Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

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

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The willow is too close to the house.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Everybody saw this coming.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

“woke” is the new caravan.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

White supremacy is terrorism.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Pennsylvania: Government Of, By, and For Republicans

Pennsylvania: Government Of, By, and For Republicans

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Pennsylvania Republicans have been dicking around with elections for some time. With today’s convening of the legislature, we have more Republicanism.

Open Thread!

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    This will be McConnell’s play if Ossoff and Warnock win. Since neither Loeffler nor Perdue will concede and there will be bullshit lawsuit after bullshit lawsuit, McConnell will refuse to cede the majority until all the litigation is exhausted. Basically what they did in dragging out seating Franken, but on steroids.

  5. 5.

    The Thin Black Duke

    The most patriotic act anyone living in America can do now is never vote for a Republican ever again. Never. 

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    The Republican State Senator in Pennsylvania just set a very dangerous precedent: as long as your opponent refuses to concede

    Trump didn’t concede. I guess he must still be president. What a load of horse shit.

  7. 7.

    PsiFighter37

    Sounds like that asshole who runs the State Senate GOP should be arrested for something.

  8. 8.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Jean: It’s pretty complicated, and it helps to read the links for background.

    Basically, the Republican in one district won’t concede, although the votes are against him. So the Republicans threw out the legal presiding officer (D) and are running the show their way, refusing to seat the Democrat who won in that district.

  9. 9.

    MJS

    Governor Wolf will have a remedy for this. “You want Republican sponsored legislation signed without a veto-proof majority? Nah. You have someone from your district you want on a commission or board. Nah.” He’s used to dealing with Republican obstruction.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    From the linked article

    But Ziccarelli has a lawsuit pending in federal court in Pittsburgh that seeks to overturn that outcome

     

     

     

    Some bad info somewhere.

  12. 12.

    Anya

    This is insane. Are voters okay with this? I don’t get how these people are rewarded over and over again despite their awfulness. I would even understand it if they were doing things that helps the people.

  14. 14.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    So the rot spreads… The Republican party has abandoned the concept of representative democracy. Elections are moot. There needs to be a reckoning with jail time. The is no “looking forward” anymore.

  15. 15.

    The Moar You Know

    Are voters okay with this?

    @Anya: I’ll assume, not living there, that the voters who put GOP majorities into the PA statehouse are thrilled.  I would be, if I were a Republican.

    And I’m understanding the attraction more and more; you can bully and beat people 24/7 and they’ll never fight back.  Dem politicians just won’t do this kind of shit.

  16. 16.

    Punchy

    So they can pick and choose who’s sworn in?  I would assume that they realize that at some point, the makeup will swing to the Dems, and then this tactic will put back in their face in spades.

    This was the whole supposed reason that McConnell didn’t burn the filibuster rule in the Senate, knowing they could be in the minority at some point and would need to use it.  Methinks the PA GOP is quite short-sighted here.

  17. 17.

    jayjaybear

    As a currently-residing native of PA. I have one phrase: “Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between.”

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    Fetterman in The Post:

    “It’s a straight line between the way the President has behaved these last two months to Pennsylvania. These are strange days.”

    Yep.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    Not about Pennsylvania, but this Margaret Sullivan (WaPost ombudsman) column fits this situation, too.  Wherein the radicals decide that Democrats are illegitimately elected and must not be seated; nor their victories certified.
    We must stop calling Trump’s enablers ‘conservative.’ They are the radical right.

    You hear the word “radical” a lot these days. It’s usually aimed like a lethal weapon at Democratic office-seekers, especially those who want to unseat a Republican incumbent. Sen. Kelly Loeffler [usually calls her challenger] “radical liberal Raphael Warnock.”

    Such is the upside-down world we’ve come to inhabit. These days, the true radicals are … the media bloviators on Fox News, One America and Newsmax who parrot [Trump’s] lies about election fraud; and the members of Congress who plan to object on Wednesday to what should be a pro forma step of approving the electoral college results, so that President-elect Joe Biden can take office peacefully on Jan. 20.

    But instead of being called what they are, these media and political figures get a mild label: conservative. [Margaret’s italics]
    …  In applying this innocuous-sounding description, the reality-based media does the public a terrible disservice. Instead of calling out the truth, it normalizes; it softens the dangerous edges. 

