Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

He really is that stupid.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

I really should read my own blog.

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Let there be snark.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

This fight is for everything.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (It’s Worth It)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (It’s Worth It)

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… The first planks of the “A Better Deal” platform, released last year, focused on the party’s economic agenda. Now, with questions about pay-to-play politics swirling around President Trump and his current and former aides, Democrats introduced new anti-corruption proposals Monday billed as “A Better Deal for Our Democracy.”

“Instead of delivering on his promise to drain the swamp, President Trump has become the swamp,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during a rollout event on the Capitol steps.

While the new agenda was only sketched out in broad terms Monday, it includes proposals that would eliminate loopholes that allow lobbyists and lawmakers to buy and sell influence without the public’s knowledge, allow big donors to influence the political process through unreported donations and to improve elections by eliminating partisan gerrymandering and implementing automatic voter registration.

The message, the Democrats said: Elect us in November to “clean up the chaos and corruption in Washington.”…

Several of the Democrats who spoke Monday attempted to connect the corruption allegations to a Republican governing agenda that has delivered outsize tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and dismantled financial and environmental regulations that aimed to protect average taxpayers.

Democrats are also preparing to highlight an apparent atmosphere of rule-bending, if not rule-breaking, in the Trump administration. Several Trump Cabinet members — including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, as well as former Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price and former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin — have been subject to official investigations of questionable spending on travel and other expenses….

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    Took an in-home mini-vacation from seething outrage over the past several days. Necessary.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Also realized it has been over 2½ days since last ate. Have been having black coffee, as usual, but that’s it. Not feeling hungry at all but forced myself to have a half an orange and a sandwich.

    Maybe the stuff in the air from Kilauea is an appetite suppressant? :)

  5. 5.

    Schlemazel

    @NotMax:
    I have been trying to stay away from the seething outrage too but I carry my own self-contained supply so it has been a failure. Wish I could stop eating at least for a day or two but thats not happening either.

    As for the Dems agenda: Thats great but we all ‘know’ the Dems have no agenda save, maybe, the anti-Trump. Just this morning I saw a political cartoon on the editorial cartoon sight http://editorialcartoonists.com/ showing two depressed donkeys with plummeting poll numbers admitting they have NO PLAN!!! That media theme is pretty well ingrained in the public imagination as of now. We are going to have to figure out how to break through that BS

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    America’s birth rate has fallen to a 30-year low, let the hand-wringing and finger-pointing begin. It’s those selfish women, wanting careers before kids! Or, gasp, not wanting kids at all! It’s all those abortions! It’s Obama’s fault!

    The reality is, for all its pro-family rhetoric, the US is a remarkably harsh place for families, and particularly for mothers. It’s a well-known fact, but one that bears repeating in this context, that the US is one of only four countries in the world with no government-subsidized maternity leave. The other three are Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea, countries that the US doesn’t tend to view as its peer group.

    ………………..

    Think millennials are our problem, shirking their breeding responsibilities because they’re too busy taking selfies? Show me your all-time low birth rate and I will raise you an all-time high student debt load (it hit $1.4tn this year). Millennials have an average of $37,172 in student loans when they graduate, a fact that has been blamed for their record-breakingly low home ownership. Generation Z won’t be much help either, given that about 40% of them are expected to default on their college loans when they can’t find jobs, according to Brookings.

    ……………………

    Guess what else is at an all-time low? Pay raises. Despite economic growth, since the 1970s, the hourly inflation-adjusted wages received by the typical American worker have grown only 0.2% per year. Which is basically nothing. Guess what though? Worker productivity hit a three-year high in 2017.

    ……………….

    A few months ago, Paul Ryan asked Americans to have more children and said he had “done his part” by fathering three.

    MAGA.

  7. 7.

    satby

    @Schlemazel: I hear you! I’m a stress eater, so the Drumpf admin is probably responsible for 10 lbs. I wonder if I unplugged my appetite would decrease. Probably.

    At this point the “both sides” media has done it’s job well, no one trusts them, not even low info voters.

  9. 9.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Why do we suck so much? We have the most inspiring set of explicitly laid out ideals in the history of the world, but we just don’t seem willing to do any work to try to live up to them. Pisses me off no end.

  14. 14.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    A few months ago, Paul Ryan asked Americans to have more children and said he had “done his part” by fathering three.

    As a “good” Catholic, how did he limit himself to three? Using the super reliable rhythm method?

