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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above

by Anne Laurie|  March 23, 20228:51 am| 146 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Supreme Court

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above

(Lalo Alcaraz via GoComics.com)

 
The livestream of today’s confirmation hearings is downstairs (thanks, BettyC!), so here’s an Open Thread for celebration, snark, and all the other stuff of daily life.

"Critical race theory," as deployed by the GOP, is generally shorthand for "beware: non-Whites are coming for your status".

Making this tweet completely unveiled in its intent. https://t.co/a6S491jTzA pic.twitter.com/jWCOmd9JLo

— Philip Bump (@pbump) March 23, 2022

“There will be a fight and a battle tomorrow, but in this, we can just say, look what we have done,” said @BrownPhDGirl. “Black women did this.”https://t.co/ftcuVYwvtw

— The Lily (@thelilynews) March 22, 2022

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above 2

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

He's whining that it makes it harder for reporters to characterize a nominee with one word, rather than to have to resort to nuance and understanding.

— Bradley Greenburg (@BGinCHI) March 22, 2022

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above 1

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

we don’t ask people about their religious beliefs in job interviews. this is basic, red line stuff. just like we don’t ask senators or anybody really about their sexual orientation. as i’m sure certain senators appreciate.

— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) March 22, 2022

this is also a reminder that lib pleas toward electoralism, and just picking the best winnable candidates, is also true. i am objectively glad that democrats have the votes to confirm a supreme court justice. just objectively good stuff, to me.

— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) March 23, 2022

Doubt he’ll try it, at this late stage, but #MoscowMitch will probably be branded as a RINO by his fellows for not going through the motions…
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Rising Above 3

(John Deering via GoComic.com)
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Previous Post: « Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Hearings (Open Thread)
Next Post: The ACA is still a BFD »

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  1. 1.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 23, 2022 at 9:02 am

    Kapur is asking liberals to give conservatives another label that they can blow up into a great monster to fight, like “social justice” or “wokeness” or “critical race theory”.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 9:02 am

    Mitch can say what he wants. He’s not in control of the Senate.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 9:03 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Who?  And what does that mean?

  4. 4.

    Jerry

    March 23, 2022 at 9:10 am

    Love the #MoscowMitch hashtag. I also would have accepted #CocaineMitch

  5. 5.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:16 am

    I don’t understand the new comment policy, this place has used violent rhetoric for years (e.g., fuck whoever with a rusty farm implement).  So if Putin uses chemical or nuclear weapons, we are supposed to politely comment that we hope he appears before the Hague?

    I don’t get it, seems like censorship.

  6. 6.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:17 am

    Well, it said “open thread” so I posted this there but I guess I’ll post it again!

    I’m sure folks saw the news about the tornado that hit New Orleans. I emailed Ozark and will let you know when I hear something.

  7. 7.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @raven:   Yeah…nothing on MJ about that.  Hitting same areas Katrina did.  Photos are awful.

  8. 8.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 23, 2022 at 9:19 am

    @raven: Very rare for tornadoes to get all the way down there, isn’t it?

  9. 9.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:20 am

    @Jerry:   Eightball Mitch.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2022 at 9:23 am

    @eclare: The policy was precipitated by calls for the execution of Russian POWs. A lot of people were appalled by this especially, I think, military veterans.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    March 23, 2022 at 9:25 am

    @raven:

    I thought of him immediately last night and hope they’re all okay.

  12. 12.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @eclare: Lower 9. . .

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @Gin & Tonic: It used to be rare to have tornadoes this early in the year. Tornado season seems to be ten or eleven months long now.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @eclare: The issue was calling for war crimes to be committed by Ukraine against Russia soldiers.  Cole doesn’t want that on his blog.

  15. 15.

    Soprano2

    March 23, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Yes, it is.

  16. 16.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Hitting cities in general but here’s a tweet showing tornados in the area since 1950.

  17. 17.

    Skepticat

    March 23, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @raven: I’ve tried to contact friends in New Orleans, all of whom recently had major damage from Ida, but no word so far. The Ninth Ward certainly has been hit hard for by various weather calamities. Tornado Alley seems to have shifted to the southeast.

    Paws crossed.

  18. 18.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @Geminid:   I am appalled by the  violence in a lot of comments here, but people should be able to post them.  And I’ll stop, I have said my piece.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    March 23, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @eclare: Aren’t you the same person who couldn’t even watch Zelenskyy’s inspirational video because it showed some violence? Strange.

    I am disturbed by people sitting in safety and glibly cheering on vicious, violent revenge. It doesn’t appear that the Ukrainian troops who are actually putting their lives on the line have succumbed to this brutal impulse.

  20. 20.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:33 am

    @Skepticat:   In TN, tornadoes have moved dramatically toward Nashville, away from Memphis, where I am.

