I haven’t been posting much because we’re back in the gym habit, post-COVID. We don’t have a lot of cases around here, I think my immunity is pretty good (as vaxxed as possible, had it once, probably twice), and — this is the important part — it’s a big, airy gym that is far, far less busy than it was pre-COVID.
This particular gym has TVs tuned to all the different cable stations, with CNN and Fox News right next to each other, so I can occasionally glance up and see the stark difference between reality and fairy tales. This morning, Fox was running a focus group of voters responding to the Trump indictment, which is a losing game, as far as I’m concerned. If that’s what they’ve got, they have nothing. I’ve never been one to think that the solution to Trump / Trumpism will be found in the legal system, but he’s a god damned criminal and needs to be treated as such, no matter the political outcome.
Speaking of the political outcome, let’s face it — Republicans will use Trump’s indictment as an excuse to abuse prosecutorial power and indict every Democrat they can get their hands on. Indicting or not indicting Trump isn’t going to change that outcome much. Fascists are going to find any excuse to do what they were going to do in the first place. Anyone who thinks that the next few years in this country is going to be anything but a rough ride is delusional. The only thing Democrats can do is elect as many fighters as we can, and fight however we can, against this vocal minority of lawless terrorists.
Preventive Care and Actuarial Value in the ACA
Old School
Well, at least it would be more current than Robert Bork’s name being brought up all the time.
lee
The gym we go to is the city’s Athletic Center. Very big and airy as well. During the height of the pandemic you had to schedule a time to go in and they allowed very limited numbers and required masks for everyone.
The TV situation is rather comical. They used to have Fox and CNN and a local channel or two. The first to go was Fox and a couple weeks later CNN. Eventually the local channels got the boot as well. Now it is all home improvement and infomercials. On the weekends they switch to ESPN and a couple of other sports channels.
kindness
I feel for my peeps in red states. All of you in places like Florida, Texas, Tennessee & the like, keep the faith. Keep fighting. Do what ever you can so your kids don’t grow up in a Fox News world.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Old School: I saw Jim Comer was saying local DAs in KY and TN are itchin’ to go after them Bidens. I wonder how many of those DA’s districts Hunter Biden has ever set foot in, or do they have Joe for littering with his ice cream cones during a fund-raising trip for Phil Bredeson or Allison Grimes
pat
So it looks like the repukes have won Senate district 8 (Milwaukee suburbs) to give them a super majority in the senate and who wants to bet that they will not start trying to impeach the new liberal Supreme Court Justice. Janet… sorry I still can’t spell her name…….
For a while there I thought this election was going well and we were on a new track. Guess gerrymandering is still the norm and I can’t see the repukes giving up their total control.
Wisconsin is about 50/50 dem and rep voters, but dems have only about 33% of the seats in the assembly.
Really sad about this…. maybe have to move back to MN? It is just across the river… but at least La Crosse seems to be in the democratic camp. For now….
Elizabelle
@pat: Honestly, why jump to “she’s getting impeached” so quickly? Wasn’t that a ten-point margin? That means there is some definite danger for GOP falling into line on that one. Sure, the fire breathers and brain dead will be screaming to impeach, but must we amplify that here? Take the win, and breathe.
Just be happy the good people won the Supreme Court seat. Do you know what the margin in the 8th Senate district turned out to be?
Old School
@Elizabelle:
With 99% of the votes counted:
Dan Knodl (R) 38,504 (50.9%)
Jodi Habush Sinykin (D) 37,208 (49.1%)
Almost Retired
@pat: I dunno. I’m cautiously optimistic. MSNBC had a piece this morning on the voting trajectory of the previously solidly-Republican WOW Counties. Which each passing election, the margin narrows, with Janet Prozac-Sandwich only losing by 4 points in Ozaukee County, as opposed to Obama in 2012 by 30. And her performance in Southwestern Wisconsin and the Lake Superior Counties was impressive!
pat
@Elizabelle:
Something less than 1% or so. You’re right, maybe I should not worry about it, but with the repukes there is no telling what they will try to do. Override all of Evers’ vetoes, and I did read somewhere that impeachment was on the table. Maybe clearer heads will prevail? Yeah, that’s it.
Dan Kelly, her opponent, calling her unworthy…. I think he was an election denier. If anyone is unworthy for a supreme court seat, it has to be him…
Math Guy
This indictment is small potatoes when compared to everything else tfg is guilty of, but it is the first knick in the armor, creating a weak point that will bulge, split, and finally burst under all of the pent-up pressure behind it.
eclare
@kindness: Thank you!
Good to see one of the three TN reps being expelled for no reason interviewed on MSNBC this morning.
sab
@Old School: They have been doing that for a couple of generations anyway. Carter administration, Clinton administration. Obama himself was so wholesome he left his half-brother’s bachelor party when the stripper showed up, and he hired people nearly as wholesome as he was.
Not indicting them when they deserved indictment hasn’t accomplished anything other than make them fearless. Just look at what they have been up to lately in Ohio.
artem1s
It’s all about the judge appointments both federal and state. Also BOE and SoS seats in purple and red states. I think the Dems finally have enough breathing room to keep the federal level dumpster fires under control and be proactively on the offense at the state levels now. As far as I’m concerned, the longer the GOP is distracted with trying to revive their Great Orange Hope the better.
Elizabelle
@Old School: That is close. Thank you.
Jeffro
The GOP can try all it wants to give Dems a rough ride but right now they seem very intent on finding blame for losing WI (paging Ronna McDaniel, Ms. McDaniel to the white courtesy phone please) and trying to figure out how to solve their trump 2024 problem.
I think we’re actually in for an entertaining couple of years, with good results in 2024. We’ll have to ‘run through the finish line’/‘run like we’re 10 points behind’/(insert your metaphor of choice here) but things are looking good. =)
Elizabelle
@pat: The voters tossed Dan Kelly out on his insurrectionist ass. By a wide margin. We can all be happy about that.
Baud
Agreed 100%.
Kristine
How to pronounce Judge Janet’s last name.
