Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Infrastructure week. at last.

This really is a full service blog.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Consistently wrong since 2002

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

No one could have predicted…

I was promised a recession.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

Not all heroes wear capes.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / EVERYTHING IS GOING GREAT

EVERYTHING IS GOING GREAT

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This post is in: 

EVERYTHING IS FINE IN WEST VIRGINIA WHY DO YOU ASK:

The West Virginia House of Delegates Judiciary Committee has drafted 14 articles of impeachment against the four sitting justices on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

The articles were presented to the committee at about 9:25 a.m. Tuesday morning with mention of all four justices – Margaret Workman, Robin Jean Davis, Allen Loughry and Beth Walker.

Justice Loughry faces six charges, and Chief Justice Margaret Workman faces five charges.

Justices Robin Jean Davis and Beth Walker each face six charges.

Let’s clean house of this bunch of crooks and replace them with some more coal and gas company stooges and religious fanatics.

Reader Interactions

203Comments

  1. 1.

    MobileForkbeard

    Wait. Impeachment for what, exactly? Because throwing out judges sounds entirely like something Republicans have been talking about doing to throw out people that uphold the law.

  2. 2.

    swbarnes2

    @MobileForkbeard: The linked article says. Mostly wrongfully spending money, a little bit of nepotism. Possessing vaginas seems to be a common thread there too.

  3. 3.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MobileForkbeard:

    Justice Loughry faces six charges, and Chief Justice Margaret Workman faces five charges.

    Justices Robin Jean Davis and Beth Walker each face six charges.

    Some of the articles charge more than one justice at a time with a given impeachable offense.

    Each justice is charged with “unnecessary and lavish” spending of state dollars to renovate their offices in the East Wing of the Capitol.

    Loughry faces additional charges related to his use of state vehicles for personal travel, having state furniture and computers in his home, and for handing down an administrative order authorizing payments of senior status judges in excess of what is allowable in state law.

    Davis and Workman are charged with actually signing documents authorizing that senior status judges be paid in excess of what’s allowable in state law.

    Additionally, Beth Walker is charged with unnecessarily allowing the state to pay $10,000 to a contractor to write an opinion in a case in 2017. Current Supreme Court Interim Administrator Barbara Allen, who was not an employee of the court at the time, authored the opinion.

    Workman also is charged with facilitating the employment of an unnecessary employee to do I.T. work for the court in 2014. That employee worked on Workman’s campaign prior to working for the court.

    Corruption, basically. Don’t know why Cole left out this part or didn’t at least summarize it.

  5. 5.

    A Ghost To Most

    Is this real corruption, or trumped-up political shenanigans? Sad that I have to ask.

  6. 6.

    Central Planning

    We’re staying overnight in Charleston, WV in a few days as we drive home from Savannah, GA.

    Any fun corruption to view while we’re there?

  7. 7.

    efgoldman

    Let’s clean house of this bunch of crooks and replace them with some more coal and gas company stooges and religious fanatics.

    If I bet that they are all Dems, I won’t lose my house, right.

  8. 8.

    germy

    Via EWG.org:

    One of the world’s biggest producers of asbestos, a Russian company with ties to Vladimir Putin, is praising President Trump for allowing asbestos to remain legal in the U.S.

    The company’s applause for Trump comes as Russia is poised to become the leading importer to the U.S. of asbestos, which causes diseases that kill an estimated 15,000 Americans a year. A recent study led by Jukka Takala, president of the International Commission on Occupational Health, found the death toll from asbestos exposure may be much higher, at nearly 40,000 Americans a year and more than 255,000 a year worldwide.

    On June 25, the asbestos producer Uralasbest posted photos on its Facebook page of pallets of its signature product, chrysotile asbestos, wrapped in plastic adorned with Trump’s image. Trump’s picture is at the center of a large red seal declaring: “APPROVED BY DONALD TRUMP, 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.”

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

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

    Former Justice Menis Ketchum was not subject to any of the articles of impeachment. Ketchum’s resignation last month meant he couldn’t be subject to impeachment under the procedures established by the House Judiciary Committee.

    Ketchum has agreed to plead guilty to one criminal count of federal wire fraud, according to an agreement announced by U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart last week.

    Loughry is the subject of a 23-count federal indictment charging him with 16 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements to a federal agent, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering.

    The first indictment against Loughry was handed up on June 19, and a federal grand jury handed up a superseding indictment against him in July.

    Loughry is out of jail on a personal recognizance bond, and his trail is scheduled to begin Oct. 2.

    Loughry has been suspended from the bench since June 8.

    On June 6, the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission charged Loughry with 32 counts of violating the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct by misusing the state-owned cars, computers and furniture and lying to lawmakers, the public and the media about it.

  10. 10.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @germy:
    I saw that earlier today. And Trump’s supporters will just shrug their shoulders if you tell them about it. I despise them so much. They have blood on their hands.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @efgoldman: article says both parties and at lest one plead guilty to Federal charges of fraud.

    Which begs the obvious question then why was corruption so wide spread?

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: I just read the article. Whoa, sounds like all the judges were running little cash fiefdoms out of their courts. The fact that they all may be facing federal charges leads me to think this might be justified.

    The wingnuts they get to appoint after will fuck the state up even more, but at least the removals look legitimate.

  14. 14.

    MomSense

    Ugh I just listened to an interview with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. I hope she wins her district but fuck no if she wants to be the future of the party.

  18. 18.

    ruemara

    @MomSense: That bad, huh? *sigh*

    This is pretty much why I’ve donated to candidates, not ACLU or PP. Not that I wouldn’t, but you won’t win with litigation when the GOP are effectively also packing or destroying the courts. They’re going full court press on 1 party, white nationalist rule. Meanwhile, the alt-left are are *still* dry humping Bernie and their sheer awesomeness at winning *checks notes* possibly a seat or 2 & fighting against the evil Dems.

  19. 19.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MomSense:
    How bad was it? I was hoping the takes that she was smart enough not to fall into stupid traps like Wilmer were correct.

  21. 21.

    Yutsano

    @MomSense: I think she wants to be the leader of a party, but it sure as hell ain’t the Democrats.

    It will also be ironic if she loses because she completely ignored campaigning at home to be a national DSA rock star. You know ,the whole distance from the district she beat her opponent on.

  22. 22.

