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You are here: Home / Open Threads / I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting my whole life for someone like you

I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting my whole life for someone like you

by | 65 Comments

This post is in: 

There’s nothing like a little SvE for a fresh case of heartbreak, so this video goes out to Jennifer Rubin:

Jennifer is letting hope get in the way of judgment lately, because she’s also pretty stoked about the letter from 150 has-beens and never-weres who are seeking to “catalyze the reform of the Republican Party”. I don’t remember much from chemistry class, but I was under the impression that catalysts were only used to speed up reactions that were already happening, and there’s no reform happening in today’s GQP.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    HinTN

    You got that right. No reform needed ‘cept put us back in so your betters can rule you properly.

  2. 2.

    Llelldorin

    Rubin still hasn’t had Max Boot’s revelation that the threads that led to Trumpism have been running through the Republican Party for more than half a century. She seems to think that winding the clock back to 2014 would complete the job. That that Republican Party was all-in for voter suppression doesn’t seem to have clicked yet.

  3. 3.

    Benw

    Oh Liz Cheney doesn’t want to protect democracy? She wants to be the one who loots the country while holding elections rigged in her favor instead of Trump? Huh

  4. 4.

    JAFD

    I am old (and, I hope, getting older) and out of touch.  I must admit that I have never heard – or heard of – Ms. van Etten before this post.

  5. 5.

    Kay

    Applying preclearance to 50 states is a good idea. It would fix the mess Justice Roberts created when he gutted America’s most important civil rights law. It isn’t everything that’s needed but it’s a good start. It would bring us back up to at least 1965 levels of progress.

    Think of it as a rebuke to the conservatives on the Supreme Court- cleaning up the mess they made.

  6. 6.

    randy khan

    Yeah, that letter is swell, but until they actually *do* something it’s just a strongly worded letter.

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    I agree that applying pre-clearance to all 50 states is a sensible response to Shelby County.  I just have no confidence that the Roberts Court won’t make up some new excuse to undermine whatever reforms the Democrats come up with.

    ETA: I don’t think this means it’s not worth doing, just that we can’t expect a one-and-done victory. Protecting voting rights is going to be a long, hard slog with plenty of setbacks along the way.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

     I don’t remember much from chemistry class, but I was under the impression that catalysts were only used to speed up reactions that were already happening, and there’s no reform happening in today’s GQP.

    Chemistry pedant: Catalysts change the rate of a chemical reaction, they can either speed it up or slow it down.

  10. 10.

    Edmund Dantes

    I am shocked to see Liz Cheney is a bog standard Republican that just doesn’t like trump’s style but agrees with almost everything he tried to accomplish.

    Who saw this coming?

  11. 11.

    The Moar You Know

    @Edmund Dantes: this is why I don’t give a shit if she gets turfed out of her seat or not; her issue is not with what’s being done, but only with who is driving the bus.

  12. 12.

    bbleh

    Lol, a family squabble, extended performances for the TV cameras, and … a Village gossip. But nothing’s gonna change.  They’re all corporatist authoritarian bigots, they’ll all vote Republican when the time comes, and nothing’s going to change about their objectives or how they pursue them.

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    @Percysowner:

    That’s my belief, Roberts et al. will simply say, “Nope, not Constitutional. Tough toenails.”

    More than anything else, I think that’s why he was put on the Court.  Undermining voting rights has been a life-long project for him, and I don’t expect him to give up on it now that he has so much power.

  15. 15.

    cmorenc

    @Roger Moore:

    …applying pre-clearance to all 50 states is a sensible response to Shelby County.  I just have no confidence that the Roberts Court won’t make up some new excuse to undermine whatever reforms the Democrats come up with.

    Especially since the conservative majority on the Court at the time of Shelby were purportedly “originalists” / “textualists”, and yet the Shelby decision flies directly in the face of the explicit language of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution (my emphasis added):

    Section 1
    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

    Section 2
    The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

  16. 16.

    mrmoshpotato

    “catalyze the reform of the Republican Party”

    Requirements:

    Some of those dumbasses’ bagged gasoline.

    A flamethrower.

    Shovel to dig the ash pit.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: I was going to express it differently:

    Catalysts change the energy barrier for a reaction to occur.  They can lower the barrier, making the reaction more likely; or raise the barrier, making the reaction less likely.

    If the catalyst decreases the barrier enough, a reaction that wouldn’t occur (in a reasonable amount of time) becomes very likely.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Llelldorin:

    That that Republican Party was all-in for voter suppression doesn’t seem to have clicked yet. 

