Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“But what about the lurkers?”

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Bark louder, little dog.

People are complicated. Love is not.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let there be snark.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Infrastructure week. at last.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

I really should read my own blog.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Message(s) Sent

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Message(s) Sent

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Some of us treat the presidency as a real job, says man now in charge of the Oval Office…

And if watching President Biden on the teevee isn’t punishment enough for a certain Marred-A-Largo resident, there’s this newsy tidbit:

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  2. 2.

    Princess

    You know Trump is watching every minute, and screaming at the people he is forcing to watch with him.

  6. 6.

    Immanentize

    I am very interested in not just the Russia phone calls, but others as well (Bolsanaro, Netanyahu) but I doubt we will ever get to find out about them.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Was it after meeting with the CEOs that Biden said the minimum wage would not be part of the COVID package?

    Also, I hope someone speaking at today’s impeachment hearing asks the GQP senators to imagine coming home to discover the same kind of damage to their homes as the damage that was done to the Capitol, and then ask them whether they’d let the person who got his buddies to do the damage get off without consequences.

  8. 8.

    Princess

    @Baud: Rush bears a huge responsability for the mess we’re in right now. I never listened to him, but in 2004 I had painters in and the boss, a Black guy (!) had Rush on all the time. I was shocked to listen to it. I was expecting conservative argument. Vicious argument, but still argument in favour of conservative views. It was nothing but non-stop dehumanization of “the libs.” Pure propaganda of hate. There was nothing “positive” about it, no program, no explanation about why being conservative was more correct. Nothing but hours of bile. You can draw a direct line from Rush to Jan. 6th at the Capitol. Dying alone and in pain would be too good for him.

  12. 12.

    Central Planning

    @Baud: any bets on how many of them are still going to vote Republican? I feel like “All of them, Katie” is the correct answer.

  13. 13.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: I’ve played the Good, Bad, and Ugly one for my class before.  Echo echo hey!  Love that so much.  And the soprano is amazing.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “I’m anxious to hear what these business leaders have to say about what they think about how we’re approaching this issue,” Biden in Oval with CEOs, referring to virus stimulus. Said they’d also talk minimum wage and “god willing infrastructure down the road.”

    God willing?

  20. 20.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Oh, I think that’s clever of Biden.  Infrastructure leads to jobs leads to disposable income which leads to buying things one doesn’t need at Lowes after driving a new minivan on a pothole free road.  “God willing” is just another jab at Republicans

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    Occurred that haven’t seen Ladyraxinerok (sp?) around these parts of late. As possibly the eldest of the elders here, hope all is as okay as it can be,

  23. 23.

    Low Key Swagger

    Good morning.  When I moved to the South 26 years ago, I noticed that Rush was on the radio in nearly every small business around.  Eventually, I learned to turn around and walk out the minute I heard it.  Almost without exception, the owners were prickly at best and sometimes nearly hostile. I can’t imagine what ingesting that poison all day everyday does to one’s psyche.

  25. 25.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: I was thinking the same thing.  A Rice graduate herself.  I feel connected.  But it has been before Christmas, I think since I saw her nym.  But I am on less myself….

  29. 29.

    p.a.

    Rethugs have no endgame to their “crystalize the party around white racist religious nuts”.  People are not going to sit by while they try to limit voting to “white racist religious nuts”; it’s not 1886 any more.  They’re even losing corporate $$ (at least the traceable $$).  Without the cover of a supine MSM (not a given anymore) they’re in deep shit.

  30. 30.

    PST

    Amid all the problems of the world, I find it comforting that your dog will still love you even if you fart in the elevator.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Rings weird to my ear because who needs infrastructure more than the CEOs of Lowe’s, JPMorgan, Walmart, and the Gap. No roads? No communication network? No sales, no money. These guys should be pushing hard for it even if they are going to have to pay for some of it. Call it an investment that will pay dividends down the road..

    It’s the tall but dumb napoleon I have a grudge about.

    Your gonna have to be a little more specific than that ’cause Idris is the only Elba that comes to my mind.

  42. 42.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    One place I worked one of the Techs was a Rush fan, listened to Rush while he worked and the nickname for him was “Chucklehead”  he was such an jerk. The company ended up having a layoff were Chucklehead was the only one let go because they had enough of his nonsense.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    I made my first ever political contribution in 1992, $5 to Barbara Boxer’s Senate campaign. I was really broke, but a bunch of Rush fans, all male, had come to one of her speeches in the OC and shut the whole thing down screaming “feminazi” at her at the top of their lungs. Fascists assholes. She got her revenge. Yet another example of why I think HWSNBM is a symptom, not the cause, of the disease of the GOP.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Ah. Now I get it.