    Aleta

    WaPo

    3:55 p.m.: Gates admits he may have improperly submitted personal expenses to Trump committee
    As defense attorney Kevin Downing vigorously questioned Rick Gates about all the ways in which he had stolen money from Manafort and others, Gates made a notable confession, acknowledging it was possible he had submitted personal expenses to President Trump’s inaugural committee for reimbursement. Gates said the process for seeking reimbursement was well overseen, but he conceded that he might have gotten paid for something he shouldn’t have.

    “Did you submit personal expenses to the inaugural committee for reimbursement?” Downing asked in the middle of a heated exchange on the topic. “It’s possible,” Gates conceded.

    4:07 p.m.: Defense Attorney Kevin Downing seemed intent early in his cross examination of Rick Gates to drive home a theme. Rick Gates repeatedly took advantage of Manafort when it came to money, and he lied about it so frequently that it was now difficult to sort fact from fiction.
    (—)
    Downing pointed out Gates’s memory was much clearer when a prosecutor was the one doing the questioning.
    “Have they confronted you with so many lies you can’t remember any of it?” Downing asked.

    4:30 p.m.: As soon as Kevin Downing tried to ask Rick Gates whether “other members of the special counsel’s office” had asked about his time on the Trump campaign, prosecutors objected.
    A bench conference ensued, and Judge Ellis abruptly announced a half-hour break.
    (—)
    Downing jumped around with his accusations, and it was not always clear if Gates was reluctant to admit wrongdoing or genuinely confused. But the broader point being made was clear: Gates has been involved in a lot of questionable business activity.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I bet all those mesothelioma lawyers who advertise on late-night TV are salivating.

    They can salivate all they want. They’ll be dead or demented by the time any asbestos mined today produces mesothelioma. (The latency, or dormancy, or whatever-it’s-called period is something like 30-plus years.) If I understand things correctly, plaintiffs filing today will probably not allege post-1990 exposure, only pre-1990 (or earlier).

    That being said: the fucking corruption that pervades this maladministration is appalling. As I’ve said before: although I don’t believe in Heaven and Hell, I’m really hoping I’m wrong, because I want ALL of these motherfuckers to burn in Hell for eternity.

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    as I said in the earlier thread, my dad died of that at age 54.

    My condolences. It’s a shitty way to go.

  29. 29.

    danielx

    @John Cole:

    Let’s clean house of this bunch of crooks and replace them with some more coal and gas company stooges and religious fanatics.

    Jeebus, from what I’ve read and heard about WV, I figured the state Supreme Court was already filled with those particular reptiles.

  31. 31.

    hueyplong

    @Aleta: What Trump will notice from that exchange is the question about investigators looking into the inauguration. Looking forward to the ruling and think Trump will be set off whichever way it goes.

  32. 32.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @John Cole:
    This is the single greatest day of my life. I have been acknowledged by the blog father.
    But to be serious, your post really didn’t make it clear whether the charges were legitimate or not based on the reporting and could be potentially misleading. I don’t think that was what your intention was, to be clear.

    @Yutsano:

    Doesn’t he do this on a regular basis?

  33. 33.

    Paul W.

    @MomSense: Are you talking about the Pod Saves America interview? I thought she sounded great and had some great, deep, knowledge about politics rather than the naive newcomer many in the MSM have cast her as.

  34. 34.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Gin & Tonic:
    If anyone could lose a D+40 district, a Bernista who seemingly doesn’t understand partly why she beat her primary opponent, definitely could.

  38. 38.

    ruemara

    @JPL: She’s more of a DSA/Our Revolution candidate.

    @Gin & Tonic: She’s still running to lose. Crowley is still on the ballot & she won due to the young & gentrifyin’. There’s still ways she can screw this up and victory laps with Wilmer while tossing WOC candidates in areas she doesn’t know under the bus – that’s not going down well.

  40. 40.

    GregB

    Putin seems to be using Trump in a grand scheme to destroy and poison America with asbestos, toxic propaganda and a flood of firearms.

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    @Paul W.:

    Oh boy. I was really annoyed by her lack of knowledge. I think her heart is in the right place but that’s the only good thing I can say for her. For starters, I don’t think she knows the definitions of socialism or capitalism.

  43. 43.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @MomSense:

    Let’s see what happens when she’s one of 435 and a freshman. She’ll have to contend with Speaker Pelosi. AOC is young and inexperienced. I look forward to seeing if she develops some leadership skills.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    @MomSense: lol Listen to Trump a few minutes, and it’s difficult to focus on issues, and facts. My concern is that she needs to spend time in her district, and less time on TV.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    @ruemara:

    Campaigning against Myers and Davids because they didn’t utter the three magic words really pissed me off. Going on tv the next day to talk about the need for more women members of Congress was the shit icing on the cake.

    Also WTF with not vetting iron stache’s criminal record.

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    @EBT:

    The over 40 crowd is pretty much all of us here. There are a few whippersnappers but not many.

  48. 48.

    Paul W.

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: @MomSense:
    FYI, I live in her district and voted for her, Joe Crowley signs and campaigners were nowhere to be found and I was contacted at least twice by the campaign and once in person on the way to vote. So I wouldn’t worry about her losing the district, the girl can organize.

    As for how she uses the “Socialist”, if you’re looking for a Leninist style definition then you’ll be very disappointed. If you understand that that term (as appropriated and used by the younger folks like myself in their 30s) in the way that it is being used by most candidates and advocates today where it is used to mean ” a more socially and economically equal society” even if that society is actually still capitalist I think you’ll find that she was very coherent. Just my two cents.

  50. 50.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I have a question. Seeing as the toxic Twitler administration is going to allow ASFUCKINGBESTOS in building materials because a buddy of Putin manufactures the stuff how is it going to work in real life? There are still many regulations both Federal and State requiring cleanup of toxic ASFUCKINGBESTOS so are the houses built using this stuff going to have to be tented the way clean up operations are? I mean I just don’t get it, HOW THE HELL IS THIS SUPPOSED TO WORK?

  51. 51.

    Paul W.

    One edit I can’t seem to make for clarity is that the Ocasio-Cortez campaign is the one that has their shit put together. Not Crowley, despite dropping 1.2 million dollars vs her $100k.

  53. 53.

    FlyingToaster

    For anyone who didn’t read the link, it’s evident that West-by-God Virginia is almost as corrupt as Rhode Island.

    In this case, party doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t sound like vaginas do either. I suspect the committee is trying to get this done before the Feds indict the last 3 judges.

    Or they could all just resign and get on to dealing with their Federal charges already.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @MomSense: To be honest, I don’t care much about that. My big thing is whether she decides her future lies in trashing the party or becoming a productive member of it. I think the jury is still out on that.

