Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

All hail the time of the bunny!

T R E 4 5 O N

This really is a full service blog.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some *Good* News, Too!

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Some *Good* News, Too!

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Hope this holds up:

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson…

But if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement and government appropriations lapse, DOD has decided to continue activities supporting Ukraine, DOD spokesperson Chris Sherwood told POLITICO Thursday — just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and other senior leaders at the Pentagon.

“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion.

The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and equipment, as well as shipments of weapons to Kyiv, will continue despite any potential shutdown. As recently as Tuesday, Sherwood had said the shutdown could halt those activities, as POLITICO first reported…

By law, the Pentagon chief can make exceptions to activities suspended under a government shutdown, Sherwood said, noting that the decision to exempt Ukraine operations was just made…

 
And… Trending on Twitter: Senator Mike Lee(… roy Jenkins!) is BIG MAD, you guys:

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  2. 2.

    lowtechcyclist

    Jeez, this shit was happening with online polls 20 years ago.  Anyone who’s still surprised by this sort of thing “is a fuckin’ moron.” Yeppers.

    ETA: Not to mention Lee’s apparent belief that that early 95-5 ratio reflected anything more than that the people who follow him on Xitter overwhelmingly agree with him.

  4. 4.

    Jeffro

    So…Russian puppet is complaining about people who volunteer to work against Russian disinformation?

    In the words of the wise-beyond-his-years Fro Jr: “that’s kinda sus”

  6. 6.

    BretH

    Had to look up NAFO. But it was a welcome distraction from my seething rage at Republicans over the impending shutdown.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network’s most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

     

    I’m disappointed he didn’t show up in an RV.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    ‘Feels horrible to say no’: abortion funds run out of money as US demand surges

    Three-quarters of US abortion patients have incomes below the federal poverty line. The cost of an abortion, meanwhile, has perhaps never been higher: more and more people have to travel for the procedure, buying flights and gas, booking hotel rooms, taking time off work. More than 60% of people who have had abortions have already given birth before, so they may also need to secure childcare.

    Although the vast majority of US abortions take place in the first trimester of pregnancy, abortion fund callers are more often in their second trimester, according to a study of callers to the National Network of Abortion Funds between 2010 and 2015. Post-Roe, people who work at abortion funds told the Guardian that they are now seeing even more people who are later on in their pregnancies – which becomes a problem both for abortion seekers and the funds, because abortion becomes more expensive later in pregnancy. It also becomes harder to find – not every clinic will perform abortions into the second trimester – so people often have to travel even further.

    From July 2021 through June 2022, the Missouri Abortion Fund spent about $235,000 helping people get abortions. Between July 2022 and June 2023, they spent over $1m – but they only helped 300 more people than the previous year, said Jess Lambrecht, the fund’s executive director. The typical client used to cost less than $1,000; now, they frequently cost multiple thousands of dollars.

    “Basically, our budget tripled, but so has our cost,” Lambrecht said.‘Feels horrible to say no’: abortion funds run out of money as US demand surges

    ……………………………….
    For now, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund’s phone line is still open; the organization is redirecting people towards other, open abortion funds. But the phone line will be shut down entirely for the month of December.

    “I know we are making the right decision, but it feels horrible to tell people no,” Roberts said. But, Roberts added, “If we’re not making strategic plans to make sure that we’re sustaining ourselves and sustaining fundraising, we’re not gonna make it. We won’t be here next year and we won’t be here the year after that and I want to make sure we’re still here. There’s not less of a fight to fight. It’s just getting more intense.”

    They are all in trouble.​

  15. 15.

    Hildebrand

    Good morning!  I hate to rain on the parade, and I’m sure everyone knows this, but that Mike Lee twitter account is a spoof.

  17. 17.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I also had to google NAFO. Apparently I am NOT aware of all internet traditions.

    It should be amusing to watch the House Loon Conference react to the news that support for Ukraine will continue.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Thomas and his Fed-Soc cohorts are so grossly, flagrantly corrupt. I’m so grateful to ProPublica for staying on this story.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It was quite the trip. After the donor event he took the jet to attend an event for one of his former clerks. He lives like a political candidate during a campaign. Except it’s decades long and secret.

  23. 23.

