Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

A consequence of cucumbers

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

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

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Come on, man.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Raising A Joyful Ruckus

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Raising A Joyful Ruckus

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Not saying it could happen in today’s political environment, but if any former President were to follow John Quincy Adam’s example by going (back) into Congress after leaving the White House, I can see President Obama doing so… and enjoying the campaign, too.

(Pretty clearly Michelle doesn’t feel the same fondness, and besides, Chicago already has skilled deep-blue representation, but in political terms Barack Obama is still a young man… )

In any case, I’m truly grateful that he’s using his gifts to keep fighting for the Democrats and for our country, even those citizens who don’t deserve his assistance.

Reader Interactions

293Comments

  2. 2.

    Betty

    With Obama’s many gifts, I don’t see why he would want to go back to elected politics. There is a world of opportunity for him. And Michelle is definitely done with that.

  9. 9.

    artem1s

    @Betty:

    sure he has plenty of opportunities. but the point of going back would be to demonstrate that the point of going into public service isn’t to set yourself up to be enriched in the private sector afterward. if more elected officials were willing to take a step ‘downward’ once holding a prestigious office, think of the experience and leverage they could muster in a smaller, denser community. take Jerry Brown for instance. if he decided no office was worth holding unless it was a step up, do you think CA would be as blue as it is today? you think he didn’t have opportunities in the private sector? or to craft himself as a cult leader of some splinter of the Democratic Party? in some ways, I think Barack has more obligation to provide a different model of post Presidency life than almost anyone since Washington. I have a hard time believing Michelle thinks her life is ever going back to normal again. whether she decides public office is for her is up to her. maybe all Barack ever wants to do is sit back and write and lead some semi-professorial life. but I find that hard to believe. and anyway what could be more professorial than serving in the People’s House and continuing the work begun by John Quincy of keeping arc of history bending toward justice. the next generation needs an example that elected office isn’t just a pathway to celebrity, money and a lifetime of ease and resting on your laurels.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    The people in Richmond sure had a beautiful day to watch Barak Obama speak! The pictures look wonderful.

  12. 12.

    MomSense

    @artem1s: 
    History has been much kinder to JQ than his contemporaries were. He was mocked and ridiculed for his daily advocacy against slavery on the House floor.

  13. 13.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @artem1s:

    I think Barack has more obligation to provide a different model of post Presidency life than almost anyone since Washington.

    I’m curious why you think that. While I would be thrilled if Obama held public office again, and I do like the idea of changing the model of public service, I think he has given this nation plenty and owes us nothing more.

  14. 14.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Interesting opinion about the Hard Left too. Historians have comment how the extremist will switch back and forth between liberal and conservative,

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    Myself, I would like to see Obama on the Supreme Court.  He and Michelle may feel differently.

    Good point about doing something worthwhile, not necessarily primarily lucrative, post-presidency.

    I think Jimmy Carter is the best post-President ever.  And I wish the Carter Center was monitoring elections in the US.  We need it.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @artem1s:but the point of going back would be to demonstrate that the point of going into public service isn’t to set yourself up to be enriched in the private sector afterward.

    As opposed to most politicians who enrich themselves while in public “service”?

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    It looks to me that Obama is enjoying his version of retirement too much to consider anything else.

    The closest to working I can see him doing is a guest lecturer at a fancy/schmacy university. And that is a stretch for me. He and Michele have a great life, just doing whatever they want, I can’t see them going back.

  23. 23.

    artem1s

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    yea, it a problem in his case because IL doesn’t really need someone in Congress. carpetbagging is a bad look that bothers Dems. but not GQPers so much when they want to flip a seat – example Cheney. so why shouldn’t the Dems try it?  Senate seats are especially vulnerable to carpetbagging – JD Vance may have been born in OH, but he’s trying to carpetbag Portman’s seat. Ossoff got tagged as a carpetbagger even though he grew up in GA. Wanna get creative? why not throw a wrench into a deep red Congressional race even if the outcome is inevitable.

    Also, not saying Congress is POTUS’s only choice here. But I would like to see him reinvent the post presidency especially for someone who is so young.  Who knows, SOS might be more in line with his calling. But the whole, building the presidential library, speaking gigs and then sitting on the sidelines until campaigning season rolls around every 4 years just doesn’t seem like enough for someone so ambitious in his early life.

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    Shit. If I was the Obamas, it would be nothing but fancy dinners (maybe the cocktail parties we hear so much about) and speeches in front of adoring crowds and best-selling books and intellectual pursuits and charity galas for my foundation for the rest of my life. They’ve done so much for the world.

    I am exhausted and I haven’t done even one tenth of one percent as much good in the world, and all I want is to come into a sum of money and never have to work again.

  26. 26.

    artem1s

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    you mean like Joe Biden? FFS the point is it’s a problem that there are those who enrich themselves and do nothing else. Obama’s aren’t going to be impoverished no matter what. no one expects them to wear a hair shirt for the rest of their lives. but they have power and influence at a particularly critical time in our Democracy. so did Quincy Adams – that’s the point.

  29. 29.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @japa21: It was quiet, shall we say? They had twice as many authors as I’ve seen the previous two times I was there, and they put half of us (including me) on the second floor, way in the back. So we had less traffic than usual. Still I sold two books and talked to some writers and readers, and I was glad I went.

    I was surprised at all the Christian books in the room I was in–Christian self help, fantasy in which the guy said he tried to incorporate his faith, a minister writing about his religion, and probably others. Since I’m a heathen, I didn’t realize that was a strong market. At least, I assume it is.

  30. 30.

    Starfish

    @Suzanne: I bet that stuff gets boring though with the number of those things they are invited to. I was invited to two different dinner fundraisers this month, and I was like “Yay, the chicken is not terrible” at the first one and still contemplating whether i want to go to the second one.

    There are people that I am the opposite of on some local issues, and they are involved in other things that I support. I can never tell if it makes sense to support older folks who oppose housing on their other issues or not

    Obamas probably don’t have to stay and eat everyone’s lukewarm meal.

  31. 31.

    Mike E

    Yeah that’s all we need, right after Aggrieved White America completely lost its damn mind and has us on the brink, to run a BHO sequel… y’all are joking, yes? Love the guy, but he’s done/doing all he can without getting drafted into scotus or some congressional district, sheesh!

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    It’s already a good day for me. My Braves are going to the World Series, I saw a phenomenal opera yesterday, and my grand-niece is getting married tonight. Plus, it’s absolutely beautiful — sunny and bright and not too hot.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @artem1s:you mean like Joe Biden?

    Who said anything about Joe? I was being snarky about how most politicians enter office as regular folks and somehow or other exit as millionaires. It just happens, doncha know?

    FFS the point is…

    FFS, I think Obama should do WeverTF he wants with his life. It’s not his job to fix politics. As if he could.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: it’s a gullible, performative market for the kind of Evangelical Xtian who need to constantly broadcast their tribal affiliation. At the farmers market there’s a number of grifters vendors who use “Christian” as their hook, including the annoying recovered alcoholic next to me who sells “I love Jesus” hats anda jmoke who sells “personal care products with a spiritual focus” or some such nonsense. All of whom seem to have missed the Christ vs moneychangers lesson.

