Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Let there be snark.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

This really is a full service blog.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Democrats Deliver, Repubs Block & Obfuscate

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Democrats Deliver, Repubs Block & Obfuscate

by | 161 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,


Reader Interactions

161Comments

  1. 1.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Given the intense level of stated interest in Biden doing more public events there is remarkably little coverage of the events he does do.

    It’s almost like this interest is in bad faith. They’re trying to foist a narrative on us regardless of the facts. By the way, foist.

    Perhaps if Biden did insubstantial rallies where he howled at the crowd like a lunatic, he could earn the media’s respect.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Given the intense level of stated interest in Biden doing more public events there is remarkably little coverage of the events he does do.

    People will spend 100 hours debating Biden’s mental capacity rather than watch even a couple of hours of footage to judge for themselves.

  4. 4.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: I like masterminds who don’t get found out.

    @Baud: People will spend 100 hours debating Biden’s mental capacity rather than watch even a couple of hours of footage to judge for themselves.

    Documentary evidence is for sheep who believe the evidence of their eyes…

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:Perhaps if Biden did insubstantial rallies where he howled at the crowd like a lunatic, he could earn the media’s respect.

    Clearly he needs to be hawking his own line of high-top sneakers.  Air Bidens!

    (In fact, I hope he does do that, just to mock the shit out of trump.  =)

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    I have to say…. J.D. Vance’s absolute moral bankruptcy is really something to behold. I mean, from a safe distance, while wearing PPE. It is stunning how he has become nothing but a shill.

    I’m very glad I didn’t relocate to Ohio.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Media note.

    Qualified recommendation (because I’m only a few episodes into it) of State of Happiness*, which has previously rattled around various providers and is now available on MHz Choice. Finding interesting the intricate interweaving of dramatic arcs – social, cultural, corporate and industrial. Only downside for me thus far is confusing many principals and secondary characters due to them looking so similar to one another. Fingers crossed for later seasons to follow with alacrity.

    *You may have to click the CC button on the trailer video to turn on subtitles.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne: Yeah. Approvingly citing Charles Fucking Lindbergh on the subject of the US supporting Britain in WWII is …impressive in its aggressive ignorance.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    How will anyone believe he’s a criminal mastermind if he doesn’t commit any felonies?

    That’s the sign of a good mastermind; he commits the felonies, but we don’t know about them.

  22. 22.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @geg6: Yeah, I’m starting to think the Ivies are not sending us their best./s/

    They’re sending us grifters and rapists and tax cheats and some, I assume, are good people…

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    UK special forces blocked resettlement applications from elite Afghan troops

    Elite Afghan commandos who fought alongside the British military have had their applications to relocate blocked by UK special forces despite evidence that they had served alongside them in dangerous missions against the Taliban.

    Documents leaked and shared with BBC Panorama show that Britain’s secretive special forces were given a veto power over resettlement, prompting claims that hundreds of Afghan veterans have been left in limbo or danger in their native country.

    In some cases, the documents show Ministry of Defence officials tried to challenge the reasons for rejection, but were told they could not do as so as a decision on whether or not to sponsor resettlement by the British military unit was deemed final.

    Whatever objection would the SAS raise against having their brothers in arms resettle in the UK?

    Members of the Afghan 333 and 444 units, known as the Triples, who are in the UK could in theory be asked to give evidence if they were present on contentious SAS night raids, where it is alleged 80 civilians were killed in cold blood in Helmand province between 2010 and 2013.

    “At a time when certain actions by UK special forces are under investigation by a public inquiry, their headquarters also had the power to prevent former Afghan special forces colleagues and potential witnesses to these actions from getting safely to the UK,” one former UK special forces officer told the BBC.

    Oh.

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev:

    impressive in its aggressive ignorance 

    Like, do these people not even check Wikipedia?!

    The greatest information delivery device in human history is probably in J.D. Vance’s pocket right this moment, and he’s still this fucking dumb.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    I have to get a new passport because my old one expired, and for some reason, the US State Dept. requires applicants to pay by check or money order with your current address printed on it. You can’t use a debit or credit card, even though you have to show up in person. That’s so stupid!

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m not really a fan of hers, but it looks like Elmo “Mr. Free Speech” has suspended Yulia Navalnaya’s Twitter account.

