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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

He really is that stupid.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The willow is too close to the house.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

“Look, it’s not against the rules anywhere, but a black woman with power was dating and there has to be something wrong with that.”

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

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Let’s finish the job.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Monday Morning Open Thread: Proceeding As Planned…

Monday Morning Open Thread: Proceeding As Planned…

by Anne Laurie|  November 26, 20184:52 am| 123 Comments

This post is in: A Woman's Place Is In The House, Because of wow., Don't Agonize - Organize, Excellent Links, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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I keep thinking about this interview between Nancy Pelosi and Rebecca @rtraister. More specifically, the very last part. https://t.co/ByX9GnuzHq pic.twitter.com/jT8w5Y9UfQ

— Robin Benway (@RobinBenway) November 22, 2018

Elections have consequences, per an op-ed in today’s Washington Post — “The Democratic majority’s first order of business: Restore democracy”, by Nancy Pelosi & John Sarbanes:

Earlier this month, Americans went to the polls and sent a powerful message: The election not only was a resounding verdict against Republicans’ assault on Americans’ health care and wages, but it also was a vote to rescue our broken democracy.

In the face of a torrent of special-interest dark money, partisan gerrymandering and devious vote-suppression schemes, voters elected a House Democratic majority determined to bring real change to restore our democracy.

During the campaign, Democrats declared unequivocally that we would clean up corruption to make Washington work for the people. We pledged to reduce the role of money in politics, to restore ethics and integrity to government, and to strengthen voting laws.

We now have our marching orders. The new Democratic House is ready to deliver with H.R. 1: a bold reform package to restore the promise of our democracy — a government of, by and for the people.

First, let’s end the dominance of money in politics…

Next, let’s make sure that when public servants get to Washington, they serve the public. Restoring the public’s trust means closing the revolving door between government and private industries, and imposing strong new ethics laws to stop officials from using their public office for personal gain…

Finally, let’s make it easier, not harder, to vote… We must renew the Voting Rights Act to protect every citizen’s access to the ballot box and restore the vital safeguard of pre-clearance requirements for areas with a history of voter suppression. We will promote national automatic voter registration, bolster our critical election infrastructure against foreign attackers, and put an end to partisan gerrymandering once and for all by establishing federal guidelines to outlaw the practice…

Read (& savor) the whole thing!

Most vampires say Buffy should not be a vampire slayer. https://t.co/rDfFF3eiUk

— Mat Johnson (@mat_johnson) November 23, 2018

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Previous Post: « Sunday Night Open Thread: Reason to Go On
Next Post: On the Road and In Your Backyard »

Reader Interactions

123Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 4:57 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 5:00 am

    Nancy from Baltimore rocks!????

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 5:02 am

    We are in the middle of a blizzard.??
    Haven’t gotten up yet to see how bad it is outside.??

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    November 26, 2018 at 5:06 am

    Most vampires say Buffy should not be a vampire slayer.

    I cannot think of a better description for Nancy Pelosi’s foes.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    November 26, 2018 at 5:23 am

    @rikyrah: It’s a tad early for you isn’t it?

    good morning

  6. 6.

    Gvg

    November 26, 2018 at 5:43 am

    I think preclearance should apply to all states. My understanding is that the Roberts court gutted it with the argument it was unfair to apply it to some places and not others. Plus, the temptation to gerrymander and suppress voting comes whenever a group perceives it is losing power, which means the temptation moves around. Much of the suppression nowadays is in areas that were not Jim Crow areas.
    There is also the problem of when it’s the Feds who have white supremists in charge, but that is another issue.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 5:59 am

    Got home yesterday afternoon from a weekend at my uncle’s place on the Suwannee River. We had a birthday party this weekend for my old gran, who would have turned 100 yesterday had she not died in June. The party was already long planned, so we decided to have it anyway and turn it into a memorial when she passed. We cooked her favorite foods (Low Country boil) and told funny stories about her. She was the last of her generation in our family and a fine old Southern lady. We miss her, but she had a good long life, so it wasn’t a weepy occasion — more laughter than tears for sure.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 6:04 am

    From the above NYMag link:

    Pelosi is, without exaggeration, one of the toughest people I’ve ever met. As I listen to her, it occurs to me that perhaps she’s sticking with the job of party boss not just because she’s good at it but because she’s waiting for the person who’s good enough to take her. “It isn’t for me to say, ‘This is who I’d like next,’ ” Pelosi says slyly as I push her about the rising generation’s challenge to her power. “It’s up to them to decide.” In 2016, then–Maryland representative Chris Van Hollen considered trying to bump her off. “He would’ve been a great Speaker,” Pelosi gushes now. “But I wasn’t standing in his way. Other people senior to him came down on him.” Yes, I say, but that’s presumably because you applied pressure.

