Amid all the noise from Nancy Mace about trans folk in the bathroom, some people might not have noticed the latest about Trump’s stellar cabinet picks.
First, more details were released about the accusations against Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense nominee. Basically, it sounds like he (allegedly) spiked a woman’s drink and raped her at a Republican women’s event.
Second, RFK Jr’s ex-babysitter (for his kids) shared the details of how the then 46-year-old groped and harassed the then 23-year-old.
Nothing new about Matt “Venmo” Gaetz that I’ve heard today, but it’s still early.
Anyway, if you want the science on who’s really at risk in bathrooms when trans folks are there, it’s mainly the trans folks who are the victims. Also, the overwhelming majority of child sexual abuse is committed by family and close acquaintances.
All accusations are projections from these people.
Edit: Betty reminds us in the comments that Linda McMahon is named in a lawsuit by former “ring boys” in the WWE who alleged sexual abuse by a predator (not Linda or Vince) when Vince and Linda ran WWE.
Edit2: I guess the Venmo update is that Gaetz is out:
I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.
There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.
Note that Vance is the person who took Gaetz to meet Senators, so another win for JD, too.
JaneE
Projection or confession. Or both.
Betty Cracker
Headline at CNN: “Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education pick, was sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children.”
Haven’t read the article. I wonder if the effect of the cabinet nominee scandals combined will render the media/public unable to focus on any one thing so that everything roars past like a shit tsunami, leaving only a stench in its wake?
Quantum man
It scares me that a likely majority of Americans are ok with this stuff.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Betty Cracker: JFC, forgot about her.
Old Man Shadow
Not to mention the serial sexual predator seventy-six million Americans just chose to lead the nation.
I have four years to train my daughter to be prepared to be an adult woman in this shithole country and for the millions of shitty men who inhabit it and the millions of shitty women who enable them.
Fight training, firearm training (and I HATE guns), Plan B pills, drink testing sticks, setting boundaries.
And three more years trying to reinforce consent, respect, and decency with my son while a stream of shit tries to wash us away.
Quaker in a Basement
“It’s mainly trans folks who are the victims.”
Sporky has already made threats.
Kay
This country hates women. Rapists are affirmatively promoted and celebrated.
Never forget that Epstein would have never been prosecuted if it hadn’t have been for a single news reporter at the Miami Herald – every single law enforcement/justice agency looked away or excused his behavior, from the local sheriff to the US DOJ. They thought it was fine that Epstein trafficked girls because the girls were low income. The Miami Herald reporter embarrassed them enough that they finally did something. If it hadn’t have been for her he’d still be trafficking girls out of FL and NY.
Backwards country. Worst of the high GDP countries (and many lower GDP countries too) for women and girls.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
We also don’t value children. At all. It’s a country for white men and only white men.
Omnes Omnibus
@Quaker in a Basement: Who is Sporky?
Just Some Fuckhead
I watched Mr. McMahon last night on Netflix and he is truly a vile subhuman. No wonder the McMahon’s are Republicans.
Old Man Shadow
You will also notice that other than his direct female accomplice, none of his clients or buddies has faced any consequences either.
The Catholic church and the Southern Baptists keep on going too.
There is no justice in this country.
cain
@Quantum man:
Explains why they won’t vote for a woman.
But also, demonstrate to women how much this country values their safety and health.
Some definitive punitive actions are required at the very personal level by women.
Kay
You’ll see the downstream effects of this lurch backward on womens rights soon. Fewer women going to college, fewer women in management or high income roles and fields, more domestic violence, rape and child abuse. But ultimately white women did it to themselves. Their food costs went up 19% and they needed to buy more stupid shit that will be in a landfill in 6 months on credit so they threw 50 years of civil and human rights progress out the window in a hissy fit. Good job, ladies! Hope you enjoy workplace harrassment by leering, creepy scumbags like Donald Trump and Matt Gaetz. You just voted for it. No sympathy from me.
Kay
@Old Man Shadow:
That didn’t occur to me until I read it from somewhere else. I’m so used to it I didn’t even pick that up.
Only the woman was punished. Of course.
syphonblue
I literally never want to hear another Republican talk about “groomers” or any other bullshit ever again. This entire maladministration is pedophiles, rapists, sexual abusers, and sexual abuse enablers from top to fucking bottom.
Steve LaBonne
@Quantum man: A majority of voters voted for someone other than Trump.
cain
@Old Man Shadow:
It’s more than that. They’ll need to understand how to keep their health private and away from social media apps.
Even things like alexa and google – anything that can capture a woman’s menstrual cycle will need to be avoided. Especially in a red state.
Blue states are going to have to pass strong privacy laws so that health records are not shared with other states unless it is to save the health of the woman.
The war on women has begun in earnest.
Kay
I could never run or work in a public school because if anyone told me “parents know best” I would have to object. If you are demanding the teacher parrot your own biased, irrational views on your child you’re making a mistake and you don’t really understand the broader concept of “education”.
You want to hire professionals who will tell you the truth, or why bother? If I needed a biased view on my child that aligns with my own my husband would give me one for free.
A lot of people have crackpot views on child raising. Do they “know best”? Of course not.
SiubhanDuinne
@cain:
Paging Lorena Bobbitt.
