Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

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Archives for September 2018

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: All We Can Do Is Keep Fighting

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Two months ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats hold a clear advantage over Republicans in congressional vote support, with antipathy toward President Trump fueling Democratic enthusiasm, even among those in the party who stayed home four years ago, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

The survey also points to broad unrest and frustration with the political system generally. More than 6 in 10 Americans say Trump and the Republican Party are out of touch with most people in the country. While Democrats fare better, a narrower 51 percent majority also judged them out of touch.

Registered voters say they favor the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate in their district by 52 percent to 38 percent. That is a marked increase from the four-point edge in an April Post-ABC poll but similar to the 12-point advantage Democrats enjoyed in January…

our years ago, when Republicans made gains in the midterm elections, the GOP enjoyed a 10-point advantage on this question in Post-ABC surveys that fall, 71 percent to 61 percent. The latest survey also asked whether people had voted in 2014, and among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who say they did not, 63 percent say they are absolutely certain to vote in November.

The past three midterm elections — 2006, 2010 and 2014 — produced substantial losses for the party that held the White House. In 2006, Republicans lost control of the House, but they regained it four years later. In 2014, they captured control of the Senate. Trump’s victory in 2016 gave them full control of the executive and legislative branches.

Presidential approval has become a strong indicator of which party voters will support in midterm elections. More than 8 in 10 voters who disapprove of a president’s performance have backed opposition party candidates in recent midterm elections…


 
Meanwhile…


 
#BEBEST

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Late Night Open Thread: FEAR of A Bob Woodward

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Bob Woodward is the Establishment’s Guy. Most of his big fat doorstops-with-indexes are launched to certify that All Is Well In This Best of All Possible Worlds. Occasionally, as with the book that launched his & Bernstein’s journalistic careers, the message is This Individual’s Become A Problem That Will Be Dealt With As Harshly As Required.

His new book seems to fall squarely in the second category. The question: Does Trump understand the verdict that has just been passed upon his “presidency”? Or perhaps it should be phrased: Will any of Trump’s staff bother trying to explain the situation to the Oval Office Occupant?

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The Kavanaugh Hearings: At Long Last, Sir, Have You No Decency?

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Elections Open Thread

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I don’t know anything about the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District, but it looks like a big upset.

In a historic victory, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated Rep. Mike Capuano, a progressive Congressional favorite first elected in 1998 in Massachusetts’ seventh congressional district.

Capuano took the stage shortly after 9:15 p.m. and conceded the race.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but this is life,” Capuano told supporters. “This is OK. America is going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and Massachusetts will be well served.

“This is not the side we wanted to be on,” he added. “Clearly the district wanted a lot of changes.”

Pressley, 44, mounted a surprising campaign against Capuano that led to one of the most-watched primaries in the nation. She won the seat that represents parts of Boston, Cambridge, Milton and all of Chelsea, Everett, Randolph and Somerville.

Any of the Massachusetts crowd want to check in?

What’s going on elsewhere?

 

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Rambling Open Thread

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I’m tired. It was 100000 degrees today again, and the humidity was horrible. It just sucks the life out of you. Tomorrow is another long day because I have to head up to Pittsburgh to take Lily to chemo (three weeks just flies by). But at least she is still alive and super happy, and, as you can see, right where she is supposed to be as I write this:

I think I am going to take the people at PVSEC some tomatoes tomorrow. Who doesn’t love tomatoes?

I’m also rushing to get everything done before leaving for the beach next Friday (and if one more asshole mentions the fucking tropical storm trying to put the kaibosh on me I am gonna cut someone). Just so much to do and so little time.

I spoke with Alain the other day and we put the brakes on whatever site changes he had in mind. Other than maintenance and maybe fixing the edit function, we’re not doing anything for a couple weeks. I’ve spoken with a couple of the older (I don’t mean age) commenters who offered to help with the front end stuff, and we are looking for a targeted roll out of around October 15th. Two priorities are a solution for the video ads and the comment system, but there is a bunch of other stuff that needs to be fixed and changed. As I was telling others, I would love nothing more than to go back to 2007 and have this:

But we just can’t. With so many different mobile sites, etc., it’s just impossible. The other reason things are such a pain in the ass is because I refuse to use offsite commenting. I do that for some very real reasons. This website is an archive of us. Our interactions, our conversations, our thoughts. We’ve gone through too many personal emergencies and life events for all those to just disappear, and that isn’t even going into all the funny things people have said. I want it to stay that way, and I can not guarantee the safety of comments on an external site. The other reason is because I will refuse to comply with any requests from the authorities to give up usernames, emails, and ip addresses. That’s just not going to happen.

So, it limits us in some ways.

