Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

We still have time to mess this up!

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

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

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

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

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Texas Judge Pulls ACA Ruling From Vulgar Bodily Orifice

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Texas Judge Pulls ACA Ruling From Vulgar Bodily Orifice

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This seems to be the most important fact about that ACA story *right at this very moment.* If you, or someone you know, has not yet been able to enroll — DO IT NOW.

While I am not an expert — and I assume people who are will be posting updates at a more reasonable hour — current consensus even among right-leaning pundits seems to be that Dubya appointee and Federalist Society contributor District Judge Reed O’Connor is making a noisy public display for his fellow true believers in the Invisible Hand. This is the everything’s-bigger-in-Texas version of the Republiclowns holding one last hearing on the Clinton Foundation before they lose control of the House (and, hopefully, the narrative)…


Reader Interactions

188Comments

  1. 1.

    Mezz

    It’s been recommended already by some folks here, but if you missed it – and especially if you are a Masshole – that blowhard nimrod Seth Moulton gets PANTSED in Politico.
    Many, many choice bits, but this one (speaking of “bits”) was just [chef’s kiss]:

    Pelosi had neutered Moulton right under his nose.

    I have the Idiot Stephen Lynch as my rep., so I too am hoping for a good primary challenge. At least the Idiot Stephen Lynch was smart enough to stay in the background.
    Anyway, link:

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Blech.

    I finally need the ACA. Got all signed up for 2019 this week. Just waiting on a bill and an account # to send in our premium. Wake up this morn to read this. Even knowing it’s all bullshit and nothing changes it still sucks donkey f’n dick to start my day with the singular thought that,

    “I’m not going out alone.”

    Great way to start the day.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges ,” Roberts said in a statement 

    Bullshit.

  6. 6.

    satby

    @Baud: agreed. And Roberts, who opened the door to tampering with the ACA mandate to begin with can FOAD.

    We’ve all been thinking of you, Baud.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Missed you! I think we all did. Welcome back.

    Re topic: I want that judge to lose his job. Off the bench. This is actually worse than the Brock Turner decision. (The excessively light sentence handed down to a blonde Stanford swimmer, for attempted rape of an unconscious woman, because … future, white, nice boy from good home, etc.)

  14. 14.

    TS (the original)

    Has there ever been another political party that fought so hard to stop the people it represents from getting health care while the legislators get health care fit for a king?

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    Heh. Merry Christmas, NRA. WaPost:

    U.S. prosecutors on Friday asked a federal judge for permission to move Maria Butina to and from jail for ongoing interviews, including potentially to testify before a grand jury, in a filing intended to be sealed that appeared on the public docket for her case.

    … In a seven-page document filed Friday afternoon to a judge, prosecutors said they were making their travel request under seal because disclosing Butina’s movements from Alexandria City Jail, where she has been held since July, “may jeopardize defendant’s safety and may jeopardize the ongoing investigation.”

    “The proposed order references defendant Butina’s possible transportation to a grand jury,” which is a confidential proceeding under federal criminal rules, they added.

    The request asks to cover movements through Jan. 17.

    … A previous travel authorization from Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia expired Dec. 6. Butina’s defense joined the request for a “follow-on order,” prosecutors wrote.

    Although the request stated it was being filed under seal, and included a proposed order allowing it to be filed under seal, it was posted shortly before 5 p.m. on the court’s public docket. It remained viewable only briefly, before the online link to the filing was disabled.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Thinking of this puts a smile on my face tho.

    The number of discrete federal prosecutor’s offices with investigations under way potentially targeting the president continues to grow, minimizing Trump’s ability to simply pull the plug on the Russia investigation by firing the special counsel.

    In addition to Mueller and the southern district of New York, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York appears to be involved in the investigation of the inaugural committee, and Butina is being prosecuted by the US attorney in Washington DC, while the eastern district of Virginia is prosecuting another Russian defendant.

    Separately, the New York state attorney general is investigating the Trump Foundation and Trump Organization, and separate federal judges in Washington have allowed two cases to move forward alleging that Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the constitution by accepting illegal foreign gifts.

    That’s not to mention potential new investigations undertaken by Democrats when they take hold of the House of Representatives in the new year.

    Trump’s immediate plan of defense appears to be a retreat to familiar terrain. The president is expected to spend as many as 16 days over the holidays at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago, according to a local alert issued by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Palm Beach Post reported on Thursday.

    The FAA advisory is scheduled to be lifted on 6 January. That’s three days after the new Congress is sworn in.

    Maybe once he gets there he will just hide in his room, coming out only for his 3 scoops.

