Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

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

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Come on, man.

Second rate reporter says what?

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Grab Him By The Franchise

Grab Him By The Franchise

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Oh, my fellow jackals! Donald Trump is clearly feeling the heat:  the fact that by an increasingly overwhelming majority, American women are rejecting him.

Grab Him By The Franchise

So, fearing the cold, implacable breath of nemesis, the Trumpistas have come up with a sure-fire way to reverse their fortunes.

We must lose no opportunity to point and laugh:

WASHINGTON (AP) — As controversy swirls over mail-in voting in this year’s election, President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will pardon Susan B. Anthony, a women’s suffrage leader arrested for voting in 1872 in violation of laws permitting only men to vote.

Meanwhile, as many have noted, Crystal Mason is still serving five years (editor’s note: FIVE FUCKING YEARS) for attempting to vote when she did not know she was not eligible to do so. This spring, a Texas court upheld that decision, offering the following reasoning:

During her 2018 trial probation officials testified that they never told Mason she could not vote, but the appeals court said that didn’t matter. Mason was guilty, the court said, because she knew she was on supervised release. “Contrary to Mason’s assertion, the fact that she did not know she was legally ineligible to vote was irrelevant to her prosecution,” Justice Wade Birdwell wrote for a three-judge panel on Texas’ second court of appeals.

So, yeah, fuck this transparent ploy to appeal to suburban (white) women and momentarily distract from the awesome Democratic Party presentation of an alternate vision to redeem our present hellscape.

 

Grab that wretched man and his worse party by the franchise, and banish them all to the outer darkness.

Image: Albrecht Dürer, Nemesis, 1501-1502

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    I think women are going to take him down. We could see that in 2017 in Virginia and the 2018 midterms.

  4. 4.

    WereBear

    @rk:

    I have no idea why a majority of men support Trump. What do they see in him?

     
    He’s living their dream. No responsibility at all, lots of apparent money, and randomly grabbing women who have no recourse.

    We have a lot of men stuck at 14 and never went past…

    Sorry to tell you…

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    I imagined that he would stage various stunts this week to try to grab the limelight away from the DNC. I didn’t really think said stunts would be so inane, since he definitely used to be good at stupid attention-grabbing stunts.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ve never been more motivated to cast a ballot in my life!

    Caught a short clip on Twitter of Trump standing next to a bunch of women dressed in white (I guess for the SBA pardon?) and petulantly complaining about Michelle Obama’s devastating summary of our national problem, i.e., himself. He said she should’ve done her speech LIVE (like anyone gives a shit).

    Gotta think this raises the stakes for the Third Lady’s RNC address, which will have to be delivered LIVE. She can’t straight-up plagiarize Michelle O this time, unless her object is to flay her sorry husband in front of the entire nation (I’m sure she’d be glad to if it resulted in his actual demise, but alas).

    There’s not enough bourbon in the world to entice me to watch the RNC clown show. But I will seek out a clip of the Third Lady, if only to again marvel at how far we’ve fallen.

  8. 8.

    The Thin Black Duke

    A vote for Trump is a step closer to living The Handmaid’s Tale. No thank you.

  9. 9.

    Aleta

    Parts of Melania’s convention speech have been leaked.

     “Be Best” means taking the harder path. “Be Best” means clawing our way over the sick and the Socialists to the  top.  Right now, they are doing everything they can to stop us from living. The Democrat Party is closing down the Spas by Ivanka in white neighborhoods. 

    If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they will if we lose. If we want to be able to look in the mirror after this election, we have to control the information and the history.

    My husband is a profoundly decent man, guided by faith. He did an economic miracle, and God sent the virus to test him to do it again. You know how much he cares about our children. Our children don’t get very sick. They don’t catch it easily. He will tell the truth and trust the Evangelicals.

    Sorry, joke.

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    @rk:

    I have no idea why a majority of men support Trump. What do they see in him?

    They want their cis white male privilege back, and they see Trump as the man to do it.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    My imagination or did the GOP just blindside Trump with that Russian election interference report?

