Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

Let me file that under fuck it.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

We won’t go back.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Friday Evening Open Thread: Senator Tuberville ‘Celebrates’ Veterans

Friday Evening Open Thread: Senator Tuberville ‘Celebrates’ Veterans

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131Comments

  3. 3.

    Almost Retired

    Ron Johnson has to be breathing a sigh of relief that Tubbyspuds was elected because Johnson is no longer the stupidest Senator.

  4. 4.

    lowtechcyclist

    Damn straight, Sgt Joker! Fuck anti-military scumbag @SenTuberville and his @SenateGOP enablers. They don’t give a damn about either our military or our veterans who have already served. I’m sure that Putin and Xi both deeply appreciate their actions.

  5. 5.

    twbrandt

    If I ran the Democrat’s media strategy I’d be running ads about Tuberville’s blockade and Biden’s PACT act in every single military- and veteran-heavy media market around.

  12. 12.

    wjca

    I’m guessing that Sen Taterville gets renominated.  And then Alabama has another Democratic Senator for another 6 years.  This could get to be a habit.

    And can Mississippi be far behind…. 🙄

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I didn’t do a lot in the military, but I have a DD-214 that means that I can tell Potatotown to fuck off on Veterans Day.

  14. 14.

    Matt McIrvin

    Increasingly convinced this isn’t about holding the nominees hostage for policy at all, it’s about holding the positions open so President Trump can stuff them in 2025 with loyalists who will fire on American civilians.

  16. 16.

    ArchTeryx

    @wjca: I wouldn’t give the voters of Alabama that much credit. Given the choice between a pedophile and a Democrat, they damn near chose the pedophile. And Ruberville easily defeated Doug Jones, who was a fine Senator and served Alabama well.  But he had a D next to his name and that meant he was the <racist slur>’s choice. That could not be borne.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    This is not going to help the GQp with the military vote, especially with the officer corps.

  19. 19.

    Almost Retired

    I posted this story before in the comments.  My Dad hired this kid for the family business who was obviously bright and motivated, but looking for direction.  Dad loved mentoring young men since his own son didn’t really listen to him.  He suggested the Army.   Not because that was his default suggestion, but because he thought it was the right option for that guy.  And the kid took his advice, eventually went to West Point.  This year he was nominated by Biden to be Army Secretary, or whatever the title is.  At his nomination hearing he credited an employer who encouraged him to join the Army.  That was my Dad.  Tuberfuck held up his confirmation, but the Democrats saved the day.  My Dad died 40 years ago.  I wish he were alive to see how well his advice to his mentee worked out. Which is a long way of saying fuck Tuberville and he can’t even imagine how many people he’s infuriated.

  21. 21.

    Alison Rose

    Balloon Juice thermometer to hire a few goons to go pummel Tatertown into mashed taters.

    In far better news about a far better person: Some of y’all will recall that my father passed away from bladder cancer earlier this year. About a month ago, my mom did one of those home colon cancer screenings, and it gave her a positive result. Which, even though the box says the result might not be accurate (which…like, what’s the fucking point then), made us all a wee bit freaked out. She didn’t have any symptoms at all and when she talked to her doctor right after, he didn’t seem too concerned. But still. So she went in a couple days ago for a colonoscopy and HUZZAH no signs of cancer at all. The doctor just told her to eat more fiber, LOL. But that is a weight off our minds. My mom has always said she wants to be the first person in her family to live to 100, and I for one really hope she achieves that. (She just turned 76 so she’s got a ways to go yet.)

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Ni shagad nazhd. There will be no access to abortion/abortion rights in Ohio regardless of what passed on Tuesday. As I’ve written here before, you cannot out organize, out get out the vote, out phone bank, or out vote a legislature that is the product of an extreme gerrymander and a state supreme court and governorship (and all other state wide offices) that are the result of extreme voter suppression.

  25. 25.

    SpaceUnit

    I don’t know what it is about Tuberville but I can’t see a picture of his face without wishing for a 2×4.

     

    It’s like the perfect combination of smug and stupid.

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    past time to bring this to a head, Dems – the wind is at your/our backs!

    DRAG HIM

    TIE THE GOP TO THIS STUPID SHIT

    let’s gooooooo!

