TRUMP: LOCKED UP
WISCONSIN: LIBERATED
CHICAGO: SOCIALIST
PATRIOTS: IN FULL CONTROL— ettingermentum (@ettingermentum) April 5, 2023
YOUR TEARS, THEY ARE DELICIOUS!
Chicago has fallen.
Breaking: Far-Left Democrat Brandon Johnson Wins Chicago Mayoral Race
To quote @emeriticus: The Right memes. The Left wins elections.
How many of us were even aware of the Chicago mayoral and Wisconsin Supreme Court elections today? How many GOP voters? https://t.co/jdKqZatmFt
— Jenna Ellis ???? (@JennaEllisEsq) April 5, 2023
Breaking News: Wisconsin tipped control of its Supreme Court to liberals, a seismic shift that could end the state’s abortion ban and gerrymandered maps. https://t.co/6sX4KAnDw8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 5, 2023
"I am here tonight to explain to all of you how right you were to vote against me" https://t.co/N1VGAqMT7h
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 5, 2023
Watching Mar-a-Lago 'Airing of Grievances' w a relative who is in sixth grade. This is first such Trump speech he had seen.
"There are kids who go around constantly talking about how everything's so unfair against them, nothing's ever their fault. People just stop listening"
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) April 5, 2023
The most important part of Trump's ramble tonight: “I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign. And a lot of it.”
This is is strategy now: attack the families.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 5, 2023
Read about that latest grievance, and flashed back on a pulp-fiction conversation (Donald Westlake?) between two low-rank mobsters. The first one, hearing about a similar rant from their Big Guy, says He’s asking for a closed-casket funeral. To which his friend replies, There’s not gonna be enough left for a burial…
Who is Juan Merchan, the 'no-nonsense' judge overseeing Trump's case? https://t.co/LVk86KIJLI
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 4, 2023
Baud
Maybe, just maybe, voters are starting to realize that the leopards really will eat their faces.
japa21
It was a good day. Too bad that the WI senate race doesn’t look good, but then, I am greedy. The Neanderthal party was, mostly, defeated for school boards.
bbleh
This is [h]is strategy now: attack the families.
It’s certainly become a habit, but I can’t bring myself to call it a “strategy” because … it’s SO damn dumb. And yeah, “that checks out.” But OMG, what kind of iron self-control — or sociopathic disorder — does it take to sign up to be one of his lawyers?
Oh well. “Please proceed,
GovernorMr Ex-President.”bbleh
@japa21: Concur. And nothin’ wrong with being greedy! We’re not squabbling over slices of pizza here.
EarthWindFire
Jenna Ellis comes *this close* to realizing that telling your voters elections are a cheat fest is a really bad GOTV strategy. Sad!
prostratedragon
O’Donnell’s panel of former NYC prosecutors last night on related matters. Note how all four of their faces close up when LOD reads those attacks.
ETA was Weissmann celebrating? I thought his haberdashery and shirt looked extra dapper.
Betty Cracker
There’s a Trump super-fan in my area who writes many ragey letters to the editor. She’s on a tear!
It’s weird, but almost every letter contains a variation of “you won’t have the guts to print this,” even though it’s a right-wing paper that prints her incoherent crap all the time!
satby
Attacking families is an old, not new strategy. Starting with Limpball’s attack on 12 year old Chelsey Clinton as “the family dog” and continuing with countless examples to today.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
You should write a letter that says “you won’t have the guts to print this” and see if they print it.
Jeffro
omg “CHICAGO HAS FALLEN”
get a grip, you drama queens! It’s called an election, they happen regularly, and if you’d knock off the crazy shit, you might actually win one.
Geminid
@satby: Claude Pepper’s Republican opponent sent out a mailer accusing Pepper’s sister of being a thespian.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
She gets it from the fine folk on Fox always insisting “no one is talking about” the biggest story of the day as everyone gives the Republican take undue credulity.
Mousebumples
Thanks again to everyone who helped with Wisconsin’s Spring Election. Whether you did postcards, donated to WisDems or Voces or Four Directions, joined us in the music threads, or even just helped me with morale support.
SD-8 is still close, with the Republican leading by 1-2%,but no call that I’ve seen yet.
Baud
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
“I’ve been cancelled,” he said to every national and local media outlet.
Jeffro
Former RNC chair Michael Steele, commenting on that loser Kelly guy up in WI who said he’d like to concede to a “worthy” opponent but didn’t have one:
narya
Doesn’t sound like Westlake . . . that I can remember. But maybe one of his harder-edged alter egos? Or Thomas Perry?
I am delighted today–I didn’t dare to hope that we could get both Brandon and Judge Janet!
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Baud: Also, too, this.
Jeffro
@Baud: TRUTH
“WHEN are REPUBLICANS ever going to HAVE A FAIR HEARING in THE MEDIA in this COUNTRY?” – every GOP candidate and flack in the entire nation, on every cable news channel and top 10,000 blog in the entire nation.
EarthWindFire
@Betty Cracker: They’re always the ones to say what no one else will say yet they are also the silent majority. It would be funny if it weren’t so whiny.
The new one I’ve learned during the indictment buildup, none of them know, or all of them choose to deny, that there’s a civil justice system too. Why Bill Clinton didn’t get indicted has an easy answer: he never was charged in criminal court. But it goes right over their foamy mouthed heads.
Amir Khalid
I wouldn’t describe former Justice Daniel Kelly’s speech as fiery. The excerpt I heard sounded childish, petulant, sore-loserish.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Good point. The words were atrocious, but the style wasn’t fiery.
I feel like the media has a secret book of euphemisms they use when writing about Republicans.
satby
@Betty Cracker: @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: “don’t have the guts to [print, broadcast, tell] the truth” is key in a conspiracy theorist’s belief structure. Only they are truly privy to the reality, the rest of us are fearful sheeple unwilling to go against the prevailing society’s narrative.*
* no matter how many times they get a platform to speak and their theories are rejected, it’s always because they think their “truth” is being suppressed.
SFAW
@Jeffro:
I keep seeing stuff like this from Steele. Is he still a dyed-in-the-wool Rethug who just hates Trump and Trumpism? Or has he had a Jennifer-Rubin-esque epiphany? [Not that I doubt that Rubin would move back to the “R” column were Mittens (or similar) to run again.]
Karen S.
I’m so glad that I woke up this morning to the news that Brandon Johnson has been elected mayor of Chicago. The early poll results yesterday showed Vallas narrowly leading, but now he can go crawl back under a charter school rock somewhere.
Baud
In complete fairness, the “why isn’t anyone talking about this” tic too often appears in liberal circles too IMHO. But on a different scale and usually more reality based.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@prostratedragon: His tie was giving off a moire effect. I love the guy, but he should save that tie for off-screen appearances
Baud
@satby:
I think it goes back to the Gnostics.
Jeffro
@SFAW: He’s pretty consistently anti-modern-R-party/trumpism. I don’t see him taking any swipes at Dems or liberals or whatever (unlike the occasional bit from Adam Kinzinger or Joe Walsh).
Lemme call him and see what he thinks about Asa Hutchinson – brb ;)
SFAW
@satby:
I see this (or similar) a lot on my local NextDoor from the local anti-vaxxers. They post misinformation/lies/BS, then whine about the mods “censoring” them when the mods remove posts that violate NextDoor rules/policy/guidelines.
Ken
@Betty Cracker: It only seems weird because you’re viewing it from outside, and don’t have the necessary referents. It’s like, oh, watching a hula dancer without knowing what the movements mean*, or going to a friend’s wedding at an unfamiliar church and not knowing any of the prayers or songs.
