Last night, Bill and I watched coverage of the dumb and embarrassing antics in the U.S. House. There was a segment where reporters followed Matt Gaetz around the Capitol while he complained about Kevin McCarthy’s deficiencies but declined to commit to filing a motion to vacate the Speaker’s chair.
Bill and I are in the habit of wagering trivial sums when we disagree about a likely outcome, so I bet him a nickel Gaetz would file the motion by Friday. Later that evening, I collected my $0.05.
Like his role model Trump, dominance is Gaetz’s shtick, so he wasn’t going to make all that noise and back down, even if he knows he doesn’t have the juice to oust McCarthy. Josh Marshall at TPM:
That (the motion to vacate) ain’t great for McCarthy. But as we’ve discussed, we can’t see this as only a matter of the motion to vacate and remove McCarthy as Speaker. Without a new Speaker, the House freezes into a sequence of repeated votes like we saw back in January. The hardliners enjoy a very, very small hurdle to oust McCarthy. But to make it stick they must replace him. For that all the dynamics flip on their head. Now they need all but four members to unite around an alternative. That means getting the votes of scores of reps who are furious at Gaetz for forcing this latest crisis in the first place. It means convincing them all to hand him a historic victory.
Marshall says it looks like House Dems aren’t going to freelance, so they’ll follow Hakeem Jeffries’ lead. Meanwhile, McCarthy’s nuts are in a vise no matter what.
Democrats owe McCarthy nothing since he reneged on the deal he made in May during the debt ceiling crisis. So, they aren’t going to help him now for free — or at least, they shouldn’t, IMO.
However, if McCarthy makes concessions to Dems to hang on as speaker, that will further inflame the MAGA dolts. And if he doesn’t bargain with Dems, the MAGA loons can keep kicking him out for not enacting their unpopular agenda, meaning McCarthy’s speakership will be alive and dead at the same time.
***
Speaking of Repubs whose nuts are in a vise, here’s a blasphemous abomination the Defendant posted on his crappy social media platform:
That’s White Jeebus on the right, not Alexander Skarsgård wearing a wig, fake beard and flowing robes for some reason. I’m kind of surprised Trump liked this drawing so much because it shows his jowls, wattles, wrinkles and multi-dimensional combover components in such stark detail. Maybe the divine association makes the unflattering (but accurate!) representation tolerable.
***
Speaking of assholes and crappy social media platforms, an NBC News article alleges that before Elon Musk bought Twitter outright, he received texts from an unknown sender recommending a post on a far-right blog that is a “playbook” for the platform’s “transformation.”
The blog is run by former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie, a Stephen Miller hire who was later fired for appearing at an event with notorious white nationalists. In the spring of 2022, Beattie urged Musk to buy the platform, advocating the move on Steve Bannon’s podcast and Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program:
“I really hope that Elon will go ahead with it, that he’s not just another rich guy, that he’s someone who wants to be a great man,” Beattie said April 12, 2022, on Carlson’s show. “There are a variety of mechanisms, but it all cashes out to this: a declaration of war on the regime.”
NBC says Musk has followed the steps outlined in the post pretty closely. As recommended, he rolled out the welcome mat for fascists and Nazi scumbags, released internal communications from the former Twitter management team, disrupted “blue checks” and picked a fight with the Anti-Defamation League.
But if Musk is following that roadmap, maybe he didn’t read to the end, where the author predicted “deplatforming,” i.e., the platform’s removal from app stores. That’s how Parler went tits up. Perhaps Musk crossed out “deplatforming” and wrote in “PROFITS!” Like a gen-you-WINE business genius.
Open thread.
matt
So Jesus is also on trial for fraud?
SiubhanDuinne
I always thought Jesus kept better company. Like thieves and prostitutes.
SiubhanDuinne
@matt:
That will make @eversor happy.
schrodingers_cat
I am glad that the Orange Error is being finally held to account. Why did this not happen before when he was strutting around on the national stage since I don’t know the 80s. Were the NY state prosecutors asleep? Also why didn’t NYT dig into his financial shenanigans in 2016 instead of the BUT HER EMAILZ coverage.
From the other thread. Forgive me for spamming the threads with this issue. But I think if India descends further into the pits of authoritarianism it won’t be good for us here either.
trucmat
The fantasies they invent! Anyone that knows me can clearly see that is me sitting there next to Trump. I’m just there to cough *Bullshit!* every time he tells a lie. He’s looking so pissed off because he can’t get the judge to remove me.
Kent
As a long-time partisan Democrat, I have to say that I can’t honestly figure out how I want this whole House GOP fiasco to play out.
So I’m just watching with morbid curiosity.
Ken
Cracking down on broken windows, if I recall correctly.
From what I’ve read, Trump’s legal team is using the “everybody does it” defense*, and a few people have chimed in to confirm that yes, indeed, everyone in the real estate business routinely falsifies business records. So maybe that will prompt some more intense scrutiny?
* Among many others; it would be more accurate to say they’re using the “throw everything against the wall” defense.
Redshift
My favorite caption I’ve seen for that drawing is “oh, shit, Trump is going to get Jesus disbarred!”
hells littlest angel
Congratulations on winning your bet, but Trump backs down all the time. He backs down more often than he follows through.
Redshift
@schrodingers_cat: Yeah, I saw that this morning. Pretty appalling.
jonas
That “Jesus” just cracks me up. It’s so obvious that these assclowns so badly want Jesus to have been a pagan Nordic god.
Ken B
Am I the only one that thinks White Jeebus is pointedly not looking at Trump? That their body language is sort of like Trump and Melania?
Betty Cracker
@hells littlest angel: Fair point!
FelonyGovt
I don’t understand Gaetz’s endgame on this Speaker thing. They don’t have a replacement for McCarthy, they don’t have the votes to kick him out, either side would need the Dems to cooperate. And I wonder what Jeffries is going to do- hopefully he’s consulting with Nancy Smash.
Ken
@Kent: My fondest hope is that ten Freedom Caucus members resign in a huff; or that McCarthy manages to get a similar number of his detractors ejected. But I recognize that’s unlikely, so I’m just prepping a half-dozen variations of “Did you see the idiotic thing the House Republicans did today” to drop into conversations.
kindness
As much as I am enjoying Trump as defendant, I don’t see jail time with the NY charges. The Georgia & Florida charges on the other hand…. Let’s see how Jesus handles orange one-pieces.
SFAW
Considering what a nutjob he turned out to be, I think you might have meant Jim Caviezel?
RandomMonster
I have half a mind to do a photoshopped parody of that drawing.
Ken
@RandomMonster: QAnon Shaman instead of Jesus, perhaps?
SFAW
@jonas:
It’s been shown, with geometric logic, that Jeebus was born in Oslo, but then his parents heard of the welfare state in Nazareth or Bethlehem or wherever it was, and moved there. Or something
Delk
Jesus doesn’t look too happy to be sitting next to trump. That hair looks like he’d rather be lip syncing Stand Back in front of a fan.
J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)
I don’t get that picture of Jesus H. Christ with T***p and the caption, which states that “nobody would have made it this far alone”. Do they mean “as far as this trial”? Taking it further, did Jesus H. Christ play a key role in T***p’s criminal activities that resulted in his being a defendant in a criminal trial? I hope all of this comes out at the trial.
Josie
@Kent:
I’m feeling the same way. I think we can trust Jeffries (guided by Pelosi) to figure out the smart move. Fingers crossed.
RandomMonster
Genius!
Jeffro
The Post has up a truly great op-ed: America doesn’t need more god. It needs more atheists.
1,142% cor-RECT
And it only gets better from there.