:-)
Citizen Alan
@Steve LaBonne: i’m sorry to say this, but that is an utterly pointless statistic. The majority of voters who cared about the direction of this country voted for trump. A small and meaningless percentage of voters who are all generally pampered insulated narcissistic fools, took the time and energy to vote for a third party in order to show their moral superiority to the rest of us. But I doubt any of them would have ever voted for kamala, if jill stein, or cornell west or whoever had not been on the ballot.
cain
@SiubhanDuinne: lol – Bobbit them!
cain
@Kay:
Libertarians say this shit all the time. It assumes a level of wisdom that a lot of people don’t have. Just like people think old age == wisdom as well and you need to respect your elders.
Yeah fuck that.. especially since I’m entering “elder” territory. I’m ok with being called ‘bruh’ and ‘bro’ by younger generations as long as I can use it too! :D
Libertarians thinking people know how to make decisions based on their self interest and that’s why govt needs to be small is some bullshit.
ETA – also being exposed to the higher management of 3 school systems, I know why Oregon has a very poor education levels.
Lobo
Dark Humor:
A conservative minister/Republican(leadership), young male, and transgender walk into a bar.
The minister/Republican offer to buy the young male a drink and ask the question looking at the transgender person. “What is a woman?”
The young male answers, “A person that wouldn’t accept a drink from you.” and then he and the transgender share a drink.
TBone
The gory deets in a deep dive on Hegseth:
https://newrepublic.com/post/188666/donald-trump-defense-pick-pete-hegseth-police-report
That story links to the actual 22 page police report.
Steve LaBonne
@Citizen Alan: The point is that defeatist rhetoric about a majority of the country rejecting Democrats is bullshit. The country remains almost evenly divided as it has been for years. Democrats actually suffered less than a number of other incumbent parties around the world. They are well placed to take advantage, beginning in two years, of the massive Trump fuckups that are on the way.
eclare
@cain:
I am so glad my parents never had the attitude that they knew better than professionals. They checked my report cards, but other than that stayed out of my education, no “what are you reading?”, no nagging about homework.
Good thing they did not ask about my AP English syllabus, we read some pretty mature stuff!
TBone
@Lobo: 🖤
Glory b
@Citizen Alan: Amen.
KatKapCC
@Omnes Omnibus: Marjorie Taylor Greene. There was a photoshopped pic of her making the rounds a while back where she’s wearing open-toed shoes and someone made it look like she only had three toes on each foot. Hence “spork”.
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: ignore the naysayers!
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: 🎯
Kay
The Right wing “case” for restricting womens rights by decree is that women are “not without political power” (to quote Justice Alitoi) which makes “women” different than (for example) Black people as a group under conservative legal theory. Black people can not, as a group, simply vote for civil rights – there aren’t enough of them.
White women in the US, 52% of them, just completely validated that Right wing legal theory. To think that isn’t going to have downstream cultural and legal effects is delusional. It’s particularly rich in the context of the media/Republican freak out over trans athletes in womens sports. You know who passed all those laws requiring parity for women in college althletics? Liberals did. Trump’s collection of rapists isn’t going to fund or protect womens college basketball, dumbasses. They hate women.
John S.
@Kay:
Unless those white men aren’t neurotypical, and then they too get chucked out with the rest of the “garbage”.
cain
@TBone:
This is also why Trump wants the Senate to recess. Picking these people and having them go through the process makes him look like a weirdo.
We should still use ‘weird’. It hurts them.
Breathtaking that this time is an entire cabinet of sex offenders. The fact that congress has never passed a law where people with a criminal history cannot run for office is pretty fucking stupid.
cain
@Citizen Alan:
Those same voters have gone back to sleep until something that is very personal happens to them.
John S.
@cain:
They never passed a law because for too long our democracy has relied on “norms” and “decorum”. Those concepts have been completely obliterated, and any elected Democrat that thinks otherwise needs to find a new hobby.
cain
Yes, we will be repeating the same thing that happened in 2016-2018, aren’t we?
What did the American voter learn about the Trump administration and the way they handled things from 2016-2020 that 50% of the population wanted it back. The man achieved nothing and spent all his time golfing and leaking secrets.
Muslims men still voting for Trump despite having Muslim country bans from back then? Hispanic men still voting despite reading about family separations at the border?
karen gail
Sounds like Pete Hegseth has all the requirements to be given position in government, hell; he even qualifies for SCOTUS. He could huddle with Clarence and Brett on best drugs to use and how to humiliate women who will go public with their actions.
We live in US where rich criminals become part of government and poor go to prison or die because they lack pasty skin tones and fleshy swords. Not only can criminals be elected or selected for government, it has become a requirement is you are not a fully blown nut case.
Steve LaBonne
@cain: I fear it will indeed be another case of Democrats being briefly hired to clean up the mess. My hope is that the previous nonvoters who only show up when Trump is on the ballot will crawl back into the woodwork after he leaves the scene, weakening the Republicans enough to make them less of a threat for an immediate comeback. And this time Democrats will need to be a lot more aggressive and repetitious in tying Republicans to every unpopular disaster that comes out of Trump’s clown car.
TBone
Omnes Omnibus
@John S.: There’s also the fact that such a law is probably unconstitutional. It would have prevented Debs from running, It would also prevent people convicted of bullshit crimes who are otherwise good candidates from running. Someone like MLK Jr. potentially ineligible to run. Is this a good thing?
TBone
@TBone: George Takei xit at that link has a helpful visual presentation!
Omnes Omnibus
Gaetz just withdrew from consideration.
