Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

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

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

This blog will pay for itself.

This really is a full service blog.

We won’t go back.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment Inquiry / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Road Goes Ever On

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GOP Thru the Looking Glass - Tom Toles

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)

 
Another one of the ‘holiday’ weeks, where everyone tries to fit five days’ work into four days.

Reader Interactions

215Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    They should ask whether or not it’s okay for a foreign government to be involved in our elections.   trumpettes will tie themselves in knots trying to defend that one.

  5. 5.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from Tucumcari, NM! Still stuffed full of fried chicken livers and peppered white gravy from Del’s Restaurant last night. Great place that’s been a round since the 1950’s. Heading to Las Vegas, New Mexico for a night with a friend at the newly refurbished Castenada Hotel on the train tracks (old Fred Harvey Hotel). Spent some time in the past in Little Vegas (the original Vegas), and am thrilled about the Castenada’reopening last Spring after being derelict for 60 plus years. Hopping the train to Winslow for a couple of nights at the sister hotel, La Posada, and back on the train Friday. It’s Amtrak 101 for me on the SW Chief. Done the drive in the past but should be fun to just sit back. 

    A shout out to jimmiraybob in yesterday’s thread. The thread was long dead when I got back to it. Been through Santa Rosa but was always at that point Albuquerque or Santa Fe bound so never had the need to stop….. no time to check out the Blue Hole. Thanks for the Silver Moon Cafe suggestion. Will try to check it out next year.

  7. 7.

    Quinerly

    Re slimy Dershowitz. . Love the comment, “But he kept his underwear on when he said it, so its ok….”

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    The GOP doesn’t care that Trump is obviously guilty, or that the Democratic party impeached him to preserve the Republic. They only care about beating the “Democrat party”. Trump did what he did to that end, therefore it was not wrong and he is not guilty of anything.

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    Anne Laurie –

    Thanks for (what I assume is) a sort-of homage to Christopher Tolkien with the title.

  21. 21.

    eclare

    @rikyrah: Have you seen his ad based on a speech he gave to the National Baptist Convention in Arlington TX?  It’s powerful.  Unfortunately on my phone so I don’t know how to link, but google should work.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    Ryan Struyk
    @ryanstruyk
    ·13h
    Presidential approval rating in January ahead of re-election bid via
    @CNN
    Eisenhower 76%
    Johnson 76%
    W Bush 59%
    Carter 58%
    Reagan 55%
    Truman 50%
    Nixon 49%
    Obama 47%
    HW Bush 46%
    Clinton 46%
    Ford 46%
    Trump 43%

  24. 24.

    Lapassionara

    Evidently, we are now in the Chinese New Year. This is the year of the rat. Seems fitting.

     

    good morning, everyone.

  26. 26.

    Quinerly

    @eclare: thanks. Means a lot. Really hope not to clog up or high jack threads but a little back in forth with jackals in the morning is kinda cool for me since solo. I love suggestions as I go along. Already have one from yesterday for next year. Have a wonderful day.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @eclare: My google fu is weak. Even just searching for “Biden ads” doesn’t come up with anything less than a week old.

    shrug

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @eclare: Thanks.  It’s good.  For whatever reason, Biden seems to be the only one focusing on general election ads. Appeals to me because I’m not in Iowa and am ready to start taking the fight to Trump.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: 

    Exactly right. Dems pursued impeachment; therefore, impeachment is bad no matter the circumstances/facts of the case.

    Hey GOP Senators – he’ll sell you out too, btw.

  31. 31.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah: Good morning to you. Very strange with no Poco traveling but managing great. The trip seems to have a different vibe to it. Hard to explain. Not a bad vibe. Already have met several interesting people. Those chance encounters I love. Fun stories, interactions. Have a wonderful day!

  34. 34.

    JCJ

    @Lapassionara: 
    Arrived in Bangkok last night. We were walking to a convenience store (7-11) to get some bottles of water just down the road from our condo. My wife and daughter were walking ahead of me. I feel something hit my shoe then I feel something brush the back of my lower leg. I turn to see what it was. A rat! My wife laughed and said it was a greeting for Chinese New Year – the year of the rat!

  36. 36.

    Quinerly

    @laura: ❤️ Tony Lamas already pretty dusty. Walked around Tucumcari for a couple of hours taking pictures of the wall murala/street art and old Route 66 signage. Sad town this time of year that loves a stranger. Lots of waves and couple of chats with locals. Done some walking around here before before but some new murals and I had somehow missed the “Safari Motel.” Neon. A sultan on a camel with another sign in the parking lot. “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette. … I would walk a mile for a Camel.” ?

  38. 38.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I think they can (and have) go down from here but they don’t go up. Which makes sense, really. The Trump people never depended on “up” anyway. Their entire focus is now and has always been dragging the other person down. He never even tried to gain any new supporters.

  40. 40.

    Quinerly

    @JCJ: “One Night in Bangkok Will Make a Hard Man Humble.”

