.
Hey, the worst we have to worry about is Handsy Uncle Joe, an ‘independent’ who’s leaking support, and approximately a bakers dozen of disgruntled white dudes who can’t get traction. The Repubs are stuck with the Squatter-in-Chief, the half-bright diehards at the core of his personality cult, and the uncertain mercies of foreign oligarchs…
This has become a “week long story” because Trump is an undisciplined jerk and because of it he’s behind
IOW it’s true
— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) June 18, 2019
As President Trump prepares to formally launch his reelection bid Tuesday, his allies are trying to tamp down headlines that depict his campaign as trailing top Democrats, beset by withering leaks and unable to keep internal tensions from spilling into public view.
The 2020 drama intensified over the weekend, as Trump’s campaign abruptly fired three of its pollsters, including one polling firm formerly owned by Kellyanne Conway, the president’s adviser and former campaign manager.
Privately and publicly, campaign advisers fumed over the leak of internal polling data that showed Trump far behind former vice president Joe Biden in key states — a pattern that has touched a nerve with the president…
While an economy with low unemployment and steady growth would normally be a solid tail wind for an incumbent president, the Trump campaign is facing signs of a tough path to reelection.
The 17-state poll conducted by the campaign in March, for example, showed Trump trailing Biden by double digits in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan, ABC reported Friday. Trump’s approval rating has also been stuck around the 40 percent mark throughout his term…
.
.
.
.
.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
James Borden dodgeball with Forever FLOTUS ??
https://youtu.be/6yRVdV3b8F0
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Good morning from Poco and his tribe!
Jerzy Russian
I did not know Conway owned one of the polling firms that was dropped. Well, at least there is a bit of Schadenfreunde there for me. These days, I take whatever crumbs are thrown my way.
Jerzy Russian
@rikyrah: Good middle-of-the-night here. Should try to sleep some more.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jerzy Russian: Formerly owned by Conway.
Blech cubed.
Jerzy Russian
@OzarkHillbilly: Hell’s bells. Definitely time to go back to sleep.
NotMax
Several items of minor import which recently caught the eye.
1) Never imagined the day would arrive when an article Included “The Banana Splits” and “slasher flick.” Does not appear to be a joke? Exudes WTF from every pore.
2) Y’know what? If you crave the experience of eating meat, eat freakin’ meat.
3) Yes, it’s come to this: Kraft Dares America’s Parents to Simply Give Up.
Quinerly
Ugh
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-trump-orlando-campaign-line-20190617-wzvk4htrnndyfj4xuun34tvqo4-story.html
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax:
It’s the end of America.
My little brother had a friend who would eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or hot dogs. The kids mother went along with this. My mother didn’t. Needless to say this kid only slept over once.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe???
JPL
@Quinerly: Counting is hard
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Quinerly
@JPL: just read that the inflatable baby Trump balloon will be flying at the Orlando rally. ?
p.a.
Good Morning!
And yet… it’s more horserace journalism. But if our horse(s) are ahead, and it gets under the current jackass’ skin, I can accept it.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Did your wife get back home okay?
OzarkHillbilly
So now you know.
debbie
Has anyone quizzed Trump about Jared’s peace plan? It doesn’t seem to have made things any better. //
Just One More Canuck
@NotMax: Salad frosting is just ranch dressing – I think it’s far from the worst food marketing idea ever. Remember the Hallowe’en Whopper with the black bun? Turned your poop green
And on that note, good morning everyone. Enjoy your breakfast!
Kay
Grossly and blatantly corrupt.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Dogs play the long game.
Kay
JR
@NotMax: I don’t get the opposition to eating imitation meat products. Some might argue its untraditional but people have been doing this in China for generations. Reducing our consumption of meat is probably one of the better decisions society could make to improve our environment, so however we get there is a-ok with me.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I will not read US politics while in Europe.
I will not read US politics while in Europe.
I will n… DAMMIT!
(Dives for phone. Reads BJ)
I did ask my cabbie how the French feel about the Orange Idiot and he said they’re mostly busy hating on Macron. However he said he’s met plenty of Trump supporters among his fares though. “He’s good for business” is what they tell him.
I’m a little surprised. I thought wingnuts tend not to be the type who visit other countries.
Baud
@NotMax:
There are health, environmental, or moral reasons people might choose to forgo meat products, even though they miss the taste.
Sloane Ranger
@Kay: How can the Federal government dictate where a State government decides to house a prisoner? Or are they saying they won’t transfer him to NY State custody unless they like his living arrangements?
I thought the Republicans loved them some State Rights?
OK, the last paragraph was snark but genuinely interested in the answer to the previous questions.
debbie
No doubt every dog would make their biggest puppy faces after hearing of this news.
rikyrah
Scott Dworkin (@funder) Tweeted:
Mitch McConnell doesn’t understand why Jon Stewart is so “bent out of shape” over him moving slowly on reauthorization of the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund. Of course a traitor like Mitch wouldn’t understand. They did their job. Mitch—DO YOURS: #MitchFund911HeroesNow https://twitter.com/funder/status/1140937835219996672?s=17
debbie
@Sloane Ranger:
I think it’s more about intimidation than anything else.
Baud
What could possibly go wrong?
rikyrah
@Kay:
Nothing but Unqualified lowlifes
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@JR: I love Soylent Green
Baud
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-klobuchar-adds-a-first-100-days-list-to-the-pile-of-presidential-candidate-plans/2019/06/17/fccb8e6c-915b-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html
Kay
@rikyrah:
I did think it was showboating though. There was never any doubt they were planning on passing it, right? I’m fine with it- he’s an advocate, he wanted attention paid to his issue, but I feel he grossly exaggerated – pretending he was engaged in this fight to the death to get funding when funding was a done deal. He’s not owed an audience. They don’t all have to file in and listen to him because he’s a celebrity. The point was supposedly the funding, which he was getting- he knew it and they knew it.