    ETA, speaking of Mar-a- Lago:

    As the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump loomed in Washington on Tuesday, a matter even more important to his immediate future was being discussed some 990 miles to the south by the town council of Palm Beach, Florida: whether the former president can continue living at Mar-a-Lago.

    The council will hear their attorney’s opinion on whether it can stop Trump living at his club. Nearly 30 years ago, in 1993, a Trump lawyer told the town the New York property magnate would be prohibited from living at Mar-a-Lago, if the town allowed him to convert it from a residence to a club. The promise, however, was not included in a written agreement which may now take precedence.

    Technically, Trump is an employee of the corporation that owns Mar-a-Lago – and the written agreement only bars members from living there. Under town regulations, a club can provide onsite housing to employees. Trump moved into Mar-a-Lago on 20 January, the day he left office.

    Good luck Palm Beach, you let him in and now he ain’t leaving. Serves ya right, suckers.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Central Planning: We won’t know how many Republican voters leave the party until November 2022. But the party can’t afford to lose many. Just a five per cent loss will cost them seats. Some Republican voters may become Independents, even Democrats, or defect to third parties. And there may be some jaded trump fans who will just stop participating. At least I hope so.

  51. 51.

    Cameron

    @Baud: I think what they meant was “talk a bunch of bullshit to working class voters, but don’t actually do anything for them.”  That’s the real Trump lesson.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    @Baud: Republicans, long reliant on big business and the rich, see a post-Trump future centered on working class white, Hispanic and Black voters, top GOP officials tell Axios.

    Not the Onion? I see a couple of flaws in the plan.

    One, “post-Trump”; unless this is signaling that there’s a deal for 17 or more Republican Senators to vote to convict, the Republicans will only be rid of him at the “prying the cold dead hands” stage.

    Two, they’ve spent the past 50 years working to shrink the size and influence of the working class, and demonizing Hispanics and Blacks.

    Three, “top GOP officials” are apparently delusional, but perhaps that can be treated as a staffing problem.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    @Cameron:

    I think what it means is they’re going to try to rebalance their hate so that the focus a bit less on race and a bit more on misogyny.

  56. 56.

    germy

    @Princess:  I never listened to him, but in 2004 I had painters in and the boss, a Black guy (!) had Rush on all the time. I was shocked to listen to it. I was expecting conservative argument. Vicious argument, but still argument in favour of conservative views. It was nothing but non-stop dehumanization of “the libs.” Pure propaganda of hate.

    I remember hearing Limbaugh blasting out of car and truck radios. More than a few contractors we hired, as well as a guy from our local utility who came to check a gas line.  And I remember the “RUSH IS RIGHT” bumper stickers.

    It reminded me of Invasion Of The Pod People.  Folks who appeared normal on the surface, but…

  59. 59.

    Michael Cain

    God willing?

    An understandable sentiment, since it will require one of (a) ten Republicans who will vote for cloture or (b) all of Manchin, Sinema, and DiFi to vote to abolish the filibuster or (c) the budget process for FY22 looking so smooth that they feel they can use reconciliation for this bill.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @gvg: Yeah, I get it now. I’m sure I knew that at one point in time but I’m a little light on Napoleonic history and what little I read was a long long time ago.

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: Who is it that is trying to push that, Hawley?

    There was a piece a few months ago seriously arguing that that change of tactics is a real danger and that in response Democrats were chasing Wall Street.  Some great realignment, or something.

    It sounded like an argument in search of evidence to me.

    Black and suburban women are going to be willingly underbused just when they are starting to get a taste of the power they’ve fought for for so long?  Really??

    I don’t think so.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @gvg: Napoleon was exiled to Elba the first time he was defeated. After Napoleon’s unsuccessful “100 Days” comeback failed at Waterloo, the English put him under house arrest on the remote island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic. He died in the early 1820s. Some say Napolean was slowly poisoned to death.

  67. 67.

    debbie

    I wasn’t quick enough to catch the tiny print at the end of the ad, but there’s a surprisingly biting ad aimed at Rod Portman, demanding he approve the COVID stimulus package.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    For the lawyers in today’s audience:

    A Texas lawyer accidentally left a kitten filter on during a video conference call with a judge and was unable to change it, eventually responding to a judge’s query about why he was being addressed by a digital feline by saying: “I’m here live. I am not a cat.”

    The coronavirus has prompted many computer mishaps, as many of the world’s workers adapt to working from home in the face of the pandemic. They have ranged from the inadvertently hilarious to the career-ending.

