Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This fight is for everything.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

I was promised a recession.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

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

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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

You cannot shame the shameless.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Judicious Choices

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Judicious Choices

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My dad’s Jules Feiffer paperbacks were among the first ‘grown up’ books I ever read (along with his Pogo collection). Sixty years later, faced with the mysteries of a large & chaotic universe, I still sometimes intone to myself ‘Stop messing around, and bring the (washing) machine more socks!’…

Back to the topic of the week:

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Among other reasons, it would be demeaning for Obama to be an associate justice. Taft was at least a chief justice.

  5. 5.

    cope

    Jules Feiffer, Pogo, original Peanuts books, New Yorker cartoons which I often didn’t understand and throw in Stan Freberg and you have sketched in the background of my ‘50s childhood. Comforting memories with which to start today. Thanks.

  8. 8.

    Kay

    I’d be happy with any on the list, but remember that prior jobs aren’t determinative. Sotomayor was a prosecutor and she’s the most pro-defendant rights person on there.

    Maybe because she was a prosecutor – it’s really, really common for them to switch sides. What we need is a more diverse set of experience. The sameness, the “track”, is a problem- it’s too narrow.

  10. 10.

    Ken

    @Baud: No. Should I be?

    (I don’t follow any reddits, so part of the question is whether it’s worth getting caught up on the back story. I have the same problem with the MCU at this point.)

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Meet the leading contenders to be Biden’s first SCOTUS pick ?

    The Guardian went there too.

    They had all the ladies Joachim picked except Leslie Abrams Gardner. They also had Wilhelmina Wright, Eunice Lee, and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi. (short bios at the link)

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Betsy:

    I’ve only been watching from afar.  Basically, antiwork is a subreddit on Reddit (think online forum) that is dedicated to workers rights and fighting crappy employers.  General labor activism type stuff.  It grew enormously over the past year to reach something like 1.5 million subscribers, enough to get some media attention.

    Fox News wanted to interview the moderators of the forum, and the community voted against it because they understood that Fox is a pro-corporate propaganda outlet.  Nonetheless, one moderator took it upon himself to be interviewed by Fox.  It went … poorly.

    So the community was up in arms over the damage done, everyone else is making fun of them, and the moderators decide to take the subreddit private to stop the criticisms.  Total collapse.

    Fascinating stuff.  Hopefully people will learn some lessons, but I doubt it.

  14. 14.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Taft engineered his own ascension to the Court. He appointed Edward White as chief. White was an Associate Justice since 1894 and was not in good shape for years. But he hung on until 1921. White also had fought for the Confederacy and was a Klan member and a Dem. Many people thought Taft (Republican) appt him to chief from Associate to open up the position sooner than later. Taft was a really good modern Chief. He understood post-WWI America very well.

  17. 17.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: Jackson was a federal defender which, for the Supreme Court, would be like admitting a Martian. And Ifill has never been a judge. She is the most like T. Marshall since — well, ever.

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: White was a losing loser — he got captured toward the end of the war. But he was on the Court to vote for “separate but equal” in Plessy. South gonna rise again….

  22. 22.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Hey, folks. I’ve got a question for any lawyers about.

    The Republican POV on self defense is, the instant a gunman is scared for his life, or can credibly claim to be so scared, no one in the vicinity has the right to survive. Okay, okay, you know what I mean, though (and it’s not much of an exaggeration!).
    Republicans:
    Robot voice: I WAS IN FEAR FOR MY LIFE AND FORCED TO DEFEND MYSELF

    and then, BOOM! Acquittal.

    Now, here’s the thing. I’ve been hearing of another thing, disproving self defense beyond a reasonable doubt. If the  prosecutor can’t prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the REAL victim wasn’t defending himself, yadda yadda, then Republicans get to prove they only protect life when it’s in the womb, or a persistent vegetative state.

    Is it even a thing? To prove a person was not in fear for their life, beyond a reasonable doubt? Because I know some questions about state of mind aren’t supposed to go to a jury, because how can the jurors know what the (defendant, in this case) feels?

    I mean, I know they don’t believe in a murder mulligan… not quite. After all, they prosecuted that woman who fired the warning shot, right? Eh? Eh? Amirite? (That was dark humor, since it’s necessary to specify these days….)

