If you're thinking about running for office, take the @traindems 30-day challenge. By the end of April, you'll have the knowledge you need to run.
Sign up now, and bring along a friend to join you: https://t.co/jXo1lw8BRc— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 20, 2019
Unlike McConnell – who once called money in politics a cancer but now says there isn't enough of it going around – #MadamSpeaker believes in protecting voting rights & fostering in voters the confidence that their voices matter in a government that works #ForThePeople.#HR1#HR4 pic.twitter.com/PXkz16h09g
— Friends of Nancy Pelosi (@FriendsofNancyP) March 19, 2019
Judge: Trump administration violated law with oil, gas projects that ignored climate impacts; blocks drilling on 300,000 acres https://t.co/uEBPNLd98u
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 20, 2019
A note to @realDonaldTrump & his team: @HouseDemocrats are committed to performing our oversight duties as laid out by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution – and no amount of red tape will change that. https://t.co/6Nv47Qsnj9
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) March 20, 2019
WereBear
I still want to impeach the MFer.
OzarkHillbilly
Also the WaPo:The real reason the Trump administration is constantly losing in court
sukabi
@WereBear: me too. They are working on gathering the needed evidence and documents. To be successful going to need to turn a bunch of goober senators though…and drumpf is working on that. He’s got 3 trains headed for him. Indictment, impeachment and the election.
sukabi
@OzarkHillbilly: 6% . Only the best people.
?
OzarkHillbilly
@sukabi:and trump is the bestest of the best:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sukabi: The fish rots from the head.
rikyrah
Good Morning , Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
Meanwhile, in the UK, with the sword of Damocles hanging over their collective heads, circular firing squads are forming up:
Which was greeted with unanimous statements of apology and heads appropriately bowed in shame:
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: This is gonna make a great episode during season 8 of “The Crown”.
Chyron HR
@OzarkHillbilly:
So, still not all that ashamed, then.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I have to say that May was handed a true shit sandwich when she became Prime Minister, but she greedily devoured it down to the last crumb and is now loudly complaining that it was made up of cow pies and not sheep dung.
Montanareddog
@OzarkHillbilly:
But that fuckwit Corbyn flounced out of a cross-party meeting last night when he saw that one of the MPs who recently left the Labour Party was also there. His country is on the brink of catastrophe and he starts throwing tantrums? No wonder that, in the polls, Labour is far behind the most catastrophic government in living memory.
OzarkHillbilly
@Montanareddog: I was gonna add that too but felt like things were getting out of hand there, but yeah, Corbyn is quite full of himself.
“I have nevah been so insulted!”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
March Madness
Beto Mania mounts
Durham, NH (photo)
Plymouth, NH (photo)
Concord, NH (photo)
OzarkHillbilly
Devin Nunes’ Cow has a herd of 498,000 followers on Wednesday night, surpassing the California congressman’s 396,000
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
A MSNBC reporter noted candidates usually do 2 to 3 stops per day, but with Beto doing 6 to 8 events per day, they’ll have to find a way to adapt or fall behind.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
For some reason I am reminded of a fable about a tortoise and a hare.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ?!
And to everyone else ?.
Missed the moon last night, it’s been cloudy with rain off and on, and about to start raining again. But it’s above freezing, so it feels like spring.
Woodrow/Asim
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
As much as this sucks for a solid, open-field of candidates, it’s a potentially great thing for the Party.
For once — FOR ONCE — we have a brilliant, bountiful field of POTUS candidates that is spending their early energy in the right way — getting people excited for their candidacies and talking positive policies for the country, not taking cheap pot-shots at other Dems. That was part of the secret sauce for Obama — that he had to fight a hard Primary was Extremely Frustrating at the time, yet paid off in terms of Democratic energy and infrastructure prep for taking on McCain.
Beto’s not my lean, right now, but I’m more invested in what he’s doing (as well as others) to get butts in the seat for the main event. If he doesn’t pull another stunt like he did with the TX Democrat he wouldn’t endorse ’cause he was friends with the GOPer, what he’s doing today can pay off, down the road.
And, hey, maybe he’ll figure out what he stands for, along the way. :)
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Beto is sucking the wind out of someone else’s sails though, and that’s a good thing.
