Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The National Guard is not Batman.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let me file that under fuck it.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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Afternoon Open Thread: This and That

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157Comments

  1. 1.

    Old School

    National Pet Day?  But yesterday was National Hug Your Dog Day!

    These pooches are going to be spoiled!

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    @Old School: We thought ours was going to be lonely after having a guest girlfriend for the last six or so weeks–they got along great and she even taught him how to play tug-o-war–but is he morose or mopey? Nope, it’s “Thank god, now I have you both to myself. PAY ATTENTION.”

    Dogs.

  6. 6.

    Central Planning

    I still don’t understand the presidential privilege the former president is asserting. Since people were working for the President as part of the government (i.e. not the private/citizen person), why doesn’t the current President get to decide what’s privileged?

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    The bubble that so many in the GOP live in was on full display in Tennessee. Not only did we see that mess, but, I’m glad someone explained the extreme gerrymandering, and not only how they cut up Memphis and Nashville, but, also, are trying to steal control of the economic engine that both cities give to the State.

     

    Someone said that the Speaker comes from a Sundown Town and he wants to turn TN into a Sundown State.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    Yesterday’s Louisville shooter. Why does it sound like he’s been coddled his entire life, and his first foree into the real world, he didn’t measure up, so the solution was to kill 5 people?

    You get fired from a job, probably your first real job and the solution is a shooting spree?

    As someone who has never been popular – EVER.

    I was never popular in school. I was the butt of a lot of jokes. I was the geek/nerd/introvert – my entire life.

    I have never been ‘ cool’.

    At my lowest point, during those high school years, it never dawned on me to get a gun and kill people.

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    @Central Planning:

    I still don’t understand the presidential privilege the former president is asserting.

    That’s probably because it doesn’t actually exist.  His real argument is that he’s special and shouldn’t have to deal with this stuff.  Since “I’m special and above it all” privilege isn’t recognized by the courts, he’s trying to squeeze his real argument into something the courts do recognize.  For some reason, this isn’t going well.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: Suicide by cop.   The person who shot up the school in Nashville also expressed the desire to die, and both were able to walk into a gun store and buy weapons.

    At some point, republicans are going to have to admit that maybe it’s the guns.

  15. 15.

    RaflW

    I’ve been impressed so far by what I’ve seen of Phil Williams. More TV journalists like him, please!!

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    @JPL:

    I think there’s more to it than that.  If you just want to commit suicide by cop, there’s no need to take a bunch of other people with you.  These mass murderers may want to die, but they also have something they hate that they want to take with them.  Well, those that aren’t just completely deranged; there are some mass murderers who decide on killing people at the direction of the voices in their heads.

  17. 17.

    The Moar You Know

    I was never popular in school. I was the butt of a lot of jokes. I was the geek/nerd/introvert – my entire life.

    @rikyrah: that was my first two years of high school.  I then started playing in bands and that was a game changer.

    At my lowest point, during those high school years, it never dawned on me to get a gun and kill people.

    Had someone suggested it I would have laughed in their face.  How the fuck is that going to help me get popular?  How is that going to help me get girls?  THAT WOULD JUST MAKE ME A LOSER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, GET BENT.

    I do not understand how these people get from A (I’m a loser) to B (I’ll shoot everyone I know), I really don’t.

  19. 19.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Brian Krassenstein
    @krassenstein

    What a TERRIBLE Day for Donald Trump:

    – A brand new ABC news poll shows that Trump’s favorability rating has fallen to just 25%.

    – Former advisor Stephen Miller has just testified before Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6th Grand Jury.

    – New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron has ordered his accounting firm, Whitley Penn to hand over tax documents to NYAG Letitia James in her fraud investigation.

    And it’s only Tuesday…

    — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) April 11, 2023

  21. 21.

    Bill K

    @JPL: No, they won’t.  At this point it has evolved from a selfishness into a religious belief.  They will go to their grave searing that we’d all be safer if there were just more guns.  The only thing to do is outlive them.

  22. 22.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    And it just got worse:

    BREAKING: Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg just filed a LAWSUIT against Jim Jordan to block his interference and obstruction of the DA's criminal case against Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/98IWqozoWN

    — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 11, 2023

  25. 25.

    Betty

    @rikyrah: I saw an article noting that he had suffered numerous concussions playing basketball. Maybe more attention needs to be paid to the effect of those on the brain. It is worrisome as my niece’s young son has already suffered several playing soccer. Not to offer that as an excuse, just as something I wish we knew more about.

