Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

This really is a full service blog.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

People are complicated. Love is not.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Friday Morning Open Thread: Getting Our Hopes Up…

Friday Morning Open Thread: Getting Our Hopes Up…

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(Sorry for the delay; was getting the dread ‘Data Base Connection Error’ message for the last hour-plus.)

If nothing else, it’s some consolation to know that the conspirators around Trump had a bad night last night… even if the Figurehead-in-Chief is too addled to remember what happened this time last week.

Speaking of addled, or at least resistant to reality…


SWITCH! WHILE YOU STILL CAN, REPUBS!

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  2. 2.

    Chyron HR

    Well, at least she’s stopped claiming that a majority of the American people wanted him to be president?

  3. 3.

    germy

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is poised to announce Friday that it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centerpiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War and whose demise some analysts worry could fuel a new arms race.

    An American withdrawal, which has been expected for months, would follow years of unresolved dispute over Russian compliance with the pact, known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty. It was the first arms control measure to ban an entire class of weapons: ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles). Russia denies that it has been in violation.

    U.S. officials also have expressed worry that China, which is not party to the 1987 treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty’s limit. Leaving the INF treaty would allow the Trump administration to counter the Chinese, but it’s unclear how it would do that.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    Nearly three-quarters of Republicans say the news media don’t understand people like them

    Must visit more diners.

  7. 7.

    Shantanu Saha

    You’d think with all the Cletus safaris the media has done since 2016 there might be some understanding there.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    In other, less traveled nooks of the news –

    1) Brickbats galore to the participants, who are – let’s not beat around the bush – accepting buckets of blood money.

    …the kingdom’s first professional golf tournament — the Saudi International — […] at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City. Several top names, including Justin Rose, will play — drawn by the $3.5 million US purse and appearance fees that reportedly run as high as $1 million each.

    But there has been a fair amount of criticism levelled at the organizing European Tour and its chief executive, Keith Pelley, the former head of Rogers Sportsnet.

    Paul Casey, the world-ranked No. 22 player and a UNICEF ambassador, has declined to play, citing his concerns over Saudi Arabia’s “human rights violations.”

    …it seems a welcome concert featuring Mariah Carey, Sean Paul and DJ Tiesto will go ahead as planned, despite a social media campaign to get the American pop diva to cancel. Source

    2) Smelly deli.

    Since the beginning of the year, Albuquerque resident Sharisha Morrison claims an unknown man has been dropping off “deli meat mystery” at her doorstep.

    “He’ll just walk up and drop it on the little doorknob right here and then walk away,” Morrison told news outlet KOB4. “That’s all he does. Every single time.”

    Morrison said the man delivers what looks like pieces of a sandwich in a plastic shopping bag. The bag usually contains pieces of bologna and bread.

    At first the woman thought someone was leaving food as a nice gesture, but upon smelling the special delivery, she realized that wasn’t the case.

    Morrison told KOB4 the delivery smelled like urine. Source

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    BTW – Alain, if you happen to be up and about, noticed the copyright date at the bottom of the blog still reads 2018.

  10. 10.

    germy

    Bus
    Under
    Throw

    Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me. They were made to friends & business associates of Don. Really sad!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2019

  12. 12.

    Kay

    By the time local elections officials downloaded a list of 366 registered voters the Texas Secretary of State’s Office initially said may not be citizens, the office had called to tell them to disregard the list

    This person should be fired or impeached or whatever needs to happen to get someone honest and competent.

    The secretary of state is smearing these people- residents of that state- thousands of them. The sec of state is harassing them and initiating political prosecutions. They have a right not to be harassed by ambitious pols who are using them to promote careers. They’re just regular people trying to exercise a right and these bumbling incompetents executed an inept hit job on their reputations and are now forcing them to jump thru additional hoops to clean up the mess.

    The secretary of state is a recording office. They make and keep records. They’re supposed to make that process run smoothly, with as little inconvenience to people as possible. It’s not a political operatives hit list, funded by the public.

    A similar scenario played out statewide.
    Election officials in Texas’ largest county say they have already cleared about 18,000 voters in the Houston area who the state had wrongly flagged as potential noncitizens.
    Harris County special assistant attorney Douglas Ray said Wednesday he expects to find more mistakes as the state backpedals on claims that tens of thousands of illegal ballots had potentially been cast since 1996.

