Yesterday afternoon, I posted commenter Mousebumples’ Bluesky tips. Worth a read if you’re a morning-only reader. Like reading legacy media, being on Xitter is a habit I think we all need to break.
Speaking of habits that need to be broken, am I the only one sick and fucking tired of having to call my Democratic Senator and beg them to do the obvious, right thing? I was on Bluesky last night and saw that someone had posted scripts to call your Senator, and a specific script for Schumer, to have them do as much as possible in the lame duck session.
First, if you are an elected official in a party that claimed that the other party was led by a fascist who will bring fascism to government, shouldn’t you be leading, not following, on doing everything possible to batten down the hatches before the fascists take over? Or was all the talk of “fighting for you” just talk?
Second, if this is some PAC that is ginning up an issue so that you’ll use their script and maybe give them some money, that would be consistent with what I saw during this election: “Democratic” PACs fundraising for their own benefit off of major political issues, and even for candidates who should have gotten direct donations instead of PAC-mediated one. And I have to tell you, man I’m tired of the scammy PACvertisements that I saw this election. I’m glad our fundraising efforts here went to legitimate organizations that actually spend their money on what they promised to do. But it’s unfortunate that we have to put much analysis and care into finding legitimate organizations.
Finally, I’m not saying “don’t call your Senator” — I’m saying, “I wish I didn’t have to call my Senator” and I hope that we’re able to elect a few new Senators who have a bit more fire in the belly for the task at hand.
Anyway, join us at Bluesky. The end.
Doug R
I’m at Bluesky at @dredecopp.bsky.social
OId Man Shadow
Does seem to be a lot of “Oh well, we’ll just try again in two years” going on like a lot of Democrats really don’t believe Trump and his cadre will do what they said they will.
rikyrah
Thanks
Belafon
I was hoping to dial my politics hobby to 20% of my free time, vs 70%.
twbrandt
OT, but it is an open thread.
Today is my birthday (69 if you must know). It’s been a difficult year due to the death of my younger brother from colon cancer, my younger sister’s health issues, and last Tuesday’s disaster.
The years remaining to me, and those around me, are likely to be pretty grim due to the election. This makes the communities we build and the relationships we forge even more valuable.
Many thanks to Balloon Juice community for making this place a haven of sanity, even if we sometimes fight. Let’s keep this going.
Omnes Omnibus
@twbrandt: HBD!
Kirk
Thank you, John – agreed.
For general info, I’m at bluesky as @kirklins.bsky.social .
frosty
I see a lot of this. I thought we weren’t going to have any elections any more, or was that a scare tactic to get voters off their butts?
First we’re losing the Republic and next it’s back to business as usual, looking toward the next election. I’m more-or-less convinced there will be one but I’m skeptical that it won’t be ratfucked so that no one but a Republican can win it.
Apologies. Here I am being the doomer in the comments. Sorry ’bout that, Chief.
CaseyL
Last night I had an interesting, to say the least, conversation with my BFF who lives in Florida and has all of her life (we’ve known each other since we were 12). She had some sharp, angry criticism for the Democratic Party. Mostly it boiled down to something very similar to what Mistermix said: they have no urgency, and no fight. They continually say they will Fight For Us, and ceaselessly ask for money, but when it comes right down to it, they cash our checks and then don’t put up any kind of fight at all.
Here they’ve been warning about the consequences of a Trump victory for months. And now that Trump won? What will they do? Hand the White House over, as politely as you please. Thanks to SCOTUS, they have the power to halt the takeover in its tracks, in Congress as well as the Presidency – draconian power, to be sure, but you’d think the occasion warrants using draconian power – but there is no hope in Hell that they’ll use it.
I won’t even go into my friend’s criticisms of the campaign. They echo all the other criticism we’ve heard and, like all of that other criticism, is strictly hindsight. I asked if she made any of her criticisms during the campaign, when things certainly seemed to be going well, and of course she hadn’t. So while I do take note of what she said, I can’t consider it dispositive.
But the fact that “Democrats fighting for our freedom!” is unfortunately a laughable concept is enough for me. No more money, no more time, no more volunteering.
What few pennies I have to donate to anything will go to environmental causes, to organizations with proven track records of effective actions.
Suzanne
@twbrandt: Happy birthday, and may this next trip around the sun bring happier times for you!
Geminid
I don’t know about their “fire in the belly” quotients, but the four new Democratic Senators will definitely have younger bellies than their predecessors.
