Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I was promised a recession.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

The revolution will be supervised.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

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69Comments

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    “Here, have you dangled long enough? Based on how you’re behaving I think you’ve dangled long enough.”

    –Nancy SMASH, highly regarded wizard, CA

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    @cleek:

    Is he going to start wearing lapel pins of the Really Bad Guys “he” has killed? Is he having the navy retrieve Osama so he can kill him again better than Obama?

    The more I know the less I get what makes him tick.

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    I still wish Nancy Smash would wait until the afternoon of the SOTU to deliver the articles.

    And then just sit back there behind him that evening like the queen she is…

  10. 10.

    jonas

    So I guess Schumer and Pelosi got nowhere with McConnell on calling witnesses or holding anything but a pro-forma sham trial? Not encouraging.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cleek:I am thinking this is the other around, they first tried to kill Shahlai and missed and then killed Soleimani instead because he was easy to get at and they wanted to keep Trump happy. It’s stupid, lazy and inept so it would fit how Trump works.

  13. 13.

    Nicole

    @HRH mistermix, Lord Bombay Sapphire, Duke of Schweppes:

    I was so glad when Schultz dropped out, because I confess I really did miss going to Starbucks, and now that Marianne Williamson has dropped out I can go back to… oh, wait… yeah, nothing is going to change for me because she’s still a huckster.

    But yeah, glad a little bit of the distracting static is clearing out of the primary.

  14. 14.

    MattF

    Just a coincidence that the announcement came after all the Senate Democrats lined up behind her.

  15. 15.

    Jay

    How the Sausage get’s made:

    Fox news viewers are generally affluent but don’t believe themselves to be, so “affluence” here is a perjorative. It’s a funny fancy foreign word, see, and only liberals are ~affluent~— Stop Retweeting Bigots and Trolls 2k20 (@EmilyGorcenski) January 10, 2020

  17. 17.

    Jay

    @Nicole:

    you arn’t going to take advantage of her Campaign’s 50% off crystals and 75% off “Sending Positive Woo” Going Out Of Business Sale?

    More Russian and ReThug troll backers for Tulsi now, I guess.

  18. 18.

    Nelle

    There was a forum last night in Des Moines ” The Common Good,” a theme I’m interested in.  Speakers, though, Weld, Williamsin, and Booker.  I didn’t stick around.

  19. 19.

    germy

    Nancy Pelosi will be on Bill Maher’s show January 17.

    I don’t watch Maher.  Maybe I’ll watch a few clips  online, if Maher lets her talk.

  20. 20.

    Jay

    Pro-tip: don’t leave your list of areas to attack on paper with huge letters heavily scrawled in pen at the top saying AREAS TO ATTACK https://t.co/mZYSyocytA— Stop Retweeting Bigots and Trolls 2k20 (@EmilyGorcenski) January 9, 2020

    He wanted to attack passport offices because they’re “responsible for immigration” and what this Nazi needs is some attentive education— Stop Retweeting Bigots and Trolls 2k20 (@EmilyGorcenski) January 9, 2020

  23. 23.

    Aleta

    @JWR: Thanks for that.  Imagine all the “big supporters” (people and money he needs for the vote or for his campaign) who must be delivering messages right now telling him what they want him to do or else.

     

    Btw, I was able to read the WSJ article by clicking @JWR’s link to Buetler’s tweet. That tweet  has a link that currently works for me.

  26. 26.

    WhatsMyNym

    Wikipedia points out that “Five senators will be forced to stop campaigning in order to participate in the Impeachment trial of Donald Trump”.
    They have a good timeline for 2020 primaries.     Minnesota will start voting first, on January 17; with no-excuse, in-person absentee voting. Early voting in CA starts Feb 3rd, the same day as the Iowa caucus.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    California is coming to fix your shit. Again. 

    California could become the first state to make its own prescription drugs under a proposal announced Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who says it would “take the power out of the hands of greedy pharmaceutical companies.”
    The Democratic governor wants the nation’s most populous state to contract with generic drug companies to make medications on its behalf so it could sell them to its nearly 40 million residents. The goal is to lower prices by increasing competition in the generic drug market, Newsom said.
    His proposal also would create a single market for drug pricing in California, with companies having to bid to sell their medicine at a uniform price. One expert said that piece would have the bigger impact.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    Havn’t seen this elsewhere so;

    8 Democrats voted with Republicans to oppose the War Powers Resolution:Andy Brindisi (NY-22)Joe Cunningham (SC-01)Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05)Kendra Horn (OK-05)Elaine Luria (VA-02)Ben McAdams (UT-04)Stephanie Murphy (FL-07)and Max Rose (NY-11)— E Pluribus Unum? (@EPluribusUnumYT) January 9, 2020

  32. 32.

    Barbara

    @Martin: By and large, and totally unlike brand name drugs, generic drugs are cheaper in the U.S. than they are in other places, however, recent trends have spiked prices for specific drugs such as insulin and epi-pens.  Usually, this is the result of a confluence of market forces, but, basically, there are almost no tools for dealing with such price hikes when those market conditions occur.  I would assume California is looking specifically at those kinds of situations.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    From the link, “as soon as next week”. If she can drag it out till Friday, that’s a week closer to the SOTU, which I suspect both she and trump have their eyes on. He wants to be acquitted, she wants it hanging over him up at her podium.