    And yeah, it’s early.  Tornado season used to start in April.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 23, 2022 at 9:35 am

    Ukraine is reporting that in the Chernihiv area, Russian soldiers directed a convoy of cars of civilians trying to evacuate down a road that was mined. The results were predictable.

  22. 22.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @zhena gogolia:   Yes, I am that person.  I did not call for that video to be taken down.

    Jeez.

  23. 23.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    Damn, here’s video.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @raven: I hope Ozark and his family are all safe. When is he due back, do you know?

  25. 25.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @eclare: the ban has to do with a comment advocating for executing Russian grunt POWs. That is a war crime, we do not propose or endorse war crimes. Because they are wrong, and also because that is our moral advantage over Russia. We don’t want to stoop to their level.

    I can see why this may be confusing. It can be a subtle difference. Commentators might say something like, “I hope (person we don’t like) will come to a quick end.” But that is not actionable, no one can make someone else choke on a piece of steak. It is not a government policy we wish to see.

    Is it censorship? I think it’s our community’s standards. The government isn’t telling us we can’t allow those sorts of comments.

    I think there is an argument that the original comment was useful, in that it catalyzed s discussion on what is and isn’t appropriate and will and won’t be tolerated here.

  26. 26.

    Tony Jay

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Kapur just hasn’t been listening. The judges Democrats pick to go on the Supreme Court openly embrace ‘Excellence’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Clear Thinking’, all things that make them 1000% more qualified for the job than any amount of donor-fellating mouthfarting about ‘Originalism’ or whatever.

    Unless celebrating the donor-fellating mouthfarting is the point? Republicans can hide their ravenous greed for more and more awfulness behind meaningless slogans that we journalists can pretend to understand, why can’t you Dems do gud lanwidge lik dat?

  27. 27.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:36 am

    Tornado survivor: Man says split-second decision saved he and son

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 9:37 am

    Just put her on the Court. If you have ever seen the background check that a potential judge has to go through, you will know that there are no dark secrets in her background. She has been put the process twice already and, as a Black woman, if there anything to find it would already have tanked her lower court nominations. There is no reason to subject her and her family to the shit that the GOP is doing. She’s more than qualified. Let’s end the fiasco.

    On a related note, I read CRT in law school classes and was not convinced by it. As I watch the people who complain about about I become more and more convinced that my 30 y/p self was very wrong about CRT. Every day, the GOP and its flunkies seem to go out of their way to prove Derrick Bell, et al.. correct. Mea culpa.

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    March 23, 2022 at 9:37 am

    @eclare: Well, WaterGirl asked John what he wanted to do and he made the decision. I respect that.

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    March 23, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s absolutely correct. That’s why it makes them holler.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 23, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @Ohio Mom:

    no one can make someone else choke on a piece of steak.

    Putin can.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    March 23, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @raven: Wow, what a video. I find myself wanting to yell at people “Turn your phone the other way!” when I watch a video like that.

  33. 33.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:40 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Dunno.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    March 23, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I really disagree with him. If he’s relying on these words and phrases to explain Right wing legal analysis to the public he’s not doing his job. The problem isn’t that liberals didn’t come up with reductive, tv ready terms- it’s that “originalism” has consequences and those should be explained.

    One good thing about the far Right court is we’re seeing the practical effect of these theories- what they mean to regular people. “Originalism” sounds nifty until you realize it means states can ban interracial marriage, or birth control.

  35. 35.

    Soprano2

    March 23, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @raven: What makes it worse is that I’m sure none of those houses have basements. Lots of houses here have basements just because of tornados.

  36. 36.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Ohio Mom:   Thank you, I get that.  Just seemed odd to me.

  37. 37.

    Starfish

    March 23, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @eclare: Is it cancel culture?

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: The Republicans who do this really are twisted, cruel and evil.  They inflict pain whenever they can.  Truly disgusting and reprehensible.  What the fuck is wrong with these people?

  39. 39.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @raven:   Holy shit!

  40. 40.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well, change my sentence to, None of us here can make a public figure we don’t like choke on a piece of steak.

    Because that was my thought, as much as commentators here may despise someone, we wouldn’t (if we even could) do anything about it.

    Wishful thinking, blowing off steam is not the same as taking action, or advocating for another to take action.

  41. 41.

    Starfish

    March 23, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @raven: That was weird and scary. I bet people are knocking over their phone systems trying to call people in the area. I bet the people that I know in New Orleans are okay because  they are not in that part of New Orleans. ?

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 9:51 am

    I just wrote to MazeDancer to ask if she knows if LAMH and family are okay.

    edit: Happy to report that LAMH is tweeting away this morning, so all must be good.

