Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Bark louder, little dog.

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

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Please don’t feed the bears.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / It Took Me Until This Morning

It Took Me Until This Morning

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It took until this morning for yesterday’s overwhelmingly good election outcomes to sink in.

I checked as soon as I got up, and I was disappointed to find that Jodi Habush Sinykin had lost.  She ran a great race –  nail-bitingly close – and she lost by 1% in what has until now been a safe Republican district.  That in itself is a victory of sorts, but the loss gives Republicans impeachment power over state office holders, which is really not good.  You can read about that here and here.

But let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good!  Let’s take a victory lap!

Judge Janet Protasiewicz kicked ass last night, soundly defeating 2-time loser Daniel Kelly, where even with all the class he could muster, he still had none:

Big win in Chicago last night for Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, of Let’s Go Brandon Fame and all of Chicago :-)  Except I understand that that some of Chicago’s talked about resigning after hearing the news.  What do you call hundreds of Chicago police officers resigning in protest?  A good start.

Michigan, lead the way!  Not a victory from last night, of course.

But every day is a victory when we elect folks who believe in civil rights and human rights for everyone.

Big thanks to everyone who worked has worked their assess off this year!  Our friends at Voces de la Frontera left it all on the field, as did the Wis*Dems, and all the people who knocked doors and wrote postcards and donated to all who do.

We won’t win them all, but we won some big ones yesterday!

As I wrote last night, it turns out that women don’t like losing their right to self determination. Who knew?

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    Almost Retired

    Great news for Chicago.  That race seemed a lot like the Karen Bass vs. Rick Caruso mayoral match up here in Los Angeles (with a fake democrat and all).  The good guys won both times!

  4. 4.

    Dangerman

    Who knew? Every sane person  The dog wasn’t supposed to catch the car …

    … but then the assholes went and gone full metal asshole and thought nothing would happen. Unbelievable.

    ETA: Kavanaugh at least has an excuse as a dry drunk. Full mental asshole.

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    Any word from all those pundits who said Dobbs wasn’t going to make any difference?

  7. 7.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Loved seeing these results.  Even if we didn’t win them all, winning a bunch, especially some with the biggest stakes makes me very happy and gives me hope.

    Also that in 24 hours I finally get these splints removed from my nose.  The pain/discomfort isn’t terrible but it’s annoying for sure.  And I expect that my breathing, smell and taste will all be exponentially better once they are out (based on what others have told me).

  8. 8.

    SuzieC

    The turn toward the light by Michigan and Wisconsin gives me a certain amount of hope, stuck here in dark reactionary Ohio.

  13. 13.

    patrick II

    Chicago has had black and/or Democratic mayors for decades. What is it about this guy in particular that has the cops so fired up?
    Also, I think it’s an empty threat. I remember that they were going to leave in large numbers because of immunization policy. Few actually did.
    Chicago police, while having a reputation for torturing prisoners, seem such delicate flowers themselves.

  15. 15.

    Edmund dantes

    Montana republicans going for the slimy move of changing the primary for the senate race and only the senate race to a jungle primary. All other races would stay the same, and this change would only be for one year to allow the legislature to look at the results of this “test” to see if they want to do it again.

    pull the other one

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    Time for downstate assclowns to start yammering about kicking Chicago out of Illinois again!

    Oh wait!  They never stopped!

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dangerman: A billions of birdies squawkin’ out loud

    talkin’ in code to clams in the clouds

    They send a secret message, they send it by worm,

    some vibratin’ spiders will receive the word

  21. 21.

    RedDirtGirl

    I just saw a tweet that said that Senator Durbin endorsed Vallas! Anyone know more about that?

  22. 22.

    bbleh

    …. it turns out that women don’t like losing their right to self determination.

    See? It’s just as I was telling the boys at the club last night: let them vote, and everything goes to hell!

    Why, in my great-granddad’s day froth foam splutter …

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    @different-church-lady:Any word from all those pundits who said Dobbs wasn’t going to make any difference?

    Nope – they’re all too busy underestimating Democratic turnout for 2024.

    (SHhhhhhh…just let ’em be! )

  24. 24.

    UncleEbeneezer

    (thread)

    Trump’s lawyers might try to appeal Pence’s decision, but they keep losing efforts to assert exec. priv. with this grand jury. That means Pence could appear before Jan. 6 grand jury in the coming weeks to testify under oath about what exactly Trump did and said in private.

    Think about what this means. The special counsel could now get a first-hand account of what Trump specifically said to Pence in Oval Office meetings ahead of Jan. 6, as long as Pence and his lawyers do not consider those conversations related to his specific constitutional role.

    …

    Here are some looming questions… On Jan. 4, 2021, John Eastman pressured you to act, to your face, in the Oval. What did he say? What did Trump say? How did they follow up? Did you take it as a directive or a suggestion on how to handle your job as vice president?

