Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The new temporary speaker of the house is a spiteful little shit.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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

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

This fight is for everything.

In my day, never was longer.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Everybody saw this coming.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / What Is Going Down My Friends?

What Is Going Down My Friends?

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This post is in: 

On the way to the shower this morning, I noticed that someone had thrown up on the floor in the hallway. I muttered something obscene, noted to not step in it on the way out after my shower, and went in and hosed myself off. Walked out, and discovered that someone had eaten it.

This is why having two dogs is always better than having just one.

Speaking of vomit, looks like Henry Cuellar might be in some legal trouble. Do Manchin and Sinema next.

In other vomit news, approximately three minutes into the Zoom call last night, but not before Watergirl surprised me and made me talk, my internet puked and I missed the entire zoom, so I will be watching the recording later on today, hopefully. It sounds like it was a great success.

Reader Interactions

215Comments

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    @ John Cole up top

    …but not before Watergirl surprised me and made me talk

    Let the record show that WaterGirl tried to reach you 3 times with no success in order to find out what you might want to say, if anything.

    I got to decide which would be the worse crime:  1) not to give the blog owner a chance to greet and welcome the congressman to his blog, after said blog owner had used the word “exciting” twice with regard to the expected Adam Schiff visit, or 2) take a chance at surprising the blog owner who may or may not have intended to speak.

    *ask me how many times John Cole has used the word “exciting” in conversation with me over the past 3 years. :-)

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: We could have our own little blog poll… which do you guys think the safest choice would have been?  Which way would you have gone if the decision had been up to you?

    edit: in case anyone thinks that Cole and I are fighting about this, we are not.  Just friendly razzing.  :-)

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: Do you know how they get replaced?  Election?  Appointment?

    Not asking anyone to do research for me, just wondering if someone happens to know.

    I had no idea who this Henry C is or who Jessica Cisneros is.

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  Henry Cuellar (D-TX28) is one the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He’s a favorite target of the left. Wouldn’t surprise me if whatever sent the FBI raiding his house was part of a planned Republican attack to take him out of the race so a Republican can win it.

  11. 11.

    Josie

    @WaterGirl: Cuellar is a conservative Democrat who represents a long, narrow district in Texas that reaches from the border up into the hill country. Cisneros is a progressive Democrat who ran against him in the most recent Democratic primary and came within 4 or 5 percentage points of beating him. Biden only won the district by 5 points, I think. She is running again and has a shot at winning. This FBI move could have an effect on the race. It will be interesting to see what it is all about.

  13. 13.

    dww44

    @germy: From what little I know of Steny Hoyer, it falls in the category that he is an old school conserva Democrat.  Not surprised he would throw his support to the incumbent.

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: one wonders if Hoyer saw that and said, “Ah fuck. Didn’t anybody know this guy was bent?” and then poured himself a mid-day J&B and threw an ice cube at a random staffer.

    I can totally picture Hoyer as a character on Veep.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: I’ve always thought Andrew Doyle might be modeled on Hoyer. And somebody will have to prove to me, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Ben Cafferty wasn’t modeled on Axelrod

    ETA: I’m a political junkie, and of course I know who Stoyer is, but I think if you put his picture in front of me with five other old white-haired white guys, I’d be hard pressed to stay which one was him

  20. 20.

    Old Man Shadow

    Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

    That’s my current mood.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Afternoon, Cole :)

     

    COVID came to the workplace. Had to take a rapid test and the other one.

    Rapid Test is NEGATIVE.

    Waiting nervously for results from other one.

    Very concerned. Co-worker who tested positive is immunocompromised. She’s fully vaccinated, but, I’m still worried. :(

  25. 25.

    RaflW

    Manchin letting his racist freak flag fly. West Virginia goddam.

    Manu Raju @mkraju
    Asked Manchin about Democrats accusing him of undermining Biden agenda.

    “We’ve come from different areas. It’s not just all urban, metropolitan areas. Those of us who come from rural areas, and there’s a complete different constituency that we all serve.”

  26. 26.

    Old Man Shadow

    @SiubhanDuinne: There’s other passages like that too, but usually as soon as the writer realizes he’s dangerously close to realizing there is no god, he backtracks to “well, God will totally do something about it, I’m sure…?”

    This passage is just “everything fucking sucks and I wish I were never born to see it.”

  27. 27.

    Old Man Shadow

    @RaflW: A constituency who is begging him to sign onto BBB.

    Oh, but he probably meant the constituency that is handing him bags of cash.

    Worthless Confederate Fuck.

  29. 29.

    JoyceH

    Dogs are also good for cleaning up cat messes. “Um, cat food! Barely used!”

    Does it seem to anyone else that the various investigations are picking up steam? Rather reminds me of Watergate, which was sort of a nothingburger as the kids say today, for almost a year, and then suddenly was an all consuming news obsession.

  30. 30.

    The Dangerman

    @RaflW: I’m so tired of rural areas being the tail that wags the dog. Fuck him and his constituency (blogmaster and similar excluded, of course).

    Urban areas keep rural areas afloat financially. An occasional thank you would be nice.

  32. 32.

    Ohio Mom

    @SiubhanDuinne: There is an old Yiddish joke* riffing off this: In the Village of Chelm — a village populated entirely by fools — two old men sit in a bench.

    One says to the other, “Life is so hard, I think it would be better not to have been born at all.”
    “Oh c’mon,” responds the other, “How many people are that lucky?”

    * All Yiddish jokes are old, it’s a dead language.

    Anyway, I know that feeling. I made the mistake today of stopping by the NYT Opinion section today, on my way to the Spelling Bee. What a bunch of miserable click-bait.

  34. 34.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Central Planning: Yep, same here.  Only dogs eat vomit (and cat shit). I read once that the reason dogs like cat shit is that it is so high in protein.  As someone above put it, “Yum, barely used”.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Scamp Dog:

    My grandmother, who was something of a biblical scholar, would have been horrified that I didn’t know that right off.

    When she was a very old lady in a church-affiliated nursing home, she used to get her jollies by thinking up theological stumpers for the visiting chaplain :-)

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  I said it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s true. I have not heard anything more than what’s in the news. Just speculating on timing.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ohio Mom:

    * All Yiddish jokes are old, it’s a dead language.