    Eyeroller

    @Hildebrand: ​
     I should have noticed that from the “BasedMikeLee” handle, but it looks like the real Eric Schmitt may have responded?? Either that or he didn’t grab his own name as a handle.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    Mike Lee’s tweet reminded me of how people used to complain that the “K-Hive” supporting Vice President Harris was run out of Neera Tanden’s or Nancy Pelosi’s office.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    It happens. When people thought Glenn Greenwald was a serious journalist, they would give him information about national security or privacy “scandals.” That’s what did Reality Winner in.

  31. 31.

    satby

    @NotMax: you find the most amazing stuff. Bogie doesn’t look healthy there, wonder how long after they filmed it that he died of the lung cancer that claimed him far too young?

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @eclare: ​ When my little brother was 4, my parents took him backpacking in Wyoming. Got him a small backpack too, so he could feel like he was contributing too. I don’t recall how far they hiked but it was all uphill, steep, and above timberline. When they got to where they were going they went about setting up camp.

    About a half hour later, a man and his 2 teenage sons showed up. The man was more than a little out of breath. He spotted my little brother and stated very emphatically, “There’s that little son of a bitch!”

    To say my parents were a little taken aback is a bit of an understatement.

    When he finally caught his breath, the man explained himself:

    “All the way up, I had to look down and see his tiny little boot prints in the trail, and kept saying to myself, ‘If he can do it so can I.'”

  33. 33.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Yep. Snowden is lucky GG ignored his outreach, which was picked up by Laura Poitras instead. Otherwise he might have ended up in the pokey too.

  34. 34.

    Ksmiami

    Just donated to the MS freedom fund through act blue. There’s a link on the orgs website. For the record, I’ve stopped my donations to Planned Parenthood and am sending money directly to the smaller orgs that do the work now esp in places where women’s health is completely under threat.

  35. 35.

    Princess

    95-5 sounds like at that point a whopping 20 people had answered the poll. 19 fans and that one guy who hate follows him.

  37. 37.

    Hildebrand

    @Eyeroller: It’s just another example of the degradation of Twitter – it’s hard to tell what is a real account.  I just happened to see that whole bit last night and someone said it was a spoof, so I checked, and yep.  Such a pain in the ass to have to double-check everything.

    Reason #854 of why Musk is a blight on the world today.

  40. 40.

    JML

    I like the Leo quote in the ProPublica story: “All the necessary due diligence was performed to ensure the Justice’s attendance at the events was compliant with all ethics requirements.”

    Might even be true, since the Supreme Court doesn’t have any of the same ethical requirements that the lower court do and there’s no enforcement mechanism over them except Congress, which has basically the entire GOP in the tank for the Kochs.

    Utterly corrupt. Makes me want to start investigating my old law professor who clerked for Thomas, who became a state supreme court justice before his links to the federalist society got him the federal judgeship he craved for his entire career. Is he as corrupt as his mentor, whom he constantly praised as being the best and most popular justice on the court? My guess is his desperate need to get on the federal bench led him to do at least something shady…

  41. 41.

    Ken

    @lowtechcyclist:  Lee’s apparent belief that that early 95-5 ratio reflected anything more than that the people who follow him on Xitter overwhelmingly agree with him.

    He’s clearly taking a page from Trump’s 2020 election book — when you’re ahead in the voting, stop counting.

    (I see from later comments this is a parody account, but I remain confident the real Senator Lee would believe that.)

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:

    He had another three years and change remaining. The show is from October 25, 1953; Bogie died January 14, 1957.

    Edit: And you’re right, he was far too young. He had just turned 57.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They’re all defending Russell Brand now. Bitches are all LIARS.

    The misogyny of the Left-to-Right antiwoke manosphere is a really interesting political alliance, and under analyzed.

  44. 44.

    kalakal

    @Baud: He was performing a public service! There was an empty seat going to waste. He didn’t really want to go but no sacrifice is too great for Clarence

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @JML:

    I like the Leo quote in the ProPublica story: “All the necessary due diligence was performed to ensure the Justice’s attendance at the events was compliant with all ethics requirements.”

    Except it’s a lie. Thomas didn’t report the trip – he reported a different trip around the same time, to the far Right Federalist Society event, but he deliberately omitted the Koch event. Clarence Thomas doesn’t comply even with the weak, laughable SCOTUS ethics rules. “Due diligence” my ass. They throw these terms around – words mean something!

  50. 50.

