Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Second rate reporter says what?

This fight is for everything.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

“Squeaker” McCarthy

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Republicans in disarray!

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

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Monday Evening Open Thread: Energizing

Monday Evening Open Thread: Energizing

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  3. 3.

    craigie

    I’ve gotten to the point where I want them to push some nutcase onto the court, so that we have the clear moral authority to add 4 new judges. And if we end up with 999 Supremes in a few decades, so much the better. Then no individual judge will be this important.

  4. 4.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    Can’t be worse than the “Rise of Skywalker”.

    I just hope our voters can remain this angry and fired up for the rest of the 2020’s.

    Without Trump to focus our rage on, I fear we may see a serious drop in public engagement.

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur·40m
    FEINSTEIN on ending filibuster and expanding SCOTUS: “I don’t believe in doing that. I think the filibuster serves a purpose. It is not often used, it’s often less used now than when I first came, and I think it’s part of the Senate that differentiates itself.”

    An anti-filibuster source sends this along in response to Feinstein:

    Angus King opposes eliminating the filibuster, I haven’t seen him comment on court reform

  10. 10.

    Damien

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Feinstein must be losing a step, because of course it’s used less than when she first came in, BECAUSE REPUBLICAN PIGS MADE IT THE LEGISLATIVE DEFAULT.

    I look forward to voting for a younger, sharper replacement in the next primary.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    @craigie:

    I have an alternative proposal.  Instead of expanding the Supreme Court, we should shrink it down to 7 members by eliminating the member who has served the longest and the one who has served the shortest time.

  13. 13.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:  Maybe proper rounds of truth commissions, investigations, and trials could help forestall that.They could easily last through much of the decade and make it harder for people to forget or ignore.

  14. 14.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ugh. I’ve defended Feinstein a lot in the past but this is just execrable.

    Biden can probably get her to change her mind, and she has a golden opportunity to change her mind if McConnell does force a justice through. “I thought Republicans believed in a functioning government and following rules. They don’t. At this point, there is no option left but to change how the Supreme Court works, as the Republicans have now succeeded in sabotaging it for a generation.” Etc.

  16. 16.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Damien: Well, no. The filibuster is never used now because McConnell only schedules votes he wants to pass, and Democrats can’t filibuster judges. That’s it.

    Oh, I suppose technically we didn’t have that many filibusters in late-Obama presidency either, because Republicans just wouldn’t schedule votes at all. The filibuster has been nearly dead for the last 6 years for a reason, you know?

    It didn’t even block ACA removal, as that was done on a 50-vote threshold. So what has it done recently?

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    https://thehill.com/homenews/house/517391-house-democrats-unveil-bill-to-avert-shutdown

    Legislation introduced Monday by House Democrats to keep the federal government funded through Dec. 11 quickly ran into opposition from Senate Republicans, raising the odds of a shutdown at the end of the month, just weeks before the election.

    Government funding is slated to run out on Sept. 30, leaving just nine days for both parties to avoid a damaging shutdown at a time when tensions are already spiking over Senate GOP plans to quickly fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and stalled negotiations over a coronavirus relief bill.

    Democrats on Monday unveiled a stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that does not contain a provision requested by the White House to provide aid for farmers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

    […]

    A senior administration official said it’s unlikely the president signs the funding bill should it pass both chambers without the CCC provision.

    “[The odds are] very low. CCC is a big deal and they have nothing,” the official told The Hill.

    But White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested earlier in the day that “most of all we want a clean CR to keep the government open.”

    […]

    But Democrats are steadfastly opposed to adding the funding requested by the White House to the stopgap bill, arguing the $3.4 trillion coronavirus relief package passed by the House in May includes funds for farmers.

    “What the Trump Administration wanted added to the clean CR wasn’t help for farmers – it was more than $20 billion more taxpayer dollars that the Trump Administration views as a bottomless, unaccountable political slush fund,” a senior Democratic aide said.

    […]

    As usual, the GOP side can’t get its act together, and Donnie wants free billions to throw at areas that he thinks supports his voters.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @MisterForkbeard: 
    Filibusters still happen when McConnell wants to force the Democrats to put their names on blocking his proposals. The most recent example I can think of was the Republican COVID relief bill. It wasn’t a serious attempt at legislation- it was obvious DOA in the House- but McConnell wanted to force the Democrats to vote against it in the hopes it could be used against them.

  22. 22.

    mdblanche

    @gene108: Serious questions: Is anybody expecting Trump to act like a normal ex-president? What evidence is there that he’d ever become a reserved elder statesman? Why wouldn’t he run again in 2024 and why would he lose the nomination? And how could we all miss him if he won’t go away?

  23. 23.

    scott (the other one)

    @gene108: The chances of Trump NOT continuing to get even worse over the next 43 days are, as the bard once said, somewhere between Slim and None…and Slim just walked out the door.

  25. 25.

    Just Chuck

    I have so little faith in this country’s ability to make real structural changes.  I lay odds at 10% that the court actually gets expanded or the filibuster is ended.  PR or DC statehood at 1% because blahblahblah tradition and “50 is a nice round number”.  Count on that very argument actually being made.  Maybe double those odds if there were 100 Democrats in the Senate.

  26. 26.

    Kent

    @MisterForkbeard:

    @Damien: Well, no. The filibuster is never used now because McConnell only schedules votes he wants to pass, and Democrats can’t filibuster judges. That’s it.

    Oh, I suppose technically we didn’t have that many filibusters in late-Obama presidency either, because Republicans just wouldn’t schedule votes at all. The filibuster has been nearly dead for the last 6 years for a reason, you know?

    It didn’t even block ACA removal, as that was done on a 50-vote threshold. So what has it done recently?

    It’s just tanned and rested and ready to jump up and bite the head of every single damn thing that Biden and the Democratic Party will want to do from 2021-onwards.

    The notion that it isn’t used much because the GOP majority hasn’t had to use it recently is nonsensical.

