Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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

This fight is for everything.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

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223Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Major dating platforms including OkCupid, Hinge and Bumble have introduced filters to sift out matches with “incompatible” politics…

    Sigh. I wish OnlineBootyCall would implement this.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:  The commenters seem to know him and are taking great enjoyment at his discomfort.

    @[email protected]: And yet another thing I don’t have to worry about.

    ETA one of these days I’ll get the hang of this new edit function

  5. 5.

    JAFD

    Good morning, jackals and jackallettes !

    Received my BJ Calendars.  Nice work, everyone !  Congratulations, and thanks !

    Have a great weekend, everyone.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Baud:

    Colin’s not snarking. If you read the associated thread, multiple people bring up idiotic Colinisms from the past.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Michael Avenatti, the combative lawyer who gained fame by representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Donald Trump, was convicted Friday of trying to extort the sportswear giant Nike.

    The verdict was returned by a federal jury in Manhattan following a three-week trial in which prosecutors said Avenatti threatened to use his media access to hurt Nike’s reputation and stock price unless the company paid him up to $25m.

    The convictions for attempted extortion and honest services fraud carry a combined potential penalty of 42 years in prison.

    Avenatti glared at the jurors as the verdict was being announced but said nothing. Afterward, he shook hands with his lawyers and told them “great job” before he was led back to the cell where he has been held since a judge found he had violated his bail conditions.
    …………………………….
    Avenatti’s sentencing was scheduled for 17 June.

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: Since Mr. Browning’s  profile includes the magical incantation ‘Let’s make Britain Great again [three Union Jack emojis] #Brexiteer’... I think it’s pretty safe to assume he is genuinely outraged at the fact that the leopards of the Leopards Eating Peoples’ Faces party are now eating *his* face.

  16. 16.

    Sab

    Has anyone heard from Littlebritdfrnt lately? (I undoubtedly misspelled her nym.)

    ETA I meant this to reply to R-Jud.

  19. 19.

    Freemark

    Seeing this makes me continue to hope Warren gains more traction. Unlike most people on this blog I am not a Bernie hater but I think he is too old and I think Warren would be a much better facilitator of similar policies. I think I would even prefer one of the B boys to Buttigieg. But come November I’ll vote for the broken glass I just crawled through over Trump.

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ascap_scab: Yes, but if you want to get rid of all that money you’d be spending on child support, Democratic candidate races will happily take it.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    @R-Jud: Was the truck playing “London Bridge is falling down, and we deported all the Polish masons who could repair it”?

  23. 23.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Freemark: If you worked for the Culinary Union and Bernie’s storm troopers were publishing your home address and personal data and terrorizing your family maybe you would come to hate his leadership.

    The fish rots from the head down.

    Two top Culinary Union officials have faced threatening phone calls, emails and tweets and say their personal information was shared online after the release of a union scorecard that took particular aim at Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

    Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline, for instance, has come under attack for her Nicaraguan heritage, and union spokeswoman Bethany Khan was accused of being paid off by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other Democratic establishment types. In tweets, the union and its leadership have been referred to as “bitches,” “whore,” “fucking scab” and “evil, entitled assholes.”

  24. 24.

    Ken

    As Chris Grey has noted repeatedly, there is no such thing as “the Brexit I voted for” because at the time of the vote, no one had defined what would result from Brexit.  It was deliberately left vague so everyone could imagine it would be their personal rainbow pony.

    As he’s also noted, for the three and a half years after the referendum it was also left undefined, and even now that it has “happened” the government is still very vague about what might result, and even what they are trying to make happen.

  25. 25.

    Joey Maloney

    @Baud: On the one hand, it’s not like I’m on OnlineBootyCall for the conversation. On the other, I would prefer not to give pleasure to a Trumpanzee, even unknowingly.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: 2 things I took note of in that article:

    Sanders, in a statement Thursday, condemned “harassment in all forms” and said that he urges “supporters of all campaigns not to engage in bullying or ugly personal attacks.”

    “We can certainly disagree on issues, but we must do it in a respectful manner,” he added.

    Later, in an interview with PBS Newshour, Sanders sought to distance himself from the attacks. “Obviously, that is not acceptable to me. And I don’t know who these so-called supporters are. You know, we are living in a strange world on the internet … Anybody making personal attacks against anybody else in my name is not part of our movement,” Sanders said.
    ……………….
    Arguello-Kline, asked whether there is more Sanders should have done to condemn the attacks, was indirect in her criticism.
    ……………………………………
    As far as Sanders’ decision to wait more than 24 hours to respond after the Culinary Union publicized the “vicious attacks” it was facing, she said that “sooner would’ve been better — less damage.” Khan did, however, note that after Sanders’ weighed in on the attacks that it seemed like the tweets the union was receiving started getting more civil and some old tweets had been deleted.

    and

    Arguello-Kline said her personal information was shared online, causing her kids to fear for her safety. The Nevada Independent reviewed a thread where Redditors appeared to confirm that Arguello-Kline’s personal information had been shared, but was unable to find the exact instance of where it had been posted.

    “Right now, in this country you cannot put the facts on the table anymore, and that’s what we did. We put the facts to the members. That’s all we did,” Arguello-Kline said. “They’re threatening Bethany, they threatened me, they’ve threatened two women. We’re women of color.”

    The two women noted that D. Taylor, international president of Culinary’s parent union UNITE HERE, and Ted Pappageorge, president of the Culinary Union, have not received similar threats. Union officials have additionally filed a report with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department over the attacks.

  27. 27.

    mali muso

    Good morning jackals!  I had a nightmare last night in which I was voting in a bizarre alt-universe version of the Dem primary and after I marked and submitted my ballot, I suddenly couldn’t remember who I’d voted for.  Terrified that I’d accidentally indicated Wilmer, I went to the official and they found my ballot (like I said…alt-universe version) and it turned out I had voted Klobuchar.  But what I’d intended was Warren, so I crossed it out and fixed it.  LOL.  And then in the end of my nightmare, the results indicated that Wilmer had “won” aka gotten a plurality.  I woke up feeling apprehensive.  :(

  28. 28.

    Ken

    @mali muso: This is a common dream and simply means that you subconsciously fear having all your teeth fall out when you forget the combination to your school locker.

  30. 30.

    Morzer

    @Joey Maloney:

    it’s not like I’m on OnlineBootyCall for the conversation

    It’s alright, my friend. This is a safe space for those who are naked mopping curious.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Heh. On the Astro’s sign stealing:

    “Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game,” the Astros owner, Jim Crane, said on Thursday as the team gathered for spring training in Florida. “We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that.” Shortly afterwards, Crane issued a caveat that seemingly contradicted his first statement: “I didn’t say it didn’t impact the game,” he said.

    Move along, move along. Nothing to see here.

  33. 33.

    Quinerly

    Good morning! Hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day. Looks like at least one jackal got married!