    All Yiddish, or Yiddish-adjacent, jokes are funny — or maybe it’s that the people who tell them are just funny, expressive raconteurs.

    I should live in the Borscht Belt.

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    Spawn the Younger is back to in-person school after a week of online learning, the MLK holiday, and a snow day. Expecting some arctic winter chill this weekend, so I better go get some groceries after yoga tonight. Throat is sore, COVID test was negative, I probably just need to take it easy.

  40. 40.

    Old School

    @WaterGirl: All right, I’ll do it.

    How many times has John Cole used the word “exciting” in conversation with you over the past three years?

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    @RaflW:

    Asked Manchin about Democrats accusing him of undermining Biden agenda.

    “We’ve come from different areas. It’s not just all urban, metropolitan areas. Those of us who come from rural areas, and there’s a complete different constituency that we all serve.”

    He is a freaking senator. He is supposed to be looking out for the interests of his state, and the country, not a narrow rural constituency.

    And even here, his statements make no sense. It’s sad and pointless.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @RaflW:

    “…there’s a complete different constituency that we all serve.”

    True!  Apparently Manchin’s constituency is the one that doesn’t believe in democracy and certainly doesn’t want “those people” to vote.  You know, just “Americans” need to vote.

  50. 50.

    sdhays

    I’m primarily pissed that Sinachin have been wasting our time. Joe Manchin didn’t have to say that he thought that he supported huge levels of BBB spending early last year. He didn’t have to say that he thought reforming the filibuster in some way made sense. I didn’t expect him to be on board with everything. I just didn’t expect him to straight up lie. Fuck that. And as for Sinema – she’s just a looney toon. Batshit crazy.

    But I’m also sure what to do about it. Manchin is the absolute best we can hope for in West Virginia. As for Kristen Sinema, I predict here that she will be a one term Senator, one way or another. She will have a strong primary in 2024 – that’s guaranteed, and if she gets through that, she won’t have sufficient support from the base behind her to win.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    @The Utter Dregs:

    I’m not sure Manchin would know his constituency unless it bit him in the ass.

    His constituents appear to be the fat cats who have bought him off. He knows who they are.

  56. 56.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @RaflW: Ah yes, Biden’s experience from Wilkes-Barre and Wilmington DE, means he clearly has no idea what rural people want.

  57. 57.

    smith

    @cain: How on earth did they find any “high-conscientiousness conservatives” to study? Given the readiness of almost all Republicans to go along at least publicly with TFG’s lies, those must be rare birds indeed.

  58. 58.

    JMG

    Pelosi loathes primary challenges to her members. Hoyer wouldn’t sneeze without her approval, so take his Cuellar endorsement as straight from Nancy.

  60. 60.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Georgia probably has way more rural voters than WV, but somehow Ossoff and Warnock managed to do the right thing.  Manchin can go fuck himself.

  61. 61.

    MazeDancer

    @WaterGirl: Of course, you chose appropriately. Of course, John had  to say something, even, if it was just “We are excited and honored to have you here.”

  63. 63.

    MisterDancer

    @WaterGirl: Apparently Manchin’s constituency is the one that doesn’t believe in democracy and certainly doesn’t want “those people” to vote.

    Not to drag a fight over multiple front posts, yet — yeah, this is why you do throw money and people into areas we’ve been “writing off.” As long as you have a plan, and patience for it taking a while.

    (Sorry, WaterGirl, this isn’t directed to you. And it really is just a vent that isn’t ripe for a FP post…)

    Black folx live in West By God Virginia, too. And I’d bet a lot of them — and people who might be allies to them, and Progressive movements — feel isolated as hell. Why bother voting when not the system suppresses your vote, but the people who claim to want your vote — and worse, the “ordinary people” who claim to care about your oppression — half the time can’t be arsed to put real grassroots efforts in place to help you? Who come online and crack “jokes” about cutting you off from The Union?

    Progressives/Democratic Party keep saying we never have the spare people to fight for those folx. And the people in those regions we could help rise up, instead keep getting surrounded by more and more radicalized asshats. They’re silenced in their communities, and — since many are poor — have limited voice, online.

    I know that can change. And if it did, we could start changing minds, and the narrative.  Because the media, too, ignores the Black and Brown folx who live in these regions, and pretends that their lack of civic engagement is…just the way things are. They pretend that Women in rural America don’t need Reproductive Rights, too.

    Why should we, here, play into that?

    Look, I know the forces arrayed against us are many and complex. I’m not saying just parachuting any old set of bodies into rural West Virginia is gonna work.

    But I submit the neglect we all — Party, many Activists, and hangers-on — have played a role in enabling for decades, is clearly not working out, either. I don’t have an answer for all this, but I do think we all should start asking the question of how we stop losing rural America, with recognition that it’s gotta be a long-term strategy. And that it’s gonna take some brave, Freedom Rider-style Muthafuckers to work this.

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @RaflW:

    Asked Manchin about Democrats accusing him of undermining Biden agenda. 

    “We’ve come from different areas. It’s not just all urban, metropolitan areas. Those of us who come from rural areas, and there’s a complete different constituency that we all serve.”

    I guess no one has any use for well-maintained roads and bridges in West Virginia.

  65. 65.

    lowtechcyclist

    @dww44: From what little I know of Steny Hoyer, it falls in the category that he is an old school conserva Democrat.  Not surprised he would throw his support to the incumbent.

    I’m in his district, and while he isn’t conservative in general, he’s got a long reputation as a K Street Democrat.  (K Street in D.C. used to be, and maybe still is, where a lot of lobbyist outfits have their offices.)

    The DCCC and the party leadership has been strongly supportive of incumbents over challengers in recent years. (Possibly way longer; I can’t remember.)  They don’t have to do more for the Lipinskis and Cuellars of the world beyond pro forma statements of support, but they really throw their weight behind these guys.  (I’m trying to remember whether they were as fervently supportive of AOC in 2020 as they were of those two guys, but I doubt it.)

  67. 67.

    Roger Moore

    @The Dangerman:

    Urban areas keep rural areas afloat financially. An occasional thank you would be nice.