Tony Jay
@Montanareddog:
The meeting was supposed to be for Party leaders so they could discuss areas for compromise. Instead the Tories decided to invite the ambitious ‘leader’ of an officially non-partisan private company registered in the Caribbean that refuses to disclose its list of donors and exists solely to manufacture ‘centrist’ attacks on the Labour Party. I’m not surprised he walked away, and he was right to. Every single person at that meeting other than Chucka and the Tories came out saying it was another complete waste of time because, as usual, May just ignored everything and repeated her mantra about her deal being the only way out. Chucka, of course, used his moment in the spotlight to attack Corbyn. Again. As he always does. Because that’s what he’s being paid to do and it’s what the British Media wants him to do.
He wants to be the British Obama, but all he is in reality is a shiny-headed Seth Moulton.
satby
@Tony Jay: so what is the British public doing about any of this? Protests, angry meetings with MPs, anything? Hard to believe this psychodrama is playing out without some public input.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Has Devin Nunes’ mom been unsuspended yet?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby:
No problem, I’m here to help.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
hahahahahahhahahhahahahahhaha
Here’s a new parody account: Devin Nunes’ Skin
satby
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks! Lovely.
Tony Jay
@satby:
There’s yet another massive anti-Brexit march taking place this weekend in London. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country are going to be there, just like last time, marching for their nation’s future in a peaceful and good-humoured way. While in contrast about 100 pro-Brexit numpties have paid £50 each for the privilege of taking part in what’s been christened ‘The Gammonball Run’, walking down the safely Leave-voting east coast of the country in the general direction of London, stopping off at Weatherspoon pubs to toast the prospect of a No-Deal disaster while surrounded by town centers devastated by years of Austerity and kept afloat solely on EU grants. Farage was supposed to be marching with them, but after half an hour of photo ops he decided he couldn’t be arsed and left them to it, which is probably the most in-character thing the frog-faced fascist has ever done.
Oh, and so many people are signing onto the petition to have Article 50 repealed and Brexit cancelled it’s crashed multiple times. The British Press have asked Chuka Umunna for his opinion and he’s blamed Jeremy Corbyn for not showing the Government’s I.T. system proper leadership and for failing to do it in a suspiciously antisemitic way. s/
In reality though, there’s not much the British people can do. The Tories, and May in particular, will ignore all of it. When pressed they’ll say that 17.4 million is a bigger number than however many march and the country is with them. The only thing that will change anything is the collapse of the Government and the wholesale rejection of May’s blackmail by about 50 to 60 Tory MPs at some point over the next week.
OzarkHillbilly
@Woodrow/Asim: @satby: I don’t know, I like the guy but right now I’m kinda with Cole in feeling that this is much ado about nothing.
My pov is probably colored by the fact that I’m a Warren fan, have been for years. Not because I think she should be President (haven’t decided yet) but because If I don’t know where she stands on an issue it’s because I haven’t bothered to look it up.
satby
Dawn barely breaking, dogs softly snoring, Pachelbel’s Canon playing, fresh coffee. This is my happy place.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Not as far as I know. But there is a DevinNunes Alt Mom acct.
hueyplong
Kind of funny to see Trump’s pliable stooge deciding that the hill to die on is “No Snark or Mocking on the Internet!”
The talk of Nunes being a stalking horse for the death of the first amendment would scare me more if his legal team were differently composed. Let’s see a brief and hear an in-court argument before deciding this is more than a moment of reminding ourselves that one reason for confidence is the fact that the other side is heavily invested with clowns and idiots.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: That sounds lovely. I’m having coffee too, then I have to get ready for a early dentist appointment.
Brexit staggers me on a large and small scale. My editor has been living and working in Spain because her partner lives there. She’s going back to the UK next week.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Enjoy. I love the early morn.
Immanentize
@satby: I saw it here early on the evening. It was hanging low on the horizon and was a beautiful dark orange in the evening sky. Quite lovely.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yes, and I think the regular one is back live also. Great job, Devin. All you’ve done is increase the mockery.
satby
@Tony Jay: then I hope May’s government goes belly up soon for you all. What a clusterfuck!
@OzarkHillbilly: Harris or Warren, I love them both. Strangely, I don’t feel like it has to be a woman only this time; my favorite woman candidate was robbed so now I just want a strong Democrat to win (which of course eliminates Wilmer and Gabbard since neither are).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@hueyplong: “No Snark or Mocking on the Internet!”
satby
NotMax must have fallen asleep early!
Immanentize
Good morning, All.
I’ve been away and then busy because I was away….
Is Adam on vacation? Under deep cover somewhere?
satby
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Good luck at the dentist!
satby
@Immanentize: he was in the threads last night.
