Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Republicans in disarray!

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

We still have time to mess this up!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Friday Morning Open Thread: Must-See TV

Friday Morning Open Thread: Must-See TV

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Goddess bless her with a full recovery and a long prosperous life (it was hard enough to watch her testimony, I can’t imagine the strength it took to give it) Caroline Edwards was an inspired choice as the first eyewitness. The disloyal opposition has been yipping non-stop about their ‘martyr’ Ashli Babbitt, and Ms. Edwards is very much the anti-Ashli. An attractive blond woman, but one who almost died defending the Capital and the rule of law, run over by a mob of howling thugs in military gear carrying clubs and bear spray. I’m sure her countertops and her entire life history are currently being scrutinized for evidence of wrongthink, but it’s going to be hard for anyone outside the RWNJ sphere to demonize a police officer who suffered a TBI, then got up & continued to support her fellow officers.

Liz Cheney considers the Republican Party as her family’s business, a business which has been very good to them. Way she sees it, the reality-show carny and his never-ending klown parade have done irreparable harm to the GOP brand. And if she can’t retrieve the assets, she can at least make Cheney-sure that every one of these morons pays for the trouble they’ve caused her team.

She has a very particular set of skills... I don’t necessarily trust her, but right now, much better to have her using the stiletto against our mutual enemies!


Speaking of the Klown Parade — maybe I’m a cynic, but it seems to me that Princess Ivanka has decided her soon-to-be-former consort has become acceptable collateral damage on her reputational rehabilitation tour. Miss (Who Me?) Complicit goes under oath, on video, to explain she knew all along that Daddy the gropy dude was a capital-L LOSER. Meanwhile, Jared puts on his Wrestlemania mask & trunks, to get slammed around under the kliegs…

Reader Interactions

203Comments

  3. 3.

    bbleh

    Americans: 1
    Republicans: 0

    Speaking of numbers, has anyone seen ratings?  How big was the audience? For how long?

    (As noted elsewhere, I was absolutely riveted for over an hour — like, I was shocked when it was 9:30.)

  4. 4.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    That Stephen Hayes tweet: Yes. That was my immediate takeaway during Liz Cheney’s opening statement. I was so glad they could have members of the inside circle on video saying this stuff, such as debunking the Big Lie. That immediately short-circuits the story line people like Hewitt want to sell.

    It’s an extraordinarily powerful use of video. Fox viewers are trained to ignore the evidence of their own senses, but I can’t help hoping this will peel off a few more R’s.

    @bbleh: How big was the audience? For how long?

    I wondered, as I often do, whether streaming audiences count in the ratings. And what about live-streaming vs recorded streams? Those are all eyeballs that should count.

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    Kudos to the Substack of Mr. Fett for responding appropriately to Oliver Darcy’s incandescently dumb tweet. Here was my response:

  7. 7.

    zhena gogolia

    Great roundup, AL, thanks. And thanks to BC for capturing the Kushners in the previous post.

  8. 8.

    Starfish

    @Bostondreams: How will drag queen story hour be treated under these rules? How many social workers does Texas have? Are their caseloads of abuse and neglect small enough that they have time to investigate people taking their kids to a show?

  9. 9.

    germy shoemangler

    On Friday morning, Trump was still livid over the committee’s presentation of new evidence surrounding the Capitol riot. He blasted out eight more messages on his platform, railing against the proceedings.

    “A one-sided, totally partisan, POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Trump exclaimed.

    He then doubled down on his support for the riot, writing: “The so-called ‘Rush on the Capitol’ was not caused by me, it was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/jan-6-organizer-ali-alexander-has-meltdown-as-jan-6-committee-lays-out-its-case-in-primetime-hearing?ref=home

    If these hearings are raising his blood pressure then I’m a happy guy.

  10. 10.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I wouldn’t be surprised a lot of the whining from pundits about the hearings being boring is code for “the book I was writing is dead now”.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    Media note.

    In the mood for some “watch in one weekend” cromulent B+ fare? The 6 episodes of West of Liberty are compact and engaging enough to spend time with. Available on Tubi, the Roku Channel and Peacock. A joint Swedish-German production, it’s in English (primarily); the only trailer readily found is dubbed into German.

  13. 13.

    germy shoemangler

    Before the hearing began, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who was one of a dozen or so House Democrats who were in the audience, tried to decouple the committee’s work from the regular and never-ending political rigamarole. “This oversight function of the House is not tied to the issue of the day; it is tied to the Constitution… It’s the most fundamental form of oversight: Does the Constitution have enough protection in it to prevent the overthrow of the government?” But a discussion of that depends on the acceptance of the basic fact that January 6 posed a threat and presented a problem. Many Americans do not believe that. A Morning Consult poll this week found that 53 percent of Republicans would vote for Trump in the 2024 GOP primary contest.

    The committee did a good job of defending the Constitution this evening. But it remains to be seen what it can do to beat back Trump’s war on reality.

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/06/january-6-committee-hearing-battle-for-reality/

  14. 14.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy shoemangler: Small Hands really thinks everything is a golf game were if he throws a big enough fit his opponent will give him the game just to shut him up.

    The other thing I noticed in all this, it’s amusing how so many realestate agents show up among the Jan 6 rioters along with the racists. Only in America.

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy shoemangler: (from quoted article) But it remains to be seen what it can do to beat back Trump’s war on reality.

    Again, Trump is the symptom, not the disease. It’s not an accident that most of his followers have BS beliefs like White Supremacy or  BS for living like real estate agents. When will the press get that?

