Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

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

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

I was promised a recession.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Consistently wrong since 2002

An almost top 10,000 blog!

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Road Goes Ever On

by | 121 Comments

This post is in: , , ,


Reader Interactions

121Comments

  5. 5.

    Baud

    Progressive DC groups have been invited to dinners at the vice president’s, press junkets with the president, and friendly face time with the chief of staff. All it has cost them is the ability to criticize the president and steer the agenda

    Some people want to move beyond their teenage years and act like adults.

  8. 8.

    Geminid

    .    That’s a promising Morning Consult poll: Democrats leading in “confident” and “excited” Republicans leading in “angry” and “frustrated.” I bet a lot of the Republicans’ anger and frustration is directed towards their own party and it’s leaders. I don’t see that changing much by next November.

  9. 9.

    Matt McIrvin

    Confidence about the midterms is BAD. We need to be fucking terrified. So fucking terrified.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @Spanky:

    Talking about the group competition, NPR reported she grimaced when her foot came down off the mat. They assumed she was peeved at that infraction, but it seems they were wrong.

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: More seriously, these confident Democrats know what’s at stake. No one in Virginia is relaxing now that it has turned blue, and Democrats are as motivated as ever for this year’s state elections. Not over confident, but determined.

  24. 24.

    MJS

    Anyone know when the 1/6 hearing starts today? I have a relatively light workday and want to tune in.

  26. 26.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    Oh no!  She is always flying sooooo close to the sun.  She terrifies and amazes me and I just wish her every good thing in this world.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @MJS:

    The hearing on Capitol Hill is set to start at 9:30 a.m. ET with opening statements from Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., NBC News reported.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    BROADLANDS, Va.—The race for Virginia governor has emerged as the nation’s first prominent test of voter reaction to the debate around critical race theory, with the GOP nominee seeking to tap into visceral pushback, largely among Republican voters, to the idea that America is structurally tilted in favor of white people.Glenn Youngkin, a private-equity executive and political newcomer, is one of many GOP candidates nationwide to call for a ban on teaching the disputed academic framework in schools. The outcome of Mr. Youngkin’s race this November will give clues to the power that the issue holds ahead of the country’s midterm elections next year.

    I knew it was focused on Virginia. Three of the four leaders on the Koch-funded CRT panic org – Parents Defending Education- are Right wing Virginia-based education people. It’s a “national” org so that’s weird.

  31. 31.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I have to say the amount of pronouncements about 2022 election being a done deal for the Republicans is quite remarkable considering it’s a year and half out.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    Politico

    California voters most likely to participate in the September recall election are virtually split over whether to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, according to a survey released Tuesday.

     

    The poll — conducted by University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and cosponsored by the Los Angeles Times — showed that 47 percent of likely voters support recalling the Democratic governor, while 50 percent oppose the effort. That difference falls within the poll’s margin of error.

     

    Among all registered voters in California, however, only 36 percent support the recall and 51 percent favor retaining Newsom, the survey reports. The election is scheduled to take place Sept. 14.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    More than 20 years after the idea was first proposed, only to be struck down by officials who valued corporate profits over the national interest, a federal agency has imposed mandatory cybersecurity requirements on privately owned companies.

    The regulation, issued [July 20] by the Transportation Security Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, requires owners and operators of critical pipelines—chiefly those carrying natural gas and hazardous liquids—to “implement a number of urgently needed protections against cyberintrusions.”
    [snip]
    The TSA issued similar pipeline guidelines in 2018, but it stressed, “This document is guidance and does not impose requirements on any person or company.”

    By contrast, the July document states very clearly that it is laying down requirements.

    So far, only the pipeline industry is affected, but the National Security Archive—a private research group based at George Washington University—noted in a report on [July 22] that the new regulation marks a “pivot” from the “hands-off” approach of previous administrations, suggesting that “the federal government will no longer shy away from imposing cyber standards on private entities in critical infrastructure sectors.” Source

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MomSense: That young woman has lived under pressure that would ruin most of us, and with immense grace. If she ever wants to say “fuck you all, I’m going home” she’s fully entitled, IMO.

  45. 45.

    Nora

    It takes a special kind of perspective to look at those bar charts, see the democrats leading in most of the indicators, and focus on the one line where the republicans have the edge.

  46. 46.

    debbie

    I had yesterday off. First thing I see this morning is an email confirming someone tested positive back on July 15. One, thanks for the timely notice. Two, glad I’ve applied for a medical accommodation.

  47. 47.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: My daughter competed (not at that level, of course) up through high school. Going to meets was a weird mixture of boredom and terror.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @Kay: A lot of “movement” consevatives bought properties in Loudon County back in it’s exurban days, and I think it has been a magnet for right wingers since. I wasn’t surprised when they made a show of force at the school board meetings.