  29. 29.

    wjca

    @ArchTeryx: I get where you’re coming from.  But I think there are enough current and former military there to make my scenario plausible.  People who care at least as much about someone disrespecting the military as they do about a mere pedophile.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Watched the kiddo’s squad compete in the NCAA West Region cross-country championships today. Perfect weather for running and a loaded field.

    Her school had their best-ever result and she was third on her squad, finishing in the top 100. Great way to end a career and dad could not be prouder. Her HS coach was there, an opportunity to laud her for everything she did to make this possible.

    Will miss these, never appreciated how athletics can counterbalance the academic stresses of school. Luckily we still have track to look forward to in spring.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I did do a bit in the US Military, during a war – Vietnam, and I agree, that potatohead should fuck the fuck right off. (Can you tell I was an enlisted person?)

    That this country of 330 + million humans has to suffer because of one lame ass jackoff in congress is just wrong. I unfortunately can easily believe that we have one lame ass jackoff in congress, what I can’t understand is why he keeps getting reelected.

  37. 37.

    SpaceUnit

    Ohio GOP trying to nullify Issue 1 is going to be like Elmer Fudd pulling the trigger on his shotgun.

     

    Politically speaking.

    ETA:  Okay, so Ohio women are Bugs Bunny in this analogy.  Or metaphor.  You know, sticking their finger in the barrel.  And then the gun blows up in Elmer’s face.  Oh never mind.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    My mistake. First one this year. (That might be a record….)

    Still, he was elected once. Doesn’t bode well for the electorate.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: No, gerrymanders can be overcome in many, if not most, circumstances.  It takes a shitload of work to do it.  Of course, if I am wrong and you are fight, what’s the point of doing anything nonviolent?

  40. 40.

    Citizen Alan

    @wjca: They already have roger wicker and cindy hyde-so-white. Unless they replace them with someone who openly supports the KK (instead of tacitly, ike those two do), that’s a bad that’s about as bad as mississippi can get.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    @wjca: In the case of Republican House members, Democrats can add their vote in May to cut VA funding by 22%. The Republican majority passed that proposal last May, as part of their Debt Ceiiling package. The bill included across-the-board cuts for everything but the Pentagon budget.

    I think they knew this was a mistake brcause the next austerity budget they passed exempted the VA as well as the Pentagon. But they can’t undo that first vote; Democrats were running ads against Rep. Jen Kiggans the day after she tried to cut veterans funding. Kiggan’s coastal Virginia district has an unusual number of veterans, active duty service members and their families, but I think that’s a bad vote that can hurt Republicans in any district.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Baud:

    Talk is cheap.

    I’m fond of the formulation by the renowned American philosopher Mose Allison: “Life is short / Talk is cheap / Don’t be makin’ promises you can’t keep.”

  45. 45.

    brendancalling

    @SpaceUnit: I must not think bad thoughts/I must not think bad th—

     

    WITH THE CHAIR, HIT HIM WITH THE CHAIR!

    … think bad thoughts/I must not think bad thoughts…

  49. 49.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Matt McIrvin: i heard that theory from one of.the lefty pundits a few months ago and I’ve come around to believing that. The GOP is getting ridiculously good at not filling positions during Dem administrations and it’s gone beyond domestic policy stuff like the FTC, FEC  to the freaking military.

  50. 50.

    Rose Weiss

    @Alison Rose: I had exactly the same situation as  your mom years ago. I’m still here and still healthy. Those tests aren’t totally reliable so rest easy about this.

  51. 51.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I think it was during Dubbya’s administration that you could go to some  parody website and digitally punch whoever you thought was the most punch able person in the admin. We need that for the media and the GOP right now. Ofcoiese they’d probably sue your ass because they feel threatened.

  52. 52.

    raven

    It’s the Marine Corps birthday and mine as well. I went in 57 years ago today and fuck Tubberville and LBJ.

  56. 56.

    Tony G

    Maybe Lincoln should have let Alabama secede.  We’d all be better off without that shit-hole of a state.

  60. 60.

    Jeffro

    @Almost Retired: it’s a great question (although we are out-performing in GOTV and out-voting them)…what to do if and when these fascists refuse to honor democratic outcomes? (again and again and again)?