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Obama does not owe us SHIT.  He devoted his life to public service, gave us the greatest president we had had in living memory, and he got staggering amounts of ingratitude for it from all sides.  His reward was Donald fucking Trump.

    Yes, I am heated about this.  We have no right to ask anything more of that man.  He has gone wildly above and beyond the call of duty.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: All of whom seem to have missed the Christ vs moneychangers lesson.

    If there is a Hell, there is a special place there for all the people who try to monetize their religion. The same for those who try to monetize patriotism.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The first time I visited the Books-a-Million store in Waynesboro, Virginia, I was struck by the size of the Christian  Literature section. It took up a big chunk of that store. There are a lot of evangelicals in the Shenandoah Valley, and many of them are readers. I think the women are especially.

  42. 42.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: Agree. Wish I was enough of a believer to enjoy the idea that they would get the shock of their formerly corporeal existence at the Pearly Gates when they find out how wrong they are about pretty much everything.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: Your magic pony (which I agree is owed you by Obama) would clean up your garden in neigh-ry a moment with a shower of star twinkles.

    Then I could drop by in my flying car, strap on our Obama issued jet packs and fly off to your local for a cold one.

    Thanks Obama!

  44. 44.

    Starfish

    There are a lot of people yelling that Obamas do not owe us anything in this thread. This is true. They are relatively young and may get bored in early retirement. Also, I don’t see them as the type to sit on their hands and watch democracy burn. I think they are going to stay involved in some way. Whatever way they choose to be involved is up to them.

    I still want to see Biden appoint him to the Supreme Court just to watch some Congressional heads explode though.

    I think that some older white women are not going to vote for Harris. The internalized sexism is a big deal. They just do not see a woman becoming President in their lifetime and are going to keep that true. Harris can be the nicest person in the world, and people will trash her every step of the way.

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Geminid: Books A Million is a closeout joint like Big Lots, so the preponderance of Christian themed garbage might be an indicator of how limited the market is in the wider world outside the Bible belt. Hope so anyway.

  48. 48.

    narya

    Cold, and soon to be rainy, here–the rain is slated to start right about when my last 5k of the season starts. But the beer today will be particularly good, I get a free growler (because I’ve run 16+ of these races), a coworker I like (and his wife & 6-month-old) will be there, thanks to my urging, and my fellow runners will be wearing costumes. Fish tacos for dinner–got the avocados and limes and tortillas yesterday. Gonna poach some pears, for (eventually) a pear/hazelnut tart, and there’s plum cake on the counter. If it rains, it rains.

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @satby: Speaking of “gullible, performative markets,” six Republican candidates for the Ohio Senate seat will debate tonight at the Genoa Baptist Church in Westerville(?), Ohio. The debate is being sponsored by the Center for Christian Virtue.

    People might make a good drinking out of this debate. They could down a shot every time one of the Ten Commandments is broken. (If you do this, you’ll have to use a small glass).

  50. 50.

    sab

    @Frankensteinbeck: I agree Obama doesn’t owe us anything, but I think they both think that everyone owes some sort public service, and particularly those who are especially good at it.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @satby

    So the holiday pack of soaps — one golden colored, a second smelling of frankincense, the third of myrrh — is a non-starter?

    (Premium price for their coming packed in a wooden box stuffed with hay.)

    ;)

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: They could down a shot every time one of the Ten Commandments is broken.

    One would need a liquor store’s worth to cover that game.

  55. 55.

    Mike in NC

    I get about 20 emails every day begging me to send money to the VA governor’s campaign, and I’m really just sick of it all.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @sab: I suspect the debate will be televised somehow. Hew Hewitt will be a moderator, and he’s been telling his radio listeners to watch so they can see how a real pro moderates a candidate debate.

  58. 58.

    Gvg

    @Frankensteinbeck: Everyone who does great service has done more than duty. It isn’t unique to Obama. He doesn’t owe us more, but he may want to give more and our republic has always needed a lot and depended on at least some stepping up to give more.
    i won’t demand more, but it does do our children good to see leaders giving more even when it isn’t appreciated universally.

    I think most of the daydream suggestions are unlikely and possibly not even playing to his strengths. Time will tell.

  63. 63.

    Ksmiami

    @Frankensteinbeck: for the win! I’m not even sure the nation even deserves us Democratic people- just feels like the country is regressing and not even long for this world….let alone taking anything more from the Obamas.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    @satby

    Pumpkin spice soap for this time of the year?

    Also too (from a decade ago),

    But the worst news for biblical gift-buyers came this week, from Dutch ecologists studying populations of Boswellia in Ethiopia, who warned that numbers of the frankincense-producing tree could halve in the next 15 years and eventually cease altogether if factors such as fire, grazing and insect attack go unchecked. Source

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    It was huge back when I was in publishing, but I’d bet it’s more evangelical now. They sent me to the Christian Booksellers Association annual convention one year. I kept my mouth shut as much as possible so they wouldn’t find out I was a non-believer.

  66. 66.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @delk: Hehe. I’ve been to Half Acre, and it looks like a lot more breweries have been added since I left Chicago.

  69. 69.

    Mike E

    @Mike in NC: Same here. Unsubscribing seems to be a fruitless exercise…oh well, I’m glad I had the wherewithal to contribute in the first place so I’ll just ignore the asks until I’m able to give again

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: I have no way to watch the debate. If I did, I’d mix in a lot of water. The bearing of false witness will be frequent, and the worshiping of a false idol will be even worse.

  71. 71.

    germy

    the worst part about being racist is you have to pretend european boiled meat dishes are better than curry or tacos. strange, sad way to live

    — derek (@derek8185338005) October 23, 2021

  82. 82.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Back from getting my Moderna booster. The pharmacist said they were shipped the booster dosage even before it was approved because they know people would want it.

    Re the Christian books at the author fair, I think having so many of them will drive people away from browsing the fair. People don’t want to be preached to. I feel guilty for reacting to the religious books that way. I was fine with the LGBTQ romance books, which might have put the religious writers off. Lots of people are going to think the YA fantasy I write is low-brow. But, that was my gut reaction

  83. 83.

    Ramiah Ariya

    This may be of marginal interest to many here, but I wrote a short analysis of Indian politics as it stand now. It is one perspective after 30 years since the beginning of economic reforms in the country. It is probably true in other developing countries too.
    Indian politics is in stasis – and it is a stasis to which the ruling BJP and its so-called arch enemies such as the Congress, DMK, and Communist parties have contributed.
    Post-liberalisation in 1991, over time, three kinds of political movements developed in India as a response to the economic policies:
    – A movement against rapid urbanization and industrialization, which sometimes took the form of environmentalism; and other times concerns for agriculture.
    – A movement against corruption and lack of accountability, incentivized by the Right to Information Act in 2005
    – A set of movements that grew out of the social effects of urbanization and industrialization – as caste became irrelevant, several sides battled to restore social status or hasten/manage its dismantling
    All of these movements were trying to gain some control over events beyond their control, really. There was, for example, no way that corruption could have been controlled in our society, given the millions and millions that could be made by sacrificing integrity.
    In short, due to the rapid pace of ECONOMIC policies, the Indian state and politicians are always playing catch-up from the highest to the lowest level since 1991. And they are far-behind.
    When the BJP took power in 2014, this dynamic was already in full flow. How could it have been managed? I have written previously that there were two ways:
    – By acknowledging the underlying dynamic or the legitimacy of these three types of movements. With this key insight, politics could have been entirely changed in the country – we would have understood, that on one hand were economic forces which were pulling us around; and on the other, counters to it, which were to be expected.
    – Or, decide that “development” would solve all our problems.
    This second is the approach that the BJP took – not least because that is all that Modi understood.
    Modi has been so wildly successful in this tactic, that every other political party now imitates it, including the ethnofascists in Tamilnadu and the Communists in Kerala.
    But it is obvious that economic development is not anymore in the control of Indian policymakers alone. It is governed by forces that are beyond our borders; and nobody can make the country develop economically by sheer will.
    Politics practiced by the BJP, at this point, looks and smells the same as other parties – it is dynastic (atleast in the states), it is criminal and it involves enormous abuse of power and trust.
    The pandemic has been managed well, I would say, by the central govt of India, given our limitations, but the Indian govts have always done single-minded missions well. When the pandemic ends we are going to face the limitations of our political setup.
    We are in desperate need of a new kind of politics in India.