    Youngkin is somewhat of a hybrid Republican, trying to straddle the divide between the establishment and radical wings of the Virginia party. He is quite outspoken about the dangers of CRT and teachers unions, but very reticent when it comes to issues like women’s rights and gun safety.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Nora: It’s not even an edge, when you consider how much of that anger is focused on other Republicans. There is a lot of centrifugal force in that party.

  52. 52.

    citizen dave

    @NotMax: As far as the electric side there are already significant, mandatory cyber standards and practices.  The natural gas industry needs some cyber standards for sure, along with maybe independent operators, etc.  Back in the 2014 polar vortex we learned that a lot of the gas industry in Houston simply didn’t work on weekends, even during such extreme events.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    That’s interesting. I hear compliants a lot here from conservatives that their children are more liberal than they are – when I took my oldest child to look at colleges the conservative parents at one school we looked at said it outright at a meeting for prospective students, that colleges were liberal and that concerned them. I was annoyed because I thought the admissions person let them take over the meeting- we spent half of the hour and a half alloted listening their complaints which were always phrased as fake questions, which drives me fucking crazy. Just pontificate. Don’t stick a quesiton mark at the end.

    A lot of the anecdotal “proof” that CRT is being taught in schools is accounts from conservative parents that their children tell them “that’s racist” or “you’re a racist”.

  54. 54.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Kathleen: Yeah NPR’s coverage of the 1/6 Committee was pretty discouraging this morning – they spent a ton of time “discussing” Gym Jordan’s BS framing. Like everything Republicans say, no matter how obviously untrue, self serving and ludicrous, always gets treated as though there were a legitimate point hiding in there somewhere that we can tease out if we just give it enough air time. I mean, why not just not interview anyone who is obviously operating in bad faith? That’s an option you could implement but never do.

  55. 55.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    The story doesn’t say whether the bike involved was a bicycle or a motorcycle. That’s a pretty big detail to leave out.

  57. 57.

    tom

    @raven: ​
      I’m not sure what “humping a 60” means. The results from a Google search were … interesting. Please enlighten, thanks!

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    @Baud: There is a very disturbing cluster of thyroid cancer cases among children in Iredale County, North Carolina. It likely is related to coal ash from a Duke power plant on Lake Norman, but this is as yet unproven. For years, the ash was given to anybody who wanted it it for fill. One local middle school has playing fields leveled off with several hundred truckloads of coal ash.

    An Iredale mother blew the whistle. Her daughter had surgery for thyroid cancer. Then the mother started meeting other kids with scars on their necks. She was able to crowd fund a study that showed there was an abnormal cancer cluster in her county, but not what caused it. She has since moved her family to Florida.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    @zhena gogolia: It was a BIG ass motorcycle. Miles he dragged it. Construction dudes across the divided saw it and it was putting out sparks making huge noise.

    ETA. Oops. Too many Bikes in the news, I thought you were talking about the Pennsylvania pol who liked someone on the road! Sorry!

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Among all registered voters in California, however, only 36 percent support the recall and 51 percent favor retaining Newsom, the survey reports. The election is scheduled to take place Sept. 14.

    I guess it will all come down to turnout and how much of a circus the election becomes. The goobers who hate Newsom are currently more motivated than Newsom supporters.  I would think that voters with even half a brain in their heads understand how important it is to keep the Republicans stifled, but if election fever takes over, all kinds of craziness becomes possible. This is what happened last time when we got the Guvernator.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I’m in a kind of a thin veil place. Your comments about Andy always seem to hit me like hammers. Kid fooling around on deck. Kid in jungle in front of burning huts. A man dies.

  73. 73.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I saw that yesterday! Some woman was complaining that her son had come home from highschool and started saying “That’s racist Mom” when she said things about race. Uhhhh. Maybe not what he’s learning but what you are saying?

    ???

  74. 74.

    Soprano2

    Here at work the mask mandate for people who won’t show their supervisor they’re vaccinated started, and I was surprised to see how few people are unvaccinated. Maybe some of them wore disguises and got the shot to get the incentives. LOL That story about people in MO wearing disguises to get the shot doesn’t surprise me at all. The woman who ran our local abortion clinic (before the state lege made sure we couldn’t have one here anymore) told me that a woman who spent every Saturday morning picketing the clinic came and asked her if she could come in the back door of the clinic because she wanted an abortion! She told the woman no, you come in the front door like everyone else or you don’t come it. I don’t remember what happened next, but I would guess that the woman went to another city rather than have her fellow picketers find out she got an abortion.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    The Guardian certainlydidn’t get the story from their own on-scene reporter. If they picked it up from an agency, with The Star-Tribune‘s ambiguous wording, that “bicycle” could well be just an editor’s guess.