    But lawyer Rod Ponton’s accidental morphing into a wide-eyed baby cat appears destined to achieve viral immortality.

    Faced with hearing legal debate from the kitten’s cute but worried face, Judge Roy Ferguson of Texas’s 394th judicial district told Ponton: “I believe you have a filter turned on in the video settings. You might want to …”

    The Ponton/kitten entity then interrupts Ferguson in a panicked drawl: “Can you hear me, judge?”

    Ferguson responds: “I can hear you. I think it’s a filter …”

    “It is,” the cat-faced Ponton responds. “And I don’t know how to remove it. I’ve got my assistant here, she’s trying to, but I’m prepared to go forward with it … I’m here live. I’m not a cat.”

    Ferguson deadpans: “I can see that.”

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    I have conservative friends on FB sharing memes saying that AOC was lying about being in the Capitol building on 1/6, and that she actually wasn’t there. What the hell is that about? Does anyone know?

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: Ocasio-Cortez was in an office building next door to the Capitol building, and never said otherwise. The two buildings are connected by a tunnel.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    @Low Key Swagger: First time I heard Limbaugh’s hateful garbage was around 1990 or so in Massachusetts, where I lived for a few years right after college. He was and is popular with a lot of white small business owners, as you observed, because he confirmed their preexisting prejudices and conceits. Also sales guys seemed to lap that shit up for whatever reason.

    Limbaugh has done incalculable damage to this country — from the late 1980s to Jan. 6. Many of the so-called normal Republicans, including both Bushes, elevated that destructive monster. I plan on having a celebratory toast when he finally takes a dirt nap.

  75. 75.

    germy

    @dr. bloor:

    Someone once suggested an “Angie’s List” type of website that lists contractors who aren’t MAGATs.

    It would be a small list, but it might help.

  76. 76.

    Soprano2

    @satby: I just like to be able to say something to them if I have to. Today I told one of them, who posted a long screed about “have you ever wondered why the Clinton Foundation was disbanded after Hillary lost” that the person who wrote that evidently can’t use Google, and posted the link to the Clinton Foundation web site. I also told him it reminds me of the Clinton Death Lists from the ’90’s, and has about as much veracity.

  79. 79.

    Cameron

    @O. Felix Culpa: I suspect the Putin conversations are basically him just flattering Trump.  No need to give Don any instructions; as we’ve seen, he can screw things up all by himself.  Hearing “you be you, Mr. President” would encourage him to continue doing stupid, harmful stuff.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    @Soprano2: Here’s a YouTube clip from the Lawrence O’Donnell show last week that contains a clip of AOC talking about her ordeal and Katie Porter describing what happened after the building AOC was in was evacuated. Apparently the cops didn’t tell the people in AOC’s building where to shelter, so AOC ended up hiding out with Katie Porter. Bottom line, the “conservative” spin is dishonest bullshit. As usual.

  82. 82.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, it’s only a few. I don’t unfriend people over politics, although I’ve had a couple unfriend me for that reason. The majority of the regulars at our pub like Trump, as do the majority of the people I work with; sometimes I ask them about it. I’m tempted to ask them how their 401k’s are doing, since they predicted gloom and doom if Biden were elected. LOL

  83. 83.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Soprano2: She was in her office in an adjacent building. She never said she was in the Capitol itself, but they claim she did. so “She’s lying Libtards!”

    I hate these people and I’m so tired of this, but they aren’t going away without our working our asses off to make it so!

  85. 85.

    arrieve

    @Soprano2:  Big surprise, they’re misrepresenting what she actually said. She talked about being in her office, which is NOT in the Capitol Building, and someone pounding on the door yelling, “Where is she?” She hid in the bathroom, and was understandably terrified. It turned out  to be a Capitol police officer and not one of the insurrectionists, but she’s been criticized for saying the insurrectionists were in her building (they weren’t and she didn’t) or that she was threated in the Capitol building (she wasn’t and she didn’t say she was.)

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    @OzarkHillbilly: ICYMI, …

    Funny story about Rod Ponton, the "Zoom cat lawyer" that everyone's talking about today. I reported on him in 2014, when he was a local prosecutor used the power of his office — and roped in federal law enforcement — to harass a former lover. https://t.co/fIuK4hbHfJ

    — Anthony L. Fisher (@anthonyLfisher) February 10, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  87. 87.

    germy

    My local sinclair affiliate is freaking out over a $15 minimum wage.  “Coming up next… we speak to local business owners to see how this law might affect them!”

    We only watch the sinclair station because their weather reports are the most accurate.  The other channels are often astoundingly wrong in their forecasts.  But we turned the channel before we could see the sobfest from our local business heroes.

