Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You cannot shame the shameless.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Funniest Thing I Have Seen In A Long Time

Reader Interactions

161Comments

  1. 1.

    bbleh

    *I* stand with George Santos because when I see all those libruls laughing it makes me SO … ANGRY!!

  2. 2.

    Spanky

    George Santos won’t mind this burn, seeing as he’s both blind and deaf.

    And a quintuple amputee. Did he mention that?

  10. 10.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Isn’t he wanted in Brazil? Any reason we can’t extradite him? Heck, he was the first person to fly a plane solo across the Atlantic, he could fly himself to Brazil.

    And as a former Supreme Court Justice, he should have no problem defending himself either.

  13. 13.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    I, for one, applaud George Santos for bringing Drag Queen Story Hour to the US House of Representatives.

     

    The stories are all fiction, of course.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    Practice on Santos, and deploy something similar on DeSantis.  Again and again.

    With that one, tell voters what DeSantis has already done.

  16. 16.

    FelonyGovt

    It really is amazing, the extent to which the Republicans have already beclowned themselves since they’ve had the House majority.

  18. 18.

    UncleEbeneezer

    This should be a ‘Jewish issue’ too
    Yet this latest bill strikes at the very core of Judaism’s commandment to learn from history. It’s not just about the Holocaust. Every year during Passover, we contemplate what it means to have been slaves and are literally commanded to experience the holiday as if we are in Egypt ourselves— and then learn from it how to treat others.

    This isn’t just about sympathizing with another group. Within the Jewish community, we have members who are Black and multiracial. Teaching about African American history and culture involves teaching about the history of African American Jews, and for that reason alone, we should see it as a Jewish issue.

    DeSantis’ strategy isn’t new. Throughout history, those bent on inflaming racial and ethnic tensions, or those who simply wanted to use an easy scapegoat, have tried to limit how we talk about the past.

    …

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    MSNBC reporting than Rep. Empty Greene is campaigning hard to be Fat Bastard’s running mate in 2024. If there is a God, will we be lucky enough for that to happen?

  24. 24.

    Manyakitty

    So…open thread and just because I haven’t seen it anywhere else, is it calendar time yet? The message is still in place and Cafe Press and their calendar paper.

  26. 26.

    Kent

    @Mike in NC:MSNBC reporting than Rep. Empty Greene is campaigning hard to be Fat Bastard’s running mate in 2024. If there is a God, will we be lucky enough for that to happen?

    We will be looking back at Palin as the sane, sober, and qualified one.

  27. 27.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Kent:

    We will be looking back at Palin as the sane, sober, and qualified one.

    No. No, we won’t. She’s just a different flavor of nutter.

  30. 30.

    Jackie

    The House Squeaker claims he removed Schiff and Swalwell from the Intelligence Committee because of lack of *integrity* with a straight face while Santos stood behind him.

  31. 31.

    Tony Jay

    I didn’t know until I read his bio that George Santos wrote ‘We Are The World’ as an autobiographical account of his time as the anthropomorphic representation of all life in and on Earth.

    What a guy. 

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @Manyakitty: Yes, beth talked with them yesterday or this morning.  Cafe Press is giving up on the vendor that is several months late and is now looking for a new vendor.

    So beth and I talked today and tomorrow we are going to talk about proceeding with postcards with pet photos in the meantime.

    I’ll let you all know once we have a plan. :-)

  34. 34.

    Kent

    @bbleh:

    @Kent: @Mike in NC:  I don’t think TFG would do it, because she might upstage him in some way.  He couldn’t stand that.

    I agree.  He doesn’t like women in power.  He finds them emasculating.  Notice the body language when he was around Pelosi.

    My guess is that he will pick some MAGA Black man because his poisoned brain will think that he only needs to peel off some of the Black vote to win back GA, MI, PA, and WI.  That is why he pushed so hard for Hershel Walker in GA.

    Tim Scott would be the obvious pick.  But he might be too smart to give up his Senator for Life gig to immolate himself for Trump.

  35. 35.

    Tony Jay

    @FelonyGovt:

    Oh, I’m fine. It’s the country that got small. And nasty. And terribly, terribly sad.

    Actually I was bashing a rant out this morning. Just needs a brief edit to bulk up the word count and it should be ready to go.

  40. 40.

    gratuitous

    Wait, this fellow is Portuguese, isn’t he? So his name shouldn’t be pronounce “jorj” but rather “whore hey,” right? (No offense intended to people actually named Jorge.)