  29. 29.

    scott (the other one)

    @mdblanche: The physical and mental deterioration he’s undergone in the past four years is pretty amazing. Once out of office, and he no longer has passionate defenders to cover up his obvious slippage, it will only become more undeniable, especially since he’ll actually be under even more pressure post-Presidency, from civilian lawsuits, without the protection of his consigliere William Barr.

  30. 30.

    Kent

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:@MisterForkbeard: Basically all the filibuster does is make Congress look ineffectual.  People look at Congress(I’ve heard this from both Republicans and Democrats) and say all they do is argue and they never get anything done.

    The other thing it does is shift the critical swing vote from the 50th most conservative/liberal Senator to the 60th most conservative/liberal Senator.

    In a future 51/49 Dem Senate that means Manchin becomes the key deciding swing vote not say….Rand Paul.

  32. 32.

    James E Powell

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    What I’ve always hated about Feinstein is that she can’t just say nothing, she has to preempt any Democratic position. She did it on impeachment then tried to walk it back. I do not understand why California Ds vote for her. I don’t understand why she can’t be a team player.

    We are a dark blue state. At least one of our senators should be an envelope pushing left-winger who makes a lot of noise.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    @mdblanche: He’ll be Tweeting incessantly and calling into any TV show that will have him (Fox and OANN mainly). No Bush “go away and take up painting as a hobby” for him. How much people outside the Trump cult will care about the blathering is another question.

    Oh, and I give it about a week before no-longer-President Trump forgets that he no longer has “I can declassify things on my say-so” authority and blabs out something that should be secret. That’ll be …interesting.

  36. 36.

    gene108

    @Roger Moore:

    I have an alternative proposal. Instead of expanding the Supreme Court, we should shrink it down to 7 members by eliminating the member who has served the longest and the one who has served the shortest time.

    Right now there are 8 members. Following your formula, we’d be at a 3-3 tie.

    It’d only work, if Biden gets to pick and confirm RBG’s replacement.

  37. 37.

    ellie

    @mdblanche: My fear is that he is going to go on a world tour, exposing all of America’s state secrets/plans/weapons, etc. He is a dangerously loose cannon.

  38. 38.

    Damien

    @MisterForkbeard: Wow, that’s actually a really good point.  So basically it exists as a shade only, a shadow of its former potency.  Can’t really think of a better metaphor for the Senate itself…

  39. 39.

    L85NJGT

    US President Donald Trump bragged about his record on appointing judges, calling them “golden nuggets”

    “I don’t get it, why are they confessing?”
    “They aren’t confessing. They’re bragging.”

  40. 40.

    Another Scott

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yup.  But it’s complicated, as always.

    https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30360 (25 page .pdf)

    The filibuster is widely viewed as one of the Senate’s most distinctive procedural features. Today, the term is most often used to refer to Senators holding the floor in extended debate. More generally, however, filibustering includes any tactics aimed at blocking a measure by preventing it from coming to a vote.

    As a consequence, the Senate has no specific rules for filibustering. Instead, possibilities for filibustering exist because Senate rules lack provisions that would place specific limits on Senators’ rights and opportunities in the legislative process. In particular, those rules establish no generally applicable limits on the length of debate, nor any motions by which a majority could vote to bring a debate to an end, or even limit it.

    The only Senate rule that permits the body, by vote, to bring consideration of a matter to an end is paragraph 2 of Rule XXII, known as the cloture rule. In general, invoking cloture requires a super-majority vote (usually 60 out of 100 Senators) and, in such cases, doing so does not terminate consideration but only imposes a time limit. Cloture also imposes restrictions on certain other procedures that potentially could be used to dilatory effect. In recent years, as a result, cloture has increasingly been used to overcome filibusters being conducted not only by debate, but through various other delaying tactics.

    […]

    Impact on the Time for Consideration

    In principle, a truly determined minority of Senators, even one too small to prevent cloture, usually can delay for as much as two weeks the time at which the Senate finally votes to pass a
    bill that most Senators support.

    […]

    The biggest problem isn’t filibusters and cloture, it is instead that a monster like Moscow Mitch can sit on good bills, and good court nominees if he feels like it and never let those actions take place to consider the bills or the nominees if he wants to. And it’s only rarely that Senators do things like file a Discharge Petition to make him act. The presence of cloture and filibusters (or their absence) won’t affect that.

    All that said, getting rid of the need for supermajorities to get things done is a good thing. The majority must be able to pass its agenda (and face the consequences if the public doesn’t like it).

    tl;dr – Vote Blue!

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Just Chuck

    @Another Scott:

    And it’s only rarely that Senators do things like file a Discharge Petition to make him act.

    There’s such a thing?  Why aren’t they filing one on every. single. god. damned. bill?

  45. 45.

    gene108

    @prostratedragon:

    @Baud:

    There’s no way the public would be interested in a truth commission long enough for anyone to actual have any interest to lose.

    I think most people just want back to some sense of normal, where the USA is not careening from one self-induced crisis to another, as well as a President, who is not a Russian stooge, has a normal range of human emotions, and is not cashing in on the Presidency.

  46. 46.

    Joe Falco

    I received my absentee ballot in the mailbox today. I filled it out and plan to turn it in to the local office this week when I have time off. My vote ? will not be held up by Trump antics!

  48. 48.

    Mike in NC

    As the number of dead American’s crosses 200,000 due to Fat Bastard’s stupidity, laziness, and criminal negligence, I hope to see Lincoln Project or Biden/Harris ads pointing out that he gave himself the usual preposterous “A+” for handling the pandemic. Or maybe he said “A++” like the grades he’d claim he got in college and business school even though he paid other people to take exams.

  49. 49.

    Annie

    I don’t agree that Tr*** panicked. You have to care about something to panic about it, and he didn’t care two pins about the virus.

  50. 50.

    gene108

    @ellie:

    My fear is that he is going to go on a world tour, exposing all of America’s state secrets/plans/weapons, etc. He is a dangerously loose cannon.

