Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

In my day, never was longer.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

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

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

This fight is for everything.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Standing Strong & Fighting Back

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Standing Strong & Fighting Back

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  3. 3.

    Baud

    SOTU tidbit: Reddit reminded me that MTG criticized the Senate for allowing Fetterman to dress down.

  4. 4.

    Kay

    March 8 (Reuters) – A federal judge in Texas on Friday struck down a U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule challenged by major business groups that would treat many companies as employers of certain contract and franchise workers and require them to bargain with unions representing them.

    This is Biden’s rule- it repeals Trump’s rule – Trump’s rule screwed contract and franchise workers.

    Party of the working class! Yes, sir!

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    To the surprise of absolutely no one:

    The oil industry has fought against government support for clean technologies for more than half a century, the Guardian can reveal, even as vast subsidies have propped up its polluting business model.

    It lobbied lawmakers to block support for low-carbon technologies such as solar panels, electric cars and heat pumps as far back as the 1960s, analysis shows. Trade associations in the US and Europe stymied green innovations under the guise of supporting a “technology neutral” approach to avoiding the damage done by burning their fuels.

    The same incumbents were happy to lobby for government support when they were getting started, and had continued to benefit from it since, said Dario Kenner, a visiting research fellow at the University of Sussex who trawled through decades of public statements from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and FuelsEurope.
    ……………………………
    Lobbyists on both sides of the Atlantic argued that government subsidies for clean technologies distorted free markets. Activists say their position is “dishonest” because the oil industry benefits from tax credits and other financial help from governments, and pays for only a fraction of the damage its fuels do to people and the planet.

    In 2022, the total subsidies for fossil fuels – including costs to society – came to $760bn (£592bn) in the US and $310bn (£264bn) in the EU, according to the International Monetary Fund.

  9. 9.

    lowtechcyclist

    Jeffries really meant “get fucked” or “fuck off” but decorum. ;-)​

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m thrilled that my real-time reaction to Britt’s counter-SOTU reflected larger reality. (Don’t trust my instincts as a homer.)

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    Wasn’t the House GOP on the verge of impeaching a United States president just a week or two ago?  Based on Russian disinformation?

    And speaking of impeachment, will the House GOP ever deliver its articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas?  Maybe we could hear more about when they plan to take the loss?

    I echo Representative Jeffries’ perfect, pithy summation to these clowns: get lost.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: George Conway: I can’t stop watching Katie Britt Twitter

    It really has taken on a life of its own!  I liked the one I saw that was converted to black and white, with Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” playing in the background.  =)

  16. 16.

    Soprano2

    Evidently the trafficking story that Senator Britt related in her speech happened in Mexico between 2004-2008. So it has nothing to do with Biden or the border. I wondered why she relayed that awful story and then just went on with the rest of the speech. She implied that it happened in the U.S. and was because of Biden’s border policies. A man did a TikTok about it, but I found it through a tweet that a friend shared. I’m sure it’ll be all over the liberal Web soon.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    @Betty:

    Set to go into effect Monday. They’re terrified of this rule change because it opens contract and franchise labor to organizing.

    Labor unions are still the only thing that scares these people – not regulatory changes, not agency enforcement actions – those they can buy their way out of – but they can’t control whether or not their workers want to join a union (although they try).

  22. 22.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Great! Another liar. They’re really raising up a whole younger bench of shameless liars, all in the mold of Donlad Trump.

  28. 28.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I mean, the affect of the story implied that someone told her that story personally when she traveled to the border, but an activist told that story to Congress in testimony in 2015!! The senator met with the activist on her trip. I’m sure she’ll say she didn’t actually lie, but her implication was a lie.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    This is mostly great: GOP lawmaker actually does his job, works to get stuff done for his constituents instead of heckling POTUS

    (I say mostly because the Rep in question still objected to certifying both AZ’s and PA’s electors in 2020.  And yet…)

    Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) knows how to lay in wait.  When the State of the Union address finishes, Republicans rush for the exits, anxious to blast President Biden’s speech to conservative media, while Democrats pour into the well of the House to high-five their leader and pose for selfies.

    Every year, LaMalfa will patiently wait toward the back of the room and position himself along the aisle that all presidents use to enter and exit the big speech. His moment arrived again late Thursday night when Biden spotted him and joked about hoping the burly, six-term lawmaker wouldn’t beat him up.

    “I didn’t do it, I swear to God, I didn’t do it,” Biden joked with LaMalfa.  For the next three minutes, LaMalfa, the chairman of the House Agriculture forestry subcommittee on forestry, had the full attention of the leader of the free world. And with that precious time, he made his pitch to force the U.S. Forest Service to speed up permits for harvesting timber.

    …LaMalfa cannot say for sure whether the president even knows who he is, given how brief the interactions are and the lower profile of his policy requests.  “But it’s always a fairly positive interaction. And he gave me a decent amount of time last night. He listened, he did listen,” LaMalfa said.

    On Super Tuesday, he was the only Republican on the primary ballot in his district and advanced to a general election that, if past is prologue, he will comfortably win for his seventh congressional term. Some conservative constituents have been upset upon seeing clips of their representative talking to Biden.  He said it’s the usual round of questions: “What are you doing? Wait, what are you talking about? Why are you talking to that guy?”  “Because I’m trying to get stuff done to help you,” LaMalfa said. “He’s the president of the United States.”

    More pieces like this please, snooze media!  You never know: the rest of the House GOP might actually do some work once in a while.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The US economy is the strongest in the world and Joe Biden was right to say so in his State of the Union address, a rightwing Republican economist allied to Donald Trump and a co-author of a plan to reshape the federal government said on Friday morning.