    I am starting to believe the Republicans want to throw the election so they can get on with their real business of collecting donation without the tiresome distraction of actually having to govern.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Tom, I know this isn’t that thread, but I’ve started Money for Nothing and am finding it fascinating. Am looking forward to the BJ discussion later today. Meantime, big congratulations on the new book!

  13. 13.

    CaseyL

    NotAllWhiteMen, of course – there are many who are wonderful – but it’s hard to see what’s going on, historically and now, here and abroad, and not conclude that the biggest cause of every problem is White Men.

    “49% of the human population, and 80% of human-caused tragedies.”

  15. 15.

    catclub

    @dmsilev: I wish the speakers would taunt him for not having a job and only having time to Tweet.

    “If he were working on solving the testing problem he wouldn’t be spending all his time tweeting.”

  16. 16.

    MattF

    That Dürer woodcut is… um, remarkable. Even putting aside the little town she’s hovering over.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I am starting to believe the Republicans want to throw the election so they can get on with their real business of collecting donation without the tiresome distraction of actually having to govern.

    I don’t see why they have to lose the election to do that.  They didn’t bother trying to govern when they had control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

  18. 18.

    Geoboy

    Regarding the Susan B. Anthony pardon – is pandering while being an oblivious imbecile a crime?

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WereBear: Some never-trumper posted something a while back about an “Ivy League” educated relative, male, who said he couldn’t help but admiring the way trump gets away with everything.

    I usually say he has a maladjusted middle-school bully’s idea of “tough”, and that unfortunately has broad appeal. In the run-up to ’16, there was a proto-diner story about the opioid crisis in rural areas. A sixty-something farmer who lost two sons to overdoses was going to vote for trump because ‘we gotta get tough with this thing’ (yes, he probably would’ve been a trump vote if his sons were both alive and thriving). Get tough with ISIS, get tough with immigrants, get tough with trade, get tough with Those People….

  22. 22.

    PPCLI

    @Betty Cracker: The most head-scratching of the Trump remarks when he complained that because of pre-taping, Michelle O. got the number of Covid deaths wrong. (150,000)

    Does he really want us thinking about the fact that 20000 more people died in the 20 or so day interval?

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: LOL! Speaking of which, here’s the latest from those scamps at the Lincoln Project. The latest contemptuous hand-holding rebuff was this weekend, so quick work!

    That last bit looks like she’s afraid he’ll steal her handbag. Maybe she keeps the pills in it.

  24. 24.

    catclub

    Did anybody else notice when the House wanted to investigate the shift of Hospital data reporting from the CDC – where it legally belongs – to a private company?  And the private compnay told the House committee “We’ll be happy to cooperate, except we have an NDA on that so we cannot say anything.”  ? WTF?? a government contract and you cannot talk about it to the House Committee that has oversight?

     

    Or did that get lost in all the other news?

  28. 28.

    Alison Rose

    @Elizabelle: I’d like to believe it would be all women, but we’ve seen that white women still tend to suffer from Cool Girl ™ Syndrome and will support whomever they think will make the boys like them more.

    It’s Black women who have done their damn best to save all of our asses in the past, and it will likely be them again.

  29. 29.

    LuciaMia

    Yeah, ignorance of the law is no excuse, but as the editor said “Five fucking years?!”

  30. 30.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Roger Moore: I don’t see why they have to lose the election to do that.  They didn’t bother trying to govern when they had control of the presidency and both houses of Congress

    The donors expect something in return besides showing up and voting no. What a drag. For a Republican that is in some safe +15 R seat perpetual vacation begins January 2020.

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    @Alison Rose:  How patronizing.

    What’s more, it can never be “all women” because we have white evangelical women in the mix, and they are a problem.  Trump stripped the white evangelicals’ clothing off along with his own.  (Apologies to the sincere Christians out there, who actually follow Jesus’s teachings, and they are possibly even more sick of the rightwingers than we are.)

  33. 33.

