Fox News has been remarkably successful at creating a bubble for its viewers where up is down and black is white, etc. But as those of us who have Fox-addled family members know, living full time in the Fox News cinematic universe renders viewers incoherent to people who live outside of it.
It’s one thing when Uncle Tater babbles about smoking craters where great metropolises once stood, the wholesale purchase of fleets of urban prosecutors to bedevil Donald Trump, etc. Relatives around the Thanksgiving table can just exchange eyerolls and pass the stuffing (or, better yet, tell uncle to stuff it).
It’s quite another thing when GOP-led committees in the U.S. House of Representatives hold hearings in an attempt to legitimize those same right-wing fever-swamp fantasies. We’ve discussed here before how that doesn’t tend to go well for them. It probably won’t next Monday either: (WaPo)
…Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is set to chair a Judiciary Committee hearing in New York City on Monday that will target Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of former president Donald Trump. But the emerging details are already shining a harsh light on what you might call the “governing by Fox News” problem, in which Republicans use committee hearings to create right-wing media boomlets but ultimately run into the buzz saw of outside scrutiny.
Jordan’s hearing will purportedly highlight “victims of violent crime in Manhattan.” This is meant to serve as the next chapter in Jordan’s attempt to weaponize his committee against Bragg’s prosecution of Trump by dramatizing the GOP talking point that the district attorney is illegitimately prosecuting Trump while letting countless “real” criminals walk free.
Democrats on the committee will be ready to pounce:
“We are eager to use this as an opportunity to highlight what is the real pressing issue in terms of public safety around the country,” Rep. Daniel S. Goldman (D-N.Y.) told me. “And that’s the prevalence of assault weapons.”
Goldman did a great job pantsing GOP witnesses in the “Twitter files” hearing. Sargent’s WaPo piece also says Goldman and other Dems plan to explode Fox News tropes about NYC crime rates and the (nonexistent) George Soros-Alvin Bragg connection.
Committee Dems also plan to go on offense to implicate House Republicans on the committee for colluding with Trump to serve as his “taxpayer-funded legal defense team,” as Goldman put it. Good!
Republicans had a good thing going with their Fox News bubble. It reliably ginned up outrage with lies that drove a specific set of voters to the polls. But Fox News is a niche product, and if past committee hearings are any indicator, House Republicans may regret trying to peddle Fox News bullshit to a wider audience.
Open thread.
dmsilev
Also, Fox News itself seems to be having some issues with those lawsuits:
Sure Lurkalot
Check out this thread about NY Dems buying the high crime angle. Eric Adams pounds this drum early and often. The House committee may counter the tropes but there’s unfortunately some consensus on banging the crime drum.
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1646504730900963332
Old School
If only Uncle Tater would ever see Rep. Goldman clips on Tucker or Hannity.
Jeffro
Good indeed. The 2024 ads will write themselves: “Rep. Moron (R-dummy) went out of his way to try and defend the indefensible (cut to b/w photo of trumpov as the different criminal cases pop up around him) WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS. Tell Rep. Moron to get back to work and quit obstructing justice!”
zeecube
I really should invest in popcorn futures.
Jeffro
Echoes of what Fox does on a daily basis (the occasional bit of truth in a sea of lies) and what trumpov did on Jan 6 (one call for peace vs a dozen “you have to FIGHT” statements
Baud
From what I can tell, the media doesn’t seem to be whitewashing these hearings.
Betty Cracker
@Sure Lurkalot: I don’t understand NY politics at all.
Betty Cracker
@Old School: People whose primary source of news is Fox are unreachable, IMO. I don’t think Dems should go on the network, ever, because it’s a waste of time and it lends legitimacy to an illegitimate enterprise. That said, there’s value in Dems fighting back against this bullshit when it comes to their workplace, and they’ve done a good job.
zhena gogolia
@Old School: Uncle Tater never will. Normies do.
kindness
You’d think that Republicans would have learned a thing or two about presenting Committee work to the public after they got pantsed when they pulled all the Republicans off the 1/6 committee and without any crackpots in it, that committee did a bang up job presenting Trump (and Republicans) as complicit in the coup attempt. Republicans (one might think) would have learned that having no opponents on a committee is paramount if they want to go the full Fox News and that there are no committees that have no Democrats. So Republicans keep thinking they can offer up Fox News type presentations and Democrats on the committees keep pantsing them. Republicans just refuse to learn.
Old School
@Betty Cracker: @zhena gogolia:
I know, but it doesn’t make Uncle Tater any more fun to deal with.