YES!
More of this plz Post!
Redshift
@FelonyGovt: Gaetz has no endgame for Congress, only for himself. He’s supposedly planning on running for governor, and has a career of grifting ahead of him either way, so all of this is to burnish his reputation with the mouth breathers they’ve trained to hate the federal government.
Betty Cracker
I saw a new poll earlier showing that an even greater share of the public trusts Repubs more than Dems on the economy. I do NOT understand how this fantasy persists decade after decade. But a letter to the editor from one of the many Repub morons in my community sheds some light:
The letter went on to complain about every dime directed to Ukraine and other countries, without acknowledging that these are investments in global stability that, at least notionally, are designed to forestall the need for expensive U.S. intervention down the road or disruptions that tank everyone’s economies, including ours.
Meanwhile, Repubs funnel billions to the mega-rich in the form of tax cuts every time they control the government and start ruinous wars that pour trillions down a rat hole. But they’re the fiscally responsible ones. Drives me nuts!
Repubs do tend to get the blame for government shutdowns, but they reap the benefit from idiots who think the shutdowns are genuine protests for fiscal responsibility. How do we expose that lie?
Ishmael
Hollywood Jesus also has tiny hands, maybe because he’s missing a finger?
SFAW
@Kent:
I’m thinking leaving a bunch of baseball bats or axe handles in whichever room the Rethug caucus meets, then locking and chaining the doors shut. But that’s just me, because I’m not a good person.
Shalimar
@Kent: As someone who lived in Matt Gaetz’s district previously before moving 2 months ago, the only two things I want from the fiasco are for it to continue until the next Congress is seated in 2025 and for Gaetz to get crushed and humiliated. It seems like this current fight is a good time to focus on #2.
schrodingers_cat
@Redshift: They have been booked under anti-terrorism charges. Total BS charges. They are trying to intimidate the 10% of media that hasn’t sold out/or is afraid
I wish what is happening in India gets an ounce of attention that Ukraine gets (here and elsewhere).
Redshift
@kindness:
The fraud trial is a civil case, not criminal, so no one is getting jail time in that one.
Josie
@Ishmael:
I read somewhere that missing fingers were a clue to an AI drawing.
Shalimar
@SFAW: You’re a better person than me. They’re the party of the 2nd Amendment. You have to leave guns in the locked/chained room.
Redshift
@Ishmael: Maybe it was AI-generated? Getting hands wrong is one of the common clues for that.
MattF
I find it hard to comprehend Trump’s level of hypocrisy, much less attribute any particular meaning to it. So, OK, now Jesus is Trump’s ‘special’ friend, and supports those ‘special’ real estate assessments? He should get back with the more respectable whores and thieves, IMO.
Mr. Bemused Senior
ChatGPT? [I couldn’t resist]
Shalimar
The only way I can think of is for Biden and Democrats to push as hard during the shutdown for repealing the tax cuts on corporations and capital gains and people earning over $250k a year as Republicans do for their spending cuts, and let Americans compare how those possible solutions will affect them personally.
OzarkHillbilly
@Shalimar: If I had to choose between getting shot or beaten to death with a baseball bat, I’d pick getting shot, so long as it wasn’t in the gut.
BC in Illinois
@SFAW:
Old Pennsylvania Joke:
— When Jesus was born in Allentown . . .
— Allentown?!? NO! Jesus was born in Bethlehem!
— Well, I knew it was somewhere in the Lehigh Valley.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Ken:
This Fordham Law Review article from 1974 says that the defense of “everybody does it” doesn’t apply (I think pages 500-501). Statute’s been in place since 1956, so there’s a solid body of law on it.
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1639&context=ulj
Lyrebird
@SiubhanDuinne: I was gonna say the same thing! Your wording is better.
Seriously, the Christians I know would likely point out that Jesus was crucified next to thieves and yes he’s reachable by everyone, including the accused. These folks would take offense at the apparent exclusivity here. If Jesus is sitting by the defendant, Jesus is also sitting by the prosecutor. Deities can do that, especially ones that are supposed to be all-hearing and all-merciful.
Our family is a big mix. I had to go and do an image search for “Arab Jesus” artwork to rinse out my brain.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@kindness:
Trump does intend to perjure himself to save his business certificates (and keep in mind that EVERYTHING titled to those certificate names passes into a receiver’s hands for liquidation, wheresoever located, so literally everything that El Caudillo de la Mar-a-Lago lays claim to can be sold off).
Geminid
@RandomMonster: There is an altered version of the picture out that replaces Jesus with a very scary-looking portrait of Satan.
hueyplong
@SFAW: Like the reference to geometric logic, Cap’n.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Lyrebird:
I personally think that that it’s very on-brand that American Jesus is happy to angrily take the side of and defend a serial con artist, tax cheat, racist, misogynist would-be dictator.
Lyrebird
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Were you recently dealing with an elderly parent or in-law in a crisis?
I’ve got something similar, and with a little luck it will be less thorny than what you had to cope with. I’ve been comforting myself with that thought as I fake having diplomacy skills re: capricious companions and stuff.
Begging pardon if I misremembered.
Shalimar
@OzarkHillbilly: I would say the gunshots would be a lot more likely to lead to fatal wounds, but let’s face it, the vast majority of these elected officials have never even fired a gun. All they do is pose with them. There would be a lot of misses.
Mike in Pasadena
The Defendant. Betty, you nailed it. The donald is now the Defendant. That’s how i’m referring to him from now on. Perfect.
randy khan
I feel like Gaetz has no end game if he ousts McCarthy. Maybe he just wants to torture a kitten, and figures it’s McCarthy in the end. I did see him say that he thought that McCarthy getting propped up by the Dems would be a good result, which I find bizarre. If anything, that will make it even harder to get the nut job agenda (such as it is) in place.
dmsilev
@kindness: This trial (brought by NY State) is a civil matter, not criminal, so jail time isn’t on the table. The NY City trial, scheduled I think for this winter, is criminal. As are the Federal cases and the Georgia one.
There are so many, it’s hard to keep track.
Cameron
Shouldn’t Jesus be wearing a tie if he’s with Trump?
Righteous Hazard
The DC press corps is depressingly stupid. We are watching them create another Trump in real time.
Shalimar
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: The creators of our two biggest homegrown religions were Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard, so that checks out.
rikyrah
@Kent:
If we could figure out a way to get rid of Gaetz, I’d be happy..LOL
Matt McIrvin
JESUS: He’s still there, isn’t he?
OzarkHillbilly
@Shalimar: I am assuming that death will be the inevitable result for all involved, which is surely not guaranteed for whatever weapon one chooses. A man can dream, can’t he?
Ken
@Shalimar: From Three Kings:
“No unnecessary shots, Conrad, ’cause we know what they do.”
“Make infected pockets full of bile, sir.”
SFAW
@hueyplong:
Well, I was cranky, because
the galley crewmy wife at the last of the strawberries.Jackie
@matt: He may be – TIFG didn’t wear a red tie yesterday. I’m sure Jesus was aware, yet approved this drawing, anyway. Jesus must be a fraud//
OzarkHillbilly
I doubt that is Gaetz’s agenda. I think he is aiming for a FOX news talking head slot, but he’ll probably end up at OAN or Newsmax.
WaterGirl
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: is perjury under oath in a criminal trial considered a crime?
Jeffro
Someone must be able to do some back-of-the-envelope calculations that could tell Americans roughly what the additional cost (to no benefit) per week is of a government shutdown. Bat that number around and see if it’ll resonate with the odd ‘principled conservative’ or blessed ‘independent voter’ here and there.