    MisterForkbeard

    @catclub: I noticed. IIRC, it’s not unheard of for company to have a NDA like this. But it’s completely bizarre to use it to block oversight from congress.

    Yet another thing the Trump administration is pursuing. Sigh.

  36. 36.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Alison Rose: It blew my f’ing mind in high school when I realized that one of the dumber girls in my AP classes was actually super fucking smart and got great grades… but acted like an idiot because she knew it would make her more popular. She was the daughter of the AP English teacher, too.

    20 years later I know women who still have that mindset. And I know others who think it’s awful and still perform because it’s the only way to get ahead in business. Really, really sad.

  37. 37.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Betty Cracker:

    So…where all the evangelical scolds when this stuff happens? What do conservatives think about this behavior between the President and the First Lady? You know that if a Dem couple ever acted like this they would be all over it

  38. 38.

    RaflW

    The anti-abortion folks will actually be very happy with this. Anthony is a stealth (or at least, less-known-for-it) anti-abortion hero on the right.

    Susan B. Anthony: Pro-Life Feminist (Catholic Education site)

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geoboy: I vaguely wonder who put the idea in his noggin. He never heard of Susan B Anthony. I wonder if Kellyanne has a history with this group, the would-be anti-abortion answer to Emily’s List.

  40. 40.

    scav

    I can see Donnie (and tribe) only pardoning dead women because he figures they’ll never talk back. Probably can’t distinguish them from his idealized women, especially as they can’t swat him away.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @catclub:

    {self-backpat} Yup, posted an article excerpt about this a few days ago and still can’t believe the legal mechanisms are in place allowing it. But then, it’s Trump’s world and we’re just stealing his oxygen.

    Also, reading about his new physician running COVID interference has me equally boggled. Thank you, Hoover Institute, for finding and feeding these morons.

  44. 44.

    taumaturgo

    Among less educated voters, the Democratic Party holds an edge with women (51% of women without a college degree identified as Democrats vs. 42% who identified as Republicans), while men without a degree were more likely to identify as Republicans (52% vs. 40% who identified as Democrats). This represents a marked gain for the GOP among men without a college degree. As recently as 10 years ago, this group was roughly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Republican gains among men without a college degree have been driven by a growing edge among white men in this group. Pew research 8/2020

  47. 47.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @MattF: It’s fabulous!  TomL always picks great, appropriate art for these posts. I love it!

  48. 48.

    Eunicecycle

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I remember after the Lewinsky scandal broke that Hillary’s body language was analyzed extensively. I think there was a similar incident where Bill tried to hold her hand and she was not having it.

  51. 51.

    sdhays

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Dump is God’s vessel. The rules don’t apply to God’s vessel. He and Mike Dense could copulate on the White House lawn and it would be ok because God chose him.

    It works the same for ministers and other powerful people in evangelical churches. As long as you hate the right people, you can do whatever you want. Because that’s what Jesus wants

    ETA: Correction – that’s what Baby Jesus wants.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    1. What federal law did SBA break by voting in NY?
    2. Notice that he announced he was going to be pardoning her, not actually pardoning her.
    3. Crystal Mason should not have been imprisoned and should have won her appeal.
    4. Nemesis was a woman?  I did not know that.  Obligatory Shriekback (3:42)

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    Sebastian

    @LuciaMia:

    If that is the measure then we will shall go through those judges history with a VERY fine toothed comb and check which laws have been broken and then lock them up for the max time because, you know, not knowing about a law and not being told doesn’t matter.

  57. 57.

    MisterForkbeard

    @taumaturgo: Sounds about right. Trump hasn’t been shy about appealing to the “white uneducated cockwaffle” demographic

    EDIT: This is not a Trump-only phenomenon. The entire GOP has been all-in on “white uneducated racist dudes” for a long time, but they’ve been a lot more obvious in the past decade.

  58. 58.