PRO-TUH-SAY-WITZ, accent on the SAY
Baud
@Kristine:
I’ll stick with Janet.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
we should talk about more substantive matters.
Is Lindsey Graham trying to morph into trump?
Juju
@Elizabelle: It was 1,296 votes. I don’t know how they do mail in ballots, so who knows? It may change.
Elizabelle
@Kristine: Newly elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet P works for me!
Applause, applause to voters and to those who worked to make this happen.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Whenever I see that cute Shiba Inu face that appears briefly before each Twitter comes up:
enough time to think — “cute dog. Isn’t Elon Musk a dick?”
pat
@Elizabelle:
yep
Elizabelle
@Juju: Thank you. That is close. May the Democrat prevail next election.
pat
@Kristine:
OK, thanks. Spelling is still a bit of a problem…
BC in Illinois
@lee:
My cardiologist has the waiting room TV set to continual home improvement. A good choice and a [mildly] interesting distraction. The most recent time I took someone to an Urgent Care center, the waiting room was a game show channel. Also a good choice for an audience that doesn’t get to choose for themselves (and, if they could, would choose not to be there).
+ + +
Shalimar
@pat: Kelly was an election denier. But I think he called Protasiewicz unworthy because her campaign was centered around him being anti-abortion, which he angrily considered an insult to the judiciary. I watched excerpts from their debate. She said voting for him would be a vote to abolish abortion in Wisconsin. He went off on her for that, saying how dare she presume she knew how he would rule on anything before he had done so.
Like anyone has any doubt where he is in that debate. He was just pissed his pretending-to-be-moderate schtick wasn’t going to work.
indycat32
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is it the lighting or has Lindsey dyed his hair to match Trump?
Baud
@Shalimar:
Remember when Trump’s Supreme Court appointees said Roe was settled law?
smith
@Baud: Don’t think they fooled anybody. We all knew why they’d been appointed.
pat
Janet P works for me.
I look forward to her time on the court!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@indycat32: probably the lighting, and maybe TV hair/make-up, but why not drag him to hell? I suspect he’s the type who tracks himself as a twitter subject
Roger Moore
@BC in Illinois:
At the blood donor center where I frequently go, they have the TV in the canteen (where people spend a lot more time than the waiting room) tuned to Food Network. At my local Kaiser, they have their own video about staying healthy and using their services on a loop.
Anonymous at Work
Democrats need to compile and publish a guide to false arrest, malicious prosecution, and libel laws. Put it out there that, yes, District Attorney Joe Bob from Pig’s Anus can indict every Democrat in Congress, but…
cmorenc
@lee:
That’s exactly what happened at my local upscale YMCA gym. There’s a bank of four televisions above both the primary workout rooms. U
Used to be one of them was on CNN, the other on Fox, the other two were on the HG (home improvement) channel and a sports channel. Even though the sound was off unless you listened in on Bluetooth earphones, nonetheless, I cannot count how many times I had to summon all the self-restraint I possessed to not throw a piece of equipment at Tucker’s shit-eating face.
Then, a couple of years ago, they replaced CNN with the Food channel and Fox with the innocuous local Spectrum news channel, which is inoffensive to an almost offensive degree, but….everyone seems much happier with the new, blander lineup.
jonas
The Bidens ran a major criminal enterprise in Kentucky? Who knew?
Sean
@Elizabelle:
I agree. I’m a full-time panic person who always has the worst outlook possible, and even I don’t think they’re going to impeach her at this point. She won by nearly 11 points. Evers would appoint a replacement until another special election could be had. So, they take ENORMOUS political risk, end up with a 4-3 court anyway. Do they just nakedly impeach the replacements ad nauseum? I guess they sure could, but there has to be at least 1 senator there worried about their position in a tight (or evolving) district. I don’t think the full 2/3 are going to risk their sweet gigs for a lose/lose. Sure, they can impeach Evers too, I guess. But again – it’s serious political risk in the wake of a 10+ point win for Janet P. If you say “we’re taking your autonomy and rights away” and follow that up with “we’re nullifying your overwhelming majority of votes to get those rights back because we don’t like it” you might start a real revolution.
UncleEbeneezer
Shalimar
@Baud: Exactly what it reminded me of, and I’m glad we’re calling bullshit on that now. Shame it took a 6 vote authoritarian Supreme Court to get here.
tobie
@Elizabelle: Thanks for saying this.
Since my father died, I’ve had to dial back on following political news. The stress is just too much. Yes, our democracy is very vulnerable and we will need to defend it with all our might in the weeks and years to come. But Kelly was trounced in WI last night and that’s a good sign. I’ll take it.
jonas
@Shalimar: Basically it sounds like he was pissed off that she didn’t let him play the little game that rw nutjob judicial candidates play all the time where they tell baldfaced lies about how they’d be neutral about any abortion case, knowing full well that they plan to vote anti-choice 100% of the time no matter what.
rikyrah
I am a very happy Chicagoan this morning :)
How did Brandon Johnson win?
Straight up GOTV
Looked at the news and they showed the city map of the Mayoral Election.
It was as I suspected
Vallas had the support of the Police Union and Firemen. They live- the White ones, 70%+ of them live concentrated in two areas in the city, both at the edges of the city-one north, one south. Who were they going to reach out to?.Their neighbors?
Johnson, on the other hand, had the Unions. And,.those Unions had foot soldiers that went door to door , finding votes for Johnson in neighborhoods all around the city.
The Black folks that endorsed Vallas got on tv commercials,but they didn’t go into the neighborhoods to find votes for Vallas.
And, you can’t gaslight folks who actually lived through Vallas’ time as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools
Personal anecdote. My oldest sister is a retired school teacher. She was there when Vallas was in charge.My sister , well politics isn’t her thing. She votes in every election, but up until now, that was the extent of her political involvement.
