Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

An almost top 10,000 blog!

No Justins, No Peace

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

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

The willow is too close to the house.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: … If You Want to Live

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  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The @SenateGOP must join the House in passing H.R. 4 to #RestoreTheVRA protections which Rep. John Lewis spent so much of his life fighting to secure & protect.

    Sorry Nancy. They are more interested in getting re-elected than they are in people voting.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    Winning becomes more urgent every day. In Ohio, they’re ramming a bill through that would allow teachers to be armed in classrooms. The second hearing is scheduled for today, and there’s a possibility the bill will be voted on later tonight.

  8. 8.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @debbie:

    “Yes, the 9th grade teacher had placed his pistol in the drawer, forgot about it, and got called off to the office. When he remembered about it three class changes later, it was gone. All students will remain on campus for body cavity searches until it is found…”

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Nagging, gnawing craving for fresh tomatoes yesterday, so popped over to the nearest supermarket, where prices are always higher than in town but have now climbed to obscene.

    $5.29 per pound for locally grown fresh, ripe ones, $3.50 per pound for underripe orangeish rocklike baseballs from the mainland.

    @WereBear

    The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    Or both. :)

  10. 10.

    Baud

    Joy seemed nervous, understandably, and I wasn’t thrilled with the production.  I hope they have her as much a chance to find her groove as they gave Chris Hayes.

  11. 11.

    prostratedragon

    “Today marks six months until Inauguration Day 2021”

    Or as it feels to me, about 15.831 million seconds. Think of them as mayfly years.

  15. 15.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @NotMax:

    “Or both. :)”

    ”In a dark reimagining, Joseph Stalin is  Hooterville’s Uncle Joe, routinely drafting lists of Hooterville residents for gulag or execution. It will have all the beige humor of the original series, along with the terror experienced during the dark days of Soviet purges of the pre and post war eras.”

  16. 16.

    JPL

    CNN was notified that the briefing today would not be just on the virus.   Shocking but true.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @raven

    I like her – a lot – but found her tail end all too obvious fishing-expedition-for-a-scoop questions jejune and obnoxious.

  18. 18.

    WereBear

    I am listening to the audio book of Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man through my Scribd subscription. (I can get the hottest books this way, recommended.)

    More than halfway through, and if anything, it scares me more. Even though it’s only underlining what I already knew and/or suspected. So may this thing sell, and get read, a LOT. Maybe some people will learn from it.

    Especially since the corporate media is almost universally dismissive. Because they created this monster, too.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    Americans support Black Lives Matter but resist shifts of police funds or removal of statues of Confederate generals or presidents who were enslavers

  21. 21.

    WereBear

    @NotMax:

    The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    Or both. :)

     
    I love your ideas! Sad, but true: we already have a dictator.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    For those of you who like the NYT.

    High Voter Turnout and Record Fund-Raising Give Democrats Hope for November

    NYT > Top Stories / by Nick Corasaniti and Isabella Grullón Paz / 1h


    Despite a disjointed primary season and the challenges of holding elections during a pandemic, the party is seeing a surge in energy among voters

  27. 27.

    debbie

    No cable here, so no knowledge of Joyce Reid beyond Twit-type reactions. Why would being on this program make her more nervous than when she was on her previous program?

  28. 28.

    Baud

    Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a $775 billion plan to bolster child care and care for the elderly that would be financed by taxes on real estate investors with incomes of more than $400,000 as well increased tax compliance by high-income earners.

  29. 29.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, they are interested in people voting, but not in the way we like.

    The rumor here this early morning is that someone in my condo building has COVID. No official word yet, just email from a neighbor. We’ll see

    ETA: Oh yeah. A bunch of Barr’s goons. That’s what would fix what’s wrong in Chicagoland./

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    Biden running on Warren’s platform, for the most part = smart, timely, sorely needed

    Now if we could just talk the yoots into showing up and voting!

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    This… is truly disturbing:

    Geosciencing
    Blue heart
    ?
    ⛏
    Volcano
    @FaultsNFolds
    Courtesy of joedinn

    Satan, paedophiles and death Oh My!!
    Rolling on the floor laughing
    Face with medical mask
    Anti-mask Florida town-hall meeting. #trump #dumptrump #trump2020 #fyp #wearamask #florida #murica

    I have tears of laughter running down my face. What hath Sarah Cooper wrought?????

  37. 37.

    p.a.

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    ”In a dark reimagining, Joseph Stalin is  Hooterville’s Uncle Joe, routinely drafting lists of Hooterville residents for gulag or execution. It will have all the beige humor of the original series, along with the terror experienced during the dark days of Soviet purges of the pre and post war eras.”

    Twilightville Junction!

  38. 38.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Now picturing clandestine meetings of dissidents led by Arnold Ziffle.

    All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @JPL: CNN was notified that the briefing today would not be just on the virus.

    I’d guess some people in the White House would like to keep it focused on the virus, but know that’s impossible. They’ll probably be delighted if he doesn’t tell The Ramp Story again.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    ????

    To be clear Ed Henry isn’t accused of “sexual misconduct” as Fox News would like you to be believe — he is accused of violently raping a woman multiple times.— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 20, 2020

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    1995: There are six inches of snow. School is cancelled.2020: There's a global pandemic that will kill some of your parents and teachers and a few of you. Don't miss the bus.— JRehling (@JRehling) July 20, 2020

  47. 47.

    Punchy

    Can the WH block Fauci from doing this? If they can block his media exposure w/r/t interviews, why couldn’t they block his media exposure w/r/t baseball?

  48. 48.

    p.a.

    @Ken: Odds on him pivoting to the ‘anarchy’ in blue America?  Did Vegas take it off the board yet?

     

    ETA: The dementia test??????????

  49. 49.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud: Always the democrats talk about how to fund their expenses – the GOP just spend and/or reduce taxes. Only democrats are accountable for deficits.

  55. 55.

    narya

    Kitchen update! Everything in except the stove and plumbing! And the tile and screen door, but they won’t be here for a couple of weeks. I am going to have so! much! storage space! all of those wasted/cruddy spaces above the cabinets on both sides now have cabinets of their own. It’s actually going to allow me to move stuff from other parts of the dining room into those spaces. There is also so much cleaning to do before I even start that; I think the dust and maybe some mold (it’s been hot/humid/rainy, so the carpets they put down on the back porch likely collected some moisture too) have been affecting me. Now I have to unclog the bathroom sink, which has had standing water for two days.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    Or both. :)

    Most people aren’t that old.

