Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

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

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Some BFDs

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Some BFDs

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… By announcing she would seek a 19th term, Pelosi avoids becoming a lame duck in a year when Democrats are clinging to a fragile majority in the House and the party is under pressure to raise vast sums of money to defend control of Congress.

Her decision to remain in the chamber follows announcements by 29 House Democrats that they won’t seek reelection this year, compared to 13 Republicans as the GOP looks toward taking back the House.

The party that controls the White House typically loses seats in Congress in midterm elections, and Democrats are defending both chambers at a time when President Joe Biden’s approval rating has been slipping.

“Our democracy is at risk because the assault on the truth, assault on the U.S. Capitol and the state-by-state assault on voting rights,” she added.

In the video, Pelosi never addresses if she intends to seek another term as the House’s Democratic leader, if reelected…

And this, in particular:

Reader Interactions

197Comments

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It would allow Afghans to be screened, vetted, approved for refugee status and placed on planes to the United States within 30 days of their arrival at the military site in Qatar …

    Que up the RW outrage machine.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    The today show runs the same inflation/supply chain/empty store shelves story every morning. It’s remarkable.

  8. 8.

    Ken

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m also expecting some faux (or Fox) outrage at the changes to the UCMJ. First they came for the sexy M&Ms, now they’re going after porn in the military; where will it end?

  9. 9.

    Baud

    Pelosi never addresses if she intends to seek another term as the House’s Democratic leader, if reelected

    I thought she had previously said she wouldn’t.

  10. 10.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: My guess is very few independents in the poll considering the large % (32!) With no opinion. Twice Dem or GOP.

  11. 11.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I see people are trolling Youngkin’s Snitch-on-a-Teacher line.

    Dear Governor Youngkin, I was mortified to learn today that my child is being taught Arabic numbers in his math class. This is the year MMXXII, please put a stop to this.

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: That poll is weird. Indies are worse than Republicans.

    These days, ‘Independents’ are Republican voters who are ashamed to admit it.

    The ones I know are libertarians, who are against immigration in any form, for reasons.  The excuse they hand out involves Taking Our Jobs — they don’t mind taking advantage of day-labor construction or service jobs, but did you know powerful tech companies would rather hire docile Indian immigrants than good Americans (especially the G.A.s with a deeply problematic work history… )?

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Not satisfied with just trashing up our planet and near Earth space, now we’re littering on the moon: Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon

    As for whether the collision could be viewed from Earth, Gray says it will probably go unobserved. “The bulk of the moon is in the way, and even if it were on the near side, the impact occurs a couple of days after New Moon.”

    Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, wrote that the impact was due on 4 March but was “not a big deal”.

    Nevertheless, space enthusiasts believe the impact could provide valuable data. Berger believes the event will allow for observation of subsurface material ejected by the rocket’s strike, while Gray says he is “rooting for a lunar impact”.

    If the laws of gravity give you space impact lemons, might as well make lemonade.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    We met with Jeff Crossman (running for Ohio attorney general) last night. Good meeting. He’ll be running against corruption, which is obviously a better topic for an AG than in some other races, “you’ll think it’s a one note song, and it will be”.

    He’ll focus on two recent giant Ohio corruption scandals – ECOT and First Energy. Two of the Republicans who were indicted in the First Energy scandal are going to trial and they will be on trial during his race. Two of the First Energy scandal defendants cooperated and pled and it’s widely believed they’ll testify at the trials of the other two. It’s federal, so shouldn’t be infected by the really rampant corruption in this state.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    Every political journalist needs to spend 2022 looking into why Ron DeSantis has spent the pandemic promoting the very expensive COVID treatment Regeneron, even to the point of steering Floridians away from the vaccine so more people will get severe COVID and thus need Regeneron.— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) January 25, 2022

    That they’ll need every single drug made by Regeneron, a pharmaceutical company?

    I’m so confused. Not really – just sick of seeing a company talked about like it’s the drug treatment itself.

  19. 19.

    Other MJS

    Wow, “independents” suck worse than Republicans? Although let’s see if GQP “leadership” gets behind this.

    % Favor/Oppose
    Total 72/9
    Dem 76/8
    GOP 74/11
    Ind 59/9

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @Kay: Have any of those going to trial called the prosecutions politically-motivated yet? It’s all the rage in some circles, I understand.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Incredibly detailed on the scandal – in the legislature as it was revealed and progressed, so play by play-  which I of course love.