    I see a lot of this online: People use a photo of current conditions and then warn it represents what will happen if liberals get their way:

    This is what stores will look like with a $15 minimum wage

    *Shows photo of stores right now without $15 minimum wage* pic.twitter.com/e9TPX8DwVs

    — The Soup Communist (@TheEpicDept) February 8, 2021

  88. 88.

    Nicole

    @Soprano2: Right-wingers will use anything as an attempt to drum up a new big lie, especially if it can be at the expense of someone not-white.  A right-winger I used to know posted a public thing on FB about Tyrann Mathieu lying about Tom Brady calling him a name, all because Mathieu tweeted about it and then deleted the tweet a few minutes later.  I don’t watch football anymore, but I wondered what the real story was, so I googled, and, whatever was said, it was bad enough Brady texted an apology to Mathieu later.  But, of course, that doesn’t fit this racist wasted of human breath’s narrative of White Man Good, Black Man Liar, so the story became “black man obviously lied because he deleted a tweet”.  And they’re all so desperate to hang onto their racist narratives they’ll keep bleating.  They did it over AOC crying about migrant children, and it didn’t matter how many times the photographer tried to tell them the truth.  Not shocking they’ll keep bleating it about the Capitol.

    I read a good piece by someone who said she’s found the best response is to say simply, “(Name), you know that’s not true.”  And just keep repeating until they leave you alone.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @debbie:imagine coming home to discover the same kind of damage to their homes as the damage that was done to the Capitol, and then ask them whether they’d let the person who got his buddies to do the damage get off without consequences.

    That is great framing (seriously)

  90. 90.

    Jager

    @OzarkHillbilly: My lovely sister is married to an RWNJ asshole. When they would visit, I’d make him listen to Rush in his rental car. I was more than happy to piss him off.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @Princess:Pure propaganda of hate. There was nothing “positive” about it, no program, no explanation about why being conservative was more correct. Nothing but hours of bile. You can draw a direct line from Rush to Jan. 6th at the Capitol.

    Yup.

    Rush x Fox News x 30 years = 25% of the country/40% of voters are now effectively North Koreans.

  92. 92.

    Jeffro

    @Low Key Swagger:When I moved to the South 26 years ago, I noticed that Rush was on the radio in nearly every small business around.  Eventually, I learned to turn around and walk out the minute I heard it.  Almost without exception, the owners were prickly at best and sometimes nearly hostile. I can’t imagine what ingesting that poison all day everyday does to one’s psyche.

    Probably 20+ years ago, even as a Dem, I used to listen to Rush on a regular basis, just to “see what the other side was saying”, laugh at his nonsense, and feel superior.  After a year or two, I realized it was making me angry for several hours a day (even though I’m sooooo superior, right?), stopped listening, and haven’t listened since.

    For what it’s worth, I watch almost zero cable news of any kind (even MSNBC).  I find that helpful, too.

    Outrage trolling of any kind produces…outrage, I guess.  Hard pass.

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @Nicole: From what I’ve read, you’re right about the Brady-Mathieu kerfluffle. Mathieu deleted his tweets because Brady apologized profusely for trash-talking. Mathieu was being gracious about it — that’s why he took down the tweets, so it wouldn’t be a thing.

  95. 95.

    The Fat White Duchess

    The referrals person at my agency is asking for a clinician to treat a potential client for her “trauma” of being shunned and/or called to account by friends who are offended that she voted for *45.  (Yes, in 2020.) I just said I didn’t have time, but oh, how I want to say something much stronger. No other place to vent right now, hope you folks don’t mind.

  96. 96.

    germy

    Question for the commentariat:

    So Biden has now seen (heard?) all the Trump/Putin conversations.  What next?  Does he pass them on to his AG?

  98. 98.

    BruceFromOhio

    Biden’s crew have the recordings? LOL, that orange fucker is going to the federal pen, if the states don’t get him first. It may not really matter that the GQP fascists in the Senate vote to urinate on the Constitution. The fire hose of justice is fixing to put the dumpster fire out permanently.

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2:The majority of the regulars at our pub like Trump, as do the majority of the people I work with;

    It’s Ozarkistan. An Arkie buddy of mine had a restaurant in Mountain View. Every morning the regulars would file in for coffee and eggs, biscuits and gravy and every morning B would walk over, pour their coffee and start an argument. I think he figured he might just as well start his day that way if he was gonna end it that way.

  102. 102.

    BruceFromOhio

    @The Fat White Duchess: ​
      You’re with friends!
    That’s a tough one. The cultists who escape need help deprogramming, and deserve some tiny thread of sympathy. OTOH, why take away finite resources from clients who are truly in need to try to help someone whose action was the cause of trauma for so many others? The devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other are throwing down in my head.