    Urban and rural areas have a complex relationship.  Urban areas need the stuff that’s produced in rural areas and vice versa.  Right now, our economy is set up so we underprice stuff from rural areas.  We make up for this somewhat by taxing urban areas and using some of the money as a subsidy for the rural areas.  If we were willing to pay the real cost of our food instead of hiding it behind this kind of complex subsidy arrangement, rural areas could be just as well off as cities.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @cain:

    Instead, it would be more productive for researchers, social media platforms, politicians and members of the media to focus their efforts on low-conscientiousness conservatives (LCCs for short) in particular.

    They just love chaos. So, the Joker is responsible for spreading bad information?

    I would have to see more of the study.

    Yet, our findings also showed that fact-checking was notan effective way to prevent these conservatives from sharing false news stories, meaning other interventions are needed.

    This makes some sense. People who spread lies hate the truth, or just ignore it.

    In fact, I have a theory that the success of the Internet in providing for accurate information has led to a massive effort to create lies and bad information, especially when facts might challenge deeply held ideological beliefs.

    To be clear, existing research has found that conservatives have a greater tendency toward misinformation than liberals do.

    I would like to believe this, but I think it is somewhat self-serving.

    Also, I don’t believe that “conservative” vs “liberal” adequately describes people.  There has to be some trait that is independent of contemporary views of political beliefs.

     

  70. 70.

    MisterDancer

    @sab: Yep. Gates, per Britannica, was both in Keyser, West Virginia. It’s population, per 2010 census, is just under 5500 souls.

  71. 71.

    cain

    @smith:

    @cain: How on earth did they find any “high-conscientiousness conservatives” to study? Given the readiness of almost all Republicans to go along at least publicly with TFG’s lies, those must be rare birds indeed.

    I think they are referring to folks like Tom Nichols, and those of his ilk or even older boomers who still hold true classic conservatism.

    I doubt the article means the right wing politicians inhabiting Congress and even trying to take credit for all the work Dems have done.

  72. 72.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SiubhanDuinne: My grandmother, who was something of a biblical scholar, would have been horrified that I didn’t know that right off.

    I’m a born-again Christian, but there are large sections of the Old Testament that I will go to my grave without reading.  Leviticus? Ezekiel? No, I’m not going to wade my way through them.  Sorry not sorry, Lord.

    But if you’ve ever spent more than fifteen minutes in Ecclesiastes, “under the sun” is a dead giveaway.  Especially twice.

  74. 74.

    UncleEbeneezer

    All of the focus this week has been on the inability of Democrats to reform the filibuster as opposed to Republicans using the filibuster to block voting rights legislation. The story is our failure, not their obstruction, and that’s a big problem. To win in 2022, Democrats must reconstitute the anti-Trump majority who delivered the House, Senate, and White House. The best way to do that is to remind people the crisis that sparked them into action five years ago has not receded. It has grown. We have to make this election a choice between Democrats and MAGA Republicans. We can’t do that if we keep the spotlight on the incalcitrant Senate Democrats.
    Back to Basics
    Passing voting rights legislation was the single best way to prevent voter suppression and election subversion. Doing so would have exponentially complicated the Republican plan to implement minority rule. But since that legislation cannot pass the Senate, we have to find other ways to save democracy. We must win more elections and do it with one hand tied behind our backs. It won’t be easy but it isn’t impossible either. As a party, we need a specific focus on the offices and groups that provide the most leverage and the biggest bang for our buck.

    As Amanda Litman, the co-founder of Run for Something, told Ezra Klein:

    “While Congress can write, in some ways, rules or boundaries for how elections are administered, state legislatures are making decisions about who can and can’t vote. Counties and towns are making decisions about how much money they’re spending, what technology they’re using, the rules around which candidates can participate.”

    • Secretaries of state are the next line of defense. Republicans understand this. Too many Democrats don’t. The Republican political group that funds secretary of state races raised $33 million last year. The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State raised a whopping $1 million in the first half of last year. You can help narrow that gap by donating here:
    • As always, sign up at Vote Save America to learn about ways you can make an impact in 2022 through the “No Off Years” program.

    None of this is easy. None of us wanted to be in this position. But the only option is to dig in and go about the hard work of saving democracy.

  75. 75.

    cain

    @Brachiator: I’m with you. For instance, think about the various stuff against msg or fluoridated water people who tend left. Plenty of misinformation there. It’s also not as pervasive since going after right wingers who a lot of them are well to do – is profitable.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I’m a born-again Christian, but there are large sections of the Old Testament that I will go to my grave without reading. Leviticus? Ezekiel? No, I’m not going to wade my way through them. Sorry not sorry, Lord.

    I’m an Nth generation atheist, but I’ve read the entire Bible (including the apocrypha) cover to cover.  Leviticus is on the boring side, but it’s still worth reading.  For example, did you know the Hebrews had an elaborate but sensible series of steps to take for buildings that had mold problems?  It’s all there in Leviticus!  The prophets are definitely worth reading, if only because there are important people who take them very seriously and it’s good to understand where they’re coming from.

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    LOL, Senator Klobuchar is tired of Senator Feinstein’s bullshit:

  81. 81.

    smith

    @Roger Moore: I’m not an economist, by any means, but I don’t see how paying more for the stuff produced in rural areas would do anything much to help the people living there. Production in rural areas is, as far as I know, largely controlled by Big Ag, Big Energy, Big Mining, etc. Those subsidies go into those pockets. How does stopping the subsidies and raising prices help the not-big people there? It’s not like the corporate masters have shown much inclination to share with them regardless of whether the money comes in directly or indirectly.

  83. 83.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Roger Moore: I’m an Nth generation atheist, but I’ve read the entire Bible (including the apocrypha) cover to cover.  Leviticus is on the boring side, but it’s still worth reading.  For example, did you know the Hebrews had an elaborate but sensible series of steps to take for buildings that had mold problems?  It’s all there in Leviticus!  The prophets are definitely worth reading, if only because there are important people who take them very seriously and it’s good to understand where they’re coming from.

    I agree with you, mostly.  The prophets? Sure, just not every last one of them.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, Malachi, etc., sure.  But Ezekiel? Sorry.  And I’ve read and re-read Deuteronomy, but just haven’t been able to hack Leviticus.  And I confess to not having read all the Psalms (they get repetitive) or Proverbs (even more so).  On the other hand:

    @zhena gogolia:  Ecclesiastes is fabulous.

