BREAKING: Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced to life in prison, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man. https://t.co/fDGUym1sq4
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 7, 2022
My controversial opinion is that you shouldn't have to stand in line for either of these things, since they both ought to be available for free via USPS express priority shipping pic.twitter.com/peJerRCKm8
— G. Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris) January 7, 2022
Mark your calendars: Speaker Pelosi invites President Biden to give SOTU address on Tuesday, March 1.https://t.co/gyqbrJ7okt
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 7, 2022
SiubhanDuinne
Nice timing, Nancy SMASH! March 1 is the first day of Women’s History Month, and elevated immediately behind the President will be the country’s first woman Vice President and first woman Speaker of the House. The symmetry and symbolism rock!
Roger Moore
I’m not a fan of life without parole sentences. It’s not so much because I don’t believe some people should spend the rest of their lives in prison as it is because I think it displays a lack of faith in the parole system. I don’t think these monsters are going to get parole whether they’re theoretically eligible or not.
Alison Rose
It’s cute how Republicans think they understand humor.
Baud
Expect a Supreme Court Justice to make that point in the next voting rights case.
Mike E
To think: if those crackers didn’t video their lynching they wouldn’t now be sentenced to life, let alone be in jail at all; also, leave it to the fcuking GOP to “those people” their own base, they so deserve each other; and, March 1st is the latest date for a modern president’s SOTU address.
Ruviana
Lani Guinier died today at 71. RIP.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Also Mardi Gras, which feels odd.
The Dangerman
If you can afford an airplane, a yacht, or similar extravagance, you can afford to pay your taxes.
Baud
@Mike E:
A lot of Omicron will hopefully have burned through by then.
mrmoshpotato
David Brooks is still full of shit. (Yeah, no revelation around here.)
Apparently, Biden won not because people wanted him to be elected, but because people hate the Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain.)
Spanky
I’m just glad Nancy didn’t set March 15 as the date.
Ken
Didn’t the GOP used to criticize the Soviet Union because people had to stand in line for everything?
debbie
@Mike E:
Take heart: Someone saw fit to leak it.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
I don’t know if I would trust the GA parole board to keep them in prison.
Baud
@Ken:
Those were white people standing in line.
SiubhanDuinne
Just learned (on Joy Reid’s show) that Lani Guinier died today (71). Between her and Sidney Poitier, this is a sad day for anyone who care about civil rights.
Steeplejack (phone)
@The Dangerman:
Excellent! ?
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (phone):
So I guess Senator John Neely Kennedy won’t be giving the Republican rebuttal.
SiubhanDuinne
@Spanky:
“TOGA PARTY!!”
Poe Larity
Maybe we should move all gun sales to the DMV and see how they feel about rights and lines.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
That’s young.
sab
@mrmoshpotato: I thought he won because Black women told us to vote for him because he is a good guy and a dependable ally. That’s why I voted for him.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Very.
Brachiator
@Ken:
Valid criticism. People had to stand in line because of shortages of all kinds of products. This was a reflection of the inefficiency of communism.
prostratedragon
71 is indeed young, per this soon-to-be 70-year-old. Was just absorbing the news about Mr. Poitier, having been away from news for several hours.
The Guardian has one of its typically good photo galleries of Sydney Poitier through the years.
apocalipstick
@Baud: My personal Ouija board points to… P. A. R. D. O. N.
Nukular Biskits
@Mike E:
Agreed. 1.21 Gigatimes.
It makes a body wonder how often “principled law-abidin’ conservatives” (i.e., racist white people) literally get away with murder because the justice system is automatically tilted against a person of color who happens to be the victim of a crime.
Brachiator
@mrmoshpotato:
Why would Brooks even be revisiting the election? Slow news day?
You could see even from the Democratic primaries that there was an enthusiasm for Biden on the part of voters. And this held true in the general election.
The only way that Brooks could be more stupid would be for him to say “Bernie coulda won.”
gene108
I had a prescription screw up. I spent an hour at Walgreens trying to straighten it out.
One guy came in without a mask. He was there for his COVID booster. My brain just froze in confusion. The dude is aware enough to get his booster, but doesn’t make the connection on the need to mask.
I don’t understand some people.
