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A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Grace Notes

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Grace Notes

by Anne Laurie|  December 19, 20184:46 am| 130 Comments

This post is in: A Woman's Place Is In The House, C.R.E.A.M., Don't Agonize - Organize, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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PELOSI not budging. Just told a small group of reporters: "The wall is not about money. The wall is about morality. It’s the wrong thing to do. It doesn’t work. Its not effective. It’s the wrong thing to do and it’s a waste of money."

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) December 18, 2018

Trump backs off demand for $5 billion for border wall, but Democrats reject new GOP offer which Pelosi said would entail "a billion-dollar slush fund for the president to implement his very wrong immigration policies” https://t.co/lk4zA1xboU #ImWithNancy #TeamPelosi LIKE A BOSS

— HawaiiDelilah (@HawaiiDelilah) December 18, 2018

Helaine Olin, in the Washington Post, “Nancy Pelosi is the heroine the resistance to Trump needs”:

… Middle-aged and older women have often found their efforts dismissed and derided. Hillary Clinton has faced repeated demands that she exit public life, something men who failed to win a presidential election such as Al Gore, John F. Kerry, John McCain and Mitt Romney did not contend with to the same degree. Elizabeth Warren’s mishandling of her claims of Native American ancestry continue to receive an incredible amount of attention, while her strong, decades-long advocacy of consumer financial issues, of the sort that were at the heart of the Great Recession and our age of inequality, are somehow deemed secondary. When it comes to Democratic candidates who lost their elections in 2018, Beto O’Rourke, 46, is described as presidential material, while Stacey Abrams, 45, who frankly came a lot closer to winning her race, for governor in Georgia, seems all but forgotten. How does that work again?

Yet a study in the journal Democracy pointed out that women of a certain age played a pivotal role in the resistance to Trump, pouring their energies into volunteer roles on political campaigns, writing postcards, knocking on doors and making calls. These foot soldiers, the article noted, are typically “women from mid-life to early retirement years.” But thanks to the way bias works, they remain underrepresented when it comes to public attention. Yes, these younger women get derided more than men — as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, pointed out on Twitter earlier this week, “Double standards are Paul Ryan being elected at 28 and immediately being given the benefit of his ill-considered policies considered genius; and me winning a primary at 28 to immediately be treated with suspicion & scrutinized, down to my clothing, of being a fraud” — but they are also heralded as the future…

I am not arguing Pelosi is perfect. She is not. But she has decades of experience in both life and politics, and she used it to great impact on Tuesday. Trump has a preternatural instinct for reality-television-like spectacles, and it’s a rare person, male or female, who gets the better of him when it comes to getting down in the mud. But Pelosi took her greater experience and understanding of policy and the legislative process, not to mention the knowledge that men often put women down because they fear their laughter and contempt, and used it to give a master class in how to show up Trump as the blustering, less-than-well-informed bully he is. It was a bravura performance.

Also important, from the “architect of the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina”:

Some Republicans say Trump has torn up their party by pushing a non-conservative agenda. Not true. His character is bad & his policies are bad, but his policies are the extreme policies of extreme conservatives that have been extreme for a long time.

— Rev. Dr. Barber (@RevDrBarber) December 18, 2018

He says in public what the extremists who’ve hikacked the GOP practice in private & in policy.

— Rev. Dr. Barber (@RevDrBarber) December 18, 2018

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Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 5:08 am

    It is morning, I’ll leave the ‘good’ or otherwise to the individual reader

  2. 2.

    MazeDancer

    December 19, 2018 at 5:26 am

    It is definitely going to make a difference for the media to be able to quote fierce Nancy Pelosi. If they’ll quote her.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 5:27 am

    Here’s to all the non-blech women just elected at all levels of govt. Hope they have the stomach for the tsunami of blech headed their way.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 5:33 am

    @MazeDancer: They’ll quote her. Nothing like a good villain to drive the page clicks..

  5. 5.

    geg6

    December 19, 2018 at 5:45 am

    Today is my last day of work until January 3. I just want to get through today. It’s been a very, very stressful fall semester and I’m ready to forget about work for a few weeks.

    My John and I are getting a new tv for ourselves for a Christmas. Did our research, found the best price and went to buy it last evening. Got to the store and there were none but the display model. Asked a clerk to check and she said her computer told her they had eleven. She went to double check and find one for us. An hour later, she still can’t find them and thinks they may be in the storage area they have up in the steel roof rafters, but not sure. Told us to come back today. And no, she couldn’t reserve one for us because they haven’t been “scanned in,” whatever that means. What a pain in the ass. But the price is great so I’m going to keep my mouth shut about how much a PITA I feel this is.

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 5:47 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 5:48 am

    @geg6:
    Congratulations on the time off.
    Hope that you get the tv?

  8. 8.

    Repatriated

    December 19, 2018 at 5:51 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    the tsunami of blech

    Rotating tag nominee.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 5:57 am

    I love Nancy Smash. Glad to see her appreciated in real time, particularly when the rightwing noise machine is being exposed as a refuge, employer and developer of liars.

    That is grace. Happy Countdown to Christmas Week: Claus minus six.

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 5:58 am

    @geg6:
    unless you return & they still can’t find one but offer you a great deal on a different set

    they do that & you should start talking to the manager and if necessary work your way up to the state AG

  11. 11.

    JGabriel

    December 19, 2018 at 6:03 am

    Helaine Olin @ WaPo via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Hillary Clinton has faced repeated demands that she exit public life, something men who failed to win a presidential election such as Al Gore, John F. Kerry, John McCain and Mitt Romney did not contend with to the same degree.

