I wanted to briefly highlight and then comment on something from AL’s post this AM.
Specifically:
trying to think of a single international example of a party out of power successfully rigging elections
— pear mesa credit union devops (@Theophite) June 7, 2021
I have no idea who this person is, nor do I have any idea why AL decided to bring him to our attention, but his analysis here has a huge, significant, and major flaw: the Republican Party is NOT out of power in the US!!!!!
The US is a Federal system, as you all know because you paid attention in 5th grade civics and 10th grade social studies. And in our Federal system the states have power. It’s right there in the 10th Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Notice that I, quoting the amendment, wrote powers, not rights. In our Federal system of government, states don’t have rights, they have powers. And the people elected to run those states are the ones who get to exercise those powers in our Federal system. And one of those powers is determining how elections will be administered.
Right now 30 states have Republican governors. 27 states have Republican majorities in their legislatures. Technically it is 28, but Nebraska’s Unicam is technically non-partisan, so…
Right now 24 states have a Republican governor and a Republican majority in both legislative chambers. Democrats only have this, which is referred to as a governing trifecta, in 14 states. Which means in those 24 states the Republicans can, provided their state courts and the Federal courts ultimately rule in their favor, change election laws however they see fit. They can redistrict the state legislative and Federal House districts however they see fit. They can, as we’re also seeing in these states, write new rules for primary and secondary and university education requiring the teaching of a white supremacist mythology as American history rather than an actual, factual history of the United States and its development and existence over time. And they can, as we’re seeing in these states, actively make laws and establish policies and take actions that punish the cities within them that have Democratic majorities in those metropolitan areas to further demoralize the Democrats in their states in order to suppress their political participation.
Ken Paxton stated just last week that the reason Trump won Texas and the Republicans maintained their governing trifecta of the state is because he made no excuse mail in voting during the pandemic illegal.
Texas AG Ken Paxton said yesterday that if he hadn’t been successful with lawsuits to block mail-in ballots, Trump definitely would have lost the election in Texas. pic.twitter.com/2dVDiEAY1L
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 5, 2021
So yes, sure, without a doubt, it is hard to find examples of political parties out of power rigging elections. Unfortunately, that misses the American political ecosystem while focusing on the forest instead of the trees. Because in the American political ecosystem the Republican Party is not out of power!!!!
Don’t let the need for hope delude you into not understanding the actual strategic environment. Don’t let people peddling false hope delude you into not recognizing exactly why we are in an incredibly dangerous time. Hope is not a strategy.
When every scholar of fascism and of extremism – from History to Political Science to Sociology to Religion to Law – is screaming at the top of their lungs that we are in a uniquely dangerous place and time, you should pay attention to them rather than people on social media hiding behind pseudonyms telling you it’s not that bad.
And when a practitioner whose specialty is low intensity warfare, as well as extremism as a driver for low intensity warfare, is screaming at the top of his lungs is telling you that there is an ongoing revolutionary political war being waged in the US, you should pay attention to him too rather than people on social media hiding behind pseudonyms telling you that he’s overreacting, being hyperbolic, and too doomy and gloomy.
Can we get through this? Sure.
Is it going to be easy? NO!
Electing Biden president, eking out a bare majority in the Senate and maintaining a slim majority in the House has bought us a little time, a little strategic space. Playing for time is an important strategic concept, but then squandering it because one can’t bring themself to face the danger ahead is strategic malpractice. We can either use the time we’ve bought ourselves to develop appropriate counter-political action and civic action or we are going to loose.
For instance, right now someone should be coordinating with the Democrats in the Texas legislature to build on the successful counter-political action and civic action they undertook to stymie the proposed election procedures overhaul for when Governor Abbott calls them into a special session. Someone should be coordinating getting them to a state with a Democratic governor and attorney general who will not allow the Texas Rangers to arrest them and force them back to Texas when Abbott and Patrick and Paxton dispatch the Rangers to do so. And this planning needs to include daily national press conferences and availabilities for the Texas Democratic legislators to get their message out to not just a Texas, but a national audience.
Open thread!
sab
Thanks for this post. We are not a parliamentary democracy. Also too we have a federal style of government, with both national and state powers being strong. State government is not at the whim of the national government, as it seems to be in the UK. Federal law cannot cavalierly override what the states want to do and are doing.
Ejoiner
Vanity Fair
Speaking of the teaching of “history” – this is a great little article on the historiography of the Alamo over the past 150 some odd years…and features a surprising guest appearance from…Phil Collins?!?!
Also, Adam, my take away from your article is that WE ARE ALL DOOOOMED, correct?
Ruckus
This is exactly what I was talking about in an earlier post. Don’t give up, don’t stop fighting. Rethuglicans are fighting for the right to reverse time at warp speed and build a very regressive government so that they can profit, in power and money. They absolutely lose if everyone votes and is willing to do the work to make this a real democracy that has individual rights and power, over the money interests.