    We could chat for hours on GOP corruption in Ohio, Baud. Barely scratched the surface. They just don’t do state prosecutions of Republicans anymore. No one was even indicted in ECOT- 70 million dollars stolen.

  28. 28.

    Gin & Tonic

    The Democratic gerontocracy in Congress is destructive to the future of the Democratic Party.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    US to hold surprise plant inspections targeting pollution in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled plans to conduct unannounced inspections of plants suspected of air pollution violations in the heavily industrialized region in Louisiana known as Cancer Alley and other locations around the US south.

    The move, announced on Wednesday morning alongside other significant new enforcement and monitoring actions, is aimed at reining in pollution in an area with much of America’s most toxic air.

    The agency intends to expand air monitoring in a number of locations visited by the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, last November, and will work to develop new measuring techniques for the “emerging contaminants” chloroprene and ethylene oxide. Both pollutants are likely or known human carcinogens that are emitted at dangerous levels in locations around the region, notably in St John the Baptist parish.
    ……………………………….
    In neighboring St James parish, Regan said his department would provide technical assistance to the US army corps of engineers in an ongoing re-evaluation of a proposed plastics facility operated by the Taiwanese company Formosa, in effect placed on hold by the Biden administration last August amid widespread community concern.

    The gargantuan facility had been permitted to emit 13m tonnes of greenhouse gasses a year, the equivalent of three coal-fired power plants, along with 15,400lb of ethylene oxide.

    In the same parish, the administrator announced enforcement action against a steel plant, run by the industrial giant Nucor, which last year was revealed to have been quietly emitting cancer-causing sulphuric acid mist and hydrogen sulphide for six years without a permit.

    In unveiling a new plan of unannounced inspections in the region, Regan told reporters: “We want to keep these facilities on their toes so that they’re doing their due diligence all the time, not just when there’s a planned EPA inspection.”

    Long overdue.

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Pelosi’s 2018 agreement with the critics led by Seth Moulton was that she might still run for speaker in 2022 if a sufficient plurality of the Democratic Caucus voted for her. She really gave up nothing, but let Moulton and company save some face.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @sab:

    oh that’s nice. We did candidate petitions last night. We have a good group. Sometimes that means higher quality people are running because they think they can win, which doesn’t align with national predictions for Democrats, so is interesting.

    if they think they can’t win good people don’t run and we get oddballs instead :)

  38. 38.

    JPL

    Apparently, a nor’easter is approaching the Northeast, so Anne and the other folks who live in that area, be careful.   Do send pictures of the aftermath though

  39. 39.

    Victor Matheson

    “President Biden will sign an executive order to “make sexual harassment an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

    So you are telling me that as of yesterday sexual harassment wasn’t an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice? {shaking my head…}

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The vote for Caucus leadership (and Speaker candidate, if Democrats come out of the midterms with a majority) will take place a week or so after the November election. Pelosi  will probably will not detail her plans until then. Hakeem Jeffries (NY) will likely be Pelosi’s replacement as either Speaker or Minority Leader, and it appears that Kathleen Clark (MA) will win the next post. There may well be an intra-caucus fight, thoug3, and Democrats will do better to let it play out after the election.

    Jeffries, Caucus Chairman since 2018  is 51 years old. Clark is 58

  44. 44.

    satby

    @JPL: We’re at day 5 of winter advisories for snowstorm / lake effect snow / (and now) bitter cold. Total snow accumulated so far is between 6-10 inches depending on location, about 8 at my house. I haven’t left the house except to take the dog out, but I have to venture forth, dig out the car, and get cat food.

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    @JPL: There will be good pictures coming out of Jerusalem, too. Winter storm Elpin is supposed to bring 8″ of snow to the city, with more in the higher elevations of the region. Elpin has already slammed Istanbul.

  49. 49.

    Chris

    @Baud: 

    Indies are worse than Republicans.

    To quote a blogger I like, yes, it’s stupid to support the Republican Party. But it’s a whole other level of stupid to not know if you support the Republican Party.

  50. 50.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    Instead, they’ll show polls as scoreboards, repetitive stories about inflation, talk about “sides” on abortion and culture wars angles without going into the negative aspects of GQP policy preferences, and a bunch of incurious shit about the bloated orange mediocrity’s bleating while under investigation without fleshing out the results.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    @satby: The biggest danger is slipping and falling so do be careful.   Anne should do a series on snow events, rather than garden events in January and February.

  52. 52.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    The pollers need to ask those “indies” this question:

    “When was the last time you voted for a Democrat?”

