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Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Timely

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Timely

by Anne Laurie|  January 22, 20206:51 am| 145 Comments

This post is in: Election 2020, Open Threads, Warren for President 2020

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Elizabeth Warren is out with a new advertisement in Iowa, focusing on Trump and her ability to win a general election pic.twitter.com/NimvZ8ZND2

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) January 21, 2020

As I’ve said before… this is my happy place…

One year from today, the next president will begin her first full day of work. She’ll inherit a government in crisis, infected by corruption, and will need the expertise and drive to rebuild it and ensure it works for the people. I've got a plan for that. https://t.co/UqWX9Zm0HT

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 21, 2020

I’ve said this repeatedly but I think this is the best campaign message against Trump. The Democratic candidate needs to go hard against 3+ years of normalizing absolute corruption and highlight the scale of the work necessary to fix it. https://t.co/7ccY9VRCLs

— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 21, 2020

If you vote for Democrats, they will take ALL your guns and investigate ALL your perfect phone calls and hoax ALL your Russian collusions. https://t.co/SZPtJdoycz

— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) January 21, 2020

Also…

We need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 22, 2020

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Previous Post: « Senate Impeachment Open Thread: Snapshots from Day One
Next Post: 20 Questions »

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    January 22, 2020 at 7:00 am

    I like that someone’s gone on record promising accountability. Imagine!

  2. 2.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    January 22, 2020 at 7:00 am

    The amendment overturning Citizens United should be called the Alito Amendment. In the text itself, it should include a phrase referencing Scam Alito mouthing “not true” at Obama for predicting exactly what happened.

     

    Let the lying, mendacious, piece of shit corrupt cocksucker wear it for eternity, and to know about it while he’s alive.

  3. 3.

    Nicole

    January 22, 2020 at 7:04 am

    @debbie: Me too. My big fear, if/when the Dems are in power again, is that they’ll assume it’s enough to govern well, and that the public just wants to put it all behind them. If the GOP never face consequences besides the ballot box, they will just keep doing what they’re doing, because clearly the ballot box is not a deterrent. Hell, they can just suppress the vote and steal the elections in that case.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 7:04 am

    We need a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

    And one that says money isn’t speech and another that says corporations aren’t people and as such do not have the rights of people, much less the rights of citizens.

  5. 5.

    PaulWartenberg

    January 22, 2020 at 7:06 am

    I am going in for surgery this morning.

    I hope to see you on the other side.

    If I don’t make it… AVENGE ME. Defeat trump. Vote out every Republican. Save the planet.

    Good luck.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    January 22, 2020 at 7:06 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Good luck to you!

  7. 7.

    debbie

    January 22, 2020 at 7:07 am

    @Nicole:

    I think Joe would choose to look forward. Maybe some reporter can ask him about this.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    January 22, 2020 at 7:08 am

    Today show has the ridiculous picture of Trump on the phone that they use to illustrate the “perfect” phone call.

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    January 22, 2020 at 7:09 am

    @Nicole:

    Honestly it depends how bad things are when the Dem gets in. Let’s face it, the pattern is that we only elect Dems when there are massive crises.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 7:12 am

    @PaulWartenberg: STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT! STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT! STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!

  11. 11.

    debbie

    January 22, 2020 at 7:13 am

    @Baud:

    NPR played part of Trump’s Davos farewell statement this morning. He was reading as if seeing the numbers for the first time. You could hear him turning away from the microphone to look at a quisling with an expression of “Wow! I am genius!”

  12. 12.

    debbie

    January 22, 2020 at 7:14 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Good luck! Hope your recovery is speedy and smooth.

  13. 13.

    satby

    January 22, 2020 at 7:14 am

    @PaulWartenberg: best of luck Paul! Let us know how you’re doing, you know how we worry.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    January 22, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Good luck.    We all plan on voting early and voting often.

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 22, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Good luck. Let us know.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    January 22, 2020 at 7:21 am

    @Baud: Of course they do..  bless their …………

  17. 17.

    Cermet

    January 22, 2020 at 7:26 am

    @PaulWartenberg: You’ll make it AND the orange fart cloud will not. Best on a speedy recovery!

  18. 18.

    frosty

    January 22, 2020 at 7:27 am

    @PaulWartenberg:  What OH said at #10! Good luck and we’ll avenge you no matter what the outcome is.

