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You are here: Home / And Now For Something Completely and Totally Predictable

And Now For Something Completely and Totally Predictable

by John Cole|  June 29, 201811:54 am| 265 Comments

This post is in: hoocoodanode, Nobody could have predicted

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BREAKING: @SenatorCollins says she will not factor in Roe v. Wade: "she won’t factor a nominee’s support for the landmark abortion-rights ruling of Roe v. Wade into her confirmation decision." This is unconscionable. Set her straight. #mepolitics https://t.co/lkQSXu4OVj

— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) June 29, 2018

Like I said yesterday, pinning your hopes for saving on the people who have wanted this for decades is pointless. Burn it all fucking down.

Speaking of, this fucking cocktease:

A MONSTER asteroid as big as New South Wales is cannoning past Earth so close it can be seen by the naked eye.

But don’t worry. It won’t bite.

NASA has calculated the space rock’s orbit carefully.

Bring it, motherfucker.

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Previous Post: « Expect big MLR checks in the fall of 2019
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Reader Interactions

265Comments

  1. 1.

    Gravenstone

    June 29, 2018 at 12:00 pm

    No shit. SMOD, we need you!

  2. 2.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:02 pm

    She looks like such a bloviating gas bag in that picture. If there is a hell, I hope she burns in it. When is she up for re-election?

  3. 3.

    Mike R

    June 29, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Collins has played reasonable for so long people believe her, when she is simply a standard lying republican. How long can she run this con? The Giant Orange Toddler is president, so my guess as long as she wants.

  4. 4.

    Doug R

    June 29, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    IT’S ON, EH!
    Canada’s federal government unveil final list of U.S. products to be hit with tariffs
    In Hamilton, of course.

  5. 5.

    Calouste

    June 29, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    Pretty sure confirmation is going to happen in August, those voter suppression cases are not going to decide themselves you know.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    June 29, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    Rooting for the asteroid.

    Anybody wondering about the reason several Republican senators are going to Moscow needs to watch “Eastern Promises” (movie about the Russian mafia in London). They are going to formally pledge their fealty to puppet master Putin and get tattoos on their chests to prove it.

  7. 7.

    Hungry Joe

    June 29, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    Within two years abortion will be illegal in 15-20 states. If the GOP holds the House, will they go Federal — make it illegal nationally — or continue to use BABY KILLING as a tool to keep the base sufficiently rabid?

  8. 8.

    piratedan

    June 29, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    The GOP can be described as the three C’s:

    Complicit, Compromised or Cowed (or any/all of the three)

    they are sans any compass, moral or ethic and in most bases, only a monetary one is needed….

  9. 9.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    @Calouste:

    Me too. Everyone handles this differently, which is fine, but I;d rather just accept that it’s a done deal and move on.

    The court is moving hard Right. Now what? State law still really matter as far as election administration and process, so it makes more sense to put energy there. I realize it’s like pre-Civil War at the federal level, and we’re accepting a patchwork system where there will be unchecked voter suppression in 20 (or so) states but we have to protect and expand the vote where we can.

    Susan Collins was never going to save anyone but herself.

  10. 10.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 29, 2018 at 12:22 pm

    Americans voted for Republican control of Congress. What is it that we expected they’d do with their majority? If they remain in control after November, things will only get worse as they and Trump will feel emboldened. I’m optimistic that the majority of us will do the right thing.

  11. 11.

    tobie

    June 29, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    Can’t say I’m surprised. Would love to see Collins challenged on her supposed moderate stance once in a while. It would help too if she would be exposed for her lack of policy chops on occasion, too. I’ll never forget that she insisted that state aid be taken out of the stimulus in 2009 because in her estimate aid to states was not stimulative. What little state aid was given in the package had the greatest multiplier effect. Why does anyone listen to a senator who has been consistently wrong on just about anything?

  12. 12.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @Hungry Joe:

    It isn’t just abortion. There will be obstruction of women getting proper medical treatment of miscarriages and complicated pregnancies. The case that broke the issue open in Ireland wasn’t an abortion- it was where anti-abortionists blocked proper treatment for a pregnant woman in order to “save the baby”.

    People just have no idea how this will apply post-Roe. They’re kidding themselves if they think it won’t be applied to pregnancy medical care. Of course it will. You can apply any anti-abortion statute to a medically-complicated miscarriage or delivery. And they will. They’ve done that all over the world and they will do it here too.

  13. 13.

    drylake

    June 29, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    OT, but sufficiently alarming news to merit the interruption: just read on Facebook from a friend in Taiwan saying her son, who had been accepted to the graduate program in Materials Science at UCLA had his visa denied by the American Institute in Taiwan (i.e., the de fact US embassy) pending receipt of a letter of guarantee from his prospective advisor at UCLA that he would not be studying any “sensitive technology.” (an obviously absurd request, as who can say what any student will study once admitted). As far as I know, there has been nothing like this since the momentary panic (at most a year) following 9/11, which was vigorously protested by academia and was set aside fairly quickly). Only conclusion is straight-up racism, as Taiwan is supposed to be our friend, but then the kid does have a Chinese name. If they start doing this to applicants from India as well, one can except severe consequences for the future of US IT. Any other jackal heard of anything like this?

  14. 14.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 29, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    @piratedan: Right now, they’re also victors and ecstatic. Pretty much everything is going their way. There are zero checks and balances on Trump except the possibility of voters revolting in November. Just keeping it real.

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    June 29, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Let’s have a little bit of perspective, eh, before we start talking about burning it all down.

    The SCOTUS is 5:4 and will remain 5:4 when/if Donnie seats Kennedy’s replacement.

    The Senate is 51R:49D.

    The House is (as of May) 235 R : 193D : 7 vacant

    There’s national elections in 130 days.

    In the “blowout” of 2016, Democrats won the popular vote, they picked up seats in the Senate and they picked up seats in the House.

    The President’s party usually loses in his first mid-term. Even without a boat anchor like Trump (the least popular president in generations) at the top of the ticket.

    Some of us – including you, blogmeister – need to calm down, stop talking about hopelessness and destroying the world, and instead use this energy to help increase the size of the blue wave in November.

    “Don’t boo! Organize!!”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  16. 16.

    MomSense

    June 29, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

    Well now I know what tone to take in my next call to her office.

    BTW Maine has a statutory protection for abortion in the event Roe is reversed. Should it come to it, I’ll take women in and help them get safe services.

  17. 17.

    laura

    June 29, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    @Kay: these evil fuckers will create hundreds or thousands of Becky Bells.

    Also, goodbye minmum wage laws, and say hello to child labor.

  18. 18.

    danielx

    June 29, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    “she won’t factor a nominee’s support for the landmark abortion-rights ruling of Roe v. Wade into her confirmation decision.”

    Because of course she won’t.

  19. 19.

    A Ghost To Most

    June 29, 2018 at 12:28 pm

    Party over country. As it ever was.

    Now we get to see how bad peak wingnut can get.

  20. 20.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    @Another Scott:
    Thank you

  21. 21.

    jl

    June 29, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    Close call with a giant asteroid and ‘Bring it, motherfucker’. I knew it was a Cole post even though I didn’t bother to look who wrote it.

    I think the Democrats should emphasize the power grab, and horrible effect on economic welfare of ordinary workers, as well as reproductive rights (which should also be a natural connection to health care).

    Fake moderate GOPers caving to a reactionary SCOTUS appointment is expected, sadly.

  22. 22.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    For the “Every accusation is a confession” file:

    The far-left special interest groups are already calling on Senate Democrats to oppose anyone on President Trump’s long list of potential nominees. I’m afraid this may just be a precursor of all the unfair attacks to come. pic.twitter.com/37omSBXjGL— Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) June 28, 2018

    In reality, an unnamed conservative donated millions of dollars to the “block Garland” movement.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:32 pm

    When asked by the BBC if he thought his wife would still be alive if the termination had been allowed, Mr Halappanavar said: “Of course, no doubt about it.”He said Savita had been “on top of the world” before experiencing difficulties.”It was her first baby, first pregnancy and you know she was on top of the world basically,” he said.”She was so happy and everything was going well, she was so excited.”On the Saturday night everything changed, she started experiencing back pain so we called into the hospital, the university hospital.”He said she continued to experience pain and asked a consultant if she could be induced.”They said unfortunately she can’t because it’s a Catholic country,” Mr Halappanavar said.”Savita said to her she is not Catholic, she is Hindu, and why impose the law on her.”But she said ‘I’m sorry, unfortunately it’s a Catholic country’ and it’s the law that they can’t abort when the foetus is live.”The baby’s heartbeat stopped on the Wednesday.”I got a call at about half twelve on the Wednesday night that Savita’s heart rate had really gone up and that they had moved her to ICU,” Mr Halappanavar said.”Things just kept on getting worse and on Friday they told me that she was critically ill.”
    He said some of Savita’s organs stopped functioning and she died on Sunday 28 October.

    They killed her to protect the fetus and they did it because they’re anti-abortion. There are tens of thousands of problem pregnancies every year. No one ever hears about them in the US, but they will be hearing about them, because an abortion is an abortion and any law barring abortion impacts this.

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 29, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    @Another Scott: Yep. March tomorrow if you can. Donate and volunteer what you can. Take of yourselves and your families. As Adam says, “The only way out is through.”

  25. 25.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    @germy:
    His fucking Twitter name is “Leader” McConnell. What an authoritarian way to refer to yourself: the “Leader”. And I want someone to directly ask him why this is different from Garland until he gives a straight answer.

  26. 26.

    kindness

    June 29, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Why Maine keeps electing these people I can’t understand. Maine….what happened to you? When did you lose your marbles?

  27. 27.

    stan

    June 29, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    @MomSense: BTW Maine has a statutory protection for abortion in the event Roe is reversed. Should it come to it, I’ll take women in and help them get safe services.

    Be prepared to take them to Canada then, because Maine’s (and other state’s) laws will be invalidated by the reichwing SCOTUS we’re about to get.

    I continue to believe this is the last gasp of the white protestant males but boy they are going down hard.

  28. 28.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    ‘I’ve got one tough wife’: McConnell ‘loved’ watching Elaine Chao confront protesters https://t.co/mOba2qTkFX— POLITICO (@politico) June 29, 2018

    He watched from inside the car.

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    June 29, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    I got through to his office yesterday. After of course being brushed off about waiting until the investigation of the President was concluded, I asked the person how he felt working for a traitor. He said, “He’s not a traitor, he’s a very fine man.” I asked him to look in the mirror and ask himself what he’s doing to his country. I also asked him if he’d ever been to Russia, and he wouldn’t answer.