  29. 29.

    delphinium

    @rikyrah: I was the geek/nerd/introvert…

    Heck I was such a nerd (and still am to a certain extent), even the geeks/nerds thought I was incredibly nerdy. Being ‘cool’ never came into play. : )

  30. 30.

    Soprano2

    Oh Florida…….the unbelievable thing about this story is that only one person was charged with a crime! This could easily happen in MO or many other states.

    Two girls shot after drivers fire at each other in Florida road rage

    Two children were shot after the men driving the cars they were in fired guns at each other during a road rage incident on a Florida highway, a sheriff said this week.

    The injuries to the children, a 5-year-old girl shot in the leg and a 14-year-old girl shot in the back, were not life threatening, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said.

    “There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men,” Leeper said at a news conference Monday.

  31. 31.

    delphinium

    @RaflW: ​
    Yes, while our national media leaves much to be desired, the local media (including FL) has really been stepping up.

  33. 33.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @rikyrah: Dumbass apparently took a bunch of concussions in middle school and early high school.  Dad was the hoops coach at the kids high school, and got exceptions made so the boy could play (my uncle knows him).  According to a cousin of mine who also knows the family, this dumbass was incredibly coddled.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty:

    As I understand it, concussions are really just the tip of the iceberg.  Nobody wants a concussion, but if it’s an exceptional thing the sport isn’t likely to cause too many problems.  The sports that are really bad are ones like football and boxing that result in lots of hits to the head that aren’t enough to cause concussions.  The cumulative damage from lots of moderate blows is more likely to cause long-term problems than one or two concussions.

    I honestly don’t know where soccer lies on that continuum.  It is clearly better than American football- guys aren’t getting their bell rung on every play the way linemen do- but heading the ball could lead to a lot of those sub-concussive hits.  I know there’s a movement to discourage kids just starting in the game from routinely heading the ball.

  36. 36.

    SteverinoCT

    I am really conflicted here; my wife is engaged with one of the annual fundraisers for the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, a really good charity. She drives me nuts with her fervor, and it is with great reluctance that I said I would post a bleg here, once, because it is Not Done, but she doesn’t understand the environment here. Same as when she wants me to do an email blast to my work. But here it is: check out qmss.com/suebe. That is a page on my domain I set up with videos and such; it’s easier for her to remember and has a link to her “official” page. At the bottom is a link to a charity rating org. Thanks. Once and never more. Oh, and note how I am going for that Blogfather look; think I should spring for overalls?

  37. 37.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: I don’t know anything about this situation, but my mother worked for a man whose son ended up going on a shooting spree.  He was needy and anxious as a child, and his parents did a lot of things for him that they didn’t need to do for their other children to ensure that he made it through school.  I don’t know that he was mentally ill — but he was unable to thrive in the real world.  He never displayed violent behavior, at least that anyone knew of, until the day of the shooting, and I think he planned to be suicide by cop, but he couldn’t go through with it.  His crime was indisputably racist — he targeted people he thought were immigrants — people working in Chinese and Indian restaurants.

    I don’t know what they could have done to make his life more successful, and he really had no reason to be aggrieved at anyone but himself.  However, he would not have killed anyone without access to high powered rifles.

  38. 38.

    Suzanne

    @The Moar You Know:

    I do not understand how these people get from A (I’m a loser) to B (I’ll shoot everyone I know), I really don’t. 

    There seems to be a vengeance aspect you’re missing. Many of these shooters have made statements about wanting to kill the people who hurt them, or to hurt random people who share a characteristic with the people who hurt them.

  39. 39.

    AlaskaReader

    To again note a recent ProPublica reported discovery about many violent crime offenders.

    This was documented where I live, and among the hundreds of cases,  don’t you want to know how many cases have happened or will soon happen in your neighborhood?

  42. 42.

    Scout211

    Oh, DiFi . . . . this is not good. Sigh.
    Link

    At what is clearly a critical time for confirming good federal judges, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) increasingly prolonged absence from the Senate is apparently holding up the process for a number of President Joe Biden’s judicial picks this year.

    Feinstein, who was hospitalized in early March for shingles and has remained in her San Francisco home since March 7, has missed 60 votes of the 82 taken in the Senate in 2023, per the San Francisco Chronicle. And as the Senate, which has been on recess since March 31, prepares to return on April 17, Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday that Feinstein’s absence from the Senate—and the Judiciary Committee specifically—will impede Democrats’ ability to confirm judicial nominees.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Good lord.

