It’s always a good sign when you get back to the groomers and notice that every other animal is quiet in their cage and four grown ass men are attending to your cat:
Currently trying to appease the beast and sate his hunger for blood:
Wish me luck.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Did they shave a patch on his ass or is that the routine at-home cat-ass-shaving I’ve heard rumors of?
Tim Wayne
I did this to my cat every six weeks. It really helped with my allergies. But I found it was very important to pet the cat a lot afterwards and give him the impression that he is even more beautiful through treats and praise.
I advise doing this for your own safety.
Scuffletuffle
Maybe next time just pick a shorthair???
[Runs away]
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
…. And we never heard from John again……
NeenerNeener
He’s the same color as that cat cave you ordered. If he ever uses it he’ll be invisible.
zhena gogolia
Sweetie!
jackmac
We once had a cat like that — an ornery Maine Coon who lived to be 20. Over the course of his life our guy Toots broke a leg, had an infection that permanently bent his ear and was generally disagreeable to everyone but me. Staff at one vet clinic posted a sign on his cage: “This cat is mean.”
trollhattan
@Scuffletuffle:
In Soviet West Virginia, cat pick you.
Croaker
Poor guy. He looks like a rat with a cat head. It ain’t normal.
Mary G
Steve’s quite husky now. Won’t it be getting cold there soon? Doesn’t he need a fur coat in the fall or is he not keeping up with mats? My Sophie gave up bothering to attend to them in her last couple years. [Hi, eemom].
The yummy food makes up for the indignity, of course.
RepubAnon
My life insurance company? New York Life, of course! Why?
Morzer
At least now John Cole won’t have to throw the beast at any Trumpers who stop by his door. He can just point Steve at them, yell “Cat shavers!” and wait for the …er…. American carnage to begin.
SiubhanDuinne
He looks so soft! Like velvet. Wish I could pet him for about, oh, three or four days straight.
SiubhanDuinne
Did anyone else watch the ACB announcement? Barrett has the eyes of a fanatic (think Michele Bachmann levels of zealotry), and the voice of an adenoidal 12-year-old girl.
And, as Reverend Al just pointed out, if it hadn’t been for her two adopted kids from Haiti, the entire Rose Garden audience would have been the whitest imaginable.
JPL
John, Sleep tight tonight and don’t let the …ah never mind.
Hilbertsubspace
It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may shave a cat.
Scuffletuffle
@trollhattan: Lolz!
prostratedragon
@SiubhanDuinne: Gives me the creeps when people like that adopt African children, not that the children are mistreated in obvious ways necessarily, but … there’s some kind of agenda there that they should not be used for. Or maybe my bigot-dar just needs tuning.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: not watching, but judging by twitter, Republicans have created a kind of reverse religion test. No one can criticize her because she’s Catholic. And if you do criticize her you’re a crazed bigo
ETA: and it was freakin’ Dianne “I love the filibuster” Feinstein who handed them that would-be cudgel by using the word “dogma”. I don’t think that dog’s gonna hunt. They most likely already had that kind of Catholic–I’m related to a bunch of them, and I know a number of very devout liberal RCs. I’m related to a whole bunch of them, too. Pretty clean break-down between my atheist father’s side of the family (Republicans) and my regular Mass-attending mother’s (mostly Democrats)
Scuffletuffle
@SiubhanDuinne: confirmed ALL my fears…
WereBear
@prostratedragon: No, there’s a lot of scandal there in the Evangelical community. For instance, many of the “orphans,” aren’t. And people who find caring for emotionally challenged children too daunting do “underground adoptions” for nefarious reasons…
Fundies make me terribly suspicious.
WereBear
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Does is not occur to them that by their own religious lights, this woman has no business being a judge?
CaseyL
…why is Steve eating on a chair?
Is it so the other members of the menagerie can’t see his shorn shame?
Is the chair Steve’s Chair, and he always eats there? Sleeps there? Greets his worshippers there?
@SiubhanDuinne: I saw a photo of her, with the Crazy Eyes. I wasn’t sure if she just had them opened super wide for the camera flash, or if that’s just how they are. Yikes.