    It makes it seem, well, not so bad. Conservative, after all, describes politics devoted to free enterprise and traditional ideas.

    But that’s simply false. Sean Hannity is not conservative. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama are not conservative. Nor are the other 10 (at last count) senators who plan to object.

    ….  The language problem here points to a larger, more troubling issue: The radicalism of the right has been normalized. It’s been going on, and building, for decades. Don’t worry, this mind-set reassures, it’s all fine. There are different ways of looking at the world, liberal and conservative, and they are about equal.

    That, of course, is misleading hooey. …  I’d call them members of the radical right.  … [and they themselves] won’t like this, of course. They soak in the word “conservative” like a warm bath.
    … Heather Cox Richardson, [Boston College history prof]:  … This is “the final, logical step of Movement Conservatism: denying the legitimacy of anyone who does not share their ideology. This is unprecedented.” She called it “a profound attack on our democracy” and predicted that it wouldn’t succeed.

    ….  Too much of the reality-based media has gone along for the ride, worried about accusations of leftist bias, wanting desperately to be seen as neutral, unwilling to be clear about how lopsided these sides are.

    [Soon, Trump will be out of office.]  But his enablers and the movement that fostered him, and that he built up, will remain. That’s troubling.

    We should take one small but symbolic step toward repairing the damage by using the right words to describe it. It would be a start.

    Maggie Haberman and journalists of her ilk, at the FTF NYTimes and elsewhere, exist to normalize the radicals.  At some point, someone is going to have to call them out too.

  22. 22.

    Melusine

    Jesus fucking Christ. It just won’t end.

    May each and every person who voted for or enabled the current Maladministration receive the Darwin Award they so richly deserve.

  23. 23.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Punchy:

    So they can pick and choose who’s sworn in?  I would assume that they realize that at some point, the makeup will swing to the Dems, and then this tactic will put back in their face in spades.

    How could it ever swing back? They could just not seat them.

  24. 24.

    Matt

    Hot take: present-day membership in the Republican Party should permanently disqualify a person for office at any level. Any person willing to support these clowns is going to perjure themselves taking the oath of office.

  27. 27.

    Gravenstone

    @Elizabelle:  They’re conservative only insofar as the thing they seek to “conserve” is Republican white male rule. All other considerations are secondary.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    @Jean:

    I don’t understand this whole story.

    The Republicans are objecting to one Democratic Senator being seated.  It was a close enough election that the Democrat only won when counting a set of mail in votes the Republicans object to because the voter failed to write in the date on the mail-in envelope.  The issue has already been litigated all the way to the state Supreme Court and been certified by state election officials, but the Republican is challenging in federal court now.  The Republican majority in the state senate is now refusing to seat the Democratic winner, claiming it isn’t final until the federal court has ruled.

  30. 30.

    Dan B

    Steven Miller will notice this as will Meadows and McConnell.  The MSM and social media are a big reason for the rot but so are most of the wealthy.  As long as they don’t feel any pain they will continue to support the radical right.

    Tomorrow will be interesting, possibly in the Chinese curse way.

  31. 31.

    artem1s

    I’m curious about how their rules work that they can remove the presiding Lt Gov?  That seems to be the oddest part. I get that the GOP is in majority(?) but if the Lt Gov is presiding can’t he just swear him in anywhere and say neener-neener?  And why single out this rep?  Let me guess, Allegheny County/Pittsburgh?

  32. 32.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    This gets worse until some of them start paying a personal, physical price.

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    Boy, aren’t we missing our old friend BiP now that Biden has announced he’ll be nominating Victoria Nuland for Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs?

  37. 37.

    sab

    I like my local NPR stations. They do good local coverage. But my goodness Morning Edition and All  Things Considered and 1A have become unlistenable.

    I understand both sides journalism in community radio. Both sides have are contributors. But please have the Republican side not be so so so in the tank for their far right.

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Kid crosses state lines with an illegal gun and kills somebody and … nothing?

    ETA: Oh, this is the underlying police shooting, not that kid. Sorry.

  40. 40.

    germy

    Remember Tim Canova, the Bernie endorsed opponent to Wasserman Schultz in '16 and '18? He's a speaker at the Stop the Steal protests. The horseshoe is a complete circle.

