Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

We won’t go back.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

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

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

So many bastards, so little time.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

When we show up, we win.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me file that under fuck it.

Not all heroes wear capes.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

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

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Stay Frosty!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Stay Frosty!

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Possibly the most important Democratic political message of the moment:

 
Positive news:


 
Maybe not-positive, but very cheering:

And (once again) a glimmer at the end of the tunnel…

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike in DC

    I think it makes sense for Mueller to wait to drop the biggest indictments in January, after the new Congress is sworn in. I can see him indicting Assange, Corsi, Stone et al before then, though. January could be DJTJ or some wild cards like Pence, Prince, Rohrabacher or a sitting member of Congress.

  3. 3.

    raven

    As I went to bed last night I hit Facebook and there was a missing child alert posted by a neighbor. I hit the link and it went nowhere so I went to bed and mentioned it to my wife. I woke up (at 4) and, when I looked at FB, there were a zillion posts with people all over the hood putting up alerts and scouring the area. The “she was found” posts were most prominent and they are saying the FB posts were vital in finding her. It turns our she was the child of good friends and someone we’re very close to. I’m so glad she was found.

  6. 6.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yea, I hate to say I’m glad I didn’t know what was up since I would have been out pounding the pavement with everyone else and I have a flight to catch this morning! I’ll bet her ass is in a bind, she’s always been a rebellious tyke. . . just like her mom!

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: From your neck of the woods:

    This is a convoluted tale of secret corporate money in politics, the capture of regulators by those they are meant to regulate, incompetence, and greed.

    We learned this week that more than $1m in dark money – secretly sourced political spending – is pouring into Tuesday’s runoff election for Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC). The PSC is powerful; by setting rates it determines how much Georgians pay for electricity each month, and among its mandates is to safeguard the public interest by regulating Georgia’s energy industry. But PSC elections have tended to fly under the radar, and they’ve long been dominated by candidates vetted and approved by Georgia Power – Georgia’s monopoly energy company – and its owner, the Southern Company.

    So what’s with all the dark money this time around?

    There are four key players in this drama: the Southern Company, which owns Georgia Power; a political committee called “Georgians for a Better Future”; a lobbying group called Nuclear Matters; and a powerful trade group called the Nuclear Energy Institute. Spending these unprecedented sums in support of the incumbent Republican commissioner, Chuck Eaton, is “Georgians for a Brighter Future”, established just weeks ago for the specific purpose of intervention in our PSC runoff, in which Eaton faces a vigorous challenge from the Democratic rising star Lindy Miller.
    ……………………………………
    Plant Vogtle is Georgia Power’s – and therefore the Southern Company’s – nuclear power station in eastern Georgia. In 2013 the Southern Company began construction of two new reactors at Vogtle, backed by $8.3bn in federal loan guarantees. Then the Southern Company proceeded to botch the project. Now years behind schedule and billions over budget, we face a classic political dilemma: who will pay? Georgia Power, the Southern Company, and their shareholders? Or Georgia Power’s customers – the people?

    Not surprisingly, the Southern Company is determined that Georgia’s energy consumers – “ratepayers” – should pay for billions in cost overruns. Under our country’s perverse rules of corporate governance, this is, I suppose, rational. The alternative is that their shareholders and executives take a haircut.

    Enter Democrat Lindy Miller, the first-time candidate, who fought her way against the odds into this runoff. Miller is no opponent of nuclear energy and she supports continued construction of Plant Vogtle to deliver cheap energy to Georgia without massive greenhouse gas emissions. She just doesn’t think Georgia ratepayers should pay for the Southern Company’s gross failure to meet a budget or a schedule. It seems that’s just not acceptable to the Southern Company. As with the investment bankers and rating agencies who were bailed out despite their responsibility for the 2008 financial crisis, the Southern Company wants the public to bear the cost of its malpractice.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    For those who like their politics served up with a dry vintage of tongue-in-cheek, the British series The Thick of It (seasons one, three and four) now on Amazon Prime.

  12. 12.

    Schlemazel

    going to Mayo this AM. I triple checked yesterday to be sure the appointments were still on. Though they canceled the one on the 6th without letting me know

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    My youngest is up here for a few weeks. It’s been a long road to recovery for him. Told me something at dinner Sunday that had managed to slip thru the cracks over the year.

    On one of his visits to the surgeon he inquired as to the best form of aerobic rehab for his leg, walking or riding a bike. Doc said riding a bike as long as he was careful to avoid accidents. So he did and all was well. Until…

    While returning from the grocery store a one ton flat bed with the extra wide out mirrors for hauling 5th wheel trailers passed him without changing lanes. The mirror caught him on the shoulder and he went flying. Afterwards, the leg of course hurt more, but not as bad as it could have.

    At his next appt one of the Residents was looking at his latest x-rays and comparing it with the previous series and looked rather puzzled, finally saying, “Let me go get the surgeon.”

    Uh-oh.

    The surgeon comes in, looks at the x-ray, looks at my son and asks, “Did you take a fall or anything like that?”

    CJ explained the whole bike/truck mirror incident and she says, “Well that would explain why your fibula is broken again.”