  21. 21.

    Platonailedit

    @TS (the original):

    The real question is has there ever been a country where the voters repeatedly voted for a horrible political party that blatantly & repeatedly campaigned on taking away their own health insurance?

    It’s time the blue states refuse to be ruled by these troglodytes and have their own govt.

  22. 22.

    TS (the original)

    @Elizabelle: It comes across as heartbreaking – they treat US citizens in much the same way as refugees arriving at the border. In current times it is hard to find anyone, outside of the bubble, who the GOP treat in a humane way. Most western countries have issues financing their health care – but none resort to going to court to say health care is illegal.

  25. 25.

    Betty Cracker

    I hope the “screamy headlines” underscore the GOP’s relentless attempts to sabotage the ACA. In the run-up to the election, those liars — most prominently Trump — were out there lying about keeping the no PX conditions clause in effect. Unfortunately, healthcare is a complex issue, so fuckery related to it has to be super-obvious for low-info voters to get it. Maybe this is sufficiently super-obvious, but I have my doubts, mostly because this came down through the courts (via GOP filings), and too many people still delude themselves that the courts are nonpartisan. Ugh.

    Also, I’m reposting this clip from the thread downstairs because I so want what Deutsch says to be true:

    This is the denouement everyone — not just Trump and his shitty family and shady associates, but everyone — deserves. I don’t know if it’ll come to pass, but it would be justice. That crook didn’t even think he’d win the election, running was just another scam, but thanks to stupidity, foreign interference, treason, and the GOP’s anti-democracy machinations, he is the mangy cur that caught the car. Therefore, nothing could be more fitting than he and the whole rotten bunch getting crushed beneath its wheels.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    On the flip side, I’m kind of also enraged with the “This is good news for single payer” hot takes.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: We will always be subjected to the latest take on events from the rainbow farting denizens of Happy Gumdrop Land.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker: Whoa. Thank you. Had not seen that clip.

    The bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the food chain in NY real estate.

    And the little aside that Donny Deutsch has been in the worlds of advertising, real estate and fashion.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Betty Cracker: I hope Deutsch is right. It’s not enough because the Rs are still there and the damage they’ve done to the country shows up all the time: the ACA judge, the little girl dying at the border. That’s just headlines from yesterday. We live in evil times.

  42. 42.

    Elizabelle

    Another benefit of the NYS AG, incoming Letitia James and current interim Barbara Underwood, scrutinizing Mr. Trump and his family o’ criminals and grifters: Exposing those who enabled him over the years. The corrupt judges and bureaucrats and other “businessmen.” Any mob ties. Rotten agents in the NYC FBI field office.

    Is Barbara Underwood staying with the office? I fervently hope so.

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    Bustle: https://www.bustle.com/p/letitia-james-will-investigate-trump-as-new-york-attorney-general-here-are-the-details-15518746

    …. “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well,” James told NBC News. “We want to investigate anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law.”

    James is currently New York City’s Public Advocate, and is both the first woman and first black person to be elected to the New York attorney general’s office. She told NBC News that there are several matters she intends to look into once she assumes office.

    Those matters include: any possible illegalities involving Trump’s New York real estate holdings; the meeting that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort held with a Russian operative in Trump Tower in July 2016; Trump’s possible violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which forbids the president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign leaders; government subsidies Trump has received in New York; and finally, continue an existing investigation into the Trump Foundation that former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched.

    In addition, James has thrown her support behind a bill that would modify New York’s double jeopardy laws; if passed, the legislation would allow James’ office to press state charges against people who receive presidential pardons, something current law may prevent her from doing. James predicts this bill will pass within her first 100 days in office.

    “It is a priority because I have concerns with respect to the possibility that this administration might pardon some individuals who might face some criminal charges, but I do not want them to be immune from state charges,” she told NBC News. The bill’s sponsors note that it would not apply to Manafort and Cohen, due to the specificities of their legal troubles.

    …. James addressed the Mueller probe, telling NBC News that she thinks it will soon bring Trump down.

    “I think [Mueller]’s closing in on this president,” James said, “and his days are going to be coming to an end shortly.”

    Bustle article has all kinds of links to the various investigations and events.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    @Raven: Ah. Did not know that. DDeutsch being on Morning Joe means I don’t follow him very much.

    As in, he likes Michael Cohen, and Cohen’s not such a bad guy? What is DD saying?

    ETA: I can’t stand “Parson” Jon Meacham either. Hagiographer of all things GOP establishment. I think that guy should show up with a Russian icon halo behind him.