  103. 103.

    RobertB

    My wife used to listen to Rush, because the station had the best traffic report.  “That guy was nuts, and his callers were worse.”

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @danielx: One of the core tenets of AGTM’s drive-by dogma is that all religion is bad.  Others are that Balloon-Juice commenters are cowards who are not ready for the coming civil war and that he is the only one here ready to shout “Wolverines!” and disappear into the mountains.  I hope that helps.

  107. 107.

    Another Scott

    @RobertB: As a kid in suburban Atlanta in the early ’70s I’d listen to a small talk radio station on the weekend.  I remember Neal Boortz twisting a distraught woman’s comments about being yelled at by a cop at a traffic stop for no reason.  And how the callers were eating it up, saying he was right, etc.

    I also remember a weather report that said it was 147% humidity.

    Even at that young age, I figured out that the shows would do anything to get people riled up, or get them to feel the need to call in for corrections, or anything at all to get people to pay attention and listen and participate.

    It’s professional wrestling in a different form.

    The country will eventually grow out of it, but I wonder what will replace it…

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  111. 111.

    germy

    …That is why, with the start of the trial, there is growing suspicion of a tanked trial. The House will present a case long on emotions and short on evidence. Indeed, that is unfolding now as the House managers play videotapes of the disgraceful riot in the Capitol.

    — Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 9, 2021

    In a devastating moment, Neguse quotes Jonathan Turley, a law professor who has spoken in favor of Trump’s case. Neguse says that in earlier years, Turley had said, “The resignation from office does not prevent trial on articles of impeachment.”

    — Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) February 9, 2021

  112. 112.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: He’s in the Hall of Famous Missourians at the state capitol too. Every morning they have to clean up a puddle of vomit from in front of Mark Twain’s bust.

  116. 116.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: My manager says she has banned them from talking about politics if they’re sitting near the bar, because she’s tired of hearing them argue. LOL We’ve got some who are like me, too, and they argue with the Trumpies. This is why I just laugh any time some conservative tries to tell me that I just don’t understand Trump voters.  I’m surrounded by them, and have been my whole life – of course I understand them! I had one guy lash out at me personally because he said “Thank You President Trump” when I was talking about vaccines, and I made a joke about how I didn’t know Trump was a scientist. My husband said that guy doesn’t know how close he came to getting punched in the nose for that; I told hubby I can take care of myself, because I immediately called him out, saying that there was no call for him to insult me that way. I got him to kind of apologize. These people are extremely angry and upset that they didn’t get 4 more years of Trump doing what Trump does, owning the libs and hating on the people they hate. They can’t understand how I can be a business owner and not love Trump, as if that’s all there is to my life.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @BruceFromOhio:The devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other are throwing down in my head.

    That’s funny ’cause my angel is giggling, while my devil is…wait for it, waaaait for it…yelling “FUCK THEIR FEELINGS” straight in my ear

    So very many people are better people than I…alas…

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    @Soprano2:These people are extremely angry and upset that they didn’t get 4 more years of Trump doing what Trump does, owning the libs and hating on the people they hate.

    Which is all they were going to get.  Well, that, and another $100M+ bill for golf, and at least another 500k dead from Covid.

  122. 122.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro: So very many people are better people than I…alas…

    And then there are the people like me who are far worse and proud of it.

  124. 124.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy: I have seen reporting to the effect that he has access, not that he has read or listened.

    I’ve also seen reporting that Ukraine has released a transcript of Rudy’s call to Zelensky, although I’ve been too busy today to read it.

  125. 125.

    Ken

    @Baud: As the future president in exile, I’d like to offer you the rank of Field Marshall.

    Oooh, take it.  That’s a very good rank, you can only be captured by the Spy, and of course blown up by a Bomb.

  127. 127.

    yellowdog

    @Ken: At least they are aware that Black and Hispanic people are part of the working class, which is more than a certain VT senator is capable of.

  129. 129.

    Zinsky

    New incriminating evidence is coming out about Trump’s 1st Impeachment that should cause any decent Republican to re-visit their conclusion about Trumps guilt in that fiasco.  Here are the details:

    https://time.com/5937491/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-trump-impeachment/

    But, since the Republican Party is lawless and is in thrall to a sexually deviant, illiterate criminal con man, they are going to once again betray their oath of office and let this pervert go free once again.  Shameful and blackhearted.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well…….strangely enough, we had one of our best months in January, which is super weird. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but the truth is that if we weren’t open they’d just go somewhere else. Most of my regular customers have gotten covid; a few have been vaccinated because they’re nurses! I feel luck that I live in Springfield, because most of the towns down here have the same attitude Parson has.

