Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans in disarray!

Second rate reporter says what?

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

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

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

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Right now, we can use all the luck we can muster!

Janet Yellen’s first tweet:

Across the aisle…

Reader Interactions

171Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    Sidney Powell, until recently one of President Trump’s lawyers, shared with her followers a request that Trump cancel the election he just lost, cancel Biden’s inauguration and instituted a “military commission” to investigate everything. pic.twitter.com/jJg0W0Hda9— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 1, 2020

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Sudden burst of what passes for creativity came out of nowhere, promoting completing something have been on and off fiddling with for a little while. First draft, gentle critiques welcome ;)

    To the tune of “As Time Goes By.”

    We won’t be missing you
    Especially now you’re through
    On that you can rely
    Remedial relief is nigh
    When Trump says “bye”
    .
    And when you leave the scene
    In jubilance we’ll scream
    Enough to fill the sky
    Gone, Jared and Ivanka too
    When Trump says “bye”
    .
    Whining and ego
    Tweets just oozing hate
    Heart full of nothing
    Complete reprobate
    Losses so clear, no Sharpie can abate
    Now slink to your estate
    .
    The upshot of the story
    We’re showing you the door
    Elect’ral votes don’t lie
    The ship of state will set sail proudly
    Once Trump says “bye”
    .

  4. 4.

    Jeffro

    These people are all fascists and I hope everyone keeps calling them that until the end of time.

    Meanwhile, on the lighter side:

    From time to time in Los Angeles I meet people who were involved in the Nakatomi business.  They always find this time of year difficult.  @dick_nixon

    It’s December, and y’all know what THAT means!  (Besides having to move that damn elf around the house every night).  24 more days ’til DIE HARD and Chinese!

  7. 7.

    debbie

    If Democrats don’t uniformly point out Republicans’ hypocrisy about foreign government work and tax sneakiness to their faces and in public situations and demand responses from said Republicans, I will be very angry.

  8. 8.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    So the journo kids of Louisville’s Manual High School broke another State Police training story (you know, the sort of story that professional, paid journalists should be breaking but aren’t, because they’re simply stenographers and microphones for the Blue).

    Seems that this August, an innocuous, yet mandatory training segment on opioids appeared in a video – but they left in a neonazi symbol that someone noticed. Upon some research, it turned out to be part of a longer video that was explicitly antisemitic.

    https://manualredeye.com/90596/news/local/ky-law-video-nazi-logo/

    An online training used in 2020 by a Kentucky state law enforcement training agency features a Nazi symbol in a clip from an anti-Semitic video produced by a neo-Nazi media company.
    The Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) created the online training which requires watching a six-minute video. The full video, which is not included in the training, alleges that the Jewish people caused the American opioid crisis, that Las Vegas casinos are “run by Jewish gangsters” and that in Hollywood, Jewish people “are endlessly glorified among other mind-control agendas working hand-in-hand with the U.S. government.”
    An anonymous source who works in law enforcement alerted Manual RedEye to the existence of the clip after RedEye published a story about a Kentucky State Police (KSP) training that quoted Hitler three times and featured the Nazi phrase “über alles.” KSP used Hitler-quoting trainings during at least two years and trainings that quoted Robert E. Lee and instructing cadets to be “ruthless killer[s]” for at least 10 years, resulting in Commissioner Rodney Brewer’s resignation.

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    Grassley should be told, “Get fucked.  Every cabinet nominee’s tax returns are being ‘audited’ and you can’t have them.”

  19. 19.

    Baud

    President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team are preparing for an early, all-out push to pass an ambitious new stimulus bill, while also drawing up plans for a flurry of executive actions aimed at delivering on campaign promises and undoing the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine key government agencies.

  20. 20.

    PST

    I heard a disturbing example of rumor mongering yesterday that strikes me as the kind of thing that must be circulating selectively on Facebook (which I never see). My wife, who is a fine liberal Democrat but suspicious that Representative Omar and some other members of the Squad are anti-Semitic, told me that one of her friends, a successful Jewish businessman in his eighties, told her that the Squad had declared that they would not confirm the nominations of Antony Blinken or Janet Yellen because as Jews they would not be fair to the Palestinian cause. There is a great deal of foolishness there, including the irrelevance of the House to confirmation, and of course it is completely false. I’ve even seen statements of support for the nomination of Yellen. The rumor may trace back to an Axios story that these representatives were opposed to the nomination of Bruce Reed at OMB, which didn’t happen. It just amazes me, though, that this kind of paranoid fabrication can circulate among people who are not idiots. Where do they start?

