From The Chicago Tribune:
The long-shot candidacy of a Holocaust denier’s Republican bid for Congress was defeated Tuesday, but not before the neo-Nazi received more than 56,000 votes in Illinois’ 3rd District.
As expected, incumbent U.S Rep. Dan Lipinski cruised to victory with just under 75 percent of the unofficial vote tally in the Democratic stronghold that stretches from the city’s Southwest Side to the west and south suburbs.
With a little over 99 percent of precincts reporting, Lipinski received 155,940 votes compared with Jones’ 56,350 The results may not include all early voting tallies.
Obligatory!
Open thread!
Anonymous At Work
I prefer SNL Weekend Update on the march. “We will gladly twist any of them into the shape of a swastika at no charge.”
NobodySpecial
There’s that number again, or just about.
different-church-lady
@NobodySpecial:The rule is when you hit .5 you round upward.
A Ghost To Most
@NobodySpecial: Margin of error.
I hate
Illinoisnazis.Butch
Is there any post-election polling – that many votes simply because there’s an R next to his name or do they actually support a Nazi? I’m fearing it’s the latter.
Meyerman
Illinois was Tyrone’s original example. So of course it’s that number.
Cacti
27%
Frankensteinbeck
As is natural for a movement founded on racism, the more they’re outnumbered, the more insane Republicans get. As we are discovering, the truly scary part is that the process reaches diminishing returns and ‘burn it all down’ open white supremacy right around the point where they feel the population is 50/50.
Dupe1970
@NobodySpecial: Yup. The crazification factor.
p.a.
Horrifying how little it has taken to incentivize them to crawl out from under their rocks. Our fellow citizens. Feh.
The Moar You Know
Round up and you’ve got that magic number.
This jibes with something I’ve observed about people in general: about 1 in 4 are unbearable, stupid people with zero impulse control, and that group just happens to be the source of most of society’s ills.
Yarrow
Open thread? This story is somewhat related to Nazis or at least white supremacists. A few days ago I somehow clicked through and read this Politico magazine piece on the rise and fall of Ken Sorenson, a former Tea Party star in Iowa. He ended in up prison. It’s a fascinating piece, amazingly personal about his experience with the prison industrial complex and how it changed his views on criminal justice (I know, I know, conservatives only see it when it happens to them).
What was most interesting to me was the insight into Ron Paul’s machine and the rest of the conservative/Republican complex in Iowa and how it’s really just all about making money.
We know this stuff is happening. I just hadn’t read it all laid out like this. There’s plenty more on how much it costs to get an endorsement, how people are protected and given jobs, how fake businesses are set up to funnel money. It’s kind of amazing to see it all out there.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: You really don’t want me to tell you where some of the seed money for Ron Paul’s activities comes from.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I know already.
Spanky
@Adam L Silverman: Well, it’s in rubles, so ….
debbie
Even Tennessee is more honest in dealing with its Nazis than Illinois.
efgoldman
every body asleep/
Yarrow
This is a great thread:
Click through for the whole thing.
TenguPhule
@NobodySpecial:
Exactly 27% of Hawaii’s voters went for the charismatic Trump supporter running for governor in Hawaii.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Feeling alright?
Yarrow
@efgoldman: Hey! How are you doing?
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
There’s an obvious solution to that. But I think we’re still honoring human rights in this country so its probably unworkable.
efgoldman
every body asleep/@TenguPhule: fingers do.t work
Yarrow
Sorry, Iowans and Ohioans. Sucks to live in a red state.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Sort of OT I just witnessed one of those Things You Can’t Do While Black incidents.
The Philly library has a cool thing in their business center with free head shots. So I showed up today at the start time, and they told me to take a seat behind “a couple of people ahead of you.” There was one, a young black guy (I’m 60, “young” is pretty broadly defined but I’ll say early 30s). He’s on his phone, I’m on mine. He’s well dressed and carrying a change of outfit, as am I.
After about 15 minutes a security guard comes in (white, 25 ish) and accosts him. Gives him some spiel about how he can’t sit there, the library is for people who are reading or on the computers. The guy waits for Security to wind down then quietly says “I’m waiting for a head shot.”
The Security guard to his credit says ok and immediately leaves. But I couldn’t pick my jaw up off the ground. That guard came from outside the room. Somebody called Security! Somebody in this small, sparsely-populated room! On Head Shot Friday!
The other guy shrugged it off but I’m still worrying at it like my Beagle destroying a toy I just bought him which cost $13 and didn’t last 10 freaking minutes before there was stuffing all over the… sorry, where was I?
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Speaking of the Blues Brothers, our Elwood the former stray has a mass near his heart that’s making breathing difficult, and he’s stopped eating and playing. He survived cancer and a leg amputation earlier this year, but there’s nothing more that can be done for him. We have his final vet appointment this afternoon.
I’m glad he adopted us when he showed up at our back door a dozen years ago. I was just hoping we’d have a couple more years with him.
The Castle
The Crazification Constant!