    — ⚖️Laura H. (@LauraKY06) January 5, 2021

  41. 41.

    aliasofwestgate

    @raven:  I figured as much. Even the outside moderator/arbiter (whatever they call him) couldn’t overcome the local politics as roomie has described them to me.  She’s lived here for some time, so she knows them well. I’m still learning them and the Police here have a sucky reputation among the POC of the area for good reason.

  46. 46.

    citizen dave (aka mad citizen)

    @Roger Moore: Good explanation.  Not that Cheryl’s clips don’t do it–they tell a story (even if I can’t listen to them now).

    This is very ugly.  Why couldn’t the a-holes seat the Dem, and if the R wins in court, the seat changes obviously.

    Slightly related, I was wondering today what compels any state from bringing forth EC votes to congress?  What happens if they simply refuse–who/what provides the remedy?

    (I was fantasizing about how a popular vote for president would work).

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    WaPost breaking  (and went looking for it, h/t raven, above)  : No charges to be filed against Kenosha police officers in Jacob Blake shooting

    KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha police officer will face no criminal charges for shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back and paralyzing him, an incident that touched off several days of intense protests against police and later unraveled into violent and deadly street clashes between demonstrators.

    Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced in a Tuesday news conference that his office would not seek charges against Rusten Sheskey, the 31-year-old Kenosha police officer who has been on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice since the Aug. 23 shooting.

    Blake, who witnesses said had been trying to break up an argument between two women, was unarmed and shot as he walked back toward his vehicle.

    Graveley said the decision was based on a review of more than 40 hours of squad video, and more than 200 reports totaling over over 1,500 pages.

    It’s the “most independent and charging decision that possibly could be done” he said.

    …. Absent charges from local officials, Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., told reporters on Monday the family would take their case to the federal level.

    Independent. Uh huh. Federal might be best, with the Biden administration in office.

  48. 48.

    Mike in NC

    New 2021 Republican playbook: no matter how many more votes the other person gets, so long as you don’t “concede” you get to remain in office indefinitely. Brilliant! Only a very stable genius could have come up with that.

  50. 50.

    Subsole

    I honestly don’t know anymore if the fact these people don’t live in fear for life and limb is to our credit, or our shame.

    Seriously. How else does this end???

  51. 51.

    Mike in NC

    OK, just read that Mitt Romney is getting death threats from other Republicans. How surreal will Wednesday in DC become?

  52. 52.

    BigJimSlade

    Here’s what I don’t get – what rests on conceding? How is this somehow part of the necessary process. If the votes are counted and certified, isn’t that all you need. What is their legal standing, except for Calvinball?

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    I think that Kenosha decision might motivate more Democratic voters to stick it out in the lines they might be facing in Georgia.

  55. 55.

    patrick II

    I have been waiting today to see if the new U.S.D.A. in Atlanta filed any election or criminal charges against election officials in Georgia.  A similar gambit to Pennsylvania — election under review in Federal court — is what I was expecting.  i haven’t heard anything though.

  56. 56.

    Jeffro

    @Mike in NC:New 2021 Republican playbook: no matter how many more votes the other person gets, so long as you don’t “concede” you get to remain in office indefinitely. Brilliant! Only a very stable genius could have come up with that.

    What do we call this?  ‘Tantrum Politics’?  ‘YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!! Politics?’  Or just ‘the end of democracy’?

  57. 57.

    Martin

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yep. Democrats trust that there’s a functioning system in there somewhere. At some point that trust will be gone, and heaven help us then. There won’t be decades of dog whistling 2nd amendment remedies out of Dems.

    I’m trying to gauge where I am on that scale, and I don’t like how close I am to burning shit down.

  58. 58.

    ArchTeryx

    Not at all surprised. The Republican leges in the upper Midwest are particularly awful – they’re new to the apartheid game and like any convert, they’re playing it with unbridled enthusiasm.  The Southern leges are probably looking at this and going, “Amateurs.  If we were in charge, he never would have won in the first place.”

  59. 59.

    cain

    @Roger Moore: The Republican majority in the state senate is now refusing to seat the Democratic winner, claiming it isn’t final until the federal court has ruled.

    Oh no, they’ll keep choking that chicken all the way to the Supreme Court. This will be a new thing now in addition to 2nd amendment and abortion – election fraud – it will be a non-stop hammering of weakening election laws everywhere – because

    a) it’s something that their crazy folks will start sending in money

    b) a new “one issue voter” thing that they can also campaign on and get money from

    This will fail, but the above is going to give them some new things to scream about and grift about.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT: Nicolle Wallace just now: “Do not tell me [Josh Hawley] is smart. I throw up in my mouth a little bit every time someone on this show tells me where he went to school.”