  55. 55.

    Missouri Buckeye

    @Paul W.: I think the difference is that when AOC is simply asked regular questions she does really well.

    What she hasn’t gotten down yet is how to handle a interviewer who is trying to make her look bad.

  57. 57.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @MomSense:

    Haha!

    Let’s hope she’s has some willingness to learn from more senior members of the Democratic Caucus.

  61. 61.

    Mandalay

    @Paul W.:

    I thought she sounded great and had some great, deep, knowledge about politics rather than the naive newcomer many in the MSM have cast her as.

    She is great, but the “Bayh/Lieberman in 2020!” wing of BJ have already decided that Ocasio-Cortez is a nasty scab that must be eradicated. She has already misspoken at least three times! How can she possibly consider running after that? And she has failed to show sufficient deference to Israel! And worst of all, when she got called on it she effectively said “OK, so sorry….(but I don’t really give a flying fuck about worrying about Israel; I am going to worry about the concerns of my future constituents)”.

    Good for her, and fuck the pearl clutchers.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @Mandalay: So-called progressives who act like Joe Lieberman of the Left (as we saw in 2016) will be treated like Joe Lieberman. I certainly hope Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t fall into that category.

  66. 66.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Paul W.:
    That’s actually my point. Crowley lost like an idiot because he took his district for granted. AOC also won because she had an inspiring message that resonated with the district’s Dem party primary voters. And it’s not even one I disagree with. It’s just she seems to be making the same mistake Crowley made by traveling outside the district so much when she should still be campaigning at least a little. That and she’s been kneecapping WOC in other Democratic primaries she shouldn’t even be weighing in on anyway.

  68. 68.

    tobie

    @Paul W.:

    a more socially and economically equal society

    I think that pretty much sums up the overarching philosophy of the Democratic party. Do all members of the party share this goal? No, some conservadems (Manchin, Heidkamp come to mind in the Senate, Dan Lipinski comes to mind in the House) but most do, and the real split at this point seems to be between old school liberals, who assume change is incremental, and young progressives, who think major change can be introduced overnight. I referred to this split in another thread as that between pragmatic and ideological progressives. Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Rourke have found a way to satisfy both groups, and Elizabeth Warren has started to emphasize what unites Democrats. Those are all good signs in my book.

  70. 70.

    Paul W.

    @Baud: Well, considering she dished on Lieberman in that very interview I think there is very little chance of that. She admits that she is a member of the Democratic party, and wants to help shape the future of it (I don’t think she is worried about leading it so much as bringing in new blood, hence the traveling).

    Everyone else can handwring all they want about my district and my future representative, I’ve seen her actual footprint in the district and am not worried that she will neglect us. She knew the turnout stats and, like Obama, had a plan to expand the electorate for the district from the normal 2(!)% of registered voters that turned out, I really think anyone who sees her as ignorant of how this all works, the effort it takes, and campaigning are blind by choice.

  72. 72.

    JGabriel

    WaPo via Aleta:

    Downing jumped around with his accusations, and it was not always clear if Gates was reluctant to admit wrongdoing or genuinely confused. But the broader point being made was clear: Gates has been involved in a lot of questionable business activity.

    Which is why Manafort and Trump hired him.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @tobie:

    I think that pretty much sums up the overarching philosophy of the Democratic party.

    It does, but the divisions pop up when people start imposing litmus test in which one only really supports a more socially and economically equal society if one supports Policy X or Candidate Y.

  76. 76.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Jay:

    Exactly! Who is going to buy a house knowing that it has asbestos based building materials in it? Not any right minded parent that I know of. Next you know they will revoke the “disclosure” requirements because that is the only way they are going to get away with this.

  77. 77.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mandalay:

    And she has failed to show sufficient deference to Israel

    Where has literally anybody here criticized her for failing to show deference to Isreal? Very few people here have any great love for a fascist ethnostate the likes of which Isreal has become.

    I sincerely hope AOC gets better at this politicking game because to be a member of an effective political party means to be a team player. There is much to like about her and her ideals.

  78. 78.

    MomSense

    @Jay:

    One of those countries doesn’t exist and the other two are not socialist. Whatevs. I guess I’m of the obsolete demographic where words have, you know, meaning.

  81. 81.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MomSense:

    One of those countries doesn’t exist and the other two are not socialist.

    Social democratic?

  82. 82.

    Paul W.

    @tobie: Totally, agree, coincidently my other home (though one I can no longer vote in) is Texas. I’ve been watching Beto closely, given money and been very impressed with the results. Booman gives him 50-50 odds (which will nudge upwards if we keep this wave from the special elections), and I think he is creating as much opportunity to seize on those odds as any Dem candidate in my lifetime.

    I’ve also been watching many of the hundreds of people running for Congress for the first time and AOC is emblematic of the way that the new generation of candidates has chosen to help and support each other once they get recognition. I take it as a good sign, and of course I will be there holding her feet to the fire as we close in on election day if she actually does start to ignore the district.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    The problem is the fucking Republicans in state legislatures will introduce Koch funded and written legislation that puts limits on onerous disclosure regulations for real estate transactions.

    Those evil motherfuckers never rest.

    Constant vigilance!

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @MomSense: To be fair, we always use terms incorrectly in American politics. I don’t mind it in this case, but that’s mostly because I get annoyed when some smarty-pants person compares the U.S. to Europe and asserts that the Dems are really a centrist party because Europe is leftier on social welfare. WhoTF cares?

  86. 86.

    Paul W.

    @MomSense: They just don’t mean what they used to. It happens to everyone that the usage of a word (as opposed to the definition) doesn’t come from a dictionary.

  87. 87.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Paul W.:

    I really think anyone who sees her as ignorant of how this all works, the effort it takes, and campaigning are blind by choice.

    I guess I’ll defer to your assessment since you live there. For what’s it worth I like her message and do hope she wins this November. I’ll be curious to see how her voice affects how Congress acts in the future.

  88. 88.

    Paul W.

    @Baud: He’s clearly feeling weak, or else wouldn’t have agreed to do doing 5 debates. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, because at the very least it means Texas is a huge money sink instead of a state that ends up being a net exporter of funds to other campaigns.

    But, if Mueller keeps rolling out the indictments and these godawful tariffs and child imprisonment policies continue to stay in the news I think Cruz could be on his way out. I’ll say no more before I jinx it.

  90. 90.