She became a one woman GOTV for Brandon Johnson. She literally went through her phone book and called everyone, pushing for Johnson. She is a teacher who was proud and was a professional. The offense began when Vallas was appointed. For someone like my sister, who took teaching seriously and did self-improvement for her job by adding to her credentials through education, getting her Master’s and other certifications, the fact that Vallas didn’t have an education background. That he didn’t have the QUALIFICATIONS to become a School Superintendent, which is why they created the title.CEO.
I had forgotten that. My sister hadn’t.
She organized with the group of retirees that she exercises with at the Park District , most of them retired teachers who also remembered Vallas’ time at CPS. She.got them together to work on their family members. She called her Sorors and got in their ears. Everyday she worked on getting votes for Johnson, wherever she went. If they needed help with Mail Voting, she gave them my number, and I was recruited to make sure the folks were signed up for Mail Voting, helping the Seniors do Online Applications. I honestly was stunned at her level of activism.
I am going to find some results on the City ‘s Wards. But, I think the coalition that brought Johnson over the line was the South Side, West Side and Bernie-type White folks from their enclaves on the North side.
Was looking at the Ward maps from February to April’s Mayoral Election.
The Lightfoot Wards went to Brandon Johnson.
The Chuy Wards went to Vallas, but, Johnson won enough in those Wards, as compared to what Vallas won in the Lightfoot Wards.
I was hoping that the stories about Vallas and what he had done in other public school systems was getting to the voters. As well as the police Union endorsement. Yes, folks on the South and West Side want less crime, but we know that the Chicago Police Department unfettered is NOT the answer. The insults he did toward former President Obama. And, he didn’t live in Chicago. I can’t express enough how offensive that is to me as a lifelong resident. And, that he was being pushed as some phucking Law and Order candidate by folks who didn’t care about crime in the city, as long as it was confined to Black and Brown neighborhoods. He was a phucking MAGA Candidate.
And, I am glad that the people saw through it.
Roger Moore
@Sean:
What you’re saying is reasonable, but the Republicans are under real threat. Yeah, if they impeach her, they might face angry voters. If they don’t impeach her, the state Supreme Court will probably throw out their gerrymandered state legislative districts, and a bunch of them will lose their jobs because they won’t be in safe Republican districts anymore.
Marmot
@kindness:
Yes! And thanks! This is solidarity. This is what we’ll need to prevail.
ALurkSupreme
Can we get Omnes or someone else to give us some clarity on whether an impeachment is even feasible at this point? I keep reading that the Rs need a 2/3 majority in BOTH WI chambers to execute an impeachment. Right now their margin in the Assembly (the lower house) is 64-35, which is not 2/3.
RaflW
Anyone who thinks that the next few years in this country is going to be anything but a rough ride is delusional. The only thing Democrats can do is elect as many fighters as we can, and fight however we can, against this vocal minority of lawless terrorists.
Amen, mistermix. Seeing TN attacking duly elected Dems for daring to point out that school shootings don’t just have to be accepted is, I think, just an appetizer for these contemptible thugs.
And TN being what it is, yes those three seats will be refilled with different Dems, but the GOP will probably face very few electoral consequences for their complete obliteration of democratic norms.
jonas
@smith: The fact that they felt that could tell straight-up lies like that, however — under oath, in front of the SJC — is still pretty astonishing, imho. And to their never-ending shame. If they had any.
sdhays
@pat: It doesn’t make sense that she can be impeached when the state constitution provides a higher threshold for removing judges. Why would that clause exist if impeachment applies?
I don’t doubt they want to try it, but I wouldn’t bet on them succeeding at this point.
jonas
@RaflW: I’m only following the TN legislator expulsion story very tangentially at the moment, but how on earth is it possible for duly-elected representatives to be ousted from the body just for voting a certain way and not for any crime or corruption? That can’t be constitutional.
p.a.
My Planet Fitness post covid has CNN, no more Fux! Also has Food Network, ’cause there’s nothing like killing yourself on an elliptical while watching a butter braised butter recipe. 😳
smith
@rikyrah: It’s a lesson Chicago pols keep having to learn to their sorrow: You don’t mess with the teachers.
narya
@rikyrah: Your story about your sister gave me actual goosebumps. Please thank her for me. (I’m in the People’s Republic of Rogers Park; I haven’t seen how we went, but I suspect for Brandon.) I am hopeful about this for the first time in awhile.
sdhays
@ALurkSupreme: This was discussed last night. It seems pretty clear that the constitution requires two thirds of both chambers to remove a Wisconsin state judge, but there’s a dubious idea that impeachment of “civil officers” should apply to judges too. Which is stupid since if that were the case, why would there be a higher threshold set somewhere else in the constitution?
That doesn’t mean they won’t try.
Alison Rose
@Baud: Her middle initial is C, so we could call her JCProty.
Or not. We could also not do that.
Sean
@Roger Moore:
I’m saying all it takes is 1 senator to vote to acquit or no, or whatever. 1 senator out of 22 is not that crazy, especially if their district is one that is starting to swing more blue already. Like I said, I usually take the worst outlook, but the dude in SD8 won a Trump +5 district by barely 1000 votes (give or take provisionals). Angry voters are gonna kick those folks out, gerrymander or no. Reps (all it takes is one) in those districts are going to look out for themselves, not the collective, imo, although god knows, I am often mostly wrong. I’ll apply my ample worry to the debt ceiling fiasco over this particular issue is all I am saying.
delphinium
@rikyrah:
That is so awesome-big kudos to your sister and you for helping to get out the vote! Looking forward to hearing Johnson’s plans for Chicago.
Cameron
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Are his hands shrinking?
Cameron
I’ve only read a bit about the Dem lawmakers being kicked out in Tennessee, so I don’t have all the facts. If they really were expelled for taking part in a legal demonstration and making political speeches, isn’t that expulsion a First Amendment violation?
smith
@Cameron: It seems to me that a lot of the shenanigans happening in red states are blatant First Amendment violations. Looking forward to the lawsuits.
ALurkSupreme
@sdhays: Thanks. What you said squares with my understanding.
Based on what you said, let the Rs try. Seems like a very bad play for them.