Roger Moore
@The Dangerman:
How am I supposed to afford the good stuff in life if you make me pay for moochers and looters?
Baud
@apocalipstick:
I don’t know. That would really goose turnout for Dems. They just lost two Senate seats.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
“Trump actually won” is several steps dumber, but there are plenty of people saying it. No matter how far down you go, there are people who will go further.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: Because he’s a Republican asshole. (Redundant, I know)
Mike in NC
I’m about a third of the way through “The Plot to Betray America” by Malcolm Nance. My hatred for the Trump Crime Cartel is incandescent.
MomSense
Mom, youngest and I all tested negative again today. Phew. Back at it tomorrow.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I guess I’m dense tonight, but I don’t understand this line at all.
phdesmond
@SiubhanDuinne:
a nice visualization!
Another Scott
We might start hearing more chatter soon about a “new” variant detected in a person from Cameroon. We need to keep our wits about us.
DW.com
(Way down in the story…)
No matter what the validity of this particular report, it’s good to remember that uncontrolled reproduction means increased opportunity for mutations and variants.
:-(
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@MomSense:
?
@SiubhanDuinne:
Sorry. They refers to the GOP.
Baud
@Another Scott:
There are always all kinds of new variants. Most don’t replicate well.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Oh, okay, thanks. Pesky ambiguous antecedent.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
@gene108: The pharmacist that gave me my booster wasn’t wearing a mask. Takes all kinds, including imbeciles, apparently.
UncleEbeneezer
Good (but scary) Twitter thread about all the bad stuff that Covid does to the body. Might be a good one for the daily Covid posts.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
I bet there are lots of people out there like that who just want to be done with the pandemic who took it more seriously in the past
Another Scott
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: Lots of stores around here in NoVA still have signs that say things like, “we recommend our unvaccinated guests wear masks…”. Too many people aren’t going to change their behavior until it’s required.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
That could apply to about 80% of my forebears.
:)
Mike in NC
@SiubhanDuinne: “Must See TV”, as the saying goes.
opiejeanne
@SiubhanDuinne:
@SiubhanDuinne: I was confused too, but that seems to be my natural state half of the time.
A Ghost to Most
Sorry to intrude. A Black person in the WaPo comments for this story asked why white people were celebrating. I said I was because this will make my racist brother nervous. They said it was a good answer. YMMV.
mrmoshpotato
Via bluegal
stinger
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s wonderful! I hadn’t thought about that date except to think that a lot of dates are getting pushed back in hopes Covid will ameliorate some. But I’ll bet the symbolism was a big factor!
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
i still take it seriously and want to be done with it – especially for my too-young-to-be-vaccinated-yet family members.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Good to hear!
Jay
One Day off,
got a call and text from work, “can you come in?”
Nobody on open, nobody on bridge, Covid.
Closed the night before, so got home at 10:30pm, then supper, kill brain, in bed by 2am, woke up at 2 pm. Called them back, said I could make it in by 5pm. Closer starts at 5:30pm.
They know all this, saw all this coming, but were too cheap, ( Corp) to over schedule, over hire, and now they are €ucked.
they passed on me doubling up on close, so tomorrow will continue the $hitshow.
Ken
I just did grocery shopping, and in the checkout lane is this week’s People: “Betty White Turns 100”. Made me a bit sad.
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
Well, mine too. But I’m damned if I’m going to admit that to Baud.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
I actually bought a copy last Saturday, just a day after she died. I rarely pick up magazines any more — and sheeyit! are they ever expensive?! — but this seemed like a real collector’s item, so I splurged.
Ohio Mom
@Ken: I saw the Betty White issue of People when I was on the checkout line yesterday. I’d thought it would have been a collector’s item and snatched up, but those copies just stood there forlornly.
ETA: I see SiubhanDuinne thinks the way I do. And yes, magazines are outrageously expensive if you are buying single issues. I think subscriptions are still reasonable.
Kent
I was thinking that. Probably strategic timing so Biden can hopefully talk about re-opening and beating Covid.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Even more of a collector’s item now.
opiejeanne
@SiubhanDuinne: (Maybe he won’t notice our conversation.)
Baud
@opiejeanne:
What conversation?