Baud
@Old School:
Have you tried to butter him up?
dmsilev
From FTNYT:Leader of Online Group Where Secret Documents Leaked Is Air National Guardsman
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Rule #1: Elect the weirdest possible mayor from potential candidate pool of 8.5 million.
Check, and check!
Mike E
@Baud: I wouldn’t want to get baked with him, either.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Worst Lifetime movie ever.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@dmsilev:
That was fast. If he’s the leaker, he’s going to be in for a world of hurt
Baud
@trollhattan:
He wasn’t the weirdest. Andrew Yang ran in that race.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
😹
Sure Lurkalot
@Betty Cracker:
it’s not just NY, IMHO too many Dems are vested in copaganda, such that the main policy solution is more cops with military equipment. Fact is, we incarcerate more people in the land of the free than most other nations, and yet, the answer is still more police, more detention, more bail. It’s very similar to the gun argument…if more guns was the answer, we’d have fewer mass exterminations… right?
UncleEbeneezer
@Sure Lurkalot: The fact that even deep-blue states/cities struggle with exaggerated (and sometimes complete bullshit, overt lying) stats and panic about crime, speaks volumes about the centrality of White Supremacy in America.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Wow. It sure seems like someone way up the chain who was receiving classified intel may have been sharing it far and wide, with people who had no business seeing it.
Regardless of his intent, I still think this airman has to suffer the consequences. As more details come out, my opinion might change, but at this point I think that anyone who shared the classified material has to be held accountable.
Life is not a fucking game.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Actually…
p.a.
My first real clue on Unc Tater etc was when my relatives, and this may have been pre-Fox’s existence, went nuts over the lieberal anti-American crime of removing lead from gasoline, probably spurred on by hate radio & Rush (still dead👍🏻) Blimpbaugh.
I was:😳 you know lead is toxic, right?!?!
Betty Cracker
@dmsilev: Here’s the burning question I have: Why in the wide world of fuck does a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard have access to the JCS chairman’s briefing docs?
StringOnAStick
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Something tells me that if the FTFNYT’s knows who the leaker is, the world of hurt began as soon as the feds figured out who he was and no doubt leaked his name to the FTFNYT. I want to see his fellow private Nazi incel gamer group get rolled up too.
smith
@UncleEbeneezer: Fear is probably the most powerful tool the RW has. Combine it with the synergistic effects of racism, it can produce a winning hand in the most unlikely places. It’s the reason I was so heartened by the outcome of the Chicago mayoral race, where that card was played and lost.
scav
No fear, there seem to be dubious ideologues lining up as substitutes for any market-space cleared by denting the Murdoch-FOX empire. Here’s a charming example from Germany, one Mathias Döpfner, board member of Netflix and, as CEO of Europe’s largest media publisher, seems to eying the US market — first tiptoe being the acquisition of Politico? Anyway, he seems nice. Certainly better at hiding his spots. Another public intellectual.
‘I’m all for climate change’: Axel Springer CEO faces heat over leaked messages
Geminid
@Sure Lurkalot: When the New York mayoral primary was getting going, I read a survey by a reputable polling outfit about what problems New York City voters were most concerned about. Violent crime was easily number one.
I thought that it ranked down the list for me. But I don’t live there, and I think City residents are fairly aware people. So I think Democrats should take the issue seriously, and not lay it off to right wing hype.
And one thing I keep in mind about Eric Adams’ win: he was the clear leader in first choice votes, in the low 30s per cent, but once all the ranked votes were distributed he beat Karhy Garcia by less than 10,000 votes. It was a low turnout primary.
gene108
@kindness:
Fox News and the various other popular right-wing outlets, like the Daily Caller, TPUSA, etc. basically dictate a large part of Republican policy debates.
House Republicans know who their boss is and it isn’t their voters, so they have to go along with all these right-wing conspiracy theories.
Poe Larity
So it turns out the rich white tech exec killed in SF since forever was not killed by “one of those people” but by one of his own.
Baud
@Poe Larity:
Ooh, I was wondering about that. I had a hunch he was targeted. Gotta link?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@StringOnAStick:
I think you’re right
Me too. If some of them are teenagers, does anyone know if/how this would play a role in the charges they would face and the sentencing? I bet it would, but national security is deadly serious business, so IDK
Betty
@Sure Lurkalot: This is my fear about the hearings. The man is a downright menace from what I have seen online. He drastically increased the police budget and is now all about using robots to help police. Does anyone know what happened to his bitcoin salary idea?