PST
I don’t know who that guy is either, of what he intended by the comment, but my take on it was not that we need not fear republican election rigging. It was the utter absurdity of republican claims that elections were rigged in the disputed states that they control, either in whole (like Georgia), or in part.
Adam L Silverman
@Ejoiner: No, we are not all doomed. But we are in grave danger.
Ruckus
@Ejoiner:
NO!
We are not, if we all understand what is happening, and we don’t let it. This is a representative democracy and we have to make it work as one, not as a mis-representative non democracy.
James E Powell
This message, these exact words, need to be pounded into the head of every person working in the press/media. Also too, every elected Democrat and Democratic Party official down to the precinct level.
Genuine fear is not doom & gloom. And it’s fed by memories of the way the Democratic president & house majority sailed into 2010 with no apparent realization that a wipeout was about to happen.
Jeffro
Looks like we’re about to put our best foot forward as a nation once again – allllll right! U-S-A! U-S-A!
It’s amazing to me that this country has *any * immigrants or tourists coming here, to be honest. Visiting/touring/vacationing in/working in a heavily armed open-air lunatic asylum just wouldn’t appeal to me. Their ‘mileage must vary’, I guess.
Ruckus
@PST:
Think about if they had rigged the election, and it didn’t work. Is that what they mean? What if they paid money to cheat and the people voted screw you? And won.
Elizabelle
Pro Publica with “why they fight” (they being Republicans):
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
And those are individuals. Now: think about corporations. And churches.
Bonus: keep those not likely to vote for Republicans from voting. They’re minions, not citizens. Not those who belong in The Republic.
Why the founders feared hereditary aristocracy. And believed in a wall between church and state.
We’re getting a history lesson from the American Revolution, the Civil War, and WW2, all in one. Bonus: we just lived through this century’s 1918 Spanish Flu, and we’ve had two recent great recessions. Interesting times!
Ejoiner
…also, I was just poking fun, I shoulda used snark tags since it’s hard to translate tone in a brief post! Also, also, I agree – I think we are in that delicate spot between victory/disaster/the great unknown.
Another Scott
I see Smiling General Sherman occasionally at Popehat/Patrick Nonwhite and similar places.
I actually liked this tweet, recognizing of course, that being so short, all tweets are wrong.
He’s not saying that the GQP doesn’t have power in the states. He’s reminding us that when TFG was in power, he lost. He controlled the DoD, the DoJ, the courts, the states, the national guard, and so forth, and he still lost. It’s not going to be easier for them in 2024. Biden and Austin and Garland aren’t going to stand by and let tens of thousands of nutjobs march on the Capitol. That’s what he means by them being out of power.
Yes, the GQP has power in the states. But all of these laws they’re passing are going to be challenged, and as others have pointed out the DoJ still has ways to challenge voting restriction laws.
Yes, we have to be clear eyed and know where the dangers lie. A repeat of 1/6 is not one of those dangers.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
sdhays
@PST: I interpreted it the same as Adam when I first read it yesterday, but after thinking more about it, I figured the interpretation you subscribe to is probably the correct one. Perhaps it’s more obvious when looking at what the Twitterer was tweeting in response to.
germy
@Elizabelle:
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
WASF.
[Just throwing that out there so the “Eeyore*”-hating crowd can have something to shoot at.]
*”Eeyore” in quotes because not every “WASF”-type comment means the commenter has given up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Explains the pants crapping panic in the GOP, mail in ballets are their base. That means their own base has dumped them.
PST
@Ruckus: What I meant was that some of the states that the republicans say were rigged, like Arizona and Georgia, have republican governors and legislators, while in others, like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, republicans at least dominate the legislatures. I think this guy may have been saying that international precedent shows rigging of elections by the party not in power is almost impossible.
James E Powell
@SFAW:
Exactly.
Subsole
@James E Powell:
I think the national press is all aboard for fascism. Because they think they’re just gonna be standing around holding a camera while it happens and making somber commentary for their book deals.
Because they are idiots.
Elizabelle
@germy: Yep. Satan’s think tank. Did not have the stomach to trawl through the leaked presentation. If someone puts up bullet points or soundbites …
An hour of the Heritage Foundation victory lapping? Hard pass.
I trust Jane Mayer’s take.
Subsole
@James E Powell:
In fairness, I do not think ANY national Democrat is laboring under any illusions at this point.
Not even Manchin or Sinema. Cynical, yes, but not blind.
Gary K
Since it’s open thread, I’m going to vent a bit about a Facebook friend. He’s a friend from 50 or more years ago, and we haven’t been in much touch in the meantime. Since he and his wife were school music teachers, I assumed he was probably somewhere left of center. Anyway, while reading the recent Washington Post piece about efforts in Pennsylvania to undermine the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania, I noted that one of those involved is Doug Mastriano, and it seemed like he might be my friend’s State Senator. So I dashed off a post on my friend’s page, linking to the article and asking “Is this jamoke your State Senator?”