    The Midnight Lurker

    ]@MomSense: This is our problem down here in Texas. The under thirty crowd keeps screeching BETO! His name is Robert Francis O’Rourke and he’s more Irish than I am! They keep this shit up, and I’ll loose votes for O’Roruke in November. You kids want to change things, and I’m down because my generation fucked things up proper. BUT COULD YOU PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I GET YOUR STUPID ASS IN POWER BEFORE YOU START RIPPING OUT THE WALLS?!! I STILL HAVE TO BRING IN THE OLD FOGIE VOTE!!! (bangs head repeatedly on desk).

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The fact that she campaigned for someone who’s only real cred for her is his ties to St Wilmer against a Native American queer progressive just because she doesn’t utter the correct shibboleth rankles with me. Ocasio-Cortez is backing the wrong horse for the wrong reasons. She needs to divorce herself from the Wilmer wing and learn that she made a couple mistakes here.

  92. 92.

    Paul W.

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Definitely, she represents change. I might change my tune if I feel like she does spend too much time chasing headlines, but for now I feel good about her getting a breather and supporting other candidates during the primary that are part of her networks.

  93. 93.

    MomSense

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

    Sweden and Norway are both capitalist but intelligently regulated and more fairly taxed with a well funded safety net. Most hospitals are state owned (socialist) very much like our VA, but there are also private hospitals which get a lot of public funding.

    I love Norway and regret not accepting citizenship when it was offered to me! It’s not a panacea though. You will find deeply entrenched racism, many barriers to integration for immigrants (especially those who are Muslim), and the fact that their social programs and economic development are funded with Oil money. It’s also a country of about 4 million people, largely homogeneous with a state religion, and not uniformly welcoming to immigrants.

  94. 94.

    Jay

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Still won’t work. The Industries are well aware that rules can change, liabilities last for ever. When asbesto’s problems became clear, the alternate healthier materials were significantly more expensive.

    Now they are not. Hardi plank’s and Rocksil are cheap. Fireblock sealant’s are as cheap as regular sealants.

  95. 95.

    J R in WV

    The WV State Supremes long ago determined that their budget would he be set by — wait for it — the justices. In a way this made sense, as the Legislature is very partisan and the Court is in theory non-partisan, kinda. And at first nothing went wrong.

    But then 4 or 5 years ago they set about a remodel of their sacred precincts in the Statehouse, and soon things went haywire, in terms of spending wildly. Chief Justice Loughry wanted the state and its 55 counties built into the floor of his office, which was not cheap.

    And after signing up for spending millions of dollars on remodeling and furniture, they seemed to suddenly think of all the equipment and material, couches, designer desks drawn by Cass Gilbert, the Holy Architect of the Statehouse, the computers, the cars, the credit cards, all of it was theirs to use as they saw fit. Until it was not.

    Then came a federal prosecution. and Justice Loughry was nailed especially hard, and will not negotiate for a plea deal. I think the others used cars and hired contractors, etc kind of willy-nilly. I hated using a state vehicle when I visited other offices, and didn’t much care to put in for mileage when I used my own. The state cars, who knew if the brakes were in good repair? My car, someone looked at those brakes every few months…

  96. 96.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Paul W.: How do you feel about her campaigning for a white guy with Bernie ties against First Nations woman?

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    Has she apologized yet for her paranoid Twitter rant about how Crowley was totally plotting against her and planning a third-party run that he wasn’t?

  98. 98.

    Jay

    @MomSense:

    Only in ‘Murika, amongst the “olds” does “socialist = communist” due to decades of right wing/Bircher framing,

    In the ROW, “socialism” has a much different meaning.

  102. 102.

    MomSense

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Man I so relate to that. I remember phone banking for the ACA and reassuring people that abortion wouldn’t be covered because of that unnecessary amendment by that blue dog from flyover country. Hyde amendment wasn’t doing the trick. But my progressive betters were offended by it. Oh well. Spend some time on the phones and you realize the challenges of organizing the world as it is.

  103. 103.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Yutsano:
    That stuff really does bother me about her. We don’t need those kind of purity tests.

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    @Jay:

    Nope. Socialist and Communist are not the same. Pretty sure I didn’t say that the USSR was socialist.

  106. 106.

    Paul W.

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Oh yeah, that was a real thing. That wasn’t pretty to watch and I don’t know if anyone ever got to the bottom of that, as it is weird that Crowley is still on the Working Families ballot and won’t withdraw his name.

    I don’t know about her endorsement of a Bernista over someone else, but like I said earlier it is her choice about who to give her endorsement to. She is a 29 year old woman of color who certainly can make up her own mind, it’s up to the people in that other district whether they value her input or are moved by that endorsement but I don’t know about this situation.

  107. 107.

    Mandalay

    Ruh-roh, drunk driving while white not a privilege any more!….

    After getting pulled over at about 1:45 a.m. Saturday near Bluffton and May River roads, where she was spotted speeding through a four-way stop sign, Cutshaw told cops she had had just two glasses of wine, according to the police report obtained by the Island Packet.

    “I mean I was celebrating my birthday,” Cutshaw, who turns 33 on Thursday, told the cops when they asked her how big the glasses were for her alleged two drinks, according to the report.

    But she didn’t stop there. Cutshaw gave the officers a litany of other reasons why she deserved to be let off the hook: She maintained perfect grades during all of her school years, was a cheerleader and a member of a sorority. Her partner is also a cop, Cutshaw said.

    “I’m a white, clean girl,” Cutshaw said, according to the report.

    When the officers asked what exactly that meant, she replied, “You’re a cop, you should know what that means.”

    And yet the cops still arrested her! I thought our president was going to put a stop to this kind of nonsense.

  109. 109.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @EBT: uuuhhhhh … OK. I am thinking of the raven whose dog just had surgery. Resides in Georgia?

  110. 110.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MomSense:
    So they’re social democratic countries with mixed economies, basically. And yeah, I suspect Europe developed the way it did wrt welfare states is partly because of that homogeneity. Now that non-white, non-Christians are coming, Europe’s racial politics are beginning to resemble ours.

  111. 111.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Paul W.:

    I don’t know about her endorsement of a Bernista over someone else, but like I said earlier it is her choice about who to give her endorsement to.

    Well, sure she can. However, I’m a firm believer in allowing constituents to decide who they want to win their primaries, without outside interference to that degree. Just because she can doesn’t mean she should. If AOC wanted to endorse a candidate for the general than by all means.

  112. 112.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Paul W.: Si it’s fine with you she jumped into a primary battle? Is it because she’s a WOC or you are good with that in general?

  114. 114.