    But I just had the uncomfortable worry that maybe, just maybe, Republicans have created a “Get Out of Consequences, Free!” card with significant applicability. Say the right words, have the right kind of witnesses (in agreement, or dead), and you (maybe?) literally can’t be convicted, because a jury can’t decide if you were afraid, and if we let them try, we couldn’t say it was beyond a reasonable doubt.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @LongHairedWeirdo: That is not too far off the “stand your ground” law that was employed in the Trevon Martin matter. It is actually not too uncommon that, if raised, the prosecution has the burden to prove a defense did not exist BRD. Think about alibi — elsewhere — defense. What the defense really is saying is that you got the wrong guy — SODDI (some other dude did it). So, the Prosecution has to prove identity BRD, as in all cases, but now it has to do so by fighting the alibi evidence too. See?

  25. 25.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I’ve come to believe that the worst decisions are made when everyone in the room has the same background and experiences, and thus the same blind spots. Once you realize that, you see it everywhere. The more diverse the decision makers are in every way – gender, age, life experience, and on and on – the better the eventual decision they come to is.

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    @Soprano2: The more diverse the decision makers are in every way – gender, age, life experience, and on and on – the better the eventual decision they come to is.

     
    Absolutely SO.

    But they know that. They don’t care. It’s the not caring part we genuinely don’t understand.

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    “Trump’s licensing his followers to behave as badly as they once fantasized but didn’t dare. And he’s saying, ‘Let’s stop fucking around, this is who we always were.’” —Jules Feiffer https://t.co/mVWChOD9Jk— Michael Tisserand (@m_tisserand) January 20, 2020

    Link to a Daily Beast article inside.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Among other reasons, it would be demeaning for Obama to be an associate justice. Taft was at least a chief justice. 

    You don’t think Obama would like to work with Supreme Court Injustice Neil Gorsuch every day?

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    @Immanentize: Partly, but partly just that when people have the same background and experiences they have the same blind spots. When I was in college we had a case study of a phone company (I think Southwestern Bell, but it’s too long ago to be sure) that had an advertising promotion where they characterized the African continent with a gorilla; they used people for all the other continents. That was a decision made by a bunch of white men in a room, I guarantee it. Same way when Nike named a shoe “Succubus”, evidently not knowing what that was. I’m sure if you looked, you could find a lot more examples of that.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    Manu Raju
    @mkraju
    · 2h
    Susan Collins: “As you know, I felt that the timetable for the last nominee was too compressed. This time there is no need for any rush. We can take our time, have hearings, go through the process, which is a very important one it is a lifetime appointment after all.”

    No more jamming them thru in 27 days, folks. That’s a special advantage awarded only to Right wing judges.

  35. 35.

    Soprano2

    @WereBear: I think companies care more now, because they’re marketing to the world, not just white people in the U.S. Even in the U.S., they’re marketing to a diverse audience. My husband commented to me that you can tell McDonald’s thinks their customers are urban, because when you watch their commercials you see a lot of black people. Twenty years ago you’d be lucky to see one black person in their commercials!

  40. 40.

    Kay

    Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has become a magnet for political criticism—and a new survey of her favorability in Arizona shows just how much her own state is turning on her.
    A survey of 1,469 likely voters in Arizona, conducted by the liberal polling shop Data For Progress and shared exclusively with The Daily Beast, found 31 percent of respondents with a “very unfavorable” opinion of Sinema, while 21 percent had a “somewhat unfavorable” opinion of the senator. The survey was conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24—just days after Sinema voted against changing Senate rules to allow for the passage of voting rights bills by a simple majority.

    Wait until it becomes clear Manchin and Sinema blocked BBB to protect the Trump tax cuts. You could probably get her down to single digits.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has become a magnet for political criticism 

    What weasel wrote these words?

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    She did vote against Barrett, but it was in her political interest to do so at the time, since she was feigning “moderate” for a campaign.

    Hey, it’s completely fair when one job candidate gets endless vetting and examination and another gets a complete pass on any kind of due diligence other than ambitious ass kissers and personal friends writing glowing editorials. The new justice will have a much tougher process. That’s a “merit based system”, correct?

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @Kay: I’m not too worked up over the normal process thing.  If it were closer to the presidential election, I would want Dems to push someone through like the GOP did, but we’re not in that situation.

  50. 50.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Immanentize: That was my understanding, pretty much. Thank you!

    I was actually thinking of Kyle Crybaby.

    (If that just offended some Republicans, give them a trigger warning, a safe space and their security bwankies – or maybe a spanking, your choice.)