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @mrmoshpotato

    Brisk 59 degrees here at 3 am. Yesterday the first time since March that felt the need to wear the house slippers because the floor was chilly.

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    For the curious, the kernel from which Airplane! grew, Zero Hour!, airing on TCM today at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

  25. 25.

    John S.

    President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the powerful White House budget office generated early controversy Monday, with Neera Tanden emerging as an immediate target for conservatives and Republican lawmakers.

    BY JEFF STEIN, ANNIE LINSKEY AND SEUNG MIN KIM

    Nice to see all the Biden hate stalkers together in one place doing their thing.

  32. 32.

    JAFD

    Meself, first words said today:
    “My father slaughtered a kangaroo.
    Gave me the grizzly end to chew.
    Now wasn’t that a horrible thing to do,
    To give me to chew, the grizzly end, of a dead kangaroo.”

    Sung to tune of the Soldiers’ Chorus, from Gounod’s Faust,
    it will take about 25 seconds, and enliven your handwashing.
    Happy December, regardless !

  33. 33.

    germy

    In January, Biden will begin an effort to recalibrate the federal judiciary with more liberal appointees who embrace a robust judicial role in addressing national problems and protecting an evolving spectrum of individual rights, a shift from Trump.https://t.co/q9Tl8ftr7g

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 1, 2020

  35. 35.

    Quinerly

    @Patricia Kayden: I’m very curious what happened to Powell… Her mental state, etc. I have mentioned this before. She once was a very capable, if not brilliant atty. She entered UNC Chapel Hill Law School at age 19. Youngest federal prosecutor in the country at one point. An atty in the Enron cases. Once a Democrat. I wanted to read the WaPo piece about her but couldn’t get around the paywall. Anyone have any more info on what the hell happened to her? Other than when she hooked up with Flynn and took over his representation. She seems to be swallowed by the conspiracy believers/QAnon hole. “Everything Trump touches dies” consumes another one.

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    It’s 7:26 AM and I’ve already had a depressing morning.

    E-mail: rejection of pet ashes story

    My sales site on Amazon: ugh

    My writer support group: I was good about this period’s royalties until I read theirs

    Oh well. Coffee is ready now. I’ll feel better soon.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    When Trump says “bye”

    May I suggest ‘Punt Trump “bye bye”‘?  Because he’s not leaving because he wants to.  He’s getting throw out on his ass if needed at 12:01PM Eastern January 20, 2021.

    Btw, are we there yet?  Can we throw him out now?

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @NotMax: LOL. That’s good. Reminds me of the feeling in this tweet I saw yesterday

     

    I find it hilarious when Trump says there’s “no way [they] lost this election”Like, sir, people were literally dancing in the streets and bells rang around the world. Very much yes way.— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) November 30, 2020

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly:  It was 20 degrees here this morning, and I’m not ready for it either. OTOH, it does feel more like Christmas. Neither my husband nor I are in much of a Christmas mood, which isn’t much of a surprise for me but is a big change for him. I think it’s because this year is so weird in every way.

  48. 48.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: When she first spoke, I recognized a NC accent immediately even though she is now in Texas. Because of my roots, that sparked my interest. There’s a lot of crazy that came out of my birth state when Helms was so powerful. Prompted me to read her Wiki page at first. She came from a modest, working class background in Durham and breezed thru Chapel Hill undergrad in less than 2 years and started law school so young. She wasn’t always crazy. Once very capable and accomplished. Now a punchline. I just don’t get it. She is full on QAnon now.

  50. 50.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax: has worked for me in the past on Kindle, laptop (and I think phone). Wouldn’t work for me on the phone the other day. Will try again. Thanks for reminding me.

  51. 51.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Quinerly: That’s a good question because she does sound genuinely unbalanced. So does Rudy but you can maybe blame that on mental deterioration with age. Same with Trump.

    I don’t know. Their disconnectedness from reality is hard to believe. It’s like they all have some prion disease.

  53. 53.

    PST

    @Baud: She repeated it to me without endorsing it. I consider that a little like retweeting: it spreads a lie but lets the retweeter deny responsibility. However, she granted that it needed to be checked out on line. Rep. Omar can be a trigger for her — it’s her only weakness.

  55. 55.

    Patricia Kayden

    @PST: Does anyone in their right mind believe that Rep Omar would actually vocalize that she won’t confirm someone because they’re Jewish? In any case, House Representatives don’t confirm nominees to cabinet positions. That’s for the Senate.

