U.S. job openings rise slightly to 9.6 million, sign of continued strength in the job market https://t.co/nZfl1DdMmA
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 1, 2023
Pete Buttigieg is a great communicator… and it’s a shame he so often has to waste his talents rebutting GOP bigots:
Tens of thousands of infrastructure projects are being built across America thanks to President Biden's infrastructure plan. Time to remind everyone how this funding happened! pic.twitter.com/NHQYVMLqou
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) November 3, 2023
Pete Buttigieg on CNN: "Our family deserves to be protected … I will admit it's a little bit difficult driving the family minivan to drop our kids off at daycare passing the dome of the Capitol knowing the speaker of the House doesn't even think our family ought to exist." pic.twitter.com/YaC4ONSy9q
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2023
Meanwhile…
Innovate to 12 government shutdowns a year
— The Best There is, was, and ever will be (@rawwdogg2000) November 2, 2023
Dana Milbank, at the Washington Post, says “The People’s House is back in business — and crazier than ever” [unpaywalled gift link]:
So you thought the election of a new speaker might calm the chaos and fratricide among House Republicans?
Oh, my sweet summer child…
In the nine days since Republicans pulled Mike Johnson from the back benches, the new speaker has presided over a second failed attempt to expel indicted Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), the introduction of not one but two resolutions to censure Tlaib, and a resolution to censure Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) for pulling a fire alarm during a vote. Johnson managed to turn an area of near-unanimous support into a partisan brouhaha by making funds to help Israel defend itself against Hamas contingent on a provision making it easier for the wealthy to cheat on their taxes. With just two weeks to go until the federal government runs out of funding, Johnson is floating a cockamamie “laddered” approach that would replace the looming shutdown threat with 12 new shutdown threats.
If this is the new speaker’s idea of a functioning House, maybe having the House speakerless and inoperative for 22 days wasn’t so bad after all…
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) stepped up his efforts to impeach Biden with the panel’s announcement that “Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered China money.” Bank records indicate it was actually repayment of a loan Biden made to his brother when the current president was a private citizen.
Comer’s wild allegations keep crumbling upon scrutiny, which might explain why he said of his impeachment inquiry: “I don’t know that I want to hold any more hearings, to be honest with you.” He prefers closed-door depositions, which he can selectively leak to create false impressions…
Johnson’s response to all this: more self-serving lies. In his first interview as speaker, he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that “it looks and smells a lot like” Biden received bribes. He also said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had “committed impeachable offenses” and agreed with Hannity that Biden has experienced “cognitive decline.” (At a subsequent news conference, Johnson maintained that the impeachment inquiry, which Comer and others are using as a fundraising tool, is “outside the scope of politics.”)…
Johnson has continued moving spending bills through the House along party lines, at levels that violate the bipartisan budget deal enacted this year. In the Senate, by contrast, a package of spending bills passed this week on a broadly bipartisan vote of 82-15. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, admonished her House counterparts “to get serious about governing, get back to the spending agreement they negotiated, and work with us to finalize bipartisan bills.”
But that isn’t going to happen. The House “chaos caucus,” which ousted McCarthy and turned the lights out in the chamber for 22 days, has found its man. Johnson is well on his way to being a chaos speaker.
(Much more detail about twitter feuding and Repub-on-Repub catfights at the link.)
Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire:
… In truth, despite the speed in which he makes Ralph Norman’s socks roll up and down, Johnson has the same problem that Kevin McCarthy had. He has a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president, and he has a Republican Senate minority that thinks, in the heart of its black heart, that Johnson is the temporary warden of Bedlam, Johnson being vulnerable to the same vacate-the-chair strategy that doomed McCarthy.
In fact, here’s an idea for the Democrats in the House. As soon as the decks clear and a shutdown is avoided, start filing motions to vacate the chair. A different Democrat. Every couple of days. Make the Republicans vote to keep the Speakership in the hands of a slick theocratic grifter a few times a week. After all, that stupid Matt Gaetz rule on vacating the chair when one member proposes it is still a ticking time bomb. Maybe it’s time to have a little fun.
War For Ukraine Day 618: Russia Once Again Opens Up on Civilian Targets in Ukraine
lowtechcyclist
I like Charlie Pierce’s idea about our side using the Motion to Vacate like that.
