Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Republicans do not trust women.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Excellent Read: What Rep. Andy Kim Saw, After the Insurrection

Excellent Read: What Rep. Andy Kim Saw, After the Insurrection

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Please read the whole thing — it’s beautiful, thoughtful, and ends on a note of hope…

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  5. 5.

    geg6

    Looking at that tweet and reading to the end was moving.  Andy Kim is a true patriot.

    Noticed that below the tweet was a lot of mention of Willie Nelson and it sounds like Trumpers are pissed off about something he said or did.  Good, whatever it was.

  6. 6.

    Parfigliano

    A disturbing amount of the people in this country dont want to get along and think that democracy means their way or else.  They have shown this.  It is time to believe them.

  7. 7.

    Mart

    @satby: OK then, most republicans reality is Biden is a senile buffoon who stole the election, and that number is growing over time. The USSC reality is any ruling that owns the libs is a good ruling. The media reality is in the face of an unbelievable economic recovery, exploding stock market, and full employment; inflation is bad and expect the Dems to get hosed in the mid-terms. Since Trump lost I have lost my core group of old white friends, and cannot speak to half my relatives. I will keep fighting the good fight, but fuck this kumbaya shit. It is unrealistic.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    Andy Kim is a treasure.

    Opposite in every way, less Devin Nunes probably means more Tom McClintock.

    Rep. Tom McClintock, the outspoken conservative who could play a major role in immigration policy next year if Republicans control the House, will seek reelection in a newly drawn congressional district that largely covers territory south of his current seat.

    The new 5th Congressional District captures parts of Modesto and Fresno along with the western Sierra Nevada, combining parts of districts currently held by McClintock and former Rep. Devin Nunes.

    It is staunchly Republican: Voters there would have backed former President Donald Trump in 2020 with a 12% margin of victory, according to several election-tracking organizations, a strong signal they’re likely to favor a Republican candidate in the 2022 midterms.

    Nunes, a Republican, resigned from his seat this week to lead former President Donald Trump’s social media venture. On the way out, he backed McClintock for the 5th Congressional District.

    “Tom has been a champion for the conservative movement for many years,” Nunes told the Washington Examiner last week. “He’s popular enough to run successfully anywhere in California, but I hope he continues to represent part of the San Joaquin Valley. He has my complete support.”

    McClintock, 65, an Elk Grove Republican, is seeking an eighth term. He won what was expected to be a close race in 2020 over entrepreneur Brynne Kennedy, a Democrat, by 11 points. His wife Lori died last month. A source confirmed the decision to run in the new 5th district to The Sacramento Bee.

  9. 9.

    H.E.Wolf

    What must it be like, to be the sort of person who chooses – metaphorically speaking – to trot in and poop on the carpet? The insurrectionists who shat on the floor of the Capitol Building may have been similarly motivated.

    Particularly odious when the excretion takes the form of a disparaging comment about the actions and words of a naturalized citizen (and public servant) of color.

    Rep. Kim’s decision to engage in stewardship and leadership, in service of the foundational ideals of our shared country, inspires me to do better myself.

    I thank the phantom pooper for giving me a reason to reflect on how I, too, could contribute to the making of a more perfect union….

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    Every time a post is put up that has any kind of positive message, someone comes in at a very early stage to shit all over it, then the whole thread turns into arguing with that person.

    Or what H. E. Wolf said.

  11. 11.

    rodwell

    I live in NJ, but I do not live in NJ-3.  Andy Kim represents what best about us both as Americas and New Jerseyans.  I have been donating to his campaign since he ran for the district.  I started by using a Ballon Juice thermometer.  Now I donate directly.  The good news is that the NJ redistricting committee has made NJ-3 a safer D district, so he will have an easier time winning reelection.  We need individuals like Andy Kim in Congress if we going to move forward.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

     

     

    @geg6: Willie Nelson is supporting Beto O’Rourke in the Texas Governor’s race, and will appear at a fundraiser in a couple weeks. He’s been open about supporting Democrats for decades, but some Republicans are just finding out and are dismayed. Nelson appeared on The View last week and talked about this.

  16. 16.

    kindness

    We’re where we are now because the funders/overlords of the Republican Party think they can control it more as a fractured nation.  Those billionaires & corporations are showing us this gambit seems to work.  Follow the money.  Expose the money.  The rank and file tribals in their midst?  They’re fickle.  They follow politics like reality tv shows.  We’ll never reach them.  We should try by putting the data out in 3rd grade level to make it more digestible for them.

  17. 17.

    opiejeanne

    @Geminid: Good for him.

    OT: Our son is getting married on Wednesday the 19th in Las Vegas. We have plane tickets for Monday the 17th and have been watching the airlines cancel flights the past two weeks, wondering if we will be able to go. Today I got the email saying they’d rescheduled our flight on that date for 2 hours later.  That actually works better for us because our daughter can take us to the airport, but if she can’t the shuttle for the 2 of us is reasonable.

  19. 19.

