About 30 seconds after swearing to “administer justice without respect to persons” and “faithfully and impartially discharge and perform” her duties, Barrett walked out onto the balcony of the White House with Trump as his co-star in an political ad.
I know what you’re thinking: at what point does the makeup Trump slathers on to hide his splotchy pallor cross the line into “blackface,” and why doesn’t he apply it to his fucking ears and blend at the hairline so it’s not so obvious?
But let’s focus here for a second — a SCOTUS nominee participated in a rushed, farcical process. Then she chose to cut a campaign ad as her first act as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In one sense, it’s like buying your dream home and then taking a shit on the carpet and smearing poop on the walls — within seconds, Barrett defiled the court she’d just joined, and now we all have to live with the stench.
From Barrett’s own actions, not partisan rancor, we must conclude she has poor judgment and zero integrity. So, what do we do with that information? Vote for Democrats who oppose this charade, first of all. Done and done, for many of us. Next, we have to hold the people we vote in accountable to fix this mess, using any action that doesn’t violate the Constitution.
Mitch McConnell made up a rule to deny President Obama a SCOTUS nomination, then made up another rule to ram this unethical, low-quality Trump hire onto the court. The rules McConnell pulled out of his ass weren’t in the Constitution, nor did the Constitution expressly forbid his actions. So, if Democrats take the Senate, it’s time for a new set of rules.
Expanding the court will be a heavy lift, but I’ve been encouraged in the last few days by seeing the likes of Senators Chris Coons and Angus King speak favorably of it. Especially Coons. When you’ve radicalized the mild-mannered Senator Coons of all people, you may have over-reached.
Anyhoo, as voters, perhaps our most important task is staying good and mad about this outrageous theft. Republicans are strutting around today. Let’s wipe the smirks off their faces, not just a week from today but two years from now too. We’ve got to hang this corrupt travesty around their necks at every opportunity.
Open thread.
2021 Pet Calendar: 5 Days to Get Your Pictures Submitted
Baud
Hear, hear.
We need to be all in for the long term. No more only two years and out for the Dems.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
as is so often the case with the Lincoln Project, I don’t know how effective this ad will be in South Carolina, but it’s a hoot.
Chris Johnson
Epic overreach? Critical fail? Catastrophic hubris? It basically guarantees America has to treat whatever comes next as de-nazification. Which would’ve been necessary anyway, but it makes it obvious, and there’s more to come which will further make that case.
Record everything, remember everything. This is their death struggle, and that’s why it is happening even though it won’t help. It will not WORK. It still matters, and we’re gonna have to have tribunals before all this is over. Judgement at Nuremberg time.
James E Powell
Starting with the first case and continuing throughout her career, we need to refer to her as the Fraud Justice and deny the legitimacy of any decision she is the deciding vote or the author. She needs to be relentlessly attacked and disparaged.
Kirk Spencer
@Chris Johnson:
It can work, if we let it. I agree with the remainder of your comment, but let us never fail to be mindful of the cost of not doing enough.
Calouste
@James E Powell: I prefer “Injustice No. 3”.
germy
RaflW
Yes, this is — perhaps — the last, loud, dying gasps of a party wedded to white supremacy culture. It’s a very bad moment (moment in historical sweep terms, but really the past 20-30 years from Reagan to now).
I know that ethnic minorities (as well as LGBTQ people, the disabled, and so on) can be systematically oppressed for extended periods. But this country will not remain majority cis+straight+white for much longer. Even if the GOP manages to episodically strangle immigration. We’re just too populous and diverse a country.
So we have to fight like hell.
But they’re on the wrong side, and that McConnell admission that it’ll all get reversed? It’s true, and it’s his most damning admission. Even the SCOTUS rulings that unfortunately are coming down the pike, they can be reversed. Plessy stood for a horribly long time. But not forever.
greenergood
I was trying to put my finger on how to describe her little stunt holding up the blank note pad, and you’ve given it: ‘From Barrett’s own actions, we must conclude she has poor judgment and zero integrity.’
germy
(photo of Trump and Barrett on balcony)
mali muso
Yep, I’m incandescent with rage. I can’t imagine I’ll forget this and just move on.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Betty Cracker
The Post:
The article quotes Trump’s only non-felony charged campaign manager (so far) saying that Republicans will catch up with Dems on Election Day and win, and a Biden aide saying that absolutely could happen. It could. But historical turnout levels aren’t usually good news for incumbents. It’s possible we really are good and mad.
zhena gogolia
VeniceRiley
Maybe too bad it won’t be in time to save the planet from hothouse temps.
M31
I’m done thinking of ‘justifications’ for adding more court seats like “well there used to be one supreme for each circuit and now there are 13 circuits’ — WHEN WE HAVE THE POWER, JUST DO IT, don’t sit around finding ‘justifications’ — make them up afterwards lol that’s what they do anyway.
Let’s go to 15 or 17! 23, DO IT. USE YOU POWER AND DON”T APOLOGIZE, and don’t even try to appeal to fuck the fucking NYT. FUCK THEM ALL
Need a justification? OK ready: the population of the US is now X% more than when the last time the courts were expanded so now we need to correct for that.