If it’s going to be a ticking time bomb, let it be our ticking time bomb this time.
“What’s that mysterious ticking noise?”
OzarkHillbilly
Why do I hear The Doors?
New Deal democrat
Assuming facts not in evidence. I hate to tell you this, but the crisis will be upon us in only a couple of weeks, because Johnson does not want to make the same mistake McCarthy made, by backing a continuing resolution. I would say the odds of an extended government shutdown are about 90%.
On the economy, there are some definite bright spots in continuing wage growth and elevated job openings. Consumer spending has also improved considerably (but at the expense of saving). But on the other hand, yesterday’s jobs report was one of the two weakest in the past two years. The trend in the unemployment rate is up, which is never a good thing (although none of the metrics that mean recession have been triggered).
If you want Biden re-elected next year, hope that the recent renewed downtrend in gas prices continues, because at core, Presidential approval “is a gas.” For example, in August 2021 Biden’s approval ratings did not go down because of the Afghanistan pullout, they went down because that’s when gas prices started heading higher.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t know what happened to the formatting here. I pulled up the edit window and it looks right. I think my computer just hates me.
Princess
@OzarkHillbilly: Formatting looks fine to me.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
mrmoshpotato
But Biden is old, and senile, and OOOOLLLLLDDDDD!!!!! Oh, and a Democrat!
OzarkHillbilly
@Princess: Thanx. Still screwed up on my screen. Hopefully it’s the same for everybody else as you.
Like I said, my computer* hates me, which is OK, I hate it right back.
* I got a new one, the wife just hasn’t performed her magic on it yet.
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Good morning. And good Football Saturday to all.
Dangerman
Laddered CR? Oh, get fucked.
Nelle
@rikyrah: Good morning! I don’t often respond because I’m late, but you cheer me and others, morning after morning. Thank you!
Frankensteinbeck
To be honest, while the laddered approach is a cute demand, I don’t see anything new here. We’ve been dealing with flailing incompetence, symbolic bills that will never pass, and waiting until the Senate forces an actual bipartisan spending bill on them since Boehner. Oh, and lots of rhetoric about stuff like “We have to balance these numbers with cuts.” It really depends on what Johnson actually lets get a vote when the pressure is on.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
Good morning back atcha!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: I think only members of the majority can file a motion to vacate.
PAM Dirac
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes, I’m old enough to remember when it was not unusual to pass all (or almost all) the appropriation bills separately. You had to keep track of the specific bill for your department to know if you should get nervous near end of fiscal year. I agree with you that it isn’t how the appropriations are structured, it is whether there is a serious effort get the appropriations passed. Of course “serious effort to govern” is completely orthogonal to the R House clown show.
Kay
We’re going on a long rails to trails bike ride this AM. It’s chilly – 40s but will be sunny- perfect bike ride weather.
Ken
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Monday, in a dramatic move, Rep. Nancy Pelosi announces she is switching parties. Her first action is to file a motion to vacate. After it fails, she announces she is switching back, as the Republicans can’t get anything done.
Tuesday, in a dramatic move, Rep. Ilhan Omar announces….
(Besides, it’s not like the Republicans have an actual governing majority. They have a coalition of three or four minority parties that are barely able to cooperate long enough to elect a Speaker.)
Frankensteinbeck
@PAM Dirac:
Yeah, but part of my point is that for the last 10 years, Republican House attitudes towards that have been ‘grandstand and then begrudgingly, after dragging their feet a lot, pass what they’re given.’ We don’t know if we’re still there or not.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I don’t think I’d be able to peddle in all the clothes I’d have to wear to endure that chill, but a bike ride sounds like fun!
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ll bet you we can find a GOPer who is for sale at the right price.
@Kay: Enjoy.
Matt McIrvin
As always, the Republicans’ approach to being the “out” party in government as a whole is to make the mugger’s argument: “give us complete power, or else we will use whatever power we do have to wreck this country, and hope it reflects poorly on the other side.”
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Chief Oshkosh
@New Deal democrat:
Eh, it’s a theory.
Geminid
With so much going on I missed the Wason Center’s poll of likely Viginia voters released Oct. 17. They typically release another poll the weekend before the election, so maybe it will be possible to check trend, poll over poll.
