The whole thing is completely crazy. Biden continues to wildly overperform in every election since 2020. I’m sorry this election is boring for the mainstream media but removing an incumbent because he’s 3 years older than the guy he’s running against is madness. https://t.co/rpHDz2EzC6
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) September 15, 2023
The government is barreling toward a shutdown. House Republicans threaten to impeach the president — though some of them don’t see the evidence. A Republican senator has a one-man blockade on military promotions with no end in sight.
The Capitol is in crisis. And though Democrats control much of the government, Republican divisions are driving the chaos.
Each of the Hill’s messes will reach a peak this fall, starting with a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. Each on its own is a headache; the collection of problems lawmakers have to juggle at once is almost unthinkable…
The Jan. 6 riot permanently chipped away at the two parties’ already-shaky ability to work together on basic tasks of governing. After two years of Democratic control, that decay is only accelerating in divided government as Congress confronts a convergence of challenges. And stopping a shutdown, navigating an impeachment inquiry that even some Republicans don’t support and solving a military crisis all require careful maneuvering.
And as Congress barrels toward all-out gridlock, Republicans are growing more frustrated about their lack of a cohesive plan to use their threadbare House majority to stare down President Joe Biden and Hill Democrats.
Summing up the lack of a GOP spending strategy, Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson opined: “It’s stupid.”…
House Democrats, meanwhile, are watching entirely from the sidelines as GOP hardliners warn that cross-aisle cooperation would hasten their attempts to oust McCarthy.
“They’ve taken a sip of majority martini and it has intoxicated some of them to the point where they are walking along, stumbling,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said of Republicans. “It’s not a good time.”…
A reminder that 49m jobs have been created in America since 1989 and a new age of globalization began.
47m of those, 96%, have been created under Democratic Presidents. Essentially all of them. pic.twitter.com/tyH3xJmbvL
— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) September 14, 2023
That car cost 40% of median family income in 1955. Today, 40% of median family income is $37,000. You can buy a car that is in every aspect (safety, comfort, efficiency) superior to that car for under $30,000 (e.g., a Camry starts at $27K) pic.twitter.com/cxqUKzdjlZ
— Jeremy Horpedahl ????? (@jmhorp) September 16, 2023
STAND UP.#StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/9QQ5yR5J64
— UAW (@UAW) September 13, 2023
On The Road – Albatrossity – Hummingbird banding
Searcher
It’s illustrative how many people are trying to come up with any way for Harris not to be the VP candidate in 2024.
Baud
That first cartoon is on point.
Matt McIrvin
“But it could force a new VP pick”? Jesus, this is some kind of new level of head-up-ass pundit-think.
Baud
Good tweet by Jeremy Horpedahl. It annoys me when liberals treat the 50s as some sort of good old days. Yes, labor had more power compared to corporations, but middle class wealth was built on the oppression of others.
ETA: Also built on a lot of environmental damage.
sab
When we had an impeachment and a government shutdown under Clinton our wily Speaker of the House Gingrich thought they both were good ideas. He was very wrong.
This time we are going to have a shutdown and possibly an impeachement and our Speaker knows both are terrible ideas, but he is apparently too inept to stop the Freedumb Caucus.
I don’t know which is worse: Gingrich in control or McCarthy not in control.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
The desperation is almost comical. If I hadn’t lived through 2016, I’d be upset over it. I now have a better understanding of people thanks to that experience.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
#13 and #15 are my faves.
Mousebumples
I remember when McCain picked Palin, I was legitimately concerned about McCain not surviving his first term, and not thinking Palin was serious enough to be a good president.
But Obama was way younger, and Harris has loads of executive and legislative experience.
As I’m sure we all know, it’s a wonderful blend of sexism and racism that has so many people targeting our MVP.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne:
Definitely #15!
Walker
The racism and misogyny of the press is infuriating. They have regularly erased Kamala, reporting on events she attends and acting like she was not there. And now they want to replace her.
All this “Biden is too old” is exactly that. They are afraid she will become President.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
snoey
@eclare: Trade in your kid today!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Betty Cracker
Simon Rosenberg’s statistic needs to star in its own national ad campaign. Wow.
Baud
Who is G Elliott Morris anyway? Media person, or some nobody?
Halteclere
If the government shuts down, does that shut down the federal court system and postpones Jack Smith’s prosecution of TFG?
Mr. Bemused Senior
I get to say “good morning” for once near the top of the thread.
Good morning, all.
different-church-lady
Fuck a 27k Camry IN THE EAR.
narya
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Realworldrj
Everybody needs to heed Taylor Swift’s command: “you need to calm down”
40 Septembers ago, John Glenn was beating Regan in the polls
28 years back: Dole was leading Clinton by 9
12 years back, a “generic Republican” was beating Obama by 4
That generic Republican was in the news last week warning about the fascist freaks in his party. That’s what we should be discussing
narya
@Halteclere: My understanding is that it does not, despite the fondest wishes of what Pierce calls the Angry Children’s Caucus.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Good morning right back atcha!
Geminid
@Halteclere: I think that the federal courts keep going in a shutdown.
Virginia’s legislative elections definitely will, and a shutdown would likely hurt Republican candidates. A silver lining!
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Good morning to you, Merry Sunshine!!
Kay
Anti choice people lie constantly. Really anything they say should be verified immediately- more likely than not they just made it up.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
He replaced Nate Silver at 538. He’s pretty good. I’m not really sure what he’s saying with that tweet.
Baud
@Kay:
From what I read, not even Trump had the courage to come out against abortion in his interview with Meet the Press.
If you want bold leadership on abortion rights, stick with Biden/Harris.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Villagitis?
ETA: anyway, he’s not a nobody, so it’s good people are pushing back.
lowtechcyclist
@different-church-lady:
Looks like one could get a 2023 Honda Civic in the mid-20s. I got a basic-model Civic in 2016 and I’ve been quite happy with it.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: Villagitis or not, I’m literally not sure what he’s trying to say.
CCL
@Betty Cracker: yes!
But the caption on the red rep side should more clearly indicate equal number of presidential administrations: Bush Senior, GW Bush, Tr*$#*&+!**p.
Spell it out, conflating the two bushes misses an opportunity to reinforce the astronomnical difference over the equivalent number of administrations.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s also doubly a lie because the Republicans aren’t proposing protecting abortion rights up to 15 weeks.
Kay
@Baud:
Don’t get me started. The headline I saw on the Trump interview was he “would bring people together” on abortion.
They’re doing this again. One of political media’s very favorite myths is that Donald Trump is liberal on “social issues” and they have stubbornly clung to it for 7 years.
They believe Donald Trump, the rapist, defers to women on decisions regarding their bodies.
schrodingers_cat
Media concern trolls are not afraid that Biden-Harris are going to lose. They are afraid that they are going to win.
Kay
@Baud:
Don’t get me started. The headline I saw on the Trump interview was he “would bring people together” on abortion.
They’re doing this again. One of political media’s very favorite myths is that Donald Trump is liberal on “social issues” and they have stubbornly clung to it for 7 years.
They believe Donald Trump, the rapist, defers to women on decisions regarding their bodies.
Ocotillo
Good morning Juicers!
Ocotillo
Speaking of Paxton, I live in Texas and don’t really have a read on what his acquittal will mean locally.
Baud
@Ocotillo:
Good morning.
MomSense
@Matt McIrvin:
The pundits won’t stop. It’s pathetic.
Baud
@Kay:
Biden should promise to bring people together next time the media asks him about his age.
sab
@Kay: They don’t believe it, they just say it because any mention of Trump gets clicks, but we still aren’t in a place where defending rapists is okay.At least so far.