  43. 43.

    raven

    March 23, 2022 at 9:53 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: I found it

     

    OzarkHillbilly
    MARCH 16, 2022 AT 6:06 PM

    Heading down to NOLA in a few hours. Don’t think I’m dead when you aren’t subjected to my useless prattle for the next 8 days or so. You ain’t getting that lucky.

  44. 44.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @raven:   Shit.

  45. 45.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 23, 2022 at 9:57 am

    @raven:

    @Ohio Mom:

    I always get in trouble when I leave off the snark tag.

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @eclare: As one of the people who was involved in the war crimes discussion yesterday that caused this (I was opposed), I mutter a few words here.  I am not a huge fan of banning people for any reason; I don’t even use the pie filter.  I would not have called for such a policy because I still think the discussion is valuable.  But it is not my blog; it is Cole’s and the FPs have to help keep it running.  One concern that the landlord has, I believe is the German saying, “ if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis.”  The place already bans people for overtly racist and sexist remarks for the same reason.  The line between community standards and censorship can get pretty blurry, but doing difficulty jobs like that is  why Cole is living a life of luxury and the FPs get major bank.

    Thanks, TEDtalk, etc.

  47. 47.

    Wapiti

    March 23, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @Starfish: Not sure if this is true, but I’ve heard that we should use texts, not calls, in a natural emergency. The idea is that it puts way less demand on the communications network.

  48. 48.

    Fraud Guy

    March 23, 2022 at 10:01 am

    As per the one cartoon, a lotta little peckers attacking KBJ.

  49. 49.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Thank you.  Of course it is Cole’s blog, I respect that and will abide by the standards that are set.  That is what communities do.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    March 23, 2022 at 10:06 am

    Good Morning Everyone ???

  51. 51.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2022 at 10:09 am

    @Kay: “Originalist” is just a rebrand of “Strict Constructionist.” That term was discredited by the early 1970’s and reactionaries needed a new one

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    March 23, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @Fraud Guy:

    Yeah, I was thinking of Richard Pryor’s (and others, me included) us of the term “Peckerwood” to describe those GOP racist assholes (apologies for the redundancy).

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Stupid typos. Gah!

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    March 23, 2022 at 10:16 am

    Re: Graham’s badgering of Judge Jackson re: her religion: I think it would have been good humor for her to respond “Senator, just as it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask a sitting Senator about his sexual orientation — it’s really none of anyone’s business — I don’t really think it’s appropriate for a Senator to ask about an nominee’s religion. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  55. 55.

    persistentillusion

    March 23, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @Wapiti: That was true during the aftermath of Katrina.  In that instance, the cell towers went done almost immediately and those of us with loved ones in the area were left waiting for 2-3 days not knowing whether they were well or not.  It was horrible. Text came back late in the day of day 2.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    March 23, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @SFAW:

    us of the term

    USE of the term. JHC.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @SFAW: I see that our typing skills are on a par this morning.

  58. 58.

    Raoul Paste

    March 23, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Everyone ignores the typos and voice recognition software glitches.   But Lord, deliver me from the preening pedant police.

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @Raoul Paste: You needed a comma after but and before Lord.

    ETA:  I couldn’t help myself.

  60. 60.

    Soprano2

    March 23, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @Geminid: Yep, it’s code for “we shouldn’t have had any progress since 1783 and I’m going to rule that way”.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @Geminid:

    @Soprano2:

    They don’t mean it though.  Lots of conservative and business friendly decisions are not supported by any honest view of originalism.  The Republican justices will ignore that or lie about how those decision are originalist

  62. 62.

    Leto

    March 23, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @Soprano2: they don’t have basements because of the water table. Dig more than 3-4ft and you’ve hit the water table. Considering NO is below sea level, it’s not a feasible thing.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: For further clarity… I asked John if the next comment calling for war crimes could be deleted, and the response from John was that calling for war crimes is atrocious, that the comment should be deleted and anyone who does that will be notified and banned for 3 days.

    John always tells me I am too open, and maybe he’s right, but my bias is always in favor of transparency.  If I had just done what John said and not shared the information, there would be no drama about this.

    Someone yesterday asked for the policy to be noted on the blog, and I did that, but now I am removing it.  No good deed goes unpunished.  Cole’s policy obviously still remains.

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    March 23, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @WaterGirl: Has there really been that much drama?

  65. 65.

    Starfish

    March 23, 2022 at 10:36 am

    @Wapiti: Yes, this is true.

    After Katrina, I was not able to get in touch with my mom for several days. After three days of scouring the internet, I found someone on the internet who knew her and had seen her after the storm.

    It was a scary time.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 10:37 am

    @zhena gogolia: Too much for my taste.