The Golux
I think those groomers deserve a cat-ass-trophy.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
Where is eemom?
Mary G
@zhena gogolia: Haven’t seen her in quite a while and tried to lure her out if she was lurking. I worry about people who disappear even though I’ve skated on too many websites to mention.
rikyrah
One day, your luck with Steve will run out, Cole???
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: Not watching because have been furiously sending multiple outraged responses to this:
I know that’s what they want, and I’ve added them to my voluminous blocked list, but this is just infuriating. I signed up for extra text banking sessions to make up and hit back where it hurts.
JoyceH
@SiubhanDuinne: Watching the news, it suddenly dawned on me – the GOP has been on life support for decades, and Donald Trump just pulled the plug.
Consider this – since Roe was decided, slowly over the decades, pro-choice went from a minority opinion to being supported over anti-abortion views by TWO TO ONE. Two thirds of the public are pro-choice now. So how come there are all these anti-abortion legislators in statehouses and Congress? Easy. Because pro-choice voters could decide, “I’m going to vote for this anti-abortion candidate because he’s promising to lower my taxes and Roe keeps him from taking away my rights.”
Roe was their life support. And Trump just pulled the plug. When pro-choice voters have to vote for pro-choice candidates, that 2020 blue wave is going to continue through 2022, 2024, and onward until what’s left of the GOP can hold their convention in the men’s room at the local mini-mart.
Morzer
@rikyrah:
Let’s just hope that we don’t hear tales (tails?) of Steve the Impaler.
gene108
@WereBear:
By the shitstorm Hillary got in the mid-90’s, when she started going by Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Amy Coney Barrett are feminazis, because they use their maiden names.
Conservatism is Cleek’s Law, updated every minute, as needed.
Edit: There is no internal consistency required or demanded.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JoyceH:
right-winger Joan Rivers used to riff quite a bit on how the kind of rich girls she grew up with “went to stay with an aunt” or took a spontaneous trip to Puerto Rico, everybody knew what that meant in the 50s and 60s.
Morzer
@Hilbertsubspace:
“Reeling up, blood streaming down his face from under his dented helmet, Cole glared dizzily at the profusion of destruction which spread before him. From crest to crest the dead lay strewn, a red carpet that choked the valley. It was like a red sea, with each wave a straggling line of corpses.”
debbie
@prostratedragon:
For some reason, “shithole country” ran through my head.
Danielx
Don’t go to sleep.
SiubhanDuinne
@CaseyL:
Yeah, I’ve seen three or four photos of her with the cray eyes. Because I am a kind, generous-spirited, and basically HELLA NICE person, I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Well, no more doubt, no more benefit.
Yutsano
YOU SHAVED PAPA STEVEDORE HEMINGWAY???
Proper authoritahs will be alerted.
cain
There is a lot of grift (likely on both sides) with anti-abortion (they are not pro-life) diaspora – lot of sensationalism and stuff to get money out of them.
If they over-turned roe vs wade they will lose a very big “get them to the polls” hammer and a lot of money as well. I think it will continue to be around as a way to get voters to vote Republican. But if it does get turned over – I guess that will really get women and their allies to get out there and vote.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Joan Rivers was a right-winger? I had no idea! But now I guess I know why I never liked her. There must have been a vibe that I didn’t pick up on.
SiubhanDuinne
@cain:
You’re right about that! Ask ‘em about the death penalty.
gene108
@JoyceH:
I hope you are right about voter engagement.
I think there are a lot of things we think are settled that conservatives want to upend. This was not always the case.
When Reagan talked about a way to privatize Social Security, in the early 80’s, a Republican controlled Senate rebuked him 99-0.
But I think the reasons pro-gun nut, and anti-abortion people get elected is that single or double issue voters are highly, highly motivated to vote. The vast majority have a bunch of competing issues they think are important, and often do not vote.
Second, the distribution of people against abortion is not uniform throughout the country. In some places, anti-abortion folks make up the majority of the voters.
I do not think there is any way through this, other than turning out our voters.
