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Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

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Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

… among the most cringeworthy communications in the history of the alphabet!

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

This blog will pay for itself.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting the Good Fights

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting the Good Fights

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Jennifer Bendry, at HuffPost:

… “Today we are on the floor of the House, where the other side has turned this chamber ― where slavery was abolished, where Medicare and Social Security and everything were instituted ― they’ve turned it into a puppet show,” Pelosi said on the House floor. “And you know what? The puppeteer, Donald Trump, is shining a light on the strings.”

“You look miserable,” the California Democrat added with a smile, turning to the GOP side of the chamber. “You look miserable.”…

It was a somewhat rare appearance from Pelosi, who has mostly become a backbencher and is otherwise living her best life since stepping back from her decadeslong leadership post last year.

But when she emerged on the House floor on Wednesday, all smiles and ready to ridicule the GOP stunt, it was as if she’d never left.

Pelosi said the only advantage to Republicans trying to punish Schiff is that “instead of reversing what we did on the [Inflation Reduction Act] to save the planet or reversing what we did to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, you’re wasting time.”…

The Lord spoke to me very audibly… Let Love Lead.

If it weren’t for hypocrisy, the GOP would have no ethos at all!

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I’m not a criminal but Joe Biden doesn’t love me as much as he loves his son. How is that fair, Democrats???!!!

  2. 2.

    Baud

    The Republican House is giving an in-kind contribution to Schiff’s Senate campaign.

    I look forward to the Democratic House nullifying yesterday’s calumny in 2025.

  3. 3.

    Anne Laurie

    @Baud: I’m not a criminal but Joe Biden my father doesn’t love me as much as he loves his son. How is that fair, Democrats???!!!

    Fixed, for Don Jr and a boatload of his fellows whining on social media.

    Guys, the fact that your father is an inadequate parent and you’re emotionally stunted man-babies is not Joe Biden’s fault!

  4. 4.

    Baud

    @Anne Laurie:

    Don Jr. is probably a criminal though. He’s just not a convicted criminal.

    ETA: Although that’s not why Trump doesn’t love him.

  5. 5.

    Lapassionara

    I have managed to avoid knowing the reason the R’s voted to censure Schiff.

  8. 8.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Don Jr. is likely violating the federal prohibition on possessing firearms while an illegal drug user. A lot of people are.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    For people upset about the pace of DOJ’s actions against Trump, this dumbass investigation of Hunter Biden took five years!

  10. 10.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud: ​
    Never forget that the right treats being a criminal as a matter of identity, not behavior. BIPOC, other than the occasional “good ones”, are criminals because that’s the way the right wingers see them; whether they’ve been convicted, or even accused, of a crime is a technicality. On the other hand, those right wingers are not criminals no matter how much time they’ve spent in prison. You can see this with how incensed January 6th rioters are about being treated like criminals just because they’ve been convicted of crimes.

  12. 12.

    Rusty

    This weekend I was at the beach and an older guy with a graying beard and a beer gut was wearing a shirt that said “There are two genders”.  I wanted to go up and ask him which one was he, but in a rare moment of self-restraint I let it go.  I’m glad we are on the good side of this fight.

  13. 13.

    Tony Jay

    @Anne Laurie:

     

      Mister Biden, Tear Down That Emotional Wall! – By D Brooks

    With his addict son’s crimes monopolising his attention, is Joe Biden failing America by not reaching out and hugging an increasingly fractured and needy Republican Party?

     

    “Now, as any of my wives could tell you, I’m an empathetic fellow, and though his increasingly statist policies aren’t exactly to my taste, until quite recently I’ve never found cause to doubt that Joe Biden’s big smile and love of a homely anecdote were as much part of the man’s inherent nature as his keen political antennae and distaste for spreading democracy abroad…”

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Anne Laurie:

    Fixed, for Don Jr and a boatload of his fellows whining on social media. 

    Guys, the fact that your father is an inadequate parent and you’re emotionally stunted man-babies is not Joe Biden’s fault!

    LOL!  And fuck ’em!