    Eh…I think Jared’s already sold all the good bits from the PDB’s to the highest bidders already…

  51. 51.

    Tony Jay

    @craigie:

    Look at it this way. For too long the Republicans have felt comfortable pushing the American system into crisis for partisan gain, confident that the Democrats would shy away from a no holds barred confrontation that would risk breaking too much important stuff, choosing instead to move on and clean up as much of the mess as they could while concentrating most of their capital on doing some actual good while they could.

    This is different. Trump’s unpopularity and the outrageous radicalism of Mitch McConnell has given the Democrats a clear and eminently defensible response to Republican fuckery.

    “You want to pack the Court with unhinged fuckoids to placate Trump, excite your Base and please your corporate donors? Fine. Go ahead. Knock yourselves out. Have a great big sloppy old time of it. Just so you know, though. When we have the White House and all Houses of Congress we’ll clean up your mess good and proper. You get your ‘win’ and in response we make the Supreme Court liberal for a generation.

    How do you like them apples, Mitch? They crunchy enough for ya?”

    Or words to that effect.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @mdblanche:

    Serious questions: Is anybody expecting Trump to act like a normal ex-president?

    I am not.  I am expecting him to be stuck in the kind of legal trouble that would make Andrew Jackson blush.  I would not be surprised if he went into exile to avoid prison.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    @Just Chuck: It looks like it’s much more common in the House, but there does exist such a thing in the Senate.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_petition

    Related procedures in the U.S. Senate

    The Congressional Review Act creates an expedited process for Congressional review of executive branch regulations (often used against “midnight regulations”), providing an especially quick timetable for consideration of a joint resolution to overturn a particular regulation. As part of this process, Senators may use a “discharge petition” to discharge a Senate committee from consideration of the disapproval resolution.[13] While using the same term as the House process, its use in the United States Senate has few similarities to the House process described above and is limited only to disapproval resolutions created under the conditions of this congressional review process.

    There also exists a “discharge resolution” in which non-controversial measures do not have to go through committee and are submitted to a voice vote.[14] Discharge resolutions, however, must be unanimous and are related loosely at best to discharge petitions.

    So, eh, kinda-sorta, but not really. There’s no reason why the Senate couldn’t create a real one, though, since it makes its own rules.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    My gut tells me the only reason Collins made her statement was because Mitch already had the votes. Collins is vulnerable, but less so than Gardner.

    @LisaDNews

    MCCONNELL SEEMS TO HAVE THE VOTES. Barring a surprise, Sen. Cory Gardner’s statement means
    @SenateMajLeader
    McConnell has enough support to vote on a SCOTUS nominee whenever he wants, including before the elex. Could need a tie-break, if Romney is a no, but Pence would do it.

    https://twitter.com/LisaDNews/status/1308183625893019654

  59. 59.

    sdhays

    @James E Powell: I also find Feinstein irritating, and her position on the filibuster is just a lazy analysis. I just don’t understand how someone can have been in the Senate so long and not be able to apply any critical analysis to the way things have been done.

    But as I recall, she was misquoted regarding impeachment by people who were looking for a way to cause trouble.

  60. 60.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36:

    There’s still a little wiggle room here, technically: These senators have said they’re allow a vote, not that they’ll vote for Trump’s nominee no matter what. So they have an opportunity later to change their minds, though they probably won’t take it.

    EDIT: Also, I am completely unsurprised that Republicans are this amoral, hypocritical, and evil. Hopefully Biden makes this a campaign theme: You can’t trust Republicans to do anything, because all they do is lie. It’s the only constant they have, besides helping rich people. They lie, because they think you’re stupid. And they lie because they know their base won’t care that they’re being lied to.

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think Collins will be a NO as long as Chump doesn’t need her to be a YES.  Gardner as a YES give her cover.  Unless ome GOPer gets an attack of conscience (which I don’t expect) they don’t need her

    I just hope that Maine voters don’t fall for the okey doke

  63. 63.

    Kent

    Am I correct in understanding that the biggest reason why they are pushing forward with a pre-election vote is because the AZ Senate seat would exchange hands immediately if Kelly wins the election since McSally is only an interim appointee?

    Post-election the GOP is likely to have one less Senator

    We just need about 3 more to get Covid and be on respirators unable to vote.  Why can’t this damn disease do something useful.

  64. 64.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    This is un-fucking-believable:

     

    The managing editor of the prominent conservative website RedState has spent months trashing U.S. officials tasked with combating COVID-19, dubbing White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci a “mask nazi,” and intimating that government officials responsible for the pandemic response should be executed.

     

    But that writer, who goes by the pseudonym “streiff,” isn’t just another political blogger. The Daily Beast has discovered that he actually works in the public affairs shop of the very agency that Fauci leads.

     

    William B. Crews is, by day, a public affairs specialist for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But for years he has been writing for RedState under the streiff pseudonym. And in that capacity he has been contributing to the very same disinformation campaign that his superiors at the NIAID say is a major challenge to widespread efforts to control a pandemic that has claimed roughly 200,000 U.S. lives.

     

    Under his pseudonym, Crews has derided his own colleagues as part of a left-wing anti-Trump conspiracy and vehemently criticized the man who leads his agency, whom he described as the “attention-grubbing and media-whoring Anthony Fauci.”

     

     

     

    h/t https://www.thedailybeast.com/redstate-covid-troll-streiff-is-actually-bill-crews-and-he-actually-works-for-dr-anthony-fauci?ref=scroll

  65. 65.

    prostratedragon

    @gene108:  Really, all that’s needed is something to remind people that there’s something they don’t want to go back to –something to damp the oscillation of that pendulum.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kent: I’ve seen the date of Nov 30 thrown around, but nothing definitive, and it’s not clear to me who makes that decision. Ducey? the AZ SoS?

  68. 68.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @mdblanche:

    Is anybody expecting Trump to act like a normal ex-president?

    For starters, Trump has no record of ever acting like a normal human being.

  69. 69.