Kay
This is the quality of political media’s work on womens agency and autonomy.
Is anyone surprised that they swallowed the “70% support federal ban on abortion” lie whole and were too lazy to check it? Any work that gets done on this will have to be done by volunteers. The people who are paid (a lot!) to do it have zero interest.
trnc2023
The “evidence” appears to be invisible even to those who can “see” it. Do better, political media.
MomSense
@Realworldrj:
While I see your point and it’s true, it’s also true that geographical shifts have not been good for our Electoral College chances. We only won the White House by about 45,000 votes in 2020 even though our popular vote margin was almost 8 million. It was a closer election than in 2016 when it was about 70,000 votes that lost us the White House with a popular vote win of almost 3 million.
It’s too early for state polling, but that’s what will be more instructive.
This is going to be a really tough election and the sooner we prepare the better.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: The claim that Democrats want abortion even “after birth” astounds me. Really? I’m a Democrat and I don’t want that. Name a Democrat who does. Name a state controlled by Democrats in which it’s legal.
How can they swallow that claim? Their own experience has to tell them it’s looney.
schrodingers_cat
Trump is believed because he and his party represent the most powerful demographic, the default demographic in this country. We all know that he will get the majority of the white vote (male and female) even if he gets convicted before the elections.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
They don’t care if it sounds looney. They say it so it becomes mantra for people searching for reasons to oppose Dems.
schrodingers_cat
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They don’t care about the lies. I see the same phenomena in India. Even those who don’t buy into all the hate and lies make excuses for the BJP. They don’t care enough about the aggrieved parties to change their vote.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I think they’re uncomfortable with the subject, have never done any real thinking on it, and would prefer not to address it at all. They don’t make any connections or draw any conclusions of any kind. It’s absolutely the most superficial approach they could possibly get by with.
trnc2023
@lowtechcyclist:
He’s saying that there are BS reports on polls that make it sound like a large majority is on board with a 15 week federal ban when the reality is that most do not support a federal ban. I suspect that the 70% stat includes people who would rather have a 15 week ban than a 6 week ban or no rights at all.
Another Scott
@Baud: Plus, cars were death-traps.
My dad had a 1955 Chevy. Steel dashboard. Came from the factory with no seat belts. Almost impossible to see at night or in the rain because of the lousy headlights and vacuum-operated wiper motor. Crap brakes. Handled like a Conestoga wagon.
Looked neat though, and seats like sofas!
And cheap!
And you might get really lucky and get 100,000 miles out of it before it rusted away or blew up!
Cheers,
Scott.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Soprano2
@Searcher: It’s my contention that almost all of the hand-wringing about Joe Biden’s age is actually about Harris, they just don’t want to say that.
different-church-lady
Basically at this point half the “media” is making the troll face full time.
Another Scott
@sab: Someone (Dean Baker?) made the point a while ago that the GQP usually doesn’t do their government shut-down stuff in an election year because it’s likely that voters will remember. The crazies in the House seemingly has forgotten that lesson.
We’ll see!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
PAM Dirac
@Halteclere:
Since it is illegal to spend Federal money without Congressional authorization, technically anything not funded has to stop. I don’t know if there is any legislation that backs this up but there has always been “emergency” and “essential” exceptions. Each department has plans (you can see them here) including DOJ
From the DOJ plan:
also from the DOJ plan:
The DOJ plan is a couple of years old, but it is Biden admin, so I suspect that the general approach hasn’t changed.
Baud
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Ukraine and abortion are actually the same. Right wing fascists take away your rights/territory, and then want to bargain with you about what they’ll let you keep.
Soprano2
@Baud: When people remember prices like that, they never remember how much money they were making. When my husband talks about how jeans used to cost $10/pair, I always ask him “How much money were you making then?” He has to admit that it was a lot less than what people make now. Also, people used to have one car, and only be able to afford one car. When people talk about how much more expensive houses are now, I point out that the average middle class house used to have one garage and one bathroom. Now, people don’t want to consider buying a house like that – they want two or three bathrooms and a 2 or 3-car garage. All that space costs money to build, thus the house costs a lot more.
Kay
This is why Democrats are on the majority side on both of these issues, I think. It’s not that people trust Democrats to decide, it’s that people trust people to decide for themselves:
I think Democrats know this, too – that their position is really pretty easy. They just stay out of these decisions and thus end up with 70% of people.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
They’ve only got 7+ years’ worth of evidence that he’ll take whatever stands on social issues that will keep the evangelical right voting for him.
This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate, rather than a bunch of courtiers taking up that space.
bbleh
@Realworldrj: the good news is, I haven’t seen Biden or Harris or pretty much anybody in senior Dem leadership freaking out. Yes the pundits are hyperventilating, but that’s what they do for a living. And yes the Eeyores are eeyoring, but that’s what they do for self-realization.
The Dem leadership seems to be living by the old maxim, “when your opponent is making a mistake, don’t get in the way.”
narya
@Soprano2: I’m a little blown away by the “asks” on the various HGTV shows (HGTV is my “default-so-I-don’t-get-a-spoiler” channel); why do you need so much space? Also: the show set in Detroit, where they’re basically reclaiming blocks, house by house, is interesting, because the houses are old and very small, but the renovated house is such an amazing improvement, and removes an eyesore. But they are modest homes, like you’re describing.
rikyrah
@Searcher:
Uh huh 🤔
Marcopolo
@Dorothy A. Winsor: AFAIK the entire “after-birth” abortion claim is related to a statement that Ralph Northam (fmr Virginia Gov & practicing Dr) made (have no idea how it came up) regarding parents sometimes requiring the ability to make the awful decision (in conjunction with drs) to end the life of their newborn if their baby was born with severe abnormalities that would be non-survivable. And that transmogrified into all Ds support after-birth abortion. Similar but worse than the meaningless phrase “partial-birth” abortion. But the coining of these phrases & believing they are a thing seems to be adjacent to believing conspiracies explain how the world operates for folks on the right.
Kay
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
I saw a clip where cable news people were actually discussing how he’s a “dealmaker”.
Unfuckingbelievable. It’s 2016 again. He makes no “deals”! This is a myth they cooked up! My God, he yammered about “infrastructure” for so long it became a punch line and he never made a deal.
Soprano2
@different-church-lady: That’s how I feel about Hyundai these days. The results of all the oil consumption tests on my vehicle are in; Hyundai says, in an all-caps text, that “THE OIL CONSUMPTION RATE OF THIS ENGINE IS WITHIN SPECIFICATION. ENGINE REPLACEMENT IS NOT NEEDED AT THIS TIME”. Seriously, they want people to believe that consuming over a quart of oil every 1,000 miles is within specification. Since they recommend an oil change every 5,000 miles, and put around 5 quarts of oil in – well, everyone except Hyundai can do the math and see how crazy this is. (There was a class action lawsuit over this problem with these cars, but for some reason the plaintiffs dropped it in March 2023.) I Googled for other solutions, and came up with the idea that maybe replacing the PCV valve will help. Since my BIL said that’s not a crazy idea, I might try it. Also, I’ll be looking for a new (not Hyundai) car. I usually try to keep cars for a long time, but I’m not going to be constantly adding oil to a car that’s 5 years old. I’ve never had to do that before except to my first car, which was a beater.
Princess
@lowtechcyclist: Morris is a great pollster. Like Silver, he should leave the punditing to others.
