Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

People are weird.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Optimism opens the door to great things.

In my day, never was longer.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

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

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Nature / Friday Morning Open Thread: Soothing!

Friday Morning Open Thread: Soothing!

by | 231 Comments

This post is in: , ,


Many of you have probably already seen this clip, but it’s very re-watchable.


Axios at its most Axios-an:

President Biden told Republican senators he has “an open door and an open mind” on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus plan. But he already has the votes, and overwhelming support in the country.

Why it matters: Well, power matters. And Biden holds all of it…

Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president and longtime Biden confidant, was in the Oval this week for meetings with Republican and Democratic senators, and told me that the president “reaffirmed and deepened his explanation and commitment on the numbers and the substance” of the full package…

The bottom line: Democrats will dismiss any whining about Biden’s stimulus as D.C. noise or Republican hypocrisy. They’ll be right on both fronts.

Reader Interactions

231Comments

  1. 1.

    Low Key Swagger

    Open thread…I believe it was Mary G who posted in the Covid thread something about Schumer Amendment 888?  Can someone tell me what that was?

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    At least 11 migrant women were dropped off in Mexican border towns without birth certificates for their days-old US citizen newborns since March of last year, an investigation by the Fuller Project and the Guardian has found.

    Based on multiple conversations with lawyers who work with asylum seekers at the border and a review of hospital records and legal documents, multiple US citizen newborns were removed to Mexico after their mothers were subject to a Trump-era border ban that the Biden-Harris administration has been slow to rescind.

    Advocates suspect the actual number of such cases could be higher because the vast majority of these fast-track “expulsions”, as the administration calls them, have occurred away from the public eye and without the involvement of lawyers.

    This recent pattern of removal of US citizens without birth certificates has occurred against the backdrop of immigration policies and practices in recent years that have harmed already vulnerable
    women and children, advocates and lawyers say.

    Good thing they aren’t “real” Americans.

  8. 8.

    lowtechcyclist

    So I woke up to a headline saying the Senate had voted to forbid any minimum wage hike during the pandemic.  What’s up with that?  Anyone got the details?  The article was pretty thin on those.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    a Trump-era border ban that the Biden-Harris administration has been slow to rescind.

    It’s a horrible story, for sure, and needs to be addressed ASAP, but after a mere two weeks in office, in the middle of a pandemic and economic disaster for millions, this framing infuriates me.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    @lowtechcyclist: Bummer.  i googled.  The article is in Business Insider, which is paywalled.  But this is what I could see in google.

    Stimulus: Lawmakers reject enacting $15 minimum wage …www.businessinsider.com › Politics › Economy
    2 hours ago — The Senate unanimously voted to not raise the minimum wage to $15 an … The vote was in response to an amendment proposed by Republican Sen…

    I wonder why that was unanimous.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @WaterGirl:

    My guess is that it was instantaneous, rather than phased in, which is what all the real proposals do.  It’s a BS amendment for the GOP Facebook ads.

    ETA; yep.

    The Senate unanimously passed a Republican amendment Thursday that seeks to prevent Democrats from doing something they never wanted to do: double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour during the coronavirus pandemic.

     

    In effect, Democrats, as well as the independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, joined with Republicans to drive the fact home during a so-called vote-a-rama.

     

    Rather than double the minimum wage before the pandemic ends, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are proposing to raise it gradually to $15 an hour by 2025 as part of their $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

  15. 15.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    MJ talking about Biden’s foreign policy speech yesterday. I missed it.

    You missed the speech, or Morning Blows yammering about it?

  21. 21.

    debbie

    NPR interviewed retired Congressperson Barbara Comstock, who used the word “cancer” four times when describing MTG. She’s hoping redistricting will cost MTG reelection. I hope Dems see they don’t need to be too activist when dealing with Republicans. Just stand back and let them self-destruct.

  27. 27.

    John S.

    The Senate is the worst fucking political body in the history of elected government:

    Joe Manchin was behind one of the amendments that passed, in conjunction with Maine Republican Susan Collins who proposed a ceiling barring “upper-income taxpayers” from eligibility for stimulus checks.

    “I don’t think a single person on this floor would disagree to target the relief to our neighbors who are struggling,” Manchin said during the debate. “There are other families who have not missed a single paycheck as a result of this pandemic. It does not make sense to send a check to those individuals.”

    Amendments aren’t binding on the eventual plan that gets passed, but the 99-1 vote in favor of the limit suggests a clear direction of travel for the drafting of the legislation that will now take place.

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    @raven: Good for him. Won’t come anywhere close to making up for hours of sucking Dump’s ass over the phone on air and the damage that caused, but good for him.

  30. 30.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    My guess is that it was instantaneous, rather than phased in, which is what all the real proposals do. It’s a BS amendment for the GOP Facebook ads.
    ETA; yep.