    Kid can not catch a break, or looked at another way, that’s all he can catch.

  30. 30.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Mike in DC: where you listed “Corsi, Stone “, I read as Corner Stone, and thought, ” what the hell? Yeah sure, he can be grouchy, but Mueller indicting him seems extreme”

    Coffee, please

  31. 31.

    Baud

    Reuters

    LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – The European Court of Justice’s advocate general said on Tuesday Britain has the right to withdraw its Brexit notice from the European Union unilaterally.

    The non-binding advice comes as the British parliament begins five days of debates on Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal with the EU before voting on it next Tuesday.

  32. 32.

    Derelict

    “He’s never really been vetted” is what Republicans were saying about Obama for 10 years. But now the shoe is on the hand it fits, so maybe it’s time to start really pulling back the curtains on the whole rotten GOP and its spiritual guru, Donald J. Trump.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @raven:

    That has happened a number of times around here, for both children and pets. It’s one of FB’s few positive impacts.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Booted it.

    @Schlemazel: This happened a 3 months ago. It set him back but not as far as rebreaking the now “unbreakable” tibia would have.

    @Immanentize: Fibula, the tibia is the main support bone and the one they needed a rod, plates, and screws to put back together. If that one had broken again…

    I am pretty certain it was on purpose. There are people out there who hate bike riders. One Arkie buddy of mine who rode daily had everything from sodas to fruit to gallon cans of paint thrown at him. It’s not harassment, it’s assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm/death.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    “A reminder, ladies and gentlemen. The morning vote is yea or nay for swirling around the drain, the afternoon vote will be yea or nay on diving into it headfirst.”

  39. 39.

    Mike in DC

    @Baud:
    “You can back away from this you stubborn idiots. But you won’t, will you?”

    I hope Scotland gets another independence referendum out of this.

  42. 42.

    Jack the Cold Warrior

    Reference the first item, uniting after the Primaries behind whoever is the nominee, and not having the knife fights as in PUMA’s in 08 or Bernie Bros in 16; from one of my old favorite bloggers:

    Tbogg has a little story for you:

    Every year in Happy Gumdrop Fairy-Tale Land all of the sprites and elves and woodland creatures gather together to pick the Rainbow Sunshine Queen. Everyone is there: the Lollipop Guild, the Star-Twinkle Toddlers, the Sparkly Unicorns, the Cookie Baking Apple-cheeked Grandmothers, the Fluffy Bunny Bund, the Rumbly-Tumbly Pupperoos, the Snowflake Princesses, the Baby Duckies All-In-A-Row, the Laughing Babies, and the Dykes on Bikes. They have a big picnic with cupcakes and gumdrops and pudding pops, stopping only to cast their votes by throwing Magic Wishing Rocks into the Well of Laughter, Comity, and Good Intentions. Afterward they spend the rest of the night dancing and singing and waving glow sticks until dawn when they tumble sleepy-eyed into beds made of the purest and whitest goose down where they dream of angels and clouds of spun sugar.

    You don’t live there.

    Grow the fuck up.

    http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-occasion-of-internet-quitter-tboggs.html

  45. 45.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I found demented posts about HRC on both twitter and FB this morning. The twitter one was a random answer to a post about a totally different subject, and the FB one claimed Move-On has a petition to Trump to put HRC on trial. I didn’t read the details because doing so would have destroyed brain cells.

    Why are the loons all stirred up against HRC? Did she dare to speak in public or something?

  46. 46.

    Balconesfault

    ” The chairs of the DGA, DSCC, DCCC and DLCC are all women now. It’s a fitting coda to the Year of the Woman. ”

    Nice, but I don’t care what gender or color as long as they’re competent.

    Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile weren’t exactly stellar DNC heads …

  49. 49.

    JPL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: There appears to be a virus going around and trump supporters are susceptible to it. It’s called Hillary derangement syndrome or HDS for short. It appears every time that trumps poll numbers start to fall.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    Meanwhile, Merry Kick-the-canmas.

    Congressional leaders and White House officials agreed Monday to extend a government funding deadline by two weeks, until Dec. 21, setting up the possibility of a shutdown showdown just ahead of Christmas. Source

  52. 52.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JPL: I was out of town all last week and this week soon won’t be able to vote for her or john barrow. I’m just sick about it, but this union isn’t going to bust itself (j/k—it’s just bargaining).

  55. 55.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @OzarkHillbilly: Some people look at me like I’m nuts when I talk about biking around Philly, but I’m much more comfortable around traffic in the city than I am in the burbs. Philly is fairly bike friendly, but even where they haven’t added bike lanes, drivers are respectful and good about sharing the road.

    I haven’t had crap thrown at me but I’ve been yelled at and crowded, and I get very nervous when there’s no shoulder on a busy suburban road.

    Although actually the only place I ever actually got touched by a car was when a rear view mirror clipped my arm slightly in a crowded city street. I’ll still take the city over the burbs every time.

  58. 58.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mike in DC:

    I think it makes sense for Mueller to wait to drop the biggest indictments in January, after the new Congress is sworn in.

    Coming out before Democrats control the House would be foolish and Mueller is far from foolish. He knows that even after January, House Republicans are going to do their best to demonize his report’s findings. January can’t come fast enough.