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I hope you’re right and it turns out to be someone higher up on the food chain who inappropriately shared the documents. I have no idea how any of this stuff works, but if some rando in the MA Air National Guard can access stuff like that, we have even bigger problems, IMO.
UncleEbeneezer
@smith: Absolutely. Fear of Black People, Immigrants, Feminists, Gay & Transgender People etc., has been the pumping blood of Conservatism in America forever. It’s sad that it is still (and probably always will be) a major problem for any attempt to gain Progress.
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
That’s where the GOP screwed up with Trumpism because people are Republicans are scary too, not your grandfather’s respectable businessman in a nice suit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@scav:
Well, you won’t be at least, dickhead
Give Trump a Nobel Peace Prize and take “ibama’s” away. This guy sounds like he’s an American
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Agree. Very strange.
mrmoshpotato
“Uncle Assclown” sounds better.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Do not butter.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Yes, that’s my question, also.
The person who had legitimate access to those briefing docs is surely in a heap of trouble. Like court martial and years of confinement trouble.
*I don’t know military process, but it’s hard to believe it could be otherwise.
RedDirtGirl
@Sure Lurkalot: Thank you for posting this! So easy to feel superior/complacent living in a blue city, but there is no reason to.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: If whoever originally received the documents was sharing with this yahoo, he was certainly sharing them with a zillion yahoos down the chain at the same time.
Just speculating, but If that’s not the case, were these being shared with just one yahoo down the chain who perhaps shared ideology with the one yahoo who put them on a fucking public server to share them with others of the same ideology? That would be far worse.
edit:
I think the options are likely: 1) oh fuck, this is really bad, oh my god; 2) this is worse than I could have ever imagined; and 3) something even worse that I have no words for.
smith
My fear is that this is a more sophisticated operation than simply a doofus showing off. What if the higher-up was intentionally funneling docs to the doofus to be posted on an obscure chat room that just happened to include a Russian agent to receive them? Or should I put my tin foil hat back in the closet?
Baud
I think it’s time for the Intel community to acknowledge that the safest place for classified documents is Hillary’s server.
gene108
@UncleEbeneezer:
Crime went up significantly starting with COVID lockdowns. Too many dismiss this as “it’s not as bad a peak Crack Epidemic, so everything’s normal”. If you live or work in an area where there hadn’t been a shooting in years, and all of sudden there’s one or two, that’s material to people there.
Also, many urban cities are majority African American. The AA neighborhoods usually get the worst of the crime, and those residents want intervention to get guns off the streets, drugs off the streets, etc. They aren’t pro-let-cops-do-what-they-want, but they do want action to reduce crime.
Geminid
@Betty: Eric Adams is very unpopular here, but his approval polling among New York City residents went under water only a couple of months ago. He still polled at a net positive among City Democrats, but not by much.
EarthWindFire
@p.a.: I have never understood the whole conversative attachment to particular types of fuel. At all. Like, why do you want to breathe lead? And why do you care if you charge your car instead of pump gas into it? It’s so weird and dumb.
NaijaGal
@Baud: Saw that this morning. The alleged killer is the owner of a tech company and the two were in a car together before Lee exited the car and started to walk.
BRyan
@Baud: LOL!
Westyny
@Baud: He’s already a little salty.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
OT: Heartwarming news. Don’t know if you guys watch The Wall game show, but I saw the season premiere the other night and the featured couple playing, Christiana and Nic Trapani, have a personal connection to Ukraine. They own a small candlemaking company, Door County Candle Co:
I encourage you all to watch the episode if you can, it was great! The candles, colored after the Ukrainian flag, are very beautiful. Here’s the candle
I hadn’t heard of them until seeing the episode, so I don’t know if you Jackals had heard of them yet
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@EarthWindFire:
It baffled me too. I guess it’s fear/hatred of the new combined with Cleek’s Law. Gas automobiles were hated by a lot of people in the beginning
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Good, he violated his oath of enlistment and leaked classified information, online no less. Apparently because he is an idiot.
Burnspbesq
Sargent:
Well, Greg, I could have (and did) predict it as soon as Jordan was announced as chair.
Geminid
@Geminid: In the 2021 mayoral election, Eric Adams led in the four outer boroughs, while Kathy Garcia led in Manhattan.