  134. 134.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: The TX 6th district special election to replace Repesentaive Wright will be a small test of Republican electoral prospects. It has been turning purplish. While in 2012 President Obama lost the 6th by 17 points, more recently Joe Biden lost the district by only three. The incumbent Wright carried the 6th by 9 points in 2020. The Republican primary could be interesting as well.                                       The  6th is south of Ft. Worth, and is shaped like an hour glass. The smaller part is a portion of suburban Tarrant County, with a narrow connection to a larger exurban area to the southeast. Phil Graham used to represent the 6th.

  135. 135.

    different-church-lady

    @Soprano2: Dude/ette, they WANT you to have insane arguments. They live to create shit that doesn’t make any sense. Your push back just gives them what they want: a reason to be more entrenched.

  138. 138.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    I have conservative friends on FB sharing memes saying that AOC was lying about being in the Capitol building on 1/6 

    I’d take that as a sign to cut those people out of your life.

  140. 140.

    topclimber

    @germy: Would that be the same Jeff Davis who tried to escape Union soldiers by wearing a dress? I think the Feds let him off easy knowing he would be a political punchline the rest of his life.

    To be fair, some people say that he dressed as a female to defend the sacred honor of Southern womanhood. My lands, if those damn Yankees would arrest anybody in skirts, no lady could ever rest her dainty head at night assured that Union rascals might not arrest her as well.

    Feminist solidarity, that was old JD to the core. Also, I understand his dress was fabulous.

  141. 141.

    Nicole

    @Betty Cracker:

    From what I’ve read, you’re right about the Brady-Mathieu kerfluffle. Mathieu deleted his tweets because Brady apologized profusely for trash-talking. Mathieu was being gracious about it — that’s why he took down the tweets, so it wouldn’t be a thing.

    Yeah, what I took from it is that Mathieu tweeted in frustration (and I read the tweet; it was directed at the press more than it was Brady anyway), and then thought better of expressing his in-the-moment frustration and took it down (been there myself).  This insecure racist I knew (lives in Orlando; man, I’ve known my share of racists from Orlando, come to think of it) claimed that Mathieu did it because he was caught in a lie because… wait for it… everything Tom Brady said was captured on a mic.  Which is… not at all what happened, but a classic example of how right-wingers take something and turn it into something it absolutely wasn’t, plumping it up with additional lies along the way.

    My father-in-law once told me he imagined people were going to move out of California because they were going to start getting fined for watering their lawns.  That was another Google dive to get to the origins of that one (spoiler: untrue).

  143. 143.

    Just Chuck

    @Nicole: In the early 2000’s I was briefly living in Fort Worth.  There was a severe drought going on, and my buddy living there was talking about people getting fined for daytime lawn watering.  In Texas.

    So even if people do get fined, fuck them.

  144. 144.

    Kent

    @OzarkHillbilly:Good luck Palm Beach, you let him in and now he ain’t leaving. Serves ya right, suckers.

    He won Palm Beach by about 10 points.  They bought him, they gotta keep him.

  145. 145.

    ian

    @Princess:

    My old boss listened to Rush every day.  I tried to tell him it bothered me when Limbaugh kept saying “we need to leave 2 Liberals alive on every college campus”

  146. 146.

    The Fat White Duchess

    @Betty Cracker: Thank you! I probably shall.

    @BruceFromOhio: If the person were a cultist trying to escape, I’d be happy to support them. So far as I can tell, this is someone who—like their candidate—just has hurt feelings and wants to be told they’re okay and their friends are big meanies.

    I’m not driving any getaway cars.

  147. 147.

    Nicole

    @Just Chuck:

    There was a severe drought going on, and my buddy living there was talking about people getting fined for daytime lawn watering.  In Texas.

    And I wholeheartedly concur, but that wasn’t even what was being proposed in California.  There was discussion about possibly fining townships (I think townships?) if their residents went over an average individual usage of 40 gallons of water a day (tabulated over the course of a month).  My father-in-law even said, “Oh, I could manage on 40 gallons a day.”

    Didn’t stop him from some conspiracy thing about Obama being his next topic of conversation.

  148. 148.

    burnspbesq

    NYT is reporting that the Fulton County (Atlanta) DA’s office has opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the Georgia election results.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @topclimber: A contemporary described Jefferson Davis as “Cold as a reptile. Ambitious as Lucifer.”                     Davis was a crappy war-time president. One could argue that he did more to defeat the South than anyone besides Lincoln or Grant.