I can think of more if anyone needs them.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
She didn’t have to do this appearance, but IIRC there are usually two oath ceremonies.
germy
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia: Melatonin, snort.
Baud
@germy:
Excellent.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@germy: Trump often confuses TV and real life.
Sure Lurkalot
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I am not inclined to click on their ads. George Conway tweeting that Barrett is qualified to be a SC justice speaks volumes. They will turn on a dime to RF us.
I also think we should refrain from using Barrett’s initials a la RBG. And push back calling her Justice anything. Maybe just Amy…giving no context to her identity or her ill deserved position.
Redshift
@M31:
Saw a tweet this morning that this was the exact justification Republicans in various states used to justify their partisan expansions of their state supreme courts, and a note that the National Review had objected to none of them.
Gin & Tonic
@VeniceRiley: The planet will survive just fine. Homo sapiens, maybe not so much, but we’ve only been here for a nanosecond anyway.
Redshift
@Sure Lurkalot: My take on the “exceedingly well-qualified” is that it’s intended to be “she’s a smart educated woman, and we’ll accuse you of betraying women if you deny she’s qualified.”
She’s not exceedingly well-qualified. She’s had three years as a judge. None of these clowns would call an entry-level hire “exceedingly well-qualified” to be a CEO, no matter how brilliant they were in grad school.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, that’s pretty funny. IDK if Lindsay is vulnerable but we really, really need to keep the flashlight trained on his pathetic, lying ass.
This Lincoln Project ad on Trump and our military women is starkly effective.
Kay
Thanks, Betty. I want the balcony photo to define her. She refused to reveal anything about her work at the phony hearings, but we found out who she is anyway. A picture is worth a thousand words.
trollhattan
@Redshift:
If Trump is reelected mark my words, he will nominate a CEO supporter with no law background to SCOTUS. And Ivanka.
Redshift
I am exercising great restraint by not clicking on the Ross Douthat NYT column about how “It should be possible to cover revelations about the Biden family that are neither disinformation nor the greatest scandal of our time.” It’s not worth the blood-pressure hit to laugh at his attempt to claim that parts of the “revelations” definitely aren’t disinformation.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: …and install his horse in the Senate, or maybe Devin’s cow.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
We have some work to do if we win next week. We need to begin calling the Democrats who represent us now to pressure them to make the needed reforms to save democracy.
This should include a new Voting Rights Act, embiggening the Supreme Court and other federal courts and bringing in Washington and Puerto Rico as states. That’s the least we should be doing.
I’m going to call my senators and representative—Democrats all—today.
Baud
@Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.):
Again, the people of Puerto Rico have not yet decided whether they want to be a state or not. If they want it, then it should happen.
Kay
Please make sure and share the campaign video the Justice and Donald J Trump cut last night too.
The public should find out who they just hired.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Sure Lurkalot:
Conway can suck my ass because he’s supporting the family brand. I think people like Wilson, Schmidt and Jen Rubin have been on epic missions of self-reflection and are in for the long haul.
Martin
@germy: Kavanaugh just wrote a majority opinion that suggests the networks determine the winner. That’s a green light to sue any effort to choose electors that disagree with what Fox News says on Nov 3.
It’s bullshit, but also the written policy of one branch of government. Dems may need to quickly decide how far they’re willing to go here.
Gravenstone
@germy: The One Size Fits All approach?
Baud
@germy: I can’t believe the guy hired his second cousin.
Martin
In other news. Bloomberg just dropped $15M in Texas for Biden.
MC
I had a really bad night last night. I needed my benzodiazepines just to sleep. I can mostly blame the wild panic on twitter. Doing better today.
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Which just shows that Thomas was also entirely too happy to take part in a re-election campaign stunt.
Captain C
@Sure Lurkalot: I’m thinking Amy COVID Barrett, which serves to remind that her rushed passage was pushed by Turtle instead of a COVID relief package.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
That’s obvious by the absence of the Oxford comma.
Van Buren
@M31: If we want to be nice, we can just smile and say that elections have consequences. I’m sure the village will understand.
Sure Lurkalot
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Not in agreement on Schidmt or Wilson. Schmidt hawking Howard Schultz as an independent? Just last year. And Wilson has always been a smarmy ratfker.
Rubin and Nicole Wallace seem sincere in their conversion. Maybe Stuart Stevens. I go full Driftglass on the rest.
M31
@SiubhanDuinne:
pretty sure he supplied opiods to the strippers JFK and Stalin too
piratedan
for me I guess its the idea that the founding fathers set up a panel, with no political agenda to call legal balls and strikes. To keep the nation “balanced” with a sense of what is fair for its citizens and those who lived here. Not as a mechanism as a corporate/political/religious tool, but a court of redress where the law and justice could be served. At least that’s how I understood it.
Now, the GOP has even politicized “fairness” and made that cynical calculation that since they can’t win the votes, and now won’t write the rules, they’ll buy the umpires.