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    I heard part of Cheney’s remarks and part of the audio of the extended video while driving last night. Compelling. Jared sounded exactly as I would have predicted – an entitled MotU who has absolutely no understanding of what an oath means and what civil government service means. It’s all just another organization to be looted as he sees fit.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    @germy shoemangler: The so-called ‘Rush on the Capitol’ was not caused by me, it was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!

    Yeah, we know he thinks that. We have video of him telling the crowd that rushed the capitol that the election was stolen.

  20. 20.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 

    Small Hands really thinks everything is a golf game were if he throws a big enough fit his opponent will give him the game just to shut him up.

    Up until January 2021, this was more or less true.

  21. 21.

    Ken

    @germy shoemangler: Many Americans do not believe that.

    I see that in order to say “many”, they had to drill-down to a subgroup where a (bare) majority thought that.

    It’s worrying, though not unexpected, that the subgroup was “Republicans”.

  23. 23.

    Belafon

    As a programming note, Charles Johnson over at littlegreenfootballs has a mode that uses the twitter API to pull out the pieces of the tweet and then renders them on the pages, so that they come really close to looking like the original tweets. He has his own like, reply, and retweet buttons that pop up a window to do the operation in. This might let you include more tweets on a page.

  27. 27.

    p.a.

    Tangental, and minor compared to the danger to American democracy, but how can anyone watch these rich turds and not want really serious estate taxes on them, never mind the loophole-filled income tax system?

  31. 31.

    Ken

    @zhena gogolia: When will I have time to catch up on all the overnight threads???

    We need our own “Two Boobs and a Blonde” morning show to provide summaries of our overnight threads. Unfortunately I am a brunette.

    (Well, used to be. Although my beard was red before the chin area turned white, and my chest hair — um, without getting into too much detail, I’m a calico. Or maybe tortoiseshell.)

  33. 33.

    germy shoemangler

    @Ken:

    The word “many” still applies, no? 53% of republicans believe the lie. That’s a lot of people.  Stupid people, true, but they’re out there.

    Is it your suggestion here that Mother Jones is exaggerating?

  35. 35.

    Layer8Problem

    I do not follow the Twitter, except via BJ links, but is Glem G. still on radio silence?

  36. 36.

    germy shoemangler

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:  Again, Trump is the symptom, not the disease.

    Yes, of course.  But the article is about Trump’s reactions to the hearings, and the statements (lies) he’s been making about them.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: Yup.  This was clear about TFG and the GQP as early as that escalator ride in 2015.  He was “rich”, he “said what he thought”, he “punched back 10x as hard”, etc.  He was all the things the GQP said was great about America.  Of course the eleventy-seven little men who were “next” had no effect on him – he was the personification of what they claimed to represent as a party.  What did they expect, especially when they bent to his every whiny (heh) whim?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  39. 39.

    Ken

    @NotMax: I couldn’t remember if he’d done that, and didn’t want to unfairly impugn him.  He’s already provided plenty of opportunities for fair pugning.

  40. 40.

    germy shoemangler

    @Layer8Problem:

    He’s been quiet.  At some point he’ll start tweeting again, but in Portuguese, and about some local matter in Brazil.

    If you want some really impressive radio silence, dig the quiet of Snowden since Putin’s invasion.  He’s like a John Cage composition.

  41. 41.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Semi-OT: the latest fundraising email from Beto is entitled “Cruelty, incompetence, and corruption.”

    Pretty much sums the GQP up, dontcha think?

  42. 42.

    JoJo

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 

    The other thing I noticed in all this, it’s amusing how so many realestate agents show up among the Jan 6 rioters along with the racists. Only in America.

    I have always suspected that at least some real estate agents have played a major role in reinforcing de facto segregation in the U.S. I’m no expert, but I would guess that many real estate agents find Trumpist racism appealing.

  46. 46.

    kindness

    The biggest flaw with the MSM is it’s belief/portrayal that it’s preferred memes (of that moment) are fact rather than wishful hopes.

    Where is Walter Chronchite when you want him?

  47. 47.

    germy shoemangler

    @Geminid:

    I think DeSantis is an understudy. He’s got all his lines and hand gestures memorized and he’s waiting for the star of this play to expire so he can step into the spotlight. He’s even assembling his own private army in preparation for the role!

    Reminds me of the first wave of Beatlemania, when suddenly all the American bands combed their hair forward and donned cuban heels.   Notice all the republicans with their blue suits and red ties and hand gestures?

  51. 51.

    realbtl

    Watching this yesterday I was struck how “Fuck the pigs” seems to have moved from the extreme left in the 60/70s has now moved to the extreme right.

  52. 52.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @germy shoemangler: He’s like a John Cage composition.

    (grr, snarl, BITE)

    Sorry, instinctive reaction. As a sometime musician the very existence of “4:33” offends me, and every time I hear another person trying to seriously defend it or explain it, I still just want to bite something or somebody.

    Not you. I just heard somebody discussing this “piece” on the radio fairly recently, a couple of weeks ago somewhere or other.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    Haven’t seen the hearings yet. Later today. Enjoyed your comments on them, jackals. Keep ’em coming.

  59. 59.

    Scout211

    It seems telling, and not in a well, normal way, that TFG tries to publicly make it okay for a trusted White House advisor to “check out” during a crucial time in his fight to maintain his office. No other close advisor gets that treatment, those excuses. Source.

    Remember when Javanka scoffed at so many people warning that TFG would move his family into the White House inner circle? I do. And I also remember Javanka stating that it would not happen.  Sigh.  This crime family is well, criminal.

