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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Friday Morning Open Thread: Who’s the SC(R)OTUS Member Day-Trading Stocks?

Friday Morning Open Thread: Who’s the SC(R)OTUS Member Day-Trading Stocks?

by Anne Laurie|  February 11, 20228:47 am| 214 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Biden Administration in Action, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would accept a ban on U.S. lawmakers trading stocks — if it also applies to judges, including Supreme Court justices. https://t.co/zBb7u7F5uM

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 9, 2022

I know there are a lot of good reasons why Speaker Pelosi should support a ban on stock-trading by legislators. And I also know that she’s probably just tired of dealing with {waves hand}, when she had every intention of retiring before the Trump Pandemic and all its related hell broke lose. But this is such an oddly specific caveat / challenge — it sound like she’s got a particular Justice in mind.

But which one? My best guess is Gorsuch — he’s smart enough to enjoy Wall Street Lotto, and not be too obvious. Thomas, IMO, is too lazy… unless Ginni’s got her many little minions doing semi-licit trades under his name. Fratt Cavanaugh almost certainly doesn’t have the spare cash to throw around, if (as is widely suspected) he’s reliant on ‘subsidies’ from his wealthy parents. That goes double for Amy Cunning-Bunny, who doesn’t even have rich parents to support her Quiverful. Maybe Alito is the dark horse?

Elsewhere:

President Biden will do his first TV interview of 2022 with NBC's Lester Holt around this weekend's Super Bowl. He'll sit for it while in Culpeper, Virginia, on Thursday and parts of it will air Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the network says.

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) February 8, 2022

New: Democrats are exceeding expectations at redistricting, even outpacing GOP in a recent analysis.

Ironically, Dems still favor a federal ban partisan gerrymandering but Senate Republicans oppose it.

“Nah, just the courts can handle it,” Graham says. https://t.co/vx4XkPuNLh

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 10, 2022

NEWS ALERT: White House will propose 4.6% pay increase for federal employees as part of fiscal 2023 budget request, WTOP news partner Federal News Network reports. https://t.co/OD1opAjDBP

— WTOP (@WTOP) February 4, 2022

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi extends proxy voting for another seven weeks.
Seventy members used proxy voting just this past week, including one member who said he was sitting in his car at the Capitol during votes. pic.twitter.com/HOGJaASeXS

— Kristin Wilson (@kristin__wilson) February 10, 2022

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Reader Interactions

214Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 8:51 am

    Unlike McConnell, Pelosi isn’t going to stand in the way of her caucus.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2022 at 8:52 am

    Couple of news items which caught the eye.

    FYI.

    Latvia’s parliament passed a Holocaust restitution bill Thursday that includes compensation for lost Jewish property and funding to revitalise the Baltic nation’s Jewish community, which was almost completely wiped out during World War II.

    Following years of wrangling over the issue, the 100-seat Saeima voted 64-21 to approve the Law on the Compensation of Goodwill to the Latvian Jewish Community on the bill’s final reading. Source

    What we do in the shadows.

    The CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans, two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about the data, the senators alleged the CIA had long hidden details about the program from the public and Congress.
    [snip]
    The CIA released a series of redacted recommendations about the program issued by an oversight panel known as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. According to the document, a pop-up box warns CIA analysts using the program that seeking any information about U.S. citizens or others covered by privacy laws requires a foreign intelligence purpose.
    [snip]
    “It is critical that Congress not legislate without awareness of a … CIA program, and that the American public not be misled into believe that the reforms in any reauthorization legislation fully cover the IC’s collection of their records,” the senators wrote in their letter. There was a redaction in the letter before “CIA program.” Source

  3. 3.

    Spanky

    February 11, 2022 at 8:57 am

    You left out Roberts, who’s quite discreet enough to be doing it on the DL.

    Judges don’t have to show their taxes. Huh. Maybe they should.

  4. 4.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 8:59 am

    I understand the idea of banning stock trading by members of Congress and the courts. How far will it go – will they be banned from having any investments at all? Surely they can’t go that far. We have managed investment accounts, and the managers literally never ask me any questions about how I want the money invested. We talked about general goals and level of comfort with risk, and they invest based on that. I think they should be able to invest as long as they can’t direct the investments in any way.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2022 at 9:00 am

    Feeling the pain in Maine.

    Depending on whom you ask, Maine is in the midst of either a curse or a blessing: a shortage of Moxie.

    Moxie, a polarizing beverage that is the state’s official soft drink, is in short supply because of supply chain woes. The soda is beloved by thousands of Mainers and is the subject of a summer festival, but it also has detractors who say it tastes like medicine, or worse. Source

    At least it’s not beach weather.

    ;)

  6. 6.

    rikyrah

    February 11, 2022 at 9:01 am

    Good Morning Everyone ???

  7. 7.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 9:01 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    February 11, 2022 at 9:01 am

    I got little sleep ??? last night ?

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2022 at 9:02 am

    @Soprano 2

    If Justice is blind, so to ought be the trusts.

  10. 10.

    narya

    February 11, 2022 at 9:06 am

    Got my shingles (#2) and flu shots yesterday, and my brain is foggy today. I wanted to get it done though–I was already at my primary care doc, and I have surgery at the end of the month, and the more protection against things I can load in, the better. Very slight fever & headache. But dang–I’ve seen pics of shingles, and nofuckingthankyou.

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    February 11, 2022 at 9:07 am

    For the bleacher seats?

     

    Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) tweeted at 2:16 PM on Thu, Feb 10, 2022:
    Most people who tear up documents and flush them don’t do so accidentally.
    (https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/1491868640395808774?s=02)

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    February 11, 2022 at 9:08 am

     

    Down And Out Bad In DFW (@Kennymack1971) tweeted at 11:12 AM on Thu, Feb 10, 2022:
    Beyond their supression shenanigans in red states Republicans invest heavily in disinformation schemes via Black blogs and media designed to convince Black people that their vote doesn’t matter and that they might as well check out.

    Marinate on that.
    (https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1491822315105095683?s=02)

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 9:10 am

    @Soprano2:

    Traditionally, Presidents have put their investments in a blind trust similar to the one you describe.  The goal isn’t to disallow them from being rich, or even from making money while they’re in office; it’s to keep them from governing in a way that benefits them personally.  It seems perfectly reasonable to expect members of Congress and the Courts to do something similar.

  14. 14.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 9:12 am

    Here’s an interesting article about how Christian Nationalists played an expansive role in January 6th. It’s not behind the paywall. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/where-things-stand-new-report-shows-expansive-role-christian-nationalism-played-in-jan-6

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2022 at 9:16 am

    @NotMax

    to = too

    Supply chain shortage on vowels, they’re all being snapped up by Wordle.

    ;)

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 9:17 am

    @Soprano2: They can have investments, but they can’t trade. There was a good argument that it should apply to spouses as well. They can put it with a finance person where they get no input in any of it. Automatic trades like reinvesting your dividends or something should be allowed.

    A number of congress members were trading after they were briefed on how serious the pandemic was going to be when this whole thing started and traded accordingly while publicly saying “It is no big deal. It’s like the flu.” They understood how serious it was.

  17. 17.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    February 11, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @Soprano2: There really that much difference between Christian Nationalists, racists and other conservative extremists? It’s all basically whites are God’s chosen elect bullshit.

  18. 18.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 9:21 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It really is all the same.

    The KKK marketed itself as a Christian organization.

  19. 19.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 11, 2022 at 9:22 am

    Queen Elizabeth (who according many Americans is a cuddly teddy bear and not the living embodiment of a vast genocidal and criminal enterprise spanning continents and centuries) is going to give Camilla her daughter-in-law, the Kohinoor, one of the most coveted diamonds in history. The largest criminal enterprise the world has ever seen still wears its loot proudly even in the 21st century.

    The diamond has a long and storied history. Ranjit Singh, the last Sikh King of Punjab was its last Indian owner. Duleep Singh the ten year old son of the  King had to hand it over to the British East India Company after his father’s defeat.

    The crown jewel also adorned Shah Jahan (of the Taj Mahal fame)’s peacock throne. It was one of the spoils of war when Nadir Shah ransacked Delhi.

    It was mined from the present day Andhra Pradesh when Allahuddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate in the late 13th and early 14th century ruled northern India.

    * I do hope it is returned to India along with the other loot when India becomes a sane country again.

  20. 20.

    Skepticat

    February 11, 2022 at 9:25 am

    @NotMax:

    Woodland herbs! That must be the ingredient I love but couldn’t identify. (Yes, Moxie may well be an acquired taste, like spruce gum and dulse.) And as it supposed to be a balmy 53 tomorrow, that might qualify as beach weather.

  21. 21.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: No, not really, I just thought it was interesting information.

  22. 22.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @schrodingers_cat: That’s fascinating. I was going to ask if Shah Jahan was messy. I thought the story that he amputated the hands of his chief architect were true, but it seems not to be? It seems like he put a non-compete clause on the workers, so they were not allowed to work for another emperor.