Benw
Don’t get mad, get even…
by expanding the courts, taking the Senate, expanding voting rights, redistricting as many states as we can. Let’s get sick of so much winning, some people are saying
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Redshift: Around 25-30 years ago, I made the error of uttering a criticism of a relatively new local judge as “a fucking idiot who has no clue as to what she is doing” while in the presence of a woman that wasn’t employed around the legal system, but whose sensibilities were rooted in a proto-Rose Twitter space. She gave me a frown and said “you shouldn’t talk about women that way”, to which I responded “women are just as capable of being nepotism beneficiaries and as stupid as men are – most of the judges I know who happen to be women are great.”
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
Think of all the money he saves on carfare.
JanieM
@M31:
@Redshift:
If increasing population is ample justification for expanding the court, then let’s not forget Congress.
From here.
Now it’s over 750,000.
Kay
This GA thing is fascinating. It is no longer “the solid south” for Republicans. I think it’s exciting and I am just so grateful that every national election will no longer turn on OH and/or FL.
Bruce K
@Captain C: Yeah. They rammed through Barrett and then recessed the Senate without even debating COVID relief. That tells me exactly where the Republicans’ priorities lie, and reinforces my baseline of what it’d take to get me to vote for a Republican ever again. (Basically: zombification. Which is why I’m having my remains cremated, because I wouldn’t put it past the GOP to try that…)
WaterGirl
@germy: I so very much would like to tell my totally tasteless joke about whether a married couple that gets a divorce are still legally considered brother and sister, but I don’t want to alienate anyone in the run-up to Nov 3.
So I will bite my tongue. Mostly.
Lapassionara
@SiubhanDuinne: Hah!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC airing his remarks, if like me you’ve just given up on getting anything done for the next week
Yarrow
@Baud: I’m already talking to people about the importance of voting in midterms. Telling them this election is just the beginning and 2022 is around the corner. Never miss a midterm!
M31
I want the Dems to OVERWHELM the country with good things, as opposed to the firehose of shit.
Make the media forget about packing the courts because HEY DC IS NOW A STATE! Puerto Rico too !!!(if they want it)! Voting Rights Act! Postal Banking! Tax Reform! Remove the SS income cap! Increase SS! Minimum Wage $17! YOU DON’T LIKE THAT? OK $21!!! Free College! Student loan forgiveness!
SO MUCH WINNING
actually, all of those things are popular and good! let’s do them
Ksmiami
@Chris Johnson: I want the Republican Party smashed into bits. I want their enablers and followers reduced to penury
Aleta
Even more clear to me today is how absolute the practice of ‘end justifies means’ is for the extremists among the charismatic christians, white criminals and libertarians/RWers. Representing the public and taking responsibility for consequences have no value to them. Fairness and democracy mean nothing. Reasoning and precedent have no meaning. Hypocrisy, rule-breaking, lying and deception are fine. The end is “god’s will that I personally am here” and $$$$$$$$$$$$ and revenge. (Like other abusers.) Not justice or truth.
Baud
@Kay: Holy crap. Wouldn’t it be something if Georgia played the role of General Sherman in this election.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I have soooo much to do. I hate this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
okay, as an unreconstructed O-bot, I rewound MSNBC to hear Obama. So far he’s called trump lazy- “watching TV is not doing the job”, mocked his need for attention- ‘he’s jealous of the media coverage Covid gets! last week he was talking about his inauguration again’
ETA: “last week he said he couldn’t think of anything he would’ve done differently. Really? Like going on TV and telling us all to inject bleach?” His mocking tone is going to have trump chewing on the carpets
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
Come on. No one here will be offended. We’re all willing to bend our standards for a good joke.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
I am proof of that.
AliceBlue
@Kay: I live in Georgia and I’m trying not to get too excited, but damn it’s really hard not to!
Joe’s here today, just a few miles down the road from me in Warm Springs. He’ll be in Atlanta later.
laura
Hoisted from the dead thread because I’m feeling stabby with rage:
Amy Covid Trump is who she is – for all to see. No character – hollow as McConnell’s soul, an empty vessel to fill with the passing interest and whims of the powerful men who own her, incurious of intellect, willing to be used with little inconvenience to the user.
I’m pissed. About this and about the Senate shutting down with no stimulus and about the runaway virus. Fuck these fucking fuckers and their fuckery.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@AliceBlue: someone’s tweeting a poll that shows Warnock at 48%, which is about ten points higher than most I’ve seen. They said it’s from 538 but I can’t find it there.
Having the Pastor of Ebeneezer Baptist in the Senate would be… seismic.
emmyelle
I have nothing against expanding the court, but I sure would appreciate it of more people on the far left did regular boring-ass things like vote in midterms and vote for the actual democratic nominee, rather than using a federal election to express one’s grievances with the Democratic Party.
It’s easy to scream “Impeach the Motherf*cker” and “Expand the Court”, but it is hard to actually engage in the political process and get work done.
The GOP is an entirely unserious party when it comes to all aspects of governing, but they are deadly serious when it comes to the courts. Our side, not so much.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
So he hired his second cousin, started getting it on with her, and then gave her drugs?