    Leto

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They’ll tut tut it, then turn to the story of David and Bathsheba, and talk about how GAAAAAWD worked wonders through his vessel. Yes Trumpov is a horrible fucking human being by any measure, but GAAAAAAWD is working through him to get taxes reduced, pro-life judges installed, owns teh libs on a regular, and did we mention lower taxes? Everything Christ preached.

  60. 60.

    RaflW

    @Roger Moore: It’s harder to shake down CEOs for campaign grift if you’re in charge but not delivering results.

    If I were the CEO of, say, Delta Airlines I’d be on the phone weekly, if not more often, to Sens Loeffler and Perdue to rip them to shreds. Delta is sending a handful of unprofitable, half-empty planes to Europe each week. They used to have 6 daily nonstops to Europe just from Minneapolis St Paul. Plus of course Atlanta, JFK, DTW, LAX, SEA, and SLC.

    Those exclusive lie flat suites up front were making bank. Now it’s all the airlines can do just to not go belly up.

    I’m sure many have no love for our airlines, given the bs pricing and the misery of economy travel. But they employ (or did) 100s of thousands of Americans and kept Boeing and a host of equipment suppliers working full steam.

    Trump & GOP utter bungling has, beyond the horrific death toll, closed nearly all borders. Travel will be impacted for 3-5 years, minimum.

    So, yeah, not much fun to be in the hot seat. The minority? Fun & profitable, because you don’t have to do shit and not get blamed for it.

  61. 61.

    rp

    @sdhays: I can’t stop thinking about the fact that Trump is the perfect embodiment of ALL of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. If I believed in such things, I could make a very compelling case that he’s the antichrist.

  63. 63.

    dnfree

    @MisterForkbeard: when I was thirteen (late 1950s), my mother had a talk with me. She told me I shouldn’t show off being smart, and in fact should play dumb, laugh at boys’ jokes, etc. if I wanted to have a boyfriend and eventually get married. I found this puzzling—did I have to go through my entire life pretending?  But on the other hand, it did explain something about my parents’ relationship. My dad was smart, and he knew my mom was smart, but he thought she agreed with him on everything.

  64. 64.

    RaflW

    @rk: “I  have no idea why a majority of men support Trump.”

    @rp: “Trump is the perfect embodiment of … pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.”

    And there we have it.

  66. 66.

    Salty Sam

    @dmsilev: . I didn’t really think said stunts would be so inane, since he definitely used to be good at stupid attention-grabbing stunts.

    He used his rallies to test new material- he’d riff new material and whatever got the best applause from the mouth-breathers would go  into rotation.  Without his rallies, he’s flying blind.  Look for increasingly stupid stunts as this campaign-from-hell continues.

  67. 67.

    dmsilev

    DeJoy Announces He Will Pause USPS Overhaul Until After Election

    Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday, days before a slate of congressional hearings, that he will postpone the USPS overhaul until after the November election “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.”

    He said that, for now, approval of overtime hours for postal workers will continue “as needed,” and that mail processing equipment will be untouched and centers left open.

    “In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand,” he said.

  69. 69.

    FridayNext

    Can he pardon her? She was arrested in New York State. Voting laws are typically local or state matters. Some states had women’s suffrage decades before the 19th amendment.

    Shouldn’t this be a state matter?

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @burnspbesq:

    I would guess that the voting offense was a penalty of, say, about 90 days.

    The other 1736 days were just for being in TX while black.

  75. 75.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Another Scott: She’s probably a divine holdover from the pre-Patriaricial religion of the pre-Classical Greeks. Like the Fates, or the Furies.

  78. 78.

    Alison Rose

    @Elizabelle: How was it patronizing? Stats show a majority–perhaps a slim one, but still a majority–of white women vote Republican, whereas Black women support Democrats almost unanimously. When we talk about women winning elections for the left, the racial components of those votes have to be taken into account, otherwise you’re not telling the full story.

  79. 79.

    PPCLI

    @Elizabelle: Excellent!

    Now the Democratic message should include “If you don’t vote for us, DeJoy will go back to holding up your medicine.”

  80. 80.

    Morzer

    @NotMax: “As a bla…. orange woman at the Demo… Republican convention….”