  53. 53.

    Amir Khalid

    @Elizabelle:
    I know what’s been said here about indicting/prosecuting POTUS on federal charges. Are there any similar issues with state charges?

  55. 55.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    Far more than 30 years. Closer to 45 (oh, the irony!). I count back to 1973 and his being sued for racial discrimination.

    They first met him, on the front page no less, on Oct. 16, 1973. Then 27 years old, Mr. Trump was the president of the Trump Management Corporation, at 600 Avenue Z in Brooklyn, which owned more than 14,000 apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

    “Major Landlord Accused of Antiblack Bias in City,” the headline stated. The Department of Justice had brought suit in federal court in Brooklyn against Mr. Trump and his father, Fred C. Trump, charging them with violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in the operation of 39 buildings.

    “The government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals ‘because of race and color,’ ” The Times reported. “It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.”

    Donald Trump’s first quoted words in The New York Times expressed his view of the charges:

    “They are absolutely ridiculous.”

    More here.

  56. 56.

    JPL

    @Amir Khalid: Statute of limitations could apply. I do think that the Attorney General of NY is serious about going after trump. LAO once explained a law in NY that is similar to RICO, but I don’t remember all the details.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Federal law has supremacy over state law, and the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, but we still aren’t talking about a law, only an opinion. So again, until it goes to court….

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Christmas Is Cancelled After Missouri Cops Make 301-Pound Pot Bust on I-70

    Apparently the Grinch is wearing blue and a Smokey the Bear hat this year:

    While the citizens of Missouri recently voted overwhelmingly in favor of a law legalizing medicinal marijuana in the state, it would seem that the person driving this vehicle absolutely filled to the brim with loose bags of weed maybe didn’t have their paperwork in order. Frankly it’s a testament to their stellar customer service and dedication to making on-time deliveries even in the busy holiday months. Santa himself would be proud.

    Of the driver, that is, not the police officers. You just know those guys are getting coal this year.

    The pic is worth the trip.

  62. 62.

    mad citizen

    Looking ahead, I hope the norm will be for those charts showing all the Presidents to have a black or orange hole where the 45th President would be.

  63. 63.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Amir Khalid:
    No, except that NY State has a convoluted (to me) double jeopardy law re: federal law. I’m confident Mueller, and especially SDNY and Letitia James (new NY AG) will be on top of it.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    Damn, I wish it would quit raining! I usually like rain, and it was fun watching the lightning last night. But it’s been raining hard nonstop for about 36 hours. Enough already!

    Had to go out in the monsoon to bail my little swamp boat this morning because the water was damn near to the top of the transom! Next time it’s forecast to rain this hard, I’m gonna haul it fully ashore and take out the plug.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    @Raven:

    I’m with you. It is a victory that will become a talking point in the 2020 GOP Presidential race. And it only took them, what, about 70 times to achieve it?

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    Ok, taking all you grumps on a trip in a WAY different direction of joy. ( At least my joy)

    The Immp was just last night accepted on early decision to Rice University! Off he will go to be a computer science and engineering Owl.

    We are thrilled and so very very relieved. Otherwise the plan was to spend the rest of the year completing applications (and filled with stress). His friends are getting offers at good places all over too.

    Really, people, the kids are alright.

  77. 77.

    janesays

    @Elizabelle: Agreed, but… short of impeachment and removal by Congress (including getting 67 U.S. senators on board), that’s not going to happen. He’s a federal judge and has lifetime tenure, so we’re stuck with him.

    I could express darker thoughts about hoping the POS judge would get ebola, but I won’t do that, because it would be undignified.

  80. 80.

    Elizabelle

    LA Times. How Guerrilla Tacos does Christmas in L.A.

    … But here we are again with Wes Avila, not in his recently opened Arts District taqueria Guerrilla Tacos, but at home, with his wife, Tanya Mueller, cooking a holiday meal for a few of their friends.

    This year he’s putting together a Mexican Christmas trifecta — tamales, tacos and champurrado — done in a style that has become his signature: thoughtful, innovative, but with satisfaction front and center. The recipes he prepares are partly improvised, partly nostalgic; he’s been fixated on what he can do to make his cooking more drought-friendly, so today everything is vegetarian.

    When I arrive, Avila, a big guy with a surfeit of tattoos and, these days, of gray in his beard, is already cooking, moving with professional ease between the stove and the kitchen island of the Glendale loft he shares with Mueller and their two dogs. There’s a bar at the end of the island: a bottle of Johnnie Walker Green Label stands next to a Ruth Bader Ginsburg “dissent” veladora, or jar candle.