Kay
@karen gail:
Obviously there will be downstream effects for women in the US because voters just validated a group of rapists – more rape, more domestiuc violence, more child abuse (child abuse and DV always come in pairs) fewer women in positions of power or in professions where they make real money. All of that is bad, but what is worse, in my view, is how voters validated corruption.
They said “please steal from us- we don’t mind”
They deserve the government they voted for – a bad one. I’m no longer their unpaid advocate. Black women voted for rights. White women could have too. They chose this. They should get it.
TBone
@cain: 👍
TBone
@Omnes Omnibus: 😆🤡
Can he also un-resign?
Steve LaBonne
@Omnes Omnibus: Watch that piece of shit decide to take the Congressional seat he was just re-elected to.
HeleninEire
@TBone: He’ll most likely just serve in the next Congress. He didn’t officially resign from that one; only said he “does not intend” to be sworn in. Yeah – I am sure that has changed.
Gin & Tonic
@Steve LaBonne: He was elected to it, why shouldn’t he?
Steve LaBonne
@Gin & Tonic: He needs the job.
cain
@John S.:
Yep, and our “elders” are still clinging to those norms. It’s in part why things have become dysfunctional. Republicans showing themselves for who they are.
Unfortunately, we only get the two branches of govt for 2 years and nothing gets done.
Speaking of that Oregon now has a super majority of Dems in the House and that means we can finally pass laws without Republicans trying to stop things by running away and hiding. This time we are going to cram things so that we can improve the state without those fuckers trying to cut us.
The last rep that was elected is a friend of my wifes so we got some personal connections now to policy.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: see comment #40
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, looks like they will need to find another sex offender. I bet Trump is pissed.
[email protected]
According to Reuters Rep Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from AG consideration. Apparently he’s become too much of a distraction,and I would guess that since he only withdrew from the remainder of this current congress that he will be able to be a member of the next congress and republicans don’t lose another seat.
p.a.
What a pile of dung; they make Jeff Beauregard “1861” Sessions look… within norms? (Says more about the 🤢 norms than it does about J.B.S.)
UncleEbeneezer
@Steve LaBonne: My fave podcaster said yesterday: it’s like we lost the Super Bowl 49-48 and our fans are like “OMG we need to completely trash and rebuild the franchise!”
TBone
@HeleninEire: 😔 I thought he officially resigned.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@TBone: Well, he resigned, but I assume he was also re-elected to his seat, which would have happened even if the Democrat running against him had been Jesus of Nazareth reincarnated.
KatKapCC
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s okay, Trump has plenty of hateful, brainless degenerates to choose from. America!!!
Omnes Omnibus
@KatKapCC:
Celebrate the fucking wins.
KatKapCC
@p.a.: I mean…Sessions probably has never sexually assaulted anyone, but only because he seems like he’d morph into a nervous chihuahua around a woman.
Steve LaBonne
Hannibal Lecter is fictional, dead, and ready.
TBone
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5141813/matt-gaetz-resignation-statement-read-house-floor
Seems official to me!!!
Kelly
@cain: Hopefully the first thing Oregon Dems do is change the constitutional legislative quorum rule to 50% +1. I believe it will need to be referred to voters.
Kay
An Ohio police officer killed himself while on duty. This ridiculous Right wing state has the flags at half mast because he supposedly “died in the line of duty”
I mean, come on. Obviously it’s tragic but no one else gets this ridiculous governmental tribute when they do this. Could we possibly kiss their ass more? I mean, other people do their jobs because they get paid. Police also need government mandated ass kissing by the citizenry?
KatKapCC
@Omnes Omnibus: I am certainly glad his face won’t be on my screens nearly as much, because it is incredibly punchable. Just not looking forward to the next name…
UncleEbeneezer
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly. A law like that would only further incentivize the prosecution of any viable Dem, by a politicized, weaponized DOJ (or State AG). It would be the wet-dream of every Jeff Sessions, Tim Abbott, Ron DeSantis etc.
Jackie
@Steve LaBonne: I was thinking about that! Can Gaetz still keep his seat for the new congressional session? Would he even want to? Does the ethics committee findings have the goods to expel him???
Martin
@TBone: He doesn’t need to. He won his election to the next congress and can show up and serve. My understanding is that under the norms, the ethics probe goes in the garbage and they have to start all over again in the new congress.
different-church-lady
Government by sex predators, for sex predators.
HeleninEire
@TBone: resigned from the 118th Congress. He was re-elected to the 119th and has every right to be sworn in.
Kay
@[email protected]:
If he had sex with an underage girl maybe our giant justice system machine could think about… prosecuting him?
Nah. Too controversial. Bad for the lawyers careers. Also it’s just girls so who cares.
SFBayAreaGal
@eclare: My mom the same. When Sex Education was being taught, a signed permission slip was required. My mom signed it and told us kids the teacher would be much better teaching the subject than her.
She was the same way about vaccinations. She made sure we were all vaccinated.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jackie: I don’t know of any reason he couldn’t. It probably would result in the investigation being resurrected though.
TBone
@Martin: deleted.
different-church-lady
OK, so there actually are some lines they won’t cross and all the trenches are not lost.
Now back in the trenches.
TBone
@HeleninEire: DOH!!! Sorry!
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thought provoking post for sure. But honestly, I think we can at least agree that a serial rapist is not qualified for congress? That someone who leaks state secrets is not qualified for congress? It’s been proven that the American public do not have same sense of honor and conscious to distinguish.