    “Let me just say one thing positive about where we are right now,” Stephen Moore told Fox Business. “One thing that Biden said last night was true. It is true that the United States today has the strongest economy. There is no question about it. If you look at what’s happening in Europe today, Germany, Britain, France, if you look at Japan and China, they’re not growing. And so it is true … the way I like to put it is we are the least rotten apple in the cart and that’s something that’s important to cheer.”
    …………………………..
    A member of hard-right groups including the Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, Moore is also a regular analyst for Fox.

    On Friday, the Guardian asked Moore if he credited Biden for the strong economy, as was further expressed by strong February jobs numbers released that morning.

    Moore said: “No I don’t credit Biden for the economy. It IS true that we have the strongest economy, but as I said, we are the least rotten apple in the cart. Most of the rest of the world is in recession.”

    Asked who he did credit for such a strong US economy, if not the president who has supervised it for three years, Moore did not immediately reply.

    I guess he wasn’t prepared for that question.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Marcy Kaptur told a story during her campaign last cycle. She said she was in negotiations on some bill or other, open to the media, and it got heated between Republicans and Democrats but she said it was “substantive” – a real disagreement but no media are in the room. So they agree to take a break to cool down, she walks outside, and all of media is out there surrounding Marjorie Taylor Green, who is performing some stupid stunt.

  35. 35.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly: the fact that he calls us the “least rotten apple” is really something.  What would a ‘perfect’ apple look like, Mr. Moore?  I have a funny feeling it’s some sort of libertarian hyper-capitalist utopia that has existed in the back of his mind ever since he read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ at age 14.

  36. 36.

    Princess

    I swear I had a litre carton of milk in my fridge last night and now I can’t find it anywhere. I feel like I’m going insane. Where would you be if you were my milk?

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Jeffro: What would a ‘perfect’ apple look like, Mr. Moore?

    Serfs and slaves all in their proper place, chained to the machinery of capitalism being viewed from above by their proper overlords.

    @Princess: Hiding in the veggie drawer.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: it’s funny because if they could just. break. the. habit., the snooze media could be reporting on interesting things like Kaptur’s negotiations.  People might actually want to hear about that.

    But it’s so easy to wait for the noisy thing to make more noise!

  39. 39.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Jeffro:

    the rest of the House GOP might actually do some work once in a while.

    Given his “ask,” faster, easier access for lumber companies to despoil more National Forests, I am fine if he and other “effective” Republican legislators go wacko enough to become entirely ineffectual.

  43. 43.

    p.a.

    @Baud: I stopped trusting my political judgment in 2016.  I’m still not certain this sticks, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can.

     

    I was in a YMCA about 11:30am EST on election day ’16 and CNN was on with exit polling that thirty-some percent of voters felt “it was time for a change.”  My reaction was “oh fuck…”

    I misspelled “voters” as “viters” and the first auto-correct option was “vipers”.  Make of that what you will…

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jeffro:

    It really has taken on a life of its own! I liked the one I saw that was converted to black and white, with Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” playing in the background. =) 

    Can you find that for me?

  47. 47.

    Tony Jay

    Love to see it. ‘Sleepy’ Joe scorches MAGOP hides with his SOTU barnburner, but the MSM can’t effectively edit away the impact of the speech into a ‘Good News For John McCain’ moment because the GOP shit their own bed with Kitchen Klanwife’s babydoll bellowing and are otherwise existentially distracted by Stench’s raid on their election funds.

    Going to be a powerfully bad election season for the Party of Treason.

  49. 49.

    lowtechcyclist

    You’d think the people of Alabama would be ashamed to have two Senators as awful as Tradwife and Tuberbrain. And then there’s their state Supreme Court, telling us that frozen embryos are really people just like you and me.

    It’s a shame there isn’t a procedure for demoting them to territorial status, because they’ve earned it.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Tony Jay:

    Going to be a powerfully bad election season for the Party of Treason. 

    Down ticket races are basically screwed since an orange conman will be stealing all donations.

  53. 53.

    Princess

    Not in the freezer or veggie drawer or any of the cupboards or my desk. I even checked where I keep my mustard. John must have it with his; that’s the only place I haven’t looked.

  56. 56.

    TBone

    @Starfish: I liked Smashmouth before I knew they were traitors to the cause.  Ugh, another one on the list!  Unless I am remembering incorrectly, they showed us who they are at Sturgis.

  58. 58.

    Nukular Biskits

    @lowtechcyclist:

    You’d think the people of Alabama would be ashamed to have two Senators as awful as Tradwife and Tuberbrain. And then there’s their state Supreme Court, telling us that frozen embryos are really people just like you and me.

    It’s a shame there isn’t a procedure for demoting them to territorial status, because they’ve earned it.

    What’s somewhat amazing to me, as a lifelong citizen of MS, is that AL is beating us in the “conservative stupid tricks” category for this last year or so.  It’s like AL didn’t just say, “Here. Hold my beer!”.  Instead, it said, “Here. Hold the entire 12-pack!”

    Oh, sure, MS has it’s problems and will be regressive from top to bottom as long as white male conservative evangelicals control the governor’s office and state leg, but, here lately, I’m like, “WTFO, Alabama?!?!?!?!”

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    Thanks, all! I’m still in the World’s Worst Hotel, which kept me awake all night and then this morning disguised a bowl of cream of wheat as grits. Blarrrgh!

    Not sure when I’m getting out of here, but I think/hope soon? It’s not my intent to be mysterious about what’s wrong — we’re not quite sure. But it was impressed upon me that I very nearly bled out because I’m medical care avoidant and that’s really dumb! Don’t be dumb!

    More later! Thanks for thinking of me! 😊

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @lowtechcyclist: You’d think the people of Alabama would be ashamed to have two Senators as awful as Tradwife and Tuberbrain.

