Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I was promised a recession.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Infrastructure week. at last.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Welcome to Massachusetts, VP Harris!

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Welcome to Massachusetts, VP Harris!

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(The Boston branch of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is inordinately proud of their wind turbines, for good reasons.)

Local brag:

Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Just words.  A real leader would have had an abortion while in Massachusetts.

    Also too, good on the union for welcoming her.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    They’re ba-a-a-ack.

    The Conservative Political Action Conference is back in Dallas for an event that expected to bring Republican leaders and people from across the country to North Texas.
    [snip]
    Trump has made a number of recent Texas appearances, including at a National Rifle Association convention in Houston in late May. He is no stranger to CPAC, having spoken at past conventions.

    The former president is scheduled to give closing remarks at the convention at 5:35 p.m. Saturday.

    The convention’s speakers also includes Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been criticized after a recent speech in which he opposed Europeans becoming “peoples of mixed race.” One of Orban’s advisers resigned after the remarks, calling them “pure Nazi,” the Associated Press reported.

    Other convention speakers include:

    • Fox News Host Sean Hannity
    • Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon
    • Former HUD Secretary Ben Carson
    • U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
    . Source

  5. 5.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Apparently she’s not for everyone, but I love, respect, and am grateful for MVP.

    And man, is VP a mostly thankless job! Veep (the show) was spot on.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Also FYI.

    An Austin jury on Thursday decided Infowars host Alex Jones must pay at least $4.1 million to the family of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for the suffering he and his website and broadcast caused them by spreading lies about the 2012 massacre.
    [snip]
    The jury was only asked to decide whether Jones, who has already been found liable by a judge because he did not hand over critical evidence before the trial began, must also pay Jesse’s parents for the emotional distress and reputational damage caused by his false claims. The jury will also decide whether to award punitive damages. The panel will hear testimony on that subject Friday.Source

  10. 10.

    MisterForkbeard

    @NotMax: The last time Republicans attended something like this (the NRA National Convention) there was the Uvalde shooting right before it.

    What’s the equivalent for CPAC? Pregnant women dying because of Republican anti-abortion and anti-woman laws?

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    @MisterForkbeard

    Only question I have is why DeSantis hasn’t been announced as a speaker. One cannot help but presume he’ll be in attendance. Did Dolt 45 put the kibosh on that?

  19. 19.

    mali muso

    Testing to see if I’m still getting stuck in the spam filter…

    eta, must have been something about posting from my computer versus my phone

    count me in as a proud booster of MVP Harris!

  21. 21.

    geg6

    @rikyrah:

    I think I read there could be a multiplier applied.  I believe the max is 10x.  I don’t know anything at all about TX laws, but that would be $40 million.  That sounds right.  And aren’t there two other judgments on tap?

  22. 22.

    Mike S

    As The Confederacy of National Socialists holds their Konfab in Dallas, this Reveal podcast is worth listening too.

    Inside the Global Fight for White Power
    From Russia to Sweden and the United States, there’s a growing network of White nationalist groups that stretches around the world. The reporting team at Verified: The Next Threat investigates how these militant groups are helping each other create propaganda, recruit new members and share paramilitary skills.

    We start with a group called the Russian Imperial Movement, or RIM. Its members are taking up arms in Russia’s war against Ukraine, which they say is a battle in a much larger “holy war” for White power. Newsy senior investigative reporter Mark Greenblatt interviews a leader of the group who says RIM’s goal is to unite White nationalists around the world. The group even runs training camps where White supremacists from around the world can learn paramilitary tactics.

    …

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    @geg6:

    The $4.1 million is for compensatory damages. There also will be an award (still to be determined) for punitive damages, which I hope will be astronomically high. I haven’t read anything about a multiplier.

  24. 24.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Standing up for women’s healthcare rights and workers. What’s not to like about our fine VP?

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @cain: all the way back in 2012, I proposed to my RWNJ dad and brother that we three attend a day or two of CPAC.  I wanted to laugh and point while they – in theory – could meet with their idols.

    They declined.  They knew what a clown show the GQP was becoming and didn’t want to have to look at it up close.  (Bro especially – he is a real head-in-the-sand type, even though at heart he’s a Gingrich nihilist)

    Needless to say, I haven’t re-extended the offer.  I haven’t had to.

    Speaking of Gingrich and nihilism on the right, Dana Milbank has a new book coming out next week: The Deconstructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party.

    He’s pretty spot-on

    Admittedly, I’m partisan — not for Democrats but for democrats. Republicans have become an authoritarian faction fighting democracy — and there’s a perfectly logical reason for this: Democracy is working against Republicans. In the eight presidential contests since 1988, the GOP candidate has won a majority of the popular vote only once, in 2004. As the United States approaches majority-minority status (the White population, 76 percent of the country in 1990, is now 58 percent and will drop below 50 percent around 2045), Republicans have become the voice of White people, particularly those without college degrees, who fear the loss of their way of life in a multicultural America. White grievance and White fear drive Republican identity more than any other factor — and in turn drive the tribalism and dysfunction in the U.S. political system.