  151. 151.

    Patricia Kayden

    If Senate Republicans fail to convict Donald Trump, it won't be because the facts were with him or his lawyers mounted a competent defense. It will be because the jury includes his co-conspirators.— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 10, 2021

  152. 152.

    germy

    @burnspbesq:

    Even some of Trump’s most ardent defenders have admitted he told fake tales of Georgia election fraud.

    “They claimed 66,000 people voted in Georgia under age 18,” U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said of the Trump campaign’s allegations about fraud in Georgia.

    “I have not found one person,” Graham said.

    That was also true of the president’s false claim that over 2,500 felons in Georgia prisons had voted. He made a similar charge about the vote in Arizona that didn’t pan out.

    “I’ve asked for a list of names and received none,” Graham said.

  153. 153.

    PPCLI

    @Immanentize: Also the relevant counter-intelligence groups should have already interviewed Maria Gross, the American translator in the Helsinki Putin/Trump chat that Trump emerged from looking like a whipped dog, and confiscated Gross’s notes. Recall that she was the only American in the room besides Trump, and Trump went to great lengths to conceal the content of that and other conversations with Putin even from senior admin officials.

    (Perhaps Peter Strzok could be brought in as an outside consultant during the interview.)

  155. 155.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy: I find it hilarious that Dump went all in on “voter fraud” in only Georgia and Arizona.  So he still wanted to lose but by less? ?‍♂️

  156. 156.

    Soprano2

    @ian:  I tried to tell him it bothered me when Limbaugh kept saying “we need to leave 2 Liberals alive on every college campus”

    I think a lot of people don’t realize these people have been eliminationist for a long time.

  157. 157.

    JWR

    CNN:

    The managers will show never-before-seen Capitol security footage in their presentation to demonstrate the extent of the violence that occurred and the threat the rioters posed to everyone in the Capitol, according to senior aides on the House impeachment team.

    Yeah, but this doesn’t mean any of the Rs will have to look up from the blank pages on their desks. (And you just know how badly they don’t wanna see any of their handiwork. Fckrs.) Were it up to me, they’d be forced to watch, as in A Clockwork Orange. I think it was an NPR reporter who noticed the many Rs just zoning out during yesterday’s hearing.

  160. 160.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: I’ll never understand how anyone who considers herself liberal or progressive (as most Stein voters would self-label) could listen to Limbaugh. Listening to that smarmy racist, sexist gasbag for more than 10 seconds makes me want to puncture my own eardrums.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    I read that Yamiche Alcindor and others report that Day 2 of the Senate trial will feature more video of the insurrection mob inside the Capitol. Yesterday’s video was powerful, and this one likely will be also.

  163. 163.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I’m pretty detached about such things, and I used  to listen to Limbaugh because I wanted to check out what the other side was hearing. I haven’t bothered with Limbaugh for years now, though, because I pretty much know what he’s going to say.

  164. 164.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker: I used to do around-the-campus tech support for a local college, and it always baffled me that this one older black woman would have Limbaugh on her radio in her office.

  165. 165.

    Aziz, light!

    Why Thousands of Republicans Are Leaving the Party

    So, according to the NYT, one fifth of one percent of the people who voted for Trump have left the GQP.

    BFD.

  167. 167.

    JWR

    @Geminid: Wouldn’t it be nice if the presiding officer were to stop the film halfway through and remind all these lazy mofo’s that they are jurors who should be collecting as much information as possible? (~sigh~ It is to dream.)​

  168. 168.

    CaseyL

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
     

    What I really love about that kitten filter is how it picks up on, and conveys, eye and mouth movements. I realize that anyone familiar with Zoom filters knows about that feature, but it was new to me and made things that much more endearing.

    Now I want one, though I’m not sure when I’d be able to use it.

    I wish Skype had them. I Skype with my Mom every week, and she’d laugh until she fell over if I showed up as a kitten.

  169. 169.

    Another Scott

    @mrmoshpotato: If there’s nothing much else on the radio (5 ClearChannel varieties of 50+ year old “classic rock” that everyone has heard a billion times; something in Spanish; 3-4 varieties of “Christian” programming; Commie-Liberal NPR talking about something or other; a couple of hip-hop stations), I can see why someone might listen to RL.  And why it can become a habit if everyone one interacts with it listens as well.

    Inertia is the strongest force in the universe.

    There’s a meme that these RL, etc., radio stations, FB, T, etc., are only giving people what they want.  It’s not true.  They’re manipulating people to listen with their perpetual trumped-up (heh) outrage.  Environment matters.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    MisterForkbeard

    @mrmoshpotato: They wanted to show that the election had been stolen in a few places, and then demand that the entire election be given to Trump, re-done, or to heavily imply that clearly it had been stolen in lots of other states too.

