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You are here: Home / Open Threads / In Case You Missed It (Open Thread)

In Case You Missed It (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  April 24, 202210:32 am| 53 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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As I clean the kitchen and make banana walnut muffins this morning, I am listening to a smart and interesting discussion between Marcy Wheeler and Benjamin Wittes on In Lieu of Fun.  The episode is from April 6 – yes I am behind – but it’s fascinating.  It’s about an hour long, and it’s well worth the time.

Open thread.

 

 

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Reader Interactions

53Comments

  1. 1.

    laura

    April 24, 2022 at 10:45 am

    Marcy Wheeler is worth everybody’s time. Emptywheel is a relentless Nemesis.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 10:46 am

    @laura: Have you watched this particular discussion?  I find the back-and-forth between the two especially illuminating.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    April 24, 2022 at 11:02 am

    clean the kitchen

    A couple of desultory swipes with a damp sponge will do ya.

    ;)

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 11:03 am

    @NotMax: Not my kitchen this week!

  5. 5.

    Eolirin

    April 24, 2022 at 11:05 am

    Apparently Orrin Hatch just died?

  6. 6.

    laura

    April 24, 2022 at 11:07 am

    @WaterGirl: not til now. I’m 20 minutes in. She’s guested on a number of things lately so trying to keep up. Trivia- she has a woozle named Junebug.

  7. 7.

    laura

    April 24, 2022 at 11:08 am

    @Eolirin: Orin Hatch can keep on dying as far as I’m concerned.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 11:08 am

    @laura: I had to google woozle.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 11:10 am

    @Eolirin: I see people are tweeting various things Orrin Hatch said, without comment.   That seems pretty smart.  Let his own words speak for themselves.

  10. 10.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 24, 2022 at 11:10 am

    @WaterGirl: Me too.

  11. 11.

    laura

    April 24, 2022 at 11:14 am

    @WaterGirl: woozle is pup. Pooty is kat.

  12. 12.

    SFAW

    April 24, 2022 at 11:28 am

    I just received some Rethuglispam, offering me a chance to sign up for … something.

    What caught my eye was this:
    “Our America First Foundering Wall is reserved for our Party’s most loyal supporters.”

    I do not think it means what they seem to think it means.

    ETA: On the other hand, I can only hope that enough Rethugs get on the boat wall before it founders.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose ???

    April 24, 2022 at 11:29 am

    @laura: so she doesn’t have the Winnie-the-Pooh creature?

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    April 24, 2022 at 11:32 am

    @Eolirin:

    Apparently Orrin Hatch just died?

    Erik Loomis at LGM has a nice obit. [For values of “nice” where it means “explains what a terrible, evil, corrupt person and senator Hatch was.”]

  15. 15.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 24, 2022 at 11:37 am

    Excerpt from NYT’s Hatch obit

    The responses are DougJ worthy…here’s one:

    Is “gentlemanly” a euphemism for “patriarchal fascist”?

  16. 16.

    Baud

    April 24, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Yes.  It’s in the NYT Style Guide for Republicans.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    April 24, 2022 at 11:52 am

    @Sure Lurkalot: Fallows noted that too.

    Short thread.

    Essay question for “role of the press” students:

    Let’s look at this NYT Hatch obit, in two crucial grafs.https://t.co/dhzSkDgztG

    Paragraph 1, below:

    How does the word in highlights match the sentences that follow? What are the reasons for choosing that word? Discuss. pic.twitter.com/0FrWPKXmHY— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) April 24, 2022

    But, but, the obit writer/editor was being ironic!!11

    He was horrible, but was a white man with good hair who did what they wanted, so he got a pass from the PTB.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    laura

    April 24, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @Alison Rose ???: She might, and she definitely has a pup named Junebug.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    April 24, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @Another Scott:

    Yeah, that’s lame writing.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    April 24, 2022 at 11:59 am

    @Another Scott:

    “Gentlemanly”? He was a bleeding harpy.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    April 24, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    @debbie:

    Bleeding Harpies is a good band name.

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    April 24, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    @Another Scott:

    One person’s good hair is another person’s playmobil hair.  It always looked to me like he could just snap it off at the end of the day and click it back on in the morning.

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    April 24, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    It was a very good discussion.

    I wouldn’t want to be against her in a game of Trivial Pursuit!!