  16. 16.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    For people upset about the pace of DOJ’s actions against Trump, this dumbass investigation of Hunter Biden took five years!

    Investigations take longer when you can’t find evidence of any real crimes, but you insist on investigating anyway.

  27. 27.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    How do they know their “informant” is dead if they can’t find him?

  29. 29.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Narya: The response to bringing up intersex people is usually something along the lines of “They’re people who have a terrible, tragic disorder, and it’s distasteful of you to use them to make your political point.”

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    @Rusty:

    It would be easier to just point and mock at them except that now they have bought in to this absolutely disgusting libel that somehow they have to take this stance to protect children.  It doesn’t matter that this new rainbow scare is devoid of any bases in fact or data.  The GOP checked ending Roe off their list and they need a new crusade.

  33. 33.

    Narya

    @Matt McIrvin: as opposed to them being part of the glorious variety of the human experience? Oh wait, that would require an appreciation of glorious variety…

  34. 34.

    Narya

    @Baud: it varies, is my understanding, and the recognition that I is part of the lgbtqia acronym provides space for them.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: My impression is that it’s all over the place, but many whose genitals were surgically “fixed” as small children, and who were arbitrarily raised as whichever gender was surgically more convenient, have never identified as that gender and object to that having been done to them.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    A few moments ago, I caught a glimpse of a large object moving fast along the shoreline in front of our house. I stood up for a better view in time to see that it was a deer, and at that moment, it tripped over the nylon strap that connects our little boat to a post onshore and fell to the ground. It got up and tried to jump over the fence that keeps the dogs away from the river, but it failed to clear the fence and bounced back on its ass next to the boat. Then it regrouped and continued running along the shoreline. The dogs are going ape-shit! I hope the deer is okay. It seemed in a panic.

  37. 37.

    twbrandt

    I have a feeling that if the father in the story of the Prodigal Son were a republican, he’d throw the kid out on his ass when he returned.

  38. 38.

    brantl

    @Baud: No , the stated reason is that Adam Schiff supposedly lied that STrumpy did those things, when of course Schiff didn’t lie.

  39. 39.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Narya: I do think that the traditional treatment of intersex kids–to surgically refashion their genitals, maybe hormonally treat them and effectively choose a gender for them–implies that all people are inherently genderfluid enough that they’ll just roll with that treatment and happily accept whichever gender they’re raised as (which, as far as I can tell, is false).

    And it’s mightily strange that an ideology that emphasizes huge essential differences between men and women will just endorse that in this case, but refuse to accept trans people as the gender they say they are though they pursue a similar course of action–but voluntarily. The threat seems to be the idea that what the person in question thinks and consents to actually matters.

  40. 40.

    raven

    @Betty Cracker: A person at the dog park was telling me about a deer attacking her dog and, sure enough, there are a number of YouTube vids showing deer-dog assaults!

  41. 41.

    tobie

    @Baud: Joy Reid said last night that the only reason she’s not despairing about Trump seeing justice can be summed up in two words: Fani Willis. No insult to Willis, but she’s been working on the GA false electors case longer than Garland. She started before he was confirmed. This stuff takes time.

  43. 43.

    Anyway

    Stamps are cool but voting rights are cooler

    oh, snap. Take that Qevin!  (sadly this only resonates with our base. That vast majority of Rs and Lamestream media don’t get it.)

  44. 44.

    narya

    @Matt McIrvin: There was a huge case in the 60s or 70s–a circumcision gone very wrong–where a researcher tried to make the claim that the child could be raised as a girl, etc. etc, because gender could be “assigned.”  Did NOT work–he eventually found out what happened to him, identified as a man, etc. Partly as a result of that, the more common experience these days, I believe, is that parents are encouraged to, essentially, do nothing, not least because the genitalia in question may change at puberty, thereby allowing the person to figure out their own identity

    ETA: and I take your other point as well. I’m gonna go back to recommending an appreciation of the glorious variety . . . though I know it won’t be successful w/ the folks you point out.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I’ve rea stories of people being attacked by deer. Most animals will if they think they are cornered.