  59. 59.

    Platonailedit

    Reminder: Mueller is scheduled to file a detailed memo today in support of the sentencing of Michael Flynn.That memo would include information about any "bad acts" Flynn committed for which he was not charged, and details about his cooperation with the special counsel.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 4, 2018

    Isn’t this the corrupt scum who started the lock her up meme?

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: As long as Secretary Clinton draws breath, she will be the focus of unhinged and inexplicable hatred. There is no valid explanation for why this is so. I’m sure she’s found a way to deal with this and has moved on. And no, she will never stand trial for anything and she will never face a jail sentence. The same can’t be said for Trump who is in all kinds of trouble.

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: There have been rumors going around about Hillary Clinton running for President again, spurred by a content-free newspaper opinion piece co-written by Mark Penn, which was dishonestly promoted as if it were some kind of actual leak from Clinton’s circle.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Platonailedit: He sure is. I hope he does hard time breaking rocks, but he won’t, not even if he wrapped up the USA with a red bow and presented it to Putin on his birthday.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: In Florida, where the further north you travel, the further south you are, it’s “cokes” among the natives and either “soda” or “pop” among the transplants. Several years back, a distributor put up signs in Gainesville calling its wares “the official pop of the University of Florida Gators” and had to take them down because of all the derision. When I lived in Massachusetts briefly many years ago, I discovered that those weirdos call cokes “tonics.”

  68. 68.

    Matt

    I mean sure, the Democrats could just work on nominating somebody who isn’t a boring fuckup and/or a Wall Street toady, but the “FUCK U LEFTIES VOTE 4 WHO WE TELL U OR ELES” strategery is just so much EASIER!

  69. 69.

    Just Chuck

    @Derelict: As if pointing out inconsistency, hypocrisy, or projection has ever changed a single Republican’s mind, ever. I wonder if it works for anyone in this post-truth era, frankly.

    We’ll be rid of Trump sooner or later (hopefully sooner). I despair that we’ll ever clean up the intellectual rot.

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    @Patricia Kayden: Yep. January.

    I am so happy we’ve elected a better Congress. And we might even get a 41st seat — the Democrat was winning the absentee ballots except in Bladen County, NC (FYI: borders South Carolina), site of massive absentee ballot fraud. The GOP wingnut only won by 905 votes. (I think he probably scammed his way into the nomination too.)

    WaPost: N.C. election-fraud investigation centers on operative who worked for GOP candidate
    The state elections board, which subpoenaed Republican Mark Harris’s campaign, has collected information suggesting that high-level officials may have been aware of the activities, according to people familiar with the probe.

    WaPost: North Carolina election-fraud investigation centers on operative with criminal history who worked for GOP congressional candidate

    Elections board (with 4 GOP on it) voted 7-2 not to certify the results. The wingnut NC GOP chair is huffing and puffing and talking about Democrats trying to steal the election, but that is 180 degrees from what happened. He’s also shrieking about disenfranchising “legal voters”. Again, projection, projection, projection.

    And the governor is a Democrat, Roy Cooper, who was a longtime state attorney general previously.

    [I suspect you’ve been following this story; just putting up the details for those who might have missed it.]

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: In my experience, city drivers are far more polite than suburban drivers. I think it has to do with the fact that people *have to* get along in the city, where as in the suburbs they can just pretend to.

    *have to*- with the obvious exception of the sociopaths

  74. 74.

    Baud

    @Matt:

    but the “FUCK U LEFTIES VOTE 4 WHO WE TELL U OR ELES” strategery is just so much EASIER!

    Not easier but more accurate. Our nominee will be the result of a long process in which millions of people will cast their vote, and will be entitled to our respect But we certainly can’t make the left join us in fighting fascism. You set your own priorities.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    @Matt McIrvin: And we have learned that Mrs. Mark Penn is founder and CEO of No Labels. [No Labels, because we don’t want to ‘fess up that we actually support Republicans.] Not even gonna use her professional name.

    For shame.

  80. 80.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve been riding a pretty good amount this year (tapered off now that I don’t have much daylight) and kind of vaguely hoping that my radius is unbreakable now. When you fall, you almost always stick out your hand, instinctively. Not that I’ve fallen this year…

  82. 82.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: funny story about the kid who used to be my handyman in MI. I had him come fix the porch in my old Chicago house one year and he was telling me how weird the way people in the neighborhood drove: taking turns at stop signs, not entering intersections when it was yellow, not passing in the parking lane. He said it pissed him off because all those assholes slowed him down, until he suddenly realized he was being the asshole driver.

  84. 84.

    Balconesfault

    @Elizabelle: Mark McKinnon was sitting a row ahead of me at a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera a month or so ago. significant other had to hold me back from slapping him across the head a few times. At least he wasn’t wearing that dumbass hat and blocking my view.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: Heh. I vaguely recall somebody doing research on regional preferences for how to refer to carbonated drinks, had a color coded map and everything. Sadly, that’s about all I recall.