    The Truffle

    @Mart: I feel sad writing this, but I agree. You look at how the two parties handled the one year anniversary and the division is there.

    I am starting to think that this nation is past the breaking point. Unity and healing just aren’t in the cards. It’s time for Americans to have some hard, serious conversations about the next step.

  20. 20.

    Almost Retired

    @trollhattan:  You totally harshed my Sunday morning mellow by bringing up that odious carpetbagger Tom McClintock.  I had totally forgotten about him after his spate of unsuccessful statewide runs.  I had happily written him off as the current problem of the good citizens of suburban Sacramento.  But I think you’re totally right that he’ll soon be dancing back into the spotlight like Michigan J. Frog.  Sigh.

  21. 21.

    Miss Bianca

    @The Truffle:

    Unity and healing just aren’t in the cards.

    You honestly think we’re in a worse spot now than we were during the Civil War? Although it’s extremely questionable how much “unity and healing” Reconstruction brought, I just can’t buy that we’re as badly off as a nation now as we’ve been at other periods of our history.

    It’s just our misfortune that we happen to be living through another period of the turbulence brought about by this country’s being founded by racism and genocide – and our partial and half-hearted attempts at dealing with them just kicking the can further down the road.

    I’m betting that we’ll muddle through, but it will be a close thing, same as it’s always been, with a *lot* of damage and bloodshed (literal or metaphorical, or both) and *some* progress on that “liberty and justice for all” thing.

  22. 22.

    Debg

    Andy Kim is indeed a treasure. What a heart, that can see the best in us after such a horrific experience.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: I’m betting that we’ll muddle through,

    Muddling through is what democracies do.  It will always be a struggle, but if we do enough this, we will muddle through to the next crisis.  People keep think there is some ultimate win, but there isn’t.

  28. 28.

    gene108

    @rodwell:

    I live in NJ-3. I first heard him speak at a meet-and-greet at someone’s house in February 2018. He’s so far been successful in just being himself.

    I’ll have to look at the redistricting changes. I’m curious what changed.

    The district has traditionally been reliably Republican. I’m always worried about his re-election chances.

  29. 29.

    satby

    @Mart: @The Truffle: Cole calls me “crabby old lady”, so blowing sunshine up your ass isn’t my m.o. When I say reality is what you make it, I mean that very literally: we work with the reality we have to make it better. And it’s a perpetual slog, because humans get fat, lazy, and complacent and take for granted all the advances people fought, bled, and sometimes died for.

    @James E Powell: what we believe is more popular, the labels conservatives attached to those beliefs have been propagandized to make them sound frightening to people.

  31. 31.

    Ksmiami

    @Mart: I find most ppl here can’t handle negativity even if it’s realism. But some people need Optimism to keep going. I just grit my teeth and prepare

  32. 32.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: dude, I’m just girding for major tumult in the next few years… and would you prefer the term plague rats? Because whatever the GOP has become, it’s completely inhuman and dangerous for most Americans.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    @Ksmiami:

    I just grit my teeth and prepare

    That’s it?  Just grit your teeth and prepare for the worst?  Not working to get the outcome you want?

    Not a big selling point around these parts.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @Ksmiami: oh, cupcake; I’m capable of reasonable negativity.  Life isn’t a binary choice. Positing everything as though it is makes your “realism” unrealistic.

  37. 37.

    Ksmiami

    @WaterGirl: No I’m prepared to spend a lot on campaigns and make calls, stuff mailers do what I can. But I don’t expect anything to be happY and/or easy. And ps, I hate to say I told you all so wrt Manchin, but the sooner we win more senate races and kick him out of the party, the better.

  39. 39.

    Ksmiami

    @satby: it’s more I want the Dems to start bringing at least rhetorical howitzers to a knife fight. The other side is cartoonishly evil and deranged. Say it

  40. 40.

    germy

    @Mart:  and sadly has nothing to do with reality.

    Did you read Kim’s entire thread?

    Could it happen again? Would we finally unite? For a brief moment I thought what happened would be a shock to the system. Like a defibrillator pulling our country back into rhythm. The speeches were raw, talking about the need to pull together. But then something changed… 4/18 pic.twitter.com/aZuC3TZO2v

    — Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) January 6, 2022

    When speeches switched back to electoral college debate, I felt something change in the room. I watched people pull out the same speech about election fraud they were going to give before, as if the riot never happened. The prospect of unity lasted only 35min and 53 seconds. 5/18 pic.twitter.com/bq8HBBqzmx

    — Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) January 6, 2022

    That was when I knew this would not be the unifying moment we needed. Shock of Jan 6 was not enough to shatter the Big Lie. Many ask me if my colleagues who spout the Big Lie believe what they say. At that moment I knew for certain they did. They believed every single word. 6/18 pic.twitter.com/AdvV8B74sU

    — Andy Kim (@AndyKimNJ) January 6, 2022

    He sounds pretty clear-eyed to me. But he’s not giving up. We shouldn’t, either.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @Ksmiami: what you said about Manchin is the overwhelming majority opinion on this blog and has been forever, except for kicking him out of the party which would be unbelievably stupid

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ksmiami: “girding for major tumult”…or *goading* for major tumult?

