Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

When we show up, we win.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

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

He really is that stupid.

Republicans in disarray!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / GOP Thuggery Open Thread: The ‘Loyal’ Opposition

GOP Thuggery Open Thread: The ‘Loyal’ Opposition

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‘Senior NRO writer’, self-proclaimed NeverTrumpist Dan McLaughlin (via Isaac Chotiner):



Speaking of which — news from the Reichwing’s latest Joseph Goebbels imitator:

Can’t say they didn’t tell us exactly who they are!

Reader Interactions

193Comments

  1. 1.

    dr. bloor

    Figures that Baseball Head is the one to weigh in with the political equivalent of “you made me hit you.”

    Also, it seems pretty clear that Rufo has never tangled with a career civil servant before.

  2. 2.

    Shalimar

    We don’t get Jan 6 but do get Emperor Trump using the military and law enforcement to execute anyone who opposed him.  Trying to think of how that would be better.  Does never-Trumper McLaughlin realize he would be high on the execute list?

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Guy who pushed the CRT panic. Probably helped get a Republican elected governor in VA

    Also, trying to push the narrative that trans people are “groomers”, calling drag queens “trans strippers” instead

  7. 7.

    Shalimar

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Christopher Rufo: If we pretend trans people are child groomers, we can whip up hate against them.

    Media: Oh my God, trans people are child groomers. Christopher Rufo says so, and even though he admits it’s a lie, we’re still going to repeat it and scare everyone anyway.

    Rufo in a nutshell.

    edit: The CRT lies came first, and media learned nothing.

  9. 9.

    different-church-lady

    I believe this is the same logic that says, “If Ukraine would just surrender there wouldn’t have to be a War in Ukraine.”

  10. 10.

    RSA

    “We’ll never negotiate with terrorists …unless, of course, they’re us. Then we’ll just give in.”

  12. 12.

    sab

    Without Biden we never would have broad access to Covid vaccine. We would have a high unemployment and recession instead of inflation.

    Do people not remember what the last two Trump years were like? Nothing would have changed.

  18. 18.

    RaflW

    “Burned through most staff of character” is the sort of sentence that pouts out how utterly, totally bereft of reality most on the right were, are and steadfastly remain.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    @sab:

    We’ve also gone a year and a half without a bina fide ethical scandal. People say that’s what they want, but they ignore it when they have it.

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    @different-church-lady: I believe this is the same logic that says, “If Ukraine would just surrender there wouldn’t have to be a War in Ukraine.”

    And many of the same people making those arguments!

  22. 22.

    Tony Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    You make him the face of GOP hatemongering, using his own words to make ‘Rufo’ shorthand for “lying about people to get them killed”.

    It doesn’t even take that much message discipline. Just quote the fucker and hammer on the message that he and his GOP acolytes think American voters are so stupid they’ll fall for his ivory tower repurposing of SWATing.

  23. 23.

    sab

    @Baud: Remember when Biden handled the whole Obama stimulus without an ethics scandal? One company went broke, but that was all. Trump Era had so much corruption and corrupt incompetence that nobody had the time or energy to turn them into scandals.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @sab:

    Remember when Biden handled the whole Obama stimulus without an ethics scandal?

     
    No, because it’s not news when people do their jobs properly.

  25. 25.

    HeleninEire

    Copied from the last thread cuz I always get there late.

    Hello all my Balloon Juice friends. I am thinking about signing off for awhile. And by that I mean out of blogs. Being engaged and understanding politics is breaking my heart. I know that is the wimp way. But I am too old to care. Maybe tomorrow I will change my mind. But there is stupid stuff going on with my family and I need to focus. My sister Mary is in really bad shape.  They are talking about taking her to the psych ward. And she will not know where she is.

    Added: I’ll be fine. I always am. Just a bad night. ❤

  30. 30.

    RaflW

    @Baud: Obama got Solyndra’d heavily. The GOP has been running the same play, and the press has happily assisted, for longer than that, even.

  33. 33.

    lollipopguild

    @HeleninEire: I hope everything works out for your sister, you and your family. Take the time off that you need to, and when you can come back and visit with us.

  34. 34.

    Kropacetic

    @Baud: Dark. I’ll be impressed once I’m done being horrified.

    The true scary part is I’m pretty sure I’ve heard roughly this argument from a sitting Congressman.