  56. 56.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Trump lawyer: ex-election security chief Krebs should be ‘taken out and shot’

    Condemnation of Joe DiGenova’s remark about Chris Krebs was swift, including calls for his disbarment and the charge that he was behaving like a “mob attorney”.

    Krebs was fired as head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) on 17 November, not long after he said the election, contrary to Trump’s claims, “was the most secure in American history”.

    Krebs also used Twitter to publicly debunk Trump’s conspiracy theories.

    DiGenova defended the president in the Russia investigation and is now involved in attempts to overturn results in battleground states. The Trump campaign has won one lawsuit – and lost 39.

    DiGenova made the remark about Krebs on The Howie Carr Show, a podcast shown on YouTube and the Trump-allied Newsmax TV, on Monday.

    “Anybody who thinks the election went well,” he said, “like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity, that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.”

  58. 58.

    WereBear

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I don’t know. Their disconnectedness from reality is hard to believe. It’s like they all have some prion disease.

    I see it in Fundamentalist religion, inadequate parenting, or coddled privilege. Anything that blocks the requirement that a person become a mature adult.

    It doesn’t have to be outright narcissism, though it can devolve that far. Any person who refuses to deal with actual reality gets deeper and deeper into all the Freudian defense mechanisms, until that is the only coping skills they have.

    Which is like not having any at all.

  59. 59.

    Quinerly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I still think it’s all such a mystery. And, yes, on Rudy. He wasn’t always this nuts. Neither was she. I just looked back at her Wiki. When she started her own firm right out of the gate she was representing Enron, Arthur Anderson, and Merrill Lynch execs. They don’t hire full on crazy attys. That 100 page pleading she filed in federal court last week (the Kraken suit) is like it was prepared by someone who never went to law school and is in a mental institution. I read some of it. Plus, good piece in the Bulwark on it. Prion Disease is a good description.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PST:Rep. Omar can be a trigger for her

    Members of “the squad” are triggers for a lot of people. They are the new bogeyman. It has more to do with their instant fame than anything they’ve done.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize:   Those are the WaPost assassins.

    Annie Linskey is deplorable.  Her beat is “Democrats in Disarray.  No? Well — make something up!”

  62. 62.

    Gin & Tonic

    From the karma file, Eastern Europe edition

    Ultra-homophobic Hungarian right wing party Fidesz’s MEP spotted at an illegal gay orgy in Brussels. Fidesz is currently on the verge of banning adoption for same sex couples.@KatalinNovakMP Minister of Homophobia in the Hun. Gov. must be pissed pic.twitter.com/Jobw8lqazY
    — Viktória Radványi (@spacekakadu) December 1, 2020

  63. 63.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: I read this last night Joe DeGenoa is another one who knows better and wasn’t always batshit nuts. Started out as a federal prosecutor. Granted, he and his wife started going around the bend during the Clinton impeachment. But nothing like the way he has been under Trump.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:   Susan Sidney Powell started out as a Democrat.  She completed her undergrad degree in two years.  Her earlier associates say they do not recognize her.

    I am wondering if it’s mental illness, early onset dementia.  She has had a break with reality.

    Haven’t confirmed it personally, but hear that a recent 100-page brief she filed WRT the election was filled with typos.  Strange ones, like from someone who cannot operate a keyboard well, maybe neurologically.  Maybe assist from alcohol or substances.

  65. 65.

    germy

    @Quinerly:   I just looked back at her Wiki. When she started her own firm right out of the gate she was representing Enron, Arthur Anderson, and Merrill Lynch execs.

    I wonder how happy they were with her work

    And, yes, on Rudy. He wasn’t always this nuts.

    Rudy was always terrible.  He always made bad decisions and showed poor judgement.  A liar. He was fluffed by the press after 9/11 because they were looking for heroes. There were lots of heroes that day, but Rudy wasn’t one of them.

  67. 67.

    zhena gogolia

    Please God, you gave us Biden. Thank you. Now please give us Ossoff and Warnock. Thanking you in advance.

  68. 68.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @germy:

    Didn’t somebody put together a Twitter feed of what Trump’s feed looks like based on who he follows? As I remember, it was a few years ago, and grotesque.

  70. 70.

    PST

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Does anyone in their right mind believe that Rep Omar would actually vocalize that she won’t confirm someone because they’re Jewish? In any case, House Representatives don’t confirm nominees to cabinet positions. That’s for the Senate.

    That’s my point. It’s not only false but crazy. Yet it was repeated by someone I have met and have every reason to believe is in his right mind. Somehow these times bring out irrational streaks even in those who are not QAnon or RWNJs.