  19. 19.

    LivingInExile

    January 22, 2020 at 7:27 am

    Had shoulder surgery yesterday.  Fully torn rotator cuff plus other assorted problems.  Fun times.

  20. 20.

    daveNYC

    January 22, 2020 at 7:34 am

    I’m not sure that electability (or lack of) is an argument that Warren, or anyone, can really win.  It seems to boil down to people saying “The candidate I like is more likable than the candidate you like, so you should vote for the candidate I like instead of the one you like.”  It’s trying to argue people’s feelings, which tends to go nowhere.

    Rather unfortunate that electability seems to be Biden’s greatest strength.

  21. 21.

    montanareddog

    January 22, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @debbie:

     

    Re Trump’s Davos speech, the joint leader of Germany’s Green Party, Robert Habeck:???

    “Only self-praise, ignorance, disregard for everyone, no perception of global problems. It was the worst speech I’ve ever heard in my life.”???#GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/5bBetkfoGV
    — Bill Maxwell ? #CountryOverParty (@Bill_Maxwell_) January 22, 2020

  22. 22.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    January 22, 2020 at 7:41 am

    After his age I think the thing that bothers me most about Biden is that he’s the one most likely to give Trump & Co. a pass “so we can heal”.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @frosty: There’s Something about Mary cracks me up every time I watch it (yes, it’s chock full of sophomoric humor, sue me) the “Stay away form the light!” scene is classic.

  24. 24.

    montanareddog

    January 22, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @montanareddog:

     

    “She beat me out on Time magazine,” Trump says of 17-year-old @GretaThunberg at Davos news conference.
    — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) January 22, 2020

  25. 25.

    TS (the original)

    January 22, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Best wishes for a fast recovery. Come back & hound trump out of office.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 7:43 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 7:45 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Best wishes for a problem-free procedure, and a full and speedy recovery!

    We’ll work on the other part for you, while you’re recuperating, until you can get back to lead us!!!!! Or something.

  28. 28.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    January 22, 2020 at 7:46 am

    @montanareddog:

    So pathetically needy.

  29. 29.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 7:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I laughed. I feel guilty about it.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 7:49 am

    The Democrats were terrific yesterday.???

  31. 31.

    John S.

    January 22, 2020 at 7:52 am

    @PaulWartenberg: By Grabthar’s Hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged.

  32. 32.

    oatler.

    January 22, 2020 at 7:53 am

    Terry Jones RIP

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 7:53 am

    @montanareddog:

    Someone should do a Time “Person of the Year” fake cover, with Pennywise’s face, and “President” Donald Trump as the name. And if I knew how to Photoshop it, I’d do it myself.

    Or perhaps, just a generic clown face, with greasepaint tears rolling down his cheeks? I’m torn.

    Of course, having said that, I’ll probably find out someone already has done it.

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 7:53 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    ???For you and a full recovery.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 7:54 am

    @oatler.:

    Damn

  36. 36.

    The Thin Black Duke

    January 22, 2020 at 7:55 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Good luck, buddy.

  37. 37.

    Msb

    January 22, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @PaulWartenberg:
    best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.

    Re: Warren: damn right.

  38. 38.

    Uncle Cosmo

    January 22, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @MomSense: Let’s face it, the pattern is that we only elect Dems when there are massive crises.

    Finally someone on this misbegotten blog who gets it.

    FDR was an aberration. So was Obama – whose great failure was to leave in place the same “malefactors of great wealth” who decanted the “Tea Party” & made it impossible for him to govern & then blamed him for the failure. He set things up to bring the banksters & the health insurance gougers in for a soft landing & they said, Thank you very much for saving the system, now give us back everything we had – & when he didn’t or couldn’t they savaged him unmercifully.

  39. 39.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 22, 2020 at 8:01 am

    @PaulWartenberg: By Grabthar’s Hammer, we will avenge you. And best wishes. Give us a shout when you’re back

    Shakes fist at John S. at #30, who got there ahead of me.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:01 am

    @SFAW: You better stay away from the movie than. It would probably make you suicidal.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:05 am

    @SFAW:

    Or perhaps, just a generic clown face, with greasepaint tears rolling down his cheeks?