  34. 34.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @NotMax: I won’t lie, I love me a good McMysteryMeatNugget. With the most sublime sweet and sour sauce god has graced this Earth with

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: You want to try rats on bacon, be my guest. Hard pass for me.

    We have fun here.

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Suzanne: He knows everything he needs to know, why look anything up? Just like he skipped the meeting with Zelensky in Munich because he didn’t think he’d learn anything new.

  37. 37.

    TBone

    @Jackie: 💙 Why can’t I be devious like that when I’m pissed off?  It takes me a lil while to formulate in the AM.  My next door neighbors have heavy equipment digging up the yard to install a new fence which will block my current expansive view of green space and I’m shook today.

  38. 38.

    Suzanne

    @Gin & Tonic: Ohio has the largest Ukrainian-American population in the country. One would think he might want to represent his constituents better.

    I guess TFG is his only real constituent.

  39. 39.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Jackie: ​
    @TBone: Just look up a zip code from his district. 😊

     Per Wikipedia, Reschenthaler represents PA-14.
    Also per Wikipedia: “Pennsylvania’s 14th congressional district is located in the southwestern part of the state and includes all of Fayette County, Greene County, and Washington County, and most of Indiana, Westmoreland, and Somerset counties.”

    Research alert for TBone!

    Cities in Fayette County, which is part of Reschenthaler’s district:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayette_County,_Pennsylvania

    Zip code lookup by city and state:
    https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?bycitystate

    Go get ‘im. 😊

  41. 41.

    Suzanne

    @H.E.Wolf: Fun fact: Fayette County, PA, is the locale of two famous houses — Fallingwater, and Buffalo Bill’s house, which you can rent on AirBNB.

  43. 43.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Betty Cracker: Huh. I’m a year away from renewing my passports, and the US Embassy here indicates that when it’s time to pay, I should use an online secure payment site under the pay.gov domain. Of course, that’s strictly for citizens abroad.

    (And I still have a US bank account, with blank checks bearing my address from almost twenty years ago.)

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … RollingStone.com:

    With just hours left before Biden’s inauguration, Trump’s renewed fury at the rapper set off a frenzied effort both in and outside of the White House to convince Trump that Snoop Dogg wasn’t, in fact, mad at him anymore. The effort lasted almost literally until the final minute of the presidency. Failure to move Trump would have cost the freedom of one of the co-founders of the legendary hip-hop record label Death Row Records, who at the time had been behind bars for three decades.

    “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

    The Good Liars are right – mocking him, telling him he’s boring to his face, picking on his fragile ego, is the way to crush him.

    (via Memeorandum)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    TBone

    I will channel my anger today and use Fani Willis’s letter to Gym Jordan as my inspiration to write to That Fucking Guy.  More coffee brewing …

  48. 48.

    Another Scott

    @H.E.Wolf: My Rep has a web form that wants one’s Zip+4.

    It still can be done, but might take a little more work.

    P.O. Boxes have a unique Zip+4 also too.

    ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  51. 51.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Geminid: Exqueeze me! That’s an insult to the memory of Neville Chamberlain, who had the excuse of having lived through the War to End War.

    Go ahead and slag the Cybertruck all you like, though. That’s fair game.

  52. 52.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Geminid: J.D. Vance is a bit player. He aspires to Neville Chamberlain. Cybertruck might be an apt comparison, both for desirability within our society and the shape of his head.

  53. 53.

    H.E.Wolf

    @TBone: “I fucking love youse guys. Or should I say yinz?”​
    Either way, and I love all y’all too!
    @Suzanne: ​”Fun fact: Fayette County, PA, is the locale of two famous houses — Fallingwater, and Buffalo Bill’s house, which you can rent on AirBNB.”​
     
    Wow! My mind is boggled.

  54. 54.

    TBone

    @Suzanne: hmmm invasive? Please tell me more (I’m a little slow on the uptake yet).  I’ve seen prehistoric-looking 12″ stone flies here (the result of huge hellgrammites on Penn’s Creek) that can look pretty scary but moths are not my forte.

  57. 57.

    TBone

    @H.E.Wolf: 🌹 I went to Rosemont College so that’s why I have such an affinity for them.  You’re amazing 🤩

    1499 MILL ST

    PITTSBURGH PA 15221-1939

  58. 58.

