Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

This fight is for everything.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Giving up is unforgivable.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Things That Don’t Suck Department

Open Thread: Things That Don’t Suck Department

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Here’s the full list from NPR:

What could possibly bring together a painter, an economist, a pastor and a planetary scientist? If you ask the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the answer is simpler than you may think: They’ve all shown creativity, potential for future achievements — and the likelihood that $625,000, meted out over five years, will help them complete their grand designs…

That spectrum includes mapping legal aid across the country for the benefit of low-income populations, uncovering abuse in West Virginia’s coal industry, and coming up with radical fictions and bringing down pernicious artistic tropes…

Reader Interactions

99Comments

  2. 2.

    guachi

    So I’ve finished looking at the FEC filing reports, none of which include the latest numbers from fiscal fourth quarter fundraising. Mostly they go through June 30.

    Looking at it four ways – ratio of R/D fundraising, ratio of R/D cash-on-hand, absolute D fundraising, absolute cash-on-hand – these are the races where the Democrat is in the bottom 20 in one of those categories and what those categories are.

    I only counted races that were listed on Cook Political as Lean D, Toss Up, Lean R, Likely R. Solid seats and Likely D seats probably aren’t worth your money unless you have a particular attachment to one or a good reason why a Solid R should get some money to be a Likely R. I’m not astute enough to pick those Solid-to-Likely races out.

    Here we go:
    AK-01 fundraising
    AZ-06 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    CO-03 fundraising
    FL-15 fundraising, cash
    FL-18 ratio fundraising
    GA-06 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    GA-07 ratio cash, cash
    KS-03 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    ME-02 ratio fundraising, ratio cash
    MI-03 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    MI-06 ratio fundraising, ratio cash
    MI-11 cash
    MN-08 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    MO-02 ratio fundraising, ratio cash
    MT-01 ratio fundraising
    NC-02 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, cash
    NC-08 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    NE-02 ratio fundraising
    NY-01 ratio cash, cash
    NY-02 ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    NY-21 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    NY-24 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    NY-27 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    OH-10 fundraising
    PA-10 fundraising
    PA-14 fundraising, cash
    PA-16 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising
    TX-22 ratio fundraising, fundraising, cash
    TX-24 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, fundraising, cash
    VA-10 ratio cash
    WA-03 ratio fundraising, ratio cash, cash
    WV-03 fundraising, cash

    That’s 32 races where the Democrat is behind the Republican by a lot and/or just never raised that much in the first place.

  3. 3.

    Mary G

    Alexandra Petri has another great column in WaPo about how to contact the FBI about Bart Kavanaugh:

    Once you have entered and swigged from the flask, hide behind the door to the vault. When the troll who dwells there returns home, strike off all three of his heads at once, using the sword. You must strike the three at once, or they will grow back, and the FBI will not be able to contact you.

    In a hollow tooth of the troll’s third head is a key. Use the key to unlock the inner door of the vault, where you will find a telegraph machine, with a telegraph operator slumbering over the controls. She alone can transmit your message, but to awaken her, you must find and blow three blasts on the silver horn that hangs just east of the sun and west of the moon in the heart of the glass mountain, which is a castle.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Feel the Manchmentum.

    “Undecided Dem Sen Manchin tells reporters he has been ‘thrown out’ of the room where he’d been reading the only copy of the FBI report because it was the ‘Republicans’ turn’ to read it,” tweeted McClatchy reporter Emma Dumain. “He says he has to come back tomorrow to finish, then will make a decision on Kavanaugh.”

    Manchin is running for reelection this year, but polls put him 12 points ahead of his Republican opponent

    Republican charm offensive continues apace.

  7. 7.

    hueyplong

    @trollhattan: One way to read this is that Manchin wants to be the last officially to commit.

    Keep the pressure on AZ/ME/AK.

    There is probably no reason to think that Paul’s “decisionmaking” act is real.

  8. 8.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Egads, Jenifer Rubins has been officially drummed out of the Conservative Movement in disgrace over her opposition to rape!

    Were is you Pink Himilian Rock Salt now?

    On the other hand, this reckless bullying is start to wreck of desperation.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    Dolt 45:

    “Fake awards. Obvious COLLUSION and RIGGED because they didn’t include ME! DOJ needs to investigate!!”

    :)

  15. 15.

    Mnemosyne

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    To be fair, it’s actually McMeghan who was mocked for her love of Himalayan pink salt, not Rubin.

    Rubin is still nutty when it comes to foreign policy, but she seems thoroughly fed up when it comes to Republicans’ domestic policy. It’s been interesting to watch her change. I think the nail in the coffin will be when her crush Mitt Romney lets her down with a thump.

  16. 16.

    chris

    Heh, Rev Barber must have a record as long as your arm. What a great man!