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    @germy:

    Bus
    Under
    Throw

    So all we need to know now – is there ANYONE he will not throw under said bus? The Kushners may soon find out.

  14. 14.

    Chyron HR

    @germy:

    “Just concluded a great meeting with my firstborn son in the Oval Office who told me that the secret phone call he made in between two meetings with agents of the Russian government was mischaracterized by the media – and he very much did not discuss any form of illegal treason conspiracy etc. with me. His phone call was distorted press….”

  18. 18.

    Bruce K

    Oh, what I wouldn’t give for one of those sealed indictments to read “United States vs. Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr.”…

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    How can anyone trust them to make and keep accurate records? It’s a gigantic error and they just ran with it. They should be apologizing to those people. They put them on a list that said they had committed a felony. It carries years in prison. Then they compounded the error by releasing the number to news media and announcing it was valid. How does anyone know all their records aren’t compromised and made-up? Record keeping isn’t a ancillary part of their job- they’re recorders- it IS the job.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    They couldn’t give a rat’s ass about people like me.

    Did you give us all that set-up line on purpose? Or has the caffeine just not kicked in yet?

  23. 23.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Bruce K: The media are all too busy understanding Howard Schultz, Trump, and their ilk to spend any time understanding the little people.

  25. 25.

    JMG

    According to the Times, one of Junior’s call was to some slimeball investor who’s done deals with the Trumps. The other was to NASCAR head Brian France! At last, a sports angle to this conspiracy.

  26. 26.

    JGabriel

    Pew Research Center via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Nearly three-quarters of Republicans say the news media don’t understand people like them

    Stupid?

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Come on, Kay, you know better.

    To paraphrase Traitor Turtle: Free and fair elections are an existential danger to the Republican Partei!!
    Parallel to that: anything which could potentially allow “traditional” Dem constituencies to vote, is a danger to the Rethugs, therefore must be prevented/hindered/suppressed

    ETA: In their “minds,” shitty record-keeping which advances Rethugs is a GOOD thing.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    Texas officials are taking a step back on their claim they found 95,000 possible noncitizens in the state’s voter rolls. They say it is possible many of the people on their list should not be there.
    In a statement Tuesday, the Texas Secretary of State’s office said they “are continuing to provide information to the counties to assist them in verifying eligibility of Texas voters.”
    Last Friday, Texas Secretary of State David Whitley sent an advisory to local registrars asking them to look at their voter rolls. Whitley said his office flagged the names of 95,000 people who at one point in the past 22 years had identified as noncitizens with the Texas Department of Public Safety. In that time span, officials said, they also registered to vote.
    The state has provided little information about the methodology it used to compile the list, which has concerned both local election officials and voting rights groups.
    “I don’t know how they crafted their list,” said Travis County’s Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant, who manages the county’s voter rolls.
    Elfant says he has been holding off contacting voters on the original list of alleged noncitizens that the state gave him. He says the list had the names of about 4,500 people who live in Travis County, which includes the city of Austin and its suburbs.
    On Tuesday, he told state and other local officials that they should remove a group of voters who were erroneously on their first list.
    “The list will shrink significantly from the original 4,500 we received,” he said.
    Elfant said it’s unclear how large the new number will be or whether the updated list will be any more reliable.
    “It would have nice if they would have vetted this more carefully before they sent it out to the election administrators,” he says. “But it is what it is, I am glad they gave us guidance yesterday because it’s going to be less … difficult for valid voters

    They should disregard everything that comes out of that office. The state recordkeepers can’t keep accurate records. They’re unreliable and corrupted at their core function- the reason they exist as an office.

    In Ohio the Sec of State keeps all kinds of records- not just voting. Are those politicized and invalid too in Texas? The assumption should be they are, until proven otherwise.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    There needs to be a lawsuit about this bullshit. The abuses will not stop until there are actual consequences.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    Record keeping isn’t a ancillary part of their job- they’re recorders- it IS the job.