    Thanks for the details!  I can stop having a panic attack now.​
     

    ETA: Your fix of Emma from FL – all too true.

  33. 33.

    John S.

    @Baud: Yeah. A lifelong Democrat who wouldn’t vote for the GOP if his life depended on it.

    Explain to me again why Tim F. was urging everyone to call congress about this yesterday?

    Oh that’s right:

    Folks, this proposal to drastically narrow the window of people who’d qualify for bailout checks is terrible. It is bad politics. It is bad policy. It just gives certain legislators a chance to peacock around for a tiny audience of lazy opinion writers who have no concept of policy as a thing that affects people in the real world.

  34. 34.

    satby

    @John S.:  This is the key part: Amendments aren’t binding on the eventual plan that gets passed

    The rest is kabuki. The Rs are trying to get the Ds on record on votes that they think can be used against them in 2022, and so far it’s not working.

  35. 35.

    lowtechcyclist

    @debbie: ​

    I hope Dems see they don’t need to be too activist when dealing with Republicans. Just stand back and let them self-destruct.

    That’s what I was thinking five years ago. For some reason, I’m less sanguine about that approach than I used to be.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    @John S.:

    A lifelong Democrat who wouldn’t vote for the GOP if his life depended on it.

    I didn’t call you immoral.  I suggested you’re gullible.  Do you think these nearly unanimously voted on proposals actually harm our agenda?

  37. 37.

    John S.

    @satby: Basically, exactly what Tim F. said yesterday. It’s stupid. And it’s bad politics.

    But since comments on a blog have no real tone, let me 100% crystal clear. Overall, the Democrats are doing great. Biden is kicking ass and taking names. But politicians gotta be politicians, and the Senate is still a fucking joke.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A teenager who verbally abused Prof Chris Whitty in the street has had his PlayStation confiscated by his mother as punishment, it has been reported. The boy’s behaviour was widely condemned after a video emerged showing him repeatedly accusing England’s chief medical officer of lying about the pandemic.

    As Whitty was buying lunch at a Mexican food stall in a street in central London, the 15-year-old boy is heard saying to Whitty: “You’re a liar. You lie about the Covid-19 cases … stop lying to the TV, man.” The teenager, who has not been named, filmed himself making the false claims to Whitty and shared the video on TikTok. The video was later posted on Twitter by the Conservative MP Matt Vickers, who described the boy’s behaviour as “appalling”.

    Now his mother, 47, has joined in the condemnation and told the boy to record another video apologising to Whitty, according to an interview in the Mail Online. It quotes her as saying: “I was horrified when I saw how rude my son was to Mr Whitty. That is not how I have brought him up and not the behaviour that I expect from him.”

    And she explained how she’d punished the boy, saying: “I have taken away his PlayStation, which is the thing he loves the most. I have not grounded him because he is already suffering enough from the lockdown and does not go out as much as he used to.”

    If this had happened in America his mother would have already hired a lawyer to sue somebody on behalf of her poor child and the kid would have been given a show of his own on Newsmax or OAN.

    Whitty was more forgiving. When asked about the incident at Wednesday’s Downing Street briefing, he said the “young lad” appeared to be “showing off”.

  44. 44.

    MJS

    “I don’t think a single person on this floor would disagree to target the relief to our neighbors who are struggling,” Manchin said during the debate. “There are other families who have not missed a single paycheck as a result of this pandemic. It does not make sense to send a check to those individuals.”

    Right, there’s no benefit to infusing cash into a struggling economy. It’s not like people having more disposable income creates demand for goods and services, which in turn increases employment. Jesus Christ, how do you get to be Manchin’s age and not understand that? Or are West Virginians an odd bunch (yes, I know), that will protest if they’re given money that they don’t really need?

  46. 46.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: If this had happened in America his mother would have already hired a lawyer to sue somebody on behalf of her poor child and the kid would have been given a show of his own on Newsmax or OAN.

    I think you want the late-night Kyle Rittenhouse thread a couple doors down.

    I see the Kenosha police have denied that anyone on the force advised Rittenhouse’s lawyer to use a false address in court filings.  Someone’s going to end up in contempt for making false statements to the court.

  47. 47.

    germy

    MyPillow magnate Mike Lindell is releasing a 3-hour movie Friday he claims will prove the election was stolen. If his movie fails to catch on, Lindell predicts it will mean the end times out of the Book of Revelation — "We pray and we go to heaven, it's over."

    — Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 5, 2021

    So elections do have consequences.

  48. 48.

    John S.

    @Baud: Obviously. And I realize the average person is not a political junky who follows this shit. But I can agree with your framing and Tim F.’s framing as they are not incongruous positions — just different perspectives around the same topic.