    Ivan X

    This story about David Brooks tweeting a complaint about a burger and fries costing $78 at Newark airport, only to be clapped back at by the restaurant and the twitterverse because most of the bill was drinks, is the perfect start to the weekend!

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I do think it’s having an effect. 

    Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Thursday that the Supreme Court is working on “concrete steps” to address ethics issues at the high court amid an array of recent news stories on justices’ travel and relationships with political donors. Appearing before an audience of judges and lawyers during a judicial conference in Ohio, Kavanaugh noted that Chief Justice John Roberts had pledged in May to assure the public that the court was committed to adhering to the highest standards of conduct.

    Whatever they do will be weak – Kavanaugh still objects to an actual ethics code – but they’re definitely feeling the heat.

    The justices on the Right still don’t understand “ethics”, IMO. Kavanaugh said they “will increase trust” – that isn’t how trust works. You don’t demand people trust you. It’s not an entitlement. They pissed away public trust and it will be hard as nails to earn it back again. It’s much much harder to get it back once it’s lost but petulantly demanding it is not going to work.

    The reasoning behind Citizens was we didn’t need campaign finance rules because there would be transparency (reporting). Then the moment they put in Citizens they all worked on gutting or ignoring reporting – transparency.

    It’s the “free speech” two step and certain (dumber) liberals fall for it every time.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    @kalakal:

    In news of what amazing stuff we can do if we want the sample taken of asteroid Bennu taken nearly 3 years ago s being delivered to earth by the Osiris-Rex mission today 

    Three years?  Major fail by Universal Parcel Service!

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @kalakal:

    Toby Young, the ‘social commentator’ who is also general secretary of the Free Speech Union and editor-in-chief of something called the Daily Sceptic.

    That is so perfect. They all give themselves these self aggrandizing titles – he’s general secretary of the Free Speech Union! lol.
    They’re all “social commentators”.
    The original whining about “political correctness” in the 1990’s was based on their objections to date rape being a crime, so this goes back a long ways. The rapists didn’t want rape prosecuted- there’s a shocker.

  62. 62.

    Tony Jay

    @kalakal:

    But you can guaran-fucking-tee that Toby Young will be back on the BBC being treated by its oh-so chummy hosts as a serious social and cultural commentator on this and a host of other issues while Owen Jones will be stuck in that 2 x 2 pit he occupies in the FTF Guardian’s sub-basement feeding monthly Left-wing opinion pieces through the grille marked ‘sanitise and defang’ for the bots from Starmerpartei Hauptbüro to fanwank their bile all over in comments.

    Britain is a very noir place these days, we do things wrongly over here.

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: That’s worth watching just for the amazing theme song, which is a masterpiece of ’60s rock ‘n’ roll cheese.

    “Is something in your HEAD?
    Will you believe it when you’re DEAD????

    GREEEN SLIIIIIIIME!!!!

    GREEEEEEEEN SLIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!”

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    Open thread, soooooo: QUESTION.

    I am a big crockpotter. My current crockpot is not awesome; the heating control is not great and the ceramic crock has this crappy glaze that is cracked. I was wandering through Williams Sonoma yesterday (fantasizing) and I saw that they had an AllClad slow cooker with a cast iron, enamel-coated insert. There seems to be a new category of “electric Dutch ovens” in the market, and I am not sure how they’re different from old-school crockpots. Does anyone have any experience with these? The AllClad one is not a cheap item, but if it is good quality, maybe I can get it as a gift or with a bonus or something.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign repeatedly ignored city regulators’ requests to identify political supporters who they suspected of having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations without disclosing their role, according to New York City Campaign Finance Board records obtained by THE CITY.

    The flagged donations totaled more than $300,000 from more than 500 donors. Thanks to the city program that provides matching funds of up to eight-to-one for eligible contributions, the donations secured an additional $522,000 in public funds for the Adams campaign.

    He really is a Republican!
    The whole point of the law is the candidate has to disclose before the election so voters will know before they vote, so Adams successfully evaded this law. A victory for him.

  69. 69.

    Bupalos

    @mrmoshpotato: This is why Americans think the political comentariate is terrible.

    Love that the restaraunt can’t help tossing in a dash of NJ brash in their comeback. These things are generally kind of sterilized by commercial language, but somehow I can hear the “hey you fucking idiot” in this one.

