Vice President Kamala Harris last night at the Naval Observatory, her home for the last 4 years, reminding all of us of our strength, our blessings and why she is one of them.
— Maya Wiley (@maya4rights.bsky.social) December 4, 2024 at 8:05 AM
President Biden at Angolan National Slavery Museum: "We're looking for partners who understand that the right question in the year 2024 is not 'What can the United States do for people of Africa?' it's 'What can we do together for the people of Africa?'" pic.twitter.com/5RjnybEklP
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 3, 2024
?? BREAKING: Senate Democrats just confirmed their FOURTH judge of the week, marking 225 confirmations under President Biden!
LFG until the last day! ??— Chris D. Jackson (@chrisdjackson.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 6:26 PM
Health care should be a right — not just a privilege for those who can afford it. That’s why President Biden and I have taken action to lower health care costs for millions of Americans. pic.twitter.com/0rmdeBkQdv
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) December 2, 2024
??NEW: Senator Amy Klobuchar has been elected as the Policy Chair for the Senate Democrats, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the United States Senate.
RETWEET to congratulate @AmyKlobuchar on making history! pic.twitter.com/nDEHrQ9nye
— Protect Kamala Harris ? (@DisavowTrump20) December 3, 2024
Pete Buttigieg just released this video about America's supply chains
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) December 3, 2024 at 12:38 PM
BREAKING: Rep. Jerry Nadler will not seek to remain as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and is endorsing Rep. Jamie Raskin to succeed him.
— Axios (@axios.com) December 4, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Same, Ms. Jacobs…
I really have, quite honestly, loved having Joe Biden as President.
— Magdi Jacobs (@magdi.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 9:41 PM
On The Road – Athenaze and Ariobarzanes – In the Footsteps of the Marathonomachoi: Walking the Athens Marathon (Part 1 of 2)
Baud
Thirded on Joe Biden.
Suzanne
What was the thing with Amy Klobuchar? She threw pancakes or something at someone?
Don’t care; still think she’s smart and great.
moonbat
I will miss Biden so much. And not just in contrast to what bracketed his administration. He has genuinely been a transformative leader.
Michael Bersin
A prefiled bill for the 2025 session of the Missouri General Assembly, instituting bounty hunting for undocumented immigrants. We reached Nazi long ago; this is just another confirmation:
SB 72: on hunting people
“…The Department of Public Safety shall develop the “Missouri Illegal Alien Certified Bounty Hunter Program” which shall certify applicants to be bounty hunters for the purpose of finding and detaining illegal aliens in this state…”
Chief Oshkosh
@Michael Bersin: Well, since there’s some question as to whether Musk broke the rules and that he’s here illegally, maybe one of the Jackals in MO can sign up.
Remember – shoot at the legs!
Anne Laurie
IIRC, she is supposed to have thrown a stapler in the general direction of a young male staffer who was mansplaining how *his* mistake was really *her* fault.
If so, I’m kinda hoping she shows up to her first meeting carrying a stapler… and giving the GOP members her best Mean Mommy expression.
Soprano2
@Michael Bersin: Oh wow, what could go wrong…..
Suzanne
@Anne Laurie: I realize that my personal preferences in politicians are not widely shared (understatement)….. but damn, do I love the nerdy women of the government. Klobuchar, Warren, Patty Murray.
“I have a plan for that”…. shoot that shit straight into my veins.
TBone
That cartoon made me “oof.”
WereBear
@Anne Laurie: If she didn’t hit him, I say fair.
There are men who demand violence if they are going to take someone seriously
I know it wasn’t his first time :)
TBone
@Suzanne: that’s where Katie Porter excelled.
TBone
@Michael Bersin: we should hunt the hunters. With counter lawsuits, I meant to say…
WereBear
@Suzanne: I love them too. They get it done because they know how.
Though I think we should gift them a cattle prod. You know, in case they need to use the bathroom. I hear there are many predators in the halls of Congress. And more to come.
No Nym
@Michael Bersin: What could possibly go wrong? /s
Disgusting. Too many people here think anyone who “looks foreign” or “has an accent” or a “funny name” is here illegally, and all those idiots are armed and could use a $1,000.
catclub
The Clay Bennett comic makes no sense to me.
TBone
Big news on local radio: ’90s Mexican restaurant Chi Chi’s is “coming back.”
Blech.
Suzanne
@TBone: And that’s why I like Katie Porter, too.
My politics are genuinely what one friend of mine dubbed “pragmatic progressive”, which really rings true for me. But the pragmatic part of that is probably overriding: I get super-excited when someone displays deep understanding of a technical problem and understands how to solve it.
I am also technically nerdy and have zero desire for a leadership role, LOL.
TBone
@Suzanne: we have that in common, in a big way!
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
WereBear
@rikyrah: Good morning :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m scowling at the pardoning stories. Do we think Trump will try to pardon himself?
CCL
@catclub: transfer of power from Corvette to Frankenstein.
New Deal democrat
I realize this has been discussed before, but Kevin Drum this morning publishes an email from a friend:
https://jabberwocking.com/are-you-tired-of-trumps-vaudeville-act-already/
Drum then relates that “Maybe I don’t care after all if this what the news is going to look like for the next four years.”
I’m citing this because yesterday I had a conversation with a Wall Street investment advisor who, after soliciting my opinion on what the economy might look like going forward, told me the same thing that other friends and family have; namely, he’s neither watching nor reading the news. He knows it will be bad, but that is what the voters chose, and he’s tired of it all so he has no interest in watching the circus act cum train wreck.
I suspect on the one hand this will work to Trump and the GOP’s benefit, because the public is too exhausted to oppose everything, but on the other hand it is a kind of public “shunning” of the media and the GOP trolls. Basically, we know who you are and we have no interest in interacting with you.
WereBear
@New Deal democrat: It’s pointless to watch the “news” and I think this attitude will reflect that.
I can’t trust ANYTHING a corporation says, can I?
And now, just like the popularity of Death Wish in another difficult time… people are speaking in all kinds of ways. There are alternate outlets who have been honest and upright about their reporting, as we’ve shared here.
People do want to know what is going on. Some love to be fooled into pretending they know what is going on.
