Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

In my day, never was longer.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Fight them, without becoming them!

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Random Scrambling

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Random Scrambling

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While we prep the serious eats…

White House Weddinghazi!!! filters down to the lower levels of the Wingnut Wurlitzer…


Not coffee — ice cream! They’ve already tried demonizing Nancy Pelosi’s freezer and Joe Biden’s cravings. ICE CREAM IS FOR DEMOCRATS AND PROBABLY MAKES YOU GAY.

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  3. 3.

    Jackie

    Liz Cheney is pissing off the J6 Committee.

    “….Now, less than six weeks before the conclusion of the committee’s work, Cheney’s influence over the committee’s final report has rankled many current and former committee staff. They are angered and disillusioned by Cheney’s push to focus the report primarily on former president Donald Trump, and have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker’s political future.

    Fifteen former and current staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public.”
    More at the link:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/23/liz-cheney-jan-6-committee/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Suzanne: Hanania is part of the crowd that is pushing that women should be identified for marriage as young as legally possible. Or, in some cases, even illegally possible.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    Sorry for bigfooting you. Just wanted to get the update up so I can go do my baking and then do a quick workout.

  6. 6.

    Anyway

    Do we know which Dems were the recipients of SFB’s largesse? I read that he/FTX were one of the largest Dem/left donors this cycle but it’s hard to tell which PACs/Reps he funelled his millions to.

  7. 7.

    Suzanne

    @Adam L Silverman: She got married before 30, which is pretty young these days.

    Whatever. I suspect many straight conservative men are just pedophiles.

    In general, I figure they are just salty that they can’t find a tradwife.

  10. 10.

    FelonyGovt

    My late mother in law was 4 years older than her husband, and they were married for almost 70 years.

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    Tiffany Trump is three years older than her husband. And crazy Kimmy G is, like, ten years older than Uday.

  14. 14.

    M31

    a 3-year age difference? I almost typed “now do David Brooks” but then I threw up in my mouth

     

    actually I’m sure it’s because the woman is older, and if they ever find out she makes more money than the groom and he’s fine with that they’ll really lose it

  15. 15.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: One of the things I have learned from lurking at social conservative media is that, in general, they are pissed that educated liberals (probably relatively secular) are doing better at marriage and family than evangelical trad types.

  16. 16.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Jackie:

    Liz Cheney is pissing off the J6 Committee.

    Liz Cheney has opined that the insurrectionists are just a bunch of misled patriots who love their country. Focusing on the planning and financing of the attack on the Capitol would besmirch these brave conservatives.

    Example number I lost count why it’s never a good idea to ally too closely with Republicans.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    @Suzanne:

    Their elites have convinced them they should be on the top of the world because they are part of the right tribe. Then they see us and they can’t process it.

  19. 19.

    Mousebumples

    @M31: haha, I’m about 1-1/2 years older than Mr. Mouse and I make more money. (I’m also about a half inch taller, if you think that belongs on the list?) I love how much he doesn’t sweat that sort of superficial stuff. (plus… My making more money means more money for our family – which seems like a good thing? 🤔)

    Glad to do my part to keep them howling in agony.

  22. 22.

    Mousebumples

    @Sure Lurkalot: if “allying” with her helped persuade enough indies to break from midterm tradition and limit the electoral losses earlier this month, I’d call that a deal worth making.

    I look forward to the report but most normies will forget it by 2024.

  23. 23.

    Starfish

    Okay, okay, but how do we fit Donald Trump’s petty “I get two scoops while everyone else gets one” thing into the universe where ice cream is for Democrats and probably makes you gay?

  25. 25.

    Dan B

    My mother was five years older than my father.  She married late – 40 years old.  She’d already achieved old maid status.  She had opinions and let people know.  A right winger’s nightmare.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: They’re salty about a whole bunch of stuff around women and relationships.