Another Scott
@satby: This version? (5:28)
:-)
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
Irony, thy faithful servant is trump:
So…. Mexicans are building fences and we’re paying for it.
eclare
@satby:
Sounds nice, my dog is also softly snoring, such a comforting sound.
Immanentize
@Tony Jay:
May’s strategy of hanging the country by it’s toes out the window until her party cries uncle is really appalling. I suppose she may get the result she wants — it’s possible that the Speaker will be ignored and the DUP will back her and her plan will squeak by.
But isn’t that a recipe for permanent Conservative minority? Or is Labour that feckless?
zhena gogolia
So depressing. For us, I mean. This is what a civilized country does.
Immanentize
@satby: Thanks. Glad to hear it
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Scott: A nice shot of caffeine for the AM but somebody is gonna have holes in their socks now.
zhena gogolia
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Good.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: The reporting I’ve seen on the latest events have been very confusing to me.
1) May wants an extension because she needs more time to get a Brexit bill passed (along with all the other stuff?).
2) The EU is saying they’ll give a short extension if Parliament passes May’s bill next week. But not otherwise.
3) May wants an extension until June 30.
4) The EU says that’s too long (as it is past when EU elections are May 23-26).
5) The Speaker says the next vote has to be on a bill that is “substantially different”
6) The EU says they will not negotiate on the bill text – it can’t be changed. Upperdown vote.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of overlap in the various circles in the Venn diagram here…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apparently May thinks that she can somehow over-rule or go around the Speaker’s ruling and have Parliament so horrified by the prospect of a crash-out Brexit that they’ll pass her bill and she’ll be proven to be the Glorious Leader that History Demands, or something. But it seems so very, very stupid given all the problems it creates (not least on the Irish border)… Sensible people never would have made the referendum binding after the fact – it’s clear that it was a stupid, stupid idea. Parliament needs to step up, tell May “NO” and get on with revoking Article 50 and all the rest.
Will they? Dunno.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
To this day, this shyt never made any sense to me.
rikyrah
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Yeah ?
Tony Jay
@Immanentize:
We’ve got a political system that only supports two parties. If the Tories Brexit themselves into minority status, Labour will get a majority. The British Media have been so acutely aware of this ever since the morning after the 2017 election that they’ve spent the last two years imposing Clinton Rules on every single thing Corbyn says, does or implies through involuntary facial movements. Saying they’re opposed to a Corbyn-led Labour Government is one of those understatements you’d typically hear coming from Dawson the Butler in a BBC period drama (“Lady Marjory will not be joining the Hunt this morning, she is indisposed”, meaning Lord Blueblood chopped her arms and legs off to stop her campaigning for Women’s Suffrage).
As to the wider issue, I wrote this last night and might as well post it here. Sorry for dumping my blatherings on you, but I need to vent.
Brexit – Move along if you value your soul.
There’s been perfectly understandable confusion expressed here, by more than one commentator, wondering why the British Parliament doesn’t just ‘cancel’ Brexit. The sheer weight of evidence showing how damaging any form of it will be is so clear, the level of corruption (including foreign funding and meddling) surrounding the 2016 Referendum is so obvious, the scale of the divisions it will leave in British society are so terrifying – why on earth are the democratically elected representatives of the British people still going ahead with it in the face of all that? What’s wrong with them? Why do the British people stand for it?
It’s a fair question, so let me answer it with another question.
Given the huge damage that the Trump Administration is doing to America, and given that the level of corruption (including foreign funding and meddling) surrounding the 2016 Election is so obvious, and given that the scale of division Trumpism is causing in American society is so terrifying, why on earth haven’t the democratically elected representatives of the American people done the right and obvious thing and removed the Gelatinous Orange Pustule from office? What’s wrong with them? Why do the American people stand for it?
In both cases, it’s the same sad boringly predictable answer. The people who want to stop it are a majority within the country, and they might be a majority within the Legislative branch, but they are not a majority within the Governing Party. While the minority Party, which does have a (large) majority in favour of stopping the whole shit-parade, is a MINORITY, with a small minority of members within it (some of them in pretty senior posts) who don’t really want to stop it. It can’t force or win a vote to stop anything without substantial crossover support from members of the Governing Party, and the members of the Governing Party who think it should be stopped will not give that support unless they absolutely and unavoidably have to in order to save their own skins. They won’t even loan their votes to slowing it down unless they’re face to face with a sharp-fanged decision-point that they can’t avoid, and as soon as that vote has taken place it’s straight back into Line of Battle and clocks are reset to zero.