In response, he posted “I don’t like to see postings on politics. When I see one, I delete it and snooze the poster. Too much hate.” (Or something to this effect; his response is already gone.)
I’d call this sanctimonious centrism — what do you think?
(I quickly replied to say sorry I went against your personal policy, and included some irrelevant personal news about grandkids.)
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
I read this earlier today and am glad that you provided the link.
This whole thing is a somewhat overwrought appeal for a wealth tax.
The article falsely implies that wealthy individuals are taking special advantage of a tool not available to anyone else. But no one is prevented from buying stocks or other assets, and no one pays tax on unrecognized gains from an increase in value of assets.
But yeah, we need an overhaul of the tax code to undo the mischief caused by Republicans in 2017 and earlier. This should include the return of a corporate minimum tax.
I’m not sure whether there should be a wealth tax; most countries that previously tried it rejected it. But I look forward to some interesting discussion on the issue.
Subsole
@Another Scott:
I don’t think anyone is saying be happy and don’t worry.
I think a more representative tweet was the one that said something like “We survived Trump, don’t give up because of a frigging op-ed.”
Or Manchin. Or Sarah Kendzior. Or whatever.
No one’s saying relax. Quite the opposite. Keep pushing.
Be vigilant, but remember also panic is not vigilance.
Adam L Silverman
@Gary K: I know Doug Mastriano, Prior to his retirement as a colonel in the US Army he was assigned to the faculty at US Army War College.
None of my former colleagues who I’ve been in touch with, including many who are very conservative, and any idea he was like this.
fancycwabs
I think (maybe incorrectly) that the tweet is that there is no way the out-of-power Democrats could have rigged the 2020 election.
The most-certainly-not-out-of-power Republicans are doing their damndest to rig the 2022+ elections, though.
rikyrah
Why is this having me HOLLERING ??? in my office ???
Just watching it over and over ????
chris evans (@chris_notcapn) tweeted at 11:18 PM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
I am fucking SCREAMING @ the process server pulling up like Vin Diesel in Fast and the Furious ???
(https://twitter.com/chris_notcapn/status/1402117713355591691?s=03)
Adam L Silverman
@Subsole: It is not vigilance is not panic. Sarah Kendzior is, frankly, panicked. And she’s panicked because she somehow managed to do a PhD in political science, even though she’s an IR specialist with a central Asia focus, without learning anything about how the US political and criminal justice/rule of law systems, structures, and institutions work. Her constant screaming about why isn’t anyone doing anything is part of the problem because our system is simply not designed to do anything with what is going on other than let it happen, As I wrote last night:
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: He’s lucky she didn’t shoot him.
Adam L Silverman
I’m going to lift weights before I write something someone will regret.
Subsole
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: It has not. Their base will not abandon them. Ever.
Now, the burbs, full of upscale white-flight professionals, is dropping them at a pretty good clip. At least around here. THAT should scare the white right off of them.
They NEED those ‘hoods, because there simply aren’t enough people out in the sticks, and everyone else loathes them. It is the only market they have left.
When Paxton says mail in ballots, he is speaking Carlson-code for “black votes”.
Cameron
Thank you for this post. I think your strategery for the TX Dems is 100% on target, and I hope they do it and do it LOUD (all my sibs live in TX). I’m not sure how/where/when direct action by Dems and their supporters is going to work. I suspect Dems think mass rallies/marches, GOTV, constant media barrage, strategic/national work stoppages can get the job done. Repulsicans, OTOH, are more mass rallies/marches, media barrage, armed violent insurrection. I have a copy of Popovic’s Blueprint for Revolution that I haven’t read yet. Don’t know if it’s helpful or applicable.
Major Major Major Major
If you read the thread (or are familiar with theophite’s oeuvre), he says that the reasons for this are many and varied, up to and including riots and extreme violence. He very much recognizes the moment for what it is.
ETA: for example, another of his tweets on this topic says something like “at the end of the day, these people have addresses and families”
Benw
What civil rights/voter rights groups are good to volunteer for? I live in a red area of a big blue state and am feeling increasingly desperate to DO SOMETHING
cain
Well, I hope that we can get through this. But I must say I’m quite nervous and it seems that we are slowly coming to the end game of over 50 years of Republican malevolence against our system of government. If they think though that we’re all gonna just let it happen they are sorely mistaken.
cokane
This is correct and very well said Adam. The federal government has extremely limited powers when it comes to elections. And especially so in practice, just look at how toothless the FEC is. State govt is where almost all election authority lies.