    A day later, on Jan. 5, 2021, President Trump called you into the Oval Office to talk, one on one. What exactly did he say to you? What did he say about his desire to stay in power? What did he outline as his hopes for Jan. 6? Did he give you any documents?

    Late on Jan. 5, 2021, you return home to dinner. A group dinner, some supporters there. Friends. Did anyone else call you that night? Or reach out to your advisers? The next morning, Jan. 6, you stay home and don’t go to the White House. Take me through that decision and moment.

    On the morning of Jan. 6, you take a call with Trump. What did you say to him when he berated you for not doing his bidding? Who else did you speak with that morning ahead of issuing your letter and going to the Capitol?

    All that is during his time as VP of the United States, not as “president of Senate.” But will be up to a judge to ultimately decide, should Pence testify as now expected, about just how far the special counsel can go in terms of the scope of questions on Trump’s conduct.

    What will matter is whether special counsel can eventually prove criminal intent on Trump’s part (or Eastman, Giuliani, etc.) to conspire to block a congressional proceeding… sources tell me that’s a key focus in the Jan. 6 probe: How did Trump use his power to block Congress?

    This all comes as the special counsel is also, I’m told, digging very deep into whether Trump in any way tried to obstruct the government from securing classified documents, securing testimony from tons of aides, Mar-a-Lago employees and even Trump’s own lawyer…

    So, yes, yesterday in NYC was historic. A surreal American scene. But the real movement, perhaps, is in Washington. In Jack Smith’s special counsel investigations. Fast-moving probes, witnesses being compelled to come in. And a former VP now set to testify under oath. /end

  25. 25.

    Kay

    @patrick II:

    Police everywhere have been indulging in one long hissy fit since BLM. I’m sick of it. I think all the silly adoration of “first responders” after 9/11 ruined them as public servants forever.

  26. 26.

    smith

    @RedDirtGirl: Several otherwise respected establishment Dems did, including Durbin, SOS Jesse White and former Rep. Bobby Rush (funny to think of a former Black Panther as an establishment Dem). My best guess is that there were political debts being repaid.

  27. 27.

    Kent

    @SuzieC:The turn toward the light by Michigan and Wisconsin gives me a certain amount of hope, stuck here in dark reactionary Ohio.

    I think we underestimate geography.

    Wisconsin borders Illinois and Minnesota.

    Pennsylvania borders New York, New Jersey, Maryland eastern PA is part of the eastern seaboard.

    Michigan?  Well they border Canada as well as IN and OH.

    By contrast, Ohio mostly borders Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

  29. 29.

    cain

    @smith: Did anyone see that one of the Central Park 5 is running for office? He took out a full page paper on Trump. Payback bitches.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: Police think they are soldiers and we are the occupied people they have to control.

    edit: When we don’t greet them with flowers and candy, we are uppity and must be controlled.

  31. 31.

    RedDirtGirl

    @patrick II: I have a friend here in NY who was a big union guy at Con Ed. When one of the hurricanes hit down south during peak COVID, and the call went out for local linemen to go down to help (big, big bucks for a month long gig), he had such fun telling all the anti-vaxxers that without the jab they couldn’t go…

  32. 32.

    japa21

    @Kay: I think part of it involves the US decision (well, Bush’s) to go to war with Iraq.  A lot of police officers served over there prior to becoming police officers.  It hardened them and may well have increased their built in prejudices.  Plus, the US ended up with a lot of military equipment that ended up in police departments.

    Obviously, it’s not like they were all purity and light prior to that, but it really was part of the downward cycle.

  34. 34.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Dangerman:

    but then the assholes went and gone full metal asshole and thought nothing would happen.

    Bullies and narcissists never think other people have agency — and are shocked when they discover otherwise.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

     

    @cain: Did anyone see that one of the Central Park 5 is running for office? He took out a full page paper on Trump. Payback bitches.

    Got a screenshot?

  36. 36.

    Kent

    @japa21:

    @Kay: I think part of it involves the US decision (well, Bush’s) to go to war with Iraq.  A lot of police officers served over there prior to becoming police officers.  It hardened them and may well have increased their built in prejudices.  Plus, the US ended up with a lot of military equipment that ended up in police departments.

    Obviously, it’s not like they were all purity and light prior to that, but it really was part of the downward cycle.

    Cops have ALWAS been like that.  The only difference is today we have video cameras everywhere whereas in the past they only came out when the media were covering a big event like the 1968 convention in Chicago or the civil rights protests.  So most cop abuse just went unrecorded.

    I have friends/acquaintances who are cops (mostly resources officers stationed in the schools where I work).  And I think the bigger explanation is that the job puts you into endless non-stop contact with the very worst dregs of society.   Even in a school setting the cops have no real contact with the bright AP student types.  It is the kids getting into trouble for bullying, weapons, drugs, fighting, etc.  And it numbs you to being tolerant of anti-social behavior.   And you also absorb the prejudices of the community that pays your salary.

