Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Infrastructure week. at last.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I really should read my own blog.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

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

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

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Friday Morning Open Thread: Fighting the Good Fight(s)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Fighting the Good Fight(s)

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  4. 4.

    Kay

    The Department of Education recently implemented a dramatic fix to a different program, TEACH Grants, that’s now returning grant money to thousands of people who had grants taken away unfairly.
    NPR is looking for people who have had problems qualifying for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Share your story in the form below, or here:

    I think they fixed the grant program ONLY because NPR did a series of stories on it, so hopefully the same thing will happen here.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Yes, I’ve listened to the series as it’s been reported. Pretty scummy of the DOE; you’d almost think their employees were all used car salespeople.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    We fired our incompetent contractor mid-fuck-up of our shower installation project yesterday. Had to use the outdoor camp shower this morning. Thankful for once that it’s summer!

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: I’m both glad and sorry to hear this. I’m booked until the heat and humidity relent, but if it’s still not finished in December, I could be talked into doing it for you then.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @satby:

    I know, right? Do you know how hard it is to find a contractor who doesn’t support Trump. OH can make a mint!

  17. 17.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I don’t listen to NPR (although my husband does) but I saw that the two newspapers I buy (one regional, one local) picked it up – it seems clear the coverage spurred the “dramatic” fix to the TEACH grants mess.

    Interesting which government subsidies Congress makes it easy to get and which government subsidies Congress makes it impossible to get, huh?

    Think again. The vast majority of the dollars flowing to the agriculture industry via the bailouts is likely to go to farms with annual revenues of several million dollars. Most of them are major beneficiaries of federal crop support programs that steer billions in subsidies and low-priced crop insurance — including insurance that already covers some of their losses in the trade war.

    Easy peasy to get one of the Trump trade bailouts.They get paid speedy quick. Easy to game too- each owner (of multiple owners) in some of these operations are getting a payment, which is perfectly legal and was probably designed into the subsidy.

    Some people have to occupy congressional offices and appeal to media to get paid and other, special people just send in an application and get paid immediately. They can move fast. The farm bailout payments flew out the door. They just don’t want to in this case.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    Miles away from me, and it’s down near sea level. Still, a potentially nasty one as that’s mostly former sugar cane fields.

    10:00 PM Update: The Kihei-bound lane on North Kihei Road is open. All evacuees may also return home.

    9:30 PM Update: Maui Police Department is escorting cars intermittently through North Kihei Road as conditions allow. Maui Veterans Highway reopened in both lanes of traffic. Residents on Ohukai and to Uwapo Road are clear to return to their homes.

    Currently, Maui Electric generating facilities have not been affected by the wildfire. We continue to monitor the situation with the Maui Fire Department on site at our Maalaea Generating Station.

    There are no scheduled or planned outages to customers at this time. Should personnel have to evacuate the Maalaea Generating Station in the interest of safety, Maui Electric staff are prepared and equipped to operate at an alternative location to maintain electrical service.
    [snip]
    “I’m very happy to report that there have been no reports of injuries or significant property damage,” Mayor Victorino said. “The fire came very close to some structures in South Maui, including the Maalaea Power Plant, but firefighters were able to prevent damages.”

    In a rare occurrence, ‘Oprah’s road‘ was opened to traffic.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    Teachers think too much and so are to be reviled and disrespected

    I think that’s unfair. Much of the hate is because they are women and union members.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    President Trump’s bid to stop his accounting firm from handing over records to Congress is due Friday before a federal appeals court in Washington, in one of several separation-of-powers battles over access to his private finances.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    It’s also a basic misunderstanding of “farms”. “Several million dollars” in revenue is not at all unusual in a “farm”. Farmers have done a really good job getting people to believe they don’t make any money.

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    Some people have to occupy congressional offices and appeal to media to get paid and other, special people just send in a donation and get paid immediately.

    FTFY Kay, free of charge as you have helped inform me for free on innumerable occasions.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @satby

    With temps having reached into the 90s for the better part of the last month, everything is dry, dry, dry.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The pink celery finally started growing. It just sat for a month and then took off. I cut an immature bunch to taste it and it has intense celery flavor- which I love- but I think you could cut it young and use it like a milder herb more than like celery. I’m considering it a success, so it gets a spot next year. I put a little vinyl chicken wire fence around it, special, so the rabbits wouldn’t get it.

  38. 38.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: We had ours built in the wall when we built the addition. It’s been great for the pups but we’re starting to worry about the Bohdi going up and down the stairs. We shut it for a week but opened it back up when he kept nudging his nose to get out.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    She’s just not budging past 1 or 2% though. Yang is even with her. He seems like a decent person (which surprised me- I assumed he would be an arrogant douchebag) but she’s a really popular sitting senator. Her poll numbers in her home state are really high. She’s probably in the top ten per cent of popular senators.