    Also they are kind of insane to offer that david brooks special of $17 for burger fries and double shot. That’s basically “do you want a free burger and fries with that?” I imagine the concourse is going to be littered with half eaten burgers that drunk patrons drop while stumbling off to their flights.

  71. 71.

    eversor

    Mike Lee has been threatening Civil War unless he gets libertopia since before Trump was elected.  He’s far worse than Trump.

    In ye good old days he would have been jailed.  Then tarred and feathered.  Then thrown in the stocks. Then hung.

    If we are going to do things as the founders did and rely upon tradition then I got news for them.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WaterGirl: Thanx, this was also supposed to into the block quote:

    ……………………………….
    For now, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund’s phone line is still open; the organization is redirecting people towards other, open abortion funds. But the phone line will be shut down entirely for the month of December.

    “I know we are making the right decision, but it feels horrible to tell people no,” Roberts said. But, Roberts added, “If we’re not making strategic plans to make sure that we’re sustaining ourselves and sustaining fundraising, we’re not gonna make it. We won’t be here next year and we won’t be here the year after that and I want to make sure we’re still here. There’s not less of a fight to fight. It’s just getting more intense.”

    I’d hit the post button before I was finished. It is what I was trying to add when the whole thing went sideways. sigh….

  75. 75.

    Bupalos

    OT but still in the “good news” vein, I comprehensively revisited energy storage and battery technology developments yesterday, which I haven’t done in some time.

    There is so much exciting work going on in that space I can’t hope to sumarize it. With all the irons in the fire and breakthroughs happening, “what about when the sun does’t shine or wind doesn’t blow” is going to be a “we used to wear an onion on our belt” signifier within the decade. It’s amazing how taking a few concrete steps changes the landscape.

  79. 79.

    Suzanne

    @NotMax: Agreed! I have often used Black Friday to get household items that are not gifts. (But all online, I can never bring myself to deal with that crap in person.)

    I have found that the Instant Pot, while an awesome pressure cooker, is not a great slow cooker. Apparently the crockpots made in  the last couple of decades do not really have a low temperature…. If you turn them to low, it will just cycle between heating and not heating. That’s bullshit! I sometimes want genuine low, consistent temperatures.

  80. 80.

    Tony Jay

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Rhymes with “accused of persistent vaping over a long period”.

    It’s one of those stories where the Infotainment Arm of Projekt Brot und Zircusse are throwing their pearls up in the air and squealing “This is terrible! How does this kind of thing keep on happening? Why did no one stop this? We must listen to the victims and learn for the future!!” loudly enough to drown out the voices of the victims saying “But we did try to tell you and you all knew what he was like, you just looked away because ratings and, well, no one likes to point fingers when there are so many other poppable balloons of ego within easy digit distance of one’s own career, does one?“

  81. 81.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Suzanne: This is a guess but if it’s an “electric Dutch oven” rather than a slow cooker I’m guessing it’s going to run hotter than a slow cooker. It’s basically an electric fry pan type thing with a built in heating element – it’s going to be like making pot roast on the stove in an actual Dutch oven. Maybe capable of doing lower and slower than an electric fry pan but not slow cooker low and slow. I could be wrong though.

    I feel like there have to be high quality slow cookers that are well below “enamel coated All Clad from William Sonoma” expensive. Can’t really provide a rec though as our slow cooker was a wedding registry gift and I haven’t researched them in quite some time.

  82. 82.

    satby

    @Suzanne: well, I tried to look at it on the W-S website, where it gets only 3 stars to see what people say about it, but the site just kept loading banner clearance ads and wouldn’t let me scroll to the reviews.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    US Attorney SDNY A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen

  87. 87.

    MisterDancer

    @Kay: Well, FUCK. Thanks, Bob.

    (I’m pretty sure this has been bubbling for a while. Just acknowledging the official nature of this announcement.)

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Dems should’ve punted that crook in a primary last time he got busted. Yeah, he was acquitted in that case because most bribery is legal, but it’s sleazy, and it hurts the party.

    Menendez’s son now occupies his old House seat and no doubt expects to inherit his crooked dad’s Senate seat someday. This would be a great time for the party to show that it is not okay with sleazy crooks and nepo babies!

    ETA: He won’t resign. He got away with it last time.

  91. 91.