It has always intrigued me how Crazification equals e (Euler’s number) times 10. There must be a connection.
john b
Meanwhile, this vile person used to play in the Davidson College Symphony, of which I’m a community player (thank goodness she had a class conflict this semester):
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article221351305.html
My wife was following this before the account was removed. It was worse than they’re saying. There were MANY references to murdering whole subsets of the human race. I’ve met many people in my life who have proudly espoused racist / sexist / antisemetic views. But it’s rare that someone advocates for their mass murder. Truly troubling and frightening.
Davidson College is quite small and quite liberal. The campus is shaken. It really is nuts that a Nazi was in our midst. I can’t imagine being a student / faculty / staff member there.
Yutsano
@efgoldman: I’m at work with literally nothing to do because the system I use for mail case work is dead. But I’m here. How you?
Yarrow
@efgoldman: People are two threads down arguing at the Green party.
oldgold
@Yarrow:
I would not give up on Iowa. It is still purple. The Democrats, after gaining two on Tuesday, now hold three of the four House seats.
TenguPhule
57,000 Nazis is a lot of Nazis in Illinois.
CarolDuhart2
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): May Elwood’s trip across the Rainbow Bridge be painless and calm. You love them, and must let them go. The one thing you can say is that with you, they had an easier and better end.
Jeffro
@Yarrow: I’m contacting Wasserman and I want 10% of the credit for that “VA is a blue state, period” punditry. I’ve been saying that for six years now! =)
Gozer
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Shit like that happens so often with PoC that we’d be in a constant state of fear/anger induced paralysis if we spent too much time thinking about every incident. Gotta pick your battles so-to-speak.
Gravenstone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: @john b: Sadly, as the topic of this post shows, at least a quarter of our fellow citizens are shit people. The distribution changes from place to place, but there will always be horrible people amongst us. Of course, for some reason, they seem rather less inhibited and more likely to crawl from their shadows these days…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
I’m still mad about that. Both of my state leg officials are going to be Repukes, though the races were close, and Issue 1 went down in flames by over 60%. It’s not exactly unheard of for my area to send Rs to Columbus but it shouldn’t have happened in 2018. Both guys had local name recognition, but so did at least the one R running for state senator.
The guy running for state rep was Don Manning and he connected himself to Trump and how he would work with Trump in Columbus to bring prosperity to our district. He narrowly won.
I’m moving out of this shithole state the first chance I get.
geg6
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
I am so very sorry to hear about Elwood. Peace to you all. ?
Alain the site fixer
@Jeffro: sadly, state politics don’t show that quite yet!
Adam L Silverman
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): We’re keeping good thoughts for you and him!
trollhattan
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
Jeez, sorry to hear that. At least you found one another for a good long while.
Betty Cracker
Lipinski is a weasel-faced shit-goblin, but I would have dressed as a pork chop and jogged through a 25 acre-pound filled with rabid pit bulls to vote for him over the goddamned Nazi.
Spanky
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): That totally sucks. It seems trite typing it, but yeah, I’ll say it anyway. He gifted you by his presence and trust, and you gifted him with your love and support. This afternoon’s final act is out of love and necessity, and he’s counting on you to do the right thing by him.
Peace to you and all of Elwood’s people.
Betty Cracker
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Oh man, that sucks. :(
Yarrow
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): So sorry to hear that. You have given him a wonderful last few years of his life.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
No matter what, take comfort in knowing that Elwood knows that he is loved by wonderful people. I’ll be keeping him and you in my thoughts today.
Jeffro
@Alain the site fixer: What? “Blue state” doesn’t mean the Dems win every seat…some of those rural areas are going to stay red until the last old coot trips on his Confederate battle flag and tumbles down the stairs. But the Rs have not won a statewide election in VA since Bob McDonnell in 2010. Warner and Kaine have been Senators since the early 2000s and their margins just keep getting bigger. Northam TROUNCED Lyin’ Ed Gillespie by 9 points last year. We just got rid of Dave Brat and Barbara Comstock. It’s a Blue State.
kindness
Meh. Lepinski is scum. The guy votes against abortion/birth control every time and even voted against the ACA when it was passed.
Sure he’s better than an actual Nazi but that bar to cover is buried in the sand.
germy
https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/faith-goldy-toronto-white-nationalist-poster-girl.html
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker:
That’s definitely not kosher!
different-church-lady
@Yarrow: I’ve only just read the first section, and I’m thinking, “If this what it takes to wake them up, then maybe we should be putting more of these guys in prison.”
Miss Bianca
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Oh, poor Elwood! : (
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jeffro:
Plus, the House of Delegates is 50 (R) and 49 (D). That’s close to tipping. Do you think the Virginia Dems will be able to take over the House of Delegates soon?
Mike in NC
I remember being in Chicago years ago when Nazis wanted a permit to march in Skokie. Apparently there was the usual massive counter-demonstration.
Barbara
@Yarrow: Iowa flipped two of its four congressional districts from red to blue. It’s now 3D/1R. I wouldn’t count it out just yet.
guachi
Virginia is such a blue state now the Democrats won 57% of the House vote. That’s huge!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Kos reports R protestors are gathering outside the Board of Elections in Broward County where they’re trying to count votes.
JGabriel
Chi. Trib. via Adam @ Top:
Just so we have the math recorded:
56,350 + 155,940 = 212290 votes counted with 99% of precincts reporting
56,350/212290 = 0.2654…
Which rounds up to 27%.
