Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Let there be snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

T R E 4 5 O N

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You are here: Home / Gun Issues / gun safety / Saturday Morning Open Thread: True (Truth) Believers

Saturday Morning Open Thread: True (Truth) Believers

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… I spent Thursday morning at the swearing in of the new Congressional Black Caucus at the historic Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. If you’ve never been to a CBC swearing in before (I hadn’t) it’s quite a sight to see. Black politicos of every stripe line the halls and crowd into the room dressed in something between “Sunday best” and “Friday night, after work, I’m-heading-to-Happy-Hour” style. However unlike Congressional Black Caucus weekend, which is a party for the politically initiated, the swearing in felt like a mixture between the first day of school and an HBCU graduation…

If you’ve ever been to an HBCU graduation (or heard the reactions of the few scattered black parents when that first generation kid walks across the stage at a predominately white institution) you know how loud and celebratory black folks can get. The CBC swearing in was no different. The cheers when the entire panoply of political talent came across the stage were amazing. Specifically whenever Jahana Hayes name was mentioned a group in the back left of the theater went crazy like she’d just shouted out Waterbury, Conn. in a call-and-response lyric. Maxine Waters came on stage and gave the “Wakanda Forever” salute to her colleagues and the audience roared so loud you’d have thought there was vibranium in the rafters. Clearly picking up on the vibe, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came in and spoke about the great work that the Congressional Black Caucus has done under the leadership of Cedric Richmond and how the CBC was officially the “nuck” for her Congressional “buck” when it came to dealing with Trump…

Once Pelosi left the stage to meet with other incoming members new CBC Chair Karen Bass (D-CA) kept the party going by throwing down the gauntlet for the new Caucus. She all but called President Trump a white nationalist and made it clear the CBC would stand in the face of any of his horrendous policies, not just as a moral center but as a huge voting block that must be reckoned with.

“America is becoming more diverse and that diversity is leading to the browning of our nation,” Chairperson Bass said.

“Instead of a celebration, the reaction from some has essentially unleashed a dragon, a dragon that is gasping its last breath and so he is dangerous as he lashes out,” she continued. “The dragon is hate, the dragon is white supremacy and they have a leader.”…

 
Meanwhile, out on the hustings…


She did this at the town hall I attend last fall, too. Someone told me it’s a teacher trick (and Warren, in person, absolutely comes off as that favorite teacher who got you to work harder because you didn’t want to disappoint someone who so deeply believed in your potential). Not only does it ensure that question time isn’t monopolized by the loudest and most aggressive audience members, but people who ‘win’ a ticket lottery are more liable to formulate good questions, instead of just Hi-Mom!-ing for the audience.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Good morning, Jackals!

    Love the Roomba anecdote.

    With that, I’m going back to sleep (d.v.) for a couple of hours.

    ETA: Morning, rikyrah! ???

  3. 3.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Warren did really well last night.

    A giant crowd to kick off her first campaign event. A giant press contingent covering the event. It was well received by both the attendees and the press. Plus big, big positive reaction on social media.

    I love it.

    Nothing will drive Wilmer more insane than losing crowds and press attention to a woman.

  5. 5.

    satby

    @rikyrah: @SiubhanDuinne: Good morning ?

    I’ve been up since 3 am ? Got out of bed at 4 because I clearly was not getting another hour of sleep before the alarm rang anyway. It’ll be nap time after the market today, which stinks because it’s going to be a beautiful warmer than average day. Oh well.

  6. 6.

    satby

    I’m loving the contrast between all the positive proposed laws an energized Democratic party is proposing and the whiny dead-end Republicans just talking about how they can’t do anything thanks to their support of senile grandpa.

  7. 7.

    low-tech cyclist

    people who ‘win’ a ticket lottery are more liable to formulate good questions

    You know what the press ought to do? They ought to keep a record of what people are asking about most often, and cover those issues really well.

    Radical idea, I know.