    Anyway

    Met friends for dinner last night and saw a truck in the parking lot with “Delaware Home of the Biden Crime Family” emblazoned on both sides – large font, all caps, very conspicuous – this was in Greeneville, not bloody Slower Delaware. Aaaargh – gonna be a long time to November

     

    PS Yay, Wisconsin!

  59. 59.

    Torrey

    That Kelly tweet:

    I understand that people have paid into Medicare and Social Security for years. I understand the people who receive these benefits are not freeloaders. I understand they may need these benefits.

    Nevertheless they must go or the country cannot be saved. I’m sorry. Life is unfair.

    Yet one more example of why grammar matters: the obvious antecedent for the “they” in the second paragraph is the “they” in the first paragraph. Jesse said way more than he thought he was saying.

  61. 61.

    Juju

    In regards to what The Scary Lawyer Guy said,  about the Speaker, I would love to see Trump drink a glass of water while Johnson is speaking. That would be impressive.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: I’m kicking myself for not renewing it by mail when that was still an option. Now I have to schlep to the county clerk, etc. We moved six years ago, but I don’t have checks with this address because I almost never write checks and still have books of them with our old address. They won’t even take cash!

  69. 69.

    TBone

    @Anyway: someone here posted about how to remove tire air cap, strategically place a BB covered in super glue in the tire stem, and put the cap back on.  Apparently causes slow leakage.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    @dmsilev:

    Yeah. Approvingly citing Charles Fucking Lindbergh on the subject of the US supporting Britain in WWII is …impressive in its aggressive ignorance. 

    You mean Nazi-sympathizing, son of a bitch Charles Fucking Lindbergh.  That fucking bastard?

  72. 72.

    H.E.Wolf

    @TBone: ​ Thanks for the kind words! Back in 2017, I channeled my ire at the unspeakable former Administration by persuading my local Democratic Party office to find me a volunteer project for an introvert. :)
    They asked me to help update the database information that the field organizers use for coordinating campaign volunteers, and I was as happy as a pig in clover.

    In the years since, I’ve learned all sorts of useful ways to search for addresses (and people). And when I started writing postcards, I became very fond of Wikipedia, for learning about the cities and towns I was writing to.​​​

  73. 73.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Just like he skipped the meeting with Zelensky in Munich because he didn’t think he’d learn anything new.

    Truth! It’s quite apparent that he doesn’t think and can’t learn. Unfortunately, his supporters find these attributes attractive. 

  74. 74.

    Josie

    Amazing that I have lived all these years without knowing who Jesse Kelly is. I looked him up and realized I should have let it go on.

  76. 76.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Spanky: Fayette County is also the site of the battle where George Washington started the French and Indian War. ​

     You just made this history nerd very happy!

    And now I’m going offline to start my day. Happy Tuesday to all yinz!

  79. 79.

    Nelle

    @H.E.Wolf: Thank you for finding your niche.  I think we could do a whole discussion of all the unglamorous and small things that people here do.  The things that get the ripples started.  May the ripples turn into a blue wave.  Or tsunami.

  80. 80.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jackie:

    I think they mean Greenville, Delaware, a suburb of Wilmington. It’s the actual home of Joe Biden. I couldn’t imagine doing that to my vehicle. I hate Trump and even if I lived in Palm Beach County I wouldn’t do that

  83. 83.

    Anonymous At Work

    Odd little story about the little man with a big ego from West Virginia, Joe Manchin.  He’s claiming that Republicans abandonment of their own border bill was what turned him away from a third party bid.  If his ‘friends’ would abandon their own bill within a day of Trump demanding they do so, he reasoned that there’s no point in bipartisanship via a third-party candidate.

    Maybe true, maybe not.  If true, Trump’s immediate demand for chaos at the border is looking more and more stupid among his demands.  Which, if you consider the irony…

  88. 88.

    Geminid

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Yeah, I am being unfair to Chamberlain. Vance can only aspire to achieve Chamberlain’s rank and responsibility.

    But I think Chamberlin blew it at Munich. The French had as much or more reason to fear war as the British did, and they still believed Czeckoslovakia was worth fighting Germany over. But they could not do it without the British, and Chamberlain believed he had a better way.

    Chamberlain had a very high opinion of himself. That is probably a similarity between him and Vance..

  90. 90.

    TBone

    “Slower Lower” is a perjorative used by northern Delawarians to describe southern, rural Delawarians.  It can also be a reference to a pace of life that differs from Wilmington.