    Not really the point, I know, but to be fair, I do think Al Gore gets the same kind of demands and derision, to an extent approaching the same degree, as Hillary Clinton.

    That’s not to say that women politicians don’t contend with a whole ‘nother level of hatred and vituperation above what’s typically dished out to men. Of course they do. It’s just to point out that there’s also a whole ‘nother level of hatred and vituperation that the mainstream media dishes out to Democrats over Republicans, regardless of gender, which we shouldn’t forget about.

    I think the hatred on the right, and in much of the media, for both Clinton and Gore is so extreme that it gets hard to differentiate how much of that is due to each being Democrats and how much is due to the policies they each individually represent and symbolize – more empowerment for women and sustainable pro-environment policies, both of which are, of course, general Democratic goals too.

    And, on that note, back to topic: Thank the FSM for Nancy Smash!

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 6:10 am

    The holidays can be a stressful time for everyone.
    Parents are pushed to their very limits by the spoiled demands of their horrible, bratty kids. Those same kids face the constant surveillance of an obese, bearded adult with an unnerving interest in children and an army of shelved elves cataloging their every move. And of course, every decent able-bodied man and woman in the country is exhausted from tirelessly fighting in the trenches as the War on Christmas stretches into yet another year.

    But even as we all struggle to make it through another holiday season, we would do well to spare a thought for the most overtaxed group of them all: the humble Amazon delivery driver. Considering the veritable mountain of packages each must ferry to its destination before the year’s end, it’s understandable that they wouldn’t always be operating at their best.

    It’s a lesson Sherri Pruitt of Fairmont City, Illinois, learned the hard way this week, when one such overburdened delivery driver apparently simply hurled her packages onto her front lawn, driving their vehicle through the grass and leaving deep tire marks on her property in the process.

  13. 13.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    December 19, 2018 at 6:13 am

    @JGabriel: The Village always hated Bill Clinton and those connected to him.

  14. 14.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    December 19, 2018 at 6:18 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: That behavior by Amazon’s Uber-style delivery drivers isn’t limited to the holidays.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 6:25 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Wouldn’t know. My wife’s stuff always comes via USPS or UPS.

  16. 16.

    gene108

    December 19, 2018 at 6:25 am

    Going to be glued to The Today Show today. My niece is in the NYC Children’s Chorus, and they will be performing on the show today.

  17. 17.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 6:27 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Sadly, those drivers are under intense pressure. They have to hit ridiculous numbers of deliveries in limited time. This will end like Domino’s 30 minute BS. Someone(s) are going to be killed by a panicked driver trying to make quota and Amazon will be shocked, SHOCKED! to think drivers would respond like that. A large settlement & public scrutiny will lead to changes but not really

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 6:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Did you know that USPS delivers more of UPS and FedEx packages than they do? Both have contracts with USPS because it is cheaper than having their own people. Despite USPS paying a living wage with great benefits.

    My favorite Amazon delivery story is the time I got an email from them saying “We delivered you package & here is a photo of it on your steps” The picture was of my package sitting on the steps of a house I didn’t recognize

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 6:32 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Clinton Derangement Syndrome. It’s a real thing at the New York Times. Probably gets some people promoted and hired.

    Albeit: no Clinton involved in the NY Times’ epic takedown of the unfortunate Bluebird New York restaurant, an overpriced Brit import. In the Times Warner Center. A mall with media.

    Critic Pete Wells (who apparently cut Guy Fieri a new one a few years back): What If Brexit Were a Restaurant?

    … up front, next to the desk where the hosts have mastered the art of checking reservations without making eye contact, is a cafe-slash-wine bar. A glass case there serves as a temporary prison for aging pastries and tragic snacks.

    … [The oversized menus] are best approached as if you were doing a word search, by unfocusing the eyes and waiting until the letters organize themselves into recognizable patterns. Look, here’s butternut squash soup. This must be fluke — no, fluke crudo. Long Island. Burrata.

    …. When you have finished the puzzle, please savor the warm feeling of accomplishment for a moment, because it goes away once the food arrives.

    And then the food gets savaged. Although, apparently the cheese straws are excellent, and Wells likes the toffee pudding dessert.

    As for drinking dinner, or just stopping by for a drink: Maybe not.

    Ultimately, though, I preferred the blunt approach that one of the bartenders took with one of my guests. Looking over the long list of old and new cocktails, she asked the bartender which he would recommend.

    “If you want to drink something that tastes good,” he said, “I wouldn’t order anything off our menu.”

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 19, 2018 at 6:32 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    The Village always hated Bill Clinton and those connected to him.

    Twenty years ago today, the House voted to impeach Bill Clinton.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    December 19, 2018 at 6:36 am

    @Schlemazel:

    Of course, Amazon could always hire more drivers, and if they have trouble finding more drivers, they could raise the amount they pay them. But then that minuscule hike in labor costs might drive down the stock prices and Bezos’ net worth. Better to have these poor folk do dangerous things instead.

  22. 22.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 6:39 am

    @gene108:
    Welcome to America at the dawn of the 21st century

  23. 23.

    satby

    December 19, 2018 at 6:40 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah and everyone ?!
    The last orders from my website will go out today, tomorrow and Saturday will be the last market days before Christmas, and then I have four glorious days of …cleaning the house. Miss Haversham would feel right at home here.

  24. 24.

    Ramiah Ariya

    December 19, 2018 at 6:41 am

    Son (9 year old) and I watched the whole Trump/Pelosi/Schumer thing. My impression was actually that Pelosi gave Trump an escape route by telling him that they should have an “evidence-based” discussion without the press. This was very nice of her, because it is clear that discussing Trump’s immigration lies before the press would SEEM like nit-picking, but she was basically giving him a way out of having that in front of the press.
    To me, politicians should always fight with Trump the way she did – which is by calling his bluff about the vote in the House. MEDIA should be calling out the lies. It is not a good idea for Democratic politicians screaming at Trump in live TV.
    I respect her a lot for that choice.