    The Moderates are going to have to be more aggressive :)

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: You’re kind to offer, but good gravy, I hope we have it sorted by December! The mister is confident we can rig up an indoor shower that works well enough while we go through the fresh hell of finding a new contractor :)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Didn’t see any gators, but a lizard took up residence in my towel. Had to shake the little bugger out before I could dry off!

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Nice. On your recommendation it will go in mine next year.

    I put a little vinyl chicken wire fence around it, special, so the rabbits wouldn’t get it.

    Over the years I have tried to grow various corns and every year the squirrels/coons/possums/wtf destroys it. I’ve decided that next year I am going to build a *critter proof* enclosure for some.

    ** it’s my delusion and I’m sticking to it, go rain on somebody else’s parade

  43. 43.

    raven

    @satby: He’s up above that, in fact if mem ory serves he’s never been to Kihei.

    It’s in the central valley, we were there just as they were ending the cane burning there.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: That’s me, kind, people tell me all the time how kind I am. It is one of my finest qualities, right up there with my humbleness. Have I told you how humble I am? I am very humble…. ;-)

    And yes, rigging up a temporary shower shouldn’t be too difficult even if one doesn’t know exactly what one is doing, all one need remember is that water flows downhill. And don’t chew your fingernails.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of debates, End Citizens United asked the DNC to hold an anti-corruption debate, which I think is a smashing idea. I hope all the candidates and everyone who’s running as a Democrat for any office focuses on corruption A LOT for the next year and a half. Great contrast with the crooked Trumps and their corrupt Republican enablers.

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:
    I think Kavenaugh ruined Klobachar’s bid. No, I’m not joking. One of the most watched events and she ended up as a shaken target of his anger. I don’t think she ‘won’ that exchange. People did not say, Presidential! They felt sorry for her.

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I may try to talk my husband into just doing the damned shower ourselves instead of hiring another contractor. I think we could do it! My daughter and I did our kitchen tile, and so far, it’s still sticking to the wall! ;-)

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: We already have mice and the copperheads that come in after them, I know that if we had one the racoons would be coming in every night to raid the dog food bucket.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: I like the topic. But I worry that the push to have debates on individual topics will eventually leave someone feeling slighted if their topic isn’t selected.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: Yup.

    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

    — Isaac Asimov

    It used to be that the cult was small enough to keep mostly under control. Now, well, it’s a perpetual battle.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    raven

    @NotMax: So what’s the deal, I’m reading the maui paper comments and they said the smoke is or was bad upcountry?

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: I always hated doing bathrooms, especially after the fixtures went in because you cant turn around without running into something and there is no more horrifying sound than that of a hammer hitting a $2,000 piece of ceramic, and if one is wearing a tool belt, it is inevitable.

    But yeah, you guys can do it. Things are tight, and everything has to fit, just so, so measure twice and cut once and all that. The main thing is, as in all things carpentry, “plumb, level, and square.” Get that right with each step and everything that follows is a whole lot easier.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    @raven

    I’ve been to Kihei – even unto back when it was all pig farms and dust and one couldn’t give the land away – although have to have a darned good reason to truck over there.

  58. 58.

    PaulWartenberg

    @rikyrah:

    Okay, I’m an amateur when it comes to economics, but what the hell does “weakening the dollar” do to make an economy better? Isn’t that going to do things like depress wages or make it harder to conduct trade?

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    In case you didn’t know ??

    Joe Deyoung (@JoeEDeyoung) Tweeted:
    @tony_haggis @MrWeeks1982 Justice (not) Democrats are a group formed by Bernbros whose goal is to destroy the Democratic Party. They make no secret of this. They were pissed Bernie lost and this is their plan B. They attack sitting Democrats and Democratic leadership while they give the GOP & Trump a pass https://twitter.com/JoeEDeyoung/status/1149652747697844226?s=17

  63. 63.

    Immanentize

    @PaulWartenberg:
    Weakening the dollar theoretically improves the trade deficits because people from foreign countries will buy more of our stuff (costs less) and come as tourists (their currency is stronger). Trump has a problem in that he promised to end trade deficits, but they have actually increased since he became President.

    I anticipate he’ll run on — “we just got started! We need four more years to complete our mission (of picking the US clean).”

  65. 65.

    Baud

    Almost 10%

    Drop in the odds of teens using marijuana after the drug is legalized in a state for recreational purposes.

    90 minutes

    Length of the Virginia Legislature’s special session on Tuesday. The Democratic governor called it to discuss gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting at a government building, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly ended it without voting on any of the 30 bills.