  58. 58.

    The Golux

    @NotMax:

    The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    My alternate lyric: “And there’s Uncle Joe, he’s a-tryin’ to score some blow at the Junction.”

  60. 60.

    J R in WV

    I want “Justice” Kavanaugh investigated so hard he cries on his way to work. I want to know how he got into debt, who loaned him more money than his current pay would have been able to pay off in his working lifetime, what that money was spent on, because it wasn’t baseball tix! I want him prosecuted for saying it was for baseball tix under oath.

    Then I want to know how it was paid off, where that money came from, who paid it and why, who is he obliged to support on the Supreme Court bench.

    Then I want him to resign, because it’s so hard to attend court business from a jail cell. And boom, we’re half way to fixing the Supreme Court phase one.

    I also want to change the number of justices and judges.

    Every judicial nomination by Trump needs to be fine-tooth-comb investigated, enough pressure brought to bear to encourage the less competent and more dishonest ones to resign or face serious jail time.

  62. 62.

    oldster

    Honestly, I don’t blame Brian Kemp for not wanting to wear a mask.

    Can you imagine having to re-breathe the smell of Trump’s dick all day?

  64. 64.

    raven

    Charles Pierce

     

    The great modern conservative project, launched by the Goldwater campaign in 1964, has finally reached its inevitable end-point in the kind of president* that project made inevitable.

  65. 65.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: I had a nagging, gnawing craving for a fresh tomato yesterday, so I went out to one of the containers on the deck and picked a ripe red one still warm from the noon sun.

  68. 68.

    Salty Sam

    @NotMax: Now picturing clandestine meetings of dissidents led by Arnold Ziffle.

    … held in the back room of Sam Drucker’s store…

  70. 70.

    Baud

    @TS (the original): Only Democrats are responsible at governance. That comes with certain constraints.  We shouldn’t be deficit hawks, but we should be honest and serious about managing the government’s finances.

  71. 71.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Salty Sam:

    Excuse me, but Drucker was a kulak, eliminated in the first wave, which came to fruition in the middle of Season 1, Episode 2.

    Besides, his name is no longer mentioned. It is now “The People’s Supply House Number 1”.

  72. 72.

    Tony Jay

    Nine months after it was supposed to be released, the long suppressed Report into Russian interference in Britain’s electoral politics reveals that no one can say definitively if Russia interfered in the 2016 EU Referendum, not because there’s not a ton of evidence that they did (and continue to do so) but because the Conservative Government refused to request any kind of investigation into the possibility. Cue the usual trolls swarming all over the Media to claim complete exoneration, while the non-complicit majority cry as one “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?”

    Oh, and Johnson’s Government have rejected the Intelligence Committee’s demand for an immediate investigation to start right the fuck now on the grounds that, hey, if there had been any evidence in the first place the heads of MI6 and MI5 would totally have done something about it, yeah? So go swivel, proles, Big Daddy Bozza has another black-tie event to attend with his Russian oligarch paymasters and he ain’t got time for your petty concerns.

    So there’s a body on the floor, riddled with bullet holes. The victim’s last action was to scrawl “Russia Luvz Brexi……” on the floor in their own blood. In the fireplace there’s a slightly charred pile of invoices and receipts implicating dozens of Tory MPs and Leave UK officials and a trail of compromising photographs of same leading out of the room to an alleyway where a Russian made pistol lies with its barrel still steaming in the rain at the base of a wall across which someone has sprayed “I totally did it” in big cyrillic writing.

    But there’s no way to say if a crime of any kind was committed because the Police didn’t collect any evidence and an investigation was never opened.

    Case closed, eh?

  75. 75.

    MattF

    So, what’s the briefing going to be about? Invasion of New York City? I’m looking for black helicopters and jackboots, just because.

  78. 78.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Salty Sam:

    The widow formerly known as Lisa Douglas now manages the store. After her imperialist hegemonist tool of international capital husband was eliminated as an enemy of the state, she quickly fell in line in accordance with her experience as a Hungarian emigre.  She is now known only as “Madame Proprietor”.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    Just the other day on FB I said we were about a month from Joe Biden being able to make an ad with him extending his hand and saying “Come with me if you want to live”. That’s it, that’s the ad.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: Same. I’ve been way optimistic thanks to a growing sense that people are ready to change the channel on this shit-show and the positive polling. I still believe we will win and win big. But sweet Jesus, what a white-knuckle ride it’s gonna be.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @cmorenc:

    even if the vacancy doesn’t occur until during the “lame duck” post-election period

    Not-so-bold prediction: even if a vacancy were to happen on Jan 2 (or Jan 19 if we don’t take the Senate back), they’ll ram Fascist McFascistface through within 24 hours.

  89. 89.

    Ken

    My predictions for the briefing:

    1. “It will go away on its own, you’ll see, I’m always right.”
    2. After a reporter asks about deaths: “That’s a nasty question from a nasty person.”
    3. Pivot to re-airing of the grievances. Demo of water-drinking which goes horribly wrong.
    4. “Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden”
    5. Proclaims tax cuts, claiming they don’t need to go through Congress because of DACA ruling.
  92. 92.

    narya

    @narya: Update to the update. My shiny new sink is awesome . . . and too deep, and positioned slightly differently, to allow for a disposal underneath. Oh well; no disposal for me. (The stone counter is already in, so there’s no going back on this one.) I originally wasn’t going to get a disposal anyway, so I’m not too worried about this one.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    Matthew Gertz
    @MattGertz
    ·7m
    Really just can’t be clearer that federal law enforcement are being deployed as part of the president’s reelection campaign.

    Homeland Security really needs to be broken up immediately. There was a lot of discussion when it was formed that it had the potential to be a real disaster and every bit of that has come true. A giant, money-pit behemoth that returns very little value to citizens.
    That Chad the Lobbyist was able to form his own Trump Army out a bunch of people who are on the public payroll is all you need to know about the thing. Bust it up.