    She’s tired of pussyfooting around this: “None of us is indispensable. I feel I’m the best person for the job. I have a big following in the country. It’s what I tell other people: Show your following. You have to have intellectual, political, and financial resources to win elections if you’re gonna be the leader.”

    So she concludes, “See, I like the fray. And that’s really unfortunate for people who come after me, because I really like the fray.” She smiles. “Make my day.”

  9. 9.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 26, 2018 at 6:05 am

    There’s an interesting video on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website today. It’s of a rocket launch viewed from the ISS. The interesting thing to me is that it shows the yellow color cast in the lower atmosphere.

    ETA: If you don’t look at the Astronomy Pic of the Day, every day, you should do your self a favor and look at as part of your morning(or late night) routine.

  10. 10.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 6:09 am

    @Betty Cracker: Thanksgiving I posted here that my good buddy was killed 50 years ago that day in Vietnam. I also posted it on my Facebook hometown page and it prompted quit I dedicated my dissertation to him some 20 years ago and had sent a copy to his parents. One person mentioned they were going to let his sister know about the post and, a few hours later, she contacted me. I dedicated my dissertation to him and I sent a copy to her folks 20 years ago. His sister remembered it and asked if I could send her a copy. We had some nice exchanges and I’m going to ship one off this morning. The reason I bring this up is that I looked at her FB and saw that she’s done very well and has two very accomplished children. This makes me very happy.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 6:17 am

    @Raven: I’m glad you were able to make contact with her and that the family is doing well.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 6:20 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Interesting. It wasn’t until the 4th watch that I was sure I had caught everything.

  13. 13.

    JDM

    November 26, 2018 at 6:21 am

    Is Politico trying to be a waste of space? What possible market is there for a story about who Republicans want as a Democratic leader?

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    November 26, 2018 at 6:21 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “And that’s really unfortunate for people who come after me, …

    ” … ’cause they best not miss.”

  15. 15.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 6:22 am

    @Betty Cracker: Hey, we have a boat reserved in 10,000 Islands next week. It looks like trout, reds and snook!

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    November 26, 2018 at 6:25 am

    @JDM:

    What possible market is there for a story about who Republicans want as a Democratic leader?

    Economically-anxious WWC voters? Farmers who are still sticking with Shitgibbon despite teetering on the edge of insolvency? “Real” voters who are upset by the tone of Demon-rats? Nazis?

    [Note: Not sure if the Venn diagram of the above groups is anything other than a circle.]

  17. 17.

    tobie

    November 26, 2018 at 6:27 am

    Nancy’s tough as nails. Good on her. I love that her first editorial post election is about the most fundamental pillar of democracy–voting rights. Glad to see she pens it with another Baltimorean, John Sarbanes.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 6:30 am

    @Raven: Excellent! Hope y’all have a great time and that the weather cooperates. I do not fish, but my husband does, and he likes the fishing in that area better than anywhere else in the state. He caught an enormous snook there a few years back. Also had a colossal tarpon on the line, but it broke free.

  19. 19.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 6:32 am

    @Betty Cracker: Hope springs eternal!

  20. 20.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 6:34 am

    @SFAW: Many of the small towns in Georgia’s southwest corner were struggling already, and “all you got left are farming, chemical dealers, tractor salesmen, car and truck dealers,” Lee said.

  21. 21.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    November 26, 2018 at 6:37 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Got home yesterday afternoon from a weekend at my uncle’s place on the Suwannee River … 

    Some lovely country, as am sure you well know. In aught-six, if memory serves, just before started spending alla my summers in the Gulf a Alaska, joined a buddy n his two fulla-beans boys onna houseboat excursion on the Suwannee R. Twere a magical experience. Course, usedta live in Florida, so notta newbie, but each Fla. place, like Tolstoi’s Anna Karenina opener, is unique in its own special way. The springs are fab, course, and the critters is bountiful, but what took me aback (even as a Fla. rez.) was the Gulf sturgeon that stack up and jump for joy abreast the limestone ledges they loves when they loves.

    Am quite accustomed to tarpon rolling atop the surface (physiologically peculiar in that they can gulp n breathe atmospheric air), but seeing 6-foot-plus sturgeon gambol about like they’s in love n din’t care who knew it was an unexpected serendipity. If a body din’t see at least one sturgeon breach like a humpback whale inna hour, you just weren’t lookin.

    ‘Member my buddy’s boy, a precocious pre-teen, diving offa the toppa the houseboat at anchor n goading the old man to join in. N then a 10-foot gator were espied in close proximity, which give young Sam AquaMan-type abilities.