I’m assuming that it was a her.
cckids
@M31: I agree, but use the justification anyway; “packing the court” sounds so unethical & crooked. Expanding sounds better, using the circuit court #’s makes sense to those not paying attention.
To those of us raging about it, anything goes – I don’t care if we end up with a congress’s worth of justices. But we should be smart and sell it well.
FelonyGovt
In my incandescent anger this morning I really think they have now pushed it too far. They confirmed this unqualified hack and did an end zone dance about it. Women, in particular, are enraged and I sense (and hope for) a turning point.
geg6
@Martin:
To be fair, it wasn’t the opinion. It was the concurrence. Which can be used as precedent, I suppose, as it has been in the past, but that’s not what the actual opinion says.
Captain C
@piratedan:
Who will have a mandate to use whatever insane troll logic they need to achieve the desired outcomes.
Aleta
@Kay: That was fast. I thought GA was closer to tied. But I keep forgetting that each poll tells us what was found a while ago (or however long ago it was taken).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Kyle Griffin is closest I could find to a live tweet.
catclub
Trump is confusing reality with TV
FTFY
Immanentize
I would like to see Democrats in two years make voting safety and voting access a critical aspect of the national campaign language. Also, get voting reform ballot initiatives in every state that allow such things. Look how successful the Florida felon enfranchisement initiative was. It’s like marijuana initiatives.
Vote for Voting, 2022.
Ohio Mom
OT: I just got back from my gum graft surgery. So far, not impressed with the pain pills.
Well at east it is distraction from the news. Glad I voted early.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JanieM:
I suggested adding 100 members to a friend today. He said “it’s unwieldy now. Imagine worse.”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ohio Mom:
I need some gum grafts, and am terrified.
mrmoshpotato
The Mean Orange Man (via HillaryWarnedUs) Take a minute and enjoy.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did someone say Warnock?
Raphael Warnock, Georgia Senate (special election)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Immanentize: hear, hear
I think putting Republicans in the position of fighting against voting rights could be the trigger we need to sell some of the other things people think will be passed on January 2
Immanentize
@Kay: Lean/Tossup says, based on the Republican Georgia polling in House Districts that it is in the bag for Biden. Not sure I am willing to let that thought enter my head, but, it’s out there!
Immanentize
@Kay: Also, if there was a switch between say, Ga and Tx with the aging midwest, the Senate would end up being a lot more small-d democratic.
patrick II
It is scary because this is one more judge who will do anything necessary to re-elect Trump president regardless of the actual will of the people. Now they have a margin of error in case Roberts can’t bring himself entirely to obliviate the law to help Trump. The post office is still delivering first-class mail slowly, and I imagine with the rush it will get worse. Yesterday, Kavanaugh wrote an opinion that included the Trump idea that votes not counted by Nov 3 should not be included in the final count.
We should win, but we need to win by a lot.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It looks like it’s a Civiqs poll; it’s listed on their Georgia Senate page. The biggest thing is it looks from their recent polls that the Democrats in Georgia have solidified around Warnock rather than dividing their vote between him and Lieberman, while the Republicans have not consolidated their vote around either Loeffler or Collins. That’s good, because it means the nightmare scenario of the Democrats splitting their vote leading to a Loeffler vs Collins runoff is unlikely.
Served
I’m really wondering if it would be worth bundling a bunch of reforms under a single More Democracy/Democracy Modernization bill is better than a piecemeal approach. In one swoop, they could expand the house, expand the courts, and create new, updated voting rights law
Jeffro
I love it!
Roll a new one out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (I would say one a week, but there’s too much that needs fixing).
“How to Own The News Cycle Eternally, The Right Way” by the Democratic Party, 2021. Now playing at theaters everywhere.
Immanentize
@Amir Khalid: One of the first unwritten rules of trial evidence I learned — if it makes the Judge laugh, it will be admitted into evidence.
JanieM
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I think that’s a legitimate concern, but I also think a way to manage it could be found.
The House of Commons has 650. The lower house of the New Hampshire legislature has 400, for crying out loud.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
I just finished War and Peace — except the Epilogue. Can’t believe I’ve made it
ETA: And I don’t mean just reading the fucker — teaching it!
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If Warnock manages to top 50%, he would immediately become the Senator from Ga as he is in a special election. Less than 50%, run off.
zhena gogolia
@emmyelle:
This.
Ohio Mom
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I will give you a complete report in a couple of days. The place that it hurts is where I pulled my lip down to take a looks my gums. That was not a good move. Icing it now.
patrick II
@Served:
No, because if the current supreme court found one piece of it unconstitutional, which they would, they would declare the whole thing illegal.
Create an overall framework “America for voters” or something, but have the pieces be very tight, individual bills. You need to pass court reform before most of them though, otherwise, they will just get repealed.
L85NJGT
@Martin:
In 2018 Bloomberg PACs Backed 24 House Races. Democrats Won 21 of Them.
Rich Uncle Pennybags does his own polling.
NBC just moved Texas to tossup.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@zhena gogolia: Hope you read it first.