Suzanne
This is true. But I’m still going to swim around in my spectacular schadenfreude today. The glow of yesterday has not worn off.
catclub
Someone with faster fingers than me, on a previous thread, pointed out that Bush the lesser fired US attorneys who refused to go after Democrats, right before elections. [Bush should have been impeached for that.] So political prosecutions by GOP DA’s is nothing new. Also Kenneth Starr. They fired the previous special prosecutor because he refused to find anything worth prosecuting.
rikyrah
Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) tweeted at 7:02 PM on Tue, Apr 04, 2023:
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who vowed in January to resist the “meddling hand” of the federal government, now says the feds picking up 75% of her state’s tornado recovery costs isn’t enough — she wants 100%. https://t.co/yTMInuru5v
(https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16/status/1643403759853215746?s=02)
rikyrah
Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) tweeted at 0:30 AM on Wed, Apr 05, 2023:
Have never, ever seen this before. In an ultra-high turnout Wisconsin election with no inbuilt cause for asymmetric turnout (like a presidential primary), Democrats are on track to win by a shade under 11 points.
This is a Biden +0.6 state.
(https://twitter.com/lxeagle17/status/1643486318843035654?s=02)
Another Scott
Howard.edu – Stacey Abrams becomes newest faculty member at Howard University:
Good, good.
Cheers,
Scott.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: :
.
I am confident that if any ambitious GOP DA had any evidence against Bill Clinton, Clinton would have been indicted.The immunity of other ex-presidents comes from not being a prolific and careless criminal.
Gravenstone
The Republicans are using the excuse of the three Democrats joining anti-gun protestors within the Chambers, claiming the “disruption” was arguably worse than 1/6 (seriously, someone actually went there) in trying to overthrow the government.
Elizabelle
@tobie: So good to see you, tobie. I have been thinking about you.
Seanly
@Old School:
Bork? There are still folks bringing up 1960’s hippies doing X as an excuse…
Where X = spitting on vets; enjoying free love and/or drugs; not praying in public schools, etc
Elizabelle
@Gravenstone: When I hear that, it makes me think the Republicans are afraid the issue of “kids got shot up with assault rifles (multiple) in a private religious-affiliated school in Tennessee” is resonating in their communities.
Plus, the shooter was able to legally acquire plenty of firepower, even while under mental health treatment, and living with parents who did not think their child should have any weapons. In fact, they did not think the shooter possessed any weapons at that time.
So, they go with a diversion. Bad Democrats! Indecorous!
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jim Comer talks trash. It is what he does.
He is a content provider for the rightwing mediasphere.
WGAF.
Burnspbesq
@jonas:
Selling Fentanyl to fetuses, or sumpin sumpin.
Elizabelle
@Suzanne: Yep. We are here for TrumpFall and for Democrats confounding pundits and media and the conventional wisdom establishment. Keep it coming.
bbleh
… fight however we can, against this vocal minority of lawless terrorists.
[nasal-voiced editorial committeeman]: We would prefer the term “vocal minority of unconventional challengers.”
[Sideshow Bob]: Eh, go fk yourselves.
Timill
@Gravenstone: Well, everyone knows that 1/6 was a mere reconnaissance in force by three brigades of foot and one of horse, and thus nothing serious… :-)
bbleh
@jonas: @Burnspbesq: well they conspired to help Those People register and then vote! It’s an outrage! They should be locked up!
Betty Cracker
I’m not usually the most optimistic person about politics, and I agree the next couple of years are going to be a bumpy ride. So many chainsaws to juggle! But I’m seeing a lot of overreach and doubling-down from the party that has underperformed (or flat had the shit kicked out of it) for a few election cycles in a row now. Not in states like Florida, alas, but even here, it seems like Repubs are begging even the most disengaged normies to wake up and smell the fascism.
MisterDancer
They are terrified of having to deal with this. For one, thankfully, trying to blame it on Trans folx doesn’t seem to stick. Too many people have seen too many mass shootings to play that game, even though Trans folx are still at massive risk in Tenn and, of course, elsewhere.
This is why they are doing shit like pushing that turncoat in NC so they can have their super-majority back. Why they are rumbling about impeaching someone who’s not even taken the seat yet. And why it’s a Woman, and 2 Black/Brown Men, tossed outta their seats in TN.
There are absolutely vulnerable populations at the core of this, that we need to protect. And it matters they need that protection because these asshats have chosen to Jim Crow their way into as much power as possible, using those folx as the linchpins for justifying takeover. Understanding that is critical (I think) to taking a breath from the breathless coverage, and figuring out how you, as a person, want to engage this fight.
Because: it’s really critical to understand that systems like Jim Crow come from a place of fear, internalized and forced onto the population. It shows in how they force these issues, and in how they tighten their grips every time they lose.
We can’t beat that back with more fear.
Jeffro
ding ding!
“But I thought this kind of thing only happened in their schools??!”
“But I thought it was a lack of God in the schools that was the problem??!”
“But I thought locking the doors was the solution??!”
“What do you mean, the shooter had mental health problems and was still able to get a gun, no waiting period, no nothing??!”
These questions sound different to elected GOP officials’ ears when they come from Republican voters, methinks.
sab
@catclub: Yes. I saw that and thought ” This is somehow news to people?” Happening most of my life and I am getting old.
ETA Josh Marshall built his well deserved reputation on reporting what other reporters from the hinterlands were noticing.
rikyrah
@Cameron:
See…I’m not the only one who thinks this.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Yay, rikyrah’s sister! Great work, and thank you for the analysis.
Burnspbesq
Vox should really be looking for an upgrade on Ian Millheiser. His take on the NY indictment is laughable.
I expect that sort of foolishness from Drum, but not from someone who is supposedly knowledgeable.
Soprano2
@rikyrah: How could you be elected mayor of a city you don’t even live in?
Me, I’m still shocked that the former police officer whose campaign signs were the “Blue Lives Matter” blue line through a black background LOST in this city that voted over 60% for TFG! Maybe Springfield is changing more than I thought.
rikyrah
@MisterDancer:
Not joking- her bank account needs to be examined.