    Sloane Ranger

    With Gardner and Grassley both saying they’ll go along with Turtle’s court packing, it looks like the hope of stopping the nomination going forward has disappeared, unless Romney says he will oppose and the guy from Arizona replaces McSally before the vote.

    I suppose there’s no chance of 4 Republican Senators coming down with COVID-19 at an inconvenient moment is there? Or are they smart enough to stay away from Trump’s super spreader events

    NB – see Kent had the same idea.

  70. 70.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @mdblanche: I think Trumpov’s situation changes drastically once he loses the power of the presidency. He has little leverage, even with the people around him. Lindsay and Cruz will tell him to DIAF. Also, from the clips I see his Trumper rallies are full of people who are there for entertainment and excitement. I think a lot of these ‘supporters’ fall off once he loses the election. Nobody wants to be attached to a loser. Even Vlad.

  71. 71.

    Hoodie

    @Tony Jay:  The response is to finally fix an antiquated institution that has long-unsolved problems your fuckery has finally motivated us to fix.  The irony is that I can remember a time when conservatives wanted the courts to quit usurping political power, and now they are desperately hanging on to judicial power as they see themselves becoming a political minority.

  72. 72.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:  Ah, the good old days, when a person could say that to me without risking an immediate hard slap upside the jaw.

  74. 74.

    Geminid

    I believe Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) is on the record as opposing elimination of the filibuster also. Sinema often votes similarly to Joe Manchin, but doesn’t get as much attention (at least not for her politics). I suspect my Virginia senators Warner and Kaine are as reluctant as Feinstein to end the filibuster. But when he spoke at John Lewis’s funeral, Barack Obama did lay down a marker when he said that if the filibuster stopped meaningful voting rights reform it should be abolished, and I think he spoke advisedly. So, while I don’t expect a Democratic Senate majority to end the filibuster right out of the box next January, it could be gone by March 1.      So much will depend on the outcome of this election. Will Biden win, and by how much? Will there be 50 Democratic Senators, or 57? Five Democratic Congressional seats lost, or 20 gained? I don’t  know, but I’m staying tuned.

  75. 75.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: What bothers me is her saying “It is not often used“.  Yes, Dems don’t use it much, but repubs use it for everything.  They won’t Democratic Senators cross the street without invoking a filibuster.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    @opiejeanne: It looks like we’ll know much more after November 3.

    Ballotpedia:

    The ballot measure asks voters the following: “Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted into the Union as a state?” Voters have the option to answer “Yes” or “No.”[1][2]

    Should the ballot measure be approved, the governor would appoint a seven-member commission to represent Puerto Rico in matters and negotiations related to achieving statehood. The commission would develop a transition plan, which the governor would approve or reject, and present the plan to Congress and the President.[1]

    According to Senate Bill 1467, which placed the referendum on the ballot, voting “No” on the referendum would mean that a seven-member commission would be appointed to negotiate with the federal government for the free association or independence of Puerto Rico.[1]

    The ballot measure cannot compel the U.S. Congress to act on the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status.

    The governor’s party (New Progressive) advocates for statehood, according to Wikipedia.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    ThresherK

    Hey, if anyone has the football game on: Did they just light a virtual eternal flame for Al Davis at the new Las Vegas stadium?

    If so, we may have a new leader for Most Vegas Thing Ever.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    looks like Feinstein will be Judiciary chair if we take the Senate. I wonder if she wants to investigate Barr

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    @Kent:

    Sen. Manchin, Senate Democrat who supported both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch: “I do not believe the U.S. Senate should vote on a U.S. Supreme Court nominee before the November 3rd election.”

    — Burgess Everett (@burgessev) September 21, 2020

    [eta:] via nycsouthpaw

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    @opiejeanne:

    Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I thought that Puerto Rico wasn’t interested in statehood.

    Puerto Rico has always been offered a complicated choice, usually between statehood, independence, and continued commonwealth status.  Recent votes have leaned more toward statehood, but they haven’t managed to get a clear majority in favor, largely because that hasn’t been the available choice.  They’re supposed to have a vote this year that’s cleanly between statehood and independence, which should be interesting.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    have we already done George Packer’s article about Weissman? I’m too lazy to look up the article itself today, but this is something I’ve been wondering about. Do our lawyers, or others, agree that Weissman is dropping a hint here that Junior took the fifth?

    Charlie Savage @charlie_savage1h
    Weissmann does not say whether Donald Trump Jr. received a grand jury subpoena and invoked his 5th Amendment rights to avoid testifying. But his extensive discussion of how they could have immunized him to take care of that possible problem suggests it may be what happened. /8

  90. 90.

    leeleeFL

    @Roger Moore: Honestly, I think the American People should get to vote to confirm the Supreme Court nominees.  While there would still be politics involved, it would likely be more grassroots driven, and I think the Founders might approve of that!  We should probably nominate as well.

     

    Goddammit!  I am getting too fucking old for this shit.

  91. 91.

    opiejeanne

    @ThresherK: For Al Fucking Davis??

    Don’t get me started. The man was a vile, like a bit of excrement you find on your shoe after you’ve walked into your house and into the kitchen.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    You know all those local news stories you've seen about cops "overdosing" after they touched fentanyl, despite the fact that it's scientifically impossible?

    A new a study shows Facebook has played a key role in spreading this dangerous misconception https://t.co/DlM7p1Maxj

    — Noah Hurowitz (@NoahHurowitz) September 21, 2020

    This is my shocked, shocked face.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    @James E Powell: We get it out of our system in MA by electing Republican governors. Unfortunately that means our COVID-19 infection rates are a little too high, but you can’t have everything.

  94. 94.

    PsiFighter37

    @gene108: Well, what would happen is that RBG’s seat would not be filled, and Uncle Clarence would get the boot.