  41. 41.

    pat

    It’s almost the end of the first month of the calendar and they are just now giving up on the vendor?

    Sorry, not interested in postcards.  Now if they can print a calendar that begins in February, I would buy it.  I seem to remember that a different vendor means that they can’t give so much money to the pets (can’t think of the name) but if they can’t sell any calendars at all…..  even less money.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC:

    MSNBC reporting than Rep. Empty Greene is campaigning hard to be Fat Bastard’s running mate in 2024. If there is a God, will we be lucky enough for that to happen?

    I think if he can be persuaded to put a woman in that position, Nikki Haley is better fit for his notions about “central casting”, and she’s pretty successfully sucked up over the years, as opposed to Stefanik, who I’ve read he doesn’t trust. Also, she’s personally close to JarVanka, I believe.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Tony Jay:

    Actually I was bashing a rant out this morning. Just needs a brief edit to bulk up the word count and it should be ready to go.

    So unlike your comments. :)

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ruckus: I do get frustrated that he gets so much attention, when he probably wouldn’t make my top twenty list of Odious and Dangerous Cretins Currently Serving In The House

  49. 49.

    Kay

    cyn
    @Acyn
    ·2h
    De La Cruz: DirecTV, one of my district’s largest satellite providers, has threatened to remove newsmax.. This appears to be another victory in the woke left’s efforts to cancel conservatives and limit free speech

    All day every day, centrists and Rightists: woke, woke, woke. It’s all they talk and write about.
    They DEMAND you purchase the cheap, shoddy garbage they churn out- if you don’t they are being persecuted, by you.

  50. 50.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Kay: Reminds me of Ben Shapiro, right-wing nutjob and wannabe movie screenwriter, who produced a lame-ass western flick starring fellow nutjob Gina Carano that grossed $800 on its opening weekend.

  51. 51.

    Tony Jay

    Look you meanies, all those words need a safe space to gather in and I see it as my duty to provide it. That’s just the (very) long and short of it.

  52. 52.

    Kent

    @The Thin Black Duke:@Kay: Reminds me of Ben Shapiro, right-wing nutjob and wannabe movie screenwriter, who produced a lame-ass western flick starring fellow nutjob Gina Carano that grossed $800 on its opening weekend.

    So that meant about 80 people saw it

    My daughter’s 6th grade recreational soccer team had a bigger average audience than that on a rainy November day in Vancouver.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Listening to the O’Bros’ Pod Save The World podcast, a brief discussion of Mike Pompeo’s new book– if ever there were a “you read it so I don’t have to”– beside opining that Jamal Khashoggi pretty much got what he deserved (I have barely been able to bring myself to read further than those tweets and headlines), Pompeo really, really hates Nikki Haley, among other things accusing her of plotting with JarVanka to move Haley into the Veep slot for the ’20 campaign.

  60. 60.

    West of the Rockies

    The unraveling of Rick–I want to say Rick–is more crazy than even Musk’s steady collapse.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    Speaking of embarrassingly small TV/movie audiences, I have a friend who was in charge of a local newspaper’s little-watched morning show, and she told me the low point was on Christmas when the Yule Log channel beat them in the ratings. LOL!

  62. 62.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Brachiator:

    Things are moving so fast that there might be a new prime minister before you finish your latest rant.

    Who’d’a thunk that Britain would be getting new Prime Ministers more frequently than the real pros, nations like Israel and Italy, are flipping their leaders?

  64. 64.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Betty Cracker: That is hilarious!  As a musician I’ve done my share of gigs with only a handful of people (and in one case, only ONE person) in the audience.

  65. 65.

    bbleh

    @FelonyGovt: Now in theaters: Qevin II: The Beclowning.

    And currently in production: Qevin III: The Red, Or Sorta Reddish, Line, Or More Of A Dotted Line Actually, Or Where A Line MIGHT Go, Approximately.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: now I’m mad (not for the first time) at Bob Menendez, the somehow under-the-radar Joe Manchin of foreign policy. I think Menendez has been at his game since before Manchin got to the Senate

    (and his son is a freshman MoC from NJ, and his daughter seems to be a rising star at MSNBC– well to her father’s left from what I can see, but I’ve only paid some attention since I learned they were related)

  68. 68.

    Brachiator

    @Tony Jay:

    The Reign of Rishi Shortpants won’t see two springs.

    The fun thing is that some of these vile creatures were totally fine when they worked for Boris Johnson, but are now total villains now that they work for Sunak.