  22. 22.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 6:39 am

    And we’re supposed to care that Republicans don’t like Speaker Pelosi because…? Most Democrats probably hated Paul Ryan’s hits and yet that made absolutely no difference. I don’t even remember any polls on that.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 6:47 am

    @poleaxedbyboatwork: While speeding down the Suwannee in a pontoon boat, another of my uncles got hit in the face by a leaping sturgeon. He’s kind of an asshole, so we all thought it was hilarious! Both fish and man survived…

  24. 24.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 26, 2018 at 6:48 am

    @Patricia Kayden: The Republicans fear mongered about a Speaker Pelosi in all their ads, little surprise they don’t like here. The kid had an interesting story about her sister in CA-45(soon to be Mimi Walters’ former district); she called to remind the kid to vote. The kid tells her sister, ‘I always vote, every election; you’re the one who never votes’.

  25. 25.

    MagdaInBlack

    November 26, 2018 at 6:49 am

    @rikyrah:
    Looks like a snow day here NW of O’Hare. Still snowing and no one has cleared the condo lots.
    Gosh darn it ?

  26. 26.

    Schlemazel

    November 26, 2018 at 6:59 am

    12 degrees in Rochester this AM but snow free. stayed in a hotel here overnight just in case there had been. This is the time of year when we can get some icey crap.

    @Raven: I have to believe it means a lot to the family that you carry his memory this long after. That is a fine thing you are doing.

    @Betty Cracker: That is the way I would want to be remembered, more laughter than tears. There is an old gospel song, don’t remember the name but the chorus is “When I’m on my journey don’t you grieve after me”

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    November 26, 2018 at 7:00 am

    @poleaxedbyboatwork:

    Thank you for your authentic frontier gibberish.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 7:03 am

    @Raven: I love the caption on that lead photograph:

    Branches of a damaged cotton tree in Newton are pictured Oct. 11, 2018. When Hurricane Michael tore through Georgia’s cotton crop, it set in motion a grim future for rural areas that depend on agriculture.

    I guess like Texas, everything’s bigger in S Georgia.

  29. 29.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    November 26, 2018 at 7:03 am

    @Raven:

    … It looks like trout, reds and snook!

    Ya, them, n, most like, lotsa jack crevalle n ladyfish.

    Bluefish are a nice occasional bonus. Spanish macks. The odd black drum. Snapper. Grouper. Whiting. Tripletail.

    Not sure how you fish, but I allus likes to use a jig — exploratory, fish any depth, catches big n small fish. Many moons ago (and I regret it deeply now, but the damage is long-since done, so i relate it here with no misgivings, fwiw), wrote a piece about Cayo Costa Island — mention it cuz it’sa purty special place. If you like a somewhat rustic camping experience with lotsa wonderful barefoot-walk-to fishing opps if yer willing to hoof it n explore, recommend it muchly.

    Nota bene: You prolly know this, but just in case: lotta, lotta sharks round the campsites n chickees n all over 10K Islas, specially at night. Circle hook n bait’ll keep you up long as you want. Might even luck into a tarpon!

    Am jealous. Enjoy!

    (Din’t mean to try’n tell you your bidness, just excited cuz I love that country; least the part that ain’t been loved to death already.)

  30. 30.

    frosty

    November 26, 2018 at 7:07 am

    I’m in favor of HR 1, but I wonder how the House will get it enacted with both the Senate and President in Republican hands. Is it just a marker for the next election? If so, I worry that promising to restore democracy and failing will bring blowback and disillusionment.

    What say you all?

  31. 31.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 7:09 am

    Good. Corruption. Democrats didn’t get much traction with anti-corruption in the midterms (IMO) – or not as much as they did in ’06- but they must think it’s politically viable long term if they’re leading with it.

    Republicans are really in an ideological box on corruption- they’ve taken such an extreme position with Citizens et al that they are completely hamstrung on any campaign finance reform. They’ve abandoned the whole “good government” area, much like they’ve abandoned trying to make any kind of offer on health care. More and more it’s that Republicans can’t do anything- the far Right ideological fealty allows no movement of any kind.

  32. 32.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 7:11 am

    @poleaxedbyboatwork: Nah, I love it. Half the time I just talk to myself here!

  33. 33.

    debbie

    November 26, 2018 at 7:12 am

    “Make my day.” I love that!

  34. 34.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    November 26, 2018 at 7:13 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): @Betty Cracker:

    While speeding down the Suwannee in a pontoon boat, another of my uncles got hit in the face by a leaping sturgeon. He’s kind of an asshole, so we all thought it was hilarious! Both fish and man survived…

    Ha! As Blanche DuBois sez: “Sometimes there is God so quick.”

    Neglected to mention some similar during our stay. While we wuz there, airborne sturgeon launched n broke the leg onna obnxious speeding jetskier, which, to my mind, were as close to appropriate n divine justice as I’m ever like to see in this world.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 26, 2018 at 7:14 am

    @frosty: The Republicans made this work for them during the Obama years with their huge number of votes to repeal the ACA. They knew none of those were going to pass (notice how much more reticent they got when they could have really made it happen). It’s the parliamentary “shadow government” idea: the message is “give us real power and this is what you’ll get”.

