Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Consistently wrong since 2002

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Delicate Shifts

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Delicate Shifts

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Today’s Doodle honors the life and legacy of Tyrus Wong (born Wong Gen Yeo) the Chinese-American artist responsible for some of the best-known images in American popular culture. Drawing inspiration from Chinese artists of the Song Dynasty, Wong applied his unique vision to paintings, prints, and even the Walt Disney film Bambi.

For more info behind the Doodle, please visit here.

***********
Josh Marshall, at TPM — “Everything Shows a GOP Resurgence Except for the Evidence”:

… As I explained earlier this week, I’m watching every headline, poll number and shred of information I can find about this election because the stakes are so damn high. I don’t need to argue or make a case about why it’s the most important midterm or election of our lifetimes. It is. No hyperbole. This is it. And I would be lying to you if I told you I didn’t feel angst and apprehension as I read this stuff. It does all feel different. The climate feels different. And yet I go back to the numbers. And this shift does not seem born out by any data I’m actually seeing. And I’m seeing close to all of it…

I’m not here to unskew the polls for you. The Senate map has shifted significantly against the Democrats over the last month. There are also worrisome nuggets of information. President Trump’s personal numbers have popped up. The latest NBC poll showed Republicans closing the enthusiasm gap with Democrats. Each of these give me pause and make me wonder whether they’re leading indicators of some shift. But when I look at all the numbers combined, there’s just no evidence for this shift which is dominating the media narrative.

The best baseline I think in terms of is the generic ballot poll. That’s been highly consist, between 8 and 9 points for the last two months.

If you think a Democratic takeover of the House is critical to the country’s future, I’m not here to tell you, don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine. That’s not how I feel. But I will say that almost all the evidence that we have is that we’re looking at a high probability of a Democratic takeover of the House and that things look pretty similar to what they’ve looked like for the last six months. The numbers don’t bear this media narrative…

I will say that part of the current moment reminds me of the Virginia Governor’s race a year ago. Now-Governor Ralph Northam was the favorite in that now-fairly-blue state. But in the closing weeks and days the uber-establishment GOP Ed Gillespie went full Trump with a series of hard, racist ads about MS-13 and feral “illegals” looking to overrun the state. There were some polls showing a tightening of the race. Democrats, or at least people chattering in the media and on twitter, started getting demoralized and grousing that Northam was blowing it, that Democrats had blown it by not nominating the more progressive Tom Perriello. Most chilling, it seemed like going full Trump racial incitement might be working.

In the event, Northam won and won big, by a larger margin than the polls suggested.

I’m not predicting this. But I am keeping it in mind…

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    Yee-haw. Rake season 5 now on Netflix. If the first episode is any indication, gonna be a wild ride.

    Taking a severe act of will not to binge watch. Attention self: Must. ration. episodes.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Nope, but based upon your recommendation shall take a gander. Things were looking bleak in the queue, with only a Turkish sitcom sitting there alone.

  6. 6.

    Tony Jay

    To paraphrase a famous quote, in electoral politics, no-one knows nuthin. All you can do is volunteer, speak-out, reach-out and vote. That’s it, that’s the part you can play, and as long as you do that in the numbers necessary you get what you deserve. Most Republicans will come home to Skanky White Jeebus, as they always do, but not all of them, and they face an opposition that has only grown larger, louder and more determined with every passing day.

    Twelve days to go. Do the work, save the world. No pressure.

  7. 7.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    in the last month Trump has called Democrats “arsonists,” “evil people,” & “too dangerous to govern,” and accused them of seeking to “destroy American prosperity” and “unleash violent predators & killers.”

    Funny how the Village only complains about Dems not being positive.

  8. 8.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    CNN president Jeff Zucker: “There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media.”

    CNN gave Drumpf billions in free advertising during the campaign, endlessly attacked Dems and spent the last 2 years promoting Drumpf, telling their viewers he would “pivot”.

    Now they’re mildly shocked their monster tried to harm them.

  9. 9.

    msb

    What Tony Jay and satby said.
    But I am taking an awful lot of joy in the young Democrats running for office. Our bench is getting so deep, we can fill stadiums with it.
    If you need to cheer yourself up, watch Gillum’s “a hit dog will holler” response to De Santis in the last FL gov debate. Perfect – and resurrecting a lovely bit of old Southern speak …

  11. 11.

    satby

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: it was all fun, games and horse races to CNN and the others until their pet scorpion turned on them.
    Like so many people in this country, they thought they were exempt from anything bad ever happening as an outcome of their own actions. It’s a national mental illness.