    Kelly

    @OzarkHillbilly: When my first 2 nephews were toddlers my parents spaniel, Freckles, would bark and block them from leaving the yard. She thought drinking out of a driveway puddle was OK. When they were at the stage of walking hanging onto furniture Freckles would ease over until they grabbed her back then carefully walk them around the house.

  93. 93.

    kalakal

    @Kay:

    @Tony Jay:

    Young’s a classic example of the right wing grifter. He spent years telling poisonous lies about public education, got a lot of subsidies to open a charter school from his Tory chums, place folded up in two years, money all gone, failed all assessments including Fire Safety. The “school” not only couldn’t teach, it was a fire trap.

    Nary a dent in Tobe’s wallet and parasitic career. His only redeeming feature is his incompetence

  98. 98.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I’ve been following the case for a while because I can’t stand that smarmy, corrupt trash bag Menendez, and he does a lot of dirty business in FL. (They all do!) It sounds like the wife’s business was the cutout. IIRC, she hasn’t been Mrs. Menendez very long.

  101. 101.

    OverTwistWillie

    Lil’ Ronnie is out in Texas telling the oil and gas lobby the sun won’t rise in the east. There is not too bright, and then there is Texas.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @kalakal:

    I toured a local charter school once – it was for autistic kids- and I thought it was a firetrap, which I said, loudly, on the tour. It was in a storefront from the 1930s – there’s a set of these buildings locally and they all have a large front room and hallway with series of smaller rooms behind along a hallway to a back exit. It only lasted two years before the director was indicted for spending state funds on a side business she was running so the fire hazard was averted, but I was just disgusted by the tour. She just threw this thing together and someone in Columbus rubberstamped it.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kelly: Freckles sounds like a dog among dogs, sure to be in heaven.

    When I was 2 and my brother 3, our dog Trixie was asleep. He and I wandered off from our house on multiple occasions causing all kinds of mayhem and carnage in the neighborhood. We even got arrested* once. Ma could NOT keep track of us. She always said, what one of us didn’t think of, the other one did.

    *OK ok… not really, but Ma got served with papers after we had vandalized somebody’s pool. You know, water makes good splash. We had a gay old time throwing everything that wasn’t bolted down into the pool, including a set of barbells.

  111. 111.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Suzanne: I have a lot of All Clad products but no slow cooker of any kind so I followed your lead to the Williams Sonoma site and read the low reviews for all three models. Peeling and rusting issues. They do not seem worth the money to me.

  112. 112.

    Juju

    @Kay: it would be an easy code to write.  Just have a rule that you can’t take money, money gifts, expensive travel gifts, jobs for your spouse, temporary or permanent or anything but dinner $300 or below, from billionaires, millionaires and thousandsaires who became your “friend” just before or during the nomination, or after your confirmation.  Or something along those lines.

  114. 114.

    Suzanne

    @satby: This is the one that I saw in the store (4 stars). Looking at the description, it says that the Dutch oven part is removable and can be used on the stove.

    It seems small, though. My crockpot is bigger and I usually fill it.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @Juju:

    It’s just nuts that local judges have stricter rules than SCOTUS. Our judges (and clerks) can’t take anything – not a plate of cookies, nothing.

    It’s also bullshit that Thomas isn’t influenced by these gifts because “he was a Right wing nut anyway”. He changed his position on Chevron to align with the Kochs. The fact is they ARE influencing him – he gets further and further Right the more he attends these functions and accepts their lavish gifts. He’s in this elite, billionaire Right wing bubble and it absolutely has pushed him further Right and more and more out of touch.

  117. 117.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Suzanne:

    The AllClad one is not a cheap item, but if it is good quality, maybe I can get it as a gift or with a bonus or something. 

    Is the price comparable to a new 6-qt Instant Pot?

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: Even if (and I don’t buy that if for a second) he is not influenced by the gifts, judges should still avoid the appearance of impropriety.  And he most certainly is not.

  120. 120.

    dnfree

    @Suzanne: Have you considered an Instant Pot?  They can also be used as slow cookers.  I bought a separate lid for when using the slow cooker function.

  121. 121.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl: No way $10 footlong sub anywhere is packed with that much meat.  Get it together, Jack! :)

    (I know it’s an advertising picture.)

    Also, Jersey Mike’s is stupidly overpriced and not that good.

  122. 122.

    dnfree

    @rikyrah: Agreed!  “Reporters” for the Supreme Court seem more like self-satisfied stenographers awed to be in such august company.  Even some of the reporters I thought were insightful.