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: To their credit, the local reporters who covered Gov. DeSantis’s anti-CRT crusade asked for examples of CRT being taught in K-12 to justify the law banning it. He could not cite an example but says he hears from “concerned” parents a lot. I’ll bet he does.

    It’s nothing new. My dad once told my husband that the University of Florida “ruined” me! Nope — it was actually my dad’s hippie ex-wife, i.e., my mom, who was the liberal influence! I just finally got the nerve to argue with him after I was no longer under his direct control. :)

  80. 80.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @tom: I think it refers to a large, heavy weapon. Andy was one of raven’s best buddies in Viet Nam and was killed there. Breaks my heart with every mention, especially (like Imm said) seeing a photo of the kid fooling around on the deck and knowing what he’ll be robbed of.

    ETA: Aaand, I see Amir answered the question at #61. Moar coffee, please.

  81. 81.

    prostratedragon

    Just the other day was talking to my brother about all the Gs Congress could do without. We couldn’t figure out what it is.

  83. 83.

    PST

    @Baud: I don’t want to be morbid about the death of Mike Enzi, but I am suspicious of early conclusions in cases like this. Sometimes when the first reports are that someone fell and died, the actuality is that they died and fell. Or more accurately, that they suffered a fatal cardiac or cerebral event that, incidentally, caused a fall. This can be true even if death is delayed and the fall causes serious injuries. (Enzi reportedly suffered a broken neck and ribs and died in a hospital.) I can think of well publicized cases of this, like Dave Goldberg, a death in my own family, and cases from my experience with medical malpractice claims that hinged on whether a stroke caused an accident or an accident caused a stroke.

  87. 87.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @raven: Oh, it’s ok. I just feel terribly sad about your loss and the losses of so many others

    ETA: And I’m glad you remember Andy and share his photos from time to time.

  90. 90.

    hueyplong

    @Geminid: Duke Energy’s work in other parts of the state leave no doubt in my mind about coal ash in Lake Norman.  It will be interesting to see this play out because it’s one of those relatively rare instances in which the potential victims are affluent owners of expensive property.

  91. 91.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @Baud: if those communist friends are defector-dot-com staff, still zero.

    prepschool kool kid drew magary & his merry band of wankstas are cosplay trotskyists.

  92. 92.

    Capri

    Aren’t the people in jail for storming the capital in the same jails as other criminals? Is there any validity to the claim that they are being kept in inhumane conditions? Is their situation any worse than others that are being held?

    Is it like Thomas Wolfe wrote (paraphrased) – A conservative is a liberal who just got mugged, and a liberal is a conservative who just got sent to prison.

  93. 93.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @OzarkHillbilly: could we not consider million man march attendee barryhusseinosama becoming sen. kenya in 2005 a delayed violent storming of the capitol by black supremacists?

  94. 94.

    Amir Khalid

    @Capri:

    It’s hard to imagine that any of the insurrectionists would have accepted substandard pre-trial detention accommodations without whining complaining loudly. Didn’t that shaman guy demand, and get, an organic-only diet?

  95. 95.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: there are jails, and then there are jails

    Heavy metal band Iced Earth’s guitarist Jon Schaffer, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the Capitol riot, had feces thrown at him and faced death threats during a hellish stint at an Indiana jail, according to his lawyer. The comments made during a March court hearing were revealed Thursday, prompting Schaffer’s transfer to a Washington, D.C., jail before he was released on bail in April. “My client, who is presumed innocent, has just gone through two months of hell where other people were throwing feces at him and urine at him and threatening his life in a horrible, horrible situation,” Schaffer’s attorney Marc Victor said at the hearing, according to the Indianapolis Star. Schaffer was segregated due to his public status but it led to prisoners tormenting him.

    Schaffer, a self-described founding member of the Oath Keepers, became the first insurrectionist to plead guilty and cooperate with the feds. He is expected to face between 3.5-4.5 years in prison.

  96. 96.

    Booger

    @Geminid: Loudoun has long been cursed with the likes of Eugene DelGaudio and the odious Mike Farris. I’ll bet Farris is an accessory to countless instances of child abuse through his Home School Legal Defense Association.

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    I have to say, people talking about the 1/6 Committee hearing before it even starts is a little bit much. How about we wait to discuss a hearing until the hearing has happened?

    Regarding the former senator and his bike accident, a friend of mine in NYC was on his bike in central park, going V fast down hill when a stooping hawk flew into his front wheel. He was lucky enough to have recoverable injuries, but was hospitalized for some time. Hawk was instantly fatal and J. went over the handlebars head first. Is a very athletic guy, which probably saved his life.