    In local sou’west Nova Scotia news, the drought is over! Wells are refilling and the river is up a foot or more. After two days of rain Bert and I went for a long walk this afternoon. Walking up an old overgrown logging road I saw something yellow in the distance. I’ve lived and rambled around here for a long time now but this is a first for me. Check out the biggest honkin’ mushroom/toadstool I’ve ever seen. That’s my size 11 boot for scale.

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    I just read that the Deputy AG who ran Veselnitskaya was killed in a helicopter crash. ?

  19. 19.

    germy

    Today I signed legislation that authorizes pets boarding any public transportation service during a state of emergency and evacuation. For many of us, pets are part of the family, and no one should be forced to abandon them in the event of an evacuation.
    t.co/gnfy8cWtkZ
    — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 2, 2018

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus: I

    I once broke up with a girl in part because she spelled “wreck” as “reck.”

    Good point. A “reckless” driver is not the same thing as a “wreckless” driver.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @chris:

    Check out the biggest honkin’ mushroom/toadstool I’ve ever seen.

    Jesus fucking Christ, could we get a trigger warning before you use the word toadstool?!

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: @Major Major Major Major: @Mnemosyne:

    As I noted in an earlier thread, if you take a look at the Trumpublican policy positions that Rubin was slamming (and the crazy-ass Republicans who signed the letter to the Post are defending)…they’re clearly worried that folks might start to realize it’s possible to be a conservative and still oppose Trumpov.

    We just need these Stand Up Republic-ans and #NeverTrumpers to bang the drum louder: join the Dems now before it’s too late

  30. 30.

    Mart

    I had a thing not suck today. My wife came home from work with half (so she says, not that I am complaining) of her piece of homemade apple pie. And it was so good!

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Were is you Pink Himilian Rock Salt now?

    The Pink Himalayan salt thing was Megan McArdle, not Jennifer Rubin. And, FWIW, Rubin being drummed out of the “conservative” movement is something that’s been on its way for a while. I think she’s still conservative by any conventional definition, but as an anti-Trumper, she’s been making herself a persona non grata among the people who can’t distinguish “conservative” from “Republican” for a couple of years.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    @delk: Congratulations. Mrs G&T and I celebrated some number more than twice that, two days ago. You’ll never catch up, but I wish you luck trying.

  43. 43.

    lamh36

    Manchin 3 hours ago.

    @AliABCNews
    Follow Follow @AliABCNews
    More
    VIDEO: @Sen_JoeManchin approached by protestor who asks “why are you going to vote yes on this [Kavanaugh]?” He replies, “how do you know how I’m gonna vote?”
    @AliABCNews
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    (He’s still undecided and says he’s going to go back to the SCIF tomorrow AM to continue reading documents)

    twitter.com/AliABCNews/status/1047948512187572224

    what time is the vote scheduled for tomorrow?

  46. 46.

    guachi

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    If I didn’t need to run out, it would have been in response to a fundraising post by Doug! that included a Dave Wasserman tweet that there are lots of races where the D is underfunded and Democrats might be leaving seats on the table that could be taken if only the D candidate had more money.

    So the seats I listed are competitive House seats where the Democrat is either being outraised considerably by the Republican and/or never raised much money in the first place.

    As an example, through June 30, the Democratic candidate in TX-24, a likely R district, raised a whopping $61,324 with $28,091 on hand. That’s a race where a little money would go a long way.

    Or MI-03, another likely R district, where the D has been outraised 9:1 and is behind 64:1 in cash on hand. No wonder it’s still a likely R district. The D has no money!

    Places not to give: NJ-11, a lean D pick up. The D has outraised the R 7:1 and has a 16:1 cash on hand advantage. Giving money there is a complete waste.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    Both Netflix and Amazon Prime queues becoming closer to vacant. Gotta undertake a major trawling expedition through offerings as next to nothing new for this entire month grabs me.

    /1st world probs

  52. 52.

    tobie

    @guachi:Thanks so much for all the work you put into this! My only word of caution on this would be to make sure the fundraising figures you’re looking at are post-primary. Michigan held it’s primary on August 7. I wouldn’t expect the D candidate to have hauled in much by June 30th. Are 3rd quarter fundraising figures available?

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Rubin is a standard neo-con – they seem as a group to hate Trump.

    The Neocons hate Trump because they have policy goals more sophisticated than “own the libs”, and his policy goals are obviously at odds with theirs.

    I’ve said it elsewhere, but one of the things Trump has done is to reveal which of the Republicans have actual principles and which ones are voting purely on identity. I’m not surprised there are some Republicans who have enough principles to stand up to Trump, and I’m not terribly surprised at how few of them there are. I’m regularly surprised at which ones and what principle they refuse to compromise on.