The one thing I learned during the Obama years is no matter how much you make things better, like the ACA and the economy, most white people, especially white men, will vote Republican no matter what.
This seems to be an insurmountable hurdle to truly force Republicans to change.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
I…wait…what?
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t recall anyone from my home town/high school Oak Park, Illinois, taking trips to Puerto Rico or other exotic lands. But a surprising number of them paid lengthy visits, during the school year (!), to rural aunts. (I was in h.s. from 1956-60, so in the exact time period you mention.)
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
Inorite? I’m as astonished as you.
gene108
@cain:
It really depends on how broad revocation of Roe is. My wild uneducated guess is they will allow states to decide on whether or not abortion is legal.
The real issue is how Republican states rule to restrict abortion. Can you get it for rape? Can you get proper treatment for a miscarriage? Or will morning after pills still be sold?
Enough Republican controlled states have severely limited abortion access already, it really comes down to the degree they want to effect the status quo that will decide the electoral impact.
JaySinWA
@SiubhanDuinne: I think that’s why they yammer about the innocents being slaughtered. And there is always that line about man being born in sin, so I suppose not being born is what makes them innocent.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato: @SiubhanDuinne: The Washington Times won’t let me copy and paste for some reason, but if you’re interested…. and if you really want to retch, follow the link to Peggy Noonan’s obit, including the would-be charming story about the spontaneous Versailles-themed costume party Pegs and Joan threw while staying with old man Forbes at his chateau in Normandy
I always thought trump borrowed a lot of his stage schtick from her when he first started doing rallies, especially the mugging and gagging noises that became more and more of a crutch as she got older, and less for him as he’s gotten more material. As I recall she was pretty funny back in the 70s and 80s
Baud
@JoyceH: I hope you’re right, but I’m not as confident. Too many people like to talk tough but then find new excuses not to do what needs to be done.
Omnes Omnibus
That is as it was before Roe. Why do you think all the right wing states kept their anti-abortion laws on the books? Roe goes away all of those laws are in effect again.
ETA: Of course, this is just if a right wing Court merely overrules Roe. If they feel froggy and go for an all out ban, then it’s national.
Baud
@gene108:
It’ll be nationalized. Certainly, our side will want national protection.
kindness
That’s the most Steve’s heart has pumped since his last trim He’s kind of a big boy if you know what I mean. Maybe he needs more hair cuts.
TS (the original)
@gene108:
In some states no no and no. As what happened in Ireland it will take a highly publicised death (In US of a young white woman), which could have been avoided, to halt their hate directed against women – and maybe even that won’t stop them.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
How was Joan a right winger?
JaySinWA
I am noticing the stale recent comments block as I go back through old posts. I hadn’t noticed it much before yesterday. Looks like each post has its last update at a different time. I remember reading about this a few days ago. Is it just a known thing or are we tracking it now?
Phylllis
@WereBear: Over the past ten years in our district we’ve had 3 different kids who were with their 2nd family (one with his 3rd) because they’d been ‘returned’ to the private, Christian adoption agency that handled the cases.
Omnes Omnibus
Is it just me or is it kind of weird that we’ve had a cat shaving and a soup post since Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: not just you, which is why I for one was ready to go off topic.
I’m guessing Betty Cracker is on her swamp boat photographing hummers.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That she partied with a rich new yorker doesn’t make her a right winger. RBG frequently vacationed with Scalia.
As to Joan, I saw her near the end of her life (I think on Larry King) say she was a life long Democrat. And her daughter is record saying her mom would have supported Hillary.
Omnes Omnibus
Seriously, are we not doing “Phrasing!” anymore?
RepubAnon
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: This reminds me of a line from one of the DiscWorld novels – it was along the lines of:
“Do you know what happened to the last guy who said something like that to me?”
“No…”
“Neither does anyone else – because the body was never found!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@RepubAnon: the deaths of certain authors makes me sad, cause it means some of my favorite characters are gone forever, and it really bums me out that Death is gone forever.
Also, Adam Dalgliesh.