  30. 30.

    Elie

    June 29, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    @Another Scott:

    You speak the truth and we must not despair or we give up right now. And fuck no, who wants to survive an asteroid hit as an antidote to this? That’s just crazy talk!

    Buck up and stop whining! We have work to do!

  31. 31.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:40 pm

    @laura:

    these evil fuckers will create hundreds or thousands of Becky Bells

    Right? No one ever talks about it because Roe has been in place so long but an abortion is an abortion whether it’s an “induction” based on the woman’s health or not. American women haven’t seen those kind of intrusions into pregnancy care, but they will. It’s weird. It’s like they think the state statutes somehow check for “motive”- if you WANTED the child then you’re exempt from the laws. But they don’t, and you aren’t. They don’t just bind Planned Parenthood. They bind the nice suburban “birthing centers”. I’m convinced that’s what tipped the scales in Ireland. All of a sudden it wasn’t just “those bad women” who seek abortions- it was ALL women who are or might become pregnant.

  32. 32.

    Barbara

    June 29, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Susan Collins has been a rotten senator for the State of Maine for a long time. She appeals to women of her approximate demographic. It’s the only way she keeps getting elected. She’s up in 2020, but in my view she is not going to run again. Not running for governor probably meant that she wasn’t going to run for reelection either. A person of integrity would view the fact that she is getting to the end of her career as a reason to become more principled, not less. She is not a person of integrity. Nor is Jeff Flake.

    @Another Scott: Totally agree.

  33. 33.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    @germy:
    blockquote>cEmphasizing that he respects free speech, McConnell said it is best to voice opinions in a less confrontational manner.

    “Look, I’m a big believer in free speech and sometimes what people say is not great,” he said. “I do think poor behavior is not a great way to convey your views, and I think getting in people’s faces in public places and trying to make them uncomfortable certainly is not a great way to sell your point of view.”

    No. Fuck you. And let’s not pretend that you believe your opponents have a right to free speech or that you ever had an open mind. You and your “tough” wife are evil and I hope the rest of your lives are made miserable by those fighting the good fight, like the those ebil brown protestors your tough wife confronted.

  34. 34.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    @Elie:

    who wants to survive an asteroid hit as an antidote to this?

    The survivors would have to hear Hannity blame the asteroid on Maxine Waters.

  35. 35.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    @Kay:

    It isn’t just abortion. There will be obstruction of women getting proper medical treatment of miscarriages and complicated pregnancies. The case that broke the issue open in Ireland wasn’t an abortion- it was where anti-abortionists blocked proper treatment for a pregnant woman in order to “save the baby”.

    Yep. People don’t grasp that women’s health is vast and broad.

  36. 36.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    JFC, Cole, I needed a defibrillator when I read that Collins was going reverse course and (shockingly!) be a typical Rethuglican! Can you give a guy a trigger warning?

  37. 37.

    Barbara

    June 29, 2018 at 12:44 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Yeah, it’s funny that he never expressed this view in 2010. Fuck off Mitch.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    @drylake:

    If they start doing this to applicants from India as well, one can except severe consequences for the future of US IT. Any other jackal heard of anything like this?

    I wouldn’t be surprised in the least by this. I really wouldn’t.

  39. 39.

    Ocotillo

    June 29, 2018 at 12:45 pm

    It really has struck me as pointless to count on GOPers in the Senate to resist any supreme court pick. They may or may not like Trump but they love them some generational reactionaries on the high court.

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    @Kay:

    They killed her to protect the fetus and they did it because they’re anti-abortion. There are tens of thousands of problem pregnancies every year. No one ever hears about them in the US, but they will be hearing about them, because an abortion is an abortion and any law barring abortion impacts this.

    Yep.
    Yep.
    Yep.

  41. 41.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 29, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Predictable, and we all called it.

    Collins pretends to be “moderate”, and then votes party-line GOP. Every. Single. Time.

    Might be nice if the media ever noticed that.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:47 pm

    @laura:

    No one talks about it because we’ve had Roe so long, but a medical induction is an abortion and every state statute barring abortion applies. American women are about to find that out. Physicians already know it. They bring it up every time Ohio introduces an anti-abortion bill.

  43. 43.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 29, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    @Elie: Thank You.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Yep. People don’t grasp that women’s health is vast and broad.

    More and more often, I am reminded of the numbskull interviewed by NPR during the 2016 campaign. The woman was a Democrat (or possibly an “Independent”) who wanted someone to give her a good reason to vote for Hillary “but without mentioning Trump or the Supreme Court.”

    I hope your delicate sensibilities have survived, and continue to survive, stunningly well. Survive long enough for me to find you and choke the living shit out of you, you fucking moron.

  45. 45.

    Belafon

    June 29, 2018 at 12:50 pm

    I wonder how many Republicans have to deal with automatic doors not opening for them.

  46. 46.

    Doug R

    June 29, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Rooting for the asteroid.

    Well, an asteroid made Sudbury “great”.
    https://www.bankofcanadamuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Blog-Post-034-Paul-Sudbury-PP-02-00-big-nickel-780×515.jpg

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    June 29, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    The only people who still think Susan Collins is a moderate are in the political media. I almost hate her more than someone like Sessions, who’s just up front about his extreme views. She’s a monster in a human suit.

  48. 48.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 29, 2018 at 12:52 pm

    @drylake: All kinds of visas both short term and long term are becoming more difficult to get. Many more RFEs for H1-B renewals and the like.

    RFE=Request for Evidence

  49. 49.

    msdc

    June 29, 2018 at 12:53 pm

    That’s interesting. Usually Collins waits to fold until after the legislation/nominee has reached the Senate floor.

    They must be getting desperate.

  50. 50.

    Miss Bianca

    June 29, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @MomSense: Looks like many of us are going to need to reacquaint ourselves with the history of the Jane Collective. Spoken as a proud ex-Chicagoan Planned Parenthood type.

    Ask me about how to perform menstrual extraction! : /

  51. 51.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 12:54 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I don’t think people understand that they’re overturning a whole scheme of laws- that they interact. Our laws governing pregnancy came about after Roe. They folded Roe in as to what could and couldn’t be barred.

    It’ll be a whole new state law scheme and it will absolutely apply to all pregnant women- there’s no “intent” analysis. It’s not like the “good” women are outside the ban. There’s no legal distinction between someone who wants an abortion, is sort of divided about an abortion or opposes abortion. None of those women are getting a medically induced abortion in a country that bans it.

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I realize you were just trying to make a point, to coordinate with your just-prior Kevin-Bacon-“All-is-well!!!!” statements, but this is the first time I’ve heard 2016 called a “blowout.”

    By anybody, anywhere, anytime.

  53. 53.

    Doug R

    June 29, 2018 at 12:55 pm

    @Another Scott: Like Rep John Lewis says, don’t despair, but get into #GoodTrouble.

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    June 29, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    @Another Scott: Co-signed here. Despair never flipped the House; but organizing, registering, volunteering, donating, and VOTING sure will.

  55. 55.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 12:56 pm

    I remember hearing this guy on a tiny transistor radio at the beach sometime in the 1960s:

    Dan Ingram, one of the first and wittiest of the Top-40 radio DJs who succeeded by savaging his own medium, died June 24 at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 83.

    He died after choking on a piece of steak, said a son, Christopher Ingram.

    In New York and St. Louis and a slew of smaller markets, Mr. Ingram turned the playing of hit records into a daily opportunity to make fun of nearly everything, including the music he played, the ads that paid the bills and radio itself.

  56. 56.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Jeffro: They want us to despair. They want us to give up. I won’t.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Another Scott:

    “Don’t boo! Organize!!”

    And vote!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

    I always love this greeting. It’s just adorable, and something that makes me smile.

  58. 58.

    A Ghost To Most

    June 29, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @Mary G: They are all lizard people in human suits.

  59. 59.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    @zhena gogolia:
    Damn. Maybe you got through to him. Or at least made him think.

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 29, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    Burn it all fucking down.

    Since you belong to the most persecuted minority group in this country, I completely understand your frustration.

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    @tobie:

    Why does anyone listen to a senator who has been consistently wrong on just about anything?

    Feature, not bug, for most Rethug voters/supporters

  62. 62.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 12:59 pm

    @Barbara:
    Disturbing that he can laugh about it. I want him to be miserable to make up for all the evil he has done

  63. 63.

    The Moar You Know

    June 29, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    Within two years abortion will be illegal in 15-20 states. If the GOP holds the House, will they go Federal — make it illegal nationally — or continue to use BABY KILLING as a tool to keep the base sufficiently rabid?

    @Hungry Joe: The Haidmaid’s contingent wants to overturn Roe and Griswold. My wife and I were trying to game this out. Let things stand pre-Roe or go big and outlaw it federally?

    My wife says they outlaw it federally.
    I say they wait and get the last of the sucker money…until they can flip one more state lege (and one is all they need) and then write the ban into the Constitution.

  64. 64.

    ruemara

    June 29, 2018 at 1:01 pm

    @drylake: You do recall that Steve Bannon wanted less Asians in tech, right? He may not be in the White House, but he’s still affecting policies.

  65. 65.

    Honus

    June 29, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @Another Scott: thank you. That’s some welcome perspective.

  66. 66.

    Calouste

    June 29, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @Kay: I think there were a lot of women who weren’t particularly concerned about abortion, because they would keep the child if they had an unexpected pregnancy (I know personally at least four that weren’t really planned). Dying a completely preventable death when that happens is something completely different though.

    What happened to Savita Halappanavar probably brought a lot of men to the yes vote as well. Who wants to lose his wife like that?

  67. 67.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    @SFAW:
    Well, he did use “”. Looking back, despite all of the shit that was thrown in our way, it’s incredible that we did as well as we did and Trump only barely won.

  68. 68.

    chopper

    June 29, 2018 at 1:02 pm

    But don’t worry. It won’t bite.

    NASA has calculated the space rock’s orbit carefully.

    we can hope they made another imperial/metric screwup, can’t we?

  69. 69.

    Honus

    June 29, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @MomSense: you’ll be arrested and imprisoned for this under a republican regime. They gave explicitly advocated this. Believe them.

  70. 70.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    And I want someone to directly ask him why this is different from Garland until he gives a straight answer.

    Because it’s not the President who’s up for election. That was the excuse Turtle used vis-a-vis Garland/Obama.

    It was a lie then, it’ll be a lie now, but it’s not as if Turtle cares. To paraphrase Barry Goldwater: “Country over party” is no virtue, lying/treason in pursuit of Republican power is no vice.