  124. 124.

    mrmoshpotato

    @dnfree:

    I bought a separate lid for when using the slow cooker function. 

    Did you just get a glass or metal lid for Instant Pot slow cooking?

  126. 126.

    Suzanne

    @Sure Lurkalot: The one that I saw in the store yesterday is this one. Read the reviews and have seen no mention of peeling or rusting. I’m not sure what there would even be to peel. I think I will wait. I like the idea of being able to sear meat on the stove and then slow-cook in the same vessel. But I think the smaller size is an issue.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

     

     

    The Recount (@therecount) posted at 8:50 AM on Fri, Sep 22, 2023:
    Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has been indicted on federal corruption and bribery-related charges. The senator’s wife was also charged “in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen.”

    The senator was indicted on similar corruption charges in 2015.

    The Recount (@therecount) posted at 8:59 AM on Fri, Sep 22, 2023:
    In the indictment, prosecutors in New York said they found “over $480,000 in cash—much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe—” at the Menendez home, as well as “fingerprints and/or DNA” of a co-defendant.

    https://t.co/uuaeGMiv3Q https://t.co/xOX520ZDlN
    (https://x.com/therecount/status/1705220345098010949?t=F1bzmkfhDHrA3oPkQJaPww&s=03)

  128. 128.

    Emily B.

    @Betty Cracker: Well, I held my nose and not only voted for Menendez last time, I donated to his campaign and made phone calls to GOTV in Hudson County. I don’t regret it, because Menendez’s vote in the Senate helped make Biden’s legislative victories possible. But I’m not doing it again.

  129. 129.

    jonas

    @Kay: I thought a recent SCOTUS decision basically made it impossible to prosecute political bribery any longer. If the US attorney thinks he has a case, it must be a *whopper*.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    I LOVE THIS

     

    Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) posted at 9:00 AM on Fri, Sep 22, 2023:
    BOOM. President Biden just released an ad of Nikki Haley saying he’s the most pro-union president, Tim Scott talking about the first bill Biden passed helping unions, & a Fox anchor saying how President Biden “prioritizes union jobs” & captioned it “Yes.” This is how it’s done.

     

     

    Victor Shi (@Victorshi2020) posted at 9:03 AM on Fri, Sep 22, 2023:
    Watch here. This is just so good. Yes, President Biden has been the most pro-union, pro-worker president of our lifetimes. Glad Republicans are helping us admit it!

    https://t.co/Fy4opbw0IJ
    (https://x.com/Victorshi2020/status/1705221316477845743?t=7sRGE6sH1SWas93H-G76-A&s=03)

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    The Serfs (@theserfstv) posted at 4:06 PM on Thu, Sep 21, 2023:
    Matt Walsh wants to revert to a time when only land owning white men could vote

     

    Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) posted at 2:32 PM on Thu, Sep 21, 2023:
    Matt Walsh rails against universal voting rights: “It’s not fundamental to your human nature that you automatically are entitled to have a say over the political system in your country” https://t.co/j89RxV1tcj
    (https://x.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1704941809661600217?t=jl5rO6HAR1C9ce7z9Iogrw&s=03)

  134. 134.

    Geminid

    @jonas: The scope of the Supreme Court’s ruling on former Virginia Governor McDonnell is often exaggerated. Plenty of politicians and individuals have been convicted on federal bribery charges since the McDonnell case. An example would be the recent conviction of former Ohio Republican leader Householder(?).

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Whatever they do will be weak – Kavanaugh still objects to an actual ethics code – but they’re definitely feeling the heat.

     

    Of course he does.

    We still don’t know who paid off his 2 million in debts.

  136. 136.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Yesterday I saw some white lady whining on Twitter about how home-schooling curricula is getting too “woke” and how parents like her need to fight back to protect Christian Values™ etc.  It led me to an Op-Ed by Anthea Butler from last year pointing out the history of racists using home-schooling to keep their kids away from those people, shield them from any sort of progressive education and in general to undercut our public school system in the US.

    Just below that I saw a critique by Cato Institute.  For shits and giggles, I decided to read it and found this gem:

    most recent federal data on why parents choose homeschooling reveal that “concern about the environment of other schools, including safety, drugs, and negative peer pressure,” is the top motivator.