  89. 89.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m finally getting around to reading Dexter Filkins’s story in the New Yorker about the Alfa Bank server communicating with the Trump campaign, and there’s no other conclusion than that Dean Baquet is being paid by Putin (or otherwise coerced). All the more interesting since Filkins used to be on the NYT.

  90. 90.

    Platonailedit

    Crazy Rich Asians might have been a big hit at western box offices this year – but Chinese audiences clearly don’t feel the same way about the film.

    The Hollywood blockbuster featuring an all-Asian cast failed to ignite the Chinese box office, limping in at number eight on its debut.

    It was released four months after its US release, taking just $1.1 million (£857,000) in its first three days.

    The film has so far made around $238 million (£185.8 million) worldwide.

    Eyebrows may be raised at the fact Crazy Rich Asians has flopped in the world’s largest Asian nation.

    Crazy Rich Asians was the first major Hollywood film since The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago to feature an all-Asian cast.

  93. 93.

    Platonailedit

    Now the Europeans are mindfucking the limeys.

    The UK should be able to unilaterally cancel its withdrawal from the EU, according to a top European law officer.

    The non-binding opinion was delivered by the European Court of Justice’s advocate general.

    A group of Scottish politicians has asked the court whether the UK can call off Brexit without the consent of other member states.

    The Court of Justice (ECJ) will deliver its final ruling at a later date.

    The advice from advocate general Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona comes as the House of Commons begins five days of debates on Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal, with a vote due to be held next Tuesday.

    In a written statement, the ECJ said Mr Campos Sanchez-Bordona’s opinion was that if a country decided to leave the EU, it should also have the power to change its mind during the two-year exit process specified in Article 50 of the EU treaty.

    And it should be able to do so without needing the consent of the other 27 member states – contrary to what the EU itself has argued.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: Interesting re Baquet. Why don’t we ever hear any other comments [ETA: articles and commentary, I meant, although perhaps that is professional suicide in his circles] about him, or someone(s) at the FTF NY Times being compromised? I wonder if it will take one of his “alumni” to bring him down? And what if the problem is actually in the publisher’s suite? (Sulzbergers are longtime Clinton Derangement Syndrome promoters and sufferers. Witness Maureen Dowd’s recent bipolar performance: her regular column — “Curtains for the Clintons” — and a long and affectionate recounting of her experiences with GHW Bush. “The Patrician President and the Reporterette.”)

    Saw that email with roundup of New Yorker stories about Trump and Russia. Bookmarked it.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Matt: Apparently you missed this:

    Every year in Happy Gumdrop Fairy-Tale Land all of the sprites and elves and woodland creatures gather together to pick the Rainbow Sunshine Queen. Everyone is there: the Lollipop Guild, the Star-Twinkle Toddlers, the Sparkly Unicorns, the Cookie Baking Apple-cheeked Grandmothers, the Fluffy Bunny Bund, the Rumbly-Tumbly Pupperoos, the Snowflake Princesses, the Baby Duckies All-In-A-Row, the Laughing Babies, and the Dykes on Bikes. They have a big picnic with cupcakes and gumdrops and pudding pops, stopping only to cast their votes by throwing Magic Wishing Rocks into the Well of Laughter, Comity, and Good Intentions. Afterward they spend the rest of the night dancing and singing and waving glow sticks until dawn when they tumble sleepy-eyed into beds made of the purest and whitest goose down where they dream of angels and clouds of spun sugar.

    You don’t live there.

    Grow the fuck up.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:

    Focus in the people who don’t hate us.

    There are more of them. They turned out in 2018! That’s what probably really bothers the “Matts” of the world.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    taking turns at stop signs, not entering intersections when it was yellow, not passing in the parking lane

    Letting other people in…

  104. 104.

    Eric S.

    @OzarkHillbilly: This has been going on in Illinois for many years now. The utility rates customers pay include maintenance of the delivery system. Utilities didn’t keep up on maintenance for decades. Now a couple of them have billion dollar upgrades going on. The ICC, Illinois rebuilding agency said no. The utilities took it to the legislature which passed bills saying yes.

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    @satby:

    If seeing the Republicans steal children from their parents, abuse them, move them to other cities in the middle of the night, and traffic them using “Christian” adoption agencies isn’t enough to prove that boting for better really is good, then nothing ever will. There is a disturbing lack of empathy among the purity left. Fuckem

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m finally getting around to reading Dexter Filkins’s story in the New Yorker about the Alfa Bank server communicating with the Trump campaign, and there’s no other conclusion than that Dean Baquet is being paid by Putin (or otherwise coerced). All the more interesting since Filkins used to be on the NYT.

    It is good work, really well done. I didn’t know the writer used to be on the NYTimes.

    I feel like it won’t be as direct and clear as “paid by Putin”. I bet it will be dumber and pettier. Some fucked up grudge or personal career ambition. The Trump stuff is both venal and petty. At least with Iran/Contra they had some motivating ideology. This is just greed and dishonesty and careerism.

    I’ll never forget when Comey said ‘Putin hates Clinton’ – how personal that is. OMFG the ego on these people. Hundreds of millions of people are subject to these childish grudges and personal beefs.