    Even crazier are the morons who are calling for the return of BoJo, because Sunak is too richly brown for their tastes.

    And your media still exceeds ours for venality, stupidity and bias, in their insistence that BREXIT is still the greatest thing to happen to the UK since … well, forever.

  71. 71.

    gvg

    @Betty Cracker: Actually I think the yule log might have a fairly respectable built in audience. Hostesses like my mother who don’t want competition dialog but just some more holiday decoration so to speak. She puts it on when people are arriving and she is running around getting them settled on Christmas day. I don’t know why leaving the TV off isn’t more popular. She even has a fireplace, but starting a fire takes time.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: New Jersey should have gotten rid of Menendez when they had a chance. Now he’s sleazed his spawn into his old House seat, probably hoping to set him up to inherit the Senate seat eventually. Crooks like him give ammunition to “both sides” liars.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Who’d’a thunk that Britain would be getting new Prime Ministers more frequently than the real pros, nations like Israel and Italy, are flipping their leaders?

    In Israel, Bibi Netanyahu keeps turning up like a bad penny. Trump must be so jealous.

  74. 74.

    Old School

    @Baud:

    I thought Directv had removed NewsMax months ago.

    That was OAN.

    The NewsMax drop is over carrier fees, so of course, it is considered to be “censorship.”

  76. 76.

    Ruckus

    @FelonyGovt:

    They have been beclowning themselves for decades, they have just gotten far more open about how clownish they actually are. The new generation of beclowners are younger, stupider, and lack any concept of themselves as clowns.

    They are too stupid to hide their stupidity.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    They aren’t all dangerous for the same reasons. They might be partially stupid for the same reasons but his main reason is because the only thing that comes out of his mouth is bullshit. He seems to think (OK I’m being a bit facetious) that his sole goal in life is to never, ever, in anyway whatsoever. tell the truth. It’s almost like he has no actual idea what is the truth but he must have some clue, being as he’s so able to avoid it every single second of the day.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @pat: If we want to a company other than Cafe Press, we wouldn’t be able to have the funds raised go directly to the pet charity.

    On the other hand, Cafe Press using another vendor for paper has no impact on that at all.

    We still plan to do the calendar through Cafe Press – whenever they get the paper!  Maybe they will offer different starting dates but either way, we will offer the calendar that we already put together and designed.

    Our hope is that BJ peeps will want to buy one anyway to see everybody’s wonderful pets and to support the pet charity.

    But in the interim, some folks were interested in postcards, and we got quite a few high resolution photos for the “Favorite Dogs & Cats” posts, so I think we have some good options for photos to put on postcards.

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @MazeDancer: Zazzle has calendars, but they do not offer the option of the money for the calendars to go directly to the pet charity.  Without that, John has to pay the taxes on the calendar sales.

    That’s why Cafe Press is the one we use.

  84. 84.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    His picks seem to be pretty sour candy. And as far as it goes there are very few women who wouldn’t show him up. Now there might be a few who will prop him up, but they are more lead diggers than gold diggers.

  85. 85.

    pat

    OK, got it.  I remembered the bit about the money but not the details.

    Hope they can get them printed soon!

  86. 86.

    Ken

    @Brachiator: The fun thing is that some of these vile creatures were totally fine when they worked for Boris Johnson, but are now total villains now that they work for Sunak.

    I have seen people claim that this reveals exactly where the leaks are coming from — the Johnson camp, tearing down the new government and getting some revenge against those who turned on him.

    Though extreme, this is at least plausible. More so anyway than the claim that the damage being caused by Sunak, Braverman, Zahawi, Kwarteng, and others is part of some long-planned revenge on Britain by the former colonies.

  87. 87.

    CaseyL

    @Brachiator: Wait, what? Last I heard, it was Raab in the crosshairs.

    Sunak is getting some heat for not paying taxes, but that’s hardly the sort of thing the Tories will do a No Confidence vote over (since hardly any of them pay taxes either).

    As for the scandals ripping open everywhere, you’d need a critical mass of Tories to care about any of that, which they demonstrably do not.

  88. 88.

    Tony Jay

    @Brachiator:

    venality, stupidity and bias,

    That’s the new national motto, and damn it to hell but every institution in the country  is living down to it with accomplished ease.

    It would be impressive if it wasn’t so depressingly suicidal.

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Actually, except from June, 2021 to December 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israel’s PM since 2010. Not to say that has been a good thing.