  71. 71.

    gene108

    June 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @Hungry Joe:

    Within two years abortion will be illegal in 15-20 states. If the GOP holds the House, will they go Federal — make it illegal nationally — or continue to use BABY KILLING as a tool to keep the base sufficiently rabid?

    They are all True Believers now. They would out law it. If they had the votes, they would amend the Constitution to make sure there is no doubt abortion will never be legal again.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    @Jeffro:

    It’s different for everyone, though. For some people “no one will fix this except public action” is a rallying cry. It’s saying to stop waiting for the cavalry because it isn’t coming.

  73. 73.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn’t doing that. It has become a deportation force. We need to separate immigration issues from criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works. https://t.co/JtSN68k4Fd
    — Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 29, 2018

  74. 74.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:04 pm

    Shocked, winnings, etc.

  75. 75.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:05 pm

    @SFAW:
    Uh, yes he is. In less than 2 years and he already filed for re-election. Checkmate, Turtleboy!

  76. 76.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    @Kay: You are absolutely correct about Ireland. That woman’s labor went on for 3 days. And “the baby” died anyway. As did she.

    A fucking national disgrace.

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Oh, cut the bullshit. Turtle specifically talked about Obama’s last year in office.

  78. 78.

    Calouste

    June 29, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    I guess what the shitgibbon is looking for is to make abortion illegal and then imprison the playmate he paid more than a million to get an abortion and get his money back.

  79. 79.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    June 29, 2018 at 1:08 pm

    What? What? Susan Collins is a soulless sellout? Holy shit, I never could have seen that one coming! How will I now make any sense of the world?

  80. 80.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:09 pm

    @SFAW:
    My point is that Mitch isn’t arguing in good faith. Neither should we. I want to make him contort himself into a pretzel, frustrate him, and just generally make his life a living hell. Don’t make it easy for him IOW.

  81. 81.

    Origuy

    June 29, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    OT, but it’s a nice animal story. Rescuing livestock trapped by Kilauea.

  82. 82.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: @SFAW: “Senator is hypocrite about procedural rules” is barely news; “Republican senator is hypocrite about procedural rules” is… I don’t know, just getting kind of tired. To me at least.

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Don’t make it easy for him IOW.

    He. Doesn’t. Care.

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    June 29, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @Calouste:

    Pretty sure confirmation is going to happen in August, those voter suppression cases are not going to decide themselves you know.

    How they handle the confirmation will depend on how cynical and desperate they are. I suspect McConnell will want to schedule the confirmation as close as possible to elections to try to energize the base. If it somehow falls through and the Democrats manage to retake the Senate in the elections, you can bet McConnell will happily try again in the lame duck session.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m with you. But some here read “WASF” and assume it means the writer is giving up, instead of (the writer) using it as a way to provide more motivation for himself/herself.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 1:11 pm

    @Calouste:

    It’s interesting because the medical lit on it so blunt and matter of fact. They don’t make any distinctions between seeking an abortion “on demand” as Justice Scalia used to sneeringly say, and a medically induced abortion for a pregnancy that was planned and wanted. It’s just an abortion. Right now they don’t need permission from a judge to provide appropriate medical care, privately and with no fuss, but we live a country where Roe limits bans and have for a very long time.

    I confess I have some trouble understanding these women who treat this so cavalierly. Never in my life have I said “that can’t happen to me” about anything. I can’t imagine that kind of blithe confidence where problems are something other women have.

  86. 86.

    Aleta

    June 29, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @Kay: I’m only just accepting this (even though it’s been said for years), because I’ve been too focused on SC battles: If the SC will no longer support environmental protection + regulations…affirmative action…protection of rights (as seems likely with these justices), it’s up to us to put serious state laws and legislators in place and just forget about the courts protecting the people. And ideally we also need to hardwire those protections, as policies, into where we’re employed and our individual towns. If we fear the federal courts will abandon affirmative action, accessibility, etc. (and I do) then maybe we should start looking for some policy templates? And ask local companies and town offices and colleges to adopt them?

  87. 87.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @piratedan:

    Complicit, Compromised or Cowed (or any/all of the three)

    Complicit, Cowards, Corpses.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    June 29, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    @SFAW: Kellyanne Conway, sent out a celebratory tweet reading, “306. Landslide. Blowout. Historic.”

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    June 29, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @drylake: Re: the education visa…

    One of the foundations of US soft power internationally is that a TON of successful upper and middle class professionals from elsewhere in the world have gone to US undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. Simply having shop owners, professionals, and the civil servants familiar with aspects of US culture makes it a lot easier for US interests to operate in those countries.

    Making those educational visas unavailable will impact things way down the line.

  90. 90.

    cckids

    June 29, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @Calouste:

    I think there were a lot of women who weren’t particularly concerned about abortion, because they would keep the child if they had an unexpected pregnancy (I know personally at least four that weren’t really planned).

    I can guarantee you that you know many, MANY more than four; people don’t always talk about it.

    This whole subject makes me nauseous. The strident, “baby-killers!!1!!!” language, the astounding lack of knowledge and information, the complete disregard for anyone but the holy fetus. Because I had a child who had serious mental & physical handicaps, the loudest anti’s in my life assume I’m one of them. And I am so, so not one of them. They just cannot comprehend that it is a vastly more complicated and nuanced issue than “just have the baby!” or “just don’t have sex!” I hope (and I hate this about myself), but I hope that if anyone has to pay the horrific price for these vicious laws, it is them.

    Reap the whirlwind, zealots.

  91. 91.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    My point is that Mitch isn’t arguing in good faith.

    No shit. Stop the presses.

    It’s not as if that’s a secret. The only people who don’t know that are the moron Rethug voters, and even if they figure it out, they won’t care.

    But the point remains that he was specifically talking about a Presidential election year, and 2018 is not, so it’s not as if it would be a GOTCHA! moment.

  92. 92.

    Bex

    June 29, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Don’t know if this has been posted elsewhere, but Rob Hiaasen, brother of Carl Hiaason, was one of the five murdered in the Maryland newspaper shooting.

  93. 93.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    He. Doesn’t. Care.

    That he shows, anyway. I can imagine if wasn’t able to go practically anywhere without being harassed he would begin to care.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @SFAW:

    I’m in the “no one will help you so you have to do it YOURSELF” camp too. This is literally my internal dialogue. It’s very abstract. You have to give up to try, or something :)

    There’s no one right way to go about it. It’s like with kids. Some kids respond best to praise, others have to corrected. Positive/negative incentives. It’s all part of the gorgeous mosaic of cat herding :)

  95. 95.

    Bard the Grim

    June 29, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    > A MONSTER asteroid as big as New South Wales is cannoning past Earth so close it can be seen by the naked eye.

    Yeah, in the same sense that Earth is cannoning toward its closest approach to the Sun in 365 days on Jan 3!! (oh no!!!) because Earth’s distance from the Sun varies by about 3% over the year. Vesta’s orbit lies outside that of Mars, as it has for the past 4+ billion years. We happen to be on the same side of the Sun as Vesta now (as happens every 3 or so years) so it’s closer than usual. F**kin’ media ignorance and hype. Even worse than their political coverage.

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    @Kay:

    and we’re accepting a patchwork system where there will be unchecked voter suppression in 20 (or so) states but we have to protect and expand the vote where we can.

    What galls me the most is that we’ve been stuck having to accept this since 2000. Every fucking time the problems in the voting systems come up in the usual suspects, nothing seems to get fucking done about it.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:18 pm

    @Another Scott:

    In my original response, I had considered inserting “except for Lying Littledick and his band of liars,” but thought it would disrupt the flow.

    So, JUST TO MAKE IT CLEAR, there was no one OUTSIDE OF LYING LITTLEDICK AND HIS BAND OF LIARS who called 2016 a blowout.

    If you’re going to try to make a point about how great things really are (so to speak), despite appearances, try not to throw in bullshit points to “prove” your point.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 29, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @Barbara: Susan Collins has been a rotten senator for the State of Maine for a long time. She appeals to women of her approximate demographic.

    I’ll defer to MomSense on the specifics of Maine politics, but the romance of the liberal Northeastern Republican, keeping the flame of Eisenhower and Margaret Chase Smith alive has inflated Collins’ reputation beyond all reason for years, and Snowe before her. Collins vote against trump care was notable, but it’s also the only time in my political memory that she’s been even vaguely mavericky since 2001, when she gushingly introduced her good friend AG nominee John Ashcroft to the Senate, signaling to Bush and Cheney and Rove that she would be a team player. Her votes in the trump era suggest that she’s more ideologically to the right than the weak-willed bleater her TV/Media image conveys

  99. 99.

    Cacti

    June 29, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    I never doubted for a moment that Collins would fold.

    She didn’t even bother to furrow her brow once or twice before taking the wingnut position this time.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    June 29, 2018 at 1:19 pm

    @tobie:
    Why are you questioning a member of the bullshit party? They will always fall in line. It doesn’t matter where that line leads, how badly the end of the line is for them, they will follow. Lemmings don’t follow as ridiculously as rethugs. But then lemmings aren’t as fucking stupid or evil.

  101. 101.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:20 pm

    @gene108:

    If they had the votes, they would amend the Constitution to make sure there is no doubt abortion will never be legal again.

    They don’t even need to do that once Kennedy’s replacement takes the bench.

    They will enshrine the new precept of personhood at conception. All Abortions will be classified as first degree murder. Its not like they’ve been subtle about this.

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @Kay:

    For what it’s worth, I deeply appreciate all the hard work you’ve done in Ohio politics over the last NN years (“where NN is a large positive integer.”)

  103. 103.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    There’s a lot of good news with voting in liberal states, though. they finally got smart and just put a process in place to get around all the bullshit. Automatic registration, same day registration, early vote. PEOPLE like this, too. The public. The voters. Because it’s easier. It’s convenient.

  104. 104.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    @SFAW:

    But the point remains that he was specifically talking about a Presidential election year, and 2018 is not, so it’s not as if it would be a GOTCHA! moment.

    Doesn’t matter. I’m sure most people don’t know that. Forget about nuances and just repeat what I said over and over and over again; the President shouldn’t get a pick until the People have a say, and aggressively push that onto low info voters.

  105. 105.

    David Evans

    June 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    I accept that this asteroid meme is now a thing, but really, people. If you want to avoid the future there are ways to do it without taking the rest of us with you.

  106. 106.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:22 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: He probably only goes places filled with other rich people who don’t harass each other over silly things like destroying America.