  37. 37.

    The Moar You Know

    Police everywhere have been indulging in one long hissy fit since BLM. I’m sick of it. I think all the silly adoration of “first responders” after 9/11 ruined them as public servants forever.

    @Kay: Far as I can tell here in lovely California they’ve all done gone and “quiet quit”.  I haven’t seen a cop on the freeway in years.  Haven’t seen any in town.  We supposedly have them.  You can’t prove it by me.  I guess they still take reports but I’ll be damned if they do anything about them.

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:Police everywhere have been indulging in one long hissy fit since BLM. I’m sick of it.

    THIS

    This is at least a partial answer to rising crime rates (which are not even all that high, historically speaking).  The cops are acting out.  Or…what’s the term?  “Quiet quitting”?  Seems appropriate.

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    Just read an opinion that the NC state senator who just switched to R is having a relationship with one of the GOP leaders in the General Assembly. Have no idea since I had never heard of this person until today.

  43. 43.

    HumboldtBlue

    Captain Renault has entered the chat.

    Maryland’s top prosecutor on Wednesday accused Catholic Church officials in Baltimore of engaging in a yearslong coverup of the sexual abuse of 600-plus children, some of whom were “preyed upon by multiple abusers over decades.”

    And if the reported number is “more than 600” you can safely multiply that a thousand if not 10,000.

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Great news, here’s to fast healing.

  44. 44.

    AlaskaReader

    @japa21: Something that compounds what you’re referring to was the decisions made that lowered the standards for volunteers in the military.

    Coming out of the military, those less desirable recruits were looking for work and police departments hired them with little in the way of vetting.

    They were used to kicking in doors, they were ‘trained’ to see enemies behind every door. So called modern police training is essentially the same.

    Too many of them enjoyed the power trip, and they now bring that power trip into our neighborhoods.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl:

    Police think they are soldiers and we are the occupied people they have to control.

    Yep.  This is what White Supremacist policing will get you.  Policing in this country has long been there to control uppity minorities, and that’s poisoned everything else they do.  Now they feel as if they need to control everyone who might possibly ally themselves with those uppity minorities.

    This gets back to a basic point I’ve made about police reform: it’s doomed to failure as long as the law itself is unjust.  We can do everything we want to reform the police, but it will fail in the long term if they’re being corrupted by their basic mission.

  47. 47.

    smith

    @Jeffro: There was a sharp spike in crime with the onset of the pandemic, which is now somewhat declining especially in violent crime. Current alarm about a crime epidemic is a reaction to that spike, and given that was an unusual disruption it’s hard to say what crime rate trends over the longer term look like.

  48. 48.

    tobie

    @UncleEbeneezer: Do we know which judge is presiding in the Jan 6 Grand Jury? Pence can say lots of things pertain to his role as President of the Senate during the certification process but someone will have to decide if the claim is legit. Or am I overthinking this?

  49. 49.

    SuzieC

    @Kent: Good point especially that long border with Kentucky.  Generations of Kentuckians moved north.  But I have hope given Columbus’s booming economy and exploding population growth and high-tech future.

  51. 51.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Delk: Good to know.  Did you have to keep using meds or did that end once the splints come out?  Trying to figure out if I’ll be able to work Friday eve and Sat morning.

  53. 53.

    karen marie

    @HumboldtBlue: It will never fail to amaze me that Republicans ignore well-documented crimes and the coverup of crimes against children by a prominent organization.

  55. 55.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Kent: The OJ Simpson ESPN documentary goes back to the history of LAPD and the Watts uprising in the 1960’s and yeah, police have always been like this in America.

  56. 56.

    patrick II

    @Kay:

    Republicans make such a big deal out of honoring “First Responders” from 9/11. Then, every few years Jon Stewart has to publicly humiliate Republicans in Congress to stop themfrom taking health care benefits away for various 9/11 related diseases.

    And then, “First Responders” once removed, vote Republican in large number. This seems related to how disrespectfully other cops treat the Capitol Police who bravely stopped a successful insurrection from happening on Jan 6.

  57. 57.

    Delk

    @UncleEbeneezer: I honestly don’t remember. I was so happy to finally have the procedure done. It was scheduled right before the Covid lockdown so I had to wait a bit. I had it done for the Inspire implant and I was just looking forward to that procedure.

  59. 59.

    BlueGuitarist

     

    Jodi Habush Sinykin had lost.  She ran a great race –  nail-bitingly close – and she lost by 1% in what has until now been a safe Republican district

    Jodi would have won if Rs hadn’t gerrymandered this district, making it 5 points more R.