    Lady Covidia’s speech is going to be one of the lamest productions seen since her husband’s attempt to waddle down a ramp.

  81. 81.

    Mike in NC

    My wife asked about becoming a “suburban housewife”. I told her she’d need to go around the house in high heels, pearl necklace, frilly dress, and maybe a pair of white gloves. That and just bake several batches of cookies all day long.

  82. 82.

    J R in WV

    @dmsilev:

    “In addition, effective Oct. 1, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand,” he said.

    How “unforeseen” can an election that has been scheduled for decades now actually be?

    How “unforeseen” can a global pandemic that has been raging for months now possibly be?

    How stupid does this joker think American voters really are?

    Don’t answer that one, the answer is “president” Donald John Trump~!!~

  83. 83.

    sdhays

    @Elizabelle: One of the most disturbing things that was announced was the intention to treat ballots as bulk mail rather than priority mail. That meant that there was no guarantee at all that ballots would be delivered timely or even at all. I heard the Snooze Hour talking about the USPS last night, and I was pissed that they didn’t mention this. I don’t see it mentioned in this article either. Hopefully that’s been put on hold too.

  84. 84.

    hueyplong

    @JPL: Agreed, I see no reference to reinstalling the sorters already removed.  He just said the minimum he thinks is required in order to have the Dems call off the grill session.

    Makes me think the Trumpists are ok with the damage already done.

  89. 89.

    Zinsky

    I really wonder what happened to Jane Doe, who filed a complaint against Jeffrey Epstein and Donald J. Trump in 2016, accusing the two of raping her when she was 13 years old?  Here is the article about the complaint:

    https://www.alternet.org/2016/06/donald-trump-accused-rape-federal-court-lawsuit/

    And here is the actual court filling:

    https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4357335/1/doe-v-trump/

    Was Ghislaine Maxwell the person described as “Tiffany Doe”?  Who was the other witness to Trump’s rape besides Epstein?

  90. 90.

    Benw

    Oooh pardon Copernicus next! The “suburban astronomer” vote is just there for the taking!!

  93. 93.

    Jay

    @sdhays:

     

    Baby Jesus wants Golden Showers from Sex Workers?

    Y’alls plan to piss on Dumph’s grave isn’t going to be the statement you want itto be.

  94. 94.

    Mike in NC

    @rk: I have no idea why a majority of men support Trump. What do they see in him?

    They wish they could own a fast, noisy power boat, flying a bunch of big-ass flags with maybe a few guns stashed down below.

    Of course, there’s the old joke that the happiest day in a boat owner’s life is the day he buys the boat, and the second happiest day is the day he sells it.

  95. 95.

    Redshift

    @hueyplong:

    He just said the minimum he thinks is required in order to have the Dems call off the grill session. 

    Oh, that is not going to happen. I am eagerly anticipating Katie Porter asking him to explain how removing multi-million dollar high-speed sorting machines is a “cost-cutting measure.” And how it can be simultaneously true that the postal service doesn’t need any additional funding but that cost-cutting is more urgent than maintaining service.

  97. 97.

    Gravenstone

    @PPCLI: 

    “If you don’t vote for us, DeJoy will go back to holding up your medicine.”

    Unless they reverse the actions already undertaken, those delays are likely to continue. Then DeJoy and friends will get to explain to everyone exactly why their medicine, checks, payments, etc… are still being delayed even though they claimed they were stopping their bad actions.

  99. 99.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Elizabelle: Except, you know, the mail-sorting machines that he’s already removed, etc.

    Pausing halfway through a demolition still leaves an unsafe and damaged building.

  100. 100.

    Redshift

    I haven’t closely followed the debacle of the Trumpers’ big Kodak announcement (unsurprisingly, the official White House email is still singing Trump’s praises for “bringing back pharmaceutical manufacturing” without mentioning that the deal is on hold.) But I saw this yesterday: “‘You can’t fix stupid’: Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro rips Kodak executives”. It may be that the Kodak execs screwed up, but I will not be at all surprised if the investigation finds that the stock run-up was the result of insider trading by administration flunkies, since apparently they were the ones who knew the deal was going to be announced, not the Kodak people. (So I actually agree with what Navarro says, but not in the way that he means it…)

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    This could have had an effect, too.  And I hope they file suit to get every single sorting machine back.  Do not let up the heat, one bit.