The Dangerman
After further review, I assume the Texas GOP is complaining about mail in voting. Can someone explain to me the difference between mail in voting and absentee voting?
If they want to do away with absentee voting, there are some military and Seniors that want to have a talk with them.
Kent
If the governor of Georgia pardoned Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers it would drive huge turnout by outraged Dems in the upcoming Governor’s election
At least that’s what I took him to mean.
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
AFAIK the Betty White 100th birthday party, “In select theaters one day only,” is still scheduled for the 17th.
Matt McIrvin
@The Dangerman: Usually absentee voting requires giving some kind of excuse (from a list of valid excuses) for not showing up in person, whereas mail-in voting is available to anyone.
Massachusetts actually has separate and parallel absentee-voting and mail voting systems–which sounds absurd, but the absentee system has been around longer and existed for all elections, whereas universal mail voting for its first few years was only available for the really big elections. But in 2020 they extended it to everything–who knows if that will continue.
NotMax
Open Thread?
Something for the doggy folk.
RSA
I can’t read minds, but I’m guessing that the convicted killers of Ahmaud Arbery wouldn’t have thought twice on reading “Three Black men who chased and killed a White man were sentenced to life in prison…”
There’s probably a variation on the Golden Rule that applies here, along the lines of “What you have done unto others, expect to have done unto you.”
MagdaInBlack
@NotMax: I love that bat eared little face, thank you ?
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Oak Park, IL is still planning to celebrate her life on what would’ve been her 100th birthday.
SiubhanDuinne
@mrmoshpotato:
It makes me so happy that my home town of Oak Park honours her children in this way, no matter how far they’ve traveled or what they’ve done. I look forward to my own celebration in due course.
:-)
mrmoshpotato
Via bluegal
Shocked and surprised? Wanna bet?
Suzanne
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us:
Ughhhh. And LOL. And ughhhhhh.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kent:
It was the line I bolded that had me confused, but Baud explained it.
It was kind of a lame excuse, but I bought it.
:-)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato: I’m trying to think of Republicans, current electeds or not, whose participation in Jan 6 would “shock and surprise” me.
Five, six years ago, if I knew what a “never trumper” was, I would’ve thought Brit Hume, Byron York and Rich Lowry would be NT. I would’ve thought Jonah Goldberg and Linda Chavez (to the extent I was still thinking about her) would be all in with The Beast and grabbing what ever they could along the ride. Jennifer Rubin and Mona Charen have also surprised me, even if I didn’t necessarily think of them as grifters.
Another Scott
Yet more warnings that we shouldn’t be sanguine about Omicron (if we were tempted to be):
(Points to his NYMag Intelligencer story)
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: Don’t give him any ideas.
debbie
@UncleEbeneezer:
Doesn’t sound like anything we should be accepting as endemic. //
SiubhanDuinne
@Ohio Mom:
Well, the one I bought was the last copy, at least in that particular checkout lane. That fact might have subliminally whispered “scarcity” to me and prompted the impulse purchase, now I think about it.
SiubhanDuinne
@opiejeanne:
Shhhhhhhh.
@Baud:
NUUUUH-thing. ?
schrodingers_cat
Guys India is hurtling towards a point of no return. Every single day there is a new outrage. There have been open calls for genocide in several different cities. Grotesque cyberbullying of prominent Muslims and Dalits by pro BJP handles. This includes an app made to “auction” prominent Muslim women who are vocal on social media and IRL. None of this is getting much coverage in the media here.
Suzanne
@Another Scott: That story has the only mention of HAIs (hospital-acquired infections), aka nosocomial infections, that I have seen during this Omicron wave. HAIs are always a terrible problem is hospitals.
By some counts, even pre-pandemic, HAIs are one of the top ten causes of death in the country. I have been thinking that Omicron is going to cause a lot of HAIs.
patrick II
@Mike E:
It may take Garland another month to indict Trump. Actually, or maybe additionally, I think it will give a little time for Omicron to slow down and give Biden an opportunity to talk about other things.