    $10 a day

    Cost of being court-ordered to wear an ankle monitor in Missouri, which is paid to a private company. Defendants, parolees and probationers also must pay $300 upfront, plus a $50 installation fee. The expense, which more and more states and cities are passing down, lands some people in jail simply for not being able to afford the GPS supervision.

    https://www.governing.com/daily-digit/10-drop.html

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @raven

    At one time there was a hole-in-the-wall gourmet food shop with an awful name* there to which i would make an annual pilgrimage to get specialty cheeses ahead of the New Year’s shindig.

    *Who Cut The Cheese?

  68. 68.

    Baud

    @rikyrah:

    It’s certainly going to give people pause the next time one has to decide how far to stick one’s neck out.” 

    Haha. Maybe for 1 millisecond. Trump is their white God. They will stick their neck out for him again and again.

  69. 69.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah: It drives me nuts when someone says a terrible thing is happening and the Ds are to blame for not stopping it. How about blaming the people who are determined to make it happen even if they have to break the law to do it?

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It’s not just a majority of Americans who think the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were a catastrophic mistake. Military veterans now increasingly say the Bush-era conflicts were not worth it, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday.

    Sixty-four percent of the 1,284 veterans interviewed by Pew said the Iraq invasion was not worth fighting, while 58 percent similarly dismissed the 17-year Afghanistan conflict as a waste. “Veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan are no more supportive of those wars than those who did not serve in these wars,” Pew researchers Ruth Igielnik and Kim Parker wrote. “And views do not differ based on rank or combat experience.”

    A concurrent poll of civilian views reached the same, general result. By substantial quantities, Americans in and out of uniform now view the several-trillion-dollar wars as a mistake.

    “Our veterans have borne the brunt of these policy mistakes and it is not surprising they would be wary of more endless war abroad while also not looking kindly on our current wars,” says Nate Anderson, executive director of the conservative Concerned Veterans for America organization, in a statement.

    After 73 percent of Americans endorsed President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, support for the US government’s Middle East wars has precipitously declined. By December 2007, only 36 percent of Americans supported the Iraq War.

    Interesting, there’s that number again: 27%, only this time not defining the hard core right, but us lefty anti-war peacenicks who always thought those wars were a waste of time, money, and above all else, lives.

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: It is too late to fix this particular failure. Even if the dollar softened, most of the next six months of orders are already in. And then for the critical next six months, no one is going to adjust their business model to buy American overnight. Additionally, the US now primarily exports services (like financial stuff) which would not be effected as much as “things” by a weak dollar.

  75. 75.

    raven

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m sure people here don’t like Max Rose but when Noah what’s his face asked him about all the screaming and bitching about Pelposi-AOC he was pretty good. “I’m not going to get drawn into this silly twitter reality show BS, the republicans are trying to destroy the country and we’re arguing about this. The American people don’t care and neither do “! (paraphrase

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: That was my thought exactly. Except, if the Trump base ever collapses, it will be fast and total. Everyone has a reason to hate him even if it is a nutty rightwingy reason.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    Oh, I disagree. I had a completely different impression, that she’s really disciplined and I admire that. It is hard. I think she’s really tough, probably edging into mean at times. I’m not opposed to “mean”- it might be necessary in that job.

    This happens to me a lot – I like the things in a politician that other people don’t like. I liked Bill Clinton’s used car salesman vibe. I thought it was completely authentic to him – he’s a hustler and he had to be to get as far as he did from where he came- and, you know, used car salesman sell a lot of cars :)

    I liked how Kerry was self-deprecating and Democrats here perceived that as weakness. He had the ability to stand apart from himself. He knew he wasn’t a blue collar hero and he didn’t pretend to be one.

    But she’s not catching on and she isn’t going to win. It looks like Biden, Harris, and Warren with Bernie stalled.

  79. 79.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize: After yesterday’s social media carnival, I was thinking about the people who say they like Trump but wish he’d stop tweeting. IMHO, it’s a good thing he tweets. It shows what’s really in his head. Those folks just don’t want to know that.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Bernie stalled.

    Happy happy joy joy.

    That reminds me….