    Obviously, you don’t know many Alabamans.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    You’d think the people of Alabama would be ashamed to have two Senators as awful as Tradwife and Tuberbrain

     
    Good time to give NJ voters their due for making clear to Menendez that he was done.

  69. 69.

    TBone

    Our only local hospital just recently advised they are conglomerating with Wellspan Health. 😩 I’m extra less confident than I already was, hubby scheduled for surgery before we knew this.  Anyone have experience with Wellspan?  The BBB complaints alone are a nightmare.

  74. 74.

    TBone

    @Nukular Biskits: getting a grip and hanging on with that song really helps me.  I’ve been buoying with some down and dirty music to stay afloat and get uplifted.  Each morning!  First thing.

  75. 75.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I love that they accept the correct framing – trickle down – while whining that it’s the best thing evar!

  78. 78.

    catclub

    @Soprano2: She implied that it happened in the U.S. and was because of Biden’s border policies.

     

    The GOP excel at slippery slope stories.

  81. 81.

    Mousebumples

    @sdhays: is there a snappy term yet for Bidenomics? Eg Build Up Economics… But better than that.

    @Betty: I’m thinking positive thoughts. Hope they figure out what’s going on soon.

    Everyone else, good morning!

  83. 83.

    catclub

    @p.a.: 2016 on with exit polling that thirty-some percent of voters felt “it was time for a change.” My reaction was “oh fuck…”

    …our fellow citizens made this choice.

  84. 84.

    Mousebumples

    @rikyrah: Biden-most pro-labor President in generations

    Once again for the people in the back! 👏👏👏

    I’m hoping labor’s organizing helps us achieve a major blue wave this fall. I can’t remember the last time labor was super effective on a large scale. But my first political memories are from the mid 90s, so I’d need some more historical perspective, probably.

  87. 87.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker

    Hope they figure out what’s going on, and that you don’t have to spend too much longer in the hospital! And glad you haven’t joined the choir eternal!

  88. 88.

    Nukular Biskits

    @TBone:

    @Nukular Biskits: getting a grip and hanging on with that song really helps me.  I’ve been buoying with some down and dirty music to stay afloat and get uplifted.  Each morning!  First thing.

    My musical tastes range all over the place, from “classic country” (what I was raised on) to alt-rock to blues to jazz (both old & new) to …

    I blame college for exposing me to a much larger musical universe.

    Usually in the mornings, I listen to one of the YouTube “Deep Work Music” channels (usually playing what they call “chillstep” and “future garage”).  Later in the day, while at work, I usually listen to “Liquid D&B”.  At night, I have a subscription to Hearts of Space and typically power down listening to one of their programs while reading in bed.

    Interspersed throughout the day is … whatever floats my boat and fixes my red wagon.

  93. 93.

    catclub

    @Mousebumples: I can’t remember the last time labor was super effective on a large scale.

     

    Unfortunately, that was 1972. For some reason they HATED McGovern

  94. 94.

    Miss Bianca

    @Princess: Off with John Cole’s missing mustard has got to be it, if you’ve looked everywhere else.

    @Betty Cracker: Oh, Betty! Take care of yourself, we don’t want to live in a world without you! :(

  99. 99.

    Mousebumples

    @catclub: Unfortunately, that was 1972. For some reason they HATED McGovern

    Lol, they have a real reason to hate Trump for crossing their picket line (beyond all the non-labor reasons for hating him). 500+ EV for Biden is super unlikely …right? (what’s past is prologue, etc.)

  100. 100.

    TBone

    I rarely speculate (in public, anyhow) but is it a coincidence that man posted bond and Orban was at his espionage fulfillment center on the same day?

  102. 102.

    catclub

    @OzarkHillbilly: Obviously, you don’t know many Alabamans.

     

    For me, the most famous Alabaman is  E.O. Wilson the entomologist.  He was an extraordinary fan of the University of Alabama. hard to believe. Extremely rational with that one exception.

    When asked how creation shows the mind of God, he said it suggests an extraordinary fondness for beetles.

  105. 105.

    Jackie

    @Princess:

    I swear I had a litre carton of milk in my fridge last night and now I can’t find it anywhere. I feel like I’m going insane. Where would you be if you were my milk?

    Try looking next to Cole’s mustard.

  108. 108.

    Starfish

    @TBone: Oh, you are right! I think I blocked out many of the musicians with bad political takes (because there are so many) except for Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and maybe Kanye.

  111. 111.

    Mousebumples

    @TBone: I rarely speculate but is it a coincidence that man posted bond and Orban was at his espionage fulfillment center on the same day?

    It’s irresponsible NOT to speculate! 😂

    Semi related Trump money question I’ve been pondering…

    IF he can’t post a $500m bond, and IF NYCl starts seizing properties, and IF he’s highly leveraged with mortgages… How does that work? I believe his fraud/libel debts can’t be discharged through bankruptcy, but could his hypothetical mortgages be discharged that way? (eg, $100m valuation property seized, owes $80m that he’s not getting back… Then what?)

    Maybe no one knows, but I haven’t seen that discussed anywhere yet, and I’m curious…

  119. 119.

    frosty

    @Betty Cracker: I’m medical care avoidant …

    I was too but I finally got over it. I hope you recover quickly and get out of the Horrible Hotel soon. I already miss your exquisite turn of phrase!

  122. 122.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    How is Mr. DAW doing? If you ever posted about his release from hospital, I guess I missed it. Best wishes for his full recovery, and of course for Betty ‘s as well (and anyone else who’s coping with illness, injury, or loss).

  123. 123.

    Nukular Biskits

    @TBone:

    Note my response to Spanky. 🫢

    Part of the problem with semi-lurking and (more often than not) fly-by posting is being familiar with many of the nom de plumes here but not the actual people behind them.