  12. 12.

    satby

    We had a hard freeze last night, not a frost, and though I’ve been up since before 4 am the dogs are steadfastly refusing to wake up to go out until they absolutely have to. Usually the minute I come downstairs they’re raring to go.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May also firmly rejected the state’s argument that the arrangement would be overly burdensome so close to election day and risked compromising the overall integrity of the process. “The Court does not understand how assuring that all eligible voters are permitted to vote undermines integrity of the election process,” she wrote. “To the contrary, it strengthens it.”

  22. 22.

    Raven

    @Schlemazel: I’m hoping. The cool weather should bump the redfishing and Tybee said the trout were on fire just a hop-skip-and-jump from Edisto!

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Raven and the Princess at the beach. In the fall.

    /extremely strained riff off the Star Trek: The Next Generation “Darmok” episode

  28. 28.

    Raven

    @NotMax: This is a month earlier than usual, we’re going to Ft Meyers in December so we decided to pass on the Gulf for Turkey. The Dawgs are in Jacksonville Saturday so I’ll just tune in from the beach!

  33. 33.

    TS (the original)

    Briefly tuned into MJ – Donny Deutsch is calling out the right wing bigots who are attacking democrats. The rest of them are saying “we don’t know who is sending these bombs!

  34. 34.

    MazeDancer

    Addresses left to send PostCards for BJ Candidates:

    Abigail Spanberger -23
    Vangie Williams – 13
    Kendra Fershee – 3
    Antonio Delgado – Unlimited
    Heidi Heitkamp – thousands

    Great candidates all – come do a few PostCatds.

    Must be mailed by Monday. Delgado can wait til Tuesday. Or Nov 1 if you,re in NY State.

    PostCardPatriots.com

  35. 35.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @NotMax:

    It helps to have followed a bit of recent Australian politics to appreciate this season of the show.

    Believe it or not, Rake season 5 is less parody than mirror.

    For example a couple of days ago the ruling party Liberals in the Senate voted for a motion declaring that it is, “OK to be white”. Then apparently working out that they just voted for a racist trope, they declared that their vote was due to an “administrative error”.

    Even Cleaver Green would balk at the absurdity of that.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @TS (the original):

    Well, we know a little:

    An image on the explosive device sent to former CIA Director John Brennan on Tuesday appears to be a parody of an ISIS flag taken from a meme that has been circulating on right-wing corners of the internet since 2014.
    The print-out appears to show a parody flag that replaces Arabic characters with the silhouette of three women in high heels, and a middle inscription reading “Get ‘Er Done” — which is the catchphrase of standup comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

    It’s really an extraordinary event. I don’t think this many national political leaders have been targeted at the same time before.

    It’s like a rabid Right winger’s view of what “getting rid of the Democratic Party” would look like- it’s the people they demonize on their sites and Fox. Maxine Waters isn’t “more of a Democrat” than other congressional Democrats, but she’s an object of hate in far Right circles, including the Trump Administration, so she gets targeted. There are lots of big Democratic donors, but Soros is the far Right’s poster boy.

  42. 42.

    bystander

    @TS (the original): Anytime you get to see Podhoretz get publicly slapped in the face is Must See TV. I loved the shocked look on his face when Deutsch dropped the phony civility of that show. Yea for Donny!

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    It’s really an extraordinary event. I don’t think this many national political leaders have been targeted at the same time before.

    Not since John Wilks Booth.

  50. 50.

    TS (the original)

    @SiubhanDuinne: They had that on MJ with pictures of flashing lights in a NY street & just kept repeating the breaking news “Robert de Niro the latest target” – with no other information – but the continuous “we don’t know who is doing this”.

  53. 53.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    It’s really an extraordinary event.

    Oh, I don’t know. I can think of precedents, like 1930s Germany, for instance…

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: I was a little surprised that a judge used an argument I have been making for quite some time. Usually they say some version of “This is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional but it’s too close to the election to change the unfair and obviously discriminatory rules.”

  57. 57.