  71. 71.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: see Bulwark piece. It provides a lot of info, excerpts from the Kraken suit. The formatting is shitty. There’s a template that all of us who have practiced in federal court use. “District Court” is misspelled in several places. Also, the 100 page length is a “tell.” My first thought was no secretary would type it and Powell typed it herself on a computer she doesn’t use in her office. She didn’t have the fill in the blank template for the style of the case, headings, spacing. No spell check run on it. Originally she posted on her website and it appeared to not even had been filed with the court. Since then someone has come up with a filed stamped pleading.

  72. 72.

    Jeffro

    @Jackie:  that’s genius!

    meanwhile, my 15-year-old will be eagerly popping out of bed every morning, wanting to see either a) where the elf got to overnight, or b) if dad forgot to move him again.

  73. 73.

    germy

    Oliver Willis is at it again.  He takes the craziest right wing fever dreams and turns them into a turgid novel:

    Barack Hussein Obama looked to the blue sky, where his enemy, God, resides, and smiled. He clasped his bony fingers together and smiled Blackingly. He had won again, despite all the odds arrayed against him. Evil had triumphed.

    — Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 28, 2020

    Michelle Obama draped her bare arms around Obama’s shoulder and flexed her muscles in the African-American style.

    The three-dimensional globe of the world projected in the Obama inner sanctum 10 miles below DC spun in front of the couple.

    “Victory,” she hissed in his ear.

    — Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 28, 2020

    In the corner of the cavernous headquarters sat an array of machines, manned by a group of shackled white men. Right now, the devices were silent. But just days ago there had been a frenzy.

    Millions of ballots had been printed, just as Obama commanded.

    — Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 28, 2020

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:  WaPost had a good article on her a few days ago. For Trump advocate Sidney Powell, a playbook steeped in conspiracy theories

    She zipped through classes at the University of North Carolina, earning her diploma in less than two years. She added a law degree and in her early 20s became, she has often said, the youngest federal prosecutor in the country. And when Sidney Powell — then a Democrat — moved into private practice, she co-wrote a paper hailed as a “manual” for deciphering sometimes-arcane appellate rules, salting in advice for fellow attorneys: Never “slant” the truth to benefit a client. “To write anything less than an accurate statement of facts can cost an attorney credibility with the court,” she wrote.

    …. At the age of 23, Powell was hired as an assistant U.S. attorney in San Antonio … She joined an office that was under siege after taking on the region’s major drug traffickers. Weeks before Powell was sworn in, another assistant U.S. attorney survived an assassination attempt; a few months later, a judge was murdered. Several of Powell’s new colleagues were under protection by U.S. marshals.

    Sue Boyd, whose husband, Jamie, was the U.S. attorney when Powell joined, said she had fond memories of Powell visiting their apartment to discuss cases with her boss, including their successful prosecution of drug kingpin Jamiel “Jimmy” Chagra.

    Boyd said she has been shocked by Powell’s recent turn to extreme views and conspiracy theories. “This is not the Sidney I knew,” said Boyd. “I remember a fine young lawyer and a responsible person.”

    [Interesting they got the USA’s wife on record, but not the USA.]

    [Sounds like she started going off the rails in the mid-90s]

    … In the mid-1990s, Powell got engaged to Roger K. Parsons, a Texas physicist, who hired her for legal representation after the death of his wife in a plane crash in Malaysia. Powell helped Parsons file malpractice claims against lawyers who had won him more than $4 million in damages from the plane’s owners, arguing that he should have been entitled to more, court filings show.

    Windle Turley, an attorney Parsons sued unsuccessfully, said Powell appeared to advise Parsons poorly as the widower embarked on a years-long legal campaign that has alleged conspiracy theories and coverups related to the crash.

    “It’s unfortunate that any lawyer would not see that Parsons needed help other than legal assistance,” Turley said in an interview.

    Parsons rejected Turley’s remarks, saying in an email that his lawsuits were well founded …

    Yet Parsons also said that Powell had changed since they broke off their engagement. “The Sidney Powell I knew then, like me, believed that a case justified by the facts and the law should most times succeed before a jury and judge,” he said. “I do not know the Sidney Powell I saw representing the Trump campaign.”

    Powell was married and divorced twice between 1980 and 1995 and has a son who now works as a financial consultant.

  79. 79.

    Shakti

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I don’t know. Their disconnectedness from reality is hard to believe. It’s like they all have some prion disease.