    Based on a similar response to a request for information/comment mentioned in a news article, I’m betting that whatever public relations staff Twitter used to have has been replaced with an email bot that replies to everything with a poop emoji.

  46. 46.

    JoyceH

    Saw Stephen Miller going in to testify and have to ask – do all these guys own black SUVs with tinted windows, or do lawyers maintain fleets of the things to get their client through the front door?

  49. 49.

    sab

    @Barbara: That access is the thing. The world is full of unhappy young people who eventually deal with life. Give ’em a big gun and not so much.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax: Everyone was talking about it at Easter dinner, but it looks kind of depressing to me! I liked the book when I read it long ago. But whose idea was it to rip off Amis’s title?

  51. 51.

    BlueGuitarist

    @rikyrah:

    also gerrymandered smaller TN cities like Murfreesboro, the 6th largest city in TN (pop 140k) – Rs split it up into 4 different state house districts, just as they split Nashville into 3 different US House districts – adding rural areas to overwhelm the urban D vote. Looks like they packed and cracked Chatanooga and Knoxville to steal more seats.

  53. 53.

    Miki

    @Barbara: It’s the post-herpetic neuralgia that is so horrific for some people – terrible, unending pain. My dad suffered for 4 months with it – treatment for his pain was homeopathy, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs, not one of which worked (duh). (My folks were alt med groupies.) Ultimately, he developed a pressure sore that became infected. He died from sepsis.

    Don’t fuck around with shingles, peeps. And go for legit medicine for pain relief ASAP – the first relief my dad got was a simple lidocaine patch when he was hospitalized.

  54. 54.

    laura

    @Scout211: And yet, radio silence on McConnell’s health status and ongoing absence. Feinstein should resign now, since she can’t resign in the past, but now that there are declared candidates it would create a shit-storm of epic proportions if Governor Newsom has to make a Senatorial appointment unless that appointee would be limited to the pendency of the election. Alex Padilla was a stellar appointee and I was thrilled to vote for him in the special and the general. Another Senator of his caliber would be welcome. Finally, for all of her faults, Diane Feinstein moved mountains to get the federal assault weapons ban passed. It worked as intended and renewal is desperately needed. I have great respect for her stance on gun regulations- she earned it the hard way. I can still see her ashen face as she announced the deaths of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

  55. 55.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JPL: They will get right to that, right after they admit that the Civil War was about Slavery, Tax Cuts Don’t Raise Revenue, Global Warming Is Real etc….

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie: If Boxer and Nancy SMASH can’t, I don’t know who can. I think she’s so far around the bend she’s in danger of lapping herself.

  60. 60.

    sab

    @Jackie: Someone on her payroll? Not going to happen. Who else is there?  Her whole life has been the Senate for decades. And her husband died a few years back, so his people are gone.

    Dealing with my dad with dementia. You really cannot reason with them because they can barely reason. Difi’s staff should have talked with her but they had an income to protect. Skills marketable elsewhere but why risk it.

    ETA All you Californians who talk about the wonders of your state. Why is she still your senator?

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center, on Partytime Clarence Thomas.

    The Supreme Court keeps tripping over its own robes. Last week, ProPublica revealed that a conservative megadonor has been secretly subsidizing the lifestyle of Justice Clarence Thomas. In a rare public statement, the justice claims he asked others on the Court and in the judiciary, who assured him he need not disclose such beneficence.

    It’s not clear which is worse: if this is true, or if it isn’t.

    Thomas said all this merely involved “personal hospitality” from a friend (albeit a billionaire who befriended Thomas only after he was appointed to the Court). That might evoke a dinner party or a weekend at a friend’s lake house. Hardly: Thomas frolicked on Harlan Crow’s superyacht, flew on his personal jet, vacationed at his private resort, and traveled with him to Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat in California. According to ProPublica, the largesse was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    Thomas claimed to want to avoid chichi vacations. “I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.” They say hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.

    [Ain’t nobody believes that, Clarence.]

    This all shows the perils of DIY ethics. The Supreme Court is the only court in the country with no enforceable code of ethics. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has pointed out that the Court quickly launched a formal investigation of the leak of the Dobbs decision last year. It could do so again. If the Court will not craft a set of ethics rules — and pronto — Congress can and should do so.