    I’ll see myself out. There’s a stuffed sopapilla in Little Vegas I have to eat. Sorry, jackals, if you catch a 1984 earworm.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro:

    Dems pursued impeachment; therefore, impeachment is bad no matter the circumstances/facts of the case.

    I detect a flaw in your logic.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The stakes are much higher for the Trumps, too, because they all went to work for daddy so a rejection of him is a rejection of the entire family, including the son in law and a daughter in law. We get to beat five of them for the price of one. Value!

  43. 43.

    Baud

    @TS (the original):

    I think many of have been surprised by Biden’s staying power, but Rubin’s notion that people thought it was “unimaginable” that the consistent front runner in the race wasn’t the favorite to win is hyperbole.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly: lemme clarify…no matter the circumstances/facts that the Dems present.

    Naturally, if the circumstance/fact in question is that it’s a Dem president being impeached, then sure, the GOP is all for it.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quinerly: I once started a cross-country trip by driving from Pensacola FL to Tucumcari NM in one straight shot. Not recommended!

    I was beyond exhausted when I arrived at the hotel. But it was before check-in time, and the desk clerk said the room wasn’t ready. I explained the circumstances, said I was going to go collapse in my car and asked if she’d knock on the window when the room was ready. She did!

    My memories of the town are kind of fuzzy on account of my idiotic driving scheme. But I remember lots of Route 66 memorabilia, mountains that looked like giant ant hills and super-nice people. Your descriptions make me want to go back and give the place its proper due.

  47. 47.

    cmorenc

    Key option omitted from most public opinion surveys regarding Trump Impeachment

    • Do you oppose removing Trump by impeachment, but support his removal by defeat in the 2020 election?

    If even a relatively small portion of the  45% opposing Trump’s removal by impeachment nevertheless do so because they think electoral defeat is the better option for institutional stability etc and plan to vote against Trump in 2020 – that would significantly reduce his chances of pulling off another electoral college inside straight via razor-thin wins in a handful of states, a headwind that would be somewhat reduced if most of those picking this option also planned to vote third-party.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They should have held back on some of the mean-spirited attacks and policy so they could bring it out for the big finish. They even used up “drum up a war” early. How many times can you make fun of disabled people and still rile up the base? They’ve gone from attacking war heroes to marketing war criminals, and the primary hasn’t even begun.

  49. 49.

    gene108

    @Amir Khalid:

    Paris really is a great performance artist. Staying in her ditzy blond persona, she has built up a huge following.

    Also, I wonder who did the camera work? Wasn’t just some guy, with a smartphone.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    Exactly. Buttigieg is about to his 2nd town hall on Fox. Why? When he hasn't done any town halls with black media. It's ridiculous. But his supporters complained that black voters don't want to get to know him. The outreach is supposed to be on his end— Bella August (@BellaAugust4) January 20, 2020

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @Al Z.: 

    I prefer cooking quinoa with David Lynch

    “Al” wouldn’t happen to be short for “Alferd,” would it? And I would think Lynch, at 74, might be a bit gamy.

  56. 56.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

    It was obvious to me from the beginning that the strategy for all of the white savior candidates was to consolidate the white vote, do an end-around the black vote and then present themselves as the only viable choice. It didn't work because the white vote is itself too divided.— Savior Dems left me with Castro(❤) & Biden(?) (@Needle_of_Arya) January 21, 2020

  57. 57.

    Quinerly

    @Betty Cracker: I have some sweet feelings about this depressed little town. It’s really nothing special but it tries so hard. I think it’s actually on more of a downhill slide. Seems to be more boarded up buildings since my stop here 3 years ago (did a different route 2 years ago)  The famous Blue Swallow Motel has been for sale over a year. Talked to a local on the streets.. People who bought it put a ton of money in it, but want out. Started at $1.2 million, now down to $800,000. I’m sure the town gets tourists in season but it had a seedy look yesterday that I hadn’t remembered from other stays. Clean Motel 6 that’s adequate and safe. $35.00, as opposed to the old Route 66 ones on the main drag for $80-$100 a night. I just couldn’t justify that expense.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I speculated yesterday that Trump might be coasting to reelection if he had just given up a few progressive trinkets.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Yeah, why won’t those shiftless darkies make a concerted effort to learn more about America’s (Next) Mayor? After all, he was the mayor of the fourth-most-populous city in Indiana!!

    ETA: The tweet you posted at #56 would seem to be spot-on. [I don’t consider Warren to be a “white savior candidate,” but some others seem to be.]

  61. 61.

    Patricia Kayden

    The fact that 45% are okay with the obstruction and corruption of this administration is very disturbing and due right frightening. They are perfectly fine with a lawless President who has no restraints and answers to no one. Terrifying.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I get why he’s doing the corn field thing but it’s geographically illiterate. His part of Indiana is the northern belt which has more in common with Detroit and Toledo than it does corn fields. It stretches across the Great Lakes over 4 states and there’s a reason for that- the massive amounts of raw materials came across the lakes. It’s no longer manufacturing but that doesn’t make it “rural”. He says he can “walk to a cornfield from his house”. That’s a long walk from Notre Dame. He should have stuck with rust belt- it’s not completely accurate because it’s outdated but it’s closer.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    I haven’t been posting as much because:

    My job has had crazy hours.