    Nonetheless, I think there needs to be a serious discussion about SCOTUS reform, and honestly, the best way (IMO) is to make it completely apolitical, akin to the independent redistricting commisions. I have read something getting kicked around where you make it 15 people, split 5/5/5 GOP/Dem/indies, and then you have judges forcibly retired after a certain number of years. That makes much more sense than having lifetime appointments where it is now another political football, thanks to Moscow Mitch. Take it completely out of the hands of the criminally negligent Senate GOP and just make SCOTUS much more apolitical, while simultaneously recognizing that it will inherently be a political football if this continues.

  96. 96.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott: It’s not clear we will, is it? The last time they had a statehood referendum, the anti-statehood parties boycotted it because of objections to the wording.

    The basic problem is that there are at least three options–status quo, statehood and independence–none of which has been able to win a clear majority, and any vote to try to force some kind of win is going to upset somebody. For a long time it seemed like support for independence was dwindling and statehood was strengthening, but, man, these days I sure wouldn’t blame them for just wanting out.

    Also, US liberals seem to just assume that PR can be turned into a reliably Democratic state, but it’s not at all clear that it even would be. The pro-statehood party is a more or less conservative party, if I recall correctly. Puerto Rican politics doesn’t map simply onto the mainland.

  97. 97.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh36:

    Evidently the difference is that one has to have been a holder of public office to qualify* for “Lying in State.” Rosa Parks was never elected or appointed to any kind of office, hence the different — but no less honourable — designation of “Lying in Honour.”

    *ETA: Obviously not the only qualification, by a long shot

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I don’t mean to be so crabby, but why didn’t Weissmann present the findings? He knows it cold, he has some energy and passion – it would have been better. Why can’t these people work as a team? You parcel things out according to what people are best at. He’s obviously one of the better presenters.

  99. 99.

    DesertFriar

    The one thing I thought of would be assuming a Dem President, Senate & Congress, pass a law stating that all Supreme Court Justices must retire once they turn 70.  That would mean Breyer, Thomas and Alito would have to retire.  Giving Biden 3 Justices to bring on.  The 2nd term of Biden/Harris would bring Roberts & Sotomayor to step down.  That would be 6 Justices for our side.

    It would also preserve the standing count of the court.  So the Republicans arguing tradition would be moot.

    Also this wouldn’t be a law against the jurisdiction of the SC, but rather a check on the age of a Justice.

  104. 104.

    PJ

    @leeleeFL: Uh, that sounds exactly like voting for judges, which happens in many states, and which does not lead to the best outcomes (it’s one reason why criminal punishments are so harsh in the US).

  105. 105.

    Elizabelle

    @PsiFighter37:   I don’t go with the 5/5/5 scheme (Dems, GOP, indies).  Especially since “indies” are embarrassed GOP and glibertarians.

    Rolling appointments; the president gets to make them.  If the Electoral College does not screw us over too badly (get rid of it!), I like Democrats’ chances there.

  106. 106.

    PJ

    @PsiFighter37: You assume that the same political parties will be around forever (I think if the GOP loses big this time, and becomes all Q-Anon in 2024, the party will split).  Also, who wants an equal number of Greens and Libertarians on the Supreme Court?  The whole point of appointing judges is to get away from strictly political considerations.  If you’re just going to appoint people based on their politics, might as well vote for them (and we can see how well that works at the state level, which, in my opinion, is not very.)

  107. 107.

    Another Scott

    @Matt McIrvin: There doesn’t seem to be any recent polling of people on the island that I can find, though there have been polls of Puerto Ricans in FL.

    We’ll have to see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    I was at an “educated Republicans” social event tonight- the better off ones around here- and they’re not excited about Trump. I’ve been around them when they were excited about one of their candidates. They loved GWB and they also loved Kasich. They never mention Trump and everyone carefully avoids talking about the election completely. Educated Democrats, OTOH, are freaking RABID :)

    So you’ll get ALL of them. I just hope there are enough.

  109. 109.

    Gvg

    @Matt McIrvin: my understanding is one of the issues is they don’t currently pay income tax, and if they are a state, they would. As poor as they are, I think that is not going to mean higher taxes to all but a few, but it didn’t sound like they thought so.

    what they may be overlooking is all the hidden costs of not having a say in their important issues, like being rebuilt after a hurricane, high tariffs on shipping, other American’s not realizing they are American and a bunch of other stuff. I don’t think they can afford independence and would just be another poor Island.

    on the other hand culture and language are going to cause issues both among them and among our worst.

    they don’t even have a Democratic Party nor Republican. I think they would be safer if they caucused with Democrats, but I’m not them.

  110. 110.

    ThresherKk

    @opiejeanne: Okay, per the wiki, it says there’s an actual eternal flame for Al Davis.

    While looking that up, I found that there’s one for Jerry Fucking Falwell, an objectively bigger asshole than Davis.

  111. 111.

    Another Scott

    @PJ: On the main page at ActBlue.com there’s a blue box with a $6+B number in the upper right.  Sometimes it doesn’t move for a few minutes, sometimes it spins continuously.  It’s not clear if one has to do anything to make it move – it seems to have a mind of its own.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  112. 112.

    Jinchi

    @PJ: Uh, that sounds exactly like voting for judges, which happens in many states, and which does not lead to the best outcomes

    You think a panel of Heritage approved/Trump nominated judges will have better outcomes?

  113. 113.

    PJ

    @Another Scott: Thanks.  I see a number in the upper right of the page which currently says “$6,599,872,765 raised since 2004″ (the number changes pretty quickly) but with no indication of how much has been raised today, or over the last three days, or anything other than the last 16 years.  (It’s almost 6,600,000,000 now!)

  114. 114.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @mdblanche: Honestly, if you think about it, Trump continuing to be Trump might be the salvation of this nation.

    Bush realized that he could best serve his party by staying out of the way. If there’s any sanity or justice left in this nation, Trump will continue to be Trump while he’s being indicted, on trial, and in jail. But even if sanity and justice have left the nation, he will continue to be Trump. Only now, he’ll have people asking “why is that fat, ugly guy aping Sarah Cooper’s lip syncs?”

  115. 115.

