Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

He really is that stupid.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

All hail the time of the bunny!

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

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“woke” is the new caravan.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / NANCY SMASH! / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Hands Across the Water

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Hands Across the Water

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  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    I did ask in comments to one of Adam’s daily War on Ukraine posts, when do Ukrainians celebrate Christmas? I guess I have an up-to-date answer now.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    Whodathunk the assholes accusing others for decades of being the ‘fifth column’ would turn out to be the fifth column.  My not-shocked face😑

  6. 6.

    JWR

    Was just going through the people I occasionally follow on Twitter, (I don’t have an account), and came across this hilarious bit of hot garbage. All I can say is that Chowderhead Greenwald proves, once again, that he is one, overly-entitled POS and I’d love to see a direct reply from Biden or Zelenskyy or any one of us to Chowderhead’s “question”. (C’mon, Chowderhead, it’s not that hard! Pro-tip: stop “asking” all the wrong people, ya doink.)

    Bradley P. Moss
    @BradMossEsq
    This isolationist talk isn’t new. We heard it in the early days of WWII. Glenn just took the old “let Europe sort out this Nazi problem” argument and updated it for 2022.

    Glenn deserted this country years ago. He forgot we are the arsenal of democracy. He does not care.
    7:20 PM · Dec 21, 2022

    Glenn Greenwald
    @ggreenwald
    Since the US started sending billions “to Ukraine” (meaning to Raytheon, Boeing and the CIA), this is the one question I – along with others – have been asking over and over and just can’t get an answer to, the only question I think matters to all these debates:
    7:08 PM · Dec 21, 2022

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    Zelensky’s speech showed he understands America better than many Americans understand their own country. It was a clever move to preemptively counter wingnut whining by underscoring that Ukraine’s struggle is part of a global battle of democracy against hard-right authoritarianism.

    We know which side Rich Lowry, Kevin McCarthy, Rand Paul, Elon Musk, et al., are on, not to mention the Putin boot-licker who was this country’s previous president, to our indelible shame.

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    Illia Ponomarenko, military correspondent for the Kviv Independent, has an article that gives a good review of the war fom the beginning and month by month until now. It’s titled “Ukraine to enter 2023 with frail upper hand over Russia,” and datelined December 20.

    Ponomarenko analysed the current situation and expressed the opinion that:

        Chances are that the next months of winter and spring 2023 are going to be decisive in the war’s outcome.

    Now I will attempt a link:

    Link

    kyivindependent/national/ukraine-to-enter-2023-with-frail-upper-hand-over-russia

    Edit: the link is apparently defective. Oh well. It’s a good review.. (FIXED by WG)

  14. 14.

    rekoob

    Some interesting news from the “firehouse primary” in Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. State Senator Jennifer McClellan won the Democratic nomination with 84.8% of the 27,900 votes cast, itself a record turnout for a Democratic primary in the district. She will face Republican Leon Benjamin in the February 21, 2003 Special Election to fill the seat of the late A. Donald McEachin. As it turns out, McClellan’s state Senate seat was once held by McEachin and earlier by former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder. McClellan is also very close to US Senator and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

    Blue Virginia Article.

  20. 20.

    Brit in Chicago

    If a sizeable group of Democrats in the House came out against aid to Ukraine, would the GOP come out in favor of it? (I can’t see any reason that they’re opposed except that the Democrats are in favor of it,  so….)

  22. 22.

    moonbat

    Been said, I’m sure, but all the Zelenskyy events yesterday were just a beautiful and powerful demonstration of state-craft. Bringing this hero to the US to state his case and reduce all those Putin purchased politicians and pundits to crying over his battle fatigues was brilliant. This Biden guy really seems to know what he’s doing.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid: ​
     

    I’ve become a big fan of Ponomarenko this year, and have been chipping in to support the Kyiv Independent for several months now.

    But Illia, please no, don’t resurrect the Friedman Unit!!! Don’t jinx your country’s chances!

  26. 26.

    Geminid

    @rekoob: That’s quite a victory margin for Jennifer McClellan! I was a little worried about the other state Senator in the race , notorious Joe Morrisey. He’s a loose cannon, but Morrisey will remain Louise Lucas’s problem and not Hakeem Jeffries’.

    Dan McEachin was a good man and a capable legislator. I was sad to see his career cut short after three terms. Republican gerrymandering denied Richmond’s predominantly Black population representation until a Civil Rights Act lawsuit forced Virginia to redraw the 4th CD. McEachin then won it in 2016.

    McEachin was a bright spot in that dismal election, and he made real contributions to the House Democrats’ climate legislation before he passed.

  27. 27.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    I wonder when the media is going to wind down and reassign its Afghanistan focused reporting staff. They have to know by now that the public isn’t as focused on it as they are.

  28. 28.

    Jay

    I thank @POTUS for the warm welcome and I deeply appreciate all the support of the U.S. and the American people. I am confident that together we will be able to secure a better, prosperous and free future for both of our nations. Ukraine’s victory will also be America’s victory. pic.twitter.com/OhclRtwIJy— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 22, 2022

  29. 29.

    VOR

    @moonbat: An article in the Guardian mentioned there were a number of Republican congress critters who intentionally stayed away from Zelensky’s speech. I’d love to see a list, even just to confirm it’s the usual suspects.

  31. 31.

    PST

    Looking in the bathroom mirror this morning, I noticed that even though the winter solstice has passed, I still have my farmer tan. Maybe I can keep it going year round for the rest of my life now that I’m retired. Evidently I can get a year’s worth of sun on my arms and neck in just six or seven Chicago months.

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    Not Ukraine-related, but WaPo tells me that MyPillow guy is now beating the drum for fraudulent election numbers … in Miami-Dade county. For Ron DeSantis. Whose margin was too large.

    No, I did not read the article, because this 45 seconds is more than I should ever waste on Lindell.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    Gaetz is lodged in a safe seat and has no competition, ever, by design, so one can understand why he’s such an obnoxious jerk but Boebert almost lost in a cycle that was supposed to be very favorable to Republicans. Is she under the impression her constituents want her to be louder and more rude? That she almost lost because she wasn’t enough of an asshole? The doubling down on her awful personality is mystifying.

  34. 34.

    geg6

    Keep me in your thoughts, people.  I have to make a Walmart run to pick up Lovey’s insulin.  It won’t, unfortunately, wait until Monday.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Look at it from her POV, Kay. She is God’s personal servant in the war against the godless lieberals and she is here to smite his enemies.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Boebert was actually pretty sedate compared to her discreditable performance at Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech early this year. So was Greene.

    Boebert has to know that come 2024 she’s liable to lose the best job she’ll ever have. She’s a very shallow person though, and may not be able to adapt enough to avoid extinction. Her Democratic opponent will run again and he has greater name recognition now. Plus, a presidential year electorate could be more favorable for him.

  39. 39.

    catclub

    The twitter sale versus Ukraine funding:

    The difference of course is that Twitter was bought once, while the Ukrainian -Russian war will have continuing payments in increasing amounts, year after year.

    I do notice when they compare the value of a company ( a quantity) to the GDP of some nation ( a flow, ie. quantity per year).

    ….wrangled up from dead thread.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    For those who were incredulous last night about Tucker Carlson’s claim that Zelenskyy had “declared war against Christianity,” here it is.