    WaPost: At least 20 states plan to sue the U.S. Postal Service over service delays, threat to election

    At least 20 states plan to file lawsuits this week against the U.S. Postal Service and its new postmaster, Louis DeJoy, seeking to reverse service changes that have prompted widespread reports of delays and accusations of an intentional effort to thwart voters from mailing their ballots this fall.

    The suits, expected to be filed in federal court imminently, will argue that the Postal Service broke the law by making operational changes without first seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission. They will also argue that the changes will impede states’ ability to run free and fair elections, officials from several state attorney general offices told The Washington Post.

    “We’re trying to stop Trump’s attacks on the Postal Service, which we believe to be an attack on the integrity of election. It’s a straight-up attack on democracy,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh (D) said in an interview. “This conduct is illegal. It’s unconstitutional. It’s harmful to the country. It’s harmful to individuals.”

    …. Maryland is signing onto a suit led by Washington state, which is expected to be filed at 2 p.m. Tuesday, and also includes Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a draft obtained by The Post.

    Separately, Pennsylvania is filing another suit, joined by California, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina, among others. All the states are represented by Democratic attorneys general.

    Frosh said the operational changes are also a violation of the Voting Rights Act, saying the sorting machine removal disproportionately impacts cities, which tend to be home to minorities. The lawsuit also contends violations of the Americans with Disability Act by making it more difficult for people with physical disabilities and health conditions to safely cast a ballot.
    “Because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, this is asking them to risk their lives,” he said.

    The Postal Service also recently warned 46 states that it could not guarantee the delivery of ballots under their current deadlines.

    Again: All the states [filing these lawsuits] are represented by Democratic attorneys general.  Voting matters. Vote for the Democrats if you want to vote for the good guys, who believe in the public good and protecting services that benefit it.

    There is a fact you can mention in your GOTV work.

  104. 104.

    gene108

    @rk:

    The majority of white men vote Republican. Doesn’t matter the Republican, nationally 60%+ of white men vote Republican.

     

    That is their core constituency.  Right wing media, Republican statements, etc. are aimed entirely to reassure this group their version of reality is correct.

    And by default we take white men as the serious people. Therefore, no matter how fucking badly Republicans handle anything, the media is programmed to listen to them because they represent the majority of white men.

    You can see this over how much attention the plight of coal miners (mostly white men) got, versus preschool teachers (mostly women) being underpaid, even though there are many times more people working preschools, than coal mines.

  105. 105.

    rp

    @Roger Moore: I’m not a government contracts lawyer, but I can’t imagine an NDA that prohibits the contractor from sharing info. with Congress is enforceable.

  106. 106.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @dmsilev: that he will postpone the USPS overhaul until after the November election

    I am going to bet Dejoy doesn’t even makes it to the election before Trump’s fires him.

    Trump can never fail, Trump can only be failed.

  110. 110.

    Cameron

    “I will be issuing a pardon for that great champion of women’s rights, Alice B. Toklas…”

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    @JoyceH

    “Just as soon as scheduled maintenance to configure them to send Democrat ballots to the rejects bin is completed.”

    //

  112. 112.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mike in NC: Does she get to swap out the white gloves for dishwashing gloves as she’s washing up after cookie-baking binge? Come on – after all, we’re not *complete* monsters, here!

  113. 113.

    Mike in NC

    @Cacti:  Makes you wonder how many Republican consultants worked to elect the strongmen currently running Poland, Hungary, and Belarus. Maybe the Philippines, too.

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    @Mike in NC:

    Of course, there’s the old joke that the happiest day in a boat owner’s life is the day he buys the boat, and the second happiest day is the day he sells it.