Shalimar
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Do any Democrats even want abortions after 4 months? We just recognize that 99.9% of abortions after that are due to unforeseen complications that are best left between a woman and her doctor to decide.
eclare
@MomSense:
I agree. I think that Joe’s popular vote margin will be higher than 2020, but with the racist electoral college, TFG has a non-zero chance of “winning.”
Soprano2
@Kay: Yeah, sure, the man who gave an interview where he said women should be criminally punished for having an abortion is going to bring people together over it. You’re right, they think since he’s from New York he must be liberal on social issues. I have no other explanation for it, since everything he’s said and done indicates otherwise.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Kay: yes, amazing isn’t it? Do they have amnesia? OK, I get that it’s hard to say to someone’s face on camera, “what the #@&#!! are you talking about??”
Anyone who falls for this is a lost cause.
mrmoshpotato
Preach, Molly! Preach!
And 🖕MSM! Go suck a bag of unseasoned dicks.
Soprano2
@Kay: They don’t even do it themselves, they have staff to do that for them, and they still can’t be bothered. After awhile you have to believe it’s deliberate.
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They are so close minded they don’t have experience with acual Democrats.
Nor with medical professionals.
My local paper is now part of Gannett and ran anappalling article, presented as “reporting” about why the Ohio Catholic Church ( a non-profit) should spend a million dollars defending their anti- abortion position.
The Catholic Church position up until the 19th century was abortion was okay until quickening ( fetus kicking inside the mother.)
After Roe v Wade they got more aggressive.
A bunch of (hopefully celibate men) with no medical experience dictating what medical choices American women facing real medical decisions can make, overriding their doctors, is quite shocking. But here we are.
The article in my local newspaper from the Cinci Enquirer had not one word about the need for D & Cs from miscarriages. Or late term horrible fetal defects.
Basically b.s. from celibate (we hope) non-medical clerical males with no information about actual medical Issues from actual pregnancies or actual women.
My husband is Catholic, and I am Episcopalian (jokingly referred to as Catholic Lite) so I am generally tolerant of Catholicism. But American bishops are nuts these days. Political not religious. Also willing blatant liars. And at odds with their Pope.
My Scottish Canadian (Protestant) grandmother with Irish Catholic paternal grandparents was right about Catholics don’t belong in government.
Kay
Parents have always had the ability to make medical decisions on behalf of their children, including when to stop extraordinary interventions that have little chance of success. That rigfht begins ta birth and extends until the child reaches majority. It has nothing to do with “abortion”. Are anti choicers now seeking to make all medical decisions for parents and physicians up until the child reaches the age of majority?
This is what I mean about “thinking”. You cannot interview someone on this issue unless you have thought about it. It’s BIG. These are big questions. You can’t silo “abortion”. It reaches “rights” in all kinds of ways.
Kay
Soprano2
@Kay: I think this is right, you know that for decades male Democrats kept telling women to shut up about abortion rights because it made them extremely uncomfortable to talk about anything regarding women’s “icky parts”.
bbleh
@Kay: never underestimate the degree to which The Apprentice created and cemented many many people’s image of TIFG.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Which male Democrat did this? Maybe Kucinich, but he’s anti-choice to begin with.
Kay
@Soprano2:
I always thought Obama had the perfect approach for a male Democrat. 100% rights based and very respectful. He got the agency and autonomy argument on a gut level- you could tell. That’s the commonality he felt.
Another Scott
@Soprano2:
It looks like there was a settlement in the class-action.
Cars use very thin oil these days (needed for the start-stop feature, especially in hybrids). My 2023 Kia Niro PHEV uses 0W-16 oil. (!!!) I’m not surprised that there are issues with manufacturers getting the construction and tolerances right with such thin oil.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Soprano2
@Kay: I wish they’d campaign more strongly on that – “I trust you to make these decisions for yourself and your family, not some bureaucrat or other elected official”. That would resonate with a lot of people.
Kristine
Biden was framed for the Kars 4 Kids jingle. Whoever wrote it does need to burn…
…and I will now have to battle this *^%$#& earworm for the rest of the day.
DougL
@schrodingers_cat:
“Trump is believed because he and his party represent the most powerful demographic, the default demographic in this country. We all know that he will get the majority of the white vote (male and female) even if he gets convicted before the elections.”
This is the point that – ahem- trumps all others. USA voters about 70%+ white (much more in those small empty states). That they vote 60%+ for GOP tells you everything about why they are the default party for msm (and frankly much of America). Because they are the default party for what still passes as “real america.” We members of the coalition party would be smart to confront this reality when crafting our own strategies.
Soprano2
@narya: There have been several nice remodels in my neighborhood the past couple of years. When I look at them online once they go up for sale, I find most of them only have one bathroom like our house does, and I figure it’ll become a rental house because the people who constantly complain about how they can’t find a “decent” house to buy won’t even look at a house like that. The only way we could figure out to put in another toilet was to put one in our workshop. It’s hard to add another bathroom to many older houses, because in a lot of cases the bathroom itself was an add-on.
narya
@Kristine: According to “The Good Place,” that is the theme song of the Bad Place–at one point the demons start singing it. :-)
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
It’s not an election year yet. The GOP shut down the government in October 2013, and you can see how much it hurt them in the 2014 elections.
mrmoshpotato
@sab:
Both.
Kay
@Soprano2:
The poll came from The 19th, which is kind of fancy (it’s an outlet that focuses on womens rights and gender issues) so maybe they will see the polling. I do think Democrats get it though. It’s why you see Democrats in more conservative areas sticking to “between a woman and her doctor”. That’s a safe place to stand. Too safe for the national party but fine for someone in a red area.
I would attack on it right now if I were them because anti choicers fucked up the legislation so badly. They’re vulnerable as hell on “not qualified to make decisions”. The laws are a sloppy mess. Junk. They did absolutely no thinking about the ramifications for womens health care.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@eclare: That’s more or less what I think too. Another EC presidential win would be damaging to democracy, even if the candidate were a “normal” Republican. Trump would be a catastophe.
Soprano2
@Kay: They desperately want him back as president, it’s the only explanation because they know better than all these things they are saying. THEY KNOW BETTER.
Mr. Bemused Senior
I am no political strategist but this seems right to me. These people live in this country and there are more of them than I realized. We have to deal with that fact.
mrmoshpotato
@narya:
It was a brilliant joke. And whoever wrote it can go to Hell.
narya
@Soprano2: My parents built a house in 1969; dad and uncle did the HVAC and plumbing, cause they were, respectively, a sheet metal worker and a plumber. Four bedrooms, one full bath, two half baths, and neither of those could be enlarged based on their original locations; a one-car garage. It was great for the five of us, but it’s pretty modest in retrospect.
Soprano2
@Baud: OMG, I heard and saw this written about for years, that Democrats should make some kind of deal with the anti-abortion side so we could quit talking about it, as if there was some kind of deal they would accept. Many men were uncomfortable with the whole “icky” issue of abortion, and just wanted it to go away. It’s probably not that easy to search for old articles and punditry about it, but it’s been out there for decades. Kay could probably say more about it.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Soprano2: there is no deal that can be made. We just have to defeat them.
Jeffro
that first cartoon has Corey Hart blaring in my head-radio at the moment, thanks very much!
LOL
@Kay: yes the majority is with us on reproductive rights…and LOOK what just dropped in our lap (ETA: here’s a good article re: what you and Baud were talking about)
trump says DeSantis’ abortion ban is wrong(!!!)
He knows. He KNOWS what the rest of the GOP doesn’t: Dobbs is going to keep killing them electorally, at least until they learn to shut up about it and let the media finesse it for them, a la Youngkin.