  46. 46.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m making up a new game–Parody or Trump. Which one is this?

    “Congress will hopefully now look at the ever continuing Witch Hunts and ELECTION INTERFERENCE against me on perfectly legal Boxes, where I have no doubt that information is being secretly ‘planted’ by the scoundrels in charge, the Perfect Phone Calls (Atlanta), the illegal DOJ/Pomerantz/Manhattan D.A. Hoax, where virtually EVERYONE agrees THERE IS NO CASE, and the NYSAG SCAM, where I have proven beyond a doubt that there is no case, but have a hostile Judge who should not be on this case!”

  47. 47.

    Anyway

    @Baud:

    How do intersex people view themselves when it comes to gender? I honestly don’t know.

    Time to plug one of my favorite books -Middlesex-. Read it a while back but if memory serves it would hold up well in the current climate.

  48. 48.

    hells littlest angel

    Logan Roy is who Republicans think of when they think of a good father.

  49. 49.

    Anyway

    Has the Biden administration banned gas stoves? Had dinner with friends last night one of whom was visiting from Texas and this was the rumor/scare at the table…

  50. 50.

    Kristine

    @Matt McIrvin:

    And it’s mightily strange that an ideology that emphasizes huge essential differences between men and women will just endorse that in this case, but refuse to accept trans people as the gender they say they are though they pursue a similar course of action–but voluntarily. The threat seems to be the idea that what the person in question thinks and consents to actually matters.

    One reason I’ve seen given is that “God doesn’t make mistakes.” Not sure how that explains intersex folks who are “fixed” after birth unless God somehow gets distracted during the decision-making process and lets the occasional one slip through mid-determination.

  51. 51.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Anyway: Here’s what Snopes says:

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal agency, is not currently considering a ban on gas stoves, though a commissioner said “anything is on the table” if they can’t be made safer, due to concerns over harmful indoor pollutants that cause health and respiratory problems. Numerous cities and counties have already enforced policies requiring a shift from fossil fuel-powered buildings. The CPSC also said that no regulatory guidelines are currently in place and adding any would “involve a lengthy process.”

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Only 18% of 2016 leave voters believe Brexit has been a success, according to polling for the thinktank UK in a Changing Europe – but 61% think it will turn out well in the end.

    Seven years on from the referendum campaign, the pollsters Public First asked more than 4,000 leavers how they felt now about Brexit. Less than a fifth of them – 18% – said it had gone well, or very well, while 30% said it had gone neither well nor badly, and 26% said it was still too soon to say.

    With inflation stuck at historic highs and GDP stagnating, economists have increasingly warned about the continuing impact of Brexit on trade and investment. Less than a third of the leave voters polled (29%) believe Brexit has had a negative economic impact, however.

    Among those leavers who believe Brexit has not gone well, many blame politicians for handling it badly – a narrative espoused by the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who recently claimed that “Brexit has failed”. In this group, 70% said Brexit could have gone well, and almost half (48%) believe that politicians could have made it work but did not even try.

    Like conservatism in the US, Brexit can never fail, it can only be failed.

  57. 57.

    ETtheLibrarian

    I think the right is so het up about how the Hunter Biden thing has played out because

    1. He didn’t get a Big Sentence because
    2. This was never as big a deal as they wanted their voters to think and because
    3. They know that tRump would have intervened earlier and this would have never gone as far as it did and
    4. That Biden didn’t makes them look bad in comparison and after all that
    5. They know that tRump would have pardoned his children and Republicans would have given it a greenlight and
    6. That Biden didn’t makes them look bad in comparison because even they know this isn’t as big a deal as they bleat about and that President Biden handled it was as well as could be expected and
    7. They can see Biden loves his son and knows tRump doesn’t love anyone but himself… including his children
  58. 58.

    mrmoshpotato

    @twbrandt:

    I have a feeling that if the father in the story of the Prodigal Son were a republican, he’d throw the kid out on his ass when he returned. 