    It seemed to me that the Republican position was, “it doesn’t matter what happened beforehand – all that matters is Kyle was pissing his pants, or at least credibly pretending; and it was only then that the law removed all protection from his victims, so he could kill them with impunity.”

    And I was thinking, I’m not sure you could prove that he wasn’t in fear for his life, no matter how ridiculous his reasoning. Hell, he could say that he feared someone would grab his gun and kill  him, then other people; could a jury even decide if that kind of outlandish fable was a real fear for a coward, or not?

    It seems there’s a space where murderers can lawfully claim acquittal, especially with polarization of law enforcement and the courts. I’m not sure how big it is, and that worries me.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    She did vote against Barrett, but it was in her political interest to do so at the time, since she was feigning “moderate” for a campaign. 

    Oh.

    Hey, it’s completely fair when one job candidate gets endless vetting and examination and another gets a complete pass on any kind of due diligence other than ambitious ass kissers and personal friends writing glowing editorials. The new justice will have a much tougher process. That’s a “merit based system”, correct?

    I detect a hint of sarcasm.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Yeah, I hate to be this person, but I’m not as relaxed. We have a lot of very old senators. Ask Obama about taking that for granted.

    I don’t agree with our decision to encourage people to remain in office until they are 88 years old, but that is what we have.

  54. 54.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: Also her vote wasn’t needed, and being able to vote no gives her coverage to complain if dems need to do a fast confirmation.

    But its not like she’s going to get any meaningful say in how any of this plays out either. She can say whatever she wants, but she’s totally irrelevant to the process. Well, unless Manchin or Sinema decide to suddenly be assholes about judicial nominations when they haven’t been so far.

  55. 55.

    Ramalama

    My uncle’s Pogo collection (in a hardbound book if memory serves) stayed at my grandmother’s house. I used to pore over it when visiting in between breaks on television – occasional good shows, then crap. Remember the 3 channels plus public tv, America? Pre-cable, anyway.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Do conservatives need still more rules so they don’t abuse norms and process? Unless we tie them down with a 200 page rule book they can’t even conduct a consistent hearing process?

    How much policing do these people need? Lots, apparently. Leaving anything at all to their discretion results in immediate abuse.

    If it can be 27 days for one it can be 27 days for the next. They set the new norm, the new lower standard. I didn’t.

  58. 58.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: How many of those are in states with red governors who have the freedom to appoint a member from the other party though?

  60. 60.

    SteveinPHX

    @Betsy:

    Another Pogo fan here. My ol’ man was a Pogo lover and passed the trait to me. Have a box of the old Pogo paperbacks (Simon & Schuster?) he left behind. Bought the reissues of the daily strips also. They were always funny & as I grew old, learned to appreciate Kelly’s art work as well.

  64. 64.

    FridayNext

    For Jules Feiffer fans, you should absolutely NOT miss Little Murders a play and then adapted into a movie directed by Alan Arkin, starring Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland. Well, a special appearance by Sullivan in the best wedding scene in the history of cinema

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kCrrjp2epY

    Thank me later.

    Pop Culture Trivia: Megan Draper auditioned for the play Little Murders in Mad Men.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @Patricia Kayden:

    The next downturn or recession or catastrophe, when they do insufficient stimulus and supports and don’t direct enough supports to the bottom 50%,  and we have 15% unemployment, I hope people remember how much they hated inflation and full employment.

    They’ll be begging to pay a dollar more for milk, in exchange for a job.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @Benw: that was my whole reading list back then, too!

    My kids LOVED reading those collections when they were little.  Probably the only Gen Z (or whatever) kids who can reference multiple Far Side gags (“throw, Thag! throw throw throw throw nowwwwww”)

    My wife thinks we’re nuts.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Eolirin:

    How many of those are in states with red governors who have the freedom to appoint a member from the other party though?

    To me that just makes it more important that blue state senators retire at a reasonable age. We can’t eliminate risk, and I don’t want to, but the reality is if you are in your late 80’s you are higher risk. There has to be some kind of balance between their personal interests or desires and the public interest. I’ll go a LONG way towards their desires, but they should not abuse it.

  69. 69.

    prostratedragon

    I remember the Feiffer cartoon of LBJ complaining about all the noisy antiwar demonstrations, which had only one purpose: “To make me feel bad. Now I did not become the President of the United States in order to be made to feel bad.”