    Until the end result happens, there’s no point in freaking out about it. What’s done is done, and given the magnitude of the relief bill, a minor misstep should not overshadow the outcome.

  50. 50.

    debbie

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Well, their craftiness has plummeted and they rely increasingly on just plan meanness. Example: leader Kevin McCarthy insisting he had no idea who Q was, even though he’d denounced them a few days earlier. That kind of stupid gets them nowhere.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ken: The MeinPillow guy is definitely a cultist. I hope he blows through every penny on dumb propaganda projects that fail to attract any notice.

  56. 56.

    germy

    @Ken: @mrmoshpotato:

    It almost reads as a suicide note.

    But I don’t think he’s being that literal.  He’s quite the salesman, though. And he doesn’t seemed discouraged by the lawsuit against him.

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    Reading this comment stream, it seems like some people are working overtime to find the sweet high of outrage.  I know the outrage withdrawal can be tough.  The endorphin rush from quiet repose just doesn’t meet the brain boiling rush acquired by outrageous outrage.

    Personally, I am going to try to be more like Mr. Whitty.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy: Who’s suing him?

    (Sorry, can’t keep up with all of defendants that companies with good lawyers have told to STFU about conspiracy bullshit)

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ken: The comment I left on that particular subject over at OTB (I figure it’s a dead horse over here):

    Counties are generally prepared to furnish safe housing for accused murderers receiving death threats, or not, keeping them under the 24 hr. protection of Sheriff’s deputies, where defendants are fed and clothed. These facilities are called “jails.” They aren’t much fun. So I understand a person’s desire to not take advantage of a counties hospitality. If however one should be so fortunate as to be allowed to make other arrangements, it behooves one to comply with the terms of release.

    Dipshit’s dipshit lawyers knew this. They violated his terms of release from the gitgo. He should not be allowed a 2nd chance to violate his terms of release. But the dipshit DA “thinks” an additional $200K will be enough incentive to reform KR’s blatant lawless behavior even tho the previous $2M made no impression whatsoever upon him.

    Maybe they practice law differently in Wisconsin, but from where I sit, every single one of these dipshit defense lawyers should be panhandling on a street corner real soon, the DA should find himself facing a strong challenger, and the dipshit defendant should be enjoying the confines of Club Kenosha from now to the end of his trial.

    But that’s just me.

  61. 61.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    I remember a few years back when I first started seeing his annoying commercials.  Out of curiosity I looked him up on wikipedia, and it turns out he was accused of stealing his idea for the pillow (shredded waste foam stuffed into some cheap fabric) from another guy who took him to court.

    And then Lindell’s outlandish claims for his product.  Like starting a bogus “sleep institute” organization, whose only function was to endorse MyPillow.  Or claiming (before he was told to stop) that his pillow would cure sleep apnea and other ailments.

    The original snake oil salesman.  No wonder he latched onto Trump.

  63. 63.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @sanjeevs: She’d have my vote; but we already know she can’t stand the heat.  (And I don’t mean that like it sounds; everyone who threatened her should have been taken to the guillotine within seconds of the threat being made.)

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy:

    “We pray and we go to heaven, it’s over.”

    Hey asshole, here’s an idea: Skip the movie, skip the prayer, just go straight to heaven.

  66. 66.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think it’s hilarious that they all are convinced they’re of course destined for heaven. When they violate pretty much all of Christ’s teachings. And I don’t even believe in heaven.

  67. 67.

    germy

    I wonder how the bat lost an eye.

    It’s a tough world out there.  I like how all the elderly bats in Batworld form a circle to hang out together.  They’ve got their own balloon-juice. All they need is coffee.

    And more outrage.

  71. 71.

    Betty Cracker

    @Frank Wilhoit: My understanding is that Acton resigned because of the possibility of being forced to sign health orders that violated the Hippocratic oath. She wasn’t scared off by the nutcases arrayed against her, so I don’t think it’s accurate or fair to say she “can’t stand the heat.”

  73. 73.

    Soprano2

    @debbie: NPR interviewed retired Congressperson Barbara Comstock, who used the word “cancer” four times when describing MTG.

    I thought she sounded like a person who is mostly unware of what has happened to the Trumpublican Party since he was elected in 2016. I believe it’s too late for “regular Republicans” to save the Trumpublican Party – it’s the party of the Trump cult now.

  77. 77.

    ArchTeryx

    It’s incredibly sweet to see these people taking care of geriatric bats.  For an animal like that there is no greater bliss than being able to just relax and not worry about either getting eaten or finding food.  And he has lots of company to hang out with and humans to help with his aches and pains.  They even take him for “flights,” to help him forget his injuries.

    Bats are so very maligned but they are extremely important animals.  It’s good to see them being taken care of like that.