  86. 86.

    Betty

    @artem1s: You misunderstood what I meant by opportunities. I mean opportunities to do good. There are many, many ways to contribute without the objective of making money.

  87. 87.

    Starfish

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It was correct of them to put “Christian self-help” next to fantasy. There are so many fake memoirs of how people came to Jesus. “I am a sinner, and let me discuss to you in extreme detail the sins that are totally made up exaggerating the drug use and the sex because I know you would prefer to be reading romance.”

    Their world building could use some work, though. You should give them some pointers.

  91. 91.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I got my Moderna yesterday. Minor arm soreness and slight headache this morning. Same symptoms as after #2, but definitely less. Going for a walk in a bit and then plan to take it easy after that. Being outside on a beautiful fall day will help, I think!

  92. 92.

    evodevo

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​
      He tells them which verses to ignore and which to misspell on their riot signs and Trump flags…believe me, cherry-picking is NOT confined to orchard farmers…

  101. 101.

    germy

    holding two thoughts in my head at once as i replace my broken shoelaces with fancy new no-tie laces:

    1. "finally, no more tying my shoes like some kind of 15th century russian serf. the future is now"

    2. "i had a pair just like these when i was 4 years old"

    — lauren (@ActNormalOrElse) October 24, 2021

    ummm excuse me, russian serfs wore lapti which had no shoelaces

    — Ghoulinism Updates (@misharipov) October 24, 2021

  102. 102.

    Ocotillo

    @Starfish:  I see this too.  I am a Harris supporter and was on her bandwagon at the beginning of the primaries but continue to be amazed at how many fellow Dems in my orbit are anti-Kamala.  It scares me enough that I don’t want to run the risk of what happened in 2016 happening again.

    It’s not fair or right but sadly as a nation we are not there yet.

  104. 104.

    TriassicSands

    Democrats are narrowing their differences over healthcare and other issues and closing in on a deal on President Joe Biden’s social and climate-change agenda, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said…

    The likelihood is that if and when the Democrats come to an agreement and pass legislation, the MSM will deem it a failure because it falls short of Biden’s original proposals.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: Yes, the only bill is the one t hat is voted on.  It should be evaluated on its own merits.  Also, for our purposes, any comparison should be with what the GOP proposed (fuck all) and not with a Platonic ideal bill.

  117. 117.

    Steeplejack

    @Cameron:

    I replied to you about the Dogfish Inn very late last night, but I’ll hoist the post up here, especially since people are talking about beer and brewpubs.

    First, I misinterpreted a bit. Since I had originally said Rehoboth Beach, when you said “Dogfish Inn” I thought you meant the Dogfish Head, because the Dogfish Inn in Lewes is just a small motel, as far as I knew. I see that their website sort of opens up into the Dogfish universe, but I don’t know that they have a restaurant or anything like that.

    Okay, I dived into their site:

    While we don’t sell or serve alcohol on the property, there are plenty of places within walking distance to find our off-centered ales and spirits. Nearly all the restaurants in downtown Lewes serve Dogfish Head beers and spirits, and our friends over at R&L Liquors on 2nd Street carry a large variety of our products! You’ll definitely want to make a trip to Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach and our Tasting Room & Kitchen in Milton, where you’ll be able to sample and purchase the widest variety of our off-centered ales and exclusive brews!

    So, yeah, the Dogfish Inn is just a motel. You’ll have to come to Rehoboth Beach to get the restaurant experience. It’s a 15-minute drive from Lewes. (I haven’t been to the tasting room in Milton.)

    Silver lining: the Dogfish Inn is a short walk away from Agave, an amazingly good Mexican restaurant.

  118. 118.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ocotillo: There seems to be this bipartisan consensus that Harris is a terrible Vice-President and I’m not sure what it’s substantively based on. For the Republicans, it’s all this overtly racist-sexist garbage; they go on about her “cackle” like they just took a bunch of old crap about Hillary Clinton and did a search and replace. And she seems to be associated with a bunch of stuff about the “border crisis” that doesn’t even generate conversation outside of the right-wing echo chamber.

    For the Democrats, I’m not sure what they’re expecting, that she’s supposed to be more of a campaigner?

  120. 120.

    Cameron

    @Steeplejack: Thanks – I saw your response.  I was intrigued by the idea of the brewer opening a motel (looks like a lovely location, from the pics I’ve seen).  I have friends in Delaware and friends who drink beer, so between the two sets I’ll make a trip next time I’m in Philly.  Suspect it would be wiser to spend the night at the Inn rather than drive back to Philly if we’ve spent the evening soaking up 90-minute IPA.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    Good analysis of the two ways of Democrats raise money, and how one is wildly more successful than the other:

    In the last three months, Kelly raised $3.4 million from small donors, according to his FEC report. In other words, he raised three times more than Sinema just from small donors even while Sinema was making a corporate-loving spectacle of herself and traveling the world to raise money.

    The simple fact is that Sinema’s style of fundraising just isn’t the best way to raise large sums of money anymore. And most politicians ultimately follow the money, which means that they’re now going to follow the people, especially if they’re in swing states that millions of people care about.

    But its not just swing state Senators- it’s changing for all of them:

    In 2020, 41 percent of the money raised by Democratic Senate candidates came from donations of less than $200.

  122. 122.

    Just Chuck

    Obama: You can’t run ads telling me you’re a regular old hoops playing dish washing fleece wearing guy but quietly cultivate support from those who seek to tear down our democracy….

    If you’re a Republican, then yeah you can.  And you do.  And people will believe them.  And you’ll never ever ever ever pay a single consequence for even the most obvious bald-faced lies.  So why would you ever stop?

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    And for rekoob, who was thinking about relocating to coastal Delaware and was wondering about Lewes/​Rehoboth/​Bethany vs. Georgetown/​Dagsboro/​Milford:

    The whole area is nice, in a low-key way. I’ll grill my brother about this on our road trip Monday. He is a real-estate hound and serial renovator, and he has been going to Rehoboth Beach since the ’90s. He knows the ins and outs a lot better than I do.

  128. 128.

    Alison Rose

    @artem1s:

    But the whole, building the presidential library, speaking gigs and then sitting on the sidelines until campaigning season rolls around every 4 years just doesn’t seem like enough for someone so ambitious in his early life.