Another obvious question, given the relatively simple proposition that Anything Else > This Parade of Gobshittery, is why there isn’t a majority within the Governing Parties to stop Brexit/dump Trump? Or, more realistically, why won’t the minority of elected members of the Governing Party who believe it/he should be stopped/dumped join with the minority Party to make it happen? Again, it’s the same answer for both countries. Fear. The very real and well-supported fear these elected representatives have of losing their access to high-status positions and post-politics employment in the ‘Studfarm for Past Favours’ sector if they don’t stick to the Party line; either through being deselected by the radicalised membership of their local Party branch, or by being denied electoral funding by the Party leadership.
How did seeing through Brexit/protecting Trump become unchallengeable Party policy? Well, that’s the result of decisions made earlier. They put themselves in this position through being half as smart and twice as cowardly as they thought they were. In the case of the Tory Party it was the decision to put a referendum on E.U. membership into its 2015 manifesto in order to finally lance the boil of Europhobic bastardy and give the slightly less insane leadership room to move on the European stage, a decision which blew up in Cameron’s face when the national vote of his Liberal-Democrat Coalition partners (who he was banking on to veto the idea of a referendum for him once they returned to office) completely cratered and the Tories actually became a majority Government with an obligation to meet their manifesto promises. While for the Republicans it was the decision to go all-in on Total Obstruction and White Power in the face of Obama’s tyrannical melanin levels, which led directly to the popularity amongst GOP Primary voters of the Birther-in-Chief and the mainstreaming of his brand of sneering, liberal-baiting racism.
Once those twin errors had achieved electoral ‘success’ the Parties were trapped within the ideological cages they represented. Cameron had to have a Referendum, the GOP had to have Trump as their candidate. Both were destructive decisions based at their inception on maintaining internal party-political unity at all costs, screw the greater good, but both were errors the respective Party leaderships thought they could get away with once the voting public – rather than the extremists within the Party electorate – got a good look at the reality of what they were offering. No one would be stupid enough to actually vote Leave/elect Trump, would they?
(Insert image of surprised looking bear crouched behind a woodland bush reading a newspaper with a prominent “Is the Pope Catholic?” headline)
Enter Fake News and illegally funded campaigns aimed at leveraging widescale public fear of changing socio-economic realities and the ever-pulsing vein of white racism into a multi-tool for getting people to vote against ‘something’, against ‘anything’, against every bloody thing that pissed them off, because it was all THEIR fault and THEY needed to be taught a lesson. Enter compliant and complicit Media entities that wanted the drama and the controversy, that were so fixated on ginning up an eyeball-dragging horserace that they were quite willing to overlook overwhelming evidence of cheating on behalf of the ‘underdogs’ if it made for sellable conflict. In Britain, as in America, established and provable facts were put in the dock alongside barefaced lies and debunked conspiracy theories, with ‘so-called experts’ forced to justify and explain their entire field of expertise in 30 second soundbites while spittle-flecked nutcases in red, white and blue romper-suits were given uninterrupted airtime to puke-funnel any damned thing they wanted into the bemused face of a general public that were less informed at the conclusion of campaigning than they’d been at the start.
In the end the loudest shouters won. And while their shocked enablers in the establishment media turned all of their time and energy towards sending expeditions of bead-and-button carrying urban sophisticates out into the Wild to bring back precious recordings of the sacred ways and eternal truths underpinning the unspoilt, rough-hewn and not-at-all racist Homo Sal-in-Terra cultures who had delivered these electorally narrow but also – in a sensuously metaphysical sense that just flicked the hell out of every savvy, everything you know is wrong bean in the infotainment industry – somehow incredibly portentous and paradigm-shifting victories at the polls for White Suprema…(Editor’s Note – Are you sure you meant to say this?) …..Working-Class Populism, the Parties found themselves lumbered with the job of translating the cut-and-pasted ravings of comment section misanthropes into national and international policy. The ambitious and the deeply stupid flocked forward to take up the challenge, while the guilty sloped away to hurriedly change their shoes and deny in indignant tones any responsibility whatsoever for tracking bull-shit over the nation’s creamy carpets.