  67. 67.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2022 at 10:38 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ahhh…now I understand. I was thinking your comment was out of (your serious) character — does fit with snark!

    in my defense, today is colonoscopy prep day and I am already missing solid food. I’m sure it’s having an effect on my cognitive functioning.

  68. 68.

    Starfish

    March 23, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @zhena gogolia: You know how some people say, “Never read the comments.” There is a reason for that. We may be somewhat more readable than that, but not much. Community standards are the thing that keeps the comments readable.

    When there are no standards, people who make a community what it is will see the decline and leave. It would only take a couple of dozen people leaving to really change what the comments look like here.

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    March 23, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Baud: Conservatives would call their judicial philosophy “Elasticism” if they were honest, but they are a very dishonest bunch.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    March 23, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Geminid:

    Journalists have something real to use- they can use the opinions. Parroting what Justice Barrett says about her own legal philosophy doesn’t add any value to readers. The court speaks through orders and opinions, not Right wing campaign events or ass-covering speech tours. They have THE THING- the opinion or order. They don’t need anything else.

  71. 71.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 23, 2022 at 10:40 am

    It really sucks that Republicans are so gross, ridiculous and openly racist that I can’t even bring myself to watch the confirmation hearings of the first black woman justice for the Supreme Court.  I see all the shit the GOP is doing on Twitter and I know I just CAN’T.

  72. 72.

    geg6

    March 23, 2022 at 10:43 am

    @raven:

    He was my first thought this morning when I saw the news.  Hope all is good with him and all his loved ones.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    March 23, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: Hopefully she will have the last laugh when she is sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States.  Fingers crossed.

    It bothers me to type Supreme Court because the Rs have bastardized it so much that it no longer deserves the reverence that name suggests.  Hopefully we will get back to that being deserved once again.  The total rot started in 2000, and it’s been downhill on the R side since them. The Rs have literally no standards except money and power.

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 23, 2022 at 10:45 am

    @Ohio Mom:

    No worries. And hope all goes well with the colonoscopy. I think the prospect, and the enforced fasting, would affect anyone’s cognitive functioning.

  75. 75.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2022 at 10:47 am

    @SFAW: I am guessing that of you look closely, you will see the teeth marks on Brown Jackson’s tongue from when she stopped herself from saying just that.

    I appreciate the way she takes a few seconds to answer the questions. Someone with a stopwatch should look to see if there is a relationship between the inanity of the question and how long her pause is.

    A lot of her answers are variations on the theme, “that isn’t in my lane as a judge.” She carefully rewords for each question.

  76. 76.

    Leto

    March 23, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: I thought the same thing yesterday. Historic nomination and Republicans are just showing their full ass for the world to see, and I don’t particularly care to see them do that to her. I’ll catch recaps.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    March 23, 2022 at 10:50 am

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Well, you should because the coverage makes it sound like she’s just silently bearing this and she’s not- she’s responding with grace and the economy of language that should tell you she really understands the legal issues buried under all that bullshit they’re spewing – you’ll be proud.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 10:51 am

    Greg Stohr. @GregStohr 46m

    New – Justice Thomas absent from Supreme Court arguments for third straight day. Chief Justice Roberts again says Thomas will participate using briefs/transcript. He has been hospitalized since Friday evening with what the court described Sunday as an infection.

  79. 79.

    Soprano2

    March 23, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @Leto: I know that, I’ve been to New Orleans. That’s why it’s worse for them – they don’t have anywhere good to shelter from a tornado.

  80. 80.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @WaterGirl:

    What the fuck is wrong with these people?

    Everything…..  Including things you haven’t thought of.

  81. 81.

    geg6

    March 23, 2022 at 10:54 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    All I can to this is…

    please, please, please, please FSM.

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    March 23, 2022 at 11:02 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: +1

    Society has evolved for the better in the time I’ve been here, but it’s been a slow process.  I cringe at a few memories from my past when I behaved poorly.  :-(

    A couple of simple, related, things really need to be constantly reinforced from a very young age:

    1. How would you feel if you/your sister/your mom were treated that way?  Bad, right?  So don’t do it.
    2. Don’t punch down.  Life is hard, we don’t know what other people are going through.  Don’t make things harder for people who don’t have power and resources.

    I think if one keeps those two things in mind, it makes it easier to adjust to society changing.

    She will do well on the court.  I hope that she has a like-minded majority to work with soon.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Tenar Arha

    March 23, 2022 at 11:04 am

    @Fraud Guy:
    ~*read what you wrote re comic*~
    ~*LOL*~
    then my brain caught up, &
    ~*OMG why imagination, whyyyy?!?!?*~

     

    @Baud: yeah, if they really meant what they said about “originalism” they would never have re-interpreted 2A like they did. As a layperson, after that decision, I just filed the whole topic under conservative &/ dorm room bullshit.