But the impulse is human and unkillable.
Geminid
It’s nice to see those judges confirmed. Maybe Senate Democrats showed good judgement when they picked Chuck Schumer to lead their caucus.
TBone
@CCL: transfer of power to a monster, also too. Giving him the advantages of our four years of cleaning up the mess he left last time.
Suzanne
@WereBear:
Yes.
There’s other women in government who are great, do not get me wrong….. thinking of AOC, Jasmine Crockett, etc. But they’re a little showboat-y and I admire them, but they aren’t my favorites. Well, that’s why we’re a team. Everyone has their strengths.
I remember in one of the Dem debates in 2016, there was a climate change question. Amy Klobuchar absolutely correctly noted that we need to make higher energy efficiency standards in the building code to meet carbon emissions goals. Fuck yeah. She knows that, she has made herself educated on the issue.
catclub
@CCL: But it implies the Biden admin is empowering/energizing the Trump one.
TBone
They are coming for Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid with big boners. And the V.A.
Luckily the smart women Suzanne noted know how to slap down boners. I once used a butter knife I had in my hand at the time, in an almost involuntary reaction!
He never interrupted me while I was making sandwiches ever again.
Soprano2
Yes.
catclub
yep, this is me. I am not particularly outraged or horrified that he nominates Gaetz or hegseth or all the other people to destroy agencies. We knew he would.
RevRick
@Baud: What Biden accomplished with the thinnest possible margins is nothing short of miraculous. And I think one of his greatest skills in this regard was that he knew how to massage the fat egos in Congress. All 222 in the House and all 50 in the Senate. And you have to hand it to him how completely he snookered Mitch McConnell into passing the Infrastructure bill and Chips and Science act, before getting the Inflation Reduction Act through. What a poker face that must have been!
And as much as Trump and his minions would love to gut all his accomplishments, they have created a reality that will make it nearly impossible for GOP Congress critters to deep six them.
Masterful!
[email protected]
@Anne Laurie: Some guy mansplaining something to me under the same circumstances would induce me to throw a stapler or two myself.
mrmoshpotato
@TBone:
The tax cuts for the rich aren’t going to magically pay for themselves.
I wonder if the zombie eyed granny starver wishes he was still in Congress right now.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: I quit listening to “Morning Edition” the day after the election, because I can’t stand to hear them make any of this sound normal. Evidently they were on the “Biden pardoning Hunter is the worst violation of norms ever” train, and I’m tired of it. They get bent out of shape over something like that and do a bunch of stories about it, while TCFG nominates a person for FBI director who has an actual published enemies list, and they kind of just yawn about that and have the attitude “It’s TCFG, what else can you expect?”. So what use are they anyway?
YY_Sima Qian
@New Deal democrat: Apathy will definitely work to the benefit of Trump & the reactionary counter-revolutionaries. Just because one does not care to interact w/ them does not mean they will not interact w/ us, or that the consequences of their actions/policies will not impact all of us. Apathy gives the reactionary counter-revolutionaries a larger window to consolidate they position, before the inevitably terrible consequences start to shake people out of their apathy.
Soprano2
@Geminid: It is. I wonder if the two who “unresigned” were part of the deal they made with McConnell to get them through, maybe that’s why he’s so mad about it. Fuck him, I can’t believe anyone takes his bloviating about stuff like this seriously anymore.
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
Not partaking in propaganda doesn’t mean we won’t protect our own.
Ebony
Regarding the discussion on home people in an earlier thread. Someone said that Republicans are doing something about homelessness in comparison to the Democrats. My argument is Republicans are not really solving the problem just passing the buck my busing them into Democratic cities. In fact I feel like the Republicans are doing this on purpose to destabilize Democratic cities and people who support Republicans passing the buck and not calling them out on it are part of the problem.
WereBear
I haven’t seen Salty Sam to tell him, but I did have my first Quaker meeting Thanksgiving Sunday.
Lovely people. I have never enjoyed “church” and frankly have PTSD over it. But quietly contemplating the Divine with this group was a joy.
Have to go again next week. I volunteered to help with afterwards. The one with snacks.
Ohio Mom
@New Deal democrat: I feel the same way but I am also aware what a big burden we are putting on our Democratic Senators and Representatives. And judges too.
They don’t have the luxury of sitting back, they have to be super-aware, super-strategic and super-proactive. They are the boy with his finger in the dike.
The least we can do is pay some attention and support them and cheer them on.
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: yep! Rick Scott sitting on his Medicare fraud fortune while disparaging the governmental action being taken to help hurricane victims too. Nary a penny contributed to his suffering fellow citizens from the money he stole from them.
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: What you are describing as public shunning – not following the news, ignoring what is happening – is really very private acquiescence that is functionally tacit support of Trump and the terrible things that will be happening.
I can’t respect that choice, and if that’s what a lot of people choose, I think we truly will be at the end of democracy.
TBone
@WereBear: that’s really nice news to hear.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
That’s not what happens. People instead micromanage and scold and talk about everyone is doing it wrong.
WereBear
@[email protected]: In the meantime, a man calls for martial law because “he was lonely” and we’re supposed to be understanding.
WereBear
@mrmoshpotato: Perhaps people will see him in a restaurant. Stop by and share some feels.
Kay
Love Klobuchar.
Another bright spot on a horrible cycle is Slotkin in MI. I helped with that. Nice people.
catclub
umm, they don’t really care.
Ohio Mom
I think the watchword has to be “this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
We can’t use all our energy being outraged by every small thing but we can’t lapse into total apathy, either.
But if someone wants to take the rest of the year off and enjoy the holidays before stepping back into things in January, I think that’s acceptable. Marathoners do slow down to take in sustenance.
dc
@New Deal democrat: It also means they don’t expect to be hurt by any of the bad stuff, they could be wrong (and probably are), but they are fine with putting their heads down while others suffer.
[email protected]
@WereBear: Is that why the South Korean president called for martial law? If so I missed that part, and wow.
YY_Sima Qian
@Baud: There are still quality reporting out there, even from MSM organizations, we just have to be very critical & very discriminating in terms of what we choose to pay attention to & get exercised about.
