germy

    ?RT AND CALL. Call your Senators ASAP and tell them NO to Trump’s pic for US Attorney In Southern District of New York!! We will NOT Allow GUILIANI’S Friend Geoffrey Berman to reside over cases involving Trump, Kushner, Manafort. This is CORRUPTION #TrumpRussia Bannon t.co/5L9xUFxguC— Olga_Lautman NYC ✨ (@olgaNYC1211) January 4, 2018

  7. 7.

    lgerard

    kobach will be to busy running for governor, this “commission” was just to give him something to do and to keep him in the public eye in the interim.

  8. 8.

    encephalopath

    As someone at LGM noted, a Federal judge just ruled that the commission was required to share all its documents with the Democratic members.

    They couldn’t hide what they were up to anymore so it was time to pull the plug. Oh, well…

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    I wonder if this had anything to do with it. Hmmm?

    MotherJones (from October):

    “It’s my understanding that there were just so many lawsuits against the commission that it’s really, right now, there’s nothing going on,” Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson told reporters on Wednesday. No fewer than 13 lawsuits have been filed over the commission’s work by civil rights groups, privacy watchdogs, and good government groups. The lawsuits allege that the commission has violated a number of federal transparency and privacy laws, as well as state laws governing how sensitive voter information must be handled.

    Something something discovery something something?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    encephalopath

    Speaking of transparency and the power of investigation, what would a Democratic House be able to do to Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke? I’d like to find out. Those two are running their agencies like an organized crime boss would.

    My guess is that a stack of congressional subpoenas would lead directly to their resignations in short order.

  13. 13.

    Peej

    Auto Sales End a 7-Year Upswing

    Chink in the economy’s armor. As an aside, I’ve been thinking that there is going to be a significant dip in online and retail sales relative to recent post-holiday years as I’m convinced a majority of excited right wingers shot their wads in 2017 and will be spending most of 2018 in a credit card hangover, paying down all those yuuuuuge balances.

  20. 20.

    oldster

    The NYT says this on their front page:

    “Mr. Trump signed an executive order to disband the commission, ending its inquiry into his false claims of voter fraud.”

    I am glad that they clearly label his claims as false.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Karen: You’re right to be cynical.

    I think this only indicates they’re moving inside the DOJ (or whatever) to try to avoid the lawsuits and discovery and all the other issues. They’re no doubt going to try to “prove” the “voter fraud” in the last election and drum up talking points for more voter suppression laws. That seems clear to me.

    But shutting this Kobach atrocity down is a good thing.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    Fair Economist

    @Peej: Calculated Risk provides a monthly chart of economic status by state. In the last report, something like 12 states were declining or flat. That doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s actually a fairly good indicator of recession. Over the past 40 years, it’s never been that low unless we were either headed into or recovering from recession. The writer of CR himself is still bullish FWIW but he admits he doesn’t have an explanation. There was a dip in 2015 driven mostly by the oil crash. This one is broad-based; still some trouble in the oil patch, but also in a couple of important non-resource states like Michigan and New Jersey.

  24. 24.

    Raoul

    Bad news.

    @CNN
    The new crop of interim US attorneys includes a law partner of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani cnn.it/2qlrCWO

    Corrupt as shit.

  25. 25.

    dww44

    Don’t know if Raven has yet decided to sell or not his tickets to Monday’s UGA/AL football game in Atlanta, but the AJC sent out a news bulletin this afternoon that Trump will be attending the game. It seems that Pence’s Chief of Staff is a Georgian and has invited the President and the First Lady. This could mean really really big bucks for those tickets, if he still wants to sell.

  27. 27.

    MobiusKlein

    Makes me suspect there is some vital information in the documents they were ordered to share.
    So important they would shut it all down rather than share them. Is it possible to get those docs still, or would a court call it moot?

  28. 28.

    Mary G

    Shutting down Kobach’s commission is a good thing, but they’ll just tell their idiotic base that the Deep State did it because they can’t handle the truth and they’ll buy it.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @encephalopath:

    As someone at LGM noted, a Federal judge just ruled that the commission was required to share all its documents with the Democratic members.

    So having them on did some good? Good.

  30. 30.

    Raoul

    @Patricia Kayden: It may well be bullshit. The WH cannot admit the ‘investigation ‘ is over, so this will go to a dept that, like all Trump depts, is incompetent.
    But Hannity et al can bang on about the ‘pending’ DHS investigation.

  31. 31.

    Yabba

    What fresh hell is this?