    Yup.  Also, Rethuglican Jesus would’ve told the moneylenders to raise their rates.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: Dang! My dogs are both ~25 lbs., so a deer could totally kick their asses. They were inside when this incident occurred, but they could see the deer and were barking their heads off. We see plenty of deer on the road out of these woods, but never one in our yard!

    @tobie: The strap held, so I didn’t have to chase the boat down, whew! It’s one of those thick nylon straps with a big clip that attaches to the boat and with a crank attached to a post on shore, like the setup on a boat trailer, so it’s super sturdy. It has to be for all the storms we get!

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    I got a weird letter in the mail yesterday from a religious fanatic who evidently Googled me so he could personally respond to a letter to the editor I wrote. My husband found it worrisome and says maybe I should use my initials so weirdos can’t clock me as female, but I think he’s overreacting.

    The person who wrote didn’t identify himself, but the envelop was postmarked in an area that’s about 100 miles from where we live. The letter wasn’t at all threatening — just aggressively proselytizing, and it included a couple of religious tracts and instructions on how to tune in to a Christian radio station in our area. People are weird.

  69. 69.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Roger Moore:

    Never forget that the right treats being a criminal as a matter of identity, not behavior.

    Every word of this comment is correct.  They’re the good guys, we’re the bad guys.  Their actions must be good, ours must be evil.  Their beliefs must be right, ours must be wrong.  Facts are irrelevant and facts that prove them wrong must be lies.  And so on…

    @hells littlest angel:

    Logan Roy is who Republicans think of when they think of a good father.

    Personally, I am reminded of the old, old space opera book series Lensman.  The writer was obviously conservative.  A consistent theme was the best leaders being feared by their men, but also respected and those men would do anything for him.  All love is tough love, making the lovee suffer so they’ll grow.

    That is, between men.  Women are inherently gentler and… well, anyway, you get the idea.

  70. 70.

    Scout211

    The “party of George Santos” 🤣  

    This phony ploy to punish Adam Schiff for speaking truth to power is pathetic and beneath this body.Coming from the party of George Santos, the Republicans should instead focus their attention inward rather than promote more lies about honorable public servants. pic.twitter.com/rBcsQHcq4s— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) June 21, 2023

  72. 72.

    Ken

    @Baud: The absence of evidence just proves the extent of the cover up.

    Hunter Biden’s laptop has the files on Area 51.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    Dang, did y’all see Rep. Schiff interrogate Trump’s special counsel John Durham in a hearing yesterday? No wonder Repubs censured Schiff; he absolutely beclowned that hack.

  74. 74.

    MisterDancer

    @narya: Partly as a result of that, the more common experience these days, I believe, is that parents are encouraged to, essentially, do nothing, not least because the genitalia in question may change at puberty, thereby allowing the person to figure out their own identity

    Coincidentally, I’m reading a work on how Intersexed people were seen by Islamic jurists and doctors over the centuries. I will say the situations documented in the sources quoted are far more nuanced and complex a set of rulings and medical practices than we’d assume from how we talk about Islamic cultures today — including, at times, just going with “whatever the person says their gender is”.

    Or, for that matter, how our media talks about the topic, to be frank.

    This isn’t a “they did it better back then/over there” bit; I’m learning how bad a black hole trying to compare cultures and gender understandings can be! But yeah, it would really behoove a lot of people who think they know some shit to try reading up on a lot of the more current historical research; the above really does align well with what we, here in the West, consider an oddity — that Iran is, it seems, a key place to get gender reassignment surgeries:

    Iran is the only Islamic country where the sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is recognized. Many European citizens travel to this Middle East country for gender confirmation and reassignment surgery. The Guardian wrote “Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran occupies the unlikely role of global leader for sex change” (). Hence, Iran can be called the hell of homosexuals and the paradise of Trans seeking SRS.

  80. 80.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Betty Cracker: I needed a cigarette after that.  Like Daniel Goldman, Schiff is SO GOOD in that position.  He really exposed what partisan hack Durham is.

  81. 81.