I do love this part, though:
yessssss..yes, you consummate deal-maker, you! You’re going to be able to ‘cut a deal’ that makes the fundies AND normal Americans happy. LOL
So much to run on here, Dems!
Ken
@Soprano2: Once in a while someone recalls nickel beer. As you said, they don’t also recall that it was when a day’s pay was under a dollar, so if you stopped in a bar for a couple of beers before going home you just drank 20% of your income.
Ohio Mom
@Marcopolo: It’s not quite”ending the life” of a neonate which is very premature and/or has serious birth defects, it’s giving comfort care rather than heroic measures (which have no guarantee of success).
As Kay points out, parents have always had this option.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Soprano2: Roe was the compromise. First trimester, up to the woman. Third trimester, abortion only in emergency situations. Middle trimester, negotiated in each state.
When you hear people trying to come up with a “compromise,” it’s often pretty close to this.
Doug R
@Another Scott: Thin oil also helps improve gas mileage. My 2003 Honda Civic, which had the best gas mileage of any non-hybrid, came with 5-20w oil recommended.
Soprano2
@Another Scott: That one covered older cars; mine is a 2019. This is what I’m talking about in regards to my model year of car. It looks like my only recourse is to file an individual lawsuit, and I’m not going to do that.
Kristine
@narya: It is insidious.
In other news, Johnson & Johnson is ditching its cursive logo.
Doug R
@DougL:
Yes, but there’s polling that shows 65% of REPUBLICANS won’t vote for him (again).
I know it’s republicans and I know how they like to fall in line, but even they are getting sick of trump’s shit.
Kay
@Soprano2:
That was the whole “safe, legal and rare” approach. We weren’t really allowed to talk about it or Republicans would get mad and ban it. The problem was we were “dancing in the aisles” about it.
People on the Right say “on DEMAND”. Women are DEMANDING things. As if we’re not permitted to make demands and must only make polite requests. Those Texas women bleeding out with a miscarriage saw how far a polite request gets you.
The whole debate has always been structured around and informed by how the various actors view women. It still is. The single best indicator of an anti choice voter is a negative view of women.
Niques
@Soprano2: My Dad used to tell me the way to compare expenses/costs from various years was to ask how many hours you had to work to pay for it.
Ken
@SiubhanDuinne: @eclare: If Biden were guilty of #15, impeachment would be in order.
Soprano2
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I know, that’s what’s so crazy about it! We had a compromise, but that wasn’t good enough for the anti-abortion side; they want to force their “morality” on all of us, even though it includes telling women to go sit in the parking lot until they start to bleed out so they can get medical care.
Geminid
I heard some onteresting news while commuting to work this morning. The lead item on the CBS 9 am news was that 5 Americans held by Iran will fly out today on a Qatari passenger plane. In return, $5 billion of Iran’s money will be unfrozen. These are payments for oil that have been held by Korean banks.
And WTOP reported that Virginia Representative Wexton said she would not run for reelection. Earlier this year, Wexton announced that she has Parkinson’s disease, but said she would run next year.
Along with Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria, Wexton flipped a Republican seat in the 2018 wave election. All three won despite a Republican-drawn map.
Now it looks they all will be out of the next Congress. Luria lost her reelection last year, and has not yet said if she’ll pursue a rematch with Jen Kiggans. Spanberger has let Democrats know she will not seek reelection next year in order to concentrate on a run for Governor in 2025.
Soprano2
@Doug R: My car recommends the 5/20 oil too. To me it’s nuts that they say burning that much oil is OK. I haven’t had one mechanic or person who knows anything about cars say that’s right.
Soprano2
@Kristine: Cue conservative wailing about something else that doesn’t matter at all.
jonas
Actually, the church has taught since antiquity that *any* contraception or termination of a pregnancy at any stage was a major sin; after quickening, though, it was the equivalent of homicide. What changed in the 19th century with the discovery of fertilization was that the church amended that position to declare that the moment of conception marked the beginning of human life.
Marcopolo
@Ohio Mom: Oh, I get that. Was just trying to explain how Rs twisted that term (which has no official meaning) into existence. There’s an entire pathology on the right for this kind of bullshit wordsmithing thing. See also woke, critical race theory, etc …
Soprano2
@Geminid: But don’t you know, everyone who goes to Congress stays there forever! The idiot pundits tell me so! The truth is that this kind of thing is much more typical than what Pelosi or Grassley or McConnell have done. When I point out to people that most members of Congress don’t stay there more than 8 years or so, they don’t believe me, but it’s true.
Ohio Mom
About cars still costing about 40% of the median income: A lot of other things are competing for a family’s income. As we already know, the big three are housing, health care and college.
Yes, houses have gotten bigger. Some of that may be the result of zoning and the economics of house building, not just consumer preference; developers don’t build small houses because they make more money building big ones.
Health care and college have increased in cost over the rate of inflation. You could arguably do without college but health care?
Ohio Dad and I haven’t looked for a car for a while — our approach is to keep them until they fall apart, I had that Geo Prism for 17 years. The last time around, buying used wasn’t really an option because there were so few available.
So I feel a little irritated by the statement, Cars still cost 40% of the median income.
tobie
I’m sitting in the jury room in rural dumbfuckistan and am the only potential juror wearing a mask. This is supposed to last a week. I wonder what god I offended to be saddled with this.
Leto
The war on women who use abortion pills takes a terrifying new turn: Researchers in Poland have developed tests that can detect if a woman has taken mifepristone. It’s a chilling development
sab
I am 69 and well past menopause. I had one pregnancy scare in my twenties pre-Roe v Wade. I had co-workers with badly treated pregnancies who became barren as a result. To save my blood-pressure I have decided this is not my fight. I lived through pre-Roe v Wade and voted afterwards that way. If the kids cannot be bothered to come out and vote I don’t care.
Betty
I am sick and tired of the hateful, power-mongering Republicans who feel so free to ignore the suffering all around us in order to score points. And the hapless media that enables them.
TS
@Kay:
They achieved their goal & now have to suffer the backlash of turning over 50% of the population into people without choice. This will hopefully cost them state elections as well as congress.
Soprano2
@Leto: That’s not wrong. The party that runs on reducing regulation also wants to regulate every corner of your personal life, at least if you’re female or not straight.
Kay
@Leto:
I saw that. It is frightening. It’s just such a lie that they’ll never go after the woman. That just doesn’t make any sense in terms of laws. Of course they will. And the anti choice base want them too. 65% of anti choicers want women charged criminally for abortions. It’s only the well compensated anti choiuce lobbyists who coo about how they love women- the anti choice “movement” is all about punishing women- the GOP base.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: (I have that “trump wants to avoid talking about abortion bans/used to be pro-choice” piece up on my FB page, for the wingnuts in my life to ponder on as they start their week. =)
In other “they’re not sending their best” news, DeSantis is on track to come out against washing your hands and brushing your teeth next month…he’s busy bashing Covid boosters and saying crazy shit like
Hmmm. Booster shots as “ideology”. I’m sure this will appeal to the normies, Ron (NOT) but do whatever ya gotta do to get to trump’s right…
Kay
@Leto:
It’s so sad for women because they’re driving a huge wedge between women and their health care providers. You have to be able to trust health care people. Health care will suffer if women perceive providers as working for the anti choice prosecution and womens health care in the US sucks as it is. It’s already bad when compared to US (economic) peers internationally.
Baud
@Soprano2:
There are always people who want Dems to compromise on everything. I just don’t recall any prominent Dem proposing to compromise on abortion rights. It would have been silly to do while Roe was in effect anyway.
ETA: in the Roe years, the big intraparty fight was over abortion funding for poor people.