Tyrone and John Rogers strike again.
The Moar You Know
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): There’s never enough time with them. Never. I am so sorry.
I know he had a great life with you, and that’s really important. As is going out before something awful happens with the slew of conditions the poor guy has. Not that any of that helps, because today is that day when every pet owner gets a new “black scar on their heart” as my dad so eloquently put it. I am truly sorry. Take whatever consolation you can that you’re doing right by your friend.
eclare
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Oh, I’m so sorry
Mary G
Adam, sounds like the Republicams are playing the Brooks Brothers riotss all over again:
Dave Roberts at Vox thinks Democrats aren’t fighting:
Not going to link it, but I follow a kid from Parkland who lost his sister, but instead of going the March For Our Lives route, is a junior rightwinger. He’s been agitating his followers to show up and intimidate the elections supervisor. Your thoughts?
The Moar You Know
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It worked last time. Every single one is paid and likely a lawyer. Like last time. Hope the Board is prepared to deal with this better than last time.
Jeffro
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: And that 49/51 split (post-2017’s election) up from 34/66 previously – a gain of 15 seats for the Ds in 2017! I absolutely think it’ll flip next time out, and we’re already expanding Medicaid as it is.
When we are throwing out even fake “moderate” Rs like Ed Gillespie and Barbara Comstock, you KNOW it is a blue state. And really, they have nowhere to go unless the Ds majorly screw it up (knock on wood). The R voter base in this state is set for civil war – half of them want to bring back the fake moderates in order to have (they think) a prayer of winning, while the other half want throwbacks like white supremacist Corey Stewart. Fight it out, VA Republicans! Rip each other to shreds. We’ll just keep on doing the good government thing for a while…a loooong while…
TenguPhule
Trump takes aim at Obama, Clinton, judges, election officials, reporters and a host of others before leaving the country
Some editor at Wapo was feeling their oats today.
JohnPM
Lipinski’s District covers a lot of the same areas where the residents attacked MLK when he marched against housing discrimination in Chicago. The Nazi got fewer votes than Lipinski’s last two Republican opponents. Lipinski’s opponent in 2014 got 64,000 votes, however, so 56,000 is not much of a drop-off. Thus, I can only assume that these 56,000 Republican voters are either ignorant of the fact that the Republican candidate was a Nazi or comfortable with that fact. I do wonder if there is any exit polling data that could determine the percentage of each category.
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
Obviously he didn’t like his sister at all. //
germy
@Mary G:
In 2018? Surely this isn’t true. I have to believe the anti-vote count rioters will be met by counter demonstrators and the appropriate response by the vote counters (keep counting).
In summation: “COUNT”
Litlebritdifrnt
Just curious, are there any large commemorations of the 100th Anniversary of the end of WW1 over in the US? It is all over the news here, commemorations all around the Country. I haven’t seen anything on twitter.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: Why is any legitimate news organization still covering the White House? Let him give a presser to a mostly empty room with only Fox and Breitbart in attendance. Cut off his goddamn oxygen, news media! This isn’t hard!
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
They’re not being paid to hold him accountable or report about objective reality. They’re paid for attracting eyeballs for advertising.
TenguPhule
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Sadly, no.
We got into the war relatively late and took proportionally fewer casualties.
Its a forgotten war here.
/not even sure we have any surviving veterans of that war left alive.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: At least Twitler didn’t get his parade in DC.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: Only a matter of time before he reaches the “Say hello to my little friend” stage.
dopey-o
@Meyerman:i’ll make sure your name is on the list.
trollhattan
@TenguPhule:
They’d be (counts on digits) 116 at least, presuming they allowed kids that young to enlist.
Regardless, “world what?” would be a typical American response. Did not help matters that the coincident Spanish Flu killed far more Americans than the fighting.
I don’t know how you could live in Belgium or France and not be fixated on The Great War.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
For now.
Instead he’s going off to share his bouncing buttcheeks in Paris at their WW I memorial.
Our best hope is that he’s only embarrassing and doesn’t completely destroy NATO.
Mary G
Like Abby Phillips says, buckle up:
Martin
@Butch:
The lesson from WWII is that it doesn’t matter. If voters tolerate the nazism because they want the lower taxes, the end result is that we still have a nazi. They’re still responsible.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Brooks Brothers 2, electric boogaloo?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Jim Acosta tweeted a pic of himself in Paris. Trump can’t throw him out of France.
Martin
@Mary G: Reminder too that half the organizers of the Brooks Brothers riot in 2000 are now sitting on the Supreme Court.
I’m not usually one to go there, but I’m running out of nonviolent remedies to some of these issues.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: Who is this woman and why should I care?
Yarrow
Interesting.
Hob
@germy: @Mary G: Yeah, I read that Vox piece too, and I don’t know why we’re supposed to be upset about Democrats talking about how they intend to do the right thing and play fair. That is literally true even if they take very aggressive action, because it is the right thing and the law is in fact on our side—I presume Roberts doesn’t actually mean we should be lying and rioting. And if by some miracle some Republicans wanted to join us in doing the right thing, it would make sense to let them do so.