    Then, I got a new job within the organization that I work for

     

    Then, I have been sick.

     

    I haven’t been as plugged in as usual.

    I did watch both nights of Lev with Maddow. Lev is a crook, but he’s determined to not get Epsteined.

     

    I am the most political person where I work. I can tell you from the group of Black and Latino folks at my office, they have been with Biden before he even announced, and none of this during this entire run has moved the needle from him one bit. It is what it is.

  67. 67.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: He really has a personable touch with ordinary people.  I’ll proudly vote for him if he’s our nominee.  Just hope he can keep the gaffes minimal going forward.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Before I forget, for those who were asking yesterday, I sent Raven an email and he answered. All is well in Savannah, he’s just taking a break.

  69. 69.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    The stakes are much higher for the Trumps, too,

    Their shady business practices have gotten a lot more attention, and daddy’s presidency has raised their public profile.

    They aren’t so easily going to get DA’s to look the other way, with a bribe campaign contribution of $20k, because of their higher profile, and outrage at daddy’s presidency in NYC, and NJ, where they like to do business

  73. 73.

    satby

    @Kay: wow, how weird is it that I work with farmers at a farmer’s market who live within the city limits of South Bend? Pretty sure they classify their farms as rural. As do the farmers right over the border in rural Michigan outside of Niles.

    BTW, he doesn’t live in Notre Dame. He lives in a nice old neighborhood by the river.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The lack of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is a major driver of gun violence in cities across the United States, a new report by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence warns.

    In many American communities, acts of police brutality, over-enforcement targeting small infractions and high numbers of unsolved shootings and homicides have eroded trust in law enforcement, making residents less likely to place their trust in law enforcement and more likely to seek vigilante justice, the researchers note.

    “Everybody has largely missed the fact that if people can’t count on help from the state and its agents, they’re going to take care of themselves,” says David Kennedy, the director of the National Network for Safe Communities, a violence reduction research center, whose work is referenced throughout the report. “Sometimes taking care of yourself looks like day-to-day gun violence.”

    The report also spotlights examples of trends in cities like Camden, New Jersey, and Oakland, California, where community-led efforts have led to a significant decrease in gun violence rates.

    “Communities have the answers and can address and treat gun violence. But law enforcement gets the lion’s share of any city budget in the country,” says Fernando Rejón, the director of the Urban Peace Institute, a not-for-profit organization that trains violence interventionists. “For a [violence reduction] strategy to work, law enforcement needs to be able to do their work, intervene and provide alternatives, but there also has to be community investment.”
    ……………………………..
    “So much of what isn’t working about traditional policing is built on myths and lead to policies that treat whole communities as part of the problem rather than victims witnesses and the solution to violence,” says Freilich.

    “Law enforcement are inheritors of a history of racism and violence,” Freilich adds. “And police are frequently tasked with implementing and enforcing racist laws.”

    “When you are thinking of an entire community as violent you flood neighborhoods with all kinds of enforcement,” says Jesse Jannett, a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute.

    “Rather, if you can identify a small number who are at an elevated risk of shooting and being shot it opens up a number of intervention possibilities.”

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    My sincerest condolences on Poco. I saw your comment (a few weeks ago) re: his being sick, but I somehow missed that he had passed. He was a good doggie, and both of you were lucky to have each other. And we were lucky to have you “share” him with us.

  82. 82.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JPL:

    A Very Stable Genius was downloaded on my Nook, so my day is planned. 

    Pace yourself. Maybe read one paragraph per hour and spend the other 59 minutes watching videos of puppies to cleanse the brain and eyes.

  83. 83.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Equally terrifying is that he has a team of defenders who can state with straight faces that abuse of power is not illegal

    Quit exaggerating, libtard! Abuse of power IS illegal. Just not when Republicans do it. [Well, I guess technically, the “abuse of power” for which Shitgibbon’s impeached — as regards the US Code — MAY not be illegal. But it certainly is a “High Crime and Misdemeanor.”]

  84. 84.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Last night, I talked to a friend who has a little dog, some Pekinese mix, I think. So she told me she’s taking the dog to a “little dog” play group. Also she ordered a sling to carry the dog around in and a car seat. Also she decided to learn Norwegian using Duolingo. It turns out Duolingo gamifies the process. You get points and compete with other people in your cadre and then can get moved up to the next level. She’s very competitive and we finally hung up because she needed to rack up some points.

    How can people tell me stuff like that and not expect me to put it in a story?

  85. 85.

    germy

    Do they teach spelling at Harvard?

    Tribe is trying to sensor my arguments . The headline of Tribe’s article says it all: “Trump’s lawyer shouldn’t be allowed to use bogus arguments on impeachment.”
    — Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 20, 2020

  86. 86.