  42. 42.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I watched a clip of her at some Right wing event (where they all hold comically large microphones for some reason) and she’s just awful. Bouncing up and down while waiting to start screaming, not listening to anyone else, then a barrage of nearly incoherent words.

    Like all of these far Righties, she never shuts up. If I had won by 500 votes in a midterm cycle that was billed as a “red wave” I might keep my head down for a year and do some work. Nope.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I watched a clip of her at some Right wing event (where they all hold comically large microphones for some reason) and she’s just awful. Bouncing up and down while waiting to start screaming, not listening to anyone else, then a barrage of nearly incoherent words.

    Like all of these far Righties, she never shuts up. If I had won by 500 votes in a midterm cycle that was billed as a “red wave” I might keep my head down for a year and do some work. Nope.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I watched a clip of her at some Right wing event (where they all hold comically large microphones for some reason) and she’s just awful. Bouncing up and down while waiting to start screaming, not listening to anyone else, then a barrage of nearly incoherent words.

    Like all of these far Righties, she never shuts up. If I had won by 500 votes in a midterm cycle that was billed as a “red wave” I might keep my head down for a year and do some work. Nope.

  45. 45.

    catclub

    @Geminid: Nonetheless, I suspect many Friedman units will be expended predicting the end of this war.  The Lebanese civil war took 15 years and ended in exhaustion.

     

    Decisive in 2023 is a hope.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @sdhays:

    Her husband is also an asshole and according to these 911 calls, they are raising spoiled, asshole kids who cannot live in a neighborhood without bothering everyone:

    Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies decided to let neighbors of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert settle a dispute between themselves and the congresswoman’s husband after he reportedly threatened them and destroyed their mailbox.
    But 911 calls from the incident, obtained by The Denver Post, show just how upset and nervous the neighbors were over their run-in with Boebert’s husband, Jayson Boebert.
    The calls also provide additional context into what the neighbors, in Silt, said amounted to excessive speeding, property damage, possible drunken driving and threats made from a man whose family openly and regularly carries their firearms.

    One of the Boeberts should start paying attention to their preteen boys- they’re out of control.

  48. 48.

    catclub

    @SFAW: ​
     

    For Ron DeSantis. Whose margin was too large.

    So election fraud by republicans. Call me not surprised after the North Carolina shennanigans of 2020 ( or 2018). There will be some crazy person like Lindell who ends up being right about this. Which is always disorienting.

  49. 49.

    sab

    Fighting the same fight with the bank that I fought yesterday. Deposit posted not to my account. I got it fixed yesterday and then their computer reversed it all last night. If you live in Michigan or Ohio and bank at Huntington you need a different bank . This could happen to you. Checks bouncing all over the place because they deposited to the wrong account.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Lauren Boebert is a motormouth for sure. Last year I happened to hear Sebastian Gorka interview her on his radio show. Gorka could hardly get a word in edgewise, and he got only two questions in over a ten minute segment. She finally took a breath while answering the first one so he lobbed her another softball question and she was off to the races again.

    Gorka didn’t even try to stop her at the hard break. One second Boebert was babbling away and the next second some lady was selling mattresses.

  52. 52.

    eclare

    I took my car in this morning to get an oil change, check the battery before it gets cold, etc.  I’ve never used this place before, it’s an independent shop a ten minute walk away.  They just called, the battery is down to nine volts, so new battery it is!

  54. 54.

    Jay

    @catclub:

     

    Lindell is going after TFG’s “biggest” challenger to the Rethug throne, trying to “dirty him up” with the MAGgot base.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack

    @geg6:

    I feel you. Good luck. I am going out later to get provisions to get me through the weekend. We’ve already got cold, almost sleety drizzle here in NoVA. Temp 36° now, going up to 43° later, but then it’s going to drop way down tomorrow afternoon—17° by sunset. Then highs of 24° and 29° Saturday and Sunday. And all of this complicated by Christmas. Not much chance of snow, though—maybe a little tomorrow morning if the rain freezes.

    What is worrying me more is the stretch of extremely low overnight temps we’re going to get and the possibility of my pipes freezing. I’m in a six-unit brick building that conserves heat fairly well, but the low is going to be sub-20° for three nights through Christmas. I will let my taps drizzle, and I’m thinking of bumping up the thermostat to 76° to increase the ambient heat. (It’s usually at 68° or 70°.) That would also help if the power goes out, I guess.

  57. 57.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: But she doesn’t want to do any work, Kay, because for her this is all a performance, like reality TV. That’s what she thinks this is, reality TV. It’s why she never actually DOES anything. This is what she thinks her voters want her to do, and sadly she’s probably right about that.

  59. 59.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Trans writer/journalist, Erin In The Morning has a really great, longish sub stack article on Gender Exploratory Therapy, a new approach that Transphobes are taking to deny Transgender people the gender-affirming care they want/need and force them to go through irreversible puberty.  Highly recommend everyone read it and be on the lookout for this sort of fuckery in your states

    TLDR, it is basically just another version of the tactic of setting up endless hoops for Trans people to jump through before ever giving them Gender-Affirming Care, in the hopes that they will just give up and accept living as a Cisgender person:

    “With transgender people being left out of conversion therapy bans and states passing bans on gender affirming care, you should be aware of the rise of a new form of conversion therapy for trans people: gender exploratory therapy. Gender exploratory therapy has a seemingly innocuous name – who would be against gender exploration? Even liberal, well-meaning parents can hear it and imagine it being a respectful and beneficial approach to psychological care for their trans youth. What they don’t know is that this form of therapy actually seeks to “explore” all of the reasons for dysphoria other than being transgender until they find one that convinces a trans person to no longer be trans while keeping hormone therapy just out of reach – they exclude being transgender as an end point. It’s important to note that there is no “stop” point – it keeps going until the trans person is “no longer trans” or ages out. This form of conversion therapy has appeared everywhere from Texas courts to Florida’s transition ban to the UK’s NHS. The growing promotion of GET from anti-trans forces worldwide should be frightening to all lawmakers and organizations and must be taken seriously.”

  61. 61.

    catclub

    @sab: Checks bouncing all over the place because they deposited to the wrong account.

     

    Computers and account numbers!  How do  they work? Should the bank know how?

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @catclub: Sure, and the Vietnam war went on for almost as long as the one in Lebanon.

    All wars share the fact that they are wars, but I  think most have their own conditions and characteristics. The Vietnam war and the Lebanese civil war seem very different from the war in Ukraine.

    Anyway, as I said this was Mr. Ponomarenko’s opinion. But I think it was an honest one from someone with a good base of knowledge, and not just empty cheerleading.

  64. 64.

    Nicole

    @geg6: Save driving on the insulin run!  We arrived in south central PA yesterday for the holidays and this morning my stepmom asked if I could wrap up a package and take it to the post office for her and I’m like, maybe let’s wait until after the roads are clear, Mom? ;)  At least there’s a Sheetz in walking distance so I can get coffee.

  66. 66.

    sdhays

    @Geminid: So that’s why she’s such a poor fundraiser! She never gives the prospective donor a chance to say, “Would you like me to write you a check?”.

  67. 67.

    Nelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: One of my favorite phrases from the Subday School years…”smite the enemies.”  One of my first clues that , temperamentally, I might not be the Mennonite pacifist that I was expected to be.  I fell in love with the word “smite.”

