Decency — always uplifting!
HJ, I loved hearing how you hit your first birdie.
Just like with my boys, you’ll be beating your dad at golf in no time. pic.twitter.com/7somBYufzU
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 7, 2024
Pity this is too long for a tshirt, cuz I’d wear that… to the voting booth, of course!
— Anne Laurie (@annelaurie.bsky.social) May 7, 2024 at 11:32 PM
Homeownership is an essential part of the American dream. Today, I am announcing $5.5 billion in grants that will build more affordable homes, support homeowners, and address homelessness across the country. pic.twitter.com/DwRMigZ6do
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 8, 2024
>@SecondGentleman Doug Emhoff just gave former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan a shout-out for endorsing President Biden’s reelection campaign, saying during a visit to Atlanta he was “very glad” to see the Republican’s op-ed in the @ajc. #gapol pic.twitter.com/MhE0Uvyapq
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) May 7, 2024
Body of last missing construction worker recovered from Baltimore bridge collapse site https://t.co/fDo4BPho9z
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 8, 2024
Methodists end anti-gay bans, closing 50 years of battles over sexuality for mainline Protestants https://t.co/xhS954sQTc
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 5, 2024
If Joe Biden was performing like this in a dark blue state against an opponent who had already dropped out, the media would be talking about it nonstop pic.twitter.com/umIiQvIUZM
— Swann Marcus (@SwannMarcus89) May 8, 2024
UPDATE: very popular posters on the social network Bluesky are telling their followers, to raucous applause, that Joe Biden could deploy the military on US soil to oppose state laws against LGBTQ people, and this is analogous to what Eisenhower did with school integration.
— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) May 2, 2024 at 3:52 PM
These are straight up lies on a whole bunch of counts. I get that people are upset about those state laws. They are a fucking abomination. It does not mean “Joe Biden could deploy the US military against Florida for 60 days and Congress couldn’t do shit.”
— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) May 2, 2024 at 3:54 PM
My favorite are the “You say Trump would become a dictator and set up concentration camps and break all kind of laws, but Biden can’t just do whatever he wants? And that makes Biden better?!” Like, yes, correct, the president who obeys the constitution is the preferable option.
— Jeff Stoller (@jjstoller.bsky.social) May 2, 2024 at 4:59 PM
Baud
Who are the popular posters? If you’re going to call people out, call them out.
OzarkHillbilly
Obeying the Constitution is soooooo 18th Century.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
It probably isn’t me this time.
Anne Laurie
I haven’t the faintest! BlueSky is fascinating, but it does take more time to learn to navigate than I’ve been able to give it without neglecting my duties here.
But if you miss eavesdropping on smart people with a minimum of arseholes + no nazis or bots that I’ve run across yet: Highly recommended! (My method: Just read threads from people I already know & trust, whether from here or from the app formerly known as. Not what the experts recommend, but we all do the best we can.)
zhena gogolia
Cauvin on Stormy.
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
I’d be a lurker rather than a frequent commenter here.
Matt
Preview for 2025: “sure the GOP sabotaged the process again and made Trump POTUS despite him losing the election, but I don’t support the protesters because dissent is not disorder”
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
Win/win?
Scout211
Shouldn’t we wait for the SCOTUS ruling on total presidential immunity before we declare that? 😉
Another Scott
@Baud:
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social is still pretty good about countering impossible to ignore legal memes, especially related to the First Amendment. I don’t see anything about this particular thread in his comments yet.
[ chef’s kiss ]
Cheers,
Scott.
UncleEbeneezer
This! Come sit by me. It’s one of the reasons the constant Garland-bashing was always so annoying.
RevRick
If you want to know where the churches are heading, just check out what the United Church of Christ has done. We ordained the first black man, Lemuel Haynes, in 1785, the first woman, Antoinette Brown, in 1853, the first openly gay man, Bill Johnson, in 1972. In 1836, we funded the court battles on behalf of the slaves on the Amistad, and many abolitionists came from our ranks. We came out in favor of a woman’s right to choose in 1971 ( yeah, two years before Roe), and in favor of marriage equality regardless of gender or sexual orientation in 2005.
japa21
@Scout211:
Speaking of which, it’s been 2 weeks and not a peep. How long did Bush v Gore take once the case was heard?
Baud
@RevRick:
So UCC is headed toward Christ?
Interesting strategy.
Jeffro
Geoff Duncan, speaking at the DNC later this summer:
“I hate all of you people. You’re wrong on almost every issue. Seriously, fuck off and die. BUT…even I know the difference between a president that I disagree with, and one that would gladly, gleefully burn this country to the ground if it meant staying out of prison.
In closing, let me just say, bite me Dems…and let’s all vote Biden/Harris 2024!”
David Fud
@RevRick: The consequence to the Methodists is a 40% reduction in budget, with all the layoffs and program downsizing and such to go with it. It is a good trade, but the down side is real.
I am proud of the UUs and what they have been doing as well.
smith
@japa21: It was a lot easier to figure out how to advantage the Republican in Bush v Gore. This time, they have to figure out how to make immunity only apply to R presidents, and that’s a tricky needle to thread.
I have to say that what I’m getting more and more worried about is not presidential immunity, but absolute judicial immunity.
Omnes Omnibus
@japa21: In Bush v. Gore, there really was a hard deadline. Clinton’s term was going to end in January. Here, there is are strong and valid reasons for a quick decision, but it is not vital. The decision will probably come by the end of the term. FWIW I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets sent back to the trial court for more fact finding.