  36. 36.

    sab

    @Baud: Ha ha ( yes I laughed) but reminder that rape is more about power and fear than sex. There are always hookers available for the genuinely horny.

  37. 37.

    Starfish

    @dr. bloor: There is a lot of “I am the biggest jerk because liberals hurt my feelings” going on lately. It is unimpressive.

  38. 38.

    caphilldcne

    @HeleninEire: I am a very irregular commenter but as a person dealing with mental health issues in my own family I deeply sympathize. I am sorry to hear this but you absolutely need to take care of yourself and your sister and family. Good luck and peace to you!

  39. 39.

    Kropacetic

    @Tony Jay: You make him the face of GOP hatemongering, using his own words to make ‘Rufo’ shorthand for “lying about people to get them killed”.

    Man’s the reason I’d hesitate to go to a gay bar. His initiatives are based on the flimsiest of logic and devoid of facts. He’s encouraging dramatic GOP overreach.

    We need to push back. Hard.

  40. 40.

    Starfish

    @schrodingers_cat: Rufo is the person who purged K-12 schools of anti-racist content and black teachers and principals by calling all culturally responsive education critical race theory.

    Once he was done with that, he began the war on trans children by starting the moral panic about trans children playing sports, which them moved on to generally calling everyone a pedophile.

    He is now on yet another project to destabilize and worsen public education.

  43. 43.

    HeleninEire

    Thank you to everyone. John Cole has made the best community ever. I will let you know how it goes. ❤

  44. 44.

    Leto

    Brandon Wolf @bjoewolf

    Senator Rick Scott releases his plan to flip the US Senate & legislate us back to 1960. It includes denying the existence of trans people, ripping up LGBTQ families & refusing to recognize the existence of different races.

    The Florida agenda is the entire party’s plan.

    All 11 stupid/horrid points at the link.

  45. 45.

    Kropacetic

    @Starfish: There is a lot of “I am the biggest jerk because liberals hurt my feelings” going on lately. It is unimpressive.

    Also under consideration for the GOP platform.

    I have no time for people reaching for extreme examples of cancel culture when asked to simply treat people with respect.

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    @HeleninEire:  You have more important things to think about right now. Remember, we love you, and will be thrilled when you have the bandwidth to come back.

    Take care.

  50. 50.

    sab

    @Baud: Please don’ t make me be serious. Our earnest jokester? Rapier wit with heart of gold?
    Another reason I don’t hate all lawyers?

    I always miss you when you go off on your wanderings.

  52. 52.

    frosty

    @HeleninEire: We’ll miss you but absolutely do what you need to do for yourself and your sister.

    I’ll bump up my obsessive blog reading to cover for you. //s

  53. 53.

    Brachiator

    @Shalimar:

    edit: The CRT lies came first, and media learned nothing.

    It’s not just the media, i.e., newspapers, mainstream news sites,  etc. The general public spread this stuff via social media. Misinformation at the speed of light.

  61. 61.

    Kent

    One reason to have voted for Trump is so we wouldn’t have had 1/6?

    For fuck’s sake, no.  That is the mentality of abuse.  1/6 is the reason you SHOULDN’T have voted for Trump back in 2016 and why you should have impeached his ass and removed him from office when you had the chance.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    No, because it’s not news when people do their jobs properly.

    It’s news when a Republican does it.  This is my basic theory for why our news media gets politics so badly wrong.  It’s basic man bites dog thinking.  Everyone in the news understands the Democrats are the party of competent government and the Republicans are the party of breaking shit.  So under “man bites dog” standards of newsworthiness, it’s only news if the Democrats screw up or the Republicans get something right.

  64. 64.

    Kropacetic

    @Roger Moore: So under “man bites dog” standards of newsworthiness, it’s only news if the Democrats screw up or the Republicans get something right.

    Republicans don’t even have to get anything right, just not get it egregiously wrong. The media will go out of its way to find such examples or at least portray something egregiously wrong as not so.

    This is how Trump “became President” anew once weekly for four years.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    Love love love ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

    Please be well, be safe, and return to us when and as you can.

    I will hold Mary in my thoughts.

  74. 74.

    gene108

    The way to slow Rufo and every GOP operative down is for Democrats to win election after election.

    Stopping them is impossible, because rich fuckwads are happy to set their money on fire supporting degenerates like Rufo in the hopes one of them strikes on something that can get friendly Republicans elected.