    Time magazine did it. OK, it’s not exactly tears, and he’s not exactly a clown, but it’s in the neighborhood.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    January 22, 2020 at 8:07 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: STAY AWAY FROM THE LIGHT!

    Pratchett’s version was to turn toward the light – then take two steps backward.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:08 am

    @PaulWartenberg: good luck under the knife.  Those Doctors do amazing things you know.  And they make you recover quicker too.  Please do check in.

  44. 44.

    Anya

    January 22, 2020 at 8:08 am

    Good morning all!

    I find Hakeem Jeffries very impressive. But I haven’t really gone deep into his record so I’d appreciate your input as to why AOC and Justice Dems want to primary him? I think JD are an out of control destructive group but I trust AOC so I am hoping the reports are not true.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:10 am

    Terry Jones, Monty Python founder and Life of Brian director, dies aged 77

    RiP.

  46. 46.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:11 am

    @oatler.: Man, the Python gang is slipping away quickly.

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Any incantation of Grabthar’s hammer makes me smile.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 8:15 am

     

    Will Wilkinson ? (@willwilkinson) Tweeted:
    The contrast between Schiff’s judicious sobriety and Sekulow’s greasy mendacious posturing couldn’t be more stark. https://twitter.com/willwilkinson/status/1219701830592143360?s=20

  49. 49.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @Anya:

    Not just Jeffries, but several CBC members.

    Uh huh

    Uh huh ?

    Unlike you, I don’t trust AOC.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    January 22, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @Immanentize: Actuarial tables are nasty, as XKCD has pointed out.  Repeatedly.

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 8:17 am

    @MomSense:

    Let’s face it, the pattern is that we only elect Dems when there are massive crises.

    Many years ago, my brother noted that, in our home county, Rethugs would get elected, then turn everything to shit. Voters would sweep them out, leaving Dems to clean up the mess. Since “cleaning up the mess” usually involved various measures (e.g., tax increases) that voters didn’t like. the Dems would thereupon get voted out, then the cycle would start over.

  52. 52.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:18 am

    @Anya: There was anonymous bullshit talk about that two years ago.  But Jeffries is as safe as can be.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    January 22, 2020 at 8:19 am

    @rikyrah: The contrast between Schiff and Sekulow

    I was thinking Aragorn and the Mouth of Sauron.  Possibly Gandalf and Wormtongue but I don’t know who’d be Theoden in that case.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    January 22, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @rikyrah:

    greasy mendacious posturing

    Ordinary lawyers really aren’t allowed to blatantly lie in a hearing. It would be good if fancy lawyers were held to the same standard, instead of a much lower one.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Obviously I missed oatler’s note on this momentous news. I still want to add,

    “He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!”.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @Ken: When discussing tenure, one always remembers that you cannot repeal the actuarial tables.

  57. 57.

    Anya

    January 22, 2020 at 8:22 am

    @rikyrah: I am not against primarying useless members. I think we need a new blood but why primary a young rising star? This is a really dumb move on AOC’s part of she’s behind this.

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    January 22, 2020 at 8:22 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    And one that says money isn’t speech and another that says corporations aren’t people and as such do not have the rights of people, much less the rights of citizens.

     

    YES to INFINITY.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:22 am

    @Kay: It really makes me crazy, listening to those guys.  As you know, in a real courtroom, even the suggestion that something was fabricated or even too heavily shaded beings everything to a halt until the issue is cleared up and apology in open court provided.  Sheesh.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @Anya: It’s not happening unless you have information newer than 2018.  Even then, AOC never said any thing about supporting a primary of Jeffries.    This was shit stirring then and it is shit stirring now.  Please refrain unless you have something to add to the 2018 gossip?

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 8:26 am

    Today’s dilemma. My daughter visited Peru, and brought me back some super-fancy chocolate, single-origin, fair-trade, organic, the whole nine yards (I love chocolate.) Sealed in a foil wrapper, as it should be (not wrapped, actually sealed.) I opened it and found several dead insects, look like typical Indian mealworms, two adults and at least one larva. So – do I brush off the insect stuff and eat the chocolate? I mean, people eat insects in Latin America (I have, too, when I visited.) Clearly they weren’t meant to be there, but this is good chocolate… I hate to toss it in the trash.