Of course, @Baud: already said that.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax: It is. Fathom Events have updated their blurb:
?BillinGlendaleCA
About 43,700 new positive cases in LA County today, positivity rate is over 22%.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
This is terrible. Since it’s not getting much if any coverage here, can you direct us to a reliable English-language news source? And since few if any of us have the resources to amplify the story via media, please suggest what we can do in a concrete way to help.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodingers_cat: the whole damn world has slipped its moorings, it seems
patrick II
@Brachiator:
In the real world, things are usually a result of more than one cause. Both enthusiasm for Biden and disdain for Putin’s bitch were factors in the election.
At times though I think we mistake Republican media for being dumb when they actually are writing to their purpose. In Bobo’s case, he is giving Republicans who aren’t totally crazy reason to believe in Biden’s weakness and the possible strength of a different Republican candidate. His purpose isn’t truthful observation but political advancement of the Republican political agenda.
dr. bloor
@RSA:
Don’t overlook the potential for outrage because the Black guys avoided the gas chamber.
Gravenstone
@mrmoshpotato: Yeah, I’m guessing anyone who’s been paying attention will be like, “And?…”
Kent
No, its not getting coverage here. Does this have the potential to worsen relations with Pakistan and cause and international conflict/war? Or is this an internal India matter?
Peale
@Another Scott: Yeah. Its not like Omicron didn’t come ashore without any forewarning that its coming. The divergence in experience between the unvaccinated and vaccinated between Europe and the US can probably be explained that the fully vaccinated in the US are so used to just withdrawing from social commitments at this point because our unvaxxed friends and relatives are so vocal about it that we started shutting down before Christmas. The people who are most likely to be masking up and going back to bubble living are the triple vaxxed.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: It would be shocking if it didn’t. :-(
CaliforniaHealthline (from December 23):
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Peale
@mrmoshpotato: Betty White, Dolly Parton and Steve Irwin were in on the plotting. Steve’s not actually dead. Any day now he’s going to reveal himself in Dallas.
Kent
@Peale: I read somewhere that if the United States was divided up into two countries, Blue America (Democrats) and Red America (Republicans) then Blue America would have the second or third highest vaccination rate in the developed world and Red America would be down at the bottom. No country on the planet has such a partisan divide over public health as the United States.
mrmoshpotato
@Gravenstone: Yup. It’s just going to be confirmation of traitorous trash.
Edmund Dantes
@Mike E: even worse. Videoed it and the released the video thinking it made them look good. They were going to skate if they didn’t try to fight back against the complaints about their non prosecution.
Edmund Dantes
@debbie: they leaked it themselves cause they thought it made them look good
Edmund Dantes
@mrmoshpotato: if there were Dems on the list I’d be shocked and surprised. Any gop, conservative politician or media type would not shock me one bit.
Kalakal
@schrodingers_cat: I saw a couple of articles in the Guardian and one on the BBC websites respectively about that vile ‘auction’ app, other than that more or less nothing. I don’t think I’ve seen anything in US media. Even when I do see anything about India it’s context free, any and all outrages, incendiary speeches etc are presented as one off outliers, exceptions to an otherwise benign state of affairs. It’s terrifying for many of my friends back in the UK who are frantic for family in India
Benno
@Kent:
It’s not getting any press here in Pakistan, either, at least not in the English press. Potential, though? Sure. Local do love hating on India.
Ohio Mom
@schrodingers_cat: If it weren’t for your comments, I’d have no idea about what is happening in India. The few mentions of India I see are Covid-related.
I appreciate that I have you to keep me a little updated. I have to say, your reports leave me feeling powerless and sad.
TriassicSands
@Ruviana:
There had to be some bad news today. Seventy-one is too young. She had a great mind and some excellent ideas. Ideas that don’t stand a chance in this corrupt society.
TriassicSands
@The Dangerman:
You must have flunked American Economic Logic 100*. That isn’t the way things work at all. But I give you extra credit for such a novel idea.
*Somewhere in American Economic Logic 100 there is a proof that clearly demonstrates that the ability to pay for luxury items is unrelated to the ability to pay taxes. Professor Laffer may have worked out the proof. On a napkin.
TriassicSands
@Spanky:
Et tu, Spanky?