    Record keeping is the base that all good governance is built upon, therefor it is standard GOP practice that it be hindered, malappropriated, and misused at every turn.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    @satby:

    I used to appreciate news analysis, back in those halcyon days when it was longtime reporters with years of experience who were writing them. Now it’s whatever blond bimbo grabs the editor’s eye. It shows, badly.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    They need to call them to testify about the methodology. That’s the key. They’re using some bullshit dragnet screen that probably came from Kobach’s grifter shop. If they get testimony and documents I would bet 500 dollars it leads right back to wingnuttia grift operators who are making money on it. They’re using a process and it wasn’t developed in-house.

  40. 40.

    JGabriel

    NBC News:

    They cited various reasons, but the party-switchers have one thing in common: They say the GOP under President Trump has become too extreme.

    Seriously?

    So they were still okay with the GOP after McCarthyism and blacklists. And they were fine remaining Republicans after Nixon’s corruption, authoritarianism, and the racism of the Southern Strategy, and the bargaining with our enemies to keep us in Vietnam another 6 years. And they thought it was just jim-dandy when Reagan illegally engaged the Iranians (once, twice, three times) and bargained with them to hold on to US hostages until his inauguration. And they had no problems remaining Republican when George W. Bush defended and implemented torture, and let a city drown, and crashed the economy harder than any time since the Great Depression.

    But it’s Donald Trump who’s finally beyond the pale for you?

    I guess it’s good to learn that a few Republicans finally have some sort of standards, even if those standards are so low you have to look up to see the sewers.

  46. 46.

    debbie

    I heard reporting that Mueller has asked for extra time to go through all of the evidence taken from Roger Stone. Will this hold up his final report?

  47. 47.

    satby

    @debbie: news analysis used to include historical and geographical context to put current events into a framework for people to understand. Now it’s just whatever opinion comes out of a paid toady’s ass, often completely fabricated “facts” included. Of all the numerous things I resent about the news media today, I resent that the most.

  48. 48.

    germy

    The investigators have phone records showing that Donald Trump Jr. spoke with two family friends who used blocked numbers — Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber — as the meeting was being set up, according to the people.

    Mr. Lorber had significant investments in Russia and traveled to Moscow in 1996 with President Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/donald-trump-jr-blocked-number-calls.html

  54. 54.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: we say tax cuts but we mean greed, and we should start calling it that. One of the seven deadly sins that everyone understands. “Tax cuts” framing reminds me of the old Lee Atwater quote:

    You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Finally! :)

    As a side benefit, I think where the money is spent is much more interesting to people. You can’t really glean anything from saying “they spent a billion dollars! I’m outraged”. Tell them how it’s spent- who got it, and how much. People will be interested in that.

    You start to understand why they have to raise so much money when you see what they pay the tippy-top people. My question is could you use it more effectively somewhere else. Could you push it down, and pay many more people 35k or 45k or 50k. People like organizers. Could you take 1/4 of tv ad spending and redirect it to door to door voter information in a city like Milwaukee, which is a kind of epicenter of voter suppression? I think the people standing in the way of doing that are the people getting these huge paychecks at the top. I want to hire many more front line people and pay them a decent amount. I want to take those funds from the top tier. We don’t always need “more” money. Democrats pour money into states like Wisconsin. The real question is what do they buy with it?

  57. 57.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    @debbie:

    The past is irrelevant for the GOP b/c the past does not exist for the GOP. (Except in some gauzy swoon of fond remembrance for a fictional Ronald Reagan who bears no resemblence to, you know, reality.)

    Betwixt cleek’s law:

    Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily.

    and digby’s dictum:

    Conservatism cannot fail. It can only be failed.

    Them two purty much covers the waterfront on GOP reactionary fabulism.

    “George W. Bush who? Never heard of him, I’ma Tea Party Patriot!” Time will come, hopefully sooner than later, when 63 million people won’t never a heard of Donald J. Trump.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    BrexShit!!! One in three UK firms plan for Brexit relocation, IoD says

    Nearly one in three British businesses are planning to relocate some of their operations abroad or have already shifted them to cope with a hard Brexit, according to a leading lobby group.

    The Institute of Directors (IoD) warned that 29% of firms in a survey of 1,200 members believed Brexit posed a significant risk to their operations in the UK and had either moved part of their businesses abroad already or were planning to do so.

    More than one in 10 had already set up operations outside the UK as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit becomes more likely amid Westminster gridlock. Most firms considering a move were looking to open offices inside the European Union, said the IoD, which represents 30,000 firms.