The only reason that this kind of talk would be bad is if there’s going to be only talk and no action. And Roberts shows no reason to assume that that’s the case.
Miss Bianca
@Litlebritdifrnt: Well, the library I used to work at had a display of WWI-themed books by the checkout counter, along with a little blurb on “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” being Remembrance Day (which I always thought it was “Armistice Day”, but that’s me, and it doesn’t matter over here anyway – it’s “Veteran’s Day” now). So…there’s that.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jeffro:
That’s good to hear! I wish it were the same here in Ohio but if wishes were horses and all that…
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
It’s only that close because it’s gerrymandered to hell and back. The Republicans aren’t going to be able to push a crazy gerrymander past a Democratic governor, so the next map is going to be a lot more favorable to the Democrats.
debit
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): I am so sorry. {{}}
germy
@Yarrow:
He’s pursuing in the court of public (fox news) opinion?
Spanky
@different-church-lady:
Agreed, but in his case, his little friend is mushroom shaped.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat:
Because at the current rate of international rat-fuckery she’ll be Prime Minister of Canada within three years.
TenguPhule
@Martin:
Just some of them?
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: I will read about her when (and if) that happens. Plus, I don’t like this overly familiar gossip mag writing style, the women’s ghetto at the NYMag has adopted.
MoxieM
By golly, the actor who plays the head nazi looks an awful lot like J. Beauregard Sessions, Unemployed. Anybody know who he is?
germy
@schrodingers_cat: Have you seen this?
(Amy’s gonna Amy)
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
I will ask him the question I always ask when somebody complains the Democrats aren’t fighting: what does he want them to do instead of what they’re doing now? People always bitch about the Democrats failing to fight, but they’re never willing to offer their own idea of what to do instead.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: I blame Twitter. And everything else.
schrodingers_cat
@germy: I did actually, and even highlighted in one of the threads here, yesterday. I am not an Amy fan.
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
This morning, I listened for a few minutes while Bill O’Reilly criticized Acosta because he makes statements instead of asking questions. Hello??? Unself-Awareness is on the line!
Emma
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): You blessed each other with affection and care. I am so sorry.
Litlebritdifrnt
Can one of the front pagers post this? Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdpspllWI2o
It’s the Christmas ad by British Frozen Food company Iceland that was banned as being too political. It made me bawl like a baby.
Mnemosyne
@MoxieM:
It’s the great character actor Henry Gibson. He did a lot of movies with Robert Altman and I think he was a regular on “Laugh-In.”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Roger Moore:
I think it’s incredible that as gerrymandered as it was that the Dems almost gained complete control. That the map will likely be more favorable is good news.
Ohio Mom
@efgoldman: Actually, I’m thinking of taking a nap. It’s been a long week and I feel a cold coming on.
Now I’m going to read the rest of the thread to see if there is any more info on how you are doing, efg. We are always thinking of you.
Mnemosyne
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
I’m so sorry. You gave him a great life, and now it’s time to give him a comfortable death surrounded by love. It hurts, but it’s the right thing to do for him.
raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: The hated NYT has it.
Ohio Mom
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I was moaning on Wednesday, “What is wrong with Ohio?” and Ohio Dad said, “There is a brain drain. Smart and young people move away. This is turning into an old state.” I couldn’t disagree.
You are clearly near the top of the emigrate out list. Wherever you end up, you will probably meet other ex-Buckeyes.
eemom
The diary of an 18 year old Polish Jewish girl murdered by the Nazis published 70 years later and soon to be available in English.
jonas
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I thought they rejected mob violence. Well, as usual, with conservatives every accusation is a confession.
rikyrah
@john b:
see, as a non-White, I am quite clear on what Nazis mean. Who they are. What they want to do.
so, I do ascribe the philosophy that the only good Nazi is a dead one.
cause, if given the chance, they’d do it to me and mine in a heartbeat.
raven
@raven:
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: I will be that guy. I will put on my medal ribbons and wings and stand at attention at 11:00am as a gesture to those who went through that horror.
Yes, I am a rank sentimentalist. Sue me.
Chetan Murthy
@kindness:
I wouldn’t care whether he bites the head off of a bat, as long as he caucuses with the Dems when it comes time to elect the Speaker.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Litlebritdifrnt: No big celebrations, but we did do this:
rikyrah
@Gozer:
So true. You gotta learn what to fight. If we fought every battle, none of us would be without high blood pressure meds.
sigyn
@Yarrow: Tell me. I cast my ballot in South Dakota, and I proudly wear my “I Voted” sticker…for a couple hours til results start rolling in. Then I quietly peel it off because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about me.
JMG
@trollhattan: Every village in France has its monument to its dead from WW1, the same way every town in New England has its monument to its Civil War dead. Armistice Day is a super major holiday there, a mega-Memorial Day.
artem1s
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
you are well within your rights as a user of the library to report this and inquire about who asked for security to show up. If it’s another customer, then they didn’t handle it well and someone needs to know. If it was a staffer, they should be fired. Public libraries are sanctuaries for the homeless, youth trying to keep off the street and those who don’t have access to information and the internet. It’s a civil rights violation to deny anyone access via intimidation.
raven
@MoxieM: Of courser, that’s Henry Gibson, he was a regular on Laugh In.