    Or is it just possible he as big a hypocrite in this matter as in all other matters.

  15. 15.

    gene108

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    A few months ago, Paul Ryan asked Americans to have more children and said he had “done his part” by fathering three.

    As practicing Catholic, Ryan and his wife rarely have sex or they are, in contradiction to church teachings, using a lot of birth control.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Despite economic growth, since the 1970s, the hourly inflation-adjusted wages received by the typical American worker have grown only 0.2% per year. Which is basically nothing. Guess what though? Worker productivity hit a three-year high in 2017.

    A little misleading, since there’s no way to monetize the value of racial privilege.

  17. 17.

    Central Planning

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think the incels are on to something!

    Just got back from the gym. My “libertarian” gym buddy, after hearing a news report about a kid that laced cookies with pot, said that pot edibles shouldn’t be legal because kids might eat them “because they taste good.” I gave him a hard time about how that comports with his libertarian ideals, and that he really did want a nanny state. He made up some bullshit answer about externalities and somehow wanted the edible manufacturer to be liable. I then pointed out that the same thing could be true for alcohol or guns. He really started digging in trying to defend the banning of edibles but not booze or guns. It was funny yet sad at the same time.

    We finally got to the gym and did our exercises. He didn’t bring it up on the way home. I’ll take that as a tiny sliver of realization his position wasn’t consistent (or correct).

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    What I love about the black cat is that s/he is clearly tormenting the other cat in a stare-down And just will not be deterred by technology.

    I had the greatest black cat, Jean-Louis, who was so smart that he eventually figured out how to open the screen door himself to get in — he would stand on his hind legs, put his claws into the lower screen, shuffle backwards and open the door, than plunk down and scoot around the door into the house as it closed. I miss that kitteh.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    since there’s no way to monetize the value of racial privilege.

    I have to disagree. White people have been monetizing racial privilege in America since 1607.

  21. 21.

    Schlemazel

    @Viva BrisVegas:
    Look at that face – his wife probably only had sex with him 3 times & the room just is not dark enough to contemplate a fourth

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A Danish government minister has asserted that Muslims should not work during Ramadan because the month-long daylight fasting period poses safety hazards in some professions and makes the practice “dangerous for us all.”

    The integration minister, Inger Støjberg, an immigration hardliner in Denmark’s centre-right government, questioned in a blog post on Monday how “commanding observance to a 1,400-year-old pillar of Islam” was compatible with modern labour markets.

    The stupid, it hurts.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    @Central Planning: But but but
    He WANTS booze and guns (and probably pOrN) but he doesn’t want edibles. Therefore libertairian for me but not for thee.

  30. 30.

    Central Planning

    @Immanentize: His inconsistency is amazing. He has been a recreational pot user for a while. He doesn’t do it all the time, so I can’t really understand his point of view. I bet you wouldn’t be surprised to find out he is also a devout christian and voted for dolt 45.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: My Southern Baptist mother converted to Catholicism when she married my old man. When her oldest daughter had her first period she took her straight to the Doc and got her birth control. That was in the ’60s.

  34. 34.

    Schlemazel

    @satby:
    I knew that but where is the fun in it? Better to think of Mrs. BEGS rejecting his awful self.

  35. 35.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.

    Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

    And we shall overcome.

    March 15, 1965

    Rest in peace, Richard Goodwin

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    There are workarounds for such situations that have been practised for many centuries, but which Integration Minister Inger Støjberg clearly hasn’t troubled to inform himself about.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    They should have to disclose them at the time they declare their candidacy. Save the voters some tiime.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @maggieNYT
    Follow Follow @maggieNYT
    More
    This seeks erase a line, let alone cross it. Imagine reaction if either Clinton consulting with Kendall (or Obama w his personal lawyer) and then ordering DOJ to do something related to probe into them

    But let’s not put this on Trump alone. They’re grown up professionals. They knew they worked for the scorpion. They’re telling themselves they’ll be able to hold onto their integrity and professionalism while serving Trump’s demands, that they’ll execute some ethical double back flip and “manage” this- walk a fine line, cleverly appear to cave but not actually cave, but they won’t.