Nicole
The hullabaloo over “salad frosting” seems to be media-designed to get clicks by tapping into Americans’ innate children-should-do-whatever-the-fuck-adults-tell-them-to-without-question authoritarianism. Who the heck cares what a company calls salad dressing? As a citizen who believes in the value of critical thinking, I applaud Kraft’s marketing ploy. The most likely outcome is that kids will be disappointed when the “frosting” turns out to be ranch dressing (which is the milk of devil teats) and they will learn a valuable lesson in not accepting things at face value.
In all seriousness, as someone who was a very, very picky eater as a child, I have great sympathy for both parents and kids who deal with it. Picky eaters aren’t being assholes; they have a very strong aversion reaction. My mother was not sympathetic to my issues and I still remember vomiting a spoonful of green beans she had just forced me to eat right back onto the spoon.
As an adult, I’ll eat just about anything, up to and including roasted grasshoppers. One of the things that helped, interestingly enough, was my dad encouraging me to help him make dinner. The food was less intimidating when I helped prepare it myself. And just getting older, I guess. I wish society would lighten up on kids and their parents and leave them alone about it. If the kids are growing okay, and learning okay, they’re probably okay. Human beings are generalists, after all; we can survive on a wide variety of foods.
Though… I still can’t stomach canned green beans or green peas (though snow peas and snap peas are great). Even the smell of either of those vegetables produces a gag reaction. Too much having them forced on me as a kid, I guess. Oh, and I hate ranch dressing. But that’s because it’s the milk of devil teats.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Yep. The last time we’d gotten rain like that 185 went under. There are other options but none that don’t invite flash flooding. This time it was much ado about nothing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Who did you think the “asshole Americans” were?
Patricia Kayden
Man, Russia is going to have to work overtime and pull out all the stops to get Orange Bigot back in the White House in 2020. Sad!
Baud
https://www.governing.com/daily-digit/235-percent.html
MomSense
@Nicole:
Truly picky eaters I agree with you. There are also parents who never let their kids try new things and just assume they won’t like them.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Good. Better safe than sorry.
Kay
@Nicole:
Thanks. My youngest was picky- and I DID take it as a power struggle. I thought he was being an asshole, in other words. For about a year all he would eat was chocolate milk and peanut butter. I handed him a smoothie once in the car and he freaked. “WHAT is this?!” The flecks of the fruit in the cup so bothered him he was frantically handing it back. I did give up and he did grow out of it. He was actually my healthiest kid- I think he’s been sick with flu-like illness or a bad cold twice over 17 years.
rikyrah
I dare you to make sense of this????
ABC News (@ABC) Tweeted:
Hours after Iran threatened to increase its enrichment levels, the Trump administration called on Tehran not to break its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the accord. https://t.co/gY7kSOXdKJ https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1140816673492090881?s=17
Steeplejack
Anybody have a restaurant recommendation in Frederick, MD? Having dinner with a friend there Thursday.
vtr
I’m currently stockpiling learned helplessness.
rikyrah
Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) Tweeted:
Election security should be a nonpartisan issue, yet we have a national security threat in the White House who is publicly thanking Senate Republicans for blocking election security legislation. This is downright irresponsible – the time to secure our elections is now. https://twitter.com/SenKamalaHarris/status/1140755248207863808?s=17
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: IOKYAt.
Baud
rikyrah
THREAD
Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) Tweeted:
For all the folks questioning how “nigger” could become a public safety issue for college students, a quick story. During my freshman year at Penn, I lived in a dorm that was populated almost completely by black students. One night during fall midterms, we started getting calls.
amil Smith (@JamilSmith) Tweeted:
I got to the phone before any my roommates. It was more than 25 years ago, and I would recognize his voice today. Clear, calm. Smiling, but he didn’t sound like he was suppressing a laugh. Sociopathic. He enunciated the word.
“Is this the ‘nigger dorm’?”
“What?”
He repeated it. https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/1140799372956798976?s=17
Kay
@rikyrah:
Does anyone believe them? They so misrepresented the Iran deal that to me the idea that they’re credible on it is just ludicrous. Why would they be telling the truth now? Donald Trump has not told the truth about a single deal or interaction with a foreign country or leader the entire time he has been in office. LAST WEEK he lied about a deal with Mexico. If they’re telling the truth now it would be the first time. It’s to the point that they’re gaslighting themselves. No one else believes them.
Baud
I’d like to know if I should feel sorry for them or if they are instead Patriot Lobstermen.
satby
@rikyrah et al: Good morning ?
@MomSense: I was fortunate that my kids took after their parents and ate pretty much everything we did. The house rule was you couldn’t declare you didn’t like something without tasting it, but after that you could skip it. The other house rule was no special meals, dinner was what was served. You had the option of skipping it if you wanted, or only eating the parts you liked; but I wasn’t making a substitute when I had spent hours making something else.
Speaking of cooking, I made the most wonderful quiche yesterday: spinach, fiddlehead fern, heirloom tomato, and feta. Fiddleheads are new to me, but now I’m a convert.
Kay
@Baud:
It is wild though how many of his policies specifically harm white working class people. He secretly hates them.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s wild how much white working class people hate us that they continue to support Trump.
MomSense
@Baud:
They will tell you that Dump knows what he is doing. I usually respond that if that were true he wouldn’t have so many failed casinos and bankruptcies on his record. Sometimes that gets a flash of surprise and then the cultists go back to believing he will take care of them. Canada has now happily filled the Chinese demand. Why would China go back to buying from us even if we did stop this tariff nonsense? Besides, the lobsters are moving north anyway. Gulf of Maine is warming up faster than almost every other body of water on the planet. WASF
MomSense
@satby:
Love fiddleheads! Make sure you cook them thoroughly, though. They contain a toxin.
lurker dean
fuck.