    TS (the original)

    @Kay: Thanks for the update – it would seem they/he/she are targeting anyone who has called out the President on his lies – these are the people trump usually directs his hate at – although I’m not sure if trump ever attacked de Niro after his impressive f.u. statement. He incites people to act in this fashion – anyone else doing same would be spending a large part of their remaining years in prison.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    Megyn Kelly fired her agent Wednesday after news leaked that the NBC News star might be relinquishing her daytime show, according to a source directly familiar with the situation.
    The source said Kelly parted ways with her agent Matt DelPiano, of Creative Artists Agency, the executive who negotiated her stratospheric $23 million-a-year deal for three years with NBC News.

    You could hire 200 reporters for that, and pay them decently. 200 working journalists versus one over-paid hack. Does anyone miss Lauer? No.

  62. 62.

    TS (the original)

    @bystander:

    Anytime you get to see Podhoretz get publicly slapped in the face is Must See TV

    I don’t recognize most of the RW pundits who appear on MSNBC – it’s like someone at the top has announced they must appear. I did enjoy his outrage & his ineffective attempts to continue his argument – which went nowhere.

  64. 64.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I don’t believe it was a “mistake” by Megyn Kelly. I think her mainstream career is tanking so she’s headed back to far Right media. She’s smart. No fucking way she made an error like that. Let’s face it- there’s an audience for this. There are tens of millions of people who seek out and want to hear racism. It’s profitable.

  65. 65.

    Ken Shabby

    @Baud:

    Not since John Wilks Booth.

    Or Stephen Douglas. Or Alexander Stephens. Or John C. Calhoun….

    Or! FOW whut SUMPpt tuh!

    And, in a brief star making appearance, Chuck Schumer as James Buchanan.

    My imagination is limited as to entirely who the hell Trump is like as it beggars thought.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    My youngest got his first Taco Bell paycheck and his first bank account and debit card and immediately spent all of it on clothes. I have to show him online clothes shopping- it’s such slim pick’ins around here for fashion :)

    I can already tell he’s going to be bad with money. The only thing he has to pay for is car insurance- a contribution- not even what it costs and he doesn’t have it.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I wonder if one can do that- go from far Right to mainstream. Maybe not, which means it’s an incentive to stay on the Fox Farm. Like “typecasting” for actors, which is what they are, really.

  70. 70.

    Ben Cisco

    @Baud: Lack may be putting on the righteous indignation act, but he deserves some brickbats for hiring her in the first place. Are they ever going to learn that pandering to the right will always blow up in their faces?

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Don’t we have Zucker to thank for The Apprentice? He had to have known about the racist and misogynistic things trump was saying between takes.

    He also made the decision to cover trump constantly during the campaign because it was good for their ratings. Now he’s trying to pretend trump just doesn’t understand the consequences of his vilification of the press. Trump thinks kids in cages has been a good thing because immigration numbers are down. Violence against trump’s enemies is the desired outcome.
    Zucker just didn’t think he would find himself on the enemies list.

  72. 72.

    bystander

    @TS (the original): Hope it’s on YouTube. Pod looks like he accidentally swallowed the worm at the bottom of the mezcal bottle.

    Just remember the new false equivalencies, and the day will go easier: Telling elected officials to their face and in full view of the world that you despise their offenses against the citizenry is the same thing as sending a bomb anonymously to kill someone and any number of bystanders. A guy listening to the voices in his head who violently attacks repubs is the same thing as a guy listening to the POTUS who then violently attacks Dems. Tribalism!

  73. 73.

    Steeplejack

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I thought (via Daniel Dale’s Twitter feed) that it was toned down a bit, no doubt at the desperate urging of his minions. But there was still plenty of obnoxious stuff.

  74. 74.

    TS (the original)

    @waratah: And they give their prime example of bipartisanship as Ronald Reagan. President Obama did all he possibly could to reach agreement with republicans – yet all the way they refused to ever accept anything he said. Using Reagan as an example of good governance is not my idea of a well written endorsement.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @msb: This is why I’m hesitant to say that America is over and it’s time to burn everything down if we lose the House. We could lose the House–the gains might not be enough to pass that threshold. But no matter what, we’re going to gain on the state and local level, which is probably even more important for fighting this torrent of shit–this is where the frustrating over-federated nature of US government helps us. We’ve been losing there for a long time, ending up with no farm team and a bunch of over-70 politicians running things at the top, and it’s turning around now. Even the ones who lose… they’re young, they’re going to get another bite at the apple.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: This bunch was some of my parents’ neighbors. And my dad is a pretty outspoken liberal. Mom is more quiet.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    Hey for folks keeping score, Saudi Arabia’s official story now is that Jamal Khashoggi was – hey, get this – killed in an act of premeditated murder. 23 days later, after Trumpov and Pompeo tried to run cover for them, after “he left the consulate” to “we don’t know where he is” to “we’re searching for an explanation” to “it was a fistfight gone badly”, here we are. “We straight-up killed him in an ambush for speaking against our crown prince.”