    Ksmiami

    @Quinerly: that area has been plagued with drug related crimes and a sort of hopelessness that you don’t normally see in the Southwest. I drive from tx thru New Mexico to cali often

  88. 88.

    germy

    Long before it created MLK Day, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as an early tribute to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

    Five years later, the Nixon administration sued Donald Trump for violating the terms of the act.https://t.co/FLzaAAPiJP

    — Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 20, 2020

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @satby:

    Do South Benders consider themselves rural? Is that really how that city defines itself? Indiana has a northern tier and a downstate, and it always has. The northern tier cities are mostly Democrats, and always have been. I don’t object to him campaigning, but reinventing that city from rust belt when that works to rural when that works is just not accurate. If he were a state officeholder this depiction- “Indiana, Land of Contrasts”  would be entirely accurate, but he’s not. Every single mayor in the country could do this, because many, many states have an agriculture sector. The mayor of NYC could do it. The mayor of Los Angeles. There’s a difference between a city and the state it’s located in.

  91. 91.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: I try not to fall down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, but sometimes I do wonder what Barr and Co. have on Dershowitz. I never thought Dershowitz was a noble icon of jurisprudence; he got rich and famous by defending rich and famous degenerates.

    But why choose to make a fool of himself and destroy his reputation in his golden years over Donald Fucking Trump? Why trot out to TV panels to offer a ludicrous impeachment defense that is the exact opposite of what he argued in the Bill Clinton case, thus inviting widespread ridicule by peers?

    I don’t know who scooped up all the Jeffrey Epstein evidence after his suicide (if it was a suicide!), but whoever has it holds a lot of power over some incredibly powerful people. I hate thinking in InfoWar terms, but here we are…

  94. 94.

    Ksmiami

    @Quinerly: that area has been plagued with drug related crimes and a sort of hopelessness that you don’t normally see in the Southwest. I drive from tx thru New Mexico to cali often

     

    @germy:

  95. 95.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Quinerly, if you’re still around: Supposed to be some winter weather today, but shouldn’t be a problem for you.

  96. 96.

    zhena gogolia

    @germy:

    He’s just trying to emulate Dear Leader.

    I’m totally depressed today. Yes, Adam, we knew they were going to do this, but it’s still depressing. We’re sliding into a dictatorship FOR NO GOOD REASON. Russia had no strong democratic traditions and a century of war, revolution, civil war, famine, state terror, invasion by Germany, more war, and stagnant Communist rule. They have an excuse. We have none.

  97. 97.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think it’s Trump’s magnetism. After all, if Melania could climb into bed with the likes of him, isn’t it likely he could compel anyone to do anything?

    I bet if Dersh performs well enough, Trump will compel non-stop dinner parties for him on Martha’s Vineyard. //

  98. 98.

    JPL

    Wilmer and followers are gonna be pissed at Hillary..

    Hollywood Reporte

    Hillary speaks truth to power.   It’s worth clicking on the other articles also, and it’s the first time, I heard mention of the struggles caused to Monica.

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    @zhena gogolia:

    Oh, and I left out the Yeltsin era: drunk leader, kleptocracy, Harvard-professor-imposed “shock therapy” that ruined the economy, and rampant gang warfare.

  104. 104.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: I cycle between depressed and hopeful about our political situation — sometimes within the same hour! As to the impeachment trial, I’m trying to stay focused on what is obtainable, given that Republicans are in charge of that chamber: maximizing political damage to the Republican Party for the cover-up. I believe we’re making some headway there!

  105. 105.

    artem1s

    @Baud: 

    The only thing that the GOP cares about is that Trump is a Republican.

    Good. They will find it very hard to try and reverse ownership once he does crash and burn. So what if the Clinton’s came to one of his weddings? or if once upon a time he donated to D campaigns? They own him now, for better or worse. Unlike Melania, there isn’t going to be a divorce at the end of this mess and Trump gets sole custody of the whole party.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @satby:

    I’ll explain why it bugs me so much – it is really hard for Democrats to win statewide in these states. Ohio. Indiana. Missouri. To me it takes credit for something he hasn’t done, so in that way takes credit away from those who have accomplished it. That’s why someone like Klobuchar hits him on it (admittedly Minnesota is easier than Indiana, and she had her father, who was a big boost). Sherrod Brown could make this claim. He’s done it. Claire McCaskill, even more so. It’s difficult. To claim it he has to do it, IMO. I would absolutely happily give it to him if he had won statewide.

  108. 108.

    JPL

    @JPL:  From the article, this is but one of her statements on Wilmer

    “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

  110. 110.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    At some point, it’s best to shut your mouth. 

    Narrator: We hate to spoil it for Dorothy, but the old white Trump trash won’t shut its mouth.  Just look at Rudy Colludy Ghouliani.

  111. 111.

    satby

    @Kay: well South Bend citizens certainly wouldn’t say they have more in common with bigger cities like Toledo or Detroit, which is what you stated. And you said that it was geographically illiterate for the man to say he could walk to cornfields from his house, when that’s an accurate statement (about 5 miles away, dude’s a runner so not a huge distance to him). I’m sure there’s things of substance you could criticize in his policies, so trying to make him seem like a liar when he’s not isn’t necessary.

  112. 112.