* It just occurs to me, I have no idea if the motions of hula have extra meaning. It’s something I picked up as a kid, from TV, and have just accepted ever since.
Jeffro
Jenna Ellis should give Ronna Romney McDaniel a call and ask what happened in Chicago and WI, if it’s so important to her.
prostratedragon
@Karen S.: In Palos Hills.
lowtechcyclist
Jenna Ellis:
Yeah, tell me about how the sort of extreme gerrymandering present in Wisconsin is “election integrity.” When Dems can win a majority of the votes, but only win 36 seats in a 99-seat legislative house, tell me how that’s “election integrity.”
Hopefully that’ll be fixed soon, now that Judge Janet is on the case.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
Well, certainly sounds like a group privy to some special knowledge.
Baud
I was a little worried about Chicago because people seemed worried and I thought voters mkght lean reactionary after Lightfoot.
NYC could learn a lesson or two.
mrmoshpotato
Good morning everyone!
Paul Vallas can still go fuck himself.
And per Cole’s Twitter, I just found out that Jenna Ellis needs to keep my city’s name “out of her whore mouth” as bluegal likes to say.
Jeffg166
Great news. Now more State Houses and Supreme Courts to flip. The long march continues.
Talking to my 88 year old very Catholic neighbor yesterday I found out Sunday is Easter. Who knew? Not real important to me.
Ken
Is this because the Democrat beat the other Democrat, or were they deranged enough to think a Republican might win the Chicago mayoral election?
prostratedragon
@Dorothy A. Winsor: On my tv it just looked like a silk tie; only saw the moiré, or tiny check as it looked to me, on the phone. Good spread collar and knot.
Geminid
@SFAW: Steele is pretty much like Ron Filipkowski, Tom Nichols and Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark: moderate conservatives repelled by the radicals who now run the Republican party. A similar group runs the Virginia political blog Bearing Drift.
Personally, I find their critiques of Republicans more insightful than many coming from Democrats. But I do not have as much animus towards Independents as many other Democrats do. (Note: Filipkowski self-describes as Democrat now.)
Baud
@Jeffg166:
Frankly, I think if Jesus knew how many of his followers would behave, he might have stayed in the cave.
mrmoshpotato
Hahaha! An 11-year-old pretty much said, “Look at this whiny, orange brat.”
p.a.
@Betty Cracker:
Does anyone ever point out to these tools that Rethugs controlled the DoJ for 12 years (W, Orange Shitstain), and nothing happened?
Point out that this means
1) your god-head is in on it
or
2) it’s all lies.
I’ve done this to my wingidiot nut relatives and they end up stuttering in some odd language.
Betty Cracker
@SFAW: I didn’t trust her at first either, but I now believe Rubin’s conversion is probably sincere and durable. Unlike many of the Never Trumpers, she seems to now understand that the rot pervaded the party long before the orange fart cloud befouled the Oval Office.
prostratedragon
@Ken: They recognize one of their own. Vallas attaches himself to Dems, is all.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffg166: Fuck! That means I’ve gotta do a butter lamb! Thanks for the heads up — the holiday completely snuck up on me too!
Baud
@p.a.:
That special counsel tried to get some convictions and failed miserably (except for one poor schmuck that accepted a oela bargain).
That whole adventure was not considered outrageous by the media.
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffro:
The city imploded last night! I’m typing this clinging to driftwood in the lake!
Send help – and chorizo breakfast burritos!
lowtechcyclist
@p.a.:
Stuttering in tongues! It’s the new glossolalia.
Jeffro
@Ken: It’s because the fake Democrat lost to the soshulist.
They seem to be pretty upset that the Dem electorate in general is catching on to them, and turning out in elections that THEY AREN’T SUPPOSED TO WIN, DARN IT. lol
I get it. They’ve literally pulled every trick in the book at this point and are running on fumes to perpetuate minority rule. It must be exhausting. I wonder if they should try making an actual policy/reality-based case to the voters, and then letting the chips fall where they may? Hmm.
Or – and I know this is crazy – they could actually start to change some of their positions, to reflect what voters want. Almost treating politics like…like…like a marketplace of ideas, if you will.
Crazy, I know.
Jeffro
@mrmoshpotato: *sob *
just another great American metropolis, crushed under the might of
Antifafree electionsGOP, PLEASE…SAVE OUR CITIES!!!
bwah-ha-hah!
Y’all wait – that’ll be their next battle cry (for like 15 minutes): “We’re here to save America’s cities from the Democrats!”
(red rural voters: say whut now??)
Baud
@Jeffro:
I thought BLM burned all of our cities to the ground.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Trump rebuilt them in his image, obvs.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
We rebuilt them. Why else would so much economic activity be concentrated in cities?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Congrats, cheese head! Hopefully, WI will be the next MI.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
First they’d have to have some ideas!
I mean, about actual problems we face as a country, and solutions that were (a) different from ours, (b) at least sounded rational, and (c) hadn’t been tried and found wanting already. (E.g. charter schools.)
But at this point, the entire party has gone down the rabbit hole of CRT, ‘wokeness’, gay=pedophile, and hating on trans. That’s all they’ve got.
With respect to actual stuff going on, they’re brain-dead. So there’s really no direction home for them, just further down the rabbit hole until they reach the Earth’s core and get fried.
Kay
Johnson’s win is amazing, IMO. Vallas outspent him 2 to 1 and Vallas had all the big national endorsements. Plus- every poll had Vallas up (w/in MOE but still). Johnson just turned out his voters.
Vallas has said a lot of things over the years attempting to get jobs in various cities privatizing schools and some of the things he said were intended to get Republicans (who also want to eradicate public schools) to hire him, things like this:
I read that Vallas’ team thought these revelations hurt Vallas. Looks like they did.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Thanks. I expect some good things but not miracles.*
ETA: Not that I am saying that anything about MI is miraculous. It was more of a general observation.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
The problem is that their racist, fascist base is like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction: They will not be ignored!
We Dems are still feeling the after effects of abandoning Jim Crow. Memories are long.
VOR
@p.a.: The third option is QAnon conspiracy: All those people were charged in a secret court and sent to a secret prison, like Guantanamo. When you see them on TV it’s really an actor, a double pretending to be them.
These are the people you see on Jordan Klepper segments at a Trump rally claiming Trump is still President and secretly running the government. Except Joe Biden, who is just pretending to be President, is to blame for any bad stuff. WTF?
I don’t know how they function in normal society, but these people exist. I just pray they don’t vote.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Are we gonna rename it to Michigan II? Or will it just get consolidated into MI, and then DC can have statehood with no flag change?
Karen S.
@Baud: Well, now that Brandon Johnson will be mayor, Chicago will REALLY be destroyed. Any minute now…
Rusty
@Betty Cracker: My test is if a never Trumper likes DeSantis. DeSantis is just Trump in shinier packaging. If they like DeSantis it’s about visuals, not content. If they don’t like DeSantis, than it’s a sincere disagreement with the Republican party.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
Huh? It’s not a national election.
Kay
Maybe now national media will pay some reporters to cover womens health and rights. Nah- women aren’t important enough to invest in- media want free content donated by women – personal stories written by women about the agony they went thru when they couldn’t get medical care for a miscarriage in the states where they have lesser rights.
Women seem to be getting the issue anyway, all by themselves :)
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: “I saw a story on the news that blah blah blah. Why aren’t the media talking about this???”
mrmoshpotato
@Karen S.: See my comment at 48. Send burritos.
p.a.