    (reminds me more than a little of the “no collusion!” walk back, eh?)

    So what do you say now, mr. president*? Doesn’t that whole kill team need to be indicted, brought to justice, and asked who sent them?

  90. 90.

    TS (the original)

    AP twitter

    BREAKING: AP source: Package intercepted in Delaware mail facility, addressed to Joe Biden, similar to those containing bombs.

  92. 92.

    Ksmiami

    But still – I’m not sure an America with 30 percent deranged cultists is a country built for the future. I’ve never felt so scared – this is the last chance election. If the gop wins, there will be no more hope.

  96. 96.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I think (and thought at the time) that a disaster in 2010 was inevitable the moment Obama was elected–the economy was not going to get fixed in two years, and the opposition would be fired up just like in 1994. But it could have been contained better.

  98. 98.

    GregB

    I will never forget inveterate beltway ball-bag Harold Ford declaring that when Northam lost the cause was the effective MS-13 fear campaign.

    Wrong, wrong, wrong.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @TS (the original):

    Horrible to say but yesterday I thought of Biden- wondered why he wasn’t targeted.

    I personally do not remember ever seeing this in the US- the leadership of an entire political party targeted by terrorist(s).

    My husband said last night that Trump toning down the hate rants is an admission that the hate rants matter – Trump himself believes there’s a connection btwn his words and the would-be bombers actions.

  100. 100.

    Jeffro

    Bomb addressed to Biden just found in DE.

    Also, Trumpov has once again called something “boring” when they have him dead to rights…previously it was Obama’s speech noting that “it’s not hard to oppose Nazis”, this time it’s the NYT’s story about Trumpov’s insecure cell phone usage. It’s quite a tell.

  101. 101.

    alienradio

    @Kay: Remember the anthrax mailings? they disappeared down the memory hole once it looked like a right winger had done it.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    I was pleased to see him frantically scrambling on health care and his crap tax law 2 weeks before an election. Democrats did a good job educating people on the GOP priorities for tax cuts and health care. No one likes the tax law. I took a CLE on it and they’re calling it “the full employment for lawyers act” because it’s such a mess w/enabling legislation to make it work with state law. They had to jam it thru for the reward for their donors. It worked too! They all grabbed the bribe and immediately became Trump supporters. He paid them off.

  103. 103.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Agreed…’frantically scrambling’ is exactly right. I wish the reporting would note, every time, that something like 70% of Americans did not support the giveaway to the rich and corporations, and in fact want them to pay more than they were, not less.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @alienradio:

    I’m a former postal worker! Of course I remember. It’s part of postal lore. Post offices have political divisions. Clerks and “city carriers” lean Left and rural carriers lean Right. of course, the boot strapp’in libertarian rural carriers have an absolutely brutal labor union and they get everything they want. They’re the special snowflakes of the postal world and they’re all wingnuts.

  106. 106.

    germy

    Chuck Schumer Relieved He’s Never Taken Stance Meaningful Enough To Have Someone Mail Him Explosive

    (Onion headline)

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    It isn’t noted but that’s the first time in my memory this has happened- the first time the GOP hasn’t snowed the rubes with one of their rich people tax schemes. That’s a huge win. “Cutting taxes” is no longer a slam dunk for them. They’re going to have to actually come up with something practical that benefits the 99%.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @Quinerly:

    Pelosi is a bit of a mystery. No one (except Hillary of course) is subjected to so much Right wing hate.

    Maybe I’m reading too much into the targets but one does look there for clues. A really savvy wingnut wouldn’t target Soros- they’d go after one of the other hundreds of wealthy D donors who aren’t national names. But if one wanted to “send a message” and silence people then high profile would be better.

  109. 109.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Kay:

    No one likes the tax law. I took a CLE on it and they’re calling it “the full employment for lawyers act”

    Eh, full employment for TAX lawyers, nothing for non-socially awkward lawyers

  111. 111.