    Edwin Morgan, the IoD’s interim director general, said: “We can no more ignore the real consequences of delay and confusion than business leaders can ignore the hard choices that they face in protecting their companies.

    “Change is a necessary and often positive part of doing business, but the unavoidable disruption and increased trade barriers that no deal would bring are entirely unproductive.”

    Large companies such as Sony and Panasonic have relocated their European headquarters from the UK to the continent, but the IoD said smaller companies were also enacting plans. Morgan said a surge of smaller firms had activated their plans in the last week.

    “While the actions of big companies have been making headlines, these figures suggest that smaller enterprises are increasingly considering taking the serious step of moving some operations abroad. For these firms, typically with tighter resources, to be thinking about such a costly course of action makes clear the precarious position they are in.”

    So much winning.

  65. 65.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    @Baud:

    Ugh. Better representation of the reptile mind and oh-so-regrettably true of the species, tx. for reality fix.

  66. 66.

    CliosFanboy

    The following weather advisory has been issued in light of the current record cold wave:

    Southerners are urged not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

    Northerners: You will need your heavy coat.

  67. 67.

    Ken

    @JGabriel:

    They say the GOP under President Trump has become too extreme.

    Seriously?

    It helps if you read “too extreme” as “has begun to endanger my chances of re-election”.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @hilts:

    He’s a rich target in crazy times like this, because he’s not a normal guy. He’s a vegan and a Rhodes Scholar, and he never touches alcohol or tobacco. He meditates daily, and Tweets quotes from Jewish scholars and Buddhist priests. He once supported vouchers for private schools, and he attends prayer meetings with a Republican senator who thinks climate change is a hoax.
    I like all that, myself. We’ll see how it goes over with factory workers in Toledo.

    I actually don’t like “all that”. His kind of woo woo spirituality gets on my nerves in a very specific way, because I connect it to a certain kind of Power of Positive Thinking, multi level marketing ethos that is just ubiquitous in the private sector right now.

    You’ll speak to salespeople on the phone and they’ll tell you how “blessed” they are. How they are “honored” or “humbled” to do business with you. Really? You’re humbled that I didn’t put you to voicemail? I’m just temperamentally unsuited to it. It has the opposite effect on me than what is intended- I become short with them because I feel it is sales, and I’m fine with sales, I’ll buy or not and I get what we’re doing- they don’t need to connect with my soul or whatever. Let’s just keep it on the transaction level.

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Nearly three-quarters of Republicans say the news media don’t understand people like them

    The news media DOESN’T understand them. The news media reports semi-accurately on them. If the news media understood them, they’d be even more upset.

    “God wanted Trump to become president”

    HUGE shout-out to the evangelicals in a way most non-evangelicals probably won’t understand. One of their specific resentments is that ‘God told me to do it’ used to be mainstream, and now people think you’re a fucking loon. Having the president use that kind of phrasing, and to justify white supremacy no less, is super validating to them. Probably Pence’s suggestion.

  72. 72.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I hate it when the companies I do business with use my email to wish me a happy birthday. Give me a gift or STFU.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Queensland floods: emergency dam release as Townsville hit by 1.1 metre of rain

    One hundred homes could be flooded in Townsville after the city’s mayor sanctioned the high-risk release of dam water to save the area from more widespread inundation following more than 1.1 metres of rain.

    Announcing the emergency measure for the Ross River dam on Friday, the mayor Jenny Hill said there were no guarantees the plan would work. Between 90 and 100 homes downstream from the dam were being evacuated, she added.

    Townsville has had a year’s worth of rain in the past week, the Bureau of Meteorology has said, and heavy rain was set to continue over the coming days, keeping already swollen rivers at major flood levels.

    Some hoax.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I don’t think it’s a lie. I think that the House Cmmt finally got Intel on the blocked call made right after the meeting from Jr. and it was to someone other than Trump. But maybe someone super close to Trump? Like Hopey?

  80. 80.

    germy

    A “Blacks For Schultz” sock puppet twitter account has been suspended.

    I saw it yesterday when it was still up. A bunch of stock photos of POC.

    Judd Legum even traced down the stock photo used in the profile pic.