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    Have you watched The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix? I enjoyed it.

    Some friends recommeded The Detectorists on Amazon. I haven’t watched the series yet but their recommendations are reliably good.

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    @Mnemosyne:

    Veselnitskaya is the Russian attorney who was present at the Trump Tower meeting about “adoptions”. She reported to Putin’s Deputy AG.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    An army chopper pilot I knew in OCS said that, helicopters don’t fly, they beat the air into submission.

    That’s….not completely inaccurate.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    @Momsense

    Will glance their way and see.

    Do have a Turkish series, Leyla and Mecnun, still unwatched on Amazon Prime. Reviews checked here and there are propitious. Fully expect I’ll miss a raft of cultural references.

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The Tertle, master legislator, has 51 schedules to coordinate and I imagine a rather large staff

    Maritsa Georgiou @ MaritsaNBCMT
    #BREAKING @SteveDaines has a scheduling conflict this weekend. He says he’ll be walking his daughter down the aisle at her Montana wedding, regardless of the #KavanaughVote that could take place this weekend. #NBCMontana #mtpol #mtnews #Kavanaugh

    Maybe Bart O’Kavanaugh can teach him how to fill out a calendar.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @chris:

    I’d forgotten, that was so long ago.

    Yeah, something like one or two Infrastructure Weeks ago. I doubt Lorentz ever considered this situation

  67. 67.

    Gelfling 545

    @Roger Moore: I suspect that her saying outright more than once that the Republican party is a bombed out pest hole and the only solution is to vote in the Dems might have contributed to their irritability with her. While true, they don’t like to hear that sort of thing.

  68. 68.

    hueyplong

    @Gelfling 545: Seems like not being a bombed out pest hole might be preferable to attacking people who notice that the party is one.

    But I don’t pretend to follow GOP thinking.

  69. 69.

    Thoughtful David

    @MomSense:
    For those who appreciate a very dry and understated British wit (myself, my daughter), The Detectorists is great. I can watch it more than once and still laugh out loud. For those who don’t get that kind of humor (my wife) it’s a total bore. I love the little surprises.
    McKenzie Crook, who plays one of the lead characters, wrote and directed. I’d love to sit down and have a beer with him.

  70. 70.

    lamh36

    Many of the calls for his nomination to be withdrawn mentioned his attitude and his demeanor. And now here is Kavanaugh writing an op-ed apologizing for his “demeanor”. Bullshit…this is for those Senators like Manchin who may “forgive” his “youthful transgressions”, but he outright partisanship was a bridge too far…so here ya go…”hey dudes…I apologize….sure I spoke from PREPARED REMARKS OF MY OWN WORDS, PENNED BY MY OWN HAND…and sure I answered the Dem Senators questioning with disdain and condescencion…but hey I apologize…can I haz job now”

    Ugh…

    @kaitlancollins
    Follow Follow @kaitlancollins
    More
    As key senators weigh their votes, Brett Kavanaugh publishes an op-ed for the WSJ apologizing for his demeanor last week. “I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times…”‘
    twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1047996535739490306

    BULL-FUQN-SHIT!

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @hueyplong:

    Seems like not being a bombed out pest hole might be preferable to attacking people who notice that the party is one.

    Obviously, the people who currently support the Republican party don’t think it is a bombed out pest hole, or have convinced themselves that bombed out pest holes are the most wonderful places where everyone should want to live. They have to constantly attack anyone who disagrees so they don’t have to consider how crazy that idea is.

  75. 75.

    Barbara

    @lamh36: A person whose every mistake and misconduct has been forgiven for the asking when it hasn’t been overlooked altogether. Oh, sorry about that.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: DEER MISS KOLLINS
    I AM VERY SORRY THAT I WAS DISRUPTIVE IN CLAS PRINSIPPEL FLAKE TOLD ME THAT MY BEHAVYER WAS INAPPRORIATE AND I AHD TO RITE A LETTR TO YOU AND MY MOM AND DAD AND IM SORRY EVEN THOUGH CORY AND MASIE STARTED IT AND THEY DON”T HAVE TO RIGHT LETTERS BUT I”M SORRY THERE I”M DONE I”M NOT IN TROULBE ANYMORE
    BART OK

  78. 78.

    hueyplong

    @lamh36: That bullshit “apology” gives me hope that he’s not in. That vindictive a-hole has more than demonstrated that he wouldn’t do such a thing if he was set to go through.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Gotta love how lying under oath is A-OK as long as you’re a white male Republican who’s, like, really upset. ?

  83. 83.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    Also, lots of people in the replies to that tweet pointing out that this is exactly what abusers do. I’m sorry for hitting you, but you shouldn’t have made me so mad.

  85. 85.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: Classic abuser apology at the abuse..