Re: Chicago. Watch the police dept. ratchet up the sabotage to eleven now. 🤬
Karen S.
@Kay: Almost every piece of pro-Vallas campaign literature we got in the mail over the past few weeks had the words “Democrat Paul Vallas” all over it. The radio ads featuring pols who endorsed him described him as “ProChoice Democrat Paul Vallas.” So his campaign tried very hard to convince voters that he’s really and truly a Democrat. See? He really is! It was weird and a bit desperate.
Kay
@mrmoshpotato:
Nationally known. Durbin, Arne Duncan.
smith
@Kay: It’s interesting, isn’t it? As soon as the campaign emphasis shifted from crimecrimecrime to culture war issues, especially abortion, Johnson rose in the polls. The irony is that Chicago’s mayor has very little control over abortion (and Illinois is unlikely to ban it in any case), but arguably has some impact on crime, or at least strategies to contain it.
In some ways it was a classic Republican fear campaign vs a Democratic civil rights campaign, and, as in WI, the latter was persuasive.
Soprano2
@Jeffro: I figure the press will be apoplectic about the Chicago mayoral election, because they had already decided Vallas would win because of “law and order”.
Omnes Omnibus
@mrmoshpotato:
If you think that WI and MI could merge, you have never seen the stark cultural differences when you cross from Hurley to Ironwood.
Betty Cracker
Woop-Woop! Tone police!
Oh, kindly fuck right the fuck off with that, Mr. Katyal.
Thanks for voting with Biden 100% of the time, but respectfully, fuck that noise, Rep. Levin.
The way to avoid “further politicizing” the case is for Repubs to agree that the rule of law applies to everyone, including Orangemandias.
Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride
@VOR: By this logic, shouldn’t we assume that the maniacs Jordan Klepper interviews are actors trying to discredit the sensible QAnon people by spouting obvious lunacy?
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: She doesn’t even know how to spell Gennifer.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t mind adults adulting. But we kids are still going to play.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: lololol
Karen S.
@mrmoshpotato: I would except my wife and I are hunkered down in our condo awaiting the destruction of this great city that surely must follow the election of a progressive mayor. I’m hoping someone will bring me a torta al pastor. My wife favors tacos made with beef tongue.
zhena gogolia
@Jeffro: Chicago, Chicago . . . is that anywhere near Bakhmut?
mrmoshpotato
@Karen S.: I would like to see a Rethuglican run for mayor. The election results would be hilarious.
Soprano2
@Kay: Yeah, it’s a bitch when people find out who you really are. That Vallas dude is a Republican pretending to be a Democrat.
Our school board election turned out great, with the two good, sane candidates winning, although it was close. One of the “panic” candidates was revealed as a racist because of Facebook posts he made; he tried to blame it on employees at his ad agency! Hey dude, if one of your employees posted that racist meme on your FB page back in 2018, and you’re just now noticing and removing it, how much attention are you paying to anything? *rolleyes* Obviously he posted the racist crap, and he didn’t have the guts to own it.
Our city council and mayoral elections turned out better than I thought they would; the mayoral candidate whose one claim to fame was getting a zoning question on the ballot because the residents didn’t like what the city boards decided lost. I don’t think we need to be voting on every zoning decision someone doesn’t like, but the people who supported her think we do. The IMHO better council people were elected, too. One shocking surprise is that the former police officer, whose campaign signs featured the “thin blue line” thing, LOST. I’m still shocked he lost.
Kay
@Karen S.:
I understand why he sucked up to Republicans- he was working in “ed reform” and ed reform is funded by either Right wing Democrats or Republicans – but it does play perfectly into the attack “he will say anything to get hired”. It goes to trust.
Betsy DeVos’ org donated to his campaign – not a lot, like 50k, which is peanuts for ed reform which is just awash with billionaire cash, but she probably hurt him.
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: Stop making me look up stuff this early. :)
mrmoshpotato
@Karen S.: Mmmmmmmmm al pastor! Never had beef tongue. The thought scares me.
snoey
@Omnes Omnibus: Ironwood has weed?
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato: It’s very bland.
zhena gogolia
When my father came to America and settled in Milwaukee, he thought Wisconsin was a soshulist paradise (1910). May it be so again.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
I’m not celebrating this happening to Trump per se. I’m celebrating the notion that we might finally be able to hold powerful people accountable when they commit crimes.
Will the dam break? Let’s see.
Kay
@smith:
Crime is a really tough issue. It seems like Chicago has tried the boilerplate law n order approach, which in my opinion is throw tons of funding at police, kiss their ass and promise not to hold them accountable for anything and that hasn’t worked. Maybe Johnson will have new ideas. God knows we need some.
I absolutely think crime should be an issue. I’m completely sympathetic to people who worry about safety where they live. They should have effective, responsive policing – they’re paying thru the nose for it and not getting it. I just don’t think starting or promoting a panic about crime is going to help anything.
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: Needs to be marinated, and made of pork! Oh wait, that would be al pastor!
satby
@Kay: the DeVos endorsement absolutely hurt him. She’s despised.
bbleh
@satby: @SFAW: @Betty Cracker: @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I think what they’re really saying is, “not everyone is immediately agreeing wholeheartedly with me and telling me what a good, smart boy/girl I am!”
It’s not that their views aren’t publicized; it’s that other matters — and even other opinions [gasp] — are also publicized.
I swear if they had been held more as infants they wouldn’t be this needy…
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Several successful Socialist mayors in that time frame. The grandchildren of a bunch of 48ers.
delphinium
@Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Your city lies in dust.
Kay
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
I am celebrating it happening to Trump. He’s nasty. He has attacked people, viciously, for decades. He took a FULL PAGE AD out suggesting that the teenagers arrested in the Central Park case should be executed. They were innocent. He’s a nasty, vicious piece of work who rampaged unchecked for decades and it feels like that is finally, finally coming back to bite him. You bet I’m celebrating.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: Should’ve got Dump’s endorsement and sailed to victory!
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
If you don’t immediately agree with me, clearly you aren’t giving me a fair hearing.
See also “left-wing” bias in the media ::dark chuckle:: Sure, they give right-wing bullshit undue credulity, but the provision of any verifiable facts just negates that by allowing attentive people to figure out the truth on their own.
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato: I have to specify that I’ve only had tongue in USSR and Jewish cuisine contexts. I haven’t had it in a taco. But as a substance in itself, to my palate it has no flavor.
catclub
@Betty Cracker:
I think he was asked a different question. Like “What is the US system of courts and justice like for defendants?”
“This thing’ is the court system?
bbleh
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: ... allowing attentive people to figure out the truth on their own.
Welp, there’s yer problem right there, yup.
I mean, if we allow people to think things through for themselves, and reach their own conclusions based on their own interpretations and values, why, there would be chaos! Society would crumble!
Only by strict indoctrination in the Truth, and severe punishment of any wrongthought, can America possibly survive! That’s just good, common sense!
Raven
@Soprano2: Sounds as good as it could be!
stacib
@mrmoshpotato: I thought Johnson would get absolutely smashed. As it turns out, the older people stayed home and the youngs voted. I’m as stunned as Paul Vallas’ campaign was last night. :-)
Adding: I’m really happy to have been wrong on this one.
smith
@Kay: I agree that crime is a problem that needs to be addressed, but am skeptical about the idea that the solution is to hire more cops and turn them loose, and especially not if the police union is going to be determining policy. I’d go so far as to say police have only marginal effect on preventing crime — their role is largely reactive — but the things we need to do to truly prevent crime are so deep, structural, and expensive, that most policy makers take the quick fix of more cops and more prisons, which doesn’t fix it at all.
narya
The main reason I keep track of Easter is . . . PEEPS ARE ON SALE ON MONDAY.