Kay
@Jeffro:
But he supports people over 65 being used as guinea pigs? If it’s not “safe” why it it safe for people over 65? Should be less safe for them – they tend to be less healthy than younger people.
More of that rigorous Right wing thought process. They just fucking BABBLE at this point. Another low quality hire. It will get worse too. They’re culling all the people of ordinary intelligence from the Party.
Matt McIrvin
@Marcopolo: It reminds me of Philip K. Dick’s misogynist anti-abortion story about a world in which personhood has been redefined as the ability to do algebra and any preteen kid’s mom can call the abortion van to get rid of them. Which they do all the time because most women are baby-murderers at heart. Joanna Russ wanted to punch PKD in the face for writing it and I recall some male critics getting upset that she didn’t believe in the marketplace of ideas.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
I don’t see how people had more access to health care in the 50s, before Medicare and Medicaid. It took less out of the family budget because many people didn’t buy it.
I also believe fewer people went to college back then.
rikyrah
Today is National Hamburger Day.
And yes, I am looking to see what the specials are at the local fast food chains.
jonas
This had nothing to do with euthanizing a child born with unsurvivable abnormalities (like acephaly), but whether to attempt any extraordinary measures to keep them alive.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Appropriately named author.
evodevo
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I think they are recalling the case of that abortion Dr Kermit Gosnell in PA who was convicted of killing three babies who were born alive after medication abortions, and also causing the death of an adult female during a procedure…to wingers, that means ALL libruls want to kill babies after birth (???) There were numerous complaints about his clinic for years before PA prosecuted him…
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud:
Certainly some accruement of wealth involved and continues to involve oppression of many groups, and a lot of our activities produced and continue to produce extreme environmental damage. However, relative to the rest of the world, it seems to me that our middle class wealth development in the 50s arose from our enormous production capacity following WWII and the relative stability of our institutions. We were the world’s factory, farm, and bank. We certainly abused the hell out of that situation, but we also did a lot good, and we were nowhere near as bad as previous managements (i.e., European colonial powers).
BUT, we should have done better. I think a strong argument can be made that we could have created and enjoyed prosperity with much less unethical behavior.
JMG
@Baud: Way way way fewer went to college.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: It was centrist pundits like William Saletan. In the 1980s and 90s there were still some prominent anti-abortion Democrats at the state level and I recall some pundit handwringing about the national party dogmatically rejecting their position.
Leto
@Kay: the lack of trust and the lack of access. Already doctors are pulling out of anti-choice states, which in turn will lead to even worse care. Red states already have shitty care, but this is going to make it even worse.
Geminid
@Baud: Even Henry Cuellar never advocated that Congressional Democrats compromise with his own “pro-life” stance.
And last I saw, Cuellar’s rating from the National Right to Life Commitee was a 7 out of 100. The Susan B. Anthony list gave him a zero. They might have been lowballing his ratings last year because they hoped a Republican would beat him.
eversor
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Nobody can want abortion after birth because it’s not a thing that exists. What are they going to do? C-section the woman, shove the baby back in, staple her up, and then abort an already birthed child?
As for the threads general carpping and rage at the press trying to sabotage the Biden Harris ticket the issue is simple. Chaos makes money for them. This primary phase is going to be boring as fuck. Trump is going to walk to the nomination and nothing can be done about that. A rematch of Trump v Biden is also going to be boring because they are both known quantities. They need chaos like they need air. They also want Republican economics.
Ken
@Kay: He recognizes that telling Florida’s seniors not to get their vaccinations would not be a politically-survivable event, so he still has some connection to reality. Not that his political career has much life left in it.
jonas
That’s absolutely right. Some private health insurance was available, usually of the major medical variety to cover serious injury or hospitalization, and it was really expensive. You paid for routine physician or dentist visits out of your own pocket and consequently, a lot of people just relied on home health remedies and hoped for the best.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
There were fewer things that medicine could fix. Bad knees and arthritic hips were things you lived with. Chemo for cancer, minimally invasive surgeries, etc., weren’t even available. Comparing what one spent then with what is spent now is comparing a grape with a grapefruit.
Soprano2
@Kay: It’s never made any sense to say “I believe abortion is murder, but it’s not the fault of the person who asked for the abortion, it’s the fault of the doctor who does the abortion. I would never go after the person who asked for the abortion, she’s a victim”. The only reason they said it is because they know it’s not popular to say you’re going after pregnant women with criminal charges. Now that mask has been totally ripped off, if only the press can realize it.
eversor
@evodevo:
Killing a baby after it is born is not an abortion though. You can murder or euthanize one but you can’t abort one.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Phil Dick had issues on top of his issues. And one of them was a notable difficulty empathizing with women– in his writing, they tend to be either unattainable hot-mess crush-objects or terrifying villains or both.
Kay
@Jeffro:
People are on their own with vaccines as far as I’m concerned. It seems to me that a large group of them have chosen to listen to Joe Rogan and RFK Jr. and Russell Brand on health care and can’t be helped. We have to triage and get access for people who still rely on medical professionals. No one has time for this and they have their own sites and platforms so they can just stay over there.
I laughed out loud listening to Russell Brand’s “defense” of the rape allegations against him. His defense includes that he is a vegan. It’s just this fucked up idea that their personal wellness, their above reproach eating habits, are somehow a measure of their good character. It’s so fucking CELEBRITY to think that. So shallow. Ugh. Just the word “wellness”. I refuse to take them seriously. They ALL sell supplements, too. Guffaw.
Like I give a shit what he eats. Scotland Yard won’t care that he’s a vegan either if they investigate the rape allegations. It’s not a mitigating factor in sexual assault.
UncleEbeneezer
Really bummed this morning to find out that Winning Time, the series about the 1980’s “Showtime” Lakers was cancelled by HBO after only two seasons :(
It ended after the 1984 season leaving a whole bunch of cool stuff like the rise of the Pistons, Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls, Magic’s HIV diagnosis, Shaq and Kobe, Jeannie Buss becoming the first woman NBA owner etc., on the table. It was a really good series that didn’t hesitate to get into the racial dynamics of the NBA, Boston/LA rivalry and the times, in general. I’m gonna miss it.
Ken
Ah yes, the days of radium water and Fowler’s solution. Another thing that big government has taken away from us. At least we still have our nutritional supplements, thanks to Senator Orrin Hatch.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh Good God, it’s obvious he’s yet another one of these famous men who cannot believe there is any woman who wouldn’t want to have sex with him, therefore it cannot be possible that he raped anyone. I can’t roll my eyes hard enough.
Soprano2
@Ken: My father believed in Mercurochrome, iodine and black salve. I believe Mercurochrome isn’t legal anymore. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with me, too much mercury exposure at a young age…..
Kay
@Soprano2:
It makes perfect sense if you believe women have no agency, cannot make decisions and should have the legal standing of children. It’s the key to the whole belief system. It’s why women couldn’t own property or enter into contracts. People say “women couldn’t get credit”. It was much, much bigger than that. They weren’t competent to enter into contracts. They couldn’t participate in a modern economy because they had no capacity to contract. BIG idea. OLD idea. And wholly grounded in religious dogma.
It’s what they believe. These are the ideas behind the laws.
She’s not enough of a person to be held accountable. It’s why their statutes all erase the pregnant person completely. It’s why she’s bleeding out in the parking lot sacrificing herself for the “child”. She’s lesser.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Will Saletan harped on it with great regularity, and I still despise him on account of that.