    Kay

    Kelly O’Donnell
    ‏Verified account
    @KellyO
    Follow Follow @KellyO
    More
    Different Trump tonight. @realDonaldTrump did not use his usual political knocks on Clinton, Warren, Waters etc and did not use his “fake news” attack on media.

    The news media search for the “better” Donald Trump continues. It really is parental, this relationship. They don’t want to believe dad is abusive. It would be sad if it weren’t so pathetic and… fucking weird. Step back, Kelly. Look at him. Just because it says “President” in front of his name doesn’t mean he’s admirable and honorable. It never has. There’s no better Trump. He’s as bad as he appears.

  112. 112.

    TS (the original)

    @Kay:

    Trump himself believes there’s a connection btwn his words and the would-be bombers actions.

    The sane among us couldn’t think otherwise. There may be a small amount of sanity still in the orange one’s brain.
    I am quite sure the current bomber thinks trump will pay his legal fees.

  114. 114.

    Quinerly

    @Kay: I was wondering if there is some sort of clue in Holder being targeted.
    Also, why not Mueller and/or Comey?

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    the boot strapp’in libertarian rural carriers have an absolutely brutal labor union

    Can’t speak for everywhere, but our rural carriers are all contract employees and there is no union to represent them when the yearly contract bidding comes up. From what I hear, it’s not a well paying gig.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I actually love tax people and accountants. I find the humorlessness comforting. The Q and A, though! OMFG. The questions were too hard. I couldn’t catch up quickly enough to listen to the answer. They’re so funny because they know right away when you’re not “asking a question” about the topic but instead getting free advice on something specific. There’s this… closing down of their faces- “call me and pay for it, okay, deadbeat?”

  118. 118.

    WaterGirl

    Reposting for TaMara:

    I thought we could use a sweet distraction. What better than some rescue bunnies?

    I received a request from a friend of mine (some of you met her at the first meet-up). She volunteers at the Colorado House Rabbit Society and also adopted a bonded pair of bunnies from them.

    Seems there is a hay shortage in the country and it’s gotten very expensive. They entered a contest, we all wrote glowing essays and they are now a finalist.

    They need votes!

    So I said I’d give it a little boost here. Please vote if you are inclined. They do good works (as I’m sure all the bunny rescues do). They take in bunnies from all over the country, from shelters that have closed, from hoarders…and my favorite, this summer they were part of a cross-country caravan. They offered a rest stop where a hundred bunnies were fed, watered, brushed and cages cleaned. Took hours and a bunch of volunteers, but they sent them on their way refreshed.

    We just got a bunch of bunnies from an out of state shelter that closed. We are stuffed with bunnies, all who need hay. We are well over capacity right now. We need the hay!

    If you’d like to help, just click here and vote for the Colorado House Rabbit Society

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: IIRC Andrew Lack and Griffin were planning to take MS/NBC on a rightward shift after HRC’s election, and Kelly and Hugh Hewitt and probably a couple others I’m forgetting were part of that. Lawrence O’Donnell and Joy Reid were rumored to be on their way out. Such was the internet chatter, anyway.

    Imagine thinking Hugh Fucking Hewitt (as his ol’ granny used to call him, shaking her head sadly) could ever be a ratings winner

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    I was hoping that one of the Floridian Front Pagers would do a post on the Gillum/DeSantis Gubernatorial Debates. If you haven’t watched them, you have missed out on a lot of fun.

    What I have enjoyed about Gillum is that he slices and dices, WITHOUT RAISING HIS VOICE.

    It’s a skill..being that lethal and not giving the enemy the opportunity to label you as the Angry Black Man. …

    Nobody will give him that that’s a special skill level…it sets him apart in political talent….

    And, that’s another reason why Gillum scares the GOP so.

  121. 121.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    as with Holder and DWS, I think the inclusion of Robert DeNiro– if the latest reports turn out to be part of the larger mailing– points to a very specific right wing internet rabbit hole

  123. 123.

    jeffreyw

    @Kay:

    I’m a former postal worker! Of course I remember. It’s part of postal lore. Post offices have political divisions. Clerks and “city carriers” lean Left and rural carriers lean Right. of course, the boot strapp’in libertarian rural carriers have an absolutely brutal labor union and they get everything they want. They’re the special snowflakes of the postal world and they’re all wingnuts.