    “Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

    While Trump seeks to downplay his daughter’s role in his administration at the time of the January 6, 2021, riots, Ivanka Trump did still accompany her father to rally at the White House Ellipse that preceded the US Capitol attack.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Immanentize: Oddly, I cannot remember a single remark that my property Prof made.  She was the single most boring educator I have ever encountered.  She was rumored to have scored the highest score ever reported on the Ohio Bar Exam.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    Was pleased to see our local insurrectionist, Oaf Keeper Kelly Meggs, get a shout-out during the hearing. He and his dumbass wife are both charged with seditious conspiracy and are fighting it in court. These are grown-ass people — grandparents! — whose hobbies include fishing, hunting and overthrowing the government.

    Kelly Meggs has been in the pokey since the feds scooped him up in February 2021, but the judge let the wife out under house arrest. Meggs claims to be the leader of Oaf Keepers in Florida, which may be true. He and the idiot wife documented how they destroyed evidence, etc., on social media and in text messages to fellow criminals.

  64. 64.

    Felanius Kootea

    @germy shoemangler: 
    I understand that 53% of Republicans would vote for Trump in the 2024 primaries. The more interesting question for me is how many people corresponded to “53% of Republicans” in June 2016 versus June 2022. I have a feeling that number has shrunk.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m not entirely sure who Oliver Darcy is, but I know how Jeff Clark is. Yeah, this is that Jeff Clark. US.

    Jeff Clark@JeffClarkUS
    Rare for me to agree with him but Oliver Darcy is on the mark here. Hearing was very little new and not very novel in its approach — unless one thinks scripted readings by politicians off of teleprompters are novel. All my predictions thus far about the hearings have come true.

  68. 68.

    citizen dave

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: This is so well said.  It’s a world of bullshit that they inhabit.  When I saw the clip of TFG at the rally last night, I was reminded of how it was all BS, all the time with him.  Nothing more, nothing else.  This hearings are designed to combat bullshit, essentially

    Off topic, was thinking about how last year  when we pulled out of Afganistan and the twitter (at least), and others, were saying how much the bungled effort by Biden would affect the midterms…Now, does anyone even remember that happened?

  69. 69.

    germy shoemangler

    @Felanius Kootea:

    If Trump decides to run will he have a primary challenger? I’ve been assuming the other presidential hopefuls are watching him and hoping he decides to keep out.  Maybe I’m wrong.

    How does a DeSantis or any other MAGA candidate run against Trump in a primary?  Do they accuse him of abandoning the tenets of MAGA?

  72. 72.

    Redshift

    Re the ambulatory cream cheese sculpture Hewitt (h/t Betty) and the fellow wingnut he quoting:

    “Pre-conceived narrative” is “media bias” on steroids – how dare they not suppress their memories of events they were part of and treat this like an abstract puzzle!

    “Blackmailed any dissenting voices” – no, Hugh, they blackballed people who were participants in the events being investigated, and McCarthy refused to appoint any other “dissenting voices.”

  73. 73.

    germy shoemangler

    @Baud:

    Jeffrey Bossert Clark (born April 17, 1967)[2] is an American lawyer who was Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division from 2018 to 2021. In September 2020 he was also appointed acting head of the Civil Division. In 2020 and 2021 he helped then-president Donald Trump attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election. Clark’s actions in that endeavor are being reviewed by the District of Columbia Bar Association for potential discipline.[3][4]

    After Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Clark worked on ways to cast doubt on the election results.[5][6] Trump tried unsuccessfully to install Clark as head of the Department of Justice when acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to lend credence to Trump’s false claims of fraud.[3][5] Clark resigned on January 14, 2021, after controversy over his actions following the election.[7]

    wikipedia

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    To all the folks saying “nobody cares about Jan. 6, they just care about inflation,” the inflation rate in 1974 was upwards of 11% – nearly double over the year before. Yet somehow people were able to worry about that and hold the president accountable at the same time.

    — Kimberly Atkins Stohr (@KimberlyEAtkins) June 10, 2022

    Eyes on the prizes.

    (via EclecticBrotha)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.

    The unassuming lawyer who worked on the plan, Jeffrey Clark, had been devising ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.

    I would think if your good journalism critiques were being cited by one of the targets of the investigation, you Oliver Darcy would rethink his approach

  80. 80.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    I hope Rep. Chaney’s attempts to drive a wedge down the middle of the Republican coalition are fruitful. I think it would be a good thing for the country to cleave apart the conservative patriots from the right wing fascists. They shouldn’t share the same party.

  83. 83.

    geg6

    @Baud:

    Isn’t that the guy they were trying to install as AG in order to get the states to install new electors?  The guy who was brought up by name by Liz Cheney?

  87. 87.

    germy shoemangler

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    Problem is, whenever I hear someone say “I’m a conservative patriot” I assume they’re a right wing fascist.

    It’s like when I see a truck drive past my house with a big American flag, I assume “Trump supporter.”

  90. 90.

    Immanentize

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He also took the fifth before the J6 committee. I remember this primarily because I never had heard of a DOJ official taking the fifth before Congress.

    Not that there is anything wrong with that!

  91. 91.

    germy shoemangler

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Enough with all this criticism of Trump.  He’s a good man who wanted what’s best for our country.

     

    (I just wanted to see how it’d feel typing that out.)

  95. 95.

    citizen dave

    Thinking back to TFG in July 2018: “Stick with us. Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. … What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

     

    How much plainer could it be that it’s all bullshit all the time?

  96. 96.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Another Scott:

    People have said there’s been changes in the calculation of CPI over the years that may mean CPI is actually higher (no idea if this is actually true, but if it were, I don’t believe it was some effort to cook the books, or anything) than the 8.6% it clocked in at this May, numbers just released this morning. Not good news.