  107. 107.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Some of us – including you, blogmeister – need to calm down, stop talking about hopelessness and destroying the world, and instead use this energy to help increase the size of the blue wave in November.

    Five votes on the Supreme Court outweigh 66 votes in the Senate.

  108. 108.

    burnspbesq

    June 29, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    No one around here is likely to take well to your condescension. Even if they take your point.

    P.S. you’re dead wrong about the Supreme Court, because your way of thinking about it is flawed. Once Trump’s new nominee is seated, Roberts replaces Kennedy as the median Justice. If you think that’s insignificant, I really don’t know what to say.

  109. 109.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    June 29, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    @Hungry Joe: And the GoP game of blamestorming over Rove verse Wade begins.

    or continue to use BABY KILLING as a tool to keep the base sufficiently rabid?

    I doubt if even they know.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @ruemara:

    @drylake: You do recall that Steve Bannon wanted less Asians in tech, right? He may not be in the White House, but he’s still affecting policies.

    Yep..that’s who I first thought of when I read the denial of visa.

    MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.

  111. 111.

    James E Powell

    June 29, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    Nothing is going to slow these people down. The election is everything.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    June 29, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    @SFAW:

    John blows off steam and he loves to cuss. I don’t think it means he’s “in despair”. It means it’s a Friday in June :)

    I also love swearing, so I’m not judging.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    June 29, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Meh.

    If history is any guide, they’ll use it like flag burning and the balanced budget amendment and Ebola and all the rest. Yes, they’ll make abortion more difficult to get, and have more restrictions on birth control, and all the other horrible things. And it will cost even more women their lives if they succeed.

    But they won’t pull the trigger and fully outlaw it nationwide.

    If they did that, they wouldn’t be able to use it as a cudgel to rile up their base any more.

    Just like one doesn’t hear too much about Jesus coming back “any day now” the way one did before the year 2000. Maybe 2000 wasn’t the magic year after all??

    For example, they’d love to be able to point to the Godless Liberal Monsters in California that still allow abortion in their fundraising tweets.

    Yes, we must fight them every single day. Yes, they will continue to try to do horrible things with any power that they have.

    But they’re politicians. They’re not absolutists. They know what they need to do to keep people riled up, to keep people giving money, to keep the blood flowing in their party. They will always, always hold onto abortion as a red flag if they have any opportunity at all. It works so very well for them in their party… :-/

    We have to take that opportunity away from them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:25 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Not going to fly.

    “A man doesn’t get to appoint the judge for his own trial.”

    There, that’s all that needs to be said over and over again.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 29, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Mitch McConnell is what he is, likes what he is, and barely bothers to pretend to be anything else. What I want to do is dopeslap all the pundits who solemnly furrowed their brows in IIRC the summer of 2014 to tell us that Obama was responsible for gridlock because he had never invited Mitch McConnell to the White House. And when the White House released photos and records of all the times McC had been to the White House, said that didn’t count because those were formal and semi-formal events, like a Super Bowl party for congressional leaders*, not off the record or whatever the fuck visits to the living quarters. I’m looking at you, Chuck Todd, but you’re only the most inexplicably prominent of the dopes what need slapped.

    * where Obama committed a heinous crime against bipartisan comity by watching the game instead of listening to John Boehner slur about the good ol’ days when he learned to drink in his old man’s tavern.

  116. 116.

    Miss Bianca

    June 29, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    @germy: Yeah, I’m still pissed about the Franken thing, but I have to admit that when Gillibrand sticks her neck to say stuff like this, I appreciate her a lot more than I did.

  117. 117.

    Chickamin Slam

    June 29, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    In times like these I reflect back to this vintage Cole post >.>

    https://balloon-juice.com/2012/02/05/they-fucking-hate-you/

  118. 118.

    gene108

    June 29, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    The Haidmaid’s contingent wants to overturn Roe and Griswold.

    Might help drive up withe birth rates and prevent the “white genocide” white supremacists worry so much about. Just saying the Handmaid’s contigent isn’t exactly separate from this white supremacists.

  119. 119.

    A Ghost To Most

    June 29, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @Kay:
    Vote by mail. Convenient and hard to hack.

  120. 120.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 29, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @rikyrah: FWIW, Chinese F-1 students have had more stringent criteria applied to them since the Bush II administration at least. I remember a Chinese grad student being stuck in China for over a semester when he went home to visit. Typically their long term visas have not been multiple entry.

  121. 121.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    @Another Scott:

    But they won’t pull the trigger and fully outlaw it nationwide.

    If they did that, they wouldn’t be able to use it as a cudgel to rile up their base any more.

    Federal Personhood recognized by the SC. All abortions become de facto first degree murder. Red States can then target any doctor and any pregnant woman in their borders. Including any who enter from a blue state.

    Base will then rally as GOP pushes for increased federal enforcement against Blue States, neatly killing 2 birds with one stone.

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:28 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Vote by mail. Convenient and hard to hack.

    Vote by physical mail is actually easier to tamper with.

  123. 123.

    B.B.A.

    June 29, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: He’s physically incapable of caring.

  124. 124.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    @TenguPhule: And yet nobody does it.

  125. 125.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    @Kay: Yeah, the responsible states did something. But Florida, Ohio, Texas and the fucking red states keep doing the same fucking thing over and over again. Even when President Obama took Florida and Ohio, the fucking systems were reported as failing to allow everyone to vote.

  126. 126.

    ruemara

    June 29, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    Susan Collins has benefited from woman syndrome. Where a woman gets tons of benefit of the doubt, simply because she couldn’t possibly be that bad, could she? No matter how often she’s proven she’s that bad, it’s a given that she must be the softer, gentler person with more emotional depth. She’s never been that person, but boy has it been offered to everyone that she is. Sick of her, Murkowski, Melania, Ivanka and every last woman who’ve screwed over women, WOC, the poor & the sick. I hope the streets are lined with gibbets when we overthrow them. America needs to learn the lessons of other lands, the families of tyrants & despots & all their collaborators need a vivid, harsh check to keep their heads down and out of government.

  127. 127.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Yet.

    You know he was going to say it.

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:31 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    And yet nobody does it.

    How many husbands got to dictate how their wife voted before mailing it in?

  129. 129.

    Another Scott

    June 29, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @SFAW: Oh, Ok. I’ll be sure to run my thoughts by you before posting them. Just to make sure they meet your standards.

    Do I get extra credit if I say the Secret Word?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    @ruemara: Come sit by me. I have cookies.

  131. 131.

    The Moar You Know

    June 29, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    A MONSTER asteroid as big as New South Wales is cannoning past Earth so close it can be seen by the naked eye.

    Worst reporting ever. Seriously. Yes, the asteroid (minor planet Vesta, actually, not an asteroid) will be seen by the naked eye. No, it’s is not coming remotely close to Earth. It’s halfway between Mars and Jupiter, it has a stable orbit, and it will never present any kind of danger to the planet whatsoever.

    If that bums you out or makes you excited, that’s on you. The science is what it is.

  132. 132.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 29, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    Until what happened in Ireland happens here and pregnant women who could have been saved if they had aborted the baby will die.

  133. 133.

    Felony Govt

    June 29, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I’m starting to wonder if the country is going to hold together. California, New York, etc. are not likely to countenance sweeping federal laws outlawing abortion. At some point either the majority prevails, or the whole setup splits into red and blue countries.

  134. 134.

    azlib

    June 29, 2018 at 1:33 pm

    In a perverse way we should hope Collins and Murkoski vote “yes”. If they are “no” votes then there is enormous pressure on Dem Senators from Red States. What will Heitkamp do if she is the deciding vote for or against the confirmation? She votes “yes” and then Dems in ND will be furious and if she votes “no” then the rabid anti-abortion folks would be furious.

    Also will the Rethugs actually repeal Roe? It has been a great fundraising tool for them. Don’t get me wrong, I think Dems need to fight the confirmation of a Supreme. I am just pointing out the path forward is pretty treacherous.

  135. 135.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Until what happened in Ireland happens here and pregnant women who could have been saved if they had aborted the baby will die.

    We can only hope. But don’t bet the farm on it.

  136. 136.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:35 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I will not see it because he has been placed on a time-out in my pie filter.

  137. 137.

    B.B.A.

    June 29, 2018 at 1:36 pm

    @TenguPhule: Mississippi rejected personhood when it was up in a referendum. If it’s too extreme for them, it won’t happen anywhere.

  138. 138.

    zhena gogolia

    June 29, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    I just realized that Baud has disappeared.

  139. 139.

    d58826

    June 29, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    @Kay: Didn’t Pence get a law passed in Ind. that criminalized miscarriages or at least required a police report to be file?

    The old chestnut is still true – if men got pregnant then the pill would be handed out like candy.

  140. 140.

    Dorothy Winsor

    June 29, 2018 at 1:37 pm

    Collins is useless.

    I’m planning to go to a local rally tomorrow outside Rod Blum’s office. She’s no better than he is.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    June 29, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    @burnspbesq: No condescension was implied.

    So you’re in the “burn it all fucking down” camp with John, I take it?

    I happen to think that words have meaning. I would assume that you do as well, given your line of work.

    Destruction only very rarely makes things better.

    My point is that things aren’t hopeless. We actually have a good opportunity to start turning things around come November if people direct their energies appropriately. Yeah, it’s not a brilliant observation, and it’s certainly not unique. But I thought it needed to be said in this thread, so I said it.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  142. 142.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    @zhena gogolia: can you blame him?

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Kay:

    In Nicaragua, women with ectopic pregnancies have died because the embryo already has a heartbeat, so doctors are afraid they will be prosecuted if they terminate the pregnancies. Better for both the woman and the embryo to die than for the embryo to be “murdered.” ?

  144. 144.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    @Kay:

    It’s like they think the state statutes somehow check for “motive”- if you WANTED the child then you’re exempt from the laws.

    What do you mean like? This is exactly what those stupid entitled forced birth women believe. “I am the exception to every rule” is their life model.

    Its like watching sheep waltzing into the butchering shed of their own accord. Forcing all the protesting ones that don’t want to go in first, of course.

  145. 145.

    ruemara

    June 29, 2018 at 1:42 pm

    .@azlib:

    Also will the Rethugs actually repeal Roe? It has been a great fundraising tool for them. Don’t get me wrong, I think Dems need to fight the confirmation of a Supreme. I am just pointing out the path forward is pretty treacherous.