    Because you never share anything of actual value – you’re just all “we’re fucked, we’ve always been fucked, we’ll always be fucked, electoral politics aren’t working, will never work, we’re all doomed, so we need to just start killing people. That’s my reasoned opinion. Because. Because I’m just such a realist. Unlike all you fabulist pussies with your ‘we’re not doomed, but we do have to get involved in saving democracy’ crap, I the realist, just *know* we have to start killing people. Which I am *totally* prepared to do, because unlike you lot I’m not just a guy on the Internet, I’m a REALIST and a REAL GODDAMN HARDASS. I am Lenin returned! Mao himself would let a thousand flowers bloom all over my face! I’m a REVOLUTIONARY, BABY!”

    Yeah, right. Blow it out your ass.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @zhena gogolia: Even if he does come through on the voting rights and BBB, we all know that creating a situation in which one senator cannot hold the entire Party hostage is vital.  Hence the fucking fundraising.

  48. 48.

    rodwell

    @gene108:

    An analysis of the new map, the commission made NJ 3 a D +9 district.  They also made NJ 11 (Mikie Sherrill) and NJ 5 (Josh Gottheimer, I know he is a Blue Dog) with a more Democratic lean.  Also, they made Jeff Van Drew (turn coat and election denior) in NJ 2 more republican. The representative in New Jersey most hurt by the new map is Tom Malinowski of NJ 7.  He is another good one.

  49. 49.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:  That’s it?  Just grit your teeth and prepare for the worst?

    That technique only works for Melania, when TFG comes sniffing around for a little marital bliss.

    The rest of us need to take a more active role.  I donate to good Democratic candidates, and my wife has been helping young people register to vote.

  50. 50.

    Raoul Paste

    @Ksmiami: i’m paraphrasing, but “the sooner we win more Senate seats and kick Manchin to the curb, the better“…

    See, now yer talkin

  51. 51.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: whatever. I’m pretty good at planning and predicting future events. It’s going to be bumpy and the other side won’t hesitate to use violence- forewarned is forearmed. This country will be a different place post pandemic. Where’s Adam S. these days?

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami: Not until there are more and better Democratic senators.  Until then, we need him, and, even then, we can still use his vote.

  57. 57.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’d be honored. Be my guest.

    I mean, sheesh…I’m the furthest thing from being a fucking Pollyanna about our political chances, but I get so sick of pre-emptive pessimism. It’s not only draining, I think it’s actively damaging.

    That’s why I cheer every time I see Woodrow/Mr Dancer’s reminders that *some* Americans have *always* lived under authoritarian rule, and *still* they get up and gird themselves and do battle for democracy and don’t give up and don’t whinge endlessly about how the American experiment is just, like, OVER, man. I need those reminders as much as anybody.

  59. 59.

    Leto

    Betty Cracker either in the post right below, or one after that, linked an article/tweet about how we need to stop talking about “saving America/democracy” and start doing it. Specifically with engaging in our local elections to help because most of the heavy lifting is done there. The WaPo ran this today, which I feel kind of underscores the point:

    A rural Washington school board race shows how far-right extremists are shifting to local power The establishment candidate thought she was a shoo-in, but she hadn’t contended with the home-schooling, anti-masking member of the far-right Three Percent movement.

    They interviewed a couple, self described “normal Dems”, who live in this area, and how they feel absolutely outnumbered/threatened in the area where they literally built their home and raised their kids. Also the article feels very similar in tone to the article that The WaPo ran about the woman who felt it was “God’s calling” to start up the birthing ranch out in TX. I.E., it feels like they’re trying to normalize the extremists.

  61. 61.

    Ksmiami

    @Miss Bianca: Most of American history has been an adventure in myth making and progress is fragile…That said,  Losing the Supreme Court for 40 years will erase the efforts of so many and I just don’t see much of a future when 30-40 percent of a population wants to live in the dark ages.

  64. 64.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: that I can be pessimistic in the short run but still work toward a better outcomes and a few wins. But let’s not kid ourselves because the barbarians really are at the door.

  66. 66.

    debbie

    Rep. Kim did some really great tweeting in the aftermath of the insurrection. He does not back down from anybody.

  67. 67.

    Miss Bianca

    @Leto: It will be interesting to see what happens with the newly-elected school board in our county. Two of the most reliably reasonable and knowledgable (and not so coincidentally, liberal) members retired rather than run again, along with the very knowledgable if very conservative Board president, who was term-limited out. They were replaced with one antivaxxer, anti-Common Core parent, one RWNJ lawyer scold with the shakes (it might be just age, but I think she’s a drunk, personally), and one person who seems conservative but might be a wild card. (I’m inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt just because I know her from my boarding stable, and she seems like a pretty good egg so far).

    The outgoing Board president *and* the Superintendent called the outgoing board one of the best they’d ever worked with. God knows what we’re in for now. Next school board meeting is Tuesday evening.