    Inflation appears to be accelerating according to the latest print, which means the Fed will likely have to keep it’s hawkish pace throughout the rest of the year, raising borrowing costs for businesses.

    I saw a headline the other day about the World Bank warning the world economy could enter stagflation. You don’t get more official than that, and it’s not the big commercial/investment banks/financial media who might have a vested interest in any of this.

    Diesel fuel and fertilizer are only going to the sky, with diesel potentially reaching $10/gal by end of summer raising the costs of everything. Practically, all goods are transported by ground.

    People are being squeezed. Consumer sentiment has fallen to a record low this June:

    The University of Michigan’s closely watched Surveys of Consumers consumer sentiment index slumped to 50.2 in the preliminary June survey, marking the lowest level recorded by the survey, which dates back to the mid-’70s.

    Friday’s reading marked a drop from May’s already-depressed level of 58.4, and missed estimates for a print of 58.1, according to Bloomberg data. Throughout 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the economy into recession, the sentiment index had averaged around 96.0.

    “Consumer sentiment declined by 14% from May, continuing a downward trend over the last year and reaching its lowest recorded value, comparable to the trough reached in the middle of the 1980 recession,” Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers, said in a statement.

    Consumers’ assessments of their own personal financial situations deteriorated sharply and contributed heavily to the overall drop in the index, Hsu noted. Nearly half (46%) of consumers attributed these worsening views to inflation, up from 38% who did so in May.

    “This share has only been exceeded once since 1981, during the Great Recession,” Hsu said.

  98. 98.

    Mike in NC

    Carnage and chaos will always be the two words to remember for the reign of terror wrought by Donald Fucking Trump.

  99. 99.

    oatler

    @Baud:

    Reminds me of “Spain Si, Franco No” by Embryo (which had no lyrics but was banned for the title alone).

  100. 100.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    I didn’t watch the hearings, but from what I’m seeing in this thread/post, the Committee has done as good a job as could be expected. Hopefully, it does get through to the public

  102. 102.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @germy shoemangler: I hear you. But I’m not talking about vocal partisans. The conservative patriots I’m talking about aren’t so performative. They’re actually “conservative” in manner and presentation. They’re easy to ignore, they don’t get much visibility. There might not be a lot of them left at this point, but I don’t think they’re inconsequential.

    I hope they get a chance to see these hearings, and to hear Rep. Chaney’s clear message about Trump’s seditious disloyalty and the danger that he still poses to our democracy.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    Rich Lowry
    @RichLowry
    · 1h
    The Ivanka Trump clip has gotten a lot of attention, but its inclusion was entirely gratuitous and clearly meant simply to embarrass her—a committee purportedly devoted to saving our democracy shouldn’t be so petty and should do better

    Nonsense. It was to establish that Trump’s inner circle knew the election hadn’t been stolen, that there were no real questions so the intent was to simply install him for another term.

  107. 107.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Here’s a reply in that tweet that makes a good point, I think:

    William Earl Burns
    @williameburns13

    Replying to

    @KimberlyEAtkins

    Yes, but in that case both “worries about inflation” and “worries about the President’s illegal actions” pointed the same way–rejection of the current President. Here they point in opposite directions.

  108. 108.

    germy shoemangler

    @Kay:

    Lowry’s statement makes sense if she’d had no role in the administration.  But she had a big role, and so Lowry is being dishonest as usual

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @germy shoemangler: Chris Christy is running regardless of whether trump makes the race. That will put pressure on the DeSantises and Pompeos to get off the fence. Assuming DeSantis wins reelection, which is likely but not a certainty.

  111. 111.

    Scout211

    @Kay:

    From Lowry’s tweet you posted:

    The Ivanka Trump clip has gotten a lot of attention, but its inclusion was entirely gratuitous and clearly meant simply to embarrass her

    I don’t really care, do U?

  112. 112.

    Kay

    @Captain C:

    It is a little embarrassing for Ivanka since she appeared beside Trump after that interview and pretended to believe the election had been stolen- she’s a liar- but it is essential they show the election claims were in bad faith- they all knew they were bullshit when they were making them, including Trump. That was why they had his campaign data person too and that’s why they brought in Giuliani’s law license suspension. Giuliani wasn’t confused about what he told courts- he was deliberately lying in furtherance of installing Trump, contrary to law. He knew it was unlawful.

  113. 113.

    J R in WV

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    As a sometime musician the very existence of “4:33” offends me, and every time I hear another person trying to seriously defend it or explain it, I still just want to bite something or somebody.

    Aw, come on~!! You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first!!!

    Plus he had the reputation to make it stick, with a copyright and everything!

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    News here: multiple members of Congress sought pardons from Trump for their role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election

    — Susan Glasser (@sbg1) June 10, 2022

    This is my shocked, shocked face. I wonder what party they’re members of??

    (via soonergrunt)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: These are grown-ass people — grandparents! — whose hobbies include fishing, hunting and overthrowing the government.

    This cries out for a “Dating Game” parody.  “Our second bachelor is a real-estate agent whose hobbies include cooking and overthrowing the government.”

    Then every time the contestant asks him one of those inane “Dating Game” questions, he works that in.

    “Bachelor number two, would you say that you’re better with your hands, or your mouth?”

    “My hands, definitely. It took me less than ten minutes to put up the gallows that we were going to use to hang Mike Pence after we breached the capitol.”