    PJ

    @Jinchi: That’s my point.  If elections result in a Senate and President who nominate and approve reactionary dinosaurs, having elections for Justices will not alleviate the problem.  The problem is with our elections.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    Renato Mariotti
    @renato_mariotti
    Disturbing detail from Andrew Weissmann’s book:
    After the White House found out about a Deutsche Bank subpoena, “any financial investigation of Trump was put on hold . . . we backed down — the issue was simply too incendiary; the risk, too severe.”

    It’s too upsetting! Obviously. My God, what if they found out something…bad. Best not to look.

    That right there- that’s when he knew he could get away with anything.

  119. 119.

    PJ

    @LongHairedWeirdo: If the Republicans had nominated a very smart, very smooth, very charismatic con man who had self-control, we would be completely screwed right now, because that person would keep the base placated and make the rich richer, while doing just enough to allow non-politically aware Americans to believe he cared about public safety, public health, the economy, and national security, so that his crimes would be overlooked (and certainly the media would aid in him retaining power every step of the way.)

    But while Trump is shrewd, certainly in seeing his own short term advantage and in picking out the weaknesses in vanity in his opponents, he has such little impulse control, has no loyalty or sense of honor, is so vain and egotistical, is so ignorant, is so mean, is so craven, and is so callous that the media cannot cover it up completely, and he cannot stop himself from making the problems he caused even worse, so that even completely politically disconnected people cannot help but look at the country and see what a shithole he’s made it.

  120. 120.

    PJ

    @PJ: So right now, it’s added more than $500,000 in the time between when I first started typing post #113 and this one (about 15 minutes).

  121. 121.

    hueyplong

    @Kay: So it was ok to investigate so long as they didn’t find anything really bad.  So it was all essentially a sham designed to mask the fact that our government had failed.  OK to find something the two parties could disagree about.  Not ok to find out something that called for immediate ouster.

  122. 122.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Just Chuck:I have so little faith in this country’s ability to make real structural changes.  I lay odds at 10% that the court actually gets expanded or the filibuster is ended.  PR or DC statehood at 1% because blahblahblah tradition and “50 is a nice round number”.  Count on that very argument actually being made.  Maybe double those odds if there were 100 Democrats in the Senate.”

    I totally empathize.

    Sometimes I wonder if we need a new “Constitutional Convention” because we have so many things we need to fix-

    But then I look at the 2020 Republican Party and I really think they need a major drubbing at the polls and the pain of being out of power for like 4-8 years and then, MAYBE we allow them to come to the table to participate in our Nationals Reconstruction.

  123. 123.

    Another Scott

    @PJ: Yup.  From the reporting, one would think that there was an hourly or daily tally, but it seems that reporters are just noting the number at a particular time and checking back exactly an hour or a day later.

    (It’s astounding how big the number is, and how quickly it changes, isn’t it?)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    Baud

    @PJ:

    while doing just enough to allow non-politically aware Americans to believe he cared about public safety, public health, the economy, and national security,

    The most liberal president since Nixon.

  125. 125.

    DesertFriar

    @Baud:

    How is it unconstitutional?  Not doubting you but there is no mandatory age to retire now.  Certainly State Justices have retirement ages in; I think, 33 states.  I just don’t know of any amendment of the Constitution which would say “you absolutely cannot make a federal justice retire.

  126. 126.

    Marcopolo

    @PJ:  If you read the ActBlue blog they referenced hitting $4B at the end of May. Then IIR they hit $5B sometime around Aug 26-27. So, yeah, donations are pouring in like the water over Niagara Falls right now. It is astonishing.

    For more context, I started casually following the totals at the start of 2018 which is when I created a bookmark for the ActBlue page that shows the total raised then ~$2B.

  127. 127.

    PJ

    @Ella in New Mexico: Oh gods, a Constitutional Convention – can you imagine the nitwits whom Very Important People would demand be involved in it?  I’m not just talking about politicians who are bad or mediocre people (basically every Republican Senator and Representative), but all the favorites of the Twitterati – Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, the Bruenigs, all the DSA and Jacobin people.  It would be a fucking nightmare.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    I love these people with this “not…my FINANCIALS!”

    WTF else would you look at? Why wouldn’t they start there? They start there with every other conspiracy. This is the one conspiracy that doesn’t involve money? Not clear on how we plan to bust white collar criminals without their financial records. Their sacred, secret record of transactions which for some reason are off limits. Trump doesn’t give a shit about Russia. There was money involved.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    Don’t sleep on the White Whale.
    Every once in awhile, the stars align and you hit the bankshot

    Texas Average Lead On September 20:2004: Bush +212008: McCain +92012: Romney +142016: Trump +10.22020: Trump +1.1— Polling USA (@USA_Polling) September 20, 2020

  134. 134.

    hueyplong

    @rikyrah: Texas, whenever it happened, would solve a whole lot of problems.

    Now would be a great time, though, of course, as non-GOPers, we aren’t permitted to speculate about happy outcomes.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    I read the excerpt and it seems like a common conundrum these days. They had to not do their job in order to keep their job. If they got too “incendiary” they would get fired. Why anyone wants them to keep the job if they’re forbidden to do it is never explained. Keeping the job by agreeing not to do it doesn’t seem like a solution to this problem. I can’t think of a single time this approach has ended satisfactorily for anyone. Because it makes absolutely no sense? Perhaps.

  139. 139.

    mali muso

    @PJ: Just watching it now, it looks like at least a thousand bucks every second. It’s rather soothing to look at.

  140. 140.

    PJ

    @rikyrah:

     

    @Kay:

    This election, Biden is fond of quoting these lines from Seamus Heaney’s The Cure at Troy:

    History says don’t hope
    On this side of the grave.
    But then, once in a lifetime
    The longed for tidal wave
    Of justice can rise up
    And hope and history rhyme.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    Olivia of Troye
    @OliviaTroye
    ·8h
    I’ve seen some of these “changes” in guidelines occur first hand throughout the past 6 months-this is likely what happened:
    @CDCgov
    tried to warn & tell the truth, it didn’t fit the President’s narrative & someone got an angry call. This is so dangerous for the American people.