    . “hey look, I’m sorry, I hit you like that honey…I was very emotional last week…I promise I won’t hit you again…I was just stressed” —-abusers excuse #999999999999

  86. 86.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    .@Omnes Omnibus:

    Choppers are not natural flying machines.

    Edited for accuracy.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    An army chopper pilot I knew in OCS said that, helicopters don’t fly, they beat the air into submission.

    Except when they don’t.

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: “Daddy, all I want for a wedding gift is for you to not vote for the Partisan Rapist for the Supreme Court.”

  91. 91.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Omnes Omnibus: My old man (as raven would say) put the fear of g*d in me about how hard it is to walk away from a rock landing unintentionally. Small aircraft, you can manage to do that,(as he’d done on occasion), he told me.

    Which doesn’t explain why I sprawled face down on the lawn the first time I heard one at maybe age 5, but I was a weird kid. I think that slightly unnerved him, for reasons I never fully understood.

  92. 92.

    Mainmata

    @guachi: VA-06, which the Cook Report never talks about is a really important one. It is NW-Central West VA and retiring awful person Bob Goodlatte’s seat forever. The Democratic candidate, Jennifer Lewis is local, farm-raised, strong ennvironmentalist and health activist vs. a typical GOP lawyer drone, Bill Cline. This district was gerrymandered in the ‘90s to swamp the Democratic centers (larger towns and cities). In recent years, Goodlatte has coasted on his well-known name even though he rarely visited the district or did any constituency outreach. Now he’s out and young Jennifer is all over the place. Not saying she has a great chance but if the college towns and other urban centers from Front Royal to Roanoke (it is an enormous district) vote heavily, she has a real chance at an upset. (We can’t vote because we live in MD.) Her candidacy achieved brief national attention when Goodlatte’s own son gave the maximum allowable to her campaign. Hah!!

  94. 94.

    J R in WV

    First, I am personally acquainted and a friend of Ken Ward, WV Gazette-Mail reporter who won a MacArthur Grant for his reporting on the environmental and human impact of the Big Coal Biz here in WV, and have written him to congratulate him on his award. His co-worker Erik won a Pulitzer not long ago, which is nice but doesn’t come with any $$ income!

    In the long ago before I retired I supplied Ken with all the information he ever asked for from WV DEP.

    Secondly, we just a little while ago got home from phone banking for the WV District 3 Denocratic candidate for Congress, which was harder than you might think. I got told “Democrats Suck” several times, and replied to a couple, “Then you should probably vote R for Russian!” Some hung up on me to quickly for a witty reply. One ass asked me “Is he (state Senator Ojeda) pro life or pro abortion?” and I replied “No one is pro abortion, but some of us are pro medical care for pregnant women!” which didn’t go over too well but who cares.

    Wife was also calling, and had a short but good conversation with a Straight Ticket Democrat who turned out to be on the throne in his bathroom! TMI~!!!~ but really funny to see the look on her face! ;’)

    I got a few good calls in to good Democrats. I can’t tell if it really does any good, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something for our side.

    We went in a little later in the afternoon as last time I mostly hit Republicans between 4 and about 5:30. Then thunderstorms driving home, about 45 minutes, really windy on the freeway, didn’t start to rain hard until we were on the 2-lane country road. Lots of lightning all the way.

  95. 95.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Jennifer Rubin is the Martin Niemoller of our times.

    OK, OK, I’m just (partially) kidding. I’m sure there’s somebody more ….. stature-laden (Condi Rice, the world pines for YOU!) from the right wing, whose defection would more completely mirror Niemoller’s journey from “Hitler-lite” to “fuck no, man”. But Ms. Rubin is plennnty high-placed for me. Just for grins, I went back and looked at some of her writings (and others’ writings about her) from “back in the day”. Remember when lefties (LIKE US) used to write WaPo, demanding that she and Fred Hiatt be fired, b/c they were such right-wing shills? Good times. Good times.

    She’s not a friend, just an ally. But that’s OK.

  96. 96.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Jeffro:

    We just need these Stand Up Republic-ans and #NeverTrumpers to bang the drum louder: join the Dems now before it’s too late

    It’ll never happen. [gosh I hope I’m wrong] Hanna Arendt said that the essence of fascism is to apply the tools and methods of imperialism [brought from the colonies] in the metropole [the home country]. Rubin isn’t against imperialism; she’s against fascism. Her objections stop at the land border, AFAICT. I doubt she’ll ever join the Dems, b/c more and more, the Dems recognize that our nation’s problems are not solvable if we pretend the rest of the globe is … “here be dragons”.

  98. 98.

    sempronia

    Congrats to Rev Barber and everyone else on the MacArthur list. Isn’t it also Nobel week? Maybe we could have a post or daily series on those announcements. Certainly more hopeful than all the news has been.

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