Baud
@MomSense:
Good. One less group of people I need to worry about.
MomSense
@Kay:
Not only is he showboating but now he’s going on Colbert and shaming Congress as a whole instead of just Republicans. Democrats have fully supported the 9-11 responders from the beginning. He is the fucking worst both sider.
Kay
@Baud:
They don’t all though. He’s lost support. Ron Brownstein says the drop off is white working class women, which wouldn’t surprise me. Obama made inroads with them. I think there’s less identity politics and more practicality in that group- anecdotally here that’s true. Less “guns and trucks and bluster are my identity” among them. They have hard lives. I don’t think they feel they have the luxury to risk their kids Medicaid or whatever over some bullshit “honor” self-image. I’ve even been hearing some alarm over the anti-abortion stuff, which surprised me. When it becomes personal they can be reached.
MomSense
@Baud:
They have families. When it all turns to shit there are victims.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
I was raised the same way. Most things I could eat, a few I would prefer to starve. KFC was one I absolutely despised and all my siblings loved. Fortunately I was only subjected to that vile stuff on road trips and my mother would get extra mashed taters, slaw, and biscuits just so I’d have enough.
Baud
@Kay:
At least that whole “economic anxiety” thesis has been thoroughly discredited.
satby
@MomSense: sauteed, then baked! NUM! (I also suspect the seller parboils them before selling just to be sure city people don’t poison themselves ?).
Baud
@MomSense:
Really? The news stories I’ve seen seem to portray it as Stewart v. McConnell.
Another Scott
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: When we were in Austria a few years ago, we were walking around some city and some young restaurant guy (trying to drum up business) saw that we were Americans, asked where we were from.
“Virginia”.
“Oh, hey! Robert E. Lee. Great guy!! …”
“Um, no actually, he was a traitor” (thought, don’t know if we said it).
He was shocked that Obama won Virginia twice.
We were shocked by how neo-Fascist he was, and was quite happy to let us know about it.
Maybe our interaction with him made him tone it down….
tl;dr – the Trump supporters the cabbie saw might have been locals, or other non-Americans. (But I agree it’s not terribly likely.)
Cheers,
Scott.
(No, we didn’t eat there. ;-)
MomSense
@Baud:
Last night he kept repeating Congress. He said McConnell too but mostly just Congress.
satby
@MomSense: I watched that segment and Stewart very specifically called out McConnell and his comments on Fux and Fiends, not Congress as a whole.
Edit: and he said it had passed the House with bipartisan support, and now was waiting for McConnell to bring it to the Senate floor. I thought it was heavily pointed at McConnell.
Baud
@Kay:
Glad to hear. Every little bit helps. But not even Obama won that group.
MomSense
@satby:
Hmm, interesting. We can even buy them at the grocery store. They have a lot of dirt in them so it’s a process to get them ready to cook. Delicious sautéed with lemon and garlic.
Baud
@MomSense:
Sure. It’s the innocent non-Trump supporters who are their human shields against our fury.
Kay
@MomSense:
It’s weirdly cynical, right? To take an ordinary lack of attendance at a done deal hearing and make that the issue. He is, after all, a professional showman. I don’t love Congress either but don’t bullshit me. He’s not owed an audience for 4 hours of speechifying. There are people who are difficult to advocate on behalf of – unpopular groups- and 9/11 first responders are not among them. Contrast with Colbert testifying on behalf of migrant Mexican “guest” workers a couple of years ago. That’s tougher.
lurker dean
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-vows-mass-immigration-arrests-removals-of-millions-of-illegal-aliens-starting-next-week/2019/06/17/4e366f5e-916d-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html?
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: I’ve only stopped there for gas, and maybe to get a chicken sandwich at Wendy’s.
Maybe TripAdvisor will give you some ideas?
Have fun!
Cheers,
Scott.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Well off older white people and men on business travel a lot. That’s an R-trending group
satby
@MomSense: I wanted to make them that way too, so I’m buying more on Saturday when that vendor is back at the market. I assume like ramps it’s not a long season that they’re available.
MomSense
@satby:
But then he said things like “you would think that would be enough to get Congress’s attention…” so depending on what excerpts are played you may only see Congress called out. He could just as easily have said McConnell and Republicans.
evodevo
@Quinerly: It’s the same people over and over again at all his rallies (“Those in line said there is a camaraderie among supporters. Some had met each other before at past rallies.”)…they all KNOW EACH OTHER lol…he’s not reaching new voters, he’s just feeding the addiction of a few old ones….that said, GOTV!!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lurker dean: He doesn’t have the personnel to remove “millions” of people. That’s why an ordinary administration sets priorities, going after criminals first. I suspect what will happen now will be less orderly and more vindictive. Why risk going after criminals when you can arrest a 5 year old?
A Ghost To Most
@Steeplejack:
I haven’t lived there in 10 years, but Mexicali Cantina had awesome fajitas and seafood dishes
MomSense
@Kay:
It’s more than cynical. He thought they should show up for him. He did a lot of damage over the years with his endless both sides shit.
satby
@Kay: is it? Do you think the average American realizes that so much Congressional business is done in nearly empty sessions? We do, because we’re more politically aware. Maybe it’s a good thing to highlight as a election season ramps up.
It goes into a pet peeve of mine, most people have forgotten how legislating really works. That’s how a fake like Wilmer gets to claim what an effective MoC he’s been without anyone understanding he’s not.
Betty Cracker
Trump is officially announcing his reelection bid in Orlando today at the 20K-seat Scamway arena. Yesterday the local media had stories about cultists who were camped out in line to ensure they get front row seats, mostly older folks. The weather has been warm and muggy AF with frequent thunderstorms, and it’ll be similar today (through September!). Anyhoo, here’s hoping those morons fry on the hot pavement, run out of water and mosquito repellent and have their lawn chairs, umbrellas and ponchos carried off by sudden gusts of wind.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@lurker dean: Man, he really hates his in-laws.