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Maher hates strong women, especially the women who don’t put up with his bullshit.

    Be interesting to see how Nonna Pelosi handles him. I still chuckle when I think of the way she cut off the applause on the impeachment vote.

  37. 37.

    JWR

    @Aleta:

    Imagine all the “big supporters” (people and money he needs for the vote or for his campaign) who must be delivering messages right now telling him what they want him to do or else.

    “We would like you to do us a favor though”. ;-)

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @West of the Rockies:

    So ugly little turtle man wins again?

    removal of trump was always about as likely winning a lotto jackpot, but it’s not over. I think a bipartisan vote for removal, assuming Manchin and Jones don’t pull an Arlen Specter and vote “unproven” or whatever that was, would be a victory.

  41. 41.

    tobie

    I know the news will play Pelosi’s decision as her caving but McConnell did give Democrats a talking point in backing Hawley’s resolution to dismiss all impeachment articles in the Senate without any trial at all. McConnell overplayed his hand with this, I think.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @Barbara:

    The biggest problem is not the price of generic drugs per se; it’s the price of drugs that have lost their patent protection but where there’s no generic available.  This could be because of market forces (the potential profits from coming out with a generic aren’t enough to pay the up-front costs of getting permission from the FDA) or because of rent seeking (the former patent holder is buying off generic drug makers to keep them out of the market).  In practice, the biggest benefit to California would probably be the added leverage in negotiations with drug companies (“Give us a good deal or we’ll make it ourselves”) rather than the direct benefit of making our own.

    FWIW, insulin is a weird case.  The original patent on recombinant insulin expired a long time ago*, so there’s nothing to keep companies from making generic insulin.  But that original patent was for the exact form of insulin made by the human body.  Drug companies have continued to make money on patented versions of insulin by tweaking the protein sequence to make insulin analogs that have different pharmacokinetics, like being faster or longer acting than natural insulin, or by coming up with new delivery systems, like insulin pumps.  Doctors often prescribe those newer versions rather than generic insulin because they don’t take cost into consideration.  Getting insulin prices under control will have as much to do with changing prescribing practices as it will with bringing out more competition.

    *I’m intensely aware of this, since my employer held that patent, and loss of patent royalties caused a big shake-up in the organization.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @Martin:

    Its an easy one for the state to implement.

    In my experience, nothing related to drug manufacturing is easy to implement.  Even if the state legislature approves money for it, it will take several years for California to start making its own drugs.  Even contracting with established generic manufacturers to start making drugs for is will have a long lead time.

  47. 47.

    trnc

    @germy: I don’t watch Maher. Maybe I’ll watch a few clips online, if Maher lets her talk.

    He’s as easy to run over as any other idiot who gets in her way.

  48. 48.

    randy khan

    @jonas:

    So I guess Schumer and Pelosi got nowhere with McConnell on calling witnesses or holding anything but a pro-forma sham trial? Not encouraging.

    That was never the goal.  (It would have been good, but they knew from the start that if McConnell had the votes he wouldn’t give in.)  The goal was to make it clear the Republicans had no interest in actually treating this as a serious matter, regardless of how bad the facts were.  I’d say they achieved that.

  49. 49.

    Barbara

    @Roger Moore: Like I say, it occurs because of a confluence of market forces that result in there being limited or no competition among manufacturers for specific products, most of which do not have any current patent protection.  There are companies that are out there looking specifically for drugs that fall into those categories, getting control of them, and raising the price to astronomic levels.  It’s a business model and there is no current mechanism to adjust or push back on that practice that does not require a significant capital investment.  When Mylan did this with Epi-pen, CVS submitted an ANDA to create a competing product.  I don’t know what happened, but it highlights the degree to which you need a very big player to do anything that is likely to be effective.

  52. 52.

    Barbara

    @Roger Moore: It would be good if doctors started with the cheaper versions, but many people report having much better control over their diabetes with faster, longer acting or even continuous (pump) versions of insulin.

  53. 53.

    Raven Onthill

    Sigh. I had hoped she would let McConnell twist in the wind for more, but I suspect she couldn’t hold her caucus together much longer.

    @Roger Moore: it does seem that drug manufacture is another area where a socialist solution would be an improvement.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    @Barbara:

    I didn’t mean to suggest that newer versions of insulin are only there to work the patent system.  They really do have advantages over the old stuff, which is why doctors tend to prescribe them instead.

    The problem is that our current medical system is really bad at considering cost issues.  Doctors often aren’t trained to think about how much medications cost, and many patients don’t know to ask about more affordable options.  Too often a doctor prescribes an expensive form of insulin the patient can’t afford, and the patient skimps on their insulin to try to stretch their money.  The net result is more expensive and less effective than prescribing a theoretically less effective form of insulin that the patient could actually afford to use in the amount they need.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @Raven Onthill:

    it does seem that drug manufacture is another area where a socialist solution would be an improvement.