    Quiltingfool

    I want to say thank you  for all the compliments on my quilts from eclare, Ozark Hillbilly, Dorothy A. Windsor, JPL, and Sab – I would have liked to thank you yesterday, but I had to take my kitty to the vet – she has a recurring sinus problem, got some medicine, and this morning she is better – no cheek puffing to breathe!  To Dorothy re her fragile quilt – best to carefully display, not use.  I have one my grandma made (not for me, but it was one she had made maybe in the 40s or 50s) and it is somewhat threadbare, so I just display.  Ozark Hillbilly, when women quilt, that’s when all the fun talk starts!  My friends and I started the “Stitch ‘n Bitch” quilting group when we all taught.  Not much quilting got done, what with adult beverages served generously, but we certainly had fun…and learned it isn’t a good idea to drink and cut quilt pieces.  No one was harmed, but the next morning there was a lot of “What the Hell?” cussing when pieces didn’t fit together!

  113. 113.

    Bruce K

    @SFAW: To be fair, W wasn’t a malignant narcissist to Trump’s degree. W was able and willing to go to ground for a number of years until the dust settled; I don’t think that Trump’s temperamentally able to do that, even if it’d be the most reasonable move.

  116. 116.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: Dersh lost his mind decades ago.  He doesn’t need any blackmail to be the guy you see today.  He is a right winger who is primarily focussed on fighting against imagined slights and supporting Israel at any cost.  Check out what he did to Juan Cole at Yale someday.  He enjoys destroying perceived enemies.

  117. 117.

    JPL

    @O. Felix Culpa: I was moved when Bill got tears in his eyes and finally recognized the cost not only to Hillary and Chelsea but Monica to

    I’ll probably take advantage of a Hulu free trial to watch.

  118. 118.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Quiltingfool: I have the fragile quilt folded up in a closet. Does it need to be out? I’m not sure how I’d display it. It’s a traditional quilt pattern whose name escapes me at the moment, so it’s not a unique piece, except to me.

  119. 119.

    germy

    Do you think the media’s coverage of the 2020 campaign has improved from its coverage four years ago?

    I don’t. In the beginning I was hopeful that it had. I thought that with more than one woman running — at one point there were six, so a basketball team plus a spare — it’ll get more normal [because] you have women on the stage. It’s not just me standing alone up there. And in the very beginning there was reason for hope, but as the campaign has gone on, it does seem to me that people are reverting back to stereotypes, and many of those are highly genderized. And it’s a shame.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @Bruce K:

    The Traitor-in-Chief’s personality is immaterial in that regard. It’s the Party of Traitors that matters, and they will pretend that he didn’t do his damnedest to destroy the country, or that he was really a Lie-beral, or any one of a number of BS scenarios.

  121. 121.

    Betty Cracker

    @Bruce K: True. In the very best case scenario, in which Trump is defeated soundly and deigns to leave the White House without trying to gin up a goober rebellion, we’re stuck with that loud-mouth commenting on every goddamned issue until the day he finally makes Melania’s dreams come true and drops dead.

  122. 122.

    germy

    @Immanentize:

    Dersh lost his mind decades ago.  He doesn’t need any blackmail to be the guy you see today.  He is a right winger who is primarily focussed on fighting against imagined slights and supporting Israel at any cost.

    During the Nixon impeachment, he was quoted by the Associated Press saying he didn’t want Nixon facing a jury of “liberals and blacks.”

  124. 124.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Check out what he did to Juan Cole at Yale someday.

    What happened there? I thought Juan is generally able to handle himself, but I hadn’t heard about this.

  126. 126.

    Kay

    Dan Merica
    @merica
    ·1h
    Hillary Clinton about Bernie Sanders in a new doc per
    @THR
    : “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

    Boom! Political media (who hate her, although the big media celebs have made a ton of money off of hating her) will go crazy but if this is what she thinks I’m glad she’s saying it- she’s earned the right to evaluate others after 30 years of people evaluating her. Maybe it’s her turn to play pundit.

  127. 127.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker:

    until the day he finally makes Melania’s dreams come true and drops dead.

    “Donald? Vladi … um, I mean Bar-ron mixed up this special drink for you to take before you go to bed. No, I don’t know why it’s glowing, is probably some special ingredient to make it look cool. За здоровье! ”

    [No, I have no idea if polonium actually glows.]

  128. 128.

    RoonieRoo

    @Quinerly: Enjoy your day in Las Vegas.  That’s where both of my parents are from and where I spent my childhood summers.  At 701 Douglas is the oldest bank building in New Mexico.  That was my grandfather’s bank.

    My sisters and I took my mom’s ashes home to Las Vegas last year when they were still working on the refurbishment of the Castenada.  I’ll look forward to hearing how you think they did.  I believe it’s the same group that currently owns La Posada so I have high hopes.

  129. 129.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: I was just looking for my umbrella for Vegas! Thanks for thinking of you. I’ll send you a message on something Saturday in Cerrillos. Otherwise, catch you after the 27th at some point, your convenience. Thanks for everything.

  130. 130.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    after 30 years of people evaluating her.