MomSense
@Baud:
Lots of opioid addiction (and other substances) and violence among the lobstering population. It’s also an example of climate change affecting commerce even if they don’t believe it. Permits to lobster are territorial. If the lobster leave your licensed area, you cannot follow them and trap them in the area they’ve moved to. Lobsters are migrating north to colder water.
Kay
@Baud:
Obama took an incrimental, cumulative approach to a statewide vote. 8k here, add with 100k here, every one counts. They were obsessive about counting. I think that approach was validated with Trump’s incredibly narrow win in certain states. The Obama campaign would not have been “surprised” by anything coming out of Pennsylvania. There were no surprises. They said we had 8k here and we had 8k. They canvassed some of these areas so much the volunteers were carrying around worn walk lists with writing all over them. The idea was three contacts per voter. It wasn’t magical. It was just hard work.
I have doubts about Warren’s ability to win- she polls worse than Biden and Sanders. But I think she has the best campaign so far, and it matters.
satby
@MomSense: he said McConnell (and McConnell is the gatekeeper) enough to make it clear who his target was. Highlighting what an asshole McConnell is about legislation that affects people’s lives is a good strategy to me. On Fux & Fiends, McConnell came off as snotty and condescending to not just Stewart but the 9-11 responders too, and if that can boomerang back on him with Stewart’s help it’s a good thing.
edward markham
Has anybody commented on the fact that Sonny Perdue (surprisingly active despite his age, unfortunately, and relatively unsullied, ‘yay’ :/ ) wants to move the majority of the USDA in 3 months? https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2019/06/perdue-makes-final-site-selection-for-usda-relocation/
I feel for federal workers who finally know that their jobs will move to KC/MO (finding out last week in a (1!) 20 minute meeting. Still no exact location. I know so many worse things going on, but lordy, really any other admin would do this over 2-3 years. Think BRAC, and it was mostly in the DC region.
ffs these people don’t care about the working class.
Kay
@satby:
But why would he highlight in such a dishonest way? They weren’t there because it’s a done deal. I get it as an advocate. Yell and pound the table, attention must be paid. But it has nothing to do with what was really going on there. Now everyone can shake their heads and say “those government bureacrats don’t do their jobs” but getting the funding is their job. Performing for cameras is not actually their job, although it is his job.
lurker dean
@Dorothy A. Winsor: true. i suspect miller is after maximum terror with the resources they have. more checkpoints in places you wouldn’t expect wouldn’t surprise me at all. and house raids.
MomSense
@Kay:
Seven phone contacts per voter. I have big concerns about Warren. Even though I like her and she’s my second pick, I can’t help but feel that we are in a bubble with her. She underperformed Obama in Massachusetts. With all the caveats about anecdata, when I mention her to my non-political acquaintances I get very negative responses.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Kay: CNN had this feature on Obama’s campaign in Indiana. Canvassers worked every block and it was bad. they had doors slammed in their faces; on some blocks they could only find 2 supporters – it looks hopeless.. But these kids were unflinching, even in the face of strong rejection and hostility. Come election night, they won Indiana for the first time in 44 years.
AM in NC
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: When I was in Paris last November I had 2 interesting experiences with taxi drivers regarding Trump. First one casually mentioned Trump was good, non?, and when my mom, my aunt and I all made sounds of shock and disgust he then let us know what he really thought, and we had a great discussion in broken English and broken French about Trump and the recent midterms where the Dems cruised to victory. I was so impressed with how a regular citizen of another country knew about our legislature and how it functions – doubt most Americans know as much. Also thought it was interesting that he opened our conversation with a statement that was mildly pro-Trump on the surface (but could also be taken for sarcasm, which it was) as he sussed out what kinds of Americans we were. Second driver was all for Trump – BECAUSE HE MEANS WHAT HE SAYS. We tried to impress upon him that if Trump is breathing, he’s lying, but this guy was a true believer. He totally bought that Trump is a working class hero. SMH. Neither driver was too happy with Macron, but the second guy really hated him.
Baud
@MomSense:
Same here. The few times Warren has come up in conversation with non-political people, it’s been negative.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I expect raids. At big places like meat packing factories and maybe Amazon Warehouses?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@AM in NC: Le Pen’s fascist support comes from… wait for it.. the white working class
“PARIS (Reuters) – Marine Le Pen’s protectionist, anti-establishment message resonated most in parts of France with lower incomes, lower life expectancy and lower education levels, a Reuters analysis of voting in Sunday’s first round shows. “
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Stories like that make me want to be a Wall Street capitalist.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:
Back before Ticketmaster wised up — I saw much bigger arena camped fans for the Stones or the Dead….
We know how to pre-sell tickets now. Trump wants the sidewalk display.
rikyrah
@satby:
Huh?
MomSense
@Immanentize:
Lots of separated families in our future.
rikyrah
@Baud:
MAGA, Bytches.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Baud: In Manhattan, Dump only received 9% of the vote.
Imagine the reaction if a Democrat lost their home town by 91%.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Well, it doesn’t hurt that the Chinese have targeted their responses overwhelmingly to states that he won. YOU voted for him..Ok…YOU can accept responsibility for what he’s doing.
AM in NC
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Yep. That second cabbie was like a poster child for disaffected working class white dudes of a certain age around the globe – pissed off that some of their God-given, natural right to dominate everyone and everything was being challenged by the browns (and the wimminz) and he was having none of it. Trump, Le Pen, Orban – all of a piece. The first guy pleasantly surprised me.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
did you see the article on the Black working class of ACTUAL Youngstown yesterday?
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Hell, imagine it a Dem won the electoral college but massively lost the popular vote.