    They just had a lot of elections after 2019, five total. Netanyahu now has a 64-56 margin in the Knesset, so his government might last until June, 2026 its allotted time.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    I can’t see Trump picking someone like MTG as running mate because even though she kisses his ass and he’s a grotesque trash bag himself, he probably thinks she’s too low-rent and unattractive to be his VP. If he picks a woman, he’ll pick someone who looks like a crappy network TV show’s idea of what a female VP would look like. Gov. Noem might fit the bill, and she may be making a play by taking potshots at DeSantis. Also, Noem gave Trump a model of Mount Rushmore with his face on it. That might be enough.

  94. 94.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Ruckus: Boebert might do.  She’d work as eye candy, and she is SO transparently a lightweight that she might not ever upstage him.  He could smirk and be patronizing, and she’d probably go along with it.  The whole point would be obvious from the start, and it’d probably be very popular with the knuckleheads.

    Most other prominent women Republican politicians are too smart, or too ambitious.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Maybe he’ll pick MTG, Lake and Noem as finalists and make them slug it out in a Jello tank for the honor.

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: I said to Mr, Suzanne that Kari Lake was really running for VP. He agreed.

    I don’t think Trump can go with her now. She has LOSER STINK.

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    @bbleh: Boebert’s narrow escape in the midterms would be a red flag. That’s a Republican district. Trump carried it by 6 points in 2020, and redistricting was thought to make it 2 or 3 points redder. Boebert almost proved an exception to the rule that demographics trump candidate quality.

  104. 104.

    MazeDancer

    @Betty Cracker: MTG looks like Miss Piggy. Hate to say it, because I love Miss Piggy.

    But the hair, the eyes, the nose – twinsies.

    Have often wondered why there aren’t any “Separated at Birth?” side-by-sides of them on Twitter. Maybe everyone is protecting Miss Piggy.

  108. 108.

    Brachiator

    @Ken:

    I have seen people claim that this reveals exactly where the leaks are coming from — the Johnson camp, tearing down the new government and getting some revenge against those who turned on him.

    There is a Tory Civil War happening. There are definitely Johnson supporters trying to bring him back, claiming that he could easily win a general election. Problem is, this ain’t true. In addition, Johnson still has some looming investigations that might see him ousted as an MP. And the scandals torching Sunak keep coming back to former Johnson people.

    Sunak is a weak political leader. He keeps doing silly things that make him an easy target. He recently got fined for not wearing a seatbelt. Jeez!

    Tory extremists believe that Sunak is not sufficiently committed to BREXIT. But moderate Conservatives know that right now, there is no plausible replacement for Sunak.

     

    @CaseyL:

    Wait, what? Last I heard, it was Raab in the crosshairs.

    Raab is sitting pretty compared to Braverman and some others.

    Sunak is getting some heat for not paying taxes, but that’s hardly the sort of thing the Tories will do a No Confidence vote over (since hardly any of them pay taxes either).

    Looking ahead to a general election, Sunak is a loser to people who believe that a rich person cannot, by definition, understand the problems of a common man. Of course, this comes from a people long ruled by elites and aristocrats.

    A former chancellor is getting heat for not reporting income and not paying capital gains taxes. I think this guy previously took some heat for claiming expenses on his horse stables.

    Most of these people were appointed to government by Johnson. The press previously covered for many of them. But now that Sunak is in office, the media is suddenly finding all these scandals they never noticed before.

  109. 109.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: In anticipation of that, maybe they should be 2024 calendars? 2023 will be Balloon Juice’s “lost year”.

    Also, maybe we should get a head start on the 2025 calendars by collecting pictures now.

  111. 111.

    Soprano2

    I got a link to this article in my daily e-mail from WEF, an industry group I belong to. It looks like a back door attempt by the Mississippi state government to take over the water system in Jackson.

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Jackson’s troubled water system could get a new set of owners under legislation advanced Tuesday by Republican lawmakers in Mississippi.
    The bill would transfer ownership to a new public entity overseen by a nine-member board, the majority of which would be appointed by state leaders. Republicans control both houses of the Mississippi Legislature, as well as the governor’s mansion. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat, has said he wants the city to maintain control of its water.

    Most of the board members would be appointed by the (white) governor and (white)lt. governor, and all would be subject to approval by the (mostly white) MS state legislature. If they get this done I look for them to sell the system to a private company within months of taking it over, because that’s what they’ve been pressuring the city government to do for a long time.

  112. 112.

    Mike in NC

    In his book “Everything Trump Touches Dies”, Rick Wilson suggested Trump would divorce Melania and marry Hope Hicks (the aide who pressed his pants while he still was wearing them) but drop dead shortly after that. If only it were true!