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    @Steeplejack: If you and your pipes survive this weekend you can look forward to better weather next weekend. It’s supposed to hit 60° New Years Eve, where I am.

  70. 70.

    sab

    @catclub: The bank decided they didn’t need deposit slips that showed the account. Who could have known that would be a problem?

    ETA I think I will move a three million dollar trust account elsewhere because I don’t trust them.

  72. 72.

    Steeplejack

    @Geminid:

    Inorite. The weather next week is quickly back to seasonally appropriate, then hits 60° here on New Year’s Eve. Go figure.

  74. 74.

    SFAW

    @catclub:

    Part of me is wondering if this is his version of 11-dimensional chess: “trying” to prove fraud, coming up with nothing, then saying “You see? Rethuglican wins/votes are legitimate, not like those Demon-craps!”

    But that would assume he has three functioning brain cells.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @Kay: ​
     

    If I had won by 500 votes in a midterm cycle that was billed as a “red wave” I might keep my head down for a year and do some work. Nope.

    I vaguely recall that W — who only won by one vote — acted as if he had a Mandate from Heaven after the 2000 election, so she’s in good [sic] company.

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @Kay: It was just some of WINA’s local advertising. Gorka is a third tier talk show host, so he has a weekend afternoon time slot when very few people listen and advertising time is fairly cheap.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jay: There’s lots of Republican infighting in Florida already as the DeSantis-Trump fault line expands. Uber-Trumpy people are trying to take over county-level parties, and the DeSantis people who run the state party are planning a no-confidence vote on Trump toady Ronna McDaniel ahead of her RNC bid. 

  78. 78.

    JWR

    @SFAW: The good news? Mike Lindell hasn’t polluted my TV for several months now. The Bad? He’s been replaced by “Hi! I’m former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee”, hawking “Relaxium” sleep aid, which is probably just another take on anything Melatonin-related.

  79. 79.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Matt McIrvin: Exactly!  Maybe it’s this.  Or maybe it’s this.  Okay, just try a couple more things.  Etc.  And of course they use the dishonest scare tactic of children changing heir bodies forever!!1! which makes it sound reasonable.

  80. 80.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: Probably something to do with fundraising. She knows that only the jerkiest of MAGA jerks & that ilk will send her money, so she has to perform.

  81. 81.

    sdhays

    @Betty Cracker: Who are the DeShittest people going to support for RNC chair? The only other candidate I’m familiar with is Lindell, and I’m doubtful they want to install him.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    @Geminid: One second Boebert was babbling away and the next second some lady was selling mattresses.

    Are you sure it wasn’t still Boebert, fulfilling some product-placement deal she’d made?

    @sdhays: She never gives the prospective donor a chance to say, “Would you like me to write you a check?”.

    Maybe she’s trying the “here is some money, now please go away” strategy, much beloved of strolling musicians in restaurants and parks.  (Hat-tip to Terry Pratchett, if I recall correctly.)

  86. 86.

    The Moar You Know

    Reading about Kari Lake’s ongoing lawsuit to overthrow her election loss:

    After a judge dismissed eight of Lake’s 10 lawsuit claims, the first day of a trial on her two remaining allegations saw her cybersecurity expert put in a shambling performance from the witness stand. Clay Parikh, who previously spoke at MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s voter fraud summit and was reportedly paid $250 by Lake’s attorney for his expert testimony

    I have been an expert witness, regarding digital forensics, which was part of my job duties for several years.  The last time I had anything to do with it was 2014, at which time my company was billing my expert witness services at $500 an hour including prep time.

    I make $250 doing three-hour winery gigs on weekends playing bass (much more fun!)

    $250!  She’s running a scam, like Trump.  Gotta be.  Getting donations and skimming 90% of them, something like that.  You can’t get an hour of paralegal time for $250 these days.  She can’t possibly have any intention of winning.

  87. 87.

    eversor

    Leader who goes to the front lines wears combat gear, this is an issue how?

    Also for all the “war on Christmas” that was the most Christmas rant I’ve ever seen.

    The man for the hour and the moment.  He’s also a CIC, he’s more than allowed to run about geared up and even worse kitted out.  Sort of refreshing to see someone lead from the front and get along with his men.  I’m sure they take comfort in it.   And unlike Cruz, Hawley, or anybody that would complain he can actually wear the gear of a war fighter and not look fucking stupid.

  89. 89.

    JWR

    I turned on my trusty portable radio a little while ago, and tuned in to what used to be the Stephanie Miller show. Instead, it was Amy Goodman, with Medea Benjamin and some pastor talking as if Ukraine had agency equal to Russia’s, so why no peace talks now, huh? Huh? HUH?! How ’bout it, Biden?!

    To her credit, Goodman actually brought up the strange bedfellows bit, about how her guests were on the same side as right-wing Republicans, but Benjamin went on about anything BUT her new bedfellows and talked up that leaked memo from the Progressive caucus from early in the war and how she wished everyone who signed it months ago would follow Ro Khanna’s lead in defending her “peace” position on CNN. At one point, I actually yelled into my poor little transistor radio, “Okay fine! Now, how’re you gonna get Putin to leave Ukraine for starters, you f-ing morons?!”

    I lasted a good 5 minutes before my BP spiked, and it was good they were having trouble connecting to their other panelist, my dear brother Cornel West. Ugh.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anyone familiar with Public Policy Polling? I want to believe, but this seems like some heavy editorializing for a pollster, and it’s a long way till Nov of ’24

    PublicPolicyPolling @ppppolls 1h’
    Fresh new Arizona numbers! In a three way race Kyrsten Sinema would get just 13% to 41% for Kari Lake and 40% for Ruben Gallego: 

    Sinema doesn’t have a real path to victory. But she could have a spoiler effect. Gallego leads Lake 48-47 when she isn’t in the mix because her support draws slightly more from Biden than Trump voters:

    Gallego does 4 points better in a head to head against Lake than Sinema does. Conservatives might like her at the moment but they aren’t actually willing to vote for her

    Seems like somebody in the AZ party has got the knives out for Senator Main Character (though TBH I find it more embarrassing than damning)

    Matt Fuller @MEPFuller
    This story is such a fun and insightful and damning read.
    @sambrodey got his hands on an internal staffing document for Kyrsten Sinema’s office. She has staff get her groceries, fix her home internet, and call hotels to find out the pool dimensions.

  91. 91.

    Scout211

    This may have been lost in the newsy news of yesterday, but TFG lost another one in court to Tish James. The Florida judge ruled that Florida trust laws do not prevent the NY Attorney General from accessing his personal trust account in her investigation.

    Loser! Sad.

  92. 92.

    Tony Jay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    The Scottish Parliament has just passed a Gender Recognition Reform Bill by 86 votes to 39 and, in the process, turned the FTF Guardian’s heavily moderated Daily Politics comment site into a frothing sargasso of ever so angry spunk-trumpets.

    Apparently the hairy, bearded rapists of Caledonia are an oddly law-abiding bunch, given that they have so far given all due respect to the silent admonition represented by the LADIES sign on women’s toilets/changing rooms/etc while they waited for this Bill to provide them with a very extended, very difficult, very heavily policed route to legitimise their presence on the other side of these unlocked doors and, it can only be assumed from the tone of the comments, also their rapey intentions.

    Talk about playing the long game, eh?