    (I’ve actually thought about running myself. However, since I’m a government meetings reporter for the legit local paper, I am automatically a Bolshevik in the eyes of most of the county. Plus – oh, God, is it thankless work, unless you are truly dedicated. Or truly ideologically committed.)

  68. 68.

    TheTruffle

    @Ksmiami: Given that there is now talk of Supreme Court reform, I doubt (maybe I’m being a Pollyanna) that it’ll be that long.

    But this goes beyond races to how people living within the borders a country feel about each other. I’ve seen it on the right for years. They make no secret of not wanting to share national borders with anyone to the left of them. And they don’t see us as fellow citizens. They are the ones baying for national divorce.

    This status quo just can’t continue. We really need to confront this situation.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    @Mart:

    I will keep fighting the good fight, but fuck this kumbaya shit. It is unrealistic.

    How in the hell do you keep fighting without a message?

    How in the hell do you keep fighting if you have nothing solid to fight for?

    How in the hell do you stand shoulder to shoulder with others to actually win that fight without talking and knowing what they think and want and without them knowing what you think and want?

    How in the hell to you understand what a country is without actually discussing it with others?

    How in the hell do you expect to succeed with out being part of a realistic communicating group?

    How in the hell do you expect to get people on your side without discussion, concepts, reality, the law?

    How in the hell do you expect to succeed without friends?

    Just a few questions for the guy who seems to be squatting here with his pants down.

  73. 73.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: we lost the supreme court for the LAST forty years. thirty percent of the country has made it clear ALREADY that they wanna live in a fascist fantasy land.

    yeah, while you’re “tellin it like it is”, looks like you missed a few things while you were busy exulting arson and violence.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: I am sorry, but that doesn’t work for me.  Look, if I can’t use white male privilege to get to the front of the line, what the fuck is the point?

  78. 78.

    Ksmiami

    @TheTruffle: There used to be room for compromise on the right, but as Barry Goldwater warned, once you get in bed with religious fundamentalism, there’s no room for a larger political landscape as they only want to impose their nursing beliefs on everyone else. And so as long as the right is all in on Pentecostal fervor, it’s a manichean war for Democracy or Authoritarianism.

  81. 81.

    TheTruffle

    @Ksmiami: In all my years as an adult, I have never gotten the impression that the right has any interest in compromise or dialogue. Whether it was an obnoxious realtor who blabbered about liberal BS and wouldn’t let me get in a comment to counter it, or the  columnists salivating at the thought of eliminationism, or the snarling about “libtards” coming from Eastern seaboard lawyers, they have never shown any interest in common ground. Now we are at the breaking point. And they are calling for a “national divorce.”

  82. 82.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ksmiami: What Adam has also done, which notably you *never do*, particularly during the dark early days of the Trump reign of (t)error, is to remind us of our obligation and privilege as citizens to hold the line – on civility, on social responsibility, on democracy itself. Rather than, you know, start literally gunning for our political enemies.

  83. 83.

    Leto

    @Miss Bianca:

    Plus – oh, God, is it thankless work, unless you are truly dedicated. Or truly ideologically committed.

    That seems to be so much of local elected/political work. I mean, that’s half the schtick of the tv series Parks and Rec. People just trying to do good work in their community, but having to deal with the most insane of their community. It’s like Kay talks about, normal people just go about their day and don’t really worry about this stuff. The have confidence that their elected officials are doing the best they can, in the communities best interest. That their kids teachers are doing similar.

    And then you have the “ideological committed” who just… shit on fucking everything. Everything is designed to make white people “feel bad”. Or designed to indoctrinate their kids in the “LGBTQ agenda”. Or just pick whatever bugaboo you want.

    I heard part of this interview over the weekend and it was really good. This American Life: Talking While Black. To a degree, nothing new to us here. We discuss these matters quite a bit, but I wish that more “normies” heard these stories. That they would remember Atticus Finch’s advice to Scout, to “walk in other people’s shoes” for a bit just to realize how they might view the world. Idk, kind of rambling here. Need to go check on the ragu.

  84. 84.

    Ksmiami

    @eddie blake: I’m not exulting anything. The main difference now is that the upper echelons of the GOP are now as bad or okay with their lumpen bourgeois supporters committing political terrorism if it helps them win. They are all in on crushing liberal democracy and eradicating the 21st century and so we just need to recognize the stakes. And our media is not informing the Vox populi but is more interested in monetizing clicks.

  85. 85.

    Leto

    @debbie: immense respect for the fact that he was there the day after helping to clean up the mess. Very definition of leading by example.

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    @Josie: How do you think Beto O’Rourke is doing so far? He seems to have a clear path to the nomination, while Abbott has a couple challengers from the right. Abbott will win, it seems, but he may be cut up some.

  87. 87.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: and THAT right there is your biggest problem: forget that most of the people in this country don’t know what a manicheanistic world view IS, you don’t see ANY grey. (and the country is full of people muddling around in the middle)

    eta- also, yeah, no. just about every goddamn day you’re talking about burning SCOTUS to the ground.