    None of them have. The only people who haven’t been compromised are the people who got fired or quit. You can’t stay unless you’re corrupt. It’s a job requirement. If these two left would the replacements be worse? Yes. The hires just get worse and worse. But their leaving would send a message that what the Trump Administration is doing is wrong. They’ve lost the plot. The point of this isn’t to protect “the DOJ” or protect “the FBI”. Those are just collections of letters. The point of this is to protect the integrity of the work they do. The entity itself doesn’t matter without the work. It isn’t worth saving if it’s corrupt and compromised.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    @satby: And the trolls are out there; there was a three part series on Captain Awkward about a woman who wrote in trying to figure out a way she could gain access to birth control with Visibly Catholic husband and relatives. They had three, NFP gave them a fourth, and she was ready to have a breakdown.

    And still she reports her inbox was clogged with cries of “sin” and that “NFP works you have to do it right” stuff.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    The President is reviewing the investigation into the President. He “demanded” it- and they complied.

    The next time you’re being investigated by law enforcement try “demanding” a private meeting to review the information they’ve collected. They’ll laugh in your face. This President is special. He not only gets treatment no ordinary citizen would ever get, he gets treatment no President has ever gotten. It’s fine, but I have to insist they stop pretending they’re “holding” some line or defending something. They’re defending nothing. They gave away everything worth defending. Next week he’ll “demand” more, because it works.

  53. 53.

    AntiCliche

    Why the hell do the Democrats keep trying to come up with this stuff on their own? “Clean up the chaos and corruption in Washington” is not a slogan that will motivate a single LIV to go to the polls in November.

    Hire a goddamn Madison Avenue marketing firm with some of that campaign money and do it right for once.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    As long as Melania doesn’t exchange pleasantries with Rosenstein on a tarmac, it’s all good.

  57. 57.

    Platonailedit

    Didn’t raygun beat the dems’ strategy campaigning on sleaze factor of his regime? The dems need to tie down the traitor’s and his regime’s open corruption to the voters’ pocket book issues like how they are gutting their healthcare, their children’s education and healthcare, medicare, social security etc. Just saying twitler and his regime is corrupt ain’t gonna cut it. Break it down to the rubes.

  59. 59.

    RSA

    “The swamp has never been more foul or more feted than under this president,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said at a news conference on the Capitol steps.

    Jeez, NBC, get some professional editors.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @AntiCliche: I don’t recognize your nym so I’ll assume you’re a troll. But for the sake of other readers, the article explains that this strategy did work for Dems in 2006.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Someone said on Twitter the more egregious it is the less real discussion there is of it- so we got 16 months of bullshit email coverage and not a word on the Trump investigation(s). I think that’s true. I’m on the local bar ethics board- we review complaints about lawyers. It’s really consistent, our behavior. If it’s a bogus claim there’s a lot of loud gossip and trash-talking but if it’s serious- if someone is really going to lose their ticket- it’s hushed and there’s a ton of concern about process and rigor.

    If you were sitting in there and didn’t understand that dynamic you would pick the wrong cases as “big” and consistently follow the bullshit that doesn’t mean anything and will be dismissed.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    America’s birth rate has fallen to a 30-year low, let the hand-wringing and finger-pointing begin. It’s those selfish women, wanting careers before kids! Or, gasp, not wanting kids at all! It’s all those abortions! It’s Obama’s fault!

    On the other hand, Shitgibbon and the Lickspittle Congress have been fucking the poor and middle class so much, the birth rate has gotta increase.

  68. 68.

    AntiCliche

    @Baud: substitute “A Better Deal”. Same problem as “Stronger Together”. Weak and comparative.

    How about “The Deal”. Or “The Fair Deal”. We own The New Deal and The Great Society already. Why water it down with relative adjectives and indefinite articles?

    Such Shrum.

  70. 70.

    p.a.

    @Baud: @OzarkHillbilly:

    since there’s no way to monetize the value of racial privilege

    Possibly quantify would be a better word. Even then, a good estimate is to look at total wealth of white v minority families of = income. Wtot>Mtot by a lot. It’s a good back-of-envelope check on the generational value of white privelege/racism.

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    Najib spent five hours today at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission answering questions about US$10.5 mil in funds from a 1MDB subsidiary that wound up in his bank account (that happens to him a lot, the poor fellow) and will be back on Thursday for another session. Meanwhile in the Hew Hess Hay, the DOJ has told Reuters it will be happy to work with Malaysian authorities on the reopened 1MDB investigation.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We need to just give up now because we never do anything right.

    The problem is, that’s not an observation but a rule for a lot of people. Just like “both sides.”

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @AntiCliche:

    Democrats actually ran on this in 2006, to great success. Anti-corruption and a specific middle class platform. There was a real disconnect between what Democratic activists talked about (Bush, the Iraq War) and what the actual candidates talked about.