    The data on educational assortative mating is staggering and I think this is a major shift. In short, over the last twenty or so years, there’s been a significant increase in partners of the same educational level marrying one another. Women have also been increasing as a share of the population on college campuses. Obviously the trend line is that the more education one has, in general, one has a higher salary. So much of the blahblahblah from conservatives about how college is bad is underlined by the fact that men without college education are finding it more difficult to partner up and that is a major source of unhappiness. And couples with two high salaries are obviously more financially stable than two lower earning people. And couples where both have more education tend to do the education first, get established in careers, then get married, then have kids….and often, they have fewer kids.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @Mousebumples: Did you watch Ali Wong’s special in which she makes a great joke about women who earn more than their husbands? “The only kind of man that would leave a woman who makes more money is the kind of man that doesn’t like free money.”

    She’s getting divorced, BTW.

  29. 29.

    Almost Retired

    Looking forward to an extended family Thanksgiving tomorrow.  And since this is Los Angeles, there are no crazy uncles who dominate the conversation and make everyone uncomfortable with their ignorant political opinions and old-guy resentments.   We are lucky in that regard and…wait….. um…..What if I am the crazy uncle!???

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    @eclare: And Tiffany’s wedding wasn’t in Vogue.

    Tiffany and Marla looked pretty. Ivanka, Melanoma, and Crazy Kimmy all look like they had the day off from the strip club.

  31. 31.

    ColoradoGuy

    Finally figured out why Republicans thought “herd immunity” was such a great idea. They divide the world into God’s Chosen People and cattle (thus the appeal of “herd” immunity as a catchphrase for the majority of humanity). It also explains why they’re mad at Jews, because the title of “chosen people” was already taken a long time ago, and it ain’t the GOP.

  32. 32.

    Citizen Alan

    @Starfish: We Dems are willing to share ice cream freely with others and respect all kinds of ice cream flavors. Repukes only like bland vanilla and hoard it all to themselves.

  36. 36.

    Mousebumples

    @Suzanne: haha, I did not.

    And your statement above (college degrees wanting to marry like), rings true for me. I have a Doctorate (and am paid accordingly) – but a boyfriend from my early 20s ended things because he wanted to “provide for me”… But he’d dropped out of college and was working in IT support for an area business.

    Never made sense to me. So… You don’t want me to make more than triple what you do… And we should just be “happy” on your low (relatively) annual salary? Pass.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jackie:

    and have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker’s political future.

    I can’t really offer an opinion on focusing on trump or not, I can see both sides– but honestly I don’t see a political future for Dick Jr. She can’t get elected in red or blue areas, purple would be tricky, and nobody’s going to appoint her to anything that could launch a WH campaign. A national third-party run based on Bush/Cheney conservatism? in 2020-something? I really don’t see it.

    ETA: Okay, reading the article, maybe I do have an opinion:

    Potentially left on the cutting room floor, or relegated to an appendix, were many revelations from the Blue Team — the group that dug into the law enforcement and intelligence community’s failure to assess the looming threat and prepare for the well-forecast attack on the Capitol. The proposed report would also cut back on much of the work of the Green Team, which looked at financing for the Jan. 6 attack, and the Purple Team, which examined militia groups and extremism.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    Refreshingly blunt.

    Rather than creating a new legal and regulatory framework that legitimises crypto, we should simply let it burn. Source

  40. 40.

    eclare

    @Suzanne:   I was surprised, pleasantly so, by how classy Tiffany looked.  And Marla.  Marla was on Dancing With the Stars years ago (yes, I watch, no judgment) and she came across as a nice, centered, mentally and physically healthy woman.  I guess anyone can screw up when they are young.

  41. 41.

    Anne Laurie

    @Suzanne:Tiffany’s wedding wasn’t in Vogue.

    Tiffany and Marla looked pretty. Ivanka, Melanoma, and Crazy Kimmy all look like they had the day off from the strip club.

    Someday, Tiffany is gonna look back and bless all the gods that her mother raised her on the other side of the continent from her biodad.

  43. 43.

    Ken

    @Starfish: how do we fit Donald Trump’s petty “I get two scoops while everyone else gets one” thing into the universe where ice cream is for Democrats

    Now that Murdoch has decided to cut him loose, it’s only a matter of time before the Fox chyron informs us that “Donald Trump (D) was indicted”.

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    @Mousebumples: It’s a huge cultural shift. Here’s a piece from The Atlantic “Marriage Stages a Comeback (but Mostly Just for College Grads)“.

