Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

The revolution will be supervised.

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Open Thread: Graphic 1/6 Commemorations

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I know some of you appreciate good political cartoonists as much as I do…

Open Thread: Graphic 1/6 Commemorations 1

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
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Open Thread: Graphic 1/6 Commemorations 2
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Open Thread: Graphic 1/6 Commemorations
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Open Thread: Graphic 1/6 Commemorations 5
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63Comments

  4. 4.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT India update
    There have been several open calls for genocide across various cities, with BJP luminaries sharing stage with the speakers calling for a genocide of Indian Muslims. It is not being covered much in our news media.

    Three important states are going to polls this February Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Punjab. Uttar Pradesh being the biggest prize. The saffron clad Ajay Bisht, who goes by the name Yogi Adityanath is being groomed as Modi’s successor and UP is the biggest electoral prize

    in terms of the number of representatives it sends to the Loksabha (People’s House, Indian equivalent of the House of Commons). Bisht is worse than the worst Republican governor you can imagine in terms of his zealotry. Who controls these states especially UP, will be important
    for the general elections in 2024. If BJP wins again India as we know it will be over and replaced by nationalist theocracy which weaponizes Hinduism. In the last elections BJP was openly rooting for Trump so this will have an effect stateside too because BJP controls vast bot-troll armies on social media and is highly influential among the Indian diaspora in this country.

  5. 5.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    It will be featured in a TV ad in every Republican house & senate campaign. They have nothing else but culture war and it’s been working fairly well for them over the last 40 years.

  7. 7.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Betty Cracker: Which election? the ones in Feb or the general election 2024?

    BJP has turned its violent rhetoric to 11 with its proxies, many BJP MLAs in UP and Goa are leaving the party. However BJP is a formidable enemy and the opposition is fractured. If they come together they can beat the BJP but whether that will happen is difficult to say.

    I am rooting for their demise but that won’t be easy. BJP’s base, which is the upper caste Hindus are far more  influential than their mere numbers suggest. Most of Indian media especially cable news would give Soviet era Pravda a run for its money in terms of sycophancy.

  12. 12.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Miss Bianca: I was actually reupping my request to be a FPer who covers this beat for Balloon Juice. I think it deserves more the occasional FP post for which I have to bug AL and while it sits in her inbox and loses its timeliness.

    Last year I was a part of a group of fact-checkers debunking the alternative history that BJP likes to peddle. The person who formed this group an anthropologist based in India was hounded off of Twitter, and BJP’s troll team got their profile was suspended.

    I am also redesigning my blog and will blog about this. I will put links up on Twitter and here

    I have also brought this up in my Dem committee meetings. I have been thinking of  writing to my rep who chairs a human rights panel in the Congress

    BJP has deep pocketed supporters within the diaspora. And are very popular among the section of India I come from. Most of my family and husband kitteh’s family is in their thrall.

  14. 14.

    James E Powell

    I occasionally read cleveland.com because I still follow the sports teams from my beloved home town. This morning, their editorial board is begging Rob Portman to reconsider & run for re-election.

    Otherwise, the ugliness that is the Republican primary for your seat will continue its cavalcade of intemperate, cruel, ill-judged, narrow-minded and explosive rhetoric designed to divide not unite. Otherwise, the majority of candidates from your party will continue to spew their lies about the 2020 election, lies that don’t just bust apart hopes to rebuild any consensus in America, but also that continue to shred the very heart and soul of the traditional conservative Republican Party values you have served so ably over your long career of public service.

     

    What a bunch of morons.

  18. 18.

    Leto

    Greg Sargent detailing Youngkin and VA House Rethug’s legislative plans:

    Greg Sargent @ThePlumLineGS
    Cheerful suburban dad Glenn Youngkin convinced many Virginia parents that their children were under threat of CRT indoctrination.

    Now Republicans in the state plan to:

    * cancel minimum wage hike
    * require voter ID
    * cut early voting
    * expand open carry

    Also Christopher Shitbag Rufo detailing the next phase of “the plan”. Moving from CRT to “transparency” in education. Can’t wait for our worthless fourth estate to glomp onto it and just report on it with no critical thought involved.