CliosFanBoy
@Another Scott: i was thinking the kind of person who says trump is “good for business” is the type who would travel, on business. The ones who say “God wanted trump to be president” are the types to be afraid to travel overseas.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Only if they are owned by a registered Democrat.
Immanentize
@Immanentize:
HaaHaHa. Trump gets that his crowds suck too — this morning’s tweet:
rikyrah
@Kay:
It was showboating, but, any doubt? Are you serious, Kay?
They had absolutely no intentions of passing it in like, 2011. I mean, the GOP wasn’t gonna pass it until he did the same thing.
My thing is with his ‘ Congress’ bullshyt.
No, muthaphucka…it’s not Congress. It’s never Congress…
It’s the goddamned REPUBLICANS.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: There was an ICE raid at a kosher meat packing plant near where we lived in Iowa. I remember seeing the ICE jackets on agents in Panera. That was pretty rare in the heartland where I lived. Maybe that will change.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Can’t be a surprise to anyone whose been in a nursing home in this country.
CliosFanBoy
@satby: huh, I just learned what fiddleheads were a few weeks ago while in Maine. Have not eaten any yet.
CliosFanBoy
@rikyrah: about the only non-whites I see in my Mom’s retirement place in western NC are the staff.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Glad to hear she’s OK.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I might, too, depending on percentage of Rethug contained therein. The higher the percentage, the better.
I wouldn’t eat it, of course, but I might sleep better.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Yeah, I on the other hand took 14 stitches in my arm yesterday, fortunately I managed to avoid the ER.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: IIRC, these people have tickets already; they’re camping out to get good seats. I got the impression many of them are retirees from The Villages. Trump has already bragged about the line, of course. I am not all that close to Orlando but have received emails about attending anti-Trump rallies in that same area. As a Florida native, I have enough sense to stay near A/C this time of year though.
Jeffro
Mods – any idea what happened to my lengthy comment I just tried to post? It’s because it had Ben Carson in it, right? =)
Baud
@Baud:
Blockquote fall.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Steeplejack: Cafe Anglais if you like British food; you can make reservations for afternoon tea. Also the pizza and pretzel factory is good and there’s a Cuban place that looks good though I haven’t actually eaten there
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: Took a quick look in the back room, and there’s nothing in the moderation, spam or trash files, so it looks like your comment got vaporized somehow. Sorry!
rikyrah
@edward markham:
I’m just gonna ask…if this had been President Clinton, would this even be an issue? Would it be moving?
Kay
@rikyrah:
I did! I posted it here. The black political power/establishment interests me. I wish the writer of that article would pursue that. Black mayors in Ohio are a political power unto themselves. They’re undervalued and underexamined as elected officials who represent hundreds of thousands of people, and in the aggregate in Ohio, millions of people. I’ve said this before but Obama tapped into it. He wasn’t getting white county chairs or white statewide politicians, but he WAS getting black mayors. I feel like treating black people as an interest group or group of VOTERS misses an important part of this story. They have a political establishment, and it’s powerful. The NYTimes piece on Youngstown was typical. They went to the county chair for comment and discounted actual elected officials in the city itself who are black. I went to a Cleveland women’s caucus once and there was this large group of black women who have been running for things and serving for decades. It’s weirdly invisible, but it’s there and it’s BEEN there.
Republicans (and most media) depict AA’s as passive- the Democratic base of voters who hold none of their own political power. That isn’t true.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: Where I lived, row crops like corn and soybeans grew horizon to horizon. Those don’t take many field hands to plant or harvest, so we didn’t have many immigrant laborers. Not many farm laborers of any kind really. Just big tractors.
rikyrah
ICYMI….
The Brown hoards at the border aren’t doing it anymore.
Yesterday, Tucker Carlson introduced the hoards of AFRICANS coming across the Southern Border.
Lips so pursed.
Kathleen
@Baud: Outstanding article. I remember the 2014 article about the Tea Party being reaffirmation of the Confederacy and thought that was one of the most insightful perspectives I’ve seen. Thanks for link to Nancy’s article.
JoeyJoeJoe
@MomSense: Obama was an incumbent though. Warren was running against an incumbent senator who actually had decent approval ratings. The circumstances were totally different
Kay
@rikyrah:
And if one looks at it that way, as black people supporting Democrats because that is a route to get elected and hold political power themselves, that’s a much more powerful role. That’s agency. In their OWN right. As executive branch electeds (mayors). Running things. For years and years.
prufrock
@evodevo: Jesus, it’s like a Grateful Dead concert.
Except looking at the ages of the people in that article, it’s more like the Hateful Nearly Dead.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: ah well, thanks for looking! It was kind of an odd list (not just because of Carson =)
1) Hell no to Facebook currency
2) Great NYT article up this morning about how restrictive zoning contributes quite a bit to our affordable housing shortage
3) Speaking of housing…did I mention I flew home from a conference last week seated next to none other than…Dr. Ben Carson? The FSM likes to mess with me that way…
4) Terrifying Slate article up this morning about how cyberwarfare is different and instantaneous and boy are we probably screwed in the not-too-distant future
5) Also, hell no to Facebook currency
And as a PS…this “deporting millions” nonsense from trumpov is just the start…America, you have no idea what this guy’s going to do across the next 17 months as it continues to sink in with him that he ain’t gonna get re-elected (and is therefore gonna go to jail). The past three years of constant abuse and lies are gonna look like a cakewalk
rikyrah
???
Tucker Carlson warns that Africans are pouring over the southern border and “this flood could become a torrent” — he then warns that they are “overwhelming our country and going to change it completely and forever” pic.twitter.com/CBkEP2KY7z
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) June 18, 2019
Now, let’s just think about this logically.