    It certainly is.

  84. 84.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @The Dangerman:

    Urban areas keep rural areas afloat financially. An occasional thank you would be nice.

    And it goes well beyond taxes from urban areas paying for any sort of lifestyle in rural areas. Every time I see farmers or ranchers whining about city slickers, I think “Oh, you mean your CUSTOMERS. The people who buy your product? You’re mad at THEM? Uh, OK. Ya fuckin’ knucklehead.”

  85. 85.

    RaflW

    @Brachiator: Did a bit of looking, and it seems WVa has about 1.12M people classified as urban and 672K rural. So about 63%/37% split.

    But he’s just code-talkin’ about urban people, y’know.

  86. 86.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @cain: Ah, OK. So they’re saying that Republicans or conservatives are not the most likely to communicate misinformation (i.e., lies). Nah. It’s only a SUBSET of Republicans or conservatives who do it.

    Sort of like: Not all conservatives are stupid, but all stupid people are conservative.

    Do I have that right?

  87. 87.

    catclub

    @Brachiator: [Manchin] It’s not just all urban, metropolitan areas. Those of us who come from rural areas, and there’s a complete different constituency that we all serve.”

     

    Nice of  him use the GOP designations for white people and scary black people.

  88. 88.

    Yarrow

    Supreme Court strikes again.

    Starbucks is no longer requiring its US workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.

    In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports.

    Link.

  89. 89.

    catclub

    @lowtechcyclist: The prophets are definitely worth reading, if only because there are important people who take them very seriously and it’s good to understand where they’re coming from.

     

    also to know where Shakespeare got various memorable lines.

  90. 90.

    RaflW

    @MisterDancer: I’d agree with much of this. My sense is that the work initially has to focus on state legislative districts and to some extent ‘swing’ congressional seats.

    Sinema stabbing her voters in the back, and on a six year timeframe shows the risks to marginalized voters of investing in the work of candidates too far removed from reach.

  91. 91.

    Shana

    After our beloved dog Lightning died we discovered how many crumbs we generate around the dining table. When he was around there never seemed to be anything on the floor.

  92. 92.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: AOC is in one of the safest districts around and her primary threat was a joke.

    Was it? I mean, she ultimately had no trouble winning, but early on, at least from a distance, it looked like a serious challenge.

    Anyway, Lipinski’s old district is D+6, and Cuellar’s is D+5.  You can lose them in a GOP wave year, but they weren’t going anywhere in 2020.

    And districts with that much of a Dem lean should be held by Dems who don’t lean the other way as much as these guys do, or did in Lipinski’s case.  I’d see the argument if Cuellar was in, say, a D+2 district, but he’s not.

    I don’t understand why party leadership keeps going to the mats for Congresspersons who regularly undercut them on votes, especially when they’re in fairly safe Dem districts.  They can get better Dems than the Cuellars and Lipinskis. And in the latter case, already have.  And in the former case, would likely have, if they hadn’t thrown their support so strongly behind Cuellar. It was a self-defeating move.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Was it? I mean, she ultimately had no trouble winning, but early on, at least from a distance, it looked like a serious challenge.

    What evidence is there that AOC was ever at risk?

    Anyway, Lipinski’s old district is D+6, and Cuellar’s is D+5.  You can lose them in a GOP wave year, but they weren’t going anywhere in 2020.

    Pretty bold statement to make after the fact. And anyway Hoyer is focused on 2022

     

    ETA: AOC’s district is +29.

  96. 96.

    Ruckus

    @RaflW:

    a complete different constituency that we all serve

    They are not all human?

    All humans have similar needs, they don’t all have similar desires.

  100. 100.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    In other revolting news, I totally called McConnell running the Senate from the minority leader position. When everyone was high-fiving over the Ossoff/Warnock wins, Little Debbie Downer here was prodigiously prognosticating on our dystopian and dying democracy.

    Same as it ever was.

  101. 101.

    Roger Moore

    @smith:

    Production in rural areas is, as far as I know, largely controlled by Big Ag, Big Energy, Big Mining, etc.

    This is a policy choice, not something inevitably true.  We’ve allowed a handful of big buyers to control the rural markets (oligopsony) because we believed they would squeeze rural producers and generate low prices for urban buyers.  In a lot of cases, that’s true; I certainly pay more directly to the farmer at a farmer’s market than I do dealing through intermediaries at a supermarket.  We could change that if we had the political will.  If we enforced anti-trust law vigorously, we could prevent those big buyers from squeezing the producers, and more money would find its way to rural communities.

  102. 102.

    lowtechcyclist

    @catclub: also to know where Shakespeare got various memorable lines. 

    I will have to be satisfied that I won’t recognize the source of every Shakespeare line that wasn’t directly from the Bard’s wonderful imagination.

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    @RaflW:

    Did a bit of looking, and it seems WVa has about 1.12M people classified as urban and 672K rural. So about 63%/37% split.

    But he’s just code-talkin’ about urban people, y’know.

    WVa is about 3.6 percent black. There have always been a ton of poor people in West Virginia, the majority of them white.

    It’s sad that anyone who voted for Manchin really believes that he cares about them.

  108. 108.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: What evidence is there that AOC was ever at risk?

    What evidence was there, at the time, that she was never at risk?  It certainly was covered then as a potentially serious challenge, until it wasn’t.

    Pretty bold statement to make after the fact.

    I made it at the time by contributing to both Newman and Cisneros.  I don’t support primary challenges to Dem Congresspersons whose districts are at risk.

    And anyway Hoyer is focused on 2022

    Well, glad to hear it!

    ETA: AOC’s district is +29.

    Which protects her from a primary challenge how?

  111. 111.

    MisterForkbeard

    @mrmoshpotato: The dumb part is that even many/most of his rural constituents wanted the individual portions of BBB. There were numerous polls on it, and they were pretty about this. But Manchin insisted on cutting many of the payfors that his constituents really wanted.

    Basically, he’s talking about of his ass and using the “but muh voters!” as a dodge.