At age 62, Delaware Senator-elect Lisa Blunt Rochester is 15 years younger than Senator Tom Carper (77). Elissa Slotkin (48) will replace Debbie Stabenow (74). And Angela Alsobrooks (52) is a whopping 28 years younger than retiring Senator Ben Cardin.
Ruben Gallego (44) is only 4 years younger than What’s-Her-Name, but I don’t care. That 4 years brings the total age swing to 63 years over four seats.
Belafon
@CaseyL: “Democrats fighting for our freedom!” so often seems to mean “Why didn’t they win?” because they’ll put bills up, or pass laws, or the president will put out executive orders that get shot down by the courts – see the most recent one blocking Biden’s attempt to protect spouses of American citizens – and all people know is that they’re not fighting.
But I can see the appeal of watching Crockett roast Republicans.
Baud
@CaseyL:
If people are expecting Dems to overthrow the government after a loss, then they should just stay disappointed, or join the GOP, who will gladly feed the lizard brain.
trollhattan
@Geminid: Don’t neglect “approximately the age of the moon” DiFi’s now permanent replacement in Adam Schiff.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Agree with you there. The voters elected the turd, so he will again be POTUS. That’s how democracy works.
That said, I wish elected Dems wouldn’t congratulate Trump. Why the fuck would you congratulate a fascist? I wish they wouldn’t pledge cooperation. They should pledge to throw sand in the fucking gears, etc.
The comity bullshit does make it seem like the talk about the threat to democracy wasn’t sincere. Peaceful transfer of power, yes. Collegiality? Fuck that.
Geminid
@trollhattan: Thanks. I had a feeling I was forgetting someone.
eclare
@twbrandt:
Happy birthday! And I’m sorry about the horrible year that you’ve had.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@twbrandt:
My condolences. I’ve seen too many friends and aquaintances get lost to colon cancer over the last decade.
And thanks for commenting. Nice to see rare voices appear again.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Betty Cracker:
Exactly. They don’t have to be entire dicks about it (like Felonious D never conceding) but it’s another example of tire rims and anthrax. McConnell’s infamous statements about making Obama a one-term president come to mind.
JFC Dems, politics is a blood sport, not chess.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: I pretty much agree with all of that. I don’t have to like the result, but I have to accept it and do what I can to mitigate the damage. The other view is basically saying that democracy is dead in the US, so we may as well have a left leaning dictatorship. I refuse to accept that.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: I’m more concerned with what they do than what they say. I think constantly demanding performative crap from our politicians fuels distrust and cynicism because there will also be some new litmus test for them to fail.
Trump’s election puts our democracy and the lives of innocent people at risk. But risk never means certainty. I don’t know what Trump will try, much less what he will succeed at doing. So I’m happy to defer to what congressional Dems think is the best approach at this point.
ETA: Trump doesn’t have to actually end democracy to do enormous damage to innocent people. Purely legitimate but bad policies can do a world of harm.
MazeDancer
BlueSky, unless you’re famous, requires quite active participation.
You have to follow people or you won’t see anything. A lot of people.
Once you follow enough people, your “Discover” feed will start to show you more stuff. And you can follow interesting feeds like “Popular With Friends”.
The Gardening feed is fun. You just put a 🌱 emoji in your post and it gets posted there.
Please consider putting some BJ indication on your account.
Right now, the only way people can know you’re a BJ person is if some other BJ people are following you.
Or at least post a few things, so people will know more about you.
It’s wonderful that Pirate Dan put together the BJ list. And that people are using it. But you can help make it a little less of a guessing game when following folk. And thanks to those that have put Balloon Juice fan or something like that in their bio.
BTW, I am Fifth House Sun on BlueSky. Same as Twitter. @fifthhousesun.bsky.social
CaseyL
@Baud:
@Betty Cracker:
I respect and love you both, but you’re wrong here.
There is precedent for suspending normal democratic and even Constitutional law in order to fight for the country. Lincoln suspended the Constitution at the start of the Civil War, in order to fight the Civil War.
Trump won fair and square? Sure… and the creation of the Confederate States of America via secession could be construed as a “vote” for the CSA – so the CSA also won the popular vote of its time. Remember all that “Treason in Defense of Slavery” stuff?
“We are required by the rules of democracy to allow an end to that democracy”. makes absolutely no sense to me.
And, yes, I will say very clearly: If we are to live in a dictatorship, I would infinitely prefer it be a left-leaning one than a fascist one.