    Congress should also investigate. There’s ample precedent: Justice Abe Fortas, too, was found to be receiving support from a wealthy benefactor, and the controversy proved so intense that he resigned.

    But beyond stronger rules, the scandal shows how lifetime tenure can engender justices with a startling sense of entitlement and a belief that they are beyond accountability. Thomas almost certainly knows that cavorting around the globe in a superyacht isn’t “personal hospitality” in the spirit of current rules. After briefly disclosing the trips and causing a minor stir in 2004, he decided it would be better to keep them to himself. He was confident he could avoid consequences.

    Where did that confidence come from? At least in part from the assurance that comes with years of accumulated power and influence.

    Few government jobs anywhere in the world are quite like that of U.S. Supreme Court justices: nine unelected people who dictate wide swaths of national policy. And if they’re put on the Court at a young age, they get to do so for many decades with no real risk of removal. Only one justice has ever been impeached (Samuel Chase in 1804). None has ever been convicted. Supreme Court justices are, in this way, more akin to royalty than public servants. Only a single U.S. state mirrors the federal system — the rest have either fixed terms or mandatory retirement.

  62. 62.

    SteverinoCT

    @geg6: That’s Paul Newman’s charity, isn’t it?

    That’s the one. Technically it is a “local” NE charity, but it was such a success there is now a “serioüs fun” network of similar camps in different regions. But of course one should donate via my wife. The videos of the kids– it is really a lift. Good enough for a Kindness post.

  64. 64.

    MisterForkbeard

    @sab: The state is going well enough that there hasn’t been a huge push to kick her out.

    I think I voted for her last time. Can’t remember, but my feeling was that her challenger wasn’t very good and she wasn’t great – but was also a lot better than she was made out to be Online.

  65. 65.

    Scout211

    @laura:

    I think many California Democrats feel torn. She has been good for decades and even more recently when she has been there for many judicial votes.  But . . .

    From the linked Jezbel article:

    Feinstein represents 40 million Americans and serves on four Senate committees. It seems we can both thank her for her service and decades of blazing a path for women in politics and recognize that her remaining in the Senate past her ability to do her job isn’t exactly a feminist victory—not when women and pregnant people stand to be harmed the most by the stalled confirmation of liberal judges.

  66. 66.

    Miss Bianca

    @JPL: You know, wanting to die I actually understand, as a depressive person. It’s the “wanting to take others with me” part that I don’t understand.

  67. 67.

    trollhattan

    @sab: ETA All you Californians who talk about the wonders of your state. Why is she still your senator?

    Shit, you try unseating an incumbent senator. With our top-two primary system we had Dem vs. Dem in the general, the other Dem endorsed by the CA Dem Party, and DiFi stomped him.

    DiFi had…issues way back when she was a mere SF City councilperson. No Dan White, no Senator DiFi, but here we are.

  68. 68.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Congressional leaders gain access to classified documents from the homes of Trump, Biden and Pence.

    While I always urge caution when reading the tea leaves, this could be a sign that the document investigations have largely concluded and that charging decisions have been made (or are at least imminent).

    The primary reason not to share the docs with Congress would be that either through leaks or secret backchannels, information could be shared with the defense and/or witnesses that would allow them to coordinate on their “stories.”

    But if the investigations have concluded, that concern is lessened considerably.

    1. Relevant witnesses have all been brought into the grand jury, so their “stories” are locked in.

    2. If Trump is charged, the docs will be turned over in classified discovery almost immediately.

    Even then, DOJ would still prefer not to share key evidence with Congress while pre-trial proceedings are ongoing, but my guess is that weighing everything together, they decided that the benefit of sharing (appeasing congressional leaders) outweighed the risks.

    But I think they’d only reach this decision if the investigation-phase had largely concluded.

    Perhaps DoJ has selected their “Goldilocks docs” – the ones that are classified but not so sensitive they can’t be used in court – and now they are willing to show the rest to congress.

  71. 71.

    Almost Retired

    @trollhattan:  Right, remember the last time around, the Democratic party in California didn’t endorse Feinstein, but she still won.  Alas, the guy they endorsed was now-disgraced Los Angeles City Councilperson Kevin De Leon, who is a shit.