“His best known film role was probably his performance in Nashville (1975). He played Haven Hamilton, a smarmy Country and Western singer. For this role he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and was awarded the National Film Critics Award for best supporting actor”
Roger Moore
@raven:
Meh. The problem in WWI wasn’t the officer class; it was much deeper than that. On the one hand, the technology of the war was such that the only likely outcome was the kind of bloody stalemate that actually happened. No amount of leadership was capable of overcoming that basic problem. On the other hand, you had politicians who created the war and refused to do anything to stop it once it was obvious that it had devolved into a bloody stalemate.
raven
@Roger Moore: It was a “phrase” and a pretty damn good one.
raven
@raven:
Kelly
My Congressman Kurt Schrader was listed as a possible opponent to Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership in this Roll Call article.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/pelosi-confident-shell-be-speaker-but-would-rather-talk-about-policy-agenda
I just got off the phone with his office. I went on at length that the Democratic House needed to present an implacable united front against Trump’s Republicans. I told the aide she’s the best Speaker since at least Tip O’Neill. I told him I wouldn’t have Obamacare without Nancy’s work.
I was too wound up to ask how Schrader actually planned to vote…
raven
Henry Gibson “By Henry Gibson”
Manyakitty
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Tough news. Peace and love to you all.
raven
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Aw I’m so sorry.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Cacti: beat me to that one!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ohio Mom:
That’s what I’ve thought too. The state is getting older and more conservative. Young people are leaving to find better opportunities elsewhere. The ones that stay are probably apolitical or far-right.
I’d like to move Southern California. It was beautiful and exciting place when I visited two years ago. I’d also consider NYC or Pitssburgh.
ruemara
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Sounds extremely accurate. Sorry that happened to him. But it’s so common, we don’t really focus on it – we have things to do like get our headshots.
@Kelly: We have a big problem of young people thinking because they’re active (now), they deserve to kick olds out of the way and grab power. Nuh-uh. I want an effective Speaker who knows the ins & outs. Not someone who’s too arrogant to ask her to teach them how to be an effective speaker. Learn something. Don’t be an asshole.
Roger Moore
@raven:
It was a calumny that had nothing to do with the actual nature of the war and was intended to distract attention to the people really responsible.
Yarrow
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: You’re young enough that you might want factor climate change issues into your decision about where to move.
raven
@Roger Moore: Tell it to someone who gives a fuck.
Jimmi
@Kelly: thx for this. He is mine as well. Where did I save that number…
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Unfortunately, it’s expensive as all get-out because we refuse to build enough housing for everyone who already lives here, much less all the people who want to move in.
David Evans
@The Castle: I don’t think it’s a universal law. The UK Independence Party, arguably our nearest equivalent to the Trumpistas, never got more than 12% of the national vote. Other white nationalist parties did much worse. The British National Party never got to 2%.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Federal appeals court rules against Trump administration effort to end DACA program
Those pesky RINOs again, Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower! The admin plans to appeal to the USSC. Wonder how the 5 “conservatives” will twist themselves in knots to justify Trump’s white supremacy?
Yutsano
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Oh no. I wish there were better words than I’m sorry here.
Yarrow
Tick tock, tick tock…
NY Robbin
@Betty Cracker:
I wanna marry this comment! that is all
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: Every senior British officer in WWII learned his trade as a company grade officer in WWI.
rikyrah
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
Sorry about Elwood :(
KSinMA
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Sounds like Democrats need to get down there to get in their way, stat.
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: Lipinski survived a primary challenge by a much more progressive candidate. He knows his district and they know him.
germy
@Roger Moore:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can’t afford the rent for a Washington apartment before her job in Congress starts
jl
@Yarrow: Interesting indeed. Talkingpointsmemo reports that Florida law enforcement said that Scott made no formal request for an investigation of any kind, with no specific allegations of any kind to investigate. So, I guess Scott just yelled at someone, so they sent some people down to the districts to deep six the BS asap? Nice the FL law enforcement hasn’t been corrupted by Trumpism yet. I’d be more comfortable if they had told Scott they weren’t going to bother dong anything unless he actually bothered to cook up something plausible and actually made a request. But, I’ll take what I can get at this point.
The story might be nice material for one of the meaner and snarkier front posters soon?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Roger Moore:
I remember some stupid bit in the style of a government PCA on Jay Leno’s show when was host (2013ish), where it showed a U-Haul truck driving down a street only to be stopped by several police cars and the occupants being forced out by cops. The voice over was talking about how 100,000 people have left California and how the state was “broke”; every time someone moved away the state lost much needed tax revenue. From that point forward, anyone trying to leave Cali would be “gently encouraged to stay”.
Would living in the suburbs be cheaper?
Kelly
@ruemara: Kurt Schrader has been around long enough that he should know better.
Ladyraxterinok
@TenguPhule: Wasn’t there a leader of a Nazi group in IL some yrs ago who went on a multi-state killing spree? A young, personable white guy? Maybe an incel yrs before that was ‘a thing’, as I recall.