  96. 96.

    montanareddog

    @J R in WV: Come sit nearly by me; that rapey, alcoholic,  WATB perjured himself into the job. No way he should be allowed to keep it beyond the time it takes to investigate in the next administration, let alone the next few decades.

    When he sees an honest AG coming after him, maybe he will resign first

  97. 97.

    MattF

    @SFAW: Depending on the composition of the new Senate, that risks enlarging SCOTUS and ending the filibuster for good. I’m in favor of both, but if there’s a chance it won’t happen, McConnell may hold his fire. But we shall see.

  98. 98.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    @Chyron HR: Those are precisely the parts they want to target: places likely to escalate the violence.  Violence is the goal.

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    @narya: We have never had a garbage grinder (not really suitable for a septic tank) and have never missed it.

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah:

    To be clear Ed Henry isn’t accused of “sexual misconduct” as Fox News would like you to be believe — he is accused of violently raping a woman multiple times.

    Not for nothing: so is trump, including by his first wife, mother of his three largest and most damaged children.

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It’s amazing how often “solutions” concocted to address a disastrous failing in turn produce their own catastrophes. It seems to hold true across organizational types too.

  107. 107.

    Benw

    @raven: Charlie’s not wrong. Except I’m feeling pessimistic that Trump’s not the final endpoint, because we never seem to reach peak wingnut.

  109. 109.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    if this is true, that the grifting Dope-phin and Dope-phine are melting down about PL’s video about Grifterella, that makes me very happy. That is one ad that only disaffected Republicans could have sent out.

    Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson 10h
    1/ Want to know why Fox and all the Axis of Trumpholes are attacking @ProjectLincoln ? Because SOMEONE is VERY angry about an ad we did…VERY angry. So angry they spent the last 48 hours cashing in every media favor they could. SPOILER: he’s an android.

  111. 111.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @narya: I’m happy to zoom with book clubs and stuff. A friend of mine is whatever the leader of a girl scout troop is called, and they have a writers club. She asked me if I’d be willing to zoom to them, and I said sure. I’m not sure I want to “teach,” though. That sounds like work.

  114. 114.

    Jinchi

    @debbie: In Ohio, they’re ramming a bill through that would allow teachers to be armed in classrooms.

    God I hate Republicans. They really are a death cult.

  116. 116.

    zhena gogolia

    The carping about Joe Biden not being perfect begins.

    He isn’t Trump. Full stop.

    I hate Sanders, but if he were the Dem nominee, I’d be refraining from saying one negative thing about him. We are in a fight to the death.

  117. 117.

    Jinchi

    @Baud: It’s the type of ad that Democratic groups can’t run without getting blow back.

    People keep writing this. What’s the last ad Democrats got blowback on?

  118. 118.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Have you ever listened to Wilson’s podcast with Molly Jong-Fast? It’s called “The New Abnormal,” and it’s pretty entertaining if you enjoy caustic political gossip.

    The newest episode has Mary Trump as a guest. Previously they were dishing about her book and appealing for her to come on the show. I haven’t heard that one yet, but it’s queued up for my next car ride into town or walk in the woods.

    I know exactly who and what Wilson is, and I don’t trust him any further than I could throw Donald Trump. But Wilson and I are both Floridians of similar vintage and background, and we both had sassy, quotable Southern grandmas, so I feel a kinship…

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: I’m planning to listen to that. I spite-bought Mary Trump’s book on audio and binged it this weekend (it’s six or seven hours as narrated). The most significant nuggets are all out there, but there are some smaller, telling things. Don Jr at that WH dinner she opens with sucking up pathetically, Jared being Jared; an early adolescent Ivanka hopping up on Daddy’s lap. And it was Aunt Mary Ann, the federal judge and “devout” Catholic convert who came up with the idea of using her desperately ill infant grand-nephew as an extortion tool when Mary and her brother had the temerity to not sign off on old Fred’s will. And they had no idea how much money the old man had, and could have been bought off fairly cheap. I just hope that blows back on the old ghoul (Mary Ann), who probably thinks of herself as the respectable one.

  121. 121.

    Gin & Tonic

    Wondering if Kay or debbie or any of the other Ohio people have anything to add to this here – since I don’t know shit about politics in Ohio.

  122. 122.

    MattF

    @Betty Cracker: Just listened to that episode. Mary Trump sounds like a normal person, of all things.

    ETA: Should note that she appears to be the only normal person in that family, which means she’s not really so normal… fwiw.

  124. 124.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    So apparently yesterday a robocall went around but somehow missed us. Someone in my condo bldg has COVID. Management has already contacted everyone who came in contact with that person. Of course they don’t say who it is, but the situation suggests to me it might be someone who has a caregiver. This building is independent living, but some people have a caregiver come in for a limited number of hours each day to help them with some task or another. Until now, all but one of the cases we hear about are staff, who of course go home every day and have a much wider range of contacts than the folks who live here do.

    My neighbors are all on the case calling one another to see if anyone knows who it is. I predict their identity will not remain unknown for long. Old people are good snoops.

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Now I’m having ideas for a contact tracing board game – deduce who’s got the virus by who was contacted, that sort of thing. Wonder if it would sell? I personally have no interest in playing Pandemic right now…

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    This may have been covered elsewhere, but:

    Apparently Roy Den Hollander, who is/was the suspect in the murder of the son of Judge Esther Salas, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being “ambushed” by LEO in Liberty, NY.

  129. 129.

    Barbara

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mary Ann Trump Barry retired from her judgeship in the last two years when it became clear there was enough evidence that she had engaged in tax fraud to merit judicial investigation — which was dropped once she left the bench.  No, she may have better manners but that doesn’t mean she isn’t as greedy and abominable as her brother.

  130. 130.

    Barbara

    @SFAW: After killing a 20 year old kid — the son of a federal judge who had actually ruled in his favor!  But apparently a favorable ruling from a federal judge doesn’t erase the stink of giving any woman any kind of power.

  131. 131.

    SFAW

    @MattF:

    but if there’s a chance it won’t happen, McConnell may hold his fire.