    Honestly, at this point, I don’t want her to resign.  I don’t really want Newsom to have appointed both of our Senators, and I don’t want the appointment to unduly effect the Senatorial primary.  I suppose he could appoint a caretaker, but there’s no guarantee that person would leave.  I mean – Jerry Brown, maybe?

    And, in her day she was a force of nature and progressive for her time – so there’s residual affection on the part of many of us.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    @sab:

    I think some of the problem is with people who are protected from failure for so long they never develop the coping skills to deal with it.  Instead of treating something like a minor setback, they completely melt down because they just have no life experience with failing.  I think the extreme helicopter parents you hear about are setting up their kids to be in that situation.

  76. 76.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: There have certainly been moments in my life when I thought my life would be easier if certain people shuffled off this mortal coil ASAP. But like you, it never occurred to me to shuffle them off myself.

    I wonder if the Louisville shooter got fired because he was a bit unhinged. In one of Ohio Dad’s jobs there was a short-term contract worker we nicknamed Wyoming Phil and were we glad when he went back to Wyoming.

    He just seemed like a guy who could turn into a shooter. I mean, both of us know plenty of awkwardly weird engineers but Phil was odd in a whole nother way. Anyway, if the Louisville shooter was like Phil, and made people uneasy, I could see the boss letting him go.

  79. 79.

    Burnspbesq

    @Central Planning:

    Your comment is an accurate statement of the law. Executive privilege is the current President’s privilege, and Biden has been consistent in waiving it when asserting it would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation. Trump’s appeals are frivolous, although the D.C.Circuit hasn’t gotten around to imposing sanctions.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    @Jackie: ​
    I think @laura had a critical point on this: DiFi retiring now has been terribly complicated by all the people who have lined up to replace her. Picking one of them to fill out her term would be stepping on the voters’ prerogatives. Newsom would have to be very careful to pick someone who would do a good job but wouldn’t run to fill her place at the end of the term. Maybe Nancy Pelosi would be a good choice…

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    @The Moar You Know:

    No Dem in the last 20 years has made a serious run against her.

    That simply isn’t true.  We could have picked Kevin de Leon in 2018.  Given his scandal since then, I’m not 100% sure it would have been a good call, but it was a real option.

  84. 84.

    PaulWartenberg

    @rikyrah:

    there are other factors that tie into the “loner outcast” grabbing a gun. It depends on if the shooter grew up in a pro-gun environment with access to at least a hunting rifle. It depends on the kind of cultural memes that influenced him growing up. There are also signs similar to people who commit suicide: the urge to self-destruct, and the willingness to take others with him when he goes.

  87. 87.

    Burnspbesq

    @JoyceH:

    Most car services have them. I once took one to the Austin airport during SxSW, just to see what the reaction would be.

  88. 88.

    CaseyL

    @Matt McIrvin:

    …going for the insanity defense, then?

    ETA: It occurs to me TFG might actually be able to claim insanity – or, rather, his lawyers might – since he genuinely seems to believe he can do no wrong.

  89. 89.

    Almost Retired

    @Baud:  Right, but Barbara Lee obviously wants to be more than a caretaker, and her appointment would look like Newsom was putting his thumb on the scale before the primary.

    And NOT appointing her could be interpreted by some as a diss to Barbara Lee.  It’s a conundrum.

    Actually, it’s an embarrassment of riches in light of what’s happening in places like Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina.

  90. 90.

    eversor

    @JPL:

    You’re getting this wrong.  Republicans know it’s the guns.  But the point of the guns is that if the country will not democratically vote in a Christian nation than they can force a Christian ethnostate at gun point.  And a white, and especially a Christian (even more than white) nation is so important to them they will tolerate any amount of carnage and death to get it.  Same reason Putin and Orban are good, they pump up Christianity and it’s traditional gender, sexual, and patriarchal demands that are the core of the religion.

    The rich are fine with this cause neither theocracy or gun violence are going to hurt them and they gain from it.

    Catch is there is nothing to be done about our issues with guns (and climate, and prisons, and inequality, and anything) as long as Christianity runs rampant.  So you are either tackling Christianity head on or you might as well hand out AR-15s to kids yourself.

  91. 91.

    Tom Q.

    @trollhattan: Although, to be fair, when DiFi first ran for Senate, CA wasn’t the blue stronghold it has become.  She and Boxer both first ran in 1992, and people were worried Boxer was too liberal to win her seat — it was only that her opposition was a righty-nutjob talk radio guy that she managed to slip through.  Feinstein had a more moderate opponent, and most were grateful she had the match-up with him.