Longer term, Peter Coy of the NYT had a piece up a few days ago that noted the obvious: we absolutely cannot begin to get our fiscal house in order without restoring the tax rates (to include increased IRS enforcement) that we used to have on the rich and corporations.
So…”make the rich pay their fair share” seems like a pretty good argument to me. It really is the root of most of our problems these past few decades.
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: I’m not sure exposing the lie would make any difference to people who have made Republican economic genius an article of faith.
WaterGirl
@Mike in Pasadena: actually, I noticed in the DC trial or maybe it was in Georgia, he’s not referred to as the defendant he is just referred to as Defendant. Which I think is even better because it’s not a description it’s just that’s your new name like your prison number. defendant.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I think one thing that has already changed is that Democratic politicians and liberal pundits themselves are no longer inclined to take Republican calls for fiscal austerity as being in good faith. As late as the 2000s that was not the case.
The polls on “the economy”… who knows what they’re thinking of. I don’t think most people even know what they’re referring to when they speak of “the economy.” Sometimes it’s about the stock market, sometimes it’s things like unemployment and inflation, sometimes it’s just a general sense that they don’t like taxes or high prices.
I recall how Bill Clinton intuited at that town-hall meeting that when somebody asked him about what he would do about “the deficit” she was really talking about jobs. What people say and what they mean are often not even closely related.
Betty
@randy khan: I read that this may be about distracting from an Ethics Committee Report about to come out on Gaetz’s multiple offenses.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: I think maybe he wants to be the next Tucker Carlson.
Cameron
@OzarkHillbilly: He’s already got the talking head part down. Bigly.
RandomMonster
I’ll take a look for it!
MisterDancer
Oh, look, everyone! It’s Trump with White Jesus!
(I…I just can’t, today.)
Shalimar
@OzarkHillbilly: I think Gaetz has known DeSantis for over a decade and sees himself as a superior version, so his goal is to replace Ron as Florida Governor in 2 years. There have been rumors of that in the last month or so, and I buy it. I don’t know if he can win a Republican primary. His brand is being a slimeball. But I think he’s going to run.
Alison Rose
That sound you just heard wasn’t distant thunder, it was God laughing his fucking ass off.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro:
Tell that to the Iliad.
Tell that to the Gesta Danorum. There is no clear line where religious mythology ends and oral history begins.
Mao killed over 100 million of his own people with his atheist ideology, so I guess I can’t argue with that.
I have no patience for ‘atheism is morally better’ arguments. Humans will find a way to justify our evil and our good. Gods are only one popular choice.
Almost Retired
We have often noted on this site how association with Trump physically ages you beyond your years (cf. John Eastman, “everything Trump touches ages” etc). And now he claims to have recruited Jeebus. And look at him. At most, he’s 33.
Matt McIrvin
@Cameron: It may not even mean anything at all, to many respondents–it’s just “here’s the question where you say you trust the Republicans more so you don’t look like a purely partisan Democrat”.
MattF
@OzarkHillbilly: Gaetz wants to be famous, he wants to have reporters following him around. It’s happening now— this is the end game. And also not go to prison for trafficking teen-aged girls.
zhena gogolia
I love Jesus’s Aryan nose.
Shalimar
@WaterGirl: Perjury under oath in civil or criminal court is a crime, yes.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: Hahahaha!
RSA
Anyone else notice how old American Jesus looks, being at most 33? Sunscreen, dude.
eversor
Trump doesn’t have wattles you olds he has a nussy. Aka a neck pussy.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t think Gaetz has an agenda at all. It’s like the Joker in Batman. The Joker points out that everyone else is a schemer but he’s just chasing cars and wouldn’t know what to do if he caught one. Which sums up Gaetz pretty well.
Betty Cracker
@Cameron: I agree, but according to this Gallup poll, a majority believe this, not just Repub die-hards. Via Semafore:
I think low-info, loosely- or non-affiliated voters are susceptible to this myth because Repub pols squeal about spending a lot. We need a sustained campaign to bust this myth because it is bullshit. The country does better economically under Dems — it’s a fact.
Joy in FL
@SiubhanDuinne: “I always thought Jesus kept better company. Like thieves and prostitutes.“
You won my slice of the internet today.
Josie
@Frankensteinbeck: This is so true. People can spout off about their various religions or lack of same, but the truth is that no one really knows. It’s why I prefer agnoticism. Most belief systems seem to be excuses for doing what we choose to do.
ETA: Or have already done.
Jeffro
@Frankensteinbeck: tell you what, if you have a minute, go read the article and get back to me. There are a lot of other benefits to being an atheist, and you just might find yourself agreeing with the author on a few things (since they’re echoed right there in your own statements). Oh that’s right, you don’t have any patience, my bad. Never mind.
Juju
@randy khan: Gaetz is taking orders from his master, Trump. I wish a reporter somewhere, anywhere would ask Gaetz when he’s going to get tired of having Trump’s tiny hand up his ass working his mouth, but I figure the chances of that are about the same as me winning Powerball.
Also, who knew that Jesus looks like Robert Redford when he played Jeremiah Johnson?
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Did you read the article or just the excerpts? Here’s a gift link. The author (Kate Cohen) makes a pretty good case for why U.S. politics would improve if people who don’t believe in gods came out of the closet.
It’s not that atheists are morally superior or incapable of evil. It’s that generally you get better outcomes if you make decisions on policy, etc., based on evidence rather than superstition.
Cohen also concedes that plenty of religious people are on board with that approach, but she rightly points out that a lot of the worst shit going on in the U.S. now, including anti-abortion policies that strip women of their agency and anti-LGBTQ policies that oppress millions, are based on religious fanaticism.
Matt McIrvin
@J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian):
Jesus wouldn’t have to be in this damned courtroom if it weren’t for that loser Trump!
Jim Appleton
@schrodingers_cat: See also
https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/10/the-religious-link-between-hindu-nationalism-and-christian-nationalism-and-why-we-should-all-be-worried.html
smith
Save yourself some money — just turn off the metal detectors and they’ll bring their own.
randy khan
@Juju:
LOL on God/Robert Redford. But you could have worse models.
Anyway, so what you’re saying is that Gaetz has no end game, as he will await instructions from his master. That wouldn’t surprise me.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
Last I heard he was completely safe on that one? Didn’t the DOJ give up on it because of insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute? Yeah, I looked it up. No surprise. His friend who pled guilty had a lot of other crimes on his list. Prosecuting a man for hiring an underage prostitute is tough, since the prostitute will be charged if she testifies.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
My understanding is he plans to run for governor. Poor Betty.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro: and @Betty Cracker:
Then I suggest Jeffro quote the parts that aren’t just making the ‘religion is bad’ argument.
EDIT – I grant you, I may be feeling unfairly hair trigger about it with eversor going off so much lately.
Chris T.
“The regime” being … the duly elected government of the United States of America? So he’s declaring war on the USA?
Sure Lurkalot
@Ken: Well, I lived and breathed commercial real estate for quite a while and there are national firms that are hired to contest assessors’ valuations portfolio wide on an ongoing basis. Their payment is usually a percentage of the savings the owner reaps on its property tax bills.
Not to say that assessment can’t be erroneous or that such representation is fraudulent but often it results in an assessor’s appraised value being less than what’s on the financial statements. Assessors do not appraise properties like appraisers do…they rely on averages and similarities and are not aware of unique qualities a property might have. I have no doubt that the differences can be quite egregious.