    Yutsano

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Europe also went all in on austerity which caused severe economic problems that they were just starting to dig out of when the refugee crisis hit. It left enough of a window for nationalists to go all in on seizing power again by inflaming racial resentment. A lot of these folks are just getting played here.

  115. 115.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @rikyrah: Oh, sweet Jesus… He’s down by 6.5 – that’s fucking death down here. Throw in gerrymandering, voter suppression, TOTALLY CROOKED ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES, and whatever Kay Granger brought home with her in her handbag on her recent junket to Moscow on the FORTH OF JULY and maybe, just maybe you’ll start to get a glimpse of what we’re dealing with!!! Now O’Roarke has agreed to no less than FIVE debates with dickhead Cruz! And before you wail, “But BETO! will crush him!”, please remember that that shitstain Cruz was Princeton debate champ. And all he needs to win is a couple of good shots. Good candidate, indeed.

  116. 116.

    patroclus

    This thread is hilarious! It’s got all the usual BJ tropes: John trolling his own blog, left-right Wilmer fights; unwarranted shots at Evan Bayh and deserved shots at Holy Joe; competing definitions of socialism; attacks on leftists; defenses of leftists, combined with exposure of judicial corruption. :-)

  119. 119.

    Jay

    @MomSense:

    Norway’s economy was fish, fish fertilizer, timber,

    They took their share of the North Sea oil money and stuck it in a Soverign Wealth Fund. A percentage of that fund’s profits, was used to fund State programs from infrastructure to healthcare and education.

    A portion of the funds profits, was used to invest in research and to build domestic industries deliberately outside of oil and gas. Norway now has a well diversified mixed model economy well integrated into both the EU, and the ROW.

    No Dutch Disease for Norway, no Alberta Prayer* for Norway.

    A coworker at a Fortune 100 was Norweigian, and the moment she became pregnant she arranged to flee with her whole family, the gold plated benifits of the Company, the socialist hell hole of Canada, ( back when we had a much better safety net), for the socialist hell hole of Norway.

    *The Alberta Prayer goes:

    “Please, please, pretty pretty please Dear God, give us another oil boom. We promise to not piss it all away again like last time!”

  120. 120.

    Mandalay

    @Mnemosyne:

    Has she apologized yet for her paranoid Twitter rant about how Crowley was totally plotting against her and planning a third-party run that he wasn’t?

    Not entirely paranoid. As the mustache of understanding might say, Suck.On.This….

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s surprise primary victory over Rep. Joe Crowley seems likely to hurt Congress, America and the Democratic Party. It doesn’t have to.

    Because the policies Ms. Ocasio-Cortez advocates are so far from the mainstream, her election in November would make it harder for Congress to stop fighting and start fixing problems. Thanks to a small percentage of primary votes, all of the people of New York’s 14th Congressional District stand to lose a very effective representative in Washington.

    Fortunately, Joe Crowley and the voters in his district can prevent this damage. On Election Day, his name will be on the ballot as the endorsed candidate of the Working Families Party. But for Mr. Crowley to have a chance at getting re-elected, he will have to decide if he wants to remain an active candidate. I hope he does.

    Crowley could and should and have busted his ass to get his name removed. And fuck Joe Lieberman for sticking his nose in, and stirring up shit to get people to vote against the nominee, because Israel comes before everything else with Lieberman.

  122. 122.

    jane says

    @Yutsano: There’s roughly 0.0% chance of her losing in November. It’s one of the bluest congressional districts in the entire country.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    And your proof that Crowley asked Lieberman to weigh in is ….

    I realize that you think it’s just fine to bar Crowley from voting in the state he currently represents in Congress by forcing him to register in Virginia instead, but that’s what makes you the sanctimonious asshole we all know.

  128. 128.

    The Midnight Lurker

    Why don’t you guys get behind Colin Allred in 32? I know it’s not as sexy as the upper house, but that race is a dead heat and Mr. Allred has a real chance to kick totally corrupt Pete Sessions to the curb. Mr. Allred is a VOTING RIGHTS ATTORNEY and FORMER NFL LINEBACKER. And, Mr. Allred doesn’t have an idenity crisis – he knows he’s black.

  129. 129.

    Baud

    @Mandalay: I don’t think that episode is worth fighting over but it’s simply a lie that Crowley can withdraw his name once the WFP nominated him.

  131. 131.

    Yarrow

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    This is our problem down here in Texas. The under thirty crowd keeps screeching BETO! His name is Robert Francis O’Rourke and he’s more Irish than I am! They keep this shit up, and I’ll loose votes for O’Roruke in November.

    What in the world are you talking about? He goes by Beto, his branding on all his signs and merchandise is “Beto,” not even “Beto O’Rourke” and certainly not “Robert O’Rourke” or “Bobby O’Rourke.” It’s the name he uses and how he chooses to brand himself for his campaign.

  133. 133.

    Mandalay

    @Mnemosyne:

    Crowley from voting in the state he currently represents in Congress by forcing him to register in Virginia instead, but that’s what makes you the sanctimonious asshole we all know.

    Crowley owns a house in Virginia. His lives in Virginia. His kids go to school in Virginia. One of the main reasons Crowley lost to Ocasio Cortez is BECAUSE CROWLEY FUCKING LIVES IN VIRGINIA, not New York.

    So you might look in the mirror if you are in search of a sanctimonious asshole.

  134. 134.

    tobie

    @MomSense: A friend reminded me that the ACA won by three friggin’ votes in the House. Pine though one may for single-payer, it will be the biggest uphill battle the Dems ever fight. I’m still waiting for someone to explain how we move the 55% of the population that gets it healthcare through its employer to a single payer system. (Those on Medicare and Medicaid will be fine, and only 12 million residents actually purchase insurance on the Obamacare market.) Even a gradual phase in of single payer, will have problems. What incentives do soon-to-be-out-of-business private insurers have to process claims, pay doctors, labs, clinics, hospitals, imaging centers, etc.? Who will decide the fee scale in this transition period? The promise of having better service eventually is not reassuring to the diabetic who needs to know that his dialysis clinic will still be open and ready to take him for his weekly appointment.

  135. 135.

    Mnemosyne

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

    Mandalay falls for every single bit of Republican ratfucking every. single. time. And then we have to go round and round and round on what is transparent ratfucking by conservatives until s/he eventually figures out that, hey, maybe since Joe Lieberman has been allied with the Republicans for over 15 years, he might not be a current voice for the Democratic Party’s mainstream!

  136. 136.