People like MLK already have likely more influence as an orator. I do not know if MLK the legislator would be interested in putting his head down and writing policy. My point being there are other avenues for people like them.
In this time and space, candidates convicted as serial sex offenders, trafficking, and fraud do not have a place in congress or in the federal govt.
barbequebob
@Old Man Shadow:
Yes, all the republican obsessions with Transgender and drag Queen Story Hour is just to distract from the news accounts that show the the real threat to children is the Catholic Church and “Christian” Youth Pastors
TBone
Now do Hegseth!
TBone
@cain: 🎯
Steve LaBonne
@barbequebob:
They intend to fix that problem.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: Yes, white women screwed themselves, and this white woman has no fucks left to give for their plight. Frankly, they can take away my white card and not let me be white anymore. I don’t wanna belong to their damned club.
Honestly, I don’t know how us sensible white women can open other white women’s eyes. That’s on us, it’s not the job of black or brown women to wake up the white sisters.
I swear, I’m angrier at the white women who voted for Trump than white men who did. I expect white men to stab us in the back, but white women? Jesus, the betrayal.
p.a.
@Kay: The fetishization of all things military is a warning sign for free societies; it’s a go-to for the underminers.
“I honor you for your service”, some guy seeing my friend Larry’s USMC tattoo.
Larry: “it was that or jail.” (True)
brantl
@Old Man Shadow: Teach her knee to the groin first, stamp on the instep second, knee to the face third.
cain
@UncleEbeneezer:
The outcome of the superbowl doesn’t end up with the kind of consequences of fascists taking over the govt.
TBone
@brantl: that’s what got me through adolescence.
🎶😎
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OzpXuRCBgsM
Also most any heavy household object can be a weapon.
cain
@Kelly:
Yes absolutely. They’ve blocked some much progress in our state.
different-church-lady
@p.a.: I think I kinda like Larry.
[email protected]
@TBone: He did, but only from the current congress.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain:
Don’t take my objection to such a law as tacit approval of rapists, etc., in office. I am just pointing out that it’s not as simple as people often think.
twbrandt
OH: Gaetz was AG for -6 Scaramuccis.
different-church-lady
@cain: Very few Super Bowls have ended with the victorious team declaring they also win all future Super Bowls.
TBone
@[email protected]: that was explained and I thank everyone for being kind about it! Thank you 😊
TBone
@twbrandt: 😆
Dangerman
A shame that the POS limited his choices for cabinet positions only to contributors to Penthose Forum. Seriously, do you have to be some sort of sexual deviant to support this MoFo?
different-church-lady
@cain:
Nor the presidency, but here we are.
cain
@UncleEbeneezer:
Right, so glad we managed to avoid that now.
Belafon
@HeleninEire: If he rejoins, then House Democrats can keep pushing the report on him.
different-church-lady
@Dangerman:
Rhetorical question, yes?
Belafon
@cain: A law like that would have kept John Lewis out of office.
SFBayAreaGal
@brantl: I was taught not to go for the groin. Most men are expecting that.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain:
No analogy is ever a perfect match for reality. That doesn’t mean that it has no value.
Old Man Shadow
They’ve already crossed that line.
Personally, I think they hated Gaetz because he’s an asshole, not because of the child rape.
But a win is a win.
Baud
Reddit comment on Gaetz withdrawing
different-church-lady
I just realized why this is such an emotional lift: it’s the first concrete sign that, despite our very realistic fears, Trump will not be enabled to do anything and everything he wants to after all.
trollhattan
Gaetz getz got. Buh-bye, Phalicia.
p.a.
Are the molesters tRump is nominating at the top meant as a distraction to the Christo-fascist panty-sniffing busybodies he’s nominating for lower level posts?
p.a.
My nominee for comment-winner
Old Man Shadow
Eyes are fragile. Ears can be torn off with surprisingly little force. Collarbones can be broken easily too. There are plenty of weak points on a human body.
At this point, I want to turn her into an action movie hero.
Steve LaBonne
@p.a.: And maybe for a rotating tag?
Josie
I wonder if we’ll be looking at AG Paxton.
Steve LaBonne
@p.a.: Not really seeing a distinction there.
Martin
@p.a.: No. Trump doesn’t play chess.
[email protected]
@Kay: I agree, but I don’t know the answer. One could hope that since so many repulsive details about his child sex trafficking are swirling about, that he’d feel a little bit chastised by everyone knowing, but I seriously doubt that will happen. Especially since he used to show videos to his coworkers. I live in NC and a few years ago the Democratic candidate for senator lost the election to Thom Tillis because he had some sort of stupid Barbara Cartland level texting romance with a woman, not his wife. It was stupid, but not child sex trafficking stupid, but certainly a double standard.
Omnes Omnibus
@Martin: Looking for ulterior motives from Trump is pointless. He wanted Gaetz because he wanted Gaetz.
KatKapCC
@twbrandt: LOL
cain
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s why I said your post was thought provoking.
Looks like we’re just going to go with what we got. Hope it works out.
cain
@Josie:
I’m pretty sure GOP in Texas would be objecting.
But yeah, he would be a pretty good candidate, but he might not want the job. Otherwise, he would have already been on the list.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … CookPolitical numbers update:
Harris – 74,391,441 48.25%
DJT – 76,898,772 49.87%
Total – 154,190,329
He’s melting, melting…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep. Now, did he think Gaetz could be trusted to punish his enemies, was a way to show dominance over other Republicans by forcing through an unpopular choice, he had dirt on him and could keep in in line – all of the above? Who knows. But his reasons for wanting Gaetz were internal to that choice.