Too many of our citizens are fine with tax shelters, avoidance and cheating. Bankers are incentivized to make loans early and often and turn a blind eye to red flags. Heck, many of the banks I worked with…Wells, Chase, Deutsche to name a few, barely enforced their financial covenants (like the quarterly submittal of financial statements) and if they did, they were filed without examination. As long as fees and interest are paid, they couldn’t give a shit.
Ken
@geg6: Hopefully his primary opponents can portray Gaetz as “the man who lost the House to the Democrats” — that should cut into his support.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim Appleton: I will read your link, but it hasn’t escaped my notice that Vivek Ramaswamy is clearly being boosted by Modi supporting bots and trolls on social media site formerly known as Twitter.
I would not be surprised if he (and his parents) is an unapologetic brahmin supremacist and a supporter of the RSS
In the last election Modi supporting trolls and bots were spreading lies about Biden and Harris. Things got so heated that I left husband kitteh’s family WhatsApp group that had formed to discuss the US elections. I gave them a piece of my mind about the lies that they were swallowing wholescale. They belong to the same subcaste that Vivek R belongs to BTW.
Geminid
@RandomMonster: I saw this version on Ron Filipkowski’s Twitter timeline.
CaseyL
I cannot get my head around that poll claiming people trust the GOP more on economic matters. Have the respondents been living under rocks for the past 20 years?
Sometimes I really do wonder if humans respond automatically to stimuli the same way plants do: GOP = Fiscal Responsibility! Law’n’Order! Defense! simply because that’s how the GOP has been portrayed since time immemorial.
Remember, during the height of the Iraq War, whenever the city Basra was mentioned, it was always “the holy city of Basra”? No mention of why Basra was holy, or how the city’s history made it holy, or if the people living there were holy, too. If you did a word association test with any reporter from that era and said “Basra” they’d respond “Holy city.” And then look blank when you asked them why.
Same thing when they’re talking about domestic politics. The tropes are ingrained too deeply to uproot.
Juju
@randy khan: I’m sure his endgame is similar to Trump’s, power and money. My guess is that he’s probably like the underpants gnomes, and doesn’t know the in between part.
hueyplong
I’m thinking maybe the Aryan dude next to Trump in the courtroom drawing is Siegfried. After all, Defendant is a strapping 6’3″ and Aryan dude appears to be much bigger.
Can’t be Jesus. If it were, you’d think somewhere in the Gospels there would be a reference to Jesus being a foot taller than everyone else in every scene. I guess the best hint they give us is the bit about Joseph not being the biological father.
Maybe Siegfried is the accountant who actually knows something about GAAP and can testify for Trump, though with summary judgment already granted it appears that Trump’s crackerjack counsel might have missed yet another thing that paid counsel might have caught.
Bill Arnold
@schrodingers_cat:
No, just unwilling to take action against a vindictive wealthy con-man & thief, who had a stable of attack lawyers.
Cowards, basically. People in NYC knew what he was.
Memory Pallas
Unless Jesus has been given a child’s booster seat, this picture proves that Trump is not really 6’3″ and 215 lbs.
ETA ooh comment 103 kinda got there first.
MisterDancer
@Betty Cracker: I read the article. I’d like to point out, for the record, the long-assed history in atheist and skeptic circles of all manner of bigotry.
Indeed, some of the Atheist voices I do listen to, such as Steve Shines and Rebecca “Skepchic” Watson, came to my awareness from fighting those very efforts. indeed, the latter just did a video (transcript) on how atheist values are oft-built from what you learn from your parents:
So to me, I cannot buy that Atheism, in and of itself, can and will save America. I also remind everyone that Scientific Racism was a very powerful force in the Victorian Era, and helped seal the deal when it came to both encouraging Colonialism and specifically chattel slavery…and is still seen today in efforts such as The Bell Curve.
The writer of that WaPo article, I think comes from a good place. And they are right that we need more “truth claims be tethered to fact”. But the route to that is by encouraging society to develop better tools, regardless of your religious background, for truth telling. to dismantle systems that allow not just lies, but propaganda, to be distributed. To bring in legislators who will enact laws that lean on scientific discovery alongside strong ethical guidelines.
And I say that because, in my estimation, we have to defend against bad-faith Atheists as much as with any other group.
Frankensteinbeck
@Chris T.:
My guess would be that this is a reference to the conservative belief that they are being oppressed by society telling them to not be bigots. So many public services will kick them out for little things like the n- word or Holocaust denial. The federal government is on the woke side a lot of the time. They tend to describe this as some sort of horrible undemocratic autocracy.
Anoniminous
@Frankensteinbeck:
Or he. Another one of those amazing coinky-dinkies of American jurisprudence where the victim* has no recourse.
* unless you think a 10 year old can give informed consent
Frankensteinbeck
@Anoniminous:
Good point.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Gaetz probably wouldn’t be any worse than DeSantis, and he seems a tad less organized, so maybe a flailing, criminal clown show would be better overall in the sense that it’s less effective. Or it could be a frying pan to frying pan situation.
I have wondered if Gaetz might be a bridge too far, even here, and thought that if nominated, he might lose and give FL its first Dem governor of the century. It wouldn’t be a sure thing, but maybe?
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Lyrebird:
My father-in-law – it was awful in a lot of ways.
Juju
@Jackie: I thought he was wearing a red tie, but it could have been an older video where I noticed the tie. I’m convinced that the man only has one suit and a tuxedo and that’s it.
MisterDancer
I disagree a bit. It’s more the case that efforts outside the GOP proper, such as the Club for Growth, spend decades building this up.
They sold the idea that the real secret to economic wealth was low taxes and no regulations. They pushed this in ways we’ll likely never find out the breadth and complexity of, building networks to ensure this message was populated to the masses.
And they had the wealth and patience to hire to build these campaigns, and to get the right people and media to make it happen. Reagan et. al. picked up and aligned with all this, and thus we have today’s situation.
It didn’t just happen. A lot of people spent a lot of money and time and effort, to make it happen.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@WaterGirl:
Perjury is a crime in any trial, civil or criminal.
Geminid
@CaseyL: I don’t know why people would call Basra a “holy city.” I think it might have been Sinbad the Sailor’s home port, though.
Ed. If Basra were an American town, the local boosters would probably promote a “Sinbad Days” festival. Maybe Basra’s Chamber of Commerce will do this to attract tourists some day when Iraq is more stable.
matt
@Betty Cracker: Rich people mostly being Republicans is the reason for this. Rich people are what most average people consider to be domain experts on the economy.
Matt McIrvin
@MisterDancer: The anti-Muslim/anti-Arab bigotry of Dawkins and Hitchens in the post-2001 era was built on their public atheism, and Hitchens at least seemed willing to ally with Christians to stoke fear of Muslims even while railing about the danger of Christianity. It all gave me a big dose of cynicism about whether any of this even helps. Whether you’ve got any theology or none at all, what you get out of it morally is mostly what you bring to it. Public religion seems to be fading in the US, but whether it will make people any better is an open question–I suspect it is largely neutral.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Kent: Rooting for injuries, here.
Betty Cracker
@MisterDancer: I agree — the so-called “New Atheists” are some of the most obnoxious, condescending, sexist knobs who ever drew breath! I don’t think Cohen (the WaPo columnist) is saying atheism in and of itself can save America but rather that destigmatizing nonbelief would be a net good in lots of ways.
OzarkHillbilly
@Shalimar: Yeah, I’ve heard that too. But if that is his goal he just blew a great big hole in his campaign by getting thoroughly owned by McCarthy.
Lyrebird
@MisterDancer:
Quibble:
Bell Curve: pseudoscientific window dressing on white supremacist screed… UGH
Quibble aside – and dear Heaven i hate that book – I want to note that in most of thetextbooks I’ve used that address how the eugenics movement was discredited, British theologians (Christian) get the lion’s share of the credit.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Sure Lurkalot:
“You can’t make money selling money unless you sell money” is the maxim that applies here.