    The difference is that ours aren’t going to be completely stupid.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 7:18 am

    @frosty: You worry too much. Nobody thinks the DEMs in the House can fix everything with trump in the WH and McConnell still running the Senate.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 7:21 am

    @frosty:

    It’s consistent with the Pelosi-led House since at least 2006, the anti-corruption push. It’s a long term project at this point- it’s become part of the Democratic platform. Campaign finance deregulation has been a disaster and it’s a rolling disaster- it gets worse every cycle, so hopefully it will grow in relevancy and become urgent at some point. Democrats can own it the same way they own health care because Republicans have just dropped any pretense of caring about it.

    Democrats have the Right, Center and Left position on health care all within their caucus – they’re the only ones offering anything at all. That could happen with “good government” too.

  38. 38.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 7:23 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    November 26, 2018 at 7:24 am

    @frosty:

    It’s called “standing on principle.”

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 26, 2018 at 7:24 am

    We apparently got a bunch of snow overnight. I’m waiting to see if the roads are good enough for me to make my 8 am rehab session.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 7:25 am

    Still reading that NYMag article, this from Sally Yates:

    I finished the memo, talked with my deputy, Matt Axelrod, and hit send. The memo traveled through DOJ channels and waylaid any attorneys scheduled to appear in federal courtrooms the next morning to defend the order. By then it was Monday early evening and the outer offices were quiet. I sat at my desk alone doing other stuff when I thought, I wonder if this it out there yet. I had a TV in my office and I turned it on and the memo had exploded. I wasn’t stupid. I knew it was going to be significant. But I flipped to a couple of stations and saw it everywhere. I turned off the TV and kept working.

    There was a door between my office and Matt’s. We went back and forth a thousand times a day. But at nine o’clock, Matt knocked on my door and didn’t come in, so I knew he had someone with him. A DOJ guy entered and handed me a business envelope from the White House. The letter was one sentence long, relieving me of my duties. You could tell it was awkward to deliver a letter firing the attorney general. He’s a good guy, he was just doing his job. Then the president released a statement: “The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.”

    I absolutely did not anticipate how people across the country, even outside our country, would respond. Recently, exiting an airplane, I felt someone behind me tap me on the shoulder. It was an elderly African-American gentleman. He wore an obama ’08 baseball cap covered with campaign buttons he must’ve collected over many years. He took it off and offered it to me. “Oh no, I couldn’t take your hat,” I said. But he insisted: “Counselor, it would mean the world to me if you would accept it.” I accepted it, but I teared up.

    Not long after that, I was in line at the bank, and I couldn’t help noticing a middle-aged white man in a veterans for trump baseball cap a few customers ahead of me. When he finished, he turned around and headed straight at me. I thought, Oh gosh.

    He said: “You don’t like my hat, do you?”

    I said: “I respect it. Thank you for your service to our country.”

    And he said: “Well, I appreciate what you did, and I thank you.”

  42. 42.

    frosty

    November 26, 2018 at 7:26 am

    @Matt McIrvin: @OzarkHillbilly: @Kay: Thanks everyone, I’ll hope for the best. Win or lose it’s still the best position to take as the first bill from the new House.

  43. 43.

    Butch

    November 26, 2018 at 7:29 am

    @JDM: Trying and achieving, I’d say. Politico thinks that’s worth printing.
    But hey, marijuana was just legalized in Michigan, and if you turn on the TV, you will see commercials by John F-ing Boehner inviting you to a seminar on how to enter and succeed in the marijuana industry. Seriously. That John Boehner.

  44. 44.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 7:36 am

    It’s a good day. Papadopoulos will be spending 14 days in jail starting today (should have been a much longer sentence). And Mueller is planning to release a report on Manafort shortly. Trump is going down. And he knows it.

  45. 45.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 7:39 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Running against Pelosi didn’t work out so well for Republicans in the midterms given the blue wave we’ve just had in Congress. Why would my vote be determined by Republicans and who they like or dislike? I don’t understand that logic at all.

  46. 46.

    danielx

    November 26, 2018 at 7:39 am

    Temperature is down by twenty from last night, and I am not looking forward to winter at all.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 7:45 am

    @Raven

    Snook, you say?

    ;)

    (And the video compilation linked doesn’t even mention her winning the Jock-Off 2000.)

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 7:46 am

    I missed my early train. The snow is blowing sideways, the wind is blowing hard.

  49. 49.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Don’t drop the soap, George.
    Hoping for a Manafort leak.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 7:49 am

    @Raven:
    I am glad that you got contact.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 7:49 am

    Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) Tweeted:
    Thousands of Jews fled Germany and crossed borders illegally as anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of the #Holocaust knows.

    Those who fled here were turned away–among them Anne Frank’s family.