I think Inspector Rebus retired six books ago, but happily Ian Rankin finds excuses to bring him back. I’ll be very sad when Rebus and Big Ger Cafferty have had their last skirmish.
Morzer
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Joan Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, said that she and her mother were fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republicans.
ThresherK
Cleopatra, my wife’s tortie, was held down by three vet techs all wearing gauntlet gloves, to clip her nails. She yowled like a little kid. She was on the stainless steel table, and that was a wise choice, as she excreted and voided copiously during the procedure.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: What? Not into cat shaving and soup?
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you for putting the thought of a cat shaving soup into my mind.
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Meh.
@Morzer: One does what one can.
trollhattan
Huh, root for injuries?
https://www.lawfareblog.com/will-justice-department-prosecute-john-bolton
Morzer
@Zachary_Cohen
https://twitter.com/Zachary_Cohen/status/1309970408792350726
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus:
One can of cat shaving soup is more than enough, thank you very much!
Baud
@Morzer:
It’s sounds better in the original French:
soupe de copeaux de chat
Omnes Omnibus
@Morzer: What if you have company?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It sounds no better if one knows French.
Baud
@Morzer:
We have been too hard on Manchin. It’s West Virginia, and no one has any clue how to do better.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I wonder what the French do to make disgusting food seem fancy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Being a good Democrat seems to be important to him. Every time the leadership has needed his vote, it has been there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Euphemisms?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Butter and cream.
Morzer
@Baud: Accompanied by that famous beverage Chat-eau de Cole?
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: We have a winner.
laura
That cat is an absolute unit – just a burley and louche and arrogant looking moggie. Total chonk. Looks real good for sleeping on a winter’s night. Cant wait for the photo of him in his wool cave.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Even though I’ve never been vociferously anti-Manchin, I still feel bad about participating in the audience.
I remember when everyone said he was going to become a Republican after Trump won.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Not to be a lookist, but it’s kinda creepy that so many pictures of her that I’ve seen recently seem to be from 2009 or earlier (according to TinEye.com).
Compare https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54303848 and https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020/09/26/texas-leaders-in-support-of-president-trumps-supreme-court-nominee-amy-coney-barrett/
It’s a little strange.
But what matters is changing the court so that RWNJs no longer can overturn good and necessary legislation nor prevent the people from having equal justice under law.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: whenever I get pissed at Manchin, or I remember that moment he shot up a copy of a cap-and-trade bill with
if memory serves an AK-47memory did not serve, it was a shotgun (and then he did this retake in support of ObamaCare, if of course he didn’t call it that), I remember I thought he was committing career suicide by taking a stand on gun safety post-Newtown. And he voted to convict trump. I’ll still get pissed at him under Bien, I’m sure, but I think on balance he’s been fairly solid, all things considered.Another Scott
@cain: Some reporting I saw said that she wasn’t for over-tuning R v. W but was fine with more restrictions on actual abortion access. Which probably means something like “since abortion is available in other nations on the Earth, and since inexpensive airline flights are ubiquitous, there is no practical restriction on Americans obtaining abortions if they so wish. So, any restriction in the USA is not unconstitutional and the law in question is fine and dandy and does not violate R v. W.”
Grr…
Yes, they understand that they need R v. W as a cudgel to keep natural Democrats from voting for Democrats – just as Jill Lepore told us. It’s their “greatest hit” and the biggest thing that has enabled them to maintain power.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’d be one thing if he were from Connecticut like Lieberman was. But West Virginia?
If we’re lucky enough to take back the Senate, I hope we learn to deal with our diversity better.
Baud
@Another Scott: I wonder how many more times that cudgel will last if they can’t overturn Roe with this court.
Anti choicers are remarkably dedicated, but they’re still human.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: The two TaMara posts were already in place and scheduled when I came to BJ this morning.
Three people had recently told me they missed plain old open threads that are wide open, without even any subject, so that’s what I put up.
It seems to be a nice day everywhere, maybe everyone wants to be outside while they can.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She was probably watching the Gators but, you know, this is not a football blog.