  112. 112.

    danielx

    Back from the grocery – my technique is to wear an N95 with a blue mask over it, then discard the blue mask to an appropriate container once I get outside, saves N95s for reuse. But the number of people who were not wearing masks – it’s not that I hope they die, more like I do not give a fat rat’s ass if they die or not. Aside from their use of medical resources that will not be available to others who need them.

    I really do not like feeling this way, but my compassion quotient has dropped off the scale.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    What evidence was there, at the time, that she was never at risk?  It certainly was covered then as a potentially serious challenge, until it wasn’t.

    Yeah, congressional leadership isn’t going to come out guns blazing for every incumbent that faces some lame challenger, just for the sake of parity.  AOC won her primary challenge 75% to 18%.  It was never serious.

     

    Which protects her from a primary challenge how?

     
    As explained above, her challenger wasn’t a serious one. To the extent the +29 matters, it means that if a challenge is successful, the Dems won’t lose the seat in the general, which is ultimately what’s important to House leadership.

  115. 115.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Betty Cracker: Honestly, might actually be more effective than just pointing out how much we’re doing for them and talking about how Republicans lie to them, Something to actually get their attention.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    Show you’re an asshole without claiming to be an asshole.

    January 20, 2022 at 4:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    “The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee took Wednesday as an opportunity to hold a virtual hearing on how toxic chemicals are killing U.S. soldiers. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) took the hearing as an opportunity to clean his gun,” the Daily Beast reports.

    Pwning the Libs is a fulltime job, yo.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    @The Moar You Know:

    Also, beside that minor quibble, it’s damn obvious what he meant. To anyone.

    Manchin is up on a high horse spitting on poor people who have been mired in poverty for generations. Families full of uneducated folks, people who often live in substandard housing, and who have been decimated by drug addiction and poverty. Many social programs of the early 1960s were deliberately crafted to try to help them, with uneven results over the years.

    Yep, you really have to wonder why Manchin hates the poor white people of West Virginia.

  119. 119.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Yarrow:

    Starbucks is no longer requiring its US workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month. 

    Starbucks: Fuck our workers, and fuck our customers!  We don’t care if they die!

  121. 121.

    smith

    @Roger Moore: I don’t know of any universe in which it’s politically feasible to raise food prices. It’s one reason for all the kludges we have now (wasn’t government cheese invented as a way to support dairy prices?). And making the urban poor suffer from higher food prices so the rural poor do better doesn’t seem like an optimal solution.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist: Ezekiel was one of the first bits of the Bible I DID actually read, because of my interest in “ancient astronauts” balderdash as a kid. Those cranks love the vision with the wheels and living creatures–they say it’s an alien spaceship. My grandfather who was seriously into that stuff pointed me to it.

  124. 124.

    JaySinWa

    @WaterGirl: What ever works, but in the long run I found I spent less time doing it via YouTube. As in when it’s done it’s ready to stream.

    ETA The email is pretty sparse. Feel free to ask questions.

  126. 126.

    Scout211

    I don’t know if this has been posted yet, but there is another juicy leak from the 1/6 investigation. Source.

    The investigation is getting close and closer to TFG . . .

    Washington (CNN)Trump campaign officials, led by Rudy Giuliani, oversaw efforts in December 2020 to put forward illegitimate electors from seven states that Trump lost, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the scheme.

    The sources said members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign team were far more involved than previously known in the plan, a core tenet of the broader plot to overturnPresident Joe Biden’s victory when Congress counted the electoral votes on January 6.

    Giuliani and his allies coordinated the nuts-and-bolts of the process on a state-by-state level, the sources told CNN. One source said there were multiple planning calls between Trump campaign officials and GOP state operatives, and that Giuliani participated in at least one call. The source also said the Trump campaign lined up supporters to fill elector slots, secured meeting rooms in statehouses for the fake electors to meet on December 14, 2020, and circulated drafts of fake certificates that were ultimately sent to the National Archives.

    Trump and some of his top advisers publicly encouraged the “alternate electors” scheme in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico. But behind the scenes, Giuliani and Trump campaign officials actively choreographed the process, the sources said.

  128. 128.

    cain

    @smith: It’s always about the rural poor. They seem to have a much greater representation while crying that “those folks in washington, don’t know us!” Such bullshit.

  129. 129.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:  AOC won her primary challenge 75% to 18%.  It was never serious.

     

    @Baud:  Pretty bold statement to make after the fact.

    Agreed. We knew that all along, how?

    Primary races are a lot more volatile than general election races, because there are no automatic votes for this or that party, and who knows whose voters will turn out.  That uncertainty is a big part of how AOC won her nomination in the first place.

    @Baud: AOC’s district is +29.

    So what’s the line between “Baud says primary challenges are OK” and “Baud says they aren’t”?

  130. 130.

    BlueGuitarist

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Masking and social distancing in Leviticus 13:45-46

    “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ / As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp”

  132. 132.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    This whole discussion started because you tried to compare Hoyer’s statement of support for Cuellar with his apparent lack of support for AOC.  The assumption you made is that the two situtations are comparable.  The facts show that they are not.  As with any judgment call, it’s possible to make a mistake.  But the notion that Hoyer or other leaders should treat different situations the same just for the sake of parity–or so that some people on the internet don’t feel offended–is not a very serious one.

  134. 134.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    @lowtechcyclist: Ezekiel was one of the first bits of the Bible I DID actually read, because of my interest in “ancient astronauts” balderdash as a kid. Those cranks love the vision with the wheels and living creatures–they say it’s an alien spaceship. My grandfather who was seriously into that stuff pointed me to it.

    Yeah, my fascinations as a six or seven year old alternately ran to dinosaurs and outer space, and due to the latter, I had a pretty good understanding of the vastness of space: when the moon is just a quarter of a million miles away, and the very closest star is 26 trillion miles away, which is so far away it takes 4.3 years for its light to get here…even as a little kid I didn’t give much credence to stories of little green men from space.

    (And due to both, I never did give young-earth creation much of a thought.  I won’t say I never swallowed any fundie notions, but YEC was right out.)

  135. 135.

    germy

    Inauguration Day 2017 was my grandmother’s 99th birthday. I asked her how she was feeling.