  23. 23.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 11, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @Starfish: That’s an apocryphal tale which has become the conventional wisdom I am not sure how historically accurate it is.

    The style of the Taj Mahal is not too different from many other Moghul monuments that dot the landscape around Delhi and Agra. Except that the Taj (crown) is in marble. So this story  makes little sense.

  24. 24.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 9:33 am

    @Starfish: My experience is one reason I thought it was weird that people in Congress were calling their investment adviser and instructing them what to buy or sell. I guess I could do that, but I’m not the expert they are, so I would never do that. Plus, there are pretty strict rules about insider trading, so I would think any legitimate investment adviser would not be amenable to Congressperson X’s sudden advice to buy or sell Stock Y. I sold mutual funds for about two seconds of my life, so I had to study all that and pass a test.

  25. 25.

    frosty

    February 11, 2022 at 9:33 am

    @rikyrah: I’m reading Michael Pollan’s This Is Your Mind on Plants. I don’t know if this applies to you but the chapter on caffeine was really good. And funny, too. He describes his morning coffee to wake up as “Caffeine is the solution to the problem caffeine causes.”

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @narya: Lucky you that it’s just brain fog. Shingrix knocked me on my ass, both times. Still better than having shingles, though.

  27. 27.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 9:43 am

    It should be noted that most of the U.S. embassy staff in Kyiv decided to stay.
    This says a lot.
    — Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 11, 2022

    Also in the news, President Biden has apparently told American citizens in Ukraine to leave. Precisely nobody I know has done so or is planning to.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 9:48 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Lester Holt apparently asked Biden if he was going to send in the army to “rescue” those Americans who didn’t leave.  The answer was no.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    February 11, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Gin & Tonic:  What conclusions are you drawing from both of those things?

  30. 30.

    narya

    February 11, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, that’s my thinking, too. A little feverish and headachy and foggy for a day or two is better than the horror stories I’ve heard. I think what really pushed me that extra step was seeing a pic of Tony LaRussa with shingles in his eye.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    February 11, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: They have been asking that same question day after day in the Press Corpse briefings, and every single fucking day Jen Psaki has to say the answer is NO and has to explain to them why this is different from the end of a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

    How these people keep their jobs… it’s a travesty that they do.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 9:53 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Of course that would be the answer – contra Afghanistan the US has no military bases in Ukraine, so the logistics would be extraordinarily difficult and certainly inflammatory. And exiting to Poland if you really need to wouldn’t be nearly as difficult as trying to exit Afghanistan. It’s a stupid question, but I’d expect no less from Holt.

  33. 33.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 9:53 am

    @Soprano2: How do you pick an investment advisor who is not terrible?

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @WaterGirl: The Foreign Service people have work to do, and don’t want to abandon it. Other expats, whether American or Canadian or German have either family ties there or business interests which they will not leave unless the shit really hits the fan, and maybe not even then. The people (expats) I know there are not tourists – some have lived there for 30 years. Don’t forget, the country has been at war for 8 years now. In a way you get used to it.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Aside from the stupidity of the question, it was also remarkably dumb.

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @frosty:

    He describes his morning coffee to wake up as “Caffeine is the solution to the problem caffeine causes.”

    This is way more true than most coffee drinkers are willing to admit.  Almost all the stuff they describe as needing coffee to deal with are withdrawal symptoms.  If you completely stop taking caffeine for a week or two, you’ll get through those symptoms and then be able to wake up just as well without coffee as you used to be able to wake up with it.  If you then limit caffeine intake to an occasional thing when you really need a boost, it’s very effective.

    FWIW, I’m not at all dismissing the withdrawal symptoms.  Giving up coffee is a miserable experience, which is why so few people go through with it.  My personal suggestion is to take advantage of some time when you’re forced to give up caffeine anyway, e.g. when you’re so sick you can’t drink coffee for an extended period, and then just not take it up again when you’re done.  Slowly tapering off works, too.

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 10:01 am

    Boy, this woman really has no fucks left.

    Just in time for Galentine’s Day, and the news that Trump was flushing documents down White House toilets…

    A limited edition hat is in the @onwardtogether store now. https://t.co/4TiUxjmRNY pic.twitter.com/rF7EeOKXm4
    — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 11, 2022

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
      The call to leave a country is really just the US government’s way of saying that, if shit goes bad, it will not be able to do much for the people who stay.

  39. 39.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:05 am

    A story from AOC’s waitressing days:

    When Hillary Clinton won the nomination, clashes intensified at the bar. One regular argued for a third-party vote, saying that Clinton’s anointment proved that Democrats and Republicans had become indistinguishable from one another — corrupt, owned by big business, and interested only in their own power — but Ocasio-Cortez refused to go that far. It wasn’t helpful, she argued, to talk that way, to let cynicism and mistrust obscure meaningful differences between candidates. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were worlds apart, and it was immoral and obstructionist not to act decisively. “I remember there being a conversation where we kind of decided that to vote third party would be a thing we could only do from a place of privilege,” Swisher said. “If you are the 80-year-old dishwasher working in our kitchen, it makes a hell of a lot more of a difference whether you have Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump as president than it does for either of us.”

  40. 40.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 11, 2022 at 10:10 am

    @germy: Has the recent redistricting changed the boundaries of her district?

  41. 41.

    JPL

    February 11, 2022 at 10:10 am

    @NotMax: ha.   My previous mutt, Moxie was named after the soda.   She wasn’t the most attractive dog, and that is how I felt about the soda.   I met someone else who named their dog after the soda for the opposite reason.   They loved it.

  42. 42.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez picks up the progressive Queens voters Maloney loses under the proposed maps. She also picks up voters in Whitestone, who recently elected Republican Vickie Paladino to the City Council. However, the proposed map brings more Democratic voters into the district.

  43. 43.

    Mai Naem mobile

    February 11, 2022 at 10:13 am

    I can’t be bothered to look this up but I believe Scalito’s daughter had some financial regulation legal job under TFG.  I don’t it beyond any of the GOP judges on the USSC to trade on their decisions. I’m all for passing laws banning all these people from trading stocks just so that you have a law on the books. Not sure how much you’re going to stop it because all these people seem to have an entourage of people including extended family who can be doing the trading. I don’t think Joe Manchin or Chuck Grassley would care if its them or their kids are making money on insider info. It comes down to these people having some ethics.

  44. 44.

    geg6

    February 11, 2022 at 10:13 am

    @Roger Moore:

    I drink only one cup of coffee every morning.  Hard to believe I’m having withdrawal the next morning.

    A better explanation for my difficulty in waking up (not actually getting out of bed, but for brain fog to dissipate) is that I am naturally a night owl and have trouble getting to sleep early enough that a typical 5:30 am workday wake-up is not difficult at age 63.  My weeknights involve about 5 hours of sleep, at most.

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    February 11, 2022 at 10:14 am

    I assume it’s just recognition of the political analog of the Totalitarian Principle from quantum mechanics: Everything not forbidden is compulsory.

    IOW, if they don’t forbid individual stock trading, then people will do it and bring in all the corruption that such trading invites.

    (I’ve always liked this Principle because it is a clear reflection of what probabilities actually mean, given enough time. And nature has a very long timeline…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    February 11, 2022 at 10:14 am

    Regarding Ukraine and repeated warnings from the U.S. that an invasion might be imminent (which understandably irritated Ukrainian leaders), I read an explanation earlier today that the goal was to throw Russia off balance by including details that they would be surprised the U.S. knew, like the plan to use a staged video to provide a pretext to invade.

    The person who provided that explanation also said the U.S. hoped it would send Putin on a mole hunt. I have no idea if this is true or not. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where exactly where I read it and don’t have time to look right now, but it was a mainstream U.S. source. Just mentioning it here because the rationale behind those warnings over Ukraine’s objections puzzled me.  

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Maybe to avoid being pilloried as he was for Afghanistan?

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    February 11, 2022 at 10:16 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Ah.  thanks.

    I was wondering if you thought that indicated something about the likelihood of an invasion, but I don’t see that anywhere in your answer, so that must not have been your thinking.

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 10:16 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Right.

  50. 50.

    Lapassionara

    February 11, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @germy: place of privilege? Who had a place of privilege in that election? With Trump, the country was going to be governed by someone beholden to Vladimir Putin, someone who had no interest in addressing climate change, and someone who thought trade wars were fun and easy to win. Clinton may have not been some progressives favorite candidate, but she was demonstrably better than Trump.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @geg6: If I had my way, I would sleep from about 2-3am until 10am.  Getting up earlier leaves me with an extended foggy period.  Caffeine can jump start me, but I’d rather sleep.

  52. 52.

    oldgold

    February 11, 2022 at 10:22 am

    I think the primary reason the Dems are doing “better” on the gerrymandering front this year, relative to the Cult, is that the Cult did its work in 2011. There just wasn’t much meaningful gerrymandering for the Cult to do in 2021.

  53. 53.