Burnspbesq
@MisterDancer:
They should be terrified. All of the high school kids who swarmed the Capitol in Nashville will be voters soon. And there’s plenty more where they came from.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
They bought him a two-flat in the city and said that’s where he resides. The complete rage I feel when I even think about it.
And, the story hasn’t come out yet, but I have always believed that he made a deal with the Cops to get rid of the residency requirement.
Boss Daley wasn’t good for much, but he did establish the residency requirement – you get a paycheck from the City of Chicago, you must RESIDE in the City of Chicago. The Police and Firefighter’s Unions have been whining about that for forever and a day.
StringOnAStick
@Another Scott: I have a close friend with a son at Howard, who went there looking for a career in politics and already has 3 federal elected official internships under his belt and a burning desire for more and a career in the same. This is a great addition to their faculty.
bbleh
@Betty Cracker: concur! Their individual incentives to out-crazy the other Crazies are spiraling them even downward, and it’s got to the point that even low-information people are like “wtf…?”
In the same vein, I maintain that Trump is now more of an asset for Dems than for Reps. (And also, Biden is the perfect anti-Trump. And also ETTD, also, too.)
sab
OT 80 degrees in Ohio. Tax prep not tax review this year so tax season ends early. Did my last two returns today and raced home to beat the weather, and so far no weather. Threw the windows open and the cats are amazed. Outside air, birdcalls, traffic! Waiting for vet call on dog.
Dog at vet pre-dawn this am getting tumor removed, so that sucks (not removal, just the necessity.) Dog howled because she knew the waiting room from two previous surgeries.
Vet says she came through okay so just waiting for pathology reports.
Too much for one day.
smith
@rikyrah: And that’s why so many cops and firefighters are huddled into those two neighborhoods at the edges of the city. I live in one of those neighborhoods, and to be fair, it contains a lot of city workers, including a lot of teachers, not just cops and firefighters, and is one of the few genuinely integrated neighborhoods in the city.
Jeffro
oh, totally.
reporters should be talking with her staff and close contacts, too
bbleh
@Cameron: @rikyrah: I’m guessing that TN has the same provisions as the Congress, which is that a legislative house sets its own rules and seats or expels members as it wishes, and even if they’re not explicit, I would guess a court would be very reluctant to get involved.
Soprano2
@rikyrah: Honestly I wish we had a residency requirement here, but we don’t, so the majority of our city employees seem to live outside the city limits. Then some of those employees whine that they can’t vote for city council, my reply is “Move into the city then you can vote in every election”. I remember how angry it made me when a bunch of the police union members – who didn’t live inside the city – tried to get someone elected to city council. They failed, but I thought they shouldn’t have been able to do that because they wouldn’t have had to live with the results of the election.
So I guess there will be a two flat in the city for sale shortly, huh? LOL
sab
@Burnspbesq: Charge ’em with some sort of crime so that they can never vote again. Brits did that with cameras everywhere, but that is expensive.
ETA //s
Victor Matheson
@Gravenstone: @jonas Yeah, they are definitely saying that the 3 legislators violated Senate/House decorum rules. And that is probably correct. I mean, I guess you could theoretically expel someone for wearing shorts on floor if you thought that rose to level of impeachment.
Soprano2
OT, I listened to the “Pod Save America” podcast this morning, and they mentioned Doug J – “that balloon juice pitchbot Twitter guy” – saying that the Peter Baker piece they were playing Take Appreciator about sounded like a headline he would write!
lee
RE: the turnout in Wisconsin
I wonder if the folks in Wisconsin are starting to realize how much Minnesota is outperforming them.
cmorenc
@rikyrah:
The quid pro quo for the NC leg turncoat will more likely be something other than a traceable monetary payoff. I’d be looking to see whether someone close to her suddenly gets out of a tight jam or obtains some favorable business or employment.
StringOnAStick
@Victor Matheson: The specific point is the D’s (not sure if it was just one, two or all three) used a bullhorn on the floor of their legislature (not sure who brought the bullhorn). It’s the use of the bullhorn that the R’s are pointing at as not proper decorum. Seems like a very thin reed but one they’re going to finger wag on for all they’re worth.
BruceFromOhio
Emphasis mine: the opponent is not “the libs”, Democrats, swing voters or any of the boogeyman the popular media or Fox news churns out. The opponent is the very existence of democracy itself.
smith
@StringOnAStick: And of course instead of censuring them as they probably would for most instances of bad manners on the floor, they go right to the nuclear option of expelling them.
rikyrah
@smith:
A lot of those city workers, not just the cops and fireman, make over six figures. I have no sympathy for them. They want the paycheck, but, don’t want to contribute to Chicago’s tax base?
I think not.
West of the Rockies
Will no one think of the aging white bankers and Ivy League tech bros?
randy khan
@pat:
To impeach a Supreme Court justice, apparently they need 2/3 in both houses of the legislature and they are two seats short in the lower house.
sab
@Soprano2: Ohio Supreme Court got rid of our residency requirement about ten or fifteen years ago. Jayland Walker case is about to hit the fan in our mayoral race and the cops all moved out of town. They can’t vote. Hah!
I laugh, but mostly I don’t. Jayland Walker was a really nice young man, and everyone knew him and everyone liked him and the cops who had no idea who he was just went nuts and killed him.
I didn’t know him, but I live near but not in his neighborhood. My kids knew him. My hairdresser knew him. My dad’s nurse’s aide knew him. Everyone says he was a good person.
This whole mayoral race is looking to be about cops…but nothing useful about fixing it. Just choosing sides: nice black kid v cops.
We need police. Their jobs are very tough and everyone has guns. But they killed this innocent young man for nothing.
I think the state attorney general is tossing it to the grand jury now to fuck with the mayoral election. No evidence. Just my cynicism.
Blue city. Our primary is the election, especially since they didn’t manage to run a Republican.
Roger Moore
@BruceFromOhio:
Shorter:
When the right wing is forced to choose between democracy and their policy goals, they’ll keep their policy goals and discard democracy.