JoyceH
I don’t know if I’m a cock-eyed optimist, but it honestly seems to me that the GOP would have been more likely to retake the House and Senate if they HADN’T done all this voter suppression that they’re currently doing. It’s traditional that the President’s party loses seats in the midterms, and I think that’s because after electing their guy, the President’s party then pats themselves on the back and takes two years off. “There. We’re done. Good job, now I’m going to the beach.” But, what with the actions of state governments to try to keep them from voting, plus the fact that the GOP is now objectively insane, the Democrats have remained pretty riled up. I’m hopeful they can overcome whatever hurdles the Republicans put in their way, and perhaps even gain seats. Not saying we’re gonna win, just that we’re not definitely gonna lose.
mrmoshpotato
@Subsole:
We also have 5+ years of them sucking Dump’s fat, orange, fascist ass on video and audio record. Bastards. Also, fuck you Joe and Mika especially.
zhena gogolia
@Gary K:
Sounds like a jerk.
cckids
Not . . . entirely. In Covid times, he’s also talking about “scaredy-cat libs who are afraid to go mingle with the common folk”.
Subsole
@Benw:
Repeating my request for a coordinating thread so we can hash out this kind of data, list local groups to support, and start setting up donations/actions.
cain
@Benw:
What I learned over the years is that it just takes one person to actually step forward and in fact do something – and in that moment things start changing – like ripples. You attract other people, and then you build momentum.
It just takes that spark.
For work, or even for personal life – I build coalitions and I’m always constantly amazed what happens when you start to actually work on a problem and how quickly it can come together.
One thing for sure – the single most deadliest creature in our political and economical world is the pragmatic activist with clear and understandable idea.
I always recall one of Obama’s speeches and I absolutely believe this to be true:
The thing is, all of us do this – maybe as large as this – but are voices can bring change – even if it just means a small change in a policy.
But what should you do? Have a dinner, invite like minded people – maybe invite non like-minded people. Hell, turn this blog into an activist site – we already can generate the dollars, why not the infra grass roots?
Betty Cracker
Speaking of Mo Brooks, here’s what that genius posted in response to the process service:
Why yes, that piece of tape under the screen DOES contain his Gmail login! When he says “More to come!” does he mean his SSN, bank account and transfer routing numbers?
cain
@Subsole:
Also easy money – they can just report on govt like it is entertainment – but it doesn’t work that way. They can’t even do the same horse race mentality.
Maybe they believe that after the fascism there will be an act 2 which is the revolution and they can cover that and make money. :eye roll:
Subsole
@cckids: Yeah, fair. “The libs.”
JoyceH
@cain:
“Fired up! Ready to go!”
sab
@JoyceH: I agree with you. Hubris there. All the Dems I know are still furious. Our health department is in lockdown still. This pandamic is not over. I live in a blue city ina red state and in town we are all still masking or shrieking ” I’m vaccinated.” I went to the grocery today and the twenty something male behind me was crowding me while reading his phone, so I backed up, put my shopping cart behind me and proceeded to check out, masked.
By the end of it he was quietly six feet back.
We can all fight back quietly.
Cameron
Perhaps going back to real old-time politicking could work. I’ve seen suggestions floated that there might be bipartisan support for the return of earmarks – horse trading to get things passed, more of a reliance on one’s voting base than on one’s richest donor. I wonder if one step further should be considered: repeal of the 17th amendment. Supposedly it was designed to combat ‘corruption.’ Can anybody give me convincing evidence that popularly elected Republican senators are not corrupt? This would pretty much automatically bring back earmarks. The senator owes the state legislature, which wants to tout said senator’s ability to bring home the bacon. It wouldn’t be ideal even if it worked the way I theorize (and I’m sure as hell no expert), but it beats fascism.
cain
@Subsole:
Right there with you – I’ve been reaching out to the Asian American Pacific Islander caucus and coordinating through them.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: I agree with you, but then I am just someone posting under a pseudonym so fuck me, I guess.
guachi
@Betty Cracker: Doubly sad is the passwords are based on his and his wife’s names and birth dates.
Not only is this really bad security but how does he not know his and his wife’s name and birthday?
sab
@Omnes Omnibus: Omnes isn’t your real name?!!
Subsole
@cain: Bears mentioning America’s prestige newsrooms are mighty white and awfully male as well as knocking down low six figure salaries to boot.
sab
@guachi: My dad once sold my mom’s car ( which she loved) 40 years into their marriage, and misspelled her first name. And he wasn’t even a jerk and he loved her.
JoyceH
@sab: I saw something today that said that COVID cases are starting to creep back up after the long steady decline. You know that by and large those are the unvaccinated and unmasked. And there are the Republican governors acting like the pandemic is all over, and Abbott signs an executive order prohibiting even asking people about their vaccination status. Texas Dems, if you’re not vaccinated, keep your masks on – we’ll beat the bastards through sheer attrition!
Major Major Major Major
@JoyceH:
In addition to the reasons you give, there’s also surprisingly little evidence that these policies will disproportionately affect Democrats, particularly if present demographic shifts continue (GOP depending more on low-propensity, easy-to-suppress voters).
gvg
@germy: Manchin voted to impeach Trump twice.
Republicans are a bunch of liars who often believe their own lies.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: I tend to agree.
Subsole
Seriously, though: can we set up a weekly thread for coordinating political actions, planning contingencies, sharing resources and strategizing?
Fear and anger are just physiology. The trick is channeling them to useful ends.