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: Some Democrat ought to get six live crabs and write Mandel, Vance, Timkin etc. on their shells, then put them in a pot with a crab-cam so people can watch them pull each other down.

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    Dragging BoJo along from previous thread:

    Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility (and surprised at the same time that he was not appointed Captain of the School for the next half). I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.

    Martin Hammond, Eton College
    Letter to Boris Johnson’s father
    10th April 1982

    Really is Trump 2.0, isn’t he?

  23. 23.

    different-church-lady

    @James E Powell: You know, it’s like someone from New York with a ticket to Baltimore getting on a plane to Tokyo and not noticing anything’s wrong until hour 12 of the flight.

  26. 26.

    PST

    Support for Trump and his white, Christian, nationalist supporters by members of the Indian diaspora in the United States strikes me as suicidal. In saying this I don’t mean to suggest that schrodingers_cat or anyone else would disagree with this. The fact that anti-Hindu sentiment and rhetoric have not, to date, been as vicious as the common islamophobia of the MAGA crowd means nothing for the future. Prejudice against Indians exists, of course, and there is no reason this cannot explode into something less latent and more violent any time a new scapegoat is needed. Xenophobia is always an available rallying call. And Hindus in America push both religious buttons (idolaters!) and economic ones (they’re taking our jobs and pushing past us!). That last bit reflects the tendency of the white common herd to always see the doctors and lawyers and other conspicuous successes when bemoaning the decline of their kind rather than the great majority of ordinary working people who make up the bulk of all groups. Of course, no one has a monopoly on suicidal political preferences, as many poor white people continually demonstrate.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodingers_cat: Both! Thanks for a summary of the situation. I’m always struck by the parallels in how democracies get stressed. Different countries and cultures, but we’re all sandbagged by the same shitty truisms in human nature.

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @Leto: Virginia Republicans have a 52-48 advantage in the House of Delegates, but the Democrats still hold a 21-19 majority in the Senate. So all Republicans will do by passing these unpopular bills in the lower house is create good issues for Democrats to run on in 2023.

    One caveat: Democratic Senator Joe Morrisey of Richmond loves to drive other Democrats crazy, so he may possibly cross the aisle from time to time. Assuming he stays out of prison.

  30. 30.

    schrodingers_cat

    @PST: The diaspora is not a monolith.

    There are many Indians who live and work here but are not citizens.

    Indian-Americans vote for Democrats by a huge margin over 70% voted for Obama, HRC and now Biden. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are anti-Modi or BJP. The Indian Americans (who have Hindu ancestry) born in this country are susceptible to the glossy lie filled version of Hindu greatness that BJP sells.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    No, not really. I think he has the best chance any Democrat could have, though. He’s personable – very approachable and easy with people-  and he has a very good campaign and his opponents are a freak show. It’s a long shot but long shots are fun for people and he’s well liked here locally.

    He came out and we made the front page of the local newspaper with his event, so that was good. We also took him to the courthouse and introduced him around, which was amusing- they’re all Republicans. He did get one taker – the sheriff’s deputy at the door – I already knew he’s a Democrat but I acted like he might have made a convert. Good for morale! :)

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    Senator Joe Morrisey of Richmond loves to drive other Democrats crazy, so he may possibly cross the aisle from time to time.

    Every Dem caucus needs a Joe Manchin.  Same initials too.  I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning somewhere.

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Is Mandel still the frontrunner on the R side? I’m used to horrible wingnuts, but he stands out in the category from what I see on Twitter. I hope Ohio wouldn’t elect someone that awful.

  36. 36.

    delk

    WTF? Not only will JFK appear at trump’s Arizona rally, but there will be a concert with Prince, Tupac, Micheal Jackson, Whitney, and John Lennon!

  37. 37.

    laura

    @Leto: Apartheid America just erasing Black Americans in real time and criminalizing history as we inch our way towards majority minority. Same with repealing reproductive rights. Same with the erosion of the separation of church and state. It’s to cling to white (male) nationalism. Time to call it what it is- project for apartheid America.