  116. 116.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Another Scott:

    I guess that’s some good news from Baker, but gas prices aren’t going to come down soon. He acknowledges that this is mostly because of the War in Ukraine, and that many people rely on gasoline for transportation, but he doesn’t touch on the effect that high diesel prices could have on inflation, since as I mentioned up above, everything has to be transported on the ground at some point. Energy, higher food costs, and increasing rents are tending to drive much of the rise in CPI. Not to mention how many people use gas and heating oil to heat their homes and what that will be like this winter

    And while he correctly points out that the global price of oil drives gasoline prices, I have my doubts that’s going to matter to voters this November. I actually asked a customer at work why she thought gas prices were so high, which she brought up, and she replied, “Because Biden canceled the pipeline.” I corrected her nicely that the Keystone XL pipeline would not have been completed for a few more years anyway, and she seemed to understand that, but that concerns me. It’s such an easy answer that appears to line up with recent events. I wonder how many other people believe this

    Plus, what about the World Bank’s warning on 1970s-style stagflation?

  117. 117.

    bbleh

    @Kay: @Captain C: @germy shoemangler: @Scout211:  No no, that’s totally unfair. What he’s really pointing out is that Ivanka — and by extension Trump, and all his co-conspirators, and all the rioters, and all their supporters — are the real victims here.

    It’s just grotesque.  When did such pathetic brown-nosing become less than detestable, let alone respectable?  The Beltway Media are an increasingly divergent sub-species.

  118. 118.

    Ken

    @Baud: Ah, someone credible.

    You misspelled — well, I’m not sure what word you were aiming for, but when referring to Clark it’s definitely not “credible”.

  119. 119.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: M.D. Russ self describes as an independent conservative. His examination of the relationship between trump and his party is the best I’ve read on the subject. It was published by Bearing Drift in June of 2020 under the title “Trump is the Republican President”

    As you probabably know, the writers at Bearing Drift are a group of Virginia based contrarian conservatives. I guess one could call them Eisenhower Republicans (although one now calls himself a Democrat). They concentrate on Virginia politics, but they also have good commentary on national affairs. I am interested to see what they say about last night’s hearings.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    @Captain C:

    Because we all did the thing where we said “of course they knew it was bullshit and of course they were lying” but that’s actually really important and it has to be established. They knew installing him for a second term (and who knows- maybe for life) would be breaking the law. They were operating outside the law. That was the point it went from “sore loser won’t admit he lost”, file a bunch of bullshit in 60 courts, go lie on Fox, whatever, to “we are planning a coup”.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I didn’t watch the hearings…

    All that whimpering about this, and now “i didn’t watch…”?

    Into the pie safe with with you, if you didn’t watch, you aren’t allowed an opinion about the hearings. You’re a troll, have been for a long time, and I’m done with that!

  122. 122.

    bbleh

    @Ken:  I might suggest that the comment perhaps was intended to convey a teeny-weeny bit of sarcasm.  But then, I Am Not A Literary Critic.

  123. 123.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @J R in WV:

    I guess you ignored the rest of the comment then?:

    ….but from what I’m seeing in this thread/post, the Committee has done as good a job as could be expected. Hopefully, it does get through to the publi

    I hadn’t had a chance yet to watch it but planned to

  124. 124.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: News here: multiple members of Congress sought pardons from Trump for their role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election

    IANAL, but wouldn’t this indicate some awareness that what they did was illegal and/or wrong?  I won’t go so far as to say “sense of guilt” because we’re talking about Republicans.

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    Is there a rule compelling DeSantis to do something dumber in response to every dumb thing Abbott does? Because I’m beginning to wonder what triggers utter lunacy like this. Good thing they cured Covid.

    June 10, 2022 at 11:27 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) suggested that he might urge the state’s child protective services to investigate parents who take their children to drag shows, NBC News reports.

    Said DeSantis: “It used to be kids would be off-limits. Used to be everybody agreed with that. Now it just seems like there’s a concerted effort to be exposing kids more and more to things that are not age appropriate.”

  129. 129.

    CindyH

    @Omnes Omnibus: Goku has nailed my biggest fear.  We can’t compare what happened during Watergate – people couldn’t retreat into their own info bubble to the extent they can now and weren’t bombarded with propaganda like they are now.  Seeing food and gas prices skyrocket will be what gets more repugs elected.  And many of them are even more dangerous than the current crop of crazies.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @trollhattan:

    “Parents Rights!”

    These people can’t even be consistent in their stupid culture war laws. What is this new fucking penchant on the Right for taking away peoples’ children? Have their idiot supporters noticed they’re now constantly threatening to send the state in to snatch children?

    Imagine if liberals threatened this. We’re going to call children’s services if parents take children to gun ranges or drag them along when they’re bothering people at abortion clinics? It’s spreading, too. The governor of Texas and the governor of Florida are now micro managing child raising.

  133. 133.

    Josie

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 
    Possibly he is not addressing the argument because, like many of the rest of us, he wants to enjoy a few minutes of cheering on the Jan. 6 committee’s good work. Maybe, since you didn’t see their good work, you could refrain for just a little while from moping over a subject that was not covered in their good work and save said moping for a post that covers the economy. But you do you.

  135. 135.

    eversor

    I don’t really think this is going to move the needle. I remember a while back from a David Frum article in the Atlantic where he was talking about the end of democracy. Where conservatives actually know they lost the argument on religion (abortion, gay rights, women’s rights, the younger are fleeing the Church, public schools), immigration, and economics (low taxes, no regulation, social security), and that the numbers were not in their favor. And so they really had run out of their ability to get what they wanted. He said about all this that “If conservatives feel that they cannot get what they want democratically, they won’t give up conservatism they will give up democracy”.