There is an interesting parallel here, with approval polling of Amazon’s proposed headquarters in Brooklyn. That was a hot topic in the City and elsewhere until Jeff Bezos pulled it. There was a net disapproval of the project in wealthier, whiter Manhattan. The outer boroughs were in favor.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: every word of this, all day long.
ChicagoPat
As Obama said to Romney when he brought his spork to a gun fight: “Proceed, Governor”.
Gin & Tonic
Reports are that the “OG” dude at the center of the leaks has been identified. I predict his life will get worse quickly.
Burnspbesq
@zeecube:
Too late. They’re fully priced. Very limited upside at this point.
Gin & Tonic
@Gin & Tonic: Boy, I should read the thread before commenting.
Jeffro
@EarthWindFire: they’ve been successfully propagandized to for years is the explanation.
They’ve been told that the libs are out to make everyone buy wussy cars…and of course, libs don’t care if your electric car’s charge runs out, either in the big (hellhole) city or out in Death Valley…and don’t you know, those same environmentalist libs are out to take away your hamburgers…and they want you to eat bugs, did you know that? “Protein”, they call it! Bugs and tofu and vegetables, that’s it. And they’ll serve it all up to your kids along with a CRT video playing in the school cafeteria, while their gay teacher drinks a Bud Light…
And on and on and on.
The Right in this country ties it all together, so that their followers won’t cave, not even on one sensible issue, lest it give the blessed libs power, “rightness”, legitimacy.
I can see it when I talk with my RWNJ relatives about all the money we’re saving by having solar panels on our house. They’d love to save the money, but, but..
(all of which is to say/agree with Goku’s point about Cleek’s Law ;)
way2blue
Oh good. An. open thread…
I have a question for rescue cat owners. I have been taking care of my daughter’s rescue cat for the last year & half while she settles into her new job, new house, new baby… Her cat is quite shy. Evidently she was feral, had a litter of kittens early, was caught & put into a shelter. Thus she never really socialized. So. we set her up in my daughter’s old bedroom—a blanket underlain by (cat) healing pad on the first shelf of her wardrobe. So she could hide out. Okay. My daughter & crew came for Easter weekend and I moved the cat’s set-up to the brothers’ bedroom. And she freaked. Lot’s of distress calls. And now she basically refuses to come inside. In part because of extra people in the house, not to mention the extended family over for Easter Brunch—hunting for eggs…
So. Do I just accept that she’s an outside cat (again)? Or try to coax her back inside? At least after dark? (It’s fairly warm in Northern California now.) Any suggestions or similar experiences welcome. Thanks.
Roger Moore
@p.a.:
The truly sad part is the toxicity wasn’t the biggest thing leading to the end of lead in gasoline. The real kicker is that lead destroys catalytic converters, so it had to go once we decided we wanted to clear other pollutants out of the air. It’s crazy that getting rid of a potent neurotoxin was the byproduct of other decisions, but there you go.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gin & Tonic:
But then how would you ever make sure you were “Frist!” on a thread?
cain
@kindness: I think they’ll be more than happy to set rules to kick all democrats off all the committees. It’s not like our media will not think that was weird or anything – they’ll try to find some equivalent thing the Dems have done – and it’ll be something dumb and trivial. :D
cain
@Sure Lurkalot: I think a lot of that is derived ironically from old testament christianity mentality. Punishment is a cornerstone for most Christian denominations.
zhena gogolia
@way2blue: I’d try to get her inside.
Jeffro
@EarthWindFire:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
fwiw, here’s another good example: a little over a year ago in VA, there was a bad snowstorm and a lot of foolish people and some bad planning, and hundreds of folks got stranded on I-95 overnight. Luckily, no one froze to death while waiting some 36 hours for things to get cleared up. Drivers used their gas-powered-cars’ heaters intermittently to keep warm.
Discussing this a couple weeks (and a shit-ton of Fox segments) after it happened, my mom and brother were falling all over themselves to note that if these had been…(gasp)…electric cars, the batteries would have quickly drained and everyone would have died, just like that. Stupid libs!
And that’s why they’ll never buy electric cars(!)
(never mind that the likelihood of my mom ever driving in any sort of snow – or even just snow in the forecast – is actually less than zero)
Roger Moore
@gene108:
A related thing is that those wingnut media outlets are more than happy to play only the right wing soundbite part of the hearings. That means Republicans who run from safe districts and are most concerned with winning the primary rather than the general have only upside to continuing to make those soundbites. It’s more or less the same reasoning that makes Peter Doocy keep asking awful questions at White House press briefings. He’s only there to spread the right wing talking points. He couldn’t care less about the answers, because they’ll never be shown on his network.
