Ukrainians are choosing an unusual date for Christmas: Dec. 25, @CCaryl writes https://t.co/Ldisk2WEU0
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) December 21, 2022
Sharing is caring:
This is a beautiful picture! Kudos to the photographer ???????????? pic.twitter.com/uik5htyqfn
— sick of bs ?? (@myself4_a) December 22, 2022
Question: But can we make long story short and give Ukraine all capabilities it needs and liberate all territories rather sooner than later?
Biden: His answer is yes
Zelenskyy: I agree pic.twitter.com/NFJZ6SHZXv— Acyn (@Acyn) December 21, 2022
Zelenskyy: Against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn't fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking.And it gives me good reason to share with you our first joint victory. We defeated Russia in the battle for minds of the world pic.twitter.com/mpnhaxOJBo
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 22, 2022
Powerful speech from President Zelenskyy to a joint session of Congress. Same guy I met several weeks ago. A charismatic and confident leader. Everything Putin is not. pic.twitter.com/jqWIfxtOpT
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) December 22, 2022
Elsewhere: An ocean of salty Repub tears…
I am watching Fox, and Carlson in particular, partly out of curiosity about how the speech played over there, and partly because this is a majestic flow of vintage-quality salty tears
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 22, 2022
the original America Firsters were also quite upset about this. https://t.co/Pa2GuJD6KT
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) December 22, 2022
There must be a bit of shame involved here. Trump is a cowardly draft dodger, while Zelensky visits his troops at the front line. Maybe the only way to distract themselves from that shame is to screech about how Zelensky didn't wear a suit.
— Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 (@Noahpinion) December 22, 2022
Insult, of course. If the self-evident brave and noble struggle of the Ukrainians against subjugation and annihilation hasn't persuaded someone to support that struggle, how much do you think my kind and beseeching words could do? For Christ's sake.
— Noah Smith ?????? (@Noahpinion) December 22, 2022
Why spend $45 billion to save a sovereign country when you could spend it to ruin a social media platform. pic.twitter.com/tCvtgeLTnV
— Panda Bernstein (@J4Years) December 21, 2022
On a different topic — Teaser:
Breaking: Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, and the the co-founder of FTX, Gary Wang, have each pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and are cooperating with federal prosecutors in New York, @ABC has learned
— Aaron Katersky (@AaronKatersky) December 22, 2022
The guilty pleas were announced by Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a videotaped message pic.twitter.com/8r9LPQtby3
— Aaron Katersky (@AaronKatersky) December 22, 2022
Baud
How do you say Christmas comes earlier every year in Ukrainian?
mrmoshpotato
Zelenskyy’s speech was superb.
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.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: That WaPo piece is a pretty good overview.
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😑
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.)
The Thin Black Duke
“Heroism” is a word not found in the GOP’s dictionary.
Anyway
“We defeated Russia in the battle for minds of the world”
True dat.
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.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
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:
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)
Gin & Tonic
Words from a soldier, re-told: https://twitter.com/tsurkankate/status/1605829367078088704?s=46&t=K00xVRtDgElcMJEYTkNkVQ
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: That link didn’t work for me, but here’s a link that might.
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.
rikyrah
Any word on the results of that special election in Virginia to replace the Congressman who passed away?
rikyrah
@rekoob:
Thanks! I was just asking about it😊
rikyrah
@The Thin Black Duke:
They don’t even know how to spell it
OzarkHillbilly
@JWR: The answer Glenn, is “Sit down and STFU.”
OzarkHillbilly
@The Thin Black Duke: It’s there, it just has a definition devoid of any real meaning.
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….)
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Thank you! I think this shows how amazing you are, not how clumsy I am.
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.
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!
Jay
It’s burning again.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Good morning! 🙏
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.
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.
Jay
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.
oatler
@VOR:
https://www.joemygod.com/2022/12/gaetz-and-boebert-acted-like-dicks-at-zelensky-speech/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
mali muso
@geg6: Good luck and safe travels!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@geg6: Wear a mask!
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.
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.
Steeplejack
For those who were incredulous last night about Tucker Carlson’s claim that Zelenskyy had “declared war against Christianity,” here it is.
sdhays
@Kay: It’s who she is. She can’t turn it off. And she won, so no worries (she thinks).
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.
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.
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.
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.
sdhays
@Kay:
I think I see the problem.
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:
One of the Boeberts should start paying attention to their preteen boys- they’re out of control.
catclub
@SFAW:
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.
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.
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.
eclare
@sab: Oh how frustrating!
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!
Sean
https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-biden-8faabc7a22e7cd5559d9171b3d909b3a
It would seem the omnibus and ECA reform along with it are in serious danger thanks to Mike Lee.
Jay
@catclub:
Lindell is going after TFG’s “biggest” challenger to the Rethug throne, trying to “dirty him up” with the MAGgot base.
sab
@eclare: We can fix it at our end, but what about the checks we wrote that bounced?
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.
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.
sab
@eclare: Good move. Our battery gave out yesterday which is how we discovered the bank phuckup. Bounced our credit/debit to AAA.