    Call it out in a million ways.  Keep suing them (and shaming them) and pointing out just how extreme they are.  Grind things to a halt if we have to, so that it costs them (and those who fund them) dearly.  Point out who’s funding this insanity, and always remind our fellow Americans that this was a choice the RWNJs made – to destroy our country rather than live free and make the kinds of compromises it takes to live together in a multi-party, multi-cultural democracy.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    PS: Alexandra Petri, as always, is ON THE CASE

    Joe Manchin’s retirement announcement, annotated:

    I, Joe Manchin, am leaving the Senate (to Mitch McConnell) to go and unite the country (behind Donald Trump)! I have searched my soul (but found no shame), and this is what I must do (to uproot my legacy and leave Washington worse than I found it).

    People from both sides of the aisle are crying out for Joe Manchin (to stop). I am the No. 1 candidate in many people’s minds (when those people are both men in suits on a stage In Conversation At A Washington, D.C., Think Tank) when they ask the question: Who can bring the country (club) together?

    This is what the American people at large (if “large” is the name of an obscure coal-based lobbying group) have been clamoring for. I must give the people what they want (to avoid).

  65. 65.

    West of the Rockies

    Does the pencil-necked Tuberville have any supporters?  Other than Russian Ronny Johnson, I don’t recall anyone coming to his defense.

  70. 70.

    Pennsylvanian

    @Almost Retired: We cannot forget the legacy of do-gooders, or the importance of their work. Seriously, there are a handful of people that I can call up who upended my world growing up, because it helps to learn that it doesn’t have to be the way it’s always been.

    That’s an awesome story about your dad, and the nation and Army have surely benefited from your father’s wisdom. A great Veteran’s Day anecdote, too. Thank you.

  71. 71.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Omnes Omnibus: “The bad guys’ royalist tendencies lead them to endorse an absolute monarch who suddenly does a face turn and enacts democracy” doesn’t sound like a plan.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
      I was countering Adam’s implication that violence is the only way that fascism has been defeated. I wasn’t advocating a plan. FWIW I think we can win at the ballot box and in the courts. I don’t think it will be quick or easy (I have never argued that), but it can be done.

  77. 77.

    Lyrebird

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     …FWIW I think we can win at the ballot box and in the courts. I don’t think it will be quick or easy (I have never argued that), but it can be done.

    I don’t think Biden’s election is a magical ward against everything else, but I still consider it a BFD that we kept the vote suppressers and the disinformation crap-stirrers enough at bay to elect him. And I consider the OH and VA election results to be a pretty astounding as well.

    Thanks for your comments from the (crossing fingers I get the right state animal) involved Badger viewpoint.

  79. 79.

    Mai Naem mobile

    The spam calls to my phone are out of control. I swear it starts first thing in the morning when I use my phone. It’s easy to say ignore them but I’ve had a couple of phones which were tagged as spam but weren’t.  I am going to scream if I get another Medicare benefit one. Like, dude i am not old enuf for Medicare. And then the final benefit one. Dude do you know something about me that I don’t? And then there are the bot ones. This is Anna in a sing song voice.

  80. 80.

    prostratedragon

    Argentina at least partially. To be sure, the fascists did help with a major self-own, but that goo is usually the case. Also Chile.

  82. 82.

    Big Mango

    Some maintain Tuberville is holding them up so they can be filled with trump lackeys for when he declares martial law.

    these chuds need to be defeated asap…

  85. 85.

    Another Scott

    @Mai Naem mobile: Let me guess – Verizon?

    My J is on Verizon.  She gets lots of spam calls and texts.

    I’m on Google Fi and almost never get any spam.

    Anecdotes are not data, but …

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I wish I could bottle the contempt in Sen Booker’s voice when he says “The Senator from ALABAMA!”  Not sure yet what I would do with all that concentrated contempt, but I’m sure there are occasions when it would be very useful.

  87. 87.

    geg6

    Any senators who have served (are there any?  I seriously don’t know.) should be allowed to go all Preston Brooks on that asshole.

  89. 89.

    columbusqueen

    @SpaceUnit: Time to break out some pitchforks & torches, maybe. It’s not as though our Statehouse is isolated in podunk town with few people, after all.

  98. 98.

    piratedan

    I understand where Adam is coming from.  I share his fears that as far as the GOP is concerned, they’re waiting for someone to “stop them”.  Evidenced by the fact that the OHIO GOP has decided that they will be the final arbiters of what the law says and how it will be applied and if they don’t approve of what the voters have decided then they will simply not abide by it, regardless of the outcome or what the new provision constitutional amendment says.