Africans….from the continent of Africa….have decided against trying to migrate to Europe..and have decided instead…..
to get on rafts and cross the ATLANTIC OCEAN….just to get to Mexico to THEN try and cross the Southern border…
Get.the.ENTIRE.PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
This sounds hokey but the role of love in campaigns is undervalued. The volunteers loved Obama. Democrats hate to hear it but Bush fanatics loved Bush, too. I felt like “oh, we don’t LOVE Kerry, and we will lose against these loyalists!” and that’s true- we didn’t and we did. I know, I know, how could they love GWB, but they did. “A Good Man”- I heard that over and over and over.
Trump, on the other hand, is all hate. They’re defined by the people they hate. That’s the driver. A wholly negative force. Trump is aware of it, I think. It bothers him. He goes out of his way to deny it.
Kristine
@NotMax: Kraft has been running a lot of those “if your kids hate real food, just surrender and feed them our over-processed crap” ads lately. Just spitting in the faces of dietitians everywhere.
Betty Cracker
The Orlando Sentinel, a conservative newspaper, published a non-endorsement of Trump today:
Won’t make a difference — newspaper endorsements don’t carry the weight they once did. But good for them anyway.
JPL
@rikyrah: fuckem
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Trump supporters take this cynical approach- like they are all hard-headed businessmen who only look at the bottom line. They do that because he has no redeeming qualities. One of his sons said “my father sees only green” (money) – that’s the flag they fly. So they’re aware that there’s a deficit there. It HAS to be about money because it is so clearly not about character.
schrodingers_cat
Guess who?
Old Bigot from Blighty is fluffing Bannon.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: If trump hears about that, he’ll surely mention the paper tonight.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: NYT loves to project the invincibility of the Orange T, one has to wonder what exactly is behind the constant fluffing. Have they been made by the Russian mafia in NYC?
rikyrah
@lurker dean:
I don’t believe it, and just the attempt…the images will be horrific.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
The determined group effort to keep Bannon relevant is disgusting. They love them some mavericky millionaires. They will shove them down our throats if we don’t love them too.
zhena gogolia
Ditch Mitch has been doing some nice, bare-bones ads. I really like this lady.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEv7nw_TLSE
rikyrah
I think I wrote here on Sunday that I had found WISEGUY on Amazon Prime. Well, after a small binge on Sunday, I did a couple of episodes yesterday. Almost to the end of the Sonny Steelgrave arc. The show and its writing holds up after 30 years. It was original when it came out, and I am enjoying it.I know the next arc is the Mel Profit one with Kevin Spacey….but, that, even after all these years, was some of the craziest shyt I ever saw on network television.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s boring but I don’t think it’s at all “big” like that. I think they are conventional people who are really ambitious and want to be close to powerful people, no matter who or what those powerful people represent. They admire power, partly out of self interest but partly also because that’s how they came up in the world- climbing ladders. It’s no more complicated than that.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
OMG, I love it. These youngsters with their Mike Ehrmantraut — Jonathan Banks IS MCPIKE and always will be!
My favorite is the one about Mr. Sardonicus. But they’re all great. I didn’t know it was on Prime — I’ll have to check it out!
rikyrah
@Kay:
You said long ago…
They showed THEIR LACK OF CHARACTER by voting for him.
The pinpoint accuracy of that statement is something that has never left me. It rings absolutely true, and I love writing it over and over.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
You’ve seen this in your own little work-world. It’s operating in the county court system here. It’s a way to get ahead and it often works. I do some of it myself. It’s easy and it works.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
My husband won’t do fluffing and he has paid for that. I admire it but I also say “why can’t you go along to get along?” because it seems so hard, what he’s chosen. It doesn’t matter. He remains controversial and… blunt. It isn’t rewarded.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Why the Right Abandons Democracy in Favor of Authoritarianism
by Nancy LeTourneau
June 18, 2019
………………
Adam Serwer has a similar take.
This willingness to eschew democracy in favor of authoritarianism was forecast by Zachary Roth before Trump’s election. He noted that, recognizing that they were about to become a permanent minority, Republicans decided that “being outnumbered doesn’t have to mean losing.” The strategies employed to undermine democracy included voter suppression, gerrymandering, fighting for the involvement of dark money in politics, judicial engagement, and something called pre-emption, by which red states overruled laws passed by more progressive local communities.
laura
@edward markham: hey Edward, Ronald Reagan did the exact same thing back in the 70’s when he consolidated state departments’ in California. My fil was a state geologist who’s office was a in the beautiful ferry building in San Francisco, commuting in from the family home he’d built in Mill Valley. His job was moved to Sacramento and after efforts to save the home failed, sold it under value . . . just before a building moratorium, to move to soulless Folsom. The house is currently valued in the millions of dollars and it was a subject so bitter, they couldnt mention it without risking a rage induced stroke. Spouse’s school bus route tooled through the grounds of folsom prison to pick up the warden’s kids.
So yeah, it’s a shitty way to shrink government and it’s done by Republicans. The purpose is cruel by design.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: But fluffing Bannon and his odious views has to be beyond the pale. Fluffing is one thing and hypocrisy is another. Both Frum and Sullivan, who are immigrants themselves want Ds to emulate the President’s policy on immigration.
Another Scott
ICYMI, big, horrifying story about what happened to MH370 at TheAtlantic
:-(
(via Popehat on Twitter)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Kay:
Hate trumps love.
Scientifically proven in 2016.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Spite and fear.
Sab
@Baud: Nonsense. She got 3 million more votes. Voter suppression trumps democracy.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Sullivan is now and always has been terrible. An english accent shouldn’t be the basis of a career.