Betty Cracker
@smith: Yeah, something doesn’t quite add up.
patrick II
@WaterGirl:
Making yourself popular with your MAGA groupies does not seem to be a good enough reason to spend the rest of your life in jail — or worse.
UncleEbeneezer
@gene108: I never said that crime didn’t rise during Covid or that people can’t legit care about actual rises in crime. What I’m saying is that US voters reflexively accept claims that crime is on the rise, even when they aren’t and even when you present them with tons of data showing for proof. People who study crime were quite clear in warning us that the Covid spike was likely nothing more than that. But voters even in swing districts with very little crime, used it as a justification to support Republicans and tough-on-crime Dems. That’s my point. It’s a very hard problem to solve because voters (especially but not only, Republicans) always believe Crime Is On The Rise!!1! even when it isn’t and even when it doesn’t effect their own communities.
Roger Moore
@EarthWindFire:
Propaganda. They are attached to those fuels because the “news” sources they listen to say so, and you can do your own math for why the “news” sources follow the lead of Big Oil.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I thought having Jordan become more prominent would be a huge turn-off for normies, but I guess by definition normies don’t pay enough attention to see that meth-addled Chuckie doll in action.
I am glad Goldman won his primary. I can’t speak to his lawyerin’, but he’s damn good at being on committees. And I’m not sure why, but I find it amusing that he’s the heir to the Levi-Strass fortune.
Burnspbesq
@Jeffro:
Funny thing about that: my “wussy car” will leave your F-350 Super Duty in the dust, either at the traffic light or (especially) on a winding back road. And who needs a bed big enough to carry 4 x 8 foot sheets of plywood? Home Despot delivers.
And a full charge—300 miles of range—costs about the same as three gallons of 91 octane.
Suzanne
@dmsilev:
They sound nice.
In all seriousness….. why are garbage humans like this not being screened out? For fuck’s sake.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: What doesn’t add up is that they apparently learned nothing from the Chelsea Manning case. This dude was an IT tech, so he’d have had a high level of access. I blame stupidity, not malice.
CaseyL
@WaterGirl:
@patrick II:
I don’t know if there is much of a connection between the Air National Guard and the Air Force, but the latter has been infiltrated over the past decade or so by RW Christian Dominionists.
It would be very interesting to me if the unraveling of this particular nitwit led to a nest of traitorous nitwits in the USAF.
Shalimar
@smith: The type of military game this Discord group played and talked about are very popular in Eastern Europe. I have not seen any indication of how the 20-30 members were selected, but if it were somewhat random it would be unusual for a few of them not to be Russian.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think that Rep. Goldman is the wealthiest House member. He seems to have chosen a life of public service, and spent most of his working years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Goldman’s father was a prosecutor and died when Goldman was a boy. That may have influenced his vocational choice.
That was an interesting primary. There was much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments afterwards, because Goldman was not the most “progressive” candidate. But I expect that now that he won that first primary, Goldman will hold that seat along as he wants
The other funny thing about the NY 10th primary was that when former Mayor DeBlasio dropped out, people hardly even noticed!
Roger Moore
@Burnspbesq:
Apparently not most pickup truck drivers. Very few pickups sold these days actually have an 8 foot bed. The vast majority are posermobiles for people who intend to haul stuff approximately once in a blue moon.
dnfree
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Door County candle is no small business. Door County is a vacation destination for much of the upper Midwest. It’s a beautiful peninsula with beaches on both the Lake Michigan and Green Bay sides, often compared to the beauty of New England. Both the candle company products and the Door County coffee company products are sold in other areas, at least in the Midwest. I did see that they had created a special candle for Ukraine.
Shalimar
@Suzanne: Teenage boys are generally horrible people, part blah blah blah billion.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@dnfree:
Thanks for the heads up about that. I assumed they were a smaller regional business. Still, it was a nice story imo and a cool candle
UncleEbeneezer
@gene108: Sorry, edit window closed: just wanted to add/clarify, I’m totally on the same page as you with regard to the importance of remembering the legit safety concerns of the communities that are most effected by violent crime and why it’s important, especially for white, police-reform/Defund advocates not to simply hand-wave those away. I definitely was not trying to do that.
Apologies if I came across testy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, two Justice Democrats /eyeroll/ tried to start an “Anybody But Goldman!” campaign in the last week. I’m glad they were both too dumb to flip a coin so that one of them would drop out.