    Biden lost the current version of the district by 5, but Tammy Baldwin lost it by 9 while winning statewide by 11, making the district 20 points more R than the state overall.

    similarly in 2018 Evers lost by 20 while narrowly winning statewide, so again 20 points more R than the state overall.

    In 2016, the R state senate incumbent was re-elected unopposed.

    Jodi had a very difficult race.
    SD-08 was like a super swing district, voters could cast 2 votes in 2 different elections to replace Rs with Democrats.

  61. 61.

    StringOnAStick

    Finally tested negative but still feel a bit crappy, is that typical?  Still stuffy and a productive cough but a long way from feeling like I was likely to fracture a rib.

    I see some sun, time to go outside after two weeks of being too sick to.

  63. 63.

    beth

    as a chicagoan who lives in north carolina now, i am thrilled for mr johnson and the city. as a person who crossed the cheddar curtain many times (my parents are uw madison alums), i am thrilledthrilledthrilled for wisconsin.

    i think i may have mover’s remorse regarding north carolina now. tricia cotham, an emily’s list endorsed candidate from a very blue district of charlotte that biden won by 20+ points and has 24k+ registered democrats vs 10k+ registered republicans, switched her party affiliation to republican today giving the gop dominated lege a veto proof majority. this is Very Bad. the last time the lege was gop dominated at least the state supreme court leaned democratic and could put on the brakes for the worst stuff but now it’s fully reactionary republican.

    the NC Dems apparently now have a ben wickler of their own but it’s going to be an ugly, hard fight back towards a more inclusive democracy and people are going to suffer.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    @smith:it’s hard to say what crime rate trends over the longer term look like.

    Yeah, I don’t quite think so.  The article you linked to itself noted that a) violent crime was really low for a long while before the pandemic, b) ticked up once we were well into the pandemic (not at the start), and c) has now (as of 2022) come down while other types of crime have ticked up.

  65. 65.

    jackmac

    Big thank you to Water Girl for all HER work last night maintaining a lengthy thread and updating results.   Great job!

  66. 66.

    Quinerly

    @The Moar You Know:

    Well, I like to give her the benefit of the doubt and be kind. She’s originally a Missouri chick who taught school on St. Louis. We only know about her high profile romances. Maybe they were just the “odd” ones.

    I would have considered dating Clapton until I read his autobiography many years ago.😉

  71. 71.

    stacib

    @RedDirtGirl: He did along with Jesse White, the last Secretary of State and Bobby Rush who used to be the congressman for the 1st district.  So did a small group of dudes who call themselves Black Men United.

  74. 74.

    dr. luba

    @Kent: Wisconsin also borders Michigan…..

    I have lots of lefty friends in WI, including farmers.  The gerrymandering there has really fucked up the state the last few years…..

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @beth: I didn’t realize the turncoat was in such a blue district. Hmmm. So she apparently doesn’t care about continuing her political career. What did she gain by switching sides? I smell a rat.

  78. 78.

    cmorenc

    @Quinerly: Sheryl Crowe also had a thing going with Lance Armstrong for awhile – Kid Rock isn’t the first guy of dubious character she fell for, at least for a time.  Some good women have an unfortunate taste for the charms of men of dubious character.

  79. 79.

    HumboldtBlue

    @The Moar You Know:

    Police agencies are hurting for qualified candidates.

    • Between 2020 and 2021, the state lost 2,100 sworn staff and about 1,100 civilian staff—declines of 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively.
    • The number of patrol officers per 100,000 residents is the lowest since at least 1991, while the total number of sworn officers per 100,000 residents is now at the lowest level since 1995.
    • Of the 458 agencies that reported staffing numbers in both 2020 and 2021, 213 (46.5%) reported fewer sworn officers, 96 (21%) reported no change, and 149 (32.5%) reported more officers in 2021 than 2020.
    • In 2018, California had fewer officers per 100,000 residents than the nation overall—but more than two neighboring states, Oregon and Arizona.
  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @cmorenc: Yep. My mother was brilliant, funny as hell and exceptionally kind hearted. She also fell for some of the dumbest, meanest, and most irresponsible sumbitches who ever walked the earth.

  82. 82.

    Kent

    @JCJ:@Kent:  Wisconsin and Michigan share a border as well.

    Oh right.  the UP.   But that is a LONG ways from Appalachia and the whole southern half of Ohio that is surrounded by Kentucky and West Virginia

    Never underestimate geography.  We had the recent exhibit of that when watching all the COVID waves that enveloped geographic regions and completely ignored state boundaries.

  83. 83.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Betty Cracker: ​ 

    I can’t find the article at this moment, but I believe it was done because once the full abortion ban is put in place it can’t be revoked despite the will of the voters because of how the state constitution is written.

    There is most certainly is a rat and my guess she’s been paid off, so we’ll see.