     

    I was immediately off to the races to check Wikipedia pages to see  who’d been in Britain during the ’80s and ’90s. Powell’s page doesn’t say anything. Giuliani was in the UK in 2002, maybe he let his guard down and ate some British cow?  And Trump of course, has his family history and kept trying to make a Scottish  golf resort happen. And he loves overcooked hamburger.

    The Variant Creutzfelt-Jacob disease page is suggestive, especially when it talks about symptoms and length of time to onset.

     

    From the BSE outbreak page:

    The original outbreak of vCJD only affected individuals with a particular genetic makeup; those who only make an M form of a particular protein. Studies of similar diseases in other parts of the world have shown that individuals with the M form tend to become ill quickly in a first wave, while individuals with the other, V form can be infected but asymptomatic for years or even decades (emphasis added)

  83. 83.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Quinerly: Rudy’s always been nuts, see KO’s vid on Rudy from last week.  As far as Ms. Powell goes, the money was probably better on the other side and she’ll say what she’s paid to say.  When you say it often enough it probably starts to sound real.

  89. 89.

    JML

    @PST: Unfortunately, it’s a legit problem with Ilhan Omar: she’s had too many “misunderstandings” with her casual anti-semitism for many reasonable people to just write it off as an unfair attack on her because she’s young, Somali, and Muslim. And that’s literally the only reason she’s survived: she’s able to dodge responsibility for her bad acts because the people that come after her are so horrible and the accusations that are flung at her are so bad that even people that don’t like or respect her find themselves defending her.

    She’s a poor Rep who doesn’t do constituent service well. She’s got too lengthy of a track record with anti-semitic statements for there not to be some reality there (this goes back to her time as a state legislator). She’s got shaky ethics. She’s surrounded by people who literally do not allow criticism of her; any objection to anything she says or does and expect to be attacked as a racist.

    It’s not great here in MN.

  90. 90.

    germy

    Chelsea Clinton seems to be another person who triggers the left and right zealots.

    Speaking of Chelsea Clinton, remember when she won a Lifetime award and Glenn and all the rest lost their minds about her winning a “Lifetime achievement award,” but then it turned out “Lifetime” was as in the Lifetime Network

    — Arthur Frasier Fir-Scented Ursine (@misterdickard1) December 1, 2020

  95. 95.

    Quiltingfool

    @OzarkHillbilly: My feelings exactly.  But…I do like Christmas trees and lights.   And I really, really like Christmas fabric (I’m a sucker for fabric with silver or gold threads) and making quilts with said fabrics.  Gimme red, green, gold and silver fabrics and I’m a happy camper!

  97. 97.

    PST

    @Shakti:

    I was immediately off to the races to check Wikipedia pages to see who’d been in Britain during the ’80s and ’90s.

    I was there and I’m not crazy (yet). I wasn’t allowed to donate blood, though, after I came back.

  99. 99.

    PST

    @JML: I admit that there are too many incidents with Rep. Omar to simply dismiss them. Also, as a gentile, I hate telling my Jewish wife that maybe she’s being a little too sensitive and misinterpreting remarks that are merely criticisms of Israeli policy. She’s got more skin in the game.

  101. 101.

    Baud

    @PST:

    The difficulty is that people with legit criticisms are often the ones most susceptible to false propaganda that reinforces pre-existing sensibilities.

  107. 107.

    zhena gogolia

    This looks like a great film, on TCM:
    The House in the Middle (1954). Military tests demonstrate the dangers of poor home maintenance in the event of a nuclear attack in this short film.

  109. 109.

    Immanentize

    @germy: After one of the most awful smear campaigns against Omar backed by millions of PAC money and dark contributions, including vile racist and misogynistic depictions (not to mention endless amplification of her supposed anti-semitism — she is a muslim, you know)

    She won by almost 40 points.

    I wonder what it is about the “Squad” that so riles up their opponents.  Gender? Race?  Speaking out blackingly?

  110. 110.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: at a minimum, she should be sanctioned. I chuckled to myself about some of this and how things have changed. My first federal court appearance was in front of a known anti semitic crank, misogynist, racist judge who was still hanging on to his lifetime appointment in 1988. He had been appointed by Truman. He was known to make seasoned attorneys cry in court with his verbal abuse. As I said, hated Jews and women attorneys. My opponent in that case was Orthodox, with beanie? and all. I knew nothing of Judge Harper’s background when the file appeared on my desk with a post it from my Jewish boss, “take over this file.” Those were the days…..

  112. 112.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: THIS!