  94. 94.

    cmorenc

    @Kay: I am in Grand Junction (visiting daughter) – and right on the main hwy 70 business strip as it goes into downtown is a large billboard with Bobert’s smarmy grinnin face on it with the logo “Lauren Bobert for Colorado”.    Unlike lots of other small cities where big-box strip development has left the original downtown a semi-derelict shell of its former self,  the downtown area of Grand Junction is vibrant and thriving, albeit mainly with specialty shops (antiques, outdoor equipment stores, restauants) than conventional department stores, but it’s still the true civic core of this town.  Alas, Bobert’s face is obnoxiously noticeable along the primary approach from the west.

  95. 95.

    ian

    @sdhays:   This link is politico, so only click if you are prepared to take a long hot shower afterward.

    Harmeet Dhillon, a RNC committeewoman whose firm represents Donald Trump, is prepping a bid for party chair, according to two people familiar with her planning. Dhillon has been talking with fellow RNC members about a prospective run, and those close to Dhillon say a formal launch could come within the next few days.

    She doesn’t seem to be in the DeSantis group, but it shows that there are more than just Lindell and Romney McDaniel in the race.

  96. 96.

    Alison Rose

    I am definitely rewatching the speech today. It was perfection.

    And the whole issue about what he wore, for fuck’s sake. Anyone complaining about it…well first thing, they can fuck off into the sun, but also, they clearly do not understand in the least the reason for him dressing as he has throughout the full-scale war. But that’s no surprise, since it seems like some of them barely believe a war is even happening. I tell you, the way some of the GQPers talk about how we shouldn’t be helping them and whatever makes me think they’re also Holocaust deniers. And jeez, imagine if these assholes were alive at that time. Pretty sure they would’ve lost their minds over us (finally) stepping in to defeat the Nazis.

    Whatever. They all suck, Zelenskyy is 100 times the person any of them will ever be, and they can all go play in traffic.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @cmorenc:

    She’s a train wreck. She wasn’t ready for that job and it shows. She’ll be involved in a major scandal of some sort- personal or work related – within a year. The person I watched is a person who is running on so much manic, egotistical energy she’s no longer connected to reality. It went to her head. It’ll be a Sarah Palin-like implosion.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think is is pretty damning if true.  This is different than Klobuchar is a mean boss.   This is using professionals who are paid by US government funds as personal servants.  If she wants a PA of that kind she should pay for it out of her own money.  This is Trumpian conflation of person and office.  Her staffers work for the senator not the person.  There is, IMO, a meaningful difference.  As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve seen similar polling. But I sure wish pollsters would resist the temptation to be pundits also. That only makes me distust their work.

    I would add that Ms. Sinema has not said she will seek a second term. If someone were to offer me an even bet on whether she will run or retire, I’d pick the “retire” side of the propostion.

  103. 103.

    cmorenc

    One of the main RWNJ/twitterbot talking points is that Ukraine is among the most corrupt countries on earth – which actually does have a solid basis in fact, IF the speaker was referring to the Russian-friendly stooge regime that got run out of office in the 2014 Ukranian elections.  But of course, they deliberately misrepresent this to claim that it is the current government under Zelinsky that is corrupt..

  105. 105.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: +1

    I guess we’ll see if she ends up on the GovTrack.US/Misconduct list:

    Rep. Thomas Garrett [R-VA5, 2017-2018]
    bribery & corruption resolved

    In May 2018, Garrett announced he is an alcoholic and that he would not run for re-election at the same time that allegations that he had been using Congressional staff to perform unofficial work and personal errands emerged. In September 2018, the Office of Congressional Ethics referred the allegations to the House Committee on Ethics. In December 2018, the House Committee on Ethics announced it was extending its investigation The investigation ceased with the end of the 115th Congress as Garrett is no longer in Congress.

    * May. 28, 2018 Garrett announced he is an alcoholic and would not run for re-election.
    * Sep. 5, 2018 Office of Congressional Ethics referred the allegations to the House Committee on Ethics for further investigation
    * Dec. 4, 2018 House Committee on Ethics published the Office of Congressional Ethics Report and Findings and the member’s response
    * Jan. 2, 2019 House Committee on Ethics ceased investigating because jurisdiction ended with the 115th Congress

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    cmorenc

    @Kay: We can only hope Bobert implodes.  But in so hoping, you have to ask yourself why her antics haven’t been enough already to force an end to her poliical career.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    The Texas Education Agency is considering changing the way it vets vendors who train new school board members after finding out that a recently approved provider — who has pitched his training as a conservative alternative to “woke” programs — is a felon.
    Earlier this fall, the TEA approved James Dunn and his organization, Angleton-based Gulf Coast Community Action Agency, to start training school board members as a registered provider. Dunn is Gulf Coast’s executive director.
    Public records indicate that Dunn was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in 2009 for filing false reimbursement claims with the U.S. Department of Education. His now-dissolved company, Rehab Specialist Inc., had been hired by the now-defunct Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services to provide vocational education to people with mental and physical disabilities, but it never did. One year later, Dunn was indicted for his part in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs housing scheme. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 months in prison, according to federal court records.

    Like a comic book bad guy-he robbed disabled people and veterans.
    He is, of course, a loud, very public fundamentalist Christian with a podcast and his entire resume is also fake.

  110. 110.

    ian

    @Amir Khalid: They chose Michael Steele in the past.  It is hard for me to imagine there is an ethnicity that American conservatives dislike more than African Americans, yet that didn’t stop them then.  The Republicans also had high hopes for Nikki Haley, so it doesn’t seem as if Indian heritage is in of itself a disqualifier for them.  The voting is restricted to RNC members, not the party at large.  Whoever wins needs to convince only 80 rich and wealthy insiders to vote for them.

  111. 111.

    Spanky

    For those who were wondering …

    Saying they are “truly heartbroken,” the family of Pittsburgh Steelers’ Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris released a statement Thursday, their first public comments since his passing a day earlier.

    Harris, 72, died in his sleep. His death happened two days before the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception and three days before his number will be retired at halftime of the Steelers’ game Saturday night against the Las Vegas Raiders at Acrisure Stadium.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: Those are classic ethics violations. Fifth Virginia CD Representative Tom Garrett did the same stuff and was being investigated by the Ethics Commitee when he announced he was retiring, in April 2018. He gave as a reason his need to get treatment for his alcoholism.

    Ironically, the 5th District Republican chairmen picked a vodka distiller,* Denver Riggleman, to run in Garrett’s place. Riggleman won but served only one term because the Liberty University political machine rolled him at a convention and installed the odious Bob Good in his place.

    * Actually, Riggleman retired as an Air Force intelligence officer and then made enough money as a defense contractor to set up a distillery. Now, I think he’s just the “National Security Analyst” for a Charlottesville radio station. So if you visit the area you might be able to find Riggleman at his Silverback Distillery, on Route 151 in Nelson County near the Wintergreen ski resort .

    If you do, watch out! Rt.151 has so many boutique distilleries and brew pubs that the locals call it “Alcohol Alley.”

  118. 118.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: My husband says that when anyone starts spouting off about their deep Christian faith, you should grab your wallet. He hated doing business with most of the churches because they always expected a big discount, or that you would do the work for free!

  119. 119.

    JWR

    ETA regarding the Sinema rider:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hey at least she reimburses her food servants staffers, which is a step up from your average Republican. Or so I’ve heard. ;) But that sounds like some of those backstage riders I’ve seen, like Iggy Pop’s self composed rider, where he asks for wine that is, “something we’ve heard of, but still can’t pronounce.” It’s hilarious.