    Mueller (Red by Matrix hair, doctorate in clinical psychology) is setting out ingredients and dishes and relocating the evidence from last night’s party. Another party? [They’d done a “Christmakwanzakah, with the theme — they’re always themed — of Havana Nights” the previous evening.]

    I wanna be at that party. Recipes for everything linked.

    Drought-resistant cuisine. He’s ahead of the curve there. Makes yam tortillas (with a French butter sauce) because they take less water than sweet potatoes. He microwaves them to start, which actually might be another water-friendly method.

    Mexican cuisine by way of LA (Pico Rivera). With some cooking classes in Oaxaca.

  81. 81.

    A Ghost To Most

    Re: Supreme Court, my guess is Roberts is highly conscious of his legacy, and will act accordingly.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Only those of really strong stomachs should click thru to see this billboard, and even then I strongly recommend you cover your keyboard with an industrial strength tarp, just to be on the safe side.

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: Wonderful news!

    He can help turn Texas blue. And the US way smarter. Great point, too, on the application process is done, done, done.

    Congratulations to Immp!

  86. 86.

    Cermet

    Talk about a gift to dems! This ruling will even put some fear into turd voters since they too support much of the ACA. This will be remembered unlike a lot of other shit the reptilian party has done. Come the real campaigning for 2020, the dem’s talking about further protecting ACA will hit a chord with so many voters and motivate dems, and deter some thugs. This is the gift that will really continue to give. Hope it drags out a bit more till the inferior court nails this shit eating judge. May be die in agony judge that made this asshole ruling.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Lapassionara: Correction:

    and the work of geniuses

    Plural. It was Bob Cassilly’s inspiration that brought it into being, but it has taken thousands of dedicated people to build it and keep it fresh.

  88. 88.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    Congratulations! Based on this, I will apologize for calling Texas hateful.

    Actually, my niece graduated from SMU and is very happy staying in Dallas.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    I had a GAS attack today, and pulled out my debit card for a Fender Champion 100 amp. That’s 80 more (watts) than the Champion 20, plus an effects loop for my multi-pedal, clean and dirty channels, and better sound from twin 12″ speakers. I wanted an acoustic guitar too; but this shop doesn’t give it to you in the box and didn’t have an economy-price gig bag for it in stock today, so that will have to wait.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: WRT the NPR story: And who is Philiip Ewing?

    Ewing joined the network in 2015 from Politico …

    His bio.

    Fucking Politico colonizes again. Buried way down in that story:

    Another thing that Americans have come to know about Mueller is that he can keep a secret. So if he has evidence about a geopolitical conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s active measures, the public probably won’t learn about it until the moment the special counsel’s office wants that to happen.

    From what is visible today, however, the case is still Swiss cheese.

    In other words, “never mind.” Story is straw man after straw man, actually.

  93. 93.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: I lived in Austin and then San Antonio for a total of 12 years. I like to say that both are great cities unfortunately surrounded by Texas.

  94. 94.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: You know, I actually think that’s a really good billboard.

    Almost makes you wonder if evangelicals — or people who detest evangelicals — paid to put it up.

  103. 103.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I know, but he can escape the worst of the heat and humidity in the summer by working elsewhere. Also, the heat and humidity didn’t bother me so much when I was a teenager. The Immp is very tall and very thin — he has to run around in the shower to get wet. He is excited about the heat.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: I think it has been months. One of those gossipy pieces that they were seen canoodling over several dinners. I’m suspecting it was for publicity. And they didn’t get much.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    Alas, Manchester City look like regaining the top of the English Premier League, even if only until tomorrow; they are at home to mid-table side Everton and 3-1 up. Everton’s city neighbours Liverpool host out-of-sorts Manchester United on Sunday.

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    @Yarrow:
    On a different point we have discussed — have you seen all the articles starting to float about regarding how many Republicans are expected to retire and how they are going to hate being in the minority in the House?

    Let the festivities begin! This is my data point for continued Dem success.

  116. 116.

    JWR

    Speaking of NPR, here’s regular NPR commentator Rich Lowry downplaying the campaign finance violations. Shorter: He assures us that this is very similar to the John Edwards case. No really…

    “National Review editor Rich Lowry tells NPR’s Rachel Martin that he believes it would be difficult to prosecute President Trump for a campaign finance violation, even after Trump is out of office.”

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize:

    Also, the heat and humidity didn’t bother me so much when I was a teenager.

    Same here but I also grew up with it. Not sure Boston can compete with Houston. Congrats to him anyway.