    MomSense

    @Jay:

    Let’s just say I know all about the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

    Health care is great in Norway. Dental not so much. Kids are covered. Adults are not except in special circumstances. I’m just trying to point out that every system has good and bad points. History, culture, demographics, etc all factor in.

  137. 137.

    tobie

    @Yarrow: I think he was being sarcastic. If so, the sarcasm didn’t work.
    @justawriter: This doesn’t surprise me in the least. Loomis voted for Sanders in 2016 and has been — at least until Trump — a diehard defender of trade tariffs.

  138. 138.

    Baud

    @Mnemosyne: You are correct. He acts like Trump when presented with corrections.

    @Mandalay: I’ve given up on you, but for any readers out that, Crowley lives in NY but has a place in Virginia because he is a member of Congress.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: I liked her in the first interview I saw, not so impressed in the second, really not so impressed with the third. She was totally full of herself and seemed to be losing the plot.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    Crowley owns a house in Virginia. His lives in Virginia. His kids go to school in Virginia.

    So does EVERY OTHER MEMBER OF CONGRESS, dumbass. That’s why it was such a big deal when Biden took the train to Delaware every night — because EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS LIVES NEAR CONGRESS. Adam Schiff isn’t flying home to LA every night and flying back to DC every morning. He lives near DC most of the year because he lives near where he works.

    Acting like this is a weird thing for Crowley to do just shows how susceptible you are to crazy propaganda.

  142. 142.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Mnemosyne:
    Mandalay seemed to have calmed down after the election but fuck do I remember them during the primaries.

  148. 148.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl: I’m very happy that she won. Crowley seemed like he was taking his district for granted. I don’t want her to fall into the trap of using her newly found national voice to sacrifice her district. I’m afraid that will cause her to be a one term Congresswoman. And she does have great ideas. I just want her to use that voice in Congress.

  149. 149.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Yarrow: First off… It’s Congressman O’Rourke, hopefully Senator O’Rourke after November if you will let us. Or were you planning on calling him Senator BETO! Second, the key to bringing out the Hispanic and Latino votes (at least, down here in Texas) is to bring in the ‘head of household’. They kids make all kinds of promises to vote, but if the ‘head of the table’ doesn’t give the nod – it ain’t happening. ¿Comprende?

  150. 150.

    Mnemosyne

    @Baud:
    @Yutsano:

    Unless AOC is pledging that she’s going to commute daily from NYC to DC, it’s a bullshit argument, and she knows it.

  151. 151.

    tobie

    @Yutsano:

    And she does have great ideas.

    I’m with MomSense on this. She has laudable goals, boundless energy, and quite a bit of charisma, but when it comes to how to implement her ideas, her plans are pretty skimpy. I hope she’ll learn. She’s a quick study and we’ll see if in time she’ll recognize that a skilled legislator like Nancy Pelosi, who has many legislative accomplishments to her name, is not the enemy.

  152. 152.

    zhena gogolia

    @patroclus:

    I’m scrolling through it at warp speed after a dinner out, and yes, it is quite the assemblage, bricolage, whatever you want to call it.

  154. 154.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jay: I used to tell people “I’m a social democrat, not a democratic socialist.” But the DS red-rose Proudly More Marxist Than Mao types have made so much noise over the last few years, the distinction has probably been muddied beyond reclamation here in Freedumbland.

  155. 155.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Mandalay:

    You’re a fucking moron. Do the world a favor and STFU. You know nothing about NY state election law.

  156. 156.

    Yarrow

    @The Midnight Lurker: I have no idea what you’re talking about. Yes, he’s Congressman O’Rourke. So what? He brands himself as Beto. People know him as Beto. He’s on the ballot as Beto O’Rourke. What does your comment about the “head of household” in Latino communities and voting have to do with your previous complaint that he’s going by Beto and that hurts his chances? If it’s all about Latinos, then why do you think going by his Latino nickname would hurt him. He speaks Spanish as well and grew up in the mostly Latino city of El Paso so it’s not just for show.

  157. 157.

    Rileys Enabler

    @The Midnight Lurker: The 40+ crowd that makes up most of my interactions are all well aware of BETO. He’s got great name recognition and he’s OUT there shaking hands and kissing babies. I *literally * ran into him walking down Main Street a few weeks ago (Tacos A Go Go) and the crowd listening to him was fired up.

    Those I talk to refer to him as BETO. Had to check the O’Rourke part. I’m even seeing yard signs and bumper stickers (BETO!) in my R-leaning suburb. Yard signs! For a Dem! This is a new and exciting phenom, and the homeowners around here skew middle age.

  158. 158.

    The Midnight Lurker

    I don’t want to fight with you guys. I come here to find a sympathetic soul. My mistake. I’ve been canvassing since Carter, almost as long as Mr. O’Rourke has been alive.
    The battle lines down here have largely stabilized. On the republican side, they are concentrating on vote suppression, attack ads, and ratfucking. On our side, we’re working to turn out the vote. Right now, O’Rourke is trying to bring in the Hispanic and Latin votes in key districts that favor Cruz — good luck with that.
    A lot of these communities are very insular. They have their own doctors, dentists, hospital, bank. They’re almost self-sufficient. Here’s a little fact you won’t hear on Maddow or read on Kos. They don’t vote. Politics isn’t on their radar. I know there a ton of examples otherwise, but here in Texas Latino and Hispanic voter turnout is pathetic. And please don’t just blame voter suppression efforts. There is that. But the sad fact is, they don’t vote. They don’t see the point.
    There’s a reason for this. They have been ignored by both parties forever. Democrats come sniffing around for votes every two years, making all sorts of promises, then disappear after the election. There is very little community outreach. And even if there was more, I have serious doubts about how effective it would be.
    It’s still a very male dominated culture. The kids will say they’ll vote, but if the head of the table doesn’t give his approval then it WON’T HAPPEN!
    Here’s another thing you won’t hear on TV, a lot of them of a certain age are racist. Ran into this when I was canvassing for Obama. Word from the top was to push hard in the Latin communities, so we gave it our best. Some of these ‘heads of household’ hate blacks. Really hate Asians, which is a mystery to me, because how often do they actually see one. Not too fond of gays, either. Sorry, fellas. But they seem to be pretty cool with lesbians. The really funny thing is that some seem to have a real affection for white people, but by-in-large, they don’t trust us.
    So diversity is a non-starter. Health care is a non-starter. I have made some inroads with bullshit tariffs hurting small business, but once you throw in NAFTA, Mexican trade, it starts getting complicated quick. Of course, there’s the humanitarian crisis at the border. But the reality is, that’s become an emotional argument, not an intellectual one. And they’re not stupid.
    One last thing, when you boil these communities down to their base elements they tend to skew conserative, not liberal. If Mr. O’Rourke is successful, and we hope he is, but we also often wonder if this won’t be the proverbial box of chocolates come 2020 and beyond.
    I’d probably get more understanding posting at fucking Red State.