The other problem (for me, at least) is replicating the problems some of you encounter. I had my boot drive crash the other day, replaced it, and had a clean windows install. I installed malwarebytes, which is always the first thing I install, then downloaded chrome, firefox, safari, etc. I then checked Balloon Juice with clean installs of them all, reloaded and refreshed multiple times, and I never got an audio ad. I never got an ad stretching outside the borders.

That doesn’t mean I don’t trust you that it is happening- my own brother got an audio ad last week and texted me. It’s just it makes it really hard to address when you can’t see it happening or replicate it. And I know how annoying it is. Fucking CNN with those god damned autoplay clips drives me god damned mental. So I am working on it. I don’t want you all having a lousy time here.

At any rate, we’re going to fix some things and upgrade some things and you all will have a say, but it just isn’t going to happen right now. Alain has a lot of shit going on, I have a bunch of shit going on, and it will take a little time.

So that’s that. Have a little faith in me, I give you my word I will not fuck this up. I love this shitty little website as much as you all do. And I just realized I forgot to turn the damned sprinkler off.

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Another Excellent Candidate for WV

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I had a great meeting with the chief organizer of the Ohio County Democratic party today, and we swapped notes and talked about our plans going forward for the next few months. I’ve been in contact with several college students here in Bethany, and we are probably going to meet over the weekend and have a bbq at my house and work out some schedules for postcard writing, phone banking, canvassing, and other GOTV activities.

One of the candidates we discussed today at length is another one Kendra Fershee:

I am a working mom who has dedicated the majority of my professional life to public service. I am a law professor, a family law expert, and a mom of two kids. I’ve been married to Josh, the love of my life, for almost nineteen years, and together we’ve built a life in West Virginia for ourselves and our family. We live and work in Morgantown, our kids go to Monongalia County public schools, and we were so happy when our careers allowed us to choose to move to wild and wonderful West Virginia. And because we love it so much here, it’s hard to see West Virginia struggle so mightily. We work hard, love our family, and want the best for our gorgeous state. I know that people in the First District of West Virginia deserve better from their representative than they’re getting right now. So, I want to go to Washington, D.C. to shine a spotlight on this incredible place so that others can recognize it for the gem that it is and join us as we fight the unparalleled challenges destroying our people and our communities. In short, I want to fight for your freedom to stay in West Virginia.

Here’s a fundamental American truth: living free in a free country requires team effort. An individual’s success is often hard fought, but individuals cannot reach their full potential without a little help from their friends. West Virginians deeply value freedom, and we can achieve freedom if we work together to ensure stable employment, access to healthcare, and quality education for our fellow citizens. Unfortunately, right now, many of your legislators are the biggest obstacles to your success. They are not fighting for you or your community at the ground level. They are doubling down on a failed attempt to give money to the top 1% in the hopes that some of that will drip down to you, even though it never does. You deserve a teammate who fights with and for you, your kids, and your community.

I have a two-track plan for the West Virginia’s First District. First, we are trying to fight a war at home – with little help from Washington – to attack a drug addiction crisis that is devastating our state. This is not political rhetoric. No one is immune from this catastrophe because we are living in ground zero. We need resources – money for detox facilities, rehab centers, and law enforcement – and we needed the help yesterday. At the same time, we must build economic and individual stability by supporting and strengthening our communities and infrastructure. We must ensure that we all have access to quality health care, and we must improve our struggling schools. Make no mistake: this is a struggle for your freedom. People dying from drug addiction are not living free. People who can’t get jobs are not living free. People who can’t get healthy are not living free. People who can’t access the education they need are not living free.

My experiences as a teacher, lawyer, high-level administrator, public servant, and mom have honed my skills as a team player, leader, listener, counselor, negotiator, unifier, and communicator. I know I can work with others in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to seek creative and innovative solutions to the challenges faced by both our state and our country. No idea is too bold or too small, and nothing is off the table. It’s time for real change in Washington. Who better to change things than a working mom who knows West Virginia families and wants the best for yours? I am ready to go to Washington to fight for your freedom to stay. Want to help me? Join Team Kendra, and let’s do this.

Her campaign is not getting the love it should be from the DCCC, so they are in a bad way for money, so I have set up an ActBlue for her. I’d really like to take a really good crack at knocking Rep. Mckinley out of his seat- he’s an unapologetic Trumper who needs to go. I’ll start with $50.00:

Goal Thermometer

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(Zippo) Lighter Side Open Thread: BURN YER NIKES!!!

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The tweets Pharyngula posted turned out to be a “hoax” (joke). So are these, but aren’t they glorious?

Plenty of 100% genuine all-‘Murkan stupidity to go around, folks!

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