  121. 121.

    Ken

    @ian: I’m sure in eight months, after the RNC chair selection has degenerated into name-calling and they still can’t even agree on a process for the selection much less who’s actually running the thing, the media will come forth with thoughtful pieces about how it’s somehow the Democrats’s fault and they have to compromise with Republicans to help them straighten out the mess.

    And Hakeem Jeffries will laugh…

  122. 122.

    catclub

    @cmorenc: the downtown area of Grand Junction is vibrant and thriving, albeit mainly with specialty shops

     

    I wanted to buy a used tandem bike from their bike shop. Not really suitable for airplane travel in and out of GJ.

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid:

    * Actually, Righleman retired as an Air Force intelligence officer and then made enough money as a defense contractor to set up a distillery. Now, I think he’s just the “National Security Analyst” for a Charlottesville radio station.

    He was hired as an investigator/researcher by the 1/6 committee and pissed them off by publishing a book right after he quit. Thinking back, I don’t remember any shocking revelations. He’s a frequent panelist on MSNBC.

    He attributes his primary loss to Good to having performed a same-sex marriage for IIRC a staffer. And I can imagine that played a part.

  125. 125.

    catclub

    @ian: ​
     

    They chose Michael Steele in the past. It is hard for me to imagine there is an ethnicity that American conservatives dislike more than African Americans, yet that didn’t stop them then.

    The chose him in 2009 when everything looked terrible. [It seems to be a habit to pick the black guy only when everything looks like a disaster – Obama, Mike Steele, the new PM in GB, Rishi Sunak]. The GOP did fantastic in the 2010 election… and booted him out for Reince Priebus.

  127. 127.

    Alison Rose

    OMG y’all, Tucker was even worse that that stupid chyron:

    As far as we know, no one’s ever addressed the United States Congress in a sweatshirt before, but they love him much more than they love you.

    The president of Ukraine arrived at the White House dressed like the manager of a strip club and started to demand money. Amazingly, no one threw him out. Instead, they did whatever he wanted. American taxpayers, Joe Biden declared, will continue to give Zelenskyy whatever he demands for “as long as it takes”.

    Tellingly, Biden never specified what “it” is. “As long as it takes” to do what? Push the russian army back to pre-invasion borders? Sounds reasonable. That’s what most Americans likely assume, most who are paying attention. But that is not what Zelenskyy means and it is not what he’s asking for.

    Apparently his meaning there is that Zelenskyy wants putin’s ouster before peace talks, although I don’t think he’s still openly calling for that. And he doubled down on the strip club shit, saying “The point was to fawn over the Ukrainian strip club manager and hand him billions more dollars from our own crumbling economy. It is hard, in fact, it may be impossible to imagine a more humiliating scenario for the greatest country on Earth.”

    I FUCKING HATE HIM SO MUCH. Good God in heaven. What an absolute sack of shit. And jeez, Tucker, I’m sure if you show up at the kremlin and ask nicely, putin will let you suck his dick as long as you both stay on the down low.

    Asshole.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    in other VA political news:

    Dave Wasserman @Redistrict
    New: state Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D) wins #VA04 Dem nomination w/ 85%, poised to become first Black congresswoman from VA. @CookPolitical 2/21 special election rating: Solid D.

    Best reply: Not often you see “McClellan victory in Virginia”

  129. 129.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Soprano2: ​”My husband says that when anyone starts spouting off about their deep Christian faith, you should grab your wallet. ”

     Harry Truman’s grandfather told him the same thing, phrased as “…you should lock the smokehouse.”

    Missouri folk in multiple generations evidently know where it’s at :)

  131. 131.

    Jay C

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Best reply: Not often you see “McClellan victory in Virginia”

    Heh.

    Also: somewhat surprising that they have scheduled the special so soon: I had seen ‘Net chat that Gov. Youngkin (in whose purview the election dates seem to fall) would make it as late as possible to keep the GOP margin in the House as big as possible (sounds like this is a fairly “blue” district – ?)

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Your occasional moment of schadenfreude: Tesla stock down another 7% today, as of a minute or so ago

    Scott Candage @ScottCandage  14m

    Dude better have bone saw insurance…

  133. 133.

    Barbara

    @Alison Rose: ​ And yet these same people went into spasms of rage when Biden withdrew U.S. forces from Afghanistan, after spending well over a trillion dollars for what seems for a long time to have been unfocused or unattainable goals.

  134. 134.

    Delk

    The members of long-running rock band Journey have long had fractious relations, but an inter-band cease-and-desist order is a new peak.

    Keyboardist Jonathan Cain who performed “Don’t Stop Believin’” for Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month with a backing “chorus” including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake, was served with a cease-and-desist order from an attorney for bandmate Neal Schon for that performance.

    Source

  135. 135.

    Alison Rose

    @schrodingers_cat: Also, I used to live in the middle of a block between two strip clubs (ah, the Tenderloin…a family neighborhood) and I saw what I assume to be owners in and out many times, and never were they wearing sweatshirts and cargo pants. They were usually wearing dark suits and looked more like struggling actors vying for a bit part in a made-for-TV mafia movie.

  136. 136.

    Barbara

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​ Glad to see her victory. She has a solid record in the General Assembly, and to be honest, I thought she was a better candidate than McAuliffe for governor. She along with three others lost to him in the primary.

  139. 139.

    The Moar You Know

    My husband says that when anyone starts spouting off about their deep Christian faith, you should grab your wallet. He hated doing business with most of the churches because they always expected a big discount, or that you would do the work for free!

    @Soprano2: i used to do sound equipment installs, a long time ago when I was a youth.  Churches are naturally the largest customer for such things.  I learned after the first one to get paid in cash, up front.  They have zero qualms about flat-out not paying you.

    I had to call the police and file a theft report with that first one, by the way.  Said they were in possession of stolen equipment.  That worked.

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Barbara:

    She has a solid record in the General Assembly, and to be honest, I thought she was a better candidate than McAuliffe for governor.

    interesting…. I wonder if she’ll try again

  142. 142.

    Barbara

    @Alison Rose: ​ I still find it a little crazy that their viewers are too stupefied and apparently suffering from permanent short-term memory loss to put together that the only commonality between rage over withdrawing from Afghanistan where actual U.S. soldiers were in harm’s way, and rage over giving arms to Ukraine is rage at anything Joe Biden or any Democratic president does.

  143. 143.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The same sex marriage probably played a part. The challenge might have come anyway, though. In 2018 there was a close nomination contest decided by 35 county and district leaders, and Riggleman won 18-17 on the fifth ballot.

    The bible thumpers’ candidate was some lady on the Liberty University faculty. Her claim to fame was that she was the Texas State Education Board member who opposed public schools. She had already been beaten at the Virginia 6th CD convention by Ben Cline, but she lead the 5th District contest through the fourth ballot. Then, Riggleman huddled with the libertarian who had come in 3rd, and the libertarian’s supporters gave Riggleman the win.

    The bible thumpers howled about a corrupt bargain, and I think they started plotting their revenge that day. They made sure by engineering a caucus/convention process in 2020.

    Denver Riggleman is one of the most charisma-free politicians I’ve ever seen and he might have lost a primary. But he had no chance in caucuses that favor the most zealous radicals. Naturally, the District Convention was held at Liberty U., where Bob Good worked as a fundraising official.

