Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Everybody saw this coming.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

He really is that stupid.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Monday Morning Open Thread: Sweet, Refreshing “Boredom”

Monday Morning Open Thread: Sweet, Refreshing “Boredom”

by | 111 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Monday Morning Open Thread

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
.

Not really the right word — more like ‘decency’:


Then again, this should get the right-wing activists angried up:

… In his prepared remarks, Garland also highlighted how his experience handling domestic terrorism is particularly relevant now.

“From 1995 to 1997, I supervised the prosecution of the perpetrators of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, who sought to spark a revolution that would topple the federal government. If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”

That work, he said, is “but a part” of the broad range of Justice Department responsibilities to protect the country from “environmental degradation and the abuse of market power, from fraud and corruption, from violent crime and cybercrime, and from drug trafficking and child exploitation.”

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    ABC news this morning has an interview with a Capitol police officer.  Must watch.  Hopefully it’ll be online later.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Merrick Garland says that as attorney general he will fight discrimination, domestic terrorism

    So party line vote then.

  5. 5.

    Punchy

    The fact that the GOP, out of pure Cleeks, is opposing sending money and assistance to Americans in need is breathtaking.  I agree with Marshall that a multi-million dollar ad campaign start immediately calling out the chumps who hate their constituents.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    Josh Marshall’s right about running those ads.  The relief bill is very popular.

    Steve Scalise and some other schmuck I’ve never heard of have an op-ed in today’s WaPo opposing it.  “Won’t someone think of our children’s future?”  Um, those huge-ass tax cuts you and trumpov gave to the rich – were you thinking of our children’s future then?  I think not.

    I know Scalise and the GQP are scrambling for something, anything to oppose Biden & Co, but they’re turning this into another mask-wearing issue: divide the country pointlessly over something that is needed for folks’ (and the economy’s) own good.  I have faith Uncle Joe will point that out.

  8. 8.

    Anya

    I wish Dems would follow Marshall’s advice but we’re bad at that stuff. We usually play defensive. But at least this time around our side is united, unlike during the Obama presidency when the left was almost as loud as the right in their opposition.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @Anya:

    Agree.  It’s nice to see.  Right now, our only headaches are on our right flank.  I hope it lasts.  I’m a wee bit concerned it won’t because the minimum wage is not likely to make it through the reconciliation process.

  11. 11.

    randy khan

    While I’d prefer overwhelming bipartisan support for the relief bill, the second-best choice is for Republicans to unite against it.  We couldn’t ask for a better contrast.

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: good!  It’s long past time that Rs paid the price for opposing things that benefit their constituents

    ETA: that is a great ad, love it!

  20. 20.

    Mai Naem mobile

    From what I’ve seen on Twitter the RW is going after Biden on  schools not opening back up fast enough, brown people  coming in the country, gas prices going up and a Cornyn like attack on the Dems being anti-semitic. I find it incredible as to how much Biden is supposed to take care within 30 days when the Senate hasn’t even approved most of his cabinet and Orange Lump and his folks  were busy sabotaging Biden.

  22. 22.

    ant

    Only white men in charge, and everyone else know their place in accordance with Clayton Bigsby’s simple message.

    That is the foundation of Republican governance. Everything else is negotiable.

    Covid relief, and vaccine distribution is libel to get the underclass/shithole-countries all uppity, and forget their place from the perspective of Trumplicans.

    This is the elephant in the room that not enough people acknowledge.

  23. 23.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @debbie: Portman is not going to care about his constituents. He’s going to be too busy keeping in the good graces of his party so that he can build his post Senate career lobbying shop.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    . I find it incredible as to how much Biden is supposed to take care within 30 days when the Senate hasn’t even approved most of his cabinet and Orange Lump and his folks  were busy sabotaging Biden.

     

    The attacks aren’t meant to appeal to people’s reason.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    ???

    During the 2020 primaries, Bernie Sanders himself used his contacts at the New York Times to write a hit piece on Tanden where journos ambushed Neera's Mom – and then Sanders fund raised off the attacks. And now the same group is driving a campaign to block her confirmation.— Homie Wan Kenobi killed Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) February 21, 2021

  29. 29.

    Baud

    Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appears poised to take on a high-profile ambassadorship for President Biden, a step likely to trigger contention with progressives who’ve balked at him taking a Cabinet role.

    Emanuel is the front-runner to be Biden’s nominee as ambassador to Japan, sources familiar with the matter told The Hill.