Frum I ignore. Let’s ignore Sullivan too! :)
Kay
@Baud:
Well, we would do win/loss, right? One hate election does not a trend make. I love Warren. I might actually be Warren- it’s like hearing a smarter, organized version of my own jumbled theories. I have never had a candidate I was closer to ideologically and in terms of interests.
germy
My current bedtime reading is the 1958 Shirley Jackson novel “The Sundial” and she refers to the end of the world as “The final trump”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Kay: it’s all bullshit rationalization. The Dow Jones tripled under both Obama and Clinton and they still hated them.
lurker dean
@rikyrah: unfortunately, i think the terrorization is exactly what miller wants. we have concentration camps and the public isn’t much bothered about those, so miller is guessing he can push it even further. from what i’ve seen, he’s right, most people don’t care unless it affects them directly.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: Time for more empty arena pictures.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Dow Jones was at 49 points when FDR entered office. By the time Truman left office, 20 years later, it was 292.
unrepresented grow happens when a Democrat is president and the business community still hates them.
trollhattan
@Kay:
If there’s one thing I can count on from Sully, it’s his dedication to reminding us everything bad that happens is Hillary’s fault.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
And the deficit! Remember the moaning about the deficit? The keening and wailing? Every fucking day. Not a word since 2016. Like shutting off a switch. Flick it right back on if we win in ’20.
Kay
@trollhattan:
He’s just bad. He doesn’t do any real work or thinking. He opines. TWICE he has insisted on weighing in on the incredibly complex subject of US healthcare and he knows nothing about it. Nothing. He’s too fucking lazy to learn anything either.
Nothing is off limits. He is also the nation’s expert on abortion. These are real things! They’re not abstract opinions. I don’t know- what does he do all day? Not reading up. That’s for sure.
schrodingers_cat
@trollhattan: Until he got his Green Card, it was fucking immigrants are what makes America tick. Now that he is a citizen, we don’t need no more immigrants.
ETA: He used to kvetch constantly about the unfairness of the immigration laws.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: His kind were the foot soldiers of the Empire and ran the world in the 19th and the early 20th century. Check out all the trouble spots on the globe today and you can find the paw prints of Sullivan’s know-it-all ancestors.
Kay
@trollhattan:
That some liberals stuck with him after he did that gross 30 part series where he examined Sarah Palin’s BODY for signs of pregnancy. Jesus Christ. There are no limits to his idiotic musing on factual matters. Rest assured he investigates everyone like this. A lazy super-sleuth, gathering “facts” from his comfy armchair.
Kay
@trollhattan:
Women are all different. I, like Sarah Palin, can and did dress in such a way while I was pregnant that internet snoops could perhaps not have detected it. We’re not fucking brood mares and it is no one’s business.
Steve in the ATL
@Steeplejack:
Everyone, feel free to ignore this. Steep doesn’t have any friends; he’s just desperately trolling for attention.
Amir Khalid
@rikyrah:
That brings back memories for me. Wiseguy was a superbly written TV show.
lurker dean
@rikyrah: as adam serwer said, the cruelty is the point.
plum:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/18/trumps-threat-mass-arrests-stinks-weakness-failure/?
“Thus, Trump’s threat of mass arrests is probably intended to no small degree as spectacle and gesture. This may be the case in a “cruelty is the point” kind of way — in Trump’s mind, the imagery of mass arrests of families is a feature of this plan, one that will appeal to at least some core supporters.
Is that far-fetched? Trump reportedly remarked of his family separations: “My people love it.”
Litlebritdifrnt
@rikyrah: And I’m sure that the great “Patriot Farmers” who are already suffering because the Chinese won’t buy their stuff anymore will be absolutely delighted that their crops are going to rot in the fields because they no longer have anyone to harvest them.
Aleta
re link from @OzarkHillbilly:
This dog here is working his eyebrows to beat the band. (He used to go hungry so maybe it helped him get by..)
I bet humans developed control of face muscles (and some got chosen for them) for the same reasons.
And from this came the evolution of actors. : )
PaulWartenberg
Ugh. trump in Orlando for his campaign start. I swear to God we’re gonna see more Confederate flags than American.
Why did my parents have to move to a state that was going to end up being the dumping ground for racist, coal-rolling, MAGA-hat wearing assholes?
(realizes the alternatives were Alabama or 80s-era Virginia)
Crap.
To all the other Florida residents on here, I got five bucks that trump incites a riot against the media tonight.
Aleta
@Kay: I’ve also seen this in homegrown non-profit orgs that attract celebrities; sometimes donors come in and automatically apply the methods that have worked for them. Their money is badly needed and the social structure gets a little more hardened.
rikyrah
@lurker dean:
Serwer deserves whatever awards he’s winning, because this is one of those obvious things that didn’t become obvious until someone wrote and it crystallized like a lightbulb above the head. Absolutely on point.
Suzanne
@Kay:
I could not agree with you more.
The kind of politics we need to practice in order to win elections are deep and emotional, that tap into people’s aspirations and visions for themselves and their society.
Specific policies do not matter to the vast majority of voters.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
Lather, rinse and repeat. Always repeat.
Deficit spending is always horrible when a Democrat is President, but it’s fucking awesome when a Republican is President. Hell, Republicans can’t get enough of deficit spending, and they cut taxes for the rich so they can lower their own taxes AND do more deficit spending. Win-win!
mrmoshpotato
@PaulWartenberg:
You’re taking the easy $5 route.
Why not an over-under pool on how long it takes for the fat, orange fascist, Soviet shitpile to start screaming that the media doesn’t treat him tremendous bigly?
Suzanne
@rikyrah: Serwer’s piece that I read last Friday about illiberalism was exceptional. Nearly every line was devastating.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Partially overlapped with Crime Story, which I also loved.
Miss Bianca
@NotMax: Well, apparently they are getting better drugs in Hollywood than they did back in the day…
Steve in the ATL
@Kay:
Well, unless you are an employment lawyer and your firm is about to go to trial on a Pregnancy Discrimination Act case, in which case you and your giant belly are needed at the counsel table!
Steeplejack (phone)
@vtr:
I’ve got plenty if you need extra.
plato
Across the pond, it looks like it’s going to be between the nuttiest of nuts boris and the least insane rory. Two extremes of tories.