    The abandonment of the Jews is well-documented. This is revisionism.

    https://t.co/TPxdLN9n3c https://twitter.com/VABVOX/status/1066952014557523969?s=17

  52. 52.

    daveNYC

    November 26, 2018 at 7:51 am

    Basically everything the House produces in the next two years will be auditioning for 2020. The Democrats will try and do X, the Republicans will shoot it down, and those votes will be tallied up and worked into campaign ads.
    Some stuff might make it through in certain areas, maybe, if the money is good enough to get the Senators on board, but generally it’ll all be theater and prepping legislation for when (hopefully) the Democrats win big in two years.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 7:53 am

    @Kay: I’m hoping it’s also a marker for planned House investigations into Trump admin corruption. My dawg, what a target-rich environment!

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 7:54 am

    @frosty:
    I don’t believe that anyone believes that the Turtle will pick it up. That is not the point. The point is to put it out there. The point is to tell the Democratic party voter-

    We know that your vote is under attack, and we will protect it. Look at who won’t.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    November 26, 2018 at 7:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks. That was an interesting read, and good for Yates.

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 7:57 am

    Space Force will be tasked to prove Pelosi was born on Betelgeuse VII.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    November 26, 2018 at 7:58 am

    @Patricia Kayden: Insight is landing on Mars today. It’s gonna be a good day!

  58. 58.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 7:59 am

    @Patricia Kayden: Demonization works. Ask Hillary.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 8:01 am

    @JPL

    Until it’s attacked by hordes of little green men all wearing Make Mars Great Again hats.

    ;)

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 8:03 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    My dawg, what a target-rich environment!

    My nomination for understatement of the year.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 8:03 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I agree but what’s interesting about it to me is how it’s not Trump-focused.

    Citizens and gutting the VRA are the work of the Roberts court. They’re keeping it broad, and about Republicans rather than just Donald Trump. That worked for them this last cycle and it’s a better long term plan- these GOP policies predated Trump. They gutted voting rights protections and campaign finance regulation well prior to Trump. It’s GOP orthodoxy Pelosi is attacking, not just Trump.

    It seems like some of them know the box they’re in. Did you see Sasse casting around for something to say on climate change? They have NOTHING. Nothing on climate change, nothing on health care, nothing on corruption. They can’t DO anything because of their donors and their ideology. He used the all-purpose filler for bullshitters- “innovate!”

  62. 62.

    satby

    November 26, 2018 at 8:03 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah!

    We know that your vote is under attack, and we will protect it. Look at who won’t.

    I do a thing when people charge a purchase at the market. After they sign their name (always an illegible scrawl) I say something about how the election in Florida was being decided by people comparing signatures and the person in front of me probably wouldn’t have a match and have their vote counted (ok, the conversation flows better than my recap does).
    Believe me, nobody likes the idea of that, even conservatives.
    A lot of people can’t imagine that things would apply to them until it’s shown to them.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:03 am

    Evan Smith (@evanasmith) Tweeted:
    .@jmartNYT says @BetoORourke performed worse in rural Texas than @barackobama did in 2012. I was skeptical. Couldn’t be true — Beto visited all 254 counties. Fact-checked it. Jmart’s right. Never bet against JMart

    https://t.co/PwXC5SGXpB #txsen #tx2018 https://twitter.com/evanasmith/status/1066728974565474304?s=17

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:05 am

    Marcus H. Johnson (@marcushjohnson) Tweeted:
    Throwing tons of $$$ at rural areas or the white working class is a misalignment of resources. Turnout Black/Latino/Asian voters. Work with college educated whites in the suburbs. That’s where the Dem Party money and interest should go

    https://twitter.com/marcushjohnson/status/1066772402233843712?s=17

  65. 65.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 8:05 am

    @Kay: Everyone knows the heat from the caravan causes global warming.

  66. 66.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:07 am

    Payback is a muthaphucka ? ?

    The Hill (@thehill) Tweeted:
    Expected Dem Oversight chair says he won’t give subpoena power to Republicans

    https://t.co/CeUnvhYqxi https://t.co/pE1aBjvOB4 https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1066724448672329731?s=17

  67. 67.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 8:10 am

    I don’t care for these people, but others here might.

    Our very own Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were married Saturday during a ceremony at the National Archives, in front of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Rep. Elijah Cummings officiated

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:10 am

    The creativity of American journalism to creat ways to NOT call racist muthaphuckas, well… racist muthaphuckas…is something that the Dolt45 era has brought us.

    David Simon (@AoDespair) Tweeted:
    What the fuck is “racially conservative”?

    https://t.co/euLV87nxaa https://twitter.com/AoDespair/status/1066635314263937024?s=17

  69. 69.

    tobie

    November 26, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @rikyrah: My sentiments exactly. Rural America already rakes in significant federal and state aid. Can’t we invest in cities for a change?

  70. 70.

    Steeplejack

    November 26, 2018 at 8:14 am

    @rikyrah:

    Prison rape jokes not funny even from a woke black woman.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:14 am

    Schiff’s palpable rage at this Administration has been right there beneath the surface these past two years.

    Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) Tweeted:
    Adam Schiff: “The President is not being honest with the country about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi … Is his personal financial interest driving U.S. policy in the gulf? … We don’t know but it would be irresponsible not to find out.” (via CNN)

    https://t.co/dFxcDWm7wL https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1066738734517927937?s=17

  72. 72.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 8:14 am

    CNN

    Republicans are plotting a strategy to vigorously defend President Donald Trump amid a barrage of expected Democratic investigations into the President, with some of Trump’s allies urging the White House to resist cooperating with Democrats at all costs.

    I hope we are ready to fight the long fight.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 8:15 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    To me, one of the big arguments is whether Trump is a one-off or the natural and inevitable result of what the GOP has become. Pelosi has an up-close longer institutional view so she probably sees it as a long term problem. I do too. Trump isn’t a one-off. He’s where they were headed. Citizens and the gutting of the VRA led to Trump. The GOP Establishment created Donald Trump and that’s why they’re helpless to stop him. They tied their own hands. They can’t regulate him because they can’t regulate, period.

    She doesn’t have to tie the GOP to Trump. They did that themselves. She can hit him while aiming at the larger target.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:17 am

    @Steeplejack:
    I have no sympathy for these people
    None.
    I want all of them in jail, and for the worst things that can happen in jail to happen to them. All of them, right up the ladder.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:19 am

    @Baud:
    Absolutely, Baud.
    Absolutely.
    Let them tie themselves to him even more.

  76. 76.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    November 26, 2018 at 8:19 am

    @Baud: Do we have a choice?

  77. 77.

    montanareddog

    November 26, 2018 at 8:20 am

    @Kay:

    He used the all-purpose filler for bullshitters- “innovate!”

    Hah! One of the main sticking points in Brexit was Theresa May’s redline that the UK must leave the Single Market and the Customs Union, but this would impose a hard border with customs checks etc. between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland which is also a redline. Mrs May’s proposal…

    The UK had initially proposed a technological solution but this was rebuffed by Ireland and EU officials as “magical thinking”.”

    Not just US right-wingers trapped in an ideological box and hoping to “innovate” their way out.

  78. 78.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 8:21 am

    @JPL: Mars probe faces daunting challenge to land safely

    More probes have been sent to Mars than any other planet in the solar system but more than half of these missions have ended in failure, with the final stages, involving landing gently on the Martian surface, proving to be particularly dangerous and unsuccessful.

    This drives me nuts. “Oh noooooes…. If anything goes wrong it will be a disaster!” Yes, sending a probe to Mars is very difficult and executing a successful landing is particularly difficult. But take a look at this map. Notice anything?

    NASA has been singularly successful at landing spacecraft on Mars.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 8:21 am

    Man,
    It looks horrible outside. Just bad. Snow blowing everywhere. It should stop in a couple of hours. Hopefully it will all be cleaned up by the time I leave work.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    November 26, 2018 at 8:23 am

    @rikyrah: The worst things that happen in jail happen to people who are not as privileged as them. I understand why prison rape references are off the table for us.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, we can become unwoke like what happened after Obama was elected.

  81. 81.

    JPL

    November 26, 2018 at 8:27 am

    @NotMax: Better that they wear mmga hats rather than the stupid maga hats.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 8:28 am

    @rikyrah:

    We just got your weather. It rained all night and then temp dropped and it’s snow and sleet- a real mess.

    My middle son drives far for work out of Toledo so I really fret about him. He insists on buying crap cars for cash and he drives hundreds of miles! He casually mentioned Sunday that he had his tire “patched” which means he also has shit tires. He has the money. He just refuses to spend it. He is taking years off my life. I have literally been worrying about this particular kid since his birth- it just never ends. He’s 25 and it’s as bad as when he was an insanely reckless toddler. I’m hoping he got to work before the roads froze.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 8:29 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Barsoom or bust!

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 8:34 am

    @Kay:

    He used the all-purpose filler for bullshitters- “innovate!”

    I thought the all purpose filler for Republicans was “Tax cuts!”

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 8:36 am

    @JPL

    Extremely truncated version of an extremely old joke about interviewing the first Martians to visit Earth.

    “Do you all have four arms?”

    “Yes.”

    “You all have those little antennae?”

    “Yes, we do.”

    “And you all wear those little caps?”

    “Only the orthodox.”

  86. 86.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    November 26, 2018 at 8:38 am

    @Kay:

    … To me, one of the big arguments is whether Trump is a one-off or the natural and inevitable result of what the GOP has become …

    It *is* an inneresting questions, and for all me, I come down on the side of the latter, i.e. Trump ain’t no anomaly, Trump is the culmination, the apothe-fucking-osis, of halfa-century’s wortha movement conservatism. ‘Member the days when alla the trickle-down horseshit pumpers were foisting their nitwittery with a knowing wink n a nod? (Even good ol’ George “voodoo econ” H.Dub n Reagan’s economist Dave “Trojan Horse” Stockman knew trickle-down was not only snakewater but a bait-n-switch.)