    The Hill is stupid. Ambassador to Japan isn’t a cabinet position, and progressives would like nothing more than to send Rahn out of the country

     

  30. 30.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I didn’t watch it but 60 mins had the judge whose son got killed last year and her husband got injured – apparently Sonia Sotomayor was also on the guys kill list. With Jan 6th, Michigan, this judge’s attempted killing, other judges opposing Orange Dbag getting protection etc. you have to wonder if these people are intimidated even subconsciously. I am not sure if I was put in the same position if I would get mad or intimidated. I would like to think I would get mad but who knows what happens to your psyche.

  33. 33.

    Jeffro

    @Mai Naem mobile: I think they’re just trying to keep the GQP Noise Machine in working order.  Wouldn’t want anyone imagining a world where the Rs shut up and contribute to something positive, right?  Nope – gotta keep churning out that BS and do something, anything to try and put the Dems on their heels.

    Their base is probably still wandering around in a daze, wondering where the orange moron disappeared to, and who to hate next.  Gotta get in there and fire up that anti-immigrant nonsense, stat!

  35. 35.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Baud: I know Rahm can be problematic, but he has his uses. I love the story of how after that guy (Joe something) shouted “You lie!” at Obama, the offender called the WH to apologize. The WH said Obama had gone to bed and put Joe Forgetable through to Rahm. :-)

  36. 36.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: I am sometimes tempted to bash leftists, but I know I could never do it at Ragnarok Lobster’s level. He smacks lefties like Serena Williams hits tennis balls.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @The Thin Black Duke: Nice article!  So much to say about Rush.  When the Immp was a baby/toddler, we hired a three day a week nanny when my wife went back to work.  After a couple weeks, we realized that she was playing Rush radio every day she was at our house.  I didn’t even care what was being said, but the sound of it was just so angry, harsh, mean.  We told the woman that she couldn’t play that in the house.  And we parted ways about two weeks later.  Just the whole tone was enough to make one irritated and outraged, like a Twilight Zone episode….

    Anyway, I like your ending about how they should have listened when people said, “stop please.”. Did you write that here earlier?  I remember a longer version in my mind.  Thank you!

  44. 44.

    Steeplejack

    I’ve got to say that A.O.C. is the real deal. She came to Texas to help with relief, and she did it as more than a photo op.

    One last update (I think!): We just hit $5 million raised for Texans across the state.

    Thank you ALL for your collective action when people need it most.

    Charity can’t replace policy, but solidarity is how we’ll face climate change and build a better world. ???

    Thank you ??
    pic.twitter.com/RzdgXllXoS

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 22, 2021

    Here she is with a big fan.

  47. 47.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @Baud:

    So party line vote then.

    Pretty much, unless Manchin decides to oppose Garland on the grounds that announcing he’ll investigate domestic terrorism and discrimination amounts to being controversially mean to Republicans.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Immanentize: Yeah, he probably would do well to add some lobs and drop shots to his polemical technique. That would be out of character, though. RL enjoys hitting hard.

  51. 51.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    If you are concerned about insider trading, you can WRITE A BILL. Do the research, find a reasonable solution, get bipartisan support, bring the bill forward in your committee, bring it up for a vote & send it to the Senate. Do the real work; stay off twitter.— JBlanchard (@JBatNC304) February 21, 2021

    This is a a reply to a tweet by Madison Cawthorn. Like Cruz, half these guys don’t even seem to realize what it’s possible for them to do. Or maybe they don’t care.

    PS “Madison Cawthorn” sounds like a character in a YA novel about a snooty boarding school. Or possible that’s the name of the school.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: The Garland vote should be a good gauge of where we are on “bipartisanship” in the US Senate. This should not be a controversial pick AT ALL, and if he doesn’t sail through, our problems are even bigger than we think, IMO.

    @Immanentize: Agreed. It ain’t Sanders who’s publicly sandbagging Tanden. It’s Manchin and Collins (R-Concerned). Sanders is allegedly a YES vote.

  54. 54.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Immanentize: Again, thanks for your support. And yeah, a comment I wrote in an earlier thread evolved into an essay. The BJ community usually is a gold mine for digging up ideas.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    @Baud:

    Just spotted my editing mistake.  WaterGirl, if you can use your magic powers to fix it, I would be most appreciative.

  57. 57.

    jonas

    @Baud: Quite frankly, I can see an upside to sending Rahm Emanuel halfway around the world in a ceremonial post. I would have recommended a three-year fact-finding mission on the impact of climate change on glaciers in Tiera del Fuego, but Japan will do. My question is, why does he continue to have any sway or cache of any kind with Democrats these days, much with less POTUS? This guy just won’t go away.

  58. 58.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jeffro:Steve Scalise and some other schmuck I’ve never heard of have an op-ed in today’s WaPo opposing it.  “Won’t someone think of our children’s future?”