  19. 19.

    waratah

    Good morning everyone. This is the first time I am this early to the morning thread.
    Really good to see Elizabeth Warren have a great reception.
    I would have loved to be there to see the happy swearing of the Black Caucus.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    I am going to say this about the government shutdown…
    They think that Nancy Smash is going to blink… because, Democrats CARE.
    They don’t get it. The 44 years moved us inches away from caring.
    The last 2 years and all the shyt that they have done has completely hardened us.

    There is a reason why I co-sign

    ” The GOP is a terrorist organization” meme.

    BECAUSE IT PHUCKING IS.
    NOT ONE PHUCKING INCH TO THEM???

  24. 24.

    plato

    The new Congressional Black Caucus is the tip of the spear in the resistance to Trump & he’s not ready.

    Once again, it’s up to black folks to clean up after the white man’s mess.

  25. 25.

    The Midnight Lurker

    Morning Juicers! And Happy First Weekend of the New Year!

    On to business… will one of our front pagers post on the expected effects of a prolonged shutdown? Weeks? Months? Seems like I read something a couple of years back during the Obama (Dear God, I miss him!) administration, but I can’t find it now. As faulty memory serves, it wasn’t pleasant.

    As it turns out, a goodly number of my friends and acquaintances work for the G, and a lot of them are terrified.

  26. 26.

    Chris Johnson

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Wow. You really believe that? Maybe you are a madman rather than a paid troll.

    Think what you like. I am more than happy to back Elizabeth Warren, ‘nevertheless she persisted’, and ditch Bernie other than keeping him in the Senate to tick off people like you. I would’ve supported Warren last time around except she wouldn’t run. It’s about the message, but it’s also about ability to get things done, and Warren does stand head and shoulders over Bernie w.r.t that.

    You still need the message. Someone laid the groundwork for Warren to run and win. But that’s pre-Trump history now.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    @Chris Johnson:

    The principal problem people have with Bernie isn’t with his policy goals. It’s with him, his personality, his attitude, and his behavior. You can agree or disagree with that view, but talking about his policy message isn’t really a rejoinder.

  28. 28.

    Aimai

    @Chris Johnson: Bernie did not lay the groundwork for ANY woman to run and win. In fact he attacked and sabotaged the Democratic candidate who won the last popular vote all the way from the primary through the election. He can go fuck himself.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Trump officials to get raises as federal workers go without pay amid shutdown

    As hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay amid a government shutdown, Donald Trump’s political appointees are set to get raises of $10,000 a year. The pay raises will go into effect for cabinet secretaries, their deputies, agency administrators and other senior officials, the Washington Post reported. The vice-president, Mike Pence, will receive a raise too.

    The raises will kick in automatically on 5 January, unless there is legislation to stop them, according to office of personnel management documents obtained by the Post. In 2013, Congress voted to impose a pay freeze on federal executives. It has renewed it each year. But when government funding was allowed to expire on 21 December 2018, leading to the partial government shutdown, the pay cap expired as well. Raises that otherwise would have been due to top officials since 2013 will therefore kick in in their next paycheck.

    Cabinet secretaries will get a raise from $199,700 to $210,700, while deputy secretaries will go up from $179,700 to $189,600, the Post reported. Pence’s salary will increase from $230,700 to $243,500.

  33. 33.

    magurakurin

    @Chris Johnson: if he is a paid troll…I want that motherfuckin’ job because he’s been here forever and ever. Gonna retire from that troll paycheck David is. Dude is set up for life. Trollin’ in the Cristal.

    on the other hand…what in the actual fuck are you saying? English, motherfucker. Do you speak it?

  35. 35.

    magurakurin

    @Baud: yeah, Bernie’s a dick. Fuck Bernie. I wish Warren well, she has a good heart I think…but she has a long tough road ahead.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @satby:

    I particularly guffawed at McConnell’s dismissal of this as “political theater.” He ain’t seen nothing yet!

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    @debbie: The other side isn’t prepared for what is about to be unleashed. There isn’t a single fuck left to give anywhere in liberal America. Not a single one.