I don’t expect the next choice for AG to be any less dangerous. I was okay with the Gaetz choice because the accusations would keep dogging him and it could be something for Dems to run on in 2026. His replacement nominee will probably be comparably dangerous but have less baggage. GOP senators will love them because they’ll have won the dominance fight, even if the new AG is Hulk Hogan.
Quaker in a Basement
@Omnes Omnibus: Sporky = Sporkfoot = Marjorie Taylor Greene
[email protected]
@Omnes Omnibus: He wanted Gaetz because they are peas in a pod. He likes people who are like himself.
Martin
@Another Scott: People always forget about California.
Jackie
And this just broke – Hegseth soon to follow?
Kay
@[email protected]:
I personally am an accelerationist now so I think the worse the better. The electorate who elected Trump deserve Matt Gaetz as AG. They need consequences.
You should see them on Tik Tok. They literally write “Trump will bring world peace”. 21 one year olds who make 30k a year think they’re going to be able to buy a 500k house due to the Magic Of Donald Trump. “oh, now I can get my dream house”. Sure you can.
They behave like four year olds. I have no time for that from adults. They wanted a hard Right turn. They should get what they want. They’ll grow up fast, but not if Democrats keep cushioning the blow of their bad decisions. Time to cut the apron strings. The Mommy Party should go to a spa for a facial and a massage for the next four years. They’re on their own.
CaseyL
Matt Gertz is the happiest man in the US right now.
TBone
@trollhattan: 😆😎
TBone
@p.a.: yes
TBone
@CaseyL: I love that poor soul
[email protected]
@SFBayAreaGal: Just out of curiosity, what would you go for instead?
TBone
@Old Man Shadow: I once turned into a cartoon tasmanian devil to fend off a few would-be rapists. I was twirling and hitting out and scream-cussing so hard they were perplexed and let go so I could run.
MattF
Re: Gaetz withdrawal from AG consideration. This probably means there’s something very bad that hasn’t yet been revealed.
Lyrebird
@cain: Your point seems to underscore a point I was not able to make well yesterday or the day before… I have no understanding how people can even spend time suggesting a major election impact of whether or not MVP checks this or that box on an ACLU survey when the other side has folks lining up to enthusiastically support serial sex predators and all. MAGA voters smiling approvingly on a mob who beat police officers and smeared their own sht in our nation’s Capitol, but they hear “party with Beyonce” and are ready to fight to keep those kind of people out. All lapping up lies about MVP, who is not the border czar…uh,
I don’t know.
This Opinionated Ogre substack article made my day, tho, and I should go read the previous thread, but after I finish a few more postcards. Runoff election in MS – keep Justice Jim Kitchens!
TBone
@Another Scott: ❤️💙
Soprano2
@Kay: I’m basically on the same page with you, I only hate how many other people are going to be hurt by this. In the end white women decided trying to go back to pre-Covid times and pre-Covid prices (neither of which are possible) was more important than keeping a corrupt sex predator out of the most powerful job in the world. I’ve been telling people they shouldn’t be surprised that TCFG is surrounding himself with sex predators and criminals, because he is one. Like attracts like.
oldgold
This is good, BUT..
I just hope we do not get into a Harriet Miers/ Samuel Alito situation. Where what appears to be good news results in going from horrible to worse.
There is already some talk that Ken Paxton will be nominated as AG.
Miki
@Old Man Shadow: And the boy scouts ….
[email protected]
@Kay: They are still going to get it, but Gaetz won’t be involved at the DoJ, he’ll do it from his seat in the House of Representatives.
Quaker in a Basement
@HeleninEire: If he decides to be sworn in, that would make the ethics committee investigation active again, wouldn’t it?
It might be time for Matt to consider a full-time Fox News gig.
Belafon
@Soprano2: It’s not very hard for a guy who thinks blacks have gotten too uppity to decide that you as a woman are too uppity for not wanting him.
Bill Arnold
@Martin:
Norms? What are norms?
Marcopolo
I just want to say I’m shocked, shocked that J D Vance personally escorting Gaetz around to meet w/ R Senators wasn’t enough to overcome Gaetz’s issues.
Here’s hoping Hegseth is the next domino to fall.
Mr. Bemused Senior
The next 4 years are going to be bad and many people will be harmed. I understand the urge to say they will get what they deserve but I think mitigating the damage is a better choice.
rikyrah
In a large FO lesson…THE COMING MEDICAID CUTS
the poster children for Medicaid are Rosa and Lakeesha with their
3-4 children.
THE ACTUAL POSTER CHILDREN…
In terms of total % of Medicaid dollars spent…
are Meemaw and Grampa that they have put in the nursing home.
All those MAGA relatives….They best get that room ready for them IN THEIR HOMES😒😒😒
[email protected]
@oldgold: It’s Trump. Everything will go from horrible to worse to I can’t believe it’s really that bad. It’s what he does.
SiubhanDuinne
@KatKapCC:
He could always pardon Ghislaine Maxwell and appoint her. //
KatKapCC
@CaseyL: His post on Bluesky is just “ahahahahahahaha” :P
Soprano2
@Kay: My hair stylist was going off on the idea of no taxes on tips yesterday. He said the young people don’t realize that if they don’t report that income it doesn’t go towards their income for Social Security, that they need to have it so that they’ll actually get something from SS when they retire. I told him that when people are young all they seem to think about is the money in their pocket today, and it’s mostly always been like that. You have no idea how hard it is to get them to agree to save even $10/month in an account where they can’t immediately draw the money out – they might need that $10 next month! I’m not talking about people who are poor, I’m talking about people who have decent jobs and could save that money and never miss it. This is a mindset.