    Yes, we are thinking of our children, not which child of the 1% gets the biggest inheritances.  Jesus Christ on a pogo stick these conservatives are a self absorbed lot.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @jonas:

    Usually, people like him have cache because they have a large professional or social network that has a lot of other movers and shakers in it.

  61. 61.

    artem1s

    @Punchy:

    I agree with Marshall that a multi-million dollar ad campaign start immediately calling out the chumps who hate their constituents.

    where is the Lincoln Project?  If they actually cared one whit about saving their party from the lunatic right they would be all over this. The Dems are already doing all the heavy lifting on this while the media is busy worrying about whether a dog looks Presidential or not.

  63. 63.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s a good essay. Thank you. Sometimes the hardest thing about sitting behind the keyboard is trusting yourself enough to stay out of the way and follow where the story takes you.

  64. 64.

    Mary G

    Love Merrick Garland with no fucks left to give. “Gonna put white people in jail when they crime” is a very radical statement in some ways, these days. Democrats do appear to have learned to play some offense. More, please.

  66. 66.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @ant: Only white men in charge, and everyone else know their place in accordance with Clayton Bigsby’s simple message.

    Ah, it’s more nuanced than that, only the correct kind of white guys, these white guys got to be dumb as rocks too and lazy to boot. Can’t have any try hards making the rest of the pig useless boi klan look bad.

  67. 67.

    germy

    It's -454F degrees in space and the solar panels on the International Space station are working fine. Nasa has been using the Green New Deal for 23 years.

    — Scott Huffman (@HuffmanForNC) February 21, 2021

  73. 73.

    Mary G

    @jonas:

    @Baud:

    I dunno, I would imagine Rahm knows where a lot of bodies are buried from being in Congress and the WH, and has no scruples about threatening to tell all unless he gets SOMETHING. Let him go to Japan; they handled The Last Fellow fine. Smile, nod, say flattering things and do whatever the fuck you were going to anyway.

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Soprano2: They will just say that he wasn’t really serious; he was just an entertainer.  Come on, don’t you have a sense of humor?

  81. 81.

    germy

    Dominion Voting Systems on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against Mike Lindell, chief executive of MyPillow, arguing that Lindell has refused to stop repeating false claims that its voting machines were manipulated to rig the 2020 election against President Donald Trump.

    Dominion is seeking more than $1.3 billion from Lindell, a staunch Trump supporter. The company says Lindell contributed to a “viral disinformation campaign” about Dominion on social media, in broadcast interviews, at public pro-Trump rallies and in a two-hour documentary about election fraud — entitled “Absolute Proof” — that he created and paid to air on One America News.

    The 115-page complaint, filed in federal court in the District, names both Lindell and his company as defendants.

    The complaint also alleges that Lindell, a “talented salesman,” used falsehoods about Dominion to promote MyPillow to fellow Trump supporters.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dominion-trump-election-mypillow/2021/02/22/0d7faed2-7512-11eb-9537-496158cc5fd9_story.html

    “The complaint also alleges that Lindell, a “talented salesman,” used falsehoods about Dominion to promote MyPillow to fellow Trump supporters.”

    (Always Be Closing)

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @artem1s:

    They are battling internal scandals. I hadn’t looked at @TheRickWilson’s Twitter feed in a while, but when I did yesterday I saw that almost all of his tweets are about fending off the heat they have been taking from various quarters.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @germy: Besides racism and voter suppression, Republicans count on reapportionment and redistricting to give them the edge in 2022. They may well gain 4-7 seats this way, which will make it all the more important for Democrats to make freshmen Republicans like Lauren Boebert (CO-3) and Bob Good (VA-5) one termers.

  86. 86.

    taumaturgo

    @Immanentize: This is how we will help turn Texas blue. Love and affection proven by deeds.

    Indeed, direct contact with the most afflicted voters is the way.

  88. 88.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Mary G: I think Rahm is pumping himself as the ambassador in these stories . I don’t see the Biden people sending Rahm to Japan. That’s a prestigious ambassadorship and the Japanese take this stuff seriously.  The Obama people chose Caroline Kennedy because it was considered prestigious for the Japanese to get a Kennedy – JFK’s daughter no less. They should send Rahm to the DRC or maybe Fiji.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @germy: 

    That’s really quite remarkable, even for them: somehow electing Joe Biden…caused the Texas power outages? How’s that again?

    GQP better be careful: at some point, a nonzero percentage of their mouth breathing base will short-circuit trying to figure out this nonsense and either come to their senses or keel over altogether.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: wasn’t it just last week that old El Rushbo took a dirt nap and Perseverance landed safely?