ETA: As Adam has pointed out, we have the irreplaceable opportunity of being forewarned. Let’s not squander it.
Brachiator
@Subsole:
Somewhat true. However, news media is a struggling industry, has been for decades, and prestige does not pay the bills. Even after it was bought by a billionaire, the Los Angeles Times, for example, still ended up doing employee buyouts and asking staff to take pay cuts.
Also, as a side note, the executive editors of both the Los Angeles and the New York Times are black men. There is still an appalling lack of diversity.
And even though too many media outlets kiss up to the Establishment, their craven bootlicking still will not save them from going extinct.
Omnes Omnibus
@Subsole: Yes, no matter how one copes, this would give something concrete that people can do.
sab
@JoyceH: Thank god I have hay fever. If I go out maskless I sneeze and people look horrified. Also too I hate summer colds as much as the next guy.
Benw
@Subsole: I’d be down for a post to share coordination and volunteering plans
Matt McIrvin
@JoyceH: I saw an increase in 7-day averages today, even in Massachusetts, but I suspect it was an artifact of the Memorial Day reporting gap (but not the spike from the subsequent backlog) falling out of the averaging window. If the numbers are still rising a week from now there will be more to worry about.
Adam L Silverman
@Subsole: I’m on my last superset and can barely feel my fingers as I type this. As soon as I’m done I’ll take care of it.
Or I’ll have heat stroke. The heat index is about 103 in the patio gym/dojo.
gvg
@JoyceH:
Another thing to consider is that the pandemic hampered the democrats get out the vote because we didn’t go door to door or do much in person. Republicans did, and they still lost. Next election will be more equal on that which means we could actually do better. I think its hard to say how much.
Our potential voters are different. I personally would not have answered the door or been happy to see a canvasser during the pandemic.
Josie
@Subsole:
This sounds like an excellent suggestion.
JoyceH
@Matt McIrvin: The reddest states have vaccination rates that are about half that of the bluest states. And you just KNOW what’s going to happen. This summer or fall, if the red states have outbreaks and the blue states don’t, they won’t realize it’s because of their anti-vax idiocy. Oh, no, they’re going to claim that the Dems have somehow Weaponized COVID to only infect Republicans.
And speaking of vaccinations, I propose the government concentrate their vaccination efforts on those people who are physically hard to reach, rather than mentally hard to reach. Get the vaccines out to the folks who would take them if you showed up in front of them with a needle, rather than try to talk the stubborn around.
germy
Here’s a twitter thread that’s relevant to what we’re talking about. If you’re a comedy (or humor) fan, you might find it particularly interesting:
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
I don’t know if I’m a cock-eyed optimist, but it honestly seems to me that the GOP would have been more likely to retake the House and Senate if they HADN’T done all this voter suppression that they’re currently doing.
Republican voter suppression efforts sometimes hurts GOP candidates, but the Republicans hope that it hurts the Democrats more than it hurts their own people.
But they are trying all kinds of foul play. For example, giving more power to GOP dominated state legislatures, and taking authority away from independent state voting agencies.
We have seen this before in the deep South, but now it is creeping into national politics, an overt appeal to white supremacy, even if that means rule by a white minority.
Republicans realize that the trend of a demographic shift is working against them. They are becoming more brazen in their attempts to neutralize this.
And so we fight against this.
Benw
@cain: well, I am fully vaccinated :)
Hoodie
@Brachiator: Yep. I was discussing that with a local reporter friend this weekend, talking about how all the great regional newspapers are shells of what they used to be. There is so much content and so many channels for it, quality (i.e., prestige) is becoming meaningless. It’s being replaced by quantity because stuff like binge watching and internet surfing churns through massive amounts of content. My wife and I were noticing this on Netflix. There are lots of recently released movies on there with relatively big names that are total dreck, e.g., stupid or nonexistent plot lines, awful dialogue, no continuity, myriad loose narrative ends, etc. They look like crap that was just quickly thrown together and dumped to streaming. Some even look like thinly-veiled excuses for free travel to some vacation spot. Because these are subscription services and a lot of people simply watch these as background and late-night veg filler and not as a reason for a night out, I guess they can get away with this. However, I could foresee a time where people will can these subscription services because there’s nothing of value on them.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: yeah, of course we should fight it, if only because these policies are morally awful! But, from what I’ve read reading election stats Twitter (not Silver but the real ppl), the partisan implications of the routine suppression policies (as opposed to the election-overturning policies) are presently unclear and were probably overstated in the past as well.
germy
@Hoodie:
We don’t have cable TV, we’re strictly antenna in our house, so we’re limited to the networks and some sub channels.
In the before times, when we’d take a vacation somewhere and stay at a hotel with cable TV, after a day of sightseeing we’d settle down and surf the channels.
