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When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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White supremacy is terrorism.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

Saturday Morning Open Thread: True (Truth) Believers

by Anne Laurie|  January 5, 20195:14 am| 98 Comments

This post is in: gun safety, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Daydream Believers

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News – @SpeakerPelosi, @RepThompson & Gabby Giffords will introduce a universal backgrounds checks bill on Tuesday, the 8th anniversary of Giffords' shooting. The bill will be "H.R. 8" in her honor https://t.co/PLTpMODAKD

— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) January 4, 2019

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

W/ 55 members they make up almost a quarter of the Democrats in the House.

Numerically this is the most powerful the CBC has ever been: https://t.co/jtQdIAPsUO pic.twitter.com/EA5QVMpNUT

— The Root (@TheRoot) January 4, 2019

… 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…

We’ve hit capacity with more than half hour til start. Folks gathering out in the cold to try and listen pic.twitter.com/Cxif44gteg

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) January 4, 2019

Warren on stage, ahead of schedule. “These are dangerous times for our country. And Iowa is going to have a big part in determining where we go next.” pic.twitter.com/D6lFgXuQtV

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) January 4, 2019

A new one for me on the presidential campaign trail: Attendees were given tickets when they arrived and now numbers being announced so those lucky ticket holders can ask question

— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) January 5, 2019


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.

One woman attending Warren’s event in Iowa tonight told me she got a Roomba for Christmas and named it Elizabeth Warren “because it cleans shit up.”

— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) January 5, 2019

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Previous Post: « Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: The Shutdown “Strike”
Next Post: St Nicholas Day Massacre »

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2019 at 5:39 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2019 at 5:39 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 5:54 am

    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.

  4. 4.

    tokyokie

    January 5, 2019 at 5:57 am

    good morning, everybody. And hell yes I support the Oklahoma native Elizabeth Warren.

  5. 5.

    satby

    January 5, 2019 at 5:57 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 6:01 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 6:10 am

    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.

  8. 8.

    satby

    January 5, 2019 at 6:14 am

    @low-tech cyclist: that is just crazy talk!

  9. 9.

    Baud

    January 5, 2019 at 6:26 am

    @rikyrah:
    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Good morning.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    January 5, 2019 at 6:27 am

    @low-tech cyclist: The People are he enemy of the People.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2019 at 6:35 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Could you send me a test email? I need to know if my incoming email is not getting to me.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 7:31 am

    @satby: I read that as “thanks to their support of penile grandpa”

    Blech.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 7:32 am

    @low-tech cyclist: What are you, some kind of Commie?

  14. 14.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    January 5, 2019 at 7:49 am

    @satby: So crazy it just might work!

  15. 15.

    Josie

    January 5, 2019 at 7:50 am

    @low-tech cyclist: Gosh, that would involve putting some time and effort into their jobs. How dare you?

  16. 16.

    NobodySpecial

    January 5, 2019 at 8:06 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Given the changes a number of state Dem parties have made to their election criteria, I could care less about Can’t Win Wilmer.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2019 at 8:11 am

    Lying azz heifer.??

    George Little (@georgelittledc) Tweeted:
    I worked at the National Counterterrorism Center, the CIA, and the Pentagon. @SecNielsen can’t possibly be telling the truth with these numbers.

    https://t.co/aHUmezfujx https://twitter.com/georgelittledc/status/1081332891928461312?s=17

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    January 5, 2019 at 8:15 am

    @rikyrah:

    She’s a lyjng NAZI bitch. She should hang for what she is doing to babies and children.

  19. 19.

    waratah

    January 5, 2019 at 8:17 am

    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.

  20. 20.

    waratah

    January 5, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Sorry I need to get some coffee, that should be swearing in.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2019 at 8:23 am

    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???

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    January 5, 2019 at 8:24 am

    @MomSense:
    Come sit by me

  23. 23.

    Baud

    January 5, 2019 at 8:24 am

    @rikyrah: I believe that many have been “stopped.” Linked to actual terrorism, not so much.

    @waratah: Both work these days.

  24. 24.

    plato

    January 5, 2019 at 8:25 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 8:25 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 8:25 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 8:34 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 8:36 am

    @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.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2019 at 8:37 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Done, just now (two hours after you asked; I did manage to get back to sleep!) Hope it works.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 8:38 am

    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.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    January 5, 2019 at 8:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Running government like a business.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 5, 2019 at 8:45 am

    @MomSense:

    She’s a lyjng NAZI bitch.

    Oh, well played!

  33. 33.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2019 at 8:47 am

    @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?

  34. 34.

    plato

    January 5, 2019 at 8:49 am

    bs trolls bright & early? blech.

  35. 35.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2019 at 8:49 am

    @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.