  93. 93.

    Jackie

    @Anyway: My confusion stemmed from the extra “e” in Greeneville – instead of Greenville. TN has the distinction of having the only Greeneville in the states 😊

  95. 95.

    Anyway

    @TBone:

    “Slower Lower” is a perjorative used by northern Delawarians to describe southern, rural Delawarians.

    No longer a pejorative — it’s a term of endearment/pride …the difference  between them is no longer as stark. I would not have been surprised seeing the truck in Kent or Sussex counties – in 2016/2020 they were riddled with that awful picture of TIFG humping the flag.

  100. 100.

    Betty Cracker

    @Anonymous At Work: I read that in the wee hours and reflected anew on what a self-aggrandizing putz Manchin is. Republicans, including almost all of them in the Senate, have been deranged Trump cultists for the better part of a decade now, but Manchin is just now realizing they aren’t good faith bipartisan negotiators?

    I’m confident most cinder blocks could outwit Manchin, but even he’s not that dumb. It’s ego balm to explain the lack of enthusiasm for his potential candidacy and the certainty of being rejected by WV voters for another senate term, IMO.

    Also, in that same interview, Manchin refuses to say he’d endorse Biden over Trump in a two-way race. Fuck that gaping asshole. I’ll miss the votes he was willing to supply when not preening in front of cameras to squeeze concessions from Democrats, but Manchin can’t STFU fast enough to suit me. I hope he falls down a mineshaft.

  104. 104.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Anyway:

    No prob. Given the “Home of the Biden Crime Family”, I assumed it must’ve been a Greenville in Delaware

  109. 109.

    TBone

    Can I address my email “Listen up, Guy:” or is that too disrespectful?   Choices include:

    Cockalorum

    Pollock

    Lickspittle

    Ninnyhammer

    I’ll work all those in somewhere.

    Also: sniveling fealty

  110. 110.

    Almost Retired

    The Might Morphin Power President is coming to town for a fundraiser at the home of Haim Saban – the creator* of the wretched Power Rangers series that bedeviled parents like me with boys born in the 90’s.

    After hoovering up some of that sweet Hollywood money (and complicating traffic for those of us with appointments in Century City today), Biden’s heading up to Los Altos Hills to partake of some sweet tech cash.  Hope he needs to charter an extra plane to cart away the proceeds.   Somehow, I’m less bothered by billionaire money in politics when it goes to our side.  Hypocrisy is a funny thing….

    *I think Saban actually pretty much ripped off the concept from the Japanese.

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    This a great news for my neck of the woods!

    The Supreme Court handed Latino voters in Washington State a victory on Tuesday — and declined a move that could have potentially eroded Voting Rights Act protections further.

    According to Democracy Docket, the justices will not take up Soto Palmer v. Hobbs, a case filed in 2022 in which a judge found legislative districts in Eastern Washington intentionally “cracked” Latino voters to deny them representation. The justices simultaneously reversed the dismissal of a parallel racial gerrymandering lawsuit filed by Republicans, sending it back to a lower court for consideration.

    According to Democracy Docket, the justices will not take up Soto Palmer v. Hobbs, a case filed in 2022 in which a judge found legislative districts in Eastern Washington intentionally “cracked” Latino voters to deny them representation. The justices simultaneously reversed the dismissal of a parallel racial gerrymandering lawsuit filed by Republicans, sending it back to a lower court for consideration.

    This comes after a year of litigation in which the Supreme Court, which spent over a decade chipping away at various enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act, surprised many legal observers by upholding some protections against racial gerrymandering.

  114. 114.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, pretty much my thought but doubling down on rhetoric that Manchin is using would only make Trump triple-down on how he wants CHAOS at the border so he can campaign on it, rather than a solution.

    I think the GOP’s unwillingness to consider any/all immigration legislation is a sledgehammer that Democrats can use very effectively.  So let’s line up the blockheads.

  117. 117.

    wjca

    @H.E.Wolf: USPS has a “look up by address” option, which will provide zip+4.

    The temptation to use the Congressman’s own home address, or faiking that his district office, for the look-up must be overwhelming.

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    loving all the Delaware geography, etc in this thread!

    Mrs. Fro and I will be making our usual trip to Rehoboth Beach this July.    =)

  127. 127.