100 channels. And crap after crap after crap.
sab
@JoyceH: I went to my blue county’s health department to redeliver a bill sent to me (??) for their xerox. Mandates have been gone for a couple of weeks. They were in full lockdown. It was heartening. At least they are following science. Vaccine clinic in the parking lot. Lots of very old, very white women with walkers and attendants.
germy
schrodingers_cat
OT: Boss cat is no more. He will be missed. Handsome and imperial even when his rear legs had given up on him. This photo is from this morning.
James E Powell
@Subsole:
Schumer says he wants to bring the bipartisan commission to the senate floor again. He is either laboring under the illusion that 10 Rs will ever vote for it or he is laboring under the illusion that there doesn’t really need to be an investigation, it won’t matter for 2022.
Pelosi has not yet appointed a select committee to investigate Jan 6th. Should have been done the day after Republicans shot down the bipartisan commission. Why are they fucking around?
The national Democratic response to the Republicans’ national voter suppression campaign is too much “concerns” and talking. It’s not enough, it’s not stopping them, it’s not even slowing them down.
japa21
@sab:
No, but Omnibus is and he wanted a pseudonym that sounded good with it.
Josie
@schrodingers_cat: I am sorry for your loss. I have felt what you are feeling, and it is so hard. Beautiful boy.
evodevo
@sab: Yep..male ignorance is a widespread thing…it took my husband years to figure out what my birthday was LOL
sab
@germy: Point of contention with spouse. He watches TV downstairs. I read upstairs. He wonders why I won’t come down. I tell him I hate your TV. He cannot comprehend.
He likes the true crime stuff. I always tell him ” All those guys who murdered their wives got caught.”
japa21
@schrodingers_cat: Sincerest condolences.
Hoodie
@germy: Yeah, and I remember the days in which one of the things you used to look forward to was free HBO in your hotel room with latest releases! The last few places I’ve stayed had next to nothing in free offerings, mostly religious dreck and infomercials (pretty much the same thing). Everything else was pay per view.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: Aw no, so sorry to hear that. ❤️
japa21
@sab:
Did you add, “But the women who murder their husbands seldom get caught”?
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m so sorry. What a beautiful cat.
He knew love. He was lucky to have you.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Oh, my heart goes out to you. He was very, very beautiful. You gave him so much love.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Many condolences. You made the best decision for him. Maybe it will be comforting that he was in pretty good shape, until suddenly he was not. He kind of went out quickly, and as on top as an aged kitteh can.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
@Elizabelle:
He does not look 19 years old. You must have taken such good care of him.
sab
@schrodingers_cat: I am so so sorry. He was gorgeous, and also apparently nice, because you loved him so much. 19 years is a more than a full lifespan for a cat. You did well by him. I hope you learn to accept that you did well by him.
Omnes Omnibus
@James E Powell: They seem to think that there are performative hoops that they need to jump through. Maybe members of the caucus have said they won’t take any “extreme” action without the theatre being played out. Thing need to happen, but they don’t have happen this second. We should be making a fuss but also being patient.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: My condolences.
sab
@japa21: No, because I do not believe that.
Elizabelle
@James E Powell: Do you know that they are “fucking around?” Do you have the inside track to what is going on behind the scenes?
Rather excitable take, I would say.
eclare
@schrodingers_cat: Oh I’m so sorry.
laura
@schrodingers_cat: your beloved Tabby Boss Cat was a beauty. I’m so sorry that the end of his suffering is not the end of your suffering. Take care and be gentle with yourself.
Brachiator
@Hoodie:
There used to be a site called Newspaper Death Watch that tracked the decline of the news industry. A related site noted the following about the year 2020:
Putting it in a larger context:
And so, as you note, you get more junk, and also the increasing dominance of right wing media, supported by deep pocket conservative plutocrats.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Wow, he looked beautiful. He did go out on top.
And he chose his peeps well. I know you and Mr. Cat will miss him forever.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Haha, excellent! Consider your fascist, Dump-humping ass SERVED!
sab
@schrodingers_cat: Renal issues feel horrible. Everyone dies sometimes. You let him off at the end. I feel so sorry for you and spouse and kitty.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Very sad news.
Please take care.
Mike in NC
The Fat Orange Clown dreamed and schemed for years to become what his master Putin became: an unelected dictator-for-life. We’ll probably never find out exactly how much money the Trump Crime Family has stolen. Republicans have given up on democracy and have embraced fascism.
Elizabelle
@germy: I don’t even bother much with the TV in hotels any more. For one thing, it’s hard to tell what is even on. Can just watch what I want, when I want, via the goes everywhere laptop.
Although: If I find cable is running Law & Order reruns, I always turn those on. Da dum!
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: My sincerest condolences.
Adam L Silverman
@Subsole: Your requested post is up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell:
I think it’s an illusion that we don’t need an investigation, and if Pelosi– the first woman to Speaker of the House and the first Speaker to retake the gavel in I think fifty years– wanted the advice of a dumb guy on the internet I would say appoint the special committee, appoint Cheney and Kinzinger and Upton and a couple others to call it bipartisan and and ride into the investigation like the Goths into Rome. But Nancy Pelosi is not weak, or dumb, and I assume there are reasons for not acting that are not clear. Maybe it’s as simple as Schumer asked her not to. I don’t know.