    I should pay more attention but I’m an old.

  124. 124.

    TBone

    @Nukular Biskits: no apologies, I still don’t know who is who around here a lot of the time, still a newbie!

    As an aside, it was the doctors themselves who trained me to be medically avoidant!

  127. 127.

    zhena gogolia

    @TBone: BC posted yesterday that she’s in the hospital but doesn’t want to answer questions about it.

  129. 129.

    Another Scott

    @Mousebumples: Maybe they do it like Medicare nursing home claw backs??

    “We’ll take all your income, minus $20 per week for your living expenses, until the debt is paid.

    It is so ordered.

    Have a nice day.”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  131. 131.

    Princess

    I found my milk btw (I know you’ve all been worried). I pulled out a chair from my dining room table and there it was, tipped over in the seat. Somehow my cat must have knocked it off and it landed in such a way it didn’t spill.

    ETA on BJ, if it’s not mustard-related, it’s the fault of a cat.

  134. 134.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @SiubhanDuinne: He’s been home for a week now and seems to be doing fine. He’s gone back to PT for the Parkinson’s and is taking drugs for the heart disease. Someone is coming on Monday to inspect our condo and advise us on how it may need to be rearranged to accommodate his balance problems.

    I appreciate the good wishes.

  136. 136.

    TBone

    @Kay: oh, I just remembered my beloved old law firm, I am now praying for them.  Not good news but we shall overcome!

  137. 137.

    Jackie

    @TBone: Here’s some info re TIFG’s bond; Orban doesn’t appear involved. At least with Carroll’s case.

    The ex-president’s bond was guaranteed by the Federal Insurance Company — a New York-based subsidiary of the company Chubb Group LLC, which is headquartered in Switzerland. In 2018, Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg served on a trade advisory committee in the Trump White House. The Washington Post reported that “it was not clear from court records what collateral Trump presented to obtain the bond from Chubb.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-e-jean-carroll-bond/

  138. 138.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: They would rather cover the people who treat being in government like it’s a TV reality show because it’s easier to get people to read about that, and it’s more fun for them.

  139. 139.

    Tom Levenson

    @catclub: E.O. Wilson, whom I knew, slightly, was many things, including a major biological thinker and, unfortunately a dabbler in race science.

    But if Wilson said that line about beetles (I have no reason to doubt that he did) he was quoting a predecessor, one of the giants of evolutionary biology. Not Darwin, to whom that line is often credited, but J.B.S. Haldane, who among his many contributions was one of the key early thinkers who brought mathematical reasoning to the study of evolution.

  140. 140.

    frosty

    @Mousebumples: Yeah, this has been puzzling me too. I saw a comment awhile back that said he has $730 (?) million in balloon payments coming up, so I doubt he owns very much free and clear. What happens if they seize his property and it’s nothing but loans with no equity? Do the lenders take a haircut? Who has first rights to the value?

  143. 143.

    Mousebumples

    @Another Scott: 😅

    Sweet justice. Maybe even let him live in one of his “old” apartment buildings intended for lower income persons? (maybe not in his current holdings, but I think that was something he had in the 80s or so?)

  145. 145.

    Fake Irishman

    @Betty:

    The district of North Texas is a problem and a magnet for bad cases. (Biden does have two district nominees slated for confirmation in other Texas districts this week, so that’s good news)

  146. 146.

    TBone

    @Mousebumples: he’s not gonna get real security briefings so they can follow the money like breadcrumbs?  That’s what I’d do, leave him swinging in the wind.

  148. 148.

    Chris Johnson

    @catclub: Three percent of sane people still want a change and then we can’t get away from that 27% Crazification Factor.

    Not surprising: what would be surprising is if even most of the crazy people settled down :)

  153. 153.

    trnc

    @OzarkHillbilly: To the surprise of absolutely no one:

    So, IIUC, the corporations using subsidies that distort the market in their favor are complaining about competitors getting subsidies that will also distort the market. It’s almost like no one actually believes the “invisible hand of the free market” bullshit.

  154. 154.

    Mousebumples

    @TBone: I hope he doesn’t get real security briefings. Would it be allowed to give him pieces of material disguised as briefings to try to throw off Putin/Russia? Our own infosec op…

  156. 156.

    Chris Johnson

    @Betty Cracker: Please do take care of yourself, we will avoid setting the blog on fire without you. You’re missed and we love your sharp wit and your passion and integrity around here :)

  157. 157.

    Another Scott

    @Nukular Biskits: D’oh!  I was even trying to be careful to get it right.

    I blame lack of caffeine.

    And Autocorrect.  It’s always Autocorrect.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  158. 158.

    TBone

    @Jackie: yeah but a guarantor like rump might need some backup.  I wouldn’t guarantee anything for that fucking guy even if I were I were the goldurn keeper of the keys to Fort Knox!

  159. 159.

    different-church-lady

    @NotMax: ​
    There’s a lounge in Providence called The Royal Bobcat. They have an autographed photo of Bobcat Goldwaith, which he inscribed: “To The Royal Bobcat. Please don’t hang this in the bathroom.”

    It’s hanging in the bathroom.

  161. 161.

    Soprano2

    @MomSense: I heard that, I wanted them to ask her want she wanted to hear, because I suspect it was something like “I promise to never send your son anywhere that he could be in harm’s way,” which is a totally unrealistic expectation.

  162. 162.

    scribbler

    @Princess:  Left it at the grocery store?  Or fell out of a grocery bag on the way home and hiding in the trunk?

    Ooops.  Already found!

  164. 164.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @frosty: At that point, he is forced into bankruptcy.  A trustee takes over his assets and liabilities.  They sort out what is there.  Creditors get in line according to their status.  IIRC (I’ve never practiced in this area), taxes owes, non-dischargeable debts (like the judgments), secured creditors by seniority, and finally unsecured creditors who frequently get virtually nothing.