    We have allowed a bunch of no-critique spaces to be created about comments regarding horrible acts.  When people critique horrible acts, the response is to complain that they attacked the intrinsic character of the person who did the deplorable thing.

    “That thing you did was bad” gets heard as “You are a bad person because ________”

  113. 113.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:  The WaPo article explained how the Mueller investigation’s Andrew Weissmann ended up in Sidney Powell’s sights.

    He was one of the DOJ Enron prosecutors, and she believed he (and they) concealed some evidence that would have helped exonerate her client.  The appeals court panel said no go, but she was fixated thereafter.

    A judge’s critique of her legal work on an earlier Enron case appeal:[it was] based on “excerpted pieces, phrases, and out-of-context passages.”

    Powell wrote a 2014 book, “License to Lie”, excoriating the DOJ prosecutors.  The NY Times declined to review it, but rightwingers lapped it up.

    In 2015, then-Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) called it “powerful” during the Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, and urged her to read it. “If even half of it is true,” Hatch said, “you have a lot of work to do to clean up the department.”

    Sidney Powell.  The whack job’s whack job gift that just keeps giving.

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: I try not to make those particular errors.  It is itself a potential denial of identity and believe me, can lead to all sorts of trouble.

    /S/ teacher of 21st century students.

  115. 115.

    H.E.Wolf

    @OzarkHillbilly: Members of “the squad” are triggers for a lot of people. They are the new bogeyman. It has more to do with their instant fame than anything they’ve done.

    This wouldn’t be true at Balloon Juice, of course, so it’s worth reminding ourselves that racism, misogyny, and (in 2 cases) anti-Muslim bigotry – whether these factors are conscious or unconscious – play a large part in the anti-“Squad” phenomenon.

    ETA: Valued commenter Immanentize says it better and more wittily! :)

  116. 116.

    danielx

    Nice to know Senator Cornyn is so concerned about the integritude of Cabinet nominees. Been in a coma for the last four years, has he?

  117. 117.

    Immanentize

    @Another Scott: He is a solid Democrat.  Just not my cup of tea.  A few people noted how much we are going to support his view of Senate rules come February.

    Just a ‘membrance — wasn’t there a 50/50 Senate in our recent past?  Maybe when Kennedy died?  There is, perhaps? a precedent for equal share of committees etc. which I now regret.

  118. 118.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Quinerly:

    An interesting thing I read from a lawyer reviewing the Michigan document:  He said it was in serious jeopardy of being thrown out, because the section the footnotes link to is huge, not formatted properly, and cannot be word searched.  You can’t find most of her sources and a judge is not going to spend hours combing it in the attempt.

    EDIT – Oh, another fun “the judge will love that” was that she quoted as evidence accusations from previous suits that had been thrown out.

  119. 119.

    Immanentize

    @Elizabelle: Yes, certainly.  I don’t have time right now, but the best detail is that the Chagra brothers hired a hit man to kill federal judge Wood (after whom the fed. courthouse is named in San Antonio).  That hit man was Charles Harrelson — and he succeeded in shooting the judge.

    That man’s son is the actor, Woody Harrelson!

    Cheers!

  120. 120.

    Immanentize

    @Elizabelle: My one and only deep whacko conspiracy theory that I amuse myself with is that Kenneth Lay is still alive.  I may be the only adherent of that idea.

  127. 127.

    evodevo

    @germy: OMG, Oliver…the fevered right winger universe will be re-tweeting this a million times in support of…whatever…satire is so wasted on those bozos lol

  128. 128.

    Amir Khalid

    Über alles is of course from the first line of the Deutschlandlied, which goes Deutschland, Deutschland über alles (Germany, Germany above all). The Deutschlandlied (Song of Germany) was adopted as Germany’s national anthem upon its first unification in the 19th century, and predates the Third Reich by many decades. In context, it reminds the people of the new nation to put Germany first, rather than Lower Saxony or Bavaria or wherever. So you can’t really call über alles a Nazi phrase.

    As of the Deutschlandlied‘s reinstatement as national anthem in 1954, the first two verses are no longer sung in public. The remaining third verse begins with the much less controversial line Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (unity and justice and liberty).

  132. 132.

    trnc

    @mrmoshpotato: Grassley should be told, “Get fucked. Every cabinet nominee’s tax returns are being ‘audited’ and you can’t have them.”

    I think he needs to be asked if he plans to co-sponsor a bill requiring presidential candidates and cabinet members to release 20 years worth of tax returns.