Otherwise, people will not feel the damage & the dangers until they touch their social circles, & by then it may be largely too late. The reactionary counter-revolutionaries would have marginalized/crushed potential forces of resistance piecemeal, w/o the latter ever coalescing to threaten their enterprise.
[email protected]
@Ohio Mom: I am aware of things, but not immersed. If something comes up where I need to spring to action, I will.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: I’ve already been asking my wing nut B-in-L what he plans to do when they shut down the VA. He’s 90% service-related disabled. Voted for Trump three times, of course. He’s confident that he’ll be OK because he’s in Texas.
OK boomer…
Eunicecycle
@Ohio Mom: I think that’s where I am right now. We had such a full-court press for four months; I think we’re allowed to take a timeout. After the first of the year we can get back into it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@moonbat:
Best president of my lifetime.
And we should always point out what’s bracketing his administration, an administration full of extremely competent, sincere people.
So contrast that with…as somebody posted in an earlier thread irt the incoming kkklowns:
They just won’t drown the gubmint in a bathtub, they’ll stab it repeatedly.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Yes, it’s a big leap from “I’m not reading the NYT” to “apathy.” Do you think Soviet dissidents read Pravda cover to cover every morning?
Kay
@Suzanne:
She’s really competitive, like all of them, and took Buttigieg to task during the primary (he gave as good as he got) yet she got the “mean girl” “Karen” shit that only women get.
This is an extremely sexist country. Baked in. Its not permissible for women to compete like men compete without people trying to tone them down and shut them up. Luckily she could give a shit.
You’ll see Round Two in 2028 I bet.
Aunt Kathy
This United Health CEO thing has started a little tickle in the back of my brain…Didn’t something like this happen before, in the past few years? Maybe not an assassination, but something really unfortunate to some muckety muck? And the “elites” were shocked! SHOCKED! at the general rejoicing/jeering/laughter of the peanut gallery. “Boy, they really don’t like us, do they?”
Anyone remember?
mrmoshpotato
@TBone:
And he never walked into the kitchen naked ever again. 😁
[email protected]
@Chief Oshkosh: Does he feel safer in Texas because he can’t get pregnant? I did not realize Texas was a bastion of safety for the VA.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: Yes, that’s what the talking heads do. We individuals don’t need to do that in our private lives. We can make supportive phone calls to our Congressmen’s offices, send donations, talk up what Democrats in Congress are doing in our everyday conversations. Yes, those are small things but they are still real.
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
Sure, but quality pieces need to be found. Turning on the TV or radio or subscribing to an entire paper isn’t helpful.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Correct.
slybrarian
Nadler stepping aside voluntarily is a good sign, as is the way Jeffries is staying hands-off in other committee challenges. It’s time that a lot of these elderly representatives hand over control to younger (meaning in many cases 50s-60s) members who have more energy and fight in them. It seems like some like Nadler are recognizing that gracefully and stepping aside, but it looks like the caucus is willing to push some out as well. It definitely feels like we’re transitioning to leadership who don’t have any memories of being buddies with Republicans and are willing to go for the throat.
The Oversight committee in particular is going to be important and it looks like AOC may have a good chance of replacing Raskin there as he moves to Judiciary, although there’s a couple others also going for it.
Baud
@Ohio Mom:
Not just talking heads, unless you’re including social media.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
News should be to inform, not enrage. And the good folks at Totebagger Radio forgot that years ago.
Your life will be better for tuning them out. ;)
And never give them money.
WereBear
@[email protected]: Was the excuse offered. “He needed someone to talk to.”
[email protected]
@WereBear: Wow. Maybe he should get a dog in case he feels lonely again.
Suzanne
@Kay:
Absolutely correct.
WereBear
It sure is what we NEED.
John S.
@TBone:
Trump just named Frank Bisignano (CEO of Fiserv) to be the head of the SSA. I worked under that asshole for almost 10 years. The only thing he knows how to do is slash and burn things.
So yes, they are definitely coming for the Social Security.
Jackie
Ain’t this special!
Oh, and this: Another hire from FAUX News
TCFG’s administration is FAUX and Florida.
WaterGirl
@Baud:
Except that feels fatalistic. A lot of that happens, yes. But WE don’t have to do that.
We can do something else, and we can nicely and politely call it out when we see people doing the same old Monday morning quarterbacking.
A lot of grown humans still follow the “monkey see, monkey do” behavior. If enough of us break through from the usual pattern of “they’re doing it wrong” then we can be a competing model for the monkey see, monkey do people who mindlessly do what they’ve always done.
We are facing an uphill climb for the next few years at least, so we have to be smarter, and more self-aware, and more deliberate as we oppose, oppose, oppose.
Kay
Remember everyone. Trump promised 2% home mortgage rates, he said inflation will “vanish”, he will end all wars, deport 20 million and cut two trillion out of the federal budget without touching the many, many programs and hand outs his supporters depend on. All food will be ” healthy and he will arrest Fauci, both Clintons, Biden, both Obamas, Bill Gates and Beyonce.
We know media isn’t going to hold him accountable, but we can ask his voters if he kept any of these promises in ’26.
Ohio Mom
@TBone: Whenever I find myself explaining to another disability parent the ins and outs of why the Medicaid funding for our children’s services is so complicated, why it must go through so many levels of administration before it gets to our service providers, why there are so many things our children needs that can’t be paid for by Medicaid, I say, “These are all financial controls so that Medicaid funds are not abused, or wasted, or used fraudulently.
It is set up so you can not steal any money. It is set up so that only the likes of Rick Scott can steal.”
Sadly, this goes over most of their heads.
YY_Sima Qian
@Baud: Then find & follow the aggregators you can trust. Fortunately, this very site has a few.
TV & radio are largely wastelands. I find more useful & informative discourse on Twitter & BlueSky, but only if you are very selective w/ what you follow, & only read those who you follow (& what they repost).
I completely respect any decision not to pay for subscriptions to MSMs.
tam1MI
In many ways, not partaking in propaganda is protecting our own.
WaterGirl
@Eunicecycle: Absolutely!