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat:  Related to the bot armies you mentioned, I saw this article from The Wire in India highly recommended elsewhere.

    Tek Fog: An App With BJP Footprints for Cyber Troops to Automate Hate, Manipulate Trends

    The Wire investigates claims behind the use of ‘Tek Fog’, a highly sophisticated app used by online operatives to hijack major social media and encrypted messaging platforms and amplify right-wing propaganda to a domestic audience.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    He is. But funnier news is JD Vance is at 9. NINE. I know why they don’t like him too- they say he’s a phony. And he is.
    Mandel has run for Senate before too, against Sherrod, so they rejected him once.

  41. 41.

    scribbler

    @schrodingers_cat:  Thanks very much for your updates on the situation in India.  I really appreciate them, and would look forward to reading them in a more regular and timely manner.  Hope that can happen!

  42. 42.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Yarrow: Yes I have read that reporting. That BJP had an extremely sophisticated trolling operation should come as surprise to no one who has been following them and seeing the effects of that operation on friends and family

    Twitter is the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg is WhatsApp.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    If you don’t see a dude in shorts today, Chicago will have six more weeks of winter.— Scott Smith is Our Man In Chicago (@ourmaninchicago) January 12, 2022

    Forty degrees outside in mid-January. ?

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat:  Yep. WhatsApp is toxic in so many countries. I saw today that a judge rejected Facebook’s request to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust case. If the FTC is successful I wonder how that might affect WhatsApp, since spinning it off is a specific goal.

    US antitrust officials can continue their case to break up Meta, Facebook’s parent company, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the social media giant, which had argued the complaint should be dismissed.

    The decision allows federal prosecutors to try to prove their allegations that Meta has illegally abused a monopoly in the marketplace for social media — and that its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp should be spun off.

  52. 52.

    RaflW

    I don’t know why I should expect differently, but Mitt Romney has reconfirmed his membership in the Venality Brigade.

    As has been said many times, there are no good Republicans left.

    Given that easily confused octogenarian Chuck Grassley is also wailing about Biden’s ‘incivility’ towards the insurrection-curious, I get the distinct impression that McConnell knows Biden landed a few punches. He’s ordered the old respectable types (Grassley should not be in that group given his actual utterances the past few years, but the press is incorrigible as far as replacing memories of bipartisanships past) out on the hustings to bitch and moan about Joe.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RaflW: As has been said many times, there are no good Republicans left.

    It has been more than 15 years since I have given a Republican the benefit of a doubt on anything.

  55. 55.

    artem1s

    @James E Powell:

    What a bunch of morons.

    The Cleveland Brookpark Plain Dealer editorial board maybe tools, but they are an improvement over the Columbus Dogpatch which is actively rooting for injuries to everyone. I respect their desire to have two functioning sane parties operating in the state. Portman is as odious as any of the Raygun, supply-side GOPers, but at least he’s reasonably benign compared to Vance or Mandel. And honestly, probably more beatable right now because he’s not vomiting TFG’s Big Lie 24/7/365.  He’s too much of a coward to run and stand up to the deplorable insurrectionists and probably eyeballing the governors mansion as well.

  58. 58.

    dnfree

    @mrmoshpotato: For many years back in the 1970s and 1980s we looked forward to a “January thaw” here in northern Illinois.  It would get up to 50 degrees or higher, and we’d go out and cut down the chrysanthemums, along with other yardwork.  Somehow it seems like there was always a January thaw back then, but more recently it hasn’t been a sure thing.  I wouldn’t consider 40 degrees a true “thaw”.

  59. 59.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat: Your email has not yet reached my mailbox, but sometimes it takes a while, unfortunately.

    If I had a twitter account, I’d send Cole a DM telling him you should be a front-pager!  If *you* have a twitter account, he’d probably take your word faster than he would mine…

    P.S.  I am ALWAYS happy to front-page a guest post from you, hint hint!

  63. 63.

    Paul in KY

    @PST: That was what Goering mentioned when being interrogated by the Allies on the takeover of Germany by the Nazis.

    It’s the same everywhere… was one comment by him.

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