  53. 53.

    Hoodie

    @Chris: That, or a lot of independents are Trump base types who think Republicans are squishes.  Note that the polls don’t include a category of “Fascist.”  Part of the problem with a two-party system is that it really doesn’t allow them to fly their freak flags.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Hoodie: Part of the problem with a two-party system is that it really doesn’t allow them to fly their freak flags.

    It doesn’t stop them around here.

  57. 57.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Immanentize:

    I’ve taken to calling it North Kentucky when talking to my youngest spawn (who lives in Cincy, which is the largest and northernmost suburb of Pikeville).

  58. 58.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: @JPL: Yeah, the sight of pretty gardens in winter cheers up Sunday mornings for me. And I like winter and snow, but if I don’t have to drive in it I don’t; at least until the streets are clear.

    C K Dexter Haven loves the snow, but this morning after joyfully running around playing, he suddenly realized he was freezing and let me know by pulling me back to the door. He was DONE!

  59. 59.

    WereBear

    I have come to think that a goodly number feel trapped in it now and can come to their senses, but probably as many or more LOVE it and just keep digging.

    It’s professional help or some kind of cult. That’s how mental illness gets treated, and it breaks along partisan lines.

    Because these people are the untreated mentally ill. Since Reagan, it’s been fine to just let them walk the streets.

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Gin & Tonic: Is she doing consular processing? I went the adjustment of status route which you can do from within the US

    Other than the RFE on my intent to immigrate application for which I used a lawyer I have filed all my immigration applications myself including the citizenship application. I have also helped some friends to successfully navigate the immigration bureaucracy thicket

    She needs to fire her lawyer. If you are near a good university go to the International programs office, check to see which lawyers they use. Typically  they have lawyers who routinely file complicated employment based long term visas including permanent residency.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @Chris: Going into last year’s election, party registration in Arizona was Republican 35%, Democrat 32%, and Independent 31.7%. That was a high turnout election, and it’s hard to see how Joe Biden and Mark Kelly could have won Arizona without carrying a majority of Independent voters.

    Virtually all the commenters on this forum are Democrats, but a political taxonomist could probably identify 3 or 4 different types. One could identify at least that many types of Independents. Most typically vote for one party or another, but do not identify with that party. A minority- some social scientists say a fifth- are actual swing voters.

    But, say what you want about Independent voters, you can’t say they don’t vote, and successful Democratic politicians in purple states campaign accordingly.

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    @OzarkHillbilly: Most of the upper stages and lunar-module ascent stages from the Apollo missions were deliberately crashed into the Moon, so the impacts could be used to calibrate lunar seismometers and provide data about the lunar interior. Similar deal to this. The rocket stages made visible new craters.

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @JMG: Representative Clark must have shown Speaker Pelosi and her confidantes a lot of ability and a good work ethic.

  70. 70.

    Gin & Tonic

    @schrodingers_cat: Yes, consular, as she is not in the US. I think they would have had a better outcome (and saved a bundle) by doing this themselves.

    Pretty sure my son is declaring war on the lawyers

  72. 72.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    A California city voted Tuesday night to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what’s believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States.

    The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from gun owners who said it would violate their Second Amendment rights and promised to sue.
    [snip]
    …gun owners who don’t have insurance won’t lose their guns or face any criminal charges, the mayor said. Source

  73. 73.

    burnspbesq

    ICYMI, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied Eastman’s motion for an injunction against the 1/6 Committe’s subpoena. Judge Carter may be a bit of a loose cannon, but he had no difficulty seeing Eastman’s arguments—specifically including the argument that the subpoena is void because the Committee was not properly constituted—as the bullshit they manifestly are. However, Eastman will be permitted to assert attorney-client privilege and work product claims on a document-by-document basis, which is likely to lead to a subsequent hearing in which Judge Carter will get to slap Eastman around again for claiming that the identity of his purported clients is itself privileged (yes, he really did argue that at yesterday’s hearing).

    Chapman University says it has 19,000 potentially responsive documents.

    Siri, order all the popcorn.

    Link to order:

    https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.43.0.pdf

  74. 74.

    WereBear

    @Victor Matheson:

    So you are telling me that as of yesterday sexual harassment wasn’t an offense in the Uniform Code of Military Justice? {shaking my head…}

     
    When I started working in offices, sexual harassment wasn’t illegal.

  76. 76.

    Layer8Problem

    @Geminid:

    There will be good pictures coming out of Jerusalem, too. Winter storm Elpin is supposed to bring 8″ of snow to the city, with more in the higher elevations of the region. Elpin has already slammed Istanbul.