    In general, I think of drugs as being an example of how disfunctional our system is.  We spend a lot of money on fancy new drugs that give a marginal benefit and are only affordable by the wealthy and people lucky enough to have the best insurance.  At the same time, we have many people who are dying of easily preventable problems for lack of any insurance at all.  We need to spend less money on expensive new therapies and more on providing basic care to everyone.

  57. 57.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @tobie:

    I know the news will play Pelosi’s decision as her caving but McConnell did give Democrats a talking point in backing Hawley’s resolution to dismiss all impeachment articles in the Senate without any trial at all.

    And let’s just point out that Hawley replaced McCaskill, who was a moderate Democrat who was frequently demonized by some progressives.  She wouldn’t have tried to get the impeachment charges dismissed.  Elections do have consequences.

  58. 58.

    Barbara

    @Roger Moore: FWIW, I do think that is changing, and most prescription drug coverage pushes doctors to use lower cost medications if they can.  It’s a real conundrum as to how to get doctors real time financial information as they are considering what to prescribe.  However, the downside is that people who need the more expensive insulin can have difficulty getting it covered.

  59. 59.

    J R in WV

    My wife and I have had several go-rounds with big pharma — we always lose those fights, but we learn something every time. One med wife takes that works went from inexpensive to $550/90 day supply copay! When she brought this to the doctor’s attention, he told her that downstairs there was a non-profit pharmacy and asked her to try that out.

    Cash cost for a 90-day supply was $60 without insurance, which obviously was raking her from profits.

    I used to take a med that worked well for my problem. Then it went off the insurance company “formulary” aka list of drugs we are willing to pay for. Turned out that med was bought up by a MBA type following Martin Shkreli’s path, price went from a $5 copay to $4,000 for a routine prescription.

    Recently wife asked our family doc for a prescription for cough syrup. Not covered by her insurance any more, $80 for an 8 oz bottle !!! I pulled out a non-prescription “good health” card which dropped that to $12, for which I was grateful.

    The Pharma industry is essentially a criminal enterprise working on stealing from people they can force into a corner, pay up, or die (or perhaps just be miserable as long as you manage to live) !!

     

     

    In Addition, many medical procedures can’t be priced at all ahead of time. So there is no way to plan for an unbelievably high cost in your immediate future, especially in ER events, bit also in elective surgery, like a joint replacement, which I wouldn’t call elective, but you won’t die without it, you just wish you would.

  60. 60.

    Barbara

    @J R in WV: Valeant is one of the companies (not the only one) I was talking about above.  They have strategically gained control over the production of products that are off patent but have no real generic competition.  This is the kind of drug that California no doubt would target for generic competition.

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @J R in WV:

    In Addition, many medical procedures can’t be priced at all ahead of time.

    It’s worse than that.  Some medical procedures apparently can’t be priced even after they’re complete.  I know somebody who got a bill a year after her procedure because there was a cost adjustment or some such nonsense.  Then she got another bill almost a year after that.  If the hospital can’t tell you how much something cost until two years after it was done, how is anyone supposed to be able to comparison shop?  Honestly, this kind of stuff would be totally illegal in any other line of business, and it ought to be illegal in healthcare.

  62. 62.

    J R in WV

     

    Imagine if Ford, or FiatChrysler called you up a couple of years after you bought a vehicle, and told you that their annual income was too low, and you had to cough up another $25,000 for that snazzy new truck!?!?!?!

    Somehow hospitals and medical groups and big pharma cna get away with that bullshit any time, when in any other business it would be illegal. Actually, I think it IS ILLEGAL for medical groups to change your costs after the fact. But who can afford to sue a corporation with their own staff of lawyers?

  63. 63.

    Barbara

    @J R in WV: To state an obvious difference, you don’t have insurance for purchasing a car. The hospital has a standard charge but you don’t want to pay it.  You might want to research how Maryland sets hospital charges because it makes a lot more sense.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:  The comment I am replying to went into Spam, and I am not at all sure why.  If any of your future comments disappear, please send me email at the watergirl address or let me know through the site feedback form.  If it happens again, we’ll want to get to the bottom of this.

  68. 68.

    Bupalos

    This seems kinda dumb. I really can’t think of a good reason to give McConnell control of this. Unless the house is going to concurrently subpoena the testimony the senate refuses to as some kind of shadow trial. To me the best line here is just to hold the impeachment indefinitely, including forever, unless it’s going to be dealt with fairly. which it’s not. So forever.

  69. 69.

    brantl

    The minute that Mitch said that the House had failed to procure sufficient impeachment evidence, Nancy’s committees should have gone to court for subpoenas for all the people that the White House (the Great Orange Baby-Shit-Stain) had forbade from testifying, and then said to the media “Trump has pre-empted these people from testifying, and Yertle is right, we should have had more testimony, and we shall put that right. We will hold the articles, until these people are forced to tell the american people what they did, as is the american people’s right to hear.”. Why she didn’t, I don’t know, or understand. Does anybody have a theory, on that?

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