    Considering everything the man has done in his life, I think he is allowed to be less ambitious than you think he ought to be. You’re verging on inappropriate here. His life is HIS to live how he chooses now, he’s doing a lot of good with it, and if it’s not up to your standards, well, sorry, but I don’t think that matters.

  131. 131.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Oh, mine too. I never make it past the monologue, and I’m so frigging tired when the alarm goes off. But the gift of a chuckle just before bedtime has kept me relatively sane since 2016.

  132. 132.

    Steeplejack

    @Cameron:

    I think the motel predated the brewpub empire, but I’m not completely sure about that.

    If you’re mainly interested in beer and food, you might do better to stay in Rehoboth Beach. The Hotel Rehoboth and the Breakers are both pretty good and only a short walk from Dogfish Head. Also walking distance to the boardwalk and the beach.

  133. 133.

    James E Powell

    @Ramiah Ariya:

    This may be of marginal interest to many here, but I wrote a short analysis of Indian politics as it stand now.

    In fact, I’ve been wondering if there is a moderate sized “Intro to current Indian politics” I could read so that I can understand more of what I read & hear.

    I don’t mean that I expect to “read this one book and you will understand everything,” but something to get started. It’s an intimidating nation.

  135. 135.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Another piece of evidence that Sinema just isn’t that bright

    ETA: I mean, she could be wildly popular and she could rake in beaucoup small donor bucks if she supported Biden’s agenda. Bonus points (and bucks) for axing the filibuster.

  137. 137.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Also, for our purposes, any comparison should be with what the GOP proposed (fuck all) and not with a Platonic ideal bill.

    The Democratic Left and the press/media completely reject your proposal.

  141. 141.

    smith

    @zhena gogolia: I really think that Dems are well overdue a come-to-jesus moment about misogyny. Someone above mentioned the reluctance of old white women to countenance a woman president, but in 2016 it seemed like the worst of it on our side was coming from young men. To me it was really eye-opening to see to what extent women still don’t get the benefit of the doubt, just the opposite, in fact. That does not bode well for the future.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    It’s amusing to me that all the political professionals insisted this was an excellent mavericky strategy and they never looked at the numbers. She’s down 5.9 million in fundraising with her centrist turn- from 7 to 1.1. It’s an unequivocal failure, hence her hastily thrown together “billionaires tax”.

    If she’s “doing it for the money” she’s getting an absolutely lousy rate of return.

    The article points out how much work big donors demand, too. You have to hire their otherwise-unemployable adult children, promote their unpopular, dumb ideas and kiss their ass personally, which is a huge time sink. They can be free- small donors can buy them freedom- all they have to do is deliver on the legislative end, which after all, is their job. They can do the job.

  144. 144.

    Cameron

    @Steeplejack: Thanks.  Last time I was in Rehoboth was in the ’90s.  I like Delaware; if I decide to leave Florida, it’s there or the Old Country for me.

  145. 145.

    Cameron

    @James E Powell: I remember way, way back when you’d see the stickers reading “POWs never have a nice day.”  A buddy of mine suggested that it be amended for the lefties of the time to “Never have a nice day.”

  146. 146.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    hence her hastily thrown together “billionaires tax”.

     

    Didn’t Biden call her out publicly in his town hall?

  147. 147.

    gwangung

    @Kay: I’ll be honest. I didn’t think Democratic politicians could raise big money with lots of small donors.

     

    But that’s crow I will HAPPILY eat (with appropriate seasoning).

  148. 148.

    James E Powell

    @smith:

    I really think that Dems are well overdue a come-to-jesus moment about misogyny.

    Fuckin-A. The hatred for Hillary Clinton I heard – especially that from ordinarily Democratic women – going back to 1992 – always shocked me. There is widespread acceptance of clearly misogynist attacks against Speaker Pelosi, VP Harris, Senator Warren, and Representative Ocasio-Cortez – the most frequent, but certainly not the only targets.

  149. 149.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: She coulda been a hero of the people and raked in the bucks from a grateful populace, with much less effort, as you say. She has turned out to be a fool. Perhaps that wasn’t a surprise to Suzanne, but I had hoped for better when Sinema was elected.

  150. 150.

    smith

    @Villago Delenda Est: The Weathermen were notorious for their misogyny.

    I’ve always thought that second-wave feminism developed because so many women involved in various movements in the 60s and 70s saw first-hand  the male leaders enthusiastically embrace the ideal of equality for everyone, with the caveat that women need not apply.

  154. 154.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:  Some things just have to be said, whether they are true or not.

    I nearly wrote that myself, but since I have seen a photo of Omnes, I didn’t want him to think I meant it!

    (I would have said more handsome.  Not sure which one is correct, though.)

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    He did. I was pleased and suprised how direct it was. He said she “won’t raise a penny in taxes on wealthy people” Ooof.

    It’s just funny how a shift to the Right is always perceived as super-savvy and VERY smart even when it’s an obvious, near-catastrophic failure. Kelly at this point is unapologetically progressive. He’s supporting the PRO Act (labor legislation), which pretty much takes him out of the “corporate” fundraising section of the Party. He raised 3.5 million dollars- almost 3x what the genuis maverick pulled in on all her fundraising trips.

  156. 156.

    smith

    @James E Powell: The hatred for Hillary Clinton I heard – especially that from ordinarily Democratic women – going back to 1992 – always shocked me.

    I’m sure there are plenty of older women who have internalized sexist assumptions, but it’s the younger men I worry about. Those ladies will die sooner rather than later, but we’ll be stuck with the younger men for quite a while yet. Luckily, in my experience, younger women are fierce on this subject.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @gwangung:

    It’s really amazing, isn’t it? IMO, small dollar D fundraising is the most positive development for the country in years. They could scale it further too. They already do this to some extent, but they could have the strong performers in small donor fundraising “donate” to the poor performers. AOC raises more than Sinema and she just has a district (rather than a state). She could subsidize the poor performers and make THEM less dependent on big donors.

  161. 161.

    wonkie

    I am  baffled by this:

    Obama scared the sh*t out of the right but he REALLY frightened the far left. The idea that the Black base would be activated and not just be participants but leaders in the political process was never their preference. They see Kamala in the same vein, which is why they hate her

    8:01 PM · Oct 23, 2021

    What  is this about? First of all, who is the far left? Bernie Sanders? The leaders of the official Black Lives organization? Young men in black hoodies who call themselves antifa? Members of “the Squad”? The chumps who allowed themselves to be misled by Russian propaganda into staging anti-HRC events outside of the DEm convention? WHo? And this stuff about “leaders” using the black base and not wanting them to actually be leaders themselves is a Republican meme–and one being pushed enthusiastically by black Republicans BTW. ONly their line is that the whole Democratic party is exploiting black  people for votes.

    I don’t think the number of people who hate Kamala (except Republicans of course) is statistically significant. I do think that many Democrats are afraid that ,given the misogyny and racism of our society and HRC’s experience and given Kamela’s inept campaign during the primary, (and in view of how Republican cheating is going to make swing states close calls) that she is not a good choice for presidential candidate–but would be a good president. If she had demonstrated Obama’s ability to bring out huge crowds of committed voters, she would be overwhelmingly the first choice for the next Dem candidate.