  165. 165.

    Chris Johnson

    @Mousebumples: I would be shocked if that was not already happening for some time, but then I’m of the opinion that Biden meant all he said… that Hillary was right all along… and that our elected leaders finally really understand how tricky it is when half the opposing party are run directly or indirectly out of Russia, along with the wealthier and better-connected parts of the media.

    If you are certain that Donald Trump is fake from top to bottom, that all his wealth has been Russia all this time and that he’s basically a kompromat machine and wrecking ball, you quickly work out whether you can give him the real nuclear secrets. I don’t think the defenses have always been up (real hard to do that when he’s ‘President’) but I think, privately, that he aroused suspicion really bad, really soon, and our military, deep state, and governance has been really hard pressed to work out what to do about it.

    What do you do when the top guy is in fact an enemy agent? Well, for a start, you stall, and you shit all of the bricks, and try to get some kind of backup.

    Now that we do have backup the challenge is how to disentangle it all and restore the compromised party to safe functioning, and I’m pretty sure nobody in power wants the whole populace to realize how bad it got. One day amazing books will be written about all this, but only after Donald passes on, and likely after Russia crumbles and re-organizes.

  170. 170.

    frosty

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks! That makes sense. So the World’s Greatest Businessman gets forced into bankruptcy, loses everything, and has to make do with whatever income he’s got. Which will be nothing once his only employer (Trump Org) is shuttered.

    I’ll have to check the expiration dates on our popcorn.

  173. 173.

    Mousebumples

    @TBone: haven’t seen that one yet. Worth adding to my watch list? (or the next one you link?)

    @Chris Johnson: One day amazing books will be written about all this, but only after Donald passes on, and likely after Russia crumbles and re-organizes.

    I figure after Putin dies so the leader of Russia has plausible denialbility. (lol, can’t believe I said that with a straight face)

  174. 174.

    Soprano2

    Did any of you hear the video that compared how Britt normally talks with her speech Thursday night? It was striking to hear how affected that voice was. We’re lucky, if she had done it in her normal voice it would have been effective.

  175. 175.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @TBone: to me it makes a different point: hospitals are dangerous and medical error is always a threat.  It’s mostly facetious of course, I don’t scoff at modern medicine. I just think it’s in its infancy.  Another couple of hundred years and maybe we’ll really know some things.

  178. 178.

    Jackie

    Did anyone catch this with everything else that’s going on? FiveThirtyEight drops Rasmussen Reports👍🏻

    “The poll aggregation and evaluation site 538, part of ABC News, dropped the right-wing polling firm Rasmussen Reports from inclusion in its polling averages and forecasts,” the Washington Post reports.

    WaPo gift link: https://wapo.st/3IvH348

  179. 179.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Chris Johnson:

    If you are certain that Donald Trump is fake from top to bottom, that all his wealth has been Russia all this time and that he’s basically a kompromat machine and wrecking ball, you quickly work out whether you can give him the real nuclear secrets. I don’t think the defenses have always been up (real hard to do that when he’s ‘President’) but I think, privately, that he aroused suspicion really bad, really soon, and our military, deep state, and governance has been really hard pressed to work out what to do about it.

    I read somewhere yesterday (might’ve been here!) that it’s just a custom to give intel briefings to the Presidential candidates, and that there’s no law saying those briefings have to happen.

    In which case, at least between now and November, the solution is simple: don’t give those briefings.

    If he loses, it’s all good.  If he wins…well, that’s why we’ve got to work hard to prevent that outcome.

  180. 180.

    TBone

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: that was encapsulated in my point but I wasn’t explicit.  I’ve been on both sides of the med mal legal desk.  And with long Lyme and long Covid I’ve heard everything.  Everything.  Gas light anyone?  Once, I was in hospital with all ribs on left side broken, punctured lung, fractured pelvis and titanium rod holding left arm together.  For physical therapy, they handed me a cane, said Get up! And walked me up a flight of stairs. On day 5

  181. 181.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @frosty: His Presidential pension is probably protected.  It’s around $225K, so he could live a comfortable upper middle class life if he so chose.*

    *Can you imagine how horrible he would find that?

  182. 182.

    lowtechcyclist

    @frosty:

    So the World’s Greatest Businessman gets forced into bankruptcy, loses everything, and has to make do with whatever income he’s got. Which will be nothing once his only employer (Trump Org) is shuttered.

    Oh, don’t worry for him – he’ll have access to every dollar the RNC takes in.

  184. 184.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Soprano2: I’m sure she’ll say she didn’t actually lie, but her implication was a lie.

    Robert A. Heinlein was not wrong when he wrote (in Time Enough For Love), The second best way to lie [1] is to tell the truth, but not all of it.** [2]

    [1] FTR Allegedly, the best way to lie is to tell the truth, and tell all of it, but in such a fashion that your listener is convinced you’re lying. Much more difficult to manage.

    [2] NB This does not appear in “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” interspersed throughout that volume. Laz does say it, but it’s buried elsewhere in the text. I looked it up once.

  186. 186.

    Mousebumples

    @TBone: well, then, thanks for the recs!

    @Jackie: yes! I don’t trust polls period, but at least they won’t be able to systematically sway polling averages by publishing lots of polls of questionable accuracy. Though Silver is not a part of 538 anymore, right?

    @Omnes Omnibus: lolololololol.

  190. 190.

    lowtechcyclist

    @NotMax:

    “Collateral? Hmm. What’ll you give me for Eric?”
    //

    Why does “The Ransom of Red Chief” pop into my mind all of a sudden?