  25. 25.

    evodevo

    December 19, 2018 at 6:42 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: LOLOL – I’m a mail carrier and we all HATE Amazon – they overburden us with hundreds of packages a day, demand that they be delivered THAT DAY OR ELSE, and management refuses to hire extra help to alleviate the mess. We’ve all come to HATE the Xmas season with a passion. I’ve been doing 12 hour days, 6 days a week for 3 weeks, and the crunch is yet to come.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 6:44 am

    Entire Tiny House Stolen in St. Louis Because St. Louis Has No Shame

    In a city where many of us leave our car doors unlocked in the hopes that thieves will try the door first before smashing in a window, it’s no surprise that pretty much anything that isn’t chained to the ground might be lifted by crafty criminals. But what we didn’t expect was for somebody to steal a whole damn house.

    The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Meghan Panu’s unfinished tiny house was hitched to a trailer and “parked near the corner of Michigan and Gravois avenues outside Refab, a popular spot for home remodeling supplies” when it was stolen early Saturday morning.

    I have long had a policy of leaving my truck doors unlocked when parking it out in the middle of nowhere and have complained ad nauseum when returning from long ridge walks before the owner of the vehicle holding the beer cooler did:

    “Great job of keeping your friends away from the beer. Do you really think a thief is going to be shy about busting all the glass out of your truck to steal your CD player?”

  27. 27.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 6:48 am

    @gene108:
    Yeah????

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 6:49 am

    Have Morning Joe online on in background, and rather enjoying it. The worm has turned.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 6:49 am

    @evodevo:

    ???

  30. 30.

    satby

    December 19, 2018 at 6:52 am

    @evodevo: I hear ya! And thanks to you and all your fellow post office employees, because what you get accomplished during the holiday season is just freaking amazing! I wish everyone appreciated how much we all depend on you guys.

  31. 31.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 6:55 am

    @evodevo:
    I respect the hell out of you guys, it is a tough job and you get no respect or recognition. Not from the public and not even from your management.

    I’m old enough to remember when they used to do 2 a day delivers the week before Christmas now they just make you carry twice as much at one time

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 6:55 am

    @evodevo: Yea evodevo! The end is in sight. Thank you for delivering the holidays.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 6:57 am

    They just had USPS ad on MSNBC online. Postal carrier meets her competition, and his reindeer.

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    December 19, 2018 at 7:03 am

    @gene108: There is an acute shortage of delivery drivers, which is why so many tech companies are desperate for self-driving cars and delivery via drones. Not clear raising wages will help at this point.

  35. 35.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 7:05 am

    Of course, the fuckers did.

    Facebook has been caught on the back foot again over its data privacy practices, following an investigation by the New York Times.

    The newspaper has disclosed fresh details about ways the social network shared access to users’ data with other tech firms, including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify and Yandex.

    In some cases, the other companies have said they were not even aware they had special access.

    Facebook has defended its behaviour.

  36. 36.

    Raven

    December 19, 2018 at 7:06 am

    @Schlemazel: Right, take to the fucking Supreme Court!

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 7:07 am

    Where’s Baud?

    @Barbara: I think raising wages and improving work conditions would get you a lot of delivery drivers. Lot of people out of work who could do it. But not for pennies, and at danger to life and one’s own vehicle.

    The jobless rate does not include those who have just given up, but could be enticed.

    Also, amazed to see there is now a company (Turo) that enables people to rent out their own vehicles to others. Caught that ad on MSNBC. It never ends.

  38. 38.

    Raven

    December 19, 2018 at 7:08 am

    @evodevo: I worked as a handler in the SCF that processed Columbia Record Club returns!

  39. 39.

    debbie

    December 19, 2018 at 7:10 am

    @MazeDancer:

    Morality is exactly where the focus on the Wall should be. Go, Nancy!

  40. 40.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 7:10 am

    @Ramiah Ariya: Yup, the thug will always ‘win’ that shout fest because of his utterly meaningless gishgallop bs.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 7:13 am

    @Elizabelle: And beats his ass to a bloody pulp with her mail bag, screaming repeatedly, “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

  42. 42.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 7:15 am

    @Raven:
    I have been subjected to bait & switch twice. One time a discussion with the big box manager convinced him he could get me the promised item in two days despite the sales rep claiming they could no longer find any anywhere. The second time I got nothing from the manager or the customer service people at corporate but a letter from the state AGs office prompted them to make good on the deal that had been offered (a car so we are not talking about small change)
    The thing is if we allow bait and switch they will continue to pull it. It the store claims they have 10 but can’t find them I suppose that is possible but if they jerk you around stall have you come back & they suggest they have something similar you might want to press them on the matter

  43. 43.

    debbie

    December 19, 2018 at 7:20 am

    @Schlemazel:

    Amazon also has them delivering on Sundays, which could be a cause for the increased crankiness.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 7:22 am

    I, for one, am SO glad that Cong. Moulton has made that shrieking harpy, Pelosi, see that she’s too old and out-of-touch, and should step aside for one of the men-folk. His honorable and totally altruistic crusade brought into focus what a corp-o-Dem she is, and that she also needs to be more bipartisan, and try to work with Cong. Moulton’s President to protect America’s borders from the brown hordes attempting to take away our freedoms. Which they hate us for.

    Or something like that.