    I know there are places where people are like “why should I vote for Democrats?”, but the problems we face today with guns everywhere to abortion bans to trying to ban trans people from existing are only possible because Republicans still win elections.

    Even if Democrats aren’t radically liberal enough for people and you feel you’re only voting for the lesser evil that’s still making sure there’s less evil in society.

  77. 77.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Tony Jay:

    That all seems so straightforward and simple. Have there been significant, effective efforts at this? If there has Rufo and others don’t seem bothered by it

  79. 79.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kropacetic: This is also how DeSantis “won the pandemic”.

    He overruled much of the regulation and planning that individual cities and businesses wanted to make. As a result, Covid jumped highly in his state but due to the vaccines and other treatments the level of deaths was only terrible rather than catastrophic, while the economy there was on par or worse than many other states with tight covid restrictions.

    Basically killed a lot of people for nothing, but it made his base love him. And the news certainly didn’t hurt, because they declared that his approach was awesome multiple times.

  81. 81.

    MisterForkbeard

    @HeleninEire: You’ll be missed, if you go. But that’s okay – take care of yourself and your sister and we’ll see you again someday.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @HeleninEire: 
    Very sorry about your sister, here’s hoping she gets some critical needed help.

    As to eschewing politics, I get it. Somewhere around September 2020 I just couldn’t. And now when I poke my head up there’s a supreme court or spree shooter trying to take it off. It’s tiresome.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @Kropacetic:

    I’m pretty sure the MSM wants to spread this hateful BS. If it gets engagement on social media….

    Increasingly, social media is becoming more important, and it is much less curated than the MSM. I don’t know anyone under 30 who buys a physical newspaper. Most also get their news from social media. The only people I know who follow any stories on the NY Times are on this blog.

     

    ETA. Do you subscribe to or regularly read the local newspaper for your city?

    What would you say is your main source of national news? Local news?

  90. 90.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Why “FFS”? All I did was ask for some evidence that there were efforts that were directly aimed at opposing/discrediting Rufo and if they were effective

  92. 92.

    gene108

    @Roger Moore:

    So under “man bites dog” standards of newsworthiness, it’s only news if the Democrats screw up or the Republicans get something right.

    It’s more “dog barks at man” or “dog growls at man” with regards to news coverage of Democrats getting something wrong.

    Democratic Presidents have been corruption free during my lifetime. The worst scandal there was, was that President Clinton cheated on his wife.

    In terms of executing the duties of the office, Presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama, and now Biden have been scandal free.

    The media will just bash Democrats based on Republican talking points, without ever trying to figure out if those points are worth the attention. I’m still trying to figure out why Whitewater got breathless coverage for two years. Republicans running “news” publications, like The American Spectator, dripped gossip out to the MSM and the MSM just ran with it.

    There’s no real way to change the MSM.

    The Republicans represent the interests of a majority of white Americans, and a supermajority of white men. This demographic has always been treated as the very serious people of society. The MSM has been wired forever to respond to the interests of white men.

    I really don’t know how to solve this, but I think a bias to emphasize the interests of white men is baked into the media it’s impossible for them to question it.

  93. 93.

    sab

    @Brachiator: I read both local papers (my little city and our big metropolitan neighbor’s paper) . I am an old dinosaur.. My slightly less than forty year old stepchildren get all their news on the internet or podcasts.

    They can’t afford cable. They can barely afford an internet connection.  All their money is spent on rent, i-phone, food and car.

  94. 94.

    Jay

    @sab:

    had a friend, decades ago. Evangelical Church Secretary, who paid the bills ( and dealt with stuff) by working online as an escort.

  97. 97.

    sab

    @Jay: I have had escort friends who put themselves through grad school, but that was a long time ago. I haven’t kept up on the current terminology.

  98. 98.

    different-church-lady

    @sab:

    All their money is spent on rent, i-phone, food and car.

    GOP: “That’s horrible. We need to re-arrange the economy so they can’t afford the iPhone.”

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What I want to know is, how do we stop Rufo? 

    Make your enemies ridiculous.

    Look, they think all day every day about how to sell ideas to people. (And then how to get their money, but the idea comes first.) So think of poisonous ideas like they’re products, sold by a brand. There’s very effective ways to kill a brand and thus discredit their products. Make them embarrassing.