A story: something in late 2006 or early 2007, I was approached by a woman who worked for an independent underwriting firm to potentially represent her. She’d been terminated for being unyielding as to loan qualifications, and the brokers and realtors were all having fits about it because their deals were having hiccups, and the company she worked for was losing some referrals.
We all later learned, of course, what that was all about.
During that same rough time period, a mortgage broker I knew called me to chat about something else we were doing, but then said that he’d had a surprising convo with a state regulator who’d been puzzled over a cluster of loans in an upscale upper middle class neighborhood. Seems that this cluster had the highest level of mortgage delinquencies and defaults by percentage of total loans in the state, numbering in the dozens. At the time he said “I think something bad is happening.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I saw a never-trumper say that a Gaetz run for FL-Gov could be just what FL Democrats need, but never-trumpers, god bless em…
Kara Swisher titled her podcast last week, “Do Never-Trumpers Matter?”, and I haven’t listened yet but I’m inclined to think the answer is no.
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker:
“We” don’t. The press simply will not permit it. The MSM owners have convinced themselves that they need to keep the both-siderism going for as long as possible in order to maximize profits. Thus, they must keep at least a handful of tropes going that fundamentally distinguish Republicans from Democrats. The two tropes that are easiest to keep going are the Republicans are better for the economy and better on national defense.
I see no way to get the MSM ownership to ever change their strategy on this.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I think that by “atheist” most people really mean “someone who constantly rails against belief in God and morally opposes religious practice”–someone like Richard Dawkins.
It’s interesting that the author comes from a Jewish background–it seems to me like there are a lot of nonbelieving Jews out there who still identify as Jewish and don’t see their atheism as disqualifying. I think some religions identify personal belief as the key element of membership much more than others–Protestant Christians, especially evangelical Protestants, maybe the most of anyone.
Betty Cracker
@matt: Good point.
Barbara
@Anoniminous: It has always baffled me that any underage person can be charged with a sex crime. There are times when I think the protection of minors can be a pretext for going after people or types of people we don’t like (for instance, the 18 year old SO of either gender who is loathed by the father of a 17 year old girl), but in the case of a 15 year old of either gender selling sex, I do not understand why it doesn’t count as statutory rape pure and simple when the “client” is an adult. It’s like this built in forgiveness for men (I mean it’s almost always men) who are just trying to satisfy their primal urges.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m glad they’re bringing up his gymnastics around trump and Jan 6, from calling for the 25th Amendment (which he probably hadn’t read) to bringing The Beast a jar of starburst.
CliosFanBoy
“When you’re famous, you can grab them by the stigmata and they let you.”
Cameron
@Betty Cracker: I agree with this, and I’m a religiousoid (other 4 sibs are atheists). You cannot compel obedience just on the grounds that certain behaviors make God quite irate.
Paul in KY
@SiubhanDuinne: I think that’s an actor playing Jesus. The real Jesus would only be there to point TFG’s path down to Hell.
bbleh
@Kent: @FelonyGovt: @Ken: @SFAW: @rikyrah: @MattF: @a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think I get Gaetz’s motivation — no publicity is bad publicity, and if McQarthy actually falls then he’ll be a giant-killer — but I do NOT understand McQarthy calling the vote on the MTV and publicly giving Dems the back of his hand. What on Earth does he think is going to happen? Does he really think enough Crazies will come around to his side? Has he secretly done a deal with Jeffries for a bunch of Dems to vote “present”? Does he imagine they’ll eventually come to their senses and re-elect him? Is he really as dumb as he appears?
I am mystified. But the odds of the motion actually passing seem to be rising almost by the minute.
trollhattan
Suggested Jesus thought balloon: “If you guys can’t get him now, verily I don’t know what I’m going to do with you people.”
cain
@SiubhanDuinne: lol – don’t encourage him – he’s finally settled the fuck down. :-)
But damn, he’s got the wrong kind of Jesus, he needs another kind of long haired guy who kicks ass – eg Steven Seagl – their politics even align! OR maybe the lesser known – Lorenzo Llamas. :)
Cameron
“So I was there to confront the DEMOCRAT HACK JUDGE about his FAKE CHARGES when Jesus appeared. ‘Sir,’ he said – he had tears in his eyes – ‘sir, may I sit next to you to show this CORRUPT KANGAROO COURT that you’ll always be MY PRESIDENT?'”
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: I think you’re right that many people associate atheism with the Dawkins/Harris/Hitchens types. And that’s just as reductive and unhelpful as cramming all Christians in the Jerry Falwell box, IMO.
I agree about the personal belief element in evangelical Christianity. Cohen made the point that some folks who don’t really believe in gods fly under the radar and aren’t counted as atheists even though technically they are, and I think that’s right too, including some people who are nominally Christians.
RaflW
@bbleh: “publicly giving Dems the back of his hand”
I just Xitted to the Squeaker that his message 3+ hours ago dissing and daring the Dems to help tank him was, like so much else he’s done, simply stupid. He (once again) angered the people who could save him, and who probably would have – by voting present – just to keep the House operating on the limited, flailing basis it is.
But that slap was, it sure appears, too much of a reminder that he’s done sh*t like say he’d require a floor vote to start impeachment, and then let the committee start anyway. And he presided over the utter sham censuring of Adam Schiff. And so much else.
Not a Justin Amash fanboi, but this take today is bang-on:
“Kevin McCarthy was by far the worst leader I served with in the Republican conference. Unprincipled, incompetent, duplicitous, vindictive, and entirely transactional.”
Scout211
@bbleh: I am reading McCarthy’s defiant words this morning. He says he will not share leadership with the Democrats and he does not expect the Democrats to help him out with the votes. He will rely on on only Republican votes and if several Republicans vote against him, he’s out (he says).
My uneducated guess? He has a plan and it very well might be a Republican motion to table or whatever that move is called. In that case, there would be no vote today and Gaetz’s power would be reduced.
But I’m usually wrong, so we’ll see. But I do think all the deals have been made in the back rooms and we will see how that turns out.
cain
@FelonyGovt:
When you’re only interested in chaos then the end game is in fact chaos. Putting House business to a complete stand still is probably the goal. His next thing is to blame the Democrats on everything – he’s really sure that’s going to work. He’s probably working with a lot of infernal networks that are interested in bringing the system down.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@RaflW:
Thank you! I was just trying to remember which Republican had used the word “duplicitous” about His Kevin. Lots of anecdotes from Democrats and Republicans about how reflexively dishonest HK is. One of the goober caucus was reported to have said to him during the 15 votes: You have lied to me and about me.
Scout211
Nominated!
RaflW
Here’s a good tidbit on how stupid McCarthy is. He baked his own cake and I guess he’ll be eating it as a back bencher soon.
@MacFarlaneNews
At House Democratic Caucus meeting, at which the party was discussing today’s vote on Kevin McCarthy, they showed a clip of McCarthy from @FaceTheNation Sunday in which McCarthy blamed Democrats for the near-government shutdown
Juju
@bbleh: I don’t think McCarthy qualifies as a giant. He’s more like one of those car dealership balloon monsters who flail around. It’s big and it’s there, but does it really accomplish anything?