I have to wonder if the all-crime-all-the-time noise from Vallas doesn’t play as well in Chicago as he thought. The long and terrible history of policing in Chicago continues, and it has affected many areas of the city. Yes, the racist white areas still live, but that’s about a third of the population, and “more cops on the street” might not be the reassurance many folks want. Personally, I hope that a big chunk of the police force DOES quit; that would give the city the opportunity to truly build a new police force that meets the needs of communities.
Kay
@satby:
That ed reform group- both the Republicans and the Democrats- are oddly inept at politics. I think it’s because it’s an echo chamber where they spend a lot of time giving one another awards for how great they are- it’s also the billionaire funding. There’s so much money sloshing around that “movement” it’s not really competitive. Everyone gets a huge chunk, no matter if it’s merited or now. Duncan immediately landed a cushy spot with an ed reform group the moment Obama left office and they’ve been paying Vallas for years. It’s musical chairs. They go from one lavishly funded ed reform org to another for whole careers. Vallas came out of that. It’s not a competitive arena, nothing like the rough and tumble of a Chicago race.
catclub
@delphinium: Rats, I was hoping that was a link to the “Fall of Civilizations” youtube channel. LONG podcasts.
danielx
Spouse tells me CNN cut away from TFG’s speech last evening, which was not accurate – CNN didn’t cut away until it was almost over. ABC, CBS and NBC cut away earlier. Evidently Trump replaying his greatest hits/grievances is no longer mandatory viewing unless you’re a Faux News viewer.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@bbleh: Yeah, they don’t want their views heard; they want their views endorsed. There’s a big difference, and their failure to distinguish between them is probably deliberate.
catclub
@zhena gogolia:
 
.
Pun intended?
narya
@danielx: and MSNBC said outright, we will cut to the speech if anything actually newsworthy is said, but basically it’s an airing of grievances to which we do not want to give any time.
zhena gogolia
@catclub: No, just not really awake yet!
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
This is part of the reason I’m not celebrating it’s Trump, personally. They should’ve done this long ago. At least now I have hope that future Trumps won’t be allowed to fester.
I’m more concerned with the DeSantises of the world. I actually wish he were an obvious criminal, he’d be much easier to deal with.
He seriously scares me as an out gay man. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there are no statutes providing for the criminal prosecution of unconstitutional abuse of racial minorities, immigrants, and queer folk unless some more generalized law was broken.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
delphinium
@Betty Cracker: God these people are beyond pathetic. Did Mr. Katyal miss the threats/intimidation made to the DA in the Trump case?
Steeplejack
@Jeffro:
I agree about Michael Steele, but I was mildly surprised last week to see that when he was guest-hosting one of the evening MSNBC shows he had a Republican apparatchik on for a genial discussion of what the GQP needs to do to get back on track (paraphrasing). Didn’t catch the guy’s name, but he wasn’t a regular or semi-regular I’ve seen anywhere.
The segment was weird. Put Trump behind us, do a little light spackling and painting, everything should be fine. Yeah, no.
ETA: “Put Trump behind us” does a lot of heavy lifting in many discussions about the Republicans.
delphinium
@Soprano2: Glad to hear this! As well as the great news for Chicago and WI folks!
artem1s
@Jeffro:
I’d love to know why Michael Steele continues to align himself with the R’s. Is it homophobia? misogyny? or the ‘fiscally conservative’ lie that moderate R’s have been telling themselves for so long? He certainly doesn’t seem like a ammosexual or Gohmert bathtub government guy. Unlike Thomas doesn’t seem particularly vindictive or self hating. And unlike Powell and Condi Rice he doesn’t seem to be self serving and testing the wind in the pursuit of social position and connection to money and power. And not a grifter like Ben Carson.
too bad he can’t overcome whatever it is and help the Dems take back one of the Red states where he has connections. Seems far more trustworthy partner in the pursuit of democracy than Kasich or certain I-Dems could ever be.
Kay
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
DeSantis hasn’t been thru anything yet though. He’s untested. We have no idea if he has Trump-like crimes in his past.
Media believed (and believe) that Chris Christie was wildly charismatic and Christie left office with a 15% approval rating. They’re poor judges.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
We’ll be right where we were before Trump which was…waiting for a Trump to answer the casting call.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Congrats! That was exciting. I thought Vallas had it.
Soprano2
@Kay: I wish they would talk more about clearing criminal cases, rather than just arresting people. What is their case clearance rate? Ours here for murders is around 80%, which I understand is pretty good. Let’s judge the police for the work they’re actually supposed to do – solve crimes – rather than for something they’re not really responsible for, preventing crime.
bbleh
@Kay: See also Walker, Scott and Wilson, Pete, inter alia.
Mai Naem mobile
My Disney TFG movie had a representative of each group he has mocked or defrauded during his shitty life involved in a professional capacity during the legal proceeding. It was a good to see a Hispanic judge and an AA DA. I hope the female cop who is seen standing behind him seated at the table is Puerto Rican. Hoping there was a Muslim American and a disabled person in there somewhere.
Jeffro
Booooooo to that!
Oh well, they’re on the verge of losing an entire generation of voters for, um, an entire generation. Maybe in 20 years it’ll dawn on them that they could and should have done more to keep trump from taking power/trying to overthrow our government/fighting all his various indictments.
But I’m guessing they won’t. ‘light spackling’ – ugh
bbleh
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: scares me for the same reason, and not just for my own sake. But the unfortunate fact is, there are very many people who are the same way, out of some twisted conviction and/or because they need desperately to punch down on someone. Hell, I’m pretty sure there are members of my own family who would strap on an armband and drive the truck that takes me to a camp, and maybe be a little bothered by it but only a little.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@bbleh: I don’t think the Republicans in my life want me rounded up and jailed for kissing men, I just think preventing that is less important to them than a tax cut…for their manager.
Kay
@Soprano2:
I think we need really specific information. So one of the criticisms of US policing is they don’t do public safety policing in low income neighborhoods- things like petty theft or a quick response to a call from a citizen asking for help. That’s how people perceive police- in relation to their personal experience with them. So I would look there. Not how many poor people they are arresting. What is their response rate and approach to PROTECTING lower income neighborhoods. The SERVE part. That’s what low income neighborhoods aren’t getting and what you and I get.
New Deal democrat
While I am as glad as everyone else here about Tuesday’s news, I am really worried that our judicial victory in Wisconsin will be thrown out by the US Supreme Court, in Moore v. Harper.
As you probably know, this is the case that is weighing whether to adopt the “independent state legislature” doctrine to presidential elections. At oral argument, the reactionary Justices all seemed to be certain that the NC Supreme Court was “legislating from the bench.” I am very worried that the reactionary SCOTUS majority is going to hold that any state Supreme Court opinion not applying a “literal, textualist” interpretation to that state’s constitution is invalid, and may be second-guessed with no deference by federal courts. Such a holding would make, e.g., any new Wisconsin Supreme Court holding that its state legislative gerrymandering violates Wisconsin’s constitution, invalid.
delphinium
@Steeplejack:
Yeah, at this point, nothing short of a complete tear-down will do to turn the GOP around.
bbleh
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: yes. And they’ll go along with the camps as long as it assures the tax cuts. (And gets rid of the part of auto-answer that says “para Español, oprima el dos.” Why that just makes me so ANGRY! This is America!!)