  108. 108.

    tobie

    Mueller hasn’t even spoken yet and I’m already getting greedy, hoping and praying that he takes down not only Trump & Co but also his enablers–folks like McConnell, Graham, Grassley, Nunes, Meadows, Goodlatte, Ryan, etc.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: We don’t talk as often as we should, usually when one or the other of us take note that “it’s been awhile”. As for riding the bike, I would have been in favor of that over even the low impact of walking on a freshly healed tibia. Of course, I probably would’ve added the caveat that he do so on the quieter side streets.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    @Patricia Kayden: While I’m not a fan of seeing Russians under every bed, it’s far too easy for Vlad and his trolls to do mischief. Yeah, lots of Americans hate Hillary, but Vlad is the one that benefits the most in keeping up the vitriol – because doing so keeps us distracted.

    I hope a few “enjoy your check from Vlad”, “you realize it’s been almost 10 years since she held elective office”, and the like comments get sprinkled in among the responses. But I hope even more that people drop FB.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: Probably, looks familiar. All my Arkie friends are in NW AR (the white portion of AR) there is probably the influence of a fairly close group at work too. The other accepted term is Mountain Dew. Of course, that one is limited to those who drink nothing but.

    ETA Looking at the map I notice they don’t seperate out “Sodee” which is a pronunciation I have noticed has regional variations too.

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Eric S.: It’s a thrice told tale. Ameren users had the same problem a couple years ago. I don’t remember the particulars but IIRC the resolution of it was unfavorable to their stockholders.

  118. 118.

    tobie

    @Matt: Guess you’re new to the Democratic Party. All of us posting here have had the experience of voting for candidates in the primaries like Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradlee who didn’t make it to the general. You know what? We sucked it up because voting isn’t dating.

  121. 121.

    Mike in DC

    @Kay:
    Most likely they dislike Clinton, and someone in the NYFO of the FBI assured them that the Russia stuff was overblown.

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    @tobie: I am greedy right there with you.

    Gonna use the word “hopeful” though. Because you have to take out — or greatly discourage — the enablers as much as the criminal.

  126. 126.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: Maureen Dowd’s latest recycled rat puke must have emitted the Hate Hillary bat signal. Plus St. Burlington being touted as Dem Great White Hype in 2020 by same liberal media so yes time for obligatory Hillary Hit Piece. But none of this is orchestrated of course.

  131. 131.

    sambolini

    So here’s the thing. The DNC can help or hinder us fence sitters efforts to “get over it”. The main way being by nominating a candidate who minimizes the things we find objectionable. Recent history shows they have that power. Recent history shows they do not use it wisely.

  132. 132.

    Betty Cracker

    @tobie: Yep. President Obama was the first primary candidate I supported who actually won the Democratic Party nomination. It felt like such a novelty, my preferred candidate winning! :)

    That said, while the admonition in the OP is directed at “Liberals and Independents” (I consider myself the former, even though I occasionally get accused of being a party hack), it goes for all of us. I know lots of folks here despise Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, etc., for reasons of their own (some of which I agree with, some not), but it will be on them to suck it up if one of those people win the Democratic Party nomination.

  133. 133.

    Chyron HR

    @sambolini:

    So here’s the thing. On November 8, 2016, you demonstrated that you would rather (literally) burn human civilization to the ground than vote for a Democrat. Your opinion about who the Democratic nominee should be is completely worthless. Thanks for sharing.

  135. 135.

    Jeffro

    I can’t wrap my head around someone who would stay home or vote for a Republican if they don’t get their first choice of Democrat (for any office, not just president). That is toddler-level BS.

    I did like “Voting Is Not Dating” up above – great short way to put it!

    Still looking for a shorter way to say “Find Some Way to Express Yourself Politically Other Than Just Your Vote For President Every Four Years”. I mean, that is one HECK of a long bumper sticker…

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    @Platonailedit:

    The UK should be able to unilaterally cancel its withdrawal from the EU, according to a top European law officer.

    Wow. This could lead to a UK even more paralyzed by confusion than it is now. Good times.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize: The “DNC” name-check is such a comical tell at this point. “After two years, I still don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, but I’m willing to let the world burn if my emo-ignorance is not catered to”

  139. 139.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This made me chuckle

    Emma Kennedy @ EmmaKennedy
    Delicious fact: Prince Charles is being sent to 41’s funeral. Donald made it a condition of his visit that he didn’t meet Charles because he didn’t “want a lecture on climate change”
    Go for it Prince Charles.

  141. 141.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Patricia Kayden: IMHO HRC is so hated because she was the 1st woman to become nationally prominent as a successful professional and then PARTNER–NOT follower–of her governor then president husband.

    She was being villified before the hate got going vs Bill.

    ALSO she broke the tradition of the FLOTUS. She was not sweetly smiling, baking cookies. She did the absolutely unthinkable, unforgivable–she continued to be an active thinking woman after Bill was elected.

    She became a model girls might decide to emulate. HORRORS–the true end of the world. Girls, women deciding we are people with rights…and taking them!

    For many on the right she’s responsible for everything that has ‘gone wrong’ in the world of today.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker: This gets interesting. I don’t see Sanders as either competent or trustworthy. And he’s got that presidential bug and he’s got it bad. Right now, I could never vote for him.