    She responded by saying, “Franklin, you’re asking me if I’ll be here til 100. Yes. I’ll be here until at least 103. I have to see who we replace this idiot with.”

    She’s still here. pic.twitter.com/B36SMqNzuf

    — Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) November 6, 2020

    Still here, never left.

    104 today. https://t.co/VtvUS9nnuI

    — Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) January 20, 2022

  138. 138.

    Brachiator

    @zhena gogolia:

    Ecclesiastes is fabulous.

    Took a few classes in college on the Bible, as literature, archaeological and historical background, etc. Read a good chunk of it. Loved some of the prophets and Proverbs, which often appeal a great deal to the secular mind.

  140. 140.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    But the notion that Hoyer or other leaders should treat different situations the same just for the sake of parity–or so that some people on the internet don’t feel offended–is not a very serious one.

    Looking back, you’ve been making all this fuss about a careless wording of the parenthetical I tossed off at the end? Well okay then.

    No, I don’t expect them to have the same level of support of every incumbent; I agree that not every one needs the support.  But I’m honestly not sure they even took sides in that primary race.

    And yeah, Cisneros would have won in 2020, just as Newman did.  Which, as an incumbent, would have set her up to be closer to a sure thing in a likely GOP year like 2022, because I agree that in a year like this one, there’s a risk involved to her beating Cisneros.

    I don’t think it’s a huge risk, D+5 is a good bet even this year, but you want to replace guys like Cuellar and Lipinski sometime, and 2020 was a good year to do it.  You can’t just say there’s never a good time to replace a guy in a D+5 district who so often is on the other side.

  142. 142.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Sure, I would love to replace them with better Democrats. I just don’t expect House leadership to take that stance.

    ETA:

    Looking back, you’ve been making all this fuss about a careless wording of the parenthetical I tossed off at the end? Well okay then.

     
    My initial response was pretty short. You then responded and it developed from there.

  143. 143.

    lowtechcyclist

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Even God couldn’t get rid of the filibuster.

    Remember when Abraham filibustered him?  God had to finally just walk* away from the debate.

    *Or however God transports himself.

  145. 145.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud: Sure, I would love to replace them with better Democrats. I just don’t expect House leadership to take that stance.

    Well, I don’t expect it, based on past experience.  And I don’t even expect them to visibly favor primary challengers; I think that would be bad business.

    I just think it’s a strategic mistake on their part to go to the mats for people who won’t return the favor, in districts where they could get people who would do so.

  149. 149.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lowtechcyclist: Blaming the DCCC for supporting incumbents is a bit nuts.  The purpose of the DCCC is to elect Democrats to the House. If a seat has a Democrat in it, it isn’t really in their interest in fucking with it.  Not every organization is designed to put your preferred candidates in office.

  153. 153.

    smith

    @lowtechcyclist: To be fair, the real culprits in Lipinski’s case were in the Cook County machine more than the DCCC. He slid into the seat without having to face a primary at all, and then they supported him regardless of his appalling record until Newman took him out.

  154. 154.

    sab

    I went to the grocery yesterday and had to stop at the deli counter because no cat food. (It is going to be very difficult getting the little guys back to canned.)

    The deli lady was very nice and helpful. I complimented her Gucci mask. She said  “I love Gucci, but this is all I can afford. There are other designers I like better, but theirs are like $50.”

    Then she said “I have a cooking show on Youtube. Are you interested?”

    Of course I was. And her kitchen looks like mine and her pots, pans and dishes look like mine. What a find! I have never made enchiladas before (I live in Ohio). She had an episode.

    I will use slightly different ingredients, but hers was good on the mechanics of assembling the stuff.

    There are good things on the internet that have nothing to do with politics. Neighbor to neighbor stuff.

  158. 158.

    sab

    @Baud: I doubt it. schrodinger’s cat doesn’t even like her woman senator. Nor does my baby sister in MA. Women’s misogyny runs deep.

  160. 160.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: EW is problematic to me not because she is a woman, it is her ideology and political tone deafness that I have issues with. HRC, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi  and Maura Healey are just some examples of women in politics that I admire

    During the worst excesses of the Orange administration, she gave me hope, she took on the T admin and won many times in court.

  162. 162.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    I have seriously ask this in light of recent and ongoing stuff: what’s the general consensus on Adam Silverman’s warning from back in December that POC and other vulnerable people need to get to blue states or emigrate out of the US by 2023 or so?

    I hate to say this, but Adam has been right far more than he’s been wrong:

    1. He predicted the Capitol violence on 1/6 IIRC
    2. His skepticism regarding Manchin/Sinema on BBB/voting rights proved correct
    3. He ended up being correct on the VA elections, along with experts like Larry Sabato, saying that it’ll be a good indicator of how 2022 will go. Well, we all know how well the Dems did in VA

     

    IIRC, Adam is trained in political science; he’s an expert analyst. Also, would like to know what people think of his “perception is reality” observation

    I’m sorry if I come across like a broken record on this, but given the above, I’m terrified the US will collapse into chaos in a few years or we’ll be living under GOP autocracy and that this is all baked in

  163. 163.

    sab

    @sab: Edit time ran out. Political misogyny, not general misogyny. And I don’t know if it is actual objection, or just projecting male objections onto themselves.

    Hopefully SC will stomp me so I don’t have this awkward discussion with my sister.

  164. 164.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Cuellar is consistently supportive of the House Democratic leadership and supported his Caucus every time this session but the one vote on abortion.

    I’m not saying that makes him a good guy. Just like I’m not saying that Ocasio-Cortez is a bad gal just because she’s been a pain in the Speaker’s ass.

  165. 165.

    rikyrah

    They were trying to kill us…we were just too young to realize it ???

     

    sarah madoka currie / クリ窓花 (@kawaiilovesarah) tweeted at 3:40 PM on Thu, Jan 20, 2022:
    reminiscing with a friend about all the playground games that got banned for causing relentless injuries in primary school: red rover, grounders, tetherball, red face.

    children’s playgrounds were literally a survivalism olympiad and i am shocked we all made it
    (https://twitter.com/kawaiilovesarah/status/1484279800848125954?t=Nb8ZZhFwBBuge3h98Ulx7A&s=03)

  167. 167.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I know you have economic objections, which I somewhat agree with. Lawyers aren’t economists. If you follow rules too strictly things might collapse. That is why I am very forgiving of Obama in 2009.