    Other factors sped the party’s turn toward nihilism: Concurrent with the rise of Gingrich was the ascent of conservative talk radio, followed by the triumph of Fox News, followed by the advent of social media. Combined, they created a media environment that allows Republican politicians and their voters to seal themselves in an echo chamber of “alternative facts.” Globally, south-to-north migration has ignited nationalist movements around the world and created a new era of autocrats. The disappearance of the Greatest Generation, tempered by war, brought to power a new generation of culture warriors.

    But the biggest cause is race. The parties re-sorted themselves after the epochal changes of the 1960s, which expanded civil rights, voting rights and immigration. Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” began an appeal to White voters alienated by racial progress, and, in the years that followed, a new generation of Republicans took that racist undertone and made it the melody.

    It is crucial to understand that Donald Trump didn’t create this noxious environment. He isn’t some hideous, orange Venus emerging from the half-shell. Rather, he is a brilliant opportunist; he saw the direction the Republican Party was taking and the appetites it was stoking. The onetime pro-choice advocate of universal health care reinvented himself to give Republicans what they wanted. Because Trump is merely a reflection of the sickness in the GOP, the problem won’t go away when he does.

  32. 32.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Steeplejack: And then there’s the $ his ex-wife will get now that she has access to his finances which he lied about during their divorce settlement.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    I am going to keep saying it until it sinks in:

    Chris Wray was & is a woefully under-qualified partisan loyalist, who allowed the FBI to become weaponized as a tool of the GOP, and allowed a brazen attack on the Capitol, and a multi-faceted failed coup to occur ON HIS WATCH.

    — Pam Keith, Esq. (@PamKeithFL) August 4, 2022

  37. 37.

    schrodingers_cat

    Guys going to India tomorrow. So help me God (or Ceiling Cat!)

    In other news, I finally did it! I bought a whole set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. They were spendy but they are awesome!

  41. 41.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Spanky:

    Don’t know if that’s France or not, but it’s raining and storming in Philly, they just rolled the tarp out.

  47. 47.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Award-Winning Documentary “Can We All Get Along? The Segregation of John Muir High School” Premieres on PBS SoCal, KCET in September

    PBS SoCal and KCET announced Wednesday the broadcast premiere of a recent documentary “Can We All Get Along? The Segregation of John Muir High School.”
    The documentary follows Pasadena’s John Muir High School alumnus and filmmaker Pablo Miralles who returns to his formerly integrated school discovering things have changed since he graduated in 1982, and reflects on whether or not to send his own son to the school.

    “Can We Get Along?” premieres Thurs., Sept. 8 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS SoCal and Wed., Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. on KCET.

    …

  48. 48.

    James E Powell

    @Jeffro:

    White grievance and White fear drive Republican identity more than any other factor — and in turn drive the tribalism and dysfunction in the U.S. political system.

    Low level campaign volunteers – like me & thousands of others – who have talked with white voters at their front doors, neighborhood gatherings, and local festivals, have known this since the 80s. Over the years, several people have told me so, in words both polite & vulgar language, that they will not vote for Democrats because all they care about are [insert euphemism or epithet].

    And until now I’ve been told I’m exaggerating, I’m focusing too much on a small group that don’t matter, and I’m just plain wrong. I’m glad someone who is a Villager or at least Villager Adjacent has noticed.

    This DeSantis bullshit suspending the DA? That’s just the return of Willie Horton. They’re doing it all over the country.

    It needs to be said out loud & often. The Rs truly have nothing else to offer. Make them defend it.

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jeffro: I’ll have to read that excerpt. Milbank is a big enough name that his book will get a lot of coverage, and cause a lot of caterwauling amongst the stuck pigs

    (I still haven’t forgot about Mad Bitch beer, though)

  53. 53.

    Dan B

    @schrodingers_cat: Shold be toasty.  Hope you keep cool.  I went from coastal Costa Rica, 98° plus 60% humidity to Mumbai and Kerala 98°, 70% humidity with friends from India.  I’d adapted from three weeks in the tropics.  They were too hot.

  54. 54.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @James E Powell: I think this is the big secret (for us white people at least) that our society has put almost infinite effort into shielding us from.  And people like my parents have spent their entire lives in denial about the truth and their own complicity.  Fortunately there’s a ton of great books, films, tv series’, podcasts, Twitter threads, comic books etc., that spell it all out, plain as day for anyone to see, nowadays.  I think the other side knows this, knows that more and more people are waking up to it and that is part of why they are trying to create the CRT bogeyman and ban books.  It’s not just Black and other PoC saying this stuff now, white liberals/progressives are also owning up to the truth that Whiteness and White Supremacy (as well as Patriarchy) are absolutely central to Conservatism.  And everything, whether it’s Taxes, Guns, Forced Birth, Fossil Fuels, all stem from it.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Test message which will put me in moderation for a bit because I’m using my BRAND NEW LAPTOP! It’s been more than a decade since I last used a computer, and I’m in for a bit of a learning curve, I fear. But what a meaningful 80th birthday gift!