    I saw that as a threat. The right way to read it is “either stop fighting conservatives and let them win at the ballot box and shut up about it, or they will over throw the government and install a dictator”. And you can just read Christian intellectuals and they are openly saying “we are in a Weimar Republic due to social liberalism and a lack of Christianity and that will create Nazi’s and a Hitler and it will be your fault” or “we need a Franco to restore Christianity” they are all out in the open about this. These aren’t fringe voices either these are the big names. Many of them organized the Jericho March which lead up to Jan 6. There were crosses and prayer groups and Christian battle flags all over the Jan 6 riots.

    Mike Lee commented a while back that if we don’t get rid of the income tax, public lands, public education, Medicare, and social security we are going to have a civil war, and it will be the fault of the left. Libertarians have long complained that democracy sucks because then libertarians can’t have libertarianism.

    None of them are going to budge. Rather they all think what was done was a good thing with a good goal, it was just fucked up. So let’s take notes so as not to fuck it up next time.

    The right has been telling us for a long time that the only acceptable solution is Christianity, White Nationalism, Oligarchy. Nothing else will be allowed, nobody is allowed to criticize it, everyone must say how great it is. And if we all won’t get with the program, they’ll install a dictator and kill us.

    If we don’t do something about where the rot comes from in the base this is all a waste of time, because they will try it again.

  136. 136.

    livewyre

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): As tempting as it is to speculate on the contents of others’ minds, it’s not a terribly fulfilling exercise, is it?

    The thing about minds is that they can’t be read. Their most appealing feature, some might say. Fascinating ourselves with what others might be thinking might feel like an advantage at first, but reality is always a step ahead, and meanwhile we’ve squandered time not developing the contents of our own.

    We can’t keep our finger to the wind every hour of the day. At some point it’s more about developing a new, unique opinion than triangulating one from a focus-grouped sample of optimal public appeal. Plus it’s a lot more fun.

  137. 137.

    Redshift

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Here’s a reply in that tweet that makes a good point, I think:

    It’s a true statement, but I’m at a loss to see what point it makes. The argument that people shouldn’t be paying attention to the attack on democracy and should pay attention to inflation instead is pure whataboutism. Yes, they point in opposite directions, which is why they can be used for whataboutism.

    I’m not saying that inflation isn’t a real problem that many people will devote more attention to. What she was saying is that people who argue that you shouldn’t care about 1/6 because inflation is more important are being dishonest, because we have a clear example showing the public can pay attention to both (whether or not they will.)

  138. 138.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @zhena gogolia:

    I noticed that, too. I think it’s disgusting how the media used it as a cudgel against Biden, and then went on to completely ignore the plight of the Afgan people

  139. 139.

    Cameron

    @Kay: Well, they always kick down – they see a small group, easily demonized to wingnuts, and they can’t resist.

  140. 140.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    An observation to BJ commenters, not singling you out: said commenter turned an important thread about abortion rights into a lengthy discussion about him. That only happened because people engaged in the derailing and, erm, refocusing, and not for the first time. Just sayin’. ;)

    Edited.

  141. 141.

    eversor

    @Kay:

    The culture war is this “total Christian domination of all culture” that’s it.   And it’s the full prayer in schools, women at home, no gay stuff entire deal.

    If you don’t think they will arrest single moms, kill gay parents, and force the Bible and prayer into schools the moment they can you are blind.

    We have to realize the nation is broken now.   Democracy has failed.   So right now we can have civil and personal rights or we can have Christianity.  It’s one or the other.  And the group that loses is going to lose everything.   So if you aren’t gearing up for that you are more blind and a bigger issue than democrats wanting to work with the good republicans.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    He probably didn’t understand the series of events they were trying to establish, or how those events have to be shown. It’s not enough to say “they knew” or “they were lying”. They have to show it. They’re building something.

    Our pundits are really lazy. They have a bad work ethic. They don’t really think about what they write – apply thought to what they see- or prepare before they write.

  144. 144.

    Baud

    The inflation rate shot up after WWI and the Spanish flu pandemic also. It also shot up after the end of WWII. It’s an inherent problem after a period of dampened spending for a period of time. The only way out is through.

    The inflation rate in 1918 was 17.97%. The inflation rate in 1919 was 14.57%. The 1919 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 2.77% per year between 1919 and 2022.

    https://www.in2013dollars.com/inflation-rate-in-1919

  145. 145.

    Redshift

    @Kay:

    These people can’t even be consistent in their stupid culture war laws. What is this new fucking penchant on the Right for taking away peoples’ children? Have their idiot supporters noticed they’re now constantly threatening to send the state in to snatch children?

    Their consistency is to enforce your right to do the right thing. If you do a wrong thing, that’s “abusing your rights/freedoms,” and the state can stomp on that.

    To you or me, that sounds like you having no rights and the state deciding everything, but we’re not wingnuts.

  146. 146.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    Christy will do worse than he did last time. He was a product of that particular time & place. He is not a national politician.

  148. 148.

    Mike in NC

    Maybe the next few hearings will prompt Trump to finally kill himself. But then again, we know he’s a megalomaniac who wallows in self-pity. I read somewhere how much he cried like a newborn baby when the election results came in. I never knew how much I could hate somebody until this turd crawled out of the sewers of Queens.

  149. 149.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: Most likely a change wrung ;^D on the bon mot attributed to one Bugs Bunny: You buttered your bread, now lie in it!​

    (ETA: Hope things are on the upswing for you & yours.)

  150. 150.