    When it comes to matrimony, the United States is two separate countries. There’s college-graduate America, where getting and staying married is still the norm. Then there’s the rest of America, where marriage rates are retreating and divorce is rampant.

     
    I had a starter marriage and my ex did not finish college. He’s very smart, but he could not culturally understand who I wanted to go to school and invest in a career, and it was a major factor in why we did not stay together. I also dated an airman for a little while, and he thought that we would get married and I would give up my career for his. I was like, uhhhhh, no…..I make more money, dude. Why would I do that?

    I met Mr. Suzanne when we were in graduate school and we have our 13th anniversary next month.

    The hostility to education on the right is also hostility to the women who are getting it, and doing better than men at it. Education and earning potential has enabled women to be more selective, less dependent, and that means mediocre men are finding it more difficult to partner.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The article is definitely worth reading. I still have a hard time imagining Liz Cheney with an electoral future, but it does look like her Cheney instincts are kicking in. Her spokesman’s reaction to the story:

    Adler added, “Some staff have submitted subpar material for the report that reflects long-held liberal biases about federal law enforcement, Republicans, and sociological issues outside the scope of the Select Committee’s work. She won’t sign onto any ‘narrative’ that suggests Republicans are inherently racist or smears men and women in law enforcement, or suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist.”

    Hopefully the other members of the committee can figure out how to craft the report to get those long-held liberal biases, etc, in. In the end, Cheney is only one vote, after all, even if Kinzinger votes with her.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anne Laurie: Someday, Tiffany is gonna look back and bless all the gods that her mother raised her on the other side of the continent from her biodad.

    One of my hope/fantasies in all this is someday Tiffany will coldly stare down Jared: “Tell Ivanka. I want her to know that it was me”. But it’s low on my list.

  49. 49.

    Captain C

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Focusing on the planning and financing of the attack on the Capitol would besmirch these brave conservatives.

    Maybe, if the House’s report is inadequate on that front, this is something a 51-49 Senate could take an interest in.  I also wonder if not wanting to bigfoot upcoming potential prosecutions could be a reason to not go too into detail on such matters at this time.  (I’m sure Liz Cheney would be happy to take advantage of this to push her own agenda; it’s a move her dad would be proud of.)

  52. 52.

    ColoradoGuy

    @Suzanne: That also explains why GOP folks really lose their minds when they see happy gay couples. It’s assortative mating, with children purely optional. It undermines all of the Master Race inner dialog … who’s “on top” and making the rules, who’s “the man” and the breadwinner, and most important, who’s carrying forward the genetic legacy legacy of the Great White Race.

  53. 53.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Mousebumples: Interesting…I have no doubt 1/6 and/or the committee hearings pushed some indies and Republicans to change their voting proclivities but I’m not sure I’ve seen any poll address it.

    Still, holding out that violent insurrectionists are innocent victims of Trump’s and others’ brainwashing is dangerous and Liz can stuff it for putting that fucked up view in the public record.

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    wtf, my mother was three years older than my dad – *and* she was a divorcee with five children marrying a 37-year-old bachelor teacher to boot, so SUCK IT weirdo conservative dude, men who count themselves lucky to partner with an older woman are doing it ALL THE DAMN TIME and have BEEN doing it ALL THE DAMN TIME for ages.

  55. 55.

    Qrop Non Sequitur

    @Sure Lurkalot: Interesting…I have no doubt 1/6 and/or the committee hearings pushed some indies and Republicans to change their voting proclivities but I’m not sure I’ve seen any poll address it.

    Perhaps an interested party could cross-reference exit polling WRT “Democracy in Danger” as their primary issue with polling on what people think threats to Democracy are. Not perfect but may give a clue.

    Still, holding out that violent insurrectionists are innocent victims of Trump’s and others’ brainwashing is dangerous and Liz can stuff it for putting that fucked up view in the public record.

    Because in the succession of men behind the curtain, Dick Cheney wasn’t long ago.

  56. 56.

    JoyceH

    @Suzanne: ​
     

    And Tiffany’s wedding wasn’t in Vogue.