    This is such a perfect, white, Libertarian moment.  As someone who comes from a family of white, Libertarians (who all proudly claim to not see color and love MLK for that one quote, but nothing else etc.) allow me to translate.  “Concerns” about safety, drugs and negative peer pressure etc., are all just code for Fear of A Black Planet Student Body.  These are the same worries that people used to justify opposing school integration.  It’s just a way of saying all that, while maintaining a thin veneer of plausible deniability.  It’s almost funny (but hardly surprising) that Cato takes these statements at face value while purposely ignoring the historical subtext.  The fact that they think this is some sort of Touche that disproves the truth of what Butler contended, would be hilarious if it weren’t so damn predictable and sad.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    The original whining about “political correctness” in the 1990’s was based on their objections to date rape being a crime, so this goes back a long ways. The rapists didn’t want rape prosecuted- there’s a shocker.

     

    Remember how DeVos rolled back reporting for rapes on college campuses

  138. 138.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    @Kay: Dems should’ve punted that crook in a primary last time he got busted. Yeah, he was acquitted in that case because most bribery is legal, but it’s sleazy, and it hurts the party.

     

    Didn’t he get re-elected? After the first set of charges?

  139. 139.

    jonas

    @rikyrah:“It’s not fundamental to your human nature that you automatically are entitled to have a say over the political system in your country”

    This is literally a paraphrase of Charles I’s defense of his authority shortly before they cut off his head:

    “the liberty and freedom of the people consists in having a government. It is not their having a share in the government…A subject and a sovereign are clean different things…”

  140. 140.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ken: I remember that movie! Tho’ I don’t remember the theme song. Was it just so awful that I’ve blocked it from my memory?

  142. 142.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Miss Bianca: When the very chagrined cop came with the papers my mother answered the door with a fussy me on her hip and 3 yr old Dave hiding behind her, not sure what my 5 yo and 8 yo sisters were up to. Our dog Trixie broke her tether and came running around the house hell bent on defending her housemates from the uniformed menace. The cop, who had been bitten by another dog 3 days before, pulled his piece and said, “Lady, if you don’t get that dog away from me I am going to kill it.”

    Ma’s 1st or 2nd pr 3rd thought was, “And George is off playing golf!”

  145. 145.

    Craig

    @Kay: damn. So it’s seems pretty apparent that the Koch’s focused on overturning Chevron, Thomas kept getting flown to their events and hanging out at The Grove, and his thoughts on Chevron ‘evolved’. That stinks. Thomas is a corrupt fucker. I used to spend a lot of time in Bohemia. I saw Stephen Breyer give a talk in 2006. My boss was a member and had the contract for all the audio support up there. If those trees could talk.

  147. 147.

    laura

    @Craig: I worked at the Guerneville Safeway in the mid 80’s. The limos of fancy ladies – So Many fancy ladies! A high school chum used to work the Grove and in addition to all the cash, lots and lots of the devil’s dandruff.

  148. 148.

    wjca

    @Emily B.: I held my nose and not only voted for Menendez last time, I donated to his campaign and made phone calls to GOTV in Hudson County. I don’t regret it, because Menendez’s vote in the Senate helped make Biden’s legislative victories possible. But I’m not doing it again.

    What you seem to be saying is that he needs to be (successfully!) primaried.  How feasible is that?

  149. 149.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Too many of them thought when a woman said “yes” to a date with them that meant she consented to everything, including sex with them! They felt entitled to it, they spent money after all. *rolleyes* So, so disgusting.

  150. 150.

    Bupalos

     

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    That’s reall not universally true. Exurban and rural schools are in general overwhelmingly white and also I’d guess are the home districts of the majority of home schoolers. Also a lot of exurban and rural schools are in crisis from drugs and revenue drops due to farmers (or folks living on farm property) basically withdrawing from their community.

  151. 151.

    Craig

     

    @laura:  I talked a few times with a member who told me of going up there with his dad as a teenager. Lots of blow stories. Not that much of that when I was there.

  152. 152.

    Geminid

    @Bupalos: I would point out that there are a lot of Black people living in rural and exurban counties from Delaware to Texas, and west of Texas there are a lot of Hispanics and Natives living in these areas.

  153. 153.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: You’re right, and in a way they can’t help it; the more they’re around people like that and only hear what they think, the more they agree with them. It’s inevitable.

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