    My bike accident involved being hit by a sports car, a Sunbeam Alpine, T-boned into my left thigh. I did ride again, a little, but the joy was gone. The driver was the son of a prominent litigator, I was probably lucky not to get sued. Still suffer from lingering effects of that accident in 1972. At the time I thought you recovered from accidents if they didn’t kill you, not so much, actually. I was in great physical shape, which probably saved my life.

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    @hueyplong: A lot of middle class and poor people too. The woman who sounded the alarm seemed middle class to me. But it’s a story that would strike fear into any parent’s heart. I think the hurdle now is proving the scientifically the causation that is obvious intuitively.

    I first heard of the Iredale story when I was traveling in South Carolina New Years Day, 2019. I listened to Charlotte radio station WBT. They had a year-in-review show, and one of their reporters discussed the Iredale cancer cluster, said the story could be very consequential. Not a lot has happened since, but that could change.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    44

    Enjoy your best life.

    ENJOY YOUR BEST LIFE!!!

    Obama setting up big bash to celebrate his 60th

    Former President Barack Obama is planning a big bash for his 60th birthday in Martha’s Vineyard, sources tell The Hill.

    The former president, who has spent recent weeks at his home on the posh island, is expected to be joined by dozens of friends at his oceanside abode, set on nearly 30 acres.

    “It’s going to be big,” said one source.

    It’s unclear who will be in attendance but one source said many A-listers and friends of the Obamas, including Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney, scored invites.

    Guests are being asked to have a COVID-19 test before attending the soiree at the seven-bedroom, nearly 7,000-foot mansion the Obamas purchased for $11.75 million in 2019.

    Obama turns 60 on August 4th.

    The former president has a history of celebrating large milestone birthdays. When he turned 50 in 2011, he hosted a coterie of guests at the White House to celebrate, including musicians Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder, actor Tom Hanks, comedian Chris Rock and basketball legends Charles Barkley and Grant Hill.

    The party — which featured performances in the East Room by the likes of Ledisi, Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder — was said to carry into the following day with guests eating barbecue and dancing.

    Obama’s spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

    https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/564944-obama-setting-up-big-bash-to-celebrate-his-60th

  104. 104.

    hueyplong

    @Geminid: Totally agree about other demographics being hurt, but it’s rare for the affluent also to be caught up in a toxic dumping situation.  Waiting to see if a generally GOP demographic suddenly gets religion on environmental issues.

  105. 105.

    artem1s

    Can we get a running post on the Jan 6 hearings or at least a notice when there are significant testimony?  are any of the front pagers following it regularly?  Rather discuss that than whatever Rose Twitter has it bloomers in a bunch about today.

    thx!

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    @hueyplong: North Carolina is now purple, maybe trending blue. Republicans have been in control the past few decades, though, at least until Roy Cooper was elected Governor in 2016. Republican politicians clearly bear responsibility for the slack regulation of coal ash, hog wasteponds, and other hazards. Hopefully this hurts them among suburban voters, who are now a battleground demographic in North Carolina and nationwide.

  107. 107.

    Immanentize

    @raven: that is a whole bunch of lives and futures, etc. Somehow today, 108 is just an unbearable number. Like if you said, “about a hundred” that would have seemed abstract enough to handle….

  110. 110.

    Citizen Alan

    @Brachiator:  This scares the shit out of me. A bullshit recall that turns into a circus and leads to a Republican governor. And then Diane Feinstein kicks it, and a Republican gets to appoint a GOP senator from California and they retake the senate.

  111. 111.

    Citizen Alan

    @Brachiator:  This scares the shit out of me. A bullshit recall that turns into a circus and leads to a Republican governor. And then Diane Feinstein kicks it, and a Republican gets to appoint a GOP senator from California and they retake the senate.

  112. 112.

    Immanentize

    @J R in WV: I am NOT belittling your injuries and accident, but a Sunbeam Alpine? There was a forty percent chance you could have prevailed in that encounter….

  113. 113.

    Matt

    In a world full of Donald Trumps, be a Joe Biden.

    Remember: no matter what the cost, punching hippies is the only goal.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @Booger: All those Loudon County conservatives thought they had a nice red county. Then a bunch  of yankee normies move in, and there went the neighborhood. Now all the conservatives can do is splutter.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @O. Felix Culpa: Murdoch-type media got very excited about Larry Elder last week, under the theory that Black people will vote for the Black guy and destroy Newsome

  121. 121.

    FelonyGovt

    @rikyrah: In addition to Caitlyn Jenner, who’s gotten the most press, there’s Larry Elder and Kevin Faulconer (former mayor of San Diego) and a large group of others (although not as many as the last recall).

Comments are closed.