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @Mike in NC:   That ridiculous Jon McNaughton, artist who does the dogs Republican presidents playing poker on velvet paintings had a painting of the Impeachment Lynch Mob (yup) coming for Trump. They have the noose and the pitchforks. Because. That’s how Democrats roll.

    Pelosi. Nadler. Romney’s in there too.

    Here’s the link for his website’s Americana>Patriotic section.  It’s got howlers in it.

    There’s a painting of Trump teaching a man to fish.  He’s like Jesus, you know.

    And there’s one of him beating up Robert Mueller, too.

  63. 63.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    On an amusing note, Tehran attempted to issue a Red Notice on Trump and a number of government officials.

    It would be an amusing punk on Trump, Kushner, Miller and Pompeo if they all chose to be on government planes at the moment of Biden’s inauguration and suddenly found themselves diverted to Tehran. Once the flights got within sight of the border they could turn back.

    Or maybe not turn back until after landing and the cargo gets discharged.

    Would Iran hang him by his own red tie? It is, after all, long enough. It would likely achieve renewed compliance AND rid us of the long term problem of continued Trump focus and Trump tweets….

  64. 64.

    banditqueen

    @The Moar You Know:

    I agree. I read Jane Eyre while a teen, and one quote really sticks with me:

    “if people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they will never be afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should- so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again”

    No, don’t slap the dying GOP around for every evil thing they do–they go big and small evil, after all–but hit back for the big evil they do.

  65. 65.

    sab

    Welcome to the South of the first half of the twentieth century. They didn’t believe in democracy either. We can beat this. We just need to know that it is a long haul. Democracy ain’t easy. Lots of people think their interest lies elsewhere.

  66. 66.

    jonas

    @Anya:  Republican voters hate liberals more than they love their country. It’s basically “if we can’t win all the time, we’ll just burn everything down.”

  67. 67.

    marcopolo

    Holy shirtballs, a reporter from the Hill appears to have found the mythical “person who voted R in November (i.e. for Trump, Loeffler, & Perdue) who is voting D today in GA.” I am gobsmacked. The existence of this type of voter has been theorized but no solid evidence of them has ever been found in the wild until now (though I suppose there is a tiny chance they did not vote for anyone in Nov which would also make their claim true):

    Georgia voter: “I have been a lifelong Republican. This is the first time I’ve ever voted for a Democratic candidate just because there are issues regarding our environment, regarding taxation, regarding diversity issues and so forth that I think need to be addressed.” pic.twitter.com/MNHQM185uQ— The Hill (@thehill) January 5, 2021

  68. 68.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @raven: not just no charges but magically its announced on the day of the GA election when Orange Nazi is revving up all his white nationalist pals to get violent. And Josh Hawley just happens to accuse ‘left wing Anti fa thugs’ of attacking his wife and new born daughter last night. They’re just formenting violence. Assholes.

  69. 69.

    Leto

    @marcopolo: what bathroom, Waffle House, or Waffle House bathroom did they find this person? Also do they have the lottery numbers for tonight’s Power Ball jackpot? Since we found this person, does it mean 6 more weeks of Trumpov? So many questions…

  70. 70.

    tokyokie

    @Elizabelle: 

    My problem is that “radical right” isn’t the correct term for these assholes. They have full-bore embraced fascism. They’re fascists. Period.

  72. 72.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Martin:

    Tomorrow is a bellweather day as far as my perception on whether votes matter or not. If not, I won’t be writing stern letters to the editor.

  74. 74.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: that guy is WACK

    Q1: what RWNJ would want to buy a painting of Dems howling ‘impeachmennnnnnt!’?

    Q2: who is the dude in shades on the left supposed to be? (in the impeachment painting)  I can guess the rest but he looks like some stoner/surfer

  75. 75.

    citizen dave (aka mad citizen)

    @Elizabelle: I was thinking of this vulgar painter the other day.  Can’t believe he doesn’t watermark the examples–I saved the “teaching a man to fish” one.  The young man has a book on “socialism”.  Guess the wise trump is bringing the young man to the godly freedumb side.  These are hilarious, like right out of MAD magazine.