    I live on a rural route and my carrier is most def a wingnut. One day I mentioned global warming and he went off on a “that’s fake news” rant, sounded just like Rush.

  124. 124.

    Scuffletuffle

    @rikyrah: its an Aussie tv show centered around a brilliant, but flawed attorney. He’s a drunk, womanizing failed husband who gets himself into fairly ridiculous scrapes on the regular. As a working paralegal for thirty years, I find it simply hilarious. YMMV

  125. 125.

    ruemara

    @Kay: the real big name donors aren’t part of wingnut lore. Soros is. There’s no savvy wingnuts. They’re brainwashed cult members and what they’re good is more important than facts.

  126. 126.

    rikyrah

    Father of Mayor Fischer’s racial equity chief killed in Kroger shooting
    Phillip M. Bailey, Louisville Courier Journal
    Published 10:29 p.m. ET Oct. 24, 2018 | Updated 9:41 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2018

    The father of Mayor Greg Fischer’s chief racial equity officer was one of the two victims in Wednesday’s shooting at a Louisville Kroger, the Courier Journal has learned.

    Two sources with knowledge of the investigation but who are not authorized to speak publicly about the shooting said the male victim is Maurice Stallard. He is the father of Kellie Watson, who has served in the mayor’s office for several years.

    One of the sources with close ties to the Watson family said that just before 3 p.m. the gunman shot Stallard in the back while his 12-year-old grandson stood next to him. They were shopping for poster board, the source said.

    Stallard’s grandson sprinted out of the grocery and into the parking lot where he pleaded to use a stranger’s cellphone to call his mother, the source said. He told Watson that his granddad got shot.

    A Fischer spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

    Hours after the shooting, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters a man was shot inside the store and a woman was found dead in the parking lot. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    They continue to be desperate to normalize their disastrous vessel for White Supremacy, instead of admitting that he’s the INTERNATIONAL embarrassment that he is.

  129. 129.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @TS (the original):

    He incites people to act in this fashion –

    Stochastic terrorism a la Trumpolini: “Will no one rid me of these troublesome Democrats? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?”

    Anyone else doing same would be spending a large part of their remaining years in prison.

    From your fingers to Bobby 3Styx’s inbox!

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    Two words for your youngest: Old. Navy.

    And if you get on their email list, they send you an insane number of 40 percent off coupons every week that can be used online or in-store if you happen to have one.

  131. 131.

    chris

    @Raven: That looks beautiful, have a great time and tight lines.

    What is this trout you speak of? We have a few searun brook trout here and of course there are steelhead on the west coast.

  132. 132.

    Tony Jay

    I was venting about this yesterday but they’ve gone and pissed me off again.

    BBC Radio 4, advertising an investigative program for this Sunday evening (and this is me paraphrasing) “With the mid-terms looming, and America’s political future on a knife-edge, we ask what do the Democrats actually stand for, and not just what are they against?”

    Cue a snippet from what I imagine to be a Democratic Party volunteer saying “I guess what we’d like is a little of that Obama magic, but that ain’t coming back…”

    “Join us for ‘The Democrats’ Dilemma’” on BBC Radio 4

    It’s like they are genuinely just trolling me now. When I say that as far as I can see the BBC’s coverage of American politics could be (and apparently is) subbed out to a random guy in a DC bar sitting behind half a dozen 20-something GOP Congressional staffers and scribbling down overheard snippets of conventional wisdom, I’m not even joking.

    They could, if they wanted to, check out the online campaign material the Democratic candidates are putting out, see what the themes are, see which ones are repeated across the nation and ask a more pertinent question like – “Why do some people say that the Democrats aren’t ‘for’ anything when all they talk about is what they’re for?” – but they don’t. They’re either uninterested or that’s not the story they want to tell. It’s all regurgitated CNN/FTFNYT drivel and it’s boring.

    Rant over.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    Hours after the shooting, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters a man was shot inside the store and a woman was found dead in the parking lot. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

    Domestic violence. The murderer went there to kill the woman and the man he blamed for her leaving him.

    And I don’t necessarily mean that Mr. Stallard was romantically involved with the woman who was murdered. Fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and uncles can all be targeted by angry men who feel that their woman only left them because a family member “interfered.”

  138. 138.