No Nym
From the Missouri Independent: Former Missouri Congressman Billy Long was tapped on Wednesday evening by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Internal Revenue Service.
RevRick
@mrmoshpotato: As much as the GOP as a whole would love to take an ax to FDR/LBJ’s social welfare state, their narrowest of margins in the House make it unlikely. Two years from now, they’ll face voters who overwhelmingly love these programs. I’m betting on their craven cowardice.
Belafon
@YY_Sima Qian: And that’s the balance. How do we get the actual news without getting the bias towards normalizing what is going to happen that just makes it more painful to deal with?
Edited
WereBear
@Kay: Don’t ask the voters. TELL everyone you want that too! Let’s get it!
Democrats should start crafting bills to do these things.
Get after “the president” every day to keep his campaign promises.
The ones we like.
Isn’t this America? Don’t our politicians need to keep promises? And if he can’t do it, why not?
We can demand transparency. Even that is an act of defiance. Wanting the laws followed and all…
Suzanne
@Kay: This is exactly the kind of thing that I wish the national Dems would turn into some good-looking graphics that are shareable on social media. Make that shit go viral. Make it visual.
When we talk about messaging failures, that’s part of it.
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: he was wearing sweatpants, knew better than to attempt being in my kitchen nekkid! Might draw back a nub where a carrot once was! Cleanliness demands clothing where food is concerned and don’t dare try to sit on my good furniture bareassed either! I have some standards!
WereBear
@RevRick: But these people are not sane.
There’s a staggering number of personality disorders, at the least. And overwhelmingly substance abusers. Assaulters of women.
If it was all about the clicks, the scandals beckon. But our MSM does not follow.
No, they hype up “Porter threw a stapler” with no context.
Soprano2
@WaterGirl: Oh, I’m still following the news, I have chosen not to listen to Morning Edition and All Things Considered every day. I get news here and from my local newspaper, so I know what’s going on. I can’t support NPR making all this seem normal, obsessing about Joe’s pardon of Hunter and whistling past the graveyard over all of TCFG’s terrible cabinet picks. They don’t have any perspective of what’s truly important and what’s incidental.
TBone
@John S.: thank you for your comment, and that timely warning derived from personal knowledge!
RevRick
@Soprano2: It’s really rich for McConnell to whine about the judges who unresigned, since he screwed over Obama’s appointment of Garland to the Supreme Court and then jammed through Barrett. He, in effect, established new rules of governing which has two components. One, if the Constitution doesn’t forbid it, do it. And what the Constitution allows, do it maximally.
Kay
@Suzanne:
I’m fatalistic on it. We had some excellent campaigns where we still lost.
These promises are outlandish, but media and Republicans have convinced people that every fucking problem in their lives – their personal shortcomings- are the fault of “elites”
You see why that’s appealing. It means all they have to is sit there like baby birds while these people drop feel-good lies into their mouths. That’s a bigger problem than messaging.
I went out yesterday in northern MI to get 4 plain pine wreaths for graves in a Target shopping mall. It was PACKED. Middle of a weekday.Media can’t tell me these people can’t afford eggs. It’s not true.
TBone
@Ohio Mom: sadly indeed! I’m proud of your persistence though. Repetition works eventually.
Jackie
@Soprano2: McConnell did the exact same thing when he was Majority Leader; pushing through as many judges he could before Biden was in office. PLUS refusing to let Obama seat a SC Justice “during a presidential election year,” YET shoving through a SC nominee right after RBG died mere WEEKS before the 2020 election.
He’s making the “how dare you” noises – knowing full well he’d encourage the same if the circumstances were flipped. I vaguely remember a Republican judge or two changing their minds about retiring when Biden won.
Steve LaBonne
Heather Cox Richardson has a fine summary of what we had with Biden and have carelessly thrown away.
frosty
This is why I was so happy that the three people I hired and supervised left my company. I was OK managing projects; had no interest in managing or leading people. I didn’t get any more staff after that – yay!
TBone
@No Nym: what a name!!! Looking him up now.
ETA oh. my. god. That fucking guy.
The auctioneer! Head of the IRS, perfect.
cmorenc
@TBone: My rule is never eat at a Mexican restaurant with a name like ponchos or chi chi’s, i.e. which seem chosen as grigo stereotypes of mexicans.
TBone
@cmorenc: good rule of thumb! The Chi Chi’s in DelCo was responsible for a lot of local whypipo cocaine deals for years too. The (all white) staff took orders…
RevRick
@WereBear: Oh, I know that the GOP is loaded with the insane and stupid, but there are a bunch in swing districts who might value their preservation. When Trump got his tax cuts through in 2017, 13 GOP Representatives voted no. He can’t afford to lose 13 votes. In fact, for at least the first three months, he can’t afford to lose ONE. And after the special elections to fill the seats, he still can’t afford to lose more than TWO.
Bugboy
@New Deal democrat: In our current nightmare of a reality otherwise known as the “attention economy”, this is a death knell for the MAGA movement. If you can’t get clicks, you don’t get the dicks.
Belafon
@Kay: But not their elites. Not the oligarchs that are destroying everything they need. Nope, it’s the “elites” trying to help everyone.
Layer8Problem
@WaterGirl: We need better news sources. Maybe get back to news readers reporting the events and depredations over a half hour without a desperate needy desire for that sweet, sweet extra access and those delightful cocktail parties, and deep in the weeds articles from contemporary I. F. Stones. We don’t need twenty-four hour news channels trying to amp up the fear and maintain our engagement by pushing our Psych 101 buttons and and “Newspapers of Record” explaining how we should think about all this crap like our betters do.
Kay
I wrote here about how my youngest did tutoring in a low income public middle school his 2nd year of college under Biden and Democrats covid “Catch up” program. He tutored math. He hated it – said the boys were mean and “homophobic”. He’s not gay but he has long hair and thick glasses and he interpreted them giggling about his not having a gf as calling him gay. He was “they can teach themselves! They’re horrible – they should fail!
In a surprise turn of events he will be a substitute in that same district after spring break. I’m glad! Just surprised. I told him he can thank Democrats for training him and he said ” I am hanging up now”
Steve LaBonne
@New Deal democrat: I think we should be preparing to help the most vulnerable, directly and at the local level. Fuck everything else- trying to protect people from the consequences of electing Republicans is counterproductive.