    ‘This Is Not a Find-a-Friend Contest’: Bernie Sanders’s Resolute Campaign Style

    NYT > Top Stories / by Jonathan Martin and Sydney Ember / 2h

    For your awareness.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    I do like Klobachur though so I’m biased. Her approach works really well in the environment in which she operates. It may not be “national” though.
    I think one of the Democrat’s strengths is ideological and geographic diversity. I think we can do this. There will be power struggles which is FINE. If we want them to compete “everywhere” we are going to have to accept that “everywhere” is not the same. The same people who tell me over and over (and over) about the wildly over-rated Howard Dean 50 state strategy – the powerpoint we all got on that at the time- refuse to recognize that strategy necessarily involves a whole range of politicians and a LOT of losing. They will lose races in these places and when they do they can’t go flitting off to something else or insist it was because the recruits were too far Right. They reflect the places they come from.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    I think the Left side of the Party have a valid complaint when they say the moderates extrapolate their position and use it to define the “norm”. They can’t do that. They’re not the presumptive winners. Everyone else isn’t measured using them as the standard. That comes from entitlement. They can be a part and battle it out with everyone else. If they want a moderate to win the primary they can’t just attack the Left. They have to affirmatively sell the tax credits or whatever the hell they have.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I agree with your take on the Klobuchar-Kavanaugh exchange. He came across as a smarmy, entitled douchebag who could barely control his rage at being questioned. She remained calm, disciplined and focused on getting the answer to the question. I am flummoxed that anyone could think Kavanaugh “won” that exchange or that Klobuchar’s demeanor wasn’t “presidential.”

    But my instincts often don’t match up with the general electorate’s either. Shruggies.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: But I worry that the push to have debates on individual topics will eventually leave someone feeling slighted if their topic isn’t selected.

    Yup, also a ‘debate’ is the wrong format if they’re all– or even some of them– trying to show each other up and score points. A forum or something, with one candidate at a time, is better. And keep it off live TV. And wait until Gillibrand and Bennet and a few others have figured out what time it is. And just leave fucking Gabbard off the invite list

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @raven:

    I don’t think anyone around at the time would have beat Bush. Bush’s supporters loved him. I think Democrats underestimated how much they loved him. I knew he was going to win on election day. I was avoiding going back to my house because we had call canvassing there and I was afraid they would be able to tell I didn’t think we would win. The people I feel bad for when we lose are the volunteers, not the candidate. I like them, I know them by then, and I don’t want them to lose.

    Part of that was I was not yet reading politics on the internet so I wasn’t influenced by online liberals who were sure Kerry would win. That was the last election I followed on tv. If the election had been 2 years later Kerry would have won because by then it was all starting to crash and burn but in 2004 the Bush people were still fanatically devoted.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: I like Klobuchar, I think her campaign stalled early in part because she gave a town hall where the questions (at least the ones that got coverage) seemed loaded from the Left– single-payer, free college– and she seemed to be just the anti-Bernie, the candidate of No. She’s for a Medicare buy-in, which would be a really heavy lift even if we run the table and take back the Senate, and the sort of hybrid public-private program that seems to work in a lot of places. But it’s hard to sell boring incrementalism these days

  91. 91.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: The same people who tell me over and over (and over) about the wildly over-rated Howard Dean 50 state strategy – the powerpoint we all got on that at the time- refuse to recognize that strategy necessarily involves a whole range of politicians and a LOT of losing.

    it also assumes two things: 1) virtually unlimited cash and 2) qualified, willing candidates– do you want some Michelle Malkin wannabe with an iPhone trying to spy on your family because you left a shade up? It’s a fine slogan, and a worthy goal, but people wield it like a club as if it’s the magic and simple solution to all our problems

    also, has anyone noticed who Howard Dean is working for these days?

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @Kay: I kind of disagree. Everyone pretends they speak for all Americans. It’s part of politicking. I think the Left has to respond on the merits, rather than saying the moderates are being unfair.

  95. 95.

    Gin & Tonic

    Got an alert telling me Alex Acosta has resigned as Sec.of Labor.

    I’m so old I can remember when he had the President’s “full confidence.”

  97. 97.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I read a few days ago that drumpf was watching TV obsessively and every time Acosta’s face appeared, it would become more likely that drumpf would force him out.

  98. 98.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    Speaking of debates, End Citizens United asked the DNC to hold an anti-corruption debate, which I think is a smashing idea. I hope all the candidates and everyone who’s running as a Democrat for any office focuses on corruption A LOT for the next year and a half. Great contrast with the crooked Trumps and their corrupt Republican enablers.

    Now, THIS is the debate that I want. An entire debate focused on GOP Corruption. Works for me.

  99. 99.

    TriassicSands

    @Another Scott:

    For those willing to read non-fiction books, Richard Hofstadter’s exceptional “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life” (1963) and Susan Jacoby’s “The Age of American Unreason” (2008) are both worth the time. Jacoby is a “devout” secularist* who also wrote “Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.” She is justifiably not amused by fundamentalist Christians or know-nothing right wingers. However, 21st century American anti-intellectualism and ignorance are certainly not limited to fundamentalists or Republicans. I’d say they have become defining characteristics of Americans in general.

    Had she waited until after the 2016 election, the book would have been longer.

    *Atheist

  102. 102.

    Gravenstone

    @rikyrah: One need only stick it our far enough for Madame Guillotine, my ‘friends’. Who among you will be the first to offer theirs? Come now, step up. Don’t be shy …

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