    I haven’t seen the cartoon in decades and don’t recall where Feiffer went with it, but that line was an apt portrait if there could be one.

    Happy birthday, Sir.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: agreed – they need to hustle this nomination through, ideally in the same # of days it took for ACB to be nominated and confirmed.  Or fewer days, I’m not picky.

    It’s a small thing, but it’s an important message to send to the GOP as well as the public at large: we will not play by different standards here.

  72. 72.

    catclub

    @Kay: Isn’t it funny that the federal reserve can haul out all the tools to stop 2.5% inflation but is helpless to reduce 8% unemployment.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Also? People hate Congress. They think congress moves at a glacial pace with weird arcane rules. If they can get something done in 27 days, and apparently they can, it really is to their individual personal benefit to do that.

    If Susan Collins thinks people want to watch her act like an indecisive ninny for 6 months, she’s wrong. Get cracking.

  76. 76.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: Interestingly to me, The Far Side never really appealed to my Gen Z daughter, but Calvin and Hobbes did, hugely. There’s something timeless about it.

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    @Baud: There is also the principle of, Take your wins when you can. That was some of the reasoning behind decoupling Infrastructure and BBB.

    Another reason to get the Infrastructure bill done was that it takes a while to get that money flowing so it can do some good. A Supreme Court confirmation is diferent, but it is still better to claim credit for an accomplished fact than a prospective one.

  78. 78.

    Benw

    @Jeffro: mine, too! At least Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side (BC may have just been too of its time). It helps that I still had my old collections. It’s fun to see where they go from there. My kids are all loyal Order of the Stick (webcomic) readers.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @catclub:

    I just think high unemployment causes a lot more (and more lasting) damage to ordinary people than inflation does. I think that trade is a no brainer, within limits. Full employment is a good problem to have. I recognize that the Wendy’s wait times have gone up and we’re short school bus drivers! STILL a good problem. Would you rather have not enough drivers or a lot of unemployed drivers? Which is better for lower and middle class? Is this even a question?

    It can take people a decade to recover from a deep recession. Lower and middle class need steady money over time – they can’t miss 5 years and bounce right back. They don’t have that much “money” so they need more “time”.

  82. 82.

    MisterDancer

    @Baud: one moderator took it upon himself to be interviewed by Fox. It went … poorly.

    In fairness, the entire mod team basically agreed for this one person to go on Fox. So it’s not like this mod went rogue.

    (Also, too — I think the interviewee uses They/Them pronouns, from what I’m reading in comments on this topic.)

    The subreddit is back open and join-able, as of my check just now. they have a statement about media transparency that is of some interest.

    To sum up: I think there’s a lot of heat, and not much light, on this. I’m on Reddit,and I only saw mention of it yesterday because of a passing reference in another subreddit I follow.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @MisterDancer:

     I’m on Reddit,and I only saw mention of it yesterday because of a passing reference in another subreddit I follow.

    Surprising. It’s blowing up on Reddit.  (I don’t visit that site for politics, but I see the political stuff that gets upvoted).

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: But high unemployment is something we have repeated experience of over the past few decades, whereas high inflation has become a legendary bugbear from the 1970s–people are really freaked out to see it again.

    And it’s also associated in political mythology with the failure of Jimmy Carter and Reagan beating him (note that Carter inherited it from Nixon and Ford, but that somehow never comes up).

  88. 88.

    Nina

    I would love them to float Michelle Obama’s name for the position, just too see all those knickers get in a twist.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:  Yeah, but we’re one bad case of Covid – or one untimely death – away from a Republican majority leader, and then all bets are off.  I think we should do this at light speed – once the vetting is done.

    Yes, I know the other side is at the same risk of Covid and untimely deaths, but with the age of senators, plus Covid, I think that light speed is prudent

    edit: I see that Kay got there first.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @catclub:

    Obviously anecdotal and local, but I can compare. Would I rather have inflation than 16% unemployment, the entire legal notice section of the newpaper covered with foreclosure notices and people picking up food at the public library because they can’t keep up with the new food stamp applications?

    It isn’t “inflation and a good economy in a pandemic” and “no inflation and a good economy in a pandemic”. That wasn’t the choice.

  91. 91.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Actually it is simpler, the privileged prefer their privilege.

    Here it is white people, in India it is upper caste people and so on. They will put up with other nonsense to keep up that privilege.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @schrodingers_cat: No doubt.  But that doesn’t explain why many normal folks who are benefiting from a bottom-up economic approach will reject it.