Mike R
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for you help with the wattage question.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
I saw a pack of pseudo-ground-beef at the giant chain starting with K the other day. Curious I looked to see what ingredients this particular batch used. To my surprise, bamboo cellulose and methyl-cellulose were apparently the bulk of the material. Yuck!
Peas sounds much better, actually!
rikyrah
@Gin & Tonic:
@Amir Khalid: Partially overlapped with Crime Story, which I also loved.
Crime Story was original too.
sgrAstar
@Kay: anecdata incoming! The other day I met a young Hispanic airport worker while I was waiting for my luggage. We struck up a conversation, which led to me asking him who he was going to vote for. His response: “Ever heard of Elizabeth Warren?” He watched a town hall, thought she had great ideas…and there you go. He told me that his entire, large family was on the Warren train. Encouraging. At least some people are paying attention.
mrmoshpotato
@sgrAstar: Was that in a red state?
Gravenstone
@Kay: I doubt Trump cares one way or the other about the WWC – except when they fill his audiences. The people who crafted the policies that Trump puts his name behind, on the other hand … yeah, they have nothing but disdain for those less fortunate.
satby
I’m buying this excellent campaign shirt from the Etsy Stonekettle Station site.
And we should figure out a logo for Cole to run too.
J R in WV
@Baud:
As the article (a good one) says, because autocracy allows them to oppress people, force religious views into law, stop acceptance of LGBTQ folks, and generally hate on people they hate by using the force of law and violence. Confederate Law in modern America.
They intend to ignore this part of the Constitution:
There’s also a sentence in Article Six of the main body of the Constitution:
They plan to ignore this requirement also, along with all the Civil Rights stuff in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. They’ve already shit-canned the Voting Rights Act and the campaign contributions requirements. Dollars are speech, and corporations are people, right?
mrmoshpotato
@J R in WV:
So it’s now possible to punch corporations in the face? Do tell.
Kay
@Gravenstone:
Smarmy fraud Jared Kushner said he loves them. Please. A publicist can only do so much. She can’t turn Jared and Ivanka into completely different people. They’re some kind of horrible branded “image”- they don’t exist in any real sense.
bemused
@rikyrah:
I was just thinking about the family who were unaware their daughter had taken a doll from a dollar store in Phoenix and then were terrorized by a brutal cop who should be fired. I doubt many white Republican families would be treated like that in the same circumstances. I doubt that many white Republican families ever think about how differently non-whites are treated every day and see the racism and injustice. Makes me sick to my stomach.
Kay
@J R in WV:
Voting rights referendums are good turn out vehicles for Democrats. Just attach one to everything. Two clipboards, they’ll sign both. Although a constitutional amendment initiative for voting rights interests me, too. Maybe short term, long term. Both. It’s really become uniquely our issue, since Republicans now actively oppose voting.
rikyrah
@bemused:
Gun pulled on a pregnant woman HOLDING A CHILD. They told her to put a NON-Walking Child on the hot ground. If it hadn’t been for the bystanders filming – who took the children….I don’t even wanna think what could have happened.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I agree, Kay.
for 2020, the Democrats should try and get the following on the ballot:
1. Medicaid Expansion (for states without it) – with no way for the legislature to negate/limit it as they have done in Utah
2. Former felon voting rights restoration – with no work around and the possibility of a poll tax, as has been done in Florida
3. Automatic voter registration /Same day registration/No reason Absentee Ballots/Expansive Early Voting
4. The National Popular Vote Winner will get the Electoral College votes
These are our issues, should be put on as many ballots as possible
mrmoshpotato
@bemused: If it was a white family, and especially a Republican family, the cop would’ve been put on unpaid leave that day.
Mike in NC
Scandal means Shanahan is out as SecDef. But Trump only hires the very best!
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
And did no one wonder how Penn would “just happen” to have an all black dorm? In 1994? What a coincidence!!
Sorry any Americans have ever had to put up with that BS. And of course, the Black population has complained of police brutality and violence for decades, but only now with a video camera in every hand do we see the violent proof of those complaints.
And so far as LEOs go, the use of the word “FUCK” in any form during their work is grounds for discipline, and a second event should be a firing offense. That’s not professional at all, and they are all supposed to be professionals at their work.
Obviously I’m talking about the recent video of the family with the 4-y-o toddler that took a Barbie Doll and was violently attacked by brutal cops. Not so professional looking, was that event…
Bill Arnold
A quite interesting interview with Michael Wolff at Slate. It covers a lot of ground about Trump’s style, so the quotes are not intended to represent the whole piece:
Michael Wolff on why Mueller didn’t indict: Trump was ready to “blow up everything” – Author of “Fire and Fury” and the new “Siege”: “Trump’s whole career has been about what he can get away with” (Chauncey DeVega, June 18, 2019)
bemused
@rikyrah:
I watched the videos. It was horrendous! White people in this country who watch the videos and don’t think it’s a big deal deserve to be deported to some hell hole country. If only…
bemused
@mrmoshpotato:
You’re right on about that.
Steeplejack
@A Ghost To Most:
Thanks. I’m always on the lookout for good Mexican, but my friend is Mex-averse. WTF.
@JoeyJoeJoe:
Thanks. I saw the Cuban place and marked it for further research.
@Another Scott:
I haven’t had much luck with TripAdvisor in the past. That link did remind me that I thought Black Hog BBQ might be good.
EthylEster
@Baud:
They just need a bailout like the soybean farmers.
I’m sure if they ask nicely this will happen.
EthylEster
@Another Scott wrote :
I’ve never been to Austria but I had a musician friend in the 80s who went there with an American orchestra for a summer festival. She was Jewish and said that she was told by an Austrian that as a Jew she could not go into the post office. I remember thinking: “Is she crazy or is Austria crazy?”
Going to Austria is not at the top of my “European vacation destinations” list.