True, he wasn’t and isn’t an elected Democrat, but he was theoretically a left-of-center pundit.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: The absence of any strong civil rights or civil liberties protections, even to the extent they exist today, negates a lot of the 50s nostalgia for me. Of course for nostalgic on the right, that’s the attraction.
Public policy was more redistributionist… but it was herrenvolk socialism for white men. Heavy government regulation was more accepted… but was usually used to prop up industries and control supply and demand, not to protect the environment. You could support a family on a factory worker’s income, but a lot of things we take for granted today were elite luxury goods or didn’t exist. And the apples and oranges nature of the comparison means arguments can go on forever.
Kay
@Soprano2:
It seems to me he’s in real trouble. There seem to be tens of people who were aware of this at the time and spoke to the news organizations investigating it. They can be compelled to answer questions about it. One of the most harrowing accusations involves a woman who went for treatment at a rape crisis center after the assault. He’s not going to be able to make this go away with a conspiracy theory video. It’s meaty – this is not a bare bones he said/she said.
schrodingers_cat
That is very Brahminical (or Jain) of him. Restrictive eating habits have been associated with piety in India since couple of thousand years in India.
They totally think that it makes them purer (and better) than other mortals.
Jeffro
I think it’s the same logic that had that one wingnut (was it the TX Lt Gov?) who thought older folks should be willing to die for the economy?
“C’mon gramps…there’s no real down side to you being a guinea pig, right? Do it for me and Phoebe! Won’t you think of our future (economy)?”
Could we also ask DeSantis and the rest of the anti-vax nuts where all of their anti-vax skepticism was for the past 4-5 decades? What exactly turned them against vaccines, and the Covid vaccines in particular? The timing – vaccines coming out widely just as Joe Biden was taking office – seems to suggest that they are correlating unrelated things in their lizard brains, and I’d really like them to study on it a bit.
evodevo
@eversor:
Of course…but that’s not the propaganda point Trumpy is pushing…facts and reality have no place in MAGAt world…
Soprano2
@Kay: This is true. I think most people have no idea that until the 1970’s, women couldn’t be fully whole people in the world in their own right. Couldn’t get their own credit cards, couldn’t borrow money on their own, and so on. My mother told me that even in the early ’80’s when she asked our local small town bank if she would be able to get a loan on her own, they turned her down even though she had a job at the GE factory in Springfield that paid pretty well.
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
Matthew Yglesias proposed that Democrats should “compromise” on a 15 week ban the minute Roe was overturned. So adopt the position of Nikki Haley. Premptively surrender completely lest they be seen as “extreme”. He thinks it’s icky and is terrified of it.
It was before it became apparent that all the idiot pundits were wrong and women actually cared about autonomy and agency. This was when they were all still predicting the “red wave” based on the publics objection to “wokeness” – we were all going to vote on “cancel culture”, supposedly.
Geminid
@Baud: Even Henry Cuellar never advocated that Congressional Democrats compromise with his own “pro-life” stance.
And last I saw, Cuellar’s rating from the National Right to Life Commitee was a 7 out of 100. The Susan B. Anthony list gave him a zero. They might have been lowballing him last year because they hoped a Republican could beat him, but I think NARAL gave Cuellar a rating of 70.
zhena gogolia
@Ken: I have no idea what Kars 4 Kids is and I guess I should not try to find out.
lowtechcyclist
@Jeffro:
And this just a few years after going to the mats to keep Terri Schiavo alive.
These people have no sincerely held beliefs. Just a belief that their kind should have the authority to rule over everyone else.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes, it’s ridiculous. Nobody had screening colonoscopies either.
Kay
@Jeffro:
The covid vaccine platform is going to be used for all kinds of wonderful medical advances.
I’m looking forward to Joe Rogan’s explanation on how it’s ok for a cancer vaccine but not for covid, because you KNOW these gross grifters get actual medical care when their own ass is on the line. RFK Jr. gets top drawer, cutting edge care from Big Pharma when he needs it. It’s only their dopey followers who don’t.
I just think it’s funny that the Manly Men of the Right are basically Gwyneth Paltrow with their stupid “wellness” brands. Glenn Greenwald even does it. He’s supposedly an ethical person because he says he’s a vegetarian over and over. It’s just so funny. Like one cannot be a vegan and a rapist or a vegetarian and a Putin apologist. They act like celebrities!
UncleEbeneezer
@Matt McIrvin: Right. Many people forget that this whole Massive Resistance that we are seeing at local school boards to erase Black History and bully LGB-especially-T people, all began in the 1950’s as as whitelash to Brown and the advent of Progressive Education. No Title IX. No Roe. Govt programs still specifically excluding Black People. Etc. It was only a really great time if you were a wealthy, white man.
Villago Delenda Est
Nuke the MSM from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
eversor
@Kay:
Hitler was a vegetarian. I close my case.
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2: I was slathered in Mercurochrome.
coin operated
@Soprano2:
Someone at Hyundai is full of shit. We have a 2017 Kia Sportage with 87K miles and we don’t burn an ounce of oil between changes. Kia and Hyundai engines and transmissions originate from the same assembly line…only the body styles change between the two. Hope that valve replacement will fix it.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia: Okay, that’s bad. Not quite rickrolling, though.
lowtechcyclist
@zhena gogolia:
Oh good, I’m not the only one!
Villago Delenda Est
@lowtechcyclist: I’m with you on despising Salatan. Cripes, his whining for “compromise” ignored that Roe WAS the compromise, and he ignored the fact that the forced birthers always have contraception in their sights as the next thing. Destroying the agency of women has ALWAYS been what the “pro-life” movement is about.
Mr. Bemused Senior
By Godwin’s Law, this thread is over.
lowtechcyclist
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m a merciful man, I’d give them a chance to reform.
I’d nuke Politico, Axios, and Punchbowl from orbit, and let the MSM know that they’re next if they don’t shape up.
RaflW
The GOP will get even more blowback, I believe, because they are acting in the same intransigent, utterly undemocratic, and frankly just rude way in so many states.
I know it sounds pearl-clutching to be saying “oh, how rude,” but the whole GOP has decided that what works for Trump works for them. And maybe for MTG it works, too, because she’s in a very safe and very stupid rural GA district.
But I think — I certainly hope — the electorate is flat out exhausted with 10000 chaos monkeys, and wants to throw them all out. We’ll see!
Ken
@lowtechcyclist: Kars 4 Kids is a legitimate charity, though there have been complaints that they aren’t completely up-front about which kids benefit. They also have one of the most powerful earworm jingles ever written.
Villago Delenda Est
@tobie: Loki, perhaps?
Leto
@UncleEbeneezer: current WaPo article:
Her students reported her for a lesson on race. Can she trust them again? Mary Wood’s school reprimanded her for teaching a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Now she hopes her bond with students can survive South Carolina’s politics.
As well as: (WaPo)Red states quit nation’s oldest library group amid culture war over books They are turning down money and training from a 150-year-old organization they believe is set on promulgating explicit texts to children
I just finished a book detailing the John Birch Society, and a lot of what those dumbshits were pushing (protect our children, take over local school boards, banning books, etc) is the same shit we’re seeing now. They were/are railing against the same things: Brown v Board, Civil Rights, progress…
Ksmiami
@sab: por que no los dos? Actually any Republicans in charge of governing is bad.
lowtechcyclist
@Ken: Thanks, that’s all I need to know. I’ll stay away, then.
Jeffro
@eversor: you beat me to it!
Ksmiami
@Villago Delenda Est: actually let’s start with their owners first… the real culprits.
daveNYC
@Ohio Mom: And that’s Median Family Income. which would likely have been one person working back in 1955 vs. dual-income today. Median income is 31k, median household income is 74k.