    Not in this plane of reality, he won’t. When has he ever refrained from grabbing/stealing as much power as he could, whenever he could? About the only thing that would prevent him from doing it would be a gun — literal, not so sure about figurative — being held to his head.

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: must be, until I got to that part I assumed it was The Beast Itself. I like picturing Jared calling and having his assistants text everyone he knows at Fox, his beady eyes a’twitch and his little surgically altered nostrils flaring as much as they can

  136. 136.

    debbie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I just heard the bulletin on my local NPR station! This is like a bolt out of the blue (as Householder himself would say).

    Happy days are here again!

  138. 138.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay:

    Nine months after it was supposed to be released, the long suppressed Report into Russian interference in Britain’s electoral politics reveals that no one can say definitively if Russia interfered in the 2016 EU Referendum, not because there’s not a ton of evidence that they did (and continue to do so) but because the Conservative Government refused to request any kind of investigation into the possibility. Cue the usual trolls swarming all over the Media to claim complete exoneration, while the non-complicit majority cry as one “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?”

    Since when have you started USA-focused commentary? (Albeit many months ex post facto.) Oh, wait, I see the word “Britain” in there. Are you sure you didn’t just cut-and-paste?

    The parallels between the two countries are depressing.

  140. 140.

    TS (the original)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I live in a similar style establishment – and we are all friends & sooner or later the news gets to everyone.

    I hope the COVID is limited to the one person & that you & Mr DAW stay well

    And happy birthday

  142. 142.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was arrested Tuesday morning ahead of an announcement about a $60 million federal racketeering case related to Ohio’s new nuclear bailout law, according to media reports.

    Wow. The nuclear bailout stunk to high heaven but I wouldn’t think he would have his hand out blatantly for the pay off.
    I believe that the 2006 D wave was not so much about Iraq, at least in Ohio, as it was about corruption in the GOP (state and national).
    Let’s hope for a repeat this year.

  143. 143.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    he’s talking about Jared (the ‘android’) I take it?

    I see “android,” and I think it’s Hugh Hewitt. [Driftglass/Mr Electrico refers to him that way.] But Jared makes more sense. Well, Jared being the particular entity makes sense; Jared himself is pretty stupid.

  145. 145.

    Mandarama

    @Barbara: I quit social media years ago, but my siblings (not-so)helpfully send me screenshots of the stupidest shit people from my hometown are saying. Evidently the Clintons are behind this entire hit job because of Epstein something something. Is there anything that Hillary can’t do?

    The reality is simpler and horribly depressing – – misogyny and entitlement and this guy feeling desire for the judge at the same time he hated her status. The same toxic dynamic women deal with all the time, only writ large.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Let’s hope for a repeat this year.

    Well, on the plus side, that would be excellent news for you and Ohio Mom and the other denizens, and for American democracy. On the negative side: there will be fewer horror stories that you can tell us. Wait, did I write “negative”? Get me rewrite, STAT!

  151. 151.

    Kay

    Also arrested, according to the source: Neil Clark from Grant Street Consultants in Columbus; former Ohio Republican Party chair and consultant Matthew Borges; Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group in Columbus; and Jeffrey Longstreth, adviser to Householder.

    The plot thickens- Borges is a vocal never-Trumper.

  153. 153.

    Ken

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Going after DeSantis now, and I remember the one that called out many Republican Senators by name. Have there been other Project Lincoln ads targeting people other than Trump?

    I wonder if they’ll keep going after the election.

  156. 156.

    Kay

    Just saying:

    The Ohio Republican Party central committee on Friday voted to censure former Chairman Matt Borges for a number of actions they deemed detrimental to the party, including his recent founding of a super PAC supporting former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
    Along with the PAC, the party cited an FEC violation and Borges’ continued criticism of Republican President Donald Trump as reasons to censure the former chairman and strip his “chairman emeritus” status. The resolution passed without opposition, demonstrating how the party apparatus once dominated by Borges and other allies of Republican Gov. John Kasich, a Trump detractor, now is firmly in support of the president.

  159. 159.

    Jinchi

    @SFAW: Republicans have been very clear. If they get another shot at putting a justice on the Supreme Court, they’ll take it. Conservative groups have even been hoping for one of the older conservative justices to step down so they can replace him with a younger candidate and extend their control another 20 years or so.

  161. 161.

    japa21

    @Kay: I expect to hear similar news about the Illinois Speaker of the House soon. Of course he’s a Democrat, but if what has been made public so far is true, he needs to go.

  162. 162.

    WereBear

    @Ken:

    I wonder if they’ll keep going after the election.

    I consider them hired guns who will want to continue the rat intercourse.

    If Democrats are the only game in town, they will hire out to the conservative side of the coalition to split it off, as is historically inevitable.

  163. 163.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Tony Jay:  I particularly enjoyed the “London Laundromat” expression whereby Russian Billionaires are buying up huge swaths of London Real Estate for nefarious purposes and then just letting it rot while people are looking for somewhere to live.  I believe there was an expose done on it a couple of years ago (Guardian, Telegraph?) Everyone from Lawyers, Surveyors and Estate Agents are implicated and Boris and Co. just shrug and say “oh well”.

  169. 169.

    Kay

    @japa21:

    I’m not comfortable with it yet. They’re probably corrupt- the nuclear deal stunk to high heaven- but I don’t have any faith in anything even remotely connected to the Trump Administration and any of their political enemies.

  172. 172.

    germy

    Thank you for the good reviews and comments on my interview with Chris Wallace of @FoxNews. We may have set a record for doing such an interview in the heat. It was 100 degrees, making things very interesting!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2020

  173. 173.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    We’ll see. If it’s hinky it sort of doesn’t matter “politically”- it’s the absolute worst case scenario. Out of the realm of “politics” and into – I don’t know what. Scary stuff.

  177. 177.

    SFAW

    @frosty:

    Dead thread

    History has shown that a thread isn’t dead until J R in WV comments closes it out. Well, me, too, I guess.

  179. 179.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    FYI, 67% of local Fox viewers polled said their respect for Kasich had lessened after hearing he’d be speaking at the Dem convention.

    I so hope Duke Energy is in the middle of all this Householder turmoil and that they are run out of the state.

    Or am I just being giddy?

  180. 180.