Suzanne
@Kay:
I have a slightly different diagnosis….. I think the media and the GOP has exploited an underlying hostility that was there.
I’ve been thinking about this in part this week because of that incident on Xhitter. That lady in the UK who posted about finishing her PhD in English Literature. It went viral and she got just the most horrifying abuse. Death and rape threats, being told that she’s an example of all that’s bad about society, that she wasted taxpayer dollars, that she should have gotten married and had kids instead.
There has always been blue-collar/white-collar resentment. But the educational polarization this election among white people is the highest it’s ever been. This go-round….. the resentment toward white-collar people is hatred of women.
I think a shit-ton of people don’t hate real elites. They aspire to be rich and thus they don’t direct their hatred at actual elites. They hate those who are just a half-click adjacent to them on the social/income ladder, either higher or lower. It’s pathological.
brantl
That cartoon should have giant bolts on it’s neck, the swoosh bangs of orange hair, and a6’ red necktie.
Nelle
@dc: I spent a few days with old friends. They do all sorts of good things for others and are very generous, especially to food banks. But they also have wealth and are convinced that their wealth will protect them from whatever comes. They aren’t smug and are attuned to helping others, but I don’t agree that their wealth protects them from what is coming.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Steve LaBonne:
Thanks for that. She lays out the historical context of how we got here which is equally important for people to know.
The results of this election are going to be catastrophic, domestically (the SSA and IRS nominees are just the latest vandals) and from a national security standpoint.
Michael Bersin
@Soprano2:
Read the This American Life interview with Jason Hauser:
846: This Is the Cake We Baked
Aunt Kathy
I answered my own question…it was the Titanic sub guy.
danielx
@WereBear:
Say what?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: And there is difference between being vigilant and jumping up and down and let the MSM yank our chain. I am not playing that game.
@zhena gogolia: Well put.
dc
@Nelle: To protect the most vulnerable is likely going to require putting ourselves on the line. I think anyone who wants to be on the right side of history has to really consider what they are willing to sacrifice and how much risk they are willing to bear.
WereBear
@Belafon: When your religion convinces you to throw out any children who don’t please you, they have crossed an event horizon, seems to me.
ArchTeryx
@catclub: A literal transfer of power from Biden’s Corvette – all class – to Frankenstein’s Monster, who is well known for wrecking everything he comes across.
And that’s unfair to the Monster. He was into discussing philosophy with Dr. Frankenstein before the Doc pissed him off and he went village-wrecking. Trump couldn’t discuss philosophy with a brain transplant.
frosty
But that’s what we’ve got. Thanks, Ted Turner! There wasn’t enough news then for 24-hour coverage and there isn’t now, either.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@RevRick:
That made me curious about those votes. According to:
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2017699
It was only 12 votes and 7 of those came from the NY House delegation and included people like Stefanik. Of those 12 people voting no, only 3 are currently in the House and that includes her.
Where I’m going with this is I don’t know how those districts were recarved in 2020 and how more batshit insane the (R)’s from those districts are going into 2025.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: agree with both. When they show you what they are…
WereBear
@Suzanne: They hate their immediate competition. They are all mean girls.
Omnes Omnibus
@dc: Yes, I have noted here several times since the election that people should think about where they will personally draw lines in the sand and what they are willing to do if they are crossed. Everyone’s response should and will be different based on their personal circs, but everyone will benefit by having that conversation with themselves. I also think that this blog or anywhere else online is not a place to talk about the decisions one reaches.
WereBear
@Aunt Kathy: If there was ever a cautionary tale…
Paul W.
Wait, does that mean AOC could actually get the Oversight chair position?! Her and Crockett blasting people while in the minority and then giving hell in a majority after the midterms is kind of my dream.
Chief Oshkosh
@[email protected]: No idea what he thinks — he’s a 3x Trump voter. But, Texas is chock full of veterans. My interaction with some of them is yes, they think there’s safety in numbers and that all the other VA med centers will be cut before any in Texas are touched. They could be right – who knows what will happen over the next 4 years?
Belafon
@frosty: There might have been 24 hours worth of news if you’re watching the whole world, but there definitely isn’t 48, 72, 96, or more hours for all of the additional channels.
Starfish (she/her)
@Suzanne: Yes. A lot of inability to unionize much of the south involves managers exploiting the racial resentment that is already there.
frosty
Good comment, it bears repeating. I was just about to reply with my line in the sand on who I was willing to protect. I’ll try to remember to keep all that to myself.
Kay
I’m not for single payer – I don’t think middle and upper middle class Americans would ever accept the restrictions and lack of choice in a system like that in Denmark, but even I was surprised at how many people get turned down for payment. I had Blue Cross in OH when I was a federal employee, then I bought a crazy expensive bridge policy and now I have Blue Cross OH. They all paid for everything. My youngest had multiple eye surgeries with a specialist at U of M hospital, covered, I was the donor for a clinical trial for bone marrow to treat lymphoma outside the state and they covered everything but airfare. I’m surprised its so bad for people – that hasn’t been our experience.
schrodingers_cat
@frosty: Awaiting my art haul from the Black Friday/CyberWeek deals. My 100% cotton watercolor sketchbook arrives today. Blick stuff arrives tomorrow. Then some Amazon stuff over the weekend.
Geminid
@slybrarian: When this Congress began, Northern Virginia Rep. Gerry Connoly was the senior Democrat on the Government Oversight Committee. Apparently he waived seniority so that Jaime Raskin could be Ranking Member. I thought Connoly showed good judgement there. The committee hearings show that Connolly is still sharp and effective, but it was better to have a younger and more famous Democrat in the forefront.
dc
The multiple billions of dollars that insurance companies are hoovering up every year could go a long way to giving everyone access to great health care. Of course, that would mean the poors and the blahs also got access to great health care and that’s just a bridge too far for too many in this country.
WereBear
@Chief Oshkosh: That is a breathtaking display of Texas arrogance.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: Connolly is being treated for cancer at the moment, if memory serves. Raskin is the better choice.