    Captain C

    February 11, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @Lapassionara:

    Who had a place of privilege in that election?

    Trust fund (cosplay) revolutionaries, for one.  Not too many others that I can think of, if any.

  54. 54.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @Lapassionara: She is saying that the people who were going to take those third party votes were going to do it from a place of privilege. The people who were “both parties are the same” during that election were not the people who were going to experience the Muslim travel ban, not the people who were going to have their children snatched, and not the people who were going to suffer under a radical right wing Supreme Court.

    It was mostly white dudes who were not going to vote for Clinton because they could not overcome their misogyny.

  55. 55.

    Starfish

    February 11, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @Captain C: You said it more succinctly than I did.

    It was also the Republicans who were not going to vote for Trump but who could not bring themselves to vote for Clinton.

  56. 56.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @Lapassionara:

    In the article I linked to, there’s a regular at the bar who argues for third party voting.  The rest of the regulars, including AOC, enjoy teasing him because he’s always advocating they “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” but he admits he grew up in a mansion with wealthy parents.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @Lapassionara: Who was coming from a place of privilege in that election?  Well-off white people in deep blue communities.  Brooklyn trustifarians come to mind given the context of the quotation.

  58. 58.

    Mai Naem mobile

    February 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @rikyrah: I remember during 2016 election talking to 3 younger black guys I knew about voting and I was genuinely surprised that none of them were interested in voting(one’s mom was also bugging him about voting) and two of them specifically mentioned not liking Hillary. They didn’t mention the super predator thing but that was one quote making its rounds during the election. I am guessing Obama probably made it easier and more important for the GOP to quantify the effect of AA voters on Democratic wins and then to devise ways to dilute it.

  59. 59.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @germy:

    Clinton’s anointment

    dammit! my eyes just stuck in mid-roll, and I have to drive somewhere in about an hour

  60. 60.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:32 am

    Restaurant work has always been a temporary solution for people who are between things or hard up. Ocasio-Cortez has since spoken of the very exploitative nature of this work, the undocumented old men washing dishes in the kitchen, the front-of-house staff working mainly for tips, without protections or benefits or scheduled breaks. She translates this experience into an equity fable of how, for some, bad luck can lead straight to financial calamity, forcing a person to hold down a demanding, demeaning job to keep from drowning, while business and government perpetuate the notion that misfortune is somehow the sufferer’s fault. But this was personal for her. At the restaurant, “so many of the people that I worked with had parents that passed away, or they were born in circumstances that led to these outcomes,” she said. “Whereas in society we’re taught you’re there because that is what you deserve. You didn’t work hard enough. You didn’t educate yourself enough. You had messed up in some way.”

    The 80 year old dishwasher was not in a position to benefit from a third party vote.

  61. 61.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:35 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Yes, anointment is a dumb way to describe her nomination. It disregards all the primary voters who pushed her to the top.  Makes it sound like a coronation instead.

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 10:36 am

    @germy: She is good at what she is good at.  Right now, it would be nice if she stayed clear of foreign policy because it is not one of those things.

  63. 63.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @germy: There’s been a big slippage in the language. The one that drives me crazy is “the most decorated gymnast” or “the most decorated actor.” Didn’t we use to reserve “decorated” for military people given medals for valor in combat?

  64. 64.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 10:39 am

    Oklahoma Republicans have introduced a bill to the state legislature to create a government-run database that tracks women considering abortions. Senate Bill 1167, known as EMMA—Every Mother Matters Act—would create a call center for pregnant women who want “pre-abortion” resources. The hotline, however, would only provide information about “support services, other than abortion,” like adoption, housing, and child care options. The “care agent” operating the hotline would ask to provide the caller a “unique identifying number” to be registered and tracked in a database run by the State Department of Health. An abortion provider must confirm with a woman that she has made this call before performing an abortion by verifying her number in the database. As outlined in EMMA, the number would not track the identity or include any personal information of the pregnant woman within the system. The bill mandates, however, that documentation of the call must be logged in her personal medical records at the abortion clinic for seven years.

    The tracking is Orwellian, but the statute itself creates a huge new network of government contractors- the “care agents” will be publicly-paid contractors. They can only qualify if they’re anti-abortion:

    Shall:
    a. be authorized under a contract with the Department to
    provide resource access assistance offers and support services on behalf of this state in accordance with this section

    A whole new category of publicly-funded jobs exclusively for religious Right wingers! You’ll be assigned a “care agent” who will instruct you in the proper religious and ideological training for pregnancy. Huge new opportunity for Right wing contractors.

    It’s a real “tell” for me how little coverage all the new far Right pregnancy regulation proposals get. Obviously not of interest to media, but then “womens health and autonomy” has never been a priority in the US. We see vastly more coverage of anti-vaxxers than any of these new state pregnancy regulations. “Liberty!” – unless you’re in the half of the population who will be subject to these state-enforced and publicly financed religious mandates.

  65. 65.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, what did she say about foreign policy?

  66. 66.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 10:40 am

    Desperately wish I had been in the courtroom when Sarah Palin said “objection!” during her testimony and Judge Rakoff had to explain to her that that’s not how objections work https://t.co/yU11PjbymC pic.twitter.com/GsiqEZ9YCa

    — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 11, 2022

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    February 11, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @NotMax:  Worse.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The correct answer to that question.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 10:42 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Agree. It’s be malpractice not to give an advisory if war is a possibility.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 10:42 am

    From the NY magazine piece:

    Her victory on June 26, 2018, over her mainstream Democratic opponent, Joe Crowley, was a marker delineating the moment after which American politics would never be the same. [thank god, my eye roll reflex kicked in again and knocked things back into place] It established AOC’s prodigious political gifts while showcasing a new sort of Democratic candidate and a new way of recruiting them. Barack Obama, previous holder of the “generational talent” title, may have resembled Ocasio-Cortez in some ways. Brown-skinned, good looking, with his own misadventures in the postcollegiate wilderness, he challenged political convention even as he titillated its guardians. But he had a résumé — the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review,constitutional-law professor at the University of Chicago — that the Democratic-consultant class could easily recognize and safely admire. The Establishment didn’t know what to make of AOC. As she put it in an interview then, “If a spaceship landed in your backyard, it’s like, ‘What the fuck is that? Is it going to hurt me?’ ”

    she had a degree in international relations from BU, and she interned in Ted Kennedy’s office, then about five years later she won a low turn-out primary in a D + a lot district for a variety of reasons including a complacent incumbent.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @zhena gogolia: Just the sanctions would be bad for Ukraine thing.  Nothing new.

  72. 72.

    Lapassionara

    February 11, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @Starfish: When the radical right wing Supreme Court takes Commerce Clause jurisprudence back to the Hoover administration, we are all going to suffer.

    We need voters who do not see their vote as just one more consumer good.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    February 11, 2022 at 10:45 am

    @germy: The article seems a little biased to me. The author says the four Squad members elected in 2018 made the Progressive Caucus into a “powerhouse,” as if fellow Class of ’18 Progressive Caucus members Katie Porter, Jaime Raskin, Joe Neguse, and Veronica Escobar were just along for the ride.

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    February 11, 2022 at 10:46 am

    @Kay: JFC, that’s outrageous! I assume it has a good chance of passing because Oklahoma. In the old days, maybe the fanatics-only job creation aspect might be subject to judicial intervention, but Bony Carrot & Co. would be thrilled. Maybe the data angle could get some traction with the public. Would anyone trust these fanatics not to share it widely? I sure as hell don’t.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 10:46 am

    @Lapassionara:

    Agree. Especially about the consumer good point.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 10:46 am

    I have to confess I didn’t see that coming, but I should have. Banning abortion will create a whole new segment of publicly funded contractors who are chosen based on their adherence to conservative political and religious dogma. There’s always an angle. Scratch a Right wing movement, find a new government contractor waiting in the wings. Full employment for the religious Right, courtesy of the public.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 10:49 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Conservatives never actually reduce government. They just privatize it and direct all the funding to conservatives. It’s why their budgets never balance. They just move money around- from a public program to a contractor. I hope women aren’t tricked into believing they’re getting medical care from these fanatics. They’ll die.

  78. 78.

    MJS

    February 11, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @germy: From what I read, that “objection” was met with laughter in the courtroom. I also hope those laughing were pointing their fingers at Palin while doing so.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    February 11, 2022 at 10:53 am

    @Starfish: Or as my BIL yelled in response to my question: “you didn’t vote for Trump, did you?”

     I sure wasn’t gonna vote for the lying bitch!

    Part misogyny for sure, and part years of right-wing lies, and part believing the things that allowed you to vote for the person you wanted to vote for anyway.

    I mean, we all know Trump wasn’t a liar like Hillary was. //

    This is like my religious right-wing sister saying she wouldn’t vote for Clinton because “she didn’t go to church”.  It didn’t matter that Hillary did, and it apparently didn’t matter that Trump didn’t.

    Just something to latch on to as an excuse for your choice.

  80. 80.