    Scout211

    The GOP presidential field is getting crowded.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Texas congressman Will Hurd, a onetime CIA officer and fierce critic of Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that he’s running for president, hoping to build momentum as a more moderate alternative to the Republican primary field’s early front-runner.

    Hurd, who made the announcement on CBS, served three terms in the House through January 2021, becoming the chamber’s only Black Republican during his final two years in office.

  84. 84.

    Baud

    @Scout211:

    Just what the GOP base is demanding: a moderate black nominee.

    (I have not researched whether he can accurately be described as a moderate.)

  85. 85.

    Scout211

    Another legal win, this time in Florida.

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Florida rules championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting Medicaid coverage for gender dysphoria treatments for potentially thousands of transgender people.
     
    “Gender identity is real” and the state has admitted it, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote in a 54-page ruling.

    He said a Florida health code rule and a new state law violated federal laws on Medicaid, equal protection and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.
     
    They are “invalid to the extent they categorically ban Medicaid payment for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the treatment of gender dysphoria,” Hinkle wrote.
     
    The judge said Florida had chosen to block payment for some treatments “for political reasons” using a biased and unscientific process and that “pushing individuals away from their transgender identity is not a legitimate state interest.”

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    We have (too many) Axis deer on Maui.

    You can spot them by the armbands.

    (Preceding sentence not meant to be true.)

  87. 87.

    Geminid

    Putting the “H” in Big Gretch.

    From Michigan Live:

        Norwegian company Nel Hydrogen will build a $400 million “giga factory” in Michigan to manufacture equipment that produces hydrogen fuel, Governor Whitmer announced Wednesday.

    Governor Whitmer met with Nel executives while on a January trade mission to Europe. Nel Hydrogen CEO Hakon Holldal said his company chose Michigan because of:

    “access to a highly skilled workforce and cooperation with universities, research centers and strategic partners.

    I will also highlight the personal engagement of Gov. Whitmer and her competent and serviceminded staff.”

    @mlive May 3, 2023

    The factory’s location is to be determined.

    Like the electrolyser production facility that recently began operating at a Cummins Energy plant in Fridley Minnesota, the projected Nel Hydrogen plant was spurred by provisions in the IRA bill enacted last August.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Scout211 My recollection is that Will Hurd and fellow Congressman Beto O’Rourke made some news when they drove from Texas to DC together in 2017. I think Hurd lost his purple-district seat the year after.

  92. 92.

    Ken

    @Geminid: access to a highly skilled workforce and cooperation with universities, research centers and strategic partners.

    “And the electrical grid works.”

  96. 96.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The role of hydrogen in the clean energy transition is still hotly debated, but the IRA ensures that for better or for worse, companies will be investing a lot in US hydrogen production and use. Cummings Energy is one of many companies ramping up production of fuel cell power trains for heavy trucks and buses. Those may be a significant part of our transport mix ten years from now.

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Being angry and offended all the time, and knowing the majority of the world doesn’t think like you do anymore, would tend to make one miserable.

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken:

    And now the Republicans are accusing Durham of being part of the cover-up. 

    C’mon man!  It’s too early for my eyes to roll out of my head.

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     
    You got my letter! Cool.
    Sorry, I should have added “a/k/a SFAW” to my signature, so that you wouldn’t worry.

    Yes, I’m kidding. Getting a letter like that would kinda unnerve me.

  111. 111.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: As I only learned recently when Carrie Fisher finally got her star, someone has to pay for them. I wonder who would step up to replace Trump’s, if it were damaged. I can’t see it coming out of his pocket.

  112. 112.

    Soprano2

    We’re on our way to St. Louis. They chartered a bus to take us there. Then we fly to New York City, approx. arrival time 6:00. I’m excited! I still have no idea what we’ll do with our free time because hubby doesn’t have the energy he used to. It’s supposed to be rainy, so probably something inside.

  113. 113.

    Lyrebird

    @Matt McIrvin: @Narya:

    There’s been years of great work done by the ISNA, and I apologize for the lousy formatting I have done with  their archived homepage below.