  85. 85.

    Kent

    @HumboldtBlue: Yes, we need to be MUCH more creative about the type of people we recruit for policing positions.  The big slug of post-IRAQ war vets has mostly moved through the system.  Time to start recruiting MUCH more broadly.  And make the job less paramilitary and more community-based like in Europe.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    Navigator Research
    @NavigatorSurvey
    🚨 NEW POLL: A majority of Americans say Republicans should spend less time talking about “wokeness” (55%, net +31), including Democrats (+39), independents (+30) & not very conservative Republicans (+28).

    It isn’t just me and my obsession
    everyone hates the anti woke ninnies- even Republicans! :)

    You wonder why the NYTimes invested so heavily in anti woke. It’s not popular.

  91. 91.

    Karen S.

    @patrick II: Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, served for four years before dying in 1987. Lori Lightfoot, the second Black mayor, served one term. I know you wrote “and/or” but I think it’s important to note that it’s only two Black people and they served as mayor for about 8 years. Oh, and there was interim Mayor Eugene Sawyer after Washington died in office, but he’s rarely remembered.

  93. 93.

    Redshift

    @tobie:

    Do we know which judge is presiding in the Jan 6 Grand Jury? Pence can say lots of things pertain to his role as President of the Senate during the certification process but someone will have to decide if the claim is legit. Or am I overthinking this?

    I think you are. As I recall, the ruling against Pence was that questions about conversations on Jan 6 could potentially be blocked by privilege, because that’s the only time he was presiding. Conversations on any other day are fair game. No claims allowed about them being related to presiding.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    @The Moar You Know:

    The thing I’ve noticed most is the lack of police on the train.  The LA Sheriff’s department is supposed to patrol on LA Metro, and they completely disappeared after COVID hit.  They reappeared briefly when the sheriff was running for reelection*, and then completely disappeared again after the election.

    *Even when LA Metro had a policy requiring all riders to wear masks, the sheriff’s deputies were the worst offenders for ignoring it.  You can imagine how well they enforced it.

  96. 96.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kent:

    Cops have ALWAS been like that.

    I don’t have any friends or neighbors that are cops and I’m a white woman, so I really don’t know. But I used to watch a lot of TV and the portrayal of cops has changed drastically over the past 5 or 6 decades. I do think that does reflect a truth that cops and police work has changed. Many factors including ones mentioned, military service, military weapons, armed populace, copaganda. Fight me if you want but I don’t mind saying defund the police and what I mean is start all over from square one. It’s broke.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Roger Moore: I have never seen a police officer wearing a mask. They weren’t even wearing them in 2020 when most people were prisoners of their homes most of the time. I remember going to a drive-through COVID testing stand that my town had set up, and seeing one of the workers in a respirator and goggles and scrubs and rubber gloves talking to a city cop who was just going around unmasked like nothing unusual was happening.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The “antis” in covid never made any sense to me. They made no effort at all to avoid contracting the virus, so devil may care there, but at the same time they completely freaked out about getting a vaccine, so very fearful and caring a lot about their health, but only as to vaccines. 

  101. 101.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m sorry you are sick on vacation. And your travel mate too! At least you don’t have to argue as to who’s less sick and has to make dinner.

  103. 103.

    smith

    @Matt McIrvin: And for the past three years the most frequent cause of law enforcement deaths has been covid-19. Interesting because few if any are in the highest risk age group.

  104. 104.

    El Muneco

    @Betty Cracker: She comes out of the charter school movement and has apparently joined GOP on “school choice” votes in the past.

    Supposition on LGM is that there’s something in the arcana of committee memberships/chairmanships where she’ll be more effective at getting school voucher bills etc. out of committee as an R than she would have been as a D. And the quid pro quo is that when she’s dumped to the curb in 2024 she’ll have a cozy position waiting in the administration of the new private schooling infrastructure that she will have helped to create.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @beth: I saw an article that said “it’s not as bad as it seems” in the title, or the subtitle, but I didn’t read it and now I don’t know where I saw it.

    I hope they’re right. But I’m not counting on it.  What a terrible betrayal.  Is she really romantically involved with someone in the leadership of the GOP?

  109. 109.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: OMG they recorded a song together called “Picture”. It’s a karaoke classic, I call it the “Can’t Live With You/Can’t Live Without You” song. I’ve even sung it a couple of times.

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @jackmac: That’s kind of you to say!

    It got trickier when my laptop ran out of power and I had to work from my tablet.  I don’t know how you guys do it who work from phones and tablets for BJ all the time.

    I guess if you do that, you know how everything works.  But several times Safari did some weird thing like break all my tabs into separate pieces, and then I somehow got it to all come together again.  I am not used to not knowing what I’m doing with technology. :-)

  112. 112.

    dnfree

    @RedDirtGirl: Vallas has become a different person, seemingly, than he was a couple of decades ago.  It’s hard to make sense of.  In the past he seemed like a centrist Democrat and he also came across as a competent administrator when he ran the school district.  I really don’t understand where the social media comments etc. came from based on his previous reputation.