    You know, with just a few modifications, that could apply to horse owners as well!//

  116. 116.

    Immanentize

    @FridayNext: I actually tracked down an answer to your question!  Because I had the same question.

    It turns out that Susan B. was tried for a federal crime of voting in a federal election.  The trial was a shit show and SCOTUS Justice Ward Hunt with of course an all male jury.

    Here is an overview:

    SUSAN B trial

  120. 120.

    Brachiator

    Arrgh! Late to the thread. I was deep in a work bubble, and not looking at any news stories anywhere.

    Trump pardons Susan B Anthony?

    A dope who is trying to prevent people from voting pardons a woman whose right to vote was denied?

    I can’t even…

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    @JoyceH:   We have to demand that.  Bring back our mail sorting machines and mailboxes.

    I think it could happen.  We have to make it happen.

  123. 123.

    Immanentize

    @rp: It is not.  But what I would hope Congress does is say, OK, please immediately send us the NDA.  Certainly there can be no objection to releasing that.

  125. 125.

    Subsole

    @rk: 

    From what I have seen it is largely because every authority figure they have tells them they are weaklings if they don’t.

    You ever watch the Chernobyl miniseries? That line where Boris says “You are talking about humiliating people who are obsessed with not being humiliated,” is about as apt a summation as I have seen.

  126. 126.

    ET

    The real surprise is that anyone – even the stupid ones working for tRump who thought this up – would think this was an idea worth the time. Honestly, they really do think most Americans are as stupid as his hard core supporters.

  128. 128.

    randy khan

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I noticed. IIRC, it’s not unheard of for company to have a NDA like this. But it’s completely bizarre to use it to block oversight from congress.

    Yet another thing the Trump administration is pursuing. Sigh.

    I’ve seen a ton of NDAs in my career.  (I spent a good chunk of time one year doing what seemed like nothing but reviewing NDAs.)  I’ve never seen one that even suggests that the company or person who signed it has to withhold information when compelled to provide it by some kind of legal process.  The most the agreements ever say is that you’re required to try to get protection for the confidential information.

  129. 129.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elizabelle: Just pray we can elect a Democrat to CD-3, my Congressional District. I’m not super psyched about Diane Mitsch Bush, the candidate – she talks a little too much about how great she is at bipartisanship, and any of Cole’s readers who isn’t muttering “tire rims and anthrax” under their breath just hasn’t been paying attention – but her opponent is a rootin’ tootin’ Q-Anon-spootin’ gun nut who managed to bump off Scott Tipton in the Republican primary. I wasn’t sure how we could get worse than Tipton, till Lauren Boebert bobbed into view – think Sarah Palin, with even more of a jones for the RWNJ spotlight, but with even fewer political chops. Oh, we could get worse, all right.

  130. 130.

    Elizabelle

    Andy Borowitz, satirist, in The New Yorker. Susan B. Anthony Begs Trump Not to Pardon Her: “I Don’t Want to Be on a Wikipedia Page with Roger Stone”

    HEAVEN (The Borowitz Report)—In a rare utterance from beyond the grave, Susan B. Anthony on Tuesday begged Donald J. Trump not to pardon her, stating, “I don’t want to be on the same Wikipedia page as Roger Stone.”

    Noting that an entire Wikipedia page had been created to record the people to whom Trump had granted executive clemency, Anthony said, “It wasn’t exactly my dream to wind up on the same list as a guy with a Nixon tattoo on his back.”

    … Anthony noted that it was “super ironic” that Trump planned to pardon her on the same day that he blasted Michelle Obama. “It would be cool if you were as nice to historic women who are still alive as you are to dead ones,” she said.

  132. 132.

    randy khan

    @Another Scott:

    So, if Wikipedia is to be believed, she was tried in federal court for violating New York State law, the judge refused to send the case to the jury, instead entering the verdict himself, and when she refused to pay the fine, he decided not to jail her, which meant she couldn’t appeal the decision to the Supreme Court under the rules then in place.  Oh, and a bunch of other women voted, but instead of prosecuting them, the state went after the election officials who let them vote.  Totally bizarre from start to finish.