    SFAW

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Hmmm, you were born on the day my parents got married.

    Old one:

    “You bastard!”

    “Hey! My parents were married! Well, OK, not to each other, but still …”

  183. 183.

    Kay

    Heres’ the deal in question:

    Amid a flurry of ambitious state action on climate change policy, the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature has just passed an energy bill that represents an enormous step backward. It is the most counterproductive and corrupt piece of state energy legislation I can recall in all my time covering this stuff — the details must be seen to be believed.The bill, just signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, is called HB 6. Though the story behind it is complex and sordid, the bill itself is pretty simple.

    They billed every Ohio citizen annually to pay for the bailout. And apparently skimmed X number of millions for themselves.

    This would be the fifth time Ohioans will have paid for these plants. They first paid when the plants were built. They paid again in 1999 when the electricity market was restructured. They paid again when companies were allowed to add plants back into their supply plans in 2008. And finally, they’ve paid via the bailout ruling approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in 2016.

  185. 185.

    Ken

    @germy: FBI agents descend on GOP Ohio House speaker’s farm

    … where they found giant cans of pizza sauce, young girls in storage boxes, the murdered cast of Glee, and Kelsey Grammer and Gary Busey playing euchre.

  186. 186.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    If it’s politically motivated it doesn’t make sense for “Republicans” to do it, because they’re all implicated, including DeWine.

    OTOH Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit about Republicans and just seeks vengeance so in his fucked up world view it could happen.

    But I don’t think we know what it “means” yet.

  187. 187.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    … where they found giant cans of pizza sauce, young girls in storage boxes, the murdered cast of Glee, and Kelsey Grammer and Gary Busey playing euchre.

    That’s a … umm … vivid and detailed description. You’re kinda scary.

  188. 188.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    I made more or less this exact comparison on the Guardian Live comment site. Typically they deleted it and put my account into moderation.

    Don’t like having their complicity rubbed in their faces too much, those folks.

  189. 189.

    Kay

    @Ken:

    Householder is truly awful. Just the worst of the worst. Complete scum. This is the THIRD FBI investigation he’s been a subject of- maybe they finally got him.

    He should have been in prison long ago.

  196. 196.

    Tony Jay

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Yup. It’s basically out in the open but not something any of our deeply complicit ‘independent media’ want to delve too deep into. As with the US Media and Trump’s long history of fraud and corruption the British Media were more than happy to look the other way while simultaneously knee-capping the only possible electoral alternative with bullshit scandals and a bottomless well of character-assassination poison.

    Our Government is a bought-and-paid-for franchise serving the interests of Russian oligarchs and American billionaires by destroying everything worthwhile prior generations fought and died for. But that’s okay, because Spitfires, blue passports and fewer foreign accents ahead of you in the supermarket queue.

    Roll on the Volgons, it’s time.

  198. 198.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: Don’t forget the just-in-time manufacturing where parts are shipped from Germany to the UK, assembled, and returned to France.

    That’ll still work after Brexit, right? Just like people from the UK will still be able to travel freely throughout the EU?

  199. 199.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    Bless your cotton socks. I’m getting through the shitstorm by binge watching Angel and Buffy on rotation. Bad guys who turn into dust when staked are so refreshing compared to the modern breed who just smirk and get promoted.

  201. 201.

    narya

    @rikyrah: I have been very diligent about taking pics each day. The final pics will be delayed until I have tile, but it will take me that long to clean every last damn thing anyway. I am planning to be deliberate about getting things put away, not least so that i’m not putting dirty things into new cabinets.

  202. 202.

    Another Scott

    “Police activity is being reported at Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s farm and the U.S. Attorney’s office said it is holding a 2:30 p.m. press conference today related to $60 million in bribes paid to a state official and associates.” https://t.co/AaHwyrtrHo

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 21, 2020

    The Ohio GOP is corrupt??! Unpossible.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  203. 203.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: Bad guys who turn into dust when staked are so refreshing compared to the modern breed who just smirk and get promoted.

    You’re not using the stake right.

  204. 204.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: The Ohio GOP is corrupt??!

    The real scandal is that Trump didn’t get a cut.

    (Sudden horrible thought that, in fact, that might be why this wasn’t quashed by the DOJ…)

  205. 205.

    Tony Jay

    @Ken:

    Oh sure, it’s going to be absolutely dandy. Now that we’ve got a Government consisting entirely of z-list grifting knobheads and inbred horsefondlers all of that ‘Project Fear’ rubbish based on facts and numbers and reality has been consigned to the dustbin of history. It’s going to be sunshine and roses and great, big shiny blades whirring briskly as the dumbfuck proles are fed into the mincing machine of unfettered capitalist greed with or without facemasks because, hey, who the fuck cares about those losers anyway.

    Utter wankery. we’re doomed.

  206. 206.

    Another Scott

    @Another Scott:

    The Ohio Speaker, Householder, was just arrested a few minutes ago. He's been tight with the anti-mask movement.

    — Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) July 21, 2020

    I hope he doesn’t infect others while he’s in the holding cell awaiting bail/trial.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  207. 207.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    It might be a problem – to the 0.01% of the electorate that even remembers who Stalin was. Of those, 0.009% knows better than to follow the Red herring (but will still wring their hands in anguish), and the remaining 0.001% was never going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

    For the remaining Americans, “uncle” is a common term of respect for an older man. Most have/had an uncle. Most, I’d guess, had at least one who was a friend and comfort to them – in ways parents often cannot be** – and whom they think of or remember fondly.

    IMO this sort of comment sounds like “inside baseball” but doesn’t even rise to the level of what my semipro-shortstop father used to call a “loud foul.”

    ** E.g., in many Italian-American families. Cf. Gambino, Richard, Blood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian Americans.

  208. 208.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    What, you aren’t getting the QAnon newsletters? The only thing I added was the euchre.

    I can’t tell if you’re kidding.

  210. 210.

    Ken

    @SFAW: I’m kidding about getting the newsletters. But:

    • Pizzagate, where the Democrats are running a slavery/cannibalism ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor;
    • Young girls being shipped to buyers disguised as storage units;
    • Cast of Glee being murdered;
    • Kelsey Grammer and Gary Busey being among the few Hollywood types who have not been replaced by clones

    are all QAnon staples. Mind you, I got the above list from cracked.com, but I don’t think they were exaggerating.