    Oh, Vogue really triggers the MAGAts! Because they didn’t give Melania a cover, despite her being OBviously the most gorgeous and utterly classy First Lady EVAH! And I think they give Jill Biden a cover even before the inauguration, so it’s clear that they are all demon-worshipers there.

  57. 57.

    M31

    “this is the America liberals want”

    uh, people marry who they want, without being squinted at by deluded creeps? damn right

  58. 58.

    Qrop Non Sequitur

    @M31: “this is the America liberals want”

    uh, people marry who they want, without being squinted at by deluded creeps? damn right

    Bears repeating 🐻 🐻     🐻 🐻

  59. 59.

    C Stars

    @ColoradoGuy: Yes, I believe that the idea of a hierarchy in marriage is really important to them, or perhaps just in general that men are dominant in any institution. The fact that that is changing is a big problem for them. I wonder what went wrong with that wacky trade Rod Dreher’s marriage. (Other than Rod Dreher, obvi)

  60. 60.

    JoyceH

    BTW, if you want to take a dive down a highly amusing rabbit hole, go to Twitter and search on “Goncharov”. Goncharov (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese, is little remembered today, but some call it the greatest gangster movie ever made. But – plot twist. Goncharov doesn’t really exist. It was entirely invented on Tumblr, just a few days ago. And despite it not existing, it’s already got an enormous fandom, with fanfic and fanart, memes and debate. There’s a QUIZ you can take to learn which Goncharov character you are! Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman, if you recall) is playing – she posted a picture of herself and Henry Winkler at the Goncharov premiere. So that’s fun…

  63. 63.

    Suzanne

    @C Stars:

    Yes, I believe that the idea of a hierarchy in marriage is really important to them, or perhaps just in general that men are dominant in any institution. The fact that that is changing is a big problem for them. I wonder what went wrong with that wacky trade Rod Dreher’s marriage. (Other than Rod Dreher, obvi) 

    Having a tradwife is essentially having your wife as your employee, with that power differential in play. That’s what they want. Women who make their own money can leave, women who make more money have control over them, they think.

    As for Rod Dreher….I think he has gone bugfuck crazy about trans people, The dude gets a flat tire or a gray hair, and he pens a 20,000-word blog post about how trans people are destroying his life. It’s insane, he is completely paranoid and trying to pass off his mental illness as Christian concern. Also, evangelicals rejected his book and he’s salty.

  66. 66.

    CliosFanBoy

    @Suzanne: “Free money”??  Damn straight.  My wife made well over twice what I did and she asked me once if I minded.  HELL NO!  It allowed me to quit my much-better-paying government job to go back to academia in middle age.  I was (and still am) damn proud of her!

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Mary Peltola officially called the winner of the full term for the AL-AL seat.

    Not a surprise but a good feeling

    ETA

    Andrew Solender @AndrewSolender 14m

    Final round margins in Alaska:
    Senate Murkowski (R) – 53.7%
    Tshibaka (R) – 46.3%

    House
    Peltola (D) – 54.9%
    Palin (R) – 45.1%

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I’m imagining Palin sitting by the phone waiting for her agent to call back about SP’s hot new idea for a new reality show

  73. 73.

    Suzanne

    @CliosFanBoy: Have you watched Ali Wong’s specials? They are absolutely hilarious and utterly filthy, but deeply uncomfortable at the same time. I watched the third one and then saw that she was getting divorced about a week later, and I thought, “Yep, that tracks”.

  81. 81.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … BlueVirginia.US:

    by ER nurse Kellen Squire

    Folks. Things are bad in healthcare right now. We’re faced with the worst pediatric health surge in the history of our country.

    I worked in Pediatric Acute Care at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital in 2009, with swine flu and one of the worst influenza outbreaks I’ve seen- and I thought what I saw then was bad. So bad that Republicans were lambasting President Obama for letting a “pandemic go uncontrolled” and “putting our children in jeopardy”. But our current hospitalization rates are double- double- what 2009 was at its worst… and we’re still on the proverbial “rocket to the moon”, with cases screaming higher.

    It’s bad. I’ve seen infants having to be flown across state for PICU beds. Pediatric patients put into adult beds. And the number of adult cases of influenza has been increasing exponentially as well.