    I love Olivia. She gives me hope that everyone isn’t horrible. I wish she had a security detail though.

  146. 146.

    Mousebumples

    My ballot has arrived and is completed (including witness signature)!

    Too many Republicans running unopposed for stuff like DA, etc., but I’m not a lawyer, so i can’t really fix that. But I voted for the 3 Dems on my ballot that I could vote for.

    Will drop off at the drop box later this week. ?

  147. 147.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: just out of (morbid) curiosity: were they excited about Trump in 2016, these “educated Republicans” you speak of?

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jennifer ‘Vote Early’ Rubin @JRubinBlogger 2h
    Biden leads Trump by 12 points among Catholic voters: poll – Trump won Catholics by 4 in 2016. This is a dreadful number for him.

  150. 150.

    Kay

    @Miss Bianca:

    No! They were sure he wouldn’t win the primary and then they were moping around making excuses. I was making the other Democrat there laugh. One of the R ladies told me “I don’t know if I can vote for him”

    I said “don’t! Just stay home. It’ll be fine.”

    I can only urge one person at a time not to vote. Outreach, I call it. I no longer do persuasion. “Don’t vote. You’re bad at it”.

  151. 151.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

     

    @Kay: Two issues

     

    1 how did the WH find out about a secret subpoena

    2 they thought all the other indictments and eventual convictions would be blocked (as the entire investigation would be closed down) if they went after Dump.  So they let him go to get all the capos.  Can’t say they were wrong.

  163. 163.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I would have never gotten that one.

    edit: those ad slots must be pricey.

    Also, the explains why Trump wanted professional football to play.  He must think those are his peeps.  Emphasis on the first 3 letters.

  164. 164.

    J R in WV

    @PJ:

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Where is this ActBlue ticker that people have been referencing?  I don’t see it when I go to the website, and hunting around on their site and doing searches only brings up totals from previous months?

     

    Here’s the link to the Actblue page with the rolling count of funds raised. The naked link is this: [ https://secure.actblue.com/ ] so you can see why it’s called the front page. Rolling totals are fascinating, I watch it to relax!

  166. 166.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: not all independents are “embarassed Republicans and glibitarians”.

    I’m one, though I’ve voted D for about 25 years straight. But I registered I in 1980 and never changed it.

  167. 167.

    Kay

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    I never thought it would save us anyway. I know Russia is interfering. No one seems to know what to do about it.

    I was thinking tonight we could start an online rumor about Trump like they do with Biden but what could we possibly say? He’s a murderer? Well, yeah, but that’s the daily news.

  170. 170.

    Redshift

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    Sometimes I wonder if we need a new “Constitutional Convention” because we have so many things we need to fix- 

    No. Unless I’m misreading the Constitution, a constitutional convention is like the Senate – states call it, states vote on amendments, not by population. And they still need to be ratified by three quarters of the states afterward. Whatever needs fixing, a constitutional convention won’t do it.

  172. 172.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    does anyone know about a controversy around RBG’s funeral arrangements? All I know she’ll lie in state, then be buried next to her husband at Arlington

    Rita Konaev@RitaKonaev ·33m
    Fellow Jews. Can we give RBG and her family the benefit of the f-ing doubt that it was indeed their decision in how she is being put to rest? This is a woman whose legacy is all about agency. Believe that she had a say about what happens afterwards as well.

  174. 174.

    James E Powell

    @Martin:

    We vote for her because she has seniority on Judiciary. If we can’t have more senators, we can at least have powerful ones.

    When was the last time she used that seniority or power for the good of the Democratic cause?

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Miss Bianca:

    I didn’t really tell her she’s bad at it. I did tell her not to vote. She laughed. I have a Republican client who I really like and he didn’t vote for Trump last time. He votes the rest of the ticket. It’s not that hard to solve this problem. No anguished soul searching needed. -1.

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    @PJ:

    If you visit the page a 3 am or so, it does move slowly. it’s a live total from their system. If you want sub-totals you  could note a current amount and then wait a while, unless you keep track, like a news org might.

    I imagine there are a large number of reports you can access IF you sign up as a user. I know as a contributor I can see reports about my own contributions in detail.

  178. 178.

    Sally

    @Kay: If these mostly  Repubs had refused to hold back, and a golf caddy had fired them, more hell  would have broken loose, and trump would not have been able to assert that he was exonerated. It would have been a better outcome than we had.
    In the meantime, I read that Barr’s daughter Mary is moving to FinCEN, at the heart of this latest financial leak/scandal. I’ll look up the reverence. Being who they are it sounds bad, or am I reading too much into this?

  180. 180.

    Kay

    @Sally:

    I’m going to try that if I’m ever investigated. “Gentleman, as you know, my financials are a RED LINE”.

    You can come visit me in prison.

  183. 183.

    Sally

    @Kay: Gladly! we will find a way to spring you!
    You can bet trumps financials were and are lots of red lines. All red. Pun intended.

  185. 185.

    Peale

    @Kay: “You may search for child pornography on my computer. But my smart phone is private.” “You may search for drugs, but you may not open any crates or boxes on this ship.” “You may try to check to see if I’m bringing in any fresh fruit into the country, but since I’ve admitted that I’ve been to a farm, you may not x-ray my luggage. Only my carry on.”

  187. 187.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Peale:

    David Frum @davidfrum·3h
    This last point is incredible: Trump declared his finances off-limits to Mueller. That would have signaled to any half-alert investigator, “I guess the finances are where the crimes are stashed.” Instead Mueller … backed down and yielded.

  189. 189.

    Kropacetic

    @Alison Rose:Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first woman who will lie in state at the Capitol

    I feel somewhat guilty that my first thoughts were with the political repercussions and not sorrow for her loss.  I tried to justify it to myself as sorrow for my country, but…

  191. 191.