Litlebritdifrnt
In other news I think a broke my left little toe last night when I tripped on the steps when I came home from a night out with my sis. It is a painful as hell but there is no point in wasting the doctor’s time because I know they are just going to tape it up and tell me to take paracetamol for the pain. And yes I was drunk (we had been on a Pub Crawl, it’s not a night out with my sister without a Pub Crawl). They are not going to put my foot in a cast for a broken toe.
Woodrow/Asim
@jl: Florida Department of Law Enforcement didn’t send anyone, anywhere, per the latest Talkingpointsmemo story.
Rather, they literally picked up the phone, called FLSoS, and asked, “ya’ll got any vote fraud?” SoS said “nope,” and the FDLE said “well, if you hear of anything, or the Governor sends us a formal request, we’ll investigate.”
And that’s where it appears to have stopped. Well, aside from hearing on Twitter that Scott’s pulling another presser today to, one suspects, do some more playing to the media and right-wingers.
But if that’s all he’s got, he’s not got much of a hand in this card game, from what I’m hearing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The mail-in votes seem to be what’s shifting the elections in Florida and maybe elsewhere too. I predict Rs will try to shut that stuff down.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
I don’t know. I’ll consider that when the time comes. I’ll likely be dead by the time the worst of it occurs (2080s-2100s)
Robert Sneddon
@raven: The “bumbling upper class officers” included the second lieutenants who led the lions over the top of the trenches in assaults against dug-in machine guns and died young and fast. The posh schools in Britain, the Etons and others all have war memorials listing the names of the alumni who died doing their duty in WW1. They are quite long memorials with lots of names, and then they did it again in the Second World War.
I’ll be at an Armistice event on Sunday, it’s just along the street from where I live. It’s a very specific Armistice memorial, for members and supporters of a local football team that joined up to fight in WW1. Quite a few of them never came back. I’ve just finished work at another sports stadium which has its own memorial to the sportsmen who went to war and never came back. They’ll be holding a service there tomorrow, not Sunday since there’s an international match on. There are memorials like that all over the country, it’s a rare village that doesn’t have one — they’re called “thankful” villages, where all the men who went to serve came back alive.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Roberts is wrong. Nelson has the top elections lawyer in the country working for him. Gillum has the top Florida based/specific elections lawyer working for him (he worked for W and led/coordinated the state of Florida legal response in the 2000 election). They’re fighting.
As for mobs and crowds, this isn’t 2000.
Yarrow
@Litlebritdifrnt: That can hurt like hell. If it doesn’t seem to get better you might want to take advantage of your good NHS and get seen by a doctor. You don’t want it to set wrong and you also don’t want to miss something bigger.
Marcopolo
@Ohio Mom: probably a dead thread but here’s a tweet thread about Ohio & the election. When it loads just scroll up to the top to start. I’d saved it to post when Kay was around.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1060595851809251328
rikyrah
What’s embarrassing to democracy is not counting every vote — and you, of course.
Count every vote. https://t.co/ZfrBBcymrg
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) November 9, 2018
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Ain’t nobody scared. And nobody is playing with these muthaphuckas.
Ladyraxterinok
@Mike in NC: Was that when so many freaked out because the ACLU supported the Nazi free speech to march??
Mnemosyne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Because the megapolis of LA is so sprawling, there aren’t really “suburbs” like you get in other cities. It’s all part of the same area, and all expensive. For cheaper housing, you have to go 50 or 60 miles out into the high desert, which means you end up with a 2-hour commute.
If you do have an RN degree, that will help, because you won’t necessarily have to be tied to the higher-cost areas. There may be jobs for you in lower-cost areas.
jl
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I’ve read about the iron triangle that prevents development in San Francisco. Geography (little semi-island 7 miles by 7 miles), renters and neighborhood NIMYism preventing development, and home and apartment owners whose property values are greatly elevated due to existing viewsheds and neighborhood amenities.
OTOH, building as much high rise commercial development as possible to attract high income professional workerforce and corporations that would hire them was a choice made back in the 60s and 70s. Was it necessary for the prosperity of the city? Maybe it would always have the political power to extract the favors and subsidies necessary to keep it going as it had historically, with large working class neighborhoods? That had worked for over 100 years. But would it continue working into 21st century? I guess people arguing against the high rise ‘Manhattanization’ of SF decades ago thought yes it would.
The forces behind the high rise commercial development said SF would turn into a Pacific Coast version of failed East Cost urban cores that had gone into decline.
As I have argued in these comments at least twice, having a big city at the end of this particular peninsula in the SF Bay Area probably a historical accident and mistake. But, too late to fix it now in a gentle and civil way.
Ladyraxterinok
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Shades of sElection 2000!! Kav helping again??
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Only if you’re willing to live out in Riverside or San Bernardino County. Even notorious places like Compton (median home price: $382K) and Watts (median home price: $344K) are expensive by non-California standards.
jl
@Ladyraxterinok: They must be desperate? This crap has to stop. Can’t let them get away with stopping a simple count of the vote. Fascist is the right word for the whole GOP now. Sad to say it, but here we are.
C Star
Sitting in the smoke here in CA. . . airnow.gov says conditions are “moderate” where I am, but the sky is dirty gray and smells like burning plastic. Heard on the radio the Butte fire is burning up the equivalent of 80 football fields per minute. There are reports people had to abandon their cars and evacuate on foot to avoid the fire. Hellscape.