    The media narrative was the same, too. The claim was they had “no ideas” and were just “anti-Bush” but that wasn’t true. Pelosi was actually ahead of the pack on college funding. She talked about it before it became conventional wisdom. They ran against corruption in Congress, said we needed a check on Bush in the legislative branch, which sort of made sense, given that it was a midterm.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @Peale:

    ooh. I know an actual thought leader now!

    Well, you can CLAIM to know one, for all the good it will do you. Cheryl, on the other hand — now that she’s hit the big time — will be all “Balloon Juice? What’s that? Never heard of them, but they sound like a pack of viscous jackals.”

    That being said: congrats to Cheryl!

  76. 76.

    JPL

    The CNN article is quite good, and a simple explanation on what is happening. If the deal doesn’t include inspectors, then we will see just how weak our president is.

  83. 83.

    Kay

    I think Cordray’s position on guns is gonna hurt him. He just isn’t where the Dem base is, and Democrats don’t win in Ohio unless they get huge base turnout. It’s middle aged and older women, too, the anti-gun people, and they vote and they also volunteer. He better hope to make up the difference among white rural men.

  85. 85.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Okay. The Beeb interview is off. I can’t make Skype work. Yes, I am one of those technological types who have particular blind spots. Also, the kittehs are helping (not!), which makes everything more difficult.

  86. 86.

    Patricia Kayden

    @OzarkHillbilly: I wish there was a way that Mueller could charge Ryan with corruption or whatever since he’s such a huge cheerleader for the Orange Bigot. Ryan knows dang well that his “Party of Life” doesn’t care about mothers or children or working class families. The message has been clear and that’s probably why women are choosing to have less children.

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I wish there was a way that Mueller could charge Ryan with corruption or whatever

    Under the heading of “whatever” is aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime and if not during then after the fact.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    I’m having a party for my daughter’s school friends. They’re having a reunion here, in “the red room”, which is my living room. They loved that it was red when they were little girls. They became friends in 2nd grade and have stayed friends. Two out of eight ended up in NYC, which I think is a high number. Generally young people here go to Chicago if they go to a city. Also, somewhat interesting since the “low birth rate” thing is getting attention, none of them have children although three of 8 are married.

  93. 93.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Baud: EVERYONE ON THE LEFT WHO DOES MARKETING SUCKS AT SLOGANS AND STRATEGIES THEY SHOULD USE… my far worse and vaguer idea?

    The wonders of the Internet: everyone can think everyone but themselves is stupid.

  94. 94.

    Peale

    @Kay: I guess you could start to play the role of the fussbudget aunt and start asking when they are planning to have children…for research purposes only, mind you. But I don’t think you’re really cut out for that part. You’ll have to hire someone. The Midwest still has fussbudgets, don’t they? They did when I lived there.

  95. 95.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    Be careful!!!
    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Black cats are the bestest cats. I had one who charmed his way into my life by finding me during my lunch breaks and helpfully sharing my sandwiches – especially the potato chips. He would get in my car with me so I brought him home. He was the greatest. He followed me around and went on walks around the neighborhood like a dog except perfectly behaved and off leash.

  97. 97.

    MomSense

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):

    Why do we suck so much?

    Avarice. Lust for power. Envy. Cruelty. Mob mentality. Arrogance. Same old reasons human beings have always suffered. Democracy is in many ways going against some of the strongest impulses of our human nature. This is why we have never been able to fully realize it, why the gains are so slow, and why we are always having to defend every advance we achieve.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    @WereBear: birth rates are down in almost all countries. Sure, in non-oecd countries the rates may be triple what they are in oecd countries, but those are still 1/2 what they were 20 years ago. And the decline in the past decade is noteworthy.

  99. 99.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Kay:

    Follow Follow @maggieNYT
    More
    This seeks erase a line, let alone cross it. Imagine reaction if either Clinton consulting with Kendall (or Obama w his personal lawyer) and then ordering DOJ to do something related to probe into them

    Even the liberal Maggie Haberman admits her paper and the rest of the corporate media have a double standard.

  100. 100.

    Peale

    @FlipYrWhig: then there’s me, who hates slogans, and chants, and collective forced cheering. You can’t reach me…and because I’m 100% immune, you’ll never win. Bwahhahaha!