  144. 144.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JWR: I think “Jeffries drops the mic” might become a thing in the next couple of years

    Hakeem Jeffries @hakeemjeffries

    The Extreme MAGA Republican circus has come to town. (video)

  145. 145.

    Citizen Alan

    @ian:  That was only in direct response you Obama winning the White House. And they send bagged steel at every opportunity and complained about everything he did even though he was arguably the most successful RNC chairman of the last 15 years.

  147. 147.

    mrmoshpotato

    @PST:

    Looking in the bathroom mirror this morning, I noticed that even though the winter solstice has passed, I still have my farmer tan. Maybe I can keep it going year round for the rest of my life now that I’m retired. Evidently I can get a year’s worth of sun on my arms and neck in just six or seven Chicago months. 

    Do it.  Just don’t go sunbathing for the next few days. 🥶

  152. 152.

    JWR

    @Alison Rose: Oh man, that is some over the top sh*t, even for Tuckems! Say, have you ever heard Seth Meyers doing his Tucker Carlson impression? His segway from a clip of the real TC, right into his “I’m just asking questions” bit is pitch perfect. I really like his Mike Lindell, too.

  153. 153.

    NutmegAgain

    I just want to note that, in addition to all the amazingness of Pres Zelenskyy’s speech at Congress, each time they focused the TV cameras right above him, there we had Vice-President and President of the Senate Kamala Harris, and retiring GOAT Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Two women–women who have real power and who know how to wield it. That’s remarkable, at least in my lifetime.

  154. 154.

    Alison Rose

    @JWR: YES, I love it. TBH Meyers mostly annoys me, because a lot of his joke tangents go on way too long (also I am so sick of the Wally stuff), but those bits are definite gold. And yes, the Lindell impressions are perfection too.

  155. 155.

    Alison Rose

    @NutmegAgain: Yeah, it was a great image.

    (For a second, I was wondering why you called them “women-women” and then I realized the hyphen was meant to be a pause. FYWP formats some punctuation in an annoying way.)

  161. 161.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: It is mystifying, but she’s not alone among Colorado Republicans in thinking that “the reason Colorado is turning blue is because Republicans aren’t acting fascist *enough*!”

    Read it and weep…with laughter.

  162. 162.

    JWR

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think “Jeffries drops the mic” might become a thing in the next couple of years

    Yep! He hasn’t quite the ‘tude that Obama brought to the game, (and srsly, who does?), but he’s definitely got something going on, and I feel happy. ;)

  166. 166.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    @Alison Rose: Ugh, right there with you.  He and his confused bunny face can fuck off into the sun (along with the rest of Fux “News”)

  169. 169.

    StringOnAStick

    @cmorenc: I am ashamed to admit I wanted us to have nothing to do with Ukraine when all the corruption of the prior regime was revealed; the gold bars they left behind because they were already overloaded as they fled to Russia being one detail I remember.  I have since completely changed my mind and all my current political and social giving is going to Ukraine.  Because unlike every RW idiot I know, I am capable of assimilating new information and changing my mind!

  170. 170.

    JWR

    @Alison Rose: The only things that annoy me about Seth Meyers are the “Biden is so old” and the Bernie dead-ender “jokes”. But some of his writers are quite young, and every time Meyers’s Lindell ends with “dah bears”, all is forgiven. ;)

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @Miss Bianca:

    Peters told the crowd that GOP candidates lost in Colorado, in part, because Burton Brown insisted that they refrain from talking about unsupported claims that Colorado’s elections are rigged. “We’ve got to take back our state,” Peters said. “We have to do it now. We have to get every single person involved and informed. Added Peters: “We are not a blue state. We’re not even a purple state. We are a red state.”

    Okey doke

  172. 172.

    Geminid

    @Paul in KY: I think Sinema probably switched to Independent with the possibility of running as one in mind. But I’m not sure she will, especially in the face of adverse polling.

    Sinema’s hard to figure out though, and I don’t try to get very far into her head because I am afraid she’ll start getting into mine. That would not be a good thing.

    So I’ll just cheer on Ruben Gallego, hope Greg Stanton decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and brace myself for the gazillion Balloon Juice threads that Sinema will dominate if she opts to run again.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid:

    Sinema’s hard to figure out though, and I don’t try to get very far into her head because I am afraid she’ll start getting into mine. That would not be a good thing.

    Heh. Every time I think I have a handle on her, then I remember something else that undoes that jenga’d attempt at mind-reading.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Miss Bianca:

    It’s funny because the Michigan GOP did a real post mortem where they advised their candidates to stop talking about litter boxes in schools and childrens genitals. Because it’s weird and off-putting.

  177. 177.

    Qrop Non Sequitur

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @sambrodey got his hands on an internal staffing document for Kyrsten Sinema’s office. She has staff get her groceries, fix her home internet, and call hotels to find out the pool dimensions.

    Ah, professionalism.

  178. 178.

    Layer8Problem

    @Alison Rose:  ” . . . I was wondering why you called them “women-women . . . ”

    Well, one of my grand-tots, when she was littler, knew of Wonder Woman, but called her “Woman Woman”, because little and just starting to speak.

  179. 179.

    StringOnAStick

    @cmorenc: I was born and raised in Grand Junction, and left in the 80’s just as the downtown was starting to revive.  I have close friends there who are solid liberals, fighting the good fight.  I also have RW Christianist relatives there too, unfortunately.

    Is Bannister Furniture still a going concern downtown?  I restored the kitchen table and chairs my late aunt left me, and their name is stenciled on the underside.  Makes me feel like I still have a connection there.

  180. 180.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Miss Bianca:

    Following the Democrats’ sweep earlier this month, Republicans hold less power in Colorado at the state and federal level than at any time since the 1930s.

    This looks a lot like California circa 2010-2012, when we finally got rid of the GOP as a party that had any influence over governing the state.

    We haven’t had a Republican elected to a state position since 2006. And it sure is nice they are merely an afterthought because the state is humming along just fine, TYVM.

  181. 181.

    Soprano2

    @catclub: Lots of organizations bring in a minority or female leader when things are going bad. Then they can blame the failure on that person rather than the white guy who preceded them.

  182. 182.

    ian

    @Qrop Non Sequitur: in 2004- with Bush winning the only Republican popular vote margin since 1988 as well as Colorado- Colorado’s state houses flipped to Democratic.  The Republicans have since managed to occasionally flip 1 chamber (and 1 senate term), but otherwise Colorado has been blue for 18+ years.

  183. 183.

    Paul in KY

    @Geminid: The only way it will work is if the Arizona Repubs work with her & put up a complete loser candidate as their nominee. Then the Repub voters all vote for her.

    That’s how Liebersuck did it.

  184. 184.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    Lots of organizations bring in a minority or female leader when things are going bad. Then they can blame the failure on that person rather than the white guy who preceded them.

    Also, the Rethuglicans saw that everyone loved Obama, and most likely thought “Let’s get a black guy too!”

  185. 185.

    evodevo

    @Soprano2: Yes…a good friend of ours who’s a welder takes great delight in telling the Xtian organizations that, yes, they need to pay full freight if they hire him for a job, that he’s definitely NOT interested in “donating” his services or cutting them a deal, and then watching them huff and puff.