  89. 89.

    Ksmiami

    @Miss Bianca: so beyond cooking meals for seniors that live alone, voting, calling, postcard writing and supporting  our candidates and charities that help – what the hell more can be done? The only thing that matters Rt now is the other side wants  us dead and our assets seized.  I’d rather they see that the so called battle they want will lead them to destruction and the best way to prevent future violence is by showing strength up front.

  90. 90.

    Josie

    @Geminid: I honestly can’t tell at this point.  Of course, Abbott has a ton of money to work with, but Beto has good name recognition already.  Abbott is busy being as right wing crazy as possible in order to get through the primary.  I’m hoping that will do him some damage in the general.  It remains to be seen whether the new voter suppression measures will be enough to drag him over the finish line.  The polls have him ahead, but I think there are plenty of people out there who are not being polled for a variety of reasons.

  91. 91.

    Ksmiami

     

    @eddie blake: I see lots of grey and a healthier polity probably is a parliamentary system. On the Supreme Court, even many of the founders worried that it could become an authority without prudent responsibility and unelected tyrants in robes. We are there now and when institutions outlive their usefulness its time for either innovation or death.

  93. 93.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: expanding (or contracting) the court isn’t exactly innovation. it was eight not too long ago.

    …burning it to the ground however, is… a novel approach.

  94. 94.

    Josie

    @Ksmiami: I disagree.  Beto may not win, but he has a better chance than any other Democratic Texas politician at this point.  The huge, expensive media market in Texas demands a nominee with name recognition already established long before the voting starts.

  98. 98.

    stinger

    Maybe don’t feed the tronattering nabob of negativism? The conversation got pretty far away from the post subject, the wonderful Andy Kim of whose constituents I’m envious. When I get too down, I chip $5 or $10 into the thermometer on the right, even though it won’t help my sad state.

  99. 99.

    Ksmiami

    @Josie: his gun control statements has made him toxic for the state… it sucks but it is what it is. In fact, my so is worried Beto will suck up a lot of resources for a vanity project

  100. 100.

    Yarrow

    @Geminid:  The Republican fainting spells over Willie Nelson supporting Beto have to be manufactured. He supported Beto when he ran for Senate and has been a Dem supporter forever. This isn’t exactly new.

  101. 101.

    Yarrow

    @Ksmiami:  I agree with you re: Beto’s gun control comments making him toxic in Texas. I think he’ll do worse against Abbott than he did against Ted Cruz when he rain for Senate.

  103. 103.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: i am all for term limits, i like the idea of letting each president get two picks per term, but i also  like the idea of a bigger court, as well as  a MUCH bigger house to reflect the MUCH larger population apportionment.

    i’m sure most of the jackals know the score, they know what we’re facing. direct action may be necessary, shit very well may hit the fan. MAY.

    …but it would be GREAT if you took it down a notch.

  104. 104.

    dexwood

    @Ksmiami: Aren’t you the guy who bought a place in northern New Mexico? If so, do me a favor, do my state a favor, go back to Texas where you’re so involved. They need your help more there than we do here.

  108. 108.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl: Why is that? He didn’t do well when he ran for President. He lost against Ted Cruz. What has he won or even done that makes him someone you don’t want to bet against?  His gun control comments alone will make it easy for the Republican to run against him.

  109. 109.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ksmiami:

    so beyond cooking meals for seniors that live alone, voting, calling, postcard writing and supporting  our candidates and charities that help – what the hell more can be done?

    Well, let me flip that around and ask, “Beyond a bunch of vengeful wishful thinking about how Being Prepared to Fight is what’s going to suddenly save us all…what else besides what *you just described* is going to actually work?”

    The only thing that matters Rt now is the other side wants  us dead and our assets seized.

    You think this is something new? What the hell do you think Jim Crow was all about? Tulsa, OK? Rosewood, FL? Ring a bell? Just because white liberals are now among the targeted populations for right-wing wrath and destruction doesn’t mean that it’s is some unique new threat to American democracy.

    the best way to prevent future violence is by showing strength up front.

    You keep saying stuff like that, but never defining what that would actually look like or how it would actually work. Or WHY you think it would actually work. I remain far from convinced that “strength up front” means that fighting in the streets would actually work.

    See, I think that one of the reasons we *aren’t* living right now in a Trumpian dystopia where he declared martial law and got the military to go along with it is because there wasn’t any of the Violent Lefty Violence on January 6 that you cream about so endlessly.

  111. 111.

    Ksmiami

    @TheTruffle: their brains are small, they don’t read and they lack empathy… they also seem to lack an instinct for self preservation at least based on Covid stats…

  112. 112.

    Josie

    @Yarrow: I’m not so sure about that.  There are plenty of gun owners (like me) who have grown up here that are not happy about the latest laws permitting everyone and his cousin to carry, either concealed or not.  We are not necessarily thrilled about military hardware being brandished either.  The people who are upset about his gun control comments were never going to vote for him anyway.  There are plenty more out there who agree, if we could just get them registered and to the polls.  True, it’s going to be a heavy lift, but not impossible.