One of our employees evidently thinks there aren’t going to be any taxes on overtime now. Sheesh…..
Martin
@oldgold: Paxton is worse than Gaetz. Gaetz is a creep and a legit sociopath, but he also doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. Paxton is every bit as vindictive and self-serving and does know what he’s doing. Paxton will be effective where Gaetz was just a clown.
Skippy-san
How long before DeSantis names Marco Rubio’s replacement in the U.S. Senate as one Matthew Louis Gaetz II?
[email protected]
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s an awful thought.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Go get a Tik Tok account and lurk for a week.
“We’re going to have a HUGE Christmas!” By this they mean “buying more shit”. Apparently Donald Trump has already cured “the bad economy”.
Wait until they figure out that tariffs are just a regressive tax on low and middle income people or that cutting half the federal budget means cutting a lot of programs they enjoy. Democrats shouldn’t insulate them from this reality.
They rejected my normie liberal/uphold norms ideology and chose the far Right. I will not stand in the way of what they want. I didn’t burn it down. They did. I just won’t volunteer to put it out.
Martin
@Soprano2: Nobody under 40 believes Social Security will still exist. It looks like a shitty investment.
HeleninEire
@Quaker in a Basement: Yes, it would. But I think that is moot. That report is going to leak whether he is in Congress or not.
Aziz, light!
@p.a.: I often wear my old caps with the U.S. Forest Service shield on them and people have thanked me for my service.
Miss Bianca
@oldgold: In terms of reaction every time I hear about the latest stirring of the shitpot, I’m on a kind of speed-dial repeat these days of the old Buddhist (?) mantra:
“Neither good nor bad, only time will tell.”
cain
@Jackie: lol – Republican Woman’s conference. The gall…
Bill Arnold
@p.a.:
He loses political capital for every loss of a nominee.
Every loss shows that Mr. Trump lacks discernment.
Drive his approval rating down, down, down.
Be visible/audible about contempt for him and his henchmen.
Baud
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Sure. Just don’t feel bad or take responsibility for the damage we can’t mitigate.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: And try to find ways to help people who don’t deserve what’s coming.
narya
@Soprano2: One of my uncles didn’t report all of his income, I think, which meant he and my aunt didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, when they got old. Their son did a lot to support them. He was trying to talk me into taking SocSec early, and I just ignored him politely.
Bill Arnold
@oldgold:
Always has been. I was surprised Mr. Trump’s choice wasn’t Paxton.
Paxton has a lot of legal baggage, and on top of that, a lot of US states have reason(s) to despise him. (That attempt to disenfranchise voters in several other states, signed onto by a bunch of other GOP AGs.)
different-church-lady
@Kay: Wait ’til they see the price of eggs: legit — bird flu is back, shortages already happening.
Of course, suddenly it won’t matter a bit.
WaterGirl
@Quaker in a Basement: Pretty sure that nothing carries over from one congress to the next.
Could they use the report as a starting point for what would technically be a brand-new Investigation? That, I don’t know.
hueyplong
@Bill Arnold: Yes, run with the wins and make lots of noise about them. It’s not like we have so many that it’s easy to lose track.
Lyrebird
True. Including here, I guess! We don’t know final proportions of any subgroup yet, since California has some people from pretty much every group represented.
Earlier today I tossed another $10 towards Pelosi’s CA vote counting fund, and I just finished copying out another 5 postcards for MS. Back to my day job… I so hope Derek Tran’s campaign will prevail, though…
cain
@Kay: I agree with you on accelerationist.
The problem I have is that these people seem to have really short term memory. I guess nobody was traumatized enough during the first Trump administration which says something about them because I know the rest of us here have been.
Geminid
@Bill Arnold: I think this calculus is why Trump’s people pulled the plug on Gaetz so quickly.
Ramona
@TBone: You brave woman! I am so glad you got away. I am so sorry you had such an encounter. Did you ever see these predators again?
different-church-lady
@Kay:
I don’t care if it’s Where The Youngs Are™: Tik Tok is a huge part of the problem.
LanguageSocial media is a virus.Geminid
@Lyrebird: Adam Gray also has a shot at knocking out Republican Rep. John Duarte in CA13.
Jackie
@Skippy-san: Oh jebbuz! I was worried about TCFG’s beloved DiL getting Rubio’s seat… DeStupid “owes” TCFG BIGGLY and I can too easily see putting Gaetz in. 😬
Bill Arnold
@Martin:
That has been a common sentiment for many decades.
frosty
@brantl:
SING!
cain
@TBone:
You’ll like this Scottish song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ykBfwsFt6Y.
Lyrics: https://www.karancasey.com/lyrics/EppieMorrie.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eppie_Morrie
oldgold
@Jackie: I think Gaetz accepts his seat in the House in January and DeSantis appoints Trump’s DIL to Senate
E.
@Jackie: Or young Baron Augustus.
raven
@p.a.: Me too!
Bill Arnold
@oldgold:
Looking forward to that, sort of. The accumulated sex-predator baggage that sunk his nomination won’t be going away. The House GOP can try to suppress their report (that is why Gaetz resigned), but they know that there is a possibility that it would leak.