  102. 102.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @hilts: “Oh Danny Boy” has lovely music, but the lyrics are pure Tin-Pan-Alleyish horseshit. My favorite Irish ballad band – a family&friends group who I followed devotedly around the Baltimore area a couple of generations back – would refuse to perform it, even when requested by the audience, except around St Patrick’s Day, and then only once a night, usually in a medly with other pseudo-Irish tripe like “Tooralooraloora” and “Long Way to Tipperary,” just to shut the one-day-a-year green-beer Oyrish up. /rant

  104. 104.

    Suzanne

    We need to make T Swizzle’s “Look What You Made Me Do” into a meme for when the GOP tries to say we made them terrible.

  105. 105.

    Jay

    @different-church-lady:

    Not a great family dynamic, bisexuality, BDSM attractions, drug use, etc.

    While a lot of people would “judge” that she was “broken”, in reality, she was just finding herself.

    About 15 years ago she found her wife, 5 years later, founder and CEO of a CBD company, that went public about 5 years ago.

  107. 107.

    bmoak

    @gene108:  The NYT was actually the biggest driver of Clinton scandals and specifically Whitewater.  Remember, this was pre-internet and pre-Fox.  The Times ran more column inches on Whitewater than all of Iran-Contra.

    I’ve always believed that TPTB at the Times always resented those small-town rubes at the Post landed the biggest scoop of the 20th Century and were determined their paper to destroy a Presidency, too.  But going after another Rebublican would just be following the Post (So gauche!), so they determined to bag a Democrat and Clinton was their first available target.

  112. 112.

    sab

    @Suzanne: My husband thought the worst mistake Hillary made was not hiring a good comedic writer.

    Biden is amazingly good at that stuff for such a nice man.

    His zingers draw heart’s blood.

  117. 117.

    piratedan

    @Tony Jay: just once I would enjoy some sort of live media coverage where a Democratic Press Secretary or Administrative member refused to play their designated role as we know it  when the press comes at them with the GOP regurgitation of the day… you know, just one of those times where the disingenuous Media Courtier rolls out one of these verbatim Rufo/Koch Brothers/Murdoch Minions talking points (with the usual “some people say” framing being optional) and simply unloading.  Something along the same lines of “you’ve been trotting out these partisan framing narratives each and every time a Democratic administration is in charge with the usual bullshit allegations that are prepared in think tanks that are awash in dark money that have little and no basis in reality much less fact. Who gave you this question, was it your producer?  Maybe you should turn your investigative fourth estate skills into some soul searching and find out if your more concerned in understanding an issue and explaining it to the public than you are in attempting to disguise the obvious hand up your ass that has removed all logical thought from being performed…”

    It’s amazing that these people are given relevance, much less consideration considering their track record, for fuck sake, they could employ oodles of people cheaper or perhaps journos are less costly then politicians….

    Next Question.

  118. 118.

    sab

    @sab: I very much hope that you were not offended by my deliberately offensive and obnoxious comment.

    We all have to play to our press. You have lots. I have none. I keep hoping.

  119. 119.

    Kropacetic

    @Brachiator: Local news? Brockton Enterprise. Scan regularly buy once per couple of months.

    National? The NYTimes front page, Vox, and Balloon Juice.

    I used to have a much more rigorous news diet, but checked out around August 2016 (wonder why?). I’ve only recently started engaging more again. Haven’t found a replacement for the NYTimes for real reporting. Considered WP not bought yet.

    Honestly, who had me reading a lot back in the day was Andrew Sullivan. He was at a lifetime ebb for idiocy and his staff aggregated a lot of interesting things covering a lot of subject matter. He brought me here.

  121. 121.

    sab

    @sab: This was meant to be at Baud, who would of course snicker. His most endearing reaction.

    Tried to delete,but I was too late to my own comment (Compentese where art thou? Obviously elsewhere.)

  122. 122.

    Splitting Image

    @different-church-lady:

    I believe this is the same logic that says, “If Ukraine would just surrender there wouldn’t have to be a War in Ukraine.”

    I’m old enough to remember when Republicans said that they disapproved of Neville Chamberlain.

  124. 124.

    Miss Bianca

    @Brachiator: I subscribe to my local newspaper. And a couple Colorado-based e-newspapers.

    But then again, I write for my local newspaper and do a lot of the editing/proofing, so I have an excuse for reading it cover to cover.