    So where’re we now? Dumbshits like Louis Gohmert *be-fucking-lieve* this shit like it’s the goddamn prosperity gospel. There’s an entire generation of goopers too doctrinaire and inflexibly rigid to realize most a what they believe is transparently, demonstrably horseshit.

    That seems like a problem.

    Enter Donald “Escalator of Doom” Trump to feed the confirmation bias of an entire generation of know-nothing reactionary passionately stupid cretins.

    That, too, seems like a problem.

  87. 87.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 8:39 am

    @Baud: We are. What do we have to lose by going after a sleazy and unpopular President? If the tables were turned, we know that Republicans would be ready for a long fight. We can do the same.

  88. 88.

    Kathleen

    November 26, 2018 at 8:39 am

    @Patricia Kayden: It’s first shot fired in the “Dems Don’t Stand For Anything They Ran On Anti Trump Platform Which Will Be Big Problem In 2020” Campaign.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    November 26, 2018 at 8:41 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That’s the other good thing that happened in 2018- “tax cuts!” didn’t work. They were a drag on Republicans. Amazing.

  90. 90.

    JPL

    November 26, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @NotMax: That was new to me. lol

  91. 91.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 8:43 am

    @JDM: And you know they’d never flip the script on how Democrats feel about Republican Congressional leaders.

  92. 92.

    Ladyraxterinok

    November 26, 2018 at 8:44 am

    @Baud: National Archives?? To become part of history!?!? And Cummings?

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    November 26, 2018 at 8:45 am

    @Baud:
    Ragged on the Clinton’s, ignored the pussy grabber in Chief while they were fucking and married to other people.

    They should die from an STD

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 8:45 am

    @Baud:

    were married Saturday during a ceremony at the National Archives, in front of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

    facepalm That is more than a little over the top.

  95. 95.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 26, 2018 at 8:46 am

    @Kathleen: Democrats going after a very corrupt Trump is a good thing. I don’t want them to work with Trump. I want them to spend every second working against him and his destructive, bigoted agenda.

    The MSM be damned for their pandering coverage of this President.

  96. 96.

    Raven

    November 26, 2018 at 8:49 am

    @NotMax: I have no idea who or what that is?

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 8:51 am

    @Raven

    Olive Snook, a character played by Kristin Chenoweth on Pushing Daisies.

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    November 26, 2018 at 8:51 am

    @Kay: Great points. Focusing exclusively on Trump and his minions would allow phony shit-stains like Sasse to slither back into the fold once the Trump admin implodes. Hang it on them all. They’ve earned it.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 8:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    May have changed over the years but the room where those documents are displayed was beyond uncomfortable to spend more than a scant few minutes in when I visited many a moon ago, kept at something like 105 degrees and 99% humidity.

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 8:57 am

    @Kay: I have always been the same. “Why by a new car so I can wear it out in 2 years time when I can by a junker and keep it going for 2 years and save myself a bunch of money?” Of course, I spent a lot of wkends working on it.

    I’m hoping he got to work before the roads froze.

    The problem with that is that that’s the halfway point. He still has to get home. After hitting some black ice on my way home from work in a truly horrific storm and rolling my van at 50 mph and somehow miraculously not hitting anyone or getting a circular saw up the backside of my head, I said never again. No job is worth risking my life over.

    And they never offered to compensate me for the loss of my vehicle either.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    November 26, 2018 at 9:01 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I have a feeling that the Archives is not open to us proles if we wanted to wed there

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 9:03 am

    @Kay: About damn time too.

  103. 103.

    Kraux Pas

    November 26, 2018 at 9:08 am

    @rikyrah:

    The creativity of American journalism to creat ways to NOT call racist muthaphuckas, well… racist muthaphuckas…is something that the Dolt45 era has brought us.

    Dancing around right-wingers’ feelings while explaining why you disagree with their policies is a true art form. I don’t think journalists should be playing that game. But since they are, it can provide some helpful insight on how to deal with snowflake Republican language police in your own life.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    November 26, 2018 at 9:09 am

    @Immanentize: I was just thinking about that. For the right amount of money I’ll bet a dog could marry a pony there and have it all video taped for a Youtube release.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    November 26, 2018 at 9:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I heard that’s legal in dawgless D.C….

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    November 26, 2018 at 9:19 am

    All right. Managed to stay up until cigar purveyor on the east coast (in Florida, oddly enough) opened at 9 to place a reorder and still get it in under the wire to apply their Black Friday discount coupon.

    Now off to attempt anything resembling sleep.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 9:34 am

    @Gvg:

    I think preclearance should apply to all states. My understanding is that the Roberts court gutted it with the argument it was unfair to apply it to some places and not others.