The Wason Center provided an 8 point summary of the October 17 poll:
Maybe good Republican news; definitely evidence that Youngkin’s a slick one:
On the abortion issue:
On schools:
And two more issues:
The Wason Center’s pollsters interviewed 800 likely voters, 228 on landlines and 578 on cell phones. A +/- of 4% is given, with a “95% level of confidence.”
sdhays
@Ken: Why switch parties? The rules don’t say any Republican, they say any member can introduce a Motion to Vacate.
Geoduck
“Slick” grifter, Mr. Pierce? He seems anything but slick.
Chief Oshkosh
@sdhays: Is it that the member has to be recognized by the Squeaker in order to put forward a motion?
sdhays
I don’t agree with Pierce. It would be satisfying to torment the Troll Speaker and his minions, but Democrats shouldn’t contribute to the drama or do unnecessary things that push Republicans together. The goal should be exacerbate the fissures inside the Republican conference.
Frank Wilhoit
“…As soon as the decks clear and a shutdown is avoided, …” The decks will not be cleared. The shutdown will not be avoided. Charlie, of all people, knows this. He’s trying to say something like “not right this minute, but at an early time, which will be recognizable…”, but he has botched the statement of the criterion.
Frank Wilhoit
@New Deal democrat:
It is not that simple. Afghanistan was when and why the Press declared war on Biden. He defied them; they cannot let that stand. That is the largest single factor (perhaps not by a wide margin) in today’s situation.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@lowtechcyclist:
Think of it as a grenade that the Democrats pull the pin out of which forces the Repugs to put it back in…lol!
lowtechcyclist
If there’s a shutdown, the Dems should introduce a Motion to Vacate on the first weekday of the shutdown, if there isn’t a deal that’s already being wrapped up.
The idea is to make the point that the current Speaker is a primary obstacle to passing the Senate’s bill (if one has passed the Senate by then) or a CR to keep the government open.
Kay
I watch this former fundie woman (“recovering”) on Instagram – her short videos – and she had a clip of Mike Johnson’s wife talking about her anti gay counseling grift and she talks like a little girl. The former fundie woman on IG says this is “the fundie woman baby voice” and it means you’re submissive. She has clips of high profile fundie women speaking and they all use it.
Just fascinating. I have heard this! A lot! I just never put it together.
lowtechcyclist
@Frank Wilhoit:
Certainly the largest single factor in Biden’s approval rating. When they make a big deal over the least little piece of bad news, and all but ignore all sorts of good news, that has a real effect on people’s perceptions.
Villago delenda est!
kalakal
Personally I’m wiped out, now entering week 3 of the Great Kitchen Remodel of ’23. Rumour has it we may have a working sink by the end of the day. Combine that with the antics of that sanctimonious moral vacuum Johnson and his performative jackassery and my demeanour is less than upbeat.
So to cheer me, and you, up here’s a very cute dog being very cute
Makes me smile
Eolirin
@Frank Wilhoit: That’s assuming a discharge petition fails, or the threat of one fails to cause the senate bill or some kind of relatively clean CR to come to the floor, which I think is premature.
If the Senate omnibus is allowed a floor vote it will pass. It’s just a matter of whether we go a month or two of shutdown before that’s allowed to happen. There’s no other way this ends.
MazeDancer
Hoping there is a reporter somewhere working on Johnson’s “adopted son” timeline.
It doesn’t add up. He was married after the “adoption”. The kid was left behind when they moved. And given no help when he was arrested.
Here is a timeline from newspaper and public sources.
This is not wanting to promote Jerry Springer stuff, just want Johnson brought down.
Kay
So when media and conservatives say liberal women are shrill (talking too much/ not knitting silently/appearing publicly if you’re Hillary Clinton) that’s what they’re responding to – the fact that liberal women use their normal, varied natural voices and aren’t trained to use the speech patterns and sound of 5 year old girls. That’s the basis of that whole line of criticism. They want women to use submissive voice markers.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Josh Marshall did a podcast recently about Mike Johnson. Marshall listened to a couple of podcasts produced by Johnson and his wife, and he said Johnson’s wife didn’t really express any ideas of her own but gushed over everything Johnson said. It’s a grotesque dynamic I’m familiar with, having been raised in part by evangelical grandparents on one side of the family.