    Time went on, of course, and CA rather rapidly became blue heaven, so now DiFi looks like Joe Manchin compared to what the state could support.  But, in that initial moment, she may have been the best candidate.

    All that said: yes, she should retire now, and let Newsom appoint a reliably-Dem placeholder to get those judges through, or we risk putting that process back in Mitch’s hands.

  92. 92.

    trollhattan

    @Ohio Mom: My kid began having classmate discussions of “Who’s most likely to shoot up the school?” in grade school, which only intensified by high school. Guess it probably comes up in college as well. Kids generally know which others have “a screw loose” but the flip side of that is when merely quirky behavior, or shyness, is mistaken for a dangerous personality. No kid wants that label hung on them.

  98. 98.

    There go two miscreants

    @Roger Moore: In the rec league my grand-daughter plays in, they are forbidden to head; it’s treated the same as using your hands. (11 to 13 yo)

  103. 103.

    TriassicSands

    It may or may not be the case, but there are so many photos of Trump with a certain posture and expression that I have to believe that he has spent hours studying pictures of Mussolini to guide his appearance.  I can’t count how many photos I’ve seen that immediately call to mind the jutting-jaw, tough guy appearance of Il Duce. Ill Douche mirrors that look. It was laughable on the Italian strongman and orders of magnitude more hilarious on the Flacid Orange Blimp. No matter how far Trump sticks out his jaw, it never comes close to reaching the vast expanse of his gut. Perhaps an appropriately sized red clown nose would reach that far frontier. (Note: If Trump’s nose grew like that of Pinocchio’s nose after each lie, it would now be tickling the Andromeda Galaxy, causing the initial collision of the Milky Way and Andromeda to arrive far sooner than the 4.5 billion years now predicted.)

  109. 109.

    jonas

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: ​
      I think that video was from 2020 or 21 or so (note all the masks), but still pretty hilarious. No-one I know who lives in NYC is complaining about run-away crime or planning on moving. Rats are apparently as bad as ever, though.

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @schrodingers_cat: Versus Schiff has a far lower profile both in the state and nationally. Also think being 76 works against her considering whose seat we’re discussing and how much of an issue age has become, specific to it.

    Plenty of others will file–any ringers are unknown at present.

  117. 117.

    jonas

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
      The Dem base in CA is a lot more than black women, so I’m not sure that’s enough to put Lee over the top, even if they’re all in for her. I would say college-educated women more broadly, along with Hispanics and the wealthy coastal enclaves are who you have to get on board to win a CA Dem primary.

  118. 118.

    Burnspbesq

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The party’s “base” is a tiny fragment of the California electorate, and Lee has next to no name recognition where most of that electorate is located. She’ll win SF and Alameda, and maybe Santa Clara, but she’ll get crushed in LA, SD, OC, and the inland Empire

  119. 119.

    dnfree

    @rikyrah: ​
      What you say is so true. Maybe a few of us on this site were never “cool”? But if someone flips out to the degree of taking other people out with them, and videoing it…is this a recent development in their life, or was this always lurking in the background?

  120. 120.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think you’re misunderstanding the point.  We don’t want Newsom to appoint a serious candidate to fill DiFi’s vacancy, because it would look like he’s picking the next Senator instead of the voters.  If you accept that premise, Barbara Lee would have to give up her candidacy to qualify for the interim Senate seat.  I don’t see that happening, since she’s a serious candidate in 2024 and wouldn’t want to give up her House seat and any chance at a Senate seat long-term.

  121. 121.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Late to my edit window. But I wanted to add neither of us lives in CA. Also, broad demographic proclamations are distasteful, as is suggesting opinions are immutable and campaigns don’t matter.

  122. 122.

    JPL

    @eversor: Hanging my head in shame.  I’ve heard you all, but the majority agree with us.  It’s okay if others no matter how small the number join us.  Hope is all we have.

    One in five know someone who has died from guns according to a new Kaiser study.  Sick!

  123. 123.

    Burnspbesq

    Debra Bowen (former Secretary of State) would be a great interim appointment. Highly competent, no enemies worth mentioning, and no ambitions to speak of.

  124. 124.

    SiubhanDuinne

    So a few weeks ago I started putting out food for a feral all-black cat in the neighbourhood who kept coming around.