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I don’t ask. My daughter in law told me a long story about how her step mother keeps asking her when she’s having children and my sense was she was letting me know not to do it. I wouldn’t have anyway. It’s a bad question. My husband might though. He’ll ask anyone anything. I take no responsibility for what he says :)

  104. 104.

    Platonailedit

    Now it’s South Korean leader’s turn to babysit the tantrum thrower.

    US President Donald Trump and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in are due to hold talks in Washington, amid uncertainty over a planned US-North Korea summit.

    Last week the North said it may cancel the summit if the US insists on it giving up nuclear weapons unilaterally.

    Mr Moon will try to calm US nerves to get talks back on track, observers say.

    One of his officials said he would “likely tell President Trump what to expect and what not to expect from Kim”, Yonhap news agency reported.

    The historic 12 June summit is due to take place in Singapore.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Oh, it’s fucking outrageous what he’s doing and all this elaborate tap dancing to make everything a “nothingburger” gets on my nerves.

    We’re fine. They don’t have to sugar coat everything. I’ll go about my day whether Donald Trump is once again obstructing justice or not.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I never ask when ours are going to have children but I never pass up an opportunity to remind them that one is not enough.

  107. 107.

    Belafon

    But why are Democrats only running against Trump? Why don’t they have their own ideas? /////////

    Yes, that’s a thing. And it annoys the hell out of me. Democrats have plenty of ideas, and Trump opposed them. Therefor, when they run on their platform they are running against Trump. But they also have to be the party to stand up to Trump.

  109. 109.

    Leto

    @Kay: Maddow’s show last night was all about this. As she was doing her thing, I kept thinking about how you’ve been warning us to how our “protections” have been failing. That it everything is being corrupted, not just now, but moving forward. They’re redrawing the lines so that in the future they’ll be able to cite precedents here (“Look, the President/Congress is able to review DOJ/FBI material/documents pertaining to the investigation of their campaigns. The Trump precedent was set.” – future lawyer). They’re so short sighted in their quest for immediate power that they don’t understand how this is going to play out later. How this might be used against THEM later, or if someone even worse to come (don’t count it out) will take it even further. That the GOP “respects the rule of law’ should be a joke for generations to come.

    @Cheryl Rofer: Congratulations!

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    This seeks erase a line, let alone cross it. Imagine reaction if either Clinton consulting with Kendall (or Obama w his personal lawyer) and then ordering DOJ to do something related to probe into them

    Hey, MAGAt — Imagine if the FTFNYT (and YOU, quisling!) had treated Clinton as something other than a target to be “taken down.” Imagine if you (plural) had reported on her policy proposals/platform. Imagine if you had reported on Shitgibbon’s criminal dealings.

    FOAD, traitor. You helped bring him into office. You should have thought about this shit before you trashed Hillary eight ways from Sunday.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    French Open is punishing Serena Williams for having a baby
    Nancy Armour

    Serena Williams is being punished for having a baby.

    That’s the only way to see the decision not to give her a seed for the French Open, her first major tournament since giving birth to daughter Olympia in September. French Tennis Federation officials told The Associated Press on Monday that they would award seeds based on rankings and, because Williams is currently No. 453, well, she’s out of luck.

    That logic might be understandable had Williams spent the last 16 months on sabbatical, focusing on some other endeavor. But she didn’t. She had a baby, a physically grueling experience made even more so by complications that left her bedridden for six weeks.

    To not recognize that that should warrant an exception, be it for Williams or any new mother, is both outdated and mean-spirited. Not to mention short-sighted on the part of French Open officials, who risk seeing one of the world’s most popular athletes make an early exit from her first major since she had her daughter because she’ll face top competition right away.

    But the larger, inexcusable point is the discriminatory way in which motherhood is viewed by both tournament organizers and the WTA. The idea that players should have to choose between having a family and having a career is as antiquated as wooden rackets.

    WTA rules grant players returning from injuries and maternity leave a “special ranking,” which preserves entry into tournaments but not seeding. Players have previously not favored using special rankings for seedings, the WTA told the AP, though it didn’t say why

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    @Belafon:

    But why are Democrats only running against Trump? Why don’t they have their own ideas? /////////

    Because most of the voters they’re trying to flip can’t spell “CAT” if you spot them the “C” and the “A”? And the MSM is doing precious little to explain Dem positions to the electorate. [Yes, I know you were being sarcastic.]

  114. 114.