  62. 62.

    Nelle

    January 22, 2020 at 8:27 am

    Eat it.  Eat all of it.

  63. 63.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:28 am

    @Gin & Tonic: If sealed. Eat it.  Then turn your daughter into Customs for smuggling non-native bugs.

  64. 64.

    Nelle

    January 22, 2020 at 8:29 am

    (My sister, who lived in Zaire many years, ate insects and advocates for eating them too.)

  65. 65.

    Kay

    January 22, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @Immanentize:

    Yesterday. I watched it happen yesterday. Younger lawyer- I like him and he’s not a liar- got a little agitated and made something up at hearing. I corrected him and magistrate ordered him to submit a doc to her to show what he said was true. He (wisely) admitted he had been mistaken immediately after hearing because there is no doc showing this- he made it up. A quick apology is the best fix. This is just a case management hearing at a county court in the middle of nowhere. These guys are in there lying their asses off in front of the chief justice at 1000 an hour and nothing happens. Is this how it’s supposed to work? Higher standards for the lesser beings?

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    January 22, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @Kay: Laws are for little people.

    HTH!!

    :-/

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    January 22, 2020 at 8:33 am

    @Immanentize:

    If sealed. Eat it.  Then turn your daughter into Customs for smuggling non-native bugs.

    Harsh, but fair? Should we now call you “Dinsdale”?

  68. 68.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Kay: It is supposed to be higher standards for all.  A revolution of higher standards.  But the Republicans don’t believe in standards or truth.  Just power.  Even when I have been up against or partnering with some of the hootie hoos of the legal establishment, they adhered to real serious standards. They may have been crafty, but lying or fabricating facts or evidence really wasn’t part of their tool box. Because the personal stakes were so high for being called out and proven to be a liar. It was (still is?) career suicide.

  69. 69.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    January 22, 2020 at 8:35 am

    @oatler.: I don’t like SPAM!!

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @SFAW: OK.  Maybe G&T should just threaten her with such an action and try to get another box of so-fine chocolate out of the affair?

  71. 71.

    chopper

    January 22, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    and one that says guns aren’t people.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @Gin & Tonic:  Eat it. One must always choose the lesser of 2 weevils. Being dead, these guys are definitely lesser.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    January 22, 2020 at 8:41 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Good luck to YOU!

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    January 22, 2020 at 8:41 am

     

    Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) Tweeted:
    Nice, @RepAdamSchiff is back and is eviscerating the bad faith executive privilege argument made by Republicans.

    God, grant me the opportunity to be as ready for ONE THING in my life as much as Adam Schiff is ready for this moment.
    #ImpeachmentTrial https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1219716852877864961?s=20

  75. 75.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:41 am

    @SFAW: One of the Pirahna Brothers from Flying Circus?  That would be fine and sadly today, a good gesture.

  76. 76.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 22, 2020 at 8:41 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    How tasty is the chocolate?

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: BLECH
    But classic Ozark.
    Or NotMax in disguise?

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    January 22, 2020 at 8:43 am

    Last night, Kamala Harris made a good point about Trump’s lawyers’ blatant lying: the necessity of correcting the lies cuts into the limited time the Dems have to make their case. It’s strategic lying, and it shouldn’t be allowed, but of course they’re getting away with it.

  79. 79.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 22, 2020 at 8:48 am

    @Immanentize: GalaxyQuest and Airplane are my go-to happy movies. They never get old, imo.

  80. 80.

    chopper

    January 22, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @oatler.:

    oh fuck me, no.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @Immanentize: They are actually quite tasty, slow roasted with a touch of sea salt and garlic.

  82. 82.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: see, just thinking about Airplane made me smile.  Thank you.  They never get old.  I really need to watch airplane again.  It’s been years.

  83. 83.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 22, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @oatler.:

    He’s only resting.

  84. 84.

    chopper

    January 22, 2020 at 8:53 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    as long as it’s just “wafer thin”.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 8:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Can’t you find a nice frenchy name for them like escargot? Weevil just doesn’t sound so good.
    Brook Benton — Boll Weevil Song

  86. 86.

    daveNYC

    January 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Immanentize: It’s not just a story from 2018, it’s a Politico story based on two anonymous sources.  So… yeah…

    Otherwise there’s not much of note with regards to his positions, so if any primary challenge did happen it would be more on the basis that it’s a D+36 district so you could get a hard left candidate in there pretty easy, just as long as you win the primary.  Unlike Henry Cuellar who should be primaried because he’s got some pretty shit positions even before you consider he’s in a D+9 district.