    Minor quibble: it’s been almost 30 years of people trashing her; evaluation was not necessarily part of that effort.

  132. 132.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker:

    When I’m trying to be positive, I think, impeachment really wounded him and slowed him down.

    That lasts a few seconds, and then I think of how the Russians, Sanders, and the media are going to shaft us for the election.

  136. 136.

    Immanentize

    @SFAW: He had a hand in the attacks on Cole at Yale — I think he wrote a letter?  But he really went after another Professor, Finkelstein, in California and later DePaul.
    Linky to book

  139. 139.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    The famous lawyers do not reflect well on the legal profession, as a meritocracy. There needs to be some kind of reevaluation of what we value and why we value it. I don’t expect them to be saints and everyone gets a defense but it’s just sleazeball after sleazeball parading past. We would do better with the much-maligned “ambulance chasers” at this point- at least they aren’t completely full of shit about their motives.

  140. 140.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quiltingfool:

    Not much quilting got done, what with adult beverages served generously, but we certainly had fun…and learned it isn’t a good idea to drink and cut quilt pieces. No one was harmed, but the next morning there was a lot of “What the Hell?” cussing when pieces didn’t fit together!

    Heh. Sounds like some of the carpenters I’ve worked with.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    She knows a lot and she’s seen a lot. They may end up wishing she goes back to her prior restrained position, where she took all the hits and kept her mouth shut. That was perceived as deceptive so we’ll see how they portray this. I’ll wait for the Maureen Down column laying out her motive. I’m sure it’s witchy and evil and self-serving.

  143. 143.

    SFAW

    @Immanentize:

    Wow. I had no idea.

    I first learned of Dershowitz at some point after I came to the Boston area, lo these many years ago. My memory of him in the 1970s and 1980s was of a civil libertarian. Maybe he was at the time, but he’s clearly (become) a RWMF who deserves to be put out to pasture in Sibir.

  144. 144.

    Aleta

    Juan Cole on Dershowitz

    Dershowitz and Grades of Human Beings

    Alan “Torture is OK” Dershowitz is annoyed that the Israelis have been accused of killing innocent civilians. He is now arguing that there are degrees of “civilianity.” He wonders how many innocent civilians killed by Israel in Lebanon would still be innocent if we could make finer distinctions.

    (He should read the Lebanese newspapers and he would get the answer. One third of those killed by the Israelis are children. I’d guess they are all civilian all the time. And then there are the families, like the Canadian women, children and men blown up at Aitaroun. I suppose they are really civilians. Etc. )

    But I don’t know why Dershowitz stops there. Let me reformulate his argument for him. Shouldn’t we recognize degrees of humanness? After all, isn’t that the real problem? That the enemy is considered a full human being in the law of war? That horrible Supreme Court judgment that Hamdan had to be given a trial of some sort was based on the misunderstanding that he is a human being.

    …

    edit to remove dead link

  145. 145.

    debbie

    Heh, the BBC is recapping the history of the impeachment, from the first report of the whistleblower through to today. There’s background music, known as the Impeachment Polka. It sounds like the music that played during a silent movie.

  146. 146.

    Quiltingfool

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  One way to display is folded in half, draped over the lower half of a bed (I do that with my fragile grandma quilt in my spare bedroom).  A small freestanding quilt rack is good, too.  One thing, though – you might want to refold it every so often if you keep it put up.  Reduces stress on the threads.

    My third cousin found a partially completed Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt top her grandma had hand pieced way back when (I know it was done during the time ladies used flour and feed sack fabrics because I noticed some in the blocks).  She wanted it preserved, so I fixed some holes, added some blocks she had that hadn’t been put on the quilt (this top had been put up for who knows how long) and then I quilted it on my long arm.  Would have been better to hand quilt, but arthritis is now my nemesis, so no go on that.  It wasn’t a full quilt, but it is stabilized and clean, and she has a grandma memory to display and hand down to her kids.  I would urge anyone out here who have old quilt tops to find someone to quilt them just for the stabilization aspect.  Plus quilts are safer to clean than quilt tops.

  147. 147.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: I think you are right about 9/11.  But in Dersh’s case it’s like it is with people around Trump, he was ready to become who he is.

    He used to represent a ton of people. One of my colleagues worked in his law practice. In fact, Harvard had to create a rule, called the Dershowitz rule by most, saying that you had to actually do something like teach at Harvard to continue to hold the title and get the sweet cash. He was never there.

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I knew they weren’t going to convict, so it’s a success in my book. I wanted two things- 1. I wanted the impeachment standard held (lofty purpose) and, 2. I wanted it to be majority opposed to Trump (partisan, pettier purpose). I got all that.

    Democrats aren’t responsible for the actions of Republicans. They’re big boys and girls. It’s not my job to raise them.

  150. 150.

    Nelle

    As an aside.  Or several asides.  There are regulars here whose perspectives I value so much.  I look forward to your words, Kay, Immanentize, Ozark Hillbilly, Satby,  Dorothy, and others not quickly coming to mind right now.  I am on this journey with Quinerly..the ghosts of so many of us ride along,  just suiting in back of Poco’s spirit.  Thank you, Cheryl and Adam, and not to forget Tom Levenson. Even in and on these intertubes, you all make a difference by participating, with humour and kindness.