In both cases what we’ve had since is the result of putting nearly unfettered power over the nation’s present and future into the hands of utter fuckwits; people who achieved prominence in the field of fuckwittery by steadily building up a portfolio of crass stupidity, whining victimhood and uninformed wrongness for all to see, taking the retrograde side of every argument and proving themselves suitable for no post more challenging than bringing up the rear in a Human Centipede. But these are the people with the whip-hand in our respective Governments. We’ve got Brexiteers and you’ve got Freedom Caucus types. They may not have the numbers, but they’ve been empowered by their Party leaderships to set the terms of acceptable debate and that’s what’s killed any hopes of good government or compromise. It’s their way or… well… that’s your only option. They’ve been reborn as avatars on Earth for the Dark Lord Willadapeepul and their Word is Law. With the Right-Wing Media providing the songbook and the establishment Media happily humming along to the chorus their malicious lunacy has been given an unearned patina of plain-spoken common-sense and amplified across the nation with a result similar to sticking a trumpet up a hippo’s arse – it’s noisy, the shit goes everywhere and only the deeply kinky are smiling.
So, basically, neither of our countries can have nice things because the Parties in Government are in the grip of ideological tractor-beams dragging them further and further away from reality, and the Media are either leading the way on behalf of their Europhobic publishers or are happy to go with them in pursuit of ratings and promotions. What this means over here is that, as the prospect of Brexit begins to resemble the ‘Libera te tutemet ex inferis’ scene from ‘Event Horizon’, the nutters are digging in their heels and making the choice for anti-Brexit Conservatives stark. They either break with the Party whip and grab onto the next available life-raft, whether that means backing a confirmatory referendum on May’s deal, revoking Article 50, or backing a Labour vote of no-confidence in the Government to force a General Election. They are the only people who can stop this, but in doing so they’ll break their Party for a generation and probably never win elected office again.
It’s in their hands. Even Theresa May says so.
satby
@Another Scott: ?
No, much as I love the Piano Guys it was the classic version
Immanentize
I don’t usually do animal pics, but Maine’s new post-Crazy Governor cuddling black bear Cubs is just too damn cute
rikyrah
The simple truth
https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1108700808210759680
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
A black man would have been shot 37 times with the first move but I still give this guy credit for having some major cojones.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
She’s amazing.
rikyrah
There are willful idiots ??
https://twitter.com/Ange_Amene/status/1108701583083270144
Immanentize
@Tony Jay:
That was great, I’ve never been a smoker, but I oddly want a cigarette now. Thank you.
satby
@Tony Jay: you need to submit that to the WaPo opinion pages. It needs a wider audience. Well said!
rikyrah
Elections ? have ? consequences ?
https://twitter.com/AdamSearing/status/1108511890504863744
rikyrah
This is why we need more progressive leaning minds elected as prosecutors.
Hear that, ” Kamala is a cop'” muthaphuckas ??
https://twitter.com/samanthamelamed/status/1108683564089004032
rikyrah
Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) Tweeted:
This @ChrislHayes clip discussing the anniversary of the disastrous Iraq War, the fall out, the lessons that haven’t been learned and the social and political prices that haven’t been paid is an absolute must-watch. https://t.co/fTjV0v4Wlg https://twitter.com/ErickFernandez/status/1108539333680775168?s=17
Immanentize
@MomSense:
It’s very hopeful. It really seems like Maine just slipped quickly and quietly back to being normal (well, Maine normal). Gov. Mills has given me hope something like that can happen for the country.
rikyrah
Get the ENTIRE Phuck Outta Here ?
https://twitter.com/soledadobrien/status/1108506138247598080
eclare
@Tony Jay: Thanks for reposting, I appreciate your perspective.
Leto
@Tony Jay: Well said.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I think I heard Colbert claim on the air that was him. The “skin” account, that is.
raven
@Tony Jay: My wife is flying over a week from today and her (dual citizenship) buddy is in London now. I’m urging her to have a good time.
arrieve
@Tony Jay: Thank you for the very clear explanation. I do try to follow this but not knowing all the back story makes it hard to understand. So, basically, a clusterfuck of enormous proportions. No wonder Vlad looks so happy these days. Western destabilization beyond his wildest imaginings.
rikyrah
They are running a con job.
That much is obvious ?
https://twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/1108707204922830848
OzarkHillbilly
mochacodycorgis Two corgis, too funny.