    Then a black cat with white paws and a white chest blaze began showing up.

    Then a few days ago a gorgeous tortoiseshell began appearing.

    And just this afternoon, a lovely grey cat with those kind of flat ears came sauntering by.

    Obviously, Word Has Gotten Out. Worse, I have discerned their names: Hoover, Paws, Allspice, and Greymalkin. I’m basically fucked now, right?

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    @jonas: California demographics are I’m guessing unique among large states, especially the combination of significant Hispanic and Asian cohorts. Black (non-Hispanic identifying) population is under 6%.

  126. 126.

    Geminid

    Schiff has the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi and a number of current and former members of California’s Congressional delegation. Plus he’s good at raising money.

    Schiff’s a member of the more moderate Democratic caucus, and I’m guessing Porter will run to his left, and Lee is to Schiff’s left. That will bring out some “progressives.” but Independents and Republicans still get their say in the runoff. I will be surprised if Schiff is not California’s next Senator.

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:25% is under the crazyfication factor

    Dark Brandon’s powers include the ability to split the crazy vote?

    Whoa nellie!!

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    @Geminid: Schiff would make a kick-ass senator and if he breaks through, I’ll be happy.

    IDK how safe his House seat is, however.

  129. 129.

    Jeffro

    @Soprano2: I wonder what standing the families of, say, multiple victims caught in the crossfire would have in the GQP’s eyes?

    Or are they just “unfortunate casualties of our unbelievably awesome 2A?”

    “Well, libs, you’re just going to have to understand that sometimes road rage and guns THE SECOND AMENDMENT means that a few folks are gonna hafta die while trying to drive to work, duh!”

  131. 131.

    dnfree

    @Scout211: Honest, I do not go around wishing for people to die.  But if I were in her condition with dementia and shingles, I’d be wishing for MYSELF to die.  Why doesn’t she just resign?  Why didn’t she already resign?

  133. 133.

    Geminidq3

    @trollhattan: My understanding is the Schiff’s district is safely Democratic. People worry about Porter’s seat. Last year she won by 3 points, which corresponds to the D+3 partisan lean some raters gave the district.

    But these horses are out of the barn. Neither Schiff and Porter nor Porter will bail on the Senate race, and it will be up to other Democrats to defend their seats.

  135. 135.

    Almost Retired

    @Burnspbesq:  Debra Bowen is an excellent suggestion.  She’s wonderful, and I’d forgotten about her  (which proves your point).

  136. 136.

    Almost Retired

    @Roger Moore:  Every district in LA County is a safe D for now, except for one in the far northern part of the County (Santa Clarita and Lancaster/Palmdale).  Republican was re-elected in a squeaker with lower turnout and a retread candidate on the Dem side.   But still — 10,000,000 people and one R?   Nice…..

  137. 137.

    Josie

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     Yup. At one point years ago, I wrote a poem entitled The Cats Who Came to Breakfast. I believe the count at that point had ballooned to six.

  138. 138.

    Annie

     

    And I — a San Francisco resident — would be fine with Adam Schiff.  I think one reason California is solidly Democratic is that many if not most of the Democrats in statewide office are pretty moderate and can attract independent voters.  It’s certainly true of Newsom who was a businessman before he went into politics — the only radical thing he ever did was order the County Clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, back in 2004.

    @Geminid:

  141. 141.

    Roger Moore

    @Annie:

    I think one reason California is solidly Democratic is that many if not most of the Democrats in statewide office are pretty moderate and can attract independent voters.

    That’s probably true.  I think the CA Dems have successfully positioned themselves as the good government party, which is a very nice position to be in.  An important byproduct of this is that they’ve also rehabilitated the idea of a functional government in the eyes of the typical voter.  California voters have done things that only make sense if they trust their government, like voting for tax increases during the Great Recession or backing high speed rail.  Californians want their government to get stuff done, and the Democrats have proven they’re the party of getting stuff done.

  142. 142.

    laura

    @Scout211: i did not feel torn when her last competitor was Kevin DeLeon, i just felt pissed off and held my nose and voted for her again. Kevin has gone on to drape himself in ignominy on the LA City Council. Why a more qualified Dem candidate didn’t step up may have to do with the jungle primary, I really don’t know. She’s just not had an electable challenger.

  147. 147.