  119. 119.

    Yarrow

    @Immanentize: I haven’t seen the articles because I’ve been incredibly busy but it was my guess that we’d see that happen. Happy to see it confirmed! I’m expecting Republican Senators to start talking about retiring. The 2020 map isn’t nearly as good for them s the 2018 one was and Trump will continue to drag them down.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    If I didn’t care about the actual human suffering caused by killing the ACA, I’d almost wish a motherfucker would. At this point, they would reap the whirlwind. Even the poll numbers have flipped completely upside down from where they were in 2010 and 2014.

  129. 129.

    frosty

    @Amir Khalid: Uh oh, I hope you have an extra room in your abode! GAS is insidious. I thought I’d gotten over it and was downsizing until I put new strings on the baritone tricone I never play.. “Wow, this sounds great!” It’s back in the rotation again.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: “Ewing joined the network in 2015 from Politico, where he was a Pentagon correspondent and defense editor.”

    Politico poisons everything. Grrr…

    NPR is much, much more than a few Politico rejects. And Public Radio is much, much more than NPR (NPR is only one distribution channel). Complain about the bad coverage, but support what’s good about NPR and Public Radio and your local station.

    We don’t want all of radio to be Sinclair and I Heart Radio dreck, do we?

    /soapbox

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  134. 134.

    Corner Stone

    @OzarkHillbilly: Not sure if you’ve visited Rice but it’s a great school with a beautiful, at times tranquil campus. Excellent location with a lot of dining choices within bike ride (for the most part).
    Now, it’s still enveloped in The Greater Houston Metro Area’s weather pain, suffering and hellish summers – but, the location and campus can somewhat mitigate the worst of the extremes.

  139. 139.

    Amir Khalid

    @frosty:
    Don’t worry. My gear acquisition plan is all but complete. The last thing to get is the acoustic, and then that’s it. I’ve decided I don’t need an EDS-1275 or an SG or an ES-335 or a cool Gretsch rockabilly thing or a Marshall JCM-800 full stack. For now, anyway (he said innocently).

  141. 141.

    Corner Stone

    @Amir Khalid:

    My gear acquisition plan is all but complete. The last thing to get is the acoustic, and then that’s it.

    *Rubs hands together evilly while chuckling a small evil chuckle*

  143. 143.

    Platonailedit

    Adam Schiff says that the House Intelligence Committee is going to be looking at the issue of possible money laundering by the Trump Organization. "And Deutsche Bank is one obvious place to start,” Schiff added. https://t.co/DIKD4D2I0C— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 15, 2018

    That’s right, make the totus thug’s holidays totally miserable.

  144. 144.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Corner Stone: Nah, never been there (since I stopped caving I’ve had little reason to travel thru Texas) I know it by reputation only. One of these days maybe I’ll get back to Texas for a visit with all the relatives I still have there, but it sure as hell won’t be during the months of May thru September. Got enough Texas summers to last me a life time when I was a kid.

  145. 145.

    Platonailedit

    Adam Schiff plans to conduct an investigation parallel to Mueller's, probing Trump's connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other places."It became clear that he wasn't just planning to cross Trump's red line—he intended to obliterate it." https://t.co/DIKD4D2I0C— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 15, 2018

  146. 146.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid:

    My gear acquisition plan is all but complete.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… GACK!… URCK!… My chest!!!

  148. 148.

    JR

    @Another Scott: PRX is awesome. I support them directly. Also shows like Radiolab and TAL. I don’t listen to the radio at all anymore, thanks to podcasts, Libby (which allows you to stream audiobooks from your local library), and (to a lesser extent) Spotify.

  149. 149.

    Immanentize

    @Kayla Rudbek: he is going for Computer science/engineering. He will either perfect the autonomous vehicle, solve global warming with 0s and 1s, create Skynet, or work for NASA and get the hell off the planet and go to Mars…. All seem equally possible.

  151. 151.

    tobie

    @Platonailedit: I’m assuming Schiff has chosen to investigate money laundering instead of collusion because he doesn’t want to duplicate Mueller’s investigation. There are so many crimes out there–let Mueller take collusion, and the House Intelligence Committee can expose what a criminal Trump is in his supposed real estate business. I’m particularly glad he’s looking into Trump and Deutsche Bank because that investigation will eventually cast a spotlight on Trump’s contact at the bank, the son of Justice Anthony Kennedy. It would be great to see Justice Kennedy’s reputation dragged through the mud.

  153. 153.

    Ken

    @Gin & Tonic: Interesting, though it’s a little hard to tell when “Russia” in the article refers to the Russian Orthodox Church, and when to the government. Assuming there’s any difference nowadays.