Another Scott
@Baud: A pretty long time, I’d imagine. Too many of them still rail against the expansion of the Commerce Clause and say that just about everything is unconstitutional because it violates the 10th Amendment. It’s ever-green.
But, I guess we’ll see soon enough. :-(
And then we’ll probably see quick efforts to codify R v. W and repeal the Hyde Amendment, things that probably should have been done long ago.
tl;dr – it’s not hopeless and it’s not over.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Amy Coney Barrett’s Stare Decisis Problem–And Ours:
She respects precedent less than Antonin Scalia meaning she’s ready to join Clarence Thomas and start taking a hammer to long standing decisions.
From the washington monthly.
J R in WV
@jackmac:
Our big white with red spots cat, about 20 pounds, ate a whole rabbit at an advanced age, and needed his bowels unstopped. We took him to a vet clinic that wasn’t the standard clinic, but was open Saturday afternoon.
When we went to pick Ralph up, wife went back into the residential area to pick him up, at their request. They evidently had pre-printed stickers that said “BITES” and Ralph’s Sticker had added in big Sharpie “HARD!!” which we were proud of. Teach them to treat him with proper respect!!
Give a 20 pound cat enemas, you gotta respect his reaction~!!~ But they did save his life, he was a happy cat for many more years, attacked a fox after our yard birds, which is real stones for a house cat. Even a big one. Ralph was never afraid of anything.
Been 30 years now, and we still miss him.
ETA: Ralph wasn’t mean, he was friendly and outgoing, but he did expect a certain amount of respect… demanded it, actually~!~
Baud
@Another Scott:
Yeah, abortion rights is fixable if we have Congress. Evenw with the blue dogs who might oppose it, I think we’d have the votes.
giandujakiss
what a good kitty
sdhays
@Baud: Don’t feel too bad. Having the left angry at him, to a certain degree (there is a point where it can be too much), is part of the magic that keeps him in the Senate.
Sally
From an earlier thread and an Elle Magazine article about Nancy Smash, I think a great slogan for Dems would be R’s: No Science, no governance, no responsibility “.
Poe Larity
Why are the crowds in Middletown wearing masks?
Morzer
@Sally: Republicans offer three things to America:
Rape, Ruin and Racists
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WaterGirl: I thought they were forging the committee review because she is a conservative and going to a straight vote?
Another Scott
Every delaying tactic is good in this case. But increasing turnout for Democrats is better because we must vote the monsters out.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ian
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s conservative thought in a nutshell “religious bigotry??? YOUR THE BIGOTS!” I’ve seen it in action over and over again.
I’m not Christian, so to me it makes no difference to me which branch gets more representation than others, but I would think that the protestant and orthodox churches would be slightly miffed that we are going to have 7 Catholic supreme court justices. If were going all in on the republic of Gilead shouldn’t they want a say?
jonas
Well, yes. That’s the beginning. But if you think it will end there and that there will always be a “blue state” backstop to ensure that women can get legal abortion services *somewhere* in the country even in R v. W is overturned is missing the bigger picture. They’re gunning for federal legislation. If R v. W is gone, the next time there is a GOP House, Senate, and president, there *will* be a complete ban on all abortion nationwide. Game over. I’m not sure people are quite absorbing the implications of this yet…
Omnes Omnibus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Committee hearings are scheduled to begin October 12.
Another Scott
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/518431-confirmation-hearing-for-trumps-supreme-court-pick-to-start-oct-12
I wonder if Schumer plans more of the objections about the 2 hour rule, or if that wouldn’t work now…
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
jonas
@Baud: 1. We’d have to get rid of the filibuster to do it, which means that it’s immediately reversible the next time R’s take all three branches. Our only hope is that that by that time, it becomes enough of a third rail that even a batshit insane anti-choice GOP isn’t willing to go there anymore. But I’m not willing to bet on that quite yet…
Ken
@Morzer: Fair pastiche, but more reminiscent of Robert E. Howard than Howard P. Lovecraft.
Baud
@jonas:
I would support ending the filibuster if needed to preserve reproductive rights. If they repeal, they repeal.