    Tony Jay

    We could do with one in Britain, too (an actual news outlet). Ever since the complete failure of its Iraq War coverage the BBC has been steadily declining as a News provider. Budget cuts, constant attacks from its for-profit rivals, hostility from successive Governments, the revolving door of executives from the private sector coming in to ‘re-imagine’ it for the 21st Century, and the constant, grinding pressure of the 24-Hour Infortainment environment has turned it into a wincing, flinching stooge that babbles incessantly while saying very little of value. It’s ten times better than the crap other outlets squirt out, but that doesn’t make it good.

    “Let’s see what Twitter has to say” fills minutes of a broadcast, but it’s not News. It’s barely English.

    And don’t get me started on its domestic political coverage. Making it a pre-requisite for its Chief Political Editors to have been committed Tories since their University years seems to have been a mistake. Grrrrr.

  141. 141.

    smintheus

    @rikyrah: The killer was fired upon by another customer in the parking lot, at which the killer shouted out “Whites don’t kill whites!”

    I saw a comment thread that looked at the killer’s facebook page. The author said that he looks to be recently radicalized by means to Trump-inspired news.

  143. 143.

    Mary G

    @Tony Jay: They did that to Hillary too and I was ready to show up and slap them upside the head. Especially Matt Lauer who spent half an hour grilling her about emails like a prosecutor interrogating a member of MS-13, then half an hour tossing softballs to Twitler about being tough on crime, in touch with the real America, yadda yadda yadda. Sometimes I fantasize about staking out an ultraexpensive restaurant in DC or Martha’s Vinyard or Aspen, wherever they hang out, and following them in to yell at them in an extremely uncivil manner. Lauer, Halperin, Joe and Mika, George Stephanopoulos, everyone on Fox except Shepard Smith, the list goes on and on.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think that’s too generic for him. I wish he would dress like Old Navy. Sadly, he’s “creative” :)

    He went to “Label Shopper” which is one the two clothing stores he can get to on a skateboard.

    He has 2 female friends who helped him dress last year and they did a good job- he looked nice. Now he’s back to his own taste, which is not good. he has so many clothes and they’re all horrible. I’m like “don’t you want video games? Buy video games”

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    So, here’s the thing:

    Josh Marshall, at TPM — “Everything Shows a GOP Resurgence Except for the Evidence”:

    … As I explained earlier this week, I’m watching every headline, poll number and shred of information I can find about this election because the stakes are so damn high.

    What the fuck difference does it make if Marshall watches the polls carefully? Is he going to blog or pundit harder if the numbers start looking bad?

    This is more of the polls as prophecy nonsense. Polls, even late polls might have some usefulness to political strategists, alerting them to where they might to spend more money or push or pull certain ads, but to anyone else this is just noise.

    And I know we are the spoiler generation. We want to be the first to know, we want to know the ending in advance, we want to be insiders with special knowledge.

    And yeah, there is an unfortunate whiff of the idea that people want to be winners. If they think that the polls tell them that they don’t have a chance, then some people may want to pre-surrender.

    But polls ain’t prophecy. Even the most accurate poll is based on the idea that the people you have sampled accurately reflect the people who are going to the polls.

    And this is where deciding to vote and getting the vote out matters. There are more Democrats than Republicans. In many races, Democrats should always win if enough of them show up and vote. No matter what the polls show.

  149. 149.

    Brachiator

    @Tony Jay:

    We could do with one in Britain, too (an actual news outlet). Ever since the complete failure of its Iraq War coverage the BBC has been steadily declining as a News provider.

    So, where do you go for news?

  150. 150.

    Tony Jay

    @Mary G:

    It’s just really, really annoying. And predictable, and a bit pathetic. It’s the other side of the media’s obsession with Cletus Safaris and getting to the “Heart of Trump Country” (which is almost as bad on this side of the Atlantic). All coverage of Democrats simply – has – to start from the premise that Democrats don’t know what Americans want and are simply the Party of Opposition, with a bit of Identity Politics thrown in. It’s not investigitive journalism, it’s not even reportage, it’s just regurgitation of a meme padded out to fill a gap in the schedule. They’d get to the same place quicker by just reading out vertabim the odd Lanny Davis piece.

    Heads are going to explode if and when the Democrats get a Blue Wave in a couple of weeks. “How did that happen?” Why did no one see this coming?” “How do Democrats avoid the pitfalls of over-confidence now they have the responsibility of re-uniting a Divided America?” Etc Etc.