ETA: And if the Democrats are running the “dictatorship,” it’s bound to be ineffectually dictatorial.
Baud
@CaseyL: Lincoln didn’t stop elections. There was one in 1864 where he was at real risk of losing.
And who do you think will fight for Biden if he did what you asked? The people who didn’t show up to vote? The military? Is any lefty leader asking Biden to overthrow the election outcome? Or are people doing what the political culture always demands they do and blame Dems first. That’s what this is all about, right? When Trump commits his atrocities, the public can say both sides are responsible, just like they always do.
catclub
I bet Zelensky congratulated him. He has people he wants to protect. It is no skin off my nose either way, but if I had people to protect, do it. It might help them.
Fake Irishman
@Baud:
Co-sign.
a big part of democracy is you peacefully hand over power when you lose.
Also, hey voters, you know how to help Democrats fight for you? Elect more of them. It’s one weird trick(tm) to get comprehensive laws fighting climate change, better labor laws, higher minimum wage, reproductive rights, pollution control, better-funded schools, fairer taxes, balanced transportation policy, retirement security, affordable and better health insurance, among many, many other things.
The Audacity of Krope
Democrats have been understating the threat from Republicans for 30 years, minimum, as a century of social progress continues to crumble in front of our eyes.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: Thanks, Baud. This is what needs to be said. (Goes for #21 as well.)
trollhattan
@Geminid: Understandable, because it got complicated.
Newsom appointed a caretaker senator, Laphonza Butler, to hold the vacant seat until December. Then Schiff was twice elected last week: first for the remainder of the term December to January, second to assume the next full six-year term.
I’m exhausted just writing that.
Hortense Powdermaker
delurking to say the donations I gave this and last year were to the BJ targeted efforts – good work y’all, thanks for providing an avenue for action that does not go towards funding a consultant’s vacation home
i
The Audacity of Krope
@trollhattan: Schiff clearly has compromised judgment. He’s too old for that seat.
Betty Cracker
@catclub: Zelensky congratulated Trump, and that’s understandable. The only thing that makes me feel is shame that the voters in my country put him in that position.
Maybe some elected Dems think sucking up to Trump protects their constituents? If so, I think they’re wrong. Making nice and pretending it’s business as usual belies their accurate accusations about his dictatorial aspirations.
piratedan
@MazeDancer: I didn’t publish the follow list, that credit should go elsewhere (I believe that Manyakitty and Mousebumples are two integral of that effort, but I am but humble pawn in game of social media), what I do is follow back and post a fair bit so that peeps have something in their feeds when they give me a follow and I’ve cultivated a pretty decent feed of follows for those inclined.
I would urge those that start up over there to explore a bit, fill out your profile. Do NOT be afraid to block someone you wish to not see. There are a number of feeds that you can follow or you can sit in the discover feed and see what the tide brings in. If you pick on the follows and mutual feeds once you’ve connected with fellow jackals, you’ll get most of what we see. If you’re into posting animal pics or mems, use alt text, as BlueSky works hard to be inclusive for people with visual issues and alt text is a great way to reach them and make your pics more accessible for those performing searches.
Omnes Omnibus
@CaseyL: Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus. He did not suspend the Constitution.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: Flying Toaster deserves a lot of credit (or blame, depending on your POV) for helping create a Balloon Juice community on BlueSky.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: ty OO, we have more than a few active jackals over there, more working in the background linking us and not posting “content”. I’m rather steady in my posting, maybe that’s why Maze Dancer cited me. Didn’t mean any slights and ty for giving credit where its due.
Old School
Baud
@Old School:
Nice.
Old School
@Old School:
Update: DougJ used a misspelling.
He’s nytpitchobt on BlueSky.
randy khan
I think there is legitimate reason to call Dem Senators and tell them it’s critical to confirm judges until the cows come home. And, while we’re at it, to tell them to ignore the blue slip process completely. (Sorry not sorry, Senator Durbin.) Give the Trumpers as little room as possible to tilt the playing field any more on this. And that should be the way to think of things going forward.
There’s going to be a lot of pressure on Senate Dems to compromise on odious ideas from the Republicans. And I think that it’s a good time to remember Nancy Pelosi’s comment when asked when the Dems would have a counterproposal to Bush II’s ideas to destroy Social Security – “Never. Is never good enough for you?”
Old School
@Old School:
Jane2
@twbrandt: Happy Birthday! Community is everything.
UncleEbeneezer
Might want to front-page this in the next Bluesky post: