Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: First Class Citizenship And Not A Bad Job Application

Reader Interactions

181Comments

  3. 3.

    Sab

    OT but I rented a herd of goats this past week to clear brush and they were awesome and also adorable. And friendly. They cleared everything in about three days. They ate poison ivy. Plus they carried the stuff away. Plus we met every preschooler in the neighborhood because of our free petting zoo.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    That reminds me that, as a fellow member of Romance Writers of America, I’ve been meaning to donate to Stacey Abrams. This weekend may be when I get the time to make a few donations.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Nah. Homer is just a very sleepy kitteh. ?

    I remember Homer as a tiny kitten with a giant cast on his broken leg. He has grown into quite the magnificent beast, though perhaps not shown to best advantage in this particular shot.

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    @Sab:

    So cool. If you drink the goat’s milk after she has consumed poison ivy, you won’t react to it if you come in contact.

  11. 11.

    PIGL

    @MomSense: but it will still be goats milk. Even poison ivy could hardly make it less delicious. On the bright side I’m sure the goats will also eat up any kale that comes their way, I know many homes that could use a goat or two.

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    There’s a couple of restaurants in the building where I live, and we all got notices that tonight they’ll have a buffet rather than table service. Turns out it’s homecoming in town and something like 8 of their waitstaff asked for the night off so they could go, and the restaurants agreed. The buffet is supposed to be “homecoming” themed, whatever that will be. The whole idea made me smile.

  16. 16.

    Sab

    WereBear: Your book saved us this summer. We put my dad in a nursing home and took in his cat. We already had four cats and a dog plus the dog from my uncle who had just died. The transition was rocky and the cats were furious. Your book guided us through, and now everyone is mostly happy. Thanks.

  18. 18.

    Sab

    @hells littlest angel: In our case it was 55 bucks setup plus 35 bucks per day for the whole herd, so 170 total. Amazingly cheap. I think she just wants to feed her goats when she isnt using them to clear her own brush.

  19. 19.

    C Stars

    @Sab: Wow, that sounds so fun. How did they arrive? By truck? Did they have human and canine chaperones? Wasn’t it overwhelming to have a whole herd of goats all up in your bizness? I’ve seen worker goats clearing the hillsides here in the Bay Area, and they always look so determined (and…multitudinous…)

  24. 24.

    gene108

    Went canvassing for my congressional candidate, Andy Kim, NJ-3. Apparently a group of about 30 New Yorkers chartered a bus to canvas in our district today. We’re about 80 miles southwest of NYC. That really made my day that people are so fired up, they’ve came a couple of hours out of their way to canvas. That group and myself finished canvassing around the same time, so the field office was in the good kind of chaos was we debriefed the field organizers.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    Since the afternoon/early evening crowd is here, I’m going to repeat a recommendation for my favorite “good cry” movie — The Descendants, with George Clooney and Shailene Woodley, plus many small cameos by an array of masterful character actors.

    What makes it a good cry is that the movie starts with a tragedy that unravels the family, but the surviving members are able to work through that tragedy and the unpleasant revelations it brings about their wife/mother and come back together at the end. It’s not quite a happy ending given what happened, but everyone is in a better place than they were at the beginning. It was co-written and directed by Alexander Payne, if that helps sell it.

  27. 27.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: We went to a restaurant today that told us they couldn’t prepare any hot drinks. Apparently the “machine broke”. Yet they were still serving a full menu of food. I discussed it with my fellow diners. You have a stove, which means you can boil water so at a minimum you can serve tea and coffee (if not the fancy stuff like lattes and stuff). Are restaurant staff so incompetent that if their “machine” breaks down they do not know how to make a cup of tea or coffee? Have they never heard of a kettle? What is the world coming to? (*wanders off grumbling under her breath*)

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    It’s coming along on schedule, though the schedule is slower than I’d like. I’m getting ready to do my exercises — I skipped them yesterday morning and ended up regretting it for the rest of the day. Turns out it hurts more if I don’t do the exercises — who knew? ?

  30. 30.

    Miss Bianca

    @Major Major Major Major: Wow. Well, color me one of the ones who said, “Why can’t she just stay as good, reliable liberal vote in the Senate? Why does everyone keep thinking she wants to run for President?” But…I guess she is thinking about it.

    This ought to be interesting.

  31. 31.

    Starfish

    There is a company here in Colorado that has an advanced agriculture division that creates software for automating tractors to precisely apply things like seeds or fertilizer.

  33. 33.

    J R in WV

    I”m OK with Professor Senator Warren doing what she wants to do. I think she would be a great president, esp compared to current occupier of the office. I hope she’s prepared for the vast Right Wing Fascist conspiracy to attack her just way past all the hysterical venting they have already indulged in.

  35. 35.

    TriassicSands

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    Dorothy, you must not have cats. I can’t believe that people are trying to “explain” the white cat’s position. In 95/100 cases, that would pass as a typical “proof of life” photo for a feline. And cats don’t sit up straight to hunt — they flatten themselves out as close to the ground as possible. In fact, white cat is much closer to a hunting position than is calico. Sadly, calico is watching TV — possibly educational TV. Nothing good can come of that.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Major Major Major Major: Did she say that? Not an asshole-y challenge, I’m curious. I thought her answer was always “I’m running for the Senate in 2018!” I admire her frankness, rather than the “I’m only going to New Hampshire cause I loves me some maple syrup!” coyness that’s typical.

    I’m a fan, OTOH I’ve been ambivalent about her national appeal, OTOH her anti-corruption bill is something all Dems ought to be running on

  40. 40.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Major Major Major Major: TL;DR Ehhh. Even subtle ambition [shudder to mention naked! shudder!] in a woman is always viewed with suspicion.

    Let’s face it: Senator Professor Warren has had a kind of rise in public life, that few pols can aspire to. If she were younger, hells bells, I’d be CLAMORING for her to run. Even as it is, depending on the rest of the field, I might do that anyway.

    I bet Senator-elect Barack Obama was hinting that he’d run, and probably wasn’t promising to serve out his full term, but he probably didn’t run on that. And regardless, nobody held it against him.

    Yeah, I’d prefer she does this thing [being Senator and liberal lion] that she’s obviously really, really good at, and that benefits us all. I don’t know if she’s actually good at “that other thing” [running the country], but hell, we never know for Senators who run for President.

  44. 44.

    Mary G

    @Major Major Major Major: My YouTubes here in south OC are all prefaced with either the oppo ad against the horrid Nancy Harkey, or one where Senator Warren talking about her corruption bill. It’s oddly mesmerizing – I’ve failed to skip ad a couple of times, so yes, you were right. I didn’t think she’d win, but she’s a rock star amongst the women in my age group.

  45. 45.

    lurker dean

    forgot to add:

    But as of now, the FBI cannot ask the supermarket that employed Judge for records verifying when he was employed there, one of the sources was told. Ford said in congressional testimony Thursday that those records would help her narrow the time frame of the alleged incident which she recalls happening some time in the summer of 1982 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

    Two sources familiar with the investigation said the FBI will also not be able to examine why Kavanaugh’s account of his drinking at Yale University differs from those of some former classmates, who have said he was known as a heavy drinker.

  47. 47.

    James E Powell

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    If I were the manager or on-duty asst manager of that restaurant, I’d run down to Target or the local equivalent and pick up a couple coffeemakers, pay for it out of my own pocket. Then I’d have coffee for coffee drinkers, which I would consider essential.

  50. 50.

    Sab

    @C Stars: Tried to reply but got tossed into limbo. Came in trailer towed by suv. Electric fence to keep them in and coyotes out. Tent and trailer for shelter. Water buckets. Also treats for us to give them, plus baking soda and something else for them to self administer to avoid indigestion and bloat

  52. 52.

    Mary G

    I’d actually love to see a 2020 Democratic primary including, among others, Beto and Liz Warren. Must see TV!

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ah! Yes, she’s always played coy with something like “I’m focusing on being the best senator I can be right now” or similar. This is her most direct statement to date. However, I’ve thought it clear she was laying the groundwork for a (potential! No reason groundwork can’t go unused!) run for a couple years.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: if she wins in forty days (yikes!), add Claire McCaskill, although her Blue Dog schtick may be too far a bridge nowadays

  55. 55.

    cain

    @lurker dean:
    What happens if the supermarket volunteerily gives up the data? That would be very interesting. I mean what better way to say fuck you to the white house?

    I wonder what Jeff Flake is going to say about all this when he learns that he’s being scammed by the White House. It really pisses me off that this entitled prick is getting a seat. Perhaps more and more folks will come forward about what’s happening and the cry starts getting louder and louder in the passing days.

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    Couple years ago we had dinner at the town’s best Italian restaurant and after our amazing dinner I wanted a cafe corretto with dessert. “Sorry, but our machine is down right now.”

    How in this age is that even possible? “We have a guy” I dejectedly told them, because we really do have a guy who will come to the house and service our machine. 90% of his business is restaurants and coffee shops. If only there were some way for them to connect. If only….

  63. 63.

    C Stars

    Elizabeth Warren: Recently a couple of my very Midwestern relatives–Democrats who hang out with Republicans and live in a Republican neighborhood–told me that they hoped Warren would run. She’s got that homespun thing going for her. I’m not convinced it would appeal nationally. Then again, in contrast to Trump’s ugly crassness…? I dunno, maybe. All bets are off.

  65. 65.

    satby

    @Sab: I mentioned that to someone at the market and now I have a source to rent some goats too!! Only thing that cheered me up this week before Flake found his balls for a minute.

  66. 66.

    lurker dean

    @cain: @Mary G: good points. sadly the press has really sucked on this. someone was pointing out that no one has seems to have approached chris garrett, who hung out with brett all summer, and who “dated” dr. ford. i hope the press is able to push on all the issues. and hopefully the fbi will interpret their scope loosely since they must hate trump at this point. i really doubt flake has another decent moment in him.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    Kavanaugh shouldn’t be confirmed until we get to the bottom of the Clintons’ conspiracy against him.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @lurker dean:

    If someone goes to the FBI with a new, more recent allegation, I don’t think they can legally refuse to investigate it regardless of what the White House says. I wonder if any of his more recent victims are starting to ponder that possibility.

  77. 77.

    Sab

    @satby: My husband spent all week frothing at the tv and then going out to pet the goats.

    We have lots of housepets, but they pick up on our emotions. The goats are just chewing away out in the yard.

  79. 79.

    Chetan Murthy

    @trollhattan: a “cafe corretto” is made with an espresso shot. Uh, as a “straight” espresso drinker, I can say without fear of contradiction, that espresso and “coffee” are two different drinks, and anyone who’s familiar with Italian cuisine in Italy would know this in their gut.

    Hell, I never drink coffee, and when a barista misuses an espresso machine to produce “coffee”, I either return it, or add milk & sugar. Whereas (as I said) I drink my espresso -straight-.

  82. 82.

    Dan B

    @Litlebritdifrnt: We’ve had several experiences like that at restaurants along the freeway in Oregon. We were told the ice tea was out. Why? Because the machine is broken. Jaws agape.. I calmly and slowly asked for hot tea, a glass, and ice. The waitress was amazed.

    I have never doubted the ability of many Americans to elect the most obviously awful person. And then complain about “politicians”.

  83. 83.

    JMG

    Any citizen can, at any time, call the FBI at their nearest field office and volunteer information. The FBI encourages it.

  85. 85.

    lurker dean

    @schrodingers_cat: Chua seems to have contracted a mysterious sickness and is unavailable after it was revealed she was a pimp for hot female law students for kav.

    @Miss Bianca: yeah good question. hey fbi, you can investigate anything that wont lead anywhere…

  88. 88.

    Bill Arnold

    @TriassicSands:

    Sadly, calico is watching TV — possibly educational TV. Nothing good can come of that.

    I have a 5-month-old male 1/2 coon cat that has just figured out (or learned from watching) how to open doors with a handle. Which is all the doors in the house (excepting cabinet doors). No interest in TV though.

  90. 90.

    Millard Filmore

    @guachi:

    Newspapers will have to fill in where the White House doesn’t want the FBI to go.

    I doubt they will get any information without a court order. This was decades ago and personnel information is never spread around freely.

  92. 92.

    Felanius Kootea

    @SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal: As Tesla Chairman but not as CEO. He’s lucky, I thought the SEC would come down harder on him.

    I own Tesla stock in spite of my friends who actually drive and love Teslas telling me to stay away from the stock. I have not been happy with Musk lately.

  95. 95.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    @Millard Filmore: All they need is start and end dates, the kind of stuff they usually limit employment info to. They can always say they are looking at hiring him for political commentary :-}

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was Googling to see if there was a recent comment from the “liberal feminist” lawyer who introduced him to the Senate at the start of the hearings. As far as I can tell, she has magically vanished from public sight.

  97. 97.

    Bill Arnold

    Tech gripe: latest update of Chrome for iPhone broke multi-tab support usability; the tabs are now displayed as a grid of mini-screenshots rather than a spray of titles, and so multiple tabs for a single site can be hard to tell apart. Any suggestions for an alternative? Avoid safari on principle.

  98. 98.

    FelonyGovt

    Jackals in Los Angeles County- I met Lt. Alex Villanueva at my Dem Club meeting last week. He is a Dem running against the incumbent LA County Sheriff and is very impressive. He says the corruption from Baca and that group hasn’t been eradicated under McDonald the incumbent. I would recommend a vote for Villanueva.

  100. 100.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Sab: Shit, I’m *somewhat* sympathetic to her arguments that children need to be pushed to actually learn in school, and even I can draw the line at “grooming students for a misogynist”. Crrrrikey.

  101. 101.

    Dan B

    Back from picking up lunch from one of our favorite local bakeries. There was a group of six 40 something Filipino women laughing and picking up baked hoods and bahn mi. I wanted to be at their party but orobably wouldn’t survive it. There were women in chadors and headscarves, chinese kids, and men in east African dress. The woman behind the counter kept trying to get me to pronounce the names of the baked goods. Apparently I didn’t manage to say anything profane. Why fly halfway around the world whe it’s four blocks away.
    Speaking of goats that’s what’s for dinner at the deli across the street. Poison ivy and kale not included.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    And, crap, I’ve only just realized that getting a woman lawyer to introduce him was yet another attenpt to whitewash the sexual assault stuff from his background. I couldn’t possibly be a rapist — look at all of the liberal women who love me!

  105. 105.

    Mart

    @C Stars: I remember watching Senator Professor Warren on the internet many years ago when when she was just a Professor. She had gone from an R to a D; and had an uncanny ability to explain how the 1% were stomping on the rest of us. Always felt she would get the same treatment from R’s as Bernie would if running for POTUS – OH MY GOD SOCIALISTS. Then we will get the sexist and racist Pocahontas con-woman lying about her heritage to get into college. And do not forget the old – how can you trust a woman with no experience as commander in chief misogyny. Maybe her explanations on how the top 1% are screwing the rest of us would get through. A tough hill to climb.

    Thought the PA paper was pretty good, solid B. The Netherlands agricultural revolution needs to be the global model now.

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    sounds like the White House put a tight leash on the FBI

    Investigators plan to meet with Mark Judge, a high school classmate and friend of Kavanaugh’s whom Ford named as a witness and participant to her alleged assault.
    But as of now, the FBI cannot ask the supermarket that employed Judge for records verifying when he was employed there, one of the sources was told. Ford said in congressional testimony Thursday that those records would help her narrow the time frame of the alleged incident which she recalls happening some time in the summer of 1982 in Montgomery County, Maryland.

    Two sources familiar with the investigation said the FBI will also not be able to examine why Kavanaugh’s account of his drinking at Yale University differs from those of some former classmates, who have said he was known as a heavy drinker. Those details may be pertinent to investigating claims from Ramirez who described an alleged incident of sexual misconduct she said occurred while Kavanaugh was inebriated. Ramirez’s lawyer said Saturday that she had been contacted by the FBI and would cooperate.

    Not clear to me how much could that will do them. I’m not sure how/if a reporter could get that info from Safeway, but the drinking stuff is and will be all over TV. And as noted above, prominent lawyers are starting to speak out against Kavanaugh because of the bias he exposed in that tantrum

  110. 110.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope you’re right. I worry that in fact, this really means they’ll talk to the same small number of folks we already know the names of, for the first accusation, and that’ll be that. No further witnesses, no attempt to corroborate anything. It’ll remain “he said, she said, errbody else said they doan ‘member” FIN.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Wonder two things.
    Does she have a case before him or coming up?
    Probably the thing you wondered, is she all that liberal? Especially as you say, she’s disappeared.

  113. 113.

    Chetan Murthy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Wow, that’s GREAT! I have almost a crippling vertigo: I can get the feeling in my (um) nether regions just from looking at a -photo- taken from a height. Or even of deep water. But once I did a bungee-jump (from a crane suspending a cage over a parking lot (heh, good thing the bungee cable was in good condition, I guess) and after the first moment convincing myself to hop out of the cage, it was -excellent-.

    Like I said: -crippling- vertigo, and it was still great.

    It’s great that your child is having these experiences.

  117. 117.

    Sab

    Anybody on a thread with Helen in Eire , can you tell her how much I admit I was a jerk on that thread last summer and how sorry I am.

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @Miss Bianca:

    Well, color me one of the ones who said, “Why can’t she just stay as good, reliable liberal vote in the Senate?

    I agree. She is a greatly talented Senator (and, not for nothing, is building both actual experience and Senate seniority points in her current job). I love, admire, and respect her lavishly — and would, of course, work hard on her behalf if she were to get the D nomination — but I really like her much better where she is and hope calmer voices will prevail.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chetan Murthy: I’m not certain BK’s going down– the alleged moderates really, really want to get to yes. St Flake seemed genuinely confused when someone suggested he could use his leverage wrt the tax bill to protect Mueller. The idea of prioritizing the health of the republic over the R agenda is still, I suspect, alien to him. And that money for Collins’ opponent means more to her than right or wrong. I don’t have a real sense of Murkowski, but she’s a second generation Republican who has never, to my knowledge, shown any deviation from the party line except for that one O-Care vote

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    @Felanius Kootea:

    Yep. Like I keep saying, my spidey sense (and that’s really all it is — a hunch) is telling me that there are quite a few conservative women out there who have been groped or worse by Kavanaugh and are now trying to decide what’s more important: the conservative movement or justice for themselves and other victims.

    If even one woman with conservative credentials comes forward and accuses Kavanaugh, it’s game over for him.

  125. 125.

    Calouste

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the first preference for Collins and Murkowski is that the nomination of Kavanaugh is withdrawn. They know that if they have to vote on him, however they vote is going to cost them a lot of voters. Same for Manchin.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    So.. Don McGahn is effectively controlling the investigation of the nominee he picked and IIRC has a long friendship with?

    Eric Columbus Retweeted Greg Sargent
    Even worse: the WH Counsel’s Office — led by Kavanaugh’s top WH ally — “has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview.”

  129. 129.

    Luthe

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, if they can’t ask the supermarket, they *can* ask the IRS and the SSA, both of whom would have records of when Judge was employed there. And those records would probably be easier to locate and share with another federal agency.

  130. 130.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Mnemosyne: The sad thing is that Blasey Ford’s family is pretty conservative (it’s shocking to me that her Trump-voting in-laws are out defending her vigorously while her birth family is not). Any women with conservative credentials Kavanaugh may have attacked will be weighing loss of friends and family plus attacks from Trump cultists and deciding it’s not worth it. The whole situation is just maddening.

  131. 131.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Calouste: I’d bet a hundred dollars to the Anybody But Collins Fund that said Fund will pass three million in a week if she votes for Kavanaugh. I think she fears a primary challenge and fears being too weak to win a three way race as an indie (full disclosure: Not a Mainer). I wonder if she regrets not going indie, but still caucusing with the Rs, over a year ago.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    @hueyplong:

    It’s really hard to say what a victim’s breaking point will be. Any victim who’s still in the conservative movement knows that her friends and family will all turn on her and rip her to shreds as a lying whore, and it would be a very unusual (or very pissed off) person who would be willing to become a total social pariah to everyone she knows and works with, because she would become completely unemployable as a traitor to the cause.

    I am certainly not depending on one of them to come forward and save us all, but I do think it’s the one thing that would get him to voluntarily withdraw his name to go spend more time with his family.

  134. 134.

    hueyplong

    @Mnemosyne: Agree. I just think, for the reasons you stated, that no “credentialed conservative” will come forward before the vote.

    In a rational world, the restrictions on the FBI investigation, standing alone, would lead to a vote not to confirm. The restrictions themselves are an indication of guilt.

  135. 135.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    I’m truly not understanding how the WH can control what the FBI does if it starts an investigation. I could see that they don’t allow it in the first place but once it’s started, don’t they theoretically have to follow it to the end, no matter where it leads? IOW, aren’t they supposed to be independent in how they actually operate on a day to day basis? If they are not then how does the NY office act in deference to whomever they feel like and get away with it? Of course this is the shitgibbon maladministration we are talking about.

  136. 136.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @hueyplong:

    Brian Beutler @ brianbeutler
    Everything Kavanaugh and the White House and Senate Republicans have done since Ford came forward suggests complete consciousness of guilt. @JeffFlake should reflect on THAT.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ruckus: well, according to twitter

    Ken Dilanian Retweeted Ryan Goodman
    And that’s what people need to understand: The White House is the client here. They call the tune. This is not a criminal investigation so the FBI does not have it’s normal autonomy.

  138. 138.

    jacy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I am definitely not a lawyer, nor an FBI agent — but is that how a background check really works? I mean, if you’re allowed to interview the subjects brother and the subject’s brother says, “The neighbor said he stole their TV and pawned it,” does the FBI say, “Oh, the neighbor isn’t on our list, so I guess that’s too bad.” If Dr. Ford says that Mark Judge was working at the Safeway, don’t they sort of HAVE to determine if that’s true to verify the veracity of statement?

  139. 139.

    Bill Arnold

    @Mnemosyne:

    and it would be a very unusual (or very pissed off) person who would be willing to become a total social pariah to everyone she knows and works with, because she would become completely unemployable as a traitor to the cause.

    Many conservatives are embedded in real-world employment situations (in liberal or neutral workplaces), and behaving as crypto-conservatives.
    So you might be underestimating; we’ll see.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @Felanius Kootea:

    With Dr. Blasey Ford, I’m guessing there’s also some family history there of her acting out after the attack, or trying and failing to disclose it to her parents (or disclosing it and not being believed), etc. Her birth family now has to decide if this is the incident that explains why she suddenly changed, or if they’re going to cling to the explanations the family has built up over the years (she’s unstable, she’s promiscuous, she’s trying to avoid getting punished for her bad behavior, etc). It can be hard to flip a family script 35 years later.

  141. 141.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @peej01:

    Not investigating Swetnick’s claims is a big FU to Avenatti.

    Just wild-ass guessing here, but my sense is that Avenatti* will take note of said “FU” and respond accordingly.

    *I must say, I really love that my spellcheck dictionary knows what I mean when I type the letters “Av.” Not that long ago it would have been “avocado” or something.

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jacy: IANAL either, but it sounds like like a twist the old adage from TV lawyers, never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to. In this case, don’t ask a question you don’t want to (officially) know the answer to. As others have said, there are a lot of indications that they knew this might happen. I think of Kennedy asking BK what kind of hell-raisin’ rapscallion he was as a young’un. Were I a reporter, I’d be researching Kennedy’s questioning of Gorsuch to see if he was interested in NG’s days at Georgetown Prep.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    That sounds like a load of horseshit to me.
    The FBI has clients? Even the WH? My understanding is that the FBI’s client is the law of the land. Am I just being completely naive here? Or was my last line (Of course this is the shitgibbon maladministration we are talking about.) directly on the money?

  146. 146.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ruckus: IIRC, during the original Rapey-K background check, when Feinstein gave the FBI Dr. Blasey Ford’s letter, the FBI informed the White House. In short, this isn’t a criminal inquiry, and the “client” is the White House.

  147. 147.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bill Arnold:

    Right, but a crypto-conservative wouldn’t have the same credentials and could be waved away as another Soros plant or whatever they’re accusing Dr. Blasey Ford of today. It needs to be someone from the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute or another place that’s populated by 100 percent conservative hacks. That’s the only way she would be credible to the MSM and Fox News and the rest of the conservative news ecosystem.

    If I were writing the screenplay of this, the woman who dramatically comes forward at the last second would be Amy Chua’s daughter, Kavanaugh’s law clerk, because that would be MAXIMUM DRAMA + MAXIMUM KARMA. But it won’t be, because real life is rarely that convenient.

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ruckus: Or was my last line (Of course this is the shitgibbon maladministration we are talking about.) directly on the money?

    Basically. My understanding is the White House has total control of background checks, as opposed to federal crimes.
    Flake and Collins and Murkowski can only be rolled if they want to be rolled. The other wild card here, as someone pointed out earlier, is Judge’s commitment to AA, to acknowledging those he’s wronged and living his life with rigorous honesty.

  151. 151.

    jacy

    @Ruckus:

    The difference is that this is not a criminal investigation but a background check. STILL, I would think if a background check turns up the possibility of a crime, it would either have to be investigated by the FBI or handed off to the proper authorities. I mean, isn’t that the same thing with the Meuller probe? If it’s something not under their direct purview are they not still required as sworn officers to report it to whoever’s purview it might be under or further investigate it?

  152. 152.

    germy

    I’m just here to remind y’all that when a cop killed Brian Hundley, a jury found that the cop lied. Brett Kavanaugh threw out the verdict.

    He didn’t cry.

    — michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) September 27, 2018

  153. 153.

    Chetan Murthy

    @trollhattan: Damn! That there is some *lovely* hardware! IO had a $150 Gaggia (black plastic shell) for, like, 20yr (bought in 1998 or so). I wasn’t so dutiful on cleaning it, and eventually I guess it filled-up with calcium carbonate or whatever. My bad. But after 15yr and untold $$ saved on Starbucks, I spent some of that on a Ranciolio Silvia. Which is basically the same guts as the Gaggia, but with a fancy zinc shell.

    But your machine … man, that’s almost an espresso temple, ain’t it?

  154. 154.

    jacy

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    One thing, the thought I had from Thursday afternoon onward was not that we need to hang our hopes on an FBI check. If Kavanaugh is as dirty as I think he is, my hope would be that it’s too extensive to be covered up completely, no matter how circumspect the FBI is being — but I also understand that might not be the case. I think the real reed of hope (and I think that if you are generous to Flake and Collins and Murkowski and whoever else is queasy behind the scenes, this is their hope too) is that just by giving this some space, something will happen. The worst thing, I thought, was scheduling the votes so quickly. Public sentiment may turn in a big way in a week. Reporters may dig up something we haven’t imagined yet. Kavanaugh may go on a drunken bender. In this rapid-fire, social-media-driven public arena, a fucking meme can cause something to catch fire. Regardless of what the FBI turns up, time is probably our friend and not theirs. There’s a reason they wanted Kavanaugh to go second and then push a vote within 48 hours. And I think it’s because they know he’s unreliable in some way.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @jacy:
    Exactly my point.
    They are doing a background check. We now know of incidents that could be – are of a criminal nature in shitheel’s background. Underage drinking, sexual assault….. Some of these have no time limits on prosecution and are felonies in the state which they occurred. So to do a background check they’d have to investigate what is publicly known or they are just wasting time. Which is of course what the shitgibbon’s maladministration wants.
    To save time they should just say “Nominate the criminal, we have things to do than to be a part of this.”

  157. 157.

    Chetan Murthy

    @jacy: John Maynard Keynes — ‘When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done’

    I guess s/capital development/justice system/

    Sigh.

  158. 158.

    trollhattan

    @Chetan Murthy:
    We wore out a couple machines until deciding to go for the gusto, and this one has been a soldier (10+ years). A few significant bits have been replaced but the shocking part is that they are replaceable in this use-and-toss world.

    And yeah, it’s a purdy thing to occupy that hunk of countertop. :-)

  160. 160.

    jl

    Thanks for report on precision agriculture. Nice that it mentions the Netherlands. A lot of the Netherlands ‘precision agriculture’ is indoor agriculture, hydroponic farming, or using indoor soil preparation, precision LED lighting, and watering to maximize yield, nutrition and flavor. I think that is the future, since can cut down on energy and water requirements by factor of something like 80 or 90 percent.

  161. 161.

    chris

    Shitgibbon rally tonight. Indispensable Daniel Dale tweeting.

    Trump says a vote for Kavanaugh is a vote to reject "the ruthless and outrageous tactics" of Democrats. He's framing the vote as a partisan statement.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) 29 September 2018

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    @jacy:

    And I think it’s because they know he’s unreliable in some way.

    They know he’s not USSC material for sure. They know that everything they’ve heard is true. They know he will be exactly the guy they want on the court. That is why. It is the only reason. They are desperate. They have the shitgibbon and they know there is only a matter of time till that explodes and badly on them, if it hasn’t already. They are time limited, they know or are at least pretty sure that they are going to lose congress in a couple of months. They know that they have pissed off a huge portion of the population. The other day my boss and I were discussing SS and I mentioned that the current congress wants to destroy it. His response was that would cause a revolution, with millions of revolutionaries. Aged ones but still, a revolution, never a good thing in a democracy, or whatever the hell it is that we live in. And they know this as well. Their time limit is political, and it is very much a practical issue. I’d bet they don’t think that having waited for this time for over 60 yrs they are going to stop now. BK is that major step to retard the progress of those decades.

  163. 163.

    jl

    @jacy: It’s so depressing. I have sympathy with your hopes. My view is that regardless of the exact truth of the three or four harassment accusations against him, his behavior and attitude shows that he is completely unfit to be any kind of judge or justice. My two CA Senators have done great work. In calls to other possible no votes, I’ve emphasized that regardless of what standards of evidence you want to apply to what happened decades ago, any standards of evidence on his lies, misdirection and dissembling right now, this hearing, previous hearings, and this very week, on the sexual harassment and other issues (e.g., his role in the stolen confidential Democratic committee documents affair), plus his complete lack of what is called ‘judicial temperament’ show that he is completely 1000000% unfit.

    Not sure what good it will do. Normally I would dismiss talk about the huge chunks of the GOP being held hostage by kompromat as wild conspiracy talk. But the behavior of people like Collins makes me wonder. But then there is the fact that GOP primary vote is reduced to crazy people, and any deviations from the Trumpist insane reactionary line is an electoral death sentence, and every GOP Congress critter is patently held hostage to that.

  164. 164.

    Martin

    News from the resistance state:

    The California Air Resources Board increased requirements for vehicle emissions to an average of 54MPG by 2021. 7 other states back the move. Trump administration is trying to take away California’s right to regulate emissions within the state (it’s a unique right because CAs air quality laws predate the Clean Air act).

    Starting in 2019, the minimum age to buy any firearm in California is 21. Additionally, a concealed carry permit will require 8 hours of certified training and passing a live fire test. Bump stocks are banned. There is now a lifetime ban on anyone who has been involuntarily admitted to a mental facility more than once in a year, as well as anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse. Ammunition can now also be confiscated as part of a gun violence restraining order.

    Students are now legally allowed to wear religious, cultural, and tribal adornments at graduation. A student had been removed from his graduation for wearing a kente cloth, and others removed for wearing eagle feathers.

    CA has also created a grant program for minority business owners to apply for financial assistance to open up cannabis businesses.

  165. 165.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Bill Arnold:

    That’s awful. I hope it doesn’t migrate to Chrome for Android. I am a “many open tabs” open kind of guy, and what you’re describing would be very frustrating.

  166. 166.

    zhena gogolia

    If I spend this week imaginatively micromanaging the FBI investigation, I seriously fear for my sanity. So I’m going to try to tune all that out as best I can.

  167. 167.

    jl

    As I’ve mentioned before, I was blessed to be too busy to watch 99% of the mess. I watched one actual clip, and that was too much. It was Kavanaugh asking someone, I think Mitchell, that hadn’t she every drunk herself to the point of a blackout. I think Kavanaugh asked sincerely, with some hope in his eye that she would agree with his views of a halfway normal lifestyle. And I think Mitchell was very professional and restrained when she said that she did not have a drinking problem.

    I would not have been as restrained. I think my answer would have been ‘Are you effing kidding me, dude? I have been shitface dry heave drunk a few times. But drinking until I blacked out and lost my memory? As ‘partying’, for ‘fun’? Or you nuts? That’s called alcohol poisoning. You had, or have, a serious booze problem, dude.”

    So, that’s the one bit I watched, in addition to a little bit of Kavanaugh’s deranged outburst about his all being revenge for his very important and judicious work harassing the Clintons, that I cut off after less than a minute, as being too nightmarish to watch.

    I hope to God this mess is kept off the court. But my participation will be limited to making a few more calls to Senators who might vote no. I can’t take following this mess in real time. It is seriously disturbing me.

  168. 168.

    p.a.

    Sadly, IMHO the only way K goes down is if the FBI is able to do its job in a thorough manner in the brief time allowed. Even if the media turns up old style video, it’ll just be “fake news liberal bias”-ed away. People keep typing ‘conservative’, if some ‘conservative’ has had enough, or re-sprouts a conscience, or “well some conservative women can’t be happy with this”… but if anyone is still a ‘conservative’ after Cheney/Bush, after Yertle’s treatment of Obama, after Trump/Mother, after Grampy Grassley’s display this week, (and I’m including the No Trump crew too) you can use ‘conservative’ to be polite, so type ‘conservative’, but think fascist. And I’m not talking south-of-the-Alps fascism (which was bad enough of course) either. And all they respond to is the blow to the throat- literal or figurative. Hope I’m wrong (usually am), fingers crossed.

  169. 169.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @chris:

    From Daniel Dale’s tweetstream:

    rump again with a word many Native Americans consider a slur in this context: “Pocahontas is now considered a conservative in the Democrat party…Pocahontas, Elizabeth Warren…they’ve gone crazy. They’ve gone LOCO.”

    I haven’t watched/listened to any of this rally, but I know as sure as I’m sitting here nursing my third glass of wine that he leaned in on the word “LOCO” and articulated it very carefully. LO. CO. It was not a throwaway word.

  171. 171.

    James E Powell

    @C Stars:

    If Warren would run, the press/media, led by the NYT, would run more stories about her Indian heritage than all other issues combined.

  173. 173.

    chris

    @SiubhanDuinne: My countryman is a better man than I, I can’t bear to watch or listen to the monster. Even the tweets make me cringe.

    Time to vote the loco out is near. Only 37 more days.

  174. 174.

    Bill Arnold

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    I am a “many open tabs” open kind of guy, and what you’re describing would be very frustrating.

    Likewise. On a PC or Mac, typically hundreds of tabs spread across tens of windows in a few browsers (typically Firefox and Chrome, plus plus.)
    “Great Suspender” with chrome to save memory.

  177. 177.

    Bill Arnold

    @Mnemosyne:

    If I were writing the screenplay of this, the woman who dramatically comes forward at the last second would be Amy Chua’s daughter, Kavanaugh’s law clerk, because that would be MAXIMUM DRAMA + MAXIMUM KARMA.

    Such a thing could well happen. We need (yet) another brave woman.

  178. 178.

    Bill Arnold

    @TriassicSands:

    A good indication of the superior intelligence of Maine Coon cats.

    Also been making sure he’s getting a good cognitive development diet. And teaching him combat because no mom or siblings or other cats are around.

  179. 179.

    stinger

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Dorothy, I’m reading The Wind Reader, got to the end of Ch. 1, and had to stop just to tell you what a great opening chapter it is!

    I’m already a big fan of your other books, and so excited to be reading this one! Now, back to our story….

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    Even worse: the WH Counsel’s Office — led by Kavanaugh’s top WH ally — “has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview.”

    Isn’t that obviously obstruction of justice? Someone should call the FBI and let them know about this blatant crime in the White House!!!

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