    Because of stigma which is perpetuated or even made worse by the hate for trans people, they actually had to form a new organization that doesn’t have “intersex” in the name though.  I hate the haters for making what is already tough even tougher, just to be cruel or to fly their supremacist flag.  On the other hand, I have total respect for dads like Rev. Ontay!

    We have learned from listening to individuals and families dealing with intersex that:

    They provide more detail.  Sometimes people with disorders of sexual development really do benefit from early surgery to correct function, like if there’s no opening for pee to come out that’s a big problem.  And babies born with both overies and testicles are at high risk for cancer in whichever ones don’t seem to be getting used, you don’t want to just leave that tissue lying there ready to get cancerous.

    But the consensus treatment for babies with XXY etc is similar to the best treatment for kids with gender dysphoria, going with what the kids themselves report about their own identities.

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:  Thinking Will Hurd might be raising his hand:  Biden, over here!  Hurd is non-insane, so perhaps he will end up with a good job in the second Biden administration

    Or maybe he’s thinking really long term, and Senate, where he could pick up some Democratic support?

  116. 116.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Ken: Someone took a sledgehammer to the Soviet shitpile’s star a few years back.  I doubt the orange shitstain paid to fix it himself.

  117. 117.

    UncleEbeneezer

    SCOOP: Jill Stein, the former Green Party candidate for president, is now helping to run Cornel West’s third-party bid with the goal of getting him on the ballot as the Green party candidate in 2024.

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    “Restoration funding provided b V. V. Putin.”
    //

    @Soprano2

    NYC = museum central. Both the Museum of Chinese in America and The Tenement Museum (latter requiring a reservation for specific tours) way downtown well worth a visit, Failing that, Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan museum a cornucopia of endlessly interesting stuff.

  125. 125.

    gvg

    @OzarkHillbilly: Actually the problem is everything loves Florida too much. They come and want to stay. We have a huge problem and always will with invasive plants and animals. Goes back quite aways. I think Hawaii might have it worse, but not a lot of the rest of the country compares.

    Giant land snails sounds about 20 years ago, sigh. The damned lion fish scare me. Cuban frogs are showing up all over the place. Geckos get in the house. Even the armadillos apparently aren’t native. They walked here from Mexico/Texas. They can hold their breath and walk on river bottoms and have been migrating for decades. They were here before I was born but I have read that they weren’t originally.

    Australian plants, adapted to a low rainfall climate, go crazy here, which is odd. I hear some of ours are bad there too.

  126. 126.

    jonas

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
      .

    The threat seems to be the idea that what the person in question thinks and consents to actually matters.

    Well put. The argument seems to be that genitals are dispositive when it comes to gender, but the brain is irrelevant.

  128. 128.

    jonas

    @Betty Cracker: ​
      I forget if it was during Schiff’s questioning or not, but one of the writers over at MJ covering the Durham hearing yesterday pointed out that the jackass outright lied — under oath — on at least two different occasions during that hearing.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    @gvg: There are now armadillos in the MO Ozarks. They weren’t there when I was younger; climate change definitely enabled them to survive our winters.

  132. 132.

    Geminid

    @Ken: This move created some controversy within the Green Party world. I ran into it when New York commentator @TomWatson linked to a tweet by former West Virginia Senate candidate Paula Swearingin.

    She was very alarmed by West’s connection to the Movement for a People’s Party (MPP). Greens were warning each other to keep the gropey, grifty MPP chief away from women and campaign funds.

    Some complained that Ms. Stein was already calling West the party’s “presumptive nominee” even though others are vying for the nomination. I got the impression that this may be a takeover of the Greens by the LaRouchites.

  133. 133.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Betty Cracker:  I received several letters of that type AND phone calls offering Christian counseling after my husband died last year.  I kept my birth name, which was not used in the OBIT etc.  It’s pointless to censor your name as crackpots will find you as they found me.  FYI, nothing happened afterward.  Now all I have to do is continue blocking emails from dating services.

  134. 134.