    Leto

    February 11, 2022 at 10:53 am

    List of members of congress who beat $SPY (market average) for 2021. List compiled via unusualwhales.com, which is a data aggregation site focusing on unusual market activity. I’m sure those members of congress were just suuuuuper smart/luck with their investing. *wink wink nudge nudge

  81. 81.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    “Freedom from vaccines for Right wingers in Canada! Also- track all the pregnant women in the US who might be even thinking about an abortion and force them to meet with a publicly-paid Right wing nut for indoctrination and reeducation!”

  82. 82.

    Mike in NC

    February 11, 2022 at 10:58 am

    @NotMax: Moxie! I haven’t thought of that stuff in decades. It was awful enough but I didn’t know it came from Maine.

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 11:03 am

    @Starfish: Honestly I think you have to go with your gut. Also, I’d say to ask around among people you know and trust. Most people say that it’s better to find someone you pay who doesn’t make money from trading. I have three accounts now – one with an individual that is ours, one with a bank that is ours, and one with an individual that I inherited from my mom. They all are good people who have done a good job for us. I’d also say that if you don’t want to mess with an advisor, go with Vanguard Index funds. Look at them and pick the kind of risk you’re most comfortable with, then basically forget about it. In the 2009 crash I had to keep telling my boss to quit looking at his deferred comp account, that it would come back and please don’t make any changes!

  84. 84.

    prostratedragon

    February 11, 2022 at 11:04 am

    @Mike in NC:  Gentian root or something.

  85. 85.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Mike in NC: I only knew it from Mad Magazine.

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:07 am

    @Geminid: a little biased? I’m kind of embarrassed for NYMag

    As Americans turn their attention to this midterm year, Ocasio-Cortez has shown that her brand of politics can be formidable. With more than 20 million followers on Twitter and Instagram combined, and the ability to raise $20 million mostly in small-dollar donations in a single campaign cycle, she has amassed so much power that she is a human incendiary device. But as her public persona eclipses the waitress who launched that out-of-nowhere run against Crowley four years ago, she is in danger of becoming more prop than person. Whether the Democrats keep Congress or lose it in 2022, the result will be cast by the natterers as her influence or her fault. The transformation of Ocasio-Cortez from lost millennial into the incarnation of every American hope and fear has been dizzying.
    It might serve at this moment to look away from the blinding star she has become and to the mechanics of her rise, for it’s there that the arguments for optimism lie

    well, that prose does leave me a little dizzy….
    I’m guessing this article had gone through its final edits before the NYC mayoral primary, the Buffalo mayoral race, OH-11 and oh yeah that whole 2020 Dem primary/general election thing?

  87. 87.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 11:09 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    the incarnation of every American hope and fear

     
    I’m stealing that for Baud! 20XX!

  88. 88.

    BlueGuitarist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:09 am

    @oldgold:

    Tennessee Republicans cracked Nashville into 3 different congressional districts to eliminate a D seat, for 1D and 8R.

    Nashville has been in a single district since the 1790s.

  89. 89.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 11:11 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Other articles by that author:

    https://nymag.com/author/lisa-miller/

  90. 90.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 11:13 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    she is a human incendiary device.

    Well, she is in this place.  Simply mentioning her name is like tossing a lit match into a truck full of fireworks.  [smile emoji]

  91. 91.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 11:14 am

    @NotMax: ​
     

    The soda is beloved by thousands dozens of Mainers

    ftfy

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @germy: I don’t know if I could make my way through the first article, much less her deep-dive on Andrew Yang (dammit! my eyes again!). But I do wonder if teh supply room at NY Mag isn’t out of purple ink.

  93. 93.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The purple ink never runs out.  I assume she’s giving her editors what they want.

  94. 94.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Kind of the same; my ideal schedule would be to go to bed around midnight and sleep until 8-9 a.m. if I could manage it. I find as I get older I don’t sleep as long as I used to. Even on the weekends I wake up around 7 a.m. and have a hard time going back to sleep.

  95. 95.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 11, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @Betty Cracker: As with recordings of classrooms, I don’t even trust them to secure it. They’re like to hire their Ninja buddies or someone’s son-in-law to design the site.

  96. 96.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 11, 2022 at 11:20 am

    @NotMax: The one person I know who actually likes Moxie is a Brooklynite, curiously enough.

  97. 97.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 11:23 am

    @Starfish: ​
      Instead of going with your gut. have a list of questions to ask a
    potential advisor. One of the first is “Are you a fiduciary”
    another is “How are you paid for this?

    You can go online and get recs for CFA’s in your area who probably ARE fiduciaries.

    The other list of questions will be about you. What do you need from this person? investing advice or advice on how to achieve certain goals.

  98. 98.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 11:23 am

    @Kay: I agree. It’s such a lie that Republicans don’t want to expand government. They want to expand it in ways that hurt people they don’t like. They’re actually for a huge, sprawling government apparatus that does the things they like. Here in MO one of our local state senators introduced a bill that police and prosecutors called the “Make Murder Legal” bill. It died in committee, but that anyone would even introduce a law like this shows how crazy they are. Of course, I’m sure it would have been selectively enforced – guess how. Here’s the nut of it:

    The bill “provides that a person who uses or threatens to use force in self-defense is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless such force was used against a law enforcement officer who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the person reasonably knew or should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer.”

    The bill was sponsored by Republican state Sen. Eric Burlison, who represents parts of Christian and Greene counties and is running for Congress.

  99. 99.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @germy: Yes, anointment is a dumb way to describe her nomination. It disregards all the primary voters who pushed her to the top.  Makes it sound like a coronation instead.

    No cites to offer, but my recollection is that the party did its best to clear the field for her before we even got to primary season.  And it wasn’t like Bernie was going to actually beat her.

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 11, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @Roger Moore:

    This is way more true than most coffee drinkers are willing to admit.

    I am a coffee drinker and I am 100% willing to admit it.

    I tend to taper off the amount of coffee I drink when I’m on an extended vacation. The withdrawal headaches and lethargy go away after just a couple of days. However, liking coffee persists.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    February 11, 2022 at 11:28 am

    @germy: Representative Ocasio-Cortez is headed for Texas this weekend. On Saturday she will rally with 28th Congressional District candidate Jessica Cisneros in San Antonio. An immigration attorney, Cisneros is trying to unseat veteran Henry Cuellar. This is a rematch; Cuellar beat Cisnoros by only 4 points in the 2020 primary. Early voting starts Monday, and the primary will be March 3rd.

    On Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez will rally in Austin with 35th District hopeful Greg Casar. He is running for Congressman Lloyd Doggett’s seat, as Doggett(sp?) is now running in a neighboring district.

    I was interested to see that the Austin Democratic Socialists of America chapter has withdrawn their support for Casar. They are not satisfied with Casar’s positions on military aid to Israel (for) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (against). From the Texas Signal.

  102. 102.

    Kelly

    February 11, 2022 at 11:31 am

    @Leto: 35/538 gives me 6.5% out performing. Doesn’t seem unusual.

    Interesting that Oregon’s most liberal Congressman Earl Blumenauer is so high on the list.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2022 at 11:36 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Your recollection differs from mine.  And that is putting it politely.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 11:36 am

    @Soprano2:

    When they ban abortion they’re going to have to appear to be “taking care of” all of those women they mandated to carry to term. The US has little or no safety net so they’ll be offering a lot of “advice” and “counsel” instead of any actual assistance. But there will be millions of these women, so they’ll enlist publicly paid contractors to deliver the advice and counsel- ideologically correct, of course.
    There’s a Potemkin quality to US safety net programs. You can APPLY, sure, but don’t count on getting any actual practical help. A lot of people just give up. They seem to be designed by people who spend an inordinate amount of time ensuring that absolutely no “undeserving person” ever gets anything. It’s a mindset.

  105. 105.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 11:38 am

    @lowtechcyclist: No cites to offer, but my recollection is that the party did its best to clear the field for her before we even got to primary season.

     

    and my response is your recollection is made up. glad you mention no cites.  If big donors do not back other candidates because they see Hillary as likely, is that THE PARTY clearing the field? If other likely candidates decide not to run because Hillary has money and endorsements is that THE PARTY clearing the field?

  106. 106.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:41 am

    @catclub:

    If other likely candidates decide not to run because Hillary has money and endorsements

    and, you know, votes of Democrats across the country

    I guess I kind of cleared the field when I looked at Martin O’Malley and didn’t see anything and looked at Bernie Sanders and went from muttering to screaming “Oh, for fuck’s sake”

  107. 107.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @Soprano2:

    The best word to describe it would be “scarcity”. It must be as ungenerous as possible and still able to be called “help”. It’s designed to deny, to say “no, you don’t get that”.

    I think it contributes to the nastiness of our politics. It’s all zero sum, all minimums, all as little as they can possibly get away with. You see it with health care. Half the insanity around Obamacare was based on the ridiculous idea that “health care” is a set amount that can’t be expanded. If you get it you’re taking some of mine. There won’t be enough! Just wild in such a big, rich country. It’s the same with immigration. “That’s MY city, my job, my house”. Like you can’t make more of all that. Like nothing can expand.