  159. 159.

    Anne Laurie

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

    Social democratic?

    *Sigh.* Ah, the glorious English language, where nouns & adjectives swap places to entrap the unwary…

    Social democrats, of course, are not Democratic Socialists. “Social democrats” describes the followers of a political theory; the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political party with, shall we say, limited general appeal in modern America.

    To simplify, social democrats believe that the government has a responsibility/ability to promote the good of the community, if necessary by passing laws that restrict private businesses — i.e., Obamacare. Democratic socialists, as a division within socialism, believe that all private business is theft, but that given “correct education”, voters will choose total state control over such enterprises anyway: ‘Medicare for All’.

    As we have already discovered, the ‘Medicare for All’ model is not palatable to most American voters, and a state-wide trial in the home of its most prominent supporter (Vermont) had to be scrapped because it was unworkable…

  161. 161.

    Anne Laurie

    @The Midnight Lurker: Maybe you guys can do some stealth campaign flyers for that fine young fella Bobby O’Rourke, to distribute among the older voters in your precincts?

    I’d guess just plastering his mug everywhere would have a positive effect with them. I’m old (62), and grew up in an Irish-American enclave, and we obsessively checked peoples’ faces for signs of their ‘true’ ethnicity. (The Kennedys’ hooded eyelids, for instance: VERY Irish! That broad expanse of forehead!… ) Your voters may not talk like that any more, but I’d bet they still unconsciously check, and pale eyes or freckles could take some of the stink off that furriner nickname.

  163. 163.

    Jay

    @Anne Laurie:

    Yup, despite having some of the largest socialist programs to redistribute wealth, ( upwards) like the MIC,

    Socialist, socialism, etc as a word in American English has lost all meaning except as a pejorative for the center right and a form of virtue signalling on the left, other than amongst the youngs, where it’s an expression of yearning for nice things like roads with out potholes, jobs, healthcare, housing, pensions, being able to have and raise children, clean air, etc.

  164. 164.

    MomSense

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Texas is like five different states in one and the politics of the different constituencies are more complicate than people realize. I totally get what you are saying.

  165. 165.

    Anne Laurie

    @rikyrah:

    You can’t watch any program on HGTV without seeing what happens when they come upon asbestos.

    In a way, that’s a positive for our side. “Everybody”, even low-info non-voters, knows that asbestos, like lead and nicotine, are poisons-to-be-avoided. It would take a multi-year nationwide marketing campaign to remake its image, and — as people have already pointed out — that’s not actually gonna happen.

    This is more showboating for the Deplorables, like reopening the coal mines. One or two swift operators might make some more blood money at the fringes, but in America coal mines are not coming back in the foreseeable future, and neither is asbestos.

  166. 166.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    So are you actually hearing all of these things from Latino voters right now about how they’re not going to vote, or are you basing all of this on prior experience before Trump was elected? I would be very surprised if Trump’s ongoing anti-Latino and anti-immigrant rhetoric has had absolutely no effect at all.

  168. 168.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Anne Laurie: I’m old (62), and grew up in an Irish-American enclave, and we obsessively checked peoples’ faces for signs of their ‘true’ ethnicity. (The Kennedys’ hooded eyelids, for instance: VERY Irish! That broad expanse of forehead!… ) Your voters may not talk like that any more, but I’d bet they still unconsciously check, and pale eyes or freckles could take some of the stink off that furriner nickname.

    YES!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!

  172. 172.

    Jay

    @Anne Laurie:

    Personally, I think it was a sop to shore up The Insane Clown POStus with some “winning” during another trying “Infrastructure Week”,

  173. 173.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Anne Laurie: And yes, us old fogies have often thought about printing our own VOTE O’ROURKE posters, and plastering them where we freakin’ need them!. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    And, yeah, you would get more understanding by posting at Red State, because you would be telling them exactly what they want to hear. You’d probably be a hero over there: Even lifelong Democrats admit there is no blue wave and Beto can’t possibly beat Cruz!

  176. 176.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Mnemosyne: (Plucks yet another friendly fire arrow from his head). I will extend to you the same invitation I have extended to other Juicers. Get your butt down here and show an old man how it’s done!

  177. 177.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    I would love to, but my knee surgery is at the end of this month, so I won’t be able to go door-to-door. I was going to donate money to O’Rourke, but now that I know it’s completely hopeless and there’s no possible way he can win, I should probably send my donations to someone in a different state who can actually win, right?

  178. 178.

    MomSense

    @Mnemosyne:

    No, I think ML is describing something I’ve experienced with voter persuasion. Sometimes you find these pockets of old biases and alliances. I once canvassed a house and was so thrilled to see an Obama sticker on the car outside. It was a student home from college and we both worked our asses off to try and sway his mom. She had it fixed in her mind that a black man would only “take care of his own kind” and that she, a Latina woman, would do better with a white man as president. Her son said this attitude in his community is largely generational. His peers didn’t hold those fears but their parents did.

    Near me we have people who live in mill towns who have Catholic French Canadian and Irish heritage. They support unions and are really progressive economically but they are also anti abortion and have a lot of resentment when it comes to immigration. You have to pick which of their conflicting values you will push and hope the appeal is strong enough to outweigh the other.

  179. 179.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Mnemosyne:Well, I guess this ‘old school’ Democrat will have to do the canvassing for both of us. Meanwhile, while you’re recovering, which I hope is quick so you can get back into the fight, you CAN send your money to Texas, may I suggest: Mr. Allred in 32, Ms. Bell in 14, and Ms. Johnson in 30. I know you think we have the House sewn up like a football, what with the blue wave and all, but some of these races are just a little too competitive for my taste. And I’m serious when I say, I hope your surgery goes okay.

  181. 181.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @patroclus: I honestly don’t know, sir. I’ve only met Mr. Allred a couple of times, but I don’t remember meeting his dad. But it’s Colin not ‘Collin’ if that helps.

  182. 182.

    scott alloway

    @MomSense: The money to be made will be in asbestos testing in homes. Smart buyers will have trained people looking for it.

  183. 183.