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@smith: Forbes has a list of the 15 most dangerous cities in the US and Chicago isn’t on it. St. Louis and Kansas City are…along with Birmingham and Mobile Alabama, Cleveland, Shreveport and New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Little Rock Arkansas and Memphis…Nine of the 15 are in red States. Another one is Milwaukee (not exactly a red State but not blue necessarily). Then you have the perennials – Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, and Philadelphia. New York City is listed on the safest cities list. So is Boston. Not saying people in Chicago have no reason to be worried about safety but it’s not the worst of the worst and is apparently better than the largest cities in “woke” Alabama
Bottom line is whatever red State tough on crime tactics are doing, it doesn’t seem like it’s helping the situation. Almost seems like it’s making things worse. So yeah, we need to find effective solutions but “tough on crime” abusive police forces won’t help.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I expect Steele and his guest know that the problems with the Republican Party run deep and wide, and won’t be cured in this decade. They are being aspirational, not realistic.
Kay
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Perceptions are funny because the perception inside Cleveland (and suburbs) is that crime is down from some undetermined point in the past. People in Cleveland talk about how the city is nicer now- parks, stores, restaurants. I agree! Cleveland is nicer than people think it is. Rent is going up too, so I’m not the only one whonhas noticed this :)
Realworldrj
Watch out for the crazy Wisconsin senate they just got a supermajority with a victory and they are going to start impeaching the AG, liberal Supreme Court judges, etc.
gerrymandering in full display and they won’t take the threat to their safe seats lightly
”While conservatives took a beating in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race Tuesday, Republicans appeared to have scraped by to claim a key win in a special election in Milwaukee’s suburbs. A victory there would give the GOP a two-thirds majority in the state Senate and with it, the power to impeach state officials.”
https://masto.ai/@Realworldrj/110146447519307183
Kay
I wish this would happen in Ohio but I’ve given upon it. It’s just gone too far Right and they’ve burrowed in too deeply. You have a chance to save a state but the window doesn’t stay open forever. Ohio’s closed. They’re ensconced in seats where there’s no competition at all.
Obvious Russian Troll
@Omnes Omnibus:
I grew up in Michigan and lived in Madison for a long time. There are definitely cultural differences between the two states. Never spent much time in the UP, though.
The funny thing is, though, that all the Yoopers I know think the UP is culturally part of Wisconsin. (Small sample size, etc.)
smith
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: One of my pet peeves is that propagandists that like to raise the alarm about crime in big cities commonly rely on raw numbers to describe crime, and not crimes rates. If you just count the number of murders in Chicago, for instance, it’s a lot, but Chicago is a very large city.
If you look at rates based on population, the murder rate here compared to other American cities is not particularly high. I recently looked around for lists ranking cities by murder rate for the past few years, and the highest Chicago ranked on any of them was 28th.
The other thing not acknowledged by people determined to stoke panic over big city crime is that a primary reason murder rates in American cities are so high across the board is the easy availability of guns, even in cities that try to control them, such as Chicago. This also accounts in large part for the red-state dominance in crime rate rankings.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
It’s really, really good as a sandwich with robust deli mustard on rye. (Especially when cooked by someone or someplace else; no getting around it being repulsive looking to prepare until the very end when it’s ready to be sliced.)
Takes well to sauces too. Have a treasured recipe for sweet and sour tongue as an entree.
Omnes Omnibus
@Obvious Russian Troll:
Look at it this way, Yoopers, by and large, are Packer fans. If that’s not culturally Wisconsin, I don’t know what is.
Jeffro
Ali Alexander, saying the quiet part QUITE LOUDLY:
Yuuuuup.
“Can’t win without a vital swing state if we can’t overrule the will of the voters, and/or if abortion rights are on the ballot.”
Soprano2
@bbleh: I hate those “customer service” auto menus, but not because they ask me if I want Spanish. It’s because you can punch buttons for 10 minutes and never actually get what you need or want. Yesterday I spent almost an hour online with U.S. Med because my husband’s doc switched him from Dexcom 6 to Dexcom 7, and I wanted to know if they wanted the unused sensors and the receiver back. After almost an hour the answer I got was no, insurance already paid us for those so you can just throw them away. I recoil at throwing away perfectly good stuff, but since we won’t be using them I guess that’s what I’ll do. I was so frustrated, waiting and waiting for them to talk to me. The first time I called I was hung up on by the system after being on hold for 25 minutes! (I still can’t believe they don’t want the perfectly good unused sensors, the receiver which they could just memory wipe, and the charging cord and plug back. What’s wrong with them?)
SFAW
@bbleh:
Your statement is doubleplusgood.
AWOL
@artem1s: It’s because he believes Condolleza Rice is his husband.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’m not sure if it’s too late for Florida or not. I’ve seen enough political realignments in my life to still believe in the possibility of rolling it back, but the trends are worrisome for sure. Once the connection between voting and policy outcomes is severed, it’s really hard to make headway because all but the most hardcore people give up. Scary to contemplate that happening nationally, but it could.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
More likely they’re Argonaut or Tiger-Cat fans, and poutine is their favorite food-adjacent substance.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: It is also true that the closer to Lake Superior you get, the more Canadian people sound, eh.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: If they’re willing and able to overturn the 2024 Presidential election, why can’t they overturn this one first with their new impeachment power?
Some of them might have concerns about pissing off their constituents, since Protasiewiecz carried some of the Republican districts. They don’t have to stand for reelection until 2024 but I guess the new state legislature takes office on January 3, 2025, so anything they did to affect the Presidency might have to be before the November election rather than after.
On the other hand, it might have the kind of shock-and-awe effect that Betty Cracker is talking about–establish that voting is useless and hope that your opponents just give up instead of burning shit down.
NotMax
@SFAW
In the long ago interviewed for a job in Iron City. Glad it didn’t pan out. What a depressing locale.
Steve in the ATL
@Jeffg166: this “Easter”—is that some local name for Final Round of the Masters?
@Baud: Gnostics? #DeepCuts
Obvious Russian Troll
@Omnes Omnibus: They are a lot closer to Green Bay than Detroit. Although they can get Lions tickets more easily.
I’m in Toronto now, though, and I still see a lot of Packers fans. Supposedly it at least used to be that they could listen to the Packers on the radio.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
This is what convinced me to spend my time and effort elsewhere:
They set the scheme up so rate payers would fund the bailout. There would be a special “Republican corruption” fee on every utility bill. Literally robbing every citizen of the state – didn’t even cause a ripple politically. They’re locked into power now. They have no reason to serve the citizens. It’s impossible to fire them.
On to Michigan. I know when I’m beat :)
Fake Irishman
@Kay:
As a native Clevelander (near east side burb), I approve of your comments.
Cleveland has perennially been on those lists of dangerous cities, but one thing they don’t mention is that most of the city —not just the suburbs, but the city — is very safe with the exception of a few neighborhoods where all the crime is concentrated. That’s a problem, but it’s not a war zone.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Someone once ascribed the winters as the reason for the clipped Minnesota accent.
“They have to click their teeth together to create heat in their heads.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Obvious Russian Troll:
There is a Packer bar in the 5th Arr. of Paris. We are everywhere.
Omnes Omnibus
@Fake Irishman:
Most of Milwaukee is pretty safe as well.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
As long as your (probably) soon-to-be-ex QB doesn’t go to the Jets, I’m OK with that.