  113. 113.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: It was all justified with conspiracy theories but I think the intuition behind it was largely the Argument from Nature. COVID was a respiratory virus, like a cold virus; it was familiar and “natural” to get sick that way, so they felt confident they could just ride it out like they had done before. The vaccine was artificial, made by scientists, and the most popular versions even used new technology that had not had a mass deployment in humans before.

    That’s what all those non sequiturs about how “I have an immune system” were about. They trusted Nature over the products of Science, mortality statistics be damned.

  114. 114.

    Fake Irishman

    A word in potential impeachment: remember that all GOPers would have to stick together to remove an official from office. The governor would get to appoint a replacement.

    Also, recalls for state legislators exist. I’m sure Mr. Willer’s teams of volunteers could find a few GOPers to target even in a heavily gerrymandered state. (Dems took out 3 of five they targeted in 2011 and 2012 after the union busting bill temporarily regaining the majority in the State Senate)

  116. 116.

    sab

    OT We got the pitbull back from surgery to excise a mast cell tumor. She howled in the waiting room before surgery. She knew where I was leaving her. She is whining now, Tough girl, but she thinks I totally betrayed her trust this morning.

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @Quinerly:

    I find this Scouting story about Amy Carter’s youngest son’s troop and Pres Carter really interesting. I guess I didn’t realize Amy had two sons and a second marriage. Big age difference in her two sons. Sweet pic of Rosalyn.

  119. 119.

    Quinerly

    He’s such an embarrassment.
    Democrat RFK Jr filed a statement of candidacy for Pres Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.

  121. 121.

    sab

    @Matt McIrvin: I had two college roommates die of covid. I will punch and bite anyone who will try to tell me covid is not real. I am a small woman. They will never see the attack coming.

  122. 122.

    EarthWindFire

    @Kay: You wonder why the NYTimes invested so heavily in anti woke. It’s not popular.

    Not with actual everyday people, no. But with the elites that flock to diners to “understand the common man”, anti woke is the new holy grail. NYT knows its real audience.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    That’s a pretty good theory. Makes sense.

    I feel like they don’t spend a lot of time in or around “nature” if they think it’s benign though.

  124. 124.

    cain

    @WaterGirl: I hope that guy was worth it because not only has she betrayed her party and huge number of constituents – but how does one face all those people who GOTV for her? The organizations?

    What happens if this romantic relationship falls through? Her name is mud. I hope she gets a ring or something…  can’t imagine she’d do it just for love.

  125. 125.

    cain

    @EarthWindFire: Their job is to troll their liberal readership. They should lose some more subscriptions.

    In a normal world – it’s ok to be able to see both sides of a picture even if I disagree with it. But it’s not a normal world, we have folks who want to turn back the clock on rights we’ve all enjoyed for a long time. That won’t stand.

  127. 127.

    mvr

    Agreeing w @Karen S. in response to @patrick II: And also the Chicago cops have never been a force for good since well before my lifetime. A family friend reporter for Newsweek got beat up at the 68 convention for being black; I’ve seen then yank people off El trains for no apparent reason. We’ve all seen videos of things they do.  They seem to be beyond reforming.

  128. 128.

    smith

    @cain: Their job is to troll their liberal readership.

    I agree. Their readers and subscribers lean to the liberal side, yet FTFNYT expends a lot of energy trying to rile up their readership. It drives engagement, thus clicks, thus revenue.

    That much is obvious, but I think another reason is that their ultimate goal is to represent the interests of the rich people who own them. They walk a fine line, doing just so much to maintain a liberal-ish reputation while at the same time frequently framing their reporting and opinion in both-sides or even conservative terms. They offer just enough to the readership to keep them engaged, while at the same time subjecting them to a constant, almost subliminal, nudge, nudge, nudge rightward. Just getting people who have progressive political values to accept a both-sides frame is a victory, and I think it works too often.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Ksmiami:

    I love when they go so far up their own asses. My favorite example- when they paid for a billboard during Obama that read :”where’s the birth certificate?” and normies didn’t get it at all. They thought it was a PSA- like, “locate your birth certificate” in case of a tornado or something :)

    They were thinking “where IS my birth certificate?” lol

  133. 133.

    mvr

    @anitamargarita: My memory agrees as well. I was silently wishing people would use the Google to check their claims in this subthread. She was also never married to Lance Armstrong though they were a couple.

  134. 134.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: It’s the impulse behind a lot of alt-medicine nonsense. But another angle to it is that they equate the ability to fight off disease with general health or strength in this oddly moralized way.