The collapse of de Blasio as a political player is indeed something to behold.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@UncleEbeneezer: Yeah, this. I just saw a list from MoneyGeek of the 15 safest cities in the US and NYC was on the list, and not right at the 15th spot either but like the 5th safest. The list of the 15 most dangerous cities includes Mobile, AL and Birmingham, AL. Also St. Louis, New Orleans, Kansas City, Memphis, Baton Rough, and Shreveport were on the list of most dangerous along with Little Rock, Arkansas. All those are in red States (oh and Cleveland in OH, another red State). Then you have the perennials – Detroit, Oakland, Baltimore, Philadelphia and the other one was Milwaukee.
The “woke blue State crime ridden hellscape” appears to predominantly exist in red States. I do hope that someone might point out that crime rates in NYC are lower than in Columbus Ohio, which Jim Jordan’s district contains a sliver of.
oatler
I Just read an world-class article (including some comments):
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/13/us-conservatives-love-to-warn-of-creeping-fascism-do-they-understand-what-it-is
Tom Q.
Getting in here late, but a brief explainer for those wondering Why is Eric Adams NY mayor?:
The Democratic primary was run, for the first time, under Instant Runoff rules. This is an excellent system for blocking out Paul LePage-like split-the-opposition general election wins, but a very poor method for sorting out a large field of mostly unknowns. There were, I believe, 13 candidates, and only Andrew Yang (by virtue of his presidential run) and Maya Wiley (MSNBC regular) were familiar. Thanks to name recognition, Yang led the polling, which led local press to treat him as mayor-presumptive most of the way. Finally, however, negative stories about him took hold, and his number started to falter.
By then, though, it was practically primary day, and hardly anyone knew anything about the other candidates. Kathryn Garcia was endorsed by the Times, which got her a level of support. Former cop Adams had two pools of voters — Republicans and African-Americans (an unwieldy coalition, that) — that put him into the mix.
In previous elections, those two would likely have qualified for a run-off, a period during which voters could have taken a closer look at their respective profiles and made an informed choice. But, under Instant Runoff, we were locked into our choices from primary day: someone blindly ranking one or the other in 5th or 6th choice could well have spelled the difference in the outcome. The final tally was crazy-close, but Adams was the winner under this system, and he took office basically as a blank slate.
He’s certainly not governed as MAGAt, but, former cop he be, he’s all-in on the crime-is-out-of-control meme, which is bullshit. (Anyone who thinks NY is unlivable right now wouldn’t have lasted 6 hours in 1978 — speaking as a 45-year city dweller.) And he gave precious oxygen to the FoxNews push for the issue last Fall, which many credit for the relatively poor showing of Tri-State area Dems in November. Some Dems — especially long-term ones — are always ready to be spooked by “the voters are swinging right” warnings, which I think explains why some aren’t challenging this GOP push the way younger/smarter ones like Goldman are.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Roger Moore: Did you know that the guy who invented leaded gasoline ALSO invented CFCs – the stuff that destroyed the ozone layer and are also potent climate change forcing agents? That dude was a one man environmental wrecking crew.
Matt McIrvin
@p.a.: The technological resentments always seem to linger decades past their sell-by date, like being resentful about catalytic converters or low-flow toilets in 2023.
Gravenstone
@Roger Moore: And those that do have 8′ beds take up two parking spaces in length because most pickups today default to crew cab configuration.
Gravenstone
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I liked finding out that Jordan’s home district has an almost 50% higher murder rate per capita than NYC. So pay attention to your own backyard there, Gym and quit posturing.
sdhays
@Tom Q.: He also initially wanted to be paid in BitCoin, which told me he’s not a serious person. Which is sad, because he has a very serious job.
Geminid
@Gravenstone: Where do you live? Crew cabs don’t seem that common in new full sized pickups around here, in Central Virginia.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I know absolutely nothing about military intel or its IT infrastructure, but it seems strange that anyone at a state national guard base would need JCS-level classified material or that rando enlistee IT workers have unfettered access to it.
It also seems weird that a 21-year-old who can access material via his IT credentials would leave so many breadcrumbs behind while building a miniature Q cult on a private server. Just lots of WTFs in this case.
Suzanne
@Geminid: When I was in AZ, practically every other truck was a crew cab.
Some of the municipalities there mandate extra-large parking spaces, because they are so popular.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There is an assumption by some liberals that a safe Democratic district should always be represented by the most liberal candidate available. Voters do not always agree.