    Granted I am not an insider or in touch with every Democrat or anything like that and I don’t read every “progressive” or “left” writer, but I really don’t see a lot of hate directed at Kamela. SHe was my favorite during the primaries until the campaign missteps reminded me too much of HRC, while the Biden campaign clearly was hardheaded, realistic, and determined. And it seems to me that her failure to “catch on” in Iowa was mostly people who were afraid that given they way our society is, she wouldn’t win–which is a reflection on our society, not her.

  162. 162.

    SpaceUnit

    Late to the thread as usual but are we really supposed to take it as gospel that Obama frightened the far left more than the right (as that tweet up top suggests)?

  163. 163.

    Amir Khalid

    Because I feel the need to gloat, some sportsball news from England: an utterly dreadful Manchester United (hiss! boo!) are trailing visitors Liverpool (YNWA!) 0-4 at halftime. One goal scored by Naby Keita, one by Diogo Jota, and two by The Best Player in The World Right Now, Egyptian King Mo Salah.

  166. 166.

    Another Scott

    @TriassicSands:  I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but on SNL’s opening and Weekend Update on SNL last night they were pushing the “Biden’s polling is terrible and falling” meme. It’s convenient to the GQP to commission a slanted poll to create that meme, isn’t it?? But that’s old news. Still, the SNL writers seem to have forgotten the lessons of their treatment of HRC.

    (To be clear, yeah, humor. They can do what they want. But it’s lazy and not funny and actually does help the monsters.)

    I hope and expect that once the BIF and BBB bills are passed, and Democrats enthusiastically sing their praises, the polling will be much better. But they’ll have to fight the press to get the message out and need to hit the ground running to have it be more than “Biden and Democrats get a small temporary bump from the bills, but clouds and shadows remain because of x,y,z”.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    @SpaceUnit:

    Centrists blocked Obama’s agenda just like they’re blocking Bidens – right out of the fucking gate for Obama- they blocked a sufficient stimulus so put a drag on the economy that persisted for a decade and which hurt Obama politically every day he was in office- but for some mysterious reason this site refuses to acknowlege it and insists Lefties on Twitter rule the discourse.

    We’re now at Year Ten of centrists blocking not one but two D Presidents agenda and, still, somehow “The Left” is the problem.

  169. 169.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Sinema’s really painted herself into a corner. She’s losing all kinds of support at home, and she’ll end up having to declare herself an Independent with very little funding.

  170. 170.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Small donations is good, and more of them is good.

    But I wonder how aggregated numbers like that are affected by things like the multi-hundred-millions raised by Warnock and Ossoff.  Averages are greatly affected by large outliers.

    Another thing to keep in mind is that Kelly is up for re-election next year, while Sinema is 2024.  So it’s not surprising that he’s raising much more money than her right now.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    satby

    @NotMax: Pumpkin spice soap for this time of the year?

    Absolutely! Already sold out of 20 bars and am cooking up more. Pumpkin spice lotion too, and people love it.

  172. 172.

    debbie

    @Another Scott:

    I again have to disagree. One hundred percent pro-Biden jokes would make the writers suspect. That Joe’s ratings have fallen is a fact. Turn a blind eye to that and you’re no better than Fox or OAN.

    I missed the opening, but the news lead with a slam on Sinema and also made fun of the GOP later in the news.

  173. 173.

    japa21

    @Kay: I don’t think people on this site view the left, whatever that is, as the reason Obama’s and Biden’s agendas aren’t getting the full amount hoped for.  In fact, there was more than enough criticism of Lieberman back then and Manchin and Sinema now.
    The problem then, and the potential problem now, is what happens when the full agenda isn’t produced. The left, whatever that is, turned sour on Obama then. Will they do the same now?
    Of course, the Dems shot themselves in the foot then by not promoting what they had accomplished and utilizing what still needed to be done as a motivator. Fortunately, everything I have heard suggests they learned their lesson for this time around.​
    ​
    ​

  176. 176.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: Reuters has Biden at -2.  Trafalgar has him at -19.  Bad polls get press.

    RCP

    Yeah, they go after both sides, and that’s as it should be.  Tastes differ.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  178. 178.

    Kay

    @japa21:

    It just assumes this kind of helplessness from the Administration and the Democratic Party more broadly. It’s a huge political apparatus. They’re really helpless in the face of an onslaught by online Lefties? Wow. I had hoped a fucking billion dollar political marketing team could produce something.

    Media isn’t going to sell BBB. Online Lefties aren’t going to sell BBB. The Biden Administration and the institutional Democratic Party have to do it. It is completely appropriate to expect them to do it and if they fail at it their supporters should ask why and insist they look at why they failed.

    Biden supposedly (now) has a 20 person “boiler room” operation to sell this bill. I expect them to succeed at that- not 100%! But they have to prove their worth. I think that’s a reasonable expectation on my part.

    If Lefties on Twitter are conencting more with Democrats voters than the mainstream Democratic campaign apparatus is, the response to that shouldn’t be to get mad at Lefties on Twitter. The response should be for the mainstream campaign apparatus to get better at sales.

  179. 179.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    plus I think there is still a lot of anger at the Bernistas for 2016.

    Fuckn A. I’m still mad at Ralph Nader (et al)

    @Cameron: Larry Summers didn’t have a vote on the stimulus. Arlen Specter, Bill Nelson, Byron Dorgan, Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Claire McCaskill, Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Tim Johnson, Blanche Lincoln, Robert Byrd and Jim Webb all did. And the Dems had only 59 seats.

  180. 180.

    frosty

    @Kay: Has the shift to small donors changed the Reps daily schedule? I read awhile ago that they spent half their day in a boiler room calling potential donors.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @Cameron:

    IMO, yes, but I dont want to relitigate the whole thing. It is just undeniable fact that centrists held up and watered down Obama’s agenda and they are doing the exact same thing with Bidens. I accept that they exist! I get it that they are what they are. But this is what actually happened.

  182. 182.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Another Scott: For Biden’s polling to be better we need an abatement in the pandemic, and more consequent opening of society. That’s coming, I think. But Republicans are trying their hardest to keep it from happening by keeping their own constituents sick so they can push out Democrats.

    On the antivaxxer stuff, though, they’re following rather than leading. I think they’d like nothing more than for “vaccine skepticism” to evaporate the moment they’ve reinstalled Trump or put in DeSantis as President, so everything can be good. But it won’t.

  183. 183.

    Kay

    @frosty:

    The same thing is happening on their side.

    I think one of the underrated lucky breaks the country got in 2020 was the collapse of the NRA. They were Trump’s largest donor in 2016. They can bring out some gun nuts. Their greed and corruption was our gain.

  184. 184.

    Cameron

    The left-of-center folks actually in Congress seem (with a few grumblers) to be supporting the President.

  186. 186.

    James E Powell

    @debbie:

    Sinema’s really painted herself into a corner. She’s losing all kinds of support at home, and she’ll end up having to declare herself an Independent with very little funding.

    She has to know this, but she apparently does not care. She’s had numerous opportunities to do otherwise; Republican provocations are an almost weekly event. She wants to be exactly where she is.

    She may go indie or declare herself to be a Republican, but Republican voters already have candidates they like.

    Perhaps she has other plans than being a senator.