  154. 154.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I had the same reaction. My cousin is a guitarist and he gave up the purchase of guitars three years ago. Except for the Gibson hollow body and the limited edition fender signed by Alex Lifeson. Oh, and the camp acoustic with aliens and cows painted on it. But, no more guitars!!

  155. 155.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: I still find it amusing that we traveled in some of the same circles for close to 30 years and bump into each other on this here blog. ? Will see Higgins today if I pull myself out of this rain funk and leave my house. Red working here tomorrow. ?

  158. 158.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: The Russian O. church must be upset to lose Ukranian parishes (and their $). Is Constantinople taking back supervision? Or is Ukraine now independent from all?

  160. 160.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople essentially reversed the 1686 decision that put the churches in Ukraine under the Moscow Patriarchate, allowing the Kyiv Patriarchate to take control. So (assuming this weekend’s conclave goes as expected) it will be independent.

  161. 161.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Immanentize: Re Rice 57 to 61–

    * in the fall of 57, our class was the first in which women students lived on campus. Before, women lived in an apartment cmomplex.

    * the fall of 57 there was a panty raid on Jones College, the women’s college, by guys from the 4 men’s colleges. A large plate glass window-wall was broken.

    * in the late 50s, early 60s, Rice was a powerhouse in the SouthWest conference. We went to the Cotton Bowl my freshman year (I got to attend!) and to the Sugar Bowl my sophomore or senior year.

    * when I was at Rice, EVERY freshman had to take 1 semester of calculus and 1 of analytic geometry. They later dropped this requirement IIRC. I was sorry. I liked being the only German grad student with this math background

  163. 163.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    If he does start skynet, can we come up with a code word now so all the Jackals can escape somewhere? We already have the dogs needed for detecting terminators.

  165. 165.

    Amir Khalid

    @Immanentize:
    In my defence, I have tried to get value for money. A Strat, a Les Paul, a Tele, an acoustic, a multi-efx pedal, and a 100W digital amp for a total of US$1,200 or so is pretty good going, I reckon.

  167. 167.

    Coldie

    As a liberal Democrat whose healthcare was destroyed after the ACA went into effect (part time private sector union), I have had a hard time navigating the insurance industry. I went along the best I could, and understood that the limitations during passage of the law. Everyone in my financial position was made poorer by this industry friendly, non-socialized status quo health care plan. As years have gone by, it gets harder and harder for me especially during the Trump age, to justify and support Barack Obama’s signature achievement, which is working weaker and more conservative every day. Obama care is not the plan anyone who supported Barack Obama from the left wanted and it has aged poorly. My generations healthcare costs have gone up, our wages have gone down, and our Trumpy present and future looks grim. I pay close attention to politics and understand how we got to this place, but every day since 2016, the previous Democratic administration has looked worse and worse in the rearview mirror. I honestly can’t see a good thing about the affordable care act and I know there was no public option opportunity, but they should have tried harder. They should’ve vocalize more what they wanted for a real healthcare system. I know this is a common complaint, but there’s more water goes Under the bridge , The more Uncaring,conservative, and out of touch the Obama administration looks. I can’t support this half assed health care plan. If the ACA is some monumental win for the Democratic Party, it says plenty about why Republicans are in control of our government. Barack Obama, your signature achievement is a conservative industry entrenching failure, and I can’t defend it on its merits.

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    @Coldie: Purity kills.

    The PPACA passed with no votes to spare. It is objectively the best that could be done at the time.

    Progress is always incremental. Without a GOP House and Senate, and Roberts as CJ on the SCOTUS, lots of changes could (and probably would) have been made before January 2017 to make the PPACA better.

    Sorry that you don’t see that. Once you do, you’ll recognize who the real enemies of progress are…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Gin & Tonic:
    As Raven said, we still got Nixon.
    And I’m not so sure he won’t see a cell. I agree that I don’t think he will, but his crimes seem so wide spread, so overwhelmingly corrupt, so overwhelmingly “treasonous,” that it’s hard to see him retiring to a life of no cost for it all. If half the stuff we think he did is true, the fate of the country deserves that he pays a heavy penalty for it all. For if he doesn’t, others will follow in the same path. That has to be stopped or we really are a third world nation. Or less.

  171. 171.

    Mart

    Being a Missourian I just want to say fuck crooked Josh Hawley our former AG who co-sponsored this case, and future Senator who won with ads stating if elected he will “end this preexisting condition mess once and for all”. Also fuck all my “R” friends and acquaintances who told me that I did not understand that the terrible Obummercare has to go, to make room for a better plan. Read Hawley has a good chance of going to jail. Pray to the FSM it happens soon.