  108. 108.

    dnfree

    February 11, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @narya: if you got your shingles shot at your primary care doctor’s office, beware!  That’s where I got mine, and then I got a bill for more than $500 for each shot.  the shingles vaccine for some reason isn’t covered under regular Medicare.  My doctor didn’t know that either.  So it’s covered at a drug store but not a doctor’s office.  This might be different for Advantage plans or other insurance, I don’t know.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    February 11, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @Soprano2: Federal judges are federal government employees and presumably can participate in the federal Thrift Savings Plan that has several broad baskets of investment options.

    Individual stock (and bond?) trades by people who write and interpret the law, and set monetary and enforcement policy, invites abuse – from insider knowledge if nothing else.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    dnfree

    February 11, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @Starfish: My funds are at Vanguard, where my 401(k) was before retirement.  I just have index funds of a couple different types and the cost is low.  My husband’s  funds are at Fidelity, which costs somewhat more and he manages them more aggressively, with the help of someone who chats with him from time to time and sends us a Christmas card with a picture of his family.

    We used to have a financial advisor who charged a set percentage, but after a while it appeared he wasn’t doing as well as simple index funds.  And that firm didn’t predict the market crash of 2008-2009.  So the value wasn’t apparent.

    I’m risk-averse, so I have about 1/5 of my retirement money in a fixed fund.  The rest can go up and down, and I ignore it.

  111. 111.

    BlueGuitarist

    February 11, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @Kay: thanks for bringing attention to this enraging horror.

  112. 112.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 11:55 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I just saw this quote:

    “Uncertainty must be taken in a sense radically distinct from the familiar notion of Risk, from which it has never been properly separated…

     

    So how do you distinguish stupid from dumb questions?

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    February 11, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @Kay: So the state government will basically be funding the scam “pregnancy crisis centers” that anti-choice organizations (mostly wingnut churches) already run in many states. And they’ll require any woman who wants an abortion to talk to the fanatics. smh

  114. 114.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Individual stock (and bond?) trades by people who write and interpret the law, and set monetary and enforcement policy, invites abuse – from insider knowledge if nothing else.

    I have not read all the notes here, but I find it almost quaint, and quite amusing that after the years of the Trump administration, government officials are talking about things such as ethics, abuse of privilege and conflicts of interest.

    I am a little cranky today. And I certainly applaud efforts to try to address this issue. But I get pissed when I think of all the brazen crap that the GOP let Trump get away with, and how even some of Trump’s supporters were happy that the Orange Beast was getting rich with all his shady deals.

  115. 115.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    @catclub: By “go with your gut” I meant “how do you feel about this person” after you’ve talked to them and asked questions. I’m sure they all know the answers they’re supposed to give, but what kind of “vibe” do you get from them? Do you think they actually listen to you? Do they feel “slick”? Stuff like that. It’s not an easy thing to do, that’s for sure.

  116. 116.

    Edmund Dantes

    February 11, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    @Soprano2: index funds. General index funds otherwise go into a different calling than congress critter.

  117. 117.

    artem1s

    February 11, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    @Roger Moore: ​
     

    Traditionally, Presidents have put their investments in a blind trust similar to the one you describe.

    Until Darth Cheney broke that tradition for the executive branch. TFG never put his investments in blind trusts either. The Traitor Tots were supposed to be managing them to avoid COI. But the ‘tradition’ is broken and needs to be codified into law for all three branches of the government.

    Of course the Robert’s court will claim that there is no mention of Wall Street in the Constitution so Congress can’t codify it.

  118. 118.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    @dnfree: And that firm didn’t predict the market crash of 2008-2009. So the value wasn’t apparent.

     

    IF there is value, it might be in their telling [advising] you not to sell in a panic after the crash.  You did hold on rather than sell, right?

  119. 119.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    @Kay: They seem to be designed by people who spend an inordinate amount of time ensuring that absolutely no “undeserving person” ever gets anything. It’s a mindset.

    For sure. It’s caused by absolute terror that some outlier example will be used against you. I read that in Wisconsin the Republicans are trying to make it a lot harder for people to get out on bail. They’re using the example of the guy who used his car to kill 6 people – he was out on bail in an unrelated case. Things like this are why reform of these programs to make them more sensible is hard, because there will always be an outlier of some kind. They want to design the programs to completely prevent the outlier cases, so they make it so hard to qualify that hardly anyone does.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    @catclub: The myth that the DNC “coronated” Hillary will never, ever, ever go away, even though it’s bullshit.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    February 11, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Right- the “crisis pregnancy centers” are privately funded. These will be state funded, so probably just changing the funding stream from private to public, same entities. Easy peasy. They already exist.

    I confess I hate the sickly-sweet language of the anti-abortion Right. “Care agent”. Oh, fuck off and leave us alone.

  122. 122.

    opiejeanne

    February 11, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    @Betty Cracker: When I had my third baby in 1982, there was (briefly) a law on the books in California* that required hospitals to ask if the mother had had an abortion at any time. When the nurse asked me, I asked if I had to answer. She smiled and said, “No” and that was the end of it. That law got shot down not long after, because even though the perpetraitors, er, state legislators claimed it was for research purposes only and they were only collecting data and not names, no one believed them.

    *California had a majority of asshole over-reaching Republicans in office at the time. Hard to believe these days, but it’s part of what caused the huge backlash and turned the state deep blue.

  123. 123.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    @Kay: These will be state funded, so probably just changing the funding stream from private to public, same entities

     

    This is also a perversion of how Planned Parenthood was government funded. It provided actual useful services, and was paid for providing  them.

  124. 124.

    apocalipstick

    February 11, 2022 at 12:11 pm

    @Soprano2: Burlison represents, appropriately (and I shit you not), Battlefield, a wide spot outside Springfield MO. Billy Long is the US Rep.

  125. 125.

    apocalipstick

    February 11, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: …and ‘anointment’ is a non-word.

  126. 126.

    trollhattan

    February 11, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    @Soprano2: “Bernie wudda beat Trump!” is a thing said by zero smart people. Antisemitism can easily slide into misogyny’s spot and that’s before tarring him a “Socialist Commie New York Socialist. And, did you hear he was Socialist?”

    (Yes, he would have clobbered Trump in the “debates” just like Hitlery did, proving yet again that debates are worthless.)

  127. 127.

    FelonyGovt

    February 11, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    @Soprano2: Years ago I made the mistake of having a friend be our investment adviser. She advised AGAINST buying Apple stock in about 2009 or so (“Steve Jobs is very ill and what happens after he passes?!!”). We did, against her advice and it is now the largest component of our meager investments.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    February 11, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    @Soprano2: The closest thing one could point to as being some sort of party coronation (and it’s not close at all) was the gigantic fundraising effort before she announced for 2008.  The name of the group escapes me now, but I was getting letters from them for weeks or months begging for money that would somehow convince her to join the race.

    They were obviously trying to build momentum and clear the field as much as possible, and what politician wouldn’t want that?, but it was horribly annoying and left bad feelings here.

    Of course, that group wasn’t The Party.  Words have meanings…  (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    @narya:

    Having had a nice case of shingles, I can tell you first hand that no, you absolutely, 5000% do not want it. No way, no how, not ever. No really, I mean never.

  130. 130.

    Edmund Dantes

    February 11, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    @Kay: I went through California’s unemployment system back in pre-covid days, and the rules were fucking stupid and the hoops detrimental to my job search. Short notice show up to this job seminar. Short notice complete this thing in person these specific hours or no benefits. Lots of busy work stuff. Etc. Luckily I had already been well along in my job hunt when I got laid off so I could be out of that system quick. By the time I got my first benefits almost 2 months I was getting ready to start my new job.

    it’s designed to make life miserable and impossible to keep benefits.

  131. 131.

    trollhattan

    February 11, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    Ugh.

    Orange County Republicans used to run the joint, which is hard to believe now but explains a lot, including why we no longer adequately fund education and also, too, Enron.

  132. 132.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    @Kay:

    Scratch a Right wing movement, find a new government contractor waiting in the wings. Full employment for the religious Right, courtesy of the public.

    Absolutely.  You can hear the echos of this with that fake Ben Franklin quote about Republics dying when the public learns it can vote itself money.  It shows they see the government primarily as a tool of economic redistribution.  They don’t see how that can work if the redistribution works from rich to poor- there are so many poor they’ll bankrupt the rich, don’t you see- but they’re just fine with it working the other way.

    There’s just enough truth to this idea to give it weight.  The government can be, and often is, a tool for redistribution, and traditionally it was redistribution from the many to the few who actually ran things.  It’s hard to believe that it would work the other way, provided you work from theoretical principles of everyone being greedy bastards and ignore the centuries of experience showing it works just fine.