    On the lighter side…

    Was sent this, don’t know where it originated so can’t give the credit to the people who made it. pic.twitter.com/71vhwHHdrd

    — David Hunter (@cyclingmole) April 22, 2022

    I hate it when that happens.

    (via gavmacn)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    Starfish

    April 24, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    @Eolirin: A lot of Twitter is talking about how his NY Times obituary is banana pants. Here is James Fallows doing it politely and competently

    I see @Another Scott got there first.

  25. 25.

    scav

    April 24, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    How often is the toast to his demise going to be a jovial ‘Down the Hatch!’?

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    April 24, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    @Another Scott: In other Utah news, Democrats there had a state convention yesterday and they made the unusual move of endorsing independent Evan McMullin in the Senate race against Republican Mike Lee. High profile Democrats like Salt Lake County Mayor Jan Wison and former Representative Ben McAdams sponsored the effort to back McMullin over Democrat Kael Weston, and their resolution passed by 782 to 594 votes. Afterwords Mr. Weston said that there had been a good debate and that “I accept what the delegates have decided to do.”

    The Deseret News report on the convention noted that a Democrat has not won a Utah Senate seat in 50 years.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 24, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    @Baud: They are fucking sellouts.

  28. 28.

    oldgold

    April 24, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    @Another Scott: With a media  seemingly only interested in forests,  a tree specialist like Wheeler is appreciated.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    April 24, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Ha!

  30. 30.

    debbie

    April 24, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    @Baud:

    These are the harpies I was thinking of.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    April 24, 2022 at 12:45 pm

    @Geminid: It’s a heavy lift, that’s for sure.

    I don’t know enough to have an informed opinion.

    McMullin's chance was the open seat in 2018 or the house seat vacated by Chaffetz. He whiffed on it to be a poster.

    It's a vanity campaign to divert McGrath-scale resources to someone who isn't even a Democrat and wouldn't even caucus with us. Prove me wrong.

    — zeddy (@Zeddary) April 24, 2022

    Yeah, that’s a risk. We need to be smart.

    It’s worth watching. Maybe some January 6 indictments will shake things up. We’ll see.

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    April 24, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    The world is complicated, Part MMCXIV…

    Thread (re whether Germany is doing enough, or doing more on the down-low than people believe).

    Matthew has this right. Oil and gas exports are what Russia does in order to get precision engineering and semiconductor imports; if they can't get those, all the money in the world is no good to them https://t.co/bU1LRBRLfR

    — Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest) April 24, 2022

    Maybe… But money is fungible and opens lots of doors that are nominally closed.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    StringOnAStick

    April 24, 2022 at 1:12 pm

    @Another Scott: I know someone who usually votes D but refused to vote for Hillary due to who knows what crap she read online, but she voted for McMullen.  It might work and if it takes a senate seat away from the R’s, that’s a good thing.  Even better if it’s insurrectionist Lee.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 24, 2022 at 1:17 pm

    It was a very good discussion.

    I wouldn’t want to be against her in a game of Trivial Pursuit!!

    Indeed! I enjoyed that discussion and plan to listen again, maybe today. Wheeler is so deep in the weeds, she can be a bit hard to follow, but her powers of retention and skill at connection are remarkable

  35. 35.

    Yutsano

    April 24, 2022 at 1:35 pm

    @Another Scott: ​ This one will be…weird.The main reason why I say that is because McMullen might just have a shot.With the Democrats basically bowing out, there is a pool of votes he now has. I have to research how popular Lee is, although I did hear something about him not being all that popular in Utah right now. It might be worth looking at anyway.​

  36. 36.

    CaseyL

    April 24, 2022 at 2:01 pm

    @StringOnAStick: It might not actually take a seat away from the Rs, if McMullin is elected and opts to caucus with them (he’s running as an “Independent”). But, as has been noted, an actual Democrat can’t be elected statewide in Utah, so the best we can hope for is to get Lee’s traitorous ass out of there.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    April 24, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    @Another Scott:  Just hours after the Utah convention, @Zeddary is positing that McMullin is going to soak up McGrath-level resources. I don’t see it myself. Utah Democrats are only talking about putting their own votes and work behind McMullin. That’s a rational decision.