  125. 125.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kropacetic:
    I am still a fan of news.google.com. Just be sure that you are logged out of google (e..g private/incognito window) so that you get the view for tabla rosa viewers. It automatically identifies stories and categorizes links under them. (Often, you’ll see clusters of right-wing stories that the right-wing propagandists are trying to get traction on.)
    Also, the “World” subfeed under google news is worth skimming daily. It’s a hodge-podge but sometimes surprising. (And Reuters “the wire” is worth a look.)
    google news does link many sites that are paywalled, but usually, in the same story category, there is a non-paywalled link. And the “cookie remover” plugin will often reset the counter so that you can look at more than N views of “first N views free” sites.

  126. 126.

    Martin

    As I said before: “Let them march to the Capitol, they aren’t here to hurt me” is everything you need to know why republicans support the NRA they way they do.

    My pitch to future President Baud – all reparations for slavery to be made in the form of AR-15s and ammunition.

  127. 127.

    Splitting Image

    @bmoak:

    I’ve always believed that TPTB at the Times always resented those small-town rubes at the Post landed the biggest scoop of the 20th Century and were determined their paper to destroy a Presidency, too. But going after another Rebublican would just be following the Post (So gauche!), so they determined to bag a Democrat and Clinton was their first available target.

    Yep. In the press version of The Great Game, the Times is down 1-0 to the upstarts and won’t quit until it gets the tying goal.

  128. 128.

    Suzanne

    @sab:

    My husband thought the worst mistake Hillary made was not hiring a good comedic writer. 

    100% true.

    The only thing that Trump is good at (and he is devastatingly good at it) is seeing a weakness in someone else and giving it a catchy name in a way that becomes a stink that they cannot wash off. L’il Marco, Low-Energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted. It is absolutely a marketing skill. Our side underestimates that, but it’s incredibly effective imagecraft. Also, we seem to have this aversion to effective market positioning and image-making and brand-building. There’s frequent criticism offered here (and other places) that Dems need to just talk more about their good policies and that it’s unfair that Biden gets criticized for “Defund the Police” and all of this discussion about content. There’s a whole realm of important work that comes before “making a sale”, aka getting someone to actually cast their vote for a candidate.

    If I was advising the Dems, I would tell them to cast the GOP as dirty. Unclean, poorly kempt, slovenly.

  130. 130.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kropacetic:

    No prob!

    @Splitting Image:

    Poor Chamberlain gets a bad rap. He was operating in the political environment he found himself in; the British public didn’t want a repeat of WW1 and he knew Britain was not in a position to challenge Germany militarily; appeasement was simply buying time for rearmament

  133. 133.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Suzanne:

    Our side underestimates that, but it’s incredibly effective imagecraft. Also, we seem to have this aversion to effective market positioning and image-making and brand-building.

    Eh, was “Sleepy Joe Biden”, really that effective?

  134. 134.

    Miss Bianca

    @HeleninEire: So sorry to hear you are having family woes. Take care of yourself and yours and then there can be great rejoicing when you come back to us.

  137. 137.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:We’ve also gone a year and a half without a bona fide ethical scandal. People say that’s what they want, but they ignore it when they have it.

    That’s so true!  I have failed to make more hay out of the scandal-free Biden Admin as opposed to trumpov’s corrupt menagerie of swindlers and grifters.

    Remember that guy Zinke (I think it was Zinke?) who had his own. personal. flag. run up the flag pole at Interior whenever he was in the office, like some sort of medieval lord in his castle?  LOL  I’m sure the media would let that slide if it was Deb Haaland or Pete Buttigieg…

    …and comparatively speaking, Zinke and his flag were kiddie stuff compared to the criming that the rest of them were doing.

  138. 138.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Leto:

    Haven’t read all the points linked to but do they  still include eliminating Social Security and Medicare????

  139. 139.

    Jeffro

    @gene108:The way to slow Rufo and every GOP operative down is for Democrats to win election after election.

    That and a restoration of much higher and progressive tax rates (on income AND dividends, etc).

    They can only fund this relentless assault on democracy, to include funding Rufo, with all the extra cash they have lying around from not paying their fair share.

  141. 141.

    Starfish

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It was.

    They built upon their false image for their audience by repeatedly editing videos to make him seem less coherent.

    “Sleepy” did not actually mean sleepy. It was used to accuse Joe Biden of having conditions associated with old age without being ableist. Were the anti-PC Republicans being PC to appeal to disaffected Democrats? Possibly.

  142. 142.