    ETA that decision was the big one for me bc the precise historical background of 2A & the NRA extremists’ reinterpretation was so well documented & blatantly obvious.

  84. 84.

    Mike in NC

    March 23, 2022 at 11:06 am

    We had the hearing on in the background over breakfast, which only goes to show that the Republican Party — which gave us George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump and so many others — is 100% devoted to promoting useless, mediocre white men with inherited money (AKA imbeciles). Most of these clowns can’t even tie their own shoelaces.

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:08 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I believe that this is good policy.

    We have to, at the very least, try to be better humans.

    This is a public forum, it has a reasonably large readership and responsibility for going too far is necessary. A 3 day ban for even kidding about committing murder is not out of line. Not every thought deserves pen. Or keyboard.

    And yes, it’s war and yes the point of war is to gain/steal/take land at the cost of lives, or to just take the lives. But there is a difference when the people are actively trying to kill you or your country and retribution. Many people don’t see that difference but it is real and it is there. Humanity decries retribution, a lack of humanity demands it. And the line can be and is blurred sometimes when talking about it. But that is why a ban in this case is proper. Because the call is improper. And yes we have free speech in this country, but there are limits to freedom, as there is in pretty much everything else in the world of human beings.

  86. 86.

    debbie

    March 23, 2022 at 11:10 am

    @Ohio Mom:

    Wishful thinking, blowing off steam is not the same as taking action, or advocating for another to take action.

    Exactly.

  87. 87.

    Ksmiami

    March 23, 2022 at 11:11 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: they are all horrible people- over and over

  88. 88.

    Ksmiami

    March 23, 2022 at 11:12 am

    @Ruckus: did someone actually call for pow executions? Yuck.

  89. 89.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 23, 2022 at 11:13 am

    @Kay: Yeah, I’ve clicked on a couple tweets showing her responses.  She seems awesome, for sure.  But the level of fuckery from the GOP is really tough to stomach.  I know my limits…I probably managed to watch/hear less than 30 mins of actual Trump footage over the four years he was President.

  90. 90.

    Raoul Paste

    March 23, 2022 at 11:17 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I see that my prayer has not been answered

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @Mike in NC:

    is 100% devoted to promoting useless, mediocre white men with inherited money (AKA imbeciles).

    This.

    Money doesn’t make the man. Or woman. Money doesn’t make anything. It is a tool to make society operable, to exchange something for labor or thought or most often both. It is not a measure of propriety or status or intelligence, often it is exactly the opposite, it becomes a measure of lack of intelligence.

  92. 92.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 23, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @Ruckus: I appreciate it when someone on here calls for us to be our better selves. We all need that from time to time.

  93. 93.

    Kalakal

    March 23, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @WaterGirl: Thank you for putting up this post, I must have missed the posting of the policy. I’ve missed a couple of evenings due to work. Atrocious is an apposite word, war crimes are an atrocity.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:22 am

    @Ksmiami: Yes, and that’s why some people have been up in arms about the Geneva Conventions and the law of land warfare.  It’s not about a concern that some Russian soldier is going to be killed in combat, but about what happens to people when they cease to be combatants and our collective humanity.  FFS.

  95. 95.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 11:23 am

    @Ruckus: I missed the whole thing, and I’m mostly glad I did except for curiosity about who said what.

    Yesterday was a grindingly terrible road trip that shouldn’t have taken as long as it did, because I screwed up and had us stay overnight in Astoria, OR instead of 3 or 4 hours farther south down the I-5. We’re in Healdsburg, CA for a couple of days, visiting older daughter and winery-hopping. I tried to keep up with BJ, managed to follow some of Judge Jackson’s interrogation, but when we were having to navigate from the 5 past Clearlake, I had to pay attention to the road since it was dark, loaded with switchbacks and hairpins,  and most of the drive is in a dead zone: if you break down you can’t call for help and there are no houses for miles.

    We will not be returning via that road.

  96. 96.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 23, 2022 at 11:23 am

    Well, interesting; I got a Russian Troll on Facebook to out himself by wishing him good luck in avoiding conscription because I heard the forced gay prostitution in the Russian Army was pretty brutal and the guy broke character he thought that was so funny.

    While this guy was more obvious than most, he claimed to be Kid Rock fan, HA! there is no such creature on this earth! But, this BS from Putin is really quite transparent when you know what to look for.

  97. 97.

    catclub

    March 23, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @Skepticat: Tornado Alley seems to have shifted to the southeast.

     

    I would say this is kind of late for tornados in the deepest south.  They migrate north as spring progresses.

  98. 98.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:25 am

    @Ksmiami:

    Yes.