  172. 172.

    Coldie

    @Another Scott:

    All of that is well known and understood. Purity has little to do with it for me. My future votes are looking more locked in by the day. I’m no purist Bernie or bust fool. I have weathered the Aca s destruction of my part-time union health benefits standards and its downward pull on my job and quality of life. But when I step back and look big picture at 2008 through 2016, I see failed opportunity after failed opportunity. From trying for a grand bargain all the way through his reelection campaign, his weak tea half tax cut recovery program, to not informing the public about Russian meddling in our election before Trump stole 2016, ending with the affordable care act a massive conservative failure that puts liberals on the defense on healthcare for the for seeable future. Barack Obama did a horrible job by my laxest center left standards. I always think back to his fondness for Reagan, that should’ve been a huge red flag for everyone. Trump seems to have a much greater understanding for the Bully pulpit, and he fears his base. The old saying about democrats hating their base is so evident in the way Obama governed. I will never forget before he was even inaugurated, His campaign booked that right wing preacher for his inauguration. Disgusting capitulation to the conservative power structure before he was even in office. A great harbinger for what was to come. Barack Obama should have danced with the one that brought him, instead of undercutting his left flank from beginning to end. If the ACA was the best that the Democratic Party could offer in 2009, that makes it less defensible in hindsight. 9 years later liberals are supposed to carry water for this plan and its architects as acceptable or good enough for the time it passed. That’s just slitting our own throats. Democrats are great at falling on their sword to protect entrenched interests at the expense of their base. Obama is the poster child for that concept. It wasn’t good enough then, and it’s not good enough for now. That’s not purity, that’s reality.

  174. 174.

    Beeb

    @Immanentize: No, I can’t. You have no idea how old that makes me feel! Beyond that, I am enjoying retirement. I miss the students, but not grading exams — and definitely not faculty meetings!

  175. 175.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    Congrats, what a relief to be able to stop dealing with the college application process!

    @Baud:

    Bullshit.

    Welcome back, Baud. I missed you too! Take care and keep in touch, please!

    As a person who watched the final weeks of Watergate with glee, particularly after the Senators visited R M N and told him to flee! Flee! — this now seems to becoming familiar. Trump hiding away. I wonder if Trump hears the portraits on the walls of the Whitehouse talking to him like Nixon did?

  177. 177.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Coldie: Whatever “failed opportunity after failed opportunity” you think you see is just a bunch of patterns on the lining of your colon, because that’s where your head is, you fucking imbecile.

  178. 178.

    Matt

    There’s no way in hell Republicans want this ruling to be upheld by SCOTUS.

    Ezra still holds out hope that Republicans aren’t actually how they are.

  180. 180.

    StringOnAStick

    @Coldie: What the Medicare for all backers fail to realize is the huge entrenched interests of the medical profession, from the now nearly all for-profit hospitals to the doctors and the labs, imaging centers (usually owned by groups of doctors or the same for-profit hospitals), rehab facilities, etc. are the third leg of why it is so difficult to change how health care is practiced and paid for in the US. Do you know why our system is so different from the rest of the western world? At the end of WWII the US had federal wage controls to try to control post-war inflation; one way to offer a higher wage to workers was to give them health insurance since that got around those rules. That’s how we ended up with a for-profit system that has us paying magnitudes more for poorer outcomes covering fewer people and that is tied to employment for the majority of people here; how do you propose to cut into this industry’s multi-nodal profit centers, just by legislative “trying harder”? This shit happens by incremental gains, not by magic. What Europe had post WWII was destroyed infrastructure so there weren’t the entrenched profit centers to fight while setting up universal systems; there was barely medical care at all in many places. Following your logic, should we just burn the whole country down so we can maybe get a universal system somewhere on the other side, if there is one?

    All insurance is about spreading risk, whether car, home, medical, etc. The ACA was a convoluted way of allowing individual buyers to belong to a group and thus take advantage of the risk spreading and thus the reduced premiums that provides, plus provide money for people to buy insurance who made too little to afford it on their own or who did not have employer sponsored plans. The old method for individual buyers was to scour you medical records for any past care and then charge you insurance rates as if you were the only person that company was going to insure, and therefore useful individual policies for anyone who had had more than a simple encounter with the medical system grew ever more expensive to unobtainable for bad diagnoses. I have a Type 1 diabetic friend, the ACA has saved her life because (1) no one will hire her with her expensive disease, and (2) no individual plan pre-ACA would insure her. Are you aware that nearly 75% of the people who ended up in medical bankruptcy had insurance when they first got sick, but lost it once they could no longer work and thus afford the premiums that they had to pay first on COBRA and then as individual buyers pre-ACA? Are you aware that the price of health insurance rises as you age into different age bands here? Are you aware that the cheap policies that Trump has made available again cover so little as to be useless if you have a sudden expensive event?