    Served

    @Kay: 

    This is the latest far right cause du jour, and a blatant attempt to expand their transphobic agenda to include all queer people. There have been a lot of videos on social media of rightwing “activitsts” following drag artists after day time Pride performances, hounding them with questions like “isn’t it disgusting to do this in front of children!?” The “this” in question is…dancing to a Dua Lipa song in the park in a costume. It’s disgusting.

    There have been a lot of aggressive protests at various Pride events across the country already this month. It’s as worse as I’ve seen in a long time. More than a decade maybe? They’re bringing tasers and weapons, and taunting LGBT people to try and justify using them. If we get through this month without a serious violent attack on a Pride event, it will be a miracle.

  151. 151.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:

    And who doesn’t crave having a sociopath telling them how to raise their child?

    Confess I’m a little bemused wondering how they plan to define “drag show” in the bill’s language, because I can easily see cage fighting, Republican Party conventions, gun shows, and country music concerts accidentally being included.

  152. 152.

    artem1s

    Way she sees it, the reality-show carny and his never-ending klown parade have done irreparable harm to the GOP brand.

    Her father via the Bush Crime family are the ones who did irreparable harm to the GOP brand. Over and over again they violated norms, standards and the rule of law in order to win elections and retain power. There is a direct line from the voter suppression in FL in 200 thru the Brooks Brothers riots thru Stop the Steal to January 6.
    It’s clear to me she is using this as an opportunity to flush everything the W administration did down the memory hole and implement a pure power grab when the MAGAt wingnut arm of the GQP goes down in flames.
    NEVER FORGET – They stood by idly while TFG took over the party just so JEB wouldn’t have to suffer a defeat at the hands of a girl. If they cared at all about the party, Darth and his daughter would have put a stop to TFG’s campaign before it could be stillborn. There is no way in hell they didn’t have enough opposition research on that petty mob boss to stop him cold. But they planned to let him lose to Hillary so they could run opposition from the Senate majority leader the same way they did during the Obama administration.
    The GQP has been courting the wingnut, fundie, single issue crazies for decades. The only thing Liz and Darth are offended by is that TFG is raising money from their crazies. They don’t want to get rid of them – they want them back under their thumb where they belong.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    More SCOTUS news:

    emma brown
    @emmersbrown
    ·4m
    New: Ginni Thomas didn’t email just two Arizona lawmakers, urging them to “choose” presidential electors to help overturn Trump’s defeat. She emailed 29 of them, records show.

    Boy, can’t you just feel the reputation of this institution growing in respect and credibility?
    They have no one to blame but themselves. The Right wing justices did this- they damaged the credibility of that court.

  156. 156.

    livewyre

    @O. Felix Culpa: In my experience, ignoring pleas for attention only makes them more desperate. It takes a village, as someone wise once said. What I’m interested to see is if the cycle can be broken before we end up with a “missing stair” archetype.

  158. 158.

    James E Powell

    @CindyH:

    Of course we can’t compare anything now with Watergate. There was no FOX back then, no network of right-wing talk radio, no social media. All those things have made it impossible for a Republican’s approval to fall very far.

  159. 159.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay: I was very impressed by the technique of showing the video clips rather than just reading the quotations.

  160. 160.

    trollhattan

    @Kay: Well, Ginni is a busy, busy girl, isn’t she?

    And the SCOTUS justices want to pretend it was the Alito draft decision leak that has most damaged the Court. Hey Roberts, do you see that fellow over there, with the Coke can?

  161. 161.

    cmorenc

    BTW: there is NOTHING on the Fox News website about the Jan 6 presentation, except a couple of sidenotes alleging that it is a purely partisan hack job.

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @trollhattan:

    It’s part and parcel of anti-abortion. They want to control our families and decisions. People who will eagerly insert themselves into your medical exam room, peering over the doc’s shoulder, will absolutely start directing you how to raise children. They’re just warming up.

  163. 163.

    zhena gogolia

    Thanks to Alison Rose for drawing my attention to Colbert’s excellent monologue.

  165. 165.

    different-church-lady

    The problem with dishonor is one needs to have honor to lose in the first place.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @trollhattan:

    We’re never going to see the results of the draft leak investigation if anyone on the Right is implicated. They’ve show they can’t police their own institution. They can’t investigate it either.

  167. 167.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @livewyre: In my experience, therapy is best done with a therapist, assuming change is actually desired. The care and feeding has been going on in this forum for years now, with little discernable change in behavior. I prefer that we step back from enabling, which is what it looks like to me, and which gives the individual enough solace that they neither get real help nor grow.

    ETA: And with this conversation, the derailing continues. I’m out. :)

  170. 170.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Redshift: 

    I understand what you’re saying. I’m just concerned that the public will not be swayed when it comes to this November.

    I desperately want the hearings to have an effect. I do. And I really mean that I think the Committee is doing a great job so far. I suppose all we can do is work towards the result we want

  172. 172.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    And I also don’t appreciate you saying I need a therapist. My behavior has fucking changed. I’m not the same person I was 4 or 5 years ago

  173. 173.

    livewyre

    @O. Felix Culpa: Fair point, but the hope is that we’re still in a phase of social intervention rather than clinical or technical intervention. Ignoring on an individual basis doesn’t prevent manipulation because manipulation adapts to escalate until anyone bites – across the whole community system rather than towards anyone in particular.

    If we’re still in a position to each decide for ourselves whether to respond or not, then I figure it could still be possible to respond constructively, especially in an unaccustomed way, without rising to provocation and feeding the loop. But that’s just my own fascination and I’ll keep the point about enabling in mind going forward.

  174. 174.

    Ken

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So what, you’re just never going to talk to me again?