UncleEbeneezer
@Kay: Thank you. This is one of the things that some of the extremist Abolish The Police advocates don’t get. Even in urban, higher crime areas that are majority Black/Brown communities (with the least favorable view of the police) most people still want effective policing as part of their public safety. They don’t want NO POLICE, they want police who aren’t totally freaking racist and who will treat them the way they treat white people. Like they have in (checks notes) every other developed country in the world. When we hold community forums about policing in the predominantly Black part of town, every other comment is about how the police don’t respond fast enough or take their concerns seriously. People want more and better public services, and are okay with reducing/reallocation $/duties away from police (just use a better phrase than “defund”) but they still want to have a police force that will protect THEIR lives, like police do for everyone else. It’s not the concept of police that they oppose but the way that policing is done in America (hiring bullies, culture of corruption/cruelty, lack of oversight/accountability, etc.) that must change.
Burnspbesq
@narya:
Peeps are a crime against humanity.
NotMax
By the way, to those so inclined, a Happy Passover this evening.
(Elijah is not a wine snob. Content with the cheap stuff.)
Tony G
Jenna Ellis is literally whining about the fact that most people in the MAGA cult are too stupid and lazy to pay attention to politics and elections. I agree with her on that point.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW:
I think you guys have a dangerous addiction to aging Packer QBs. IMO Rodgers is making a mistake by going there. As thin skinned as he is in the bubble of GB, he will be shocked by his treatment by the NY press and fans.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW saw the fake Trump mug shot this morning and reports that it’s against a measuring stick that gives his height as 6’5″. I’d like to make a clever comment here but the guy leaves me speechless
evodevo
@smith:
Yes…this…the powers that be don’t want to spend the cash that would be necessary to actually ameliorate the problem..there will always be sociopaths committing crimes, but they are few and far between if everyone else has a good-paying job and prospects for the future, along with a supporting social network…
Omnes Omnibus
Not sure how true that last sentence is.
Chris Johnson
@artem1s: Republicans are really committed to hierarchy, rather than egalatarianism. See the Innuendo Studios video ‘Always A Bigger Fish’.
It’s a legit philosophical position, just an extreme one which I think we’ve demonstrated has serious failings. We’ve already done the ‘give the superior man more than he could possibly ask for, and everyone benefits’, and they absolutely don’t, any more than forcing everyone to be the same benefits everyone.
Republicans fundamentally oppose egalitarianism, so provided Steele sees it that way, he shouldn’t be a Democrat. Dems could do more to support egalitarianism, but it’s what we’ve done in the past that has made up all the welfare queen rhetoric: there’s a balance to be struck that is waaaay more egalitarian than anything American politics currently supports.
Bobby Thomson
It would have been all good news if not for that snake in the grass in Charlotte.
NotMax
@narya
Peeps have jumped the proverbial shark.
Bobby Thomson
@Omnes Omnibus: as someone who spent time in sub-saharan countries, I can assure you that white privilege with cops is universal
SFAW
@Burnspbesq:
I don’t recall if I heard about this in an LSD-and-psilocybin-induced hallucination, but I seem to recall hearing about something called a Peeptini. As in, martinis made with Peeps.Since you’re talking about crimes against humanity.
ETA: Gaaah! I just Googled it. It really IS a thing. Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’ve been pondering the line from Reagan to Bush Sr to Bush Jr to TFG, getting steadily more evil and more stupid. The contrast between Republican national figures and Democratic ones in terms of basic ability to form coherent thoughts and sentences is really startling.
Where can they go past TFG? Nominate his hair piece?
Steve in the ATL
@Fake Irishman: I’ve been boycotting Cleveland since the Greenwood Tavern closed down.
Unrelated: I’ve had no reason to go to Cleveland since the Greenwood Tavern closed down.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Using what, Ferengi measurements?
//
Bobby Thomson
@UncleEbeneezer: the bad apples quitting en masse would go a long way toward building what you describe, but they’re all just whining bullies
UncleEbeneezer
@smith: It’s actually Lexipol that writes the policy for 90% of police depts. But they are former police, 100% Blue Lives/Line and of course the only group that police unions will be ok with getting your cities’ contract for the job. But yes, agree with everything you said. There’s very little evidence that police have much influence on crime rates. And we know they only solve a trivial % of crimes even after they happen. The public does need/deserve to have govt agents who can run in and stop school shooters and violent criminals by using force, but that number could be pretty low, like it is in most countries, with the majority of police doing investigation without guns. Of course, solving our unique problem gun proliferation is one of the key elements to ever getting a “normal” police culture in America. Which is…challenging
Bobby Thomson
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: And extend the arc the other way. Nixon was a bad man but I don’t think anyone ever thought he was stupid or inarticulate.
Trump is an idiot but does know how to push people’s buttons. There are prominent Republicans who don’t do much more than pass the mirror test.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@NotMax: My favorite Peep tradition is the annual DC Peep Diorama contest (boring new name, replacing the old “Peeps Show”).
The details people put in, down to the texture in carpets and teeny little printed magazines, are kind of scary.
Seems to be TikTok based now, darn it. Since I don’t Tik or Tok, I’m not sure where or how to find the winners.
When I searched for 2023 Peeps Diorama I found a bunch of results in other cities too.
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Ever hear of Glenn Schwartz?
Mai Naem mobile
@artem1s: Steele doesn’t leave the GOP because he would have to admit he was wrong about politics basically his whole life. That’s difficult enough for a regular person but for a public person it takes a lot of courage. Also he’s got some value , as a pundit,as a never Trumper former GOP chair.
Darkrose
@mrmoshpotato: 40 years ago Bernie Epton almost won as a Republican because white folks in Chicago couldn’t stand the thought of a Black mayor.
I will never forget one of my teachers telling me to my face that she was going to move to California if Washington won. When I told my mother she said, “Good—she can move to LA.” (Tom Bradley was mayor then.)
smith
@evodevo: The overwhelming majority of people are law-abiding not because they fear they’ll be caught by a cop nearby — we couldn’t possibly fund enough cops for that to be effective. People voluntarily obey laws, rules, and social norms because most develop an implicit understanding of the social contract necessary if ornery creatures like human beings are to live in close proximity. That understanding breaks down in situations of dire external pressure, such as poverty, as well as from suboptimal family behavior patterns.
Solving those problems is hard and expensive. More cops won’t do it. And more undisciplined cops harassing people but not protecting them just accelerates the breakdown of that understanding.
catclub
@Kay: yeah, no mention of repealing the corrupt law.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Omnes Omnibus: A friend who is fluent in French has a story about being harassed on the Paris Metro because the police took her for African and she wasn’t carrying her American passport.
African and other non-white immigrants are not treated kindly by the gendarmes. There have been at least a couple of recent French movies I’ve seen dealing with this.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah, I don’t understand why we keep getting the Green Bay Geriatric Corps. Farve was not worth whatever he was paid, and Rodgers would be a major mistake. And I agree re: the NY media.
The Jets have been — well, it seems to me, at least — the place where QBs (young and old) go to see their careers crash and burn, at least in the last 10-or-so years. Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith. While none of them would ever be mistaken for Brady or Peyton, they were still probably going to be good mid-to-upper tier QBs. I don’t know who keeps screwing them up, but that should be fixed.
catclub
@smith:
Biologists bred foxes to be MUCH more tame and social in 5 or 6 generations. Then I saw/read that humans are also more tame and less violent than 200 years ago. [It is advantageous to be civil.]
Lyrebird
@Jeffro: I agree with you, but I also think her disgusting drama queen act is dangerous. Encourages dehumanizing. Probably helps win primary elections.
Here am I, thinking, she is a human being, let me not wish her ill. Here am I ALSO thinking, she is someone who needs to go help deliver food to Soledar and exhume remains in recaptured Ukr. territory before she gets to hatemonger any more. “has fallen”… TO WHOM? WHO STARTED THE WAR?