  113. 113.

    Ksmiami

    @Miss Bianca: I don’t want violence- I think though the Dems need to fire their old consultants and hire better ad agencies to build out a truth communication system that at least can match the Rt wing ecosystem online. What is the core message rn?

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ksmiami: We do NOT need fucking term limits. We have term limits. They’re called “elections”. All that “term limits” would mean is even MORE dysfunctionality.

    Take it from someone who lives in a state with a term-limited legislative body. Try being a person who, say, lobbies for a special interest that has no money and no prestige behind it. Like, oh, say, more money for non-college adult education. Try being the person who meets for years with various legislators and then JUST when you get a critical mass of them to agree that yes, by golly, maybe that *would* be a good idea…they’re gone. And then you start all over with the next set. And the next. And the next. And the next…

    Ask me how I know! Go on, ask!//

  115. 115.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  When Beto rain in 2018 it was also a great year for Democrats in general and all Dems were running against Trump. Lots of excitement about Beto but not just for him. Two congressional districts flipped. It was a bit deal.

    In 2020 the law changed so that you can’t vote straight party ticket in Texas. You have to vote for each candidate individually. That will diminish “coattails” going forward as people find voting for that many people time consuming (Texas votes for judges and it’s pages and pages). Not to mention the recent voting restrictions, like no more drive through voting, minimized hours for early voting, etc.

  116. 116.

    Geminid

    @Yarrow: I’ll be interested to see O’Rourke’s gun safety platform when he rolls it out. I suspect he’ll walk back his gun confiscation position. He can try to put the spotlight on undoing Texas’ new permitless concealed carry law instead.

    Republicans will still show clips of O’Rourke’s big talk about coming for people’s AK-47, and it will surely galvinize part of their base. But these people can only vote once, and there are plenty of other people, including some gun owners, who favor reasonable restrictions on gun rights.

  118. 118.

    eddie blake

    @Miss Bianca:  “because there wasn’t any of the Violent Lefty Violence on January 6 that you cream about so endlessly.”

    well, THAT was a thing of beauty.

    ANTIFA has their purpose and their virtues, direct action can be a VERY good thing…

    (i used to run with some red skinhead groups and fight bonehead skins and neonazis on the LES a good twenty plus years ago. never thought i’d have to AGAIN, now that i’m greying.)

    but yeah, if on 1/6, ANTIFA had been following ksmiami’s lead, they woulda thrown that bunny RIGHT into that briar patch.

    insurrection act would’ve followed. we’d be in a WORLD of hurt

    eta- re: term limits- ksmiami was talking about SCOTUS, and i think judges in general, but i could be wrong.

  120. 120.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    So I’m at the desk where customers pick up their orders, old guy walks up, picks up his order and says “Let’s go Brandon” to the associate(a Latina) handling his order.  She didn’t understand what he was talking about, he repeated “Let’s go Brandon”.  She thought he was crazy, I explained what he meant once he’d left the area.

  122. 122.

    Josie

    @WaterGirl: Exactly.  In fact, I think it’s one reason he decided to run – the coat tails.  No one else was willing to step up.  The Castro brothers have been unwilling to take a chance and run for statewide office in Texas.  They are the only other ones who could have made a decent run.

  123. 123.

    Kathleen

    @Miss Bianca: Thank you

    You think this is something new? What the hell do you think Jim Crow was all about? Tulsa, OK? Rosewood, FL? Ring a bell? Just because white liberals are now among the targeted populations for right-wing wrath and destruction doesn’t mean that it’s is some unique new threat to American democracy.

  124. 124.

    Ksmiami

    @Yarrow: I wish Beto had a chance but there are too many small shitty towns in TX that vote Republican out of fear and hate. Not hopeful about this race.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @Josie: I agree with you.  I will just add that it was always going to be a heavy lift, with or without the gun statements.

    I imagine there are people in TX who respect that he actually took a stand and called bullshit on the gun stuff.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow:

    That will diminish “coattails” going forward

    I disagree with that. ?‍♀️If Beto’s people are handing out literature and also talking about other candidates, there will be coattails even if they can’t vote straight party ticket.

  134. 134.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: no. find a coward. they can’t just say, “fuck joe!” they can’t. the bullies are afraid.

    all of the performative shit, ALL of it, is to show us that they’re not afraid. but they are. “fear is the mind-killer“. their minds are gone, and that ship has SAILED.

  135. 135.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ksmiami: “See RBG”? Oh, dude. Why her? Why not cite, say, Scalia? Or Clarence Thomas? Or any of a ton of Republican-appointed SCJs who *did actual damage* with their decisions? Oh, that’s right…because only Democrats have agency, only Democrats (or Democratic appointees) can be held responsible for anything, and the only people in power who really, really need to be trundled off to the nursing home, ice floes, or attic or basement rooms are older women who just don’t understand that no progress will be made until they’re decently sidelined -or indecently, doesn’t matter which.