    It is not an unusual thought. Most of us after all are human, which are often failed beings who have ideas that do not belong in an actual society. Like CRT or that skin color – or lack there of, has some magical power. Those POWs were not long before quite possibly trying to kill others. But they have been captured, they are unarmed, they are prisoners, as in Prisoners of War. You don’t kill them or stuff them in ovens and cook them or starve them. It isn’t anyone’s place to do or ask for that.

  99. 99.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: FFS, indeed. I’m not keen on giving in to our basest instincts, although I understand the seething rage that can inspire such a comment..

  100. 100.

    catclub

    March 23, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @opiejeanne: had us stay overnight in Astoria, OR

     

    This does not sound like a hardship to me.

    When I last visited Astoria it seemed very rich in good restaurants.

  101. 101.

    catclub

    March 23, 2022 at 11:28 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I appreciate it when someone on here calls for us to be our better selves.

     

    Is that Baud’s job? Doing it pants optional since…

  102. 102.

    laura

    March 23, 2022 at 11:32 am

    @opiejeanne: Enjoy yourselves! Healdsburg – and all of Sonoma County is gloriously beautiful and chock full of good eats and drinks. If you see a loaf of Franco American Extra Sour bread Buy It Eat It!11! It will rock your world.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    March 23, 2022 at 11:34 am

    Meanwhile, …

    Many argued that Europe can't stop buying Russian oil and gas and thus will continue funding Russian war machine. Well, it seems problem solved itself. Today Putin declared he'll sell Russian gas to unfriendly countries only for rubles pic.twitter.com/HU8k7br9B7

    — Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) March 23, 2022

    This makes no sense to me. Cutting himself off from the rest of the world economy first isn’t making his position stronger. It makes it easier for his former customers to work faster to find other sources.

    Maybe I’m missing something though. The currency speculators seem to think it’s a good move – a ruble is worth more than a penny now.

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  104. 104.

    lowtechcyclist

    March 23, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @WaterGirl:

    The issue was calling for war crimes to be committed by Ukraine against Russia soldiers.  Cole doesn’t want that on his blog.

    And I say: good on him!

    The answer to war crimes isn’t to retaliate in kind.  The reason why they’re called ‘war crimes’ is that even by the standards of fighting a war, this shit is beyond the pale.  Which is saying a lot.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 11:37 am

    @catclub:

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I appreciate it when someone on here calls for us to be our better selves.

     

    Is that Baud’s job? Doing it pants optional since

    Not quite. My job is to make make the people here look better by comparison.

  106. 106.

    Sure Lurkalot

    March 23, 2022 at 11:38 am

    @WaterGirl:

    The Rs have literally no standards except money and power.

    Cruelty. And it didn’t start when the stupid blob came down the escalator.

  107. 107.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 23, 2022 at 11:38 am

    @opiejeanne: That sounds harrowing

  108. 108.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 11:40 am

    @catclub: Covid has taken its toll there as it has elsewhere.

    The hardship is that we exchanged the luxury of not getting on the road at 3pm, and traded that for an excruciating 3 hour drive in the dark on a twisty road with no services.

  109. 109.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @laura: I know about that bread. We lived in the SF Bay Area for nine years and visited Napa and Sonoma quite a bit. Supposed to be hot here today, going to wear shorts for the first time in many months. I’m so pale right now that my freckles are transparent and in some light I look almost light blue.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:44 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Yes we do. Every single one of us.

    It’s the only way we as a society get better, is for each individual one of us to be better. We see this in the hearing in DC right now. The good, the bad, the extremely ugly. All humans, even if not all of us act like the better angels all the time, or even any of the time.

  111. 111.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 11:51 am

    MIAMI (AP) — Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday.

    How do you get to the gate, much less on the plane, with an expired passport?

    Peter Strzok @petestrzok 3h
    Manafort was trying to fly to Dubai. Dubai, where Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad visited last week. Dubai, where multiple Russian oligarch jets and yachts fled over the past few weeks. Manafort is like the dog crap perpetually found on the boot of corruption.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @Another Scott:

    I believe that it shows vlad has been sucking exhaust pipes and rotted his tiny, hateful brain.

    And it doesn’t matter what currency is used, the price will be set to extract the most value out of the buyer, for the least amount of actual value provided. If vlad gets rubles for petroleum it means the ruble has value, even if he has to get a million rubles per cup of oil.

    IOW I think vlad has slipped his wig, run around the bend, put on his coat with the wrap around sleeves. He’s a man with power and he only knows one way to use and abuse that power. The wrong way.

  113. 113.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    March 23, 2022 at 11:54 am

    @lowtechcyclist:And I say: good on him!

    The answer to war crimes isn’t to retaliate in kind.  The reason why they’re called ‘war crimes’ is that even by the standards of fighting a war, this shit is beyond the pale.  Which is saying a lot.