Juju
@E.: Not until he’s 30.
p.a.
When you hear a young’un talk like this, remind them that attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Point out how fucking easy it is to fix whatever problems SS has. Then ask them why they won’t fight for themselves.
I’ve done this numerous times. Usually just get shrugs, but maybe planted a seed.
Martin
@Mr. Bemused Senior: The problem is that when Democrats mitigation the damage that the GOP promises to cause, it provides the GOP the opportunity to become more extreme – because whatever excesses Democrats warned about didn’t come to pass – because Democrats stopped them. But Democrats never get credit for that.
So you have this long term cycle where Democrats enable Republicans to be more and more extreme.
p.a.
Fixt it for you.
Also too, in getting prepared, anyone see any tRump “I did that!” stickers?
Bill Arnold
On a slightly negative note, the Trump team threatened Senators with primaries funded with (a couch-change fraction of) Mr. Musk’s obscene wealth. Such threats will be a continuing problem. (via digby).
nitter link
Kay
@Martin:
No, Martin. No more. It’s their job to learn about Social Security. I don’t think Sherrod Brown should have to explain Social Security to 35 year olds. They also don’t understand 401ks. Half of them bitch that they have to make any contribution at all. They want the money now because they want everything now. Four year olds.
Elon Musk tells them he’s going to cut two trillion from the public budget and they’re celebrating? They shouldn’t get our incredible and beautiful national parks or any of our other national assets. They don’t deserve them. The Mommy Party will always hold their hands but I personally am instead going to get my nails done. They’re on their own.
They’re in my office telling me Donald Trump says they don’t have to pay payroll taxes. Okay. Fine by me. They can say goodbye to Social Security and Medicare then. You have to pay for things. This shit isn’t FREE.
tam1MI
100% this. No more enabling. Let them suffer the consequences of their own actions.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Soprano2: I hate the idea of exempting this kind of income from taxes and also that kind of income….people whose favor we’re trying to win. That’s investors as well as servers.
A graduated tax on all incomes would be my preference.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Skippy-san: I thought Lara Trump had decided she wanted to be the senator from Florida. The presumptuousness of that incenses me.
pieceofpeace
@SFBayAreaGal: I would go for a quick and hard fist punch to the front of the neck with an intention to do immediate damage.
cain
@Kay:
They will blame the mommy party for not explaining all that to them. They are such morons.
The thing is, education is only get worse not better. They’ll need to import the smart people in and it’s not like the 70s and 80s – there is no reason to come here.
cain
@Bill Arnold:
A decent threat since Trump also controls the RNC and decide who is a legitimate (R) candidate or not.
tam1MI
I still think he is going to appoint himself.
KatKapCC
@Kay:
Definitely a lot of “eat the marshmallow” types, indeed.
cain
@Martin:
Absolutely true. They need to fuck around and find out. We can protect our own in the states that we have control over. But those who are purple and red can circle the drain.
Entertainers like Beyonce and Taylor Swift should refuse to go to red states. Same with sports teams.
Make them hell holes.
Geminid
@Bill Arnold: I expect there will be a lot of serious primary challenges in 2026, on both the Republican and Democratic side. Most if not all Democratic incumbents will make it through I think, but there may be a purge of the remaining Republican Internationalists in the House. That seems to be a fault line now in the Party.
I’m hoping Senator Tom Tillis has a tough primary fight in North Carolina. He’ll probably win one, but if it softens him up and drains money, all the better.
KatKapCC
@cain: Well…Taylor has at least one home in Tennessee, so I don’t know if that would happen. Though I suppose she could spend all her time amongst her homes in NY, Rhode Island, and who knows where else because it’s totally cool when some people have too many homes to keep track of and other people live on the street. We live in a fantastic country!!
Ruckus
@cain:
They wanted this “limited” government that shitforbrains gives them. They want position in the world, that they can’t earn nor can justify. They want to be better but have zero idea how to actually be better, so they have to fix the entire system by lowering all standards to make themselves look in any way equal or realistic. They don’t understand the concept of this country, that the equality that our government gives is that there is no special exemptions for money or skin color, or gender.
TBone
@cain: 💜😍
cain
@Ruckus:
100%
Princess
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: If Gaetz hasn’t resigned the seat he won for the 2024-26 term, then the House Ethics Committee can and should still release the ethics report on him and they should act on it.
Feckless
Call them what they are:
RAPIST.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Likely you know/understand that a lot of people have zero idea how most anything works but especially government, elections, economics, life, relationships…..
cmorenc
@Steve LaBonne:
My wife & I (and many others similarly situated) who confidently through our retirement investment portfolio would securely see us through our golden years had that faith shattered overnight on Nov 5th from the prospect of Trump’s tariffs re-igniting inflation and his economic recklessness setting off a recession and huge stock-market “correction” turning a comfortable lifestyle into a very tightly, sparely budgeded one. And we are in a far more fortunate position than most.
thalarctosMaritimus
@Quiltingfool: Co-signed.
Skippy-san
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Me too. Not to mention she is unqualified.
Kay
@KatKapCC:
I watched this patient young liberal woman explain to Trump supporters on Tik Tok that the money in a 529 education account is deposited there by the parents.
Donald Trump told them he would give them 10k to pay themselves for “homeschooling”. Except that’s not it at all. What he said was he would let them deposit 10k in pretax income in an education account. They don’t have 10k to deposit in a 529 so he gave them….nothing.