Betty Cracker
Did y’all see the whiny anti-trans temper tantrum some online assholes are throwing about a Budweiser influencer ad campaign? The company sent a famous trans woman a six pack of Bud Light with her face on it — they just sent it to her; it’s not for sale to the general public — and wingnuts went apeshit. They are posting video of themselves pouring out AB products and denouncing the company.
The decidedly middle-aged “Kid” Rock, who is the Gen X Ted Nugent, posted a video of himself repeatedly shooting a case of Bud with an AR-15. The menace in that message isn’t exactly subtle, huh? I hope “Kid” Rock’s gun slips and he accidently shoots his dick off. Anyhoo, I’m almost tempted to have a Bud, and I hate that watery swill.
BruceFromOhio
@Roger Moore: Not just discard it, but burn it to very ground along with anyone caught in it. The sooner more ordinary folks realize that, the more likely we’ll get to keep it.
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: Yep, and Anheuser-Busch is basically like, lol fuck off losers. They didn’t address the hate directly, but indirectly in an unsubtle way.
I don’t drink at all, and if I did it wouldn’t be Bud, but I almost wanna buy some just to support their efforts and to make Kid Rock sad, because fuck that little slimestain
Also Dylan Mulvaney is sweet and adorable and anyone who is mean to her deserves to get slapped.
smith
@rikyrah: I’m sorry, but I don’t see how they’re not contributing to Chicago’s tax base. If you live within the city limits you pay city taxes. I just looked at my recent property tax bill and the largest chunk of it goes to Chicago government and Chicago entities like the Board of Ed and the Park District.
Unless you mean driving to the suburbs to fill up your car? I’m guessing that happens everywhere people live close to the city line.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@BC in Illinois: I have town elections in two weeks that I never paid attention to before. I’ll have to educate myself and vote. Gotta be sure the school board doesn’t go to shit.
BruceFromOhio
Perhaps its a throwback to my rural roots and troubled youth, but there is something about an ice-cold longneck Bud and a double-shot of Jack Daniels neat that just scratches an itch I did not know I had.
ETA: @Alison Rose: And huge shout out to Dylan Mulvaney and that fabulous dress, love to make the haterz cry, especially you, “grandpa ‘Kid’ “. Christ, what an asshole.
lowtechcyclist
@BruceFromOhio:
I have to disagree. The opponents are very definitely “the libs,” Democrats, Black people, women who don’t want to be some man’s property, LGBTQ people, undocumented immigrants, etc.
Democracy was fine as long as it sufficed for sticking it to the groups they didn’t like. But now that it doesn’t suffice, screw democracy.
@Roger Moore:
FTFY.
Jeffro
@West of the Rockies: I think of them often, but it usually involves them treading water and me throwing them anvils
sab
@sab: Why the fuck did these cops think it was necessary to chase him for a nothing (manufatured ) traffic stop. Then shot him brcause he wouldn’t be stopped.
I know why he didn’t want to be stopped. He worked Grubhub and such. Police involvement ruined his chance to earn a living. I still don’t know why the police so desparately needed to stop him.
StringOnAStick
@smith: Because they think they can get away with it. They’re going to keep pushing until they either win or they go too far and people who normally don’t pay attention actually start to. The results in WI at the state level are heartening.
lowtechcyclist
@smith:
But they want to abolish the requirement that they live in the city limits, so they would be free to move out while keeping their well-paying jobs. I’m pretty sure that’s what rikyrah had in mind.
Roger Moore
@smith:
The point is that they’re currently force to contribute to the city’s tax base, and they’re unhappy with it. They hate the residency requirement. They want to be free not to contribute to the city they work for.
Jess
This. The war is upon us. All we can do now is fight like hell.
Frankensteinbeck
@Alison Rose:
I don’t often drink beer, but when I do it’s Baud-Lite: Same great candidacy, 0 pants.
Ken
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Pro tip: Treat school board candidates who run on “parental control” as if they were running on “burning books”. It works out the same in practice.
BruceFromOhio
@lowtechcyclist:
Anthrax and tire rims, citizen. Anthrax and tire rims all the way.
James E Powell
Agree. This is especially so when, as now, the US Supreme Court, critical parts of the federal courts, and many state supreme courts are controlled by radical right-wingers.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Ken: Noted.
EarthWindFire
@rikyrah: Take some personal responsibility and call me in the morning, Sarah.
StringOnAStick
Re: The Budweiser thing, my spies among the young says there’s a backlash against the extreme craft beer hipsterness, so a trend to utilitarian beer like Bud is underway. Might have something to do with price too.
Elizabelle
I am thinking more about the Tennessee school shooting, and thinking how the Republican legislators’ responses landed on state citizens and, especially, parents.
One of them didn’t see a problem because HE doesn’t have kids in the system — they are homeschooled. The US congressional rep for the district (a) is a proven liar, who lies about being an economist and expert in all manner of subjects (not) and (b) was photographed with his family, holding automatic weapons in front of Christmas decorations, and laughing about it.
These GOP politicans … don’t rely on the same public common goods that their voters do.
They are divorced from voters’ reality, and hoping against hope to ignore this latest mass murder, too.
I think a lot of voters noticed that, real hard.
sab
I do not know how to evaluate board of education candidates. I have opinions and prejudices which are not always right. We need to get some questions. I voted against a Republican who was actually excellent on the trans kid issue (later.) Would have voted for him had I known. This party affiliation sucks
ETA I don’t know but I think he has a gay daughter. However he was appointed to state school board and came down hard for protecting trans kids as part of their mission.
ETA When in doubt I vote geography which is the stupidest and the most racist wsy to vote.
I agree. Give me me more info to vote otherwise.
Roger Moore
@lowtechcyclist:
You say tomayto, I say tomahto. Their policy goal is hurting Those People.
Soprano2
@Ken: When I went in to vote yesterday there was a guy outside the polling place who told me they were recommending the two conservative candidates. I almost said to him “I don’t vote for book burners”, but I restrained myself. Thank God they both lost! One of them was an out-and-out racist who tried to blame his racist FB posts on the staff at his ad agency! He came in 4th.