  81. 81.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize: I think it’s a combination of outrage addiction and PTSD induced freak-out reactions. Plus lack of trust in our side, because too many folks (including some right on this here almost top 10K blog) have swallowed GOP/rose twitter-type propaganda that the Dems are always going to fail us and Biden is just one step away from betraying Democratic principles and promises.

    I prefer to wait until the betrayal is manifest before commencing with self-immolation.

  84. 84.

    Ken

    @germy: It’s a tough world out there.  I like how all the elderly bats in Batworld form a circle to hang out together.  They’ve got their own balloon-juice. All they need is coffee.

    You’ve got me imagining a version of the “Dogs Playing Poker” series, except it’s elderly fruit bats playing Mah-Jongg, or shuffleboard, or in a golf cart.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I can hardly believe that!  Don’t people on talk shows get paid just to listen?  But I suspect that wouldn’t work too well….

    Who you favoring Sunday?

  86. 86.

    satby

    @Baud: exactly. “Christians” are at best tedious people to have to be around, but usually they’re unable to rise above “awful” to achieve “tedious”.

    Scare quotes because actual followers of Christ (like Biden, Colbert, Pavlovitz, etc.) are obviously not tedious or awful.

  88. 88.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m excited because my editor sent me the blurb for the book that’s due out at the end of March. She and I both tried to write one but they were crap until the intern took a whack at it and came up with this. Thank god for the yoots.

    “When it comes to family, you’re rich… and I’m dirt poor.”  
    Amid the intoxicating chaos of Winter Festival, attendant Dilly and Hedge Mage Fitch cross paths.  
    After surviving Rin’s wretched streets, Dilly aims to prove herself to Lady Elenia, who brought her back to Lac’s Holding and blessed her with a new life of comfort and luxury. Fitch seeks vengeance for a loved one, killed by a liquor that makes one vulnerable to suggestion. 
    But their separate goals are derailed when Dilly discovers Elenia’s secret lover is the head of a too-ambitious kinship, and Fitch finds his own smuggler-family pressuring him into using his unique nudging abilities for mutinous deeds. 
    When murmurs of treason break out in Lac’s Holding, it becomes clear that only Dilly and Fitch know the truth.
     

    The question is how they can save the city when those they’re loyal to stand in their way.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @germy: Lindell’s invocation of the “End Times” myth demonstates a powerful trend among many evangelicals. In political terms, I sometimes think  this ideology may undermine the Republican party. Last November my 5th VA Congressional seat was won by a self described “Biblical and Constitutional Conservative.” A coalition of evangelical dominionists and tea party types, who now call themselves Constitutional Conservatives, ganged up to roll the Republican incumbent by way of a caucus/convention process. He won the general election by 5 points in a Republican drawn district soon to be redrawn. A platform of Biblical Conservativism is just not sustainable long term, at least not in this part of Virginia. I suspect the evangelical dominionists know this, though. For them, it’s a win-win proposition. Even if their candidate loses, they will have demonstrated virtue in a fallen world. They hope to be raptured anyway, leaving the RINOs holding the bag.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: My view is that Kenosha sure could use 2 million.  This, by the way, was his second problem.  He had gone to a bar to be photoged with Proud Boys and engaged in some underage beer drinking too.  Revoke the bond and set a new bond at 2 million.  That’s what would normally happen, or … there might be no new bond set.

  94. 94.

    waratah

    @Baud: I think that was a combination of three earlier ones that were passed and they called in our lovely Vice President to vote them out. I had just woke up and was excited to see her. Mc Connell then tried to pass his and was whining  because those three amendment had passed with bipartisan support. I think his was to stop the reversal but they were not clear about that.
    wonderful to see the Democrats not split on that important vote.

  95. 95.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @satby:

    For the majority of the Rapture folks, it is the ability to leave their crackerbox rentals, overaged manufactured homes, shitty apartments or family communes behind. Their pains, the shitty furniture and the debt collectors can all be forgotten, and they can sit on their clouds, looking down with glee at all the smart elites in abject misery.

    There was a movie about 25 years ago starring Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny (IIRC) called “The Rapture”. From my recollection, the directors did their best to translate the text of Revelations into a working movie; the end effect showed just how cheesy and stupid the whole concept would be if you saw it.

  101. 101.

    germy

    @Immanentize:  and engaged in some underage beer drinking too.

    From what I saw, he went with his mother. In that state, it’s legal if accompanied by a parent.

    The beer sellers association must have written the law

    EDIT:  or what snoey said.

  102. 102.

    Ken

    @waratah: Mc Connell then tried to pass his and was whining  because those three amendment had passed with bipartisan support.