    There was a non-right-wing antivaxxer, a friend of a friend on Facebook, who I argued with a bit a couple of years ago. He was this keto-diet-and-fitness guy, and he seemed to think in terms of this dichotomy between conventional medicine vs. his diet and fitness routine. He kept harping on the fact (true) that physically fit people have better COVID outcomes, on average, and seemed to think he didn’t need vaccines because he was so much fitter than the average person. Vaccines were a crutch for people who didn’t take care of themselves.

    It was a kind of whataboutism, too: any time someone bugged him about getting vaccinated he’d say, well, why don’t you do my exercise program and my keto diet? The idea that you could maybe do both, he didn’t seem to be able to conceptualize.

  135. 135.

    James E Powell

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    I don’t wish to fight you, but I would argue that the phrase “defund the police” is not useful. Attitudes toward & responses to the idea are pretty much frozen.

    What we need is a broader rethinking of how we as a society want to respond to crime and to what I call public disturbances. The latter are not crimes at all, but are civil disputes or mental health episodes

    We also don’t need the equivalent of heavily armed combat soldiers to handle traffic & vehicle safety issues.

    But productive discussions of these and other related issues are very hard to have in our culture. Everybody is already angry before the first words are exchanged.

    It’s kind of like this with public education as well. We have institutions that were designed over a century ago that do not meet our needs, but that everyone still insists must have the same basic configurations.

  136. 136.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Quinerly:

    Well, he and Nimrata would make a helluva team. He’s a dipshit anti-vaxxer and she’s a dipshit wannabe fascist.

  139. 139.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Breaking: The judge overseeing the Fox-Dominion trial says Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch could be forced to testify in person. Other high-profile Fox employees expected to testify: Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Bret Baier.

  140. 140.

    Kent

    @Sure Lurkalot:I don’t have any friends or neighbors that are cops and I’m a white woman, so I really don’t know. But I used to watch a lot of TV and the portrayal of cops has changed drastically over the past 5 or 6 decades. I do think that does reflect a truth that cops and police work has changed. Many factors including ones mentioned, military service, military weapons, armed populace, copaganda. Fight me if you want but I don’t mind saying defund the police and what I mean is start all over from square one. It’s broke.

    Sure, we all know what you mean.  And I’d like to see a complete restructuring of how we do policing in this country.

    But as a political slogan it is poison and a self-own we don’t need to do.  There are other ways to say the same exact thing that aren’t so politically toxic.

  141. 141.

    ksmiami

    @Kay: My SO and I just don’t even understand what the fuck they are even talking about. There’s no vision there. It’s all about tearing down the 21st century. And they are all dumb, mean and ugly AF.

  142. 142.

    HumboldtBlue

    Police reform is being tried and implemented, Richmond, Cali comes to mind as does the city of Camden NJ.

    Activists across the country are calling for radical reforms to policing in the U.S., including abolishing the police entirely. Camden, N.J., took its own big step in 2013. The city was in a public safety crisis, with murder rates 18 times the national average and scores of excessive-force complaints, when the mayor and City Council dissolved the existing police department and created a countywide force in its place.

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    Make Cops have degrees in sociology, or counseling, or psychology, or… well, you get the picture here. Make them spend 4 years exposed to the ideas the everyone has problems, and we leaders need to help them — it part of the job !!

    Give them 4 years to pass and get the degree, or find another job. We don’t have to mention that part so much, the find a real job part.

  147. 147.

    Betty

    @dnfree: Teachers apparently had a very different opinion about his competence according to several comments on the earlier thread.

  148. 148.

    HumboldtBlue

    @J R in WV: ​
    That’s what Germany does.​ 

    Training is a minimum of two years and includes training in several areas and exams to pass for each step.

  150. 150.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Kent: Thing is, if you frame it in a positive way like “Fund Our Lives” etc., you can actually pass good legislation that moves $ away from policing and towards funding more social services, creates mental health crisis teams, gives traffic enforcement to unarmed city workers (all things that lower police violence incidents and unneeded stops/arrests).  Many cities have done this.  We did it in Los Angeles with Prop J.  But if you frame it as “Defund(ing) The Police” you immediately turn off even half the people on our side.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    But another angle to it is that they equate the ability to fight off disease with general health or strength in this oddly moralized way.

    I was raised like this and it’s really bad. For like 30 years I avoided doctors and checkups because we had this bizarre family thing where we are invincible. I suffered for this stupidity, which I won’t go into here but I should have gotten more checkups. Insane. Finally my primary care doctor told me avoiding doctors is just the flip side of hypochondria – that made sense to me so I stopped doing it.

  153. 153.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Kent: @James E Powell:

    No worries, I do not use the phrase defund the police, I know it’s loaded so I just think it. A lot, even though I more accurately mean dismantle which would be misconstrued just the same.