    I saw that and thought “cool, now The Weather Channel®’s unilaterally decided they get to name winter storms in the Mediterranean too.” It turns out it’s the meteorological organizations of Greece, Israel, and Cyprus doing the naming. That I can live with.

  77. 77.

    Ken

    @Hoodie: That, or a lot of independents are Trump base types who think Republicans are squishes.

    You remind me that the American Anarchists (or some similarly-named group) announced a few years ago that they were throwing their efforts behind the Republicans, who were being much more effective at destroying the U.S. government than the anarchists ever were.

    I was not sure if it was a real group and position statement. It could be something like the Satanic Temple.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    It’s a certainty the exhibit has outlived much of the museum staff.

    Methuselah is a 4-foot-long (1.2-meter), 40-pound (18.1-kilogram) Australian lungfish that was brought to the San Francisco museum in 1938 from Australia.
    [snip]
    The Australian lungfish is now a threatened species and can no longer be exported from Australian waters so biologists at the Academy say it’s unlikely they’ll get a replacement once Methuselah passes away. Source

  79. 79.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic: I am not an expert on anything except literature (and even that . . .), but my gut feeling is that VVP is a little like TFG in that he is a total coward. I think he knows what awaits him if he tries this, and he probably won’t. Am I naive?

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WereBear: It isn’t a crime now.  Making sexual harassment a criminal offense under the UCMJ goes well beyond what any state’s criminal code does.

  81. 81.

    cain

    @Geminid:

    Jeffries, Caucus Chairman since 2018  is 51 years old. Clark is 58

    Oh good, we’re almost there in regards to Gen Xers finally holding some leadership positions!

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @cain: Caucus Chairman Jeffries already holds a leadership position. At 58 Clark would still be considered a Boomer ( I think). There are plenty of talented 40-somethings in the Democratic Caucus, though. I believe Lauren Underwood (IL) is only 35 years old.

    Pennsylvania Congressman Conor Lamb is 37, but he’s running for Senate, so one way or another he will not be in the House next year.

  88. 88.

    trollhattan

    “Nancy Pelosi, she’s so old, she needs to retire!”
    “Ron Johnson is 66.”
    “Ohhhh, never mind.”
    In the meantime, Chuck Grassley.

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax: Awwww.

    Jan says Methuselah likes getting rubbed on her back and belly and has a “mellow” personality.
    “I tell my volunteers, pretend she’s an underwater puppy, very mellow, gentle, but of course if she gets spooked she will have sudden bouts of energy. But for the most part she’s just calm,” Jan said. Methuselah has developed a taste for seasonal figs.

    Who can guess how long she’ll carry on? Japan has anecdotes of koi living in mountain streams exceeding two hundred years (granted, carp and lungfish are a far cry from one another).

  95. 95.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Someone asked about DeSantis and Regeneron?

    Regeneron, which makes monoclonal antibodies, says that they don’t work against Omicron.

    Ron DeSantis is falsely claiming that they do.

    Citadel owns $16 million of Regeneron stock. Citadel CEO, his biggest donor, gave DeSantis $11 million.

    I’m sure this is just a coincidence. ?

    — Lindy Li (@lindyli) January 25, 2022

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: I am guessing that sexual harassment could have been covered under other parts of UCMJ, but that it left an ocean of room for some commanding officer to say “no big deal” we won’t prosecute this.  But now that it has been made a crime, that can’t happen.

    Is that a fair guess?

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: But now that it has been made a crime, that can’t happen.

    If only…   But yes, that is more or less the point.  The military has a sexual harassment and sexual assault problem.  The idea behind this is that explicitly criminalizing sexual harassment will make easier both to report and punish harassment.

  99. 99.

    sab

    @Kay: I just don’t want another “we insiders knew he was a crook, why did you vote for him when we (not you) knew he was a crook but we didn’t tell you”  situation.

  100. 100.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Most of the upper stages and lunar-module ascent stages from the Apollo missions were deliberately crashed into the Moon, so the impacts could be used to calibrate lunar seismometers and provide data about the lunar interior. Similar deal to this. The rocket stages made visible new craters.

    We’ve actually been dumping junk on the moon since 1962, courtesy of the Ranger program.

    Ranger 4
    Launched 23 April 1962
    Sequencer failed, impacted the Moon 26 April 1962

  102. 102.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Hoodie:

    Someone was reminding me yesterday about an old judge from 30 years ago who quit the John Birch Society because they were too liberal for him. Thing is, he was actually a pretty decent judge – reliably consistent and scrupulously fair.