UncleEbeneezer
People are so fucking stupid complaining that Jack Smith should have brought the MAL Documents case in DC. He couldn’t!! He had to bring it in Florida because that’s where Trump already was located when his POTUS term ended and it officially became a crime for him to withhold the National Security documents. The whole point was to only charge crimes that occurred AFTER he was President, to try to make immunity irrelevant. Of course the Supreme Court is showing that it always had the ability to stall things regardless of the choices that Smith/Garland/USAttorneys made. The real wrench in the works of our Justice system occurred when we let Trump win in 2016 and gave him three SCOTUS seats. But the same people who screaming about losing their faith in DOJ were also screaming that it was “Blackmail!!1!” to say they should vote for Hillary because the Supreme Court was on the line.
RevRick
@Baud:
@David Fud: It makes us crucifiable.
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
It can be difficult to police the line that separates people who are wrong and those who are disingenuous, but police it we must.
Omnes Omnibus
@RevRick: To be fair, the Romans were pretty democratic about whom they crucified.
twbrandt
@Baud: I’m on bluesky, and I haven’t seen anything like that. But I also unfollow and block aggressively, so that’s most likely why.
RevRick
@Omnes Omnibus: Roman citizens had the option of suicide.
japa21
@Omnes Omnibus: Which would then delay everything even more and then Trump could appeal the fact finding. IANAL, but I really don’t understand how they could consider Presidential immunity a valid thing under any circumstances, whether official acts or nonofficial acts.
tam1MI
Good news from Michigan! A Dem has just romped to victory in one of (if not the) most conservative counties! (Link is paywalled, sadly, but here’s the gist:
Omnes Omnibus
@RevRick: I think the C of E choice of cake or death sounds more appealing.
@japa21: True. But then the Sup Ct doesn’t have to decide. If Biden wins, they just don’t take the case when it comes up again. If Trump wins, it goes away.
TBone
Others are also noticing factors leading to the hemorrhaging of support for MAGA ☺️
https://digbysblog.net/2024/05/08/no-joy-in-trumpville/
eclare
What state were those election results from?
TBone
@eclare:
@TBone:
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@RevRick: This is a great record and I’m glad to see other denominations slowly join the 20th century one by one (alas, the world is now in the 21st but hey, progress is progress, right?)
However, I was struck by this line:
My daughter the historian once pointed out that it’s always the men of color who are allowed through the barriers before the women, and over and over I see that she’s right.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Danielx
Primaries here yesterday. Dbag Mike Braun the R candidate for governor, surprising approximately nobody. The big surprise to me was that out of roughly 568,000 votes cast in the presidential primary, 21% were for Nikki Haley. Presuming Republican primary voters are at least semi aware (granted that’s a stretch), that’s a damned big protest vote against the felonious orange fart bag. I would wager $10,000 (which I haven’t got) that if similar results obtained in a state Dem primary it would be front page news in the FNYT, along with much bloviating on how the Biden campaign is doomed, I tell you, DOOMED! Many and varied are are the practitioners of political journalism in this country, I don’t think. Believe I’ll stick with top 10,000 blogs and the like.
ETA: and Tbone beat me to it.
Barbara
Well, if they talk about this at all it’s in terms of pretending that 7% voting for Dean Phillips is the same as 22% voting for Nikki Haley. I saw a headline like this the other day: Warning Signs for Biden and Trump in Primary Results.
Sure thing.
Geminid
@rikyrah: Good morning! President Biden will make a stop in Chicago today after he speaks in Racine, Wisconsin. This morning’s Politico Playbook says the Chicago stop will be for a campaign event.
Vice President Harris will travel to Philly for a campaign event there.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: need Jen Psaki here. This is her speciality!
TBone
@Geminid: I really dig that $5B housing money grant thingie, can’t wait to see whassup with that.
jimmiraybob
@OzarkHillbilly: “Obeying the Constitution is soooooo 18th Century.”
I’ve been busy and a little out of touch but are you saying that we’re still operating under a constitution? I thought for sure that the SCOTUS would have scrubbed that and restored the Articles of Confederation by now.
smith
I hadn’t realized until last night that when they publish transcripts of the trial, they include the sidebars. It seems the Defendant’s behavior in court is escalating, and Judge Merchan is not amused. We’ll have another day or two of Daniels’ testimony, and soon thereafter after it will be Michael Cohen. Not sure if his lawyers will be able to hold him down that long.
jimmiraybob
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
“My daughter the historian once pointed out that it’s always the men of color who are allowed through the barriers before the women, and over and over I see that she’s right.”
When the right for women to vote came up in Wyoming a legislator, I believe out of South Pass City, made a comment to the effect of, “well we done give the vote to the n……..s so we may as well give it to the women.”
TBone
Today, Rump squeezed out another long social media screed ending in
I’m not sure how to punctuate it. Of course, it is a call for death. Only wish it were his own.
TBone
@smith: insert Law & Order theme noise here
I have it on a loop and play it over and over for the neighbors some days.
Dun Dun!
Jackie
Sigh… First Cannon, now this:
lowtechcyclist
@UncleEbeneezer:
McTurtle was never going to let Hillary have any SCOTUS seats. He said so in 2016. And after she was crucified for the failure of her Covid response (30,000 Covid deaths – what a fuckup! the FTFNYT would have said) and blamed for her general inability to get jack shit through a GOP Congress, she’d have lost to the GOP nominee in 2020 – probably Trump, who’d still have gotten those 3 SCOTUS seats.
smith
TBone
@Jackie: made me cherry pick a bible passage.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Jeffro
Me too! I hope it’s like the very successful Southwood project here in Cville…a really run-down trailer park was going to be sold off to developers, but with the help of some seed money, the property was actually bought by Habitat For Humanity, who then worked with developers. The project includes a significant number of affordable housing units (which were offered to the trailer park’s residents first!)
It’s VERY mixed-use in terms of the types of housing – large single-family homes, townhomes, small single-family units, condos, and a large apartment building.