West of the Rockies
@Sure Lurkalot:
Amy Covid-Barrett, Amy Boney-Carrot…
catclub
@Served: I would say no. In one swoop the SC can invalidate the whole thing, as unconstitutional AND non-severable.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I blogged about writing advice that appeared in the NY Times Book Review in August.
catclub
@patrick II: I shake my tiny fist at your faster fingers.
But approve of the cut of your jib.
Jeffro
Hey FPers: here’s one that really deserves its own thread at some point
How will 2020 (the tv show) end? We asked screenwriters how to wrap up this shitty year
(ok that’s not the real headline, I’m paraphrasing here ;)
Funny and also lightly horrifying reading – love it!!
mali muso
@WaterGirl: As always, thanks for dropping the thermometer in! Off to pop a few more $ in the jar for Warnock.
Jeffro
@L85NJGT: If the FSM gives Biden/Harris Texas and Georgia, I will eat pasta at every meal for a week.
Wait…that’s not really a sacrifice…hang on a sec…
germy
Immanentize
@germy: ???
frosty
I understand where you’re coming from, Betty, but I’m so tired of being mad.
Kay
@Immanentize:
I’ve been reading them. I like that they’re confident. I won’t hold it against them if they’re wrong. I want them to say something. I hate the hedging. Just stroll out on that limb.
Elie
How fitting that the coven meets for the first oath of office in the dark of night — projecting its nefarious root, its need to push through quickly — confirming in its darkness, how wrong and degrading this is. No light of day for this event — no head up and proud, celebrating democracy in the sunlight! No. But there can be no bargains with the devil…
danielx
@Ohio Mom:
Don’t blame you a bit – I’ve had dental bone graft surgery three times and every single time my reaction has been “I want better drugs”.
Roger Moore
@JanieM:
I think a lot of the unwieldiness of the House is a result of it relying on antiquated procedures. Expanding it would require a bunch of restructuring and very likely physical construction for the necessary infrastructure, but there’s no reason it wouldn’t work if the leaders cared to make it work.
The biggest thing to me would be to allow members to participate remotely. We would probably want the members to show up in person sometimes, but physical attendance should be mostly up to the Representative.
To make that work, they should have some serious teleconferencing gear in their district office so they can effectively participate in committee meetings remotely. Making it easier to work from their districts would also reduce the amount of travel time, so they could spend more of their time doing their actual work rather than commuting between their districts and DC. It would also reduce the need for recesses.
Another thing that would help a lot would be a big increase in funding for Congressional staff. In addition to having more Representatives, each Representative should have a larger staff and they should be paid better. The staff need to be able to out-compete lobbyists in terms of providing their Representative with useful information on the issues of the day, and that means a good staff of well paid professionals.
Sister Golden Bear
@cckids: One my talking points is that she was appointed after 62 million Americans had already voted — roughly half the number of people who voted in 2016 — and were denied their say in who the next justice should be.
L85NJGT
They debased the nominee, the seat and the entire court with this “process”.
Mitch sounds like a hoops fan pointing to garbage time stats.
germy
Shalimar
@patrick II: Regarding Kavanaugh’s newfound principle, he will toss it on a nanosecond if Trump is the one behind at midnight on the 3rd.
Immanentize
@Kay: They seem to be using actual data rather than fancy modeling based on 2016 (like 538). What a concept.
ETA my favorite is when they tweet something like: “I wanna cyber bully this guy who says Georgia voting will be 65% white….”
danielx
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Tell them that as with the Ramones, you wanna be sedated. Halcion tab an hour before procedure and somebody to drive you to and from. You’re vaguely aware that unpleasant things are happening, but you’re not really there. You’ll be much happier, trust me on this.
Elie
@West of the Rockies:
Amy Coven Barrett
Immanentize
@Kay:
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
Not everything you do to celebrate your deity’s benevolence needs to be a sacrifice. Plenty of religions have holidays that are about being joyful. Harvest festivals (like Thanksgiving) are a classic example; people celebrate their deity’s benevolence by partaking in the bounty the deity has provided.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: That one is great. So is the convicted murderer who won local office in eastern Ukraine. He had been a Member of Parliament earlier, but then, you know, the whole murder thing, and sitting in prison and all. But now he’s out, and back. Who says redemption isn’t possible?
patrick II
@Shalimar:
If Trump is behind on Nov 3, he will lose and Kavanaugh won’t have to sully his reputation any further. Not that he wouldn’t. In person voting while suppressing or delaying votes by other means are Trump’s only real chance. That’s what he has trained his voters to do.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Oh I think we are all good and mad. I’m to the point that I can’t spend that much time a day on BJ. Or any political goings on. Health/stress reasons, which I’d bet a lot of people are feeling. The situation is bad enough but I’d bet most of us here have voted, so there’s little to nothing we can do.
germy
The Boston Herald has endorsed Trump.
It’s over, Libs.
James E Powell
@Kay:
Georgia and maybe Texas as swing states would be awesome. I’m not sure how to fix Ohio since I don’t live there anymore. Back in the day it was always a battle between north & south of the turnpike. No idea what’s happening now.