  103. 103.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: I think this is a big part of the overall problem that many people don’t want to admit.  Independents/Green/NoParty assholes are the Sinema’s of our society.

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    Received our four Bidentests yesterday, much faster than first promised.

    Check yours for expiration dates, ours are good only until some time in June.

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    She’s back. Former Ohio state senator and Sanders campaign surrogate Nina Turner wants a rematch with Representative Shontel Brown. They will fight it out in the OH-11 primary on May 3rd. The district map is not yet finalized, but it is expected to include more of the city of Cleveland. Politico Playbook was among several media outlets reporting the news, and

    Playbook got an exclusive look at [Turner’s] launch video which features images of empty shelves and references to inflation.

  108. 108.

    Ksmiami

    Interestingly enough that left wing rag /sarcasm- Bloomberg has an article about how paid leave is falling apart just as sick and contagious Americans need it. Thanks Joe Manchin

  112. 112.

    trollhattan

    @Baud: Welly, welly, welly. Time now to see just how far Manchin and Sinema will take their little game.

    At LGM I expect much rejoicing.

  115. 115.

    dm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Ah, it was launching something to a Lagrange point, that makes it easy to understand why it had enough energy to (eventually) get to the moon.

    Though a decade or two ago I attended a talk about taking advantage of chaotic trajectories — one of the speaker’s examples was that she had found low-energy chaotic trajectories that would get you to the Moon from low-Earth orbit, if you didn’t mind waiting for a long time.  Her work was how to nudge something from a standard trajectory to one of these, as a means of shipping supplies to a potential lunar base.  From the Earth to the Moon via phase space.

    (Another example had to do with automobile fuel-injection — probably how to get better fuel-air mixing via inducing turbulence.)

  122. 122.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    Republicans insured that a Supreme Court Justice can’t be fillabustered. So, McConnell can’t do a thing about it, as I see Baud has pointed out. It will be interesting to see what Biden opts to do..

    Pick someone who makes progressives swoon to energize them for 2022 or pick someone who makes skittish moderate independents feel like he really is a moderate (given they’ve been upset about the more liberal policies and they voted for Biden).

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: and Sinema has been with the Dem majority on every judicial nomination as far as I know, and Manchin voted against ACB and I haven’t heard of him throwing any wrenches in teh judicial nominating process.

    McConnell’s only magic is votes. Same is true of Schumer (and Biden) btw

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: I remember some anti-imperialist types in the 2000s who supported Ron Paul because they thought he’d be the most effective candidate at destroying the United States as a global power–the domestic chaos involved in that was a price they were aware of and willing to pay. Some of them were clearly evolving toward chaos-troll Trumpism.

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dm: One of the Apollo/Saturn third stages that didn’t hit the Moon went into heliocentric orbit and was eventually captured into a large, chaotic and temporary Earth orbit many years later, where it was initially described as a “new second moon” until astronomers found that its spectrum was that of the white paint used on old rockets.

  132. 132.

    JPL

    @zhena gogolia: There is a Michelle who has been mentioned, but not the one I want.   J. Michelle Childs from South Carolina.

    Since there are no criteria that the nominee be a judge though, Michelle Obama would be an excellent choice.

  134. 134.

    RaflW

    @Baud: Foghorn Klieghorn, the undisputed waddle-champion of the Senate, is gonna have an aneurysm over Breyer.

    “Well I must say, to all my colleagues and friends in the other party, it is highly inappropriate for a President to appoint a Supreme Court Justice so close to a mid term election! Surely it has to be up to the Senate that is selected by the American people after November 2022 who will make this solemn choice.”

  135. 135.

    West of the Rockies

    OT, but what say you about Charles Booker’s chances against Rand Paul?  Not sure if a black man can win in KY, but is he a solid person and does he have a shot?

  136. 136.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Baud: Thank goodness. Are three years left in a (D) president’s term too few to appoint a SC justice? Asking for a turtle.

  137. 137.

    StringOnAStick

    @Matt McIrvin: I know a self identified anarchist who always voted R because it will enhance the contradictions faster and destroy the imperialist US.  The last time I talked to him was before the thug from merde a largo was running, and he had just gone 100% for men’s rights crap, which is when I quit talking to him anymore.  The guy was a total mooch, didn’t own a car and was always trying to get people to drive him places, including far into the mountains to check on the land he’s bought from all the remaining commune members. 3 acres with no water and 30 miles from the nearest place to buy food, so that should work out well come the revolution.