    Oh Liz knows.  She damn well knows.  Her dad and W happily accepted the proceeds of a stolen election.

  19. 19.

    bbleh

    @cmorenc: Well, see also Article I, Section 4:

    Section 4

    Clause 1

    • The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

    That does not, however, seem to have deterred the Supremes.

  21. 21.

    catclub

    Jennifer is letting hope get in the way of judgment lately, because she’s also pretty stoked about the letter from 150 has-beens and never-weres who are seeking to “catalyze the reform of the Republican Party”

     

    Yes. The only actual GOP officeholders they can name are bulletproof Senators Romney and Murkowski.

  24. 24.

    catclub

    …applying pre-clearance to all 50 states is a sensible response to Shelby County.

    Especially when any jurisdiction can get out of pre-clearance by behaving for ten years.
    Most did, but Shelby County probably did not. RGB’s dissent was a goldmine of information on the bad faith of the Roberts decision.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    The @roanoketimes says @taylorswift13's entreaties to @GlennYoungkin to get her recording rights back might become an issue in this Governor campaign?

    It's gonna be an fun 5 mos & there is hope for high voter turnout yet! Mobilize the Swifties! https://t.co/BGGoUFl7zk

    — Senator Scott Surovell (@ssurovell) May 13, 2021

    Yes, that Taylor Swift.

    Youngkin is a former Carlyle Group co-CEO who just bought won the Virginia GOP nomination for governor.

    The MotUs may regret – even more – messing with her. And messing with politics.

    I hope!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    Almost Retired

    @JAFD:   You probably are familiar with Ms. van Etten’s work – at least one of her songs “Every Time the Sun  Comes Up.”  It was the tune in a recent Volvo commercial.  The one where the elaborately-bearded Father sits in the back of a Volvo and looks wistfully at a photo of a young woman while – apparently – returning from his daughter’s wedding.  It’s a lovely song.  Fortunately, the producers cut it off before it reached the point in the lyrics where she threatens to shit in her boyfriend’s sink.

  27. 27.

    Keith P.

    @JAFD: I’m only familiar with her from “Twin Peaks: The Return”  Most episodes ended at a bar where an artist is performing, and hers was one of the best IMO (“Tarifa”)

  28. 28.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I have seen this troubling trend of doom predictors because Biden does not have a magic wand. We would have been in the position India is right if not for Biden and the Georgia runoffs. We are not doomed. But our fight isn’t over either.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    @germy: I haven’t and thanks for sharing but I have been following Modi’s and BJP’s black deeds since he got reelected in 2019.

    Blaming Kamala Harris at the end is a cop out and you cannot really understand the motivations behind what the BJP does if you leave out religion and caste and  insist on using an economic lens alone.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Another Scott:

    Catalysts change the energy barrier for a reaction to occur. They can lower the barrier, making the reaction more likely; or raise the barrier, making the reaction less likely.

    In practice, it’s hard to make something that raises the energy barrier for a reaction.  It’s not too hard to make something that lowers is, because you can provide an alternative, easier way for the reaction to happen.  It’s very hard to raise the energy barrier because you have to somehow prevent the reaction from happening the way it naturally wants to happen.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     

    So should we not try to pass legislation about voting rights at all?

    We absolutely should. We just shouldn’t fool ourselves about how easy it’s going to be to protect voting rights in practice. The issue wasn’t settled by the original VRA, and we shouldn’t expect it to be settled by the new VRA.

  36. 36.

    Another Scott

    @Roger Moore: Someone just needs to invent a time-reversal catalyst.  There’s probably a PhD in there, somewhere.

    ;-)

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Ksmiami

    @mrmoshpotato: don’t forget the salt or lye to sprinkle over their zombie ashes. I don’t want the gop just defeated, more incinerated is what I’m going for.

  38. 38.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Roger Moore:  I have no illusions about this country in particular or humanity in general. The revanchists never give up, in India for example the battles over inclusiveness vs. bigotry have been going on for millennia. But am afraid that predictions of doom benefit one side alone and that is not the Dems.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    To completely sprint into OT land, the cost of catalytic converters will have a significant influence on how quickly full-electric cars enter the fleet. Rhodium is presently $27,900/oz, platinum is $1,216.

    If converter thefts are booming in your metroplex like they are here, this is the reason.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @MattF: ​
     
    Is he deal-cutting for a reduced sentence? Providing testimony against his running buddy? Please say yes.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    Delaware State University
    @DelStateUniv
    · 17h
    We are proud to announce that Delaware State University will cancel up to $730,655 in student debt for recently graduated students who have faced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic

    They’re allowed to use stimulus funds to do this. We could see really interesting uses of stimulus funds.
    DeWine’s vaccine sweepstakes is another example.