They’re already having nice big block parties there and everything! (Meanwhile, my HOA? Not so much…sob…)
tam1MI
Calling Tony Jay and other Brit Jackals… Is the Telegraph a legit news source? Because some of the allegations in this article are extremely concerning…
Sunak summons university leaders after ‘unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism’
TBone
@Jeffro: ❤️💙❤️💙🩷 sounds like a great place to make new friends! 😍
Soprano2
@smith: I think they’ll need to drug him a lot to keep him from an outburst.
Scout211
How ironic that Merchan talked with the defense attorney in a side bar so that he wouldn’t “embarrass” the defendant, only to have the side bar transcript posted everywhere this morning. LOL.
ETA: Wednesdays with no trial. I think I might get some yard work done finally.
Luther Siler
There was some ratfuckery going on in the Indiana primary yesterday– there weren’t a ton of competitive D races, and I know people, my own wife included, who picked up a Republican primary ballot to have a little influence on the Governor race. That’s gonna inflate the Haley vote some, but for the previous occupant to not break 80% is pretty significant regardless.
Jeffro
RWNJ violence and AI-generated deepfakes: god bless our election workers in this country!
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer:
Dunno if it’s that clear. Or, at least that’s not the whole story.
Justia.com (from June 2023):
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@UncleEbeneezer:
Yell it from the rooftops because it’s fucking true!
Congrats again to all the stupid, selfish children.
teezyskeezy
@mrmoshpotato: I don’t think it is actually true, though. If you want to say that you can go looking and find a few such people, okay. You can find any type if you look. However, if you want to say that the people criticizing the DOJ as slow to act and the people resentful of having to vote for Hillary is a nearly a Venn circle…nah.
mrmoshpotato
@tam1MI: Sounds like they’ve had enough of Rethuglicans’ fuckery. Good for them!
kindness
@smith: Time to bring in the critter stick with veterinary tranquilizer needle tip for Trump.
smith
In other discouraging news, the GA appeals court will hear the Defendant’s appeal of McAfee’s ruling not to disqualify Fani Willis.
Sigh. It’s so easy to touch off a moral panic based on a black woman’s sexuality. I suppose we’ll know we’ve evolved as a society when that’s no longer true.
mrmoshpotato
@teezyskeezy: Not a circle, but there’s definitely overlap.
Melancholy Jaques
@Omnes Omnibus:
That strikes me as more likely than not. Kind of a standard Roberts decision. Helps the Republicans while posing as a neutral court. Probably some completely made up definition for official acts.
TBone
@Another Scott: thank you for doing that legwork.
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
No lie told
Barbara
@Luther Siler: It’s consistent with results in other states like Pennsylvania that conduct “closed” primaries.
HeleninEire
Hi all. Headed to Dublin tonight for a week. Wheels up: 4:55; wheels down: 4:45 tomorrow morning! Very excited to see my friends.
rikyrah
First Black graduate is still alive. This isn’t ancient history.
ATL Uncensored (@ATLUncensored) posted at 11:44 AM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
Georgia Tech’s first Black graduate presented his granddaughter with her diploma during Friday’s commencement ceremony https://t.co/RznYLB5Gea
(https://x.com/ATLUncensored/status/1787886191607443803?t=znoTOMlQqhBPMXpEtMVEvA&s=03)
rikyrah
Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) posted at 11:28 AM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
WOW! For 17 years, the private all-girls private St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans has had a 100% college acceptance rate. Calcea Johnson & Ne’Kiya Johnson, math prodigies who in 2022 solved a 2,000-year-old mathematical puzzle, are testaments to this school’s excellence! https://t.co/lIgGCk7950
(https://x.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1787882227621040307?t=gIpxL2RA8RbFpvEfq51M1Q&s=03)
TBone
Nick Knudsen xit:.
rikyrah
Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) posted at 4:16 PM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
With 13 days before her trial was supposed to kick off, Judge Cannon finally says what has been obvious to every legal journalist I know: She’s not just canceling the existing trial date; she’s also not picking a replacement.
(https://x.com/lawofruby/status/1787954781610512894?t=a6Kf9hkOqIz_8gqkRvAgSg&s=03)
rikyrah
Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) posted at 4:02 PM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
Joe Biden’s answer to our nation’s problems is higher taxes.
In Georgia, we’re returning more of your hard-earned tax dollars to your wallet because that’s your money – not the government’s.
Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) posted at 10:22 AM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
Georgia dropped more than 300,000 children from the Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids health insurance program, with one of the worst child disenrollment rates in the nation, according to a new study from Georgetown University. #gapol
Jay Bookman (@jaysbookman) posted at 4:26 PM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
The huge state budget surplus that allows Kemp to make these cuts was driven to a significant degree by $20 billion or more in federal Covid funding.
You know, the government’s money.
(https://x.com/jaysbookman/status/1787957258011504672?t=1NwG_rhfZn_3m3duEZEmlw&s=03)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jeffro:
HfH here in Denver is doing god’s work when it comes to actual affordable housing projects that aren’t the Reaganomics-for-Housing bullshit peddled by the developer propagandists. HfH’s projects are simple, not fugly bulk-planed-for-maximum-square-footage-thus-profit and have done wonders for the areas where they’ve been done.
realbtl
Hopeful anecdata from Montana. After about 3 years my neighbor removed his TIFG ’24 flag and replaced it with stars and stripes. Rich folks who winter in AZ and summer here.
Jeffro
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: that’s awesome!