    Bill Arnold

    @Suzanne:

    The only thing that Trump is good at (and he is devastatingly good at it) is seeing a weakness in someone else and giving it a catchy name in a way that becomes a stink that they cannot wash off.

    I vigorously agree with your broader point, but Trump’s strength is identifying weaknesses in other individuals and exploiting them. The catchy name thing is only a part of it; he is old-school demonic in his ability to identify the weaknesses of others and amplify them into full-blown evil. (This is part of the dark side of a broad skill set that can be learned.)

  143. 143.

    gene108

    @Suzanne:

    Trump has the low cunning of shady salesman, who knows how to play to an audience and say whatever they want to hear to close the deal. He’s been playing to audiences and keeping them entertained, since the 1980’s. It’s his one gift that’s bolstered by his narcissism, because he just has to be the center of attention.

    Most other politicians need to hire speechwriters and consultants to help them sell themselves to bigger audiences, as they move up in politics. Very few, if any, start whatever career they started with craving and seeking the spotlight the way Trump did.

    Even President Biden, who became a Senator at 29, backed away from the spotlight the D.C. press wanted to shine on him after his first wife and oldest daughter died in a car accident.

  147. 147.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    @Splitting Image:

    Chamberlain was a Conservative, and did not want to raise taxes to finance rearmament, so preferred appeasement.

    The Socialist/Popular Front government in France, led by Leon Blum, raised taxes, and made taxes more progressive, to finance rearmament, and also nationalized/increased government controls on the arms industry. But capital flight, and Blum lost power, and French conservatives preferred appeasement.

  148. 148.

    ian

    @Old Man Shadow: LGM has been having a pity fest about the age of all Dem leaders.

    The recent mantra has been “Kagan and Sotomayor need to retire… YESTERDAY!”

    LGM is great for doom scrolling.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @Kropacetic: I get a lot of news through the internet, but I regularly catch news on AM radio and that’s actually not a bad source I think for both national and local news.

    My townie friends like to listen to podcasts and watch documentaries. They are deeply informed about some topics, but not as broadly informed as they would be if they caught the national news reports on radio just a couple times a day. And between the hourly local news, and interviews and reports on the local morning and afternoon programs, I  know way more about what goes on in their town than they do, and I live twenty miles away.

  153. 153.

    different-church-lady

    @zhena gogolia: The idea is they strategically retire now so that in the 3 days we have left of controlling congress Biden can nominate and confirm a pair of six-year-olds to the court, to ensure those seats stay liberal into the future.

  156. 156.

    Shalimar

    @Brachiator: I used to know every single reporter and editor who worked at my 2 editions per day local newspaper.  It’s now 3 editions per week and I don’t know anyone there.  And haven’t had a subscription in 20 years.

  159. 159.

    Honus

     

    @HeleninEire: yes, what Baud and the others said.  Take care of yourself and drop in and say hi once in while, maybe in a low stress pet thread or one of Cole’s willow tree or recipe posts.

  160. 160.

    Shalimar

    @ian: “Kagan and Sotomayor need to retire” was Loomis, who has absolutely no expertise whatsoever in the subject matter.  Most of the commentariat sadly agreed with him, but I didn’t see Campos or Lemieux among them.

  161. 161.

    Honus

    @Geminid: what AM do you listen to?  WINA used to good on local news but now every time I listen unless it’s a UVA game I get awful RWNJ talk radio like Mark Levin or Sebastian Gorka.  TJU has a local news show but it’s only about five minutes long.

  162. 162.

    Geminid

    @BlueGuitarist: Prime Minister Daladier of France wanted to back the Czechs but he could not without Great Britain’s help. Chamberlain overestimated German military strength and underrated that of the Czechs. He also hoped to divert Hitler’s aggression towards the Soviet Union, and was still trying to bribe Hitler to that end with an offer of British credit a month before war broke out in 1939.

    The best history I’ve read in this area is The Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact (1989). Authors Anthony Read and David Fisher based the book on their extensive research for a BBC documentary series.

    They included a lot of personal anecdotes, and one concerned Daladier. Like Chamberlain, Daladier was given a very enthusiastic reception when he returned home from Munich. Standing on a balcony as the large crowd below cheered him, Daladier turned to an associate standing next to him and said, “The fools.”.

  164. 164.

    Shalimar

    @Steve in the ATL:  Sotomayor has been a type 1 diabetic for most of her life, which to Loomis means she is going to die soon.  It’s one of those subjects he is pig-ignorant about.