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mike in NC:

    the aide who pressed his pants while he still was wearing them 

    I thought it was Mittens who got off on having his pants pressed while still wearing them.

  118. 118.

    Kent

    @lowtechcyclist: Who’d’a thunk that Britain would be getting new Prime Ministers more frequently than the real pros, nations like Israel and Italy, are flipping their leaders?

    The difference is that the UK is doing it all within one party!

    That takes some special skill.

  119. 119.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike in NC: IIRC there was a fairly sympethetic bio of Melanie not long ago, it didn’t cause much of a ripple and the author’s name would escape me if I’d ever had it, but even she said, flat out, not “there are reports…” that Melanie kept herself and the kid in NYC in early 2017 to renegotiate her pre-nup. I think The Beast has made his peace with being stuck with the arm-candy he has.

  120. 120.

    Dangerman

    @Mike in NC: That’s actually terrifying. Sure, that ticket will lose by about a billion votes, give or take a few, but with the EC, anything is possible if it comes down to some shithole swing.

  121. 121.

    bbleh

    @Geminid: Are you suggesting that Actual President Donald J. Trump needs HELP to win?  And that even if he did, a GIRL could help him?!

    Shocking!

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @bbleh: He might not need help, but he sure doesn’t need a running mate who hurts.

    Personally, I do not think Trump will be the nominee in 2024. It’s still fun to play the running mate game, though.

  125. 125.

    Kent

    @Mike in NC:In his book “Everything Trump Touches Dies”, Rick Wilson suggested Trump would divorce Melania and marry Hope Hicks (the aide who pressed his pants while he still was wearing them) but drop dead shortly after that. If only it were true!

    Hope Hicks has better prospects.  And ones that won’t require conjugal visits.

  126. 126.

    cmorenc

    @Kent:  I heard over CNN or MSNBC yesterday that Scott had announced he was not seeking reelection at end of his current term.  Nonetheless, he may sensibly decide a future as a handsomely paid lobbyist or at a right-wing thunk tank seems preferable to serving as Trump’s abused lackey as VP.

  129. 129.

    Martin

    @Geminid: I don’t think you can make any predictions given the degree of internecine warfare that will mark the GOP primary. I don’t think an indictment of Trump will even slow that down.

  132. 132.

    Kent

    @Dangerman:@Kent: Are you suggesting Melania would “visit” Donald in Prison? Only after the check clears, I suppose.

    It’s the opposite.  It won’t clear until she does.  Everything is pay to play for Trump.

  133. 133.

    cmorenc

    BTW Mike Pompeo’s new book is already available at Costco on the tables of discounted overrun books. Didn’t it just get very recently released?

  135. 135.

    Geminid

     

     

    @cmorenc: Rick Scott will more likely run for President. One of the many complaints about Scott’s stewardship of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee was that he was building a personal donor base with a an eye on a presidential run.

    It might seem absurd to think that Rick Scott could be elected President, and it might actually be absurd. But one thing I notice about Republicans like Scott and Christie and Pompeo is that they believe in themselves, enough to go for the brass ring..

    This could be a crowded field next year. I hope those jackasses raise a lot of money and spend it all tearing each other down.

  136. 136.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @eclare: I don’t, really. She has shown no sign of being as odious as her elder siblings, that I’ve seen, A small part of me hopes she will take them all down, especially now if she doesn’t need whatever of grandpa’s money she was gonna get. Cause that would be funny.

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    When does Barron turn 18 again?

    He is 16. I didn’t bother to look up his birthday. I feel sorry for the kid. He didn’t ask to be part of this madness, and I have no idea how he is being raised.

    He is also supposedly 6 ft 7 in tall. And sometimes gets teased on Twitter about his height.

  138. 138.

    karen marie

    @Brachiator:  I am gobsmacked that Netanyahu was reelected.  I don’t know how the Israeli system works – is it like Britain, where the party elects the leader and the prime minister is the leader of the majority party?

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cmorenc: I could be wrong, and I’m definitely biased, but I can’t remember a US Secretary of State who took up as little space, had as little stature, as Mike Pompeo, and he’s gone from obscurity to oblivion. Well-deserved.

    Well I guess that oil guy, Rex Something or other, has also been largely forgotten, but I’m guessing that’s at least to some degree by choice.