  139. 139.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @JPL: Michelle Obama would be an excellent choice.

    Nope. Nope. Nope. She will NOT want the job. There are excellent choices out there who are not the fabulous Michelle O.

  145. 145.

    Kent

    @Baud: Breyer is retiring

    I think this merits its own thread.  The heat on him must have been absolutely white hot, especially after RBG died and the fiasco that followed.

  146. 146.

    RaflW

    @West of the Rockies: Rand got 57.3% of the vote last time. Not sure that things in Kentucky have changed that much since.

    I do think a Black candidate is a better choice than McGrath was two years ago (who McConnell dispatched with 57.8% of the vote). But I’d say that money to Booker would be last-dollar funds. Many more races will likely be closer and less well funded.

    I’ve been fairly consistent in advocating for funding smaller races. $25 or 50 or even a hundred bucks is much more useful for a Dem challenger in a state house race or even a congressional district than in these multi-multi-million dollar contests.

    All that said I think I gave a little to Booker’s primary run back in early 2020. I do try to support Black Dems if they have a solid platform and some sort of shot. McGrath only edged him by a few points that cycle.

  147. 147.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @JPL:

    Both Ginny and Clarence would have a heart attack, and that’s not all bad.

    With that, we are in violent agreement. :)

  149. 149.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @trollhattan: Tucker can barely survive “gendered” M&Ms. I’m sure his brain* will ‘splode with whoever Biden picks.

    *Assumes an organ not in evidence.

  150. 150.

    Kent

    @O. Felix Culpa: Be more poetic if they died of Covid after coming into contact with unvaccinated corporate employees of some sort who no longer need to be vaccinated because SCOTUS said so.

  151. 151.

    Geminid

    @O. Felix Culpa: You were missed yesterday. The conversation turned to the problem of attracting young voters to Democratic candidates, and I recalled that you have hands on experience persuading young people to vote. I would never volunteer someone else to do a job. But I guess I did try to volunteer you to do a guest post on the subject.

  152. 152.

    Matt McIrvin

    @StringOnAStick: In my experience the people who vote Republican as a chaos move to destroy the corrupt capitalist-imperialist system almost always have some kind of resentment about the feminists and the blacks lurking about a millimeter under the surface. You saw it particularly intensely in any situation involving Hillary Clinton.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud: Hopefully a little easier for Brown since she will be an incumbent.

    Depends critically on the quality of her constituent service. Voters remember that their Rep helped them with a Social Security or Medicare or Veterans Admin issue long after the issues are lost in background noise. And they tell their family and friends about it.

    In MD-02 we had a Democratic Representative (Clarence D. Long) who IIRC never introduced a bill of his own (despite having been a Johns Hopkins economics professor) but was re-elected over & over because his constituent services were nonpareil. He’d frank out frequent flyers (my summer job in college was letter carrier in the area & the postmen all hated him – we had to go to every freakin’ door) saying, I’ll be at such&such post office on such&such date from X to Y, come see me if you have a problem with the government. And he’d show up in a van and sit at a desk in the back while the petitioners were ushered in one by one. We called it “Deals On Wheels.”

  157. 157.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Part of me is so glad Breyer is retiring. The other part of me is worried that Mancinema is going to let the nomination be fillibustered. I know it’s not particularly smart given his age and I doubt he wants it but Barack Obama  being on the USSC would be extraordinary in so many ways and I would like to see Mancinema, Romney, Collins and Tim Scott justify a vote against Obama.

  159. 159.

    Kent

    @Mai Naem mobile:Part of me is so glad Breyer is retiring. The other part of me is worried that Mancinema is going to let the nomination be fillibustered. I know it’s not particularly smart given his age and I doubt he wants it but Barack Obama  being on the USSC would be extraordinary in so many ways and I would like to see Mancinema, Romney, Collins and Tim Scott justify a vote against Obama.

    There is no filibuster for SCOTUS nominees or for any confirmations anymore.  They have voted for all of Biden’s other judges and nominees and not allowed any of them to be filibustered.

    The only alternative is to wait until the GOP has control of the Senate which would be infinitely worse.  Biden doesn’t have to nominate the most radical left nominee possible.  Just someone who isn’t a flaming right-wing monster who will reliably vote with Kagan and Sotomayor.  That is a pretty fucking low bar honestly.

  166. 166.