  133. 133.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    @Starfish:

    They did carry crosses……

  134. 134.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Hillary had a moral obligation not to be such a strong candidate.

     

    Words have meanings…

    No they don’t. See “She’s a prosecutor cop.”

  135. 135.

    Leto

    February 11, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    @Another Scott: members of Congress can also invest in TSP, fyi. It’s just they also have the knowledge to make more informed short/long term investment choices which the rest of the public, including the overwhelming majority of the federal gov which utilizes TSP, doesn’t have.

  136. 136.

    Bex

    February 11, 2022 at 12:23 pm

    @WaterGirl: Your sister may have meant that Hillary didn’t go to the right church.  She has been Methodist all her life.  You know, that mainline church.  The Methodists are having their problems these days and will probably split over ordaining LGBTQ clergy.  One branch (Hillary’s) will approve it.

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 12:24 pm

    @FelonyGovt: I took a hot tip on a stock from my (now ex- and much-reviled) BiL about twenty years ago. It tanked. I’ve been a boring buy-and-hold index investor ever since. Rode out ’08-09, 2019, and I’ll ride out the correction/s going on now. I am a member of the Investing Should Be Boring choir, though I’m probably more exposed to equities than most ISBB advisors would advise.

  138. 138.

    FelonyGovt

    February 11, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes, at 68 years old I’m way, way past “exciting” investments. So I will join you in the “Investments Should Be Boring” club.

  139. 139.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    ensuring that absolutely no “undeserving person” ever gets anything.

    Realizing that there are basically NO deserving poor people, instead, they are all messy …. people. Is hard to come to, but necessary.

  140. 140.

    The Dangerman

    February 11, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    So, I was browsing RedState this morning and, there it was, a post decrying the concentration of wealth towards the elite…

    …which confuses me to no end. Exactly what liberal or middle of the road policy has led to that undesirable outcome? I can’t think of one. But it’s Friday and I’m tired.

  141. 141.

    laura

    February 11, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    @Betty Cracker: What they want is fetal personhood and if/when the state’s interest favors the clump of cells/embryo/fetus and not the fully formed, born alive pregnant person, well, someone’s got to keep tract of all that errant vagina- and somebody’s got to pay for all that vagina herding, so….yeah OK is just trying to get in in the ground floor.

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 12:28 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Words have meanings…  (sigh)

    On that note, listening to NPR’s weekly news round-up and they’re talking about people’s real concerns (paraphrase) about “lockdowns”. We have never had “lockdowns” in this country, dammit.

  143. 143.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 11, 2022 at 12:29 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    You can hear the echos of this with that fake Ben Franklin quote about Republics dying when the public learns it can vote itself money.

    It’s a fake Ben Franklin quote now? I’ve seen it attributed to all sorts of people, often ancient Greeks.

  144. 144.

    Anyway

    February 11, 2022 at 12:29 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Remember how Abstinence education is mandated in some states to be taught by RW religious nut-jobs. Govt/school money going to said religious nut-jobs.

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    It comes down to these people having some ethics.

    Maybe if there was a place they could buy some that might help…. Especially if the price was very cheap.

  146. 146.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 11, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    @The Dangerman: This is the kind of thing that convinces so many people that red-state MAGA folk are nascent socialists who just need some hardcore economic leftism to bring them into the fold. But it never seems to work.

  147. 147.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    @Another Scott: ​
     

    The closest thing one could point to as being some sort of party coronation (and it’s not close at all) was the gigantic fundraising effort before she announced for 2008.

    and the fix was so in THAT SHE DIDN’T EVEN WIN the nomination that year.

  148. 148.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’ve seen it attributed to all sorts of people, often ancient Greeks.

    Pseudocrates?

  149. 149.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 12:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Heh.

  150. 150.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 12:34 pm

    @catclub:

    Oh I missed this it was 2008.

  151. 151.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    Republicans are telling Politico that COVID-19 is “a godsend.”

    The pandemic that has killed 900,000 Americans.

    As many GOP leaders downplay vaccines & boosters, ignore science, demonize experts, and oppose commonsense measures to keep people safe and help us get back to normal. pic.twitter.com/bxQIVXMoAH

    — Ian Sams (@IanSams) February 11, 2022

    when you’re a political operative, you see the world like a political operative

  152. 152.

    opiejeanne

    February 11, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    @trollhattan: Before I moved to the Seattle area, we lived in Anaheim. Our mayor was Curt Pringle, one of the so-called bomb throwers of the State Assembly, and Speaker of the Assembly.

    Our house was 2 miles north of Disneyland, and about 3 blocks from Karl Karcher’s house.

  153. 153.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    @The Dangerman: ​

    a post decrying the concentration of wealth towards the elite…

    This is really a complaint that the people who run VC funds that back tech successes are occasionally liberal.

    They have no problem with the Mercers or the Koch Brothers. I bet they don’t even call them elitists.

  154. 154.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I would recommend decaf.  There’s a lot of crappy decaf out there, but if you’re willing to spend a bit of money on the good stuff, it’s pretty good.  I actually started roasting my own, because it’s substantially cheaper.  Good quality green decaf beans are more expensive than equivalent quality non-decaf beans- you have to start with better beans, and you have to pay the price of decaffeinating- but they’re cheap compared to roasted beans.

  155. 155.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    @Ruckus: Maybe if there was a place they could buy some that might help…. Especially if the price was very cheap.

     

    “Sincerity is the key. If you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

  156. 156.

    Baud

    February 11, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    convinces so many people that red-state MAGA folk are nascent socialists who just need some hardcore economic leftism

     
    Nothing prevents Republican voters from electing at least some Republicans who are socially right but support economic populism. You don’t see that anywhere, however. The most you see is a few head fakes against specific corporations, but little in the way of general policies.

  157. 157.

    Matt

    February 11, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    And I also know that she’s probably just tired of dealing with {waves hand}, when she had every intention of retiring before the Trump Pandemic

    [citation needed]

    She’s announced that she’s running again this year, so I don’t wanna hear about “being tired”.

  158. 158.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    Invasion? What “invasion”? Here are Russian troops rolling down one of the main streets in Donetsk, Ukraine. They’ve been there since 2014.

    Российская техника на улицах Донецка. Смешно, когда на этом фоне Кремль угрожает поставками оружия ЛДНР. Это оружие там с 2014-го.

    Ещё обратил внимание, какой плохой асфальт на Университетской. Это самый центр города. Никогда эта улица не выглядела так плохо при Украине pic.twitter.com/mhUfb8iF5G
    — Денис Казанський (@den_kazansky) February 11, 2022

  159. 159.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    @germy: I can’t access that tweet. I’ve tried several methods.

  160. 160.

    Bill Arnold

    February 11, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I read an explanation earlier today that the goal was to throw Russia off balance by including details that they would be surprised the U.S. knew, like the plan to use a staged video to provide a pretext to invade.

    The US is (well, appears to be) flexing some newish information-warfare muscles. (Like a weightlifting small child, but hey.) Good to see, mainly because the arrogant Russian propaganda operators need pushback in this regard.
    If you search the recent academic literature about information warfare, in the past 10-15 years Ukraine/Russia has been a large part of it. It’s a disinformation/misinformation Thunderdome.

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2022 at 12:51 pm

    @catclub:

    Absolutely…..

  162. 162.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    @Leto:  The numbers could be highly bogus.  The disclosure limits are VERY wide. but unusualwhales says this:

    In 2020, the 116th House of Representatives purchased well over $100 million in securities (assuming maximum investment amounts).

     
    For instance, one range is $1M-$5M, the next range is $5M-$25M

  163. 163.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I look at twitter through Safari, and I haven’t been able to access it for the last hour or so. That seems to happen every few days, then it comes back

    It’s like the gods telling me to go do something productive. Pfft. They’re gods, let them handle all the boring shit I have to do by (checks clock) an hour ago.

  164. 164.

    RaflW

    February 11, 2022 at 12:55 pm

    Supreme Court justices make $265,600 a year (and three months a year is recess that they are free to use as they wish). Even in D.C. with the costs there, that’s a livable wage.

    Like MOCs, their investments should be managed without their input (or in a handful of very broadly based Index Funds). But I’m just as concerned about Justices getting speaking fees from Heritage, Liberty U etc (or, frankly, from Planned Parenthood).

    We pay these people well. If they want to give speeches, okay. But fees create an impression of an unseemly relationship. And the speeches should never be private. Maybe for a brief period so that there’s some reason for members of the org or institution to attend, but like 30 – 60 days after the speech, a video or the text should get released by judge’s staff.

    The lack of trust in institutions is happening for a lot of reasons. Too much money sloshing around is part of it.

    *Scotus Retirement benefits are also excellent, though few seem to take the hint.

  165. 165.

    Bill Arnold

    February 11, 2022 at 12:57 pm

    @Lapassionara:

    With Trump, the country was going to be governed by someone beholden to Vladimir Putin, someone who had no interest in addressing climate change,

    “Progressives” (and anyone else) who helped elect Trump bear significant partial responsibility for the 4 year delay in climate action, which will end up killing at least 10s (perhaps 100s, in the fat tail perhaps more) of millions of human beings over the next century.