    I have absolutely no problem with pre-clearance for all states.

  108. 108.

    satby

    November 26, 2018 at 9:35 am

    @Raven: We hang on every word. Sometimes we even nod to ourselves.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    November 26, 2018 at 9:38 am

    RE: Most Republican voters say Nancy Pelosi should not be House speaker next year: Just 11% support her candidacy, while 61% oppose it, according to our latest poll

    The Fox News propaganda machine is amazing. Do Republicans think that they have veto power over the Democrats’ choice?

    Have Democrats ever been polled about a Republican speaker? I would not have paid any attention because I know that any opinions would be irrelevant.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 9:43 am

    @Kay:

    That’s the other good thing that happened in 2018- “tax cuts!” didn’t work. They were a drag on Republicans. Amazing.

    I mean…they didn’t bring them up….AT ALL…

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 9:45 am

    I made it to work…and EErrrrbody who is part of the early crew on my side…isn’t here yet.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 9:49 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    @JDM: And you know they’d never flip the script on how Democrats feel about Republican Congressional leaders.

    The insulting part is that they think that nobody notices it. That they put out bullshyt like that poll, and we’re supposed to what, take them seriously?

    That the Democrats are supposed to care what Republicans think about Democratic Leadership?

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    November 26, 2018 at 9:51 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    @Kathleen: Democrats going after a very corrupt Trump is a good thing. I don’t want them to work with Trump. I want them to spend every second working against him and his destructive, bigoted agenda.

    Amen.Amen.Amen.

    And, not just Dolt45.
    But, all the wretched and corrupt people working for him.

    ALL OF THEM.

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    November 26, 2018 at 9:53 am

    @rikyrah:
    Section 5 pre-clearance applied to all elections, even, potentially, dog catcher. I think a new better and unassailable statute would require pre clearance for all federal elections and governor races.

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    November 26, 2018 at 9:55 am

    @satby: I even have a favorite Raven post ever:
    “What’s yet problem, got crabs?”

  116. 116.

    Ken

    November 26, 2018 at 10:46 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    But take a look at this map. Notice anything?

    Yes, it looks like we’re avoiding the Tharsis region. The Martians must have agents embedded in NASA.

  117. 117.

    Ken

    November 26, 2018 at 10:48 am

    @Kay:

    “tax cuts!” didn’t work

    Probably because by then most people had realized they weren’t getting a cut. Doing away with the property tax deduction was a Republican own goal.

  118. 118.

    Kathleen

    November 26, 2018 at 11:06 am

    @Kay: The older my daughter in Tampa gets (she’s 45) the more I worry about her. I hope your son stays safe!

  119. 119.

    Kathleen

    November 26, 2018 at 11:09 am

    @Schlemazel: I love you in a Platonic way of course! I wish you the best at Mayo so that you can enjoy well earned relief.

  120. 120.

    Kathleen

    November 26, 2018 at 11:12 am

    @Patricia Kayden: I totally am with you on all points. Broadcast Media for most part are loathsome as is NYT political reporting.

  121. 121.

    JGabriel

    November 26, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    Hit save before I was done. See next post.

  122. 122.

    JGabriel

    November 26, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    Nancy Pelosi and John Sarbanes @ WaPo via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    We must renew the Voting Rights Act to protect every citizen’s access to the ballot box and restore the vital safeguard of pre-clearance requirements for areas with a history of voter suppression.

    The sections of the VRA regarding pre-clearance supposedly got tossed by SCOTUS because of their seemingly arbitrary selectiveness, now that racism was gone (at least, that’s what Roberts argued).

    Instead of giving SCOTUS the same grounds to vote against a new VRA, I have a suggestion – let’s make pre-clearance apply to all states, at least initially:

    1) Put all states on pre-clearance for 50 years (or 20 or 100). Hell, we could even skip this step, or make it just 5 years, because;

    2) After the specified time, any state that hasn’t lost a voting rights case, and doesn’t have a case pending, shall no longer need to get pre-clearance before changing their voting laws, but;

    3) The state goes right back on the pre-clearance list again if they lose a voting rights case, and can’t get off the list until it maintains a clean voting rights record for 80 years- i.e., until it goes another 80 years without losing a voting rights case.

    This way it applies to ALL states, which is probably a good thing – given that discrimination against minority and other disenfranchised voters is no longer relegated just to former slave/confederate states.

  123. 123.

    JGabriel

    November 26, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    CNN via Baud:

    Republicans are plotting a strategy to vigorously defend President Donald Trump amid a barrage of expected Democratic investigations into the President …

    Our response should, “We were elected to put a check on, and investigate, this president – among other priorities. And we know we’re doing the will of the American people on this, because unlike Senate Republicans as a whole, unlike our colleagues across the aisle, and unlike Donald Trump: we won the popular vote.

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