    Howard Schultz has incredible momentum among black stock photo models pic.twitter.com/dmzYYvKlhK— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 1, 2019

  84. 84.

    rikyrah

    @satby:
    I am out for the first time since Tuesday evening. It’s cold, but, this is a regular Chicago winter. Wind chill below zero now, but it will go up to TWENTY today. ….Heat wave????

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I actually don’t like “all that”.

    You and me both. If that’s his shtick, he’ll lose my primary vote.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Give me a gift or STFU.

    Guffaw.

    My favorite Obama was the rat a tat tat Chicago Obama, when he was running through some true list of problems or issues. “While it is true that my health insurance website failed, it is also true that you’re all dishonest douchebags in reporting on it”.

    The inspirational Obama I left to others who like that sort of thing, but even there he was never woo woo. I never got the sense he could have been selling multilevel marketing schemes on Facebook.

    I get the same “Chicago Obama” vibe from Harris. She’s direct. There’s something admirably harsh and clear about her.

  89. 89.

    Immanentize

    @debbie:
    There is no date or certain timeline for the final report. People like Whitaker and Trump and Barr are just saying it is close to completion because it puts pressure on Mueller to move faster in the hopes he will make a mistake or cut a corner or two.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Staffers in the House probably leaked this information and it was probably Republican staffers still trying to corrupt the narrative.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: I don’t think it ever was. Australia gave us Rupert Murdoch. And yes, I hold them responsible. All of them.

  106. 106.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Kay: I know Cory. He’s more of the “inspirational poster with a yoga pose” kind of spirituality than the “can I interest you in some Amway” kind of spirituality.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    I routinely write that the curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL.

    The opposite of that is…

    There IS no curve for a Black candidate.
    Just isn’t.

    Barack Obama understood that.
    Kamala Harris understands that.
    I don’t believe that Booker does.

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    Regarding Indictments: Thursday before Stone was nabbed, Twelve Indictments were sealed. Seven belonged to Roger and were gifted to him Friday.
    That leaves five from last week and five this week. Mueller’s team seems super conservative about the number and type of initial Indictments. Some US Attorneys like to get 20 or more initially to overwhelm people arrested. But Mueller is trying to keep the core of the criminal Enterprise out of the Indictments right now to both give comfort to the idiots and freak out the smart co-conspirators. In both cases, I bet Mueller is carefully watching for stupid or panic behaviors.

    Those ten unserved Indictments, IMO, represent two more defendants. And those two are probably related to Stone which could include one of his circle (Credico, e.g.) or even a foreign national (Assange is my hope).

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:
    During the 2000 recount, remember when Bush appeared with a big boil on his face? My friend in Chicago pointed out: “Boils are always biblical.”

  116. 116.

    Baud

    @Immanentize: I assumed one indictment per person and that it could contain multiple counts, like a civil complaint. I guess that’s not how it’s done.

  117. 117.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah:
    I’ve watched Booker for years, met him twice. He just doesn’t feel real the way Obama did. It all seems too careful. No chances taken, too much an imitation of a good politician…. But we shall see how he does in a non-blue majority race. At least Booker is knocking Schultz the Shitstain off the networks.

  119. 119.

    PPCLI

    Nearly three-quarters of Republicans say the news media don’t understand people like them

    And they are right. But most of them aren’t honest enough with themselves to add: “The news media keep treating us as if we are “economically anxious”, or “concerned with faith and traditional values”, when really I support Trump because I’m a cruel, hate-filled asshole who reads The Camp of the Saints like holy scripture and cherrypicks the real holy scripture for just the parts that support my vindictive world-view while ignoring Christ’s message of peace and love toward all, including society’s most despised. So, sure, they have me all wrong.”

  120. 120.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    I think too much was made of the blocked numbers from the start. Sam Nunberg said on Ari Melber’s show (months ago or was it years?) that of course Trump knew. He was talking about it for a week before the meeting took place.

  121. 121.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: It is true that the indictment has the separate counts in just one filing — which has all the narrative in one handy place! But I believe the Court dockets each charge separately. It’s easier for the court to act that way. But, I will run that down this afternoon. Or if LAO ever shows up, I will ask her! Where is she?

  122. 122.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    On Wednesday, Trump cancelled his daily intelligence briefing, which was the only thing on his schedule, because he was ticked at the intelligence people. Then they made up that story about how they were misquoted. Maybe they’re meeting again but who knows.