Starfish (she/her)
@WereBear: I don’t think they are wrong.
Trump is completely willing to play politics with government services. He is trying to move Space Force to Alabama from Colorado. He was trying to not pay out FEMA money to states that didn’t vote for him.
Kay
Just regarding John’s post on new limits for certain providers – I just hope everyone realizes this is the norm in single payer countries. They absolutely put limits on billing. Its part of why their health care is cheaper. If you’re upset that insurance companies control health care costs you’ll hate single payer. You dont get everything you demand from your (assigned) physician in Denmark. A government board sets a kind of ” best but affordable ” practice guidelines. Cost is a factor.
Eunicecycle
@dc: and don’t forget, less hookers and blow for the insurance company executives.
Suzanne
@WereBear: Well, yeah, they hate their competition. But as I noted, blue-collar/white-collar hate has been a thing for a long time. And misogyny has been a thing since time immemorial. But now we are seeing those added together. Intersecting, as it were. It hasn’t been a historical thing for women to earn equal status or income as men. That’s pretty new,
p.a.
An outsider’s view:
Had to share this- youtube “Non-Americans, What Confuses You The Most About America?” (reddit)
One response:
Two fucking political parties for 320+ million people.
You have 30 more NFL teams than political parties. 52 more flavors of Ben & Jerry’s. You have 4 main Kardashians, one forgotten about Kardashian and two half-Kardashians… and still only two political parties.
I open at least 8 different porn videos each time I … because I find it hard to settle on one kink. [They then list 10+ types of porn] and all these fans have to squeeze under one of two banners politically.
Torrey
@Aunt Kathy:
Speaking of the CEO of the ironically named United Healthcare, the FTNYT says that the bullet casings “may have had” “delay” and “deny” scratched on them. (“Officials say,”)
I just saw notification of the article, which is headline and first line, and I didn’t read the whole thing because I no longer have an NYT subscription.
WereBear
@Kay: But I don’t think Denmark signs off on crippling or killing their citizens, or allowing their corporations to do it.
This is what creates the white hot rage that puts a slogan on a bullet cartridge.
In Louisiana Medicaid patients don’t get the diabetes care and training and supervision of their condition. But when they cut off a poor person’s foot, it’s paid for.
That’s red state health care.
Kay
@dc:
But Americans would have to accept a middle ground, middle and upper class care would go down and lower income would go up. Denmark LEVELS. They bring everyone down to a kind of compromise on levels of care vs expense. Are we sure middle and upper income Americans would accept that? I’m not. I remember how they absolutely had a screeching hissy fit over having to switch doctors with Obamacare.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Radio is indeed a poor source for news except– I find the CBS radio news I often hear on the hour and half hour to be a very good news source. They don’t give a lot of depth, but I think breadth is important too.
WereBear
@Suzanne: Yes. A hundred years ago a woman made half the salary of a man, for the same work, by law.
Belafon
@Kay: There are fully private systems in Europe, such as Switzerland. What truly makes all of those systems different than ours is that the governments negotiate with all of the health care providers there for prices.
But we don’t do acting in the interests of the entire population here.
trollhattan
Has anybody suggested a tumbrel for this guy, yet?
Oh goodie, the great unshackling. Can’t wait for my next flight experience.
Gin & Tonic
Today in insipid journalism – the FT on the UHC CEO’s shooter: “The use of a silencer, which is illegal to own in New York state, suggests the shooter may have travelled from out of state.”
Does the writer believe that you can’t buy a silencer for a 9mm pistol in NYC? What, just because it’s illegal? I think the list of illegal things that you can’t buy in NYC is pretty short, myself.
Kay
@WereBear:
Medicaid is different. They can regulate that to get to best practices. But middle and upper income Americans would never accept Medicaid. They were bitching during the ACA discussion about how they didn’t want “poor peoples programs” There’s just one program in Denmark. Everyone gets Medicaid. And these countries are TINY compared to the US. Denmark has half the population of Ohio. Even the Canadian population is dwarfed by the US. You have to think about SCALE.
trollhattan
@p.a.: Unless we shed the Electoral College and go with popular vote for the presidency, two parties seems rather baked in.
Will allow as to explaining the Electoral College to a foreigner, is a whole other mountain to climb.
I’ll also note each of those thirty NFL teams is owned by a gazillionaire and can be sold to another gazllionaire on a whim. While the presidency can also be sold, as we’re about to witness, it’s more of a lease.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
“The use of an ebike as getaway vehicle suggests the shooter is a green activist-terrorist. PETA? It would be reasonable to investigate further.”
Good stuff.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay:
We can have a program that is not what Denmark has. Europe has a wide variety of healthcare systems, all of which are better than our own.
Geminid
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Reps. Stefanik and the others probably voted against the 2017 tax legislation on account of its cap on the state and and local (SALT) dededuction. That’s been a sore point among Democrats and Republicans representing relatively affluent districts ever since.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Thirty-one of those teams are owned by a gazillionaire. And then there are the Packers.
PBK
@Gin & Tonic: Would like to say I hope you expand more on your thoughts about “collective action” that you mentioned in a comment yesterday. The whole time I was watching “Winter on Fire” the thought in the back of my mind was the certainty that nothing like that will happen here.
Kay
@Belafon:
I’m suggesting taking that further though. What does it actually mean when governments negotiate with providers? They’re not negotiating to give MORE to providers. They’re putting in restrictions. Less. My DIL had an uncomplicated birth under the Danish system. She was not eligible to stay overnight in the hospital. Now, they can mitigate that – pay to bring some help in to their home – but apparently Denmark has data that an overnight stay doesn’t improve outcomes. Danes accept this. I don’t think Americans will.
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Connolly also thought Raskin was the better choice two years ago.
WereBear
@Gin & Tonic: Murder is also illegal. But it happened.
Can they not hire people who think or are they just too expensive?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@trollhattan:
All airlines are shitty. But Frontier would charge for air in the cabin if they could figure out a way to do it. These clowns luxuriate in a system/society that makes sure the “tumbrel solution” (or it’s various relatives) don’t happen.