  186. 186.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @mrmoshpotato: I’ve heard Tim Scott’s named mentioned more in the last month or so– as a non-trump “front-runner” for ’24– than I have in the last five years.

  187. 187.

    JoyceH

    @Alison Rose: ​
     

    And the whole issue about what he wore, for fuck’s sake. Anyone complaining about it…well first thing, they can fuck off into the sun, but also, they clearly do not understand in the least the reason for him dressing as he has throughout the full-scale war.

    I’ve been saying for months, “We’ll know the war is over when Zelenskyy wears a suit.”

  188. 188.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    It’s funny because the Michigan GOP did a real post mortem where they advised their candidates to stop talking about litter boxes in schools and childrens genitals. Because it’s weird and off-putting. 

    LOL!  It’s also creepy and concerning.

  189. 189.

    Soprano2

    @The Moar You Know: They think you should just give it to them because they’re a church. My hubby has a funny story about how he sent one pastor to Cleveland on a one-way ticket (with his wife!) by tricking him into thinking he had been asked to speak at a seminar. It was revenge for the guy stiffing him on a job. This was pre-internet, of course. It’s quite the story. I told him that if the Moth ever comes here he should tell that story, he would definitely win the night!

  192. 192.

    ian

    There is a youtube clip on my feed titled “Jordan Peterson describes women’s hottest sexual fantasy”.  I’m half tempted to click it just to watch.

  193. 193.

    StringOnAStick

    @ian: The last R Governor in Colorado was a Christianist creep with scary eyes.  I met one of the security staff for him and his wife right after they were voted out, who implied that both were getting more than a little on the side and the security staff was in various states of shocked and appalled the entire time that guy was in office.  I had no reason to doubt the guy, and it was long enough ago that not all security people were fellow RWer’s.

  194. 194.

    Soprano2

    @catclub: I wondered why they were freaking out today. They’re worried about higher interest rates, but in the next breath they’ll complain about inflation!

  198. 198.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: Right? I mean…that “We are not a blue state. We’re not even a purple state. We are a red state.” From…Tina Peters, who is…*checks notes*…a disgraced and corrupt MAGA county clerk and recorder who was arrested for actual election fraud, not the made-up kind of her fever dreams.

    To quote a Chicago DJ we used to listen to on our morning drives – “It’s a cry for help, ladies and gentlemen, and no one, absolutely no one, is listening.” 

    I mean, it’s so delusional it would be almost poignant, if the MAGAts weren’t such a menace to society.

  200. 200.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: The New Abnormal had a podcast with David Shapira, a Democrat who ran against her in a primary and lost after she broke their pact to not go negative in the campaign. He had some interesting insights into her, including that she is smart and this switch was probably planned months in advance. You can listen to it here if you want.

  202. 202.

    mrmoshpotato

    @ian:

    There is a youtube clip on my feed titled “Jordan Peterson describes women’s hottest sexual fantasy”. I’m half tempted to click it just to watch. 

    I doubt it’s as funny as you think, and you’ll most definitely regret knowing what fucked up shit is in that scumbag’s mind.

  203. 203.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Sometimes those people talk in so much “code” that no one who doesn’t watch Fox News or listen to right-wing talk radio has any idea what they are actually talking about!

  204. 204.

    Geminid

    @Paul in KY: Yeah, but Arizona Republicans are not like  Connecticut Republicans. The Arizona party is full of fanatics. Former Governor Doug Ducey is obviously their strongest candidate for the 2024 Senate contest, but if he trys to win the nomination the radicals will fight him every step of the way.

  206. 206.

    Soprano2

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, the next part is always that they need a new white guy to fix things up. “We gave that woman/black guy a chance, and look how poorly that turned out. We need a real leader who knows what they are doing” is how it usually works.

  210. 210.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    Fucker carlson is the mouthpiece for the right wing haters and morons who think the world owes them their stupidity and hate. His job in this world is to be the worlds asshole, literally. And he does a fine job of it.

  212. 212.

    JWR

    @Alison Rose: Oy, you had to remind me! ;) But yeah, that clip really bugs, and he uses it gratuitously

    ETA, just like the incident where Biden half falls going up the steps to his plane.

  213. 213.

    Geminid

    @Soprano2: I think Shapira and Sinema vied for the nomination in a new district created for the 2012 election because of reapportionment. Sinema won out, and ran against a Republican who accused her of being “a pagan hippy.” Sinema beat him, and became a pagan hippy Blue Dog. This has not proven to be a very good combination.

  214. 214.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    It is their god given right to wear their assholes on the front of their faces and they are going to do that until someone in the world figures out how to inform them that they are doing humanity wrong and make that concept stick. Of course that may be an impossible task as it does take some concept of reality and personal value to make people who hold these views of themselves see any part of actual reality. But as they appear to have zero concept of actual reality up to this point in life, I’m doubting that this will ever change.

  215. 215.

    HumboldtBlue

    What the hell is going on with Democrats in New York state?

    new: NY Gov. Kathy Hochul has nominated Hector D. LaSalle, the presiding justice of the state supreme court’s second department, as chief judge of the state court of appeals, NY’s highest court. if appointed, LaSalle would be the first Latino chief judge on the court, says Hochul

    @nysfocus reported earlier this week that dozens of law professors opposed LaSalle’s potential nomination because of what they called his “activist conservative jurisprudence,” including on issues related to abortion, unions, and criminal justice:

    Kathy Hochul barely survived her re-election campaign in a dark blue state and just nominated an anti-abortion, anti-union conservative to be the Chief Justice of the state’s top court. An absolute disaster of a governor.

  217. 217.

    James E Powell

    @Steeplejack:

    The weather next week is quickly back to seasonally appropriate, then hits 60° here on New Year’s Eve. Go figure.

    Out here in the lower lefthand corner of America, we’re expecting 79 & sunny on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.

  219. 219.

    James E Powell

    @cmorenc:

    We can only hope Bobert implodes.

    Are we sure? Do we benefit from having her & MTG as the faces & voices of the Republican party?

  228. 228.

    Geminid

    @Paul in KY: Ruben Gallego is a very dynamic politician. He’s only 38 (I believe), and refreshingly outspoken.

    A Marine Corps combat veteran, Gallegos was in the House Chamber during the January 6 Insurrection. He instructed his colleagues on the proper use of a pen as a weapon to be thrust into an attackers eye or throat. Gallegos told a reporter afterwards that he thought someone might be killed but it wouldn’t be him, it would be one of “those f*ckers,” referring to the Insurrectionists.

  230. 230.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: Maybe Sinema figured that she would lose a primary and wanted to start laying the groundwork for a run as an Independent in 2024. That doesn’t neccesarily mean she will, though especially if polling keeps showing that she’ll lose, and by an embarrassing margin.

    A commenter here who now lives in Pennsylvania observed Sinema at close hand in Arizona as she moved up from state legislator to Congresswoman to Senator. Sinema is essentially a social climber, Suzanne says.

    If that is so, now that Sinema has climbed as far as she can in politics she may decide to move on to the next phase of her life voluntarily. As an ex-Senator she will have plenty of good employment opportunuties.

  231. 231.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: I think if the polls look anything like the one that’s getting kicked around twitter day, Chuck Schumer (or whoever) would have a very hard time dissauding Gallego from running.