    Let me help you understand something. There will never not be an issue that Republicans won’t support Republicans on. They can fundraise off of mustard. They can be outraged and fundraise off ANYTHING. Because they hate anyone not them. It’s that simple. Ending Roe vs Wade would please the base endlessly and ensure their devotion. Money will still pour in from the rubes but that won’t match the amount of oligarch cash they’re getting to keep America weak, out of global affairs and on the verge of collapse. They can & will do it if possible. Expect the Dems to be an outlawed party of they don’t do well the next election.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Better for both the woman and the embryo to die than for the embryo to be “murdered.”

    Doctors don’t want to go to jail. Especially in Nicaragua.

  147. 147.

    d58826

    June 29, 2018 at 1:43 pm

    @TenguPhule: I’m old enough to remember a problem pregnancy in the pre-Roe ear and the woman had to fly to Sweden for a safe abortion to save her life.

    We of course would be impolite if we mentioned the ‘procedure’, at 20 weeks, that Rick Santorium’s wife under went do to medical complications. Seems she wasn’t willing to make the supreme sacrifice for the cause.

    I suspect that in those states that ban abortion there will be a major spike in 16 year olds having D@C’s. IIRC that was the dodge in the pre Roe era, at least for middle/upper class women

  148. 148.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    @ruemara:

    They can fundraise off of mustard.

    They actually did fundraise off of mustard and arugala.

  149. 149.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 1:45 pm

    Viral video: Police called on 12-year-old mowing grass which ends up getting him more business
    Tara Molina
    4:29 PM, Jun 28, 2018
    7:06 AM, Jun 29, 2018

    A boy in Maple Heights is running his own business this summer cutting lawns and cleaning up yards.

    Reginald Fields, 12, is the owner of Mr. Reggie’s Lawn Cutting Service. With several helping hands from his cousins, brothers and sisters, they are up with the sun every day working the neighborhood.

    That’s what they were doing when someone called Maple Heights police on them.

    “They said I was cutting their grass. I didn’t know it!” Reggie said.

    His customer, Lucille Holt, said she was confused when she saw police, but quickly learned the neighbors called to complain that the group cut a section of their property (about a foot where the two properties butt together) and were in their yard.

    “They said the kids cut their grass,” Holt explained.

    Reggie Fields said the police said nothing to him and the kids. He finished the job and felt a little discouraged.

    “I was like, that’s a shame. I didn’t know,” Reggie said.

    But that didn’t last long.

    Lucille Holt created a Facebook post about what happened and ended up with thousands of views and hundreds of shares.

    …………………………….

    Now, Mr. Reggie is getting a lot of support for his new business from people who see the video and want to make sure he’s never discouraged again.

    “People are inboxing me like, ‘how can I get in touch with this children? Where are they at? I got property I want these kids to cut,'” Holt said.

    Reggie, his siblings and his cousins are getting calls from all over the city now.

    Reggie said he’s trying to save the money he earns to buy new equipment and grow his business.

    “Just give me a call. I will be there. On time!” He said.

  150. 150.

    MJS

    June 29, 2018 at 1:46 pm

    @TenguPhule: And every mass shooter is a Nazi implementing America’s version of the Final Solution. It was 5-4 yesterday, as it will be for the foreseeable future. And the “5” who just retired? His son was Trump’s banker. Such a loss.

  151. 151.

    Major Major Major Major

    June 29, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    Slate has a good list of Democrats’ Options for Blocking a SCOTUS Nominee, Ranked From Least to Most Likely to Be Successful.

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @d58826:

    I suspect that in those states that ban abortion there will be a major spike in 16 year olds having D@C’s. IIRC that was the dodge in the pre Roe era, at least for middle/upper class women

    I expect worse. Between the push of the fucking Catholic Churches taking over hospitals, the hostility to doctors with the knowledge and the legal positions changing, we’re going to find an even worse severe shortage of doctors who know how to handle abortions and miscarriages at hospitals and clinics.

    Women are going to die because the caregivers are literally not going to know how to do it right.

  153. 153.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 29, 2018 at 1:47 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: No I don’t. It is a smart thing to do.

  154. 154.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 1:48 pm

    @rikyrah: I have worked in university scientific research for 35 years; 33 in America, as a financial analyst managing the $. If America rejects foreign grad students not only will science in America suffer; so will research institutions that charge $60,000 a year for tuition. Many (if not most) foreign students’ tuition to American universities is paid in full by the student’s home country government.

    America no longer does science in high school or even college. We need these foreign students.

    Bad move, assholes.

  155. 155.

    Yutsano

    June 29, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @TenguPhule: [CITATION NEEDED]

    Washington has been doing vote by mail since 2005. There has yet to be any demonstrated hack or insecurity since this policy changed. And it increased our vote percentage totals from around 45% to well over 70%. This shit works when it’s set up right And when California takes it over it’ll get into more places.

    (testing nym stickage)

  156. 156.

    MJS

    June 29, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    @Another Scott: Count me as another who’s glad you said it. Thank you.

  157. 157.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    @MJS:

    . It was 5-4 yesterday, as it will be for the foreseeable future. And the “5” who just retired? His son was Trump’s banker. Such a loss.

    Kennedy is a fucking Republican shit. But he was not a completely corrupt, fuck all laws and precedent piece of shit until this week. Just mostly corrupt.

    It is going to be worse then you can possibly imagine.

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    @Belafon:

    Thank you for the “Simpsons” reference — it made me giggle. ?

  159. 159.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @Yutsano: Voting by mail means the wife doesn’t get a private booth to vote in.

  160. 160.

    A Ghost To Most

    June 29, 2018 at 1:51 pm

    @TenguPhule: Evidence please? None here in CO that I am aware of.

  161. 161.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Predictable, and we all called it.

    Collins pretends to be “moderate”, and then votes party-line GOP. Every. Single. Time.

    Might be nice if the media ever noticed that.

    Nobody ever gets hired as a pundit for getting it right all the time.

    Only for getting it wrong.

  162. 162.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    June 29, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @TenguPhule: Tell Tengu, since it’s a certainty that they will get that justic, why do you bother with living if it’s that utterly hopeless? Just off yourself then. I’ve did twenty years of competitive martial arts I have to you say you are the kind of self defeating dork I loved to run into the tournaments. Lost the match in their minds before it even started kind of stuff.

    I could give you some hurrah lecture about how martial arts taught me, you get hit in the head, don’t say ouch, just keep on hitting them back and you might win anyway. Or what my teacher told me “Pain is just nature’s way of telling you to block” But what’s the point?

    It’s hopeless Tengu and your hopeless and useless.

  163. 163.

    ruemara

    June 29, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    @TenguPhule: I know, hence why I brought it up.

  164. 164.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @B.B.A.:

    Mississippi rejected personhood when it was up in a referendum. If it’s too extreme for them, it won’t happen anywhere.

    Five Supreme Court Justices can create it out of whole cloth by reinterpreting what “life, liberty and happiness” are.

  165. 165.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    @Honus:

    you’ll be arrested and imprisoned for this under a republican regime.

    MomSense has kids to protect, but I don’t. Bring. It. On. Mother. Fuckers.

  166. 166.

    MJS

    June 29, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @TenguPhule: Everything is always “going to be worse” than anyone can imagine in your world. Just like yesterday’s shooter was a Nazi, but apparently the most ingenious Nazi ever, constructing a running feud with the newspaper he shot up in order to camouflage his actual Nazism until he activated his plan.

  167. 167.

    Barbara

    June 29, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Her MO is to go full court press so that there is outsized press coverage of her “concerns” about whatever the latest right wing outrage is, and then to go ever so quiet when the vote comes around. She tries to move heaven and earth so that her own vote, in support or not, is never decisive. Which is to say she actively tries to reduce her own power in the Senate in order not to ever be responsible to anyone for anything important. Flake has a lot in common with her in being scared of his own shadow to actually exercise power in the Senate. I don’t even know why they want to be there if they are so afraid of having to be accountable for the exercise of power.

  168. 168.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 29, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    Collins is a monster, like the rest of them.

    Speaking of monsters, why do I still have to refill my commenter info every damn time?

  169. 169.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    @zhena gogolia: He told us he’d be gone for awhile, but he didn’t tell us why. He’s a man of mystery.

  170. 170.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 29, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    @zhena gogolia: just realized that Baud has disappeared.

    Huh. Right around the time the blog went gunnysack….

    We await the Return of the Baud

    (didn’t he say he was going on an extended trip abroad?)

  171. 171.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    June 29, 2018 at 2:01 pm

    and something else as a F-you to all you defeatists. Remember Obama care spring last year and how the dispiar was so black Adam was literally talking people here down from suicide? Might take some comfort for the fact that shows Trump and the GOP can be stopped instead of bleating on about killing the planet off.

  172. 172.

    Jager

    June 29, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    When I was a kid our next door neighbors were a good catholic family. 11 kids. they had 2 sets of “catholic twins”, kids born in the same year and end up in the same grade when they start school. Their kids ranged from 4 to 19. I was at their house one afternoon and asked one of the kids who the woman was in the picture on the mantle. Susan said, “that’s mom just before she married dad.” The woman in the picture looked like Hedy Lamar, I had a tough time trying to reconcile that with the woman in the kitchen in a house dress, old tennis shoes and an apron who looked about 60 at age 39. She and my mom were around the same age, mom, the mother of three, looked at least 25 years younger than our neighbor. Funny thing is 7 of the 11 kids were girls, none of them have more than two kids. I suspect the girls are all cafeteria catholics

  173. 173.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: We have to vote, but I’m seeing way too much “And then we start taking shit back from the Republicans using the power of the newly elected house/senate majority!”

    Its based on how our system of government is supposed to work, not what it actually is now.

    McConnell broke all the rules. Paul Ryan and Drunk Asshole before him broke all the rules and made up new ones.

    I’m willing to keep the faith until events dictate otherwise with Pelosi that she will recognize this if/when she retakes the majority gavel. But Chuck? I wouldn’t trust his ass to not go back to the “good old boys” route of the Senate and allow the Republicans all the toys they used last time to make shit shut down.

    And Kennedy as I’ve said before was only mostly a corrupt shit. 5 completely corrupt shits on the SC is the peak wingnut event horizon.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I thought he was heading out on vacation? ?

  175. 175.

    eric

    June 29, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    Dems win big in 2020….name two judges to make up for Garland and to get to an odd number (11) and then replace everyone in time. There is nothing to prevent this other than political will.

  176. 176.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @d58826: I may be mis-remembering which sexist asshole governor this is about but I think you are right about Pence. And then the best “resistance” campaign happened. Indiana women started mailing him their used tampons for inspection. Be Best!!

  177. 177.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 29, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    I expect worse.