    Jeffro

    @Belafon: Run against Trumpov as a symbol of the corruption and rot that is the entire GOP. Remind everyone that There Is Only One Trump Scandal

    There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal. Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability.

    Lather, rinse, repeat. Reclaim our country from the corruption and stupidity that flows from Trump on down.

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    On the (possible) plus side: if Serena is on form, I think it would be a nice “fuck you” to the French Open poobahs were the # 453 seed win the title, followed by her rejecting the cup/plate (or whatever it is they award the winner).

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    @Jeffro: Even better paragraph from the same article:

    The president’s opponents have yet to craft a coherent narrative about the Trump administration’s corruption, even though the only major legislative accomplishment Trump has to his name is cutting his own taxes. But his supporters have, ironically, crafted an overarching explanation to account for how the president they voted for, who came to office promising to eliminate official corruption, has come to embody it. The “Deep State” narrative is no more complicated than an attempt to explain the accumulating evidence of misbehavior on the part of the administration as a wide-ranging conspiracy to frame the president. The more evidence of wrongdoing that comes to light, the more certain they are that the conspiracy theory is true. In their own way, Trump supporters have recognized that Trump’s burgeoning list of scandals is made of branches from the same twisted tree.

    We have to keep it simple: Trumpistas have the “Deep State” to explain everything away. We should be talking about the GOP’s “Deep Corruption”, led by Trumpov and enabled by the GOP Congress.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah: @rikyrah:
    Well, thank FSM that the Invertebrate Speaker of the House will defend the Constitution by initiating impeachment against Shitgibbon, and the Senate Major Traitor Majority Leader will make sure there are votes to convict.

  127. 127.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    We should be talking about the GOP’s “Deep Corruption”, led by Trumpov and enabled by the GOP Congress.

    But what about the Dem policies!!!!!!!!!! And their e-mails!!!!

  129. 129.

    Barbara

    @Peale: From a cultural perspective, lots of younger people are more likely to fuel a dynamic and creative society, but from a policy perspective, decline in birth rate results in old people having more influence in cheating the young out of their share of the pie, e.g., education, at the same time they plan to depend on the young to help fund their retirement.

    The pattern in European countries should make it obvious that supporting families is necessary to keep the birth rate stable. France, which has supported families with children for a long time, has a higher birth rate than Italy and Spain, where child rearing is a much more private activity and, to boot, male stereotypes don’t contribute to the care and maintenance of children. Women react by not procreating nearly as much. It’s even more pronounced in Japan.

  130. 130.

    Barbara

    @Kay: According to Miss Manners the only appropriate question about procreation is asking someone if they have children. One never inquires whether someone is going to have children. As she would say, you ask that one, and one of these days someone is going to burst into tears and tell you how she’s been trying for a decade and been to every specialist under the sun, and so on. It’s not only rude, it’s unkind.

  131. 131.

    Gelfling 545

    @OzarkHillbilly: Nonsense. Ryan’s Catholic. He should have several more ( though the less he reproduces, the better for all). Surely he’s remaining celibate, though, and not flaunting the Church’s teaching on birth control.

  134. 134.

    way2blue

    Sigh. I hate the ‘Better Deal’ formulation as it explicitly frames Democratic themes based on Republican ones. Rather than simply stating ‘We offer a Fair Deal’. Which can be defined in contrast or not, for any specific issue. And would hopefully resonate with a wide swath of Americans as it doesn’t particularly divide people based on ethnicity, economic situation, educational achievement… (Passively expecting voters to grok that Republications are way worse than Democrats has been tried before. Democrats need to boldly state their own priorities and back them up with why they should matter to everyone… )

  135. 135.

    Gelfling 545

    @Platonailedit: “One of his officials said he would “likely tell President Trump what to expect and what not to expect from Kim”, Yonhap news agency reported.”
    While Trump entertains him by showing his electoral college maps. Telling Trump anything seems pretty futile.