    And I could see Sinema clinging to the job, or a spoiler candidacy, out of spite. Michelle Goldberg read her book so we don’t have to, and I could see her convincing herself that such a campaign would be her duty to her “truth” or “journey”, or whatever such people say these days.

  232. 232.

    Geminid

    @HumboldtBlue: So I checked out the NY Daily News article on Hochul’s judicial nomination. She announced it only a few hours ago and I expect it wll be a hot topic in coming weeks. New York Democrats love to fight over this kind of question.

    The Daily News article mentioned the pushback Hochul is getting over the judge from the more liberal side of her party, and referenced his rulings in cases involving labor unions and anti-abortion groups. The reporter did not characterize him as “an anti-choice, anti-union conservative,” though and I would l have to see what those particular rulings were before I accepted the word of the critic you have quoted. His description of New York as a “dark blue state” makes me a little supicious of his objectivity

    I do not think of New York as a deep blue state. Joe Biden carried it by 10 points in 2020, same as Virginia. If someone tried to use the assertion that Virginia is “a deep blue state” to advance an argument about Democratic politics here, I would suspect them of shading the facts to push their narrative.

    But like I said, this matter will generate a ton of controversy and will be easy to follow in the state’s many political sites. Besides the City and  upstate newspapers, Gothamist and City and State-New York will cover this. The Village Voice might still be kicking too, but if they are I know which side they will come down on and it won’t be Kathy Hochul’s.

  233. 233.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t think Ruben Gallegos can be dissuaded and I don’t think Schumer or anyone else is gonna try. I read that various party entities are staying mum on this question but that may just be so as not to drive Sinema away during the remainder of her Senate term.

    Once 2024 rolls around I doubt if any Democrat will lift a finger for Sinema, at least not a helping finger. From what I hear she never lifts a finger for her fellow Arizona Democrats anyway.

  235. 235.

    different-church-lady

    @Soprano2: “If you are doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get… it… in… writing. His word isn’t worth shit — not with the good Lord himself telling him how to fuck you on the deal.”

    William S. Burroughs

  236. 236.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tom Watson is a Dem who works in local politics in the NYC area. I would peg him as a pragmatic Democrat

    Tom Watson @tomwatson 4h
    If labor helps to move/buck up a few liberals, that’s the path to sinking the nomination. Probably the only one. Progs alone can’t block it. (I hope this happens btw).

    It’s a lousy nomination by @KathyHochul. We just needed a basic liberal.

  237. 237.

    Geminid

    @BlueGuitarist: Huh. Thank you for the correction about Joe Biden’s vote total in New York state. But I will make up my own mind about Governor Hochul and her nominee. If the Slate article has solid facts, good. Their editorial opinions don’t mean much to me, though.

  239. 239.

    cmorenc

    @HumboldtBlue: …and many the sort of residents who are trash-talking about what a dysfunctional Hell-hole social and economic wreck California has become – are moving to deep-red states, particularly Idaho and Texas.  That selective red out-migration to Texas is a significant part of the story why the blue-trending forces in its demographics are slower toward overtaking the red parts than we had hoped.  A similar dynamic of red-leaning northerners to Florida is a significant part of why that state has gone from 50-50 to dominant red over the past 20 years.  Also, that’s a significant part of why North Carolina has remained stubbornly 51-49 red on average over the past 20+ years, despite predictions it would trend bluish before Georgia.

  241. 241.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: myself, I wouldn’t bother with anything Alex Sammon writes. Kind of surprised Slate hired him.

    As to Biden’s margin… he’s Biden, and trump was trump. NYC is pretty solidly blue as teh national party goes, but Eric Adams (ex-Republican) handily beat all the ‘progressive’ (as the term has come to be used in the last five-six years) competition; DeBlasio was a progressive, and a pretty unsuccessful interlude after the party (and shape)-shifting Bloomberg. And Hochul was picked as LG by the right-of-moderate Andrew Cuomo to shore up his right/upstate flanks. In pre-trump politics, Schumer and Gillibrand were considered pretty moderate. I’m old enough to remember the Baileys and the shotgun under the bed.

  242. 242.

    Bill Arnold

    @cmorenc:
    Ukraine is literally one of USAID’s showcased examples of De-Kleptification. (Posted previously but should be more widely known.) And many argue that one main reason that Russia did not succeed in toppling the Ukraine government is that Russia is a kleptocracy, and that kleptocrats hollowed out the Russian military.
    DEKLEPTIFICATION GUIDE – Seizing Windows of Opportunity to Dismantle Kleptocracy (USAID, September 07, 2022, full 84-page https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USAID_Dekleptification_Guide_FINAL.pdf available)
    In particular, this annex (pages 59-77) in interesting:

    ANNEX 1: UKRAINE CASE STUDY, 2014-PRESENT
    The window of opportunity that opened with Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity is the clearest model of inclusive institutions developing into a virtuous circle. Eight years later, Ukrainian dekleptification has been effective and popular. It continues to not only help repel kleptocracy and strategic corruption, but also help equip and motivate Ukrainians to defend their sovereignty with historic valor on the battlefield.
    …

  243. 243.

    cmorenc

    @Bill Arnold: Yep – those are the facts, but like everything else that doesn’t prevent the GOP / Fox etc. from grossly misrepresenting the facts and history.

  245. 245.

    Bill Arnold

    @cmorenc:
    And related, some analysts have speculated that one motivation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is that Ukraine was doing a good job of eliminating corruption and that Russian criminal elements, perhaps including in the government, were upset that they were losing kickbacks and losing control over via corrupt leadership.

  246. 246.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    As to Biden’s margin… he’s Biden, and trump was trump.

    I made myself curious. Turns out Biden’s MOV in NY was smaller than Gore’s, Kerry’s or either of Obama’s. Roughly comparable to HRC’s over trump in ’16

  247. 247.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Eric Adams ‘ win in last year’s Mayoral election was actually close. He had a good lead in first choice votes with ~33%. But by the time al five ranked choices were allocated his winning margin over former Sanitation Commissioner Kathy Garcia was not that great.

    If the city had not adopted ranked choice voting there would have been a runoff because Adams did not reach the 40% threshold required to win outright. He was a polarizing candidate, and Garcia might have consolidated the anti-Adams vote in a runoff and beaten him.

  248. 248.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I did not realize that was Alex F*cking Sammon writing for Slate. Eeew! Now I understand why the writer said that Hochul’s judicial nomination reflected poorly on Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, because of course Sammon would.

    Now, Tom Watson is someone I generally trust. I notice that Watson is pounding the George Santos matter pretty hard. People keep turning up more and more info and none of it’s good for Santos.

  249. 249.

    BlueGuitarist

    @Geminid:

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Thanks.

    didn’t recognize the name Sammon,

    as I read it, thought I should check the links to the court cases when done with work, so didn’t make it to the end of the article for the authors discrediting themselves re  Jeffries and Schumer. 

    if the pro-fake clinic “pregnancy crisis center,” anti-union, and anti-due process cases are accurately described, seems a bad nominee. 

  250. 250.

    Geminid

    @BlueGuitarist: Yeah, I wouldn’t disbelieve the assertion that this guy is a bad nominee just because Mt. Sammon made it. I do want to get the lowdown on these court cases from another source because I do not trust Sammon to be an objective and straight reporter.

    But it sounds like this matter will play out over the next few weeks so I will have time to learn all I care to. Like I was saying, this will be a hot topic in New York.

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