    Gvg

    @SiubhanDuinne: Try and find out if any are actually owned and just picking up some extra snacks, or really feral/homeless. If they are though, get them fixed as soon as possible even if you can’t take them in. Feral populations can be kept in check if you spay/neuter but if you don’t those cute kittens will break your heart quick. That’s when you are fucked. Live in a neighborhood with a population of ferals you feed and others do too, defending against people who don’t like them, watching some get killed bit always more arrive. Then someone gets organized and people trap neuter. At first it doesn’t seem to change anything, but in a few years, there are fewer cats and some always find homes ( I ended up with 4).

    I still feed outside but most are neighbors cats getting extra now.

  149. 149.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @trollhattan: The main reason I’d prefer Schiff to Porter would be because he’d be great on Senate Intel Committee.  But I’ll be happy with either, or Lee.

  150. 150.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Lee represents the Berkeley/Oakland area, and her district is +D40. She’s pretty lefty, which reflects her constituency, but potentially makes her too far left for the entire state. She also doesn’t have much name recognition outside the Bay Area — SoCal’s population has at least triple the population. It’s been a while since I last saw news on the candidates’ fundraising, but if I recall correctly, Lee definitely lagged. She’s also 76, which could be an issue.

    As mentioned, Feinstein crushed the now-disgraced DeLeon, and I doubt most normies are all that aware of Feinstein’s health problems, and the implications. Especially since she really went downhill after being re-elected.

    Schiff has a much higher profile, and is good at fundraising. He’s 62, older but not old. IIRC, he also had the biggest campaign chest.

    Porter is young, but relatively inexperienced. While that didn’t stop Obama, she’s not Obama, and with only four years in the House, that can and will be used against her. Also, she only won re-election by +3, and I’m willing to bet that the state Democratic Party would rather not losing that seat, so their support may be limited. I don’t think she had a huge campaign chest, which may be why she was the first to declare.

    I agree that former Secretary of State Debra Bowen would be a great interim appointment — though Newsom may feel boxed in by his promise to appoint a Black women if Feinstein resigns. Not sure there’s a large pool of Black women politicians in CA who’d be content to be a seat warmer. Though part of me would love to see Maxine Waters fill-in, and at 84, she might, but probably not, be willing to do so, as a career-capper.

  152. 152.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Though part of me would love to see Maxine Waters fill-in, and at 84, she might, but probably not, be willing to do so, as a career-capper.

    I had the same thought today. That would be so glorious! Lindsey Graham, Marsha Blackburn and Tommy Tuberville might never recover. Tom Cotton, Mitch McConnell, Mr Haney of Louisiana

  154. 154.

    Jackie

    @Timill: If failing health forces DiFi to retire before Nov ‘24 elections, Newsom will need to temporarily fill her seat.

    I’m frustrated that Biden’s nominated appointees can’t be voted in due to Senator absentees. Fetterman will return later this month, and Blumenthal – broken leg and all – is determined to return next week.  There is no projected return date for DiFi.

  155. 155.

    SteverinoCT

    @geg6:  That’s Paul Newman’s charity, isn’t it?

    Reply eated. Yes, that’s the one. So good that a group of associated camps have opened, under the “serioüs fun” network. This is focused on the NE and mid-Atlantic. The videos linked to on the page (qmss.com/suebe) and their YouTube channel could be used in a Kindness post– warm fuzzies all around.

  156. 156.

    SteverinoCT

    @geg6:

    That’s Paul Newman’s charity, isn’t it?

    I love his popcorn. RIP gorgeous man.

    I live on his coffee– organic, free sourced, all profits to charity, and it tastes good, too. Yes, the camp he founded was such a success that there are now camps nationwide– the “serious fun” camps (I’m not adding the umlaut: is that why my replies are eated?). The videos linked on my site (qmss.com/suebe) could be used in a Kindness post; warm fuzzies all around.

  157. 157.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jackie: I hadn’t heard about Blumenthal

    Video of the mishap shows the senator walking in the parade in downtown Hartford on Saturday when he was bumped from behind by a man walking backward with a camera. Their legs appeared to get tangled briefly and both men fell into the street, with Blumenthal landing on his back after bracing his fall with both arms a short distance from the parade’s end.

    People tended to Blumenthal, who got back up and finished the route.

    “I did indeed fracture my femur after a fellow parade goer tripped & fell on me during the parade today,” Blumenthal tweeted Saturday. “I expect a full recovery!”

    He finished the race with a broken femur? at 77? That’s… impressive.

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