    I’m still bopping around the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area and have a wedding to go to on Santo Domingo Pueblo today…..A son of a friend who lives there. It starts at 7:30AM with a full mass at the mission church that was built around 1605 (yes, I couldn’t believe the date either when told, I looked up to verify. It’s a one of kind church, as far as these mission churches go exterior wise). Not sure what to expect after the church mass except I know there will be several dances (that I am told will wind through the dirt roads of the village) and attendees will make their way to at least 3 different homes for food throughout the day.

    I’m very excited, honored to be invited. I consider this a once in a lifetime event for a St. Louis chick who was “born and breaded” in North Carolina. Supposed to be a beautiful blue sky day in the 50’s by the afternoon. Thankfully this last snow has melted. Have a great day, jackals!

  34. 34.

    Shakti

    @Baud: 
    I saw that. 55 minutes in the immigration queue? Oh my goodness, welcome to my childhood!

    There was about five minutes in between my naturalization and 9/11 in which I sped through customs and immigration.

    He is experiencing what the rest of the world experiences when they have a non-preferred passport.

  35. 35.

    Chyron HR

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You know, we are living in a strange world on the internet

    For instance, a decrepit 80-year-old man can claim to be god and ~12 million people will immediately start screaming death threats at anyone who disagrees.  So strange!  Much internet!

  43. 43.

    Morzer

    @Baud:  That depends on the protesters, why they are protesting and whether they get much attention. Could be that this is just a ripple on the ocean, could be it’s the first sign of a storm. Either way, not what Mayor Pete would have wanted.

  46. 46.

    Tony Jay

    That arsehole whiny Brexiteer tweet has been doing the rounds over here and, yes, it sums up one of the main problems the fractured forces of sanity are going to be facing over the next five (FIVE) fucking years. No, Colin, being treated like a dirty little foreigner from a rogue extremist state may not have been the utterly fictional type of Victory Brexit you chose to believe you were voting for when you headbutted a bloody X onto your voting slip, but it’s very much the type of Brexit you were told you were actually voting for by the people dough-brained fantasists like you have been calling liars, traitors and various spellings of loser for the last four years.

    You ‘won’, you rat-bladdered stain of a man, get over it.

    But you know what? Gobshites like Colin aren’t even the main problem, or at least they’re not my main problem. The thing that really pumps the handle on my venom spout (and the thing that is keeping me away from even thinking about politics for reasons of sanity and ulcer-avoidance) is the hypocritical whining coming from the self-appointed spokespersons for ‘moderate, centrist’ versions of the failed status-quo. They just had a simple and stark choice to make between the local franchise of international alt-Right lunacy and a perfectly middle-of-the-road version of European standard social-democracy and they chose to buy into and promote every cynically-crafted dollop of bullshit disinformation the Right squeezed out to smear the only possible alternative to the current shitshow of faux-nationalism and crony capitalism masquerading as a national Government.

    Fuck you, whiners. You ‘won’. You don’t get to pretend that the choices you made were anyone’s fault but your own, and you certainly don’t get to tell people who voted for the sane option that you’ve got any genuine answers to the problems you just helped to dump on our heads.

    I guess I’m still not ‘over it’. Back to the Football and trying to write some fiction that doesn’t spill over into entirelty coincidental revenge fantasies.

  48. 48.

    Morzer

    @Baud: You may well be right, but it’s impossible to predict what will suddenly catch fire in our happy age of rabid social media mobs.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: Enjoy the day.

    I was always fascinated by the fact that the church in Xilitla SLP Mexico was built in (iirc) 1542 or so. Basically just 50 years after Columbus first stepped foot on Hispaniola in the Bahamas.

    The Catholic Church wasted no time in those days. They had souls to harvest.

  51. 51.

    Anne Laurie

    @Quinerly: Enjoy yourself!  (But then, don’t you always?)

    Switching topics: You were wondering the other day how someone could bear to part with a show dog they’d lived with for years.  How it was explained to me, by people I trusted that I knew loved their dogs…

    A show dog is like an Olympics athlete.  They start training, usually, as soon as they’re old enough to toddle into the ring.  They spend their days on a strict diet & training regime, always prepping for the next event or recovering from the last one.  Then, all too soon… it’s over.  They’ve won the titles, beaten the competition, are probably starting to slow down compared to the next generation of ‘stars.’  But most trainers / breeders at that level don’t have just their one now-retired champion… there’s always another dog, or a ‘stable’ of them, to be exercised & trained & taken to shows.

    So the retiree is like any other retired athlete.  They can keep hanging around the clubhouse, but — even when they’re still loved & respected — it’s hard for someone with the kind of hard-charging attitude winners usually have to watch other, younger dogs get the attention & the weekend trips.  Not much fun being reminded, every day, that you used to be the hot prospect…

    So a lot of dog people sacrifice what might be their own desire to keep a long-term companion around, and find their dog a new home where they can discover the different joys of ‘ordinary’ dogness.  Gambler, if you decide to adopt him, will still get the car rides & the new adventures… but he’ll also get to find out what it’s like to take rambling strolls, sneak treats from friendly strangers, and just hang around the house.  That’s not nothing!

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: When I first started coming out here in 2011, I immersed myself in the history… Especially the religious side (think.   The Purblo Revolt, and the communication factor alone). Not at all religious but I have driven tons of back roads here taking pictures of these old mission churches (not on the pueblos, no pictures allowed) and old Spanish cemeteries. Very fascinating. . In NC, we got very little history about this part of the country… Actually, no history. The trips have been an education for me. My Soulard friends laugh that I read “entire books” in preparation each year. This trip was mostly train/Fred Harvey themed… And a side benefit of that has been joining the “Friends of the SW Chief” (Amtrak) FB page (yes, FB being used for good and not evil). Lots of nice people in the area. Fortunately, my “pueblo themed” trip was 4 years ago so I’m not going into this completely ignorant. Eva’s daughter is meeting me at 7:15 AM at Eva’s home. We will walk over together and she will get me settled in. I am pretty fearless about most situations, but cultural ones sometimes give me pause. It’s a fear of doing something totally wrong…..

  54. 54.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Tony Jay:  Glad to have you back. I love your posts and I am so sorry for the current UK clusterfuck. I’m sorry for ours too. Sigh.

  57. 57.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Quinerly: Sounds wonderful! A friend of mine is going to an early-morning wedding at a pueblo today too. I wonder if it’s the same one. I’m off to our county convention in about an hour. Will be mightily happy when that’s all done and I get a little sleep again.

  59. 59.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: trying to write some fiction that doesn’t spill over into entirelty coincidental revenge fantasies.

    Try the approach from Blackadder III episode 4, Sense and Senility:

    Mossop (an actor): It is a piece we penned ourselves, called “The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and His Enormous-Bosomed Wife”.

    Blackadder: A philosophical work then.