  41. 41.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Just saw on the news that the OMB put out a memo freezing those raises. These people are such incompetent clowns, but even they knew the bad optics of this when hundreds of thousands would be going without pay.

  45. 45.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @MomSense:
    Exactly. She’s a terrible person who fits in with this awful administration. She should face justice after all of this is over.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: At the tail end of the article they note this:

    At a Rose Garden press conference on Friday, Trump said he “might consider” blocking the raises, whether permanently or just during the shutdown. Pence said he would not accept his if the government was still shut down.

    Last week, Trump signed an executive order eliminating a 2.1% raise for all federal employees that had been due to take effect in January.

    I’m having a hard time figuring out which adult in the room managed to move him from “might” to “will”, but that’s only because I don’t think there are any adults left in this admin.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    Happy Saturday, All. At least it’s the Weekend!

    @MomSense: @rikyrah: Whenever Nielsen’s name is mentioned on the radio or TV, I say, “Monster.”
    When my in-laws were here for a week, my BiL started doing it to — it became a race to say it first. And there is now one guy near Houston, Texas who will say, “Monster” every time her name is mentioned.

  49. 49.

    debit

    @Chris Johnson: Weren’t you were the guy swearing that Trump and family were going to force Air Force 1 to take them to Russia during the G20? Perhaps ponder your word choices before accusing someone else of lack of mental stability.

  50. 50.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @debbie:
    I normally like the dude (CJ), but it’s pretty plain that Sanders is a self-serving ass, who has a history of misogyny.

  51. 51.

    plato

    Along with saying the word "fuck" at least 3 times throughout the White House meeting, Trump bizarrely stated that he didn't want to call the government shutdown a "shutdown." He wanted to call it a "strike," Daily Beast reports. https://t.co/BaF9I3Na2r— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 5, 2019

    Pussy, fuck, by the totus thug ? No problem.

    Motherfucker by dems? Where are my pearls & salts?

    Fucking 3rd rate, 4th estate.

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    Here is another good Elizabeth Warren anecdote. At my school’s graduations, we have had some big politicians as commencement speaker — from Joe Moakley to more current folks including Biden, Markey, Gov. Baker, etc. And Elizabeth Warren. Of all the commencement speakers ever, she was the only one to ask (and was of course invited) to shake every graduate’s hand as they crossed the stage. She is a superior retail politician.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Speaking of the Monster: ‘The US can’t dump people in Mexico’: Trump asylum policy in doubt

    When she announced last month that tens of thousands of asylum seekers would be returned to Mexico while their cases are considered, the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, described the move as a “historic” overhaul of US immigration policy. But more than two weeks later, the new strategy has yet to begin and it remains unclear how the plan would work – or even if Mexico is willing to enforce it.

    The measure would be the Trump administration’s most significant move so far to dissuade people from seeking asylum. It would relieve pressure on US immigration authorities – and transfer it to Mexico. But Mexican officials who would in theory implement the policy say they have been kept in the dark over the change – and some have explicitly opposed it.

    “I had heard rumors, but I was not consulted,” said Tonatiuh Guillén, head of Mexico’s national immigration authority, told the Guardian. “The US can’t just dump people into Mexico – they have to knock. We’ve asked for more answers, but the US government is shut down, so I guess they’ll answer when they figure that out. It’s all up in the air,” he said. The number of people – mostly Central Americans – who would be parked in Mexico as a result of the move could be enormous.

    In 2018, 93,000 people were given credible fear interviews – the first step in the asylum process. While overall immigration levels are at historic lows, the number of families and children crossing is at an all-time high. And a backlog of nearly 1m cases in the US means asylum seekers could remain in Mexico for years.

    “It’s not some small detail. The numbers just aren’t manageable. It will have far-reaching effects on services, employment, everything – the social and political fabric of Tijuana and other border cities,” said Guillén

    Confusion over the current state of the plan reigns on both sides of the border: when Nielsen announced the move on 20 December, Mexico’s foreign ministry reluctantly accepted, although within days the foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said he would need more information from US authorities. Guillén said Mexico had not formally accepted the plan.