Raoul Paste
@Kay: Wow. These people are damaged
Geminid
@kalakal: If General Sherman was a 21st century homeowner, he might have said: Kitchen Remodeling is Hell.
BellyCat
@MazeDancer: You can be sure that the “kid”, now a grown man, has been paid a LOT of money by the GOP money funnel to keep his mouth shut about this topic.
Eolirin
@Kay: That the signal they’re looking for of submissiveness from their romantic and sexual partners is being childlike is all kinds of disturbing.
It’s not even a natural association to draw. Kids rebel a lot!
MagdaInBlack
@Kay: I’ve heard quite a bit of it too. It always registers as submissive/manipulative with me. I did not know it was also a fundie thing, but makes sense
Eta: as does your observation @ #37
Betty Cracker
@MazeDancer: Yeah, that whole thing about Johnson and his “son” is as fishy as Gaetz and his supposed “son” Nestor. My theory is the GOP reps are perverts who are exploiting troubled teens. Weird how their alleged children are only brought up when they’re useful as human shields when there’s a race-related issue.
These two exploited former kids are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Someone should do an investigation of how many other GOP officials have secret “children.”
Soprano2
@kalakal: You’ll love it when it’s done, but getting there is not fun. We spent 6 years remodeling our kitchen because we did most of the work ourselves. I couldn’t have survived it without a dishwasher.
Soprano2
@Kay: I hate it when women sound like little girls. I didn’t know it was deliberate. I think it’s kind of creepy. No one has to sound like that.
Eyeroller
@Geminid: It’s infuriating to me that people approve of Youngkin and disapprove of Biden over the same economy but I assume the latter mostly represents partisanship whereas people don’t give as much thought to governors. That poll wasn’t too discouraging to me since most polls in the past few years seem to model the electorate as more Republican than it turns out to be, but it’s still a little nerve-wracking.
MazeDancer
@BellyCat:
The guy is a known drug user who has been arrested multiple times. “Not believable” built in already.
@Betty Cracker:
The abused children pipeline in white “Christian” world is deep. Mostly within families and churches. With some LEO and judges mixed in.
There are support groups for survivors with just those specific abuses.
The “adopting” Black/Brown teens is a twist.
OzarkHillbilly
That’s what husbands are for.
sdhays
@BellyCat: Or, more likely in my opinion, he’s been paid a bit of money and received lots of scary suggestions of what might happen if he opens his mouth.
Geminid
@Geminid: Regarding “Voter Enthusiasm” among likely Virginia voters, the October 17 Wason Center poll found that:
Gender gap detected:
Subsole
@OzarkHillbilly:
The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face
From the ancient gallery and
Walked on down the hall
certainly seems appropriate…
schrodingers_cat
Caturday Art break!
This is still a work in progress.
Matt McIrvin
@Eyeroller: People often think of “the economy” in this very abstract way that doesn’t necessarily relate to their personal experience–“the economy” can stink even though their everyday situation can be basically OK.
They may also blame Biden but not Youngkin for high prices because they have a vague idea that federal policy has some kind of control over inflation, but state policy doesn’t.
And there’s just the persistent belief born of Reagan-era propaganda that Republicans are better than Democrats at “the economy”, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
Geminid
@Eyeroller: I checked out recent Wason Center polls against election results and the Center came pretty close to results. This poll will be harder to check because it does not cover individual races but applies to the general electorate.
Regarding Youngkin’s 55% job approval rating: like I said, the guy is slick. He has this earnest, reasonable affect that appeals to people; a round-edged man, not jagged-edged one.
I saw that in the 2021 campaign. Youngkin had the knack of seeming all things to all people. He also had no record in public office; Youngkin started with a blank canvas that he painted in to his advantage with plenty of ad dollars.
Those qualities plus his energetic retail campaigning made Youngkin a formidable candidate. I could see that even though I still thought McAuliffe would pull off a close win.
Now Youngkin has a record, but because of Virginia’s one term limit for governors he won’t have to defend it to Virginia voters. That’s too bad, because if he could run in 2025 I believe Abigail Spanberger would clean his clock.
sdhays
@Matt McIrvin: Youngkin is also sending out tax rebates right before the election. Just like Trump did.
Subsole
@Kay:
It’s deeply, deeply creepy. Bunch of grown women pretending to be children (or adopting the trappings of childhood) to soothe their mens’ insecurities.