    Keanrick (an actor): Indeed yes, sir. The violence of the murder and the vastness of the bosom are entirely justified artistically.

  61. 61.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly:

    I am pretty fearless about most situations, but cultural ones sometimes give me pause. It’s a fear of doing something totally wrong…..

    It is not a misplaced fear. I always tried to be as small as possible in the vain hope that only a few people would see/hear my blatant displays of disrespect.

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    @Tony Jay: hurrah for Tony Jay!

    I miss your writing.  “Handle on my venom pump?”. But I don’t want you to blow your blood pump gasket, so take your break then come back with more.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

     

    @Quinerly: It does sound like a once in a life opportunity.  But you have had so many of those, I’m not surprised you get the reward of another.  I love the idea of dancing from house to house for feasts.

  75. 75.

    Anya

    @OzarkHillbilly: Never liked this dude. What a dumb fuck. He could’ve made more money if he just stayed the course and continued to antagonize Trump.

    Not to do the whole “what about” but why isn’t SDNY persecuting parent company of the enquirer which has exhorted many people throughout the years. From every reporting we’ve seen they’ve collected plenty of evidence during the Mueller investigation.

  76. 76.

    Mai naem mobile

    I wouldn’t mind seeing Avenatti  pardoned by the next Dem POTUS just to be able to repear their defense of Trumpov behavior right back at them.

    ‘Its her right’

    ‘Its in the constitution’

    ‘Just because he gave money to her campaign does not mean there is a quid pro quo’

    ‘Witch hunt’

    ‘Poor poor wittle persecuted Michael Avenatti’

    ’42 years is excessive, he has kids and a family’

  78. 78.

    Morzer

    @Anya: There have long been rumors that the boss of the Enquirer did Trump a lot of favors by suppressing stories that cast Lord Littlefingers in an extremely negative light.

  81. 81.

    debbie

    Just before coming here, I read a Huffpost piece about Trump’s golf love at our expense. To date, he’s cost us $133.8 million!

    Yet after three years in office, Trump has spent two-and-a-half times as many days on a golf course as Obama had done at the same point in his first term. If Trump plays golf both Saturday and Sunday, he will have played 248 times. Obama by his 1,123rd day in office had played 92 times.

  83. 83.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @Morzer: Honestly, those people sound like Bernie partisans who happen to be gay, based on their stated policy reasons for why they’re attacking him.

    I think Pete has run are really good campaign. I mean, he’s basically tied for first in the first two contests and winning is the ultimate evidence that you’re doing things right. We’ll see how it goes in the more diverse States coming up.

    I know people around here don’t like his centrist posture and rhetoric…I’m not a big fan either. My first choice is Warren but she better gain traction soon or she’s toast, obviously. I don’t like it but you have to win or come close to winning to stay in.

    That said, there are many members of my family that eat that centrist posture shit up with a spoon and ask for seconds. My dad is probably the other most liberal member of the extended family so he has little use for it. But…my mom…Brooks and Shields is must see TV for her. She never misses them voluntarily. My cousin votes D but hates that they’re “culture war, race, and free government stuff issues.” His dad was a Republican through Reagan, turned Democrat by W, but he thought Biden suggesting he might pick a R as his VP running mate was a masterstroke of political brilliance.

    These people are out there in fairly large numbers. They could have been Biden’s but his campaign…every time the voters in a State get a close up look at him the vast majority seem to decide “nope” for whatever reason and look for someone else.

  85. 85.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One of the saddest things about what this country has become is that the first go-to response is a death threat. What the fuck is wrong with these people?

     

    ETA: “Death threats. Not just for rednecks and racists anymore.”

  88. 88.

    Anya

    @OzarkHillbilly: It sounds like the reverse “there are good people on both sides.” Sanders is not personally responsible for his odious supporters’ actions but he should unequivocally condemn what’s been done in his name. No ifs, buts or bringing other campaigns into this. He should just say. “STOP IT”

  90. 90.

    Morzer

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: I think Mayor Pete has run an effective campaign for white majority states, but I am not convinced he’s going to fare too well down the line. I don’t think he’ll collapse, just deflate slowly as a run of underwhelming results leave people looking at his numbers with minority voters and concluding that he’s not The One.

  91. 91.

    debbie

    @Tony Jay:

    Ah, so he’s England’s version of the MAGAT outraged when his Medicare scooter isn’t for free anymore. Good. Makes his outrage all the heartwarming. //

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: It sucks. When writing my congressional ratfuckers, I have to be very careful because I don’t want my sincere wishes for their immediate self immolation to come across as a death threat.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Anya:

    Sanders is not personally responsible for his odious supporters’ actions

    At this point, I think he is.  People shouldn’t blame a candidate because they happen to come across a random supporter who is an asshole.  But with Bernie, it’s been going on for four years and it’s clearly an persistent part of that culture.  If it were any other candidate, no question the harassment would be a liability they would have to answer for.

  96. 96.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @Quinerly: This reminds me of running into a guy I know walking by my house around noon on Thursday. I telework Thursdays and I was outside and said hi and isn’t it late to be going into work.

    Turns out he works in that BLM office they moved out West. It is a crazy story. He would have had to relocate to Santa Fe (which I was like it’s awesome there do it) but…only part of his division is going to Santa Fe. The other part is being located in some other town or city out West. Like, they split up the division. His management is being relocated to Grand Junction, CO…where there are (he said) exactly 3 houses for sale in the entire city. Like, where are these people even going to fucking live? And how are they going to work together scattered hither and yon throughout the West? And if you’re a manager and you’re in Grand Junction CO and your staff is in Santa Fe and Tucson, how do you manage those people? Essentially it’s a telework situation, but they why not let them live wherever they want instead of telling them they have to relocate? He took the buyout because he’s pretty close to retirement anyway. But the whole situation is nuts. The folks who decided to relocate to Santa Fe…most of them can’t afford to live right in town so they’re mostly moving somewhere halfway between there and Albuquerque, or even all the way down in Albuquerque. Why not just put the HQ in Albuquerque itself which has far greater housing stock and more affordable housing in general? At least the Dept. of Ag people are moving to a big city with plenty of housing stock.

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Anya: He’s avoiding responsibility for what is being done in his name by smearing the other campaigns with the actions of his supporters. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

  98. 98.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I agree. If it isn’t shut down from the very beginning, he becomes responsible for all of it. At least McCain shut down that woman when she said Obama was a Muslim.

  99. 99.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @Anya: Yeah, saying “all campaigns” should cut it out is pretty mealy mouthed. Like other candidates’ partisans are doing this stuff too, or alternatively, I’m too chicken to actually call out my team, so I’ll just speak about the behavior in general.

  101. 101.

    Chyron HR

    @Anya:

    Sanders is not personally responsible for his odious supporters’ actions

    The last time Sanders’ worshipers started flinging around death threats in Nevada he literally came out and said they were right to do so.  He most certainly is responsible for them doing it again.