    Yes to what he and Cole said.

    We all are outraged at the police doing summary executions on blacks for lollygagging because of that “all blacks are gansters” bullshit, but suddenly it’s ok murder Russians in cold blood, because twitter says “All Russians are war criminals” what the fucking hell is wrong with people they can think that way.

  114. 114.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 23, 2022 at 11:55 am

    Happy Atheism Day!!!

    While it’s pretty easy to be Atheist in liberal, Los Angeles, there are still large swaths of America where children, teachers, govt officials and everyday workers can pay a severe price for being openly Atheist.  I know several people who were effectively disowned or severely estranged from their religious families.

    Hell, just yesterday a Senator questioned judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s faith during her confirmation hearings for the US Supreme Court. She rightly noted that there is no religious requirement for public service (see: The FIRST Amendment) but this sort of attempted religious litmus test happens all the time.

    Normalize Atheism.  Love, support and respect Atheists.

    For anyone that needs a little guidance, Greta Christina has already got you covered with a book titled Coming Out Atheist: How to Do It, How to Help Each Other and Why (I haven’t read this one yet but I LOVED her book Why Are You Atheists So Angry?, so I’m sure this one is great too)

  115. 115.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 23, 2022 at 11:56 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Does “revoked” mean the same thing as “expired”?

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 11:56 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Manafort is like the dog crap perpetually found on the boot of corruption.

    That is art.

    The person that penned that deserves a shrine in their honor.

  117. 117.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 23, 2022 at 11:57 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Why can that blood-soaked mercenary go anywhere outside of Virginia?

  118. 118.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 11:57 am

    Scott Rose @rprose 4h
    Breaking: Anatoly Chubais, who gave Putin his first Kremlin job, stepped down as Russia’s climate envoy and has left the country over Putin’s war in Ukraine

    Benjamin Harvey @BenjaminHarvey 6m

    Another Bloomberg EXCLUSIVE on Russia Elvira Nabiullina, the highly regarded central bank governor, sought to resign after the invasion of Ukraine, but stayed on after Putin insisted she serve another term.

  119. 119.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @UncleEbeneezer: I missed most of the hearing. What exactly did that idiot ask her

    ETA: Never mind, I found it.

  120. 120.

    UncleEbeneezer

    March 23, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @opiejeanne: To rate on a scale of 1-10 her religious faith.

  121. 121.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Wasn’t he pardoned by Trump?

  122. 122.

    opiejeanne

    March 23, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    @UncleEbeneezer: I found that, as well as the extension of his comments, because he’s pissed off about the way someone treated Amy Covid Barrett regarding her faith.

  123. 123.

    RaflW

    March 23, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can think of how to at least get to the gate, but not past it with a cancelled passport (use a drivers license at TSA, and only a carry on so no counter interaction with an airline rep. I have my passport info stored in my airline travel profile, it’s there for my convenience, I doubt the airline checks my info against the US State Dept between trips).

    That said, at some point before departure, the manifest is sent to the government, that’s probably when CBP in the airport were alerted to intervene. Or at some point in the gate area, I’ve seen passengers get called up for passport checks if they’ve not had their physical docs checked at bag drop.

  124. 124.

    Calouste

    March 23, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Climate envoy in a petrostate is a sinecure job with no power or influence.

    In somewhat related news, a fugitive wanted by the FBI in relation to the January 6 coup attempt has been given political asylum in Belarus.

  125. 125.

    Citizen Alan

    March 23, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    To be fair, John McCain did not inherit money. He was in fact piss poor until he abandoned his wife and child to marry the rich beer heiress he’d been banging on the side.  On the other hand, if he hadn’t been the son of an Admiral, McCain would have flunked out of Annapolis and spent Vietnam scrubbing toilets on an aircraft Carrier, so your a larger point stands I suppose.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    March 23, 2022 at 12:12 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    So he made money the old fashioned way.

  127. 127.

    eclare

    March 23, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    @Ruckus:   Yep.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    @Citizen Alan: The future Senator may not have had much money himself, but Roberta McCain came from oil money, and I believe his grandfather, the first Admiral McCain, also married an heiress. Marrying money was apparently as much a family tradition as the Navy.

  129. 129.

    Ohio Mom

    March 23, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I would guess that whether your passport was revoked or expired, you can’t get on an airplane going overseas.

    But I would also guess that you could revoke a passport that was issued yesterday, if the law only caught up with the holder today.

  130. 130.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 12:28 pm

    Josh Marshall @joshtpm 31s

    2/ AP and Knews reported that it was a revoked passport. But a Miami-Dade detective told @TPM that it was an expired passport. So which is the case isn’t entirely clear.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    March 23, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    The language in the story about Manafort is weird to my eyes: “was carrying a revoked passport”. Was that the only passport he had? Why the word “carrying”?