  193. 193.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @NotMax:
    Neddy Seagoon goes to Crun’s pawn shop. He plans to pawn himself.

    SEAGOON: Now look Mister Crun, how much money will you give me on me?

    CRUN: Well, first I must scrutinize you with an intense scrute. Just take your clothes off….[8]

    SEAGOON: (Struggling) Hoh! He! Hoh! Hoo! There!

    CRUN: Now lie under this magnifying glass.

    SEAGOON: Ooh! It’s cold isn’t it? Oo, there. How do I look?

    CRUN: Oo. Even bigger! Just stand on these scales please.

    GRAMS: Massive springs compressing. Stressed steal groaning.

    CRUN: Eighteen stone.

    SEAGOON: Shall I put the other leg on now?

    CRUN: As dead weight alone I’ll offer you ten pounds. You’ll come in useful for filling in holes.

  197. 197.

    RaflW

    To that first Xit, it strikes me how it should be really easy to make fun of “trickle down” (and not just the usual joke about peeing on someone’s leg).

    It’s absurd. All anyone has ever gotten from a billionaire is a tiny trickle. That’s the message! 40 years of a trickle and the well is still running dry.

    Of course Biden’s Build Back Better is the smarter option. Look at the spectacular employment numbers — for years now. Wage growth is good. Union contracts have been racking up huge wins.

    I know lots of people still feel precarious — housing is IMO one of the key factors there. It’s too damn expensive & scarce. There’s a variety of market failures involved, though cons always blame gubmit.

  198. 198.

    Jackie

    @Omnes Omnibus: I picture TIFG losing everything but his pension and his jet. He’s forced to find a super large Walmart parking lot that will accommodate his plane and Clarence Thomas is his neighbor.

  199. 199.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mousebumples: ​
      As a general rule, pensions (and social security) are not subject to garnishment. Exceptions are for back taxes, student loans, and other government debt.

  201. 201.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Mousebumples: ​I’m hoping labor’s organizing helps us achieve a major blue wave this fall. I can’t remember the last time labor was super effective on a large scale. But my first political memories are from the mid 90s, so I’d need some more historical perspective, probably.

     Can’t speak to the large-scale aspects, but in our state, SEIU employees have been very active in phonebanking, particularly in presidential election years.
    The Black men from the nurses’ union were phonebank superstars!​ ETA: fixed my syntax​

  202. 202.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @OzarkHillbilly: Serfs and slaves all in their proper place, chained to the machinery of capitalism being viewed from above by their proper overlords.

    So  the CCP run China in other words.  Nothing says economic success Moore like two state encouraged economic bubbles crashing at once.

  203. 203.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Chris Johnson: you quickly work out whether you can give him the real nuclear secrets.

    I would think it’s pretty obvious after those sneakers that Trump will do anything for a buck.

  207. 207.

    Mousebumples

    @PaulB: lol, let him compare his averages with 538 this cycle and we’ll see who’s closer.

    @Omnes Omnibus: fair enough. Not what I’d like for TFG, but reasonable for others, lol.

  208. 208.

    CaseyL

    @Betty Cracker: ​

    OMG. I didn’t see your earlier post and had no idea. Please get all better real soon! (I would think their trying to pass off cream of wheat as grits to be motivation enough all by itself.)

  209. 209.

    RaflW

    @Soprano2: Sen. Housefrau’s lie is an opportunity for Dems to remind voters that the testimony in 2015 is a marker of how many years Republicans have been blocking any progress at all on new immigration law.

    They had a freaking trifecta under Trump and didn’t take their shot. Because they don’t want to fix it! They just want to be lazy back-benchers and gutter snipes.

  212. 212.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jackie: FiveThirtyEight drops Rasmussen Reports👍🏻​

    Good, but lonnnnnng past frackin’ time. Raz has been borderline unethical since the dawn of polling – his far-right hand has five thumbs and they’re all pressed firmly down on the scales to fluff the GOP – and after he screws around with his “surveys” they’re borderline pushpolls. (And then as the election approaches he diddles with sample stratification and distorted turnout models and question syntax to bring his results nearer to reality, in order to maintain credibility as a competent survey research firm and get non-political contracts to pay the bills between elections.)

  213. 213.

    Bill Arnold

    @Uncle Cosmo:
    Yeah, “Tell the exact truth and maybe all of it but tell it so unconvincingly that your listener is sure you are lying.” is my preferred approach. (I hate lying, both by myself and by others.)
    It is indeed difficult to pull off;  it is much easier to simply say nothing, or say a carefully selected subset of the truth, or say the truth in such a way that most people will parse it to mean something else.

  214. 214.

    Shalimar

    @Jackie: That’s strange to me.  Not that they shouldn’t drop Rasmussen.  But Rasmussen has been known to do biased polls to influence public opinion for longer than 538 has existed.  Why were they included up until now?

  215. 215.

    Another Scott

    Decent OpEd at AL.com:

    By Kyle Whitmire | [email protected]

    This is an opinion column.

    [ I’m surprised they didn’t put that previous sentence in 72-point and red. ]

    […]

    All she had to do was look into the camera and read, but she tried to do more. Too much more. Her handlers attempted to brand this political newcomer as “America’s mom,” but instead, she came off as the aunt who’s been spending too much time on Facebook, and if you don’t change the subject soon, she’s going to tell you about sex dungeons beneath the pizza parlor.

    I supposed we should focus on the substance of Britt’s speech, instead of its delivery, but that, too, seemed written by ChatGPT.

    There was a lot of talk about illegal immigration and the border. Only Britt lacks the standing anymore to speak to such things. She lost it after she helped put together a deal to fund border security (and aid for Israel and Ukraine) and then voted to kill that deal because it might hurt Donald Trump’s political odds in the fall.