    Kent

    @Uncle Cosmo: Introducing bills is over-rated.  And most Congressmen and women who do so mostly just sign on as co-sponsors to someone else’s bill.  The number of substantive bills that pass the House and then clear the Senate is pretty damn low.

    Other aspects of the job are often more important such as oversight.

  167. 167.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kent: The one I knew best was white, male and poor, and had once faked his own death just to prank a Usenet group so he could come back and denounce us all as phonies for mourning him.

  170. 170.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Geminid: Hehe. I’ve been patchy on BJ of late. Not a fan of the navel-gazing “are we nice enough” posts. I came for the politics and will stay for the snark.

    That said, the basics on getting out the youth vote is focusing on issues and not party identification, with climate change being issue #1. Make sure you include whatever is important locally, too, frex in Santa Fe, it’s affordable housing. Let them know you/your candidates stand with them on their issues of concern. Also, show them how easy and non-time-consuming it is to vote (hopefully that’s the case where you live). Rinse. Repeat.

    Do NOT sound desperate. Do NOT appeal to guilt. Use catchy, clear graphics and uncluttered text.

    We sent a series of first-class, hand-addressed postcards based on those principles in 2020 since that was our only recourse in the midst of a pandemic. We provided clear messaging guidelines to our volunteers and controlled for quality by collecting the postcards before stamping and mailing them. There will always be a few people who decide they know messaging better than the experts and color waaaay outside the lines (see the do NOTs above).

    Our efforts were targeted at young, registered voters who were classified as less likely to vote. We thought that the “highly likelies” didn’t need our prodding as much. Post-election analysis showed that our targeted group in Santa Fe County had an 8% higher voter turnout than the same demographic elsewhere in the state. So we count that as a success.

  171. 171.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Kent: i thought there was.an exception for USSC nominees that Mitch didn’t go along with?? I am glad I am wrong.

  174. 174.

    burnspbesq

    I imagine there is a binder somewhere in the WH with bios of all the sitting African-American female federal appellate judges. Unfortunately, it won’t be a very thick binder.

    Would Joe nominate a district judge, or a state supreme court justice? We may find out.

  176. 176.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Uncle Cosmo: It looks like the district Brown will run in has a lot of voters from outside her old district, but if she has been good at constituent dervice maybe the news will travel. Brown has been in the seat only a couple months, but she  has experience in out reach as a county commissioner and County Democratic party chairman.

    I am one of the new constituents in the VA 7th district, one of a half million that current 7th District Representative Abigail Spanberger has never represented. She is moving to the new 7th, and hopefully will be doing constituent service there for the rest of the decade.

  177. 177.

    Matt McIrvin

    @O. Felix Culpa: The constant “we’re going to lose!!” fundraising appeals from the Democratic Party and its candidates really grind me down. I tell myself they’ve been focus-grouped and A-B-tested six ways from Sunday and they’ve figured out that that is actually the most effective way to bring in money. But they may not be figuring on the long-term psychological side effects of constantly telling their supporters that they are always losing.

  178. 178.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:  Say what you want about the tenants of anti-imperial anarchy

    I had no idea anti-imperial anarchy was a landlord!

    I’d think it would go against its, um, ethos.

  179. 179.

    Miss Bianca

    @O. Felix Culpa: Do you mind if I copy your post and send it to my local Dems? For us it’s not so much youth – we’re a pretty old, even antique, county, demographically speaking – as getting “independents” to think about voting for Democrats.

  181. 181.

    lowtechcyclist

    @JPL: Both Ginny and Clarence would have a heart attack, and that’s not all bad.

    A feature, not a bug.

    @trollhattan:

    @O. Felix Culpa: We all want to see the ‘sploding brains more than we may want to see Michelle O on the court. Would Tucker even survive night 1?

    The man standin’ next to me, his head was exploding
    I was praying the pieces wouldn’t fall on me
    – Dylan, “Day of the Locusts”

  182. 182.

    Another Scott

    re that Norway undersea fiber optic cable “cut”. TheBarentsObserver.com (from January 9):

    Operator of what is the world’s northernmost fiberoptic subsea cable, Space Norway, has located the disruption to somewhere between 130 to 230 kilometers from Longyearbyen in the area where the seabed goes from 300 meters down to 2700 meters in the Greenland Sea.

    The error happened on Friday morning, January 7.

    Svalbard Undersea Cable System is a twin submarine fiberoptic communication cable connecting Longyearbyen with Andøya north of Harstad in northern Norway.