Scout211
catclub
@Ken:
it would be even more accurate to say they are REPEATEDLY throwing the same worn out things at the wall and the Judge is sanctioning his lawyers for doing it.
piratedan
just a couple of speculative thoughts on the Speaker issue, I’m not all that sure that the CooCoo Caucus has all of this gamed out, I think they’re just winging it with chaos being the main goal to illustrate how dysfunctional government is and how they’re the only ones who can fix it, with them being in charge natch. Just taking that tried and true GOP trope to it’s natural conclusion.
it’s like that old national lampoon magazine cover, just substitute the dog for the government and there ya go.
As for the motion to vacate and what might ensue post the removal of McCarthy, I think it comes down to those few remaining GOP corporate shills. If/when they have enough of the abuse that Goetz and his crew dish out and defect to voting for Jeffries. Not sure that any of them are that brave based on their voting history.
Marmot
@Betty Cracker: Thanks for the gift link, Betty!
The New Atheists are such jackasses, especially Hitchens. (I guess he’s an ex-jackass.) They make us look bad.
But forever, atheists have been reviled in our society. Reviled. I learned that at church.
Would it be so bad if we depended on evidence over belief? My feeling is that conservatives thrive in systems based on belief and hucksterism. They attack systems based on evidence, like the judiciary, the news, and academia.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@schrodingers_cat:
I understand your frustration. However, in Ukraine, we actually can help. They want our help, desperately. What can we do about a sovereign and somewhat popular government in India? From my perspective, nothing effective.
Betty Cracker
One upside to McCarthy’s endless flailing: it underscores what a great Speaker Pelosi was, and it will make Jeffries look like a genius when he takes over. It sucks that the country is being damaged by these morons, but strictly from the POV of Jeffries’ career, McCarthy is a better act to follow than Pelosi!
Anoniminous
@Barbara:
I agree. And will end it there since it seems every time I get into this discussion it ends up in a morass of ‘What-about-isms.’
catclub
Wasn’t there a large foofawraw about Matt Gaetz and underage girls? Whatever came of that?
Why hasn’t McCarthy brought that up?
catclub
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
…That acts as something of a counterbalance to China in Asia. Even less.
Frankensteinbeck
@Barbara:
America has inherited a pathologically anti-sex-work mind frame.
Marmot
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: I was thinking this too. But one thing could help: The press in this country could at least try to publicize what’s happening in India.
jonas
@SFAW: Oh, no. MAGA Jesus and his family would never move to seek handouts like that. They would have stayed in their hometown and grifted what they needed from others using a fake charity or something. It’s in the Gospel According to Trump.
Paul in KY
@Shalimar: He did say ‘beaten to death’. So, either way he’s a goner.
cain
@Betty Cracker: I pointed to a reddit post yesterday in Arizona – it talked about how everything has ballooned in cost. Essentially, all of us have been taking a pay cut because going to a restaurant, or the grocery store – you can expect to spend upwards of $80 for necessities. Even just going for a night out is painful.
We _really_ need to address that because what the american people see thanks to the GOP and their cauterwaulin about Ukraine funding that it seems that nobody is spending time on this issue which affects them more than Ukraine does.
jimmiraybob
Anybody else have Trump as the nominee to replace Kev?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@catclub: local prosecutors declined to pursue charges, and the speculation was that the victim refused to testify, leaving the even scummier than Gaetz Joel Greenberg as the main witness.
It does look like there was at least some attempt on the part of GOP. leadership to play hardball. This is from just yesterday in a Pensacola paper, near (I believe) Goetz’s district
lollipopguild
@Betty Cracker: I think we have thousands of the evangelical type who stopped being christian years ago. They were so happy with trump that they came out of hiding and showed us their true colors.
LiminalOwl
@schrodingers_cat: I really appreciate your information on this issue. Thank you.
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat:
I for one appreciate you bringing attention to it.
One thing that has become painfully clear these last few hatd, horrible years is that the War for Democracy cuts across national lines. Everything is absolutely connected.
MattF
@RaflW:
When Republicans start piling up adjectives like that, it’s a sign. We’re headed for a voting marathon, IMO. WaPo says ‘dozens’ of Rs are furious with Gaetz. So, WTF.
hueyplong
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It wouldn’t be irrational to speculate that a threatened expulsion from Congress is what triggered the stories about a Gaetz strategy of seeking to become the Gauleiter of Florida
ETA-Gaetz expelled for being a pedo has to be the most Trumpy Republican plot twist ever.
Paul in KY
@Almost Retired: Good one!
Another Scott
@Scout211: TheHill.com has a story up, with more from Jeffries:
A good message, that has the benefit of being correct.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jackie
@Juju: He wore a blue tie yesterday: today he’s back to his uniform red.
here’s a link showing him yesterday:
https://www.rawstory.com/engoron-smacks-down-trump/
jonas
@Frankensteinbeck: IANAL, but is there any jurisdiction in the US where an underage girl can be prosecuted as a prostitute, as opposed to being treated as a victim of sex trafficking? Particularly if she agrees to testify against her pimp/trafficker?
I may be misremembering, but I think the problem with bringing charges against Gaetz over the girls he sexually exploited was that the DOJ’s main witness was himself a completely unreliable crook and it was going to be too difficult to prove that Gaetz definitely knew their ages at the time.
Anastasio Beaverhausen
Matt Gaetz has an eye on the Florida statehouse. DeSantis can’t run again and all this theater in Congress is him trying to appeal to his potential voters back home. At least that’s the take from Bloomberg Business, of all places!
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@CaseyL: A good bit of people being disgruntled with the economy is the price of gas. Gas is a big part of most people’s budgets, ESPECIALLY people who live outside of the urban core. Gas prices are going up. This is always going to be a problem for Democratic politicians. A big chunk of our coalition wants energy to be MORE expensive so that people get rid of cars. They are loud about it and people notice. Contrast that with the way that Republicans support anything that makes energy prices go down from drilling everything to fracking to coal.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
I believe it. He’s threatening their control of the House, an unforgivable sin, on the justification that he demands they make politically risky votes. There’s not a Hell of a lot that could get Republicans to evict another Republican from congress, but this is the thing that might.
I bet he’s an impossibly obnoxious jackass to deal with personally, which can’t help.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
not even the Junior Liebermans are gonna help His Kevin
CarolPW
@Marmot: The Washington Post has had quite a few pieces in the last couple of weeks about the political use of anti-Muslim rhetoric and social media hate speech.
MattF
@Another Scott: Yes, but Republicans have the irritating habit of saying one thing and then doing something else. Jeffries is well aware of that— his comment is directed to Dems.
Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good! “MyKevin” needs to know he screwed the pooch on BOTH sides of the aisle.
NOBODY trusts his “promises.”
Paul in KY
@schrodingers_cat: I’m pretty sure Vifake Ramasmarmy is a BJP lover/supporter.
RaflW
@cain: Vote is apparently at 1pm EDT today.
Looks like the Problem Solver Dems are handing the bag to the GOP.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This the end game; Gaetz got his name in the news. Like Trump, Gaetz and company want power without all the responsibility and work that goes along with it.
PPCLI
“There are a variety of mechanisms, but it all cashes out to this: a declaration of war on the regime.”
And rather than “the regime” Beattie was no doubt dying to say “ZOG”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Yup. Nobody drives past 12 big signs with the unemployment rate posted in giant letters on their way to work and the grocery store
When I bought my hybrid in 2015, the salesman tried to talk me out of it– despite the premium I was paying over the standard Highlander- because gas was so cheap the hybrid option would pay for itself for X number of years/miles
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Would certainly depend on the quality of the Democratic challenger.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betty Cracker: OMG, this is so great! This almost perfectly illustrates how I see the world and religion. Thanks for sharing.
artem1s
@SFAW:
the drawing does look like AS but with longer hair than when he played Randall Flagg in The Stand.