  211. 211.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    The intrinsic problem being that the term “Uncle Joe” conjures up Stalin or Petticoat Junction.

    Hell, I don’t associate “Uncle Joe” with Petticoat Junction, and I used to watch the show. It remains largely forgettable.

    There might be two or three people who associate “Uncle Joe” with Stalin. Of course, the image of a strong Stalin, Man of Steel, kinda negates the lie of Biden as weak. But the GOP are working the “Joe the Commie” angle hard without any Stalin references.

  215. 215.

    Jesse

    Dead thread, but:

    Anyone know what happened with Matt Taibbi in recent years? For much of the 2010s he was a sharp-as-a-tack reporter. I loved his books and his style, even if, at times, I think his self-righteousness was a bit stronger than his arguments. I recently subscribed to his mailing list and got the latest post: “The Left is Now the Right”. There are only a handful of interesting insights; mostly, it’s just axe grinding and gratuitous comparisons of left vs. right that make me spin around. I think the Trump-Russia scandal — on which he had a rather non-mainstream take — broke his brain.

    Anyone else follow Taibbi? Am I way off here?

  217. 217.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Another Scott: $60 million is a good number, though. I sometimes feel sorry for these guys who get busted for a bribe of like $11,000. That’s just sad. If you’re going to go, go big. Swing for the fences.

  218. 218.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: we could probably spend all day analyzing and arguing about the ways in which the Cheneys are like and worse than and more damaging than the trumps, but I’ll say this for Dick Jr: I could see her snapping the necks of those freedom caucus goons without pause or a step back.

  221. 221.

    Jinchi

    @Kay: the party cited an FEC violation and Borges’ continued criticism of Republican President Donald Trump

    Republicans have a very low tolerance for people who commit FEC violations.

  222. 222.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cameron: What are your thoughts on who can beat the sumbitch?

    Here’s mine: FL Dems really need to not fuck up when 2022 rolls around. That’s it. That’s my thought.

    I guess Nikki Fried is in the poll position to run against DeSantis as the only statewide elected Dem. But did you read about that blow-up at a hotel with her fiance, and the subsequent firing/resignation of staffers? It’s tawdry gossip that is standard fare in FL, but there was enough THERE there for me to find it worrisome.

    I like Val Demings a lot, and if she’s not Biden’s VP nominee, she might be a good prospect for FL governor. She seems to find a decent balance between charisma and good judgment. There’s the cop thing, but I don’t think that’s a deal-breaker in Florida, and she has good ideas for police reform, IMO.

    Bottom line: we CANNOT fuck this up…again.

  223. 223.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jesse:  @Baud: I don’t follow either of them closely, but at the very least they’re both deeply committed to the idea that Democrats, whether because of foreign policy or “Wall Street” are the real enemy. And I agree that Taibbi does seem somehow brain-broke.

  225. 225.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Jesse: Funny, not long ago somebody was mentioning Taibbi semi-favorably on Twitter, so I innocently inquired if that’s the same Taibbi who was molesting underage girls in Moscow in the 1990’s. Somebody got all huffy about that, saying none of that was true, he was just embellishing, that it was fiction by Ames, etc, etc.

    Sure, bqhatevwr

    ETA: rikyrah’s faster than me.

  227. 227.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jesse: I read that shitty article, and you’re spot-on in my opinion. I think Taibbi’s personal experience with #MeToo (over the sexist alleged work of fiction about his time in Russia) sent him screaming to Wingnutsville. It seems to be a pathetic but predictable pattern to which the more self-righteous among us are particularly prone.

  228. 228.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: (not a Floridian, but…) I think Demings is awesome. If she were a veteran of the military instead of a police force I think she’d be a lock for Biden’s Veep.

  229. 229.

    Another Scott

    @Litlebritdifrnt: That reminds me of this – https://cepr.net/great-time-for-a-vacant-property-tax/

    I have long been a big fan of a vacant property tax. As the old saying goes, you tax what you want less of, and why would we want vacant properties. This is especially likely to be relevant in many high-priced cities where the demand for commercial real estate is likely to go through the floor due to an increase in telecommuting.

    As cities mull many types of tax increases to deal with pandemic caused budget shortfalls, a vacant property tax should stand out as a productive alternative. The economy would be best served by having landlords quickly recognize that their property is not worth as much as it used to be, and therefore lower rents to keep it occupied. This will be good for keeping old businesses and supporting new ones since rent is the major expense for most businesses, especially small businesses.

    At the end of the day, recognizing reality is likely to be good for landlords, since they don’t make money on vacant property. Of course, landlords are often not very good at economics. Both Donald Trump and Jared Kushner are major property owners.

    Win, win, win.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  230. 230.

    Baud

    The Democratic-controlled House voted Monday to add limits to the Insurrection Act after President Trump threatened to invoke it to deploy active-duty troops against recent protests over racial injustice.

     

    In a 215-190 vote, the House approved the Insurrection Act changes as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

  232. 232.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Agreed; her police chief background probably will work against her in the VP pick. Given the state of the race, it will almost certainly come down to a “first, do no harm” question, IMO, which probably eliminates Warren and Demings. Le sigh.

  233. 233.

    frosty

    @Gin & Tonic:  Wally Orlinsky, Baltimore City Council President when Schaeffer was mayor. Busted for $11,000 in sludge kickbacks, disbarred, lost his career. You’re absolutely right. $3MM minimum or don’t bother.

  234. 234.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: For too many people the Risk/Reward center of their brains are broken.  Like the guys who rob a bank and get $500, or something.

    :-/

    There’s still far too much unknown about the brain and how people’s minds work.  Understanding and fixing that will do an awful lot of good for humanity – assuming FB doesn’t use that knowledge for evil first, of course.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Cue Kevin Drum – It’s the LEAD!!” ;-)

  237. 237.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud: Know what else is remarkable? Type “bqha” into the Google search box and the first suggestion is “whatever.”

    Don’t anybody tell me Scott Brown’s Senate career didn’t leave a legacy.

  238. 238.