Roger Moore
@StringOnAStick:
That shows how far behind the times I am. I thought the youngs trying to avoid frou-frou craft beer were going for PBR.
sab
@Soprano2: Yep. When they are standing outside the polling place their brains have been eaten.
West of the Rockies
Never mind.
Betty Cracker
@StringOnAStick: I believe PBR experienced a renaissance years back for the same reason!
Roger Moore
@West of the Rockies:
She didn’t say Nugent was middle aged; she said “Kid” Rock was. She only brought up Nugent because she’s saying “Kid” Rock is the Gen X version of him.
Bostondreams
@Betty Cracker: No doubt what is the largest alcholic beverage company in the world is worried. These people are such tools.
Jess
@lee: Thanks for the interesting link! I’m bookmarking this one for ammunition…
Low Key Swagger
For some reason, we seem to get a ton of Wisconsinites here as guests. I really like people from there, they are nicer than most, enjoy good but simple food, and they all know how to play Cribbage and Euchre. What’s not to like? I keep in touch with all of them. I texted each of them when early voting started and reminded them to vote, even though I really had no clue what their politics are. Today, I texted all of them again and they all responded with a positive reply, the overall consensus was that the Kelly guy is nuts.
In other news, the guy who founded TN Holler had his home shot up while he and his family were home. Tennessee is on the verge of spiraling out of control.
Mike S
Twitter has now designated NPR as “state affiliated media,” which is how they designate state propaganda outfits.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betty Cracker: They also recently freaked out because Hershey’s Canada dared put Transgender woman and activist, Fae Johnstone on their series of “She/Her” chocolate bars to celebrate women. Fortunately Hershey had her back:
“We value togetherness and recognize the strength created by diversity. Over the past three years, our Women’s History Month programming has been an inclusive celebration of women and their impact. We appreciate the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts.”
Kay
@Mike S:
The entire Right wing is like this now. They can’t win elections but they’re really good at owning the libs online.
It is such a lie by political media that Democrats are out of touch. The whole conservative movement is way, way too online. They’ve managed to convince themselves that ordinary people give a shit about “wokeness” and all their other dumb, niche issues.
UncleEbeneezer
@Ken: Yup. And Trans Athlete Bans. “Parental Control/Rights” is usually also cover for punishing LGBTQ kids.
laura
@rikyrah: what an absolute joy of a comment – hat’s off to your sister for doing the necessary face to face GOTV and I hope that the power she possesses continues to grow!👏
lowtechcyclist
@Roger Moore:
Tru dat, but calling it ‘policy goals’ is the sort of way I’m used to seeing the FTFNYT pretty it up to hide the GOP extremism.
S Cerevisiae
Budweiser is owned now by InBev so hoist a Stella instead, it’s a much better lager.
Kent
They should go for it and embarrass themselves.
Mike S
@Kay: too true. I currently work at an NPR affiliate and am proud of the fact that we do everything in our power to get things right. I worked at a wingnut station before this where they were proud of lying and I was frequently castigated for correcting hosts. “Thats not your job…” I felt my soul being sucked out of my body every day.
Baud
Via reddit, Time cover.
https://i.redd.it/5257qciu64sa1.jpg
lowtechcyclist
@Mike S:
But Stars and Stripes, which is an actual government-owned-and-run network, is not so designated.
Gee, I wonder what axe Elmo has to grind here? (Not that NPR is noticeably more liberal than the FTFNYT, but Elmo undoubtedly thinks of both as ‘liberal media.’)
smith
@Roger Moore: OK, I get that. Luckily, yesterday’s election will reduce the power of the FOP to force that. My strongest objection to Vallas was the prospect of the FOP pulling his strings.
Kent
My kids think craft beer is for white Gen-X oldsters who still think they are young because they wear flannel and listen to Pearl Jam.
Kay
@Mike S:
NPR has done a good job covering abortion laws. I’m grateful. They’re one of the few national outlets that gave it the sort of coverage I think it deserved. I also think I’m not alone in believing it’s very important- voters seem to think it’s very important too, so NPR made the right call with quality and frequency of coverage. The for-profits could learn something.
Kent
Twitter probably gets as much public funding and subsidies as NPR these days.
Honestly, what is the actual difference between paying for a blue check or paying for a monthly NPR “membership”
Ksmiami
@James E Powell: nothing that blowtorches and pliers can’t fix… we need to be singularly focused on undoing everything Trump did during his maladministration. And that includes removing Amy, Boof and Nonsuch. By any means necessary.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: Like Disney, Anheuser-Busch used to be a pretty culturally reactionary company. If they’re moving away from that, it must really piss these guys off.
narya
@StringOnAStick: Bud is swill, though. I believe it has rice or corn rather than/in addition to barley, and . . . blegh. But I will also note that a lot of the craft brewers in Chicago are also creating session beers these days, and I welcome that–a nice mix of let’s-try-something and solid-true-to-style-basic-beer.
Kent
They both want to sell to people under 40. That is all there is to it.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
A LOT of highly-educated women listen to NPR, and my WAG is that NPR may be more dependent on their donations than either the FTFNYT or the WaPo is dependent on their subscriptions.
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2:
Captain C
@Betty Cracker: As I commented on this when my friend posted it on Facebook:
Ksmiami
@Low Key Swagger: Most of TN voted for it… good luck to them
Baud
@Soprano2:
👍
trollhattan
Fvckin’ cats, man.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-65196904
Captain C
@Frankensteinbeck:
And if you had pants on when you started drinking Baud-Lite, you won’t afterwards…
Kent
They also spent two decades fluffing “pro-choice centrists” like Murkowski and Collins only to see them both happily vote to eliminate the 60 vote threshold for SCOTUS appointees and then vote for every one of Trump’s anti-abortion extremist SCOTUS picks. There is your Dobbs right there. In those two votes. The two of them could have stopped it in its tracks had they actually cared.
The tote-baggers love them some Republican centrists.