As to the relevance of 1/6 in ’22. I don’t know. Mitch McConnell is betting, heavily, that it won’t matter. Mitch McConnell is an unprincipled, unpatriotic, immoral fucker. And he doesn’t lose many political bets.
James E Powell
@schrodingers_cat:
Very sorry to hear this.
Major Major Major Major
@Hoodie: obviously there’s a lot of bad stuff on streaming (cheap/bulk licenses etc.), but there’s also never before been this much good stuff on streaming!
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read somewhere (here?) that senators and MoCs were surprised that they didn’t get many calls about the 1/6 commission, both before and after Republicans shut it down.
I think it’s sort of baked in. Republicans have decided it was a good thing, Democrats keep saying it was an insurrection, and the media is going to claim it was an insurrection but keep bringing Republicans on to spray squid ink about it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat: I saw your Tweet, very sad news, my condolences.
Hoodie
@Major Major Major Major: that’s been the case since HBO started doing it’s own content, but it seems to me that the dreck is starting to overwhelm the good stuff.
Mike in NC
@schrodingers_cat: Condolences. We lost a beloved cat to renal failure when he was just ten years old. We had a hard time letting go.
Benw
@schrodingers_cat: condolences. He was a beautiful cat.
Brachiator
@MisterForkbeard:
It is nuts to think that some Congress people seem to believe that they need public opinion polls to determine whether they should fight to preserve democracy.
Crazy times we are living in.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: So sorry about boss kitty. Sending hugs.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s most likely, but it’s also just infuriating. Our position is not going to get better than “Democrats agreed to all the Republicans proposals for a bipartisan commission, but Republicans then voted it down anyway.” Enough time goes by, no one cares anymore.
By way of background, I was similarly “excitable” about the 2000 selection. I’d go to my D voting friends and ask, why aren’t you upset about this? The almost universal response was “Well, the Democrats aren’t that upset about it, they aren’t saying anything.”
Our narrow win in 2022 is barely adequate to stop the slide away from democracy. We need like six or seven cycles in a row. We can’t get that without eviscerating the Republican Party.
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat: So sorry. A handsome fella to the very end.
zhena gogolia
@James E Powell:
People are really not tuning into this. It’s unfortunate, but they aren’t. I think they have a vague sense that the people directly involved are being arrested, so why do we need more than that? They really have no idea who Mo Brooks or Paul Gosar or even Josh Hawley are, so they are not slavering for a Jan. 6 commission. And the congresspeople know that.
Amir Khalid
@schrodingers_cat:
He was a handsome boy, and he loved you. Go ahead and shed all the tears you have in you. He’s earned them. Again, peace and strength to you.
schrodingers_cat
It’s raining here even the skies are crying.
Thanks everyone for the lovely and kind comments.
Major Major Major Major
@Hoodie: I think it’s just a discovery/signal:noise issue. I can have a tough time finding stuff using the services’ UIs, but whenever I do one of my “what should M4 watch next?” threads, the vast majority of the recommendations are available on Amazon or Netflix (I also have Hulu, which is great for anime).
It’s like how quality music and fiction are being produced at a higher volume than ever before, but you could be forgiven for not noticing.
The Moar You Know
@Gary K: 40% of the public school teachers in the United States vote GOP. Consistently.
CaseyL
@schrodingers_cat:
I am so sorry.
He had a very good long run, and you gave him his very best life.
Gbbalto
Another Scott
@Hoodie: Re marketing in shows – Disney has been doing this for ages. Disney-ABC cranked it up to 11 back in 2012 – Modern Family – Disneyland.
We have had Amazon Prime for ages, but I don’t think we’ve streamed even one show from there. J is the TV watcher and she watches tennis and RedSox games. And old UK/PBS productions.
I don’t understand how so many people seem to have time to watch multiple streaming services, but then I didn’t understand how companies like MCI/WorldCom were making money on ever-cheaper long distance calls, either… ;-)
Yeah, get off my lawn, too. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@Subsole:
Look who owns the large national news organizations. It’s not 4 guys with a total net worth of $25.00. It is people of means. And they like not paying all that much in taxes, partially because they think they support things enough by paying crappy wages. It is after all, entirely their doing that the news is published/broadcast. Just in case you didn’t get that, the last sentence is snarky.
scribbler
@schrodingers_cat: So very sorry to hear about your sweet kitty. Sending hugs. May you remember him soon with only happy thoughts. ?
Mallard Filmore
@germy:
search YouTube for “Bruce Springsteen – 57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAlDbP4tdqc
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: He will always be part of you. Remember the good times and know that you treated him well.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She hasn’t forgotten.
Her May 28 Press Release after the Senate vote.