    The border talk was as phony as her smile.

    There are good people working to make things better even in the reddest parts of America.

    Forward!!

    (via Memeorandum)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  216. 216.

    Another Scott

    @Shalimar: IIRC, Nate said he had magic math and secret models to account for “house effects” like over-the-top bias.  He was smarter than them, you see, so he could extract real information from garbage polls.

    :-/

    Something like that.  Corrections welcome.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  217. 217.

    Shalimar

    @Another Scott: Nate is a math savant for all of his other flaws, so maybe he really does understand Rasmussen’s bias better than they do.  But Nate is gone, so good that ABC dumped them.

  218. 218.

    Another Scott

    Tubular Bells does work well as Katie’s soundtrack.

    Jack E. Smith ⚖️
    @7Veritas4
    1h

    Post your favorite Katie Britt clips on this thread

    [ 1:04 video ]

    Lucifer Sam, Siam Cat
    Mar 9, 2024 · 2:51 PM UTC

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  219. 219.

    Princess

    @Shalimar: The problem for Nate’s secret sauce is that Rasmussen always converged towards the mean close to the election. So their drviation shifted over time. You could plot that and account for that too but eventually you have to ask yourself why you’re bothering if you need to progressively keep reweighting. And as I recall, he did not keep reweighting; he just averaged the good and bad polls together and went from there.

    All I know is that I responded to a Rasmussen poll once and they sold my data for a decade after to every Republican they could. Which is not a thing a respectable polling firm should be doing,

  221. 221.

    PaulB

    @Princess:  The problem for Nate’s secret sauce is that Rasmussen always converged towards the mean close to the election.

    Yup, famous for it, and it’s just gotten worse. Rasmussen may have started as a legit polling organization, but it’s been playing games for years now. The problem with Nate’s secret sauce is that, if I recall correctly, those numbers were generally worse than the non-secret-sauce poll averages.

    What Nate was protesting as “political” was the questioning of two of Rasmussen’s obviously and deeply flawed polls, which claimed that a) Kari Lake really had won the Arizona election by 8 percentage points (!), and that b) 20% of U.S. voters had committed voter fraud (!!), including 12% who had taken money for their vote (!!!).

    Questioning these polls and asking Rasmussen to explain them was “political” in Nate’s view. When Rasmussen declined to do so, instead simply publishing 538’s letter and declining to respond, 538 dropped them.

    Nate is one of those people who started believing his own hype, and believing that his expertise in one area meant that he was equally an expert everywhere, e.g., the Lab Leak Theory. When it was pointed out that he was full of shit, and that his “analysis” was laughably flawed, he responded that he wasn’t going to change his mind because (paraphrasing), “a lot of people believed it, so there must be something there,” or words to that effect.

    Lord, spare me from mediocre white men who are convinced of their own brilliance (I say this as a firmly and unashamedly mediocre white man).

  222. 222.

    Eyeroller

    @catclub: Wilson may have said that (it’s a common quote in biology) but if he did, he was quoting an earlier biologist, most likely  J.B.S. Haldane, a British scientist who spent the latter part of his career in India.  Haldane was what we might call a “character.”  He was influential especially in genetics.  Wilson went into entomology due to losing the sight in his right eye as a boy. Wilson’s reputation has been sullied considerably by his defense of “race scientist” Phillippe Rushton, unfortunately.

  223. 223.

    Eyeroller

    @PaulB: Given what I have observed in the past few years with Nate Silver, I am not at all convinced that he ever had any expertise outside of baseball statistics.  Aggregating polls isn’t much different from that.  But he outed himself in his book “The Signal and the Noise” when his complete failure to understand geostatistics apparently caused him to be (or gave him justification to be) a climate-change-denialist.  We are seeing the same kind of failure to understand underlying science in his credulity toward the “lab leak” hypothesis.

  228. 228.

    Bill Arnold

    @Eyeroller:

    “lab leak”

    The very phrase “lab leak” is a construct. Prior to SAR-COV-2, the term of the art [1] was “lab escape”. But “lab leak” alliterated, so the proponents of “China did it” did not use the term of the art, and went with alliteration[2], because it was catchier and had intrinsic emotional impact.
    [1] easily checked with scholar.google.com
    [2] note: public evidence lacking

  229. 229.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    negraux (they/them)
    @lesbianoir
    Mar 8

    “if you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it”
    – zora neale hurston

    Allison Wiltz Psy.M.
    @queenie4rmnola
    Mar 7

    What’s one quote from a Black author that forever changed you?
    Mar 8, 2024 · 3:04 PM UTC

    [ Oof ]

    But true. And well said.

    (via AngryBlackLady)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  230. 230.

    wjca

    @rikyrah: Trickle down is garbage.

    Is it really appropriate to make fun of incontinence?  Even if it is the right image for that economic theory.

  231. 231.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Bill Arnold: ​(I hate lying, both by myself and by others.)

    So do I. In retrospect, many of my greatest disappointments in life have come as a consequence of being too honest – i.e., volunteering information that I didn’t have to. I guess I hoped that if people understood exactly where I stood and how I felt, they’d have no cause later to object that I’d been less than forthcoming with them. Foolish me – too many Crystal Gayles out there: Tell me no secrets, tell me some lies/ Give me no reasons, give me alibis.

    I should’ve listened to the old Makem/Clancy song:

    Whatever you say, say nothing
    When you talk about you-know-what,
    For it you-know-who should hear you
    You know what you’ll get!
    For he’ll take you off to you-know-where
    And you wouldn’t know how long,
    So for you-know-who’s sake, don’t let anyone
    Hear you singing this song!

    (A foyn ditty coming up to St Paddy’s day. Keep it on for the following lovely song, “The Dutchman.”)