  136. 136.

    mali muso

    @Barbara: Amen to this one. Remembering how this question felt when I had just come through two back-to-back miscarriages and then months upon months of negative pregnancy tests each cycle. And now that we have our wonderful daughter and it feels like our little family is complete and we’re past the infant stage (sleeping through the night!), I have to deal with well-meaning questions about when we’re going to have a second baby.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    The Saudi/UAE puzzle piece makes it clear: The 2016 election was stolen, and U.S policy auctioned off to the countries that made it happen, with $$$ for the Trump/Kushners families and assorted mistresses. Unraveling a scandal 10X bigger than Watergate: https://t.co/1wDotWsTgy

    — Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) May 20, 2018

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    Powerful analysis from @JRubinBlogger: “We’ve never had a president actively seek to undermine our intelligence community to protect himself.” (I’m quoted in this piece re: whether Trump’s conduct might qualify as impeachable.) https://t.co/Fs6imalaAA

    — Joshua Matz (@JoshuaMatz8) May 21, 2018

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    We must not allow the GOP Congress to drag us back to the same lack of oversight that ignited the 2008 financial crisis. I join @RepMaxineWaters in urging Members to vote against the Dodd-Frank Rollback bill on the House floor tomorrow. https://t.co/LN2roT91Nw

    — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) May 22, 2018

  140. 140.

    catclub

    @Central Planning:

    he is also a devout christian and voted for dolt 45.

    Devout christians (claimed) who are actually devoted to Ayn Rand are pretty much self-refuting.

  141. 141.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: Ignoring when Netanyahu and Israel tried to do the same thing in 2012 was the original sin. in 2016 everybody got in on it.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    @Peale:

    And the decline in the past decade is noteworthy.

    yet the world population keeps going past 7 Billion

  144. 144.

    Yarrow

    @Jeffro:

    We have to keep it simple: Trumpistas have the “Deep State” to explain everything away. We should be talking about the GOP’s “Deep Corruption”, led by Trumpov and enabled by the GOP Congress.

    I’m okay calling it treason.

    @chris:

    “TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!”

    Sounds good to me.

    I think reclaiming patriotism and having it mean what it’s supposed to mean is a great way to rebrand Democrats.

  145. 145.

    bemused

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Easy peasy if you’re Paul Ryan who can afford raising three kids and send them to the best, most expensive colleges, no pesky student loans debt for his kids. He could have afforded to have done more than his part and had twice as many kids. Not a very devout catholic nor patriot.

  146. 146.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    Not so far. But the general sense here, based on what’s already known, is that Najib is guilty AF, and will be arrested sooner or later. The MACC’s initial investigation in 2015 got nowhere because the MACC reports to the PM i.e. it reported to Najib. And “recuse” is not a word in Najib’s vocabulary. Whereas now Dr Mahathir is PM and he’s not going to stifle the investigation. Najib is finally being treated as a suspect — the travel ban is because he’s an obvious flight risk.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @chris:

    “TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!”

    What about “TICK TOCK, MOTHERFUCKERS” ? It’s not a policy statement, but … (Although I see Yarrow was OK with your suggestion.)

  151. 151.

    Citizen Alan

    Honestly, why isn’t “democrars: we’re not stupid crooked traitors” a perfectly viable campaign slogan at this point.

  152. 152.

    bemused

    @Barbara:

    Kali Holloway wrote a good piece in Alternet “Compared to Rest of World Americans are Prudish, Delusional and Selfish Religious Nuts: Study”. Reality check research on American culture: fetishizes violence and squeamish about sex, notion of hard work as primary predictor of life success, believing first amendment gives Americans right to use hate speech, etc. Do as I say, not as I pretend to do. I think Holloway is right on saying America’s national character is a textbook study in narcissisitic tendencies coupled with crushing insecurity issues.

  154. 154.

    Neldob

    Democrats- better for everyone. Reality based, fiscally responsible, pro-family. The real patriots. Hmmm. It’s a start. The ‘a better deal’ is just pathetic.

  155. 155.

    chris

    Low birthrate? Not a surprise.

    Cost of prenatal care and delivery: 30 to 45000 dollars. If all goes well. In a country where 50% or more don’t make that much in a year.

  156. 156.

    Shana

    @Immanentize: Great story. Our cat destroyed the lower corner of the sliding screen door for our patio door. I replaced the screen with “Pet Resistant” screening. The cat still manages to pull the screening out when she tries to open the screen door to get back in the house but at least it doesn’t tear the material and I can put it back in place with the tool for anchoring the gasket into the door frame.

  164. 164.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    How about it’s either the voting booth or pitchforks, motherfuckers.

    I agree with the sentiment, but will the bumper sticker fit on anything smaller than an 18-wheeler?

  165. 165.

    The Lodger

    @AntiCliche: We had a Fair Deal. Apparently it didn’t stick in people’s memories:
    (Wikipedia) The Fair Deal was an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953.
    (I didn’t read to the end before posting this, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else has made this point.)

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