    ETA:  I now see you referred to white people preserving their privilege, not just the economic elite.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: Speaking of hints of something… we had a few minutes of little tiny snowflakes this morning!  Not enough to even cover blades of grass on the ground, and flakes so tiny that you could barely see them, but since i’ve been whining about no snow, I have to acknowledge this tiny bit of happy for a few minutes this morning.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Kay: A lot of people never regained what they lost from 2008 to 2011. Those people did not have “economic anxiety,” they had economic rage. This emotion may not have been channeled correctly when it came to politics, but it was real and it was well founded.

  96. 96.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: And they’ll take even largely imaginary/symbolic privilege over things that will materially benefit them. King and LBJ were talking about this over 50 years ago.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: I agree.  My main issue is, the Dem majority is hanging by a thread, and things happen (see also: RBG).  They need to act with urgency because – knock on wood – they’re just one Senator with a heart attack or car crash away from putting The Turtle back in charge

  98. 98.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    While I was ill with COVID ended up watching a lot of you tube and ended up on some comic book movie critics and realized what crazy nonsense the super heroine movies are.

    P1 Comic Book movies are just people punching each other in the face, endlessly.

    P2 People want female protagonists in comic book movies.

    P3 People don’t like women getting punched in the face, endlessly.

    I suppose with contradictions like this it’s no surprise only lunatic, drug crazed assholes like Wheddon will touch these things.

    Shows me I am right with perfeing long and low key historical documentaries; things like the Assyrian Empire have less violence than modern film.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    But part of this is ideological. They objected to the “flood the economy with money at the bottom end” approach to the pandemic, because it offends their economic theory of “push them off a cliff! They’ll bounce back!” every time it crashes. They want to discredit one theory and promote another.

    The fucking handwringing nonsense over whether the federal unemployment boost was killing initiative. It’s pure ideology. It was also WRONG. They managed to get some idiot Right wingers to cut unemployment and it didn’t boost workforce. They are operating under an economic theory. Biden is using a different one. They object to his.

  100. 100.

    cain

    I’m pretty sure that Michelle will kill him and anyone who suggests that Obama should be a Supreme Court Justice. Plus he’ll have to deal with Alito and that other dipshit.

    ETA: oh wow, #100!!!! Thank you, jeebus! thank you!

  101. 101.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @mrmoshpotato:

    https://news.yahoo.com/disgusting-newly-released-video-captures-160700486.html

    So a thug-ass Florida cop was getting all assaulty on a suspect who’d been cuffed and in a police car. A younger officer pulled him back by the belt to de-escalate and his response was to choke her, shove her and slam her into a car while running his mouth in a video that has the sound redacted.

    The Chief was horrified and expressed his thoughts on expectations. The FOP came to the defense of the thug in a city meeting.

    https://wsvn.com/news/local/commission-meeting-looking-into-sunrise-police-sergeant-who-grabbed-female-officer-by-throat-turns-heated/amp/

    At the city meeting, some barrel-bodied asshole called the perp a shithead and was defending the thug cop. When challenged by a deputy mayor who was a POC, the barrel-bodied asshole was ready to fight right there, raised up out of his chair, etc.

    This is who we are as a country.

  102. 102.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Matt McIrvin: Bragging rights >> actual policy that benefits them.

    BJP in India has captured the upper caste electorate by selling them half truths about the glorious Hindu past. Arguing with them is like arguing with a table (h/t Barney Frank)

  103. 103.

    Baud

    Not that I needed much convincing, but the antivaxxers taught me not to give a rat’s ass about people who don’t care about themselves. (Their spillover effects on decent people is another story).

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They are making an editorial decision to cover inflation instead of full employment. It’s bad, biased work and it’s their work, so they should do better.

    This isn’t “balanced” at all. It’s a ludicrous level of focus on one aspect while completely ignoring another. Because it’s so biased it is incomplete and therefore incorrect.

    And then to spend 6 months covering ONLY the downside of Biden’s approach and no upside and then claim “the public” clamored for it? Oh, bullshit. You fed it to them and they repeated it back. If they had focused on full unemployment the public would have reflected that back.

  107. 107.

    Baud

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Currently, poll numbers and the absence of any serious effort to support and defend this economic model.  Hopefully, the coming months will see some economic stablization and the upcoming mid-term campaigns can change public perception.