  76. 76.

    marcopolo

    @Leto:  See, that’s the thing, apparently they found this person in a parking lot outside of a polling location just after they had voted (watch the clip).  Crazy, I know.

  77. 77.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Mike in NC: I’ll believe that.

    I have conservative work friends on facebook who comment on every one of Romney’s anodyne facebook posts with stuff like “God hates you” or “You’re a traitor and will be punished” or “Mitt the Demoncrat” and so on.

    He’s absolutely getting death threats.

  81. 81.

    Original Lee

    @marcopolo: This R who voted D is a long-time friend of a friend. I don’t know him myself, but apparently he has been arguing politics with my friend for years. He sent her the clip with a note to the effect that she was a big influence on his decision.

  85. 85.

    cain

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I think we will need to dispense with ‘conservative’ as a moniker for these folks. They aren’t conservatives. We can either call them christian fascists or some other appropriate name.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:   Couldn’t figure him out, or the guy in the back at the right.

    And y’all cannot miss McNaughton’s world class Democrats Playing Poker.

    It’s the 2020 candidates; the black male candidate (Booker) is cheating; slipping an ace to the gay male candidate (Buttigieg).

    A portrait of the mighty Trump winking is behind this group.

    If you can count all the dogs (wink wink) in this painting, you have more patience than I do.

    Another inside joke:  the hidden painting to the left is probably this one.  Draining the Swamp.  Trump posed like Washington crossing the Delaware, in the midst of a bunch of white yahoos in camo.  There might be one black guy in the background, paddling.

    You’re right though.  Who is going to buy this shit?

    Point and laugh, or point and cheer, who buys it?

  88. 88.

    marcopolo

    @Original Lee:  Wow, good to know people can still pull a John Cole in 2021.  And apparently he’s within 6 degrees of separation from everyone here at BJ.  Tell your persuasive friend she done good.

  90. 90.

    cain

    @debbie:

    Too cutsey for me – I prefer christian fascists because I figure it is quite triggering. Nobody wants to see those two words together but there is definitely truth to it.

  91. 91.

    Captain C

    @Mike in NC: I’m wondering what it will take for the Mittster to understand that his own fortune and reputation would be much better preserved if he went Independent and caucused with the Democrats, not to mention that of the nation in general.

  92. 92.

    Cacti

    I’ll say it plainly.

    The GOP has turned overtly anti-democracy as a party.

    If there’s ever another election where they win control of both political branches of the U.S. government, free elections in this country are over.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Captain C: like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski and who knows who else and to varying degrees (Portman, Collins, Blount), low taxes and RW judges are still more important to him than anything trump has done, is doing, or will do

  96. 96.

    Benw

    The Republicans are pushing hard now to see how far they can go with a few close elections. If they don’t lose support they’ll try even harder, in less close elections next time. I don’t think they’re going to lose support.

    That means going forward (1) the Democrats MUST win the House in off year elections. If Republicans control the House they will absolutely seat the Republican candidate, no matter what the states say. Claims of massive fraud, “alternate” EC votes, refusing to seat Democrats, even failing to certify anyone so the Presidency goes to the Republican speaker of the house – I think it’s all on the table; and (2) Democrats MUST win elections by big, unfuckwithable margins to make the few remaining slightly sane Republicans not play along (waves to GA’s Sec of State).

    What a mess.

  98. 98.

    Mike in NC

    @Elizabelle: I’m going to email that nutcase McNaughton and ask him to paint Trump coming back from his failed hate rally in Tulsa, looking like the world took a shit in his MAGA hat.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jeffro:

    who is the dude in shades on the left supposed to be? (in the impeachment painting) I can guess the rest but he looks like some stoner/surfer

    The legend beneath the image lists everyone pictured. The dude in shades is apparently “the whistleblower.”

  101. 101.

    citizen dave (aka mad citizen)

    @Cacti: Yup, the thing that seems clear (at least to me) is that the only reason the Mitch side of the party will do the right thing is because the case is so weak, or nonexistent; but it appears that if there was anything to it at all–let’s say there was blatant evidence of voter fraud in one of the battleground states, they wouldn’t have any problem overturning the election however they could make it happen.

    A lot of words to say, remembering our jackal, fuck ’em.

  102. 102.