    RWNJs have no qualms with the defund word though. Right now they are threatening to defund the fucking government. They have tried to defund the ACA, they would do away with or drastically unfund Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

  154. 154.

    citizen dave

    Dying thread; I can’t stand anything about Kid Rock (and actively avoid any audio or video of him), but will note that he also, somehow got to Canadian Pamela Anderson, to wit: Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock had a famously on-and-off relationship from 2001 to 2006, resulting in an engagement, break up, reconciliation and a four-month marriage, all before they went their separate ways for good.

    Almost all the political vehicle stickers are gone in these times, but this afternoon I passed a pick up truck with a small round sticker, “Impeach Pelosi”.  Boggles the mind.

    Re: RFK Jr. running.  Too bad he is so crazy, I kind of like Cheryl Hines as First Lady.  Maybe Larry David could be Health and Human Services Secretary.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    @ksmiami:

    This is about a Budweiser can. They found a Budweiser can with something about inclusivity on it and they’re anti woke ninnies so they’re freaking out about it and will for months. I know all that backstory.
    But what if I were a normie in WI or MI or PA and I read this:

    Matt Walsh

    @MattWalshBlog

    Here’s what we should do: Pick a victim, gang up on it, and make an example of it. We can’t boycott every woke company or even most of them. But we can pick one, it hardly matters which, and target it with a ruthless boycott campaign. Claim one scalp then move onto the next.

     

    I’d be mystified. Puzzled. So it’s good. We want them to continue to speak in this online code that no one normal understands.

  156. 156.

    sdhays

    @Sure Lurkalot: They are literally floating the idea of defunding the FBI in retaliation for investigating Trump’s theft of classified government property.

  157. 157.

    topclimber

    @Kent:

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    “Police the Police.”

    Stop their corruption and brutality and we can then spend all our time figuring out how to make them effective at deterring and solving crimes.

  158. 158.

    HumboldtBlue

    @stinger:

    The Kansas legislature just overrode a veto by the Dem gov of a bill that would require genital checks of children before they’re allowed to participate in sports.

    So what is there to explain?

  159. 159.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @HumboldtBlue:

    So what is there to explain?

    The pro-abortion vote last June. Is the Kansas legislature badly gerrymandered like Wisconsin’s is?

  160. 160.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I have no idea how Kansas is gerrymandered, but the abortion issue is a single issue that drove people, seemingly even conservative leaning people, to adamantly oppose it and ultimately vote it down.

    This horrific bill was created in the legislature and not put to a popular vote where, if it had been, I suspect would suffer the same fate.

  161. 161.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay:

    I feel like they don’t spend a lot of time in or around “nature” if they think it’s benign though.

    They’ve obviously never been to Australia where all the plants, and every critter, bird and fish tries to kill you. /s

    Seriously, arsenic is “natural.” So is botulism. <rolls eyes>

  162. 162.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay: Apparently they just discovered the Bud Lite has been a cheap beer staple at gay bars for a couple decades after Bud began sponsoring Pride events.

    Wait until they learn about Subarus.

  163. 163.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Bud Light became a staple at gay bars because Coors refused to serve gay bars. What’s so fucking hilarious about this feet stamping and tantruming from old white dudes is that while they were filming their tiktoks disavowing Bud Light, Coors decided it needed to get in on that sweet rainbow action as well.

    Also, who is this Mulvaney person, they have certainly gotten a lot of people upset, red-faced sputtering upset.

    This is fucking hilarious

  166. 166.

    rikyrah

    @patrick II:

    Them leave?

    Phuck Outta Here

     

    Where can a minimally educated person get a job in America where, after only 18 months, you are earning 100k AND get  a FULL PENSION IN 20 YEARS, no matter your age.😒

     

    I’ll wait😒

  169. 169.

    GibberJack

    @cmorenc: A so-called “good woman” with years-long record of relationships with racists, losers, cheats and assholes means she’s not as good a person as you want to give her credit for. It’s not ennobling. It’s defining.

    This is what she values and finds attractive in people. It says something significant about her and what she values.

    And you must ask yourself, why is it that you think she is a good person? Maybe you have confused the actual person with a public or performing persona.

  173. 173.

    stinger

    @HumboldtBlue: I was referring to the state-wide referendum where Kansans voted to keep abortion legal, and to the fact that Kansas doesn’t border any blue states. But that whole discussion was hours ago! I can’t believe you even bothered to respond to my comment — thanks!

  175. 175.

    GibberJack

    @GibberJack: This is not a gender thing. Men have their own version of the belief in the whore with a heart of gold. Which is to say, society has their own version of a myth of a “good” man who is never-endingly shitbird adjacent or bigot sympathetic. They tend to be con men. People believe they are deep down inside trying to do good. Flawed vessel and all that. Not unlike Trump.

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