  166. 166.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’ve put almost all my money into mutual funds of various kinds.  I started putting them in various more targeted funds, but these days I put it almost all into index funds.  It’s boring, but boring is good when it comes to one’s retirement plan.  I don’t want to look at my retirement account every day because I want to know how it’s doing.  I want to be able ignore it for months or even years at a time.

    I’ve made two exceptions, both of which seem to have turned out well.  I put some money in Tesla and held it until the price spiked when the shorts bailed.  I thought that was the right time to sell and made a handsome profit, but I guess I could have made even more if I had held longer.  But I’m still going to go with my gut on this.  Tesla wasn’t worth what it was selling for when I sold mine, and it sure as hell isn’t worth what it’s selling for today. It’s going to crash one of these days, and I’ve already taken my money out.

    The other exception was investing some money in my BIL’s company, which looks likely to be an even bigger win than Tesla was.  In that case, I figured I was really investing money in my BIL’s dream.  If I made some money, great, but the real benefit was giving my BIL a chance to start the company he had wanted to start for a long time.  That it looks likely to have an excellent return is just a bonus.  In both cases, I started with money I wasn’t afraid to lose and figured it was a complete gamble.  It’s not an approach I would recommend anyone try with money they aren’t willing to lose.

  167. 167.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    There must be something going on with twitter because I can’t access it now either.

  168. 168.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 1:02 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    This is the kind of thing that convinces so many people that red-state MAGA folk are nascent socialists who just need some hardcore economic leftism to bring them into the fold.

    This is one case where I think horseshoe theory is correct.  The left wing populists and the right wing populists are both interested in socialism.  The difference is that the right wing populists want Whites-only socialism, while the left wing wants to include everyone.  Each is trying to convince the other to join them, and it’s pretty easy for people to jump from one pole to the other.

  169. 169.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 1:05 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    The amazing thing is that Orange County voted for Hillary in 2016.  It wasn’t a big majority, but it’s still an amazing swing.

  170. 170.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 1:10 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    AFAIK, the US is extremely good at some aspects of digital warfare.  We’re second to none at using computers for gathering intelligence, though we’ve generally been reticent about letting people know that’s what’s going on.  I don’t think we’ve been as aggressive at developing offensive capabilities, though things like Stuxnet show we can certainly do it.  What we don’t seem to have developed is social media manipulation on the level the Russians have.

  171. 171.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 11, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    @catclub:

    and my response is your recollection is made up. glad you mention no cites.  If big donors do not back other candidates because they see Hillary as likely, is that THE PARTY clearing the field? If other likely candidates decide not to run because Hillary has money and endorsements is that THE PARTY clearing the field?

    You may well be right.

    Anyway, given your description of events, you must agree that ‘anointing’ was an apt choice of words.

  172. 172.

    Citizen Alan

    February 11, 2022 at 1:23 pm

    @Bill Arnold: It’ll be more than 4 years. I’m quite certain that the current SCOTUS will within a few years hand down opinions holding that the Constitution does not allow the government to take any steps to combat climate change if doing reduces takes a single penny out of some rich man’s pocket.

  173. 173.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 11, 2022 at 1:31 pm

    @Kay: Half the insanity around Obamacare was based on the ridiculous idea that “health care” is a set amount that can’t be expanded.

    To be fair, there was reason to believe it was true in the short run, at least.

    You can expand the supply of doctors, nurses, med techs, etc. over time, but you can’t just push a button and get 20% more doctors.

    And we were already a nation that seems to need to import doctors from other countries in order to have a sufficient supply.  (Seems like we ought to do something about that.)  Fortunately, there were things we could do, like have CRNPs fill the role of ‘family doctors,’ so it turned out that, yes, our existing medical professionals could handle the jump in covered people that happened in 2014.

    But we’ve found out lately just how little slack there really was.  It’s one thing to say they were wrong, and it’s another thing to say they knew or even should have known they would be wrong.

  174. 174.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 1:40 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is one of my big pet peeves. We literally never had anything close to a “lockdown” anywhere, yet people keep using that word to mean “some businesses closed and restaurants closed for awhile and they told us to stay home if we could”.

  175. 175.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 11, 2022 at 1:41 pm

    @Baud: I suspect that the members of the right who, in the abstract, want economically redistributionist policies, want WAY HARDER to stick it to non-whites, uppity women and anyone they consider a weirdo. The protests against corporations tend to be about market-driven corporate lip service to diversity and inclusion. And there’s also a type of leftist who hates that stuff because they correctly see it as insincere, or simply because they’re actually bigots too.

  176. 176.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    for a minute, everything was better again.

    then twitter came back.

    — Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 11, 2022

  177. 177.

    Leto

    February 11, 2022 at 1:45 pm

    @catclub: I’ll point back to one Senator: Tommy Tuberville. This was from last year.

    Tuberville, a newly disclosed financial disclosure report reveals, failed as required by the STOCK Act to file disclosures of about 130 stock and stock options trades executed from January through May within a maximum 45-day window mandated by that law, which applies to members of Congress.

    The trades ranged in total value from $894,000 to more than $3.5 million, according to the report filed Friday. The report lists values in ranges, not in absolute terms.

    https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/07/27/china-critic-sen-tommy-tuberville-of-alabama-violated-stock-act.html

    And those too are ranges. Which tells me that we need tighter regulations on disclosure. And we also need to eliminate members of Congress, their friends/families, from benefiting from insider information. It’s an anti-corruption stance, it’s transparency in government, it’s basically public service. Tommy ain’t the only one, there’s plenty of reporting about too many members of Congress doing this. If we’re about “good government”, then end it. We’re all about “incremental” change, right? Pass it now for members of Congress then come back for the judiciary. Incremental.

  178. 178.

    Soprano2

    February 11, 2022 at 1:46 pm

    @Roger Moore: I read about that. Evidently, there was some kind of battle between TFG and an organization in Orange County, so many of them had personal experience with what an asshole he was.

  179. 179.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 1:46 pm

    Maggie: “Number one, number two…”

    .@maggieNYT insists that she did not save her report that then-President Trump clogged White House toilets by flushing documents for her book.

    "I did not know this was happening while he was president. I'm not known for sitting on scoops." pic.twitter.com/PW6GpO5GHG

    — Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 11, 2022

  180. 180.

    Bill Arnold

    February 11, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    @Citizen Alan:
    “13 districts, 13 justices.”
    It’s either that, or somehow otherwise changing the current nature or power of the partisan Republican SCOTUS.

    We are, IMO, currently headed towards a world (morphing slowly into a hellscape) where there will be lot of vengeance-motivated direct action.
    The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson

    In The Ministry for the Future, acts of eco-terrorism are clearly major drivers of the changes that first slow and then halt the centuries-long rise in greenhouse gas emissions, but Robinson keeps these actors offstage. The results of their actions – bombed power plants, downed jetliners, infected CAFOs – are reported third hand, in brief summaries of newscasts. Although each of these daring actions could be the plot of a thriller, Robinson does not spin out their stories, likely because he does not want to valorize violence even when it’s clearly necessary to his plot.

  181. 181.

    trollhattan

    February 11, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    @germy:

    “Heh-heh, she said both ‘sitting’ and ‘scoops.’ Heh-heh.”

  182. 182.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    @germy:

    “I did not know this was happening while he was president.

    she could and should have said this, or had one of her wagon-circlers say this, twenty-four hours ago. “While researching a new book, Maggie Haberman of the NYT is said to have learned from former WH staffers….” It wouldn’t have been hard.

    I’m not known for sitting on scoops.

    She can’t help but puff herself up even when she’s made an ass of herself, and let most of her colleagues make asses of themselves, for a long (in twitter/media terms) time.

  183. 183.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 1:58 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     
    It’s not just TFG. Orange County is now represented by plenty of Democrats at every level of government. They still elect some Republicans, but it’s nothing like the choke hold on power the Republicans used to have. Orange County is just a very different place from what it was 20 years ago.

  184. 184.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 2:07 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    On that note, listening to NPR’s weekly news round-up and they’re talking about people’s real concerns (paraphrase) about “lockdowns”. We have never had “lockdowns” in this country, dammit.

    We didn’t have a comprehensive federal lockdown. So what?

    Cities, counties and states  slowed or shut down businesses. Economic activity declined.

    If nothing changed where you live, you were very lucky.

  185. 185.

    sdhays

    February 11, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: My understanding is that the US actually has quite a bit of slack compared to other countries. We just use it all up by not bothering with COVID mitigations.

    Of course, it’s a big, complex country, so both can be true in different places, different contexts.

  186. 186.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    February 11, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    @Brachiator:

    If nothing changed where you live, you were very lucky.

    That’s not what I said. Not even close.

    This is why I avoid engaging with you. Your compulsion to be argumentative often makes you flat out dishonest.