    I’m not even sure why he includes the 62 year old Kagan, who is still young by top-level judicial standards and has no health issues.

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    just saw a headline from the Hayes program that the J6 committee has scheduled another (relatively) quick hearing for next Tuesday

    “Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary in the Trump White House until resigning shortly after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, has been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the insurrection and has agreed to testify at an upcoming hearing, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation,” Katelyn Polantz and Ryan Nobles reported. “Matthews has been subpoenaed to testify at a public hearing as early as next week, sources tell CNN.”

  168. 168.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne:

    Undocumented, unlike the FTFNYT word clouds for Trump and Hillary leading up to the election, is how the networks–all of them–excerpted her campaign appearances throughout the election cycle. They INEVITABLY selected clips where she was shouty, her least best public speaker self.

    Having actually attended a Hillary rally I was quite taken with how good a public speaker she is in long form. Nothing, other than live real-time broadcasts of her rallies showed that version of Clinton, while again, everybody showed every minute of every Trump rally, including people waiting for Trump because Trump was late, again. He. Got. Ratings.

    Historians need to wrestle with that aspect of 2016 because it was a damn crime.

  169. 169.

    Brachiator

    @sab:

    My slightly less than forty year old stepchildren get all their news on the internet or podcasts.

    Fortunately there are tons of good news podcasts

     

    @Shalimar:

    I used to know every single reporter and editor who worked at my 2 editions per day local newspaper.  It’s now 3 editions per week and I don’t know anyone there.  And haven’t had a subscription in 20 years.

    I thank you and everyone else who answered my question.

    Where I used to work, one person subscribed to the LA Times and brought the physical paper to work. The Sports section would end up in the break room, but the rest was tossed. People would get entertainment news from various places, but might go to CNN for a hot breaking story. Nobody under age 30 gave a rat’s ass about the NY Times or Washington Post.

    Until they went out of business when the owner retired, I would walk down to a local news stand which carried a ton of local, out of town, and international newspapers and magazines. On weekends, I would sometimes by the Times of London as well as the Sunday NY Times.

    There used to be a couple of free news weeklies that had good local coverage. My local public radio station KPCC has good local reporting.

  172. 172.

    J R in WV

    @Ladyraxterinok: ​
     

    Haven’t read all the points linked to but do they still include eliminating Social Security and Medicare????

    Yes, but they’ve decided not to talk about those goals right now. They will surprise us with them after the election to end all elections. Then, if they decide to make everyone poor and starving, we will surprise them.

  173. 173.

    Soprano2

    @sab: I literally had a friend tell me on FB that “everything was better when TFG was president”. I reminded him about 2020, and how bad it was. I swear, all they remember is that gas was cheap and everyone had money.

  174. 174.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Brachiator:

    It’s a sad situation. Two of the major local dailies in my area are owned by the same company out of West Virginia, and are shells of their former selves. They regularly run front page headlines like, “Convicted murderer denied parole.” J6 committee news is often below the fold or in a small box in a list of other news

    I remember some letter by the editor in the run-up to the 2020 election apologizing to readers about not covering Hunter Biden’s laptop with the seriousness it so obviously deserved

  176. 176.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I can’t decide if its a good thing that TFG has basically taken over the news cycle with the 1/6 and his other lawsuits. It reminds people of how bad he is/was but it also prevents Biden from talking up his accomplishments. Ofcourse it also helps not having to constantly talk about inflation/gas prices/labor shortages etc. I wish the Dems had a messaging system like the GOP along with the media. This is another depressing thread.

  177. 177.

    Urban Suburbanite

    It’s a good year for doomscrolling.

    Rufo is just part of the problem – there are a bunch of career failures turned right wing grifters coming out of Seattle. They’re running jokes around here, but they’re getting fluffed up for the national grift circuit. And unlike scumbags such as Andy Ngo and Elijah Schaefer they’re a bit more polished and their fascist ties aren’t quite so obvious. They pander to the same douchebag demographics, are boosted by the same shady outfits, and hate the same people, but can throw a “centrist and moderate” gloss on their acts.

    Side note – One of these grifters has tried to tell me and someone else she’s pro-choice. While she’s spouting the exacr same talking points as the forced pregnancy fetishists. These people don’t even pretend to believe.