Things always move slowly. The House Calendar says they were out last week, are doing “committee work” this week, and will next be voting on Monday.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
@JoyceH: well I hope a lot of Republican voters die then: sorry not sorry… we can’t go on as a nation when at least 30 percent of our citizens are deranged lunatics living in an alternate reality
Ksmiami
@gvg: agreed- I actually think the lack of touch points and gotv hurt us in senate and house races.
Ksmiami
@cain: video content of the front pagers to YouTube to counter the Rt wing noise…
Adam L Silverman
@Ksmiami:
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Nancy Pelosi’s press release too, issued today.
Dear Colleague on Defending Our Democracy
Pappenheimer
Actually, it is – we are ALL Omnes. Except for that guy Nemo, who’s busy poking out the cyclop’s eye.
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Thanks very much.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: – podcast? Pretty please???
Subsole
@Ruckus:
Good point.
Adam L Silverman
@Ksmiami: You’re killing me…
Subsole
@James E Powell:
I feel your frustration.
All I can think is that the machine takes time to spool up.
Maybe they are trying to give people time to adjust and crawl out of the nonstop firehose of trauma that was the last half-decade.
I can believe that Dems feel the forms must be obeyed.
I can believe some of them are trying to keep the filibuster out of cynical or selfish, or even cowardly motives.
I can believe that things take time to roll thru the system.
I cannot believe that they actually believe McConnell et al are acting in good faith. That’s all I was trying to say.
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat: Condolences. At least he was loved, and at peace.
Starfish
@Gary K: This is ostrich politics where people don’t care about issues that don’t bring harm to them. The people who can engage in this stuff without being harmed are typically white men.
Omnes Omnibus
@Pappenheimer: Truer and more disturbing words were never typed here.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: I can fund it…really
dnfree
@Cameron: I’m from Illinois. Appointment of a senator by the legislature would be more corrupt than popular vote, in my opinion. More opportunity for horse-trading and mediocrity. We’ve had some pretty good senators, of both parties, elected that way.
With so many state legislatures in the hands of Republicans, I think there’s a better chance of electing more Democrats via the popular vote.
My dad was a staunch right-winger, and it was an article of faith on the right that things went to hell and gone when we started electing senators, and that repeal of the 17th amendment was the first step back to the good old days.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
The press has never been owned by a few guys who put some nickels together. And, especially in the modern age, most news industry jobs paid well, largely thanks to unions. Even non union papers like the L A Times paid a prevailing wage based on union rules. They had to do this to attract good people and stay competitive.
The billionaire who currently owns the L A Times is taking a financial beating. He is not a saint, but neither is the paper a tax shelter. Right now, Jeff Bezos will not be hurt if the Post never makes another dime. Extreme right wing moguls want power and influence and the ego thrill of strangling progressive voices.
The news industry ain’t a charity. But neither is it trying to save a few pennies by exploiting workers. Except maybe Murdoch.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: also because the reach of the blog could grow – a lot and it would help blog father earn money to keep the site growing
dnfree
@Hoodie: I served on my local school board in a city of 26,000 from 1991 to 2003. There was always a reporter at our board meetings, and they were suspicious, as reporters should be. The public was informed.
My husband was on the county board from 2012-2018. The local paper barely existed by then, the meetings were not covered, and the reporters were gullible. The sheriff said he needed 12 new squad cars immediately, and my husband asked for proof. The sheriff brought over ONE car with some rust on it, and the reporters were satisfied. In the old days they would have wanted to see every vehicle. It’s a sad story.
Chris Johnson
I don’t entirely agree with Adam here. You’re taking too much at face value.
These are politicians, and they’re all pretty good at it. They’re facing down a GQP that has gone full terrorist and desperately needs to make a dwindling right-wing electorate wage bloody revolution: the Republicans MUST push the narrative that it’s the Dems who are pulling a coup.
If they can’t pull that off, they’re done. Even voter suppression won’t be enough. They have already been cheating in every way they can as hard as they can with the full support of everything Putin can do to aid them, and just barely lost everything. They cling on by increasingly desperate measures.
They NEED the Dems to freak out, lash out, and blow away all the norms we used to hold dear, because that will be their message to their base, and to the many clueless that need to be won over.
If they don’t get what they need… if the Dems just derp about acting normal when the house is on fire… the Republicans will get numerous opportunities to ‘win’ in completely, unreasonably, brazenly undemocratic ways, cheating even harder than they already did, and might have opportunities to lash out with terrorist action, the whole Nazi coup thing people are so frightened of.
You forget how outnumbered they are. You’re looking to produce a situation where our country doesn’t sink into violence and revolution. And I think it would be great, to NOT sink into violence and revolution… but in the long game, if the GQP do this, they’re all dead. We will literally go to war on their asses, and they’ll end up alienating so many centrists that their name will never be spoken of again.
Hell, the literal Nazis didn’t rule for 1000 years.
What the Republicans are trying to make happen, isn’t good for them. I feel like you should weight that part more heavily. They’re going full fascism, but without actual popular support. Dems are more concerned with not letting the Republicans outmaneuver them and erode their popular support, which has been growing, and is the real answer here.