  105. 105.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Lenin had his Cheka.  I think Sanders understands it is a critical aspect of his ‘revolution’ just like Trump understands the same about his.  Enforcers of the movement.

  106. 106.

    Betty

    @Tony Jay: Sending sympathies. I would not expect you to get over it for quite some time. I really did not want to believe people could be so misguided.

  107. 107.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @Morzer: I will confess that my relatives are all white, so you could be right. But it seems like Black people are looking for the candidate most likely to win…like they’re Bloomberg curious right now – a guy who seems from what I’m reading lately to have worse issues with race than Buttigieg – because his wealth makes him unbeatable. But, if Buttigieg starts looking viable they might easily see him as OK. I don’t know, I’m not black so I can’t really guess at what they’ll do. It just seems like if they’re willing to consider Bloomberg then any of the other candidates in the race could potentially win them over.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    @Morzer:

    Five seasons ago. They weren’t able to sustain that form and fell back to mid-table afterwards; but have been resurgent under ex-Liverpool and Glasgow Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers. Leicester are now a strong third in the table.

  111. 111.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @Amir Khalid: I don’t follow the premier league all that closely but to the extent I do follow it I picked Tottenham as the team to root for because I thought “Hotspur” is cool and had no other basis for choosing.

  115. 115.

    rikyrah

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us:

    Uh… no…

     

    I haven’t been around much because this new job has me working long hours, plus it’s our busy season.

     

    Folks not understanding about Bloomberg.

     

    Outside of Joe Biden, what other person in this race spent their time pointing out the successes of 44, and trying to place themselves with the most popular Democrat of the Democratic Party?

     

    Bloomberg.

    Muthaphucka ? doesn’t even call the ACA, the ACA. Calls it Obamacare in his ads.

     

    Touting attachment to the most popular Democrat to the base of the party ??

    The muthaphucka ? ain’t stupid.

     

    Too many candidates were busy spending the money on Iowa and New Hampshire, that the rest of the field, outside of Biden, ignored the Southern States where most of the base.lives.

     

    Not this muthaphucka ?. He is.blanketing the airwaves, all airwaves in.these states.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    The #MyBloombergStory hashtag contains countless stories of the Black and Brown New Yorkers who were terrorized by Bloomberg's "Stop & Frisk" program. Take time out to read and decide if you'll sanction by vote this racist practice rolled out all over America.— Jennifer Grady (@jenngradybklyn) February 13, 2020

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah:

    She is being realistic. Medicare for all is not going to get passed by Congress.

    emigre80

    when we were realistic, we were told that we were – wait for it – neoliberal corporate whores who wanted poor people to die.

    For those who might miss the sarcasm in emigre80’s original post.

  118. 118.

    BC in Illinois

    A Saturday morning follow up to Friday evening. As I noted on the Cat Crossing thread last night (#20, see also #30), I am doing g’parental baby-sitting duty for an ailing 5-year-old g’son, while the 7- and 9-year-old g’daughters are doing jigs and reels and hornpipes for the St Louis Irish Arts Feis.  Mrs BC and her sister will represent my generation; I’ll have to wait for next year (or St Patrick’s Day or other spring and summer events . . .)

    What I want to do this morning, is thank The Pale Scot (#56 last night) for connecting me to the YouTubes of Coláiste Lurga.  Because of him, Irish Gaelic is my music for this morning.

    However. My own daydreams of acquiring knowledge of no any practical use at all, tilt towards Scotland. There is a Scottish Gaelic school – Sabhal Mòr Ostaig —  on the Isle of Skye, not far from the C – clan lands in the highlands. I could see myself locating there for a school year, and then top it off by seeing if 70+ year old legs can make it up Ben Nevis for a one-day hike.

    That’s how I’m spending the morning.

    Listening to Ireland, letting a kindergartner sleep, dreaming of the Highlands.

  122. 122.

    Amir Khalid

    @Tony Jay:

    It helps to focus on the football, where the situation doesn’t seem quite as hopeless. Especially if one supports a team whose anthem is a certain American showtune. As anyone in Dortmund, Glasgow, or Liverpool can attest.

    Any thoughts on the money cheats of Mancunia? My own feeling is that this ban was inevitable, given Sheikh Mansoor’s open resentment toward the very idea of financial fair play: “It’s my money, and I’ll do what I want with it!” (ETA) And given that City have a previous offence under his ownership.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    If you don’t think that muthaphucka ? is serious…this should tell you otherwise.??

    News: @cornellbelcher, a veteran strategist and one of President Obama's former pollsters, has decided to advise the Bloomberg campaign. He just confirmed it in a brief phone interview.— Robert Costa (@costareports) February 14, 2020

  124. 124.

    FelonyGovt

    @rikyrah: Lauren Underwood is wonderful. I wish she, and some of the other new Reps like Deb Haaland and Katie Porter got anything near the press AOC does. Just quietly doing their jobs.

  127. 127.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m going to Capricon again today to give a reading and listen to some more panels. Yesterday, I heard a panel on the potential effect of AI on work and another one on gendered pronouns and gender representation in general. Then I was on a roundtable about things to do when creativity fails. Then author speed-dating was sadly a bust because it was almost all authors there, so we had no one to date. :-)

    Also, jackal Kristine and I are having a mini-meet up

  128. 128.

    Cameron

    Hey, you go to Schiphol with the Brexit you have, not the Brexit you might want or wish to have at a later time.

  130. 130.

    Percysowner

    At 10:00 I’m doing a virtual training to canvass for Elizabeth Warren. In my life I have canvassed and worked for Kerry, Clinton (in the 2008 primary), Obama (twice in the general), Clinton again and now Warren. I probably should just pick the candidate I hate the most and work for them, BUT hope springs eternal that my luck will break one more time a and I won’t curse my favorite candidate. Maybe I’ll have the same effect as I did with Obama. I hope so.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    mike bloomberg on fox news in 2011: "i'm a friend of donald trump. he's a new york icon."he's then asked about trump's racist birther attacks on obama. bloomberg downplays trump's involvement: "this birther issue is more than one person, lots of groups have glommed on to this" pic.twitter.com/iqW2rm19BK— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 14, 2020

  132. 132.

    Mai naem mobile

    @debbie: that’s SVDate . He’s a good follow on Twitter. The replies to his Trumpov golf cost posts always but always include Trumpers complaining about Obama’s golf costs and why he doesn’t talk about them. Ofcourse Date puts Obama’s numbers in for comparison but the Trumpers don’t read the articles.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    There was a “talking points” flap the preceded the no-handshake “you just called me a liar” kerfuffle. Basically Sanders canvassers used talking points that dragged Warren and others, and she called them out, forcefully. The Sanders camp tried to play it off as a rogue volunteer problem, and I remember Sanders saying, “I have hundreds of volunteers, Elizabeth has hundreds of volunteers.” The next day his campaign admitted that they had issued the talking points, and withdrawn them because they were “poorly worded.”.                                                    Sanders’ unwillingness to own what people do and say in his name speaks to issues of honesty and character.