  178. 178.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @J R in WV: don’t worry. If they manage to eliminate social security and Medicare, the Dems will be elected to clean up the mess with the same obstruction and 2 years later Fox pundits along with Breitbart, Daily Caller, Newsmax etc  will inform  everybody that it was the Dems who eliminated Medicare and Social Security. Just like when a majority of Lousianans blamed Obama for Katrina because goshdarnit Obama’s time machine made him POTUS  during Katrina.

  179. 179.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    I love Sotomayor and I recognize LGM has issues, but Sotomayor should retire. She’s 68 and if the republicans win in 2024 and serves 2 terms, that will mean she’ll have to stay in the job until 78 and that is always a risky proposition. That in no way means she will die, but even if there is a 1 percent chance of a negative event, it’s not a risk that should be taken given the severity of another fascist on the court.

    Dems have done this before. Hugo Black was 81 in 1967 and he didn’t want to retire. Then he died a few years later and Nixon appointed his successor, Lewis Powell, who was cagey enough to retire at age 80 to let Reagan appoint his successor, who turned out to be Kennedy, who was cagey enough to retire and let Judge Rapey succeed him.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @Honus: I catch WINA on my hour or so commuting each day. Sometimes I listen to WSVA from Harrisonburg instead. I like their ambience; they are like a small town station, while as you know Charlottesville is a very big little city and WINA reflects this.

    I can also hear WTOP on their Fredericksburg transmitter (107.7FM). Being based out of DC, they have a lot of political news. The traffic reports are often dreary, though.

    And now Charlottesville has an oldies station! It’s community supported WREN, 97.9 FM. Today, I heard them play Jackie Wilson’s Tears on My Pillow. I thought of Mike Lindell.

  184. 184.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @livewyre:

    If Sotomayor were to retire right now, you don’t think Biden could get another SCOTUS judge confirmed?

  185. 185.

    livewyre

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I mean, we’ve seen that it’s not the biggest lift. But the comment I’m replying to is pretty deep in the “what if” weeds, so the response to that is that unforeseen scenarios cut both ways.

    There’s no guaranteed right move, only fighting with whatever we have. Trying to anticipate everything (especially without a strategy) is a good way to stay paralyzed.

    edit: Not to mention the subtext: shades of RBG and Garland that have been hashed out agonizingly for years.

  188. 188.

    Another Scott

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch:

    That in no way means she will die, but even if there is a 1 percent chance of a negative event, it’s not a risk that should be taken given the severity of another fascist on the court.

    I don’t see how a 7:2 RWNJ SCOTUS is worse than a 6:3 RWNJ SCOTUS.

    Moscow Mitch fought to keep Garland from taking Scalia’s seat because it would have removed the “anchor” of the RWNJ faction of the Court and shifted the balance. (Garland + RBG + Sotomayor + Kagan + Breyer is a majority.) The balance only matters up to the point that you have the majority.

    Yes, any of the Justices could die or decide to resign for personal reasons at any time. But I don’t see how the present 6:3 RWNJ court changes her calculus in any way.

    YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  189. 189.

    SFAW

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​
     

    I wonder if anybody’s ever tried the whole “Doom posting is voter suppression” thing on Loomis and the LGM commentariat?

    Just because it’s a semi-popular sentiment here (in some quarters) does not mean it necessarily reflects reality. Venting one’s frustrations does not (necessarily) mean that the venter is going to pull a “both sides are the same, so I ain’t a-gonna vote,” nor that the venter will give up vis-a-vis taking action.
    But acknowledging that (i.e., the preceding sentence) does not allow one to shit-talk the so-called “Eeyores,” so …

  190. 190.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott: ​

    I don’t see how a 7:2 RWNJ SCOTUS is worse than a 6:3 RWNJ SCOTUS.

    As far as the actual rulings, it doesn’t matter. As far as what it will take to get back to a RWMF minority? That’s a different story.​

  191. 191.

    evodevo

    @Soprano2: Yes…only the one I engage with is a raving MAGAt…the Republican talking points are deluging the airwaves and soaking into not only right winger brains.  I don’t know what the remedy is, but it needs to be countered, loudly…

  192. 192.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kropacetic:  It still enrages me that if the Afghanistan withdrawal and withdrawal had taken place under trump and gone even half as well as it did under Biden, our worthless media would have hailed him as the new Winston Churchill.

  193. 193.

    Citizen Alan

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    And yet, it was an incredibly close election considering the fact that Biden’s opponent was one of the most evil ans repulsive people to hold office in American history.

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