    USA.gov:

    Revoked U.S. Passport

    The U.S. Department of State revokes passports that were:

    Obtained illegally or through fraud
    Altered or misused
    Issued to people whose Certificate of Citizenship or Naturalization was canceled

    Your U.S. passport may also be revoked or denied if the IRS reports to the State Department that you have a seriously delinquent tax debt.

    You must surrender a revoked passport immediately.

    I wonder why he didn’t surrender his revoked passport, fine upstanding person that he is… :-/ (I’m not quickly finding the penalty for not doing so. But just the threat of being outside the country without a passport should be enough to get most people to comply.)

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  132. 132.

    Captain C

    March 23, 2022 at 12:41 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: With any luck, he’ll resign ASAP, and live a nice long life away from the public eye, not worrying about whether he’ll be forcibly divorced from Ginni.

  133. 133.

    Ksmiami

    March 23, 2022 at 12:54 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: we want Russian soldiers to desert…en masse

  134. 134.

    MisterForkbeard

    March 23, 2022 at 12:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s still in the hospital? He was supposed to get out yesterday at the latest, wasn’t he?

  135. 135.

    Chief Oshkosh

    March 23, 2022 at 1:00 pm

    @Fraud Guy: THANK YOU for explaining it. I’ve been wondering why Luckovich chose woodpeckers and not, say, extra-tiny chihuahuas.

    I need a better imagination…

  136. 136.

    Kelly

    March 23, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    Most of my life I took comfort in how mild Mother Nature is in the Pacific NW. No tornados, limited floods, minor earthquakes. The prospect of a Cascadia 9.0 earthquake has grown certain though the date is still unknowable. Wildfires and smoke steadily grew more worrisome and we found our selves fleeing the Beachie fire a 1:00 am. Achieving an the all time hi temp record matching Las Vegas last summer was really weird.

  137. 137.

    206inKY

    March 23, 2022 at 1:25 pm

    After that brutal tweet from World Famous Art Thief, had to look up whether Hawley or Graham are on the judiciary committee since I haven’t watched the hearing. Turns out it’s both!

  138. 138.

    catclub

    March 23, 2022 at 1:30 pm

    @Another Scott: I was thinking his passport was revoked on conviction, but they forgot to reinstate it on pardon. Incompetent bureaucrats in the Trump admin is likely, in my eyes.

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 1:32 pm

    @Baud:

    Always on the job.

  140. 140.

    catclub

    March 23, 2022 at 1:36 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    Man says split-second decision saved he and son

    I find myself yelling “saved _him_ and his son.”

  141. 141.

    sdhays

    March 23, 2022 at 1:42 pm

    @catclub: Like most things, I assume it would be on Manafort to apply to get his passport un-revoked. It’s not on the pardon bureaucracy to make you whole – it just gets you out of jail. Either he didn’t apply, couldn’t wait for the bureaucracy to process his application (because I understand it’s been taking a long freaking time with COVID), or the State Department said “no”.

    I’m going with #1, though, because I assume that to apply he would need to send in his existing passport, just like you do when you want to renew it.

  142. 142.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2022 at 1:43 pm

    @catclub:

    I believe that even with a pardon, his passport can be revoked. I’d bet there are rather a large number of reasons a passport can be revoked, false filing, convicted of a crime – which he was – he was pardoned for that, not unconvicted, I’d bet that his passport could still be revoked. He may have been told to surrender his passport and did not, therefore it was revoked. I doubt the pardon would stop that.

    I could be 10000% wrong of course…..

  143. 143.

    RaflW

    March 23, 2022 at 1:51 pm

    I’m in a hotel in Florida (not my first choice of vacation or conference locations, but both are happening sequentially this week).

    The housekeeper on this hallway has had the Senate Hearing on as she has cleaned rooms – I walked by at different times and each room she was cleaning she’d switched it on. I think this is a bfd for a lot of folks, even if they let you know in a subtle way.

  144. 144.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    @RaflW:

    Irin Carmon @irin 18h
    Durbin says that the cleaner who works the midnight shift at the Senate requested to attend the hearing and asked why some people were being so mean to Judge Jackson.

    reminded me of that NYT building elevator operator who was far more excited about Joe Biden than were the Solons of the op/ed board. I hope.

  145. 145.

    J R in WV

    March 23, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    Shit! There’s a tornado watch HERE, and I hear thunder in the  distance! They usually skip from ridge top to ridge top in this hill country, but some folks have houses up on the ridge…

  146. 146.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 23, 2022 at 8:10 pm

    @Ruckus: I wish that more people understood it like you do. Money is a human invention, just like a hammer.

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