Related to this, I saw a good quote on the UHC CEO hit that will probably rub some people the wrong way. Oh well:
NotMax
@p.a.
HoJo had 28 flavors.
And look what happened to them.
;)
frosty
@schrodingers_cat: Early Christmas presents! From someone who knew exactly what you wanted LOL.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Jim Cavanaugh on MSNBC just said this dude is not any kind of professional assassin . He left stuff he wouldn’t have and took the gun which a pro wouldn’t have. He also did not use common practice of how you would have cleared the gun.
Tap, rack, bang (TRB) or tap, rack, and go (TRG) is jargon for the response to a failure to fire in a firearm with a removable magazine.[1] This is designated as an “Immediate Action” and involves no investigation of the cause (due to being under fire in a combat or defensive situation), but is effective for common failures, such as defective or improperly seated ammunition magazines.[2][3]
Kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
I just think there’s a refusal to recognize that we have to bring down the most expensive care – for millions and millions of people it will be a step down. They won’t be able to demand endless expensive care. That’s regulated to control costs.
There’s an additional problem in the US. We pay allied health professionals a lot because they are highly skilled. Do you want to tell an advanced practice nurse we’re trimming off 20% of her pay to bring it into international norms? We spend more on healthcare but we PAY better. Pay a huge group of middle class people.
WereBear
@Kay: I’m not disputing you. I’m saying we can raise the floor without spending a penny by cracking down on insurance cheats and they won’t let us.
Because they steal that money. We can campaign on that and why don’t we?
raven
@Kay: Death panels!!!
Another Scott
@Geminid: Gerry also announced after the election that he has cancer of the esphoghas. Even assuming the treatment goes well, that takes a lot out of a person and Oversight is essential even moreso these days.
He’s a good one, and works for the team and his constituents.
[ eta: ] Elizabelle got there first at #133.
Best wishes,
Scott.
NotMax
@raven
The Apprentice 2.0.
//
Kay
I’m wary of ” we have to give up nothing for single payer!”
This thinking is what got us here.
Tell me which of these these you’ll give up – expensive and perhaps questionably worthwhile care OR wages for the massive middle class workforce in healthcare. Americans won’t even put up with moderate home mortgage rates! They’re screaming that 7% on a mortgage is a hu.an rights issue. They’re too fucking spoiled for single payer.
Jive talkin
@WereBear: that is complete and total bullshit. If she really did that it does speak to character. There are very few venues where attempted violence is acceptable, and work isn’t one of them. Especially when it is directed at a subordinate.
Geminid
@Another Scott: I am sorry to see that news about Rep. Connolly. But my comment at #130 about him yielding seniority to Raskin referred to a decision Connolly made two years ago, at the beginning of the current Congress.
trollhattan
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Never had the displeasure of flying them, but the glibness of “avoiding our parasitic phantom fees is thievery” just takes the gall-frosted cake.
Dude’s picture shows casting department did their jobs perfectly.
Soprano2
I bet none of the men in my office were ever told they had to take a course to learn to be nicer to people. All because I was pissed that the person who organized a breakfast for us couldn’t figure out that we had a coffee maker and all she had to do was bring it to the location with some coffee and we could have had coffee. No, I was told “we couldn’t afford that”, which is stupid. Who has breakfast without coffee? It embarrassed them that I was so angry about it. This woman wants to be in charge of everything but couldn’t figure this out, she can’t problem solve.
TBone
@trollhattan: Biffle is apt. Rhymes with piffle.
So is “Barry.”
WereBear
@Soprano2: There are people so incompetent they can’t grasp what competence might look like.
Kay
@WereBear:
Okay. The best comprehensive “medical care” I ever got was during my first pregnancy, in Lucas County OH at a federally subsidized women’s clinic. I paid 800 total (sliding scale). I got one of three OBs for well checks and a nurse practicioner/midwife for the delivery. In a hospital. No choices. The team was GREAT but there was no privacy. Our dietician and “wellness” providers treated us a group around a table. I loved it – nice because even if I didn’t love it was their final offer :)
Middle and upper middle income Americans are not trekking to a federal clinic in a sketchy neighborhood, with the poors. That is not happening
Dorothy A. Winsor
Talked to a friend at the gym who is in meltdown that someone she’s been very good friends with for years voted for Trump. The Trump voter said he wouldn’t really do the things she disliked. She voted for him because he was “strong.”
Seriously. Garbage logic.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Well, yeah, he’s not a pro in the Mob sense – what he left at the scene were shell casings with words on them, so he was clearly sending a message about insurance.
But he got the job done quickly and completely, no collateral damage, no apparent emotion, and he got away using the best method for the environment, so he thought this through very well. He knew where to get a CitiBike and got it quickly, so if he’s not from the city, he’s been there before.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay: Why would the only clinics be in sketchy neighborhoods? Is that where all the clinics are in Denmark?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Michael Bersin: i wonder of the program will allow anonymous tips. Seems like some folks sporting Trump flags in the area should get to see what they voted for in action. Granted, they are probably citizens, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate
La Nonna
There is def some rationing in Italy’s universal healthcare system, i.e., in order to get a knee replacement one must be under 90 kg for women, or 100 kg for men. Expensive meds are carefully prescribed only one month at a time, annual re-enrollment involves personally showing up at the doc or healthcare office to prevent fraud. There is a side by side private system one can pay for privately, still costs much less than the US, i.e., 95 eu for an MRI.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Question that’s been on my mind. I’ve shied away from flying a flag because it’s been co-opted as a symbol by the MAGAs, as we all know. Along with the word “patriot”.
Well I’ve decided they don’t get to own the flag, and I’m pissed off that I’ve ceded that to them. So I intend to start flying one outside, but I want to make it very clear what my politics and values are. I want to make a statement that it is not THEIR flag, it is OURS.
There are a few “Hate has no home here” and “We believe” banners around the neighborhood. Might start with one of those. Any other thoughts what else might help make the statement?
By the way, hi jackals. Haven’t really been here in the last month. Time to get back in the fight.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Welcome back to the fight.
Layer8Problem
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Thank you and welcome back.
mrmoshpotato
@RevRick:
Completely expected from a shameless bastard like Mitch.