RaflW
@VeniceRiley: My working theory is that at least half of all the bonkers behavior in the world right now is based in people knowing, at some deep level, how fucked the planet is.
The rush towards authoritarianism in country after country is a political response (and a very maladaptive one!) to an existential crisis unfolding.
Kay
I like that PA is fighting the Trump justices. You go.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: I would LOVE for Warnock to get to 50% + 1
crossing my fingers
RaflW
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I don’t trust Rick Wilson. Nope, nuh uh. Steve Schmidt seems to have flipped pretty firmly. Tom Nichols is a pretentious prat, and still a conservative, but I believe he believes in his principles.
The Lincoln Project is now being said to have plans to stay around as a media project. You know they’ll turn on Biden around January 23rd. It’s just so fucking obvious.
WaterGirl
@germy: I take it that the Boston Herald isn’t a legitimate newspaper?
germy
@WaterGirl:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Herald
One of the oldest in the country!
Humanities Prof
@James E Powell: It’s been summed up by commenters here and elsewhere.
Ohio’s problem is that in recent years it’s been moving in countermarch to a lot of national trends. Ohio today is older, whiter, and less educated relative to, say, 10 years ago. That’s the triple kiss of death for viable Democratic races.
It’s still within the realm of possibility that Biden could win Ohio, but even if he does, I’m inclined to label that as a bit of a one-off having to do with 2020’s unique circumstances.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@RaflW: I get the sense that Florida Man Rick Wilson will be a thorn in Marco Rubio’s side in 2022. I won’t forgive him for Max Cleland, or forget it, but I’ll be willing to overlook it, depending on how big a thorn he proves to be.
germy
Researchers Now Say We Should Be Getting 22 Hours Of Sleep A Day
Kay
@James E Powell:
I spoke with a D Party person last night and he thinks Ohio is right in line with a 8 to 9 point national Biden lead. So not good Ohio but optimistic for the country.
My middle son is an electrician and he’s working at Wright-Patterson this week and he thinks Ohio is too Trumpy to flip. He travels quite a bit around the state. He already early voted Biden. He told me a funny story. They all have one another’s cell phone numbers because they text to communicate when they’re working at a huge facility. One of the Trumpster electricians gave his list to the Trump people and they were all getting slammed with Trump texts. He said people were really mad – “get this shit off my phone”. They all knew who had turned over the numbers.
Captain C
@WaterGirl: I think the New York Post on a bad day is a reasonable comparison.
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Speaking of Kyle…
Baud
@Kay:
It might have been puffery, but Sherrod Brown said last night Biden would win Ohio. It’s at least close enough that he felt comfortable making that assertion.
SFBayAreaGal
So say we all.
germy
Geminid
@germy: This weekend the Manchester (NH) News Leader endorsed Joe Biden, their first Democratic presidential endorsement in a hundred years. In 2016 they endorsed Gary Johnson.
cwmoss
@Sure Lurkalot: She’s Amy Coathanger to me. Bart O’K is Justice Drunken Rapist.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Geminid: as a budding political junkie, I first became aware of the MUL when they endorsed Pat Buchanan over Poppy Bush in the ’92 GOP primary
Kay
@Baud:
I’ll be surprised. I think ’18 is sort of predictive. PA went (further) Dem-ish and WI and MI went quite Dem but OH stayed stuck in a Trumpy depressing rut. We did 1000 postcards here and we only have 7000/8000 Dems or Dem leaners. “We”. I bought 200 and gave them to the women who are doing all the work :)
Kay
Justice Kavanaugh’s election law guru speaks. Just plunk that into the next opinion.
“By our laws”
Baud
@Kay: I agree with the first sentence. Hopefully, FL and TX will come through.
Gravenstone
@James E Powell: There isn’t much Ohio north of the turnpike.
Kay
@Baud:
I don’t believe in Florida, Baud. NC or GA for me.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
This kind of thing is why I think people should try to do early in-person voting if it’s available. Those votes will be counted by the end of election day, hopefully making it obvious that Trump has lost bigly by the time we go to sleep on November 3rd.
Brachiator
@germy:
The Boston Herald endorsement of Trump reads like it comes straight out of Fox News.
A couple of things.
They certainly downplay Trump’s incompetent handling of the pandemic.
Hmm. China is an important market for US companies. But…
China is a wicked enemy that must be brought down and humbled.
The Boston Herald position is nonsense, but typical of Trump loyalists who try to emphasize the Orange Beast’s handling of the economy.
Maestro
@Kay: Turnabout is fair play, since the other person “went low.” Give that person’s number to the DNC, DCCC, DSCC, and every Dem Senator and Rep up for reelection, if your son doesn’t want to “go high.”
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I was going to drop my California ballot into one of the drop boxes (was not going to just mail it via the postal service), but decided to do early voting. Fortunately, the voting center was not crowded at all and voting was a breeze.