Morzer
@Ken: It is Robert Howard, with one word changed.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@NeenerNeener: If you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss gazes back https://ifunny.co/picture/tq8BqDHC7
Another Scott
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Mai Naem mobile
@Morzer: Republicans = Rape, Recession, Racists.
J R in WV
@Baud:
Lots of garlic, serve it with great ice cold champagne. Enough garlic can make snails acceptable as an appetizer. Think of that!!!
Mai Naem mobile
@jonas: they are not going to outlaw abortion. They’ll limit it. There are states that will outlaw it but nationwide ban is not happening. Even the GOP are too chicken to say they’re outlawing abortion. They just say they’re pro life. They know how unpopular the position is.
Aleta
@J R in WV: I had a cat like that, he was white with red spots as well. A 20 lb bruiser who walked like a bulldog. Sharkey. He played the piano alone at night, and he played the answering machine buttons if left alone for the weekend. To hear the voices I think. I have some recordings he left on it too.
You could pitch to him and he would either bat or catch.
J R in WV
@Baud:
Actually, no.
No, they are not — they are fascist monsters, with not a shred of humanity in the whole crowd of them. Sorry to disagree here, but there it is.
Mary G
@jonas: I won’t consent to that, will participate in the Safe Abortion Underground Railway, and if I go to jail, I go and write letters from there. And I say that as a woman 20 years past menstruation who’s never been pregnant. The backlash from younger women will be unprecedented if they try it.
jonas
They don’t care. If they think their base is enough to keep them in power, they’ll ram it through.
Sister Golden Bear
And Cole was never heard from again….
Another Scott
Since this seems to continue to be the SCOTUS thread… ;-)
Daniel Block at WaMo:
The SCOTUS is obviously a political institution, especially these days. Biden has many tools available.
These are dark days, but we’re not helpless. We need to keep fighting to move progress forward and not get discouraged when things take longer than we’d like.
As Speaker Pelosi says: “Diversity is our strength. Unity is our power.” We need to stick together to move forward.
Cheers,
Scott.
jonas
@Mai Naem mobile: Stop, stop. You’re flattering them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sister Golden Bear: You think Cole wrote this post? Steve took over the blog long ago.
J R in WV
@Aleta:
That is so cool to hear about. A year or so after Ralph died late at night, early one morning I was driving to work and stopped for some gas. Suddenly a young white cat with red spots came around the front of the car and rubbed against my ankles.
I drove maybe a mile towards work, and turned around, to go back and pick that wonderful young cat up. Tom, who ran the hardware store, told me no one owned the cat. We named him Rufus, for the red spots, and he lasted until about 2013. He needed to go on while wife was hospitalized with septic shock…
Rufus would sit at the table, with a place set, and was as polite as any dinner guest. Those sitting on either side would offer him bits proper for a obligate carnivore. Was nothing short of amazing. Manners better than most people!
I think white cats with red spots are the best~!~ Or just plain old orange/red cats…
ETA: We both feel blessed to have had two such wonderful cats. Not that all the other cats haven’t been wonderful!
TS (the original)
@Morzer:
Good summary of the GOP
sdhays
@Baud: The filibuster is already dead. The Republicans grossly abused the reconciliation process to nearly repeal the ACA and to enact their crazy-ass tax cuts. That was enough for them since they’re not that interested in legislating, but if they ever had the power and the desire to actually legislate, the filibuster rule will be gone immediately.
The only question is whether Democrats decide to recognize that or not.
And, honestly, the 60 vote cloture rule for legislation is stupid and damages our democracy. I don’t care if Republicans can enact terrible legislation in the future – people should actually get to see the results of a particular party being in power rather than having little happen regardless of the results of the election unless one party achieves a super majority.
The one place where the 60-vote cloture rule makes sense is for judicial appointments, as a band-aid for the perverse lifetime appointment rule in the Constitution. Since that was the first thing to go, it really has no place in our government.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sdhays: I agree.
trollhattan
Lincoln Project’s Lindsay video, perfection.