Personally I have been thrilled to see the property here turned into so many units, and of many different types. Albemarle County & Charlottesville housing prices are on a par with the most expensive counties in the nation, so it’s important that we get the supply of affordable housing way, way up.
rikyrah
Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) posted at 4:11 PM on Tue, May 07, 2024:
This is news but it’s hardly unexpected. Judge Cannon seems desperate to avoid trying this case. This isn’t justice. defendants aren’t the only ones with speedy trial act rights, we the people have them too.
(https://x.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1787953470383026486?t=l8WOyzy57DwM9DaMw2a2yA&s=03)
Hoppie
@tam1MI: Well, it is known as the “Torygraph” for the reason that they toady up to the Conservatives, but in general its news is probably better than the tabloids.
(Disclaimer: not a Brit, but I did used to visit annually and knew many lefty Brits.}
TBone
@realbtl: yesterday? Recently? I’m so here for all of this!
Also wondering if the Real Men Wear Diapers movement was something I only dreamed about…did that really happen?
😆
rikyrah
@HeleninEire:
Have safe travels and a wonderful trip :)
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
Could the Court decide that the issue is not one that the judicial branch should rule on at all?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@tam1MI: My wife is enrolled in a certificate program at Columbia, so she’s on the mailing list for communications from the administration and is getting a lot of reports about the protests and the university’s response to them.
One report was that Jewish students are being blocked from use of the library, and the university so far is not taking action to help get them past the protestors.
There are also many, many reports of Jewish students being harassed in more direct ways.
Jeffro
It’s funny, after reading this headline, I thought the ‘one thing’ was ‘big piles of cash’
The One thing Trump Knows He Wants in A Running Mate
…complete acquiescence to his 2020 election lies, of course…
Scott, Burgum, Noem…all of them are so incredibly pathetic.
The whole party, really. They should have insisted that the LOSER exit the stage and quit lying. But no, they didn’t want to offend him and his blessed base.
He wouldn’t HAVE a base if there was a Republican with a spine to state the obvious: Donnie can’t handle losing, but he did lose, and he lost because he was such a disaster.
TBone
https://digbysblog.net/2024/05/08/about-those-nuclear-documents/
I’m not the only one with “mobthink” on the brain today.
HeleninEire
@rikyrah: Thank you!
Sure Lurkalot
@Danielx:
Now that you mention the “paper of record”, here’s a taste of their hack editor on the FTFNYT’s fearless fight against fascism (with a wooden spoon):
Yikes. Cancel your subscriptions, people!
Here’s a link to a marvelous takedown by Dan Froomkin with links to other takedowns. Highly recommend to read the whole sorry tale.
https://presswatchers.org/2024/05/new-york-times-editor-joe-kahn-says-defending-democracy-is-a-partisan-act-and-he-wont-do-it/
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TBone: That doesn’t surprise me. The commentators at Meidas Touch already were saying months ago that there was no way that trial was happening in 2024.
What frustrates me is her continued ability to avoid being removed from the case, managing apparently to go up to but never cross a boundary that would enable Jack Smith to file the appropriate motion with the supervising circuit court.
But I thought people were throwing the words “writ of mandemus” around a couple of months ago, which may not require any more explicit actions on her part? I think? What happened with that?
StringOnAStick
@TBone: They might be trying to make Real Men Wear Diapers happen, but I have serious doubts it’s going to work. Too far into the disgust and fear of being debilitated by age for too many of his supporters; the squicked out factor is just a bit too much. The Von Schitzenpantz thing isn’t going anywhere either for the same reasons, Marge marching around with a sign or not.
TBone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I dunno about what happened to Mandamus but I’ll take this opportunity to repost an article about Cannon and her connections. This may be why she’s “untouchable.”
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/no-one-ever-mentions-aileen-cannons-mobbed
TBone
@StringOnAStick: it’s going on my front lawn in October.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Sure Lurkalot: I confess that I was up till this week still getting a paper copy of the Sunday NYT home delivered. They used to make you jump through hoops to cancel. I finally decided this week to cancel, and was interested to notice that not only have they (a) made it easier to do so, adding a link for online cancellation without having to make a phone call, but (b) included “I don’t like your coverage” as one of the reasons you can check.
rikyrah
@StringOnAStick:
Real Men Wear Diapers
BWA HA HA HA AH AHA HA HA
TBone
@rikyrah:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/5/3/2238749/-MAGA-Embraces-The-Slogan-Real-Men-Wear-Diapers
Keep the movement alive 😆
Melancholy Jaques
@TBone:
Seems like that ad would hit home with a lot of voters.
Jackie
Apparently TIFG isn’t campaigning today. Or golfing?
He went home to MAL – maybe he has some ‘splaining to do with a certain someone who followed Stormy’s testimony? 🤔🤭
Brachiator
@tam1MI:
Not a Brit, but I try to follow UK news since BREXIT. The Telegraph is a right wing rag.
Sunak is trying desperately to stir up what remains of his base before he calls a general election. Or is dumped by the Tories and replaced. The Conservative Party suffered huge losses in the recent local elections.
tam1MI
I read somewhere that Jewish students at Columbia are suing the university for failing to keep them safe.
TBone
@Melancholy Jaques: if it gets sufficient coverage, it will. But:
Timing is everything.
Belafon
@smith: In this case, though, it’s that she’s prosecuting a Republican. Republicans are looking for anything.
smith
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: At that time, as I recall, it looked like she might sign on to the Defendant’s whacky argument that the Presidential Records Act allowed him to declare any documents his property and just take them. At that point Smith warned her explicitly that he would appeal and have her removed if she tried that. She backed off with a technical legal dodge, but the issue of the PRA is not off the table. She will have to rule on it eventually, but, as we are seeing, her solution is to just never hold the trial.
TBone
@Jackie: 😂🤣 he’s getting the freeze no matter where he goes
Belafon
@TBone: I really don’t care that he does, especially since it’s known that some people do start losing control of their bowels at this age. But the people doing this would declare Biden unfit for office if they found out he was doing it.