    I think that as an independent McMullin will have slim pickings among national Democrats this cycle. Maybe some rich independent Third Way-types will put their money where there mouth is. Anti-trump Republicans might too. But there will be eight or nine real Democrats trying to hold or flip Senate seats in battleground states and I don’t think there will be a lot of Democratic money left over for McMullin to poach.

  38. 38.

    Diceros bicornis

    April 24, 2022 at 2:06 pm

    Whew macron won with 58-59% against Marine le pen

  39. 39.

    wetzel

    April 24, 2022 at 2:06 pm

    Holy cow, Dr. Wheeler took Josh Marshall and Josh Kovinsky at TalkingPointsMemo to the woodshed the other day. I think she is challenging them to up their game on the Durham story and Jan 6 in general.

    The activities of Durham the prosecutor is a case study in maladministration of justice, partison inspired prosecution, and it is completely missing from mainstream coverage, what a fiasco it is. To see the coverage at EmptyWheel compared to the rest, it is a wonder we are not fascist yet.

    TPM is a small outfit too, but EmptyWheel is out-researching them and out-writing them on Jan 6 and all things related to the coup investigation and the remaining tendrils of Russiagate.

  40. 40.

    eachother

    April 24, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    Ben Wittes was the instigator of projecting the Ukraine flag onto a russian embassy last week. The projection was a moving overlay on top of a russian flag projection. The poopies tried to wash out the Ukraine flag with a moving white light spotlight.
    Ben surprised me with that one!

  41. 41.

    Yutsano

    April 24, 2022 at 2:14 pm

    @Diceros bicornis: ​How does one say curb stomping in French? Asking for a friend. Yes I’m too lazy to Google it right now.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    April 24, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    Baud: Harpy Valley PTA might be a good Country song.

  43. 43.

    debbie

    April 24, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    @eachother:

    I watched video of that spotlight trying to catch to the flag. Its accuracy matched all other Russian accuracies. //

  44. 44.

    eachother

    April 24, 2022 at 2:16 pm

    Ben gave the impression he was involved in this.
    https://www.newsweek.com/watch-spotlight-chases-projection-ukraines-flag-russian-embassy-1698162?amp=1

  45. 45.

    eachother

    April 24, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=1092966576

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    April 24, 2022 at 2:24 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Maybe I’m naive, but to me a real “curb stomping” would have been with Macron getting more than 70 percent. Being plus-17 over an out-and-out fascist is far too close for my taste. Yeah, I realize (or so I’ve been told) that Macron is an asshole etc etc, and is disliked by a fair number of voters, but still ..

     

    ETA: Oh, and I think the French for it is something like “urb-kay omping-stay.” Oh, wait, that’s Latin. Sorry.

  47. 47.

    Diceros bicorni

    April 24, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    I asked my Frenchman but he had nothing to offer. Elle a pris une bonne fessée peut-être

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 2:27 pm

    @wetzel:

    Holy cow, Dr. Wheeler took Josh Marshall and Josh Kovinsky at TalkingPointsMemo to the woodshed the other day. I think she is challenging them to up their game on the Durham story and Jan 6 in general.

    Do you have a link?

  49. 49.

    Diceros bicornis

    April 24, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    @SFAW: :D  we don’t have a damn nazi President that’s good enough for me. Not a huge fan of macron but he’s doing the job.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    April 24, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    Le Pen begins her quest for joining the US Republicans with qualifying “this loss isn’t really a loss because it’s a win” speech.

    Result is still a victory, Le Pen tells supporters

    The far-right leader is addressing supporters chanting her name.
    She says the result – a projected loss – is still a victory for her party.
    She respects the verdict of the ballot box, she says.
    Le Pen added that she would continue her fight in French politics – the far-right candidate had said previously she might leave politics if she lost.

    Oklahoma has a senate seat opening up and if she can talk half-English she’ll fit right in.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    April 24, 2022 at 2:44 pm

    @debbie:

    Somebody (spotlight dude) clearly did not spend enough time playing video games as a kid.

  52. 52.

    wetzel

    April 24, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Here is a link to Marcy Wheeler twising Josh Marshall’s nose: Josh Marshall’s “Team on the Field:” Putting GOP on Defense Over Russia Requires Reversing Their Offense

    Sorry to not to have included that.

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    April 24, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    @wetzel: Thank you, reading now.

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