  152. 152.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I had been hoping one of our many candidates would defend her honor, but it looks like she’ll have to do that on her own too.

  155. 155.

    Cacti

    Hillary on the Wilmerfolk:

    I will say, however, that it’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women. And I really hope people are paying attention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this culture — not only permitted, [he] seems to really be very much supporting it. And I don’t think we want to go down that road again where you campaign by insult and attack and maybe you try to get some distance from it, but you either don’t know what your campaign and supporters are doing or you’re just giving them a wink and you want them to go after Kamala [Harris] or after Elizabeth [Warren]. I think that that’s a pattern that people should take into account when they make their decisions.

    Assuming good faith out of Wilmer in 2016 was a grave mistake by the Democratic Party.

    It’s about time somebody went after the head of the snake.

  156. 156.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Amir Khalid: Combine that with this

    Exposing the abuse of power and the obstruction of an investigation is having a significant impact on this administration.

    The Senate trial is the GOP chance to refute that, instead the GOP reaction is “f you”  If anything Turtle’s plan is going make this worse for the Republicans.

    Maybe the Republicans have written Trump off in 2020 and just looking to hold on their own seats so all they care about is not pissing off Trump’s base during it.

  157. 157.

    Kay

    @Nelle:

    Oh, that’s nice. Thanks.

    I’m going to spend a week with the new baby at the end of February- it’s spring break for my youngest who is now an uncle(!). My baby is an uncle. He likes kids. He might want to be a teacher, he tells me, which surprised me. We don’t have any teachers in the family. I have a friend who is the principal of kind of a challenging public school so I’m going to see if she’ll take him around for a day.

  164. 164.

    JPL

    @Kay: Even at a few weeks, little ones start to become aware of their surroundings    You will have so much fun being a grandma.

  165. 165.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s better if she does it. The most talked about and attacked woman should finally get to make her own case. Hillary in my view was a team player. She held her tongue because she wanted Democrats to win. It was all self-control which is part of why she was savaged- they wanted her to break. That she gets to let loose now on her own terms makes me happy.

  166. 166.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    The famous lawyers do not reflect well on the legal profession, as a meritocracy

    Shameless self promotion is not a vice unique to lawyers.

  170. 170.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    We did facetime and she was just gawking at us. She has huge eyes, like her mom. She’s a “good baby” – sleeps in 4 hour stretches, which was also true of her mother. Her dad is church-going (my daughter goes too although she’s maybe not as committed) so I bought her a church dress. They didn’t know the sex of the baby so they had all unisex clothes but dresses are kind of nice for babies- easy.

  171. 171.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Mr. Mack: Carlos Medina: I’ve heard his name but not seen him perform. Meow Wolf: Have been there for events but not gone through its main attraction. Everyone I know who has gone, though, has enjoyed it.

  173. 173.

    Quiltingfool

    Well, I’m making comments not in keeping with the political talk – I know who I’m voting for in the primary, and I will vote for the Dem in the general.  At this point, I won’t vote for any Republican, which means I don’t have much say in my county elections; red is the only color here, damn it.  I hate that damn criminal asshole in the WH and his asshole enablers with the heat of a thousand suns.   I want vengeance, but I’m pretty sure the vengeance I want won’t happen…and that may be for the best.  I think I would be content with the Wiccan warning – “what you do, will come back at you threefold” happening to them.

    Well, preaching to the choir, back to quilts.  I urge the folks who buy my quilts or receive them as gifts to use them!  Don’t put them up, use them for napping, let the dogs and cats sleep on them (animals LOVE quilts), etc.  Don’t be afraid to wash them, either – they get a beautiful crinkled look and get softer – better to snuggle under.

  176. 176.

    Mr. Mack

    @O. Felix Culpa: He is such a talented singer/songwriter.  He is also a very special person.  He is enormously popular in New mexico, and starting to get a large fan base in Denver as well.  I hope you get a chance to go see him.

  179. 179.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Lapassionara: I spent the last week in Singapore (my wife was traveling on business; my daughter and I went to sightsee). Red and gold decorations for Chinese New Year were up everywhere and there were pop-up markets selling holiday gifts in the ubiquitous shopping malls. Except in Little India, where the main street was lit up brilliantly in white, purple and green for Pongal, a South Indian harvest festival that was in progress.

  180. 180.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: Carpenters and quilters have more in common than you think!  We both cut up perfectly good pieces of lumber or fabric than then put them back together again to make something functional and beautiful!

  182. 182.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Mr. Mack: I’ll make that a goal

    ETA: I’m just so busy with political work these days that I’m too exhausted to do much else. Hopefully that will change in November.

  184. 184.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Love it! I didn’t know Hanna was still around. I had a few outfits for my kids from her, back in the day.

  186. 186.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Quiltingfool:

    Well, I’m making comments not in keeping with the political talk

    Every thread is an open thread, and that goes double for the threads that are labeled “open.”