  134. 134.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @mad citizen:The incompetency is breathtaking.

    Their goal was to get people who knew what they were doing to leave the govt. Sounds to me like everything is working just as designed.

  137. 137.

    Martin

    @rikyrah: Yep. I love Cornell Belcher. I wish I could pull off that look and I think he’s smart as hell. Bloomberg is paying real money, and isn’t hiring pikers.

  138. 138.

    laura

    @Quinerly:

    I am pretty fearless about most situations, but cultural ones sometimes give me pause. It’s a fear of doing something totally wrong…..

    Your wide-open heart and willingness to be the welcomed stranger will protect you from doing something wrong. That said, try not to fart in church.

  139. 139.

    MagdaInBlack

    @rikyrah:

    I listen to Santita Jackson on WCPT  on the way to work. All week has been discussions of Bloomberg, and no! they do not like him.

  140. 140.

    debbie

    @Mai naem mobile:

    If they don’t care about Eric charging the Secret Service $650.00 per night for “housekeeping” when they stay at Trump properties, ain’t nothing going to bother them.

    I’m surprised no one’s maintained a list of what Trump’s costing taxpayers, similar to a list of his lies. Maybe calculators can’t add up that high. //

  141. 141.

    BC in Illinois

    Trump’s Tweet of the morning:

    “Ralph Waldo Emerson seemed to foresee the lesson of the Senate Impeachment Trial of President Trump. ‘When you strike at the King, Emerson famously said, “you must kill him.’ Mr. Trump’s foes struck at him but did not take him down. A triumphant Mr.Trump emerges from the…..

    “Mr. McConnell, what have you given us?”

    “A Monarchy, if you can keep it.”

  142. 142.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @rikyrah: Who else has the resources to blanket every state with propaganda? It’s great that he’s embracing Obama, but I would be surprised if Mayor Pete, Klobuchar, etc. – any of the more moderate wing candidates – weren’t embracing him too to some extent. People don’t hear it outside the primary states so far because neither of them has a gajillion dollar megaphone. I’m sure any candidate with Bloomberg’s resources would be bombing the entire nation with ads too. But he’s the only guy who can do that.

    If you have an issue with Mayor Pete that’s fine – it’s a major issue if he can never, ever win over Black support, but if Bloomberg can do it after stop and frisk, well, to me it seems like Pete could too, but maybe I’m wrong about that. I’d rather see Warren come out on top but I just am not seeing a path for her at present.

  143. 143.

    Eric U.

    @debbie: I think people are keeping track, I recently saw some numbers for what his trips cost.  It’s ridiculous.

     

    I would like to feel more schadenfreude over the long lines of brits at airports, but those are the same lines Americans have to wait in.

  144. 144.

    JanieM

    @Martin: For the full force of that quote, I like this version better: “Keep the government’s hands off my Medicare.”

    Googling, I see wonderful signs from that era, e.g. “Don’t steal from Medicare to support socialized medicine.”

    Ahhhh, ignorance.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    Good morning.

    BBC News chyron – “Sex robots may cause psychological damage.”

    Just thought everyone here should know.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who hasn’t seen the story, assuming there is a story and not someone just messing around in London.)

  149. 149.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah it’s their downsizing strategy. I work for the Federal Government and would have taken a transfer to NM. I don’t mind DC but am not in love with it, and grew up in MI so my ties here are not so deep that I would mind relocating too terribly much, especially to a place like Santa Fe.

    The issue I see is the offices they’re relocating are not the offices that directly serve constituents around the nation. Mostly the office in the Dept of Ag they moved, and this BLM office – serve Congress and the executive branch by doing research and analysis at their request. Pushing them out of town just hamstrings their purpose for being around.

    My guess is both offices are being punished for doing research that pissed off Trump or the Secretary of Ag (probably an assessment of the effects of China’s tariffs on American farmers) and the BLM office probably pissed off Zinke or Trump (or Mulvaney) somehow. It’s so short sighted and is further proof that facts don’t matter to this administration. That attitude eventually bites you in the ass though…you can only ignore reality for so long before it asserts itself aggressively.

  150. 150.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JanieM:

    Googling, I see wonderful signs from that era, e.g. “Don’t steal from Medicare to support socialized medicine.” 

    Wow.  That’s the sign of someone who should use their government-run healthcare to get their head examined.

  151. 151.

    Anya

    I’ve come to the conclusion that candidates (except Sanders) are afraid to challenge Bloomberg’s record because they don’t want to lose him if they win. Maybe Sanders would challenge him and politicize Bloomberg’s horrible record on stop-and-frisk policing and redlining and his shameful record on housing. Maybe Tom Steyer will do us a solid and run some useful ads that exposes Bloomberg’s actual record. Right now the only thing voters know about him is through his ads — Obama liked him, he is a self-made successful billionaire who was the mayor of most diverse city in the world for 12-years and he’s not afraid to stand up to Trump. I mean, I don’t blame the voters because honestly, I am New Yorker and I am discovering a lot of horrible policy records.

  155. 155.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Anne Laurie: And it’s such a petty face-eating. Boo-hoo — you had to stand in line with all the other non-EU people.

    I know owners of small businesses on both sides of the border in Ireland, and they’re semi-petrified about how Brexit will affect their business, and more importantly, the peace.

    So Colin, here’s hoping you get “special” treatment at every EU port of entry, you insufferable wanker.

  157. 157.

    Kathleen

    @Chyron HR: He said he had nothing to apologize for. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayor Pete’s protesters weren’t tied to Sanders. Biden’s Iowa rallies were disrupted by “protesters” as well

  158. 158.

    Another Scott

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: Working as designed.

    They want to break the government and oversight.

    :-(

    Glad he was able to take a buyout.  I feel for the people who aren’t close to retirement and are in that situation.

    It’s going to take a long time to fix the problems these monsters have caused, but it can and must be done.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    At this point, I think he is.  People shouldn’t blame a candidate because they happen to come across a random supporter who is an asshole.  But with Bernie, it’s been going on for four years and it’s clearly an persistent part of that culture.

    Exactly. There was a Washington Post article the other day about race-based bullying on the rise in schools, kids shouting “Build the Wall!” and “Go back where you came from!” at brown kids. Granted the latter has been going in various forms for centuries, but the first one started even before he was elected. No one here would say, ‘Well, you can’t blame trump for what people say…’

    I caught a minute or two of Michael Moore on MSNBC last night, about all I can take of his mewling, poseur schtick, and he was talking about how Bernie is all about love, and tells his supporters constantly we must be kind and reach out and blah blah blah. Horseshit. I don’t quite get why his bellowing sanctimony is so appealing, much less contagious, but it clearly is, and it’s why he’s burned so many bridges in both houses of Congress.