Disturbingly cynical, manipulative, and weird. They all do it, and it always makes my teeth grind and my skin crawl.
Eyeroller
@Matt McIrvin: I don’t think it has much or anything to do with any vague awareness that federal policy has anything to do with the “economy” (except that they hear “the Fed is raising interest rates to fight inflation, stock market down” argle bargle). I think it’s more this tendency to blame whoever is perceived to be the Top Guy for everything that may be going badly. People even blame Presidents and the equivalent not just for response or lack thereof to natural disasters but for the disaster (e.g. hurricane) itself. That is literally insane but it’s pretty widespread.
They also generally know who the President is but have difficulty with who’s in other offices and what party they are in, probably including Governor.
Princess
@MazeDancer: I’m pretty sure that 80% of the QAnon panic is abused people (and abusers) in those communities projecting their abuse outwards.
Denali5
@Kay,
I googled Kelly Johnson interview, and the only possible reaction to her is eew. Sorry to be so judgmental – but really, are we supposed to take this woman seriously?
Eyeroller
@Geminid: One thing that business people may actually be good at is branding and marketing and he really understands that with the whole fleece-vest shtick. I could tell McAuliffe was in trouble just by his failure to “market” effectively compared to Youngkin.
Edited to add: I heard a while back that the Democratic Party was hiring people with expertise in advertising and marketing and there was an uproad in certain circles over “corporate sellouts!” but my reaction was “it’s about goddam time.”
AWOL
@MazeDancer: They’ve no charity. They’re just vile and repressed little liars and creepers.
It’ll be a Rod Dreher fascination with “primitive root wieners” tale. Maybe a little bit of Falwellian kink thrown in if the wife took part. She seems to have mastered Christianist Copulation/Reproduction 101. But the real story will remain in the closet. If not, he’ll just beg for forgiveness from his flock of psychotics and get it.
MagdaInBlack
@Subsole: While I am not excusing the “baby voice” let us remember that it is a defense mechanism. The men they’re dealing with are not just insecure, they are abusive and controlling.
Princess
@MagdaInBlack: Yes, but these women would like their husbands to be in charge of the rest of us, so no love to them.
Subsole
@MazeDancer: Every accusation is a confession.
If America’s newsrooms could bestir themselves to actually work for a living, for once, I imagine they’d find at least one child trafficking scandal on par with Epstein.
Hell, just look at the Catholic church. And the Boy Scouts. And the Evangelicals. And DeVos. And the missing border kids. And…and…and…
When these sick fucks jabber about pedophilia, it’s because they know all about it.
And again, if America weren’t cursed with its current crop of media assholes, we might be able to call attention to a number of grave injustices.
Kathleen
Meanwhile, here in Ohio, Congressman Greg Landsman (D) OH#1 cancelled Town Hall in Warren County today due to concerns over threats to Jewish people in social media:
https://www.fox19.com/2023/11/04/cincinnati-congressman-postpones-town-hall-after-threats-against-jews/
As of yesterday, here is status of early voting balloting per analysis by Ohio Capitol Journal
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/11/03/ohio-democrats-are-leading-vote-by-mail-ballots-in-election-on-abortion-marijuana
Beautiful morning for my run. Met and greeted many of my neighbors today as I ran by. My Price Hill community is very friendly. We have been deemed the most diverse community in Cincinnati. I love it here.
MagdaInBlack
@Princess: You are correct. They made the choice, and now we are supposed to make the same choice.
Nope.
Kathleen
@Subsole: I’m to the point I believe the Rethug Party and its Christofascist evangelical criminal syndicate is one huge trafficking organization. I think of what Mitt Romney said in his book (Rethug resistance to “Age of Consent”) and what some of the cult survivors in the Duggar doc “Shiny Happy People” said about men thinking they are entitled to any female at any time they want them.
New Deal democrat
@Frank Wilhoit: Correlation is not causation.
There is zero evidence that the Afghan withdrawal had any noticeable long-term effect on voter perceptions. But you can go all the way back to W at least and find presidential approval rising and falling inverse to gas prices.