  232. 232.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Shalimar: ​IMHO Nate should’ve stuck to sportsball, where the consequences of corrupted information and unsupportable inferences are limited to some gamblers losing a few bucks.

  233. 233.

    wjca

    @frosty: So the World’s Greatest Businessman gets forced into bankruptcy, loses everything, and has to make do with whatever income he’s got. Which will be nothing once his only employer (Trump Org) is shuttered.

    Nope, he’s still got his presidential pension.  A bit over $200k, IIRC.  Your tax dollars at work.

  234. 234.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Princess: I responded to a Rasmussen poll once and they sold my data for a decade after to every Republican they could. Which is not a thing a respectable polling firm should be doing. ​

    Bastard. We’ll tack that onto the list of his multivariate multitudinous crimes against humanity. “Therefore ask not for whom the bell curves; it swerves from thee.”

  235. 235.

    wjca

    @Jackie: The Washington Post reported that “it was not clear from court records what collateral Trump presented to obtain the bond from Chubb.”

    I wonder if he conned Jared into pledging some portion of his $2 billion from the Saudis as surity.

  237. 237.

    TBone

    @Jacel: I cussed that fucker who wouldn’t sign the check till she got the ok from Rump every. single. morning.

  238. 238.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, yet another sign that Biden is Dooomed, Dooooomed I tells ya.

    (Nitter thread. replace “nitter.poast.org” with “twitter.com” if necessary.)

    Victor Shi
    @Victorshi2020
    1h

    This is HUGE: The Latino Victory Fund, AAPI Victory Fund, AND Collective PAC—the largest groups representing the Latino, Asian American & Black communities—have announced they are endorsing President Biden & VP Harris & investing $30 million to mobilize those voters. Amazing news

    Mar 9, 2024 · 5:36 PM UTC

    Good, good.

    More, please.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  239. 239.

    Geminid

    @Chris Johnson: Regarding briefings, I think that Biden officials will give Trump what they want to give him,which won’t be much. If he whines about it, so much the better. He’d open up good lines of attack against him.

  240. 240.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @wjca: do you really think the $2B is his to pledge? Officially it wasn’t a gift, but an investment in a VC fund. It might be hard to raid.

    I think $2B is real money, even to the Saudis. They expect a return on their investment and the election is far from a certainty.

  241. 241.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Another Scott: Yes, but it’s racist and foolish to treat Asian-Americans and Latinx people as single groups!  Won’t someone explain to Victor Shi that there are cultural differences between Japanese and Korean-Americans?, lol.

    Sorry I just can’t help mock the people who always bash Dems and outreach orgs for grouping Latinx/Asian-American voters together as if: 1.) this is some brilliant insight that nobody else has noticed, 2.) the leaders of these orgs aren’t well aware of the differences between sub-groups (spoiler: they are!) and 3.) that for all the differences there are still political, cultural, geographical factors that the sub-groups share, that can still make it useful to try and find one broad message that can work efficiently, based on those shared factors and overlapping political interests.

  242. 242.

    Geminid

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I’m not sure the Saudis would even want to help Trump. American Presidents have protected Saudi Arabia ever since the Second World War, and Trump’s the first one who wanted to know what’s in it for him. They could see the Trump Doctrine was pay to play they went along, but I doubt they respected him for that. And they need regional and global stability, but Trump is a chaos agent.

  243. 243.

    ewrunning

    @Soprano2: Of course all Trumpublicans have the same “tell” when they’re lying (their lips are moving), but she also did us the favor of delivering it in “fundie baby voice.” Quite a part from the prevarication, what exactly was the point she was trying to make with the story? Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, granting such victims relief from deportation. Does Britt want to repeal to keep such victims out of our country?

  245. 245.

    wjca

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: do you really think the $2B is his to pledge? Officially it wasn’t a gift, but an investment in a VC fund. It might be hard to raid.

    I think $2B is real money, even to the Saudis.

    No, I don’t think the $2 billion is his to pass out.  But, I think that, with enough handwaving (grifters are good at that), the guys actually putting up the bond could be convinced that they got some kind of lien against it, if (when he loses his appeal) TIFG fails to repay the loan.

    As you say, the Saudis will expect to make a return on their investment.  As with any Ponzi scheme, they probably will.  For a while.  Maybe Jared figures he’ll be gone by the time the bone saws come out.  Or maybe, by now, he believes his own hype about his brilliance.**  Wouldn’t want to be him when reality bites.

    ** Always possible that the bin Sauds get overthrown first.  But whoever replaces them would be unlikely to just write off the money.

  248. 248.

    Another Scott

    @wjca:

    One of Affinity Partners 20 page slide decks on documentcloud.org is comical.

    We integrate our geopolitical experience, global connectivity, and problem solving approach with rigorous private equity growth investing driven by an experienced team and analytical research process.

    A central part of the Affinity investment approach is the analysis of policy frameworks and political leadership in order to identify markets primed for rapid progress and outsized growth

    Yes, it has “synergy” and “synergize”, also too.

    ChatGPT would have a field day with it. It’s buzzword bingo turned up to 11.

    But the biggest buzzword is “political leadership”. As in, “give me money because I’m tied at the hip to Trump and it’s bad to have him as an enemy.  I’ll put in a good word for you.”

    My $0.02.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  249. 249.

    wjca

    @Another Scott: But the biggest buzzword is “political leadership”. As in, “give me money because I’m tied at the hip to Trump and it’s bad to have him as an enemy.  I’ll put in a good word for you.”

    To which the Saudi response is: “TIFG is just a wanna-be mob boss.  Without the balls to actually attack someone who might punch back.  (See Putin, V.)  We, on the other hand, have shown that we’ll bring the bone saws at need.”  Followed by an ominous silence.

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