  110. 110.

    cain

    @Jeffro:

    It’s a small thing, but it’s an important message to send to the GOP as well as the public at large: we will not play by different standards here.

    They probably won’t do that. They’ll likely try to virtue signaling by showing that Dems are following the rules and following Democracy as it should. /s

    You know there is contingent of Dems who feel this way.

  111. 111.

    germy

    @Baud:

    right wing: well-funded foundations train their overscrubbed little nerds since birth in media appearances and propaganda

    left wing: no organization, no training, just get up there and go for it, ah shucks another complete humiliation how does this keep happening https://t.co/AshxqlASZs

    — your friend (@debdrens) January 26, 2022

    “probably walking into a trap here. It’s fine, I got my 240p camera that makes me look like an omegle groomer, I haven’t brushed my hair in two weeks, and I’m ready to stammer through my insane speech on the 10 hour work month”

    — your friend (@debdrens) January 26, 2022

  113. 113.

    The Moar You Know

    A lot of people never regained what they lost from 2008 to 2011. Those people did not have “economic anxiety,” they had economic rage. This emotion may not have been channeled correctly when it came to politics, but it was real and it was well founded.

    @Geminid: I know four people who lost their homes in that clusterfuck and are, as far as I can tell, are not going to be able to be homeowners again.

    There are a lot of people out there whose problems and losses have not even been acknowledged by society at large, much less addressed.  Some of them voted for Trump.  Most of them, so far as I can tell, just quit voting.

  115. 115.

    Formerly EmperorofIceCream

    @Baud: We are in a precarious situation with several geriatric senators (Leahy etc) who are always at actuarial risk for sudden death. With GOP governors. Get this nomination done asap. The spring and summer need to be all about January 6 committee, not a chance for media to focus on Biden “pandering” by nominating a black woman (which is more than overdue but you know msm will frame it as Dems being too woke and reverse discriminating against the poor white lawyers).

  119. 119.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay: If Susan Collins thinks people want to watch her act like an indecisive ninny for 6 months, she’s wrong. Get cracking.

    We’ve already spent a year watching Manchin and Sinema dither.  Having to follow that up by paying attention to Susan Collins for an extended period of time should be a violation of the Geneva Conventions banning torture.

  121. 121.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay:

    Yeah, I hate to be this person, but I’m not as relaxed. We have a lot of very old senators. Ask Obama about taking that for granted.

    I agree. I think the Bony Carrot time frame should be the goal. Manchin’s “I take my constitutional responsibilities seriously and Suzie’s “what’s the rush” are just words from very bad actors.

  123. 123.

    WereBear

    @Soprano2: I still remember when the table card ads for a local giant theme park switched to a black family, quite soon after President Obama was elected.

    I’ve been there. Attended by people of all colors. But only white people in the ads… until that day :)

  127. 127.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kay:

    The fucking handwringing nonsense over whether the federal unemployment boost was killing initiative. It’s pure ideology. It was also WRONG. They managed to get some idiot Right wingers to cut unemployment and it didn’t boost workforce. They are operating under an economic theory. Biden is using a different one. They object to his.

    Moral hazard only applies to not us, part infinity.

  131. 131.

    dnfree

    @cope:

     

    @Betsy:   For Pogo fans, do you know that Walt Kelly’s daughter (who has died since the project started) was a key player in getting ALL of the daily and Sunday strips released in book form?  Each volume covers two years.  They’re coming out very slowly.  It seems to be a real labor of love.  But at last we can again see the three mice (Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred) invading a sleeping Albert the Alligator under the misapprehension that he is a church.
    https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/pogo

  132. 132.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: Would I rather have inflation than 16% unemployment, the entire legal notice section of the newpaper covered with foreclosure notices and people picking up food at the public library because they can’t keep up with the new food stamp applications?

    Kinda depends if you’re one of the 84% who have a job, doesn’t it? Or let’s say, one of the 50-60% with stable employment?

    Inflation hits everyone who pays for the necessities of everyday life. And it often bites even worse than the reported numbers when those numbers include seldom-bought items whose prices are dropping (e.g., electronics). Unemployment? Only a problem for the employed who are unlucky enough to get laid off.**

    ** Which I know from personal experience working for a defense contractor that lost a couple of contracts – none of which I had anything to do with – in the early 90s. They used it as an excuse to get rid of everyone they could over 40, and I was one of the youngest to get the boot.

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