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.”
catclub
WAPO article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/22/red-wave-midterm-elections-2022-what-happened/
I am interested in how the author found the guy.
catclub
Computers and account numbers! How do they work? Should the bank know how?
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.
sab
@sab: And will they bounce tomorrow if todays fix doesnt work?
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.
OzarkHillbilly
@Sean: He’s just looking for a bigger bribe.
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?”.
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.”
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.
Kay
@Geminid:
Pillows and mattresses for Right wingers. Hmmm.
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.
Matt McIrvin
@UncleEbeneezer: So, it’s the “pregnancy crisis center” approach applied to suppressing gender-affirming care.
Steeplejack
@Geminid:
Inorite. The weather next week is quickly back to seasonally appropriate, then hits 60° here on New Year’s Eve. Go figure.
Geminid
@sdhays: “Here! Hold my wallet with your mouth while I write a check.”
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.
SFAW
@Kay:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Matt McIrvin
@UncleEbeneezer: Yeah. You know what changes your body forever? Puberty. But that’s “natural” so it’s all good.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@catclub: Thanks for that. Interesting article. It gives me some hope.
SFAW
@JWR:
As they say in Boston: You poor bastid.
Ken
Are you sure it wasn’t still Boebert, fulfilling some product-placement deal she’d made?
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.)
The Moar You Know
Reading about Kari Lake’s ongoing lawsuit to overthrow her election loss:
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.
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.
Another Scott
Stay safe and warm, everyone.
Willow.
Cheers,
Scott.
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.
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
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)
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.
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?
eclare
@Another Scott: Love it!
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.
ian
@sdhays: This link is politico, so only click if you are prepared to take a long hot shower afterward.
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.
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.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: Oof. That hits hard.
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.
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.
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.
Amir Khalid
@ian:
Are Republicans ready for a party chair of Indian heritage?
Steeplejack
@Another Scott:
😹 Great! On duty.
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..
Soprano2
@Steeplejack: It’s the same here!
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: +1
I guess we’ll see if she ends up on the GovTrack.US/Misconduct list:
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Alison Rose
Here’s another amazing photo from Pelosi’s account
Oh, it won’t link directly to a specific photo in the tweet. It’s the first one I’m referencing, where he’s looking to the side with the flag and Pelosi and Harris behind him
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.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: Kamala looks so inspired in that one.
Kay
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.
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.
Spanky
For those who were wondering …
eclare
@Alison Rose: Very powerful
Old School
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
538 gives them an A- (with 79% of races called correctly).
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: She looked overjoyed at meeting him. It was very lovely :)
sdhays
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Who does she think she is? A Trump Cabinet Secretary?
Soprano2
So has anyone see this yet? Hannity testified under oath that he didn’t believe TFG’s claims about fraud in the election! https://www.yahoo.com/news/testimony-hannity-other-fox-employees-131646430.html
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.”
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!
JWR
ETA regarding the Sinema rider:
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hey at least she reimburses her
food servantsstaffers, 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.Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
He got dragged about it on Morning Joe. Also, Beau of the Fifth Column weighs in.
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…
catclub
I wanted to buy a used tandem bike from their bike shop. Not really suitable for airplane travel in and out of GJ.
catclub
@Soprano2:
Yes!
and Dominion voting systems becomes the new owner of Fox network.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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.
catclub
@ian:
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.
Ken
@catclub: Ah, I see. I think. Was Hannity dodging his personal culpability by underbussing the entire Fox network?
Alison Rose
OMG y’all, Tucker was even worse that that stupid chyron:
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.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
in other VA political news:
Best reply: Not often you see “McClellan victory in Virginia”
H.E.Wolf
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 :)
schrodingers_cat
@Alison Rose: How many dealing has Tucker had with strip club managers to be an expert on their outfit choices, one wonders.
Jay C
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
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 – ?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Your occasional moment of schadenfreude: Tesla stock down another 7% today, as of a minute or so ago
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.
Delk
Source
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.
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.
Alison Rose
@Barbara: Isn’t it just so shocking that they’re hypocritical and mercurial? Knock me over with a feather.
Barbara
@Delk: More like a new valley or trough.
The Moar You Know
@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.
JWR
@Ken:
The mic it is dropped. Perfect! ;)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
interesting…. I wonder if she’ll try again
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.
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.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JWR: I think “Jeffries drops the mic” might become a thing in the next couple of years
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.
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ba-dum-tssh!
mrmoshpotato
@PST:
Do it. Just don’t go sunbathing for the next few days. 🥶
The Moar You Know
@Alison Rose: Wow. Things have changed since I lived there. In the 1990s, nobody would have dared put a strip club in the Tendo, they’d have all been robbed and shot.
Alison Rose
@Barbara: Cleek’s Law in the macro
mrmoshpotato
@Delk: Hahaha!
Alison Rose
@The Moar You Know: Well, at least one of them has been there since the 60s, so…they’ve found a way. I was sorta on the edge of the ‘Loin, though, not smack dab in the middle.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: I’d love to see him get his, along with Simonyan. They’re birds of a feather.