Marcopolo
And the entire city of Malibu & environs is now under mandatory evacuation order.
Mnemosyne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Put a little bit of cotton between it and its neighbor toe and tape them together to stabilize it, and ice it on and off for 20 minutes at a time for the first 48 hours. It’s going to hurt like hell, so take an NSAID (like ibuprofen or naproxen sodium) on a schedule to keep the inflammation down. You can safely take paracetamol with NSAID; some people say they get the best pain relief by alternating them every 2-3 hours.
And get it checked out if it starts to turn really weird colors when the bruising should be fading, swells up a lot, etc. You can get an infection inside the toe that is very nasty. It’s uncommon, but something to watch for.
Note: I am not a doctor or nurse, but I did break the exact same toe and those were the instructions they gave me at urgent care.
Patricia Kayden
@germy: No. Unless all the POC sit out elections in Ontario for the indefinite future, no.
germy
germy
@Patricia Kayden: They’ll be running but I hope they won’t be winning.
Ladyraxterinok
@schrodingers_cat: Steve King (IA House Rep) strongly publically supports her. Ugh, now Rep where I used to live.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Have you been to USC lately? That whole area of South Central is pretty gentrified now, at least on the SC side of the 110. The neighborhood has two major grocery store chains (Ralph’s and Smart and Final) — when I was going there, there were zero.
Yarrow
@germy: LOL. They’re all so brave. He can try to hide but it’s not going to help him.
TenguPhule
Fuck. Christmas Decorations are already going up at the local business plaza.
I am hard pressed as to whether this or the start of the 2020 campaign season starting right now makes me hate this country more.
ruemara
@Kelly: Lust for power can lop a few IQ points off.
TenguPhule
@germy:
So evil and marginally smarter then Trump.
good times. //
TenguPhule
@raven:
Fuck you.
/man that felt good.
TenguPhule
@Ladyraxterinok: Yes. Benjamin Nathaniel Smith.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Roger Moore:
I was planning to rent an apartment or a condo for a few years before I ever got a house. I’ll only get a house if/when I get married and start a family. I don’t see much point in one if I don’t have the need.
@Mnemosyne:
Define “lower-cost”. Are you saying I would need to also live in those lower-cost areas because that’s where the jobs might be?
efgoldman
@Yarrow: Fuckem
les
@Litlebritdifrnt:
This is way late; but Kansas City remembers.
MoxieM
@Mnemosyne: So it is. I didn’t recognize him away from the Laugh-In set. Thanks
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
I went to the California Science Center recently, so I know the area right around USC is pretty nice. That’s why I chose Compton and Watts, neither of which is right next to USC, as my notoriously bad neighborhoods, rather than
South CentralSouth LA.One semi-advantage of high house prices in LA is that it means there aren’t large numbers of abandoned homes and vacant lots. Even in the worst neighborhood- and the bad neighborhoods have gotten a lot better over the past 20 years or so- the land is just too valuable for it to sit idle.
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Rental prices are pretty scary, too.
C Stars
@Marcopolo: Oh noes, Kanye and the Kardashian person have had to evacuate!
Mnemosyne
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
More that there will be nursing jobs all over the metro area, so you may be able to get a decent job in one of the lower-cost areas. The Holy Grail for a lot of people is an affordable apartment close to work so you don’t have a long commute.
If you’re okay with roommates or housemates, that would make it easier to rent a place in a nicer neighborhood. A friend of mine was able to live in Hermosa Beach by renting a room in someone’s duplex.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
True fact: parts of Compton are still zoned for horses —
https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403353200/comptons-cowboys-keep-the-old-west-alive-and-kids-off-the-streets
satby
Tl:dr, but almost everyone hates Lipinski too. His more liberal opposition in the primary is always split 4-5 or more ways (thanks purity trolls), and then the Republican opposition is only token.
He’s a Blue Dog in a fairly liberal, multiracial area. It would be nice to get a better De m in there.
Apologies if someone already said this.
StringOnAStick
As for that magic 27% number, Colorado had an item on the ballot to remove the definition of slavery from the state constitution. It passed but the number who voted against it was just under 27%. And the activist who got this one on the ballot woke up to a pile of his pro-removal literature burning on his porch the morning of election day. Even in a place as blue as this one just went, there are still Nazi assholes, and as usual that 27% number shows up again.
Mnemosyne
@C Stars:
My brother in Thousand Oaks is packed up and waiting to see if they have to evacuate because of the same fire so, um, don’t be a fucking asshole, K?
Uncle Cosmo
@Roger Moore: As an amateur student of The Great War, I cosign your take on the military. Once the German advance on Paris was stopped at the Marne, the combination of entrenchment, machine guns, barbed wire, long-range artillery (which FTR killed more soldiers than the MGs) and later poison gas made stalemate in the West, as you say, almost inevitable. And major roles in enforcing that was played by the railroads and primitive communications. Troops moved to the fronts at railroad speed (30-50 mph) till the tracks ran out; from the railheads they moved at the speed of a marching man, 3 mph max (there being too few draft animals & not enough fodder for them &, beyond the Parisian suburbs, not enough motor transport). Any assault on an enemy position took place at the speed of a walking man,as did any exploitation of a breach in the opposing lines.* Meanwhile the defender could bring fresh troops up to the railheads at railroad speeds.