Eunicecycle
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’ve flown a flag for decades, mostly in tribute and now memory of my veteran father. MAGATs are not taking that away from me.
tam1MI
All that means in practice is that parties in the US have to do their coalition building before an election rather than after.
Kay
Joe Biden put in more covid support for people than any other country. We spent BILLIONS on massive support for small businesses. I did tens of PPP applications and restaurant relief applications. Still, they bitched incessantly that it was not enough. They’re not grown ups, and the Trumpier the place, the more fucking constant whining.
I could go around this town and point out new roofs and improvements on small business property – it ALL came from PPP or restaurant grants and its value that accrues to no one but the owner.
But interest rates went to 7 and media declared a humanitarian crisis. My first mortgage was at 11. I drank champagne and celebrated the day I was approved. The sainted Ronald Reagan was president.
Americans can’t have single payer. They are big babies who refuse to pay what their lifestyle costs.
Steve LaBonne
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I fly the US flag at one end of our porch and a Progress Pride flag at the other end, as a graphic reminder to those mofos that they don’t own our country and our flag. Also currently have a hate has no home here sign in front, I need to get the BLM and Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights sign back up (they were temporarily replaced by Harris / Walz and Sherrod Brown signs, sigh.) It’s at least half Trumpers on my street, some with signs or flags still up, and I like to stand up and be counted.
Steve LaBonne
@tam1MI: I have tried to explain this so many times to people who imagine that a multiparty parliamentary system somehow means no compromises.
Kay
Here’s a dirty little a small business secret that none of us want to talk about. Just about ALL of us got tens of thousands of dollars in covid mitigation funds. Completely free money from all of you.
Yet we bitched and whined and insisted we were on lockdown and insisted we were somehow cheated. Democrats like Chris Murphy and Bernie Sanders pander to voters on this. I’m no longer interested in telling them they’re better than. They’re not, actually, better than immigrants. They wouldn’t last a month as a new immigrant. Immigrants hustle more, they work harder and they don’t whine all the time.
I want to help people who help themselves.
Soprano2
@No Nym: Yeah, I heard that, he used to be my rep. My husband calls him “Over Fed” because when he ran for office his slogan was “Fed Up”. He’ll be a disaster just like all of TCFG’s picks.
Citizen Alan
@Jackie: i’m still angry about the last lawyer CLE i attended before getting my current government job. The last session was a ” get to know the judges'” panel featuring the two most recently appointed district court judges for the state of mississippi. Both of them were 38 years old and both of them were confirmed in the middle of December 2020, six weeks after the election and four weeks before J6. And they will both be on the federal bench long after i’m dead.
Citizen Alan
@Kay: in denmark, are you not allowed to buy your own private insurance that provides benefits in excess of the state run healthcare system? Gap policies and boutique policies and things like that?
Michael Bersin
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Missourians have a history of such when confronting Fascist statewide office holders:
Suzanne
@Kay:
They are also scarce. Our education of healthcare providers has not kept pace with population growth.
Kay
@Citizen Alan:
You can buy supplemental care. My son was an engineer at Mind spring in Chicago. Its a Pay Pal subsidiary. He made twice as much as he makes in Denmark and owned an apartment. Now he works for the giant Danish shipper – logistics is very much like payment engineering. Denmark punches above their weight in shipping. They have 10% of shipping with 6 million people. He will never be able to buy his apartment in Denmark – expats can’t purchase. His company leads the world in pirate negotiations and he is a huge nerd who loves pirates, so that’s a plus. I guess :)
They ( he and his Danish wife) made big sacrifices for what they see as a better lifestyle. Americans refuse to accept ANY trade offs. European expats live smaller. They have no car, own no property and they took a 50% pay cut.
All I’m saying is knowing what we know about the US electorate – people who RIOTED at state houses because no is the boss of them, single payer is a pipedream. Fix the deductible and subsidize the premium. That’s all upside for the big babies and they don’t care, at all, how its paid for.
Half of the country think.They shouldn’t have to pay payroll taxes anymore -Social Security and Medicare. They’re fucking deadbeats.
Kay
@Citizen Alan:
Its just very different. There is ONE diet soda available in Copenhagen markets. I’m on TicTok. Ha!f the women showing tbheir grocery bills and blaming Biden with these grocery bills are spending 50% on non f ood. Soda is not food. Capri Suns are not food. 100 single use beverage containers are not food.
RevRick
@Kay: I’m wary of Medicare for All too, but my reasons are entirely pragmatic. If we were starting from scratch, it would be great. But we’re not. We’ve built this kludgy system over the past 80 years that’s pretty solidly entrenched. Like it or not, blowing up that system would be political suicide for the Democrats.
It’s navigating a transition from what we have now to Medicare for All that’s the quicksand trap. While private insurance isn’t the biggest player in the system, it is key to the viability of many of the players. Private insurance pays out on average about 15% more than Medicare while Medicaid pays about 10% less. Institutions relying heavily on Medicaid are often in financial straits.
Anyway, the problem begins when a M4A plan is enacted, because then all private insurance is condemned to death…and all jobs associated with it become dead ends. What that means is that all the best employees will be on LinkedIn looking for new employment ASAP. And those left behind will be those with lesser prospects and those on the verge of retirement. And how would the insurance companies fill the vacant positions? Morale will crash and claims will pile up and the whole medical system will be thrown out of whack. Stretching out the process is a crap shoot.
Kay
@RevRick:
Obama knew exactly how much coddled white Americans could bear before they started rioting. Not a lot! Just having an assigned provider would rattle them so much they’d be weeping.
The US is a low trust society now.
Citizen Alan
@Steve LaBonne:
What people don’t understand is that in countries that have multi party legislatures, you still have to have enough votes to form a coalition that gets fifty one percent of the votes to achieve anything. Having a two party system in which each party is a big tent that accommodates a number of different but closely aligned, special interests is just cutting out the middleman. Leftists who think that having a dozen different parties all chasing votes would solve all our problems have absolutely no response to the question of what happens when a conservative ruling coalition comes together that is completely dependent on the votes of the Evangelical Jihad Party.