I saw complaints along these lines in 2020, when Jake Auchingloss won the primary to fill Kennedy’s southeast Massachusetts seat. But last year Auchingloss was unopposed as an incumbent.
This whole Liberal v. Moderate issue seems to be less salient for Democrats now than it was 2017-2020.
PDXBob
I like that DA Bragg has filed suit against Jordan for his attempts at interference. I thought it would have been great if instead, he had had Jordan arrested for intimidation as soon as he steps foot off the plane in NY.
It is a crime in NY to intimidate or try to coerce a public official.
WereBear
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: He died of poetic justice, perhaps.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: he doesn’t. He was the last link in a long chain.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Geminid: My own complaint about Auchincloss was he didn’t contribute any original ideas. He got in on like a 9 way split vote based primarily, as far as I can tell, on a white penis.
Geminid
@The Moar You Know: Texeira might have used a couple IT tricks to get at those documents. They’re probably nailing that barn door shut if they haven’t already.
I’m surprised these documents don’t carry some marker that reports where they go. Like a “cookie.” I don’t really understand what these cookies are- and I don’t want to know! But news sites are always asking me to accept their cookies so they must be in good supply.
Fair Economist
@Geminid:
That’s a bit misleading, because the leftist vote was split between two candidates while Adams had the copaganda victim vote all to himself. Had there been one leftist and two copaganda candidates the initial vote situation would have been reversed, but the electorate would have been the same and the ranked choice outcome still very close.
Fair Economist
@Tom Q.:
This is another case of “the worst except for every other alternative”. First past the post is WAY worse in a field of unknowns – very gameable.
The only system I think might be better would be the Alaska-style IRV runoff among the top 4 from a jungle primary.
Gin & Tonic
@Geminid: Well, he’s now in custody.
If the USG didn’t learn anything from Snowden or Manning, why do you think they will learn something now?
Geminid
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Wartime military service is seen as a positive quality by many voters. So Auchingloss had that going for him.
He’s also related to some national security muckety-muck in the “F” LBJ administration. That’s nothing to brag about on account of Vietnam, but it might have helped in networking.
The Moar You Know
@p.a.: pre-1975 cars were designed for leaded gas. The lead acted as a lubricant for the valves, and unleaded gas destroyed those engines pretty quickly. That’s why people got pissed about it.
You can still buy leaded gas at one place: the airport. AvGas (the stuff they use in propeller planes, small and large) is leaded, because there is no substitute for lead in engines designed for it, and engine failure in a plane is Very Bad. Jets use kerosene, so they are not part of the problem.
Geminid
@Gin & Tonic: Cynicism is an easy posture. But I do not think the government learned nothing from the Snowdon and Manning matters. They just did not learn as much as they needed to. I don’t know about you, but I’m that way sometimes myself.
So I’ll stand by my assertion that authorities are patching the vulnerability that Texeira exploited, and if you want to play this cynical game of one-upmanship have at it.
Gravenstone
@The Moar You Know: I was a full service gas station attendant in the era when we were transitioning from leaded to unleaded. leaded gas had a very sweet, almost pleasant smell that I actually miss. Unfortunately that was likely due to the tetraethyl lead additive. Unleaded in contrast just reeks to me.
Paul in KY
@trollhattan: I think NY Dem mayors feel they have a big base of ‘will vote for Dem everytime’ voters and they are constantly trying to peel off Repub-leaning voters. Also, once they are mayor, they come into contact with many more rich Repubs than they did & get politiced alot by that crew.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: It might have been destined for the top brass at the base, but he was running the classified machine it came in on.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
The meritocracy.
As far as wartime military service, there’s nothing wrong with seeing value in it. Different set of skills from legislating.
RSA
My suspicion is that the documents were not shared with Teixeira. He’s an IT guy, and IT people often don’t have difficulty gaining unauthorized access to other people’s computers. I think Teixeira went exploring, found a bunch of things he thought were interesting, saved them, then later published them. Nothing further, just plain stupidity.
KrackenJack
@EarthWindFire: It was an environmental / public health initiative opposed by the same people who opposed safety glass, seatbelts, air bags, catalytic converters. It was known poison added to gasoline to improve the octane rating and allow higher compression. Mah freedumb! has a long history.
Tom Q.
@Fair Economist:
I don’t think many of us had much problem with the “top two vote getters go to a run-off” system, which is the previously-used system. I suppose there’s the theoretical possibility, in a field of 15, for two lunatics to lead the field with, like 18 and 17%, but it’s never happened in the many years I’ve been around. And, even there, you’d have the option of someone running on the Working Families Party ticket and uniting sane NYers.