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1309620608561414144?s=20
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: They do good work, I’m wiping a tear from my eye.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan: and this one they aimed at one of the softest, flabbiest parts of his soft, flabby brain
Another Scott
ICYMI, this tweet includes a 20 s video that is well worth remembering given what happened today.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Our Virginia ballots came in the mail today. Yay!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: When I was in high school rich girls went to Japan.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh yeah, she totally looks like ol’ Crazy Eyes.
I find it humorous that the GOP is trying to pin anti-Catholic bigotry on the Dems…. in a year in which their fucken candidate is Catholic.
Sab
@Suzanne: And the GOP’s twice divorced, serial philandering, allegedly Presbyterian creep has been attacking Biden’s faith (which happens to be Catholic.)
satby
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m sending them a donation for that one!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan: I’m trying to stay phlegmatic and realistic about this race but it’s not hard to believe that LP ad is playing in Lindsey’s spinning head, and that’s fun.
He was once sidekick to the hero of all DC green rooms! He was often Tim Russert’s third or fourth choice! Now…. Judge Jeanine brushes him off when she needs a hard break cause her glass is empty.
Scuffletuffle
I eagerly await the reasoned rationale that supports the interest of a few seconds squirt of semen over that of 9 months plus 18 years of substantive physical, psychological and financial consequences…
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: They could declare personhood from the moment of conception under the 14th Amendment, which would criminalize all abortion nationwide, and also have a bunch of far more bizarre consequences, since the majority of “persons” over history in the US would then be microscopic organisms who spontaneously die unseen before anyone even knows they exist.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The extent to which that ad has a target audience of one is hilarious.
Matt McIrvin
@jonas:
That’s not game over, that’s when that Republican majority destroys itself. That’s a position with, consistently, about 20% popularity.
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: That is unlikely. The right’s target is Griswold and the right to privacy. And then a very narrow interpretation of the the Fourth Amendment. “Why would you refuse a search unless you had something to hide?”
BigJimSlade
@trollhattan: In Soviet West Virginia, cat shave you. Obligatory addition FTFY.
BigJimSlade
@prostratedragon: apropos of nothing, whenever I see your nym it seems like it has one fewer ‘r’s in it. And I’m not sure if that would be something good, or, more likely, awful. lol.
Morzer
@BigJimSlade:
In Soviet West Virginia, cat slave you.
PaulWartenberg
I need to get this done for my cat Ocean, and the animal clinic/grooming place I’ve tried taking her to has refused to return my messages.
artem1s
@JoyceH:
They believe the exact same thing about Dems. Once Roe is gone we will have nothing to engage us, so why not vote for someone who will end Social Security and ACA? This is why we don’t have guaranteed reproductive rights in this country. Because both sides have been using this as a political football for decades. What everyone is forgetting is Roe was born out of reality that lack of bodily autonomy is equal to slavery. Barrett and her supporters don’t want to stop with Roe. They want to reinstate the Comstock laws and all the financial restrictions that came with not being able to determine when and if you become pregnant. Pre-Roe women couldn’t own property, establish credit, or hold certain jobs because they might get pregnant. The assumption of autonomy has become so ingrown in our society women don’t really understand the reality of a Roe-less world. We already have companies that have been allowed to deny women essential health care based on their belief that women shouldn’t have control over their own bodies. States that have effectively banned abortion in all forms and are now going after the clinics that provide low cost contraception. Schools that teach no sex education except abstinence. And it’s happened mostly because the supporters of Roe never had to experience a pre-Roe world. The majority of those affected by Roe restrictions are living in the middle of those regions/states where there is no pro-choice voice for them. Those regions didn’t get that way by accident. Overturn Roe, don’t overturn Roe, women’s rights are still going to be under attack as long as we have the right to say ‘no’.
We need to stop basing women’s rights on the maintenance of Roe. Put Barrett on record for supporting ‘one vote households’, chattel slavery, and rescinding of basic human rights for women. Then you will make headway with women and men who think overturning Roe won’t affect them personally because they have access to birth control or are over 50.
Another Scott
@artem1s: Well said. The control dynamic is a very big part of this.
I’m reminded of the truism (attributed to Atwood):
“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.