WTF are Democrats supposed to do? Hold seminars on how each and every thing works? I did that FOR YEARS. It hasn’t made a bit of difference.
My daughter is a PA in a working class practice. She spends HOURS explaining vaccines now. She never gets to their other issues because she’s explaining basic public health measures that are 70 years old. She’s as patient as a saint. They’re lucky to have her. I would say “ok, you win, enjoy that whooping cough!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Mr. Bemused Senior: I think a lot of people are just lashing right now.
KatKapCC
@Kay: Unfortunately there are too many people, in all age groups, who simply don’t want to learn anything. Facts are tiresome to them.
Steve LaBonne
@cmorenc: I’m not feeling too good either, though the bulk of our income is Ohio public employee pensions. We have a modest nest egg currently invested in a mutual fund following the old 60 / 40 stocks / bonds formula, but I think I want to get us out of stocks altogether before Trump is inaugurated (not until January though because I don’t want to take the capital gains hit from selling this year). And Christ knows what they’ll do to Medicare.
BellaPea
@Quiltingfool: I think this all goes back to the way that a lot of white women just don’t feel any solidarity with other white women. I noticed this in the workplace–some of the worst bosses I had were women who had the “I’ve got mine so too bad for you” attitude. I even went to a seminar one time about how women sabotage one another at work. Other white women can be your worst enemy, as this election proved. Incidentally, I am a white Democratic-voting woman.
gene108
A man raping a woman isn’t much of a big deal to Republicans. Hegseth’s nomination should go through smoothly.
Steve LaBonne
@BellaPea: Hyper-individualism is a pillar of white supremacy culture.
Sure Lurkalot
@cmorenc: You can prepare for that by rebalancing and diversifying your portfolio if you’re heavily weighted on the equity side. Capital gains taxes and increased Medicare premiums may be worth paying vs large losses to your portfolio. Also, selling high on your assets now to buy low if Trump’s economy tanks.
sab
@Martin: I am 70 and I didn’t believe we would have Social Se urity when I retired. That’s what I tell the grandchildren.
gene108
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Nope.
Gotta let shit burn. Most people won’t learn a damned lesson from it.
They gotta realize something went terribly wrong.
MagdaInBlack
@sab: 66 here and I believed the same.
dnfree
@Steve LaBonne: Just as a suggestion (I am just a cautious person, not any kind of financial expert), don’t get out of stocks completely. Just move some amount of money you think you will need in the next few years from stocks/bonds into cash. I’m in the age group where I have to take required minimum distributions from my IRA. When Trump was elected in 2016 I did that, so I had enough cash to take my distributions and the rest could go up or down without my attention. I just moved enough for the next few years into cash.
Fair Economist
@Kay:
And, of course, it was a woman reporter.
Fair Economist
@Steve LaBonne: We are likely facing some severe economic trouble, but there’s no place to run. Trump’s deficits will drive up bond rates, which will drive down prices. And real estate is overvalued.
I don’t recommend timing the market – it’s just too hard. In the end stocks are better because you own something real, and 60/40 is pretty good. The only out is foreign investments, which are at least partly protected from Trump, and moving 10-20% of your investments to foreign assets probably makes sense.
Steve LaBonne
@dnfree: Thanks. This is intended to be money we won’t touch for years, so I definitely haven’t made a firm decision to make any changes. ETA thanks also to Fair Economist.
Peale
@Martin: Yeah. But I’m only judging from my own cohort of mainly middle and upper middle class professionals. They may not believe social security is going to be there for them, but they certainly haven’t been saving like social security isn’t going to be there for them. As Suzanne notes quite often, the size of the average household is getting smaller, yet the size of the family home has been getting larger. Uh huh. I know, I know, everyone thinks their house in an investment so the sky’s the limit on the mortgages they want to take out. But while they are living in those larger homes, they also fill them up with stuff. Lots of stuff. Maybe they think that extra furniture they buy so the house doesn’t feel so empty is also an investment?
Steve LaBonne
@Peale: Buying much more house than you need (or can really afford) and going even further into debt to fill it with crap is the Amurrican Dream, dontchaknow.
Mr. Bemused Senior
No doubt.
MisterForkbeard
@gene108: I mean, the woman clearly didn’t object prior to him spiking her drink. This is clearly a case of buyer’s remorse on her part.
Misterpuff
So do we get to count Gaetz as a scalp?
Of course, it was hard worh given the size of that forehead and skull….
Misterpuff
@Martin: Thats what everyone said in the late 70s – early 80s when I started working. Yet, as I am about to retire at the end of the year, it’s still here, mostly thanks to Dems and old people who made it a third rail.
Citizen Alan
I am incredibly blessed to have a job that, if worst came to worst, I can continue to do well into my 70s. I am very well-paid for a job that let’s me work 9-4 in my own office typing away on a computer and usually telework 2 days a week. (As of right now, I’m teleworking until Dec 1 while my boss is off at a work thing in Sacramento.)
For years, I joked that my retirement plan was work until 65, liquidate everything, go to Europe and bum around until the money starts to run low, and then go to Amsterdam and go out in a massive cocaine-fueled orgy. I still consider that an attractive option,
Bupalos
@Kay: this identity group stuff is warping people’s brains. My white daughter is white, and she’s my daughter. And despite starting her first semester of college did her part and more to help us all avoid this mess, and doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with this collective punishment talk. Is there some reason we can’t say “people who voted for Trump” when that’s what we’re talking about?