UncleEbeneezer
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s definitely fear of black/brown people in every culture, but from what I hear from Black Americans who have travelled extensively, it’s a whole different vibe outside of the US. They don’t have disgustingly racist police violence against Black people videos popping up daily, hourly. Their arrest/conviction rates aren’t so outrageously racially unbalanced. And while police harassment of Black/Brown people is definitely still a thing, it’s not so crushingly omnipresent and deadly as it is in America. This is what I’ve heard from a lot of Black Americans who moved to Europe and Black Europeans who moved here. America is a whole other level, when it comes to racist policing.
Ksmiami
@Kay: then the state and its people will enjoy early deaths and poor infrastructure. While Things get better elsewhere and they fall into a morass of stupidity and resentment.
James E Powell
@Baud:
Or maybe they’re just bored with the Trump Show?
Matt McIrvin
@smith: It does, though, seem like police can make petty crime rates go up a bit by doing a “blue flu” work slowdown when the administration or the people are not kissing their asses enough. That implies they’ve got some effect, no?
Kay
@Fake Irishman:
I’ve been spending some time there for various reasons. I was there with my son Monday – he had to sign “the book” at the electricians local because he wants to be on the crew that are rewiring all the Target stores in the country and he wants to go to Reno NV? By way of Cleveland. It’s very complicated. Anyway- we “signed the book” in Toledo, Lorain and Cleveland while also looking for a used Lincoln Navigator that he wants (hence bringing me to drive one of the cars back). One of the people selling a used Lincoln Navigator in Cleveland was this incredibly friendly Greek man who invited us into his house for lunch. Delicious! And we didn’t even buy the car! It’s always fun riding around with this son.
James E Powell
Are there any Democrats that the right-wingers do not refer to as some form of “far left liberal”?
UncleEbeneezer
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Every majority-white country has a racist policing problem. Because Racism and Colonialism. But if they could swap out police forces/systems with that of another country, I don’t think Black/Brown people anywhere would choose ours as being better. I think we are pretty much the worst in every measurable way do to our fairly legacy of Slavery and how much of our policing (and everything else) is built upon it.
PaulWartenberg
Well, my library just got a book challenge on the title “Black Out,” where the complaint is regarding the book’s excessive cursing language and LGBT+ characters.
The person challenging is a local church deacon who wants us to order more “Christian morality type stories” even though our library has the largest Christian Fiction collection in the whole county.
/sigh
Matt McIrvin
@UncleEbeneezer: One of the major complaints about the police in these communities is in fact that they do jack shit to actually solve or prevent crimes. If you’re scared of the cops, you can’t use the cops for their supposedly intended purpose.
NotMax
@Ceci n est pas mon nym
Much as I do like the French police procedural Spiral/em>, the implicit demeaning early on* of immigrants from the Balkans as (a) dirty, (b) criminal or (c) dirty criminals was profoundly disturbing.
*They got better about this right quick.
Matt McIrvin
@James E Powell: Joe Manchin?
I think Biden’s “MAGA Republican” phrase is intended to be a thing like that, an epithet he can hammer on until it gets lodged in everyone’s head. He ostensibly is drawing a contrast with some saner kind of Republican but I think everyone knows they are getting thin on the ground.
NotMax
Fix for five a.m. fumble fingers above.
@Ceci n est pas mon nym
Much as I do like the French police procedural Spiral, the implicit demeaning early on* of immigrants from the Balkans as (a) dirty, (b) criminal or (c) dirty criminals was profoundly disturbing.
*They got better about this right quick.
Jay C
@James E Powell:
Joe Manchin?
Joe Lieberman?
You can’t see it, of course, but it took me a few minutes of brain-racking to try to come up with any more names: and failed.
Anyway, it wouldn’t matter: stock RW dogma is that ANY Democrat is basically 1) A hate-filled Un-American, anti-American, Communist/Maoist/Bolshevist self-loathing pervert;
or 2): beholden to 1) for support.
smith
@Matt McIrvin: I’d be interested in a citation about that. My only direct relevant experience is very old, from when I lived in NYC in the 70s. The cops went on strike, and everyone predicted murder and mayhem on every corner, but it just didn’t happen. People went about their business as usual, no one really noticed the cops weren’t around.
I’m not saying that the presence of cops has no effect on preventing crime, but it only works on people who believe they have a reasonable chance of being caught. I think a lot of the bad actors just work harder at remaining undetected when police presence is boosted.
narya
@Burnspbesq: @NotMax: @Ceci n est pas mon nym: the Peeps divide is very much a thing. I have tried a shocking number of the new flavors, because I have a friend who searches them out for me. Some are good–the sparkling berry one–others are very much not. That said, OG (rather than flavored) Peeps are fine with me, once they have been properly ripened (i.e., left to get stale for about a week). To my shame, I have never gone to the factory–which is very near to where my parents live, so there’s not much excuse.
different-church-lady
@lowtechcyclist:
“Boot on human face, FOREVER!” is an idea.
The Moar You Know
@Jeffro: I miss Republicans like that. Will never agree with them on anything but at least they’re not out embarrassing themselves.
and damn did he call that correctly.
MikefromArlington
Here’s to hoping the new judge lives to 150 yrs old.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
“Crap, these hobnails are getting dull. Stay right there, I’ll be back in two shakes.”
//
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
I don’t think out policing will ever be as ideal as other countries because of the gun problem.
Shalimar
So what happens in Wisconsin if they successfully impeach Protasiewicz? How is her replacement chosen? It seems like every single Republican state senator isn’t going to agree to overturn the will of the voters right after an election, but do they gain any benefit at all if they do?
Baud
@Shalimar:
I’ve heard the governor chooses the replacement, but I don’t know if confirmation is required.
narya
@UncleEbeneezer: This, exactly. Everyone wants their streets to be safe. In the current situation, black/brown folks may be afraid to actually call the cops, because there’s no guarantee that the people who show up won’t make things worse or shoot an unarmed person.
Kay
@Baud:
That’s what my husband, a former prosecutor, thinks. He thinks the proliferation of guns has changed the game and 1990s broken windows won’t work now. Police now approach every interaction as potentially deadly because everyone is carrying a gun.
It’s nuts. The sheriif’s deputies here no longer even approach a car when they pull it over on suspicion. They have the driver get out of the car and spread eagle before they will get out of their vehicle. They don’t want to get shot. And, what’s worse? They’re the biggest godammned gun nuts.
Baud
@Kay:
They’ve leaned that guns give them an excuse to behave the way they want.
stacib
@SFAW: While I sympathize with your thoughts, I must disagree. It’s Chicago where athletes of all sports come when they decide they only want to get paid and not actually play. OMG, don’t get me started on Bears QBs.
Mike in NC
On Monday we stopped by the CPA and were informed we were getting tax refunds for both our federal and state returns. First time I can remember that we didn’t owe a small amount to one or both.
Tuesday brought good election news from Chicago and Wisconsin. Oh, and the Orange Apeman was arrested in NYC, something millions of us have been waiting to happen for about 40 goddamn years.
Maybe I’ll invest in a few lottery tickets when I go out today…
Anoniminous
Do American citizens need a passport to enter the People’s Socialist Communist Republic of Chicago or will driver’s licenses work?
(Asking for a friend.)
topclimber
@SFAW: I finally gave up on the Jets when they didn’t have either the balls or smarts to sign Colin Kaepernick, who is willing to come off the bench and God Knows has handled enough media shit to survive in NYC.