  87. 87.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    January 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @PaulWartenberg: good luck! Hoping for speedy healing for you

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 8:57 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: I hate hate hate Airplane. It is one of the go to movies my wife will put on while she is knitting. I must have been subjected to it at least a thousand times, and yet every time she puts it on I have to sit and watch it yet again. I just can’t help myself.

  89. 89.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    January 22, 2020 at 8:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: plus they are extra protein!

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @Immanentize: I’m a hillbilly from the Ozarks of eastern Misery. If you think we slaughter the English language, you should hear what we can do to French. It drives my fluent in 4 languages wife nuts.

  91. 91.

    satby

    January 22, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @Immanentize: wow, sounds like the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a hack since he’s presiding over the mess.

    But we already knew that.

  92. 92.

    CaseyL

    January 22, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Sending good wishes your way for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery – and no need whatsoever to invoke Grabthar’s Hammer :)

  93. 93.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 22, 2020 at 9:11 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hah! I’m sure there’s a twelve-step group for that. Thank God it’s Only a Motion Picture!

  94. 94.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 9:12 am

    @satby: I understand he issued a warning about tone.  It may have even been a Stern warning.

  95. 95.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 9:12 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Don’t know yet. Have been debating whether to eat it. Reportedly it is excellent, which is why my daughter bought it for me.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @satby: If he was calling balls and strikes he would have had to send Cipollone back to the dugout before he got halfway thru his opening argument.

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 9:14 am

    @Immanentize: This is the kind of stuff you teach in law school?

  98. 98.

    Joey Maloney

    January 22, 2020 at 9:18 am

    @WereBear: And beyond that, some new legal framework that overhauls the whole idea of the corporate charter. It’s not natural law that a corporation puts the shareholders first, last, and only. Make the grant of limited liability conditional on things like balancing the desires of all stakeholders, carbon neutral production, worker representation on the BOD, compensation limits for the C-suite, even (dare I say it) mandatory unionization.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 9:19 am

    @Gin & Tonic: No, thug school. I got the same training.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 9:19 am

    @Gin & Tonic: No, this is what I teach at home when fine chocolates are on the line.  Sadly, my love for them has infected the next generation.  I had a few very nice dark chocolate truffles squirreled away.   I thought. This morning there was naught but wrappers lying about near the Immp’s computer.

  101. 101.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    January 22, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @Immanentize: “a stern warning”

    To both sides, of course.

    Ugh, the Chief Justice is such a hack. This charade is making another mockery of our Constitution. What makes the Senate so gaddang precious?

    What gives Roberts, as a leader of the judiciary, the right to declare one half of the legislature as “greatest in the world”, in a criticism of a leader of the other half?

    Thank God for Schiff and the other House impeachment managers. At least someone in Washington is doing the Constitution proud.

  102. 102.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 9:26 am

    If I were the House managers, I would go straight at the whole proceeding and make a motion to Roberts to subpoena three witnesses.

  103. 103.

    Splitting Image

    January 22, 2020 at 9:27 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Terry Jones, Monty Python founder and Life of Brian director, dies aged 77

    RiP.

    Not entirely unexpected; he’s been sick for awhile. Sad that it happened so soon after Neil though.

    Off to have tea and biscuits.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 9:36 am

    @rikyrah:

    God, grant me the opportunity to be as ready for ONE THING in my life as much as Adam Schiff is ready for this moment.

    Amen to that!

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 9:40 am

    @Immanentize:  And then only after the Democrat said something he didn’t like, am I right?

  106. 106.

    hedgehog mobile

    January 22, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Aw, fuck.

  107. 107.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 9:46 am

    @WaterGirl: I didn’t see it, just read about it and turned the page in disgust.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 9:47 am

    Chris Murphy has been reporting on the proceedings in his tweets, it’s very helpful. He calmed me down about Roberts. He thought his intervention was helpful.

    They were there until 2 AM.