    I’m done with you. Whatever you say now, I’ll just nod and consider the source. Or as Jane Austen put it, “Elinor agreed to it all with a sigh, for she did not consider him worth the compliment of rational opposition.” 

  136. 136.

    Ksmiami

     

    @Miss Bianca: I think blue states should withhold taxes from red states actually and the feds should stop giving money to red state governors when they pull shit like paying unemployment for antivaxxers. Massive corporate boycotts of companies that set up shop in red states. Make treason hurt.

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    @Ksmiami: Have you checked out StrikePAC? It’s a three woman outfit that produces aggressive ads. The basic strategy is to make the Republican brand stink. It’s a new operation trying to get a foothold in the business, but they seem genuinely motivated to crush Republicans, not just make money.

  138. 138.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    OT: A lot more people were calling in sick today, it is going to be tough to staff the store at this rate.  They were calling folk who weren’t scheduled to work to see if they could come in.

  139. 139.

    Ksmiami

    @Miss Bianca: I mentioned Tulsa earlier- I know my history well and that’s the whole problem with Trumpism; what’s been unleashed won’t go back into the bottle easily. I’d rather not see a Balkan conflict in the mountain states, and I’m hoping that meal team 6 guys really dont want to leave their xbox cum couch, but shit can devolve fast.

  141. 141.

    JPL

    @Leto: Maybe in order to run for school board, you actually have to believe in the value of public education.   I saw that article, and wanted to scream.

  144. 144.

    JPL

    @Josie: When I lived in Dallas, I was not concerned that my sons would visit a friend where an unsecured weapon was.   The same was not true when I moved to GA.   Granted this was decades ago, but I doubt that it changed.

  147. 147.

    mvr

    @Ksmiami: No way will we both lose the Supreme Court for 40 years and have Supreme Court retains its current influence.  If they do what they seem bent on doing, the majority of the country is going to support court packing very soon.  Justice Roberts is not shitting bricks because he is a moderate.

    Or are you counting from 1991, when Clarence Thomas joined the court? I could see it take another 9 years for this to work itself out.

  153. 153.

    Geminid

    @Ksmiami: I just looked them up, and found them as @StrikePAC. I saw a couple of their ads last fall. I thought one was good, the second excellent.Both were low budget efforts.

    One of StrikePAC’s partners is Rachel Bitecofer, who pops up on MSNBC as often as she can. Bitecofer has a good base of social science knowledge, but has moved from political science to political engineering: “On Sabbatical, Teaching Democrats Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

  154. 154.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami:  hey. the court hasn’t been liberal since the early SEVENTIES.

    like, democrats haven’t controlled the court in over fifty years.

  155. 155.

    Ksmiami

    @Miss Bianca: All of them actually but I do wish RBG had allowed Obama to secure her successor as I wish the same Rt now for Breyer under Biden. In any case, SC term limits and an expanded court would be better for the country

  156. 156.

    mvr

    @Leto: I heard part of this interview over the weekend and it was really good. This American Life: Talking While Black.  ​

     Yeah, that was a mixture of stuff to piss me off and make me want to cry and also somehow a bit of hope that people are paying attention to the backlash from oversensitive white folks. I mean for crying out loud, my mom was telling me about civil rights and discrimination and showing me what a rural northern ghetto looked like when I was five or so, back in the early/mid-sixties. I came our with my sense of self undamaged while well aware of what being white has done for my prospects. The young people I meet today are at least as resilient as I was. But their poor insecure parents just can’t deal with it. They should grow up.
    And now I’m ranting on top of your rambling (because I resonate with your rambling).​

  157. 157.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Miss Bianca: ​
     

    You honestly think we’re in a worse spot now than we were during the Civil War?

    Not yet. But unlike 160 years ago, our divisions are preventing us from addressing the existential threat of climate change.

    Until we take care of that, the potential is for us to be in a much, much worse spot in the coming years, even if we preserve our democracy.

  158. 158.

    frosty

    @raven: Sigh. The Ravens lose another close one, to the Steelers, ugh.. As one of my friends said, “Time to get disappointed with baseball again.”

  159. 159.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Reading Andy Kim and remembering the events leading to the Republican fascist riot, there is one really big question outstanding: the self-righteous anger of Republicans over the election being “stolen” when the Republican candidate is recorded demanding Georgia’s top election official to “just find me 11,780 votes, which is one more than I have.” I simply do not understand. Yet, it was Republicans who flew into a murderous rampage inside the Capitol. My theory is that the Democrats, including me, failed to take to the streets the day that recording was made public and failed to demonstrate against an obvious thief trying to steal an election. I should have been in the streets with thousands of like-minded Democrats against this act of open corruption. We were too polite. We could not believe that we should have to act against something so blatant because it was so obvious. And as for the argument that there was any credibility to TFG’s claim that Georgia was stolen because a Democrat had not won the Presidency since 1992, there is the fact that two months later, the day before the Capitol riot, the Democrats, led by Stacey Abrams, won two Senate seats in the same state. Is that an explanation? I and my fellow Democrats are too polite for our own, and the country’s, good?