Gary K
When I talked to my brother last year, he was complaining that his anti-gay Methodist congregation’s building was owned by the national church. They were being forced to undertake a huge fundraising campaign so that the congregation could purchase the building and then go off on their own, continuing their anti-gay stance. Needless to say, I don’t talk a lot to him.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Sure Lurkalot:
He’s been a must-read since his early days at the WaPo. Back then it was apparent he wasn’t gonna fit in with their hacks of the day like Vandehei, Romano and a host of others.
TBone
@Belafon: ummm they already went there long ago.
It’s the “real men” part that’s so funny, in case you missed that.
cain
You can tell that the Biden ads are hitting them hard because the response in the comments are atrocious. Never seen such hate and vitriol.
Geminid
@tam1MI: Don’t know about the students, but I read that two janitors and their union are suing Columbia because protesters locked them in that building (Madison Hall?) for a while. The janitors argue that the University failed to keep them safe.
Jackie
@Belafon: I don’t care either, but there’s lots of hints that he doesn’t change them often enough 🤷🏼♀️
smith
@Belafon: True, but the way they approached it they got a lot of buy-in from people who should know better.
schrodingers_cat
@cain: Follow some accounts that say followed by Modiji in their description if you want really see some hate and vitriol.
TBone
@Jackie: poor Walt Nauta can’t keep up 😆🤮
cmorenc
@smith:
Regardless of whether the situation amounts to a valid reason for conflict-of-interest disqualification, Willis as DA was recklessly irresponsible for indulging in an affair with someone appointed as a purportedly independent special counsel in one of the most crucially important public-interest cases in the entire history of Georgia (and the US). Her having done so undermines the credibility of what otherwise is a rock-solid case, and gives room for the Georgia Appeals Court to throw a Saudi Arabian desert’s worth of sand in the gears of the case toward bringing it to timely trial. It was an asshat-level irresponsibly stupid indulgence on her part.
Belafon
@TBone: No, I saw that. It could easily be replaced with “Real mean wear orange makeup.” It’s just another “It’s great if Trump does it” that would never apply to any of his opponents.
Belafon
@smith: Agree. Especially the people who were hooked by the made up cellphone data.
TBone
Another gambit from the Heritage Foundation trickling down through the ranks
https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/1787915110423609585
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_T._Anderson
Kay
I hope NPR stands by their CEO. It’s just repulsive how the NYTimes and Christopher Rufo join forces for these “let’s get everyone to the Left of Christoper Rufo fired”
Didn’t NPR also stand up to Musk and…absolutely nothing happened to them? It’ll be the same here. These ridiculous people think they’re more influential than they are. The whole bullshit “anti woke” thing didn’t win any elections outside of Florida.
Baud
@Sure Lurkalot:
No, you should cover EMAILS!
rikyrah
Georgia governor signs election changes into law
The bill signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will implement new rules in the battleground state. less than six months before Election Day.
May 7, 2024, 9:40 PM CDT / Source: The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged.
Republican activists — fueled by debunked theories of a stolen election — have challenged more than 100,000 voters in the state in recent years. The activists say they are rooting out duplicate records and removing voters who have moved out of state.
The bill Kemp signed into law — SB 189 — lists death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. Most controversially, it says the National Change of Address list can be considered, though not exclusively.
Supporters have said the probable cause definition would make the challenge process more difficult. Opponents have disputed that, saying the changes would enable more baseless attacks on voters that would overwhelm election administrators and disenfranchise legitimate voters. For example, people sometimes live at a place of business, which would be considered a nonresidential address. Officials with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office say there are more reliable types of information, such as driver’s license data, to confirm a voter’s eligibility.
The Georgia bill also allows challenges to be accepted and voters removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election. That provision in part has prompted the threat of lawsuits from liberal groups because federal law says states and counties can’t make systematic changes to voting rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
The measure also says homeless people must use the county voter registration office as their address instead of where they live. Opponents have said that could make it harder for homeless citizens to cast ballots because their registered polling place might be far away.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/georgia-governor-brian-kemp-signs-new-election-changes-law-rcna151180
Baud
@Kay:
Wait. What happened?
TBone
@Belafon: yeah, there’s no accounting for taste. Especially in how a fucking cult chooses its leader and vice versa. I prefer to mock where mockery is overdue. Richly deserved. I have no remorse, as I suffer from IBS myself.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Applied fairly, that would seem to hurt Republican voters more. But it won’t be applied fairly.
Kay
@Baud:
Rufo has launched an attack on the CEO of NPR because she’s 1. a woman and 2. a progressive and the ninnies at the NYTimes are promoting it, in the same repulsive way they promoted firing the Harvard President.
This is why they do no actual reporting work. They’re busy managing the opinions of the country.
Baud
@Kay:
Thanks. At least the Clinton Cash people wrote a book for the NYT to launder. Has Rufo even done that much?
Is there a specific false allegation they’re using against her, or is she just too woke?
Madeleine
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: students in general were blocked from library use at Columbia. Beginning yesterday graduate students could get access if they requested it from their dept, which then had to forward the request to the grad school for action. Possibly all undergrads were treated in the same way.
Kay
@Baud:
The NYTimes is at this point so invested in the political success of the “anti woke” ninnies they can’t quit it. They lose elections on it over and over -normal people don’t give a shit about “wokeness”- but it doesn’t matter. They bet the whole wad on this dumb idea and they keep doubling down.
I think it’s good in a way. It definitely helped us in the midterms.