  187. 187.

    Raoul Paste

    @debbie: The only thing I recall about the SNL opening was that “Joe Biden“ said “Screw Joe Manchin“

    Apparently a popular phrase

  188. 188.

    Kay

    @Cameron:

    The Left of center folks in Congress are overwhelmingly reliable votes for even a Democratic agenda they’re unhappy with. Always. In contrast to the Right side of the Party, who are not.

  189. 189.

    SpaceUnit

    @Kay:

    Pretty much all of us were disappointed that Obama’s agenda didn’t get enough headway, and you’re absolutely correct regarding who is responsible for that.  But that tweet up top goes even further.  It implies that the Democratic Party’s left wing is secretly racist and didn’t want to see people of color get a seat at the table.  I’ve seen no evidence for that whatsoever.

  190. 190.

    smith

    @James E Powell: Perhaps she has other plans than being a senator.

    I really believe this is the answer. She wants to be a celebrity more than she wants to be a senator, and cozying up to rich people never hurt anyone hoping for a career in media.

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @smith: ex-Phoenician Suzanne’s theory is that the McCain whose career she wants to replicate is Meghan of the View, not St John of the Senate. Very plausible to me.

  193. 193.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    A bit, a long bit of why I think all of us need to look at where we are and why. Democracy is hard, because it is actually about equality, equality of stature, equality of humanity, and many do not equate life with equality. This was a response to Water Girl in a previous thread.

    TFG wasn’t basically doing it, he was absolutely trying to overthrow the government. He had/has support from those who seem to think that a democracy is only white, male, useless, assholes who have no regard for people that don’t look, act, not think, like them.

    The depth and breadth of democracy is a hard thing to understand if one thinks all humans should look and think the same. Thankfully not all humans are that stupid. Democracy is for everyone, there is a place for everyone, and the concept that we all have to be the same useless lumps of flesh and bone is ridiculous. Thinking that way brings on wars and hate, over and over and over. The world is an amazing place of differences and life and joy and yes sorrow. Of history great and small. Of lives given and lives taken. Of progress and despair. The current concept de jour is money is everything. This is not a new concept and has been repeated over and over and over, and it gets lives wasted and lost, for something that is ridiculous. It does not make one a better person, it makes one worse 99% of the time. It creates a world of crap, sold to people who don’t know better. It creates a world of groups, defined by wealth, which ridicules humanity. The concept of democracy is we are all equal. The concept of monetary fame is that we are absolutely not. Money does not equal democracy and democracy does not equal money.

    We pay federal elected officials well so they won’t accept bribes and seemingly it doesn’t work at all, as it appears that one party has sold itself out to the concept of money is everything, their god to worship. They seem to be religious but their definition of religion seems to be that money is the end all, be all. The supporters of this party seem to be made up of wealthy at the top and people who think violence is the only way to win and that winning is the point of life. They have zero understanding of life, of liberty, humanity. They are so nearsighted that they can’t see reality right in front of them. That their side is screwing them royally for monetary gain over everything else. That the people they think are their leaders actually despise them. They are ignoring history that shows that this behavior has been repeated over and over and over and has always failed in the end. Always. Because it is about monetary gain, not life. Life in this scenario has no value, the only value is money.

    Money is the means in life, it is not the end point.

  197. 197.

    Mike E

    All this isn’t occurring in a media vacuum, just sayin’…never turn your back on the MSM toting the centrist/bothsides narrative since reporting the gop obstructionism and strangling of our democracy just isn’t good for business

  200. 200.

    trollhattan

    The California atmospheric river/bomb cyclone/bigass storm hit during the night and what a great day for sleeping in, which is how I greeted things. Sleep is underrated.

    The rain is glorious but I could do without the wind. Supposed to last at least a full day more, guess we can declare an end to the interminable 2021 fire season

    Happy Sunday!

  203. 203.

    kindness

    Maybe it’s that I just don’t travel in the correct circles, but I don’t really see the left going after Kamela lately.  Those of ’em that voted for Jill Stein in ’16 continue to think that Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.  Yea I know some of them.  They get the 30 day ignore on FB regularly cause I don’t want to unfriend them.  They’re good folk. seriously poor equivalence evaluation values, that’s all.

  205. 205.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @SpaceUnit: You do know that mere blog commenters don’t necessarily comment on demand, and that some even have lives outside the blogosphere, right?

  206. 206.

    debbie

    Huh, my absentee ballot was dropped off, verified, and accepted that same day. I feel I should be suspicious or something. ??‍♀️

  207. 207.

    Baud

    @Another Scott:

    Wow.  That is a form of Warren’s wealth tax.  Fascinating.

    ETA: Unrealized capital gains is where most of the income and wealth inequality lies.  It’s not cash sitting in a bank.

    ETA2: Technically, still in an income tax though, but very close to what Warren was aiming for.

  209. 209.

    Kayla Rudbek

    I tried out some of the LED scrunchies on my bike ride yesterday and again on the current bike ride today. So far it seems that the safety yellow-green was a lot more visible than the orange (drivers giving much more distance). I have 9 more colors in the package to work my way through and test. The only two problems so far I can see are 1) replacing the battery is going to involve cutting and sewing and 2) washing them will be a pain. I should probably see whether the local running shoe store also would sell something like these.

  213. 213.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Ruckus: Hear hear.

    From Sparta to Imperial Japan, it always goes the same.

    When you make life cheap, everything else gets very expensive, very quick.

  214. 214.

    debbie

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    Is there any way to wrap it around the bike’s rear fender? Or something visible from behind? At least you wouldn’t have to worry about washing them.

    I saw something on FB the other day. Two police horses had LEDs trailing down their tails.

  215. 215.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @debbie: putting it onto the bike frame or the rack or the bike bag would get it much more dirty than wearing it in my hair. I don’t think that I could attach it to my helmet very well (I would just go with a helmet light for that).

    I did see barrettes with trailing strands of LEDs on Amazon, so that might be what the horses had (or something similar and more specialized).

  218. 218.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Another Scott:

    Very cool news. Is this Sinema’s “billionaire’s tax” that was being mentioned above? Either way, it seems Sienma/Manchin appear (fingers crossed) to be giving into pressure from progressives for a more progressive tax policy

  220. 220.

    trollhattan

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    Sorry, what’s an LED scrunchie?

    Cycling in traffic I have blinkie tail and headlights even in broad daylight–do they make a difference? Impossible to tell but I believe they help reduce folks entering my path from the right and turning left coming from the opposite direction. I doubt they have any effect on texting drivers.

    My city bike has reflective stripes on the tires that reflect headlights at night–not that I ride much at night but sometimes get caught out after dark.

    In driver mode, I’m shocked at how common lightless and reflectorless bikes are at night, with riders inevitably wearing dark clothing. Doubt they have any idea whatsoever how dangerous that is.

  222. 222.

    Jackie

    @trollhattan: The same storm is wetting down WA. It’s our first real rain in the desert southeastern part of the state since spring. Perfect couch potato football dozing through weather!???

  223. 223.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:

    Nice! IMHO this is the wettest storm in several years–we had nothing like it the last two, for sure.

    They cancelled today’s Sacramento Ironman race. Guess I can imagine swimming and running, but a hundred miles of cycling? Just nope.