    And at minimum he’s going to have to release his tax returns.

  143. 143.

    Yutsano

    @sambolini: Okay Mr. Nym I Have Never Seen Before:

    Two things:

    The main way being by nominating a candidate who minimizes the things we find objectionable

    Specifics or GTFO. If you have objections, lay them on the table now. We’re not going to play guessing games to protect your delicate sensibilities.

    Recent history shows they have that power. Recent history shows they do not use it wisely.

    Ah okay. You’re a Wimerite. Placating you already resulted in the disaster of last year.

  146. 146.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sambolini:

    The main way being by nominating a candidate who minimizes the things we find objectionable.

    I personally sit on the left side of left field but find myself voting DEM time and again not just because the alternative is hell and damnation but because the DEMs are actually pushing for things that go in the direction I want them to go in tho not as far or as fast as I personally would like.

    So I will ask, what things do you find objectionable and how would you have them minimize them? (for the sake of conversation we can limit it to 2 or 3)

  152. 152.

    Betty Cracker

    @Brachiator: I have come to loathe the shouty, finger-wagging, egotistical crank and his grifting family and shady, self-righteous hangers-on. But if it’s Bernie or Trump, I’m dragging my ass to the polls and voting for Bernie, tax returns or no.

  157. 157.

    Balconesfault

    @Gin & Tonic: for one, cyclist are actually trained to tuck and roll. Back in the 80s when I was bike racing the club would take us out to a big grass field and you’d intentionally get knocked off your bike and need to learn how to tuck and take it on your shoulder.

    Second, when you’re going 25 miles an hour on a bike instead of 10 miles an hour, there’s no reflex to extend your arms out in front of you. The radial fracture thing is more likely to happen to a recreational cyclist going slow and falling sideways then with a competitive cyclist going over the handlebars at speed.

  158. 158.

    Balconesfault

    @germy: this is exactly what they should be saying.

    Meanwhile, the Dems should be aggressively carrying out investigations.

  159. 159.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    Freshman Democrats: Legislation, not investigations, should be House priority.

    Works for me. Loved seeing so many women members of Congress in the photo accompanying the WaPo story.

  160. 160.

    A Ghost To Most

    JPMorgan warns investors that Trump’s tweets on purported China deal appear ‘completely fabricated’

    A new note from investment bank JPMorgan advises traders to not buy into the hype that President Donald Trump has ended his own trade war with China.

    As reported by CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, JPMorgan is telling investors that Trump’s declaration this week that China will immediately drop all tariffs on American cars has no basis in reality.

    In particular, the note said that investors should have “valid reason for caution” when it comes to investing on the hopes that Trump is on the verge of a major breakthrough with China.

    “It doesn’t seem like anything was actually agreed to at the dinner and White House officials are contorting themselves into pretzels to reconcile Trump’s tweets (which seem if not completely fabricated then grossly exaggerated) with reality,” the note states.

    rawstory

  163. 163.

    Yarrow

    From the new visitor:

    The DNC can help or hinder us fence sitters efforts to “get over it”.

    I like how these “fence sitters” are apparently not able to get over whatever “it” is without the help of the DNC. Way to own your agency, fence sitters!

  164. 164.

    Balconesfault

    @A Ghost To Most: Ah, the Art of the Deal indeed.

    It’s just Trump’s Blue Collar devotees are too dumb to realize that the mark in this deal isn’t the Chinese, but them.

  165. 165.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Balconesfault:

    Second, when you’re going 25 miles an hour on a bike instead of 10 miles an hour, there’s no reflex to extend your arms out in front of you.

    About a year and a half ago I was skiing at about 30-35 mph, lost a ski and fell forward. I extended my arms in front of me before rolling. It didn’t end up well. It’s so frequent that ski patrollers have an acronym: FOSH, for fall on outstretched hand.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    But if it’s Bernie or Trump, I’m dragging my ass to the polls and voting for Bernie, tax returns or no.

    Let’s hope it never comes to this awful choice.

  171. 171.

    The Moar You Know

    I am pretty certain it was on purpose. There are people out there who hate bike riders. One Arkie buddy of mine who rode daily had everything from sodas to fruit to gallon cans of paint thrown at him. It’s not harassment, it’s assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm/death.

    @OzarkHillbilly: I used to bike commute in the Bay Area. Got two beer bottles to the head (was wearing my helmet, no harm, could have gone real bad otherwise – and gotta give props to their aim, better my helmet than my face). One broomstick through the front wheel. That guy should have run but he stuck around to laugh. I “returned” the broomstick to him, that’s all I’m ever going to admit to. My doctor was killed riding one morning. There is a large set of drivers who will kill a cyclist if they get a shot at doing so. I quit riding when I moved to SoCal. Just too dangerous.

  172. 172.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Phylllis: I drink “soda”, thanks very much.

    I love those regionalisms though. I’ve lived in Philly long enough to say “hoagie” as my first choice, but in fact I grew up calling those kinds of sandwiches “subs” and “hoagie” used to sound really weird to my ears.

    There was a quiz in the FTFNYT a few years ago about these variations and where your words put you on a map.