    I seriously, seriously want an adult in charge again. I like a lot of the D candidates, though at the moment my favorite is Harris. But holy cow they look good compared to what we have now.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    @Immanentize:
    I used to read a blog by a Black Conservative called Booker Rising (as in Booker T). The night of the Iowa Caucus, the blog owner wrote something that I never forgot..it always seemed to always hit on the mark with Booker…

    ” Somewhere in a Newark housing project, Cory Booker is scribbling down notes furiously “

  130. 130.

    poleaxedbyboatwork

    @Immanentize:

    Booker gives me the strong impression of a man who will desperately and self-defeatingly try’n be overly reasonable and fair with people who are unreasonable and unfair.

    Whomever wins the Dem nod, I am hoping it will be someone who is unbendingly clear-eyed and direct about the dishonorable opposition and the ills that opposition has inflicted upon our country.

    Your “friend across the aisle” ain’t hardly yer friend if they wanna destroy everything you hold dear is all I’ma saying.

  131. 131.

    Gex

    I’d agree with the idea that the media doesn’t understand Republicans.

    They *have* consistently presented them as economically anxious and reluctant supporters of the explicit white supremacy when neither of those things are really true.

  132. 132.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Your Johnny Fever impression still needs some work. Please leave your contact information with the receptionist, we’ll be in touch.

    ;)

  134. 134.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    Ok. I’m going to try to send pics of Grace to AL this weekend. So much family drama – her mom is in her 90s and can’t handle stress and the other two siblings are creating some drama. One issue we are having is that we can’t access her laptop or phone. She has some valuable artwork and antiques and I’m the only person with a key because she didn’t want her siblings to have access. Apparently her brother didn’t think their relationship was as strained as it was but then he hadn’t called her in several years or helped her with her mom after she pleaded with them to help. So I’m going to try to home Grace and then disengage. It’s just stuff.

  135. 135.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    Republicans have said they don’t want everyone to vote for decades. Paul Weyrich said it plainly and out loud in August 1980 speaking the Religious Roundtable. “I don’t want everybody to vote. Our leverage in elections quite frankly goes up as the voting populace goes down”. Youtube Goo Goo Government.

  137. 137.

    Jeffro

    @Bruce K:

    Oh, what I wouldn’t give for one of those sealed indictments to read “United States vs. Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr.”…

    You know…we’ve all been so focused on whether or not the prez can be indicted, we’ve (ok, I’ve) forgotten that yes, sitting members of Congress can be indicted for their crimes.

    I wonder if Muellermas will bring us the heads of Devin Nunes and the Turtle?

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro: I wish it would. We are not safe if McConnell and Nunes escape without damage. After they have done so much.

    They both deserve long prison terms. Bring it on. All the evil doers. This is not just politics as usual. It is working against the United States.

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Elizabelle:

    We are not safe if McConnell and Nunes escape without damage.

    McConnell is the only person I can think of whose going to jail would radically improve the state of our country. Getting him out of control of the Senate would change things quickly and dramatically. His successor would probably be horrible, but I guarantee not close to as bad as McConnell, who has provided the will behind breaking all governing norms. Without him, I think Republicans will still elect white supremacists, but they’ll elect ineffectual and divided white supremacists. Unfortunately, I don’t think McConnell is going to be caught in a prosecutable crime. He’s careful enough to leave himself deniability. “Golly Gosh, I was just being political! Shame on those people for taking bribes and trying to obstruct justice.”

  141. 141.

    Citizen Alan

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yeah, the same people who genuinely believe that every abortion performed in the country is for a slut who didn’t want to use birth control and that all Dems support abortion because we get off on killing babies are now mad that someone else doesn’t assess their views and motivations with enough nuance.

  142. 142.

    Citizen Alan

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It would be hilarious to me if UKIP’s enormous “Fuck You” to the continent ended up greatly improving economic standards there as every international business immediately moves across the Channel.

  143. 143.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay:

    That will all pose an interesting dilemma for conservacreeps. Normally, they would demonize a Dem for being into spiritualism and whatnot, but they can’t hate Booker any more for being a black guy into yoga or whatever than they do simply for him being black.

  144. 144.

    Citizen Alan

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Am I a bad person for reading that awful news about Townsville and then having my first thought be to wonder why the Powerpuff Girls didn’t save the day?