RaflW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Gaetz is a bomb thrower. He will have accomplished throwing the bomb.
Does he think about the moments and days after the explosion? Probably not.
schrodingers_cat
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: The least we can do is not glorify Modi as a protector of democracy when he and his government have become an existential threat to the rule of law in India.
Jackie
@jimmiraybob: Maybe in TIFG’s spare time between court appearances and golfing?
LOL NOPE!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am surprised the Right isn’t taking the artist of that Trump Jesus picture to the task for showing Our Well Hung Savior as so feeble. As we see in one of their primary sources, (here painted on black velvet) Christ been working out.
Uncle Cosmo
and it is my considered opinion that if someone with a time machine had swapped those two bambini in their respective cribs roughly a century apart, LRon would’ve cobbled up something very much like Latter-Day Saintliness, and Joe Smith would’ve concocted something indistinguishable from Dianetics/Scientology.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Heh.
Betty Cracker
@Anastasio Beaverhausen: I read this morning that Matt Gaetz’s father is coming out of retirement to run for his old seat in the statehouse again. He was speaker once, IIRC — a corrupt prick, of course. Seems like MG going to the statehouse would be a step down. I bet he runs for governor.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: I was listening to the conservative talk show host “Joe Pags” one December evening when he was trying to whip his audience up about atheists. He complained that they were forcing towns to remove their Christmas creches showing the baby Jesus in a manger with a couple sheep. Some will have live sheep and maybe even a donkey (ed. and why do atheists hate donkeys!!?) Mr. Pags challenged atheists to call in and defend their obnoxious legal campaign.
The first atheist caller protested that most atheists have no problem with these holiday displays and that it was just a few soreheads behind the lawsuits. The host dismissed the caller, and took another call. The second atheist basically echoed the first, so “Pags” dropped him and went into a rant about pushy atheists.
The call-screener knew what to do. The next callers were not atheists but conservative soreheads griping about pushy atheists. This was intended to get listeners into the “Spirit of the Season,”which evidently was resentment.
Geminid
Duplicate, deleted.
dmsilev
@RaflW: Multiple Dems have been quoted, literally quoted, as saying “not our circus, not our monkeys”. McCarthy wanted to run the House as a purely partisan Speaker, well he gets to live with the implications of that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, exactly, like how none of them thought threw what would happen January the 7th.
The real danger from these ass clowns isn’t Nazis, it’s the damage their neglect will cause.
RaflW
@Betty Cracker: People also believe this because the press has not ever let go of the stupid notion that lax tax policy = ‘good for business’ and that nothing else the GOP does that actually harms business matters.
Seeing Ron DeSaster run roughshod over Disney hasn’t moved the needle one iota, though that sort of meddling in business affairs ought to.
Four decades of well analyzed data that shows that the economy does far better under Dem leadership than Rep is utterly erased because it’s inconvenient to the stodgy (and, one suspects, profitable to news site owners) notion of GOP is pro-business.
We really are living thru a failed media experiment, unendingly.
Cameron
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: It wouldn’t hurt to support public transit more as an alternative. For example, where I live the county transit system is running an 18-month experiment with free rides, which is something that’s being tried in a number of places around the country. I don’t drive, so it’s not like an incentive for me – more like a handout (which I’m always happy to get).
Marmot
@CarolPW: That’s good to hear. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have known without being told, since I canceled our WaPo subscription after that David Ignatius column urging Biden to pull out of the election.
Chief Oshkosh
@RaflW:
Actually, that’s a step up from reality. If McSqueaker REALLY was ENTIRELY transactional, there’d be much less of a problem. You can cut deals with people who are entirely transactional. With McSqueaker, you have to add in “profoundly stupid and cowardly” to his attributes to understand what’s going on. If he had just a couple more IQ points and a smidge more courage in the moment, he’d cut deals that benefit himself, and he’d stick to them at least until they benefitted him. As it is, he’s just an all around fuckup, and a mean and nasty one at that.
Subsole
@zhena gogolia:
Close. That’s Zoroaster.
RevRick
That ain’t White Jesus! That’s post-mortem Jesus, and the stench of death surrounds Trump.
Frankensteinbeck
@jonas:
The message I have gotten from the sex workers I have known is that law enforcement treats all suspected sex workers like absolute shit and they are not willing to take the risk. In this case, my understanding of the allegations is that the girl did not make the accusations and prostitution was her profession. Gaetz and his buddy were merely the latest customer from her perspective. So all they had was the buddy who made the arrangements’ testimony, and he’s an untrustworthy witness to put it mildly.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also trump: Do not look in the trunk, the body’s not in there
everybody knows that sheep’s a liar
New Deal democrat
@Scout211: “We are ready to find bipartisan common ground.”
Translation: “We are ready to negotiate a power sharing deal with any group of GOPers who approach us. Until then, none of you get any help.”
D’s will allow the Motion to Vacate to succeed without their help. If thereafter the GOP flails around enough, somebody may be willing to take Jeffries up on the oblique offer.
Shrewd.
RaflW
@Chief Oshkosh: Yeah, I didn’t really agree with taht last point by Amash, and even considered chopping it off, but felt like that was changing the substance of the quote so didn’t.
And you will never see me disagree with the notion that Quevin is very, very stupid.
Leto
OH Gov DeWine appoints new head of his created “Department of education and workforce”.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My experience is that car salesmen today will happily sell you a hybrid but try to talk you out of buying an electric, even if they’ve got electric cars on the lot and the manufacturer is trying to get them to sell them. I think it’s ultimately because dealers make very little money on maintenance of electric cars, whereas hybrids still need oil changes and other service on a fairly typical schedule.
Citizen Alan
Personally, I’m just struck by the fact the artist did not show Shitgibbon’s hands, but instead gave Jesus small hands.
schrodingers_cat
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Also, paying attention to what’s happening in India and raising our voices against it is useful. BJP cares greatly about how it is perceived in the world
Modi’s popularity is a mirage. He is not as popular as his media handlers would like you to believe.
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne:
And tax-gatherers.
patrick II
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe, if you don’t run Chris again.
LiminalOwl
@jonas: According to this (from 2018): yes, most of them.
This site (2021) has more details, mostly about Texas. I’m also finding lots of articles about Florida and Texas.
Looks as though several states have very recently begun considering a change in the relevant laws.
cain
@schrodingers_cat:
Sadly Vivek is very much part of our subcaste – but luckily nobody is boosting him in our whatsapp channel. There is definitely a bit of scorn and mockery. In general, we don’t really talk much about politics. Only one of us is really a Modi bot – but I know that a lot of older folks are all in on Modi because he brings the promise of bringing India the recognition that I know that this population has been craving since the 80s.
Geminid
@Cameron: That transit program may have been funded by the American Recovery Act passed in February, 2021. The $1.9 trillion ARA is still funding many local projects.
Some are physical. Two weeks ago, I heard about a groundbreaking ceremony for Harrisonburg, Virginia’s new homeless center. The local radio reporter described plans to make it a center for education and social work has well as a shelter. I was encouraged that the reporter noted that the center was being built with ARA funds.
But local governments also have a certain amount of latitude to direct ARA money to fund programs such free bus service.