    Tasking DHS to “review the issues and determine next courses of action” does not sound benign. They’ll just claim “National Security!!” to hide everything they want to do…

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    ** Omnes Alert **

    A Fistful of Dollars coming up on TCM at 9:30 p.m. EST. Crisp print, no commercials, not edited for length, format or content. I was informed last time that alerts would need to be issued.

  34. 34.

    ThresherK

    @Peej:

    majority of excited right wingers shot their wads in 2017

    Whatever favor you wish to ask in exchange for not using that metaphor again shall be considered.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I accidentally cut’n’pasted the whole internet into a comment. If a front-pager could delete it, I would feel slightly less stupid

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Peej: Apparently the 2018 devastation of retail stores and sales is going to make 2017’s look like a kid’s party.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Oh, dear, the actual title is Fistful of Dollars. My spidey sense was tingling slightly, but I went with my cable system’s on-screen guide and TCM’s program notes. Tsk.

  43. 43.

    NCSteve

    It’s good news of a sort. But it’s also so obviously another crude, brazen, typically Trumpian stupid attempt to cover up outright criminality that you have to laugh. No doubt they’ll be moving to dismiss the thirteen lawsuits as totally, completely moot, believe me, tomorrow. And when that fails, the arguments they make during the discovery motions should be a hoot.

  44. 44.

    jl

    Impeach, convict and remove the miserable jackass before he gets a bunch of people killed for no reason.

  45. 45.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: I believe it. Commercial real estate, too. Here in NoVA, it seems like every building has a vacancy and 1 in 3 are completely vacant. I know it’s not easy or cheap, but some enterprising folks might want to convert the most promising buildings to lofts or studio apartments or whatever. Those tenants ain’t coming back.

  47. 47.

    encephalopath

    @encephalopath:

    Capt. Neal Patterson: I didn’t say anything to the Queen. I didn’t want to put her on guard, but I’m beginning to think our being here is not an accident.

    Prof. Konrad: I’m afraid I must agree with you.

    Lt. Mike Cruze: What is that? What is that?

    Capt. Neal Patterson: The ray that destroyed the space station and knocked us off our course may have originated right here.

    Lt. Mike Cruze: Oh, come off it! How could a bunch of women invent a gizmo like that?

    Lt. Larry Turner: Sure, and even if they invented it, how could they aim it? You know how women drivers are!

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    @Steeplejack:

    A Fistful of Dollars coming up on TCM at 9:30 p.m. EST. Crisp print, no commercials, not edited for length, format or content. I was informed last time that alerts would need to be issued.

    Is it the Criterion edition? With Eastwood as The Continental Op?

  51. 51.

    Luthe

    @Fair Economist: As a Millenial who graduated college just in time for the bloodbath of 2007, this just reinforces my belief there’s a downturn around every corner.

  53. 53.

    efgoldman

    Lost in the months since this “commission” was established: Many of the refusenik secretaries of state are Republiklowns.
    Some people do follow the law

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @encephalopath:

    Forbidden Planet is Shakespeare by comparison.

    Were I feeling more prosperous, I might make some half-witty comment, but it’s late, and my mind is a-reel.

  55. 55.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Jeffro: it’s been that way for some time around the Patent Office where one would *think* that every square foot of office space should be law firms; King Street Old Town may have lost tenants as well if I recall correctly; and even the most local grocery to my house is closing.

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @Original Lee: It is something of a recurring theme with this adminstration – they don’t hire good lawyers, they hire lawyers who do what they’re told to do.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    Incoming!

  59. 59.

    Chip Daniels

    @Yabba:
    I think it is a sign they really have no idea how government works, like, at all.

    Trump and his gang really do think its like TrumpAmerica, Inc, and every single person int he government personally reports to them and does their bidding.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    The fast food companies are now trolling the President on social media!

  62. 62.

    Chip Daniels

    @Adam L Silverman:

    When you post stuff like this I’m tempted to ask, “What does it mean?” but then I’m reminded of that Far Side cartoon where two fishermen see a mushroom cloud in the distance and one says, “I’ll tell you what it means- we catch as many as we want, screw the limit!”

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    I told everyone that Dunlap is trustworthy. He is one of the good guys and he played this just right.

  67. 67.

    encephalopath

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Fast food is being hawked using nuclear holocaust dick measuring jokes.

    Am I offended by that? Is it absurd? Is it funny? I can’t sort my way through it.

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Chip Daniels: In this case it means that Putin’s announcement that Russia and Syria have won against ISIS and the Syrian rebels is not true. Apparently the incoming fire also hit an ammo dump on that base too. So it is unclear if the ammo dump went up and that took out the other equipment and resulted in the KIAs or whether they’re from separate strikes. Regardless it isn’t good for the Russians or the Syrians.