  163. 163.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anya:

    . Right now the only thing voters know about him is through his ads — Obama liked him

    I don’t like Bloomberg and I hope we’re not forced to choose between him and Bernie, or later him and trump, but other than Biden, he seems to be the only candidate who groks that that Obama fella is actually pretty popular outside of Rose Twitter

  164. 164.

    kindness

    I wonder how the polling would have worked out differently if the billion/millionaire candidates had never thrown themselves into the race.  Really they messed up the kismet, the discreet things separating out the candidates.  And it’s such an ego driven thing by those wealthy men.  I don’t relate.  I wish Warren was polling better.  I thought she’d be pulling more of the middle but apparently those folk are going Klobuchar & Buttigieg.  Oh well, we’ll see.

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @kindness:

    I wonder how the polling would have worked out differently if the billion/millionaire candidates had never thrown themselves into the race.  Really they messed up the kismet, the discreet things separating out the candidates

    I don’t quite get the economics of campaigns, but I remember reading that Bloomberg’s entry was the last straw for the Harris campaign, he jacked up the price of everything– including, apparently entry-level organizers– and there was no way she could catch up.

  167. 167.

    Anya

    @Jinchi: great. Elizebeth Warren is awesome. I am sad that my fellow democrats seem to be blind to her awesomeness. And media keeps ignoring Warren but an attack from Bernie that is not his usual “billionaires” would garner huge headlines.

  170. 170.

    Jinchi

    @kindness: I wonder how the polling would have worked out differently if the billion/millionaire candidates had never thrown themselves into the race.

    It would have been nice to see how this election would have worked out if the late-70 year old candidates had decided to sit this one out too.

    We’ve actually had a lot of strong candidates this cycle, but the conversation has been dominated by the focus on media favorites (Biden for being Obama’s VP, Bernie for being the 2016-runner up, and Bloomberg as the guy with obscene amounts of cash , not to mention the early focus on Schultz).

  171. 171.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anya: And media keeps ignoring Warren

    she’s had at least three longish blocks to herself on MSNBC prime time in the last week. I don’t watch CNN or Fox.

  172. 172.

    Anya

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think one of the biggest mistakes Warren made is not make her connection to Obama very explicit. Bernie already planted himself formally on the “antiestablishment candidate” so there was not point for her to appeal to that demo.

  173. 173.

    Jinchi

    @Kathleen: I’ll judge someone who is backed by a group that wants to destroy Democratic party

    But that’s a different standard than how many bills has she passed this cycle. Pelosi doesn’t fare very well on that standard either, but it’s Republican obstruction that’s the source of the problem, not lack of quality legislation.

  174. 174.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    I fucking knew the worst of his fanbase would do something like this. Disgusting. I mean, supposed “Democratic socalists” calling union members “scabs”. Yikes.

    Speaking of the CU’s “Cadillac” health insurance, I do wonder how many members actually receive that healthcare? I belong to a union, the UFCW and my local has 20-30k members. My contract honestly sucks, imo, healthcare wise.

    In my experience, part-timers and new hires get absolutely fucked over for benefits in favor of full time and older members. They get full coverage while part-timers like me get dental and vision with a lot of limitations.

    So, really, how many of CU’s 60,000 members actually enjoy that Cadillac health insurance?

  175. 175.

    Immanentize

    Hmmmm.  I just got my first text from Bloomberg.  Wonder what list he got my cell phone from.  Bank of America?

  177. 177.

    WaterGirl

    @Joey Maloney:  I think it’s commendable that you have no interest in giving pleasure to a Trumpanzee, even unknowingly.

    How is it that I have never noticed “Trumpanzee” before?  It is so perfect.  The Google tells me that Tom Levenson used it on Jan 3, so this must have been a thing for awhile.

    Please please please let this be the word that gets added to the dictionary next year.

  180. 180.

    Immanentize

    Sometimes Charlie Pierce writes so pretty:

    Jumping ugly with culinary workers in Nevada isn’t going to get it done and, again, just as a nickel’s worth of free advice, lose the phrase, “bend the knee,” because the only possible response to that is “kiss my ass.” Of such dialogue coalitions are not built, folks.

  181. 181.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize: I’m always a little curious at how they get my name, whose list/s they’ve bought. I haven’t given to Klobuchar (yet) but she’s got my my email. Harris had it. A Bernie supporter texted me, I was not amused, but saved my politely worded venom for the candidate.
    I know I am an old, but am I the only one who thinks cold-texting is bad strategy? It seems weirdly invasive in a way junk email doesn’t.

  182. 182.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize: that “bend the knee” stuff came to BernieWorld via that Chapo Trap House thing, right? It’s like the Joe Rogan show of the left, something you have to be under 35 or so to hear?

    @Geminid: I think Kathleen is referring to AO blessed C

  184. 184.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):.  I believe all the Culinary Union members are covered by their hard won extensive medical benefits. Even have their own health care center. You ought to check it out for yourself. Easily researched.

  185. 185.

    Anya

    @Immanentize: it was not a smear you dipshit. It was a speculation. I don’t even blame them because we need all the help we can get to defeat Trump. Bloomberg is useful. I just don’t want him to be the nominee or anywhere near close to that. And certainly it was not complimentary to Sanders. His whole shtick is he’s anti ‘millionaires and billionaires’. So, what I was saying is it fits with his campaign. I am not even fan of his shtick.

  187. 187.

    Martin

    Long rambling thoughts. I’m an inner monologue guy, so I need to dump them to output now and then.

    I’ve been giving Bloomberg a defense of late. I don’t like him as a candidate, but I might need him as a candidate. He’s said bad things, had bad policies, it’s perfectly reasonable if he’s a bridge too far for folks. That’s fine. I need Trump out – like for my own mental health I need him out. Bloomberg won’t cause me to lose sleep, even if I don’t like him.

    There’s another aspect of him that I like, that’s hard for me to explain. We have this really pervasive, very foundational white protestant myth of rugged individualism. Much of it stems from the Homestead act, where anyone could go pound 4 stakes in the ground, instantly be a property owner, grow some corn, and set one’s future. It’s a great mythology if you overlook the racism and genocide that made it possible, the cataclysmic environmental damage that resulted and was only attenuated due to massive government intervention, and the century of subsidies so it didn’t collapse on itself. But aside from that, it’s a great story of bootstraps and faith and Laura Ingalls Wilder. My first relatives that came to the US from Ireland, landed in South Carolina, marched west and did this very thing just like Tom Cruise in Far and Away (exactly like that – it’s stunning how much I look like him).