    […]

    :-(

    Be careful out there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Reposting from upstairs, since I didn’t realize there were concurrent threads going, and this is a more appropriate place.

    OT, but a gorgeous and gutting piece: “This Holiday, I’m Going to a Gay Bar.” (It’s FTFYT,  but someone gifted it, so it’s not paywalled.)

    Just as soon as we walk through those doors, past the bouncer checking IDs, up to the bar, where the impossibly cute bartender nods to let us know he’s seen us. He did see us. Someone finally did. It’s been a while. This is where we’re safe. For many of us, it’s the only place. They told us it would be OK, behind those closed doors. They’d leave us alone.
    Often there’s a drag show, a fund-raiser for a homeless shelter for the queer kids whose parents listened to their evangelical leader and threw their children out onto the streets. We’ve heard the panic about drag queens, and it’d be hard to not laugh if we didn’t know the intent behind the manufactured panic. Drag queens talk about sex the way politicians talk about thoughts and prayers and Christians talk about love. Everyone knows they’re full of it. Drag queens are in on the joke.If you’ve ever been to a gay bar on a holiday or ever worked at a gay bar during a holiday, and I have, you get to watch the transformation of every person who walks through those doors: the unwinding of jaw muscles and shoulders, hips that start to roll about halfway across the room, the tone of voice that changes between the front door and the bar. You watch people become themselves as they throw back that first shot, the medicinal shot, then find immediate friends down the bar or out on the patio. It’s as beautiful as it is tragic.

    It’s tragic because they were never going to leave us alone. No matter how quiet we kept it, no matter how much we hid it in front of them. The police came into our houses and dragged us out in handcuffs, printed the mug shots in the paper so our bosses and families and neighbors would know what they had told us to keep secret. The military harassed us and threatened us and threw us out, even though it said it wouldn’t ask if we didn’t tell.
    They don’t want us to feel safe. They don’t want us to be safe.

    Thanksgiving evening, I’ll be going to a gay bar. It’s usually one of the busiest days of the year for them. A home for all those without homes to go, or homes they need to escape.

  86. 86.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: I’m taking grim satisfaction from the fact that they beat the shit out of him before the cops arrived. He* looked like shit during today’s court proceedings.

    *I’m seen news coverage referring to the shooter as “them” because he claims to be non-binary (for first time in his life according to people who know him, who say he was virulently homophobic), and it’s pretty clear it’s 1) trolling, and 2) an attempt to beat the hate crime changes.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    @Suzanne:

    I heard about it.  I’m glad he made clear he was a conservative Republican.  Branding!

    He’ll probably have a prime time speaking slot at the next RNC.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Dude also admitted he hasn’t seen his son in over a decade but that he encouraged him to be violent. Also looked totally fucked up on drugs.

  90. 90.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: I believe the prosecutors said the hate crime changes wouldn’t actually add additional time because the murder changes are life in prison. But they were including them to make a point about the motivation for the  shooting.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Daniel W. Drezner @dandrezner 25m

    “Murkowski repelled Trump-backed Republican Kelly Tshibaka, less than two years after Murkowski voted for conviction in Trump’s impeachment trial.”

    I wonder if trump is rage-truthing

  94. 94.

    prostratedragon

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    I’m seen news coverage referring to the shooter as “them” because he claims to be non-binary (for first time in his life according to people who know him, who say he was virulently homophobic), and it’s pretty clear it’s 1) trolling, and 2) an attempt to beat the hate crime changes.

    Saw that this morning, and that was my conclusion. So lying, thieving disgusting.
    Desert island movie alert: The Last Emperor at 9:30C/10:30E on TCM.​

    Added: Opening theme, David Byrne

  98. 98.

    JoyceH

    For more fun musical snippets, see Alexandra Petri’s great Post article, “the 9 Best Thanksgiving songs I definitely didn’t just make up”.

    What’s awesome is that there are clips from all the songs, and they run the gamut of genres, from “Pardon Me,” the famous lament from melodramatic musical Les Turquies to this year’s viral line dance “Draw a Hand Turkey” to the ‘novelty’ holiday song “Uncle John’s Had One Too Many Cocktails”.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/21/thanksgiving-songs/

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