Jackie
Apparently Judge Chutkan ain’t messing around according to Glenn Kirschner:
Betty Cracker
I don’t think Rep. Rashida Tlaib should be censured for speaking her mind, but this is a steaming load of horseshit (NYT):
What happened on Oct. 7 was horrifying. What’s happening in Gaza now is horrifying. Biden is using his influence to thread a needle, urging restraint and emphasizing the humanitarian imperatives. You can reasonably argue that he’s too biased toward the Israeli side — most Americans are, IMO — and should take a harder line. But it’s absurd to accuse him of supporting genocide. Also this:
That’s just a big fat fucking lie.
schrodingers_cat
@Kathleen: Red roses are now simping for Hamas and have turned on their patron saint from Vt. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerous.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
Got a link to an example? I *think* I may know what you mean, but I’d like to be sure.
Villago Delenda Est
I think Mike “Howard” Johnson is a secret agent for the Democrats, to throw the 2024 elections blue by showing just how bone stupid Rethuglicans are about everything under the sun.
Subsole
@MagdaInBlack:
Agreed.
I should elaborate: a large part of what makes my skin crawl is the fact that that mechanism is necessary. It is one more tumorous projection jutting from the absolute wall of cancer that is that subculture.
I have heard that baby voice bullshit in person. I know exactly why some women do it. A lot of what made it creepy was tied up in the nature of the men they were doing it for and the disfigurements of the soul that subculture is wired to produce.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: I speak in a sing song baby voice, but only to my kitteh.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: Hamas is no more interested in peace and freedom than Bibi is. Fuck Hamas. They started this, despite the consequences for innocents both within the Gaza strip and outside it at music festivals.
BellyCat
This attitude is also fueling the Tech Bro roster.
oldgold
What the hell is the Appellate Court thinking in staying Judge Chutkan’s gag order and then delaying the hearing until November 20? The Short-fingered Vlgarian poses a clear and present danger to our system of Justice and the individuals responsible for making its w heels turn. If you are going to stay the order, at least expedite the damn hearing. Giving this OrangeThug 3 weeks and more to assail the Judge, prosecutors, court staff and witnesses is unconscionable.
Subsole
@Kathleen:
We are in complete agreement. These people likely suffer from and indulge in perversions for which modern psychiatry has no name.
MagdaInBlack
@Subsole: Yup. The fact that their cult requires this for them to survive in that subculture is the creepy part to me
BellyCat
@schrodingers_cat: One MUST be submissive to kittens, for they eventually turn into HOUSE PANTHERS!
RedDirtGirl
@MazeDancer: Of course I can’t find it now, but I saw an article that had Johnson quoted as saying he “took custody” of the kid. Interesting wording.
Villago Delenda Est
@lowtechcyclist: You rang?
Villago Delenda Est
@BellyCat: I have two black kittens, brothers and litter mates. They are destined to make the Black Panther look like a fluffy Persian.
JML
@Betty Cracker: oooh, boy. I get how personal this is for Tlaib, but this is not good at all. She can’t change the meaning of a genocidal phrase on her own say-so, especially when she’s accusing others of supporting genocide.
Ohio Mom
@Kathleen: Might be important to note that our Rep Greg Landsman is Jewish and doesn’t make a secret of it.
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat:
Yeah. You saw that coming five miles out.
The strongest argument against Bernie’s presidency was the people he surrounded himself with and appointed to speak for him.
The second strongest argument was his apparent unwillingness or simple inability to rein them in when they said stupid, mendacious garbage.
And look at ’em now.
I will never not be angry at him for helping inflict that crop of two-faced mercenary ghouls on a bunch of idealistic kids whose only sin was frustration and wanting things to be better.
Eunicecycle
@oldgold: I thought the same. Neal Katyal was downplaying this on MSNBC, he was sure the appeals court will quickly approve the gag order, but that’s 2.5 weeks for the Orange Menace to intimidate people! I guess Neal is used to the slow pace of the justice system but it seems ridiculously slow to me.
BellyCat
@Betty Cracker: Rep. Rashida Tlaib does not yet understand that balanced diplomacy eventually yields greater gains than immediate unilateral demands.
Let’s hope someone she admires clues her in to reality before she burns down Joe & Kamala while riding her purity pony into the (Un)United States of Fascism in 2024.
lowtechcyclist
@New Deal democrat:
That’s not what Wilhoit was saying.