  72. 72.

    burnspbesq

    @germy:

    There are a few hundred lawyers better qualified for that job than Berman, but his resume ticks all the right boxes. And all the cases coming out of Mueller’s shop will be tried in D.C., anyway.

  73. 73.

    SFAW

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Red Harvest hasn’t been overtly referenced. They’re sticking pretty close to Yojimbo.

    Philistines.

    In fairness, the plot is a lot closer, anyway (to Yojimbo, that is).

  78. 78.

    Feathers

    @Kayla Rudbek: The problem is greedy landlords more than competition from the internet. People really don’t realize how much the capitalist investor class are screwing it up for everyone else.

    OT – car wouldn’t start, AAA came to the rescue and it is out of the tiny apartment parking lot and safely at Alewife, which as of 8pm, was completely full on the first level and about half the second. So glad. Did the trick of spraying the windshield with a 70% solution of rubbing alcohol and water. Really did get the ice to melt without the refreezing problem.

    Got home in time to catch the last half of the new X-Files season. I love the show, but god the aliens are so fucking boring. I tuned out and read Twitter when I realized it was an conspiracy episode. Apparently the episodes coming up are stronger. I did a rewatch of the whole series two years ago, convinced that I had missed something. Nope, nothing there, the conspiracy sucks. The other thing that stood out was how much better Gillian Anderson’s performance has stood up over Duchovny’s. And that the lengths that the show went to in making the government the bad guys behind every damn thing verged on psychotic.

  81. 81.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Toldja this commission was going nowhere. I dare say Trump and Kobach were stupid enough to think it would have power, but it never did. And heaven knows, Republicans can always invent new excuses for voter suppression laws by themselves.

  82. 82.

    encephalopath

    @Feathers:

    I thought Chris Carter promised they were going to leave the mythology stuff alone this season and do more monster of the week episodes. That’s where all the fun was at in the original run of the series as well.

    By the end of the original run all the “alien dingo stole my baby” stuff was unbearable. Monster of the week or nothing for me from here on out.

    Rhys Darby can come back on and do anything he wants, though.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @Adam L Silverman:

    So top knots, hakama, jinbaori, zori, and katanas?

    Not only that — do you know how long it took Nakadai to learn Italian (but make it look like English) for his part?

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @Feathers:

    Got home in time to catch the last half of the new X-Files season. I love the show, but god the aliens are so fucking boring.

    What they needed was Trebek and Ventura.

  87. 87.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Feathers: after 7-8 years of empty space, one would think that even the greediest of landlords would be losing enough money that they’d drop their rents enough to get somebody into the space.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    @Feathers:
    That Anderson is the far better actor has always been obvious since Beyond The Sea in season 1 when, as a relative unknown, she wemt toe-to-toe with legendary scenery-chewer Brad Dourif and easily held her ground. And when Duchovny left the show for the best part of two seasons, it was she who carried the show. It makes the blood boil that Fox has always tried to pay her far less than it pays him.

  91. 91.

    Feathers

    @Kayla Rudbek: Apparently not. It was explained to me once, but I seemed to have blocked whatever the stupid reason was. Cities really do need to start charging a very steep vacant commercial real estate tax. I’ve seen too many thriving stores close, because of rent increases, only to then have the space go vacant for years. I think some of it is pure ego. A landlord sees a property go for X dollars, and says “these tenants are just ripping me off, why should they get away with robbery!” Ignoring the fact that property one is newer, nicer, and has much better foot traffic.

    @encephalopath: I actually found the last, post-Duchovny seasons to be much better than expected. I’d given up the show by then. It’s amazing how much TiVo has changed things. But “alien dingoes ate my baby”is a brilliant assessment of those years.

  99. 99.

    SFAW

    @Raven:

    Welcome back, youngster. Sorry that your Dawgs made you stay up so far past your usual bedtime.

    Well, if you stayed for the whole game, that is.

  101. 101.

    Amir Khalid

    @Feathers:
    Chris Carter shut down the original conspiracy halfway through season six. Thereafter the conspirators’ chief concern was hiding the dead bodies. The big thing from that point on in the original nine-season run was Mulder and Scully’s relationship, which culminated in the birth of their son William at the end of season eight.

  103. 103.

    SFAW

    @Raven:

    Good to see you, too.

    Glad the kids came through for you. Didn’t get a chance to see the game, but saw some highlights. I’m glad you decided to go.

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