  36. 36.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2019 at 8:51 am

    @Aimai:

    He can go fuck himself.

    hard and with extreme prejudice.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 8:53 am

    @Baud: We need a union.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    January 5, 2019 at 8:55 am

    @satby:

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

  39. 39.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2019 at 8:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We have one now, it’s called the House of Representatives and Nancy Pelosi is our shop steward and union rep.

  40. 40.

    magurakurin

    January 5, 2019 at 8:57 am

    @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)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 8:58 am

    @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.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    January 5, 2019 at 8:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I can only imagine the raise Trump’s given himself.

  43. 43.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 5, 2019 at 9:00 am

    @rikyrah: oh, this, this, this.
    WAKE UP CALL

  44. 44.

    debbie

    January 5, 2019 at 9:02 am

    @magurakurin:

    You may wish to note he bestowed the same label on tobie in last night’s thread. Just for the record.

  45. 45.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 9:04 am

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

  46. 46.

    Chyron HR

    January 5, 2019 at 9:04 am

    @Chris Johnson:

    I think you meant to log onto Bernieis45.com.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:04 am

    @??? 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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:05 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:06 am

    @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)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 9:07 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:16 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:17 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:18 am

    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.

  54. 54.

    Immanentize

    January 5, 2019 at 9:22 am

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

  55. 55.

    Marcopolo

    January 5, 2019 at 9:26 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:26 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:26 am

    @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.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:26 am

    @Immanentize: Don’t tell him what he can or can not do. He is King after all.

  59. 59.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 5, 2019 at 9:30 am

    @satby: Or how they resolved not to have potty mouths. That’ll get them the youth vote for sure.

    Good luck at the market.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:31 am

    Colombia’s full-colour Blacks and Whites’ carnival – in pictures

    Like the whole damned country dropped acid and recreated ’70s black light art.

  61. 61.

    Immanentize

    January 5, 2019 at 9:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    King of Fools, perhaps.

  62. 62.

    Marcopolo

    January 5, 2019 at 9:32 am

    @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.

  63. 63.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 5, 2019 at 9:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think “might” means he hadn’t thought of that option before, didn’t know it was possible, or maybe didn’t know about the raises until a reporter asked. He knows nothing.

  64. 64.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 9:36 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:37 am

    @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)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 9:41 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 9:41 am

    @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.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:47 am

    @Immanentize: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. (you knew we were going to end up here)

  69. 69.

    Kay

    January 5, 2019 at 9:54 am

    @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”

  70. 70.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:54 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: HE WON THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!!! HE HAD THE HUGEST CROWDS EVER AT HIS INAUGURATION!!! MAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGAMAGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    January 5, 2019 at 9:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    But Trump is covered in shit!

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 5, 2019 at 9:57 am

    @Immanentize: My pleasure, enjoy.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    January 5, 2019 at 9:59 am

    @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.

  74. 74.

    WereBear

    January 5, 2019 at 10:01 am

    @Marcopolo: I love the way she believes in basic FAIRNESS.

  75. 75.

    Amir Khalid

    January 5, 2019 at 10:04 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    It came through, thanks.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    January 5, 2019 at 10:09 am

    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)  ??

    January 5, 2019 at 10:13 am

    @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.

  78. 78.

    Ken

    January 5, 2019 at 10:22 am

    @Immanentize:

    The President can’t really block the raises.

    No, but the God-Emperor can!

  79. 79.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 5, 2019 at 10:26 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 10:27 am

    @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.

  81. 81.

    debbie

    January 5, 2019 at 10:29 am

    @Kay:

    Trump will demand his followers blame the Democrats, and they very likely will.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    January 5, 2019 at 10:29 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 10:55 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 11:09 am

    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

    January 5, 2019 at 11:21 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 11:29 am

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

    Try pulling your heads out of your asses.

  87. 87.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2019 at 11:45 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 11:48 am

    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?”

  89. 89.

    gwangung

    January 5, 2019 at 11:51 am

    @laura: Yes, this was a major failing for Sanders NOW. He should have spoken up.

    Black people, and other POC, take note of such neglect.

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    January 5, 2019 at 11:54 am

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 11:58 am

    @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.

  92. 92.

    gwangung

    January 5, 2019 at 12:00 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah. This isn’t petty stuff; it’s pretty core, survival stuff to a great number of people. It’s a disservice to his goals for him to dismiss these immigration and racial concerns.

  93. 93.

    Chris Johnson

    January 5, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    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.

  94. 94.

    Fair Economist

    January 5, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    @Immanentize: Technically Trump is in the wrong but the courts shut down at the end of the week so …

  95. 95.

    Fair Economist

    January 5, 2019 at 12:42 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: It will be sweet justice if bothsiderism cuts them more than us.

  96. 96.

    Citizen Alan

    January 5, 2019 at 12:47 pm

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    @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

    January 5, 2019 at 4:46 pm

    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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