    Cameron

    @Betty Cracker: I think Val Demings would be the best bet. Frankly, I’m not shocked or appalled or anything else about Gillum’s personal life – no matter what, he’d have been 1000x better than DeSantis. But I guess he’s toast now.

  240. 240.

    Kay

    No one loves Elizabeth Warren like I love Elizabeth Warren (maybe her mom does) but the truth is she really underperformed in the primary. She just didn’t win elections. Now, obviously Democrats are horrible for not voting for her (duh) but she’s not particularly popular even among our base. That should give Biden pause.

    I don’t think he would pick her anyway.

  241. 241.

    Baud

    @Kay: I like Warren but don’t prefer her as Veep for mostly practical reasons.  But the polls I’ve seen (a while ago) say she’s the Dems number one choice for Veep. Much of that is probably name recognition, but still.

  242. 242.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    And they’re giving them a list of names. We have a local Democratic judge who writes in “Al Gore” every time I give them a list of names, but she’s a maverick.

    I don’t know- if she’s that popular wouldn’t she have won some primaries?

  243. 243.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: Now, obviously Democrats are horrible for not voting for her (duh) but she’s not particularly popular even among our base.

    I think there are a few different bases in the party, and Warren is beloved by at least one of them: College educated “suburban” liberals, especially women, but that demo is also one of the most committed broken glass demos.

  244. 244.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    This is heresy but I don’t think the list should be limited to women. It just doesn’t sit right with me. But any of the women they talk about is fine. I don’t care that much about the VP.

  245. 245.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: If not winning contests during the primaries is the standard, Obama shouldn’t have picked Biden, who’d washed out of two presidential primaries in a row when Obama picked him off the scrap heap :)

    @Baud: I think she’d violate the “do no harm” standard for several reason: she’s white, she’s 70, the DNA test thing, the Republican governor picking her replacement thing, and yeah, she scares Wall Street.

  246. 246.

    Kay

    The only VP I felt strongly about was Joe Lieberman. Strong negative. I heard and my head dropped to the kitchenette counter/table. Like an 8 year old. Devastated.

  248. 248.

    germy

    @Kay:  It would be like Biden choosing Comey this cycle.

    Gore had so many better options to choose from, but he went with Lieberman.

  250. 250.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: 

    I think after Hillary in 2016, some Democrats may have internalized that a woman could not be elected President. We are all shell-shocked by what happened then.

    Elizabeth Warren is excellent, wherever she works from. The Senate, a Cabinet post, back to teaching, wherever.

    And I applaud Biden for pledging to nominate a woman as VP.

  252. 252.

    germy

    Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was ascending the steps of the Capitol for a vote on Monday night when she was personally accosted by a Republican colleague. Representative Ted Yoho of Florida approached Ocasio-Cortez on the steps with aggressive, insulting comments about some remarks she made earlier this month connecting poverty and crime, according to the Hill.

    Yoho allegedly told Ocasio-Cortez, “You are out of your freaking mind,” and that she was “disgusting.” Ocasio-Cortez responded that Yoho was being “rude” before continuing up the steps. As Yoho was making his way down, he allegedly said “fucking bitch” as they parted ways. The exchange was overheard by a reporter.

    Of course some in the beltway press are bothsiding this; making it sound like an even argument between them, rather than a man verbally abusing a woman who did nothing to provoke him.
    https://www.thecut.com/2020/07/aoc-accosted-by-rep-ted-yoho-on-the-steps-of-the-capitol.html#_ga=2.107486594.1034950063.1595349760-1960700136.1595349760

  253. 253.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    my objection to those who want Warren as Veep, less so than with Warren, is that they tend to extend the Cult of the Presidency (which I hate and which I think has been particularly widespread in, and destructive to, the Democratic party) to a Cult of the Vice Presidency, that by some underpants-gnome theory of the Constitution she will bend all three branches to her will from the Naval Observatory.

    Also, she’s a popular Senator with a national platform who gets media attention (compared to other people with good ideas who just don’t get and keep attention: Inslee, Bennet, Whitehouse). I think she can be very effective as part of the majority.

  254. 254.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker: I love Warren too, but the fact of the matter is she came in third in her home state. I know, it’s a little unfair, it was after SC, a lot of things had changed, etc., but still… She won a couple of close-in Boston suburbs, and a few towns out west in Bernie country, but not a strong showing on her home field.

  256. 256.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I was so bitter. And people were like “Florida!” – okay Joe Leiberman basically made the Bush case in Florida, with his fake sanctimony over military ballots. Not only did he not WIN Florida, he assisted the other side.

    I also (rightfully) blame him for Homeland Security. “Homeland”. You just want to puke.

  257. 257.

    germy

    Third member of Congress who witnessed the exchange when asked later, demurs: "I was thinking about some issues I've got in my district that need to get done."

    — Paul D. Shinkman (@PDShinkman) July 21, 2020

    Gotta love Republican courage from Rep @RogerWilliamsTX: when he undeniably sees another man engaged in virulent harassment of a young woman, just pretend you never saw it in the most cartoonish manner possible and keep pushing.

    (He’s lying, by the way. He joined in w/ Yoho) https://t.co/TAjvXBdd9u

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 21, 2020

  258. 258.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

     some Democrats may have internalized that a woman could not be elected President.

    I don’t know if I internalized it but I believe that. We’re going to be the last country in the world to elect a woman, probably by 50 years. This isn’t actually such a great country for ambitious women. It’s pretty fucking backward.

  259. 259.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fair enough but Warren is hardly the only VP prospect who has inspired an obnoxious cult following. I like Senator Harris very much and would feel more optimistic and excited about the upcoming election (as opposed to grimly determined) if she’s the pick. But a segment of her Twitter horde is fucking awful.

  260. 260.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gin & Tonic: My ex always used to say that he didn’t mind so much the fact that politicians could be bought – it was that in so many cases, they could be bought so cheaply. It offended his sensibilities.//

  261. 261.

    Original Lee

    I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but I’ve finally taken the first step: I just now filled out the volunteer questionnaire for VoteRiders.

  262. 262.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I would like a new job to be invented for Elizabeth Warren. Literally a cop :)

    White Collar Crime Squad. Hopefully they wear uniforms. No guns, just scary….accountants.