    Jackie

    Only yesterday she stated her constituents expected her to do her duty and vote…

    “Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, is barred from voting in the impeachment trial that could lead to her husband’s permanent removal from office, the Republican-controlled Senate decided Wednesday,” the AP reports.”

  135. 135.

    jonas

    @Ken: ​
      Usually a star’s management agency picks up the tab, or a studio looking to promote them in an upcoming movie or something. In Trump’s case, it was probably Mark Burnett’s company. No idea if it was ever replaced. They probably just removed it and replaced the hole in the sidewalk with concrete. Lot cheaper than having to power-wash the urine stains off every day.

  137. 137.

    Kay

    RFK Jr is dumb and arrogant enough to lie about people who are still around and have the capacity and platform to call out his lies:

    Now, Kennedy insists, as the The New York Times paraphrases him, that “Salon caved to pressure from government regulators and the pharmaceutical industry.” He repeated the false claim in his three-hour podcast conversation with Joe Rogan, another conspiracy loon, rehashing the debunked claims of “Deadly Immunity” and claiming that Salon pulled the piece after “pressure from the pharmaceutical industry.”

    I think RFK Jr. is Trumplike (he even compares his campaign to Trump’s campaign) and I’m starting to think we might have gotten better at spreading the word on the lies – RFK Jr. is being called out immediately.
    Anyway. Good article and good for Joan Walsh for apologizing for helping to spread RFK Jr’s lies at one point. If Republicans and media had done this with Trump we could have avoided the whole Trump disaster.

  138. 138.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Two things I learned yesterday:

    1.) The Olympics has allowed Transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity for 20 years.  Not even one has qualified to make it to the Olympics.  The BS worry about Trans Women dominating sports is just that: bullshit.  And people like Martina Navratilova are sickening in their willingness to spread Transphobic non-sense.

    2.) Asshole Joe Rogan, who has been one of the worst offenders in spreading Transphobia takes HRT (Testosterone) himself.  He claims it is only for “health reasons” and not at all related to his obsession with body-building to be a manly man, but I’m not so sure I believe him.  Body-building (and MMA) for Cisgender Men, is about as Gender-Affirming a hobby as it gets.

  139. 139.

    Scout211

    I posted yesterday about the former FBI analyst who was convicted of violating the Espionage Act for taking home classified documents and sentenced to prison. What the DOJ press release that I posted didn’t say is this.

    She also kept classified documents in her bathroom.  🤣

    A former FBI intelligence analyst from Dodge City, Kansas, who kept hundreds of classified documents at her home, including in her bathroom, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison by a federal judge in Kansas City on Wednesday for violating the same part of the Espionage Act that former President Donald Trump is accused of breaking.

  140. 140.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    and I’m starting to think we might have gotten better at spreading the word on the lies – RFK Jr. is being called out immediately.

     

    I think we’re a lot better than we were pre-Trump. I don’t know what voters will do, but I’m a lot more satisfied with us than I was in the past.

  142. 142.

    Scout211

    @Kay: RFK Jr is dumb and arrogant

    Well, now that he has hooked up with Moms for Liberty, he will be just fine. 🙄

  145. 145.

    Kay

    @Scout211:

    There was some speculation around what DEMOCRATS would do with a Trump-like liar and scammer celebrity candidate  and I think we’re finding out- they expose him. Good job. I’m glad we didn’t all lose our fucking minds like conservatives did.

  147. 147.

    rikyrah

    @ETtheLibrarian:

    You are correct all the way.

    The thing that still is like WTF to me is the right being MAD that President Biden openly loves and supports his son.

    I mean, they are phucking PISSED about it.

     

    You remember when FOX played the voicemail of 46 to Hunter expessing his love and devotion?

    Hannity thought that was a ‘ A HA’ moment..while the rest of the world heard a loving and concerned father.

     

    They are a disturbed bunch

  148. 148.

    Kay

    RFK Jr. has the conspiracy theorists innumeracy too. He invents insanely big numbers and attaches them to events, much like Matt Taibbi does (and continued to do in the Twitter files reporting).