    Whining how?  “Some Republicans voted for your proposal, so now some Democrats have to vote for mine”?  Surely he’s not that stupid or ignorant of politics, though he has been coasting on obstructionism for a long time.

  103. 103.

    scribbler

    @Immanentize:  It’s not underage drinking (or at least not illegal) because he was with his mom too.  In WI you can be underage and drink in bars with your family.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: This, by the way, was his second problem. He had gone to a bar to be photoged with Proud Boys and engaged in some underage beer drinking too. Revoke the bond and set a new bond at 2 million.

    Unfortunately, from what I read, that was not a legal problem. He was in the company of his mother and in WI it is legal for an 18 year old to imbibe in alcohol when with a parent. Hence he wasn’t violated back to jail over that little indiscretion. deleted because of redundancy. sigh….

    White people’s rules.

    I thought he was under house arrest and could only leave for specific reasons. Apparently in addition to drinking, palling around with Proud Boys is not prohibited. Also as Scott Lemieux pointed out, no ankle bracelet either. That DA needs to get bounced forthwith.

    IANAL but I think even I could have done better than, “Go forth and multiply.”

  107. 107.

    Baud

    The path has been cleared for Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to become the first woman and the first African to lead the World Trade Organization after South Korea’s candidate pulled out of the race for the job.

  109. 109.

    Amir Khalid

    @Soprano2: It has been said (I don’t remember by whom, and it was quite likely more than one person) that Trump didn’t so much seize the Republican party and bend it to his will. Rather, the party’s base of Deplorables wanted a fellow Deplorable to be their champion, and he answered the casting call. Trump is not really a cult leader. He is merely one of the cult, thrust into the spotlight by happenstance.

    Trumpism existed in the Republican party long before Trump came along — it called itself the Teabagger movement in Obama’s time, until people pointed and laughed, and then it became the Tea Party. It will be there long after Trump’s political demise. It will just find itself a new accidential champion.

  110. 110.

    Cameron

    @O. Felix Culpa: Will admit my politics are to the left of the President’s.  Of course, he actually gets shit done, whereas I couldn’t find my ass with both hands and a GPS.

  113. 113.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Amir Khalid:

    It has been said (I don’t remember by whom, and it was quite likely more than one person) that Trump didn’t so much seize the Republican party and bend it to his will. 

    As I’ve said before, a party of con artists got outconned by a better conman.

    Trumpism existed in the Republican party long before Trump came along

    Racism has been the Rethuglican party’s bread and butter for at least the past 40 years.

  115. 115.

    waratah

    @Ken: He was whining because the three previously passed amendments  were voted out with help from the Vice President. I can only remember that he said one was about the pipeline. I had the sound down not to wake every one up and my hearing is getting bad.

  116. 116.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Cameron: What I find interesting is that Biden has been moving ever leftward…and, as you observe, getting things done! And yet some folks insist on being pre-disappointed and/or not accepting wins as wins. The orange era has induced a lot of reactive hysteria, which I hope can settle down a bit, while also encouraging us to continue pressuring our congresscritters to do what is right and necessary. The need for citizen engagement in democracy never goes away.

  118. 118.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: Wikipedia says you are correct:

    On June 11, 2020, she resigned from her position and became a chief health advisor for DeWine’s administration.[27][33] She resigned for worry of signing a health order that would violate her Hippocratic Oath.[30]

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    @snoey

    What about thirsty orphans?

    @germy

    From cocaine addict and alcoholic to God addict and conspiraholic.

    a 3-hour movie

    Shamformers. Less than meets the eye.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    @Soprano2: Ms. Comstock benefitted for many years from the GQP’s wink-and-a-nod to the crazier crazies in the religious right.  It’s a shame how it’s come back to bite her in her out-of-office ass.

  125. 125.

    Cameron

    @NotMax: Yes, a movie based on the same crap that got tossed out of court 60+ times will now PROVE TO THE WORLD that the election was stolen.  Pretty sure I’ll pass on this one.

  128. 128.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Cameron:

    Yes, a movie based on the same crap that got tossed out of court 60+ times will now PROVE TO THE WORLD that the election was stolen.  Pretty sure I’ll pass on this one. 

    I find your lack of faith hilarious.

  130. 130.

    S. Cerevisiae

    Bats ? are wonderful, they are a crucial element of many different ecosystems.

    The first big freeze of the winter is coming this week, it won’t get above zero (F) here for several days starting tomorrow. It’s been pretty mild this winter so I’ve been expecting this, just need to keep the wood stove cooking.

  132. 132.

    Gin & Tonic

    The EU Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borell, goes to Moscow, and Euro Twitter is comparing that visit unfavorably with Trump’s Helsinki trip. “Complete and unmitigated disaster” would be charitable.