  263. 263.

    Kelly

    Video from last nights Portland protest show improved protester tactics. Protesters formed a shield wall when the cops sallied. Retreated and advanced as a group. Several equipped with leaf blowers blew the tear gas and pepper spray back at the cops.  Regular protesters that have been gassed repeatedly for weeks report developing some tolerance for tear gas. Portland PD has about a 1000 sworn officers but most of them have real policing to do. Or maybe not in which case Portland could reduce the size of the force. In the pictures I’ve seen at most a few dozen feds. After the federal provocations the protester crowds swelled to perhaps as big as they’ve ever been. Who will succumb to exhaustion first?

  264. 264.

    Kelly

    I must ad “Hockey Stick Guy” is effective and kinda funny swatting tear gas munitions back at the cops.

  266. 266.

    Kay

    Why would somebody 37 years old, with no diplomatic experience, take on the job of making peace in the Mideast? “My father-in-law asked me to do it,” Jared Kushner says.
    Never mind that Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Bill Clinton, among others, failed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Donald Trump told Kushner to get it done, so that’s what Kushner set out to do. He spoke to experts and negotiators from previous administrations. One was Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. When Kushner told him what he was up to, a dumbfounded Miller spoke for sons-in-law everywhere: “Wow, I wish my father-in-law had the kind of faith in me that yours has in you!

    You have to read this incredibly fawning “exclusive!” with Kushner. I don’t know if he actually paid for it, but if he didn’t, Newsweek was robbed.

    They should make people pay for ads! They’ll make money!

  267. 267.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:  I actually think we did elect a woman in 2016.

    I think Trump and his GOP cronies and maybe even Russians fucked with vote totals in the swing states.  I disbelieve that Electoral College “victory” and it does not behoove the FTF NY Times (emails! emails! emails!) and other enabling media to look into that very hard.  Their owners got their piggish tax cuts.

    But yes, I agree.  The United States is miles behind advanced Western democracies.

    I have stopped saying “other advanced.”  We have too many deficiencies there.

    I doubt that we actually are “the wealthiest country” in the world.  Drop out the billionaires and multimillionaires and what do you have as the average citizen’s wealth?  What is middle class wealth?

  268. 268.

    Kay

    Kushner is quietly sure of himself. He does his homework. He reaches out for different points of view—including to Democrats. And though criticism comes his way, and it frustrates him and his friends, he doesn’t vent about it in public or seem to feel sorry for himself in private.

    140,000 people are dead and Newsweek is lauding the low quality hire who was in charge of the pandemic response. They will never, ever be held accountable, by anyone.

  269. 269.

    JPL

    @germy: The republicans have a real problem with misogynistic males.   There was also an angry put down on Liz Cheney today with some calling on her to leave her post.    That can’t be the first time for Yoho.

  271. 271.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Gin & Tonic: When Spiro Agnew resigned the Vice-Presidency in a deal to plead nolo contendere to charges of accepting bribes & thereby avoid jail time, the revelation that shocked the political world wasn’t that he was a crook, but that he was such a penny-ante crook: Most of the “white envelopes” that contractor Lester Matz delivered to him from his days as Baltimore County Executive through MD Governor and even unto VPOTUS, contained cash in the low four figures, or less.

  272. 272.

    Kay

    The resurgence now might lay waste to Kushner’s summer plans. Instead of focusing solely on his father-in-law’s floundering re-election campaign, he is finding himself in the medical supplies business again.

    Merit doesn’t matter. At all. This is EXACTLY how they sold Donald Trump. Every catastrophic failure was rewritten as a success.

  273. 273.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: a few months before Larry Craig got caught in the gents’ at if memory serves the Minneapolis airport, there was a similar story about a stormy meeting of the R Senate caucus, maybe before the ’06 midterms, there was a story about Craig going on an angry rant about “weak sisters” in the caucus, and every time he said it, he glared at Olympia Snowe.

  274. 274.

    Ken

    @Kay: No guns, just scary….accountants.

    Reminds me of one of my favorite Pratchett passages, from Going Postal.

    “Chalked markings – circles, squares, triangles – were drawn here and there on the floor. Within them, papers and ledgers were piled in dangerously neat heaps. And there were clerks, some working inside the outlines and some moving noiselessly from one outline to another bearing pieces of paper as if they were a sacrament. Abacuses clicked everywhere.

    “No enchanter’s circle, no mystic’s mandala was ever drawn with such painfully meticulous care as the conclusions being played out on the floor. Hour after hour, it went on, with a patience that at first terrified and then bored. It was the warfare of clerks, and it harried the enemy through many columns and files. The clerks found the numbers that weren’t there, or were there twice, or were there but going the wrong way. Peel away the lies, and the truth would emerge, naked and ashamed and with nowhere else to hide.”

  276. 276.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: This is heresy but I don’t think the list should be limited to women.

    ::raises hand:: I said, at the time Biden announced he’d pick a woman, that it seemed like an unforced error to limit the selection like that – I didn’t see the campaign gaining much (if anything) thereby. And I hoped that the campaign had done some surveying to establish that the announcement was a net positive (or at least not a net negative).

    I believe it’s critical for Democrats to run up the score as high as possible this November, for POTUS and all the down-ballot races (crucial for redistricting and state governance), but also because only a huge victory has a chance to shoo the Trumpistas back under their flat rocks as a socially unacceptable faction with a thoroughy discredited ethos. I think we’re going to need that going forward, because otherwise we’d have to post guards by those rocks 24/7/365 to prevent a resurgence of neofascism – and progressives are historically bad at that level of vigilance.

    But that’s JMO.

  279. 279.

    J R in WV

    @Tony Jay: 

    But there’s no way to say if a crime of any kind was committed because the Police didn’t collect any evidence and an investigation was never opened.

    Case closed, eh?

    Sounds like you Brits don’t even need Fat Billy Barr, your oen guys have making the big crimes disappear down pat!

  280. 280.

    J R in WV

    @SFAW:

    @frosty:

    Dead thread

    History has shown that a thread isn’t dead until J R in WV comments closes it out. Well, me, too, I guess.

    I try. If there’s no new thread, the old thread can’t die, right!?!?!!!

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