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, I admit…if I heard of something horribly painful happening to him, I would smile.
Ksmiami
@catclub: tbh I think that Russia needs to be defanged by all peaceful nations at this point. The society has become a sick menace to all.
Paul in KY
@Another Scott: You too, Scott!
Paul in KY
@Geminid: I think she’s running. That’s why she switched to Independent.
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.
JWR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
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. ;)
Paul in KY
@Spanky: There’s many worse ways of reaching the clearing at the end of the path. Glad it wasn’t painful.
catclub
I think they threw out the Mormons.
NutmegAgain
@Alison Rose: yeah, it modified my M-dash… grumble
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”)
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Much better than expected GDP numbers, so the stock market is tanking big time. oy. Good news is bad news.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Only when a Democrat is President.
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!
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. ;)
Kay
@Miss Bianca:
Okey doke
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.
Qrop Non Sequitur
About 14 years late with that assertion, broseph.
Paul in KY
@JWR: Someone sure had a good time writing that rider up!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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.
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.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Ah, professionalism.
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.
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.
HumboldtBlue
@Miss Bianca:
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.
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.
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.
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.
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
Also, the Rethuglicans saw that everyone loved Obama, and most likely thought “Let’s get a black guy too!”
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.
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.
JoyceH
@Alison Rose:
I’ve been saying for months, “We’ll know the war is over when Zelenskyy wears a suit.”
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
LOL! It’s also creepy and concerning.
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!
Miss Bianca
@NutmegAgain: Yeah, I loved that part – Nancy SMASH! and VPOTUS together on that podium behind Zelenskyy.
And the end of the speech had me in tears.
HumboldtBlue
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.
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.
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!
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hahaha! Who would be his running mate – Kasper the KKK ghost?
Seriously, the thought of Trump trash having to vote for a Black man is hilarious.
Ruckus
@The Thin Black Duke:
It’s not even a concept in their dictionary. Or their “battle manual,” or stuffed up their own asses, as there is no room up there that’s where their heads reside.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HumboldtBlue: I’m almost tempted to dial up truth social to see the ketchup splatter of words he’s dictating to Eric right now
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.
Alison Rose
@JWR: Yeah, he REALLY loves to use that clip of Biden trying to leave a stage and not being sure which direction to go. Like, dude. We get it.
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.
Alison Rose
@JoyceH: That’s exactly what he said, himself!
mrmoshpotato
@ian:
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.
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!
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.
Layer8Problem
@HumboldtBlue: That was a cold one there, Speaker.
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.
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Soprano2
@HumboldtBlue: Wow, that’s quite a burn!
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue:
Buttered or unbuttered?
Also, the replies under that tweet are absolutely vile.
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.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@HumboldtBlue: LOL. I love Pelosi
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.
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.
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.
HumboldtBlue
What the hell is going on with Democrats in New York state?
sdhays
@Barbara: Well, not the only thing. In Afghanistan, Muslims were being killed. I don’t think that’s insignificant.
James E Powell
@Steeplejack:
Out here in the lower lefthand corner of America, we’re expecting 79 & sunny on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue: Love it!
James E Powell
@cmorenc:
Are we sure? Do we benefit from having her & MTG as the faces & voices of the Republican party?
James E Powell
@Old School:
Man! Talk about grade inflation. Why, in my day, 79% was a C+ at best.
Paul in KY
@Geminid: I’m sure hoping it bombs and Mr. Gallego is elected.
Paul in KY
@Geminid: I must say she staked out a caucus you don’t see very often: Pagan Hippie Blue Dog.
Paul in KY
@HumboldtBlue: Playin that ole Cuomo playbook, I see…
tybee
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
perfect. :)
Paul in KY
@James E Powell: I would like to get a Democrat in Booberts District. We’ll never get one in Marge’s district, so she should be as cray cray as she can be!
James E Powell
@Geminid:
Sinema’s move makes sense, I guess. But I wonder why she felt she had to do it now.
Paul in KY
@James E Powell: So she can torture us by dallying with Mitch?
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.
Paul in KY
@Geminid: Man! I like the cut of his jib!
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.
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.
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.
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.
BlueGuitarist
@Geminid:
@HumboldtBlue:
here’s an article from Slate about Hochul’s awful nominee
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/12/kathy-hochul-hector-lasalle-new-york-judicial-nomination.html
2020 presidential vote in NY: Biden 61%, Trump 38%
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
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
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.
trollhattan
Last night I joked thank goodness he wore olive drab and not tan for his visit; nevertheless, I should have expected this about Zelenskyy. You mad, bro?
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1605642995222646799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Pipsqueak confronts actual man, finds self lacking.
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.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@BlueGuitarist: Most NY Dems I interact with seem cool. Where do they find these politicians?
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.
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:
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.
Mr. Bemused Senior
FYI: Talking Points Memo live report Jan 6 transcript. Cassidy Hutchinson’s experience. Not surprising, but wow!
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.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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
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.
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.
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.
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.