Political media and the anti woke ninnies focused on the Oberlin student council and Democrats ran on access to life saving, best practices health care for women. We won :)
Gin & Tonic
Well, looks like the NYT is working hard to make the Wordle experience even worse. Now they are requiring registering for an account in order to show you your stats.
Baud
@Kay:
Definitely a strategy. I see a lot of the right wing bits and propagandists on Reddit still going on about woke stuff.
Belafon
@cmorenc: I get it, she should have traveled back in time and told herself to not get involved with someone who was separated from his wife because she will need him on a case later. Maybe her time machine was in the shop?
I agree with smith in that too many people who know better would rather get onto Willis for not being perfect than disgusted at people going after her, but she’s an easier target isn’t she?
smith
Eric Adams says Rikers will be ready for the Defendant when the time comes.
Kay
@Baud:
I tried to link but there’s too much – its a full bore witch hunt. The idiots from the Twitter Files have joined in because she’s also on the board of Signal which is another pushpin for their conspiracy theory map.
I think it’s fine that the NYTimes hires only rigid, conventional and privileged people who are incredibly fucking boring. I also think it’s fine that NPR hired a progressive CEO. Both sides, right?
Nelle
@rikyrah: There are days I have to restrain myself from driving three and a half hours to pound on the woman’s door, the woman who, in 2016, accused me of trying to blackmail her (her very words) when I brought up the Supreme Court. “How do you like those Supreme rotten apples?” I want to yell.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic: that’s why God created Dordle
Melancholy Jaques
@TBone:
Viral ad right now would be great timing.
Baud
@Kay:
Isn’t NPR the only mainstream media covering abortion? It may be why there’s a target on her back.
Melancholy Jaques
@cmorenc:
She committed a grave error, Republican bullshit notwithstanding.
Baud
Via reddit. Safe district, but still…
StringOnAStick
A close friend had requested that I counter her college senior son’s argument against voting, a kid has worked as an intern on capital hill since he started at Howard, and who idolizes Wilbur and The Squad. A kid who plans on law school so he can go into politics. Help me out here people, I think my brain broke at the adolescent stupidity of this stance.
Baud
@StringOnAStick:
Just gift him a Nazi flag and be done with him.*
*Don’t listen to my advice.
sdhays
@Omnes Omnibus: The trial court then finds this fact and sends it back up to the “Supreme” Court:
“Presidents aren’t monarchs, you stupid-ass morons. It’s not that hard.”
Seriously, though, that will be an extra silly thing for this court to do since they make up and inject facts willy nilly anyway. It’s not like they actually rely on the trial court’s facts if they don’t want to. Not at all saying you’re wrong, just that it will be extra silly. Or perhaps a stronger word instead of “silly”…
Melancholy Jaques
@Belafon:
Disagree completely. The argument that she needed him and only him on this case, no one else in Georgia could do it, hasn’t been supported. There are some people that she just cannot hire under these circumstances. He was one of them.
JPL
@StringOnAStick: If he plan’s on going into politics, his voting record will be checked. Of course, it didn’t hurt the orange asshole though.
TBone
@Baud: 💙😎
TBone
@Melancholy Jaques: ummm, she wasn’t sleeping with him when she hired him.
Fani has no conflict of interest. Sex doesn’t disqualify her and paying counsel doesn’t either. She repaid him for her half of their dating expenditures separately, as was exhaustively documented at her hearing.
TBone
Turnabout is fair play.
https://susiemadrak.com/2024/05/08/stormy-10/
rikyrah
@Baud:
I thought I had missed it too.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Lips so pursed.
Brachiator
@StringOnAStick:
What is his argument against voting?
Also, he wants to go into politics? He wants people to vote for him, but he doesn’t want to vote? Odd.
rikyrah
@StringOnAStick:
You mention Howard, so I’m going out on a ledge and say that he’s Black.
Here’s my thing, period.
Plenty of people were beaten and killed for him to pretend that he actually has the privilege to throw away his vote.
Go into politics…for whom?
His non -vote is a vote for the Orange Menace.
The complete self-centered selfishness of a BLACK PERSON uttering their lips to talk bullshyt about non-voting?
Straight up… ask him what makes him think that he’ll be able to vote in 2028 if the Orange Menace gets into office.
The utter nonsense of pursing your lips as a Black Person to talk about not voting.
Ooh child….I don’t have the tolerance or patience for this foolishness.
twbrandt
@StringOnAStick: when the son’s gay friends are stripped of their marriages, his female friends lose all access to reproductive health care, the maintenance crew at his apartment complex are deported, be sure he tells all of them why he didn’t vote.
divF
@tam1MI: Time for the relevant “Yes, Prime Minister” quote.
Baud
@StringOnAStick:
The people he claims to idolize are all going to vote blue. Bernie has already said out loud that people should vote for Biden. That’s why I don’t get.
bjacques
@smith:
Donnie got busted on a hush-money rap.
He beat that rap by ratting on some bikers.
He said “I know it’s dangerous, but it sure beats Rikers!.
The next day he got offed, by the very same bikers!
VFX Lurker
What is his argument against voting? Did your friend try to explain it?
Does he think elections are “rigged,” or that his one vote doesn’t matter among millions of other votes?
(I know his vote matters. I just want to know why he doesn’t vote).
Baud
@rikyrah:
The scuttlebutt is that the right is going after young black men attracted to misogyny. Maybe this guy thinks he’s left but hears the siren call of Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate in his subconscious.
Kay
@StringOnAStick:
In my experience Democrats and liberals don’t respond to fear-based appeals. That’s much more of a Right wing thing. So don’t talk about potential loss, instead talk about potential gain. If the objection is Gaza based just leave Biden out of it completely – they’ve made up their mind on him and that issue and all it does is enrage them. I say “Democrats” and then talk about the Senate :)
Get them in the polling place to vote downballot and they’ll probably vote for Biden too. If they don’t, well, you got a Senate or House or state level vote.