    ETA: I’m sure Yellin and other nominees have nothing to hide, so I’d prefer to get something positive out of this than to play republicans’ games.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize:   Yeah.  When I heard that the family got to retain the ill-gotten gains, made me wonder what is stopping other appellants’ families and heirs from knocking them off.

    Ridiculous law, it seemed to me.  Convicted is convicted; the appeal may or may not have succeeded. But, IANAL.

  136. 136.

    Shakti

    @PST: I remember being in Britain for a couple of days during the 1990s when I did a study abroad trip. Nobody asked me about it, but I was also vegetarian at the time (and definitely not eating beef.) I’ve donated blood a couple times, but I guess by the mid aughts they weren’t worried about it because I don’t remember that question.   I don’t remember when they stopped asking people if they were ever gay men who had gay sex in their lives — never?

     

    It’s funny when you remind yourself of things that  you forgot because you had shoved them to the back of your mind.

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    It was good to see Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-CA) strongly endorse Neera Tanden for head of OMB. As far as progressives go those two are the real deal.

  140. 140.

    trnc

    @Elizabelle: Haven’t confirmed it personally, but hear that a recent 100-page brief she filed WRT the election was filled with typos. Strange ones, like from someone who cannot operate a keyboard well, maybe neurologically. Maybe assist from alcohol or substances.

    Does she literally not have an assistant on staff?

  141. 141.

    Kathleen

    @Immanentize: Vogel was looking askance at Biden’s apointees’ ties to Big Banks/Finance/Evil Corporations etc. He was Twitter dragged on the first go round so he doubled down with all caps tweet saying basically OK to “scrutinize” Trump (not word he used but it was word that implied NYT political stenographers actually critiqued Trump’s choices for conflict of interest yeah right)  but Snowflake Libs can’t take the burn. The ratio was was a symphony of snark. I called him a sycophantic stenographer and noxious congregation of vapours.

  142. 142.

    Yarrow

    I miss Kay. Has she commented since that post where people were pie-ing her? I think WaterGirl said she contacted her but I don’t know if she heard back.

  143. 143.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Shakti: You are still restricted from giving blood if you spent more than three months (cumulative) in the UK from 1980-1996.

  147. 147.

    Yarrow

    @Quinerly:

    Anyone have any more info on what the hell happened to her? Other than when she hooked up with Flynn and took over his representation.

    Don’t have info but check her history wrt the RNC/NRA/Evangelical churches nexus. If she was involved in one of those she easily could have been involved with Russia and compromised and now is protecting herself more than anything. Flynn is a tell on this issue.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @trnc:   May not.  And does not seem to have used a template for federal filings, as a lot of attorneys do.  Strange.  She may just be [right] winging it.

    From the WaPost:

    Powell is friendly with [conservative whackjob and Fox News contributor Jenna] Ellis, the campaign attorney, according to two officials with knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump campaign. But precisely how Powell came to be a leading face of Trump’s election challenges, and onstage last week at the RNC news conference, remains a mystery even to some who have long been deeply involved in the campaign, they said.

    Powell, according to a third campaign official, simply showed up at headquarters a couple of days after the election.

    “She was not involved whatsoever in the conventional campaign legal structure or the RNC legal structure,” the official said. “She was totally on the outside. She had not been involved whatsoever.”
    Three anonymous sources.  They know nothink.  Nothink.

  150. 150.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Shakti:

     I don’t remember when they stopped asking people if they were ever gay men who had gay sex in their lives — never?

    As a frequent blood donor I can tell you that they are still asking this; also about sex for money or drugs. The Great Britain question I can’t recall exactly, but it has to do with total length of stay there, maybe six months or something? Not a tourist visit, since my week in London a couple of years ago never elicited a concern.

  151. 151.

    mali muso

    @Gin & Tonic: Are they still asking about having been in Africa or having sex with people from Africa? Because that one used to disqualify me. Not sure if the assumption was that you may be carrying malaria, HIV, or what.

  153. 153.

    Gin & Tonic

    @mali muso: I recall questions about Cameroon and one or two other African countries from the past, but not recently. I think they were screening for malaria risk.

  154. 154.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy:

    Obama laughed in the special laugh Blacks make when they dupe Liberal whites, as he watched the states flip from red to blue.

    “Use,… that old State Department server to Signal Hugo Chavez on Space Station Whitey One that his plan went flawlessly” Obama ordered “Who would have though replacing the condiments in those state capitals with Dijon Mustard would have turned all those Republicans socialists? There is no arguing with Mr Chavez results”

    Micheal Obama flexed a muscular arm, the same arms she used in her career of tyranny to emasculate dozens of middle aged white men before turning them over to forced gay conversion “Yes Dear, Karol Marx’s dream of a Corporate take over of America is at hand. Biden will be like Hitler in St Petersburg in 1918.”