  161. 161.

    mrmoshpotato

    @eddie blake:

    ANTIFA has their purpose and their virtues

    Ummm….. it’s not an organization or a party.  It’s a right wing, booga booga term that the Rethuglicans act like is a formal group to scare their dumbass, racist, fascistic base.

  162. 162.

    Ksmiami

    @Mike in Pasadena: this. Nonviolent but reactive strength is important. Why do their voters get interviewed in diners while we suffer in silence or on small Twitter threads?

  165. 165.

    mvr

    @stinger: That thermometer on the right going up with no campaign yet attached to it is one of the things that makes me love this site. Once we get a match going we are already going to be 1/8 of the way there.

  166. 166.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ksmiami:

    I think blue states should withhold taxes from red states actually and the feds should stop giving money to red state governors when they pull shit like paying unemployment for antivaxxers. 

    Call your Senators and representative, slapdick.

  168. 168.

    eddie blake

    @mrmoshpotato:  bullshit. go look up the 43 group. people say ANTIFA started in the ashes of the spanish civil war, some say in weimar germany, some say the allied coalition.

    booga-booga group my ass.  you don’t know what you’re talking about.

    organized? fuck no. but an ethos? an actionable agenda? fuck yeah.

  169. 169.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl: I said diminish coattails not eliminate them. Sheesh. People find voting hard work and confusing. They don’t have time, or take the time, to research all the candidates, especially way down the ballot – the ones the term “coattails” was made for. I personally know some of these people. They voted straight ticket Dem when they could. Now they can’t. So they vote for a few people at the top of the ballot and stop. Taking away straight ticket voting will diminish coattails. Not eliminate them.

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  And in California you get sent your ballots and can vote at home and by mail. No questions asked. One of the things the new voter suppression laws did in Texas is to make voting by mail harder than it was before. The ballots are pages and pages. People’s eyes glaze over. They don’t know who all these judges are and so forth. So they don’t vote for them.

  170. 170.

    eddie blake

    @Ksmiami: yeah, no, it REALLY has. heller vs dc is the first thing that pops in my head, but there are DOZENS and dozens of other rulings that have been pro corporate and pro fascist before justice beer-bong and justice covid-barrett.

    they’ve been on a relentless march since that powell memo. but good on you for noticing.

  171. 171.

    phdesmond

    @TheTruffle:

    So yes, a duality of mind. I do not believe unity is possible.

    But I’m glad Joe Biden does.

    Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald.
    he’s got an interesting position.

  173. 173.

    Yarrow

    @Josie:  I agree with you on the substance. Unfortunately Beto made a dumb mistake and gave R’s a soundbite for the ages with his “we’re taking your guns” comment. I know there’s a lot more to it and lots of people who are gun owners want better gun laws. But that’s getting in the weeds. Meanwhile, Beto’s the guy who’s gonna take your guns. It’s going to be an uphill battle for him fight it.

    Agree with you that there really isn’t anyone else with big name recognition who can run. The Castro brothers won’t run for whatever reason.

  176. 176.

    gene108

    @Ksmiami:

    Why do their voters get interviewed in diners while we suffer in silence or on small Twitter threads?

    Their voters are mostly white men, who have traditionally held the role as the very serious people of American society. And newsrooms are run by white men, who have the same implicit bias towards white men.

  178. 178.

    Ksmiami

    @gene108: I mean I know, but it’s so out of proportion to our population now that it’s turned into a way to misinform the public. I want the media to be more fearful of us calling them out for being too far right and too accommodating of creaky old white guys

  180. 180.

    eddie blake

    @mrmoshpotato:  yeah. the various cells are just people who are disgusted with fascists. it’s not really a thing where they “coordinate”, they’re just motivated by the same urges: punch nazis and keep them out of their towns.

    it’s not that complicated.

  181. 181.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: look at our electorate- do you think our undereducated and overworked populace has the ability to do the heavy lifting required in a democracy?

  182. 182.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ksmiami: Yes.

    And I think that other commenters should really look at the question you asked before engaging with you in the future.

  187. 187.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    John needs to consider getting some fainting couches and maybe a bucket of cheap pearl necklaces for the doom and gloomers to clutch as they fall on the couches.

    For something a bit funny, my wife believes that safety nuts have created the situation where enough stupid people followed the warnings (do not insert into rectum, remove child from clothes before washing, do not stick hand in garbage disposal, etc.) that they have survived and now think they are smart enough to make their own decisions. Hence the anti-mask, anti-vaccine mess we find ourselves in.

    Product warnings have disturbed the natural order (Darwin Award winners). I think she might be on to something with this…

  189. 189.

    sab

    @brantl: OMG no! We do that in Ohio for our state Supreme Court, and the results are rarely impressive. And we always have a couple of justices that make Mrs. Barrett look like legal genius in comparison.

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