  109. 109.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    The whole “Senate decorum” thing makes me gag. They’re just humans like the rest of us.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    January 22, 2020 at 9:49 am

    @zhena gogolia:

    They’re that bad, huh?

  111. 111.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 9:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    And one that says money isn’t speech and another that says corporations aren’t people and as such do not have the rights of people, much less the rights of citizens. 

    And another constitutional amendment that calls Mitt Romney a fucking sack of shit for eternity for his “Corporations are people, my friend.” line of crap.

  112. 112.

    bemused

    January 22, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @Immanentize:

    “hootie hoos” is new to me. What does it mean?

  113. 113.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 9:58 am

    @Baud:

    Yep.

  114. 114.

    J R in WV

    January 22, 2020 at 9:59 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    I will make a donation to Senator Professor Warren in your honor, win or lose.

    Best of luck with everything, sorry to hear about everything. Getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative. Speaking as an old.

  115. 115.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @bemused: Hmmmm…..Canadian owls?  “Hoos hoos hoos, eh?”

  116. 116.

    artem1s

    January 22, 2020 at 10:04 am

    @debbie:

    I think Joe would choose to look forward. Maybe some reporter can ask him about this.

    this is my only caveat about Joe at this point. This was the reason I didn’t want him to enter the race.  If yesterday’s kangaroo court didn’t convince him that the GOP has decided corruption is just fine for their party, nothing will.  We need an answer on this from all the candidates now.  I’m glad Warren has forced the issue.

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Good luck, and remember, count your bones before and after.

  118. 118.

    Wapiti

    January 22, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: We probably need an amendment that spells out what rights corporations do have. It’s good that they have the rights against illegal searches, for example.

  119. 119.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Very good Jennifer Rubin:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/22/how-are-senate-republicans-supposed-defend-their-impeachment-vote/

    She calms me down more than anyone.

  120. 120.

    J R in WV

    January 22, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @satby:

    sounds like the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a hack since he’s presiding over the mess.

    My understanding is that Chief Justice Roberts has never been a simple, ordinary court judge presiding over a trial, so this is his first whirl at it. No wonder it isn’t going that well, he let the Rs get out of hand from the get-go, and it eventually led to the Dems blowing off steam, at which point he had to jump in.

    Hours too late and a million dollars short.

    I confess, I gave up on it around 11 and went to bed, knowing it was going to be the same shit all night long. Shame I missed the admonishment… shame he didn’t admonish the R lawyers for lying repeatedly in their first or second swing.

  121. 121.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 22, 2020 at 10:16 am

    @mrmoshpotato: I found it amusing when I went in, that they had to mark the arm they were going to do. Yeah, it’s the one with the huge fucking cast you’re going to have to saw off before you start. But, you know, procedure.

  122. 122.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 10:19 am

    @bemused:

    “hootie hoos” is new to me. What does it mean?

    Fancy pants. Big shots. Bossy bodies. Etc.

  123. 123.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Haha.  I hope you took a tally and were wearing purple face paint.  “One.  Two.  Two arms!  Ah ah ah!”

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    January 22, 2020 at 10:25 am

    @Wapiti:

    We probably need an amendment that spells out what rights corporations do have. It’s good that they have the rights against illegal searches, for example.

     

    I’ll have to disagree with you on this one. Corporations don’t need any extra protection for their illegal acts. Much of their “research” is to produce dangerous chemistry, for example.

    I think health scientists should be all over Monsanto 24/7, for just one little example. Not to mention BP, Exxon/Mobile, etc…

    ETA: Imagine if you can, a Monsanto scientist conceives of a complex molecule, a wonderful pesticide, and under some circumstances it can be self-replicating, so nearly free to manufacture. Boon to Monsanto, death to the planet perhaps… how secret should that be?

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    January 22, 2020 at 10:26 am

    @J R in WV: oooo. Roberts is the Judge Ito of impeachment trials!!

    All credit to me.  I said it first!

  126. 126.

    J R in WV

    January 22, 2020 at 10:28 am

    @Immanentize:

    Wow, good for you, never thought of that, but it shows so much if you watch him “working”!

  127. 127.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 22, 2020 at 10:29 am

    @zhena gogolia: I think of all the never-trumpres, she and Nicolle Wallace are the most likely to not go back. John Weaver– McCain and Kasich aide– also seems to have turned a corner, though he still worships Kasich.