  159. 159.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @mrmoshpotato: @Jeffro: There must be at least 24 Chinese dishes.

    Have it your way, Moshie. Myself, I’d plump for The Mother Of All Rijsttafels. Thirty or 40 dishes minimum.

    O/t:

    Is anyone beside me getting thoroughly sick of being stalked for cash by Wikipedia? As in, “This is the Nth time we’ve shown you this allegedly-humble-but-actually-arrogant panhandle for $$$, so why haven’t you ponied up already?”

    Um, maybe because I don’t care for services that rub my nose in the fact they’re tracking me, hm? And the next time you ask I’ll be even less likely to send you arseholes anything.

  160. 160.

    laura

    @Immanentize: you’re not alone in your suspicion about Ken Lay. I imagine him in a hammock at Cap D’Antibes sipping an amaro, bemused by his cleverness. Or he’s dead. Schrodinger’s white collar criminal in that box.

  161. 161.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Miss Bianca:

    Poor Kay got extremely pessimistic, to the point that even many of her admirers could not take it anymore, myself being one of them.  I hope she is taking a break from the news and destressing.  I remember she had to do that once before.

  162. 162.

    Shakti

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And today is World AIDS Day! I can’t help but think of how much of a struggle it was to get people to care about AIDS when they thought only gay men got it. They only seemed to start caring when a couple of famous straight men contracted it.

     

    I see covid-19 truthers claim the death tolls are inflated; that young children can’t transmit or contract it. They completely discount the idea of disability and if you have preexisting conditions, you can get fucked.

    I don’t know what we’ll think of our collective unpreparedness and callousness in the future with covid-19.  Assuming we make it.

  163. 163.

    Bill Arnold

    @Quinerly:

    I still think it’s all such a mystery. And, yes, on Rudy. He wasn’t always this nuts. Neither was she.

    Part of it is that they have been/are both pickling for years in an objectively-insane closed information system with active defenses against most outside information. Any easily-identifiable outside information that conflicts is rejected as false. Such systems can be easily covertly fed disinformation/theories/etc to make the pickling juice more potent(this can be near-impossible to spot), and the crazy itself also generates more disinformation. Some serious effort needs to be put into defanging QAnon and other such toxic closed systems, the next few years. They can be/are extremely dangerous. (They can enter a position of power, like General Jack D. Ripper in Doctor Strangelove.)
    It’s more than just that, though, as you’ve pointed out. Loki is active and has chosen sides. :-)
    And it is middling probable that they both (but especially RG) are attempting to avoid accountability for malfeasance bad enough to get them into serious legal trouble. Clearly Rudy is scared.

  164. 164.

    J R in WV

    @PST:

    …as a gentile, I hate telling my Jewish wife that maybe she’s being a little too sensitive and misinterpreting remarks that are merely criticisms of Israeli policy. She’s got more skin in the game.

    On the other hand, you could move to Utah, and your wife would instantly become a Gentile…         ;~)

  165. 165.

    Emma from FL

    I had a minor discussion with Kay. She was really stressed out and unusually angry. But I would hate to lose her. She is unfailingly informed and interesting. I often use her to expand my own knowledge field. Damn this election. It really has fractured a lot of us.

  167. 167.

    J R in WV

    @Bill Arnold:

    …It’s more than just that, though, as you’ve pointed out. Loki is active and has chosen sides.

    I think Loki is always on neither side, but wants maximum confusion just for the humor in such a situation. Similar to Coyote in the SW or America.

    Both gods must be loving American gov’t right now!!!

  169. 169.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: if you haven’t already read it, check out “Hope Never Dies: An Obama-Biden Mystery”

    the author is 110% spot-on accurate when it comes to Biden, hilariously so!

  170. 170.

    ColoradoGuy

    As a longtime lurker, please, Kay, come back. Don’t blame yourself for any mental distress. People of conscience have been on the receiving end of a military-grade disinformation campaign for at least the last five years, much of it from the professionals in St. Petersburg, and the rest from a very sophisticated GOP apparatus. Mental distress and disengagement has been the goal of these campaigns.

  171. 171.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro: 

    That one is fun, and the sequel, Hope Rides Again, while not as funny as the first one, is definitely entertaining. The author has a happy knack for conjuring the voices of “Joe and Barack” that made me hear them in my head, which made me smile all the way through.

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