    What do you wear on your feet for athletic purposes? Sneakers, gym shoes, or tennis shoes? The quiz seems to think that “sneakers” are a strong indicator of New York / New Jersey residence (I am a native of upstate NY) but it seems to me that “sneakers” is more universal than that.

  173. 173.

    Kay

    @A Ghost To Most:

    JPMorgan warns investors that Trump’s tweets on purported China deal appear ‘completely fabricated’

    Guffaw. I wait for someone from the other country to verify what the President and his awful, low quality team of liars say.

    I’m thinking “was someone who isn’t a liar there? From what country? I’ll see what they say”. Can I get a witness. By the end of this I’m gonna need everyone deposed and also video.

  174. 174.

    Balconesfault

    @Gin & Tonic: times like this make me wonder if an investigation is going to uncover a pattern of buying or short selling just ahead of Trump’s announcements by specific individuals… Followed by immediate selling or buying to cover prior to the revelation that the announcement was just more BS.

    Not by the current SEC or DOJ of course.

  176. 176.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Balconesfault: Probably. I’m definitely a casual rider so I haven’t had the training you talked about, but I’ve trained in Aikido. Not that I was any good in it or got very far, but they do spend a hell of a lot of time teaching you to fall since in partner practice you’re going to end up being thrown in all kinds of directions that you have no control over. I’d be dead in two seconds in an actual fight but I’m pretty good at falling down :-)

  179. 179.

    debit

    @The Moar You Know: There’s a reason why a lot of cyclists wear helmet cameras. When I commuted during the winter, I had two cameras equipped (helmet and back rack) so my kids would know who to sue for my wrongful death. After one too many close calls, and nightmares about sliding under a car, I finally put away my winter bike for good.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    Binyamin Appelbaum‏
    Verified account
    @BCAppelbaum
    24m24 minutes ago
    More Binyamin Appelbaum Retweeted Binyamin Appelbaum
    On Saturday I wrote a tweet that treated an official statement by the White House as a factual representation of reality.
    I apologize for the error.

    Such a good retraction! It seems snarky at first but every word of that is true. Over and over and over. He lies, they repeat it, they correct.

    How’s the fictional NK deal going, by the way? How many hundreds of millions of people believed that bullshit? 20 years from now there will be 50 million conservative voters who still believe Trump de-nuked NK. I’m told he also ended terrorism. This is a real thing for voters on the Right- they say Trump ended terrorism. Poof! Gone. By the sheer force of his (shitty) personality.

  182. 182.

    Brachiator

    @debit:

    There’s a reason why a lot of cyclists wear helmet cameras.

    I didn’t even know there was such a thing as general consumer level helmet cameras for cyclists. Makes sense.

  183. 183.

    gwangung

    @sambolini:

    he DNC can help or hinder us fence sitters efforts to “get over it”.

    Actually, no.

    Voters….meaning YOU….have that power. Most voters are frickin’ lazy and won’t lift a finger to elect the candidate of their choice. Most “fence sitters” also don’t realize that if they don’t work to get their choice elected, they will be outnumbered by people who do work to get their choice elected.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    John Dingell wants to abolish the senate (!)

    The end of minority rule in our legislative and executive branches. The Great Compromise, as it was called when it was adopted by the Constitution’s Framers, required that all states, big and small, have two senators. The idea that Rhode Island needed two U.S. senators to protect itself from being bullied by Massachusetts emerged under a system that governed only 4 million Americans.
    Today, in a nation of more than 325 million and 37 additional states, not only is that structure antiquated, it’s downright dangerous. California has almost 40 million people, while the 20 smallest states have a combined population totaling less than that. Yet because of an 18th-century political deal, those 20 states have 40 senators, while California has just two. These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people. That’s just plain crazy.

    I’m glad a few people are saying something other than “comity” which just seems like way too little way too late. The horse has left the barn, then they burned down the barn and shot the horse. It’s too late for nice notes to Maureen Dowd. Not sufficient. Not up to the task.

  188. 188.

    PJ

    @Kay: I’m pretty sure the motivating ideology for most of the players in Iran/Contra was making dollars off of arms sales.

  189. 189.

    Mnemosyne

    @sambolini:
    @Matt:

    By the way, fellas, you need to check your email for the latest talking points: Beto is now A Corrupt Tool Of The Oil And Gas Industry, which completely coincidentally means that, once again, you’re back to having only a single name on your list of acceptable candidates.

    Funny, that. It’s almost as though any time a liberal politician starts to become popular, he or she has to be torn down by the Bros lest the left’s eyes start to wander away from the One True Savior.

  190. 190.

    Brachiator

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Why are the loons all stirred up against HRC? Did she dare to speak in public or something?

    The heat is getting hotter around Trump, and so right wing nutcases ramp up their idiotic ire against HRC to compensate.

  191. 191.

    Fair Economist

    @Brachiator:

    The UK should be able to unilaterally cancel its withdrawal from the EU, according to a top European law officer.

    Wow. This could lead to a UK even more paralyzed by confusion than it is now. Good times.