Leto
@rikyrah:
I can’t wait for the Huckabeast profile, with CNN extolling her virtue in reporting.
rikyrah
I feel the petty, and I share it ???
https://twitter.com/leftyjennyc/status/1108377686362202112
Immanentize
@Tony Jay:
And adding — just the plain hubris of the Brexiteers to believe that the EU would roll over and give the UK whatever it asked for. Delusional. I think the EU gas acquired itself quite well in the process, at least appearing mature and not giving in to understandable fits of anger toward May and her band.
rikyrah
Bring those receipts ??
https://twitter.com/tomwatson/status/1108696910368514050
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@OzarkHillbilly: Reminds me of the cat / beagle relationship in our house. Every evening when he’s (dog) chasing her (cat) full speed out of the room I get worried she’s afraid of him.
And every morning when he’s stretching and rolling and she’s standing on his head, I’m reassured.
eclare
@rikyrah: Come sit by me.
Leto
@Immanentize: This. The Brexiteers thought the EU would roll over and we’re pretty surprised when, early on, the EU leadership effective told them to go fvck themselves. And they’ve stuck to that message. The Tories have had two years to get their shit together, all the while the EU leadership has been resolute in: you’re not getting a special deal. It’s all or nothing. So far you’re choosing the nothing option, and while we don’t exactly like it, we’re going to let you eat that shyte pie. Have fun.
And now the Tories want an extra 60 days to really get their shyte together. Such a clusterfvck.
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: An excellent summary of the shit-swamp into which both our countries are rapidly sinking. May I front page it at some point as an explainer as events warrant? With due credit, of course.
Leto
@rikyrah: I like her rules:
A person asks what if Tulsi gets the nod? She says replace Bernie with Tulsi, same plan ?
Tenar Arha
@Tony Jay:
fierce applause gif
Haroldo
@Tony Jay:
Thank you. I would love to see you turn your skills on precisely the role Murdoch played in all of this, from go to whoa (or woe, take your pick). He is the common, outstanding thread in this tale of two countries, it seems.
rikyrah
Uh huh ??
https://twitter.com/tomwatson/status/1108711439219519488
chopper
@Tony Jay:
i’d insert clapping emoji here if i was an emoji person.
Note: i am not an emoji person.
Haroldo
@Betty Cracker:
An excellent idea! Well worthy of a front page posting. @Tony Jay:
Tony Jay
@Immanentize:
Sorry, I’ve been elsewhere. Thanks everyone, this cavalcade of doom just irks me a little.
The thing to bear in mind is that for Brexiteers, hell, for a huge chunk of the British Public, the whole Brexit saga has been taking place solely within the context of British Media. It’s not ‘real’, it’s a soap-opera. Remember that the second the Referendum result came in the leaders of the Leave campaign ran away from any responsibility as fast as their scaly little legs could carry them. They knew it was all tabloid bullshit and Internet trolling, it was a media sales campaign that went on for so long that it became national policy. They didn’t want any part of making it happen because they knew reality would prove everything the’d built their little empires of whine and bluster around to be fact-free and impossible to carry out.
But…BUT… it was a fictional soap-opera that a large majority of Tory Party members out in the rural sticks came to believe in. Like their ideological cousins in the States, the fact that what they believe is transparent rubbish just makes them believe it all the more. May is just the grey, lifeless host for an entity composed of a hundred thousand bitter, racist Little-Englanders who don’t like the darkies they see on television and want everyone to know this is Their country. Britain’s problem is simply that 50 to 60 Tory MPs have to weigh the survival of the nation against their own short-term career prospects…. which is not a good place to be.
Tony Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Really? Uh… okay.
I’m going to lie down now.
rikyrah
Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) Tweeted:
Don’t get snowed by Trump’s supposed support for releasing the Mueller report https://t.co/gzbHWLOvR8 https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1108707926473146368?s=17
rikyrah
@Tony Jay:
????
I agree with others. This comment should be front page
rikyrah
Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) Tweeted:
A Democrat I interviewed yesterday said she used to support Bernie Sanders until she was tongue-lashed by a conservative on a bus who called her a communist and socialist upon hearing about her party registration.
“We didn’t hear that before Bernie,” she said. https://t.co/SdlE098xj7 https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo/status/1108706256037003265?s=17
Betty Cracker
@Leto: I suspect a lot of folks feel that way, which is why I hope to Christ that Bernie goes down in flames, and the sooner the better. But if he wins the Democratic Party nomination (please FSM, no!), I am voting for the cantankerous coot. Getting Trump out has to be the top priority in 2020, just as preventing his election should have been the top priority for the Bernie butt-hurt in 2016.