So twice the work for the same benefit in material goods. Huzzah.
Jeffro
@lowtechcyclist:
@Kay:
@Villago Delenda Est:
Here is the thing that gets me: 93% of all abortions happen within the first 12 weeks. Another 6% happen by the 20th week.
This was before Dobbs. Somehow, some way, women were making decisions about their bodies and not only were these abortions happening very early in the vast, vast majority of cases…they were also on the decline for decades (until very recently).
All without endangering women’s health, all without making doctors flee red states, all without neighbors “monitoring” Texas roads & traffic heading towards New Mexico.
So…what problem is it that these bans are trying to solve?
ASK Rs THAT, Ds!
hueyplong
@Soprano2: Of course the “age” thing is purely about the horror of a liberal woman who’s a ni-CLANG to boot.
This attack has to be shifted to “concerned” fake Dems because otherwise it might dawn on someone to ask GOPers why the death of an addled yet diabolical, corrupt cartoon villain is something to worry about.
I wish someone would ask a Republican why, if Biden’s removal from office by death is supposed to be such a scary thing, they want to remove him from office. We know the real reasons, but I’d love to know what they’d feel obligated to say.
WaterGirl
@Halteclere: I have read that the answer is NO. Courts are an essential service.
rikyrah
@Walker:
All this “Biden is too old” is exactly that. They are afraid she will become President.
I am glad that people see this from a mile away. And, that we are calling it out.
Subsole
@MomSense:
It’s all they have.
rikyrah
@Kay:
After having appointed the three justices on the Supreme Court that stripped women of body autonomy.
And, the judges where they go judge shopping to try and strip the rest of the country of body autonomy.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
truth
RaflW
Also, too, this b.s.: ‘Republicans are growing more frustrated about their lack of a cohesive plan.’
The lack of a plan isn’t a thing that is happening to them. I mean, I get it. I have a frustrating procrastination habit. But I don’t cry to others about it. I try to buck up and work through it.
The GOP is ‘frustrated’ that they’re a toxic combo of lazy + crazy? Ohhh, too sad so bad. Lose some elections and sharpen the mind.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yes. Name a phucking state where this is LEGAL.
JUST ONE.
After birth abortion
DOES NOT EXIST.
IT’S CALLED INFANTICIDE. The killing of an actual child.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
AND, you are absolutely on point.
Alison Rose
@rikyrah: Of course, anti-choicers will always act like abortion is no different from infanticide, which…to me, says a lot more about their mindsets than ours.
Anyway
@Kay:
Yes, I hate the term Wellness and roll my eyes every time I hear it. Reason #234 as to why I won’t support my PBS station or buy Passport – the number of programs hawking fad diets and feel-good lifestyle mods is outta control. gack. So many charlatans (Looking at you, Deepak Chopra).
cain
@sab:
Everyone involved in the crusades agrees with you.
rikyrah
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s an election year in Virginia, which has a disproportionate number of federal workers.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
If not for the State Senate being in Democratic hands, Youngkin would have done one of those extreme abortion bans just like RonnieD.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
At least Chuckles would’ve said they had to “leave it there” and go to commercial.
What an absolute waste of cellular mitosis she is.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Absolutely. And, it must be made plain that THIS is their end game.
Period.
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@lowtechcyclist:
Alison Rose
@Kay:
OMFG. I don’t know whether to laugh my ass off or scream until my lungs bleed.
eversor
@Anyway:
We have a problem with fad cleaning products at our home. The SO went down an instagram/social media rabbit hole about all things organic when she decided she no longer wanted use to use bleach to clean things. She was already heavily into organics.
None of these alternatives work as good as bleach, amonia, hydrogen peroxide, iodine, rubbing alcohol, or the vast array of other stuff we have. Of course the people hawking them aren’t the ones cleaning their own homes either. I don’t argue it. It’s futile and she’ll just get mad. What I do is wait till she goes to her sisters and then break out the chemical and actually get rid of the black mold (that sprung up once we switched to organics) and the other crud that isn’t fully clean and don’t mention I did.
Of course none of the products she uses on her are organic but I’m not going to point out that reading what’s in your hair dye is going to blow your mind if you don’t like chemicals!
Social media has made this much worse.
cain
@RaflW:
But the MSM loves it – every day something new to report on – some new thing that they bring in pundits. Horse race! Both sides! Yeeha! Chaos that gets people to keep looking at the screen!
Geminid
@rikyrah: And for all their talk, Youngkin and his Republican henchmen in Virginia’s House of Delegates were too chicken to put the abortion measur to a floor vote. They know they have to sneak it by voters.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Please yell this louder!
“After birth abortion” is such a stupid, stupid, dumbass, moronic GOP talking-out-their-ass point!
RaflW
@Another Scott: In the 80s when I was coming up, most American cars IRRC had a 3/36 warranty. 3 years, 36K miles. It was fairly common for people with middle-to-upper incomes to buy a new car every three years, often shifting the older, already getting unreliable car to mom for her part time (or full time, of course) job, shopping, school runs.
Dad’s car would be the highway/vacation car. But you could only really expect about 3/36 of reliable operation. The number of tie-rod-ends, ball joints, carburetor problems, and whatever else I remember having to have serviced on the string of 3 y.o. used cars my cheapo dad bought was quite an education for me in dealing with auto garages and mechanics.
My 2015 Subie is at 119,000 miles and I expect to run it another 80K and still sell/trade it for a reasonably modest residual value in six years.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: Hal Sparks is going to have a grand time with these rape allegations against Russell Brand.
UncleEbeneezer
@Leto: I’ve mentioned it many times before, but Mothers Of Massive Resistance is a true must-read for this subject:
daveNYC
It’s totally fine to be concerned with Biden’s age. He’s 80. He’s not as sharp as he used to be, because nobody is as sharp as they used to be at that age; and he’s old enough that just not waking up one day is a real concern.
What’s not fine is actually trying to do anything about it. Incumbency is too great an advantage to give up, and that’s assuming the primary challenge actually succeeded, which is crazy long odds.
It is what it is.
Leto
@Geminid: a lot of the anti-abortion legislation is being passed this way, as well as voter restrictions (like anti-gerrymandering measures). They’re doing everything they can to impose their christofascist views on us, as well as try to cement minority rule. Fuck. Them. All.
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
I am bummed about this too :(
Leto
@UncleEbeneezer: the book I was reading: Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right by Matthew Dallek. He has a chapter where he explains how the leadership (ofc all white dudes) recognized that at the local and state level, women were their biggest advocates and leaders. A lot of what your excerpt talks about is also discussed in the book, with its specific relevance to how it helped the Birchers. I’m writing yours down so the next time I’m at my bookstore I’ll see if they can order it for me.
wjca
If you have missed one of their appalling commercials, you should definitely count your blessings!
Trivia Man
@wjca: Kars 4 Kids is a known money funnel to help Ultra-conservative Jewish fundraising.
https://www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-articles/costly-and-continuous-kars4kids-ads-disguise-charity39s-real-purpose
Ken
@Alison Rose: Watch Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, then you can feel good about laughing your ass off at a vegan claiming super powers.
wjca
This needs to be asked over and over. Because the only answer is: “We don’t actually want to remove him via impeachment. We just want a spectacle to play up during the election. Besides, what else do we have to do? Passing legislation is so dull. And requires work.”
Leto
@Ken: that was so funny! Vegan’s kryptonite? Making them not talk about their veganism.
eversor
@daveNYC:
The age arguement is a trap and there is one reason they are a few reasons they are doing it.