    Subsole

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    Maybe if we verbally abused tge media every time they opened their mouths they’d treat us like actual people.

    Seems to work for the GOP.

     

    And before anyone jumps on me, I’m not the one whose actions are establishing this incentive structure.

  128. 128.

    Harrison Wesley

    @TBone: Hmmm…..sounds a bit like Egbert Souse: “Don’t be a luddy-duddy!  Don’t be a mooncalf!  Don’t be a jobbernowl!  You’re not any of those, are you?”

  132. 132.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Heritage Foundation (h/t LGM):

    “It seems to me that a good place to start would be a feminist movement against the pill, & for… returning the consequentiality to sex.” Conservatives have to lead the way in restoring sex to its true purpose, & ending recreational sex & senseless use of birth control pills.

    Maybe us women can Lysistrata “the consequentiality” to banning birth control.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

     

     

    Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration
    Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, president of The Center for Renewing America, part of a conservative consortium preparing for Trump’s return to power.
    By ALEXANDER WARD and HEIDI PRZYBYLA

    02/20/2024 05:00 AM EST

     

    An influential think tank close to Donald Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

    Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, who served as Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget during his first term and has remained close to him. Vought, who is frequently cited as a potential chief of staff in a second Trump White House, is president of The Center for Renewing America think tank, a leading group in a conservative consortium preparing for a second Trump term.

    Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life. As the country has become less religious and more diverse, Vought has embraced the idea that Christians are under assault and has spoken of policies he might pursue in response.

    One document drafted by CRA staff and fellows includes a list of top priorities for CRA in a second Trump term. “Christian nationalism” is one of the bullet points. Others include invoking the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests and refusing to spend authorized congressional funds on unwanted projects, a practice banned by lawmakers in the Nixon era.

    CRA’s work fits into a broader effort by conservative, MAGA-leaning organizations to influence a future Trump White House. Two people familiar with the plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, said that Vought hopes his proximity and regular contact with the former president — he and Trump speak at least once a month, according to one of the people — will elevate Christian nationalism as a focal point in a second Trump term.
    ………………..

    Vought has a close affiliation with Christian nationalist William Wolfe, a former Trump administration official who has advocated for overturning same-sex marriage, ending abortion and reducing access to contraceptives.

    Vought, who declined to comment, is advising Project 2025, a governing agenda that would usher in one of the most conservative executive branches in modern American history. The effort is made up of a constellation of conservative groups run by Trump allies who’ve constructed a detailed plan to dismantle or overhaul key agencies in a second term. Among other principles, the project’s “Mandate for Leadership” states that “freedom is defined by God, not man.”

     

     

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/donald-trump-allies-christian-nationalism-00142086

  136. 136.

    Andrew Abshier

    Interesting that Lindbergh came up in the Tweet.  I’m reading the Phillip Roth book that imagines that Lindbergh won the presidential race in 1940.  I’m about halfway through it and the story is already deeply unsettling.   Lindbergh at least straightened up after Pearl Harbor and did some good work for the nation, but that America First speech he made in Iowa should have been, and perhaps was, disqualifying.   (BTW he had children out of wedlock with three different women in Europe–all Germans–while still married to Anne Morrow Lindbergh.)

  137. 137.

    RaflW

    Jesse Kelly, restated: “I understand that people have paid into Medicare and social security for years. I understand the people who receive these benefits are not freeloaders. I understand many need these benefits.

    Nevertheless, they must go or the country absurdly low taxes on the rich cannot be saved. I’m sorry. Life is unfair.”

    —

    Life is indeed unfair. All the good stuff rolls up hill.
    At least until the tumbrels come out.

  138. 138.

    Another Scott

    @cain: He’d played with running before.  He was interested in it for a long time.

    I don’t think the Correspondents’ Dinner really was much of a factor.  He hated JEB because he wouldn’t give him permission for a casino in Florida and wanted to destroy him.  (Recall that TIFG announced (June 16) a day after JEB did (June 15).)

    Yeah, petty grievances are a thing, but Obama didn’t cost him money while JEB did.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  141. 141.

    Anyway

    @Another Scott:

    My take is that TIFG had always toyed with running but without putting in the effort (like most everything he does) but Mercer $$$ and Steve Bannon gave him the initial push and connections into the Rthug circle. Once he started doing the “debates” and getting attention it snowballed from there.