Geminid
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: So what were the legislative track records of the candidates Auchingloss was running against?
Geminid
@Tom Q.: Under the old system Adams would have faced a runoff because he did not exceed 40%. Then the result might have been different.
Personally, I like runoffs, but the instant runoff that ranked choice voting provides is more in tune with our impatient times.
Alaska’s new system interests me. They have an all party “jungle” primary, followed by a ranked choice runoff between the top four finishers.
But I’m curious. What’s your opinion on Adams’ governance? Is he as bad as most non-New Yorkers here think he is?
Tom Q.
@Geminid: As I said, it’s not as if he’s running around at full MAGAt. But he’s really pushing this crime-is-rampant/unleash-our-police scenario, which is the last thing the city needs. That pretty much dominates my evaluation of him.
So, yeah: I can’t stand him. And most NY liberals I know feel the same. What that’ll mean in 2025, I have no idea.
Geminid
@Geminid:
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that argumentative question. My recollection is that Auchingloss faced a field of possibly talented but relatively inexperienced candidates. There was a town council person I think.
Geminid
@Tom Q.: Do you think there will be enough liberals in New York to vote Adams out in 2025? Disaffected moderates? I guess the campaign is just two years away.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Tom Q.: I knew he switched parties, I think under Bloomberg?, but I believe he was known as a rabble-rouser when he was actually a cop? agitated for more minority hiring and challenged the NYPD leadership, as I recall. The thing that really threw me for a loop is that he called for prayer in schools. WTF?
@Geminid: The Auchincloss family is “old money”, one of them was Jackie Kennedy’s stepfather. I wonder how much young Jake benefitted from simple name-recognition, even that tangential connection to the Kennedys among older voters.
I read a collection of short stories by Louis Auchincloss, set in Manhattan and Newport, sort of the Edith Wharton-ish world of the 30-50s. I enjoyed them.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Geminid: I’m not looking for a long legislative track record. For Representative, it doesn’t bother me to take you right off the street.
But I need to see some sign of original thought. One new idea or sign that you’ve thought about an issue independently.
I scoured every plausible candidate’s website, he was the only one with nothing more to offer than the palest of Democratic boilerplate. Between that and the background noises about religious bigotry, I formed a severe distaste for the man.
Then I was redistricted (back) to Steven Lynch’s district. I spent the entire aughts not voting for him
Oh and I had no problem with the question, I’m only able to get to my phone intermittently.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Burnspbesq:
$80, + $20 if you want a 4 hour delivery window.
Tom Q.
@Geminid:
He’ll almost certainly be challenged in the Dem primary, and it depends on how united the opposition is, and how strong a candidate they persuade to run. The sad certainty is, the NY press — which, taking the lead of the Times, always thinks the voting pool is more conservative than it actually is — will be on his side, as they were with Bloomberg and Giuiliani (though never, never DeBlasio, despite the latter scoring two runaway wins).
Jim, Foolish Literalist, I’d actually forgotten about the prayer in school thing, which outraged me when I heard it. It’s so hard to keep all those things in one’s head, given the proliferation of outrages all around.
Geminid
@Tom Q.: Thanks. I good to get an informed opinion from someone on the spot.
Kristine
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Good ol’ Door County. one of my favorite places.
Kristine
@dnfree: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Door County is also home to Newport State Park, an official Dark Sky Park. The sky at night is jaw-dropping.
sab
@way2blue: Coax her back in. Outside cats have significantly shorter lives.
Chris T.
@KrackenJack:
That and, as someone else (Moar) noted upthread, to help out with the valves. (Not really a lubricant, more for valve seating.) See https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/11/why-lead-used-to-be-added-to-gasoline/ for some more background here. The chemical properties of tetra-ethyl lead are important. Unfortunately, various lead compounds smell and taste sweet while also damaging the nervous system.
way2blue
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks. I’ve been putting her food dish inside during daytime so she does come in for that. But then dashes out again. My current plan is to put the dish in a little further each day… She doesn’t leave the yard, but there are varmints around. Just hope she relaxes now that things have quieted down.
way2blue
@sab: Thanks. She seems to want to come in—comes up to the door, but then changes her mind… (Her previous mode was to do in & out incessantly during the day. Now that the weather is milder I can keep the door open longer during the day.) Sigh.