You’re disagreeing with this: Afghan withdrawal => voters sour on Biden
Wilhoit argued: Afghan withdrawal => media goes hard negative on Biden for the next 2+ years => voters have a low opinion of Biden
lowtechcyclist
@Villago Delenda Est: Sometimes quoting your handle is the most appropriate thing to say!
BellyCat
@Villago Delenda Est: I had similar. B/W and G/W tuxedo male litter mates.
They would “wrestle” so aggressively it appeared to be a death match to any reasonable person. Half hour later, they’d be cuddled up together sound asleep.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: I agree.
Geminid
@Geminid: The Wason Center provided demographic info on the 800 likely voters the pollers interviewed. As to education, 51% were high school or less, 49% were college or more.
As to race, 69% said they were white, 20% said they were African American, and 11% said they were Other. Asked if they were Hispanic or Latino, 5% said they were.
The pollers asked whether persons were parents or guardians of a child under 18; 74% said no, and 26% said yes. Of the latter, 74% had a child in a public K-+2 school.
On political ideology the pollers asked:
Party self-identification:
Virginia voters do not register by party.
Ages of likely voters:
Fun Wason Center Fact: until she parted ways with Christopher Newport University in the Spring of 2020, Rachel Bitecofer helped design the Wason Center’s polls. Now Ms. Bitecofer lives in Salem, Oregon and works as a political consultant.
:
Brachiator
The GOP just picked up where they left off, but with more stupidity.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: I agree with you totally.
Kathleen
@Subsole: Plus the fact he actively undermined Democratic party and institutions/programs that have benefitted people. He fanned the flames of cynicism and no one else can fix this except Bernie. It’s toxic and dangerous and I will never forgive him.
prostratedragon
Betty Cracker@71: Furthermore, knowing that his responses here will be compared and contrasted to his advocacy for Ukraine. That’s where I have to restrain my conspiratorial thinking.
Villago Delenda Est
@BellyCat: You’ve described my little monsters to a tee.
Brachiator
@New Deal democrat:
The financial markets mostly shrugged off the jobs report. Unemployment may have been affected by the ongoing entertainment industry strikes and what was happening in the auto industry. And net jobs was still a plus.
Overall economic trends are still positive.
prostratedragon
@oldgold: I’m not full in on the particulars, but I have heard that this keeps TFG from running immediately to the SCOTUS, so might be the less costly path despite our gritted teeth.
Bill Arnold
@oldgold:
Witness tampering, at least, is a crime, and can be a felony, gag order or not.
BellyCat
@Villago Delenda Est: Some truths are universal.
ETA: One of them passed away a few years ago, sadly. The remaining one, who was less social if not downright standoffish, soon became a GIANT lover.
Steeplejack
@lowtechcyclist:
Example: Mike Johnson’s wife, Kelly. (Mewling starts at 0:40.)
MagdaInBlack
@Steeplejack: Bless her heart, isn’t she just the sweetest thing. (barf)
Mike in NC
This new Speaker of the House is aiming to be Fat Bastard’s running mate and it sure looks like he has the inside track: Religious fanatic. Homophobe. White supremacist. Pro-Putin and anti-Ukraine. Wants to defund the IRS for fat cat tax cheats. Shut down the government on a whim. Sure, why not?
prostratedragon
Ron Filipkowski gives us scenes from Jared and Ivanka’s busy school week SHED-ule: first; second; third.
eclare
@Steeplejack:
OMG! Wow.
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: Yes. I’m glad he took the precaution. He was in Lebanon for town hall just last month and said it went fine (per tweet I saw).
Geminid
@BellyCat: Secretary of State Blinken conferred with Israeli officials yesterday and today he is talking to Arab officials in Amman, Jordan. A Reuters story is headlined, “Binken to hear call for Gaza ceasefire from regional ministers in Jordan Saturday.”
Foreign Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Egypt will confer with Blinken. The report says that the acting Prime Minister of Lebanon also met with Secretary Blinken today in Amman.
There was also news of a recent phone call betwee King Abdullah of Jordan and German Prime Minister Scholz:
I think Secretary Blinken will meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tomorrow in Ankara.
LiminalOwl
(deleted)
Eyeroller
@Geminid: I’m most encouraged by the “enthusiasm gap” in the poll. In the past I’ve noticed that enthusiasm gap is a pretty decent predictor of outcome. Also in the past it was usually against us and I always hoped it wouldn’t be predictive, but then it was.