    WaterGirl

    @PJ: I don’t know, I was thinking that maybe we could the SC back to a place where decisions are based on, you know, the law!  And precedent.  Not about party and politics.

    But yeah, I’d like to see no Republicans in any positions of responsibility – they pissed away their turn at that all for greed and power.

    Plus, once you’ve made it clear that you like hurting people, I think you should be banished forever.

  193. 193.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    this is interesting, sounds like Gardner’s allies are counting him as done for this year

    Kevin Robillard @Robillard
    Some relevant context here: I’ve already heard GOP strategists talk about recruiting Gardner to run against Bennet in 2022.

  194. 194.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh my god, this is like a nightmare.  And we thought Mueller would save us.

    You can look at anything you want, except do not look in the giant freezer that is in my basement.  That is off limits.  Oh, and you can’t look in the glass jars where I keep all the souvenirs of my kills.  I mean, my private stash.

  195. 195.

    StringOnAStick

    I worked on my sadness over RBG by writing letters to voters tonight with 6 other women, outside, masked and socially distances of course.  I took home another 20 to do and bring back completed at our next session.  It raised my spirits much more than I expected it to.  I’m glad I agreed to do it over a week ago because I might have begged off after her passing.

    Watergirl is right, don’t just sit and spiral downward, do something!

  197. 197.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    I don’t understand why Mueller backed off. Was he a party hack all along? Or was he scared? Of  Donald fucking Trump of all people?

    And I guess all the ActBlue fundraising didn’t scare the Republicans like we hoped it would since Cory Gardner has said Trump’s nominee will get a vote

  198. 198.

    Kelly

    Home! We have water and power. No internet. The air is ok. Spent the day visiting the neighbors and hosing ash off. Home a little scorching on the freshly painted front porch. May leave it as a souvenir. Off to sleep in our own bed.

  199. 199.

    prostratedragon

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):  Did he simply hand in the report or was it demanded of him? As I recall, his group’s activities in the few weeks leading up to the submission suggested that he might not be near done.

  201. 201.

    WaterGirl

    @Kelly: I’m so happy for you!  Back home and in your own bed.  Internet or no internet!

    Home!  Highly underrated. :-)  So sorry for your neighbors and all who lost their homes and property.

  204. 204.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @prostratedragon:

    I have no idea, but from reporting it sounds like he choked and Wray deliberately restricted the scope of the investigation from the get go.

    Everyone at the DOJ should just refuse to do any further work and demand Barr, Wray et al resign. That no work will continue until they’re gone and a bipartisan replacement is installed as AG. Render Barr powerless and just a jerk in a suit with a fancy title

    The only reason people in authority have any power is because the people under them give it to them. Refuse to cooperate en masse and the whole machine grinds to a halt

  206. 206.

    trnc

    @gene108:  In the last 150 years, we’ve added 192 house members, 26 senators, around 270 million citizens and ZERO supreme court justices. We should definitely expand the court if we get the chance. When the repubs whine that they should get a say, we can explain 2016 and blue slips. Or tell them to fuck off. That works, too.

  207. 207.

    cain

    @dmsilev: Oh, and I give it about a week before no-longer-President Trump forgets that he no longer has “I can declassify things on my say-so” authority and blabs out something that should be secret. That’ll be …interesting.

    The fool will still have access to the daily briefs. Too bad he won’t be able to understand it, but you can bet he’ll go on TV and tell everyone what is in it.

  209. 209.

    Another Scott

    Poor Donnie. Failing again. Reuters:

    Beijing unlikely to approve ByteDance’s TikTok deal with Oracle -Global Times
    By Reuters Staff

    SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A deal China’s ByteDance has struck with Oracle Corp ORCL.N and Walmart Inc WMT.N over the future of its video-streaming app TikTok is unlikely to receive Chinese government approval, state-backed newspaper Global Times said in an editorial.

    […]

    This is my shocked, shocked face. It’s been getting a workout today!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  210. 210.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Gvg: I suspect most people in Puerto Rico would come out ahead if they were subject to federal income tax because of the EITC.

  211. 211.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Another Scott:

    That just means TikTok will probably be banned in the US, like it was supposed to be this past Sunday. That’s no skin off Trump’s bones; the American TikTok user base embarrassed him in Tulsa

  212. 212.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: LOLOL

    “Wait…what did I say?  What did I just tell you??  NO looking into my finances, coppers!”

    It’s like a B-movie mafioso line or something.  Or, exactly that, actually.

  214. 214.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    And I guess all the ActBlue fundraising didn’t scare the Republicans like we hoped it would since Cory Gardner has said Trump’s nominee will get a vote

    I never saw it as scaring them from doing anything, I figure the intent is to whip their asses equally no matter what they do.

  215. 215.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: what exactly do they think will make Gardner more appealing two years from now?  Are there NO other Colorado Rs with ambition and perhaps less of a record of licking trumpov’s boots?

    I’d have to think that in 2022 that would still matter…

  217. 217.

    Another Scott

    @cain: IIRC, there have been stories from before he took office that sensitive information was being withheld from him because he couldn’t be trusted.  I imagine that has continued.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  220. 220.

    Yutsano

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I suspect most people in Puerto Rico would come out ahead if they were subject to federal income tax because of the EITC.

    This always struck me as ironic, considering there’s a big IRS office in a suburb of San Juan.

  221. 221.

    Jay

    A wild document. Felony collective punishment for anyone who attends a protest where property is damaged, while vehicular murder or manslaughter is effectively legalized. Plus if your city council acts to reduce the police budget, the state defunds everything. https://t.co/0scGoFd1XO— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 21, 2020

  223. 223.

    Jay

    More info on what the craigslist ads look like for Civvl – the company behind gig-work-as-evicting-people business model. There are active craigslist ads posted in the the triangle and charlotte area looking for people to join "eviction crews." pic.twitter.com/BNOGgjeEIz— cantpaywontpaydurm (@cantpaywontdurm) September 21, 2020

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