  45. 45.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 19, 2018 at 7:23 am

    Barber is right. A lot of the objections to Trump are aesthetic. They’re fine with his substance. They just don’t like his style.

  46. 46.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 7:24 am

    FT Person of the Year: George Soros

    The venom, long concealed among extreme right networks, has leaked into the mainstream: Mr Trump, who resents Mr Soros’ support for the Democrats, has peddled allegations that he funded the caravan of central American migrants, claims that have appeared to have partly inspired the October attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

    Facebook also joined the disinformation campaign, commissioning research that tried to discredit the billionaire. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief financial officer, suspected him of shorting Facebook stock after he hit at the social network in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    The world, according to Mr Soros, is in a state of revolutionary ferment. But he is not losing hope, even for Britain, where he is encouraged by the prospects for a second Brexit referendum. Yet a new vote, he says, would have to be won with a significant margin because Britain must remain in the EU with conviction, rather than for pure economic calculation.

    How many Soros checks did FT get?

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 7:25 am

    @Barbara:

    There is an acute shortage of delivery drivers, which is why so many tech companies are desperate for self-driving cars and delivery via drones. Not clear raising wages will help at this point.

    I don’t know about that. Maybe they ought to try raising the wages before declaring that it won’t bring more people in? Say maybe raise the computed wage to $20 or $25 per hour and see how many McDonald’s employees decide that hovering over a fryer for 8 hrs a day in 100 degree plus temps for $10/hr doesn’t sound near as attractive.

  48. 48.

    Nicole

    December 19, 2018 at 7:27 am

    @JGabriel:

    Not really the point, I know, but to be fair, I do think Al Gore gets the same kind of demands and derision, to an extent approaching the same degree, as Hillary Clinton.

    No. No he didn’t. He got attacked for being fat and living in a big house while he was promoting his environmental projects, but no one said he should go away and sit down and shut up for the good of the Democratic Party. Nowhere near the same. It’s not the same.

    I do agree that the Democratic party gets hammered in the media in a way the Republicans don’t, but, as an article in, I think it was Slate, pointed out, the Democratic Party is the feminine party and the Republican Party is the masculine party, so in the end, the generalized attacks on Democrats come back to the same thing.

    Ah, here’s the Slate article: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/10/brett-kavanaugh-democratic-party-fallout-anger.html

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 7:27 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Oh, I’m quite sure that towering pillars of strength Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, and Susan Collins have major policy disagreements with their president. And it’s not a style thing, as evidenced by the many time they bucked him.

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 7:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Maybe they ought to try raising the wages before declaring that it won’t bring more people in?

    Commie.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    December 19, 2018 at 7:30 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  52. 52.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 19, 2018 at 7:32 am

    Re Amazon, I had a skype meeting with my editor a couple of weeks ago. Inspired Quill is in the process of redesigning their web site, and she was telling me they’re trying to draw in searchers who have had it with Amazon. She somehow knew that in the UK over some recent period of time, X people searched for “online sales not Amazon.” Small presses like it when you buy on their site anyway because then they don’t have to give Amazon or any other online retailer a cut.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    December 19, 2018 at 7:33 am

    @Elizabelle: I am here.

  54. 54.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 7:34 am

    Soros is a banned word?

    ok, ft linky not working. Soros is the FT person of the year.

    The venom, long concealed among extreme right networks, has leaked into the mainstream: Mr Trump, who resents Mr Soros’ support for the Democrats, has peddled allegations that he funded the caravan of central American migrants, claims that have appeared to have partly inspired the October attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

    Facebook also joined the disinformation campaign, commissioning research that tried to discredit the billionaire. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief financial officer, suspected him of shorting Facebook stock after he hit at the social network in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

    The world, according to Mr Soros, is in a state of revolutionary ferment. But he is not losing hope, even for Britain, where he is encouraged by the prospects for a second Brexit referendum. Yet a new vote, he says, would have to be won with a significant margin because Britain must remain in the EU with conviction, rather than for pure economic calculation.

  55. 55.

    Betty

    December 19, 2018 at 7:34 am

    As one of them I was pleased to see Olin give some credit to those lady Boomers who are not Trumpsters.

  56. 56.

    Barbara

    December 19, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @Elizabelle: Apparently a lot of people who consider driving professionally are spooked by the prospect of being phased out by autonomous cars, but you are right in that during the crush of the holidays, getting additional temporary drivers through higher wages might be feasible. But remember where those drivers are most needed are places that have the tightest labor markets. I get most of my gifts the old fashioned way.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @Baud: Yea. Happy Claus minus Six.

  58. 58.

    Nicole

    December 19, 2018 at 7:35 am

    @evodevo: Thanks for everything you do! For what it’s worth, I love our route’s mail carriers (I live in NYC)- one of them even noticed a weekend delivery person had dropped a package of mine at the building next door and brought it back to my building. She’s the best.

    I also adore our regular UPS delivery guy. We had a brief run of theft of packages in our building (not uncommon in the city- people on the street will get themselves buzzed into a building and make off with packages left in the lobby) and when it was mentioned to him, he started piling packages in a spot where they couldn’t be seen from the front door, to dissuade thievery. The cops finally nabbed our particular thieves, but he still puts the packages out of street view.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    December 19, 2018 at 7:35 am

    @Nicole:

    I think it was Slate, pointed out, the Democratic Party is the feminine party and the Republican Party is the masculine party,

    Dems are also the minority party and the GOP the white party, which compounds the effect.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 7:36 am

    @Platonailedit:
    Paywall

  61. 61.