  225. 225.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie:

    My agenda to a tee: bouncing among football, Formula 1, Pac12 WoSo. Can popcorn be far off?

    Titans smacking Chiefs around like ragdolls.

  227. 227.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    I owned a bicycle/triathlon store so yes I’ve heard of ridiculous competition events.

    2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run

    Just a day in the outdoors. I’m 72 yrs young, just got back from a 2 mile brisk walk, I’ve only lost about 2 minutes over my best time per mile over the last 12 yrs. I try to do 8-10 miles a week. I learned how to Olympic speed walk from one of our employees about 40 yrs ago, couldn’t do that now if I wanted to.

  229. 229.

    Geminid

    @trollhattan: I like to see bicyclists on the country roads around here. They generally are very careful, except for one thing: some wear dark jersies. When out in the sunlight they are quite visible. But when they hit a shady stretch they just about disappear, especially on a bright day.

  231. 231.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:

    Before my homeowner-dad phase I cycled lots, up to double-centuries. Cycling is generally a fair-weather activity here in Cali, but a day like today would be just massively hard to endure, much less top it off with a marathon.

    It was supposed to be a qualifier for the actual Ironman in Hawaii and IDK whether there’s another opportunity for that.

  234. 234.

    SpaceUnit

    At the risk of flogging a dead horse, I’d like to point out that my objections to the tweet up top (claiming that the far left was more terrified by Obama than was the right) is as much about the term “far left” as anything else.  What constitutes the far left?  Is it AOC?  Bernie Sanders?  The political left isn’t a mirror of the right, and one needs to be more distinct.

    The term “far left” is like an ism.  It’s vague.  It’s like the word “socialism’.  One person hears it and envisions Medicare and the county recreation center.  Another person sees Red Square in Moscow.

    The danger is that one will paint as racist an entire faction of the Democratic Party that is pressing for such things as universal health care, higher marginal tax rates, greater income equality, free college tuition, government subsidized child care, reproductive rights, voting rights, etc., etc.  It’s also a faction that overwhelmingly supports the BLM movement.

    I consider myself a moderate progressive.  I’m sure as hell no Bernie-bro, but I support all the above.  Am I far left?  Fuck if I know.  What I do know is that the idea that the ‘far left’ is terrified of Black political power plays right into the age-old GOP talking point that it’s the Democrats who are the real racists and that the party is like a plantation.  It’s really, really unhelpful.  I don’t doubt for a minute that there are racist Democrats, but damn.

    Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest.  Hope I didn’t piss anyone off.  I’m going to turn off the computer and go for a walk now.  The horse, it is dead.

  238. 238.

    Starfish

    @SpaceUnit: There was a very white brand of leftism, especially on Twitter. A lot of them were DSA. Their leadership consisted of white men. If they had a woman leading them, it was a young and attractive woman. Some of them are going to not vote this year in the local elections because they have not found a perfect candidate, when people who want to give police more funding to do homeless sweeps are very different from people who want to build more housing. It is a ridiculous stance by ridiculous people.

    Black voters do not usually have their issues on the platform. And even if they do, we end up where we are now with a bunch of people not treating voting rights as a very serious issue but as something that can be negotiated away to Sinema and Manchin.

  240. 240.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SpaceUnit: to my mind, the far left, which I think of the anti-Democratic Left, are the people who think, and say, and campaign on the idea that the obstacle to those goals are Joe Biden, or Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, or Al Gore….

  241. 241.

    Lum’s Better Half

    @SpaceUnit: The key point is that the Left is the Enemy, responsible for any bad or insufficiently good event.

    They posses every negative thought, attitude, or attribute you can imagine, simultaneously or one at a time, as needed.

  242. 242.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Lum’s Better Half: They posses every negative thought, attitude, or attribute you can imagine, simultaneously or one at a time, as needed.

    Including you being wrong with this comment.

  243. 243.

    Baud

    @SpaceUnit:

    To the extent the “far left” gets criticized by me and others, it’s almost always not about the policies they push but their approach to politics and political change, which too often has the effect, if not the intent, of promoting Republicanism.

    For me, they were a much bigger problem in the Obama years than they have been in 2021.

  248. 248.

    MisterForkbeard

    @trollhattan: The rain here is nuts. I’ve been out three times and the last time I nearly flooded the car on an industrial street that was unexpectedly deep – I’ve got a low-riding Volt so this isn’t as impressive as it sounds, but I got a wave of water over the hood of the car at one point.

    The water was probably about 16″ deep normally. Just nuts.

  249. 249.

    PJ

    @Steeplejack: Opinions differ, etc:  Agave is fine for Delaware (not known for its Mexican food), but not in any way exceptional.  The people who work there are very nice, though.

  252. 252.

    Cameron

    @Steeplejack: Have you been to Troeg’s in Hershey?  My personal favorite craft brewers – I used to go to their old brewery in Harrisburg.  They have good food, too.  Only problem is they limit distribution to a couple states; I can’t get it in Florida.

  253. 253.

    smith

    I think one reason for the strange tweet asserting that “the far left” is racist is the fact that some of the Very Online Very Left do tend to decry what they call “identity politics,” that is, focusing on the injustices wrought by racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc rather than on economic injustice. The economic policies advanced by progressives undoubtedly would provide great benefits to minorities, women, and LGBTQ people, as they would to anyone who is not already wealthy. However, the idea that the structural barriers these groups face would melt away if the progressive economic program were enacted is a fantasy, kind of like the libertarian fantasy that the roads would continue to be maintained in their version of utopia.

    But a distaste for “identity politics” is not a general characteristic of progressives, who are among the most dedicated supporters of BLM, and other social justice movements. The Very Online Very Left is vocal but not large, and does not represent the progressive wing of the Democratic party, nor a majority of the progressives not willing to identify as Dem.

  254. 254.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SpaceUnit: I think there are multiple “far lefts” and the ones that are trouble don’t identify as Democrats–in fact, they’ve made an identity of hating Democrats, as intensely as Republicans do. Some of them aren’t even really leftists in any concrete sense but adopt the left-radical label as a pose.

    The progressive wing in Congress, by and large, is fine.

  255. 255.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    One of my bike shop customers, a younger lady (4 months!) had been a runner most of her life, took up triathlon. She worked at it and qualified for Kona, if I recall she got 3rd or 4th in her age group. This was about 12-13 yrs ago. She is an amazing athlete and besides that a rather nice person. There are other qualifiers but for the weather to be bad enough to cancel an Ironman qualifier it must be extreme -crap. Back in the day I worked that event at a booth with the above lady, she sold jewelry she made and T-Shirts she had silk screened. Nice event.

  256. 256.

    Ruckus

    BTW Anne

    I do try to be a joyous person. Life is to short not to at least try. And there are enough days that drain any joy out of you even without any extra effort, that at least trying is worth the effort.

    So thanks for the post, yours truly, a joyful Ruckus.

  257. 257.

    Kay

    For the first time in two years, The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles played host this week to one of the most gilded events in high finance.
    More than 2,000 people gathered at the Milken Institute Global Conference, the elite get-together organised by the one-time “junk bond king” Michael Milken.

    But there was also much to celebrate. Since the pandemic interruption, hedge funds and private equity firms — many founded by Milken’s underlings at the defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert — have prospered as asset prices soared to all-time highs and political gridlock snuffed out the chance of systemic change.