  170. 170.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I love your like list: KH and NP. Healey I don’t know.

    ETA Also too HRC who I love ( I can’t say role model because I never wanted to set myself up to work that hard.)

  171. 171.

    TheflipPsyd

    https://www.inquirer.com/entertainment/tv/west-virginia-tv-reporter-tori-yorgey-wsaz-hit-car-20220120.html

    I always seem to comment when the thread is almost dead. And I couldn’t read through this one because I am like Vince Vaughn’s character in Four Christmases – z sympathetic poker. Can’t talk about it, Can’t read about it, Can’t see it without gagging myself.

    But anyway, anyone seen the clip of the West Virginia reported who got hit while doing live shot. By herself with no camera person. She worked for the philadelphia fox station before leaving the area.

  174. 174.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: The mayor of Boston is a woman. Coakley is old history. 10 year old history. Both my state senator and state rep are women. MH is the strongest so far in the Dem field. Charlie Baker is not seeking reelection so she has a good chance to become the governor.

  175. 175.

    Steeplejack

    Knowing that my faith in the entire flimsy edifice of the lamestream media had been gutted by the no-snow-pocalypse in the DMV this morning, a friend sent me this afternoon story from the Post site: “A snowfall bust rather than a burst: Explaining an errant forecast.”

    I had to laugh. They screwed up so badly that they felt the need to issue a “mistakes were made” apologia. I don’t remember seeing one of those before.

    Our 6:20 a.m. update stated snowfall amounts would be at the low end of estimates.

    Over the next two hours, the period of snow vanished from short-range model simulations amid a cold rain over the area. We dialed back our snow forecasts further, and the Weather Service discontinued its winter weather advisory.

    C’mon, man. As late as 8:30-9:00 the Weather Channel and the local Fox station were still yakking about “Oh, it’s about to start.”

    Anyway, tempest (or not) in a teacup. My pissedness was not about not being able to drive in bad weather but that the doctor’s appointment I canceled is now scheduled for late February. Good times.

    P.S. I realize I sound like a nutter about this. I’m fine now, really. Can I get the Cole rant exemption?

  176. 176.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    I can’t even imagine how that must’ve hurt though, ugh.

    The news anchor was apparently only watching the teleprompter, so he had no idea what happened

  177. 177.

    James E Powell

    I know I have to support Tim Ryan but shit like this just makes me crazy

    Ryan faulted Biden for failing to address voter anxieties about the coronavirus pandemic and not providing clear guidance to the public on issues like masking and testing to prevent the virus’ spread
    “We need to move forward with a strong agenda that’s gonna put money in people’s pockets,” said Ryan, urging Biden to break up big legislative packages such as the “Build Back Better” measure that stalled in the Senate, and work on passing the parts where there’s agreement “so we can hit the reset button here.”

    Does this shithead really think that slamming Biden is going to help him win?

    Does this moron not realize that Biden’s efforts have been almost exclusively addressing COVID and putting money in people’s pockets?

    Does he not see that he should be slamming Republicans for their refusal to help address COVID and their opposition to putting money in people’s pockets?

    Will we ever be rid of these But Some Democrats?

  178. 178.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Martha Coakley lost to Scott Brown in the special election to replace Ted Kennedy. I think this was in 2010. Some observers said she was overconfident, but people get blamed for all kinds of stuff if they lose.

    Elizabeth Warren then beat Scottt Brown in 2012. Brown recently moved from New Hampshire back to Massachusetts. He’s kept a low profile, endorsing a few Republicans and showing up at picnics. I would not be surprised if he goes for a rematch with Warren in 2024.

  179. 179.

    sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): This is your country which you live in. Kind of like Blacks under  Jim Crow, but not anywhere near so terrifying.

    This is where you live. You have to help fix it or it stays horrible.

    I doubt you have the language skills to emigrate (Canada isn’t much better. Twelve years Steven Harper) and nowhere else is much better.

    Buckle up and dig in (block that metaphor!)  This is life like everyone else has always lived it. The world has never been perfect, or even particularly friendly.

  181. 181.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: She is a frontrunner in the Democratic race for nomination

    Healey is the third woman to enter the Democratic primary. Danielle Allen and Sonia Chang-Diaz launched their bids months ago. Chang-Diaz is a current state senator. Allen is a Harvard University political science professor.

    Healey is considered a clear frontrunner for the nomination and to win the general election. Polling conducted by UMass Amherst in November found Healey had an early advantage over the other Democrats.

  183. 183.

    TheflipPsyd

    @Baud: Didn’t think it was gory. Thought it showed a person with a lot of poise who could get hit by a car, pop right back up and finish the live shot. She didn’t miss a beat. That’s reporting.

  188. 188.

    Miss Bianca

    @Just Some Fuckhead: All right, you’re a prescient genius of doom-saying. Have a fucking cookie and change your nym to Just Some Fucking Nostradoomus, Fuckhead.

    ETA: Oh, and welcome back. I think.//

  189. 189.

    Another Scott

    Our Ellie searches out fox poop.  She’s relentless.  :-/

    In other news, …

    If Dems pick up 4 Senators in 2022 and hold the House they can make DC a state and pick up 2 DC Senators for 2024.

    — PCR RitesGood (@pcrritesgood) January 20, 2022

    Small changes in the number of elected Democrats can lead to huge positive outcomes. We need to fight for every seat, every time.

    (via eclecticbrotha)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  195. 195.

    Benw

    Shelby barfed on the cable box and now the box is d-e-d dead. Optimum will be understanding I am sure

  197. 197.

    Another Scott

    Fair Fight Action sends me e-mail:

    Dear Another Scott,

    In 2020 and 2021, voters turned out in record numbers to make their voices heard. In response, the nation witnessed Jim Crow 2.0.

    Just weeks after Georgia’s first Black and Jewish senators were sworn into office, state legislatures across the country began filing hundreds of anti-voting bills. Black people were removed from local boards of elections, and poll workers were forced to confront rising threats.