  133. 133.

    leeleeFL

    @germy: He lost me at $49! For a pillow that wasn’t stuffed with goose down, which I can’t sleep on anyway, allergies preclude.  Such a lot of BS for a nation in need of a good night’s sleep!  He’s a POS

  136. 136.

    Kathleen

    @O. Felix Culpa: Never. There are too many Democrats who would rather immediately pounce and criticize first and/or fall for any “liberal” whose entire repertoire is Dem bashing. See also Mainstream Media.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: Author M.D. Russ had a similar take on trump and the Republican party. He posed the question, did trump hijack the republican party? Russ then examined the path of the party since Gingrich’s “Contract for America,” and concluded no, trump did not hijack the party. “Trump just answered the casting call.”                                           M.D. Russ’ article is titled “Trump is the real Republican President,” and is published on the Bearing Drift website. A good read. Bearing Drift is published by self-described conservatives, and covers Virginia and national politics.

  142. 142.

    Soprano2

    Been listening to last night’s Maddow this morning. She’s playing extended videos of Rep Greene saying those crazy things she said she didn’t say. She showed a FB post from 4 days ago putting forward the beliefs of QAnon. It’s stunning to me that these people don’t understand that once it’s on the internet it’s forever.

  144. 144.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: 100%. Plus he’s a guy who has been around a looong time and knows how things work in that ridiculously arcane institution of the Senate, as well as in the Cabinet positions and federal bureaucracies.

    Biden is also not stupid and has a demonstrated capacity to learn (unlike you-know-who). I wonder if his not particularly eloquent speaking style has fooled people into underestimating his intelligence and political astuteness.

  145. 145.

    Bobby Thomson

    One of those rare instances where the village’s obsession with shiny objects is beneficial.  Biden is operating quickly and ruthlessly, which I wholeheartedly endorse, while smiling and putting out uncool boomer social media and limiting public appearances.  The focus on the clown show keeps Republicans in disarray and makes it impossible for them to get their media machine rolling.

  146. 146.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: It’s amazing. I guess liars like Greene (and her idol Trump) count on their followers to stay inside their media bubbles where they won’t encounter troubling contradictions.

  149. 149.

    Aleta

    @OzarkHillbilly: ‘truth and reconciliation’ is a farce without accountability, required testimony under oath, and witness protection to pin down these sadists in ICU and BP

  150. 150.

    germy

    Rep. Boebert paid off nearly $20K in state tax liens in 2020

    Where did that money come from?  Oh yeah…

     

    Boebert’s campaign finances came under scrutiny this week when The Denver Post reported on reimbursements she made to herself, first cited by Colorado Pols, to cover certain travel costs when she was a candidate. Her campaign finance disclosures to the Federal Election Commission indicate she claimed “mileage” reimbursements of $1,059.62, reported on March 31, and $21,199.52, reported on Nov. 11. A nonpartisan ethics watchdog group, Accountable.US, submitted a formal request to the Office of Congressional Ethics on Thursday asking for an investigation into what it called “exorbitant” mileage disbursements to Boebert from her campaign.

  151. 151.

    Salty Sam

    @Baud:

    Bats are so very maligned but they are extremely important animals

    They remind me of me.

    True- I have never, ever seen a bat wearing pants…

  156. 156.

    Ken

    @Salty Sam: I have never, ever seen a bat wearing pants…

    That’s because I haven’t finished my “bats playing shuffleboard” painting yet.  Since this is part of my “senior bats” series, they will be wearing somewhat-baggy khaki shorts with a white belt.

    You also remind me that when I first saw Lugosi change from bat to human, I wondered where the clothes came from.

  158. 158.

    greenergood

    @Betty Cracker: ​
      Newspapers here in Scotland are suddenly sprouting full-page adverts for My Pillow UK – buy one get one free – made in the UK – fifty years experience! etc. etc. Any jackals in England notice this? Do you think maybe Mein Pillow man is expanding his reach due to slumping US sales, or is he just trying to catch Boris’s attention?

  159. 159.

    PST

    I just tuned into this thread a minute ago and saw on my screen the words, “Statler is an elderly fruit bat whose best flying days are behind him.” I had not scrolled down to the video, so I found myself thinking, “What a vivid and arresting metaphor! Totally original. Why can’t I remember who this Statler guy is? Some Republican congressman?”

  160. 160.

    Amir Khalid

    Having picked out 500 ringgit or so worth of more or less useful stuff, I have about 200 ringgit left of the guitar refund money to spend at the online market, and no idea what else to spend it on. (Lazada will not let me just cash out my e-wallet, drat them, and I must spend the money there or eventually forfeit it. Double drat them.) Grumble.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Alabaster Caverns State Park in Northwest Oklahoma includes a 350 acre wildlife preserve, warm weather home for Mexican free tail bats. I stopped off one time, and bought a “BATS NEED FRIENDS” bumper sticker.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Betty Cracker: Not quite, it is legal for someone under 21 to consume alcohol in the presence of their parent, spouse, or legal guardian.  In bars, only if the establishment’s policy permits it.  WI Stat. 125.07.