    This is your motto and your mantra.

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Might take some comfort for the fact that shows Trump and the GOP can be stopped instead of bleating on about killing the planet off.

    We stopped the frontal assault. They’re currently trying a mining operation to undermine the ACA’s pillars.

    Its all well and good that they couldn’t legally change shit. But what Trump has been doing is ordering the people responsible for making the ACA work, to not do so. As this very blog is reporting, its putting pressure on the insurers and premiums are climbing because the companies hate risk and uncertainty.

    We won a battle, but that warfront is still ongoing.

  179. 179.

    sukabi

    June 29, 2018 at 2:06 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Americans voted for Republican control…isn’t exactly accurate, is it? Americans overwhelmingly vote Democratic, it’s the gerrymandering that skews the representation Republican.

  180. 180.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Gotta admit, it makes surprises normally pleasant.

  181. 181.

    Gravenstone

    June 29, 2018 at 2:07 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Um, McConnell is an ass, no doubt. But he’s also Senate Majority Leader at present. Hence, Leader is the correct honorific.

  182. 182.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 29, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    OT: But her… emails?

    The host of “The Stuttering John” podcast, John Melendez, got President Trump on the phone yesterday by pretending he was New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. “This is how easy it is to infiltrate the administration,” Melendez said in the episode….
    The details: When the White House operator calls back, he says: “Hello is this Sen. Menendez?” and then “Hello is this Air Force One?”
    President Trump picked up the phone congratulating who he thought was Sen. Menendez and telling him he “went through a very tough situation.”
    He also talked about immigration. “Bob, let me just tell you I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anybody else at the top level. I’d rather do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution.”

    of perhaps passing interest that trump reached across the aisle to sympathize with someone credibly accused of public corruption

  183. 183.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    Sarah K. is on vacation, and she’s sharing some great photos:

    2000 years of petroglyphs preserved on a rock wall — the most recent from around 1300 AD pic.twitter.com/MV3ZfPAKwh— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 26, 2018

    I swear there’s something that looks like a 1960s peace symbol on that rock.

  184. 184.

    rikyrah

    June 29, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I just realized that Baud has disappeared.

    where is Baud?

  185. 185.

    Mary G

    June 29, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He thinks they have a common bond.

  186. 186.

    Bex

    June 29, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Maybe his honeymoon?

  187. 187.

    Mary G

    June 29, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @rikyrah: Vacay, I believe.

  188. 188.

    germy

    June 29, 2018 at 2:11 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    “Bob, let me just tell you I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anybody else at the top level. I’d rather do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution.”

    Babba Booey!

    Is he considering a final solution? I suspect Miller is.

  189. 189.

    WaterGirl

    June 29, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @MomSense: In the early 1980s, I administered an abortion loan fund for women who could not afford abortions, funded by the local abortion rights coalition. Payment schedules were created based on what the women could pay, and there was never a single payment missed or a single loan that was no repaid in full, no matter how long it took.

    These fuckers think women belong in the kitchen and the bedroom, keeping their mouths shut. There is a big surprise in store for them.

  190. 190.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    @MJS:

    Just like yesterday’s shooter was a Nazi, but apparently the most ingenious Nazi ever, constructing a running feud with the newspaper he shot up in order to camouflage his actual Nazism until he activated his plan.

    Which I didn’t say. What I did point out is that the rhetoric on the other side is increasingly picking up and asked what body count level needs to qualify for “these Nazis are serious”.

  191. 191.

    Evap

    June 29, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    I was in Ireland recently, a few days after the abortion referendum passed. Irish women used to fly to the US for abortions. I’m imagining US women flying to Ireland for abortions in a few years…

  192. 192.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    @Bex:

    I thought he was already married. Second honeymoon?

    Either way, I hope he’s having a relaxing time and comes back recharged.

  193. 193.

    Ocotillo

    June 29, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    The focus in the thread is on reproductive choice primarily and that is because Collin’s comment about the litmus test in the front page post but so many other things are now at risk.

    Labor rights
    gun control
    environmental regs
    anti-trust
    any rulings about the Mueller investigation that go to SCOTUS

    are a few.

    The shred of good news is while the “swing vote” is now going to be a solidly right wing vote for the next generation+, if Breyer and RBG can hang on until 2021, Clarence Thomas is no spring chicken.

    ETA: Of course, without a Dem winning in 2020, it will be all for naught.

  194. 194.

    danielx

    June 29, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    OT but can’t help myself:

    Fuck Comcast.

  195. 195.

    piratedan

    June 29, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    and thinking of the 4th of July meeting that is taking place in Finland with Trump and select members of the GOP, I’m guessing that its to game out the fallout of the Mueller investigation. My guess is that they’ll be setting up contingency plans for what happens if the courts find the Trump family as guilty as we all suspect that they are. So what’s the next step, bring in the GOP leadership closer under Vlad’s umbrella in the event of Trump actually being found guilty of multiple crimes and getting indicted and not being able to bluff and bluster and lie his way out of it, despite the help of the press and oodles of myopic GOP minions…

    Then working on a game plan to actually continue to subvert US elections, but now they can do so somewhat overly because the press is still providing cover and they can simply project their sins on the Dems as they always do and the Press will play along because clicks mean revenue and they’re always good for clicks.

    All I can say, is that if we can wrest control in November. There will be reckoning and as far as I’m concerned, it better not stop with Trump. I want ALL of these folks who played in this “game” to have to come clean and pay the price, the GOP, the Press and I would just as soon see Putin dropped in the Indian Ocean to rest beside Osama Bin Ladin.

  196. 196.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:17 pm

    @Calouste:

    Who wants to lose his wife like that?

    Donald Trump. Probably Pence. No end in sight of Republican assholes who “want to trade up”.

    /feels unclean even writing that.

  197. 197.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    June 29, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @Kay: Yep, already happening here. In 2016, a woman from NY State couldn’t get an abortion at 32 weeks (her fetus would not have been able to breathe outside the womb). At that time, her abortion would have been illegal in New York, so she flew to Colorado, where the procedure was started, then flew home. It’s a harrowing story — so many of the anti-abortionists don’t understand that the procedure and the method are chosen not only to save the life of the mother but to save her future fertility. Amazingly enough, Cuomo and Schneiderman got the law changed. The woman’s ordeal is worth a read: https://jezebel.com/interview-with-a-woman-who-recently-had-an-abortion-at-1781972395. The ignorance so many Americans have about a woman’s overall and reproductive health is abysmal.

  198. 198.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @piratedan: Come sit by me.

  199. 199.

    Mnemosyne

    June 29, 2018 at 2:18 pm

    @piratedan:

    I still can’t believe that it’s not toxic to their voters that these assholes are traveling to Russia ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

    Goddamned cultists.

  200. 200.

    Mai naem mobile

    June 29, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    I know everybody is fixated on abortion and it’s a big deal,no doubt, but honestly I am more worried about the environmental regulation decisions and financial regulations. I think a solid 5-4 court will have more pro-corporate decisions. I don’t see them touching abortion in the blue states and,besides, ypu always have the life of the mother exception in the vlue states even if they go to extremes. I think Plan B changes things as well. This is not the 50s. The women who it will affect the most will be the poor and young in the South where there isnt a close blue state to travel to. BTW we need to start referring to Susan Collins as OfThomas. Thomas is her husband’s name. Lisa Murkowski’s is Verne.

  201. 201.

    Cacti

    June 29, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Kennedy is a fucking Republican shit. But he was not a completely corrupt, fuck all laws and precedent piece of shit until this week. Just mostly corrupt.

    It is going to be worse then you can possibly imagine.

    Anthony Kennedy authored the decision holding that counting lawfully cast ballots in Florida created an irreparable Constitutional injury to the rights of George W. Bush. And added that “this decision should never be used as precedent ever, anywhere.”

    He was a corrupt Republican partisan. He just didn’t hate gay people.

  202. 202.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:20 pm

    @Another Scott:

    But they’re politicians. They’re not absolutists.

    Wrong. The Politicians who weren’t absolutists got kicked out in the primaries back in 2010. These are not professionals. These are GOP assholes who don’t understand how anything works. At all.

  203. 203.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    @Cacti: Gays or Women. Like I said, mostly corrupt but not completely off the walls corrupt.

  204. 204.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 29, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    @TenguPhule: As someone on Twitter said today, how is it that we are JUST learning that Kennedy’s son was Trump’s personal banker? How the fuck was that not disclosed long before now?

  205. 205.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:

    but honestly I am more worried about the environmental regulation decisions and financial regulations.

    Those are fucked, no doubts about that. We need the House, Senate and Whitehouse to fix that though.

    SC is not an immediate concern on that yet until a major case comes up in queue.

  206. 206.

    stan

    June 29, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    @Kay: It’s not like the “good” women are outside the ban.

    Of course they are. The “good” women can all afford to go to Canada or wherever if they need an abortion. If you can’t afford that, well dahling, I’m afraid you’re simply not one of our people.

  207. 207.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    How the fuck was that not disclosed long before now?

    “But her emails.”

  208. 208.

    stan

    June 29, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    My grandfather was working in a factory at the age of 12. I am starting to think my grandchildren are headed for the same thing.

  209. 209.

    zhena gogolia

    June 29, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @HeleninEire:

    Okay, that’s a relief. So how about Corner Stone? I can’t believe it, but I miss the guy.

  210. 210.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Evap: The cheaper version was the boat to Wales. In and out in a day.

  211. 211.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Speaking of monsters, why do I still have to refill my commenter info every damn time?

    Did you remember to check the box?

  212. 212.

    Splitting Image

    June 29, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    A MONSTER asteroid as big as New South Wales is cannoning past Earth so close it can be seen by the naked eye.

    But don’t worry. It won’t bite.

    NASA has calculated the space rock’s orbit carefully.

    Not this bullshit again. The asteroid in question (Vesta) is still outside the orbit of Mars. It is in no way “cannoning past Earth”.

    This is of a piece with the annual stories about Mars being so close it will be the same size as the Moon in the sky.

    Vesta was discovered in 1807 and its orbit was calculated before NASA was a twinkle in America’s eye.

    I can’t wait for Pluto to make its closest approach to earth and for these media idiots to describe it as cannoning past the earth so fast it can be seen with a small telescope.

  213. 213.

    tobie

    June 29, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    Once Trump’s new nominee is seated, Roberts replaces Kennedy as the median Justice.

    I think Robert’s has been the “median” justice for some time. With the exception of his decision in Obergefell, it seems like Kennedy has sided with the conservative flank of the court just about everytime since 2008. I’ll never forget when he sided with the minority that the ACA mandate was unconstitutional.