    But once again, we rose up. We came together to advocate for federal legislation to protect the freedom to vote for all eligible Americans. Working together, we made ourselves heard: the freedom to vote is essential to our country, and to this moment in our history.

    To say we are frustrated would be an understatement. We share that with you. Last night, 52 U.S. Senators failed to uphold their duty as public servants by refusing to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.

    Yet while Senators Manchin, Sinema, and their Republican colleagues have chosen to ignore the pleas of their constituents, it’s important you know this: We have heard your demands, and we share them. From Hot Call Summer through Freedom to Vote Fall, we made our voices loud and clear. And the 48 Senators who voted to change the rules heard us, too.

    You made it clear that we cannot tolerate barriers to voting for voters of color, veterans, voters with disabilities, rural voters, new Americans, or young people. That we cannot tolerate efforts to remove or harass local election officials. And you made it clear that the freedom to vote is intrinsic to the issues that impact our daily lives. For this reason, we will keep fighting. We are in this fight for the long haul, and we are in it with you by our sides.

    While we did not win last night, our resolve persists. We need you in this fight with us.

    Fair Fight Action will not waver. We are committed to continuing our work on the front lines—along with local, state, and national allies—to protect the voice and vote of every eligible American.

    In just a few short months, voters across the country will cast their ballots in primary elections. These primaries will only serve as a small preview to the obstacles we’ll face in the November Midterms.

    Ensuring that every eligible voter can register to vote, cast a ballot, and have that ballot counted fairly will be no small feat. It will take all of us, working together, to fulfill the promise of our democracy.

    Let us be clear: We will need you. We will need poll workers, pro-democracy poll observers, volunteers to document peoples’ experiences with voter suppression, and folks working on the ground to get voters the resources they need.

    This is how we were able to support voters of color in 2020 and 2021 to ensure their voices were heard. And it’s how we plan to do so again in 2022. Fair Fight Action will be working around the clock to provide ways for you to join in this fight.

    History has already made clear that in moments like this, it is up to us to carry the fight forward. We have faced and overcome staggering odds before, and we are prepared to do so again in 2022. We will continue to do what we do best: advocate, organize, and mobilize. We will never stop fighting on behalf of voters everywhere. Join us.

    Thank you, always, for your dedication and investment in our mission.

    — Team Fair Fight Action

    […]

    Sounds like a plan.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  199. 199.

    Geminid

    @Baud:I think so.

    Scott Brown won the Massachusetts special Senate election on the strength of vigorous retail campaigning. His handshaking at Fenway Park, where the Bruins and the Flyers were playing the NHL’s Winter Classic on New Year’sDay, became an issue late in the campaign. A reporter told Martha Coakley that people were saying she needed to get out among regular voters more, and was spending too much time at small indoor gatherings of Democrats. She responded:

        “What? As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?”

    “Well…Duh!” was the general reaction.

  200. 200.

    WaterGirl

    @JaySinWa: @EmanG: I discovered I could trim the audio file in QuickTime, and that was easy.   I’m pretty confident that it will be the same process for the video file.  So I think I’m good, but I will send up a flare tomorrow if I’m not.

  202. 202.

    Dan B

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I have similar concerns about the potential for chaos or that the GPP would grant right wing Christians their wish to criminalize LGBT+ people.  Also our neighbors are minorities and immigrants so it could be very ugly here.

  203. 203.

    Ruckus

    @cain:

    Town I live in, in SoCal is 48K. Of course this city is surrounded by many other cities, in LA county, which has a larger population than 40 states, at 10+ million people.

  204. 204.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: The story is that when David Axelrod told the President what Coakley had said, Obama started cussing. He really needed that Senate seat and was incredulous that a politician would say such a thing.

  205. 205.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    God is a Democrat.

    In a party of one, does he need any more of a title than his name? Also if he’s a democrat, why do all the conservatives worship him? I mean I know the world doesn’t always make sense but still….

  206. 206.

    Ruckus

    Charles Booker – black man running for KY senator against mcconnell.

    I am no less American than Mitch McConnell.

    I’d bet he’s far more!

  207. 207.

    James E Powell

    @sab:

    I will never love Tim Ryan – the anti-Pelosi shit was an infamnia – but I really do hope he wins. My beloved home state is turning into a MAGA wasteland.

  208. 208.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    Survival of those who understand there are risks in most everything and how to work to reduce the risks. And if really good how to get rid of some of them. Look at life now and 75 yrs ago and how many risks are not as risky. We will never be free of risk, everything has some risk, childbirth, our very start in life is risky, but less so now. Driving when I started was riskier than now. Now it is less but in no way free of risk. Life is a risk, does that make life more precious? Should it?

  210. 210.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    A week ago I got one canceled at the VA and have not been able to reschedule at all. Apparently the doc is sicker then I am – was told he has Covid.

  211. 211.

    John Cole

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 

    I’m terrified the US will collapse into chaos in a few years or we’ll be living under GOP autocracy and that this is all baked in

    I’m all but certain this is the case. I’d like to be proven otherwise, but it just seems so inevitable.

  212. 212.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    We had a kid on my ship who would get seasick as soon as the ropes were untied on the dock. And stay seasick. His enlistment was up and in less than 2 weeks he reenlisted and showed back up. It takes all kinds, and you don’t need to know how to swim, as long as you don’t fall overboard or the ship doesn’t sink. And often it doesn’t make any difference if you can’t swim, if you end up by yourself swimming in the middle of the ocean, do you think you can swim a thousand miles to shore?

  213. 213.

    schrodingers_cat

    @John Cole: It is not inevitable. Doomerism is a luxury and a privilege that not all of us have, paraphrasing a Muslim Twitter mutual’s response to the open calls of genocide (of Muslims) across several cities in India

  215. 215.

    StringOnAStick

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Well, autocracy is on the rise around the world so your first question to yourself is where would you go and if you think you can fully integrate there. I’m under the impression you are a young white male (not the group Adam is worried about) you could take your nursing degree and get hired many places but I heard recently that you’ve soured on the profession and are looking for something else; maybe western Europe so you can take advantage of cheaper college but the devil’s in the details so dig in deep doing research first.  Don’t you have a pet you’re going to have to find a home for or take with you?

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