    They appear to want some kind of Fort Sumpter moment and if that means defying elections and seeing if Joe Biden will send troops in to arrest them, they’re willing to bet it won’t happen.  now it remains to be seen as to how this will play out legally.  It’s one damn thing to issue a memo and put your name on it, yet how will they “enforce their non-acknowledgement” also appears to be a legit question.

    I don’t know if we’re looking at a HOT Civil War part II, because we’re certainly in the middle of a Cold one right now.   The folks driving the bus financially for the other side appear to be sure that they won’t be the ones paying the price and betting that those of us that oppose them will roll over and considering how well they gauged the response on Dobbs, I’m not sure I trust their instincts.

    What no one in the muddy middle seems to realize is that no one is “safe” from their judgement, once they take over, no need for a SCOTUS, no need for a MSM, all of those “trappings” of Democracy can be shitcanned for those making the real decisions.  I understand that this is an extremely dark take, but I’m pretty sure that there’s at least more than one half-competent evil string puller (Leo, Crow, Koch, etc) that has this as an agenda item.

  102. 102.

    Ohio Mom

    @Adam L Silverman: As an Ohioan, I agree. The legislature ignored our votes for fair redistricting; there’s an effort underway to get a new redistricting issue on the ballot (modeled after what Michigan did), but who’s to say (assuming it passes) that will be put into place?

    Decades ago, the courts found Ohio’s school funding system unconstitutional and there it remains, the legislature has not touched it. Now that worked out for Ohio Son, he got to attend one of the unfairly well-funded districts, a thought that has caused me some cognitive dissonance.

  105. 105.

    Ohio Mom

    @Ohio Mom: I’m reminded of Florida. Remember when the voters there gave the vote back to felons who had served their time?

    And then Florida came up with that inscrutable, No voting until you’ve paid your fees and fines and LOL, there’s no way to know what those add up to, and if you vote without settling your obligations, back to the slammer.

    It’s depressing, thinking of these examples of disregarded votes.

  106. 106.

    Ohio Mom

    @sab: I am not sure of that. The Cincinnati paper had a map showing which counties voted which way.

    The votes might have been a lot closer than expected in many Red counties but the vast rural areas voted Issue 1 down. It was the urban areas and the northern shore areas that voted yes overwhelmingly.

  107. 107.

    billcinsd

    @Alison Rose: The Cologuard false positive rate is around 15% and detects ~90% of cancers. It is not a replacement for colonoscopies in terms of id-ing pre-cancerous polyps, but, if you don’t have a family history of colon cancer or polyps found in a previous colonoscopy, they do reasonably well at what they are for.

  108. 108.

    Martin

    Been saying for a while that white christians were not going to peacefully slide into the minority after 400 years. And look at that – Ohio republicans, aka a pack of feral white christians, aren’t sliding into the minority. They’re holding the majority, and will keep the majority no matter what the courts say about their maps and the voters say about the laws.

  109. 109.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Matt McIrvin:

    holding the positions open so President Trump can stuff them in 2025 with loyalists

    Still not how this works.  They are internal appointments needing Senate approval.  Trump does not have a say.  Trump can yell himself blue in the face that he is appointing this person or that person and the military is not going to listen.  He might as well declare McConnell leader of the DNC.

  111. 111.

    Shalimar

    Maybe if we lower next year’s military budget by $5 billion for every day Tuberville’s hold continues, the other senators might finally change the rules so this shit can’t happen again?

  113. 113.

    Citizen Alan

    @Shalimar: Don’t give them the talking point of saying democrats are hurting the military as well. Just put a hold on all government expenditures going to alabama.

  114. 114.

    Aussie Sheila

    @piratedan:

    What you should be looking at is the return of Sherrod Brown to the Senate next year. He is my favourite US politician. I hoped in 2019 that he would run for the Dem Pres. Nom. In the event I understand why he didn’t, and Biden has been very good.
    Nevertheless, increasing the Dem vote in every nook and cranny of every county in a State increases the possibility of electing a Dem Senator.
    Electing more and better Democrats is the only thing standing between US democracy and disaster for a lot of nations that aren’t the US. I wish it weren’t  so, but it is.
    Unfortunately.

  115. 115.

    dirge

    @Adam L Silverman: Fascism has only ever been defeated one way. That way did not involve ballots.