    Yes, other countries do it better by making it part of your taxes; that’s the ultimate in making everyone pay the same to insure the entire population. Exactly how was that supposed to happen here in one fell swoop, more “try harder” sauce? Some countries require insurance payments that are much more regulated than here (Switzerland is a great example). And saying Obama “should have tried harder” is really the ultimate in naivete’, were you even paying attention then? I watched the cut throat negotiating every damned day during that period and was shocked that ANYTHING passed; when the Republicans finally were outmaneuvered and gave in, I knew they planned next to kill it with a thousand cuts, which is something you’re doing a fine job of helping with. My thought that day was that one thing will be hard to put back in the bottle and that is the idea that everyone has the right to medical care in the US. Do yourself a favor and go read about just how damned hard it was to get universal care in Canada; the ugly fighting went on for years, and their right wing is still trying to kill it every time they gain power. This kind of huge systemic change isn’t just one big “try harder” negotiation. Maybe you’ve noticed that corporations appear to have more power than the voters, exactly how is that going to change unless people pull together and work instead of shitting on the only group with any chance of winning elections by gaining enough support from voters? Utopia sounds great, but the 65% of people who have medical insurance through their jobs aren’t going to throw that aside to join you in your grand medical revolution. That’s realism.

    Oh, and Obama was also dealing with a financial collapse the rivaled the Great Depression, and the stimulus was all the R’s would agree to because they wanted it to fail. What’s that quote from Mitch McConnell on Day 1: his goal was to “ensure that Obama be a one term president”; the level of obstruction was incredible, and maybe even a bit racist motivation was involved for a good ol’ boy like Mitch.

    The US medical care system is incredibly expensive and incredibly complex, and until we can get some control on the costs, insurance is going to be expensive here. Quite frankly, you sound more like a “piss on everything” individual who wants $5/month medical insurance with $50,000/month of care and can’t figure out why the math doesn’t work. I shouldn’t have even bothered to answer your comments; it’s a waste of time.

  183. 183.

    Coldie

    Wow. Scanning for meaningful rebuttal…. I’ll come back later. That’s what I get for shouting into the void. Democrats are so clueless. Our reality is less of a surprise every day. Sorry the Obama administration and it’s party was wholly inadequate for my generation and my children fellow voting Democrats, but I think it is a reality our party better deal with if we want to win elections! Calling me and my generation stupid and ignoring political reality brought us to this point. Do better.

  184. 184.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Coldie: You must be new here. This is a blog where most of the people focus on the practical – raising money for candidates, helping register voters, getting them to the polls, working with their local Democratic (precinct/town/city/county) organizations, and understand that progress is incremental, which means that sometimes you settle for half a loaf because that’s all you’ll get. Waltzing in here, telling everyone they suck and should have just “tried harder” is not a prescription for meaningful dialogue.

    But you do you. Most of the rest of us will be working for the Democrats, because the alternative is horrible.

  186. 186.

    J R in WV

    @Coldie:

    So you don’t like the ACA after the Republicans have spent the past 8 years tearing it up, and you blame President Obama? Good thinking, you russian troll. Or republican, no difference there.

    I can’t tell for sure whether your attitude is the result of racism or right-wing nut job inclinations, or love for the mother country of Russia. No difference, really. Fuq you, ass. With the traditional farm implements!

  187. 187.

    J R in WV

    @Coldie:

    There is no meaningful rebuttal to nonsense from someone with hard-core delusions about how the political world works. Several folks have spent a lot of time and energy patiently explaining why your viewpoint is delusional and plain old wrong, and because you are as delusional as Trump you can’t even read what they wrote.

    You are an enemy of the people, and an enemy of democracy, since it doesn’t cater to your delusional whims.

    Go away, back to St Petersburg, you russian troll.

  188. 188.

    The Gray Adder

    Predictions are as worthless as one of Trump’s promises. I wouldn’t even put money on what Roberts would do this time, let alone what Kavanaugh would do. It’s what we get when our elected leaders accept “it’s settled law” for an answer. Sure, it’s settled law…until it isn’t. And who gets to say when it isn’t.

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