  187. 187.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Nelle:

    I look forward to your words, Kay, Immanentize, Ozark Hillbilly, Satby, Dorothy,

    One of these is not like the others.

  188. 188.

    sherparick

    The story not written or reported on is how the Republican Donor Group and America’s Business elite, led by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and Charles Koch, are backing Trump as they accept his crony, corrupt, capitalism/racist authoritarianism. In part they do because they share Trump’s values and in part because they view Trump as enabler of their own profit taking. What is Trump after all but the “Consumer No. 1” of the Fox News content and ideological position.  Rupert and Lachlan are virtually the president since Trump just parrots what he watches on Hannity’s or Lou Dobbs’ shows.   McConnell, Collins, and the rest would not be so obsequious of Trump if their donors had not told him “he is our guy, flaws and all.”

  192. 192.

    Quiltingfool

    @JPL: Me too!  I bought the kitty fabric at Hancock in Paducah!  I had just retired from teaching, and my two best friends took me on a celebration trip there.  The Quilting Museum was great, but the best part was visiting with three ladies in the foyer who were hand quilting.  Man, they were good! And funny, too!

  198. 198.

    sdhays

    @Betty Cracker: What reputation is he destroying? His public record is disgusting, and is he really that talented or brilliant as a lawyer? Johnny Cochrane got O. J. off, not Douchewitz. And dark corruption covered Epstein, not Alan’s advice.

  199. 199.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: I haven’t been around in recent weeks in real time as threads have been unfolding, but managed to figure out that Poco had passed, and that you are in NM.

    First, condolences on losing your travel buddy. We all know how much that hurts.

    Second, I will be down in NM sometime in the next couple months. My sister will be in Pecos the 12th-13th of March, but I think you will be gone by then? Anyway, I may end up down there in February too, maybe we can arrange a meet-up with O. Felix and Cheryl, who I passed a delightful time with last year. Cheers, and happy trails!

  200. 200.

    SWMBO

    @Quiltingfool: My sister is a long time quilter.  She joined the Ladies Quilting at her church to get out of the house.  She said she learned a lot about quilting and gossip over the quilt frame.  Those ladies had good stitches and sharp tongues.  lol

    You said to wash quilts and one of the things my sister told me was that heat was the enemy. Wash them in cold water with liquid detergent.  Dry them in the dryer on permanent press.  Heat makes the threads fragile over time.  Also, powder detergent acts like little knives to saw at the threads.

    One last quibble.  Try not to display quilts in sunshine.  It fades the fabric and makes it more fragile.

    My sister every year or every other year makes a pilgrimage to Paducah.  I’ve been to the quilting museum once. It was the year a man won quilt of the year with his flying airplane quilt. I think it was called Barnstormer.   Sis goes down to the quilt shops and talks to everyone. She buys a lot of fabric and makes some of the most beautiful quilts.  She bought a quilting machine and frame a couple of years ago. She can quilt a couple of quilts a week now.  She made a train quilt for her son when he was a small child. Just train cars going back and forth across the quilt.  Then she hand quilted the tracks under each row. It was the prettiest quilt ever.

  201. 201.

    Just Chuck

    @artem1s: The Fox-watching electorate only takes a year or two to be reprogrammed with new objects of hate.  The Facebook crowd’s turnaround is months if not weeks.

  202. 202.

    Just Chuck

    @Bruce K: I’ll say one nice thing about Shrub: he’s become a quite talented artist since leaving office.  It’s all just portraits these days, but he has a very bold fauvist-influenced style.  I’d love to see him do a mural.

  205. 205.

    john fremont

    @Quinerly: Long time lurker. First, Condolences for losing your canine companion. In the past, I had taken some camping trips in the Sangre de Cristos outside Vegas. Beautiful area. I saw my first porcupine in the wild out there. When traveling through from Denver to Phoenix I would always stop by the Hilltop Cafe/Flamingo Dining Room in town. The coffee was always good there. I don’t know if that place is still open though

  206. 206.

    Miss Bianca

    @JPL: OMG, I’m trying to imagine the FB flame wars I would provoke with my Bernie-stan friends by posting that statement! But it’s all fucking true!

    It’s something I just cannot understand about some of my incredibly smart, intellectual, politically-aware friends. How they can look at BS and not see or smell his BS. All he has to do is *say* the right things – never mind trying to *do* the right things, because that’s hard work and takes compromise – and they’re ready to eat out of his hand!

    It really humbles me because then I start wondering how susceptible *I* might be to just the right artisan-crafted bullshit.

  207. 207.

    Jager

    @Jager: Her grandmother belonged to a group called the “Stitchers and Menders Club. Sherron said when she got older it was weird to remember her grandmother saying, “Well I’m off to the S&M Club, see you later honey.”

  209. 209.

    JDM

    “there must be ‘criminal-like conduct’, your honor, and my client never once said ‘youz guyz’.”

  214. 214.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    Not sure Pete wants to win. He’s almost acting like Beto after the shooting, when he started talking, well, like me, swearing on TV. He noticeably changed tone and direction.

    Either that or he’s phoning it in.

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