    I had wondered how the Mexicans felt about this. Nice that somebody finally decided to ask.

  55. 55.

    Marcopolo

    All I can say as someone who has been at a lot of town halls & speeches & meet & greets for candidates is that Warren has already won a few points by just getting there & starting on time. Most often these things run anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour behind time.

    Also, let me repeat a comment from last night that everyone here represented by a Republican Senator needs to call them ASAP and tell them: 1) the shutdown is on Trump & the Rs; 2) it is time to get back to normal process where bills get voted on by both houses of Congress then the President can do what he wants–that the McConnell’s self-emasculation of the Senate is a bad look; and 3), they’ll be serving in the minority come 2020 if they don’t grow a spine. I finished up by asking the staffer on the phone “How did we get from having a wall that Mexico was going to pay for to shutting down government & throwing hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work to force Congress to make Americans pay for the wall.”

    Have a good morning everyone.

  56. 56.

    plato

    Ukraine Orthodox Church granted independence from Russian Church.

    The recently formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine has been granted independence, marking a historic split from the Russian Church.

    Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – the head of the global Orthodox Church – has signed a document in Istanbul, Turkey, to that effect.

    It formalises an October announcement.

    The move has provoked a furious response in Russia, where the Church has broken off links, deepening a split in the worldwide Orthodox Church.

    Ukraine’s churches have for centuries been under the authority of the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

    The decision may also lead to a lasting schism in the global Orthodox movement, says the BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Kiev, Ukraine.

    Good, split the orthodox assholes.

  57. 57.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    If Mexico really wanted to upset the Trump immigration enforcement plans (at least many of them) they could demand solid proof of the nationality of every person the US tries to send to it through Mexico. Many immigrants destroy their papers once they get here.

    ETA. I know some immigration attorney in Texas who have been asking Mexico to tighten up on re-entry standards, but Mexico has not yet wanted to play this version of hardball.

  62. 62.

    Marcopolo

    @Immanentize: I am not in her camp (or anyone’s just yet), but it just strikes me Warren actually “cares” about other people (not just family & friends, not just people who look or think like her, everyone) in the best sense of the word. I think that is a reason a lot of folks run for office. But there are very few that manage to maintain that attitude over time particularly the higher up the political power ladder they climb. I really cherish politicians like this.

  64. 64.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Oh, well, he might consider blocking the raises. That’s courage. Tell me again, how is this guy supposed to be a political genius?

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize:

    Mexico has not yet wanted to play this version of hardball.

    It’s understandable, They don’t want get in fu flinging fight between US conservatives and liberals. Unfortunately for them they are going to have to, otherwise just as we exported our war on certain drugs to their country, we will do the same with our war on certain immigrants.

  66. 66.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:
    How does that saying go, he knows the price of nothing and the value of nothing? The only thing Trump understands is seeing his name on a chyron.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    OT but thank you again for the paella tips. So inspiring, my friend and I are planning a big paella feast next Saturday. I will start the broth on Thursday…. Please share my appreciation with she-who-makes-the-magic in your home.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @Marcopolo:

    All I can say as someone who has been at a lot of town halls & speeches & meet & greets for candidates is that Warren has already won a few points by just getting there & starting on time. Most often these things run anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour behind time.

    So true. The consistent lateness pisses me off. I went to a Biden event in Toledo where he was 90 minutes late. An hour and a half! WTF? Who in the world is that late without a car accident? I had taken my youngest to see him and I was thinking “now I hate you, Joe Biden”

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @Immanentize:

    The President can’t really block the raises. They are part of law already passed.

    This is the same president who says that he can declare a national emergency and do anything he wants.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    All I can say is they better get the tax refunds out on time or Trump’s base is gonna be mighty pissed.

    I bet GOP members of Congress know it, even if none of the low quality hires in the Trump Administration know it.

  77. 77.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Have your neighbors been rubbing off on you?

    One of us, one of us. We accept you, we accept you.