Betty Cracker
From NBC:
Yeah, but drag queens, amirite?
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
AB Inbev execs: “drink it, shoot it, give it away to hobos, we don’t care as long as you buy it.”
Boycotting a monster Belgian corporation from the galactically monstrous platform of wingnut America Twitter is a tall task, even by their standards.
UncleEbeneezer
@S Cerevisiae: Or even better, New Belgium (probably the biggest, most readily available of the 47 Queer-Owned/Allied Breweries on this list):
evodevo
@Seanly:
Yes…my retired Army BIL and my sister regularly do this LOL – the other day she brought up the SDS!! I said, don’t you have anything more recent?
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: The parent of one of the kids murdered at Stoneman Douglas replied to “Kid”‘s tweet including a video clip of his daughter’s body (blurred out) on the floor as other students ran past trying to reach safety. He correctly then bid “Kid” to kindly fuck the fuck off.
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
The NYTimes likes the gory, bloody stories that women provide free where women beg for modern medical care.
Such a gross company. They’re horrible people.
Roger Moore
@Kent:
Nobody online knows you’re paying for your NPR membership unless you tell them.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
They were already doing that. Do we forget how Comey repeatedly abused his power to tilt an election. The indictments of John Edwards, Blagojevich, Rostenkowski, and the “Beam me up, Scotty!” guy, to mention a few. How Karl Rove used Dubya’s DOJ to falsely indict Dems running for office to kill their electoral chances and then fire republican US attorneys who wouldn’t engage in Rove’s criminal schemes.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
There were so many scandals at Catholic schools in Baltimore it had to be systemic. It had to be a cover up. Aint no way they had that level of abuse going on without everyone knowing about it.
I always hope they’ll reach the state actors who assisted in the abuse or failed to investigate and prosecute them, but they never seem to. They were almost there in the Wisconsin cases- we were finally going to see police hauled in for allowing it to continue, but they ultimately weren’t prosecuted.
Roger Moore
@Matt McIrvin:
They were just responding to their customers. That’s what the wingnuts are really afraid of. When cultural touchstones like Disney and AB are more welcoming to Those People, it’s a sign that’s the direction the larger culture is moving.
In both these cases, it’s probably also connected to the company moving from individual control to corporate control. As long as Walt controlled Disney and the Busch family controlled AB, the companies were going to reflect the cultural conservatism of their leadership. Now they’re both big corporations that respond more to the marketplace.
UncleEbeneezer
Anyone else notice the “Biological” Transphobic Okie-Doke? Here’s how it works:
Transphobe: Only people who can give birth are biological women.
Decent Person: Ok, so after menopause or hysterectomy, is my Mom still a woman?
Transphobe: Only people with vaginas are women!
Decent Person: Ok, so people who are assigned male at birth who get sex reassignment surgery are women then?
Transphobe: No, you don’t understand, it’s all about chromosomes!!
Ok, so what about Intersex people?
Transphobe: What REALLY matters is level of Testosterone!!
Ok, so people who get HRT…
Transphobe:![]()
![]()
![]()
The truth is that Transphobes, TERF’s and sadly a lot of Centrists and even Progressives too, constantly move the goalposts on how they define “biological” women/men. And it’s no coincidence that they always choose the definition that allows them to justify discrimination against Transgender people, in that given scenario. ALWAYS!!!
Because that’s the whole point, for them. This is why they ignore the medical and scientific consensus about Gender.
Don’t fall for it. Call them out on their bullshit when you see it.
livewyre
@UncleEbeneezer: Smoke screens aside, here’s the divide. They oppose affirmation and demand assignment. The marker on the birth certificate and the marks of puberty must remain indelible.
This is the requirement that they cannot retreat from.
Supremacy “needs” the right to tell others what they are. Self-determination is an active threat to that. Why else would they ally with fascism? At least insofar as they haven’t been absorbed already.
Soprano2
@UncleEbeneezer: The two conservative candidates were running on “better discipline” and “limiting distractions”, but I never saw an interview where the interviewer tried to pin down exactly what they meant by these things. I take it to mean “harsher discipline for ‘ problem students’ and “get rid of the topics in school I don’t like”, but how would you ever know that if interviewers don’t try to pin them down on it?
Darkrose
@rikyrah: I read a piece in the Sun-Times last night about the CTU’s plan to get one of their own elected. It worked. I feel like my mother, grandmother, and my godparents, teachers all, are smiling today. I may not be in Chicago anymore, but so am I. It reminds me of 40 years ago when Harold Washington was first elected.
rikyrah
@smith:
They do contribute, because they live in Chicago. They have griped about the residency requirement for decades.
Burnspbesq
@trollhattan:
That’s one devout kitty.
Origuy
I generally would prefer something like an amber ale, but I’m trying to keep down the carbs. Michelob Ultra Gold is about the lowest in carbs that I have found and it actually tastes good to me. I don’t like Bud or Bud Lite.
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: Hey, buy local – get a Yuengling.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Math Guy: You sweet-talker, you!
Mike S
I hope that isn’t a serious question. I find it absurd that striving for objective reporting is in any way comparable to furthering disinformation and promoting actual Nazis. The vast majority of the people I work with are on the left but we would all quit if we were expected to be the flip side of FOX and any of the hate radio stations in our market.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Soprano2: St. Louis used to have a residency requirement. They got rid of it. I wasn’t happy about it.
sab
@Kay: NPR has been good on abortion and in trans.
My niece, Air Force brat, called me yesterday from other side of Ohio to recruit me to help on signups for the abortion rights constitutional amendment. I am thrilled she was comfortable calling me.
J R in WV
@Cameron:
Get a Yuengling ???4
The guy who runs Yuengling is a phobic anti-union RWNJ motherfucker. I wouldn’t buy that shit unless someone I loved was on fire and needed it to put the fire out.
Also loved how the Imam kept on singing his prayer while petting the cat, who appeared to be enjoying the singing prayer as well.
Also I think the RWNJs are past all understanding, and most moderate people used to voting R will get over that tradition pretty soon. They are so obviously crazed!