    Basically, if they could get a few friendly republicans to declare there was cheating in their close states, then they could undermine the entire election.

  172. 172.

    J R in WV

    Interesting about that Turley guy, changing his story on Impeachment to suit modern current events.

    Amazing how he forgot that he used to be in favor of Impeachment of people who resigned or otherwise left office, until suddenly, one day, he no longer believes that at all !!! And expected that everyone else had forgotten about his previous position, completely.

    Or at least would be polite enough to not mention his previous position, nor Google it up for the whole world to see. Funny as hell to watch these asses jump up and lie about important stuff, and 3 hours later get called out, thanks to Google, with quotes from their earlier lies.

    What a lame dumbass RWNJ this guy actually turns out to be!!!

  173. 173.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Aziz, light!: There was also another gallup poll recently that showed that the Republican Party’s favorables are going down relatively sharply, and it’s coming from Republicans.

    That said, it’s not sure whether they disapprove of losing, or of not completely backing the insurrection.

  175. 175.

    MisterForkbeard

    @J R in WV: Right? Turley is the new David Brooks. His job is to act like a neutral arbiter and then reluctantly and with great deliberation come down on the “pro-republican” side every time, even when he’s contradicting his own arguments from yesterday.

  176. 176.

    Martin

    @CaseyL: The cat filter isn’t a Zoom feature. It’s shovelware on old Dell laptops, and apparently it’s on by default anytime the camera  comes on which is why he didn’t know how to turn it off – he never turned it on.

  181. 181.

    CaseyL

    @Martin: I’ve seen a few people post how to install it, and one of the reasons I’m hesitant is the on-off looks a little complicated.

    I do a lot of Zoom meetings at work, and while I think a kitten filter would make everyone smile, I also think they’d expect me to be able to turn it off right quick!

  184. 184.

    Geminid

    @MisterForkbeard: The disaffected Republicans could be both ones who think the party has gone too far, and others who think Republican politicians have not gone far enough. Both types may be trouble for Republicans electorally.

  186. 186.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Geminid: I think it’s definitely the case that it’s both groups.

    That said, I don’t think the “didn’t go far enough” camp will cause them real problems. I think it provides an opportunity for Hawley or Cruz or some other sociopath to try and build on the Trump model of incredible assholishness, racism, and a deep commitment to lying and never admitting you were wrong.  It gives them a built-in base for their 2024 runs.

    And like we saw in 2016, once a frontrunner is selected he gets full support from the Republican Party regardless of how awful he is.

  188. 188.

    Jeffro

    @Aziz, light!: yeah, I was starting to retweet/share/forward that article then caught myself and was like…”that’s…not a huge amount of folks there…”

    It’s not nothing, but it’s close.  A far greater impact will be felt when those occasional GOP voters go back to being occasional.

  189. 189.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @The Fat White Duchess: @Immanentize: *rump was never able. (He could be Cain, though…)​

    He should have been caned. Repeatedly. About 10 minutes of being slammed repeatedly with a heavy cane might’ve brought to mind being thrown down a few flights of stairs by Mafiya goons in 1980s Moskva…

  192. 192.

    rikyrah

    @Soprano2:

    Because, her testimonial was very powerful, and they are desperate to disqualify those who bring the sense of horror that that day entailed, because the right-wing is so determined to minimize it.

  195. 195.

    Geminid

    @MisterForkbeard: The radical Republicans have shown that they can win primaries, and take over state party organizations like those in Nebraska and Arizona. Although more traditional Republicans in Arizona want an audit of the recent party leadership elections, claiming Kelly Ward cheated. And extreme Republicans can win deep red  states like Alabama, Arkansas and South Dakota. The question is, can they win in places like Arizona, Ohio and Iowa? Even if the Republicans hang together, they can only afford to lose so many Independents. Many Independents consistently vote with one or the other parties, but there are some who actually can swing. Exit polling is not so useful these days, but pre-election polling in Arizona showed Biden and Kelly winning good margins among independents in addition to benefiting from high Democratic turnout. Colorado has a large portion of  voters registered as non-affiliated, and it’s been getting bluer the last few years. Some of the conservative independents are as crazy if not crazier than the radical Republicans, but the ones in the center tend to be repelled by extremists.

  200. 200.

    Just Chuck

    @Geminid: Colorado going 100% vote-by-mail is likely to solidify it as a reliably blue state for the medium future.  Turns out when more people vote, Republicans lose.

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