    I think this is implicitly a little circular, in that you may be thinking that if it was defeated at the ballot box, it wasn’t really fascism.  I think fascism is endemic, a fundamental flaw in the human condition, and that we defeat it each and every time we hold a free and fair election.  That’s really what democracy is for, and anything else we get out of it is just gravy.

    Here in the thick of it, I don’t think we can see whether we’ve crossed the threshold, beyond which only violent methods avail.  Certainly we’re close.  It crackles in the air.  But political violence is the enemy’s home territory, so I’d be reluctant to kick it off until I’m very, very sure we’re well past the point of no return.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Nettoyeur: They were probably talking about a Democratic Senator taking that seat from Tuberville. Former Senator Doug Jones may go for a rematch.

  123. 123.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: After the last round of redistricting, Jen Kiggans’ 2nd CD is rated R+2 by Cook’s. Rep. Luria lost it last year by 10,000 votes, 51,6-48.8%.

    The new district would have been carried by Joe Biden in 2020, so it’s high on the list of Democratic targets for next year.

  124. 124.

    docNC

    The simplest solution is to re-locate all service members and their families to states that provide comprehensive health care.  Why should we station them in areas where their care is substandard for any reason.  Close bases in those states and move out.

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @docNC: That is not a simple solution. The Pentagon can’t close those bases without building new ones, and that would take a few years and several hundred billion dollars.

    But, I have a hunch those promotions will be approved by next Friday.

  126. 126.

    evodevo

    @Ohio Mom: ​
      Yes…this is the first thing I thought of when I read about the Repub legislators vowing to deep six the constitutional amendment…sort of like Andrew Jackson on the Indian removal after the Cherokees took it to the SC and the decision was in their favor: “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

  127. 127.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @prostratedragon: Then there’s Portugal in 1974. Maybe that’s what Dummy GooberVile’s antics are all about – holding slots open for Cheetoh Benito to appoint lackeys who won’t toss him out a 10th-storey window when he starts implementing fascism. Seems to have worked for Erdogan…

  128. 128.

    artem1s

    @piratedan:

    Evidenced by the fact that the OHIO GOP has decided that they will be the final arbiters of what the law says

    I’ve lived in this state my whole life and can tell you there is no such thing as THE OHIO GOP anymore. If you look back at the factions that supported the last Senate race that J.D. Vance won, you’ll get an idea of the various groups and which voting blocks they ‘command’. But there is a lot of drift between them depending on the issue at hand because of those who consider themselves ‘independents’ or libertarian or even Green Party aligned. They have common enemies but not much else.

    Just because there is a group in the statehouse that believes they can jigger their power in a way to nullify this or any other voter passed issue doesn’t mean they have the backing of all the factions that actually could make it so.  This group obviously believes the methods used to keep their gerrymandered map despite two voter issues to redraw the district, will work for Issue 1. I highly doubt it largely because the factions were pretty united on their opposition to losing their control of the statehouse and their jobs. While the Ohio Supreme court at the time kept sending the map back, the GOP was able to delay redrawing a fair map – and now it’s a moot point because the new court won’t send it back anymore.

    That’s not going to work for Issue 1. Inaction won’t close down Planned Parenthood or keep doctors from giving their patient care. And it won’t keep women from getting their online abortion drugs. For this to work they will need the cooperation of DA’s, prosecutors, sheriffs, LEOs, doctors, hospitals, etc. IOW, many thousands of people who voter for the measure. Maybe the plan is to try to enforce the current heartbeat bills and pass more like them, but there is no guarantee the Supreme Court that is current ignoring gerrymandering is going to play along with this faction of extremists who want to turn Ohio into a fascist dictatorship run only by Fundy extremists and the Catholic Diocese of Ohio. Looking at the election night map, my bet is there isn’t the support within the GOP controlled statehouse to end run this around the courts that these ‘geniuses’ think there is.  They will continue to throw shit at the wall to see what sticks. And expect to see Issue wars with competing ballot measures every single election from now on and lots of special elections. They will try to catch the pro-choice voting block flat footed so we’ll have to be diligent. But we can also use this to open the eyes of some voters that these guys are not good for the state or you.

  129. 129.

    wjca

    @Nettoyeur: And the point was that he has alienated enough voters that he gets voted out in favor of a Democrat.  Not unlike how Senator Jones got elected as a Democrat from Alabama a few years back.

    ETA In other words, what Geminid said.

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