Casting the ballot was a breeze. However, I think that the electronic ballot they use includes too many steps and can create mishaps if people do not follow the instructions correctly. I was able to get ready assistance when needed. I also think it would be good to give people a confirmation of their ballot choices. You do confirm onscreen before the process is complete, but still a printout would be good.
They asked be to surrender my mail-in ballot before I voted. Luckily I brought it with me. Not sure what happens if you don’t bring it. They still have to let you vote.
Coming back to the original point, yeah, I want to see as big a vote count as possible on November 3.
cwmoss
@Roger Moore: Personal staff are mainly constituent service. Committee staff is where the policy making work gets done.
cwmoss
@Roger Moore: I agree with you. My pithy reaction to the friend who said expanding the House is too unwieldy would be along the lines of, “Yeah, each district now includes 25 times more people than at the founding. It’d be too difficult to figure out how to put more desks in that fucking room, so you’re right, it’s better to stick with 435.”
James E Powell
@Gravenstone:
I’m talking people, not square miles. The northern stripe from Youngstown to Toledo used to be heavily populated by Roman Catholic & Orthodox union members. Those days are gone forever, over a long time ago, oh yeah.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’m getting approximately 4 million political texts and emails a day. Fine, that’s to be expected.
But can I just say, I really don’t have the energy to handle the hysterical doom and gloom ones. Just got this one: “BAD NEW POLL: Mitch McConnell’s approval rating SKYROCKETED!”
Last one from that number: “We’re having a Pennsylvania MELTDOWN.”
I’m already concerned about hanging onto my mental health for the next 7 days. I don’t need this.
James E Powell
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I got four of those a day after I gave money to Gary Peters. Then all of the sudden they stopped.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
Bloody Oxford Comma again? ! You are so funny, mob enforcer Subaru lady.
Thanx!
mrmoshpotato
Take a break from this shitshow of a bastard presidency, and watch Matt Stone and Trey Parker make fun of this shitshow of a bastard presidency.
(Set aside any food or drink. Laughing while eating is unsafe.)
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: shared and commented
Booger
@Roger Moore: Well, on the plus side, it would put the members closer to their constituents and farther from the lobbyists. But how would Ronnie and Tip get together afterwards for scotch on the rocks at the Hawk-n-Dove?
Gin & Tonic
@Geminid: Bill Loeb is spinning in his grave so fast I can feel the breeze down here.
NotoriousJRT
@James E Powell: Fraud Justice II
JPL
@Kay: I’d be amazed if GA flipped. There was a good sign in my district though, Cook’s report move Lucy McBath to likely. I assumed she won the first time, because it was a non election year.
Nancy
@Kay: Is this an ethical violation of her oath?
louc
@emmyelle: Not just the courts. GOPers are deadly serious about the state legislature, the school board, the dog catcher. Dems are finally catching on, I hope.
Geminid
@Geminid: That’s the Manchester Union Leader.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: That’s the thing – not every state can start counting the ballots right away. In Illinois, they can’t start counting until 7pm on Nov 3.
States need to change their laws/regulations so counting can start as they come in, but the information not be released until after the polls close.
Wyatt Salamanca
@germy:
Trump getting endorsed by the Boston Herald, New York Post, and Washington Times is no surprise at all. They are perfect examples of frothing, fever swamp, gutter journalism.
WTF is the deal with the Spokesman Review endorsing Trump? I wasn’t aware that this newspaper is part of the wingnut media.
Also too, fuck the Dallas Morning News, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, and Florida Times Union for making no endorsement in this race.
List of media endorsements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_media_endorsements_in_the_2020_United_States_presidential_election
cain
@Roger Moore:
Good, we don’t want any Liebermans in the people’s house. One asshole was all we got and we shouldn’t forget his vote on the public option.
cain
@Jeffro: You will drink whiskey and smoke a cigar as they used to back in the day! Selfies to send to your dad and brother ;)
MCA1
We’re at full minoritarian federal government in all three branches (fine, half of the third one).
The GOP candidate has lost the popular vote and won the EV twice in the last 5 elections and the only conceivable way Trump stays in office is to make it 3 out of 6. That we’re even talking about a person down 10 points in the national polling aggregate as having a chance at re-election means the system is insane. The Senate had 52 votes confirming Barrett yesterday, which represented 14 million (!) fewer citizens than the 48 Senators voting no. And the Supreme Court has now had something like 15 of the last 19 justices put up by one party, despite that party only winning the presidency in 5 of the 9 elections covering the window in which a current Justice could conceivably have been installed. It is currently composed 2/3 of Justices selected by popular-vote-losing Republican presidents. The Court is wildly, wildly out of synch with the views of the majority of the American people it serves on several headline topics, and far too much power for a citizenry of 325 million has been placed in the hands of just 9 individuals.
All those little Constitutional concepts meant to prevent a tyranny of the majority have been aligned and leveraged to instead perpetuate rule by a minority. I just hope the anger we’re finally seeing about this, from more than just politics geeks like us, is enough to save and then reform the system.
Calouste
@Wyatt Salamanca: The Spokesman-Review? Have you ever been to Eastern Washington?