  214. 214.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Don’t know about Corner Stone. A few years ago we used to flirt”ish”.I thought he was funny. But the last year or so he’s been mean and angry. I don’t know why. I genuinely hope he is OK.

  215. 215.

    HeleninEire

    June 29, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    @WaterGirl: An abortion loan fund. Oh my God. I administered one of those in college except it was a “Helen please pay for my abortion fund.” And I was happy to do it.

  216. 216.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 29, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @piratedan:

    and thinking of the 4th of July meeting that is taking place in Finland with Trump and select members of the GOP

    Wait. WHAT??

  217. 217.

    Teddys Person

    June 29, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @Jager: I had a friend in college who was from a similar family. He told me that his birds and bees talk from his mother consisted of her saying, “[Friend’s name] if you think the rhythm method works, you’re full of shit.”

  218. 218.

    tobie

    June 29, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Evidently Justin Kennedy’s firm LNR Properties also bailed out Jared on 666 Fifth Avenue.

  219. 219.

    Chris Johnson

    June 29, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Imagine how much else we don’t know.

  220. 220.

    Miss Bianca

    June 29, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I still can’t believe that it’s not toxic to their voters that these assholes are traveling to Russia ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

    IKR?

    *I* can’t believe that *I*, a godless commie liberal who until recently refused even to say the Pledge of Allegiance, appear to be more upset about the symbolism of this than the proper God-fearing right-wing “patriots” I am surrounded by.

  221. 221.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Oh, Ok. I’ll be sure to run my thoughts by you before posting them. Just to make sure they meet your standards.

    I think that’s only fair. Always glad to help.

    Do I get extra credit if I say the Secret Word?

    Only if it’s “Swordfish.”

  222. 222.

    Calouste

    June 29, 2018 at 2:47 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Not just that, it came out on the same day that Deutsche Bank failed its stress test.

  223. 223.

    lollipopguild

    June 29, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    @Miss Bianca: They are going to collect their paychecks and get their Putin gang tattoos.

  224. 224.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    Some good news.

    “Based on reporting from multiple sources, the FBI believes that Yanukovych’s government engages in systemic public corruption,” one search warrant affidavit reads.

    On loan applications over a three-month period in 2016, Manafort variously represented his net worth as $15 million, $17 million, $21 million and $36 million, according to the court documents.

    “He is so in debt,” an unidentified person wrote in an email regarding a $3.5 million loan to Manafort from a real estate company on Sept. 27, 2016, the documents state.

    In February 2016, Manafort secured $9 million in loans from Genesis Capital, one he personally guaranteed and another backed by a property in Los Angeles. Genesis moved to foreclose on the Brooklyn house in September 2016 after both sets of loans went into default.

    At one point that month, according to the court documents, Manafort was being assessed over $2,000 a day in interest after missing two months of payments on one of the loans.

    Cue the world’s third smallest violin.

  225. 225.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    *I* can’t believe that *I*, a godless commie liberal who until recently refused even to say the Pledge of Allegiance, appear to be more upset about the symbolism of this than the proper God-fearing right-wing “patriots” I am surrounded by.

    That’s because you’re an America-hating LIE-beral. As we have been told for who-knows-how-long., LIE-berals are a greater danger to the USA than Hitler ever was, etc., etc.

  226. 226.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Come sit by me.

  227. 227.

    Leto

    June 29, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    @Another Scott: I haven’t seen anyone game this out further so I’d like to:

    The SCOTUS is 5:4 and will remain 5:4 when/if Donnie seats Kennedy’s replacement.

    The Senate is 51R:49D.

    The House is (as of May) 235 R : 193D : 7 vacant

    There’s national elections in 130 days.

    How exactly does this help us in the 5/25yard range? If we take for a given that Trumpov seats the next SC (high probability), it’s a 5/4 court for at least the next 12 years. Why is that? Given the current ages of the next three in line to most likely to retire (RBG at 85, Breyer at 80, and Thomas at 70), lets say that we flip the Congress this year and take both branches in 2020, and continue to hold both through 2028. We’ll still be at a 5/4 court if/when RBG and Breyer decide to step down. That’ll leave Thomas being the oldest by 2028.

    At that point it comes down to: do historic trends regarding the presidency come back in and an R is elected president? If so, well we’re at 5/4 reichwing court moving along. Or maybe we buck the historic (ala FDR/Truman and Reagan/Bush 1) and we take it for three terms? At which point we might get a chance to move it back to a 5/4 progressive/centrist court? That’s if Thomas doesn’t decide to pull an RBG and stay on for at least another 4. He’ll only be 84. (this is all assuming good health on all actors involved) We’re not even going to talk about the fact that Gorsuck is only 50, and his potential knew brownshirt buddy will be about the same age, if not younger. This is the 25 yard vision.

    The 5 yard vision is that we have a 5/4 super conservative court for the next 12 years. The amount of damage that they’re going to do will be immense and multi-generational. And that’s not even mentioning the lower level federal courts where they’re being stacked by Heritage Foundation lackys who will continue to do immense damage at an even greater level.

    I’m firmly in the “no one will help you so you have to do it YOURSELF”, ala Kay. Vote, get everyone you know registered, throw a few bucks where you can, demonstrate… all of that. But at the same time be realistic about what’s coming up. Don’t despair, but also don’t give in to false hope. We can definitely turn around the legislative part of our agenda/country, but we have will have courts stacked against us for the forseeable future.

    I was just released from work, so I’ll see everyone in 90 minutes.

  228. 228.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Wait. WHAT??

    Its true. We have hit Peak Irony.

  229. 229.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 29, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @TenguPhule: Every.Fucking.Time.

    If I load a new page, I have to reenter the information AGAIN.

  230. 230.

    Yutsano

    June 29, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: The Dolt45 annual review is happening July 16th I thought. But yes there is a group of Senators going to Russia on the 4th of July to supposedly “get tough” with Putin. Except good ol’ Richard Shelby gave away the store.

  231. 231.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Are you using chrome? Did you clear your cache?

  232. 232.

    Bill Arnold

    June 29, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    They will enshrine the new precept of personhood at conception. All Abortions will be classified as first degree murder. Its not like they’ve been subtle about this.

    Uh huh. And so identical twins will count as 1/2 a person and each get 1/2 a vote, and (2-way) chimeras will count as 2 people and each get 2 votes? [0]
    And yeah, there are arguments about this sort of thing (though not yet mapped to voting rights) but I have not found any actual doctrine. (Note there are similar doctrinal questions about miscarriages.) e.g.
    fisheaters discussion:

    Maybe this is where some of the idea of “two-spirited” comes in? I do in fact know someone who is a chimaera, and they are a very confused individual. I suspect that it probably happens more often than we realize, just like how we now realize that many, many conceived children naturally don’t come to term (i.e. early miscarriage).
    I frankly haven’t given it too much thought. I figure God knows what he’s doing, and leave it at that. It will be merciful, whatever the “right” answer is.

    I hate this sort of “trust god” thoughtless faith/belief. No brain, no consciousness, so certainly no human. Is that so very hard?
    [0] We could engineer 1000-way chimeras as supervoters. :-)

  233. 233.

    JWL

    June 29, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    [Trump said]: “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”

    The man is a liar. Of course, you know that.

    So I’ll say it straight out: Trump would both approve AND enjoy every killing if journalists began to be murdered in cold blood.

    Because that’s who Donald Trump is, as well as why every republican alive today is a motherfucking sickass coward for abiding that filthy piece of trash in their party (much less in that office), no matter if some posture otherwise. They are ALL scum, and there are no exceptions whatsoever to that rule.

  234. 234.

    Haroldo

    June 29, 2018 at 3:07 pm

    @Another Scott: For burnspbesq to have employed the word ‘condescension’ required a willful misreading of your original post in my opinion.

    I am very glad your wrote what you wrote. Thanks.

  235. 235.

    Ryan G

    June 29, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    You had me all hopeful until I realized that it was Vesta, as in 4 Vesta, as in the fourth asteroid ever discovered, whose orbit has been tracked for more than 200 years. Ah well, maybe next time.

  236. 236.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    @Haroldo:

    For burnspbesq to have employed the word ‘condescension’ required a willful misreading of your original post in my opinion.

    Actually, it was a pretty effing accurate reading. The (presumed intended) effect Scott’s “points” and delivery were more-or-less “Don’t you worry yore purty little haid, thangs are just fine, child.” [“presumed intended” because, for example, his use of a KAC statement as supporting evidence re: his “point” is a disingenuous argument.] As someone upthread pointed out, this likely means Roberts becomes the new center/median Justice. Considering he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Federalist Society hack — who was/is not above lying to achieve his goal(s) — that’s pretty bad. At least with Kennedy, there was a chance, albeit slim, that he wouldn’t fuck over the non-wealthy/non-white parts of the country. Kennedy’s performance this year has been pretty sucky, but that does not mean it can’t get a lot worse.

  237. 237.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 29, 2018 at 3:26 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    I know that six (think that’s the number) Republican Senators are traveling to Russia and will be in Moscow, perhaps meeting with Putin, on the Fourth of July. That is obscene, to travel on a CoDel to an adversary nation on arguably this country’s most sacred day. Disgusting, sickening.

    I also know that Trump and Putin are meeting in Finland on July 16.

    But I hadn’t heard anything about Trump joining the GOP Senators on July 4, nor that they (Senators) were going to Finland at all. Pirate Dan’s phrasing was very confusing.

  238. 238.

    WaterGirl

    June 29, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    @HeleninEire: I take it your fund was less formal than mine. :-)

  239. 239.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    But I hadn’t heard anything about Trump joining the GOP Senators on July 4, nor that they (Senators) were going to Finland at all. Pirate Dan’s phrasing was very confusing.

    piratedan got the two mixed up. Its the Senators, not Trump.

    Sorry, was trying to inject some levity into it.

  240. 240.

    WaterGirl

    June 29, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    Major Major Major Major – wondering if you have heard back on the job yet?

  241. 241.

    MJS

    June 29, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    @TenguPhule: The discussion was about yesterday’s shooter. As you indicate, you stated “…these Nazis are serious”. “These” means you were lumping yesterday’s shooter in with “Nazis” in your typically alarmist fashion. I’m sorry yesterday’s shooting didn’t line up with your “we’re all gonna die at the hands of Nazi super-soldiers” world view, but you have to own the conclusion you were erroneously drawing.

  242. 242.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    @MJS:

    As you indicate, you stated “…these Nazis are serious”. “These” means you were lumping yesterday’s shooter in with “Nazis” in your typically alarmist fashion.