    Mnemosyne

    @The Midnight Lurker:

    Mr. Allred in 32, Ms. Bell in 14, and Ms. Johnson in 30

    See, I knew you would provide some useful information if I ragged you long enough. ? I will add those three races to my list.

    I’m not looking forward to surgery but I’m really fucking sick of my HMO dragging their heels about it, so now I want to get it over with. It’s been TEN MONTHS since the injury and I only just got my surgery date. ?

  185. 185.

    Jay

    @scott alloway:

    No builder’s gonna touch an asbesto’s product with a 10 1/2 foot pole. Every past application for asbesto’s has been superceded by better, safe and cheaper options.

    Companies arn’t going to start adding asbesto’s to their products, because safer, better and cheaper materials with similar properties were created decades ago.

    It’s a sop to The Insane Clown POStus’s 1970’s worldview.

  191. 191.

    Procopius

    @germy:

    The company’s applause for Trump comes as Russia is poised to become the leading importer to the U.S. of asbestos, …

    This sentence is nonsense, and I have to assume the author is trying desperately to put the responsibility of the exporting Russian company for the importation of asbestos into the U.S. to fulfill the needs of American companies. It’s this kind of thing that makes me believe the whole Russiagate thing is a hysterical attempt to divert attention from incompetent political campaigners and the failures of unregulated markets.

  192. 192.

    Mnemosyne

    @Procopius:

    I have to assume the author is trying desperately to put the responsibility of the exporting Russian company for the importation of asbestos into the U.S. to fulfill the needs of American companies.

    Speaking of nonsense sentences, you probably should have run that one through Google Translate a second time, comrade. Your prepositions are a mess.

  193. 193.

    Procopius

    @GregB: This is puzzling. I was under the impression that when materiel is imported it is because domestic companies want to use it and it is not available from local producers. They pay money to buy it. Exporting companies are filling orders from customers. Therefore I infer that American restrictive regulations mean less asbestos is produced in the U.S. than American companies insist on using. Those American companies, then, are the ones who choose to bring this deadly dangerous substance into the country and use it in their products to be sold here. Are you saying all the owners of these companies are taking orders from Putin, not just greedy douchebags enriching themselves at the expense of their customers’ health?

  194. 194.

    Procopius

    @Mnemosyne: I’m sorry, I do not understand what prepositions you are referring to. The OP said, and I quoted, “Russia is poised to become the leading importer to the U.S. of asbestos, …” How is Russia an importer into the U.S.? I admit Russian wholly-owned subsidiaries could be, but Russia is a foreign country. They export to the U.S., they do not import into the U.S. The appropriate preposition seems obvious to me.

  196. 196.

    Procopius

    @Citizen Alan: Excuse me for going off-topic, but I missed the adoption of the label “Wilmer.” I understood the use of “Willard” for Romney, because it was his actual first name, but you seem to be using “Wilmer” to refer to Bernard Sanders. I don’t get the connection. Am I mistaken? I am often enough that I never discount the possibility.

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    @Procopius:

    You have multiple prepositional phrases but no subject for them to modify. I’m sure it sounded better in the original Russian.

  198. 198.

    Mnemosyne

    @Procopius:

    Here, since I’m feeling helpful tonight:

    I have to assume the author is trying desperately to put the responsibility of the exporting Russian company for the importation of asbestos into the U.S. to fulfill the needs of American companies.

    The bolded prepositional phrase is nonsensical. “Responsibility of” is not a grammatically correct prepositional phrase, and it renders the rest of the sentence incoherent.

  199. 199.

    Chris Johnson

    @Procopius: Be careful not to mix up your target audiences, Russian troll comrade.

    HERE you talk about Wilmer and get people absolutely furious with Sanders and Ocasio.

    You talk about “the whole Russiagate thing is a hysterical attempt to divert attention from incompetent political campaigners” on the Chapo Trap House subreddit, because that’s the crew which is more likely to believe in the face of all evidence that the Russia thing is some kind of Democratic PR move to cover for their own fecklessness. Not here. People don’t believe ‘Russiagate’ is a crock here, much like people don’t believe the radical Left is doomed and useless on the CTH subreddit.

    I have no fucking idea where you’re supposed to post about how American companies clamor to use asbestos because they’re moneygrubbing evil bastards, but I suppose it’s some sort of environmentalist place. Again, you dun fucked up: on Balloon Juice there are older people, contractors, people who will point out that it’s not actually any cheaper to use toxic and problematic materials at this point, so it’s a dumb stunt. Yes, companies are evil bastards most of the time, but that doesn’t mean people are clamoring to buy Russia’s poison, and it’s really weird for you to be normalizing that.

    You need to return to enabling the classic Dem circular firing squad and stop being creative. You do have nice English, though, except that in American ‘when materiel is imported’ isn’t terribly idiomatic. “greedy douchebags enriching themselves at the expense of their customers’ health” is spot-on, though, we can all enjoy that :)

  200. 200.

    AnonPhenom

    West Virginians serving overseas will be the first in the country to cast federal election ballots using a smartphone app, a move designed to make voting in November’s election easier for troops living abroad. But election integrity and computer security experts expressed alarm at the prospect of voting by phone, and one went so far as to call it “a horrific idea.”

    Using a seed stage startup with experimental technology for mission critical data???
    lol, even Mississippi is even shaking it’s head in disbelief.

  201. 201.

    Steeplejack

    @Procopius:

    As you surmised, “Wilmer” is a Balloon Juice nickname for Bernie Sanders. After the 2016 election, some Berniebro trolls apparently set alerts to remind them to come here if their sainted leader was mentioned, so the Wilmer protocol was offered as a stealth measure. It has outlived its usefulness, since any interested trolls have long since added “Wilmer” to their alert list. But it continues as a sort of “cool kids of Balloon Juice” inside reference.

    Here is the origin of Wilmer (credit to Jim, Foolish Literalist, December 16, 2016).

  203. 203.

    artem1s

    @tobie:

    I’m still waiting for someone to explain how we move the 55% of the population that gets it healthcare through its employer to a single payer system.

    Well we have a unique situation in that Baby Boomers were going to be retiring en mass over the next decade or so. Unfortunately Raygun, Poppy and W screwed both the economy, deficit, and Social Security so most of us will probably die working instead of transitioning to the existing single payer system we already had. And the Boomer’s children and grandchildren will go broke trying to keep their ailing parents/grandparents in decent health within the existing for-profit system. So we missed our golden opportunity in the 90s so robber barons could get massive tax breaks.

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