    It really makes me furious at the “austerity” push after the Great Recession. What a damn boneheaded bandwagon that was. Idiots.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @MattF:

    Call me crazy, but I think it’s a weird coincidence that Gaetz had such a close relationship with a person who has been charged with creating fake ID’s in a different criminal scheme.

    When you read the prior charges of Gaetz’s co-conspirator it’s like “hmmm. you would need every one of these criminal tools to traffic underage girls”.  One can use them for other crimes too! But the overlap is certainly suspicious.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    In yet more automotive news.

    Associated Press

    OAKLAND A motorist was arrested after an officer observed him in the backseat of a Tesla traveling on a Bay Area freeway, the California Highway Patrol said.

    Param Sharma, 25, was arrested for alleged reckless driving and disobeying a peace officer, the highway patrol said in a statement Tuesday.

    Multiple 911 calls Monday evening reported a person seated in the backseat of a Tesla Model 3 without anyone in the driver’s seat while the vehicle traveled on Interstate 80 across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

    A highway patrol motorcycle officer spotted the Tesla, confirmed the solo occupant was in the backseat, took action to stop the car and saw the occupant move to the driver’s seat before the car stopped, said the statement from the highway patrol, known as CHP.

    “Prior to this arrest, members of the public had captured video of someone resembling Sharma operating his vehicle in the same reckless manner, and the CHP’s Oakland Area had cited Sharma on April 27 for similar behavior,” the statement said.

    The CHP said the incident remains under investigation. The statement did not say whether officials determined whether the Tesla was operating on the company’s “Autopilot” system, which can keep a car centered in its lane and a safe distance behind vehicles in front of it.

    But it’s likely that either Autopilot or Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” systems were operating for the driver to be in the back seat. Tesla is allowing a limited number of owners to test its self-driving system, but it’s not clear if Sharma was one of them. A message was left Wednesday seeking comment from Tesla.

    Tesla says on its website and in owners manuals that both systems are not fully autonomous, and that drivers must be ready to intervene at any time. But drivers have repeatedly zoned out with Autopilot in use, resulting in at least three U.S. deaths when neither the system nor the driver stopped for obstacles in the road.

    Tesla has a system to monitor drivers to make sure they’re paying attention by detecting force from hands on the steering wheel.

    The system will issue warnings and eventually shut the car down if it doesn’t detect hands. But critics have said Tesla’s system is easy to fool and can take as long as a minute to shut down. Consumer Reports said in April that it was able to trick a Tesla into driving in Autopilot mode with no one at the wheel.

    It’s a jungle out there, I tells ya.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    In the category of Georgia versus New York, my money’s on New York.

    Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene aggressively confronted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday and falsely accused her of supporting “terrorists,” leading the New York congresswoman’s office to call on leadership to ensure that Congress remains “a safe, civil place for all Members and staff.”

    Two Washington Post reporters witnessed Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) exit the House chamber late Wednesday afternoon ahead of Greene (Ga.), who shouted “Hey Alexandria” twice in an effort to get her attention. When Ocasio-Cortez did not stop walking, Greene picked up her pace and began shouting at her and asking why she supports antifa, a loosely knit group of far-left activists, and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them “terrorist” groups. Greene also shouted that Ocasio-Cortez was failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate the freshman from Georgia.

    “You don’t care about the American people,” Greene shouted. “Why do you support terrorists and antifa?”

    https://digbysblog.net/2021/05/menace-in-the-house/

  54. 54.

    HinTN

    @Another Scott: Just like someone needs to invent an energy sink like a microwave in reverse so you can pop your drink in there at room temperature and pull out a cold one.

  59. 59.

    TKH

    @schrodingers_cat: pedant’s pedant here. A positive change of rate is a speeding up.

    A catalyst cannot change the position of the equilibrium, but it lowers activation energy and hence speeds up the reaction so that equilibrium is reached faster.

  62. 62.

    James E Powell

    All over the internet, people are talking about the Cheney Wing of the Republican Party as if it’s a real thing. As far as I can tell, it’s one person. Have any other House Republicans gone on the record agreeing with her? They all seem to be huddled under the umbrella of the voice vote. The press/media should ask every one of them if they voted to remove her.

  64. 64.

    dww44

    @James E Powell: ​
      He probably isn’t in the Cheney wing of the GOP, but Adam Kinzinger has been standing up strongly for her. He must hail from a safe district, or is he just a genuinely principled person?

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