WaterGirl
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: The skin account is Colbert.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: I’ve been hearing that all my life.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
Exactly! Do you think that’s too long to fit on a bumper sticker? I think we need bigger bumper stickers.
hedgehog mobile
@Tony Jay: Brilliant and clear. Thank you.
Leto
@Betty Cracker: Agreed, the sooner he goes down the better. We have other nominees in place who are better on every issue. They’re able to not only explain their proposals better, but they’re also able to explain how to pay for those proposals. And not that magical unicorn, hand waving BS that is the foundation of his “how to pay”.
Personally I hope he never makes it to the stage because he’s not a Democrat. You actually have to be a member of the party if you want the nomination. Full. Stop. Not this, “I’m going to join your party, but as soon as I don’t get what I want, I’m taking my Ben and Jerry’s and going home!” BS.
And then there’s the eternal animus I have towards his wife who bankrupted Avalune’s alama mater, Burlington College. Muthaphuckers, him and his grifting family! I haven’t had my coffee. I need to fix that.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker:
I have voted for Democrats my whole life. If he somehow gets the nomination I will *not* vote for him. No point substituting one Russian asset for another.
eclare
@Leto: Oh wow, that is a highly personal reason. Do you happen to know if she is still under investigation for bank fraud?
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@eclare – No she is not still under investigation. The investigation concluded and the Vermont A.G. declined to press charges:
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/vermonts-us-attorney-clears-jane-sanders-of-burlington-college-wrongdoing/25055185
hueyplong
@Gin & Tonic: But Republicans would help remove the Bernie Russian asset. They won’t remove the Trump one.
I’d vote for Wilmer over Trump. I’m not sure I’d vote for the gunsel over anyone else.
Leto
@eclare: I don’t believe so. This article covers it pretty well:
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2018/11/13/burlington-college-federal-investigation-ends-no-charges-jane-sanders/1989505002/
Essentially the investigation was closed and nobody is speaking about it. Burlington College was the equivalent of Portland, Oregon: proud to be weird. They were a very tiny college with an enrollment of about 200, with a healthy mix of in-resident students and distance education students. They had their niche, and it was working. Jane Sanders plan was to try to expand the campus and more than double the enrollment. Good goal if done right, but she essentially saddled this tiny ass school with a huge amount of debt and then walked away (sound familiar?).
Another part of the debt saddling is the fact that she funded/stood up her daughter’s woodworking school, which was integrated into the college. That woodworking school (Vermont Woodworking School) has survived, though it’s now partnering with a different college to grant BAs.
It’s personal and it’s another black eye for Bernie. They haven’t been transparent about it. The excuses that they/she offer (Oh, it was fine when I left it!) remind me of what my Airmen who got caught fucking off would say. It’s another extension of the “I’m not releasing my tax returns/Jane does my taxes/I’m under audit and I can’t release them” type of bullshit that’s so toxic.
Hey, look at that? I’m out of coffee. Time for a refill.
eclare
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Damn
eclare
@Leto: Thanks for the article, I remember reading some about it in 2016, like the big land purchase and overstating donations. I will call the DNC today to state any Democrat must release full tax returns for at least five (my pref would be ten) years before the first debate.
If anyone bankrupted my alma mater, I would hate that person with the heat of one thousand suns.
Barbara
@Tony Jay: I have been trying to keep up although I must say it is discouraging. From what I have read, it does clearly seem to be the case that May cares more about preserving conservative control of Parliament than anything else. But what seems to now be occurring in the EU is an effort to impose the kind of clarity of thinking that the British Parliament still lacks after all this time: May’s Deal, No exit, or exit without deal. That’s it. That’s all there is and the writing has been on the wall ever since May came back with her deal. All the magical ponies and unicorn dreams that individual MPs keep throwing out there are completely daft and finally, the EU is tired of having to deal with the UK on such completely unrealistic terms. It’s like when, finally, your mom tells you to get a job to pay the rent or do a commensurate amount of chores, and if that really doesn’t work for you, move out.
And you know what? I really doubt that it would break either party for a generation, because we have seen wild swings in party popularity with predictions of permanent change that have been vastly overstated. At the end of the day, you have to choose between a few candidates and the “big picture” stops being all that important to all but a few voters.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
Get this, she actually picked people to run departments who are experts in the issues tasked to those departments!