Eunicecycle
@Geminid: isn’t the age skewed a little old? Or is that representative of the voting electorate in Virginia?
Geminid
@Eyeroller: I also thought the difference between Democratic interest and that of Republicans was a good sign for Tuesday. I was a little surprised to see Independents showing more interest in the election than Republicans.
Geminid
@Eunicecycle: It does seem skewed old, but thats what the pollers ended up with out of 800 “likely” voters.
Eyeroller
@Eunicecycle: Old people are more likely to vote, especially in non-Presidential elections, but that large a fraction does seem off. Maybe they are the only ones who answer their phones (landline or cell) anymore. The poll did seem to be heavy on landlines which would tend to select for older people.
Anotherlurker
@Steeplejack: OMG, that mewling voice is worse than nails on a blackboard. I hear fear and brainwashing in her cadence and tone. I hear a beaten spirit.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Johnson is an abuser.
Brachiator
@Eyeroller:
Good point. Pollsters want to identify likely voters, but depending on people with landlines can leave out other likely voters. The people who do polls claim that they can adjust for this, but it is still a problem.
John S.
@Betty Cracker:
Rep. Rashida Tlaib has completely lost the plot. I understand this is a very emotional time for her, but she should step away from the microphone for a little while to sort out her grief.
Claiming “from the river to the sea” is anything other than a call for genocide is like claiming “arbeit macht frei” was a benign slogan intended to encourage positive work ethic.
Steeplejack
@John S.:
⬆️ Exactly!
Brachiator
@John S.:
There is similar controversy over the use of the phrase in marches happening in the UK.
Professor Tim Wilson argues for the possibility of ambiguity.
John S.
@Brachiator: If you have to spend that much time explaining what something really means, only to conclude that it is “ambiguous”, then it shouldn’t be used.
New Deal democrat
@Brachiator: A little late in reply, but Inagree that overall the trends are still positive. Just less positive employment-wise than they have been in the last 2 years.
Steeplejack
@Brachiator:
What I think he’s laboring over is not ambiguity but plausible deniability. The in-group gets the message; others can be waved away with “ambiguity.”
The Lodger
@Ohio Mom: Well, “Landsman” is the most “Hey, I’m Jewish” name imaginable, so there you are.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: Ooof.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Geminid: Link to the Wason Center at CNU poll.
Lots of caveats, but it’s good they’re up-front about them.
+/- 4% means an 8% spread (a blowout, these days) would be covered by them saying a race is “tied”. It’s a big error bar.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jamey
I’ve been saying this for weeks: Dems motion to vacate every House session. They want chaos? Make them earn it.
JML
@John S.: Yeah. I just got into an argument over this one with someone trying to argue it wasn’t that clear because “people on both sides have been using the phrase”. Yeah…no. There are people using the phrase in ignorance, but it’s still no less a call for genocide in response to this.
Even if you believe that what Israel has done in response to the Hamas attack is genocide, calling for genocide in response is never ok. “Hey they did it first!” didn’t work in the 3rd grade, not gonna work now.
Geminid
@Another Scott: That’s why I want to see if the Wason Center puts up another poll this weekend. I like to look at trend poll over poll. That can be more meaningfull data than the absolute numbers provided.
But I checked out the Wason Center’s polls for the 2021 Governor race, and they came in pretty well. I think they showed McAuliffe with a narrow lead, but two earlier polls showed a steady trend in Youngkin’s favor. And there were still undecideds a week before the election who may have broken Youngkin’s way.
But I understand the concept of “margin of error” and keep it in mind when I look at polls. That’s why I included it in my first comment on this poll.
The Wason Center’s polling of last year’s 2nd CD contest between Rep. Elaine Luria and Republican Jen Kiggans came pretty close to the actual result.
I’m glad you provided a link to the poll.
No One You Know
@Eolirin: I expect no less of the Party of Grand Old Pedophiles.
Mallard Filmore
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s not your computer. When I enter lines in text mode, blank lines are automatically installed for me at some small line count.
brantl
@Villago Delenda Est: Yep, and Bibi is proving that he’s just one hair less of an asshole than they are. As well as a bunch of his government.