  142. 142.

    patrick II

    @Geminid: ​
     
    Scott seems dangerous to me. He seems to have beat very long odds to become governor of and then Senator from Florida. Maybe it is just a Florida thing.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: Israel has a parliamentary system, and proportional representation. Parties run nationwide, and if a party wins 10% of the vote it the top 12 people on the party slate are elected to the 120 member Knesset.

    The kicker this time was that a party must clear a 3.25% threshold. If it doesn’t, instead of getting 4 MKs it wins none. That was a critical factor in November’s election. Two parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc failed to clear the threshold, one by a tenth of a percent and one by 4 tenths.

    So even though the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs were virtually tied in the popular vote, 6% of the votes were were wasted and Netanyahu’s 4-party coalition ended up with a 64-56 majority.

  145. 145.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just saw a clip of Pompeo saying “the left’ exploited Janary 6, a day that ended “in glory” and was a triumph for the Constitution. He was first in his class at West Point.

  146. 146.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I think if he can be persuaded to put a woman in that position, Nikki Haley is better fit for his notions about “central casting”, and she’s pretty successfully sucked up over the years, as opposed to Stefanik, who I’ve read he doesn’t trust. Also, she’s personally close to JarVanka, I believe.

    She’s also pretty, and Trump is so shallow he wouldn’t want to share the stage with a woman who is average looking. Honestly, I would feel sorry for his kids if they hadn’t embraced being trash.

  148. 148.

    Cameron

    @Geminid: Scott’s got the cred. Bro pulls off the biggest Medicare fraud in history, and manages to get elected governor twice and senator once. And the Republicans trusted him with their money…

  149. 149.

    Mike in NC

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  Pompeo is a far-right evangelical Christian, one of many that Trump surrounded himself with to get that demographic to vote for him. Totally without principal and extremely ambitious.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @patrick II: Shakespeare had Julius Caesar say of Cassius that Caesar did not trust a lean and hungry man.

    Rick Scott sure fits the “lean and hungry” type. He’s got this extreme diet where he lives off of scrambled egg whites and grilled fish. Scott looks like he has something like 1% body fat.

    He actually looks a little scary.

  152. 152.

    Ellenr

    Give the file to people who’ve paid for the calendar and they can print their own for use till the real ones are available?

  153. 153.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: @Cameron: I’d say between that becoming filthy rich by running a company that was convicted of felony medicare fraud (of which he somehow was not guilty, which I will never understand) he was doomed, but he won statewide in Florida three times, and pretty handily I believe, so who the fuck knows? Though I would still bet that, barring a trump resurgence, they’re gonna go with a smiley face to front for trumpism

    Speaking of Florida politics, you know who else got rich on, or at least very near, Medicare scams? Papa Gaetz

    Shortly after receiving his Master’s degree, Gaetz worked in Jacksonville as a hospital administrator, and lobbied the legislature to create hospice care programs for the dying. In 1983, Gaetz founded VITAS Healthcare Corporation with a group of investors, which he later sold for nearly half a billion dollars in 2004.[2]

    n 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against VITAS for allegedly committing Medicare fraud since 2002, when Gaetz still worked at the company. Gaetz denied any role in any wrongdoing that occurred.[17] The case was settled in January 2018 with a confidential settlement.[18]

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, some asshole’s going to win that nomination, so I’m not counting Scott out. If he does win, Democrats are going to spend a lot of money telling the Medicare story.

    Just because it did not get traction in statewide races doesn’t mean it won’t in a national race, with $100 million in ads propagating it. Scott may think his electoral success in Florida immunized him on this issue, but I don’t think so.

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It certainly was a big shift. One factor may be that Trump was not on the ballot. When I look at the change in Virginia from Biden winning by 10 points in 2020 to Youngkin winning by 2 in 2021, I see several factors at play and one was the absence of Trump from the 2021 ballot. Democrats and candid Republicans agreed that he had been a potent GOTV force for Virginia Democrats.

    But there are apparently also demographic changes that have turned Florida redder. Plus, DeSantis had a lot of money, I believe $200 million. That has to make a difference in such a spread out state with expensive media markets.

  159. 159.

    ColoradoGuy

    I think Boebert has a chance to be picked VP. You have to be “in” with the QAnon crowd to get anywhere in the GOP, and she locks up the gun-nut vote, which is a major constituency in the Party. And she doesn’t have to pretend to be crazy; she really is. These are all positives to the GOP base.

  161. 161.

    Denali5

    Boebart for VP? She gives off the same vibes as Sarah Palin. Palin turned off many Republican voters. But these are different times.

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