Kalakal
@TriassicSands: I rather like the idea of using the (false) logic of Morton’s fork. As Henry VII’s Chancellor, Archbishop Morton justified a benevelence (tax) on the grounds that anyone living modestly must be saving money and so could afford to pay tax, while anyone living extravegantly was obviously rich and so could afford to pay tax. Henry was one of the few medieval monarchs that wasn’t in debt
TriassicSands
@The Dangerman:
Mail-in voting is what Democrats do and it is 100% fraudulent.
Absentee voting is what elderly Republicans do and it is 100% safe and legitimate.
Here in Washington State, where we’ve had all mail-in voting for years, Governor Jay Inslee received 0 votes (plus or minus 10) yet the “official” tally gave him 56% in a stolen election over the moderate Republican candidate Loren Culp. Culp, not a tyrant like Inslee, is opposed to masks, vaccines, clean air, clean water, life, etc. All the moderate positions. The 41% of the vote that was fraudulently given to Culp held a certain poetry as it is equal to his IQ.
L85NJGT
Well alright then….
Citizen Alan
@The Dangerman: It’s almost adorable that you think the GOP would hesitate to ban absentee voting but have an exception for senior citizens, the military, and cops.
Mai Naem mobile
@L85NJGT: yeah, but the fact Kamala Harris doesn’t use blue tooth is so much more important.
Lani Guinier died of Alzheimers. Ugh. That is just a sad way to die.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mai Naem mobile:
at 71? Yeesh. I hadn’t heard that
Mai Naem mobile
Anybody see this: https://www.bridgemi.com/children-families/sister-law-ex-mi-house-speaker-lee-chatfield-sexually-assaulted-me-teen
There’s just so much wrong here. The former Speaker of the Michigan House – GOP, of course, was allegedly messing around with a 15-16 year old while he was an adult and a teacher/coach at her so called Christian school run by his daddy. It allegedly continued even after he got married and even when he became a legislator and cherry on top, this woman became his sister in law. Got to make for some interesting Thanksgiving family get togethers.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mai Naem mobile: The GOP is just a freak show.
Chetan Murthy
@Mai Naem mobile:
GOPGrOPers: Rapists, child molesters, and their enablers, one and all.Ruckus
Republicans want this country to revert to what they think it was, over 250 yrs ago, not 20 yrs ago. And they are wrong about either timeline and about what this country stands for. The point is that they do not want a democracy, they want a slave state. They want anyone who doesn’t look like them or stand up to pee, to be slaves, to fill their every want and desire and give them all the money while doing it. And that’s not a democracy, nor is it the way life works. They want to be on top, at all times, and that’s not how a democracy works. They want wars so they figure they can steal all the money, because they sure as hell can’t actually earn it. They want TFG because that’s exactly what he wants – and expects.
I understand that I don’t get what I didn’t earn. Conservatives have in no way earned anything in this country, not for the last over 6 decades, and often before that. They want to be given everything, and they earn nothing but disrespect. And as this country and every other country become more populated the concept that some are better, should be far wealthier, and have to pay far less for their freedom becomes a far worse concept of humanity. Conservatives want no part of actual democracy, because that makes their selfish philosophy obvious. And that is exactly what they are at the base of their “ideals” – selfish.
Chetan Murthy
@Ruckus:
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Dahlia
@Ruckus: It’s the Triumph of the Id.
Chetan Murthy
@SiubhanDuinne: A lovely story about Sidney Poitier from the first Broadway performance of the play A Raisin In The Sun.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/1/7/2073271/-This-is-a-story-about-Sidney-Poitier-that-my-grandfather-used-to-tell
Mary G
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
Hadn’t seen that before. Great minds think alike.
Now I need to know who is the other great mind – the one like Galbraith.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Thank you.
How have you been, not sure but you seem to not be commenting as much.
danielx
@Ruckus:
Applause.
The Dangerman
This feels like the quiet before a serious series of bigfoots.
James E Powell
@TriassicSands:
It’s simple. Buying luxury items creates jobs! Whereas paying taxes just leads to waste, fraud, and abuse or, even worse, those people getting free stuff.
trnc
Of course they can. I mean, the tax bill only comes out to about $35 for them.
Still have to put up a fight for appearances sake.
Sebastian
@SiubhanDuinne:
A Master’s pen always writes masterfully. Beautiful.
Did you ever find your Christmas onions?
Sebastian
@Kalakal:
That’s genius.