    ETA: Huh. No moderation! I mean, that’s great and all, but I was under the impression that commenting from a new device put one in mod prison for a few minutes.

  57. 57.

    Kropacetic

    @Baud: Also too, good on the union for welcoming her.

    I come into the city from that direction every day and love that IBEW billboard. Always advertising Dems and Dem priorities.

    Too bad the windmill always idle tho.

  58. 58.

    Kropacetic

    @ Jeffro: White fear drive Republican identity more than any other factor

    Too bad for them, White faux-Christian identitarian politics and ossifying effect on their internal culture is making them culturally irrelevant faster. Which pisses them off more…/feedbackLoop

  59. 59.

    Scout211

    Sinema says she will “move forward” on the economic bill.

    In a statement, Sinema indicated that she won several changes to the tax provisions of the legislation, including removing the tax on carried interest, which would have impacted hedge fund managers and private equity. That proposal would have raised $14 billion.

    “We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing, and boost our clean energy economy in the Senate’s budget reconciliation legislation,” Sinema said. “Subject to the Parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward.”

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Not device-dependent, it just depends on whether the blog recognizes your nym and email.

    Well, device-dependent in that you have to enter nym and email on each device you comment from.

    What computer did you get?

  65. 65.

    Kropacetic

    @Scout211: “We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing, and boost our clean energy economy

    Clever not explaining that one among the three provisions…

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    @James E Powell:It needs to be said out loud & often. The Rs truly have nothing else to offer. Make them defend it.

    AY-men

    It’s a choice they’re making and they ought to have to explain that, over and over and over.

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    New Republic Capitol Hiil correspondent @Grace Segers reports that Chuck Schumer will start moving the Inflation Recovery Act on Saturday. Sounds like a long process: a vote that will start 20 hours of debate, a “Votarama” where dozens of amendments  will be offered and voted on, including a final “wraparound” amendment that could override previous amendments, and then a final vote by midweek.

    I guess the Parliamentarian has approved the various provisions as suitable for a Reconciliation bill. I saw that Senator Ron Wyden (OR), Finance Commitee Chairman, was bragging to reporters that his commitee had hired the craftiest drafters out there to make the bill fly.

    So no weekend off for Ms. Segers, or the Senators either. They’ll be extra glad to get to the final vote and take their August break. Schumer seems to believe he has the votes, and Speaker Pelosi says she has them too.

  72. 72.

    sixthdoctor

    The deal with Sinema includes a new excise tax on stock buybacks that will bring in more than the $14 billion raised by the carried interest provision, according to a Democrat familiar with the agreement. The deficit reduction figure remains about $300 billion.
    — Burgess Everett (@burgessev) August 5, 2022

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne: Belated HBD to you and OO!!

    AFAIK, B-J only cares about the ‘nym and e-mail address you use – not the machine you’re coming from.  (I’ve never had issues using my standard ‘nym and e-mail on a new machine.)

    Enjoy your new toy!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    “Reservation Dogs” is back with Season 2. Based on the first couple episodes, the characters are better fleshed out and more engaging than ever. Love this show.

    Also, best use of a Tom Petty lyric in a movie or show, evah.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Traditionally, such a wish would drop you into a far more horrifying reality, but in this case even the most imaginative and malevolent daemon, djinn, or Twilight Zone writer would be hard-pressed to come up with one.

  91. 91.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s a Dell Inspiron 1700. My friend was required to purchase four of them when he bought a fitness franchise a few years ago. They have since sold their OrangeTheory place bu still had the four computers. He uses one, his wife uses one, they gave a third to his SIL, and realised that this one was just gathering dust — so, knowing that I was using only an iPhone, they gave the fourth to me rather than having it sit around gathering dust!

  93. 93.

    sdhays

    If this is even close to accurate, it looks like Ohio just might send another Democrat to the Senate:

    PPUSA
    @PollProjectUSA
    POLL:
    @CenterStreetPAC
    /
    @MomentiveAI

    2022 #OHSen General Election
    (D) Tim Ryan 49% (+11)
    (R) J.D. Vance 38%

    516 LV | 8/1-8-3

  95. 95.

    sdhays

    @sdhays: I like this:

    “This is the second poll this week where we’ve seen voters moving away from Senate candidates that are extreme and have little or no recent roots in the state in which they’re running,” said Center Street Co-Founder Matt O’Brien. “While Vance’s numbers aren’t quite as dismal as Oz in Pennsylvania, they’re quickly moving in that direction.”