    Good news starting EARLY this week, whew!

  92. 92.

    jonas

    @taumaturgo: Indeed, direct contact with the most afflicted voters is the way.

    Indeed. Dems GOTV efforts were at a big disadvantage in places like TX and FL this year where door-to-door contact, in-person rallies, and the like were severely limited in 2020 due to Covid. Republicans of course didn’t give a shit about endangering their constituents and went hog wild, but it got their people to the polls. For people who maybe don’t have great internet connections and are working a lot to survive, that p2p contact is hugely effective.

  94. 94.

    burnspbesq

    Garland’s statement about FOIA is f***ing huge, but it will take a while to trickle down to the agency level.

    ‘I could tell you some stories about the IRS and FOIA requests that would curl your hair.

  95. 95.

    Soprano2

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: This is a a reply to a tweet by Madison Cawthorn. Like Cruz, half these guys don’t even seem to realize what it’s possible for them to do. Or maybe they don’t care.

    I think a significant number of them believe shitposting on Twitter is their whole job. They don’t think legislating is important at all.

  96. 96.

    The Moar You Know

    where is the Lincoln Project?

    @artem1s: absolutely finished as a functional or any other sort of entity after the founders looted all the money (as we knew they would eventually, because that’s what Republicans, Trump or NeverTrump, do).

    Forget about those folks, forever.  The only place you’ll be seeing them from here on out is court filings.

  98. 98.

    artem1s

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    great article.  I have a friend who is really into following comedians and going to comedy clubs.  She would get free tickets and ask me to go with her.  I had to take a break from going to clubs for awhile there because it seemed everyone’s schtick was who could be the best at down punching.  The last straw was when I heard someone spend an hour making fun of the Amish. Great bravery there – down punching on someone who you literally never have to worry will show up and fight back or heckle you.
    I appreciate your take on what he was doing.  Rush did take a page out of that playbook – and did an expert job for the yucks of down punching.  Unrepentant bully to the end. The mini-Rush’s are fighting to see who gets to take over his niche and get his ad buys and to their dismay, finding no one wants it filled.

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’d love them to tell me what’s humorous about celebrating people’s deaths. I’ve told people I’m treating Limbaugh in death the way he treated the deaths of people he didn’t like.

  100. 100.

    artem1s

    @The Moar You Know:

    the founders looted all the money

    yea, I saw an article on the grifters… and a Twitter posting by one of the rubes who did all the work at LP. She was whinging about the bad branding they were getting because of the grifters fleeing the ship.  She and the folks that did all the production work getting the ads out in record time are now left holding the bag on a shelled out organization that has no credibility with donors.  The responses on twitter was full of idiots who are still claiming LP ‘won’ the election for Biden.  She shouldn’t worry, the grifters will all be back in 2022 running attack ads against anyone who votes for Biden’s bills – The DEFICIT, OH THE HUMANITY!

  101. 101.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @artem1s: The mini-Rush’s are fighting to see who gets to take over his niche and get his ad buys and to their dismay, finding no one wants it filled.

    That’s a great comment. Thank you.

  102. 102.

    yellowdog

    @Geminid: Given that GQP state legislatures are going to increase gerrymandering the hell out of congressional districts, they probably will take back the House.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    @yellowdog: Well, as I mention up above, reapportionment and redistricting could very well yield a net 4-7 seats for the Republicans. But in 2018 gerrymandering could not keep Virginia Democrats from flipping three Congressional seats on a Republican drawn map. And the Republicans will still have their own vulnerable seats to defend, and they will still have to turn out the vote. I like our chances to hold the House.

  110. 110.

    James E Powell

    @yellowdog:

    We know they are going to try, but they have already gerrymandered the hell out of congressional districts and there is an upper limit.

  111. 111.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: I worry about Georgia Republicans redistricting Lucy McBath (GA-6) and/or Carolyn Bordeaux (GA-7) out of their suburban Atlanta seats. Kansas Republicans will try to do the same with Sharice Davids (KS-3). On the other hand, if Democrats in Albany can safely add Ithaca to the NY 22nd, Republican Claudia Tenney would probably lose her seat for the second time. She won by less than two hundred votes this time. And if Texas gains two Congressman in reapportionment, can Republicans there create two more safe districts?                                 As you point out, there are limits to gerrymandering. And if a party overeaches, they can lose seats fast. Virginia Democrats went from a 35-65 minority in its lower house going into the 2017 election to a 55-45 majority coming out of 2019, on a Republican drawn map.

Comments are closed.