    TS (the original)

    December 19, 2018 at 7:37 am

    @Elizabelle: I just tuned in and they are giving air space to a GOP senator to give his viewpoint on all sorts of issues – about which trump hasn’t a clue and the GOP are quite happy to blame Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. So they are still both siding many issues

  62. 62.

    Kay

    December 19, 2018 at 7:41 am

    The DeVos school shooting report is really bad.

    It’s what people want to believe about school shooters. That they’re from bad families, or they play a lot of video games, or they’re bullied. Some of that might be true about some of them, but it isn’t true about all of them, or even most of them. It isn’t useful for identification or prevention. It’s packed with Right wing beliefs about things they believe are just generally “wrong”- for example- schools (allegedly) don’t hire enough veterans (nothing to back up this claim) and then a claim that is almost certainly wrong, that POLICE (school security officers) don’t hire enough veterans. “Hiring veterans” may be an issue but it’s not an issue that belongs in a school shooting report.

    It’s odd because it’s ideologically-driven garbage with the exception of the mental health piece, which is all covered ground- boilerplate mental health information that every public school in the country already has- but at least it’s reality-based ground.

    Somehow the mental health people seem to have minimized the negative influence of the low quality Trump hires on their section – it’s not GOOD work, in the sense that it contributes value, but at least it’s somewhat relevant and accurate.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 7:42 am

    Nancy Smash rocks ????

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 7:42 am

    @SFAW: Commie? And here I thought the laws of supply and demand were the bedrock of capitalism!

    It is funny the number of times I have had to push back on the argument that “people just don’t want to work hard anymore”. When I point out the poverty wages being offered and suggest maybe they should try raising the pay, they always get this slightly surprised look on their faces that suggest, “What a novel idea!”

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 7:45 am

    @Nicole: There is the benefit of a community member doing the work, with pride and courtesy, on an ongoing basis. Not going to get that level of service from the gig economy, and it is foolish to pretend so. (Of course, those who fund the “disruptors” are rarely those who deal much with the service interface or lose what they liked and enjoyed previously.)

    I hope the Democrats push through with protecting the USPS, and enabling postal banks — get the big predators out of the mix. Make it a service, with a small and maybe regulated profit margin. Or even not a profit — give people access to banking services, even if they don’t have much $$$.

    @TS (the original): what I loved was Lankford pointing out that Pelosi can’t negotiate anything until she is in charge. They is waiting on the wimmens and their colleagues to come in and clean up. Clear that Paul Ryan has already hit (the road) and run.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 7:47 am

    @Barbara: I’m curious what all the tech bros mouthing off about driverless vehicles is doing to the big rig industry. Do you want to take on all that debt if you’re not sure there will be a market for it once you’re ready to get a new vehicle? I think some of the uncertainty and anxiety in our economy, and among the working stiffs, is driven by the (sometimes sociopathic) tech sector running their mouths.

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 7:50 am

    MSNBC Morning Joe is a lot of ads for gig economy. Now grubhub too. That and financial services ads. Hmmmm.

    There was a cut rate little blue pill for ED advertised very early in the program today.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    December 19, 2018 at 7:55 am

    The report has that odd Right wing opinion that “resentment” and “anger” is always justified. Sometimes it isn’t. It’s clear the Columbine and Sandy Hook shooters were isolated and angry but I’m not sure that was the fault of the people around them. You can have irrational anger and resentment, and I’m not sure it’s a good idea to plant the idea that your anger somehow justifies shooting up a school. The root cause of the Columbine shooters resentment seemed to be that they weren’t respected enough- given their due as superior human beings. That’s not an ordinary or acceptable demand to make on other people. They won’t get that, and they shouldn’t get it.

  69. 69.

    satby

    December 19, 2018 at 7:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I couldn’t read it because I dropped my WaPo subscription, but there was an article yesterday about how GOP driven government policies have decimated the middle class in this country. I was hoping someone here would front page it, seemed like one of those articles that should be more widely disseminated.

  70. 70.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 7:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Atrios has been beating that drum for awhile, at least five years I think. I doubt any Captains of Industry will have an epiphany in that regard, not even in 18 days.

    And yer a commie because yer suggestion was blatantly anti-American: pay a decent wage for shitty work? Why do you hate America?

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 7:59 am

    @Kay:
    Of course it’s garbage….DeVos is garbage ???

  72. 72.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 8:02 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Clear that Paul Ryan has already hit (the road) and run.

    But but but … I thought he was working feverishly to pull together 218 votes for the Wall. You mean he’s not? Oh, right, that’s the woman’s job.

    I would not be unhappy to read of his horrific demise from falling into an industrial cheese grater/shredder.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    December 19, 2018 at 8:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It is funny the number of times I have had to push back on the argument that “people just don’t want to work hard anymore”. When I point out the poverty wages being offered and suggest maybe they should try raising the pay,

    Wouldn’t that just be rewarding the laziness? Moral hazzard!

  74. 74.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 19, 2018 at 8:05 am

    @Kay: I thought about you when I heard about the school shooting report, Kay. The bit I heard said we needed to arm teachers. It all made me sick.

  75. 75.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 8:08 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    That is a message all Dems need to highlight because the GOP will soon be claiming that hair furor was never a conservative and never a Republican.

    The truth is he has implemented exactly the policies the GOP has been fighting for for 50 years, and they have backed him 100% on that.

    Trump is just the symptom, the disease will continue in the GOP even after he has been excised.

  76. 76.

    Daniel'sBob

    December 19, 2018 at 8:11 am

    @Elizabelle: I admit that I wasn’t paying close enough attention at the time, but I heard it as a dig at Pelosi that she WON’T negotiate until she’s in charge.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 8:12 am

    Maybe it’s all a conspiracy by the Harding estate to bump up William Gamaliel in the presidential rankings. //

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @satby: I sent you an email.