    Vance’s favorability even fell among Republicans, with 75% viewing him as Somewhat or Very Favorable in July. In August, that number fell to only 62%. Meanwhile, Ryan’s favorability among Republican voters increased to an above average score.

  96. 96.

    cain

    @sdhays: The GOP must be shitting bricks with that poll. They are the party that finally decided after playing the long game to cash in their chips now realizing that they might not have the winning hand they thought they did.

  97. 97.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    Surgery day update:

    I am alive. The surgeon found a nodule so removed a section of small bowel, which has been sent to pathology. Nurses here on the surgery floor have had a very bad time (with others) since I arrived  but seem to be getting things calmed down now.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Another Scott:

    Thanks for b’day wishes! I guess I somehow thought the device made a difference because whenever we report on whether the site is working properly or if there are problems, WG always likes to know what device, browser, etc. So I thought it was important :-)

  103. 103.

    PJ

    Apologies if someone has already posted or commented about this, but, as you all probably know, Wisconsin and Georgia have recently banned ballot drop boxes.  Four Directions, the Get Out the Native American Vote organization, is raising money to hire more Native American workers to counter this action.  I am cutting and pasting their recent email to me below.  Apologies also for the shilling but BJ has come through for them before and it seems like they do good work:
    States from coast to coast are passing laws making it harder for people to vote, particularly minorities and Native Americans, in the upcoming midterm elections in November. Several weeks ago, Wisconsin banned the use of almost all ballot drop boxes, hiding behind the fictional guise of “protecting election integrity”. And last week, Georgia did the very same thing, ordering the overwhelming majority of drop boxes be immediately removed from primarily urban areas where heavy voter traffic is the norm during election periods (please click on the link below to read, or listen to, the full story in npr.)
     
    https://www.npr.org/2022/07/27/1112487312/georgia-voting-law-ballot-drop-box-access

     
    Why are key Senate battleground states like Wisconsin and Georgia taking these draconian steps to limit access to the ballot box 96 days before a crucial election? Because the people who rely on ballot drop boxes to make sure their votes are counted – minorities, Native Americans and other marginalized communities – tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates, an electoral preference that Republican officials in these states would like to limit and restrict.

     
    FOUR DIRECTIONS Native Vote will not sit idly by while these repressive and undemocratic policies are put into place – we will respond in kind! Although we can’t prevent state officials from taking disingenuous steps to curtail the right to vote, they are powerless to stop us from working even harder in the affected states to turn out more voters than ever before –  which is exactly what we will do! Our plan, effective immediately, is to hire more Native American workers to expand our existing voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts in Wisconsin and Georgia. To do this efficiently and on short notice, we need your help. Please click on the ActBlue link below to make a contribution to help us finance Operation Wisconsin and Georgia – an initiative which must be funded by Friday, August 5th, if hiring and training is to begin next week.
     
    https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fourdirections2019

     
    Working together, we can’t be stopped – no matter what obstacle the anti-voting, anti-democracy crowd tries to put in our way.

  104. 104.

    sdhays

    @cain: What’s also delicious about both Oz and Vance is how instrumental Tramp was is making them the nominee. They were both the weakest candidates – especially Vance – and yet Tramp needed to anoint the victor. It seems to me that by September, the RNCC might just concede Pennsylvania because Oz is so weak.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Why did no one make me a festive Cherry Cola-Chocolate Mayonnaise Sauerkraut Cake for my birthday? 

  109. 109.

    Ken

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve used all those ingredients in cakes (well, it was regular cola, not cherry cola), and each was pretty good. I can’t speak to the combination.

    (Mayo is just oil and eggs, both perfectly cromulent in cake. Cola is flavored water, and a bit of acidity for the leavening agent. Sauerkraut provides moisture and acidity, and breaks down in baking, like the grated carrot in a carrot cake.)

  110. 110.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sdhays: I’ll add this

    Cheri Beasley @CheriBeasleyNC. 10h

    “Cheri Beasley is a formidable fundraiser—as of the last fundraising quarter, she had $4.2M cash on hand to GOP Rep. Ted Budd’s $1.8M. Recent polling has shown Beasley steadily creeping up on Budd, if not in the lead outright.”

    Translation? Don’t sleep on North Carolina.

    Seems to me a lot of people are sleeping on Cheri Beasley

  117. 117.

    Chris T.

    The Boston branch of the [IBEW] is inordinately proud of their wind turbines, for good reasons

    If it’s “for good reasons”, shouldn’t that be ordinately proud?

  118. 118.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Nope, if you use the same nym and email address on another computer, you should be good to go. And after you type it once, it should stick so you don’t have to type it again.

Comments are closed.