What kills me is she is a longtime friend and Hillary Clinton supporter. They have a lot in common in terms of their approach to white work. It’s a glimpse into how a Clinton administration would have been. White America, we fucked up bigly. SAD!
Betty Cracker
@hueyplong: I’m not sure Democrats would help remove the coot if he were elected on our ticket, but Sanders wouldn’t set up a baby-snatching operation at the border, appoint wingnut hack judges, blurt out racist shit 24/7, etc.
MomSense
@Tony Jay:
Is it my imagination or is the Royal Family promoting the relationships with the Commonwealth Countries more than usual?
MomSense
@MomSense:
I don’t know why my phone said white work. WTF I tried to write their work. Great, now my phone is turning into a MAGAt from all the mocking.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
BWA HA H AH AH AH HA HA AHH HA
Tony Jay
@Barbara:
Can’t argue with your description at all. It’s exactly like that. The EU have been acting like adults in all this while the British Government and its crack negotiating team have been modelling themselves on the most petulant and entitled wankers in Europe… which, as it happens, is who they already were. So I guess that was easy for them.
The reason I say this could destroy the Tory Party for (at least) a generation is because this issue has been the defining fracture point between the main wings of the Tory Party for decades. Europe, our place in it, and what that means for national identity. As far as the rabid Little-Englanders are concerned they already won. They don’t give a toss how, or who helped them, or why or any of that complicated and troubling stuff. They won. In a vote. For the first time ever. If and when the Tory Party splits over this issue and Brexit gets cancelled, they will never, ever forgive and forget. They’ll have their Dolchstoßlegende and that will poison everything going forwards, if nothing else because their muses in the Right Wing Press will feed their sense of betrayal and hated back to them in daily doses of outrage for profit.
Fingers crosses.
frosty
@Tony Jay: Brilliant, thank you!
Miss Bianca
@Tony Jay: Hot.Damn.Tamale.
i’ve always loved your Brexit commentaries but this one is the best one yet (weeps quietly over the sheer fuckwittery of it all).
PJ
@Tony Jay: Just want to say along with the others that your commentary on this issue has been cogent and sadly hilarious. If you had a newsletter, I would subscribe to it.
CatFacts
@Tony Jay: Thank for your comments. They were really helpful for this befuddled American jackal!
TruthOfAngels
@satby:
The last one attracted an estimated 700,000, and this one might get a million.
Meanwhile, on the other side:
Nigel Farage says he will not be completing the 200-mile Brexit Betrayal march from the North East to Westminster despite asking supporters to join him
I mean, this bit’s just so Farage.
Pretty sweet grift, thats over $20,000 in American money to just turn up, gladhand a few people, talk some bollocks then fuck off to the pub.
tybee
@Tony Jay: thanks. great rant, too.
Tony Jay
You’re all too kind. Brexit just…. well, it’s fucking daft, isn’t it? It’s like a bunch of Shakespeare’s monkeys were asked to put on a mystery play about White Nationalism and the Perils of Using Absinthe as a Condiment and really leaned hard into the Tragic Farce elements.
Dan B
@Haroldo: I’m with you on exposing Murdoch. There are many forces that have amplified the anger that’s tearing apart our institutions but having a polished propaganda machine embedded in English speaking countries has been disastrous.
More than two decades ago I was at a big event that hollered loudly about the danger of revoking the Fairness Doctrine. We hoped it wouldn’t be awful but it allowed FOX in with its right wing views . Add in Citizens United and the Fruition of the Powell Memo, among others, and democracy teeters on a pinhead.
Dan B
@Tony Jay: Righteous post, thanks! It reminds me that we can usually pull through one illness or injury but multiple assaults are mire likely to be fatal.
In this country the repeal if the Fairness Doctrine, that required any entity with a public airwaves license had to present multiple viewpoints, allowed Murdoch to open Fox News. This seemed to mark the moment when right wing corporate / anti-union groups, plus the “Southern Strategy” / polite white supremacist empowerment began to grind down american cohesion. Or at least it became influential enough to block progress and the illusion of progress.
Now we are confronted with the myth of the poorly regulated internet ushering in utopia. There seems to be a Trojan Horse plot underway. If only we still remembered our timeless stories.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: She’s wrong–Reaganites were saying that back in the Eighties. The whole reason young people started deciding self-described socialists were cool was that they’d grown up hearing from conservatives that anything remotely humane was socialism.
mg_65
@Tony Jay: Thank you for this helpful and clarifying post. Really well-written.
Aleta
del