    Also, if you’ll give more info on which article it was, I will excerpt here, if you like. Didn’t read much online yesterday.

  79. 79.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @Nicole:
    Have you seen the NASA guys glitter/fart bomb package to deal with theft?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo

    The video is 11 minutes long with the first 4:30 just how he built it. If you only want the payoff jump ahead. Karma is a beastie!

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    December 19, 2018 at 8:13 am

    Good morning, everyone.

    Froomkin’s White House Watch:

    The Russian government — which laid plans for a Trump presidency when almost no one else seriously considered the possibility – started worrying about impeachment the minute he was elected.

    That’s one of the findings in a report produced for the Senate Intelligence Committee on the Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election.

    The report tracked the Russian-government Internet Research Agency’s social media campaign and found a sudden shift after Trump’s surprise victory:

    “There were extremely immediate posts that attempted to pre-empt calls for impeachment,” the report found. In the one example provided, this was achieved “by framing Vice President Mike Pence as an even worse option.”

    According to the report, a post by the fake Facebook group LGBT United on November 10th read (sic): “In case anyone forgot, Mike Pence in the White House would mean disaster for queer people!! I heavily disagree with his policies regarding church and state and his lgbtq policy. I see alot of leftist calling for impeachment or assassination on trump but truely Trump is worlds better than Pence when talking about equal rights for all…”

    The concern that Pence would be worse than Trump on LGBTQ issues is, in fact, quite legitimate — but not coming from pro-Trump Russian hacker trolls.

    […]

    Hmm…

    We’ve got to fight them every single day, and not be deterred by “OMG! Doom and Gloom if we actually protect our country and Constitution!!1” arguments. We are a nation of laws and not of men. If we are willing to fight and work for it…

    Oh, and the drip, drip, drip of how awful Facebook (and much of “social media”) is continues. Of course, users gave their permission to have all of their contact information harvested – they always do. Of course.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  81. 81.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 19, 2018 at 8:15 am

    Trump hasn’t tweeted at all about the Flynn hearing yesterday.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 8:15 am

    @satby: Property rights are the bed rock of all conservative economic thought. Everything else is subservient to it.

    @SFAW: Whadya expect from a union carpenter?

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 8:17 am

    Entertainment Weekly (@EW) Tweeted:
    We can show you the world… of Disney’s live-action #Aladdin! Get a shining, shimmering, splendid first look at the reimagined classic in our magical First Look issue:

    https://t.co/Kwkcdfen5v https://t.co/7NbyiRRcLH https://twitter.com/EW/status/1075370845692940289?s=17

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 8:19 am

    @Baud: And then they want to cut off the flow of low wage farm workers from south of the border.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    December 19, 2018 at 8:21 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The report kicks off with Melania Trump’s anti-bullying…words. School shooters aren’t uniquely or consistently bullied, or even bullies.

    They started with what they wanted to write- opinions and politicking- and then jammed some cites in at the end. My son actually does this, but he’s a sophomore in high school and it’s bad work. I tell him “do it again- it’s not even the assignment”, which he mostly ignores. It’s mediocre high school level work, not even like “extra mile” high school work.

  86. 86.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 19, 2018 at 8:21 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: “Property rights” meaning “what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours should be mine too.”

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Morning Joe is doing it again. What Margaret Sullivan warned about yesterday. Giving too much time to liars (here with clips).

    It’s been about 3 minutes of Fox people running off the mouth about “Judge Sullivan doesn’t stand for prosecutorial misconduct.”

    They subjected everyone to maybe 12 examples. Bad, bad, bad. Two would have done it and established where they were going.

    They’re laughing and debunking it now, but they rolled out a long taped roll of Fox News clips. Stop that shit, Morning Joe.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 8:22 am

    @Another Scott

    Facebook is evil.

    Twitter is eviler.

    Whatever comes up next will be evilest. And people will trample over one other to sign up for it. Rank stupidity, unfortunately, seems not to be an evolutionary detriment.

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 19, 2018 at 8:28 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: “My right to build a CAFO pig farm on my property is more important than your right to manure stench free air!”

  90. 90.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 8:30 am

    @NotMax:

    William Gamaliel in the presidential rankings.

    Warren

  91. 91.

    Feathers

    December 19, 2018 at 8:31 am

    @Elizabelle: The other real issue is That driverless cars require well maintained roads with clear painted lines and uncluttered signage. We haven’t been maintaining our roads for decades. Who is going to pay for these upgrades?

    Not to mention the ease of spoofing.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 8:31 am

    @NotMax

    One another, not one other.

    3 a.m. bleary eyes at work.

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 8:32 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    It appears his babysitters have his phone. This AM has been ‘rational’ BS about our great military

  94. 94.

    Gelfling 545

    December 19, 2018 at 8:33 am

    “I’m not arguing that she’s perfect “
    Seriously? They had to put that in there because really there are some perfect politicians out there? Couldn’t even write an article on a good thing she did without slipping that in there. Always hedging it a little. They did this to HRC all the time too. She did good . Say it and own it. She’s not the lesser of 2 evils; she’s the absolute best at this point in time. She’s Interested in being Speaker of the House, not being canonized. Pisses me off.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 8:34 am

    Denise Oliver-Velez (@Deoliver47) Tweeted:
    Bernie Sanders can’t turn those numbers around. Not in this life. It would require him actually caring about black people – for real, and not simply as an add-on in his stump speeches about white workers. #BernieDoesntFoolBlackWomen

    https://t.co/CeGXhWNrYf https://twitter.com/Deoliver47/status/1075141666254872576?s=17

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 8:35 am

    @SFAW

    Gah! Ack! Of course, you’re correct. Massive brain fail on my part. Maybe that extra double martini wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  97. 97.

    retiredeng

    December 19, 2018 at 8:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Or, in my case, “delivered” to the wrong f’ing address.