The first is his age is an issue in the grand sense of it. So if you ask people if Bidens age is an issue they are going to say yes. The next is our entire government is a gerontocracy and a lot of people are upset with it. The last is with Feinstein and McConnell having constant issues it’s on peoples minds.
So people always going to say yes. That doesn’t mean they won’t vote for him. So it’s a cheap shot. Nothing to see beyond that.
Geminid
@Leto: In this case, Youngkin wants to keep abortion rights in the background for the upcoming legislative elections. But if Republicans win both Virginia houses, a bill restricting abortion will be high on his to-do list. Democrats have to let voters know this, because Youngkin is hoping they don’t.
RaflW
@daveNYC: There will be no primary challenger (as you say). Why?
The filing deadline, for example, in Nevada is Oct. 16, 2023. Less than a month from now. Who besides Biden has a field office in NV for ’24? A whole bunch of states have deadlines this December.
It’s all b.s. meant to fill the media void since there isn’t a Dem contest.
eversor
@Geminid:
If he does it he sinks the GOP in VA.
UncleEbeneezer
@Leto: Mothers of Conservatism by Michelle Nickerson, was also really good. That one is specifically about Southern California and had more focus on the rise of “patriotic” book stores that sold and promoted Birch Society materials. There were a bunch of them, all over SoCal.
Ruckus
@sab:
I don’t know which is worse: Gingrich in control or McCarthy not in control.
The answer is C. Both of the above.
sdhays
@Kay: The Supreme Court case out of Colorado regarding the nonexistent request for a same-sex wedding website to a person who only thought they might want to do wedding websites sometime in the future has especially shaken me on trusting any “facts” reported in the media.
Even the lawyers for Colorado didn’t bother checking the basic facts of the case until after it had already gone all the way to the Supreme Court and been decided using other made up “facts”. The underlying act that supposedly triggered the case didn’t even happen, and no one bothered to check??
sdhays
@Kay: The only silver lining, for me personally, with the revelations about Russell Brand is that it’s now going to be accepted that he’s a total shitbag douche and I don’t have to wonder if I’m missing something anymore.
Yeah, it’s always the guys you think.
sdhays
@rikyrah: It’s legal in a bunch of states, especially red states. You just need to follow the correct protocol: leave your loaded firearm out and wait for the inevitable.
Ruckus
@Kay:
They believe Donald Trump, the rapist, defers to women on decisions regarding their bodies.
That takes a hell of a lot of twisted non logic to arrive at.
SFB himself couldn’t come up with that level of BS. And he’s full of nothing else.
Geminid
@eversor: How do you see a federal government shutdown affecting this November’s elections?
glc
@Ohio Mom: I believe 40% of median family income (pre-tax) would be about $29,600. Wondering where $37,000 comes from. Unless there’s some weird distinction between “family” and “household” and they managed to eliminate some of the poorer households. At least they didn’t use “average” (mean) which mostly counts billionaires.
Subsole
@Soprano2:
I have an explanation: They agree with him. The media are sympathizers. Willing or otherwise, they are fash simps.
No one – and I mean nobody – under God’s eternal blue sky fails to learn after EIGHT years of behavior.
Ponder that, folks. This all popped off in 2015.
We have been watching the brightest sparks in America’s well-compensated Communications Frat fail to learn for four fifths of a decade.
That kind of idiocy is not accidental.
eversor
@Geminid:
For the DC/MD/VA area? It’s going to bite the GOP in the ass massively.
Everyone has lost a job, knows someone who lost a job, someone they had to loan money to, they had to ask for money, a favorite small business that closed coming out of it. People fucking hate them. It’s also an area that’s very politically savy and we all damn well know who did it
It never fucking works for them and the local GOP hates it. But they are going to keep fucking that chicken.
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
These people have no sincerely held beliefs. Just a belief that their kind should have the authority to rule over everyone else.
Bingo!
It’s called raw power. Power for power’s sake. Power to create a world that gives them power to control everything/everyone else, but especially those who don’t look like them, or have the ability to have children. Because, well who the hell knows – other than selfishness.
Subsole
@Kay:
If you really want to fuck the Alt Right and Hate Media up something fierce, give money and teeth to the FDA, point them at the Crunchy Woo Supplement market, and tell them to set phasers to ‘kill’.
It is genuinely insane how much money is sloshing around in the snake-oil business.
If we as a nation have decided that churches cannot be punished for their sins, the least we could do is go after the folks who want to go back to the bad ol’ days of putting lead powder in the baby formula as a sweetening agent.
Paul in KY
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think ‘abortion after birth’ is generally called ‘murder’.
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat:
You see it a lot in certain Evangelical sects as well. Mostly those who try to out-Jewish the Jewish.
Subsole
@Jeffro:
You remember the old joke about the fastest way to killing 30% of the country was Obama telling people not to drink Drano?
Yeah. Turns out that wasn’t a joke.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: My Genesis is a swank car, but it eats batteries. Big, expensive batteries. Will not get another Hyundai.
UncleEbeneezer
@lowtechcyclist: They sincerely believe in White Supremacy, Patriarchy and Unrestricted Capitalism. Everything under the sun falls into those three categories.
Paul in KY
@tobie: If you’re lucky one of the attorneys will strike you for being an uppity-nonmurcan.
Paul in KY
@Kay: It goes with his unstated opinion that all people 65 and older should be turned into soylent green.
eversor
@Subsole:
I have no problem if these idiots kill themselves. In fact I laugh. Much liked the Reddit Herman Cain awards. You did it, you got it! What I object to is when other people buy into it.
You know about Smurf People? Turns out drinking colodial silver turns you blue! Google it and have fun!
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: I would take the pain/effects of the wound before resorting to iodine :-)
Geminid
@eversor: There are tons of federal workers and contractors in Tidewater also. And with the complex in Albermarle County that’s been built around the National Ground Intelligence Agency, the federal government is probably the 3rd biggest employer in my part of Virginia.
eversor
@Geminid:
Yerp I was out of Norfolk and NAS Oceana Dam Neck Annex for a good grip doing stuff.
Subsole
@Kay:
I think some of that is their nakedly tribalistic worldview and the way it warps their thinking.
In their eyes, once you have accepted the tenets of the tribe, you are of the Body, and cannot be publicly critiqued.
Greenwald genuinely thinks that the fact he agrees with me on one thing is going to prevent me calling him out on anything else, because that’s the way his effed up little mind works. Once I am in the tribe, I cannot be castigated, only forgiven.
No wonder he and his ilk gravitated into Conservatism, Inc. That’s how their entire sad little tribe operates.
Brand mentions his veganism like it’s supposed to make all the Liberals start sparking at the ears and smoking at the neurons.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Matt McIrvin: After the recent Blade Runner sequel came out, I tried to read “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” and the world he created was so damn depressing (along with the harridan of a wife) I couldn’t read past the second or third chapter. Artificial sheep as a pet and status symbol, for pity’s sake.
Miss Bianca
@UncleEbeneezer: I’ve got that book on my nightstand, trying to summon up the fortitude to actually dive into it.
Matt
Similarly, if we all stormed the Politico offices then dragged the authors of this post out to [REDACTED] them in the street it would “impact their ability to work together with us” on writing the story of how they were [REDACTED].
Belafon
To have money to spend in all of those races would require some of the big fundraisers sitting on tens of millions of their own money to spend it elsewhere. And it would requires Democrats to support the DNC more than we do. And lots of people would complain about spending money in places Democrats can’t win. I see it on other Democratic sites.
Paul in KY
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): It’s one of the few times the movie is better than the book.