Ruckus
@MCA1:
I don’t like that you could write that, but you are right damn on.
Sab
@Kay: They aren’t even allowed count provisional ballots until eleven days after the election. It says so right on the absentee voter application.
Other MJS
That photo screams out for the title “Covita!”
JanieM
@Roger Moore: This thread is probably dead, but I was out all afternoon so just saw your comment now. Thanks for fleshing out the idea with a lot of well-considered detail. I have thought about it only in passing, but you’ve given me a lot more to chew on.
Ruckus
@Sab:
CA extended the time for the state to receive mailed ballots from 3 to 17 days as long as they are postmarked by 8pm Nov 3. And as it is state laws that regulate the vote and the counting wouldn’t the court have to declare ALL voting procedure laws invalid or unconstitutional?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Something magical from Louisville. Please enjoy the 3D exploration of this very special structure….
https://twitter.com/patrickashe/status/1320658920411697152
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I’m not sure where you voted, but where I voted in LA county I had a chance to read the human-readable part of my ballot before it was submitted. Maybe I should have whipped out my QR code reader to make sure the QR code said what it’s supposed to, but I think being able to read the human-readable part is enough.
And FWIW, there are very good reasons for not giving people a receipt showing how they voted. If you give those receipts, someone trying to bribe or bully others into voting the way they want can demand to see them as proof the other person voted as instructed. This kind of thing is why some jurisdictions forbid people from taking selfies with their ballots.
cain
@mrmoshpotato:
lololololol – oh my god, that was fucking hilarious – dialysis king ftw!
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I was able to review my ballot before I submitted it. I would still like the option of a copy. The bribe or bully gambit does not apply to me.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
The slow part is not the actual vote counting, which is handled by high-speed machines. The slow part is going through all the mail-in ballots to confirm they’re from real voters who jumped through the appropriate hoops and didn’t also vote in person. They really should be able to do that part before the polls close, but I think a lot of places don’t even start it until then.
Roger Moore
@Roger Moore:
Reading through this again made me want to clarify a point: I believe meeting with constituents is part of a Representative’s job just as much as attending legislative sessions is. I don’t resent recesses as Congress taking a vacation from their real jobs.
I do believe commuting between their districts and DC wastes a lot of our Representatives’ time, which is bad because they’re already busy enough. It also creates unpleasant living circumstances. Maintaining two households, one in their district and one in DC, is a major expense. A lot of legislators try to get around this by cutting their living expenses in DC. It’s flat embarrassing that some Representative sleep in their offices to save money, and ones who rent rooms in someone’s house are in position for all kinds of corruption. Letting Representatives represent from their districts would avoid all that. Maybe we could have a hotel/dormitory in DC where Representatives could stay rent-free while Congress is in session.
bcwbcw
Instead of expanding it, lop off the 3 new justices to take it to the original count of 6, then next year go back to nine.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
That’s what, nearly 600 rooms if we make every district reflect the population of the least populated state. That’s a lot of hotel sitting there a lot of the time.
Zinsky
Well said, Betty, per usual. What kind of a self-respecting jurist accepts a Supreme Court nomination under such blackhearted and treacherous circumstances? It’s like being named to the All-Star team after helping to poison the 25 other athletes who are better qualified than you. Barrett is a soulless, naive wretch is all that I conclude, after her flaccid and intellectually vacuous so-called “nomination hearing” and now her prostitution to Trumpo’s ridiculous campaign commercial.
John S.
@cain: Oh my god, I have loved Sassy Trump from day one. My wife and I are in pain from laughing so hard — especially at lil’ Jared Kushner.
PIGL
@M31: I’ve got one justification to which I would love to resort: “because fuck you, that’s why.”
Now get you hence, poor miserable wretches, to your deaths, the taste of which may God give you patience to endure, and true repentance for all your dear offences.
TriassicSands
Barrett’s thought as she stands regally next to Louis N-teenth Trump?
“Let them eat cake.”
Her hearings provided zero evidence of a keen judicial mind or of any mind at all.
Her behavior — super-spreader nomination announcement event and post-swearing-in Trump campaign ad — is of a clueless, oblivious Trump sycophant who cares nothing about other people or what Americans think of her as a SCOTUS justice.
After claiming she would have to recuse herself in capital cases because of her “devout” Catholic faith, she miraculously changed both her mind and her behavior, and she has willingly and noticeably NOT recused herself is such cases.
In all likelihood, she is so sure of her own perfection we will probably never see a Barrett recusal, no matter how blatant a conflict exists. Apparently, Thomas may be as much or more of a role model for COVID-Amy as was Scalia.
sgrAstar
@Van Buren:
@Roger Moore: Nope. The people in Congress need to develop real relationships. Not gonna happen on Zoom. F2F is critical. In my experience leading a super successful startup, it’s those after work cocktail parties and pub crawls, and just hangouts, that really build cohesion and community. We need that in Congress as well.
AnotherBruce
@Baud: Hopefully, This year has scared a lot of people. 21 can’t come soon enough. But we have to be sure that ’22 won’t be a Trump rerun. Put them in jail.