  133. 133.

    Mike G

    @rk:  I have no idea why a majority of men support Trump. What do they see in him?

    Not just men but authoritarian-followers and white trash of all kinds.

    He validates their hatreds, their ignorance and selfishness. Tells them it’s not only OK but awesome to be an asshole. Sadists love seeing strong daddy beat up on people they hate.

  134. 134.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Another Scott: Here’s a fun thought. If SBA broke a NY law, Cuomo could pardon her (assuming a governor has that power). Hey, Trump. Put that in your pipe and smoke it

     

    ETA Oh boo. I see EmDeeBee says it was indeed a federal law. So much for that idea.

  135. 135.

    catclub

    @sdhays: and it would be ok because God chose him.

     

    I am always gobsmacked by these people thinking that an omnipotent God could not stop Obama from being elected, (Because they NEVER seem to mention that Obama was also chosen by God) but can pick Trump.

  136. 136.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: Others have made the point that her swatting his hand away and disliking being touched by him doesn’t mean that she’s on our side. She’s not.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    mad citizen

    @ET:  The stupidity is immense with this act today. My tweet to some news tweet on this was “This changes everything! I’m voting for him now”.

    That Lincoln Project hand-holding spot is friggin’ awesome! I can no longer find the post-rally “walk of shame” LP piece with the flat harmonica.

  140. 140.

    Another Scott

    @Immanentize: Thanks.

    As highest ranking woman elected official in New York and on behalf of Susan B. Anthony’s legacy we demand Trump rescind his pardon.

    She was proud of her arrest to draw attention to the cause for women’s rights, and never paid her fine. Let her Rest In Peace, @realDonaldTrump.

    — Kathy Hochul (@LtGovHochulNY) August 18, 2020

    Donnie’s record of dumpster fires continues to grow.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @catclub: FTFNYT has the letter from TeleTracking Technology’s lawyers to Sen. Patty Murry.  It has lots of details about the contract with links.

    https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/tele-tracking-response-to-sentator-schumer-and-senator-murray-dated-august-03-2020-1/7cf488a8cc55487b/full.pdf (3 page .pdf)

    Congress is entitled to answers.  Companies are entitled to have sensitive proprietary information protected and NDAs with government agencies are not unusual.  Congress will get the answers it needs – NDA or no, but Donnie’s minions will do their best to draw out the process.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  142. 142.

    opiejeanne

    @Leto: 

    They’ll tut tut it, then turn to the story of David and Bathsheba, and talk about how GAAAAAWD worked wonders through his vessel.

    I was thinking it was more like the story of Gideon, a tool in every sense of the word.

  143. 143.

    opiejeanne

    @Another Scott:  You’re not a fan of Miss Marple? She is described as “Nemesis” by a character in one of Agatha Christie’s books, “Caribbean Mystery”.

  147. 147.

    Another Scott

    @opiejeanne: There are entirely too many mystery series to keep up with.  I’ve read “And Then There Were None” and “MotOE”, I think, and seen a lot of them on PBS.  I guess I was not paying attention if I had heard that about Nemesis.  :-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  148. 148.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Rand Careaga: and if god drinks to you think he gets stoned/smokes weed. Look at a platypus. I think so! – obligatory Robin Williams reference

  149. 149.

    evodevo

    @sdhays:  Yes. It doesn’t. See: Epicurus on the gods… volumes and volumes of Xtian apologetics have been published for 2000 years trying and failing to answer this question (see also: theodicy)

  151. 151.

    Ken

    @opiejeanne: Miss Marple? She is described as “Nemesis”

    Yes, but the best fictional-detective Nemesis has to be Columbo.  “Just one more thing, sir…”

  152. 152.

    Ruckus

    @MisterForkbeard:

    NDAs are shitforbrains way of protecting himself. He knows he’s wrong, he knows he’s not going to change, and he thinks no one is going to break the NDA.

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