    EDIT: And bd beat me to it.

  145. 145.

    Barbara

    @Kay:

    I actually don’t like “all that”. His kind of woo woo spirituality gets on my nerves in a very specific way, because I connect it to a certain kind of Power of Positive Thinking, multi level marketing ethos that is just ubiquitous in the private sector right now.

    Yes, I am often annoyed by people who extol the “power of positive thinking” as all you need to succeed, but in a world where people who look like you specifically receive constant negative external feedback no matter how successful you are, it might be a necessary coping mechanism that allows you to tune out so much negativity and stay focused on your goals. And it’s not as if Cory Booker exhibits the worst excesses of that kind of world view, which is, basically, to blame people for their own failures by not trying hard enough or being too negative. I’m going to give him a pass for now.

  146. 146.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: It wouldn’t surprise me if that wasn’t Booker’s intent, and if so, I say, hurray to Cory. Also, I read an article in the NYT yesterday, front page, that basically said that Schultz’s claim that Democrats are all wild eyed liberals seems to have forgotten the numerous potential candidates who are known specifically for being moderate. I do expect Schultz’s “star power” to fade fast because he doesn’t really have any, and as a novelty act he wears out pretty quickly. I keep imagining what I am going to say if I get accosted at the Farmer’s Market to sign his petition for access to the ballot — “I’m not willing to be a useful idiot to enable narcissistic billionaires.” I imagined tearing up the petition with signatures already on it but I have a feeling that would get me into trouble.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    @Barbara

    “Not in this lifetime.”

    Short, succinct.

    Although he’ll flame out before then, so the occasion when you are so approached likely won’t arrive.

    ;)

  148. 148.

    feebog

    @Kay:

    I get the same “Chicago Obama” vibe from Harris. She’s direct. There’s something admirably harsh and clear about her.

    I’m a born and bred Californian, so I may be a tad biased, but I get the same feeling from Harris. Her interview with Rachel Maddow was awesome. And then it spilled over onto the O’Donnell show and she charmed his socks off as well. Her laugh is infectious and you can just sense the positive vibes.

  149. 149.

    Citizen Scientist

    Good late morning friends and jackals. It’s snowing here outside of Philly again, I spent part of last night in the ER after a fall, and I have to get emergency dental care later today. So, I really hope everyone is having a better day than me.
    It could be worse, I suppose. I do have a day off work and snuggles with Naiomi the cat to appreciate.

    Has jacy checked in lately?

  150. 150.

    joel hanes

    @satby:

    Once, Eric Sevareid did analysis on TV. Informed, thoughtful, articulate, deeply humane, he spoke at essay length in lovely sentences organized into paragraphs of meaning.
    And they forced him into retirement because such analysis did not fit the network’s vision for their news program.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHGHm8iPeUY
    We shall not see his like again.

  151. 151.

    The Moar You Know

    California Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, who represents San Diego, left the GOP. He said he differs with his former party on immigration, health care, gun control, abortion and gay rights.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Dead thread but this guy still needs to be primaried and taken out. HE IS A REPUBLICAN, no matter what it says on his voter registration. He’s desperately trying to keep his job in a district where there is no longer room for his Republican bullshit.

  152. 152.

    misterpuff

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    “God wanted Trump to become president”

    HUGE shout-out to the evangelicals in a way most non-evangelicals probably won’t understand. One of their specific resentments is that ‘God told me to do it’ used to be mainstream, and now people think you’re a fucking loon. Having the president use that kind of phrasing, and to justify white supremacy no less, is super validating to them. Probably Pence’s suggestion.

    Does Dense bring Mother along when he and the Possum Queen have a prayer circle?

    But this is why the Repubs think the media doesn’t understand them. Fundamentalism is not taken seriously as an entity just as a political force. I suspect most of the media are Christmas/Easter christians and do not have the fervent faith of the born again, who seem to think Jesus is their personal buddy.

  153. 153.

    joel hanes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Burger King

    Dead to me ever since they “inverted” with Tim Horton’s expressly to avoid paying US corporate taxes.
    And the Whopper was my favorite fast-food burger. Never again.

  154. 154.

    sigyn

    @satby: Pause for a moment to consider what sort of unpleasant critters would come washing into a flooded area in Australia.

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