    I’m glad they don’t know enough to  get some sense of what a reasonable number might be to include in whatever story they are making up. The tales would be more believable.

  150. 150.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Soprano2:

    Being angry and offended all the time, and knowing the majority of the world doesn’t think like you do anymore, would tend to make one miserable.

    Being a dignity wraith (TM Josh Marshall) in thrall to that ridiculous orange man who will never appreciate what they do in his service will also make one miserable.

  151. 151.

    narya

    @rikyrah: Yeah, Chris Hayes played it the other night, and what comes through is love and compassion–and the pain is for his son, not for the “damage” to Joe or Joe’s reputation or politics or any other thing. His first priority is his son.

  154. 154.

    Geminid

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Howie Hawkins, the retired Teamster who was the Green Party candidate in 2020, is running for next year’s nomination. Hawkins has come out in support of Ukraine, and some people say that is unnacceptable. So there is a Russia angle here.

  158. 158.

    Tony Jay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s been pointed out that 18% of 52% is around 9%, which is roughly where Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has been averaging in the polls. So those people who are happy with Brexit are likely to be the same unreachable blowhards who think the UKIP/NF/BNP coalition that is the modern Conservative Party is too wishy-washy and Woke when it comes to making the UK a White Free State.

    The rest of them, those Brexidiots who refuse to admit it was a terrible idea from the start and insist that ‘the politicians’ all conspired to kneecap Britain’s Greatness are just in denial. They really do know it was a scam played on them, they’re just too embarrassed and thin-skinned to admit it.

    Never mind. Sir Keir Starmer’s rebranded Corporate Franchise Opportunity Formerly Known As The Labour Party is there for them, promising to ‘Make Brexit Work’ and firmly ruling out even considering a return to the Single Market or Customs Union. So there’s that to look forward to while we gradually sink to official failed state levels of misery and await the much needed Irish-Faeroe Islands intervention of 2030.

  159. 159.

    Paul in KY

    @raven: Don’t ever let your dog get near a zebra. My cousin had one one time that he was trying to sell and a prospective buyer (and his dog) came to check it out. My cousin warned him to curb his dog, but the guy (always a guy) said something like ‘ole Shep will be alright’.

    Well, ole Shep made the mistake of getting into the corral with the zebra and it ran over super quick and proceeded to stomp ole Shep into the dust. Was jumping up and down on his body with all 4 feet.

    Sale of zebra not made that day…

  163. 163.

    Kay

    Michael Hobbes
    @RottenInDenmark
    @RottenInDenmark
    RFK Jr. says he knows a woman who developed an allergy to wifi and is now leading a movement to remove wifi antennas from schools.
    Rogan: So what do you think wifi is doing to us?
    RFK Jr.: I think it degrades your mitochondria.

    There is so much debunking of Joe Rogan and RFK Jr. going on. I’m so pleased our voters won’t be conned like conservative voters were and are with Trump.

    RFK Jr. does all this name-dropping of scientists and others he has caught in “lies” but his problem is those people are around, you can call and ask them about what RFK Jr. said and they explain how he’s lying. There must be hundreds of hours of recorded RFK jr lies because like all of these people he has a giant ego and never shuts up. It’s like a goldmine.

  165. 165.

    Ken

    @Kay: RFK Jr. says he knows a woman who developed an allergy to wifi and is now leading a movement to remove wifi antennas from schools.

    I am not sure which is more disturbing, that he knows all these people who are (IMO) insane, or that he announces this as if it’s something to be proud of.

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    @Riodawg:

    @Anyway:

    Fun fact: I went to high school with Jeff Eugenides, the author of Middlesex. In fact, I used to walk by his house on Middlesex Road in Grosse Pointe Park on occasion. (It was kind of a lengthy walk from my house, but I was quite a walker back in the day.)

    Alas, I’ve never made it all the way through Middlesex – I gave up  somewhere in the middle and never got back to it. I very, very much liked his previous novel, The Virgin Suicides, however.

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