  169. 169.

    germy

    It’s clear she’s contrite now.

    I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time.

    In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway.

    Oh this is going to be fun!

    — Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) February 5, 2021

  171. 171.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Bobby Thomson: ​
      WI was the last state to comply with those rules. And its legal drinking age is 21. It just doesn’t prevent someone from have a glass or champagne at the restaurant where they are celebrating their high school graduation with family. I mean, they aren’t monsters. Who could object? And no one would ever take undue advantage of such a rule, right?

  173. 173.

    Benw

    @germy:  I cannot believe I’m thoroughly delighted by something this moron says!

    In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway.

  179. 179.

    germy

    @Baud:

    She sent out a fundraising email yesterday, where she claimed “AOC told her followers to punch a cop.”

    AOC replied she’d said no such thing, would never say such a thing, and that MTG should be removed.

    (MTG sounds like a gasoline additive)

  181. 181.

    PST

    @MJS:

    Right, there’s no benefit to infusing cash into a struggling economy. It’s not like people having more disposable income creates demand for goods and services, which in turn increases employment. Jesus Christ, how do you get to be Manchin’s age and not understand that? Or are West Virginians an odd bunch (yes, I know), that will protest if they’re given money that they don’t really need?

    In the unusual circumstances of the present crisis, I actually agree with Manchin. Our problem is not a lack of aggregate demand, as in most recessions. It is that certain goods and services cannot be supplied due to the pandemic. Those of us who have not missed a paycheck are spending less because many of the things we like to spend on are unobtainable. If you give me another $1,400, it will go into savings and not employ one additional bartender or waitress. At the same time, millions are desperately short of funds, and aside from the obvious moral issue, they are the people with the highest marginal propensity to spend. It is too bad we are talking about a “stimulus” package, since the real need isn’t stimulus per se, it is relief for those in need from the consequences of the pandemic. In addition, state and local government has been hit very hard indeed, and that will translate into even more layoffs and furloughs for government employees than we have already seen. I am not in favor of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, so if I were in Congress I’d vote for any version of the Biden plan that can get passed and signed fast. But I’m afraid that the one-time payment to almost everyone was really an election tactic to counter the Trump proposal, and that we would do much better to target the same spending on those most in need and on keeping state and local government afloat.

  183. 183.

    Betty Cracker

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s been pretty obvious all along to anyone who’s followed Biden’s career, and it sure turned out to be an asset for the campaign when everyone started panicking about Sanders, Bloomberg and what-not.

  184. 184.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    For an amusing read on Twitter, Greenwald is now declaring Joe Biden to be history’s greatest monster for not pardoning Reality Winner yet, because she should be at the top of his priority list right now.

  186. 186.

    Baud

    @PST:

    I would agree, but it became part of the campaign as you note. You can maybe make some small adjustments, but you can’t just make it go away or even make any major changes to it.

  187. 187.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Biden’s big asset in the primary was the trust black voters had in him, which had, I think, less to do with his ideology and more to do with his long history of retail politics.

  188. 188.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @germy: Soooo she apologized to the republicans in private for nothing and still lost her committee assignments and she’s happy about that? Something tells me she would be happier as a martyr out of congress grifting her fellow lunatics out of their money.

  192. 192.

    Benw

    AOC told her followers to punch a cop

    I’m going to need some sort of decision tree for when cop-punching is okay/not okay.

  194. 194.

    Ken

    @LurkerNoLonger: Something tells me she would be happier as a martyr out of congress grifting her fellow lunatics out of their money.

    Or in congress and grifting. It’s not like she’ll be doing any work or spending any time on her congressional duties, so she might as well get the free salary.

  195. 195.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax: ​
     I’d have to buy a shitload of picks to use up 300 ringgit. I wear sandals, without socks, when I go out. What is underwear?

  197. 197.

    Miss Bianca

    @Frank Wilhoit: If by “can’t take the heat”, you mean “refuse to comply with a Republican governor’s attempt to curtail her authority to issue public health orders”, well, all righty then. I know other Public Health Directors who resigned because right-wing authoritarian politicians were doing the same to them.

  203. 203.

    Ken

    @Benw: Haven’t you heard “Don’t punch people with your fists!  That’s what rocks are for!”

    This is why punching a cop is bad, but hitting them with a flagpole or a fire extinguisher is pure patriotism.

  207. 207.