  142. 142.

    Brit in Chicago

    @RaflW: Life is indeed unfair, but each of has a duty to do what we can to make it fairer. It doesn’t even have to involve tumbrels; reforming the tax code might do it.

  143. 143.

    linnen

    The ‘what-if’ tweets about Poland keeping Nazi German from Warsaw are painfully ignorant. Half of Poland was given to Russia at the time. If Hitler was not going to occupy Warsaw, Stalin would have.

    A ‘what-if’ tweet about America and Britain fully supporting the ‘Lincoln Brigade’ to standing up to Franco in Spain would have made more sense.

  144. 144.

    StringOnAStick

    @Andrew Abshier: I remember reading that book when it was first published, and I rarely read novels but that one grabbed me, hard. Funny you should bring it up because I’ve been thinking about that book a lot recently.

    I got to explain to my yoga ladies book club 10 years ago that while Ann Morrow Lindbergh wrote some nice airy prose, her husband was a damned fascist and she supported him in it.  It showed me how well both of their reputations had been successfully laundered over the years.  The yoga ladies were shocked.

  145. 145.

    Paul in KY

    @Betty Cracker: At least you’re not so stupid that you paid for a Mexican vacay and didn’t check your passport & found out purely by accident that it was 2 weeks from expiring and had to speed up to Chicago to get it renewed at the State Dept. offices.

    Ask me how I know…

  147. 147.

    Paul in KY

    @Geminid: If they’d declared war & so on when the little shit took the Rhineland, we’d have been rid of him. Not German militarism though.

  148. 148.

    brantl

    @Suzanne:  What kind of surprise is it that terminally lazy people are ignorant? What’s the first kind of lazy you can be, as a human being? I’ll answer the rhetorical question: it’s that you’re too lazy to pay attention to all the things that walk right by you, every day.

    JD Vance is an ignorant fuck? What a surprise!!

  149. 149.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @TBone: The CIA/OSS sabotage manual recommends nails or tacks under where the tire will pull out (although that was written pre-security camera)

  150. 150.

    Manyakitty

    @Suzanne: he doesn’t want to represent anyone. He’s probably got his next job lined up and he’s just riding the taxpayer dollars until he terms out.

    Rancid, vile, soulless ghoul.

  151. 151.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    I’m very glad I didn’t relocate to Ohio.

    I did that – once.

    It wasn’t bad but moving there was a change.

    Still, not planning on doing that again.

  153. 153.

    S Cerevisiae

    @Betty Cracker: I just renewed mine a few months ago, fortunately I’m an old and use checks occasionally. It came surprisingly fast, about 4 weeks when they predicted over twice that.

  157. 157.

    RevRick

    Am I the only one who thinks the endless Washington yammering about deficits and the debt are baloney. For one thing, to whom do we owe this scary, horrible, terrible debt? Turns out, we owe 3/4ths to ourselves. Paying it off would amount to taking money from our right pocket and stuffing in our left. And the foreign owners of the debt? They are basically paying us to hold their dollars, because they have more than they can use.

    You know what debt should matter, but about which we scarcely hear a peep? Our foreign trade deficit! Since 1980, we have run a chronic trade deficit, piling up trillions of dollars we owe for the goods and services we purchase from other countries. If we were a normal country like Argentina, the IMF would have long ago imposed all sorts of restrictions, demanding we hike our interest rates and devaluing the dollar to bring our trade back in balance. But what actually happens?
    The rest of the world says, “No, we’re good!” It turns out the world loves our Treasuries, which has become the gold standard for all things monetary and financial globally.
    We obsess about the federal debt, but pay no attention to the debt that matters: our foreign trade deficit.

  158. 158.

    wjca

    @RevRick: And the foreign owners of the debt? They are basically paying us to hold their dollars, because they have more than they can use.

    Well, that and as a basis for their own currencies.  A century ago the world was on the gold standard.  Now, it’s the dollar standard.

  159. 159.

    different-church-lady

    They don’t want Biden to do more events; they want to complain that Biden doesn’t do enough events.

  160. 160.

    Nash

    Why does Yglesias keep showing up in posts here? Just because he’s ostensibly on Biden’s “side?”

    He’s a freaking nitwit. There’s a reason he got forced out at Vox, an outlet he helped launch.

Comments are closed.