* It is true that cavalry units, at least early in the war, waited behind the lines for the infantry to punch a hole in the opposing trenches that they might exploit. The problem was how to order them into battle. The fastest communications between forward trenches and the command HQs well back (out of artiller range) was by telephone, but no matter how assiduously the armies tried to protect the wires by burying them, enemy artillery routinely chewed them up, & repair units busted their butts to keep up. Otherwise comms were via runners, who if spotted were prime targets for the enemy – use of a motorcycle or even bicycles near the front lines was hazardous to the runner’s health. So word of a breakthrough arrived at HQ at the runner’s pace, & orders to exploit it at the same speed, while the defenders brought their troops up at RR speed…
Essentially, all the technological developments of the previous 50 years favored the defenders of fixed, well-fortified positions,, IOW stalematee.
It wasn’t until the last year of the war that the technological solutions for how to overrun multiple-trench positions were perfected. For the Allies it was the tank – whose primary role was to flatten the barbed wire & allow the onrushing soldiers to burst into the trench systems at full speed (before then the need to cut the barbed wire had held up the infantry long enough for the machine guns & artillery to destroy them). On the German side it was stormtroopers – small groups of well-armed but highly mobile soldiers whose task was to penetrate the trench system as swiftly as possible, bypassing strong points for the following wave to reduce.
I blame the politicians less than you do – my impression is that once the Western Front had hardened, public opinion on neither side would have supported a negotiated settlement. The Allied public could accept nothing less than the return of all occupied territory in France and Belgium; the German public would not accept a retreat from those positions, which until 1918 had never been successfully breached. Avoiding frontal assaults would be seen as doing nothing to end the war & like as not get Allied governments sacked; they had to be seen to be trying something; so the generals came up with plans that didn’t work based on assumptions that turned out to be wrong, & proceeded to feed hundreds of thousands into the woodchipper of combat (witness the Somme).
Marcopolo
@Mnemosyne: My thoughts exactly. WTF. Learn to empathize. And that cuts across all racial/class/ religious/geographic lines. Unless they are Nazis.
Uncle Cosmo
@Robert Sneddon: IIRC there is a memorial in London Paddington station about halfway up the tracks on the southern side to railroad workers who marched off to the Great War & never came home. I distinctly recall noticing it from the arrival area in the distance & walking over to see what it was.
FTR last Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the death of Wilfred Owen, arguably the finest of the Great War poets. Killed by artillery as he was getting his men across a creek IIRC – a week before the Armistice.
What a waste…
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
It might be sentimental to pay one’s respects to those who suffered and died in a war that ended a century ago, but it is also honorable.
frosty
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Dead thread I’m sure, but I’d vote for Pittsburgh. Good liberal mayor, lots of interesting neighborhoods, rivers and mountains. Close to Ohio if you want to go back to visit friends. SoCal and NYC are both pretty damned expensive, too.
J R in WV
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
Oh, Mingobat, I’m so sorry! I just got home from weekly errands put off until Friday on account of election/vote counting/happy for some wins, sasad for other losses, and saw your note about Elwood. He had a great decade with you guys, and knew you were working to help him all the way.
Thanks for the update on his condition. None of the fur babies last long enough! We’ve had doubts about adopting young critters at out age, although the neighbors would take of our local dogs. That’s hard on the critters, tho.
Take care of yourself, too!!
J R in WV
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
Oh, Mingobat, I’m so sorry! I just got home from weekly errands put off until Friday on account of election/vote counting/happy for some wins, sad for other losses, and saw your note about Elwood. He had a great decade with you guys, and knew you were working to help him all the way.
Thanks for the update on his condition. None of the fur babies last long enough! We’ve had doubts about adopting young critters at out age, although the neighbors would take care of our local dogs. That’s hard on the critters, tho.
Take care of yourself, too!!
J R in WV
@Ohio Mom:
This is true of people from West Virginia too. It started earlier here than in Ohio, and more smart West Virginians are gone now. I have so many great friends who are still here, tho. That makes it hard to leave. But I am really torn!
J R in WV
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Yes, but the nationalists changed 11/11 holiday from armistice day to veterans day some years ago, so now it’s just another day with flags and bluster, paratroops falling from the sky into football stadiums, and a bank holiday. Government workers get Monday off — that would be the 12th, not the 11th.
So no vestiges of WW I in France left, as everyone who remembers is dead, and history isn’t taught any more. The failure of education is why we’re being taken over by fascist racist morons today!
Hunter
@Butch: Chicago’s Southwest Side used to contain, among other things, the headquarters of the American Nazi party. At the time my grandmother lived there (many years ago), there was a large Lithuanian refugee/expat population, who uniformly hated the Russians (i.e., “communists”) because of the postwar occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. It was bad enough that you couldn’t even listen to Tchaikovsky. Needless to say, a lot of the people in the part of town weren’t unsympathetic to the Nazis, although most of them would have bristled if you lumped them together.
I suspect it’s still the most conservative part of Chicago.