    Betty Cracker

    @Omnes Omnibus: Can’t speak for anyone else, but understanding that about Biden isn’t/wasn’t necessarily a selling point for his candidacy during the primary. But once Biden was the nominee, I sure found it useful as a way of lighting a fire under my disgruntled youngs’ asses to get out and vote: if the party as a whole moves left, so does Biden, so vote for him and do what you can to elect a lefty congress. It worked! :)

  209. 209.

    frosty

    @Amir Khalid: Nicely played!

    How about guitar strings? Always useful to have some if those stashed away.

    Guitar stands? Music stand? Microphone? Harmonica for branching out?

    ETA I see you’re already set for strings.

  212. 212.

    leeleeFL

    @Betty Cracker: While I really wanted to see a woman President in my lifetime, and since I am going to be 70 in month, that possibility seems less and less likely as time passes…I still have a deeply hidden confession to make.  I have been waiting for decades for Joe to be President.  I liked him for years from my perch in NY, and really didn’t care about the Kinnock episode, or the gaffe machine slam nor did I believe this specious BS about his making improper moves on women.  I knew he was good presidenting material and was simply not able to break thru the star quality people he shared his Party with.  I loved and voted for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Kerry,  Jimmy Carter, Mike Dukakis.  I found it sad for Joe that his natural time to really run with the wind at his back came so shortly after losing Beau.  He did right for his Family and let that chance go.

    He has had great ideas forever.

    Glad I get to watch it!

    Forty years is a long time!

  214. 214.

    James E Powell

    @leeleeFL:

    I loved and voted for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Kerry,  Jimmy Carter, Mike Dukakis.

    Al Gore is feeling attacked by this.

  218. 218.

    Betty Cracker

    @leeleeFL: My mom never got to see a woman president, and that will always make me sad — I remember her being super-excited about Mondale-Ferraro! But we’re closer now than ever. I just hope our first woman president is a Democrat and not some awful Republican knob like Haley or Noem.

  219. 219.

    leeleeFL

    @Betty Cracker: Yes, better not to see a woman in the  job than that.  Kamala might make it happen. She’s got grit and strength and good ideas. Maybe..

    My Mom filpped out when Nancy Smash picked up that gavel!  Born in 1919 she was!  Always preached about voting even when you knew you’d lose..  bastards gotta know some of us do not like em!

    I am gonna be forever grateful that our First Black First Family were the Obamas. Class all the way!

    Didn’t realize I left Al Gore out, really!  Must have been the tan suit…

  222. 222.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​

     

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    a Trump-era border ban that the Biden-Harris administration has been slow to rescind.

    It’s a horrible story, for sure, and needs to be addressed ASAP, but after a mere two weeks in office, in the middle of a pandemic and economic disaster for millions, this framing infuriates me.

    I’m pretty sure one of the executive orders President Joe has signed actually does away with this practice, and that if it continues after that signing it is being done illegally by fascist border patrol staff.

    I could be wrong, but I do recall some border control issues he addressed. But you are correct, no one can fix everything 4 evil years did overnight, even with a good staff working to prep repair paperwork.

  223. 223.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    MyPillow magnate Mike Lindell is releasing a 3-hour movie Friday he claims will prove the election was stolen. If his movie fails to catch on, Lindell predicts it will mean the end times out of the Book of Revelation — “We pray and we go to heaven, it’s over.”

    — Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 5, 2021

    Oh, Please, Please!

    Go Rapture anywhere but here!!!!  Can I have your boat?

  224. 224.

    J R in WV

    @mrmoshpotato:

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It was his mom who drove him over state lines to Kenosha.  I hope they find something to charge her with too.

    Perhaps conspiracy to commit murder? Just off the top of my head. She bought the weapon, delivered the killer to the scene of his crime, drove him in his escape.

    What a Mom, working hard to help her child in his chosen employment, murderer!!!

  226. 226.

    J R in WV

    @PST:

    @Baud: And I think I agree with you too, but I didn’t accept the view that Manchin must have forgotten his Economics 101.

    Manchin’s best job ever outside of politics was selling carpet. He doesn’t know a dammed thing about economics at any level, other than you must sell your carpet for more than you paid for it.

    He is not an educated person in any sense of that concept.

  228. 228.

    Ruckus

    @germy:

    I don’t think trump could sell snake oil.

    He can’t afford anything that valuable to quadruple the price of.

    Also he’s too busy attempting to buy it all up for himself because it’s so valuable.

  229. 229.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    Do you really want to send them someplace else and let them infect someone else? I say we could drop them on a deserted island as a science experiment and see if any of them can swim a couple hundred miles. And figure out the right direction.

  231. 231.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @germy:

    If his movie fails to catch on, Lindell predicts it will mean the end times out of the Book of Revelation — “We pray and we go to heaven, it’s over.”

    Too many passengers, not enough comets.

Comments are closed.