    This isn’t just a Republican myth – it’s a Democratic one as well – which I hear in Mayor Pete’s  heartland values, Amy’s Minnesota nice, Joe’s malarky, and even Warren’s Oklahoma origin story. They aren’t necessarily malicious, but they’re good safe hearty aw shucks masks that we wear.

    But my direct relatives didn’t follow their predecessors. They tried to, but arrived in Savannah just in time for the Union to blockade the port, and were directed to New York, and settled in Brooklyn like a zillion other Irish at the time. And we stayed there. Our path wasn’t growing corn and milking pigs or whatever you do with pigs, but, well, initially fighting for the Union since that’s something the Irish could be paid to do, but later selling stuff off of a cart, then opening a store, then an import business in NYC. Some went to school and became doctors. Some were sand hogs, police, a lot became firemen. My family still more or less runs the FDNY union (they’re all racist assholes, btw).

    Most people’s stories look a lot more like my immediate family than the romanticized Little House on the Prairie version. It’s living in cities and suburbs, not working the farm or the somewhat more modernized version of working in the factory. But a lot of US policy assumes we’re kind of still on farms and shit. You don’t need a structured safety net when you literally know everyone you might  encounter on a daily basis. You can substitute the church or the general store or whatever for that. Bill doesn’t show up one day – you go check on him, help him out. I lived in a place like that in college. The town had 1400 people when school was in session. The town had a restaurant, a barber shop, and a general store. Like a proper one – wood floors and horse hitches out front that were used daily  (by the Amish). There was a 7-11/gas station and a train station and a liquor store – oh and a community bank, and that’s about it. The college cafeteria had a side store that was a bakery/deli, that the whole town used. You at least recognized everyone if not know everyone. Need a cop – walk over to the 7/11. 80% of the time the one on duty will be there. Need some money, go into the bank. One semester the check from my dad to cover tuition was late – the bank manager just gave me a loan. No id needed. If the check comes in the next 2 weeks, just pay him back – no interest. It’s nice – not much need for government when shit works like that – it can mostly just sit back and wait for some shit to hit some fan. Gun control isn’t really needed because you know everyone. If someone has a gun, you know why they have a gun, because you know them.

    But I also lived in NYC. And it’s not like that. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad place, but heartland sensibility doesn’t scale well. You still know people, but they’re just blips in a sea of faces that you mentally blur out, like a red highlighted boss in a sea of videogame NPCs. These places need  more order, more structure, to function. If you need a loan, you need id. If you need a cop, well, that can get complicated… You can’t aw shucks a place like NYC or LA or Chicago.  You need a lot of rules.  You need government to be active, not passive.

    Now, I went pretty much straight from NYC to that little college town. I also went pretty much from being an atheist in a city that isn’t majority anything to a protestant founded college out in the middle of farmland. It was a bit of a culture shock. I touched a horse (that didn’t have a cop riding on it), and saw a cow. That was new. But I also came to appreciate how intertwined white protestantism was with that lifestyle and mythology. I honestly don’t believe you can be white and protestant and not nostalgic for that. I’ve certainly never seen it.

    One of the things that I appreciated with Obama, which I never really saw with any previous political leader – R or D – is that he didn’t view cities as problems. They had problems, but they weren’t problems. He didn’t buy into that mythology that if we all had a horse and a pickup the world would be a better place. And you see that still with how he’s approaching his library, his official portrait, and so on. He’s embraced being urban and rejecting nostalgia as a default view.

    Part of what I believe needs to be broken in this country is that white protestant mythology, because that mythos required racism and genocide to exist – so of course it’s found a certain kind of peace with those concepts. It is rooted in rugged individualism which creates a natural opposition to structured government, safety nets, and so on and replaces them with a hootenanny, hotdish, and a shotgun as  needed. The one place where I have a bit of unease about Warren is how effortlessly she slips into and reinforces that mythology, albeit in a more progressive manner. Pete and Amy and Joe do it even more reflexively. Bernie and Bloomberg (NYC) don’t, though. Nor did Booker (Newark), or Harris (Oakland), or Yang (San Jose). But they aren’t with us any more. Harris was my #1.

    I really do long for a break from that, as Obama provided. I would very much enjoy having a city raised, Jewish (or Catholic, atheist, Hindu, Muslim, black Baptist – just please not another fucking white protestant) president who doesn’t have that mythology, and doesn’t reflexively pander to it, and who can look at professional class workers, entrepreneurs, and the like as something other than a scourge on the UAW or the noble protestant profession of digging rocks out of a hole in the ground. Because the truth of the matter is that farming and factory work isn’t how the US functions any more. They’re important, but they aren’t the only thing worth protecting.

    Maybe that gets the better of me in my thoughts on president.

  189. 189.

    Geminid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  you’re in a tough spot, then. Being an optimist, I believe the Dems will win the White House, hopefully the Senate, and empower unions  by law and by labor regs. Next contract negotiations, your leadership might look at the Culinary Union contract and say, “yes we can.” Good luck!

  190. 190.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: My sister used to teach at Santo Domingo, before she taught at the Indian School in Santa Fe. It’s a very cool place. Enjoy! Blessings on the happy couple!

  192. 192.

    Citizen Alan

    @debbie:

    At least McCain shut down that woman when she said Obama was a Muslim.

    I stand by my belief that either McCain or Romney would have beaten Obama if they’d been willing to embrace outright racism.

     

    @debbie:

  193. 193.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Martin: Okay, great.  That really leaves you Sanders, Bloomberg, and Trump.  Me, I would rather have a non-authoritarian, actual Democrat.  As a result, I will choose Biden, Warren, Buttigieg, or Klobuchar.

  195. 195.

    Miss Bianca

    @BC in Illinois:

    That’s how I’m spending the morning.

    Listening to Ireland, letting a kindergartner sleep, dreaming of the Highlands.

    Sounds pretty freaking awesome to me!

  196. 196.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen Alan:

    I stand by my belief that either McCain or Romney would have beaten Obama if they’d been willing to embrace outright racism.

    they or their campaigns came damn close, McCain by authorizing Paln’s “pallin’ around with terr’rists” snarls and Romney even more so with… where to start? “Nobody ever asked to see my birth certificate, ha ha ha ha”, “The president doesn’t understand what it means to be an American…” At least one of the Mittlets getting birther and transcript curious, the maker-taker rhetoric was heavily racially coded.

    Romney and his people and a lot of Republicans are said to be genuinely offended by suggestions he (just for shorthand) played the race card, because like a lot white people, racism is limited to using That Word. As Jamelle Bouie said, they think racism is bad manners, and as anyone will tell you, Mitt Romney has simply exquisite manners.

    But yeah, trump was cruder and louder and more intentional about it. And he also vowed to protect the New Deal/Great Society programs that McCain and Romney wanted to cut, however they dressed up that rhetoric.

  197. 197.