    Twitter tells me MSNBC has had Peggy Noonan on all morning. I hope it won’t be all day, but then it might be better for my sanity to not even look today.

  128. 128.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 10:30 am

    @Wapiti: Yeah, I know it’s a mess, a real mish mash, but at this point I’m going with “None.” Not because I think they should be fair game, but because once one starts giving them rights it WILL get out of hand. They already have rights actual citizens don’t have (when was the last time a corporation was sent to prison?) Deal with it thru laws regulating them.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 22, 2020 at 10:33 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Well, there was the guy who went in to have his gangrenous leg removed and they took the other. Yeah, now he has no legs.

  130. 130.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 10:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Errr….hmmmmm……ummmmm……oops? ?‍♂️

  131. 131.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 10:40 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    After Jennifer Rubin cheered me up, Asha Rangappa brought me back down. She thinks American democracy is over.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 22, 2020 at 10:50 am

    @Immanentize: It was on just last night, and as wonderful as ever. Being able to anticipate every line doesn’t diminish any of the pleasure. Enhances it, in fact.

  133. 133.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 22, 2020 at 10:52 am

    @PaulWartenberg: Best wishes for an uneventful procedure, a comfortable recovery, and a speedy return.

  134. 134.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 22, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Since breaking my arm and wrist in September, I can attest to that. It seems silly and rather superfluous, but if the protocol saves somebody’s limb or organ sometime, I won’t complain.
    Incidentally, I’m feeling quite chuffed with myself — I “graduated,” if that’s the word, from my physical therapy sessions yesterday, several weeks before either the P.T. or I anticipated! She put me through all the usual exercises, did all the measurements, realised I had met or exceeded every single goal, and said there was no point in my coming back!

  135. 135.

    bemused

    January 22, 2020 at 11:08 am

    @Immanentize:

    Thx. I assumed something like that but afraid it might have an awkward double meaning.

  136. 136.

    zhena gogolia

    January 22, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @PaulWartenberg:

    I’ll be thinking of you.

  137. 137.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 22, 2020 at 11:11 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Celebrate with some cartwheels!

  138. 138.

    stinger

    January 22, 2020 at 11:20 am

    @bemused: I think it’s a jokey way of referencing the kind of people who might be found in Who’s Who.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @Immanentize: I see that you have discovered one more way for the Immp to be sure to get enough calories.

    [Note to self #5, on 1/22:  hide yummy foods from Immp.]

    *But isn’t he away at school???

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    @J R in WV: Roberts looks like a simple bumpkin up there, no better than if they had made Barney Fife (sp?) “judge for a day”.

    I can’t imagine that this will NOT bring Roberts down in status, going forward.  Couldn’t happen to a better person.

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I think that’s unheard of!  Congratulations!

    Do YOU feel like are back to where you were before?

    Also, how did I NOT know that you broke your arm as well as your wrist???

  142. 142.

    WaterGirl

    January 22, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Celebrate with some cartwheels!

    You are a very bad person.  How did I not know that? :-)

  143. 143.

    UncleEbeneezer

    January 22, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    Haven’t had a chance to read Warren’s plan yet but I really hope it includes:

    • Human Rights/Ethics violations by ICE/CBP

    and

    • Instructing DOJ to investigate/pursue charges against any person or witnesses suspected of lying under oath before Congress (Ie- Barr, Sessions, Mnuchin, Devos, Kavanaugh, EVERYONE etc.)

  144. 144.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 22, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Do YOU feel like are back to where you were before?

    Also, how did I NOT know that you broke your arm as well as your wrist???

    I didn’t know it myself until about three weeks in, and never bothered to mention it. The wrist was so distorted and distended that it got all the attention, and has really been the focus of PT. But yeah, radial fracture too.

    It looks a bit weird — I’m sure nobody else notices the funky wrist angle, and at my age I don’t really care — but I can once again do all the normal, taken-for-granted things I could do Before The Fall (opening jars, wringing out washcloths, carrying shopping bags, etc.*) and I’m in no pain. So all is serene on that front.

    * No cartwheels, though!

  145. 145.

    SteverinoCT

    January 23, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: 

    One must always choose the lesser of 2 weevils.

    A fellow PO’B fan!

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