    @Brachiator:

    I’ve tried finding an online source for it, but I swear I heard on the morning shows that the OMB issued some memo saying the executive raises were being frozen or something. I’m not sure the OMB has the authority to do that.

  79. 79.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning! Believe it or not, Trump and the GOP’s overreach and general bad behavior is starting to lose people, even among “the base.” My fundygelical FiL remarked the other day about his disillusionment with “both parties.” You have no idea how big a move that is in his world, where the GOP is indistinguishable from The One True Faith. He and others like him may never become Democrats, but GOP support may be crumbling from within.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    All I can say is they better get the tax refunds out on time or Trump’s base is gonna be mighty pissed.

    The IRS has not yet announced the start of tax filing season. Last year e-filing and return processing began on January 29, but that was already more than a week late, because of political nonsense.

    I bet GOP members of Congress know it, even if none of the low quality hires in the Trump Administration know it.

    The Republicans know this, but still are backing Trump.

    The IRS is trying to deal with the new tax law, and Congress wanted to attach some necessary corrections to the tax law to any funding bill meant to end the shutdown. But the GOP is now keeping quiet about this.

    In the real world this means that some forms and schedules will not be available when tax season starts and the Republicans will lie as the scramble to find a way to sneak this stuff in.

    BTW, the Republicans in the House tried to write their tax corrections bill without any input from Democrats while they still had their majority.

    Summing up: the Republicans in the past would quietly cooperate with Democrats over these corrections to tax law. But now with Trump, they are doing stupid things that hurt everyone, including the GOP base which they claim to care about.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’m brushing up on my subversive tactics!

    Not sure if I told you but I saw an amazing performance of Shostakovich’s 10th. The guest conductor shared the significance of the messages in the piece and connected it to his grandmother surviving Krystallnacht and how it is artists who are our best weapon against authoritarians.
    And then Wednesday night at the inauguration of our new Governor, our poet laureate (newly restored honor) Wesley McNair offered his Song for the Unsung and it was so moving. I’ve been on a find the subversive artists kick for a couple of months. It’s good for the soul.

  83. 83.

    Chris Johnson

    @debit:

    Weren’t you were the guy swearing that Trump and family were going to force Air Force 1 to take them to Russia during the G20? Perhaps ponder your word choices before accusing someone else of lack of mental stability.

    Yeah, that was me, though it was more like ‘get there and then Putin whisks him away to safety in Moscow’. And that was the one where Putin cut him dead and he looked like his world was a puppy that died Xmas morning. You saw the pictures too.

    If only he had! I wish Putin had taken his prodigal asshole back home. From where I’m standing, it looks like Trump has doubled down on his treason in order to win Putin’s love back, which will never work. I wish he HAD gone to Russia. We’d be rid of him and working on getting rid of Pence. It’d be more dangerous, but what’s currently going on is unbearable.

    As for Bernie, fuck him, I guess. I always said it was the message but you know what? I helped that campaign in New Hampshire when a lot of awful stuff hadn’t yet happened. The heavy Twitter russian troll influence hadn’t kicked in. And we won, and I went to the victory celebration which was another place in New Hampshire, carpooled with a bunch of baby boomer volunteers who hadn’t been working as hard as the millenials running that show, and when we arrived they had let people in who didn’t belong there, and though I had a ticket to get in the fire marshals said the venue was overfull. And my last experience of Bernie Sanders management was standing outside at twenty degrees below freezing, looking through glass doors at the wild rumpus of a celebration that I’d helped to bring about.

    Warren wouldn’t do that. And if she did… she would’ve come and talked to us. Bernie didn’t. I should have paid more attention to that.

    I later gave the invite to the voice actress who voices Rarity in MLP, who’s Canadian but was a big Bernie fan.

    And that’s the truth. I would never claim great evidence of sanity for myself. I would, however, say that I’ve had a hell of a wild ride, and got to see things most people wouldn’t have seen. <3

  84. 84.