    Ages ago, Alan King had a skit called “Ten Things You Want to Say to Your Wife”, or something like that.  I think the last one was:

    SHE: “I’m never talking you you again!”

    HE: “Promises, promises.”

  176. 176.

    Kay

    Kaitlan Collins
    @kaitlancollins
    ·2h
    News — The Biden administration is going to announce today that CDC is lifting its requirement for travelers to test negative before entering the U.S., per a senior administration official. The move will go into effect for U.S.-bound air travelers at midnight June 12.

    Yay! My youngest is in Denmark and I was worried he would test positive and have to stay extra. It would be okay, he could stay on with family, but I would like to see him sometime this summer.

  178. 178.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 

    DARVO! Suggesting therapy is something friends can do for one another. It’s not shameful and can be tremendously helpful addressing worry and “stuckness” in life. Ask me how I know. ;)

  179. 179.

    opiejeanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No.

    I would tell you to just chill but you do this all the damned time, and it’s annoying as fuck.  We weren’t even talking about inflation except that the RW is trying to use it as a distraction from the January 6 broadcast, AND THAT IS WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT, or was until you started your tedious little clown act.

  182. 182.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @opiejeanne:

    Words are wind, but I’ll try to not do that in the future. I don’t want to be annoying and I don’t want to alienate anybody. I’ll chill out

  183. 183.

    dnfree

    @Layer8Problem: I was amused by your nym when I first saw it, because back in the 1970s my telecommunications class only  mentioned seven layers.  Finally I got curious enough to go look up what had been added since then.  Now I like your nym even more.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    @opiejeanne: 

    I think it’s gross and improper that she has a continuing email conversation relationship with his former clerks, who are all probably fancy and influential lawyers and might have cases before that court or be government lawyers themselves.
    She’s an ethical train wreck and there’s no excuse for it. This is just ordinary common sense- she shouldn’t be discussing the insurrection she’s pushing with his former clerks. She doesn’t need a binding code to see how gross and sleazy this behavior is and avoid it, but she denies herself nothing.

    Who raises these fucking people and why don’t they have any limits or boundaries? Police YOURSELF Ginni. Check yourself. Stop doing sleazy things.

  185. 185.

    Another Scott

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Gas and oil prices are volatile, and  more volatile when the swings are large.

    BBCNews (from March 2020).

    Take a look at the graph.

    Don’t mistake step-function changes with continuing or even accelerating inflation.

    Yes, gas and diesel prices are high. Yes it hurts lots of people. But gas being $5.80 a gallon today doesn’t mean it’s going to be $11.60 a gallon next year. That’s not how it works.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  186. 186.

    livewyre

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Just be cautious what you do to chill out, and in what direction, is all I’d suggest. There’s definitely something soothing about venting but it needs to be directed towards something that improves rather than inflames. As I keep saying, we all have work to do to make things better – as long as we have some agreement that they can and should be.

  187. 187.

    lowtechcyclist

    @J R in WV: Plus he had the reputation to make it stick, with a copyright and everything!

    But how can you tell if someone is sampling from it? ;)

  189. 189.

    Layer8Problem

    @dnfree: Yup, the ol’ Human Element. I think Bill Arnold and Ben Cisco are the only other ones who outright acknowledged getting it, but we’ve got too many techheads on this almost top-10,000 blog to not get it.

  190. 190.

    Bill Arnold

    @germy shoemangler:

    I think DeSantis is an understudy. He’s got all his lines and hand gestures memorized and he’s waiting for the star of this play to expire so he can step into the spotlight.

    So disappointed in DeSantis. If he had sufficient ruthless ambition, he would be more actively working on accelerating that expiration of the star.

  193. 193.

    The Moar You Know

    If you want some really impressive radio silence, dig the quiet of Snowden since Putin’s invasion. He’s like a John Cage composition.

    @germy shoemangler:  I’m sure that he has been told overtly that if he opens his mouth he dies.

    I suspect soon he’ll be handed a script and told to open his mouth or die.

    Or just be flat-out killed. He really is of no use to Russia anymore.

  194. 194.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: It’s all about the rule that they can tell you what to do but you can’t tell them what to do. They can threaten you for giving your child certain medical treatment, but don’t you dare threaten them for not vaccinating their child, oh no that’s totally different, that’s “freedom” and “parent’s rights”! Somehow parent’s rights to treat their transgender child in the appropriate way is not “freedom”.

  195. 195.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: It’s amazing to me that when I read articles in the press about the loss of credibility of the Supreme Court, they rarely ever mention Ginni and her open political activism as one of the causes of this. They have to know about it, but choose to mostly not talk about it. I can’t wait for the investigation of the leak to quietly go away when they realize it wasn’t one of the 3 liberals or any of their employees.

  196. 196.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’m not watching anything but excerpts. To be honest, the whole thing makes me very nervous and I don’t want to watch and constantly critique their performance.

    I’m glad that it looks like it’s going well. The media reactions seem to generally be very positive, though I do see that the current “big news” on CNN is that Trump is pretending Ivanka didn’t know what she was talking about when she said he lost, and that she was just humoring Barr and the Jan 6th committee when she acknowledged he lost fair and square.

    So they’re still up Trump’s ass and reporting on everything he says without acknowledging how ridiculous it is.

  198. 198.

    bluefoot

    @JoJo: ​
      If my personal experience is anything to go by, real estate agents most definitely play a major role in perpetuating segregation. Redlining may no longer be legal official policy, but it sure as hell still exists.

  202. 202.

    rikyrah

    @Served: 

    This is the latest far right cause du jour, and a blatant attempt to expand their transphobic agenda to include all queer people

    So, it’s not my imagination. Good to know.

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