     

  187. 187.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    @germy:

    .@maggieNYT insists that she did not save her report that then-President Trump clogged White House toilets by flushing documents for her book.

    When will her book be published?

    I look forward to ignoring it.

  188. 188.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    This is why I avoid engaging with you. Your compulsion to be argumentative often makes you flat out dishonest.

    Not being argumentative. I don’t see what your point is in claiming that there was no lockdown, or your own apparent irritation at this description.

  189. 189.

    WhatsMyNym

    February 11, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    On that note, listening to NPR’s weekly news round-up…

    NPR is garbage. Has been for years.

  190. 190.

    germy

    February 11, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    @Brachiator:

    “This is not a novel to be lightly tossed aside. It should be thrown with great force.”  (attributed to Dorothy Parker)

    “From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.”  (Groucho Marx)

  191. 191.

    James E Powell

    February 11, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I guess I kind of cleared the field when I looked at Martin O’Malley and didn’t see anything and looked at Bernie Sanders and went from muttering to screaming “Oh, for fuck’s sake”

    I remember being surprised that Biden didn’t want to run. This was before I learned what was going on with his son.

    I gave O’Malley a close look and found him to be kind of running for president because he didn’t know what else to do. I referred to him as Tommy Carcetti on some online place and someone who knew him took great umbrage.

    I was initially lukewarm on Clinton because I felt like she was yesterday’s candidate. But the more she campaigned the more I liked her. We missed out on having her as president and I will always despise the people who worked so hard to prevent it. Even now I don’t think people fully realize all she was up against.

  192. 192.

    James E Powell

    February 11, 2022 at 2:27 pm

    @Soprano2:

    Anyone online who refers to The DNC who is not talking about the convention should be ignored.

  193. 193.

    Chief Oshkosh

    February 11, 2022 at 2:29 pm

    As this is an open thread…

    According to TPM, the Ottawa ‘event’ was well-planned beforehand, has now become an armed encampment, and probably had only a little to do with vaccines and a lot to do with intentional destabilization of democracy:

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-situation-in-canada-is-worse-than-it-looks

    His take-home message? Nip it in the bud or you’re left with few options, most of which involve violence.

  194. 194.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 11, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    Some insane Senate candidate in AZ, whose name I have already forgotten, is running an ad in which he shoots Mark Kelly, President Biden, and Speaker Pelosi. He doesn’t kill or even wound them, of course — just shoots their pistols out of their hands so they turn tail and run away.

    It is vile to see an image of a firearm in a campaign commercial, let alone seeing them pointed at human beings and fired.

    But I’m sure he just means it in good fun.

    Saw the story and the video at Wonkette. Haven’t seen any other coverage of this abomination.

    https://www.wonkette.com/az-senate-hopeful-releases-ad-showing-him-shooting-biden-pelosi-and-mark-kelly-for-lulz

    (Edited to correct link)

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 2:38 pm

    @germy:

    Ha!

    I enjoy the things that Dorothy Parker should have said as much as I enjoy the things she actually said.

  196. 196.

    Roger Moore

    February 11, 2022 at 2:46 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I would say that we had a shutdown, which is a bit different from a lockdown.  Even in the most restrictive places, what happened was that most businesses were closed and people were encouraged to stay home.  That’s pretty severe, but it’s nothing like what they had in China and some places in Europe, where people had to stay home under penalty of arrest.

  197. 197.

    WaterGirl

    February 11, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    @Bex: Maybe.  But we can be damn sure that Trump didn’t go to any church, Methodist or not. :-)

  198. 198.

    trollhattan

    February 11, 2022 at 2:58 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Mark Kelly. He shoots at Mark Kelly in an ad. Husband of Gabby Giffords Mark Kelly.

    Words, they fail me yet again.

  199. 199.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    @Brachiator: Do you know what the situation was in places like Madrid, let alone China? You couldn’t go out on the street without being stopped and asked your destination. That never happened anywhere in this country.

  200. 200.

    RaflW

    February 11, 2022 at 3:05 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Cheryl Rofer, former FPer here, has been tweeting and rt-ing a fair bit of commentary this afternoon about Ukraine. I find it unsettling.

    @CherylRofer

    [Nat Sec Advisor Jake] Sullivan mentions a quick attack on Kyiv as one possible Russian option.

    Also that they expect Russia to manufacture a pretext.

  201. 201.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 3:08 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I would say that we had a shutdown, which is a bit different from a lockdown. Even in the most restrictive places, what happened was that most businesses were closed and people were encouraged to stay home. That’s pretty severe, but it’s nothing like what they had in China and some places in Europe, where people had to stay home under penalty of arrest.

    Yep, and I forget the differences between what Australia and New Zealand enacted.

    So, yeah, shutdown is not the same as lockdown. But here in California, I heard reporters and state and county officials talk about a “lockdown.” And that is how a lot of people felt about it, despite any distinction between the terms.

    And of course, right wing mischief makers are hot to pass laws preventing state and local agencies from ever interfering with the “smooth” operation of the economy for public health reasons.

    From this perspective, debating the nature of “lockdown” vs “shutdown” perhaps misses the larger picture.

    Also, still making news is the non-peer reviewed study from Johns Hopkins claiming that (had to look up the usage) “lockdowns” did not work at all.

    Anyway, I understand and agree with the distinction. But in political discourse, the fight is over “lockdowns” and misguided attempts to subvert public health policy.

  202. 202.

    Gravenstone

    February 11, 2022 at 3:09 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Gee, it’s not as if anything horrible ever happened to politicians in AZ as a result of gun related imagery in a political campaign…

  203. 203.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 11, 2022 at 3:09 pm

    @trollhattan:

    I know. Unspeakable in every sense.

  204. 204.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 11, 2022 at 3:14 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    Exactly. Six people died of gunfire in that incident. Gabby Giffords will be struggling with the physical (and emotional) effects every day for the rest of her life.

  205. 205.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 11, 2022 at 3:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: That’s fucking deplorable.

  206. 206.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: And I fear that Palin is going to win her stupid lawsuit.

  207. 207.

    Brachiator

    February 11, 2022 at 3:42 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Do you know what the situation was in places like Madrid, let alone China? You couldn’t go out on the street without being stopped and asked your destination. That never happened anywhere in this country.

    Americans don’t know what goes on elsewhere.  Some idiots think that Dr Fauci even suggesting people wear masks is the same thing as the Gazpacho Police breaking down people’s doors and arresting them.

  208. 208.

    catclub

    February 11, 2022 at 3:56 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: , you must agree that ‘anointing’ was an apt choice of words.

     

    no.

  209. 209.

    Bill Arnold

    February 11, 2022 at 5:44 pm

    @RaflW:

    Cheryl Rofer, former FPer here, has been tweeting and rt-ing a fair bit of commentary this afternoon about Ukraine. I find it unsettling.

    I watch her feed too. Yes, very unsettling. I’m just saying that there are a lot of influence ops going on, which can (and would) proceed in parallel with any actually military action involving troops and hardware, and also with through-internet anti-infrastructure attacks. Russian doctrine as I understand it (not well, to be clear) blends all these activities.

  210. 210.

    Citizen Alan

    February 11, 2022 at 6:05 pm

    @James E Powell:  I really wish Martin O’Malley had run a stronger campaign. Because if he had, eventually he’d have realized that the only way to gain traction was it was to run against Bernie. He could have torn the bastard down while leaving Hillary’s hands clean.

  211. 211.

    dnfree

    February 11, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    @catclub: yes, I held on after the 2008-2009 crash, but I was already conservatively invested compared to my husband.  We were still employed at that time and I probably had 1/3 in the “stable value” fund.  His investments were more aggressive and his nail-biting was more aggressive.  But I read at that time that there were investment advisers who had advised a pullback before the crash.  We didn’t get any such advice, and our adviser looked as shell-shocked as we felt.

  212. 212.

    Another Scott

    February 11, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    @Another Scott:  The old grey matter confused me again.

    I was thinking of Ready for Hillary which was 2013-2015, so part of the 2016 cycle, not the 2008 cycle. (There was probably something similar, but smaller, in 2008.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  213. 213.

    Dopey-o

    February 11, 2022 at 11:43 pm

    @geg6:I drink only one cup of coffee every morning.  Hard to believe I’m having withdrawal the next morning.

    A better explanation for my difficulty in waking up (not actually getting out of bed, but for brain fog to dissipate) is that I am naturally a night owl and have trouble getting to sleep early enough that a typical 5:30 am workday wake-up is not difficult at age 63.  My weeknights involve about 5 hours of sleep, at most.

    i am a night owl too, but the issue isn’t waking up. It’s the world i wake up to.

  214. 214.

    Dopey-o

    February 12, 2022 at 1:00 am

    @Brachiator: Americans don’t know what goes on elsewhere.  Some idiots think that Dr Fauci even suggesting people wear masks is the same thing as the Gazpacho Police breaking down people’s doors and arresting them for putting the soup on the stove.

    FIFY

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