    Zelma

    I followed Pennsylvania politics for four decades until I decided to move to where state politics make more sense – New Jersey.  At any rate, the PA legislature is bloated, expensive and inefficient.  It’s the biggest in the country.  Between salary and expenses, most of these guys are making twice as much as they could in the vaunted “private” sector.  The “Alabama” part of the state is overrepresented and reactionary.  The state Democratic organization, while possibly not as bad as Florida’s, leaves a lot to be desired.  There’s a governor election coming up and I sure hope they get their act together.  Wolf has done a surprisingly decent job but he’s term limited.  I like Federman, but I’m not sure he’s the best candidate.  I don’t know how he’ll play in the suburbs which is where the race will be won.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    @Mike in NC:  @SiubhanDuinne:

    Do not miss the original oil painting he is still trying to sell. “Liberalism is a Disease.”  Thank dog, it’s pre-Obama, who really sets McNaughton off.  But it’s got most of the usual suspects.  Comedians and pop culture really set him off.  Nancy Pelosi is, of course, in the center.

    He coyly does not identify them.  If you have any questions, he suggests you contact him on his parler.com page.

    Of course.

    I can’t figure out who is the white guy behind Whoopi Goldberg?    But alas.  No parler account.

  107. 107.

    planetjanet

    I loved Margaret Sulllivan’s op ed that Elizabelle linked to earlier.  “Radical Right” is exactly the term we need for them.  It is simple and it is clear.  Radical is the opposite of conservative.  Most folks prefer to consider themselves in the middle, some place comfortable.  Radical right would take them out of their comfort zone.  If the term could get common use, it could be helpful to move people away from the radical right.  Using terms like “Christian fascists” or “Rethuglicans” or other biting monikers, feels insulting and mean, however satisfying it may feel to insult one’s opponents.  I would rather move people.

  109. 109.

    Subsole

    @cain: There is absolutely nothing Christian anout them. I say that as a non-believer who does not want the many good and decent believers I have met tarnished by association with these whited sepulchers.

  111. 111.

    Tazj

    @Elizabelle: That’s hilarious. Does anyone know who the guy with sunglasses on in the back is supposed to be?

    One of my neighbors has a flag with Trump standing on the front of a tank in addition to 2 other Trump flags and a Trump/Pence campaign sign still up in their yard. At least 3 other Trump supporters in my neighborhood still have their Trump stuff up, they’re very proud I guess.

  114. 114.

    Elizabelle

    @Tazj:   Subaru Diane advised reading the caption.

    Guy in shades is “Whistleblower.”  Next to him, another mystery:  “Peter Strzok” (credit for spelling correctly).  Black guy in the back right is Rep. Al Green of Houston, TX.

  117. 117.

    Leto

    @Captain C: Further.

    The Business Plot (aka The White House Putsch)[1] was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans’ organization with Butler as its leader and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, Butler testified before the United States House of Representatives Special Committee on Un-American Activities (the “McCormack–Dickstein Committee”) on these revelations.[2] No one was prosecuted.

    That led to Goldwater, Birchers, Kochs, McCarthy… all of the fuckers. Pretty much a direct/straight line. (H/t to Adam for posting about this shit coup a few months ago)

  121. 121.

    brendancalling

    The only solution is going to be civil war, eventually.
    Sorry not sorry. I lived in that state for 16 years. It’s almost inevitable .

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    @mrmoshpotato: Poe’s law??

    Nah, it’s satire.  And very well done.

    Of course, there are plenty of people who have stolen his work and used it to fleece the RWNJs…  :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    @RSA:   That is.  Just wrong.  Wow.

    I think it showed up here a few days ago,  but had not seen it in all its … glory.

  131. 131.

    PaulWartenberg

    Where’s a link to the Pennsylvania state Statutes. We need to find out what happens when anyone interferes with the results of a duly certified election result. They need to charge every Senate Republican with violating election laws in that state.

  135. 135.

    taumaturgo

    Whatever stream the conservative reach and whatever criminality they commit the conservative leadership opposition is to refuse to hold them accountable, by using today the same language Obama used to give a pass to the bankers and Wall Street tycoons: We will look forward not backward.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @cain:

    I think we will need to dispense with ‘conservative’ as a moniker for these folks. They aren’t conservatives. We can either call them christian fascists or some other appropriate name.

    I think the proper term is Christo-Fascists — I’m unsure about the hyphen, otherwise this is good by me. Or just Nazis.

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