  154. 154.

    Mandalay

    @Brachiator:

    Josh Marshall, at TPM — “Everything Shows a GOP Resurgence Except for the Evidence”

    At the same TPM is publishing an AP article with this devious headline:

    Discussion: Kavanaugh And Caravan Firing Up GOP Voters: Race ‘Closer Than People Think’

    The quote “Closer Than People Think” actually came from Chuck Schumer, who was discussing prospects in the Senate for Democrats! Yet AP deliberately juxtaposed that quote with their own headline to completely reverse its sentiment.

    I expect no better from A.P. but if Marshall wants to clutch his pearls about how the Democrats are still in front, the first thing he should do is stop publishing swill that dishonestly claims the opposite.

    Josh Marshall used to be great. What the hell happened to him?

  155. 155.

    Kay

    Justin Green
    ‏Verified account
    @JGreenDC
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    Newt Gingrich says media has “earned” the label “enemy of the people”

    Well, since “commentary” is his disgusting grift and he’s been cashing in on it for 20 years they could stop inviting him and invite someone new with something interesting to say.

    Cut off the gravy train. This war they’re starting is profitable for them. Make it not profitable. They’re doing it because they’re all getting rich off it and it’s boring- they’re boring- so in order to keep making money at it they have to get more and more outrageous. Take away the incentive.

  156. 156.

    Doug R

    @Tony Jay:

    “Join us for ‘The Democrats’ Dilemma’” on BBC Radio 4

    What can I say but the third sequel is usually the weakest. Except for Star Trek and Shrek, of course.

  157. 157.

    schrodingers_cat

    T is inciting his base against the other, that’s what the almost daily rallies are about. He wants violence. There is a direct cause and effect. It is not random or unpredictable. It is a direct consequence of the actions and the speech of the President and his media echo chamber.

  161. 161.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @Baud:

    2010 never should have happened. We had a chance after W. to take control of the direction of the country and we blew it.

    You’re absolutely right, and blowing it thusly was huge, as huge as anything I’ve seen on the political front in my 6+ decade life. For one thing, it allowed gerrymandering from statehouses at an unprecedented level in modern times, with every bit of that favoring the right. The Democratic Party was organized on a massively-impressive scale across the country to help Obama get elected in ’08, but much less so for the ’10 mid-terms, spending a lot of campaign strength on many fronts in ’10 on a mostly-defensive action against large and focused Republican attacks on Obamacare (coupled with being blamed by Republicans for the slow economic recovery).

    We lost the Battle of 2010 big-time, there can be no denying it, and we’ll be feeling the deleterious effects of that for a very long time. The War goes on, though, and we have to keep fighting the fascist bastards, to the bitter end if that’s how it goes (just because we’re right doesn’t necessarily mean we win, reality’s not a storybook). Our good prospects for taking the House make me feel positive and happy about that, but holy shit the battles ahead are many and hard, with a fucking implacable enemy. Keep fighting, but goddamn!

  163. 163.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    i just can’t belive there are that many people who’ve haven’t made their mind up in this election by now to make a difference except in the tightest of districts. Any October surprise is going to be “yep, that Trump the idiot and his grifting party for you” so voters will be fine with a childish idiot running their country along with a congress full of grifters because they are the voter’s kind of folks (as in white, stupid, dishonest and lazy) or they won’t.

  164. 164.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud:

    2010 never should have happened. We had a chance after W. to take control of the direction of the country and we blew it.

    Everyone got convinced in the ’70s the left was a slobbering horde of communists and worse, the left turned out to be correct which is humiliating to these voters and the worst possible sin in a Democracy(in the original Democracy, Athens, they exiled Thermostocylse for being right about how to win against the Persians), so it takes a while for that to go away. John Cole the frat boi Bush Campaign worker who turned into a liberal as exhibit A.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @Ksmiami:
    Do you think that nations have ever been fully liberal? That bigotry doesn’t exist at all?
    Sorry to break your bubble. Nations will always have bigots and people who blame everyone else for their luck and shortcomings. Only thing to do is marginalize them such that they have no voice.
    And notice that conservative bullshit is in every country. The UK – brexit. Muslims are on the out in lots of countries, especially in the EU. And on and on it goes. Even in democratic/bright blue areas we have conservatives. CA has how many Russian backed members of the House?

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