    Except I wasn’t. I was responding to another comment about the comment on rightwing violent rhetoric they’d linked to. There are often multiple conversations going on in a thread.

    Eta: you may note I actually did not speculate on the shooter himself throughout the thread in question

  243. 243.

    Ealbert

    June 29, 2018 at 4:22 pm

    @Mai naem mobile:
    I am so tired of white males stating that they are concerned about people worrying about abortion rights or racism when there are other more important things (in you case this appears to be the environment). If abortion is made illegal, women will DIE, not some time in the next decade but right now. And if birth control is made illegal, women will lose any chance to have control of their work life (and women will also die because too many children too close together can kill you).

    This is the thing that got so many people upset with Bernie Sanders, the idea that women and minorities should just put their concerns on the back burner until we have taken care of the “important” stuff.

  244. 244.

    gvg

    June 29, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    @TenguPhule: Not fixing the voting system is actually built into the system.
    The people who “won” the election get to make the laws because that is what they won. Therefore they like the way it turned out, which means they are NOT motivated to “fix” the system. It almost needs a situation where the majority are a different party than the fluke winner. Also the GOP is on a razor thin future margin of winning anything and need the cheats and know it.
    if the Dems win big enough, that is the first thing we need to fix. The voting rights act needs to apply to all states forever, not just the ones with a history of segregation because it turns out white supremacist move around over time.

  245. 245.

    Joseph A. Miller

    June 29, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    My fellow jackals, I suggest doing more to fight back. My modest proposal is here:

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/29/1776719/-Our-Message-RESIST-Our-Goal-VICTORY-Our-Weapons-Take-a-Look-HERE

  246. 246.

    Ohio Mom

    June 29, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: Um, voting by mail can be easy to hack. Just ask my son’s old classmate who was forced to fill out his absentee ballot in front of his pyscopathic tea party father.

  247. 247.

    Ohio Mom

    June 29, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Baud told us he would be gone for a while. I expect him back.

    Who I just realized has been missing a while is Bella Q the hip hop artist.

  248. 248.

    Aleta

    June 29, 2018 at 4:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In 2014 the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Collins instead of the Dem. candidate. (A woman who was a director of the Maine ACLU, and who supported marriage equality and campaigned for LGBT protections. Including protection from religious discrimination, which was a big deal then (and now sigh).)

    After being endorsed by the HRC, Collins finally made a statement supporting marriage equality, just as she was about to be called out. (Legalized marriage had passed in 2012.) HRC explained their endorsement by saying she’d supported Don’t Ask D Tell and voted for the Dems’ anti-discrimination employment act. In 2014 her sound bite for marriage rights was “let the states decide,” which maybe was enough for the HRC. They had little or almost no Repub support in the Senate IIRC. I guess they figured she was bigger and could do more for them. (I wonder if now ‘Let the states eat cake decide’ will be her new plastic fig leaf for pretend abortion rights re the R court.)

    Collins had all the money in that race. Also, the Dem Senate Campaign C. gave $0 to her opponent. And the national Dem C did 0, that’s 0 to oppose Collins. Planned Parenthood refused to endorse either candidate b/c Collins was also supposedly strong on wms healthcare. Generally the Dem organizations just plain didn’t bother opposing her at all. (She also had the unions at Bath shipyards, but mostly all the other unions endorsed the Dem, which is how it went back then.) Angus King also endorsed Collins.

    She always had a strong organization, inherited w/staff after 20 years working for Sen. Cohen. She’d also run for governor and lost big to King and (2nd) Brennan a D. She ran for Senate after Clinton appointed Cohen (a R) for Sec. Defense. I think she used the “crossing-the-aisle” theme from the start to get the boost from Cohen’s appointment. Also, the idea of “independent” Maine reps in DC used to be a point of pride for 100 years or something.

    From the start she wasn’t trustworthy. I think one part of her 2014 support was pure calculation by many orgs. HRC and PP wanted a R who they thought supported them. Big Dem orgs didn’t want to spend money on her opponent b/c she seemed good enough. Maybe some Dem voters wanted to reward her for voting their interests. A lot of R and Ind voters wanted above all (the way Mainers used to vote) whoever they thought had more ability to get help from DC for the state. (Poverty, bad bridges, bad roads, not enough year-round jobs, child hunger, etc.) It’s stopped working that way though.

  249. 249.

    Van Buren

    June 29, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    @eric: There is always the Pelican Brief solution.
    S/

  250. 250.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    @Ealbert:

    And if birth control is made illegal, women will lose any chance to have control of their work life (and women will also die because too many children too close together can kill you).

    Surely they wouldn’t think about overturning Griswold!!!

    No, I’m not being serious. I’m a little surprised there hasn’t been a greater push to do so before now. But maybe they figure: first Roe, then Griswold, and will flood the courts after Roe gets overturned.

    I’m also pretty sure I’m not the only one who recalls the Lying Chief Justice saying, during his hearing, that stare decisis was his guiding principle. As with Fat Nino, that lasted until there was some decision he need to make to achieve a political goal.

  251. 251.

    Ohio Mom

    June 29, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    I not trying to be glib but many women in many parts of this great land of ours are currently effectively without abortion rights because there is no place they can get to to have an abortion. A lot of providers have had to shut down.

    What reversing Roe would do is effect my brethren — white middle-class suburbanites. They will be unhappy. There will be a giant backlash.

    Either Republicans don’t want to risk that backlash or they overstep and get knocked over by a tsunami.

    I agree with the poster(s) who are worried more about environmental and other regulatory law, and voting rights. Those are more abstract and it can be hard for an average person to see their effects.

  252. 252.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I not trying to be glib but many women in many parts of this great land of ours are currently effectively without abortion rights because there is no place they can get to to have an abortion.

    Should Roe be overturned, professional prenatal care is going to get FUBARED. Every miscarriage will be a homicide investigation.

  253. 253.

    JanieM

    June 29, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @Aleta: Not enough of a political junkie to know, but I also wonder if the Dems declined to put money into Shenna Bellow’s 2014 campaign because they knew it was a lost cause. Bellows was not all that strong a candidate IMO. Collins had gotten 60+ % against Tom Allen in 2008 and he was a 4-term House member and far better known around the state than Bellows. IOW, why bother?

    If she does run again in 2020, I hope someone strong comes out of the woodwork to oppose her.

  254. 254.

    MoxieM

    June 29, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    @Doug R: Well there ya go. Baker’s Chocolate is now made in Quebec. Sigh. On behalf of my Canadian Granma, wish I was there.

  255. 255.

    J R in WV

    June 29, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @SFAW:

    You know, in American English, when someone puts quotes around an ordinary word, that usually indicates sarcasm, idiot!

    Scott was being maximally sarcastic about the 2016 election. Not calling it an actual blowout at all!!

  256. 256.

    J R in WV

    June 29, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Five votes on the Supreme Court outweigh 66 votes in the Senate.

    NO, actually, it does not. With 66 votes on the Senate, we can impeach the liars (Uncle Clarance, et al) and those nominated by foreign-owned traitors (Gorsuch et al), and put actual judges onto the Supreme Court.

  257. 257.

    burnspbesq

    June 29, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    So you’re in the “burn it all fucking down” camp with John, I take it?

    No, I’m in the mixed-metaphor camp. Don’t be a fucking Pollyanna. There is a very real possibility that Chicken Little is right this time.

  258. 258.

    TenguPhule

    June 29, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    @J R in WV: We need 67. 2/3rds majority.

  259. 259.

    bemused

    June 29, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    So painful to read. I see this interview was a couple of years ago. I would really like to know how the couple’s lives has gone since.

  260. 260.

    J R in WV

    June 29, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m a former Navy Sailor, which is like having a Post-Doc in cussing!!

  261. 261.

    SFAW

    June 29, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    @J R in WV:

    You know, in American English, when someone puts quotes around an ordinary word, that usually indicates sarcasm, idiot!

    Scott was being maximally sarcastic about the 2016 election. Not calling it an actual blowout at all!!

    First of all, I expect better cussing from a former Navy Sailor. As a former frat rat, do I need to teach you the finer points, motherfucker? [NB: No, that is not one of the finer points of cussing. But if I really got into it, you might think I was serious.]

    OK, now that that’s out of the way:
    I understand about the use of quotation marks, especially as regards “sarcasm.” But Scott was using that line as support to his thesis that things-just-ain’t-that-fucking-bad. Except if the only ones saying that it was a “blowout” were Lying Littledick and his Merry Band of Liars (e.g., KAC), then using that line to support his thesis is quasi-contradictory. In other words, if there really HAD been a blowout — or if the consensus of non-lying pundits and journalists was that there had been — then pointing out that the Dems picked up seats in a blowout year is a reason to rejoice (or whatever).

    But considering that, up until October 28th (or whenever Comey pulled his second fuck-you-Hillary thing), there was a reasonable possibility that the Dems might retake the Senate, etc., then talking about the Dems doing well in the face of a non-existent blowout is just a bullshit/pointless argumentation point.

    OK?

  262. 262.

    Aleta

    June 29, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    @JanieM:

    wonder if the Dems declined to put money into Shenna Bellow’s 2014 campaign because they knew it was a lost cause. Bellows was not all that strong a candidate IMO. Collins had gotten 60+ % against Tom Allen in 2008 and he was a 4-term House member and far better known around the state than Bellows. IOW, why bother?

    Yeah you’re right. I wonder what Bellows is doing these days. Sometimes I say to myself that Collins will be ruined by the end of next year. T doing what he does and all. But just as likely she’ll get a money job or retire, speak and cut ribbons, or who knows. Anything can happen right? So many variables.

  263. 263.

    Skepticat

    June 29, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    Collins is one of “my” senators, and now that I’m back in the States, I shall be up and close and personal with my concerns and opinion. Not that it will make a freaking amount of difference, but at least I’ll feel I tried. I’ll be berating Angus King for insurance too.

  264. 264.

    JanieM

    June 29, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    @Aleta:

    I wonder what Bellows is doing these days.

    Funny you should wonder. Today’s KJ says she’s just been hired to run the Holocaust Human and Rights Center at UMA. Also, she’s my state senator.

    Anything can happen right? So many variables.

    Truer words…..

    When I wrote, above, “If she does run again…” I meant Collins, of course. I want to see her run and get defeated almost more than I want anything else except, well, Clickbait out of the White House, etc. etc.

  265. 265.

    JanieM

    June 29, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    Correction: Holocaust and Human Rights Center…..

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