Brachiator
@Baud:
What is your source for this “scuttlebutt?”
rikyrah
@StringOnAStick:
Also ask him, how come it’s only BLACK PEOPLE that are encouraged not to vote.
How come he can’t point to anyone going up to those MAGA nuts, telling them not to vote.
Kay
@StringOnAStick:
I try to bring them along on a kind of “solidarity” idea – not a threat but instead an idea that they should support their ideological fellow travelers. I think when we phrase this as Republicans and Democrats it sounds like we’re hacks to them. They may not even identify as Democrats, but they probably identify as liberal or on the Left.
We use a shorthand to talk about this in my local Democratic group. We say “Party people” (I’m a Party person) and “liberals”. Don’t be a Party person. They’re wary of that – as I said they think we’re basically hacks with no real beliefs :)
rikyrah
@StringOnAStick:
Bottom line…we heard the same bullshyt in 2016…but then, it was eleven billionty excuses why they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary.
150 phucking Federalist Society Right-Wing Judges IN LIFETIME POSITIONS in addition to the 3 stolen seats on the Supreme Court.
How did that work out?
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Baud isn’t lying. And, you can see it in actual practice.
What do you think happened with that Killer Mike Cooning for Kemp against Abrams? That wasn’t rooted in anything BUT misogyny.
Geminid
@Baud: Some NPR contributor did a hatchet job on their Gaza and/or protest coverage a few weeks ago, said it was biased against Israel. This was bullshit and Steve Insleep explained how and why it was bullshit, but evidently the lies stuck, at least with bad-faith actors.
Soprano2
@Kay: Yes, they left Twitter pretty soon after he took it over.
Ohio Mom
What a contrast, Biden relishes the memories of his sons beating him at golf vs. Trump, the well-known golf cheat.
That says everything anyone needs to know about those two.
Soprano2
@Kay: I wonder if they think that’s one of the most important things voters are thinking about today. *rolleyes* That was their rationale for why they cover these other things. I wonder, did most of the country (or even most of their readers) care that much about the president of Harvard? Someone should dig into the relationship between people at the Times and Rufo, they might find something. Normally they wouldn’t pay that much attention to someone like him.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Yup:
It’s why I’ve come to hate “Karen” as a insult. I knew the Right would turn it against any woman who asks for anything, and they have. It’s now used as a misogynist way to shut any woman up – so there’s a shocker.
divF
@Kay: I think you are wrong about not responding to fear-based appeals. The problem with Democrats historically is that they’ve always believed that “it can’t happen here”. Well, Dobbs has destroyed that illusion, at least for women. The response to Dobbs is definitely fear-based. It’s working, and may be the thing that saves us in November. The question is how many authoritarian disasters will it take to erase the denial in enough Democrats’ heads, and will the GOP destroy representative democracy before that happens.
Soprano2
@Baud: She said some critical things about TFG on Twitter before she took the job, as if you’re not allowed to have any opinions critical of Republicans if you want to work for NPR.
sab
Spectrum News ( Spectrum is our cable provider) had an in depth interview with the woman leading the protest on the Case Western campus. She is a Cleveland State professor and the American born child of Palestinian refugees driven out in 1948.
Kay
@Geminid:
I knew the initial reporting would suck, and it did. They’re herd animals. You have to wait until they stampede and then stop before any of the thoughtful or smart ones get a chance to actually go places and interview people.
It takes longer than 6 minutes to do any actual work.
We’re now in the “maybe we once again completely lost our shit and over-reacted” part of the stampede cycle. I feel like the NYPD holding up the scholarly work on terrorism and shouting “TERROR BOOK!” should be the image that sticks – it’s perfect to describe all of their work the last weeks.
VFX Lurker
@Brachiator: Anecdotal: in 2016 I knew two young Black men in California who voted for Sanders in the primary and then Jill Stein and Sanders (write-in) in the general election.
It’s possible that their votes were not affected by the sea of misogyny suffusing social media back then. I stopped following both after November 2016, so I’ll never know.
Melancholy Jaques
@TBone:
None of those things have any impact on the public perception, as I’m sure you have noticed.
Geminid
@Kay: I follow a lot of foreign Twitter, and that picture of the NYPD offecer holding up the “Terrorism” book was the pic ridiculed around the world.
The professor who assigned it said that he might be in big trouble now, but added in defense of the students that many of them do not read the course materials.
Steve in the ATL
@rikyrah:
There’s a first time for everything!
Kay
@divF:
I worked on the Ohio referendum and the women I spoke to weren’t fearful at all. They were mad. They wanted their rights back and it was very much a positive energy thing. There was a lot of camaraderie and really a lot of laughing. Just a pleasure to do that work.
But everyone is different. I’m sure some Democrats respond to fear based appeals. It always worries me when I see it with a candidate I’m supporting though because I generally think they pull it out when they think they don’t have much else and it reads as “desperate and not confident” to people. We have plenty to talk about with Biden (or Democrats).
I think I object to it too because I think it’s too narrow and conclusory. There were a lot of factors why Clinton lost. Left wing voters dropped off but so did some Right wing Democrats – the Obama to Trump people here were Right-leaning people who voted for Obama. I don’t know which factor was determinative and either does anyone else.
Kay
@Geminid:
The bike chain sequence was hysterical too. The Kids called it “the terror chain”. I thought New Yorkers were supposed to be so tough? They’re afraid of the Cliff Notes terrorism book?
Brachiator
@Kay:
@StringOnAStick:
Everyone is hot to tell this kid why he’s wrong without knowing his own views on the issue.
Not a good way to win him over.