    Kirk Spencer

    On my part, I’ll try to refrain from nay-saying any Democratic candidate who throws their hat in the ring. Not least, I have no desire to eat my words since whichever one wins the nomination will be receiving my vote against the Republican candidate, be it the current acting president, the understudy president, or a sub from the extras.

    Yeah, I pushed that. Sorry. But I mean it about the nay-saying.

  85. 85.

    laura

    @Chris Johnson: St Bernard couldn’t arse himself up to even defend Kiah Morris in her unapposed bid for re-election when she faced a metric shit-ton of racist harassment that was unrelenting and threatening to her husband, her child and their home.
    In all the coverage, article after article the Bern was notable by his absence and his silence. That speaks to his character or lack thereof. No good, rotten empty suit douche bro, huffing fumes from his mighty ego and continuing to believe he is in any way relevant to today’s conversation.
    He can pound salt up his ass till the end of time as far as I’m concerned.p

  86. 86.

    Brickley Paiste

    Ya’ll a bunch of fuckwits – rehashing Bernie vs. Hillary vs. whatever.

    Try pulling your heads out of your asses.

  87. 87.

    Ruckus

    @Aimai:
    Always like how you think.
    Wilmer wasn’t/isn’t a russian paid troll? Yeah I’ll believe that when I see his tax returns and three sticks is finished with his work. Till then I don’t consider him any kind of friend. His display of misogyny and republican politician after he LOST was like every thing else he’s ever done, that of a major asshole.

  88. 88.

    oldster

    That reference to “nuck” and “buck” sent me scurrying to Urban Dictionary to find out what it means.

    Looks like maybe “knuck” as in “knuckles” is the more usual form, and it means roughly, “force, muscle, violence or the threat thereof.” Meanwhile, “buck” means “gestures or protestations of resistance or disagreement”. “Knuck if you buck” then means something like, “if you offer protestations of disagreement, then you must be willing to support your position with violence or the threat thereof.”

    (That’s not exactly how Urban Dictionary put the matter. I am translating for the sake of old people such as myself.)

    Anyhow, good for Nancy for being willing to use some hip, with-it slang. I hope her aides had it thoroughly vetted first. “You want Nancy to stand up in front of the CBC and say what? And what exactly does that mean? And what are the ways it could blow up?”

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Rethuglicans sure do like their wars don’t they? They can be shooting wars, wars of theft of their constituents, wars of immigration, wars on our neighbors for just being. They will start them, they will lose them and then do it all over again because they are incompetent and evil assholes.

  91. 91.

    schrodingers_cat

    @gwangung: His vote against comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 and against small measures that would make life easier for those in the legal immigration process (like his senate buddy on immigration Chuck Grassley) is not forgotten either.
    Oh goody! Bricks and Paste is here again.

  93. 93.

    Chris Johnson

    Hey, if we get an Elizabeth Warren for Vermont who leaves him in the dust as far as progressive bonafides in the areas I care about, I’ll help kick his ass out of the Senate too. Until then, the guy will never be a Presidential candidate again. If he’s lost me, a constituent, that’s pretty telling. A lot of good people worked for him.

    No carpetbaggers or neoliberals. The Millennial generation is getting into politics now and I’m liking the results. My generation didn’t lead things very well, but then my generation (X) has always had to follow the Boom with a broom and dustpan and was not expected to be any good in any way.

  96. 96.

    Citizen Alan

    @Fair Economist:

    They’re not shutting down completely. It will be unpaid workers on a skeleton cruew with the rest furloughed, but essential court business will get done.

  97. 97.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Fair Economist: No kidding. And bothsiderism was nothing he was a party to before, so it’s actually progress of a sort. My FIL is just one data point, but as I said, he was a GOP True Believer, so I wonder if the termites of doubt are gnawing away unseen at the GOP edifice and one day we’ll see it just crumble – seemingly without warning – from within.

  98. 98.

    Tehanu

    Karen Bass is my Congressperson and I’m getting happier and happier that I’ve voted for her every time she’s been on the ballot.

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