    The point and effect is basically to force the UK to rescind its withdrawal. If May’s lousy deal gets voted down, May will be left with the choice of no deal or rejoining, having a free choice and knowing a “no deal” exit is catastrophic. She’s not going to take the hit for sending Britain into depression, so she would rejoin. In addition, the Remain and Labour MPs know this so they have no reason to vote for her deal as less bad than “no deal”, so the odds against her getting her deal through Parliament just dropped to almost nil. Given the situation, it almost guarantees the UK will rejoin, which of course was the ECJ’s goal.

  192. 192.

    balconesfault

    @Brachiator: I am always amazed at how many on the sensible left (as opposed to the looney-tunes Magic Unicorn left) have absorbed enough Hillary bile over the years to not want her to succeed.

    Of course, a lot of them read the FTFNYT daily …

  196. 196.

    Neldob

    @Kay: But he is entertaining (for some). The entertainer in chief. He is outrageous, never stops lieing and always keeps em guessing on the edge of their seats. Ha ha ha. urp. Repuglicans like their entertainers.

  197. 197.

    Brachiator

    @Fair Economist: The point and effect is basically to force the UK to rescind its withdrawal. If May’s lousy deal gets voted down, May will be left with the choice of no deal or rejoining, having a free choice and knowing a “no deal” exit is catastrophic. She’s not going to take the hit for sending Britain into depression, so she would rejoin… Given the situation, it almost guarantees the UK will rejoin, which of course was the ECJ’s goal.

    I think you are reading this incorrectly. The UK is heading toward a “no deal” BREXIT if May can’t get the deal through Parliament. Even Labour stupidly believes that they can negotiate an acceptable post-BREXIT deal.

  198. 198.

    J R in WV

    @sambolini:

    The DNC can help or hinder us fence sitters efforts to “get over it”. (1) The main way being by nominating a candidate who minimizes the things we find objectionable. (2) Recent history shows they have that power. (3) Recent history shows they do not use it wisely. (4)

    This person, above identified as someone with a public interest in German Military material, shows here an ability to write in short meaningful sentences, albeit with a lie embedded in each and every sentence.

    (1) The DNC can help or hinder us fence sitters efforts to “get over it”. sambolini isn’t a fence sitter, and ” the DNC” can’t do anything about “fence sitters”, even real ones, unlike this fascist know-nothing, as the DNC has so little to do with primaries they also have NO control over who nominees are.

    (2) The main way being by nominating a candidate who minimizes the things we find objectionable. There’s so much wrong with this, but just in case sambolini can’t or didn’t read the first sentence discussion, the DNC doesn’t pick nominees, we elect them in free and fair elections, it is called Democracy, and one party does that while the other selects nominees some other way, I guess.

    (3) Recent history shows they have that power. A flat lie, recent history shows that the candidate who wins all the delegates in primary elections get the party nomination, also in a free election at the national convention. The role here of the DNC is organizing the meeting, not in actually participating in the affairs of the national party.

    (4) Recent history shows they do not use it wisely. Actually, recent history shows that the national Democratic Convention elected a nominee that can win a clear and convincing majority of the votes nationwide, to then be cheated out of that majority by an Electoral Collage willing to ignore the majority winner in favor of a mobbed up con man under the obvious control of a hostile foreign power. In my book, Electors who don’t vote for the person who won the election should be taught how un-American that is with the use of long prison terms and confiscation of ill-gotten wealth. But that’s just me, a typical rowdy progressive liberal CCW carrying hippy.

    It would be different if the winner of the majority of votes in an election was a corrupt and criminal person, while the other candidate was the best qualified person to run in the election and the Electors voted to save the nation from a corrupt con artist under the influence of a hostile foreign power, but that isn’t what happened, is it?

    Fuck this anonymous fascist sambolini character, lying and ignorant of how democracy works, with a rusty farm implement~!!~ Every sentence a lie, every implication the desire of a fascist!

  199. 199.

    J R in WV

    @Brachiator:

    @Betty Cracker:

    But if it’s Bernie or Trump, I’m dragging my ass to the polls and voting for Bernie, tax returns or no.

    Let’s hope it never comes to this awful choice.

    Actually, since I believe Senator Sanders is a wholly owned pawn of the Russian Empire, and formerly owned and operated by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) back when he wasn’t afraid to label himself as a Marxist, I don’t see what the difference between Sanders and Trump would be. Except that perhaps Sanders would be a more effective slave of Putin than Trump is.

    I might stand aside in that election, for the first time since I turned 21…

    Also, regarding sambolini, I expect he is totally unaware of the racist aspects of the nym, and that he chose a name related to the machinery used to resurface ice rinks for hockey games and Italy, where an unabashed inventor of Fascism ruled for so many “successful” years back in the mid-20th-century. Too ignorant to know about the origin of the root of his nym…

  200. 200.

    Brachiator

    @J R in WV:

    Actually, since I believe Senator Sanders is a wholly owned pawn of the Russian Empire, and formerly owned and operated by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) back when he wasn’t afraid to label himself as a Marxist, I don’t see what the difference between Sanders and Trump would be. Except that perhaps Sanders would be a more effective slave of Putin than Trump is.

    I pretty much agree with you.

    I was going to throw in a comment that Sanders was likely Putin’s Number 2 option, but I figured that this thread was probably dead.

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