Geminid
@Kay: There were probably a lot of Obama to Johnson voters too. They were probably a mishmash ideologically, but I think there was a common element of misogyny.
Kay
@divF:
There’s some kind of push-pull rote dialogue thing that now happens on social media with the fear based appeal that makes me think it is now in a well-worn groove and isn’t going to work for anyone. You say “bad things wil happen if you don’t vote” and then it’s their turn to say “the lesser of two evils is still evil”, which you (probably rightly) will perceive as them telling you you have no standards and no one budges an inch. Time to try something else. IMO.
Matt McIrvin
@StringOnAStick: Is he registered in DC? He may figure the District is safely blue so he can safely withhold as a protest. I am not fond of that kind of argument (it’s a kind of free riding) but it may not be worth your effort.
Kay
@Geminid:
I was so involved in the Obama campaign I can literally tell you which voters went from O to T in my county and it wasn’t Johnson voters. Trump got them all. It was astonishing. We went from 40% O in 2012 to 25% Clinton in 2016. A collapse.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Oh, I think he’s got a point. Again, I’m just curious about his sources.
Black and Latino men voted for Democrats in lower numbers than did black and Latino women in 2020.
The GOP would want to work this divide.
rikyrah
@Kay:
How is it fear?
We heard the same shyt in 2016.
They couldn’t be ‘ scared’ by us using ‘ The Court’.
Well, we see the result of that.
We LITERALLY SEE THE RESULT OF THAT.
Not only the THREE Supreme Court Justices.
But, the 150 Federalist Society right-wingers with LIFETIME appointments that they use to JUDGE SHOP to legitimize taking away everything that we have gained as a society since 1954.
That’s not based in fear. That’s based in FACT. And, I’m so phucking angry about it. I wish a muthaphucka would purse their lips in my presence about why they’re not voting.
The extreme selfishness in the complete disregard for MILLIONS of their fellow citizens who will be harmed by right-wing policies..
Yeah…I’m not the one.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I don’t know. I’m just telling you I think “you have to or this bad thing will happen!” does not come off as confident – it sounds desperate, they hear that, and they know they can get your goat by responding with unconcern. It’s a dance. Change the music.
Geminid
@Kay: I was thinking nationwide. Gary Johnson got 1,275,000 votes in 2012, and in 2016 he won 4,489,000 votes. Those extra 3.2 million voters came from somewhere, and I don’t think it was a burst of Libertarianism because in 2020, the vote for Jo Jorgenson dropped down to 1.8 million.
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
SFB already looks like he’s drugged in court. Falling asleep – claiming he’s intently listening….right, sure he is…. he doesn’t do anything intently, except he stupids rather intently. Now I do wonder if his attorneys may have actually drugged him so that he sleeps on and off instead of getting thrown in a holding cell for disrupting the case with his incessant whining/disparaging the opposition, his contempt for the rest of humanity who are all beneath him (which of course is rather impossible as he is about the lowest form of human life, at least on the bottom shelf…there may be a lower level – those that can’t even stay on the bottom shelf….)
Now let’s be fair, not everyone is vital and substantially human at his age, hell some/many don’t even make it that far. One of my sisters only made it to 66, but then she died of cancer. One of my cousins only made 6 months, but he was born premature. But usually people today die for health reasons or lack of adequate food anymore, not of abject stupidity.
evodevo
@Melancholy Jaques: Yes, this. I considered it at the time to reflect very poor judgement on her part. And not just because anyone trying such a high profile case HAS to exercise caution in personal relationships, given the last decade of right wing smearing/noise machine antics. She just exhibited the same behavior we deplore in Type A privileged males…thinking you can automatically get away with such egregious behavior and not get called out..
VFX Lurker
If they genuinely perceive both choices on a ballot as evil, it’s weird that they won’t vote for the lesser of two evils to prevent the greater evil. They’re enabling and endorsing greater evil.
I did hear this argument on a private forum where members want to organize labor. A few months ago, a member said that they wouldn’t vote for Biden, because “the lesser of two evils is still evil.” I think they were angry with Biden over the 2022 railroad strike.
Last month, the same member said they would likely vote for Biden to protect labor rights. Not sure who persuaded them (UAW?), but they were a persuadable voter.
Manyakitty
@rikyrah: sounds like this child needs an earful of rikyrah.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
That is great!
A side note. We used to have a black man who worked for us who was born in the very early 1950s in Louisiana and who only made it through 4th grade because he had to go to work to help support his family. When we hired him in the late 70’s he had a lovely wife and 2 kids. A couple of us taught him math, including geometry and trigonometry. Not stupid, a very good human being, uneducated because of his skin. I consider knowing him as one of the highlights of my life.
Baud
I agree with Kay about fear as a motivator though. People who are refusing to vote blue are looking to hurt people. Don’t volunteer as a person they can easily hurt by acting afraid. It’ll have the opposite effect from the one you want.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I’m not AFRAID that Trump might establish a Putinesque dictatorship in this country. I’m FURIOUS at all the people who seem to want to let it happen. They’ll realize what they did when it’s too late.
StringOnAStick
@Baud: Me either. Thanks everyone for your help.
His argument for not voting is as a protest against supporting Israel with weapons, and yes, he’s black but mixed race and grew up in whitest of OR.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Came from Steve Bannon. He admitted it awhile ago.
Brachiator
@StringOnAStick:
Coming to a possibly dead thread
I wonder how many of his friends and peers have come to the same decision. It may feel good to be taking a stand with a group who feels the same way.
nickdag
@Anne Laurie: I want to thank you for including some Bluesky embeds.
I used many of your Twitter embeds to build my follows for that platform, and I look forward to the wonderful people you’re going to introduce me to on Bluesky.