    Miss Bianca

    @mad citizen: You can heap some of the blame for that decision on my fucking Rep, Scott Tipton, who also is the rep for Grand Junction (and just to show you how fucked up that is, you should see my US Congressional District – my town is over 200 miles and across the Continental Divide from GJ! Thanks, CO Republican assholes who gerrymandered that map!) and that oleaginous schmuck Cory Gardner. Who I hope to God we vote out in November.

  198. 198.

    Princess

    @Anya: Maybe someone already mentioned this, but Warren has been challenging Bloomberg’s record loud and strong since NH. As far as I can see, Bernie has been silent (though Benjamin Dixon has been forceful).

  199. 199.

    Sturgeonmouth

    @rikyrah:

    If you don’t think that muthaphucka ? is serious…this should tell you otherwise.??

    News: @cornellbelcher, a veteran strategist and one of President Obama’s former pollsters, has decided to advise the Bloomberg campaign. He just confirmed it in a brief phone interview.— Robert Costa (@costareports) February 14, 2020

    “he’s decided to advise” means Belcher agreed to take Bloomberg’s money. This is what Bloomberg does. He uses his money to directly or indirectly buy advisers, endorsements, and supporters. He has enough money to buy top talent, donate to strategic charities, and provide free snacks at rallies. Check out this great thread (not mine) for more, and share it with your Bloomberg curious friends:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/blakezeff/status/1227976156936171520

  200. 200.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   The poster is mistaken if she thinks Underwood has much in common with Ocasio-Cortez. They are in the same freshman class, but Underwood falls in the middle, ideologically, of the 41 freshmen who flipped Republican seats. Katy Porter seems the most liberal, and she, it seems to me, falls to the right of AOC, Tlaib and Omar.

  201. 201.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: if you click back through the thread, Kathleen was responding to a tweet rikyrah posted about AOC, not the one rikyrah posted about Underwood. I had the same thought you did so followed the chain all the way back up. No one’s slamming Underwood

  202. 202.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   got it. I tend to be protective of Underwood and the other red-to-blue freshmen. Impressive people, individually and collectively. Hoping to see more this cycle. My own district, Va5th, is flippabe this year.

  203. 203.

    Kathleen

    @Geminid: Underwood is not backed by Justice Dems, who want to destroy party. AOC is. Underwood flipped a red seat in Illinois and has diligently worked to fulfill promise to her constituents to work on health care issues. I apologize if I caused confusion there because I really respect her.

  204. 204.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: I tend to be protective of Underwood and the other red-to-blue freshmen.

    Me too. One of the big Rose-twitter-myths is that “The Squad” flipped seats.  And they have definitely drunk their own kool-aide (never sure how to spell that). As Nonna Pelosi tried to remind everyone, including Themselves, they won very blue districts.

    I’m a big Underwood fan– pragmatic and, the evidence suggests, a damn good retail politician

  208. 208.

    Geminid

    @Kathleen:  I apologize for misreading you. I share your view on the Justice Democrats. In fact, I first encountered this forum when I was researching them last winter, and saw a post by some guy named Adam Silverman on a strangely named site called “Balloon Juice.”

  209. 209.

    J R in WV

    @mad citizen:

    I looked up Grand Junction a few months ago, just for kicks. Did not know there was no housing.

    I was in Grand Junction some years back, with a rock hound buddy on our way from central CO up into Wyoming.

    Sleepy Ag town, very sedate, not many places to eat, fortunately we found a great Mexican place and did all our meals there. Can’t imagine a major office going in there without plans to build housing for staff as well as office buildings.

    We spent some time trying to puzzle our way across to a well known collecting site, but it was like a maze and we gave up after driving into dead ends once too often. The goods were in big concretions, which are hard to crack, and which are mostly empty when you do open them. Lots of work for scant return in other words.

    Glad to hit the road the next morning.

  210. 210.

    Kathleen

    @Geminid: No problem! My comment apparently was not clear because both you and Jim, Foolish Literalist had a question about whom I was referencing. I’m very protective of her as well, along with the many other outstanding Democrats currently in the House. I halfway expect Underwood to be targeted for primary campaign by “JustUs” Dems, whom I loathe. They seem to gravitate towards primarying African American candidates (Jeffries and other CBC representatives).

  211. 211.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Anya: I am not a NYr but I sincerely thought he was a Dem who ran as a GOPr to win the GE and that was no big deal to me. I didn’t know about the support for Pat Toomey or the Michigan stuff. All that said I would still be willing to take him as a Veep for a strong POTUS to get to his money. If he god help us end up being the POTUS I don’t think he would give much power to a liberal Veep. I think Bloomberg could be kept busy as a Veep doing liberal stuff on guns and climate change .

  213. 213.

    Xavier

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I posted the following on CU’s facebook page:

    “Let me explain something to you about unions: they live or die by solidarity. Solidarity within the union, solidarity with other unions, and solidarity with all workers. I congratulate you on your health plan, but the day will come when you need the support of the general public. Your stance against medicare for all is basically “Screw you, we got ours.” Is this what you want the general public to remember next time you ask them for support?”

  217. 217.

    J R in WV

    @Xavier:

    Your epistle to the Nevada Culinary Union displays arrogance, condescension and a stunning level of ignorance about both union solidarity and the CU health plan, which owns and manages clinics and hospital facilities for their members.

    Congratulations…

    I’m sure you made some good friends with that!

  218. 218.

    Hob

    @Anya: “I’ve come to the conclusion that candidates (except Sanders) are afraid to challenge Bloomberg’s record because they don’t want to lose him if they win”

    I think you’re right, and I think that also accounts for a certain amount of soft press treatment of him by media people who are generally anti-Trump and don’t want to alienate the guy who might provide necessary resources.

    I mean, both here and elsewhere, I’ve been hearing a lot of “We might need Bloomberg because he’s the one who can beat Trump.” And I’ve also been hearing a lot of “I’m glad Bloomberg has promised to put all that money behind whoever the nominee is, if he loses.” But if people really believed that second thing, they wouldn’t be saying the first thing; if he really is so principled and it isn’t just about his ego, and we agree he’s not a good candidate in any other way, then why even consider making him the candidate– why not just say “Sorry Mike, glad we can count on your support and money anyway”? I think it’s because people understand that he might not be all that principled, and he clearly has an ego that could be seen from orbit. He’s never been one to just help out from behind the scenes; if he wanted to throw all his money and power into defeating the Republicans, why didn’t he provide more than an endorsement in 2016?

  219. 219.

    Mai naem mobile

    @debbie: haha. I didn’t say he would find it acceptable. I said I would find it acceptable. He basically says he’s willing to do anything to get Orange Mussolini out so he should  be willing to suck it up and accept the Veep spot.

  222. 222.

    Morzer

    @Amir Khalid: Those results seem to argue that Leicester City fans are not entirely foolish in their support for the team.  I can’t remember which team our own Burnie supports.

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