    That was not the case for someone who turned out to be one of the conference’s biggest draws: Bari Weiss, the provocateur and self-styled free speech martyr.
    Her appeal to older financiers was known but it became crystal clear when her session entitled “Talking Back to Cancel Culture” drew a capacity crowd that left some stuck outside in a queue. Weiss spent several minutes criticising her former employer The New York Times and decried what she called the “philosophy of woke”.
    At one point Weiss compared her professional travails to the life of Galileo Galilei, the Italian scientist who was forced to renounce his views on heliocentrism to avoid being burnt at the stake. Her interviewer, the conservative political pollster, Frank Luntz, implored Weiss to throw her hat in the ring for the open US Senate seat in Weiss’ home state of Pennsylvania, an idea that was greeted with a burst of applause, marking the rare Milken conference talk where those in the audience were not fiddling with their phones.

  260. 260.

    RaflW

    Reading groove_sdc’s tweet just motivates me even more to see Kamala Harris as Potus some day. I know some view her time as a prosecutor makes some Dems anxious, but among the current field of possibles, I think she’d be a great first ever Black woman president.

  261. 261.

    RaflW

    @Kay: Oh lordy. A other grievance farmer who thinks she’s qualified to wrangle policy and have her votes whipped by evil old turtle/waddle Mitch.

    What a fucking grotesquery our politics is.

  262. 262.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:

    Total respect for the self-discipline and focus required to do one of these events. My over/under on how many times the thought of quitting pops into the head during one: 50.

    My hunch is the CHP advised them to cancel, because the bike route is mostly on rural roads that are likely flooded in dozens of spots right now.

    Rain tally at the house since midnight is 3.7 inches. Our total for the last water year was 7.9 inches.

  264. 264.

    germy

    Sinema:

    It's so funny when people call her behavior political suicide. She's been absolutely assured that she'll be taken care of. She'll get insanely good no-show board positions not only as a kickback but as the newest brochure for selling out https://t.co/wUYhBXRlpO

    — warrior cop (@wyatt_privilege) October 21, 2021

    gonna piss off all my followers with some real talk: wrecking the dem party agenda as part of a personal grift is extremely on brand for a former green party pol

    — Michael (@_FleerUltra) October 21, 2021

  265. 265.

    smith

    @Kay: Yeah, Bari Weiss declares she’s being cancelled in an ongoing series of high-profile media appearances. Meanwhile, anonymous teachers are being fired for suggesting slavery might not have been an unalloyed good.

  269. 269.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    There would be injuries with that much rain. The swim might be OK. Might. The bike and run portions would suck donkey balls. Massive, swollen donkey balls. And a chance that someone might die ridding/running in that much rain. Way too big a chance.

  271. 271.

    Another Scott

    Happy Halloween! TheHill:

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated on Sunday that Democrats would reach an agreement this week on President Biden’s social spending bill.

    “We have 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    “I think we are pretty much there now,” Pelosi said when asked if an agreement would be reached before the president leaves for Europe on Friday.

    Pelosi also said that the scaled-back plan is still set for an Oct. 31 vote, when federal highway funding expires.

    “There was no deadline that was missed because of the progressives. The deadline was missed because they changed from $3.5 [trillion] to one half of that,” Pelosi added.

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are “almost there” on an agreement on a social safety net bill which would also allow the bipartisan infrastructure bill to move forward.

    “I think we pretty much have a deal now,” she tells @jaketapper. “…I think we’re pretty much there now.” pic.twitter.com/i5OG4SzAGN

    — State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 24, 2021
    “Because the bill is not written yet, we hope it will be written today and introduced tomorrow, only then can the joint tax committee evaluate what it brings in,” Pelosi noted of plans to fund the new plan.

    When asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if she was frustrated by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-Ariz.) opposition to the initial $3.5 trillion package, Pelosi said she was “respectful of everybody’s point of view.”

    During a CNN town hall last Thursday, Biden indicated some concern that Sinema’s opposition to tax increases for wealthy individuals and corporations could cause problems in terms of funding the final package. But on Sunday, Pelosi was less concerned.

    “We’re going to fully pay for the plan. We will probably more than pay for the plan,” she told Tapper.

    Pelosi acknowledged the new package was far less than initially proposed but said that the plan would be “transformative.”

    “It is less than we had projected to begin with, but it is still bigger than anything we’ve ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families,” she said.

    (Emphasis added.)

    Take the win, celebrate the win, and build on it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  278. 278.

    Kropacetic

    @Kay:Weiss compared her professional travails to the life of Galileo Galilei, the Italian scientist who was forced to renounce his views on heliocentrism to avoid being burnt at the stake.

    Except, say, if Galileo had a contemporary who was a geocentrist and that person got rich speaking in public about how they weren’t allowed to speak in public.  That would be Bari Weiss.

  280. 280.

    JAFD

    @Steeplejack: ​
     A couple of decades, when I drove US 13 regularly, I figured on three hours from Philly to the Delaware-Maryland line, an hour thru Maryland, two more to Va Beach…
    Adjust depending on where in ‘Philadelphia’ you’re starting.

  285. 285.

    JAFD

    @Mike in NC: ​
     Also the ’50’s. And the ’40’s and ’30’s. The world was a lot more sexist back then (I was there), though few people noticed it at that time. (and I think the world’s gotten better in my lifetime. ((born 1950, I was))

  288. 288.

    Another Scott

    @debbie:
    YouTube (At around 1:28)

    Sudeikis – I’m you! From 8 years ago!

    Johnson – How can you be me? You see so happy, so care-free, so … what’s the word I’m looking for?

    Sudeikis – Lucid!

    Johnson – Bingo!

    It’s a little thing, but it bothered me. YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  289. 289.

    Lige

    I’ve alwaysthought that it was expected by the founders that ex-presidents would join (or rejoin) the senate.  Following the model of the Roman Republic.  I think Washington set such a precedent that it never happened.

  290. 290.

    AxelFoley

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Obama does not owe us SHIT.  He devoted his life to public service, gave us the greatest president we had had in living memory, and he got staggering amounts of ingratitude for it from all sides.  His reward was Donald fucking Trump.

    Yes, I am heated about this.  We have no right to ask anything more of that man.  He has gone wildly above and beyond the call of duty.

    This.

    ALL THIS.

  292. 292.

    AxelFoley

    @satby: 

    @Starfish: no one is yelling.

    Edit: and they’re already extremely involved in their foundation and in building the Obama library in Chicago, which is planned to be much more than a library.

    Exactly. They are staying active in politics and activism, but doing so on their terms. And that activism is one reason President Obama has said many times is why he would NOT become a Supreme Court Justice. He’s stated plenty of times (for those who keep pushing for it) that he can do way more through activism than on the bench.

  293. 293.

    AxelFoley

    @Kristine:@Dorothy A. Winsor: @artem1s: Dick Durbin is 76–he’ll be 82 or so when his current term ends. That may be enough time for Michelle to reconsider public life.

     

    Stop. Just stop.

    Michelle has constantly said that she would NEVER consider running for office. She admits she doesn’t have the inclination for it. Why folks continue to say they want her to run for office when she has continuously said she’d never do it is beyond me.

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