TBF I also kind of gave up on football when the toll of concussions became clear.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: he’s my rep. He walks a VERY thin line in a district full of extremely wealthy latte liberals and extremely wealthy ride-or-die Trump zealots. This is exactly the sort of statement I’d expect him to make and I won’t hold it against him, because he is literally the best this district can do.
artem1s
@Fake Irishman:
And that concentration is a purposeful continuation of segregating Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, principally enabled by the police and rich inner and outer ring white flight suburbs. NYMBY mentality has kept the city racially divided into ‘their’ not-safe wards and ‘our’ safe wards.
raven
Oh boy let’s have another anti-football thread. Fuck the Packers.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@PaulWartenberg:
What’s your procedure when you get a challenge like that?
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC: Yes! We have to celebrate the good things.
I wish that those who are worrying about the just elected last night new WI justice getting impeached would … put a goddamned sock in it. Just stop
Watergirl and Mousebumples and HE Wolf and lots of awesome jackals put all kinds of effort and money into working for Justice P’s victory. Please stop the shit of “the Wisconsin Republicans are SO POWERFUL, it was probably all for naught. We are such losers.” Tiresome.
The Moar You Know
@topclimber: for me it was the naked token bribe they forked over to the Humane Society in order to greenlight Vick’s return. The man tortured and killed animals, plain and simple. As far as I’m concerned he should still be in prison.
I’ve never watched another game since.
Then Seau killed himself right up the road from where I live. I hope that was a wakeup call for someone. He was a genuinely nice guy.
Uncle Cosmo
@Geminid: AFAICT it’s much juicier than that:
(source) Hoo-wee!
Funny, I thought for many years it was Pepper hurling the spicy remarks (;^p). Whoever it was, I recall, however dimly, one epithet to the effect that “when (the opponent)’s daughter went to college, she matriculated!”…
Kent
All these Republican MAGAts screaming about how Chicago has fallen certainly gives lie to the notion that Vallas was a Democrat, doesn’t it?
Dorothy A. Winsor
As far as I can tell from here in Ecuador, the good guys are winning the school board race in my Chicago suburb too. I can’t tell about the library board race. So good news from yesterday
Ken
Worse, you need an I-Pass. It is rumored by some that far to the south, there remains one last free interstate into downtown, but I am skeptical.
Kent
It is just hot air and sour grapes. They have to have constitutional grounds to impeach which are limited to corruption in office or crimes in office. I would imagine the WI Supreme Court itself could overrule an impeachment that was not based on constitutional grounds.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: GENNIFER.
We remember. ;-)
Hehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
Rusty
@New Deal democrat: A favorable decision at SCOTUS on the independent sate legislature should only apply to federal elections. The state constitution can still outlaw gerrymandering for state offices. This has been the general view of the articles I’ve read on the current SCOTUS case (and I am not a constitutional scholar, although they are turning out to be more useless as the reactionaries on the court run roughshod over everything).
Cameron
I believe it’s necessary to show compassion to the MAGA in response to their belief that they’ve been cheated / disenfranchised /disrespected / befouled / etc. Perhaps using their own words could give them a point of reference: “Fuck your feelings.”
Steve in the ATL
@raven: not until just now! Quite a story….
Elizabelle
@Cameron: Yep. We can be saying “Bless your heart” and thinking “Fuck Your Feelings.”
It’s what they do, and oh so much more civil.
More seriously: I think some GOP who are not too far gone might be getting the wake up call. Trump has been criminally charged, and the elections since Roe was overturned have mostly gone to Democrats. (Thanks, Sam Alito!)
Life outside the bubble … is not what they were led to believe.
Another Scott
@smith: +1
Plus, their actual solving crime rates (e.g. homicide) are pretty low.
Maybe they were higher back in olden days because they railroaded innocent people. Dunno. But they’re not solving cases now (when it should be easier given DNA technology, cameras everywhere, GPS tracking everywhere, etc.).
Cheers,
Scott.
Steve in the ATL
@stacib: how dare you disparage Bob Avellini!
Who, ironically, finished his career with the Jets.
Steve in the ATL
@topclimber: I prefer the purity and innocence of the college game
Steve in the ATL
@PaulWartenberg: Christian Fiction? Seriously? I am imagining plot lines such as “we follow the teachings of Jesus!” and “we are not grifters!” and “we are not grooming pedophiles, either!” and “I totally went on a date with a girl!”.
C Stars
@NotMax: Yeah, as a kid I ate tongue a lot as part of “Poor American” cuisine. Actually, my dad, who is a great cook, would make french dip sandwiches out of it and they were one of my faves. Later, as an adult, I saw tongue for sale in the grocery and realized that my dad had probably gone to some effort to conceal from my brother and I what it looks like raw.
Uncle Cosmo
@mrmoshpotato: Rename it to Michigan-Ueberlaken in a nod to the Teutonic Kaesekoepfer, postal code to MU, done.
(Apologies for not inserting umlauts due to the fucking Text editor!!)
C Stars
@PaulWartenberg: is it possible to challenge this challenge?
Another Scott
@Lyrebird: Isn’t “Chicago has fallen” a shoutout to some adventure movie from a few years ago about a President from Chicago who was kidnapped, or something? (“Chicago” being his clever Secret Service code name.)
I haven’t seen a movie in ages, it just rings a bell from an ad.
IOW, the RWNJs are trying to steal a recent cultural meme and turn it into something else. To show how kool and hep and non-square they are with the kids these days. As usual.
Cheers,
Scott.
Karen S.
@C Stars: Its appearance raw has not reduced my wife’s adoration of it. It’s actually not bad in a taco and lots of Mexican restaurants in Chicago have it on the menu.
Paul in KY
@Karen S.: Heading up there in May to show my BIL a good time at Field museum & downtown and Green Street Smoked Meats (yum) & whatnot. Will let you know if it has become a socialist hellscape by then.
Matt McIrvin
@smith: I don’t think anyone can show causation, but police upset over the George Floyd reaction and refusing to do their jobs was at least a thing people speculatively blamed for the pandemic-era rise in violent crime and traffic accidents.
Another Scott
@raven: I think it’s good that there seems to final be a common recognition that “Lou Gehrig’s Disease/ALS” could not-unreasonably be concluded to have been caused (or greatly exacerbated) by him getting beaned too many times as a player.
Noggins are fragile! I always cringed when Jim McMahon of the Bears would bang his head against other players after a good play… :-(
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
@PaulWartenberg: all Christian writing is fictional…
Paul in KY
@Steve in the ATL: We used to go down to The Flats back in the late 90s when it was rockin. Went there a couple years ago and only bums & crackheads.
Sister Golden Bear
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
It’s the exact same thing Lincoln called out in his Cooper Union speech.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Steve in the ATL:
Christian fiction is a thriving market. It includes stuff like romance novels with no sex. I’m sure it’s broader than that, but that’s what I see. Amish romance seems to be big
ETA: Sex is always he focus
Steve in the ATL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: “barn raising always gets me in the mood,” she purred, loosening her bonnet….
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Kay: I go to the Cleveland area regularly to visit relatives that live in Shaker Heights. I drive through portions of the city and most of what I see is pretty grim, but it doesn’t surprise me that it’s not as bad as it was. I visited Detroit about a half decade ago and it seemed to be turning around. It’s just that the turn-around takes a long time and doesn’t happen for the whole city at once.
Paul in KY
@NotMax: Hope you have a great Passover!
Lyrebird
@Another Scott: THanks for translating for the never been hip. Makes sense, but it is still despicable.