  98. 98.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:36 am

    The Honduran mother and her children who were famously photographed fleeing from tear gas as chaos erupted at the U.S.-Mexico border last month are now in the United States, according to two members of Congress. The mother has applied for asylum. https://t.co/gHvwh2bGtT— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 19, 2018

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 8:37 am

    @Feathers: Great point. Hadn’t even thought about that.

    I think a lot of the mouth-running is to obtain venture capital and use the technology developed for some different purpose.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    December 19, 2018 at 8:42 am

    @Gelfling 545: Agreed.

  101. 101.

    Juice Box

    December 19, 2018 at 8:48 am

    @Gelfling 545: The misogyny from my own party depresses me.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    December 19, 2018 at 8:49 am

    @Juice Box: We have to get it out in the open. Sunlight.

  103. 103.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 19, 2018 at 8:51 am

    @Nicole: FYI, for the handful of people here who have never been to Belle Meade, Al Gore’s house is quite large, but so is its array of solar panels.

    Steve in the 314

  104. 104.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 19, 2018 at 8:57 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: don’t be silly. Supply and demand laws apply to goods and services, not wages! Wages should always go down.

  105. 105.

    Gelfling 545

    December 19, 2018 at 9:05 am

    @evodevo: I just love it when UPS hands my packages off to the post office. I know that they will come to the right address (which is in large numbers over my front door but UPS still can’t find it occasionally) and that they will be put in the designated deck box and not left out in the rain or freezing temperatures. My postman is extremely conscientious and knowledgeable about his route. Hurrah for USPS mail carriers I say.

  106. 106.

    Tenar Arha

    December 19, 2018 at 9:09 am

    @gene108: The Chorus was great. Congratulations! (I caught them in the last segment before 9:00 AM).

  107. 107.

    kindness

    December 19, 2018 at 9:14 am

    With all due respect, there are MSM elements who think Senator Professor Warren’s DNA is a major blunder and her work for Consumer Protection are secondary. But these are the same horserace people who only care about web-page clicks and not implementation of any policy. I think most people see Warren as the fighter for the common man. Those who are paid to ignore that and push chaffe instead do so. That the same part of the MSM repeats that and acts as if that is the most important aspect of Warren….well, they are paid to do that. It’s that simple.

  108. 108.

    chopper

    December 19, 2018 at 9:18 am

    @Gelfling 545:

    i know, i absolutely hate that shit. and it’s everywhere. the only people who are going to accuse you of being ‘totally in the tank’ for a politician when you point out something they did right are the sort of people who will do it even if you add some stupid hedge like that.

    it’s like this sort of political hipsterism where you don’t want to be seen as liking anything too much.

  109. 109.

    Kayla Rudbek

    December 19, 2018 at 9:19 am

    For Immamentize: Rice University hearing research

  110. 110.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 9:19 am

    @NotMax:

    Maybe that extra double martini wasn’t such a good idea after all.

    Depends on how much vermouth was in it, I expect. If I understand correctly, the best martini is made by pouring gin into the appropriate glass, then drinking it while looking at a picture of a bottle of vermouth.

    Any more vermouth than that, and it’ll fuck you up. Or so I’m told.

  111. 111.

    Betty Cracker

    December 19, 2018 at 9:23 am

    @rikyrah: I think the Sanders 2020 campaign is in for a very rude awakening. As you point out, he’s been unable to connect with a key pillar of the party, and many Democrats who used to either like him or were neutral to him pre-2016 blame him for undercutting Clinton’s campaign. The Sanders peeps will wail about the unfairness of it all, but it’s a fact that many Democrats see it that way. I don’t think Sanders can overcome that.

  112. 112.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 9:25 am

    Good morning, everyone.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: From the very beginning, many wealthier Trumpers would say, “I just wish he wouldn’t tweet so much.” They didn’t like that he was saying the quiet parts out loud; it embarrassed them.

  113. 113.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 9:33 am

    @Betty Cracker: Since EFG isn’t around, let me say fuckem

  114. 114.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 9:35 am

    So trump is busy today. He’s pulling the troops out of Syria, Mexico is indirectly paying for the wall and the military is building it. It’s unclear whether or not the troops from Syria and the troops building the wall are the same.

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    December 19, 2018 at 9:35 am

    @Kay: I read that the report also recommends rolling back Obama-era guidance to help schools avoid targeting a disproportionate number of minority students for expulsion, even though the overwhelming majority of school shooters are white boys. It sounds like the entire report is a wingnut talking points non sequitur.

  116. 116.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 9:39 am

    @evodevo: When Amazon negotiated with the postal service to lower wages for CCAs and also make everyone work on Sundays I had a conversation with a postal worker in my neighborhood who delivered a package on a Sunday. I told him I was sorry he had to work on Sunday and we both sat and bitched about Amazon’s power over them. He was very well informed.

  117. 117.

    Barbara

    December 19, 2018 at 9:41 am

    @Betty Cracker: However, with real life consequences for minority students whose education is disrupted by disproportionate punishment. Oh, and part of what the regulations did was require monitoring and tracking so that bias could be measured. That’s out the window too, so even though discrimination is still illegal, it will be much harder to prove when it is happening.

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    December 19, 2018 at 9:42 am

    Enemies Within: How Russia Continues to Successfully Infiltrate the Far-Left

    ……………………….

    I think about these ten months a lot. With every new revelation about the Russian influence campaign such as yesterday’s New York Times article, it makes me realize just how successful that campaign was. Think about it this way: a Russian citizen could cause a random American white dude in his mid-20s to go online and bully and intimidate one of his fellow citizens simply because someone said something about his candidate that he didn’t agree with. That is true psychological warfare at its finest. Russia identified susceptible individuals, planted an idea, provided a target, and then directed the masses to engage these individuals in a way to silence them. They made not have used weapons but they did use words to intimidate and threaten American citizens. The Russians knew exactly who they wanted to reach and knew that Bernie Sanders’ supporters had the needed levels of toxic masculinity needed to openly harass women and people of color.

    …………………………………………..

    This battle is personal to me. Not simply because of the death threats I received but because of the fact that this war is not over. I’m a straight, white male so I’m pre-programmed to laugh off the keyboard warriors. But this Russian influence continues to permeate throughout the far left even today. From Justice Democrats to Our Revolution to the Young Turks, when you have so-called “progressive” media continue to demean and debase Hillary Clinton while simultaneously lifting up Bernie Sanders, you know the war is not over. When you have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatening to primary Hakeem Jeffries in her own party, then you know the war is not over. When you see those on the far-left already lining up to attack Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Beto O’Rourke, you know the war is not over. And when you see the far-left to continue to insist that the whole “Russia thing” is not a big deal, you know the war is not over.

    In fact, the war is ongoing. Russia has seen how easily it can take advantage of deep racial and socio-economic divisions that have long existed in our country and they are more than willing to continue to exploit them. And the far-left is more than happy to go along. They have nothing to lose and don’t know enough to realize how interconnected we truly are. The typical BernieBro in his mid-20s cannot see how and why he should care about the refugee crisis on the southern border. He doesn’t see why he should care about women’s reproductive rights. He doesn’t see why he should care about the latest police killing of an unarmed man of color. All this BernieBro cares about is free universal health care and that the billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. Anything other than that is of none of his concern.

  119. 119.

    gene108

    December 19, 2018 at 9:43 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    And executive compensation and bonuses should always go up. It is just science fact at this point in time.

  120. 120.

    gene108

    December 19, 2018 at 9:48 am

    @Tenar Arha:

    Thanks! Proud Uncle ???

  121. 121.

    Betty Cracker

    December 19, 2018 at 9:52 am

    @rikyrah: I wonder if only massive retaliation in kind can stop Russian interference in our elections? That won’t happen until the beneficiaries are out of power, but it’s worth thinking about how to address this, if and when we wrest our democracy away from Putin’s puppet.

  122. 122.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 19, 2018 at 9:54 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Al Gore is fat.

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Supply and demand laws apply to goods and services, not wages! Wages should always go down.

    Goes off to look at my Econ textbooks for that one…

  123. 123.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 19, 2018 at 9:56 am

    @Betty Cracker: He’s also going to find the competition to be much less kindly than Sec. Clinton was.

  124. 124.

    BC in Illinois

    December 19, 2018 at 10:06 am

    @rikyrah:

    Bernie Sanders can’t turn those numbers around.

    I’m not interested in Bernie Sanders turning those numbers around.

    I am kinda interested in Kamala Harris taking those numbers and running with them.

  125. 125.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 19, 2018 at 10:36 am

    @rikyrah: This totally agrees with the experience I had with BS supporters I knew IRL. But instead of being clueless young men they were both women in their 60s (one black and one white) who should have known better. But they bought the whole propaganda by the barrel. Well and our CIA does worse, they said. One didn’t vote and one voted for JS.

  126. 126.

    J R in WV

    December 19, 2018 at 12:06 pm

    @SFAW:

    I would not be unhappy to read of his horrific demise from falling into an industrial cheese grater/shredder.

    Who would be unhappy? Why would it be horrific? Just asking for a friend….

    ETA: Oh wait!! It might ruin a lot of really fine cheddar… Asked and answered, right?

  127. 127.

    J R in WV

    December 19, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    @SFAW:

    Learned another new to me gin drink last Saturday at neighbor’s annual winter solstice party: A French 75 – invented and named during WW I for a popular and successful French rapid firing field cannon.

    The drink recipe:

    In a cocktail shaker full of fresh ice, add

    1 oz gin
    3 oz fresh champagne
    good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
    small dab of simple syrup.

    Shake and strain into martini glass.

    Enjoy, it’s a swell drink, but be careful, it doesn’t taste strong, but it can deck you if you get carried away. it is named for a rapid firing field cannon, after all. WE used dry Prosecco which worked just fine.

  128. 128.

    Chris Johnson

    December 19, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @rikyrah: Shitload of ad hominem there, but he’s right about one thing: there is a LOT of pressure from Russian trollskis on the left. In certain places it’s super obvious.

    He is full of shit about his Bernie bro stereotypes and totally made up claims that these people care about nothing except Bernie-brand health care and taxing billionaires. I see ’em continually having struggle sessions over all manner of social justice stuff: but they are disrupted and distracted by troll content, just as if they were on /pol/.

    I am not completely sure that article writer is not himself a Russian troll, as he is taking one of the vectors of troll attack: split the left.

  129. 129.

    Chris Johnson

    December 19, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Our CIA absolutely has done worse. That doesn’t make it right. Also, I don’t think the CIA was half as effective, because our CIA didn’t get to use a willing Facebook, Twitter, etc. Techbros have a lot to answer for.

  130. 130.

    Panurge

    December 19, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Baud:

    The very central problem with our world is the sense that there’s such a thing as “Real Man’s _________”. And at the center of the problem is the sense that there’s such a thing as “Real Man’s Politics“.

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