    The two cables are 1,375 and 1,339 km respectively, and Space Norway informs in a press release that there is good connection in the cable still working, but with the other broken there is no redundancy.

    How the damaged has happened is not clear, it will be examined, Space Norway informs. A ocean-going cable-laying vessel would be required to repair the cable.

    In addition to providing the settlement of Longyearbyen with internet broadband, the fiber optic cables serve the SvalSat park of more than 100 satellite antennas on a nearby mountain plateau. SvalSat is today the world’s largest commercial ground station with worldwide customers. Its location at 78°N, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, gives the station a unique position to provide all-orbit support to operators of polar-orbiting satellites.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    Undersea cables break all the time. Tonga’s were broken by the volcano.

    VVP is likely looking around and trying to figure out ways to cause mischief, but anyone can look on the web and see where these cables are. Intentionally cutting the cables far in advance of hostilities doesn’t make much sense. Everyone has known for decades that tapping undersea cables can happen – there’s nothing new there, and sensible people look for such things.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  183. 183.

    zhena gogolia

    @schrodingers_cat: It wasn’t about “Are we nice enough?” It was about, do we constantly step on the topics brought up by nonwhite frontpagers. There’s a difference.

  184. 184.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @schrodingers_cat: I know. :)

    @Matt McIrvin: We felt that an empowering message–e.g., your vote counts!– would be more effective. The research and outcome seemed to confirm the merits of that approach. There’s more than enough demotivating shit out there. We wanted to give people positive reasons to vote.

  186. 186.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @zhena gogolia: It was not the first post of that kind and the originator had stepped on one of those first posts her very own self. (And yes, I saw her rationale. Didn’t wash.) I like to think that all of our posters are adults who can handle–and redirect if necessary and so inclined–the commentary.

    ETA: One of the charms and challenges of BJ is its free-flowing commentary. Control that and the conversation becomes stifled and lifeless.

  188. 188.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    ETA: One of the charms and challenges of BJ is its free-flowing commentary. Control that and the conversation becomes stifled and lifeless.

    The whole “respite thread” thing was a blow the threads still haven’t recovered from, IMHO

  189. 189.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @WaterGirl: I think she is referring to Putin (V V P, not W P).  I was confused by this in a recent post about Ukraine, where everyone was talking about Putin as VVP. so I googled it, and it turns out his middle name starts with a V also

    ETA: of course I’m very late to the party.  See #92 for a better explanation.

  190. 190.

    Kalakal

    Hmm, we may be on the verge of interesting news regarding Britains beloved Prime Minister and international beacon of integrity Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson or shithead as he is more popularly known. GBP just dropped about .7 of a cent vs USD in a heartbeat

  191. 191.

    Dopey-o

    In defense, I was going to mention Anita Hill. Both Ginny and Clarence would have a heart attack, and that’s not all bad.

    @JPL:

    Jane Mayer has an article in the New Yorker discussing Ginni Thomas’ links to groups with cases before the SCOTUS. For which she gets paid.

    I wonder if Sheldon Whitehouse has followed the money?

    If we can’t shame Thomas off the bench, can Biden nominate Anita Hill and let her sit next to Clarence?

  195. 195.

    Lyrebird

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: oh THANK YOU DAW and thank you Troll of Cleverness, that improved my day no end!

    And thanks for the Big Biden Deal alerts

    @Anne Laurie:

    These days, ‘Independents’ are Republican voters who are ashamed to admit it.

    fits with my experience.

  196. 196.

    J R in WV

    @JPL:

    There is a Michelle who has been mentioned, but not the one I want.   J. Michelle Childs from South Carolina.

    Since there are no criteria that the nominee be a judge though, Michelle Obama would be an excellent choice.

    Since there is no requirement that Supreme Justices be lawyers at all, I’m thinking Congresswoman Ocazio-Cortez, a brilliant and successful woman of color, who can dance!

    Just kidding, Ms Obama is without any doubt the best possible pick, except that she doesn’t really want that job, after he experience in DC.

  197. 197.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @sab: I think the jackals deflected that 

    So, are you suggesting that s_c isn’t a jackal? Or that some jackals are more jackal than others? Or that jackals have to toe a particular line lest they are no longer deemed worthy of jackalhood? Have you thought about the implications of your comment in particular when referring to a non-white immigrant jackal? If the originating post was about allyship and welcoming to POCs, is that just for a select few or do we endeavor to listen to all the voices raised here, even if they may seem discordant to some jackal ears?

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