It’s also possible that the money came from the Infrastructure bill passed in November, 2021. Most of that $1.3 trillion will go into capital improvements involving concrete and rebar, but some is being spent assisting local transit agencies financially. And a good chunk of the capital improvement expenditures are going to transit projects including mass transit, and that can help free up money a locality might otherwise spend on maintenance.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
Aside from Ukraine, the biggest beneficiaries of our foreign aid largesse are Israel and Egypt. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s some long-term part of the 1978 peace deal. You’d think we could use that money (or the threat of its discontinuance) to keep Netanyahu on a tight leash when he’s in power.
cain
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Indeed – and let’s not forget that they are willing to fuck up other countries for oil and better market margins. The GOP is all about using soft and hard power to preserve America’s dominance in consumption at the cost of everyone else.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Oil and general geostrategic importance mean that any ally in the Middle East is treated with outsize care, even when they’re governments that in a more ideal world we wouldn’t be dealing with at all.
One of the benefits of reducing or eliminating dependence on fossil fuels is that a lot of this goes away.
artem1s
I have to agree because I think the writers are using the wrong term. They should be focused on secularism, not atheism. A-theist or to be lacking in a belief in god or gods is too often extrapolated to being able to act without being inhibited by belief in a god or gods. I don’t think the author is being openly anti-theist or anti-religious but that brings up a whole other problem with defining what is god or religion. Religion, or a strict adherence to a belief can encompass a lot of area. I know a lot of Atheists, Anti-theists and anti-religious who have all the crappy bigotry and behaviors typically associated with fundamentalists. Being anti anything is not a particularly good approach to governing or developing policy. Secularism is defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state. This concept is already baked into our constitution. It seems the author is calling for legislators to return to the practice of vocally and forcefully entrusting the concept of separation of church and state. Atheists and theists alike have believed in the idea of separation of church and state. The author’s problem is they seem to believe that atheists are going to practice secularism better than theists when that’s not necessarily true. If you believe, with all your heart that religion (or a certain religion) should be removed from public life, are you really an atheist? What god or gods are you trying to reduce the influence of? Money? Capitalism? Greed? Consumer goods? Big Oil? Animal cruelty? Big Tobacco? Guns? Drugs? Welfare state?
Searcher
Also too, Jesus is clearly taller than Trump.
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: I think the reason for it this time is because inflation went up so fast that people can easily remember what things cost pre-Covid when TFG was still president. I think that’s what they mean when they say “the economy”. “Gas and groceries and rent was lower when TFG was president, I want that back” is as far as it goes for quite a few people, I think.
UncleEbeneezer
@Geminid: I used to hang out in very online Atheist spaces, but lost interest when I saw how rife they all were with Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Transphobia etc. Since then, despite having many Atheist/Agnostic friends, I can say that I almost never see Atheism being pushed on me or anyone else. If you don’t seek out Atheist videos by Dawkins/Harris or push X-tianist laws, you would hardly even know we exist. Aside from the occasional (and thankfully pie-d) troll, I generally don’t see Atheists trying to proselytize. American Christians could quite easily avoid us by simply leaving us alone and stop insisting their beliefs should legally bind everyone else.
MisterDancer
You said it in one, thank you! Yes, that’s the term and concept we’re looking for here.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Soprano2: there’s a heavily partisan reaction to that question too, I remember after Election Day in ’16, the numbers on the good/bad/ economy (vibes) flipped to almost mirror images, but most USians have the memories of goldfish
Uncle Cosmo
@New Deal democrat: Help me out here. For a Motion to Vacate the Squeakership to pass, does it require a majority or some sort of supermajority? A majority (or whatever) of the entire House, all members present, or all members present and voting, including those who vote “present”? It would be a hoot if Qev only needed for the Dems to vote “present” – and they refused.
(“Beat me, whip me, make me write bad checks!” said the masochist to the sadist, who replied, “No.”)
wjca
I think it’s safe to say that, whatever screwup scenario you can imagine, you will find they screw up worse. It’s a core competency after all.
Geminid
@MisterDancer: As long as they don’t focus on deism. One of the good things about deism is that hardly anyone pays any attention to deism.
Eyeroller
@Betty Cracker: I think right now it’s inflaaaaation!!11! It’s been pretty stable lately after the big post-pandemic surge, but we had over a decade with almost no inflation, and people are stupid and have the long-term memories of fruit flies and don’t remember that a lengthy period of zero inflation is fairly abnormal. But there are a lot of complaints about the cost of groceries now. And everything was cheaper when Trump was President. That would reinforce all the longstanding myths like “rich [white] businesspeople are the experts on the economy and rich white people are Republicans, therefore Republicans are better.”
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Cameron: While I think public transit does need more support, it is non-existant or barely existant in the exurbs and suburbs. Those folks consistently vote against it. They don’t take public transit because it isn’t practical (in St. Louis, for example, taking public transit out to my workplace would nearly triple the commute time). They don’t want to spend tax dollars on something they won’t use.
Public transit works well if you have population density. When people prefer to live in low density areas and they associate population density with high crime, you aren’t going to convince them to use or fund public transit.
schrodingers_cat
@cain: Modi’s promise is a chimera. He is telling people what they want to hear. I see this among many of my relatives as well.
geg6
@Frankensteinbeck:
This is such a bullshit argument, as bullshit an argument as atheists are the only ones who get things done when it really matters. It’s as bad an argument as the one that says Democrats are the real racists because they supported slavery and Jim Crow back in the day. Atheism had nothing to do with Mao’s murderous regime much as the Christian faith of most Nazis had nothing to with theirs. When I see this kind of argument, I see why eversor says the shit he says and why I sometimes, to an extent, agree with it.
I usually respect your takes on many things but this one is a bad one and a terrible argument. Fuck religion and, certainly these days, fuck Christians. I’m so sick of it.
Lyrebird
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Definitely can believe it was awful. Thanks for the various replies; this thread may be done but I wanted to thank you anyhow. My elderly parent is already partly gone, so we have had a bit of time to adjust. “St Petersburg” here on this hemisphere is close to whehre I will need to fly into to deal with the situation.
Counting my blessings: siblings in array, enough means to allow for decent options.
Another Scott
@Uncle Cosmo: An NPR story I found and posted a day or so ago said the vote is a simple majority, of those present and voting. Democrats could sink him by voting Present, or by voting Aye.
Cheers,
Scott.
different-church-lady
Jesus serving as a bailiff: I’ve now seen it all.
Frankensteinbeck
@geg6:
I’m not sure I agree with this. Mao’s killing his people off by starvation was specifically derived from his ideology of human will being the superior force that overrides all else. However, that’s only Mao gluing his atheism onto his own egotistical beliefs in the same way that evangelicals glue the Bible onto their bigotry. My point in the context of the conversation is that atheism is no superior moral position either, because people use whatever ideology they can find to justify their evil, not just gods.
Lyrebird
@Frankensteinbeck:
FWIW some of what I see missing in the whole argument is that there have been and still are plenty of scientists who are religious. I think maybe less sou in parts of the country where fundamentalism is more prevalent. But some of what people are talking about is wanting more evidence, science, etc, around policy making. I was very surprised to learn as a teenager that some people assume science means rejection of a personal faith or tradition.
There are scientists who are wholly without religion, and i’d say
there are a small grouup of scientists wholly without ethics, and those latter are scattered around in lots of groups, religious and non. And there are voters and policy makers who do not care whether something is effective overall so long as it “punishes the right people” to quote a fascist sympathizer.
Rugosa
Alexander Skarsgård and Trump as portrayed must be trading tips about product when not in court.
evodevo
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Yep…this question was being addressed daily on McBride’s Calculated Risk blog. It was my clue that there would be hell to pay shortly in MortgageWorld, and the explanatory input from “Tanta”, who was a former loan officer, was invaluable. I was prepared for the debacle a full year before the shit hit the fan in ’08, and one of the commenters predicted the Bear Stearns implosion the spring of ’08 down to the week…
Brant Lamb
White Jeebus looks like David Koresh.